Is getting party information like pulling teeth? You can change the number of parties you hold by changing the way your staff handles the call.
In recent shopper calls, I have been directed to the web, had to beg for information, have been hung up on and usually feel as if it has been an imposition for the customer service representative to deal with me at all. Rarely am I asked to book a party.
Do you have someone dedicated to the phone and the sales process? Are they training others to handle the sale in their absence?
When you ask these two questions, you'll know whether you have all the business that belongs to you. Be honest. It's unrealistic to think that you can handle every call. If you are the proprietor or the manager, you can typically book the event. However, you have more "skin in the game!" It means more to you to get the business with a trained staff.
In contrast, when a marginally trained team member books the event, there is more work for them. Certainly there is paperwork to fill out, a reservation to input (hopefully, you're using a reservation system of some kind) and a calendar to update. It's easier for an untrained, non-sales staff team member to simply answer questions, get off the phone and go back to their "real" job. After all, in their minds they're not part of the sales team.
The day you help your team understand that they are all part of the sales team is the day you begin to book more parties and sell more product within your four walls.
When you think about it, the potential guest on the phone does not even know the right questions to ask. I called a center the other day and here's how the conversation went:
Me: "I'm interested in booking a birthday party."
Customer rep: "OK." (long pause)
Me: "Well, what can you tell me about your parties?"
Rep: "What do you want to know?"
I hardly knew where to go from there. I wanted to shout, "Come on! Give me the facts, Jack. Care about my kid. Use your brain!" However, what really came out of my mouth was, "May I have the details of your parties, please?" He said, "We have a $10.99, a $13.99 and a $16.99." I still knew nothing about the party and was really irritated. I felt like he was wasting my time, and he didn't care about getting my business. If I had to pull the information out of him piece by piece, it was hardly worth the effort.
When you give price first, it's always too much. Give the price last. Find out about the guest first, the expectations of the event and then sell him or her on how fantastic the party package is - and price will matter less in the end.
I set up our clients with a sales qualification form and phone training so that anyone who answers the phone or deals with the customer in person understands the operational procedure for good sales. The basic steps are as follows:
1. Find out more about the event. Is it a group event, birthday, corporate party, etc.? Depending on the type of event, you can follow up with the appropriate questions: How old is the child going to be? What's his or her name? How many people do we need to plan for? Is this a happy hour or team building scenario in which a meeting space will be needed? Would you like to have a food option with your party?
2. Once you have enough information, give the details of a package that fits their needs or plan to build a custom package and get right back to the customer. Remember to give the price last.
3. Ask good closing questions once you've given the information about the options for a party: Do you want to have the party during the week or on the weekend? Early in the day or later? Never give more than two party time options. If you say, "we have openings at 11:00, 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00," the customer will think you don't have any parties booked, and it's too many choices.
4. Close the deal. "Mrs. Standlee, I can confirm your party today with only a $50 deposit, and I'm able to take that deposit over the phone at this time or you are welcome to stop by and pay in person. Which of these two options works best for you?"
Contrary to popular belief, no one is a born salesman. Some may have more of a knack than others, but with the right tools, anyone can learn. Sometimes a client will push back and insist that his young staff can't learn to follow a script. My only comment is that you need to give them a lot more credit. They learn Hamlet soliloquies to get through Junior English. I promise you that learning the sales qualification process is much simpler than Shakespeare!
CSO and founder of Trainertainment, a party development consulting firm. Beth can be reached by email at beth@trainertainment.net
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