We Need More Boring Sales Stories

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We Need More Boring Sales Stories

We need more of these.  You know the boring Sales stories right?

 

 

  • Your Voicemail lights up.  “Hi Mark, I’d like to place a new order”. 
  • Your phone rings:  “Hi John, I need to buy a car for my daughter.”
  • Your door opens:  “Any way I can get a pool installed in 2 weeks?”
  • Your email pings: “Can you be the listing agent for my house?”

You never hear any of these sales stories around the water cooler or at the bar.   No war stories there.   Boring. Boring. Boring.     

Yet these things do happen to great sales reps.  You don’t hear about them though because as we’ve established, it’s um, boring – not much to see here.

Except that’s not really true.  

You see, in these sales stories, someone else did the selling.  Some customer was so moved by the experience with their sales rep, so amazed at the service, the follow up, the treatment, the wisdom and the sheer help,  that he/she inspired friends to call, visit or ping this sales rep with their open minds and wallets. 

No referral was asked for here – all the selling  was done behind the scenes, unknowable to the sales rep. Hard to tell a story in which you have no idea what really happened.   A real snoozer.

Best kind of sales though where the customers do the selling for you ain’t it?  Bring on the boring! – Zero to close in 30 seconds!

How many of these calls, visits or emails are you getting?  How many boring sales stories could you actually tell?  Not enough?

Get cracking then – do what you need to do to get your customers to sell for you.  Be boring all the way to the bank. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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“That’s Not a Real Puppy”

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“That’s Not a Real Puppy”

“What?  Thats not a real puppy. That’s too small to be a real puppy.”

I love this commercial on a lot of levels.   And I love that line about the puppy.   I quote it often when I see heads down  staring into the great smartphone abyss (and my family thinks I’m crazy because I say it).   Have a look at the commercial first and refresh your memory – I’m sure you’ve seen it.   Then, let’s talk about it.

I get it’s about a car.  And about how this car ( the Toyota Venza) actually gets you somewhere to interact with people.

And I get it’s about how “younger” people may not quite understand what “being social” really means and Mom and Dad do.  OK cool.  Great message. 

But it says a lot more to me than that.    

It says that sitting at a computer or with your smartphone all day with your fans, friends and followers probably isn’t a good thing all an all.  And it is starting to show.  

  • Last week in USA today,  it was noted that driver’s license acquisitions across the US are way down over the last few years with many teenagers delaying the getting of a liscence till nearly 19.  A key factor attributed is the rise of social media and requisite devices we all have; that the need to hope in the car and physically “get together” is not there.
  • One of the hottest Training trends is Companies creating courses for new employees teaching them how to speak effectively in meetings and on the phone.  The courses also contain training about how to use proper eye contact.  All this because “conversation isn’t something folks are that good at anymore”.
  • It’s no surprise that in the developing worlds you are far likelier to see investment in wireless networks than in roads development first.  Makes sense on a competitive level but getting connected and getting around isn’t getting easier unless you have smart phone.   

Are we destined to in 5 years time be holed up in our basements, bedrooms and boardrooms connecting online and online only?

Technology at its best,  is disruptive and changes the status quo.   But when part of the status quo was a round of handshakes and a smile, a face to face lunch in in the cafe with a colleague,  attending a party or an outdoor cookout, or a backyard game of volleyball or going for a walk – what’s so wrong with that?  

I’m as guilty as anyone taking too much time online connecting with my Blogging. Twitter and the like and I can see how easily it can keep you in your chair.  I think we have to fight that and fight it hard.   I think that soon – digital isolation is not going to just hurt you at home (“687” friends isn’t really possible)  but at work too.  If you have only an all-digital relationship, how long before your prospects or customers say.. “What?  That’s not a real person.  That’s too small to be a real person..”..

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

3 Keys To Giving Great Advice Fast

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3 Keys To Giving Great Advice Fast

Smart sells.   Smart and Fast sells even better.

