In the spirit of building your business, American Express posted “7 Things Every Employee Must Know About Marketing” by John Jantsch (http://www.openforum.com/articles/7-things-every-employee-must-know-about-marketing?extlink=em-openf-SBdaily). It’s true, most small businesses have an untapped sales force – the employees that are not in sales. While these seven steps provide an excellent guide to training your staff to sell to new clients, the existing clients need to be sold on your company every day… and that is in the hands of everyone from the receptionist to the service tech to the delivery person. (We’ve dubbed our office manager “Director of First Impressions!”) It’s important to use the “7 Things” with current clients – AND reward the behavior you want.
When our secretary shared a recent successful promotion with a client – she sold him a new campaign idea on the spot. We presented her with a gift card right after he left. It’s convenient to keep 5 or 10 in your drawer; reward immediately to make your point. One of the best investments we made for rewarding the entire gang was a chocolate fountain. For $75 you can make a lot of people feel very special at any time of day! And don’t forget the folks at home. When a graphic designer was discussing changes with a client, she mentioned a new app that might complement the campaign. The conversation went well past 5 o’clock but she upsold the client. We sent her husband a thank you with a restaurant gift card for two and tickets to the movies.
There is an excellent list of rewards on the same site, “10 Innovative Ways to Reward Your Employees” (http://www.openforum.com/articles/10-innovative-ways-to-reward-your-employees?intlink=us-openf-nav-mostpopular).
Reward the entire staff, not just the sales staff, for selling! It will reward your business in the long run.
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