Sales is Like "Government Intelligence" an Oxymoron

It occurred to me today that there are a lot of paradoxes in the world of sales. I don't know if they have always been there but I sure have seen them in bunches recently.
"The customer is always right."  Uh, actually the customer is usually wrong. In the business world any given company has an "expertise" and that is the product or service they deliver. Outside of that, they are trying to muddle along and make all the other aspects of their business "survive" so that their moneymaker, can make money. I have been in the telecom industry since 1999 and as a general rule of thumb, my customers don't have a clue about their services, what they pay for them, what they have, how long a of a contract they signed, you get the idea. What I find truly perplexing is how many of them will try to tell me what they have and when I inspect to make sure I get it right for them, they become guarded and paranoid. Now, I realize there are plenty of evil manipulative salespeople out there but I am not one of them. Frankly, if you don't think you can trust me then why on earth would you consider doing business with me? Do your research, you will find out in quick order that  I don't have a criminal record and I am very active in my community. I'm a good guy.
"If you take good care of the customer they will be loyal to you." Yup, again, not true. A good friend of mine was telling me a story about how he's had a rash of clients that he took fantastic care of and 6 months after signing up with him, have called to inform him they were switching to a competitor because they "found a better deal." If they found a better deal, that means they were looking for a better deal or at the very least someone called them and offered to save them more money. Now that is loyalty for you!
"Having a great product goes a long way to winning the business." Sorry, this one is wrong too. Value and worth have little bearing on the customers decision to buy. Perceived value and worth is where it's at. I know my industry fairly well and I know my competition. I know where I am comparable to them, where they are better than me and where I am better than them. Despite that, I have one competitor that will almost always win when I compete with them. Do they have a more reliable product? Nope, it actually under performs compared to industry standards. Do they have better sales people? Nope, most of their reps haven't been there more than 6 months and most of them wont be there in another 6 months. Their sum total of telecom experience goes right along with that, in other words, they don't know what they don't know because they have not been through the grind of this industry. So why do companies choose them? RAW HORSEPOWER! Boy is their Internet fast, really fast! Especially for downloading stuff (not so much the other way). I actually had a customer tell me that they were moving all of their services to this other provider because it was about $100 month less than me and it was a lot faster and they really wanted that speed. When I asked them about concerns for reliability ( they told me in one of our meetings that they currently use this other company as a back up connection and it has gone down a few times in recent months) they said to me AND I QUOTE "well, if the phones go down we still have our cell phones and if we couldn't check email for a day or two it's not really a big deal." So let me ask a couple questions of my wonderful readers today. First, could you as a business decision maker, make that statement with a straight face? Could you truly tell me that sincerely and not bust out laughing? Second, would you want to do business with a company that puts so little importance on their company communications? That statement says if we could not service our customers for a day or two or we had limited ability to service them, that would be okay. We could get by.

"A great salesperson takes great care of their customers." Again, not true. Sales and customer service have little or nothing to do with one another. Many salespeople will tell you they provide outstanding customer service and many of them really want to, but customer service is all about the process's the company puts in place to support the customer. Often times your sales rep has little or no ability to influence such things.
Again, some of the really good ones really do try to take care of the customer after the sale. But there are plenty of award winning top shelf sales people out there that blow out their quota every month and win all kinds of awards and trips and bonuses and commissions, but when it comes to the customer they could care less. They purely view their job as sales. They sell it and the company must figure out how to support it.

So, I am sure some people will argue with me, disagree with me and even tell me I'm an idiot. It's okay, I'm used to it. As a sales person with deep convictions, I am used to people arguing with me, disagreeing with me and even telling me I'm an idiot (or worse). But I believe in what I do and I genuinely try to help my customers even when it doesn't directly benefit me or my quota.

What I take comfort in, is that many of you are reading this right now thinking, "Y'know what, he's right."

Thanks for reading today

Mike Shelah

BTW, thanks again to the 450+ people that read my blog last week, that was truly exceptional. Be sure to check out my other blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com

