A Wii Bit of Advice

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 10^th 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 3^rd 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

The Wicked Awesome Awards

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

What’s Easy

I write a lot about easy. But this one’s a little different.

I write often about how important it is to small business customers and prospects that your products are easy, that your website is easy, that your billing is easy, that your ordering is easy, or that your customer service is easy. Basically easy is what small business needs.

Here’s the rub though. What’s easy for small business isn’t necessarily easy for you.

What’s easy for small business is:

To Keep Who They Got: Dislodging a vendor in a small business is not easy. Last I checked SB’s don’t have a team of sales or process strategists charged with looking at the value of bringing something or somebody in brand new. Nope it’s more like, “I’ve been with them forever”, or “I know his family”, or “It’s too much work to change mid year”, or “This thing is like 1/100^th of my budget why do I care?” etc. etc. You have got to make it easier to switch.

To Blow You Off: Heck, they themselves are or were, sales reps or account managers in one way or another for their own business-most of em’ anyway. And they have staff trained to get rid of sales reps and marketers like you and some personally make it an art to avoid everybody but customers, family, their accountant or their banker. It’s not that they don’t think you have a good product, it’s just that there’s no darn time to spare. You have got to make it easier to see why just a little time with you might be valuable.

To Not Believe You: The Small Business owner who has that type A personality, and is the wearer of all hats, and with the ego through the roof and the work ethic like nobody else;– Is she going to flat out just believe you when you say you can help grow her business? Heck no. You have to make it easier for her to trust you.

I usually end all my posts with real applications, real ways to get it done. I usually give you a few things you can just run with right now and tackle the problem and grow the business.

That would be too easy.

And there’s a better way. Though this blog is only 6 months old, type in the search box the word “easy” (10 posts) or “value” (13 posts) or “credibility” (7 posts) or any darn word you think might be make sense. Therein is a lot more help to make it easier for you and your customers.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Some Rules Are Better Left Unread

The bullet whistled right by my head, missing me by less than an inch.

I had just one bullet left in my magazine, yet this piece I was holding could actually carry 12. I decided I needed more. I decided I needed to launch another barrage of gunfire to bring him down. I reached slowly behind me to load some bullets that had fallen out of my pocket, not knowing for sure if he could see me or not.

I heard it coming, the second one. Then I felt it explode into the back of my head.

Less than an hour after Church this last Sunday, I am dead.

It’s a headshot you see. It’s how it works. He wins. Those are the rules.

Well not really. In fact, the rules written are quite the opposite of what we actually do when we break out the powerful Nerf gun blasters and conduct Living Room Warfare.

What, you say? Doesn’t the box clearly state… don’t aim at other people’s faces with Nerf gun dart blasters? Please. No self respecting father with a 13 year old son would follow a rule like that. What’s the fun in that?

Aside from the only rule I insist on which is that we both wear eye protection (only to avoid an afternoon in the ER), we believe Nerf guns were made for headshots. We believe that Nerf guns were made for face shots and especially ear shots (which hurt nasty). So skip the flimsy targets that come in the box and the goofy Velcro vests; you are going down with (hopefully) a foam bullet shot right to the middle of your forehead.

Here’s the real point. And it’s a good one because I fancy myself most of the time to be a rule follower (in fact, my family frequently quotes me sarcastically “ ..Without rules, there’s chaos…”.)

Sometimes, rules are better left unread.

Sometimes rules not followed make it more fun, or more memorable or more special or more helpful or just…more better. So be it lack of following all the rules for Living Room Warfare or for the Rules of Work, it does not matter;

Here are 3 other rules that are often better left unread.

Get to work on time. Sure, it’s part of a manual, HR handout or your own sense of when to start your day, but you are in sales. Unless you are staffing a phone with incoming calls you need to think that this is a rule to be abandoned. You can’t get a hold of owners, CEO’s or entrepreneurs at “normal hours”. Gotta mix it up and call later or earlier or even on Saturday. And by the way, you will differentiate yourself from the competition in a very good way if you do it right.

Social Network on Your Own Time. If one thinks a professional LinkedIn page, Twitter account or Facebook page is something not considered work relevant; one would be mistaken. It is called Reputation Management and if you are a Sales person you need to have a Glowing Web Reputation to manage. Take the time to build and be credible in the social internet spheres. Your customers and prospects will be searching and be looking for you, who you hang out with and what you say. “Professional” is the key here folks and in your sales space where trust is low, reputation must be high.

Employees Are Required To Take Vacation; No you aren’t. There’s nothing that says you can’t stop showing up at work 2 weeks a year yet be waist deep in learning new or better skills to do your job. Wouldn’t be a waste to read 7 Jeffrey Gitomer books or every Seth Godin Book or a Jill Konrath Book or an Art Szobcek book; all of which would help you not in just work ……but in life. If you ain’t learning, you are dying.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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

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

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

The Beginning Sticks

The four brothers will be together again next week. It’s been a while.

One’s flying in from New Zealand, another GreyHounding it from Manhattan and the third, well he’s local just like me. And though we are all in our 40’s now, we’ll act like a bunch of 9 year olds (as we always do) when we get together at Mom’s house.

Because in the beginning, that’s what we did. And the beginning really sticks. Being all roughly two years apart, it was those middle school years, it was then that we truly bonded and for lack of a better word; brothered .

So sure our kids will be in tow and our wives and significant others will share in the fun next week but without doubt the youngest, most hyperactive and colossally immature crew will be the four of us.

We’ll settle into a hilariously silly game that will drive my 77 year old mother crazy (as she doth protest too much yelling “Knock it off!” whilst stifling chuckles). Foam coasters will Frisbee around the living room chair to chair as we see how long we can play catch without dropping a coaster or worse, getting caught by Mom in the act of throwing them.

And yes, we’ll try to hold the laughter in like giggling 4^th graders every time it flies just out of her sight (or better yet, just behind her head as she walks back and forth from the kitchen). Couch pillows will tumble, table lamps will teeter and spouses will hang their heads in embarrassment as we four being much older now, risk grave injury diving off that recliner to make the incredible catch to keep the game alive.

Because that’s how we were in the beginning, and getting together so many years later, it’s no use, we are going back- the beginning sticks.

You won’t think I’ll go from flying coasters to flying planes but I will.

Sullenberger landed that plane in the Hudson and he called upon all that training, all the experience and all stuff from the very beginning, from his “earliest days” he said, to land that plane the best he could. He even called it “primacy”, those times in the beginning. He did later what he knew from earlier, much earlier, because the beginning sticks.

Those flight attendants didn’t call out the emergency announcements they were most recently were trained on at US Air but rather, they shouted out the ones they learned years and years ago when they first started out with another airline. They did later what they knew from earlier, much earlier, because the beginning sticks.

You won’t think I’ll go from coasters to cockpits to some counsel but I will.

The beginning sticks. It sticks no matter if it’s about something as ordinary as how 4 brothers bonded with their Mother in a living room, or if it’s about the extraordinary first days of training of a pilot and crew. The beginning sticks and therefore it matters.

The beginning sticks is a reminder of how important those first instructions are to help a child hold a bat or how to start that diary or how to deal with the loss of a pet. The beginning sticks translates to business too and is a reminder of how important your new hire classes are, your on boarding programs are, your mentoring is or those first few initial team meetings or even those early team outings are.

It’s just a plain ol’ reminder about how sticky the beginning is of just about anything important.

Don’t look past the beginning. Prepare for it. Do it right or do it fun. Or do it both right and fun. Because how ever you do it, it’ll stick.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

So Misunderstood

Some sales people, when they hear my name, turn their heads away and shrug.

Some sales people, when they hear my name, feel insulted.

Some sales people, when they hear my name, get very angry.

It’s too bad really.

Some sales people, when they hear my name, just don’t get it. I am so misunderstood.

Because without me, some of the greatest sales people in the leadership world would just about be forgotten. Without me, you’d not remember half the moving messages of an Obama or Reagan or the stirring words of Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, or the timeless candor of JFK at his Inauguration.

Without me, some of the greatest sales people in the traditional selling world would just about be lost in the crowd. Without me, you’d not have heard half the messages of Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar or Jeffery Gitomer.

Without me, some of the greatest sales performances around us would just be of the ”Oh So Average” variety. That guy in Florida, the one that landed the fortune 100 company, that would have been different. That appointment setting guru, she wouldn’t get half the meetings set up with decision makers she does today without me.

My name is Scripting. And I am so misunderstood.

I am not overstating this. Barack, Ronnie, Martin and John performed crafted messages. They worked from scripts. They had visions and dreams and goals to sell. They followed that script; they wanted to; they needed to.

There is an unwarranted aversion some sales people and sales leaders have to being handed a script.

You have to remember that a script is content crafted in such a way that a message is superbly told, a vision is passionately stated, or an experience is exquisitely orchestrated.

No one who hands you a script is trying to script tone, genuineness, sincerity, passion and excitement. You own that.

No one who hands you a script is trying to “de humanize” you or the experience. It’s the opposite. That script, that process, that well crafted content is there to allow you to maximize your talents making the experience sound nothing like a script. Learn from the masters and make the script invisible; that is what you own.

The great sales people of the world, the industry or even in the building you work in wouldn’t dream of “winging it” or thriving off of improvisation; it just doesn’t work.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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