Some of you have a CRM front end for your operation to track your contacts and, more importantly, your touch points and forecasting. Since it also costs significant dollars to get a consumer to cross your threshold, you would want to track the source of the opportunity as well.
If you’re missing this critical function for your business, it’s comparable to having your boat on the water, the engine is working fine, but you lack a rudder. Sure, you have plenty of thrust, but you really can’t aim your business where you want it to go.
Measuring on the Front End
Your business should know about every prospect that walks through your door.
- Who are they?
- Basic contact information allows you to set them up in your database
- Where did they come from?
- Helps you understand the geography that you sell to.
- Allows you to do follow-up marketing to them after they leave your store.
- How did they hear about you?
- Knowing your marketing dollars are targeting prospects is key
- What room are they shopping for?
- Is it just kitchens, or can your marketing pull in prospects for other rooms?
- When are they thinking about remodeling?
- This should be a part of every salesperson’s qualifying questions.
If you are fortunate enough to have a Manager of First Impressions, this data can be gathered quickly before any introduction to your sales staff. If the salesperson is the first point of contact, this task falls upon them as a ‘must do’. After all, the days of everyone in your showroom doing his or her own thing is long over, right?
In part two, we’ll look at furthering this information gathering and converting it into the forecasting engine that drives your business decisions. Before you know it, you’ll be able to steer your business exactly where you want to go.
