If you want to make more money this Mother’s Day – and who among us does not? – have your sales staff zero in on these three words: “all of us.”
If a customer uses that phrase in the card message, it should immediately trigger your employee to suggest a really large, lush, insert-your-choice-adjective-that-screams-high-end-here arrangement.
Why? Because it’s a gift from a group and that warrants being bigger than average.
Yet average was exactly what five florists from five different cities offered Tim Huckabee, AIFSE, when he hosted a webinar with the Society of American Florists Thursday, May 1, doing his famous mystery calls to evaluate sales skills.
On every call, the president of Floral Strategies, a sales training company, gave the same direction: “Write, ‘Happy Mother’s Day! Love all your children and grandchildren’ on the card – and capitalize 'all' because there are so many us.”
He also told each florist he didn’t know what to send – giving them the opportunity to suggest something really special (and profitable!).
Instead, all of them sold him something in the $35 to $75 range. None used much description. One suggested a seasonal mix (“sounds like a salad,” Huckabee quipped). Another rattled off arrangement names (“totally irrelevant to the customer,” he said). And in the most embarrassing scenario, one florist said arrangements started at $35 and went up in $10 increments, without any explanation of what separated a $55 centerpiece from a $45 one.
“Nobody wants to buy by prices,” Huckabee said. “Can you imagine going to a restaurant and having a waiter say ‘We have a $15 dinner special, a $22 special and a $30 special? That’s just stupid.’”
The webinar also included Huckabee’s 12-point checklist for maximizing sales, such as always capturing an email address (for confirmation information and future marketing opportunities) and thanking the customer.
“They have so many choices of places to spend their money, be sure they know you appreciate their call,” he said.
Want to hear every cringe-worthy detail from the taped calls? Ready to perfect your skills before the last-minute calls come in next week? You can watch the webinar here.
If a customer uses that phrase in the card message, it should immediately trigger your employee to suggest a really large, lush, insert-your-choice-adjective-that-screams-high-end-here arrangement.
Why? Because it’s a gift from a group and that warrants being bigger than average.
Yet average was exactly what five florists from five different cities offered Tim Huckabee, AIFSE, when he hosted a webinar with the Society of American Florists Thursday, May 1, doing his famous mystery calls to evaluate sales skills.
On every call, the president of Floral Strategies, a sales training company, gave the same direction: “Write, ‘Happy Mother’s Day! Love all your children and grandchildren’ on the card – and capitalize 'all' because there are so many us.”
He also told each florist he didn’t know what to send – giving them the opportunity to suggest something really special (and profitable!).
Instead, all of them sold him something in the $35 to $75 range. None used much description. One suggested a seasonal mix (“sounds like a salad,” Huckabee quipped). Another rattled off arrangement names (“totally irrelevant to the customer,” he said). And in the most embarrassing scenario, one florist said arrangements started at $35 and went up in $10 increments, without any explanation of what separated a $55 centerpiece from a $45 one.
“Nobody wants to buy by prices,” Huckabee said. “Can you imagine going to a restaurant and having a waiter say ‘We have a $15 dinner special, a $22 special and a $30 special? That’s just stupid.’”
The webinar also included Huckabee’s 12-point checklist for maximizing sales, such as always capturing an email address (for confirmation information and future marketing opportunities) and thanking the customer.
“They have so many choices of places to spend their money, be sure they know you appreciate their call,” he said.
Want to hear every cringe-worthy detail from the taped calls? Ready to perfect your skills before the last-minute calls come in next week? You can watch the webinar here.
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