Sales Service Culture for Credit Unions

www.LyonSalesInstitute.com

Monday, 9:45a-10:30a

February 16, 2009

By the end of this session you will: Agree to the concept that Everybody Sells!™, while gaining a new

understanding and appreciation for the concept of selling. Understand the difference between “marketing” and “sales” and how

they should work together. Recognize and apply the 4 simple concepts of selling. Understand the sales funnel concept and the sales process for a new

credit union member. Institute a sales-influence culture, while focusing on the importance of

building relationships with members. Shift effortlessly from a member-centric mode to a soft-sales mode,

while keeping the members’ needs first. Increase your sales-confidence, knowing the ideas and techniques

presented are realistic and do-able.


Selling gets a bad rap; Society is jaded by negative experiences.

Even in our personal lives, Everybody Sells!™.

In the credit union world, the term sales is not used often.

You offer value and a much needed and beneficial product/service: 1) Save Money 2) Make Money 3) Save Time 4) Convenience 5) Peace of Mind

Even if you’re not responsible for “closing” a sale and “sales” isn’t in your title, you can positively influence the process.

Many of you at your credit union are on “the front lines”-- you are THE connection to the members.

Members will work with people they like, people they respect and people who love what they do. Be conversational. Be yourself.

Selling is all about relationships!… and you have excellent relationships with your members, right?


Marketing is the big picture, the strategy, the planning, the foundation, the awareness and the visibility.

Marketing involves identifying your Product, your Pricing, your Promotion and your Place (4 Ps).

Sales falls within marketing and helps turn marketing efforts into actual dollars.

Marketing and sales should synergistically work together and not be mutually exclusive.~


Process by which a mutually respectful relationship is formed between a prospective member and a “salesperson”, during a 2-way member-focused dialog. The salesperson asks questions, listens, empathizes and educates the prospect on the alternatives, then finally suggests a realistic and value-based solution, that with a commitment, results in a win-win opportunity for both the member and the salesperson.--Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA



What Selling IS:

Educating & Serving

Listening & Empathizing

Providing Value & Benefits

Building Rapport & Relationships

Mutual understanding

Being Subtle & Sincere

Being Naturally Helpful

What Selling is NOT:

Aggressive

Manipulative

Overbearing

Coercive

Deceitful

Selfish

Fast-talking

As easy as knowing your ABC’s!


Attitude: Believe in what you do/sell; You offer value; enthusiasm is contagious.

Build rapport and relationships; Be yourself; People buy from people they like.

Communicate using open-ended questions; Be sincere and listen; First seek to understand.

Don’t rely exclusively on your marketing materials; They tee you up, but rarely sell for you.

Examples of Marketing & Sales Synergy: Use reprints of articles in which your credit union is

mentioned or highlighted (marketing) in your sales presentation packets to prospective members (selling tool).

Be prepared to offer creative and flexible terms and rates (marketing) in order to negotiate and close a piece of business (sales).

After a tradeshow, conference or seminar (marketing) be sure to personally follow up with people you met (sales).

Maximize your credit union’s website (marketing) to educate and direct your members (sales).


Remind your team the value/benefits your credit union offers its members: 1) save $ 2) make $ 3) save time 4) convenience 5) piece of mind. Decide together the top 5 benefits your credit union offers its members

Share with your team that members work with people they like, respect and who enjoy their jobs. Create an exercise where each employee shares best practices on rapport-building with members. What can you do so they enjoy their jobs even more? Incentives? Recognition? Fun?

Educate your team that Marketing starts with the big-picture strategy. Have a session to design and share your credit union’s mission and vision.

Present to your employees that you believe Everybody Sells!™ within the credit union and that everybody’s role is important. “Selling” is an educating and service-oriented process that results in win-win-win, for the member, the credit union and the member. Conduct an exercise in which your team writes their own definition of personal selling.

Marketing and Sales efforts should always work together. Schedule regular meeting time for your Marketing folks to educate the front-line employees on the credit union’s marketing efforts; share ideas on how to help one another.


Synonymous: sales funnel sales process sales cycle sales pipeline

It’s important to know what your sales process is, in order to: Maintain better control of the process Shorten the process Keep it evenly distributed throughout the funnel

The length of a sales cycle will depend on what you’re selling.


Qualify**:“above funnel”

Cover Bases**: “in funnel”

Close**: “best few”

* Dale Carnegie, Inc., Ray Leone

** Miller Heiman, ©

New Opportunity or __________________

Approach or ________________________

Planned to Meet or __________________

Analysis Complete or ________________

Proposal Submitted or _______________

Contract Signed or _________________

Follow Up and CRM or _______________

What are the steps of your sales cycle?

Keep the funnel filled!!!


