Nick Reyes is co-owner of CrossFit 913 in Overland Park KS. He also is the Chief Revenue Officer at PushPress. The reason he's a revenue officer, and not a sales officer? Because we believe revenue fuels the growth of a company, and sales fuels the idea of closing every deal you can, good or bad. Recently Nick was ecstatic he walked away from a potential great PushPress client. Want to understand why, read on.
SALES. I've never been a big fan of the word.
In our society it comes with the connotation of tricky, gimmicky, or even sleazy and this is partially true, which is why we participate in Strategic Client Development at PushPress. Let’s compare the two.
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Mesmerized?[/caption]
Sales chases revenue no matter the effect on the business. Any sale is a good sale as long is it puts money into the company coffers. If you’ve heard from a sales person multiple times despite telling them you’re not interested then you are being chased for money plain and simple. We see this in corporate America as return to investors takes priority over all else. This requirement for investor satisfaction causes mass cold calling, and eventually a turnover of sales reps as it leads to employee burnout since there is no satisfying corporate greed.
Strategic Client Development closes deals that are in the best interest of the company. If the prospect’s needs aren’t aligned with what the company can provide there is potential drain on service resources, negative client experience, breach of contract issues, liquidated damages or worse.
When was the last time a business willingly walked away from someone with cash in their hand? At PushPress it’s part of our process. Our first call with a prospective client is making sure we don’t waste their time if their needs aren’t aligned with our philosophy and offerings. Operating this way allows us to stay focused on our core customers and deliver a higher level of client service.
Sales shows a prospect features in the hopes that they’ll be attracted to something shiny and open their wallet. You’ve seen this every day in car sales, appliance sales, and even in fitness. Walk into a globo gym and it’s all about how many machines, racks of dumbbells, and steam rooms they have, and not about how they can help change your life with fitness.
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Understanding your client helps you help them.[/caption]
Strategic Client Development seeks to understand the prospect’s behaviors, processes and underlying needs in order to help them succeed in using the product. CrossFit is a great example of this as most prospects walk into our gyms and there aren’t a bunch of steam rooms to show off, rather client goals and our methodologies become the forefront of the conversation.
I’m asked every week if we have a video demo of PushPress and that answer will forever be NO. Video demos show shiny features via the sales method, while live demos allow our team the opportunity to understand how a gym’s policies and needs can exist or improve within our ecosphere.
Your business can be sold on shiny features or can leverage a solution backed by knowledgeable industry insiders. Think about what type of client you’d want to have at your gym; one that’s going to leave you for the gym down the street when they add iMacs to their childcare area? Or someone that sticks with you because you understand their needs for a longterm healthy lifestyle? If you prefer the latter and want to see a simple yet powerful solution for managing your business then let’s chat!
