How to be a Master Salesman with a franchise

Some people view the act of selling with the same horror as public speaking, while others derive a thrill from converting cold enquiries into customers. If you're looking to own your own franchised business you may be asking yourself if your sales skills are up to scratch, or even if you will need any

Almost by definition all businesses involve selling, whether on the retail floor, online, over the phone, through face-to-face meetings, via advertising... any interaction between the business and potential customers becomes a sales scenario. The sales process only begins at winning an order - following through with strong customer relations and meeting or exceeding expectations through the quality of the product or service are equally as vital in both retaining that initial sale and converting it into ongoing repeat and referral business.

'Sales ability is a primal need,' says Ben Kench, Editor of the UK version of Selling For Dummies and Founder of business coaching franchise The Business Booster. 'No business survives without a constant stream of new clients and cash flow and these can only be achieved through selling.'

Or more succinctly, as Dream Doors Managing Director Troy Tappenden puts it: 'All business is sales-driven and if you haven't got a front end, you haven't got a back end to worry about.'

THE MAKE-UP OF THE SALESPERSON
'ABC: Always Be Closing' might be the mantra for the hard seller, but in business varying degrees of subtlety can produce better results depending on the sophistication of the market. Some elements in the personal make-up of the seller remain the same though, such as confidence, charisma, belief in the product and professionalism.

'A good sales person is not an individual who knows every closing technique in the book and bullies a prospect into doing business,' says Richard Wood of Voucher Packs, a franchise which offers direct mail marketing services to business clients. 'A good sales person understands that initially building rapport with the prospect is critical. After all, people buy from people.

'Developing a knowledge of the prospect's business is important. This enables the recommendation of sensible solutions to the prospect's problems/needs. If these elements are combined with effort, passion for the product and dedication to getting the best possible results for the prospect, the sales person should be successful.'

As a franchisor of a sales-driven business, Nigel Toplis of Recognition Express identifies the following criteria: 'What you are looking for in a salesman is somebody who can consistently grow the business, develop accounts and expand the range of products sold to the customer base. Good salesmen are generally excellent communicators, passionate about their products and determined to be a 'friend' of the customers and it is these elements that one needs to nurture and develop. The essence of moving from a client to a friend in my opinion is the crux of establishing a long lasting and successful business and to do this you need to spend quality time with the client.'

Sales ability is derived from all these aspects and more, including a certain aspect that is less easy to define, as Troy explains: 'At the first meeting with a prospective Dream Doors franchisee I ask myself: 'Would I personally buy from them?' You have to go with your gut instinct. After all, if I wouldn't buy from a person, how can I sell them a franchise that is sales driven?'

CAN YOU TRANSFORM YOURSELF INTO A MASTER SALESPERSON?
The expression 'born salesman' is often used to describe someone who seems to effortlessly operate in a sales role, but is sales ability something that's in the genes or can it be nurtured? 'People can develop a sales skill if they are prepared to view selling as a skill and not an art,' says Nigel of Recognition Express. 'A natural sales person will adopt a fairly fluid and holistic approach to sales. To them it is very much the art of talking, the art of encouraging, the art of enveloping the customer, but a lot of this is because of their ability and natural characteristics. For the non-sales person they have to be much more structured and follow certain rules of engagement, communication, and follow up. To this end somebody with no natural sales ability needs to come on a formal training course to put together a structure for selling that they are both comfortable with and that plays to their strengths.'

Richard of Voucher Packs agrees: 'The elements of making sales can be taught - in fact they are much less complicated than most people think. If you understand the decision making process you are half way there. Many sales presentations fail because the sales person has dived in half way through this process - we teach a sales methodology during our induction course in a class room situation, followed by two weeks' practical training in the franchisee's area with local businesses.'

The Business Booster provides sales training to businesses and their staff. Founder Ben reveals the ethos behind this: 'Sales ability very definitely is a learned behaviour. If you study and watch children up to the age of eight or nine, they usually have classic sales skills: when they want something they ask persistently, are creative with reasons and know just how to leverage you into saying yes by playing with emotions. These are three fundamental selling skills.

'Sadly, however, life conditioning and experiences change a person into believing as an adult that they don't have these skills and can't sell. Everyone can and everyone does. By refining that natural ability, training sales can be achieved and our approach is not to tell people fancy answers, but to get them to understand labels and to bring out the confidence to use what they have already been given naturally as a skill.'

THE SALES FUNCTION IN FRANCHISED BUSINESSES
In franchising many of the aspects of the sales process are prepared for the franchise owner through a shared branding, company website, group advertising and supplied marketing materials. Some franchise companies go a step further and take care of the franchisees' sales for them through a centralised sales team.

Ben reveals: 'Sales can be achieved through excellent systems, such as a very well designed and marketed e-commerce website, or they can be achieved through people... more usually it is a combination of the two. Somewhere in the organisation, therefore, there has to be a highly skilled sales engine to make sure that these functions work well. Although it doesn't have to be the business owner's responsibility to sell, it's the business owner's responsibility to make sure the function exists.'

RUTH BADGER'S TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR SALES ABILITY

What defines a good sales person? In my opinion one trait: attitude. From my experience in sales it is the one thing that splits the good from the bad and the 'cans' from the 'won'ts'!

Selling can't be taught to everybody, however a lot of people don't realise they have the basic skills required to become a successful salesperson. For example, lots of people learn how to monitor themselves and goal set - this is essential in sales and you must be able to measure your own improvement. If you set realistic goals it motivates you.

Once you are motivated to achieve goals the key aspect is to focus on volume - it's a numbers game after all. Attitude is vital here - upbeat, positive people can sell, lazy people can't. Upselling is a factor - if somebody walks out of a mobile phone shop with a headset as well that salesperson has sold, otherwise they just matched their needs.

The important skill in selling is to be able to communicate. This not only means speaking well, it also includes the ability to listen. God gives us one mouth and two ears! If you have the ability to listen, interpret information and react to it quickly you're going to be a better salesperson.

Ruth Badger was the runner-up on the second series of BBC1's The Apprentice and presents Sky One's Badger or Bust. She runs her own consultancy firm, Ruth Badger Consultancy Ltd, based in Didsbury, Manchester.

Reported by Stuart Anderson