S&MM SoundOff

It's the People Stupid!

Dan Jacobs (www.salesdoctor.net)

'What business are you in . . . really?' she asked with just the hint of a smile in her voice. Her response to my nearly inaudible answer took me completely by surprise, just as she expected it would.

"The truth is, you're in the people business, she continued, everything else is secondary."  A bit thrown off my game, I still managed a feeble reply.  "Hmm, I see where you're going, but, but . . . " She interrupted, "It's the people, stupid!  Otherwise you're focused on the wrong target."   And you know what, she was right.  Those four words said it all.

I wasn't going to be in the sales business, marketing business, computer industry or any other business or industry if the people factor was neglected or omitted. And importantly, if people were left out of the equation, there wouldn't be any business at all. 

Many others from all walks of life agree. For example: the legendary educator and trumpeter from Berkeley School of Music, Herb Pomeroy, gave his version of the same concept when he said,  "In my early professional years, I thought music was the most important thing. I came to realize that I was wrong. The people are the most important thing."

One professional poker player had this to say: "Just playing cards with other people is for amateurs. To win as a professional, you must realize that you're in the people business - while you're playing cards.  The more you know about people, the better your chances of winning."

I had one of those whack on the side of the head sort of realizations that happen when you figure out something that you knew all along--and this one was a gemstone! It boils down to this: If I am actively involved in the game of life--I'm in the people business. Period!

The subtle, yet profound wisdom and broad implications of this concept had deeply personal yet universal applicability.  Being in the "people business" meant that anything I could do to nurture, care for, or help others get along better in life would inevitably end up helping me as well.

As a starting point, applying this "people principle," was as close as I could get to a guarantee of success. It provided an orientation for my thoughts, a clarification of my purpose and simplification of my actions and efforts, all in the direction of taking care of business where it really mattered.

Those four words, "It's the people, stupid," made all the difference  . . . I'm happy I was listening.

Don't Be a Wet Blanket

A local television station frequently features different guests during their morning show. These guests often promote upcoming events, new businesses, books, etc. During a recent show, one person was promoting an upcoming marathon. Having trained and run a couple of marathons myself, I was interested to see what he had to say, especially since this gentleman had completed 196 marathons. By the way, a marathon is 26.1 miles or 42.2 kilometers.

Unfortunately, this guest was extremely dull and boring. The interviewer asked several questions in an attempt to get him to open up but his responses were short and curt. He failed to make eye contact with the host or the camera. Plus he spoke in a monotone voice and demonstrated no energy or enthusiasm. A few moments into his interview, my wife said, “What a wet blanket.”

I hope the sales lesson is obvious.

Your presentation needs to fully engage your prospect or customer. Ensure that your voice is interesting and varied so your prospect does not tune out. Responses to questions must give the other person sufficient information. Above all, it is critical to be enthusiastic and to show some personality.

Avoid being a wet blanket and close more sales.

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

You Know What To Do

Last week, I wrote about the affinity people have for the quick fix, immediate remedy or band-aid solution. Yet, this doesn't stop sales people from looking for that fast answer to their sales problems.

The interesting thing is that most people already have a good idea of what they need to do to improve their sales. From prospecting and cold calling, to making effective sales presentations or to handling objections and closing the sale, virtually every person I encounter knows exactly what they need to do differently to change their results.

So, what makes this concept so difficult to accept or implement?

Increasing your sales usually means more effort or additional work. However, human nature drives people to taking the path of least resistance. And what we need to do to improve our business does not usually fall into this category.

Instead of trying to implement a big solution into your daily routine, break it down into digestible chunks. Here’s an example, if you know you need to make an extra twenty cold calls every day, start by making five calls then add one each day until you reach your target. This approach makes the larger task seem smaller, and therefore, easier to achieve.

You know what you need to do. Go and do it.

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

Additional Select-ion

By Jeremy Cohen, Managing Editor, Sales & Marketing Management

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Matt O'Connell, executive vice president and co-founder of Select International. You'll find the highlights of that conversation in "Natural Select-ion," the featured Training Q&A from the new issue of Sales & Marketing Management. For those who may be unfamiliar with the organization, Select International is a Pittsburgh-based provider of employee assessment and selection solutions for Global 2000 companies. By extension, this made O'Connell the perfect person to speak with on the subject of employee retention (the focus of the article).   

Great as the interview was, however, there was one downside: Space constraints prevented us from getting all of the insights he shared into print. Let's see if we can at least partially rectify that here...

