Quick Test … Ask The Employees
By Igor Mordkovich on Jan 29, 2007 in Salesmanship, Customer Service, General
Would you like to know how “healthy” a company is? Do you want to do a quick test of how good your customer support / sales people are?
All you need to do is ask them a simple question that many of your prospects ask.
“How are you different from the competition?”
What … can’t hear a clear answer? Well, then you’re kind of “screwed”.
This is the #1 question I ask of any sales person when I want to learn quickly the quality of “sales” within the company. If I don’t hear some clear, bulleted answers, I get a wide and clear picture of what I am dealing with.
Your sales people should have a 3-5 bulleted list of your company’s advantages hanging right above the phones they pick up, or else they’ll just mumble something whenever they hear this question being asked.
Today, the “customer” has many options, and you’re not the only one who can service them. It’s quite normal for a prospect to ask the “how are you different” question. It should be quite normal for your sales people to answer that with clear winners.
Oh and if your “advantage list” has answers such as … “We have great customer service people”, you really should work on the list.
Igor, great post. One quick question: How are YOU different from the competition? Go on, write it out for us!
Stoney deGeyter | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
Who is my competition? This blog is not a business Stoney.
For the businesses I manage (non SEO related), my “phone people” have a bulleted list with 5 clear advantages that separate us from the competition.
If you’re “hinting” on how to differentiate an SEO company, when there is so much competition within that field, I can surely drop few ideas.
1. We are motivated to bring you quality traffic as 80% of our compensation will depend on how WE DO!
2. We are a small SEO company … 7 people. We care more about each client than the big boys. Loss of a client will hit us much harder than it would a big SEO company. Thus … we live your business. We must succeed.
Any SEO company can come up with more. They just need to find or create their unique selling proposition (USP).
Igor Mordkovich | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
I wasn’t looking for hints, but those are some good examples. Just wanted to see you put your money where your mouth is per se. It’s always good to provide some examples close to home.
Stoney deGeyter | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply