Leads

[dmm]

russell said:

desmorse said:

I'm here russell, no need to feel lonely. I have 1 lead in my diary tomorrow that's been there over a week, and that's it - no more in diary.
Don't think anyone has deliberately cut my leads, but whoever asked why an FSM would do it, they answer is they can and do if you get on the wrong side of the wrong FSM or RSM. Also, if new advisors are taken on, diarys are tweaked to give them preference to get them up and running. Denied by h/o staff, but just ask any of the delivery drivers - new advisors are busy whilst old advisors deliveries drop off.

this is 100% fact fall out with your fsm and say goodbye to leads theres loads of ways to tweak your diary and you wouldnt have a clue unless of course you have a contact in diary maintainance i challenge anybody even headoffice to denie this

a few months ago, I contacted my FSM saying I had no leads. Oh yes he said, they are down a bit aren't they? Two days later I was flooded with leads, nearly all good quality and had 2 stellar months.
Phoned latest FSM Monday, saying where's all the leads, and got more today than all of last week.

So why? Why do my leads get diverted elsewhere? Why does someone else, maybe a new guy, get preference? I've some of the best conversion and lead effect figures in my area. Shouldn't this mean that I, if anyone, get preference

[thelloydgang]

Oh forgot to say....when SAM was first introduced and fit date arranged at point of sale too..............I was the first to kick and scream and certainly didn't want to move away from paper orders and phoning customers once blinds had been received.

Knowing what I know now I wish I had taken on SAM much earlier!

K

[golfsthegame]

I agree with thelloydgang SAM is a definite improvement on previous methods. No more running out of pads because somebody ignored your request for more and best of all not having to worry about faxing or phoning orders in when you get home at night.

golfsthegame.

[dmm]

greenpesto said:

All of this reinforces my belief that a web-site where we can enter the order details would be more effective & cost less all round.

But Sillarys will always find a difficult & stupid way to do things when an easier & more cost effective way is available to all!!!!!

So you want to hand write it on paper, then go home and copy it on to a computer, instead of getting the girls at h/o to do it for you?
Are you mad? Either use SAM or faxed orders, unless of course you like extra work.

I use SAM, my choice, but 1 thing I like about it is I can't forget to complete an item, like bunch or control side. Had to phone customer back in the past, now don't

[greenpesto]

People have already admitted to doing paper orders & then inputting on SAM at home .... so why not do the same on a free web-site & cut the cost.

We can receive an OOS list daily to take with us which would be just as good as the info we get on SAM.

What will make me resist SAM is the way it was forced upon us.

I'll never forgive Sillarys for that!!!

It HAS helped some Advisors by dragging their standards up to an acceptable level but it has also dragged some others standards down too!

O.K. some of you surrendered without a fight ... that was your choice ... but,
.... I've never seen the need for SAM in this type of environment especially as it is so inflexible when you are switching from one fabric or blind to another & you have to write the prices & fabrics down for the customer anyway.
I can measure all the windows in one go whilst the customer chooses the fabrics.
I can go back & 'Advise/Sell' without breaking momentum with the customer.

I'll challenge anyone that states they can do the job as quick with SAM as quickly as I can with a paper order & still come out with more commission!!!!

How many of you SAM users can come away without having given unnecessary discounts?

How many of you have LOST orders because you have been too scared to discount more heavily than the price shown on SAM ?

'Selling' involves interaction with 'people' ... NOT messing around with machinery to the point you are missing out on the rapport you build & confidence boosting you create with your customer?

Many of you admit that you worry that SAM or the printer will let you down whilst in the customers home ... so take that element of worry & distraction out of the equation .... we are struggling to sell with stupid offers as it is .... just get on with the job of selling in a trouble free environment as you can create for yourselves ... 'SELLING!' ... that's what you are there for ... that's what will pay your bills!!!

[keenasmustard]

greenpesto said:

People have already admitted to doing paper orders & then inputting on SAM at home .... so why not do the same on a free web-site & cut the cost.

We can receive an OOS list daily to take with us which would be just as good as the info we get on SAM.

What will make me resist SAM is the way it was forced on us.
I'll never forgive Sillarys for that!!!

O.K. some of you surrendered without a fight ... that was your choice ... but,
.... I've never seen the need for SAM in this type of environment especially as it is so inflexible when you are switching from one fabric or blind to another & you have to write the prices & fabrics down for the customer anyway.
I can measure all the windows in one go whilst the customer chooses the fabrics.
I can go back & 'Advise/Sell' without breaking momentum with the customer.

I'll challenge anyone that states they can do the job as quick with SAM as quickly as I can with a paper order & still come out with more commission!!!!

