Secret to making a sale? Comfy seats!
WHAT if you want to start your own business, but don’t like selling?
All businesses need to make sales, but that doesn’t have to mean employing high-pressure tactics: they are rarely used by sales professionals these days.
Simon Ellison provides business coaching to small and medium-sized businesses as a franchisee with ActionCOACH.
The 55-year-old, from Tring, Hertfordshire, says: ‘The secret of good selling is to create great customer service, so that they do the selling for you.
‘If you run a garage, for instance, you should not only deliver a high-quality, honest service, but also provide customers with comfortable seats, coffee, internet access — and courtesy. If you offer a standout experience, they will tell their friends.’
When it comes to selling face-to-face, Simon says: ‘Be presentable, engage with customers and be authentic.’
Franchises, like all other businesses, involve a degree of selling, and many new franchisees are wary of it, but good franchisors will provide sales training.
Ian Christelow, the UK cofounder of ActionCOACH, says: ‘Most franchisees struggle with sales, as they think it is something scary, like cold-calling.
‘ We offer our new franchisees education and training. Our franchise partners book initial meetings with prospective clients and a trained head office salesperson attends. We also offer franchisees sales masterclasses.’
A franchise costs £69,000.