Can a poker tournament teach us something about selling?  Maybe.  I think it can.  Read and see why.

A couple of weeks ago, I played in a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker tournament hosted by a club that I belong to. It’s a fun event, and not at all a high-stakes event (the buy in is $20, with an option for one re-buy if you’re busted after an hour). The total pot is then split up and the top four players get varying payoffs. It’s a fun evening of cards and friendship.

Well, something unusual happened this time. I won. Now, I’m not a great poker player; I only play half a dozen times a year or so. Hold ‘Em isn’t my favorite form of the game. And, there are some VERY good poker players in my club; the kind of guys that go to the casinos and win regularly. One of the players (who came in second) basically makes his living that way nowadays. So, after the thrill of winning wore off, I took some time to think about HOW I beat this guy, because I wasn’t “supposed” to. Turns out that I beat him with a lot of the same characteristics that have made me successful in selling.

See, I tend to irritate some players when I play. Not because I’m obnoxious or anything, but more because I don’t play the “accepted” way of playing Hold ‘Em. I’m not going to take a deep dive into the game here – there are plenty of websites that do, if you don’t know much about it – but here are the basics. The game starts with each player being dealt two cards. These are the “pocket” cards, and they are the only cards that are individual to the players. Everyone bets or folds. Then the “flop” happens. That is when three “community” cards are dealt, face up, in the middle of the table. Bet or fold. Then is “Fourth Street,” another community card face up. Bet or fold. The “River” is the final card, bet or fold, then show the cards.

The default position of many players, including some very good players, is to fold. What I mean by “default position” is that they start the game thinking of folding as the first option if the cards don’t come up to snuff, and are persuaded to play based on the cards. Hence, experienced hold ‘em players fold early and often, many times based only on the pocket cards. Here’s where I differ, and here’s where the selling analogy comes into play:

I play to win. My default position is “play,” and I’m persuaded to fold by the lousiness of the cards. HOWEVER – I don’t fold often after the pocket cards; I see the flop cards on about 75% of the hands that I play. The reason is simple – you can’t win unless you play. Folding early is a defensive position, playing not to lose. As you know from my work, I dislike defensive selling, the prevent defense – and playing not to lose. Hence, my default position is “play.”

I like information. One of the reasons I don’t fold before the flop is simple. If I do, I’m giving up only knowing 29% of the possible information (2 out of 7 total cards). To me, that’s not enough, and unless someone is getting really froggy with their early bets, it’s cheap to stay in and see the flop. Hence, I’m in most hands through the flop, and then I can make a decision using 71% of the available information. In selling, I often see salespeople making bad decisions with too little information. The impact can range from giving up too early to losing the sale because you proposed before asking enough questions. Work with good information.

Being different than my competitors.   Here’s another issue: If I tried to play the game the “conventional” way, I’d get killed. I know this because in too many past tournaments, I’ve tried the conventional way and lost ugly. That’s because some of the other guys at the table REALLY know the conventional game – all the odds and permutations – and I know a little bit of the conventional game. Since knowledge is key, I’m their chump if I go that way. Instead, I go my way, which means that the low cards that the other guys fold, I’ll play – at least through the flop (see above). My 6-2 off suit pocket cards look lousy after the first deal, but when two sixes come up on the flop, I’m gold because it’s a pretty sure bet that anyone else at the table has folded with a 6 in their hand. I won several hands this way. In selling? If you’re doing “me too” selling with the same lame questions, the same “me too” benefit statements, you’re at the mercy of price and brand. Be different and effective.

Consistent activity is key. You’ve seen me preach multiple times that consistent activity is the key to successful selling. It is in these tournaments, too. The “blinds” (mandatory minimum bets) double every 15 minutes. If you’re not winning at least one hand every 15 minutes (and folding most of the time), the game quickly gets away from you, in terms of your ability to bet. I watched several players bust out exactly this way, by not playing until it was too late. Once again, my “play lots of hands” philosophy worked.

Don’t let yourself be intimidated. When the final table got down to the final four, the “pro” player (who had about 2/3 of the chips on the table) magnanimously offered to stop the game, the three of us that were below him could evenly split the money from 2-4, and he could have the #1 share. I don’t know if the other two guys would have gone for it, but I simply said, “No, I think I’ll make you beat me.” It’s easy to give up in the face of a strong competitor, or not to even try to get certain customers based on your perceptions. Don’t be that guy. Take every shot you can, and you’ll get more than you think to pay off. In this case, the “pro’s” chip lead quickly evaporated and he busted out against me on the final hand. He was most displeased, and even commented that he “hated to lose that way to a bad player.” Bad form, I thought, but I was too busy counting my money to worry about it. Which leads to my final thought:

Whatever you do, make sure it’s well thought out, have a reason for what you do, and make sure it works. My own poker playing style is anything but conventional, but I have a reason for every move I make. I’ve played in about a dozen tournaments.  Most of the time I’ve tried to do it “by the book.” I’ve failed badly. The two times that I’ve played 100% my way, I won a tournament and made it to the final table of a 100-person tourney in Vegas. Does that mean I’m a great poker player? Probably not. I’d get chewed up by the real pros. But in poker, or in sales, I have a reason for every move that I make, and that reasoning is backed up by the percentages of success. If you do things the same way, you’ll succeed more often than not.

There’s one thing that should be in every salesperson’s briefcase before he or she makes their first call.  Want to know what it is?

From time to time, I enjoy engaging practiced salespeople and sales managers in conversation about selling on a deeper level. One such conversation that happened this week centered around the question, “what is the most valuable quality salespeople can bring to the table?” Answers ranged from “product knowledge” to “likeability” to “good communication,” and on into “expert questioning” before one of the salespeople hit the correct answer – the answer that trumps all of the above.

That answer is trustworthiness. The reason it is the trump card is simple; if the customer doesn’t believe what you say, it doesn’t matter how well you know your subject matter, and if the customer doesn’t trust you, they won’t answer questions honestly. Trust, then, is a prerequisite for all activities that center on communication – selling in particular. In that spirit, this week I’ll share a few methods for building trust with customers, but first I have to share one of the most outrageous stories of a salesperson ruining his customer’s trust in him. It’s too good a story not to share.

It seems that this salesperson was employed by a cleaning company that was providing janitorial services to a group of hospitals. The hospital management liked him a lot, and liked the service provided. They believed in him and the quality and integrity of his company. Then came a charity golf tournament.

As a friend of mine (who happened to be in the same fivesome as this salesperson) explained, “It was a typical five-man scramble; one guy would hit into the sand, one into the woods, one way into the rough, one guy would dunk a ball and one would get stuck in a tree somewhere (sounds like my own lack of a golf game wouldn’t have been out of place – but I digress). The salesman would hit first on each hole, then drive the cart down the fairway to ‘spot’ for the team. When the rest of the group had hit and went down the fairway, a ball would have magically appeared in the middle of the fairway with the salesman explaining that one of the shots ‘kicked’ into the fairway.” Yep – he was cheating in a charity golf tournament. But wait – it gets better.

It seems that the key decision maker for the hospital account was also in this same fivesome, and what was happening wasn’t escaping him. In fact, immediately after the 18^th hole, the manager left in disgust, skipping the post-tournament party. Slick Salesman wasn’t done, however. He did the same thing a month later – at a tournamentsponsored by the hospital. After getting a feel for this guy’s character, the hospital management began watching everything that the janitorial company did, and lo and behold, they found bad billing, cleaning that was supposed to be done that wasn’t, and other problems. Long story short, the salesman is no longer employed by the company, and the company no longer has the account. The moral of the story? Some salespeople believe that trust is solely generated by work habits and activities; the truth is that anything you do that shows a lack of integrity can ruin your trust. In that spirit, here are some ways that you can build trust with your customers:

Do what you say, and say what you will do: This is so painfully obvious that I hate to even say it, but I encounter salespeople on a daily basis who think nothing of not fulfilling promises in a timely fashion. When you make a promise to a customer, they remember it. When you fail to fulfill that promise, they remember it FOREVER. It’s not that tough; only promise what you can actually do, then DO IT.

Do the right thing, even when you think no one is looking: Someone once said that this was the very definition of integrity. Sometimes, you’ll be tempted to behave in ways that you would never think of doing if you knew a customer was watching; guess what? They might be. Several years ago, I was in Minneapolis making calls with a salesperson as a favor to a branch manager of the company I worked for. On our second call, the customer got a look at my salesman and immediately threw us out. It turns out that, the night before, the salesman had been out at a bar, got a few drinks in him, and started a conflict with another patron over a particular seat at the bar. Huge stuff, right? Well, it turned out to be. The other patron turned out to be the person he wanted to sell to the next morning. Behave like a jackass in public at your own peril; you never know who is watching.

Keep your big yap shut when it needs to be: These days, customer confidentiality is huge. Salespeople are regularly trusted with company secrets of their customers. Unfortunately, many salespeople are “Instant babbler, just add beer.” I’ve seen salespeople who think nothing of telling me incredibly confidential details about their customers – stuff that their customers would probably have a heart attack if they knew the salesperson was repeating indiscriminately. If you want to continue to have your customers confide in you, you must respect and value that confidence by keeping it.

Respect your customer’s boundaries: Sometimes, there are pieces of information that your customer doesn’t want to give, or places they are unwilling to take you. If that’s the case, consider it a measure of the increasing bond of trust when your customer eventually gives you those pieces of information or takes you those places. Continue pressing immediately for them and your customer will back off.

Of course, because trust is such a huge subject, there are many more ways to build it. However, this has hopefully given you some things to look for in conducting yourself and building trust in your customer base.

Are you planning for a long career?  There are things you should know.

 As you probably know, I worked in the car business for three years at the start of my career. In that time, I worked for three different dealerships (one long engagement, two short ones) before pointing myself in another direction. Since then, I’ve rarely crossed paths with people from back then; the car business tends to be a bit insular.

However, this morning, I received a resume’ from the owner of one of those dealerships. I doubt that he remembers me; I only worked for him for a few months (his dealership was the one that convinced me that the car business wasn’t my long term gig). This guy had, at the time, a pretty profitable business. He had a great house, a ’58 Corvette, and was making money hand over fist – which is why the tenure and tone of the resume’ was so shocking. Since selling out over 10 years ago, he’s bounced from job to job, mostly in one year or shorter engagements, and in a downwards direction. His “job objective,” as stated on the resume’? “A stable living for my family and some means for retirement.” I have to be honest – it’s sad. But here’s the kicker; his is far from the only resume’ I receive like this, which started me thinking about the career trajectory of entirely too many salespeople.

When I work with business owners on hiring, I always advise them that it’s better to hire salespeople with less experience, but who are on their way up, than it is to catch a salesperson after their career has peaked and they are on the way down. The reason is simple – entirely too many salespeople peak many years before they retire, and then they ride a spiral of unsuccessful short engagements to – where? I honestly don’t know. Yes, this is the pattern of the dealer I’m referring to, but it’s also the pattern of probably 20-25% of the resume’s I see. Many salespeople tend to peak, in terms of performance, about 15-20 years into their selling career. Then they hit the wrong side of the bell curve, and go downward faster than they went up.

My question is, “why?” I still sell, after 22 years, and to be honest, it’s more fun for me now than it ever was. Part of that is because I’m self employed and doing something that I truly love, but part of it is that the zest for the sales call has never left me. I’ve interviewed enough of the previous types of salespeople to know that this is the key issue. For nearly all of the salespeople that are on a downward spiral, something happened – some event or turmoil – that knocked the pins out from under them. Psychologically, they’ve never been able to recover. Let’s talk about how to make you NOT be one of those people.

What I find, in talking to them, is that they literally can’t remember what they loved about selling; they have too easy a time focusing on the negative things that have happened. This typically leads to call reluctance (low quantity of activity) and poor call performance (low quality of activity), which leads to repeated failures. Since selling success is so mindset-dependent (I can’t think of any other discipline in business where enthusiasm is so critical to performance), a poor mindset equals a declining career. Worse, motivation is so individually based, it’s extremely difficult for others to re-energize a salesperson who has lost their zest for the job. So, maybe you should start building some “Career insurance,” on the idea that you’re going to be in the sales world for 30 years or so, and you don’t want to be like this guy.

One common thread of most of the people I’m describing is that they can’t remember details of past successes very well; they are able to focus on recent failures. So, here’s my advice to you: start keeping reminders of your success NOW. Keep a journal, and make sure to put in plenty of details about WHY, and HOW, you are successful. Basically it will be your own training and motivation manual, and it will help you get back on track.

And finally, if you truly lose your zest for selling and can’t get it back, find another way to make a living. It’s a big old business world out there, and there are spots for people other than salespeople. There’s no shame in leaving the profession; there are other ways to have success.

Don’t get me wrong.I’m not arguing against hiring senior salespeople.  I’ve made some great hires of people who were in their late careers; having a long career doesn’t mean that you have to have a declining period. But it’s worth taking a side trip from our normal discussion of sales techniques to talk a little bit about the long term implications of our business, and give a cautionary tale of what may lie ahead – IF you don’t make the right moves now.

Barriers can prevent success, but inconveniences just make it a little tougher.  Knowing the difference can be key to succeeding.

One thing about Kansas City – if you don’t like the weather, just wait a while. Or, as I’ve done today, drive around a bit, and you can get several different weather options. Today, I’ve had several out-of-the-office appointments, and I’ve encountered the following weather patterns: Clear and chilly, sleet, freezing rain, light snow, heavy snow, and back to freezing rain – all within a four hour period, and within about  40 miles of driving. Now, do I love weather like this? Nope (which makes my wife’s suggestion of ‘that winter headquarters in Miami’ all the more appealing). But it’s something that you just work around to make a living.

Which is why I was so surprised when I talked to a salesperson at 1 PM who, he said, was canceling his afternoon appointments (“for safety”) and heading for home. I couldn’t help but ask a few more questions, and found out that his basic philosophy was that the coming severity of the weather would mean that “nothing would get done” this afternoon, and that he might as well be safe and head for home. In his mind, the same weather that had inconvenienced me by forcing me to drive more slowly and had gotten me cold and wet while outside had become a barrier to him doing his job. Which, as the title of this article suggests, reminds me that what is an inconvenience for some is a barrier for others – and since, as salespeople, we make our living overcoming obstacles, it’s best to have as many inconveniences as possible.

The truth is that a lot of people are pretty good at turning inconveniences into barriers. Here’s an example: One of the most common things that I hear from people is that “cold calling doesn’t work in my business.” Really? So I start probing to get an understanding of the facts that led them to that conclusion. Seldom is there a strong database to support this position. However, their perception that cold calling doesn’t work has allowed the prospecting process to move beyond an inconvenience to become an obstacle. Here’s the thought process:

1. I (or my salespeople) prefer not to prospect (Prospecting is an inconvenience).
   

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2. Since I (or my salespeople) prefer not to prospect, I (they) do it as little as possible.
   

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3.  Since I (or my salespeople) prospect as little as possible, we have no success stories from our industry to share when it comes to prospecting.
   

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4.  Hence, prospecting doesn’t work in my industry. (Prospecting is a barrier).

Notice that the conclusion – that prospecting is a barrier – is driven not by experience and data but by a lack of willingness to push through and do what is inconvenient. This is the same as my salesperson friend who is unwilling to go to the inconvenience of completing appointments during the bad weather, and instead, goes home in front of a nice fire with a cup of cocoa (Okay, I’m imagining that last part).

Many times in selling, we have to be able to make decisions – good ones – regarding what is an inconvenience, what is an obstacle, and what is a barrier to selling. If you set your bar too low, you will cost yourself money by overstating the inconvenient as a barrier. Here are some examples:

Inconveniences:

• I can’t get to the decision maker.
•  They won’t allow me to present a proposal in person.
•  My computer is down.
•  I don’t have any prospects to call.
•  I’m not getting any referrals.
•  My quota is too high.
•  The weather is too bad to drive.

You get the idea, right? Each one of the above are inconveniences; they make the selling process harder or more time consuming, but none is a direct barrier to success. Barriers, on the other hand, can close off a path to success:

Barriers:

• Nobody buys my product anymore (hey, somebody sold the last buggy whip – the key is, do they really not buy it – or just not from YOU?).
•  My customer doesn’t have any money (if this is literally true, it’s a barrier).
•  My prospect is contracted to a competitor, and there’s no way to legally break it.
•  The roads are closed.

The truth is that I had a hard time coming up with a list of real barriers, because most of the things that we state are barriers are inconveniences of varying levels. Our job as salespeople – what we are paid to do, and what our employers and customers expect us to do – is to push through the inconveniences, overcome the obstacles, and adapt and improvise to make the right things happen and drive business. To do less is to fail. Make sure, when you think about bailing out of a particular customer, function, or duty, that you have examined the situation and found it not to be an inconvenience, but a barrier.

Often, salespeople forget, or are scared, to deal with the customer’s real benefits as it relates to their product.  This article shows how to deal with them the right way.

Yesterday, I was driving along the highway when I saw perhaps the most powerful advertising message I’ve ever seen. It was for a hospital and it said this:

More People Who Come Here….Live.

Wow. That is some powerful stuff. Think about it; if you visit the hospital, isn’t your #1 hope to simply survive the experience? And, if in fact that is your #1 need as a potential buyer (patient), why don’t more hospitals address that issue instead of talking about room comfort, staff education, technology employed, and other peripheral benefits? Well, it’s for the same reason that many salespeople shy away from the key benefits of their “stuff” – fear or assumption.

The fear – at least in the case of the hospital – is obvious. By addressing the key issue of survivability, the hospital acknowledges that some people who go there die. Since acknowledgement of the OPPOSITE of the key benefit is decidedly unpleasant, I’m sure a lot of marketing experts shy away from mentioning it. My response, of course, is, “Do you think people don’t recognize the possibility?” It’s similar to when Johnny Cash played Folsom Prison in 1968, and the warden asked him to stay away from playing songs that would remind the inmates that they were in prison. “Warden,” Johnny reputedly said, “Do you reckon they forgot?”

This is a key question for salespeople or marketers who, through fear, shy away from key benefit statements because they are afraid of reminding customers of the opposite outcome. For instance, if a freight line advertises that “98% of our shipments arrive on time and undamaged,” they are also saying, “Of course, you have a 1-in-50 shot of your stuff winding up in Nome, Alaska with big dents on it.” Is that a worthwhile risk to take? It depends, I suppose, on how the 98% stacks up against your competitors. If it stacked up well, I’d say that the risk is worth taking.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin: Assumption. “Assumption” in this case means that you believe that your customers already know where you stack up on the key benefit, so it’s only worthwhile talking about the secondary benefits. Apple has done a great job of this with their campaigns regarding the PC vs. the Mac. (I should point out that I’m still a loyal PC user, but I’m impressed with the campaign.) The key benefit of computer users is that the computer won’t crash; meanwhile, most computer salespeople talk about hard drive size, RAM, etc. Apple makes the statement, “Our stuff won’t crash.”

So how can you use this idea to make money? Simple. Compile a list of benefits for your product or products. When you do, remember that NOTHING IS TOO BASIC. When you’re done, figure out what is the key, ultimate benefit of your sales proposition, then don’t be too afraid or too assumptive to use it. Remember Johnny – “Do you reckon they forgot?”

Salespeople have a lot of control over our own destinies – but we also have control of the destinies of many others, too.  How often do you think about them?

This is another one of my articles inspired by a question or comment that came out in a training session. Yesterday, I was in Reno doing a program for a company in the agricultural industry, and the question arose, “How do you feel about using politics as an icebreaker?” Actually, it was phrased a bit more, uh, ruggedly than that, but you get the picture. Now, I am aware that the common advice is to avoid the topic of politics in selling. It’s advice that I often give, and to be honest, sometimes I don’t follow it myself. In fact, I would go so far to say that most of my clients, and even nonclients, have some inclination about my political bent.

HOWEVER – I am aware that this can cost me business from time to time. If it does, the only person penalized is ME. I’m pretty much a solo entrepreneur, and if I make choices about what to discuss, knowing that there is a chance that it could cost me financially, that’s all on me. It’s not that way if you work for someone else. The immediate thought is of your boss, but there are others. Read on and watch as I expertly weave together politics, salespersonship, and Charlie Sheen into one topical and enjoyable article.

Right now, Charlie Sheen is in the spotlight as he has never been before, even in his Brat Pack days. The reason? Because he’s exposing himself as a complete flipping loon who likely receives his drug deliveries via a loading dock. Every time Charlie talks about “Tiger Blood,” waves a machete in front of a video camera, or chainsmokes while babbling incoherently, the nation is captivated. I get it. It’s always hard to look away from a train wreck, and when said wreck is being broadcast in slow-mo into your living rooms, it’s even harder.

People have a variety of takes on what the ol’ Chuckster is doing. My take? He’s an incredibly self centered (insert your favorite perjorative here) who cares not a whit for anyone else. Sure, I enjoyed “Two and a Half Men,” and I recognize that the entire eight-year scenario has required less actual ACTING than anything Sheen has done (he’s just been playing himself, really). But, for me, the biggest thought that I have is, “Wow. How many livelihoods has he trashed just because he wants to be a very public jerk?”

See, unlike me (in one of the thousands of ways that Sheen and I are unlike), Sheen has hundreds of people who depend on him for their livelihood. I’m not concerned about Jon Cryer, Courtney Thorne-Smith, or any of the other actors on the show. They’ve made good coin and they’ll be fine. But a show like “Men” requires hundreds of people behind the scenes who do not make wealth wages, and who may or may not have another ready job to go to. For trashing those people’s livelihoods with his own self-indulgence, Sheen is slime. Frankly, I’m surprised that the group of support staff on “Men” hasn’t strung him up by his thumbnails.

But – and this is where we circle back to selling – salespeople have the ability to make the same kinds of decisions, with the same kinds of consequences, every day. And it’s not just undertaking activities (like discussing politics or religion) that could potentially drive away customers. Inactivity is just as bad. Every cold call you don’t make, every networking function you blow off, every appointment that doesn’t happen, has a real effect on the economic well being of your company and those who depend on it for their livelihoods.

See, the person who asked me the question about politics did so with a big assumption; he assumes that everyone in his industry looks at political issues the same way. Knowing his industry and his politics, I’d be willing to bet that he’s right a great majority of the time. However, for every rule there is an exception, and within those exceptions is the problem. Even if there’s only a 5% chance that he says the wrong thing to the wrong person, that 5% is a risk without any real reward. And the customer that he drives away within that 5% might be funding someone’s job at his company.

Now, risky behavior – risking driving away some customers – is fine if there’s a commensurate reward. For instance, we might want to build ourselves out of the market for smaller customers so as to be attractive to larger ones. This produces a win; our efforts generate more revenue and profits. In terms of politics, there’s really no win involved; I can’t think of a single customer in my 22 year career that I’d have won by discussing politics that I didn’t win with other conversation.

