We are half way through 2002. Are you half way toward your sales goals? After fifteen years of leasing experience – from training and speaking, to coaching and sales – I firmly believe that there is business out there for every member of the NAELB. How do you get your share? Here are five tips to increase sales NOW. Read and reflect on the ideas. Apply them to your business. Visualize the specific scenario in which you could implement an idea. Then try the idea. Just like the Stairmaster collecting dust in my basement, none of this stuff will help you reach your goals unless you put it into practice.
- Have a Call Campaign. Get everyone in your organization focused on a particular group of vendors, lessees, or a National Account. For example, when I worked at Advanta, we had "Blue Giant Equipment Day." We all wore blue, we called all the Blue Giant distributors, and we bought lunch for everyone. It was good for morale. If you don’t have a specific account to focus on, try focusing on an industry type. Have "VAR" day, when everyone calls computer resellers. The idea is to generate excitement around your sales force, work as a team, and generate applications.
Also, you could call every one of your existing lessees. How often do you do this? Call to keep in front of them, not necessarily just to get another application. Find out how the lease is going. Many Brokers fear doing this because they might open a can of worms. It’s better to find out now and fix the problem than learn about it when they use someone else for their next lease. You need to build a relationship with this lessee to get repeat business. Where else do they buy equipment? Can they give you a referral? Sometimes your best prospects are your existing customers.
Also, keep track of all your applications. So many Brokers don’t do this. It can be a simple erasable board in the office. Every time an application is submitted to a funding source, a checkmark is placed under that particular rep’s name. This way, on a daily basis, you see how much activity is coming in. In three months you’ll know at a glance just how much of that application activity actually booked. It’s a good, simple barometer for how well you’re doing.
- Improve Voice Mail Techniques. Okay, you take my advice and have a call campaign. Your reps are pumped up and prospecting. Sixty-five percent of the time they get voice mail. What do they say? Most of the time they leave a message about the services your company offers and advantages of doing business with you. And most of the time the prospect never returns the call. Now what does the sales rep do? Should they call back until he picks up the phone? No. Do they try to go though the secretary? No. Usually a phone call is not returned because:
- The prospect sees no gain for himself.
- He is too busy to be bothered.
- He doesn’t want to tell you NO.
So… what kind of message do you leave? Good question. There are several answers:
Leave a message regarding their business:
- "…there are three ways to increase sales with leasing."
- "…there are five Websites you should check to build your business – I’ll e-mail them to you."
Leave a message that is about them:
- "Ted, I was thinking about you and I have a couple new ideas that may help you. This is Bob Bell from Independent Leasing. I can be reached at (800) 685- 7571."
- Shake up the message. Use their name before you say who you are. It captures their interest immediately, and they call you back.
Use a different medium in conjunction with voice mail:
- E-mail or fax a testimonial about your great customer service – but tell them that on the voice mail.
Voice mail is here to stay. Prospects will use it to avoid your call. Your sales success will come with a message strategy that has ideas and value for your prospects.
- Hire five college "interns" for the summer. The biggest advantage that Brokers have is the ability to get directly in front of their prospects. Why not hire five impressionable college students? Have them meet at your office for breakfast and send them out cold calling on local vendors. Then, meet back in your office for lunch, prospect for the rest of the afternoon, and meet again in your office at the end of the day. The objective of the student is to collect information for your database, increase your local presence, and get you an appointment with the prospect. I have a client who approaches the local community college and looks for students majoring in marketing, and then pays the students slightly over minimum wage. The students win because they get to build their resume, possibly learn new database software, and maybe even earn college credits… all while you get inexpensive lead generation. It’s a win/win situation.
- Sell with E-mail. There are so many reasons why you should be doing this – the biggest reason is because it’s FREE! There are no printing costs, no postage, no labels. It’s also immediate. I send out an e-newsletter called Leasing Success Tips, and whenever I send it out I get orders for my products. It doesn’t cost me anything except time and mental energy. What could you e-mail your prospects?
- Links to IRS websites about Article 179
- Links to the FASB website about how to account for a lease
- Sales tips
- Organizational tips
- Time management tips
- Testimonials about your company
- Account review of their contracts
Get on board with e-mail marketing so that your lessees will keep using you, and your vendors will continue to refer your services.
- Commit to making just one more call each day. Try to beat each day’s results. You want to increase sales but you spend the entire day documenting a deal or arguing with a credit analyst. Instead, make one more call each day and you’ll be amazed at your progress. You can accomplish so much when you set your mind to it. When you make your prospect calls, view yourself as a consultant to your customers’ businesses. You are helping them maximize their success and the success of their business.