Posted by Ken Rogner on September 18, 2009 at 12:06pm
Two questions that create “partner-opportunity”By: Ken Rogner, Corporate Sales Educator, POOLCORPMy daughter, Stacey, has spent a dozen years doing sales management and sales training in the high-end retail and designer jewelry business and I have spent thirty+ years as a sales trainer and manager in wholesale distribution. I thought the strategies for success in selling were a lot different but she says…not!Certainly in wholesale distribution it’s obvious…if you can’t build a long-term relationship with your customers (what we usually call "partnering")…forget about it! There are a limited number of customers out there so you can’t afford to “burn” any of them or make any mistakes. You have to know and understand them, what they value and what their goals and aspirations are. That determines their needs. You have to know the products and services your company offers well enough so you can match them to the customers needs. Remember, the customer’s needs are anything that will help them accomplish those dreams and goals…and that’s what makes you his partner in success. “Know your customers and know your stuff” is a great way to build those elusive “partner relationships”.My daughter says the same rules hold true in selling any high-end product at the retail level and “partnering” is just as important. Your best opportunity for future sales lies with the customers that you have established a strong relationship with. If you know a customer well enough to understand their dreams you are in the best position to capture future disposable income. We also have to recognize which of the common justifiers they are using to rationalize the purchase of discretionary items. The common justifiers include, quality of life, pleasure, beautify the home, relaxation, stress relief, entertainment, status, etc.Just as the wholesale distributor has to match his/her product or service to a customer’s need, the retail salesperson does as well. In the challenging economic times we live in today, particularly in selling discretionary products, every advantage you can create for yourself can make the difference between success and failure.It’s hard to forge strong relationships (partnerships) in a short period of time but I am convinced a large part of the solution to this issue lies in two questions (or combinations of questions) that you can ask early in the relationship-building process. You may change the tone to fit your needs and you should certainly tailor the questions to make sense for your products.Here are my two “partner-op” questions that are about your customer’s goals and dreams that should help you to be part of the customer’s plan:First for wholesale customers (after you have discovered your usual stuff like sales volume, number of employees, finished product, consumer orientation and other common stats) a salesperson should ask: “Do you have any large projects or goals that you are working on for this year (this month/this season/this session), any business expansions or location moves?” If you don’t know them well, you can add something like “Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with our current line of products, there are so many things happening so fast that perhaps I can help with something that is only on the drawing boards at the moment.” “Whatever will help you reach your goals is good for us as well”. These questions are aimed at initiating a conversation that will uncover opportunities to serve as a partner in the future.For retail high-end-consumer product sales (after you have learned where they live, what they do, how many in the family, hobbies and other needed stats) a salesperson should find a comfortable way of touching on their justifiers (those reasons we use for justifying discretionary purchases): “In your business (in your world), how do successful people show that they are successful and does that generate future business success? What dreams do most of them have and how can others tell when they have “made it”? “Does the product I am showing you help to identify success for you?” “Would it help your “success-image”? “Perhaps if I don’t have the exact thing you need, I could help you find it”.The second “partner-op” question(s) for the wholesale customer is; “It seems like the economy and our industry is going through a lot of changes right now, what do you think has the most impact on your business?” “Are there some ways that I could help you to solve those challenges?”For the retail high-end consumers, the second questions could be a variation of the same: “With the challenges that today’s economy brings to your world, tell me what I can do to be of help for you because my future success depends on my relationship with you and other folks just like you”. “In your opinion, should I be in some other kind of business?”The most simple questions (and combinations of questions) always come down to the same bottom line. A successful sales person has to know what the dreams and aspirations of his/her customers are. Addressing those dreams and aspirations is how we provide real value.
