C.R.E.A.T.E.® and L.E.A.D.
A sales capability that creates a sustainable competitive advantage
What is the secret sauce for sustainable sales growth and competitive differentiation? A customer-centric engagement philosophy that extends far beyond a traditional sales model. Through our C.R.E.A.T.E.® model, we can help you empower your sales teams with specific behaviors, knowledge and management reinforcement to achieve measurable growth and improve customer loyalty.
C.R.E.A.T.E. is a consultative sales approach that focuses on identifying customer needs that lead to a customer centered total solutions recommendation. It is in contrast to a highly directed floor model that places emphasis on “pitching” specific products in an effort to meet specific goals or financial targets. The letters in the word C.R.E.A.T.E. help to define the steps required to build a trust-based relationship with the customer:
C = Contacting or engaging the customer
R = Relationship building
E = Exploring their needs
A = Art of the demonstration; romancing the product
T = Total solution recommendation
E = Ensuring the sale
The guiding force behind C.R.E.A.T.E. is this: the desired set of behaviors within a proven system or process will drive the results you need. We affectionately call this B + P = R.
At the end of the day, the successful execution of any customer engagement model must lead to new customers, delighted customers, and more profitable sales growth. To ensure these behaviors take place between the employee and customer we need to build a capability that supports the development, training, coaching and incentives for sustainability across the customer touch points and channels.
C.R.E.A.T.E. comes to life in a nine-part process that builds a customer-centric sales culture that is aligned with overall company goals and performance metrics.
Nine by Design
Part One | The Sales Model
Put the customer relationship and experience at the center of the process and translate your customer experience vision into powerful front-line behaviors.
Part Two | Performance Management
Sales floor leadership is critical to ensure the customer experience is meeting your desired standards. Leaders and managers need to be in a position to notice, effectively evaluate performance, and develop behavioral based action plans for the team and the individual. Using the L.E.A.D. system, your floor leaders can teach, coach, and reinforce the desired actions in a daily management discipline.
Part Three | Performance Analytics
Measure and prioritize the biggest opportunities and translate it to the line level (and all the management levels in-between). The key is to have “one version of the truth” that is used to measure performance and to have a laser focus on the metrics that matter.
Part Four| Talent System
This step helps you answer the following questions: Do we have the right people to connect with our customers? Do we have an onboarding and specific training plan for them? Are we setting specific goals for their performance and following up with their individual action plans? Do we have a feedback mechanism to review their feedback on the process?
Part Five | Retail Operations
Having the right balance between tasks, processes, and customer service is critical to the employee and customer experience. Scheduling, SOP execution, corporate communication, and task management are key elements of this step.
Part Six | Sales Development
Translate total company goals to the product level by focusing on the selling behaviors that support customer needs and company goals.
Part Seven | Compensation
An effective compensation model aligns with the key objectives and goals for the customer experience as well as the financial outcomes. The same analytics that are used to track and measure a sales person in the store should also be used for performance reviews and rewards to the individual.
Part Eight | Communications and Learning Platform
Leveraging a community-style platform can provide an engaging distribution of all communications, training, best practice sharing, product knowledge and recognition to build a robust sales culture. It is also a tool that ensures that messages are simple, clear, and consistent. These types of platforms connect centralized corporate and support groups to field employees in a dynamic way, personable way.
Part Nine | Recognition
A series of “on purpose” recognition moments showcase the best performers in the company, thereby promoting who is driving the most successful outcomes in sales and operations and leadership capabilities. C.R.E.A.T.E. allows you to classify employees with social badges allowing them to be recognized beyond compensation alone.