SUCCESS HAPPENS

How ironic would you find it if a rep told you that he didn’t work today because he didn’t have any appointments set and it was too cold to make cold calls?

Well I found it very ironic, so much so that I decided to write about it here. Yes, that’s right a rep actually told me that today. At first I thought he was kidding around and had a pretty good laugh and then I realized he was serious. I STOPPED LAUGHING.

Not wanting to insult the rep or to try and tell him what to do (I am not his boss and don’t even work for his company) I tried to make a joke out of what he said. He didn’t buy it, he asked me if I was mad at him for not working today. I said simply, I was disappointed because I had taught him better when I first trained him and I knew he knew he was not doing the right thing.

He admitted that he agreed with me, he told me that he knows he should be out there and he even repeated to me all the ways I had taught him to turn the bad weather around and make it work in his favor. He then finished the conversation with,”But I just don’t have the motivation to do it.”

Now I was concerned, I asked him what was going on that has killed his motivation, he said nothing everything was good and nothing has killed his motivation. I asked him what has changed in his business that has changed his work habits, again he said nothing has changed. I asked what if anything in his personal life has changed and he said no. I asked and asked trying to discover something that had made this rep change. According to the rep nothing has changed.

Using one of my favorite closes of all time, the COLOMBO CLOSE I started talking about other things and then I asked him again what has changed to make him not work and he said, “Lorin, I just don’t need the business that badly to go out on a day like this”

I then knew what had happened, SUCCESS HAPPENED! This rep was getting fat and happy and losing his drive to grow and succeed.

For a lot of years I have used pushing a car as an analogy to conducting business, I knew the rep has heard it before, but I dove right into my story anyway. I asked him if he has ever had to push a car (I could almost hear him rolling his eyes) he said yes, I asked what did you need to do when you started pushing the car? He answered he had to push really hard, I asked how hard? He said he needed to put his shoulder to the bumper and push with all his might.

I explained he needed to push so hard because he had to overcome one of the basic laws of physics, INERTIA. The law of inertia says a body at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon by an outside force. I told him HE was the outside force that had to overcome inertia, gravity and friction to get the car moving. I then asked once he had the car moving what did he need to do to keep it moving? He told me he only needed to push a little. I said that he was right, steady pressure kept the car moving.

I asked what would happen if he stopped pushing? He said the car would roll to a stop. I said right because friction and gravity would take over and stop the car. I then asked if he stopped pushing and the car kept moving what would it mean? He was stumped, he said it would stop if he didn’t push. I told him he was wrong, if he stopped pushing and the car kept going it was headed down hill. He chuckled and agreed.

I told him his business was just like pushing the car (I could hear his eyes rolling again) I said when he first started selling he had to really push hard and get his business going. As his business grew he needed to keep pushing but now steady pressure kept it moving and he was able to get small growth, if he wanted to grow more he started pushing harder until he was where he wanted to be and then he could start applying the steady pressure again to keep his business moving in the right direction.

I then told him that by using the cold as an excuse to not work was like he stopped pushing. His business would slow down and eventually stop and if it did keep going it would be going downhill. I asked him if he was willing to take a step backwards all because of some cold weather?

It took about 10 seconds before I heard anything from the other end of the phone. It started as a low rumble and became a full groan. He called me a few terms of endearment (all 4 letters long) and then told me I was right. I said the words, SUCCESS HAPPENS and he laughed knowing exactly what I meant by it.

We hung up and I was convinced he wasn’t leaving his house today. I knew that he knew it was the wrong thing to do, but I knew he wasn’t motivated to go and make calls.

I WAS WRONG (I am very happy to say). I came home from a candidate’s forum tonight and there were 4 sheets of paper on my fax machine. 1 cover sheet repeating all the terms of endearment I heard earlier today, 1 order, and 2 confirmed appointments.

I am a proud trainer tonight. Not because I talked him into working, but because he went to work the right way and got the job done as he was taught to do. Another thing I have always taught is, if you are going to go to work, do it right. To go through the motions and not be as productive as you can be is stupid.

I can say one thing for sure, this rep wasn’t stupid today!

I invite you to please leave comments about my posts, it makes the site a lot more fun.

Lorin

THE MISSING “G”

I went to a meeting this morning and a group of new people stood up and introduced themselves, it was an experience, and not a good one.

The first person to stand up was a young man who looked very professional. When he started talking I thought to myself that this guy had it all not only did he look professional but had a great voice, deep rich and it projected like he was a stage actor.

He was about 10 words into his introduction when I heard it for the first time. I couldn’t believe it, I knew I must have been mistaken. Then about 3 words later I heard it again. He said DOIN instead of doing. As he spoke I realized he was leaving the “G” off of every word ending in “ING”. He said he has been DOIN, he was GOIN, he was HAVIN, and the list went on.

The second person stood up and darned if his “G’s” weren’t also missing. As the reps got up I realized that almost every “G” had been left off words ending in ING.

After I left the meeting I went to work in the field with a rep that I have known for a year or two but have never been in the field with him. We had a great conversation while we rode to our first stop. We walked in to meet the customer and in the first sentence the rep spoke the “G” bandit hit again. I heard the rep tell the customer he was GOIN to check out the inventory.

After hearing about 100 more missing “G” words I finally was back in my car drivinG home to write about the missing “G”.

I know that time is important. I have posted several articles about maximizing your time, but I think that the time it takes to add the “G” would be time well spent.

I have a little experiment for you, get a recorder and record yourself saying the following sentence.

“I am going to be doing something that I have been doing for a long time. If you are having a good time reading this you are doing something wrong.”

After you have recorded this sentence record the next sentence right after it.

“I am goin to be doin something that I have been doin for a long time. If you are havin a good time readin this, you are doin something wrong.”

Now that you have recorded both sentences’ play them back one after the other and listen to how they sound. Now I am not a language expert, however, leaving the “G” off words ending in “ING” makes you sound illiterate! That’s right I said it, if you say DOIN you sound STUPID to me, and I will bet you sound just as STUPID to your customers.

As professional sales reps we need to project an image that will have you customer feeling confident in doing business with you. Sounding like you just fell off a turnip truck isn’t going to help you.

We have been told to dress for success. We have been taught to act like a professional. We have been taught to be ethical. Now you have been taught to sound as professional as you look and act.

By the way, I now have a trunk full of “G’s”, I found all the ones that I noticed were missing today.

Lorin

SORRY FOR SUCCESS?

No one ever apologizes for doing things right. I made this discovery today while I was talking to two reps. Both of these reps work for the same company and sell the same products to the same type customers. They are in areas of the country that have very similar economies and have within 2 years experience of one another.

One of the reps is doing a great job and the other rep is struggling to keep his job.

When I was talking to the rep that is doing well he only talked about what he has in the pipeline. He talked about the sales he made and what he had to do to make them. He talked about how much fun he is having.

The other rep who is struggling, well the conversation was very different. All I heard about was how bad the economy is and that HIS customers were all just barely getting by. I heard about how screwed up the company is, and all the mistakes they have made (most, by the way to other reps not him) and how the company is his biggest problem. I heard about how his product quality has gone down while his prices have gone up. I heard him blame everything and everyone except the one person who I am sure is the biggest part of his problem, HIM!

Now this isn’t unusual, I have talked about it in other posts here on the Training Buffet, help Yourself. What was unusual is the fact that I talked to these reps within an hour of each other. It was as if they talked ahead of time and made up their stories so they would be exactly 180 degrees apart from one another.

It was hard to believe they both worked for the same company. You would think a company that has made so many mistakes for one rep would have made a few for the other, yet I didn’t hear a word about any mistakes. Neither did I hear about the economy, customers folding up shop, poor product quality, or any other excuses. When a rep is doing well they don’t make excuses, they make sales!

Yesterday I wrote about keeping a positive attitude. The one thing I didn’t say yesterday was;

“THE BEST WAY TO GET AND MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS TO BE SUCCESSFUL!”

The two stupidest things in the world are having a bad attitude when you win and making excuses for success.

Lorin

WHAT'S IN YOUR HEAD

There is a commercial on television that I am sure everyone has seen no less than a dozen times. It asks the question, “What’s in your wallet?”

As sales reps I want to ask you a question that is more important, “WHAT’S IN YOUR HEAD?”

Yes, I am a big believer in positive thinking. I work hard every day to keep a positive attitude and not allow the negatives to control my attitude. I can’t give anyone a positive attitude, but I can give you some basic steps to help yourself get and keep a positive attitude.

The first step to having a positive attitude is to be conscience of what you are thinking. I know that sounds silly, if you are thinking you are conscience of the subject. What you may not be conscience of is if your thought is positive or negative. Every day we are bombarded with negative influence. If we focus on the negatives we will think negative thoughts. Does that sound logical to you? It is logical and it is simple. The hard part is monitoring your thoughts every minute of the day.

So now you are thinking about what you are thinking.

Your day is going good and then out of nowhere it happens, you realize you have a negative thought in your head. What do you do? Well here is another simple fix, replace the negative thought with a positive thought.

TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE MOUSE, DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW AND STOP READING!

I’m not crazy, you can do it. I have found the best positive thought to have is how you are going to turn the negative thought around. If you are thinking that you are not going to make a sale, replace that negative with how you are going to approach the customer to save the sale and get the order. Think of other times you have been in the same place and turned it around. Think about how good it felt to get the order. THINK POSITIVE!

For every negative thought or situation there is a positive thought or situation, all you need to do is focus on it.

Sales, is as much in your head as it is in the value of your product. I have never seen a customer that couldn’t tell a negative attitude in the first seconds of a sales presentation. If we can learn to control what is in our heads we can be the positive, motivated, successes we deserve to be.

Lorin

APPROACHING PERFECTION

Sir Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls Royce is quoted as saying;

“Strive for perfection in everything you do.

Take the best that exists and make it better.

When it does not exist, design it.

Accept nothing nearly right or good enough”

I won’t get into a long drawn out theological discussion about perfection, however I will point out that Sir Royce says STRIVE. Work towards, make it a goal, and keep it as your highest line of sight. There is a reason for striving for perfection in sales. Here is a Lorin Quote;

“the closer you get to perfection in your customers eyes,                  The more they will forgive the imperfections in you                            and the job you do”

To put this all into simple terms, the more value a customer finds in you the more “STUFF” they will let you get away with. (By stuff I mean mistakes)

As sales reps work with customers they build an account. Just like any account we make deposits and withdrawals. If you go above and beyond what is expected you make a deposit, if you disappoint the customer you make a withdrawal. Depending on the positive balance you USUALLY keep in the account, the customer will usually allow the account to become negatively over drawn. Just like any other account, if it gets too far overdrawn or stays overdrawn for too long the account will be closed.

This is why it is so important to always be striving for perfection like Sir Royce tells us to. You need to be making deposits into your “FORGIVENESS” account with every customer. That’s right, forgiveness account. When you are late they will forgive you if you have a positive account balance. If you forget to do what you said you were going to do, you can make a withdrawal from your forgiveness account. I have seen reps that have had balances so high in their forgiveness accounts that customers have forgiven them for missing an order, shipping the wrong product, double billing, and in one case the customer had to stop production for a full day and still forgave the rep because of all the value the rep brought over the years of servicing the account.

There is a catch to the forgiveness account system, it isn’t a one to one match for withdrawals and deposits. Unfortunately most customers only make small deposits for doing something good and make huge withdrawals when you make a mistake. My suggestion is keep your own set of books. If a customer is about to close your account, have your deposit slips ready and let the customer know how many deposits you have made as compared to withdrawals. (This is dependent on the fact that you have made more deposits than withdrawals).

The deposit slips are also good for helping customers make up their minds about placing orders. Let them know how many deposits you have made and you have their best interest in mind and always work towards perfection with them as an account.

If you will build your forgiveness account balances with all your customers, it won’t be long before your biggest account of all will be YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!

Lorin

HOW THE SALE WAS WON

Today was a “thinking day” day for me. It was a day where I had several things to do but had a lot of time in between my appointments to think.

My thoughts were definitely influenced by an old western movie I watched last night, because my thoughts were about sales and how they have, and haven’t, changed over the years.

In the movie last night there was a salesman who traveled from town to town selling everything from shoes to medicine (or what he called medicine). In his wagon he had his entire inventory and knew exactly what he had.

He would pull his wagon into town and stop on the street, pull up the side curtain of the wagon to display his goods and start hawking over people. When he had a crowd he would start his sales pitch, explaining the benefits of owning (and using) any one of the many items he sold.

His sales pitch was a work of art, every word practiced and rehearsed until it was a show unto itself. He would select someone from the crowd to sell to and use that person to help him make sales to others. He would move from one product to another with the smooth action of a well oiled machine and never miss a beat.

He never stayed in one town too long because he knew some of the things he sold were, less than what he built them up to be and never wanted to be there when one of his customers discovered the fact. And yet he would come back on his next trip in the area and sell more.

I thought to myself, this is what it was like 150 years ago, when did the game of selling change? At what point did the sales rep see the need to leave his old fly by night habits behind and become the knowledgeable, professional that a rep needs to be today to survive? (OK I know that there are still a lot of reps who are more like the guy in the movie, but I am talking to reps like you, professional sales reps)

I know it was before cell phones and the internet. I know it was before catalytic converters and space missions to the moon. I know it was before the Beatles and even before Elvis.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, I just know it did. Today, more than ever, a sales rep needs to first sell him or herself to the customer. Before a relationship can be built between a rep and a customer trust needs to be the groundwork for the rapport that is established.

Watching that old western last night made me glad I am a sales rep today, not back then. I enjoy the return trips to customers and getting to know them long term. I like having people tell me I was recommended by a customer because of my knowledge and integrity. I love having the opportunity to move past the initial rapport and actually build a relationship with a customer and sometimes having that relationship grow into a long friendship.

The west may have been won with a smooth talking flim flam man in a covered wagon, but today sales are won with intelligent, honest, and dependable sales techniques, products and services that have value to the customer, and presented by a professional sales rep.

I don’t know if tomorrow will be another “thinking day” but if it is I am going to focus on horses and roundups. “Git along lil doggie”

Lorin

OH NOW I UNDERSTAND

As I travel around working with reps from different companies I hear terms that I am sometimes not familiar with. I always try and pick up on what they mean by the context they are used in, but sometimes it is impossible. Another problem is what one company calls something has a different meaning at another company.

So now not only do we have different terms being used, but different meanings for the same term, and we wonder why customers sometimes look at us like we are speaking a foreign language.

Imagine a customer’s confusion when a sales rep tells them they want to do a demo. The customer agrees and the sales rep shows the customer how a product or service works. Now the next sales rep comes in, sometimes at the same time and tells the customer that they also want to do a demo. This time instead of showing the customer how a product or service works they give the customer a sample and leaves it up to the customer to see how it works.

One word two completely different demos.

Examples of these misunderstandings go on and on in the sales world. What one company calls a prospect another calls a lead, a customer to one is a prospect to another. Some reps call them leads some prospects… HELP I am confusing myself!

So what can we do to help the buyer (buyer? Where did that term come in?) better understand us. Simple, never take anything for granted.

When I train a class, any class, I always tell the reps I am training that if I say anything they don’t understand to stop me and ask before I move on. This way everyone will be on the same page. Customers don’t know that they don’t understand until after the fact. They won’t know the difference between a demo and a trial until a rep has set the definition and another rep contradicts it.

So what we need to do is explain what we mean up front. If you tell a customer you are going to do a demo, say, “I don’t know what other reps have done  as demo’s for you, but what I do is…” and explain what you are about to do. If a new rep comes onboard your company and you are talking to them, as you use sales terms ask the new rep what their understanding of the term is. If it aligns with what you use great if not you now have the opportunity to explain how the term is used here at the new company.

Always remember, more sales are lost because of a buyer not understanding the sales rep than are lost due to price or function. A clear and concise understanding of what you mean will eliminate the confusion and be a driving factor to closing more sales.

Lorin

WHAT A MICKEY MOUSE OPERATION

I don’t know about you, but I have called hundreds of businesses MICKEY MOUSE OPERATIONS. This is not a compliment, it is usually said because of the poor way the business is run or handled a problem. Well I am WRONG!

Today I found myself calling a local business MICKEY MOUSE and as I was driving home I thought about my last visit to Disney World. I caught myself grinning like a child as I remembered my family and myself enjoying the attractions and rides throughout the different parks.

I remembered how many people were there and how amazed I was at how smoothly everything happened. The lines were long, but there was always something going on to hold our attention so the 90 to 120 minute waits didn’t seem long at all. The crowds around the food stands moved like a well oiled machine and all the food we bought was well let’s say hot and not talk about the fine taste, although most was good.

As always the parks were as clean as can be expected with about 200,000 of our closest friend there with us each day, and the one thing you can always say about Disney, you never saw a cast member without a smile.

