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Answer You - Inside Sales and Service: Your Frontline to Gaining Competitive Advantage
Running a business gets so demanding, that we often can't see the wood for the trees. We become preoccupied with ensuring that everything in the business works the way it is supposed to. In other words, we spend most of our time working in the business.The problem with this operational focus is that it is easy to lose sight of what could be done in the business to make it run better. The business will only prosper in the long term if you devote a lot of attention to improving how the business works and increasing its capacity.Spending a lot of time working on the business, makes it grow in the long term. Business growth is sustainable and things just keep on getting better. If necessary, get other people to work in the business. Working on the business should be your top priority.Failure to work on the business causes it to become trapped. It is almost like the business gets stuck in a box. The business is unable to dynamically take advantage of opportunities. And it fails to adjust to a rapidly changin g environment. Eventually, the business starts losing its competitive edge. A one way downhill trip becomes almost inevitable.Most businesses fail or under perform because business owners spend too much time working in their businesses. And not enough time working on their businesses. The biggest fall out is during the first year. 29% of new businesses never make it into their second year. And 65% of businesses close their doors within the first 5 years.Research shows that the biggest cause of business failure is the lack of a Strategic outlook. People who start businesses tend to be very focused on operational issues. The preoccupation with working in the businesses causes an almost exclusively Operational Focus.The lack of a Strategic outlook means that little attention is paid to lay
The meat of any sales letter lies in its ability to make readers pull out their wallets and buy a product or service. Making a sales pitch is difficult enough off paper; on paper, it has to be quick, terse, and convincing. A sales pitch has to be brief, but neither too short so that it appears hurried, nor too long so that it becomes less and less believable as the sentences run by. A sales pitch also has to be eager, but neither too eager so that the reader is tired out reading it, nor too staid so that the reader ends up bored to death.Writing a sales letter pitch is difficult, but you can practice writing it by following these simple tips.- If you are in the marketing or sales department of a company, writing a sales letter will be inevitable business for you. You might not be assigned the job at once, but this should be no excuse for you not to practice. Do not wait until you are given a sales letter to write. Start practicing, so that when you finally get sales letter writing duties, you are already an expert at the art and craft.- Buy a good book of style and usage. Writing a sales letter does not merely mean putting together sentences and disregarding grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. You need to watch your language, and now, more than ever, simply because it is your only weapon in fighting your big sales battles. A poorly-written sales letter can turn off customers faster than a poor product or service. After all, customers will not care about what you sell until they know that you care about them first. If you cannot care for your grammar and writing skills, then why should they buy anything from you? The last thing anyone needs is a careless person, and your customers know that.- Practice the craft on products or services that you are familiar with. Start practicing writing sales letters on a product or servic
What role does Inside Sales/Customer Service (IS/CS) play in today’s sales process? How does the company leverage the existing relationships between IS/CS and the customer? The answer to this question plays a key role for upper quartile performers. Upper quartile performers understand the important role played by the inside sales person, customer service and counter personnel. “A Player” field sales reps are not threatened by the fact that the majority of inbound calls are handled by IS/CS personnel because the majority of these calls represent a sales opportunity for the company. Customers who call in do so for the main purpose of fulfilling a need, which often leads to the placement of an order. Customers are very dependent upon inside sales personnel for information, suggestions about products, substitution products, application help and expertise, new product information, new services, delivery information and promotional opportunities for cost savings.
Inside sales and customer service personnel have more customer contact than anyone else in the organization. IS/CS people take more than 80% of all orders placed. This means that the IS/CS are in a better position to influence buying behavior than the field sales person. Progressive managers truly understand what that means in regard to market share growth. They know that the consistent use of suggestive selling techniques, up selling and promotions can have a dramatic impact on average order size and increase share of spend in each account. IS/CS personnel traditionally build relationship equity, and many customers would give up their contact with field sales before giving up their relationship with inside sales and customer service personnel. This is the frontline in the battle for success. Customers have not only come to expect it, they demand it. It can become a competitive edge, the differentiator for your business compared to the competition. It’s about the commitment the company has made to customer demands for world-class service.
