Upsell incentives?

[PTMatt]

I'm looking for a way to encourage my employees to make more of an effort to upsell while at jobs. Wondering what some of you offer as far as pay incentives to any service that is sold by the tech on top of the normal cleaning invoice. Any input is appreciated!

 

[Mikey P]

Yeah...me too

 

[Ed Valentine]

This is a great question and I am sure there may be many suggestions, however, I will offer a: "If it were me, here's what I would consider" answer.

I would formulate a realistic sales dollar level for each month. For sake of example lets say: $1-200 ; 201.00 - 400.00 ; 401 or more.....and so on. As they move up to the different levels they also acquire additional percentage of the up-sale amounts. This "bonus" -----may provide-----the incentive for improving their on the job attitude as well. And in addition, note that a monthly bonus will help keep them employed and more reliable too.

Anyways, I hope I offered at least one suggestion.

best;
Ed Valentine
cross-american.com

 

[billyeadon]

I think you need to find out what incentive each individual prefers. Everyone is motivated by something different. Some prefer money, some prefer time off, some like a gift card to a store that they couldn't normally afford. Maybe it is even a new piece of equipment or equipping their van with Sirius radio. Some prefer recognition in front of their peers. If you can involve their spouse or significant other it will work even better.
motivation is a tricky game as you always need to increase the prize. It is best to make it creative and continually changing.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Bill nailed it. People have a variety of personality styles and value systems, and it can be frustrating to find out that extra dollars in the pay doesn't motivate some people as much as you might think that it would.

One thing that I've learned over the years is that that best cleaners are rarely good salesmen.

The personality style and value system that makes a person pay attention to detail, be organized in their approach to a project, and to take pride in "the work of their hands" is rarely the same personality style that lends itself to salesmanship. Many owner operators who have that analytical/attention to detail personality style find selling to be a very uncomfortable task as well.

This isn't to say that good cleaners can't be good sales people. It does mean that asking such people to sell takes them far outside of their comfort zone, and you will need to be creative in your incentives.

One of the suggestions that Bill made that really sticks with me right now is giving them paid time off. The analytical type technician is often the type who also wants family time, or "home project time", and the time off would be a gift to such a person that would exceed the actual money in the paycheck.

 

[smastio]

Men will die for ribbons... Napoleon Bonaparte

View attachment 4753

 

[Shane Deubell]

^^^^ What Bill said.

Want to create several in the different categories that he mentioned: Money, achievement, time off,more freedom, more responsibility, etc.

I am one of the weird people that are NOT motivated by money. Its kinda like the type of woman you are attracted to, we have no control over it really.

 

[billyeadon]

Shane verified what most people find hard to believe; not everyone is motivated by money. A great story I read: a huge multi billion company created an online encyclopedias back in the mid nineties before Google was around. At the same time a group of people created a similar product but were unpaid volunteers. If you had to pick which would be around in 2010 most people would select the huge corporation.
Well the corporation was Microsoft, the product was Encarta. The other company staffed by volunteers continues, Wikipedia. The volunteers do it because they love what they do not because they get paid to do it.

^^^^ What Bill said.

Want to create several in the different categories that he mentioned: Money, achievement, time off,more freedom, more responsibility, etc.

I am one of the weird people that are NOT motivated by money. Its kinda like the type of woman you are attracted to, we have no control over it really.

 

[GCCLee]

I gotta go with Billy




Hot Dawg Man, that was intense : )


LemonSqueezy is what we yell when we see a Banana colored car : )

 

[Bjorn]

just give the employee a new tittle makes em feel much better

 

[ruff]

Good answers. Great observation by Jim.

I wonder if instead of trying to figure out what incentive will work for each person, if it will not be simpler to ask them?

 

[Shane Deubell]

Lisa said it best in her wisdom thread " people never forget how you make them feel".

In one of our commercial accounts they print off email feedback from clients {technology company} . Then frame and hang on all the walls/cubicles, 100's of them.
You can't help but stop and read them, its pretty powerful stuff.

I copied it when we started and taped customer survey's to our shop walls. Unfortunately i had to move the office offsite because it was a trainwreck to work in.
Anybody who ever walked in would stop and read them, employees always stopped to look for new ones too.

