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

A Card

She looked at the envelope and didn’t know quite what to think. She didn’t expect anything from him and hadn’t for a long time. He had drifted away it seemed, they hardly ever talked yet she still felt loyal to him.

So she opened the card.

Dear Erin,

I wasn’t sure given all that was going on that you’d stay with me. But I am so happy that you did.

We have shared much over the years but I know I’ve taken you for granted. I know I just expected you to always be there. I know I just assumed you would never leave me.

And you didn’t. For that I am so grateful.

When we hit that rough patch last year I got scared. I’m still a little scared. I realize I had gotten careless around you and around others in my family. You Erin, were there for me in the beginning when I was young and just starting out and I think I forgot that.

This note is very important to me because you are important to me.

This note says “thank you” for being there then and being there now. This note embodies that adage “Make new friends but keep the old, for one is silver, the other gold”.

Erin, thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for keeping me close. This note says I won’t forget that ever again.

Thank you for your business,

Steve

Surprised? Unfortunately, most of us reading this probably are.

But Erin is not a lot different from many customers who have been with you for a few years. She’s likely similar to customers you have or maybe your business has, that despite the fiscal challenges, the new competitors she could choose from, and maybe even absorbing your price increases, has chosen to quietly stick with you.

Would a business owner write a note or have a card ultra personalized like in the above example for Erin? Sure, why not? Maybe not as much as written above (but I wouldn’t besmirch anyone who wanted to write a card for their top 10- 100 customers like above- well worth it!) The point is that a card done right can be a very special message to a customer, one that can make them feel cherished.

A well done card maybe for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or for any Holiday can mean so much more than a mere ”thanks”. Heck, a simple “thank you” note done right can mean something quite wonderful.

And it should.

It’s time to start planning about how you’ll acknowledge your clients.

Do it better this year.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Salesperson’s Halloween Poem

Beautiful Poetry can lift the soul, make one weep inconsolably, inspire through a lifetime and especially around the Holidays, bring great strength and joy to all who read it.

When I write poetry about my beloved salespeople….not so much.

A Salesperson’s Halloween

Oh Hallowed Eve, oh night of ghoul,
Your day is full shrieks and shrills.
But I’m thinking what trick or treaters really need
Is some help with basic sales skills.

A 3 foot tall, pillowcase toting Dracula
Squeaking out “Trick or Treat” is pretty weak,
It’s actually a cold call gosh darnit!
Yet no effort to get the neighbor to speak?

Wee Goblins, Witches and Headless Horsemen
Offer some scares but no sales approach.
Don’t we all want more candy? More upgrades?
Let me at em’, Let me coach!

So with a wicked twist on Trick or Treating
I’ll lead this effort as a hands-on leader
As I on this night, and finally for a change,
Will be a Treetee and not a Treater.

We’ve seen it before, the real tall ones
With the beards and even a cigarette dangling
Those arms outstretched as child pretenders,
Doing hardcore candy angling.

But being a middle aged sales pro, I’ll be different,
Use real sales skills and dress like Freddy Krueger!
I’ll either get oodles more candy and teach these kids,
Or end up in a cruiser.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

6 Questions Never To Ask A Customer

Current customer or potential customer it makes no difference, here are 6 questions that need to be dead.

1. “How are you today?” Nothing screams I’m a sales rep like “How are you today?” Jeepers Criminy! You just interrupted a customer with an unannounced visit or a phone call and you ask that? Might as well have the words “Commissioned Sales Rep” read across their phone display or plastered on a bright red button affixed to your lapel.

2. “Are you the decision maker?” What, are you stuck in “Boiler Room” reruns? How much more offensive can you be? Most people you need to ask that question to have some influence (if not being the wife, the husband or colleague of the one who is). Talk about self serving and rude. Try being polite and ask “Who besides yourself has a say in the decision process?”

3. “Are you happy with your current supplier?” All right! You are looking to trash the current vendor! Way to make a sale. Or maybe you are hoping you are calling at the right time (exactly) when dissatisfaction is underway (good luck with that sales strategy). So 80’s. Presume always the customer is happy with the current provider and sell on your competitive differentiators. If there is dissatisfaction, you’ll hear it then.

4. “Would you like 100 or 200?” The assumptive sale died in 1979. It really did along with Disco and literally, John Wayne. Don’t you realize that more than half the people you sell to today used to, or currently “sell” in their own jobs today? You don’t think they recognize an assumptive close? You don’t think it raises all kinds of tension and slams the door on you? So sad. Well at least now you know 31 years later and “I’m not going to have to hit you, kid”.

5. “Would you like to “save money”, “save time” or “save the planet?” Lords of Light! This is the most offensive of them all. Never ask a question in which there is only one right answer or the person sounds like an idiot. I am shocked how often I hear these types of questions, or worse see them in marketing material or training material. Of course people care about saving money, time and the darn planet; quit trying to wrap your product around that offensive question.

6. “May I ask what you are wearing?” True Story. His name was David. It was 1991. He was a young promising sales rep in the call center. I was his coach. We were working on “building rapport”. I taught young David to ask intelligent questions during the order entry process as a means to build credibility and thusly improve his chances of a cross sell. Solid stuff. David was flustered. I was sitting plugged in next to him listening. I whispered “..Ask her a question!” He looked at me wide eyed and clueless. I whispered louder this time.. “Ask her a question!” He did. I wonder how David is doing today.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

You Need A Fan Club

You do. I kid you not.

You need a real fan club with people who sing your praises, who will talk about you behind your back and in front of your face. You need a fan club of people who will write gloriously about you, who will make audio recordings of how much they love you and even on occasion, a video exclaiming how much you mean to them.

Yep. You gotta have a fan club. You my friend, need “Groupies”.

