Dwelling on the past

…is emotionally unhealthy, but a short visit there

can help your future planning and present focus!

     Let’s go back to this past Friday for a minute.  [See Friday, 2/13/09 blog post below for details]. 

     A number of you have asked whether my Twitter-contact talk-radio host Dan Gaffney in his Friday morning broadcast of my situation (with a children’s book manuscript I edited and my lost contact information for the author) actually produced anything. 

     Well, as most everyone who knows me knows, I am not often in praise of the media (though it’s mostly  “mainstream” media I’m critical of for taking advantage of human frailties and emotions simply to stir up sales by using disparaging and exaggerated reports that are totally subjective, often completely false and –more frequently than not– highly manipulative).  There.  Had to say that.  I feel better now. 

     Now on to “The Good Media.”  Most local media (though it certainly is not beyond also being misguided) at least tends to feature on-air and technical professionals who –to me– always seem to be warm, endearing, concerned, community-minded, straightforward and engaging local personalities. 

     And whenever they do have political axes to grind, they at least approach the task with a sense of care, compassion, and craftsmanship that we would never see from major media moguls.

     Anyway, Dan Gaffney is one of those good media guys.  And his loyal listener base, I have discovered is as responsive as it is huge.

     After my not being able to locate my promising, estranged, young author since Thanksgiving, Dan Gaffney produced the “lost” author’s business name and cell phone number, and put it into an email for me within an hour after he finished his show. 

     I called the number.  The author and I had a joyful telephone reunion (I got his home number too this time) and we’ve scheduled a meeting Wednesday evening.  Thank you all for the nice and encouraging comments and inquiries.  And thanks again, Dan for the assist. 

Why can’t network TV and big-time newspaper people have some of these fine qualities?  It’s called being authentic.      halalpiar      

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Slithering Sales Saliva

DON’T TELL ME YOU DON’T KNOW THIS SALESPERSON who starts out smart and ends up sloppy enough to never get a repeat sale, maybe lose the company’s customer forever:

Here’s what’s in it for you, Mr. Bigbucks. . .”  “These are the benefits I heard you say you’ve been looking for, Mr. Bigbucks.”  “How would you like us to bill you for this Mr. Bigbucks?”  “Please say hello to your brother for me, Mr. Bigbucks.”  “Be sure to call me at this number anytime, Mr. Bigbucks.”  “Thanks for your business, Mr. Bigbucks.”  “And, hey, ha-ha, did you hear about the guy with the little head who goes into a bar and says . . . ?”

                          

There are some savvy sales starter-uppers out there who turn instantly stupid the minute they make a close or get a commitment.  And some who wait for the customers next visit when they think things are now chummy enough to let down their hair.  

It is never in good taste to have bad taste! 

The truth is it is NEVER okay to tell ANY customer off-color stories.   If you’re serious about selling as a career (and you should be no matter what your career, because you’re selling all day, every day even if you’re a doctor or pastor or military leader), then you’ve got to know that you are on stage all day. 

Everything you say or do is noticed by someone.

I’m urging you to be on-guard and neurotic?  No.  I’m saying that a professional salesperson makes a conscious choice to act professionally ANYplace and in ANY circumstances where there is a potential (or even possible) customer present.  That’s hard!  Don’t choose for it to be hard.  Choose “easy!”   

Yes, Shakespeare.  Yes, “All the world’s a stage,

and all its men and women merely actors…” 

A basic tenet of all good sales, and customer service, and customer relationship training is that the customer is always right, the customer is always right, the customer is always right, the customer is always right . . . all of the time, in every instance and every situation short of physical contact or illegal behavior. 

If you listen to your prospect or customer carefully enough, and use eye contact enough to avoid distraction, and only talk 20% of the time, you will find plenty of humorous things to comment on that are pleasant.  Border-line comments and guffaw-type jokes simply don’t fit in any sales process outside the world of entertainment, and even then . . .

A customer may laugh with (at?) your “beer-drinking-style joke”, but think twice about you and your behavior once they’re headed off to another meeting or home.  It’s not worth it.  It’s not smart.  It’s sloppy.  It loses sales.  Clean up your act or risk the big hook coming out from behind the curtain to pull you off the stage.  Smile.  Be professional.  Sell.  Have a great rest of the week!  

