The only constant is change.

Chase Shiels CEO, 4me Group + Lead Tool

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Background• 10+ years lumber distribution, manufacturing, dry kilns

• 130 year old family business specializing in imported & domestic hardwoods + white pines

• Nine core markets ranging from retail, industrial pattern & casting work to high end fixtures to custom millwork

• Inventory management, vendors, equipment, IT

• Three years automotive retail • E-commerce, marketing, inventory & sales velocity

optimization, online sales • Toyota, Chevrolet, Honda, Volvo, Audi, Maserati, Porsche • 150+ new leads/mo

• Three years+ building sales software focused on management (CRM), enablement, and data analytics

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Whether you are at work or not, you’re also a consumer.

What do you want when you buy?

Customers don’t care about you, they care about them.

Consumers Want to Buy from Specialty Stores

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Consumers start online, then go to the store.

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*source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/purchase-decision-mobile-growth.html

Takeaways • Customers come to salespeople for information they can’t get online • Salespeople need to provide answers and insight at “Google” speed.

If they don’t, consumers move on.

Sales professionals matter

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“ We went to an anchor store. There were more salespeople than customers, but no one offered to assist us.

The Problem• Consumers buying process &

preferences have evolved

• Sales is no longer a transaction, sales is an entire experience

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“The market is what matters. The quickest way to go out of business is being romantic about

how you make your money.

The Market, in a Picture

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Our reaction every time we hear this

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The Market, by the Numbers

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• 48% of the time salespeople do not follow up - our research indicates this is closer to 65% or more

• 80% of sales do not close until contacts five to twelve

• 60% of consumers have not completed a purchase due to poor sales experience

• When a salesperson forgets to follow up, 60% of consumers simply buy elsewhere and 40% are left “feeling like they don’t care about me”

Dealers: “We’ve been doing it this way for 40 years!” Customers:

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Where’s the Competition?

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• Box Stores: sales processes and CRM software already in place

• Retail Lumberyards: • 45% of the Pro Sales top 100 yards already have or plan to

implement CRM software this year • 33% have showrooms displaying flooring already

• Online: • Q: “What’s the biggest killer of a positive relationship with a

customer?” • A: “It's where you don't live up to something you promised. In

the customer's mind, you made some sort of commitment, but in the end, you didn't follow through on that.” - Niraj Shah, CEO, Wayfair (2012 - Business Insider)

• Amazon now has brick and mortar stores

The Solution

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1. Design & implement a scalable sales process

2. Implement systems to enable & carry out this process

“Until You Have Productivity Skills, Productivity Tools Are Useless”

- Harvard Business Review, Aug 2016

Why?

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55% of salespeople are not equipped to do their jobs.

Result: they aren’t equipped to help customers.

They lack: • Sales process • Ongoing sales training • Sales tools

Why? The Math…

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Assume you install 100 jobs/month at average sale $2000

• This means you get about 300 leads/mo (industry standard close rate ~30%) and generate $200k in monthly revenue

• What happens to those other 200 leads?

• If you have system to work them and close an additional 10%: • 20 new sales x $2000 = $480,000 in annual revenue • Why wouldn’t you want an additional $480,000 in

sales?

Part 1: Design

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• Standardize: this will be repeatable and scalable

• How do you want the customer to experience your brand from the time they walk in the door (or call, email)?

• Identify current points of weakness - think through how this looks today

• What happens after someone walks in and is greeted? Is information being collected? If so, what and how are you asking for it?

• When is a someone contacted next after you’ve quoted them?

• What’s the after sale procedure? Thank you card, referral ask, one year check in?

“But I didn’t grow up with that…”

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“Well, you didn’t grow up driving, but you figured that out”

“Putting in work and learning is one the requisites for building a business. Yes, really, you have to learn - yes, you have to know what’s going on”

*source: Gary Vaynerchuk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nalTg_yXSs

Remember, this is how your customers respond when you don’t follow up because “we’ve been doing it this way for 40 years”

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Part 2: Systems - Keys

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• Specialist over generalist

• Focused on solving your problem, not 10 other ones • Industry specific can be great - but can also be meaningless

• Features are meaningless if they do not get used!!!

• Modern: flexible, extensible, integrations + public API (application programming interface)

• Success vs. Support - big difference!

• Nothing is perfect!

“In theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice, they are not.”

Part 2: Systems - Objectives

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• Assist in implementing the process you designed

• Standardize this process across your entire organization.

• Automate key parts of the process

Sample Onboarding

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Thank You!

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