If you are in the B2B space there is little more valuable today than insight.  Insight is attractive.  Insight gets attention and sets you apart from competitors.  Insight leads to influencing client behavior which leads to sales. 

Good advice giving is important today especially in the abstract service spaces like online digital marketing or insurance or payroll services or social media services etc- you get the picture.   And Business owners (especially SBs) are pressed for time and even more pressed for advice and counsel. 

So when they talk with you Mr. or Mrs.  Salesperson or Consultant; they expect you have something smart to say or something to share that they did not know before and the reality is, they have very little time to stand around ( or hang on the phone) to answer your 20 questions and wait for you to absorb, analyze and provide that insight. 

So if you are charged with having to provide important tips or advice in very little time to a prospect or client, how do you do it?  And how do you do it fast? 

3 Keys

  • Set the Table Correctly Before Asking Any Questions At All:  It’s a rare day when you can amble up to a business owner or chat with them while they are calling in to place and order, and start to pontificate smart advice.  At a minimum, a question or two usually needs to be asked.  But it’s how you preface asking those questions that makes a difference.  Tee up the questions with a statement that respects the appeal from the customer/ prospect’s perspective.  “I know your time is short so let me ask just three quick questions about your business so I can then give you something interesting to think about”    Business owners love the words “quick” and  “three” ( they know when it is over!).  And you have totally respected the time issue.    Do this and you have just improved your chances of your questions being answered honestly and completely enough as he/she wants what you want –to give/get good insight, fast.
  •  Be an Industry Informant.   There’s nothing wrong with taking a tact that starts with “You know what I’m hearing from a lot of the accountants I’m talking to these days…” Or “I gotta say the contractors I talk to today are hammering social media and print marketing pretty equally..”   This approach doesn’t respect the client’s individual business needs (yet) but makes you sound very smart (you must talk to people just like me every day!) and therefore the advice has credibility.   And of course, nothing is more influential to a business owner than what other businesses (who are just like them) are doing.   Key here is you have to leverage Lines of Business or even some deeper segmentation (gulf coast contractors for example) that appeals to clients’ sense of your industry intelligence. 

  

  • “Think” / “Consider” vs. “Do”:  The worst kind of advice to give to someone you don’t know that well just yet is to tell them to “do” something.   Particularly in those more complex, abstract services and especially when those people you are talking about are business owners who have a pretty large sized ego, pride and sense of entrepreneurialism.  Know your audience.  Telling someone to “do” something can get backs to arch so to speak.  Try “Consider some payroll options, a few things to think about are how much time you spend per month…”   Or “One thing to think about is investing in some kind of trackable answering service…”.   Semantics?  Nope.  Insert the word “do” in the last 2 examples and pretend you’re a business owner talking with someone you just met.   Yeah- fun uh?  Encouraging business owners to “think” and “consider” is smart.  Not when you are suggesting buying a pen or upgrading to larger quantity – that’s fine use a form of “do”.  But when you are in those more complex products or services, it shows you get how these folks work and that you are advising not closing at this stage. 

Be Smart and Sell More! 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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I am Joe’s Lead

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I am Joe’s Lead

I am Joe’s Lead.

Here I  sit, in Joe’s queue.  And It’s way boring man.

All I can see sitting in this CRM is this big banner over my head that says “moc.ecrofselas”   That cursor thingy keeps swiping by me now and then,  but never quite lands on me.

It’s been 2 darn days.

Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.

And I am dying fast.  Way faster than anyone realizes, particularly, Joe.   He doesn’t get it.  I’m a Small Business Lead you see.  We don’t wait for anyone.  We are crazy busy.  If we ain’t moving – we’re dying.

I raised my my hand two whole days ago!  But I am dying so fast I am starting to lose my memory as to why I am here.  When Joe finally clicks on me and calls my business owner he’ll  probably flat out forget why the heck he made me.  He might even deny I exist at all because frankly  he can’t remember why he filled out the form, and dammit, he’s busy.