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At POOLCORP the name for outside salespersons was changed about five years ago. Instead of Sales Representative the name was changed to BDR (Business Development Representative) I didn’t create it but I really like it! The new name focused outside sales people on their real function, growing their customer's business.Think about it! If every sales person could help every customer and potential customers to achieve the development of their business based on their goals and dreams, what would happen to that sales person's goals and dreams? You bet…“happy times” are here again!Sometimes we sales persons like to think of ourselves as consultants or advisors and that’s fine but…aren’t those really the “means to an end”? Isn’t the real goal to help each of our customers to achieve success in their business? Of course it is and advising and consulting with them are great tools to achieve that end.Let’s review the three words in that title and see how those words can help us achieve our goal of personal success.Word one in this title is "Business" and step one is: Knowing each customer’s business goals, not just surface stuff…the real goals! If you don’t know what everyone of your assigned account’s true business goals are you surely can’t help to make them happen. Not everyone of your customers wants to “build more” or “sell more” or even “make more money”. Some of your customers may be looking for an exit strategy. Some of your customers may want to make their business smaller and more manageable.You won’t know unless you start by asking the questions that let you be of help in their goal-achievement. Ask about the their plans for the future and their goals and dreams. What a great way to make sure that you are part of their goals and dreams! Make the following questions fit your personal style and your industry but try these on for size:Sample question a: Do you have any large projects or goals for this year? Then let them know that even if it doesn’t relate to the products or services you currently sell it may be something you can help with in the future. Let them know how important their success and growth is to your company.Sample question b: What changes have you seen recently and what changes do you see coming that affect everyone in your industry? How will they affect you? What changes do all of us have to make to be tuned in to the future? These are the clues that open the doors to their goals and also make you a part of their goal-reaching team.Word two in our title is "Development" and we understand that to be the “process” of growing a business. Processes, products and services are constantly changing and you have to be tuned in to those changes. If you are going to truly help your customers to develop their businesses then you need to be involved in every trade organization, read every journal and be part of every think-tank that let’s you be really tuned in to the latest developments. You need to know everyone of your company’s new programs and products. This is not an easy task and it takes real focus and a lot of effort. Is it worth it? Of course it is! If you work for a really solid company and have a really great line of products or services that you represent then the only key is that you need to know how they can help your customer in the process of developing their goals.Word three in our title is "Representative": If you are really your customer’s representative then you are putting yourself in their place. Not just putting yourself in their shoes from a communication standpoint but really helping them in areas where they are weak. If their strengths are in technical areas and their weaknesses are in areas of marketing or advertising then your responsibility is to help them in those areas. Again, you really have to know your customers to know how and where you can represent them and be of help.When you truly become a Business Development Representative, you add so much more value for your customers than when you are strictly a salesperson. Make sure they know it, understand it and take advantage of it.
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When I sent the following article to Rex Richards, he agreed that we have a lot to learn about success in business strategies by emulating military strategists. A few years ago my wife and I took a trip to China and Mongolia. We spent time living in gers, riding camels and horses and traveling across the Gobi desert. It was the beginning of my fascination with (and study of) Genghis Khan. I also used Genghis Khan's strategies as an outline for "parallels", a theme for my POOLCORP Sales Boot Camps during the past two years. Out of those experiences came the following letter which first appeared in Sales and Service Excellence magazine....You may think of Genghis Khan as a ruthless military leader who conquered much of the known world in the early thirteenth century but recently (since the Soviet presence in Mongolia has disappeared and new writings have been revealed) we see a whole new side of a tremendous military strategist. Chinggis Khan (correct pronunciation), did more to amalgamate the world of his day, eliminate feudalism through a total rule based on meritocracy, improve transportation and change warfare, than any other military leader in history. He mandated freedom of religion in a time when that was virtually unknown. He was the first leader to forbid torture of captives and offer truce and alliance before attacking and/or sacking a tribe or city. He was also tremendously loyal to his troops and his troops to him.What makes Chinggis an outstanding study for field salespersons is his tremendous grasp of creative strategies and unique thinking. Just as your company’s mission statement and strategic objectives should guide your daily strategies, decisions and efforts, Chinggis Khan adopted a written language from an early captured tribe (the Mongols previously had no written language) and utilized it in creating the Yassa (a guide book of rules) for decision-making