Got A Case Of The "Mondays"

When I wake up on Monday mornings, I usually rise about 6 am, I am not looking forward to a day of work. I'm not even looking forward to getting out of bed, let alone greeting customers or clients, rather I'm just trying to get to the coffee maker to brew a fresh cup of energy. Now, I've heard Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, and many others explain that it's all in your perspective as to how you greet the day. They are absolutely right!  And I choose to greet my Monday's with anger, hatred, and resentment.  Explain to me why I should smile, when the dog has shit on the carpet, my neighbor's baby is crying so loud, I can hear it from a block away, and my car has bird shit all over the hood.  The day has greeted me first with disdain, and I intend to treat it the same way.

So when people tell you to get a better "Attitude", tell them to go to hell.  You do have a choice in this matter, you can be happy and go out and greet the day with a smile, or you can be angry and greet the day with a grimace.  Mondays are not for smiling; they are for grimacing.  I focus on making it through to lunch, and by that time my hatred has dwindled to a simple stream of obscenities, rather than a torrent of Tourette Syndrome.  It is manageable, and so is my day, but I never expect to be excited when I get up on a Monday.  Instead I embrace the hatred and work though, it until I feel better.  And inevitably, I always feel better.

When Mondays come around embrace your hatred of the day.  Wrap yourself in it, and guard against the absurdly happy people who greet you on Mondays.  They don't know it, but their just as upset to be working as you are, they're just suppressing their feelings.  You can be satisfied knowing that unlike them you do not live in denial, and the only way for your week to go is UP!  

Have a good week selling.

-M

Transparency Is The Best Policy

Two nights ago I was watching a documentary on ESPN about sports agents and how they have changed the face of sports.  It was a fascinating look into the world of sports agents, and not just the famous ones, like Leigh Steinberg.  It portrayed how difficult it is to get started as an agent, how they have to invest thousands and thousands of dollars,early on in an athlete's career, just to get them ready for the draft; any draft.  Most of the documentary followed a struggling agent who was just trying to get his company started, and as I was watching the film I realized why he was struggling.  He was fake.

His entire routine, his sales calls, his needs analysis, were so contrived that I certainly would never have signed with him.  He exemplified what a salesperson should never strive to be, phony.  Even down to his diction, "We want you to be part of our family.  We really look at ourselves as a family here and we want to bring you on board."

Funny, I don't ever remember telling my niece or nephew that I was glad to bring them "on board", instead I mumbled things at them, and held them awkwardly, until their parents took them back for fear I would drop them on their little heads.

The agent's "act" was such bull shit, that I was actually annoyed with him by the end of the film.  And guess what, he lost all his clients.  Why?  He claims that it was because he was betrayed by the athlete.  No, it was because he was full of shit and the athletes and their families saw right through his facade.

One thing I will say about the agent was that he worked hard, very hard, but in the end it didn't work out because he had no substantial relationship with his athletes.  In addition, he didn't seem sincere. They didn't buy him, and in the world of sports they have to buy you, not a brand, not a company, not a product.  He couldn't sell himself, and that has to be a difficult "pill" to swallow.  Here are a few tips for struggling sales reps on how to be more transparent and therefore gain the trust of your clients or customers:

1.) Dress Well But Not Swell - If you come into an account wearing a Rolex, unless your a salesman for the watch company, you aren't going to be well received.  Dress nicely but don't be the best dressed person in the room, because people will see you as a shark.  Someone who is there to take their money so they can buy a new watch.  It may work on "Wall Street" but it doesn't work on Main Street.

I remember interviewing a prospective rep for a job and she was wearing a Cartier watch.  My first impression was that she wasn't going to work.  I was not the hiring manager, so only my input was needed, and I told the manager,"She won't last because she's not going to do the work.  She's never had to work."
He ignored my concerns, hired her, and fired her 9 months later for non performance.  Dress appropriately but don't be a "show off".

