Your "Underground" Salesforce
There are thousands of salespeople who work for free, never expect a paycheck, and work for you consistently and authentically day after day.
In most organizations, there is a dedicated sales department, marketing department, operations department, customer service department, human resource department, and so on. But when it comes to sales, we tend to focus on our salespeople or our marketing people to drive the engine of revenue.
Accounting? Human Resources? Operations? Legal?
No need to cross train these folks-right? They are not client-facing. Even those that do work with existing clients in retention or delivery are rarely taught the psychology of branding, decision making, and the immense power of a referral.
Along the way, these team members and your brand are representatives--SALES representatives of your company. They tell their friends who they work for. They go golfing. They go on vacation. They post on social media. They are essential advocates. Do they need to be fully trained as salespeople to understand how to close the deal and set something up?
No.
However, if you don't indoctrinate them into the fundamentals of your brand and what it means to represent your company, there's a good chance for an invisibly large leak in your ship that is causing untold negative brand value and running your ship onto a sandbar of stagnation.
Customer Service: The Obvious Starting Point
They're not technically salespeople, but they are customer facing. Most CSR’s go through the typical, how “Not-to-get-emotional-when-the-customer's-angry” training. They are empowered to answer nearly all questions, solve most issues, and even drop in a “You want fries with that” upsell. The experienced ones are easy to spot and appreciate.
But what about the others?
Perhaps you’ve been on one of these calls?
“Hi, my product is not working. I’ve been through your support system and I want to return it according to your return policy.”
“I’m sorry sir, you can’t return that. That product is not covered.”
“But it says right on your company’s home page you offer a 100% money-back guarantee. What am I missing?”
“That is a subsidiary, I’m afraid. We don’t cover electronics at XXX (rhymes with “spherical no”).”
“That’s absurd. Please connect me with your supervisor.”
Within 3 minutes the supervisor gets on the line.
That’s a lie.
It took over 10 minutes to locate a supervisor and the above exchange took nearly 40 minutes of ineptitude and a total lack of clarity before I was told the electronic component of their product was not covered. When I eventually did speak to the supervisor, he read from the same script. I swear, if it wasn’t for the tonality of his voice, he could have been a chat bot.
In fact, the product I was attempting to return was about a $100 retail item. (COG was maybe $30) The negative branding and “bad press” from this experience will never be repaired. Even my email to the CEO was unanswered.
That’s a shame because I talk to people, a lot of people. I’m not looking for a fight nor am I a “Debbie Downer” of bad news, but I guarantee you the negative impact of returning & repairing or even absorbing that $100 product will cost them thousands of dollars of lost opportunity.
How do you spell negative brand value?
They “saved” $30 today by spending $10,000 tomorrow.
If all of their employees were trained as brand ambassadors, salespeople, or even given the financial latitude and discretion other companies have, I assure you the ROI on the $100 would be 100-fold, like in the following example (also a true story).
“Hi, can you help me locate a replacement fitting for a lamp I purchased?”
“Sure. Give me a moment” (it took no more than 100 seconds)
“Sir, it looks like we don’t offer replacement parts for that SKU. We’ll just issue a full refund.”
“Wow! That’s nice. How do I ship it back? It weighs about 25 lbs.”
“Don’t bother, sir. You can keep it or donate it.”
Mic drop.
Good news travels fast. I’m one of Wayfair’s silent salespeople. I’ve decorated my entire home using them and I will gladly refer them to as many of my friends as possible.
When you empower your employees; all of your employees with being advocates, you are setting yourself up for viral growth. You don’t always have to spend money, either. A simple acknowledgment and training on what your company stands for and what you stand against will align your team.
Being on the same page requires a common direction, a clear set of values and the empowerment of everyone to not just do “what’s right” but to do what’s best for all concerned.
Wayfair.com absorbed the loss of a $100 lamp. But they gained thousands in new clients with that small investment. For as long as they are in business, I will advocate and sing their praises. I will easily sell over $10,000 in merchandise for them.
My compensation?
I fixed the lamp myself and donated it.
Love this!!!!