The Role Of Questions In Great Listening

In some traditional sales training programs they teach you, “Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to”. If your goal is to goad and manipulate the customer into a sale this is probably good advice. If your goal is to fully understand, find a legitimate fit, and serve your customer it’s very bad advice.

Some trainers also encourage what they call “nail down questioning”. These questions are really statements followed up with, “isn’t it”, “doesn’t it”, and other tags at the end of the statement. They are designed to get agreement and channel a customer in a pre-determined direction rather explore what the customer really wants and needs. I discourage both of these strategies. They violate the basic principle of the Golden Rule… “Sell to others how you want to be sold to”.

There are a number of good ideas out there on the role of questions in the sales process. Miller-Heiman’s Conceptual Selling may again be my favorite. Spin Selling by Neil Rackham is good as well. Let me offer the N.E.E.D.S. Question System here. It’s simple, uses open ended questions that encourage the customer to expound, and it works for a lot of industries.

Now - What are you doing now? What vendor do you currently use?

Experience - How is that going? What has your experience been?

Enjoy - Are there things you’ve enjoyed? What has worked or gone well?

Different - Are there changes you would like to make? We’re there things to improve?

Same - What would you like to see stay the same?


Whether you use these questions, someone else’s, or work out your own, I do encourage you to walk into every sales interview with a planned set of questions. I also encourage you to drill deeper. Use phrases like “Say more about that” or “How do you mean?” that encourage greater reflection and understanding.

Golden Silence

One of my all-time favorite books on selling is Conceptual Selling by Robert B. Miller, Stephen E. Heiman, and Tad Tuleja. Rarely do I read a book on this topic that completely resonates with my spirit. I cannot think of a single comment in this book I disagree with. The sales training that goes with it is used by Service Greats like Hewlett-Packard, Coca-Cola, Hertz Rent-A-Car, Marriott Corporation, and many others.

It’s hard to pick out a favorite topic or passage they expound on but the chapter on Creating Positive Information Flow has a tremendous amount of material that coordinates with this weeks series of posts. In this section, Miller and Heiman talk about Golden Silence, referring to their insistence that great sales people need to pause repeatedly for 3-4 seconds at two different points in the sales process. The first point is after you ask a question. The second is after a customer responds.

The first pause, referred to as Golden Silence I, gives the customer a chance to think about the question you’ve just asked. More than anything else this insures that you receive much more complete and solid information.

The second pause, referred to as Golden Silence II, gives you, the Servant Salesperson a much better chance of understanding what the customer just said. The result of using both Golden Silence I and II is a more leisurely, thoughtful, and far more productive flow of information.

They don’t suggest carrying a stop watch and they recognize that each sales conversation will have it’s own rhythm and pace that needs to be allowed for. It’s not a rigid rule and you’d probably apply it slightly differently in the hyper paced urban areas like New York City than you would the hills of Tennessee.

They also acknowledge the two Golden Silences will probably be uncomfortable at first for most salespeople. We are often so used to our fast talking ways that any attempt to slow down may seem unnatural. If it’s over used, they suggest it can also lead to “Leaden Silence” but it’s a rare salesperson who will fall into this trap.

Give this strategy a try for a month. I’m convinced that it will vastly enhance the Servant Selling results for most salespeople.

The First Duty Of Love Is To Listen

Theologian Paul Tilliach said, “The first duty of love is to listen”. It’s also the first duty of leadership and the first duty of selling… especially servant selling. It’s also the last thing sales people are noted for and probably the last thing the typical sales manager hires for. Great business organizations are always great at listening to the customer and that intention must start at the top if the organization is to maximize it’s success in the marketplace. It is always amazing to me when I run across a CEO that has never spent time with the customer.

Here is a short list of some of the ways businesses can began to listen:

Customer Surveys… There are many ways to conduct a survey.
Customer Follow Up
Community Surveys
Customer Contact
Customer Contact Reports
Customer Councils
Focus Groups
Customer Interviews
Email
Test Marketing
Inspections
Ombudsmen
Complaint Tracking System
800 Numbers
Suggestion Boxes and Forms
Scheduled visits to stores and programs
Drop Bys
Sales Person Feed Back


And of course listening is almost meaningless if you don’t take corrective action on what you learn. If you doubt this ask your spouse.

