The Five Words That Could (and Should!) Kill Your Sales Career

There I was, the proud owner of a beautiful new washer and dryer set. Cherry red, front-loading, state-of-the-art; they were everything my wife and I wanted. There was just one problem: the units were nowhere to be found. I had blocked out a portion of my Saturday to make the 45-minute drive to the Home Depot where we had purchased the set, excited to get them set up and running. To my disappointment the units hadn't been delivered to the store yet; worse, no one from the store had even bothered to call and save me the trip down. In fact, when I had called the store earlier in the day to check whether the units had arrived, I was assured they had. You can imagine my frustration.

Now I'm a pretty reasonable guy: I understand that trucks sometimes get delayed or orders get misplaced or a warehouse is out of stock. No problem. The problem was that everyone I talked to (the customer service clerk, the salesman I had purchased the set from, and even the store manager) responded to my dilemma with what I consider to be the five lamest words in the English language: "There's nothing I can do." A couple of them went so far as to add an "I'm sorry" to the beginning of the statement, but somehow that didn't make me feel any better. I was given a long list of reasons why no one could do anything, but this, too, failed to improve my mood.

My options were to come back in a couple of days to pick the units up or to wait for the store to deliver them the following week for an additional charge. Since my old unit was broken and the laundry was piling up, I opted to make another trip to pick them up myself. I left the store frustrated, annoyed and certain that my next appliance need would be met elsewhere.

I share this story with you because it highlights a growing problem in the fields of sales and customer service: failure to recognize the importance of the customer. I've said before that the customer is the most important person in any transaction, but I'd like to take that a step further and say that the customer is the only important person in a transaction. After all, no customer, no transaction.

You see, I did have a third option: I could have asked Home Depot for a refund and taken my business somewhere else. The only reason I didn't was that it would have created a greater inconvenience for me at the time; however, you can be sure next time I will probably opt for one of their competitors. Remember that your customers have this same option available to them, as well. No matter how good you or your products or services are, your customers can always get similar or better products or services from one of your competitors, and probably for a lower price. If you resort to the use of the five lamest words in the English language, you can be sure they'll exercise this option. So what if there really is little or nothing you can do to resolve a customer's complaint?

First, realize there is always at least one thing you can do and that is to empathize. To empathize means to identify with another person's feelings or difficulties. A simple statement like, "Mr. Kennedy, I understand how you feel, and I can assure you I will do everything in my power to resolve this situation to your satisfaction," would have gone a long way toward making me feel better about my experience. At least I would have known that someone cared. You can always do at least that for your customers: let them know you care and that you will exhaust all your options to rectify the situation.

Of course, you have to follow that up with actually doing everything in your power to resolve the problem. In other words, you should be an advocate for your customer. If he or she has a problem, take ownership of that problem and see it through to resolution. Fight for your customers, argue for them, bend or even break the rules for them, but never, I mean never, be caught telling them "There's nothing I can do!"

The Painting Business - Tough Economy, What Do You Do?

The first thing so many painting businesses do is to run around and low ball every estimate. Why?

Because they firmly believe that painting customers buy exclusively on price. But, studies show that for the most part that is not true. Painting customers want the best value.

Best value and that is? Think about what reasons you buy for. Try to get into the mind of the customer. If you have a really nice home in an upscale community, and you want your home to look good, the finish to last (good paint jobs are not cheap, even the cheap ones are not cheap) and actually sometimes cheap things cost more, the first time that you buy, and you pay the second time to do it the right way first. And they want the painting contractor to start and stay until done, not to take the deposit and leave only to work in dribs and drabs, until the owner finally throws the bum out. They want value, and this means a good job relatively priced, from someone they perceive to be honest, hardworking, going to do a good job and is not going to kick the dog, drink on the job and smoke in their house.

People buy for the most part on their emotions; people buy because they like you. Or they trust you. If you take a $5000 paint job, one guy quotes $5000; the other guy quotes $5050. And the client needs to pick one. The first guy looks sloppy, he was late for the appointment, and when he got out of his truck a beer can fell on the ground. The other guy is clean, came on time, and his truck looks like it was just washed. Which will they pick? The low ball painter only thinks the one who is low bidder will get the job. But if you were buying something this big, and you had doubts, would you buy from the low ball or the painter that you were confident in?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5051? Is that enough of a difference? This is supposed to be a 10 year paint job. Spread $51 over 10 years, does it matter then?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5100, at that point what is another $49? What about $5000 and $5200? $5300? Maybe if they need to buy that job badly enough, and they could not feel good about the low ball painter no matter what the price difference, they might even pay a few thousand more.
I have heard the catcalls, at a PDCA dinner that was for getting new members, from the cash painting contractors were sitting at the table all the way in the back. When the speaker was telling the audience about his hourly rate. It was (4 years ago) $65/hour. The goons in the last table were hooting and laughing, the last thing I heard was them saying he was "full of it", and he would never get that price here. And here was Princeton, NJ. If anyone knows the Ivy League Schools and the towns and communities around them. They know that this area has some of the highest paid people in the states. What was funny to me was that I had been talking to this painting company owner, for a few months prior to this dinner and, I was then charging $65 per hour in that exact area.

It is all in the mind. What do you perceive? What does the client perceive? What is their perception of you? If you want to win more jobs at a higher price than your competitors, then think Value, not low price.

By the way just today, I quoted on a new porch and deck that a decorator referred me to. She also referred 2 other respectable painters. I talked for a while about the benefits of the job, (keeping my estimate hidden), never mentioning price. Talked about the benefits of a quality job, from the primer on the new cedar rail, and what to use on the new mahogany deck, mostly emphasizing quality. I felt that they liked me. Finally they asked me for the price, at which time I told them verbally, without the estimate. I said $2196 for the porch work, and $850 to bleach and rinse the house to clean the mildew off. They said, "how do you explain that Harold quoted $1400 and $450 to bleach the house"? Saying nothing negative about Harold, (actually he is a pretty good guy), I just explained what we would do and how much time it would take. Then they said Steve quoted $1800, after that I just said I don't understand their prices.

Long story short, he said can you do both the porch and the wash job for $3000?

I walked out of there with a $1000 deposit. And this happens a lot to me.

Last year in another part of town, I took a $10,000 exterior paint job, my competition was $6000, but I got the job. And hey, we are good.

Having Trouble Finding Customers For Your Staffing Agency

Your competition has a big affect in your ability to find and secure new accounts with Hospitals or Medical Centers. Each staffing agency spends a lot of time in business development with the purpose of finding business. The problem with new staffing agencies is they often approach a Hospital without really knowing the internal culture or what makes the facility tick.

Lets look at some of the key factors that prevent many staffing agencies from finding new business or the first contract with a Hospital.

1. Are you familiar with the competition and how they are approaching the Hospitals?
2. Are you sure you are approaching the decision makers in the facility?
3. Have you identified your market challenge regionally?
4. Have you identified the accurate pay rates your competition is charging?
5. Have you identified the top accounts in the Hospital?
6. Have you identified the weaknesses your competition is experiencing?

These are just a few of the many variables that new staffing agencies need to identify before they begin walking into a facility and trying to secure accounts.

These variables will help you form a strategy to secure new accounts. Each strategy must be detailed with the goal of entering the marketplace, but not eliminating the competition. Don't approach the marketplace with the idea that you want to eliminate the competition.

Work with the competition and align yourself with the decision maker to enter the staffing arena as a backup. This technique has many opportunities that will be seen as time passes.

This is just one of many techniques you should use to secure clients and begin making money from your staffing agency. Too many staffing agencies make mistakes at the beginning that prevents them from surviving past the first year.

Many staffing agencies never actually make it past the first year, the problem is that they don't know the barriers to finding clients, and given enough time and money you will find the answers. The problem is again: how much time do you have and how much money do you have?

Five Tips For Beginning Sales People

1. Educate Yourself
Don't wait for managers or anyone else to give you the sales education you need. Unfortunately, the automobile industry has been stuck for years in a, "Throw them in and see if they can swim mentality." Some dealerships take new recruits to a meeting room and have them watch training tapes for a day and expect them to be trained. Neither of these options will increase your odds for success.

Begin a massive self-education program that will continue your whole career. Combine visual, auditory and experiential learning. Listen to sales and motivational material every day on the way to and from work. Read, watch DVDs and then put it all together by role-playing with a manager or fellow sales person. Education Creates Motivation - Motivation Breeds Perspiration - Perspiration Creates Elevation.

2. Avoid Cancer
Attitude is everything in sales and life. All companies are full of people with negative attitudes and limiting beliefs. These beliefs and attitudes begin to perpetuate into a culture that is counterproductive to all sales people and potentially deadly to the new sales person. You can insulate yourself from the cancerous attitudes by taking the following steps. 1. Avoid smoke-and-joke circles. There has never been a positive conversation in one of these pity party circles, and there never will. Avoid them like the plaque. 2. Utilize motivational material daily. Nobody can be fully self-motivated all the time. You need tools to assist you. CDs, DVDs, pictures, music, books, quotes, spiritual material, mentors and mastermind circles are all tools that you should use.

3. Utilize a Follow-Up System Religiously
Pick a manual or software system that you will use from day one. Every customer, every prospect, every time. When you start with an organized system, you will be focused on the fundamentals that will make you successful both short- and long-term. Collect as much data as you can on each prospect and customer and organize your follow-up by using post cards, letters, gifts, newsletters, e-mail auto-responders and sequential auto-responders. Persistent = consistent.

In sales and marketing, you must always remember the order of importance of potential sales. Your current customers will always provide you the most return on investment. So often, new sales people are in a constant mad dash for new customers and forget to maximize the potential of the ones they just sold. It's easier to maintain a good system that was created from the beginning than it is to start a new one later on.

4. Take Massive Action
It's all about action management, not time management. You have 1,440 minutes in everyday. Success is determined by the actions you take in those minutes. Avoid the time trap of getting caught up in the stuff. Stuff are the things that are minor in nature that we spend most of our day in that create little results. Don't major in the minor. Continually ask yourself if what you are doing will contribute to a sale either now or in the future. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Each day you must evaluate your actions and create a stop-doing list. After reviewing your day, determine what actions you should lessen or eliminate. Start your day with major actions so it sets a trend for the day. Jump in, don't wade in.

5. Be Your Own Marketing Manager
Don't expect any business or anyone to bring you customers. You must take the mindset from day one that you will provide 100 percent of your own customers and anything your company provides is extra. Start by creating your own brand. What will your slogan be that defines you? Utilize your picture, caricature and slogan on all marketing materials and business cards. Create your own Web site as a benefit to the customer that can be integrated with all marketing material.

Next, determine your ideal customer base that buys your product. You can purchase lists of people who drive your brand of product from one of many different list providers. Begin a multi-step marketing approach to these potential customers. Read as many books on copy writing as possible to learn the secrets of getting people to take action from your words. Educating yourself on marketing and copywriting will pay you more dividends than any other single thing you can do.

Sales people are made, not born. It's the people who do the work, who learn to market themselves, follow-up, handle rejection, persist and maintain a winning attitude that win in the sales profession.

Sales Techniques That Assist in Selling to Generation Y

For many selling professionals and sales managers selling effectively has become a cumbersome task. The proliferation of the electronic media and instant availability of products and services allows more power into the hands of clients. However, there is one area where the selling professional can achieve more effectiveness by trends and social issues. One of the largest yet daunting areas of research today relates to the Millennials or aptly called Generation Y.

To achieve greater selling effectiveness, professionals must realize that we operate in a multi-cultural, multi-gendered and multi-generational workforce. For purposes of this article, our focus relates to generational issues. Many selling professionals, consultants and employers have not taken into consideration that four generations exist in the workforce. There exists:

-Veterans = 20 Million/ages 65 and above

-Baby Boomer = 65 Million /ages 47 - 60

-Generation X = 50 Million /ages 38 - 45

-Generation Y = 78 Million /21 - 40

The manner which each purchases is based on behavior and values. To achieve selling excellence it is imperative to quickly comprehend the value differentiation of each.

Veterans

Veterans have important buying power and been doing so for well over 50 years. These groups because of many socially historical issues usurp brand value. This group tends to remain very loyal to products, services, and do not like change. More importantly, their age creates a need for physical relationship and they find instant communication frustrating.

Boomers

The 78 million Americans who were 50 or older approximately 5 years ago controlled $28 trillion, or 67% of the country's wealth. This group has tremendous buying power. However, this group ages by the moment as many Boomers worry about retirement and savings. This group resists spending during economic uncertainty since they pay with cash not credit. To achieve sales excellence it is imperative for selling professionals to create a bond with Boomers.

Generation X

Generation X makes up about 17% of the U.S. population and range in age from 38 to approximately 45 years of age. This generation is very open to technology yet is also well educated. If they need information they know where to get it so selling professionals need to illustrate differentiation. Generation X wants issues resolved expediently and deplore lengthy "sales pitches" in favor of solutions. Coincidentally, the dearth of email has Generation X desirous of personal interaction and paper correspondence. Selling effectiveness is uncompromised using more traditional marketing means.

Generation Y/Millennials

The largest and clearly the most influential group of purchasers since the Baby Boomers, Generation Y is on the minds of many selling and marketing professionals. With 78 million potential buyers, it is impossible to avoid this large group. They are influential, have the money to spend and there are many of them. Generation Y are very well educated. As a group, they believe in real time connection with the Internet a Must medium. Generation Y is all about instant connectivity and most importantly instant gratification.

Our research in this area finds these influential areas pivotal for effectively selling to Generation Y.

Cool. Online and print medium require change. Generation Y desires importance and self-actualization. They buy the now and the hottest item on the market. Those that follow this trend will thrive. Avatars such as Apple are very proactive in this area. Sales of iPods and iPhones flourish. Generation Y desires to be part of the experience. Selling to them requires a value proposition focused on current trends and social issues.

Brand. Generation Y differs from all prior generations. They are not brand loyal. Due to the increased connectivity, Generation Y follows social trends. Millennials have acute attention spans as they await the next trend. A recent Wall Street Journal article illustrates how Six Flags is aligning with Disney (movies and television shows) simply to capture the attention of the Millennials. Do not build a brand for them; rather, build a brand with them. Apple, Southwest, FedEx, Facebook, Google all build products with advice from this influential group.

Content. Content is king. This is true for Millennials. The proliferation of Internet technology allows Generation Y instant access to information. Sellers must provide uniqueness with content not found through regular Internet channels. Further, since content travels at the speed of light selling effectiveness can increase with viral marketing.

Language. Generation Y uses different lexicon. Whereas the other generations use complete articulate sentences, Millennials speak in a language encrypted with message similar to the DaVinci code. Sellers must speak and connect to Millennials in their language.

Risk. The increase of viral marketing and information enable Millennials to take more risks then preceding generations. In fact, due mostly to youth, Millennials are riskier, they have less to lose. Sellers and marketers must challenge Millennials. Buyers represent three purchase groups' a) early adopters, b) followers c) not a chance. Generation Y devour risk by adopting the "cool" trends. Sellers must understand the trends to advise the consumer to be a recognized leader.