The Lazy Salesman
The Lazy Salesman in Jan 2002, The Worst
Customers I Ever Had, Fill the Funnel, Negotiation, Collecting NOs, Thinking
Time, Number 76 of my Selling Manifesto, Change Now!, Sales Job Interviews,
Fail, Cluetrain, Action, The Perfect Customer, Integrity, Closing, Objection
Handling, Summarising, Objectives, Rapport, Networking, Decisiveness,
Qualifying.
The Lazy Salesman in Feb 2002, Thinking Aloud, Positioning, Honesty, Move On,
Practising what I Preach?, Doing the Business – Networking, Issues and Personal
Wins, Small Acorns, 4:2 Rule, Conscious Competence, Question, Listen, and
Summarise, Sales Teams, Hunters and Farmers, The Competition, The Truth about
Selling!, What’s in it for Me? (WIIFM), The Best Salespeople I know,
Presenting, Calling High, Networking Again, Birthday – Ghost Story, Little
Things make a Big Difference, Difficult Customers, Prospecting, Hot (Cheesy)
Tips, What Irritates me as a Client.
The Lazy Salesman in March 2002; Who Wouldn’t I Work For?, Sex Sells, End Users, Cheesy Closes,
High Risk or Low Risk, High Level Contacts, The Hook, Contact K.I.T., Pricing,
Risk, Contracts, Selling Something You Don’t Believe In, Corporate DNA, Good
News, Rejection, Calling High Level Contacts, Good Days and Bad Days, In the
Client’s Shoes (The Observers learn the most), Advance not Continuation.
The Lazy Salesman in April 2002; Wait and They Did Come!!,
Persist or Walk Away, Prospecting from Cold, Wait and They will come!, Stamina,
Involve the Audience, One Thing Each Day, Luck, Good Selling Organisations, Be
your Word, Be Honest with Yourself, More Corporate DNA and Zipf’s Law, Smile,
Exceed Expectation, Shut Up Tony, Cardbox, Grassroots Selling, Persist and Have
a Dream, Pick an Onerous Task, Guilt,
Style, Good Will, Mind Expanding Questions!, Tenacity and Lunch, Recovering
Lost Momentum, Competing Customers, Selling Pranks.
The Lazy Salesman in May 2002: Contact, Resource Availability
Close, Hardware Store, SPACER, My own Call Reluctance, Greetings and
Handshakes, How much to you care?, Advancing after a Good Meeting, What Goes
Around Comes Around, Concept to Cash, The Perfect Supplier, Follow-Up, All Talk
and No Product, Elio the Photographer, Battles and Wars, Dissatisfied Customer,
Crooks, Exhibition Leads, Small Acorns Conversations, The P.A font of all
Knowledge, Practising What I Preach, Don’t Let Things Drift, Human Touch,
Dreams Really Do Come True, Find Your Market.
The Lazy Salesman in June 2002: Lost Leaders, Loss Leaders, My
Sales Call Reluctance, Can you talk?, Cover your bases, Selling Should be
Effortless, 9 out of 10 people just
aren’t interested, Selling Picks and Shovels, Tony the Café Owner, Playing 2
games of chess, Selling Ratios, Professionals Sort, Amateurs Convince, Onerous
Tasks, Marketing your website, Internet Marketing, Struggling On, Time, where
does it go to?, Prospecting is Non-Urgent and Important, Sell Better or Qualify
Out!, Easy to do business with, Is
Selling Manipulating?, Big Coincidence, Revenge Referrals, Engaging, Can you
help me?,Trial Close.
The Lazy Salesman in July 2002: Small Things, Hang in There,
Selling Motivation, Stick at It, Gap in the Market, More
Contact, Anticipation.
The Lazy Salesman in August 2002: The Perfectionist Salesman, What
would you do if money was no object?,
The True Cost of Business, Good Clients, Run Like Hell if you see a Bow Tie, I have a dream, Heart and
Soul, Check is out with former
buyers, Good Job Multiplier, What’s Your Job?, Ask what is the key issue, Keep
Prospecting.