In terms of sales inactivity, there is absolutely no reward to doing a halfway job – but there is a high risk. Here’s the bottom line: In selling, we are confronted with opportunities every day to engage in behavior that has economic consequences for ourselves and those that depend on us. If you need motivation, how about this?  Even if you’re willing to live with the consequences of low or risky activity, are the people back at the office or the warehouse?

Sometimes, the biggest enemy of selling has nothing to do with selling skills; personal habits can kill sales in a heartbeat.

Oftentimes in my training, I’m asked what topics to completely avoid during a sales call. The conventional answer – which we touched on last week – is to stay away from politics or religion. If you’re wondering why, go to my sales blog and read last week’s article. That said, there’s an even worse combination of words that are often used to start a selling appointment, but can kill your chances of making a sale.

Those words are, “Sorry I’m late.” Of course, the real sin isn’t apologizing for lateness; it’s being late in the first place. Of course, things do happen and everyone is late from time to time. Yes, even me (Very seldom; I’m a stickler for punctuality). But over the years, I have noticed that there are those people who are habitually late. Frankly, those are people for whom I have no time.

There is no bigger sign of disrespect for someone than being late for an appointment. It is an expression that you live on your own schedule, despite the commitments you have made to others. Admittedly, I’m from the old school, where 10 minutes early is acceptably early, 5 minutes early is on time, and on time it is late (still a heck of a good policy in my opinion); that said, I’m far from the only one who takes punctuality strictly.

A lack of punctuality is simply a lack of professional discipline. One of the most common questions I get asked goes something like, “Troy, I have a problem keeping appointment times. How can I better manage my time so that this doesn’t happen?” I have a hard time coming up with an answer that doesn’t start with, “Grow up.”

Still, punctuality is far from the only simple killer of sales. I’d love to know how many sales die in a year due to simple bad manners and unprofessional conduct. Here are the top 8 ways that simple bad personal habits cost salespeople sales; the good news is that, if you’re guilty of one or more of these things, they’re easy to fix.

1. Lateness – already discussed.
2. Bad cell phone etiquette; leaving it on or (worse) taking calls in the middle of a sales call.
3. Poor personal grooming; looking like an unmade bed in front of the customer.
4. Rudeness, particularly to people you perceive beneath you.
5. Lack of follow-up; leaving customers hanging when a simple phone call would keep them informed.
6. Poor written communication; written sales communications should not look like a text message written by a 12 year old.
7. Taking the best parking spot – those are for CUSTOMERS.
8. Unpreparedness; when salespeople walk into a call with neither pad nor paper I always wonder what they think they’re going to accomplish.

As I said, none of these is terminal. If you’re guilty of one of them, changing it is a simple matter of applying a little personal discipline. The rewards will be much higher than the investment.

Well, this missive is inspired by an injury, of all things.  But the article is good; read on.

One of the biggest impeders of selling success is the existence of pre-existing habits. Bad pre-existing habits, to be more precisely. Training, coaching, and troubleshooting techniques can fail – and fail badly – if old habits which conflict with new techniques and skills are not overcome.

I’ve learned a thing or two about habits in the last couple of days. See, two nights ago, I sliced the knuckle of my right index finger open on a grinder while working on one of my hobby projects. Some really loud and profane words were followed by a trip to the ER, where some very professional nurses and one doctor cleaned out the wound and stitched it up. These were the first stitches I’d received in my 42 years, if you’re wondering. But, the end of the process was taping my right index finger into a splint – which was a habit-changer in itself.

Some of the most basic things I do, things like carrying my keys and wallet in my right-hand pockets, suddenly became something between inconvenient and pretty darn painful. Breaking old – really old – habits has suddenly become essential as many things that I do (including typing this article) are darned near impossible with the splint. What is has done is reminded me of a basic 4-step process that I used to use years ago when I had to help salespeople break their habits.

Step One: Analyze the cost of the habit. In this case, “hurts like heck” is a good enough cost. Whether you’re looking at your own sales behaviors, or working with a salesperson to break their bad habits, the first thing you have to do is understand what the habit is costing the person. What is the impact on quality of sales calls? Is it impacting the quantity of calls performed? Remember – quality x quantity = results; if the bad habit is affecting funnel ratios or overall quality of activity, you can put a dollar figure to each instance of the bad habit. This should inject the urgency to fix it.

Step Two: Create an alternative behavior. Habits are formed and then reinforced because our minds can’t think of anything else to do in certain instances. That’s why it’s not enough to say, “stop doing that.” Instead, we must substitute a behavior. This is the reason that smokers, for instance, may chew gum or pop LifeSavers as part of their effort to quit. If I’d bought stock in LifeSavers when my Dad quit smoking, I’d definitely be more wealthy now; it wasn’t that he loved LifeSavers, it was that his fingers and mouth needed an alternative behavior.

