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Thinking With Your Customer

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on September 17, 2009 at 8:00 am {no comments}

For those of us who have been in the sales profession for many years (25 for me personally!) we know how hard it is to overcome the stigma of being a “salesman”… It’s only been in recent years that we’ve actually been considered a respectable profession … and it will continue to be respectable based upon how we conduct ourselves and how we treat our business partners…our Customers.

It wasn’t all that long ago when the consuming public simply saw our profession as a bunch of used car salesmen! We’ve begun to crack the shell of that stigma…and must continue to emerge from it as we make strides into a consultative sales approach to our consuming public.

Being able to think with your customer will change the way you do business forever. Put your product aside. Put your “sales pitch” aside…Start to think in terms what’s best for your relationship with your Customer and you change the whole game. Become an extension of his business…and you become a resource he can’t live without….develop a trusted relationship and all of the rewards will follow.

I recently had a call from a old customer who had just sold his business to his business partner and was launching a business again. Rebuilding from the ground up…After the typical exchange of pleasantries we started to dive into what the new company was going to do ….where it would fit into the market…. how he was going to reach out to his potential customers…and what would make the new company different. At no time during our conversation did we actually discuss my products and how he would benefit from selling them as part of his solution. Instead, our conversation was about the markets that he would target for his service oriented company and what he could bring to the table was different and unique and how he would make an impact in the market. Naturally, when he decided to split up his partnership and start anew….he had the dream of taking some of his existing customers with him, which has become the foundation of the new company. Bearing in mind a company is not built on one customer alone, we talked about what he saw as the vision of his company in the next few years, and what resources he would bring to bear to realize that dream. I offered a few anecdotes from other business partnerships I’d developed and offered several suggestions of people to reach out to and other resources that he could tap into.

After a twenty or so minute conversation we agreed that we’d catch up again in two weeks and I offered to put him in touch with some of the resources that we’d discussed. I did just that as soon as we hung up the phone. I contacted the resources that I said I would, I put them in touch with each other…and formed yet another bond with this long standing customer of mine. I have become his trusted adviser. His friend and his mentor. Together, we will build his business…and my products will be a part of the partnership.

Step back and take stock of the customers that you partnered with in the past….Where are they today? Are you still a part of the partnership? Did you develop trust and lend your expertise over the life of the relationship? Did you become a part of the DNA of your Customers’ organization? Where you an integral part of the growth of the organization? Take stock in what went right and what went off course. Redirect what you can and carry the positive components forward. Take those skills along as the foundation of your next venture into your next Customer Partnership.

The Truth About Price

Filed under Inside Sales Training, Sales Training by admin on September 14, 2009 at 7:45 am {no comments}

“Price is a factor, Price is always a factor”. Not sure who said those ominous words first but as much as we don’t want to believe it they are true…but only to a point. Price is always part of the equation just like in most business concerns about shrinking profit margins and rising expenses is a reality that the talented overcome while the masses just resign themselves to selling for less and having to sell much more year after year to keep the income level the same. A client base built over time and healthy prospecting is part of the answer to the problem but so is maximizing each and every opportunity.

How? Glad you asked. First you most likely aren’t the cheapest, chances are you don’t have the largest market share? Sound about right. Doesn’t matter where I’ve been or what I’ve sold there was always a part of the sales force that had that perception. Usually the part of the sales force whose numbers where not where they wanted them to be.

Price, while always being part of the issue, is rarely the entire issue unless you did something stupid like led with price. If you lead with price to get in the door that will lead to a few things

1) the inability to focus on things of value other than price because you made a promise of “saving them money”. We can’t tell you how many times in the history of sales that the cheapest price didn’t win. Why? Because most of us aren’t selling groceries. Who cares what Banana’s are selling for down the street? What we are doing is solving problems, helping business feel secure, enhancing customers or life’s satisfaction. Does it come in the form of a sale? We’ll argue that it comes from someone buying. When a person or company buys something of value whether routine or life altering, they are agreeing to the price but they are also expecting everything else that you and your company has to offer. They are not just buying price they are buying delivery and quality and a lot more. They are, in a way, buying you.
2) you are engaged with someone who is focused on a task. i.e. buying as cheaply as possible more often than not the are a lower level person, sure the folks at the top worry about cost but notice I said cost and not price. Price is only a factor as it relates to cost.

