Are You Smarter Than Your Website?

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I hope so. 

I’d like to think most people are smarter than their website and quite frankly, realize they need to get even smarter.  

In a cluttered marketplace, Sales people, Service people and anyone who actually talks to customers must become the Differentiator, the Linchpin, the Trust Agent, the Service Ninja etc. etc.  to stand out from the competition.  

Before more smartness can happen, we have to make sure we are at least not dumber than our own websites.

Here’s 5 ways you can tell.

  1. If your website gives testimonials of how products helped solve a problem, grew top line revenue or saved costs, and you don’t; your website is smarter.
  2. If your website recommends a new product based on the current purchase leveraging what “other like customers buy” (like most websites do), and you don’t; your website is smarter.
  3. If your website doesn’t require a prospect to give more than a name and an email address before it sends out more information, and you do; then your website is smarter.
  4. If your website allows a customer to quickly start an order, stop midstream and check out something else, then go back to the order, and you don’t, then your website is smarter.
  5. If your website shows smiling, enthusiastic and happy people on every page, and you’re not; your website is smarter.

 

If you missed even one of these, start studying hard, maybe even get a tutor; expectations of you are high my friend.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Open Ended Questions Are Overrated

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It’s like a religion almost.     

Every sales trainer since the turn of the 20th century has proselytized* that open ended questions are the key to sales success.  Those glorious questions like “How do you market your business?”, How would you describe your relationship with your current supplier?” and “How do you differentiate yourself in the market place?” are a constant in any sales training revival session.

The thought is that these types of questions will get your customer to leap to his feet and open up to you about his motivations, beliefs and values.

Except when they don’t.   The reality is that open ended questions are effective when there is already a good degree of trust established.  Open ended questions asked when trust is low can feel intrusive and just too much work to answer.  Both of these feelings by the way, shut down the sales process.

Here’s why it happens.  When you ask,   “I’m curious, how do you market your business?”  The client often thinks “Who the heck are you asking me that?” (The client rarely says this out loud, but rather will insert “brush off” language like “I’m really happy with my current supplier”).   The client could think as well “Gee, that’s complicated and you know what?, I’ve got work to do”.  Both of these reactions are the result of an unbelieving, untrusting audience.   

There’s a better way to get at the same information when trust is low.

Here’s how:  Say “I’m curious, is the business marketed online, offline or both?”   Think psychologically why this makes more sense:

  1. You took the “you” and “your” out of the question.  When trust is low a question about how you do something (especially something important like “marketing”) is a little too personal.  By saying “is the business marketed…” defers to something that, while it may be close to the client’s heart, is an it and not a you. 
  2. You gave options like “marketed online, offline or both?”.   Every Malcolm Gladwell Blink reader knows that options help decisions to be made and ideas to be chosen.   Wide open questions with no options, especially in this harried, rushed world, can stop communication altogether.  If the client has choices of responses, they are more likely to respond.  

 

So here’s the message.  Take your list of open ended questions and ask yourself a closed ended one before you use them. “Does the client/prospect trust me or my company enough to be asking these questions this way?” If the answer is “no” or “I don’t know”, take the “you” out of the question and add options to choose from. 

Till next time,

Go Forth and Grow The Business.

Mark

* Yeah! I can knock this off my “Bucket List” now. I always had a dream to use “proselytize” in a blog!

8 Minutes Ago

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A lot of bad things happen 8 minutes ago.  One in particular, is really bad.   But don’t worry about that one yet, we’ll get to it.  Just focus on helping the four people below, will you?

Just now, sales rep was getting all jazzed about making like 70 calls out in the next 3 hours and about making something happen on that phone.  Truth is that 8 minutes ago when he decided he was going to just click and dial and not do any real research or set objectives for each call, that he already guaranteed making no money for the rest of the day.

Just now, the product manager is thinking that the folks in the room that came to hear her presentation must still be “settling in” because they are not totally paying attention just yet.  Truth is that 8 minutes ago, when she began the meeting focused on herself, her department and her initiative, the audience tuned her out and will never be coming back.

Just now, the team leader thought it was really bad that there were no pens or pencils in this required training class and gosh darnit, she really needed one.  Truth is that 8 minutes ago her boss wrote her off for that next project opportunity because he saw that she chose to show up for learning without so much as a piece of paper, let alone a pen.

