salespodder: sales blog with musings and tips from inside sales

I just came across this story, used by ‘consultants’ to justify their prices, when such rates are seen as exorbitant by buyers and much coughing and spluttering ensues.

You can dress this up in all sorts of ways to suit your trade, but in essence it goes something like this:

A vital machine stops working.  Output grinds to a standstill.  The boss calls someone in to fix it.  They arrive, an air of panic engulfs the room.  The fixer walks around the machine for a while, does various checking of gauges and valves.  Then they take a hammer, and lightly tap the machine in a certain place.  The machine humms back into life.

So far so good.  The boss asks for the bill.  The fixer scribbles a note.  The boss goes apoplectic.  “$1,000 - for what?”  So the fixer takes the bill and writes an itemised one out too:

hitting with hammer - $5
knowing where to hit - $995

And the job’s a good’un!

update: I’ve also discovered a similar tale concerning an ageing Picasso.  Apparently he was once asked how he felt about a 45-second doodle he’d just scribbled could be worth millions.  His response was simple.  It hadn’t taken him a mere 45 seconds.  It was, in fact, 82 years in the making.

I’ve always been interested in retailing as a profession.  I could never understand as a nipper suffering drab, uninviting and unhelpful Brummie high streets in my formative years how come everyone seemed so inept.  Then the landscape began to change.  Anita Roddick (The Body Shop), George Davies (Next) and Sophie Mirman (Sock Shop) became feted as stars.  I tried to study a module on it at Uni, but me and my pal Jugsy were the only two to select it, so it went no further.  And to compound the disappointment, my other mates at the time told me not to worry about it, as people in retail earned peanuts anyway.  Try telling that to Philip Green.

So it was with delight I came across yet another biz reality tv show, on BBC with retail guru Mary Portas hosting Mary Queen Of Shops.  At first I thought it might be in the same vein as Gordon Ramsay’s similar gig, where he went in to dismally failing ‘restaurants’ and turned them around.  That was more an instrument in the Cult of Ramsay, rather than real businesses education clearly, as all he ever seemed to say was (expletive-laden naturally) that they need a lick of paint and only serve what customers buy.  Although human misery and conflict made for decent telly.

Mary was refreshingly more insightful, and gleefully for the producers, just as bolshie when required.  I keep finding myself going back to some of the things she said as she rescued a dying Doncaster ‘fashion’ store, to see how I can improve my pitching through her ideas.

Draw them in to everything - No-one ever went to the back of their shop, so she painted it bright pink which, against the comparison of the other white walls, meant people were drawn towards the back, so they passed and saw everything available.  I loved this as my box of tricks has several dozens applications, so I must resolve to ensure I get to expose the whole glitter-bag.

Show things as they are meant to be used - Rather than having rows upon rows of faceless hangers, she introduced several dummies to put up combinations of clothes so people could see them how they could be worn.  I myself could do this way better by simply having print-outs with me.  I used to do this years ago selling software and can’t believe I’ve got out the habit.  Tsk.

It’s all in a name - It’s often the case that you can spend far too much time thinking about a name.  Yet here was a cracking example of how to do something right.  The shop was originally called ‘homeboy’.  Just think of what that conjures up in your mind.  We’re in a Yorkshire town, with more girls clothes than boys on offer.  Mary got it changed.  “Seen” was a brilliant new name.  This might not apply to most selling issues, but a great pointer if you need to be creative.

Offer no end of ideas - What a terrific idea to have a blackboard where the latest celeb rags had pages ripped out and the look of a famous person was shown in front of it with real clothes to buy then and there.  A total winner, and one that captures the “tribe of Beckham” beautifully, so Mary exclaimed.  I am happy I use plenty of current success examples in my pitch - what a revelation to see the concept here work so well.

….and Mary created succes, as sales rose by four-figure amounts on both mans and womans floors.

Another insight from the habits of sport stars, courtesy of a pal of mine that is one of a veritable cider farm of Bristol City footie supporters I know.  On their dressing room wall were plastered these ten points on a day-glo green piece of paper, under the heading “Champions”:

Togetherness
Respect
Hard Work
Discipline
Desire
Mental Toughness
Preparation
Communication
Fun
Confidence

Manager Gary Johnson led them to promotion this season, so the list must have something in it!

I travelled by train for a couple of hours the other day, and took with me one of those wildly expensive and often turgid Harvard Business Reviews.  They also tend to be off-puttingly expensive for little return, so I was half-expecting to lose out on the deal.

A couple of articles though did appeal to me.  This first (by a pair called Zook and Allen) claimed to prevent you from wasting three-quarters of your expansion energies.  Not an unattractive headline.  Their theory goes that there are six proven avenues that create growth.  75% of growth initiatives fail as they do not follow any of them.  How many can apply to how a salesrep wants to grow their patch, and spank those quotas?

1. sell along the ‘value chain’, understand what happens before and after your involved and sell something to them too
2. develop new products/services into existing target market
3. find new distribution channels, use other people selling into your target market
4. enter new geographies
5. address new segments through modified products or technologies
6. attack ‘white space’, which means create something brand new into a hitherto unapproached market

Sitting in a prospect reception earlier I thumbed through a broadsheet business section.  It’s always struck me as strange that the “Qualities” do not leverage their journalism more.  Articles in these sections are pretty much one of three types:  fresh company news, economic comment/analysis, or general business-life advice.

It is this third category they could do more with.  Y’know the thing?  An interview with a famous industrialist, a ‘how-to’ guide on a business topic, taking advantage of a trend, the list goes on.  They all lend themselves sweetly to being both educational and entertaining, so why not bunch them all together once a month and put out a magazine based on them.  Perfect - they’d make a right few quid, and the Observer’s done it with their Sunday Monthlies successfully for ages now…..

Anyhow, two such pieces by/about successful female networkers caught my mind.  The first was on how to network effectively.  Among the many friendly kicks up the backside provided is that “you should never sit next to anyone you know at a networking event”.  The second toolkit, came from Carole Stone, famous for having 17,000 friends.  This included how to ensure contacts became re-contact-able, which is interesting as how many people do you meet, yet never really pave the way for bumping into and gaining mutual benefit from again?  I for one am pretty useless at keeping in touch and have certainly found it hard to keep track of who’s bought from me in the past, let alone those that didn’t!

What a winner these are.  I got reminded of them today when a prospect left me a message on my voice mail.  Called Kevin, and MD of a £30m+ sales progressive lighting company, he mentioned he hoped to gain an “amber light” off his Chief Exec upon returning from America.

I chuckled when I heard this, and even sent him an email telling him so.  The reason being I really should use this tactic more often myself.  Talking traffic lights is simply a terrific qualification tool when seeking to pin down progress with a prospect.

The first time I came across it was from my good pal Steve Cullen.  A winner of a salesguy, I remember one cold Winter’s day being at a heating-less place near the Yorkshire moors (long story) in the 90s doing a jig for him around an unfurnished wooden-floored room, as he called me up to say he’d won a £25m outsourcing deal for PWC’s helpdesk.

We discussed selling a lot in those days, and one time, he encountered a sticky prospect that wouldn’t commit to anything at the end of meetings.  So out of frustration, Steve simply suggested that they list all outstanding issues on a flip-chart.  Then he said something along the lines of, “Right, think of which of these are essential to the project, without which nothing can happen.  Let’s give them a red traffic light, as they can stop the show.  Anything that can stay as it is now and won’t effect things can have a green one, and anything in between, amber”.  And with that he finally gained progress.  Genius.

I’ve glanced an eye at the Sky reality show Badger or Bust a few times now.  I continue to be delighted someone is allowed to promote all things sales on prime time telly.  My lament remains the requisite depth is sacrificed for human misery and conflict and a ’selling style’ that should not be replicated.  Emergent trends are obvious.  Here’s the recipe for sales aid recipient; weak to the point of absent leadership, product-orientated sellers, no targets whatsoever, zero management tools evident and clearly combustable relationships heating.

As reality tv, I like it.  As a sales training crusade, it’s unfortunately lightweight.  But that’s not to dismiss the tips you can glean, as they do happily exist.

A couple of rounds ago, how to demo a house for renting was tackled with aplomb by the presenter.  Particularly encouraging were the distractions that turned nagging negatives into pleasant positives, such as opening a small window to prove quietness outside and focusing on natural breeze in a pokey kitchen.  Each feature had an advantage drummed home, although this was rarely taken further to a true benefit, but nonetheless a good show.

The trouble with the main protagonist, the patently driven eponymous sales animal, is that you cannot imagine her ever actually hitting her numbers.  Her listening skills are sparse, she sells by dominating conversations, and if it is true people buy from people then her questionable ability to establish rapport must surely ultimately prevent long-haul success.  And yet for all these possible shortcomings, occasional gems sparkle. 