This made me think about the business that I just left and for the life of me I couldn’t make any connections between them and Disney World. The near perfection of Orlando Florida was a far cry from the near disaster of Duluth Georgia.

I asked myself why I would say that this business was Mickey Mouse when it was the exact opposite.

How many businesses have you gone into and tried to sell only to be turned down and called Mickey Mouse because it made you feel good about not being able to sell them. Rather than admit that possibly you did something to kill the sale the business became a Mickey Mouse Operation that didn’t know what they were doing.

There is an old saying that whenever you point a finger, there are four pointing back at you. (try it you will see what it means) Rather than immediately blaming the business you should first take a look in the mirror and see if the reason for the failed attempt was the person looking back at you rather than the person you left in the business.

Take it from an old MOUSEKATEER, MICKEY MOUSE knows how to run the most successful amusement parks in the world. Maybe next time I get upset with a business I will need to call it something else, maybe I will call it …….

Lorin

PEOPLE CAN CHANGE

I had one of the best experiences a trainer could have today and I want to share it with all of you.

Several months ago I received a phone call from one of the reps that I had to work with. Let me just say, the call wasn’t a pleasant one. This rep had a lot of problems. He was negative about his job, territory, product, company, and most of all ME! He came right out and told me that I couldn’t teach him. He asked me why I was a trainer if I was such a great sales rep. He was convinced that I didn’t know enough about sales or the product to help him.

Needless to say my ears were ringing when I finally hung up the phone.

A few weeks later we touched base again, this time we had what I would call a civil conversation about all the things that he questioned our last call. To my surprise he was asking my opinion as well as for my council.

We haven’t talked for about 6 weeks now and today I received an e mail from the rep telling me that he was looking forward to my ride along with him, and in his words “despite myself”.

What changed, I don’t know. Maybe it was hearing from other reps I have worked with that I helped them. Maybe it was seeing reps starting to improve based on training. Maybe it was his lackluster sales that were causing him to grasp for straws. WHO CARES, the point is he changed.

I believe that every sales rep can get better at their trade. I also believe that every sales rep can learn from another sales rep, not necessarily a bigger producer or a rep with more tenure, ANY OTHER SALES REP. I have spent the last 18 years working to become a sales trainer, 18 years learning and listening, riding along with reps, doing sales presentations with reps and putting out fires with reps. I have done this so I can also help a rep when I am in the field with them.

There are trainers that have been doing this far longer than I have, they have made more presentations than I have and they have worked with more reps than I have. It doesn’t matter. Having a second set of eyes to watch the prospect, a second set of ears to listen to what the prospect is saying, a second set of hands to help with the demonstration or presentation, and a second opinion of what the next step should be in some situations is as the credit card commercial says, “PRICELESS”!

I feel good tonight, thank you RS for the e mail. I hope his story makes other sales trainers jobs a little better and makes all reps a little more open to the help when it is available.

Lorin

IT NEVER HAPPENS TO ME

I have been involved in several industries over my career as a sales trainer, and I have made an untold number of sales calls either by myself or while training a rep. Many times during these sales calls either I or the rep I have been training has been talking to a customer about something that has happened or has been a problem in just about every other business like theirs that we have been in. It never fails, the customer usually looks back at us with a straight face and says, “I have never had that happen” or “that has never happened to me”.

This is a reaction that you get when you haven’t earned the right to know about the customers problems. In other words, you have no rapport with the customer. Notice I didn’t say relationship, I don’t believe a relationship can be built during a first sale. Relationships are built over time based on trust and honesty. Rapport on the other hand can be built from the first few minutes of the sale and strengthened as the sale progresses.

You wouldn’t want to tell someone your problems if you didn’t know them and at least have a gut feeling about them that told you they could be trusted. A customer is no different.

As you start your sales process, let the customer know that you value your customer’s privacy and that you will hold anything they tell you in confidence. By doing this the customer knows that you won’t tell them about any other businesses in the area and you won’t tell any other businesses about them. The next step is NOT TO TELL! If you say you will keep everything in confidence and then tell the customer about every other business you have talked to, you won’t ever build trust.

So let’s circle back to the start of this post. You ask a customer about a problem or situation you have heard about. Is this breaking the confidence? NO. You can talk about information just never give business names or use the names of people. I can say that I have heard theft is a big problem in this area. I can’t say, Bill down the block told me he was having a big problem with theft.

