How to triple your sales revenue the easy way

For some people selling comes easily and naturally. However for many business owners sales is a nuisance and although important, it’s something many people don’t want to do. Leave it to the professionals, is the motto and although if you have plenty of money in the bank to hire sales pro’s, it’s not for everyone.

But sales doesn’t have to be that difficult. So, if you’re on your own, or working with a team of sales people that may under-perform, here are a few tips and tricks that could help your business to triple sales revenue by simply making it easier for you and your team to deal with potential new and old customers:

1. Use the number of averages – Many people put sales calls to one day a week or a specific time. Trying to do 20 or 30 or more calls to connect with potential clients may sound easy, but in reality how many did you actually get on the phone talking to? Most likely if you’ve done 20 calls you can consider yourself lucky if you talked to 3 – 5 prospects (and I mean getting to the main decision maker). This may sound good but reality is that it might even be less. Some weeks you may even just get to one or none. Turning this around is the key and making sure you make your calls on a more regular basis. Lets say you want to talk to 25 clients per week, divide them by 5 and now take 15 – 30 min each day to call 5 potential customers. You may still have days where you will not reach anybody of importance to you and you may need to add them to a different day/ time to call back. Once you get in to a rhythm however, you will notice that you transform 2 – 3 prospects on a daily basis (on average) either into meetings or sales (depending if you try to get a meeting or trying to get a sale over the phone).

2. Get yourself and/ or your team to go to networking events/ join networking groups. – This is important to spread the message of your business. You need to be out there and you need to be seen. Getting referrals is the goal with networking groups and getting meetings is the goal when you go to networking events. In both cases it is important to have the next step sorted before going/ joining:

3. Have a properly designed sales elevator pitch ready – With the right pitch you will gain up to 50% more referrals. Be specific, and tell people what or who it is that you’re looking for. A sales pitch is also great for networking events. It presents your business within 30 seconds, gives an overview of what it is that you do and how you can help any other business owner or potential customer to solve their problems. (If you need help creating an elevator pitch, you can contact us here).

4. Email/ letter marketing campaigns – Proper email or letter marketing campaigns are another great source to bring more customers to the table. But what’s important to know is that you need to do your research. If you don’t know who to address the letter/ email to, pick up the phone and ask. If you just send out generic emails to a list of thousands of customers, then you are not better than 95% of the other businesses doing just that. If you want to stand out and generate more revenue, you need to be different. Choose 100 of those potential clients, find out what they do, how you can help them and most importantly, who is your main contact and their contact details. Then address a properly designed letter/ email directly to them.

Don’t send all 100 sales letters on the same day. Spread them to maybe 5 – 10 letters daily. You will see why on point 5 and 6.

(If you need a sales elevator pitch and a powerful letter/ email marketing campaign, have a look at our PitchPerfect Programme here.) 

5. Have an inactive and pro-active call to action in your letter/ email campaign. – An inactive call to action is when you ask your clients to give you a call based on the information they received and if they like it of course. This could be something simple such as: If you now, after reading this letter, can’t wait to talk to me, please give me a call on xxx xxx xxxx or please fill in this application form and return back to us.

A pro-active call to action is when you take matters in your own hands. This is usually followed by the inactive call to action and is a simple way of saying, I will be calling you. You could say after your inactive call to action: If however you are like most business owners very busy running your business and may not have the time to call us, then don’t worry. I will call you on date x to discuss this in more detail with you. Our call will not take longer than 2 – 3 min of your valuable time. (make sure that with an email campaign you allow 48 hours before you call, on a letter campaign between 3 – 5 days. Don’t take longer. If you give them 2 weeks they will not remember your letter or you for that matter.

Now it’s your move. You promised a call on that specific day and most people do expect your call. Make sure you keep this in your diary and make that call.

6. Follow-up – It doesn’t matter if you take my advise on point 5 and have both an in-active and pro-active call to action or not. If you don’t follow up with your prospects, no one will. The return rate is usually quite low but if you keep your focus and make those follow-up calls, you will gain better results than any other company that sends generic emails/ letters. In fact, we have measured the success rate with a number of companies that we’ve worked with and it’s anywhere between 30 – 45%. Just by simply picking up the phone and making those dreaded phone calls. The good news is, that if you send a letter or email before hand, it’s no longer considered a cold call. It may not be a hot call, but luke-warm is already good.

7. Ask for referrals – Be it with your networking group or with customers and other business owners that you simply use for referrals, asking for referrals is the best way to keep your business growing. If you prepare your clients that you will be looking for referrals as part of your payment, then they will expect if they sign a contract with you, that you will be looking for referrals from them. Some clients may not be comfortable with it and others may just give you one or 2. On average we found that per client you could gain anything from 2 – 3 referrals that will help you keep going with your business.

When in a referral or networking group, it is important that you have a properly designed sales elevator pitch but also that you ask for specific referrals. Don’t be generic like: I’m looking for medium sized companies who are interested in xyz. You will not gain much out of that one. However if you ask specific it will make a difference: I’m looking for medium sized printing companies in area x. (If you can and done your homework you could also add:) I’m looking for an introduction to company X-Print in Town Y and company W-Print in Town Z. The only danger here is that if you choose 2 companies, it might happen that no one in your networking group knows anybody in those companies. However, consistency is the key and asking every week (or every time you meet with your group) for other specific companies, then you will get more referrals out of this. You could also ask type specific such as medium sized IT companies with focus on cloud computing or Start ups, Management consultancies, Coaching businesses etc. Be specific and referrals will come.

8. Put a picture of yourself on your business card and letter/ email campaign – People like dealing with people and this simple change can help you gain at least 10 – 15% more traction. People will remember you, they might not remember your business but they will most certainly remember you. If it’s in a good or bad way is of course up to you and your own selling skills but most people will remember your face.

Sales doesn’t have to be a daunting exercise. If you take every day 30 min to 1 hour to connect with new and old customers, you should see an improvement within a very short period of time in your sales revenue.

Some people say, sales is a numbers game, others say it’s not. In fact, sales is a game of averages. Every day you should do some sales related activity (and by that I mean not looking at your facebook page and hoping to get a customer interact with you). I mean real sales activity when you actively look for new potential customers, engage with old or former clients, use proper up-selling and cross-selling techniques and become more and more visible. Be out there, go to networking events, sign up to a networking group, join the chamber of commerce and actively promote yourself first, then your business and you will see a rise in sales revenue. Meet for networking coffees to discuss how you can help each other.

Try out different ways to interact with your customers. If you have a list of old or former clients, talk to them again. Maybe you have some missed up- or cross-sell opportunities, maybe you can get some referrals out of them. If your old clients are happy, they are more willing to recommend you on to somebody they do business with.

Have the right steps in place when it comes to your own sales strategy. If you don’t have one, it’s time to create one. Make it your daily mantra to work at least 1 hour on your sales and your business will flourish. (Just for the people who might say, 1 hour is not enough…we found in our research that the average time spend on sales activity is less than 2 hours per week for most SME’s. Having a focused 1 hour per day will not only enhance the performance of the business but will make it much easier to grow this activity over time to a decent 2 – 3 hours per day. Some SME owners are not able to spend that much time only on sales activity as they are out working with customers. Getting them to spend 1 hour per day on this, is the real challenge).

