"The Navigator" News Blog

Category Archives: Sales Blog

Comfortable Customers BUY! Sales Training Boot Camp, September 23/24, Las Vegas!

Sales Blog

It’s clear in 2015.  The old sales tactics and techniques – the manipulation, the one size fits all sales calls, the canned presentations, the donut calls – they DON’T WORK ANYMORE.  What works?  Understanding your customers.  Understanding how salespeople make them uncomfortable, and how that gets in the way of selling.  Understanding, most of all, that COMFORTABLE CUSTOMERS BUY!  In fact, comfortable customers buy – and they keep buying.  And if you’re trying to sell in today’s Internet driven sales environment, YOU MUST KNOW THE SKILLS I’LL BE TEACHING IN LAS VEGAS!

I seldom do open-enrollment sales boot camps; in fact, I haven’t done one in four years.  The demand from corporate and independent business clients keeps me hopping.  Still, I know that there’s an underserved market that needs this type of program, so I’m excited to be offering it for the first time in one of my favorite places – LAS VEGAS!

High Performance Sales Management Boot Camp – September 22, Las Vegas!

Sales Blog

On September 22, 2015, at the beautiful Monte Carlo Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, I’m going to be hosting my first ever High Performance Sales Management Boot Camp!  You will learn MY secrets of building a high performance sales force.  They took me fifteen years to learn, and I’ll teach them to you in ONE DAY!

“I feel fortunate to have worked with Troy on several projects in my time at Skyline. He has a wealth of real world sales and management experience that he is able to translate to any industry and situation. His honest and clear approach has helped me grow significantly. Any company looking to enhance sales and/or sales management aspects of their business would be well served by working with Troy!”  – Scott Hanna, VP Sales, Skyline Heartland Displays

This program will teach you how to be a DIFFERENCE MAKER, not just an elevated salesperson or an administrator.

 

Troy Harrison to Speak at the S.P. Richards Advantage Business Conference, June 22/23!

Sales Blog

This is a speaking engagement that is really big for me.  My real start as a national speaker was at the S.P. Richards Advantage Business Conference in 2010, and I’m really pumped up that they have invited me to speak at this year’s ABC in Las Vegas!  I’ll be presenting two great programs:  “Smart Sales Hiring” on June 22 and “Power Interviewing”  on June 23. There will be two sessions each day, to make sure that attendees get the maximum opportunity to get that great content!

This is the conference for key players in the office supply industry, and if you’re not registered, what are you waiting for?  Learn more here:

http://www.sprichards.com/advantage-program/advantage-business-conference/

Troy Harrison to Speak at BTA’s “Cruise to Success,” May 7!

Sales Blog

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be presenting “The Key to Smart Sales Hiring” at the Business Technology Association’s “Cruise to Success” event on May 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This will be a very beneficial session for any business owner who has struggled with hiring salespeople, or even someone who already does well and wants to get better!

BTA Mid-America will host Cruise to Success, open to dealers from across the country, on May 7-8, 2015, at the Radisson Blu Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minn. This event will be a great setting to learn from industry leaders, gather new ideas and network with your peers.

The event will feature a keynote session by Rick Taylor of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., a dealer panel focused on moving into managed IT services and six additional educational sessions presented by subject-matter experts. In addition, there will be time to visit with 30-plus exhibiting sponsors, many of which will hold drawings for great prizes during the event. Dealer attendees can also enter on-site for a chance to win one of five $100 American Express gift cards and be entered into the BTA District Event Sweepstakes.

The event will wrap up from 6 to 9:30 p.m., when attendees will have dinner aboard the Anson Northrup riverboat and enjoy a Las Vegas casino-themed cruise on the Mississippi River.

If you’re in the Office Technology industry, you need to be there! For more info, visit:  http://bta.site-ym.com/?MA15.  I’ll see you there!

How to Use Social Media to Completely Screw Up Your Life

Sales Blog

I read a lot of news sites to start my day, and one story I read this morning really had an impact:  “Ex-CFO Worker Who Berated Chick-Fil-A Now Lives On Food Stamps.”

The story is that, back when the controversy over the Chick-Fil-A CEO’s stance on gay marriage was raging in full, Adam Smith, a CFO for a medical device company in Tucscon making over $200,000 per year, decided to drive through his local Chick-Fil-A, get a free water, and then harangue the girl working the drive-through about the company’s political stance.  Now, this article isn’t about the politics of the situation.  It’s about posting on social media.  You should watch the video, however; it’s in the linked story.

Within days, Smith was canned by his employer, who claimed that bomb threats had been made.  In the three years since, his video has followed him around; once, he found another job but was fired within a week because the employer found out about the video.  Long story short, he’s still unemployed.

While Smith’s story is one that will cause varying reactions, here’s the reaction I want to create in YOU:  Don’t be a moron when you post on social media.  Here are a few thoughts:

  • First of all, if Smith wanted to make some sort of a political stance, he has a perfect right to do so.  As someone who consults with business owners on employing people from time to time, my concern is not that he made a political point, but that he arrogantly mistreated someone he perceived to be lesser than himself.  That’s a characteristic that will cause problems in any workplace.  I have a gut feeling that his company had already seen some of that internally.
  • Secondly, I honestly wonder how anyone could watch that video (before putting it on YouTube) and not realize that they were showing themselves to be a complete bodily orifice.  Before I post any of my videos on YouTube, I scrutinize them pretty carefully.  I’ve rejected videos because I looked too sweaty.  How could he not realize that he was showing an absolutely unacceptable way of treating people?  That smacks of poor judgement.
  • You can’t un-ring a bell.  He was seeking attention when he posted the video and he got it.  What he didn’t count on was that he couldn’t simply make the video go away; he of course pulled it from his own account, but by then others had reposted it.  There are dozens of iterations of his video on YouTube now.
  • What is said on the news story should be obvious – employers will search out your social media for indicators that you shouldn’t be hired.  One of my maxims is, “People will show you how they will fail.”  I’ve encountered many drug references, and other documentation of undesirable behavior on social media accounts.  “But that’s my private life,” you say.  Well, if you want to keep it private, why are you posting it on the Net for everyone to see?
  • “Freedom of speech” is one of the most misinterpreted phrases in the world today.  “Freedom of speech” only protects you against GOVERNMENT sanction for what you say.  The private consequences of your speech are yours to bear.
  • Finally, I wouldn’t advise him to show this video during job interviews, as he currently does.  However, there is one person in this video who should show it during EVERY job interview – Rachel Elizabeth, the drive through worker.  She handles a bad customer with complete class and diplomacy, and shows herself to be of good character.  If there’s a winner in this episode, it’s her.  I’ve been unable to find out what’s happened with her since the video was shot and posted, but I have a feeling that she’s probably doing better now than she was then.

The moral of the story is simple.  Take a moment to think before you hit “send.”  What seems like a good idea at the moment could literally trash your career and your life.

“The Sales Detective – Asking Great Sales Questions” Teleseminar – March 26

Sales Blog

There is no more important element in selling – NONE – than the ability to ask good questions.

Do YOU know your customers as well as you should?

Are YOU losing sales to salespeople who do ask better questions?

Or worse, do YOU know why you’re winning or losing?

You can get help in this teleseminar!

In “The Sales Detective – Asking Great Sales Questions,” Troy Harrison lays bare the keys to asking the questions that will HELP THE CUSTOMERS TELL YOU HOW TO SELL THEM.  Customers will tell you how – IF you give them the opportunity!  You’ll learn:

  • The two types of questions that you MUST ask
  • The most important objective that drives great questions
  • How what you don’t know can hurt you
  • How to organize questions for maximum effectiveness
  • How to Drill Down
  • The very important “Catch All Question”
  • And more!

This Teleseminar will help you have incredibly productive sales conversations!  If you would like to improve your results by knowing your customers better, you need to register for this Teleseminar!  http://troyharrison.wpengine.com/products-page/events/sales-detective-asking-great-sales-questions-teleseminar-march-26/

21st Century Prospecting Teleseminar – January 29, 2015

Sales Blog

Are YOU not getting enough new prospects and customers?

Do YOU need help understanding how to approach new prospects?

Do YOU understand how prospecting has changed in the last decade?

And most importantly….

Do YOU want a system of generating new prospects that YOU can control?

If the answers to any of the above questions was “yes,” then YOU need to attend this Teleseminar!

On Thursday, January 29, I will be presenting “21st Century Prospecting” in my first ever hosted Teleseminar.  This gives me a change to reach YOU, wherever you are in the country (or the world)!  This teleseminar will be approximately one hour of power-packed content!

Prospecting is, for most salespeople, one of the most important parts of the sales process.  Moreover, it’s the most highly compensated sales skill.  The big bucks in sales go to salespeople who can consistently and repeatedly bring in new business, while of course retaining current customers.  That salesperson can be YOU!

Do you struggle with one of these issues?

  • Understanding how prospecting has changed
  • The discipline of consistent prospecting
  • How to find your target customers
  • How to quickly and efficiently grab a prospect’s attention
  • How to use new social media tools in prospecting
  • How to get appointments

If you do, the answers to your questions, and the tools to solve your problems, will be in this teleseminar!  You’ll receive my methods and tools to consistently generate appointments with new prospects!  Attend this Teleseminar.

Time:  10:00 AM CENTRAL TIME (11:00 AM Eastern, 8:00 AM Pacific), Thursday, January 29, 2015

Place: Your desk (the Teleseminar login information will be sent after your registration)

Registration: $39.95 per person

Registration Deadline:  5 PM Central, Wednesday, January 28, 2015

How To Register:  CLICK HERE to add this to your shopping cart, check out, and you’ll receive the login information in an e-mail.

Thanks, and I’ll see you on the 29th!

An 800 Year Old Problem Solving Principle Still Applies

Sales Blog,

I always chuckle when people, confronting a problem with multiple solutions or a mystery with several explanations, bend themselves into pretzels coming up with incredibly convoluted “solutions” to those problems.  Somewhere, William of Ockham is laughing with me.

Sir William of Ockham was a Franciscan friar in the early 1300’s, and he came up with the principle called “Ockham’s Razor,” sometimes spelled “Occam’s Razor.”  Ockham’s Razor suggests that, among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest solutions should be selected.  Sometimes other, more complicated hypotheses may win out, but initially, the fewer assumptions, the better.

In other words, the simpler the solution, the more likely it’s true.  If you hear hoofbeats, think “Horse,” not “Zebra.”  This solution still applies – in business, in society, and in life.

For example – let’s say that sales of your product suddenly fall off a cliff.  The simplest solution is that another product or service is suddenly offering better value – but I see companies spend millions of dollars to produce research trying to find something different.

In my consulting practice, I (successfully) use Ockham’s Razor frequently.  When solving problems in your business, you should too.  It doesn’t mean that you automatically reject all other solutions – it just means that you start with the simplest and work from there.

Sir William would approve.

A Negotiation Tip From a Fast Man

Sales Blog,

I was recently reading an article on the business challenges facing Formula One race drivers.  Most drivers in F1, since about the Seventies, have used managers for their business affairs.  These managers negotiate contracts, sponsor deals, appearances, and the like – and of course, they take commissions.  With top F1 drivers earning upwards of $40 million per year these days, that’s quite a sum of money.

One driver who was notorious for never using a manager was Austria’s Gerhard Berger, who drove in the ’80s and the ’90s.  Berger was very fast, very rich, and notoriously tight with a buck.  In this article, he was asked why he didn’t have a manager – to which he responded that he didn’t want to pay someone else to do his business for him.

“My negotiation was very simple,” he said.  “I went in with two figures.  What I wanted and what I’d take.  I walked away when the amount on offer was below what I’d take.”  Berger seldom walked away – not only because he was talented, but because he made the negotiation process as simple and painless for his teams as possible.

That’s the way negotiation should be, in my opinion.  No matter what anyone says, few people actually enjoy negotiation.  Negotiation means that the customer has to invent reasons not to do business with you – which is an unfortunate situation.  Berger never forced his teams into that position.

As a result, Berger drove for the top teams, he was well liked not only by the team members but by management, and he was extremely financially successful.  That’s not a bad result, is it?

Want to negotiate the right way?  Here are three simple tips:

1. Have a “Walk away” number – and walk away.  If you’re always going to sit at the desk, you have no power in negotiation.  If the terms are unacceptable, the negotiation ends.  And you’d be surprised at how often ending the negotiation restarts the negotiation on the other side of the table

2. Keep it friendly.  Never get into the trap of a hostile or adversarial negotiation process.  If I don’t win, I don’t play – and by “winning,” I mean a resolution that works for everyone at the table.

3.  Justify your discounts. If you have to lower your price, be prepared to remove some of the features and/or benefits from the offering.  Berger, for instance, would lower the number of personal appearances he’d make for lower salaries.

Negotiation doesn’t have to be unpleasant or difficult.  Follow this path and you can get past the negotiation to the sale – and that’s the fun part!