learning

But You’re In Sales

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You took that call, not knowing the client was sent an email offer by marketing or what it said but you’re in Sales, so you recognized that what’s important was that there’s interest so you fueled that fire and said “Yes, we’ve had a lot of calls about this! Let me make sure I know which one you are talking about…tell me what it reads…”

You personally didn’t screw up the client’s proof or was the one who didn’t call to arrange that installation but you’re in Sales, so you knew that owning the problem was critical and called that unhappy customer back and said “I am so sorry.  I own this, let me fix this problem right now…”

You knew there was a sales shortfall this month and you saw the silly contest poster to “Close the most sales over the next 24 hours!”  but you’re in Sales,  so you focused on solving customer problems and didn’t pitch and dump and spew and pound out phone calls just to hit that low hanging unloyal fruit opportunity and close the deal because heck, you’re not gonna leave a trail of garbage like that. 

Stuff happens.  And most of us;  be we actual sales people, marketers, trainers, leaders or even business owners sell all day long and know nothing ever, ever goes to plan.  But we’re in Sales, so we take our noble profession seriously and apply accordingly. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Crushed

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I stared at it every day.

A lot of snow on it for sure.

Lots of snow everywhere.  75 inches of snow so far this year where I live.  I know, I keep track.

I’d take the dog out and yes, I’d stare at it.   Gee, that’s a lot of snow on that.  It was pretty in the snow.

I’d put the dishes in the sink, make the coffee, rinse a plate or two and I’d stare at it more out the window.  

There’s a lot of snow on that roof.  Boy, it’s snowed a lot this year.  It’s a big old shed the previous owner built.  He was a contractor.  It was strong.   I don’t have a garage, so that shed is very helpful.  I put the lawn mower, the bikes, the paint, the old furniture and a dozen other important things in there- you know how it works.

On Sunday I stared at it more.  

The snow on the roof was gone.  Wow.  Where did it go? 

I stared at it more and realized the snow was gone because the roof was gone. 

Collapsed. Crushed. 

The shed exploded actually.  The sheer weight of what had to be 4 feet of snow crushed it in the center crumpling out all 4 sides.  Truth is, the shed looks like it might have been stepped on by a brontosaurus.  Drive on by my house and you’ll see it; it’s quite the sight.

Ugh.

I soooo realized Sunday that sometimes problems are right in front of us but we simply don’t see them. 

Literally.

I had heard the warnings on radio about roofs and buildings collapsing under the weight of snow but I did not really hear.  I saw the neighbors taking snow of roofs of sheds and homes and schools for fear of collapse but did not really see.   I stared at the bloody shed for weeks and really did not act.

Wow.  A lesson right there in my own back yard.

What will you notice now?  What can you learn from my now crushed shed I just stared at for way too long?

What is right in front of you and gnaws at you? What doesn’t look right?  What just “bothers” you that you stare at every day.  What do you “hope” does not happen so much that you just avoid it?  What are people telling you that you uncomfortably just “brush off” or ignore?

Be wary.  Whatever it is if you do not act, it could collapse.  And you’d be crushed.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The APG3

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It’s a pretty simple formula.

Elevator Speech = A+PG+3.   Or as I’ll coin it an APG3

An Elevator Speech that leads with a powerful Analogy, offers the removal of some Pain or the addition of some Gain and has Three(3) parts that illustrate how that all happens; is simply the best.

That is if you think the Heath Brothers who wrote the best sellers Switch and Made To Stick, a world renowned writer and speaker Brian Tracey and Apple’s Steve Jobs know exactly what they are talking about. (Hint: they do).

Combine three of these genius’s passions and you’ve got a great recipe for Elevator Speech success.

  • The Heath brothers in their books, exude the power of the analogy (it brings instant vision, a feeling and an understanding to the listener).  Think about the famous Hollywood pitch later made into that blockbuster movie Alien,…  “It is just like Jaws but takes place in space.” Steal from them.
  • Brian Tracey has for years spoken of the power of “pain and/or gain” from a clients perspective.  Love Brian.  Love this perspective.  Steal it.
  • Steve Jobs lives and loves “3’s” in all his presentations.  Watch him on YouTube.  He is the master of getting a compelling message out so steal from him.