As you're all well aware, there's been a lot of talk about the Baby Boomers and their impending exodus from the workforce. The problem is, far too much of that conversation gets focused on the folks who are going to fill that vacuum-i.e., the Gen Y-ers. You certainly can't fault upper management for looking to the future, but in the process of doing so, are they prematurely shoving their Boomer employees out the door?

If so, O'Connell argues, they're making a huge mistake. "Without a doubt, one of the most challenging things that an organization faces is trying to hire good, consistent salespeople who will be able to sell, and sell on a regular basis," he says. "Why would you not want to keep someone who is helping your organization and has a proven track record? If you've already found somebody who can do that, I would think that you'd want to do everything you can to try to keep them for as long as possible."

And as O'Connell points out, keeping them around may involve more than just keeping them out in the field. "As they get closer to retirement, one of the things that I think most people start to realize-and start to enjoy-is that, hey, there's probably more to life than just making their sale," he explains. "They would love to be a resource and a mentor to new salespeople, even if they weren't in a formal role of sales manager or whatnot.

"I think that you're missing a great opportunity to have an older, more mature employee working as a sales coach to provide some of the wisdom-the life lessons."

The Magic Cure

Society’s quick-fix solutions often cause sales people to look for a magic answer to their sales challenges and problems. Now, for the first time ever, I am about to give you the magic cure that will solve your sales woes forever. Are you ready? Here it is.

Get better at what you do.

Unfortunately, there is no easy cure or quick fix to increasing your sales. However, it is critical to understand that the skills that you have acquired to date have helped you achieve your current level of success. If you want to increase your results, you must improve your skill. That means changing your approach, learning something new or returning to the basics. It means critiquing what you do and issuing a personal challenge to improve. Here’s an example.

Perhaps you rely on referrals to generate sales. However, you know that you could increase your revenues by investing more time prospecting. Make a commitment to yourself to take some form of action on this every day. Even making one cold call every day will make a difference. It won’t be easy but it will push you and cause you to grow. In return, your sales will flourish.

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

Finally, a Way to Know What "Talent" is Worth!

By Mike McCue, Editor-in-Chief, Sales & Marketing Management

As the holder of a Bachelor's degree in creative writing, I'm hardly an expert on measurements and mathematical formulas. When scientists and mathematicians can't sleep, they count sheep; I make up exotic storylines about how all of the sheep ended up in a meadow together.

ROI calculations have always fascinated me, but I’ve had to take the word of others when it comes to their accuracy and reliability. While that still holds true, I recently became aware of a metric that truly intrigues me: the Workforce Measurement Model, also known as “Return on Talent.” Jointly developed by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement and the Medill School’s Department of Integrated Marketing at Northwestern University, the metric attempts to express the contribution of a company’s workforce to its bottom line. Happily, it’s not a nebulous, touchy-feely model that will have no credibility in the finance department; the metric uses existing data that are compatible with other financial reporting tools.

According to Michelle Smith, president of the FPPMM, the Workforce Measurement Model is the result of a detailed analysis of a number of highly successful companies that had incorporated components of it into their current business practices. According to an August 27 press release, Smith said it is “a way to blend existing measurable attributes into a form that can be expressed alongside financial data to produce a Return on Talent that can then be compared across companies within an industry and even across industries.”

Of course, just because someone says they can measure and assign a numerical value to a human characteristic doesn’t mean that CFOs and other executives will accept the metric without question, but I like the trend. As an editor and former marketing director, I could always see where my team and I were listed as a “cost center” on the P&Ls, but we were never listed anywhere as an asset—just an expense. It’s a bummer to always be “quantified” that way.

I already disclosed that it will take people more number-friendly than me to determine how accurate and effective this “Return on Talent” metric actually is, so if you’re one of those people, check out the white paper for yourself: “The Workforce Model Every Organization Should Use,” http://www.performanceforum.org/White_Papers.21.0.html.
Personally, there’s only one measurement I need to decide how accurate and effective the tool is: The more valuable it says I am, the more accurate and effective it is!

The Power of a Woman’s Testimonial

By Kelly McCormick

Nothing sells a product or service like a testimonial. And this is especially true of a testimonial written by a woman for a woman. Just ask 23-year-old entrepreneur Alex Masterson about the power of a woman’s buying opinion.

You just read the opening of my recent online column for the Manage Smarter Web site. Read the full article to find what makes a woman’s testimonial so powerful. You’ll also discover the three things you must do to benefit from that power. Go to ManageSmarter.com.

