Just Driving Around....

When I was in business school in the 60's, there was a management concept promoted by Tom Peters called "Management by Walking Around" (MBWA).  The idea was that a good business manager does not sit in an office and manage by looking at spreadsheets.  A good manager walks around his shop and talks to his people and listens.
But how does this apply to the sales process?  When I started selling, my father was my mentor and he used to tell me--"if you really want to know your territory, don't take the highways--take the side roads; drive through the towns; see what's going on on the ground".
Sales people tend to drive to the customer's location and then drive to the next appointment and the next and then drive home, all on the highways.  "Avoid local roads if at all possible; I'm just too busy to take the time."
And how many times have I been in a retail store and watched the sales people congregate and gossip while I founder about looking for something?
Just as a good manager finds out what's going on in his shop by walking around, we all need to find out what's going on by looking around, walking around, driving around, talking to people. Spreadsheets are one dimensional. Don't stand still waiting for someone to come to you--go out and talk to people and look around and Just Drive Around.....
There's so much out there to see and learn if we just get out of our cars and offices and shells.

Doing What Comes Naturally

Everyone has something they do really well.  You may not have found this "thing" yet, but there IS something you do well.
This theory works the same in sales.  Our company sells tanks and air compressors.  We once hired a salesperson who had spent his sales career selling tires. After several months trying to sell tanks, he went back to what he was comfortable with: tires.  If you ever notice the sales people in a musical instrument store--for the most part, they're musicians. They're comfortable with musical instruments and music, and they often make good musical instrument sales people.
I consider product knowledge the most important ingredient for a sales person. Therefore, you're going to be good at selling something you want to learn about, something you love.
I am a manufacturers' representative, so I sell multiple products.  I love learning about anything and everything, so this profession worked for me--it was natural.
If you love your product and you love the people who buy your product, you'll succeed in sales.
This rule applies to every type of sales person--from the minister on the altar, to the Sears salesperson selling a washing machine, to a mother in a day care center. I know someone who struggled finding herself until she became a mother--and then she became the best mother because she loved being a mother.  Is she a sales person?  Yes indeed.  She works in day care and mothers entrust their children to her because she exudes "motherness".
Sales is something that's in your soul:  love what you do and do what you love and you can be the best sales person on the planet.

Listening Deeply Part Two

I attended three meetings this past month, one was a teleconference and two were two day meetings in a conference room with ten people at each meeting.
One thing jumped out at me--there was a very high percentage of attendees who were NOT listening.  You might wonder how I could tell on the teleconference when I couldn't see anyone.   Two ways:  1.  participation.  (If you're listening and mentally participating, you have to have questions. It's just the nature of things. Questions asked means that you're listening deeply.) 2. involvement.  (When the organizer asks for comments and only one or two comment, one can assume that the rest aren't listening.)
During the sales meetings at which everyone was present, out of ten people at each meeting, only five were listening deeply.  The other five were doing emails on their computers.  The thing about opening computers at a meeting, the organizer may think that you're participating and using your computer to make notes, so you think you can get away with it.  Or the organizer may not want to make a scene.  But how disrespectful is this!
Back in the "day", before computers, when I started in sales, there were no cell phones or computers.  Customers waited for their quotes or their call backs. Now, every salesperson feels that every customer needs an immediate response.  And what is the result of this "immediacy"?  Everyone loses.  The group loses the possibly important comments of the distracted participants and the distracted participants lose by not learning the content of the meeting.
This distracted "attendance" has to stop.  Computers and cell phones have to be shut off.  We need to LISTEN DEEPLY and participate.  Do the quote later.  The world will not come to an end if the quote is done later or if the call is not returned immediately.
Think about the financial investment that the organizer has in the meeting. When you're not involved, when you're not listening, you are wasting the organizer's money.
Show respect: to the meeting organizer and to the other participants.  Listen Deeply and participate!!!

Listening Deeply

Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, when asked what the most critical attribute of a manager is, said: "Listening Deeply".  He cited two examples of this: Charlie Rose, the legendary interviewer and co-host of CBS Morning, and Steve Jobs.
What does "listen deeply" mean exactly?  First, it means listening with NO distractions: no cell phones, no computers in your face checking emails.  When I'm talking to someone on the phone, I know when that person is looking at emails on his computer because the response to a question is slow or non-existent.
We have become a rude nation.  We have stopped really listening to people.  We are constantly distracted.
Listening deeply means getting rid of thoughts about what you're going to say, and thinking only about what the person you're listening to is saying.  Listening deeply means shutting the cell phone down, turning off the computer, emptying your mind of distracting thoughts, and just listening to what the person you're talking with is saying.

Stop talking; stop commenting; stop finishing sentences.  Just LISTEN and ask questions with the purpose of deepening your understanding of what someone is telling you.  Great salespeople LISTEN DEEPLY.

Product Knowledge

Flex hoses in a jet engine

Several months ago, when I started this blog, I put product knowledge at the top of the list of necessary attributes for a successful salesperson.
I want to re-address this issue.
A customer that I'm familiar with lost an order for an air compressor recently because he said "the end user wanted rigid pipe connections on his compressor rather than flexible hose".  Our compressor had flexible hose and the salesperson did NOT have enough product knowledge to overcome the objection.
Our lives are surrounded by flexible hose of all types.  There are thousands of flexible hose connections in a jet engine; tens of thousands of flex hoses in a Apollo rocket.  Flexible hoses (usually a corrosion resistant interior liner surrounded by wound stainless steel braiding) are everywhere--look under your toilet at the connection to the water inlet.
Why are flex hoses so prevalent?  Two reasons: They're easier to install than rigid. And because they can absorb shock and vibration better than rigid pipe--flex absorbs, rigid pipe cracks.
We all know that rocket engines and jet engines vibrate, sometimes rather dramatically, so flex is a natural solution.
But air compressors vibrate and therefore, flex hose is a better option than rigid pipe.
Customers may want a particular configuration on a product you sell.  That configuration may not be an appropriate one.  The salesperson's job is to explain the issues to the customer, to explain why his product is better than the competitor's.
In my mind,  a salesperson without product knowledge is not a true salesperson.
An order taker is "transactional": take the order, give the customer what he asks for, and don't try to educate the customer on why he may be wrong.
Take the time to understand your product.  Take the time to understand your competitor's product.  Understand why your manufacturer's design may be different and use that difference to sell your product.  Don't be an "order taker".  Learn your product, right down to the little components that make your product different and better.

Linkedin.com as a sales tool

Linkedin often gets a bad rap as a resource.  I've had two conversations recently about Linkedin which were 180 degrees apart.  One VP of Sales for a large national company has found out how to use it to find potential customers.  Another, the president of a rep agency, was concerned about the privacy since anyone could see your connections and who were looking at you.
Both are corrrect, but the privacy complaint is fixable.  Just like Facebook, you can go into your profile and settings and set the privacy settings so that the people who may be connected to you or who may be viewing you are invisible to the rest of the world.
So, if you want people to see you, leave the privacy settings at the default.  If you want privacy, change your profile settings to allow privacy.
The next decision to make is whether to go "Premium" or not.  Before making that decision, let's look at ways to use Linkedin as a sales tool.
First, if you're on Linkedin and your profile is up to date, then you've basically opened the door to allow people to contact you. (More on this in a future post.)
Since finding the decision maker is a critical component of a successful sales strategy,  Linkedin is the absolutely best tool for that.
Our next post will show how to use Linkedin as a way of finding the right person.

The Long Tail (continued)

The long tail theory was not developed with the sales person in mind.  But there is an important lesson to be learned by the salesperson. Inside every customer demand (hit), are a lot of latent requirements (niches) that a good salesperson understands.
You go into a auto dealership to buy a car (the hit).  A good car salesperson pitches the navigation system, the satellite radio, the moon roof (niches).  These are the high profit items for the dealership.  An air compressor salesperson pitches the air compressor to the interested customer (the hit) but also pitches the receiver tank, the dryer, and all the fittings and regulators (the niches).
The manager or owner of a store or sales agency or distributorship realizes that the long tail theory means that adding products to the salesperson’s offerings works to everyone’s benefit as long as the products will be purchased by the same person, or same company. The expense of the call has been covered with the “hit”, the money can be made with the “niches”—everything else that the salesperson can sell during the same call.
Amazon got people to go their website by selling books.  Now, while someone is buying a book, he can buy anything else he can think of—almost unlimited.  While someone is going to iTunes to buy an Adele album, he can buy another other piece of music he may think he wants even if no one else is interested—almost unlimited--because the additional of additional songs adds insignificant cost to Apple.
Their secret is now our secret.  Make the tail long and make the sale profitable.

The Long Tail

The concept of the Long Tail was developed by Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of The Wired magazine.  The two components of the tail are: "hits" and "niches". The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.
What does that mean to the sales process?  I have discussed my ideas with Chris Anderson, and he agrees--a salesperson needs a "hit" to get into the door, but he needs "niches" to really make sales and money.  When you call on a customer, there is what Anderson calls "latent demand" and you don't know what it is unless you ask.
Start your sales call with the reason that you're there (your "hit"), but understand that the customer needs other things that you offer and unless he knows what these other things are, he may not know that he needs them.
Once Amazon developed their system, adding an infinite number of products became possible and every new product added revenue without adding significant cost.  The same with iTunes and Google.
We will discuss the long tail in the sales world next time.

Don't forget the little stuff

I was at a Van Heusen store recently and bought a pair of slacks, a couple of polo shirts, and some socks.  The cashier asked whether I needed a belt.  I asked him why he asked and he said:  "you seem to have everything that goes with an outfit but the belt and thought I'd ask."
So then I asked him where his salesmanship came from.  He said that his grandfather, a sales rep for a chemical company, used to take him on sales calls.  Sales was in his genes.
What do we learn from this?
A salesperson goes in to sell his main product, but all the stuff that goes with that product is forgotten.
There is a current theory in sales called "The long tail".  For example, once Apple developed iTunes, adding more songs to iTunes was relatively cheap.  The incremental cost of adding a piece of music that may sell very little was easily overcome with just a few sales.
The point here is, once the salesperson is making the call, once he's in the customer's office making the grand pitch, the cost of pitching additional products is infinitesimal.  The big expense is getting in front of the customer.  The Van Heusen cashier had me in front of him.  That was the biggest thing--the long tail is anything else he could convince me to buy while I was there.
When you go into a Men's Wearhouse and buy a suit--by the time you're fitted for the suit, an assistant has the shirt, tie, socks, etc. that will go with the suit all laid out.  That's The Long Tail theory of sales.

More on this later.

Sitting by the phone, waiting for the order

You made your pitch. Now you're sitting by the phone waiting for the call from the customer.  Waitng to get the order.  I have one word for you:
DON'T.
You need to stay in touch with the customer who is in the process of making a decision.  You need to email him, call him, call on him in person, anything to let him know that you want the order.  Some of the approaches could be:  "here's some information I forgot to give you the last time", or "here's an update on the product", "if you're still having a difficulty making this decision, can I see you so that we can discuss your questions?".  Use any reason you can think of to stay in touch with the customer during the decision making process.  

MAXWELL'S LAW: THE LAST SALES PERSON STANDING GETS THE ORDER.
I play in a big band orchestra and the conductor at a recent rehearsal made a great point:  what the audience remembers is your last song.  You can mess up in the middle of the concert, but make the last song perfect and that's what they'll remember.  Be the last person the customer remembers and you'll get the order.

Passion Enthusiasm Confidence

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of the street. A tall lady answered the door.
Before she could speak, the enthusiastic salesman barged into the living room and opened a big black plastic bag and poured all the cow droppings onto the carpet.
"Madam, if I could not clean this up with the use of this new powerful vacuum cleaner, I will EAT all this cow poop!" exclaimed the eager salesman.
"Do you need chili sauce or ketchup with that?" asked the lady.
The bewildered salesman asked, "Why, madam?"
"There's no electricity in the house..." said the lady

There is nothing that beats being passionate about what you're selling and feeling confident in your product.  But how can you be passionate about a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner or an air compressor?
Passion and enthusiam come when you're confident, when you know your product inside and out and when you truly believe that your product can solve your customer's problem.  This all starts with product knowledge and product belief.  Whether you're selling cars, refrigerators, air compressors, lights--whatever, you need to know everything about your product and why it's better than anyone else's.  If you don't believe in your product, your customer will see this and you will not make the sale.  Although his approach may have been a little over the top, the vacuum cleaner salesman in the joke believed in his product.
Without passion, enthusiasm and confidence, sales becomes a tough job and not a joy.  

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha Franklin made these letters famous in her song of the same name.  It's a good subject for a discussion in sales.
Several years ago, I was working a booth, helping a business owner at a trade show.  During a lull in the trade show action he confided in me that he really didn't "like" his customers.  He felt that he was too well educated--"better" than his customers--after all, he owned a business, was college educated, etc., etc. . I thought to myself, during this discussion, this guy's not going to be in business in five years.  I way overestimated; he closed his business a year later.
He thought he was smarter than his customers.  He wasn't.  A good salesperson has to RESPECT his customers.  If you don't respect your customers--respect them for what they have achieved, for their own capabilities, for who they are, you cannot sell them anything.
From the moment you come into contact with a customer, that customer is evaluating you, testing you.  If you think you're the smartest person in the room, the customer will sense this lack of respect and your chances of getting the order is reduced geometrically.
If you can't respect your customers, you are in the wrong business.  If you can look at a customer and realize--really realize--the value in this customer, then you will be successful as a salesperson. Product knowledge is the easy part; respecting your customers can be difficult.  But it is absolutely essential to the success of a salesperson.

Muscle Memory in sales

One of the joys of my life is playing double bass in a big band.  Some of the music we play is at a very high speed.  I have to 1. read the notes; 2. have my left hand play the notes at the proper position on the neck; and 3. have my right hand pluck the proper string to have that note make a sound.  All at two to three times the speed of a heart beat.  You just can't do this if you have to think about what you're doing.
In sales, muscle memory is just as critical as in performing music.  When you're in a situation with an aggressive customer who has given you a couple of minutes of his precious time, you had better be able to present your case without stumbling--just like a musician performing before an audience.
A standard question and answer among musicians is: "what are the three things a musician must do to get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice."
In sales, being able to state the best qualities of your product in a couple of sentences, without hesitation and with conviction, is critical to success.
Step 1:  ask the smartest people you know to give you the 5 sentences you need to memorize that describes the best attributes of the product you're selling.  Step 2: memorize these 5 sentences until you don't have to think about them.  Step 3: be able to expand on each of these 5 sentences.  Have these sentences so deeply engrained in your brain that they are automatic.
And, if you're selling more than one product, you need to repeat this process for each product.
I can't emplasize enough the importance of this process.