The Lazy Salesman Sept 2002: Convincer or Qualifier?, Success,
Mission Statements, Cardbox, Getting back to your client, Face
to Face, Email of Phone?, Give me a chance, Pest or Professional, Good
Service, Referrals and Networking,
Why I hate CRM Systems, Sharpen The Saw, Women, Be nice to the kids,
The point of no return, Life’s too serious to be taken seriously,
Very Lazy Salesman, Good Service, Prospect and Network first, Block
the time out for Prospecting and Networking, You, Creating Chaos, Not Trying to Become Picasso!, Stretch Objective.
The Lazy Salesman
in Oct 2002: Born
Natural, Goal Setting Yet Again!, Creative Break??, Outlook
Contacts, Email Qualification, Gut Fell and Instincts, Partners
and Third Parties, Persistence, Time Planning, ABC’s of Relationship Selling, ABC’s of
Selling, Take
it Easy, Definitions of Marketing, Thinking
Time or Idle Time?, Selling to Women (or Women Selling!),
Losing a large deal this week.
What have I learnt?, Negotiate and Mediate, Talk to
a lot of People, Hang in there or get the hell out, Network Marketing (Multi Level Marketing), Genius, Interlude, Losing
Sales through Prejudice, STOP!, He who hesitates, masturbates!, 86 Contact Bill,
Thursday 31st
October 2002
I went into my mobile phone supplier today, looking for a fight.
I took the contract out with them nearly 18 months ago, so it’s up
for renewal.
I want them to grovel!!
Why? Because they’ve been
appalling.
They convinced me to take a handset because they told me the one I
wanted was unreliable.
I’m on my third Ericsson T28 which needed repairing 2 months ago.
The told me to buy a Lithium battery for my wife’s mobile, and
then didn’t have one in stock so told me the Nickel Metal one was more
reliable.
It retains half the charge of the original Nokia battery!!
So much bullshit and it goes on and on.
So I was gunning for a fight today.
Except a nice smiling face greeted me.
“What are you looking for?”
“Well, there’s these handsets for what you want.” Didn’t try and sell me up, yet.
I asked her about GPRS.
“Sorry I don’t know, I’ve just started a week ago.’
She asked me what work I do.
“I train salespeople like you.”
“How am I doing?”
“They all ask me that. Have
you had any training?”
“No not yet, in a few weeks time.”
She was great. Natural,
honest, open, helpful.
Shame she’s going to be tainted with the bullshit of most mobile
sellers who are selling the same product with very little differentiation.
And I don’t count a crappy leather cover and a substandard charger
and handsfree as differentiation.
The charger they included with the initial package is so
non-standard that the handsfree can’t plug in at the same time.
Good saleswoman, crap organisation.
Wednesday 30th
October 2002
I’m amazed that within a few days of writing down my business mix,
what it is now and what I’d like it to be in 5 years time, that I’ve had
meetings where unprompted, the other person has come up with an offer which
takes me very well into my 5 year plan.
Dream, Create Goals from you dreams, and then write them down.
They start to come true.
Tuesday 29th
October 2002
And lazy I have been today!
Instead of all those fantastic sales skills I’ve displayed today
and prospecting like mad, what have I been doing today?
Creating my all time England Football team!
Well at least it’s creative output for my website with something
to show by the end of the day!!
In fact, the last time I took some time to do this and create my
all time Man Utd team, lots of business flowed afterwards, so I’m repeating the
process!
It was that or pretend to work today and surf the Internet instead
with nothing except lots of reading to show for it.
Besides, I’ve created the quality of life which enables me to
write my all time England team for my website!!
What else would I rather be doing right now?
Acutally, it turns out that doing my England team has set me off
on my biggest project which I started today.
So see, it worked!
Monday 28th
October 2002
Having said I’m only going to contact people who email me back,
I’ve set up my Outlook so that all my contacts, family, friends, colleagues and
clients are now on rotation for contacting.
The frequency of contact will vary, but hopefully no-one will slip
through, unless I want them to of course.
The trick I’ve found is to use tasks, with an alarm reminder and
not to have any actions running in the tasks other than contacting people.
Seems good so far.
Sunday 27th
October 2002
It’s suddenly come to me in a blinding flash.
I can use email to qualify people I want to work with.
If clients and partners respond to emails they’re in my club, if they
don’t then I’ll see if I can find better and ones who do respond to emails.
I’ve noticed a pattern.
There are those who are very good at replying to emails, even if
it’s to say No Thanks. Good for them.
But are those who never respond.
They’re either too busy, too disorganised, too indecisive, too
too. Yadda Yadda Yadda, Blah Blah Blah.
I’m no longer interested.
I’ll find good partners and good clients.
People who want me and express they want me (or express they don’t
want me!)
Have a think about the pattern of your interactions.
There’s a pattern isn’t there?
There’s ones you’re always chasing and guess what, they’re the
ones who make you jump through hoops, play cat and mouse. It’s no fun.
I realised this over the weekend.
Two people in similar businesses, meeting them on two different days
last week.
One was a pleasure to deal with and came back to me straight away.
The other in the meeting was playing cat and mouse with me,
scolding me, making me jump through hoops to prove myself. Forget it, I’m not interested.
Of course I might be if times are hard, but it’s up to me give
myself luxury of choice and work with people who have a buzz about them and not
bullshit about them.
People who use the technology to gain competitive advantage.
People who are polite enough to say no thanks, and let you know no
thanks, instead of deleting or letting it sit there for months.
What they’re saying is they don’t care. They’re too busy with other things. They don’t have the time. Not even 1 minute. Fine.
I decline, I qualify out and move on.
Thursday 24th
October 2002
Just a reminder to trust your gut feel and instincts.
Over the years when my gut feel is telling me something, I’ve
learnt to go with it.
When everything is not what it seems you’re probably right.
I had that feeling today with someone and I can’t really explain
it, but I’m aware of it and being careful.
The same thing happened a few days ago, watching someone present.
I thought “Bullshit” and yet on the face of it what we were being
told seemed to match up, but somehow it didn’t all match up.
Wednesday 23rd
October 2002
Of course you never need sell direct to anyone, if you can find
people to sell on your behalf.
Realising now that my symbol of success is the Three Toed Sloth, I’ve had a few
meeting so far this week with people who can sell me on, they make money, I
make money, and I can hang in the tree and sleep for 18 hours while they do it!
After all this writing is called The Lazy Salesman.
Why has it taken me 10 months to realise this!
Tuesday 22nd
October 2002
I’ve been calling and calling the same people. Either they’re not in, on voicemail, or not
answering, or don’t come back to me.
You really have to persist sometimes to the point
of annoying them.
I’ve really had to stick at it over the last few
days to get in touch with some people.
And I’ve put off calling the ones I think I’m going
to annoy.
But I have to know one way or the other.
If I leave it they’ll drift away for ever and not
come back unless I do something about it.
Attended a talk last night by a guy who gets his
business from just a few clients.
It’s a reminder to delight a few clients and grow
the business with them, and keep in touch with them and think in terms of
what’s the next step with the client.
Monday 21st
October 2002
I had a good prospecting day today.
Not successful in terms of business, but in terms of volume of
contact.
Why?
Well I set some time aside to do the calls and just did them.
Also, I’ve set up few systems yesterday and today.
Rehashes of systems I used before.
This time, it’s a PC Mindmap for my overall actions, which I’ve
been using for a while.
I’ve finally set up Outlook for contacting people by using the
Task option for contacts only.
And I’ve set up the Stephen Covey weekly planner for making sure I
stick to Important things.
Good Day. Not Perfect but good
enough.
Sunday 20th
October 2002
Just had a look for Charles Futrell on Amazon, who’s book I’ve
borrowed on ABC’s of Selling.
Well he has a more up to date book, ABC’s of Relationship
Selling, which is in print, and in the editorial notes are the heading
he has in his book. Phew, are you ready
for this…..
“Table of Contents
PART I SELLING AS A PROFESSION
The Life, Times, and Career of the Professional
Salesperson
What Is Selling?
Everybody Sells!