Listening For Sales People

The pictographic languages have some advantage on those that use letters to represent a sound. A great example is the Chinese character for listening. Built into the pictographic word are smaller representations or pictures of the components inherent in doing this activity well. The character itself is almost a mini workshop on the meaning of the word.

Good listening is hard work. It may be especially hard for salespeople because they are often hired for their ability to talk instead of their ability to communicate. Don’t run by that last sentence too fast. At best, talking is only half of communicating and generally not the most important half.

What makes for great listening? It’s more than just not talking although that’s a great start.

Attention - One component of great listening is attention. I like the phrase “rapt” attention. My Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary defines rapt as follows: Completely Engrossed involved in, fascinated by, or concentrating on something to the exclusion of everything else. Inclusive in the Chinese character is undivided attention.

Accepting - Another component is accepting. Because as sales people, we often hallucinate that our job in front of a customer is to convince them regardless of need or desire, we are not always very accepting of what they say. Listening is NOT just waiting for your turn to talk. Our job is to find a wonderful fit that serves the customer, if one in fact exists. Part of this is listening and accepting it when a customer tells you there is no fit. This allows you to move on together in search of another approach that may be the perfect fit.

Affirming - Affirming moves beyond accepting. It is not necessarily agreeing but more like agreeing that the customer has a valid view point that they have every right to have. Affirming is respecting. It is holding the customer and their view point in high esteem even when it differs from your own.

Active - Great listening is always active and interactive. It involves eye contact, posture, body language, and more. It involves nods and short verbal expressions that communicate you are picking up what they are laying down. Or conversely, it may involve probing when you are not getting it. Great listening involves asking great follow up questions and drilling down.

Listening is a skill that can be developed. But it also must be continually cultivated with focused intention. I consider myself a very good listener but I’m only as good as my last conversation. I’m not always good. With the addition of a Blackberry to my technological repertoire I sometimes find it difficult to as the song says, “Love The One You’re With”. I’m learning to shut the Blackberry off at critical moments so I can be fully present with a customer, family member, or significant other. The conundrum is that Blackberry’s and cell phones allow us to be accessible to the people we love almost 24/7. And accessibility is an important part of love. Those that I love the most, I give the most access. When mom calls I pick up the phone. When a close friend calls I drop everything and answer. But wisdom says that sometimes I have to shut off the access to be fully present with the one that sits in front of me.

Love and "The Emperor With No Clothes"

I just woke up and found myself like many mornings at a hotel in Some City, USA. Today, I’m far from my California home in the beautiful downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee Marriott. I’m here to teach a time management module to a group of excited sales representatives. It’s fitting that the idea for today’s post comes from “The Spirit To Serve” written by J.W. Marriott, Jr. and Kathi Ann Brown.

The story serves two purposes. First, it speaks to the importance of loving your boss enough to tell them the truth. I once interviewed for a sales management position in Orlando, Florida. I was paired up with Wade Smith, who would go on to be my peer-mentor in the organization the first year. I had a number of questions for Wade in Orlando and through out the year, but one I remember like it was yesterday. I asked him, “In this organization, with this set of bosses, how do I go about telling them in effect ‘you’re standing buck naked in the middle of main street’”. In other words, how do I tell the emperor he has no clothes. Wade looked at me dead in the eye and spoke in his characteristic deep, soft, slow, southern drawl, “veeery caaarefully”.

Many organizations are marked by lack of candor, and are much weaker for it. Henry David Thoreau said, “It takes two to speak the truth– one to speak, and the other to hear”.

Here’s the story:

Many years ago, a group of Marriott executives was waiting in our boardroom to update me on a hotel project I was particularly excited about. Senior-level representatives from all the key functions were there: feasibility, finance, design, construction, operations, etc. The group apparently killed time by talking about what an absolutely terrible idea the project was.

A few minutes later, I walked in the door, clapped my hands together enthusiastically, and asked, “So, how’s my project looking?’ Everybody responded, “Well, Bill, it’s looking good, really good.” Everybody except one fellow, a junior executive who had not opened his mouth.

Turning to him, I commented: “You haven’t said anything. What do you think?”

He proceeded to rattle off all the reasons why the project was a disaster in the making-the same reasons that everyone around the table had been airing just minutes before I came in.

I paused a moment and then replied: “You know, you’re absolutely right. Kill it.”

I walked out. Jaws dropped around the table and that was the end of the project.

The second purpose of this Marriott story is that it segues nicely into the topic of listening. And that’s where we will spend the bulk of our time this week.

It's Recharge Day!

Self Love, Lucy, and A Ferris Buehler Day Off

The idea is that whatever your station in life, sometimes you just need a mental health day. You need a day when you are empowered to push the red button at the factory, and at least for you, the conveyor belt stops. That makes me think of the famous Lucy episode where she is working in the chocolate candy factory and gets behind. That clip is conveniently placed at the beginning of today’s post just for your viewing pleasure.

I was very fortunate to be raised in a family that was results oriented instead of “letter of law” you have to be at school/work everyday. Both sides of my family were, and still are in my Dad’s case, very passionate about work. They were mostly self employed entrepreneurial types with plenty of initiative. I was raised this way. That being said, my grandparents used to take my Dad out school 2 to 3 weeks a year just to go deer hunting.

In my case, Dad really could have cared less how often I showed up at school. I could go skiing, anywhere I wanted… if… I got the grades. I’ve spent about half of my working life self employed and the other half working for great bosses that get it. One of my jobs in my early twenties was working for the Ander-Ziglar Corporation which was a division of Zig Ziglar’s Training Company. Jim Ander came out from Dallas to work with me one day and felt I was pressing a little hard. He took me for the better part of a workday afternoon out to a Malibu Grand Prix track to race cars. I’ve never forgot that lesson.

My pastor, Darrin Cantrell gets it. He showed up at his son’s school last year, pulled him out of class in the middle of the morning, and said, “Hey, what do you say, we just blow this school thing off today and head for a Dodger Game?” Eyes as big as silver dollars, they headed off to Los Angeles for the game.


Ferris Buehler got it. Hopefully the Youtube clip of the movie trailer from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off refreshes your memory of the concept. If you’ve never watched the movie I encourage you to use your next Netflix choice on this great film.
Your Ferris Buehler’s Day Off should be geared to your passions and interests. If you do one, make its something that gives your adrenaline a jolt. For some great ideas go to SignatureDays.com. This is a company that orchestrates these kind of days for you. I ran across their package at Costco. Check it out.

Self Love...Not Selfish

Sales is not noted for being the most selfless profession in the world. Maybe you think we are already self-loving enough. But let me make a critical distinction. Self-Love and selfishness are actually the antithesis of each other. Genuine self-love and love for your customer are inseparable partners. That’s why Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Again self love is not self indulgence or me first. It’s not giving yourself everything you want. It just recognizes that for me to serve you effectively, I have to take care of myself. You will notice the “I’m Re Charging” post I always leave on Sundays. That’s self love. It’s getting proper rest. Self love is getting proper nutrition. Self love is getting exercise. Self love is nurturing your soul through friendship. For me, self love is tending my spirit with Bible reading, prayer, and an encouraging Sunday message at Crossroads where I attend church.

Self love must sometimes be tough love. It may require disciplining yourself. It may mean picking yourself up by the shirt collar and throwing yourself out the door. Self love may even mean self sacrifice. Ultimately, self love and other love are never in conflict. It sure may seem like it at times, but that is an illusion. There is always a love-love path.

Sales is not easy work. Invest in an inspirational environment. Feed your mind with encouraging books and recordings. Build a support network. If you want to maximize your Servant Selling and love your customers, you’ve got to take very good care of you.

It’s a little like the airline stewardess admonition. “In case of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will appear overhead. Please fit your own oxygen mask first, and then you can help someone sitting next to you.”

Heaven, Hell, and Sub-Optimization

In the book by Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream founder’s titled Double Dip: How to Run A Values-Led Business and Make Money, Too they end the last chapter with the following ancient eastern parable...

