Episode #212: Always Be Selling

We rush about chasing deals. We nail one down and race off hunting for the next one. Sometimes we need to switch from hunter to farmer and see if there is more to that first deal. We need to keep an eye on the satisfaction the buyer has with the first deal, to see if we can cross sell, upsell or get a referral.

The sales agreement is followed by the delivery of the product or service. In some cases they are immediate and in others there is a time delay. It is often the case that after the agreement to purchase has been achieved, we move on to the next deal and a new client or opportunity. In the prospecting phase we can become extremely busy running around town beating the bushes and trying to conjure up some revenues to meet our targets. The delivery of the product or service is usually done by someone in the back office, down at the factory, an agent or a contractor and not by the salesperson.

Schedules get booked up and there is the danger we have not made a sufficient effort to get ourselves into the diary of the buyer, after they have received the goods or service. We may have moved on to the next deals and are fully preoccupied with them. We have received our commission and are happy. Bad move.

We should without fail, always arrange to see the buyer after delivery. We want to know a number of things. If it was a physical product, was it in the format and at the quality standard that they expected. Better to know this earlier rather than later, because then we can fix it immediately. In Japan, speed is key and there are so many interlocking pieces in business here. Storage costs are high, so everyone gets by with minimum stock and expect regular top ups, as the business demand increases. Those down the line in the food chain becoming very irate when they have promised something to their own buyers and we cannot deliver it because of some logistical mess or quality issues. We need to be there on the spot to rectify the situation and quickly.

We also need to be there to get feedback on the degree of satisfaction in play. We promise a lot as salespeople and we can be very sold on what we are selling, but sometimes the buyers are less enthusiastic. We want know to what extent they are still sold on the product. In some cases, it will be because there is the reorder prospect and in others a chance to cross sell or upsell.

The best time to talk about any of these things is upon delivery, when the client has had a chance to gauge the reality, against what we told them. If the two coalesce, then we are in a good position to talk further business. Japan likes to test the seller. Often, we are given a smallish order, to see how we perform. Everyone is concerned about mistakes or problems and their risk aversion meter is always finely calibrated in this country. If we pass the test, then there is the possibility of more business. The next time there will be a slightly larger order. This keeps repeating itself, if we show we are able to provide a consistent, reliable level of service to the buyer.

Similarly the client may have many needs, some of which they didn’t mention in the first meeting. Something may have happened in the market or in the business since that first meeting or they may just be waiting to see how much they can trust us. Fortunately, we are sitting in the meeting room across from the buyer or online to find out if there is a greater need. If we are still chasing down new buyers, we may be missing this chance to build a deeper relationship with this specific buyer.

We have a matrix we use in our sale’s training for account development. Across the bottom we attach the name of each client for that column. Down the left side we list the name of each product we deal with for each row. We place an A for products or services we currently supply, a B for items which have high probability or interest the buyer and a C for those with less scope for success. What is always horrifying, is how many additional opportunities exist to further sell to the buyer, which we do not realise. We get stuck in a rut and the client pigeonholes us into a rut with only a few possibilities, when there are actually many more chances to become a key partner for that firm.

This is how hard it is, “I am very pleased to hear you are so happy with our service. May I ask you if there are other needs you currently have, with which we may be able to assist you?” The trouble is we don’t take the time to seize the opportunity of a satisfied customer, to ask for more business when there is a heightened state of happiness on their part.

This is also the time to ask for a referral. “Do you know anyone…” is a disaster of a question, because if we leave it too broad and wide ranging, they have to process the entire known universe and it is too much for them. We need to narrow it down. For example, “thinking of your golf group, can you think of someone who would also benefit from the solution you are enjoying today?”. This is much tighter and easier to answer as they see the faces of the members of the group in their mind.

Busy is good, but sometimes we become too desperate and too busy to close the next deals that we neglect the money left of the table from further business or from great referrals to new business.

Action Steps

1. Always schedule in time for the buyer after they have received the product or service – get yourself into their diary
2. If there are issues, fix them immediately so we don’t burn their supply chain
Before we go to see them, create the matrix of what we currently supply and look at what we could supply, that they need
3. Ask for the referral in a way that narrows down the suspects to a workable group that they can picture in their mind’s eye