Appointing a service plan point person can supercharge attachment sales
By J.R. Zirkelbach, New Leaf Service Contracts
How many hats do you wear in your business?
Let’s count: Owner, salesperson, sales manager, delivery person, installer, service tech, accounts payable, accounts receivable, custodian, customer service representative, advertising agent, event planner, purchasing agent … the list goes on and on.
So, why aren’t you doing a good job of managing your service plan program and motivating your salespeople? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? You have too many other things going on. It’s not that service plan attachments aren’t important to your business; it’s that many other things are also imperative and not everything can be top of the pile.
Here’s a solution — you need someone to “champion” your service plan program, someone to be your point person in managing your service plan efforts. Pick a leader from among your staff. It doesn’t have to be a manager or department head, just a responsible, creative employee who you can count on to follow some parameters you lay out and report to you once a week.
This staffer will be responsible for tracking each salesperson’s service plan sales and compiling them into a weekly report that measures their attachment sales against their total sales. Each salesperson’s service plan performance will be also measured against a company goal to make sure that everyone is holding up their end. These reports will be provided to you once a week so you can present them as a high priority topic in your sales meetings. There you can reward your performers and encourage those who are lagging behind.
See: How to Sell More Service Contracts
Your champion will also help you come up with contests and other fun challenges tied to your sales team’s service plan performance. He or she will be your right-hand person in generating excitement and high energy, so that everyone is on board with the program and it is enjoyable, rather than just being one more complaint about things not getting done.
Putting a champion in place to head your service plan program will allow you to get something accomplished when you don’t have time to do it yourself. It will also make attachment sales top of mind and a high priority with your sales team. So appoint a service plan champion and I guarantee you will see significant results very soon!
J.R. Zirkelbach is a business development specialist at New Leaf Service Contracts and a 30-year retail industry veteran. Zirkelbach implements New Leaf-administered extended service programs for BrandSource members, which helps them provide exceptional service to customers, create earnings opportunities for salespeople, and increase their overall profitability. Contact J.R. at jzirkelbach@newleafsc.net.
