Sales professionals often get the blame for a lot of things in some businesses. Overselling, not selling enough, discounting too much, not doing statistics, and not doing statistics (did I just mention statistics twice?). But I am not sure that sales professionals can take the blame for low closing rates all of the time.
Is It All Up To The Sales Professional?
Sales professionals can certainly initiate a path to the purchase shopper journey, but that is becoming a rarity now. Even rarer is a sales professional being able to initiate and complete a sale with only one touchpoint.
Why would you trust someone’s word about their product when you can do a simple Google search on the company and sales professional, product reviews, look at the Trust Pilot score, have a quick look at the website (and how up-to-date the products are) perhaps a quick due diligence on the company?
Examples of Path-to-Purchase Binds and Tumultuous Touchpoints
We tend to stay close to our roots in business, and my roots are firmly and lovingly connected to the health, fitness, and wellness industry. A place where there are a lot of sales professionals. Gym membership selling was where I cut my teeth as a sales consultant and learned (yes and applied) disgustingly high-pressure selling tactics.
I objected once to being asked to sell the general concept of a health club which did not exist. It was a difficult conversation as I was being held responsible for not having sold (lied) enough so that the owner could finally buy some bricks to build the gym. I was told that a great salesperson should be able to sell rotten apples. I disagreed and joined forces with someone who had already bought some bricks.
The thing is, (and there always is a thing) the not-yet-in-existence business had made a number of appearances in the newspapers for its general state of none existence. A state which did not find favour in the increasing number of members who had nowhere to train and whom had wailed and gnashed teeth most disturbingly.
We Don’t Make Those Mistakes Anymore, We Make Brand New Mistakes
Fast forward 20 years or so, and we don’t make mistakes like that anymore. Recently, I was talking to a manager at a health club who was having trouble closing the very few people who were showing up for appointments to discuss the benefits of having a gym membership.
“The show rate is really low, we need to make more appointments,” he said.
I slowly calculated that he would need to make around 1500 appointments per day to meet his target. That would equate to around 375 appointments per sales consultant per day. In two weeks, we would have to start reaching out to expats in Siberia. Perhaps that was not the metric we should be focusing on?
“How are your reviews looking?” I asked.
They hadn’t been looking at reviews.
We looked. There were over 200 negative reviews on the Trustpilot equivalent, which he witnessed for the first time during our conversation. Their biggest competitor with many times their membership base had less than 100.
Not one of the complaining members had been replied to. There were veritable gnashing sounds.
“Do you think this may be influencing your show rate of prospective gym members?” I asked.
“Hmmmm!” he said and put the phone down. I haven’t heard from him since, but I have noticed that the apologies and replies have started piling up. More importantly, they are still in business.
Was that an example of a Neglected Digital Path to Purchase adversely influencing sales, appointment rates and conversion rates?
What is the Digital Path to Purchase?
The Digital Path to Purchase (DP2P) describes a digitally influenced journey which is undertaken by a shopper as they move from becoming aware of a product or solution to their problem, to purchasing the product and then finally reflecting on the purchase and product experience. In many cases shoppers are not actually aware of having a problem until they have been educated by advertising or human intervention.
We live in a very digital age and customers have immense power to disseminate and collect information. Now we have Chat GPT guru who can give an opinion on your queries. Although as we have seen, not always accurate.
What can you do?
Ensure that you and your team know the main touchpoints of your brand and company. Customers often require multiple touchpoints to convince them to take a chance and make a purchase with you.
Sales professionals are already at a disadvantage when they have to defend themselves against unexpected complaints. Keep them informed and prepared for potential complaints. It is more authentic for a company to admit that there was a resolved issue than to claim that the complaining customer “is lying through their teeth.” Yes, I have heard that one.
Keep an eye on all reviews across various platforms. Encourage positive reviews on platforms that typically receive complaints.
Respond to each and every complaint with empathy and understanding.
While the idea of channel stickiness is valuable, try to shift communication to a live voice call whenever possible. Legalistic emails asserting your rights will not help to defuse the situation. #makethecall.
The customer is not always right, but treating them with indifference or condescension is detrimental to your company and society. Be kind and courteous.
So, the next time your customers are not showing up, not accepting calls, and displaying a general disregard for your sales teams, perhaps the problem does not lie solely with the sales professionals at the end of the process, but at another stage in your shoppers’ path to purchase.