Just now, the call center rep is miffed that he didn’t close on the quantity upgrade with this customer even though he fixed the problem really well and fast.  Truth is that 8 minutes ago he lost that sale when at the beginning of the call he didn’t really apologize in any meaningful way for the problem they had.

You all know someone who doesn’t realize that bad things can happen 8 minutes ago.  Most people have a hard time seeing it themselves.   Some things can happen 8 minutes ago that are far worse and can offer a nice counter balance perspective as you go about lending a hand.

Just now, you were thinking that the sun is shining.  Truth is that 8 minutes ago the sun went supernova.  But because light (and heat) can only travel as fast as 186,000 miles per second, you won’t have a clue for at least the next 8 minutes, that you are toast.

Now don’t you feel better about the wee problems of the 4 people you are about to go help?

Go to it.  Help them.   You can even cut across the parking lot.   No need for sun block, you’re good I think. 

Check back with me in 9 minutes.  

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

That 70’s Twitter

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I was way ahead of my time.   You can be too.

Social Media is still exploding.  Like huge.  The FaceBooks, the Twitters, the Blogs and a dozen other tools are top of mind for consumers and businesses these days.  

Businesses are scrambling to figure out these tools fast because haven’t you heard?  People like you and me who use social media are supposed to have new thinking, new desires, new buying motives and if you happen to be about 20ish, perhaps you may be a new species of human known as a “millennial”.  

Nope, I don’t think so.   It’s not the people that are different so much; it’s the tools.

It’s the tools like Facebook, Twitter and Blogs that the media, the marketers and the businesses are getting caught up in.   But don’t be fooled.    It’s not enough to just embrace and use these tools.  If you are in sales, teaching or marketing; it’s important to think hard about why people are using and loving these tools; what comfort and value they bring; enhance your strategy and then act accordingly.     

You see, I was on FaceBook in the 80’s.  I needed to be if I was going to have a life.  I was actually on Twitter in the 70’s cuz’ I found it cool and informative and I was a heck of a Blogger as far back as the early 90’s.  

It’s true.  I was.

In the 80’s I had my little black book with Judy Lelievre (I was totally in love with her), Stephanie Bond (out of my league), Paula Kelly (we went on a date once) and a dozen other girls’ names in there.  I loved that black book (even without any faces) and every time their phone numbers, or addresses or my opinion rating of them changed, (yep,  I ranked them from a measly one star up to four “wicked awesome” stars), I updated that thing religiously.  I needed to be connected and in the know.

In the 70’s the Twitter feeds were always on the back of the stall door in he boys’ bathroom at St. Catherine’s School.    There I learned the latest thoughts (and some new words) about Sister Mary’s lightning quick back hand and about Sister John’s weight challenges.  Always something new on those doors and like the Library of Congress that now holds millions of Twitter posts; I bet that 70’s Twitter is still etched in metal in the second floor bathroom at St. Catherine’s school likely for eternity.

In the 90’s, I wrote a page every night, printed it on dot matrix paper and copied it for the hundreds of call center sales people so in the morning; my wisdom, guidance (and at that time a lot of capital letters), were placed squarely front and center on the chairs of my people.  Some read it, some chucked it, but just like today; it better be interesting/ helpful or people don’t care.

Here is the point.  Get to know the new tools.  Get to know them really well so you can better fill the desires that have been around for ages.  People always want to have relationships and always want to share an opinion.  They want to know the latest going on and they want a community of trusted friends and colleagues. 

Whether they find some of that on Twitter or they find it on the back of a bathroom stall door; it doesn’t much matter.  What matters is that you help your customers, friends and even strangers fill their desires really really well.

The tools may change but the innate desires of folks rarely do.  Know this and you’ll be ahead of your time too.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Josh Beckett Came To My House Saturday

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Mr. Beckett showed up at my house on Saturday.   Josh is a pretty famous major league baseball pitcher and currently plays for the Red Sox.  

My wife had been cleaning all morning in anticipation of his arrival (I told her that it was not a big deal; the house looked fine- but you know how that goes).