A struggling wholesaler/distributor wanted to sell more of a foldable bike in the most recent episode.  One could be yours for £150.  This was more suited to a marketing fly-on-the-wall really, the viral, consumer retail, competitor piggy-backing, gift market and below the line opportunities being overall more relevant.  The renewed efforts sold 83 bikes in a week.  Here’s a couple of good reasons why:

• know your usp and ram it home - “this is the world’s lightest and smallest bike” - and make sure it exploits a market gap/opportunity
• “attitude ability attendance” - a Badger mantra to determine whether you’ll succeed
• understand your customer’s customers - too often I encouter wholesale reps that never speak to end-users, so the Chiswick High Road excursion was a worthwhile, low risk task aimed at garnering leads from randomly accosted members of the public and sharpening those all important skills for engaging the middlemen
• know your true market - Britain’s 750 independent bike retailers are the obvious first call, yet the fact major chain Evans declined to stock was evidence broadene horizons needed consideration; Hamleys (toys) and Currys digital (gadgets) were vital suspects

I also liked the game with two teams putting bike up blindfold in relay, needing communication skills to win.

Political anoraks will no doubt be into the annual meeting between the world’s self-styled 7 most important leaders and Russia, currently taking place this year in Germany.  The British Fourth Estate have been giving it blanket coverage, what with climate change policy vital and Putin playing up.  One such paper, The Independent, have taken to creating a new style of front page.  Often it doesn’t work, particularly when the message is (as too often is) a downbeat, miserable one.  Yet Wednesday 6 June 2007 worked a treat.

And I’m not talking about its omnipresent Blair-as-Bush-poodle crusade.  It’s more the fact (from our sales perspectives, you understand!) that it is a stunning example of what sales guru Tom Hopkins calls the ‘Ben Franklin Close’ in action.

When trying to persuade people to your way of thinking, write all the points to back up your argument, talking with them and prompting all the way, on the one side - in The Indy’s case on the left - then for the other side, ask them what goes on the opposing view’s column and stay resolutely silent.  It’s a belter and if you do it properly, then it’ll have the same impact as this front pager.

The best part of my day-job (after knowing someone’s buying from me to make their lot a happier one!) is that I get to speak to sales people about what they do and how they think.  Wednesday saw an introduction to a Welshman called Martin, seeking how his ten-strong team could work outside the box to create and manage opportunities better than the nine other major players in his industry.

Several ways of thinking cropped up in our discussions, I’ll first isolate one new angle on understanding what’s going on that he uses, which he called his sales wheel of influence.  Imagine you’re in front of a flip chart or a blank piece of paper.  Draw a circle in the middle.  This is the hub of the wheel.  In it goes the personal name of the Decision Maker, Economic Buyer, or whatever syntax you use to describe the “M-A-N”.

Then out from the hub, draw the spokes.  As many as there are people who can influence the cash provider, order signer.  So as an example, in a circle in the middle goes the name of the CEO, and he has 5 influencers, so you draw 5 spokes with the names of the guys in the roles of top accountant, operations guy, janitor, and so on.

So now you have a circle with a name in, and five lines from it all with names at the end.  What you have to be able to do is document everything you’ve asked them to do, and they’ve asked you for, next to their names.

It’s in understanding the relevance and outcome of such requests that’ll determine what more needs to be done to secure success.

Heard this wonderful expression from a seller inside a customer of mine that’d been there for 20+ years.  The “shout down the corridor” is where you propose something, and you leave thinking the deal is as good as done.  Afterwards, your contact asks their boss whether the money can be spent, and the resounding response is a “no!”.  You can probably hear it yourself in your ‘mind’s ear’… “boss, can we spend a few grand on this and that…?”  Ouch.

This situation is a constant hassle for people selling to one person who then must go to someone else for authority.  Often, you may not even realise further permission is required.  As solution-orientated sales people, we are constantly taught that you must get to the “real” decision maker, yet how do you prepare your contact to tee this up?

The solution the fella I spoke with has used for years is simply this.  He gets his initial contacts to say to their boss “had this fella in from [such and such] the other day and it looks like we can earn a few bob out of it…..”  There’s no mention of spending whatever amount of cash, and a further meeting more often than not results.