How many of you SAM users can come away without having given unnecessary discounts?

How many of you have LOST orders because you have been too scared to discount more heavily than the price shown on SAM ?

Selling involves interaction with 'people' ... NOT messing around with machinery to the point you are missing out on the rapport you build & confidence boosting you create with your customer?

Many of you admit that you worry that SAM or the printer will let you down whilst in the customers home ... so take that element of worry & distraction out of the equation .... we are struggling to sell with stupid offers as it is .... just get on with the job of selling in a trouble free environment as you can create for yourselves ... 'SELLING!' ... that's what you are there for ... that's what will pay your bills!!!

I totally agree with everything you say
in my opinion it works for some and not for others(i'm one of the others) its never stopped me getting orders or commisson.
I believe like everything hillarys do it was the brain child of just one or two people with the likelyhood of an award in the offing so it was sold to the top man(who as still got his head in the clouds) who jumped at it.but wait he asked who pays for it oh thats ok we will get the 850 prats to pay and if they don't like it we will replace them.we will just get the fsm's to oversee it .
it's just a pity that awards arn't given to the people that really matter us the bloody advisors but thats asking far too much.

[russell]

thelloydgang said:

Sorry guys, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disagree with you about SAM. I think it's GREAT and I hate having to go back to paper orders for roof and black out romans!

No more spending hours faxing thru orders and worrying they haven't received it or can read it ok.

Very very few order queries as SAM won't allow you to order out of spec or out of stock blinds.

Every Sunday free for me to do as I wish.........no more phoning customers to arrange fit dates!

Sometimes I have problems with my printer but a soft reset soon sorts that out and as long as the housekeeping backup is done each day they're are no problems there.

I don't understand why you don't get on with it. I found it a bit tricky to start with but it's like anything...........the more you play with it the easier it becomes!

This is one advisor who certainly won't go back to pen and paper!

Karen

i will second that if you lot want to spend ages writing orders out thats up to you horses for courses!

[heriticus]

greenpesto said:

People have already admitted to doing paper orders & then inputting on SAM at home .... so why not do the same on a free web-site & cut the cost.

We can receive an OOS list daily to take with us which would be just as good as the info we get on SAM.

What will make me resist SAM is the way it was forced upon us.

I'll never forgive Sillarys for that!!!

It HAS helped some Advisors by dragging their standards up to an acceptable level but it has also dragged some others standards down too!

O.K. some of you surrendered without a fight ... that was your choice ... but,
.... I've never seen the need for SAM in this type of environment especially as it is so inflexible when you are switching from one fabric or blind to another & you have to write the prices & fabrics down for the customer anyway.
I can measure all the windows in one go whilst the customer chooses the fabrics.
I can go back & 'Advise/Sell' without breaking momentum with the customer.

I'll challenge anyone that states they can do the job as quick with SAM as quickly as I can with a paper order & still come out with more commission!!!!

How many of you SAM users can come away without having given unnecessary discounts?

How many of you have LOST orders because you have been too scared to discount more heavily than the price shown on SAM ?

'Selling' involves interaction with 'people' ... NOT messing around with machinery to the point you are missing out on the rapport you build & confidence boosting you create with your customer?

Many of you admit that you worry that SAM or the printer will let you down whilst in the customers home ... so take that element of worry & distraction out of the equation .... we are struggling to sell with stupid offers as it is .... just get on with the job of selling in a trouble free environment as you can create for yourselves ... 'SELLING!' ... that's what you are there for ... that's what will pay your bills!!!

move on up to the 21st century

[miss measure]

dmm said:

greenpesto said:

All of this reinforces my belief that a web-site where we can enter the order details would be more effective & cost less all round.

But Sillarys will always find a difficult & stupid way to do things when an easier & more cost effective way is available to all!!!!!

So you want to hand write it on paper, then go home and copy it on to a computer, instead of getting the girls at h/o to do it for you?
Are you mad? Either use SAM or faxed orders, unless of course you like extra work.

I use SAM, my choice, but 1 thing I like about it is I can't forget to complete an item, like bunch or control side. Had to phone customer back in the past, now don't

well said lazy git

[glen]

Sounds to me most are for SAM as I am myself. BUT the real issue is these poxy fines Sillarys are doing. Arsehole customer whingeing and some advisors are just saying oh yes what a crap job blah blah, just so they get paid for being there.

ANY ADVISOR SHOULD HAVE PAYMENT AGREED BEFORE DOING A SERVICE CALL AND SAY NOWT TO CUSTOMER UNTILL ORIGINAL ADVISOR HAS BEEN SPOKEN TOO, two sides to every story.

