Sales reps are crucial to the continued functioning of any moving company. No matter how good your online platform and marketing are, you still need a team of people to meet with and find new clients. However, if those employees are not sure how to properly do their jobs, or are too zealous in their work, they might be doing more harm than good. To prevent this, we present seven mistakes that sales reps make in the moving industry. It is our hope that this article will help companies take full advantage of the moving leads that they generate.
#1: Focusing too much on return clients
The first of the mistakes that sales reps make is to focus most of their efforts on retaining past customers. Of course, it is good to ensure that your customer base stays stable. And that is, admittedly, one of the largest struggles of moving companies to the very nature of what they offer. However, increasing your customer base is just as important.
So, don’t waste resources and the majority of your time on clinging to clients that might never need your services again. Instead, it is advisable to use your efforts to discover new people who are interested in securing professional moving company services.
#2: Overwhelming the potential clients
Naturally, you need to impress your clients with everything your moving business has to offer. However, the best way to advertise your moving business is not to be too aggressive with your marketing. If you simply unload every last aspect of your company’s moving services onto an unsuspecting client who was just curious about the price of something, then they will likely simply walk away. And you’d have made one of the most common mistakes that sales reps make.
A much better way to go about it is to first let your potential client tell you what they need. Then, you can offer services which would suit their request. Once you’ve done that, you can mention additional things that a moving company offers that would make their move easier. This way, you can slowly ease them into the information, rather than barrage them with it.
#3: Opening up with price discussions
Price is, of course, an important part of making a sale successfully. However, you need to have something that backs you up and justifies the price you are asking for. If you open the discussion with an immediate drop of the expected pricing, you might turn a customer away. Especially if the price is higher than they may have expected.
Of course, you as the sales rep might have a good reason to quote such a high price. The job might be complicated due to certain aspects of it, or there is something about the specific case that increases the price. But you need to first carefully rationalize everything that went into the final pricing so that the client can follow and feel that it is a justified quotation.
#4: Failing to offer personalization
Every customer is unique and one of the mistakes that sales reps make is not taking this into account. If your sales rep is satisfied with treating all your customers like cookie cutouts of each other, then you are probably missing out on sales. Some customers might need a larger team sent out because they want to move out quickly. Some might be fine with a longer but cheaper move, which would necessitate the spending of fewer resources on your part that would typically be used to make the process go faster.
It is a good sales rep’s job to work with the customer to come up with appropriate solutions that would satisfy both sides. Not doing so can easily make talks fall through.
#5: Overselling the company’s services
Now, trying to paint your company in a good light is only natural. If you work for the company, then you obviously want it to flourish and attract more customers. However, be it in an attempt to get top moving leads through marketing or in a direct meeting with a client, you cannot promise something the moving company cannot reasonably deliver on.
In fact, leaving clients dissatisfied with services rendered is often worse than not signing a deal. And this is one of the mistakes that sales reps make simply due to not understanding this simple truth. If you do such a thing, then your customers will naturally flock to your reviews page, be it on your site or Google apps or wherever, and leave a string of dissatisfied reviews. These reviews would then discourage future customers and could seriously damage the reputation and standing of your company.
#6: Reacting badly to hesitation
Some sales reps tend to get angry when a customer drags out their decision or even flat out refuses. It is necessary to understand that customers are looking for the best possible service they can get, at the most affordable price. That same customer might be planning to talk to several moving companies before making their decision. Even if yours impresses them greatly, they’d still probably go through with the other meetings just to see what they might offer. However, if a sales rep reacts badly to this indecision, then no matter how good the services you offer are, the customer will likely walk away with a bad impression.
#7: Pressing the client is also among the mistakes that sales reps make
Similar but somewhat different are sales reps who make the mistake of pressing. These are the reps who try to poke and prod the customer into hiring the company through incessant offers. They might even if they have access to the customer’s phone number, call again and again while they are in deliberation. Unfortunately, being pushy is just as bad as getting angry. There are plenty of stories on the internet of people dropping an exceedingly good deal and settling on a worse one out of sheer spite caused by getting five phone calls in as half as many days.
Final considerations
Now that you are familiar with the most common mistakes that sales reps make in the moving industry, you should be ready to do better! And if you are a team leader or owner of a moving company, it is smart to acquaint your employees with them. It is, after all, crucial for potential customers to feel comfortable during their meetings with sales representatives.
