A GREAT SAYING

A GREAT SAYING

I found this saying on Facebook and it immediately hit me as one of the best sayings I have ever seen.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

I CHOOSE…

TO LIVE BY CHOICE, NOT BY CHANCE;

TO MAKE CHANGES, NOT EXCUESE;

TO BE MOTIVATED, NOT MANIPULATED;

TO BE USEFUL, NOT USED;

TO EXCEL, NOT COMPETE.

I CHOOSE SELF-ESTEEM, NOT SELF PITY.

I CHOOSE TO LISTEN TO MY INNER VOICE,

NOT THE RANDOM OPINIONS OF OTHERS.

Read this once, read it again, and then THINK about each line and how much better off we would all be if everyone acted on it.

CHOOSE!

Lorin

I WANNA GO HOME

I have always been amazed at what I hear come out of a reps mouth when they are having a challenging day. Today I received a call from a rep to tell me they wanted to go home to gather their thoughts.

Now I am not someone who gets shocked very often. I have been in sales and sales training long enough that very few things I see or hear anymore shock me, THIS SHOCKED ME.

I sat at my desk with the phone in my hand just staring at top of my desk, I was speechless for a moment. Finally I asked the rep what thoughts she was going to gather at home that she couldn’t gather just by pulling over in her car and grabbing something to drink for a short time.

I could just imagine her on the other end of the phone thinking about what to say next, and then it struck me. She was already home, this was a call to cover her rear end.

Not wanting to simply call her a liar, I asked her where she was that moment and offered to meet her and ride with her the rest of the day. She started to stutter a little and then said she didn’t want company she just wanted to be alone. I offered to buy her lunch so we could talk for an hour or so, once again she opted for being alone.

It wasn’t until I asked her if she wanted to quit that I got the truth. I was right, she told me that she had given up by 9:30AM. She had stopped by a customer that told her he would definitely buy the next time she stopped in. She stopped in and he didn’t buy. She said she made 2 more stops and both told her no. (Can you imagine 3 stops and 3 no’s… what is the world coming to) She said by then it was 9:30, she knew her husband was out of the house at work and she just gave up and went home.

 I wanted to know why she called me. What was she trying to accomplish by calling me? So I asked her directly what she wanted me to do. We both stayed silent for at least 20 seconds and she said, “I want you to help me make sales”.

This cracked me up, I blurted out, “FROM YOUR HOUSE?” Once again 20 seconds or more of silence. Then she told me I was right and she was just being stupid.

I looked at the clock and it was getting to be noon, so I told her to come meet me at the office and we would see what we could do about helping her. She showed up about 45 minutes later and I could see she had been crying.

I asked what she was crying about, quitting or quitting on herself. She shot daggers at me with her eyes and said she had NOT quit on herself. She told me she could do it.

She started to get up and walk out of my office and I asked her where she was going, she said to work. Why? I asked. She said to prove to me she could do it. I told her that she was going to fail.

Talk about a shocked look, she looked like I had just punched her in the stomach. She said how could I say that, I answered, she didn’t need to prove anything to me. I told her I believed in her a lot more than she believed in herself right now. I said to succeed she needed to go and do it for her. She needed to prove to herself that she was as good as I thought she was.

It doesn’t matter how long a rep has been selling, how successful they are, or how confident they seem to be. Every rep at some point gets an acute case of SELF DOUBT. There is only one cure, WINNING! It may be making a sale or getting an appointment with a buyer that you have not been able to get to before. It might be winning a contract or making a hire. It might just be opening the car door and getting out in a place that has intimidated you for days, months or years.

A win is a win is a win. We all need wins.

It is now 9:30 PM and I just got off the phone with the rep. She told me that her day got better, but not by much. She did make a few small sales but nothing to be excited about.

I told her that she needed to be excited about the entire day. I told her that she pushed herself to do things she really didn’t want to do and that the day might not have been an award winning day, it was still better than it would have been had she stayed home.

Lorin

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

Customers come in all sizes and shapes. They come in all levels of intelligence. They come in all socio-economic groups. But the most important group they all come in are the talkers and the silent ones.

I was out in the field with a rep last week and we made a call on business that he told me he has been wanting to call on for a year. I said let’s go.

When we walked in there were a few guys standing around a workbench looking at a motor and talking about what was wrong with it. We asked who was the boss and were told to go to an office in the back of the shop. Before we walked away we watched the guys and listened to what they were saying. The rep and I looked at each other because we knew we had several items with us that these guys could have used. We decided to go see the boss and tell him.

We walked to the back of the shop and met the boss. He was a man of few words, VERY FEW. The rep introduced us and started to tell the boss about whom we were and what it was we were there for. The boss didn’t say a word. The rep told him about our company, the boss didn’t say a word. The rep told him about what we had, the boss didn’t say a word. The rep pulled out one of our most popular products and did a great demo for the boss, he still didn’t say a word, he just looked at us.

The rep tried a few things to engage the boss but the boss just kept looking without saying a word.

The rep finally said that he would be back in 2 weeks and we left.

When we got into the car the rep asked me what else he could have done, I told him nothing. I explained that there is no harder customer to sell than the one who tells you nothing. I said to the rep that he would appreciate objections from now on.

I told him that an objection is the second best thing a customer can give you. A sale is the best, but an objection gives you something to work with. It doesn’t matter what the objection is, any objection gives you information. Silence gives you NOTHING!

Over the years I have found one thing that a rep can do when they are with a silent customer. ASSUME THE SALE! When I am doing demos and trying to close I simply assume the customer wants what I have. I say, “I’ll go ahead and send in xxxx”, it doesn’t matter how silent the customer is, if they don’t want it they will talk! Drastic situations call for drastic measures.

Just because the customer is silent doesn’t mean you need to be.

Lorin

THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID IT

The great Yogi Berra once said, “I never said most of the things I said”. At least I think that is what Yogi once said, but maybe he never said it…

Anyway, have you ever noticed how some customers always think you said stuff you never said?

I don’t leave samples behind, I do demo’s. Over my years of sales I have found that leaving a sample doesn’t pay off. You can’t control how the customer uses the sample, if in fact they use it at all. If the customer does use the sample, and happens to use it wrong, my products from then on are never as good in the customer’s eyes. Also, in most cases, the person I am talking to is not the person who actually uses the product. So I hope the person who actually uses my sample will report back to the person I left the sample with how it worked.

