Most every frontline sales manager will agree that keeping staff encouraged when they have very price sensitive customers can be challenging. It becomes quite easy to fall into the trap of believing that by in large, customers are cheap. But here is the reality; customers are not cheap. They are value driven and want to know that they are receiving the best price and service available for their hard earned money.  Understanding and focusing on their need for value will allow for the message to be heard and more sales to be made. 

Here are a few of the many successful techniques to help your team command the attention of value driven customers:

-  When presenting a product or service, always focus first on the benefits of what the customer is getting, prior to quoting the price.  All too often the price is presented first and then the customer shuts down their listening skills.

-  Focus on the value of what they are getting vs. the price they are paying.  People remember most, whatever they hear last so when presenting a sale price, highlight the “savings”. For example: “It can sell for as much as $99, today it’s only $69, that’s a savings of $30!”

-  DO NOT PREJUDGE!!!!  Only assume every customer deserves the very best product or service you have to offer.

-  People buy from those they like. Focus on connecting with the customer and delivering a presentation centered on enhancing their experience – with you, the company and the products/services you represent. 

Most importantly, bear in mind that a salesperson’s perception of their customers will affect the presentation and ultimately, influence buying decisions.  It is critical that frontline managers do not “buy into” the same perceptions that can distract and dissuade their sales team.  How a salesperson feels about their customers and the sales opportunities determines how well those customers will receive their message.  Encouraging your frontline to focus their energies on ways to vary their presentation for the value driven customers instead of dismissing the opportunity will increase sales opportunities and generate more revenue.

Ken Stellon – Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

Fortune Magazine recently released their annual list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For. Here are some of the well-known names that earned their way on to the list:

• Wegman’s Food Markets - #3
• Zappos - #6
• Mercedes Benz USA - #15
• Stew Leonard’s - #18
• Whole Foods Market - #24
• Four Seasons Hotels - #53
• Publix Super Markets - #67
• Nordstrom’s - #74
• Men’s Warehouse - #87
• Starbucks - #98

Do you see what I see?  Not only are these ten companies on the list of Best 100 Companies To Work For, but each of these organizations have a strong reputation for providing outstanding customer service as well as sustained financial success. Coincidence?   I don’t think so.

In the book “The Customer Comes Second“, authors Hal Rosenbluth and Diane Peters discuss the philosophy of putting your people first.

“This is a formula that has worked for more than two decades, and has transformed his company from a small family business into a global industry leader, grossing over $6  billion.  In this classic on counterintuitive management practice, the entrepreneurial genius and visionary leader of Rosenbluth International shows you how to use exceptional service to win in any industry.” - Tom Peters

As I wrote in an earlier post, companies that say they’re “focused” on customer service are a dime-a-dozen.  Sadly, some companies “focus” on customer service at the expense of their own associates.  These organizations beat the drum of customer service while reducing staffing levels, cutting commissions and benefits and piling on extra workload all the while telling their people “you count” – as the associates add, under their breath, “for nothing”.

Does “The Customer Comes Second” philosophy mean companies need to give their employees heaps of perks and benefits? Definitely not.  You can hold off on constructing the new gym with the indoor swimming pool and free daycare for your associate’s kids.  That’s not how you create a “customers come second” working environment.   The true foundation of an outstanding work environment is high employee engagement.

The folks at Gallup have done extensive research on employee engagement.

“The world’s top-performing organizations understand that employee engagement is a force that drives business outcomes. Research shows that engaged employees are more productive employees. They are more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave the organization. In the best organizations, employee engagement transcends a human resources initiative — it is the way they do business.”

Through their research, Gallup has identified 12 key statements that best predict employee and workgroup engagement:

1. I know what’s expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work that encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates, or fellow employees, are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

What?  No game rooms or smoothy bars?  Nope!  Do some of the companies on the top 100 list have some of those perks?  Yes, they do, but that is in addition to creating a work environment with very high employee engagement.  So what is the “moral” to this story? It’s simple; create an environment with high employee engagement and you will be well on your way to a place on the Top 100 list.  The moral is simple.  Making it happen?  Not so much.

Lee Silverstein – Managing Partner, Frontline Performance Group 

Dr. Paul Hersey said that “Effective leadership is not ‘different strokes for different folks.’ It’s different strokes for the same folks, depending on their level of readiness for specific tasks.” Have you ever heard a sales manager say something like, “Well this is how I manage and that’s the way it is”? Sometimes, the good intention of working harder, not smarter, has the unintended consequence for managers of their team not meeting goals or at least not maximizing the potential they have to succeed.