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

The secret to a successful business

In this post we discover the true meaning of being successful. Have you ever wondered what the secret to success really is?

A lot of people might say, having a prospecting pipeline, lots of customers, great products or services, high sales figures etc. But is this really the key to success?

I mean, yes, you need to have all of the above listed and even more that we haven’t mentioned yet. One other aspect to consider is providing an outstanding customer service. But again, those are just features that every business should have.

But what if you just starting out. When you start a business you may have a great idea, a great product, great services, better pricing than the competition but without a small key ingredient it is not taking you anywhere. And lets face it, especially when you start out on a new venture, customers are usually not running into your store to buy from you. No matter how outstanding your product or service is, if nobody knows about it, then nobody will come and buy from you. Simple as that.

The big question is, how can you do that? How can you get customers to buy from you on a regular basis? How can you generate some money?

Well, first lets look at some very successful businesses:

Virgin, Apple, Microsoft, the Kardashians (yes, this is a business…). What do they all have in common? If you really drill down to every business, one thing stands out:

Self-promotion or visibility.

They are all visible. They always put themselves in the media, write blogs and they constantly put themselves out there.

People like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, James Caan etc. are just a few examples. No matter what you think of them or their business, one thing is for sure, being visible is the way to go.

Think of it in this way. Every business owner out there has a reputation. Either good or bad doesn’t really matter. What matters the most is that there is always people who will like what they do and others may not care or go aggressively against those people. In the end it is all publicity for them and that’s all that matters to successful people. Being in the spot-light and making sure everybody sees them.

Just think about it, if you hear the words Apple who do you relate this business to? The same with Virgin, Microsoft etc. Or the other way around: Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates…you already have the business name in mind. So, how is it that if we think of our own business, we try to stand in the back? Many business owners are not visible at all. They use logos on their website but no person stands behind the logo. There is no association with a living being. A business nowadays is just an enterprise that has no face. Click on the about us section that most business pages have and you will find that many people don’t put their own names out there. They don’t want to be seen. There is no information about the founder of the business, a picture of him or her and what they do, their experience etc. It’s rare that you come across people who put themselves out there. But this is their business. It is owned by them and yet they don’t want to show their face? That doesn’t scream “Trust us” at all. If anything it shows that the owner or directors of the company don’t stand behind their own concept. So, why would a customer?

In order to create success, visibility is mandatory for any business. It is however not only the brand that you build or trying to build that needs to be visible, it’s the team, the directors, the owners that need to show their faces. Using visibility management is key to success and when done right you will have the following benefits:

Visibility -> Recognition -> Rewards

This is also known as the 8th habit of highly successful people. Make it a habit to put yourself out there. Be seen and make sure it’s in a good way. Once you start with this you will find that your company will grow. It may take time to build a proper reputation but in order to start, the most important part is to use visibility to your advantage. Stop hiding behind a website or a boring description. Make yourself stand out. You want a successful business, don’t you?

Here are my Top 5 tips of what you can do:

1. Website – About us 

On the website, in the about us section, create a page for you and your team (if any). Use a picture of yourself and/ or your teams/ board of directors etc. and describe who you are, what you do and maybe share a nice story with the audience. (This is just a suggestion but I would definitely urge you to have a picture with your name on it). You can also if you want to keep it simple just use a picture, your name and link it to your LinkedIn profile.

2. Put a picture of yourself on your business cards

This is something to consider for next time you order business cards. Put a picture of yourself on the card. I would also urge you to do this for your sales reps or any field person out there. Research shows that customers recognise faces better than remembering their names. So, don’t be shy, a picture says more than 1000 words on your card.

3. Go to networking events

Show yourself out there. You may think you don’t have time for that but it is important to be seen. You never know what might come out of it. Telling other likeminded people about your business can make a big difference instead of just sending out sales reps to customers. Make a change to your business right now by joining a networking group such as BNI or any local networking group out there.

4. Write a blog

You may not be a great writer but creating a blog doesn’t have to be all about the written word. You can create a video blog where you talk about any topic that is related to your business. You can create a picture wall of events that you attended etc. The possibilities are endless and I can assure you, there is always people who will like what you do.

5. Be online and offline

There is lots of ways to advertise your business and yourself. Most people have the common social media accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and MosaicHub. Those are great ways to promote your business and yourself online. You can also use other websites to promote your business. Some offer free advertisement, some require a small payment. If you don’t have a massive budget, put yourself out there on everything that is available for free or at a low cost. Websites such as DoneDeal, Groupon, Livingsocial, getmeadeal.ie, or gumtree etc. might be a way to go. However no matter which social media tool you are using, make sure that you have a picture of yourself in there as well. Don’t just use a logo to communicate with people (especially on MosaicHub and LinkedIn). You want to generate trust, make sure that people can see who they are trusting with their business.

No matter what you do, make sure you put yourself out there and promote your business in every way you can. Hang out where you customers might be or where you could get some great advise on your business. The important part is to use visibility management to its fullest potential.

Be visible, get recognized and earn the rewards.

How visible are you in your business?

Let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

How your business can rise like a Phoenix from the ashes

Is your business struggling? Have you been thinking of closing down shop or moving locations? Maybe you don’t have enough customers coming in or leaving great reviews for you?

Well, here is something you may want to consider instead of closing down the business for good. I mean, you’ve been working hard and in the end, you deserve a successful running business. So, why not give it one last shot. One last push before you give up for good.

There are several ways to enhance your customers experience. Yes, some might cost you some money (I see it more as an investment) and some are free. You can also use a good combination of both (which I would recommend) and find a better way to market your business.

1. Look at your customer service

Is your business a local shop or restaurant? Do you have an office where you meet customers regularly? Do you provide an outstanding service?

In many cases we find that the business owners believe they offer a great customer service only to be told afterwards that their service isn’t really that good at all. Providing a great service is one of the most important aspects of business. If you believe customers chose you because of your low pricing, think again. It’s only a minority who look for the cheapest option. Over 85% of customers are buying based on their feelings and emotions that they have towards a seller. No matter what you sell, if you are not looking after your customers properly, then you will not survive. Change your routine if you have to, but make sure you always offer top notch service to your customers.

2. Sales ability of owners and staff

Are you capable of selling? Maybe you think you are but how good are you really? Many retailers or waiters/ waitresses are just order takers. Customer comes in, buys a product and leaves. Nobody is asking questions, trying to establish the customers needs. I’ve been preaching this for years now and except a few people who took this on board many are still suffering the low sales turnover. If you ask the right questions and LISTEN, your customers will feel valued and will buy from you. Not necessarily the product they were initially looking  for, but maybe something in addition to that, or more. In rare cases customers have to be shown that the product they chose is not the right product for them. This happens every now and then but it is up to you to make the right recommendation to your customer. What is the right product? Can they get it from you? If not, where can they get it? Sales and customer service in this case go hand in hand. And even if you lose the sale because you don’t have product xyz in stock, you can still help some other person to get the deal by sending them over. You will earn credibility from your customer and they will still be back. You can also consider getting the product for your customer. Have you ever considered that? Think in terms of joint venture. Imagine a customer comes in and buys a TV from you and he also wants a very specific DVD player that you don’t stock. Maybe you know somebody who stocks this DVD player and you give them a call and tell them, I have a customer for you who wants to buy this product. Do you have it in stock? Imagine the other person says, yes, I sell it for 199. Could you make me a deal so I can sell it on to my customer for 199? And say this person only gives you a discount of 10 EUR. Suddenly you can sell a product from somebody else and get a small referral fee or commission out of this one. Put your business head on for once and think who can help your business achieve higher sales results? How can you work together? Maybe you can do the same for this other business if they refer clients over to you? Think about it for a moment.

