Today we had an interesting discussion about our culture and how it has dramatically changed. We used to allow the unacceptable and in my previous business it got to the point of ridiculousness. So if you want to change it so that your people are not de-motivating (un-selling) each other, you, your customers, what do you do? Remember the flywheel Jim Collins referenced in Good to Great. Imagine a giant, heavy wheel that moves an inch after much pushing. With continuously dedicated pushing in a consistent direction you start seeing it speed up. Finally it is spinning.
Once you have your purpose, core values, brand promise and goals and BHAG in place and the leaders are living them, the flywheel starts to move! It is not over a week, but the movement in one month can inspire. The movement in six months will make you shudder at where you were six months ago and in a year, it is all clarity so you can focus on the vision (BHAG). It can be fun if you have a great coach or a great team pulling, pushing and providing the inspiration. Once you get to this stage, you do not get to rest or relax, you then get to make sure that everyone is realizing how each person is living that brand promise and living the company's purpose. How cool would it be if everyone is moving in the same direction with enthusiasm? This is similar to a rowing team. What if one person did not row in the same direction once? What if they did not row the same direction two of five days? The rowing team would not allow it, why should you?
Summary: Selling starts with an attitude and reaches success with momentum. Selling on the inside gets sales on the outside and keeps the flywheel moving. When were things the best? Who is rowing against the team now and how fast can you fix it?
...what you eat.
...who you think you are.
...who you hang around.
When I was 15. I had ambition, energy, and passion for cars. I was searching for who I was. I had friends who were encouraging the wrong things, weren't positive, and worst of all, they de-motivated me.
When I was 16 I had a girl friend who was “out of my league” and she inspired me, complimented me and best of all, asked me why these people were my friends. I had no good answer! Within months, I learned that a friend is defined as a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts. But further definition in a dictionary is: a person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade. Further finding is: One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement.
What does all this mean? Friends sell you on doing what is right and wrong. If you have friends that belittle or de-motivate you or are jealous of you, get new ones! Fire the old ones! People sell bad things sometimes. It happened to me. I want my children to have friends that inspire them to achieve more, whom they can trust and most of all, ones they respect. According to Marcus Buckingham, besides having a stable home life, the most influential group of people growing up are friends during your youth. Their perceptions of you shape you as a person.
At SalesBy5 we practice a core value: follow your heart, it will not lead you astray. What's your heart telling you about your life?
I was just checking out Dave Balter's new book, The Word of Mouth Manual, Volume II (click to download in pdf free), as mentioned on Seth's blog. Dave published an interesting formula to calculate the value of a traditional commercial to word of mouth communication-
(# of traditional media impressions) X (Average length of impressions) = (# of word of mouth communications) X (Average length of word of mouth communications)
Compare these numbers and see how many people you need talking about your product versus being totally engaged with your commercial:
# of traditional media impressions (the total number of people who saw your commercials) - 100,000
Average length of impressions - 30 seconds
Average length of word of mouth communications - 480 seconds (8 minutes)
100,000 X 30 = 3,000,000/480=6,250
According to his equation, the equivalent of 100,000 people watching, understanding and digesting a 30 second ad are 6,250 people having a conversation.
How can you get those people talking about you/your products and service instead of spending money on advertising? Did you start with a great (remarkable) product/service? Are you applying marketing physics - the product has an overt benefit, with a dramatic difference and that gives people a real reason to believe that you are able to deliver that benefit. Wrap these things all together with a 5th grade level explanation and you have a winner on your hands.
Yesterday, our new intern Bobby started at Salesby5. We know that the first day at any job is important and sets the stage for engagement in the culture, fun and quickly feeling like a part of the team. Kya, our Director of Remarkable Service, set the stage for Bobby with signs and balloons. We prepared his BlackBerry for use, had his business cards ready, sent him welcome e-mails and had his work area ready. Our friend, Jack Daly, teaches the world to stop celebrating an employees last day and celebrate (sell) the first. How many people get taken to lunch on the last day or given presents and cake?