In a selling situation, when we see our salespeople habitually doing something that harms their results, it’s not enough to say, “stop.” We must instead suggest an alternative technique that can substitute a positive habit for a negative one. Hopefully, the new technique is based upon solid knowledge of customer behavior.

Step Three: Create a reminder. The salesperson needs some signal or reminder that they are about to go down a wrong road. Sometimes a large note written at the top of a legal pad works. For me, I am consciously grabbing my keys and wallet with my left hand so as to remember to place them in my left pockets. I’ve had salespeople who needed to remind themselves to smile before teleprospecting that put a mirror in front of their desks. The reminder is probably going to need to be as individual as the habit.

Step Four: Reinforce the positive. In selling, the reinforcement is the positive reaction of the customer, or of the manager. In this case, fixing the habit is its own reward. In any habit-breaking effort, you are far better to reinforce the positive, however, than penalize the negative. Stay with it, stay consistent, and bad habits can and are broken.

For me, the reinforcement of breaking right-handed habits is less pain and less chance of popping my stitches; something of its own reward. I won’t say this has been a good experience, but it’s been a nice reminder of a successful old management technique. Hopefully you can use it to your benefit.

It’s not enough to say you care about your customers – you must PROVE it on every interaction!

One of my favorite questions to ask business owners is, “Why do your customers buy from you?” Despite the diversity of my client base, there isn’t much diversity to the answer: It’s always some variation of “great customer service,” or “our people.” (Which is pretty much the same answer.) The trouble is that the answer is almost always OUR PERCEPTION of the issue, rather than the CUSTOMER’s perception. Which do you think is more important?

If you said, “The customer’s,” you’re right. The truth is that most of us don’t really know why our customers buy because we don’t ask. We simply rest on the knowledge that our people care, but we seldom verify that or justify it. Let me give you two radically different examples of companies that say “our employees care,” and you can decide which company means it.

The first example is from the hotel I’m staying at this week: The Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Honolulu. Now, I haven’t been to Honolulu for 17 years, and I’m definitely not a regular at the Outrigger. In fact, my travel agent helped me find this hotel. Who’s my travel agent, you ask? I’ll tell you – Kim Shannon at All About Travel in Mission, KS. She really cares, too, but I’ll save her story for a future HotSheet. But I heartily recommended her.

My experience at the Outrigger has been unique, and I have stayed at a lot of high-end resort hotels. Let’s start with the parking valet. In my experience, there are two kinds of valet parking operations at hotels – the Vegas kind, which is free, cheerful, and lightning fast, and the other kind, which is pricey, mandatory, impersonal, and slower than Charlie Sheen heading to a sobriety clinic. In other words, thanks for your money, and we’ll get you your car when we darn well feel like it. Call this the “everywhere other than Vegas” model.

The Outrigger was different. There is a not insignificant charge for valet parking, but I knew in advance, so it’s OK. I pulled up to the valet parking stand, and a smiling young man wished me “Aloha” and asked my name. I gave it to him, and – this is new – he quickly found my name on the list of reservations. He got our bags, and then spent a few minutes orienting us to the resort and explaining some of the features. Very nice. I should point out that when I went to get my car the next morning, the service was Vegas-quick and Vegas-cheerful. I hereby do not mind the extra charge.

Then there was the check-in. We all know about hotel check-in, right? You walk up to a desk and stand there while the person behind the desk (hopefully) finds your reservation, then spends quite a bit of time creating your documents and keys. Not here. Checking in here, you actually sit down and speak to a desk clerk who is also sitting down. You give him your name, and he pulls out a file of pre-made documents and keys. Two signatures, and we’re on our way to the room. I commented to him that this was the smoothest check-in I’ve ever seen. The clerk smiled and responded, “Most of our guests have been traveling six or more hours to get here (we traveled a total of eleven hours). We don’t want to keep them from their vacation any more than necessary.” Nice touch, wouldn’t you agree? There are more examples, but suffice it to say that the Outrigger cares about their customers. Yes, it’s a luxury resort, but I’ve stayed at a lot more high priced resorts that couldn’t approach the service here.

Now, for the other extreme, I will pull back the mask a bit. I do the cooking at our house, and I’m darn good at it. Not the most manly thing in the world, I suppose, but it’s one of my skills. My wife bought me a very nice set of cookware about a year and a half ago, and recently, the bottom plate of one of the pans separated from the main pan. No problem, these pans are lifetime warranty, so I’ll just take it back to where I bought it and get a new one.

