Selling Smarter, Not Harder

Going mainstream has been something of a mixed blessing for wireless. Up until a few years ago, retail sales usually meant dealing with business-people and the technologically savvy. But with handsets now under $100 and rates as low as 10 cents a minute, wireless is decidedly a consumer item.

So it's no surprise that sales techniques have to keep pace with the diverse needs of those changing demographics. But have they?

"In the old days, the buying process was a huge event," said Gregg Richey, ALLTEL senior vice president of sales and distribution. "Back in the days when phones were $1,000, the salespeople would sit down and spend hours with the sale. Today, it has become such a consumer-driven product that it's a volume business now. We tend to lose focus that the customer still needs as much information today as he did five or 10 years ago."

But finding time to educate customers isn't easy in an age of shrinking margins.

"I think what the industry has done to itself by driving down the prices and margins is you have to push a lot of sales," Richey said. "Do I want to push a lot of sales? Yes, I surely do. I want to be No. 1. But at the same time, I don't want to do that at the expense of my customer because if I do, all I'm doing is creating a churn situation."

SELL SOLUTIONS, NOT TECHNOLOGYPreventing churn starts with thorough sales-staff training, and some carriers have moved beyond traditional classroom and in-store training. One example is US West Wireless, which uses CD-ROMs and on-line interactive training to supplement instructor-led training.

"It gives them a break in the mode of training," said Kevin Wild, executive director of sales.

Role-playing also helps trainees put what they've learned into practice.

"We use role-playing extensively," said Bonnie Youngblood, who manages Cellular South's training program. "When it comes to listening to the customer and understanding their needs, role-playing is the No. 1 training technique."

Role-playing also is an opportunity to identify areas where the salesperson needs additional training.

"Are they comfortable?" Richey said. "Are they missing opportunities? Are they listening well? Are they asking the right questions?"

A good rule of thumb for asking those questions is quality, not quantity. Too many questions can leave customers overwhelmed by options.

"Listen to the customer," Richey said. "If you're asking the proper questions, the customer will pretty much tell you his need for information. A businessman may have an infinite number of questions answered concerning billing and roaming, whereas a personal user just wants to make sure it will work in such-and-such a place and how to use the phone. As you go through the qualification process with the customer, you're actually learning more about the customer than he's learning about you."

Learning about customer needs is key to selling wireless more as a solution and less as a gee-whiz collection of technology and services. Questions that draw out the customer's needs include: How do you see yourself using our service? How often would you use it? Do you want it for security or business? Do you plan to use the service while traveling?

Such questions also help customers understand how wireless fits their lifestyles and what the technology is going to do for them.

"The reason the customer is in there in the first place is because we're going to provide something that's going to make his life easier," Richey said.

Selling directly to those needs also helps streamline the sales process and avoids overwhelming the customer with too much information and too many choices. One shortcut is to ask customers whether they've had wireless service before.

"If the customer is familiar with wireless services and has had it in another market," Richey said, "then you may not have to get into that much detail because the customer may already know what he wants."

TROUBLESHOOTING THE SALES PROCESSSurveys are an effective way to determine which salespeople and parts of the sales process need improvement. But the same rule for the buying experience also applies to the survey experience: Make it quick, convenient and user-friendly.

About one week from the sale, Cellular South sends the customer a postcard with a half-dozen questions such as: How well did the salesperson explain the product? How easy was it to operate immediately after the purchase? Was the salesperson eager to assist? ALLTEL uses a similar welcome card.

"We compile that information, and we can cross-reference that customer's information by a mobile number to get back to the salesperson," Richey said. "So if he gets enough bad report cards, we can use that as a coaching tool."

Another approach is calling new subscribers at a time when the buying experience is still fresh in their minds and when they may be experiencing their first frustrations.

"We do a 'welcome call' within about 24 hours of the phone being activated," said US West's Wild. "We call to make sure everything is working right, that it meets their expectations and answer questions. We're doing that with 100% of our new customers. We also have what we call a 'first-bill follow-up' to ensure that they've received every service that they want, that they understand how they work and answer any questions they may have about their bill."

One common question concerns roaming.

"Across the industry, roaming is still extremely confusing," Richey said. "People just don't understand it."

Preventing confusion begins with asking customers how they plan to use wireless. If they plan to use the service while traveling, they shouldn't leave the store without understanding the fundamentals of roaming.

Another difficult concept is billing. ALLTEL recently created a brochure about billing to give to new customers at the point of sale, and sales reps offer to go over the brochure in the store.

"The confusing thing is usually the proration issues," Richey said. "The customer doesn't understand why he's getting billed for a month and a half."

WATCH & LEARNAn easy way to identify problems is through shadowing.

"Our standard is that every store manager must observe every one of their subordinates on at least two customer interactions on a weekly basis," said Gerry Stevens, BellSouth Cellular director of sales development. "Those interactions are documented, and feedback is provided to the sales and service associate. It needs to be timely."

Another way to monitor the sales process is by "secret shopping," where personnel from other departments visit retail outlets incognito to find out what customers experience. That approach also works for sizing up the competition.

"I personally shop our competition on a regular basis," said Cellular South's Youngblood. "I look at how their employees dress, how they act, how their customer flow works, and I compare it to ours."

Third-party retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Radio Shack offer a convenient way to expand retail channels, but using them means giving up direct control over much of the sales process. Close monitoring is key.

"We'll secret shop them to see how they're doing because we get feedback not only from the customers that they sign up but also from our people who are responsible for those channels," Richey said. "It's absolutely great, and we try to do it as much as we can."

BellSouth's Channeling Added Value program breaks the art of selling wireless into a dozen 45-minute sessions that are spread out over a week or more. Each module focuses on a topic such as BellSouth's product line, assessing customer needs, supporting recommendations and following up after the sale.

"You don't really have the time capabilities of teaching someone in a Circuit City," Stevens said. "You don't have three days to teach them the selling skills."

Role-playing also can provide a quick but effective way to train third-party salespeople.

"We'll even model a sales presentation in front of the people so that they can see a demonstration of the approach we'd like," said US West's Wild.

One of the challenges for third-party salespeople is that they have to be as well-versed about wireless as they are about camcorders and stereos. But as carriers expand their offerings to include long distance and Internet service, even salespeople at carrier-owned stores will have to learn and sell more.

"We're not just a wireless company anymore," Richey said. "We're not selling just wireless services anymore. That puts a new dimension on the training demands of our salespeople because they have to be able to learn more products and services.

"That's one of the biggest challenges we're facing today," he said. "As you converge your businesses and become a multiple-products and services vendor, you have to look at your sales force and ask, 'How do we really want to sell all this stuff?'"