The other night I was watching TV with my family when one of my boys asked me a homework question I couldn’t answer. We all thought it was pretty cool when SIRI, the voice activated assistant on the IPhone 4S, was able to successfully provide the answer. It was only a few minutes later when an ad for a new Samsung TV came on. The new TV featured the ability to recognize voice commands being given by a young boy in the commercial. Suddenly a strange thought hit me; we are becoming a society that increasingly talks to our machines but not to each other.
It seems almost daily that I talk to a sales manager who laments that it is getting harder to get sales people to pick up the phone. Companies with an 80/20 ratio of e-mail or text to in person or on the phone communication are not uncommon. What is driving that?
In all fairness I think our customers are driving a great deal of it. E-mail is a medium of communication where busy executives and professionals can communicate at their convenience and not the convenience of others. It is much more efficient to get things done by e-mail and the added benefit is busy professionals have a paper trail that is easily added to the CRM system.
I would propose that we still use the convenience of e-mail but use it as a method to schedule calls at mutually convenient times versus using e-mail as a SUBSTITUTE for in-person contact. Step away from the machine and pick up the phone. Better yet, get in a car and meet in person!
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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April 10, 2012
Short URL better sales, better selling, Business, Business Growth, Business skills, close more sales, Customer Loyalty, Customer Relationships, customer service training, Effective Presentations, Hiring For Sales, improved sales, Leadership, leadership ideas, Motivation, Overcoming Objections, poor sales, professional sales training, professional training, Sales, sales advice, Sales Assessments, sales development, sales effectiveness, Sales Force Management, sales help, sales ideas, Sales Leadership, Sales Leads, Sales Management, sales management training, sales mentor, Sales Performance, Sales Professionals, Sales Prospecting, Sales Skills, sales success, Sales Team, Sales Training, Selling, selling skills Building Company Morale, building sales force morale, Business, Business Presentations, customers, Effective Presentations, positive energy, Sales, Sales and Leadership Insights, sales growth, Sales Management, Sales Presentations, Uncategorized
One of my favorite movies featuring selling as a central theme is the Al Pacino film “Glenngary Glen Ross” based upon the David Mamet play of the same name. There is a well-known scene where Alec Baldwin’s sales manager character defines the “ABC’s of Selling” as “Always Be Closing.” I love the speech but the concept is flawed. Whether you’re selling real estate like the characters in the film or highly complex aircraft sealant, continually pressuring buyers to commit is a sales myth because it absolutely doesn’t work!
Today’s customer is not only more sophisticated in their ability to research buying options online but much less tolerant of high gimmick, high pressure tactics. The time to ask for the order is not “all the time” but rather at the “right time.” Lee Iacocca is commonly credited with the saying that “75% of people won’t buy unless asked and 50% of sellers don’t ask.” Without a doubt it is still critically important to ask for the business but not until you truly understand what the customer needs to buy.
If you are selling the previously referenced aircraft sealant you might be thinking “the customer needs sealant for the fuel carrying wings, I KNOW what they need to buy. I just need to convince them to buy it from me!” While it may be true that they are PURCHASING sealant they are actually BUYING increased safety, improved fuel economy, production savings, or any number of unique, application specific benefits that may be derived through the purchase of the sealant.
Consultative sellers leverage the knowledge that you can only understand the “needs behind the needs” through a disciplined exploratory process and that closing is a mere formality once you understand how your products or services create unique value to each individual customer.
The secret to sales success is not to buy into the sales myth that if you are always closing you will eventually wear the customer down and get the business. More than likely you will just irritate people and then lose the business to the consultative sales professional that only had to ask once at exactly the right time. The secret to sales success is to understand what your customer is really buying and here’s a hint; it ISNT what your selling!
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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April 2, 2012
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We are all familiar with the term “double edged sword.” Webster’s Dictionary defines that idiom as “something that has, or can have, favorable or unfavorable consequences.” That is exactly the “double edged” outcomes that apply to customer’s problems.
Have you ever had a problem with something you purchased that was handled so effectively it caused you to become an advocate for the company you were dealing with? Most of us have had an experience like that and when you examine the root of what caused you to feel that way seldom will you find that it was the resolution itself that engendered those feelings. More often than not it is HOW the resolution was reached that drove your feeling of loyalty that arose from what began as a problem.
We work with a client that honors such moments of customer service heroism with something they call an Extra Miler Award. It is a process of recognition that they consistently employ that has resulted in a culture of fanatic devotion to outstanding customer service. They don’t just look to convert problems to opportunities but they try to convert just ORDINARY customer service moments into EXTRAORDINARY moments of customer delight. It isn’t easy to stay committed to such an initiative but I have never spent a single day with that customer where they didn’t award at least 5 or 6 Extra Milers, some of which would almost bring you to tears.
Depending on the research you look at most of us accept that bad news travels at least 8 to 10 times faster than good news. While that may be true good news still travels and the increased sales opportunity that arises out of that good news traveling can have a huge impact on your business. What is the primary reason for that impact? The answer is simple; word of mouth is now far more powerful than advertising for determining how we purchase. An astounding 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are actually links to user generated content! If you own a business today your past customers may be impacting future sales far more than advertising, marketing, or sales initiatives combined! There are over 200 million bloggers and 34% of them post opinions about products or brands. We live in a world where 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14% trust advertising. In the future we may not search for products and services; they will find us through social media.
With the emergence of social media as a growing part of our daily lives we
can no longer afford to just DEAL with customer problems. Strike that term from your company’s language. It is imperative that we treat every customer interaction as a golden opportunity, especially the ones that begin as a problem. It is not something you can fake or only do some of the time. Customers will see through that. Your employees need to be inspired, empowered, and publically recognized for great customer service in order to truly unleash the power of the customer as an evangelist.
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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March 15, 2012
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