Thread: Catherine Chambers on Selling

Sales and selling, discussion with Cathering Chambers

Sales and selling, disussion between Catherine Chambers, MD of Easilife Cleaning Ltd and NLP trainer Michael Beale.

(Please allow up to two minutes for the MP3 file to download if you would like to listen to the podcast)

http://nlp-expert.co.uk/sales/catherine_chambers.mp3

Podcast transcript: TBA

Michael : Good afternoon Catherine

Catherine : Good afternoon Michael

Michael : Just to start this off, could you say a little bit bout yourself, who you are and what you do?

Catherine : My name is Catherine Chambers, currently I'm the managing director of a contract cleaning company, EasiLife Cleaning Services, which is based in Suffolk, and I'm married to Andrew who is operations director of EasiLife Cleaning Services. We live in a place called Shotleigh which is a very beautiful place based on the river, not to far from where we work.

And we have quite a lot of hobbies which we enjoy, including stage acting, singing, dancing, that kind of thing. And I'm very interested in coaching and NLP, and I have a great life - I'm hoping to go and live some of it in France eventually, and we love good food and good wine.

Michael : Excellent, and whats your experience of selling?

Catherine : Selling is something - there's always the question "Are you born a good salesperson or can you learn?" I believe, probably, that there's both of those. Ive ways enjoyed selling and aways wanted to do it from quite an early age. So I think that when I was younger I was never actually afraid to talk to people and ask them questions, as a young child, and my mother used to through her hands up in horror at this inquisitive little girl.

But its actually put me in good stead, and I've enjoyed the process of meeting new people for the first time and finding out really, what makes them tick and I think this is good if you're a salesperson.

Michael : So building on that little bit - What do you think are some of the key factors that go towards being successful in sales, or for a sales campaign?

Catherine : A sales campaign needs to have various elements of it, really - but I think very importantly you have to do your research first of all. You have to find out who your market is first of all and focus on a targeted campaign for those particular clients. Find out who they are, where they go, what they like - and then find out where they work and then go speak to anybody that can give you information about the business they're in.

Then you would look at your product or service and ask "Is this something that they would want?" And if it is, to research further, what they want, what aspects of it - as it may mean that you have to slightly change it. You have to know that there's a market or demand for your product, otherwise its incredibly hard to sell something - IE selling sand to the Arabs isn't very easy - although I guess it could be done.

Michael : So you've done some initial work and some prospecting - what happens next?

Catherine : The next stage, is that assuming that your research shows you that there is a demand for it, its picking out clients that you want to get business from - and then finding out where they are - and if possible going out to meet them.

Obviously a number of ways, networking is one way, picking up the phone, sending letters to people, and really just making an appointment to see that particular person. If you're lucky you can get that person to join you for a coffee or a lunch, and have an informal chat first of all. If that isn't possible, than go and visit them at their office, and talk with them really.

The first process is as much as you can about their organization, what would help them, what are the benefits for them. And ask them questions about - in our case it would be their building and what their expectations are.

And then hopefully that process will go well and you'll have gathered that information, it a fact finding mission - and you can go with the knowledge that you've got everything that you need and assure them that you'll come back with a proposal, hopefully at the end of it you book a date there and then for you to come back.

Michael : OK, so your first face to face meeting is really about fact-finding?

Catherine : Fact-finding, yes.

Its a good idea too, to possibly call them a couple of times before you go back to this, just to check on information - even if you don't need to because there's still contact that you have with them, you're building that relationship - If you have established a good rapport in the first meeting the first contact, then its a case of carrying it on, making them want to see you, so they want to be there.

So, carry on and take the proposal with you and really sit with them and really go through it with quite a fine comb to check that you haven't left anything out, and that you're matching their expectations - and finding out if you have, or in fact you haven:t, and if you have any objections, obviously overcoming those objections as far as you can - explaining to them the process of what would happen if this particular meeting was that successful.

And by the end of this meeting you should have some idea of whether you are in the running, by asking questions like "Who is your preferred choice? Will we be in those two?" And if they're hesitant than you can go back and find out why, this may be.

Michael : Now you might have already mentioned this, but a lot of people talk about closing in sales - what does closing mean to you?

Catherine : Closing means getting that person to make that decision to buy from you and not somebody else, and it depends a little bit on what you're selling, if it commodity selling, its not easier to close it, but its a slightly different technique.

Being slightly aggressive in our industry and closing, baring in mind that we're in a service industry, hasn't seemed to have worked very well. so its a more subtle close, if you like. At least commit to getting them to say that you're in the running - if you know that you're in the running then you can keep on contacting them, and effectively keep on asking them what the other guys are actually doing and asking "Is there anything that we ought to be doing?"

You need to be asking them a lot of questions, and finding an excuse to go back there if you possibly can.

Michael : And when you've got an order, and you've closed the sale, is that the end of the sales process as far as you're concerned, or not?

Catherine : Its the end of the sales persons role as far as we're concerned in our industry - it then really passes to probably the operational side of the business. But they have to be heavily briefed by the sales person as to what precisely is required in this particular site. And the sales person will tell them how they need to be, what type of client they are, what sort of difficulties there might be, risks associated with it - how many people are required, how many hours, that kind of thing.

The operation team must be very aware that they must be very customer focused as they go - so there are certain situations where if they must be able to handle as if they were in the sales role.

Michael : If you were to teach somebody new how to sell, what are some of the key things that you would get them to focus on?

Catherine : I'd get them to focus on finding prospects really, who would look to find who they would focus on, who might be a good client. Desk research, going out to talk to people, asking people from within the business who they think would be right.