Joe has a bigger problem about me, Lead.  He doesn’t get me at all.   I’m not “his lead” or his “commission ammunition” or his  “meal ticket”.   That just ticks me off.  I am not something to burn thru, beg for, to be traded around or worse – to be ignored.  And don’t think I don’t hear Joe dissin’ me and my peeps when he occasionally says we are “weak” or a “joke” or “trash from corporate”.      If I could ( stupid glass!), I’d  reach out and slap Joe’s scowl and headset clear off his face when I hear that.

Nope, Joe doesn’t get me.  I raised my hand somehow, some way 2 days ago.   It doesn’t matter how high I raised it – I raised it!  And I am not a Lead, I am a Need of my business owner!  I’m a gap, an idea, a dream, a pain that won’t go away, a prayer to save a business, a chance to go big, a plea for some education because I just don’t understand, a fear of my competition, a hope for a few more sales per month or a chance to put a stop to all these customers leaving us.

I am all of those things and more.  I am a Need, not a Lead.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

So Joe do me a favor will ya? Click on me man.  Do it fast before I forget how you could help me.  God knows I needed something.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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Surprisingly Attractive

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Suprisingly Attractive

It’s why we like to fish.  It’s why we like Bingo and love gambling.  It’s why some of us even like checking the mail ( any kind of mail I suppose).  It’s why we like looking for seashells or walking thru old cemeteries or even trolling for old friends on Facebook.

We like surprises.  We are wired that way.   There is a thrill and pleasure of seeking – yet not really knowing what you are going to get or find.   There is a ingrained yearning, a waiting and a hoping for good, interesting or just plain “cool” stuff to surprisingly appear.

I know people like that.  People on the “cool” end of things.  People like Mike who whenever you see him, you know he’s got something exciting to tell you, to teach you – heck – even his emails you don’t open right away cuz’ you have to be ready to take it all in. 

People like Mary, David and Walter who when you are talking with them face to face or on the phone,  are constantly surprising you with stuff or ideas to the point you walk away and write it down, google it or better – act upon it.

There are a handful of colleagues I roll the dice with often and on some days I land the  800 lb. Wicked Tuna of surprises talking with these folks.  Brilliant stuff that makes you want to cash in and celebrate on the spot.

Surprise attracts;  good surprises especially.   All of the people above are successful, are always surprising and have huge fan clubs or client lists  and are on the speed dial for more than a village of folks. 

Are you a constant pleasant surprise to your customers? To your employer? To your family?  Shouldn’t you be?

Are you offering valuable ideas, insight or selfless help to the point you attract people, prospects or those in need to you?  Shouldn’t you?

If not you, is your company, your division or your team constantly surprising in a good way?

Good Surprise is great.   We like it.  We yearn for it.  We manufacture entire industries around searching for it.  And those individuals who do surprise well, tend to be the accomplished  types who are magnets to those around them.

Surprise is, when you think about it, surprisingly attractive. 

Go do that.

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

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The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

Calling out to small business?  It’s not dead.  Cold calling, Warm calling, Smart calling – whatever you want to call it.  It ain’t dead.

And if you do it right you can make an impression “above the clutter”, earn 20 seconds more or get that appointment or meaningful conversation going.

So let’s cut to the chase and all the quadrillions bytes of information out there (including everything I’ve written) about how to do it well and put only 3 of the best of the best out there for you today.

 

“45 seconds”.  …..“Did I catch you at a horrible time or do you have just 45 seconds?”   (Who really doesn’t- the phone was picked up (And do you realize how much you can actually say in 45 seconds?))   And what sales rep actually says “45 seconds?” (Nobody).    I skipped over the greeting but you get the point.   You can use “45 seconds” or “65 seconds” or heck “73 seconds” —the point is it is differentiatingly odd (attention getting), short (45 seconds is time tension goodness).  Try it.  It works.  Oh, and make sure your 45 seconds is killer and you may earn some more time.

