SALES QUOTE
“When the time to perform arrives, the time to prepare is passed."
–Howard Putnam, former CEO Southwest Airlines and Braniff Airlines, commenting on his successful transfer of Braniff airlines out of bankruptcy without any lawsuits.
For Salespeople…
I recently heard Putnam speak. His story of leaving the growing Southwest Airlines for the challenge of turning Braniff Airlines around is a compelling one. He left a stellar position only to find out they misled him about the cash on hand. There was less than 30 days before the money would run out. Putnam worked miracles, but Braniff was doomed. He did navigate Braniff through bankruptcy and miraculously there were no lawsuits as a result of his leadership. What prepared him for leading a sinking airline? As he looked back, he realized all the things he had done in business prepared him. Are you taking risks to try new strategies? Are you continuously learning? You may not be faced with a severe cash flow in your business (and then again in today’s economy, you just might be). The time to prepare when a crisis is at hand is long passed. Now’s the time to get ready for your sales challenges of the future. Are you ready?
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THE SELLING IDEAS FOR THE MONTH
The Rodney Dangerfield of Business
If Rodney Dangerfield were in business he would be in sales. Why? He didn’t get any respect. Unfortunately, many people think of salespeople the same way. If you want to earn some respect in the business world, pick a few of these strategies and implement them.
1. Invite operations people to your next sales meeting. You may be thinking, what would operations people have to contribute to a sales meeting? That’s not the point. Salespeople cannot do their jobs without the help of a strong operations department. Joe Girard, the World’s Greatest Salesperson as cited by the Guinness Book of World Records, invited operations staff to an annual barbeque to say thanks. Saying thanks is only one of the benefits of having operations people at your sales meetings. Operations people get to see how hard salespeople work at sales meetings when they develop future growth plans, define strengths over competition, and improve selling skills. Some operations people can’t believe how hard salespeople work. They thought salespeople dazzle customers with their gift of gab, entertain at restaurants and play a lot of golf. They are amazed that it takes more to sell than a silver tongue, a fork and a golf club. They also find new respect for the salespeople they support.
2. Stay away from actions that detract from your credibility. Have you ever heard of the phrase “shoot yourself in the foot?" I heard one salesperson describe her selling as she participated on a panel discussion at a conference. She sold speaker services for a bureau. She said that some speakers offer incentives like Ipods and vacation getaways to her to get preferential representation. She gleefully announced, “Those prizes get my attention!” I couldn’t believe my ears. I leaned over to the person next to me and asked, “Did I just hear her say that she can be bribed?” The response? “That’s what it sounds like to me.” She didn’t earn any respect with her actions.
3. Get rid of lazy pricing. Some companies price based on a fixed percent over costs to produce. Why should you be so limited if you have pricing authority? If your products are bringing more value to your customers, you can and should charge more. That of course means you have to do some work to find out what your products are doing for your customers to impact their business. If your products are able to significantly increase customer revenues, do you think you should get paid for contributing to your customers’ profits? You should. Another pricing consideration is if you are able to cut the costs of producing your products. If you do, some people think they should cut costs to their customers. Not so fast. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If competition is not pressing you to do this, why initiate your own profit decline?
4. Be honest with your pricing. Real selling starts when you create a customer for the long term, not the short term. It’s very easy to have a short-term customer. Here’s how. You lower the price so much that you don’t make any money. Service suffers and then you quickly lose that customer. Before you price a piece of business, determine how much service will be required. Be honest with yourself. The more customized service you offer, the more it’s going to cost you. Build in appropriate margins so you can serve this customer the way that will produce a satisfied customer and you can make money. Nothing loses respect faster than over promising and under delivering. When you give a low price just to get the business, it won’t be long before you will sound like Rodney complaining.
Even though Rodney Dangerfield claimed he got no respect, he earned enormous respect—and laughs—from his fans as well as from other comics. Salespeople can and should earn their customers’ respect. And that’s no joke.
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ACTION ITEMS
1. What department can you reach out to and include in your next sales meeting?
2. Look at your products and see which you can price based on value.
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When we size up people, we notice everything from their facial expression to their footwear. We sum up a person and form our opinion of them in less than 30 seconds. The same is true for online. According to BBC News, researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a Web page. Also, first impressions have a lasting impact.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. Click on the photo to find out more!
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