Every time I travel to the UK for client assignments, it amazes me how comfortable British people are with standing in line and waiting for service. To the British, this pastime of “queuing” is as common as any other proper tradition.  When traveling there and reluctantly conforming to this tradition while waiting at car rental counters, hotel check-ins, train depots or any other retail experience, I always think to myself, “Thank goodness this is not a practice in the U.S.! How could we tolerate it?”  In reality though, we are becoming British in the way of developing a comfort zone for waiting and being delayed in most any sales, service or retail experience.

With the recent economic downturn, companies have been forced to slash services and labor from their operations. This has unquestionably led to longer line waits, product delays, and service cutbacks. Since the beginning of the U.S. recession, our economy has slashed over 8 million jobs.  Were they all shed from the service industry? Maybe not, but the impact is surely felt.

Whether you are a frontline manager leading a sales force on a busy day or a frontline service based sales professional looking to do a good job, the following “cues” (techniques) will help you enhance your customers’ experiences while they wait to do business with you:

Cue #1: Smile sincerely! – There are over 190 different countries on earth, nearly 3,000 languages and an estimated 5,000 different cultures and in all of these examples, a sincere smile can never be misinterpreted. A smile is one of the fastest ways to communicate warmth and professionalism. People waiting in line don’t mind as much as long as they are going to get a polite person to assist them.

Cue #2:  Acknowledge customers who are waiting in line. – During an existing customer interaction it is okay to politely excuse yourself from your customer and acknowledge those who are waiting.  Begin by saying “excuse me” to the current customer, then simply comment to your waiting customer(s); ”Thank you for being patient, we appreciate it …” As you return to your existing customer, thank them and continue with their interaction.  Please note that the acknowledgement should never happen during your primary sales presentation to your existing customer; it is most effective before or after the sales presentation has been completed.

Cue # 3: Start with the end in mind. - Customers do not wait until they are being served to form their first impression of you; they form it while they wait in line as they watch and listen to how the customers in front of them are being treated. Ending your customer experiences with a statement of C.A.R.E. (comment about relevant experiences) toward your departing customer will send the correct message to the next customer in line and form a positive impression.  For example, a client of ours, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory-Canada, coaches their associates to end every transaction with ”Thank you, see you soon”, and a statement of C.A.R.E. So, if the customer was headed out to the Canucks game, the associate might say “good luck” or ”enjoy the game”.

When customers are stressed and wait to be served, the little things do add up.  These cues are just a few of the little details that can add up to grand customer experiences.  

Ken Stellon - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

A successful coach and an all-star player have many things in common. Generally speaking, they both desire to win and know what it takes to win.  They operate from the same playbook and know what general obstacles will prevent them from winning.  They practice to get better, and both have experienced defeat as well as success.

So, what are the fundamental differences between a successful coach and an all-star player? There are only two:

First difference - the coach not only knows the playbook inside and out but can also demonstrate even the minutest concept of the play.

Second difference – the all-star player can execute the play at a high-level of performance.

In order to increase your leadership credibility and become a successful coach you must demonstrate the playbook in any given situation.  All too often, we see frontline sales coaches fail because of this very important concept; instead of taking the opportunity to demonstrate a play and illustrate their knowledge, they choose to be an appraiser and not coach. The second largest pitfall is when a coach goes out to demonstrate a play and does the opposite of what the play should have been. This not only lowers the team’s opinion of the coach, it can potentially bury the coach’s credibility.

Increase your credibility and bottom-line results by memorizing the playbook, demonstrate your knowledge by practicing with your players, never pretend to know the play, and don’t be an appraiser. If all else fails, follow the old saying: “Don’t ever ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.”

Mark Hart – Senior Director, Frontline Performance Group  

It happens all the time. We work with a salesperson hitting home runs on every swing when they turn to us and say, “Just stay right where you are, you’re my good luck charm!” or “I’m going to put a cardboard cutout of you right here because whenever you’re around, my  numbers go through the roof!”

Here’s the good news: the sales spikes are real and they do happen when we work with sales staff and their leadership teams. Here’s the eye opener: it can happen any time. In fact, it can happen every time. A frontline employee is “on a roll” when we work with them because when we are present, they use the skills and techniques we teach and model. The fact that a client has a good day when we are on-site is a testament to the power of the program. It works if you work it.

