From The Street

September 21, 2010

From The Street: Are you employing the Tasmanian Devil? “The Tale of Two Sales Representatives”

Greetings,

Sales professionals can be your biggest asset or biggest liability.

I often wonder if sales people care. Do they know they are the face of a company? Are they even awake?

The damage a sales rep can do is tremendous!

Here are two examples of real sales people in action:

Sales Rep #1: We will call him “Sloppy.” I am planning a speaking tour with seminars, etc… I was looking into radio to help gain exposure. This is a HUGE media provider.

Here is a quick look at what he did wrong:

He arrived late, threw his keys on the table we were meeting at, no material, no business card, looked messy, did no homework on me, had NOTHING with him (I let him borrow a sheet of paper and a pen), had house paint all over his hands, no follow up call, no email with what he promised me.

Wow! Do you think I did business with him? How does he make the company look? Are you employing him? Take a look at your team and yourself.

Sales Rep #2: We will call him “Desperate.” I was looking into purchasing a public relations data base to gain exposure.

Take a look at the following emails from the sales representative, his original price started out at $5000.00:

Email #1:

I hope you are well. How are book sales? Do you need a media contact list for your book tour which I believe kicks off tomorrow? I can get you access to our media database for $4k. If we conclude the evaluation in September I can provide price flexibility with approval from my director.

Email #2:
I just spoke to my director who can approve a 30% discount with payment in full this week. I can’t get payment terms. Below is only available because Q3 is closing this month and being a public company we have some flexibility.

After 15 minutes through email, no phone calls from him. (Please pick up the phone and talk to people when negotiating) I had him down to 50% off his original price of $5,000.00 to $2500.00.

How dangerous is this sales representative to the company? What if he did this 10 times a month? $25,000 a month in loss? $300,000 a year! Plus you are paying him! WOW!

How do I feel as a prospect? Do I trust him? Why did he not give me his best price? These are questions your prospects ask themselves as well.

Mike’s Ahhh Haaaa!

We can learn from others and adjust our own behavior. When hiring a sales rep take your time in the interview process. Some additional resources to assist you in the hiring process.

I love sales and it is my passion to help the industry and sales people get better!

What are your thoughts? Do you have any good or bad experiences with sales representatives to share?

To Your Sales Success,

Mike
Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and President of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals stellar sales results they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

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From The Street by Mike Krause

Answer: Immediately.

In the last couple of weeks I have requested a great deal of quotes from people. I would have to say on average they failed. Why? Answer Follow up! And when they did it was awful.

Here is an example of what NOT to do, I have deleted their names to protect the innocent.

Mr. Krause,

Thank you for responding. I will have that scheduled in my calendar Sir. I also would like you to know that the reason why I would like to talk to you today is because we are giving out packages at 50% off and this is the biggest thing that could happen. Just in case you would be interested, you can always call me back at 1-888 extension 1234. This offer ends today.

I will definitely call you up on Tuesday.

I look forward to hear from you soon.

Sincerely

The person above has NOT even talked to me and is offering a discount? How bad is this? Jumping to price is for the novice and weak.

Start following up immediately when the lead comes in, pick the phone up! I know that is a foreign concept to some, do not send a text or canned email. The lead does not get any hotter than in the beginning of the process.

The faster you follow up the better in my mind you have a chance to win the sales. Call them and ask questions, do not jump into price and offer discounts.

Good luck on your next sales call,

Mike

Join me on my new show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/salessense

PS Still has not followed up after this email and I am waiting on some for 8 weeks……WOW!

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals stellar sales results they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

Street Talk: Are You Using Spell Check in the Sales Cycle?

Spell check is a standard application that helps prevent you from sending out communications with spelling errors. A sales cycle is the sequence of stages a person goes through when going from prospect to customer.

So why is spell check important in the sales cycle? Every stage of your sales cycle should be strong, fluid and error-free. Nothing illustrates this better than a true story.

I’m Ready to Buy….

Let’s talk cars. For most people cars are a major investment. In this scenario, after thoroughly researching the product a prospect has decided she’s ready to purchase. She went to Ford’s website and reserved a Fiesta for purchase. At this point a representative contacted her through email.

Before moving further there are three important details you need to notice here.

1. The customer never called a dealership and never spoke to a representative: all of her product research was done on her own using the customer education and communication tools available to her online. How many potential prospects do you miss because your company is not providing information at this critical awareness stage?
2. Ford did a good job making the information she needed available. As a result, their company made a favorable and memorable impression.
3. Their website gave her an option that worked for her.

…Or I Was

A reserved car and email communication with a representative–so far so good. Now, all Ford has to do is maintain this positive momentum in order to secure the final sale. Their representative brings a brick-and-mortar dealership into the relationship so the customer can go down and make the actual purchase.

This is a hand-off point…where one level of the organization hands the process over to a final salesperson. There is much more at stake than a car. The salesperson represents the company, the Ford experience, the entire Ford brand in the eyes of the customer is now in the hands of the salesperson.

Do you have a similar “hand-off” in your organization? If prospect calls customer service are they being treated with care? Does your sales staff embrace the same ideals and level of knowledge as other departments in your organization?

Let’s see what happens between Ford and our prospect. The representative copied the salesperson from the brick-and-mortar dealership onto the email with the prospect. This allowed the representative to introduce the prospect to the salesperson and complete the hand-off.

The salesperson sends the prospect an email (names have been changed and some parts have been deleted for privacy purposes):
Subject: YOUR NEW FORD FIESTA!!!!!!

GOOD DAY JANE…
JUST WANTER TO TAKE A MOMENT TO INVITE YOU TO STOP BY TO ORDER YOUR FIESTA.PLEASE GIVE US A CALL TO SET UP A DATE AND TIME THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU TO STOP BY TO COMPLEAT YOUR ORDER.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VALUABLE TIME,
MR. GREAT SALES MGR
FORD LINCOLN DEALERSHIP

Here is where spell check along with a few other lessons in email etiquette would be helpful.

• The excessive use of exclamation points in the greeting makes the prospect feels smothered.
• Writing in capital letters is the equivalent of screaming. After reading this the prospect’s ears are probably ringing! (Note the single exclamation point.)
• “Compleat” is completely misspelled. The ellipsis points are misused. There is no space between the two sentences that make up the body of the letter. Evidently, despite Mr. Great’s enthusiasm, he felt making a good first impression with this prospect wasn’t important enough to merit a simple spell- or grammar-check.

Wondering what the prospect is thinking after this email? Here are her words, “So do you think he’s enthusiastic enough? This email makes me not want to buy the car from them. But (sigh), no other options for Ford around here.”

Ouch.

Ford made the sale but at what expense? Incidentally, what do you think this process looked like from Ford’s perspective? Probably flawless. Think about that.

The Takeaway: every stage in a sales cycle must be checked for details, accuracy, and sensitivity to your potential customers. Your thoughts?

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives business owners the stellar sales they want by implementing the tools, tactics, and high performance strategies they need.

Street Talk: Specialist vs. Generalist

Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None.

This tired cliché is still around because it’s true. Here’s a real story of how a using a generalist provided short-term gain but cost more in loss of time and frustration.

I follow my dreams. Not in a fluffy, wandering sort of way–I plan a course of action and make it happen. I find that actively achieving personal goals establishes a pattern of behavior for business. One success inspires another.

A Story from the Street

This is why late last year I sent in an application for a US Coast Guard Captain’s license. I love boating and wanted to increase my skill level to be a better mariner. It’s a rigorous application process. In addition to an extended period of studying and testing I had to 1) apply for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, 2) prove my boat handling abilities, and 3) be subjected to a series of physical and background checks.

Decision Time

After smoothly sailing through the process all that remained was the physical. As you know a physical has multiple components. One of these is the hearing test. I was faced with a decision. I could get my hearing tested by my general practitioner or go to an audiologist. Of course I went with the convenient, less expensive solution. The general practitioner conducted the hearing test in his office along with the rest of the physical.

A few days later the test results came back: I was 85 percent deaf in my right ear. What!? (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) I called the exam administrator who explained that no test is completely accurate and there is room for a margin of error. Great! I asked to take the test again. She refused explaining the machine was recently calibrated (I later found out that “recent” meant a year ago). I asked the physician and he said it was easy to compensate in regards to the Coast Guard license because I could simply turn my head further and listen with my good ear.

It sounded questionable but believing the physician was the expert I went ahead and submitted the physical for the application. It came back denied. I had become the customer who was getting kicked around and being denied honest answers. My needs didn’t matter to the service provider and worse…they gave me false information to assuage my fears. I was angry.

A Specialist to the Rescue

Soon the anger turned into genuine concern for my health. Having never experienced any hearing related problems I decided to get a second opinion. This time I went to a hearing specialist: an audiologist.

As it turns out the audiologist didn’t even need to test me. She took one look at my paperwork and pointed out the results were impossible. According to the generalist’s finely-calibrated hearing machine I could hear everything in the high and low range but nothing in the middle. This was physically impossible. The error was so obvious the audiologist couldn’t believe the general practitioner didn’t notice it. In fact, she asked for a copy of the test to share with her colleagues for a good laugh. (Ouch for the general practitioner!)

Eventually, we were able to clear up the error and I have my Coast Guard Captain’s license.

Choosing a generalist cost me 3.5 frustrating months.

How many times do we look for the all-in-one or quick fix solution for our business? Does short-term convenience really save you money or time? Does it really truly simplify your systems?

Moral of the story: If you are having a problem with your business, find a specialist, not a jack-of-all-trades consultant. Here’s some advice to help you recognize three signs to help you recognize the generalist.

1) They don’t provide a focused skill set.

Generalist: I provide strategic solutions for your business needs.

Specialist: I provide strategic solutions targeting your flat sales numbers.

2) They won’t provide a specific set of deliverables.

Generalist: I will help your staff work as a team.

Specialist: Using a series of workshops accompanied with one-on-one training, I will give your staff sales skills that will improve their sales conversions and numbers resulting in improved confidence, morale, and ability to work towards a definitive common goal.

3) They won’t provide measurable results.

Generalist: My trademarked system will improve your bottom line and streamline your business systems for improved bottom-line results.

Specialist: I’ll start by measuring and benchmarking your staff so when I’m done you can see exactly how they make 30 percent more phone calls each hour and convert 20 percent more leads into actual sales.

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives business owners the stellar sales they want by implementing the tools, tactics, and high performance strategies they need.