So where does cost really come into play

Look at the terms of the deal. Have you given them an advantage beyond price that is real and tangible but not evident on a line of the quote. Never give something away. It only dimishes the value. If you offer free tech support for the first year on your product put it in as a line item and then counter it with a loyalty discount of some type equal to the value. Let them see what it’s worth. Say your competition charges freight in a deal and you don’t. There is a value to that beyond price.

Is you product longer lasting and ranked higher than the competitions for quality by a third party source. It’s a delicate conversation but one that needs to be had because down time and lost productivity relates directly to cost. The conversation might go something like “well sure Ms. Customer’s widget is lower in the upfront pricing but have you considered that their published failure rate is one every 36 months with an average down time of four hours and ours is once every 60 months for two hours. You’d have to determine what that lost productivity is worth but id it is 3,000 per hour then ….)

Ever own a Mercedes? If you have and you’ve used their warranty services you get a great idea of what a premium is put on service. They will come to where you are and fix your problem. They provide you with a loaner car or at the very least a ride and if you’re traveling they pay for lodging and a loaner or rental if the car is going to be down for any length of time including getting it where you are going as soon as it is fixed. That service comes at a premium price. Your service should also. Think of yourself as a high end vehicle, sure your can get some where else in a car that is the fraction of the price but can you get that same level of service?

Price alone will not grow a business or sustain in. Being able to articulate true value into the cost of the item or service will grow and sustain a business. So step back. Look at your offer. Ask questions! Find out why the price of an item is so important to the person asking. Perhaps the person asking for the price is compensated based on getting the lowest price. This is true in many corporate purchasing departments. You need to have buy-in on your product or service from multiple levels within the company. If you’re only working with the purchasing department, you’re not “in” the account! You need to have relationships at multiple levels of the company that you’re selling to. Without this, you’ll never win! Does your manager know the manager of the company that you’re selling to? Does your vice president know the vice president at the company you’re selling to? Do you know the sales manager at the company? Become a partner to the company you’re selling to. Become an extension of them. Show them your value day in and day out. If you’re doing a good job a providing value, and you know all of the key decision makers with the company and you’re persistent, then your value will ultimately shine through and you’ll win. Till that happens, it’s all about price.

Do You Believe

Filed under Inside Sales Training, Sales by admin on September 8, 2009 at 8:00 am {no comments}

To be a true Professional, you need to believe in what you’re offering your Customers. Be honest, does your product or service fill a need? Can you really make a difference with your product line up? Do the services that you offer your Customers really live up to their expectations? If not, go back two steps and rethink what you’re offering your Customers. Be honest enough with yourself to know that dishonesty will only come back to haunt you. Usually when you least expect it. Build your reputation in terms of your personal integrity. Build your call scripts in your own words, and be clear, concise and forthright about them. Under commit and over deliver. You will earn lifetime Customers this way.

In our industry, there are a lot of characters who offer their products to unsuspecting Customers who wind up buying a bill of goods that they have no need for. Ask questions of your Customer to determine what they truly need and offer them a solution that will truly fit their needs. Never compromise your true beliefs just for the sake of a sale. It may get you to quota today. But by tomorrow, you’ll feel less than zero because you’ll know you did the wrong thing. We already know that sales people have a bad rap. Be the Sales Professional who has integrity and the guts to show it and believe in it. Believe in yourself and your products. Or move on.

Now that we have established that belief in your company is essential the next perhaps most important part is belief in yourself, with out that leap of faith and self confidence success is impossible. A large part of self confidence is what we tell ourselves. If we tell ourselves we can’t then we can’t if we tell ourselves we can, we can accomplish. Think about the difference of people who are told they can achieve something and those who are told they can’t there is always one who beats the odds but sadly people place a lot of value on the words of others, many times it is a well founded decision after all that is how we know most everything we’ve ever learned but the down side is if you are not surrounded with encouragement it’s tough. It makes for a tough life, both personally and professionally.

In the business of sales you have to run through brick walls on an almost daily basis. You have to find people who you don’t know and ask them to talk to you about how you can help them. You have to stand out from the others in the proverbial herd that are vying for their time and convince them through hard work and planning that not just the product you have is a better fit for them but you are a better fit for them. What you tell yourself you can achieve is possible with the right effort. It may at first not look exactly like what you set out for but have goals. Write them down and look at them. It makes them real but just like everything else in life put a time limit on them and reassess them once a qtr. I didn’t say change them but reassess them. If they need to be changed commit to doing that not because it is too hard to get where you’re going but because the in between steps matter and a lot of the time those details get filled in along the journey to make the path easier.

