More than ever today, business executives have to operate as both leader and follower in the daily rounds of their job.

Those who study leadership begin to take more interest in the ‘psychological contract’ between leader and followers. In other words, they began to ask what makes people prepared to follow one leader and unwilling to follow another.

These ideas are now changing both the way we think about leadership and the style of our leaders. This is in tune with other social and organisational developments, including the move to more participative management and the rise of industrial democracy.

Other new ideas are also gaining ground. For example, only now is the notion of ‘emotional intelligence’ becoming widely understood. For the leaders of the future, it is likely to be as important as a high IQ.

In his ground-breaking 1996 book, “Emotional Intelligence”, the American psychologist Daniel Goleman explored the issue of personal and professional effectiveness. He argued that in a business world too often obsessed by cold analysis, the emotional climate is more important to the success of a leader than previously recognised.

At senior levels, ‘emotional intelligence’ rather than ‘rational intelligence’ marks out the true leader: “The qualities of leadership and the quality of the heart are largely the same”. This may explain why someone like Branson, who twice failed his elementary mathematics exam, can make a better leader than someone with a degree from Harvard Business School. Branson’s ‘emotional intelligence’ – his ‘people radar’ – is more keenly developed.

According to Goleman, studies of outstanding performers in organisations show that about two thirds of the abilities that set star performers apart in the leadership stakes are based on emotional intelligence. Only a third of the skills that matter relate to raw intelligence (as measured by IQ) and technical expertise.

“Our emotions are hardwired into our being”, Goleman explained. “The very architecture of the brain gives feelings priority over thought”. There is a sign in Harvard’s rat lab that says: “Rats under carefully controlled conditions will do any damned thing they please”. The same is true of human beings. Leaders ignore emotions at their perils.

Most important of all, the role of leaders in developing the next generation has too often been neglected. If we are to grow as a society, this must be the priority for the future. As Sir Adrian Cadbury, the former Head of Cadbury Schweppes, has observed: “Good leaders grow people, bad leaders stunt them; good leaders serve their followers, bad leaders enslave them”.

Today’s News:

Successful Selling is All in the Mind
Tuesday March 16th 2010 12 noon EASTERN

Is it all about attitude?  Is it all about motivation? Are either more important than skill? And what about knowledge of what you are selling?

What IS the mental connection to high performance?  Does one really exist?

What are mental exercises that you can do to strengthen your “game?”

Do you have to believe in your product or service to be successful, really successful, at selling?

So many questions, important ones. Join our crack panel of sales leaders who will do their best to break this down, examine it and weigh in what they believe really is essential for true sales champions. Oh, and expect some terrific tips from them as well!

Join an all-star panel: Billy Cox, Lori Richardson, Daniel Waldschmidt, Michael Griego and Nancy D. Solomon.

FREE REGISTRATION HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Wendy Weiss

Far too many sales professionals hear prospect objects as personal rejection. Because of this, many sales professionals are terrified of prospect objections. Rather than being something scary, however, the truth is that an objection from your prospect is important information. You are learning about your prospect, how that prospect thinks and feels and what is important to them. Listen carefully.

That said, however, you do not necessarily have to hear every prospect objection. There are some that you can and should eliminate at the very start of your sales process. This is called “preempting objections.”

The way that you preempt an objection is to mention that objection first, before your prospect can even bring it up. This is best used with the types of objections that you hear all the time. Addressing objections first and up front is an incredibly powerful way to minimize the number of objections you actually do hear.

With these seven ways of naming your prospect, finding the decision-maker should never again be an issue.

For example: A very frequent objection prospectors’ hear is: “It’s too expensive” as in “I’ve heard about your product/service and it’s too expensive.” If this is something you hear frequently you can eliminate this objection’s power by addressing it first. If indeed your product/service is more expensive than the competition, there is probably a reason for that additional expense. What is the reason? Does your company uses superio r quality products in manufacturing? Does your company offer a special level of service above and beyond what the competition offers? Identify the reason that your product/service is more expensive than your competitors’. Then bring it up yourself. An example:

“Our product/service is certainly not the cheapest. That’s because we use superior quality materials and 24/7 service. None of our competitors can say that.”

By addressing the objection first, you’ve turned a negative into a positive.

