Sales Laundry

Posts Tagged ‘creative sales’

Yesterday I wrote about looking at what you sell with new eyes and finding ways to simplify the buying process for your customer.  To spur your creativity I am going to tell you what another company is doing to simplify a process they invented.

For years, I have written off Domino’s pizza as “college pizza” or the pizza you order when you are too broke to order anything else.  After looking online for pizza delivery one night, I decided to give Domino’s a shot for nostalgia purposes alone.

 What I found on their site was an evolution of Domino’s original pizza delivery model, making plain old pizza delivery arguably more personal, more consistent and flat out easier on the buyer.  I got my pizza and another great example of making buying easy all in 30 minutes or less and I am happy to say their idea was more innovative than finding a new place to stuff cheese.

Domino’s pioneered pizza delivery and in the process brought about the age old process of keeping a stack of expired pizza coupons in the drawer by the telephone, scouring the coupon sections of telephone books, calling in and asking about the specials, placing your order and getting the standard 40 minutes to an hour estimated delivery time.  Domino’s changed all that by integrating online ordering like their competitors, but unlike their competitors, they developed the “Pizza Tracker” (see image.)  

Click Thumbnail for Full Size Image

 I was able to build my pizza with a simple graphic interface; my coupon was automatically deducted from my purchase price, I confirmed my order and paid in less than two minutes.  It was an easy process that started delivering unexpected value for me as soon as the “Pizza Tracker” loaded up.

 The “Pizza Tracker” tells me that Li is doing the prep work on my pizza and shows my pizza moving from the Prep phase through the Bake phase and Box phase.  At 5:21 Li hands my pizza off to Scott who departs the store at 5:23 and arriving at my house at 5:33 with a ring of the doorbell.  

•  No more calling. 
• No more errors relaying the order. 
• No more coupons to track.
• No more wondering where your pizza is.
• No more calling back an hour later realizing they forgot your order or made it carry out by mistake.
• As a bonus, you get the names of the people that are working to make and deliver your pizza.

 The pizza met my expectations, it was the easiest order I have ever placed, and I got unexpected value out of the “Pizza Tracker” feature that was just part of the transaction.  Getting to see my order processed in real time by real people made me feel more confident that my order was going to be correct, and get to me on time.   More importantly, I will likely be back to order again.

Not resting on their success, Domino’s has found yet another way to simplify the pizza purchase process.  Forget the computer, that is so 400 words ago, now all I need is a remote and my TiVo.

 If Domino’s can improve the art of pizza delivery, how can you improve the process of buying your product for your customer?  Can you make a change that brings a measurable competitive advantage and wins additional loyalty from your customer base?

 *Domino’s Pizza is the world’s largest pizza delivery company with 19% of the domestic pizza delivery market, inventing the pizza delivery category.  Pizza Hut, largest company by sales, holds 17% of the domestic pizza delivery market, Papa John’s nails down third with a comfortable 10%.  Source: Domino’s Investor Presentation – April 2008

On almost every small to medium business web site I have ever looked at, when I read the “About” section, it almost always starts off with something like this.

 X Company, an industry leading…  or X Company is the world leader in X…

 How can everyone be leading their industry?  They can’t.

 Newsflash.  I don’t believe you when you say that and neither does your customer.

 Interestingly enough, the one place I do not typically see the “industry leading” moniker is on the web site of the company that actually is the industry leader.

 Why?  I assume because everyone in their market solar system of competitors, prospects, clients and vendors already knows this information and considers it a given.

 So, if you are number one, we most likely know it already.

 If you are not the best, or close to it, but you say you are, you can improve your message by just shutting up.

Your startup or 2 year old services company should not be blowing smoke about being the best or being an “industry leader.”

 Stop it.  You are destroying your own credibility.  If I can’t belive you on something that basic, how am I going to believe you in your area of expertise where my limited knowledge forces me to travel with you on trust?  

 I can’t.

 Muhammad Ali said “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

 The difference is he delivered proof of his personal branding message under the bright lights of a live event repeatedly on national television.

 Are you the best?  Should you be considered the best?  Don’t tell me how great you are.  Show me.  Give me evidence of your greatness from a source I will trust.

 One example of “evidence” not to follow would be the supposed professionals quoted on  DVD cases.

 “Best family movie of the year” – X Magazine.        

“A thrill ride from beginning to end!” – NY Times.

 No one believes the hype on the box, especially if it only lists the title of the reviewing publication.  Was there not one single guy working there that was willing to put his name to the review?  So what does it amount to?  A waste of time to write, an erosion credibility, and an abuse of the customers time spent reading it.

 Give me a video testimonial.  Give me a signed reference letter and a phone number that I can call to back it up.  Give me independent research.

 If you are not the industry leader, tell me what you are, and give me a compelling reason to forsake the safety of the industry leader to take a ride with you.

 One last point.  It has been consistently proven that people are by in large not trying to make the very best choice they can, they are trying to avoid making a bad choice.

 You don’t have to be the world wide number 1, you just have to be number 1 for me. 

You heard it here first, if Global Warming is real, the source is not cow butts or cars, it is the smoke spewing from the collective mouths of crusty reps and unimaginitive copy writers. 
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Hyundai has a problem shared by every car manufacturer; we are not buying new cars. 

 Sales are down 30%+ across the industry and GM, once the pride of American manufacturing is on the verge of being delisted from the stock exchange as shares trade under $1.00.

 The difference is Hyundai gets it.  Instead of gutting their value and defensively dropping their shorts on price, rebates and financing, they are on the offensive, effectively saying “Mr. customer, I dare you to lose your job.”

 they are on the offensive, effectively saying 

“Mr. customer, I dare you to lose your job.”

Hyundai already has a sales strategy and marketing message that I would think would play well in this economic environment.

 That message being “We build stylish high quality, inexpensive cars, and we back it up with a strong warranty” which was designed to solve the problem of “I don’t have a lot of money, but I need a car that is better than what I am driving now.”

 That message has a lot of appeal, but apparently not enough to keep sales from falling off of a cliff. 

 Hyundai took a deeper look at why business was slumping and thought way outside of the box for ways to solve a problem weighing much heavier on the minds of their prospect than the problem their current value statement was solving.

 That deeper problem being “What happens if I lose my job and cannot pay my bills?”

 The answer until now has been “The car gets repossessed.  I lose my transportation.  It would be harder to find a new job.  My credit gets ruined, and I won’t be in a position to buy a car on credit when I do get back on my feet.”

 Final decision:  “A new car would be nice, but there is just too much downside right now to justify it.  I will keep my old car; at least it is paid for.”

 So what did Hyundai do?

 Hyundai Assurance Plus:  If you lose your income, we will make your payments for 3 months.  If that is not enough time to work things out, you can still bring the car back within a year.  By the way, you still get the 10yr warranty.

 I have no idea how this strategy is going to play out for them, though I assume it will be fantastic as long as legal did not pack the contract with too many outs.  I can, however, tell you how it makes me feel as a consumer.

 I feel like Hyundai is a company that gets it.  That they understand and they are offering up a legitimate “bail out” for the little guy if it becomes necessary.  More importantly, I feel like Hyundai cares.  Hyundai is willing to step in and help out if life’s challenges get a little too big for a while.

 Hyundai is going to earn some respect and get a look by a segment of the market that would not have looked at a Hyundai before and Hyundai is going to win a deep loyalty from the customers they end up helping out.

 More sales today, more happy customers and more market share tomorrow.

It is an aggressive move in a market that finds most of their competitors retreating to a defensive position of low price.

 Ask yourself, does your present value statement carry the same weight it once did?  Is there a bigger problem in your customers mind than the one you are presently solving?

Identify that problem, find the solution, and then figure out how your company can help deliver that solution alone or with strategic partnerships.

 If I were an independent car dealer right now I would be calling my financial partners to see if we could put a “Hyundai Solution” in place for my dealerships.

 What is the creative solution for your industry?  Get it right and you will be the one rewarded with customer loyalty and market share. 

I am looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Trade show season is upon us and for those representatives that depend upon them to make their fortunes, I thought I would relate a story that might help spark some sales creativity.

Our company, focused on the financial services vertical, more specifically banks, decided at the last minute to rent a booth at one of the annual banking association shows.

At the time I was working in a new territory for the company building a new client base and relaying references from our client banks that were thrilled with our expertise and skill at eliminating a lot of the technology and regulatory headaches faced by the banking industry.

Approximately two days before the show I got a call asking me to staff the booth for the show with two of my fellow team members.

Two days and many miles later, I arrived early to make sure we got the booth setup and that we had all of the services/equipment we were paying the show company for.

