Sales

A Card

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She looked at the envelope and didn’t know quite what to think.   She didn’t expect anything from him and hadn’t for a long time.   He had drifted away it seemed, they hardly ever talked yet she still felt loyal to him.

So she opened the card.

**

Dear Erin,

I wasn’t sure given all that was going on that you’d stay with me.   But I am so happy that you did. 

We have shared much over the years but I know I’ve taken you for granted.   I know I just expected you to always be there.   I know I just assumed you would never leave me. 

And you didn’t.   For that I am so grateful.

When we hit that rough patch last year I got scared.  I’m still a little scared.  I realize I had gotten careless around you and around others in my family.   You Erin, were there for me in the beginning when I was young and just starting out and I think I forgot that.

This note is very important to me because you are important to me. 

This note says “thank you” for being there then and being there now.  This note embodies that adage “Make new friends but keep the old, for one is silver, the other gold”.

Erin, thank you for sticking with me.  Thank you for keeping me close.  This note says I won’t forget that ever again. 

Thank you for your business,

Steve

**

Surprised?  Unfortunately, most of us reading this probably are. 

But Erin is not a lot different from many customers who have been with you for a few years. She’s likely similar to customers you have or maybe your business has, that despite the fiscal challenges, the new competitors she could choose from, and maybe even absorbing your price increases, has chosen to quietly stick with you.

Would a business owner write a note or have a card ultra personalized like in the above example for Erin?  Sure, why not?  Maybe not as much as written above (but I wouldn’t besmirch anyone who wanted to write a card for their top 10- 100 customers like above- well worth it!)  The point is that a card done right can be a very special message to a customer, one that can make them feel cherished.

A well done card maybe for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or for any Holiday can mean so much more than a mere ”thanks”.   Heck, a simple “thank you” note done right can mean something quite wonderful.

And it should.   

It’s time to start planning about how you’ll acknowledge your clients. 

Do it better this year.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Salesperson’s Halloween Poem

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Beautiful Poetry can lift the soul, make one weep inconsolably, inspire through a lifetime and especially around the Holidays, bring great strength and joy to all who read it.

When I write poetry about my beloved salespeople….not so much.  

A Salesperson’s Halloween

Oh Hallowed Eve, oh night of ghoul,
Your day is full shrieks and shrills.
But I’m thinking what trick or treaters really need
Is some help with basic sales skills.

A 3 foot tall, pillowcase toting Dracula
Squeaking out “Trick or Treat” is pretty weak,
It’s actually a cold call gosh darnit!
Yet no effort to get the neighbor to speak?

Wee Goblins, Witches and Headless Horsemen
Offer some scares but no sales approach.
Don’t we all want more candy? More upgrades?
Let me at em’, Let me coach!

So with a wicked twist on Trick or Treating
I’ll lead this effort as a hands-on leader
As I on this night, and finally for a change,
Will be a Treetee and not a Treater.

We’ve seen it before, the real tall ones
With the beards and even a cigarette dangling
Those arms outstretched as child pretenders,
Doing hardcore candy angling.

But being a middle aged sales pro, I’ll be different,
Use real sales skills and dress like Freddy Krueger!
I’ll either get oodles more candy and teach these kids,
Or end up in a cruiser.

Till next time, 

Grow The Business. 

Mark

6 Questions Never To Ask A Customer

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Current customer or potential customer it makes no difference, here are 6 questions that need to be dead.

1. “How are you today?”  Nothing screams I’m a sales rep like “How are you today?”  Jeepers Criminy!   You just interrupted a customer with an unannounced visit or a phone call and you ask that?  Might as well have the words “Commissioned Sales Rep” read across their phone display or plastered on a bright red button affixed to your lapel.

2. “Are you the decision maker?”  What, are you stuck in “Boiler Room” reruns?  How much more offensive can you be?  Most people you need to ask that question to have some influence (if not being the wife, the husband or colleague of the one who is).  Talk about self serving and rude.   Try being polite and ask “Who besides yourself has a say in the decision process?”

3. “Are you happy with your current supplier?” All right!  You are looking to trash the current vendor!  Way to make a sale.  Or maybe you are hoping you are calling at the right time (exactly) when dissatisfaction is underway (good luck with that sales strategy).  So 80’s.  Presume always the customer is happy with the current provider and sell on your competitive differentiators.  If there is dissatisfaction, you’ll hear it then.

