Leadership

As a sales professional I purposefully stayed away from leadership roles. I liked the freedom of being in the field and the power of bringing in a new deal. When a new deal was on the table, the squabbles seemed to dissipate and my co-workers came together to service the new client. That's where I like to focus my time and energy.

A few years ago I was asked to be the President of a referral group. I was initially reluctant but then thought I'd love to do it because the goal of the group was new business development and that's what I love to do.

As I took over the leadership role, I inherited the stresses of the President. After each meeting I would receive a host of complaints that included: the coffee is weak, someone is not a strong member, the meeting started late, forms needed to be completed etc. etc. etc.

The complaints started to wear my spirit down. I was new to leadership and I thought I didn't like it.

I struggled with the challenge and then decided the solution was 'to focus on the goal'. If the complaint did not impact the goal positively or negatively, it didn't deserve significant time and attention. The 'coffee is weak' got dismissed pretty quickly.

The goal was simple: to generate more referrals for each other. I would measure the success or failure of each activity by how it affected the goal. We did produce results, the meetings were focused, and we attracted high caliber entrepreneurs to our group.

There was still a challenge though. The meetings now were robotic. I missed networking and working the room. Now that I was leading, I had to focus on the structure and gave up some of what I loved.

I also realized that there was another unspoken goal but it was very present. The goal was 'friendship'. These members truly liked, respected and enjoyed each others company. Although it was unspoken, this goal was equally as important and, to some members, more important than the goal of generating leads.

The goal of friendship added a comraderie to our group that visitors felt right away. It gave us a competitive advantage. It was important to the members, so it became important to me too.

I focused on the stated goal and the unstated goal. The meetings became less robotic, I had more fun, got to do what I loved and the group helped me to learn how to lead.

It was through their friendship that I learned how to lead. Under any other circumstance, I would've moved far from the challenge and focused on getting the next deal. I'm a much richer person for the experience and grateful for the friendships I created.

Social Media

In the new world of social media and connecting, there seems to be a goal to connect to as many people as you possibly can. I see thousands of connections on people's Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

Before social media, if you gave out a name as a referral, it more often than not meant that you knew this person, could vouch for their work and their integrity. Before social media, you might be careful before you gave out that name because you understood how the professional performed was a reflection on you. Referrals really meant something. The receiver of the referral had a level of confidence in it.

With social media, it's not always the case, a contact could just be a name on a page.

I personally like the "I can vouch for this person" approach. If there is a professional on my LinkedIn page it means that they are a professional I know and believe in. I like the effortless way I can connect and keep in touch with these people. If my connections do ever grow to 1,000 people, they will be people that I have actually met in person and have some sort of connection with.

Personally knowing people and understanding their value and being able to help promote them is the power of networking.

Partnerships

Image via Wikipedia

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where hestands at times of challengeand controversy.”

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)

American civil rights leader

Nobel Peace Prize winner'

If you do business with people you trust, it makes the whole process easier and a lot more fun.

A Compliment

One of my clients said "I'm drawn to you because you are refreshingly honest."

Wow! Made my day. I explained to him that people are so afraid that they need to say the right thing or do the right thing especially when a sale is involved that they can get removed from the truth. They are afraid they are going to mess it up. No reason to be afraid, if your transaction is built on a lie, it'll fall apart eventually any way.

Be refreshingly honest today. People will appreciate it.

An Old School Salesman

I met the most wonderful Salesman, Ted, at the Chicago Fur Outlet http://www.chicagofuroutlet.com/. I was actually there to sell a shearling on consignment. I bought a really nice piece last year that just didn't work out for me.

Like any good sales people, Howard, the owner and Ted showed me around the store to make sure there wasn't a coat that I'd like to trade mine in for or use as a partial credit toward the purchase price.

As Ted, patiently watched me try on coat after coat, encouraging me to try different styles and lengths, he told me about his skill and experience as a retail salesman. He'd worked at the upscale stores in Chicagoland: Bloomingdales, Sax, Burberry's, Lord and Taylor, Marshall Field's. He told stories of selling dresses to brides, bathing suits and evening gowns to women and overcoats to men. He remembered his regular customers in detail. He has a passion for retail. He told stories of tailoring garments on the spot and making customers happy while protecting the profitability of the store. He talked about increasing sales of seldomly-purchased products at the perfume counter, how he'd help women select a fragrance that was right for them vs. the one that was currently being promoted.

It was an absolute pleasure spending an afternoon with Ted. He did find a perfect coat for me, a shearling, midlength with a shawl collar. It would be warm enough for the Chicago winters and casual enough to wear riding the El every day.

The coat is not in my budget today. I appreciate all the time and effort he took with me. When I didn't make a decision he responded "You are woman who knows what she wants and I appreciate that." I appreciated being appreciated.

As soon as the opportunity arises, I'll be back to visit with Howard and Ted because I know they will find the perfect coat for me. In addition to that, it was an enjoyable afternoon, a reprieve from the general hecticness of my days.

This type of retail experience is almost obsolete in the United States. Shopping has become an errand, people generally do not dress for work any more, stores are not willing to invest in quality sales people and customers are not loyal enough to those who do.

Unless we support businesses like Howard's and sales people like Ted, this type of shopping experience will be obsolete and we'll be resigned to running more errands . . .

Never Pay for a Job

I spoke with a woman who wanted to hire me to create a new business development program and learn a financial training program. They wanted to charge me $3,000.00, it was a 50% discount off of their traditional training program fee.. She assured me all national training companies do this. (This is a lie). When I told her I was reluctant to pay for the employment, her tone became harsh and she accused me of "not being serious about success."

Don't fall for this kind of stuff. Any company of any value will pay you, as the employee or contractor to produce for them. Never, ever pay for a promotional kit, business cards, materials or training. It's very profitable for the company and not good for you.

She's right, it's a big investment to select the right people for the right jobs. If they want to operate in business, they should be willing to make that investment.

Don't fall for scams.

TeleIntelligence

At our call center we do not compensate the callers with a bonus if they get a lead.

In our TeleIntelligence Programs, we pay our callers well, train them well and treat them well. They can work any 20 hours a week that they'd like and wear shorts in the summer and sweats in the winter. We work with high caliber clients and only do B2B calling. We don't sell aluminum siding to residents on a Sat morning.

Our callers are also not sales people. They are calling and qualifying opportunities to be turned over to sales people. We have not had turnover in more than a year and we have some of the original callers we hired on staff.

Paying a caller a bonus puts the onus on a caller to decide what a lead is. They will be generous in the description because they are motivated to do so by the additional money they will earn. With our programs, the callers are motivated by the quality of the lead. They continue to work with the customer, garnering feedback so that they are in a better position to ask more relevant questions and take each opportunity as far as they can.

We are proud of the way we work and the results we produce. Contact us at 312.697.0885 or adale@fullcirclemgmt.com if you'd like us to create a successful program for your company.

Great Start, Poor Follow Through

I'm working on renting a beautiful apartment on the NW side of Chicago. I have the ad posted in a local newspaper.

A woman from a rental agency contacted me. I admired her creativity. Great place to look for prospects to sign contracts to rent apartments and a great place to scout out properties for your renters. Clever.

She said she had a renter for my property. I felt that was a lie but moved forward anyway because if she's clever getting contracts perhaps she'll be clever in finding renters.

I submitted a contract and haven't heard from her again. Too bad.

I have this experience when I'm coaching and training sales people. They have GREAT intentions when they get going but fizzle out pretty quickly.

There's a statistic that most sales are made after the fifth call. Most sales people call once and quit, 25% call two times and quit and only 10% keep trying.

If the metric is sales are made after the fifth call, if you haven't called at least five times, you are not even in the game. If only 10% of all sales people play there, you don't have much competition.

If you look at your CRM system and note that you have not made five points of contact, get to work!

The Power of the Customer

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Sam Walton (1918–1992) American retailer founder of Wal-Mart

As customers we have power we forget about and don't exercise often enough. Wal-Mart is a great example. Many people don't feel right about the fact that American workers don't have adequate health care, yet the largest purchaser of health care in America, Wal-Mart does little to challenge the problem. In addition, we struggle with wages that don't meet the minimum living expenses but turn a blind eye at the exorbitant profits Wal-Mart posts.

Let's fire them.

I'm not afraid of a fair negotiation. Going for the cheapest price and leveraging your vendors has a long-term ripple affect. I was recently at a meeting for small business owners. We were discussing the lack of available financing and how it was affecting our growth. One man who once owned a $25 million company with no debt bragged "I financed my business on the backs of my vendors."

Yuck. He entered into business relationships with no intention of paying within terms. Stretching out his payments for 90 and 120 days. Vendors who wanted business and trusted him fell for it and he was able to grow a profitable business.

He asked for my card. He's starting a new venture and needs sales support. There's no need for him to call me. I'm not financing anyone's business and he's not the kind of guy I want to do business with.

Trust is key in mutually beneficial business relationships. Customers like him would ruin FullCircle Management.

Charmed Sales People

There's a comment after the Basics of Sales post that talks about the types of sales people that are so charming and attractive, people want to buy from them just because they want to be liked and accepted by them.

It is true, there are some sales people like that out there. I'm not one of them and if you read this blog you probably are not either.

I knew of a guy that bought a truck from a beautiful woman at a car dealership. Her desk was right in the front window of the dealership. He used to drive by just to take a look at her. Sure, it happens that sales can occur based on the sheer charm of the sales person but it's not something you can control and it's not a quality that most of us have.

For the rest of us, the Basics of Sales will work. You'll need the basics whether your job is selling or you are looking for a job or your promoting an idea. You can control and influence the process and increase your chances of consistent success. It's not based on luck or charm.

You'll work with integrity, and attract the kind of profitable customers and opportunities you want. For the charmed sales people they can even work the process and not rely on the chance that someone will be so engaged by them they'll want to buy.

It's fun to work and deliver sound services for a fair process. It's profitable and it feels good to work with integrity.

Don't Lie

There were a couple of great responses to the Don't Lie post.

One said,

"I think many salespeople might think a short-term gain is fine, since they'll change companies and somebody else will have to pay for their dishonesty."

This reader is correct. Some think short term gain is OK and they won't get caught. They're even rewarded by their employers for their tactics. Sure I've worked with people like this. I'd like to say that they weren't successful but they often were. Companies are so desperate for cash flow in our economic system, the leaders will turn a blind eye to those that generate revenue. It's one way to build a business but it's not my dream.

The writer goes on to use Bernie Madoff as an example. Even though our current economic climate is difficult, I like it. This economy exposes businesses that are shells and not truly profitable. Most businesses are not profitable. I think it's an exciting time and an opportunity to create true economic strength.

Another commenter states, "I get those annoying lie-calls at home all the time and don't buy into them. They are a waste of their time. Lying to me is insulting. If I had a SPAM button on my phone, I would hit it! I don't care how busy I am, I KNOW who has called me."

If your company's goal is to deliver with integrity and build a system of effortless success where your customer's come to you and gladly pay for the value that you bring don't lie and don't hire people who do.

Wouldn't it be a fun way to work and live? Imagine what we could create.

Don't Lie

I've been receiving cold calls lately where the sales person says "I'm calling to respond to your request for more information about vending machines (or fill in the blank product/service)."

These sales reps are banking on the fact that the prospect is so busy and overwhelmed they can't remember what they inquired about.

I remember. I resent being lied to.

It's a really bad sales practice. Do you want to build your foundation and connection with your prospect based on manipulation?

Connecting and building trust are two key basics in the sales process.

Don't be tempted to skip over them. Connecting and building trust with your prospects will put you head and shoulders above your competition that is acting out of fear and desparation.

Do business the way you want to. Find out what makes you, you and connect with your prospects in a way that makes you feel good. Then you'll start really selling.