FAIR, FARE, FAIR OR FAIR

The English Language is one of the most confusing and contradicting languages on earth. I remember George Carlin used to do a dialog about the English Language. One liners like, “Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?”, “Why do we call them apartments when they are all stuck together?”, and one of my favorites, “Why are there tolls on a freeway?”

Although I don’t have a cute line for this word it is just as confusing, FAIR. It can mean something is marginal as in, “The meal was only FAIR, nothing great”, it can mean a price paid for a service, “The fare is $10.00 for the cab ride”, it can mean equitable as in, “he is a fair judge, he treats everyone the same”, it can mean an event, “I am going to the county fair”, or it can mean light complexion as in, “she is fair skinned”.

WOW, all those meanings for a 4 letter word. Well let’s talk about fair as we want a customer to talk about us. If a customer says he was a FAIR sales rep is that a good thing or bad? Well it could go either way, if you were only marginal than it is a bad thing, if you treated the customer right than it is a good thing. The problem is if we don’t ask the right questions we may be working under false ideas.

With so many definitions of the word we need to always be asking what was the question being answered so we have a REAL look at what we are doing every day. Never take it for granted that just because we want to believe we are doing a great job that we are in our customer’s eyes.

The same goes for our managers, we need to ask them what they mean when they say the word fair. Just the other day I was talking to an FSM about a rep and they said the rep was a fair rep. I took it to mean the rep wasn’t very good, the manager actually meant the rep treated all her customers with the same set of standards and always made fair decisions. It was a very confusing conversation until we got on the same page and understood what each of us was thinking.

I wonder how often this miscommunication cost a rep their job or at least cost a rep a raise?

I want to be fair with you when I tell you that you can’t be a fair rep but you always need to be fair with your customers. You will only be able to charge a low fare for your product or service if you don’t show a fair value for it. And never settle for fair when you are aiming for EXCELLENT!

Lorin

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Have you ever gotten information from your marketing department telling you about a GREAT lead that is just waiting for you to show up so they can sign the order, only to find out when you get there that the prospect simply called to ask a question and really had no interest in purchasing your product or service?

I call this type of lead an INVISALEAD, a lead that becomes invisible when you call on it. Why do you suppose this happens? Well a couple of reasons come to mind quickly, the marketing department is under a lot of pressure to push leads out to the field, the phone sales rep was thinking they were helping by giving you a lead, the marketing campaigns that have been used are not getting the results they were expected so every call is pushed through as a lead, and a host of other reasons that are all only excuses not real reasons anyway.

So what can you do to end this problem for yourself? Well my first suggestion is to make sure you always ask for referrals. I believe that every sales stop you make, every phone call you make, every time you meet a business associate, every time you see someone you know you should be asking for referrals. It doesn’t matter if the prospect is in the process of throwing you out the door, before you hit the ground you should be asking him or her if they know the person next door or down the street that can use your product or service.

If you will make a habit of asking for referrals you will have a constant source of leads that you can then call on without needing the marketing leads. If and when you get leads from marketing they are an added bonus. (And added sales)

The problem is most sales reps I know tell me that the “timing” needs to be right to ask for a referral. I have never understood this. If the prospect or customer is happy they will be more than willing to give you names, if they are not happy they will give you names of people they don’t like, either way you have your referral right? J

All kidding aside, asking for referrals is a basic part of business for most business people, and it should be for most sales reps but isn’t! I have never met an insurance agent that didn’t ask me for referrals; whenever I have bought a car the sales associate has asked me for referrals. Every time I buy something online I am asked to give my friends e mail addresses so the company can contact them. It is happening everywhere except in outside direct sales.

Well if you enjoy the vanishing smoke and mirror leads from marketing then read this and ignore it. If you want some good solid leads that will turn into sales; start forming the habit of asking for referrals EVERYWHERE you go, to EVERYONE you meet, EVERYTIME you stop.

One last thing, learn how to ask for a referral. Most reps I know say something to the effect of, “Do you know anyone that could use my product or service?” This is better than not asking, but just barely. You see most people know hundreds of people, by asking “do you know anyone” you are asking them to sort through all those hundreds of people and pick a name. This is why reps that ask this way hear, “No I don’t really know anyone right off the top of my head.” Basically the customer or prospect can’t decide who to refer so they just say no. If you ask a very narrow question you will get better results. Ask, “Do you know the person on the corner who would buy products like mine?” or “I heard of a business like yours on the other side of town, do you know the name of who I would talk to there about my products?” (By asking for a business on the other side of town you are usually not asking for a direct competitor) These questions are specific and narrow in scope making the list of people a shot list that will be easy for your customer or prospect to sort through.

Lorin

A REAL PRO

A friend of mine sent me his resume to look over, I opened the file and it was a little scary. I know this person and I know that he is a real professional, but his resume made him look like he was a real rookie.

As I read over his resume it shocked me as to how bad it really was. I read the summery, but couldn’t figure out what he had done in the past, what he was doing now, or what he was looking for. As I read over his past positions, I knew what they were because of our friendship, but reading the resume I wouldn’t have known what he did, was responsible for, or what he had accomplished up until now.

About the only thing that I recognized on his resume were his references and they shouldn’t be on his resume!

If you are going to put out ANY information about yourself that is open to the public it MUST be professional, it must be accurate, it must be up to date, and it must be something that conveys who you are and the type of person you are professionally and personally.

I can honestly say that if I had received this resume from an applicant it would have been thrown into the trash after reading the first 10 words.

How about you? Maybe you are not looking for work so you don’t have a resume to worry about, but you still have a business card, maybe a web site, possibly a blog or a Face Book page, a LinkedIn profile, or even a tweeter account. If a prospect were to see any of these what message would they get?

Professionally you need the whole package to be perfect. If someone finds you on LinkedIn and follows your blog link they shouldn’t be surprised at either one. They should be extensions of one another. This is true for any and all of the media, printed or on line, which you produce or have produced for yourself.

I called my friend and gave him my suggestions about his resume. At first he was very defensive, he didn’t want to admit that what he had wasn’t great, but as we talked he started to see that he had a lot of work to do.

Take a look at everything that you have about yourself. Look it over as if you a third party and ask yourself, what does this say about me? If it doesn’t say, this is the best person in the world and the most professional sales rep in the world, you have some work to do also.

Lorin

MAKE THEM FRIENDS

This article was sent to me by the Dale Carnegie Company. It is so simple yet so important. I had to pass it along. No edit just cut and paste from their e mail to me. I think you will find this very interesting and useful. ENJOY!

Winning Friends and Influencing People

                 

Being an effective businessperson requires a lot of training and skills that are developed through experience over many years. However, a large part of those skills comes down to simply knowing how to win friends and influence people. From the first impression to daily interaction, following these basic steps can go a long way to improving your business relationships and being a more productive and efficient employee.

The first time that you meet someone, especially in a business relationship, can often make or break the relationship, not just with that person but with their business as well. For this reason it is important that you impress not only with your look but with your personality as well. Smile upon meeting; show them that you truly are pleased to meet them. Inquire about them and their business; don't just allow the conversation to revolve around you. And most importantly, remember their name.

Once the relationship has been established, that doesn't mean that you can relax. Continue to take an interest in them as a person; inquire about their activities, family, etc. Be honest and sincere and really take an interest in them as a person. If they feel valued and appreciated, they will be more willing to not just work with you but go above and beyond what is required.

Sometimes working closely on a project can cause unnecessary tension between co-workers. One way to avoid this is by being mindful of your criticism. Don't automatically jump to the negative; rather listen carefully to their opinion, show appreciation for their thoughts, and positively explain your decision. Arguing and demanding your way all the time will only cause others to close up and lose their desire to work with you in the future.

Don't underestimate the power of honesty and sincerity. When you take a sincere interest in others it will show and the respect that others have for you will grow.

This sounds easy doesn’t it? Give it a try and see how hard it is but how rewarding it will be.

Lorin

LEADING FROM BEHIND

I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine today. He works as a rep with a company that sells hardware to heavy equipment repair shops. We were talking about the market and the job and the discussion turned toward his manager.

He was very frustrated because his manager called himself a “Team Leader”. I didn’t see anything wrong until he told me a little more about the manager.

This manager doesn’t work the field with his reps EVER! My friend has been with the company for over 6 years and has never seen or heard about this manager going on field rides or calling on customers. He also told me that this manager came from another industry and had no experience with selling hardware or the heavy equipment industry.

I listened to my friend vent for a solid 20 minutes about what his manager DIDN’T know.

When he was done I asked what the manager did right, he blurted out a single word with no hesitation, NOTHING! We both had a laugh for a few seconds and I asked again, what does he do right? This time my friend started telling me about the positive things the manager does.

The manager is good about giving praise to reps who do a good job, he is fair about making decisions when it comes to the reps, he is always supportive of a rep if there is a dispute with the company and the rep, he has an open door so reps always have him to go to when they need help or just need to talk and vent, and the list went on for awhile.

I then asked the rep what the manager does to improve the reps and advance them in their careers. He told me again without any hesitation that the manager was a GREAT teacher. I asked what he can possibly teach you if he doesn’t know the product or industry. My friend then turned a little red faced and said that the manager had worked with many people in the corporate headquarters, research and development department and manufacturing. He told me the manager spent over a year learning the company. The only piece of the puzzle missing was actually working with the customers. I found this very interesting, a manager that had the entire product and process knowledge but no actual selling experience. Most of the time it is the other way around.

So now I was getting down to some specific questions about the manager that I needed to be able to help in any way. I asked how the manager helps your selling. Again my friend told me the manager was excellent. I was a little stumped so I asked how so? He told me that no matter what the problem or stumbling block was the manager moved it out of the way. He said that he knew so much about the company’s inner workings he was able to find a solution to any problem the rep may be having.

I was impressed, so I then asked so tell me what he does if you need some direct help SELLING. He got the same smile and told me about the “Helping Hand” program the manager started. If a rep needed selling help the manager would find out precisely what kind of help the rep needed and then have the best rep at that skill help the rep in need. I said that sounds good but doesn’t that cause problems with commissions and account splits? He said absolutely not, the “Helping Hand” rep gets a very nice bonus if the sale is made and gets a fair bonus just for helping.

So now I had a better insight to the manager and asked what was so bad about this guy, he actually sounded like a darn good manager. My friend said he was, the only thing that bugged him was the fact that the manager called himself a “TEAM LEADER”. He said how can he lead the team if he doesn’t sell?

I explained that a manager’s job was to do exactly what his manager was doing. A leader’s job is to be the person the team wants to follow, not necessarily the front runner in the sales race. I continued, a great manager is the one who builds great people under them, they work to build the team and make sure that every team member has all the opportunities they need to succeed. A good manager doesn’t need to be in the trenches with his sales reps he needs to make sure the path to success is clear and well defined. He needs to remove anything that can harm the chance of making a sale and make the decisions that are the sales maker’s not sales breakers.

I told my friend that I felt he was very lucky to have such a great manager to work for. I told him that he needed to look at him as a TEAM LEADER not the TOP REP. If the manager does his job correctly as it looks like he is doing very well, he will develop every rep to be the TOP REPS.

My friend told me that he used to think just like me, but over the past year, because the market has been tough, he has gotten negative and has started listening to other reps complain. The other reps had gotten to him pulled him into the same gutter they were in.

My advice was instead of being the follower he needed to start being the leader and bring all the reps back into the fold to understand how valuable their manager is. He got a little red faced again and told me that he was looking for someone to blame his poor performance on, I said that’s easy, look in the mirror.

I left him sitting at the table thinking about what I had said. About 3 hours later I got a call from him. He had just got off the phone with the manager and told his manager about me and the entire conversation we had. He told his manager that he was going to do what I suggested and become the cheer leader for the manager and the team. He told me the manager told him to thank me and that he wanted to buy me lunch someday.

I felt good, actually I felt GREAT! I had to tell this story tonight, I know so many reps that have a similar problem and are in a similar mind set about their manager. I want them to remember that a manager can lead from behind. It may be from behind a desk, a steering wheel, or a computer. It may be behind a counter, a conference table or a cubical. It may be from behind a rep making a sales call. The point is a good manager can LEAD FROM BEHIND!

Lorin

AS CLEAR AS MUD

It’s that time of the year again when a lot of companies change from FY’11 to FY’12. September 1 and January 1 are the two biggest days for kicking off new business years.

So here we are looking at another week of FY’11, is it over? Nope it isn’t over by a long shot. There is still time to finish FY’11 strong and deliver those last minute sales that you have been working on for the past several days, weeks and months. There is still time to collect revenue that has gone unpaid, and there is still time to find the decision makes and close sales that haven’t even been started yet.

This time of the year is also a time to set the stage for FY’12. It is so important to start a new year with enthusiasm and energy. You need to have a plan for the year and goals set that you will work towards every day.

But just as important as making personal goals is, your company having goals is just as important. You need to know what the company expects of itself and how you fit into the puzzle. You should know any new directions the company is trying to move in and how you can help make the turn and grow the company.

The problem is most companies, even the best of the best, have a hard time conveying their goals in a clear and understandable way. This leads to the “right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing” ideas that employees get. So often it is not because the goals are that complicated or the vision the company has is that difficult, it is because no one knows how to properly state the goals, visions, directions, and plans in a simple understandable way to the employees.

Well I have a news flash for you; IT IS YOUR RESPONCIBILITY TO FIND OUT!

Yep, I know that the company should be transparent and keep everyone informed, and I believe in most cases companies are trying to do just that, but if you don’t understand, if you don’t see the picture they are drawing, if you can’t follow the thinking then it is up to you to get what you need.

Just like the legal system, ignorance isn’t a defense! If you have questions, ask them! If you don’t understand, seek clarification! How can you work at your top performance level if you don’t know what it is your working for? You may keep doing what you have been doing and thinking you are super successful just to find out that what you are doing isn’t what the company is focusing on any longer.

IT HAPPENS far too often.

By having clear and defined personal goals that align with the clear and defined company goals, the entire team will be pulling together towards the finish line.

Lorin

THE SECOND TO THE LAST BOYSCOUT

It has been a long time since I wore short pants and my Boy Scout Shirt, but I can remember the Boy Scout Motto, “BE PREPARED”. Definitely words to live by.

In scouts they taught us how to tie knots, administer first aid, camp, live off the land (as long as the land was filled with canned goods), start fires, put fires out and assorted other lessons that at the time seemed to be the answer to the question, “What is life all about?”

Adults were there every step of the way to watch us and keep us from making mistakes. They taught us the correct way to accomplish all these duties and instilled within us the skills that would help us through childhood to becoming a responsible adult.

I still have my Boy Scout manual, hatchet, pocket knife and sheath knife. I have many of the badges I earned and all the badges from the campouts, summer camps, jamborees, and events that I attended as a scout.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had the same kind of materials to teach us to be responsible sales reps? How cool would it be to have a manual, to get merit badges, to have supervision, and to wear a uniform that told everyone, “I am a professional!”

Wouldn’t it be great if the uniform gave the sales rep wearing it immediate credibility and created trust and confidence with a customer?

To the best of my knowledge there is no such manual, badges or uniform. I don’t know of any program that takes you through sales training over 5, 10 or more years to complete.

However, I do know that every rep has multiple avenues they can travel to get to this same level of proficiency. Every rep has tools available to them that will allow them to accomplish the same type training the scouts give millions of young men and women every year.

There are more and more colleges and universities that are offering degrees in sales. There are an untold number of companies that conduct training classes in professional sales. There are thousands of online, self paced courses a rep can take to become better at their skills.

All of these degree programs, classes, training sessions and courses will help a rep “BE PREPARED” for selling. These will make a rep better at their profession and one more thing that scouting also helps with, they will help make a rep more successful.

I loved my years as a Boy Scout almost as much as I have loved my years as a SALES REP!

Now repeat after me; The Scout Oath

On my honor, I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times

To keep myself physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight

Lorin

THE UNMOTIVATING MOTIVATIONAL MEETING

I am a firm believer that if you have something to say, get it off your chest, say it! But I am also a believer that there is a time and place for everything.

We have all sat through sales meetings that were supposed to be motivating and uplifting only to have a fellow rep use the meeting as a sounding board for something that just didn’t belong in the meeting forum. I have watched reps commit professional suicide because they couldn’t keep from spewing negative statements during a public forum.

As a sales trainer I have had reps try and take control of training sessions so they could get on a soapbox about a subject that had nothing to do with training and a subject that I personally had no control over.

I understand the frustrations that reps go through everyday dealing with the politics and processes of their companies. I know what it is like to have sales managers that are less than willing to help solve these problems because of fear of their own careers. I know what it is like to have something to say and have no one willing to listen. I know what it is like to listen to managers tell you how GREAT things are when you have issues that no one will address.

None of these things are fun, motivating or right. But they are all real life in the sales world. None of these things should happen. But they happen every day.

It is disillusioning to me to see reps that are so depressed because they have no place to speak their minds and voice their opinions and concerns. But I am more disillusioned when a rep takes every chance they get to speak about things that are just out of line for the purpose of the meeting being held.

Here are a few tips that may save your careers;

1)      Get a private audience with your manager. Don’t make problems public when they are YOUR problems and can be solved between you and your manager.

2)      Keep it on a professional level. State your opinion or problem in a professional way keeping emotions out of it.

3)      Don’t attack. Remember you are having a meeting not a fight. If you are looking for help from your manager keep him or her as your friend not your enemy.

4)      Say it once. There is no reason to keep repeating the same thing over and over. If you said it the right way the first time they will understand what you need and that will do it. Saying it over and over doesn’t help.

5)      Watch your language, there is no room for any foul language. Even if your manager tells you that it is ok, always be the pro and never stoop down to that level.

I know how hard it is for someone who makes their living talking to keep quiet, but sometimes your silence will speak louder than your voice.

Lorin

EMPTY HANDED

Let me start by saying that I have been traveling and haven’t posted for 2 weeks. I am back now and have plenty of new sales experiences to write about. Thank you all that have sent me e- mails and notes asking if I was OK. I am GREAT!

I have been in meetings and training classes over the last 2 weeks and have been working a lot with some awesome reps. As I have been talking to them to find some solid common traits that define “success” I was elated to find the high percentage of the reps ALWAYS walk into a sales call with something in their hands.

My elation quickly subsided as we talked further. I first asked them WHAT they carried in. I was really hoping that they would tell me about literature, pitch books, samples, demo tools, laptops, ipads, or things that I have never thought of. NOPE, no such luck, the vast majority told me they carried in their business card.

Now don’t get me wrong, a business card is a good solid business tool in and it is important that you leave one behind (I will do another post as to when to use your business card) but a business card isn’t much of a SALES TOOL unless you happen to be selling business cards!

As I was talking to the reps either individually or in groups I asked them what they use to SELL with. Some told me they had demos on YouTube that they logged onto to show their customers what they had to offer. This is a GREAT idea but one that can sometimes backfire. Several of the reps that talked about YouTube had stories about customers with no internet, or connections so slow that YouTube didn’t run. One rep told me about a prospect that went ballistic when he asked to use his computer to show his product.

In the end, every one of these reps agreed that they should carry in their laptop or “pad” to avoid these problems.

There were some other methods of showing products that some of the other reps told me about. One used his “smart phone” another had a portable DVD player he used with a DVD he made for himself.

Like I said before, these were the exception, the majority of the reps carried only their business card into the presentation with them. When I asked these reps how they did their presentation I got the answer I expected. They all said they TALK the prospect through the presentation. They describe their product and “PAINT VERBAL PICTURES” for their customers.

As I was talking to the reps that only carried in cards I asked them if there was something that they could carry in other than their business card that would make their presentation more effective. EVERY ONE OF THEM SAID YES! My next question was, “WHY DON”T YOU?” I got the 2 answers I expected from this question. #1) “I don’t want to look like a sales rep” #2) “I look less threatening if I have nothing in my hands”

I tried to explain that at some point the prospect is going to catch on to the fact that they are there to sell something. They all agreed I was right. I then tried to explain that when the time comes to do the selling they were at a disadvantage because they didn’t have the BEST tools to get the job done with them. Again they all agreed. So now when I asked them, “If you know all this, then WHY do you still go in empty handed?” the unanimous answer was “If we had something in our hands we wouldn’t even get to the presentation, the customer would throw us out immediately”

It was at this point that I realized the true problem, it really had nothing to do with the tools they carried in, and it was all about how prepared they were to start the sale. It was about their introduction, their elevator speech, their attitude and confidence in their ability to get the customers attention and keep it.

I found a great training opportunity for these reps. We worked on their introductions and their elevator speeches. They now have an elevator speech that compels the prospect to ask you for more information. They have a presentation ready and are all on their “A” game! They all agreed to bring in ALL the tools they will need to WOW the prospect.

At the end of each meeting I asked the reps why they thought it was so easy to change their minds about carrying in sales tools. All but 3 of them answered, “I knew what I was doing wasn’t right, I was just afraid to do something different”.

Like most problems in sales FEAR is the root cause and confidence, knowledge, and practice is the cure!

Lorin

A STORY FROM THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN

  I received this e mail from a friend of mine today who just had this article published. Enjoy,

Anyone can sell a product to someone once, says Dave Thomas, a sales director at PepsiCo Inc. But it takes a true salesperson to establish a relationship and sell that product again and again.
In its annual honors roll for salespeople, Pepsi recently named Thomas, 37, as one of the company's top 220 sellers for the third year in a row. He joined the food company's Frito-Lay unit after graduating from University of Tennessee in 1998 and has made a steady climb to his current position supervising the team that sells Quaker, Gatorade and Tropicana products to wholesalers and retailers in the state of Texas.
Thomas established himself as a top salesperson at the company while at Frito-Lay, where he grew Dollar General into the company's second largest account in the central Gulf of Mexico region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
I spoke with Thomas about why you need to know your customer's business as well as your own, his first break and the importance of luck.

How did you decide on a career in sales?
Like most kids, I had aspirations of playing ball. I wanted to play for the Atlanta Braves. By the time I was nine, I realized I needed to do something else.
[Around that time] I went to visit my aunt at work. She worked for a paper company, doing sales. I remember sitting with her in the break room and hearing about sales contests they had going and the excitement of making a sell. Since then, I knew that's what I wanted to do.

What was your first break?
I had to pay my way through school at University of Tennessee, so I worked part-time for Brown and Ferris Industries [a garbage collection and recycling services company]. I worked on their trucks during the summer and on their sales team during the winter. It set me up for my first job out of school, with Pepsi's Frito-Lay division.
I started out at Frito-Lay as a route representative. If you did a good job there, you got promoted to a district position. I started the job in 1999 and got promoted to a district position that I had from 2000 to 2003. I did well again, and they put me in charge of an emerging channel, the dollar-store accounts. I got to do more managing. There was no roadmap of how to be successful. I spent a lot of time traveling around, working with Frito, learning what the company's expectations were for the new position.

What was the most important lesson you learned about selling in your first job?
You have to make mistakes at that point in your career. In my first calls, I went in and I didn't know the customers' businesses. I knew ours and our directive, and they knew I did not know their store policies or store layouts. I was young and I was eager, but I did not take the time to learn anything about my customers and it showed.
Now, I never make a first sales call. It's always a discovery meeting. You can't sell to somebody when you don't know what they need or want. If I go in and I make a sales call the first time I meet you, I'm giving you a canned presentation. It has nothing to do with what your needs are.

Did you have a mentor?
When I was at Frito, I was 25 years old and thought I should be promoted after three months. I knew it all. I felt I wasn't being valued. But luckily enough, I had a mentor who I had directly reported to, Carlos Dominguez, [who] started at Frito two years before I did. He took me aside and said, "Give yourself time to grow. You don't want to leave this job until you feel you've perfected it."
He was right. I did have more to learn. I stayed another two years.
When Carlos would go on a sales call with me, he taught me to find the WIIFM for everyone. The "what's in it for me." I want to find the WIIFM, what's important to each customer.

Why is understanding the customer's needs so important in making a sale?
I've gone to meetings where buyers haven't shown up. People are busy. You have to make sure they know before the meeting even starts what the purpose of it is, and you have to build a sense of urgency. In the pretext of your email to them, you should never just write "meeting" in the subject. You say "meeting to discuss incentive program."
Then, when you have the meeting, you have to remind them. You communicate your proposal, and you tell them the benefit. You say, "In the next twenty minutes, we'll go over ways we can help you increase your profit margin by 2%." Then you've got their attention. You close by showing evidence of how this will work, using examples from the past.



How important is luck in being successful?
Sometimes it looks lucky. If you are doing the right thing and putting yourself in the right positions, luck will find you more often than not. You have to sell yourself as much as you sell your products. If you get the chance to present to your boss or your team, you have to be prepared. Sometimes you only get that one shot, and that may lead to an opportunity.

What advice do you have for people launching their careers in sales?
The first thing is know your business and your customer's business cold. Find that happy medium between your company's expectations for profit and what your customers need. You have to show your customers you're thinking about their best interests, as much through action as through conversation


Lorin

THINGS ARE HEATING UP

I got a call today from a sales rep in Texas, he started the conversation with, “IT’S HOT”. I told him it is hot just about everywhere and here in Atlanta wasn’t as hot as Texas but the humidity made it feel like it was.

He started to tell me about how his sales were doing and he said that in the last 3 weeks he has sold more than he has in the previous 2 months. I asked him what he was doing different and he told me.

I thought he was kidding but he was serious. He said that is the only thing he could think of that has changed and he was convinced it was the reason for his windfall sales.

It made a lot of sense to me, what he was doing is the foundation of sales. And if that is the only thing that he has changed then I had to believe it was the answer.

OH, I didn’t tell you what he said did I? It was simple, he told me that he was going into more businesses because he couldn’t stand the heat! Instead of looking for reasons not to get out of his car he was looking for every reason to get into an air conditioned business. He said as long as he was in there he might as well try and sell. And then he said because he didn’t want to go back out in the heat if the customer said no, he would keep trying to sell until he got an order.

It’s crazy what causes a rep to go to work and do what they do.

As we said goodbye I told him I hope he has a wet Fall, a cold Winter, and a wet Spring. If the weather co-operates he may have the best selling year of his life.

Lorin

"ME", "MYSELF" and "I"

When you are talking to a prospect there should be a few things that happen and a few things that don’t happen.

You should always make sure you get their name and you should use the name during the presentation. You should position your product or service as a solution to the prospects “pain” and show the value that you have to offer. You should be positive and give the prospect the idea that they are dealing with a successful and knowledgeable sales rep.

You should NOT be talking about yourself. I could list other things you shouldn’t be doing but I don’t want to dilute this main idea.

If you find yourself saying the words “ME”, “MYSELF" or "I" more than a time or two during your entire presentation you are talking about yourself too much. The prospect doesn’t want to know about “YOU”. They may love you and at some point in the building of a relationship the two of you can truly get to know one another, in time this relationship can build into a long and lasting friendship. In past posts I have told you about some of my customers that have become close family friends. But during the presentation it is all about “THEM” not you.

This will take a lot of practice. We are used to talking about ourselves and it will be a hard habit to break. Let me give you an exercise to try. My first boss in the chemical industry, Bill Buchman, had me do this. Write a thank you letter without using the words “ME”, "MYSELF", or “I” even once. It was a long time ago but I can remember how frustrating it was writing this letter. Every time it was almost finished there was another dead end where the “I”, "MYSELF" or “ME” had to be typed.

If you think it is easy, give it a try. Let me know how it works out for you!

“ME”, "MYSELF" and "I" are great for certain speeches, but they have little room in a professional sales presentation.

Take it from "ME", "I" try to use other words whenever "I" can to not talk about "MYSELF"!

Lorin

DON'T SHOW ME THE MONEY

This month, the headline title of TRAINING MAGAZINE is “WHY CASH DOESN’T MOTIVATE…Everyone, all the time”

When I received my copy today this headline caught my eye and I had to read the article immediately, I was not disappointed.

The article quotes many studies from some very large sources that asked employees what motivates them. In all the studies money was never listed as number one. There were an assortment of things that lead the lists such as recognition, reputation, job satisfaction, advancement, and fulfillment to name a few.

