It’s the spookiest time of year, and that means lots of costumes, candy, and general eeriness. But what’s more creepy than ghosts and ghouls is the possibility that the performance of your consumer finance program is suffering because of hesitant, frightened pitches. Here are some tips to help ensure that your retail sales team is pitching consumer finance options with confidence to every customer, every time.
Avoid the ‘Sometimes Scaries’
Inconsistency is a killer for your retail success, and consistency, on the other hand, is key to maintaining it. When your sales team only offers financing sometimes, rather than during every sale to every customer, you are bound to lose revenue over time.
As an example, think back to when you used to trick or treat as a kid. If you only said ‘trick or treat!’ and asked for candy at half of the houses that offered it, and at the others you just greeted the homeowners and left, at the end of the evening you would be sure to have less candy than your fellow trick or treaters.
By the same token, failing to offer financing to every customer, every time, is going to lose you sales. Even if only one or two customers a month back out of a deal because they didn’t hear about the possibilities of financing, those lost sales will absolutely add up over time. Avoid the ‘Sometimes Scaries’ by coaching up your sales team on the importance of consistency when it comes to mentioning financing options.
Beware of ‘Ghoulish Guessing’
It’s all too easy for sales team members to start guessing which customers will benefit from financing and which seem like they don’t need. But this ‘Ghoulish Guessing’ results in much the same problem outlined above: lost sales over time.
Everyone likes to be treated fairly, and even if your sales team members think they are doing a customer a favor by not offering financing, they should understand that financing is not just another tool in the sales toolbox – it really is a critical part of any retail sales pitch. It gives customers options, and options keep people interested.
Advise your team to leave the guesswork out. Consistently offering financing to all customers will lead to better revenue results.
Keep an Eye Out for ‘Abhorrent Applications’
You can have the best sales pitch and marketing in the world and still be undone by ‘Abhorrent Applications.’ A slow, time-consuming application process runs the risk of losing the customer’s interest. Your customers surely have busy schedules, just like you and your team. You can show how much you value their time by using the right tools of the trade to make the application process smooth and easy.
The best way to do is with FormPiper. This complete consumer finance automation solution provides managed or self-managed services, a streamlined application process that lets you fill multiple forms with a click of a button, and convenient reporting from a single easy-to-use dashboard. With FormPiper on your side, you can avoid the haunting pitfalls listed above, and move with confidence towards more closed deals, higher revenue, and happier customers.
