I’m always amazed at how disorganised most businesses are. The huge amount of opportunities that fall by
wayside due to poor management. Let me tell you what happened to me recently. The Car Dealership
I stopped off at my local dealership as I was interested in updating my current vehicle. This dealership is very well-known and spend a fortune on advertising trying to attract more buyers.
I walked in to new car division and was greeted by a saleswoman. I made some general enquiries and at end of our conversation decided it wasn’t worthwhile purchasing a new vehicle at that time. The salesperson didn’t know what questions to ask me and relied on me asking all questions. She obviously hadn’t been trained in selling. When I left she didn’t even ask me for my contact details.
I then walked over to Used Car division. There were two salesmen filling in afternoon, chatting about cricket. I had to interrupt their very important conversation to get some assistance. I then asked all relevant questions (remember I’m buyer here, not seller…it should have been other way around) and I looked at a couple of different cars. Not once did salesman try to point out benefits of cars. All he did was watch me. When I said “thanks very much for your time’”, he said “have a great day”.
Again, there was an opportunity to sell me and he did nothing!
The Real Estate Agent
I went to a seminar and heard a well-known agent speak about how they have successfully built their business and how much they really look after their clients.
A couple of weeks later, I rang one of his agents as I was interested in a particular development. I left a message and mentioned that I was seriously looking and to call me back. I had to ring three days later as call was never returned. The saleswoman gave no apology and was in fact very unfriendly. (Possibly because it was a Sunday). I asked her a few questions and it turned out there wasn’t a suitable apartment in block that would fit my scenario. Instead of asking for all my contact details, she just hung up!
What Should Have Happened?
First of all owners of these businesses should have their people undertake a training course to learn art of selling. Programs like Wayne Berry’s Sales Bootcamp (Click Here For Details) are ideal. Not only that… and this is a big one, they need to learn how to follow up. These ‘salespeople’ should have asked for my contact details and had a system to stay in contact with me. At some stage right product to suit my needs could become available and all they had to do was call an already ‘hot prospect’.
What Can You Do To Increase Your Profits?
Train your people…constantly. You can’t be an expert in everything, send your people out to conferences, seminars and workshops so they can gain valuable skills and utilise them in your business. Make sure you go as well. At many of my public workshops on “How to Have Less Mess, Less Stress and More Success”, quite often business owners and managers send their staff along. Their people gain great benefit from attending, although without a doubt, staff’s biggest challenge is management. It’s management who need to attend most as they can influence change.
Learn how to get organised and manage your time. Business owners are generally too busy being reactive and don’t spend time developing themselves and their people which in turn will develop their business and ultimately make them more money. They’ll also discover how to have more work/life balance. Invest in services of a business coach. A good coach will have ‘the rungs on board’ should also be a good role model of what they do. They’ll show you how to work smarter, not harder. Before signing any agreement, check them out. Speak to other people they’ve worked with.