I had a busy morning too and was in the backyard when Josh rang the doorbell an hour early.   My wife answered the door and not being much of a baseball fan, she didn’t recognize him even though he was decked out in his baseball jersey that said “RED SOX” on the front and “BECKETT” on his back.  

I came around the front of the house and was surprised that he was wearing a game jersey. Not what I expected.  I was then shocked he had put a ton of weight on and got about a foot shorter since the season started.   I looked a little closer…. and realized……. that it wasn’t Josh Beckett at all, but the cable guy who was scheduled to come about an hour later.

There are a lot of problems with this; not the least of which is that there is an age when a man should stop wearing another man’s name on his back (and that age should be about 14 ).  But there are bigger problems than that; problems that people and companies should fix.   Problems you can get involved in solving.

Problem A):   He scared my wife.  Really scared her.   That is not good.    Who is this guy at the front door in khaki’s and Red Sox Jersey?  She literally told me later “I was freaked out and scared, I had no idea what he wanted and you were way out back”.   (It was only because our dog was barking that I even came around to the front of the house.)

Problem B):   I didn’t trust him the entire time.  About anything.  He was there for an hour adding some cable service and because he chose to wear his Saturday best and he scared my wife, I had a lot of tension and concern watching him work around my house.  If you don’t care how you look, do you care how you work?  

Don’t tell me that his truck should be a giveaway.  His truck was parked behind our two cars and the lettering on the truck if you chose to walk up to it, was tiny, had no colors and no logo.   It doesn’t matter.  If someone comes to your door dressed like he’s ready to go to a tailgate party, you’re not looking at his vehicle for a company or a brand to begin with.

If you serve businesses or are one you’ve known (supposedly) for years about the value of having that logo and that personalization on the clothing because it makes the customers feel at ease and that your company is professional.   So why is it not happening still today?

Uneasiness was the tenor of the day and hence, the entire experience was certainly not professional.

Right or wrong, because of the way he dressed Saturday, I questioned everything about him.   I questioned his ability, his commitment to his company and whether he had any concern at all about me, the customer.   That’s bad news.

And worse now, whenever I see Josh Beckett pitch I’m going to think about the cable guy and wonder if my picture in HD is really as good as it could be.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Avoid Problems In The Shower

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Selling is not always about problem solving.   If you are reading the hottest sales books and listening to the trendiest sales gurus though, you might think it was.

 

It ain’t.

Every time I travel, I check into the hotel, throw the bag on the bed, adjust the heat down to 66 degrees (who can possibly be comfortable at 72?) then step into the bathroom to try to wash away a bit of the day’s travel.  I then invariably look up into the mirror and realize the recurring dream I have when dozing off in a plane about my sudden hair growth alas, did not come true.  I move on and peer into the mirror past my balding pate focusing in the space just behind me.

I see now as I always do in the reflection, the curved shower rod above the tub and get reminded once again so powerfully,  that sales is definitely not just about problem solving.

If you haven’t stayed in a hotel in the last 3 years and have not seen the curved shower rod, this post may not make much sense to you though I think they are being sold in some Home Depots and Lowes now. (Here is a picture):

The curved shower rod.   This thing is amazing.  Without changing the size of the shower, it just now feels bigger with a curved shower rod.  Who woulda thunk it?

That’s kind of the point.   Do you think hotel managers across the country were suffering for decades with the pain of having straight shower curtain rods?  Had they been for years dealing with complaint after complaint that the showers were feeling too small for the patrons?  Do you think they got thousands of letters demanding they make the showering experience feel like there is more room in said shower?  

Do you think then that a crack team of salespeople, product developers, sales leaders and marketers hunkered down in some basement trying for years to come up with the product that would fix this terrible problem of the normal straight shower rods?    Do you think they created the curved shower rod as a solution to a problem and sold it that way?

Nope.  Never happened.

Some brilliant person created and sold this product because it made the experience better, not because there was a problem that needed fixing. 

Sometimes if we obsess with “solution” selling or “problem solving” as our lead mantra on the phone or in the field, we’ll fall on deaf ears or worse as we try to illustrate problems that don’t exist in the mind of our customers or frankly in the mind of anyone.

You might get more business when you sell products that add better to a business, not just solve a problem.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark