When do you give it everything you’ve got?  Every time.

I’m watching my hapless Kansas City Royals lose to the Houston Astros.  We’re down 3-0 in the seventh.  It’s a small crowd in Minute Maid Park, and the Royals are noticeably flat.  On the broadcast, Ryan Lefebvre (one of the underrated broadcasters in MLB, in my opinion), is asking color man Rex Hudler if the crowd (or lack of it) might be affecting the players.  The analogy he used was about public speaking – and suddenly my antennae went up.

“Let’s say you’re at a speaking engagement,” Ryan said, “And only four people show up.  Can you get as motivated for that as you could for 400, and give your speech with the same energy?”  I was screaming, “YES!” at the screen, as Hudler said, “Yes, because you’re a professional, and that’s what you do.”  I totally agree.  I recently had a speaking engagement where the room attendance was much smaller than what I had anticipated.  Still, the meeting organizer was paying me well, and more importantly, the people who were in the audience deserved my best.  So, that’s what I gave them.

Does a big crowd give you something extra? Sure, it can.  I’ll never forget – I was in Dallas in February speaking at a show, and as I approached the meeting rooms, I saw a long line, probably at least 150 people, snaking around the hallway, waiting to get into a session.  I thought, “Wow, I wonder who they’re waiting to see?”  Turns out that it was ME.  Yes, that’s exciting.  And, it’s possible that the energy in the room gave a little extra ‘push’ to the whole experience (of course, those workshops are interactive, so everyone contributes to the experience).  Still….I always give it my best.

It works that way in sales, too.  Can you get as amped up for a small sales call as a big one?  You’d better.  If you can’t, why make the call?

I received this advice from a famous speaker a few years ago.  “Whenever you go out there, remember that there’s at least one person in the audience that will never see you speak again. How do you want that one person to remember you?  At your best or your worst?”

The point is this.  Whether you’re a speaker or a salesperson, you’re a motivated professional.  Part of that is that you give it everything you’ve got, every time out.

And, hey….as I’m finishing this, the Royals have runners on first and third…..

I just received a great testimonial from a client, and I wanted to share it here.

“We have hired Troy on multiple occassions to help with our sales management. Troy is the rare consultant that has a ton of real world experience and knows how to apply his knowledge to any situation. Every time I sit in a meeting with Troy I learn something new – he has forgotten more about sales management than I could ever know! I would highly recommend Troy to any company looking to grow their business!”

Todd Williams, Skyline E3

I’ve been talking for quite awhile about the power of the pen.

What I mean by this is that I coach salespeople to understand that a handwritten note – whether a thank-you note, a prospecting note, or otherwise – is far more powerful than an email.  Here’s proof.

Had Snyder ripped off an email or a text message, we wouldn’t be hearing about it.  His handwritten note made national press.  And I’m betting that the injured player will save it.  Handwriting = impact.

For years, I’ve been asked to create an audio study course to teach Sales Management.  Well, here it is!

Troy Harrison’s Unconventional Guide to Sales Management Success is your toolkit and pathway to building a world class sales force!  Troy’s methods have been proven successful in companies from coast to coast.  Troy’s approach minimizes turnover, maximizes individual sales performance, and helps you build the kind of sales force that every company can be proud of!  This program consists of over 5 hours of instruction on 5 audio CD’s – listen to it anywhere, even on the road! There is also a full companion textbook/workbook on an additional data CD.  Topics covered include:

• Understanding the role of Sales Management
• Assessing Your Team
• Building Your Team with Smart Sales Hiring
• Onboarding For Success
• Producing Profitable Behavior Change through Coaching
• Troubleshooting Sales Performance
• Activity Management
• Performance Evaluations
• Managing For Accountability
• Performance Improvement Plans
• And more!
• Tools and necessary forms/templates are included in the Workbook

Consider this a mastery course in Sales Management on easily accessible audio, that you can take at any time.  To teach this class live would be over $10,000, but you can purchase this audio course for only $498!

This is the ideal course for:

• Sales Managers
• Business Owners
• Entrepreneurs
• Aspiring Sales Managers

Don’t settle for a middle of the road sales force, and don’t be a middle of the road Sales Manager!  Be a great one by ordering this course TODAY!

 NOTE:  Purchase Before Midnight, December 31, 2013, and this product is ON SALE for only $348! I’ll even throw in a copy of my book, “Sell Like You Mean It!”  What are you waiting for?  On January 1, the price goes to $498 – and it isn’t coming back down!

Is it just me, or is it getting tougher to buy things?

I may just be noticing it more because it’s the Christmas season, but it seems like it’s getting harder to shop for items.  By “shop,” i mean the process of picking out products, walking up to the counter, paying, and leaving.  Before I expand on my meaning, there are a couple of things you should know about me:

First, I don’t mind shopping – but I do tend to have a restricted time frame in which to do it.

Second, I prefer to have my personal information in as few “systems” as possible.  As I’m writing this, it’s only been a few days since Target released that 40 million people may have had their information compromised.  If my information isn’t in their system, it can’t be hacked.

Unfortunately, both of these characteristics can be problems when it comes to shopping.  I went to a mall today and made three stops.

At the bookstore, I selected some magazines and made my way to the counter, and went through this conversation.  Am I a member of their discount program?  No.  Do I know about it?  Yes.  Am I sure I don’t want to purchase their card?  YES.  Do I want to donate for something or other?  No.  Finally, after undergoing this dialogue, I was allowed to purchase my magazines.

Next, I stopped at the greeting card store.  After picking out my cards, I went to the counter.  Do I have their discount card?  No.  Do I want it?  No.  Am I interested in hearing about the extra products they’re promoting?  No.  Do I want to donate to something or other?  NO.  Again, finally, I purchased.

Finally, I visited the jewelry store, and this crowned the day.  After making my selections, I was asked if I was in their system.  No.  The girl began asking for my information, and I asked her if that was necessary; I really just wanted to pay and go.  I should point out that I was very polite, as I had been to everyone.  She acted as if I’d violated some cardinal retail rule, and gave me what I’m certain is the “difficult customer that I can’t wait to get rid of” treatment – but she allowed me to just pay and go.

At this point, I felt like the comedian that I once saw who described going to the grocery store, and being asked if he had their card.  He responded, “NO!  I have MONEY.  I give you my money, you give me my stuff!  That’s how it works!”

Look, I’m as interested in the upsell as the next guy – but there comes a point where it’s just too much. If you’re in retail, my advice to you is to limit your upsell attempts to ONE.  Want to promote a product?  Great; then don’t ask for a donation or a card.  And when customers refuse, remember that they have the right to do so

One of the most common questions I am asked is if salespeople should ask if it’s a good or bad time to talk on a prospecting call.  In this video, I answer that question.

Not all business cards are created equal. This video will give you a few quick tips on producing one that works!

This is one of the most vexing situations in sales – but Troy tells you how to handle it in this video.

What does it mean to be “Accountable to your customers?”

Yesterday, I was eating lunch when one of my pet peeves occurred. I was having lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, and I ordered chicken strips with barbecue sauce for dipping.  When the food came, it was brought by someone other than my waiter – who did the “drop and run” maneuver, putting my food in front of me and getting the heck out of there before I noticed that – you got it – there was no barbecue sauce.

Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal; I would have simply asked my waiter for the sauce.  Except that my waiter wasn’t the one who brought the food, and by the time I noticed, there was no one to ask.  Finally I had to run down my waiter, and he got the sauce.  It was more an annoyance than anything, but it reminded me of something that too many companies do – they manage to remove the accountability from anyone who is dealing with customers.

This happens a lot in companies where one set of people sells the new account, and another group services it, and the initial salespeople drop out of communication with the customer.  On the face of it, this looks like an efficient use of time and resources on the part of the company; after all, the people who are best at doing the selling maximize their time doing the selling.  HOWEVER – what happens is that you lose a lot of the accountability to the customer.  This happens because the servicing salespeople don’t necessarily feel bound by the promises made by the account acquisition salespeople – and the acquisition salespeople aren’t that interested in a successful service experience, because they’re only compensated for bringing the account on.

In this case, the waiter that dropped my food off was perfectly OK with executing the drop-and-run, because whatever tip I left wasn’t going to him.  My primary waiter, on the other hand, assumed that the food came out correctly – and if there was a problem, there was no one who was immediately there to solve it.

In today’s market, we are more and more accountable to our customers, and that means that sales and service must constantly stay in contact with our customers and work together to maintain and manage the relationship.  If you don’t, the consequences could be more severe than some missing barbecue sauce.

How you handle a customer complaint is critical.  This video shows you a quick 5-step process for doing it right.