Follow The System: The Solution to Sales Success

Have you ever had to deal with one of those annoying PPI Cold Calls?  I did this week; three times in just one hour!

Now you might be saying, “Why on earth would I take three cold calls?” and the truth is I am always looking to learn and, if you ever come across a master cold caller, they are indeed a great source of learning. So too are poor cold callers; they teach me what must be avoided when any business is using the phone to generate leads.

Back to my three cold calls in an hour and what is to be learnt from the episode…

Call one, was an extremely nice, courteous, charming and engaging young lady, who had obviously studied and worked hard at mastering her craft. There was no hint at all that she may have been reading from a script and, in actual fact, it was a very pleasant conversation.

Call two was less than half an hour later from the same number, only this was a different operator all together. Definitely reading from a script, sounding just like a robot, before she had finished reading her opening statement, I interrupted to let her know I wasn’t interested.

Call three, and it was a case of ‘send in the heavy mob.’ An extremely pushy young man, who totally ignored anything I said until I put the phone down on him.

So, three totally different experiences from three cold calls from the same company. It was easy to figure out what was wrong with this approach (apart from poor target marketing; I’m not interested in PPI claims because I know I don’t have any). There was either no system in place or they were not following the system.

A system is a series of steps designed to produce an outcome. A well thought out and well executed sales system is the difference between consistently great sales results and the hit and miss results that a great deal of businesses achieve.

In fact, apart from having the wrong person in a sales positon, it is probably the biggest barrier to sales success.

Sales is a lot like the dating game, or 1^st base 2^nd base, 3^rd base, home run. As you all know, going for a home run on the first date is not a very well thought out strategy and normally ends up badly. A better approach…

1^st date, 2^nd date, 3^rd date and when you get to know and understand each other you have the opportunity to form a partnership that could last for ever.

So, a question for you; do you have a dating… sorry… sales system in your business?

Do you have a systemised, scripted method for moving people through each stage?

Does each stage have a clear outcome? Bear in mind, the outcome from the first stage will not be the same as the outcome of the third stage.

How effective are the scripts your team are using?

What system do you have in place for testing and measuring each stage of the system?

How often are you studying the results of your test and measure to ensure consistency across your sales team?

What are you doing with the information that the numbers are telling you?

If they are tracking the numbers, I would definitely like to ask the owner of the cold calling PPI Company what the numbers are telling them. My guess would be that operator one was getting the best results, whilst the other two callers were getting very limited results.  The lesson here would be that if they wanted to get a more consistent result, model the master, model operator one; discover how she does what she does build a system around her method and then train, train, train the rest of the team until they can do the same. If they can’t, get new people.

Whenever I meet a potential client, the above questions are a just some that I might ask. I am surprised at the number of businesses that have little or no sales system and that always leads to me asking the painful question “How much is that costing you?”

The Difference That Makes The Difference In The SME Market

Back in the early 90’s, having been fortunate enough to have had some real success with turning around failing hospitality businesses, we found ourselves being headhunted by several of the major hospitality chains.

We were approached by someone in Whitbread to see if we could help raise the profit margins in a business that, on the face of it, was really successful. 

Turnover was growing year on year, it would fly through industry audits and yet profits year on year were in decline. The business definitely wasn’t reaching its full potential.

Always being people that enjoyed a challenge, we accepted their offer and the adventure started.

On the surface, this was a magnificent business, but on closer observation it became apparent that all was not right.

After a gentle few days easing into the new position, we were faced with our first weekend of trading; a time where sales really ramped up. It was our first opportunity to meet one of our new Assistant Managers, Martin.  We didn’t get to spend as much time with him as we would have liked that weekend because Martin's role had been established as being that of moving from table to table dealing with complaints!

That was all he did all weekend; appease people by using his charm, free drinks, free deserts, a free meal, or (if all else failed) a total refund. No wonder the profits were declining.

Complaints were mostly about the amount of time people had to wait for their meals and, at peak times, they escalated to include the quality of the food.

We called a team meeting to discover the team's thoughts on what was happening and to look at ways of overcoming the challenges. Upon speaking to the team, it became apparent that there was an underlying theme to everything they were saying. It all boiled down to one particular belief that I hear so often in just about every business I work with: “That’s the way it is in this industry, people come in and they try it on.”