All these things seem small, until you realize that most people wonder if they made the right job choice during the first 30 days. Another gem from Jack: if you want to make a great impact (sale) with the spouse, why not send a bottle of wine/champagne to the house with a note to the spouse with well wishes? We sell or un-sell people on coming to work with a smile and great attitude and ready for day 2!
Take the time to tell a great story about you, your company and your culture instead of making the first day about paperwork and employee manuals. Make work remarkable!
Is there a project that is waiting for you to start on it? Something burning inside you that won't go away, but you haven't taken action yet? Are the books on your nightstand indicating what that project is? Why not start on it today? Have a laser focus on what it is you need to be doing and battle the Professional ADD, as Keith Ferrazzi puts it. Expect people to tell you that you can't do it and others jumping in your way to sabotage your progress.
The cool part is the momentum will build along the way, others will see the progress and, oftentimes, will want to join you. If you can speak passionately and clearly about what it is you are trying to accomplish, you will help sell the program to others. Check out these tips to sell your idea faster, with less effort.
Once the flywheel is moving, take the time to see it through. Overnight successes take about ten years. Need help seeing it through? Call us, the Salesby5 SWAT team is ready!
Pic from Flickr - thanks heyjohngreen
We run across companies weekly that have a website and say they get no leads from it. We also have some of the same companies that have a site that has not been touched in 4 years, but are expecting something from it. Your website can be your most profitable salesperson. No medical, no dental, no vacation, and most importantly, no bad attitudes.
We recently worked with an electric car company. They had sold only 1 car in over a year. It was sold from their website and their retail location was not selling anything. In two months time, we have gotten them a 3000% increase in inquires, meaning people who want to place deposits and interested buyers. Sales have increased by 700%. Their biggest hurdle now is getting inventory; a problem that did not exist 60 days ago. We did not redesign their entire site, as it was good. The product is the same. The words were bad and did not sell. The difference was making the site sell and making it visible to the market. Now, when people are looking for electric cars, we know what they'll find.
Next time you're looking to hire a salesperson, crunch the numbers on the travel, phone, car, insurance and other perks, then give us a ring about your website.
We've recently been interviewing students and new graduates for our coveted summer internship position. You might be shocked at what you see. We would ask questions and get a response like "yeah" or "uh-huh." Some were chewing gum, had no eye contact and exuded entitlement, while others had sub-par email skills. Today, we got what may be our winner, Bobby. He was well dressed, had a great (one page) resume that gave us more depth into his life, spoke clearly and had a well written introductory email.
We have a very special culture and guard it highly. What if he doesn't speak to a client respectfully? What if he drops the ball? What if an email of his unsells? We realized, though, that the culture of the organization is not only something to be defended, but it is also provides protection. The culture doesn't allow for these things to happen. Every new person is directed to the brand promise, core values and purpose of Salesby5. Additionally, questions are welcomed hourly!
So, if communication is sub-par, a team member is on it to clean it up and explain how to avoid this in the future. If a customer is not receiving the proper attention, someone else helps give them the right touch. Everyone is concerned about keeping our quality at an extremely high level in communication and service.
Now, let's say you start getting used to this and then you go to a doctor's office or a business who still thinks it is 1980. They believe they are special, when they are really a commodity. It makes us appreciate what we do, how we do it, and how we'll never go back. Our culture and attitude is the salt and pepper of 2020. Call us and see!
We have serious fun at work.
We were recently given a nice compliment from our awesome web guy, Drew. He said "you all are exceptional at letting me be exceptional." After a bit more discussion, Drew further defined it by explaining that often times clients get in their own way and decide to run projects rather than providing a vision and letting the expert, Drew in this case, do the right thing.
When we over-direct, we tell our vendors that we can do things better than them. In doing this, we do everyone a disservice. We turn these people into waiters (taking an order for the hamburger) instead of recognizing their strengths and letting them give us more than we could ask. Try this today, instead of telling your highly talented people what to do today, rely on their strengths and let them surprise you with something amazing.
When you start asking, instead of telling, great things can happen for both involved. We practice this and the benefits are amazing!
Me, taking the "strengths thing" too literally.