Another example: Let’s say that your company has been having service issues and that these problems are widely known.  You’re certain that your prospect knows about the issues and will see them as a negative. If the issues have been corrected or are in the process of being corrected you should bring those issues up first:

“While we were having some c hallenges with (fill in the blank) that caused the company to (fill in the blank with the actions taken by the company) and institute new procedures to (fill in the blank with new procedures) which will actually cause (fill in the blank with a benefit that the prospect will reap from these changes).”

As in the previous example you are turning a negative into a positive.

When you bring up an objection first and address it, you not only eliminate the objection, you are able to position the objection the way that you want it to be perceived. This usually enables you to turn that objection from a negative into a positive.

Your homework, then, is to thoroughly review all the prospect objections that you frequently hear and brain storm ways to preempt them. You will not be able to preempt all prospect objections; however you will be able to preempt many of them. If you do this well you will be in a much stronger place to be able to move your sales process forward.

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com.

Get Wendy’s free Special Report, Getting in the Door: How to Write an Effective Cold Calling Script, at http://www.wendyweiss.com.

Today’s News: The final chapter of Craig Klein’s great FREE ebook has been released:

8 Metrics You Must Know about Marketing, Leads and Sales

Simply click on the banner above to download your copy.

Before you even begin to look at engaging seriously in lots of  networking effort, it is useful to look at your own temperament or disposition. This is the individual’s internal desire to network and to find value and enjoyment from the whole process of building relationships.

For some people this will be an almost irrelevant issue to debate. Their motivation to want to talk to people regularly and to network is naturally high. Talking to strangers in supermarket queues, at bus/train stops or even in the elevators is characteristic of such people.

However, even if you really enjoy talking to people, it is a proven fact that most of us are not highly confident and highly motivated networkers. In fact, statistics reveal that only one in ten people are actually comfortable in striking up a relationship with a complete stranger.

Unfortunately, this means that their own misgivings, fears and doubts potentially hinder the vast majority of people

Four Networking Types:

In practice, you can divide people who attempt to build networking relationships into four distinct types.

o The Loner (little or no networking)

o The Socialiser

o The User

o The Relationship Builder or Networker

Although our aim is to consider the fourth of these in some detail as the role to which we can all aspire (if we are not already there), let’s briefly look at each of these types in turn.

The Loner:

•  Likes to do most things by themselves (because they do it faster or better)

•  Doesn’t want to bother or worry other people

•  Feels that their knowledge and skills are often superior to most people

•  Only asks for help as a last resort (and when it may be too late)

The Loner is an easily recognisable type, because there are times when we all believe that we will do better ourselves than if we ask others for help. The Loner will not usually want to bother anyone else, or necessarily see much point in doing so, believing that others will be slower and will set lower standards.

Unfortunately, the Loner attitude is a major obstacle to effective networking. We need to shift our thinking greatly in this area. We should be more willing to let others assist, and we should even ask for help more often

The Socialiser:

o Tries to make a friend of everyone they meet

o Tends to know people’s names and faces but not what they do

o Is not usually systematic or ordered about follow-up – contact is random

o May not listen too deeply and is quick to move on

Although the Socialiser may have a wide circle of friends and contacts, he or she knows little of substance about personal skills and resources. As a result, Socialisers do not often share their skills.

The Socialiser is also a random networker, following little or no formal contact system.

The User:

o Is likely to collect business cards without really connecting with people

o Tries to make ‘sales’ or ‘pitches’ on the first encounter

o Talks and focuses on own agenda rather than together information

o Has superficial interactions

o Keeps score when giving favours

Unfortunately, people of this type do network widely, but in a way that creates little benefit for themselves or others. Even worse, this kind of networker tends to create a bad impression and therefore can give networking an image of being about selling, taking, bargaining and keeping score.

The Builder:

•  Has a ‘giving’ disposition or abundance mentally

•  Is generally happy to ask others for help or guidance

•  Listens and learns about people carefully

•  Is regularly on the look-out for useful information for which others can also benefit

•  Has a well-ordered and organised networking system

This type of networker is what this article is all about – an individual who takes a long-term perspective on relationships with others and thinks more about what he or she can give or offer, than about the return.