Negative people are killers- in ice hockey there are two a sayings when discussing a players skills “I’d have a drink with him” or “He can play” The meanings are simple the first player might be a nice guy but he doesn’t have the skills to get things done consistently when it counts. The second player is the one who is on the ice and rises to the occasion every time it really matters. Negative people, the whiners and complainers are not the ones who get it done in business, they might be great people with a lot of redeeming qualities but you want to become the go to person because you can do things that others can’t or won’t even dare to try.

Fear is a natural instinct, it in general is a good thing to have but you can’t let fear stop you from doing what you need to in business or in life for that matter. Weigh your options, commit to a path, and then drive toward the result. You might not get there every time but you’ll never get there if you don’t try.

So other people can and have let you down, it doesn’t mean not to believe in and trust others. Most people are well intentioned. One area that even top performing reps fall down on is trying to control everything, yes it is your client, yes they decided to buy from you but all of those other resources in the book that were talked about, you need to let them do their job too, a large part of which comes from you understanding enough about what they do to make sure your client has the proper expectations of how things are going to flow. Look at your business like you own a barber shop, and take care of every single task that ownership requires personally. You can only give so many hair cuts in a day. Over time you get more efficient and deliver the same quality but eventually there comes a point where you have to sacrifice the quality of your service if you want to fit more people in. So you open earlier but then that start to take a toll on your attitude, there is after all more to life than work. But you want to grow your client base so you hire a few people to take care of things like cleaning and accounting, it gives you more time to focus on your task at hand, cutting hair. Maybe somewhere down the road you’ll hire another person to cut hair too, sure they might not have clients but some of yours may go to them if you’re too busy. They are still your clients but they have trusted the same person you have to deliver the service. In a sales world that person could be a sales assistant taking routine quoting and order entry away from you, not to steal an account or diminish your value but so you can spend more of your time doing what you do best. That person could also be the installation staff, or other support anywhere from shipping to accounting or marketing that makes sure your customer has the exact experience that you as a team worked together to create and deliver.
Always remember, there’s no I in TEAM! Together, each accomplishes magic. The true meaning of TEAM.

A personal story is that I use a lot of self effacing humor when I work with people, it’s often a way to disarm them and break down barriers because like every sales person, occasionally ego can get in the way. So instead I say thinks like “ well I’m not that bright so explain it to me again.” I don’t really doubt my own abilities but some times I just don’t get it and want to, and sometimes I’m checking the answer knowing that something was missing in the first explanation that gets included or better defined the second time through. Once after a big meeting that I left with an even bigger signed contract with one of my new client’s staff pulled me aside and said something like “You really are quite capable, stop doubting yourself.” I thanked them for the input and as I got to the car thought about how astute she was and wondered why she felt the need to talk to me afterword. It was an eye opening experience how confidence plays a part in everyone world.

Great Expectations and Unhappy Customers

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on August 28, 2009 at 10:00 am {no comments}

We’ve all had them….a customer calls you so angry that all they want to do is spit in your face, tell you what a loser you are and get off the phone or out of your sight. You, being the sales professional that you are, have the ability to turn the whole situation around and win the customer back. Your true skills will now come into play. First, you must be willing to empathize with the customer and acknowledge his problem or concern is real. To him, it is or he wouldn’t have taken the time to contact you. Then, together with your customer you must determine the best approach. Think long and hard about this one. Determine that you really want to work with this company. Are they the type of customer that you want? Back in chapter 5 we talked about who you want your customer to be? Does this customer fit the profile of the company you want to grow business with? If not, be honest enough to move on. If it does, be bold enough to fix whatever went wrong and honorable enough to make sure that it goes right moving forward.

More than once in my career, I’ve had “that call” – the one from the customer who hates their sales rep; professes that their rep can’t do anything right; that every shipment is wrong; that they can never get them live on the phone; I even had a man tell me recently that he’s waited three months for a price quote! When these calls come across, it’s important to understand that there’s a lot of emotion speaking so we need to be remain calm (That’s the tough part!). Go back to your basic skill set that you’ve now honed and start by acknowledging that you understand that the caller is upset. Commit to helping them and commit to making the situation right for them. Again, this assumes that this is a customer that you want to grow business with. In many cases, the customer will wind up being very happy and come back to you because you took the time to make their situation correct. That’s not to say that you’ll win every time in this situation. But, if you give this customer the time and attention that they are needing, it’s a safe bet that even if you wind up not doing business with them, the fact that you took the extra steps to make their wrongs right will go a long way.

TIP: you never know where your customer is going to show up! Today, he’s at Company X. Tomorrow he could be at Company Y and be strong influencer as to where purchases are made. Best not to burn any bridges along the way.

The old joke goes something like this “How do you know a salesperson is lying?” The punch line of course is “their lips are moving” Part of this is well earned though not always intentional. You are the face of your company, a thought than needs to be given serious consideration each and every time you make a commitment to the customer. The commitment might be a little one that is simply forgotten by you not at all intentional. Now think of the last time you were buying something and a simple comment was made and that commitment got over looked. You remembered it even f the other party didn’t and chances are you either spoke up and had them address it or worse yet kept silent wondering why it wasn’t important, letting it eat at you. When you think back to the transaction you remember. Don’t let that happen to your customer transactions. If you commit to something write it down, customers like to see you taking notes it reassures them that you are paying attention and says that you care about what is being said. On a side note paper and pen are favorable to typing or PDA’s the perception is not currently the same when they see you typing. The at the end of each meeting review the commitments you made before it ends to make sure that you not only have captured the commitment but that we are clear on the expectation and out come of the planning.

Then there is the classic sales problem of over committing. This can lead not only to missed customer expectations but to internal conflict as well. In many organizations the rest of the company has to attempt to deliver on what sales has committed to. It doesn’t make for the best working relationship but it also puts pressure on the rest of the company. Under commit then over deliver. Easier said than done for us sales types, but your customers will appreciate the fact that you’ve delivered above and beyond what was promised. This simple fact will put you above your competition and you’ll earn the reputation for being the sales professional who delivers more than is promised. Not such a bad place to be in comparison to your competition I’d say.

Your Time’s your own, so own your Time

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on August 24, 2009 at 10:15 am {no comments}

In our sales world, our time is usually own….so it’s critical to make the most of every hour or every day. You dictate your own fate simply by dictating you spend your time. Be aware of all the things that happen during the day to disrupt your flow. Did you set time aside for returning calls? Did you return every call before the day was done? Did you set time aside to make your prospecting calls? Do your “chores” around your selling hours. Too many people allow their email in box to be their dash board…and allow it to dictate how they spend their time. Don’t fall into that trap.

Set you day up so that your “housekeeping” is before your selling hours. Do you have reports due to your manager? Get in early and get them done! Do you have paperwork to file? Get in early and get it done! Do you have quotes due to your Customers? GET THEM DONE! Never, under any circumstance, keep the Customer waiting for your longer than necessary.

Is your email filled with unread messages? At the end of each day, your email should be current! This is by far one of the greatest challenges in business today. Many people live by their email. If your email program allows for this, and most do, color code recipients. Customers in one color, internal company in another, for example. Many times, we get emails that just don’t need to be read! Your email program will likely allow for this type of correspondence to be automatically sent to a folder. Take the few minutes it requires to organize this piece of your life. You’ll find it saves you hours work in the long run.

TIP: If you find you’re going to be delayed in getting the Customer that he needs, call him, and let him know. Always set the Customers expectations as to when they can expect to your response to their inquiry

Think of your sales territory like it’s your own business. You’re the President and CEO and you can make, or break, your own future. Get up early! Get to your office early….it’s nice to be cleaning up paperwork and email when no one else is around, and certainly NOT when your customers need your time and attention. Organize yourself. There are some excellent books out there about organizing your desk and your “stuff” so it works for you. READ THEM! At least one of them! Get all of your “busy work” done before your selling hours begin. I always have a lot of projects going at once. Organize your projects so that you can effectively juggle them. There’s no more rewarding feeling than that of completing a project that takes up a ton of your time before everyone else’s day begins. Like many of us, you can be working on several projects at one time, just be organized about it so that you’re focused on what you’re doing. It sounds so simple. Yet, for us sales types, it’s one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. I once worked with a guy whose desk never looked like he had anything to do – it was the neatest place I’ve ever seen. I asked him the secret to working so neatly and he told me. He looks at what he needs to do and then decides whether he’s going to handle it, delegate it or dump it. If he’s to handle it, he does…and then puts it away in its proper place. And out of his mind. If he’s delegating it, he does, to a reliable resource and doesn’t think about it again. If he’s going to dump it, he does. And doesn’t think about it again. He knows just where all of this “stuff” is and clears his mind for the next project. Interesting to note, he’s consistently a top performing at his company, and he always makes his quota. He always seems to have the time for outside interests and for some fun. Also interesting to note, he keeps a list. An ongoing list of the things he wants to get done. Both personally and professionally. That list (kept electronically) is always with him (his organizational method of choice is his palm pilot). His greatest thrill is marking something on his “to do” list as complete. He clears his mind by tracking his “to do’s” so that he doesn’t have to constantly think about them.

There are many temptations in sales. Are you spending your time on the right things? What are the right things? Well it really does vary with every sales position and your goals both personally and professionally. Some of the right things no matter what your role is: planning, both long term and short term. Much like a to do list it gives you a series of things you need to accomplish. Since you’re the CEO of your own little business world you need to plan to get the most out of everything you do to provide a return on that investment of time. Do you have account plans for every account that is important to you? Most people don’t. They can be as simple as a list of who’s who in the organization both your organization and your customer or prospects organizations. “WAIT!!!!!!” You scream “an account plan for a prospect?” I know you’re thinking the two of us have finally lost it but take a minute and think about it, how do you know where you’re going if you don’t have a map. Now I’m not talking about an account plan for every passing prospect but for the major ones, it goes to doing your home work, think of it as a battle plan for each account. If you prepare a plan the contacts provide you with a map of the territory a battle plan that allows you to discover key issues in the selling process and just like a moat around a castle you can discover the obstacles to your attack. So maybe the operations guy or receiving department has special needs or would like specific additional information on a packing slip? What is the value to them and how does it flow through the organization, is your competition delivering that today, is it an enhancement or a wish list item that’s easy to deliver. What else should you have in an account plan, Credit history both with your company and a general rating such a Hoovers or D&B. Do you take returns, are they a current customer then what percentage of returns, warranty claims or failures do they have? If they are a prospect this is a great place to uncover possible pain points. Maybe they have excessive returns due to quality or more likely operational issues. Defective products, and returns don’t just affect your bottom line but they cost the customer money also. Man hours at the very least; then add in freight and packing materials.

Back to account planning. List purchase histories, past and current issues, and of course upcoming projects, and opportunities. It can be a sanity check against your pipeline which should very much be a part of your account plan.

Now that you have prepared an account plan, which of course you didn’t create during your prime selling time, take a moment to look at it. Have you set aside time for prospecting? Set real goals, make the calls, record the results, and then look at the data. How many customers are you seeing or talking to in a day or a week? Look at your close percentage and then determine not only how to improve that number by understanding not only why your customers buy but how to get in front of more prospects. What would the impact be of seeing two additional new prospects a week? Let’s put this in terms nearest and dearest to your heart, commissions! Take the hypothetical situation that you close 25% of the deals you get in front and each additional deal means 500 dollars in your pocket. So in an average month you get in front of eight additional prospects and close two. Over the course of a year you just gave yourself a $12,000 raise with out having to ask the boss for a dime. You just did a little bit extra. It’s your job to understand how you get paid and how to make the most out of your comp plan. Are there accelerators if you go above a certain dollar amount in sales or margin that kicks in when you over achieve? Over our years of experience we have seen and developed dozens of comp plans that allowed reps to greatly increase even double or triple their commission dollars by over achieving by 25-30%. Are you getting every dime of extra income possible?

Follow up. Once upon a time someone said showing up is 90% of the game. It couldn’t be more true. Make sure you follow up on each and every commitment you made in the meeting. Find new ways to separate yourself from your competition by offering things of value to the customer. Real information and insight, not trinkets or lip service but things that matter. An email thank you note while acceptable and quick is not nearly as well received as a personal hand written note after a meeting.

TIP: have a folder or binder for each account you call on. Before each meeting put a blank thank you note with an addressed envelope with postage in the folder. Make it habit to write the note after the meeting perhaps in the car in the parking lot as you review your notes and to do’s one last time before driving to your next appointment.

