sales experience but is passionate and knowledgeable , you can teach them certain techniques , provided they have at least a good people-oriented personality . And we ’ re not talking about weeks of sales training – we ’ re talking about the basics . Number two , they need to be knowledgeable enough and have the ability to recognize what needs to go with that product . As a generic example ; I go onto the hardware store and ask to buy a can of paint . It makes sense that the sales person would not just sell me the correct can of paint , but would ask if I need brushes , a drop cloth , and anything else that would go with a painting project .
The chapter in the book [ Amaze Every Customer Every Time ] is , “ We don ’ t want them to come back .” That sounds crazy , and we do want them to come back , but we don ’ t want them to come because we didn ’ t tell them they needed something and they need to come back for that
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particular project or purchase that they made .
CMT : In terms of those who are only in “ sales mode ” and go for the hard sell , versus those who are more relaxed and like to chat casually and take their time with the customer , are both approaches fine or is there a happy medium ?
Hyken : This is where it ’ s important ; if you ’ re in this business long enough , you ’ re going to recognize what the sales cycle looks like . You know , I love the layup ! The customer comes in and knows exactly what they want . That ’ s easy and takes a minimal amount of time . But I also know when somebody is getting ready to make a purchase and may or may not be shopping my competition , too . It ’ s not like they ’ re thinking about $ 18 purchase for a cable or a $ 25 purchase for a tuner , but what they ’ re maybe getting ready
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to do is buy an instrument . That could be a guitar that ’ s a few hundred dollars or a keyboard that ’ s $ 1,000 or a piano that ’ s $ 15,000 . It ’ s kind of like selling a car . You ’ re probably not going to say , “ I need a car ,” and go out and buy the first car that you see . You ’ re going to learn .
So , as an owner or manager of the store , I need to recognize what the average sales cycle is . Number two , I need to recognize what the lifetime value of that customer is . Number three , I need to recognize what the average purchase is in each of these areas . When I can understand all three of those , I ’ ll start to recognize , on average , how much time it takes to make a sale of that particular type of product ; like the expensive musical instrument versus a song book .
So , when I start to understand all that and I start to teach my people all that , they ’ re going to be comfortable knowing that ,
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“ Hey , I ’ m going to be spending time with people who aren ’ t going to buy and I am going to be spending time with people who are ready to buy , and I know that I have to do both .” But it is an education about the customer to the sales person that helps them understand that when that person walked out and didn ’ t buy , it ’ s not because they didn ’ t do a good job selling . We have to understand what mode they ’ re in .
I will say that if they ’ re looking online and they ’ re looking at the competition , whatever competition that may be , I ’ m going to assume that we ’ re selling something that is probably fairly close in price , or maybe exactly the same price . The person who can deliver the best experience — and that experience comes from not just being friendly , but I ’ m talking about an easy and knowledgeable experience in this world — is going to get that customer to say , “ I ’ ll be back .”
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SELLING REPAIRS |