Archive for the ‘Sales and Sales Management’ Category

The success of every leader or manager relies heavily on his or her ability to sell…but not as you might assume. Obviously, every business requires sales of products or services to remain operational, and a president or executive doesn’t need to conduct actual product sales if they have a sales force to do so. But I’m not referring to the types of sales that are marketing related; I’m talking about one’s ability to sell their ideas, initiatives, track record, or organization’s potential to others. My experiences with decision makers indicate that most people who hold top-level positions have never taken even a single sales course or recognize the critical impact that their lack of selling skills plays in their lives…both personally and professionally.

In order to get what you want—acquire a new building for expansion, secure a major client, advance your personal career, lock in on competitively-priced goods, and so on—leaders and managers need to pitch their sale to vastly different prospects using a variety of different angles. That doesn’t mean you need to be a super salesperson, just that you need to sell to bankers, employees, managers, officials, vendors, and other people in different ways and on terms that work for all parties. And that requires an awareness to offer something of value to others as well as to possess certain skills of persuasion.

If you’ve been lucky enough to carve a successful career for yourself and to build a strong organization, you can still improve your results by honing your selling skills. I find that when decision makers simply become aware of the strides they can make by upping their ability to sell, they seek out opportunities to grow and develop. They pick up a book on sales, they search out sales courses, and they spend more time observing the techniques used by their sales personnel to name a few. What can you do today to pitch yourself, your ideas, and your organization to create more certain and rewarding wins?

No one wants to be in a situation where they have to raise revenue quickly, but sometimes  that’s just a reality that decision makers have to deal with.  When a past client who does business in a service industry was facing a cash crunch due to price increases from two major vendors, the only solution he could come up with in two month’s time was to push his sales people to sell more contracts. After we spoke a bit longer, he admitted that he’d done the math and that in the back of his mind, he had serious doubts about the sales team’s ability to bring in the targeted funds in the time frame that he needed.

I suggested that he try instituting a nominal price increase to all his clients. He was concerned, stating that he had a client base of 4000 contract holders, and to make such a move would mean that he would have to have reps visit each client to rewrite their contracts, plus, he feared their negative reaction. But that was his assumption, not his challenge or solution.

We took a closer look at the client base and came up with a solution that would assuage his concerns, bring in the revenue quickly, and address any clients who might call to complain. He sent via regular mail and email a notice to clients that they would see a slight price increase on their next billing cycle. For clients who had small contracts of say $40, the price would move to $42. For clients of $400, the price would increase to $420 and so on.

Still worried that he’d have an onslaught of calls, he manned up anyway and braced for the worst. And then….nothing happened. A few dozen customers called and they made what ever arrangements necessary for the new amounts to be remitted. In the end. the client pulled in tens of thousands of dollars of additional revenue per month without much work.

I credit the success of this business owner’s across-the-board price increases to the tactics which included: a pricing model that would cause the customer to say to themselves “who cares,” a well written letter and email campaign, staffing for the ‘just-in-case complaints,’ the right name for the increase, and an accounting system that had no flaws in posting the increase.

There’s always a solution to every challenge. You just have to be willing to open your mind to new ideas and to swirl those ideas around ‘cyclonically’ until you find the best solutions to your challenges.

Have you considered what your organization’s order qualifiers and order winners are? Nearly 3 decades ago, London Business School professor Terry Hill introduced the concept to manufacturers, describing qualifiers as basic characteristics that an organization, product or service needs just to be able to compete and function in the marketplace. They do not cause you to stand out, but they’re essential. Then there are winners. Winners, as their name suggests, are those unique, distinguishing stand-out characteristics that give organizations, products, services, etc. the edge over competitors. For example, they prompt consumers or distributors to buy from one company over another.

Did you know that Jones International was the first full online accredited university? Do you care? Probably not. But their situation is worth noting for the lesson that it teaches. In the 1990′s when online was new and exciting, being the first meant something. Today, being online and first might be a winner only if the organization is developing new and different strategies and tactics to keep them as an industry/sector leader for other winning reasons.   When organization such as Phoenix University and other schools became online resources for education, the public began to see online education as a qualifier. For Jones to retain its winner status, it would have to develop new and innovative winners.

The Madonna Inn, located in San Louis Obispo in CA is a fascinating hotel whose leadership apparently (fortunately) didn’t get the memo on the concept of standardization.   The hotel houses 110 creatively decorated rooms, and each room is different.  My favorite is The Madonna Inn’s Caveman Room; if you’re looking to get away Fred-Flintstone style, this room may be for you.

