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Customers have many buying choices. Unsatisfied customers, when given the opportunity, seek out alternatives to your products and services.
Meaning an unsatisfied customer will leave you for the competition whenever possible.
This tip brings attention to the best way to differentiate your company through your sellers.
What are your sellers doing to avoid losing customers, accelerate customer satisfaction levels and seek referrals?
Because chances are, your competition is doing something!
It’s critical to defend existing customers and build new ones because your competitors are ready to take what you don’t.
Frederick Reichheld’s article, The One Number You Need to Grow, was published by the Harvard Business Review.
Based on his research, the results of this one question correlates to the future outcome of a company’s results:
“How likely is it that you will recommend (seller or company name) to a friend or colleague, on a scale of 1- 10?”
If you called every customer or prospect your sellers connected with today and asked them…
“How likely is it that you will recommend (insert seller’s name) to a friend or colleague, on a scale of 1-10?”
….. would the answers be all 9s and 10s?
If so, then your team is out-thinking, out-servicing and out-performing the competition!
If not, then your customer loyalty factor is in question. Arrange a strategy session with your sellers to figure out how to turn that around.
There’s so much talk about millennials in the workforce. Do you have millennials on your team?
Do you know what the millennials on your team really want from their workplace?
When you know the answer to that, you will be well on your way to higher talent retention.
And we all know only too well how costly it is to have turnover.
First, who are your millennials? What are their strengths? What bugs you the most about their work? Why is it so important to hire millennials and change any business model to satisfy them?
In the EDAssist survey, they found what millennials want most. Guess what that is?
The answer is… it’s learning and development. Did you guess right?
Millennials are now connecting the dots between learning and success. They have lived through one of the worst economic depressions of our lifetime. They’ve witnessed their family members and their friend’s families losing jobs and retirement savings. They struggled for months to find work after graduating college, and probably with some big college debt looming over them.
Millennials have also learned in their short work-life, that college didn’t prepare them with the skills they need for the long haul.
So what did the survey discover?
• Millennials want long term stability
• 60 picked the job with strong potential for professional development over one with regular pay increases
• Many said they would cut their time watching TV, on the internet, on social media and with friends in half – to take classes while working.
• Nearly one third said they would give up vacations for the duration of their program to take classes while working.
9 in 10 millennials said it’s important to reach the most senior level possible during their careers
My 2+2 says – if you are a company seeking the competitive advantage, low turn over, super talent and a high achieving team….
Connect the same dots between learning and success and begin providing the learning.
The learning comes in many ways:
• Mentor programs
• Live workshops
• Online learning
• Conferences
• Field sales rides or call center sit-withs
• One-on-one coaching
• Skill building sales meetings
What are you doing to keep your millennials motivated to work for you and do a great job?
Even ask the millennials to lead the meeting!
How’s that for delegation, empowerment and more sales all at the same time?!
If your goal is to meet sales quotas consistently, and you need your sellers to break in to the target accounts, eliminate discounting, reduce that long sales cycle, and close more deals…
then change how you are doing things.
Begin with short bursts of high energy, high payoff skill and will training.
You’ve got these great resources – now use them.
The 2013 Aberdeen study of 230 organizations found that 90% of companies believe their employees make the decision to stay or leave a company within the first year. As a leader establishing a quality onboarding program that goes beyond the first day, first week or first month is crucial.
Consider implementing these ideas and programs to retain your new hires. After all, you invested a considerable amount of time and money to select the very best.
Peer to Peer Mentor
In addition to their immediate supervisor, team the new hire with a colleague and not necessarily the colleague that has been on the team the longest. Your 6, 9 or 12 month newer hires have worked out some of the bugs already. Plus they were assigned a peer mentor and now it’s their turn to share what helped them.
Continuous Education
Please avoid the sink or swim routine. Just because you hired someone with experience, doesn’t mean they can sell your products and services they way you want/or need them to go to market. Establish a long term, ongoing, education program. Even top performers want to better themselves.
Empower Early
Great leaders allow their sellers to make their own decisions and even fail. Establish the minimum of 2 rule. When a seller comes to you for help, advice or answers, ask them offer 2 suggestions and/or recommendations first. You’ll be surprised at how their answers will either mirror your thoughts or bring on an even better idea. This keeps the monkey’s off your back and builds confident problem solving team members.
Did you know that iTunes® sells 1875 To-Do List apps?
I didn’t know there were so many different ways to a to-do list!
Mine are everywhere, but they’ll kinda the same:
• On my computer calendar
• A variety of different Word docs at one time
• In my CRM and
• The occasional sticky note reminder of lists.
What about you, how do you use to-do lists?
In a minute, I’ll let you in on my new favorite secret To-Do app.
Although I happen to be pretty good at juggling all of the different lists – whether digital or hard copy, the shuffling and going back and forth to double check that something wasn’t missed, was starting to add stress to a person who is generally stress free!
Enter Workboard.com
Now they bill themselves on their website like this:
Manage Efficiently, Lead Brilliantly
Finally, goals, priorities, actions, and feedback converge.
With this simple app, managers have more capacity to lead and teams have the tools to engage in great achievements.
Check It Out
You do need to check it out, but first here’s how we’re using it – and already it’s a life saver.
Our Surprise
There’s a big new internet product launch coming up.
With 5 people on the product launch team, everyone has their specific roles, yet almost everything any of the 5 do piggy backs or dove tails on someone else.
There’s items that several work on at the same time and then there are hand-offs.
Everyone’s to-do list was getting complicated and hard to keep track of.
Enter Workboard.
In the first week we’ve been using Workboard, the project is moving faster than before. Each action item is assigned a deadline date and everyone is watching the board!
There’s extra accountability and if anyone misses their deadline – the board lights up red and then other people’s actions light up red and there’s more red than any of us like to see!
We are green people – so our competitive nature and not letting anyone down is kicking in. There’s going to be a big jump in productivity – because all of the to-do lists are in one place – for all to see.
Take a look – Workboard is free. And I do not get any money or anything from them.
I just happen to love it and want you to know about it too.
Whether you surprised or expecting it, how do you gracefully accept the resignation and ease the transition of another change to your sales team?
Because all eyes are on you and how you respond.
Change isn’t easy for your sales team and any resignation does effect them.
Quickly plan to communicate to the team.
Before the rep leaves your office discuss whether they are to share this information with the sales team or not. It is appropriate to request they hold off the information and together strategize the announcement plan.
A team’s immediate thought is what’s this mean to me? Will I be asked to pick up their workload? How are we going to achieve team quota? How long will the territory be open?
Besides planning when and who will be announcing, carefully plan to answer any of the unasked questions your team is thinking.
The transition plan is key.
You have a general idea about their territory, but it’s often hard to know the history, background and current state of each and every client and prospect. The CRM program will help. Schedule one or more one-on-ones to learn the details and include the several key sellers who may be taking the lead until a replacement is found.
Your learning lesson from the resignation.
Is there a pattern? Am I losing good people? What can you learn from this? What changes if any are to be considered?
Whatever the case, all eyes are on you. You set the tone for what happens after the registration and the effect it has on all employees across the company for the short and long term.
A President of a company in high growth mode is ready to expand his 2 person sales team. He enthusiastically said:
And I asked,
And he said… “I don’t have anything like that… I’ll know in 3 months.”
Oh my.
The downside of his way…
If you are anywhere close to this in your hiring process, stop now and regroup.
You’re setting yourself and your current team up for failure.
It’s time to hire right the first time.
