DailySalesNugget

Moxie is defined as the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.  It’s also a certain confidence, determination and know-how.  All winning attributes to have in sales.

If moxie doesn’t come naturally to you - how can you get it?  Moxie comes by being an expert at what you do, and trust me whatever it is you do all day long makes you an expert.  The more knowledge you have about the product or service you are selling the more confidence you have in speaking to others about it.  The defining difference is - the more passion you have for what you sell the more moxie you will have in selling it.

True belief is a critical trait for both entrepreneurs and sales people.  if you don’t belieive in your product or service in an almost religiously fanatical way, you will never be successful selling it.  Sales is the art of persuasion and effective persuasion comes through passion for the product.  Find a way to fall in love completely with what you sell or find something else to sell.  It’s that important to your success.

You have two options for dinner.  One is a 45-minute wait for a table at a crowded restaurant with a line of people out the front door.  The other is an empty restaurant with no cars in the parking lot and the manager is begging you to come in.  Where will you choose to eat?

Sure, the empty restaurant means no wait - but do you really want to go there? Does it make you wonder what’s so special about the busy restaurant?  Does an empty restaurant imply it’s a terrible place to eat?

We all respond to demand.  Scarcity Sells.

In your sales day, are you positioning your product or service as one that everyone wants and may be in limited supply?   Or are you begging people to eat at an empty restaurant?

Even in these tough economic times, there’s a big difference in the result you will get.

I’ve been working with a national advertiser who is pushing the edge of the traditional media sales transaction. I thought he was crazy when he first told me his opinion of the future of advertising sales. It goes something like this:

“Traditional advertising is over. Now it’s all about accountability; accountability in government, accountability on Wall Street, accountability in advertising”.

Now, when I hear the word “accountability” in a business conversation my mind translates the meaning in to something much like when an advertiser says to me, “I want you to look at this as a partnership”. Right away I know somewhere I’m going to get screwed.

With this new “accountability” catch, my client has been able to successfully negotiate mass amounts of traditional (code for old) media with no pay-for-play contracts. Many thanks to the terrible economy, his deals are one hundred percent pay-for-performance. Media outlets get paid for the results they generate, not the inventory they provide.

This is a seismic shift in advertising that all started with Google and web analytics.

You’ve probably heard the old line, “Half of my advertising in wasted, I just don’t know which half”. For the past 100 years businesses hav e been throwing money at advertising hoping to generate results. That’s pretty much all they had - the spray and pray approach to mass market advertising. Maybe it would work, who knew? Then over the years media buying got a bit more sophisticated with ratings and qualitative and advertising agents who were so called “experts” and even still, advertising was a complete crap shoot.

Then Google came along and offered mind blowing statistics on who clicked your ad, when they did it, how many times, and you could track sales data directly in line with your advertising in a way that had never been done before. Complete accountability. Spend x-amount of dollars, get x-amount in return. Why couldn’t this be done with all advertising?

Recently I read in AdAge that Coke is trying to sell through a pay-for-performance model to their stable of advertising agencies. Coke wants to pay for campaigns and creative that deliver pre-determined results and, here’s the crazy part, not pay for campaigns and creative that don’t work. For large agencies with tons of overhead, this is doom. For small shops looking for a big break, this is a dream.

I suspect the accountability trend will eventually apply to most business-to-business sales transactions. For salespeople who make a living on commission, can you afford to get paid on the back end?

Keep a positive mental attitude - even if you have to force it.  No matter what doom and gloom you hear or read in the media it’s critical to your survival that you are optimistic and positive.   Become an ambassador of optimism with every customer you talk to.  Mind set and attitude have the power to change everything.  Be optimistic even if you have to force yourself to do so!

Dig deeper.  Tough times are good for salespeople.  It sharpens our core selling skills because the “easy” deals are gone and we have to work harder at our business.  No matter what is happening with the price of oil or the mortgage business – money will still be spent in your industry today.  It may be harder to find and it may take more customers to do the same amount of sales you did last year, but business is still out there!  How much of it do you want?

Re-evaluate your “network”.  I believe networking is important to do regardless of the condition of the economy.  If you’re a person who never networks, your circle of business is smaller than what it could be.  Thankfully it’s an easy thing to fix.  Simply put – you can’t do it alone, and why would you want to when so many people are out there willing to help you?  It’s the people you don’t know who have the power  to help you get more business if you only make the effort.   Approach networking from the position of “How can I help you?”.  Give and others will give back to you.  Chances are there is a networking lunch or event in your area today to attend.   Invest in building your network, it’s worth it.

Be on a constant quest for more training and Information.   Work harder, work smarter or do both.  What areas do you need to develop your skills?  Thanks to the Internet there is a wealth of information available to help you improve your selling skills or spark ideas that will help you find more business.  Look to your industry trade magazines for help.

Ask for help.  Do you have a mentor you can call, an old boss you can reach out to or a friend in the business?  So many of us insist on doing it all ourselves when simply asking for help can change everything.  If you have a sales manager – when was the last time you met for coffee?  Do you have a mentor or colleague you could call today for idea sharing or brainstorming?  We’re all in this together and tough times come and go.  Ask for help and give back – you will never regret it.

Did you know the best day of the week to see a Doctor without having to wait is Friday?  The worst day of the week is Monday, and 24-hour urgent care centers are packed with sick people on Sundays?  It’s not reasonable to think everyone is healthy on Friday and sick by Sunday, so how could this be?  It has to do with human behavior.

It seems no one wants a cold or flu to interfere with their prime weekend time and would prefer to hold off until Sunday or Monday morning before being officially “sick”.  There’s an added bonus for doing this -  a Doctor’s note and Monday home in bed.

Consider human behavior and the impact timing has on our ability to close the sale.  Is there a correlation to the day of the week and a successful business deal?  Well, everyone HATES Monday, Wednesday is “hump day”.  Thursday is a great night to stay out late with friends because you just have to make it through friday before the weekend and Friday is dress casual, half-day or work from home day.  What does this leave?  Tuesday is the most productive day of the week.

How does this impact your sales success?  Before booking your deal-of-the-year presentation for 3:00 Friday, consider where your customer will be emotionally.  Will he or she be fully engaged and ready to make a decision?  Maybe, but most likely your audience will be transitioning to “weekend mode” and not likely to say yes to your proposal.  “Thanks for your time, we’re going to take the weekend to think about it.”  Ugh.

Make your most important meetings early in the day and early in the week.  The best way to create a positive selling environment is to hold the meeting before 2:00 (or before lunch ideally) where it is less likely your decision maker is distracted or beaten down by the problems of the day.  And what about Tuesday?  Fill this day with client meetings you are excited about, the kind where you have the best likelihood of leaving with a signed contract.

This year has been a tough slog for salespeople. The slow economy  has created a double whammy of depression for those of us who make a living on commission. What do salespeople do when times are slow? They make cold calls. I talked to a friend of mine who told me she made more cold calls in January than she did the last 4 months of 2008 combined. Action, even if it’s not productive, seems to make us feel better. At least we’re doing something.

I was ambushed recently by two salespeople who were out trying to be productive. When I went to the door I immediately knew they were either going to try to sell me something: two guys, dark suits, zippered day planners. Classic door-to-door sales ambush.

I was immediately on the defensive before they even said what they were selling (office products). The small talk was awful (how are you today?) and I could tell that they could tell I was going in to defense-mode. My objections were typical (We’re covered for now, try back some other time, you’ll need to ask for someone else). They could have had the greatest product in the world and I would never know because it all was just too sales-ey.

I could see they were canvassing the building going door-to-door. Does this really create any business at all? Were they expecting me to be thankful they dropped in uninvited and give them an order for business on the spot?

Then I considered my own sales approach. Am I doing the same thing – ambushing people with the hope they buy from me or am I focusing on developing meaningful and lasting customer relationships?

It’s tough to resist the panic right now. Ambush selling may be a faster process but in the end, relationships win. Stay true to your selling-self.

A friend of mine I hadn’t spoken to in a while, called recently to tell me he had quit his job. My first reaction was, “is this a happy thing?” as last I heard he was transitioning to a significantly different position within the same company.

My friend found himself in a common situation these days. His job was changing because the world as we know it is changing, and he knew the future with his current employer meant four things.

Uncertainty – moving to a new position meant he would basically be starting over in the eyes of his employer regardless of his past accomplishments.

Extra effort – new duties and responsibilities means a learning curve and a huge time sink.

Possible failure – it might not work out, or the unsolicited transfer itself just might be a “signal” for him to start looking anyway.

Possible success – everything might work out for the better.

When faced with this change and weighing the options, my friend chose to make the next move in his career and I have to say it was the right thing to do.

Change is hitting a lot of people in the face this year. Call it a transfer, redeployment, restructuring, a management change, a reorg – whatever it’s being dished up to you as, you’re getting a new job. Shouldn’t you have the final decision as to WHO you work for and what you want to do? It will take the same amount of effort on your part to stay and start over as it would be to go out land a new job. You might even come out ahead on a smart move right now, in fact you probably will.

As the CEO of your own career, it’s the best time to consider all available options. What, does the economy have you running scared? Are those closest to you smothering you with fear about changing jobs in this economy? Resist the negative group-think. You are one person and all you need to find is one job. Considering you are good at what you do, it’s not that big a deal.

