I Sent My Wife Roses For No Reason. What Did You Do?

Yesterday, I sent a dozen red roses (in a beautiful vase I might add) to my wife at her place of work.

I sent them just because I love her; no other reason.

In fact, the card read….“Just because I Love You.”

Upon receiving such a thoughtful delivery and reading the attached note, my lovely wife apparently teared up in front of all her co-workers, which of course made said co-workers tear up, and they in turn even got visitors to tear up. Love all around and tissues for everyone.

Ahem. 🙂

I know. All you guys are looking real bad right now.

Some other guys are looking bad right now too but they don’t even know it. They will of course when they get home and see this blog post taped to the fridge like a sentry guarding the bottles of beer that lie within.

Fun.

But my friends, I’ll take the heat because here’s my point; you can’t be boring or predictable, you gotta keep it fresh. You gotta surprise.

Are you the sales rep that sent the Thanksgiving card out to the client to say thank you for their business? Probably not, but some other partner/ supplier somewhere else, probably did. You go ahead and send out just one card like everyone else.
Are you the sales leader who suddenly sat down and called out on behalf of your sales person to set up 5 appointments just for her, so she had a chance to knock em’ dead with her presentation? Probably not, but some other sales leader, somewhere else, probably did. You go ahead and keep coaching her on her presentation.
Are you the sales rep who called looking to hit voicemail (cause you knew if you got your customer live for this, it would be interrupting) and left a message about the link you sent to help them deal with a problem totally unrelated to what you sell? Probably not, but some other sales rep, somewhere else, probably did. You go ahead and call only when you are looking to hit your quota.

You love your significant other. You love your customers. Keep it fresh. Surprise the hell out of em’ now and then. You know it’s good. And yeah, you beat back the dreaded “boring” and the competition every time.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What He Wasn’t

It’s been 5 years now, to the day.

So I’m hoping that you won’t mind too much if my Dad joins me here for a bit.

I still stare at his picture now and then and try to articulate in my mind what this man meant to me and my family. And truth be told, I’ve recently come to think it’s not so much about what he was that matters. But rather, what he wasn’t.

And, I think there are some lessons here for perhaps more than just me.

He was one who carried a gun of course, being a policeman. But he wasn’t a man who glorified that or let his five kids see the gun much. He wasn’t afraid of it for us; he just knew what it was really for. Into the house he came, walked right to the bedroom, opened up a safe (at least that’s what we thought we heard as we were never allowed close enough to actually see) and locked it away.

He was one who spent his days (or night shifts) dealing with horrible actions committed by equally horrible people but he wasn’t a man who ever brought that work home. For years we eagerly sat around the kitchen table jousting to be the first to ask “Did you catch any bad guys today?” And his answer was always the same “Sure did, kids, sure did.”

He was one who never made a lot of money. But he wasn’t a one to complain, he just worked harder right along with my Mom who was a nurse. More work details and more shifts were the means for them to find a way to send the boys to a private high school and who knows what else we didn’t realize then, was a real financial burden.

He was one of the Greatest Generation raised by a single mother in a tough Irish Catholic neighborhood. But he wasn’t one like so many of that generation who was always quiet, almost stoic about what he felt. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” was something he said to all of us well into our teenage years. The letter he wrote me when I was 17 (which I still have) expressing how much he loved me and how proud he was of me is something I cherish to this day.

For 5 years and maybe because he left us earlier than expected, I’ve struggled to define in my head who he really was, what he taught us and what he believed.

But it’s when I start to think about what he wasn’t; that’s when I start to see who he really was.

That’s a great lesson for us too Dad, thanks.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What’s Easy

I write a lot about easy. But this one’s a little different.

I write often about how important it is to small business customers and prospects that your products are easy, that your website is easy, that your billing is easy, that your ordering is easy, or that your customer service is easy. Basically easy is what small business needs.

Here’s the rub though. What’s easy for small business isn’t necessarily easy for you.

What’s easy for small business is:

To Keep Who They Got: Dislodging a vendor in a small business is not easy. Last I checked SB’s don’t have a team of sales or process strategists charged with looking at the value of bringing something or somebody in brand new. Nope it’s more like, “I’ve been with them forever”, or “I know his family”, or “It’s too much work to change mid year”, or “This thing is like 1/100^th of my budget why do I care?” etc. etc. You have got to make it easier to switch.

