Sales Byte®

When Should You Offer Your Opinion

Which of these is okay to say:

1. “What I think you need is…”
2. “What I recommend is…”
3. “What you want is…”
4. “What’s best for you is…”

Pick an answer:

- All of them
- None of them

The correct answer: None of them.

People want what they want. Giving an opinion, particularly an unsolicited opinion, is at best inappropriate. Some people will take it as rude. It can come across as presumptive and judgmental. It can make you seem like the “pushy” sales person and that will just about guarantee you don't make the sale.

What if they ask you for your opinion? Tread lightly with this reply:
“Well, given the condition of your current system, and considering what you said you wanted in your new system, our (BEST, BETTER, GOOD) choice would be the closest match. It’s really up to you. Which one do you think is best for you?

Burger King created a multi-billion dollar business on a simple concept, “Have it your way.” They make burgers the way their customers want them. Try doing the same thing for your customers.

Good selling!

Other stories

Knowing the Score by Mark Sims

Can you imagine having to wait to read tomorrow’s newspaper to find out how your favorite team did or the outcome of your favorite sport? It’s hard to believe that it’s only been 100 years since the first sporting event was communicated digitally… by telegraph. The first radio broadcast of a sporting event was not until 1921. Today, it’s hard to count all the ways to watch a sporting event live or get immediate game results.

Wouldn’t be horrible if you had wait until next month when the books are closed to see how your company performed for the month? Oh, that’s right; most of our industry still does it that way - a lot of the time only getting the final score days after the game is over with no breakout by inning or individual player statistics. Imagine a pro baseball manager having to make decisions about strategy, training needs, personnel, competition, etc. with only past game scores as their only guide. How would his team fare against teams that have access to all the detailed performance statistic available today? It would be like a little league team playing against the pros.

Historically only large companies in our industry have had the management reporting and feedback required to proactively and successfully manage their businesses. The rest of us have had to rely on gut feel, good business savvy and a lot of luck. Our primary measure has been how much money is in the bank at the end of the month to pay bills and hopefully some left over to reward you for all the risk and hard work.

Large companies (like pro teams) have been able to afford the required resources (people and systems) to collect the data and make it available in effective and timely management reports. Good news for the rest of us - the same technology that lets you get immediate sports results, combined with TRUST PRO® online, makes it both possible and affordable for any size company.

Imagine if:

- You could know all the statistics about a service call immediately when the tech closes the call on their tablet… including parts used and their cost, call and trip hours vs. task hours, equipment information and even estimated gross profit.

- Your techs immediately could see after each call and the end of the day their individual time performance vs. their goals plus the other marketing measures such and sales calls scheduled, maintenance agreements completed and sold. They could answer six (6) debrief questions that reinforce their desired behavior.

- You knew the profit performance of an installation job the day after completion without having to consciously do the dreaded job costing.

- To process payroll on payroll day you only need to print a payroll report containing all labor hours already posted in the system daily.

- You had access to more than 50 management reports providing stats on all you players and an inning-by-inning score on your business.

All this and more is possible today for just the cost of a monthly vehicle payment… or less. To find out more about TRUST PRO® online click here to go to our website where you can click on any of the “Sign up for a free demo” banners. Or if you like, contact me directly at mark@trustproonline.com or 612-284-5024 ext. 100.

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