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The Sales Clinic: Sales Lessons from a Barber Shop
June 27, 2008
By Andy Preston
Have you ever considered how many customers you might be losing by not making yourself accessible or effectively communicating the value you could bring to your prospects? Whether you are a running a large business or a small barber shop, remember that first impressions count, so you need to be sure the right messages are reaching your audience from the start.
Recently I needed to get my hair cut. But on this occasion, my usual hairdresser wasn't able to fit me in, and I needed to find another hairdresser in central London.
So what do I do? Use the internet of course! I knew I wanted more of a barber than a hairdresser, ao I searched for barbers in the London postcode that my hotel was in and looked at a few. A few of those were eliminated straightaway as they didn't have Web sites—there's a lesson there about being accessible! I was only looking for simple information—opening hours and pricing, but if I can't even get that, you're unlikely to be winning much business from that source.
Anyway, I managed to find a barber that I liked the look of, was local to the hotel that I was staying at and charged a reasonable "London" price (£21). Now, before I tell you any more, there's something really important here: £21 is nearly three times the price I pay for my haircut at my local hairdresser at home. Why was I willing to pay so much for perceivably the same service?
Lesson No. 1: Be Convenient
Firstly, I was willing to pay a much higher price, because it was convenient! I was able to get the information I needed in order to make a buying decision. How many of you are preventing your customers from making buying decisions right now?
How convenient are you to your customers? If they need you out of hours, can they get essential information on your Web site? This was the first lesson—in the example above, some barbers that were more local to my hotel missed out on my business because they didn't have a Web site! I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just some basic information.
Lesson No. 2: Demonstrate Value
Secondly, I was happy to pay a much higher price because the barbers I chose were able to demonstrate value. Whilst I was looking for the basic information on price and opening times, the look and feel of the site—classic, yet contemporary—was able to demonstrate value to me. I immediately felt I was not just going for a haircut, but more of a time to relax and unwind. They'd obviously spent time thinking about their target customers and what they wanted.
How often do you demonstrate value to your customers or potential customers? Or is your Web site just a list of your products and services?
Lesson No. 3: Motivate Your Buyers
Thirdly, I was happy to pay a higher price because the barber shop got me motivated to spend my money. Once I'd been on their Web site and seen what they were about, I actually became more motivated and excited about spending my money with them. I was motivated by their company brand, as well as what they offered in terms of products and services (They also sold shaving and grooming products).
How often do we think about what would motivate and excite our buyers? How often do we include this within our core messages, whether that be from our salespeople, our marketing or our Web site? If we're looking for our buyers to be excited, motivated and enthusiastic, we need to help make them that way. If they're bored, tired or disinterested when they examine our products and services, is it any wonder they don't buy, or don't buy as much as they could?
Lesson No. 4: First Impressions Are Vital
Think about how crucial the first impressions of your business are to your customers or potential customers. The first impression of your company may come from one of your salespeople, your Web site, your marketing literature or even perhaps their first "inbound" phone call to your business.
It is imperative that you get this right—that is, if you want to maximise your potential new business opportunities. If you don't create that positive first impression of our business you may be missing out on business that you didn't know existed—from a lot of potential customers that have chose to "walk away" rather than spend their money with you.
And this unfortunately was where the pre-mentioned barber shop fell down. The shop in question opened at 9 a.m., so I decided in my wisdom that I'd turn up at 8:50 a.m. in order to get on with the rest of my appointments for the day. Finally at 9:25 a.m., just as I was beginning to wonder what on earth had happened (No one was answering the phone either) a guy came to unlock the door and asked, "Do you have an appointment?'
What on earth was he thinking? Talk about destroying most of the "goodwill' and any positive impression the shop had already built up with me. He arrived 25 minutes late and was asking me if I had an appointment, as if it was my fault.
In one sentence—plus the fact he was late—he managed to destroy most of my positive impressions and potentially lose future profitable business. I did proceed with my haircut, but left feeling a little deflated, like my expectations hadn't been met.
The barber shop managed to do the other three lessons really well, but failed to impress on this point which will result in them losing business. This lead me to wonder…How many of you do that to your potential customers? People who actually want their problems solved? People that are actively looking to spend money with you on a regular basis and you do something that prevents that from happening?
Follow the tips above and watch your sales figures soar! I look forward to hearing about how you've implemented them and made them work for you.
S&MM columnist Andy Preston is a leading authority on sales and sales management. He is the founder of the highly acclaimed Sales Training and Coaching Company Outstanding Results, providing help, guidance and support to in-house sales teams of both large and small organisations throughout the UK and Europe. You can see and hear more about Andy at www.andy-preston.com and his sales training company at www.outstanding-results.co.uk.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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