Do you offer a high value product or service that is only really available to businesses with deep pockets? Do you offer flexible payment solutions?
If the answer is No then you need to read on.
Making your product affordable or linked to the cost benefits it creates is simply a non-brainer. A product that saves £300 whilst costing only £200 a month is a very attractive proposition.
By allowing your customers to spread the cost of their investment in your product you are making your product easier to sell without affecting your cash-flow negatively.
How can this be?
By allowing your customers to rent or buy your product over a fixed-term contract can result in your business getting paid for the product in full upon delivery and your customers to pay monthly or quarterly.
With some schemes, at the end of the term of the contract ownership of the equipment can be passed to the customer, the lender or the seller and this can mean that the product can even be returned to you at the end of the agreement.
I have found that many businesses that use this service are able to satisfy the needs of customers with all budgets: Companies that want new equipment can be assured that they will have their equipment replaced every three years whereas businesses with less available capital are able to rent the equipment that is no longer required by others for a low rental. The company that made the original sale get to provide value and make money from both clients and therefore everyone is happy.
Funding services are provided by a number of operators, for more information feel free to contact us.
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So you employ salespeople.
Whether you have one salesperson or one thousand - the requirement is simple, they need to be making you money. But how do you judge this?
Do you judge it on the performance of the last month, the last quarter, the last year, the ongoing orders from their initial sales or the back end value to your business?
This is a really tough but really important decision. If you employ salespeople or plan to then it is vital that you decide how to measure their success or failures.
I have worked with and for a number of businesses where their requirements of me were not clear. Would they prefer that I deliver ten clients a month who spend £1000 each or one client a year worth £300,000? The client who spends £1000 will be a significantly easier sale than the £300,000 spending client but what is better for your business? Lots of regular income that covers the costs of the salesperson each month or more income in large bursts but with the added cash-flow pressures of funding the salesperson while they try to win the larger deals?
It is really important that you do not become the employer that wants it all ways. It is perfectly possible to have a good mix of sales but if you are one of the 4.9 million small businesses in the UK it is unlikely that you will have a salesperson delivering twenty clients every month spending between £1000 and £300,000 anyway.
You need to decide what your ideal client is. Is it a client who makes just one large order or one that makes orders every month? Is monthly profit or back end value your primary objective? Can you achieve both? Are the skills of the salesperson suited to gaining your ideal client? Should your salespeople be focused on new business only or are they required to look after existing clients too? These are all questions that you must ask and answer before you employ salespeople as these issues will arise constantly and will cause confrontation.
I used to own a telecoms business. Before it was sold in 2012 we offered a huge range a products and services ranging from telephone lines and calls through to telephone systems and maintenance contracts and even with clearly defined responsibilities there were conflicts constantly from hungry salespeople chasing every deal they could. If a salesperson sold a telephone system to a new client all was simple but what if that client wanted to spend another £20,000 after two months? Who should run that sale? The original salesperson or the account management team that looked after the customer post sale?
We in fact worked out that the initial sale was of little value to us so we rewarded the salespeople very well for the initial sale and we retained the benefit of forward business. The salesperson was happy with the lions share of the profit on the original deal whilst we wanted the long term value from the client and managed the relationship thereafter and paid the salesperson a token percentage of all future business - this worked well as they felt there were getting something for nothing.
Only once you have considered, planned through and communicated the criteria can you start to measure the success of your sales staff. If your business is based around a single sale to a single client then clearly performance is easy to assess. But if you get an initial order and then lots of regular orders or other elements of your business are able to cross-sell products into the same client then the ultimate value gained from the initial sale can be much harder to measure. This complication can be increased if there are other salespeople further down the line who are also making sales to the customer and need to have their success assessed.
Salespeople are very territorial and feel like they own every client they sell to and there are some arguments to back up why they should feel this way. They did, after all, win the client originally and could therefore argue they are best placed to manage all the needs of the client. But then what happens is that you can have salespeople doing very little work as they are able to earn significant income from the sales of their existing base and therefore new business can dry up.
It is a challenging problem for many businesses.
There is no right or wrong answer as every business is different but I think every decision you make in this regard should be solely based on what is right for your business. If you allow the decision to be clouded by the views of salespeople then you will regret it.
Of course you want to ensure people are rewarded for their performance but you pay commission for that. You do not pay commission to salespeople for them to demand anything beyond that reward. You need to make sure the targets of your salespeople relate to the needs of your business and then when targets are met you can be sure that your business objectives are also being met. This method will stop your salespeople making great money while your business is not progressing.
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Quite a question!
Any business needs their sales staff to be self-motivated, driven and focussed on success but to what extent?
When I started in my life of sales the salaries were low, the commissions high and the rewards were there for all that wanted them. These days it all seems a little different. I see adverts weekly in the press offering sales positions with generous salaries, car allowances and high commissions.
I know that the UK Minimum Wage regulations impacted on the packages of salespeople but I can't help feeling that life is a little easier for the salespeople of today.
I started my sales career when I was eighteen years of age. Full of chat and proud of my Ford Escort. I had a suit from Burtons with a jazzy waistcoat to match. I started training on a Monday morning in 1992 and by the Wednesday I was told to get on the phones and start making appointments. My basic salary was £6,000 per year, commission of 30% of the profit and a hope of a company car after three months if all went well. There was little monitoring during the month but on the last working day we were either publicly applauded for hitting or exceeding target or derided for low sales. It was hard work with great rewards for the winners and humiliation for the losers with the possibility of being fired.
We had to work very hard, my first appointments were made between 0915 and 0930 and my final appointments were as late in the day as I could make them. Monday to Friday was dedicated to work and weekends were my downtime. It was not uncommon for me to leave home at 6am and return at 11pm and still have correspondence to catch up on.
I am pretty sure I would end up in a tribunal if I demanded a similar performance from the salespeople of today.
I know there are still many very driven salespeople out there but things have definitely changed. At one recent sales assessment we completed for a client the sales team made their first appointments of the day at between 10:00 and 10:30 depending on the travelling required. The last appointments were generally made for around 3:30pm and often earlier if the return journey was long. All this means that the business of today may well only get one third of the effort of twenty-two years ago - whilst paying salaries of perhaps four times the amount.
For many of the sales people I meet now the effort required to make good money is significantly less and that can only be a bad thing for businesses. What shocks me is the apparent offence at my suggestions of what I regard as a "full day's work". "If I need to leave home at 6am then I want overtime" "I am not paid enough salary to work those hours" "that appointment is not in my territory so I am not doing it" are just a few of the comments I have heard in the last few months. I have heard sales staff being critical of telesales staff for making appointments with customers that are "not convenient" or not acceptable because "Man City are playing....". My particular favourite is "my basic is only £45,000 a year and is not enough to do that" when suggesting sales meetings happen outside "core selling hours".
I am unsure if the market has changed or if people have. Is dedication, commitment and "hard graft" a thing of the past with sales staff? Whether it is banging on doors, writing letters and emails or getting on the telephones - all these tasks are the fundamental duties of a salesperson and yet when I mention them I am often met with a look of utter contempt. "I don't make my own appointments" "I am too busy to get on the phones" are worryingly familiar comments.
Now I know there are vast amounts of sales staff out there who are incredibly committed and work hard for their employers and are not afraid of the good old "hard graft" but do they work for you? Are they the norm? I am sure I sound like an old misery complaining about the good old days but really, why are employers so less less expectant of hard work from their salespeople these days? There seems to be a culture emerging in many businesses that sales staff are paid a salary for simply being employee's and if hard work is demanded then that of course costs more!! Hitting sales targets used to be necessary in order to keep your job - these days it attracts a bonus.
It seems to me that in an awful lot of businesses the salespeople have a sense of entitlement to large salaries for not performing and then get very annoyed when this is suggested!
When I am called into a business with under performing sales staff one of my first objectives is always to get some old principles introduced. A working day structured around using the core hours of 0930 - 1700 for face-to-face meetings with proposals, quotations and correspondence being completed outside the core hours. The old values of hard work for big rewards really can still be instilled in sales staff but it is a much harder task to introduce this to an existing sales team rather than making it clear at the point of recruitment.
There are also a number of disciplines that I consider to be essential within any sales team. Appearance should be expected. Nothing that catches the eye whatsoever. A standard, well fitted suit, white or blue shirt, conservative tie and clean shoes. This attire will be expected by a client and will present a professional appearance. I have never allowed salespeople of mine to personalise their own appearance, regardless of the latest fashions or trends. I have lost count of the salespeople I have sent home to shave or clean their shoes, whom I have lent a tie to replace the "Where's Wally?" tie or insisted that the huge tie-knot is retied into a standard Windsor Knot.
This may all seem petty and certainly does annoy salespeople but there are a number of elements to be considered; They are being paid by you to represent your business and therefore you have a right to decide how, within reason, they dress. It also demonstrates respect for your business, if a salesperson cannot be bothered to adhere to your dress requirements they are very unlikely to be bothered about any more procedures you have in place in the sales process. Salespeople should be paid a salary to reflect their skills, position, experience and to provide some degree of financial security any worker is entitled to. But this salary should clearly be defined as being paid to be a salesperson with commission being paid for achievements. Therefore, hard work, dedication, additional hours when required, wearing suitable work attire and always working in the interests of the business will be the norm and do not become things that attract additional pay or benefits.
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This is a challenging blog as most businesses think they are doing all that is required, some are and many are not.
Yes it does seem an obvious question and many think the answer is obvious, but when did you last actually think about this? It is likely that your customers have a perception about your business; what you do well, what you offer and what you do not. Are these perceptions correct? Do you know these perceptions?
I sometimes find businesses that are quite lost in this area. They are nearly always very well established and profitable and those are quite possibility the reasons why they have gotten a little lost. They feel like all is ok, the bottom line is stable, cash-flow is stable and there are no worries.