For day 10, we need to add a few last tips and cover the latest data. Today, you should be able to articulate the benefit you have in 10 seconds or less. You should be able to stand out by not selling salt and pepper. You should be able to offer a dramatic difference from your competitors that is easy for a 5th grade student to understand.
Try the following and eliminate any old way that has not worked extremely well. You should be surprised at the change. If you have a question, e-mail me at [email protected], I will respond fast.
Tips:
#1 way people in business want to be communicated with today is e-mail.
#1 way people in business screw up a sale is THEY TALK TOO MUCH!
#1 way people lose a sale is letting a customer say "no" because the customer didn't understand what benefit they were being offered.
Latest data shows that if you have exclusivity and/or scarcity in the offering of your product or service you will have an overt advantage.
The best of the best have a coach, who is yours? If you think you know it all, you are easy to beat!
Use the tips above and tell us how it changed your sales.
Photo by The Justified Sinner - Flickr
Yesterday: Great stories start inside the company and go out. Great stories capture the hearts of people including buyers, prospects, and even cold leads.
Today: Living It! "It," is your product or your service.
A few years ago I walked into a nice department store, I wanted to buy nice shoes and a nice suit. The man, a "fashion adviser", selling the suits and shoes was dressed in an unattractive suit and bad shoes! His credibility was lost because he wasn't living “it,” so I didn't buy anything from him.
Here's a story from our friend and former intern, Carlton Douglas. We were blessed to have him and we're proud to know him. Carlton "lives it" and we could feel it when we hired him. Here's his story, in his own words.
From the Desk of the FORMER Intern
I logged onto the website to get the address of Sales By 5 for a resume (I’m trying to get a Promotions Manager position at Indie 103.1 here in Los Angeles). Seeing the familiar SB5 color scheme and then Erik and Nan’s video posts, my mind jolted back in time to the months in which the company employed me.
Some people feel like crap thinking about past jobs. I, too, have a few of those jobs, but Sales By 5 wasn’t horrendous enough to make the list. In fact, it was the best job I’ve ever had. Out of everything it taught and reinforced in my working behavior, the most important was that I could do anything. ANYTHING. I don’t mean that in a sappy, Reading Rainbow way, either. If someone asks me to do something, the truth of the matter is that I can do it… if I want to do it.
Present Day: I’m in Hollywood. That’s pretty cool. I met a guy on Sunset Blvd. and La Brea, Antonio, whose brother writes music for Lil Bow Wow. He hooked me up with these guys who do just about everything in music business – booking, management, PR, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I snag a short gig doing miscellaneous work for them.
I get a call the night I might them telling me to get them a list of all of Whitesnake’s managers and label affiliations since the mid-70s. I tell them that it’ll be done by morning - without a doubt. Then, I realize that its one in the morning, and I’m still too poor to have Internet access at my apartment. I don’t want to disappoint these guys, so I proceed dialing every number in my phone to get some help, but everyone is asleep. Just great! Thirty minutes later, I remember that I have web access on my phone, and I’m off searching through Google to find almost 40 years of management and label information about a band I’m too young to care about. By four in the morning, my task was complete, and I had impressed guys who would end up giving me a few more gigs.
Hopefully that sounds impressive to you. If not, you should give it a try. On top of doing the research, try it ON A CELL PHONE! It was the Sales By 5 attitude I had embraced that got me through this trying task.
My first day on the job, Erik had me figuring out where to get beer bottles with custom labels, filled with beer of course. Oh, and it wasn’t just your average Sunday afternoon football 24 case of Budweiser. I needed to find 1,000 bottles! Google was always my friend, but I wasn’t that great at it. Erik tosses a few pointers my way, and I’ve got at least 10 options in front of my face in 5 seconds. I never knew that being a Google Master could be so beneficial to your career!
Six months after last stepping into the office, I still use my Sales By 5 learned abilities. It wasn’t that one instance in which what I learned while working with the company helped me out. Most recently, I wrote up a bio for a country singer at the request of Shakira’s former publicist – using a similar format to press releases done for SB5. She wants to give me more work! I “marketed” myself to a wealthy jazz enthusiast, who heard me playing sax on Hollywood Boulevard, about financing the recording of a jazz album. He’s digging the idea.