I would focus also on their ability to build some sort of rapport with people fast, because you need to do it fast. I think that if you don't do it within the first minute of talking to somebody, you could end up with quite a bored person, who will then be turned off to any questions that you want to ask, etc.

So its that rapport building, and if someones generally a nice person, than the other person is more likely to give them some time - but if they're a nasty, miserable, untidy person, its creating that first impression, which is so important.

Michael :Almost moving on from that - if you were to recruit a new salesperson, you have a group of recruits in front of you - how would you know who to choose? What would you look for?

Catherine : I would find out whether they are able to listen - I would find out if hey have they have the ability to think on their feet. I would find out if they have the ability to be creative in certain circumstances. I would see what kind of impression they would create on somebody.

I think the dress, no matter what people say, these days is still quite important - How you dress, what you look like, what you take in with you in that appointment, how unorganised you are, how prepared you are for the whole meeting.

It makes a huge difference, whether you're on time, whether you're late, whether you're early.

So Id be hiring a person who was organised, who was comfortable in their own skin, who - doesn't necessarily have to have so much confidence, but somebody who is reasonably outgoing, who's articulate - who enjoys people.

Michael :You talked about dress, and how people look, could you jut put some words around that and how would you describe somebody that was dressed appropriately. What does that actually mean?

Catherine : I think that they need to look tidy, clean - smart in the sense that they don't need to look highly formal, but they do need to look like they're clean, that they're well pressed, that they're shoes are clean. That they haven't got ladders in their tights if they're a woman, they haven't got dirty nails, and that they're hair looks reasonably clean and tidy really.

Michael : Looking at your own experience in this, because you built the company up and you made it into what it is today - what skills have you got that have enabled you to do this?

Catherine : I'm not afraid to go and talk to anybody - and by going to talk I mean asking peoples questions about themselves. I'm courageous I guess. I don't actually fear rejection in this kind of thing, because I know that for every one that you don't get there will be other that will be interested.

So its fearlessness in terms of being able to talk with people an ask them questions. I'm fortunate enough to be outgoing. I'm creative enough and able to think on my feet, if people ask me about something - and I enjoy talking to people about their business, and I enjoy being with people - I genuinely want to be there.

Michael : And what do you believe about the people that you go and see?

Catherine : I believe that they have a need for the service, I believe that they want to learn about another organisation, and I believe that they want the best for their organisation.

Michael : And what do you believe about yourself as you do this?

Catherine : I believe that I run an organisation that can serve them well, that can provide them with a good service that is honest, that is well managed, and that they will benefit from - and that the office will be clean and tidy and they will enjoy the environment that we've helped to create.

Michael : And a couple of questions that may appear strange at first - do you have a mission as you do this? Who is Catherine as she's selling?

Catherine : I've never really thought about it like that, but I suppose the mission is something around clear space, clear thinking.

Michael : I like that - clear space, clean thinking

Catherine : If you can clear someones space for them, they can think, possibly, more effectively, and they'll be more relaxed in their environment and they'll be more ready for work, more effective.

Michael : OK, another question that may be a bit curious, but I really enjoy listening to peoples answers - if you were to describe selling as a fairy tale, or animals, or cartoons - or anything o that ilk - how would you describe the relationship between the salesman and their customer?

Catherine : I see the customer as somebody to start with that is - its probably like Goldie-locks and the Three Bears really - I feel that I'm Goldie-Locks, that we're nice people, that what we're doing is going to bring light into their house, their office.

So I feel it's a little bit like the three bears - you start with a grizzly customer - who is maybe a grudge purchase, and then you gradually work down the bears, and what happens is this person, you break down the barriers, and at the end of it, the relationship is very good.

And you both get something out of it - that's how I see it.

Michael : Before I ask for your contact details and anything that you'd like as far as our audience goes - Is there anything else about selling that you think is important? It could be something that you would like to re-emphasise, or maybe something that we haven't covered yet that you'd like to mention.

Catherine : I think that if you're out selling, you have to want to do it - you have to want to succeed, you have to want to get that deal.

If you're not that interested in selling, and its a bit of a bind, but you've got to do it, and you don't get that thrill out of getting a deal, I think you need to really question what you're doing and whether somebody else could really help you, for example.

I'm really a firm believer in there is a whole sales cycle, and one particular person is not necessarily good at every aspect of it. There are people that are good at closing, people that are good at prospecting, people that are good at presenting - and I guess that if you're not so good at one aspect of it, concentrate on the aspect that you're good at, and actually get others to help you with other parts of it.


Michael : Thank you, I really appreciate that. Now, as you've been willing to talk to us for fifteen-twenty minutes on your thoughts on selling - is there anything that you're doing in your business that you'd just like to let our audience know about?

Catherine : Well, at the moment, Easilife cleaning services are going through that interesting phase of moving from what would be termed a small business into a medium sized business. And what we're looking at all of the different areas of our business, and were looking very much at the people aspect of it, and finding that actually where we will succeed is on spending time with the people, because your reputation in the business really depends on whether you can clean a site or not - and therefore depends on developing your people, from the bottom up - so we're very interested in that.

We're also launching a totally new image in the next two months, which is very exciting. So I feel very enthusiastic about that, and just building a really, really, strong management team and promoting our ethos.

Michael : Excellent. And would you like to give us your contact details?

Catherine : My name is Catherine Chambers, from EasiLife Cleaning Services Limited. We're based in Ipswich in Suffolk, and if you'd like to email me its Catherine@easilife.uk.com

Our phone number would be 01473226645

No website at the moment because we're redesigning it,

Michael : Thank you very much for your time.

Catherine : Thank you Mike.