A man is granted permission to see both heaven and hell while he is still alive. First he goes to visit hell. He goes down, opens up this big door, and sees a huge banquet hall. There’s a long table in the center of the room, with people seated on both sides. The table is laden with every imaginable delicacy: succulent chicken and beef, apricot-glazed turkey, candied yams, butter drenched green beans, piping hot bread spread with fragrant jelly, warm pies topped with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. As he’s looking at this scene the man sees that the people seated at this table are crying and wailing and in terrible pain. He looks a little closer sees that the utensils the people have to eat with have such long handles that it’s impossible for them to get the food into their mouths.

Depressed, with heavy heart, the man goes to visit heaven. He opens the door and sees virtually the same banquet room—the same long table covered with the same delicious food, and people sitting on both sides of the table with the same long-handled utensils.

But instead of crying in pain and hunger, these people are laughing, singing, and rejoicing. The man looks closer and sees that people in heaven, instead of trying to feed only themselves, are feeding one another.

Our businesses can be a heaven or hell. We all get to decide. Organizations that are healthy and work have a foundation of selflessness that permeates through out.

Sub-Optimization is a big word that creates big problems. By definition it means, “doing well on your own goals while causing problems in other departments”. It is forgetting about the larger context that we are a part of. Sub-optimization is created by another big word - Segmentalism. Segmentalism is thinking of your business in segments rather than in wholes.

Teamwork requires that we invest in the team as a whole and not just our own department or our own immediate payoff. Plain and simple it is working to serve others and not just yourself.

The Customer Comes Second???

Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters have written and incredible book, titled The Customer Comes Second And Other Secrets of Exceptional Service. It tells the story of Rosenbluth Travel and the ideas that made them a world class organization. I have been known to share it with a marketing representative who expected his teammates to serve and sacrifice beyond their own willingness to take care an associate.

Hal begins, “Companies must put their people first. Yes, even before their customers. There. Now I’ve said it. I know its controversial. It makes people nervous just to hear it, but it works...There is probably nothing we believe in more strongly than the importance of happiness in the workplace. It is absolutely the key to providing superior service. Of course our clients are the reason for our existence as a company, but to serve our clients best we have to put our people first.”

There are huge top down organizational implications to Hal’s beliefs. If you are part of an organization where a significant number feel that their direct manager or upper management in general is not concerned with taking care of their basic needs, problems will surely be common. But don’t underestimate your role as a salesperson in the organization you work for. You may have countless opportunities to make the life of the people you work with better.

In the company I sold with for many years, we sold programs where a team of 3 would follow me into the organization in which I made the initial sale. There were many little things I did to insure my associates life was as good as I could make it. I once traveled about an hour one way to an account to make sure the environment was workable and conducive to my teammates success. Then I made the trip four more times because that same account kept telling me the previously agreed environment wasn’t going to work like they thought.

If I was about to add an account where I was unsure my teammates could make reasonable money, I would sometimes ask them if they wanted to work there. If they got me a reference letter, I took them to lunch. I brought them soda’s on schedule regularly. If I scheduled a program where they had to carry heavy equipment up a flight of stairs, I marked it on my calendar and showed up to do the heavy lifting myself.
I had a bright red rubber stamp made that said, “Team shows up at 1 pm on set up days”. This cured a chronic problem we had where a representative from the account often failed to show up on time to give the team access for equipment set up. I wanted my team to be the happiest team in our entire organization. I knew that if they were happy, it would spill over on the customer they were serving. This would then lead to repeat business in spray cans…. And so it did.

Love In 360 - Part 2

Professional basketball is not my favorite sport but there are two players in the NBA I really love to watch. One is point guard Steve Nash who at the time of this writing plays for the Phoenix Suns. The other is Jason Kidd, who just moved from the New Jersey Nets to the Dallas Mavericks (Actually the deal is still in process according to the latest internet news this morning). They can score with the ball to be sure, but their assists are spectacular. Making sure the ball is dished around to the other players at just the right moment so the teammate can score is their specialty. Great sales people, like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd have great “whole court vision”. They thrill to make everyone look good. They take their shots and score their points, but they do so while feeding the whole team.

