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.

Double your sales in 2015 – 11 ways to grow your sales revenue

Our new programme, Double your sales in 2015, is now online and next to some applications we’ve also received some inquiries of how we’re going to double sales. I want to take this opportunity here to talk a little bit about how we can help achieve double your sales figures.

Of course there are companies out there who are doing great and there is not much room to get more out of people. But let me assure you that 85% of businesses are not running on full capacity. They are not even running on 20% of their potential.

I would like to provide you with some facts that I found with my previous and current clients that we easily corrected and the outcome of this:

1. No proper sales techniques or strategy in place (some of our clients didn’t ask sales related questions or showed interest in the customer) – 75% of businesses face this and this equals a min of 25 – 35% of additional revenue once this behavior is changed.
2. No up-selling or cross-selling opportunities taken – 85% of businesses don’t take up-selling opportunities and lose out on nearly 35 – 60% in additional sales revenue. Cross-selling is another factor that is easily overlooked. When this behavior changed, cross-selling amounted for another 10 – 15% of additional revenue.
3. No online presence – It doesn’t matter if you sell online or not, having an online presence is a must nowadays and counts for at least 10% of additional revenue.
4. Use of old (impersonal) marketing techniques that no longer work – Using proper marketing techniques is crucial. We had some clients where we brought in a marketing specialist and this brought another 40% in revenue over 6 – 12 months.
5. Not enough prospecting (no prospects, no sales) – This is the biggest factor. In all businesses we found that prospecting is not done properly and could improve. With every client, we have found that doubling their prospecting activity was not only possible but many of our clients even tripled their prospecting behavior. This lead to over 3 times the amount of contacts made by our clients in a week and revenue skyrocketed within a matter of months. This is the main ingredient to double sales. 200% – 350% additional revenue generated (and no, this is not out there…those are realistic figures that we have come across. One client of ours contacted 3 customers per day, after he went through our extensive programme he contacted between 12 and 15 customers per day. Another client simply switched from a passive behavior to a more pro-active behavior. This shop owner went from order taker to a sales specialist and expert and is now actively approaching customers in his shop moving from serving 20 customers per day to nearly 40.
6. No proper customer service in place – Another big factor, if the service and friendliness in a place is not given, then customers choose to shop elsewhere. Having a proper customer service approach was something nearly 60% of businesses lack. Changing this, made customers come back and spend money in their shop. This resulted in growing revenue by nearly 30%.
7. Too competitive thinking – Competition is good but a lot of people think too competitive. Sometimes customers want a specific product that you either don’t stock or you ran out of. In either case, who’s to say that you can’t source it for your customer with a competitor? Doing so will result in a better service that customers appreciate but also will help keep the spending in town. Talk to your neighboring businesses and help customers to buy locally. Customers will appreciate your help and effort and come back to you for other or additional purchases. This resulted in 10 – 15% increases and helped other businesses to thrive as well.
8. Motivational energy too low with employees and management. – Motivational energy is something we can easily measure. Many employees and managers go into coping mode and this results in low motivation and less focus on goals or targets. Motivation is a funny thing, it’s like bathing if you don’t do it regularly, you start smelling out of your pores. Regular motivational sessions with our clients and their employees resulted in higher performance, less sick leaves and created more employee loyalty to the business, meaning less employee turnover. This resulted also in additional 20 – 25% sales revenue because if the staff is highly motivated it transfers automatically to the targets or goals at hand and makes customers want to buy from you.

9. Not asking closing questions (no pushing or even pursuing of the sale) – I’m not talking about pushing a customer over the edge to get a deal done, but it is sales and sometimes we have to push our customers to help them make the best decision. A lot of sales people don’t ask closing questions. They do everything else right in the sales process but when it comes to ask the final closing question they failed. The customer simply chose a different seller because buying signals were ignored. Over 80% of sales is lost. Increasing the closing ratio is only possible if you get your sales people to ask closing questions and sometimes pushing the customers to buy (gentle because a little nudge can work wonders). Over 50% of sales growth is possible with the right strategy and tactic. Pursuing the sales is another factor that we can and should count in. A lot of sales reps give up after the 2nd or 3rd attempt of contacting a customer. Getting your sales reps to contact them at least 8 times before giving up (12 is recommended) will result in a higher conversion rate as well. This could amount to at least 30 – 50% higher sales figures.

10. Responsibility was handed to ‘lazy staff’ – And finally, if things don’t go right, the management blamed the staff. Taking all other points into consideration, this one was a big factor among our clients. However once we got the management to see the errors of their way, we found the mistakes and corrected them easily (usually getting the Manager to become a leader). This resulted in happy and satisfied staff and resulted in higher motivation and brought along a 10 – 15% increase in sales.