It is a very simple perception to tap into. Think of yourself, if you need a tin of paint your mind will instantly take you to one or two sources and you will have perceptions about those sources..expensive? Not a great range? Good advice? Easy to park? Fast delivery? If the sun is shining and you want a beer with a pub lunch, again your mind will take you to a few possible destinations and your mind will have made instant assessments about those options...nice food? nice beer? too busy? nice garden? good service?
It is these perceptions that can define your business. It is these perceptions that others will pass on when asked. It is likely that their perceptions will be the judgements they pass on.
As a consumer it is easy and natural to find things you don't like about any business, you may like the overall business and may be a loyal customer but there will be some things you wish they did differently.
The big problem is that most people don't like to tell you what they don't like about your business, they will find it much easier to tell others! This can be very frustrating for the business owner as most owners I know would change anything in a second if they knew their customers did not like it.
The advice for any individual business is so varied it cannot be condensed into a blog post but certainly there is lots that can be done to both understand these perceptions together with ensuring you benefit from the positive perceptions and manage or change the bad.
There is some general advice we can offer that applies to most businesses;
- Be open. Let your customers feel they can offer feedback, whether good or bad. Remind them it is the best way for you to serve them and improve what you offer for them.
- If online, offer discount vouchers from the next order for a review of your business.
- If local, offer a suggestion box or a prize draw with a comment card designed as part of the draw entry.
- Have an open day or evening event for clients where clients can pop along and chat informally over a glass of wine while seeing your products or understanding about your services.
- If online, there are great products out there like www.surveymonkey.com who provide a really simple interface for you to ask questions of your customers. This an be a great tool to offer at the end of a checkout process.
It is this fine-tuning of a business that can make a significant difference to the bottom line. Your business is there to serve its customers and it needs to adapt accordingly. If you run your business to suit solely your needs then you are, without doubt, inhibiting its growth.
Talk to SalesFriend, talk to your customers, talk to local people if local, post on forums if online....it's the simplest advice I can offer...talk and ask.
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Sales falling? Income dropping? Sales staff demotivated?
It is very tough when things are not going to plan. It can be very hard to pinpoint what is wrong and it can be very easy to jump into conclusions as a panic measure.
I have managed sales teams and sales processes for many years and have seen all the ups and downs. From the euphoria of winning the huge deal to the bewilderment that can come from a flat month of sales - these are the highs and lows of running a business that is dependent on sales.
I have learned along the way that there is very rarely one single reason when things are going wrong. It is often a myriad of reasons that individually make little difference but collectively can be very damaging.
Very often if things are not going as normally expected then something will have changed. It may not be obvious but it does not need to be. If you have sales staff it may be one of the team who is unhappy and dragging others down. If you have changed prices or service levels then perhaps your customers are not as happy. Perhaps there is a competitor who is out there talking to your customers. Whatever the reason the important thing is not to panic and to understand that these dips can be difficult to understand and require a balanced approach. I have lost count of the times I have been involved in trying to understand a drop in sales and then being equally mystified when sales suddenly increase without any changes being implemented.
There is no textbook for sales, there is no sure-fire path that sales follows. If sales were a person it would be the your best friend and your worst enemy, it would be the life of the party and the misery in the corner. It would be moody on a bad day and uplifting on a good day. At best it would be unpredictable and at worst it would be downright cruel. It could leave you feeling amazing and it could leave you feeling you are useless. But overall, you would want sales in your life. Embrace sales, regard them as a challenge you can enjoy. Know they will be a pain sometimes but remember they can make you feel such huge pleasure. In the end, it's normally worth knowing sales.
The big problem with sales is that it has so many elements, so many component parts that all need to work together to produce positive results. For sales to be successful then the seller, the product and the buyer need to be synchronised perfectly and this can be very hard to manage for the business owner. You can, to some degree, influence the behaviour of your sales staff, you can manage your products, services and suppliers and you can hope to influence your customers or prospects.
Sales needs to be constantly kept fresh, it needs to take account of what others are doing. It needs to be reactive and reflective. It needs to be open enough to embrace change and yet disciplined to remain consistent.
It is for all these reasons that sales is a constant challenge and getting it right constantly is impossible. You will make mistakes and judge things incorrectly, you will get things wrong and you will learn from these mistakes and you will get better. Things that happen will always take you by surprise and somethings and as long as you expect the unpredictability then you will always be well prepared!
I consider that my failures contributed heavily to my overall success. I feel like I achieved what I wanted to achieve by accepting that failure is a part of sales. You won't win every customer, you won't close every deal, you won't always win the deal you expected to win. But if you learn to understand these events you will ultimately start to control sales rather than be at its whim.
Ultimately an external review is always worthwhile. It can let people with no prior history of your business evaluate everything about your sales process, your customer satisfaction and the moral of your most important assets - your staff. SalesFriend can just help you understand your sales. We will engage with your staff, evaluate your overall offering and help you monitor and manage the future. We can take a look over your literature, your online presence, your advertising and anything else that we think can impact on your sales.
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