Even great scorers like Michael Jordan didn't become truly great players that led teams to championship seasons until a coach like Phil Jackson came along and molded Jordan and the team into an unselfish cohesive whole. With all of Jordan's greatness, for my money, the greatest player of all-time may still be Boston Celtic's Center Bill Russell. He and his team won 11 championships in 13 seasons. What was Russell's chief strength? His absolute unswerving focus on team play. He was arguably one of the greatest rebounders, outlet passers, and shot block defenders of all time. His scoring talent was huge, but he chose to use it only when it furthered the team goals.

In baseball there is a special play called the sacrifice bunt. If you follow baseball you already know what I’m taking about. It usually occurs with a runner on 1st base and no outs. The batter bunts the ball, hopefully about 9 feet out in front of home plate and to the right side forcing the first baseman to field the ball. It moves the runner from 1st base to 2nd base into “scoring position”. From second base the runner would then have a good chance of scoring on most singles to the outfield. The batter who sacrifices usually makes an out by design unless the defense mishandles the bunt. He sacrifices his batting average and the chance to be a big hero. You don’t hit home runs while bunting the ball. Great sales people sometimes sacrifice so someone else can be the hero.

In last week’s post I talked about Sales Love Cat, Patrick McCarthy, who went on to become Nordstrom’s all-time sales leader. Early in his career, he was very concerned about other floor salespeople taking his sale in the Men’s Department. It wasn’t until his manager, Patrick Kennedy convinced him to forget about who sold what and just focus on serving the customer that his sales really began to take off.

Moving on to Football, I will conclude by talking about the New England Patriots. Under team owner Robert Kraft and team coach Bill Belichick, they have arguably put together one of the most successful franchises in football history. There are many remarkable components of this team. But if you ask me, the core element is the commitment from top to bottom on team play and sacrifice. They don’t allow selfish players into the Patriot System unless they are completely convinced of the players willingness to change. Amazingly, this sacrifice extends to negotiations about money helping the Patriots to obtain the best players possible under the NFL Salary Cap System. Quarterback Tom Brady actually took a huge salary cut at the earning prime of his career in order help the Patriots get more good players under the cap.

Again, sacrifice for team goals is one mark of a truly great sales professional. Many sales managers, like football team owners and coaches take risks on the greedy, “me-first” Terrell Owens of the world. “I like to hire people who are money motivated” they say. There is nothing wrong with money motivation. But if money and greed is at the center of a sales person’s life, they will tear the team apart every time. This is a counter intuitive lesson that many never master.

Love In 360

The great organizations in this country get it and so do great sales people. It’s not enough just to love the client or customer. The love has to extend through out the organization. In fact, if it doesn’t, if people in the organization feel like they are not taken care of, they will often channel that lack of care right back at the customer.

As a marketing representative for an organization that employed several thousand in manufacturing, call centers, design, and support staff I worked very hard at taking care of people in every nook and cranny. We also have field employees that work in parallel divisions. I was very aware that all of them would have opportunities to touch the customer in some way. I tried to visualize myself standing in the hub, making sure that everyone could win in the deals I put together.

Win/Lose propositions have the tendency to turn into Lose/Lose propositions very quickly. As a manager, I’ve tried to impress it upon my team to do the same. All too often sales people feel they’ve done their job if they make the sale and the customer is happy when they walk out with the contract. My philosophy is, “I’ve done my job when the customer is happy with the delivered product, and not a minute sooner”. And I’m not just concerned that the product is great. I’m just as concerned that their experience in obtaining that product is great with everyone in our organization that touches them.

Sales people need to see themselves as serving the whole organization if they want to maximize their success. I grew up in a family construction business. I was around meal conversation every day that gave me insight into what made a business work. I still remember my Dad talking about sales people who would sell something that really couldn’t be built. They were very quick to tell the customer, “Yeah, we can do that!” without giving any thought to what it would do to the carpenters or other trades people.

