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Seeing is believing

Years ago, when I started in sales, my supervisor handed me a business directory. I looked at the thick book and asked why he had given it to me. “It’s your prospect list,” he said. “These are cold prospects. Call them, warm them up, and bring them in!”. As every seller knows, it’s never that easy. Although, I learned an important lesson while doing it: Every living, breathing soul on the planet is either a prospect or knows a prospect. It doesn’t matter whether you’re renting hotel rooms, selling publicity, brewing beer or baking cakes – everyone’s a prospect or leads to a prospect. The trick is to warm them sufficiently that they’ll allow you to learn which they are – prospect or referrer.

Every business needs to have some sort of marketing plan in place. Even well-known and respected companies cannot afford to just open their doors and wait for people to walk in. Each one has one or more prospecting structures in place, from advertising and public relations to direct mail, phone sales, online marketing or social selling. There are countless ways to entice customers through your doors, or for a company to do business with yours, and most of them work to some degree. None, however, seem to have the impact of offering a personal experience with the product.

As a child, I remember taking family trips and staying in different hotels. Not only did these trips build my familiarity with the brands, I became fascinated with the processes involved in operating a hotel. I used to ask a lot of questions to the personnel and sometimes I would get invited to visit behind the scenes. I learned something from each place that we stayed in. Now I tend to favor the brands, products and services I’ve experienced firsthand over competitors with which I haven’t had personal exposure.

To my opinion, every business should offer ‘backstage’ tours or service samples in an effort to expose prospects to their product or service. Tours can be conducted in person or using live streaming video through social media apps. As a training and consulting company, Signature Canada offers to evaluate three free mystery shop calls to prospects so they can experience the value of the programs and the team’s professionalism.

To start, think of the things that would provide ‘gee whiz’ moments to visitors or users. For example, your hotel or restaurant may have a huge kitchen that can produce meals for hundreds.  Why not offer a tour of that kitchen? Then think of the different groups you could invite for tours: school groups, clubs and organizations or vocational education classes. Don’t forget neighbors – the people from nearby businesses. If you work for a service company, think of how your prospects can experience your services. A spa and health facility could invite a woman’s club for a backstage tour, a business consultant may offer prospects a free webinar, a local bank could invite neighbors to its grand opening and offer tours of its offices (and the safe it was empty!)

Exposure is a great way to build the affinity and sense of belonging that we want to inculcate in prospects or brand ambassadors. They become believers in your product and services and the best advocates your business will ever know.

Who will you invite on your first tour?


Julie Charbonneau, Signature Canada
Business Development and Training Director
www.signaturecanada.ca
j.charbonneau@signaturecanada.ca
Phone: 438-870-3087

Julie Charbonneau

Signature Canada is a leader in training employees to deliver legendary customer service while increasing sales. Since 1986, Signature’s unique training methodology has provided a measurable ROI for our customers, compelling them to return year after year.