branding

Got Training Request? Do These 3 Things First

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Training

Got Training Request? Do These 3 Things First

You are a Learning Professional and your client comes to you to request some training for her team.

Hallelujah, it’s good to be wanted.  But don’t blow it OK?  Training these days is vital – leaders need it, employees demand it and customers are begging for it. 

Here’s a little help – do these things first.

  • Promise Nothing:   Listen instead.  Ask a lot of questions.  Then say, “OK – let me give this a little thought ( or set up a little more time with you to  learn more) and I’ll get be able to figure out what I (we) can do.” An instant “Yes, sure I can do that”( or “no, I can’t”) gets you nothing but a snapshot of you not giving much thought or care to your craft or profession.  Training is complex ( and ever more so today), treat the request and the requestor preciously – for they are.  When you walk away to think,  (however briefly) about the request you show respect for the effort. 
  • Make Sure It Drives Revenue First.  Revenue is good.  Revenue is sexy.  There’s the old adage that says ” Take care of top line revenue and the rest will take of itself”.  A training request that drives revenue is awesome.  Help your requester and your company see it that way.  There’s nothing wrong with training that drives cost efficiencies or productivity improvements except that those terms are just not as fun to toss around the classroom or the boardroom.  Those efforts drive operating income and influence overall revenue and profit performance -so either way revenue is your lead story.  The “Training Drives Revenue” mantra is key for you and the business.  It influences all to create and deliver training with that in mind as well as coach and measure the impact of that investment.   Training to “teach people to use salesforce.com” is boring ( for the business, for you and for them!).  Training to “improve revenue with salesforce.com” is much better.  My Training team has a belief and mantra you can steal shamelessly:  We are ” A Sales Channel That Happens to Do Training.”  We say it because we believe Training should always drive revenue.  And,  it does. 
  •  Proclaim “One and Done is One and Dumb!” 8 times out of 10,  solely relying on “Event Training” is a waste of time.  Get a request, design and develop the content and deliver in a 2 hour classroom training for example, and then you and the Training department disappear.  That rarely works.  Ensure that in the earliest conversations with the person requesting training ( I’d suggest the very first conversation) include that the most effective training often has “beyond event” attributes.  These could range from an advance training for coaches, to on demand learning module sent to learners after the event training to reinforce the learning, to weekly role plays, engagements in social media, video creation or any other way to continuously educate over a period of time. Training needs to stick.  Effective Training likely needs support before and after any “event’ for it to work well.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Tangibly Speaking

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Blue Sun

Tangibly Speaking

How timely. 

The Cool factor for this ad? A 10.  And psychologically smart too. 

Kudos to the Blue Sun.  

As it happens, later today I’m presenting six effective ways to teach and coach to selling products and services that are less tangible than others.  The audience is a group of motivated sales leaders.  One of those six ways was one I didn’t expect to see in seat 19B yesterday.

As my flight was descending into Minneapolis yesterday afternoon, I was forced to shut down (ok – hide) all electronics –so I picked up the Sky Magazine to read.  I flipped through the ads for the best plastic surgeon(s?) in the world and the many lunch dating services (I would definitely need the former before I could take advantage of the latter – and um..of course, er.. not be married.), but then I fell upon on page 58.  Oh Joy! 

Here it was!  An “in print” example of working around what many sales and service people face who try and create interest in, or sell, intangible products – It was a wonderful means to get people to actually just “try it”!

The TechnoMarine ad copy says “Lift here to experience Blue Sun on your wrist”.   And there gloriously lay, a perforated cut out you could lift out and place on your wrist.   

I know what the makers of Blue Sun are thinking- that it’s one thing to read about the watch and see nice pictures but to “see” the watch on your wrist? – now, that is something.

I know a “watch” is not intangible or abstract like my training focus later today but TechnoMarine knows that selling a watch in a magazine is for all intents and purposes an “abstract” timepiece trapped in a two dimensional pixilated prison.  And what I know about selling abstract products and services also applies here in that you have to often  “try it” or “experience it” before you make a decision or even move the sales process forward. 

Pretend you are selling a financial management dashboard or a social media business portal – you have to get your clients hands on the keyboard and immersed in her screen and that dashboard a bit first –like the ubiquitous test drive.  It’s akin to having that faux paper watch wrapped around your wrist to see how it fits. 

What I love about the watch ad is how quickly you can experience it. Boom!  Lift it and wrap it around your wrist.  Easy Peasy.  And there is a QR code on the back and you can learn more about it.  The Blue Sun ad is like the steroid version of the “scratch and sniff” print ads.- one swipe and you’ve got the experience – but in this case you can really wear it. 

