Do you have rules and procedures that your employees are trained to follow consistently?
Are your employees tracking every phone call and treating each call as a sales opportunity?
If your business is like many other, you probably don’t know the answers to these important questions.
The following secret is a great technique to find out if your employees actually are following the procedures that they have been trained to follow. (You do have a training program in place, don’t you?)
Have a family member or an associate call your business and ask a few simple questions about your products/services.
You may be shocked and appalled at the answers that they receive. You may begin to realize how much business you are losing every day.
Make test calls on a regular basis, record them, and play them back to your employees. Then, have your employees help you to develop telephone scripts that answer all of the “frequently asked questions” that they receive from your clients and prospects.
You also should train them to sell “accessory” or “add-on” or “back end” items. These could add up to an additional thirty percent or more in sales.
“Would You Like Fry’s With That?”
“Would You like one fork or two with your desert?”
Develop a tracking system to find out whether or not your marketing efforts actually are profitable.
Be very careful, your employees can intentionally or mistakenly sabotage your marketing campaigns by not properly tracking incoming phone calls, on-line orders, or walk-in customers.
You may have a winning marketing idea, but if you do not have the data to support its profitability, then you may think that it isn’t working and cancel it.
Do you encourage your employees to read or listen to basic sales and marketing information? It’s amazing how many businesses do not talk to their employees about these important subjects. Not doing so is a big mistake.
“I hated every minute of the training,
but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live
the rest of your life as a champion.'”
– Muhammad Ali
Many of my clients have made it mandatory for their employees to read various sales and marketing materials.
When these employees have finished with the materials, they are directed by my clients to take a small test that confirms that they have actually read, understood, and will implement the marketing ideas.
Ultimately, this basic training will help your employees to understand your marketing methods. This should improve their understanding of how you run your business and lead to increased sales and profits.
Make all of the training courses and use of the training materials mandatory to remain an employee of your company.
If you need outside help with training, get it. This training will pay for itself with lots of additional business from both new and current customers.
If you need help locating good training for your staff, try your local library or give me a call at (248) 335-8080.
What are you doing to train your employees properly?
If you play by the rules of your industry,
(Westminister, 1990).