Know Thy Customer

Your company probably uses some sort of CRM program like Salesforce.com, which is great, but I have a question for you. 
 
Besides logging in meeting notes, quotes and other business data, do you have a confidential place you establish and maintain the personality/emotional profile of your clients and prospects? 
 

• What kind of buying personality do they have? 
• Are they innovators or risk adverse? 
• Do they like to get right to the point or do they like data? 
• Do they enjoy forming personal relationships or are they suspicious of doing so? 

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The Customer is Back . . . Where He/She Belongs

Last week while traveling on business, I experienced something that, until recently, was a rare phenomenon at most restaurants . . . great service.
 
In fact, over-the-top service.
 
The hostess was smiling, engaging and actually made eye contact (as opposed to rolling her eyes since I did not have a reservation). Read More

I’ll Get Back to You

Two good friends recently complained to me about the same customer service problem.  It goes something like this.

 
They each needed some medical attention.  They went in and the doctor checked them out.  They received some light meds for comfort pending further diagnosis/test results. 

 
And then . . . nothing.  No follow up calls, no emails.  Each of them had to do the following up . . . not directly with the doc but to administrators who had to dig through files before giving partial answers. 

 
I had the same experience buying a car recently.  Read More

The Right Stuff

If you are a salesperson, and you probably are if you are reading this blog, you are an extraordinary human being.
 
I mean it. Research shows that less than 20% of the general population has the innate personality characteristics, that is, the aptitude, to become successful salespeople. In our search business experience, less than one in fifty people who apply for sales positions have the potential to succeed.
 
That is because selling is a particularly challenging way to make a living. It requires taking significant emotional and financial risk. Not to diminish other jobs, but while our counterparts in the office receive a regular paycheck, most salespeople are paid only if they go out and actually generate revenue. No sale = no check. Read More

Lessons From the Big Guys/Gals

You know those incessant emails you get from retailers you may have purchased something from online? Maybe you bought a shirt and then week after week after week you are bombarded with promotions and sales information.
 
They can be pretty darn obnoxious . . . and yet . . . like it or not, they work! 
 
You see, the big marketing machines are playing a big numbers game. They know EXACTLY what percentage of those ads ultimately convert to sales, and the cost of bombarding us with those ads is justified by the return on those investments. Read More

The World’s Best

People often ask me to talk about the best salespeople I have ever met. I like to tell them the following story.
 
A couple years ago, I was relaxing on a Saturday morning, reading the paper and enjoying a warm cup of coffee. Suddenly, the energy in the room changed when my daughter, Katherine, burst into the room with an ad she had pulled off the Internet.
 
“Dad! It’s here!”
 
“Huh? What’s here?”
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The Universal Constant – Relationships

I am privileged to have a diverse group of followers who read this blog, from different industries like Real Estate to Steel, Printing to Banking, Automotive to Insurance and many more. 
 
So as we move into quarter two of 2018, each person is focusing on his or her own market. Some industries are providing more opportunity than ever for immediate gain, while others perhaps requiring more patience, such as Commercial Real Estate or Luxury Automotive Sales.
 
The reason I bring this up is because I always want these posts to be realistic and practical. 
 
A salesperson who is grappling with selling office buildings when buyers are not currently active, doesn’t want to hear a bunch of rah-rah stuff about maintaining enthusiasm. 
 
What I can say, however, and what I will continue to write about with passion and conviction, are the universal things great salespeople consistently do, at all times, in every industry, to outperform their competitors.  Read More

Good Vibrations

I was watching a documentary on the Beach Boys the other night and the interviewer asked Carl Wilson why he thought they were so popular.  Carl answered . . . “because we are really good.”
 
The interviewer, who expected a longer answer, went silent for a moment, then he replied . . . “perfect.”
 
I was struck by the profound power of this simplicity and authenticity as I think about sales. Read More

March Madness – What is YOUR Cinderella Story?

Most of you probably picked up on the terrific Loyola University Chicago Cinderella story in this year’s NCAA tournament. Ratings for their games went through the roof as they moved ever deeper into the tournament. And the whole experience is going to have a profound, positive impact on the university in terms of both athletic and academic recruiting going forward.
 
How did Loyola generate so much more interest in its team (product) than any of its competitors in this context?  Read More

Still a Place for Grace & Style

I just read an autobiography about George Bush Sr.
 
Evidently, very early in his career he got into the habit of sending handwritten notes to people he met just to say he enjoyed making their acquaintance, and of course thank you notes.
 
Over the years, he sent thousands of them, and of course now people who saved them have a wonderful keepsake, but the real point is that everybody loved receiving them. Read More

March Madness

Not so long ago, the NCAA basketball tournament was important to basketball fans, but not the huge deal it is today. 
 
Something happened that took the tournament into the mainstream which is a great lesson for us salespeople. 
 
The tournament became “interactive.”  That’s right, instead of being a one way experience where we sat back and watched the teams play, the brackets contests emerged; and everybody in the office got involved in picking teams, filling out the brackets and watching the tournament build momentum and excitement.  It has practically become an annual ritual like the Super Bowl. Read More

And The Oscar Goes To . . . ZZZZZ

The numbers are in for Sunday night’s Academy Awards and its official . . . it was the lowest watched show in decades. 
 
All sorts of theories are being raised, but two of them should resonate with us as salespeople.
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