Equal and Critical to the Success Formula
This demand for world-class service makes IS/CS just as important, if not more important, than the outside sales force in driving growth and creating success. Many companies, however, do not fully understand the critical role IS/CS plays in the success formula for increased sales, market share growth and profitability. The reason for this lack of understanding is primarily due to the lack of adequate measurement systems to determine the full scope of work and specific roles of the IS/CS service group. This lack of adequate measurement systems leaves department managers in the dark when trying to determine departmental activity, direct contributions to success and individual productivity. These metrics are necessa
Before any document is finalized, you need to let someone else take a look at it. I cannot stress enough the significance of this step! Letters, memos, reports, brochures, even important e-mails—any writing that will see the light of day— should be read by others before you send it off because:• Feedback sharpens your final product even though it may drive you crazy, take time, or make you feel like you’ve bared your soul to the world.• Feedback does not mean you have to give up your voice or throw out what you’ve written. Feedback does not equate with criticism.• Feedback is getting another perspective—that of the different audiences who will read your document.• Feedback means that when you hand the document over for review, you ask for specific suggestions from your reader, not just a pat on the back. By getting concrete answers to the questions below, you will be armed with crystal-clear ideas. Also, think about soliciting help from at least two people unlike you in personality.• Feedback raises the expectation in the organization that words are important and that writing well is a shared goal.Who you are professionally is mirrored in your writing. Taking time for feedback can avert the loss of revenue, image, or clients. A superintendent of a large urban school district said, “I check my ego at the door and listen intently to the advice and ideas of others.” A CFO of a large hospital concurred. “I will always ask others to read my material. The first question is ‘What does this say to you?’”Start by making a feedback sheet with some or all of the following questions on it. Clip it to your document and circulate to people you trust to give you honest feedback.Have I been specific enough?Do I support my ideas with evidence that is objective?Do I pres
Inside sales and customer service personnel have more customer contact than anyone else in the organization. IS/CS people take more than 80% of all orders placed. This means that the IS/CS are in a better position to influence buying behavior than the field sales person. Progressive managers truly understand what that means in regard to market share growth. They know that the consistent use of suggestive selling techniques, up selling and promotions can have a dramatic impact on average order size and increase share of spend in each account. IS/CS personnel traditionally build relationship equity, and many customers would give up their contact with field sales before giving up their relationship with inside sales and customer service personnel. This is the frontline in the battle for success. Customers have not only come to expect it, they demand it. It can become a competitive edge, the differentiator for your business compared to the competition. It’s about the commitment the company has made to customer demands for world-class service.
Equal and Critical to the Success Formula
This demand for world-class service makes IS/CS just as important, if not more important, than the outside sales force in driving growth and creating success. Many companies, however, do not fully understand the critical role IS/CS plays in the success formula for increased sales, market share growth and profitability. The reason for this lack of understanding is primarily due to the lack of adequate measurement systems to determine the full scope of work and specific roles of the IS/CS service group. This lack of adequate measurement systems leaves department managers in the dark when trying to determine departmental activity, direct contributions to success and individual productivity. These metrics are necess
If you are in the mobile car wash business or mobile automotive detailing sector you are well aware that your very best customers come from referrals. Phone book ads, flyers and people who simply see the signage on your rig are not usually the best customers. Sure all customers are good, but it is a known fact that most people refer up. In other words they refer to people they perceive to be better clientele with more money or nicer cars.Knowing this makes referrals even more golden. Marketing you Auto Detailing Services or mobile car wash businesses through referrals makes more than just cents. The best way we have found to get the best referrals is to put a rose or a mint on the center console with a little card folded in half and set like a mini-A-Frame sign which thanks them and inside says.“If you like our work, please tell a friend and receive a fifteen percent discount for each new customer you bring us.”It also makes sense if someone goes over board in compliments of how nice their car looks after the detailing services to ask them for referrals and they will be glad to take some of your business cards and hand them out. Give them three and if they want more they will ask. You must ask for referrals if your want to get the best customers in auto detailing. Consider this in 2006.
