How Rehearsing Will Earn You Many Schrute-Bucks

As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of the NBC show The Office. It is the most ridiculously absurd yet accurately realistic portrayal of the modern American workplace. (And yes, I’ve seen the British version; I think I might be the only person who has seen both but actually prefers the American version.) I just received the 3rd season on DVD (I’d like to shout out a thank-you to my sister Melissa), which I have already seen a number of times, but I still can’t get enough. Anyway, there is one particular episode entitled “Traveling Salesmen” in which the sales team pairs off to go on sales calls to pitch to various potential customers. I was watching this episode earlier this evening, and it got me in the mood to talk about the importance of rehearsal.
If you have not seen this episode, get your hands on it, and watch how Jim and Dwight nail the sales call with an extremely innovative approach that demonstrates real value to the prospect. When they enter the prospect’s office, Dwight asks to use the phone, and he begins dialing what seems like a random number while Jim starts talking and pitching their products and services to the potential customer. This looks like Dwight just being his normal (or not?), quirky, socially inept self, and Jim being the Everyman sales hero. However, when Jim acknowledges that they don’t have the best price but their customer service is unbeatable, Dwight explains that he has been on hold the entire time with a competitor’s customer service line. Jim whips out his cell phone, calls Dunder Mifflin, and he is immediately answered by their CS rep, Kelly. The prospect agrees at once to become a customer.
The point is that Jim and Dwight have a routine. They have practiced this song and dance so many times that they execute it flawlessly every time, and that is why they are two of the top salespeople at their company. While you should definitely take the time to understand and work with each individual customer’s needs, you should have always have your sales pitch down to a science so that you can engage your customers and show them real value in the precious few minutes that you will likely have with them. Improvisation is much easier when you have a script to guide you.

Appreciate Your Customers And They Will Appreciate You

Ever wonder why the best salespeople always seem to retain those huge accounts, even when there may be better or cheaper products out there to which the customers could be switching? While there are a number of reasons for this, one of the really huge, gigantically important ones is that these superstar salespeople make their customers feel appreciated.

I personally find that the number one reason my repeat customers come back is because I make sure they know how thankful I am that they choose to buy from ME. Very few things in life feel better than knowing other people are grateful for what you do for them, and I do my very best to assure my customers that my gratitude is immense, and that I would love to continue serving them in whatever way I can. There are a number of ways to show your patrons that they are your priority, and here are a few examples:

· Private Line of Contact: Create an email address separate from the one you use at work (but also separate from your home email, let’s not get crazy) and use it purely to communicate with your best customers. When a customer sees you as an associate rather than just a representative of your employer, the potential for a long-term relationship grows tremendously, which equates to lasting business for you.

· Periodic Value-Adding Info: Every so often, send your best customers some form of correspondence that provides them with real value. For example, sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer sends his customers a weekly email newsletter that provides sales tips, techniques, and articles from guest writers. A monthly or quarterly letter detailing some of the new products or discounts at your company is a good idea as well.

· Hand Written Thank You Note: Your mom taught you this one when you were little, and guess what? It’s still completely relevant! There is absolutely, totally, hands down no better way to show your appreciation than sending an individual, personalized thank you card written by hand. A printed card with your signature is okay, but if you really want to seal the long-term deal, grab a roller-ball pen and write the whole message.

These are just a few ideas. How do you share your appreciation with your customers? I’d love to hear from some salespeople on this, as well as professionals in other fields.

Now Is As Good A Time As Any To Change Careers

Changing any aspect of your career probably seems like an idea from hell right now, and why wouldn’t it? While in a recession (or what certainly seems like one), we are supposed to be quiet as timid little church mice, right? You know what I’m talking about. You’ve heard them. The cries of ridicule and shame from all of those around you when you’ve brazenly announced you are considering a change amid the inescapable economic turmoil.

“You’ll never find anything better right now!”

“Appreciate the job you have. Many people would love to have it!”

“Nobody is hiring!”

“Shut up, keep your head down and don’t piss anybody off!”

If everyone is screaming these things at you all the time, it is easy to begin believing them. But the reality is that you have no more to lose in switching jobs now than you did a few years ago, when the economic conditions were more stable. As long as you don’t broadcast your job search to your current employer until you have secured a new position, you have just as much chance of being laid off either way.

So if you have legitimate reasons to look for a new position, now is as good a time as any. When things are not going well, that’s when we should seek a change, not hide from one.

How a Great Salesman Converted My Rock Gaming Religion

Last night, I walked into an electronics store in Dallas shopping for (of all things) office supplies, and when I walked out, the only thing stopping from dropping an additional $190 on the brand new Rock Band 2 was the fact that they did not have it in stock for the Xbox 360. And it was all due to one of the best salespeople I had ever met. We will call him Brad.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE Guitar Hero nut. I’m not talking about the guy who wails on Hard at a party; I’m the guy who 5-stars almost every song on Expert in his spare time. I was not impressed with the first Rock Band’s difficulty level, which was the main reason I did not purchase it (well, that and the user-unfriendly squishy strum bar on the Stratocaster guitar controller). Also, the price point was a big deterrent, and Guitar Hero 3 had more of the complicated metal songs that I prefer.

