Greetings Floor Dealers!
This week’s topic is, “It’s time to get mean.”
So what do I mean by that? Well, there’s a lot to be discouraged about lately. The economy is in the toilet, dealers are getting slaughtered, and our news media pumps the raw sewage of negativity into our society 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
We have Flooring Success Systems members that are kicking butt, and others who are struggling. There are reasons for both results, which I’m not going to go into right now. No, what I want to talk about is getting mean.
Getting mean, means looking deep into that place in your heart and in your soul where the warrior lives. And letting that warrior come out and fight. And here’s how you do that in your business.
You hold weekly sales meetings, and in the first meeting you explain that things are going to be different. That you are implementing new strategies and that you expect them to follow the strategies enthusiastically, and to the letter. Let it be known that anyone who does not get on board immediately will very quickly find themselves standing in the unemployment line. And those lines are very, very long these days.
In the next meetings you drill your sales team, over and over again, on mastering two things: 1) Using your specific sales system exactly as outlined, and using the provided scripts (Flooring Success Systems members have a proprietary system provided to them that is currently blowing the doors off of those stores that are using it). 2) Requesting referrals from every single client, no exceptions. And doing so exactly as outlined and using the scripts. Practice, practice, practice. (Again, Flooring Success Systems members are provided a done-for-you form, scripts, and automated process for this.)
Assign one sales person to work on joint ventures (Flooring Success Systems Platinum members have a detailed system for this as well). Meet with this person weekly and make sure they are following your system to a T.
Use New Call Solutions to monitor and record every sales call. Review them with your sales team to insure they are following the scripts. If they refuse to follow the scripts, fire them.
Stop being afraid to fire non-cooperative team members. Last time I looked there were a whoooooooole lot of people looking for jobs. You could replace an unenthusiastic, uncooperative team member in about 37 seconds. Especially if you use the employee recruitment system we have made available to our Flooring Success Systems Platinum members.
Hold all sales and staff meetings standing up. Make the meetings efficient and to the point.
When a prospect comes into your store and compares your price with Home Depot’s $29 (or free) installation, you tell them that they’ve come to the right place. You fix $29 installations.
When you hear the news media pump out yet another story about someone losing their job or their business, sit up straight, tighten your abs, grit your teeth and say “That may be happening to others, but I’m going to survive and thrive.” And then implement strategies to make sure it happens.
When you send out a marketing letter and you get lousy results, you figure out why it didn’t work. Then you make the necessary changes.
When a member of your sales team says, “The referral request form doesn’t work,” you grill him and find out exactly, word-for-word what he says to the clients, how he approaches the clients, and if he’s following the directions. Then you show the sales person how to improve. If he won’t cooperate, you fire him.
When someone leaves without buying, you find out why. Then you plug them into a follow up campaign (you guessed it, Flooring Success Systems Platinum members have a marketing campaign completely done for them), and have your sales team follow up with phone calls once each week for a month. You have your team keep track of their calls on a checklist. You double check the checklist and make sure they’re doing it. If they aren’t doing it, fire them.
Strap on your Kevlar vest, gird your loins and arm yourself by investing in your own knowledge and education. Make sure that you know more than your competitors. Dig into the members only website. Listen to the audio CD’s. Use the done-for-you marketing systems.
Don’t accept excuses from your sales team.
Don’t accept excuses from yourself.
I hope that what you’re catching from me is more than just a handful of techniques. I hope you’re catching the spirit of what I’m trying to communicate. Getting mean is an attitude, a frame of mind, where you tell yourself that you’re just not going to lay down and take whatever crap the economy, your local market, a customer, or a stubborn employees want to dump on your head. Getting mean does not mean treating people meanly, it means getting tough.
Very tough.
Standing your ground.
And taking new ground.
And not letting anyone, or anything, or any situation stop you.
You can do it. It’s time to get mean.
Okay team…Until next time, Happy Marketing!
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!