Sales Laundry

Archive for April 14th, 2009

Relatively recently I was working with a technology provider and found myself analyzing the hoops they made their customers jump through to make a purchase.

 There were three different multipage documents requiring initials or a signature on each page.  The customer had to sign the original, fax a copy back to the office and mail the original copy, preferably via FedEx at their own expense, so the paperwork loop could be closed and the annoying “where is your paperwork?” phone calls could be avoided.

 If someone has elected to give you money in exchange for your product, why not make it as easy as possible to make the purchase?

 Why does it take 30 days, 60+ pages of paper, countless initials and signatures to buy a house that can’t move, and only a day or two to buy an equally expensive car that could be stolen, parked in a shipping container, and sent to around the world to parts unknown?

 Car dealerships are not without their own hoops, with haggling back and forth with the Sales Manager via the sales guy, getting points added on used car financing, warranties, rust protection, pin striping, etc.  It does not have to be that difficult but it is, because the end of the transaction is where the dealership has maximum leverage.

 In an attempt to keep theft down and maximize opportunities for warranty sales, Circuit City created customer choke points in their stores, making it difficult for the customer to purchase their merchandise and get out at busy times.  Prior to their final incarnation, Circuit City sales transactions were always limited to the number of employees on the floor with time wasted between transactions because customers had no tolerance to queue up and wait at Circuit City as they had been conditioned to do at grocery stores, Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

 Look at the actual mechanics involved in how your customer places his or her order with you.  Is it overly complicated?  If buying your product is tougher than necessary you give your competitor a simple way to improve over your service in a way that is meaningful to the customer.  Could you make the process friendlier and thus incent your customer to come back and buy from you more frequently?

 Need an idea to get you thinking?  Look at how we buy books.

 Book Store – Drive, park, walk in, find section, hopefully find the book, wait in line, listen to the rewards program card speech, buy the book, walk to the car, drive home.

 Amazon.com. Type in the name of the book, hit the 1-click order button. = easy.

Want another one?  Look at what Domino’s is doing to simplify the buying process.