About Kelly McCormick
Kelly McCormick, from OutSell Yourself™, is a sales expert.  She writes an online monthly column on women and sales for Sales & Marketing Management. Get Kelly's OutSell Yourself™ tips and information on her ‘Sell to Women’ and ‘Sell to All Buyers’ sessions and keynote talks at www.OutSellYourself.com. Kelly's book, OutSell Yourself™: How to Sell Without Selling, is soon to be released.  Kelly can be contacted by calling 800-889-9637 (PST).

Selling a Commodity

I am a big believer in the importance of selling value. During a recent program a participant asked for suggestions to demonstrate value when selling a commodity. A commodity by definition means that you cannot tell the difference between one firm's product and another.

If your products are identical in nature to a competitors but your price is higher then you need to uncover the hidden benefits of buying from your company versus a competitor. Here are a few ideas:

Do you offer faster, better, or more on-time delivery? If so, how important is this to your prospect?

Do you guarantee higher accuracy? If so, what is the value to a customer?

Do you offer better service? Can you prove it? And how important is this to your prospect?

Is your technical support better than your competitors? If so, in what way? And is this important to your customers?

As you can see, the value is not in the product; it is in your company. The key is to find out what is important to your prospect beyond the product itself.

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at http://www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

Kudos to Google's New Chrome: Anyone Download it Yet?

The war between Google and Microsoft has gone head to head, or at least browser to browser. Forget taking on word processors, spreadsheets, presentation programs or e-mail, which in truth, are far from tumbling Microsoft’s dominance with Word, Excel and Powerpoint. This time, Google has gone one step further, challenging Microsoft on a whole new front.

September 2 marked the launch of Google’s new open-source Internet browser, Chrome. And it’s not only Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) that’s feeling the flames of competition, but Moxilla’s Firefox too. Chrome’s simplistic design and sophisticated technology is intended to be a clean and fast browser, easy to navigate and difficult to crash. But what brought about the sudden release of Chrome? What was the method behind its madness? According to the official Googleblog, in a post titled, “A Fresh Take on the Browser,” Chrome was created, “to help drive innovation on the Web.” Well, they sure are paving the way.

While Chrome is only for Windows (for now) and operates with a simple browser design, there are more outside-the-box ideas than meets the eye.  Chrome offers a private browsing feature, in which nothing will be recorded or saved during your session—brilliant or potentially problematic? Chrome also has individual page loadings that prevent your Internet from crashing–both features IE lacks.

According to the official Googleblog, the company lives by a certain mantra - “launch early and iterate.” They sure did launch early, albeit accidentally. Word of the new browser leaked onto a comic book through the Googleblog. But was the September 2 release date also a leak?

Early on September 2, I decided to download this internet revelation for myself. When I tried to click any link to install the new browser, I was simply sent back to the original Google.com page which we all know and love. The page seemed to be unavailable - an unintentional hoax. Guess Google had some last minute glitches to polish or the release date was another “oopsie daisie”…

Google is still learning how to survive in the technological superhighway, and--despite glitches, leaks and heavy criticism--they are plunging forward with boldness and audacity. Peter O’Kelly, an independent analyst told The New York Times in “Search Giant Wants a Share of Browser Market,” that “Google needed to make a move to make sure it controls its own destiny.” And that is exactly what Google is doing.

Like Apple adapted to the music downloading plague by creating the infamous iTunes, Google is confronting Microsoft’s monopoly with innovation and creativity. Google is attempting to redefine the world of Internet browsing, or at least redefine Microsoft’s role in it.

The Wait is Over! SBP is Here!

By Jeremy Cohen, Managing Editor, Sales & Marketing Management

You’ve read the cover story in the current issue of Sales & Marketing Management, just as you’ve no doubt seen the periodic updates in this space. Now it’s finally time to deliver on the hype: As of today, the 2008 Survey of Buying Power is officially available to all for purchase. For those who didn’t pre-register, no worries: Pop on over to www.surveyofbuyingpower.com for all of the pertinent details. 

All of us here at S&MM are extremely excited to see the Survey's long-awaited return come to fruition. Longtime patrons of the SBP are acutely aware of its value, and you newcomers out there are in for a real treat—after all, we don’t call this sucker the “mother lode of market data” for nothing. Never again will you need to turn elsewhere for your consumer data needs, and thanks to the Survey's brand-new online format, you can have its wealth of information at your fingertips in a matter of mere minutes.

So the only question left is … why are you still reading this? Go on, get cracking!