Can Your Walls Sell? © / Ernest F. Oriente / Business Coaching Section / ComPortOne of Rockford Illinois

Can Your Walls Sell? ©
by Ernest F. Oriente, The Coach

If first impressions are formed by a new client within 10-12 seconds of meeting your sales experts, what impressions do the walls in your office make? Can your walls sell? Can your walls motivate and inspire you and your sales team? You bet they can! This article will show you three easy steps to make sure your walls are selling—365 days a year.

Inspiring your clients: First, recognize that every time a client comes into your office, your sales team has a golden opportunity to sell and re-sell the wonderful value your company provides. Next, have your sales team determine how much wall space is available in your office and ask them to draft a plan for the types of information they want each client to see. Here are some strategic items your sales team can place on these walls: pictures of their clients, letters of appreciation, a mission statement from your company, a satisfaction guarantee or promise, a recent newsletter, pictures of your product or service, any special awards or training certifications, and a photo of your entire company. Lastly, have your sales team professionally frame each of the items they will be displaying on your office walls, as the quality of the framing will make a subconscious quality impression on each of your office visitors.

Tip from The Coach: Now that your office is ready to sell to your clients, can your sales team use this tool for new prospects? You bet! Whenever a new prospect comes to your office, have your sales team begin by showing each visitor the fun items displayed on your office walls…especially the nice testimonial letters from clients who have enjoyed using your product or service. When the walls in your office sell, your sales experts will have higher closing ratios and more team success!

Motivating your team: Once your sales team has finished setting up the selling walls in your office, it’s time to prepare the walls that will motivate them. Ask your sales team to locate a wall or two in your office that is not usually seen by either current clients or prospects. Next, discuss with your sales team the key numbers, corporate information or trends they would like to see on a regular basis. Here are some ideas that might be helpful to display: weekly/monthly sales goals, product availability or delivery schedules, budget performance on a monthly and year-to-date basis, product ready to be shipped, a follow-up system for tracking hot new prospects, bonus programs, a calendar to plan future client events or activities, a place to share or post new ideas, company awards and collection reports. Lastly, ask your sales team to find a creative way to display this wonderful information so they will have a pride of ownership attached to this special area.

Tip from The Coach: Many of our coaching clients ask their managers to hold a weekly meeting in the area where this information on their walls can be easily referenced. Consistently referencing this information will show your sales team that the information displayed is critical to the success and profitability of your company.

Encouraging yourself: As the executive or owner of your company, your walls must also sell. Certainly, many of the ideas mentioned above, would be valuable to have on your walls. Some specialized measurements to place on your walls might include: economic and industry trends, employee turnover, quarterly graphs recapping this quarter…compared to the same quarter last year, sales rankings and a list of top corporate clients or large prospects ready to be sold.

Tip from The Coach: Remember, whatever you place on the walls in your executive office will send a strong message to your company about the key areas of your business. So choose each item carefully, as every person who comes into your office will survey your walls and ask you questions about what they see or read. In addition, you might consider giving new employees a tour of your office walls on their first day with your company. This will allow them an opportunity to see and read first-hand, exactly what is most important to you and to your organization.

Author’s note: Ernest F. Oriente, The Coach, founder of PowerHour®, a professional business coaching service delivering customized training, by telephone, in management, marketing and sales for property management companies, apartment locator/corporate housing services and publishing companies worldwide. We specialize in global distance learning by telephone, using our state-of-the-art conference call system for interactive and dynamic TeleForums. Twice-monthly TeleForums link 10 -100 executives/ professionals/ individuals who are geographically dispersed, in a time efficient and profitable format. PowerHour® is based in ski-town—Park City, Utah, at 435-615-8486, by E-mail ernest@powerhour.com or visit our TeleForum website: www.coachingsuccess.com. To receive a FREE property management success newsletter send an E-mail to: ernest@powerhour.com. Recent PowerHour® articles have appeared in 1500+ business/trade publications and websites.

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