Qoute of the Day

"There is always a new RULE # 1" - Craig Souser

"If you don't like what's happenng, wait a minute" - Bruce Ashby

Expansion of Business

Some sales people seem to have the gift of being clairvoyent. They see multi-dimensionally and can tie pieces of several puzzles together to make one beautiful picture.

I don't have the gift but by asking questions and listening I have been able to make up for not being clairvoyent. Be inquisitive. Practice asking the probing questions. One that I use sincerely is "Are there any plagues in your life right now? I've got a lot of contacts after 33 years in this business, maybe one of those could help if I can't." It is surprising the number of times the client will say that help is needed in another area.

A manufacturing plant in eastern Virginia was consulting with me on a new piece of equipment that would increase their own equipments' efficiency. The question was asked and another whole opportunity unveiled itself for a different item for a different piece of equipment. While I had given sales coverage for this item previously, enough tiime had passed and the new problem so new that neither the customer nor I had put the two together.

Keep your head up, eyes and ears open, ask questions and listen.

Doing What Must Be Done !

Sunday afternoons are frequently my "honey-do" time slots. Depending on what honey is supposed to do, my energy level may run from having to lounge in the recliner to rest and watch a game to happily riding on my mower to trim the grass.

However, when 5:30 comes around, my energy level gets a huge boost and 15 minutes later, I'm out the door headed to my weekly basketball game. I play for two hours with my buddies and run like the wind. Which is to say some times I'm not moving, some times I'm blowing hard and some times I'm all over the place !

Isn't it funny how we all have the energy to do what we want to do?
The same thing applies to our sales efforts, doesn't it? When we go see our best customer, we're all pumped up and ready to go. If we are going to see an account that is a headache, many times the speedometer barely reaches the speed limit.

We need to practice the positive mental attitude that Napolean Hill spoke so eloquently about. Self-motivation. Grab your ear and pull. Find the positive and make it happen.

I had a friend that had an account that he hated. Tommy got little business or respect even though he was an honest salesman. I asked him why he would beat himself up and consistenly call on this account. It seems that he had broken it down to dollars and cents. If he got the business he was after, the return on investment would be close to $50/hour at that time. Of course the longer it took to get the business then the dollar value would drop. BUT, he massaged those numbers by adding dollar value to his product for inflation. He said he hated to think of an account only in terms of money but that was his only way to motivate himself.

What do you need to do to energize yourself to make that next call ?

Quote of the Day

The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice and the fifth teaching others.
Solomon Ibn Gabriol

Fear of Phoning?

Recently while discussing a young man's business with him, he spoke about how hard it is to get on the phone and call people. Using the "fear of phoning" phrase, I pressed the importance of making appointments. Rather quickly, he corrected me; "I'm not afraid of phoning. It's just such a waste of time because nobody picks up the phone anymore."



In the past, and probably today too, we were afraid to call because we knew what the answer would be - "no", "too busy" etc. Add to that not being able to reach someone and "fear of phoning" takes on a whole new level.



This is an area where goal setting is advantageous. Decide on the number of phone calls to make each day. Set a minimum number of reaches you will accept. Have your thoughts together so that when you do reach someone you'll speak intelligently. Perhaps in the middle of your calls you should call a friendly customer so that your spirits will remain strong. Make the calls at odd times of the day - before 8 a.m., during lunch (not everybody goes out!), after 5 p.m. Leave concise messages and perhaps follow-up a message with a piece of snail-mail like a post card etc.



Don't hate the process. It is what it is and it needs to be accepted as part of business and move on. But this does underscore the fact that when you get the face to face meeting you must make a good impression, start a relationship and leave yourself in a position to be able to reach the client or get the call back.



What do YOU do to reach people? Let us know !

Service, Please?

I'm back from the beach where I enjoyed the finest weather I've seen at the Outer Banks ever. Got a little sun, floated a little in the kayak, enjoyed the ocean and ate at a restaurant or two.

The analogies between servers in a restaurant and sales people in the rest of the world can be pretty much non-stop. The server's ability to make money is contingent on first impressions, sincere greeting, quality of service, speed of service, ability to be gracious and on the product produced.

Take mental notes on the wait staff the next time you are in any type of restaurant. How would you do it differently? Is what the server does with you something that you can modify for your own use? Are they prompt? Is corrective action take quickly if needed? What kind of attitude is projected?

Do you offer the kind of service and product that is worthy of a large tip?

Quote for the Day

"Learning to write is learning to think. You don't know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing." - S. I. Hayakawa