Equal and Critical to the Success Formula
This demand for world-class service makes IS/CS just as important, if not more important, than the outside sales force in driving growth and creating success. Many companies, however, do not fully understand the critical role IS/CS plays in the success formula for increased sales, market share growth and profitability. The reason for this lack of understanding is primarily due to the lack of adequate measurement systems to determine the full scope of work and specific roles of the IS/CS service group. This lack of adequate measurement systems leaves department managers in the dark when trying to determine departmental activity, direct contributions to success and individual productivity. These metrics are necess
The function of Human Resource Management contains a number of activities. The most important among them is to understand your small or home-based business’s recruitment needs. HRM is responsible for deciding that whether to hire freelancers or appoint full-time workforce for the business setup you have. Hiring and training the best workers, making sure that they are high performers, ensure your personal management practices and try to be conventional to various policies are some of the Human Resource Management activities.Mostly commercial or non-commercial small or home-based businesses have to carry out the human resource activities by themselves, as they cannot afford recruiting human resource management at their early stages. Conversely they should make the employee certain about the terms and conditions and the corporate policies of your business. Usually, those rules, regulations and policies are mentioned in the appointment letter provided to them at the time of their hiring. Besides that, do not make the Human Resource Management (HRM) confused with the Human Resource Development (HRD). HRD is a much broader spectrum of which HRM is a part.The functions of HRM can be dealt easily and effectively in a small or home-based business setup by the business owner. Yet, the Human Resource Management functions are different for small, medium or large size entrepreneurs, and it place emphasis on how leadership, organization and devotion played important roles in organizational success.Next to the general management work, HRM practices are the most important activity in small or home-based business ventures. Study shows that smaller firms grow in HRM practices if giving importance to training of its employees and group-based incentives on a basis of total quality management strategy. But the HR practices have generally languished in sma
Equal and Critical to the Success Formula
This demand for world-class service makes IS/CS just as important, if not more important, than the outside sales force in driving growth and creating success. Many companies, however, do not fully understand the critical role IS/CS plays in the success formula for increased sales, market share growth and profitability. The reason for this lack of understanding is primarily due to the lack of adequate measurement systems to determine the full scope of work and specific roles of the IS/CS service group. This lack of adequate measurement systems leaves department managers in the dark when trying to determine departmental activity, direct contributions to success and individual productivity. These metrics are necess
As a manager or leader you will no doubt have responsibility for undertaking staff appraisals. If you have been appraised in the past by your manager it can appear easy and it should be. So how can you make appraisals effective and powerful sources of staff motivation?PlanningPlanning is the key to effective appraisal. Make sure that:1. You schedule appraisal meetings at least two weeks before the appraisal date2. You book a room for the appraisal3. All of the pre-appraisal documentation goes out to the employee at least two weeks before the appraisal with clear instructions on how to complete it. Within this documentation include a draft agenda4. You set time in your diary to carry out the pre-meeting work5. You block out sufficient time for the appraisal in your diary. Ideally, I suggest that you block out a minimum of 2 hours for the meeting and have a gap of at least 30 minutes before the start time and your previous meeting6. Re-familiarise with any company guidelines and training materials that might existAppraisal MeetingThe key to an effective appraisal meeting is to put the appraisee at ease. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to spend a few minutes at the start chatting more generally about how things are going in life. As the appraiser is important that:1. You set the scene including being clear what the meeting is about and what it is not about2. At least 70% of the talking should be done by the appraisee not you3. You give the appraisee the opportunity to give their own self assessment of their performance before you4. You don’t interrupt them even if you don’t agree with something they are saying5. When you are giving your feedback, you are as specific as possible and ideally include examples to illustrate. For example, I no
Many companies have not upgraded phone systems to determine the number of inbound calls taken daily by sales people, in addition to measuring call abandonment, average time per call, transfers, voice mail and other metrics important to creating an effective IS/CS support strategy. However, even at those firms that lack these essential metrics, demands are often placed on IS/CS to utilize suggestive selling and up selling techniques on inbound calls. Additionally, many companies assign outbound call responsibility to IS/CS and some even create quotas for these calls.
On an additional note regarding phone systems, some executives were sold on the idea that voice mail could improve IS/CS productivity and address the issue of peak time inbound call burden. Failure to consider the customers’ perspective can be a critical mistake. Voice mail cannot enter orders or answer questions. In other words, customers’ needs are not handled efficiently at their convenience. It does, however, give the customer some options. Those options include: waiting for the return call, faxing the order or request, or calling a competitor who is better organized and more efficient. Voice mail cuts the customer off and inhibits building relationship equity. It just can’t provide analysis and solutions to even the tiniest problem.
Let’s Get Real
The reality that exists in most companies today is that IS/CS personnel are extremely busy just handling inbound calls. Some IS/CS personnel may handle up to 100 calls per day and the related task that each call may entail. With the volume of traffic exceeding reasonable expectations regarding their ability to build on relationship equity, most IS/CS personnel are motivated to end each call as quickly as possible to get off the phone and take the next call in the queue. The time they spend with each call is more than just taking orders. These calls may include requests for literature, quotes, expediting, logging and entering claims and complaints, checking inventory, and even fielding calls from outside sales per
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