Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: CLEAN-MASTER on January 25, 2008, 10:47:49 am
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I'm getting a decent response from my leaflet deliveries but am only ending up with a 25% conversion rate in to business. I understand this figure should be 50% +, any tips on how to increase please?
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I would say 25% is really very good. To get 50% is unrealistic in anybody's book. If you were to read other blogs on this site, some people put out thousands of leaflets and may only get a 1% conversation rate.
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Ours varies - probably 25-50 % depending.
When your converting clients just try and keep in mind all the good things about the business, i.e. big-up things like insurance, vetting procedures, client advice line or whatever it is you have. When answering the phone try and think positive as if you believe in what you sell that usually comes across.
Don't tag the price at the end of the phone call - be upfront or they may think you're trying to hide it and wonder why and whether you're too expensive. In saying that, I have a colleague who does just that and she seems to get similar results, so maybe this is just how I would feel if I was the one calling in!
Last tip - make them like you. In the first 10-20 seconds of the conversation you should know enough to judge what type of person they are - match them. If they are very business like be the same, if they sound like you could have a laugh with them then throw in some jokes and get the banter going. If you can get them to identify with you then you're halfway there.
Thats all the advice i have I'm afraid - hope it helps?
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I think its different over the phone but in person i get 90% conversion,
My tip is to think carefully how you phrase things or how you ask for the business, dont ask a question where you might get an answer you dont want to hear;
eg,
1. (on tendering price) Do you want me to do the job for you/is that ok?
replace with,
When would you like me to start/ im busy for the next 2 days but free after that what day suits you best?
2. (Closing on price), The cost is £X per hour is that ok?
Replace with
the cost is £x per hour, it can be paid advance or weekly or set up a direct debit, which do you prefer?
These are called assumptive closes, they are very effective because people find it harder (especially face to face) to raise the issue of not using your service. The key is giving people the idea they are choosing but really their choices dont include an option to say no.
If you want the right answer you must ask the right question!
if you want to post some more details about your add and what your trying to achieve with your enquires maybe i can tailor some things for you to use.
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Thanks for your replies.
The main problem I have is generally people just call for a quote and aren't prepared to commit on the first call. I then don't here back from them and am not sure how long to leave it before calling them back, I want to appear keen but not desperate!
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I would suggest that you need to engage the person with a series of questions in order to build raport and tell them about our services, rather than give an quick hourly rate reply;
certainly sir/madam, in order to give you an accurate quotation i just need to run through a couple of details;
1. Name
2.hours etc
3.weekly/montly
4,materials
5,6,7...........
8. where did you get our number from.
9 address of site.
10.and is that your home address ( ;) )
Do this in a friendly way to build a raport, engage the customer by expanding on their answers and add relevant comments eg, oh thats good,yes, we offer that/can do that, or,oh its only round the corner from us so that will work well etc............
at the end do a recap;
so your looking for, x hours with two cleaners fortnightly etc................ Is that correct? (they gave the information so it will be). Now it depends what the next stage is, do you want to close the business or are you trying to make an appointment to see them?
appointment;
so your looking for , x hours with two cleaners fortnightly etc, etc,etc. The price including all materials and v.a.t will be £50 per week, (dont pause) this can be paid cash weekly, direct debit or montly (etc), the only thing left to do is to make an appointment to come and see you, what day suits you best? (dont say anything) ....then Book appointment for that day...........!
Close sale;
so your looking for , x hours with two cleaners fortnightly etc the incusive price from us will be £50 per week, (no pause) this can be cash weekly, direct debit or montly (etc), which would suit you best? (dont say anything)..... ok, i can set that up now for you.....!
note: after asking the what suits you best? (assumptive close) you must not be first to speak, they may well take a few seconds to answer, but alot of the time it will be the answer you want to hear.
You obviously need to tailor your call to meet your service but prepare a list of your questions you can even make it into an enquiry form for your own records, you can then follow them up later in the week. use the same method with every enquiry as it will take practice use a script to guide you so that you can ask your questions exactly as they need to be asked, dont do the reading off cards thing tho', it needs to be a personal one to one,so practice!.
All the effort you put in before the call will make it smoother, easier, more relaxed and get you the best result and as mentioned by someone else, have complete confidence in your service and assume everyone will want it.
hth,
steve
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Sometimes spending any amount of money is a hard decision for someone to make. I have done several different types of sales before going into cleaning and one way that helps is to make the sales decision for them as in the assumptive sale but give them the soft decision. As it is hard to tell exactly your sales presentation by your post I will give a brief example that I used while working as a Manager at John Lewis. A lady was interested in a food processor and I was showing her the top of the line Kitchenaid Artisan. By asking open ended fact finding questions I knew that she could afford it and it met her needs so the question "Would you like to take it with you now or have it delivered" closed the deal. She was no longer making the hard decision of spending 400 GBP on a food processor, but the easier decision of whether to have it delivered or take it now. Again, I assumed she would buy and still let her have a decision.
That situation could transfer in thousands of ways depending on what is on the table at the time, but if you find out what they want, prove to them you have it and they can afford it, then give them the easy decision, you make the hard one.
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Another think I find helpfull is to offer to go to the house before giving a price.
For eg. I might advise that it is always better for the cleaner to come and see the house and then give the exact price. I found this great in returning calls into work. Once you there you can communicate with the customer, give him a discount and even offer him more services. I will tell you that this work 100%. When you have a call do not lose the customer go there ;) the personal touch is the best.
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We always book in assessments when we get enquiries, so much easier to get rid of tyre kickers, and when you get to peoples homes they find it difficult to say no, because you have gone to so much trouble going out to see them.
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If you get every job!...then you are to cheap
Andy