Suggestive Selling: Grow your accounts and differentiate your company with one move

A long time ago, a successful business development professional told me that its far easier to sell more to the people already being sold to than go out and try and close new business.  It seemed to me pretty obvious and, since I was also a reseller at the time, I developed a suggestive selling program to encourage my line staff to adopt the practice.  It was a successful effort as my company grew 25 percent that year — at least 60 percent of which can be directly attributed to the program.

Sound interesting?  It should. Unfortunately the percentage of resellers who train their staff to “suggestive sell” is far less than you’d expect based on the opportunity it presents.  I’ve heard estimates that anywhere from 20-25 percent of resellers suggestive sell.  What about the other 75-80 percent?  They take orders…and their growth and profitability is negatively impacted as a result.

Subing one product for another is not suggestive selling.  The ability to “sub” one product for another is no more difficult than using any ERP system available to resellers today.  Suggestive selling is the art of recognizing what else a customer might need when they buy a product; giving the customer greater value. It’s based on product knowledge and an understanding as to how products are actually used by customers in their offices.

Although growth and profits are certainly driving factors in making suggestive selling a priority for your sales team, don’t forget about the other major factor in the equation: the Big Box players. Do you think the employees in those retail boxes have the product knowledge to suggest a practical solution for their walk-in customers? Do you think the management team at these places is willing to invest the time it requires to make suggestive selling a differentiator in the marketplace? This technique of selling is as much about customer service and marketing as it is growth and profits.

The following are a few practical examples of simple, every day office products that — should you be a office products dealer and you do it correctly — could add significant dollars to your sales figures and profits to your bottom line.   The same thing could be said about any industry.  SPIA has worked with many industries and can discuss with you any number of examples of success stories using “suggestive selling” to add value and revenue.

How about something “simple”? – A 3-ring binder
A 3-ring binder is an unquestionable necessity for most offices and the act of purchasing them is just as mindless. This is where the independent dealer can change buying patterns with suggestive selling. What else would someone who is buying a 3-ring binder likely need?

Indexes

• 3-hole punched printer/copier paper
• A heavy-duty 3-hole paper punch
• Paper Reinforcements (who hasn’t found themselves with torn punched holes on one or more pages in a binder because the holes gave out?)
• Sheet protectors (there are numerous options such as weights and sizes, not to mention top and side loading.  What’s the right one for your customers?  You’ll never know if you don’t ask and find out how they are going to use the binder.)

Get the idea? The concept is to help your customer find the right product by not allowing them to look over a catalog and make the wrong decision because they didn’t know better.

NOTE: Make sure the 3-ring binder is the right one, as there as cheapy binders that are great for “once in a blue-moon” kind of use. This is not the quality product you want for a something that will be referred to frequently. You know the difference between a $2 binder and the same sized binder at $20; most customers do not. Does your staff ask the question, “What is this binder going to be used for?” Or are you and your staff content with merely taking orders?  Selling the right binder is a good example of suggested selling.

File folders

File folders — the indispensable staple of any filing system. For the most part, customers will place an order for file folders only when their stash is low and their normal routine prompts a phone call. Breaking the routine with suggestive selling often results in additional sales.

You know, the standard,.  What can we do to suggestive sell?

• Standard manila folders are 11 pt. Your first move is to find out how frequently the folders will be used. More use would suggest a heavy-use folder and you might suggest 20+pt heavyweight folders for storage use.

• If the customer plans to use the folder frequently, you may want to suggest that a double-tabbed folder might be better for them?  Or even a heavy-duty folder either in paper or plastic designed for this purpose.

• Perhaps another logical question would be to find out if the folders are to be placed inside a hanging folder?  If so, we might wish to suggest the use of interior folders that are designed for this purpose.  And maybe you could find out if they’re using color-coded hanging folders?  Or colored tabs?

• You might want to suggest the use of colors if they’re not using them now?  Why color?  Remember that color can be used to categorize folders and make it easier for people to find misfiles.

• Could a electronic or manual “label maker” to help with labeling file folders be of help to your customers?  I’ll bet that it can – and the supplies can be a lucrative addition to the typical monthly order you receive.  Definitely a “win-win” scenario.

• What about end-tabbed (system) folders – the type of folders that medical offices use, attorneys use, insurance agencies use.  Why do they use them?  Which other customers might benefit from their use?  Because they make finding a file easy.  And any file that is “misfiled” can easily (because of color coding), be found and refiled correctly.  Selling the “system” can be a very lucrative way to make selling filing products pay off BIG for your reseller.

NOTE: Why not try to knock one out of the park? If you are selling file folders, it wouldn’t hurt to ask the age of their current filing cabinet. You never know, what started as an order for folders could lead to a complete filing system purchase.