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Hal@Businessworks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless you.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Can you answer this

barrage of questions

to your own satisfaction?

     Do you believe in an “educated consumer”?  What do you do or not do to promote that?  Do you actually teach prospects and customers about your products and services while emphasizing benefits (because you know of course that people buy benefits, not features). 

     Do you educate others about your industry or profession?  Do you share the dirty little secrets of your industry or profession with customers and prospects?  (And please don’t pretend there aren’t any!)  How do you do this or not do this?  Are you sidestepping what needs to be transparent?

     Do you inform customers and prospects about your competitors?  HOW do you do that or not do that (i.e., what steps do you take or not take regarding this point)?  Are you gracious about it?  Aggressive? 

     Do you only accentuate the positives?  How do you like to have salespeople deal with you?  Do you represent information to customers and prospects with an air of pomposity or humility or a little of both?  Or neither?  Again, how do you like to have other salespeople deal with you?

     Do you ask questions first and listen [the most effective salespeople listen 80% of the time and talk 20%] carefully, or just launch into a lecture?  Do you lecture or inform?  Do you share just the right amount of information that the customer or prospect wants to know (vs. too much or too little)?  How do you know?

     Are these questions reminding you to listen more?  Are you choosing to feel annoyed by these questions?  Or are you choosing to feel invigorated by them?  Are you remembering to put youself in the customer’s/prospect’s shoes (empathy) or just steamrollering forward, or shooting from the hip?  Do you paraphrase and offer examples?  Do you ask for feedback? 

     Do you get tired of other salespeople when they blabber?  At what point do you say something or simply walk (or run) away?  When you think about the salespeople who have lost you as a customer or prospect, how did they do that?  What does it make you think of?  What are you learning about your SELF right now?  Hmmmmm?

     Okay, well this is all just getting you ready.  Tomorrow (now that you are primed or re-primed about how to deal with them), we’ll start focusing on how to get those customers and prospects in the door!  See you then.      halalpiar   

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Are you FOR SALE?  Of course!

You’re looking at this because you couldn’t quite figure from the title why you should be included here because you’re not a sales rep!?!?

Guess what?  You’re a sales rep!

Whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not, whether you think you’re above it all or not because you’re an accountant, doctor, lawyer or Indian chief, the sad-but-true news is that you ARE a SALESPERSON!.

Why such an adamant statement?  Because it’s true.  All of us –even if you’re not officially in a sales role or sales function or earning sales commission– are selling something (Our selves?  Our ideas?  Our work?  Our religious beliefs?  Our political persuasions?  Our experience? ) and we do this selling every day, even most of the day for most people . . . some, actually, all day long!

Many folks out there (particularly those who like to categorize themselves as “professionals”) don’t like to think of themselves as being in sales because they consider sales a low-life business function and think it compromises their integrity!  Right?  I know you know who I’m talking about.  You can probably rattle off a list of some of those clueless, self-aggrandizing-types.  (Maybe print out this post to leave anonymously on a qualified desk?!)

So, without further ado, HERE (TA-TA-TA-TA-TA—TA-TA!): 

 IS REALITY!

REALITY IS that people don’t buy THINGS! 

REALITY IS that people don’t buy SERVICES! 

REALITY IS that people buy P E O P L E !

Granted that –at one time or another– all of us have had to be an unhappy customer or prospect when we’ve found ourselves (by choice of course) in a captive situation that really offers little choice.  Remember having to pay $4.50 for one small bottle of water in the middle of the trade show floor at the fancy hotel?

Why?  Because there’s just two of you manning your booth and you were thirsty enough to start chewing perspiration out of your socks (well, yuch, that’s like a little over-the-top thirsty, isn’t it?).

Anyway, the bottom line is that, unless you have no place else to turn and could lose your job for trying to turn, you really do have an easy choice with every purchase for every product and every service.

And the deciding factor for that choice that you have will inevitably be the person representing what you’re looking to buy.  Because (of course you know what’s coming here): People buy people!

You already know this if you are an officially designated sales rep.  Though you may occasionally forget to practice what you know when you overlook a bit of good grooming or good manners or good listening . . . or when you spend too much energy ticking off product or service features instead of benefits.  Sound familiar?

If you are NOT an official sales rep, you might first of all want to try the job for a few days to see for yourself why it’s just as challenging and stressful and professional as any other career (accountants, doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs included).  Okay, you don’t want to do that.  Can’t say I blame you.

Being a professional salesperson is very demanding work because it requires you to be alert and on your toes literally every waking minute . . . with, even, laminated business cards folded into your bathing suit pocket while on vacation!

The point is that no matter who you are, no matter what you do for a living (even if you’re a teacher or government employee), no matter where you live (unless you’re a hermit!), YOU ARE A SALESPERSON!

The sooner you realize and accept this, and get to work learning more about sales so you can be better at it, the more effective you’ll be as a human being and the more productive your business and organizational efforts will be.  The best place to start is with a mentor.  Know any good salesperson willing to train you in return for referrals and leads perhaps?  Are you FOR SALE?  Of course you are!

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 Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US        or comment below

“You can’t build a reputation

on what you’re going to do.”

–HENRY FORD

We’ve talked before about the definition of integrity being doing the right thing even when nobody else is looking.  The dictionary says it’s “the quality of having strong moral principles,” and “the state of being whole, unified and sound, without corruption.” 

I mention it here because integrity is the best kind of reputation to have.  Some customers flock to some businesses because they offer the lowest price.  Some seek only to have quality at any price.  But in today’s volitile marketplace, integrity (“HIGH TRUST”) is what sells most consistently and most profoundly.  It’s what anchors that elusive customer characteristic: loyalty! 

Consumers have been duped and led to slaughter for too many years.  Consumers are tired of hearing about businesses that make empty promises, that fallaciously attach themselves to worthy causes but fail to walk the walk when it comes to the moment of truth.  

As proverbially expressed, deeds and action speak louder than words.  

Consumers are demonstrating, across the boards, that they do not any longer want to deal with “low-trust” talk-the-talk businesses. 

     What separates “HIGH” from “LOW” trust?  Integrity. 

     How does a business gain integrity?  By gaining respect. 

     How does a business win respect?  By establishing a reputation. 

     How does one build a reputation? 

• By consistent demonstration of honesty and fairness with both internal and external customers, and appreciation that the two need to be viewed as interchangeable. 

• By recognition that the customer is always right and that there are never any exceptions to that short of legal violations or physical violence. 

• By (back to the proverbs) practicing what you preach! 

Being partly honest in business is like being partly pregnant in life. 

If your assessments of your business and the spin you’ve been putting out to the public (or, more correctly,  to your marketplace) are filled with um’s and er’s and maybe’s and sometimes’ and occasionally’s, you’re not kidding anyone but yourself! 

Are you and your business, for example, making token donations to charities, or are you and your employees getting into the trenches and helping charitable organizations to raise money and move forward?

It may be time to step back and revisit your mission as well as the services you perform and that you provide both inside your doors and out.  Today’s a good day for that.  Think about it. 

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Got a flounder fillet handshake?

     How about the opposite?  I met someone the other day whose handshake practically brought me to my knees.  After we talked awhile, and I asked about it, she said her father always taught her to act tough when she was nervous, and bone-crusher handshakes seemed to satisfy her agitation. 

     Don’t you love being greeted by a salesperson who’s looking over your shoulder?  Or at your feet, the top of your head, your belly button?  Your spouse? 

     And of course there are also the ones we always jump at the chance to buy from, the ones whose faces look like they just stepped in dog poop on their way in the door, or who must surely have run over their grandmas with a reindeer, or who are still pretzeled-up with glaring angry eyes and wrinkled brows a full hour after being cut off by an oozing dump truck on their commute to work.

     And then to put the famous Horse and Dog trainers to shame, there’s the “People Whisperer.”  Or on the flip side, the backslapping loudmouth.  

REMIND YOURSELF:

• When you own or manage a business, every single thing you do every day is a form of selling yourself or your ideas.
• A sale is made or broken in the first ten seconds.
• The first ten seconds of every encounter is consumed by first impressions (which don’t get a second chance) and those first impressions have largely to do with handshakes, eye contact, smiles, and a moderate and engaging tone (and volume level) of voice.       It’s the attitude you project that makes or breaks. 

     Yes, of course, clothes and grooming, but I have to assume you know how to bathe and dress yourself, clean your nails and stuff like that.  But you know what?  I once saw a total slob sell a $35 million company in twenty minutes with nothing but charm and some decent financial statements. 

     You wouldn’t have taken the chain off your front door if he appeared on your stoop in the dirty, bedraggled outfit he had on.  Yet he absolutely glowed as he delivered his sales spiel.  He had the magic.  He made things happen. 

     The man had a smile and tone of voice that made you want to hang on and listen and trust him.  His eyes screamed with enthusiasm but engaged others with a sense of acceptance and camaraderie while his voice left listeners hearing only rationality and justification for the purchase decision.  It was reassuring. 

     You would never dream to have looked at your watch.  His day-old whiskers, scuffed shoes and wrinkled wrong-size suit were never noticed by the decision makers.  He listened.  He exuded confidence and pride and energy and the attitude that he had what was needed at a reasonable price.  He did in fact.  The same business is worth billions today!  So is the man who sold it.

     STOP TODAY FOR JUST A MINUTE.  Hitch up your belt and boots.  Look in the mirror and give yourself your best smile.  Shake your own hand firmly (turn your left hand pinkie up and thumb down to create the right effect!).  Tell yourself:

“I am the best there is at what I do and people need what I have to sell and they are willing to pay what I ‘m asking because I have the magic!” 

     (Right!  Now do it again like you mean it!  Without genuineness, attitude takes you nowhere!)  You might rather want to conduct this little rah-rah session for yourself in your own bathroom instead of the hotel lobby.  But do it.  And remember to pass on all the good feelings it raises because it does, and because you can, and because you never know who your next customer might be!    halalpiar

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Talk that’s never walked

cannot survive in business.

     If you’ve heard me railing against the incoming government’s total lack of business experience, it’s with good reason.  Neither the new President nor the new Vice President have one iota of business experience.  Can you honestly sit there reading this and think that it really doesn’t matter to you?    

     Does it matter to you that neither of these velvet-tongued politicians have a shred of management experience?  Can you honestly sit there and say that that doesn’t matter that neither of these people have ever even managed a state national guard unit? 

     You know what?  If you answered “yes” to either or both of the last two questions, you are simply not a business owner or business manager or savvy entrepreneur (so I don’t know why you’re reading this in the first place), OR perhaps it’s possible that you’ve been hoodwinked, manipulated, and brainwashed by the media, or by the eloquent rhetoric that oozes from these two leaders’ mouths?  Are you a victim of talk that’s been talked but that’s never been walked?   

     Oh, I’m being disrespectful?  Sorry you would think that.  No, I’m not in the least. 

     I AM being brutally honest here though.  You may not want to hear this but if you have disrespect for the Presidency, that is your CHOICE.  You can just as easily choose to respect the office, regardless of your inability to relate to the person who holds it.  Even deep dislike for disreputable or disingenuous presidents past (except perhaps Clinton) never tarnished the respect for the office they held. 

     Business vs. politics.  The difference is this:  business success is built on hard work and innovation and follow-through, not loose talk that sounds nice.  It is not built on unrealistic fantasyland ambitions, nor empty promises.  Business success does not sprout from sounding great and delivering nothing.  It certainly is not the product of inexperience and disrespect for those who have business experience. . . and unlike politics, popularity contests do not breed success.

     Representing a state is not the same as managing a business. 

     Dealing with others who represent other states is not the same as building employee and customer loyalty; it’s not the same as making sales.  Trading off favors to get what you want is not the same as keeping AR and AP in balance, generating ROI, cutting costs and devising new revenue streams, getting/keeping/motivating top employees and vendors, fostering product and service innovation, dealing with the forces of the marketplace and the competition, and creating new and repeat sales! 

     It’s not the same.  It’s not even close! 

     So what’s a business owner or manager to do?  Answer: A better job!  We have to work harder AND smarter because we have no national leadership that understands what makes us tick.  The track-record is that business is viewed by our nation’s new leaders as nothing more than a source of money with which to fund socialistic programs instead of stimulate job creation and economic growth. 

     We have no national leadership that can appreciate and value and stimulate entrepreneurship.  Is there even a sliver of national leadership respect for the fact that it’s entrepreneurs who have made this country what it is, and that it’s our brave young military people who have kept it that way?  Or will we be getting lip-service alone?  Tuesday’s as good a day as any to decide.  Listen carefully to what’s not said. halalpiar

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“My assistant’s love life? 

…more than I wanna know.” 

(And I’m actually afraid of her finding out about mine, so I keep a distance!) 

“And what’s so bad about that?  After all, I’m not running a social service organization here; this here’s a business.  There’s no room for touchy-feely, warm/fuzzy, cuddly-wuddly (“cuddly-wuddly”?) stuff — least of all between me and the people who work for me.  If we don’t keep a respectful distance, the work will never get done, and my granddaddy always said: “Don’t fish off company docks!”

WOW!  Some good arguments there, Mr. Hardass, and I’m sure that strategy has worked well for you because you’re still in business while others around you keep tumbling.  But, you know what?  Odds are for sure that you’re not getting the productivity levels you deserve out of those you employ.  Here’s why:

KEEPING THE BEST PEOPLE means treating them like they are the best, all the time, no exceptions, even when they screw up and you choose to feel angry about it. 

You might try, instead of anger, to choose (yes, anger is your choice!) the path of a constructive guide by:

1) Taking some deep breaths to calm down your neurological system, relax your muscles and stimulate more oxygen to your brain to become more alert.  You may have to quietly walk away or gently close your door to force yourself to concentrate on your breathing for a minute or two, then

2) Chalking it off to a learning experience for the employee (AND for your self for not having forewarned or kept on top of the issues involved) and taking some solice that the employee probably feels badly enough without being chastized.  Try instead asking for (in writing by the end of the day!) three ways to specifically prevent that kind of screw-up in the future, which puts a positive focus on problem prevention (vs. negative nonproductive scolding).

3) Remembering that Maslow’s Heirarchy still rules HR’s motivational universe of successful companies.  Small frequent rewards that specifically address the personal needs of each individual always motivate best, and can usually be more economical.  A recognition seeker will prefer a plaque to cash.  The parent of a crooked-toothed teenager will prefer one-time orthodontist bill payments over a permanent salary raise. 

The point here is that you will never be able to know what makes your people “tick” –and each marches to a different drummer– UNLESS you make more of an effort toward intimacy!  How will you ever know about the teenager’s teeth, for example, unless you’ve had some kind of informal small talk discussion with the parent over lunch or coffee?  Would you even know that person has a teenage child?

And it doesn’t stop with that.  We often change our wants and needs literally overnight.  A local TV interview, for instance, with the regognition-seeker may satisfy that need to the point where a plaque has no meaning. 

The teenager’s grandmother may have just come up with the cash for the braces, prompting the parent to be more interested in ressurecting pursuit of new tires for the family car.  (Again, a much cheaper and more appreciated one-time-expense reward for good work motivates more than a permanent ongoing salary raise!)  The trade-off to taking the time and trouble to know your employees better is that it will –in the end– cost you less and increase your business productivity levels.  

So, bedroom habits?  No.  Getting a fix and keeping tabs on each individual employee’s changing wants and needs?  Yes.  Listening carefully?  Yes.  Caring enough to provide the kinds of support –within reason of course– that those who work for you really need?  Yes.  Take the time; it pays!   

halalpiar

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Yes, you’ll live. Take two aspirin,

and call me in the morning!

     I read a study that said something like 94% of all doctor and hospital visits, even to emergency rooms, are for (drumroll): reassurance! 

     The extent to which we all need to have our backs, shoulders and tops of our hands and heads patted while being told that we will live after all, and that everything will be okay, seems highly improbable in the face of what the exaggerated tv news coverage and drama series portrayals would have us believe.

     I mean who among us hasn’t cringed at the thought of being thumped onto stainless steel and wheeled like so much beef through the butcher’s back door, into the chaos and hysteria of ER, or Grey’s Anatomy, or House, or Chicago Hope (reruns), or General Hospital, thinking we’re at death’s door but still not be a priority case because others (jumpers, stab and gunshot wounds, drug overdose and heart attacks) are dying quicker? Aaargh!

     Anyway, these thoughts surfaced today in a “BURRIS UNIVERSITY” customer service training session I ran for 25 management team members of BURRIS LOGISTICS http://BurrisLogistics.com on the Delaware Technical & Community College www.dtcc.edu campus in Georgetown, DE. 

     Participants who volunteered feedback comments in the training room, and many who approached me during and after were particularly vocal about the reassurance values of the material and methodologies covered (including stress management, behavioral focus and choices, written communications and listening skills, and the pursuit of increased self-awareness as keys to dealing better with others). 

     Based on this writer’s firsthand experience facilitating over 500 management training programs, the participation and energy levels of this particular cross-section-of-management group from 15 different Connecticut-to-Florida BURRIS locations, was exceptional.

     And it was a genuine pleasure to be the designated deliveryman of reassurance. 

     Reassurance increases self-confidence. Increased self-confidence boosts feelings of self-esteem. The combination serves to eliminate or minimize feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy and skepticism that hold us back from making progress . . . even hard-charging entrepreneurs need reassurance. Reassurance triggers sales and builds customer loyalty.

     Don’t you as a parent evoke the same confident behaviors and obvious feelings of self-worth from a small child when you pat him or her on the head for “a job well done”? Doesn’t this patting business work wonders on the family dog? Don’t you like it when a spouse or partner or boss or customer pats YOU on the back, even if it’s just a verbal pat? And don’t you perform better?

     Reassurance works wonders. Try some today. See how many backpats you can give out in one week! A dozen? More? I’m sure you’ve got what it takes to be that generous with your (deserving of course) compliments!    halalpiar  

Special thanks for inspiring tonight’s post to Kirk Hoover, Atlanta, GA, Vice President of Business Development, and Wendy Singer-Lowry, Philadelphia, PA, Director of Purchasing for BURRIS LOGISTICS

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WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?

     Do you know how, when, where, and why you choose to feel angry?  

     Are you aware of some of the things you choose to do to distance yourself from others when you feel threatened or bored or anxious or intimidated? 

     Do you know the difference between your thoughts and your feelings?  Can you separate fact from opinion?  Are you choosing to not like these questions?  Good!  You’re on your way to being a better salesperson.

     Every day, in every way, we sell ourselves to others: to friends, family, neighbors, classmates, bosses, associates, co-workers, existing and prospective customers/patients/clients, to entire communities. 

     We sell ourselves to make a living, to make love, to make enemies, to make opportunities.  

     Sometimes we’re successful and sometimes not.  We can increase the number and frequency of successful sales simply by choosing to dig into and explore more of our insides. 

     The more we choose to learn about what motivates us, what we choose to feel aggrevated about, what we choose to stimulate us, antagonize us, energize us . . . what makes us tick . . . the more we strengthen our abilities to be effective in dealing with (and selling) others.

     There are many steps in the sales process.  Some of these include: 

• Sizing up the prospect (this is a difficult task if you cannot first size up your SELF!)
• Being able to listen (not “hear” – listen) 80% of the time and speak 20% of the time (a challenge for those who like to talk and don’t know enough about themselves to know how to turn off the chatter)
• Understanding and appreciating the customer/prospect’s circumstances (which requires a major dose of empathy – being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes – a quality rarely found in salespeople who haven’t been willing to choose to step or even look outside their own shoes!)
• Overcoming objections (something that only comes naturally to those who have learned enough about themselves to rise above their own feelings of inadequacy and chosen to put aside excuses)
• Closing the sale (the final critical step that makes all others inconsequential if it’s not achieved and which is more likely to be the case when a salesperson is thinking about anything besides trying to help the customer or prospect in front of her or him to make a good buying decision that will truly satisfy a need or want, and that is honest and makes sense for that person. 

     Only salespeople who possess a helping professions mindset and attitude that they’ve learned or instinctively nurtured for themselves will succeed consistently at closing sales because they are not thinking about closing sales as much as thinking about helping someone make a right decision.

     None of the sales process steps above (or any of the dozens of others) can be readily implemented by an individual who has not fully explored the inner recesses of his or her mind, and the emotional triggers to feelings that come from different responses. 

     Consistent success in sales does not come to those who fail to fully appreciate their own unique qualities, strengths and weaknesses.  

     Take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about your SELF and what goes on inside you.  Treat your mind and emotions as uncharted territory and be an explorer.  Remember how much of life you choose for yourself, and that once you’ve learned a road, it’s easier traveling on your next journey.

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