For this team of people, the proof that it was true was that all they had ever witnessed was people complaining and because they complained they got a refund. So I asked the question, “Aren’t our customers right to ask for a refund? After all, we are not living up to our promises; a great meal served to their table within a set time and in a great atmosphere?” That is when limiting belief number two surfaced, “At peak times, it just can’t be done...we cannot deliver meals in that time because the kitchen can’t cope!”

The problem here is that they had become so used to being told, “It can’t be done,” that they believed it. Instead of looking for ways to overcome the problem, they had learned to live with it.

I see this happening, day in, day out, for a great many of the businesses owners that I come into contact with. They are stuck in a rut thinking, "That’s the way it is in my industry."

One of the best ways to overcome this challenge is to look for exceptions. Who in the industry is not accepting these limiting beliefs? What are they doing differently? What empowering beliefs do they hold?

That is usually met with a barrage of, “They are bigger than us and we don’t have their money, their people, their location, their luck etc.” A whole new set of limiting beliefs.

These limiting beliefs are not true.  Notice they are BELIEFS, not facts. They are just a set of excuses used to prevent change and the fact of the matter is you can OUTSERVE anybody; it’s a choice for you to make and when you make it, the difference to your business can be outstanding.

So, the difference that makes the difference for the SME market is outstanding service, and the brilliant thing is everybody can achieve it and it needn’t cost you a penny.

The fix in this particular restaurant was to show the team that it could be different, that we could meet our promises to the customers and when we did that, life at work would get whole lot more enjoyable. We showed them that they would be a happy team and that would have an effect on the customers too; a real win-win situation.

All it took was for me to call in a couple of favours from chefs that had worked for me in previous restaurants. The idea was that they would work with me for a weekend whilst the regular team of chefs came in and observed.

With a few systems in place, better preparation, the right people in the right places at the right time and a determination to get it right, the next weekend was a breeze. Complaints were down by over 90%, and the team had a new realisation that working the kitchen could be different at peak period; there was another way.

In the six months that followed, turnover vastly increased, complaints became a thing of the past, staff turnover was cut by over 80% and profits DOUBLED!

All it took was a decision and that decision was to OUTSERVE our competition and it can be the same for you in your business.

Question for you: “When are you going to make the decision?”

Suggestion box empty? Here’s how to get it filled to the brim with great ideas:

Whilst attending a superb NLP Course a few years ago with PegasusNLP, Reg Connolly, the core trainer shared a concept that really resonated with me and has been a principle that I share with all my clients; “None of us is as smart as all of us”.

Sometimes a business can get a little bit stuck and the owner can be struck with the, ‘I’m expected to know everything disease,’ when in actual fact, this isn’t true; nobody knows everything. Yet, because some think of it as a weakness, they will not show vulnerability in front of their team in case they get ridiculed, they never ask for suggestions to fix problems and so the business stays stuck.

As individuals we have knowledge, maybe a lot of knowledge. As a team, we multiply that knowledge, so together we definitely have way more knowledge than one individual. We are also able to tap into different perspectives. Other members of your team will be looking at a problem through a different set of eyes and that means they may see things that you may not have.

There are numerous ways of tapping into this valuable resource, but the one I would like to concentrate on today is the use of a Suggestion Box.

When I have put forward this idea to clients, some, have been quick to point out that previously a suggestion box didn’t really work, mainly because there were few  suggestions in the box that had anything to do with business and most would  require them need to be some kind of contortionist for them to be achieved.

The problem is that there has been no 'buy in' from the team. So, how do you get 'buy in?' You keep things fresh by changing the criteria, and the rewards.

For instance how about you have something that captures the attention with a different business challenge and different form of recognition every month:

January: Submit your best ideas for welcoming all new clients. Winner     celebrates with dinner for two at a top restaurant.

February: Submit your best ideas for how we can eliminate bottlenecks at the till. Winner receives a one year subscription to a gym of their choice.

March: Submit your best ideas for improving service between two or more departments. Winner from both departments get a trip to Alton Towers.

April: Submit your best ideas for speeding up a service process. Winner gets a voucher from a local sports shop.

May: Submit your best ideas for winning back the trust of clients when we get it wrong. Winner gets an extra day off.

June: Submit your best ideas for reducing costs whilst maintaining or improving our service. Winner takes home a percentage of the savings.

July: Submit your best ideas for increasing our sales through better service. Winner gets a day’s corporate package at Chester Races.

August: Submit your best ideas for recruiting new team members who live our values and are motivated by our vision. Winner enjoys a day of adventure at Zip World.

September: Submit your best ideas for benchmarking other organisations. Who should we visit and why? Winner gets to drive an Austin Martin at Silverstone.

