GPI 394 – Ask your sales people individually what they tell customers that your company cannot do.

Make certain your sales personnel are trained thoroughly. Test them occasionally and do it in a positive manner. You want them to take all of the business orders that your firm can handle because it helps your company and boosts their bonus payments.  When you tell them in a manner that mentions their wallet or purse, they tend to sit up and listen more intently.

Reasons why you need to ask your sales personnel what business they decline:

• You want your sales force to carry the right message when soliciting new business.
• You do not want to find out after the fact they have thrown business out the door because they were not trained.
• To ensure your sales people do not relay the wrong information to customers, ask the negative.
• Ask when was the last time the sales person turned down a bid or a potential sale or a potential job?
• Ask the representative what he or she tells potential customers that your company cannot do, what orders he cannot accept or what services he tells them your company does not perform.
• Keep your questions open and do not prompt the representative in any way.
• Probe what they are saying to potential customers and ask also how customers react to their answers.
• Assemble their answers and then create the correct responses that show all of your employees what the company can indeed do.
• Re-evaluate your company’s shortfalls and deficiencies and try to see what can be eliminated in the next capital budget justified by the business your firm is missing.
• Write up a comprehensive list of things your firm can do and pass it out to all of your sales personnel and reps. Make sure it is reviewed with all of the inside and outside sales representatives. Ask them what is missing and revise it as many times as necessary and date it.
• Pass it around within all of the internal departments also to update everyone’s concept of the company’s services.
• Train the receptionist, inside sales and all of your engineering employees to know what is on the list and listen to customers for what should be added.