Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

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“THE PITFALLS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE”
By Andrea Nierenberg  

Recently I was on a business trip, and when I came out of my hotel room to get into my car, there was a small card on my windshield that read: “Thanks for staying with us. We’ve cleaned your windshield to help your day start off right. We hope to see you again soon!” They certainly will. While it was not a five-star hotel, this simple little act made a five-star impression, because the hotel branded in my mind the word “care,” which equals excellent customer service.

Many businesses work to make such an impression, yet fail. Why? Because somewhere along the way they were unable to keep up the momentum, and fell into a pit of mediocrity. Such a pit is created when the simplest acts of customer service are either not reinforced or are forgotten.

Poor service is the number one reason American companies lose business. Research conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) has shown that 68% of clients stop doing business with a company because of poor service. Another AMA study revealed that 90% of clients who ceased doing business with a company made no attempt to tell the firm why. What is even worse is that the average dissatisfied customer tells up to ten others of his or her dissatisfaction, yet the average satisfied client tells only five people. Tom Peters says that it takes $10 of new business to replace $1 of lost business.

To avoid the pitfalls of customer service, a company can follow a five step process:

• Help staff clearly understand that little mistakes can lead to major negative consequences.
• Teach employees to be sensitive to the customer’s time frame.
• Show how complacency and assumptions about customers are detrimental.
• Improve the protocol of business relationships.
• Use personal notes to enhance customer relationships.

HOW TO ILLUSTRATE THE EFFECTS OF POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Our staff may think that poor customer service, now and then, will not negatively impact business. The following illustration shows that for some customers, one mistake with a client could too many.

A woman was once mistreated by a salesperson in a grocery store. Since she had been a customer for three years, it would appear that this incident should not have affected her loyalty to the store. However, this one act poor customer service caused her to switch stores.

Twelve years later, she returned to the original store and decided to tell the owner what happened. He listened intently, apologized, and thanked her for coming back, then went right over to his calculator. He estimated that if she had spent only $25.00 a week for twelve years, he could have possibly lost about $15,600. If she had been happy, she probably would have referred others. The owner also estimated that if this woman referred five other people to his store, at the same buying level, they could have spent as much as $75,000.

The above illustration spells out that one seemingly minor mistake can have negative consequences. The reality is that customers only see the attitude that is being presented and whether a salesperson rushes a customer, is not respectful, or simply allows “having a bad” impact how they relate to a customer, it means bad service to customers.

One way to prevent mistakes, like the one above, is by making great customer service a priority at all levels. Unfortunately, for many companies this is not the case. Information gathered by the Service Management Research Group shows that 92% of CEOs say that the quality of customer service is the number one reason businesses succeed. However, when branch managers were given the same survey, they placed customer service below such priorities as short term financial results.

Leading by example is one of the best ways to help your staff get their priorities in line with the company’s. According to research conducted by The Nierenberg Group, 95% of sales employees said that better interpersonal communications would help motivate them to do a better job. Here are some tactics that you can use with your staff that will encourage better communications with customers:

• Openness and friendliness - management can show staff members how to be professional and personable at the same time.
• Offer assistance - managers should work towards being more proactive with their staff. When employees seem to be unhappy, it is important for managers to recognize that early, before that unhappiness is shared with customers.
• Give 110% automatically - While employees should expect that their requests to management will be addressed in a timely and proper fashion, managers can go the extra mile by giving a fast response to employee concerns and offer additional help.

When you do the above, you can expect your staff to treat customers with greater respect. You will find them listening to customer requests more carefully, and, most importantly, you will see how employees will better handle interpersonal communications with customers.

You can further inspire your people when acknowledge them for following your leadership. This can be done by saying “thank you” in the following ways:

• Give them a personalized handwritten note on company stationary.
• Send a personalized e-mail or faxes, you can also send a copy of it to someone else in management.
• Give them a small gift like cookies or candy.

In order to ensure that staff members improve their attitudes, managers need to lead by example.

SETTING YOUR PEOPLE TO CUSTOMERS’ CLOCKS

Whose clock really counts? Most companies have had customers who do not respond in a timely fashion. A corporation’s attitude might be, “we have sales goals to achieve,” or, “We must get all the customer complaint letters off our desk right away.” So how can we move the customer service process forward without “pushing” the customer too hard?

When a customer does not call back after we have given him or her a great offer, it is critical that we do not badger the customer with demanding follow-up calls. These are the types of calls that try to disguise the real question, “I think it’s time we close the deal or resolve this issue.”, or, “What’s taking you so long?” Calls should never be harsh or impersonal because they can do more harm than good.

These types of calls can be avoided when earlier conversations includes a couple of questions, such as, “When do you need the product delivered by?” or, “When will you get back to me with the details of your complaint?” While attempting to move things forward, a company can become trapped by an internal deadline that will offend customers.

Another stumbling block for customers can be when we rush communications. This can occur when we hurrying off the phone or send correspondence that is not carefully written. It tells the customer that you are trying to get through the process in a cold and mechanical way. Even when we have long lists of customers to handle, it can take very little effort to develop a personalized approach.

Here are three ways to do it:

• Ask the customer how he or she wants the issue to be handled. Some people prefer that everything be done in writing, while others would rather receive a quick phone call letting them know that everything has been done. While your company might have good policies and procedures that must be followed, never lose sight of unique customer requests.
• Check on customers long after the problem. Many companies quickly process customer concerns. However, long-term follow-up is just as important. Encourage your people to mark their calendars for a month after the problem was resolved. Then have them call customers and do three things: 1.Thank them for their business; 2. ask them if everything is still going as they want it to; and 3. let them know that no issue is too small to be addressed.
• Put a preventative plan in place. Customers often take their business elsewhere because mistakes are repeated. While we might do our best to fix the problem each time, the customer may lose patience. If your shipment to the customer is going to be delayed again, call the customer in advance, let he or she know, and offer to use a faster service at your expense.

We must also remember that our customers may have co-workers, who we do not communicate with directly, who are also evaluating our service.

One way to address this issue is by building relationships with support staff or departments you come in contact with. These are the people who are familiar with your relationship to your client. Here are some examples to of people to consider:

• The assistant. If your main contact has an assistant, get to know that person very well. A good assistant often has as much, or even more, information than the person with whom you work with. Call him or her up, have a casual conversation, and ask up front if he or she has any advice on the best way to interact with others in the office.
• The main receptionist. This person is usually seated at “information central.” He or she can help you solve problems when your client is away. This person might also provide you an insight into the company. You can learn what is the best time to make calls, or who else at the company can be potential customers. The way to finish this process is to send the receptionist a thank you note or a small gift that shows appreciation for his or her help.
• Accounts payable department. When possible, we need to separate our direct contact from his or her accounts payable department. Our direct contact is usually more interested in the details of what they are buying from us. Therefore, when we get to know accounts payable person, her or she can help us with the details related to purchase orders and payments schedules. This give us more time to focus on selling and customers service with our direct contact.

ASSUME = LOSE

Even customers we know “like the back of our hand” will change over time. Too often assumptions are made about how long-time customers will respond to us. Realize that anything that is living needs constant nourishment, regardless of how old it is. Many times companies stop nurturing customer relationships after they have matured.

As time goes by, the same level of service becomes less effective. The lure of competitors will encourage customers to reevaluate their loyalty to existing vendors or service providers. A question that needs to be asked is, “What is the incentive for customers to stay for five or ten years?”

National studies and data can tell us about customer attitudes, wants, and needs. However, these can never replace a personalized approach to keeping customers for the long run. Here are three things that can be done to personalize customer communications:

• Survey your customers when you do business in person or on the phone. Ask them if they would mind answering a few questions to help you better understand their needs. This provides a personal approach to surveying than that simply mailing out the forms and waiting for them to be returned.
• A personalized newsletter can also make long time customers feel special. One way to do this is by taking a company newsletter or brochure and adding a personal note on it.
• When a customer makes a complaint, you usually do everything possible to fix the problem. To make your response have an even more favorable impression on the customer, bring the complaint to someone at a higher level at your company. Then ask that person to contact the customer and offer their apology as well. It will tell your long-term customer that his or her business is appreciated.

When we first make promises and proposals to customers, we do everything we can to push away the competition. Unfortunately, sometimes we lose that enthusiasm with later proposals. We give them the same old “bells and whistles.” Our challenge now is to discover what we can give them that will continue to excite them and keep their interest. Here are some suggestions:

• Ask “dream” questions. After a period of time, you probably know what your customer needs. However, what is it that the customer dreams and hopes for? Inquire what it is that can be done for him or her that would exceed their expectations.
• Increase contact frequency. Sometimes our staff assumes that long time customers will always be there, even if we let an extensive period of time go by without calling. That is a bad assumption because that is just when a competitor will be knocking on our customer’s door. This means we need to find ways to stay in touch with more frequently. The challenge is to do it in such a way as not to become annoying. This might include: mailing a newspaper clipping of an article of interest, writing an E-mail that includes an inspiring quote, or remembering an anniversary or birthday with a card.

• Ask customers for advice. If our staff has done their homework, they should be experts in their field.

However, sometimes experts like to lecture instead of listen. Seeking a customer’s advice and carefully listening to it can improve relations because it is one way to elevate your customer’s ego. Encourage your people to do formal or informal surveys with clients. They can survey customers about trends they predict in the industry, or they can ask for advice about which trade or civic organizations are the best to be involved with.

IMPROVING PROTOCOL

Above all else, people want to be respected. They want respect for their position, they want respect for their thoughts and ideas, and they want respect from business contacts. There is a fine line between becoming “buddies” with a client and keeping a distance that appears cold and uncaring.

The first challenge is how our staff addresses customers, particularly new customers. The rule of thumb is to always address someone formally with a “Mr.” or “Ms.” until they give you permission to call them by their first names. It doesn’t matter whether it is the receptionist or CEO of a company. The impression your people make at any level can echo throughout the company.

Finding a decision maker often requires talking to several people. All along the way, we leave messages and a trail of conversations which lead to the right person. Some of those conversations may involve a “gate keeper” who has tried to keep us out.

In addition, we often have to “step around” or “go over” people in order to get to the right person. However, when that happens, there could be a consequence, because the people we go around may hold it against us. It is important that we and our staff remember to cover our tracks. Therefore, instruct your staff to quickly mend fences by apologizing to the people that they had to go around. It may be difficult, but in the long run, it will lead to better customer relations.

Improved protocol can also result from us reinforcing some basic customer service skills that can be easily forgotten. While many recent advances in customer service is technology-based, such as better data management, computer programs that reminds us to call people, and sophisticated direct mail, these can never replace interpersonal interactions with customers.

Here are some of the basic skills that require constant reinforcement:

• Have telephone sales and service people put a small mirror on their desk with the word “smile” above it as a way to remind them to have a cheerful attitude and to smile even on the phone.
• Encourage people to use plain English when dealing with new customers. Often people try to impress others with industry jargon, and the customers feel alienated.
• Ask people to write outlines of sales pitches and responses to customer service issues. This is not a telemarketing script, but a guideline to help people remember all the key points that must be addressed for each customer contact.
• Find non-threatening ways to quiz your staff on product or service knowledge. Sometimes our people remember only a limited number of the benefits we offer clients. A pop quiz now and then will encourage them to better know what they sell.

POWER-OF-THREE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS

If there’s one theme in the customer relationship management business it is to find ways to personally connect with each and every customer. One powerful way to do that is to use “the power of three.”

“The power of three” requires your staff to follow-up with three customers a day by writing a brief “thank you” note. The goal is to plant seeds to show customers how much you personally appreciate their business. Here are some good examples where personal notes work particularly well:

• ”The big problem.” This type of follow-up note requires a big “I’m sorry.” This would be the customer that ranted and raved even though your company made everything right.
• ”The win/win resolution.” If a customer has been very cooperative in solving a problem, a note of appreciation can be sent. It really expresses, “Thanks, you made my day by being patient.”
• ”Gone but not forgotten.” If we lose a customer, a follow-up note can be the best seed planted for a future reconciliation. It’s a sign of true strength when we can admit that the customer was right, that we were wrong, and that we will truly miss his or her business. However, this note should express the hope that you might be able to do business in the future.

The United States Postal Service tells us that only 4% of the mail is personalized. Therefore sending notes will put your company ahead of 96% of the competition.

Almost every customer service pitfall can be avoided by remembering four words:

• Dependability
• Efficiency
• Understanding
• Reassurance

When we discover the potential customer relations pitfalls, then we have the power to prevent them. It requires us to encourage our staff to keep their egos in check, and give the customers the respect they deserve and desire. And as time goes by, fewer and fewer traps will be in your company’s path.

 Andrea Nierenberg’s networking advice has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Chicago Tribune. She is the author of “Nonstop Networking: How to Improve Your Life, Luck, and Career” (Capital Books). Ms. Nierenberg works with leading companies to improve interpersonal communications for management and staff. She offers keynote addresses and custom-designed programs on motivational techniques, networking tactics, and presentation skills.Visit Andrea’s site here

This week only:Win a signed copy of Andrea’s latest book - just simply leave me a comment with your networking tip, and I will enter you in the draw on Saturday - simple as that!

In my view, when preparing a business development strategy you should plan out the whole year and review / revise quarterly.

• List your existing accounts and plan what activities / actions need to be completed in order to fully exhaust all opportunities. You may for instance, plan to cover more bases within the decision making unit or contact associated companies or offices. A Strategic Account Profile can be used as a prompt.

• Begin to target new accounts using business directories etc. and set targets per week / month / quarter i.e. I normally allow for eight hours per week as a minimum (Don’t forget to continually refer back to your Ideal Profile)

• Then build in what assistance you need from your marketing function – i.e. qualified leads, seminars, exhibition attendance etc.

• Finally share your plan with your manager and then commit to it.

You should also measure it against S.M.A.R.T.E.R. i.e. is it:

S.pecific
M.easurable
A.chievable
R.elevant
T.imed
E.xciting
R.ecorded

Linking With Your Commercial Plan:

I have suggested that your Business Development Strategy, would link with your Master Business Plan but logically you should also integrate it into your Commercial Kit(this is a document that outlines your monthly,quarterly and annual targets) – specifically the areas that deal with new business generation, account management and development, four tier account lists etc.

These three documents when combined should drive and guide you through the next twelve months and beyond.

Summary:
As I have said often enough “People do not fail because they planned to fail but rather because they failed to plan”
The man who knows where he wants to go is more likely to get there, he just has to decide how to get there. All plans are essentially maps and guides; the strategic element is the ‘How’.

Do be prepared to change course, flexibility is key, and don’t be afraid to experiment, look outside the square.

Tomorrow: The JF Guest Author Spot welcomes back Andrea Nierenberg with a superb piece:”The Pitfalls Of Customer Service”

This week only - your chance to win a signed copy of Andrea’s new book: Just leave me a comment sharing a networking tip, to be entered into the draw on Saturday - it’s as simple as that!

Relationship marketing is no longer a new buzz word and obviously it’s here to stay. It’s all about looking at your customers and your relationship with them in a new light. Rather than develop a product or service and market it to the customers, relationship marketers think about what the customers want and adapt their product development strategy accordingly.

It’s about customisation to meet the needs of the individual. Relationship marketing is based on getting feedback and using it to develop and improve your service. Earlier it was suggested that companies make it as easy as possible for customers to complain. In relationship marketing, feedback is sought before a complaint occurs.

This helps to:
• Identify potential problem areas before the customer does.
• Customise.

For many companies it has become practice to encourage customers to provide such information via the website. You need good quality of information if you are to have a two-way relationship with your customer.

Customer Expectations:

Have customers changed? – In a word Yes!
• They are more demanding
• Have higher expectations
• Have a more pressurised lifestyle
• Want everything but don’t necessarily want to pay for it
• Are less tolerant
• Want more for their money, time and effort
• Are much more aware of their rights – influenced by consumer rights programmes
• Are driven by customer service issues in their own workplace
• Are more likely to seek recommendation from friends and colleagues than rely on advertising
• Are driven by new technology – particularly the internet

BUT – the key to supplier differentiation lies within these increased expectations, since customers now value closer links with efficient, competent suppliers who are willing to act as long term allies.

And Finally:

Some key lessons on keeping abreast of customer needs and minimising complaints:

• Use as much of the available technology as possible – make it work for the customer
• Focus on customers as individuals
• Listen and act on what they say
• Increase the value of each customer – especially in the long term
• Welcome complaints – always, always, welcome complaints.

That’s it for another week - if you haven’t been across to Leadership Turn and left me your thoughts on improvements we could make, there is still plenty of time. Have a great w/e - JF

The JF Guest Author Spot

“Ethical Selling” by John Bradley Jackson

For most of us, knowing the difference between right and wrong is pretty clear, but sometimes doing the right thing is hard to do. Or, let’s say we are challenged to make the right choices.

Our government helps us out with our decision making process about right and wrong by making laws that specifically tell us what is right and what is wrong. It is illegal to shoplift. It is a legal requirement to properly label the ingredients on food products. While there is an occasional debate about the meaning of laws, we generally understand what is acceptable and what is not. Conveniently, these laws are enforced.

Ethical behavior is a slightly different matter, since ethics are established and maintained by the culture and they are not always written down or specifically communicated. If you find a wallet at a gas station that has $100 cash in it, the ethical thing to do is to contact the owner and return the wallet with the cash. If you go through the checkout line at a department store and the “new” cashier gives you back too much change, the ethical choice is to tell the cashier about the error. The challenge with ethics is that you are in charge of managing your own code of ethics.

Sales people deal with ethical challenges all the time. Maybe you have faced issues like these:

- Should I tell the customer about my product’s quality problems?
- My customer’s purchase order had the wrong price on the order (it was higher than what you quoted). Should I tell them?
- My expense account is to be used for selling expenses only, but how would my company know the difference between a personal expense and a customer expense?
- Your product was not made to the customer’s specification, but was shipped anyway. Do you tell them or do hope that they don’t notice?

Your own code of ethics helps make the little decisions easier along with the big ones. When you always tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything; it is easier this way. When you do the ethical thing, you have little regret or remorse about your choices.

So, what does a sales person’s code of ethics look like? Here are a few ideas:

- Always tell the truth.
- Don’t lie through omission; tell the whole story including the bad parts.
- Always do what you promise; if you can, deliver more than what you promise.
- When you fail to deliver on a commitment, tell the customer immediately. Don’t wait for them to find out.
- When in doubt about a choice, seek advice from a mentor (I.E. someone you admire and is ethical).
- Put your promises in writing to hold yourself accountable; this will also document your good behavior when you deliver what you promised.
- Treat your customer like you would like to be treated.

Do the right thing.

John Bradley Jackson brings street-savvy sales and marketing experience from Silicon Valley and Wall Street. His resume also includes entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate trainer, philanthropist, and consultant. His book is called “First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing”.

Check out his website at: http://www.firstbestordifferent.com or his blog at http://www.firstbestordifferent.com/blog

This is a question that I am asked frequently and this is what I think:

Most sales training companies have a unique philosophy and therefore a specialised approach. Perhaps they are strong in the area of selling business value to board level members at the expense of competitive positioning. Perhaps attention on strategies for winning very complex sales situations dilutes their efforts toward working with students on the details and tactics that they need to execute in order to win—down to the actual words they need to be saying and to whom.

A training company that specialises in one or more areas of sales expertise will not necessarily perceive or look for your requirements in other areas. If the training/consulting provider is left to define your approach, there will more than likely be a gap in the methodology, and of course a resultant gap in the subsequent training.

One way to handle this is to employ two independent providers. One would assist in assessing your situation, defining your requirements, and perhaps in building your methodology. The second would provide the training and would be evaluated and selected based upon their ability to meet your specific (and complete) requirement set. That would insure that the first provider would not be defining your requirements to meet their expertise.

The best alternative is to employ a firm that is completely independent of any training or sales consulting provider and can offer the proper guidance throughout these steps to achieve the best possible result. Important to any company that makes an investment in sales team development is measurement.

Benchmarking current levels of performance, setting reasonable goals and objectives based upon a careful assessment of the situation and measuring progress against those goals is a necessary, but for the large part overlooked component of most training initiatives.

When progress is at or above plan, everyone is encouraged, motivated and continue to perform and excel. If expectations are not being met, the opportunity exists for immediate problem diagnosis and adjustment, assuring that the initiative will get back on track and provide the return on investment expected.

The JF Guest Author Spot

“The Strangest Secret” by John Boe

In 1957, Earl Nightingale, speaker, author and co founder of the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, recorded his classic motivational record “The Strangest Secret.” “The Strangest Secret” sold over one million copies and made history in the recording industry by being honored as the first Gold Record for the spoken word. Nightingale, known as the “dean of personal development,” concluded that life’s “strangest secret” is that we become what we think about all day long.

Your belief system, like your computer, doesn’t judge or even question what you input; it merely accepts your thoughts as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Think thoughts of defeat or failure and you’re bound to feel discouraged. Continuous thoughts of worry, anxiety and fear are unhealthy and often manifest in the body as stress, panic attacks and depression.

At the core of Earl’s message, he reveals the incredible power of positive self-talk, belief and expectation. What you vividly imagine and hold in your subconscious mind begins to out picture as your reality. Your belief system not only defines your reality, but it also shapes your character and determines your potential.

The Placebo Effect
The ability of the mind to cure a disease even when the medicine is known to be worthless is known as the “placebo effect.” This occurs in medical trials where doctors give patients sugar pills, but tell them they will cure their illness. Often it does, even though the pills contain nothing of medical benefit. The only thing of value in these medical trials is the patient’s own belief that the sugar pills will cure them. It’s the power of the patient’s belief and expectation alone that produces the improvement in his or her health.

I recently read a remarkable story about a group of cancer patients who thought they were being treated with chemotherapy, but were actually given a placebo. Before their treatment began, the patients were informed about the complications associated with undergoing chemotherapy treatment, such as fatigue and loss of hair. Amazingly, based on nothing more than their belief and expectation, nearly one third of the patients who were given the placebo reported feeling fatigued and actually experienced hair loss!

The Power of Affirmation and Positive Self-talk
If you had access to a powerful tool that would enhance our self-esteem and allow you to reach your full potential would you use it?

A good way to create positive self-talk is through affirmations. An affirmation is a positive statement that represents your desired condition or outcome. Interesting enough, your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between a real experience and a vividly imagined “mental” experience.

When he was a struggling young comedian, late at night Jim Carrey would drive into the hills overlooking Hollywood and yell at the top of his lungs “I will earn ten million dollars a year by 1995.” When 1995 finally arrived, Jim was the star of the movie “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls“, for which he was paid twenty million dollars!

World-class athletes understand the value of affirmation and recognize the impact of their mental preparation on their physical performance. They use the power of positive affirmation to reduce anxiety and increase their expectation of achievement. To be of maximum benefit an affirmation must be simple, encouraging and stated in the present tense. By repeating an affirmation over and over again it becomes embedded in the subconscious mind.

To be effective your affirmation must be stated aloud…

1. In a positive manner with the focus on what you want. When you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about yourself, counteract the negative self-talk with a positive affirmation. Start your affirmation with words like “I am…” or “I already have…”

Example:
“I close sales with little or no resistance.”

“I take good care of my customers and they show their appreciation by referring their friends to me.”

2. In the present tense. Your subconscious mind works in the present tense, so avoid words such as can, will, should or could.

Example:
“I love doing my work and I am richly rewarded creatively and financially.”

3. With strong emotion and conviction.

4. Repeatedly. I suggest you read your affirmations each morning upon awakening and again each night just before falling asleep. Close your eyes and picture the end result.
Feel the emotions associated with the affirmation.

Here are some of my favorite affirmations:

“Every day in every way I’m getting better and better!”

“Everything comes to me easily and effortlessly!”

“I love and appreciate myself just as I am!”

“I love doing my work and I am richly rewarded creatively and financially!”

“I now have enough time, energy, wisdom and money to accomplish all my desires!”

“Infinite riches are now freely flowing into my life!”

“I am relaxed and centered!”

“I feel happy and blissful!”

Do affirmations really work and can they be used to propel a person to achieve greatness? As a young boy growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, 12-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay dreamed of someday becoming the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. When working out in the gym, Clay would continuously affirm to all within earshot that he was indeed the greatest boxer of all time! While many felt he was brash and boastful, few people actually took this 89-pound youngster seriously. Mohammad Ali used his affirmation to become the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world and arguably one of the most popular and recognized sports figures of all times!

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
- Anonymous

You show me a salesperson with high self-esteem, a positive attitude and a healthy work ethic and I’ll be able to predict his or her success in advance… I guarantee it.

 John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com

John is also a highly respected member of the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about him here

 Finally today, my good friend Wendy Weiss, the “Queen Of Cold Calling” is hosting another of her superb teleclasses, on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 4pm EST “How to Easily Create a Compelling Opening that Generates Interest, Attention and Sales.” Full details are here: 
 

For a long time the only objectives I used for major accounts were very specific business objectives. “We will increase turnover by X%”. “We will introduce two new programmes and increase our profitability by Y%“.

I began to understand that these business objectives were not enough. Multi-level objectives has proved very powerful in winning and keeping business. There are four levels of objectives and together they create objectives that excite and motivate the team and which are also very practical.

First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today’s issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.

Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like “We trust them completely”, “They always give us new ideas”, and “Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly.” We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.

So far, we have talked about quite “soft” objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some “hard” objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year’s volumes and maintained our profit margins.” They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.

The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.

If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we’re selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.

We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.

Over at Leadership Turn I am running a competition: We need to upgrade the blog and I am looking for suggestions, so please wander over and leave me a comment. The best two will win a copy of Kevin Eikenberry’s fantastic new book, complete with personal message.

Customers and prospects possess a hierarchy of needs which have to be uncovered and the very best professional salespeople have become masters at recognising those needs.

Rarely do you get information unless you ask for it. You need information to sell your services or products and look for future sales possibilities. Skilful questioning means that you do not seem to be imposing on the prospect by asking too many questions.

Types Of Needs:

• Implied Needs are statements about problems, difficulties and dissatisfaction.

An examples would be: “Our system is too slow, we cannot handle the volumes, and the system is unreliable”

• Explicit Needs are specific customer statements of wants or desires.

An example might include: “We need a faster system, we have to cut costs, and we need more reliability”

Uncovering Implied Needs will suffice only in small sales, as the sales opportunity grows larger, the more important it is to uncover Explicit Needs.
Implied Needs Have To Be Developed Into Explicit Needs With Questions:

Types of questions:

Uncovering Questions, to find out about problems or implied needs.
Developing Questions, take the implied needs and develop them into explicit needs.

Uncovering Implied Needs:

Situation Questions, find facts and information about the customer’s present situation e.g.
“How many people do you employ?” “What markets are you in?” “What is your annual sales revenue?”

Problem Questions find out about problems, difficulties or dissatisfaction.
“How easy to use is your system?”
“Is the system reliable?”
“Do you have quality problems?”
“How do you manage with…….?”
“Are you satisfied with……..?”

Developing Needs:

In a larger sale, uncovering problems and offering solutions does not work. Needs have to be developed with implication questions. Implication questions will increase the seriousness of the problem.

The Value Equation:

- Cost of solution outweighs the problem.
- Implication questions take the problem and build it up.
- It becomes large enough to justify action.

Questions to Develop Needs:

Implication questions, about the effects, consequences or implications of the customers problems e.g.
“You say the software is hard to use - how does that affect your productivity?”
“The data is easy to lose - what does this mean to your company?”
“So you return fewer calls - how does it affect your customer service?”

Questions to Capitalise On Developed Needs:

Need pay off questions,question the value or usefulness of the proposed solution e.g.
“How will this help you?”
“Why do you need to do this?”
“Why is this important to you?”

Summary:

Using questioning techniques you can control the prospect in almost any given situation. You can guide the prospect towards acceptance of your solution. Should you need to, you can use questioning techniques to regain control.

