Time for the ‘Big Gun’ of sales success?

biggun

Want to know a secret?  There’s one thing you can do that will dramatically increase your sales success…think of it as the ‘Big Gun of Selling’!  Now this isn’t a stand alone silver bullet – when you’re trying to grow your business and increase your sales, there are a lot of things you need to be doing, but the fundamentals are mostly pretty straightforward stuff like:

  • Having a consistent sales system that you follow (other wise you’re just winging it and you won’t ever get better).
  • Using a clear sales message that focuses on benefits and how you help your customers.
  • Getting exceptionally educated on who is buying and as much as possible why they buy (or in other words, know your target including intangibles).

That’s all good stuff (and really just the tip of the iceberg) but the real multiplier of your sales revolves around 2 things – people coming back and buying more from you without any real effort on your part…and those same people telling others about how great your stuff is and driving them to buy from you, again with little effort.

Both of those multiplying effects (customer loyalty and Word Of Mouth) are driven by this Big Gun behavior – as with many of these kinds of things, it’s simple but profound.  Are you ready for it?

Under promise and Over deliver.

I know…you were hoping for more.  But think through this with me.  Making people happy is all about beating their expectations.  If I go into a fast food restaurant and I end up with something that’s a high quality fantastic tasting meal, I’m likely to talk about and go back.  Why?  Because my expectation of quality from fast food is pretty low – the environment, the price, history and the approach have all set the bar fairly low (they under promise)…so when a restaurant Over Delivers…it’s remarkable and it will drive lots of positive outcomes.  Chipotle’s a good example of a restaurant that’s figured this out.

Contrast that with an experience at a ‘fancy’ restaurant…one that promises the best steak you’ve ever had.  When you go in and the experience and the steak is merely ‘good’ you’re going to walk away feeling disappointed, there will be no positive word of mouth and you may not come back.  They over promised and under delivered.

Simple but profound – especially when you incorporate it as a consistent way of doing business.

Are you currently consistently exceeding expectations with your customers?  That breaks down to 3 components – the expectations you’re setting, what you’re delivering and consistency.

What expectations are you setting?

Your pricing, marketing and sales materials are setting expectations, along with how you and your employees dress, speak and generally carry themselves.  Are you using any over the top language to draw people in?  Are you priced as top of the line or as a great value?

What are you actually delivering?

This is where most focus their energy – and obviously it’s critical to deliver at a high level if you want to be successful, but remember that the level of delivery is judged (by the customer) as compared to their expectations over time.

Are you consistent?

Consistency is probably the most important aspect of these 3.  The fact that you can knock the ball out of the park is good, but if you can’t come close to that on a regular basis you are going to lose momentum and any good will you might have built up from the last time out.

If you can address the 3 points above in a positive way, you will start multiplying your sales and things will start really accelerating.  It really is simple but powerful.

What do you think?  Is the concept of Under promising and Over delivering a ‘Big Gun’ of sales success for you?  Are you consistently building this idea into how you work and deliver?  I’d love to hear your thoughts – share them in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Photo by x-ray delta one