“If ten people walk into your store, how many wind up buying?” is a question I often ask dealers. The national average is about three in ten, so this gives me a benchmark. I know dealers who close seven or eight out of ten – more than double the national average. How is that possible?
One thing these dealers have in common is they get a high percentage of their business from repeat and referral customers. In Part 1 of this series, I explained why the single most effective thing you can do to increase your closed sale ratio is to shift towards repeat/referral business. Here are a couple of practical steps you can take to make that shift:
Market to your customer list every month.
The overwhelming majority of dealers ignore their past customers. Most of the dealers I know who are getting the high closed sales ratios do market to their past customers regularly.
As discussed in previous blog posts, a newsletter is an effective way to do that. Use the 90/10 formula: make your newsletters 90% fun, informative, entertaining content, with only 10% about your flooring. Sending flooring ads every month is not nearly as effective as a newsletter because only a small fraction of your database needs flooring in any given month. All flooring is all boring. A 90/10 newsletter solves this and this formula works.
Ask for referrals.
How many installations does your business do on average each month? Have you trained your sales team how to ask for referrals from those customers? And do you market to the people who are referred? If you are skipping these steps you are leaving a fortune on the table, and missing out on an opportunity to increase your closed sale ratio.
Getting new flooring is a big, happy, exciting event for most customers. It’s a bit like having a baby. Before the installation, they talk to friends, family, co-workers, members of their church, and neighbors about the upcoming ‘arrival.’ They’ve likely mentioned it on Facebook or other social media. Chances are excellent that someone in their sphere has said, “Who are you getting your floors from? Let us know how it goes because we need new floors.” Who will get that business? You, if you ask for it.
Other strategies
Assuming you’re making the shift towards more repeat/referral business, what else can you do to increase your closed sale ratio? Two powerful ways to move the needle are to create differentiation and increase the effectiveness of your sales process. Here are some tips for accomplishing both:
Use scripts. When someone walks in, train your sales team to say, “Hi, welcome to Jimbo’s Floors! My name is Jim. Are you a new or returning customer? A new customer? Great, we have a special program for new customers. Can I take a quick minute and tell you about it?” You’ve just bought yourself half a minute to sell them on the benefits of sitting down with you for a consultation.
Beverage menu. Hand customers a laminated beverage menu and ask them, “What can I get you to drink?”
Use testimonials. What others say about you is 100-times more effective than what you say about yourself, even if you’re 100-times more eloquent.
Social proof. Testimonials are one kind of social proof. Another is before-and-after photos of your completed installations.
Online reviews. 92% of consumers now read online reviews vs. 88% in 2014. Make sure you’re asking happy customers to review your business online at Google, Yelp or Yahoo.
If you implement every strategy in this column you will not only close more sales, but you’d get a big advantage over competitors, most of whom will never do even one of these things, let alone all of them.
Did you get my free book? For a complimentary copy of, “How Floor Dealers Can Beat the Boxes and Escape the Cheap-Price Rat-Race of Doom Forever,” visit BeatTheBoxesToday.com.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!