3. Change strategy

Sometimes we have to change our strategy, our routes to market or even our entire business around in order to make it work. Remember why you went into business in the first place? Maybe it was because you thought you could do the same as your boss did. You can offer a better more proficient service or sell more products? Be more flexible with customers? How did that work out for you? Well, if you’re still reading, I presume not so good. Business is about constant change. Moving away from one strategy that you’ve held for a number of years is sometimes necessary. Don’t get stuck in “The old ways” but rather look at what you can do differently in order to succeed.

4. Use some crazy ideas

Crazy doesn’t necessarily mean bad or “insane”. Crazy sometimes is good for business. Be a bit more open to attract different customers to your premises. Be a bit more outgoing, flexible and open minded. Sometimes you have to do the drastic thing and just get out of your shop and talk to people on the street. It may not be the most comfortable way of doing business but heck it beats closing down shop, doesn’t it? Imagine you can talk to 50 people a day when you get out of your shop. And only 5 of them would visit afterwards, do you think it would be worth your while if they come in and start buying from you?

Maybe you can do a competition, work with other businesses together, create an in-house event etc. Maybe you can do a shopping hour and offer everything for one hour a day half price (maybe on selected items etc.). It would be a promotion so consider that you may need to invest in this but getting people into the store should be first priority.

How about a nice “Midnight Shopping Event” with a glass of wine or champagne (booking mandatory). Maybe you own a boutique and you could do a modeling event? Become a model for one night…The ideas and possibilities are endless.

5. Restructuring and new layout

Sometimes it’s the business itself that needs a new structure and layout. Even if you have a great marketing and sales strategy, it doesn’t mean that customers will come in flying into your premises. And maybe an event is not even a problem but bookings are not made? Look at your shop and what you would like to achieve. How is it structured? Does it look nice from the inside and outside? Is the layout great? Do you have old carpets or new ones? Maybe you want to attract a younger audience but your products and services don’t reflect that. Take a risk and create a new layout, new store front, buy some exciting new products etc. It might help you turn things around once word gets out.

6. Get a coach or consultant/ mentor

This might be a good investment. A business coach or consultant can help you turn things around. Yes, they are usually not that cheap but the value you’re getting will help you and your business not only to stay alive but to grow. Of course no coach or mentor can come in and save the day. You should not expect that. If you’re already bankrupt or very close to closing, it might not even be possible for them to help you at all. However a coach is always a great way to discover alternative options. Maybe closing the business is good but the way to do it might be worth looking into. Maybe they can help you discover new avenues to go down to and create better business opportunities with you. A business coach can cost anything from 50 – 200€ an hour and is depending on their own experience and expertise. The value of this is incredible if you are a open minded and ready to explore. A great coach or consultant can help you on any of the points raised above. You just need to have an open mind and be ready for change.

7. Don’t give up

No matter what you do, don’t give up on your dreams. Just because one thing isn’t working doesn’t mean something else won’t work. Sometimes we have to close down one chapter of our lives (or business lives) to open up a new one. There is always opportunities out there so keep following them. Learn from your mistakes and make sure that next time around you avoid making the same mistakes. You will get better at this but as with everything it requires practice and patience.

Let me tell you a quick story. Have you ever heard of the Phoenix? The Phoenix is a mythology creature, a bird that has a long life. Towards the end of it’s life-span it gets heavily sick and dies by self-combustion. Out of the ashes rises now a new, healthy bird, majestic and full of life. The Phoenix is believed to regenerate itself every 100 years or so, (at least that’s how the story goes that I’ve heard). I think it’s the perfect story for any struggling business. If you are struggling or really have no other option as to closing down shop, think of the Phoenix. No matter if you had a great run or you were struggling right from the beginning, something majestic will come out of this struggle. Something so incredible that you can’t even imagine it right now.

But I am certain that you will rise again and again out of your own ashes if you keep going and trying.  

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

The Social Media Trap – Old ways of selling are NOT dead

I’ve read numerous articles by now saying that:

The old ways of selling are dead

Cold calling will damage your business

Door to door sales is long gone

Email marketing is part of the stone age

I would like to ask all those people a few things now:

1. Did you ever own a business?

2. If you answer yes to the above, are you currently in the start up phase?

3. Do you sell your products or services exclusively offline or online or a combination of both?

4. How do you (if you sell b2b) get to your customers or get a meeting with a CEO or decision maker?

Because those are the questions that nobody is answering in their articles. Using social media and your website is great but if you solely use it then you might as well pack your bags. With articles like that out there and people believing this, it is no wonder that 8 out of 10 businesses close shop within the first 2 years. This is what I would call the Social media trap.

First of all, I’m not saying that a business shouldn’t be online, or that it shouldn’t be on facebook, linkedin or any other social media. And yes, you can use them to your advantage. But lets face it, how long does it really take to get somebody interested in your products or services if you just started out?

No matter how compelling your argument or offering is, one thing is for sure, you need to get your name out. Fast. And of course you need to be smart about it. Using a well rounded strategy is key and yes, it should involve social media and an online presence such as your own website. However, this will take you months if not even years to build a proper running business and the world is not waiting for you to become a social media expert.

I have started out a bit over a year ago and I also started with social media, thinking that my offering is so great, customers will fly in the door. However after a lot of writing, posting and creating pictures or competitions I found that I didn’t get anything out of social media or my website. I didn’t have the money to invest in social media advertisement, I also didn’t have the money to invest heavily in marketing (online or offline) or a properly done website. So, I had to find ways to do it myself. I build my own website through wix.com, (I know, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea), used free or low cost advertisement, went to networking events, joint a networking group and still, not much came out of it.

Until I realized that I had to go back to what I originally learned. And that is cold calling, door to door sales, going from company to company etc. I also knew I had to be smart about it. I knew that part of the old ways, taking the yellow pages and start calling, will not work unless I do my research. So, here is what I did:

1. I made a list of 100 companies in my area that I wanted to work with (based on my initial target market).

2. I found out who was the gatekeeper and the CEO/ Director or company owner of the company (got most of their names and email addresses and contact number nearly right away). I found that only a handful of companies were reluctant to provide me with this information.

3. I designed a compelling email (at least that’s what I thought at the time).

4. I’ve sent that email to 94 companies (I left the ones out that I only had generic email addresses such as info@…)

5. I didn’t expect anybody to get back to me. In fact, nobody ever did. I left it for 48 hours before I made my next move.

6. I called. I had a 60 second elevator pitch ready to go. 60 of the businesses didn’t want to meet with me, however I got 34 meetings out of my list.

7. I went to meet with the owners and signed 12 contracts. 

8. The people who didn’t want to meet with me received a visit from me anyway. I walked into their premises and just asked if I could talk to xyz for just 1 min. 9 out of the 60 businesses that I walked in on took me up. 4 people signed a contract with me afterwards.

All this activity took me 9 days (without signing the contracts as this required a few more meetings).