This type is out there for others, or on call to offer help whenever it is needed. If they cannot help in person, they usually know someone else who can.
And Finally: Maintaining High Self-Esteem

Apart from the Builder, one factor connects the other three types in preventing them from networking more effectively. This is the issue of self-esteem.

The Loner believes in himself or herself, but not necessarily in others (especially relative strangers). The Socialiser likes people but also very much wants to be liked by others (and therefore does not want to ask for favours). Finally, the User takes a relatively selfish view of “If I benefit or gain, I might reciprocate, otherwise I won’t.”

Of course, all of these types fear rejection, obligation, being too pushy or even looking weak. All of these fears or concerns about networking need to be lessened or overcome.

In a short article such as this, a topic as largely and potentially complicated as a person’s relative self-esteem cannot be covered at any level of detail. However, it is important to appreciate how low self-esteem can have a major impact on your networking efforts if it is not at least basically understood and addressed.

An individual with high self-esteem is likely to build their own confidence to want to network by having a positive, open and ‘can do’ attitude.

Conversely, an individual with low self-esteem is likely to lack confidence to start with. They will convince themselves (and others) that they have little that would be of interest to others in any network.

Today’s News: It’s Friday, so please allow very good chum, Dave Stein, to give you a chuckle – and they say we are over-priced? HERE

Customer care has become one of the most important issues facing businesses in every market.

Customer-care programs come under a number of titles – customer services, customer satisfaction, customer focus, etc.

Their common theme is meeting the customer’s requirements and ensuring that all aspects of the business contribute to customer satisfaction. The intention is to build repeat business. If customers are satisfied with the product and the standards of service they receive, they will return again and again.

Inconsistent Customer Care

Inconsistent customer care performance can have a negative effect on customer perceptions. Gas stations, for example, know that every time a customer walks into one of their outlets, wherever they are in the country, they should expect to receive the same standards of service. Nationwide consistency is essential when customers are likely to visit multiple outlets – one poor performance can threaten the customer’s perception of the entire operation.

What Is Customer Care?

Customer care is about addressing three sets of requirements: the customer, your staff, and the overall organization.

These requirements are inter-related, i.e., it is more difficult to deliver consistently high standards in customer care if the needs of both the organization and the staff are not taken into account.

Customer Care Requirements

Your customer requires a few basic elements to feel satisfied and motivated to return. These include:

• Excellent personal service — the customer feels valued, listened to, treated as an individual

• Your products have to meet basic expectations

• Customers need encouragement to express their views and give feedback

• Clients require an effective relationship with the overall organization

• Problems and complaints must be handled effectively

Staff Requirements

To keep customers happy, you have to have an energized, motivated staff that is onboard with your company’s overall customer service philosophy. Your staff needs:

• Supervisors with effective management style

• Suitable working environment — including pay and conditions, and the right tools for the job

• Relevant training to develop skills

• Career potential — no one wants to feel they are in a dead-end position

• Clarity of role/job description

• Performance standards and appraisal systems

• Sense of involvement/value

• Open communication

• Teamwork

• Rewards and recognition for a job well done

Organizational Requirements

Organizations with a successful customer-care policy have the following:

• Mission statement

• Corporate structure

• Feedback and communication systems

• Profit

• Human and technical resources

• Demonstrated commitment

Who Are Your Customers?

If you are not serving the customer, you should be serving someone who is.

Harmonious relationships with customers and colleagues are essential to service success, because providing outstanding customer service is primarily a team effort. For excellent customer service to exist, it has to be practiced on an internal basis.

The What and the How

The “what” is the material and the “how” is the personal element. To be outstanding, organizations must deliver excellence in both material and personal service. Customer service is no longer just a question of interpersonal skills.

The difference between you and your competitors is achieved when expectations are exceeded. Doing the unexpected, going the extra mile, moves us from meeting expectations to exceeding expectations.

How To Delight Customers

• Be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is the driving force of quality service. Customers do not just want products, they want products plus enthusiasm.

• Be professional. The word “professional” does not go with the job – it goes with the person.

Be the Best

• Someone, somewhere has to be the best at this job – why not me?

• Decide to be outstanding

How To Be the Best

• Use positive self talk – e.g., tell yourself, “Every day, in every way, I get better and better.”