You have to consider the difference between correlation and causality in a case like this. Simply being there does not move the dial. It will not motivate your frontline over the long haul. Good intentions alone do not create results. It’s consistency in presenting every product to every customer every time that leads to results.

Consider the individual who lost over 200 pounds by eating at a certain fast food restaurant for a year. True, he ate at the restaurant almost exclusively. True, he lost the weight. End of the story? Not by a long shot. Did you know that he often walked to and from the restaurant up to 3 times a day? There was a correlation (read “co-relation”) between the food and the weight loss, but was fast food the cause?

What about this famous scenario: in the summer more ice cream trucks drive around the neighborhood. Is there something about the presence of rocket pops that brings on the summer heat? There’s about as much chance of that happening as having a lucky charm on the sales floor.

The product that you sell might not be complicated, but getting your sales team to serve your customers consistently can be. So the next time you hear something like, “It’s got to be the shoes!” look a little closer. Its got to be hard work. It’s got to be dedication. It’s got to be belief. And above all, it’s got to be consistent.

Tom Diaz - Senior Performance Manager, Frontline Performance Group

We have all been there before. There are only a few days left in the month, and you are hanging by a thread to earn a tier payout or hit a sales quota. That sinking feeling, a sense of foreboding, starts to creep in. The pressure is on and you begin to think, “What if I miss out? Look at all of the money I will lose. I can’t afford to miss that incentive payout.” You think it over and over as you exert more and more self-pressure. You begin to realize and feel failure, and often your fears become reality…a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Next time, when the pressure is on, stay positive and remember the following:

1. You cannot control what the customer is going to do, you can only influence their decision.

Every salesperson can recall what they believed was a perfectly delivered pitch, only to be rebuffed by their prospect. Conversely, think of how frequently you can blow your sales pitch and still get the sale. Always remember you are unable to control how well you sell – only how well you offer. The good news is in the majority of situations, if you consistently offer well, you will sell well. When you are under the gun, focus on the following sales fundamentals:

• Greet and build rapport
• Identify wants and needs
• Offer the product that best meets the customer’s needs
• Answer all questions positively
• Offer ancillary products after the primary product is secure
• No matter what happens, close positively

2. Visualize your desired outcome, not your potential failure.

World-class athletes spend years training their minds to “see” and “claim” victory before they achieve it. What does success look like for you? Visualize yourself achieving the highest level of performance and you will engage the power of your subconscious mind to make it happen. The best time to create these “success imprints” is right before you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up in the morning. Research suggests this is when your subconscious mind is most impressionable.

3. Replace worry with work.

Worry is wasteful and destructive. Instead, spend your time practicing and preparing. Remember, you may be unable to control the results of your sales efforts, but you can control the behaviors that lead to these results. Ready yourself for the day by giving yourself an encouraging pep talk. Keep telling yourself that you are confident, that you will overcome this challenge, and that the results you seek are a given. Arrive early to work and prepare your workstation. Disorganization and arriving late increase your stress levels and make your customers feel uncomfortable. Most of all focus on how your products and/or services help the customers you encounter. Selling for your customer instead of to or at them will put you and your clients at ease, and position you for success.

Chris Brown - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

By nature, human beings are social creatures; we want to interact, assimilate, commune, share stories and experiences. Social interaction is often the medium through which we develop relationships. It is how we formulate our opinions, our preferences and determine what we like, whom we trust.

Sales is a social event; yet the inherent, old school practices of many sales organizations are preventing them from making the “A” list. One such practice is attempting to sell customers on the merits of products and services without having an understanding of their likes and dislikes, their true wants and needs.

So, how do you get your customers to open up and tell you what they’re thinking? Just listen!

Since the advent of social networking sites, today’s customers have been talking about you and your business every day, to virtually everyone! According to a recent study, “three of the world’s most popular brands online are social media related (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia) and the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites. This equates to 22% of all time online or one in every four and a half minutes. For the first time ever, social networks or blog sites are visited by three quarters of global consumers who go online, after the number of people visiting these sites increased by 24% over last year. The average visitor spends 66% more time on these sites than a year ago, almost 6 hours in April 2010 versus 3 hours and 31 minutes last year.” (Source: Nielsen, June 2010)

Getting with the program – utilizing social networking sites to hear what customers are saying and communicate with them will lead to more relational rather than transactional experiences for salespeople and their customers.

Lynda Fleming - Director of Learning & Development, Frontline Performance Group