“Are your customer communications and materials truly customer focused?”

I was consulting with a non-profit organization this last week when they shared their donation solicitation letters for my comments. The letters were well written…but had little to do with their donors.

Their letters spent most of their space talking about what was important to them and what they were doing, but little space talking about the importance of their donors and how their donations would benefit the non-profit’s goals and their community. Basically, their letters were all about them and little to do with their customers…in this case, their donors.

Where are your team’s communications focused? This is a great time to review what letters and e-mails are being sent to your buyers. How much space is being spent talking about you and what you are doing compared to what you want to do to benefit your buyers?

Consider using the “X’s & O’s test” I have shared in the past. Print out a letter being sent to a buyer. Put an “X” through any words in your letter that say “us,” “we,” “our” or mention your company or product names. Circle any time you say “you,” “your,” or state their company name or products. This gives you a simple, and visual, way to measure the balance of your communications. Are you spending more time talking about your stuff…or are you focused on your customer’s stuff?

And please call me if I can answer any questions, or offer a more in-depth explanation of how to improve your customer communications… so they are really customer focused!

In case you missed it…my most recent posts this past week:

Tuesday 3/4

“Are you teaching the wrong steps of a sales call?”

What steps are you teaching your team? There are five steps of a sales call:

1st lower resistance.

2nd ask questions to learn and qualify.

3rd present solutions

4th have closure/gain commitment.

For too many salespeople, the fourth step ends their call making their efforts an event instead of a multiple-stepped process.

The 5th and final step is agreeing and setting up your next contact. The goal is to end your call asking, “When would you like me to get back to you?” so your buyer identifies when to follow up. Look how this can lower your buyer’s resistance when you call them back saying, “You asked me to call you…”

What can you do to help your team master and follow these steps on every call?

Join me as I discuss the difference between the steps of a sales call when applied to the multiple-call selling environment compared to the retail single-call sale…so your team can sell even more!

Thursday 3/6

“Are your service levels actually contributing to your competitive advantage?”

Service has evolved over the last 15 years. First, we bragged about our RESPONSIVENESS. Have a problem? We'll get it fixed faster.?

Service next evolved to PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE. If you allow us to do preventative maintenance on a regular basis, you’ll have more uptime availability.

The next evolutionary level was when we talked PREDICTIVE service. Predictive customer service is when we help our buyers predict when they might have problems or down time.

The fourth and final level (at least for now) is when you can talk about CONDITION-BASED MONITORING. This is when the vendor installs sensors to monitor usage or consumption without needing to involve their buyer.?

Are your current service levels really helping increase your competitive advantage?

Today’s video talks about how you can measure your service (and customer loyalty) levels. If you improve your service…you can sell even more!?

Saturday 3/8

“I didn’t know you did that!”

Are your customers really aware of everything you sell? How often are your salespeople hearing “I didn’t know you did that!” from your prospects or customers?

A lot of businesses today are experiencing a challenge with their long-term existing customers. Unless your reps are proactively selling to their customers, there’s a good chance your long-term existing customers have forgotten or were never aware of all the products and services you provide.

What can you do, as the leader of your team, to promote short-term product-specific campaigns where the entire team promotes one service or product area of your company with as many customers as possible over the next month??

Today’s video talks about how you can work with your team to avoid your buyers saying “I didn’t know you did that!” Helping your team sell your entire product line to all potential buyers could help them sell even more!

Interested in video-based learning to help improve the selling skills of your team??– Check out my two video training programs at?www.advancedsalesuniversity.com.

Ready to have a conversation about how I could be of help to you and your sales team? We can conduct on-site training, interactive video account planning, sales or sales leadership coaching and training to help your team increase their competitive edge…especially with the changes in selling today! Ready to talk about how I might help with your team’s challenges?

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Jim Pancero

“Helping you and your team become even more effective in sales.”?

[email protected]?- (952) 913-8998