[Cover Story] Five Steps to Sales Success

Every opportunity to sell a customer one or more of your services is exponentially more valuable today than at any other time in recent memory. Not a single encounter with a prospective customer should be squandered without giving it absolutely, positively your very best shot.

Two facts are in evidence and unassailable. First, customers are better informed and more value conscious than at any time in recent history.

Access to information through the media and the Internet makes the modern-day customer more knowledgeable about our services and the products we use to provide them. The fact that they’re talking to you indicates that they understand that what we do will be more effective than anything they can do by themselves.

Second, every customer’s situation is their own, and is typically unique. Their pest problem, their structure and their surroundings may have factors in common with other similarly situated customers. But to them, and probably in fact, they have a singular issue that they believe, by virtue of giving you an opportunity to visit with them, you can solve.

So, we have a wiser, better informed customer who believes you can solve her problem. How can you avoid NOT closing the sale? Here are five suggestions that, properly implemented and executed, will give you an unfair advantage over your competitors.

1. Show Up (look, talk, and act your best)

It’s never been more accurate to say that you never get a second chance to make a great first impression. When you are able to be in the presence of a prospective customer, it’s not important, it’s ESSENTIAL that you look, act and speak your best. Consider it your first date on what you want to become a long-term relationship.

I don’t believe it’s ever impossible to look your best. This means grooming, clean hands and fingernails, NOT smelling like you just came from the gym, and dressed in clean, crisp clothing. Your vehicle, especially if it carries the company name, should be clean and parked conspicuously but not in the customer’s driveway. Knock at the door, step back so you can be viewed through the peephole, and wear something that identifies you as who you say you are.

You want the customer to feel safe and secure in your presence. You also want her to not be turned off by your appearance.

2. Listen (and then listen some more)

Once you’ve been invited inside and have inspected the customer’s property, don’t go into a canned pitch about your service right out of the box. Tell the customer what your inspection has revealed and then start asking questions. At some point during the process, try to identify how the customer arrived at the decision to contact your company. This is not essential to making the sale, but if it’s a referral from a satisfied customer or if it’s awareness of your company’s stellar reputation, this puts you into an almost proprietary position.

It’s good to get the customer talking to you about how she views her particular problem. Face it; she didn’t wake up that morning with a burning desire to purchase pest or termite service. Something specific triggered the call. Or, if you "created" the sales opportunity, something encouraged her to invite you into her home.

You’re not asking questions just to get the customer talking. By listening to the customer’s answers to your probing questions, you’ll learn exactly what she wants to hear in terms of you being able to solve her problem. You were born with two ears and only one mouth. Listen at least twice as much as you talk.

3. Turn the Customer’s Problem(s) into Solution(s)

After the inspection and the customer’s complete input, tell her how you’re going to solve the immediate problem and how you will ensure the problem doesn’t recur in the future.

It’s at this critical moment in the process that you must empathize with the customer. Don’t talk down to her. Understand HER concerns. Don’t minimize HER issue. Feel HER pain. Don’t show either indecision or uncertainty. Make her comfortable and confident that you are the answer to her fundamental questions.

It’s essential to keep in mind that we’re not selling pest or termite services. We’re selling a solution to a customer’s problem. Our best effort isn’t enough. Solving the customer’s problem — and keeping it solved — is the basis for our business. The customer doesn’t want our services. The customer needs our services. And as long as we keep that in mind while we’re presenting, we’ll stay focused on the customer and solving her problem.

4. Remember "We" and "Us"

It’s important while you’re in the presence of this customer that you think about becoming part of the customer’s world. Establish from the beginning that this is a "we’re in this together" situation.

It’s also an example of you "taking ownership" of the relationship with the customer. By figuratively joining hands with the customer in a program that solves the customer’s problem, you create the most important element in a successful sales effort — a bond of mutual interest.

The customer wants her problem solved. You want to keep the customer happy by providing ongoing service that keeps her problem solved. The most successful sales are those that depend on a mutuality of interest.

5. Develop the Relationship

I can’t begin to tell you how often I learn that sales people get a signature on a piece of paper and NEVER touch that customer again. Please, in the world we inhabit, do not engage in "thanks and g’bye" selling.

How much work does it take for you, one to two months out, to call and make sure things are going according to plan? Isn’t it important to make sure the customer isn’t dissatisfied and keeping it to herself?

The whole transaction needs to take about a minute. Then four to six months out, call, find out that your customer is still problem free, and take the opportunity to introduce her to your other services. Feel free at this juncture to ask for referrals.

FINAL THOUGHTS. Remember, we’re not talking about transactional selling here. This is about building a relationship with a customer that’s as close to unbreakable as possible. We’re not offering the kind of services that people tend to rave about, because, quite frankly, we’re held to such high expectations. Sometimes, the best reviews we get are when we handle an issue that surfaced between service visits.

The fact is, the customer had an initial problem that we were able to solve, but as we all know, after a while, sometimes the absence of a problem months or years in the future gets the customer questioning the need to maintain the service. The best way to inoculate against this "success cancellation syndrome" is to maintain a link with the customer that reinforces the notion that without our service the problem will return. This could include a seasonal phone call or e-mail. Every "touch" is a chance to further cement the relationship.

Now, go out and sell something!