Improve Your Flooring Business - Looking After Sales Opportunities
For this article, I am returning to my favourite subject when it comes to growing a retail business.
Follow-up is the most powerful tool available to salespeople, yet invariably we don't do it or don't do it well. Contacting someone who has been in our store, taken samples, or given a quote seems to be the most challenging activity for our salespeople.
It's not hard to understand why. None of us wants to appear pushy, and nobody likes rejection. Also, decades of sales training has complicated something that is actually very straightforward. I have been successful in sales, not for any unique personality qualities and not because I attended sales courses. My recipe for success in sales is very simple whether I was selling flooring or, as I do now, sell software solutions:
Engage with the customer. We don't have to be an over-the-top personality; in fact, the bar is quite low; be well presented, be friendly, listen to the customer and try not to offend them.
Ask questions to understand their needs. Demonstrate you have been listening by showing them products that meet their needs.
Progress the opportunity. Selling flooring is a series of stages. At each stage, we should be looking to take the process to the next stage, inviting the customer to take samples, asking for the opportunity to measure and then to quote.
Follow-up to a conclusion. We only build a relationship with a customer by following up at each stage. Along the way, we will lose some opportunities, but by following up, we will know about it, ideally learn why, and then have more time to focus on our remaining opportunities.
Have a system to manage your sales opportunities. There are many ways to do this, but however we do it, it's essential; otherwise, we will lose track of opportunities. Every opportunity should have an outcome (won or lost) or a date for the next follow-up activity.
Your salespeople are probably doing well in the first steps of the process above, but almost inevitably, they will be reluctant to do effective follow-up.
When it comes to the fear of being pushy, in fact, 99% of customers are impressed to receive follow-up calls; they see it as good service. And yes, we will experience rejection; it's part of being in sales, but those losses enable us to focus on those remaining opportunities that will turn into sales.
If managing sales opportunities is challenging for your business, you might want to consider a Customer Relationship Management app (CRM). RFMS is flooring-specific management software, and we have recently added a CRM app to our tool bag. If you want to see what application this might have for your business, contact us at the email below, and we will arrange an online demo.
Chris Ogden is a consultant and Managing Director of RFMS Australasia (rfmsANZ.com), a supplier of IT solutions for the flooring industry. Chris has an extensive background in all aspects of the flooring industry, and he can be contacted at cogden@rfmsanz.com.