The first is uncovering a potential problem, the second is having a big mouth! I hope you can see the difference. If you say Bill said he was having a lot of trouble with theft are you having the same trouble? Even if they are you will hear the “That doesn’t happen here” line.

As a sales rep we want to bring the best and newest information to our customers and prospects, but we don’t want to get the reputation of being a blabber mouth.

There is an old saying that goes back to the World Wars, “LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS”, the same weapon looses sales every day.

Lorin

TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH

“…and my product can do this, and that, and more of the other thing and if you need it to it can also do something else.”

Blah, Blah, Blah…

Does a sales presentation like the one above sound familiar to you? I hope it doesn’t sound like one that you have done recently but rather one you have heard someone else do (preferably from another company).

I find that new sales reps unleash the “feature dump” as a means of trying to establish themselves as experts in their industries. The problem is this method usually doesn’t lead to sales and the rep never lasts long enough to actually become an industry expert. This is known as a “Catch 22” from the book by the same name. A Catch 22 is a circular problem, you use the feature dump to establish yourself as an expert, you don’t make sales because you use the feature dump, you don’t last long enough to actually become and expert.

I can almost hear you asking, “So Lorin, what is the solution?”

Simple, stick to the basics of selling and use a sales process that is proven to make sales.

Now I can hear you asking, so Lorin, what is the process?”

I’m glad you asked, the simplest sales process is this;

1)      Discover the customers pains (problems)

2)      Build the value of your product or service by matching its features with the solutions needed to remove the pain and solve the problems.

Sorry this is so complicated but if you go step by step you will find yourself closing more sales.

I am making fun of a very serious subject. In my experience more reps have failed because of this one fact than any other single action.

You don’t need to oversell your product or service, you need to VALUE SELL your product or service. Every buyer I have ever met would rather hear one or two features that mean something to them than they would 10 features that have no affect on them. One solution to a problem will get you more sales than 100 features that don’t have anything to do with the buyers business.

Once you know this, practice this, and DO this, you will start to see how Value Added Selling is the shortest distance between a Hello and a Thank You.

Lorin

CAN IT REALLY BE

I was asked a question today and had a good time answering it for the rep.

I was asked, “What is the newest selling concept available?” I was loving life. Questions like this are what make being a Sales Trainer’s day.

I told the rep to explain his question. (Like I didn’t know what he meant) He said that he just sat through several hours of sales training and it was all the same old same old. He said the words were somewhat different but the concepts were what he has heard 6 times before over his tenure as a sales rep.

So first I asked if he felt it was a bad thing to hear the information again. He didn’t hesitate a bit before he said no. He was just curious if there was something new that he hasn’t heard yet.

I told him that as far as I know there hasn’t been anything new since about one million BC. When the first cave man picked up a giant bone and strapped it to the newly invented wheel to roll it to the next cave and sell, selling hasn’t changed.

I told the rep that the same information has been repackaged and restated over and over again by every self proclaimed expert that has come down the pike.

Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I don’t see anything wrong, as a matter of fact I have seen some pretty good pitchmen (and women) over the years. I have sat through some extremely well thought out presentations and have seen some very talented sales reps get re-invigorated by some of these people.

The only thing that I find a little unsettling is the fact that some of these people try and tell you that THEY came up with the ideas. They talk as if they actually have something new. I would feel better about them if they said they have taken the basics of selling and added their own spin to these classic and proven ideas.

All that being said, you can’t ever be told these basics too often. The next time you hear them may be the time that you catch one little piece which will change your sales life forever.

For years I have taught “Back to Your Basics” selling skills. Maybe I should change the name to, “The 100^th Time Hearing things for the First Time”.

Lorin

GOING, GOING, BUT NOT GONE

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bid a fond farewell to the professional sales rep. It is a sad day, and we all feel the loss of our deeply loved profession. Professional sales reps have been ill for quite some time, and although we fought a long and painful battle we have finally given into the pressure of the economy and the unrelenting abuse of companies all around the world that expected the professional sales rep to move forward and take the leap into the 21^st century.

For years now we have been saying things like, “they want to replace us with phone sales” and “we are moving to a distribution model” or “online sales is the future” also “there is no more room for a direct sales force” and the final straw that has broken the camels back “we are too expensive to keep”.

All of our worst fears have become reality today as the last professional sales rep leaves the field and goes to work flipping burgers at the local greasy spoon.

