You’ve put extensive time and effort into building your business. You’ve spent years putting together a solid team of salespeople. You’ve carefully trained each one in the finer points of kitchen and bath industry sales techniques and, for the most part, they’ve learned well and performed consistently.
Then you found your “ringer”.
More than competent, this person seems to be a master salesperson. They’ve spent years hawking everything from used cars, to t-shirts, to sporting goods and they can sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves.
And they know it.
They may not know a single iota more about cabinets than most of your customers but, frankly they don’t care. To them, a sale is a sale and the higher the price tag on that sale, the better. They produce the best numbers out of anyone on your team. This is why they walk all over you and this is why you allow them to.
The truth of the matter
You don’t need them. There’s no room for rogues in this business!
Over time, they will become a poison that leaks into the rest of your sales team. As others follow their lead, they turn a once cohesive, goal oriented company into a band of hotshot wannabes that will systematically alienate your customer base and bring tension to the workplace.
Sales techniques in this industry differ greatly from that of used cars or overpriced shoes. This isn’t the sort of business where you want a high pressure, pushy salesperson in your showroom. You need to remember that when your customers undertake a remodel, they are not just buying cabinets from you; you are becoming part of their home. This purchase will be right in their face every morning as they brew that first cup of coffee and on display for everyone who comes through their doors. They will tell a story about you and the work you have done – and that story will either be good, or bad.
A customer who is pushed into a purchase they feel uneasy about will never recommend your business. That high-numbers salesperson may increase the bill on this first transaction but they will never be the type of perpetual business machine that you need to continue thriving for years to come.
So, bite the bullet and drop the rogue. What is much more important than a few high-sales months is having a team of dedicated, knowledgeable experts who can asses your customers’ needs and make sure that they are 100% satisfied with every aspect of their remodel.
When you offer a great product backed by impeccable service and low-pressure, informative sales techniques will get the job done every time. A few heavy-hitting divas does not a great team make. Replace that thorn in your side (even if it seems made of gold) with someone who will help create the kind of long term goal oriented culture this industry requires.
