Organizational Dynamics ...

Organizational dynamics is one of those very simple yet very complicated terms.  In its simplest of forms it could be summed up as - can't we all just get along?  But as everyone knows "just getting along" is easier said than done. 

As children or parents of children we all know the one kid that can't get along - that is unless it’s our kid.  Or maybe we were "that kid" growing up.  You know the one that specialized in divide and conquer.

Well organizational dynamics in business isn't much different.  But be careful how you handle it as the results may have exponential effects.  Newton's law of motion - "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' - doesn't apply only to physical objects.  It also applies to the dynamics or personalities as well.

Let me explain.   A few years ago I was managing a sales team not unlike most.  There was a top performer that everyone despised.  This representative broke all the company rules in the name of making the sale. 

I fielded complaints daily from the rest of the team of how they had been wronged.  Their customers were stolen, their prices were undercut, and their leads were poached.  Naturally, with this constant grumbling I saw this representative, despite their top producer status, as detrimental to the team.

Although no form of management seemed to work I was determined to solve the problem without dismissal.  Unfortunately, my sales representative wasn't as committed to resolution and eventually left.

I thought my problems were over but soon found out they were just beginning.

The three representatives below this top producer were all close in sales and as such became a close knit "team" unto themselves.  What I didn't realize it that every competitor needs an opponent and the top producer that had just resigned represented that opponent to these three.

While the camaraderie among the sales team improved, the sales efforts didn't.  They no longer worried about leads and customers and prices.  They lost their common goal of defeating the top producer and as such produced less themselves.

It served as a very interesting lesson for me that having someone around that others didn't like served as motivations that I hadn't considered.

When adding a new sales representative to a team everyone wants to know "how will they all get along".  We'll maybe it is best if they don't!

Good Selling.

Would a sales representative take less money, a la Cliff Lee, to sign with a contender?

Would a sales representative take less money, a la Cliff Lee, to sign with a contender?  A week or so ago Cliff Lee did the unthinkable when he signed with the Phillies for less money than the Yankees were offering.  It made me wonder if a sales representative would do the same.

What would it take?  Maybe more equipment than the competition would sway them?  Perhaps a “better” location would be the key?   Could private ownership over a big corporate parent or vice-versa make the difference?  Higher commissions, lower prices, experienced staff, liberal vacation time …. What could it be?

Culture!  That’s the difference.  You see culture is the combination of everything that a company brings to the table for the employee.  It’s the location, the environment, the people …. Everything!  A business owner I know prided himself on having a place where people would want to come to work, another placed value on providing a safe workplace while a third said the fact that his company held everyone accountable for their work that he was most proud of.

To create great culture you have to practice what you preach.  If you want people to show up on time then you have to show up on time.  If you want people to care about the customer you have to care about the customer. 

In fact, you have to go beyond practicing and preaching.  You have to show people how to do it; correct them when they don’t do it right and praise them when they do.  You have to remind them everyday why the company exists, the basis on which it was founded, what their role is and what their contribution has meant to the company.

YOU HAVE TO SELL!

Good Selling.

Are job titles important in Sales environment?

This question was posted on LinkedIn and I thought it made for some interesting reading.

I feel job titles are important in sales on two main fronts.

Accurate titling assists in the continued branding of your organization.  I managed a sales team and we branded the sales titles as "graphics specialist".  This was in response to the customers' feedback from surveying that they were searching for companies with a higher level of knowledge from the sales representative.  In addition, this helped continue the identification of our organization since we had a name that could have easily been mistaken for a law firm, accountants or a funeral home. 

The second area was from a hierarchy standpoint.  In the process of growing customers it is important to develop peer to peer relationships.  By this I mean it is helpful for owners to know owners, accounting to know accounting and so forth.  This is a necessary step for companies to insulate themselves from a sales person holding all of the relationship cards.  The best way to do this is with titles.   

I feel several titles such as “Account Executive” or “Account Manager” are overused and rather than clarify what someone does they may confuse the situation.

These titles lead clients to believe their representative may have more authority than they actually do; particularly when you introduce the word Manager into the equation.  As such the client may ask something of the representative – like a discount- that they are not solely responsible for. 

If others in the organization have titles on their cards then it is not just appropriate but necessary for the sales representatives to have them as well.  As is the case with anything of this nature it is important that this be given thorough thought and explained internally fully so it is understood.  Too many initiatives such as this never get the internal attention they deserve and then become a failed experiment.

Good Selling!

While you were out …

While you were out …

Last week while sharing cold calling techniques with members on my LinkedIn Account I told of how I am using the “While you were out” notes to help improve my cold calling.  Well, I had so many requests for an example I figured I would post it here on my blog.

After having left several voicemail messages that go unreturned I have started using “While you were out” notes.  These are the little pink slips of paper receptionist used to leave in peoples’ mail boxes back in the olden days!

Here is an example of what it might look like.

After I have filled it out I scan, copy and paste it into the body of an e-mail.  The Subject is usually “While you were out”

I don’t attach it because many firewalls will then block the e-mail plus that would require the client to take an additional step to see it and I don’t want to ask them to do any more than they need to do to get the message.

This has yielded a surprising 80% response rate and even better resulted in an 85% appointment rate of those that have responded.

I also have enlarged copies of these notes that I use when I am cold calling in person.  These haven’t yielded the same numbers as the e-mail version but they are also at the very beginning of the sales / prospecting process.  I have no doubt that when the e-mail version of the same note arrives in their in box it will trigger their memory and again I will have a very successful campaign.

This is just one of several “shoestring” techniques I use to improve my marketing efforts.  If you’d like to hear about more please send me a comment.

Good Selling!

Don't Mail It In ...

No matter how hard you try sometimes you just “mail it in”.  We all do it.  I’ve even seen the Pastor at a church do it with his sermon.   C’mon you know what I mean - Just going through the motions!

But when sales people do it - it can be fatal.  The old adage that you only get one chance to make a first impression might be more important in sales than anywhere else.  Even more important – in sales it probably doesn’t apply to just the first impression.

Every interaction with the client either improves or erodes your relationship.  There is NO middle ground.  And when it comes down to it isn’t it all about the relationship?

So, how do you avoid mailing it in? 

First and foremost is preparation.  I know when I have mailed it in it is often because of a lack of preparation.  As a sales manager I have also witnessed sales people who have mailed it in for the same reason.  Preparation leads to confidence.  Confidence is a very powerful positive emotion.

Another key reason for mailing it in is you are “too busy”.  By this I mean your mind is cluttered.  It is full of everything from the last call you took before the meeting to the parent teacher conference you are going to have in a few hours after the meeting is done. 

You have to find a way to clear your head and give your client the attention they deserve.  Image how a professional athlete or top entertainer would respond if they kept allowing the issues of the day to creep into their performance.  What if your surgeon had a whole host of things on his mind when he was operating on you? 

I’ve found the best way to clear my head is to arrive 10 minutes early and just take a few minutes before walking in to relax.  Maybe it is in the peace and quiet of your car or perhaps it is listening to your i-pod.  Just the other day I grabbed a seat in the atrium where my client’s office was and had a cup of hot chocolate before the meeting.  I was relaxed and the meeting went great.

Finally, one of the biggest keys to mailing it in are your self limiting beliefs.  These are the thoughts and mental blocks each of us carries around with us in the back of our minds.  They are the collection of experiences we have built up over a lifetime.  They are the inner monsters we have stored in our mind that hold us back from achieving our goals.

This is the hardest of all to get rid of.  They only way you can combat this is with positive thoughts.  Remember, if you have one positive thought for each negative thought you are only back to square one.

Positive thoughts lead to positive actions which lead to positive results.

Good Selling!

How do you find quality sales staff ?

This is in response to a question posed to me through my LinkedIn account.  The initial question was “How do you find quality sales staff ?” and there was a follow up post that indicated, and I am paraphrasing, that it is directly related to the amount of compensation you are willing to pay.

Since this request came from the Grand Format Printing Group on LinkedIn I am going to focus on that industry.  However, I feel it is worth noting that many of these qualities reach across all sales careers.

I think first and foremost you have to find someone who likes … or better put … loves the product they are selling.  In addition, they understand the real value it provides to customers.  You know this salesperson when you meet them.  They might be selling something you couldn’t possibly imagine selling in your wildest dreams and they love it.  

This passion will help them get through the tough times of slow sales and rejection.  This is one of the key elements in The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracey and something I have found to be true.

I have been fortunate to have worked with some great sales people and I believed they could have been successful selling anything they wanted.  And in many cases they probably could have earned more money by selling other products or services.  But, because the loved the industry they were in, the products and services they sold and the customers they sold to they stayed.  I think this also helped keep them in this industry.

I had people hired away from me and I have recruited people from competitors.  Neither is a sure thing.  I attribute that to culture and if the person you are hiring cannot fit into your culture they won’t be successful.

Therefore, you may have gathered that I do not believe sales people are motivated solely by money.  I do believe they are motivated by what money can do!  This may sound like double talk but it is a very important distinction.  A person will take greater pride in being able to send their child to college (via their sales efforts) than they would by earning the same amount of dollars it costs.

The key word here is pride.  Pride in your work is the one thing that separates everyone.  It is to the best of my knowledge un-measurable.  Yet, if you can find the “pride switch” in someone you can motivate them beyond their abilities and create a working environment that breeds success.

My good friend Alan Jett (ajett@customercentric.com) coached me to ask three specific questions when interviewing a potential new salesperson.  They are:

·         Tell me about your biggest or best sale.

·         Tell me about your worst loss.

·         Tell me how you are different than your competition. 

Each of these answers will help you understand the candidate from different perspectives.  If you are interested in the underlying information you can gain from these feel free to comment and I’ll follow up.

I am a fan of sales profiling.  However, not as a direct yes or no to hiring but rather as a tool for management to follow when bringing this person on board.  It is something I have used and shared with the new hires to let them know where they may excel and where they may be deficient and what I will be doing to help them overcome these plans.

I would also suggest a formal interview and hiring process.  It should include a full disclosure of your expectations for the candidate.  Be as detailed as you can.  If you know how many calls you want this person to make each day then tell them upfront. 

This will help you to be consistent and develop a baseline by which you may be better able to predict success.  In that process I suggest using an outside independent interviewer along with your own internal people.  I recently used Dave Fellman (www.davefellman.com) for a profile, interview and analysis and found it to be extremely helpful.  It is much less expensive to pay for this service then it is to churn through bad sales people.

Internal candidates and / or growing your sales people from within have always have been my preferred path to sales success.  These people are often easier to replace than sales people are to find and they are “pre-tested” with regards to the cultural requirements of the company.  You can’t cut corners with these people.  They should be subject to the same hiring process and evaluations as any candidate and that needs to be explained to them up front.

Finally, track your successes!  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but experience has shown me only 1 out of 3 new sales hires will make it.  That makes for a tough success rate.  If you measure your successes you will know if you are getting it done.  If you are getting results you are happy with then keep doing what you are doing.  If you are not then you better change something. 

Good luck with what I feel is the most challenging aspect of running a business.  If I can be of assistance feel free to contact me at sales_marketing_support@comcast.net.

My passion …. sales

My passion …. sales

I didn’t start out with the plan to become a sales person which is probably typical for most people.  My plan was to be the next great sports photographer and replace Neil Leifer at Sports Illustrated. 

While many people may choose sales as starting point few if any will identify sales as their long term career goals. 

During a period when I was doing some commercial photography I found that I couldn’t effectively look for the next photo project while I was working on the current one.  At the same time many projects that came my way were not the right fit for me and as such I began to sub them out to other photographers who were better at the specific types of photography these clients were requesting.

While this was taking pace I realized that not only was I better at selling the work than doing it I actually enjoyed it more.  That is when my career in sales officially began.

Throughout the years I have held the titles of Sales Manager, Business Development Manager and V.P. Sales & Marketing.  Make no mistake about it my job was still sales.  Whether I was selling to clients, co-workers, subordinates or top management I was still selling.

Sales is an honorable profession that requires the same levels of dedication, effort and hard work as any other professional career.  Sales is finally beginning to get its due as colleges and universities incorporate the education of sales and selling strategies into majors such as marketing and psychology.

Nothing happens unless someone sells something.  Sales makes everyone’s economic engine run and EVERYONE SELLS!

I always find it humorous how hard someone will sell me on the fact that they could not be a good salesman.  When it matters most everyone can sell.

I’ve seen people turn into Willie Loman when they have a used car to sell or they are trying to convince their boss how deserving they are of a raise.

For nearly 3 decades I have been selling and I don’t regret a moment of it.

I wanted to take this opportunity to start my blog off on the right foot.  Now you understand why my passion is sales!

I look forward to your comments and will be publishing additional information frequently so I invite you to check back often.

About Sales & Marketing Blog

I've created this blog as a way of sharing what I know about sales and marketing. 

Much of it comes from my first hand experiences.  I will also draw on various sales training sessions I have participated in as well as countless readings on sales and marketing throughout my career.

I will try to identify each and give credit where credit is due.

I invite you to help me with this blog by supplying your questions.