 

[Art Kelley]

People want what they want when they call. I can tell you how to get customers to not call you ever again: push them for upsales. Nobody wants to feel like they were raped. If you want more work per job it's YOUR job to let customers know what is available.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

As a owner of a business, you should try to learn about personality styles and how each fit into an organization, family, and all of our relationships.

There are different types and terms used, but this is one most are familiar with, and that got me started:

http://www.corexcel.com/articles/html/disc_personality_types.htm

You'll find that most good technicians are "high C's" "high S's"

Most salesmen are "High I's"

They are polar opposites.

 

[TomKing]

Having come from a industry motivated by quota and bonus here are my thoughts.

Our guys track commission on a sheet in their in box each day. This is used for payroll.
They also track their daily sales on a profitability tracking form. We track gross truck production and daily add on sales. This is used for awards and ranking.

What ever system you choose it must be easily explained and transparent.

1. If you pay on a % of the daily gross. You can place a truck goal and when it is exceeded the split goes up.
2. If you pay hour plus commission the incentive is built in.

Several items you can add
Gift cards for biggest upsell day of the week. Make gift cards for food, clothing, gas, sports equipment, movie tickets. I have a pile and they choose.

Gift cards give motivation twice. 1. when awarded 2. when used.
Pharma used them we all made six figures and getting gift cards at a meeting was a big deal. I loved bringing them home and giving them to the kids or taking Karen out. It is a way of sharing your trophy of success with your family. MY kids would say "Dad you must be doing a good job" When I came home from meetings they always asked "Dad did you win anything". Made me work hard.

We do this each Friday in staff meeting. Had a guy last Thursday tell me "your going to be giving me a card tomorrow".

Highest production day of the month paid day off. Full or half.

If you are big enough employee of the month. We actually have guys asking about that. I don't quiet know how to get that done with our small size.

We started doing quarterly all company events. We are going to dinner Friday. Folks are excited. We do +1 or family depending on the event. This cost $500 to $1200 per event.

I just bought 6 season tickets to our new Hockey Team. These will be prizes and chances to join me entertaining customers.

What about best sales for the year and you take the tech to connections.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Steve Toburen]

If you want more work per job it's YOUR job to let customers know what is available.

Smartest thing I've read all day.

Mike, it is a huge mistake to push off the "upsell" to your techs. Why? let me count the ways:

1. They are usually running behind because someone crammed in another job to an already overbooked day.

2. The customer hasn't planned or budgeted for the extra expenditure

3. As Art says this "selling at the last moment" can easily put you over the edge into perceived "bait and switch territory".

4. Your young techs usually don't feel comfortable selling to the home owner.

Steve

PS So what to do? After booking the job email your customer a "How to Get Ready for Your Big Day" Cleaning Checklist. At the end of the checklist have a "Did you know we also?" section. Each additional service listed should have a clickable link back to its respective landing page on your site. Then program in a second email the next day asking, "Is there anything else we can do while we are at your home?" with the services listed out again and a form they can check and email to you. This works AND you save a whole lot of bonus money.

 

[TomKing]

Steve
I have to ask
What about the following?
Bringing back area rugs several $100's dollars a day potential. We offer free pick up and delivery if they send rugs with us when we clean.

Giving quotes for Hardwood cleaning and refinisher. This sets up a potential $800 to $1200 day later in the month helping to fill the schedule.

You should always ask to do a courtesy check for urine if they have asked for it in one room. If it is in one room it is in others.

A tech can add 1-2 rooms often and pet treatment. No one feels sold. They feel taken care of. They didn't know they had pee all over the house no one wants that. You helped not sold.

I thought you taught me that at SFS. It was you Bill just shows all the petty pictures that women like. Had to be you. Don't I have some tape set you gave me in Tampa talks all about emotions.

Smartest thing I've read all day.

Mike, it is a huge mistake to push off the "upsell" to your techs. Why? let me count the ways:

1. They are usually running behind because someone crammed in another job to an already overbooked day.

2. The customer hasn't planned or budgeted for the extra expenditure

3. As Art says this "selling at the last moment" can easily put you over the edge into perceived "bait and switch territory".

4. Your young techs usually don't feel comfortable selling to the home owner.

Steve

PS So what to do? After booking the job email your customer a "How to Get Ready for Your Big Day" Cleaning Checklist. At the end of the checklist have a "Did you know we also?" section. Each additional service listed should have a clickable link back to its respective landing page on your site. Then program in a second email the next day asking, "Is there anything else we can do while we are at your home?" with the services listed out again and a form they can check and email to you. This works AND you save a whole lot of bonus money.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Steve
I have to ask
What about the following?
Bringing back area rugs several $100's dollars a day potential. We offer free pick up and delivery if they send rugs with us when we clean.

Giving quotes for Hardwood cleaning and refinisher. This sets up a potential $800 to $1200 day later in the month helping to fill the schedule.

You should always ask to do a courtesy check for urine if they have asked for it in one room. If it is in one room it is in others.

A tech can add 1-2 rooms often and pet treatment. No one feels sold. They feel taken care of. They didn't know they had pee all over the house no one wants that. You helped not sold.

I thought you taught me that at SFS. It was you Bill just shows all the petty pictures that women like. Had to be you. Don't I have some tape set you gave me in Tampa talks all about emotions.

I totally agree, Tom. I'm not suggesting that our techs quit mentioning "additional services" that can be done on-site. (I'm moving away from the term "up-sell.")

Instead, the idea is to stop pinning ALL the responsibility for additional sales (and your profits) on the back of an over-worked, running behind and easily intimidated 22 year old! So I want the office to do much of the additional sales "heavy lifting". How?

1. Mention additional work options when on the initial phone call with the customer. Many times the customer will add on the additional service right then which means you can then schedule the TIME to do the extra work. (Be sure to spiff your phone people when they sell extra services over the phone.)

2. Email out the "Getting Ready for Us" Checklist with additional services links I mention in a post above.

3. If you are doing a pre-inspection this is a perfect (more relaxed) time to "consult" on additional work options. (In fact, we found that the much higher job tickets when we pre-inspected a first time customer more than paid the cost of the pre-inspection.)

And Tom, if you think Bill shows pictures of pretty wimmens at SFS you should see the photos he keeps hidden away on his computer!

Steve

PS So with the above three steps when your tech arrives the client has at least been "pre-oriented" on all the services your company offers. (I always say, "They can't BUY if they don't KNOW.") If the homeowner has already ordered the additional services GREAT! (You just saved paying out your "upsell bonus"!) But if not at least the additional options have been percolating around in the customer's mind. So now when the carpets look great is when your tech says, "Now Mrs. Jones, I don't have anything noted down on your work order for protector. I can re-apply the Scotchgard protection for..."

 

[Mikey P]

I think some of you misunderstood my intentions.

I have no desire to turn my guys into Coit chimps where they NEED to sell to make a living. I just don't want them to leave the obvious behind. Being very young and with not much other than the rent to cover each month, they are in all too much of a hurry to get off and go play.



thanks for the tips Steve, we will implement asap.

 

[Bjorn]

this ain't rocket science

you just answered your own question

"them to leave the obvious behind"

well then just have them point out errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr educate the customer on the obvious like the two Lazy boy chairs ( easy up sell )

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I think you first have to create the atmosphere for this shift to having them upsell.. it won't be successful unless you get them on board. I think EVERYONE is motivated by money, why do you think they are working for you. Some people aren't because they have it already..

What company does the best at Selling? Stanley Steemer does.. They do it with a add on average per job. If you got an add on of $80 a job that will get you your top percentage.. A tech can get an extra 1-4% depending on how much their add on average is for the week. They also had meetings all the time, almost daily about sales and all that goes with it. They even had a add on board that everyone can see so it created a sort of friendly competition between the techs.

The bottomline is if you have a good system for the tech to thrive in and the ability to maximize their upsell potential increases dramatically.

 

[PrimaDonna]

As a owner of a business, you should try to learn about personality styles and how each fit into an organization, family, and all of our relationships.

There are different types and terms used, but this is one most are familiar with, and that got me started:

http://www.corexcel.com/articles/html/disc_personality_types.htm

You'll find that most good technicians are "high C's" "high S's"

Most salesmen are "High I's"

They are polar opposites.

Jim, we run all our perspective hires through a full DISC profile before making an offer. There definitely is something to this. My average residential job ticket has been averaging between $600-$700 depending on the month. Yes we live in an area where we can charge a good rate, but the difference between what I'm quoting on the phone for the scope of work they are requesting and what the job ends up being because the guys "consult/educate" that gains additional services is very significant.

That being said, I'm sure you can figure out what we look for as a high D, I, S, or C when we are hiring.....

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Jim, we run all our perspective hires through a full DISC profile before making an offer. There definitely is something to this. My average residential job ticket has been averaging between $600-$700 depending on the month. Yes we live in an area where we can charge a good rate, but the difference between what I'm quoting on the phone for the scope of work they are requesting and what the job ends up being because the guys upsell is very significant.

That being said, I'm sure you can figure out what we look for as a high D, I, S, or C when we are hiring.....

Wow your company has a $600-$700 job average? What is your minimum charge and do you charge per room or sq ft? Also what is your biggest upsell item?

Thanks and good job to your techs.

 

[PrimaDonna]

Wow your company has a $600-$700 job average? What is your minimum charge and do you charge per room or sq ft? Also what is your biggest upsell item?

Thanks and good job to your techs.

Min charge $150.00

Biggest upsell - Protector. We offer two types. One standard protection (Scotchgard) and an acid dye blocker (Maxium) with a 1 year spot and spill warranty. Another big upsell for us is grout sealer after we clean tile and grout. An another, easy upsell is our spot cleaner. Barely a job that doesn't buy a bottle of that stuff. We sell "Unbeliviable" Pro spot and stain remover from Core. (Sorry Steve, but no "Free" SFS spotter here).

Here are our sales in these areas for the last 3 years.

2011: Scotchgard $21,947, Maxium $12,791, Grout Sealer $4,837, Bottles of Spot Cleaner $4,460. Total= $44,035

2012: Scotchgard $20,589, Maxium $10,934, Grout Sealer $5,115, Bottles of Spot Cleaner $3,340. Total= $39,978

2013: Scotchgard $20,966 Maxium $13,415, Grout Sealer $10,292, Bottles of Spot Cleaner $3,098. Total= $47,771

Now I know there are many out there that challenge the idea of selling carpet protector and that it's sham to sell this to their customers. Our customers love...even ask for it. If you aren't offering these (very easy and logical) additions, you are leaving a ton of money behind.

Many customers have us do multiple services. We offer carpet, upholstery, tile and grout, oriental, hardwood floor and drapery/window fashion cleaning. Also pet urine (another good add on to 'regular' cleaning to get more aggressive in these areas.

 

[WillS]

I agree with this Steve. Upselling by technicians can cause problems, especially if they are trying to add services to a job and are running behind. Then you are just having to cancel jobs later in the day and upsetting future customers.

 

[Royal Man]

I agree with this Steve. Upselling by technicians can cause problems, especially if they are trying to add services to a job and are running behind. Then you are just having to cancel jobs later in the day and upsetting future customers.

This is complete B.S.. it can be solved with proper training and not stacking schedules to tight. With proper training . Less jobs will result in more money and a fatter bottom line.

Do you offer regular sales training for your techs?

 

[The Great Oz]

The reality is that most of us are not asking techs to talk customers into something they don't need, just let them know what services are offered. Our guys get 25% of the gross on a job, including any added-on cleaning or protector. Any service that they don't personally perform, like area rugs or repairs, they get 10% of that job total.


Steve may be right with his list of typical reasons why owner of carpet cleaning companies don't ask techs to sell. I'd suggest taking out the word reasons though, and insert the word excuses. Rather than turn your business into a carnival of promotions just to get your employees to do their job, I suggest cutting the BS.

#1 excuse we heard from our techs - don't have time to sell and apply protectant. We cut their jobs per day back, here's what happened: They went home earlier each day. Sales declined. (And yes, our office staff talks with customers about protectant when the job is booked.)
We then decided to set some expectations. Sort of a "Life is hard. Get over it." With the exception of two techs, all of them handily made their targets the following month. The ones that had the biggest increases were embarrassed to admit that it wasn't any harder than asking the question, and we're assigning them to work with the two that fell behind.





PS: Big Bill, Encarta had that huge disadvantage of needing to be accurate to get people to pay for it. Free stuff gets a lot more latitude.