• Don’t be ordinary

• Develop a ‘How can I do it better?’ mindset

Today, Everyone Sells

In a successful company, the number of salespeople equals the number of employees. Even if your primary occupation is customer service, by providing excellent customer care, you are in effect keeping this customer and providing for future sales for your company.

So, in a sense, everyone sells something – products, services or even the image of the company.

Today’s News: Good chum Diane Helbig’s latest book has been re-released. Re-released? Yep, it’s a long story, but it’s a great read!

Why is it that some companies grow prosperous on the fruits of their success at winning major bids while others think themselves lucky to garner a few crumbs from the feast?

Just why is it that some companies consistently win more major bids than others?

What do they do that makes them so successful?

Senior marketing and sales managers have long sought answers to these questions, often with little success. Not surprisingly, the most effective bid winners prefer to draw a veil over those factors that make them successful.

But research has pulled the veil aside and provides a glimpse of the critical success factors in winning major bids. The research is part of a major project undertaken by the Faculty of Management at the University of Luton.

As part of the research 293 companies answered a detailed questionnaire, which focussed on two key areas – how successful they were at winning major bids and what they regard as the factors that made them most successful at winning the bids.

The companies in the survey represent a cross section of those British companies that compete in major bids either in the UK market or overseas and came from industries as diverse as information technology, construction, engineering, aerospace, media, consultancy, manufacturing and utilities. Between them, the companies have a combined turnover of more than £65 billion. For the purpose of the survey, a bid was defined as either, a one-off purchase or a contract for ongoing supply over a specified period

They were candid about their success; some 37 % admitted they won less than a quarter of the bids they pitched for. A further 40 % said they won between a quarter and half of their bids. Only 4 % of the companies claimed to win more than three-quarters of their bids.

There was little disagreement that winning major bids was essential to achieving business plans – 53 % said it was very important to win bids from new customers and 65 % from existing customers. Given that winning major bids is important for achieving business plans, just what is it that gets a company invited to bid in the first place?

The companies were invited to rank a number of different factors on a scale running from “very important” to “not important at all”.
 
The top five factors are:
• Perceived quality of your products/services
• Relationships with existing or potential customers
• Position of the company in it’s market-place
• The company’s overall image
• Track record in similar projects

However, if 77 % of companies win less than half the bids they pitch for – what do the best quarter have, that the other three-quarters lack?

A yearlong research project undertaken by Mathew O’Connor, one of the co-authors of the report, identified 18 activities, which contributed to success

These activities fall under four main categories:
• Assessing the customer’s perception of products/service value,
• Understanding the customer’s buying centre, (Decision-Making Unit)
• Contacting customer’s regularly and reviewing the relationship
• Communicating key messages about the company and it’s products/services)

Companies that win less than a quarter of bids, claim to perform an average of only 2.9 of the activities very effectively. Among companies winning a quarter to half of bids, the number of very effective activities rises to 3.5; those who win half to three quarters of their bids perform 4.9 activities very effectively: among those companies winning more than three-quarters of major bids, the number of very effective activities climbs to 8.7.

What is perhaps surprising here is that even the most successful companies are accomplishing less than half of the critical 18 activities “very effectively”. It seems pretty clear, that those companies prepared to focus on these activities and generate even a modest increase in the number of activities performed very effectively, could reap significant improvements in the number of major bids they win.

Aside from these critical activities, the research has uncovered some important issues for managing effective bid teams. The companies in the survey were asked to rate 15 aspects of managing bid teams on a five-point scale from “very important” to “not important at all”.

The top five issues are:
• Leadership from senior managers
• Creating a team spirit
• Leadership from board of directors
• Including team members with specialised knowledge of the product / service
• Giving clear instructions to team members on how to handle the bid

Carol Kennedy, a co-author of the report, says: “There is wide range of different issues that companies need to address more effectively if they are to win more of the bids they pitch for. Bidding relationships with the client is given a particularly high priority in the service sector.”

“There are wide variations in the effectiveness of major bid management between organisations. With more companies increasingly finding themselves pitching against overseas competitors for business, the need to create more effective bid management and use a strategic approach is more urgent than ever.” 