The challenge with this line of thinking is that one-size-fits-all management fits no one well and everyone poorly. If a salesperson is great at greeting and building rapport but needs work on probing questions, the style of management or influence needs to be different when addressing them as they are clearly two very distinct areas. When a salesperson, whether frontline or executive level, is treated with a one-way type of direction and is micromanaged for a task in which they already excel, it creates disdain and apathy for both the task and the manager.  A more effective approach is to define the salesperson’s current level of performance for every task of their job and then exert influence around that task with the leader behavior they need, not what they necessarily want.  Inspired performance (meaning that your team is committed and not just compliant), comes from understanding what your people need and providing it for them. 

Here are five tips for defining the performance level of your salespeople and giving them what they need for specific tasks …

1.  Understand the task itself. What kinds of traits are needed and what is the process that will make this task successful?

2.  Define if the salesperson has the ability to do the task and if they are motivated to do it. Sometimes people have neither the ability nor the motivation to do a task. Take new salespeople for example, typically, they have great motivation but lack the ability to perform a task.  Others have the ability but just plain don’t want to do it and a superstar is likely to do the task incredibly well and will love doing it.  Each calls for a different management intervention.

3.  Once you know where a salesperson is with a certain task, define what they need from you. For example, a salesperson with very little ability is going to need a lot of direction – not yelling or condescending, just good, strong explanation and guidance.  The more ability they have, the less direction they need. Those with very low motivation, depending on how much ability they have, may need strong direction.  If they are highly skilled, just a chance to “vent” may be the answer; in which case, you as the manager become a “facilitator”, not a “dictator”.  In the case of a person who is really good at a task and enjoys doing it, they don’t need much of your time – just acknowledgement and an occasional “check-in”.

4.  Understand that as with all people, a salesperson’s performance may change over time due to a variety of factors, some personal and some professional. Just because they have done a great job in the past, it does not mean they are still performing the same task at the same high level.  If this is the case, analyze their new performance level and react accordingly.

5.  Practice your ability to analyze and diagnose the performance level of your team for various tasks; then work on adjusting your behavioral management style.  Your influence style should be based on the analysis of current need for a specific task.

Remember, if you are one of those managers who is of the belief that, “This is the way I manage and that’s it”, you will only maximize your potential 25% of the time.  Why not learn to understand what your sales team needs and then exceed beyond, best performance 100% of the time?

Michael Stahl - Senior Performance Manager, Frontline Performance Group  

To truly understand the value of your frontline do yourself a favor, go out and work on the frontline for a day. Is it really that easy to balance sales and service? Is it really that easy to keep a positive outlook after five consecutive rejections, three of which came from irate and disgruntled customers?

The pressure to repeat the process 10, 20, or 100 times a day can be exhausting, to say the least. Most decision makers in sales and service organizations were not promoted from the frontline, and have therefore never actually spent much meaningful time there. Putting yourself on the frontline will provide you with a completely different perspective and appreciation for what really goes on and what it takes to be successful.

Understanding and appreciating the challenging nature of frontline work is a critical first step to executing a successful sales and service program on a universal scale.

Implementing monthly goal setting sessions and staying consistent with them will help your team stay motivated and focused on every sales opportunity. The most effective managers utilize the following techniques when setting goals.

1. Make it conversational and collaborative. Involving your sales associates in the goal setting process is critical. Goals that are handed to your team without their input or belief are not worth the paper they are written on. Schedule half-hour meetings with each team member the last week of every month to discuss and set goals.

2. Set the target goal, then discuss the correct dialogues and techniques that will help your sales associates achieve the goal. Allocating enough time during monthly meetings for practice sessions will help your team focus on the appropriate dialogues and build confidence.

3. Set goals in accordance with each individual team member’s motivational driver. In a professional setting people are motivated by one of three things – recognition, incentive, or accountability. Knowing your team members’ drivers will help you steer the conversation more effectively.

4. If possible, base goals on sales conversions and sales per day. This will allow your discussions to be centered on achievable goals and questions. Breaking the stretch goal down on a time basis will also help your team members stay focused.

5. Write it down! Studies have shown written goals always have a higher success rate.