Sales

Kidnapped

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I realize now I never told him what we were doing and why we were doing it in any real detail.  It just needed to get done. 

I was busy, so he needed to be busy.  I just told him to get in the car with not much more than a “We gotta go!”

We went to Lowe’s.  We went to get him a haircut.  We went to the grocery store.   

Finally on our way to a fourth destination he said, “Am I not a real person here?  Don’t I matter?  Where are we going!!? ”

I realized then that I had essentially kidnapped my 12 year old son.

 

The problem is “Kidnapper” was not on my bucket list.   And a bigger problem might be that it happens in business more than we think.

During the kidnapping, my child felt anxious about where we were going.   He felt anxious about not being able to influence where we were going.   He felt anxious about not having any control of the situation.  And he felt anxious that he’s as the mercy of his captor (me) who is not talking too much. 

In hindsight, I think that if I offered more in guidance, direction or real or perceived collaboration about these errands, he would have felt a lot more comfortable and would have been engaged in helping me get everything done.

In foresight, I wonder if we as leaders or account executives or customer service reps unintentionally “kidnap” our employees or customers at times.    I wonder if we unintentionally kidnap these folks in a major way for as long as weeks or months or in a mini way for as little as hours or minutes.   Either way, kidnapping is a problem.

I wonder in the rush to get the message out, the order placed, the demo done or that call completed if we aren’t always so clear enough about where we are going and why we are going there. 

I wonder if we aren’t open minded enough about being influenced or sharing some control along the way in these and other situations.   I wonder if we don’t realize that our charges or customers feel as if they are at times, at our mercy.

What I don’t wonder about is this; If there is anxiousness about where, why or about influence or control, then employees and customers just stop.  Stop listening, stop caring and in the worst case, stop attaching themselves to you.

In the end, ask yourself if you’ve ever heard or sensed iterations of my son’s words to me on Saturday from an employee or customer.   “Do I matter?  Where are we going!? ” If the answer is yes then check the kidnapping skills at the door.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Forgetting How Wonderful

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It’s funny that we sometimes forget how wonderful the customer is.    

Well it’s not really funny.

I know we forget though because we often don’t think twice about using words and phrases like “There are calls in queue” or “How many leads did I get?” or   “How many where’s my order calls” did we get last month?”

These are our customers and prospects folks.  These are the wonderful people that help you and me feed our kids, or pay for our medicines or spring for our steak tips or allow you to even think about marrying your girlfriend this summer. 

These customers are wonderful.  You know that.  I know that.  But we forget. 

It’s not that we are short sighted, selfish or stupid. 

It’s that we get caught up in systems and keyboards and processes and meetings and incentives and what’s on the lunch menus and inexplicably forget that the customer really is wonderful.

When that phone rings, 20 people should be leaping over walls to answer it.

When that customer decides not to leave us, there should be cheers heard loud across the floor.

When that voicemail light comes on, or that mail piles up, or those calls come in fast and furious- they are customers and there should be wondrous smiles and joy all around, not sighs.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

[100 Words or Less] Persuasion

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You’ve got a way of persuading.  What is it?

Persuasion is crucial to your success.  Can you articulate and write down that process?  Is your way the same for customers as it is with colleagues?  Is your way the same for your boss or with your family?

What pray tell, is your way? 

If you don’t know, you can’t fix it when it’s broken or when the world changes around you.  If you don’t know it, you can’t influence, lead, close or help in any consistent way.   Persuasion for the best, isn’t by feel, luck or hope.

It’s known.   

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mondays are busy enough.  Any Monday post is 100 words or less. 

5 Irish Sales Tips

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I’m Irish.

I grew up Irish Catholic in Boston.

That’s Wicked Irish to you.

May the road rise to meet you.  But if it don’t, here are 5 Irish sales tips to help you keep going anyway.

 

Irish Cooking Keeps The Focus On You:  Take a client to lunch or dinner.  Find a nice Irish restaurant (yeah, I don’t know one either) or pub and order something of what we Irish learned to do so well – boil the flavor out of what ever unidentifiable meat or vegetables are around.  Without much going on in the plate, you’ve got that client focused on you.

It’s All About The Jig:  I’ve got nieces who perform that Irish jig thing.  It’s a disconcerting dance to watch for sure.  Until you realize what a great lesson that is to you as a sales rep.  It’s all about keeping cool and calm on top but dancing like a fiend below.   It’s about doing all that legwork and dancing on the fly but never letting your prospect or competition see you sweat.

There’s No Hugging In Sales:   A simple nod, a quick handshake and 2 or 3 syllables is pretty much the greeting among acquaintances, friends and quite frankly, my family as I grew up.  Chit chat about kids, last weekends’ activities or heaven forbid – embraces or hugging we believe are just tension raisers amongst us Irish folk especially in sales. And tension my friends, stops the sales process cold.

Great Questioning Begins With A Brogue:   Everyone loves a good Irish brogue.   And you know you do it well when everything you say sounds like a question as the last word of each sentence inflects up in the air like a sweet Celtic jumpshot.  Questions in sales are good.  You can also avoid the discomfort of getting a direct “yes” or a “no” by saying stuff in an Irish brogue like “This is a fantastic offer” or “ This would work well for you” and just staying silent …as the prospect will answer you.

Irish Closing Skills:   Let the jokes fly here.   I‘ll start – “Irish closing skills begin at 2am”,  or “Did you ever try that Irish close called “Last Call””?   Truth is, we Boston Irish Catholic do have a great closing technique.  It’s called Guilt.  Here’s how the Guilt close works.  “Mr. Prospect, your staff deserves this widget as without it they’ll suffer and go home angry or depressed.  And think of the kids, think of them dealing with a Mom or Dad whose Boss never gave them that widget and that’s why little Johnny went without dessert last night.”

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Help for Loooonnngg Sales Cycles

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Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane

 

            – The Police “Too Much Information” (Ghosts in the Machine 1981)

The Police (Sting’s old group for you youngin’s-) had it right way back in the 80’s with this song.   Too much information is indeed a problem.

But 30 years later, insane would be better result than some of the other stuff that happens today because of information overload. 

For us business folks, the sales cycles are getting longer.  It feels like it is taking longer than ever for prospects to close or move to the next step or to just say “no” and allow us to move on.  That hurts.  That also makes us crazy. (Fortunately crazy is a tamer version of insane).

One of the biggest reason sales cycles are getting so long is that there is just so much information out there.

Today a prospect has a quadrillion options on line to learn about your industry, your company, your product or even you.  And what’s worse is that this prospect given the tough economy and the corporate trust issues, feels obligated to do that research.  He or she feels that due righteous diligence means a lot of research and study that years ago just wasn’t available. 

You do it too.  Used to be you threw the Sony Walkman on the beanbag, slipped on the Members Only jacket, jumped in the Taurus and trundled to the local department store to get a new fridge cuz’ the Kenmore up and died. 

Now you analyze product reviews, consumer reports, price shopper sites, debate whether to buy online or offline, wait for Twitter and Facebook replies from friends before you trundle anywhere and have a look.    Businesses do the same.  Your competitors are all over the world and they all have a website.  There’s a never ending supply of helpful online groups and associations to solicit feedback from.   Testimonials aren’t requested any more, they are already there and must be read through.

So much to look at.  So many options to study.

That takes time.  And that lengthens Sales Cycles.  That’s some of the pain of too much information. 

So what do you do?  Here are two strategies to help.  

Set A Table of Urgency: 

Some of the ownership of “over analysis” by clients lies with us sales and marketing folks.  Our meetings or our phone calls or our emails don’t always set the best expectations (often none at all) around time.  If they did, they might speed up the information review.

  • Set Up “Tentative” Meetings:  Trying to set up a meeting for real can be difficult when the prospect has all this information they want to review.  Set it up at least tentatively as you end the call or leave the meeting.  Use the word “tentatively” (it keeps that buyer tension low) and get it on an Outlook Calendar.   A recent study I saw said prospects are 70% more likely to keep a tentative meeting on a calendar than just an open ended invitation.

 

  • Build Checkpoints up front into the sales process. (Always position as a benefit to the prospect of course).  “At the end of this meeting you should be in a position to say you want to review more materials or not. Your time is not something I want to waste.”  Or “If you are interested in going to the next step after this meeting, the next 3 days are fully staffed for us to run numbers with your data groups”. 

 

Prescribe The Research:

 

Part of the problem with too much information is the prospect wondering where to begin to look- further stalling the sales cycle.

  • Share What To Do.   Give your prospect the competitor names, the associations to solicit feedback from and the sites where they can see objective product or company reviews.  Send them the links to the videos or the white papers and encourage them to dig in.    You’ll be surprised how this cuts the time and builds your credibility simultaneously.

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

[100 Words Or Less] – Mayhem Who?

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When I post on a Monday, I’m pledging to keeping it to 100 words or less.

It’s busy enough on Monday no?

I like those Mayhem commercials with Dean Winters. They’re funny. Here’s one.  Problem is everyone I ask can’t remember which insurance company he is shilling for.  Doesn’t happen with Flo or the Gecko or even that floating “T” Umbrella.

Funny, smart commercials only work when people associate them with your company. That goes for you Mr. or Ms. Salesperson.  Make sure your smart commercials ( voicemails, emails, contacts) aren’t just memorable about you but something bigger too.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

6 Rules Of Marketing & Sales

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I admit that I like rules.

