How do your sales people stay in touch with their previously
sold customers?
If they are like many sales people, their follow-up is
suspect. At best, sales people have an erratic and
inconsistent approach. Why not consider a different way of
looking at previously sold customers.
If you needed to purchase additional life insurance, have
your taxes done, or get your suit cleaned and pressed, I
would imagine you don't go running around looking for a new
insurance agent, accountant, or dry cleaner. We all have
people who cut our lawns, clean our homes and offices, and
provide services for us on a regular basis. We don't think
about WHO will handle these needs for us, we call our guy,
and he takes care of it.
Previously sold customers need to think of their sales
person as "their guy or gal" who takes care of helping them
with purchasing a new car. In order to elevate your sales
people to that status with their customers, they MUST stay
in contact with them on a regular and consistent basis. Even
with the best of intentions for most customers, out of sight
means out of mind, they are simply too busy.
Many of you remember Joe Gerrard for his World Record Sales
achievements. One simple principle he used to stay in
contact with his customers was to send them a card every
month. December was a Holiday card, January Happy New Year,
March St. Patrick's, etc and each card read inside I LIKE
YOU, a simple yet effective gesture. He would send out
upwards of 13,000 cards each month.
The best way to begin a reconnection campaign for each sales
person is to first classify all previously sold customers
into 1 of 3 categories. Relationship Customers : Exclusive,
They call you first every time. Participating Customers:
Repeat but not exclusive. Buys from the competition as well
as from you. Non-Participating: Made a Singular Purchase.
That's it. No repeat business nor any referrals. Once the
customer base has been reclassified into the above
categories, sales people should start to re-contact the
highest category, Relationship Customers first. The intent
should be to speak via telephone with these customers 3 to
for 4 times annually.
In order to accomplish this let's do some quick math to
determine what it will take to accomplish this task.
Let's use an average sales person that has worked at the
dealership for 5 years.
10-12 units per month would mean approximately 500-600
customers.
500 customers times 4 conversations equals 2000
conversations annually.
Do you think in today's busy society, a sales person MAY
need to call a previous customer more than once to actually
get them on the telephone and have a conversation? Would 3
to 4 times seem realistic? Probably.
Now we are talking about 6000-7000 calls per year. Monthly
that would mean 500+ calls per month or approximately 25
outbound calls every day (20 work days) to have 5-7
conversations per day! So ask yourself how many of your
sales people are really staying in touch with their previous
customers.
Realize if you have 10 and 15 year veterans at your store
the numbers are 2 to 3 times this example.
Good luck and let's us know if there is any way we can help
you and your team.
Kirk Manzo General Manager Ziegler Supersystems kirk@kmanzo.com
To speak with Kirk about this topic or any other, give him a
call him at 800.726.0510 or send him an email at ahall@zieglersupersystems.com
As always: Free Dealer Support - Call 800.726.0510
Have a Prosperous New Year!
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