from Jill Konrath and SalesDog.com:
Secrets to Achieving an 80% Close Rate by Jill Konrath
Eric has been in show business for 15 years - the trade show business. His company sells and customizes virtually any kind of display imaginable. Some of Eric's customers have huge booths at the world's biggest conventions. Others have portable pop-up exhibits for regional shows.
In a cut-throat market filled with competitors, Eric stands above the crowd with an amazing 80% close rate and minimal customer churn.
How does he do it?
"I'm not a salesperson," says Eric. "I'm a consultant. My customers have a strong confidence level in my recommendations because I know what they want to accomplish. I understand their objectives. I know what they like and what works or doesn't work for them."
Eric's relationship with his customers often begins years before they ever do business together. He calls his approach "long-term telemarketing" and it starts with targeted vertical marketing.
His prospects are other companies attending the very same trade shows as his clients. He checks them out on the web, learns what events they attend and about any major happenings in the organization. He finds out who makes decisions. Everything is entered into his contact management system.
Then Eric gives these companies a call. His befriends the receptionist, learns her name and uses it frequently. Being quite savvy, he even gets her email address, which gives him the company protocol. Next he e-mails these prospects to alert them to literature they'll get from him shortly.
About a week later, he follows up. Eric introduces himself as a trade show consultant and tells the prospect, "My goal is to make my clients successful at trade shows." He mentions he has customers who do similar shows, which always catches their interest. He engages them in a short non-threatening discussion. They talk about which events work best for them and other general 'show talk.'
On these calls, Eric is not trying to sell any products or services. He's working to establish a relationship.
He's learning a tremendous amount about their business in the process: which vendor they use, how old their systems are, what works for them and more. All this comes out in the discussion because Eric quietly asks for it. Everything is entered into his database.
Eric offers to keep in touch, to share information they may be interested in. His prospects graciously agree. He hasn't tried to push or pitch them at all. No products mentioned; no meetings begged for, just an offer of assistance. Whether the prospect knows it or not, their relationship has begun.
Flash forward six months: Eric's customers have just returned from a big show. He checks in right away to find out how things went: "How was attendance? Was it on par with last year? How did the promotion work? How effective were the graphics? How about the leads? What changes do we need to make? How was the overall experience of the show? How was the labor?"
Of course, Eric's customers love his attention and commitment to their success. They immediately begin planning for the next event because new needs are always uncovered. This is why he rarely loses a customer.
But what else does Eric do with what he learns? He immediately calls his targeted prospects who attended the very same show to share information about his survey.
"I've been surveying my clients who were also at the XYZ show. They said attendance dropped 10%. Did you experience that too?"
Prospects are interested. Eric's been doing a survey; they could learn some valuable information. The discussion starts.
Eric shares other things he's learned from his customer. They chat. Relaxed, the prospect opens up. Slowly, gently Eric slips in questions about how successful the show was for the prospect. He quietly asks additional questions triggered by his database notes. He learns more.
Soon the prospect is sharing his frustrations with the event or his display company. "That's terrible. How could they do that?" empathizes Eric incredulously. He learns more; it goes in his database.
Eric finds out about the prospect's upcoming shows and sets his contact management system to notify him 2-3 days after they're over so he can follow up. When he phones, he asks more questions, willingly offers advice, helps solves simple problems, brainstorms possibilities and sends helpful material. He learns more; it goes in his database.
When Eric senses his prospect's frustration level is high enough to warrant a change, he offers, "If you're not happy, you can come to my showroom and we can do a free analysis. There's no obligation. Let me see if I can help."
Once Eric has prospects in his showroom he knows he pretty well has their business locked up. He just needs to keep his focus on their objectives, likes and dislikes, successes and failures. After all, these people trust him implicitly; they've had a relationship for months or years, even though it's always been by phone.
It's no wonder Eric has an 80% close rate!
Lessons learned:
- A long-term, keep-in-touch telemarketing strategy has tremendous paybacks.
- Conduct your own surveys. They're excellent sales tools for existing customers and especially for your prospects.
- Always focus on helping the customer. If they ever sense you're out for yourself, you lose the relationship.
- Contact management systems are a huge sales aid. Keep track of everything. Use your notes to trigger additional questions in future discussions. Have them notify you when it's time for follow-up.
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