BURIED!!! Using To Do Lists to manage tasks

It seems absolutely impossible to keep up with it all.  Family demands, company demands, customer demands--how to keep it all under control is a huge issue today.  And, despite having dozens of things to remember, if you forget ONE thing, that's what everyone gets mad at you for.  But there's no excuse for forgetting anything these days.
So I'm going to tell you what I do.  First thing is that I always have a notebook.  And all my notebooks have integrated pen loops with pens inserted.  (Notebooks aren't much good without a pen.) 
I also have a Samsung Note 8 cell phone which allows me to make quick notes when I don't have my notebook.   Siri and Google Assistant are also very good at setting reminders if you're traveling or driving.  (You have to get over being self conscious talking to your phone.)
But notes and reminders aren't much good if you don't use them. 
There are excellent ToDo apps for cell phones and tablets.  My favorites are "ToDoIst" (todoist.com) and "Wunderlist" (wunderlist.com). 
The problem is that you may have a todo list, but it's not constantly visible. ("Oh, Ed, I'm sorry, I forgot--it's on my todo list, but I didn't look at it today.")  I've solved this problem by setting up my cell phone todo app as a "Widget".  Setting up your todo list as a widget on your cell phone home screen means that when you unlock your phone, your todo list is the first thing you see.  Android phones and iPhones have different ways to set up a widget.  So you need to Google "how to set up a widget on an _____ phone" and follow the instructions.  (A "widget" is a little piece of software code on your phone that allows the phone to display an app on your home screen.  The display can be made to take up your whole screen or a part of it.  My todo list takes up my whole home screen.)
I can't tell you how many times I have heard--"sorry, I forgot".  There's no excuse for forgetting in this age of memory apps.  I hate it when I'm the one who has to remind the supplier--"hey, where's my quote".  There's no excuse. 

Write it down on paper; ask Siri or Google Assistant to remind you; type it into Todoist, or Wunderlist, make your todo list a widget on your phone.
And stop making excuses--darn it.

So What Does All This Digital Stuff Mean to Me--a Salesperson?

First and foremost, we all have to understand that digitization is not something that we can fight.  We are all buying "smart" TVs--and smart TVs are as connected to the internet as are our smartphones.  Smart TVs are digitizing our habits--what we watch, when we watch it, in what room we are sitting when we watch--everything!  New cars are already "smart" and some new cars have cameras that tell you when you stray from the lane.  Digitization is here.  Embrace it.  Don't fight it.

Second, and just as important, customer relations management (CRM) software is critical to successful management of your future in sales.  If you have good, detailed information in your CRM program (we use Sage ACT! in our company), you can send targeted newsletters to your customers or make targeted mailings.  There are excellent online newsletter software offerings out there like MailChimp and Constant Contact.  Using these packages, you can create a newsletter and email it through their software, as long as you have good email addresses--which, of course, you have because you keep your CRM software up to date.

 

And last, but not least, understand that the products that you may be currently selling may be talking to each other or may be capable of talking to each other.  Use these facts to sell the product.  Machine to machine communication is taking place now; machine to human communication is taking place now.  There's nothing that any of us are going to do to stop it.

Get on Board--Enjoy the ride!  Let me know what you think.  Make a comment; send an email.

Don't Be a Luddite! Get On Board--Oh, What's a Luddite, Ed??

According to Wikipedia, "The Luddites were a group of English textile workers and weavers in the 19th century who destroyed weaving machinery as a form of protest. The group was protesting the use of machinery in a 'fraudulent and deceitful manner' to get around standard labor practices."  

Fast forward to 2018

     Today's Luddites are fighting everything that dominates the business landscape: social media, the internet of things, machine to machine communication, YouTube (more on this in future posts), and other technologically based innovations.  I was at a sales conference recently and many of those in the group that I was in were denying that neither they nor their customers are "into" social media. (In order to completely avoid social media, one would have to hide in the woods of Vermont.)  These same folks were selling a preeminent internet of things products and were therefore deep into technology without even knowing it.  We sales people need to get on board with IoT, with social media, with LinkeIn.  Those who don't will be left behind.

     It's everywhere.  There's no avoiding it.

     I was on LinkedIn recently and saw a posting from one of my connections that led me right to a potential customer, right in my back yard.

     We need social media to make connections; we need to understand how the internet of things is going to be (is) part of our lives now and in the future. Embrace it, understand it.

 

Knowledge is Power: The Internet of Things

The world is about to change--whether it's for the better for for the worse remains to be seen.  But we'd better be ready for it.  Let's look at an example of what this is all about.
My sales company represents a manufacturer of a product that measures liquid levels in above ground petroleum storage tanks.  Each of these product monitors contains a cellular "SIM" card and is, in essence, a cell phone, with a motherboard, antenna--just like the scale in the cartoon above (except that the scale has a speaker).  The monitor reads the level in the tank and sends the information via the cell system to a data center.  The software in the data center interprets the data and sends email or text alerts as needed to the company dispatchers.  If you buy into the whole system, the dispatcher's job can also be "robotized" and everything from reading the tank level to dispatching the tank truck could be handled in the software.  This is the "internet of things"; this is the future.  And business owners who adopt products like this one are adding tremendous efficiencies and dollars of profit.  But there's one thing that bots lack:

Billionaire, Paul Allen, of Microsoft fame, has just put up $125M to see if there is some way to inject common sense into these bots.  Researchers have spent decades trying to figure out how to program common sense into robots--unsuccessfully.
So, what do we bring to the sales process--or rather, what SHOULD we bring to the sales process that will keep us from being replaced by bots: common sense, of course, and deep product knowledge.
What exactly does it mean to have common sense?  Common sense means having wisdom, insight and awareness.  These are not teachable attributes.  If you're passionate about what you sell and you believe in what you sell, and you care about your customer and how your product provides a solution, then common sense is embedded into your brain. Common sense comes from experience, knowledge and observation.  These are the attributes that a good salesperson must have to be successful: common sense and deep product knowledge.  Everyone has met sales folks who could be replaced by a bot--someone with superficial product knowledge and no common sense.  Make sure you're not one of those.

Many things are going to be sold by bots--assisted by chatbots.  They make businesses operate more efficiently and productively.  As salespeople, we have to recognize the future and make sure we understand how it will impact us.  That being said, there are thousands of products that will be sold that involve an intricate knowledge of the product and the subtleties of application--that require common sense.  Chatbots will help us locate potential customers and perhaps even narrow down the most likely candidates for our product.  And bots will be part of the products that we sell in the future.  But bots will not replace a good salesperson--a person with deep product knowledge and the common sense to apply that knowledge.

Another final example of how the internet of things will be part of everything we sell and we need to understand how to use it.  Industrial air compressors used in manufacturing now ship with data gathering modules that send information via cell towers to service houses so that they can spot problems before they occur or schedule maintenance based on hours of usage.  Compressor manufacturers that don't build units with these modules will lose out on sales because customers want to make sure that these key components of manufacturing don't break down and IoT (the internet of things) helps to resolve these issues.

I highly recommend "Digitize or Die" by Nicolas Windpassinger, with an introduction by Jean-Pascal Tricoire, president of Schneider Electric.

The internet of things will revolutionize our lives in much the same way that the telephone, television, airplane and computer did. 

Don't fight it.  Understand it.

Please feel free to comment or make suggestions for future posts.  

For Bots Sake--What the Heck are "Bots"????

"Bot" is short for "robot" and refers to automated software that resides in almost everything we buy and use these days, from cars to phones to refrigerators and stoves.  Bots can be good bots or bad bots depending on who designs them.  (If you haven't watched the 1968 movie "2001, A Space Odyssey" recently, you should.  Hal is a bot who started good and turned bad.)  Bots are really lines of computer code that reside in the software programs and devices that we use every day.  If you order a Lyft or Uber car, there's a bot residing on your cell phone showing you exactly where the car is and when it will arrive. Bots are the result of programmers trying to make computers intelligent.Some bots reside within apps, but slowly and surely, bots are replacing apps.What does all this mean for us sales folks and business owners?Well, Chatbots are the wave of the future and we need to know about them.  Siri, Google Home and Alexa are chatbots.  We ask questions, they listen and “understand” and respond.Facebook Messenger will be incorporating a chatbot into their system.  The future is coming fast.  This is the Internet of Things (IofT).  This is the digitization of everything. What to do?  What to do?The first thing is to be aware of what's going on.  The second thing is to know that there are bad bots that can do bad things, like infiltrate your computers or spread lies about your company.But good bots (“Chatbots”)  are coming closer and closer to simulating human intelligence.  Chatbots have already begun taking over customer service jobs, scheduling service and maintenance, scheduling orders and calling customers to tell them their order status.  To quote Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame: “I don’t know anyone who likes calling a business. And no one wants to have to install a new app for every business or service that they interact with. We think you should be able to message a business, in the same way, you would message a friend.”  
Should we worry?
Interactive chatbots will be programmed to ask questions when a customer calls.  For example, if there is a chatbot programmed for an air compressor sales operation, the chatbot would be programmed to ask a caller questions like:  "What size is your current compressor?  Do you think you need more air?  What voltage do you have at your location?" ...and so on and so forth, until the chatbot is ready to quote, place the order and continue following the order to shipment.  
Over and over again, I have preached product knowledge and persistence as the keys to success in sales.  It's going to become more and more critical that we sales folks, and anyone interacting with customers, have to be smarter than the bots.  Our product knowledge cannot be superficial and artificial.
BE SMARTER THAN A BOT!More about the Internet of Things in my Friday post.
Please feel free to make comments or suggestions. 

LinkedIn: Back from the Dead

Phoenix, rising from the dead

Last week I attended a two day sales conference and came away with a lot of ideas which I will be sharing with my subscribers and readers over the next week or two.
One of the huge things that I came home with was a new appreciation of LinkedIn.  LinkedIn has always been a place where everyone goes and writes their profiles and then never goes back.  I have a friend who died five years ago but his profile is still alive and well and causes me sadness whenever I log on.  LinkedIn has been a place of neglect.

MICROSOFT BOUGHT LINKEDIN FOR 26 BILLION DOLLARS IN 2016

In 2016, Microsoft bought LinkedIn and over the past two years has made it look very much like Facebook.  What does this mean for us sales folks? 
1.  It means that you better get back on and update your profile, fast, 'cause people are looking.
2.  It means that you need a business presence on LinkedIn.  You can now easily create a Company Page right from your profile page.  Just click on "Work" on the top right of the page and a new window will open.  Scroll to the bottom and you will see "Create a Company Page  +"--and LinkedIn will lead you to the next steps.

3.  Get involved.  All of your colleagues probably have profiles (they're not updating).  Link to them and they'll get the message.

4.  Comment, post and make more industry friends.  You'll be familiar with the format since it's a lot like Facebook.

5.  LinkedIn is Facebook for business.  You can find out who's doing what; who moved from one job to another; what's going on in your market place.

6.  Finally, you can join groups that specialize in what your focus is. Again, you click on the "Work" tab on the upper right of the page and then click on "Groups" to find a list of groups that fits your profile.  ("Bots" are amazing and the subject of my next post.)

7.  At this level, everything is free.  But I know sales managers who use LinkedIn premium which costs almost $800 a year.  I will discuss Premium in one of my future posts.

LINK IN to LINKEDIN