Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Square pegs, round holes
Have you ever hired a new sales team member who didn’t work out as you expected? It’s as if you tried to stick a square peg into a round hole. It just doesn’t fit. In the same way, the new sales employee might not be a good match for that position.Not everyone has what it takes to succeed in sales. Sometimes people who excel in other areas just do not fit well in sales. The reason is simple: To thrive in sales, certain key attributes are necessary. These include competitiveness, reliance on self, persistence, energy level and sales drive. In addition, seven important behaviors affect sales performance: prospecting, closing, call reluctance, self-starting ability, teamwork, building and maintaining relationships and compensation preference.
The Profiles Sales Indicator™ measures all of these and produces easy-to-understand reports that show how closely the candidate matches the position. This assessment takes only minutes and can be customized by company, sales position, department, manager, geography or any combination of these. You receive the percentage of job match so you can determine the candidate’s potential to do well in the position.
The Sales Indicator™ also works well as a training guide for your current sales people.
Getting the right peg to fit in the right place the first time makes sense. Achieving a good job match means success for both the employee and your company.
Labels: Assessments, Case_Study, Sales
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Call Center Working to Improve Sales Force
An inbound call center for a neutraceutical and supplement manufacturer was experiencing turnover as high as 500 percent a year. Sales performance among its 60 agents varied widely, with top performers producing as much as six times the average sales of marginal performers.Ten top performers and eight marginal performers were identified in a current study. The 18 agents were instructed to complete the ProfileXT™ online during paid working hours. However, two of the marginal performers were terminated before completing the assessment, leaving six in their group providing data.
To read the rest of this success story, click here.
Labels: Assessments, Case_Study, Sales
Friday, September 12, 2008
A frustrated salesman
A salesman had been calling on the buyer particular firm for almost a year. Unfortunately the buyer had yet to place an order. At the end of each sales call the salesman would remark, “Thank you very much. I wish I had 50 customers like you.”Puzzled, the buyer finally said, “I don’t mind you coming in every week or so to show me your samples. I never buy anything yet you always say the same thing, ‘Thank you very much. I wish I had 50 customers like you.’ Why do you always say that?”
“Well,” replied the salesman with a smile, “right now I have about 200 customers like you. I really do wish I only had 50.”
Life Lesson: Learn how to take “no”
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Getting the big account
Benjamin Franklin was noted as being a creative inventor and statesman. However few have heard what a great salesperson was.A gentleman by the name of Andrew Bradford had been awarded a contract to do all the public prepping for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The fierce competitive nature of Franklin prevented him from accepting this loss of business. After all, Franklin knew he was a better printer and faster than Bradford.
Franklin learned the governor was scheduled to make an important speech in Philadelphia. He took the opportunity to outshine Bradford. Using his best lettering on elegant paper Franklin quickly reprinted the speech and sent it to the governor’s office. Not only did the speech arrived at the governor’s office faster than Bradford’s, the quality was much more appropriate for a governor.
The governor was obviously impressed as the following year Franklin was awarded the contract!
Life Lesson: Be creative in building business
Labels: Anecdote, Creativity, Sales, Strategy
Monday, August 11, 2008
The meat market
Mrs. Smith was very excited as tonight she was going to be able to use her new kitchen for the first time. Just yesterday she had finished unpacking from their move to this quaint rural town from the big city. She ventured into town and found a neat little market. She was surprised that behind the meat counter their only two trays of beef and they looked oddly the same.“What is the price of that meat?” she asked the butcher as she pointed to the tray on the left.
“Its three dollars a pound,” the Butcher replied.
“And what about the other?” she inquired as she pointed to the tray on the right.
“That tray is five dollars a pound,” the butcher informed her.
“Wow, they look the same,” she said in amazement. “What’s the difference between the two trays?”
“Nobody’s ever asked before,” said the butcher. “They are exactly the same.”
“Then why is one $2 more per pound?”
For the Butcher’s answer click here.
Labels: Anecdote, Sales, Strategy
Monday, August 4, 2008
Creativity leads to sales record
With a tough economic environment and stiff competition, New York City florist Max Schling knew he had to try something unique. Simply telling people about his fresh-cut flowers in inventive and exciting arrangements wasn’t enough. He needed a way to get his message to the decision-makers.After giving the situation much thought he decided on a solution that was extremely unconventional. He took out an ad in the New York Times entirely in shorthand.
The business men riding the subway into Manhattan were intrigued by the ad, which appeared in the mid-1960s. Max’s ad aroused their curiosity but they were unable to read the ad because they did not know shorthand. When they got to their offices thousands asked their secretaries to read the ad to them.
Max began receiving orders almost immediately because of what the secretaries read in the ad.
Read what the message by clicking here.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
3 tips for better listening
Okay, I admit it -- I am very bummed this morning. I just read an email from someone with whom I have met at many networking meetings and even met with at their office – not to sell them, but to learn more about what they do and determine the kind of person they are. I have always been extremely impressed. Today I feel much different.
A couple of days ago they contacted me about a seminar they are working on which will look at workplace tragedies. The person knows who my prospects are and thought the seminar would be a good fit.
There is one aspect of my life I do not openly share on a one-to-one basis because of the emotions and mental images it evokes in me and others. But I felt it could be a great message so I replied that one of my keynote address is “Overcoming Life’s Disappointments”. In it I relate the story about when I learned my 2-year old son had been killed. I share the personal aspects of overcoming tragedy as well as the support that was beneficial (and not so helpful) from my boss, employer, staff, and co-workers.
The reply I got was very stark: “We are all set with speakers for this year but I will keep that in mind for sure for next year. Are you interested in exhibiting though?”
Not a word such as “Sorry about your loss”.
Just an attempt to sell me a booth.
I was not looking for pity or sympathy but a little empathy would have been appreciated.
Rather than sit here and wallow in pity I thought I would share with you what life has taught me about reacting to unexpected, surprising, or tragic news. We may not hear such things the first time we network with someone, but as relationships build, they come up.
- Listening is the art of multitasking. Always listen with both your heart and your head. Networkers are usually good about listening with their head, but skip the heart part. This is the aspect of learning about the other person from a level that will reveal if you can truly work together and how they will relate to those to whom you refer them.
- Empathy begins with listening. Empathy is the ability to get into another person head and better understand them. It is the key to long, strong relationships, life-long customers regardless of price, and knowing how you can provide true value within a business or personal relationship. It starts by listening with your ears and eyes. Do not focus on mere words. See the body language that goes with the words.
- Listening requires a response. When you here something surprising, funny, or tragic do not discard it. Sure you may not know the perfect words to say but saying nothing is even worse. A simple “I’m never knew that” or “I’ll keep you in my prayers” or “Tell me more” are all ways to show you are about more than just money.
I hope this posting is beneficial to you and that it reinforces your commitment to fully listen to those with whom you network, sell, or employ.
Labels: Communication, Customer_Service, Entrepreneur, Sales, Traits
Monday, July 7, 2008
Hats at the boutique
Because her niece had offered to manage her small neighborhood boutique the store’s proprietor was able to take her first vacation in years. Trying not to be overly demanding, the aunt left only two instructions. First was to simply maintain friendly, courteous relationships with the customers. The second was, time permitting, she throw out two racks of old hats that the aunt had been meaning to discard but had not had the opportunity.Upon her return the proprietor noticed the shop had been well shopped and much of the inventory had been sold.
“You must have been very busy,” the aunt inquired.
“Yes, there were a lot of customers while you were gone,” the niece said.
“Did you have to mark anything down?” asked the aunt.
“Oh, no! Everything sold at full price,” the niece reassured the aunt.
Surprised and pleased, the aunt then noticed that not only did the niece sell a record number of items, she had been able to discard the two racks of hats.
“Was there enough room in the trash?” the aunt asked.
“Well, I didn’t actually throw them out,” said the entrepreneurial niece, “I sold them too.”
“How on earth did you manage that, they had been here for a year or more?”
“It was simple,” replied the niece. “All I did was . . .”
To find out what the niece did to sell all the hats at full price, click here.
Life Lesson: When people perceive value, price is not an abject.
Labels: Acronym, Creativity, Sales
Saturday, July 5, 2008
RV Sales are tough these days
Unless you can clone your top salespeople
A recreational vehicle dealer with a long history of steady growth and success had positioned itself to take advantage of the explosive growth of the RV market over the past three years. The dealer’s primary challenge: identifying salespeople likely to excel in their three stores. The company’s high visibility and reputation for excellence makes it an employer of choice in its markets. The company has a good applicant flow and it can afford to be selective.
An analysis of the company’s sales data, however, shows it suffers from the pervasive 80-20 rule of sales: their top producers are outselling their bottom producers by over 500 percent!
At the same time, turnover is unacceptably high in the sales force, with many new salespeople failing within six months of hire. In an industry where a dealer may spend over $1,000.00 just to provide the opportunity for a salesperson to spend time with a qualified buyer, the lost opportunity cost at this failure rate is enormous.
