Sales Autopsy!

Tough time. The Feds just dropped rates another 1/4 point and people are upset (as reflected in the stock market) that rates didn’t drop more. In today’s thought, we’ll tie a mortgage story into a lesson on competition…

Funny thing (well, not really funny to those involved) is that most companies never know why or to whom they lose business.

When designing a sales training program a few years back, I was interviewing the board of a mortgage company (when it was good to be in that business). I asked who their top competitors were.

“Too many, not worth attending too.” I was told.

Really, you asked me to interview top reps. I did and they all lost business recently, but didn’t know which company beat them out. They also didn’t know why. How do you decide strategy without knowing who buyers are choosing? Are prospects abandoning you based on rates? Turnaround time? Perhaps how ugly your reps’ ties are?

Silence.

“Okay, maybe we should start gathering that data.”

Everyone in every business should have a clear picture of their competition.

You should have their literature, rates, and ideally know how they sell (this can be done, plenty of prospects will tell you exactly what reps tell them).

It might be too late for many mortgage companies, but it’s never to late to pre-empt the marketing and sales strategies of people who live to take food off your plate.

See, analyzing ahead of time is much more fun and much less expensive than analyzing later, over dead sales.

Gather competitive data. Do it thoroughly. Do it today.

Traditional beliefs about bee colonies stated that only queen bees can supply eggs that produce new queen bees.

In the ultimate overthrow of the monarchy, worker bees have been observed sneaking their eggs into the colony so their offspring will be raised as royalty, according to new research by Lyndon Jordan of the University of Sydney, Australia.

(complete article)
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/30/bees-colony-
behavior.html?dcitc=w01-101-ae-0002

Wow, the ultimate image of teamwork in nature has always been the bee - Striving to build the hive together, strong work ethic, dying for their mates. This new research reveals that insects can go bad, much like selfish humans.

We all want the limelight, to be #1! We want to be queen or king for a day. We want to leave a legacy of outstanding earnings, so the sales world can cry out, “look at that production!”

And, frankly, at times all of us are top performers. We land a great sale and feel like the master of our universe, our hive.

But true top performers are consistent. They buzz about producing steady growth. Would-be queens and kings live in the hive’s penthouse for short periods of time, perhaps only 24 hours at a time (more like a common house fly, than the regal honeybee).

Consistent steady growth, persistent steady contact with your market and fragrant steady impressions on your corporate family are the keys to true, perpetual sales royalty.

Who are you? Today’s pretender or tomorrow’s ruler of the hive?

Japanese adults push their children to save more, but few are buying the piggy bank introduced by the TOMY Co. in November, because, if not fed with savings for a period of time, the bank just explodes, scattering the contents. [Agence France-Presse, 11-8-07]

Budgeting and money management is NEVER addressed in sales training. It is never taught by companies who invest bankloads of cash to train and inspire a sales force. And why not?

If you’re an entrepreneur or sales manager, wouldn’t you like your team to have better control of their finances?

Every smart business executive should bring someone in - to teach basic money and credit management strategies. That would be a big benefit to employees, sales reps, who deal with money daily.

Give them (or yourself, if you’re a rep who needs this) a healthy perspective on handling their own finances, before they even begin to ask prospects for funds.

Saving some money is like making some more. And you can take that advice to the bank.

December 1st was AIDs Awareness Day.

While attending services at mega-church Willow Creek I saw an interview with a woman who works in Malawi, Africa - focusing on the AIDs crisis.

Imagine this in your back yard…

1 million people infected with the disease.

20% chance that a child won’t reach 5 years of age.

Serious deforestation because of the constant, overwhelming need for lumber - to build coffins.

The AIDs worker said the most serious problem, however, was “poverty of vision.” The people are unable to see that things can be better. So they resign themselves to their terrible fate. And despair reins.

Even in our wealthy country, we can see plenty of “poverty of vision.”

How about you?

Are you resigned to mediocrity as a salesperson?

Or do you believe, can you see, do you like the sound of the idea that things can be better?

This is a simple decision, this poverty of vision. You either buy into it or reject it.

What will you do, now that we’ve identified a stumbling block on your path to success?

Bahadur Chand Gupta bought an old Airbus 300 and now offers weekly sessions in Delhi in which any of the 1 billion Indians who have never flown before can sit on a genuine (though disabled) airliner, listen to pilot announcements (”We are about to begin our descent into Delhi”), and be served by flight attendants. Said one customer (who paid the equivalent of about $4), “I see planes passing all day long over my roof. I had to try out the experience.” [The Times (London), 9-30-07]

There are a couple ways this “try before you buy” approach works in sales.

One is the old school “puppy dog” close. Take the dog home from the pet store. Let the kids play with it for a week. If they don’t like it, bring it back. The pet is never returned.