The broader point is simple too.   “Try it” opportunities that allow you to test drive products – even when those products aren’t super abstract or intangible like a watch or a new car, (pardon the pun) are key.  They always were and they always are.   In the crazy world today where we have less and less time to get our prospects attention – it’s important especially when your product or service is not crystal clear immediately, to create those opportunities when a client can “wear” it.  

Keep creating those free trial apps, the Freemiums, the virtual realities and the test drives for abstract and intangible products and services.  And if you ever get a chance to put a perforated cut out of your product in an airline magazine – do that too. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Stand Up! (or Fight)

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tall chair

Stand Up! (or Fight)

Years ago I nearly got into it with a colleague.   I was never a big one for fights but this one was close. 

I was paired up with a guy from my company we’ll call “Steve”.  We were at a Home Show and in our cool and very expensive company booth.  And we were selling.  And selling.  That’s how we made the business hum.  That’s also how I put food on the table.

“Steve” somehow corralled a tall chair and decided to sit down in the booth.  

Heresy.   Really it was.  Any sales pro worth his salt knows it’s a sin to sit in a trade show booth.  At least that is what I was taught. Call me old school but it’s a bad message to send all the customers and prospects walking through the show – that you’re lazy and maybe your company is too.  Your job is to be engaged in booth visitors, be passionate and proud of your product or service.  Sitting on your butt behind desk does none of that. 

 We got into it.  I kind of freaked out.  It didn’t come to blows and he eventually put the chair back where he got it.   I did make sure we never worked another shift together again anywhere.

Fast forward 18 years or so to last week.

I was walking through the mall with my wife.  It was packed.  Kiosks lining the center of the mall.  

I walked past 7 of them in a row.  Every single one was staffed by an oblivious, lazy, selfish and disturbingly care free employee sitting in a chair with face buried in their smart phones; most with ear buds in as well.  That’s the impression they gave.  And these folks in the Kiosks were no teens either. 

Not one was buried in their company email.  Every one as I circled was buried in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or some other time suck away from driving revenue out of their booths.   

If that was my Kiosk that I paid for on this Saturday in a packed mall and you worked for me and behaved like that –I’d fire you on the spot. 

Chairs are for the customers who might need a seat when you are explaining your product or they are filling out an application.  Chairs are for customers who need to break to rest their legs and their wallets as they consider investing in your service or product and putting money into your checking account to pay the rent.  Smart phones are for your pocket or your purse or to take a payment or read an email from your boss or to look up product specs. 

I’m not preaching trade show booths and Kiosks in mall owners or employees need to be carnival barkers and invade the paths of a passerby and scream “come on in and take a look!”  I’m saying what we know is true; stand up.  Smile.  Be engaged in those who show interest. Be engaged and proud of what you represent in public. 

Being engaged is attractive.   And that’s true in any setting.  At a trade show, in a retail store, in the field, on a phone, even in a meeting.

Sitting down and being physically selfish and mentally selfish by immersing in your time waster smart phones at work has the opposite effect on people who look at you.  “If you don’t care about your product and your company, why should I?”

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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Seniors On Combines?

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farm equipment

I volunteered at the senior center last night for a bit.  I noticed there’s an old piece of farm equipment in the field behind the building.  Made me think about an experience regarding seniors some time ago.

A few years back I had a trainer in NJ who’d been in my organization for less than a year.  I finally had a chance to ask her about her background when I got down there to visit.    She shared she was from the south (Arkansas) and before she got into training she used to do photography.  She would travel all around the south taking pictures of seniors she said.   She’d pull them right off the combines, haul em’ into barns and take their pictures. She even added she brought clean clothes to dress them in sometimes.   I thought to myself…. why would anyone pull old people off dangerous farm equipment and dress them up to get their pictures?  I asked her nervously..  ” Did you put them all in a book or something?”  she said “Yes for sure they all went in the book that was the point”.

I almost asked if she had her photography book nearby but was a little unnerved so I nodded my head and changed the subject.  She was a great trainer from what everyone said but I admit I was a little worried after that about what she would do if she had older folks in her class. 

About a 6 months later I remembered her story and told my wife with all the disgust and concern I could muster reflecting on the way she treated the elderly.  My wife listened, pause and said “You are a moron, she was taking pictures of High School Seniors for their Senior Pictures!  And she had to haul em’ off the combine I bet because that’s what kids do in the South after school.”

Oh.  I felt silly.  ( still do actually).

But the point is ( other than to make you laugh to start your day perhaps – I sure did thinking about it again) is that for at least 6 months of my life – because I misheard or misunderstood something,  I thought this woman trainer was something maybe akin to the Buffalo Bill character in Silence of the Lambs.  For 6 months (and maybe for the rest of my life unless I’m careful)  – it made me think oddly about photographers – especially if they are from the south.  It made me think and worry about the elderly on farms and how vulnerable they are. 

Misunderstandings are usually small.  Sometimes they are big.  And sometimes they are way bigger than the one in which my poor trainer who forever when I see her,  I’ll think of her dragging old people through corn stalks and pig troughs to snap their photo like some Life Magazine photog.

But misunderstandings can also be powerfully damaging as you can tell.  It seems to me we need to watch using the phrase “It was just a misunderstanding”  — that “just” has got to go.   Take it from me, dig a little deeper.  If you are honest and in places you don’t talk about at parties- there are those things you learn in a meeting, or in book, or in a deep conversation with a loved one that blow your mind.  You realize you misunderstood.  You misunderstood for maybe months or even years.  You realize you misunderstood something that might be a lot less funny than me and my trainer in New Jersey.

I’m heading back to the senior center Sunday to help out a bit more; it’s a luncheon.  Heard they’ll be taking pictures for the paper.  Here’s to hoping that machine in the field doesn’t start up.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Scarcity Sells Yum

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Scarcity Sells Yum

 This picture paints a thousand words.   It paints Curiosity and Interest.  It even paints Worry.  Best of all,  it paints  Urgency and Action.

steakchop (9)

I snapped this pic at my local market this week.  Marinades for meat.  Yum.

Wait?  What the heck is that?  What is in that gap?  Only a few left?

Gee, must be popular.  Must be tasty.  Must be the best!

 Almost none left.  I don’t want to miss out. 

 I’m going to try this.  I am going to get this.  I’m reaching in!

Scarcity Sells.

You know this.  You are drawn to those empty spaces be it at a supermarket, department store or even a bake sale. 

Looking at it the other way;  Popularity is contagious.

 Make sure your products or whatever it is you sell, literally or perceptually,  look scarce because they are so popular. 

 It sucks people in. 

 And it creates interest and action.   That’s very good for business.

 [By the way, the Marinade is Lawry’s Steak & Chop and it was awesome!]

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Trust Your Wince-tincts

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wince

Trust Your Wince-tincts

We Wince.  And wincing is a big deal. 

Think about the Wince: our eyes squint up, we squeeze our shoulders together and we wish just for that moment,  that we weren’t there to see or hear whatever it is that is making us wince.

Wincing is not good.  Not good at all.  But it can help you figure out stuff for the better. 

Sometimes bad acting will make you wince (Hugh Grant comes to mind).  Some movies are 2 hours of a Wince fest (I’m still scarred by that kid movie Chicken Run a decade ago).  Nick Jonas as Marius in Les Miserable 25th anniversary show is probably this century’s greatest wince to date.  But many times you wince in the marketplace or at work.   That’s something we can fix. 

In the marketplace you often sense in advance the wince is coming like when the store clerk says to the customer in front of you “ Do you have a rewards card?” then you wince and immediately drop your eyes to the ground.  Why? Because you know what’s coming – the horrible cross sell -“Would you like to sign up for one..?”  And the wincing isn’t over because its your turn now –you’re about to get the same WinceDom from the clerk.  Ugh.

I wince when the waiter gets too familiar too soon and leans down and just about cuddles up next to me to share the day’s specials (just as he was trained to do I am sure).   I Wince at the airport when I hear the gate agent say “And now we welcome our Delta Super Flyers, Northwest Perks Puppies, Frequent Flyer Super Dupers and Platinum Star Cadets” or whatever it is they say.    It’s so rote and boring and there are just so many titles that it is meaningless and downright embarrassing.   I also wince when I hear at the end of a phone call;   “Have we met all of your needs and are you satisfied with your experience with me today?”   This is a Wince slap no matter how I feel.  Ugh.  What do you think I’m gonna do if I’m not happy?  Pick a fight?  Just tell me “Thank you for your business” and let me go.

I’ve come to think that Wince is a very good word and tell for uncomfortable sales and service.   It’s a great descriptor and is great for identifying those moments that need real help and that need to be fixed because wincing is very truthful.  You have a hard time faking or making up a wince on the fly – It’s just the way it is.    Those moments you wince in any experience are called Wince Points.

Wince Points are no fun.   We should make them go away. 

What about you? What are the Wince Points for you?   When you listen to your colleagues over the wall or listen to client interactions remotely, or along side a sales rep in the field; what makes you wince? 

I wince with my eyes squeezed shut when I hear stuff like “I’m calling just to check in…” or “We have 1/2 off anything new if want something”.  I wince when I see vendor slides that begin with their credentials and not what they’ve learned about me first.  I wince when I see 10 bullets on a WebEx, hear a dog barking in the background in a virtual meeting, see an unchanged automated invitation to me to connect on Linked in, read emails with suggested times to meet but no indication of time zone and I wince when someone tells me to consider then earth when deciding whether to print this document just to name a few more.

Wince Points are everywhere.

Focus on the winces.  And trust your “Wince-tincts”. They are truthful and honest moments.   Make a plan, create a process, get a training or get some coaching to help get rid of the winces.

If it makes you wince, there is something wrong with that moment. Don’t fight it, just go and fix it.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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1 Minute Helpful Videos Anyone?

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I’m experimenting with a new media but with the same goal of giving you something to help.   I’m a little addicted to it I admit this week while traveling.   So two for you today.

3 Powerful Words and How to Avoid Sales Pain in the Shower.  How can you resist?  

If they help you grow your business even a little bit, that would be (as we say where I’m from), wicked awesome!  Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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-10 Under Par!

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minigolf

-10 Under Par!

I took great joy in beating the two 16 year olds Saturday.  Crushed their souls I did. 

But I took greater joy in beating up the golf course.  10 under par was my score – that had to be some kind of record! 

At least for me it was.  I am framing that pictured scorecard and it is going right downstairs in the Man Room on the wall where it belongs. 

10 under!  Some team of golf course architects sat in some design laboratory in Florida years ago when they designed this course figuring out that the hole called “Cliffhanger” was a par 3 and that so was “High Anxiety” and so was that monster hole “Bear Cave”.   Heck, the Masters has names for their golf holes like “Magnolia” and “Golden Bell” and that is one tough course.

But these golf course gurus did not expect my 5 holes in one Saturday (including 4 in a row!) and nor did my son and his friend. “Go build your fragile self esteem and confidence somewhere else” I said, (like I literally did say that).  I was on fire!

I knew my concentration and skill were better than the two teenagers and that I would win, but the best part was I was way better than the “standard” of good golf – by shooting a 34 on a par 44 mini-golf course.  Expert mini golfer in the house!  I’m a darn near pro!  I will always have good feelings about Max’s Mini Golf. 

Now when you think about it, par 44 is probably a bit liberal assessment of the course difficulty.   And probably on purpose by said architects in my vision.  But it made my day. Quenched my competitive spirit it did.   It really did.  Silly I know.  But not really.   There’s something about it that’s good.   And smart.

I wonder if that “better than standard” thing has some value in the workplace and in business. – Actually, I know it does:

  • It’s the crux of the silver, gold and platinum airline classes as well as the credit cards.  Everyone knows “most people” aren’t or don’t perform at these levels so already that kind of “achievement” and expertise ( think all the “professional traveler” commercials you see of late)  taps into the emotional competitive attachment of individuals and to that of the company. 
  • Gamification is  huge in the world of learning today.  In some businesses you log into “game portals” – play games (and learn), earn points, badges and medals advancing through levels and certifications of expertise.  You know all the way along how you compare to “standards” and your peers ( where you rank) in oodles of categories.  On purpose.
  • Pizza joints love the “Beat the Pizza-mageddon” where in the space of an hour two people must eat a pizza the size of a man-hole cover and win prizes and publicity in the local paper.  “Nobody’s done it yet” the sign says.  That’ll drive more than just 2 adults to dare- they’ll bring all their friends too and order up! Bring your competitive spirit and your emotional attachment to the joint like, forever.

So fun is good.  Winning is good.  Earning stuff is good.  But having the chance to walk around town as the perceived professional mini golfer, the professional traveler, or even the pro eater is well, good for business too. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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Stumped

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stumped

Stumped

Nobel Prize winning Psychologist Daniel Kahneman said  “The remarkable thing about your mental life is that you are rarely ever stumped.” 

How interesting.  This little quote has roiled around in my head for a month.  Can’t shake it.

Think about how true it is.   Heck, I’m gonna do this or I’m gonna do that.  Or goshdarnit, I’m going to do nothing!  Bottom line is most of the time,  I know what I’m gonna do.   And most of the time we make judgements and decisions in a flash and rarely are stumped or stuck in a quandary.

