One of the most successful sales turnarounds that I have been part of was when I was GM Sales & Marketing at ihug. There we had a very averagely performing sales team who could answer questions but couldn't close the sale. After six months of coaching, rewarding the good performers, changing the team around the results were still very similar. So we knew it was time to do something different.
To turn things around we turned around our whole sales process. Instead of talking about closing the sale we changed the language to opening the sale. This focused the team on asking the right questions to qualify customers and identify needs. Opening sales turned the focus into starting a conversation rather than just answering questions. It turned a reactionary team into a proactive team.
Previously our sales conversations would be something like;
Customer - "Hi I'm interested in getting an internet connection..." Sales Person - "Great we have 3 different dial up accounts, the Starter plan which has 15 hours of access, the mid range plan... ...we also have 4 different high speed accounts the fast start plan, the get going plan, the next plan up and the ultimate plan. The fast start plan has 3 Gb of data and 5 free email accounts, the...
You can see that this conversation is very one sided. The sales person telling the prospective customer about all the products. At the end of the call the customer is too confused to know which is the right product and often wouldn't be able to make a decision.
Instead of a one way conversation you need to have a two way dialogue. You need to get the customer to tell you something about themselves so that you can then tailor your response and recommend to them the products that best suit their needs. So instead the conversation might go like this.
Customer - "Hi I'm interested in getting an internet connection..." Sales Person - "Great have you got an existing connection" Customer - "No" Sales Person - "OK - what were you needing the connection for" Customer - "I've just brought a computer and I want to get online" Sales Person - "Great, is the computer for home use or business use?" Customer - "Just at home" Sales Person - "That good, can you tell me a little bit about your house hold, will others use the computer, do you have any children, what do you think you'll be doing online" Customer - "No problem, my wife and I have a 5 year old and we've primarily got the computer for him" Sales Person - "Great, so do you want to be able to use the phone while he's on the computer? Customer - "Yes!" Sales Person - "And what do you think you will be doing online, mostly just email, banking and a bit of online surfing or would you be looking to do lots of movie or music downloading etc? Ask questions to qualify and recommend. You get the idea. What we're doing here is opening the sale, finding out enough about the person so that we can find the right product for them. That is the right product for that customer - not telling them about every product in the range.
Give options so the customer can still make a choice. Even though you might know exactly the right product for the customer, give them some options and then explain why your recommendation is right for them. People don't like it when they are only presented with one choice, they then make a choice between yes and no. By presenting two options you can give them a choice between yes and yes!
Getting some details. OK but how do you get the sale! Once you are sure the customer has agreed with your product recommendation you just asked them if you could get some details. These details at worst allowed the team to identify qualified customers if they didn't buy but did call back. And often once you have started taking down their details then ask "would you like me to arrange installation for you?" more often than not you will get the sale.
If you are talking sales - remember who you are selling to, treat them with respect, understand what their needs are, and recommend something that suits them. If your product isn't right, tell them. Have some integrity, it will show and you'll generate the results over the long-term.
Duncan Shand is an experienced commercial advisor who is passionate about growing companies by applying strategy and marketing skills. He has over fifteen years experience in senior financial, marketing, sales and general management positions across a range of NZ businesses from large corporates to small manufacturing companies, including NCR, Air New Zealand, ICPbio, ihug and more recently clients of InsideOut. Duncan has a BCom (Economics & Management), DipCom (Accounting & Finance), and a DipBus (Marketing). He specialises in developing growth strategies and accountable sales & marketing solutions.
InsideOut is a business growth consultancy specialising in creating Strategic Business Plans that deliver growth.
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