Some on this site are bloody arse holes and you know it your just not happy with owt really IF YOUR NOT HAPPY THEN BUGGER OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE

Glen

[russell]

glen said:

Sounds to me most are for SAM as I am myself. BUT the real issue is these poxy fines Sillarys are doing. Arsehole customer whingeing and some advisors are just saying oh yes what a crap job blah blah, just so they get paid for being there.

ANY ADVISOR SHOULD HAVE PAYMENT AGREED BEFORE DOING A SERVICE CALL AND SAY NOWT TO CUSTOMER UNTILL ORIGINAL ADVISOR HAS BEEN SPOKEN TOO, two sides to every story.

Some on this site are bloody arse holes and you know it your just not happy with owt really IF YOUR NOT HAPPY THEN BUGGER OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE

Glen

can you do this in english i cant understand what your trying to say

[thelloydgang]

Hi Greenpesto and other SAM haters!!

I must admit, when I first started using SAM it did take me longer than using paper orders, particularly with my 2nd order for 29 blinds when the customer couldn't decide wether he wanted roller of verts and kept changing his mind on colours and fabrics too! I got myself in a right pickle with it but with my jolly disposition, had a laugh with the customer about it and after 2.5 hours got the very large order! This definately was a learning curve for me and I can remembering thinking if I managed to secure this order on SAM then I can go out and order anything!

Like I said before once I understood how to use it properly and became much more confident I now whizz thru the measuring process and certainly don't spend more time worrying about technical issues than selling to the customer. It's actually been a good conversation point too as most customers are really impressed that all the information required to order their blinds is held on a small machine and most love the printer and their receipt!

Reading between the lines, I think you just won't give SAM a chance, because you feel it was pushed onto us advisors without any choice. As I've said before, I certainly didn't want to go on it but I'm glad I have. I'm sure it's saved me time and money not having to fax thru orders, sort out queries and arrange fits.

I'm sure you could overcome that feeling and if you start using it more at customers home like I have you'll find just how quick and efficient it can be!

I certainly don't want to have to go back to looking up numerous price lists and checking if in stock. And so what if it's made us more efficient in our ordering.........isn't that a good thing?

I'm now coming up to my 1000th order on SAM.......maybe we can break open the champagne and celebrate then!

K ;D

[golfsthegame]

Returning to the original subject LEADS I have never known in 12+ years with Hillarys so much advertising produce so few leads.
Is this the same in other areas?
Last week I had 3 leads from Hillarys + 5 SG which gave me 4000k of business.
Last month 35 leads in total. I remember the days when it was 30 per week.
no wonder the leads are costing so much.
Surely somebody at Nottingham must be asking the same question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[golfsthegame]

OOps!!!! 4000k of business in one week I wish, should of course be 4k Ah well cant retire just yet.

[keenasmustard]

angryadvisor said:

greenpesto said:

People have already admitted to doing paper orders & then inputting on SAM at home .... so why not do the same on a free web-site & cut the cost.

We can receive an OOS list daily to take with us which would be just as good as the info we get on SAM.

What will make me resist SAM is the way it was forced upon us.

I'll never forgive Sillarys for that!!!

It HAS helped some Advisors by dragging their standards up to an acceptable level but it has also dragged some others standards down too!

O.K. some of you surrendered without a fight ... that was your choice ... but,
.... I've never seen the need for SAM in this type of environment especially as it is so inflexible when you are switching from one fabric or blind to another & you have to write the prices & fabrics down for the customer anyway.
I can measure all the windows in one go whilst the customer chooses the fabrics.
I can go back & 'Advise/Sell' without breaking momentum with the customer.

I'll challenge anyone that states they can do the job as quick with SAM as quickly as I can with a paper order & still come out with more commission!!!!

How many of you SAM users can come away without having given unnecessary discounts?

How many of you have LOST orders because you have been too scared to discount more heavily than the price shown on SAM ?

'Selling' involves interaction with 'people' ... NOT messing around with machinery to the point you are missing out on the rapport you build & confidence boosting you create with your customer?

Many of you admit that you worry that SAM or the printer will let you down whilst in the customers home ... so take that element of worry & distraction out of the equation .... we are struggling to sell with stupid offers as it is .... just get on with the job of selling in a trouble free environment as you can create for yourselves ... 'SELLING!' ... that's what you are there for ... that's what will pay your bills!!!

move on up to the 21st century

its alright saying move up into the 21st century but will hillarys management come out of the last century with their clawbacks/fines etc and start seeing their advisor network as a brilliant asset who they should be working with, not something to bully and treat with contempt all the time?
if they did then maybe we would all gladly take the new ideas on board,it works both ways,which is not how they see it .