Would you like an appointment with that?
“O.K., I admit it—I worked at McDonald’s once…”
Like an estimated one in eight U.S. workers, one of my first jobs was at the local McDonald’s. It wasn’t that bad; I even spent quality time sporting the Hamburglar costume for the kids (which paid an extra 20 bucks, by the way). Plus, I got to spend most of my day in the drive-through window, which I enjoyed because A) I didn’t need to touch the food, and 2) I got to interact with customers all day. All in all, a pretty sweet gig for a 15 yr old.
Now, when most people think of McDonald’s, they think of the ubiquitous Golden Arches logo on street corners and freeway exit signs across America—and around the world. Or maybe they think of the Happy Meals, Play-lands and McEverything-else they’ve introduced to today’s consumer-driven business landscape.
“…But I discovered genius in the drive-through window.”
Behind the scenes, the company has also pioneered an incredibly successful, sales-spiking, prospect-pushing, margin-maximizing technique that Ray Kroc and his franchisees have mastered over the decades.
Embodied in a single phrase, this proven, powerful concept has entered the modern lexicon as the ultimate example of the up-sell, in which a salesperson can properly use a simple, subtle power of suggestion to convince customers to quickly take action and “get a deal” on their purchase.
“Would you like FRIES with that?”
You’ve probably heard this phrase hundreds of times at the order counter or drive-through window (at McDonald’s and elsewhere). It’s not by accident; the entire McDonald’s empire is built on processes—the company spends millions of dollars a year on R&D in this area—and our ordering process was no different.
We were literally given “scripts” that quickly burned into our subconscious minds through sheer repetition: “Welcome to McDonald’s; may I take your order,” or perhaps, “Would you like to try our new McRib sandwich today?”
I quickly realized that the most powerful scripts by far were the “up-sell” scripts—“How about a hot apple pie?” or maybe “Can I Super Size that for you?” We learned what Mr. Kroc and his team knew: if you ask a customer to try (or to buy) something new, they’ll often say, “Yes.”
In short, the opportunity to up-sell is really just acknowledging human nature and using it to your competitive advantage; most customers like to be friendly, agreeable and not seen as “rocking the boat” or inflexible in social situations. That’s why we NEVER finished an order without asking for an up-sell. And when I saw how successful the strategy was, it just made the process easier and easier.
The “OSC Up-Sell”—ASK for the appointment, contact information or more!
So, where does the up-sell come into play for the Online Sales Counselor (OSC)? As is so often the case in life, the key is to be clear and ASK for what you want—in this case, usually one of the following:
• An appointment (best-case scenario—when prospects are ready to see properties)
• Contact information (ideal for first-time callers or other prospects who may need a little more coaxing through the sales cycle)
• Opt-in permission (allowing you to continue marketing directly to prospects about new properties, special opportunities, etc.)
Of course, you may also have the opportunity to ask deeper questions to more thoroughly qualify your prospects—many of which may be standoffish anyway. The more you’re able to qualify each prospect, the more likely you are to be able to match them with the most appropriate available properties.
Be ready to respond to common prospect objections.
The more questions you ask, the more objections you will receive. Even after you’ve mastered to art of up-selling, you need to be ready to deal with at least occasional rejection. For example, I always make it a point to ask something like, “Have you had a chance to visit one of our model homes in _______ community.” Often, I’ll hear, “No thanks—we’re just looking right now” or some other common diversionary reflex, but I’m always ready with scripts to overcome those objections and more. And the up-selling cycle continues…
Is all this difficult, nerve-wracking and harder than it sounds here? Of course, one of the main reasons you aren’t asking for the appointment already is because of fear. Just keep in mind what IBM founder Thomas J. Watson famously said about perseverance in business: “If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.”
And remember, if a 15-year-old in a Hamburglar costume can do it, you can, too.
Guest Article – Leads Are All Packaged Differently
By Laurie Madden and Julia (JB) Pitts – Customer Velocity
How Big is Your Lead Package?
At Christmas, the kids rush to the Christmas tree to size up the presents, and they often believe that the biggest presents are the best.
Unfortunately many homebuilders size up Internet leads the same way- more volume equals more sales. When leads come to them through the Internet they often tend to assume what the five year old does but what appears to be bigger at the beginning is not necessarily better once it is opened and assessed. Upon true assessment of a lead, if the sales representative takes the time to carefully work with every lead, they can find a nugget of gold.
With the current housing marketplace in a downturn, many homebuilders have begun thinking more strategically and aggressively when it comes to internet customers. What is the best way to manage leads as they come in? How do the sales managers know leads are being managed well and followed up on effectively? Or at all?
When each lead is received, sales representatives need to make sure they treat each of those customers with the same amount of awe and respect as they do with any other customer. With most leads, sales representatives do not have much more than contact information and a little information about the home in which the lead is interested.
Leads are the critical piece in each sales representative’s sales funnel, and at the beginning they are all “equal opportunity leads”. Much like Christmas packages, leads may look similar, or they may look very different. Regardless of how they appear on the surface, each should be treated as if that lead will be THE lead to help drive revenue.
It is critical that sales representatives accurately discern the quality of prospects, and the only way to do this is to ensure that each lead is treated with equal attention. Sales leads, much like Christmas presents, should not be judged by their covers. They need to each be seen as “A” level leads to ensure a quality connection is being made in response to that prospects inquiry.
Managing leads is easier for sales representatives when using an effective lead management tool. The best lead management tools give sales representatives the ability to act effectively on every single lead and manage them through the sales process. When this is done correctly each prospect continues to receive messaging and touch points until they are ready to buy their home. Depending on their level of interaction back with the sales associate these touch points may require different levels of sales associate involvement in the response. This allows your leads to self qualify into the buyer category without sacrificing prospect interaction for buyers that are earlier in their decision making process.
A great lead management system will quickly let salespeople know when new leads have come in, combined with a level of information from that customer that helps move them through the sales process. Combining a lead management system with an outstanding lead process will ultimately result in all leads being treated equally. By assuming that all leads can be converted, and managing them well, these leads are much more likely to become a sale.
Paper to Web – The Exodus?
Bloomberg.com reports New York Times Hit as Housing Moves to Web
Smith, president of Realogy Corp., the largest residential real estate broker in the U.S., said the portion of his Coldwell Banker and Century 21 branding budget devoted to newspapers will shrink by as much as two-thirds next year from 2006 as spending moves online. Newspapers will receive 70 percent of Realogy’s home-sale advertising by 2010, down from 84 percent this year.
“It’s going to be bloody,” Smith said in an interview. “The newspaper industry is going to have to adjust.”
There seems to be a general shift in all real estate sales…how do we do more with less money?
5 Books all Search Marketers Should Read
Great post at SEOmoz on 5 Books all Search Marketers Should Read
I’ve read 3 out of 5 – I ordered the other 2 so I wouldn’t feel left out.
Online Sales Counselor – Endangered Species
Visit www.builtaroundyou.com by Wilshire Homes and you’ll see why I’m looking over my shoulder. OK, maybe I’m not that worried about my job but this is a cool feature! They created a microsite to encourage interaction with a “Virtual” Online Sales Counselor named Sheila. Wilshire reports that online leads have increased by %13.54. Not too shabby, and if anything – it is an innovative feature for a homebuilder.
I took a test drive acting as a customer – the end result produces a housing report (view my report) that you can email to a friend, email to a wilshire associate, or print. I like the options. Obviously, they couldn’t list every variation in the scripts but covered most of the important qualifying questions – at least to get a customer pointed in the right direction.
Below are the results from Wilshire Homes in the case study by Marketing Sherpa:
RESULTS
Texas homebuyers are loving the microsite and Sheila’s down-home hospitality. At first, Horne (Wilshire’s President) had set goals that were mostly related to stickiness, but he was elated to see the microsite lift online sales leads by 13.54%. Even more interesting is that 2% of the site-generated leads actually complete their purchase online — sight unseen.
Additionally, site-generated customers visit an average of six homes before making a purchase, while offline leads look at 15. “It tells you that the knowledge the site users are getting is beneficial, which allows our sales team to achieve higher efficiency,” Horne says.
Other stats:
- 56.2% who start the lead generation process complete the entire demonstration and receive their housing report.
- 11.17% print their report or forward it to a friend.
- 3.14% email their report to a Wilshire Home sales rep for follow-up.
- Users spend an average of 6 minutes on the microsite.