As it seems to go sometimes, we had no carpet, we had no electricity but what we did have in abundance was mass confusion on the part of the show company related to what we had ordered, what was needed and when anything could get done.

Even allowing the extra time the show opened before we were able to work out all of the details and get our show strategy in place, but on the bright side, we did have a bowl full of candy.

Our last minute booth selection put us along the back wall, in a corner, that was far away from the sessions the bankers were attending. You had to want to go back there to find us. If you did manage to find the row, the massive stretch of concrete down one side convinced some to forego our isle and the exhibiting vendors on it, altogether.

Doing their part, the show sponsors staged raffles and other events almost every hour to keep the show patrons engaged, the challenge for us was that none of the sponsored events were close to our booth, so far from seeing a traffic bump each event was in fact a net drain on participants in our area.

We realized pretty quickly that to have any chance of making the show a success, we were going to need to generate some excitement to get patrons flocking to our side of the exhibit hall.

Plan A was to raffle off an expensive iPod and to place a hawker out in the aisle redirecting traffic to the booth. We later expanded this by sending two hawkers all over the show floor talking to and collecting business cards from any interested attendee.

The iPod drew interest at the time because no one else was doing it, not the case today, but even then that was not a compelling reason to get them to our booth, it was only a strong enough draw if they were in the immediate area.

Plan B inadvertently came to me while I was driving around trying to find a place to park for the event. I saw a group of 8 or 10 people having fun rolling around on Segways on some sort of tour of the city.

While at the show, I called the tourist board and found the number to the Segway Tours company, gave them a call and effectively negotiated a package including the Segway and an instructor to give lessons in and around our booth while we were at the show.

The Segway was a fantastic draw. We had lines of bankers at our booth waiting, working with the instructor or riding around the large concrete expanse around our booth.

When one banker would see another banker he knew riding around the show floor, he would head to our booth to get his turn.
The show turned out to be a success, with a lot of leads, a pile of new contacts, and a ton of awareness for who we were. For better or worse, over the next few weeks as I traveled around on follow up meetings I was introduced as the Segway guy.

The year that followed that event proved to be the best year to date for our company. I can’t tie all of our success to that one trade show, but I can say that the show was the spark that gave us an opportunity to demonstrate how the life of a banker would be better with us than without us.

Got a success story or tip? I want to read it. Any wild failures that led to a great lesson learned? I would like to read that, too.

Photo courtesy of  isdnvoices.com

Times are tough. Sales are down and Management is cracking the whip on the sales team. Forecast meetings have turned into an exercise in pain management as the same weak opportunities get hashed and rehashed week after week as revenues dry up and leads exist only in legend.

Does that about size up the sales effort so far this year? Well grind no more my good man.

Simply put, if what worked yesterday does not work today for one rep, look at what has changed about the rep. If what worked yesterday does not work today for the entire sales team, look at what has changed about the business of doing business.

In those heady days before 2008 when sales reps were writing new business in their pajamas or while still wearing the cloths they wore to the bar the night before, many sales professionals were able to check their skills at the door and become order takers, often times stumbling across an order or two blowing across the parking lot on the way in the office.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is only to make the point that instead of complaining about the market, now would be a good time to hang up the order takers apron, knock the rust off the sales armor and go jousting.

“Our clients are laying off staff, they do not have the budget to do anything this year.”

Do they still need your service in these difficult times? If you were providing staffing for them, ah, maybe not. Or, they might just need you more than ever. If you have the relationship in place maybe you can suggest temporary staff that are more cost effective to help them wind down their operation until their new reduced permanent head count can wrap their arms around the business. Maybe not, but it is a thought.

Maybe you expand your business by snapping up the best people being let go and using the power of their resumes to land them positions and you some new clients.

Maybe you expand by delivering severance package services like executive retraining, interviewing skills, or resume services.

Maybe all of these will work, maybe none of them will. The point is if business is not coming in the door the old way, think about creative ways to change the business.

“My client is saying she does not have any money to do anything.”

If the company still needs your service, it sounds like it may be time to think about ways to creatively finance your offerings or find a strong leasing or financial partner/bank that can buy the deals you write and give you some needed cash flow.

If you are in a strong position financially, see if you can bump your prices in exchange for time and terms with your client.

Think like a partner when you are talking with your client. Listen to them. What is it that their business really needs to success, or in some cases, survive? Ask questions to expose the bigger picture.

Why doesn’t your customer have any money? Are there sales down? Do they have clients not paying at agreed terms? Are they having cash flow issues in some other area of their business that is limiting the amount of inventory they hold and turn?

Think outside of the box on this one. Is there any service, deals, crucial contacts, reciprocal arrangement or vendor partners that you can marshal to help solve an underlying problem for your customer that will put your customer in a position to solve your problems by buying something.

What if your own sales team dedicated some time to finding opportunities for your best client through your own contact lists, effectively growing their sales force in the short term?

What if you developed some joint marketing efforts, effectively cutting both companies costs in half for the same ad/airtime?

What if?

The take away here is now is the time to think about problems at a greater depth than you are accustomed to doing, and frankly may not have strong enough relationships with your clients to allow those conversations to happen. You may need to solve a problem or two that is higher up on your clients list of issues than the typical problems you solve within the scope of your offering.

Got any creative ideas or stories of how you or your company bailed out a customer? Let me know.

On a nice evening out for dinner with my wife we were seated at a great table in an upscale Italian restaurant.  

 A manager stopped by our table and welcomed us to the restaurant and asked us if we would like to start off with a bottle of wine.  My wife was looking at the wine list and thought a bottle of her preferred wine was too expensive, so she ordered a glass.  

 The manager asked if I would like a glass, I had not thought about it, but said “Yes.”

“You might consider ordering a bottle, sir, if either of you would like a second glass the bottle would be a better value.”  The manager said.

 My wife smiled and very quickly nodded to the affirmative that ordering a bottle was a good idea.  I ordered it even though not three minutes before my wife had considered the bottle too expensive.

The price was a barrier until the value the bottle represented was elegantly explained.  With a value statement, the manager successfully bridged the gap between the perceived cost and actual cost of that bottle of wine, altering the perception and effectively closing the deal.

 The restaurant was beautiful.  The lights were dimmed a bit.  Fresh aromatic bread was on the table as was a special oil and garlic mixture for dipping.  We both ate the delicious bread, dipping it into the oil as we went over our respective menus.

 My wife decided before we had even arrived that she wanted some sort of lobster pasta dish.  Sure enough, she found what she wanted, but was put off by the price.  She decided to go with her second choice.  Seeing that we had put our menus away, our waitress stopped by asking if we were ready to order.

 I asked about a special couples promotion I had heard on the radio the restaurant was running but the waitress did not know what I was talking about.  The manager, however, just arriving with our bottle of wine overheard the conversation and verified the promotion and happened to toss in that the lobster pasta dish was part of the promotion, having no idea that was what my wife was really wanted.

 My wife, smiling ear to ear, ordered her pasta dish, I forget what I ordered.

 The restaurant was still beautiful and my wife was thrilled, which in turn made me happy.  She got a reasonable value on the wine she loved, she ordered her entre of choice, and the restaurant staff was on top of everything.

  Soon the bottle of wine was delivered and out waitress placed our empty crystal wine glasses on the table and set about opening the bottle.  She poured two glasses with a bottle roll at the end and confidently plopped the bottle on the table stating out entrées would be out in just a few moments.  A bite or two of the fantastic bread later, we picked up our wine glasses to toast the occasion.  The evening progressed with a good meal, great conversation, a nice desert, I paid and we left.  

The marketing dollars spent and the message delivered was a perfect compliment to the sales experience on the restaurant floor.  The marketing dollar found its target market in me, the message compelled me to action and the sales team at the restaurant was delivering on that implied promise, providing an experience for me and my wife I was willing to pay for.

Corporate direction, to raise average tickets by getting more couples in the restaurant, was perfectly in line with Marketing, having put together an attractive targeted promotion that got us in the restaurant, and Sales completed the trifecta by delivering quality service and tacking wine and desert on our final bill.  

This was a perfect case study in what can happen when Management, Marketing and Sales are all on the same page, out of their respective silos, and delivering a consistent message from the top down.

Look at your own company.  Does your stated corporate direction match what your Marketing department is doing?  Is the Sales department in line or are they marching to their own drum?  If not, then your company is probably paying too much for each sale.  From a numbers perspective it probably looks like there are too many sales people on the payroll for the amount of revenue being generated. 

The good news is it should be easy to find some sales improvement just by getting everyone on the same page and some additional improvement yet again,  from my experience, once you all get good at working together.