I read Kahneman’s quote in the Heath Brothers latest book called “Decisive” ( big thumbs up from me). The book has some compelling methods to help us all make better decisions of course ( if we ever allow ourselves to be stumped) but that’s for a later blog or two.

Lets just chat a bit about the stumped thing.  Stumped is what I think we should be more of.  Here’s why:

  •  When was the last time you talked to a prospect, did some great discovery, built credibility and commonality, talked pain points and said, ” You know, you’ve given me some things to think about and I’m not sure exactly what the best thing to do is, let me get back to you in a couple of days.”  Answer? Never.  You’re in sales, you’re never stumped and you and I both know it. 
  • When was the last time you launched a project to tackle a problem and didn’t  pretty much have the answer already embalzoned in your brain about what you think is the right solution?  Way less than you think.  You’re not stumped.  No Never.  Not you. You can, like nobody else, see the future clearly.
  •  When was the last time you didn’t judge, label or categorize someone you just met because you were so comfortable with “waiting and seeing” what this person was really about?  Not often enough.  You’re never stumped when it comes to giving an opinion on the new person even if you just give that opinion to yourself.

The you here is me ( and yes, likely you too). 

I’ve pitched an idea or a solution well before I knew what I should really do – I should have been stumped.   I’ve launched a project ( just this week as a matter of fact) tackling a problem that I am brazen enough to think I already know the answer to, until my LEAN mentor smacked me upside the head and said “You need to be stumped in the beginning for this thing to work.”  I’ve judged someone in just 20 minutes of conversation and another in probably 30 seconds – and did it not long ago either – both are awful things to do.  Not fair and frankly, stupid.   Stumped is what I needed to be there and always. 

Not being stumped can get us into trouble; that’s the message here.  Conversely,  being stumped can do some great things like impress the hell out of a customer and get them the best help possible.  Being stumped can get your problem solved better because you didn’t presume you knew the damn answer.   And being stumped is certainly the best way to treat people you meet all the time and to get the most and the best out of that relationship.

Stumped ain’t bad.  Stumped is good.  So all you people out there with the answers ( and that means you too McCarthy) quit talking to me, I gotta work these things out like I don’t have any idea. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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Piano Man is A Bad Song

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Piano Man is A Bad Song

Who knew Billy Joel could teach us a key lesson about sales and marketing?

 Lately I’ve been really into Billy Joel again.  Not the late 80’s and 90’s Billy – Uptown Girl stuff, but the good stuff – The early stuff. 

My son (who is downright amazing on the piano), was on YouTube last month and watched the Inside the Actor’s Guild 1999 Interview with Billy Joel.  I (a piano player of a lower order) decided to check out that interview too.

And then I heard him say it.  It was stunning. 

“Piano Man is really not a good song”.   He said this in reaction to James Lipton pointing out one of the most unusual things about the song – that it was in ¾ time.  It’s essentially a waltz.     

It’s a waltz but that’s not why the song is “not that good” Billy explained.   He said that the song is “so simple” and really just “repeats itself over and over again like a Limerick” with even some “La da diddy da’s” thrown in.  

He said some people know it’s bad.  Whenever he enters a restaurant or bar with a piano player these days, the musician will make eye contact and invariably start playing “Piano Man” which is all nice and good until “he realizes the song just repeats itself” and then “repeats itself some more” and “then he looks me in the eye blankly and I just nod and say “See?  Not much too it!”

I love that song.  We all love that song.  It’s a great song!

“If it’s so simple and bad, why is it so popular?” James Lipton asked.

“It’s got one hell of a story” Billy replied. 

There is was.  And there it is.  There’s Paul – who’s a real estate novelist, there’s Davy who is still in the Navy and there’s the waitress who is practicing politics.     All real people Billy explained (even Davy whose name is “Davy” and was in the Navy.)   

The point is pretty clear.  Great story makes up for a lot of things.  Some of Billy’s music is compositionally brilliant and has good to great stories in them; New York State of Mind and Scenes from an Italian Restaurant come to mind. 

But Piano Man is not a great song.   It is simple.  It does sound like Limerick.   But the story.  The Story.  The Story.   That makes it good.  And makes it stick and well, makes it awesome.

You need stories.  We all need them.  Piano Man is a lesson about how a great story needs to be wrapped inside your business, your solutions, your brand and your pitches. 

We know this.  We hear it all the time.  But we don’t always listen.   Powerful stories work hard for movies, books, businesses and I realize, music.    So all you marketers and sales people get out there and sing us that song, you’re the Piano Man!

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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