To read this article, “The Myths of Bidding Exploded” in full, please click here:

Today’s News: Over at AllBusiness.com, you can catch my latest “Ask the Expert” podcast – “Why Sales Managers Need To Be Coaches”

And you may also enjoy my AB blog post “Oh No, Not Another B****y Sales Meeting”

Why is it that when customers blame us for something going wrong, we are quick to blame others, especially in larger organizations?

“We passed the order to Department X weeks ago; I do not know what they have done with it.” (You know very well it is still in your in-tray!) Customers see through these feeble excuses and are not impressed.

Why do we do things like this? Here are a few justifications:

• Department X is always making mistakes; attributing one more to them won’t make any difference.
• There is a particular person in Department X you do not like.
• No one will find out whether Department X is to blame or not.
• They have blamed your department often enough.
• They always beat your staff at the annual bowling challenge.

Two-Way Process:

Lack of communication between departments is often cited as the reason for poor working relationships.

“They never tell us anything” is a frequent cry.

Communication is a two-way process. The most efficient of systems will not be effective if people don’t read their messages, look at the notice boards, log on to their computers, check their voice mail or pay attention at meetings.

Getting people to sign memos provides only proof of receipt, not evidence that they’ve actually read the information. They need to want to know what’s going on.

Low morale and a critical and suspicious environment will prompt employees to see customers as a nuisance and not the lifeblood of the business. Every employee needs to appreciate that they contribute to customer satisfaction, even if they are working behind the scenes, e.g., maintenance, cleaning, refuse collection, etc. They deserve to be kept informed!

Insecurity Creates Conflict:

Another cause of internal conflict is insecurity: downsizing, management restructuring, fast-talking business consultants, threat of job loss, short-term contracts — all might trigger a loss of pride in the job and a could-not-care-less attitude. Customers become anxious and take their business elsewhere.

Insecurity manifests itself in a number of behaviors:

• Gossip and back-stabbing
• Shifting blame
• Increase in absenteeism due to stress
• Constant moaning and whining
• Negative thinking

In this environment, it is likely that customer complaints will increase. It is essential to keep the customer at the center of everything you do, no matter what is going on behind the scenes. Without customers, you do not have a job.

Taking Action

Managers need to be very observant when employees are showing signs of dissatisfaction. Early identification of problems is the key to a successful solution.

Look out for:

• Deadlines not met
• Increase in illness
• Poor-quality work
• Bad atmospheres
• Arguments

How To Address Employee Dissatisfaction

• Ask questions in a confidential manner
• Reassure; calm fears
• Praise, encourage
• Don’t blame or challenge
• Involve people
• Motivate, reward

Multi-Skilling & Interdepartmental Working:

Conflict also arises through ignorance. Giving people the opportunity to learn about the work of others and equipping them with new skills helps dispel fears, boost confidence and motivate. It also takes people out of their enclosed worlds of Accounts or the Mail Room and gives them the bigger picture.

Many complaints arise because staff feel they are expected to do a job without any training. Allowing them to attend courses out of the workplace is very beneficial. It gives them the opportunity to network with others, revitalize their ideas, and acquire new skills. Hopefully they will come back and think, “This is not such a bad place after all.”

In any business, we are all customers of each other. Unless we get the internal customer service right, it will not extend naturally to external customers. Remember, we are all working for a common aim: customer satisfaction.

Many years ago, I realised that my organisation like most others, occasionally suffered what is commonly known as “The Peak And Trough Syndrome” or more usually, “Feast And Famine”.

However, me being me, rather than blithely just sit back and accept it as a fact of commercial life, I determined to challenge it and front it head-on – this is what I came up with:

The Sales Cabinet concept is a sophisticated process for analysing, planning, directing, and monitoring the activity of a sales team.

It is an essential tool for setting sales policies and the management, at whatever level, of a sales team, if not every sales call produces an order and there is a time lag between the first contact with a potential customer and that company placing an order. SC is also a valuable tool for marketing and business development personnel.

The Dimensions of Sales Cabinet:

Sales Cabinet is an imaginery four drawer filing cabinet and each drawer represents not only a stage in the buying cycle, but also the critical tasks a sales team should be performing if they are operating in a “balanced” mode. The aim is to elevate as many of the inhabitants of the bottom drawer up to the top drawer as possible, whilst continually finding replacements for them.

The Buying Drawers:

We have two buying drawers, the top two. In the very top one, we keep our long term stable partners. We might well have preferred supplier agreements with them or a clearly defined and established purchasing history.

In the second drawer, we place the less well established clients, the occasional buyers or the one off buyers. A great deal of purposeful, strategic, objective-based selling can and should be done within these two drawers.

In the precarious second drawer of the cabinet, every piece of business has to be fought for and often secured through sacrificing margin. Whereas in the secure environment of the top drawer, the inhabitants respect the added value we bring to the relationship and seek stability and value for money, rather than lowest price. However, developing and promoting Drawer Two occupants has obvious benefits to the growth and profitability prospects of the Company.

The Working Drawer:

In Drawer Three, we keep our prospects, potential customers who we have visited and qualified, but have yet to win the first order. Though this is a crucial part of the development of an ideal customer base, sales work in the Working Drawer is, in general terms, the least cost effective unless rigorous qualification processes are followed.

Its importance and its costs make it, therefore, yet another important focus for the Sales Manager. What can we do to heighten our success with a major sales opportunity? When are we best to back off? How can we capture big opportunities more quickly? Etc.

The Marketing Drawer:

Drawer Four, is where we keep our suspects, those potential opportunities identified but not yet visited or qualified. As with most things in life, the more work that is put into the preparation phase of the sales process, the less effort will be wasted in the long-term. The selection of the right opportunities from the market place can ensure better sales, better profits and can reduce the cost of the sales work.

Selection criteria have to be established and graduated by experienced sales personnel. Once in operation and proven, their continued use can be maintained by other members of the organisation who will develop, to a much higher level, the specific skills needed. Banks of qualified prospects can be built up if appropriate – ready for a concerted attack on a targeted part of the market place.

Summary:

When I first designed Sales Cabinet, I realised just how important it is that balance be maintained between the four drawers (where market conditions permit). Excessive top drawer activity will constrain the growth of the business into those areas that are identified as the opportunities of the future. It is also a symptom that the organisation has got itself into a rut or a ‘comfort zone’, that the communication of policy is poor, that management is not controlling the work, or that people lack the confidence to tackle new areas (or a combination of all of them).

 Too much emphasis on the bottom two drawers is inefficient and will dramatically reduce the potential for growth, will increase the cost of sales unnecessarily and could well lower the reputation of the Company.

Sales Cabinet has since been successfully implemented by thousands of companies around the world – it works!

The JF Guest Author Spot

Dave Stein

Over and over I’ve read and heard sales experts say that, “It doesn’t matter which sales approach or methodology you use, as long as every salesperson in the company uses it.”  This myth has been around for decades.  Don’t believe it.  It just isn’t true.

When ESR does postmortems on failed sales training initiatives, we often find a significant mismatch between the client’s sales performance improvement requirements and the vendor’s capabilities.  That’s not the only reason that these initiatives fail, but it’s a common one.  If you have a whole sales team following the same process, but that process doesn’t match customer buying patterns and preferences, for example, you’re not going to get very far at all.

Here are some of the reasons companies wind up with the wrong training company for their needs:

They hire a training company based on brand recognition only, without doing a deep dive into the vendor’s capabilities.  Although millions swear by Coca-Cola, it isn’t the right drink for everyone, is it?  Neither is Pepsi.

They engage with a training provider with whom they have worked in the past, even though their present company’s situation is very different.  I used to get my car serviced at the Jeep dealership.  I no longer have a Jeep.  Should I bring my Prius there?  Do they understand the design and functions of a hybrid car?

They get a referral from colleague (or a suggestion in a comment to a LinkedIn group query).  The friend’s company is in a different market, selling different products to different customers, but they hire the trainer anyway.

They hire a company that has the hottest new approach, or a trainer who wrote a book with what is purported to be a brand-new solution to what the company believes its problem is.  Wasn’t it Los Del Rio that gave us the Macarena in 1996?  Hmmm.

They attend a promotional event (webinar, sales leaders’ conference, or public training event) and are impressed with the passion, quality and unbelievably deep insights of the trainer, so they hire him or her.  Ron Popeil was brilliant, but I wouldn’t have hired him to train my sales team. (You’ve got to read the essay on him in Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw.)

