A Open Letter to all the Companies I Do Business With…

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

letter-writing

 

 

 

 

Dear Bank, Airline, Hotel, Car Rental and other service provider employee,

It’s me–your paying customer. I have a request. It’s a simple request and one I’m sure your other customers have too.

When I call your company I am doing so for one of two reasons:

1) I want to do business with you. I need to do business with you. I am trying to create a revenue producing event for you.

or

2) I have already given you money and now have a challenge with the product or service. Yes sometimes my challenges are self inflicted.

In either case my request is this. I talk you listen. You’ll know when it’s your turn to talk because I will have stopped. This is where you can tell me the fastest way to get something done, or the easiest way to get something done, or the best way to get something done.

When you don’t let me finish, or jump to conclusions I question why I’m trying to give you my money. When you get defensive I get frustrated. Please just let me finish my sentence. I will tell you what I am trying to accomplish and why it’s important to me. If you let me do that you are now in a position to be my hero. I want that for you.

Treat me the way you want to be treated and I will be forever loyal.

Thanks for listening,

Your Customer

Posted in customer servicve, leadership, Sales, Sales Management | 1 Comment

Must READ!

Posted on April 30, 2013 by

Cover_Blount_People Love You

 

 

 

I had an opportunity to read an advance copy of Jeb’s new book, People Love You. The third in a series of “You” books, this is a must read for anyone who touches your customers.

People Love You will show you:

  • How to make your customers happy
  • What to do to keep your customers from defecting to competitors
  • Ways to get customers to buy more every year
  • The secret to getting customers to love you
  • How to deliver a great experience for every customer

For many companies, the loss of even a single customer can create layoffs, close plants, and potentially threaten the future of the company. Account managers are very often the glue that holds these relationships together. In People Love You, you’ll gain the insight, knowledge, and tools you need to serve and engage customers on an emotional level that will anchor them to your brand, your product or service, and ultimately to you.

People Love You will show you:

  • How to make your customers happy
  • What to do to keep your customers from defecting to competitors
  • Ways to get customers to buy more every year
  • The secret to getting customers to love you
  • How to deliver a great experience for every customer

Here’s a link to the book and lots of other great free stuff.

 

 

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Putting the L.E.A.D. Back into Leadership

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

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So you’re the boss—the person in charge—the leader, or perhaps you aspire to be.

Webster’s defines Boss as: A person in charge of a worker or organization. Look up the word leadership and you’ll find this definition: A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.

Clearly being a boss and being a leader isn’t the same thing. The reality is nobody wants a boss, and we all crave a leader. Based on the definitions above being a boss is a pretty straightforward and simple affair. Being a leader requires something more. Something much more.

Over my professional career I’ve worked for a few horrible bosses. Fortunately I’ve also worked for several truly remarkable leaders. Thinking back and asking myself “What was it about them that stood out? What did they do that left a mark on me?” Thinking about very specific examples of behavior I found a common thread. They all demonstrated the four following characteristics.

L=LISTENING

The most impactful leaders I’ve worked for all had incredible listening skills. Specifically they listened actively, respectfully and always with the intent to understand. To understand the other person’s point of view, issue, concern problem or challenge. Listening is a truly powerful skill and one of the least practiced in almost every profession.

E=EMPATHY

Another powerful word—and commonly misunderstood. Empathy means the ability to see through the eyes of another. That’s it. Not much else. More important is what empathy doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean sympathy, agreement, concern, caring or commiseration. It means the ability to understand another person’s point of view.

When I do a leadership training session and ask attendees who made a mark on them it’s not hard for them to come up with a name. Sometimes they think of a coach, or teacher, or a family member (my dad is always top of mind for me) and very often a supervisor. I follow up by asking how they were inspiring or what did they do? Usually I’ll hear “Great communicator”.

Listening and empathy are the cornerstones of communication.

A=ACCOUNTABILITY

‘Accountability’ has become one of those cheap words getting tossed around in companies all the time—usually in frustration—always after failure. “We need to hold our people more accountable!” It’s an easy word to say a difficult thing to execute. Most accountability failures occur because: A) As leaders we set unclear or unrealistic expectations, and B) The other person(s) never really agreed or bought into the expectation in the first place.

D=DISCIPLINE

This is a tricky one. There are a few definitions of the word discipline. I prefer to use it as a personal verb—train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way. It’s discipline that glues it all together.

Here’s a simple exercise to grow as a leader. Ask and answer the following three questions:

“Who has inspired me? How did they inspire me? How do I want to be remembered by the people who followed me?”