When it comes to lifetime warranties, my best experience is with tools from Snap-On and Craftsman (for those of you keeping score at home, this is where I get my man-card back from the cooking issue). When you have a broken tool, you take it back and they give you a new one. No exceptions, no worries. They don’t ask for receipts; they don’t even particularly care where you got the tool. My dad once bought a ratchet that was made by Snap-On in the 1920s. The mechanism didn’t work. The tool man said, “I’d happily swap you for a new one, but as rare as that is, you’d probably rather have it rebuilt.” One week later, he returned and the ratchet had been rebuilt and polished to look new. Turns out that they had to specially cut a new gear for it since they no longer stocked parts for it.

So this is my frame of reference. Armed with these expectations, I walked into the store and to the housewares department. I explained my issue to the lady at the counter, and she began peppering me with questions about what I did to it, did I have a receipt (no), and finally the statement that “we don’t carry this style anymore.” I explained patiently that lifetime means lifetime, and I expected the situation to be made right. Cue the call to the manager.

The manager came out and first observed, “Gee, that’s been exposed to a lot of heat.” I fought the urge to respond in a Bill Engvall “here’s your sign” manner and instead said, “Yes, I cook with it and that involves heat.” Again I told them that all I expected was something comparable since they didn’t carry the product line. The manager went back to the “we need a receipt” stance. This is when I got a bit assertive. I explained that, lifetime means lifetime, and if I have to leave and get a receipt, I’ll simply leave and purchase a replacement somewhere else, and in the process continue to buy elsewhere. It’s simply not worth my time to return. Finally – after 35 minutes of deliberation – they decided on a replacement and a course of action, telling me multiple times how they were “violating store policy” to do so.

So, which company cares about its customers? More to the point, look at the two situations – which one is more exemplary of the experience that YOUR customers receive? Sometimes the truth can be painful, but it’s still the truth. How can you show your customers that you really do care, instead of saying so? It’s the total customer experience that counts.

Social networking is a reputation builder.  It’s up to you whether that reputation is positive or negative, as with the examples here.

Today, we’re going to talk social networking. Now, if you’ve been reading my articles over the last year, you know that I don’t advocate substituting social networking for prospecting, but I do think social networking can be an excellent reputation building tool. Further, I would consider LinkedIn to be my favorite social networking platform.

Today, we’re going to talk about how even LinkedIn can work against you. When you post something on a social networking platform, you essentially are ringing a bell; i.e. sending a message out. As they say, you can’t un-ring a bell, and recently, I saw an example of how a bell can be rung badly. The post, on a LinkedIn group, went like this:

“Does anyone have a good suggestion or referral for a Web developer who isn’t going to charge me an arm and a leg for something a 3^rd grader could do?” Now, let’s break down what this person (who shall remain nameless) posted. First of all, he’s looking for a Web developer. So far, so good. Next, he indicates that his budget is low (won’t charge me an arm and a leg); questionable, but still not that bad. But the closing offended a lot of people, as it should. “For something a 3^rd grader could do” is a slap at an entire industry of trained professionals.

My question is, if you were a Web developer, why would you want to work with this guy? You already know that he pinches pennies and that he has little respect for your business. Hence, the likelihood that you’re going to have a satisfactory transaction is low. Most of the responses were of the tone saying that Web developing, like other business disciplines, is one that takes training and experience, and that experience has a monetized value. The bottom line, however, is that the poster ended up damaging his reputation by posting an insulting comment.

One problem with social networking is that it’s very easy to post things in the heat of the moment (this person might have just had a frustrating experience) that you can repent in leisure. Even given this fact, it takes discipline not to do so, because LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms make it easy and accessible to post the stream of consciousness; in fact, they virtually demand it. This is what I mean when I say that social networking lends itself to lowest-common-denominator conversation.

A further example, from the same board and a week earlier: “Can anyone recommend a KC recruiter that has clients needing Business Development / Sales / Sales Management candidates and will actually work hard to create good matches? I sure can’t find one!” This comment was from a job seeker and not a hiring manager. Full disclosure; I have met with this person in the past because he was referred to me; he wasn’t a fit for a search I was doing at the moment. After reading this comment, he’s removed himself from being a fit for any search I might do in the future.

The point is that it’s easy to insult entire professions, or providers, without thinking. In the case of post #2, I have no doubt that I will at some point hear from him again as a “follow up” call. What will my response be? Can you guess?

As I noted, social networking can be a great tool for building reputations. The key is that you want to make sure that those reputations are positive and not negative. Everything you put out on the Internet creates a composite picture of your character; is your social networking consistent with the reputation you want to build? If not, why not?

One quick technique that I use – I never enter anything directly into Twitter or LinkedIn. I always write a draft in Word, even for Tweets. I let the draft sit for an hour. If I still like it, I will post it.