To Blow You Off: Heck, they themselves are or were, sales reps or account managers in one way or another for their own business-most of em’ anyway. And they have staff trained to get rid of sales reps and marketers like you and some personally make it an art to avoid everybody but customers, family, their accountant or their banker. It’s not that they don’t think you have a good product, it’s just that there’s no darn time to spare. You have got to make it easier to see why just a little time with you might be valuable.

To Not Believe You: The Small Business owner who has that type A personality, and is the wearer of all hats, and with the ego through the roof and the work ethic like nobody else;– Is she going to flat out just believe you when you say you can help grow her business? Heck no. You have to make it easier for her to trust you.

I usually end all my posts with real applications, real ways to get it done. I usually give you a few things you can just run with right now and tackle the problem and grow the business.

That would be too easy.

And there’s a better way. Though this blog is only 6 months old, type in the search box the word “easy” (10 posts) or “value” (13 posts) or “credibility” (7 posts) or any darn word you think might be make sense. Therein is a lot more help to make it easier for you and your customers.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Chairvolution!

It’s the easiest and most effective “how to sell” prop in the world.

The simple chair.

When I get a chance to speak to sales folks, I’ll occasionally launch into using a real chair that happens to be lying around to help folks learn how to sell. Every time I do it; I see heads nod in enlightenment and jaws literally slacken as many salespeople have “aha” moments.

It resonates so well that I typically walk away from these little talks saying to myself “Geez, I’ve got to do that chair thing every time!” But then, as I am apt to do; I forget to do it the next time. Not any more, I am committed to embracing the chair!

So with apologies to the office furniture and chair sales folks out there, I must explain that the ubiquitous chair is the perfect prop to represent your “product” or whatever it is you are selling or marketing. It is precisely because the “chair” is so common and so “everywhere” that it works. It works because it allows you the teacher, speaker or trainer to easily put emphasis on more than just the product and focus on the positioning, credibility and solutions your product or service really needs to get sold.

The chair is big. Really big. You could spend a whole day preaching and teaching a lot more than just the 6 lessons below but heck, it’s a start.

Welcome to my Chairvolution. Please steal shamelessly.

6 Easy Chair Selling Lessons

Start by saying “I am going to sell you a chair” and then follow the guide below as you teach and preach.

Lesson 1: Put the chair behind your back and ask (as if you are the sales rep) “What kind of chair would you like?” This is a great first lesson because it is about what not to do. In this harried, crazy, no time and no trust world of buyers we live in; the age old “Tell me what you dream” is really just about dead. Open ended, out of the blue questions more often stop sales processes, not start them. You’ve got to lead folks or give them a comparative reference. Psychology notes that comparison is less brainwork than creation. Discuss.

Lesson 2: Bring the chair back from behind your back and say “This is our most popular selling chair” Pause, then ask the group – “How many of you just ever so slightly had their interest piqued?” Here is a great 2^nd lesson in the value of popularity. Popularity is so important that the next 2 lessons using this chair go even deeper there. There’s a reason Amazon built that algorithm!

Lesson 3: Continue holding onto the chair and say “This chair is the most requested one by the folks at your company”. Pause and ask “What’s different in this lesson?” What’s different is that Popularity positioning you shared in Lesson 2 has been turned around and is now positioned with something more valuable to the client. That is that prospects “like them” ( i.e. those people that work in this company) love this chair. No doubt the interest of the group is piqued about the darn chair. Discuss.

[Here is a good place to remind the group that we have yet to talk about the features and specs of the chair as a means to sell it, and oh by the way…in all of these lessons today-we won’t!]

Lesson 4; “Everyone in your department on the first floor has this chair” Here it’s getting obvious that the closer you get to the truth about popularity of product by customer and prospect type, the better. Study after study shows that most people need to and love to do what other people just like them do and make similar choices. Yep, like the Amazon pop-ups and the Net-flix pop ups; you get it.

Lesson 5: Switching gears, look longingly at the chair and say “This chair will make your back feel better” or “This chair will get that capital expenditure under control” or “This chair will give your employees that “Google” office feel they want”. The point here is that you are showing just how much work needs to be done before you talk about the darn chair to prospects. What problem it solves, what pain it eases, what yearning it fills. Have fun with this part as nary a mention of price, height or color is in sight.

