A different type of "gate keeper"

Sometimes a great sales lesson is gleaned from the unlikeliest source.  I was reading an old article compliments of a tweet from @pamslim, “Pocketful of Doug – Tips on Tipping.”  It was a circa 2000 story about a writer’s experiment in getting seated at the busiest of hours at the most prominent restaurants in NYC simply by tipping the maître d.

What I enjoyed about this article was the manner in which the writer overcame nervousness, risk, and the fear of rejection with a sense of adventure over being seated at the most prestigious of restaurants in the most creative of ways.

I read a lot of sales parallels in this story.  Salespeople often dread the cold call for fear of rejection, the risk, or their obvious nervousness about looking or sounding stupid.  There were not too many differences in the experiences of traditional cold calling and this article about cold tipping.  Actually, there were a great deal of similarities.  In fact, most successful cold callers find their successes are based on their sense of adventure and their willingness to be creative and take risks.  When you read the article you will sense that this writer was simply practicing the art of a cold calling process in a different market.

The conclusions at the end of the article also sounded a great deal like a sales lesson.  Take a look and tell me what you think:

Tips on Tipping [Sales Lesson]

1. Go. You’d be surprised what you can get just by showing up. [Get out there and make your calls]
2. Dress appropriately. Your chances improve considerably if you look like you belong. [Look professional]
3. Don’t feel ashamed. They don’t. You shouldn’t. [Embrace the adventure, not the fear]
4. Have the money ready. Prefolded, in thirds or fourths, with the amount showing. [Be prepared--know what you plan on saying]
5. Identify the person who’s in charge, even if you have to ask.  [Know who you are calling on]
6. Isolate the person in charge. Ask to speak with that person, if necessary. [Find a way to have a conversation with your targeted contact]
7. Look the person in the eye when you slip him the money. Don’t look at the money. [Be confident, direct, honest]
8. Be specific about what you want. “Do you have a better table?” “Can you speed up my wait?” A good fallback: “This is a really important night for me.” [Be prepared, concise and mindful of their time]
9. Tip the maître d’ on the way out if he turned down the money but still gave you a table. [Thank them for their time]
10. Ask for the maître d’s card as you’re leaving. You are now one of his best customers. [Send a follow-up note]

There are plenty of learning opportunities in life.  Practicing the art of sales which, by definition, is really a commitment to building powerful relationships, is an ongoing behavior.  This article was a great example of sales lessons practiced, learned, and shared.

More from The Sales Cooke

• The Challenges with Commission Programs
• Ten Super Lessons from a “Supersalesman”
• Economic Trends and Behaviors in Sales

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Rules of Sales: Rule #2 (Chris Conrey)
• Dave and the Art Of Commission Only Sales (michaeldgoodman)
• The Rules of Sales (Chris Conrey)

Participants in my sales programs quickly discover one of my favorite phrases — “you don’t know what you don’t know.”   This phrase is designed to interrupt the thinking of a “pitch-first, learn-second” sales person who seems to believe that he knows his customers need his product.  Without discovering what is going on in the customer’s world–their challenges, their issues, their frustrations and their priorities, these over-eager and over-zealous salespeople march in and start to pitch and advocate how their program can help the client’s business.

In sales, the right information is better than any scenic route

In SethGodin’s recent post, “Sell the Problem“, he reminds all of us

“No business buys a solution for a problem they don’t have.  And yet, most business to business marketers jump right into features and benefits, without taking the time to understand if the person on the other end of the conversation/call/letter believes they even have a problem.”

Translation: Until your customer acknowledges they have  problem, you have nothing to sell or promote.

Next time when you want to walk-in and start pitching a product or a service that you know they need remember–You don’t know what you don’t know.  Then, start listening and learning.

photo credit: dave dash

More from The Sales Cooke

• Have You Made the Shift?
• What Are You Looking At?
• A Motivated Customer

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Being You (Chris Conrey)
• Do you know what your competitors are doing? (Chris Conrey)
• What Are You Doing? (Chris Conrey)

Economic indicators everywhere -- sales trends?

When it comes to trends and behaviors, the sales arena has its own set of “economic indicators.”  I had the privilege of moderating at a CEO Retreat last week.  There were around five recurring themes that surfaced throughout the 90 minute discussion.  I thought I would share them:

1. Creativity and Innovation: Selling success requires that businesses  continue to discover creative and innovative ways to engage customers and to improve the impact or effectiveness of their product offering.  Some examples provided were to add products and services to product offerings or create partnership programs in conjunction with offerings.
2. Process and Planning: Now more than ever, have a defined sales methodology that works.  Every successful sales process needs to be tracked and analyzed.  If you know what works, you can make the process repeatable.  Also, once you know what works, you can focus your team on the behaviors and planning that improves the likelihood of repeatable outcomes.
3. Metrics:  Every sales manager needs to have their finger on the pulse of their team.  Creating metrics based on the process become excellent indicators of future success and provide the opportunity to be proactive to troubling trends and habits.
4. Ask the Right Questions: Listening has been emphasized to the point of near exhaustion.  Most salespeople still struggle with the notion of talk less and listen more.  Many more struggle with what questions to ask.  One panelist shared their success model.  They have created a list of questions that represent the required information from the customer in order to create a quote, place an order and install the system.  Their salespeople know that certain information is expected of them by others in the office.  As a result, they work through the list in their customer conversations.
5. Leadership: The panel could not emphasize enough the influence and impact that leadership has on the success formula.  Everything centered around an effective leadership model: strategy, hiring, development, training, performance, and motivation.  When businesses struggle, it is easy to blame the sales team; but, the person who really needs to step up and get the team on track is a great sales manager.

Of all the “economic indicators” for sale success, the one receiving the greatest emphasis was sales management.  The panel acknowledged that the sales manager was the toughest position in the sales department; but, it was also the one that was most critical to the success of the program.

Book Review: “Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars”

Dave Cooke is CEO of Strategic Resource Group, llc an organization specializing in helping businesses increase their revenues through effective growth initiatives and employee development programs. His contributions and insights can be found on his blog posts, SalesCooke and Sustainable Revenues.  He has also developed a new program for sustainable revenues in a down economy, known as SuRF.  To download this case study go to: SurfWhitePaper.com.

More from The Sales Cooke

• The Challenges with Commission Programs
• Nine Examples of Sales Excellence
• In Discussion with Solomon–”Commission Only”

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Rules of Sales: Rule #2 (Chris Conrey)
• Dave and the Art Of Commission Only Sales (michaeldgoodman)
• The Rules of Sales (Chris Conrey)

Commission only programs are distrusted, confusing, and transfers risk.  That is what I learned from the interactions with my highly regarded sales consultant, Michael D. Goodman, aka Solomon.  (If you missed the post exchanges, they can be found on SalesSquawk.com and SalesCooke.com.)

My original lament was that I do not believe that there are not enough open-minded, skilled, and hard working salespeople out there.  This was based on my experiences that few sales pros looking for work, not making any money, and living off savings were not receptive to a commission only, start-up sales opportunity.  Despite Michael’s arguments, he didn’t shift me much from my stance.  However, our exchanges did give me some things to consider.

Here is what I learned:

1. Trust: Many have been burned by the opportunity to make money in a commission only scenario only to have it fail miserably because of the program, the product, or management.  As a result, sales pros are gun shy when it comes to the next opportunity.
2. Risk: A commission only opportunity assigns all the risk onto the sales pro.  Actually, that can be a great thing; however, in this fear-based environment, there is little room for risk for even the best of opportunities.
3. Ignorance: As a result of experience and fear, potential and legitimate selling opportunities are being ignored.  This is on the sales professional.  If you are in a situation where you do not have a job, need an opportunity to make money, and have been given the chance to explore an opportunity–check it out completely! You can always say “no.”
4. Discovery: These sales professionals accept that what they know about the past is valid for the present.  You do not know what you do not know.  The source of my pure frustration with these commission based opportunities is that I was not given the opportunity to discuss the program, the potential, my commitment to their success, and their concerns.

Great salespeople know how to explore, learn, and create opportunity.  The above behaviors are indicative of people who stopped behaving like sales experts when presented with potential business opportunities.  There is real, legitimate, and advantageous opportunities out there.  It still involves risk, hard work, and a keen discretionary mind.  Explore every opportunity.  What’s the cost of saying “no” a few times until you find something that really resonates as great?   Frankly, you have nothing better to do until you find that opportunity.

Michael, your turn.  I am quite confident you will not let this go without some form of commentary.  Bring it on.