One other answer that really made me think was, time to enjoy money. When I read this I had to stop and absorb what it said. Money wasn’t the motivator, time to enjoy the money we make is. After a few enlightening minutes I had to agree with this one 100%.

Both my daughters are grown up and out of school now, but when they were in school I made it my business to be there as much as I could. I was on all their field trips in Elementary School, and starting in Middle School all through High School I chaperoned every trip and football game. I would use one of my weeks of vacation every year to chaperone… are you ready… BAND CAMP.

I can honestly say that if my employer offered me more money to stop going on the trips I would have turned it down. There isn’t enough money in the world to replace the wonderful times I spent with not just my children, but all the children over the many years.

Don’t misunderstand me, I love what money can buy and I want to have plenty of it, but like Training Magazine states, CASH DOESN’T MOTIVATE... everyone all the time. I have always been a believer in the fact that if you give cash to motivate, once it is spent the enjoyment is gone and the motivation is gone along with it, in fact sometimes it is a de-motivator. When the money is spent the enjoyment wasn’t what was expected and people get depressed.

Next time you are asked what motivates you take a minute and think about it before you answer. You may be surprised.

Lorin

HE SAID SHE SAID THAT I SAID

When you were a child did you ever play the game “TELEPHONE”? Unfortunately I have been playing it as an adult in business. I’m sure you all know the game, it is where one person whispers something into their neighbor’s ear and then that person whispers what they thought they heard into the next person’s ear and so on until the phrase has made it around the room. The last person says what he or she heard and the person who started it then tells what they said. VERY rarely are the two remotely the same.

I was helping a rep a few weeks ago and I told her what to say in some different situations. I told her to write down what I was saying so she wouldn’t forget. Well she didn’t write down what I said and she DID forget.

She was working with her manager yesterday and said a few things that let’s just say shocked the manager. When he asked her where she picked that &#*! up from she was very willing to say, “Lorin told me to say it”.

It took the manager about 12 seconds to call me. He knows me pretty well and knew that there had to be more to the story, but he still wanted to get to the bottom of it. We talked for a few minutes and he told me who he was working with and then asked me about the stuff she was saying.

I listened and I wanted to laugh but I could tell he wasn’t in a laughing mood, so I laughed anyway. He got a little upset and asked me what I thought was so funny, I asked him to put me on speakerphone with the rep.

She said hi and started to apologize immediately for bring me into this. I simply asked her to show the manager her notes from what I told her to say. (I knew she didn’t have any) She said you know I didn’t take notes and I said yep I knew, and now she knew why I wanted her to take the notes.

I asked her what she said and she told me and her manager agreed it was very close, I then repeated what I had told her to say. There was silence on the phone. I asked her if that sounded familiar to her, she said yes. I then asked her if she understood the difference between what I told her to say and what she actually said, once again she said yes.

The manager and I got back on the phone and he told me he knew something had to be wrong, I just said well I am glad you called me rather than just thinking I would have taught her something like that.

I always ask the reps I work with to write down what I say. I try and teach them that in some cases the smallest change in what you say and in some cases just how you say it can change the meaning entirely. My advice to you, as you go through your day and you find a phrase that gets you the results you want write it down. If you ask the customer a question and it gets you the answer you want, write it down. Make detailed notes so when you read them later you will be able to duplicate what you said and HOW you said it.

Here is a little exercise for you to try. Say the next sentence putting the accent on a different word each time.

“I DIDN’T SAY HE STOLE THE WALLET”

I will help you with the first one. Put the accent on “I”. The sentence now means I didn’t say it but someone else did.

Now do it yourself with the accent on the word “SAY” and listen to how the meaning of the sentence changes. Same words just said differently.

I guess that if he said she said that I said it, then maybe he should have asked what it was he said she said that I said.

Lorin

READ AND LEARN

I finished a book tonight and couldn’t wait to tell you about it.

The title is;

DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink.

You can find a preview of this book on Amazon at the following link

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312248106&sr=1-10#_

But the preview doesn’t do the book justice.

Enjoy,                                 

Lorin