Lesson 6: Take the chair and roll it up next to one of the participants in the room and say “Your mother suggested I talk to you about this chair”. Have a good laugh at those who say “I don’t like my Mom” but the point is this – The best selling approach ever is a credible referral from someone the prospect trusts or even better; loves. Sales people should work hard to secure referrals and references. Frankly with those in hand, there is no real selling involved, it’s already done.

Don’t couch this one folks. Unseat all those beliefs that selling is about price and options. Lay it all on the table in a different way this time and use that chair! I promise it will open a brand new door to how salespeople think about sales.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Salesperson’s Thanksgiving Poem

A Salesperson’s Thanksgiving

Turkey Day, Oh turkey day,
Football, food and fun.
The problem is like every year,
Your day is too close to December one.

So whilst others sit not worried,
Not concerned, not one iota,
I can hardly touch my food at all
So worried am I, about my quota

Gravy, bread and mashed potatoes,
All look so delicious and nice,
And while I already hit up my friends and family once,
I’m thinking, I should do it twice.

And then I thought as plates were piled,
Up high with a second serving,
What’s the point of this Holiday if
I’m filled with worry and unnerving?

So when rich, tipsy Aunt Betty finally took that tumble,
As she is yearly apt to do,
I broke her fall right quick this time and said,
“Will it be one $10,000 order or two?”

Till next time,

(Happy Thanksgiving!)

Grow the Business.

Mark

5 Oddly Wonderful Things to Say to Customers

They are only “odd” because folks don’t say them too often. And they are “wonderful” because well……just read on, and I’ll tell you.

“I just came out of a Training class on….” We rarely say this yet many of us attend training regularly in the classroom or online. We think it is a sign of weakness that we had or went to…um.. a training. Our clients want to know that you are getting training because heck, maybe you are getting smarter about them. And even if you didn’t go to a recent training, our clients want to know that you read that book on small business marketing trends or that other one on customer loyalty. Smart sells. Wicked Smart sells even better. You have to share it.

“I Love You…” Ah yes, warm and fuzzy for sure but I say, why not? Why not say “I love you” but tie it to a good reason? “John, this is such a pleasure. I love to talk to 5 year plus customers because you know the marketplace and you know us….” Or “I love to talk with customers who take the time to give us feedback, I know how busy you are …”. Love is a word customers don’t expect to hear, at least from a partner or supplier. And unexpected love is a very cool thing.

“Guess which one is the most popular these days?” If you want to improve your chances of a client or prospect listening well or listening longer to your presentation (or even a conversation), you should embed survey-like questions early into the experience like “What % of retailers do you think would say “keeping returning business is more important than getting new business?”” or “Which do you think most retailers prefer, this or this?” You make the call on the question but do two things; draw out the answer so you insert your value proposition, and then if you don’t believe me that this works, read the bestseller Made To Stick (Heath Bros) and take a look at the evidence supplied on page 89. Folks will pay attention longer to see if they are right or just to know what the right answer is. Find a way to conversationally add this to your client facing meetings and contacts and more sales will ensue.

“You can trust our business with your business…” This is obviously a B2B thing but 10 years ago I pitched this phrase as something we could and should close phone calls with or have on business cards or ( and these were really new then): emails! etc. etc. I have never forgotten it and always wanted to make it part of our customer experience but we haven’t done it just yet. Now I have proof that this would work – Have a look at this Roger Dooley article at his Neuroscience Marketing blog and learn about the real evidence supporting in “10 Words That Build Trust”! Then, tell me why you wouldn’t want to say “And as always, you can trust our business with your business, have a great day!”

“Here’s what I want you to do..”. It’s a rare day that we sales and marketing folks send out samples or emails or catalogues or brochures or links and ask any customer/ prospect to do anything. The most we often eek out is “Have a look and if you have any questions let me know” or “I’ll give you a call next week and you can let me know what you think.” Ugh. Be specific and give instruction. “Have a look at page 3 and circle your two favorites” or “Watch the video and jot down two things that you want more information on as that will be my first question to you when we talk next week”. People like to help people. People like (most of the time) to have clear direction. Psychologically, people will more likely keep that next meeting when there was something of detail they were supposed to do vs. just another scheduled contact.