They search the Internet to find a trainer whose offerings are appealing based upon what is represented on the trainer’s website.  Maybe it’s all true.  Maybe it isn’t.  Maybe it’s what the company needs.  Maybe it isn’t.  Rolling the dice on a career doesn’t make sense to me.

Dave Stein is the founder and CEO of ES Research, an organization that provides on-line, membership-based analyses of, and recommendations about, the sales training and sales performance and consulting marketplace and the companies that serve it.

He also writes a very popular and relevant blog

The JF Guest Author Spot

Dave Brock

 Last week, I wrote about inspirational customer service.  This weekend, the pendulum swung to the other extreme.  I went out looking for new cars.  No blog is long enough to contain my rant on how disfunctional the process of buying a car is, so I won’t go through the whole thing, but focus on a few low points-and not the lowest, I have to keep this reasonably civil.

On Saturday, I went to look for a new car, I had settled on 4 different models, done my research, knew what I wanted in each and what a fair price might be.

The first dealer, things started out great, he asked me what I wanted, showed me the car, answered all my questions expertly, then we start talking about the deal.  Some manager, I hadn’t met, comes in to take over.  He starts with “Are you committed to buying this car?”  I was a little surprised, responded, “I’m interested enough to ask you to give me a serious proposal on what it would cost to get this car.”  I had hoped he would read that signal and present me a price.  His response, instead, was, “It doesn’t make sense for us to present a price until we know you are serious.”  At this point, I’m starting to get a little angry (Why should buying a $100K car make me angry?).  As calmly as I could, I responded, “I’ve come into your dealership and invested my time tying to buy a car.   The lease on my current car is ending, I need a new car.  I’ve told you exactly what I want, you have a car I like, now isn’t it reasonable for you to tell me how much it will cost?”  I went on, “My time is valuable as is yours, I don’t want to waste it, so let’s try to get to your best offer as quickly as possible.”  Well, he read my signals and said, “OK, I respect this, let me give you the best deal, we want you as a customer.  Here’s what we can do….”  I said, “Clearly, you must understand I’ve done a lot of research on the internet.  This price is far above what the a good price is.  If this is your best deal, I’m not sure it makes sense.”  His response was, “Well we can do better on it, but we need to know that you are serious about buying the car.”  I said, “How could I be any more serious than sitting here right now trying to understand what you are going to sell the car to me for?  Thank you for your time, I take it this is your best offer, I am considering some other models, I will get back to you later.”  “But Mr. Brock, please give me a chance…..”  “I thought I was giving you a chance, I’m interested in buying this car, but I don’t know what the price is, I keep asking you, but you seem reluctant to answer my question, what am I missing?”

It couldn’t get worse than that.  I went to the second dealership, after the test drive and the initial stuff, we went to the sales person’s office.  I sat down, without a word, he walked out….OK I thought, he needs to get something….15 minutes later…I’d finished my obligatory bottle of water, I went to another sales person, “I seem to have lost my sales person, could you find him, I’d like to talk about buying a car.”  5 minutes later, he returns, I’ve found the perfect car for you.  It’s got $10K more in features than I had asked for, I asked him what the features were, he refused to tell me, instead he said, “The features aren’t important, let’s talk about the deal.”  “But, but…I’d really like to know about those features, I’m not sure I want them, I don’t know why I should buy a car with features I don’t want.”  “Don’t worry about that Dave, here’s the deal……”  At that point I apologize, “I’m sorry, clearly you don’t want to sell me what I want, thank you for your time.”  I stood up and walked out.  All of a sudden the sales manager comes up to me asking if he can help.  “I responded, I have another appointment I have to be at, I sat 20 minutes waiting, your sales person won’t present me the car I want, I’m not sure you can.  You have my email, if you want, you can email me an offer on the car I want to buy, that you have in stock.”

The other two dealers weren’t any better, fortunately they weren’t worse.  I’d spent an entire day, talking to people who were selling me what they wanted to sell, not what I wanted to buy.  I spent the entire day telling people I needed to make a decision on a car within a few days, the lease on my current car was ending.  I tried to explaing that I had done my homework, I wasn’t necessarily looking for the “best deal” just a fair deal for both of us.

Sunday was month end.  Early in the morning, the calls started coming in, “Mr. Brock, thank you for visiting us, we’re now prepared to have a serious discussion with you, can you come in?”  My response was, “I thought we were having a serious discussion yesterday, why were you wasting my time?”  Silence…….  Each dealer seemed to be thinking the same thing, some tried to argue they could be serious now, none could explain why they couldn’t be serious when I was in the showroom.

It’s no wonder the automotive industry is in such trouble.  The entire process is broken. It’s built on an old model of manipulating the consumer.  It doesn’t recognize the impact of social media in helping make sure customers are informed.  It’s not just a dealer problem, it’s also a result of the manufacturers, their policies, and how they train the dealers.

I’m a salesperson, I don’t begrudge a salesperson getting a commission or the dealer getting a profit, they have to.  However, I resent having my time wasted, I resent being manipulated, I resent not being able to buy what I want to buy, but being pressured into buying what they want to buy.

There is a happy ending, yesterday a salesperson from another dealership called.  I told him I was sick and tired of dealing with the manipulation.  I told him what I was looking for, I told him I had shopped several dealers, I told him how frustrated and angry I was.  I told him I wanted a fair deal for both of us and that he had one chance to present me a fair deal.  He asked me if he could call me back in an hour to tell me what he could do.  He presented me a good deal, yes I probably could have argued another $500-750 from him, but I felt good about the deal.  We did the deal in about 20 minutes, all over the phone.

Dave Brock works with organizations to help them achieve the highest levels of performance excellence. He helps them identify and execute new business, sales, marketing and customer service strategies. His goal is to have a profound difference on the lives and results produced by his clients.

Dave is the founder and CEO of Partners in EXCELLENCE, a leading business consulting company. He has held executive roles in IBM, Tektronix, and other large technology companies. He is an investor, advisor, and director of several high technology start-up companies.

Today’s News:

Meet Doug Jensen – he is February’s AllBusiness Sales Star. Want to know what it takes to become a globally recognised sales professional? Listen in on Doug’s interview here

Everyone has a different make-up that influences how they take decisions. Ned Herrmann’s extensive research in this field led to the Herrmann Brain Theory.

These are four parts of the brain. As well as the familiar parts (the cerebral brain) – Left (realistic) and Right (idealistic) – there are also the less familiar (Limbic) parts – Top (thinking) and Bottom (doing) [based on the work of Sperry and McLean]. 

Components Of The Brain:

A (upper left) Logical, analytical part

B (lower left) Form, process, organisational part

C (lower right) Emotional, feeling part

D (upper right) Abstract, visioning part

The Herrmann Brain Theory

The best performing groups have a balance between the four components of the brain, as is the case with the Star Trek officer team:

• Captain Kirk is the visionary leader ‘D’ and provides the spatial thinking

• Mr Spock is logical ‘A’ and puts the ideas into logical order and context

• ‘Bones’ McCoy expresses feelings ‘C’ and provides the emotions

• ‘Scotty’ is the pragmatic engineer ‘B’ and effects the decisions (‘I canna break the laws of physics!’)
The balance between the characters enables viewers, depending on their own character type, to empathise with one of the officers. This part accounts for the TV programme’s success.

It is important, therefore, to understand the type of person you are asking to make a decision. You have to play to his or her style. With groups you have to play to the members. People with similar profiles working together are a dysfunctional group. You will never get the best decisions as members will compete. If, for example, all were ‘Ds’, they would spend their time generating ideas but take no decisions

Finally – Group Dynamics

Rarely are important or critical decisions taken by one person. Usually several people are involved, whether through a hierarchical process (e.g. Japanese companies) or in a group, team or committee.

Group dynamics are different from individual dynamics. Members of a group will have group objectives but also their own agenda – their own goals and characteristics.

Each individual’s personal goals …

• Rational

• Political

• Emotional

… must be understood and addressed.

Emotional

What will I get out of this?

What will the impact be on my life?

Rational

What does it cost and what is the benefit?

Will it work and how long will it take? 

Political

Will I look good in the organisation if I support this?

Will it advance my career?

So there you have it ……interesting stuff for a Friday!!

Today’s News: Here is your early chance to register for good chum Kevin Eikenberry’s latest major event …….

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