Management Strategy Series – Management Strategy – The Managers 1,2,3
With the tough times and with ever decreasing footfall, you cannot afford to lose any lead. The sales people you employ must therefore make sure they follow these three vitally important steps with each customer, every day, every time, without fail, no exceptions.
1. Second facing is proven to increase closing ratio by as much as 15% in some cases. Sales Executives need your support, you are there to demonstrate, coach and help educate them on how to close deals. To make this easier you must introduce yourself early in the process. Ideally helping your executive deliver world class service along every aspect of the customer journey, you are a team after all. Keep the sales executives business cards in your draw, if they ask for one, then they are obviously going to give it to someone for two reasons, either they have a lead to post out something to, or they are giving it to a customer who is leaving. Either way you get the chance to get involved!
2. It is vitally important that you truly know why a customer is not doing business with us today. A sale is always made with every customer, either you sell to the customer, or in many cases, the sales executive sells you on the idea that there is nothing in this interaction that will result in a sale today. The benefit of knowing the true reason why a sale is not taking place is to ensure that mistakes are not repeated. This is your “Golden Coaching Opportunity”. Understanding this helps you grow your team, it may also help you close the sale there and then by discovering immediately something which may have been missed.
Some Winning Words – “Mr Jones, whats’ the number one reason why we are not completing business here and now? or “Mr Jones, what is the one thing we haven’t done yet that would allow you to go ahead and complete the sale with us here today”.
3. Vague and pointless……Most sales executives allow a customer to leave the showroom without really agreeing the next action, “I will get back to you”, “I need to speak to my wife” you will have heard all of these excuses and more. This generally is followed by a sales person who, when questioned after an attempted follow up says “They are still thinking about it” or “He hasn’t spoken to his wife yet and needs a few more days” or even “They bought elsewhere”. In order to avoid this vague and pointless follow up call you must commit your customer and your sales person to a “Mutually agreed clear and concise next step”. A mutually agreed, clear and concise next step action plan, will involve challenging the customers language to uncover the hidden obstacles in the message they are delivering.
“I will get back to you” challenge with “That’s fine Mr. Jones, just so I am ready, what will you be getting back to me on?” or “I need to talk to my wife” challenge with” I understand it is a big decision after all, just so I fully understand where we are heading, what exactly will you be talking to your wife about?” using these methods may well flush out an objection you can handle here and now.
However we still do not have a clear concise action plan, you must now tie the customer down to “When can we talk again?”, “How should I contact you?”, “What will you do if your wife objects to the proposal?” or “What will you do if the insurance is more than £500? Getting clear and concise about the next action step makes the follow up so much clearer for all parties.