February 2008
The following article was first published in the Eastern Daily Press' 'The Business' on 20 February 2008
Everyone's a salesperson
The last time you telephoned a business to make a sales enquiry and reached a recorded voice that asked you to `choose one of the following 13 options', did it put you in the mood to make a purchase? After finding a few desirable articles of clothing in a department store, but then failing to find a sales assistant to conclude the sale, did you feel like leaving everything in a heap and going to a different shop in the hopes of receiving better service? When leaving your car at the dealer for its periodic servicing, was the mechanic you dealt with rude and monosyllabic? Was your last online buying experience so confusing or frustratingly long-winded that you gave up long before getting to the `checkout' stage?
Each of these shows how an opportunity for making a sale can be lost because either some employee has not treated the customer well or because the systems for looking after customers are ill-conceived or poorly designed and executed. They all demonstrate an ignorance of the fundamental precepts that we should make it as easy as possible for a customer to buy, and that everyone who comes into contact with customers (and many that don't) have roles to play in making a sale.
People make buying decisions not only for logical, rational reasons, but also, very importantly, for emotional reasons - because of the way they are treated by others. Even hard-nosed purchasing professionals accept that we prefer to buy from someone we like. So it's vital to ensure that everyone in your organisation is aware of their responsibility as a salesperson.
The receptionist, in the way she greets visitors or answers the switchboard telephone has an important influence on how people view your organisation. Service engineers, visiting customer to maintain equipment that your business installed are in an ideal position to find out how happy they are with their purchase, and to discover what future needs why might have that could lead to another sale. A carpet fitter, finishing a job a cleaning up so well that the customer's house is tidier that when he arrived gives such a good impression that the next time the customer needs a room carpeted, they are more likely to return to the supplier that provided such excellent service. Friendly, helpful delivery drivers, supermarket shelf-stackers who take time to accompany you to the product you were seeking and people at the returns desk at your local DIY store who make the whole experience easy and painless - all are examples of employees who make a significant contribution to the successful sales efforts of their company. Even those in your business that don't usually make direct contact with customers can have an impact. Efficient administration, fault-free manufacturing, speedy dispatch and delivery - each positively affects customer satisfaction and retention.
Finally, in case you thought I'd forgotten them, there are all those with a sales or marketing role. They're vital. It's their job. But they shouldn't be alone - virtually everyone in the business is in one way or another a sales representative and, when their energy is harnessed, you'll have a sales force to be reckoned with.