Video Mystery Shopping Tip: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Do any of you remember that classic great movie ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’? It was a 1966 Italian/Spanish spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood, and the plot revolved around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, American Civil War battles and prison camps!
Last week Howard and I watched the movie (gotta love a young Clint Eastwood!), and I couldn’t help thinking about how the movie and its plot reminded me of the video mystery shops that I watch each week for my new home builder clients!
Look at it this way, your sales people are the ‘gunslingers’ and they are all looking to find the ‘fortune of buried Confederate gold’ (sell a new home, earn a commission) in the ‘violent chaos’ (new home sales) of ‘gunfights, hangings, battles and prison camps’ (finding prospects, mastering a sales technique, closing the deal and contract negotiations). Whew! It can get mighty tough out there for our new home sales people, pardner!
Typically I see new home sales consultants handle these situations in one of three ways: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly! Let me give you an example: A prospect walks into the sales office for the first time and is greeted by the sales consultant.
The Good: “Hello there! Welcome to Arbor Lakes! My name is Susan and you are???….by the way, did you happen to visit our website”
The Bad: “Hi, I’m Susan. Fill out this registration card and then I will show you the models.”
The Ugly: Sales person is on the phone in her office, eating a Lean Cuisine, and yells out to the prospect: “I’m on the phone; the models are through that door. Let me know if you have questions on your way out.”
Now, you might think I’m kidding. I’m not. I see this type of behavior often when I watch video mystery shops. In many cases, a lot of the Bad and the Ugly behaviors are a result of not having adequate sales training. Other times, it’s just a person in dire need of a career adjustment! The point is, it does happen. So, how do we get ALL of our sales people to turn into ‘The Good’ (Clint Eastwood’s character)? You probably can’t. But you can (and should) identify who on your sales team needs to improve their sales skills and tactics. The best way to do this is to actually ‘see’ what’s going on in your sales offices. This is where video mystery shopping takes the guess work out of the process!
One of my favorite quotes from ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ is when Clint’s character says: “You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.”
Let’s give our sales people the ‘loaded guns’ they need to succeed (sales tools, training and techniques), so they don’t have to dig, you dig?
