Order lost.........still don't give up!!

Once an order is lost most people tend to give up.

Last year a leading educational institute contacted us for air-conditioning a portion of their
premises. We gave our recommendation and also had several meetings with their
architects and management. They contacted us several times in connection with this
requirement and we were almost about to get the order.

They then appointed a consultant who gave a different plan - for machines which were
not in our range of supply.

In the meanwhile we had developed good contact with them. Being an educational institution
group, I knew they would be requiring split/window units from time to time.

So I kept talking to them once in a while. After a few months we received order for
two machines followed by some more recently.

Moral of the story: Losing an order is not the end of the road. Having established a
relationship, nurture it. Someday you may be rewarded.

How to lose orders....

Sometimes orders may be lost after a lot of hard work for ever so many reasons!

But we have to take it in our stride.

Years back we were driving down Egmore and saw a huge old building being razed in
a prominent location.

"Mark this" my friend told me. " This could be one place where we could sell a good
quantity of air-conditioners....".

From then on for almost eight months we watched that place. As building work commenced
we would try to meet the owners. Later we came to know that a 2 star hotel is planned.
After many visits we gave our quote for air-conditioners. Then we obtained information
on where the owners were living ( so that we could meet them in their house.)

As luck would have it from the address I saw that a good friend of mine was staying
in the same address.  When we actually went to that place we found that my friend was
staying in adjoining apartment in ground floor.

We asked him to introduce us to the owners.....  We got closer to getting the order.

Finally we had succeeded in getting an order for 50 air-conditioners. But when we
actually got the order in our hand - it was for 40 air-conditioners.

Just the previous Sunday a competitor had met them in the church and managed to get
an order for 10 air-conditioners!

Had we not put in so much of hard work, we would have lost the entire order!!

Are salesmen prepared to do such work now?

How to get leads....

Salesmen depend on leads to get orders.

Nowadays, most, almost all salesmen expect the leads to be given to them on a platter.

There are ever so many ways to "generate" leads. Out-of-the-box thinking and quick
action is needed.

Some decades back company's sales executives were given personal targets as also
commission on sales. (This practice was subsequently done away with.) So much so they
were reluctant to give "sure-shot" leads to their dealers.

Once while I was discussing with an executive, I noticed a letter head of ABC company
peeping out of a bunch of papers.

I made a note of this and immediately recognized the company and knew that its head office
was close to my own office.

On the way back I dropped into the office and introduced myself and my company. After a
short while I came to know that they were in need of two air-conditioners and asked me to
send in a quote.

Those were the days before the computer and I had my brief-case with quotation pads, leaflets, etc.

I wrote out a quote then and there and handed it over to them.

Needless to say, I got the order within a week!

Volume driven sales

If you are in the business of only air-conditioning as a small company, you should appreciate
the fact that volume driven sales will not take you anywhere!

Reduce margin and increase sales? May work only on paper. It is only for companies with a regional or national reach with delivery logistics who can try to do this. Some of the Indian on-line companies are able to complete tens of thousands of transactions every day. Their ad-spend is enormous. Have they as yet started to make any profits?

Don't fall into this trap.

If you have been in the business for some years, you would have observed that 75% to 80% of your
business comes from 20% to 25% of your customers. Concentrate on these customers. Nowadays executives are visiting customers only when there is a specific call or request whereas they should
be visiting these "A" customers at regular intervals. They fail to understand how much of business they are losing because of this.

Small companies cannot afford to reach out to distant places for delivery or service. If only they concentrate on the regions closer to their base, give good service and sell at a healthy price they
would be in safer grounds!

Secret of the Japanese

Some thirty years or so back I was reading a book titled Management - Japanese style.

In that book it was mentioned that all the Japanese students who pass out of their management
studies will have to first compulsorily work in the villages for six months.

And what is the work that they will to there for six months? They have to clean the toilets
all of the six months. After that they will take up suitable positions in factories and so on.

Now what is this?

It teaches the dignity of labour. They will be prepared to do any job. The General Manager
will have no hesitation in picking up a waste bit lying on the factory floor and putting it in
the waste bin. It will be done just like that.

Alas! Where are we now? A sales executive when questioned why the quotation was not
couriered said that the person to do the job was busy and away. The courier office was
five minutes away and he could have done the job in fifteen minutes without waiting for
someone else to do it!!

Salesman and target....

Companies, particularly the smaller ones, appoint salesman to boost their sales.

But more often than not they fail to fix a minimum target to be achieved.

Based on the remuneration paid to the salesman, a minimum target is to be fixed
and monitored. If the salesman fails to achieve his target continuously for a period
of time (say three months), he should be given the handshake.

Also, incentive for sales should be applicable only after the minimum target is
deducted.

Failure to do so only makes the salesman lethargic....

Supervisor and technicians/helpers

For a business to sustain, grow and give proper service and revenues to the company,
there ought to be a healthy ratio of supervisor and workmen.

Unfortunately I find that many companies have a supervisor working with just
one or two technicians.

A supervisor should be able to take care of atleast four to five technicians and
another six to eight helpers....