Synopsis
Those who complete the actions proven to convert a lead into a retained customer are better at building cash reserves that enable financial freedom because they are on top of doing what needs to be done to generate profitable sales. The BusinessCPR™ Persuasion Process Game is designed to help those assigned to generate sales perform the hard work week in and week out required to generate sufficient sales at a profit.
Generating sales, particularly new sales, is the most difficult thing to do in business. This is because influencing people to buy from you is never-ending hard work. It is not only hard work to perform, it is highly discouraging when trying to convince someone to buy.
The BusinessCPR™ Certified Business Scientists understand this, and that is why we recommend incorporating into your persuasion process a game with a point system to help those involved in generating revenue better appreciate where they are winning and where improvement is needed.
Great sales teams deploy various contests, games, and incentives to help those assigned to generate sales to give it their best week-to-week in the never-ending hard work of persuading people to part with their hard-earned money to buy from your business. Next to having a well-designed incentive system that rewards top performers at the point of persuasion, the next best mechanism for positioning your business is turning your persuasion process into a game.
The BusinessCPR™ Persuasion Process Game is a proven method to track the quality of weekly influencing activities. The objective is to earn persuasion process points each day in relation to those accountable for sales in moving prospects to act through each persuasion phase.
Those who complete the actions proven to convert a lead into a retained customer are better at building cash reserves that enable financial freedom because they are on top of doing what needs to be done to generate profitable sales. It’s this black and white. There are no shades of gray. You either consistently perform the various actions required to convince someone to buy, or you don’t—those who don’t rarely achieve financial freedom through their business operations.
Below is a proven method to track the quality of weekly influencing activities. The objective is to earn persuasion process points each day in relation to actions being completed to move prospects to act through each persuasion phase.
The balance of this article outlines the BusinessCPR™ Persuasion Process Game and its associated point system and how each persuasion process phase earns points.
Prospect—engage the target to begin the sales process
You set yourself to play the game of sales with your list of prospects you are committed to engaging in the week ahead as part of your weekly sales plan. You earn one persuasion point for each identified prospect engaged during the week.
Here, the goal is to make the first contact with those most likely to buy from you. In the perfect world, these are warm leads who have indicated an interest in what you do. More likely, it involves reaching out to cold leads that you need to qualify.
Qualify and Build Rapport with Your Prospects
As you qualify a lead, your goal is to build rapport at the same time. You know you have done both when your prospect expresses interest in your solution to their problems.
One persuasion point is earned for each qualified prospect conversation that shows signs of becoming an ideal customer. Zero points are earned when you fail to engage common ground to build on.
Here, the goal is to separate the prospects from the suspects, so you don’t waste time and money on those not likely to buy from you. Below is how you connect the first three persuasion process phases into a sales tool you can use to influence more people to buy from you.
Note how you circle the prospect names you are and have moved into the discovery phase and draw a line through those you are moving on from. Again, the goal is to focus on those most likely to benefit from your solutions. This is why no points are scored in weeding out suspects at this point in your persuasion process.
Discovery—needs analysis via data gathering and information exchange
As indicated below, one persuasion point is earned for each prospect you have moved into the discovery phase. These are the prospects you are preparing for the fifth phase of the persuasion process that helps you influence more people to buy from you.
Solution Presentation—demonstration of solution fit and capability of delivering
Two persuasion points are earned for each prospect you have presented a solution to. These are the prospects being closely worked with to secure their commitment to purchase from you.
Commitment—obtain the decision to buy the identified solution at the proposed price, then deliver
Five persuasion points are earned for each prospect who has demonstrated their commitment to becoming your customer through either a signed purchase order, paid deposit, or completed purchase transaction as tracked and scored below:
Note: if you extend payment terms to your customers with their purchases from you, then this phase in the purchase process isn’t completed until payment is collected. Past due accounts indicate a breakdown in customer commitment as evidenced by them not paying you for delivered products and services. The primary accountability for chasing down past-due accounts belongs to the sales function, not admin. Don’t burden your accounting clerks with collecting late payments, particularly when commissions on sales are being paid ahead of the customer paying you.
Follow-up—on purchase satisfaction where a desire for repeat sales exists and with “warm” prospects
Customer follow-up is significant when you rely highly on repeat customer purchases, especially with those who expect to have a relationship with you in the future. This follow-up form should be done by those in customer service, operations, or project management, not sales. You want your sales talent focused on influencing more people to buy from you rather than confirming that your customers are satisfied with the product and services your operations delivered to them.
The win for your business in having operations perform the above follow-up is that they will learn firsthand from your customer any issues they are having with their purchase that operations should fix. If the issue is with the solution presentation, then it’s an opportunity to refine how your solutions are presented to avoid an over-commit and under-deliver problem that compromises repeat purchases 100% of the time.
It is particularly important for first-time customers that you expect to repeat their purchase with you that sales ensure operations confirms expectations have been met. Two points for those that indicate “Yes” and a negative two points for those that say “No.”
Two persuasion points are earned for each prospect who has had a follow-up conversation with you and continues demonstrating their commitment to becoming your customer. One persuasion point is earned for each follow-up where a definite no interest in further consideration is given as tracked and scored below:
A well-articulated “no” after serious consideration of your solution provides valuable insights into what’s missing in your solution and persuasion process. A “no” at this stage is only a failure if you failed to adequately discover the prospect’s pain points and value criteria. A failure in discovery usually leads to poorly received solutions presentation and weak commitments.
Ask for Referrals—invite the customer to introduce us to others we can help
Three persuasion points are earned for each “warm” referral received. This is the most effective way to prospect for new customers and validate customer value for what you do. It is the best measure of confidence in your ability to do what you say you will do anytime people are willing to refer you to their friends, family, and associates through a personal introduction because no one will refer anyone who will put their reputation and relationship at risk. Below is how this persuasion phase is tracked and scored:
Your ability to make money from your sales is ultimately driven by how well you know what matters most to your target customers to trigger their decision to buy from you. How and why they decide to buy forms the foundation for your business profitability model. Keeping those accountable for generating sales motivated and accountable for the results are how you make your profit model work. Click here to download the BusinessCPR™ Persuasion Process Game Scoresheet to help anchor your sales activities to what influences more people to buy from you at a profit.
Learn the value of your sales function to your business results …
Those who make more money with less stress start by having a repeatable process for influencing more people to buy from them week-to-week and month-to-month. They understand the power of the top line in everything they do, particularly as it relates to building cash reserves from profits.
Just as every game becomes more fun to play, the more skilled you become, no game is worth becoming skilled at unless the score is kept. The score tells you whether you are winning or losing. The score provides you feedback on the quality of your play. Click here to learn at no charge how well your sales function is contributing to your business results.
How well are your weekly sales activities contributing to business results?
Those who make more money with less stress start by having a repeatable process for influencing more people to buy from them week-to-week and month-to-month. They understand the power of the top line in everything they do, particularly as it relates to building cash reserves from profits.Just as every game becomes more fun to play, the more skilled you become, no game is worth becoming skilled at unless the score is kept. The score tells you whether you are winning or losing. The score provides you feedback on the quality of your play. Click the link below to learn at no charge how well your sales function is contributing to your business results.
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