These techniques are very effective when used at the “Exploratory Meeting” stage.

The end of another hectic week - thank you for joining me, I can’t let you go without whetting your appetite for something very exciting that is due to launch imminently: More soon, I promise - have a great weekend - JF

The JF Guest Author Spot

“Facts Tell But They Rarely Sell” by Alvin Day

I recently attended a free seminar at the end of which I fully expected to be pitched. The presenter had a complicated set of slides that alternated between music, animation and other fun effects. As he switched from slide to slide, it became clear that the most interesting part of his presentation was, in fact, the music and the special effects. All of the information he presented on his product was flanked with statistics, bar charts and other data. All of the pertinent information was there but there was one problem. It bored me to tears. Amid the numbers, the statistics and the mission statement his presentation had lost character, personality and appeal. What he needed was more persuasive material.

Have you ever begun to read something with the earnest desire to finish it only to find yourself dropping off after a few paragraphs? Have you ever had a sales presentation going on right in front of you and still found yourself daydreaming? It is true that with all of the best intentions, we sometimes need a great deal to keep our minds focused on one thing for very long. If you are approaching someone with a proposition, if you desire a “yes” in response, your most basic of requirements should be to peak your prospect’s interest.

Traditional corporations teach their salespeople to bombard their prospects with facts, figures, charts and bar graphs until they are subdued into a “yes.” The problem with this theory is those facts and figures are often quite boring. Instead of presenting a number of bland bar charts and graphs, focus your presentation on something with which your prospects can relate. I refer to a quote from a friend and business partner…

“Facts tell, stories sell.”

Stories have more appeal than numbers. They take us to a place with which we are familiar and, if told well enough, can even conjure emotion. When you use an anecdote of a real life situation to exemplify your point, you are more likely to gain the interest of your prospects than if you were using bland numbers and boring charts. The formula is simple, tell a story and make the point, then support it with data and analysis. Repeat. For the next major piece of content, tell a story and make a point, then support with data.

Action step: Do the exercise below in order to cultivate a list of stories that you can use in different selling situations.

1. List the key products and services you sell;

2. Think carefully about all the stories, real case studies and situations that surround success and failure with each product or service. Make a list including cases where someone bought what you sell, used it, and produced results…anything that could persuade others to think favorably of you, your company and what you offer;

3. Choose the most persuasive story for each service or product Practice telling each story and make sure that you tell it very effectively. Stories should illustrate customer satisfaction, referrals you received, how people’s lives were changed, how Rover, the dog, lived four more years, how Nancy lost 150 pounds, how Pee Wee’s stamina and performance improved, and so on;
4. Keep this story list with you on an index card. Use it as a prompt during your next few selling presentations;
5. Day after day as you encounter different people and situations, add stories to your list where appropriate.

When you tell your stories, be as specific as you can. Include names, cities and dates in order to establish creditability. You can even use stories when answering objections, pointing to past clients who have faced similar concerns and overcome them with your product/service. Even past failures can serve a good use in your presentation. Explaining how your product/service fell short in one area in the past can lead into a discussion about how that deficiency has since been corrected and is now one of your company’s strongest points.

When you master the skill of selling with stories, you will find a more engaged audience and increase your chances of getting a “yes.”

© 2007 Alvin Day

Top Article Of The Week - week ending: July 13th 2007

Alvin Day is a Sales Training and Personal Empowerment coach who has helped many sales professionals reach and exceed their goals. For more on Alvin Day’s Sales Training tools and resources visit his website:

Today over at the Turn you can catch some words of wisdom from my pal, the irrepressible Kevin Eikenberry.

Tomorrow: “Customers And Prospects Possess A Hierachy Of Needs“

“Whatever you believe you can achieve, you will; and whatever you believe you can’t do, you won’t.”

Allowing self-limiting beliefs to constrain salespeople’s performance, will in turn limit sales results because like everyone, salespeople hold stubbornly to private beliefs about themselves, clients, markets, competition, and even the economy – beliefs that can have an enormous impact, either positive or negative, on their sales performance. If salespeople don’t see themselves as providing value for their prospects and clients, they’ll tend to approach customers in ways that appeal to reasons for buying other than the customer’s genuine business need.

This is what sometimes leads salespeople to oversell (for example, pressing a customer to “act now” in order to get a low price) or to be too accommodating It also can lead salespeople to adopt unethical behavior, because they may try to sell a customer something that they neither need nor want. If they don’t take care of their clients’ best interests, salespeople will fail to build long-term relationships and lose customers.

All of this leads me in nicely to an excellent new book, recently published by a friend I have known for only a few months, but she is someone who has impressed me immensely with her professionalism, dynamism, application and knowledge of selling. Her name is Tammy Stanley and her book is called “Carpe Phonum”. As the title suggests, it focuses on making those calls that you keep putting off: But that doesn’t really tell you even half the story – I have decided to reproduce the preface in it’s entirety - it’s that good!

“Everyday all over the world sales professionals are waiting. What are they waiting for? They are waiting for the right time to call their prospects. No matter how much they visualize calling prospect after prospect on the drive to work, they quickly fall prey to a berating little voice that always suggests to keep waiting for seemingly good reasons:

If you call too early in the morning, you’ll be considered a noisome pest. Go get a cup of coffee and plan out your day. If you fail to plan, you know you’re planning to fail.

Better check your e-mail before making any calls. You never know when an existing client might need assistance. You shouldn’t keep existing clients waiting.

People are getting ready to head out for lunch. No one wants to be bothered by a sales person, when he’s getting ready to leave the office.
People are just returning from lunch. They don’t want to be bothered by a sales person, when they’re trying to get settled in.

Now would be a great time to call, if only you felt more confident in your script. If you don’t feel confident, the results won’t be worthwhile. There’s no sense in putting time into making calls if you aren’t going to get the good results you desire. It would be more advantageous to get online and learn about effective sales calling techniques.

Calling certain prospects could really influence your business in a big way. When you’ve mastered the new techniques/scripts you learned, you’ll be able to advance very quickly. It’s best to master those techniques before calling such influential prospects. You don’t want to ruin your opportunities just because you weren’t better prepared.

You need to be really organized before you make those prospecting calls. After all, once you make all those calls you’re going to have a host of new business. You had better organize your files and desk and put together an effective calling regimen.

It’s too late to call prospects. They’re getting ready to leave work. Arrive here all the earlier tomorrow morning, and you can get all those calls completed before noon.

If any or all of those suggestions sound familiar, you probably know what it’s like to hear a voice chastising you on your drive home from work because you didn’t make the calls you were supposed to make. Strange, isn’t it? It sounds quite like the voice that talked you out of making any of those calls all throughout the day.

Learning how to “seize the phone” requires investigating the voice that talks one out of making the necessary prospecting calls that advance anyone’s sales business. There are plenty of programs to assist sales professionals become more efficient during the call, and certainly it’s always beneficial to hone one’s skills. But too many of the sales professionals I’ve met and clients I’ve worked with report that it isn’t the sales process that trips them up – it’s getting themselves to actually pick up the phone. There always seems to be a reason why it would be better to call later.

Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their heads is no easy task. Of course, if it were, top sales professionals wouldn’t be so desperately needed or so highly paid.

From my own experience, I’ve learned that the best time to call a prospect is as soon as I think about calling him. Waiting for a better time usually results in one of two things – never finding the right time to call that prospect, or waiting so long that by the time the call is finally placed, the prospect is already doing business with someone else and no longer requires the suggested product or service.

So how does one get oneself to the point that one can walk right past all those nagging reasons to wait and call later? In order to get sales professionals to “seize the phone”, a process is required. I prefer to compare that process to a baseball player going up to bat, and naturally having the goal to hit the ball, run to each of the bases, and finally cross over the home plate and score.

Getting to first base involves coming face to face with the voice that talks one out of making all those calls. That voice must be presented, discussed and revealed as the liar that it is, before the sales professional can move on to second base.

Moving to second base requires learning how to detach oneself from the persistent voice that nags and distracts but never points one in the right direction. The sales professional needs a secret weapon that effectively dismantles the seeming hold that fear has on him, so he can move on to third base.

Getting one’s feet firmly planted on third base occurs when the sales professional sees more to his business than the exchanging of goods and money. By opening his eyes to recognize the potential ongoing value he creates and the good that unfolds simply by contacting others on the telephone, he learns the greater aspects and opportunities of his business.

Finally, the sales professional must learn that getting to home plate is only accomplished when he takes his foot off of third base. He must come to grips with the fact that the sales process is a continual cycle, that everyday he must walk out of the dugout of fear, pick up a bat of immeasurable value, put himself in the game and start playing.

That is what this book is all about.”

This really is an excellent piece of work and I cannot recommend it highly enough:

Tammy Stanley founded and directs The Sales Refinery, a sales training firm that combines irresistible insights and humor to transform the bottom line in corporate and individual sales. Because of her self-revealing style, her captivating story telling, and her depth of analysis, Tammy is often referred to as “a true meat and potatoes presenter.” She analyzes and presents the often over looked fundamental aspects of the selling process.Through her keynote presentations, workshops, books and audio CDs, and weekly ezine, The Sales Refinery Insights, she inspires audiences to develop habits that yield success. Learn more at TammyStanley.com

Footnote:Tammy is one of only three authors who have who have been nominated more than twice by the Top Sales Experts adjudication panel at Top 10 Sales Articles which is a huge testimony to the quality of her work - JF