Good Sales Call Etiquette:
1. Never park closest to the door. The most fundamental principle of making a sales call to a customers business is that the parking spots closest to the front entrance are for their customers. Especially when calling on retail locations. Many retailers told me often reps will pull up right in front of their store, even when they can end up staying 1 to 3 hours. That means for those 1 to 3 hours it is more difficult for customers to find parking.
Stop to think for a moment. Your dealer has built a business to attract customers to make a living. The store was not built for sales reps to visit. It takes only an extra moment to park at the rear or side of any business, leaving the prime front parking spaces for customers.
2. Being on time for a call means being 15 minutes early. If you are visiting a customer for a 9 am appointment; it means the appointment should start at 9am. Entering the business, greeting the receptionist, walking to the buyer or manager’s office, and any presentation prep work, should all have been completed by 9am. If you walk in the door at 8:55am how can this meeting start on time?
3. Never be late!
4. If you can’t avoid being late notify the person before the meeting is scheduled to start. If the meeting is set to start at 9 am most buyers would be in the office before 9am or else the meeting would have been scheduled later. Do not wait for the clock to pass 9am before notifying your meeting you will be late. Stick to the 15 minute early rule. If you have not arrived 15 minutes before the start of the meeting, you are late and need to notify the meeting of your new arrival time. If you are more than 10 minutes late provide the option for rescheduling, don’t take it for granted that the person still has the time to meet with you.
5. Decide in advance what topic(s) you want to cover in the meeting. Too many sales people enter calls without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish during their visit. Tell your meeting at the beginning the items you will cover and stick to those subjects. If more topics come up, make note of them, and cover those items during your next meeting.
If you have covered the material you originally intended; do not let the meeting ramble on. Many buyers will not want to appear rude by ending a meeting, however they may secretly be wondering why the meeting has not ended.
6. If you don’t know; DO NOT LIE! Many new sales reps don’t intend to lie to any customers. Obviously this is a bad business tactic for anyone. But what these sales reps are trying to do is cover up the fact that they don’t know a piece of information. No buyer knows every bit of information, so there should be no fear on the part of the sales person to let the buyer know they will have to verify the information. Believe me a buyer will appreciate you taking the time to verify any information you are not sure about, rather than you giving false information. Also this is a chance to learn more detail about your product or service.
Even the smallest details of emails, names or fax numbers can put unknowing sales people in the hot seat. Let’s say you want to make sure you have the buyer’s business card if you will be following up on details from the meeting. If the buyer announces, during your last meeting they gave you a card, which they may well have done and you may have lost it. Simply admit you may have misplaced it. Many times these buyers are watching how you respond. If you really think you have lost the card, make a joke about never having too many cards. One quick way around this; is offer your card at the beginning of the meeting and you will normally receive one in return.
One customer of mine remarked to me about a rep that had a company van with the companies logo plastered on it. He would always park the van in the parking spot closest to the store. Time and time again this rep thought that he was making diligent sales calls on the customer. But what was really happening was every time the customer saw the van in the spots he reserved for his customers, the dealer grew increasingly annoyed. Needless to say in sales you need to be very mindful of how you carry yourself inside and outside your customers business.
Until companies recognize the need for ongoing sales training, which may never happen, sales reps need to educate themselves. Many of these mistakes seem harmless; but they are very harmful. Too often the sales rep will go about their business and not realize the customer is secretly wondering what the rep is thinking.
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