Sound Familiar?

Every week we visit companies where we hear of leads being lost or not followed up in time, installation errors and problems and cash flow being interrupted due to delays caused by basic but persistent errors.

‘Hello Mr Jones, How can I help?’…….
‘You rang in on Monday asking for a quote and not heard from us since’

‘Ok yes Mr Jones, I will make sure one of our representatives contacts you this morning’.
Can I just take your phone number again?

If you were Mr Jones would you be impressed? Or would you have even bothered to ring back? Lets face it if a company cant be bothered to ring back to try and sell you something, what are they going to be like when you ring them to ask for help when your door handle falls off ?.

Try this one

‘Hello Mr Brown how can I help?’
‘You would like to accept the quotation for your new conservatory,….. thank you
I will need to get our representative to come back out to get the contract signed.
Can I just check, who was the representative that came to see you?.....
How much was the quote for?.........

No I’m not sure when he will be able to come back out but I will get him to call you as soon he returns to the office.
Can I just take your contact details again?

Again put yourself in Mr Browns Shoes he has probably just made a decision to make the second most expensive purchase of his life after his home, this level of professionalism is not going to impress, and don’t forget he hasn’t signed the contract yet!

The chances are that if he is feeling a little concerned and that you don’t really value him as a customer, and a competitor rings him before your rep, you may well lose the sale.

It’s no good relying on the customer sticking with you because they like the rep, or because they bought from you before. In the current climate you can’t afford to be complacent.

Every day I spend in companies where I hear this kind of thing happening, I wonder how many sales and how many tens of thousands of pounds get lost in this way; and let’s face it this is the first fence, the one you really don’t want to fall at.

Many companies fall down at these early stages and this should never happen. These situations are almost entirely down to a lack of control over the information in your business. It is easy to blame the rep or even the receptionist but ask yourself, is it really their fault?

Would the rep really want to lose that £25K conservatory deal and the commission that goes with it?
Could the receptionist or sales administrator have been a bit more helpful?

But if he or she didn’t have the information from the lead at hand what else could they do. After all you wouldn’t want to not know which customer had rang in to accept an order would you.

Unfortunately by having to ask the kind of questions needed if you don’t have the information at hand, you run the risk of looking clumsy and amateurish.

Let me suggest alternative versions of the two scenarios.

‘Hello Mr Jones How can I help ?.....

‘You would like a quote for some replacement windows,… OK if  I can have your contact details I will arrange an appointment for you now.

Problem solved, happy customer, because they feel reassured that they are asking a professional company to quote. If the sales appointment is booked a couple of days in advance imagine how you will have further enhanced you image when a letter arrives on their door mat confirming the appointment.
Our second scenario goes like this

‘Hello Mrs Brown how can I help?’

‘You would like to accept the quotation for your new conservatory,….. thank you, let me check the diary.

 John is in your area on Tuesday morning would that be a convenient time for him to get the contract
signed? Fine he will be with you around 11.00 am

The result, your rep gets back in before anyone else gets the chance and even if a competitor tries the chances are they will be like the company in our first scenarios.

Which one would you choose?

This is the kind of fundamental change we have helped many of our customers achieve in their businesses through the introduction of the sales control AdminBase affords. Don’t get left behind...

Take Control.