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July 09, 2013 at 10:15 AM
You have some choices that you may not have thought about until now.
Traditionally, a small business owner, contractor, real estate agent, insurance agent — essentially, a salesperson from any industry — will meet one-on-one to present their wares and discuss their products and services. For decades, this system has worked well.
Today, let’s take it to the next level. Today, I want to discuss the tandem client visit.
Recently one of our team members jumped out of an airplane. Since he had never parachuted, he jumped in tandem (thankfully) on the back of a highly skilled instructor that has jumped hundreds of times. They soared in a fast downward spiral until the instructor pulled the rip cord and guided them safely to their landing target.
Tandem client visits are a similar concept, in that a person with much more experience takes along another team member to share in the interview, note-taking and listening.
Why might you consider implementing tandem client visits on your team? Here are six benefits my team has experienced as a result of this system.
Benefit No. 1: The communication dynamic is more natural.
In my experience, when you are conducting client visits alone, there are so many things you are thinking about that it’s very easy to miss an important point that the client is sharing. In a tandem visit, it feels more like we are consulting and working with the client. Instead of feeling like a sales call, it feels like a team meeting.
Benefit No. 2: Vertical selling gets a boost.
In late June of 2007, I implemented our tandem system. Within three client appointments, we noted that we were placing more business and solving more needs for our clients than before the tandem appointments.
Benefit No. 3: New team members are trained more quickly.
Bringing new team members in on these visits allows them to gain first hand experience on how to work with our clients and what our system can offer to the client. On the job training always has the potential to be far more effective than role-playing in a sales meeting environment. Notice I said on the job training has the potential to be more effective. Observing a poor system or bad habits is not going to help the new team member achieve great results.