To read the rest of this case study, click here.
A recreational vehicle dealer with a long history of steady growth and success had positioned itself to take advantage of the explosive growth of the RV market over the past three years. The dealer’s primary challenge: identifying salespeople likely to excel in their three stores. The company’s high visibility and reputation for excellence makes it an employer of choice in its markets. The company has a good applicant flow and it can afford to be selective.An analysis of the company’s sales data, however, shows it suffers from the pervasive 80-20 rule of sales: their top producers are outselling their bottom producers by over 500 percent!
At the same time, turnover is unacceptably high in the sales force, with many new salespeople failing within six months of hire. In an industry where a dealer may spend over $1,000.00 just to provide the opportunity for a salesperson to spend time with a qualified buyer, the lost opportunity cost at this failure rate is enormous.
To read the rest of this case study, click here.
Labels: Assessments, Case_Study, Sales
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Selling vacuums can be dirty work
Nancy opened the door to find the smiling face of a well-polished salesperson. “Good afternoon,” he said, “May I have a moment of your time to demonstrate the newest technology in vacuum cleaners?”“I haven’t got any money,” she said as she started to close the door.
But the salesperson had moved his foot into the door well, preventing its closure. “But Madame, you at least owe it to yourself to see the demonstration.” No quicker were the words out of his mouth than he was emptying a bag of dirt onto the carpet.
Although she looked panicked he reassured her, “if this does not pick up all the dirt I will personally eat it.”
Without missing a beat she replied, “Well I hope you have a good appetite because they turned off my electricity this morning.”
It is important for salespeople to take the time to establish rapport before starting and sales presentation. Had this salesperson been listening when she said she had no money he would not have had to eat dirt later.
Life Lesson: Salespeople need to build relationships.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Cloning top recruiters
Squandering leads is detrimental for any sales organization. But how embarrassing could it be to a staffing agency to have lack-luster salespeople. After all, if they cannot hire great people for their own company, how could they find the best people for others?One staffing agency found a way to duplicate their best salespeople. Click here to read the case study.
Labels: Assessments, Case_Study, Sales
Monday, April 14, 2008
Transitioning from salesperson to VP
Being the top salesperson does not necessarily equate to being a great Vice President of Sales. Leading a large sales organization is a completely different skill set and being able to close sales.This was a painful lesson when a leading salesperson at a home-building company accepted an offer to become vice president of sales.
To continue reading this case study, click here.
Labels: Case_Study, Sales
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Gaining Confidence in Sales Organization
Ad agency achieves 22 Return on Investment
If you measured sales people by their productivity do you think you could hire with confidence? If you were one of your own salespeople, could you measure up to the best in the business?
At one advertising agency they were able to successfully answer these questions.
Read how in a new case study by clicking here.
If you measured sales people by their productivity do you think you could hire with confidence? If you were one of your own salespeople, could you measure up to the best in the business? At one advertising agency they were able to successfully answer these questions.
Read how in a new case study by clicking here.
Labels: Case_Study, Sales
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Negotiation Skills
Here is a light-hearted look at customers that are only interested in the lowest price possible. The next time you are in intense negotiations, think of this video to reduce your stress.
Labels: Anecdote, Humor, Negotiation, Sales, Stress, Video
Friday, January 11, 2008
They think they're successful - - but they're not
Not too long ago I was at a luncheon of local business leaders. At my table were two of the owners of the city’s automobile dealers. Referring to the practice in the Detroit area of advertising cars at the employee discount price, someone asked them what percentage of cars they sold to the employees of their particular make. One said in a boastful fashion, “somewhere between 80 and 85%”. The other was asked the same question, replying, “about the same for me.”It was shocking to see how proud they were to have such a high percentage as these sales are at the lower end of the profitability scale.
My thoughts immediately turned to the local Toyota dealer. How many of his sales are to employees? Not 80%, not 70%, not even 50%. None, zero, nil, nada, zip sales to employees. Are his sales only 20% of the sales of each of the other two? I doubt it. Not with the glitz of his showroom.
So what’s the problem?
The problem with the proud pair is that they are accepting their current results. They are not hungry enough to go after more profitable sales. They accept the ratio of sales, projecting the same expectations onto their sales force. I am confident they have passed on this doomed feeling to their sales people, probably saying that it is not worth the effort to try to get the higher margin sales – after all everyone in the Detroit area works for one of the major automobile manufacturers.
They have created a sales culture focused on failure!
Read the rest of this story to learn how to create a culture of sales success by clicking here.
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