A Tale of Two (Sales) Processes - Why You Must Adapt or Die

I'd like to share with you a couple of examples of sales processes. One that works, another that doesn't. Together they beautifully demonstrate the gap that can be bridged by solid process.

First let's talk about the broken process...

Grosby are an Australian based manufacturer of shoes and slippers (owned by the evil pacific brands empire). I love their slippers having had a lovely pair of leather slippers that I bought last year. However a rather tragic washing machine incident ended the life of my beloved slippers. So, thinks I, I will simply go to the website, buy another pair and in a few days I will be reunited with my beloved slippers. But alas, the Grosby website has no option to buy online. Instead of investing in the technology to sell direct, they choose simply to sell via retailers and make less money. Go figure. Maybe this is one of the reasons they are making bugger all money.

So anyway, my next step is to look on their website to find a retailer, which I do and I trek off down Pitt St to get them. Three shops later (one of which is a women's footwear store), I find that none of them actually stock any Grosby slippers so I return to the office empty handed. In desperation I use the "contact us" option on their website and send them a long e-mail, pouring out my unbridled love for their rare, sacred slippers. I just want to buy their product!

In the midst of the global financial crisis Grosby must be doing amazingly well! Not only do they not care that the information on their website doesn't actually lead you to their product but that they are doing so well that they don't even need to respond to a poor consumer desperately wanting to give them his money!  

Now let's talk about a process that works...

When I went to buy a new pair of glasses the other week I looked at a lot of retail stores. After realising that I'd have to sell a kidney to afford anything other than a giant pair of blue plastic glasses that would make me look like a children's TV presenter from 1984 I decided to look online.

After a bit of googling for glasses I found a website called "Clearly Contacts". Turns out that they are a global company, but very cleverly they have a web prescence in every country. They have also had the smarts to market themselves online as selling multiple products. So on I go, order my glasses online and I'm done in a few minutes. Well actually I'm not because the advertising on the website gets me thinking and before I know it I've bought a 6 month supply of contact lenses too! So I complete my transaction and am happy before I realise that I have not put in the code to get a 10% first time customer discount and free fedex shipping (for orders over $200). So I e-mail their customer service who refund my 10% and upgrade my shipping within a couple of hours - no questions asked.

So what's the message here?

• Look at your sales processes - are you going the whole way?
• Cherish every customer inquiry as an opportunity to make money
• Use automation - why sell in a store when you can make more money selling online?
• If you have a website, for god's sake make sure it is accurate
• If you don't respond quickly to customers, there is a competitor who will

But the bottom line is that YOU MUST invest time and effort (and gosh, maybe even some money) to keep your processes and systems competitive. Maybe a website with information was enough in 1999, but in today's environment no-one can afford to be complacent - there is always a hungry upstart snapping at your heels.

Heed my words people - adapt or die.

TPN