by his generals and warriors in the field.1. Ask yourself this question, does every offer I make and presentation I make today do something to further my (and my company’s) short and long term mission and strategic goals? Does it help my customers achieve their goals?2. Also ask yourself if your presentation and communication skills need an update?3. Are you using the same language that your customers use? Do you understand their personality well enough so that you can communicate in terms they understand?Just as your company uses the latest CRM or Customer Relationship Management Technology to put ammunition and tools in your hands and give you a competitive advantage, so Chinggis Khan used the development of the saddle stirrup and the laminated re-curved bow (developed by the Mongols) to change warfare forever and to obsolete old-fashioned defenses and attack methods.1. Ask yourself this question, do I fully understand and utilize the computer and sales tools that my company has given me? If not, where can I go to get the instructions I need?2. Do I use the tools and information I have to help my customers achieve their goals?While we are discussing computers and the ability of rapid information transfer, consider that 500 years before we developed a pony express in this country, Chinggis Khan developed it in Mongolia. He called it the Yam and 26 riders and relay stations could transfer information across his country in a matter of a few days rather than weeks or months.1. Ask yourself, do I use our company’s IT tools to track information that would help my customer to grow her business?2. Do I have lists of e-mail addresses and websites for all of my customers so that I can communicate quickly any information that would help them?3. Have my customers given me permission to send them e-mails and do they read those e-mails because I don’t abuse the privilege?Chinggis Khan had a network of spies, usually in the form of merchants who traveled that part of the world. This network of spies continued to feed him information that helped him to develop his strategies and contributed dramatically to his success.1. Ask yourself, do I take the time to analyze my sales territory at least once each year (SWOT or other method) so that I know where the best place is to spend my time and effort?2. Do I ask the people I come in contact with (manufacturer and independent reps, etc) for information that would help me in my strategies for dominating my sales territories? If I get that info do I have a plan for using it?3. Do I read all of the trade journals and other relevant publications so that I am tuned in to changes in my customer, competitor and supplier base?4. If I am part of a national sales organization, am I in contact with other people in my position but in other parts of the country? Are there ways of accomplishing sales growth that they use that I might adopt?Chinggis Khan was successful because he knew the best and most efficient way to achieve his objectives, utilize every technology and tool at his disposal, and found and used information to create a position of supremacy. He was clear on his objectives, creative in his approach and committed to winning. To be successful in sales, you must be too.
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When I was growing up, WAVES was an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service and they were the navy’s version of the army’s WACs. “Doing the wave” in the stadium at a University of Michigan football game was a completely different event and “new wave music” added another dimension to the term. But after dozen’s of years of educating distribution sales reps, I have begun to dub them as my WAVEs, that is, my “Wholesale Added Value Engineers”. “Being a WAVE” is my way of teaching the importance of creating value as a distribution sales person.I didn’t coin the title BDR but I really like it. BDR is used at POOLCORP and as a title means a lot more than Sales Rep in my book. It spells out the correct function of the person who is the “Business Development Representative” for a wholesale distribution company, the person on the front lines of helping our customers to grow their businesses. It is after all the key to success for all distribution companies! If we can help our customers to develop their businesses, to accomplish their goals and dreams, then our companies will also be successful.In the same way, being a “Wholesale Added Value Engineer” shares a concept that says we must be more than “talking brochures”. We must be more than a mouthpiece for the Marketing Department that spells out the cool programs our company has created that add value to the products we distribute. We must be more than a mouthpiece for our supplier’s Engineering Department that spells out the features and benefits of an exciting new product. We also have to create value as a part of our daily activity.Because we are in the best position to really understand our customer’s unique and individual business goals and because, at the same time, we are supposed to know the details of each of the programs and products that our company has to offer them, we are in a position to “marry” the correct customer to the correct program and the correct new product for the ultimate results…growing each of their businesses. This alone seems like a monumental challenge on occasion but at the same time my mantra is that we must create additional value on our own.Being a Wholesale Added Value Engineer means creating value by helping our customers grow in at least three new ways that may seem “outside the box”, unique or unusual to many of us:1. Being a WAVE means cultivating a wide network of contacts within our company so that we can find ways to solve problems that have nothing to do with the products or services that we normally sell. Perhaps our contacts within our IT Department allow us to gather advice for a customer who is in need of upgrading his point of purchase computer hardware or software. Perhaps our contacts and relationships with other BDRs in other