subject: Some Guidance For Sales Supervisors Looking To Build A Zero-mistake Culture In The Sales Force [print this page] The "zero error" target was first set in manufacturing environments. It really is far more economic to manufacture a flawless item from the very start than to look for flaws which have emerged in the course of manufacturing and having to fix these. This successful concept can also be transferred to sales and is consequently usually included by sales managers in their sales training programmes. Zero mistakes in sales means the sales team produces no un-happy clients.
It takes a lot of work to produce a zero mistake culture in selling. The task begins with you, the sales supervisor. After you have recognised the benefits of this approach, you need to move this conviction to the sales team. From there it truly is a straightforward step to transfer this to the customers.
Before laying a finger on the sales organisation, undertake a kind of stock-taking.
Enhance your own customer contacts. Go with sales men to customer visits or make client visits your self. Listen and experience 1st hand what your clients think of you, your product plus the service you provide.
See the very last complaint process through to its end. What likely improvements did this indicate to you? What tends to make customers un-happy and what would make them satisfied?
Monitor yourself: how do you speak with your salespeople regarding customers? What exactly is your attitude towards customers? How does your attitude and conduct color the conduct of your sales men?
Taking stock could show you where you stand and where, as a result, the majority of the salespeople stand.
Satisfied clients really don't come about just because you send your sales people to the relevant sales training seminars. The foundation for having satisfied clients is a working environment which makes it likely for no mistakes to occur, combined with an appreciation of one's client and his/her needs.
Organise your selling process to make it as simple and streamlined as you can. Difficult official channels for order forms, multiple copies of order information by hand and vague responsibilities do not create situations suitable for flawless work. Do away with all of the actions between customer contact and delivery that are actually not crucial or which tend not to add to customer satisfaction.
Convey your appreciation of the customer to the salespeople. Top performances in selling always depend on the working atmosphere. When you appreciate your customer and their satisfaction is important to you, this attitude will rub off on your sales team. The same is sadly true of the opposite.
If something goes wrong, make up for it! There are actually still businesses that force bureaucracy on the customers and insist on the small print. The reason for this is sometimes limited freedom of decision-making on the part of the sales person or service representatives.
For that reason, if something goes wrong, the individual in contact with the customer must possess the desire and the freedom to compensate for the mistake in some manner. A client must think that:
Every person in your organization has a stake in making certain that every little thing goes according to plan with the delivery - even though occasionally a mistake happens. He will not have to carry the can for your error.
As an example: you have delivered on time, but have not delivered the entire order. Do not wait around until the client calls you to complain. Get in touch with the client and explain what has occurred and apologise for the mistake. Offer them an alternative: delivery as soon as the items are available, naturally free of charge, or immediate delivery of a substitute product.
Build up a consistent follow-up process. Each and every client who does not go on to purchase more items from you must be asked "why". This really is the only method to locate potential weaknesses inside your sales organisation. You will be amazed how much feedback you acquire this way regarding the market place, your competition and the customer. Make the information you receive available in report form to the salespeople as well as the office sales department.
In conclusion, close client relations and constant customer orientation, supplemented by targeted sales training are ways of achieving competitive advantage and during situations of high cost pressure you have the added benefit that these actions really don't need to have a large budget.
