It’s travel season … last week Washington, DC for Franchise Appreciation Day and this week Franchise Update’s annual Franchise Development Conference at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, IL. The conference agenda is helping owners of franchise organizations (in a peer to peer environment) understand the present franchise sales environment and gain valuable insight for improving their organizations and sales success. By registering, franchisors are also agreeing to be “secret shopped” and compared to their peers, a very worthwhile exercise if you haven’t done it lately. Something I picked up and thought I would pass along is a recommended sales process – I think it’s applicable for any organization involved in relationship selling:
- Be prompt (call back prospects within a few hours if possible. Definitely within 24 hours)
- Be enthusiastic
- Be personable
- Follow a process
- Collect the basics! (name, address, phone, email)
- Qualify your prospect (are they really prospects?)
- Present the next step (i.e. Let’s talk again on Oct 6 at 1p. Does that work for you?)
- Deliver on your promises (if you agreed to send an email or package, do it!)
Check to see if your sales staff is hitting on all cylinders – it will pay significant dividends down the road.
