Why do I use SAM so much?

[desmorse]

I know some of you (Red) hate SAM. A few advisors (Red) have posted on here how unworkable it is, how user unfriendly it is. Some (Red) seem to think it's the root of all our evils.
Well why I do I use it so much?

Because I've just had my first dimensional DOR in around 18 months.
And guess what It's a paper order - paper dimension correct, computer dimension wrong.

That's why I get even my self gens added before I call on them.

Do you know, I'd actually forgotten what it was like to phone one of these in and wait for the "I'll have to get the order form and check" comment.

The sooner ALL products are on SAM, the better


Anyone want £980 worth of bass wood shutters?

[RED]

desmorse said:

I know some of you (Red) hate SAM. A few advisors (Red) have posted on here how unworkable it is, how user unfriendly it is. Some (Red) seem to think it's the root of all our evils.
Well why I do I use it so much?

Because I've just had my first dimensional DOR in around 18 months.
And guess what It's a paper order - paper dimension correct, computer dimension wrong.

That's why I get even my self gens added before I call on them.

Do you know, I'd actually forgotten what it was like to phone one of these in and wait for the "I'll have to get the order form and check" comment.

The sooner ALL products are on SAM, the better


Anyone want £980 worth of bass wood shutters?

No BVM. I am not totally against Samantha. I think it is a brilliant piece of kit. It saves on manually working out all the prices. It saves on a lot of things. What annoys me the most is things like today. Call at a customers house only to be told he canceled 3 hours earlier but guess what. No one bothers to let me know. Yes, I know sometimes customers tell porkies and sometimes think they have canceled when they haven't but this sort of thing happens far too often.
Todays run down.
Appointment 1/ Canceled, see above.
2/ Sale 90 quid
3/ Quoted 980 quid for verts. Other company 420. No chance.
4/ Conservatory. Could not get in to even look at it never mind measure as she had all the furniture from the rest of the house in there. No sale.
5/ Quoted over 600 quid for seven rollers and that was after a 200 quid discount. Not a hope in hell.
6/ A service call for another adviser. That paid 20 quid, the most I made all day, on a service call!!!!.

Now, I am stuck because I don't know what to do with the 20 quid I made. Do I go mad and spend it all recklessly on food for the children or do I self indulge on petrol to keep my car running.
Decisions, decisions.
This is a regular day for me now, and remember, I was used to doing around 6K sales a week, every week before SAM and diary booking. My last month before CLG took over my diary was 28k. The following month down to only 6K.
So how can I be an avid fan of something that has crippled me financially. Sure, it has its good points but from where I am standing I can not see many.
Good luck to any one that is doing well, I really do wish them the best and have no malice whatsoever but there are 2 sides to this coin and unfortunately through no fault of my own I am on the wrong side of it. It has not always been like that for me and I truly hope that those doing as well as I did never end up doing as little as I do now.
So no, I do not hate SAM that much, I am a technophobe by nature but I do hate the stuff that is going in to it.

[phugly]

Hi Red, I dont think any of the points you raised can be blamed on SAM. It would have been exactly the same if you had been using paper

[RED]

phugly said:

Hi Red, I dont think any of the points you raised can be blamed on SAM. It would have been exactly the same if you had been using paper

Hi Phugly.
I know what you are saying but the one that canceled I would have know about.
The lady I quoted 900 plus quid had told them what she wanted and how much she had been quoted but CLG had told her we do it in the color she wanted at 3 for 99 so we would be the cheapest. In reality we don't do the color in the 3 for 99 and we were by far the dearest, I would have told her this over the phone and saved myself time and petrol.
The conservatory customer told them she was decorating and only wanted a price for now. I would have asked her to ring back when she was ready because I have more chance to secure it then than going to her now.
It seems to be just pockets of advisor's that are doing well. I just seem to drive around all the time just visiting strangers as I am up against so many hurdles with the silly offers and other things put in my way.
If it were my company I would take say around 50 advisor's, give them back their own telephone numbers and monitor how things go for say 3 months. If they show a remarkable improvement then I would offer this to any adviser that wants it but keep clg for others that don't. Sam would still be able to be used so that would not be an issue.
This would not be going back wards but offering advisor's a choice of what works best for them in their own area.
Then again, I can only dream

[greenpesto]

I think this has been asked before ... but .... can we download the customer base from SAM onto a PC?

Answers please!

GP

[hereticus]

greenpesto said:

I think this has been asked before ... but .... can we download the customer base from SAM onto a PC?

Answers please!