11. No customer loyalty programme in place – Loyalty programmes are great but many businesses don’t have them. It seems they don’t value their customer or they think it’s a waste of time and money. Using the right loyalty programme is key and giving back will always drive more sales. Having a loyalty programme specifically designed to your needs could result in 50 – 70% more revenue simply because customers choose to go back to get that little extra from you.

There you have it. 11 reasons how we can drive more revenue and grow sales by at least 200%. We found most of the points above were missing with our clients and changing their behavior (and in some cases habits) helped tremendously to grow sales revenue.

Our projects take a long time (each project can take up to 3 months) but because we do it thoroughly we not only find the problems in our clients business we can easily correct them. And yes, we guarantee results with our SalesGrowthGuarantee™.

If you are interested in what we do then you have the chance to apply to our “Double my sales in 2015” programme. Have a look, you will find all details here and apply online. www.salesclinic.biz

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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.

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. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

How the right training can boost your company’s image

I think everyone will agree that the right kind of training (sales and/ or customer service/ management/ leadership training) can be a great way to enhance your business.

A lot of companies hire an outside sales or customer service training company to deliver just that. Helping their employees to come up with new sales strategies, better customer service options and overall suggestions on how to enhance the business.

The key issues that I found in my research however show that many companies are not happy with their training provider due to lack of support, changes that are not implemented properly and the motivation of the team starts going down after a few days and revert back to their former self. Also in many cases sales and customer service training is kept very generic and is not developed to the need of the client but rather using off the shelf programs.

So, the big question is, who is responsible? Is it the trainer who seems to fail to deliver on his/ her promise or is it the attendees of the training who fail to implement what they’ve learned on a daily basis? Is it the company which doesn’t want to take on board the trainers advise or simply doesn’t want to spend more money on additional training or consultation/ coaching?

The answer might be shocking: It’s a little bit of everything. Let me elaborate:

Lets say you attend a sales training, the trainer gives great examples, clearly defined strategies (or helps you develop a strategy), great new ways of thinking and even adds how to improve on your customer service skills. You spend 2 days at this training and you come out, highly motivated and ready to roll. You go to your boss, tell them all about what you’ve learned in the training and why things are not working for the company (because now you believe you have the solution) but your boss shuts you down. He hasn’t been in the training, so he doesn’t really understand and from the bits that you remember he can’t really make up his mind if this would be a good way to go or not. So, he says, we stick to the old ways. Or maybe you are lucky and he doubts that this will work but will give you a chance to prove him wrong. So, off you go, thinking about what your boss said, and maybe even agree with him after seeing his point of view. Still you want to give it a try and now, with your boss’s point of view in mind you try your best and after one day fail to deliver. 2 days after you find yourself in the same misery as before, training is long forgotten and nothing changed.

Did you ever experience something like that?

Maybe you are the boss and your company sent you to a sales training to come back and deliver this training afterwards to the employees. You come out of the training, you think you know it all and give now your answers to the employees or sales team on how things should be done from now on. You’ve done your job, and now it’s up to the team to take your (crippled) information and make the best out of it. And to your surprise, it doesn’t work. Did you ever experience that?

Or a third scenario, you are the boss, you and your team have been trained by the company, you all agree on the changes that are required in order to make this work but find that after a few days, nothing really changed? You may have meetings about it, how to implement the new changes, you uncover some challenges on the way and suddenly decide that maybe it’s not such a good idea or you are stuck for answers?

Now, here is the reason of why this is happening:

1. You are capable of only remembering approx. 15% – 25% right after the training (this is the moment you step out of the training room and somebody would ask you what do you remember). No matter how good or bad the training is, and how much you keep writing during the training, it will not help you deliver the entire programme to your team or your boss.

2. Within 24 hours after the training your memory will even more deteriorate to approx. 5 – 10%.

3. 5 days after the training your memory will get worse and you remember approx. 1 – 3% of the training.

4. You are not a trainer or coach. Unless you went through extensive training becoming a business coach or sales trainer (and lets face it, barely any managers are) you are not capable of delivering the training to your staff (no matter how good you think you are).

5. Without any follow up coaching in place, no matter how many training sessions you’ve had, you will not be able to make it work.

6. Without the buy in from management about any changes that the training company suggests, you will have no chance of succeeding and make the training work for you.

There you have it. 6 points of why things are not working. In order to make any training work let me summarize in a more positive way what you could do to make this happen:

1. The right consultation is key

Training needs have to be assessed first. It’s important to understand the needs of the company as well as the individual needs of the attendees. (Interviews with management and key personnel (or maybe even all personnel that need to be trained) should be done to understand the training requirements.