2. Be Transparent -  I was in a clinic last week and the nurses and doctors were asking me why I came by so much when sometimes I didn't even have orders.  One of the nurses chimed in, "Because we're closest to his house I bet."  My answer, "Damn right. Why should I drive all over town when one of my best accounts is right here." The Clinical Director said, "Well at least your honest.  I appreciate that."  It was the truth, and it is one of my best accounts, so why should I drive 2 hours to a place where I don't have any business when I can stop in twice a week and pull more orders through at a hospital right down the street. I didn't lie, I didn't feed them a line of BS, I just told the truth, and they appreciated my honesty.

3. Take A Personal Interest In Your Customer - 3 weeks ago, I ran into a nurse who I hadn't seen in a year, at a conference. We talked for a few minutes and I asked how her mom was doing following a car accident that previous year. She said, "You remember that conversation."  I said "Yes, and I remember visiting her in the hospital".  Which I had done, because I felt it was the right thing to do.  The nurse's eyes lit up and she said, "That's right!  You did. She was so thankful and I was too.  I wish more people did stuff like that.  It makes you more human and less like a rep. In fact, I hate our new rep, he's just interested in orders and not in us."

I'm not saying visit every one's mom in the hospital but if you have an opportunity to show your customer you actually care about something other than their business, then do the right thing and reach out to them.  

4. LISTEN To Your Customer - For new sales reps this is especially hard, because you're trying to spew out the Features and Benefits of your products, and not listening to the what the customer is really saying.  Or they throw out an objection and you handle it like a counter puncher and try to bash the objection.

I recall one time I was with a new rep and we sat down with a decision maker and she said, "I've been promoted so I won't be making this decision but I can put you in touch with the new person once I know who it is."

The rep responded, "Well why don't we just go over with you why we're a better fit and then you can tell the new person."

"I won't be involved in the decision at all, so I don't see how it's going to help", she answered.

"Well let's just go over it anyway.  Of course only if you have time.", the rep was now forcing himself on the customer.  Which I didn't see as a positive thing, but I saw a train wreck coming and I just wanted to see it happen.

"I don't really have the time so just contact me in few weeks and I'll let you know who's filled my position."

" Are you sure you don't have just a little time?", I cringed and waited for the trains to collide.  I could hear the air brakes in my head.

Now she was pissed, "To be honest I don't, and to clarify one thing, I won't be involved in the decision making and if I was I wouldn't choose you.  Good day gentlemen.", she said LOUDLY, and she stood up and pointed to the door.

We left, and as we walked out the door the rep said, "What a bitch.  We would have never got that account anyway."  

Some people are just clueless.  But you don't have to be.


Those are 4 pretty good tips for dealing with your customers or prospective customers. Take some good advice and be:

S  tylish but not over dressed
H  onest in the way you conduct yourself
I   nvolved in your customers conversations
T  ransparent in what you are trying to achieve

Of course I' m sure there are some of you who just won't give a SHIT.  Have a good day selling.

-M

Reading Is Fundamental

When was the last time you read a book about sales?  12 months ago?  5 years ago? Okay, here's a more relevant question.  When was the last time you read a book about sales that your corporate office didn't make it mandatory for you to read?  I'll bet most of you will answer - NEVER!

Why?   Because most sales books are "preachy", boring, and written by people who have sold and want to tell everyone all about how great they are, or by a college professor who has a theory on how to sell.  Where do you think the term SPIN Selling came from?  It was a nerdy professor from England who never sold a thing is his life who developed SPIN Selling and then sold it to the corporate world..  And is it good?  Hell yeah!  It's a great theory.  Is it interesting.  Hell no!  It is very relevant and very boring.  So why do we all know about SPIN Selling?  Because someone forced us to read it.  Our boss or CEO bought us a copy and said read this or else, because we're going to use it as our corporate sales training guideline.

 "All sales reps will be required to attend a 3 days seminar and if you fail the final test you're fired."

What's sad is that may be true for a lot of sales reps.  What's even worse is that we can't pick up a book to read because we fall asleep in 5 minutes.  Sales reps are social animals.  We want to be outside talking to people, socializing,  interacting, and above all, making commissions. We don't want to be sitting at a desk reading anything except a magazine or hopefully this blog.  We don't have time. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves.  But in sales, reading is fundamental.