4. “Would you like 100 or 200?” The assumptive sale died in 1979.  It really did along with Disco and literally, John Wayne.   Don’t you realize that more than half the people you sell to today used to, or currently “sell” in their own jobs today?  You don’t think they recognize an assumptive close?  You don’t think it raises all kinds of tension and slams the door on you?  So sad.  Well at least now you know 31 years later and “I’m not going to have to hit you, kid”.

5. “Would you like to “save money”, “save time” or “save the planet?”  Lords of Light!  This is the most offensive of them all.  Never ask a question in which there is only one right answer or the person sounds like an idiot.  I am shocked how often I hear these types of questions, or worse see them in marketing material or training material.   Of course people care about saving money, time and the darn planet; quit trying to wrap your product around that offensive question.  

6. “May I ask what you are wearing?”  True Story.  His name was David.    It was 1991.  He was a young promising sales rep in the call center.  I was his coach.  We were working on “building rapport”.   I taught young David to ask intelligent questions during the order entry process as a means to build credibility and thusly improve his chances of a cross sell.  Solid stuff.  David was flustered.  I was sitting plugged in next to him listening.  I whispered “..Ask her a question!”  He looked at me wide eyed and clueless.  I whispered louder this time..  “Ask her a question!”  He did.    I wonder how David is doing today.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

You Need A Fan Club

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You do.   I kid you not. 

You need a real fan club with people who sing your praises, who will talk about you behind your back and in front of your face.   You need a fan club of people who will write gloriously about you, who will make audio recordings of how much they love you and even on occasion, a video exclaiming how much you mean to them.

Yep.  You gotta have a fan club.  You my friend, need “Groupies”. 

Here’s why.

If you sell stuff like custom printing, financial tools, marketing products or most anything else where your opinion matters, then you need fans.  Why?  Because credibility matters more than ever.  

In this over whelmed, data spewing, low trust environment clients and prospects live in today, your influence, opinion, intelligence and skill will have more to say about a customer buying products in this space than ever before. You need your personal fan club at your fingertips to help you sell yourself. 

You need credibility because when you sell this stuff, you are more important.  Credibility keeps the sale alive and moving.  What you do, what you say, what you know and how you sell is a bigger influencer to the client’s buying decision process here than when you are selling for example,  ink cartridges or packing tape.  

  • Imagine a DVD you leave with a prospect that is just testimonials about you and your work
  • Imagine the link to YouTube you send that has one of your happy customers praising you and your skills.
  • Imagine a customer testimonial reference list complete with phone numbers printed on the back of your business card.

 

 Imagine. 

Get started today building your fan club.    Ask for and collect testimonials.  Collect great examples of the work you have done and package them up.  Get started and build the tools online and offline to advertise you to prospective fans. 

Do it well and you’ll get more customers.   Heck,  if you’re not careful you might get a van full of Groupies following you around where ever you go!

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Dear Business Owner

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Dear business owner,

It’s sketchy out there.

But you know that.  It’s been like this for a couple of years.  In my job, I get asked for advice about the marketplace and about business and about turning things around.    

Hope it’s OK I’m going to share my advice with all of you now.  The advice is real good I promise.

  • When you own a business today, taking a lot of risks probably feels crazier than ever.  Except that it’s not.  Risk taking right now is what you have to do if you want your business to survive and thrive.  It is riskier right now not to do anything or to just do what you always did.

 

  • When you own a business today, you have to step out.  Be noticed.  Look for new ways, not old ways, to sell your products and to get and keep customers.  The rules have already changed.  The basics you might think you should fall back on: the “tried and true” so to speak, are pretty much the “tried and failed”.  They don’t work anymore.

 

  • When you own a business today, you have to be indispensable to those who pay you. You have to add value and be a difference maker.  There is no “under the radar” anymore or just trying to keep on keeping on.  You must get on the radar.  

 

  • When you own a business today, even the “givens” don’t seem to be as reliable anymore. Sales are off.    Everyone is judging you no matter how long you’ve been at this game in this tough economy.    Seems like the “business” has to be earned all over again and again.  Everyone is watching you and all your touch points need to have a “wow” factor. 

 

  • When you own a business today, it’s clearer that innovation and creativity is going to rule the day.  Getting out there and doing that and actually investing in yourself, changing and updating your image and your brand, that’s going to take some serious work.  You better start now.

 

Of course, even if you don’t own a literal business; you actually do.

That business is you.

You are president and CEO of You Corp and quite frankly, the advice above is as much for you and me the individual, as it is for any traditional business right now.

Have at it. 
Till next time,

 

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Great Sales Training Debacle

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Great sales training feels like a colossal waste of time.

Who needs it?  Why bother?  Everybody knows you won’t do it.     

Think two or three smart steps ahead in managing an account?  Skip it.  It’s what you must do but the vast majority work on it hard in training class, get jazzed about why it’s so important to do and then, well …”It’s a lotta work man to be strategizing all these accounts and it’s bad enough I gotta update all this stuff in saleforce.com, update that pipeline..…”

Practice or maybe even write out different scripts for voicemails or phone calls based on your objectives and your client research?  Yeah right.  It’s essential stuff but after class most people never write or practice another script cuz’ “Hey that takes time and I gotta pound out some calls…”

Quit selling the damn product and start selling you or your company first?  Ha!  Thirty minutes after that truism most sales reps are slamming “limited time” pitches or stupid “How happy are you with your current supplier” questions trying to get the widget in the client’s hands.   I see it all the time; everything’s gotta get sold like within 30 seconds of talking to a customer or prospect.

What the heck is wrong with people?

Lazy is what it is.  The work after a sales training is just too hard I guess.  

You sales leaders aren’t off the hook either; most of you ignore or don’t actively support that you have to see sales behaviors change first before the sales results change.

The good news is all the laziness sure keeps us sales trainers and sales writers busy though.  Busy is good.

**

Offended?  Don’t be.  If you are reading this, chances are good you’re in a group that gets that great sales training means there is more hard work after a sales training class and not less work.    

Bet you know someone though going to sales training who doesn’t realize this.  Help them understand this mess about sales training and maybe your sales quota next month won’t be expected to carry them.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Why Your Network Stinks

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Have a lot of followers on Twitter?  Nice.   A gazillion friends on Facebook? Cool.  500+ LinkedIn connections?  I’m happy for you.

Sometimes that don’t mean nothin’ though.

Marlene, one very talented trainer on the West Coast, reminded those of us gathered for workshops last week about the real value of a good network. 

A real network, Marlene taught us, is about how you compliment each other and how you leverage what is different about you.   A real network isn’t about how many of you there are or worse, about how many of you there are that are just like you all connected.

Marlene made us publicly identify the unique skills of our in-room “network” and record them in a literal (and of course, metaphorical) little black book allowing each of us to walk out with a networking gem.

“Use this book” she said “to tap into the help you need when you need it from your network.”

Thanks Marlene.  I think we sometimes forget that

  • A real network aligns you the sales expert with Jimmy the time management guru because one day you’ll both need each other when you finally decide to go chase that dream together.

 

  • A real network aligns you the online marketing savant with Sandy the offline marketing pro when that prospect you share just wants to grow the heck out of her business and yes she’s still got brick and mortar on Main Street. 

 

  • A real network aligns you the call center supervisor with Art the field sales manager when Art needs to beef up his team’s phone skills and you need to start dabbling in feet on the street.

 

Networks need to work.  And while amassing lots of fans who like you (and too often are like you), seems to be the focus for so many of us today, the better approach should be asking how does this connection fill the gaps that each of us have.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Yes To 5 Minute Eggs

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my egg timer style

Yes, I have an egg timer.  

I read that book.  And it works.  Turn an egg timer on for 5 minutes and just go do it.   Tackle that pile of paper, clean that corner of the basement, start to read that trade magazine.

I carry that egg timer with me these days.  5 minutes is a long time.  Longer than you think and you get a whole lot accomplished. 

Go find the egg timer and use it.   Here are five 5 minute preps for your work week that’ll deliver results sunny side up. 

5 Minutes in the Car:  You got a commute longer than 5 minutes don’t you?  Well start that egg timer as soon as you hear a commercial block starting on that radio and listen; really listen.   You’ll hear all sorts of sales and marketing angles from credibility language to teasers to senses of urgency.  These commercial writers are pros.  They know how to get attention of a listener in no time; learn from them.