Combine the three and you’ve got a killer approach to an elevator speech that is short, sounds like a human could say it (instead of the sound when it belongs in a brochure) is customer focused, attention getting and leaves em’ wanting more.

Let’s try one.  Let’s say you offer marketing to businesses for a living…

“I’m like a smart GPS for how to grow your business with marketing.   I know exactly where to go and make it incredibly fast and easy for a business to get that done right.” 

“And there are three things I do really well to make this happen…”

 “First, I keep my customers because I do what I say I’ll do;  after almost 10 years, I’ve grown to nearly 100 customers that continue to trust me, and trust is a big deal”

 “Two, I “get it“, I know how to bring new business into businesses.  I’ve created new tools and training that frankly impress the heck out of clients when they see it.

“Lastly, I obsess over the service and help after the campaigns.  I know what business needs when it comes to marketing and it isn’t this “one and done” type stuff. Most of my time and development goes into ensuring there is continuous sales improvement.”

“So let’s dig a deeper and let me show you a couple of the tools that impress retailers in particular OK?“…

So that’s a start.   Tenses can easily change to “we”.  Analogies can be changed to different better/ more interesting.  Pain/ Gain can change dependent on what your focus is and the 3 things done exceedingly well are all fair game.  

My example set aside, these pieces rightly so must be crafted and crafted well.  A very worthy effort for you or any sales groups to be focused on.    A good Elevator Speech makes for darn good voicemail, blog About page, email or Facebook post as well.

So that you can play this game at home;  Here is the APG3 in summary;

  • Analogy:  Be impressive and memorable with this.
  • Pain and/or Gain: not for you, for the prospect!
  • Three(3):  pick the best, leave em’ wanting more!

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business,

Mark

What Gets Your Attention?

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Everyone’s a little smarter now about sales I suspect.

In the old days it used to be all about pounding out phone calls, or having a killer discount or overcoming tough objections.  But we know especially now, what the real challenge is;

It’s about getting attention.  It’s about standing out a wee bit against a worldwide online bevy of competition.  It’s about getting that customer to even notice you’ve changed or have something that might help them.  It’s about grabbing “eye time” with an email or a first page Google ranking or getting one real minute (or maybe two if you are lucky), of a prospect’s face time or phone time. 

That’s the real challenge.   It’s not the “selling” that’s tough once you get attention necessarily; it’s getting the attention (however brief) that you need to even start the sales process.  

So how do you do it?  How do you grab attention?

You don’t have to go far or deep to figure that out.   Look around; your attention is piqued all day.

  • You looked at that hot pastrami sandwich and fries for lunch because yes, you saw the line of people and everyone else was getting it.
  • You noticed the safety poster outside the restroom because it had changed.
  • You made a mental note to dig up that old sales training because you saw someone just like you, using it successfully.
  • You listened and moved closer to that group talking because they were laughing and having a good time.
  • You scribbled a note about getting that book on personal finance cuz heck, the guest on the radio was an expert.

So attention getting isn’t so much about features and benefits and special offers.  It’s talking about, structuring and extending your sales and marketing approaches around simple things that get your attention every day.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

4 New Words for 2011

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I heard yesterday that the word “App” was voted as the “Word of the Year” in 2010.  Makes sense.  It’s a nice word.  Not a new word (it’s short for “application”), but it gets the job done. 

Ho Hum.

If you’re going to have a Word of the Year you’d think it should be at least new.  What’s going to win next year, “ping?” or “tablet?” Please.  And I’m thinking we could really use some new words round here.  New words are important when the world just keeps on changing. 

Here are 4.  We need these.  They are in alphabetical order (for my friends at the Oxford English Dictionary), have phonetic spellings (for my linguistic phonology friends) and have a bit about what they mean for the rest of us. 

Authorical ( aw-thor-i-cal):  This is what you want to be.  Way better for sales people and marketers than just being an expert or an “authority” yet has the cool factor of being “historical” too.  When you are so credible for so long as a person (or a business) that people lean forward pen in hand, ready to write down your every wisdom or advice; you are Authorical.   Given the wild untrusting marketplace today that’s a great way to be.

Cryoritize (cry-or-ri-tize):  “Prioritize” the word, has become weak.  Today “Prioritize” unfortunately has come to mean more about “What you should do first” rather than what you should do instead of something else.  Lists get reshuffled but rarely get shorter.  What we need is to cryoritize.   It takes courage to cryoritize; people can get upset and people might even cry as their project, their idea, or their need gets cut.  But business is tough.  And it’s tougher when you only prioritize.

ICrutch: (eye-cruch) It is a terrible affliction.  It’s when one uses the Smartphone, the blackberry or the IPad to keep those eyes low and thus avoid talking to someone and stay tuned out.   It’s when one posts a blog instead of having a needed meeting. It’s weak and it’s selfish.  It’s when someone Texts when they should have picked up the phone or looked you in the eye.  Sufferers of ICrutch here see technology as a way to collapse their scary world instead of confidently expanding it.  

Intervaluepropositionalistically ( in-ter-val-you-propp-pohs-zish-shon-nal-liss-tick-al-lee )  Ah yes, finally a word that reflects when you are speaking about a product or service’s complete set of value propositions!  You can use the word in just about any ol’ meeting using phrases like “Intervaluepropositionalistically speaking, I’d say we have a real advantage here!” or “What a game changer, intervaluepropositionalistically speaking that is!”  AND the best part is, it gives the current longest word in common use (i.e. non-medical) “interdenominationalistically” (meaning across all faiths) a beat down as our new word is 32 letters long versus a measly 28! 

Here’s to hoping these words help you in a changing world and here’s to rooting for one of these guys to win Word of the Year in 2011.  Love it when a Rookie wins.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

3 To Listen For In 2011

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Yep.  Listen closely Sellers.  They’re gonna happen. 

Best be ready.

1) Clickety clack clickety clack.  “What’s your name again?” you are asked by the prospect and then you hear the sound repeated: clickety clack, clickety clack.  Yep, she’s typing away and Googling you Mr. Sales Rep checking to see if you are worthy to meet with or even just to listen to anymore.  You best have a very compelling web presence.

2) “When can we see each other?”  It won’t be those 20 lbs you lose creating your sudden irresistibility or even your liberal spraying of Axe that will make this phrase be heard in 2011 but rather, your clients will really just want to see you before they move forward.  What do you look like Ms. Account Manager?  Do you have a professional YouTube video I can see?  Can we Skype our next meeting?  Where can I see your face; on LinkedIn?, Twitter?,  Facebook?   Ironically (yet fittingly), faces will mean more than ever in this increasingly digital but less trusting world.

3) Sploouurgshhthwwppt!  Yes, you guessed it!  That is the sound of a self inflicted needle plunging into the eye of your customer.  Gross yes, but it is often metaphorically a choice people make versus listening or considering us and we just can’t hear it over the sound of the customer sigh.  The stakes are higher now with each and every client impression.   Information is free.  Reviews about you or your company are free.  Products & advice are often free so when we interrupt a customer via marketing or sales in 2011 we had better bring our A game.  .  When you waste client’s time by not bringing value in every contact you just might hear that sound as that crazy busy customer yearns to suffer a different pain.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Wii Bit of Advice

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It was a blast.  It was nerve wracking.  It was mentally exhausting.  

And there was a lesson to be learned.  

Strike One.        Strike Two.        Strike Three.   

No baseball here, those strikes came in the first three frames of Nintendo’s Wii Bowling.    Cool.

Bowling alone on the Wii gaming system in my basement “Man Room” Saturday, little did I know it would be a night for the history books in the ol’ McCarthy homestead.

Strike Four.       Strike Five. 

Five strikes in a row.   Don’t think I’ve done that before.  If I did, it was never in the first 5 frames out of the gate, that’s for sure.   I’m not going to lie to you and say that I don’t ever bowl with the Wii;- I have.   Not that much though, and not for months now.

Strike Six.      Gulp.

I’m feeling pretty good right now.  I know exactly what I am doing.  I am holding the controller in a special way with my hand held high but slightly cocked to the left.  I know that on my backswing, my hand is brushing within an inch or two of the Christmas tree because I hear the jingle of the ornaments from the breeze my arm swing makes.   I’m taking a perfect and consistent half step forward toward the TV and with a jagged sharp twist of my wrist just at the right time – I am giving the ball a wicked left hook right into the pocket. 