If you're not reading anything pertaining to our profession than you're really stagnating.  Sales and the process has changed over the years, but it is still fundamentally the same.  The only thing different now is the way we communicate.  There is much more selling via email, web conferencing, and media than ever before so reps need to keep up with how we sell and the way in which certain commodities are sold.  If you're not reading then you're not progressing in your personal development.  While other reps who are, may have an advantage in the sales arena.  Reading is definitely fundamental.

Here are a few books which I've read that are not only informative, but entertaining as well.  Check them out if you'd like, and you don't have to buy them because most public libraries have them in stock  Here's five books I have not only tolerated but enjoyed reading, and they are in no particular order:

1.) "How To Win Friends and Influence People" : Dale Carnegie - This is still a great read, even though it was written a long time ago.  It covers the fundamentals of not only sales, but really relationships and I think it's a great tool for reps to use in their daily life.  A classic, and a great book.

2.) "The Little Red Book of Selling": Jeffrey Gitomer - Gitomer claims to be a sales "guru" but I think he's kind of a New York City loud mouth. After hearing him speak, I wish I had never gone to his seminar.  But like him or not, the book is good. I've worked with companies that advocate his techniques and his writing style is brief, succinct, and amusing at times.  It makes it easy to read his books and take away tidbits of information to help you in the field.  A lot of people enjoy his other books like "The Sales Bible", but this is the best one by Gitomer in my opinion.

3.) "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" :Jamie Reidy - This book is a very entertaining look at the world of pharmaceutical sales and I thought it was very funny.  It is an auto biographical tale of Jamie Reidy's life as a salesman for Pfizer and focuses more on how he escaped working rather than how he became successful.  It was made into a movie, "Love and Other Drugs", which had nothing at all in common with the book, except the name of the title character.  A very entertaining read with lots of ideas on how to beat the "system" in pharmaceutical sales and still become a success in spite of yourself.

4.) "How To Become A Rainmaker: The Rules For Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients": Jeffrey J. Fox  - This is a very easy to read and simple book, which I thought have a multitude of good stories and quotes.  It's all about making rain in the traditional Native American manner, and not a reference to strip club fodder.  Fox outlines ways to bring "rain" to yourself and your company through a series of brief stories and quotes from famous people.  It's is a very quick read which for me was wonderful since I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time.  Good read for reps with Attention Deficit Disorder.

5.) "Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers": Bridget Brennan - I thought this book was fascinating.  It is an in depth look behind the mind of the world's most powerful group of consumers-WOMEN!  It is filled with interesting facts and data behind why women buy certain products and is a very engaging look at how women perceive their purchases.  I found it a fairly quick read just because I had never delineated between how a women buys from how a man buys, but after reading this book, I changed my selling strategies.  It might be a bit long for some, but I read it in spurts and was able to absorb a lot of the information.  Great read.

So this will get many of you started, and I'm sure the old standard books still apply to your sales environment.  Books by Neil Rackham, Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins, and of course Zig Ziglar are all good fundamental books to read regarding sales techniques and selling.  They aren't all that enjoyable but they are pertinent.  If you can find a book you like, and it helps you sell, then read it.  After all, we'll all be students of sales.

Have a great day selling!

-M

Focus On Where You Can Win

When you first start at any new company you're always excited.  It's the thrill of working with new people, selling something different, and meeting new colleagues.  It's thrilling.  That's assuming that you've made the right choice and the company has a great culture.  Too often we get saddled with a place where they sold us on the idea they are culturally sound, when in reality, the company's culture is non existent, and they treat their employees like crap.  Which unfortunately is today's job market.

I have a friend who works for a company which specializes in creating "culture" for other companies. In other words, guiding the companies to be better at treating their employees, and creating an atmosphere for people to thrive.  For me, it always made sense to take care of the people who take care of you, but apparently some corporations are oblivious to this concept.

I asked her, "Why do you have to create a culture for them?  Wouldn't the culture just come naturally to a company?  And as it grows people would define the culture?"

