A Sales Acronym is a shortcut to remembering the key steps your Service Techs must follow to have a repeatable sales approach to running a service call. Make no mistake. Great sales come from a great sales system. And the first thing about a great sales system is it must foster and promote an ethical sales culture at your shop.
Here’s a “30,000 ft. flyover” of the sales system I teach:
- Ask a few key questions like, “All things being equal, how long do you intend to live in your home?”
- Demonstrate you are listening to what the customer is saying by responding to them by either paraphrasing what they said when you repeat it back and/or writing down their replies so you can refer to it later in the process.
- Get permission to do a survey of the whole system so you can see the whole picture not just the current problem you are there to address.
- Present a menu of options starting with what must be addressed and what are smart things to consider to improve things like reliability, comfort and energy-savings [when applicable] too.
- Based on what the customer says yes to, write up a clear-legible easy [but legal] to sign off on invoice.
Note: If you’re already working digitally with laptops and tablets, there is still this step to do to capture the customer sign off.
The goal is not to produce sales robots but rather a sales system that allows Service Techs to have a process that frees them up to interact with customers in a helpful way that benefits customer, company and themselves. Once you have a sales system and steps to follow, it can become a lot to remember.
There are five key chapters to my Sales Power! system to remember. The more my clients practice it every week in class, in role-plays in their training centers and during ride-alongs the better the Service Techs get at mastering it.
But, it’s still a lot to remember and it’s easy for a Service Tech to get lost along the way as to where they are in the process. That’s when having a great sales acronym is so helpful.
Here are my basic steps for a repeatable customer-oriented experience:
Step One: Opening the Call
Step Two: Permission to do Survey
Step Three: Pricing the Job
Step Four: Presenting the Menu
Step Five: Writing the Invoice that Gets Signed
Remember, it’s not a replacement for the full Sales Power! process you have and the coaching you must do, but as a quick start reminder it can become indispensable.
Here’s an example:
The Sales Acronym following the Sales Power! system for my company, Appleseed Business Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, would be:
A.P.P.L.E. which stands for:
A-Appear at the door and open the call the right way
P-Permission to do the Survey
P-Price the job
L-Lead with a menu of solutions
E-Execute the proper sign off on the invoice
Whatever sales system you have today at your company, a Sales Acronym will help your Service Techs always know where they are in the Sales Process. Certain steps are less likely to missed that would compromise the customer-focused experience.
If your Techs aren’t Happily Selling…They’re Not Helping Customers!
“One of the most valuable things about the Sales Power! workshop was all of the scripts with techniques for the techs and the customer service experts. Al also did a great job relating to the techs–they paid attention all 12 hours – amazing!
The best part for me…Al taught me how to use the materials to continue training to build the whole staff. Al and I agree that any sales trainer can come in and pump up sales for a little while. But with the Sales Coaching Manuals, my Field Supervisors and I know how to run a powerful weekly training and coaching session that will allow us to keep getting better at Customer Service, which translates into more sales with your most satisfied customers!
The ongoing training is designed to keep making the existing techs, the new techs that arrive and the techs we’ll be developing better and more consistent at sales and customer satisfaction.”
Barry Kindt, President
SECCO, Inc. & SECCO Home Services
Camp Hill, PA
Go to www.appleseedbusiness.com and get started by getting your free 30-minute call today!
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