From Notes to Numbers: Using CRM Data to Strengthen HVACR Customer Connections
‘Knowledge is Power’ — sales tools are great, but using them for better results takes time and discipline
There are so many great sales tools that companies are implementing, such as Salesforce, Pipedrive, and many others, that allow those in HVACR distribution sales to build a database of information that can help make impactful sales calls.
Knowledge is power, and if you do a good job of listening to your customers, taking notes, and tracking information, you will be able to have more insightful conversations with them. If you are running many sales calls a day, it is easy to forget some of the information that you receive on any particular day, but if you are disciplined and transcribe your notes into your sales-tracking software, you will have this information at your fingertips when it is time to once again call on your customers.
It is always good practice, in order to prepare for a sales call, to review your last call with that customer so you can continue to move things forward instead of starting over. If you are taking great notes, you can move your conversation forward from where it left off instead of having to rehash the conversation you had on the prior call.
It is also very useful, when it comes to strengthening your relationship with a customer, if you are able, for example, to recall the customer’s daughter's name and ask how her birthday party went. That shows the customer that they are important and that you care enough to remember those kinds of details.
I wouldn't always take notes in front of the customer, but once outside, I would quickly write down everything that took place inside so that I could reference it at a later date. Tracking conversations, both professional and personal, will assist you in advancing your relationship with any customer.
The real breakthrough in the last decade has been the use of statistics in helping wholesale distribution salespeople.
The key to using these statistics is making sure that you have accurate information — it is the same with any software: garbage in produces garbage out — so you need to make sure to question the statistics that are being provided, and make sure that everything is accurate before you present those statistics to customers.
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If you confirm that a customer's copper sales have decreased by 40%, for example, at your next visit, you can inquire about this product and why sales have decreased.
You might find the customer is now buying copper from a competitor, as this is a volatile market and prices go up and down, but if you want to have a loyal customer who buys everything from you, then you will need to make sure the customer understands that you are providing much more than a price point. You need to make sure that you are providing enough value-added services that the customer wouldn’t think of sending orders to your competitors.
Price is not nearly as important to a contractor as a reliable partner. If you have helped streamline your customers’ purchasing process so that they can purchase online in a matter of minutes, instead of taking time on lengthy phone calls to place orders, then you are becoming a valued partner. If you have helped organize a customer's warehouse and provided bar codes for easy scanning to streamline ordering, you are becoming a valued partner. The customer is just happy to be able to scan, order, and go.
The key is to look at your statistics to see what is trending. Are you able to spot supplies that have either decreased or increased?
It is also important to let customers know how much you appreciate any increase in sales of a particular product. It is good to tell Mr. Jones that his sales of registers and grilles have increased by more than 250% in the last quarter, for example, and that you appreciate that business. It is a way to recognize the growth of your businesses and the strengthening of the partnership.
If you are using the combination of leveraging statistics provided by your software and the power of sales software, then you will be able to quickly gain market share and grow your business.
It comes down to discipline to make sure that you are using the available tools. It takes work to make sure the information is accurate and to study before every sales call, but I would rather make fewer sales call and take the time to prepare, so that I am making more of an impact and grabbing sales growth, instead of just stopping in and saying hello to a greater number of customers.
It is much better to go in prepared with specific points to discuss to grow sales. The most important thing for sales managers to track is growth in sales, not the number of calls that salespeople are making in a given day. I would much rather see that a salesperson’s sales are growing rather than having the number of sales calls increase while sales stay flat. An increase in the number of sales calls does not necessarily mean sales growth.
Hopefully, your managers are tracking the right data, but either way, you know what you need to do to grow your sales, and you need to stick to the game plan and push forward to succeed.
Best of luck, and happy selling.
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