Customer focus can never be at the expense of taking care of associates. This does not mean you can never ask an associate to make a sacrifice in order to care of the customer. It does mean there should be shared sacrifice. If you as the sales representative are always asking your team members to sacrifice while you prosper on their back, problems are inevitable.

Make a list of every one in your organization who will come in contact with, or indirectly supports your customer. Next to their name, write down how they win. What makes them feel taken care of? Buy them lunch and ask them, “what can I do in my position to make your job easier?”

It's Sunday...I'm Recharging!

Servant Selling Love Cat - Patrick McCarthy

In January, 1971, Patrick McCarthy began his career with Nordstrom Department Store. He was 26 years old and had a wife with three young kids. Working out of the Bellevue Square location, McCarthy got off to a rough start. Selling men’s wear in the then 3 year old department, he was not prepared for challenge ahead.

Patrick reflects on those early years, in a book he co-authored with Robin Spector: “I made every mistake in the book. Although I liked to dress well, I knew virtually nothing about clothing and had no personal style. I wore my shirts too big. I didn’t know how to fold the garments for display or to coordinate colors and textures. Worse, because I had some learning disabilities, including dyslexia, my work habits and organizational skills were poor. I couldn’t even get to work on time.”

McCarthy’s sales per hour track record was near the bottom of his department. He was almost fired in his second year because he was uncooperative and not a team player. He was desperately failing on 2 out of 3 of Nordstrom’s performance trilogy—Sales, Teamwork, and Customer Service.

Fortunately, Patrick Kennedy, the manager who was ordered to fire McCarthy found he was sincere, open, and friendly with customers. Kennedy began to work with McCarthy and develop his skills in all three areas. Only six months later, Kennedy invited McCarthy to go with him and open a new Nordstrom in Yakima, Washington, a little over 100 miles east.

The store was slow to take off, so the two took to the time honored strategy of making cold calls in order to generate new business. They went out to automobile dealerships, doctor’s offices, bank presidents, lawyers, and anyone who would see them. They arranged for special fittings in offices and homes.

You can read McCarthy’s whole story in “The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence”. Suffice it to say, 30 years later, McCarthy was Nordstrom’s all-time top performing sales person when he retired. In fact, for 15 consecutive years he was the number one salesperson throughout the entire chain. The detail and attention he gave to his customers is worthwhile reading for any sales professional wishing to make good. McCarthy says, “the key to selling is providing outstanding customer service”. He created and organized a system to insure he did just that.

Unlike Elmer Leterman, who sold 1 million dollars of insurance his first week, McCarthy estimated that it took him 7 years to really learn his craft. He was dedicated, teachable, and eventually that paid off. He was constantly thinking and planning. “I kept improving as a salesperson because I kept learning better ways to service the customer”.

Again, no tricky closes, no hypnotic techniques, but sales through great customer service

Sales Love Cat - Elmer Leterman

Today's post again comes from Ron Willingham of Integrity Solutions and his great book The Inner Game of Selling. He tells about a chance meeting he had with Insurance Sales Great, Elmer Leterman. At that time, Elmer had sold more insurance than any one else in the history of the business. In fact he sold more than most companies of his day. He sold a million in his first week, which Willingham estimates would equate to nearly 25 million today.

At a lunch Elmer shared that he didn’t have that much knowledge of the industry, but he did have 15 CLU’s (Chartered Life Underwriter’s) back at the office. Again, like Larry Merritt, their were no magical sales tricks or slick closes. In fact, he never even discussed his business in the first meeting with people. He just helped other successful people get to know one another. He reserved a table for 6 guests, for 5 days each week at the Four Seasons Restaurant, inviting business people, athletes, show business people, writers, news people, and others. His only objective was to help his guests get to know each other.

Afterward he’d put each guest on his list and mail them ideas. In fact, he had a full-time secretary that did absolutely nothing but send articles, books, and references to these folks. Elmer insured world champion fighter Jack Dempsey, and even Jimmy Durante’s nose and Betty Grable’s legs.

The specifics are different, but the common denominator is simple. These great salespeople were just out to help folks. In spite of the 40 closes you learn at the sales seminar and the hypnotic techniques you read about in the books, great salespeople are really great love cats, as Tim Sanders would say. They genuinely want to be of service. They are intentional about it, they are systematic about it, but so is the Red Cross and The Salvation Army.

