National Clothesline

Verizon Wireless is notorious for its “Can You Hear Me Now” slogan, but recently they went on a “Can You See Me Now” sales and marketing program to increase sales.

The bottom line is that their television, newspaper and other promotional material was only going so far. Verizon’s marketing program included increased sales personnel, all while developing a program and system to gain and attract new customers.

Sound familiar? Building Profitable Routes has been the name of our manual for years and it starts with selling by seeing the whites of their eyes.

Nothing happens on your route until you get a customer. And then you need to multiply by 500 annually.

It drives me nuts to see people spend more money and time with non-personal marketing game plans that get you marginal results with less retention. Sure it’s easy and runs itself, but it is still an investment in resources, time and effort. Finally, you are basing your growth on hope, not control.

One of our mottos for the industry is to take back control of your business — from marketing to operations and management.

This is so true for your sales program. With a live body, you can overcome instant objections, persuade procrastinators and control the concerns right away.

Sales consultants had a banner year as all industries recognized that it was time to get off the computer and go get new business. Sounds old-fashioned, but it is exactly what the 21st century consumer desires — a more personal relationship with whomever they do business.

The best way to examine my theory is in your own situation. Think about whom you do business with and why. Sure, price, a quality product and overall service are there; but quite often it is because of how you feel about the service you receive.

We get bombarded with all types of promotional material that may whet our appetite every now and then. However, we usually deal with someone we know and trust.

Trust is one of the most difficult words in our language to define. Look it up some day. I like to break it down into credibility, reliability and intimacy.

How credible you are only adds to the trust meter. Have they heard of you, name recognition, branding, etc.?

Yes, this is why I firmly believe that marketing pieces are critical as well as a nice van. Again, the cheaper you are on marketing pieces the lower the results. They are just tools, but also critical pieces of the route development puzzle.

Reliability is about quality and service. Again, this is why personalized sales are ever so important.

If the prospect thinks that you are lazy and cheap, what is their first impression of your overall business? Plus, a non-personalized marketing item may say that you are a quality cleaner, but a live person dressed in finely pressed garments is a moving billboard.

The last element of trust is intimacy, and I am not talking about sexual intimacy. This is where you show that you are willing to work hard to take care of the customers, all while providing an image that you care.

Some of the best sales personnel out there have a soft delivery and a non-pushy approach to getting new customers. The more you care and show it in front of prospects, the better the chance you have to gain their trust and thus get their business.

Every week our company gets at least two calls from individuals who want to grow but not pay for it. I never preach that sales are automatic, guaranteed, easy and cheap. Sure, you have to spend money and time to make more money. That formula will never go away. However, if you do nothing, you gain nothing.

I gave a four-hour seminar in Atlanta and explained the importance of face-to-face selling. Someone came up to me and said he never buys from a salesperson, he makes all the decisions.

Sure, you get a handful of people who do not deal with live salespeople. Wait — is that all of us? However, how many of us throw away direct mail?

The bottom line is that what we provide is unique and needed. People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what they need. Our convenient, personalized service is not life insurance, a vacuum, mortgage or beauty products. We are really not selling anything.

In fact, 75 percent of all sales occur after the third to fifth time the prospect is touched.

In an actual face-to-face selling situation, you have that opportunity to skip over a few steps by answering the questions that are presented. This is what separates face-to-face sales from all other efforts. You can kindly persuade the prospect to at least try the service while developing a personal relationship right away.

I don’t know how many times you sense that the prospect actually respects how hard you work, especially door-to-door. Networking, commercial selling, etc., are all vital parts of face-to-face that you need to seriously consider.

Don’t fall in the easy-way-to-market trap. It sounds good on paper, but the real result comes from being a real, live person.