Thursday, April 28, 2011

Here is Why Lying Never Works

A couple weeks ago a customer called our office and told our billing department that he was switching to another telecom provider because "my partners mother works there and she can get us a great deal." Knowing my industry and my competition the way I do, I recognized this to be a less than accurate statement. I called the customer and told him the numerous reasons why the other providers solutions would not be less money and would in fact be more money. The customer told me he would fax me a copy of the proposal so we could compare them. BIG SURPRISE he never sent me their proposal and the order went through. EVEN BIGGER SURPRISE the new service was not connected properly and the customer called us to switch back. Since his fax machine was disabled I drove to his shop to have him sign the new paperwork. Upon arrival, we shook hands, he thanked me for helping so quickly and he signed the new paperwork. Then the most amazing thing happened, the customer finally told me the truth. About a month ago he experienced a problem with his fax line. When he called our service team to report the problem, the person dismissed him said there was no problem and in his words "pissed him off." First, to be clear, If I ever find out which tech he spoke to I will personally read them the riot act for treating one of my customers that way. My personal philosophy is that, any customer issue, not matter how small. should be addressed quickly and concisely. That being aside, the customer felt it was in his best interest to lie about his reasons for canceling rather than try to have us fix the problem, which, by the was is our responsibility. The sad part of this entire episode is that the customer issue really was a simple fix and had we known that was his issue, our techs could have fixed the problem remotely, in under 5 minutes.
The topic of honesty in sales is a BIG one. For some reason, a great many potential clients feel it somehow benefits them to withhold information and not be completely honest with their sales person. Or worse they will flat out lie to the person. The real kick in the pants here is that sales people historically are known for lying to customers so this culture of dishonesty has now grown in the potential client world.

So here are some thoughts about this. The best way to reduce and even eliminate the lying factor is to build a relationship before the sale is committed. I say this to both sales people and clients. You are best off to know the people you will do business with BEFORE you do business with them. So the next time a random sales person calls to meet with you about what they do, hear what they have to say. You don't have to meet with every person that calls you, but build a database of key strategic people that can help you get your job done. Here is another important factor, if you are not the right person, tell the salesperson that and direct them to correct person.

Now, for you sales people out there. Stop trying to sell your product over the phone or via e-mail. Simply convey to the prospective client that you want to meet for future opportunities. Keep the first meeting to 30 minutes or less. If you can,  research the company first to understand what their potential needs can be now and for the future. Also, look to see if you have any connection to this company, perhaps a friend or family member that can make an introduction for you. If the client tells you that now is not a good time. Ask when would be appropriate to follow up and then mark that down on your calendar. If  they give you the line "don't call us we will call you." then MOVE ON! There are plenty of opportunities out there and if someone has no interest in doing business with you then find another one. Sometime in the next 12 months that same client who blew you off will have a change, a pending event or some other need arise and that will be your opportunity.

So in summary, Both sides need to be honest up front. Clients, build a strategic list of vendors to work with. Sales people get the opportunity to meet, don't sell over the phone by email on the first try.

If you build relationships, the business will follow

Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

BTW follow me on Twitter @mistertelecom

Friday, April 22, 2011

Compassion and Patience Work in all Aspects of Life

My son was at an indoor play area today with his sister and the babysitter. There were some other children much smaller than my son (he's 6) and the mother of one of the other children was concerned that my son was playing too rough and might hurt one of her children. As a parent, I can completely understand this feeling. However, this person chose the WRONG way to deal with this matter. Instead of going to the adult watching my son and asking her to reign him in, she decided to confront my son and tell him "you need to calm down or go home." There are two problems with this tactic. First, I would NEVER take it upon myself to discipline the child of a total stranger and I think it was rude that this woman decided to yell at my son. Second, my son has autism, and a complete stranger walking up to him and trying to communicate with him is almost completely useless. Even if he was inclined to pay attention he would have a great deal of trouble understanding someone yelling at him. In contrast, there was another woman present, who also had a small child. She saw my son's actions and said to the babysitter "excuse me, is he autistic?" Now, I don't expect the world to simply accommodate my son for his differences (or magically recognize his disability) but I do think it is in their best interest to understand a situation better before taking action. So with this life lesson, I found a seed of inspiration for applying these ideals to sales
We have all been in a situation where something happened and the results were totally unexpected. The first thing to do is listen to your instincts.If someone you've known for a long time does something completely out of character, there is usually a substantial reason why. If this wasn't the outcome you expected, what possibly could have changed it? Did you do something that the other party did not understand or did not like. Did you use a procedure or tactic that has been appropriate before but was not appropriate this time? Really look at the final  results and REGARDLESS of your desired outcome, understand why the other party did what they did. I have found that many sales people take it personally when a customer chooses another vendor or solution. 80% of the time I know when I am not the front runner. The ones that really get to me are 20% that I was sure were going with me and went in another direction. But you have to consider these a learning experience and then apply what you learned to the next opportunity.
Having compassion for a customer means that you can look at their situation and can appreciate what they are responsible for on a daily basis within their company. NEWS FLASH! your sale is probably not the the #1 priority on their "to-do" list today. So it is important to find what is important to your customer and use that to make your solution important to the customer. If you've had a situation where your product is good for he customer and the customer has agreed it's good but has not signed on the dotted line, that is a telling statement. It means that however valuable you may think your product or solution is, it was not "compelling" enough to make them sign on the dotted line. As a sales professional, it is your job to make the solution, not only work, but make it compelling.

