Two clients are using Fans for Life (TM) and are in the training and shopping stages of the program. The greatest struggle, believe it or not, is acknowledging and greeting members/customers, and making referrals for other products and services. Neither client has begun shopping the back room yet.
Why the struggle with acknowledging the people that mean the most to these organizations, and recommending appropriate products and services? Mostly because they were not originally hired as “sales associates” but as “tellers” or clerks. Traditionally the job requirements for tellers have required little more than the ability to process transactions accurately. As a teller, you could easily hide behind your window, remain smile-less, and speak as little as possible as long as you proved your work at the end of the day. “Personality” was not considered.
Current hiring practices should involve more than accuracy. Tellers should be renamed ”sales asscociates” or just “associates” to reflect their new role, and the requirements for the job should focus on personality, sales ability and sales experience. Handling work accurately can be easily trained with the newest transaction processing technology, but a bright, friendly and outgoing personality and a willingness to sell is a challenge to train.
This concept will hold true for the “back room” positions as well. The employees that have any contact at all with members/customers, should have great telephone personalities, and sales training. Many sales opportunities are lost by not having the right people on the phone, and existing business is lost because of less-than-professional experiences on the phone.
What to do if you know you don’t have exactly the right people in key positions right now? Create new job titles and new job requirements that reflect their new roles, educate and train. Give everyone a chance to adjust to their new job descriptions, shop, monitor, reward, and hold them accountable.
Having the right people for all member/customer contact positions in this economy is paramount to running a successful organization that will stand the test of time.
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