A Key Ingredient for Sales and Service Success

Can you feel the love? The like? The Dislike? The Frustration?

Do you have the ability to figuratively step into another's shoes and feel what they do?

Can you look up from your smartphone and connect with someone else? Can you stand not being the center of your universe?

Why do I ask these questions? Simple. Being able to communicate effectively requires the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Only when we can empathize and sympathize with others can we truly find the common ground necessary for any kind of relationship - either business or personal.

We need to connect with people. At it's very heart, sales and service is about forging connections - with suppliers, with co-workers, with customers and prospects. Companies who take a "this is what we sell, this is how we service" attitude without taking into consideration the needs of others will not find themselves successful in business for very long. Sales and service personnel will not find themselves employed for long either. 

Walk a mile in someone's shoes. 

Planning for the Unexpected

These back-to-back snow storms we've been getting here in the New York metro area over the last few weeks are reminding me of what I came to call "Jo Ann's Excellent Adventure". 

Several years ago, I was working with a client in the Chicago area. A quick "there and back again" overnight business trip wound up lasting 2 days longer than expected due to the weather. I watched the last flight out of O'Hare take off for Phoenix before everything shut down. Unfortunately, that's not where I needed to go. 

Yet oddly enough, I managed to get back to NJ a full 26 hours before the flight I was re-booked on was due to land. Remember this tip: Trains go when planes don't. 20 hours on the train can be preferable to waiting around for the next flight.

Here's my point: it's always wise to have back up plans. This is true whether it's for winning an account or just getting home. As soon as I was told the earliest flight I could get home on would be 3 days later, I immediately knew to call Amtrak - where they not only booked me on the train but transferred me to hotels.com so I could get a room for the night.

I had a strategy for alternative ways to achieve my goal. Do you have alternative strategies in place in achieve yours?  If not, take the time to do so. You'll be happier with your sales efforts (and home faster!) 

Customer Service Tips for Meet & Greets from Dale Carnegie Blog

I usually don't post articles here, but this caught my eye. Basic but important:

Customer Service Tips for Meet & Greets | Dale Carnegie | Dale Carnegie Blog

What are your thoughts?

No Small Stuff

I've always disliked the phrase "don't sweat the small stuff". It's always seemed to me that one of the best ways to accomplish big things is to build on the smaller stuff we have to deal with. I get that it's important not to get bogged down with meaningless details but we have to make sure that we aren't justifying sloppy shortcuts in the name of not fretting the smaller things. Below is a great quote from Dale Carnegie on the subject. (If you've not read Dale Carnegie - run,do not walk to your nearest library, bookstore or download his work. Seriously.)

"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves."  ~Dale Carnegie

You see, if you aren't sweating the small stuff, you never get into the habit of sweating the big stuff. It really is about sweating all the time. I had a yoga instructor who liked to say that the way you do anything is the way you do everything.  It's about developing the habits that will yield results - in all areas of your life. If you are in sales, do you try to make that extra presentation each week? If you are making outbound phone calls to sell or generate leads, do you try to make just one more call each hour? In service, do you try to expedite each transaction in order to serve your customers quickly and effectively - with a smile and yet without making them feel rushed?

You are judged every day in many ways. What may seem small to you may be big to someone else. In the end it really all comes down to character. Are you the kind of person who puts forth their best effort all the time or do you skimp if you don't think anyone's looking? (and believe, these days, everyone's looking)  

Doing your best, all day, every day pays off. You may not see the results immediately, but you will see the fruits of your efforts over time.

What are your thoughts?

Do Your Selling Expectations Match Your Customers Needs and Wants?

It's been the rage for at least 2 decades now for sales people to sell consultatively. We don't sell on price, we don't sell on features. We DO build relationships with the key stakeholders in a company and show them how not only our products but our company - our support staff, salespeople, management are all there to get them the best experience possible.


But, what if that's not what they want? What if really they just want your product, your service and that's it? Oh, they'll happily go through the motions of getting to know you. After all, they need to know you're trustworthy and can deliver. But what if you are thinking of the selling relationship as consultative and the customer sees it as transactional?

A transactional sale is considered to be a sale that is based on price, features, and for many a one-time opportunity. A buyer is not looking to extend the relationship beyond what they consider to be the end of the project. Many companies find themselves falling into these catch-22's. They build relationships, complete their project, make recommendations for updating - that never happen. For some clients, the band-aid, the quick fix is all they want. Now, I may cringe at that but how I feel doesn't matter. What matters is what the buyer wants.


When we sell we must put our selves in our buyers' shoes. We must discover what is important to our buyers and sell to that. That doesn't mean we should put away our consultative skills, we simply need to make sure that we understand the needs of the buyer. We need to understand their perspective. In the end, it's the buyer's perspective that counts - not ours.

Managing to be the BEST

Today you're a salesperson, tomorrow you may be asked to lead a team, supervise a group or manage a department. Whenever you find yourself in a position of needing/using others to help you accomplish goals, you'll want to be able to manage or motiviate others to their peak performance. 

Whether you're a manager of a traditional sales or service department, a distributor with a downline, or a team leader for a sales account, the way to improve productivity is not just through training but by providing regular reinforcement. People perform best when they know what's expected of them. The best way to do this is by actively reinforcing behaviors. Here are some tips.


Give positive feedback promptly
This reinforces positive behavior.
TIP The sooner the positive feedback is given after the actual performance of the activity, the greater it's influence. The longer the time period between the action and the reinforcement, the less influence the feedback has. So don't wait for a meeting: DO IT NOW!


Give specific positive feedback.
Be as specific as possible.
TIP Give examples by repeating the words or the techniques used.


Reinforce small achievements
TIP Even if skill mastery is not complete, let people know you are aware of their improvements.


Give negative feedback privately
This enables employee to receive appropriate feedback along with suggestions for improvement without loss of face.
TIP Public shaming (i.e. calling someone out during a meeting) will not increase performance. Rather it breeds resentment and turnover. After all, who wants to work in that type of environment? Keep it private and keep comments focused on behavior related to speicfic job performance.


Everyone learns and masters skills at a different pace. If an employee or team member is not showing improvement, ask these questions:

• Do they know what is expected?
• Have they been given appropriate training?
• Have they been given a specific time frame for mastering the skill?
• What are the consequences for non-performance?
• What are the rewards for performance?

People want to succeed. Increase your success by helping them do so.

Filling the Funnel: It's Important

Among the best ways to keep a steady flow of customers and sales revenues is to make sure that you always have opportunities in your sales funnel. What's a sales funnel? A sales funnel is the group of potential accounts you are working on.

Everyone you call on - suspects, prospects , current customers - gets dumped into the funnel together. However, they will move through the funnel at varying rates.

• Some will just disapperar. 
• Some suspects will remain just that and not progress any futher. Remember, prospects are those suspects who have a viable need, budget for and want your products. 
• You will have customers that may continue to come back to you to service their needs. 

All will have varying places in the funnel.

But here's the problem: we can get so caught up in closing certain accounts that we forget to push additional suspects and prospects through the funnel. This eventually will cause your sales rate to slow down or stop.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

No matter how big that potentials sale is, make sure it does not consume you. Continue your prospecting efforts and take time every week to make sure that you are continuing to add potential accounts in to your funnel. 

Create a Calling Plan

• Regardless of where you get your names/contacts from, you must have a plan for implementing your calling efforts. In some firms, this will be done for you. In others, you are on your own to decide how you wish to spend your calling time.

• There are 4 types of calls
• Prospect: People/Organizations you haven't done business with before
• Customers/Clients: People/Organizations that either are currently doing business with you or have done so in the immediate past
• Lapsed Customers: People/Organizations that did business with your some time ago
• Call backs: People who are currently part of your calling cycle.  They may be prospects, customers or lasped customers. In each case you have not yet concluded your sales cycle. 

Make sure you have all 4 represented in your funnel. Without taking the time to manage your funnel, you will not get the results you want. To a certain extent, this is about time management, but it's time management focused on the best ways to acheive your sales goals. You can make all the calls you want, but if you aren't filling and then managing your sales funnel, you are just spinning your wheels in the mud.