let’s explore why you are not selling!

When my daughter was about to start kindergarten, I went to a school ,let us call it XYZ, just to do my homework to see where she could settle. When I reached the gate, the watchman was very arrogant and condescending! I still remember his reaction. He practically looked me up and down and asked in a rather You-are-wasting-my-time-dismissal manner, “Where are you going?” I politely answered that “I would like to go to the office.”

He reluctantly opened the gate for me. I found his attitude appalling! Being someone who loves feedback, I was ready to report him to the school administration but when I reached the school office, the receptionist was no better. She was busy, on what I could tell, was a personal phone animated conversation. She momentarily looked up at me and continued conversing on the phone. I welcomed myself to a nearby seat and waited patiently.

Seeing that I had sat down, she held the phone briefly away from her ear and asked what I needed, I told her I wanted to know more about the school. Without a word, she pulled from some files, what I saw was a fee structure and slid it across me and continued with her rather important phone call. I took a second to ponder on that experience right from the watchman to the receptionist and I immediately made a decision, that was not the school that I wanted my child to attend with such a sickening culture. Without looking at the fee structure I left.

Take a look at your business, yourself and your staffs. How are you treating your clients? Understand, it is in the small things that we ignore which are very costly to our sales.

Do you greet your customers with enthusiasm?

Do you listen to their needs before offering solutions?

Do you skillfully counter any objections that they may have?

Do you offer alternative products or services?

Do you have offer alternative payment methods?

Do you follow up after their first visit?

Do you close that sale enthusiastically whether they buy or not?

Dear Reader, ever wondered why you are not selling or selling as much as you would love to? Today, I want to talk to you who has everything figured out. You have excellent products and or services. Your display both online and offline is top notch. Your services and or products are great quality. You have staffs who are well dressed and presentable. I mean you have made quite an investment in your business. So why is it that several months down the line or even a couple of years later you are not selling as you had anticipated?

First, this is not about the effects of the coronavirus. Let us keep the pandemic out of the way. Even before the pandemic you were not selling as you should. Listen, you may have everything in place, but let me tell you, with poor customer handling, your sales will not grow as they should.

Let us go back to my experience above. When I left, the first thing I did was write a long disgruntled email to that school director. I firmly expressed my displeasure of how I was treated by her first line employees. People who were supposed to be the face of her school. I told her how humiliated I felt and how I could never recommend the school to anyone. Lastly, I ended the email by cautioning her, if her staffs kept that pathetic attitude, she would loose tremendously not just on new parents but also the existing ones, so it was in her best interest to ensure that her team were not only well trained but maintained that level of training all through out their day to day activities.

Years later, I have never heard from the XYZ school director apologizing or offering some kind of a lame excuse for her staffs. Now you understand where the bad staff attitude comes from!

Have you had a better customer experience? Do you give better experience? Comment below, I would love to hear from you