Sales By 5 didn’t change my life. My life had yet to begin before working with them! Things are beginning to take off, and I can credit so much of that to this company.
Erik & Nan -keep your eyes on the mail. Your million-dollar check will be there soon enough.
Carlton D.
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Do you see the difference between living it and just going through the motions?
Yesterday was about focusing on one or two things and maximize them by figuring out how to become the best in the world at it.
Today: Telling the story!
Selling more with less effort: Pictures tell a thousand words. A thousand words is a lot. Pictures are remembered when viewed and words are remembered when read. Stories are forever. Stories move people, products, and services. What story are you telling? We know that most sales people show up and throw up, which is the problem. If they aren't, they are taking facts, figures, features and faux reality. What people want is the story of how this worked, helped, solved pain, created revenue, eliminated the problem or as we call it, the real reason to believe. When you were a kid, stories were gold. Today, stories are gold too, we just forgot to master telling the great ones of what we do and how we do them. Great stories start inside the company and go out. They are the news in the huddle at 9:15am each morning and the topic at lunch.
Summary: write your story, tell it well, tell it true, and tell it to many!
Photo by marklarson - flickr
Yesterday was all about future focus being 10x more predictive of success.
Today: The ability to dominate your market!
You have it or you do not. The data proven number one reason people do not sell is they talk too much, and number two, they have no true value that they offer. It happens to us weekly and sometimes by people interviewing with us. The most (sadly) remarkable, are the ones you have two and three meetings with and you still have no idea what value they offer or what benefit they provide.
This reinforces the importance of your message clarity verbally and in writing. If you advertise, does it work? And how do you know? We have seen our clients, prior to us getting involved, spend $30,000 in one business journal without ever getting any response or business from the advertising. What you say and what you do must have a dramatic difference to make an impact. Just to be clear, you have a 370% greater chance of success and profitability if you have dramatic difference. What is dramatic difference? Let’s say you are selling a Honda Accord that gets 21 mpg in the city, meanwhile the Toyota Prius is getting 48 mpg in the city. Though both brands are great, Honda becomes low value and Toyota, high. You now have to find a way to make your offer twice as valuable as your competitor’s. Get serious about value. What can your customers not live without? What can you make available that hasn’t been done yet? That is your start and your finish to the dramatic difference!
Summary: Get serious about where you can dominate your market. What can you really offer? Focus on that for all of your customers. Do not try to be what you are not. Just focus on one or two things and maximize them by figuring out how to become the best in the world.
Fuel Economy Source - http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/bestworst.shtml
Photo by flickrsquared
Yesterday was about giving people something to talk about. They talk, so stop blending in and start being as you as you can be.
Today: A future focus is 10x more predictive of success. A person who asks "what do your customers want?" is salt and pepper. Your need to focus on what your customers want, from price reductions to time savings and communication enhancements are a priority. As Wayne Gretzky says "Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Summary: What can you do today to help your clients with something they need or will need? What is it they will not need today or tomorrow, but 3 months, 12 months and 3 years from now?
Who asked for an ipod, tv or radio?
Photo by happylandfill - Flickr
Yesterday was about: seeing. Real matters more than ever before. People have no tolerance for fake.
Today is about how to take see, feel and touch and make it work for you to sell more with less effort by 5pm today.
You have your touch, the feel of your company, and what the customers see down, and you are ready to use this to make a cold call or warm lead work.
FACTS: The #1 preferred mode of communication by businesses today is email. 67% prefer email versus 29% phone. How do you work this? Ask for a phone meeting via email at a specific time on a specific day with a specific time frame that is short, like 5 minutes. You will be the initiator of the call. By the way, in person meeting are at 10% of preferred communication! Please do not attempt a face-to-face if you want to stand out and sell more with less effort. Unless you are invited, there is not time to fit you in, unless you stand out and have true benefit. We recommend you do not even ask, instead, intrigue and then be asked! By the way, these numbers will get even more dramatic in the next 5 years and email will come down as will all the others, what will go up? That is a future blog that is a few weeks off.