Strike Seven.           Strike Eight.  

Holy Jimoly.      Gulp.  Gulp.   

Strike Nine.

I am standing, just staring at the screen; looking at the 9 strikes in a row.  Wow.   I admit I am perspiring a little as I realize I am on a course with destiny.   Am I going to bowl a perfect game? A perfect 300 game?  There are websites dedicated to bowling the perfect 300 game in a Wii.  It is not at all easy to do.   Is it possible for me to get 12 strikes in a row?

Deep breath…..hold controller up high, angle to the left……press the “B” button…….

WAIT !  I yell to myself silently…..   This is no good……….  I am alone. 

What good is bowling a perfect game without a witness?   What good is playing golf by yourself and getting a hole in one if nobody sees it but you?   What good is making the half court behind the Subaru, off the garage “nothing but net” basketball shot if you don’t have someone there to see you do it?

“Boys!  Boys!”  I yelled upstairs.  “Come downstairs, you have to see this!” 

Both came running.  I showed them what was happening; The 9 strikes in a row; The perfect game in progress.   I knew I was taking a big risk bringing attention to myself.  My timing will certainly be off now.  But at least I have witnesses.  Maybe I can do this and these two 13 year olds will see electronic bowling history made before their eyes.

Strike Ten.

Would you believe it?    I was more shocked than anyone.   I did not lose my touch.  I had the special grip, the swing back, the breeze, the stride, the twist and of course; the 10th strike.

Two more to go.   I smiled; nodding my head while simultaneously showing the boys my special grip on the controller.  I then pressed the B button and swung my arm back……

Into the Christmas Tree……..aaahhhhggghhh…………and only…. nine pins fall down……

 

I picked up the spare and ended with a 289. 

Crushed though I was having missed the perfect game of 300, it was the best I’ve ever done and I think it might have been worse if I had rolled a 300 and there was no one there to see it.

So what’s the lesson learned by this story?   It’s simple.   Everyone’s big event is better with someone special there to see.

When the anniversary date comes for your 10 year employee, be there when the gift and the certificate are presented; it makes a difference in the experience.   The “drive by” a week later acknowledging the date just isn’t the same.

When the results come in on the sales contest on the 3rd business day of every month; don’t post the winner on the wall or email the results to all.  Stand by the winner’s desk, wait for her to arrive and share the news aloud for all to hear.  She’ll remember that feeling and that moment far better than the memory of opening a congratulatory email message.

When the promotion is approved, the new program launches, the degree is acquired, the first presentation is given and other big moments in a person’s work life happen perfect or not, having witnesses first hand makes it all that much better.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Holiday Stories – Laugh & Learn

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We all have them. 

Maybe they are part of family lore.  Maybe they are things only you remember. 

And maybe some are funny.

Sometimes the funny stories are better.  If they make you laugh when you think back on them – maybe there’s a lesson there.   In fact, if you know anything about humor; there almost always is.

My first experience with the damage done by leaking confidential information happened 40 years ago today on Christmas Eve.   Let’s just call it, given the recent news stories, a St. NickyLeak so to speak.  I was only 5 years old and it happened just a mere 30 seconds after my 7 year old brother was told (in sworn confidence) the truth about Santa by Father.  Racing down the hall, older brother Kevin ran into our bedroom, slammed the door behind him and exclaimed that Santa was (gulp) ..fake.  Good times.  Later, Kevin worked a few years for U.S. Government (with a real security clearance mind you).  I was a little worried about that.

My first experience in workplace safety training occurred at very young age too.  For as long as we lived with our parents, there was no live tree in the McCarthy household for fear of an infestation of bugs or far worse, the invasion by larger animals that may have burrowed or nested in the festive tree and that would surely take over the house.   There were also no electric lights on said Christmas tree for fear of fire (ever- no matter how large the UL listing got) and quite understandably then there was no roasting of chestnuts of any kind as our fireplace was never opened (not even once).   I learned to love tinsel, fear live trees and continue to be amazed that someone can have a real fire inside a house.  I wouldn’t trade any of it though because today, I’m always working safe and living safe;  checking the oven, the stove, the basement, the emergency brake……….

My best experience for understanding the value of knowing your audience occurred during Christmas 2001 when my 4 year old son showed a quick understanding of the game of chess.  As we began to play with the shiny new board (a gift I cheerily procured   having suffered nearly a year of torment playing endless games of Connect 4) and he smartly moved pieces around the board I said “That is very astute of you, son”.  He froze, looked at me oddly, squinted hard, then balled his fists up and snapped “Well, you’re “A-stupid” too!!””.

Be it this Holiday or any other time people and family gather to celebrate; funny happens and stories are born.  Next time you tell or experience one around these times, look for the lesson- I’m betting it’s there.

Till next time,

Grow the Business.

Mark

Lean In

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When you visit a small business, lean in and take a little peek thru that half opened storeroom door.  You just might be able to see a little arm attached to a littler hand holding a bright crayon scribbling away on papers laying about that worktable.  Of course then you realize, that Kristen who is tallying the receipts out front, is this little one’s Mommy. 

When you grab that coveted Hi back stool at the local bar (you know, the chair just opposite the TV but kind of on the corner so you see everything), go ahead and order that Sam Adams and as you wait, lean in a bit and you just might see a purse on the floor overflowing with bills including those yellow “final notice” ones.  For a second you get that sick feeling in your stomach too- you’ve been there.  Of course then you realize, Mary must have just raced here for the closing shift and is praying she makes enough in business and tips tonight to at least get the late late late ones paid.

When you take Max for a walk and see “Mike’s All Pro Painting” truck next door at Dave’s house you’re curious so you step a little closer.  You notice the truck is clean with a nice logo on the side- a real pro.  But lean in a bit and take a look inside the cab and you might just see a catastrophe of burger wrappers and coffee cups.  But as you look even closer you see in the midst of this mess a copy of Entrepreneur magazine and WSJ’s guide to Small Business.   Of course then you realize, Mike has much bigger dreams.

These folks and many other small business owners have kids, bills and dreams.

And many of you have the chance every day in what you do to help these folks grow their business.  You have the advice, the ideas, the products and the services that can do that for them.  

But So what?  Growing their business doesn’t really mean anything.  At least not always to us it doesn’t.

We have to think deeper.

Helping Kristen, Mary and Mike grow their business is way more than just growing their business to them.   Growing helps them pay for that after school program, or for those late late bills or for that seminar to learn how to secure an Angel investor and live that dream.

Growing is often a wonderful means to an end for small business owners.  And those ends aren’t much different than what you and me have in mind.

So lean in.

But lean way in this time and give em’ a hand.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Wicked Awesome Awards

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If I was in fact, having an actual awards ceremony, I think these four winners would give some inspiring acceptance speeches.   And if they actually knew they were winning a Wicked Awesome Award (they don’t) they would be thrilled.

Until the WAA’s reach that “coveted” status, the awards actually mean more to me (and hopefully you) than anyone else.   Why?  Because each of these winners affected me in some wonderfully wicked awesome way.   And you get the benefit of knowing how.

Each of these people over the last 6 weeks did something simple, yet so helpful they inspired me to stop, grab my red book and write down these moments.  That’s a big deal in my book (literally) and makes them worthy winners.    

Here they are;  

Adolphe at Verizon who called me on his lunch break from his own cell phone to confirm that my cell phone was working properly while I was traveling in Kansas City last month.  He said he would; I didn’t really believe it but by golly, he did.    

Helen at Target who checked left, right and then all around her looking for her boss.  And not having found him, grinned, left her register and helped the elderly woman bag her groceries way down at the end of the checkout lane.  Helen, you’re right; some things just aren’t in the training manual.

Rev. Dean who sat next to me on the plane last month, each of us sharing stories about work and life, stopped mid sentence and sincerely asked if there was someone in my life he could pray for over the next month.   There was Rev. Dean, thank you, thank you very much.

Tim and Jimmy at Hannaford, who insisted on loading my wife’s groceries in the pouring rain saying “Just get in the car- we got it!”.  Tim is a made up name (and so is Jimmy) but this complete stranger and his son totally made my day and I wasn’t even there.

Congratulations all.  No lives saved or Herculean efforts here but Wicked Awesome for sure.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark