Your Favorites & Mine

Your Favorites & Mine

Happy Friday and New Year,

Here’s a quick look back at 2011.

The votes are in (ok the views). Here are the top 5 (listed 1-5) most viewed blog posts at this site in 2011; presumably your favorites. Good taste I’d say and thank you for your readership. I’ve added 5 others I’d add as my favorites.

Look around a bit. What’s the worst that can happen? Steal something shamelessly and grow the business?

Top 5 Most Read Posts (2011)

You Had Me At Hello (and then, you just let me go)

The Most Powerful Phrase In Sales

Offline, Online & Flatline

My 25 Secrets Of Selling To Small Businesses

Help For Looooonnngg Sales Cycles

My 5 Favorite Posts of 2011 (aside from above!)

Customs Fail and Redemption

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Why I Hate Disney

It’s their employees mostly.

I just spent three miserable days at Disney World.

I was at a Learning conference and that was great but the employees at Disney were something else.

Enough with the eye contact! I don’t know you and you don’t know me so quit looking me in the eyes all the time. Let me avert my gaze at the ground or the menu or my beloved smartphone or anywhere else I’m comfortable with. My mother used to look me in the eyes all the time – usually when I was in trouble. I spent 3 days walking around Disney wondering what the heck I did wrong.

They wouldn’t let me open my own doors (though I know exactly how to do it and have never injured myself ) and even more rudely – after I struggled to dig out cash, uncrumbling it from my pocket to hand it out as a tip, they refused to take it. How insulting and ungrateful.

Obviously there is lot of potential trouble brewing around the place too. I’ve never seen more well dressed managers and supervisors walking around always checking on things. Always ambling up, smiling and chit-chatting with the staff. Made me nervous. Must be a history of random guest chaos or something. They should just go back into their offices and only get involved when someone has a complaint, like normal bosses do.

I’m not old and hardly selfless but given the number of “Mr. McCarthy’s” and “Thank You’s” I got from the staff, I thought I was both. I am darn proud not to be a Baby Boomer ( having missed that designation by a whole year thank you very much) and frankly I gave at the office, so I’m not sure why I remind you of your dad or what you are so gushingly thankful for.

Finally, I was appalled that I never saw a Disney employee sitting down or wearing anything but a smile. Nobody had a chair whether they were behind a desk, a booth, a counter or actually anywhere. And smiling all the time? That’s just creepy. Heck, I spend most of my day sitting down and hardly ever smiling from what I’m told.

Anyway, I heard Disney was conducting some kind of session at the conference about how they train their employees (ahem.. “cast members”). It was supposed to be a “best in class” kind of session. Yeah right. Got it already. Glad I didn’t waste my time going to that one.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

It Never Was About You

In business to business selling (particularly small business selling), good sales people begin to fail when it becomes about them.

I see it all the time but I don’t mean when it becomes about being number one, or hitting the goals or maxing out on commission plans;- ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Consider rather, the talented Sales Rep who begins with a new company or now has to sell a new product. He or she is trained and coached to present to the small business owner not only what this product or service does for them but what it does or has done for small businesses just like the prospect they are speaking to.

That makes perfect sense because the credibility of the solution or product obviously is not with the Sales Rep – it’s with the common customer experiences of customers that look just like the prospect. Just like it should be.

But then something strange happens.

As the sales person becomes more successful, they start to believe they can skip all that “other customer stuff” because after all, they understand it all now. They start to omit the small business statistics, the stories and the testimonials of other small businesses in their pitches. The sales rep begins to launch into monologues about what they themselves know, what they themselves believe and what they themselves recommend.

But the problem is “they themselves” still have comparatively little credibility with a small business prospect and frankly boasting about their time or years selling the product is a poor substitute for sharing what other small businesses are actually doing.

It’s never good to stop leveraging with other like small businesses do. Never. Sure, your credibility and experience counts over time but know your audience (SB’s) – Survey after survey will show “what others do” is a highly influential variable in the sales process with small business.

If you are a sales rep who had a great start last quarter or last year but are starting to tail off or perhaps you coach sales reps that have had a great start but are fading; think hard about why. If there’s scant reference to other successful customers and what they do, then it’s time to pretend you don’t know much about your product and sell like that again.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

My 25 Secrets for Selling to Small Businesses

Since 1988 I’ve sold, serviced and essentially provided for my family via the results of my interactions with, and strategies toward in large part, small business. Maybe that’s you too. Maybe you are an indepent, an employee of a large firm or even a small business selling to small businesses – no matter — this is all good for you.

I’ve forgotten far more than I’ve learned I suspect, but here are my 25 best kept secrets for selling to small businesses.

The worst time to sell to a small business is M-F,10am to 12pm and 1-3pm. Ain’t nobody in small business interested in doing any business but their own at those times. Work harder on the fringes!
New In Business is gold. It’s a little like a chick imprinting on you just after hatching. Help a small business when they are starting out and they will be fiercely loyal to you.
Not every SB wants to grow! (but they sure as hell want to at least keep what they have). Use a maintain angle.
Testimonials are so table stakes now. What you need are testimonials from someone your SB prospect knows.
Surprise! Surprise! Small business owners are or once were; sales people. They can smell your trial closes and rotating yes’s from 100 yards away.
The most important word to think, proclaim, represent and lead with when talking with a small business owner is the word “easy”.
Never forget how prideful, ego laden and direct a business owner usually is about his/her business!
I’ve never said the word “small” to a small business. Ever. I just won’t do it.
Your price, your service, your terms and even your competition are not remotely close to the biggest problem you face with small business. Time (and getting it) is the biggest challenge by far.
Whoever answers the phone at a small business is good at customer service, great at connecting you to brother Billy and a pro at getting rid of salespeople like you.
Everyone in a small business has at least some influence in the decision. Sorry. Dems’ the apples.
If you don’t make it easy to switch to you, you won’t get a sale.
You get to go home to your kids. The SB owner’s kids are in the back room coloring on the folding table. Free up their time to spend more time with family and you win.
The first step in the SB sales model isn’t discovery or introduction or greeting or any other silly thing; it’s building credibility. That needs to be your obsession.
Time is so precious that “either/or” leading questions about anything are always better than open ended questions for a busy small business owner.
Your customers have customers. If you focus your solution on how it impacts your customer’s customers then it’s a win-win and the sale is easier.
“What most people do..” is the most powerful phrase in small business sales. Use it liberally.
The SB’s website and/or storefront is the “face” of the business. You can tell a lot by just looking at someone’s face. Do that first!
I bet a killer secret- to- be in cold calling is the phrase “Did I catch you at a terrible time or do you have 90 seconds?” right after you say your name and company. (I just learned it so try it and let me know!)
Your SB’s don’t realize yet (most of em’ anyway), that that cherished Word of Mouth is changing. Not in value, but in the tools being used to pass that along. Help your SB’s see the value of social media!
SB’s don’t want to hear about your “8:30to 5 shift” (they don’t have no stinkin’ shift) the old small business you had (that failed) or the other business you go to “just like theirs” (their competition). So just knock it off.
It’s not what you think, believe or analyze about your SB customer or prospect so much that matters- it’s what they think of you.
Asking for help always worked for me. And you know what worked best? 2 sales people knocking on doors (one being a trainee). You always got time! People (SB’s too) like to help people.
Slick, coiffed, corporate and the King’s English doesn’t fly in Small Business. Be normal, polite and smart but don’t be everything SB’s hate in the first 30 seconds inside the door.
The greatest secret to selling to Small Business? They aren’t a sale, a lead, a customer, a prospect, your commission or even a business; they’re human and would just like a little help.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Odd Duck

What would you be if you believed that the real selling began after you closed a sale?

What would you be if you believed that the real service began after the phone call ends?

What would you be if you believed that real customer value began with what you believe and not what you have?

What would you be if you believed that your real job began with what you think and not with what you do?

Heck, what would you be if you believed that the real meaning of life begins with what you leave ahead and not what you leave behind?

Answer: You would be the most beautiful and wonderfully odd duck of a person, performer or company.

Ever.

****

P.S. Everywhere you see the word “be” in a question, swap in the word “do”, go grab a pencil and answer it. At length.

Then do it.

Odd Duck you will be. How wonderful.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Oxymorons

Yeah, these words don’t go together anymore.

Big Network: Nope, you have no network if it’s too big. Smaller is better. Smaller is more influential. Smaller is more trustworthy. Too many connections or too many followers and too many fans and trust dissipates and doubt rises. Micro Networks are growing and will grow and grow and then will split off and get smaller and smaller. And then rinse and repeat.

Sales Expert: They call me one but I know that phrase is dead. Sales is marketing is sales is teaching is sales is training. It’s all blending together now. Marketing people sell and sales people market (and are marketed themselves). Trainers sell (because knowledge is the new hot product) and trainers market and customers sell and customers market for themselves or you. I see it every day. It’s not always comfortable but that linear business model is no more- the prospects dear friends, have said they want it this way.

Closed Sale: It’s a new game out there. Nothing is closed when the sale is done. Nobody need be loyal anymore. Nobody need be local anymore. It’s all about wanting to want to be. So when a sales is closed, that is when selling really begins now. When a sale is closed that is when investment and calories and phone calls and unbelievable customer experience has to begin. It’s too easy to walk away now. ClosedSale? Hardly – it’s only just begun.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Fool With a Tool is Still a Fool

A fool with a tool is still a fool.

Me using a Weed Whacker? Nah, I can handle that. Me after logging into my website control panel or trying to build a half decent Facebook Business page? Yep, that’s me as a fool.

Last week one of our customers said, “I so cherished the time with my marketing advisor because heck, a fool with a tool is still a fool”. Everyone in the room nodded a collective head in agreement.

It was beautiful.

And timely. Because right now is when to amp things up in small business that people cherish given the sketchy economy the confusingmarketing world we live in.

Small Business success is a lot of things and successful Marketing is a big piece of it. But successfulmarketing, (no matter how much we want it to be), is not a commodity, or a widget or something that spits out of an assembly line.

Successful Small Businessmarketing is not just about using 3 random “tools” like Groupon, Emailmarketing and Pay Per Click plus 4 platforms, 5 posts, a bucket of content and a prayer. Those are, without superb advice and counsel, just shiny and trendymarketing tools fluttering about meaninglessly unconnected and ineffective.

Here is the truth; successfulmarketing is a science. It has a formula, a cadence, a structure and a path.

And it needs to be learned. And it needs to be taught. And it needs to be studied. And in this ever changingmarketing space, it needs to be continuously learned, taught and studied.

And it’s not just onlinemarketing that needs the learnin’. How to use demographic data to determine mailing lists, how to network in local business groups or how to use QR codes on your business cards or better, how to connect online and offlinemarketing really well is not all that crystal clear for many small businesses either.

So if you are a small business owner or someone who helps them, quit obsessing with the marketing “tools” and realize that the lead story is the insight you need to use them.

We fall into this trap in many parts of our working lives. It’s easy but foolhardy to just see the “Whats” and grab on to those tools be they online or offlinemarketing wizardry or even sales tools like CRMs and online Demos. It’s harder yet smarter to see, get or teach to the “How” of using these tools well.

Insight, in the eyes of those who need it most it seems, is the most cherished tool of all.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Silence is Not Golden (And 2 Ways to Avoid It)

Silence is not golden.

It might be in the movie theater or as your buddy starts his back swing, but not in Sales.

I get the whole “Don’t be the first to speak ” thing in Sales when trying to close a deal- it’s pretty 80’s but that kind of silence has it’s place I guess.

But more often than not, silence from a customer in Sales means either they don’t care or they are confused.

I’ve written plenty about the don’t care silence problem but confusion makes people quiet too you know.

I heard silence from a customer named Kelly last week. I was listening in as she called about a service offering. Dead silence……………….. as the sales rep shared the values of the service………. till she finally said, “I have no idea what “_______” means”. It was a critical piece. She breathed a sigh and chuckled. She was embarrassed.

Have you ever been in a meeting and no one says a word? It’s not always because people don’t care. Silence happens when smart people get lost in a sea of unfamiliar acronyms or in stories of experiences that just aren’t making sense for the discussion.

Did you ever clam up in an electronics department not because you didn’t want the product but because the sales rep wasn’t making sense to you and so you just stopped talking and muttered “all set” and walked away?

You must know your audience. You must know the relative complexity of your products. Kelly was a small business owner; a prideful person with a fairly large ego. Confusion can make people feel dumb. Confusion can make people tense, even angry. And most critically, Confusion can stop the talking and the sales process cold.

2 ways to avoid the Confusion Silence.

1.) When it is 1 to 1: When it is just you and he/ she over the phone or face to face; (i.e. nobody else around) – you can ask a simple question before you begin to converse, sell or service. “To make this most helpful for you, could I ask if you would consider yourself very knowledgeable with _______ , somewhat knowledge, or not that familiar with ___________?” This gets that answer without embarrassment. This respects that just because you live and breathe your job’s products and processes everyday- most of your clients and prospects don’t – and are starting from a different place than you.

2.) In a meeting with more than 1 person: When the room goes quiet and you start to think nobody cares, stop and wonder “are people just confused?” You could ask that question out loud (like everyone else ridiculously does) and get of course, no response (not many folks want to shout out “I don’t get it!” in front of others) or you can inject this phrase “At this point, some folks often ask about _________ “ or “Sometimes people ask me ________________about this” and then look around the room. If you get sudden eye contact from some or head nods, you know you’ve got confusion silence happening and you need to delve differently.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Kidnapped

I realize now I never told him what we were doing and why we were doing it in any real detail. It just needed to get done.

I was busy, so he needed to be busy. I just told him to get in the car with not much more than a “We gotta go!”

We went to Lowe’s. We went to get him a haircut. We went to the grocery store.

Finally on our way to a fourth destination he said, “Am I not a real person here? Don’t I matter? Where are we going!!? ”

I realized then that I had essentially kidnapped my 12 year old son.

The problem is “Kidnapper” was not on my bucket list. And a bigger problem might be that it happens in business more than we think.

During the kidnapping, my child felt anxious about where we were going. He felt anxious about not being able to influence where we were going. He felt anxious about not having any control of the situation. And he felt anxious that he’s as the mercy of his captor (me) who is not talking too much.

In hindsight, I think that if I offered more in guidance, direction or real or perceived collaboration about these errands, he would have felt a lot more comfortable and would have been engaged in helping me get everything done.

In foresight, I wonder if we as leaders or account executives or customer service reps unintentionally “kidnap” our employees or customers at times. I wonder if we unintentionally kidnap these folks in a major way for as long as weeks or months or in a mini way for as little as hours or minutes. Either way, kidnapping is a problem.

I wonder in the rush to get the message out, the order placed, the demo done or that call completed if we aren’t always so clear enough about where we are going and why we are going there.

I wonder if we aren’t open minded enough about being influenced or sharing some control along the way in these and other situations. I wonder if we don’t realize that our charges or customers feel as if they are at times, at our mercy.

What I don’t wonder about is this; If there is anxiousness about where, why or about influence or control, then employees and customers just stop. Stop listening, stop caring and in the worst case, stop attaching themselves to you.

In the end, ask yourself if you’ve ever heard or sensed iterations of my son’s words to me on Saturday from an employee or customer. “Do I matter? Where are we going!? ” If the answer is yes then check the kidnapping skills at the door.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

6 Rules Of Marketing & Sales

I admit that I like rules.

Without some rules you see, it’s really just chaos out there.

1) If the content of your campaign or sales presentation is poo, it does not matter how many ways you distribute it or how many impressions of your poo you give; it is still poo.

2) It’s more important to first understand and act aggressively upon what your customer thinks about you than what you think about your customer.

3) All the new ways to communicate with customers and prospects are by definition now, marketing and sales tools. Everyone in each group should learn to use them well.

4) Sales is an extension of Marketing. Sales is an extension of Marketing. Sales is an extension of Marketing. And Sales is an extension of Marketing.

5) Knowledge and Service is more of what many of us are selling and marketing today. They both therefore are as much a product as any traditional tangible product and need all the planning, support and care any widget ever did.

6) The only reason Marketing and Sales exist is because your customers are not jazzed enough about your products that they’ll go out and sell them for you. Aim for that. When that happens, Nirvana is achieved and no rules need apply.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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