I personally believe that if you start a business you need to go all out. Many people are afraid of cold calling or door to door sales, but let me assure you, that if you rely on social media alone, you will not make it unless you are a social media guru and have plenty of money in the bank so that you can take your time and easily build up your customer base.

A smart combination of everything is required and putting yourself out there as the business owner or director is key. You are the face of your business and you decide the best way to go.

Yes, not everybody is fond of receiving cold calls, but on the other hand, they had to start their business somehow as well. And if you don’t have lots of funds available then this might be a great way to get your business up and running.

Just be smart about it.

How did you start your business? Did you have to go to lengths that required you to get out of your own comfort zone? Let me know.

Thank you for reading.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more up to date information.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

Hotels: Missed opportunities and revenue busters

I’ve always had a fascination with the hospitality industry, especially hotels. Unlike any other industry you have so many stand-alone departments that are capable of selling to customers then any other company out there.

Think about it for a moment, you have the bar, restaurant, reception, reservations, lobby, wedding and events planner/ coordinator, health clubs or gyms and spa. Every single department can be seen as an individual little business on its own with the backing of the entire hotel. Yet, if you go to any hotel you will find that not many people are actually selling. Opportunities are missed constantly and this lowers the experience that the customers will have. It seems that sales is always seen as a necessary evil but nobody really wants to act upon it.

I thought it is time to change that. Time to give the guests the experience of a lifetime and add incredible value to your guests but also (if you own or managing a hotel) to your business.

1. Reception or front desk

Reception is usually seen as the place when you check in/ out guests. Not a lot of up/ cross-selling is done at reception (at least not from my own experiences staying in hotels). This is a complete missed opportunity. Yes, you get (sometimes, not always) information of what’s available in the hotel such as spa and gym, swimming pool, bar and restaurant locations, when is breakfast on etc. However the only selling that is usually done in the reception area is when the guest checks in and hasn’t booked breakfast with his stay and they might ask if they would like to have breakfast. But this is the location where sales could have the biggest impact on your business and for the guests. Imagine you would not only inform them about the possibilities in the area or the hotel but ask direct sales questions. Have a proper conversation with your guests and see what they would like to do. Fact is, that if they are staying in your hotel they are away from home and in most cases not even from the area. So, informing them about local activities is one thing but helping them to rewind is another. You could add a spa treatment to their stay, sell a place in the restaurant for dinner, have a list of available movies to purchase in case they want to stay in their room, etc. It is important to establish the customers needs and make offerings that make sense to the customers. Emphasizing on available treatments, the gym, swimming pool etc. is key to up-sell any products or services that your hotel has to offer. Also if you offer a loyalty programme this is the place to act upon it and help your customers to sign up for it. Most loyalty programmes no matter how good or bad they are are free and customers if prompted will take you up on an opportunity that might save them some money in the future or get additional benefits and value for their money. If you don’t have a loyalty programme, create one. Missed sales opportunity: 30 – 50K € per year. 

2. Reservations

Reservations is another great department to sell. Instead of just booking the room for the guest you could easily ask them about the intention of their stay (pleasure or business) and make recommendations while talking to your guests of what’s available and what you could add to the room. Having a bottle of wine ready on arrival is just one thing you could add, flowers for a couple on their wedding anniversary or spa treatments. Of course it all depends on what your guests would like but if you don’t ask, you won’t get. Missed sales opportunity: approx. 25 – 50€ per guest.

3. Restaurant/ Bar

This is one of the best departments to sell. However in many hotels waiters/ waitresses are just seen as order takers instead of sales people. This is completely and utterly wrong as they are the ones bringing in the most money for any hotel. Unfortunately because of the way society sees servers most hotels won’t even train the personnel to be able to proper up-sell on food and beverages. The guests experience? A lack of customer service, no attention of detail by the waiters, empty drinks, and not enough food items that are being sold. Imagine what you could sell if you had properly trained servers who actually know what they are talking about? Looking after the guests, refilling drinks regularly and adding from starter to dessert anything that can be sold to the bill. This can be easily done with a bit of training and coaching and will work wonders for any hotel that has a bar or restaurant. Would you mind having 30% higher sales? Because that’s what we’re talking about here. Missed sales opportunity: 50 – 150K € per year. (based on a busy restaurant 200+ guests per evening)

4. Lobby

I know the lobby is part of the restaurant but it’s a lot of times not taken care of. I see the lobby as a stand-alone business that adds tremendous value to the hotel if managed in the right way. All you need is a designated waiter for the area to serve guests. Of course above guidelines should apply, that the waiter pays attention to detail, ask for refills etc. But most of the time its completely left out. If you manage or own a hotel then here is something for you to consider. A lobby can easily bring 200 – 500€ a day if handled in the right way. I realize it’s mostly coffees and teas that are being served but consider that it’s up to your staff to sell additional items such as scones, toast, sandwiches etc. If you don’t ask you don’t get is basically the same approach. Think how many people are actually coming through and staying in the lobby for a while. A lot of business people meet in hotel lobbies and agreements are made. They all want coffee and don’t want to run to the bar every time their cup is empty. I’ve spend days in hotel lobbies having meeting after meeting and seen every time at least 200 – 300 people sitting down and having chats on a daily basis. If you consider that only 100 people buy a cup of coffee or tea, then we’ll already talking at least 250€ in revenue per day. That is 7,500€ per Month or 90,000€ per year on additional revenue from just one small area. If you don’t look after your lobby, then this is the loss you are currently making. Consider this for a moment. Missed sales opportunity: approx. 90K € per year. (based on 100 customers buying 1 cup of coffee or tea per day)

5. Gym or Health Club/ Spa

Another great area in any hotel. I take them all together as they are very similar, but most of the time run entirely separately. Most hotels which have gyms and swimming pools also offer memberships to locals. Besides that they have lots of opportunities to sell additional items such as bathing caps, swim goggles, even shorts or shirts for work out etc. Health clubs should always have some healthy options such as fruit bowls or fruit juices or energy drinks to sell. You could sell private sports and tutoring classes etc. Most of them do, however it is not promoted much by the staff. Yet again we see this as a reception area and we don’t think those people are capable of selling. This is simply not true as if done the right way, they could sell to at least every second customer something. Enhancing value is another thing they could do but it’s usually left out. Nobody is informing customers. Yes, you may see a flyer here and there when you come in but unless a customer is inquiring about a service they won’t get any information. This is a great area to be more pro-active and help your customers understand what is on offer, or make them aware of special offers, ask them for drinks etc. Every gym has the capacity to again sell for at least 100 – 200 € per day but only if the staff decides to be more pro-active. Missed sales opportunity: Min. 36K € per year. (Based on 100 € additional sales per day)

6. Wedding and business events coordinator

Last but not least are the wedding planners or events coordinators. They are usually sales people or have at least some sort of sales background. Most of them are actually doing a great job so I have not really many complaints here. However I come across a lot of event coordinators that are not really up-selling. Yes, in many cases when you book a conference room they add free water and coffee and teas are usually taken care of as well. But what about other items such as lunch/ breakfast/ dinner or adding a special rate for staying in the hotel? If a business training event is being held they could add a special room rate for the attendees, spa treatments at a special rate etc. I’m not saying that all of the coordinators are lacking this skill, but I rarely come across one that has done this in a proper manner. Asking questions is key and understanding the customers requirements. Missed opportunity: 25 – 100 € per person attending.

To sum up: I personally believe that every hotel with above features misses out on at least 200 – 300K € revenue per year. Of course it depends on individuals as much as it depends on your hotel and staff performance. If you have a pool area (outside pool with patio etc.) then you could easily add another 100K € to the list of missed opportunities.

Look at your entire revenue and add on average 30% on top, that is what you really miss out on a yearly basis. Are you ready to take the next step and bring your hotel to a different level, providing more value to your guests and while doing that growing your revenue automatically? There you have it. A unique business that has so many different sales departments that it will blow your mind of how much you can actually sell if done the right way. And to be honest, sales is not about just pushing everything to the customer but to listen actively of what the customers real needs are and making their stay as comfortable and pleasurable as possible. In the end they come to you for a reason.

What do you think of the above suggestions and ideas? Do you agree or have you had different experiences? Let me know.

What other industry would you want me to dig deeper into next?

Thank you for reading.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more up to date information.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

The importance of Up- and Cross-Selling

Many businesses seem to neglect up- and cross-selling opportunities and fear that if they would try to up-sell or cross-sell that the customer might leave and not return. The fear is that the initial sale will fall through and that customers might feel pushed to buy additional products or services.

Before we dive in, lets see what it means to up-sell and cross-sell:

Upselling

Up-selling is usually when a customer asks about a specific product and the seller includes other products, upgrades and services to enhance the initial item the customer asked for. Take a computer for example: You may see a laptop that you like, it has the specifications that you as the customer believe it needs. The seller now might try to sell you additional memory, a bigger or faster hard drive, better graphics card, an extended warranty etc. The seller also might recommend additional soft and hardware depending on your requirements such as external printers, external hard drives, or specific software. The need should be established by asking the customer lots of questions and listen to what they have to say. This can be established for example by asking “Why does the customer need this specific product? What’s the purpose or what do you need it for? Why did the customer chose this particular machine and not a different one? What software does the customer have or would require in order to use this machine fully. The next step would be to provide information about the product and the benefits or if required, move the customer to a more suitable product for what he/ she needs to accomplish. You may show the customer “What comes with the product, what’s not included etc. What additional products would the customer need in order to use the machine fully etc.” Imagine you don’t ask those questions and the customer gets home with his machine and discovers it’s not the right machine for him/ her. Or that items are missing that are crucial for him/ her to work with the machine. The customer then would feel disappointed by the seller and might need to either come back at a later stage or (the most likely thing the customer will do) buy the additional products elsewhere. In many cases because products have been mis-sold the customer will even return the product and goes to a different seller who (hopefully) will then provide the customer with the product(s) the customer really needs.

Cross-selling

Cross-selling is usually done once the initial sale and up-sell is finished. Cross-selling is when we divert the customer to a different product or service. To give you an example: Lets say as a customer you want to buy life insurance. The agent has finished the life insurance, got your signature, took care of additional up-selling opportunities such as included a pension scheme in your life insurance cover etc. Now the agent might ask you about your car: “I’ve seen you have a nice Mercedes out there. Do you mind me asking which insurance company you use? If the agent knows that he can beat that insurance quote he might add that to his sale. This can be done at any stage even if the car insurance is not due for some time. Of course this could be done for house insurance, public liability etc.

Any business (unless they only have 1 product to sell) will have these kind of opportunities.

What we as a business society need to understand is that up-selling and cross-selling is not an evil thing to do. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is certainly sales people out there who would take advantage of customers. But those usually don’t last very long and customers will see right through it.

And it’s not only about selling more products. Up-selling and cross-selling is about establishing the customers real needs and requirements. Providing more value and benefits to your customers is the key. Asking relevant questions will not only elevate your sales but your overall customer experience will become more positive and this in turn will bring loyalty to your business.

If you’re not telling your customers about current promotions, things they need with the actual product that they intend to buy, additional benefits and features and how this enhances their experience then you’re loosing out, your customer is loosing out and the overall experience within your establishment will become less valuable to your customers.

This is a service that you “HAVE TO” implement in your daily sales activity. Your customer will thank you for it. And no, this is not to push the customers over the edge, this is to help them have the best possible experience and value that their money can buy and that you can provide.

As a sales person it is your responsibility and duty to your customer to provide them with the most accurate information and establish their real need. Just because a customer is asking for a specific product doesn’t mean they really want it, need it or can even use it to their full extend.

I will give you one more example that a great sales person will do for their customer:

Imagine a customer comes into your shop and wants to buy a nice 60″ TV. He saved over a year for it to finally be able to buy it. He comes to your store and picks out the TV of his dreams. You may even deliver. Now imagine your customer comes home, the TV is delivered and he sees that his living room is far too small for the TV. The TV fits just about in the corner where his former 32″ TV stood. His living room however is so small that he was already sitting very close to his 32″ TV, say 2 – 2 1/2 m away. Because of the size of the new TV it needs to stand further out from the corner and now he sits 1 1/2 m away. He can’t enjoy his new TV as he sits too close. He also discovers that his TV stand doesn’t fit or former wall mount is too small etc. One disappointment after another. What do you think is now going to happen? The customer will most likely return the TV and feels disappointment with the shop. If the sales rep would’ve done their job right he would’ve discovered all this by asking simple questions such as “What size TV do you currently own? is it on a stand or wall mount? How far are you currently sitting from your TV? Will the new TV stand in the same corner/ hang on the same wall etc. By asking the right questions the sales rep would’ve discovered all of the above and could’ve avoided the disappointment for the customer, directing him/ her to a different or smaller size product, explain the why’s and may even use the left-over money to up-sell DVD/ Blu-ray/ Surround System/ Wall mount/ TV stand etc. Yes, he would’ve probably made less money but would gain a happy customer that most likely will return to him for future purchases.

Honesty and asking the right questions, making the right recommendations are crucial to build a great service and create customer loyalty.

Are your sales people using proper questioning techniques to establish the customers real needs? What is your experience with your sales team? Let us know.

Thank you for reading.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more up to date information.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

Waiting – The hidden sales talents

We’ve all had them. Good and bad experiences with waiters and waitresses. No matter where you go, bars, clubs, restaurants or hotels waiters and waitresses are a major part of any business in the hospitality industry.

They are the fore front of any business that serves customers foods and drinks. And yet, we find that the majority of waiters seem to be neglecting their customers. So, the big question is, why is that? Why is it that waiters and waitresses in some instances don’t seem to care?

 

Lets look at it from a business perspective:

1. They are underpaid
2. They get all the grief from customers
3. In most cases tips are shared between other waiters (so even if your waitress is slacking you off, they still get a decent tip or if your waitress is exceptional looks after you properly and you give a generous tip, it gets shared with the ones who don’t seem to care). In some cases management also takes a share of the tips.
4. Poorly managed (no leadership in hotels or restaurants)
5. Not enough training
6. No future, no possibilities (or so it seems).

Lets look at each point a bit more closely.

1. A waiter/ waitress gets paid on average 8,81 € an hour or anything from 14K – 23K a year and depends on fix hourly rate, tips or in very rare cases commission (see payment statistics here). The wages will not change much with experience. (These are figures from Ireland. Some countries are even worse taking the US for example where salaries are on average 19K a year for a waiter/ waitress).