Defining your personal and specific sales cycle: Title the steps. What will happen during each stage? What needs to be determined before moving on to

the next step? Determine an approximate and reasonable timeframe

for each stage.



So, what are YOUR steps of the sales process?

It will vary depending upon your role at the credit union.

Look at it from the perspective of your team (tellers, member service reps, lending team, etc..)

GREAT exercise to do together during a team meeting.

How to get on board with this concept: Recognize anybody in your credit union can make

or break “a sale”. Believe the fact that obtaining and keeping

members is a team effort. Member retention is key! Educate everybody on your credit union’s core

competencies, ideal member and most value-generating products/services.

Sharpen skills of member service, up-selling, cross-selling and how to identify new business (see other BONUS handout).

Shift mindsets on what selling is all about and adopt a organization-wide “Everybody Sells!™” attitude.


Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Habit 5)- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey


Satisfied Member

1.Empathize“I can see why you’re discouraged.”

“I can understand your perspective.”

2.QuestionHow did that happen?

What took place from ___ to ___?

3.Listen“I see”, “go on”, “I understand”

* Confirm

* Paraphrase

4.Educate

“This is what I can do…”

“Here’s how we can work this out…”


Satisfied Member

1.Empathize“I can see why you’d like to earn the maximum return.”

“I can understand why it’s important to you that ____.”

2.Question“How do you go about…”

“Explain what happens when…”

“What do you feel is most important?”

3.Listen“I see”, “go on”, “I understand”

* Confirm

* Paraphrase

4.Educate“Here’s what I propose that will significantly improve your situation:….”

“Here’s how we can work together on resolving this:…”

Educate your team on what the sales funnel/process is and share progress on potential new members; Keeping the funnel evenly distributed with potential members and quickly moving them through the process will result in more “sales”, more quickly.

Work together using the sales process worksheet to specifically define each departments’ sales cycle, where applicable.

Challenge your employees to come up with creative ideas on how to retain members.

Educate everybody on the credit union’s ideal member, core competencies and most competitive, value-added services.

Sharpen the cross-selling and up-selling skills of your team; Train!

Practice role playing the “soft sales mode” 4-step process.


By the end of this session you will: Agree to the concept that Everybody Sells!™, while gaining a new

understanding and appreciation for the concept of selling. Understand the difference between “marketing” and “sales” and how

they should work together. Recognize and apply the 4 simple concepts of selling. Understand the sales funnel concept and the sales process for a new

credit union member. Institute a sales-influence culture, while focusing on the importance of

building relationships with members. Shift effortlessly from a member-centric mode to a soft-sales mode,

while keeping the members’ needs first. Increase your sales-confidence, knowing the ideas and techniques

presented are realistic and do-able.



Due to time constraints, we can’t get into cross-selling and up-selling today, but it’s a BIG part of the sales-influence culture in a credit union.

There are simple and painless ways to have your team easily implement cross-selling and up-selling with your members.

Enjoy the handout and let me know if I can personally assist you and your team.

What 3 things are you going to implement immediately as a result of this session?

1. __________________________________2. __________________________________3. __________________________________

Share some ideas?


Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith The Credit Union World, by Wendall V. Fountain 50 Powerful Ideas You Can Use to Keep Your Customers, by Paul Timm Customers For Life, by Carl Sewell 1001 Ways To Energize Employees, by Bob Nelson 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, by Bob Nelson Selling 101, by Michael T. McGaulley The Psychology of Sales Success, by Editors of Selling Power Magazine Cross Selling Techniques, by Ford Harding People Power, by Donna Fisher Unlimited Referrals, by Bill Cates Endless Referrals, by Bob Burg “Sales” Is NOT a Dirty Word:

The Inspirational Selling Guide for Non-Traditional Salespeople, by Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA

For other educational resources see Tiffanie’s on-line store, www.LSIKnowledgeShop.com


RESOURCESRESOURCES Resources

Available today for

$20

Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA has 19 years of sales and business experience spanning several industries and she has taught Principles of Management and Personal Selling at the college level. Through her company, Lyon Sales Institute, LLC, she advises business owners, top executives and managers who want more involved and motivated employees, by helping all employees realize they contribute to the sales process. Her primary program is the Pain-Free Selling™ system for non-traditional salespeople. Tiffanie’s message is delivered through non-threatening and informative keynote speeches, seminars and educational products. Her book “Sales” is NOT a Dirty Word; THE Inspirational Selling Guide for Non-Traditional Salespeople, is now available from her on-line store, www.LSIKnowledgeShop.com or from fine on-line retailers. . She’s an active member with the National Speakers Association and the Institute for Management Consultants. Tiffanie and her family reside in the greater New Orleans area.


Sales Service Culture for Credit Unions

Business

Transcript of Sales Service Culture for Credit Unions