There, oddly wonderful aren’t they? Let’s make them a little less odd shall we?

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Some Rules Are Better Left Unread

The bullet whistled right by my head, missing me by less than an inch.

I had just one bullet left in my magazine, yet this piece I was holding could actually carry 12. I decided I needed more. I decided I needed to launch another barrage of gunfire to bring him down. I reached slowly behind me to load some bullets that had fallen out of my pocket, not knowing for sure if he could see me or not.

I heard it coming, the second one. Then I felt it explode into the back of my head.

Less than an hour after Church this last Sunday, I am dead.

It’s a headshot you see. It’s how it works. He wins. Those are the rules.

Well not really. In fact, the rules written are quite the opposite of what we actually do when we break out the powerful Nerf gun blasters and conduct Living Room Warfare.

What, you say? Doesn’t the box clearly state… don’t aim at other people’s faces with Nerf gun dart blasters? Please. No self respecting father with a 13 year old son would follow a rule like that. What’s the fun in that?

Aside from the only rule I insist on which is that we both wear eye protection (only to avoid an afternoon in the ER), we believe Nerf guns were made for headshots. We believe that Nerf guns were made for face shots and especially ear shots (which hurt nasty). So skip the flimsy targets that come in the box and the goofy Velcro vests; you are going down with (hopefully) a foam bullet shot right to the middle of your forehead.

Here’s the real point. And it’s a good one because I fancy myself most of the time to be a rule follower (in fact, my family frequently quotes me sarcastically “ ..Without rules, there’s chaos…”.)

Sometimes, rules are better left unread.

Sometimes rules not followed make it more fun, or more memorable or more special or more helpful or just…more better. So be it lack of following all the rules for Living Room Warfare or for the Rules of Work, it does not matter;

Here are 3 other rules that are often better left unread.

Get to work on time. Sure, it’s part of a manual, HR handout or your own sense of when to start your day, but you are in sales. Unless you are staffing a phone with incoming calls you need to think that this is a rule to be abandoned. You can’t get a hold of owners, CEO’s or entrepreneurs at “normal hours”. Gotta mix it up and call later or earlier or even on Saturday. And by the way, you will differentiate yourself from the competition in a very good way if you do it right.

Social Network on Your Own Time. If one thinks a professional LinkedIn page, Twitter account or Facebook page is something not considered work relevant; one would be mistaken. It is called Reputation Management and if you are a Sales person you need to have a Glowing Web Reputation to manage. Take the time to build and be credible in the social internet spheres. Your customers and prospects will be searching and be looking for you, who you hang out with and what you say. “Professional” is the key here folks and in your sales space where trust is low, reputation must be high.

Employees Are Required To Take Vacation; No you aren’t. There’s nothing that says you can’t stop showing up at work 2 weeks a year yet be waist deep in learning new or better skills to do your job. Wouldn’t be a waste to read 7 Jeffrey Gitomer books or every Seth Godin Book or a Jill Konrath Book or an Art Szobcek book; all of which would help you not in just work ……but in life. If you ain’t learning, you are dying.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

When Success Stinks

Success is usually good, but sometimes it stinks.

My first huge commission sale came in late 80’s. I got it when I inadvertently answered the company’s phone line past closing time at 5:15pm on a Friday. Two weeks into my first real sales job and it was the Big City on the other end of the line looking for a spring water vendor to supply bottled water coolers and water for the school system whose water supply was just declared undrinkable.

I got that sale. I was even on local TV news that weekend and was shown delivering and setting up water coolers in the schools. I was a sales rock star at my company. Already.

I thought I got the sale because of my insanely good sales skills on that phone call, my confidence and my gargantuan intelligence. And I also thought that being a salesperson was a pretty easy gig.

And then the sales stopped coming in.

Truth was, we got the school sale because we were the only bottled water company that answered the phone after 5pm that Friday and the city needed the schools to have water for the students by the time classes started again on Monday.

But I didn’t know that then. I couldn’t see that. It took me about a year to realize I had nothing to do with that sale and that sales success takes a lot more work and learning than I wanted to accept at that time.

