Are You Employed By The Sales Prevention Department In Your Business?
I received this from a friend of mine recently………
A couple of weeks ago I was in town getting my teeth drilled (my dentist thinks I crack teeth for a living
when I thought I’d quickly pop across the road to my local retailer and see what phones they had in stock. * Did it again Yesterday and need two more fixed*
I generally shop fast, so I was ready to find my phone… pay for it… and walk out within 5 minutes.
In a nutshell, I was an easy sell. I wasn’t going to chew up heaps of the salespersons time. I wasn’t a tire kicker. I was ready to spend money.
Here’s what happened when I got to the shop.
Firstly, they were busy. Fair enough. Everyone gets busy. Hard to manage when there’s more customers in the store than you can handle – and not always easy to plan for.
But here’s how they handled it. The salesperson told me they were really busy as if I was a “bother” for asking instead of recognising that people like me… paying customers… are the whole reason why his job exists.
And then when I did finally get another salesperson to see me, I asked about the phones, to which she had little or no knowledge. And determined there was only one phone for me because it had a speakerphone (so when I’m on hold for 30 minutes, I can also work) and it was chorded rather than cordless which I prefer for my office.
But I didn’t buy it. And there are a few reasons for that. To start with, it was a brand I hadn’t come across before. “No problem with that, but I’d like to check it out first.”
Sorry. You can’t check it out. That’s not company policy.
And we don’t have systems in place for that.“Well, I guess if I take it and it doesn’t work any good then you’ll let me bring it back within 7 days… or 30 days… or a certain period of time. Right?”
Wrong again!
Unless it’s faulty as per the manufacturer’s specifications, you cannot return it.
And then the four magic words: that’s just company policy.
I walked out. They lost a sale.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw an article in one or two years time talking about this company that went out of business because of “the recession”.
Don’t make the mistake in your business. Take a look at all the different aspects of your business and identify what you are doing to prevent sales.
Are you failing to train your salespeople?
Are you failing to create powerful proposals?
Are you failing to create ads to generate qualified leads for your business?
Are you failing to keep in touch with your existing customers?
Are you failing to ask for referrals?
Are you failing to partner with other businesses with similar customer lists and help each other out?
Are you failing to tap into resources designed to help you get more customers. like
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then take a moment to have a chat with the “sales prevention department” sitting in your mind and holding you back.
Let them know you are the boss now and you’re not going to put up with any more of this nonsense. And then get to work and let’s make the world prosper again – starting with YOU.
All for now,
Bob “The nonGeek Geek”
P.S. Chris Elmore from GuitarTips.com.au is an extremely savvy marketer, but without knowing it, his sales prevention department was working hard for years.
When he turned it off… he almost doubled the results of his web site.
The Psychology of Selling
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