So here's the summary: Be compelling, be compassionate, truly understand waht motivates the customer & review the situation from the perspective of all involved parties. And show patience, the world doesn't revolve around you.

Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

BTW follow me on twitter @mistertelecom @selflessnetwork

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Trade show Idiots

I had a very unique experience last weekend at a local trade show. My Company had paid to have a table and they asked me to participate in meeting  the other exhibitors. I had a small stack of envelopes with some collateral about my company and my business card. We made enough of these to hand out to every exhibitor. Granted, many of these people did not fit our demographic, but their customers might, so we wanted to meet everyone. The overwhelming majority of people were very kind and we exchanged information and ideas. There were a couple idiots I found worthy of describing as how NOT to do business.

The first man felt it is his duty to inform me I was not only being a pest but what I was doing violated the rules of the trade show (which, big surprise, was not true). He was the owner of a kitchen remodeling company and he was standing their talking to his two employees that were also running the booth with him. I walked up and said "Hi my name's Mike" and I reached out to shake his hand. He shook mine but stared at me and did not offer his name. Not to be deterred I pressed on, "What is your name?" and reluctantly he said "Brad." You can see this wasn't going well. So I tried to break the ice "tell me about your company Brad." To which he replied "why?" Why? why should you tell me about your company? How on earth am I going to recommend your company to others if I don't know what you do. He quickly followed up this one word question with "get to the point, what are you selling." Now, I'm a big boy and I have been in sales for over a decade. I  have done a great deal of cold calling and I expect people to be a jerk to me in that environment. But when you are at a trade show, you HAVE to expect other business people to talk to you. In fairness, he and I would probably never be able to share leads. But you don't know that until you talk to someone. What I can tell you is he missed a golden opportunity to win a potential customer. Who's to say I'm not a home owner that is in market for remodeling his kitchen? Who's to say I wont have that need in the next 2-5 years. That man's narrow focus guaranteed that I will NEVER do business with him and if others ask me about him they wont either.
On to my next idiot. Same show, same day I come across a man selling gutter systems. I shook his hand and he immediately verbally attacked me, telling me how great his product is. He didn't give me a second to speak, but launched right into his pitch. I asked him his name, he ignored me, didn't give it to me. I asked him for his card, he told me to fill out a slip for a rep to come out to my house for a "no obligation" consult. One of my first sales jobs (unfortunately) was working for a fool like this and there is no way I am going to let him or one of his people into my home.

So, what can we learn from these two stellar examples of bad salesmanship? First, when someone asks your name, answer them. Second, don't be afraid to engage the other person in an open conversation. There is nothing wrong with saying " I can't use your product but I may know others who can." Third, and this might be the most important one, DON'T BE A JERK. You never know who that person is your talking, more importantly, you don't know who they know or who they might influence.

Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

BTW follow me on twitter @mistertelecom & @selflessnetwork

Friday, April 8, 2011

GRATITUDE! show it and mean it

Both of My kids went through a "Barney" phase. Personally, I cant stand the Purple dinosaur but I'll be darned if he doesn't have some great wisdom for us adults from time to time. "Please and thank you are the magic words." Whether talking about sales or networking they are crucial words to increase your productivity.

I recently closed out my month with 5 sales and 4 of them were referrals from my networking efforts. In particular, two of them came from one person in my Wednesday morning group and they both came in on the last day. Those two customers put me over the top for a commission accelerator, So I was grateful for the business. I mentioned this success at one of my other meetings and one of my colleagues was kind enough to mention it at another meeting this week on my behalf. Apparently the mention of this also made the person who referred me feel pretty good because they were able to help me.

In my business transactions I always include a "thank you" line at the bottom of my emails to my customers. Regardless of if they just signed up with my company or they have a question I make a point of including the following at the bottom of my email  "thank you for choosing us to service your company, we appreciate your business." Again, as W Clement Stone used to say  "a little hinge that swings a big door."

So that's the "thank you" part, but what about please. That goes back to a sales fundamental that again also applies to networking ( anybody else noticing a trend here?)

I have read dozens of sales books over the years and they all seem to convey a handful of key messages about successful salespeople. The successful ones follow up, they follow through, they show up and they "ask" for the business. Now that may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many sales people simply don't "ask for the business. I make a point of asking for he business in every call or email. Now, It's not heavy handed. I'm not saying "sign here, press hard." What I normally do is state "we want you as a client, tell us what it will take to make that an easy decision for you." It's an effective tool for showing the customer they are important to you and not just another sale.

In summary: Please and thank you, they are the magic words. Thank you Barney


Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

BTW follow me on twitter @selflessnetwork

Friday, April 1, 2011

Talking about Autism Today

I am going way off my usual topics today but I wanted to take some time to discuss a condition that is important to me on a personal level. Those that know me well know that my son is Autistic. What surprises me is how many people don't know what Autism is, how prevalent it is becoming and some of the things people can do to alleviate the condition.
Lets start with a simple overview. The primary label is Autism Spectrum Disorder or "ASD" for short. the Spectrum word is key hear because each child's Autism is truly unique. I should point out that I am saying children and not person for a couple reasons. First the growing number of children who have ASD is staggering. it is 1 in every 110 with boys being hit the hardest  at 1 in 90. It also seems to have a very high incidence in the United Kingdom, either that or they are very passionate about finding a cure because a tremendous amount of research and discussion comes out of the UK. Second, I have not met any Autisitic adults though I know many were misdiagnosed earlier in life. Let's get back on topic. You will commonly hear ASD kids described as high functioning and low functioning. There is a second level of high functioning often called Aspergers. While they all fall into this label of ASD, the differences can be subtle or they can be dramatic.

So what is autism? From all the meetings and all the research my wife and I have done it seems that Autsim is a disconnect in the brain with perceptive and receptive skills both verbal and non verbal. Often times children with ASD with have a significant speech delay because the normal paths for language development are not effectively taking in the outside information. In addition, many ASD kids have sensory issues too. They may be indifferent to heat and cold. they may have  little or no sense of taste. Bright lights may bother them but loud noises might not. So with the basic concept of language as a primary obstacle, you can see where growing up or being the parent of an autistic child can be difficult.

As a parent, one of the most frustrating things for me is that I know my son is in there. I see flashes of his personality all the time. He is very happy and has very typical attributes of most other boys his age. But that is the difference they are flashes. What causes ASD is unclear. There are some that believe that it goes right down to the DNA, some think it might be certain receptors within the brain. Some think it is connected to diet, others think it is connected to environment and on and on. Probably the most harrowing part is that all of these seem to have some seed of truth of them. As I mentioned, the prevalence of ASD in the Uk is higher. By comparison the Amish community only has a fraction of the number of occurrences of ASD in their community. I recently read a report about a suburb of Chicago that is almost completely devoid of it. So my personal opinion is that environment plays a role. When I was in college I had an apartment that I shared with 4 other guys over a period of 3 years. Since then I have learned that 2 of the other 4 also have children on the spectrum. How can that be a coincidence? Because this condition affects about 1% of the population it is really hard to gauge these conditions. Many people will move closer to areas that have a reputation for working well with ASD children so my guess is those populations show a SPIKE in occurrence.

You have probably seen an autistic child in the grocery store and didn't realize it. But what you probably did think to yourself was "wow, that man/woman needs to do a better job of discipline with their kid." I hope that reading this will help you understand that a VERY common trait of ASD children is "perseveration." simply put they cannot process the concept of "wait a minute." or "no, not today." the item they are screaming for is probably not even something they "want" it is something they "need." In their world having that item is the one thing that gives them peace. I should also mention that children with ASD often have OCD or "obsessive Compulsive Disorder" and all the items are rooted in their inability to take in information and process it.

So what can you do? First, if you have a family member dealing with an autistic child you need to realize that they are operating under a tremendous amount of pressure. Any offer of assistance you can give them will go a very long way. Like any other condition, These children are real people with real emotions. Even though they might have trouble understanding you doesn't mean they don't feel happy, sad, angry and all the other subtle variances of emotion we all feel. they just have tremendous trouble conveying that information. Autism is a condition that can be treated but it is not curable at this time. Every child is different so what works for one may not work for another. It is important to try different learning techniques and different "SAFE" treatments to alleviate the condition. Over time with lots of time and dedication you can help the child integrate. Again understand, they wont be cured, but they can be taught to act and feel more typical.

That is probably the most important part. These children are not dumb. The great majority of them are not mentally retarded. Many children with ASD will have a special "gift," for example, my son seems to have a photographic memory, this will serve him well later in life. He can trick many teachers that see him for the first time and make them believe he can read. In actuality someone read him the book and he committed the entire thing to memory.

On world Autsim Awareness day, I would ask you to First, share this with people who want to know more. Second, help a friend or family member with an autistic child. volunteer your time when you can and help raise funds for research.

On behalf of my son, Thank you

Mike Shelah