Caveman Room

Just think of the thought processes planners who developed this project as a fun way to differentiate their product from competitors’ offerings.  If this group’s members were working with an idea bank–electronic or manual collection of ideas–I can’t imagine how creative the ideas were and how much fun they must have had determining the criteria for building their hotel’s rooms. Fun and creativity aside, they still needed a solid process to bring their ideas through the project’s stages and to completion. Just in the early stages, they must have been thinking for a long time about what should they build.  Then they had to ideate about the theme of each room.  What would the theme look like, the selection of the wallpaper or bed style, and more.

This is a perfect example of how often sub ideation occurs within the bigger idea’s ideation.  The broadest ideation includes the type of hotel.  Then sub-ideation occurs where planners are asking about what types of rooms to include, and then even further ideation includes the details for each room. Finally, planners must coordinate the tactics (plans) and the execution of those tactics. Wild!

Madonna Inn Website

I showed up at the Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center in Okaboji, Iowa this summer for business, and like most guests, I spent just a few minutes at the front counter checking in.  A few hours later, when I visited the counter again, Paula, the Front Desk Supervisor, responded to me by name as if I had been visiting the hotel for years. I shook the moment off all the while thinking, how did she remember my name.

Later that night, as I once again visited the front desk to ask about a good place to eat, I hear Paula respond to each person who walks up the counter by using their first or last name.  I asked if these were regulars?  “No, I just can remember names.”

She then went on to tell me a story where a guest had walked up the counter and like she always did, she used the persons name.  “Hello Casey.”  The lady stopped dead in her tracks and asked how did she know her name.  Paula said that she remembered Casey from a previous stay at the hotel, and she pays very close attention to people’s names.  Casey, in awe, said she’d not been in the hotel for S I X years!

I’ve heard of hotels that arm employees with ear pieces to make sure they can give each other the heads up on guests’ names so that they and their coworkers can address guests in the same way.  Others post pictures on the walls of VIPs so that on one is overlooked.

If you have face-to-face contact with customers, what does your organization so to make customers feel special?  Paula has a rare talent, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a system that accomplishes the same result.  Maybe you can put in place a call routing software program that picks up a VIP based on their phone number, or you can distribute pictures of incoming guests’ faces on cards bearing their names  before major functions.  If you can’t see a solution for all guests, define your VIPs and target them first.

If you want to go for the gusto and have everyone be recognized, your systems are going to have to be much more complex and may require a unique identifier that a customer carries on their key chain or a facial recognition software so that no one is missed.

Strategy means different things to different people, which becomes a problem when we try to communicate with each other about what we’re trying to do as leaders, managers, and decision makers.  The lack of a standard definition creates a gap that divides us and leaves room open for errors that are all too preventable.  The original Greek translation comes from two words:

stratos: army
ago: to lead, to guide to move

A more modern translation would be for leadership to guide or move an “army” of employees, volunteers, soldiers, or any other group of people in a systematic and conscious direction.  Knowing that you’re most likely not going to remember a Greek definition, think of strategy as where you are going.

Oftentimes people attach different meanings to the term, strategy, (such as the steps you take to get from Point A to Point B) but if we agree on one simple definition that gives us some flexibility, at least we’re all talking a similar language and understanding what others mean.  Strategy is the objective or outcome or destination you desire whether you’re talking about a strategic plan, a project’s conclusion, the location of your next vacation getaway, or any other such outcome.

Watch out for the sales women at Timberland.  Some of these people are so good at what they do that if you’ve got $50 in your pocket, they will surely find a way for you to spend it in their store.

Here’s the story.

As the president of New York State National Speakers Association, one of my duties is to be present at all statewide gatherings.  On this one specific date I had both a meeting with a client about an hour south of Syracuse and then a NYNSA Pow Wow up toward the Great Lakes about 2.5 hours northwest.  Smack right in the middle is a discount store facility with over 105 stores (95% occupancy) including Nike, Timberland and Aeropostale.

For me, a great way to take a break from more than 6 hours of driving was to stop in and browse around.

For those who know me personally, I can shop all day.  Shopping does not mean buying, it just means I spend time finding the right item before I buy anything. As I did on this day, I enjoy walking the stores.

Then I came across the Timberland Store managed by Jamie and staffed by Katie and Sarah.

The store had exactly what I was looking to purchase.  Soft cargo pants.  I found one pair that fit me after reviewing the shoe selection and then they mentioned to me if I purchased $50, I would be given a $10 discount.  Sounded good since these pants were a perfect fit and comfortable.

Minutes later I found myself adding a $2.00 pair of strings for my shoes just to make it over the $50 mark.  Then I realized, the guy next to me was buying 5 pairs of shoes.  He had come in looking for two pairs, but by the time these woman were done with him, he had 5.

These ladies were on their game.  With so little traffic they saw every prospect as a sale: and not just a $20 sale but a $50 sale.  Given the state of the US economy, no-pressure, likable, sales strategies obviously work, since one employee mentioned, “They (corporate) make us get the $50.”

However, telling the staff and making it happen are two distinctly different achievements.  The manager and the staff worked together so well that each helped the other find stock to fit sizes when someone needed shoes or a color or a style.  There appeared to be no territorial behavior.  They knew exactly what to say to close the sale and not once did I feel like they were overselling me.

They were impressive!!

In fact I’m wearing the pants and a shirt bought on that trip which reminded me of the story. What a great purchase.

Are you taking advantage of every opportunity that walks through your door?

If you fly, you know that if an aircraft is late, there’s a good chance that you’re going to miss your connection or be late for something else in your day.  It’s the reason the government and outside companies monitor the on-time arrival of airlines.

Here’s a simple solution. You might apply this thinking to your own business.

Let me give you the background first.  During each college semester, I make 4 to 5 trips to NYC to teach two courses at NYU.  In each case, I couldn’t tell you if the plane left the actual gate early or late.    But I can tell you that on all 5 flights, the plane arrived before the scheduled time.  I felt, and I believe others did, too, that we got a bonus of time by reaching our destination early.  Although it’s a mental game, it’s mentally real.

What if the airlines added a buffer, say 10 minutes to every aircraft’s ETA.  A 9AM arrival time is now stated as 9:10AM.  The airline publishes the times and the passengers and travelers work around the numbers.

Now here’s what’s going to happen.

The plane leaves on time, or late, no one cares unless it screws up their next step.  With the buffer the aircraft then either arrives early….WOW or on time.

Consider the implications.  I travel a lot and very infrequently do I make a call to my ground transportation about a flight based upon 10 minutes either way.  I don’t spend that much time on the length of time compared to the price and the route.  I hate getting stuck in certain airports.  Here the buyer is more interested in on-time arrivals for the purposes of their next meeting (personal or business) than they are for actual flight time.

Then travel agencies could give options differently.  “You can take the 6 AM through DC into Miami arriving at 11:20 or the 7:40 AM arriving at 2.”  With an overall edit to the system, everyone would be on par with similar flight systems and layovers.

Airline management, their unions, and the technology being used today have made limited progress in improving the system.  They still load bags onto planes by hand.  And it appears there is nothing coming down the pipe line that would radically improve the situation, so why not try a simpler fix.  Besides the airlines have cut back on routes so modeling of new traffic patterns most likely would not be a terrific challenge.

When I hear managers say that the new vision of their firm is to get customers to like them better or that the new vision is to create better relationships, I’m always concerned for them.  While I understand what they’re trying to do, I also see how they’re headed in the wrong direction.  You can’t substitute your role of managing well with the position of wanting to be liked.  Business relationships don’t give back the returns you think they will, and if you don’t adjust your focus, you’re going to be disappointed at best and even suffer worse consequences.

Earning new customers involves much more than building relationships and getting people to like your firm. Widen your focus to how the firm deals with your customers from start to finish, well before your employees even enter the picture.  Customers may hear through the grapevine that your company doesn’t deliver on time or that orders are always screwed up.  How well will your “relationship” vision work now?

On the flip side if you throw out the “management guru” philosophies of getting in touch with your customers and first work on the processes that make the customer feel welcome from the get go, the relationship builds automatically.  For example, your firm supplies industrial washers and dryers for hotels and institutions or you create video production tapes for corporate distribution.  One sale is $75,000 a pop and the other is $5000-$10,000, yet they are very much the same.  All day long 365 days a year you ship washer and dryers or create Quicklime, Real Windows, CD and VCR production. You’ve heard some news that some customers may be unhappy with the products you’ve been delivering and that the opinion in the market is that you don’t deliver as promised.

Would your first reaction be to start implementing a customer-relations-building initiative?  Maybe you would even start to make phone calls to clients and ask them why they have been disappointed with the product.  Both might be good ideas, but you’re already barking up the wrong tree.  Customers don’t always know how your company works, so they can’t give valuable feedback on how to solve a problem. Also, just because you’ve made contact with a customer doesn’t mean that they will like you, it could mean that they now have an employee’s name to attach to their problem…that’s all.

A better approach is to build quality into your product/s.  Customers walk away happy when everything happens correctly.

A customer’s individual experience with your firm means more to them than how much business you process in a year.  Just because you ship 500 washers a year or 300 presentation tapes a year does not mean anything to the one person that is laying down the money to improve their business.  The higher the ticket item, the more you have to remind yourself of this point. Perhaps many of your customers think for months, should they or shouldn’t they buy.  The discussion is typically sealed when the buyer feels that parting with the money will give them a return of something more than what they spent.  The washer may make them $37,000 net per year and the tape may bring them $100,000 worth of new business if all goes well.  They want to feel as secure upon purchasing as they do on the day that their purchase arrives and for months after.

To do this start at the beginning.  The sales people or the materials of the firm should show them the process.  You sign and we start.  Delivery is in 4 weeks. With everything in between defined.  The check arrives and you send them an even more complete package to get them involved to the extent they want to be.  For the washer, you help confirm they know layout and the tools needed for on-site delivery.  For the tape firm you schedule a meeting with all the proper people and have an outline of how you can build a winning product.

Don’t ask the customer what they want!! Have a formula of questions that draws out what you need.

Make sure everyone is present and consider recording the sales call for future reference.

Throw in additional value.  That could be a booklet about tools to increase productivity or to improve marketing.

Even to the very end you keep the process going as it is designed. Don’t deviate or cut corners if the process works. You may have given your pitch  2000 times, but the customer has only heard it once.

Get the entire company behind you. If you’re dealing with items that have options or customization, a production expert might walk the buyer through a few paces so that the customer feels that your team understands them.  You want the process to win over the customer.

It’s like when you return to your hotel room after dinner and find a chocolate on your pillow.  How happy do you feel just before you bit down on your treat?  Hate to break it to you, but patrons in 1200 other rooms had a chocolate on their pillows, also.  The staff didn’t select only you to get a special piece.

Again, this is not to downplay the relationship-building process, but to put it in perspective.  You do a bad job, customers don’t return.  If you build a process that builds relationships, customers feel excited to work with a firm that’s responsive and delivers products or services as ordered.

I’ve lived through so many good and bad business experiences,  so you’d think I would find it more and more challenging to be surprised.

And yet, there’s a new “jack-in-the-box” always around the next corner. While visiting The Breakers, a 5-star resort in Florida, a bellman forgot to pack two pieces of my luggage in the trunk of the limo that transported me to the airport. Of course, I didn’t discover the oversight until I was being dropped off at the airport. The moment of realization was an unpleasant one, because the mistake meant that I would not make it home that evening. The direct result of the hotel. When I returned to spend another night, the hotel did not take responsibility for the error and still charged me for the evening. When another hotel patron overheard my situation at the front desk, she suggested a solution.  She had to leave early and her room would be vacant for the night.  Perhaps they could give her room to me since she’d paid for the night and couldn’t get a refund. The front desk would not hear of the change, and yet they said they would sell the room and charge for it should someone else request a room.

What a surprise since just a few hours earlier, as speaker at an event, I was considered a VIP at the hotel.  You would think that a business with an upscale clientele and “brand” would have staff that would know how to offer superior customer service!

On the flip side, I did receive customer service when I arrived home–in this scenario, I was an “average Joe” buying a new TV from a large retail chain.  You can’t get much more anonymous than that.

When I arrived home from Florida, I called Best Buy to find out about our TV on order. Sydney, the woman who answered the phone, not only remembered me from a couple of days earlier. She remembered my name. I would assume that Best Buy has quite a few calls in a given day and as a Sales Operator, there must be many responsibilities to handle. The fact remains….she remembered a 30-second call from the day before where I asked to be transferred to Sarah, another incredible employee. Sarah was not scheduled to work that day, so she took care of connecting me with the manager, Sydney. That’s it.

I was impressed that when I spoke with Sydney, she knew who I was by recognizing my VOICE, even before I had a chance to state my name!

Out of this world!

Funny, I’d never put Best Buy in the 5-star league and yet, they out performed The Breakers.