5 Minutes at the Coffee Shop.  Start your egg timer and walk in.  Walk up to a contractor, retailer, manufacturer or whomever you help, smile and say “I talk to folks like you all day, what’s the biggest challenge these days? And what’s going well? “Remember what they say and use it that day on the phone, in the field, on Twitter, on Facebook..  “ I was just talking to a customer this AM and he said….”  Yes, that credibility alone will get you some interest and sales.

5 Minutes with Your Catalogue.  Open to a random page and pick two products.  Raise your right hand and say “I will sell these today”.   Then take the remaining 4 minutes and 34 seconds and study.  Study the problems these products solve, the way they help make things better, the specs and the interest raising questions that go with them.  You’ll spot more opportunities because of it and yes, you’ll sell them, I assure you.

5 Minutes with Jeffrey Gitomer.  Grab any of his books, Little Red Book of Selling, The Sales Bible, The Little Teal Book of Trust or a half a dozen others.    They are everywhere around your building or your cube or just go to his site.  Start reading anywhere in his books for 5 minutes.  It’s some of the best prep for your day you can do no matter what job you have.

5 Minutes to Answer These Questions.  Grab a pen and write.    Who do I do this for? What do I love about what I do?  How will I truly help people today?    Look at your three answers and call the first right now and tell them you love them again.  Repeat the second to yourself three times.  And every time you accomplish the third; stand, smile and take a bow.  Your colleagues won’t know what the heck is going on but believe it or not there is nothing better you could be doing for you, your customers or your company.

Based on the average words people read per minute, you’ve got about 3 minutes left if you want to start that egg timer right now.  Crank her up.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

3 Crazy Causation Theories

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There is that “correlation not causation” perspective that people talk about.   I ran across it most recently last week reading something, somewhere, about Diet Coke. 

Some article talked about a reputable study a couple of years ago suggesting that you, the Diet Coke drinker, were by some large and scary percentage,  more likely to become obese if you drank Diet Coke vs. someone who did not drink Diet Coke. 

Good Times.  I love Diet Coke. 

Thankfully the article reminded us that the study was flawed because what you really had a hard time discerning was if those people who were becoming or were already obese, had decided to start drinking Diet Coke while “obesing” vs. the other way around so to speak.  Hence though there may be a “correlation” between Diet Coke and obesity, there is not necessarily, “causation” from Diet Coke to obesity.

There is a lot of that crazy “causation” stuff out there in the sales world too. 

Crazy Causation Theory # 1:  Successful salespeople have the best accounts; they don’t make half the calls or presentations you do, but are still raking in the most dough.

Ah….yes…I had the worst sales territory in the world back in my day.  I was insanely jealous of my fellow sales reps that had the best accounts or territory. 

So yes dear colleague of today, you are right; the successful reps often don’t make nearly as many calls as you do and they do have the best accounts.  Truth is though; their phone rings more often and their inboxes fill up faster than yours does.  When they do call out, they are more effective than you.  More often than not, these successful reps artfully cultivate customers, drive referrals through them and in essence, have and continue to deliver greater experiences to their clients thereby creating a misperception to the rest of us about what exactly causes what. 

Hats off to you Jack Barry in 1994, you’re territory was the best, but now I know you weren’t lucky; rather, you made it so. 

Crazy Causation Theory #2; The more calls or offers you make, the more sales you’ll get.

Nope, not in this business.  That adage in sales that  “It’s all a numbers game” is a horrible lie.  Never believe it.  Many of you reading this are you are working with a finite list of existing customers or prospects, or of calls coming into you; which you usually cannot control.

Pounding out calls or making 5 offers/closes on every incoming/outgoing call to a finite universe doesn’t make the sales; quality contacts do.  In Outbound calling, it’s even more dangerous.  Pound out some self serving, rapid fire voicemails or live monologues to your assigned clients hoping to the sales gods above that you caught the customer exactly when they have a need and you’ll put yourself in a worse position 6 weeks later or 6 months later when you try and sell them something else.   Customers want help, not pitches and power dialing.

If you have the world as your territory and the yellow pages as your lead source; yes indeed, it is all a numbers game then.  For a while.  Make as many calls and offers as you want.  And have fun with that as you’ll last about 6 months before you can’t wait to quit.  No worries, your boss already a replacement ready to backfill you who has the same false belief.