Without some rules you see, it’s really just chaos out there.   

1) If the content of your campaign or sales presentation is poo, it does not matter how many ways you distribute it or how many impressions of your poo you give; it is still poo.

2) It’s more important to first understand and act aggressively upon what your customer thinks about you than what you think about your customer.

3) All the new ways to communicate with customers and prospects are by definition now, marketing and sales tools.  Everyone in each group should learn to use them well.

4) Sales is an extension of Marketing.  Sales is an extension of Marketing.  Sales is an extension of Marketing.  And Sales is an extension of Marketing.

5) Knowledge and Service is more of what many of us are selling and marketing today.  They both therefore are as much a product as any traditional tangible product and need all the planning, support and care any widget ever did.

6) The only reason Marketing and Sales exist is because your customers are not jazzed enough about your products that they’ll go out and sell them for you.  Aim for that.  When that happens, Nirvana is achieved and no rules need apply.  

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Think Wider

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It’s good that some car dealerships realize that it’s not just the car that is in need of getting fixed, but the driver too.  That’s why the newer establishments that understand this have valet service drop offs, uniformed check in managers and wait rooms with Wifi and cafeterias that make a service wait almost bearable.

It’s good that some Hospitals realize it’s not just the patient that is in need of getting fixed, but the loved ones of that patient.   That’s why the ones that understand this have nurses and staff that seemingly “check in” as often about the visiting families comfort as with the patient who is ill.  They have comfortable chairs in patient rooms and yes, even offer to have food and drinks brought up for you; the healthy relative of the patient.

It’s good that we realize that it’s not just a customer’s product or delivery or bill that needs fixing, but it’s that person or business too.  That’s why those of us who understand this need no prodding or training to apologize sincerely, to work feverishly far beyond that one call or connection to rebuild the broken trust and to find ways to mitigate that customer’s loss of time, reputation or even revenue. 

It’s not good enough or actually, different enough to just fix the traditional problem be it the car, the patient or the customer’s product.   Think wider.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

You Had Me At Hello (and then, you just let me go)

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Dear Sales or Service Rep,

What the heck happened when you had your chance?

I had to speak with you today.  I needed to talk to a human because as a small business owner, I’m super busy and sometimes it’s just faster.  So you got me and I got you.

And I know it’s a big deal to talk to me, given how much I and my fellow small business owners are in demand.   I’m all over TV.  Seems like every company wants to help me, or guide me, or build a special site for me to visit.  That’s nice.

So there I was, live and on the phone with you.

You blew it.

You totally had me when you said “Hello”.  I was waiting.  I was shockingly semi focused on you and what you were doing.  I had a need when I called and you had a real voice.  But in the end, the stuff you did and didn’t do, just let me go.

I’ve been a customer for 4 years but I don’t know if  you knew that- you didn’t say.  With my customers, it’s pretty much the first thing I notice.  Sticking with me means something to me, but to you? I guess not.

You called me “Steve” but frankly only my friends; my doctor and my family call me “Steve”; at least not without asking permission first.  Heck I’ve never called any of my customers by first name unless I knew them well or they insisted.    You folks don’t realize how that rubs us business owners who are also customers the wrong way.

You tried to up sell me and cross sell me stuff like you were afraid.   Huge turnoff.  Have some confidence!  People forget I am in sales too or else my kids don’t get fed.   And while I may not be a pro at selling, I darn well don’t do it meekly.  I have to up sell and cross sell too to make my business grow.  So if you’re going to sell me, do it with pride and strength, not like your praying I won’t notice.  When I sell, I’m proud of what my products can do.  You should be too.

You had me at “Hello”, maybe next time you can keep me to “Goodbye”.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

But You’re In Sales

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You took that call, not knowing the client was sent an email offer by marketing or what it said but you’re in Sales, so you recognized that what’s important was that there’s interest so you fueled that fire and said “Yes, we’ve had a lot of calls about this! Let me make sure I know which one you are talking about…tell me what it reads…”

You personally didn’t screw up the client’s proof or was the one who didn’t call to arrange that installation but you’re in Sales, so you knew that owning the problem was critical and called that unhappy customer back and said “I am so sorry.  I own this, let me fix this problem right now…”

You knew there was a sales shortfall this month and you saw the silly contest poster to “Close the most sales over the next 24 hours!”  but you’re in Sales,  so you focused on solving customer problems and didn’t pitch and dump and spew and pound out phone calls just to hit that low hanging unloyal fruit opportunity and close the deal because heck, you’re not gonna leave a trail of garbage like that. 

Stuff happens.  And most of us;  be we actual sales people, marketers, trainers, leaders or even business owners sell all day long and know nothing ever, ever goes to plan.  But we’re in Sales, so we take our noble profession seriously and apply accordingly. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark