UP System Rules Reselect on Salesperson's day off

As I said previously, if a salesperson waits on a customer the first time the customer visits on a particular furniture-purchasing project, where closing ratios are usually in the teens, it is the salesperson's responsibility to follow up with the customer to bring them back a second time - when close ratios are OVER 70%.

IF there is a record of follow-up contact - letter, phone contact, text message or email - then, if the customer returns and ASKS FOR the initial salesperson who is not in that day, the split is 50/50. 

If there is NO record of follow-up contact or evidence of SOME effort on the part of the first salesperson to bring this customer back, I would make the split something like 70% to the writing salesperson and 30% to the original person, but I would be consistent about applying it to documented, clearly understood rules.

There HAS to be a penalty for not doing your job, and any furniture store that does not have such a requirement in place regarding bringing back non-buyers is missing an enormous area of opportunity.

Thanks for your imput. The problem we are having in our store is customers returning to make a purchase on salesmans day off. The store has always worked on the principle that another salesperson, if not with a customer, can write up the exact sale for the missing sales person as a full commission to them. However, should the sales person present have to do any presentation before selection is made it becomes a split. The problem is the company is not doing even splits but trying to do things like 1/3 - 2/3, 

1/4-3/4 etc. Very subjective and debatable! 

I have always learned a split means 1/2-1/2 unless something very unusual occurs. Any feed back?

I was with the Shepherd organization at the time this article was written, and not much has changed since then.

There are two rules that, to me, are inviolable: 1. The customer's experience must be seamless regardless of who serves them, and 2. whoever works with them gets paid. If a re-selection happens prior to delivery, just split the sale. If after delivery and commission has already been paid it can become more complicated, but the first order has to be cancelled anyway which in most systems would reverse the commission, then the new order will carry both names.

Whatever are the causes for the re-selection, I would want to know that the original salesperson made an effort to contact the customer and make an appointment to help them with the re-selection, but we know we can't control what customers do, so I would always want to honor my commitment to pay for work done. Hope this helps, but if you need more - just email me please.