Sales Love Cat - Larry Merritt

Integrity Solutions Sales Trainer, Ron Willingham, spent a day with car salesman Larry Merritt from the Tom Jumper Chevrolet dealership in Atlanta, Georgia. Ron was doing some training for the dealership but he wanted to learn all he could from and about Larry Merritt. Larry was already in the Guinness Book of World Records for having sold 12,000 cars in his career. He averaged 60 retail units a month for a twenty year period. To put that in context:

The average car salesperson sells around 8 per month
The star car salesperson sells around 15 per month
The superstar car salesperson sells around 20 per month.

Again, Larry sold 60 per month for twenty years running. Absorb that for a minute.

Ron shares in his book, The Inner Game of Selling, when he met Larry he was nothing like he expected. He was very soft spoken, an average sort of guy you would expect to meet at a service club or PTA meeting. Ron was of course eager to find out Larry’s secret, but he found out Larry didn’t really have a secret. He used no tricky sales closes, hype, or magic formula.

He did do a few things that anyone could do. His son helped him with a card file of customers (this was before the day of personal computers). He kept their names, ages, birthdays, anniversaries, children’s names and ages, and special interests. Larry spent a minimum of a couple of hours every day writing notes to his customers on their special occasions. He watched for accomplishments and wrote notes of congratulation. He sent out regular mailings. He called customers just to see how they were doing. He never stood out on the showroom floor, but instead had his customers come into his private office.

When Larry got a referred sale, he’d send flowers or gifts to the customer who gave the referral. Ron came to the conclusion the only difference between Larry and other car salespeople was, they saw themselves as selling cars. Larry saw himself as serving both his customers and the dealership.

Willingham mused, “Every time I drive by a car dealership and see salespeople bunched together like hawks, ready to pounce on anyone with the courage to walk up to them, I think of Larry and how he did the business so differently.”

Servant Selling "Love Cats"

I have two more “Love Cat” Servant Selling stories today. The first comes from a great book, “The Relationship Edge” by Jerry Acuff and Wally Wood. The second, from a lunch appointment I had a few years back.

Mike was a Memphis, Tennessee based commissioned salesman for packaging company Wurzburg, Inc. Two months after he started working for the company, the Accardi family's blender broke. Dirt poor at the time, he told his wife he would stop by a Sunbeam/Oster repair place that was on his regular Tuesday route. An older guy at the shop said he could repair the appliance and Mike suggested that he could pick it up the next week when he was back in the area. The next week, Mike stopped by, and as promised, the blender was repaired. The bill was a mere $2.50. Mike was shocked at the small cost and promised the man that if he ever needed packaging supplies he would provide anything under the normal list price.

Mike made the little repair shop a regular part of his weekly route. He’d just stop by and visit for a few minutes, knowing it would never turn into a big account. Over a couple of years time, the man placed a few small orders. One week, Mike stopped in and the guy asked if he had a few minutes. Mike assured him he’d give him all the time he needed.

They got in the car and drove to the northern part of the city. They pulled into a parking lot of what would soon be a million-square-foot building. The man explained to Mike that for two years he was the only salesperson who had treated him with respect and value. He went on to say “It’s Payback Time”. Sunbeam was closing their headquarters in Chicago and moving everything to Memphis. The man escorted Mike to every department with the admonition, “This is Mike Accardi, you buy all your packaging supplies from him.”

This relationship paid off to the tune of a 40 foot trailer of packaging supplies every week. The department heads at Sunbeam became so loyal to Mike that when ever a competitor came in to speak about their packaging needs, they would just hand them Mike’s card with the explanation “he handles all our packaging.”

When Sunbeam moved again, 12 years later, Mike maintained the relationship and the account. Sunbeam insisted they weren’t going to deal with anyone other than Mike Accardi!

This story reminds me of Kay Alehandro, who sold cars at the Saturn dealership in Fresno, California where I lived at the time. She was the top sales person at the dealership, and wanting to learn, I took her to lunch. I asked her about what she did that set her apart from those that sold half of what she did.

