Sales Success November 18, 2009

I had a conversation with a hair stylist who had a few ladies approach her about doing their hair. She was reluctant to provide services because they frequented the salon she was at but had always done business with another stylist. Both were dissatisfied with their current stylist and wanted to switch WHICH IS THEIR RIGHT! Being such a nice person and not wanting to cause a scene she turned down the potential clients in order to keep peace. BIG MISTAKE!!!

Why is this a big mistake? Because when I asked her a few months later if these women had been back to the salon she said, “No.” In fact both of them had went elsewhere and found someone else in other salons to do business with.

So, when is a customer, really your customer?  When THEY ARE HAPPY WITH THE SERVICE YOU ARE PROVIDING! That’s it!  When someone is happy with the level of service you are providing for them THEY WILL NOT LEAVE! When they are dissatisfied it’s THEIR RIGHT to go and do business elsewhere. They are NOT being disloyal to you, they are LOOKING FOR SOMETHING or SOMEONE who will provide the level of service they desire.

In direct selling (and many other industries) salespeople put a tag on someone as soon as they make a sale. “THIS IS MY CLIENT -HANDS OFF!” Sales people with Lack Mentalities believe they need to put a net around everyone and often complain to their upline or company because someone else sold product or booked a party with another consultant. The big complaint being, “She bought (or booked) from me first so she’s my client!

Hey, do you take time to look into why someone CHOSE not to do business with you again? It could be as simple as she attended her friends party and wanted to help her friend by purchasing and booking a party. OR, it could be because after her last party you didn’t do any follow up. She had a few situations that needed to be handled and after the party you were nowhere to be found.  Sounds ridiculous I know, but the truth is if you spent just as much time keeping your customers as you did getting new ones you’d have a thriving business.

People like to do business with people they know, like and trust and who will provide them with great service.  Work hard to get new customers and hostesses but work even harder to KEEP THEM! Here’s a few simple things you can do to keep customers and hostesses LOYAL to YOU!

1.  Send a Thank You for ordering or a Thank You for Hosting note! Yes, it’s true people DO LIKE TO BE APPRECIATED! It’s so rare in these times for anyone to take time to send a thank you card.  There are card companies that can be used for any business or The Booster which provides products only for direct sales.

2. Follow up with customers after they have received their product or a few weeks after they have been using their products to make sure everything is okay. This can be done with a quick email or a phone call. The busier you are the less you will have time for phone calls so follow up with an email or another card or note. Make sure you ask if everything is okay and also ask them to call you if there is anything they need help with.

3. Birthdays are a great way to recognize people and put your name in front of them again. Send your Hostess a Birthday card with a coupon for a discount or a Free Gift.

4.  Send Thanksgiving Cards to your Hosts instead of Christmas cards which can get lost in the clutter.  Again, many card and mail companies allow you send them lists and you will soon have you sending an appreciation card to everyone on the list. Here's a link to a card company I use that makes it easy to automate your correspondence

5. Make verbal contact by telephone with every host at least every 6 months. Let them know what the current specials are and also some of the new release items they may be interested in.

6. Send a new catalog to your best hosts. This is a big investment on your part and one that I did in my business. When a new catalog came in I would mail about 100 catalogs to my special hosts. These were hosts who had high party sales or who booked at least once each year. I wanted to make sure they didn’t receive a catalog from someone else first! The several hundred dollar investment on my part gained me thousands of dollars in commission each year. Oh yeah, some of you may want to skimp by sending an electronic version but let me ask you a question. When is the  last time you put your computer in the magazine rack? Out of sight, out of mind!

7. Survey your hosts and customers on what you can do to provide better service for them.  You can’t fix anything you don’t know is broken.

Building a Loyalty Based business is not hard. Be nice, be appreciative, be concerned, and stay in touch. You customers and hosts will begin to say, “thanks, but I already have a consultant who provides me with great service. I don’t need to switch!”