Now, when you get your meeting on the phone, get to the point fast. Use the following approach:
1. We recommend starting with appreciation for the call and a sincere approach that is real,for example "how is your day?" If you can add anything that denotes your life or real personality, it is good to do so. This is great for warm leads and not for cold. For cold go to 2.
2. Let them know what benefit you offer, that you could solve a problem they might have or have in the future that is different from possible other vendors. Do not mention other vendors, instead focus on extreme clarity of your top two benefits. No more, as you need to focus on a few things. If you have 30, that is not believable today. Focus on one or two.
3. Ending your call quickly or offering to, you need to make sure you the other party sees the benefit, make sure you talk for 2 minutes of the 5 minutes or less and allow plenty of time for questions by them, not you!
4. Ask how they would like you to follow up with them and their preferred means of communication. This is a forgotten element for most sales people, yet shows respect and eases the new relationship.
5. Follow up with an added benefit; surprise is awesome, find anything from a coupon for their kids to attend a concert for lesser money or news that will benefit them that may not have seen prior! Introduce them to a vendor that can save them thousands of dollars! Need one? Call Kevin Kemp at (210) 630-2200. He will save them thousands on their cell phone bills and is a hero of SalesBy5.
Summary: Focus your efforts on real. Get passionate about what you offer to someone and speak less than you are spoken to by inspiring questions.
Yesterday was all about your "Touch." What do you leave people with regarding your pitch, your benefit and the reason to believe in you? Today we will teach you the “See,” as in, what do your potential customers see in you, your company, and your brand?
I will illustrate with two stories, both real.
1. Two partners of a creative firm walk into a client's office. One wearing an expensive suit with a tie, the other wearing a t-shirt (with a stain) and a colored jacket with jeans. The client remarks how well the t-shirt and stain guy looks. Why? One is living what he thinks is what the customer expects or respects, the other, natural. I was the guy in the suit, but that was 1993 and it stopped quickly. I realized people respect real. If I was a banker, I would dress the part.
2. A client walks into your office door and is greeted by well dressed (no t-shirts with stains, but no suits either) people, all of which may have been caught in a laugh or joke while entering. It is real, no “act this way when he arrives” is announced by the management. The guest is greeted and asked for their beverage of choice, a special one is noted such as Diet Dr. Pepper or tea. It is then known to order their special drink without them knowing in the future.
Either way, what does the client see? Both situations are real and they are 15 years apart. Story 1 is a suit that is not the right brand for the product or service. Story 2 is SalesBy5 today.
Summary: Today, real matters more than ever before. People have no tolerance for fake. Make sure you are selling real. Real value, real benefit, real reason to believe and most of all, you really believe in what you are doing. Passion makes selling fun!
Yesterday was about making sure you do not un-sell when called or researched. It was about “feel.”
Today is about your “touch.” What are you leaving people with that they can recall? We have said on our Barf Bag that what used to be a 30 second elevator pitch, is now 10 seconds. You have 10 seconds to intrigue me and make me want to ask questions. If I do not ask a question, you lose. If I ask 1 question, we are even. If I ask 2 or more questions, you are starting to win.
1. Don’t give me your business card, make me want it!
2. Make me want to work with you because I feel like I will not have success or will have less without you. Your “touch” is about saying more with less words and giving me absolute clarity.
3. Find a 5th grader or close to 10 years old and tell them your 10 second pitch. If they get it, you get it, if they do not, you do not get the sale!
4. Get this “touch” into everyone’s hands in your company. One person showing up and throwing up on your potential customers is one un-seller!
Recently working with a company of 60 people, we found they ended up touching over thousands of people per week in e-mails, personal visits, or phone calls. Everyone having the same touch is not redundant, it is clarity.
How is your company's touch?
1. What is it like to try to do business with you? Are you making it hard or easy? Are you inviting or un-inviting? It does not matter who you are in your organization- the CEO or the call center rookie. Call your business or have a friend call, while you are on speaker phone. Have them ask for you. Have them ask what the company does.
