I have what an interviewer would call a "proven sales record". I've taken an average sales territory and turned it into the best in the land. I've less formally helped with sales enquiries for a small training outfit (not ourselves) and seen them thrive with my help. And for the past few years, Lisa and I have grown "Well House Consultants" year by year into the position where we want it to be. And yet - I don't
enjoy selling. I hate making cold calls, and I would rather not be badgering potential customers for their order. Much MUCH better to have a product that's second to none, and to have a sales role that's concerned to assist the customer in ordering what's right for him - even if it's not your product. If you can afford to take the time to build up a customer relationship and you have an excellent product to back it up, then there's no need for pressure sales.
Training is a "funny" business. A course is a huge success if the group of trainees goes away and makes effective use of what they've learnt. And that may mean no repeat business! Learning something is often a "one-off". You may need to buy coffee every month and company letterhead from time to time, but you only need to learn Python once. So why the long term approach? Because it still pays dividends.
I'm writing these notes in a training room just to the north of Bristol
[posted following morning]. I was last here, I believe, about 3 months ago and at that point the discussion was that this would be the last course here for a while. "You've trained us all" were the words. So what happened? A new contract, and a requirement for some of *their* clients to be changed. A few new staff. People who missed out on previous courses because of date clashes. And suddenly we have a very full course of 10.
So is *this* the last time I'll see folks here for a while? No - I'm sure it isn't. A former trainee walked in yesterday and is talking about arrangements for coming on a public course on MySQL next month. Good. And he mentions that there's a whole group of his colleagues who are likely to want the training too if he reports that the course was useful.
Can our sales approach work for everyone? No - it can't. For it to work for you, you'll need a special product and an enthusiasm for it. You'll need to have EVERY duck in a row - from good initial enquiry handling through crisp order fulfilment and an excellent product to a high standard of post-sales support.
(written 2004-08-25, updated 2008-05-10)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
G502 - Well House Consultants - Business Practice [15] 90 to 10 or 80 to 20 rule - (2004-08-15)
[68] Get the strategy worked out and the tactics just fall into place. - (2004-09-30)
[77] Telephone systems - (2004-10-07)
[88] Getting the right level of trainer - (2004-10-14)
[95] Five red flags - (2004-10-21)
[108] A typical morning - (2004-11-03)
[121] Fair and Simple - (2004-11-17)
[125] Staff theft - (2004-11-21)
[129] Trawling our site to prevent student copying - (2004-11-24)
[137] Certification schemes - (2004-12-02)
[157] Automatic service upgrades - (2004-12-19)
[180] Skunk works - (2005-01-17)
[188] Pink elephant and appreciation - (2005-01-24)
[200] Tips for the top - (2005-02-03)
[211] Look after your staff and they'll look after you. AOL. - (2005-02-12)
[217] Use of time - (2005-02-16)
[226] Growing our systems - (2005-02-24)
[297] A reminder that the customer is King - (2005-05-01)
[321] Sales - the alternative close - (2005-05-23)
[399] simplicity hides real size - (2005-07-31)
[438] Fair system for travel and accommodation expenses - (2005-09-07)
[457] Do the work and take the risk - a PHP contract to avoid - (2005-10-06)
[467] Tell them three times - (2005-10-17)
[487] On line course booking - credit card protection - (2005-11-06)
[491] Being atypical is typical - (2005-11-10)
[536] Cancellations and penalties - (2005-12-21)
[626] Not just a pretty face to answer the phone. - (2006-02-26)
[652] Morning Post - (2006-03-20)
[664] Ruby course - oops - it's not happening - (2006-04-01)
[766] Discounts and approved supplier lists - (2006-06-17)
[808] Sales call - (2006-07-19)
[849] Staff Meeting - (2006-08-30)
[869] UNABLE TO ATTEND - (2006-09-16)
[883] Age discrimination law - (2006-10-01)
[906] A commitment we won't be making - (2006-10-27)
[1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
[1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
[1133] B-2-B Networking, 20th April. Useful for YOUR business? - (2007-04-03)
[1157] Speed Networking - a great evening and how we arranged it - (2007-04-21)
[1165] Extended Credit request - train in June and be paid in September - (2007-04-27)
[1243] Heavy duty hole punch - (2007-06-24)
[1260] An inspirational business talk from one of our prospective MPs - (2007-07-06)
[1263] 0800 043 8225 - a new phone number for Well House - (2007-07-10)
[1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
[1342] Google, wwmdirectory, Freshwater, ATP - new scam? - (2007-09-09)
[1373] New Month, New Quarter, New Laws - (2007-10-01)
[1394] Business to Business Networking - North and West Wilts / Melksham - (2007-10-17)
[1453] What makes our courses special? - (2007-12-02)
[1485] Copyright and theft of images, bandwidth and members. - (2007-12-26)
[1626] Early May - a short chance to regroup and improve - (2008-05-01)
[1713] Ways to accept credit cards - or not! - (2008-07-19)
[1855] Volunteer v Employee - a skewed balance? (FSB) - (2008-10-25)
[1913] Alastair Darling helps make paperwork and confusion - (2008-11-30)
[2044] Please Trouble me - (2009-02-16)
[2122] Commission Creep - (2009-04-08)
[2126] Weeding out old phone numbers - (2009-04-11)
[2161] Get it right ... if it goes wrong, it takes so much effort to sort out! - (2009-05-08)
[2187] Are we IITT (Institute of IT Training) members? - (2009-05-17)
[2190] How you are (re)presented at an exhibition - (2009-05-19)
[2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
[2331] Certification Revisted - Lua - (2009-08-09)
[2465] Melksham Town - asleep or awake? - (2009-10-21)
[2598] An excuse for making a sales call - (2010-01-26)
[2788] Cost of Sales - (2010-06-01)
[2821] Chancellor George Osborne inspires Perl Program - (2010-06-22)
[2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
[2966] Cheap Country Hotel in Melksham, Wiltshire? - (2010-09-21)
[3073] Customer Service - the boundary - (2010-11-27)
[3157] A new monopoly on the ferry to Northern Ireland - (2011-02-04)
[3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
[3506] Cold call contacts - preference services and turning off spam sales approaches - (2011-11-03)
[3613] Keeping Business Local. But is that realistic? - (2012-02-13)
[3665] Will will smile? - (2012-03-22)
[3750] Matching opening hours to when customers can come in and buy - (2012-06-04)
[3755] Cruising on the Mersey Ferry? - (2012-06-07)
[4107] Snog, Marry, Avoid - (2013-05-31)
[4293] Certification - (2014-09-15)
[4415] Buffet review - taking the price into account - (2015-02-05)
[4520] No cold sales calls please - but delighted to hear from others! - (2015-09-29)
Some other Articles
Here documentsBank HolidaySilence is GoldenPerl for breakfastSales techniqueMatching CatRelease numbersImpossible termsSkills and responsibilitiesFalling out over the silliest things