3 For £99

[BEZBOZNY]

Thanks for that, I am having a bad Sunday.

I do listen to all of you (in that I read your posts), some of you I really feel for and I would love to be able to do more to help. I am doing all that I am allowed to do to help make your day easier. I have an extensive career background and understand how businesses work but you have to remember that we are talking about lives here and everything we do has a direct impact on real people. From taking a call and offering the perfect service to really make the customers day because someone took the time to help, to fitting blinds for a special occasion in a given timescale etc, it can really make a difference to people. But then we have to remember, we are all in this equation too and if we are having problems we need to talk about it and where possible we need to help each other or get the right people to listen.

I will do all I can to help, but I can only do so much. There are people here who care, there are a lot of busy people losing sleep because of it but in the end we will get there

[RED]

Ink Jet
I totally agree, we must be more positive.
But this is the real world. 3 years or so ago almost every adviser I spoke to was positive. The only gripe then was DORs and that was a fraction of Dors that we get today. No! what we need is Hillary's to be more positive, not just Mellisa and people working on the switchboard but everybody, FSMs, Senior management and the now owners. Top to bottom, no exceptions. Only when the people at the very pinnacle listen and act will the positivity flow down and reflect in the sales. Yes, we all know that there is a bad trading climate out there but Hillary's have always come through recessions well because people stay put during recession and do up there homes. All this started in December 2004, just as diary booking kicked in nationwide, Coincidence? No.
So yes, we can be positive and hide the fact that we are all a bit more than cheesed of but would that not make us just like the FSMs. Everything is Rosy.
Just a little positive reaction from up above would work wonders for the sales force. Any person involved in sales knows that a happy sales team sells well. Why or when did Hillary's loose this concept.
Red

[BEZBOZNY]

Inkjet,

It's always good to read a nice full post. I have to admit to being like that when I conduct a meeting, but if you don't retain control of the meeting it can easily turn in to a questions and answers session doubling the meeting length and delaying everyone. It does feel a bit like school though (best years of your life apparently.....what School did they go to?).

The site is secure enough, you have chosen to hide your email details and only the moderators can view these (pay them off quickly ;D) There are a few multi level security options that could be introduced to the site in the near future, as well as a few other features to make it more user friendly but for the time being it is secure and your information is private.

[BEZBOZNY]

Red,

Diary booking is here to stay, it makes total sense really, although it may not be the best solution for you. The reason it is good for Hillarys is it enables them to monitor how each Advisor is doing as regards to attending appointments and converting during appointments. It allows Marketing to contact a customer database if needed. It provides Hillarys with a customer list and should you leave the company enables them to still effectively retain your customers as Hillarys customers. Last but not least and maybe not such an obvious or attractive reason but it does allow you more free time to see customers and allows your customers to always get through to someone and get their appointment booked when they want to speak with someone (if you are a one person business that is).

As for positivity in the sales force, Melissa is the best person to talk to about that. She is currently on holiday recuperating but is very positive and active on your behalf's. I think she started a topic on here somewhere and has included her email address for you to use.

[1234global]

a lot of advisors are moaning about ,wait and see what happens when the lastest offer of 25%extra kicks in

[Augustus]

I have actually used the 25 % already to full effect. Got two orders this week alone that the customer wouldn't have gone for right now.

Remember that if can't be used against certain offers though.

It's not a bad idea really. This way you get 2 jobs done in 3 calls rather than 4.

Improves your conversion rate too.

P.

[gloryboy]

just spent 5 mins taking these stickers off

i tell the customer there's a 10% voucher in the envelope and try to get the extra sale that way.

no need to go to extreme of 25%.
customer should be happy with product / service / price etc if they are paying invoice.

[desmorse]

I'd hate to go back to self diary booking, and I've been central diary booked for 3 years. The thought of the phone ringing all day, wife tied to answering it, getting phone calls 7AM or 11PM, just leaves me cold. Although self booking allowed more managed routes, there's a lot you can do to help yourself. If I'm working noon to 9PM, I have local and distant post codes for EPM & EVE, but only distant post codes for LPM. You can plan a sensible route. Diary booking isn't perfect, but I still wouldn't want to lose it.

Similar with SAM. I've had this since April, and the sooner we can do all products the better. Again, it's not perfect, and the sales pitch of saving money was an out and out con. Small orders don't take much more time with customer, large orders can. I recently did 14 roller blinds, and customer kept changing her mind - real pain in the neck.
But go back to ...... get in at 9:30PM, check order forms, find option missing, ring customer, fax orders, wait for "can't read figure ..." call, by time diary maintenance get to it a sales appointment has appeared in the slot ....... NO THANKS

[BEZBOZNY]

Note to Admins:

Would it be a good idea to have a section or topic purely for Diary Management tips for you all to share, especially for the new Advisors that must be finding things difficult?

Just a thought, but I thought this post and others like it could be a bit usefull.

[BlindWizard]

I agree owl, they have de-valued the product, the brand and the company. Plus ensuring we all work more for less money. What ever happen to the adage "Work smarter not harder".

But the biggest thing that worries me is they don't seemed to have learnt with talk that there will be similar promos in the new year.

[Grizzly]

Thats right, half of the problem with such extreme discounts is that if they don't like the discounted products the rest of the range is so much higher in price and you lose out altogether. I think that by advertising such low prices it gives the impression that the whole range is cheap, you can't jump from 3 venetians for £99 to over a £100 each just because the colours different. I think they are missing the point and should be more specific with the marketing and use maybe more upmarket publications and stick to a definate part of the market instead of trying to sell all things to all men. You don't see Mercedes making small cars to compete with Perodua or something, they have their range and their prices if you want, Hillarys aren't Argos or Ikea blinds, its supposed to be a more premium product

[saxman]

chicago said:

Hillarys aren't Argos or Ikea blinds, its supposed to be a more premium product

they are getting that way, 6 calls today, all 3 for 99
bahgdad currently looks nicer than most of the places i've been today.

[hardman]

OK I don't like 3 for 99, but hey it is "wonderfully successful"

OK VOTE NOW - including you - the watchers and waiters- Do you really want less leads and rely on 50% off + self Gen

VOTE NO! for an end to 3 FOR 99

OR

VOTE YES to more 3 for 99
More leads but incluing Down Town Ghetto land???

A simple YES OR NO response might be most informative!


My vote - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[dennis redbottom]

Dennis says... NO NO NO

[BlindWizard]

NO, NO, NO, NO absolutely not

It dumbs down our offering and sets expectations at a low price before you walk though the door. Speak to any sales professional and they will tell you that you don't start with your lowest price.

"You can buy blinds at £500 but we can offer them at £350."
Sounds far better than
"You can buy blinds at £99 but we can offer them at £250."

Up selling is for companies that can't get appointments without misleading people - Is that Hillarys ??

If we continue with any promos lower than the usual clouds offering I don't think I'll be with Hillarys by the summer. Not willing to work for lower money and go to places where I'm worried about parking my car.

BW