Allowing enough time- we’ve all done it. Some people are classic over bookers. Yep, you run from meeting to meeting pushing the boundaries and running late the entire day. While the ambition is admirable making sure you set a realistic schedule is important. Not just for your own sanity but to show respect for your customer’s time, it is valuable too and for your image. To be seen as a professional you have to act like one, being prepared is part of the equation, being prompt is all part of that. Just like the physical image you present with your grooming and clothing. Being on time sends a message.

Death by meeting- Time is a sales person’s most precious commodity. Guard it with your life. Sitting in unproductive meeting after unproductive meeting is not going to get you where you want to be. It’ll make you mind numb and your quota will be missed but it has nothing of value you. To make meetings more effective have a plan or an agenda. Even if you’re not calling the meeting, understand what the objectives of it are, who will be attending and how long it is expected to take. Just for the record, if done politely and professionally you have every right to ask a customer or even your CEO for an outline and this type of information. If they push back just tell them that you want to be have prepared the proper information, have the proper resources at the ready and your thoughts gathered.

So if you’re doing the agenda what should it include.

At a minimum it should have Name and contact information for the attendees- if they aren’t in the account plan or your CRM Data base, add them! The Place and time that the meeting is going to occur. An out line of how long each topic will take. Now, on a personal agenda have a meeting planner for your self, not to be shared with a customer but with your own team include there the questions you have prepared for the meeting, make sure you understand the value of each one. Questions have to have a purpose, if they are not leading some where don’t ask them. What is your objective for the meeting? Be specific. Gather enough info to create a quote or presentation, get to the next level of exec or decision maker by the end, expand the number of contacts, define the budget etc. Know why you are showing up then do your best to know why every one else in the room is there. It hurts. It is a level of commitment to get to that point but it will lead to the most productive use of the time.

Review your agenda with key parties on both sides before the meeting and then begin after introductions (which might be a good topic for your agenda) by reviewing the agenda and if need be further clarifying the other parties expectations. It’ll give you addition insight into their objectives and real goals. Listen, take good notes and read them back or rephrase their issues just to clarify. Then adjust the schedule as need be, prioritize it with what you have just learned and take into account the additional background info you have to make the most of the time, adapting it on the fly. Agenda’s are a plan and as you know plans change, be flexible but make sure you don’t lose sight of the value of the meeting to your objectives and time commitment.

What else do you have to know? Training and staying current is important, while there is a chapter on product knowledge it goes with out saying do as much of you learning as possible during non peak selling times.

The 12 Temptations of a salesperson

1) It’s not that important

2) I can do this and it won’t affect my sales

3) A few more calls don’t really matter

4) What is one customer worth

5) My accounts love me and they only buy because of me!

6) Details are a waste of time

7) I’LL JUST WING IT, I’VE DONE THIS A MILLION TIMES

8) No one will ever notice

9) I’ll get to it later it will always be there

10) It’s part of my reward

11) There is always tomorrow

12) I own them my competitors aren’t any where in sight.

What's your worth to the Customer?

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on August 17, 2009 at 10:00 am {no comments}

I was once vying for a customer who could contribute five million dollars in revenue to the company. The competition was fierce and every one else was wooing him by simply dropping their price. I invited him for a face to face meeting. I asked him all about his business…how he ran it, where he wanted it to be in five years, how he up sold additional products into his existing customer base, where he went for new customers. You know, the questions that we SHOULD be asking every day. Once he outlined his plan for growth, I showed him, in black and white how working with our company would help his company retire quota faster, be more profitable and get his sales reps trained and comfortable with the products that they sold faster. I became his trusted adviser and his resource for future growth. I kept my price and my profit margin exactly where I wanted it to be, by delivering the tools he needed to grow his business just as he wanted to. I gave him value. And frequently reminded him of the resources he got simply by partnering with me to grow his business.

Don’t sell yourself short! The easiest thing in the world to do is just drop your price and be just like all of the others. Sooner or later, the “others” will be nothing more than carcasses on the side of the road. You’ll be stepping over them on your road to success because they couldn’t stay in business because they weren’t profitable…Present your value. Over and over again. Every day you must present your value.