2. Get management to buy in first

Buy in from management is crucial and in order to see the point of the sales trainer or consultant it is important that the management understands the changes that are required (if any) for the training to work.

3. Get agreement from management on necessary changes

The company should agree upfront on the changes that are required or needed in order to drive more sales or customer service and be happy with them. No matter how good a sales trainer you hire (or if you are a trainer then it doesn’t even matter how good you are), the trainer can only deliver on the information you provide and the changes that you are willing to take. If you don’t want to take certain risks, then the trainer need to know this information before hand in order not to make any suggestions on how to sell or improve your services.

4. The training should be created around the key areas and changes.

Training can only be successful if it is created with the companies needs in mind.

5. Training should be delivered to management first and staff second

It is important to deliver first to the management (if possible entire management) to make sure all points that have been agreed on are covered, to see if anything is missing and to get the entire management behind the concept. Afterwards training needs to be delivered to the remaining staff/ employees.

6. Follow up coaching to help implement the changes and discuss any challenges that the team might face over the coming weeks

Follow up coaching is probably the most important aspect of the training. It empowers the team and managers to find the best solutions on how to implement the changes and will provide the success that is needed in order to get the team to the next level.

So, how can this boost your companies image? Imagine you’ve had a training, a great training and you had somebody help you implement what you’ve learned during the training on a regular basis? That will give you the focus that you need and helps you drive sales and customer service levels. Your sales team will not be required to make any drastic changes right away but will continue to improve over a certain period of time until peak levels are achieved. Your company’s image will now rise to become the best in their field and the reason? Because you understand the training needs of your employees and now you can find the right training and coaching company to help you achieve greater results that you could have hoped for.

One thing I would like to add is that remember how long it took you to learn anything in school? No matter what the subject, but to get a complete understanding it took you years of learning and practice. So, why do we think that sending our staff to a one off sales or customer service training will do the trick? Let me assure you, it won’t. In order to implement what they’ve learned during the training course, follow up coaching needs to be provided. Only then will you see the results. It takes approx. 28 days to change a habit. If your sales people have bad habits, then the training might be a way in to create a new more positive habit, but only by doing the things that need to be done on a daily basis can your team start to excel. This can only be done with coaching the person (or group) on the required changes. And isn’t that why you spend the money on the training in the first place?

What is your experience with training companies? Or maybe you are a trainer and would like to share your opinion? I would love to hear your opinions on the subject.

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.

 

Hotel Reception: How to grow your revenue

Any hotel reception is the first point of contact for customers/ guests coming into a hotel. This is the first impression any guest will get and it’s important to make a great impression.

However a lot of people (hotel staff/ managers/ directors and receptionists) think this is not a place to sell. I believe it is the most important place to sell and I will elaborate on that in a moment.

Any reception is dealing with different type of customers:

1. The ones who didn’t book and just ask if there is rooms available

2. Guests who booked before and want to check in

3. Local customers who are looking for bar/ restaurant/ gym/ spa etc.

4. Guests who checked in previously and now want information from the reception on available services, asking what’s in the area etc.

5. Guests who are checking out

The reception area is dealing with all sorts of customers and representing the entire hotel. If your experience is great while checking in or talking to the receptionist, your overall perception of the hotel will improve. However if your experience is bad, long waiting times, neglected services or you have a receptionist that doesn’t really care then no matter what you do with the rest of your hotel, the experience will be bad for your guests.

Here are a few tips on how to improve your customers experience with you:

1. Use the right time greeting (Good morning/ good afternoon/ good evening)

2. Introduce yourself by name (Good morning sir/ madam, my name is xyz. How may I help you?). This is important as you will make a difference to your guests straight away. You will make their experience much more personal if you introduce yourself by name.

3. Put all your attention to the customer if possible. Try not to get side tracked, answer phones etc. unless you have no choice (being the only one at the reception). If you are the only one tell your customer to excuse you for a moment and apologize. Greet and acknowledge other customers when they come in and wait for you. A simple nod and smile is more than enough.

4. Always smile. It’s one of the most neglected things people do but it’s also one of the most important. And it doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with customers direct (meaning face to face) or over the phone. A smile can be heard through the phone line.

5. While you checking in your customers inform them about your loyalty programme and sign them up. Make sure you know the benefits by heart and give them 1 or 2 reasons of why they should sign up. This will create loyalty and brand awareness. You should aim to sign up at least 80% or more of your guests.

6. If you know about any special offers this is the time to test your customers. Ask them why they are in your hotel (business or pleasure), and make a referral about any area of the hotel. For example if they are there for business you can mention the great Jacuzzi to relax after a hard days work or special offers for the spa, etc. You can also mention any special deals you have in the restaurant. You would need to ask sales related questions of what they would like to do and then make the right recommendation to the guest. You may even be able to sign them up straight away.

7. Make them aware of in-room purchases such as mini-bar, movies etc.

8. Make them aware of any other services that you offer such as 24 hour dry cleaning for suits etc.

9. Prepare a welcome package for your guests of available services within the hotel, what’s available in the area and special offers or vouchers. To give you an example that will definitely make your guests go for dinner in your restaurant (if they haven’t booked it) might be a dessert voucher for every day of their stay. Basically if they decide to go for dinner in your hotel then they can use the voucher to get the dessert free of charge. Think about it, how many people would go for dinner if they get something for free?

10. Sell, sell and sell. Selling is natural and it provides your customers with a great experience. The points I’m raising here are not meant to be taken all at once. Choose some of them especially on the sales aspects. It all depends on your customer and what they would like to get out of their stay. If they want to rewind and relax use the spa option, sell spa treatments etc. If they are there for work, offer lunch and/ or dinner in your restaurant, and book a table for them if needed. You may also sell wine/ champagne, flowers, chocolates, or any other hotel accessories that you may have.

Reception is a great way to boost sales if done right. And it can be done without pressuring or pushing the customer into buying something from you. Think why they stay in your hotel, what is special about your place, what is available in the area and how you can make your customers stay even more special.

Food for thoughts.

What is your experience with hotel receptions? Let me know.

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 

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.

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Carsten

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

Referrals

A lot of sales people believe that asking for referrals is just plain wrong. One shouldn’t ask to be referred to somebody else. However this blogpost today is all about asking for referrals and making sure that you will get the most out of your sales call.

Referrals are the bread and butter for any business no matter how big or small they are. And lets be honest, that’s how most businesses stay in business by asking for referrals. They have even incentives of bring a friend or reward you when you refer a new client to them. Sometimes it’s even worth asking what could you get out of that deal if you refer a customer to this business.

In SalesClinic for example we reward our customers, prospects and even people who may not have a need for our services and just want to refer us to somebody with a referral scheme. We pay 10% of the sales price that is agreed with the newly “referred” client.

Not every company provides this kind of referral scheme but may have other incentives (or none) for referring customers to them. But we find it can’t hurt to ask.

However if you don’t ask for referrals you don’t get. Simple as that. In fact, if you decide that you would ask every customer that signed up with you for a handful of referrals you will receive on average 2 – 3 referrals from every second customer you ask. Some sales people are so good they even get referrals from every single customer.

But what amount of business do you miss out on if you don’t ask for referrals? This depends obviously on your products and services that you sell but you could lose thousands and some people even millions of Euro in lost sales.

So, when is the right time to ask for referrals?

Well, that depends on the individual but I find the best way to ask for referrals is during the closing. However I do prepare my clients on this upfront and let them know that I will come looking for some referrals once they’re happy with the deal or service that I provide. In my case some people might want to wait to see how I perform during my training or if I can help increase their sales turnover before they start providing referrals but many clients are happy to refer this on to their customers and network while we sign the contract.

Why are referrals so important?

Referrals are the engine of every business. And I’m not talking about give me a handful of names so that I can call them. I’m talking about a hot referral or a warm introduction. It’s important for the client to understand that they need to make the introduction and you’re not just going after it. Once the introduction is made and there is a genuine interest in what you do, then you nearly won the gig. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to work for it. But it’s much easier now that you got introduced by your customer who already knows that you are brilliant, and closing the deal will be much easier.

I personally don’t believe that there is a certain technique to follow on how to ask for referrals. It all depends on the client and on your own closing technique but I doubt that there is a formula for success except to ask for them.

Now here is the tricky part. I’m also asking for referrals if my potential customer does not sign up with me. Yes, because sometimes it might be just that they can’t work with me because of company policies or that they already signed somebody else for a similar type of service and they have to follow through with the contract. If that’s the case then I got nothing to lose and I might still get something out of it. By asking if he/ she would be happy to refer me on to some of their customers or other companies they do business with I usually get a few referrals from every 3rd client. Not everybody is willing to provide me with referrals but again, if I wouldn’t ask, I wouldn’t get and this is my way to make a name for myself in the market.

Do you ask for referrals or do you have a secret to success that you would like to share? Then I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment or send me an email if you don’t want this to be published. Also if you believe it’s plain wrong to ask for referrals please share this as well. I would be delighted to hear other opinions and why you are not asking.

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 

 

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