PROACTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR FRANCHISE CONSULTANTS

Offer prospective franchisees a choice.

By Nancy Friedman

It seems most people in sales aim to deliver proactive customer service. Whether you refer to it as cross-selling, suggestive selling, or as we like to say, soft questions selling.

A basic component of effective customer service, especially in the franchise industry, is to offer customers additional choices, without confusing them.

Some people selling franchises may fear being perceived as pushy or assuming. No one wants to offend the upcoming franchisee. To successfully ask questions you need to know the right technique.

The key is to remember to ask if your prospective franchisee has any need for other services or products you are offering that they may not have heard about.

These can be free services that your franchisor is promoting or other things.

It’s also critical to think about how you like it when somebody is telling you about an offer which complements another product you’ve been looking at.

To successfully ask the soft questions, think about this: Offer your prospective client products or services they can use.

If you don’t suggest helpful ideas, you are then denying them something they might need. It’s important that we do not deny our perspective franchisees a choice that’s critical, and it’s being proactive.

An example of a soft question is, “By the way, are you aware of…,” and then add the optional feature. There is no assuming in sales. Again, don’t deny your prospective clients a choice.

Another soft way to get into good questioning and proactive customer service would be to ask, “Would you be interested in taking advantage of …” and include the franchisor’s offer.

Another good question for proactive customer service is, “Did you know the franchisor is offering…?” Soft questions are seldom rejected.

And the best part is if your franchise prospect needs the services, they’ll give you a positive response. If they don’t, they will give you a soft turn down .

That’s one of the better things about asking soft questions, you won’t feel rejected.

The important thing is to remember that when you ask soft questions, you are not denying your prospective franchisee the choice of having access to a product or service that could benefit them.

To improve the level of service you deliver, do not deny your prospect a choice. ◗