When I walked into the store, 2 stations were set up near each other, one for Guitar Hero World Tour, and one for Rock Band 2. I immediately headed for the familiarity and perceived challenge of Guitar Hero, and I played for 3 songs and had a blast. Brad, the salesman, came over and engaged me in a conversation about the game series; NOT a sales pitch, but a friendly conversation. We shared stories of the first time we got through the intro on “Through the Fire and Flames”, and saving our tails with Star Power during the 4-note descending shreds on “Raining Blood.” After establishing rapport with me, he asked if I had a chance to try out Rock Band 2 yet, to which I responded that I hadn’t because of the points of contention I had with the first entry in the series. Brad then asked me to come pick it up and try a couple songs.

He encouraged me to pick up the guitar, since that is my favorite instrument, and he instructed me to try out the new strum bar and see how it felt. So we played an Expert song together, and I saw that the strum bar had been improved for Rock Band 2. He then asked me if I wanted to play something a bit harder. I skeptically agreed, because I didn’t believe I would be adequately challenged by anything in this series. I was very, very wrong. We played songs by Judas Priest, Rush, and a couple of other highly technical bands, and I had a rough time during the solos, which I loved. Brad had spent the last 20 minutes with me building up to this point: I asked him why he wanted me to purchase this product over one that was priced equally, and was clearly my preference from the outset. Brad responded that he believed, given the fact that I seemed like someone who has a very critical eye (and ear) and expects a lot out of my music games, he simply had to sell me a product that he believed would satisfy me the most, regardless of what my original inclinations were.

Unfortunately, they did not have Rock Band 2 in stock for the Xbox 360, so I had to leave without it that night, but I am going immediately to find Brad next time I walk into that store, and I am going to purchase it, and future products, from him.

Ultimately this story tells us 2 things. First, it reinforces the idea that people like to do business with their friends. Brad established our relationship as a friendly one, rather than a business one. Second, it shows that salespeople can be very successful when they assess the needs of their customer rather than the needs of their sales quota.

Thanks, Brad. I’ll be buying from you soon.

Sales of Steel in Only 30 Minutes a Day!!

In his Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gitomer states that he makes sure to write for half an hour every morning before his actual workday starts. He says that this practice will do wonders for your career more than anything else. Reading this a couple of weeks ago was actually the impetus that drove me to create People Sales. I’ll explain.

I read the Little Red Book of Selling recently, and while it has a lot of repetition of a few key ideas (like most business books seem to), the idea of making yourself sit down and write about what you do for half an hour each morning struck me as something incredibly powerful. So I decided to try it. I woke up thirty minutes early each morning for a week, and after I showered, shaved, got dressed, and fixed my more-precious-by-the-year hair, I sat down in front of my laptop and did nothing but write about sales. And salespeople. And sales-related things. And sales-related things about salespeople. Et cetera.

After a week I had a fair amount of content that was doing nothing but taking up space on my hard drive. I’ve been following a number of career-related blogs for over a year now, and it seems everyone who consistently contributes content to a blog (and makes sure to contribute to others’ blogs as well) sees increased success in their field. Since I already spend all day countering people’s negative perceptions of sales pros by providing them with unconventionally personal service, I decided it would be great to share my ideas with others, and hopefully start a discussion about it. Thus, People Sales was born.

So far, writing for 30 minutes every morning seems to be having a profoundly positive effect on my sales performance, my writing skills, my creativity, and definitely my network. We’ll see where this leads. Does anyone else out there have any structured writing practices, or really any kind of regular activity they use to increase success? I’d like to know what others are doing everyday.

"'Cause Y'all Look Like Door-to-Door Salesmen"

Appearance is kind of a blurry subject for salespeople. You obviously would not dress the same to sell insurance policies to corporate event planners as you would to sell skateboard decks to aggressive skaters. Since there are an endless variety of different types of businesses, all of which have their own standards of self-presentation, how are we supposed to know how we should dress when we interact with customers?

The answer is actually pretty simple: Experience. In some industries, it is very easy to take a guess at how you should dress on the job. However, in others it can take some time to feel your customers out so you can suit up most effectively to deal with your target market. For example, I often deal very closely with restaurant owners, chefs, and caterers, and they tend to fall on the more casual side of the spectrum, so I typically dress business casual; it would be off-putting for me to meet with this particular audience in a full suit and tie, and it would probably negatively affect my sales.

A good rule of thumb if you are unsure of how to adjust your dress to that more closely resemble that of your client base is to err on the higher side. That way if you are slightly overdressed, you will come off as professional. If your clients are always dressed more smartly than you, they may be inclined to make premature judgments about your ability to help them.
It just takes time and adjustment. Just pay close attention to what your clients are wearing, and try to stay in the same general range of formality.

Selling Ice to Eskimos Will Kill Your Business

“He could sell ice to Eskimos.”
I’m sure that just about everyone with two functional ears (or maybe even one) has heard this expression, and knows what it means. If you happen to live under a boulder and are not familiar with this term, it means someone who is able to sell anything to anyone, no matter whether they need it or not. A couple of months after I started at my company, my (at the time) supervisor said this about me, given my above-average performance straight out of the gate. I took it as a compliment, because I know that’s how she meant it. I have to admit, I was very flattered getting this kind of praise from the big boss so soon after joining the team. But after 1 year of dealing very directly with clients all day long, feeling out what their needs and wants are, and seeing how I can satisfy those and still remain within their budgets, I have to wonder...

Who the heck would ever want to be described this way?

The person that this describes has no interest in why their customer actually needs the good, or how much they can really afford it. In fact, selling ice to an Eskimo is flat-out wrong. This implies that your customer has no legitimate use for a product, whether they initially came looking for it or not. This is like the car salesman whose customer was looking for a small, reliable used truck, and he ends up selling them a $50,000 sports car they have no need for. This might look admirable from a purely traditional sales perspective. “Hey, it’s the customer’s fault for spending money he doesn’t have on something he doesn’t need.” Granted, yes, people are financially responsible for their own decisions. But willfully seducing someone into purchasing something that doesn’t suit their purposes is not only wrong, it’s bad for business. Here is why.

1. Customers will not come back to you once they realize what happened. They will see you as a manipulative snake, and they’ll consider this the worst buying experience they have ever had once they clearly see what happened.

2. They will never, ever refer someone to you. In fact, they will probably warn everyone they know to stay away from your business.

3. You are reinforcing the horrible reputation that salespeople, in general, are forced to deal with everyday. This will only make your job tougher in the future.

So instead of selling ice to Eskimos, how about selling them something they need? They will respect you for it tomorrow.

Know Your Products Inside and Out

As a sales rep, nothing gets me more frustrated than when I see someone in a client-focused position trying to make up for a lack of real product knowledge by stressing one or two "selling points" over and over again. Representatives like this are a huge reason that people feel like facehugger aliens are sucking on their wallets every time they speak to a salesperson.

Some members of my sales team and I were recently given a training presentation on a very high end product line. This is one of the greatest products available in it's class, and it is priced accordingly. She couldn't answer a single question which had an answer not clearly shown in the brochure. The product was designed by a famous architect, about whose career she could tell us nothing. We asked her if the super high-end product was created to dispel any myths about the company's manufacturing quality in recent years: no concrete answer. She couldn't even answer pretty basic questions about her company's history.

We did not learn a single thing from this woman; it was as if she had simply read the brochure that the vendor designed, and then decided she could give half-baked training presentations to the most discerning sales force in the industry. We were, quite frankly, kind of insulted that we woke up super early on a Saturday morning for this "training."

One of the most important things we can do as salespeople is educate ourselves on our products and services. If you don't know what you are selling, how can you expect other people and businesses to exchange their hard-earned money for it? This means doing more than attending training sessions and flipping through information packets from your vendors. If you want to become a successful people-focused sales professional, you need to do some research: scour vendors' websites, read opinion blogs, think critically about the uses and features of your products and services. It all comes down to being able to converse fluently about your wares. No one is buying them until you can honestly tell them why they should.

Why People Sales?

What do you think of when you hear the word "salesperson?" Does your mind conjure up images of fast-talking, sharply dressed schmoozers who seem to prefer the sound of their own voices to listening to your needs? Do you see the "used car dealers and door-to-door charlatans" that Dwight Schrute so vividly described? Do you imagine bored-to-tears teenagers selling pre-destroyed clothes in a crowded, noisy mall?

Now imagine how you feel when you deal with these people. Doesn't it suck? How could you ever expect to feel comfortable spending a ton of money on new equipment for your business from a slick operator who you are sure is being at least somewhat dishonest? Why should you have to face a whole sales staff who look like they can't wait to leave work?

That's where People Sales comes in.

My name is David Dotson, and I am creating People Sales because I love being a sales professional, and everywhere I look I see people giving the field a bad reputation. Since salespeople are the front line of business, and businesses are all made up of people, I personally believe that we should, as a workforce, make people our business. This means looking at clients and customers as human beings and not as bank accounts. This means forging relationships. Most of all, this means helping people.

So welcome to People Sales! My mission here is to improve business with kindness and respect. As Michael Scott, one of the most human-oriented salesmen who never lived, once said, "People will never go out of business."