Dave Cooke is CEO of Strategic Resource Group, llc an organization specializing in helping businesses increase their revenues through effective growth initiatives and employee development programs. His contributions and insights can be found on his blog posts, SalesCooke and Sustainable Revenues.  He has also developed a new program for sustainable revenues in a down economy, known as SuRF.  To download this case study go to: SurfWhitePaper.com.

More from The Sales Cooke

• Economic Trends and Behaviors in Sales
• In Discussion with Solomon–”Commission Only”
• The Destructive Force of Fear

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Dave and the Art Of Commission Only Sales (michaeldgoodman)
• The Rules of Sales (Chris Conrey)
• Marketing vs Sales: The Salesman (Chris Conrey)

I am in the midst of a blog post discussion with colleague,  Michael Goodman creator of the Solomon Sales System.  In Michael’s recent blog post, “Dave and the Art of Commission Only”,  Michael claims that between

• lengthy selling cycles
• lack of ownership knowledge and skill in the sales process and methodology
• ramp up and development time for the sales pro
• limited capital to fund and support effective sales outcomes

the commission only sales approach is less effective.

With a profound respect for my buddy Michael Goodman, I disagree.  I am not advocating a commission only scenario for every sales position.  However, there are times where there is an effective and real opportunity to leverage great sales talent to grow a new business venture.  Yes, the landscape is risky, the owner may be sales incompetent, and the program rough and underdeveloped.  All the more reason for a great sales professional, especially an unemployed one, to see opportunity to make a huge difference.  It is called risk and opportunity.

In the blog post that triggered this conversation, I was lamenting the fact that I am struggling to find professional salespeople with the self-confidence and temerity to recognize a well-developed, commission-only opportunity and run with it.  Micheal’s blog post re-affirmed my concern that there are too many sales professionals lacking the skills, the confidence, and the ability to see an opportunity and run with it.  We can blame the lack of any success on the idiocy of owners who don’t know how to build, manage, or support an effective sales strategy or program.  However, the failed business landscape is littered with owners who spent a ton of salaries on salespeople who simply didn’t perform.

The truth is that there is not a clear cut answer; however, I am offering programs that I, a professional sales manager, am actively involved in building, developing, and managing.  These are business opportunities that I believe in and am involved in.  As the management ignorance factor has been eliminated — where are the salespeople who see opportunity and want to be handsomely compensated for their efforts?  They are still looking for a job.  Commission or not, I have to question their confidence in their abilities and skills.

More from The Sales Cooke

• The Challenges with Commission Programs
• Economic Trends and Behaviors in Sales
• I am looking for a few good salespeople

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• The First and Only Rule of Social Media for Salesmen (Chris Conrey)
• Experimenting with Gmail Filters (Chris Conrey)
• Selling in a “Down Economy” (Chris Conrey)

I am looking for a few good salespeople.  I have been looking for a few good salespeople for a while.  The catch?  The people I am looking for need to be willing to work on commissions.  The challenge? I cannot find anyone interested in working on commissions.  What is the problem?

Sales professionals wanted

I am a bit bewildered.  There are millions of sales professionals out of work.  They sit at home and mail out their resumes, collect unemployment, live off their savings, and network with their contacts looking for work–one that pays them a nice, safe salary.  During this entire adventure, the money is going out, not in.

What would be the problem taking on a sales assignment during this void that pays you some real money?  Most of the companies that I am working with in this situation are newer companies, they have a cool product offering (if they didn’t I wouldn’t be involved), and they do not have the funds to pay salaries.  No problem.  The sales training and support is excellent (it’s me–and I am pretty good at what I do), the selling cycle is short, and the compensation is generous.  Since you are not working anyway, why aren’t you taking advantage of these offerings?

What I am starting to believe is that there are simply not enough quality, talented salespeople out there.  There are a lot of pseudo-sales-pros that have gotten used to easy sales, a nice salary, and a cushy environment.  Reality check–those situations are getting harder and harder to find.  If you truly believe in your ability to sell, take a position that compensates you for selling.  If you do not believe in your ability to sell, keep looking for that “sales job” that makes your life easy.  You won’t be working for me or my clients anytime soon — we are looking for real sales professionals, not the pretenders.

More from The Sales Cooke

• The Challenges with Commission Programs
• Ten Super Lessons from a “Supersalesman”
• Take Your Pitch Out for a Test Drive

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• What Salespeople Do Wrong (Chris Conrey)
• Everyone is a Salesman (Chris Conrey)
• Working For Equity (Chris Conrey)