Her answer, "You would think so, but a lot of people who own companies are frigging idiots.  They either stumbled on to something great and don't know anything else, or they're too focused on their own stuff to worry about their employees.  You'd be surprised with some of the companies we work with, and how bad their corporate environment really is."

"Oh please tell me.  I need to know who they are for my blog."

"This information is not going in your stupid f$%king blog.", she answered.  What a great "friend"? And yes her mouth is that foul.  It's great!  She's training people on how to conduct themselves with their employees and in the meantime she's swearing like a drunken sailor.

I can't name any of the companies but I was shocked that a major retailer, she was working with really had no cultural identity. Yet, I was proud that she was helping them to establish one.  Which leads me to this post's topic as it relates to different situations.  If you find yourself duped by a recruiter into taking a job and the company culture sucks, focus only on where you can get some wins.

In the past I've been recruited by some pretty large companies only to find that their senior leadership was lacking the vision to make the company great.  Yes it is possible, for a company to still be successful despite it's poor management.  Why?  Because they have good people to overcome that sloppy management.  In addition to poor management, the work force and especially the sales force were MISERABLE! And I mean that sincerely.  A month after taking a new job, I came to find out that everyone working in the place wanted to quit. It was hard to accept, because I had just left what I perceived as a worse situation to come to a "better" environment, however the two companies were noticeably different.  My previous company had a much better culture than my new employer.  So now I was screwed.  What was I going to do?  Look for another job, just months after I'd taken a new one? No company would hire a "job hopper", so I had to think of an alternative plan.

As I spoke to some of the seasoned reps, I came to understand one thing about the company which I could not overcome.  NEGATIVITY.  All the reps seem to focus on was what they couldn't sell, as opposed to what they could sell.  What I did was the opposite of what they were doing; I focused on where I could win, not where I was going to lose.

I would mention an account, and the older reps would say, "Oh don't go in there.  Your competitor has been in there for years.  You'll never get that account."

My response, "Thanks for the advice, and I'll sell somewhere else, but I'll come back to this account later."

I just wanted to get some wins/sales under my belt so I could get some confidence and have my company's name on people's minds.  It worked!  After a few sales to some particular doctors, suddenly I was on top of the region.  When I was asked by the seasoned reps how I was able to ramp up so quickly, I told them that I simply followed their advice.  I sold where I knew I could and avoided the spots where my competition was entrenched.  It wasn't hard, in fact if they had taken their own advice they would have been on top of the region as well. .  It's important to score those little wins on your way to bigger ones down the road.   Too often we let our shortcomings prevent us from even trying to sell.

If you focus on what you can do and not on what you can't, then you'll be successful.

Have a great day selling.

-M

Avoid Being Too Smart Or Too Good

I have been up for a number of promotions in my career, and have missed out on more than a few of them for several reasons.   However two of the biggest reasons had to do with performance and intelligence.   Excellent performance on my part and a lack of intelligence on my superior's part. Seems odd doesn't it? But you can actually be passed over for a promotion because you're too smart or you do your job too well.

Here are five examples of how you can be too smart or too good to be promoted:

Boss Dependency- I had a friend who was working in the fashion industry for years under the same boss, who was not very intelligent and relied upon her, to do all his work for him.  On several occasions, a management position would open up, but she would be passed over and never told why. After failing to earn a promotion for the 3rd time, she went to the owner of the company and asked why she had been passed over, when it seemed like some of the positions would have been a perfect fit for her talent.  The owner informed my friend that her boss had given her a poor recommendation. She was shocked!  She confronted her boss about not giving her a good reference and his response was typical:

"I didn't recommend you, because I can't afford to lose you.  Do you really think I want to actually have to work for a living?  You do everything for me, and the sign of a good boss is being able to motivate your employees. Right?"

"Yes but you're motivating me right out the door. I don't wanna stay if I can't ever be promoted.  That's a dead end job."

Needless to say, she quit shortly thereafter and went to work for a competitor who not only promoted her, but paid her the money she deserved.  Good for her!