On Wednesday August 24th a Good Man Died and He Shouldn't Have

If you are not a baseball fan and you aren't in the Mid-Atlantic area then you probably did not see the story that former Oriole and former Cy Young award winner Michael Flanagan was found dead at his Maryland home. Multiple reports cite suicide. I often use this blog as a cathartic process for working through the daily events of my life as a salesperson. I hope that through this process others will learn and benefit from my experience. I have sympathy for the Flanagan family. Several years ago, someone very close to me attempted suicide and it was a moment in my life that truly changed my perspective on many things.
I won't pretend that  I understand what Mr. Flanagan was going through in his personal life. I know the man I saw on television doing play by play for the Baltimore Orioles, was intelligent, funny and he seemed to truly love his work. Whatever his demons in life were, I hope is at peace with them now.
We all have challenges in our lives. A friend of mine was recently telling me about a 2 year  divorce process he is going through. I lost both of my parents at a fairly young age and I deal with the daily struggle of a child with Autism. The economy is terrible and we all know someone who has had the rug pulled out from under them when they least expected it.
So to all this negativity I offer a counterpoint. I have a wife and two children that I absolutely love and I know they love me. I have many friends that when they walk in the room I am greeted with a hug and a broad genuine smile. I have a roof over my head and I don't worry about where my next meal will come from. I have family that loves me and I know that if I called them today for help they would give it.

We all have our unique place in the world. Some of you have a better position in life than mine, some of you are in a tougher spot, but we all have a life to live. In the world of sales it is easy to get wrapped up in quota's, sales targets, forecasts, commissions, bonuses and all the collateral pressure that comes with being in sales.

I want you all to take away one thing from my blog today.

We work to live, we don't live to work.

Remember that, the next time something happens at work and you think that you cannot overcome it. You can and you will.

If you need someone to talk to, you have the person in your life, find them and talk to them. They will help you. For all the negativity and pain in the world, people have the capacity to do good and they want to.

Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

R.I.P. Michael Flanagan, you will be missed

Don't Waste Your Money Or My Time

I spend a lot of time networking, it's my thing. I enjoy it and I'm good at it. I try to help others, so hopefully this will help some of you. If you think paying the entrance fee to join a networking group will automatically grant you customers, please, don't waste your money or my time. Now, as a counterpoint to that, if you are going to spend ANY money to join a group then do something to make the group better. I've had this conversation with hundreds of people, " well Mike, were just so busy that we can't make the time to attend the meetings/events." That's crap. I can't speak for everybody that joins a networking group or a chamber of commerce, but I do know that many of us are salespeople and our #1 job is to find new customers. So, if you're not at an event meeting people and creating relationships then where do you find your business? You buy lists? You mail letters? You cold call on the phone or "door to door?" Do you have ANY idea  how unsuccessful those mediums are for the VAST majority of sales? Now, here is my favorite part, I'm going to get response from "Guru's" that tell me "actually Mike, with my proven program you can guarantee X in appointments and closed sales." You know my response to that? You guessed it, more crap. Now, I want to be perfectly clear. I do realize that there are rare individuals out there that can cold call their way through anything and I do realize that there are teams dedicated to this sole purpose. If your throw enough crap against the wall, something is bound to stick. It's a terrible way to live.
 I am here to tell you, if you want to sell in the business world today, you build relationships, one at a time with people. You show these people that they can trust you and that you have their success at the root of your proposal and that is how you win business. You offer to help people even though there is a real good chance they will NEVER be able to help you in return and may never be able to buy from you. And you do these things because you will end up helping many of these people and they will show gratitude and when you need them to introduce you to someone  they will do so without hesitation.

I recently joined a new online networking group. I found the concept intriguing because they actively encourage members to send referrals to the people in their network. To jump start my group I sent out a mass email to about 1200 people, inviting them to join in. Admittedly this group is not for everyone. It really is built for sales people. What did intrigue me was the number of people that took the time to respond to my invitation via email, but did not bother to read the email. Several people made very bland generic responses indicating they had not read what I said them. What's worse is several people had responses that indicated they read it but didn't understand it. One person went so far as to ask me what joining my network had to do with gaining new customers.

So what can we learn from all this
Get out there and network.
Don't spend your money if your not going to commit to being successful
View an invitation as just that, it's an opportunity to better yourself
If you're not willing to commit, don't waste your money, or my time

Thanks for reading today

Mike

BTW, be sure to check out my fundraising blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com

There's No Question, This Blog is About uhm Effective Speaking and Stuff

 We all have natural talent. Some have more useful talents than others, but we all have them. Mine happens to be my ability to speak in public and my ability to write. I am very comfortable with both and I know that both scare a lot of other people, so I am grateful for my talents. That being said, it drives me crazy to hear people speak publicly that just cannot do it, or worse they probably can but they don't spend anytime honing their craft.
Let's use the last 2 American president's as clear examples of what I am saying. Put your political bias aside while reading this and consider the following. President Obama is one of the GREATEST speech givers our country has ever had. He speaks with authority and with a calm and presence that palpable. By comparison, George W. Bush was obviously uncomfortable giving a scripted speech. He would often mispronounce words and often stammered. Interestingly enough, his candid interviews were dramatically better. He seemed more at ease and was actually quite good at being funny. There is a lesson to be learned here, First that  President Obama has a natural ability to speak and he is on the same page with his speech writers (SPOILER, most presidential speeches are written by others). Second, George W Bush was good at thinking on his feet but not so good at following a script & that is a HUGE differentiation. When preparing to speak in front of an audience, it is helpful to recognize which format works best for you. Can you commit to memory a 1000 word presentation or are you better with an outline and letting the terms and phrases come from the moment? Learning this aspect of your abilities will make a huge positive swing in your presentation.

Now let's talk about  nervous phrases and "filler" words. I am a huge fan of sports talk radio. Nothing irritates me more than when someone asks a radio personality a question and they begin the response with "There's no question." Uh, well actually there is, they just asked you one. Another favorite of mine would go into every commercial break by saying "we'll continue...." It's a nervous response, sorta like people that say "the bottom line." it's filler because your brain wants time to prepare for what it will say next. You can work through this with practice. better yet, hire a qualified speaking coach. I know a few if you want a reference. In sales it is crucial to avoid theses "mental crutches." If you speak with a client once or  twice they may not notice, but multiple conversations( typical for a long sales cycle opportunity) will show the customer that your are uncomfortable in key situations and subliminally can cause them to lose faith in your ability to deliver. Remember, this all happens outside of the quality of your product and your relationship with the customer. Frankly, it can be the nail in the coffin of a lost sale. So record your presentation and see if you have any nervous habits, repetitive phrases or stammer words (like uhm...) then work to reduce those from your presentation.

Here's the summary
Know what presentation style best suits your abilities.

Examine your presentation

Practice & or hire a coach, it will pay off.

Thanks for reading today

Mike Shelah

BTW, be sure to check out my fundraising blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com

"But I'm not Selling Anything Sir!"

Sitting at home last night there came a knock upon my door. A young man who looked to be in his early 20's and dressed in polo shirt with company logo, a pair of khaki shorts, work boots and some "official" looking ID badge and a tool belt with some electronic device was waiting on the other side. "Hello Sir, you wouldn't be the home owner would you?" Okay, stop right there, you NEVER ask a negative question to start a conversation, instead you say "Hello, I am speaking with all of the homeowners in your community tonight, are you one of the homeowners?" A little tweak but an important one. Now back to the story... I told him I am indeed one of the home owners and he goes right into his pitch. It's hard and it's fast and it's aggressive. And it is very familiar because I used the same pitch when I sold security systems back in 1997. So I know what's coming and (unfortunately) I know what kind of company he works for, a boiler room. A Turn and burn straight commission company that works their reps to the bone and only gives them a week of "sales" training, which mostly involves memorizing a "pitch" and then a list of rebuttals for when the customer says no. The likelihood that he will still be working there in 6 months is less than 25%. So I said "I understand that you need to get 7 no's to get to yes but I'm not interested." before I could finish he started to say "not trying to get through 7 No's sir we did some work for your neighbor (probably a lie) and we are setting appointments." So  I told him "look I'm trying to be nice. There are people in this neighborhood that would call the cops on you for soliciting."  To which he quickly replied "But I'm not selling anything sir." So here is the problem with these companies. They teach these kids that this methodology is not only effective, but it is acceptable. I told him he was soliciting and very indignantly he said "No, I'm not." To which I replied, "if you like I can call the cops you can tell THEM you're not soliciting."  A look of fear washed over his face and he said "Okay man, okay." and walked on to my neighbors house. I really hated doing that but he has yet to learn one of the Key factors to sales, "know when to back off."

The Security sales job I mentioned earlier had a mantra "porched or paperwork." Which meant that you walked out of their home with a signed order or they threw you out for being a jackass. Great business model right? Not surprisingly, this company has been out of business for several years. and You don't see ADT and companies like that selling franchises to just anyone to go sell their products anymore. For more examples of this process and what not to do please watch the movie "Boiler Room" and the Baltimore Classic "Pushing Tin."

I think what is truly sad about this methodology is that a significant sector of the home improvement industry still really enjoys using it. They think bullying customers into working with them is a smart practice because they know there is very little chance they will still be in business in 5 years and they have even less chance of getting repeat business.

So what can we learn from this story.

Train your salespeople to care about the customer and what they need

Build your business on trust and a quality product at a fair price.

If you know someone getting ready to graduate from High school or working their way through college tell them "don't take this job." Believe me, they will thank you later.

Thanks for reading today

Mike S.

BTW, be sure to read my fundraising blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com