This past week, I was on the East Coast and chatting with my cousin James, who is also an entrepreneur. In fact, he started his business the same year I started CapForge, meaning we’ve both been at this for 26 years now.
I asked him how things were going, and he told me everything was really going well and, in fact, they were at the point where they were turning away work. Naturally, I asked him why that was the case, and he explained that he was the only person doing sales.
I get it. When you are the business owner, sales is often the last thing you give up. You have the experience, the war stories, the big picture, and the pulse of the business in your head so you can answer any question and adjust your quote and the scope of work on the fly to meet the customer’s needs.
Owners always have the best close rate because they come across as the most credible and most likely to follow through on what they are saying vs a regular “sales guy” who is just working for a commission at the business.
Beyond that, sales are the lifeblood of the business, and owners feel like they don’t want to risk a blown opportunity to bring in new revenue and keep the business funded and profitable. They also know if things have been slow, they may be more willing to discount, and if things are super busy, they can quote high to make sure a new job is worth the strain on capacity. These are not things the sales person is going to know or typically feel comfortable doing without at least checking first.
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So it all makes sense why sales are often the last thing an owner wants to delegate, and the one they feel is going to be hardest to teach. I get it- they have a point. But it also means that if the owner isn’t available, then no sales happen- and that’s a scary proposition for any business! And it means that if the owner doesn’t have the time to do proper sales, which includes follow-up and being able to take calls and respond to emails quickly, it’s going to hurt the business as well.
In my view, it is critical to develop at least one other person in the business (and more is better) who can take an incoming inquiry and get it all the way to being a new signed up customer without having the owner be involved. Why? Because any of the following can and will happen in just about any business:
- The owner is sick or absent, or doing something else critical and otherwise unable to handle it
- The owner wants to take time away (and should!) without having to still be basically on call full time
- Two calls may come in at the same time, and you don’t want to have to pick which one to take
- You may reach the stage sooner than you think, where there are simply more incoming sales leads than one person can handle
Now, if I’ve convinced you that you should delegate sales, then the next question may be how? Well, start with making a list of the most common questions potential customers ask, and how you respond. Very often, a sales call starts with a series of questions where you figure out what they want and if you can meet the requirements. So what are those questions, and how do you qualify those inquiries?
Next, there are common objections in sales that prospects have- what are they, and how do you respond?
Finally, if your business has pricing that varies by customer, what do you need to know, and how do you do estimates? If it’s a case of cost plus, what are the factors you consider when figuring the cost and the pluses? If its value based pricing, how do you quantify the value being added?
When I first did this in my catering business, I built a simple Excel tool to calculate pricing and then taught them how to adjust it up or down a bit from there based on certain “soft” criteria. Don’t overcomplicate what isn’t really that big a deal and imagine it will never work in your business. I have yet to meet the business that was so complicated only one person in the world could run it, although I have met many people who thought that was the case!
While it may seem like a lot at first, very often you realize it’s a lot of the same things over and over, and once you’ve made a list, you realize you don’t actually have that many variables or items that are outside that main list of things you end up saying over and over.
Now that you have a basic outline, take note of the next five to ten calls you make. I’ll bet you use some of the same stories, anecdotes, and customer success examples over and over as well. Things like that can easily be written up and shared by someone besides yourself; they just need to know what they are.
The next step, once you’ve identified who in your business is going to be your sales protégé, is to make some mock calls. You pretend to be an interested customer and go through the kinds of questions, objections, and buying decision making you normally experience. Coach the person through how you answer and what to say.
Then, have them listen to some actual calls in real time. Then have them on some calls with you where they take the lead. It will be hard at first not to jump in and save them, but you have to hold back unless they really go off the rails.
Sooner than you think, they’ll be ready to take calls even when you aren’t around, and the first time you come to work to find a new customer has been signed, sealed, and delivered that you never even heard of will be a new kind of freedom you didn’t realize you were missing!
If you haven’t done this yet, put it at the top of your to do list. Not only does it free you up to do other things and also take time away from the business, but it also adds tremendously to the overall value of your business.
If you, as the owner, are 100% responsible for sales, it’s going to be much less appealing to buyers knowing they must take on the same role, at least to start. On the other hand, if the business can make sales even when you aren’t around, you’ve suddenly got a whole different prospect on your hands, and the value just shot up in the eyes of potential buyers.
Bottom line is this- don’t let yourself be the only one in your business who can make a sale! If you are currently, this is how to fix it, and the sooner you do it, the better off you’ll be!