2. Do you feel welcome, wanted, invited and/or appreciated?
3. If you bought the product or service and called back for help, do you feel they would help you?
4. Connect to the service department. Do you get a human? Schedule a service call to your home address and see how long it takes to make the appointment or get service.
5. Connect to the customer service department. See if you get a human and then describe your problem. What happens?
6. If you left a message, how fast does your call get returned and how appreciated do you feel?
Recently, I started calling the service department of auto dealerships and other higher priced items, to shop in advance and see what happens when a sales person promises me a benefit. I want to know if it is true. This is my reason to believe they can deliver. I called three car dealerships when I experienced a problem with their largest competitor and acted like it was their car. They were ready to take care of me in moments. My dealership was not, as it was governed by rules that were perfectly suited for 1971 communist Russia. Many companies will promise you a rose garden, but today, it is easier than ever to smell them before you buy them.
Check out Seth Godin's riff about voice mail.
photo by lawgeek - flickr
When I sold the least, I didn't think big. A common phrase around our office is "think bigger!"
If you could have an event that gets real estate brokers to see a development and you serve food, beer and wine, that is salt and pepper. How about a broker event, on undeveloped land, that has large back hoes that brokers can use to tear down a house? What if you added prizes, like an LCD TV and a Nintendo Wii? Then, you top it off by serving premium alcohol, beef tenderloin and complete it with an incredible band? This event happened and pictures are coming. Did it sell space in the new 500,000 square foot development? We'll see soon enough.
When you believe you are thinking big, go for more!
Photo by inalaf
You have likely been on the sending or receiving end of an email that de-motivated you or ruined someone's day. We call them e-bombs. Here's a way to avoid having such a negative effect. When you receive an e-bomb, you'll notice one consistency - the tone in which you read it. Your emphasis on words and pronunciation goes negative, even if the person sending you the email NEVER speaks that way.
Next time you are writing an email that you feel could be the least bit negative, do yourself a favor and read it back to yourself in a snippy, ugly tone. Of course, if you're writing a flowery and 100% complimentary email, it isn't an issue. If, on the other hand, you are providing a suggestion, it might sound condescending. The point is not to censor yourself, but merely to pay attention to how you word your emails so you share information with the proper tone.
Do you see great traits in others that they don’t recognize in themselves? Please take time now to catch people doing something right. Do this for at least three people, then tell us how contagious it was.
Think about this – you wouldn’t let your friends/family/employees not eat. How long has it been since you fed someone with a genuine compliment? It feels incredible. It can be simple, but make it real, such as, "Awesome hair cut!" or "You look great." or "Thank you for your input, you are an incredible asset to our team."
Say it, write it, blog it, twitter or e-mail it, but please do it!
High Five shot courtesy of horizontal.integration - Flickr
We are getting ready for something big! Huge, in fact! 
It will be a blog that will last at least 10 days, that is 100% about those of you who need/want to dramatically increase sales! Maybe you've needed to ask about culture, strategic planning, strengths, sales or marketing.
Many of you give us great feedback about the blog. So for all of you too shy to share, here is your invitation. Email us (blogATsalesby5.com - replace the AT with @) your biggest hurdle, problem, or goal, where you need help. Tell us if it is public or private. We will answer your questions either on the blog or privately. Drop us a line, we are ready for a challenge!
Photo courtesy of Wok - Flickr
What a great time to be in business! Here's a way to get sales by 5 with a "new to you" tool at a great price.
Pick up a mobile broadband card from your favorite carrier - Sprint, Verizon or AT&T. With one of these cards, you can get on the internet anywhere you can get cell phone service. Recently, our router went down at the office. Erik was able to continue working thanks to his Sprint Mobile Broadband card. Just like your BlackBerry or your laptop, you don't know you need a mobile broadband card until you own one.
If you would like a Sprint Mobile Broadband card at a $10/mo discount, drop us a line and we'll give you the login for www.sprint.com/sero
Dramatically Increasing Sales for Companies and Organizations!
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