Sales Talk

The 3R's of Apology

The phone rings and you have a very unhappy person on the line. Your order went out late, was damaged, incorrect and the customer has a deadline he’s bound to miss because of it. It ripples because this was part of a larger project, and this minor glitch is now affecting his entire plan. He’s got his boss breathing down his neck, and he’s breathing down yours. You check your supplier, it can’t be replaced fast enough to make his date.

What do you do to calm, assure and retain your customer?

You learn the three R’s of an apology.

Choose the Right R Word

It is your choice to make your "R" word Recession or Resiliency.

This is a time to get busy- not make excuses. You cannot afford to lose an existing customer and you cannot afford to be complacent. This is a time to become aggressive and diligently make your sales and follow up calls.

A recent article about the recession from Ben Stein really helps put things in the right perspective. To see it in entirety, Google it, or email me for the link.

Per Ben's article "There have been 10 recessions in the last 63 years. The average length of these downturns has been about 10 months. The average decline in economic activity from peak to trough was about 2.5 percent. No decline has been worse than about 3.7 percent.

"In the past 25 years, there have only been 2 recessions, which is an extremely good record. The two recessions -- in the early 1990s and the 2000-2001 correction -- have been extremely brief. The really severe recessions of the postwar era have been engineered by the Fed to fight inflation -- in the early 1970s and early '80s."

We must also remember (again quoting the article) "Even in a recession, more than 90 percent of workers who want to work will be employed. Even in a recession, most businesses will make a profit. Even in a recession in this era, more than 10 million men and women will need cars and trucks. Many millions will need new homes. Tens of millions will need retirement investment products and life insurance. In the United States, even in a recession, there are plenty of people with money to spend."

This is something to remember before we start making excuses.

I lived through a similar experience when selling in Pittsburgh for a major manufacturer of office furniture when the steel industry left that city. There was gas rationing. Imagine being an over the road sales rep and only being able to buy fuel every other day. Which was not necessarily the days you needed it to sell and make a commission.

Pittsburgh was the 3rd largest corporate headquarter city in the US. When steel left, so did a lot of those corporate headquarters. As a sales rep, it was a great client base to sell to. Then they were gone. Those that remained were laying off staff and had a surplus of office furniture selling on the used market. They weren't buying new. It was and remains a life changing event for me.

I remember going to a local chamber networking event. As the crowd thinned, I was talking to a group of my competitors. One in particular was loudly saying he's going to continue doing what he's done all his life. Steel and all those corporate headquarters 'would be back'. He's still waiting.

I left that function determined not to be like that man. On my drive home, my thoughts were "somebody's buying here-who?" I made a mental list of who would benefit from such a mess. The next day I started calling on a new group of prospects. I did not have a drop in my income.

Be resilient and creative. You can't be the person your boss sees as dispensable. Avoid the whiners and doomsayers. You are here to do a job, so do it. Keep that on the top of your mind. You need to make it happen. You need to prospect. You must follow up religiously.

Be committed to doing more than survive-- you will thrive. Pay attention to the details and stay in a selling frame of mind. You will come through these uncertain times and leave the gloomy sales results for your competitors.

More than half of 2008 is over. Are you on track? Will you regard this as times of woe or an opportunity to learn and grow? Because that is exactly what is in front of you. I came through worse and am better for it. So will you.

Build A Save Desk

Irate customers are nothing new to any business. While many companies have save desks to help retain customers, few achieve their full potential.

Happy New Year

In the past few weeks the theme has been the New Year—this is the year we will be healthier, quit smoking, make and save more money, get that raise, and find Mr or Ms Right or get out of the relationship that doesn’t work. TV, radio and the internet bombard us with products and services promising you will get it right this time.

The subliminal message is last year you have failed doing something. Too much emphasis is placed on “out with the old and in with the new”. Yes, the past year was imperfect, and this year will be imperfect too. We learn from our mistakes, more importantly we learn from our successes. Look not only at our flaws, but our potential. Choose to make this a positive, empowering time.

If your goal was to lose 10# and you lost only 5# have you failed? Didn’t you have some great experiences you wouldn’t trade? Weren’t those family dinners’ experiences you wouldn’t trade? You can make different choices in 07 without feeling those in 06 were disasters.

Anaïs Nin makes an unfortunate but typical quote. “I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.”

Consider resolving to put those kinds of quotes “out” and bring in the “new” with a positive New Year. Make this simply an empowering year and make one resolution you can live with. This year, resolve to start the New Year looking at your successes and NOT seeing only failure. Look at, replicate and celebrate the successes. Take your best success in 06, scrutinize what you did to create the success, the tactics and strategies – and do it again.

I learned this from a very wise manager. I had just closed a very large and enriching contract. My manager called me in to talk about “what is next”. I talked about targets, prospects, SWOT’s, the typical salesperson debriefing. He patiently listened and told me that wasn’t the information he was looking for. He asked how I found that client, what made it happen— and he simply told me to “go out and do it again”.

When we focus on what we did wrong, we attract and repeat our mistakes. It is very easy to recall friends (yourself) who have made the comment “this always happens to me”. We say that in failure, not in success. Make this the year you say, “This always happens to me” and be referring to your positive successes.

Its hard, as often only the failures are brought to our attention with great impact. It will take deliberate, conscious action to look at things this way, deliberate, conscious action to look at things this way; while not being complacent, and continuing to set aggressive goals. Aggressive goals mean you are sometimes going to strike out, expect short term failures. Accept that if you don’t get out there and take some risk, you will already fail. The game is more often won with base hits than home runs.

Here are some ideas:

Resolve to…

Review and affirm why you are in business. What service do you provide and how your clients better for it.

Call your clients and thank them. During this phone call do not try to sell them something (don’t close the door on an opportunity either) but call with no other motive than to say “thank you”.

Strengthen existing relationships. Review your client list. Target existing clients for more business and plan how will you make it happen.

Contribute to your industry. Get involved in an industry related nonprofit or trade organization as a volunteer and make a difference.

Keep learning. Take a course, hire a coach, and continue to grow professionally.

Step out of your comfort zone. Make those marketing calls! Call one person a day you don’t know.

Make a marketing plan, calendar and daily action item list. If you have one, dust it off, revise it and make it current and relevant in 07.

Give away your knowledge. Do more than sell a product. Create a way that you can add value to your product.

Differentiate. Find a new niche and fill it! Explore trends and anticipate change.

Quit whining! While there are things out of your control, draw upon your resiliency to see the opportunity in change. “No one can make you a victim without your permission!” to create a variation of a famous Eleanor Roosevelt quote.

Remember that your body and self is the machine that makes it all happen. Take care of yourself in all ways.

Spend meaningful time with your family and loved ones. Tell them how important they are to you—often. They really are the reason we do what we do.

Keep all your experiences and build on them. Tear nothing down, throw nothing out, keep the mistakes as lessons learned.

Remember every day is a new year! Best wishes to you and your family.

Sell Well and Prosper tm

You Can Compete

This is a review of the book You Can Compete-- Double Sales Without Discounting, by Bob Phibbs.

look around your store

Beware the best intentions that can turn off a customer.

I was working with some clients in Southern Colorado. I needed to make some copies for the next day. I went into one of those big box office supply companies and started to make some copies. I looked down and saw a sign "15 minute time limit".

I only had a few copies to make and the limit didn't apply to me. I am sure the manager was well intentioned. He wanted to make the copier available to many people. I imagine this has been a problem or there wouldn't be a sign. During that afternoon, there were only a few people in the store-- and no one near the copier. This store is like all others that track sales per square foot-- a copier uses about 6 SF and is sitting idle. But the store sends out a subtle negative message that is more damaging. It says if I intend to make a lot of copies, I should leave and go somewhere else. The sign doesn't say, "If you have a lot of copies we'd be happy to help you at the copy center." It says "leave" or "you can't do that". So, if I had a lot of copies, I should to go somewhere else. While in the other store, I'd realize that I need a cable, report cover or other item. And I'd be frustrated that I had to drive somewhere else in a town I am not familiar with.

My local store (same chain) in Longmont has a different method. When they see me waiting, they are proactive, come over and ask to make the copies for me. If I have a large project, I will ask them to do it for me and come back at the agreed upon time.

It is the service in my hometown store that made me happy to see the familiar sign and turn in the parking lot.

Think of the signs you put on your door. Some of them scream "Do Not Buy". These can include "don't touch", "no change", or "no soliciting". Any sign with a "no" is a barrier to the relationship you are trying to build. There are other ways to make these points. Treat customers as you would like to be treated.

Integrity of Salespeople vs Politicians

I was troubled by the comments by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., on ABC's "This Week," stating "the reputation of Congress under the Republican leadership is lower than used car salesmen."

I have been in the sales profession all of my adult life. I also train and mentor salespeople – the comments by Murtha are invalid and irresponsible.

I wonder where Mr Murtha purchases his cars? I for one, rely on the expertise of the salesperson to make sure the car I purchase is one that fits my needs. It has probably been a long time since the lofty Murtha had to actually enter a car lot— used instead to a diet of brand new leased vehicles delivered to his door, paid for by his constituants.

Politicians hardly have the reputation of virtuosity. And I believe even in their darkest self—an overstatement by a car salesperson has not caused the pain by the overstatements of politicians.

I went on Mr Murtha’s site to write about this personally. However, Mr Murtha’s site does not accept comments from non-constituents. This is a behavior any sales trainer will drill out of a sales trainee. You don’t just view a contact with the “whats in it for me”—yes, I do not pay your salary right now but it doesn’t mean your comments (made to national media) do not affect people out of your area.

I do have interest in Pennsylvania. I am a PA native, my dad and sister and other family members still live there. My father, retired with General Motors, does not believe the people marketing the products he manufactured for 30 plus years are marketed by shady characters.

Its time for us to put to death these categorizations. The play/movie “Death of a Salesman” is about a fictional character and there are Willie Low- men’s in every walk of life. Most salespeople are on straight commission, the optimists optimist. We head out the door with a smile and dream-- and no base pay or expense account.

Nothing happens until something is sold and the US economy would grind to a halt without the hard working efforts of salespeople. The US Department of Commerce recently stated that American industry has no problem with its production-- its main problem is distribution. Quality salespeople are the key to distribution.

Any politician who believes he or she isn’t in sales is out of touch with reality. I am insulted by this comment and feel anyone in the sales field and auto industry should be as well.

Never Cold Call Again

I read this book sure I'd hate it. I didn't. I don't recommend it, it's a very light read and can be finished in less than 2 hours. (Its in the library) But there are some insights, and the gems in this book have nothing to do with cold calling.

Franks starts with a basic definition of sales as "convincing another that they want or need your product regardless of whether they do or not. That is insulting to a professional salesperson. Then shares his career misadventures with cold calling. He talks about his repeated loss of employment, which points out he doesn't know how to do it correctly. He makes another false assumption that salespeople starts out monthly with zero in the sales funnel.

True salespeople don't start each month with zero in the funnel. True salespeople build trust and relationships with their clients and would never think of shoving unnecessary product on them. True salespeople understand their self promotion efforts might include cold calls, and they should include more.

There are other contradictions. Such as don't cold call yourself but if you hire someone to make your cold calls, its called marketing. OKkkkk. Drop off (cold) brochures in offices and hope they send back a fax reply card. It's all choice of words --a cold call is a cold call.

The parts of the book that are good are his self promotion techniques. And he goes into length about preparation for a sales presentation--researching your client before the call, all solid advice. Info on shift of power are good and bad. I don't believe me, as salesperson takes immediately a subservient role to a buyer--I believe I have information of value. His info on value propositioning is right on too. The law of compensation is also right on.

This really isn't a book about "no cold calls". A cold call is a cold call. It's a book about self promoting yourself to create leads-- which should be part of any good salesperson's toolkit. Rather, if you are having cold call reluctance, I have several books on my website from Amazon I recommend to get yourself additional training. Or, book a sales coach (like me) to help you where you are stuck. Not a life coach, but someone or the right book to give you specific specialized training.

What is the goal?

Is your image portraying you correctly??

Create The Life

Since my site is about goals-- I realize not all the goals we create have anything to do with sales, business or money. The past couple weekends I've gotten out of town and am so pleased I have!! It gives me direction and clarity each time I have. I was in Steamboat to visit a friends daughter who attended a performing arts camp, the well known (to that circle) Perry Mansfield. The girl is a young, talented and confident young lady. The experience alone of that camp is empowering and it was empowering to me, to witness her confidence and accomplishments. I live in Colorado-- and while we pay dearly for our real estate and lifestyle-- the outdoor opportunities right outside our door-- are awesome. It is a dear reminder of why we "do what we do". While in town, we hiked a moderate trail around Rabbit Ears Pass. The wildflowers were spectacular. Shortly after the shot of me at the lake, the weather changed, and we got caught in a rain/hail storm that had me making record time up the last leg of the hike -- a 300' ascent. This is out our condo in Steamboat Springs, CO. Can you imagine a greater testimonial to the Van Gogh quote'; "I dream my pictures and paint my dreams".

Don't miss an opportunity

I have shared stories of how people sell, and most of them are examples of how NOT to sell.

I don’t give the names of the companies, but this was such a pleasant experience I will.

I was in Boulder Co and wanted to bring a cookie tray to my mid afternoon appointment. These “cookie breaks” are very popular and appreciated.

I walked past a chain I have never been in before. The sign at the door said something about their “signature cookies”. I walked in and the menu wasn’t immediately apparent to me. The only thing I saw was a catering menu, so I picked that up.

A woman who worked there walked across the room to talk to me, “Let me tell you about our menu”. She told me about their catering services – which they deliver. She asked me what brought me in the store. I told her what I was looking for and she quickly reviewed options and prices. She told me the options, not just direct me to a section of the menu. Then she walked me to the counter and explained to the cashier what I wanted. Another exceptionally friendly person didn’t just mix a box of cookies, but told me their key ingredients and which were favorites. I asked for a receipt, which I quickly forgot—a THIRD friendly, over the top employee ran out to the street and caught me at the light.

What do these gestures mean for Paradise Bakery & Café? I do at least one box lunch presentation a month and quite a few cookie breaks. I easily spend over $100 a month on this. That simple experience will bring in about $1200 a year to their stores.

When I was going to my car my regional manager called on a unrelated issue. After dealing with that, I mentioned “you know how hard it is to find a good caterer for our lunch and learns”? He followed up with a broadcast phone message about “Carol’s new resource”.

Easily the employees could have done what I described the major hotel chains did in a previous post—just handed me a menu and stared at me for holding up the line. Kudos for the Boulder store manager. It clearly wasn’t one superstar, but a team effort.