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Blogs I Like

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

imagesAs a follow up to last weeks post on “What I’ve Been Reading” I thought you might be interested in some of the Blogs I read regularly. So here we go…

Spin Sucks

Gini Dietrich is not only a great blogger and PR professional, she’s now a “real deal” author. I am reading her first book, Marketing in the Round, on marketing and PR. I enjoy her work as it’s based largely on her experience just not theory. The fact she’s really funny makes her writing even better.

Seth’s Blog

Seth Godin has written a lot of books on marketing and leadership. All of them great! His daily blog posts are short, sweet and to the point. A daily must read.

Lorne Rubis

I had the pleasure of meeting Lorne at a trade show event I worked several years ago. He, like many of the authors I admire, writes from years of relevant experience. His blogs are deep and tie back to his personal mantra “The Character Triangle”. Solid stuff and a great guy. His book is a great read as well.

The Sales Blog

S. Anthony Iannarino post high quality content and really provokes thought. I blog I aspire to!

There’s the short list and of course it doesn’t count a dozen or so newsletters and e-zines I get. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Like the last post all book links are affiliate and proceeds go to charity.

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What I’ve Been Reading

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

indexI’m little disappointed (and slightly confused) about LinkedIn apps. I was a huge fan of the Amazon Reading List app. From what I can tell they’re doing something with it. I’m just not sure what and I don’t have the attention span required to figure it out. I liked it because it was a fast and easy way to get book recommendations from people I know, like and trust.

I thought I’d share a few of the books I’ve read over the past three month. Full disclosure: These are Amazon Affiliate links. Any revenue generated will go to charity. Going forward I’ll post at least one book recommendation a month. Here are the ones I’ve enjoyed recently:

 
To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink

Pink has written several books and the three I’ve read (the other two are Drive and A Whole New Mind) are well written and researched. He takes complex data and explains it in an easy to understand manner.  In his latest book Pink gives insight into how salespeople can influence, teach and train people. One of the best sections revolves around the elevator pitch and creating a compelling presentation.

“In the United States alone, some 1 in 9 workers still earns a living trying to get others to make a purchase. –

More startling, though, is what’s happened to the other 8 in 9. They’re in sales, too. They’re not stalking customers in the furniture showroom, but they—make what we—are engaged in what I call “non-sales selling.” We’re persuading, convincing, and influencing others to give up something they’ve got in exchange for what we’ve got”.

The Challenger: Taking Control of the Customer Conversion by Matthew Dixon

If you’re have read (and liked) Neil Rackham’s Spin Selling The Challenger Sale is a must read. Driven by mounds of data and facts Dixon’s research places sales professionals into 5 distinct profile groups; The Hard Worker, The Challenger, The Relationship Builder, The Lone Wolf and The Reactive Problem Solver. The top of the top producers fall into a group you may not suspect. How they achieve such success is a road map for anyone in B2B selling looking to make a life long career in the profession of sales.

“The profile most likely to win isn’t winning because of the down economy, but irrespective of it. These reps are winning because they mastered the complex sale, not because they’ve mastered a complex economy”.

Sales Actualization: Outselling the Internet by Dennis O’Neil

I’ve heard lots of people say the Internet is making many salespeople obsolete. I don’t buy it and neither does O’Neil. In his Sales Actualization Pyramid he details a “Hierarchy of Buyer Needs”. As you read through them you may recognize several selling styles that just don’t cut it anymore.

“We don’t always know what we want until someone presents us with a solution. And the Internet can’t do that kind of thing. No consumers need people for those kind of discoveries. And they need salespeople to listen to problems, ask questions, and clarify what they really need. They need salespeople to present the better, often hidden, solution”.

Enjoy!

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10 Things Cancer Taught Me

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

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Where
I’ve Been

Those of you who read
this blog (I know there’s at least a few of you) may have been
wondering where I’ve been and why my last post is so terribly old. Well shortly
after I wrote it I was diagnosed with a form of cancer—Follicular
Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to be exact. Bad news. Good news—it’s 100%
curable. As of this writing I have finished all treatments (chemo
and radiation) and I’m now in what we cancer survivors call
“survivor-ship”.

When I was initially diagnosed I
decided to inform my immediate family and a few close friends. I
also told existing clients and a few prospects I had at the time.
The reason for doing this was obvious. I had no clue how the course
of treatment would impact my ability to travel and work. Being self
employed I didn’t see any option other than muscle through it and
hope for the best. ‘Hope’ by the way is a great frame of mind but a
poor strategy. As one would expect all of my clients were gracious
and genuinely supportive. Everyone in my entire network; personal,
professional, friends and family offered emotional and physical
support.

What I’ve
Learned

So now you know the
back-story. I’ve learned a number of things about others and myself
during the past 12 months—some profound and some a little
embarrassing. In no particular order:

1. When
people you trust offer to help when you need it you should take
it!

2. I don’t have an “S” on my chest. Nobody
does.

3. When someone you trust offers advice
that sounds solid—it is. You should probably take
it.

4. Chemo therapy can make you a little
nutty.

5. People’s capacity for forgiveness is
truly amazing. See number 4.

6. The line between
personal and professional relationships is fuzzy and that’s a good
thing.

7. Life is very short and full of
surprises both good and bad. Don’t put important things on
the back burner. You don’t know when you’re going to run out of
gas.

8. Mental health is just as important as
physical health. You need both.

9. Cancer sucks.
It impacts everyone and there is no place to
hide.

10. Attitude is everything. But you already
knew that.

So What’s
Next…

Over the course of the next
few months I will put out a series of web based training modules
and a book. In the mean time I’m recommitted to pushing out
content—hopefully valuable content—on this page. Look for a fresh
look in the coming months.

On a final note I
wish to thank all of the people who have helped me, encouraged me,
loved me, picked me up and tolerated me over the past year. I
couldn’t have survived without
you.

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How to Lose a Sale in 10 Easy Steps

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

Losing a sale isn’t nearly as simple as one might think. If it was, everyone would be losing sales and I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Here are the 10 most effective ways to ensure making no sales and a short career.

1. Don’t Prepare

Let’s face it, doing homework is hard. Besides, the more time you save not preparing the more time you’ll have to burn through valuable leads.

2. “Wing it”

Winging it, or as I like to call it, shooting from the lip, is easy to do when you are unprepared. A word of caution: If you are good at what you do, show any sense of urgency, curiosity or awareness you may end up with a sale anyway.

3. Don’t ask any questions

Asking questions is a sure fire way to start a conversation and dialog and we all know where that can lead. If you feel you have to ask a question or two, go with something like, “So, what keeps you up at night?”, or a ask them to tell you a little bit about their business. If you go with that one be sure to use tip number 4.

4. Don’t listen

Okay, so maybe you inadvertently asked a question or two or maybe the prospect just feels like sharing. Be sure not to listen. This is pretty easy for most people, but there is a small percentage of the population cursed with being a “Good Listener”. In the event you fall into the minuscule group—and you know who you are—try some of these proven methods: Think about what you want to say next, guess what they are going to say next or just day dream. If none of those work you can always interrupt them or talk while they are talking. Try and practice your “not listening skills” with your spouse. They’ll provide you real candid feedback!

5. Start selling early and often

Tell them everything—everything about your company, everything about your product or service. Don’t leave anything out. Be sure to let them know how great it is do to business with you! Something like “The great thing about [insert company name here] is…” or “the beauty of doing business with me is…”

6. Be sure to sound like everyone else

If you don’t sound like all of your competitors you run the risk of differentiating yourself from them. That’s bad news and might lead to a sale. A great way to sound like the competition is to respond with, “We can do that too!” anytime your prospect tells you what they get now. It is okay, however, to bash the competition.

7. Lead with price

In fact, start there. You could say something like, “I’ll get you the best deal” or “lowest price” or “Don’t worry about cost we’ll get it to where it needs to be”. Another great way is ask “Where do I need to be?”

8. Only deal with non-decision makers

Decision makers have little time and high expectations. Non-decision makers on the other hand are usually willing to take your meetings and return phone calls and emails. I can only assume this because they aren’t burdened with any real authority to make anything happen.

9. Close hard

So you made it this far without actually selling anything and you’re probably thinking, “Geez, if I go for the close they might buy something”. Ask anyway. Up to this point you’ve given the prospect no real reason to say yes. Just in case, try going with, “What is it going to take to get you to sign today?”

10. Don’t follow up

Follow up is a killer. There are some options: Do nothing, avoid setting any clear expectations on anybody’s part about what the next steps are, or only follow up with non-decision makers (you remember them from number 8 right?). Your best bet though, is to do absolutely nothing.

So there you go. I can promise you, based on 15 years of working with sellers (and more than a little personal experience), these are the best ways to ensure “No Sale”.

 

 

 

 

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