Success is usually good but sometimes it stinks.

Every once in a while think deep about that large sale you just landed, or that marketing initiative showing good results or that training you just delivered that got rave reviews.

If you know deep down you got the sale out of luck: don’t learn from that success. If you know deep down that your marketing initiative launched at the same time a new sales rep incentive plan did, don’t bank on that success as a learning tool. If that training class everyone is giddy about you suspect won’t bear out a month later in results on the floor, check into those results and don’t bask in what is really just the “promise” of success.

Given that, if the phone rings at 5:15pm on a Friday, make sure you pick it up and consider those moments as gifts that you deserve and not moments to learn from.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Inanity

Sometimes the reasons we give people to buy are inane.

Inane as in lacking sense or silly as dictionary.com would define the word.

Here is my most recent TV commercial favorite. It’s the garage door that still works (praise the almighty) when you lose power at your house. This 30 second inanity begins as the fearful family pulls in the home to discover that there is no power to the house but Holy Driveways Batman, the garage door still opens! We are saved!

Are you kidding me? A) How often do you lose power and B) are you not capable of getting out of the car and using your key to the front door? So silly. The scary part is that some bright marketing agency felt that a garage door that works when you lose power is the key selling feature and that it should be the central part of a 30 second television ad, i.e. the reason buy.

That’s inane.

If inanity lives in prime time advertising it may still exist closer to home. So let’s make sure in the B2B world we don’t have any inane reasons for someone to buy hanging out there. Let’s make sure we don’t have reasons that lack sense or are downright silly.

I doubt these inanities still exist around here but just in case;

You should buy because I’m your account manager. I remember a time when folks would believe that and even say that. That having someone “assigned” to a client to be “account managed” was gloriously stupendous all by itself. Many a sales rep used to think (I hope) that since the customer has “me” as an account manager well that would…um….be a darn good reason to buy. A classic sign if you or your company still possesses this kind of inanity is if you get upset, hurt or worried when a customer chooses to buy a product some other way like going online or by calling someone else at your company.

You should buy because We’re the cheapest. This is B2B folks; cheap is cheap. 70% off, 60% off or”I can beat everyone’s price” gets you less and less today in the sales game. You might actually do better by raising your prices; it can reflect your investment in services/ product and impart more literal or perceived value to a client. Cheap makes you look cheap. Cheap undervalues what your product does. Cheap is something to avoid, not embrace. Very few can pull of cheap as a reason to buy and those who do it well leverage far more than the low prices to retain and acquire customers.

You should buy because We have- “hours from 8am to 8pm 6 days a week”, “.. a 100% guarantee..”. “ …free shipping on..”, “..online ordering..”, “ ..a loyalty program for…”…etc…etc”. These are pretty much Table Stakes folks; that is to say that everybody has these and simply needs to have them to get a chance to even play at the table. And frankly, one of these alone or even all of them together is not a killer reason to buy. Conversely, and somewhat unfairly, not having these can be a reason not to buy from you.

So let’s take a lesson from our colossally idiotic consumer group that is dumbfounded by what to do when the power goes out and they are caught outside with just a garage door remote control. Our business clients aren’t like that; they carry a bunch of keys to get where they need to go and they’ll need a lot more from you before they look to you for help.

Till next time,

Grow The Business

Mark

Voting Continues Today

You voted yesterday. Cool beans.

You are also voting today. And you are voting tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

You’ll still see lots of campaign signage laying around whether it’s an inspirational poster you walk by everyday or that performance chart ranking your sales or division vs. everyone else. And you’ll either walk on by oblivious to the message or you’ll stop, take it in and wonder what it means to you. Either way you are voting.

You’ll attend yet another campaign rally at 8:30am and you’ll listen to a stump speech by that person in power just like you do every day. And you’ll either cross your arms and stare at the floor or you’ll open up and offer a helpful comment or two. Either way you are voting.

You’ll still get campaign phone calls coming in at those inopportune times with folks on the other end who just want you to listen to them as they plead their case. And you’ll either half listen just enough to get by or you’ll listen real well and make their day promising to do their bidding. Either way you are voting.

You get to make important choices way more than every 4 years or every other year. You get to make them every darn day.

You can choose to look at it like that or not. Either way you are voting.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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