It’s exciting what’s happening right now. The game is changing, the old guard is being thrown out and there will be no better time in our lifetime to take a chance and make it a big hit – switch jobs, advance your career, start that new business, pioneer something new. The time is now.

On the flip side, you can always stay at your current job and put the same effort in to it as if you were starting over as a new employee. What would that do for your career? It’s something to consider. Either way you have to do something.

Prospecting by cold calling is the isolated act of reaching out to strangers asking them to allow you in to their lives with the intent of doing business. This is a one-at-a-time process where you seek immediate action and continue moving to the next “prospect” until you get to a potential customer situation. I call this “spray and pray” selling. Blow a bunch of phone calls to complete strangers and pray someone takes an interest. It’s hard work, no fun and uncomfortable. Prospecting and cold calling are the main reasons a sales job pays well because not everybody can do it and most people don’t want to do it.

Networking on the other hand, is an ongoing series of actions that places you in the position to be called upon by customers to do business at any time now or in the future. By nature of what it is, you can network with many people at once and reap the benefits for years. I’ve had people call me with business years after meeting them at a networking event, “you probably don’t remember me but I kept your card and my company would like to talk to you”. Networking creates a stream of future business where you are considered an expert, not a cold calling salesperson pest.

With prospecting, you deliberately attempt to force a business relationship where there was not one previously. You’re trying to push your way in to a situation when no one invited you to do so.

By networking, you create the environment for future opportunity by developing relationships that begin with an equal power balance. You become a person of influence in your own right, people are not as guarded around you and they don’t view you with the same skepticism as if you just called them on the phone out of nowhere to sell something.

As a sales manager when business was slow or we were behind revenue I would schedule a “cold call” session and basically force everyone to get on the phone and start randomly calling prospects. Honestly, I don’t think any meaningful business ever resulted from forced prospecting other than the occasional lucky connection. So why do sales managers do this? Because it’s an actionable exercise that helps develop phone skills and in some cases, exposes poor performers who are terrified of cold calling. It also bumps up the level of intensity in the office because everyone is busy cranking out phone calls and there’s energy in the room. Beyond that, it’s a bogus exercise with good intention.

By shifting your focus from prospecting to networking you plant the seeds for tomorrow’s business. Look for two relevant ways to start networking for new business. I’ve listed a few examples for business to business sellers. You can also find more in the upcoming events section of your local newspaper or business journal.

• Chamber of commerce

• Local rotary chapter

• Entrepreneur and small business organizations

• Women’s business groups (WLE, NAFE, eWomenNetwork, etc.)

• Local university speaker series
• Any clubs, groups or organizations you find interesting

Merriam-Webster defines “scrappy” to be the following;

Having an aggressive and determined spirit: FEISTY

Feisty is a very good thing to be these days. I’m using this week to get organized and reach out to as many working decision makers as possible before the New Year. To my surprise, I’m finding a lot of other people are working as well, taking calls and trying to push through the dip of a very slow week.

This is only the second time in probably 20 years I’ve worked between Christmas and New Year. It’s been my observation, and maybe it’s because I always took time off at the holidays, that a lot of people take off the last two weeks of the year. The last time I had the bright idea of burning my vacation early and working in the office over Christmas it didn’t work out as planned. My logic was that everyone else would be off including my boss and the work load would be light making it easy for me to glide in and out during a soft week while still technically “working”. Bad idea as it turned out. Everyone else was on vacation leaving me the only person available to handle problems, unfinished business and impatient clients.

This year is very different. As an entrepreneur I just can’t take the luxury of time off right now when the business climate is so uncertain. I no longer look for opportunities to “glide” through stuff. In fact I’m frustrated that meaningful business probably won’t fire up again until January 5th.  I’m fired up right now. 

Smart people recognize that the turbulence of the last few months has cued up an uncertain year ahead that will require all of us to approach our work in a different way. Being a control freak, I’m not so much a fan of uncertainty and that means next year to be successful I know I have to work harder, smarter, longer, faster, more determined, aggressive and feisty than the last few years. Scrappy sellers will come out ahead in 2009. I plan on being one of the successful people.

Random thoughts;

• Move away from price, and focus on benefit and results.
• Consider your “brand”. How hard is it for people to do business with you?
• Deep sell, not hard sell. Educate your customers.
• Don’t confuse effort with production.
• Good sellers are evangelists for their product or service.
• Circumstances should not dictate principles.
• Everything starts with what you tell yourself.
• You are your own biggest problem – get out of your way.
• You don’t learn anything until you are driven to your knees – failure and tough times are the greatest teacher.
• Tough times are great for good people.
• Practice courageous honesty. Tell the truth even when it’s hard.
• Have a quiet determination to do the things that need to get done.