2. Customers are coming in with bad moods, talking from the top down, thinking they are better than the waiter/ waitress. Let me tell you, that even though you might make more money than they do, in many cases a waiter/ waitress has much more general knowledge and can outsell the best sales people in the world. I’ve rarely come across a waiter or waitress that is not at least bi-lingual. They are ambitious even though it seems that there is no way out of waiting. However in many cases they are also students and one day might become your boss. So, be nice to them. They do a tough job and deserve a little bit of encouragement and respect.

3. Tips are shared with everyone. Yes, that’s right. You may give your waiter a generous tip because they done an outstanding job, but those tips go into a bucket and by the end of the day will be shared with everyone (including management). This is in my opinion the tip of the iceberg. Some people really work their asses off and do everything they can and earn great tips, and in the end they have to share them with colleagues that were rude to customers, that didn’t care about customers and neglected the customer completely. And one of the biggest shockers is that the management takes a share of the tips as well. There is a discussion going on if chef’s should get a part of the tip and yes, they might deserve a tip as well. But there is better solutions than taking and combining all the tips and share it equally with everyone. One solution that I’ve come across was that customers could split the tip themselves and provide a part of it to the waiter and the other part to the chef (this was outlined at the bill stating Tip Chef: _____ Tip Waiter: _____. I thought this was a neat solution. Some other companies give a 10% tip to the chef from everything that’s collected which in my opinion seems also ok. If it’s fair or not is a different story but the chef’s in that particular hotel seemed to be happy about it.

4. Lack of leadership skills. Managers in the hospitality industry seem to be more like soldiers, commandeering everyone around and not really leading the team. This is a big gap and managers in my opinion should attend proper leadership training before they are made managers in the first place. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen much in the hospitality industry or if it does, it seems people don’t pay attention to the training. Let me tell you that a true leader is leading by example. He/ She is not ordering people around and screaming and shouting at them in front of customers. They pick up the food and deliver it as well if it’s getting too busy or if the staff is running behind (or even understaffed).

5. Lack of training for waiters/ waitresses. This is a new one. Did you ever come across proper waiting training? I mean, not the how to hold a tray or how to balance 10 plates, 10 cups and 15 beers. I mean proper training that will show them how to provide a proper customer service, how to sell, how to up-sell and cross-sell etc? No? Me neither. But in this multi-million Euro industry, wouldn’t it be about time to get a training like that? Yes, we send managers to similar type trainings, leadership trainings (yes, the ones where they nod off) and customer service trainings, but are they capable of delivering this kind of training then back to their staff? In most cases no. They leave out vital parts of the training and wonder why their staff is not selling more or performing better.

6. No Future, no possibilities. Well, this one goes to the waiters and waitresses out there. This may seem like it’s the case but let me assure you, it’s not. As I mentioned before you are the real deal. The real sales people. You deal with great as well as extremely rude customers on a daily basis and you handling yourself well (most of you anyway). So, don’t be discouraged. There is plenty of opportunities out there for you. Here is a list of careers that might be interesting to look at:

A career in sales (yes, I’m absolutely sure about that one. If you can make a customer buy breakfast, lunch and dinner all at the same time, then you can certainly sell other products or services to the public or businesses).

A career in management. Want to do a better job than your manager does? Show them. Become a team manager, supervisor in the hospitality industry. The Swiss Hotel Management School in Switzerland is one of the best schools providing great education within the hospitality industry and are known worldwide for their Restaurant Management training. If you like what you do then this might be an option for you.

Tourism is also a good opportunity for you to make your mark. There is great careers to be made in tourism and if you are waiting, then you already have the fundamentals to start a fantastic new journey. Try it and see if you can find something for you. From tour operators to travel consultants, restaurant managers etc. this is a great way for you to start something new. And if you want to stay in your current job, then you can still do that while travelling the world.

Customer Service Rep/ Manager/ Team manager. If you are sick of waiting but still like dealing with customers why not try customer service roles? They are usually a bit better paid (depending on company size and where you are) but they usually offer good opportunities to grow and become a manager or team leader etc.

Become self-employed and open your own restaurant. As a waiter you probably know a lot of people. Other waiters, chefs, bar managers etc. So, why not make the move to open up your own place? If you are nice to customers, always up-selling and cross-selling items on your menu and creating more sales than any of your colleagues it might be worth it for you to look into the possibility to open your own little bar, restaurant, cafe or even b&b or small Inn/ Motel/ Hotel? Depending on the type of business you may need some capital, but if you start small you may get away with a few hundred or a few thousand Euro’s. There is plenty of empty cafe’s and restaurants available to rent. And most of them are fully equipped. If you can sell, if your friends, co-workers and colleagues can sell, why not give it a try? You can always get them trained and do it differently than your current employer does. And if you don’t have that much money that you could hire somebody then why not create a joint venture with a co-worker? A chef you know etc? If you partner up you may be surprised of the things you can achieve.

If you own or manage a restaurant, bar, hotel bar etc. then this part might be of interest:

I’ve seen a lot of times that customers are not properly looked after especially in hotel bars. The reason? Point no. 5, lack of training. Your staff might be good but have you ever thought how much money they could bring if trained properly?

An example:

If a good hotel charges 2 € for a coffee, and they have every day between 50 to 100 people coming in and out for coffees, teas, breakfast, lunch, dinner etc. then just by accumulating the amount of drinks that are missed because of not looking after the customers properly could easily run into the thousands for a company in lost sales on a daily basis. The same counts for a proper after service or looking after the customer regularly.

Imagine you have properly trained staff, highly motivated and encouraged to deliver on the customers needs and requirements, what kind of a difference that would make to your company’s turnover.

Now, I’m not saying that this is the case with all hotels, restaurants or bars. I’ve seen great caring staff, selling their butts off (literally) and increase sales nearly 10 times as high as many of their colleagues. Why? They ask questions, they understand the customers, they get commissions, tips but most of all, the manager is a real leader and knows how to motivate the team. Regular training is provided and I even came across a hotel that send their waiters and waitresses to sales and motivational training and coaching in order to keep the mood up and the sales going.

This was a real conversation I had recently in a hotel bar with a waitress:

Waitress: Good morning, my name is Magda. I’ll be your waitress today and will make sure that you are properly looked after. Do you already know what you would like to have?

Customer: Yes, I want a coffee and a scone, please. Oh and a glass of water if you don’t mind (if you order a glass of water in Ireland you will normally get tap water).

W: Certainly, Would that be sparkling or still water (with or without gas)? (notice how she turned things around and without even giving an option of tap water she just offers bottled water.)

C: Still please (most customers will go for one of the two options, it is happening every now and then that a customer may say tap water is just fine)

W: Great. Our scones normally come just with butter but for just 1  € extra I could add some cream and jam for you. Would that be OK if I bring this to you? (again, notice how the waitress up-sells on additional items?)

C: Sure, sounds good.

W: We have homemade blackcurrant and strawberry jam. Which one do you prefer? (By giving only 2 options she made sure the customer is not overwhelmed with choices)

C: Strawberry is fine, thanks.

W: Just to let you know we will start serving lunch in about half an hour. With this voucher you will get a free dessert with your lunch if you decide to eat your lunch here today. The coupon is valid until 6 PM tonight. Once we open for lunch I will let you know and you may then decide if you would like to take part and I will inform you of our lunch specials. Will there be anything else for now sir? (And now the cross-selling opportunity was also taken care of)

This was a real conversation I had with a waitress a while back. This waitress made the following sale:

Scone with coffee – 4,50 €
Additional Jam – 1 €
Still Water – 2.50 € (yes, water is expensive in Ireland)
Lunch – 15 €
Coke – 2,50 €
Cafe Latte – 2,50 €
Dessert – FREE

I did not intend to have lunch there nor did I intend to have a still water, a coke, another latte and a dessert. My original order from a scone with coffee for 4,50 € ended up costing me 28 € plus a generous tip that I gave. Now that’s a pretty good up-sell and cross-sell in my opinion.

Is it the best sales pitch I’ve ever heard? No, but it’s certainly a great way to increase sales in any bar, restaurant or hotel bar. And who would want to leave without using their free dessert voucher?

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

 

Slap in the neck…Telephobia

Telephobia sounds very straight forward, doesn’t it? Somebody who is afraid using the telephone. Well, it could be that easy however we need to distinguish between people who have a fear to talk to somebody in general over the phone or who have a fear of talking to new prospects. Well, this wouldn’t be the SalesFearFactor if it were about people in general…

So, lets dig in a bit more of what Telephobia is really about:

Here is the official description of Telephobia by the BSRP (Behavioral Science Research Press):

“Prospecting energy diverted to coping with fear associated with using the telephone as a prospecting tool. Energy typically over-invested in less efficient forms of contact that do not require using the phone.”

In general terms people are usually not afraid of using the phone to order a taxi or a pizza. Telephobia is only present if people are using it for prospecting activities. That said, we still need to distinguish of different forms of Telephobia:

1. General fear of making any connections to potential new or existing customers

2. Fear of making any connections with potential new customers (common)

3. Fear of making any connections with existing customer/ prospecting base (rare but I came across a few people who had no problem digging through the Yellow Pages but couldn’t cope with talking to existing customer base)

But how can you tell if you or somebody you know has Telephobia? Here are some symptoms that you might come across:

Sweaty palms before making a prospect call

Raised heartbeat

Heavy breathing

Some severe cases even start to stutter or stumble over their words.

What to look out for?

People who would rather meet face to face instead of using the telephone

Lots of complains about the phone (being useless, just a waste of time etc.)

Did you ever receive bad news over the phone? Or do you have any negative memories associated with the telephone?

Telephobia is quite straight forward and doesn’t need a lot of explanation. But the impact it has on your organization or team could be dramatic. Many companies set calling standards for their teams such as number of phone calls to be made on a daily basis and you will probably find that not a lot of people will have a problem with the phone. However if you have somebody in your team not performing to standards (and really look for very low prospecting activity over the phone) then you might have a problem. But should you now just go and let this person go? No, absolutely not. If you want to turn things around for him/ her then there is a solution. And the good news is, that this will increase your sales revenue without doing much.

Telephobia is easily diagnosed and corrected if the right tools are applied. All you need is a commitment from this person and the willingness to change. Once you have that, you can get proper training and advise on how to cure Telephobia.

An example of a telesales rep (outbound):

One of my clients job is to outbound and sign up companies and switch them to a new tariff (telecommunication industry). His expected call rate was a min of 30 calls per day. He made approx. 15 – 20 calls per day but because he was very good in his job and signed up more clients than most other sales reps, the company left him alone and didn’t even think of threatening him to move his calls up. However they did notice some strange behavior of clever avoidance tactics from him. He managed to reach beyond his revenue target but his manager noticed his discomfort and wanted to help him. That’s when I came into the picture. After testing him and working with this person on a 1 to 1 basis he nearly doubled his calling activity going from 20 to 37 calls per day within a 3 week period. His revenue exploded and so did his commission check. The preferred tactic he chose to overcome his Telephobia? Thought Zapping. Thought zapping is about linking negative thoughts with unpleasant action such as a slap in the neck.

However most people don’t want to look stupid in front of their colleagues and might want to try other (similar) methods such as a rubber band that is put around their wrist (left hand) and every time a negative or intrusive thought comes up that prevents them from doing the task, they just hit themselves with the rubber band from the top (never from the bottom because of veins and arteries running through the lower arm) and immediately replace the negative thought with something positive. Could be a thought about their children, wife, lover etc. Basically something that brings positive thoughts out in a person or a smile, happy feelings. 

I don’t want to go into too much detail with this because as mentioned in some of my previous articles, in order to cure or help an individual to overcome Telephobia depends all on other factors as well, such as other types of Sales Call Reluctance that might be present, motivational aspects as well as other prospecting behavior from this individual.

Please do not try just any techniques in order to cure yourself from Sales Call Reluctance that you may come across through research or that was mentioned in this article. This is just an example technique that helped this particular client. The reason being is that you might end up doing more damage to your mind than actually helping yourself. If applied wrongly or if applied with the wrong Sales Call Reluctance type you might end up getting worse than better. So, please be careful and only apply if prescribed by a professional trainer who is accredited and authorized by the BSRP (Behavioral Science Research Press).

If you want to learn more about Sales Call Reluctance or would like to find out what type you might be suffering from feel free to contact us.

Thank you for reading.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more up to date information.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

 

Identity Crisis – Role Rejection

In one of my earlier posts we’ve talked about Sales Call Reluctance in general. This article today is one out of 12 that will come and will explain each Sales Call Reluctance type in more detail.

We will start this off with one of the most powerful types of Sales Call Reluctance in my opinion and that could make an impact on your business right now: Role Rejection.

Are you ashamed of being in sales? How would you know? Well, try this one: When you connect with customers, do you call yourself a sales person, sales rep or do you prefer other terms such as credit adviser/ financial or loan consultant etc? Do you feel the pressure of sales is getting to you? You would love to quit your job or maybe you have resigned from your job because it is a sales related activity? Maybe you were successful but couldn’t cope with being a sales rep? When somebody asks you what do you do, do you try to deny that you are in sales?  If you answered yes to any of the above questions than congratulations, you may suffer from Role Rejection.

Here is the official description of Role Rejection by the BSRP: Prospecting energy lost to coping with unresolved guilt, shame or discomfort about being in sales. Contributing factors may include over-identification with negative stereotypes about salespeople, or feelings that choosing a sales career has disappointed a significant other. Energy may be diverted to expressing a rigidly over-positive attitude or using a “deflected identity” to disguise the sales function.

Role Rejection is about people in sales who do not want to be in sales. In fact, they don’t even like sales. They don’t like to call themselves sales people because they are ashamed of being in sales. Especially in today’s world, a lot of larger companies merge departments or close down one department and move employees around like they are cattle. And you may have someone (or maybe you are someone) who was in Technical Support and they suddenly find themselves/ yourself in a sales role.

In many cases those people are quite successful in sales. They earn some of the highest commission checks, bring the highest sales, convert more customers etc. However success doesn’t last as most of these people cannot cope with the stress and the fact that they are now considered sales people. And even though they are successful, they quit while succeeding and a lot of managers or business owners don’t understand why this is happening.

We also see whole organizations suffer from Role Rejection. Look at the banking or insurance industry. Most of their sales force is called Financial advisers, credit advisers, loan consultants etc.

But how can you make a difference? How can you turn things around for them? This is not really an easy answer as it depends on several factors. But one thing you might be able to do is to create the right identity. Calling your team Sales Representative, or Field Sales Rep can already make a difference.

Getting people and management to identify with what they actually do is key and will help an organization to first keep the people they have and second they will be able to identify the people who are ashamed of being in sales and get them the professional help they would need in order to keep them in the team.

Nothing is worse for an organization than losing some of their best sales people just because they can’t cope with being in sales.

To give you one example: An insurance agency in Germany with more than 48 branches chose one branch to test this “theory” on. The result? Within 8 weeks they increased their sales by 12% just by simply switching the name from “Finanzberater (finance consultant)” to “Verkaeufer (Sales Rep)”. Obviously it wasn’t only about switching “names” but to get the right training to help with the “identity-crisis”. They estimate that if they switch the title for their sales people within the entire organization, this 12% increase would reflect approx. 10  Million Euro in additional sales revenue. Imagine that. Do you see how powerful it is to give your sales team the right name?

What is your experience with Role Rejection? Do you want to find out if you have Role Rejection or any other reluctance that might prevent you from prospecting and selling? Then click here to find out more about the only test in the world that can measure Sales Call Reluctance: SPQ Gold (Sales Preference Questionnaire). And if you want to take the test feel free to contact us for more details.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

 

What to do…what to do…no more leads…

Are you running out of leads? No idea where or to whom to sell your products or services to? I think every single sales person has been at that stage during their career. But what did they do to get themselves out of it?

Here is a list of things you might want to consider:

1. Contact former customers again to discuss future opportunities. You never know, one of your former customers might need to buy additional products or services from you. Or you can inform them about new developments, activities, events or just want to meet up for a coffee with them to see how things are going after they bought from you. Follow up is a crucial part of sales and a proper after sales service can go a long way and generate new business for you.

2. Ask your former customers for referrals. You may be able to combine this with step 1 but most customers who are happy with you and/ or the service/ product you supplied, have no issue recommending or referring you to some other potential customers. This is probably the best option in order to keep your business going. Especially when you’re selling b2b, business owners/ managers understand the meaning of referrals and some might be happy to help.

3. Look over your old prospects, the one’s who didn’t buy yet from you. What was the reason? Maybe they didn’t buy because of an un-established need? Or maybe they just didn’t like your approach. Contact them again and get some feedback. Yes, it might be hurtful (in some cases) but it’s a learning curve. Feedback is valuable and most people are willing to provide you with feedback of why they didn’t buy from you. If it was you, maybe hand the account over to a colleague. We can’t get along with everybody, sometimes it’s as simple as that. This has nothing to do with you personally. It’s business. And if it’s a great sale, maybe you can even share the commission (if possible) or get an account from the other sales reps to deal with some of their clients. Selling may be competitive, but you’re working in the same company so the goal is the same: Increase the companies turnover and ensure future growth.

4. Re-establish your target market. Have a look again at your old prospects and other companies similar to your target audience in your area. If you don’t know your target audience, or you say, everybody should use my product, then think again. You may think your product is suitable for everybody, but who is actually buying? Make a list of your current customer traits and find companies or audiences that are fitting (age/ type/ gender/ company size/ industry/ country etc.).

5. Try a different target market. I know this one doesn’t correspond to point no. 4, however sometimes if you depleted all your options you may need to rethink your target market and make it more suitable for a new audience. This means, redesigning your pitch, values etc. It’s a lot of work but may be worth your while. If you’re targeting the IT industry for example and you have no more companies to go to (which I doubt but there is always this one sales rep…) maybe a similar market may be suitable for your products or services. Maybe automotive, pharmaceutical, retail etc. could also be a fit for your products. Yes, sometimes we need to adjust certain aspects of our presentations or sales pitches but hey, that’s life. Think why this audience may be able to use your products as well and what are the benefits for them? Maybe they are not in the IT industry, but have an IT department??? Food for thoughts…

6. Go to networking events, join social media networks, groups etc. This will get your name and trait out there. I’m sure a lot of you doing this already but as a sales rep or manager who is employed, how many of you actually go to business networking events to meet new people? A lot of people who are employed wouldn’t go because their company is not paying for it, meetings are held outside office hours / late in the evening or even weekends. If you want to make money, you need to hang out where your clients hang. Easy as that. And if you’re not willing to go the extra mile for your customers, what are you doing in this position? (Sorry for being blunt, but if you are in sales, and no longer have enough customers you need to look at activities that will bring you new clients).

7. Join Networking groups. You can also join local/ national or international networking groups such as BNI (Business Network International). They might be costly, but a lot of people get great value out of it. It’s all about meeting new people and getting referrals, and that’s what those networking groups are all about. Referring business to each other. So, get in there, yes, they are holding meetings usually early in the morning, but honestly, how much do you want to grow your business/ sales?

8. Ask your family and friends. Yes, I’m serious about that. Even if you believe they have no use for your products or services or that they are too expensive for your family and friends. Think about it this way, we all have a network of people and most of us know at least 250+ people that are hanging in our social (media) networks. Besides that we all know between 30 – 100 people which we consider acquaintances, friends etc. Ask them to help you out to introduce you to some of their friends or acquaintances. A lot of sales people don’t want to mix personal life with business life however you are leaving out a massive amount of people that you could easily tap into to get introduced to or do business with. Don’t be shy, get in there. It’s not about convincing your mother to buy your health insurance. It’s about convincing your mother to help you find people who would be interested to buy health insurance from you (I guess you catch my drift here). This is your network as well 🙂

9. Hit the phone. I mean, seriously now. If you have already tried points 1 – 8 and you’re still out of options, then there is only 2 things left to do: Either hit the phone or quit. Sometimes it requires drastic action in order to get back on track. And if that means to open the telephone book or yellow pages to get out there again, then by all means, do it. It will not be the most fruitful time in your life, but usually 1 out of 10 will listen to you and may even invite you over for a coffee to meet. In order to ease the pain of just calling, you could create an email list of companies that you haven’t targeted yet and send them an email first. You may want to do some research but this will take the (extreme) cold out of cold calling. Read my article on successful email marketing and you will see what I mean.

10. Still no luck but haven’t quit yet? OK, here is one last thing you might want to try: PRAY. I mean it, seriously, go to church and start praying. Well, maybe not literally. But talk to your local priest. Even if you’re not a church goer, an atheist, have different faith or religion then what’s locally available, go anyway. Talk to the local priest or pastor. They know a lot of people and they are in the business of guiding and helping people in their most desperate times. Having faith is one thing but maybe the local priest knows somebody who you could talk to to get your business off the ground again? If that doesn’t work you may also want to try chamber of commerce, other business owners/ entrepreneurs, talk to other sales reps even from different companies, join clubs, health and sport clubs etc. Don’t give up. There is a lot of things that you can do that we haven’t even mentioned yet.

A lot of people saying that we as individuals like it comfy. We stay inside the box where it’s cosy, comfortable and nice. But sometimes we have to go to different lengths in order to succeed and need to stick our heads outside of our own box. And most of the times it works. If it doesn’t who’s to say that you can’t take the box, throw it out the window and redesign a complete new box for you? Brainstorm with colleagues, co-workers, managers and/ or other business owners on how to increase sales and get more leads.

You might also want to consider a business or sales coach to help you find new leads.

Thank you for reading. Follow us on facebook or twitter for more current news.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland