The Selling Sherpa

SOMETHING MEMORABLE

If you follow baseball, you know that Craig Biggio smacked the 3000th hit of his career last night. That is an amazing feat! I am happy for him and thrilled that I happen to have 2 of his rookie baseball cards, which he autographed for me nearly 2 decades ago.

Back in Craig Biggio’s rookie year, I bought season tickets for my father and we spent many nights out at the Houston Astrodome cheering on our (then) hapless Astros. There wasn’t much to be proud of back then, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway.

During one particular game, I saw something incredible. It was so amazing that I could hardly believe my own eyes.

Craig Biggio came hustling down the third base line and the only thing standing between him and scoring a run was L.A. Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia, who was one of the best there ever was. As Biggio started to dive for the dirt, Scioscia caught the inbound baseball and quickly moved his glove down to cover the path. It looked like a sure out.

But then Biggio did the most remarkable thing. Instead of diving, he sped up, flew straight OVER Scioscia and planted both hands on home plate. I will never forget that sight. I bet Scioscia is still haunted by it, too.

What does this have to do with sales?

First of all, when the competition anticipates your next move, dazzle them with something different. When you are a moving target, it is hard for your opponents to shoot you down. Keep innovating new best ways to sell.

Secondly, even when it looks like you will lose the game, don’t stop giving it your all. You just never know when a victory can be snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Finally, at every opportunity, do something memorable! It doesn’t have to be athletic, just remarkable. It could be as simple as keeping your word. Or calling before your meeting time when you know you will be late. Or anything that a person might remember 20 years from now.

If you do something remarkable every day, soon enough you will celebrate your 3,000th sale, not to mention the commissions from the 2,999 sales ahead of it.

SERVING WITH INTEGRITY

Unbelievable!

Yesterday I was meeting with one of my consulting clients when there was a knock on the closed office door. A staff member told my client that a person who introduced themselves as someone from L&I (labor & immigration) was waiting to see the owner. According to them, there was some questions about compliance with the posting of labor laws in the building.

My client always complies with every regulation, so there was real concern about what could be wrong. My client rushed to find out what was going on. The person “from L & I” handed my client a business card and proceeded to try selling a set of labor law posters.

[It is taking every bit of self-control right now to NOT share the name of the person or the company he represents; but, as always in the STOTD, the shameless remain nameless.]

I couldn’t believe it! Does anyone really believe that misleading introductions and intimidation will lead to a successful sales career?

Oh, you might trick someone at first, but as soon as the truth is revealed, the show is over!

Selling is about serving with integrity. If you work for a company that wants you to lie to get in the front door or deceive people so you can reach the decision-maker, I think you would be smart to look for a different selling opportunity.

HIT THE ROAD, JACK

I’ve met lots of salespeople who apparently think their job is to sit by the phone hoping a customer calls. They must believe that because they spend all day in the office doing ‘busy’ work instead of making sales.

Granted, there are some companies who market so effectively that their phone does ring off the hook, but not many small-to-medium firms are that fortunate.

Unless you are inundated with inbound calls, the only way you are going to make something happen is to get out of the office, get in front of qualified prospects, and get some signatures of your contracts or order forms. Or, better yet, get some checks.

Bottom line: If you want to make more sales, hit the road, Jack...and don’t you come back until you’ve made a sale!

OUT OF TIME

It’s happened to me, and it has probably happened to you. You are in the middle of a presentation when the decision-maker tells you to stop because he is out of time. There are 2 things you need to do.

First, find out how much time they have for you to make the presentation. Once you know how much time you have to work with, adjust your presentation so at least 1/3 of the allotted time is left for questions and open discussion.

Secondly, you’ve got to jazz up your presentation. The only way a prospect has time to watch the clock is if your presentation fails to excite or engage.

What can you do to make your presentations more engaging?

HAVE SOME FUN!

I was invited to Denver last week for a marketing conference and I stayed at one of the Hilton properties called The Hampton Inn. As soon as I stepped into the lobby, I knew I was in for a fun experience.

Everywhere I looked, there were square black and white photographs attached to virtually everything. The nametag that Rebecca (the front desk clerk on duty at the time) was wearing had one of a kid swinging in a tire. The elevator had a big one on the interior door of a hand reaching into a cookie jar with the word “smile” on it. Every room also had different photos on the room number panel. The coffee urns in the breakfast area had photos of old gasoline pumps (unleaded for decaf, regular for regular coffee, and premium for the bold brew).

And the ‘do not disturb’ door tag was my favorite. It had the typical “do not disturb”, but below the photo was the word “resting” and the photo was of an older woman jumping up and down on a hotel bed.

Now, I remembered this much detail (even Rebecca’s name although I only spoke with her once) despite the fact I only stayed there 2 nights and most of my time in Denver was spent out of the hotel.

This is just one more example that proves you are memorable when you are fun. You are also memorable when you are the polar opposite of fun, but why would you want to be that? The dangerous place to be is in the middle, being neither fun nor a royal pain in the you-know-what.

Do you want to be memorable? Then have some fun! People love to be around folks who are having fun because they want some of it to rub off on them.

What can you do to right now to make everything you do more fun?

QUESTIONS

Whenever you are meeting new people at a networking event, be sure to ask open-ended questions.

Not sure how to do that? Use questions that begin with “how” or “what”.

For example, “how did you get into this industry?”, “what do you see as the next challenges for your profession?”, or, my favorite, “how can I best recognize who might be a prospect for you?”

The point is to avoid any question that can be answered simply with a “yes” or “no”, and use questions that will engage the person you are speaking with.

Here’s the gig: focus more on the the other person than you do on yourself. If you do, everyone will think you are an amazing conversationalist!

JUST "ONE MORE CALL"

No matter what your sales strategy is, your persistence continues to be one of the most important factors in generating new business.

Motivating yourself to call a prospect "one more time" can be the difference between a great year and a mediocre one.

Research says 73% of buyers voice five or more objections before being sure enough to place an order.

The problem: 92% of salespeople give up after four objections.

The breakdown:
* 44% give up after one objection
* 22% after two
* 16% after three, and
* 10% after four

If you do the math, that means 8% of salespeople get 73% of the business.

Are you in that 8%? Are you willing to make just ‘one more call’ to get there?

WHAT’S YOUR NAME?

Last week I received a thank you card in relation to a business transaction.

The good news is it was hand written and included an apology for a miscommunication.

The bad news is it was from someone I have never met face-to-face, she only signed her first name, and there was no business card included.

So here I am thinking to myself, “what’s your name?”

I am certain that you are memorable and that everyone in your market knows who you are; but, just in case your recipient might need help recalling you, always include a business card. And, failing that, at least put your entire name in the return address.

GET READY!

This is a story that even I find hard to believe.

Over the weekend, I attended a presentation from a very respected author and speaker. He remains nameless and I wont tell you which big organization he will preside over in the coming year.

After the morning-long talk, I approached him, thanked him for what he had shared, and asked if he brought any books with him.

Can you guess his answer? Well, if he had said “yes”, this wouldn’t be much of a story, would it?

He explained that, for whatever reason, he felt a little uncomfortable taking advantage of this forum with this organization to promote his book. Rather than delve into finding out why he doesn’t feel his book is worthy of being promoted to this group, I simply asked how to purchase it and he replied either at his website or Amazon.com.

So, here I am, a willing customer, and someone who might appreciated a signed copy, with money in my hand and he made it difficult for me to buy. Never mind his discomfort; think about my disappointment! Why would he want to make it hard for me to give him my money?

The lesson is this: you never know when you will encounter someone who is ready, willing, able and anxious to buy what you sell. But if you are not prepared to make a sale, you will actually make that person’s life more difficult.

If you are not ready to sell at a moment’s notice, get ready! If you sell hard goods, could you have some with you? If you sell a service, is the paperwork necessary for an initial need assessment readily available?

What can you do to get ready to sell right now?

TOUCH ME

I was in a big-box retailer the other day considering their selection of LCD TV’s. I had my eye on 1 of them with a built-in DVD player, but the current screen settings made it look as though it was out of frame. It’s like when you go to the movies and you can see a little strip of the top of the scene at the bottom of the screen, except it was along the right side of the screen.

A clerk strolled up, asked if he could help (which, by the way is one of the worst greetings used by retailers) and I asked if he knew how to adjust the screen on the LCD TV I wanted. He replied you probably need the remote control to do that and it was somewhere in the warehouse. Then he drifted back (literally taking small steps backwards out of the area) and left me alone there in the aisle.

You have probably already guessed no purchase was made there that day.

Look, as a customer, I just want to know that you really want to help me make the right purchasing decision. If you show a little care and concern, if you touch me in a positive way, you will probably get the sale.

The same thing is going on with your customers. They want you to care about them, have some concern about their needs, and to touch them in a positive way. And, after you’ve made the sale, continue to touch them every now and again just to check on them and see how they are doing.