I often come across the attitude in my business coaching clients that they’re either 100% ‘salespeople’ or they’re 100% not. This seems to go hand in hand with a discomfort around money, and asking for it.
As the industry shifts, I think this mindset is going to become less and less sustainable – a luxury we can’t afford. As our marketing ecosystems get broader and more diverse (and the client can reach us through so many different channels) every person in the business needs to be able to sell.
Our Ops Director at W10 isn’t what you’d call a ‘typical salesperson’. He’s not a wheeling, dealing, fast-talking, smooth operator. But he makes the sale, and he feels comfortable doing it – and the client feels comfortable buying from him.
Why?
Because he genuinely believes in the value of the product.
Sure, he’s the Ops Director so you’d expect as much. But from junior coaches through to front of house staff and beyond, every single member of the team should feel comfortable having a conversation with a prospective client about the benefits of buying what you’re selling. They know that what you’re offering will benefit the client, and they understand how and why. They also know how to talk about the business and the community that surrounds it – there’s a shared lexicon and a sense of ‘the way things are done around here’.
We get our staff to be natural salespeople by establishing core values as a team that actually mean something to its members.
Then, we create a culture where those values are omnipresent in everything we do. If we do this right (easier said than done), the system becomes self-sustaining.
We don’t need one person at the top of the pyramid telling everyone else what to do in a control-and-command situation.
We don’t need to outsource all sales conversations to one person.
And we don’t need to make sales feel awkward, money-grabbing, or leave a bad taste in the mouth for both ourselves and the client.
As a collective, the team takes responsibility for making sure the core values – the ‘why’ behind the business – are lived out every day. Then we give them the training they need to communicate those values and benefits.
If we do this, every single person on the team is a natural salesperson. So my junior coaches can ‘sell’ a referral to someone in one of their sessions. My front of house person can ‘sell’ a trial to a walk-in prospect. And my coaching team can all ‘sell’ the value of ongoing membership, driving retention and lifetime customer value.
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