Crazy Causation Theory #3:   The harder you work, the more successful you will be.  

That ain’t true in sales.  It may be true for cemetery workers (been there, worked hard despite my co-workers’ slacker cries to “slow down!”).  It may be true for grocery baggers (worked hard there too and loved the job) and forklift operators (worked hard and proudly with no incidents thank you), but it is not true in sales.  Working hard just is not enough. 

Working hard will only get you so far; here is what else you need:

  • Acting skills: ( Be a story teller & have the ability to make your 41st  performance today look and sound like your first)
  • Thirst for knowledge and self learning. (Pssst… the webpage functionality just changed 5 minutes ago and your product offer is now outdated.  Do you really want to wait for the memo or the training on that? )
  • Mental Positivity.  If you close 15 % of your leads /opportunities then you are a ROCK STAR though that means the other 85% reject you.  Working harder doesn’t help you here.
  • Sales Skills; Have no idea where you are in the sales process or what a good question is vs. a bad one?  Good luck working hard here while you are in the dark.
  • Help:  Few sales stars work in a vacuum. They are not afraid to ask for help, seek guidance and even demand coaching.

 

There.  Now go chill and have a Diet Coke.  No causation there to worry about.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Best Question For B2B Sales

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It’s not so much figuring out the best question that’s hard.  It’s figuring out what to do with the answer.

I get asked a lot about what are good questions for prospects or customers.  I can give you a bunch and in just a couple of clicks you can find thousands of reputable authors, sales gurus and websites that’ll give you a whole bunch more questions to ponder for your customer contacts.

But what is the best question?  I’ve finally settled on one now.   This one question makes so much darn sense on many levels.    And as good as it is, remember it’s what you do with the answer that really counts.      

Before I share it though, let’s think first about the audience you want to ask this question of.  The audience here is small business; a group loaded with owners, type A’s, entrepreneurs, competitive personalities or all of the above.  The audience is full of people who are proud, smart, have healthy egos and who live and breathe their businesses.

So the best question should be one that is grooved right down the center of the proverbial small business plate, look very appealing and inspire a big ol’ swing.  

“What sets your business apart from the competition?” 

Yep.   That’s it. 

Simple but powerful for two reasons:

  • First, it gives your fiercely proud small business person the chance to take a swing and share what they believe is perhaps the single thing that makes them different, or superior than anyone they compete against.  It allows for passionate rant or a perfunctory punch of an attribute, positioning, feature, service, history or benefit that they think is killer or outstanding about their business.   That’s cool.

 

  • Second it gives you a chance to do the hard part, which is to listen and analyze the answer.  It’s a beautiful window to the entrepreneurial soul.   You must use that learning to position you or your products in an appropriate way as you continue that conversation then, or at a later time, with the small business person. 

 

You see the answer to the question is vital.  It is what the small business person thinks is importantly different about their business and is likely what they value in partners and suppliers as well.  When you know what is important to them about them, you can position you, your company or your products in a similar light that will at the very least, get further attention and most likely move the sales process forward at lightning speed.  And if by chance your product or solution helps that business maintain or attain that thing that sets them apart, you’re in.

If the small business person thinks their “50 years in business” is the competitive differentiator then you have to consider that perhaps sharing your long personal tenure in the industry or the healthy company track record you have is a big deal for them when they consider working more with someone like you.  For them; being credible is important.

If the small business person thinks that having a “one stop shop” is a big deal setting them apart from the competition then you know that you have to consider positioning your services as being “easy to use” or “comprehensive and easy to access” because it’s very likely that that is something the small business owner wants out of a supplier or partner.

If the answer to “ What sets you apart from the competition?” is about “our low pricing”, or “the highest quality”, or “the most customers”, or “ our product breadth” or a dozen others then you have a colossal hint at what the buying motives just might be when they consider doing more business with you.

Pitch the question.  I believe it’s the best one out there and small business will hit it hard; just don’t drop the ball; do something with it.

P.S.  If some of you are thinking this is a great question for the C-Suite.  You’re right; similar personalities sit there too.   Have at it.

P.S.S  If some of you are thinking Hey Mark, asking that question you need a little trust first don’t you?  You’re right about that too.  Read up.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark