Business is all about selling!
Whether it is a product or service, generating leads and converting them into successful sales is the ultimate goal. After all, selling is one of the factors that limit business growth. Hence, working on improving business sales is critical.
There is always a chance to sell and upsell with new and existing customers. Imagine a situation where an employee working for your business (not necessarily from the sales team) is interacting with a potential customer. You would want this employee to talk with the intention of selling/upselling. No customer would want to hear, “Uh, I can’t help you with this. Maybe you can talk to my boss; they can assist you!”
However, this situation is not far from reality! There have been several instances where businesses have lost customers because their staff wasn’t keen on selling.
Why does this happen?
Well, there are some compelling reasons to indicate the disinterest of staff in selling. Once you know these reasons, you can work towards improving them, thus improving business sales.
Let’s take a quick look.
Management of Change/ Business Ethos
As mentioned above, business is all about selling. Hence, it must be part of your business ethos.
However, several businesses don’t mention it during the recruitment process. The job description never mentions a little bit of selling as part of the role. Hence, when selling is suddenly introduced or expected of each employee, they are unwilling to accept the change. This results in disinterest in selling.
To avoid such a situation, you must mention in the job role whether selling is expected of them. This will help you ensure that your staff is up for selling business products and services when needed.
Not My Job
When you expect selling from your employees, you might get an answer, “It’s not my job!”
Now, this is a common situation when employees are hired for a specific role, such as accounting, tax preparation, and such. However, when hiring new employees, you must always look for those who have people skills.
No matter whether your business is online or offline, people skills are critical to ensuring efficient customer service, in turn boosting your sales. When you have a staff with excellent people skills, you can expect to see selling/upselling.
Doesn’t Know What to Do
Imagine a situation where you are told to perform a task but don’t know what needs to be done. You will feel stuck and uninterested in performing the task.
The same goes for a staff that doesn’t know what to do when asked to sell. They might feel uncomfortable and not willing. In such a case, explaining the selling process can be beneficial. Explain to your staff different elements of selling, such as selling practices, pricelists, point of contact if a sale is made, different products and services offered by your business, and more. Provide them with the necessary tools to sell efficiently. It can be as simple as a mobile phone and a business card.
Selling is synonymous with “Educating”
Does your staff think that selling is dodgy, unethical, or disliked by most people? Well, you are not alone!
This is one of the major misconceptions that lead to fear of selling. However, helping your staff understand that selling is synonymous with “educating” will change their outlook and interest in selling.
You need to help your staff understand that selling is all about providing support and guidance to a customer who is looking for a solution to a problem. And if your business has a product or service that solves the said problem, you can merely educate the customer about the same.
Selling is not about pushing your products/service; instead, it is about informing and educating while leaving the decision to use the said product/service to the customer.
I don’t want to follow up on the quote. It is harassment
Some people think that following up on a quote is equivalent to harassment. However, this is not true! In fact, if you don’t follow up with your lead, you will lose out on potential customers.
Most people want businesses to follow up with them, especially after providing a quote for their services/products. If you don’t follow up, a customer will consider one of the following things:
- The business is not interested in selling its own products and services.
- You don’t know how to do business.
- The business is slack. And if you avoid following up on quotes, nobody knows how much time it will take to provide the final service/product along with customer service.
You don’t want your potential customers to think like that for your business. Instead, you want to build long-lasting customer relationships. Hence, your staff must know how to perform a fruitful follow-up. As mentioned above, not knowing to do a certain task may cause disinterest. Hence, you can get training for staff on how to perform a professional and fruitful follow-up on quotes.
I have other tasks to do
Reiterating what was said above, not knowing how to do a task can give way to avoidance and, thus, a myriad of excuses. If your staff isn’t trained to sell, they will find excuses to avoid selling. They might mention other less important tasks as a priority.
In this case, you must help your staff overcome procrastination and motivate them to sell. If needed, you can get help from an experienced business coach to sell and avoid excuses.
Bottom Line
Selling is critical for business growth. And as a business owner, it is your job to motivate your staff to be up for selling/upselling when needed. You can start by hiring the right team by providing an honest job description that mentions selling as part of the role. Hiring a team that has people skills will also greatly benefit you.
If you feel that you can’t hire more staff, you can always turn around the attitude of your existing staff by training them to sell efficiently and providing the right resources.
To get more guidance on how to motivate your staff to sell and create an enjoyable work environment, get in touch with us at Keystone Executive Coaching. We are highly driven to assist business owners in overcoming different hurdles that limit business growth.
Whether it is hiring the right team, motivating your staff, increasing employee engagement, or marketing your business efficiently, we have got you covered! Our specifically designed programs give you a deeper insight into running a successful business.