GP

I believe the answer to this is definitely not ! Just think about it - every advisor leaving the company could take a comprehensive list of customer prospects with him ! It would be commercial suicide for Hillarys to give us such simple access to all of our customer data.

It would be nice, however, if at least some functions could be transferred through a PC i.e Order List (to check against tracking reports, etc), Order copies (so that we can print out on A4 rather than silly little slips of paper), and various other things that would just make SAM more manageable.

[blinder]

hereticus said:

greenpesto said:

I think this has been asked before ... but .... can we download the customer base from SAM onto a PC?

Answers please!

GP

I believe the answer to this is definitely not ! Just think about it - every advisor leaving the company could take a comprehensive list of customer prospects with him ! It would be commercial suicide for Hillarys to give us such simple access to all of our customer data.

It would be nice, however, if at least some functions could be transferred through a PC i.e Order List (to check against tracking reports, etc), Order copies (so that we can print out on A4 rather than silly little slips of paper), and various other things that would just make SAM more manageable.

No need to have it on SAm, I keep all the greens from the invoice. I am sure that if you put the memory card into a card reader then the info can be copied across.

[russell]

stonehills said:

phugly said:

Hi Red, I dont think any of the points you raised can be blamed on SAM. It would have been exactly the same if you had been using paper

Hi Phugly.
I know what you are saying but the one that canceled I would have know about.
The lady I quoted 900 plus quid had told them what she wanted and how much she had been quoted but CLG had told her we do it in the color she wanted at 3 for 99 so we would be the cheapest. In reality we don't do the color in the 3 for 99 and we were by far the dearest, I would have told her this over the phone and saved myself time and petrol.
The conservatory customer told them she was decorating and only wanted a price for now. I would have asked her to ring back when she was ready because I have more chance to secure it then than going to her now.
It seems to be just pockets of advisor's that are doing well. I just seem to drive around all the time just visiting strangers as I am up against so many hurdles with the silly offers and other things put in my way.
If it were my company I would take say around 50 advisor's, give them back their own telephone numbers and monitor how things go for say 3 months. If they show a remarkable improvement then I would offer this to any adviser that wants it but keep clg for others that don't. Sam would still be able to be used so that would not be an issue.
This would not be going back wards but offering advisor's a choice of what works best for them in their own area.
Then again, I can only dream

Red perhaps we can return too gas lamps smallpox and horse and cart .....but seriously mate I think when negativity sets into a person (and I'm not getting at you as I know you have had problems )customers pick up on it.Farmer was a prime example every day they would list how many of their customers went on about the good old days of Hillary's etc well sorry but what a load of old cr4p my customers wouldn't know the difference between a delta 7 rail and a seven inch cucumber unless of course they are cleverer up there.


SAM is great use it if your conversion is bad maybe try a more positive approach after all if you cant sell 3 for 99 me thinks you wont be best suited too sales .

[royt]

anyone who can't do 5.5k +on 20 leads should be finding employment elsewhere.....remeber these customers have called us for an apt..the apts are not from telesales, doorcan or any other nuts form of direct sales anyone who spends all day on here whinging and spending to much time remermbering how great this company used to be should spend a day at the big double glazing companies.....me thinks they wouldn't last 2 mins

[blindmansam]

I can't complain .


FSM sent me a case of chardonay for top conversions in the last 13 weeks . I was told if i continue i'll be set to win the 2 week holiday in Menorca. I am dead chuffed.

Sales last week were £7900 for 15 leads , thats 100% conversion and AOV of £527. I won't leave a customer till i get the order . the orders are Always there ! You just have to win them.

Hillarys now have the right approach , and advisors who knuckle down can really do the business.

Have ordered a new Transit for delivery on 1st of next month , and FSM says he'll pay to have it signwritten.

Things are going great . SAM is working a treat . No need for quotes - i convert Everything! Am going VAT redg soon too!


Excellent - prospects are good as 2 local advisors have left saying its not to thier liking!

Can anyone relate to this , we ARE the Winners!

[lukan61]

I wouldnt want to last a minute as a double glazing rep! They are all devils spawn. I do beleive the Appointments have got worst since CLG have taken over. The customer has sometimes been misled over the phone. No one likes a stitch up merchant

[owl]

blindmansam said:

I can't complain .


FSM sent me a case of chardonay for top conversions in the last 13 weeks . I was told if i continue i'll be set to win the 2 week holiday in Menorca. I am dead chuffed.

Sales last week were £7900 for 15 leads , thats 100% conversion and AOV of £527. I won't leave a customer till i get the order . the orders are Always there ! You just have to win them.

Hillarys now have the right approach , and advisors who knuckle down can really do the business.

Have ordered a new Transit for delivery on 1st of next month , and FSM says he'll pay to have it signwritten.

Things are going great . SAM is working a treat . No need for quotes - i convert Everything! Am going VAT redg soon too!


Excellent - prospects are good as 2 local advisors have left saying its not to thier liking!

Can anyone relate to this , we ARE the Winners!

I can't complain either.

I must be the runner upperrer, I've just received a case of Vimto for top conversions of 3 for £99 (no product knowledge required)

And for the worst DOR/mis-measure figures in the country I'm set to win a week in Ibiza.

Sales last week were £590 for 18 leads with an AOV of £33.33p. I won't leave a customer until they have signed in crayon on an IFC agreement for 3 acacia in burgundy, fitted anytime to suit them!

I too have ordered a replacement vehicle - a second hand yellow Reliant Robin with Hillarys Independant Trader written on the side.

I have suggested that as things are going so well around here that we advertise for at least a couple more advisors to share the good fortune!

Happy Days! - EVERYONES a winner!!!!!

[saxman]

I am currently doing better than i have for a long time, SAM is excellent, as I can sell so many 3 4 99 deals, and my last 4 weeks sales have been over 3K each week.
The kids are earning more pocket money fitting them for me than they do on theyre paper rounds, and it beats getting up before going to bed and licking t road clean wi tongue and then working down pit for 16 hours.

[glen]

newbold said:

blindmansam said:

I can't complain .


FSM sent me a case of chardonay for top conversions in the last 13 weeks . I was told if i continue i'll be set to win the 2 week holiday in Menorca. I am dead chuffed.

Sales last week were £7900 for 15 leads , thats 100% conversion and AOV of £527. I won't leave a customer till i get the order . the orders are Always there ! You just have to win them.

Hillarys now have the right approach , and advisors who knuckle down can really do the business.

Have ordered a new Transit for delivery on 1st of next month , and FSM says he'll pay to have it signwritten.

Things are going great . SAM is working a treat . No need for quotes - i convert Everything! Am going VAT redg soon too!


Excellent - prospects are good as 2 local advisors have left saying its not to thier liking!

Can anyone relate to this , we ARE the Winners!

I can't complain either.

I must be the runner upperrer, I've just received a case of Vimto for top conversions of 3 for £99 (no product knowledge required)

And for the worst DOR/mis-measure figures in the country I'm set to win a week in Ibiza.

Sales last week were £590 for 18 leads with an AOV of £33.33p. I won't leave a customer until they have signed in crayon on an IFC agreement for 3 acacia in burgundy, fitted anytime to suit them!

I too have ordered a replacement vehicle - a second hand yellow Reliant Robin with Hillarys Independant Trader written on the side.

I have suggested that as things are going so well around here that we advertise for at least a couple more advisors to share the good fortune!

Happy Days! - EVERYONES a winner!!!!!

Bloody great up here to, when I gallop up with my horse & cart the kids play with the horsey, if customer cannot afford 6 4 £99 I just leave quote with free bag of coal with a promise I will beat any quote.

Oh! I can also charge SAM thru the dynamo I have fitted to cart wheel, I have hot air heaters from the horse farting in my face and at the end of a long day if I'm lucky horse follows thru for free face pack, wait a minute I can bag this and re-brand it HILLARYS SHITE and sell it down sarth, sounds like there will be plenty takers.

Happy Days - EVERYONES a winner

[noggins]

blindmansam said:

I can't complain .


FSM sent me a case of chardonay for top conversions in the last 13 weeks . I was told if i continue i'll be set to win the 2 week holiday in Menorca. I am dead chuffed.

Sales last week were £7900 for 15 leads , thats 100% conversion and AOV of £527. I won't leave a customer till i get the order . the orders are Always there ! You just have to win them.

Hillarys now have the right approach , and advisors who knuckle down can really do the business.

Have ordered a new Transit for delivery on 1st of next month , and FSM says he'll pay to have it signwritten.

Things are going great . SAM is working a treat . No need for quotes - i convert Everything! Am going VAT redg soon too!


Excellent - prospects are good as 2 local advisors have left saying its not to thier liking!

Can anyone relate to this , we ARE the Winners!

Well done BMS and good for you ;D I'm not quite there myself but give it another 6 months and hopefully I'll be swiggin' some wine too,
Gis some o' yer tips on 100% conversions as it just aint happening for me yet, have got some tips from other advisors too and puting these into action so hopefully they'll help reap some reward. Congrats again ;D