Flaunting Intelligence - If you're a smart person, don't tell everyone about it!  Nobody likes a braggart, and there are a lot of "higher ups" who hate them.  If you are an intelligent person please keep it to yourself, otherwise you'll find yourself is some very uncomfortable situations.  Once when I was young and little more bold, I had the audacity to say during a meeting, "Am I the only one who can see what a stupid plan that is?" Everyone in the room took offense to the remark, and as a result I probably set my career back about 2-3 years.  I was right, and everyone knew that I was right, but that didn't give me the right to be a jerk about the whole situation and insult everyone in the room.  If you're smart, then be happy, and don't tell everyone how smart you really are.  That's just stupid.

Eddie The Egotist - If you're good at your job, and you know it, then it's best to use your position wisely.  10 years ago I was up for a promotion, and it seemed a logical choice for me to step into the role which my boss had given up for an early retirement.  He had been grooming me for years to take over the plant operations and I seemed the logical choice.  The employees supported me, the regional advisers supported me, and I had been a service manager of the year and sales manager of the year in the last 2 years.  It all made sense...to me.

Unfortunately it didn't make sense to the Vice President who was making the decision.  He knew I was really good, but also found me brash, impertinent, and an annoying bastard. Who wants that type of person working for them?  He passed me over and when he did so, he made sure to explain why he did it, and throw stock options at me to keep me happy. He explained my ego had gotten the best of me and if I was a little more modest and showed more maturity he might have given me the promotion.  I took that as a hard lesson, but I learned to keep my mouth shut despite the fact that I was knew I was right.  People don't like a know it all.

The Specialist - Many people are very good at what they do, and in some cases too good.  In certain markets you can become so good that you're what's called a "sales specialist".  You're almost like a doctor who specializes in colo-rectal surgery except you're selling a certain type of product, and you're not looking at butt holes all day...literally.

While this niche will give you a lifetime of employment, it might also prevent you from being promoted.  In fact at this very moment I can think of one person I know in particular who keeps getting passed up for a promotion because she is so knowledgeable about her market, the company won't move her on to a management position.  She doesn't know it, but I do and obviously so does senior management.  Try not to become too specialized at selling one particular component to a market,  otherwise you might position yourself for a lifetime of employment but selling the same thing FOREVER.  Boring...

Insecure Managers - I understand this is hard to believe since so many bosses have these huge egos that seem to fill up the room, but secretly a lot of them are insecure. This is why they berate employees, harass employees, and generally make their employees feel like shit.  It's because they know they suck, and that sooner or later someone is going to figure it out.  Consequently, they won't hire people who they perceive as being better than them.  Heck, even some good bosses follow this train of thought.

A few years ago, I had started with a new company and was helping to recruit sales people at USC. I interviewed this great candidate who unfortunately I could not hire because she lived outside of my branch's territory.  She was such a good candidate that I passed her on to another hiring manager who needed a rep, and I assumed she would be a perfect fit.  I was wrong.  He came out of the interview room shaking his head.

"M, I can't hire that girl."
"What?  Why not?  What happened?  Did she interview poorly?"
" No she was great.  Very well spoken, very intelligent. Absolutely gorgeous.  She'd be a great sales person but I can't hire her."
"I'm not following.  She sounds like the ideal candidate."
" That's just it.  She's in the top 1% of her graduating class, she sold knives door to door her junior year in college, and she looks like a super model.  She'll have my job in 5 years.  I can't bring her on board."
"What?  That's no reason to pass on her.  She's a great candidate."
" She's too smart.  She'll get bored with the job, and besides I can't have that kind of distraction on my team."
"What distraction are you talking about?"
" Did you look at her?  The other woman on the team will be jealous, and the guys on the team will be drooling.  That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.  I'm gonna pass."
" I think you're being stupid but it's your call."
" You always think I'm stupid, so why should today be any different."

I just laughed.  He was right in so many ways, especially about the stupid part.

Remember you are kind, you are smart, you are important,.....and sometimes you have to tone it down just a little to get ahead.  Have a great day!

-M