Taking orders is easy. Anyone can do that. And you don’t need to be a salesperson to be successful at it. The real trick to managing an order related relationship or long distance relationship with a customer is your account management skills. Dealing with a customer that you may never see, requires the same skills as face-to-face sales. The challenge is recognizing that, even though you never see them or meet them, you still need to go through the relates-learn-solve process. Since you are not seeing or meeting them, the discipline relating to this process is heightened.
Lesson #1 – Know why:
In these inside sales situations, the customer is often the one who initiates the call. Knowing why involves why they called, what they are looking for, why that is important and how they envision you or your company providing that solution. If you don’t ask, you don’t know. Not knowing is a dangerous place to be. If you don’t know why, how can you really know you can help them.
Lesson #2 – Know what:
The next step is knowing what to do for them that provides what they are looking to accomplish or buy. Since you know why, giving them what they need is easy. Of course, you are obligated to explain to them why you are giving them what you are giving them. This demonstrates value. And if they want something that does not meet their criteria, you are obligated to find out why they want that when it is isn’t really what they need.
Lesson #3 – Now what:
Here is the big differentiator. You know why they called, what they need and what you are providing them. Great. Now is the time to make a big difference. Give them something that they didn’t think about–special instructions, a follow-up call, added technical advice–to go along with their order. They were simply ordering something. What they didn’t expect was a professional resource that offered a little extra advice, support or customer service. That is what will bring them back.
It is easy to answer the phone and take an order. It takes a great sales professional to keep them calling back. Do the work.
Dave Cooke has recently launched his program the Sustainable Revenue Formula™ (SuRF), which provides businesses a comprehensive formula for effective and sustainable revenue growth. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the white paper, “Revolutionizing the Future for Today’s Business”, please contact me: dave@salescooke.com.