Local Local Local :  Got a local company name you’ve done business with?  Got some local customer counts of those you are doing business with?   Use them right up front.  All business is local (if given a choice).  “Mr. Johnson, there 14 customers right there in Salem trust us already with their….”.   (Credibility, Popularity, Local).   It doesn’t matter if you are not local- just make sure some of your customers are. 

Insight, no strings attached.  Don’t always sell you, the company, the product, the appointment, the opportunity up front- sell Insight.  This real example works – “I can give you 3 tips in just 3 minutes to get more sales no strings attached, just by looking at your storefront…”  Prospect interested?  If yes, then that is because there is a reason, a need, a gap, a worry, an ego, a dream or all of the above and THAT is more than enough to qualify as lead worth pursuing.   You make the Insight make sense for your effort and lead with that.  Smart sells.

 

By the way, these 3 tips work just as well too when “warm” calling – cross selling into new product spaces to existing clients. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

 

 

The Luckiest Man In The World

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The Luckiest Man In The World

3 years ago today I married her.

No surprise to any of you readers out there that this 3 year old post is shared again today.  It is still one of the most viewed pages at the site. 

Nothing here is going to help you do your job today so sorry about that,  but I don’t expect to be publishing anything else on any given June 13th, in the many years to come.  

By the way, nothing’s changed in 3 years except I feel even luckier

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originally published June 11th, 2009

 

The Luckiest Man In The World

I admit I’m not an expert on marriage and have the track record to prove it.   But my guess is that you’ll be alright if;

You marry someone who feels it is more important to be there for others who have less or are in need, than to be there for everyone.

You marry someone who works hard, never misses a day, and defines her performance only by the happiness of her customers.

You marry someone who when she first met your child of 6 years old, knelt down, looked at him eye to eye, said hello and then gave him a big hug.

You marry someone who loves with all her heart, the movies from the 30’s and 40’s because they always have happy endings.

You marry someone who cries tears of joy almost daily just upon hearing that a total stranger had a baby or if she happens to she see two toddlers walking, holding hands.

You marry someone, a single mother who from her teenage years has raised a beautiful person in her daughter with the crazy belief that “I want to raise her not to be like me”.

Susan, your daughter is just like you and it is the greatest gift you have given her.  My son has known you nearly half of his life and I swear, he loves you as much as I do. 

Saturday, I get to marry you.

I think we are going to be more than alright.  It’s a trite statement but there is a reason someone came up with it.  Now, I know.

I am the luckiest man in the world. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

Move Along, Nothing To See Here

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Move Along, Nothing To See Here

Watching inane television, rubber necking at traffic accidents or viewing any of the top 10 YouTube videos on any given day are just 3 things that are an insipid waste of time and focus.  Move along, nothing to see in any of that. 

Here are some other things not worth focusing on for you folks who Sell to feed yourself and your kids. 

  • If a prospect’s hand is raised (no matter how high) then you needn’t start from scratch with that selling process.  Move along, nothing to see here.  No need to create interest already created, rather fuel the interest and move the sales process forward.
  • If you had that cup of coffee already and got caught up on your colleagues weekend activities (or better yet didn’t waste time getting caught up) – get in your car or get on the phone and start connecting with prospects/clients.  Move along, nothing to see here.  Keep moving – time is precious and hard to get from your busy clients. 
  • If you have presented the solution, painted a compelling picture of how the client benefits from using it and removed the perceived risk of their investment then you needn’t hang around that part of the selling process any longer.  Move along, nothing to see here.   Ask for the business or presume you have it and move forward.
  • If you’ve got a few questions answered from your client then quit asking more.  Move along, nothing to see here.  Incessant discovery of clients’ wishes, dreams and goals is exhausting for them- teach them something smart instead.  That will move the sales process forward.
  • If you’ve gotten two “Send me some info’s”, one missed planned call and a couple of “I’ll look it over’s..” then you needn’t keep nurturing this lead.  Move along, nothing to see here.  The prospects willingness to change is not there- they will stay with whatever they are doing today (including nothing) and are just trying to be polite. 