Why Choose a Sales Career?
A Variety of Sales Jobs Are Available
Freedom of Action: You're on Your Own
Job Challenge Is Always There
Opportunities for Advancement Are Great
Rewards: The Sky's the Limit
You Can Move Quickly into Management
Is a Sales Career Right for You?
A Sales Manager's View of the Recruit
Success in Selling---What Does It Take?
Love of Selling
Willingness to Work Hard, Work Smart,
Then Work Some More
Need to Achieve
Have an Optimistic Outlook
Be Knowledgeable
Be Ruthless about Time
Ask Questions and Then Listen to Uncover
Customer Needs
Serve Your Customer
Be Physically and Mentally Prepared
Relationship Selling
Sales Jobs Are Different
What Does a Professional Salesperson Do?
Reflect Back
Relationship Marketing
Levels of Relationship Marketing
Selling Is for Large and Small Organizations
The Plan of Your Textbook
Building Relationships through the Sales Process
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
Find out about a Career in Sales!
Further Exploring the Sales World
Sales Team Building Exercise
Selling Experiential Exercise
Are You a Global Traveler?
What They Didn't Teach Us in Sales Class
Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues in Selling
Management's Social Responsibilities
Organizational Stakeholders
An Organization's Main Responsibilities
How to Demonstrate Social Responsibility
What Influences Ethical Behavior?
The Individual's Role
The Organization's Role
Management's Ethical Responsibilities
What Is Ethical Behavior?
What Is an Ethical Dilemma?
Ethics in Dealing with Salespeople
Level of Sales Pressure
Decisions Affecting Territory
To Tell the Truth?
The Ill Salesperson
Employee Rights
Salespeople's Ethics in Dealing with Their Employers
Misusing Company Assets
Moonlighting
Cheating
Affecting Other Salespeople
Technology Theft
Ethics in Dealing with Customers
Bribes
Misrepresentation
Price Discrimination
Tie-in Sales
Exclusive Dealership
Reciprocity
Sales Restrictions
The International Side of Ethics
Managing Sales Ethics
Follow the Leader
Leader Selection Is Important
Establish a Code of Ethics
Create Ethical Structures
Encourage Whistle-Blowing
Create an Ethical Sales Climate
Establish Control Systems
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
What Is Ethical in the World of Sales?
Further Exploring the Sales World
Selling Experiential Exercise
Ethical Work Climates
Fancy Frozen Foods
Sports Shirts, Inc.
PART II PREPARATION FOR RELATIONSHIP SELLING
The Psychology of Selling: Why People Buy
Why People Buy---The Black Box Approach
Psychological Influences on Buying
Motivation to Buy Must Be There
Economic Needs: The Best Value for the
Money
Awareness of Needs: Some Buyers Are Unsure
A FABulous Approach to Buyer Need Satisfaction
The Product's Features: So What?
The Product's Advantages: Prove It!
The Product's Benefits: What's in It for
Me?
Order Can Be Important
How to Determine Important Buying Needs---A Key to
Success
The Trial Close---A Great Way to Uncover Needs and
SELL
SELL Sequence
Your Buyer's Perception
Perceptions, Attitudes, and Beliefs
Example of a Buyer's Misperceptions
The Buyer's Personality Should Be Considered
Self-Concept
Adaptive Selling Based on Buyer's Style
Personality Typing
Adapt Your Presentation to the Buyer's Style
You Can Classify Buying Situations
Some Decisions Are Routine
Some Decisions Are Limited
Some Decisions Are Extensive
Technology Provides Information
View Buyers as Decision Makers
Need Arousal
Collection of Information
Information Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Postpurchase
Satisfied Customers Are Easier to Sell
To Buy or Not to Buy---A Choice Decision
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
What Is Your Personality?
Further Exploring the Sales World
Student Application Learning Exercises
(SALES) Part 1 of
Selling Experiential Exercise
What's Your Style---Senser, Intuitor, Thinker,
Feeler?
Economy Ceiling Fans, Inc.
McDonald's Ford Dealership
Communication for Relationship Building: It's Not All
Talk
Communication: It Takes Two
Salesperson--Buyer Communication Process Requires
Feedback
Nonverbal Communication: Watch for It
Concept of Space
Communication through Appearance and the Handshake
Body Language Gives You Clues
Barriers to Communication
Master Persuasive Communication to Maintain
Control
Feedback Guides Your Presentation
Remember the Trial Close
Empathy Puts You in Your Customer's Shoes
Keep It Simple
Creating Mutual Trust Develops Friendship
Listening Clues You In
Your Attitude Makes the Difference
Proof Statements Make You Believable
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
Make a Sale and Get a Job!
Further Exploring the Sales World
Selling Experiential Exercise
Listening Self-Inventory
Skaggs Manufacturing
Alabama Office Supply
Sales Knowledge: Customers, Products, Technologies
Sources of Sales Knowledge
Knowledge Builds Relationships
Knowledge Increases Confidence in Salespeople...
...and in Buyers
Relationships Increase Sales
Know Your Customers
Know Your Company
General Company Information
Know Your Product
Know Your Resellers
Advertising Aids Salespeople
Types of Advertising Differ
Why Spend Money on Advertising?
Sales Promotion Generates Sales
Point-of-Purchase Displays: Get Them out There
Shelf Positioning Is Important to Your Success
Premiums
What's It Worth? Pricing Your Product
Know Your Competition, Industry, and Economy
Personal Computers and Selling
Knowledge of Technology Enhances Sales and
Customer Service
Personal Productivity
Communications with Customers and Employer
Customer Order Processing and Service Support
Sales Internet and the World Wide Web
The Internet
World Wide Web
Global Technology Provides Service
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
Business Intelligence: Can the Web Help?
Further Exploring the Sales World
Selling Experiential Exercise
How Is Your Self-Confidence?
Appendix: Sales Arithmetic and Pricing
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Student Application Learning Exercises (SALES)
Part 2 of 7
Claire Cosmetics
McBath Women's Apparel
Electric Generator Corporation
Frank's Drilling Service
PART III THE RELATIONSHIP SELLING PROCESS
Prospecting---The Lifeblood of Selling
The Sales Process Has 10 Steps
Steps before the Sales Presentation
Prospecting---The Lifeblood of Selling
Where to Find Prospects
Planning a Prospective Strategy
Prospecting Methods
Prospecting Guidelines
Referrals Used in Most Prospecting Methods
The Prospect Pool
The Referral Cycle
The Parallel Referral Sale
The Secret Is to Ask Correctly
The Preapproach
The Presentation
Product Delivery
Service and Follow-Up
Don't Mistreat the Referral
Call Reluctance Costs You Money!
Obtaining the Sales Interview
The Benefits of Appointment Making
Wireless E-mail Helps You Keep in Contact and
Prospect
Summary of Major Selling Issues
Key Terms for Selling
Sales Application Questions
Sales World Wide Web Exercises
Research a Company of Your Choice!
Further Exploring the Sales World
Selling Experiential Exercise
Your Attitude toward Selling
Canadian Equipment Corporation
Montreal Satellites
Planning the Sales Call Is a Must!
Strategic Customer Sales Planning---The Preapproach
Mutually Beneficial Agreements
The Customer Relationship Model
Reasons for Planning the Sales Call
Elements”
Friday 18th
October 2002
Just borrowed the book ABC’s of Selling by Charles Futrell.
It does look life a definitive book on selling. It seems to have gathered up all sales
knowledge.
Makes me wonder what I can write about that not been said in this
book.
I guess it’s down to style.
I would change the style in which it’s written, and pick my favourite
bits.
But it looks like a bible of selling.
So in some ways it puts me off writing a book because this one
seems to have it all, but also encourages me to take a different tack.
If this is the bible of selling, what other style book on selling
could I write?
Thursday 17th
October 2002
If you’re struggling to prospect and don’t feel like it, either
Just Do It or make some easy contacts just to keep your hand in.
Work from the inside of the spiral outwards with the easiest most
friendly contacts, people you enjoy talking to and being with, in fact it
doesn’t have to be clients, it can be people who know clients.
That’s what I’ve done today, listed all the contacts to contact,
started with the closest ones, and gradually worked outwards.
In the meantime the closest contacts have given me ideas and
inspiration.
Wednesday 16th
October 2002
Marketing
terms defined:
-- You see a gorgeous woman at a party. You
go up to her and
say, "I'm fantastic in bed."
That's direct marketing.
-- You're at a party with a bunch of
friends and see a gorgeous
woman. One of your friends goes up to her
and pointing at you
says, "He's fantastic in bed."
That's advertising.
-- You see a gorgeous woman at a party. You
go up to her and get her
telephone number. The next day you call and
say, "Hi, I'm fantastic
in bed." That's telemarketing.
-- You're at a party and see a gorgeous
woman. You get up and
straighten your tie, walk up to her and
pour her a drink. You open
the door for her, pick up her bag after she
drops it, offer her a
ride, and then say, "By the way, I'm
fantastic in bed." That's public
relations.
-- You're at a party and see a gorgeous
woman. She walks up to you
and says, "I hear you're fantastic in
bed." That's brand recognition.
And
someone added this one!
You're at a party when a hairy 7 foot merchant
seaman wanders up and says "I
'ear you're nice to sailors..." = Brand extension?
Tuesday 15th
October 2002
Today is my first day off the treadmill.
Should I be doing some prospecting or thinking?
I need to recharge my batteries and do some thinking but that
seems to preclude me from prospecting.
Ideally I should be doing both but it doesn’t usually work that
way for me.
I either have thinking bursts or prospecting bursts.
Sometimes either one can last days or weeks.
I guess as long as I do either at some point, that’s ok!
Thinking time today!
Actually it seems to be surfing the web so far!
Of course I need that to gather my ideas!
If I can do just one selling thing today, make one phone call
and/or send out one invoice, I think I’ll have done well.
If I multiply that up it will 365 calls and 365 invoices!
Sunday 13th
October 2002
You’ve got to read this link, that’s where it’s at.
Tom Peters Presentation
on Women!
There’s hundreds of ideas just in one presentation.
Not only on selling to women and women in the marketplace, but how
to sell!
I must go back to the presentation and steal some quotes!
Saturday 12th
October 2002
I lost a big bit of business this week.
I’m told it may come back but my qualifying nose isn’t holding out
much hope currently.
What have I learnt from this?
Well, the usual answer is cover your bases.
Make sure that everyone involved in the decision is accounted for.
That’s a very Miller Heiman – Strategic Selling type approach, and
sure, this one person wasn’t covered. It
wasn’t me guv, it was the people I was dealing with who didn’t check out with
this guy until the last minute, and he had the veto and exercised it. I didn’t even know the full story and that
this guy was part of the decision until after the event, I relied and trusted
the people I was dealing with to sort it out.
What really has happened is that my work is being used as a
political pawn for a power fight, and I’ve been caught up in this and left
until the last minute to suffer the consequences.
My approach now is to leave it.
There’s no way in a million years this guy is going to change his
mind. No amount of convincing type
selling will work because he wants to do it his own way.
My approach is to go to other parts of the company and get it
implemented there so that there’s a groundswell and the majority of divisions
use me and then there’s a bit of pressure on this guy to fall in and he hears
good news about my stuff so he wants to satisfy his curiosity.
I tell you that that’s what works best for me, especially this
last year, so I have recent experience of this approach working. I convince no-one, I just find other parts of
an organisation that are interested and wait and see what happens with those
who have turned me down.
What would I do differently?
Well, I assumed that getting this one division, and being the biggest one, would turn the other
divisions favourably, where now I realise I should have spread my risk and been
talking to them all at the same time.
And besides, if I’m talking to all of them and they talk to each other
then they get a feeling that something good is going on.
The one thing I haven’t done is call high and go the guy at the
top. It paid dividends this year not to
get my work mandated, because the CEO mandating something isn’t always the best
way to work with division CEOs and COOs who are forced to do it
resentfully. I could have done this
method this time, but somehow I don’t think that’s the best way.
There has been a lot of delay and procrastination which is usually
a sign that there’s great risk, but I held out and in my experience and
judgement this was going to happen this week, but I’m not surprised it hasn’t
happened.
I’ve learnt a lot from this experience and though a bit poorer
financially for it, I’m glad I’ve gone through this one.
Friday 11th
October 2002
I’ve already written about this before;
P eople not the
Issue. See it as joint problem solving.
I nterests not Positions;
what are the personal interests and Wins, and not what are the Positions
they’re fighting over.
C reativity. Be
creative in coming up with a solution.
O bjective
Criteria. Look to a third party, or an
independent authority to mediate.
There this article to help, Seven Guidelines For Handling Conflicts
Constructively.
Thursday 10th
October 2002
According to Rob Lamicela, there are three key rules for sales
success.
1. TALK to a lot of people
2. Talk to A LOT of people
3. Talk to a lot of PEOPLE
He has a point there, maybe he’s right!
Wednesday 9th
October 2002
“I chased up a lead that
would only have been worth about £2,500 to my company but I gave it as much
importance as any other.
In the end the customer was
strapped for cash and couldn’t afford even that and it came to nothing HOWEVER
that customer referred me
on to somebody else with whom we now have a £60,000 piece of work ....
I am a firm believer on
knocking on all doors - you really don’t know what’s behind them...”
I
read this today in a mailgroup. Two
points here.
1.
It pays to seek referrals.
2.
You could use up a lot of time with a customer that isn’t going to do any
business. Get the hell out of there.
So
this idea of knocking on all doors I don’t agree with, because you have a
limited amount of time.
Better
to knock on the right doors by qualifying a bit. Of course one of those doors you missed will
grow from an acorn into an oak tree but think of all the time you’ve wasted on
the ones that didn’t come good, when you could have better spent your time on
ones more likely to come good.
On
the other hand, satisfying a customer and asking who else they know, is the
real moral of this story.
Tuesday 8th
October 2002
Ever considered Network Marketing to sell and distribute product.
It’s worth looking at. I’ve
written some more about it in my Weblog.
It’s using networks of people to spread the word about a product
or service.
Overheads are low and with the right compensation scheme it can
work very well.
The key to it, is I can guarantee anyone a passive income of $50k
p.a in 5 years time.
On one condition! You make
4 contacts per week, every week for the next 5 years.
That’s it, simple, regardless of the product.
Of course, almost no-one can keep that going for 5 years, and if
you put that level of commitment into anything I’d expect you to be making more
than $50k p.a passive in 5 years time!
But that’s the issue, commitment and contact level.
That applies to any form of selling; it’s about contact frequency
with new (and current) prospective buyers.
Monday 7th
October 2002
Who wrote this Selling Manifesto?
It’s brilliant!
Oh I did!
Just re-read it last night and thought, wow it’s very good, though
I say it myself.
It has almost everything in it I believe to be true about selling.
Sunday 6th
October 2002
I’m just thinking about where I’m up to with this writing and
where I want to take it.
The idea was to gather my writing for a years worth on selling
experience and sales training.
I hope to create new sales training content which leads to a
book. That was my thinking and I’m
waiting until the end of December to decide where to take it.
I have some great new ideas, and I think there’s a gap for some
original sales training material and maybe a book.
But on the other hand, there’s nothing new in selling and sales
training, and you can see when you read material where it’s been derived from.
In reality, it’s down to the basics.
If I could currently give five things to follow for selling
success what would they be as I write now.
You can either be a good convincer or a good qualifier, a hunter
or a farmer.
Which are you?
I’m a crap convincer, good qualifier, a farmer turned hunter!
Saturday 5th
October 2002
It’s amazing how our prejudices lose us business.
The number of women who are badly treated when making a car
purchase, either patronised or ignored by the “salesman”.
Women make 53% of car buying decisions and 85% of all buying
decisions. Is that a fact I remember or
did I just make it up?
It wasn’t what I was going to write about.
At Brisbane airport last night, I arrived from Rockhampton on my
way back to Melbourne.
Exhausted after a week away, I was too tired to read, didn’t want to
eat, so I did something I almost never do whilst travelling.
I took my laptop out to either write or delete some emails.
My laptop is broken in that the screen needs physically propping
up, so I found a table in the Café and started reading my emails.
20 minutes later, a barman came up to me to ask me if he could get
me anything. No thanks.
How considerate I thought.
He then tells me that the tables are for clients and they’re busy
right now.
In other words, “Get Lost!”
He didn’t ask me to leave as such, just laid the guilt trip on me
so I couldn’t concentrate.
After 5 minutes it worked.
I was angry and embarrassed.
But I thought some more about this, and what he was saying was
that if I’d bought a drink it was ok to use the table!
That’s crazy, a public café in an airport, there’s no way they
have any rights to the table (I don’t think), and what does it matter whether I
buy a drink or not, it’s still occupied by me whether or not I buy a drink.
I thought about it some more and what I reckon was happening is
this guy doesn’t like those smarmy business types who look busy with their
laptops open.
I should know because I have the same prejudice. People with laptops in public places look
ridiculous. I mean, how much work do
they actually get done?
Having said that, I was doing the same thing last night at the
airport!
Get real buddy, because when Wi-Fi hits the world, a large number
of people in public places are going to be on-line using laptops or whatever is
the next generation.
A high proportion of people travelling though the airport carry
laptops and would love the room and comfort and peace and quiet to work
comfortably whilst they’re waiting (a few hours!) for a plane. It’s not as though I work, I just love to
write, and send emails, and when wireless becomes readily available there’s
going to be many many people wanting the same thing. And why shouldn’t an airport cater for what
its travellers want?
Back to the point. That
guy’s prejudice has cost him business with his café and me.
Who are you prejudice against that may have or be costing you
business?
Thursday 3rd
October 2002
As you hesitate to
make that call, and distract yourself from the job in hand with something less
important.
STOP!
In that moment of changing direction to
distract yourself, mentally or physically jolt yourself and then in the moment
“between stimulus and response” think about what you are about to do. And go back and make that call. You have a choice and you know what you
should be doing.
Wednesday 2nd
October 2002
I can’t stop
laughing at that one.
Training a group yesterday, and I was
talking about asking for the business, asking for the date.
And one of the younger guys, said of course
it’s true, they have a saying when out clubbing,
“He who hesitates, masturbates!”
It’s a bloke thing isn’t it, but very
illustrative of asking, and not being afraid to ask.
Because if you don’t ask you don’t get,
and you know what that can lead to??
I say that as one of the worst, most
shy, crappiest chatter uppers, who only ever asked a girl even for a dance
once, and ended up going out with her for 5 years.
At least I have a 100% track record.
But looking back, why didn’t I ask more
girls.
Simple answer, I can’t dance!!
Tuesday 1st
October 2002
I was talking to Bill last night.
He averages 30-40 contacts per day, most of them face to face.
Selling drinks and confectionary to retail outlets.
On his best ever day, he made 86 face-to-face contacts!!
Is that possible? How did he do that?
Even if he’s exaggerating by a factor of 2, that’s massively impressive.
He outsells his colleagues sometimes by a factor of 10.
And he’s a Chelsea fan, so even that disability doesn’t seem to hold him back.
Never read a book on selling, has lots of sales skills, but is very open to learning.
He’s driven by direct incentives.
You sell this, you get this percentage or commission.
How does he have the energy?
If I, and the people I train had one tenth of his energy we’d have taken over the world by now.
I can’t help thinking and the back of my mind there’s something I can do with Bill, but I don’t know what yet.
We come from very different selling worlds, but there’s a lot we could learn from each other.
One thing I can’t abide by that he told me about, are senior managers who don’t like salespeople earning too much or more than them.
How many times have I heard that one before? What does it matter to a manager if a salesperson is taking a percentage of a very large number?
What’s important is that it’s a very large number, not what the percentage is.
How many great salespeople, including Bill, have left companies because management screwed them on the incentive scheme.
I mostly detest senior management when I hear stories like that. Time and time again.