Here’s why.

If you sell stuff like custom printing, financial tools, marketing products or most anything else where your opinion matters, then you need fans. Why? Because credibility matters more than ever.

In this over whelmed, data spewing, low trust environment clients and prospects live in today, your influence, opinion, intelligence and skill will have more to say about a customer buying products in this space than ever before. You need your personal fan club at your fingertips to help you sell yourself.

You need credibility because when you sell this stuff, you are more important. Credibility keeps the sale alive and moving. What you do, what you say, what you know and how you sell is a bigger influencer to the client’s buying decision process here than when you are selling for example, ink cartridges or packing tape.

Imagine a DVD you leave with a prospect that is just testimonials about you and your work
Imagine the link to YouTube you send that has one of your happy customers praising you and your skills.
Imagine a customer testimonial reference list complete with phone numbers printed on the back of your business card.

Imagine.

Get started today building your fan club. Ask for and collect testimonials. Collect great examples of the work you have done and package them up. Get started and build the tools online and offline to advertise you to prospective fans.

Do it well and you’ll get more customers. Heck, if you’re not careful you might get a van full of Groupies following you around where ever you go!

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Dear Business Owner

Dear business owner,

It’s sketchy out there.

But you know that. It’s been like this for a couple of years. In my job, I get asked for advice about the marketplace and about business and about turning things around.

Hope it’s OK I’m going to share my advice with all of you now. The advice is real good I promise.

When you own a business today, taking a lot of risks probably feels crazier than ever. Except that it’s not. Risk taking right now is what you have to do if you want your business to survive and thrive. It is riskier right now not to do anything or to just do what you always did.

When you own a business today, you have to step out. Be noticed. Look for new ways, not old ways, to sell your products and to get and keep customers. The rules have already changed. The basics you might think you should fall back on: the “tried and true” so to speak, are pretty much the “tried and failed”. They don’t work anymore.

When you own a business today, you have to be indispensable to those who pay you. You have to add value and be a difference maker. There is no “under the radar” anymore or just trying to keep on keeping on. You must get on the radar.

When you own a business today, even the “givens” don’t seem to be as reliable anymore. Sales are off. Everyone is judging you no matter how long you’ve been at this game in this tough economy. Seems like the “business” has to be earned all over again and again. Everyone is watching you and all your touch points need to have a “wow” factor.

When you own a business today, it’s clearer that innovation and creativity is going to rule the day. Getting out there and doing that and actually investing in yourself, changing and updating your image and your brand, that’s going to take some serious work. You better start now.

Of course, even if you don’t own a literal business; you actually do.

That business is you.

You are president and CEO of You Corp and quite frankly, the advice above is as much for you and me the individual, as it is for any traditional business right now.

Have at it.
Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Great Sales Training Debacle

Great sales training feels like a colossal waste of time.

Who needs it? Why bother? Everybody knows you won’t do it.

Think two or three smart steps ahead in managing an account? Skip it. It’s what you must do but the vast majority work on it hard in training class, get jazzed about why it’s so important to do and then, well …”It’s a lotta work man to be strategizing all these accounts and it’s bad enough I gotta update all this stuff in saleforce.com, update that pipeline..…”

Practice or maybe even write out different scripts for voicemails or phone calls based on your objectives and your client research? Yeah right. It’s essential stuff but after class most people never write or practice another script cuz’ “Hey that takes time and I gotta pound out some calls…”

Quit selling the damn product and start selling you or your company first? Ha! Thirty minutes after that truism most sales reps are slamming “limited time” pitches or stupid “How happy are you with your current supplier” questions trying to get the widget in the client’s hands. I see it all the time; everything’s gotta get sold like within 30 seconds of talking to a customer or prospect.

What the heck is wrong with people?

Lazy is what it is. The work after a sales training is just too hard I guess.

You sales leaders aren’t off the hook either; most of you ignore or don’t actively support that you have to see sales behaviors change first before the sales results change.

The good news is all the laziness sure keeps us sales trainers and sales writers busy though. Busy is good.

Offended? Don’t be. If you are reading this, chances are good you’re in a group that gets that great sales training means there is more hard work after a sales training class and not less work.

Bet you know someone though going to sales training who doesn’t realize this. Help them understand this mess about sales training and maybe your sales quota next month won’t be expected to carry them.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Why Your Network Stinks

Have a lot of followers on Twitter? Nice. A gazillion friends on Facebook? Cool. 500+ LinkedIn connections? I’m happy for you.

Sometimes that don’t mean nothin’ though.

Marlene, one very talented trainer on the West Coast, reminded those of us gathered for workshops last week about the real value of a good network.

A real network, Marlene taught us, is about how you compliment each other and how you leverage what is different about you. A real network isn’t about how many of you there are or worse, about how many of you there are that are just like you all connected.

Marlene made us publicly identify the unique skills of our in-room “network” and record them in a literal (and of course, metaphorical) little black book allowing each of us to walk out with a networking gem.

“Use this book” she said “to tap into the help you need when you need it from your network.”

Thanks Marlene. I think we sometimes forget that

A real network aligns you the sales expert with Jimmy the time management guru because one day you’ll both need each other when you finally decide to go chase that dream together.

A real network aligns you the online marketing savant with Sandy the offline marketing pro when that prospect you share just wants to grow the heck out of her business and yes she’s still got brick and mortar on Main Street.

A real network aligns you the call center supervisor with Art the field sales manager when Art needs to beef up his team’s phone skills and you need to start dabbling in feet on the street.

Networks need to work. And while amassing lots of fans who like you (and too often are like you), seems to be the focus for so many of us today, the better approach should be asking how does this connection fill the gaps that each of us have.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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