How to Sell During a Campaign

Some people hear different things when they go through our training. Sometimes they only hear part of the message. For example, a manager whose team had just been on training said to me recently that one of the people had decided NOT to sell during their RRSP campaign because they heard in the training that they were not suppose to sell to anyone that did not have a problem. Most of the people this person saw did not express a need for an RRSP so they concluded they should just ignore everyone until one of their customers said they were worried about retirement.

NOT!

I can only imagine that this misunderstanding was gathered from a very loose interpretation of "RULE #2" which states "Do not present a solution to a problem that has not been acknowledged by the customer". This rule is designed to keep sales conversations focused on what the product will do for a customer and making sure we understand whether or not the customer has a problem before we go telling them how great we are at solving it. What RULE #2 does not say is that we should wait until the customer brings the problem up on their own! If that were the case wouldn't you just be order taking? Regardless, you'd be waiting a long time before you sold anything.

Don't Bonk Them Over the Head

Being proactive in selling doesn't mean bonking your customers over the head with your campaign specials. Your customers get used to your sales pitches just like you get used to the telemarketers pitch. How many of you actually listen to what the telemarketer has to offer? Exactly. We tune them out. Why do you think your customers would be any different when you "pitch" them on your special offers? So have a quick conversation with them. Don't just ask them if they've contributed to their RRSP yet. That's a surefire way to get a no. You'll feel better that you asked but will it really accomplish anything? The only customers that will respond to that are the ones that were ready to buy anyway.

Getting them Talking About the Potential Problem

Get them talking about the potential problem that the campaign product you want to sell solves. For example, if you are running an RRSP campaign get them talking about:
- how their retirement investment portfolio is performing
- the last time they had their investments reviewed
- if they feel they will have enough money to retire when they want
- what they'll do with their income tax refund

Give them a good excuse for introducing the potential problem you are thinking about and then ask them if there's a problem. For example, after the customer asks how you are you could respond,

- It's going well, we have lots of customers taking advantage of our investment specials right now, especially for their retirement savings – how is your retirement plan performing for you by the way?
- We're getting busier, lots of customers coming in to have their investment portfolios reviewed, when is the last time you had yours reviewed?
- It's going great, we're really spending extra time right now talking to our customers making sure they are going to have enough money to retire when they want. How are you feeling about the amount you've saved up for retirement?
- We're busy trying to help customers get some money back at tax time so they can pay off their Christmas presents! How's your refund cheque going to look this year?

Play with the concept of developing an excuse to get your customers talking about the end goal of the product you are promoting. Be aware of the many different points of conversation that can be used to introduce the topic you want to discuss and you'll find that the customers start more of these conversations than you think. If they do not start the conversation however, let's not wait for them. Get good at getting them talking about the problem your product can solve and leave the sales pitches to the telemarketers!

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Copyright © 2008 by Fusion Performance Group Inc.
Copyright © 2012 by Fusion Performance Group Inc. If you share this, print it out, or reproduce it in any way, please retain this copyright statement.