If I were to ask you one question, based on your answer I could tell how well you manage your kitchen & bath sales (whether you are a salesperson, a manager or an owner). The answer to this one magic question tells me all I need to know about what you’re dealership is doing (or your salespeople), and how well it is being done.
The Question: if today is the first of the month, how accurately (and consistently) can you forecast the sales you will have on the 30th of this month? On the 30th of next month? And on the 30th of the next month?
Sound like an odd question? Maybe. But this is an easy way to identify whether or not the correct things are being done in your dealership.
If I were to ask you to rate the capability of your local weatherman, what would you tell me? How would you judge his ability as a weatherman? No doubt that close to 100% of the criteria you would use to rate him would be around how well he forecasts the future weather. What else would you even consider? If he can’t accurately forecast the weather over the next day, week or more, you’ll tell me he’s a horrible weatherman. If he can consistently and accurately forecast the weather, you’ll tell me how great he is.
There are a ton of ingredients that go into a weatherman’s knowledge and skill that have to be in place for him to be successful. But we don’t even have to look at those ingredients because we know without a doubt that they are in place if he can forecast accurately.
This is the one question that exposes all weaknesses in managing kitchen & bath sales. If there is anything wrong in the manner in which your sales staff works, in the process they use, or the way you manage them, it will manifest itself in the answer to the question: how well can you forecast kitchen & bath sales?
Surprisingly, many dealers and salespeople don’t emphasize this question, nor expect their people to answer it. It’s almost like they don’t think the ability to forecast is of any value to them. They used to say that about the weather too, until they got tired of being blown away without warning by inclement weather because they had no idea it was coming.
Even if you completely remove the value you gain from the knowledge of what your sales will be in the near future, it is worth the exercise because the ingredients that must be in place to know this also grant you a consistent and effective sales process with all the necessary things in place to succeed beyond your competitors.
Not only will you manage your sales better if you have this ability to forecast accurately, but your sales will increase without a doubt.