The Turnover-Part 2
Last week we talked about why a turnover is necessary and who to turn a sale over to. This week we will discuss the last two questions that need to be answered when considering a turnover. Along with those last two questions, we will also talk about the differences between the technical and formal turnover.
The third question to be answered is, “When is it the right time to turn the customer over?” A key to turning over a customer is timing and I stress, timing is everything to achieve the best results, you want your prospect to still be willing to buy or at least consider buying at the time of the turnover. If age, gender, race or physical conditions are holding up the sales process, you need to turn over the sale early in the process, in this case the initial contact phase is a good spot for the turnover. If you are getting bad vibes from your prospect, which generally occurs during the demonstration phase, now is the time to turn over the sale. If you simply cannot close a sale, then you will need to turn it over when you are attempting to close the sale or during the objection-handling process.
The last, yet, very important question is, “How do you turn over your customer?” The two basic types are the technical turnover and the formal turnover. The technical turnover is bringing someone else into the sales process to answer a question or to provide some other technical information. You can either complete the sale yourself after the expert has answered the questions or you can turn the sale over completely. You will need to develop a strategy with your technical expert to let them know if they should step in and take over the sale or just answer the questions. The other type of turnover is the formal turnover and this is used when the sale is completely turned over to another salesperson. You should excuse yourself from the presentation and should remove yourself completely. You will find that the prospect may go with the exact same product that you were presenting or they may go in a different direction. The bottom line, though, is they make a purchase. They just needed a different personality for whatever reason. If the turnover is done properly, everyone wins.
If you are able to master the turnover technique, you will reap many rewards and benefits. Not the least of which is repeat sales, the lifeblood of any good salesperson. Remember it is about the customer.
FINAO - Brad Huisken - President, IAS Training
For Part 1 of this article, please go to the Article Archives.