MRP or Machine Related Supplies – supplies that keep computers and imaging technology products working can be a great area to “suggestive sell”.  For example:

• How about a storage cabinet for machine related supplies
• Remember the SIMPLIFIED ORDERING SYSTEM (SOS) system invented long long ago by Dave Bjornson (at that time, the VP Sales at Burroughs Corp).  The system had resellers put dealer specific labels on every business machine in a customer’s office – and written on each label was the particular machine supply that fit that machine with product/sku number included. So it was easy for the customer to order machine supplies.
  • As an aside, the SOS system recommended that resellers offer to produce a inventory of office machines for their customer (and themselves) which would tell the buyer/office manager or designated rebuyer what machines they had and what supplies helped make that machine function.  Dealer salespeople still use this tool to help generate big MRP supply orders.
  • Can the customer use pre-punched paper (3 hole) for the printer/copier – for any document that will be put into a 3-ring binder or, if the customer is a lawyer, into an Acco fastener equipped folder.
  • Is your customer interested only in the “lowest priced” 20lb sulphite bond copier paper – or do they need more than one kind – e.g. 93-94 brightness 11×8 ½ paper for reports, presentations, etc?  Can you recommend the right “mix” of papers that will give your customers the flexibility they need to communicate well?  What “mix” of papers might be right for your customer?  The author doesn’t believe the “one size/type fits all” is right for most offices.
  • If it’s a small office without a built-in-collator on their printer/copier, might a manual “collator” have value – instead of playing “52 card pickup”: (smile).  Wouldn’t using a simple manual machine be a better way?  Collating is a pretty standard need in even the smallest office.

Keep in mind, always, that the customer is typically limited by their own product knowledge and personal experience with the company they work for or earlier employers.  If none of the above have been suggested in the past, they will, likely, not have any idea as to how, best, to effectively utilize business products to help make their office run more efficiently.  YOU CAN HELP THEM BE MORE EFFICIENT IF YOU HELP THEM WITH THE PRODUCTS THAT DO THE JOB BETTER.

THE POSSIBILITIES

The list of products that resellers can suggestive sell today is immense — from machine supplies to storage devices Remember that just about everything we sell as resellers has something to do with creating, filing/storing or using information. As such, it is difficult to come up with a single item that doesn’t have a logical “suggestive sell” that can be offered to the customer.

So why should you consider asking your staff to suggestive sell? The better question is how much are you throwing away by not suggestive selling.  You could increase your average order size 25-50 percent by merely helping your staff learn what fits with what and how they can sell it using product knowledge. Using this approach and not simply taking orders will make a big difference to your resellership. It isn’t hard to do.  It just takes time, energy and a fierce desire to win back market share from the Big Box players.

Sidebar:

You might find this exercise useful to determine just what the dollar opportunity might be for adopting the suggestive selling method:

1) Find out the average number of line items you’re logging on your average order

2) Figure out how much additional revenue you’d be able to generate if you added one, two or three SKUs per order.

3) Multiply this number by the number of orders you process each year.  What kind of number is that?

Resellers nationwide average an additional 2.5 to 4 line items per order once they dedicate training hours and make suggestive selling a priority.

4^th might there be a need for end-tabbed folders?  Filing products & systems such as those sold by Smead are readily available to resellers today.  There are still a number of very successful filing system resellers who sell nothing but equipment and consumables in the form of filing systems to doctors, hospitals, government offices, transportation companies, law firms, accountants, etc.  Tell me, what’s the difference between you and a filing system dealer?  You have access to the same products, don’t you?  So why don’t you sell them?  You know that many offices continue to buy end-tabbed folders?  Why?  Because it makes it easy for their line staff to find printed documents and/or quickly determine if a folder is incorrectly filed and refile it correctly.

How much do you think “misfiled or missing files” cost each?  The trade association of the filing system industry, The Association of Record Managers and Administers suggest that one out of every 15 files is misfiled?  In an average 42” wide lateral file, how many file folders do you think might be there?  Could be thousands depending on the thickness of the “average file”.  And how many are misfiled?  Do the math!

And think about the time it takes anyone in an office to find that missing folder?  Too many minutes – sometimes it’s never found and has to be recreated.  And people don’t get paid while they’re looking for the missing folder – right?  Do you know that the average admin assistant today in many parts of this country are paid > $40,000/year.  What does having her run hither and yarn looking for a file folder cost the company?  $40,000 divided by 2050 hours = $19.51 hour not including benefits or the fiduciary costs you must match with the government – unemployment – fed & state), FICA, etc.  What does that convert to in terms of cost per minute for your customers?  $.33/per MINUTE!  How many costly 33¢ minutes do you think you and/or your customers have to pay every year?

And what about the possible loss of a customer because you or your customer can’t find the information that you need to respond to their question or inquiry?  Think about it – when you go to the filing cabinet you can’t find invoice or product information that you or the customer needs, might you lose business as a result?  Do you think your customer could have the same problem?  Right!

Right!  None of you has ever gone to your filing cabinet expecting to easily (?) find a particular customer’s file only to find it’s missing?  Right!  Do you think your customers might have a similar experience?  That’s right – it happens to everyone – resellers & high tech companies alike (smile).

Craig Stimmel, CMC MBA, President of Strategic Planning & Implementation Associates Inc. is a Certified Management Consultant with offices in Tewksbury, MA. Craig has served Business & Industry since 1971. Learn more about Craig by visiting SPIA’s website: www.spiainc.com or calling Craig a 978-640-0803.