techvx
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- Jan 29, 2023
- 24
- 58
No experience with franchises, but as an ex sales-rep / part-time sales manager assistant slowly turning into a business owner, a few of my questions right off the cuff are:
- what is the residential/commercial service that your franchise packages about, exactly?
- who are the precise kind of wide variety of people that it can be of interest to?
- by "growing", do you mean from 0 to 1, or from an existing traction to a higher level still? as "zero sales" usually indicates a need to "test the waters" first and find out whether your franchise is actually viable to begin with
- what is your own background in selling and the underlying service packaging that your franchise will provide? how is the supply chain expected to tap into it all?
- how "quickly" do you intend to go, what are your expectations in terms of sales/months, and what are they based on?
In terms of advice and recommendations, as pertaining to what I did manage to grasp:
- "sell" your salespeople on the offer first, before ever expecting to go out there and do the selling themselves; their enthusiasm and conviction will be the reflection of your own
- clearly lay out the basic reasons of why it makes all the sense in the world for your future clients to deal with 1) your company, 2) your services, 3) your team - over your competitors
(read the "way of the wolf", J.B. knows his craft)
- clearly define the long-term outcome: what starts as a sale usually involves a good amount of backend support and assistance, without which dissatisfied customers will bury you in complaints, law suits, and whatever they can reach for - destroying your reputation and driving you out of business entirely
(this point assumes you're operating in a good, long-term oriented faith, not to make a "quick buck" and run away with the money stashed)
- based on those long-term outcomes, think through the kind of an incentive that would encourage your sales reps to meet them
- painstakingly and thoroughly analyse your bonus program, to take into account not only the previously mentioned point, but also any possible ways for your sales reps to "cheat", cutting conners for the sake of their personal compensation, at expense of the overall future of that client and your whole business
- base your pricing and bonuses both on the market; they have to be fair or better than the kind of % others would be willing to pay
- set reasonable (industry-based, not "me-the-owner-says-so-based") targets for dials made, calls had, cold/warm/hot leads added to the pipeline, deals closed; track them together
- write up your follow up process from the beginning, to avoid losing qualified customers because of "I forgot" or "I didn't know what to send/write/call about" (lots of $ is lost here)
- forget about the reasons of why they couldn't close: they will always be able to make up one - their job is to sell, you really think they won't be able to sell you on "that lead wasn't that good"?
- do encourage them to bring up any doubts or stalls as they happen - don't interrogate them at the end, when the lead goes dead silent; solve all deviations from the conversion process in real time, and keep your finger on the pulse
- make them roleplay regularly, ideally - every single day; it's better for them to "embarrass" themselves in front of their colleagues than with a future client in the middle of the talk
- allow for deviations from the script: real life is not a movie set, and there always unexpected contingencies that call for different responses
- do make sure they know the flow of both the bigger process and the steps to take the lead through as the conversation progresses
- ensure they know, practice, and rehearse objection handling (mandatory part of role play)
- be the best salesperson for your franchise and service and let your reps reach out to you; don't expect a "sales superstar" to come and turn your whole enterprise around if you yourself have never read Cialdini and wouldn't know where to start looking for your own leads
- listen to their calls and review them together, with less "this was wrong" and more "what do you think about this moment here?"
A great sales pro can greatly improve your existing sales process. He can also quickly close a whole bunch of leads on nonsense promises and pie-in-the-sky expectations that you will pay him for, only to resign shortly afterwards and leaving you to deal with all the mess left after him. What he'll be able to do or not will be based, in part, on what he thinks he can get away with - and on another, the upside of putting in the work for the long-term benefit of everyone involved. You can't check for this in an interview. You can only prepare yourself by being an outstanding sales person yourself.
Those would be my two cents on it, so far.
- what is the residential/commercial service that your franchise packages about, exactly?
- who are the precise kind of wide variety of people that it can be of interest to?
- by "growing", do you mean from 0 to 1, or from an existing traction to a higher level still? as "zero sales" usually indicates a need to "test the waters" first and find out whether your franchise is actually viable to begin with
- what is your own background in selling and the underlying service packaging that your franchise will provide? how is the supply chain expected to tap into it all?
- how "quickly" do you intend to go, what are your expectations in terms of sales/months, and what are they based on?
In terms of advice and recommendations, as pertaining to what I did manage to grasp:
- "sell" your salespeople on the offer first, before ever expecting to go out there and do the selling themselves; their enthusiasm and conviction will be the reflection of your own
- clearly lay out the basic reasons of why it makes all the sense in the world for your future clients to deal with 1) your company, 2) your services, 3) your team - over your competitors
(read the "way of the wolf", J.B. knows his craft)
- clearly define the long-term outcome: what starts as a sale usually involves a good amount of backend support and assistance, without which dissatisfied customers will bury you in complaints, law suits, and whatever they can reach for - destroying your reputation and driving you out of business entirely
(this point assumes you're operating in a good, long-term oriented faith, not to make a "quick buck" and run away with the money stashed)
- based on those long-term outcomes, think through the kind of an incentive that would encourage your sales reps to meet them
- painstakingly and thoroughly analyse your bonus program, to take into account not only the previously mentioned point, but also any possible ways for your sales reps to "cheat", cutting conners for the sake of their personal compensation, at expense of the overall future of that client and your whole business
- base your pricing and bonuses both on the market; they have to be fair or better than the kind of % others would be willing to pay
- set reasonable (industry-based, not "me-the-owner-says-so-based") targets for dials made, calls had, cold/warm/hot leads added to the pipeline, deals closed; track them together
- write up your follow up process from the beginning, to avoid losing qualified customers because of "I forgot" or "I didn't know what to send/write/call about" (lots of $ is lost here)
- forget about the reasons of why they couldn't close: they will always be able to make up one - their job is to sell, you really think they won't be able to sell you on "that lead wasn't that good"?
- do encourage them to bring up any doubts or stalls as they happen - don't interrogate them at the end, when the lead goes dead silent; solve all deviations from the conversion process in real time, and keep your finger on the pulse
- make them roleplay regularly, ideally - every single day; it's better for them to "embarrass" themselves in front of their colleagues than with a future client in the middle of the talk
- allow for deviations from the script: real life is not a movie set, and there always unexpected contingencies that call for different responses
- do make sure they know the flow of both the bigger process and the steps to take the lead through as the conversation progresses
- ensure they know, practice, and rehearse objection handling (mandatory part of role play)
- be the best salesperson for your franchise and service and let your reps reach out to you; don't expect a "sales superstar" to come and turn your whole enterprise around if you yourself have never read Cialdini and wouldn't know where to start looking for your own leads
- listen to their calls and review them together, with less "this was wrong" and more "what do you think about this moment here?"
A great sales pro can greatly improve your existing sales process. He can also quickly close a whole bunch of leads on nonsense promises and pie-in-the-sky expectations that you will pay him for, only to resign shortly afterwards and leaving you to deal with all the mess left after him. What he'll be able to do or not will be based, in part, on what he thinks he can get away with - and on another, the upside of putting in the work for the long-term benefit of everyone involved. You can't check for this in an interview. You can only prepare yourself by being an outstanding sales person yourself.
Those would be my two cents on it, so far.