Some of us can remember back to the days when the professional sales rep was help in high regard. People depended on us bringing them information, instruction, and most important products of every size shape and price. The day when a hand shake was better than a contract and a man’s word was truly his bond. We can remember when we were invited home for dinner and knew everything there was to know about a customer. When they remembered our birthday as often as we remembered theirs. A day when our company stood behind us and in turn we would never allow anyone to talk badly about our company. A day when our income grew by double digits and our customer based followed suit.

Well today as we lay this beloved profession to rest we have only ourselves to blame. We turned our backs on the very things that we once prided ourselves on, keeping up with the times. We used to be the people that brought the latest advances in our industries to the customers, now we lag behind as technology passes us by. We used to be the first, today we are many times the last. We used to be the best, today many of us are at very best mediocre.

Let’s all take a moment to reflect on our “GOOD OLD DAYS” the days when we held our heads up high kept our chests pumped up and full of life, and walked with the pride of knowing we were the best.

OK I can’t keep this up, it is killing me. I am depressing myself. But the reason I am writing this is because over the past week I have listened to so many reps telling me that they don’t see their companies keeping the professional sales rep model.

Well, let me change things around!

We are gathered here today to herald the accomplishments of professional sales reps around the world. We are here to praise the greatest profession on earth. We are here to acknowledge the men and women that create the wealth of the world one sale at a time.

The professional sales rep is today as it has been for centuries before the backbone of our economy and the drivers of wealth. There are more multi-millionaires created out of sales jobs every year than any other profession. More jobs are created because of sales than any other reason, more people depend on sales reps than any other profession. Sales people support the economy and everyone who isn’t selling supports the professional sales rep in one way or another.

WE AIN’T GOIN NOWHERE, as the good ol boys here in the south say.

Stop your gripein and complanin, stop the negative thinking. If we as reps would put as much energy into selling as we do complaining we wouldn’t have anything to complain about.

Repeat after me, I LOVE BEING A SALES REP, I ENJOY THE LIFE I LIVE AND THE ADVENTURE MY PROFESSION BRINGS ME EVERY DAY, I AM PROUD TO SAY TO ANYONE AT ANY TIME, I AM A SALES REP.

Lorin

WHAT I SAID IS WHAT I WANT NOW SELL IT TO ME

I received an e mail today from one of the FSM’s I work with. The email was a sales article that was spot on in its content.

The writer makes 2 very strong points about customers;

1)      Customers value what they say and their own conclusions more than what they are told (especially by a sales rep)

2)      Customers value what they ask for more than what is freely offered. (especially insights that are freely offered by sales reps)

These two points really bring sales down to one basic concept that is universally true;

1)      Listen to your customers, they will tell you exactly what you need to do, say, and have to sell them.

One of the biggest assets a successful sales rep has is our MOUTHS! Our mouth has gotten us into and out of more trouble over the years than anything that has gone wrong with our product, company or processes. We all know that we can talk, it is what we do best, but we also need to develop listening skills that equal our communication skills.

I have worked with reps that are so anxious to speak that they actually finish sentences for customers and then go into their dialog virtually ignoring what the customer just told them. I have seen customers’ frustrations as sales reps “SPEW” features and benefits about their product that the customer couldn’t care less about. I have seen reps get frustrated as customers cut them off and blow them off because they didn’t answer question, supply information, or clear up confusion that the customer had.

We have all heard the old saying “It’s a two way street” haven’t we, well I am here to clear up a misnomer about this saying. When it comes to selling IT IS A ONE WAY STREET! The way the customer wants to go is the only way to go.

If we could all listen twice as much as we talk during a sales presentation our customers would buy twice as often.

Thank you for forwarding this article to me, we all need reminders of good solid basic selling techniques.

Lorin

COME BACK NEXT YEAR

We are at the time of the year when we find out how many of our customers and prospects have lied to us. That’s right I said lied to us!

For the past 8 weeks we have all had a tremendous group of customers and prospects tell us the same thing, “Come back after the first of the year”. Well check your calendar it is after the first of the year and we are 2 and in some cases 3 days into our work week. How many of these “COME BACK” calls have you already made? More importantly, how many of the customers and prospects that asked you to come back actually bought from you or even gave you the time to do a presentation?

Don’t despair, this is a natural as a customer telling you they don’t have time to listen to you. The fact is you and I are mostly to blame. We know what we need to do to get an appointment, we need to get a specific date and a specific time. Yet when a customer or prospect told us to come back after the first of the year we nodded our heads, gave them a big smile, wished them a happy holiday and off we went on our merry way.

Cheer up, like any other non-committal appointment, this one had disaster written all over it. However because it was the holiday season and so close to the new year we just moved on in hopes that these wonderful people were telling us the truth.

WAKE UP! If we know what to do and we don’t do it I need to tell you that it is our faults not the customers or prospects. We as a professional sales rep needs to suck it up, and stop chasing these appointments.

I am NOT saying don’t call on the business, I am saying work these into your plan as if the promise was never made. This way you don’t drive miles out of your way chasing smoke and you won’t be disappointed.

Depending on how the sales call is going you may or may not want to remind the customer or prospect that they asked you to come back. Sometimes reminding them can seem like added pressure and can cause them to look for other excuses not to buy or blow you off.

Sales, is today as it always has been, the easiest hard job in the world. It is also the most rewarding job in the world.

Lorin

HELPING TO FAIL

How much can you help someone before your help becomes a crutch?

This is the question that came up while I was talking to a friend of mine who manages sales reps. She was telling me about how much she did for her reps. It seemed to me that other than actually making the sales she did just about everything else for them. She filled out paperwork, entered information into their CRM, followed up with customers after the sale including sending out thank you notes from the sales reps and helped the reps make their collection calls.

I was exhausted just listening to everything she did for her...are you ready… 14 sales reps.

I know this manager very well, she used to work for me when I owned my business, as a matter of fact I was her first boss and I groomed her to be a sales manager. I can assure you that I never taught her to become a reps bookkeeper, secretary, and agent.

As we talked things got worse, she told me that she went on sales calls with her reps and at least 60% of all the sales were actually sales she made for the reps. Now I figure if she is stretching the truth by half she is still making 30% of the sales and that is absurd.

I asked her if she felt she was helping the reps by doing all this for them and she told me that it was the exact opposite. She said that she has the highest failure rate and turnover because her reps can’t do the job on their own without her help.

I told her point blank that what she was doing was insane. Especially if she knew that it was hurting the reps. I told her that she wasn’t doing it for them, she was doing it for herself. She admitted to me that she knew what I was saying was true.

As a sales manager we often want to help our reps, but we need to understand that the biggest help we can be is to help them become self reliant. By doing what a sales manager should do, and that is make sure the reps has everything they need to do their job and remove as many obstacles as possible we become better managers and develop better reps.

As sales reps we need to understand that by doing things ourselves we become independent. By being able to successfully accomplish every step in the sales process that relates to our company and product we become more valuable to our customers and company.

Don’t be the manager that creates failures and don’t be the rep that fails because of the “HELP” you accept. We all have our jobs and the role our job plays within the company solidifies our position.

Lorin

2013

The Holiday's are over, we have all pack on those extra few (a very relative term) pounds, and most people are getting ready for their first work day of the new year.

A lot of people have made their new years resolutions and a few have already broken them.

All these things and so many more are for average people. This blog is for EXTRAORDINARY people. What is the difference you may be asking? Simple, average people are still thinking about last year and looking forward to this year. Extraordinary people are already looking towards next year.

You are a business, YOU Inc. you should have a long term growth plan. You should be doing things now that set up what you do and where you will be over the next 3 to 7 years. YES I am talking about goals!

Too many sales reps get caught in the trap of only thinking for the short term. Usually their attention is as far in the future as the next sales cycle, the next sales period, or the next bonus period. Very few are looking at their business long term.

To have a real long term view you need to be a student of your industry. What are the trends of your industry? What are the issues that will be modeling your industry for the next 3 to 5 years? Is there something happening that will change the way you need to sell or will what you are doing today be as affective next year as it is today? Is there someone in your industry that is heading for the top, and should you make it a point to follow that person? Is there a way to get close to that person and make them your mentor?

All these questions and thousands more need to be thought of today so you can be thinking of where you want to be this time next year in 2013. It isn't too soon to start, some would say you are already late, you should have started a few years ago.

No matter, it is never too late to start thinking ahead.

I hope 2012 is a great year for everyone, and that by planning and hard work 2013 will be even better for all of us.

Lorin