parts of the country offer solutions to a sales or marketing challenge that our customer has. Perhaps our involvement with our trade association helps us to recognize a solution to a problem that our customer hasn’t been exposed to. Cultivating a wide network of contacts takes time and effort but the payoff comes when we need that additional expertise to create additional value for our customers.2. Being a WAVE means finding the personal time to help our customers in their own sales efforts with consumers. Perhaps we offer a weekend to help them beef up their sales force when they are doing a consumer show. Perhaps we help with making sure shelves are properly stocked or displays are updated. Perhaps we offer physical help and advice in updating or upgrading their showroom and/or their service trucks, etc. One of the BDRs in a company I work with took the initiative and put together a group of fellow employees at her sales center and created a fun Saturday by painting and re-vamping one of her good customer’s showroom. The customer wasn’t even on the premises; he just gave her the keys and reimbursed her for the materials on Monday morning. Talk about trust and relationship! Talk about creating the ultimate loyal customer! There are lots of ways that we can offer our labor and our ideas to help our dealers accomplish their goals but sometimes creating value this way means sharing some personal time of our own.3. Being a WAVE means creating value by educating and training our customer’s employees in new technologies, new programs and new products that our company represents. We have to take the time and make the effort to learn about the latest and newest technologies, not only from our company’s viewpoint in selling the products but also from our customer’s viewpoint in how he promotes it, sells it and installs it for the consumer. We have to accept the responsibility of working side by side with our dealer’s employees to help them acquire the requisite skills needed to apply these new technologies in the field.Being a WAVE means focusing our efforts as a true partner with each of our dealers. Not the common rhetoric that is bantered about regarding partnerships but rather truly putting ourselves into our customer’s shoes and helping to find solutions to whatever issues and problems he has. We have to discover new ways to add our own value by helping our customers to achieve their own dreams and goals.Being a WAVE, a Wholesale Added Value Engineer, is really about a total commitment of our time and talent in helping our customers to develop their individual businesses. It also relies completely on the relationship we have built with each of our dealers and that takes a huge amount of time and effort. If anyone told you this BDR job would be easy, she was totally wrong. It is however, a fun opportunity that is tremendously rewarding, both economically and mentally, when we learn the unique ways we can add our own value to every situation!If POOLCORP's BDRs really are "making WAVES" then we are accomplishing our goals!
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Recently I gave a presentation to about 35 POOLCORP dealer-customers. There was a limited amount of time so we compressed entirely too much material into a 75 minute presentation. When the presentation was over, a number of the attendees complimented me on my enthusiasm and how passionate I seemed to be about the subjects covered. It made me remember the key to giving any presentation, whether to a group of customers or one-on-one, is the GUSTO with which it is delivered.GUSTO is more than enthusiasm and optimism though…GUSTO, in my mind, also stands for: Genuine, Unconventional, Specific, Timely and Orchestrated. It is a set of ground rules I try to live by whenever I have to make a presentation.Being “Genuine” only works when you have a really good understanding of the audience. I try to learn as much about my audience (or customer) as possible in advance. I hope to know their average age, experiences and personalities. Are they business owners or sales persons, etc? Then, if I can “put myself in their shoes” and approach the subject matter from a position that I know they understand and appreciate my communication and connection is much stronger. It seems much more genuine to them if the subject is approached from their perspective and with their goals in mind. Whenever possible, I try to use real-life examples to show relevance to them.Being “Unconventional” is about doing something unexpected and unusual in the opening of the presentation, something that delivers the “hook” and immediately wows the audience or has them waiting to see what comes next. In this particular case, I was following a series of technical speakers, all of whom had important information that the audience had asked for but all of them were a bit bland and boring. I am sure that I was expected to open (like all of the other speakers” with, “hello, my name is …” but I had quickly arranged a set of stereo speakers and opened with a 90 second video accompanied by powerful and up-tempo music. The video was very unusual and definitely focused on creativity and unique, remarkable and contemporary change in the world around us. It also showed contrasts through a series of powerful “old VS new” images and suggested to the audience that it was time to develop some “new” in their processes and proposals to consumers. When the video was finished, and my Power Point presentation began, the first slide was proposing an answer to the last question in the video, “Are you ready?” The first slide said, “Let’s Get Ready!” There are dozens of ways that you can create an unusual opening that get’s your customers attention and holds it. Is there a shocking bit of news that ties to our current economic distress and to your audience? Use it. Can you ask a question that poses a real challenge for them? Use it. Can you open with a shocking statement that addresses their competitive situation? Use it. You get the idea, if you want to get and hold their attention during your presentation, you have to do something out-of-the-ordinary and unconventional first.Being “Specific” is what happened next. I immediately walked into the audience and began asking questions of individual attendees. The questions were making sure that all of the audience were drawn into the presentation and had become a part of it. I was also making sure we had established a common ground and were all beginning this conversation from the same place. Because this video focused on “old VS new”, the initial targets of questions were folks who appeared to have been in the industry for awhile. So the questions were about remembering where the industry had come from and how things had changed in the past. We were finding some common ground so that we all realized that just as there had been a lot of changes in the past we now needed to change again to accommodate a whole new group of consumers. We were getting ourselves into a mind set with reference to three areas of change needed for the future, changes in the approach to new business, changes in the process of acquiring new business and changes to the product to accommodate the needs of a new generation of buyers. Getting the audience to participate is critical when we remember one of the tenets of education; adults retain a very small portion of what they “hear”, a slightly larger portion of what they “see” but 90% of what they “do”. Now they were all involved. Asking very specific questions about the customers past and helping to focus them on future goals and dreams is the way to make your presentation specific to your customer’s needs.Being “Timely” in this case, was about two things, making sure the audience could see the need for a new and contemporary way of doing business and also that something had to happen quickly to adapt to change in the marketplace. “Timely” was about presenting statistics and examples showing that the new generation of consumers are much more sophisticated in their methods of learning and information-gathering than previous generations. “Timely” also included a list of things that had to happen quickly for these dealers to have a positive impact on the consumers they deal with. I never shared any of my own qualifications until this time in my presentation but now I needed to add credence to my presentation. Make sure that whenever you make a presentation to one person or a hundred, it focuses on what has to happen now to get the desired results in the future. Every presentation needs to end with an action plan, a clear list of things that need to be addresses so that goals are reached.“Orchestrated” is about making sure that everything goes smoothly and all the elements of my presentation blend with each other. Every presentation has to look really “smooth” to be effective. Some of this is common sense. I always come in early (the day before, in this particular case) to check the venue and make sure my equipment is compatible with the AV equipment I am using. I make sure the seating arrangement works for my presentation. I make sure that if I have handouts, they will be striking, colorful and professional-looking. Does the hand-out tie to the slide presentation in look, color and feel? If I am going to ask the group to participate in an exercise (I try to do this as much as possible) I make sure they have pens or pencils and everything they need to be participants. And very much, I rehearse, rehearse and rehearse…to make sure I can make all of my points in the time I have allotted to me. You need to do the same in every presentation you make, rehearse it in front of a mirror or a friend. Arrange your presentation so that everything flows smoothly. If you have handouts, determine in advance, at which point in your presentation you want to share them. Don’t let the handout take the attention away from your presentation, often it should come at the end. If you are using a projector, make sure you have spare parts, and extension cord and other backup supplies. Think it through and rehearse it often.Making successful presentations that really creates change in your audience, whether that audience is one person or 100, is about a lot more than being a dynamic and powerful speaker, it is about doing each presentation with GUSTO.
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NEWS RELEASE: In case you haven’t noticed, the world has changed! Dramatic advances in technology during the past ten years have created more change faster than any previous period in history and guess what fellow sales-folks…success in selling has changed as well!One thing that stayed the same is the importance of establishing trust and building a strong relationship with our customers. Another thing that stayed the same is the importance of finding the unique, specific and individual needs that our customers have and marrying them to the unique values our firm offers.What has changed is how we do that and what it takes to do it successfully!Whether our customers are retail consumers or professional purchasing agents, the internet has changed everything. With a click, buyers can learn every product specification, every competing product or service available in the marketplace, all about our company and even all about us!That is not necessarily a bad thing but it certainly changes what we have to do to be recognized as original and/or to be recognized as offering some unique value. Like Seth Godin says, “the TV-Industrial complex is over and with it comes the end of interruptive marketing and the advent of permission marketing”. So, other than being really remarkable so you stand out from the crowd of competitors, what does that mean to you as a professional salesperson?Just as traditional says there are five P’s in successful marketing (product, price, place, promotion and people) I believe there are also five U’s that we need to memorize, internalize and practice if our future as sales people is to be a positive and long-term one. The five critical U’s are: Unexpected, Unique, Unconventional, Unobtrusive and Unstoppable. Here are the