 

I bet there are a dozen other wasted foci out there; feel free to share (and teach us) in comments!

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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The Laminator

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The Laminator

This is the actual machine pictured in Kansas City.   

It has its own cubicle The Laminator does, right outside the Site Leader Dale’s office.    Really it does.  It is the only thing on this desk right near the front door.    And it deservedly has this space all to itself because of all the good work it does.   

The Laminator’s work was plastered everywhere in the KC facility I visited.  Laminated Certificates were hanging from the shelves, the monitors and the walls.  For some folks, they even hung from the ceiling. 

I sat with some employees for a bit that day.   A few had evidently received many certificates from The Laminator and I was kind of surprised by the care in which these were displayed and hung in their cubicle spaces.

I commented to one person I was talking with who had a dozen or so in his cube and said “Wow look at all of those…” and with what I admit was more pride than I expected,  he grinned and said “ Yeah, pretty cool eh?”

The other folks I sat with seemed similarly proud of them.   Dale’s center had a pretty good vibe and I couldn’t help but think this emphasis on recognition had something to do with it.

Flying back home that night it got me thinking about that darn laminator and how we need more of those around these parts.  But of course what I really walked away with is how important it is to recognize and be recognized. 

Sure some of us,  we tend brush the need off with comments mostly to ourselves like “Who cares” or “It’s no big deal” or “People know they are valuable”   but if we are honest – recognition is a big deal.     If we are honest, we do look twice at that email from the boss that says “good job” or “great point”.  If we are honest, we do look at the comment from the blog reader or the person that liked your status update.  If we are honest, we do smile a little inside when we get a little public recognition be it your name called out in a meeting or yes, on a certificate for all to see. 

The Laminator knows this.  The Laminator is as honest as they come.  A little heat, a little plastic and Voila! – it’s a shot in the arm for someone.   There are dozens of other ways to recognize people and I’m sure Dale and his team is using more than just The Laminator. 

But here’s a thought – if you have an empty desk and a need for a bit more acknowledgement of good people and good work, fill that space with a laminator.  It does a darn good job. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

Educate

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Educate

Educate.  It’s part of the sales process many can’t get used to.

But sales people have to do it.

Sure there’s lot of  buzz and research about how prospects do all this learning  online about a business before they even get to a sales person.  I’ve preached that research before myself.  But I’m not buying that it is entirely true hook, line and sinker any more. 

I keep hearing prospects confused, unsure or frustrated about certain services or products.  I keep hearing prospects so busy at work and so inundated with messaging and marketing- they don’t have time to research and learn. 

If you are a company selling somewhat abstract  services like money management, digital marketing, brand development, risk avoidance, sales training, marketing solutions and the list goes on – you have to understand that many prospects just really…don’t understand. 

These prospects aren’t going to shout this out to you but not understanding stops any sales process or worse – prevents it from even starting.

Educating can happen with great marketing, branding or advertising but educating prospects live with real humans  (i.e. sales people talking with prospects) often gets above the clutter.  Face to face or voice to voice is the single most intrusive attention getting sales activity- and we must learn to better use it to teach vs. pitch.   

Learn how and invest in finding ways to educate prospects first.  Call to invite dozens to your live webinar.   Produce YouTube videos with you explaining the marketing place and call not for an appointment but to share links with your prospects.  Build education however brief into your conversations – not about your product or service but about the industry, the data, and the research – something intriguing that the prospect did not know.   Offer incentives to learn; not just to buy.

If you skip the “educate” part of the sales process and focus like always on the offer, the snazzy presentations, the closing skills and the sales contest then you’ll severely limit yourself with the number of qualified leads you could have really had.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark