Molloy and his team spend considerable time working with customers at the first point of contact: the telephone. This involves learning how to convert price shoppers into customers.
“Very often customers call about prices, but in essence they’re looking for someone they can speak with, someone who will listen and who maybe they can trust,” he said. “In fact, all customers have a biological need for committed relationships with their key vendors. Many times the telephone is where prospects are lost and advertising money is wasted. Instead of making commitments, most businesses respond to callers by acting like a help desk and simply giving out price information and other data. Competing solely on price is not the most effective way of selling a service or product. But how does one invent a new relationship and a new future for the prospect in under a minute?”
Molloy’s most fervent disciples are his customers, many of whom point to sales increases of 10, 20, 30 percent, even during bad economic times. According to Danny Smith, who owns five stores in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before working with Molloy he struggled to grow revenue by 3 - 4%.
“However, in 2017 we grew by 21% and we’re doing it again in 2018,” said Smith. “The only thing we’ve done differently is the Molloy Program. We’ve changed who we are by becoming a commitment-based operation. It’s really amazing to grow like this because we’re in a flat market. If you’re willing and open to learning, the Molloy program is definitely worth the investment.”
The program also changes the way people look at life, as they are taught to view what might have once been considered a burden (e.g. a customer complaint) as an opportunity (to make a customer for life).
Bob Caplinger, a branch manager at Inergy Propane in Ohio, a public energy company, said the program has not only made him more effective on the telephone and in face-to-face meetings with customers, but has affected his private life as well.
“I’m not on the defensive as much,” Caplinger said. “I had tunnel vision before, and only looked at things one way. Now I look outside the box, and that includes the way I am with my family and friends.”
Like Albert Einstein, Molloy believes that unless you change the way you do things, the results will remain the same. This is the same approach he’s taken with the line that he’s trademarked: “I can help you with that.” This can change relationships, said Molloy, whether it involves prospective customers calling you on the phone to ask about the cost of tires, or a cranky wife who is asking you to take out the garbage.
“You have to know how to make new moves with language such as having conversations for inventing new possibilities, and declaring what new actions you will take in order to get new results,” he said. “Whether it comes to selling or managing employees, the opportunity is to embrace language as a tool for inventing a new future. When you get to that point you can invent new relationships with customers, vendors and your family, and begin to look at your life differently, through the eyes of a competent designer. Otherwise, you’re destined to repeat the past.”