definitions that stand behind my belief in those six U’s:Unexpected is about being creative in our strategic analysis of every sales opportunity and channel. It is about looking for new and additional customers, sales venues and avenues that our competitors have not even dreamt about!If I am selling industrial tools to manufacturing firms, what retailers am I passing while on my routes that could use or re-sell these products also? If I am selling components and equipment to swimming pool contractors to help them be more effective, what landscapers and deck builders am I passing by who might also profit from my products? If I am selling unique products to drug-stores, are gas stations a viable possibility (vice-versa)? If I am selling high-end jewelry in a retail store, what are the possibilities of doing in-home-jewelry parties? How about educational presentations at private women’s clubs? You get the idea!Looking for unexpected channels and potential new customers is best accomplished by structured brainstorming and/or free-thinking exercises while we plan for the coming year and evaluate where we will focus our selling efforts. To be most effective and to gain the most additional sales volume, creativity in planning is critical. You cannot keep doing what you have been doing in the past and expect anything to change for the better! Looking for unexpected sales channels is particularly critical when we are working in mature markets and or slow economic environments. Thinking about possibilities that our competitors are not addressing is the answer to being unexpected.Unique is about developing the products or services that separate us from the competition and making sure that all of our customers and potential customers are well aware of those differences. Unique is about finding niche products and services that cannot be easily turned into commodities. Sometimes uniqueness doesn’t have anything to do with the products we sell: Do you and your competitors both deliver product to the same customers? If so, can you customize schedules or change the delivery hours to be of help and support to your customers? Can you offer 24/7 ordering capability that your competitors can’t? Can you offer unique financing or different terms than your competitors? Can you customize or private-label a product in ways that your competitor can’t?What can you do to customize your services to meet the unique needs of even one of your customers or potential customers? If we wanted to make up a word to cover this uniqueness, it would be; customerization…the ability to make our services fit our customer’s most challenging requirements. Offering something unique and making sure that our customers and potential customers are well aware of the uniqueness is good for sales and good for increasing margins as well!Unconventional is about being truly remarkable in our advertising and promotional messages. If the normal tools for promoting our product or service are being ignored because they are interruptive or obtrusive, it may be time to try something really out of the ordinary. We have to find something that stirs curiosity and sends a message of gain as opposed to interrupting our potential customer’s time or invading her space. Perhaps offering a portion of our product or service for free is the promo that makes it attractive. Perhaps tying our services to an incentive trip or gift makes the customer more willing to listen. Perhaps offering goods or services in multiple languages offers a new more easily understood perspective. Perhaps a message focused on our client’s kids turns his head. Perhaps accessing through some form of social network, physical or digital opens new interests. Perhaps a challenging puzzle that the customer must solve is interesting.Whatever the unconventional approach is, the goal should be to build a list of e-mail addresses, by interest in specific areas of product and service and then to establish rapport and only promote specific and targeted items in our communications.Unobtrusive is being totally cognizant, respectful and appreciative of our customer’s time. This goes beyond the obvious and normal focus on making appointments in advance, planning the call and having the presentation worked out in advance. Being completely unobtrusive requires knowing our customer’s business so well that we only communicate with her when we know the new product or service could be of additional value. It means knowing her schedule so well that we only try to make appointments that fit that schedule.Unobtrusive is also about tapping into the folks that have given us permission to market to them as a result of some of the unconventional things we did above. Now that we have generated e-mail lists from those folks who are interested in what we are selling, it is time to begin a sophisticated set of messages to them. Have we categorized our e-mail lists based on which products or services best fit into their needs? Sending message and programs that are always applicable to our customer’s specific needs means they will always read what we send. It means we have established credibility based on our ability to be unobtrusive but effective suppliers!Unstoppable is about persistence, closing skills, feedback and follow-up. Moving a sale forward or closing a sale is the step that happens when we get a signal that says, “It’s time to stop talking and start writing.” The “writing” could be as simple as scheduling the next call in the process or scheduling a call with a “specialist” or “expert”. The “writing” could be filling out the order. What makes us unstoppable is what we do from that point on.Being unstoppable is about following up on the details, promises and commitments. Most sales people are not very strong in the follow-up area until they get enough experience and maturity to recognize that this is a more solid stream of opportunities and income than cold-calling will ever be!If you are not proficient with the electronic customer relationship management tools your firm provides, get over it! Spend the time and effort needed to become proficient because this is where the money is. Being unstoppable is about using every tool to make sure that relationship with your customer keeps getting stronger. Remembering important dates and events, following up with every task you are committed to and making sure that you use current successes with existing customers to help uncover new opportunities with new customers. That is how tools and good follow-up habits make you more successful.The new, exciting and challenging world of selling in the 21st century is something to be embraced not avoided. Paying attention to the Five U’s can make all of us unbelievably successful and real winners.Ken Rogner, Corporate Sales Trainer, POOLCORP
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This blog was originally written as a white paper for distribution sales success and published in Sales and Service Excellence magazine. I have modified it slightly for this blog. Most of the concepts work just as well in retailing...if you are selling high-ticket items to sophisticated consumers. Check it out and see if you can use some of these tools.All successful salespeople know that the secret to success, particularly at the long-term sales game (read as swimming pool sales wholesale and retail), revolves around trust and relationships that you have built over time. You get that trust and build those relationships by following a set of “sales golden rules”. Here are the ten commandments for building trust and relationships in selling.Five Commandments for Building Trust:1. Never intentionally exaggerate or lie to a customer. Err to the conservative and don’t guess. If you don’t know whether a product can meet the customer’s needs…say so, then dig into all the details until you know the correct answer. Particularly in the early stages of building strong relationships, one bad decision can jeopardize a relationship forever.2. There is no such thing as a “good deal” for you unless it is also a “good deal” for your customer. Everything has to work well in both directions, its why we call it “partnering”. Remember that everything critical is about trusting each other…ten years from now!3. Sometimes the “need” is difficult to uncover because your customer doesn’t know that a solution you have even exists. That is why it is critical that you become an expert at every product and program in your company’s arsenal. Often the customer is happy with the current supplier and the current way of doing things until you demonstrate some new technology or service that uncovers that unknown “need”. Building trust is enhanced by the intelligent introduction of profitable alternatives that your customer has not been aware of in the past.4. Remember that good questioning skills help to determine what the real needs are. This is the best way to make sure you are not proposing a solution that doesn’t really work long-term and help to build the all-important trust factor. Develop your questioning skills that have a legitimate sequence and end up with all parties knowing what the correct choice is.5. Success is all about creating long-term value. You have to know what is important and of value to your customer. Some of that comes from knowing how to ask questions but a lot of that comes from having built a friendship with your customer that allows them to be completely honest and open with you about their needs and wants. There are five more commandments that help to create those friendships…Five Commandments for Building Relationships:6. There is an old saying that goes, “When all things are equal you buy from your friend…when all things are not quite equal…you still buy from your friend”. This old saying is the reason that any programs that give you an opportunity to spend time with your customers in a non-work environment (where friendships are built) are so successful. If you and/or your company has this type of reward program available to your customers, you are blessed! Utilize it to the max and build friendships that are enduring!7. If your company doesn’t employ that kind of sales strategy then you have to find non-work things that you have in common and can build into a strong friendship bond with your customer. In effect, you are creating your own “loyalty” programs for your customers, with the intent of spending time together. How about sports, hunting, fishing, cars or boating? Look for photos in her office and ask questions that help to find common interests. Remember that your goal is to spend time with each other in a non-work environment.8. Building relationships means respecting your customer’s time. Never ask questions about things that you should have learned in advance of every meeting. In today’s internet and Google-world, there is no excuse for you not being prepared with common knowledge easily available to the public. Time-wasters hurt relationships and destroy friendships.9. Be considerate when scheduling meetings. All business leaders (and your potential customers) have hectic schedules but…can you make it a breakfast meeting or a luncheon meeting? Everyone has to eat and it is another opportunity to learn things about your customer that help to build a strong relationship. The old axiom of “breaking bread together” is still a powerful relationship-builder. Make the most of it.10. The final commandment is that you really have to care about your customer’s success if you are her friend and want to have a strong friendship-relationship. Caring about her success begins when you know what her real goals are and then act to help them happen. Real goals may have nothing to do with the day-to-day business but instead revolve around family, health, retirement plans, or a host of other goals. When you discover those real goals, you can begin the process of creating a true friend and building a true relationship.Believing and understanding the ten commandments of trust and relationship building is a great way of insuring long-term success in the sales game. When economic times are challenging…stick to the ten commandments!
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Recently I had a call from the manager of a wholesale distribution sales center in Houston. He had a question, “Is there a ten-step program that I can teach my salespeople to take a customer from prospect to partner?” It got my attention so I probed into his situation.His sales center is part of POOLCORP and he has two full-time outside sales people, one very experienced and one new. There are three other locations of his company in that market. My caller had been traveling with his new salesperson for the first time and, as he watched and listened to the presentation made to a potential customer, he realized how it rambled and lacked a specific overall plan.My caller has been in distribution management for a long time but some of his past training included exposure to sales training from well known authors and consultants. He knew that there was no systematic process involved in the sales call he had viewed and he was hoping for a simple set of steps he could share.His question forced me to reflect on the history of sales training. I realize that sometimes we complicate things because we try to continually improve the process. My caller made me take a look into the past into what the basics of sales education really is. Here is what I came up with.I have read Tom Sant’s book in which he gives the credit for developing a process for selling to John Henry Patterson. In about 1880, Patterson had taken over the rights to a patent for manufacturing a machine called a cash register. His new company was called NCR (National Cash Register). Even though Patterson was a strong believer in this machine and its ability to improve retail businesses, he had serious challenges finding a method for letting the rest of the world know its value. When Patterson held his first national sales meeting in 1886 the company was stuck at a sales volume of about 12 cash registers every month. He shared with his sales people all of the features of the new models and then began questioning them to determine “tips and techniques” they were using to sell these units. He had invited his brother-in-law, Joseph Crane, to attend that first meeting and offer input. Later that year Patterson convinced Crane to join NCR and they soon realized that Crane didn’t need to be technically strong at servicing the machines to be successful at selling them. Crane eventually recognized that he didn’t need to point out every feature of these machines but rather to concentrate only on features that would benefit each specific customer and meet his/her needs. As Crane became the most successful representative for NCR, Patterson worked with him to uncover the “system” that Crane was using. Patterson soon recognized that it was not the script or consistent wording that Crane was using but rather his focus on specific needs of the customer. This was, in effect, the beginning of what we call the consultative approach to selling. Patterson then created a process selling book called the primer, that all of his salespeople were required to follow. The primer system consisted of four basic steps, Approach (identify customer’s problems), Proposition (develop a proposal to show value), Demonstration (show the answer to the problem) and Close (ask for the order).So there, for my friend in Texas, was the start of process selling, a simple set of steps to be used consistently as a system. I could share those basics but he was asking for more. After all, he wanted a roadmap to go from prospecting to partnering.I had to expand my proposal to my new friend. Here is the “simple set of steps” as I presented them:1. Prospecting: This is “digging” to know and understand the marketplace, evaluating the territory first to find where your sales people should focus time and energy. I recommend doing a formal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) Analysis of your sales territory first.2. Know and understand your customer: Learn everything about that target opportunity you can. Check with every independent and manufacturer’s rep for input, use the internet, check with trade publications, pull out all the stops….know your target and as much about her business as possible.3. Approach: Develop a series of questions that generate information about the customer’s need and her definition of value. A well thought out and customized approach is key.4. Proposal: This is step to create a response that comes from the results of the questioning and the matching to our products or services to address the customer’s needs or value. I sometimes call this “marrying” the correct service with the correct need. Sometimes developing the skill that comes with writing good proposals is an additional necessity here.5. Demonstration: This is where we must show that the product or service provides the hoped-for solution. It could be as simple as showing a new product that fills the customer’s needs or as challenging as loading and demonstrating a new B2B software. Here is where product and service education within our respective companies becomes critical.6. Close: This may be the most often taught and yet most avoided portion of every selling system. From trial closes, to dollarizing, to overcoming objections, etc. there are many approaches to this step. My recommendation was to ignore gimmicks; instead have his people develop a comfortable close that is honest and non-manipulative. In his case, as a wholesale distributor, everything is about long term relationship building, so sometimes a very successful close is making another appointment to bring in a specialist or for meeting with additional people on his staff.7. Partnering: Success in sales definitely revolves around follow-up, continual contact and relationship building. This is where the relationship expands to one of trust and a mutual sharing of ideas, opportunities and information. This is the point where a sales person demonstrates to a customer that their loyalty is earned.Obviously, I didn’t end up with a ten step program…only seven. But these steps are the basics as I see them. The steps are somewhat simplistic but I hope they work for my friend in Texas. Developing a system for selling helps assure success, keeping it simple is sometimes the surest way of making that happen.Ken Rogner, Corporate Sales Trainer, POOLCORP
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