Sales by 5 Blog

What Not to Do - Creative and Daniel_K

What if you helped a company overcome an unsolved problem that affects thousands of its users and you did it because you love the products? You are also not paid and then this happens...

Creative, maker of Soundblaster, recently sent a cease and desist letter to Daniel_K.  He is guilty of creating drivers that work on Vista for some of Creative's older hardware and accepting donations for his hard work. 

Creative should have sent this letter instead of un-selling.  Creative, go ahead and use this letter - we promise not to send you a nasty-gram.

Dear Daniel_K,

We are so appreciative of your hard work!  Since we are developing new technologies, we are grateful to have raving fans like yourself who are willing to develop software for our legacy devices.  Contributions like yours make the Creative experience all the better.  We are developing a campaign of Creative Heroes to recognize people, such as yourself, for living the Creative brand. This campaign will include a page on the Creative website that has your picture and tells your story and those like you, who go above and beyond to make our products better.  Additionally, we would be pleased to host your drivers on our site as a user developed file.  We hope you will also accept this as an apology for our previous letter.

Cheers,
Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.

Put a Face on Your Company

I have been dealing with a large retailer to purchase computers for us and our clients for years.  Recently, a quick phone call to them connected me with a great rep named Eric.  I give him the details of what I need and he finds me the right computer, points me to coupons and tracks the purchase.  Eric transformed this company from a faceless corporation full of drones into "the place where my friend Eric works."  He cares about helping me get exactly what I need - fast!  Now I recommend Eric to others, his company happens to be included in the sale. Who are the stars that are the face of your company?  Do you have potential stars in the waiting?

Remember, every interaction is a chance to sell or unsell.

A Restaurant that Sells!

Last night, my wife and kids went to a good friend's restaurant for the first time, Tiago’s. I had heard great things about the food. Here is what I did not expect, at the end of the meal, after very good food and excellent salsa we came to the end of the evening. The waiter brought my kids push pops right before the bill arrived. The kids (5 and 7) were ecstatic and both loudly said "this is the best restaurant ever!" They actually kept saying it and began to disturb others until we calmed them down. The push pops were devoured. We brought food home and had some of it for breakfast. Today, we almost went out for lunch and all my son and daughter could say is Tiago's! I asked my daughter why and she gave me the following reasons exactly in order:

1. Great food
2. Great restrooms, she love the purple tile in the restroom. (she is 7 and very much a designer).
3. Great dessert (the push pops)
4. Cool coloring book that was part of the menu that came with crayons.

We had an experience, not a meal. My food was fine, the salsa (I love salsas) was incredible/remarkable. The kids, do not understand why we do not just move in and eat there. That is an experience that sells. That push pop probably cost about 30 to 50 cents. How much does advertising cost versus making a visitor's first impression amazing?

The tip was big, the bill was not. What can you do to get people to talk about your service, your restrooms and your product?

Soon to come, my friend who owns Mercedes-Benz of Bourne and how he proves that your restrooms tell how you take care of and feel about your guests and customers.

Everything Matters!

What if you worked at a company, in any capacity, and the way people looked, talked, and acted sold you or unsold you?

What if you had children or a spouse and the way you talked to them, looked at them, spent time with them, and lived with them sold them or unsold them on you?

Well…everything matters. It turns out that people quit people, not the company (largest percentage) and spouses leave spouses, not the kids. The ratios for positive to negative interactions are a critical number for any business and any family! Do you know your ratio of positive interactions to negative you need to have a healthy business and family? The number is 3 to 1 for business and 5 to 1 in a marriage.  Are you hitting these everyday?

We know how to help you sell more. More boyfriends/girlfriends, more mowers and more service calls.  We can help you get beyond your expectations.

Remember - HE WHO LEARNS FASTER WINS!

Yes is the answer. What's the question?

If you developed a company where the attitude was "yes is the answer, what's the question?" what do you think would happen?  Would people talk about you in the same way they talk about the Ritz-Carlton or a Lexus dealership?  Do you think you might stand out from the crowd.  I bet that if you did it, you could most certainly say a dramatic difference for your company was your customer service.  I would bet that because it happens at Salesby5. 

We dramatically increase sales for companies and organizations.  Have we had client's cars washed?  Gone to Lowe's to buy locks for a client's tradeshow booth?  Found deals on electronics, styrofoam cups and set up projectors for Super Bowl Sunday?  Yes!  We also make sure that when we answer the phone, each person feels like they are the most important person we're talking to that day.  Are you skeptical?  Call us now - (210) 403-3916.  Doing this causes people to talk about us!  They want to work with us; they want to be near us!  Can you say the same about your clients and vendors?  Most importantly, it isn't forced!  It comes from within the people we hire and is nurtured by the way we treat each other internally.  Read about how we taught our client, Blue Clover, how to do this (see page 2 of the pdf from John DiJulius - where we learned the phrase "yes is the answer, what's the question?") - You Must Feel It Before You Can Give It  John and his team are truly world-class when it comes to teaching great service.

It's important to note that as seriously as we take giving "high touch" service, we make sure to turn away persistently negative, rude, pessimistic clients, vendors and potential employees.  We don't allow them to waste our energy and enthusiasm!

Everyone Sells

We have yet to meet a company that doesn’t need more sales.  More sales can mean more services sold, more people attending your church, more cell phones pushed out the door.  Here’s the million dollar question:  Does everyone in your organization realize that they are in sales?  That’s right – everyone!  We worked with an insurance company that wanted to increase sales to new customers, which you know is the best and most profitable way of growing the company other than loyalty (loyalty is salt and pepper).  After a bit of probing and some pushback from Accounting and IT, we found that this 60 person company touches an average of 3,000 people per day.  With this many touches to clients and vendors, each person in the company has the opportunity to create remarkable experiences.  Think of a pleasant response to a less than friendly email, the creation of a client concierge department or maybe something as easy as a Thanksgiving card – a nontraditional touch.  How could your company grow and change if they looked at these touch points as opportunities to inspire customers and vendors?  How do you move people to become raving fanatics of yours?  Check out Keith Ferrazzi's blog, he talks about it too!