The dream for every business venture is to discover the secret formula for success in their industry. It doesnt matter how they discover the secret formula. The goal is to have one that is not only perfect but is reliable, repeatable and one that can be automated. If you are like me, you prefer doing business with a franchise brand name you can trust. It is the reliability of a repeated experience we prefer. We expect to repeat the same experience from each visit regardless of where the franchise is on the planet.

Franchising Your Sales Formula

We can apply this franchise formula and use their secrets as we develop a personal sales formula for our business. We simply need to follow the same steps they apply. First we need to discover the repeatable sales success formula for sales in our business. This might be similar to discovering the perfect cookie recipe using the right cooking temperature for the perfect length of time using the ideal secret ingredients. Our goal for this assignment is to document then duplicate and automate the procedure. When we finish, we will have a successful sales action plan we can repeat and automate.

The success formula for sales is very similar to our cookie example. As you know, the recipe must be followed or the results will be different. You know what happens when we substitute an ingredient in cooking or fail to follow the recipe. The same poor results will happen in sales. Here are three steps to franchise your sales formula for success.

Document the Events

Document the exact sequence of events including all the ingredients. Treat this exercise like a cookie recipe. You will want to know exactly what you said, when you said it, who you said it to and what you sent to achieve your results. Every business needs this documented but it is amazing how few businesses or salespeople have an actual action plan for sales. Treat this as if you were creating the perfect cookie and each action made a difference in taste. Once you have a successful sales formula, dont accept substitutions. I once learned a painful lesson when I used baking soda instead of baking powder for cookies. The results were terrible tasting cookies I couldnt give away.

Duplicate the Action Plan

When we visit the golden arches they duplicate their success formula to achieve consistent results. This is why I enjoy my fries and milk shakes with them. In sales we must learn to duplicate our action plans consistently. If we send mailers in our sales plan as the second step, we should always follow and duplicate this sequence of events. We should be considerate of the timing of our events. If we learn that every four days is the ideal timing, stick with the formula. The key point is meticulous adherence to details of our action plans. We must think of it as franchising our success formula as we duplicate our action plans.

Automate the Sales Events

With the advancements of technology we have numerous opportunities to automate the sales process. There are countless ways we can use computers and software to create systems that automate the sequence of events in the sales process. When we automate the routine sales event actions, we will gain more time for high priority sales actions. We should evaluate and consider everything we do as opportunities for automation. There are ways of merging tasks together, eliminating some and delegating others. We should focus on the important sales tasks and keep the main thing, the main thing. We should always remember the salespersons role is to develop profitable relationships that generate sales through the activities they perform.