Power Up - Marketing and Selling for Greater Success

Obama - best dressed and well spoken - a teachable moment

Brad Pitt lost out to Obama in a poll of the best dressed.  Obama is also often admired, even by his political opponents, for being well spoken and having great mastery of the English language and ability to turn a phrase into a memorable sound bite.  What is the point?  Obama is a master salesperson and his skills should be an example to all salespeople of how to attract the admiration of even one's opponents.

How well do you dress?  How well spoken are you?  Do you feel your customers need to take you as you are and appreciate you or are you insightful enough to know that how you "come across" will determine perception and provide influence?

The skills of great politicians should be studied to see which we can also practice for increased effectiveness.

Have a great week of selling!

Who is failing; You or the Market?

Business is down and you are feeling like a failure.  You are not getting the sleep you need and you are working twice as hard and producing a fraction of the previous results.  Are you a failure?

We all know the economy is bad for most companies - has had little impact on most attorneys and government continues to grow.  How much is due to the overall economy and how much of your business decrease is due to your poor performance?

The answer lies in doing the follow up.  I talked with a manufacturer and he was very glum due to the lack of sales.  Once we reviewed his numbers, the proposals he sent out, and the lack of response we realized that the prospects were not buying - period.  He did not lose to his competitors but the prospect, after asking for bids, did not follow through.

The lesson in this discovery is two fold: examine if your competition is gaining on you or not before beating yourself up, and why are we doing extensive bids when the prospect is not buying?

You need to put in place smart proposal writing.  Extensive work on a proposal that gains you nothing is a serious cost - time spent as well as emotional commitment.  We need to do a better job right up front in determining if the prospect is serious, have checkpoints along the way before we commit too much time, and try to get some level of commitment or payment before proposals become a significant cost.

Learn how to respond to the detours in the selling process

I have created a game in my selling workbook for my training seminars, it is called The Detour Game.  The idea came to me when after a preplanned sales call, at which I arrived early only to find out that the president of the company I was calling on had not arrived yet.  I assured the receptionist that was not a problem and I would wait since I was a few minutes early.  After 10 minutes and the guy still did not arrive the receptionist tried to reach him on his cell phone.  No connection.  She apologized for is delay but I assured her that it was fine and maybe some family issue had come up and I would call him later and reschedule.

Doesn't that happen to all sales people - we dot all the "i"s but things come up to delay the sale.  How do we respond?

What do we do when we call and get the message, "She is out sick."  Or, "He is in a meeting and cannot be disturbed."   "Yes, she did have your appointment in her calendar but she had a last minute meeting out of town." 

Do we get enraged or energized to find a new way to get with the decision maker?  We need to keep a positive perspective and not take a change in plans as a personal affront.  We need to convey a positive reason for the person to reschedule our meeting and to not cancel it.  We need to realize it is not their purpose in life to meet with us but for them to find solutions to their challenges on the job. 

How can we solve their problems?  This is what needs to be conveyed to re-schedule our appointments, be they phone calls or meetings.  A positive perspective generates results.

Cut prices or ...?

In these tough economic times do manufacturing companies need to cut prices to get people to "Buy American" made products?

  

This profound and timely question was asked of me the other day. 

 

We are in a period of economic uncertainty and too many with knee jerk reactions - and short term thinking, would say "cut your prices!"  This is not the answer. 

 

The real response is what does the customer need in terms of product quality, service support, excellent price, and are they going to need an on-going relationship to solve long-term needs?

 

Domestic manufacturers have a decided advantage over lower cost oversears manufacturers in relationship building, service support, and on-time delivery of quality products at a great price.  Lowest price - maybe not.  Best deal for the customer - yes, when the entire purchase is considered: quality, cost, service, and long-term support.

 

The challenge that too many manufacturers have is that they have not had to market their products in the distant past - they just had to build a damn good mouse trap - and they did.  Times have changed and manufacturers must market more professionally, agressively, and consistently.

 

This does not mean a new brochure that sits on their shelves or have a handfull mailed to current customers and friends.  Full-court marketing is needed by manufacturers: Websites that have impact! Sales efforts that are personal and meaningful! On-going communications with customers and prospects!

 

It is worth the time and effort to conduct an in-depth self-assessment of marketing efforts and the return on that investment.

 

Until marketing becomes a serious on-going activity with manufacturers, the issues of price and overseas competition will always have them on the defense - which is not the way to win the game!

 

Be aware of your selling place

The doorbell rang and I interrupted my  work to answer it, only to find a stranger holding an orange. He explained that he and his associates were in our community to provide us with some excellent fruit - upon which he opened his pocket knife and cut into the orange and extended to me a slice to taste.  As the juices from the freshly cut orange dribbled onto my entryway, I tasted the orange and he proceeded to take out a grapefruit cutting it and offering a taste to me.  The selling patter continued as I continued to be amazed at the commingling of juices accumulating in my entry.  Next he produced an apple and as I ate a slice I wondered how many finger nails his pocket knife had cleaned?

I enjoyed the tasty fruit but declined his offer to buy a box of mixed fruit for the special "today only" price.  He was a pleasant salesman but I was left totally baffled as to why he felt, without asking, he could have his "taste this fruit stand" at my front door.

The term "permission marketing" is used in Internet communications so that the recipient agrees beforehand to getting your message.  I suggest that anyone who has a messy presentation also apply permission marketing before creating a mess on the prospect's desk or doorway.

His last gesture was to leave the cut fruit on the threshold and told me I could enjoy finishing it.  Clean hands?  Clean knife?  I don't know.  But I do know that my threshold was not clean.  A very interesting selling approach.

Something we all can learn from.  How do we demonstrate our products and are we sensitive to the prospect's environment?

Starbucks in decline

I don't want to pay $5 for a complaining cup of coffee.  Starbucks, with its great reputation for coffee and employee programs, is taking a slide I fear.

My cup of expensive coffee today was served with a "I don't know why they don't let us hire more employees.  It is so busy here we need more help.  Etc. etc. etc."  Well, for one thing, I as a customer don't want to hear complaining, I want service with a smile.  I don't doubt that you have your problems and when I ask about them, then you can let me know what you don't like.  Until then I'd rather deal with my own issues and not yours.  Maybe you just need to be a little faster to get the job done.  Or, maybe read the paper/Internet and realize that your company is not having the best of times.

This issue is applicable to all companies not just the "that is a lot for a cup of coffee" company.  Customers don't want to hear about your organizational problems unless you are going to pay them to listen to you complain. 

Managers make sure your employees understand that difficult times are not a reason for them to share "their professional management opinion" with your customers.

Be professional and leave a positive impression.

Use the mirror to improve your success

The new year is here, new sales call goals, and new sales quotas.  How do we achieve greater success in this economy?  The way is clear - make more calls, show more solutions, be more attentive to customers, etc.

But what else is important when making those hard to get face-to-face meetings?  Let me try to draw the picture so you can vividly see the issue.  I was called by a professional salesman right before the holidays and we set up a coffee meeting in early January to discuss his very interesting proposition for me to generate even more business.  I could tell he was a pro because he handled the conversation on the phone seamlessly - he addressed my key issues, mentioned who referred him to me, did not get into pricing, but pushed professionally for the face-to-face meeting.

We met and I immediately noticed that his holiday was a great one - his shirt collar did not fit.  He knew this and his solution was not to buy a new shirt but to attach one of those cut "expand a collar" loops with a button on the end to get an extra inch or so relief from a tight collar.  However, he did not have his tie tight to the collar, nor did he even button the collar so the entire neck thing was a little slovenly.  Hey, my neck grew over the holidays as well - but I found a shirt that masked the "too many cookies" neckline.

He was still a great guy, great pitch, solid recommendations and we left agreeing to meet again.  I am sure he marked it down as a great meeting.  I only wish he had checked in a mirror and made more of a professional impression.  It is a small thing but it makes a major impact on the prospect.

Good luck with your selling success!

What can you do when the doldrums hit and you start to question yourself?

Just a brief perspective on being depressed with all the work you do for no, or little, results when you are trying hard to close the year on an up note.  This issue is not unique to any individual and particularly not unique to a salesperson.  All salespeople go through it and the winners recover faster than others.

When the doldrums hit, I suggest, since this will happen again, that you do a sales diary.  You will see that the situation, when it does reoccur, will be one you can recover from quickly since you can look back and read what got you out of your last "Oh nothing is going right" mood.

Different industries have different tough months, or a salesperson may just have hit a bad period due to no fault of their own.  For many sales people they can get depressed in December unless they see the last month of the year for what it is - a chance to touch base with all clients on a social basis, send out cards, send small gifts of appreciation, and get their office organized for 2009.  It is also a great time to reflect on what worked this past year and put together a plan for 2009.  What mailings will you do?  What new approaches will you implement?  Often December is too late to make your number for the year - a lesson to learn and to help motivate your efforts to close more in October and November.

Sometimes just a change of pace will get you back on track. 

I recall one salesperson who during a rough period of not generating results but putting a lot of effort into his job, changed his routine and started to read a chapter each morning from a motivational book and then exercising.  It got him focused on positive things and not feeling sorry for myself that others were not returning my calls, etc.

 

I wish you the best for your selling success.

The failed approach - "Can I help you?"

Tis the season for retailing and shopping.  And as more of us browse the shelves of our favorite stores we encounter more sales clerks asking, "Can I help you?"  This is a double-edge sword and in my recent marketing and advertising class at the local university we discussed the positives and negatives of the direct question that is so often asked - "Can I help you?"

On the surface it seems the appropriate inquiry since the clerk is there to help the shopper.  However, any shopper who has worn through a credit card or two knows the point behind the question is "what can I sell to you?"  Most people are put off by this and even try to avoid eye contact so as not to be "shopper molested."  The clerks, if they don't approach the customer are criticized by management and the sales numbers sometimes reflects a non-engaging clerk.

What can the clerk do?  What should the sales manager do to stimulate sales and get the customers engaged in a conversation to express their shopping needs?

"Excuse me, I don't want to bother you, but have you seen the new line of sweaters for sale?"  How does that approach strike you?  I believe it is the right way to engage the customer on several levels.  First, the clerk is polite and essentially apologizes for bothering the customer.  If someone is going to be upset about being approached by someone that is polite then the customer has the problem.  Second, the clerk is bringing to the customer's attention a great new product line.  Third, the items are on a special sale and who wants to miss a sale item?

The point is that if we approach shoppers with sincerity and are thoughtful and bring something of value to their attention, we will be seen as not being a bother but a resource and are able to have a more comfortable conversation with our customers.

With the increased convenience of the Internet, retailers need to be more astute than ever before on how to engage customers in a comfortable way.

Enjoy your holiday shopping.

Sell More During the Sale

I walked into the nice restaurant for a breakfast meeting and knew I had a full day of meetings that was going to go into the evening hours - encluding a dinner meeting.  I met my fellow associate for breakfast and as I purused the menu I saw it.  It was right there on the bottom of the breakfast menu.

It stated quite clearly, "If you are wanting to have a delightful dinner, our restaurant has excellent entrees along with a full cocktail service, all at affordable prices."  They planted the seed.  I did not want to take time to do a restaurant search since my day was already full. 

What a simple way to make the extra sale - just mention other services, which may be obvious to you, to the prospect who may not be thinking long term as you are wanting them to do.

How can you incorporate this soft sell, the planting the seed for the next sale, into your current selling approach?  I believe it is worth taking a few minutes to consider how to.

And, yes, before I left the restaurant, after seeing the service and food exceeded my expectations, I made reservations for dinner.  Simple, easy, and convenient for me, and a very profitable sale for the restaurant.

Have a great time selling.