The car business used to use this, too. Take the vehicle home for a few days, try it out. After the prospect shows his friends, family and neighbors, his new ride, how likely will it be that he or she returns the vehicle?

Find ways to let your buyer have a temporary experience with your product or service. You can get them hooked on a permanent relationship that way.

Another way this tactic is useful is cracking large corporate accounts with baby buys. Get the potential client to nibble at a small, but solid sale. It turns you from being an outsider knocking on the door (or phone) into a existing vendor. That’s super smart selling. Jim Holden reveals some details on how to pull this off in his great book, Power Base Selling. You should own it.

Now you have a couple ways to get prospect to fly with you. When will you use them?

A common theme that continues to run through my writing and speaking is to be grateful.

So this was the weekend to focus on family and friends. I called a lot of friends who live far away, just to leave a message that I’m blessed by our relationship.

It’s not too late, it’s never to late to do this anyway, any day.

Who helped you get where you are today? Thank ‘em.

Who is supporting you now toward success? Thank ‘em.

Who is assisting you to be a better person, family member, friend? Thank ‘em.

Make a list. By investing energy on those who build you up, you’ll forget about the turkeys that slow you down.

That makes for a great Thanksgiving.

In August, entomologists found a spider web in a state park about 45 miles east of Dallas, covering trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch. The originally white web had turned brownish because “millions” of mosquitoes had been trapped in it. [Dallas Morning News-AP, 8-30-07]

200 yards! That’s a concentrated collection of rewards for someone on the hunt.

How well do you focus, do you key in on your exact target audience?

We are so often distracted by prospects everywhere (the grass is greener syndrome). When, in fact, staying close to home is a cheaper and easier way to build your business.

Cast a wide web in your own backyard and you’ll gather perfect prospects that will feed you well.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/06/
sparrow-migration.html?dcitc=w01-101-ae-0003

Nov. 6, 2007 – Tiny songbirds caught midway through their annual migration and shipped three thousand kilometers away could figure out which way to fly to reach their winter nesting grounds, a study released Monday found.

Researchers trapped 30 white-crowned sparrows as they made their annual migration from breeding grounds in Alaska to winter nesting sites in the southwestern United States and Mexico.

These birds were taken 2,200 miles off course and released. They got right back on track. This included mature sparrows as well as young who had never made the migration!

How well do you keep your selling on track?

How well do you know right where you are and exactly where you have to go?

Great sales pros have fantastic focus. They let nothing keep them from their ultimate destination, that trip to the bank.

So when distractions arise (and they will) and whether they are minor or major interruptions, know what your goal is and head right back, in the right direction, and you’ll land safe and sound in the nest of success.

Coast Guard officials said they rescued Louis Pasquale, 35, near Freeport, N.Y., in September as he was towing his disabled 35-foot fishing boat back to port 20 miles away by dragging it behind an inflatable boat he was paddling against the current. (He had covered about 100 yards in three hours.) [Newsday, 9-20-07]

Perhaps the most common theme you’ll see swimming through my writing is this;

What activities are you engaging in that are detrimental to your selling health?

Ruthlessly, relentlessly, VICIOUSLY remove - from your sales day - anything which does not lead directly to closed business.

That’s smart, that’s good decision-making, that’s not rowing against the tide.

You’ll spend more time fishing and landing those elusive, big fat greenbacks.

As several sightings were made around Washington, D.C., of dragonfly-looking bugs hovering in the air at political events, government agencies were denying that they had released any tiny surveillance robots, according to an October Washington Post investigation. “I look up and I’m like, ‘What the hell is that?’” asked a college student at an antiwar rally in Washington. “They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But … those are not insects.” Several agencies and private entities admitted to the Post that they were trying to develop such devices, but no one took credit for having them in the air yet. [Washington Post, 10-9-07]

So science turns its back on fiction and flies into reality. Here’s your thought, sales pro;

What are you doing to monitor your prospects? To monitor your clients and customers as well?

You can spy on both current and future buyers by subscribing to their email newsletters. And how about just connecting with these people with a phone call. No “just checking to see how you’re doing” stuff. Have a specific reason.

I called a Southwest Airlines marketing exec to see how his sales training initiative was going (I made the short list, but was too expensive for them). My reason to call; all the airline bankruptcies. This was not a concern of Southwest’s.

The opening statement was, “So, with all the financial troubles hitting your industry, does your competition hate your guts?”

So manage existing relationships by connecting and fishing professionally for information when you can. For those cold calls, those potential buyers, subscribe to their company ezine (everyone has one now) and get the inside scoop on where they’re growing and what they might be struggling with.

I (and you should also) have several web-based email addresses where I can anonymously subscribe to potential buyers’ information AS WELL AS MY COMPETITORS.

You can be fly unobtrusively through the lives of people who can feed your family, by being smarter than your competition. Get in the air and gather data today.