There are always good reasons why salespeople sometimes allocate their time poorly.
No one is 100% in control of their time, but if salespeople expect to increase their customer base and do more business, it’s a good idea to examine some ways to get more done.
A good place to begin is to remind yourself of the Pareto Principle. You may know the Pareto Principle by another name: the 80/20 rule, meaning that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes.
All customers deserve to be treated fairly and ethically, but all customers don’t merit the same amount of a salesperson’s time. So by categorizing your customers, it’s a lot easier to determine how and where to concentrate your selling time.
Let’s begin by listing your prospective customers in the Target Category. Not all contractors in your market are viable prospects. Some of them are not creditworthy. Some are simply too small to justify the time it takes to cultivate them into full-blown customers. Some need to be pruned like deadwood.
It’s an effective time-saver to establish clear-cut criteria for a prospect to be placed in your Target Category.
From prospect to customer
Before the prospect makes an initial purchase, you are on the outside looking in. Your goal at this point is to earn the prospect’s respect and trust. Because without the prospect’s confidence, you are highly unlikely to get an initial order, regardless of the competitiveness of your pricing.
But just as soon as you earn your first order from a prospect, your strategies and tactics should change. Don’t make the mistake of believing that your incredible sales skills have eliminated the competition. Just the opposite may be the case. The builder may be merely using you to get your competitor’s attention.
However, once a prospect does make an initial purchase, he or she should be moved into a different category—the New Customer Group. But you do have your foot in the door, which is an essential first step.
World-class service sells
Consider the following sales tactics to transition the New Customer into the next group:
1. Explain to the yard foreman that this is a New Customer. Ask him to make sure he goes the extra mile to ensure that there are no backorders and that he makes certain that the company lives up to its delivery commitments.
2. Coordinate with your dispatcher or yard foreman the timing of the initial delivery so you can arrange your schedule to arrive on the job at the same time as the delivery. It shows the New Customer that you’re not taking lightly the opportunity he or she has given you. I recall one salesperson who actually accompanied the driver to make the first delivery to let the customer know how much he appreciated the opportunity to serve him and how committed he was to excellence.
3. Especially during the first few months of the new relationship, take time to personally go over each of your new customer’s invoices. You might gain extra mileage if you attach a Post-It Note to each invoice, to show your new customer that you have checked that invoice for accuracy. I hope by now you are beginning to see why categorizing your customers is an effective time-saver.
Once the customer begins to purchase from you routinely, it’s time to move him or her into another new category—Established Customer. These are the customers who have learned to trust not only you, but your entire company to take care of their product and service needs. You have proven yourself, so now you are an “insider.”
It has been my experience that categorizing your customers is an effective time-saver for salespeople.