October: Submit your best ideas for reducing costs by 10%. Winner gets a day out at a Spa.

November: Submit your best ideas for how we can sell higher margin goods. Winner gets a day at a sporting event of their choice.

December: Submit your best ideas for new topics for our monthly suggestion program. Winners get to see their ideas put into action next year.

Do you think you would get more buy in with this type of scheme in place?

Consider some of your top challenges and ask yourself the questions, "What would I gain if that challenge was fixed? What would it be worth to the business to fix this? What impact would it have on the team if it were fixed? What impact would it have on me if it were fixed?" You will now have an idea on how much you might be willing to invest in prizes for the winner.

Just imagine what your business and your life would be like if in a years’ time you achieved twelve major fixes in your business.

If you decide to give this a go and why wouldn’t you drop me a line and let me know how it works for you and the improved results you have achieved from implementing it.  Or for some further reading, try Ron Kaufman who also writes about the potential of this and other strategies in his brilliant book Uplifting Service. 

Is the need to be right sabotaging your customer service?

Whilst visiting a client last week, I was able to witness a phenomenon that not only gets in the way of a great many business, it is also a real drain on profits; the need to be right.

A customer had emailed in to complain that the product they had purchased had not been delivered on time and was now causing the customer further challenges because it was holding up other parts of their project, meaning it was having a ripple effect of complaints from their own customers.

The team in the office immediately launched into an investigation, searching through emails, agreements and logged phone calls, not to solve the problem for the customer, but to prove that the customer was to blame for miss-communication in the first place.

I went into my client’s office where we, as usual, had a very positive session, during which I mentioned what was unfolding in the outer office.

Our session lasted an hour and afterwards my client and I both went to see what the outcome had been in the ‘blame investigation’. The team were still searching through emails when we arrived. They were determined to prove the customer was wrong no matter how long it would take.

It turned out, in actual fact, that the customer was right and the delay was caused by a failure to process the original order because a team member was off sick. Now they were into the justification game and the excuses started to materialise.

My client calmly asked, “Where is the product?” to be told that it was in the warehouse just 50 metres away.

What’s stopping us from delivering it today?”

“It’s not been scheduled.”

“Okay let’s schedule it for this afternoon, apologise for the situation we have created and inform the customer that the order will be with him today after all.”

Let’s analyse what has happened here:

·         The customer (who was placing a justifiable complaint) was a little emotional because of the challenges and stress that it was causing them.

·         The team responded in an emotional way, “We must be right!”

·         The business owner remained calm and dealt with the situation in a logical manner.

There is a real lesson here for all businesses. Whilst it would be great to get things right all the time, the truth is that sometimes we get it wrong, which can lead to angry customers. The key here is instead of getting defensive, which is a reaction to feeling attacked, we need to acknowledge the customers frustrations and show respect for their emotions. In actual fact, it would be really beneficial if you could become an advocate for the customer by making sure they know you have ‘got it’ and understand their objection.  

For instance:

Your customer says, “I’ve been waiting for ages. Why has it taken you so long to deal with my order?”

You say, “We understand that speed is really important to you and agree you deserve fast friendly service…”

Notice how this response makes the customer feel right. We don’t argue over the facts, rude staff, lost emails etc., but we do actively agree on the importance of what they value most.

The customer is not always right. But business = customers, so they are always important and we can make them feel much better by agreeing with them on the importance of the service dimensions they identify and value.

As a positive footnote to my client’s situation because it was dealt with (and in way that was up to the customer’s expectations) they placed a further £50k order the following day!

Grow Customers: The Secret Sauce to Business Success.

I was talking to a business owner at a networking event last week and he excitedly told me how everything was awesome and he was loving every minute of his entrepreneurial life.

“If you could change just one thing in your business what would it be?” I asked.

“The amount of money I spend on marketing,” he replied.

“Interesting can I just ask what is the lifetime value of your customers?” I asked.

“What’s does that mean?”

Like many others in business, he was falling into the trap of focusing way too much of his time and budget attracting new customers, whilst ignoring the goldmine in his business; the customers he’s already got!

In his highly recommended 1995 book, 'Up the Ladder of Loyalty,' Murray Raphel describes the idea of leading your target market through a staged journey: suspect, shopper, customer, member, advocate and finally raving fan.

Getting customers, keeping customers and growing customers is all about building long term relationships; I suppose you could say it’s a bit like the dating game…

Step one: define your ideal partner, what traits, characteristics, values, behaviours do they have? How ambitious are they? How much do they earn (Turnover)?  Etc.

Step two: Once you have a clear picture in your mind, you would then start your marketing; where are you going to find these people/businesses in the highest volume, where would they hang out? Could be a dating site, golf course, gym, night club. They are now suspects, people who could potentially be interested, but are not aware you are in the market place and what you have to offer.

Step three: You would now start raising your potential partner’s awareness to the fact that you are available by making your presence felt in locations you would find them. Prospects.

Every now and then somebody will show an interest they will agree to a date. They are willing to give it a go and see what the experience is like. Shopper

Depending on that first experience they may be into the idea of having further dates. Customer

Once they get to know like and trust you and see the benefits of sticking around you they might be ready for you to pop the question and get engaged. Member

You get married this is for keeps. Advocate.

Settle down have a family and you all live happily ever after. Raving Fan.

Something for you to consider is in your budget, you have got a budget haven’t you? What percentage of your turnover have you allocated to marketing? How much have you allocated to looking after the customers you already have?

Studies have shown that 68% of customers take their custom elsewhere because of perceived indifference. Businesses go to the expense of acquiring a customer only to let them slip through their fingers by failing to work at building a long lasting relationships. Just as in the dating game this can be a very expensive exercise.

What processes, systems, and strategies do you have in place to move your customers up each step of the ladder of loyalty?

If your answer is little or none, how much is that costing you?

It’s not about the service, it’s all about the experience...

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is the key to McDonalds success?” Now you probably aren’t thinking it’s because they make the best burger in the universe… or that they provide above and beyond service…. or that they have comfortable plush seating and surroundings….

It is, in my opinion, not the best burger in the universe, the service is good, if not a little basic and the restaurants are built for speed and not necessarily comfort. So, why are they so popular?

Consistency.

It doesn’t matter where you go on this planet, visit a McDonalds and you can guarantee the same experience, every time, served by 16-19 year olds. If you were to ask those same 16-19 year olds to tidy their bedroom, it isn’t going to happen.

In the post today, I received a customer service survey sent by my Dentist who I experienced the pain of visiting recently. The questions were all what could be called ‘ego’ type questions ‘how good are we?’ There were no questions asking what my experience was like. As surveys go, it will be a waste of time for the Dental Practice because it will provide little or no relevant useful feedback and therefore the issues that could make a real difference to the practice will not be addressed. As with a lot of customer feedback, it is designed more to tick a compliance box rather than hold the mirror up to uncover the true issues in a business.

Most of my family and a great deal of my friends use the same Dentist, so I playfully carried out my own survey based on one question “What is your biggest frustration when dealing with this dental practice?” You might expect that I would get answers like being unable to book appointments or dealing with unhelpful staff; there were some, but they were definitely the minority. The number one issue was that appointments rarely happened on time and up to an hour could be spent in the waiting area to see the dentist.

An interesting distinction here is that because this is a constant, it always happens, most of the friends I had spoken to just accepted that that’s the way it is, so they made allowances for the delays in the time they set aside for the appointment. I couldn’t help wondering what the feelings would be like if there was an inconsistency to the appointments, on time sometimes, 30 minutes to an hour late at other times?

It would seem then, that we are prepared to accept poor service, so long as it is consistently poor!

The challenge is, in a commercial environment, customers will eventually be lost to a slightly better competitor.

In other words, if you are not aware of how your customers truly rate the experience of trading with you, it is really easy to get complacent because they stick around for a while and that can lead to thinking you have got it right.  When they leave you, it is all too easy to enter into the thinking that they have left for a cheaper competitor, you blame it on price.

In business, particularly during periods of growth, it’s all too easy for delivery to become erratic as resources become stretched. Your team may feel they no longer have the necessary time to provide the same level of service and it gets pushed down the priority list for the more urgent demands of the day.

It is really important at all times to monitor customer experience. Step into your customers shoes and see how you do business from their perspective. Do the ‘customer walk’ through your business, become a customer of your own business you will be surprised at what this exercise can bring to light.

If you want to stay ahead of your competition, whilst they are in the mindset of customer service, change your focus to your customer’s experience and have the infrastructure in place to constantly update your systems to provide at the very least a consistent experience.  Do this and your competitors will always be playing catch up with you.

One last interesting question you might like to ask yourself, “Are customers willing to pay a premium for a better service experience?”

If you would like to learn more about this subject take a look here……