All in all, there are way too many chances for things to go wrong. That is why I do demo’s. I can control the demo and point out all the features and benefits to the buyer so he or she can really see the value in owning my product.

This is why I was so shocked today when a customer told me I had promised to bring them a sample of one of my products.

The customer said that he was expecting me 2 weeks ago with the sample so he could try it out on one of the jobs he was working on. I asked him if he may have me mistaken with another good looking sales rep that calls on him and he said no he was sure it was me.

We talked some more and I asked him if over the last 20+ years I have been selling him at any of the companies I have been selling for if I have ever left him a sample of anything before? He thought for a minute and said he didn’t think so. I asked him how many demo’s he thought I had done for him and his employees over the past 20+ years and he laughed and said a million. (Actually it was more like a million and a half, but I never argue with a customer) Finally I asked him if he really thought I was the one who promised him a sample. It didn’t take him long to agree that it probably wasn’t me.

I could have handled this in several different ways. I could have told the customer I was sorry and tell him I forgot the sample. I could have went out to my car and gotten my sample and given it to him. I could have made up a story about the warehouse not getting the sample to me or being out of stock of the product. But I always try to be honest as I can be with a customer. I know what I say and I usually say what I say!

After talking with the customer I did go to my car and get my sample of the product he wanted and did a great demo for him. I showed him how my product did what he needed better than he expected and that I could deliver my product at a price which was a better value than anyone else he has asked. After I was done I asked for the sale. My customer could have told me that he wanted to wait to see who he had asked for the sample and see how their product worked. He could have said no or not yet or one of a thousand things. He didn’t, he said yes.

I believe that not leaving him a sample and doing a demo which I controlled made the difference. My demo made the difference between put off and a sale.

I understand that it goes against most of our sales rep instincts to say “NO” to a customer. But if you know what you say, and say it ALL the time, no customer can ever trip you up.

Yogi also said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” You are right Yogi, it can be better!

Lorin

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

I am trilingual; I speak fluent English, SOUTHERN and sales.

I’m sure that it won’t shock any of you to learn that over all my years in business I have always found a way to communicate with a customer using one of my languages. That is until a few weeks ago!

I was in the field working with a rep and we stopped to make a cold call at a business that he had targeted as a prospect. The call started like most with the rep doing some basic introductions and probing. He then did a great job telling the customer about what we do and how we do it.

As the rep and customer started to chat about how we could help the customer, the rep asked me if I wouldn’t mind telling the customer about one of our products.

I opened our demo case and got out a sample of the product and started to set up the demo when the customer got a very funny look on his face. I asked if something was wrong and he just looked at me as if he were lost. I apologized for talking too fast and asked where it was that I lost him. (I couldn’t imagine where it happened since I was just starting and hadn’t even gotten into to demo yet)

The customer said that he didn’t understand why we were there. With that I went back to the introduction the rep had just finished and tried to help the customer understand what we were there for. When I got back to the same spot, about to start the demo, the customer put the same look back on his face.

Now I was starting to think the customer was just messing with me. I laughed and said very funny trying to make him admit he was just playing around. But as I watched his face I could plainly see he was not joking.

I tried a third time to explain what we do and as I was talking I could tell the customer just didn’t understand what we were all about.

Not wanting to show my amazement or frustration, I decided to just continue on with the demo and see if he caught on at some point.

The demo was almost over when the lights came on in the customers mind. He got a big smile on his face and said (actually almost yelled) “Are you selling this?”

While the three of us stood there looking at each other we all started laughing. The customer told us he thought we were the guys that were coming to work on his front end loader and really thought we were kidding when we started talking about selling things.

Going back over the first few minutes of the call I have been trying to pinpoint where the miscommunications broke down. Then it hit me, it didn’t break down, it was never started. Right from the start the customer was looking for one thing and we were looking for something else. Because we were both looking for something that wasn’t there, we were not communicating.

I could have spoken 100 languages and the customer could have spoken all 100 of them, we still would not have been communicating.

When you are making a sales call, and you start the sales process, always make sure that the prospect knows who you are and why your there. NEVER assume that your words alone will tell your story.

Lorin

WEST SIDE STORY

If you were looking for the Jets and Sharks, I’m sorry.

This West Side Story has to do with a rep I worked with that had more than just a little trouble finding his way around his territory.

I was out on the West Coast and was asked to work with a rep for a day. With all my traveling around, there are not many cities I haven’t been to, however in all but a few cases I don’t know my way around the city at all. I usually see the airport, a taxi, and a hotel in each city I go to. Not exactly an in depth knowledge of the area. The city I was working in with this rep was no different.

The rep picked me up at my hotel right on time at 7 AM and we went for a cup of coffee so I could get a feel for what he had planned for the day. He gave me a good briefing on each stop we were going to be making and told me he had a few cold calls that he wanted to make as well. I was all set for a great day.

We left the restaurant and drove directly to our first stop of the day. It was a customer of his that buys several lines from him and he showed me the business and how he works it. After writing an order and chatting with the buyer for a few minutes we were back in the car and on our way to stop number 2.

As we drove to the second stop I noticed that we drove back through an intersection we drove through on our way to the first stop. Not really thinking much of it because sometimes doubling back on a route is the shortest distance to travel, we made it to stop number 2. This was a small shop that the rep told me only buys a few items from him. He wanted me to see if there was anything I saw that I felt would help sell more in the account.

As we walked in I looked around and saw a few things, but agreed with the rep that this was a small business and the opportunity was going to be limited. After 2 demos of new products we left without an order and headed to stop number 3 which the rep said was his number 1 account.

The next stop went very well for the rep, and after selling a new item he took a large order for the customer. We were doing well, 3 stops, 2 orders and several demos and a new item sale.

As we drove to our next stop I once again recognized the same intersection we had driven through twice already.

To make a long story short, over the next several hours we made 4 more stops and drove back through that same intersection 2 more times.

As we were driving to a restaurant for lunch I asked the rep if he had a map in his car. He didn’t so I asked him to stop at an office supply store so I could buy one. When we got to the restaurant I grabbed a table big enough for the map to be laid out on.

Still not knowing the area, I asked the rep to put dots on the map for the 7 stops we made so far that day. He made the dots for me. I then asked him to number the dots in the same order we stopped at them that morning.

When he was done I asked him what he noticed. He looked and sheepishly said that we crossed back and forth in the area all morning. I joked with him saying that I knew several people at that one intersection because we drove through it so many times. Using the scale of miles on the map I estimated that we had driven over 25 miles since we left the hotel that morning. Then I did some quick measurements and figured that if he had planned his route better he could have cut over 15 of the 25 miles off the route.

Living here in Georgia, I am a bit spoiled. Our gas is some of the lowest in the country. On the west coast things are a lot different. The gas was almost 60 cents a gallon higher. To make a point I asked the rep how many miles per gallon his car got, he said about 18. Doing some quick calculations I asked him how he would like to save almost $30 a week.

He knew where I was going with this conversation, but I went there anyway. I said, if we just save 15 miles before lunch and another 15 after lunch every day that would be 150 miles a week. If his car gets 18 miles per gallon that means he would save 8.3 gallons per week. At $3.65 a gallon that equals $30.29.

Next I asked the rep how fast he usually drives. He laughed and said he always speeded wherever he went. (I had to agree just from the morning’s time together) He said 50MPH was a good average. (I didn’t want to argue with him, but around town he probably didn’t average much over 30) Either way I then asked him how many sales calls he thought he could make in 3 hours. He told me 4 or 5. I then asked him if he made 5 calls how many he would close. He said at least 2. My follow-up question was what is your average sale? To which he said about $300.

Once again I did some fast calculations and asked him if an additional $31,000 in sales was something he would be interested in. I am sure you all can guess his answer. I explained that is what an extra 3 hours a week of selling time rather than driving time would get him.

I called this post WEST SIDE STORY because it happened on the west coast. I know that I could have called it EAST SIDE, NORTH SIDE, SOUTH SIDE, INSIDE or OUT SIDE STORY. This same thing happens thousands of times a day all over the country.

My challenge to you is to take a little time and do the same exercise with your days as I did with the rep I was working with. Go step by step and come up with the figure you are missing because you are driving instead of selling.

Lorin

IS IT ME YOU’RE LOOKING FOR?

I didn’t invent the internet, that was Al Gore. I didn’t start Rock and Roll, that was Elvis. I didn’t invent the “GIBBS SLAP”, that was Leroy Jethro Gibbs aka Mark Harmon. I didn’t invent sales, I have just enjoyed it for the past 40 years.

What I did do is start this blog 8/18/10, almost 3 years ago. Over the past 3 years I have made over 400 posts (none for the past 7 months).

Well I am happy to say, I’M BAAAAACK”.

I wish I had a good reason for not posting since last December, but the truth is I have been focusing my attention on settling in to my new position. It has been a wild 7 months but some of the most rewarding I have had in all my years as a sales rep and sales trainer.

I have had to remember things that I hadn’t thought of for years. It was exciting to once again be challenged to learn while I was teaching. I had to be as open to new ideas as I was to helping others accept new ideas. I was in a position of being new, while being the expert.

This entire time I have been making notes and planning this blogging comeback. I have been outlining posts that I felt would be as useful to everyone reading this blog as they were to me while I lived them.

To say I am excited is an understatement. ELECTRIFIED, ENERGIZED, SUPERCHARGED, MOTIVATED, and plain HAPPY are all the feelings I have about where I have been and what I have done over the past 7 months.

I am going to be doing what I have always tried to do here, have fun while telling stories that will help sales reps of all tenure and all industries. At the same time I will be as motivating as I can be, thought provoking as I can be, and entertaining as I can be.

I look forward to your comments, e mails and communications of all types.

Let’s get started.

 

YOU SAY WHAT?

I am sure that everyone reading this has gone into a “big box” store to purchase some sort of electronics. Last night was my latest experience.

One of the TV sets I had went bad and it was time to buy a new one. Off I went in search of an inexpensive set to fill the vacant space where the old TV sat for years. My first stop was a favorite store of mine, Best Buy.

I know that over the years best Buy has had some very bad press about its lack of customer service, and I will be the first to say, they deserved it. However over the past few years, at least for me, they have really turned it around and improved greatly.

So, here I was in front of the GREAT WALL OF TELEVISIONS, trying to make a selection. Was 32” too small? Was 60” too big? LCD, LED, HDTV, 720P, 1080P, PLASMA, the market has truly turned into an alphabet soup and unless you know what all these letters mean, a decision is hard to make.

Up walks my “salesman”! A young man who wore his blue shirt with pride. I told him what I was looking for and in seconds he had me pointed at a set. It didn’t take me long to make up my mind and I bought the one he suggested.

While the stock people were bringing my new TV up from the stockroom, my SALESMAN started to write up the order and have me pay. As he was ringing up my purchase he said, “I’ll go ahead and add the $160.00 for the extended warranty”. To that I said, “WHAT”?

I believe in the assumptive close, and I guess he made the ultimate assumption.

Does anyone see what I had a problem with? Before you can close you need to SELL. My SALESMAN forgot to do what his job description says he is supposed to do, SELL! He never told me anything about the warranty, NOTHING, not what it covered, how it worked, how long it lasted, NOTHING! He just TOLD me he was going to add it to the invoice.

At this point the Sales Trainer came out in me. I reached over and snatched my credit card away from him and said, “Don’t you think I should know what I am getting for $160 bucks?”

As he started to give me all the features of the warranty I once again stopped him. I said “so what does that mean to me?” I guess he saw the smile on my face because he asked me if this were some sort of test. I replied YES, and you have failed miserably.

As sales reps we all want to assume the sale, but we all need to understand that to assume a sale there needs to be a sales presentation. The customer needs to have at least a minimal idea of what you are offering and how what you have will benefit them before you can assume the sale.

If you sell a service, let the customer know what the service is and how the service will make their business or life better. If you sell a product, either tell them or better yet SHOW them how your product is better than what they have now. If they don’t have one now, let them know how owning yours will make their business or life better. SHOW, TELL and then SELL!

There is an old saying in sales: A PRESENTATION WITHOUT A DEMONSTRATION IS JUST A CONVERSATION!

Do what we do best SELL. If we forget to sell our product or service we are just visitors.

By the way, I did buy the TV and I didn’t buy the warranty. I spent about 30 minutes trying to make my point with MY SALESMAN about selling. I hope that everyone reading this catches on quicker than he did.

Lorin

THE REST OF THE YEAR

It seems funny to say “the rest of the year” when there are only 6 days left in 2012. It seems even funnier to say “the rest of your selling year” when there are only 4 days left if you count Monday which is New Year’s Eve.

Yet, work doesn’t stop because a new calendar begins nor does it stop because an old calendar ends.

So what should we as reps do for what is left of 2012? There are several things that will produce some awesome results. Think about where you are for the current year.

1)      Many of you, hopefully, have already met or exceeded your sales quotas. You need to look at your bonus opportunities. I have seen so many reps hit quotas and then leave money on the table because they stopped pushing themselves and missed bonus opportunities that were so close one good day would have meant thousands of dollars to them. You have 4 selling days left, make them count!

2)      Some of you are within striking distance of your quotas. This is the time to use your relationships with your customers to get you over the finish line. Go to your best and biggest customers and remind them of all the VALUE ADDED things you have done for them the past year. Let them know that you have gone above and beyond what they expected from a sales rep. Share with them the fact that you need X dollars to hit your quota and ask them for a BIG order. (DO NOT JUST LOAD THEM UP! MAKE SURE WHAT THEY ORDER IS PRODUCT THEY NEED) Keep in mind that if you load them up now you won’t be getting orders from them for a while, this may put you in the same position next year as you are right now. Use this opportunity to get new items in and set the stage for bigger sales next year.

3)      I know of a lot of companies that offer bonuses for reps who exceed their quotas. If you are one of the lucky reps that work for a company that will give you bonus dollars for going beyond your quota by certain figures, GO FOR IT! Know what the figure is you need to hit for the bonus and set your goals over the next 4 days to hit that figure.

4)      Unfortunately there are always some reps that are so far behind quota for the year that realistically there is no way that 4 days will make a difference. OK, put 2012 behind and start making your plans to blow it out in 2013. Do your homework, look at you customer lists and see where the opportunities lie for you to grow business next year. Look over your prospect list and make your plans on how you will open these new customers. Look at your pipeline and make sure you have your plan on how to keep it full. Look in the mirror and make sure the person looking back at you is ready willing and able to push forward to a new year.

The year is NOT over! Make the final days the best 4 days of the year no matter which group of reps you fall into.

2012 was an interesting year with the economy, the wars, the elections all having an impact on our business. 2013 is shaping up to be another interesting year filled with challenges and opportunities. It will be up to each and every one of us to use all our creative skills, all our selling skills, and all our business skills to assure that we come out on top.

Lorin

COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

SAM I WAS

Over a year ago, 10/13/11 to be exact, I wrote about my Brother-In-Laws father SAM who to me was the consummate salesman. At the time Sam was 93 (I thought 94, does a year really matter at this point?) year’s young and going strong. However after his wonderful wife of over 70 years (again, I thought they were married 60+ but found out it was 70) passed away, Sam’s own health started to decline.

On December 15^th we lost Sam.

I say we, including everyone who will read this post, because when a lifelong salesman dies a little of each of dies along with him. I know that sounds so cliché, but in this case it is true. You see, as I said before, Sam was a salesman salesman. He was from the old school, he had the ethics of the old school, he had the persistence of the old school, he had the self-drive of the old school and most of all he had the LOVE for selling of the old school.

It was men and women like Sam that gave sales people a GOOD name. He was the kind of salesman that believed whatever he was selling, from Diamonds to his own artwork, it was not only the best but that everyone needed it and had reasons to back up his beliefs.

Unlike so many of the so called salespeople of today ho are nothing but order takers, Sam knew all the steps that it took to get the sale. He always built VALUE in his product and showed how ownership would benefit the customer and he made sure the product would meet the needs AND the wants of the customer.

Sam was selling right up until the end, he always had a piece of his artwork with him and would do his best, even from a wheelchair being pushed by one of his wonderful and dedicated caretakers, to find a prospect and go into his well-practiced and professionally delivered sales pitch. It may have been another patient, the nurse, or the doctor, but Sam always found a prospect.

As you can imagine at 94 years old he had patience. Along with his patience he also had the persistence of a Pit Bull. He knew that you may not say yes today, but if he could repeatedly show you the value and how his artwork would better your life you would eventually say yes.

WE lost a GREAT salesman. Our jobs just got a little more difficult because there is one less salesman doing it right and each of us needs to work a little harder to make up the difference. In Sam’s case we each need to work A LOT harder because the hole left by his passing is big one.

A final story about Sam. At the funeral Jeff, my Brother-in-Law spoke about his father. Sam was an artist and sold his own artwork. He had portraits of sports figures, famous people from all walks of life, and some religious portraits as well. Jeff said, “I can see my father now standing at the gates of heaven looking into G-Ds face and saying, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED? A BEAUTIFUL PORTRAIT OF YOUR SON HANGING ON THE WALL, LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I HAVE”

Goodbye Sam, Good Selling.

Lorin

THE PARTY’S OVER FOR FOUR MORE YEARS

OK, I have not posted since 10/9/12. Why you may be asking, simple, THE ELECTION. I didn’t want to get political on the blog nor did I want to compete with all the information surrounding the election.

But now it is over, we have our new President. It doesn’t matter which side of the isle you fall on we have our new president.

As sales reps we need to take a look at what is happening with our customers. I know it is early, and I am sure that good or bad a lot more will happen over the next 4 years, but for all the customers that told you they were, “HOLDING OFF UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTIONS”, has anything really changed?

I went into the sales field on 11/7 the Wednesday after the elections and traffic was the same, the parking lots were just as full or in some cases as empty as before the elections. The customers that were busy before the election were still busy and the customers that were slow were still slow.

I went to the grocery store and the shelves were full and prices were the same. Gas prices hadn’t changed much, I know that I hadn’t gotten any price increases from my company and I hadn’t heard from any of my friends that their companies passed along price increases either.

I got my paycheck on Friday and it was the same as the week before, as was my wife’s. Traffic in Atlanta was no better and no worse and the news was still the news.

So what I am saying is after being assaulted with what seemed like a lifetime of political ads, hearing what seemed like a lifetime of political reporting, and what seemed like a lifetime of excuses from customers, nothing has really changed.

I am not silly enough to think that who got elected won’t in some way affect our country, but the truth is most of us will not see any significant change in our business. We will hear a lot of opinions and speculations as to what has happened and what will happen, but for most of our customers, the day to day business will change very little if any.

WE ARE SALES REPS! We find ways to make things that look grim into opportunities that shine as bright as the sun. We take the cards that we are dealt play the hand the best we can. We don’t get caught up in the poor poor pitiful me game.

We have all had a week to either celebrate or curse the election. Let’s spend the rest of the 4 years leading up to the next election working on our success and the success of our customers and country.

GOD BLESS AMERICA for giving us all this awesome opportunity to succeed!

Lorin

IT WAS ONLY A FIB

When it rains it pours, this is a motto of a salt manufacturer and it is also an old saying meaning that when things go wrong they go really wrong! Well it is POURING at the Greenstein house!

I have a leak in my basement which may or may not be being caused by the fact that the cracks in my driveway are getting wider and starting to get uneven.

So not only is it pouring but the water is running through my basement.

OK, so that was the lead up to today’s post. I have had to get estimates from companies to do the work needed to solve my problems. First a company that can stop the leaking basement and then a concrete company to demo and remove the old driveway and re-pour a new one.

I have had several companies out to give me estimates and as I expected, the professionalism of the sales reps has been extremely diverse.

Each sales rep gave me the facts I needed about the work that needed to be done and they each had their own solution that they knew was the absolute best. I have no problems so far, if they didn’t think their solution was best why would I want to do business with them.

For the most part they have all been pretty ethical about measuring and providing me an estimate. However one company was all but dishonest about it. After the rep measured my basement and gave me his explanation of his solution and why I should use it, he got out his calculator and started figuring his price. He wrote out everything on his quote sheet and in BOLD numbers at the bottom he gave me his price to do the needed work.

His price was almost $1000.00 higher than the next nearest estimate I had gotten. I was about to say something about how high he was, but before I could he started talking. He said that he had a crew that really needed the work and that if I was ready to sign he would discount the price $500.00. (Still $500.00 higher than the next estimate) I was looking at the paper when he started talking again, this time he told me about a credit he had with his concrete supplier and if I would say yes RIGHT NOW he would use the credit on my job which would save me another $500.00. (Now he was the same price as the next estimate) As all the infomercials say, WAIT THERES MORE! I hadn’t said a word yet and he started talking again, this time he said he would rewrite the estimate so it would show 60 feet less drain, and he would charge me... you guessed it..$500.00 less.

At this point I was just sitting back waiting to hear his next price drop. I hadn’t said yes or no and I have already saved $1500.00 off the original estimate.

I just sat there looking at him and he must have known I was waiting for something because he said with a big question, “Is that enough to get your business”?

I just sat and waited to see if he would cut his price again. He did, he said he had forgotten the $200.00 discount form Angie’s List and he would honor that also. I thought it was funny he actually used the word honor because he surely didn’t have any.

I was getting tired of the game especially because I had decided I wouldn’t do business with him at any price. If he is that unethical and willing to spew any lie he thought of I didn’t want to know what he had lied about in reference to my work needing to be done.

I thanked him and brought the “sales pitch” to an end. He asked again if I was ready to sign and I said I didn’t think so. He asked why and I just said I am not sure who I want to do business with yet, but I was sure it wasn’t him.

I love bargains, and I love saving money, and I really love saving a lot of money! What I don’t love is being lied to, cheating, and stealing. The rep may have had a crew that needed the work, I will give him that one and I may have done business at that point, but to then to throw in a $500.00 credit was a stretch, but even that could have been true and I still may have done business with him. However, stealing and making me a part of it was too much for me. To be dishonest enough to under estimate a job to get the price down is over the line.

I am having my basement waterproofed Thursday by a company that gave me the next highest estimate. Not because I believe high price means quality, but because the sales rep didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear rather he told me what I needed to hear to solve my water problem.

Lorin

ACT NOW

Today I was severely reprimanded by my wife. I know what some of you are thinking, “SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW”. Well, I am usually the first one to admit when I act like a jerk and deserve to be reprimanded, however this time I really don’t believe I deserved it. You be the judge. Leave me a comment and tell me if you think I deserved it or not.

Here is what happened;

For the first time in several weeks we had a good rain storm come through the Atlanta area. Because we have been in such a drought the famous Georgia Red Clay has hardened and has constricted. This causes it to pull away from the foundation of homes and when the rain comes can cause leaks in the foundation. This is what happened to me.

For the past 2 days I have had a steady stream of water running into my basement. I had to buy some absorbent socks and try to put up a dam so the water wouldn’t ruin everything on the floor. The flow of water has been enough volume to soak all the socks I have put down in about an hour to an hour and a half. This means that for the past 2 nights I have been sleeping for 90 minutes and then getting up, going down 2 flights of stairs to the basement, using my shop vac to pick up as much of the water as I could, putting the soaked socks into a bucket (the bucket weighs about 60 pounds when it is filled with wet socks) carrying the heavy bucket up one flight of steps and to the washer where I spin them to dry them out, carrying the bucked with the damp socks (now only about 25 pounds) back down stairs and putting the socks back down as a dam. WHEW, I am tired just by remembering everything I have done.

Needless to say I have called a company that water proofs basements to give me an estimate to fix the problem before the next rain storm hits my area.

Late this afternoon one of the sales reps from a company I called showed up to give me an estimate to fix the problem the “RIGHT” way (meaning his companies way) He started out strong and asked me questions and gave me his full sales presentation. He then walked all around my home and in the basement taking pictures and measurements. After about an hour we sat at my kitchen table and he started doing the math.

I could almost feel the heat being generated by his calculator as he added up everything he needed to do to fix my problem the “RIGHT WAY”. He was writing and adding for about 10 minutes and then said to me, “This isn’t too bad, it will only be $XXXX.XX for the entire job” he then recapped everything that he had told me he was going to do. I looked over his estimate and he asked if I had any other questions. I told him no and he went for the close.

At this point I was not very happy with his figures, but I was impressed at this sales process and technique. I told him that I needed to think about it overnight (the rain had stopped and I knew I was going to get a good night’s sleep tonight) and I would call him tomorrow and let him know my decision.

He said to me, Mr. Greenstein (he had been calling me Lorin the entire time, now I was Mr. Greenstein) my company knows that many people need an extra incentive so if you say yes now I can offer you an additional 5% discount.

Here is where he lost the sale and my reaction is why I got reprimanded.

I said, “You know, I more than likely would have called you tomorrow morning and given you the go ahead, but now I am not at all interested in doing business with you or your company.” The rep looked at me and asked why, I said, “I don’t like a price that drops 5% for the next 5 minutes and then goes back up. If you can offer me a 5% discount now and you don’t give it to me tomorrow that means you are over charging me 5%” He started back peddling and stammering. I said, “I teach sales reps for a living and in all my years I have never dropped a price and told the customer it was for the next few minutes only, if I give a price I stand by it!”

As I spoke I got madder and madder until I said that I wouldn’t be doing business no matter what.

When he left my wife and youngest daughter told me I was too strong and I was almost rude to the rep. I told them that I was mad and I don’t like cheap sales tricks to get the customer to say yes. They agreed they didn’t like what he said but still said I was a jerk and was rude.

I defended myself by saying that if he was smart he would learn from the experience and not use cheap trick and pressure to close sales. If his price and service was as good as he said it was he shouldn’t need them.

We went back and forth for a while until I just said well he is gone and I am not calling to apologize.

OK you tell me, did I do anything wrong? I still think I helped him in the long run and that if he thinks about what I said and adjusts his story to soften it, he will close more deals and make more money.

Leave a comment and let me know if you are on my wife’s side or mine.

Lorin

THE VICTOR WRITES THE HISTORY

I was having breakfast with a sales rep friend of mine a few days ago and we were exchanging leads with one another as we have been doing for many years now. I handed him a business card from a customer of mine who I have just started selling a few months ago.

As I handed him the card he read the name and said, “That #^($@&!, I will never talk to him again, he is an #^%!&(*” I was shocked, not at his language (I have been known to let loose a string of words similar to his) but at the fact that he didn’t like this guy who I have started to become friends with.

This made me think about something that happened to me when I was in school. I was in a history class and the professor started telling the story of the Civil War, from the aspect of the losers (the South). It was actually pretty funny to hear about battles talked about from this aspect. It changed the way you viewed the entire war.

Getting back to my conversation with the rep, I started to smile as he was getting redder and redder in the face thinking about this guy that he didn’t like at all. Here we had the same person, being viewed by two people who do the same thing, and resulting in totally opposite opinions.

This reminded me of a sales meeting I used to conduct. I would start by making a statement like, “You can’t sell a convenience store, they never buy anything” I would then nod my head and ask who agrees with me, every time I would have a group nodding and readily agreeing with me. Before the meeting I would always look at my reps accounts and find a rep that had a BIG convenience store account. After I got most of the reps to agree that you could not sell a convenience store I would then ask that rep their opinion. They would tell everyone about the success they were having selling a convenience store.

I would do the same thing with 2 or 3 other industries and always have the majority of reps saying you couldn’t sell them, and then the rep that was having great success selling them. The end of the meeting was, depending on how well you are personally doing in an industry dictates your opinion of the industry.

The same goes for people. Depending on how much business a person is giving you often indicates how you feel about the person.

So now you should be asking what is the point of this post, simply this, Don’t listen to someone’s opinion about a prospect. You can take it into consideration but make up your own mind. What you may find out is that the bum to another rep may become your best friend and best customer.

Lorin

BACK TO YOUR ROOTS

As I was driving around yesterday I drove past the building that was the home to the company that I credit with making me a Sales Trainer.

The building looks exactly as it did 35 years ago. I could tell that the maintenance has been top notch. The sign on the building was the same and I saw several cars parked in the parking lot. I decided to stop in.

The first face I saw brought back a flood of memories. It was the warehouse production manager. I know that he has been with the company for over 30 years. He was just a kid when he started and now he had grown to be the VP of Manufacturing for the company. With a head full of white hair and a white beard he resembled Santa, and had every bit as big a smile as Santa would.

We sat in his office and talked for about 45 minutes. The entire time I was thinking about everything I had learned working for the company and how the President of the company always motivated me (and everyone else) to do our very best.

I remembered the first day on the job, I thought I was a seasoned sales rep until I met some of the “HUSTLERS” that worked for this company. For the next 12 years I was able to start my own business using their business model and sharpen my skills as a motivational speaker and trainer.

I walked around the building and met a few more people that I hadn’t seen for over 20 years and it was a great time.

As I was leaving I knew that just remembering all the things that brought me to where I am today will make me better TODAY! I have written about getting back to the basics and I have taught back to your basics, I have preached back to your basics, yesterday I lived back to your basics and wow what an experience.

I know that some of you may not be able to go back to your rots of selling, it may be because of distance or other reasons. It doesn’t matter, each of us can take the mental trip back to our roots and remember all the things we have learned (and forgotten or discarded) along the way.

I made a promise to myself as I drove away from the building, I will make it a point to at least drive by, if not stop in, every year. I know that the time spent will be rewarded 10 fold with the basics that I will remember and USE after the visits.

GET BACK TO YOUR ROOTS, GET BACK TO YOUR BASICS!

Lorin

IT NEVER SEEMS TO BE ENOUGH

I had a classic conversation with a sales rep this morning. He called me to vent about what has been happening in his company and what the company has been asking him to do.

For the first minute or so I was following along with him as his rant started to build up a head of steam. It then became a runaway train and as the momentum started to build I knew I just needed to hold on tight and make it through the ride.

They did this, and they want that... they told me to do this and then they wanted me to do something else… they made me say this and then they said that… Are you starting to get the picture of how this conversation was going?

I tried to be a good listener, I AM A GOOD LISTENER, but in this case I will admit it was more ignoring than listening.

As his rage came to a head he started telling me what he “SHOULD” have said to “them”. He should have stood his ground and told them he wouldn’t do it. He “SHOULD” have just gone and done what he wanted to anyway. He “SHOULD” have quit and found another job.

After about what seemed like a few hours but in reality was about 5 minutes he became silent and asked if I was still there. I assured him I was and joked that it was only because we are friends.

He then made the statement, “IT JUST NEVER SEEMS TO BE ENOUGH FOR THEM”

I asked what wasn’t enough? Not enough time worked, not enough sales calls, not enough sales volume, what wasn’t enough? He said they want him to do more and more!

I asked him if he wanted to do less and less? The phone was silent. He said, “What do you mean?” I answered, isn’t a company supposed to ask their reps to do more and more?

How many of you would want to work for a company that asked you to sell less this year? I can imagine the conversation going like this;

Company: Sales reps, this year we don’t want to sell as much as last year.

Sales reps: WHAT? WHY?

Company: Last year we paid out too much in commissions because you sold so much product, we want to cut the payroll so we are asking each of you to sell 10% less than you did last year.

Sales reps: Won’t that mean we are making 10% less commissions?

Company: Yes, that’s the idea, you sell less, and you make less.

Sales reps: If we do this won’t the company make less profits also?

Company: Yes we will.

OK, you see how stupid this conversation is. A company that doesn’t ask for growth is asking to go out of business. A sales rep that doesn’t want their company to ask more of them is a rep that is going to be out of a job and company very soon.

As I was talking to the rep I asked him if the problem is the company wants more of him or if the company isn’t giving him the tools to do more? He immediately shot back that was it in a nut shell.

Reps, we all want to be successful, we all want to grow, but we all need to right tools to help us grow. If your company isn’t providing the right tools, don’t get negative and cut off your nose to spite your face by not selling, ask for the tools! If they are still not provided, find them for yourselves. There are a million tools available to reps and many are at no cost.

Like so many people today, don’t blame others for the problems you have. Take responsibility and find your own fix. You will be stronger for it and your sales will continue to grow because you know how to fix your own problems.

Lorin

I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, PLEASE LEAVE THEM BY CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW.

IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN

Have you ever been with a customer and they ask you questions about your product or service that only the most inside technical people in your company could ever know? (And they might not even know)

The usual response is to try your best to give some kind of answer. It may not be the answer to the question, but at least it is an answer. Now I am not saying just make something up, I am saying the average rep will give a very accurate and correct answer that may not have anything to do with what the customer wanted to know.

This happened to me yesterday. A customer asked me a question about a piece of equipment and I had no idea of the answer. I immediately told the customer I can make one phone call and get him what he needed to know, he said NO!

The customer looked at me and said, “Why should I buy from you, if you don’t know your product?”

This question put me at a fork in the road. I could have chosen to say, “Why would I sell you a product you don’t know about” (JUST KIDDING!) Actually I did have 2 options. Option 1; tell the customer that I am a sales rep NOT an engineer. Option 2; (the one I chose) I simply told the customer that I carry tens of thousands of different products. Each one has its own specs. I try my best to know enough about each product to sell them, but I don’t need to know ever spec because I have a team of people that can give me that information in a few seconds when I need it.

The customer was impressed. He asked me if he had access to the same technical information that I had about the products he would buy from me. I told him he did. He asked me to make the call.

How much do you know about the support behind the sales at your company? How much confidence do you have in the support behind your products in your company? I know a lot of reps that can recite chapter and verse about their products. They have become students of the products and have a lot of technical information about them. I also know that every one of the reps that know this much DON’T KNOW IT ALL!

A smart rep not only knows a lot of information about the products and services they sell, they know where to get the information they don’t know. I don’t know any reps that don’t have their “Go To” people inside their own company or with their vendors so they have access to information as they need it.

You need to build your support network. It is just as important to build relationships within your company as it is to build relationships with your customers, maybe even more important. Get direct phone numbers so you have access, get e mail addresses, GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE YOU WILL DEPEND ON AND MAKE SURE THEY GET TP KNOW YOU!

Having inside as well as outside contacts makes you a much larger force to be reckoned with. Do a survey within your own company. Ask the top reps if they have specific people they call for help. Ask not only about technical information, ask about credit, customer service, inventory, shipping and the list will go on depending on your company.

I will assure you that every top rep has their support team!

THE BIGGER THE FOUNDATION, THE BIGGER THE BUILDING.

Lorin

MAYBE YES BUT MAYBE NO

In a blog I was reading the other day this question was posted, “What can I do to get prospects to say yes more often”?

I read through the string of replies to see what advice and techniques would be displayed.  It was amazing what was written. Everything from drop price to don’t worry the numbers will work themselves out was offered.

There were dozens of replies that were supposed to be from other sales reps and yet not one offered and solid actions the rep could use to increase his closing ratio.

I was going to write a long drawn out post as to all the circumstances that could be the cause of the problem but felt this rep needed a quick simple fix to the problem.

My answer was this, “Stop selling features and benefits of your product and start selling the advantages of ownership”.

My post wasn’t up for more than 5 minutes before I started getting comments back. Within the hour the original poster wrote and asked me what I meant. I wrote that any customer will buy just about any product if and only if they can see how the product will help them.

The word help is the wildcard. For some help could be saving them money, to most money becomes secondary if you can show how the product will help them in other ways. I once closed a sale simply by showing the customer that he would look like a hero to his boss by buying my product even though my product was more expensive than what he was presently using. My product met the environmental standards the company set and he would be the first department to show significant compliance improvements.

I have made sales because the customers employees liked my product and the by supplying them my products it would improve his personal image with his staff. Some customers buy to save time, or make jobs easier. Some buy to reduce inventory. Whatever the reason you need to show the customer “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me). In many cases the personal reasons far outweigh the business reasons for buying or not buying.

This is a lesson for all of us to keep in mind. A widget can be made of the finest materials in the world and sell for the lowest price in the market, and customers won’t buy it because they don’t see the advantages of the good materials or the cost savings. Don’t just sell features and benefits of the product, sell features and HOW THEY WILL BENEFIT the customer!

Lorin

A SPIN CLASS FOR SALES REPS

When was the last time you went to a circus? It has been years since I went and a few minutes ago I was watching a YouTube video and one of the selections on the page was a circus video. I have no idea why, but I watched it.

It was 12 minutes and 41 seconds of fun, excitement, and fun. About half way through came some of the jugglers. I remember as a kid always being amazed by juggling, I can remember as a teen wanting to be a juggler, I can remember as a young man wanting to simply learn how to juggle, and now I am back where I started and am amazed by juggling.

One of my favorite juggling acts was the plate balancer. You have all seen this, row after row of sticks and the juggler starts a plate spinning on top of each stick and runs around attending to each plate as they start to slow down and wobble. The performer runs from front to back and side to side always getting to the right stick a split second before the plate falls to the ground and shatters.

When I closed YouTube and thought about what I watched, I started thinking about what sales reps do during their careers. First we make cold calls and get a customer base. This is just like what the juggler does when he starts the plates spinning on the sticks. We then grow our accounts, this is the juggler adding more and more plates to the sticks. We then start to service our accounts, this is the juggler running around keeping the plates spinning. As we lose a customer we find another to take its place always keeping our territory maximized, just like the juggler starting a new plate when one falls off a stick.

This juggling act we do is different in many ways also. The juggler in the circus knows how long a plate will stay up by how hard they spin it. They know which plate will be the next one to need attention and the plates are very predictable so the juggler can rehearse hundreds of time allowing him to have a great show with the elements of suspense and talent neatly intertwined. As reps we don’t have the luxury of predictability. We don’t know where the next problem will come from or what the next objection will be. We can rehearse, but there is always an uncertainty about what we will need in our next performance to have a successful show.

We usually have more plates spinning than the juggle could ever think about and we need to control them better than the juggler controls his plates. A customer will only allow themselves to wobble so many time before they will jump off your stick and shatter on the floor of your account base.

As reps we may not have the excitement of the high wire acts, the animals or the peanuts and popped corn that comes with the circus, but we do have the same mess to clean up if we are not careful.

Lorin

EXCUSE DU JOUR

Over the next 8 weeks a lot of work needs to be done. Starting on November 25^th, the natural excuse “I am waiting until after the first of the year” becomes the “EASY” excuse. (And blow off)

Today the “I am waiting until after the elections” is the EXCUSE DU JOUR and we need to put up with that for another 60+days.

The facts are this, business goes on! Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year business goes on! There will always be an EXCUSE DU JOUR that we are dealing with. Our job is to find a way to negate the excuse and work with our customers to assure they have what they need when they need it.

So if we know the customer needs our product and service, and the customer knows they need our product or service, then why is it the customer resists and gives us an excuse? The answer is easy, YOU AS THE SALES REP IN MANY CASES HAVEN’T SHOWN THE CUSTOMER THE VALUE OF YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE!

Today the market demands Value, the customer demands value, and the sales rep is responsible for bring the value to the table. This is a task that most reps do very well during the initial sale. The rep makes a great presentation and the customer see’s the true value of owning the product or service.

VALUE isn’t a sometimes thing! Value is an ALL THE TIME thing. A rep needs to build the value of their product or service every time they contact the customer. Just because they customer saw the value at the onset of the relationship doesn’t mean they continue to see it. Many of you have customers that you have been selling for decades, it may have been 10 or 20 years ago that you last really showed the value of what you sell. The customer has been buying based on your relationship and sooner or later, in today’s market, that relationship will no longer make for a good business decision.

When I say every time, I mean EVERY TIME. It is a no brainer to build value on the initial sale, and most reps will continue to build value when the return for a “SALES CALL”. A good rep will build value at every step of the way. If you send a thank you note build value. If you leave a voice mail, build value. If you send a holiday card, build value.

One of the best examples I have seen was a rep that sent me a birthday card. The card was very simple in appearance and when I opened it there were only a few words. It said:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORIN! THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS THAT WILL TRY AND GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR CELEBRATION, YOU KNOW THAT MY ___________ WON’T BE ONE OF THEM. (The product I was buying was in the blank)

Every one of us could make a statement like this about or product or service. Imagine the impact it could have if we did it to not just the occasional customer, but EVERY customer EVERY time we had contact with them.

To use the CREED of the USPS.

NEITHER ELECTIONS NOR HOLIDAYS NOR THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY WILL KEEP ME FROM BUYING (INSERT YOUR NAME HERE) PRODUCTS OR SERVICES!

Lorin

AS ALWAYS, YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME. CLICK ON THE WORD "COMMENT" (IF YOU ARE THE FIRST IT WILL SAY NO COMMENTS) JUST BELOW THE POST AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

EVERYTHING IS NEW BUT NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED

I was listening to the radio the other day while driving around and heard an interesting statement made by a sports announcer. She said that although many things have changed during her 24 years of broadcasting, the fundamentals of journalism, who, what, why, when, and where have all remained constant.

When I was in collage I took a journalism course and the 5 “W’s” were taught to me, my 84 year old Mother-In-Law was a journalism major at the University of Georgia and I asked her if the 5 “W’s” were the fundamentals taught to her and she said absolutely.

As I searched for the origins of the 5 “W’s” I could trace them back to the 1^st Century BC. I guess the 5 “W’s” go further back than even my Mother-In-Law.

Like so many fundamentals, the 5 “W’s” have withstood the test of time, like so many of the basics do.

Sales is no different. I have read dozens of articles, written by some of the sales greats, talking about how sales have changed over the past 20 years. Everything from the introduction of the internet to environmental issues have affected sales in some way or another. The rising prices of energy and the breakthroughs in technology have affected sales. The cell phone and GPS systems have affected sales. About anything you can think of have in one way or another affected selling.

But through it all the basics, the fundamentals have remained the same. People still prefer to buy from people they like, the value of your product has to be there and service is what keeps customers happy.

I know that we are living in a world where instant information is available to just about everyone and customers are more informed today than ever before. However all this doesn’t eliminate the fact that the sales rep makes a difference. The sales rep still builds the trust that sales are based on and customers depend on their sales reps to help them through the electronic jungle that many companies have developed.

Building value, building a relationship, building rapport, building trust all lead to BUILDING SALES for any organization.

If you find yourself in the situation of sagging sales figures, try going back to the basics and using the fundamentals you were taught at the start of your career. Like sales, the basics of success haven’t changed, they have just been updated.

Lorin