Now go take some time to figure out what your value is! Write it down. Make a stack of index cards to carry with you. Every where you go. And practice your value statement. Over and over again. Practice at every opportunity. Keep those index cards handy and when you’ve got a spare moment read them. Memorize them. Know them forward and backwards. I always carry mine with me! You never know when you’re going to be presenting and at just the wrong moment, some piece of technology fails you and you must go on without your slides, but without your slides! During my very first presentation ever this actually happened to me! Rather than packing up and running out of the room, I flipped to the next index card and moved ahead with my presentation. Tap dancing counts in presentations.

Sometimes all the research in the world doesn’t paint the real picture, there’s where the hard work comes in. So there is a company whose single largest customer represented 7% of their business but the supplier was relatively inconsequential to the client they were a 1.3 billion dollar company and the supplier had a 200 million a year business. At the end of a six year contract it was determined that they had lost control over the relationship and went and put someone in place to “firm up” the relationship. All the web sites, annual reports and studying in the world couldn’t have made things any clearer than mud but then again it gave a great basis of a starting point. Sitting over cheap pizza and salads the few contacts in the account that they had a working relationship were sharing their concerns, a few hours later the same rep was sitting across from a SVP and two divisional president’s whom the supplier had never gotten to know. Their issues were very different. Many people would think at the top of their list would be increasing revenue or improving profitability but it came down to three simple concerns 1) They didn’t feel loved…not by the supplier and not in general. A little dedicated attention went a long way. Sure it had to have meaning to the customer but they realized that the people who had worked hard for them everyday did care about their business, so much so that they kept their head down and forgot to say thanks 2) They had had an exclusive territory before and the market had changed this was one that couldn’t be fixed by the supplier, the market had changed and something they had enjoyed since the beginning of time couldn’t be offered any longer regardless of their size or level of commitment. 3) They were challenged to keep current with the new offers it was a communication breakdown – in short it was a simply resolved by a twice a month 15 minute review call. As a point of fact the issues at the top were not what they issues in other parts of the organization were or even perceived them to be. The requests through out the organization had to be addressed but the ones at the top were the easiest to fix.

TIP: Understand your companies value statement as it relates to you. Keep a list of the great things that you’ve done for your Customer so that when he asks for a deeper discount, you can cordially remind him of training that you’ve done, for an order that you rushed for him, or a promotion that you gave him etc. Even our customers that we talk to every day need to be reminded of our value to their organization

Customer service levels matter. So what is yours?

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on August 12, 2009 at 9:30 am {no comments}

It’s not hard to hear people saying they had a bad experience as a customer. Sometimes it’s product related but I’ll go out on a limb and say more than 80% of dissatisfied customers are unhappy because of service levels.

It might be tough to change an entire organization’s customer services philosophy and impacting a corporate culture significantly is a daunting task so rather than starting by moving a mountain let’s start with something you have absolute personal control over your own personal customer service level.

“Wait you’ve lost your mind I’m not in sales, or the customer service department so I have absolutely nothing how we inter act with customers!” This is where companies, organizations, departments, and most of all individuals fail. No matter who you are you have customers, Granted that sales is the face of the company, customer service, sales support (or inside sales), is the unseen but often heard voice of the company and your senior leadership is the face, voice and direction that sets the tone over all. Taking it one step further your customers exist outside of your professional life and includes friends, relatives and family.

So now as we often like to suggest you do it is time to take a personal inventory in this case to define who your customers are and how you affect their lives.

Be friendly- it sets the tone of the entire interaction, if you’re having a bad day do your best to put a good face on it. I’m not saying to act happy and be something your not but if you’[re a professional you very much need to learn to separate where the problem is from where it isn’t. If you’re mad at you boss don’t take it out on your co workers. Just because one customer is difficult doesn’t mean the next one will be the only way to guarantee that each and every customer will add to your own misery is to approach them that way.

Don’t be on time be early if you’ve never heard of the Lombardi rule it went something like this historic Football coach Vince Lombardi would tell his team to be ready for what ever at 7:00 which meant be there and ready to start

Communicate is more than just talking it is learning to listen actively. Engage them in the situation, ask question not only for clarifying but to create insight and find even great opportunities to m

Empathy and Emotions

Set expectations. What expectations have you set, have you verified with the customer that those are their expectations as well? A case in hand is if you think calling a person back with the answer in the morning is good enough make sure they think that is good enough as well.

Fair warning what if you know at the outset of an inter action that you can’t meet the customers needs in the time line they’ve outlined, be empathetic, be clear and concise as to why but don’t deliver that message in a cold that’s just the rules manner. Treat them exactly as you’d like to be treated, work for a compromise and keep in mind you goal of making them a happy customer.

Escalate- don’t be the hero. With out a doubt no one in history have every looked nearly as stunning as you do on a big white horse when you ride in to save the day but guess what. Getting the situation handled properly and to the best possible outcome is what matters so use the resources around when necessary. Take to you leadership of need be and while trumpets might not blare as you arrive alone in all your glory the customer might just be happier and think more of you because you helped them out so much.

Use your Judgment.

Have you structured your own behavior to match the service levels you want to deliver. Do you respond to your own internal clients and organization in the same manner that you want your own customers responded to. Do you go out of your way to make their lives easier, to help them with their goals and objectives and to understand what challenges they face and then work with them and your own customers to resolves and improve those challenges.

Do you have a personal commitment of how long it will take you to return a call. Prepare a quote and find an answer and then track and live up to it. All along the way looking for ways to improve it. Have you created a culture of customer service around you in everything you do and every person you talk to that is clear.

Are you focused on your customers needs and wants and not the easy answer, not always the fast answer but the right answer? It is easy to make great efforts to take care of favorite accounts and respond to hot prospects but how often do you strive to understand the average customer’s needs and make you service stand out from there.

We all know when the service we receive doesn’t match up to what we had hoped for or expect. Taking that in to consideration what are you doing to improve you own levels of customer service to the people who do business with you are you setting your self up to be the other company every one remembers. The one who delivered more than the promised, soon that they promised and got a customer who will stick with them and tell others about it all along the way.

Great customer service is easy to talk about but is something you must commit to personally, lead by example, deliver not only to external clients but your internal customers as well. All of which lead to long term customers, referrals, loyalty to you and your company, and oh in case you were wondering in many cases you can increase your margin and or sales just by delivering premium levels of customer service. Try it it’s contagious.

Improve Customer Service Levels

Filed under Inside Sales Training by admin on August 10, 2009 at 2:44 pm {no comments}

Customer service is an elusive and sought after thing. We all know when the service we receive doesn’t match up to what we had hoped for or expect. Taking that in to consideration what are you doing to improve you own levels of customer service to the people who do business with you?

Before heading down that path look at improved service levels can mean, long term customers, referrals, loyalty to you or your brand. company, and oh incase you were wondering in many cases you can increase your margin and or sales just by delivering premium levels of customer service.

It is a simple concept starting with what expectations have you set, have you verified with the customer that those are their expectations as well? A case in hand is if you think calling a person back with the answer in the morning is it good enough make sure they think that is good enough as well. What if they say no – well it comes to down to communication. The real key to great customer service.

If you can meet their goal now that you know it tell them so. If you can’t explain why for example the resource you need is un available until later in the day or it will take a little time to find the right answer.

Once that is established then give. Try to get the answer and if something happens along the way the changes it communicate it to them as soon as they know. Once upon a time I was working with a company and sitting in an office where a group of highly skilled support personal sat. I listened to the phone ring while these eight guys and gals bickered about who was going to take the call. Rather than just answering it. The manager sat knee deep in technical manuals researching answers. To earlier questions, finally someone picked up the phone took down about 30 seconds of information and said I’ll get back to you in the morning. It was before noon.

This organization had a challenge with their service levels that had been ongoing for years. I asked what the problem was ad they explained it to me So how do you find an answer. We look it up. I knew enough about the business to know it was a relatively easy question so I asked in the room how do you put a flux capacitor ion the time machine. Three people called out the solutions and where to find the documentation. The customer got a call back in 10 minutes because rather than going on a wild goose chase the team in question used their resources.

Do you have a personal commitment of how long it will take you to return a call. Prepare a quote and find an answer and then track and live up to it, all along the way looking for ways to improve it. Have you created a culture of customer service around you in everything you do and every person you talk to that is clear.

Venture 412 – Business Acceleration

Going from Start Up to High Growth

The Truth About Price

Great Expectations and Unhappy Customers

What's your worth to the Customer?

Customer service levels matter. So what is yours?

Improve Customer Service Levels