Her answer came in the form of a story. Recently, an African American woman had walked in to the dealership not looking very prosperous. Kay agreed to serve the woman because no one else wanted to. The other sales people seemed to have that magical psychic ability to know in advance who would or could buy. Kay served the woman as she did everyone who walked into the dealership with dignity and respect. After Kay’s presentation of the Saturn product, the woman opened her purse and paid cash on the spot.

Tim Sanders is right. Love is the Killer App. It is the business process that trumps all other business processes. In tomorrow’s post we’ll look at another Sales Love Cat from the Automobile Industry.

Disneyland...The Happiest Place On Earth

For 15 years I have sold in an industry that goes into organizations offering booklets with pictures of all the members, and family portraits. We work mostly with religious organizations, and occassionally with gated communities, country clubs, and business groups. For five years, a husband and wife team, Randy and Anita Disney sold portraits behind me in the organizations I set up. I called this relationship “Disneyland” because for me and the customers they serve, it truly is “The Happiest Place On Earth”.

The Disney’s make top money in our industry. And what makes them special is that they sell portraits in a way that made it easy for me to rebook the organization every two years. They are happy every day. If sales are great they are happy. If sales are lousy they are happy. They treat all their customers with the same dignity and respect whether they buy or not. As Randy tells it, “They only have two goals: to be a blessing to that organization and to be a blessing to every individual customer whether they buy or not”. He tries to keep it a secret, but if he comes across a family who is so impoverished they can’t afford a portrait package, he takes out his wallet and buys them one with his own money.” He has one of the highest next time buyer ratio’s. In other words, if someone doesn’t want or need portraits, he let’s them go with respect and best wishes.

Another friend in my industry is Patricia Adagio. For years, she worked in the same role as the Disney team. Patricia carried many of the same attitudes as Randy and Anita and she also figured out some of her own ways to offer extra customer service and value as she sold. She was the queen of setting up a “Service Environment”. Patricia always made sure the “waiting area was set up in a “U-Shape” or as she called it a “Conversation Pit” so people could easily talk while they waited. Her personal sales table was always decorated with cheerful seasonal items. She brought toys and coloring books for children who got bored while mom and dad were buying portrait packages. She had a box of reading glasses for those who forgot to bring theirs. Lastly, she was always immaculately dressed and brought a friendly warmth to every sales conversation.

Like the Disney’s, Patricia not only was a company sales leader who pulled down industry leading money, but she brilliantly laid the ground work to come back into the organization two or three years later.

These people are Servant Sales People 100% of the time. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with them.

Soup Nazi Sales and Service?

There was an era of selling that assumed if your product was outstanding, the experience in obtaining that product didn’t matter so much. The “Soup Nazi” from the famous Seinfeld episode was a good example. The idea was that his soup product was so good that it was worth not only standing in a long line, but enduring a strict set of customer rules and humiliation for breaking those rules. The famous punishment of “NO SOUP FOR YOU” was vigorously applied to those who committed the slightest infraction. The more egregious infractions might even incur the dreaded “NO SOUP… ONE YEAR”.

Amazingly, sales people still mistreat customers in ways that defy imagination in an era that has moved beyond mere product excellence into an era of customer experience. How you sell is part of your service. Your attitude, your friendliness, your approach, your attempt to understand what the customer really wants and needs, your knowledge of your specific solution, your way of asking them to buy, your way of responding if they choose not to buy, and your way of following up and staying in touch after they do buy are all part of that sales experience.

This week we’re going to look at several world class sales representatives who are industry leaders. The first group come out of the industry I have sold and served in the last 15 years. The next is in shipping and packaging, one sold cars, one sold insurance, and one sold men’s clothing. Each are at least the top in their company and one was even a Guinness Book of World Records holder. All sold very differently, first from each other because their industries were so different. More importantly they sold very differently from others in their industry. And most importantly, those differences were perceived as very positive by the people they served.

They reached the top of their profession earning in some cases stratospheric incomes. None employed special closes, tricky techniques, hypnotic trances, and certainly not high pressure tactics. The only common denominator that tied them together was being what Tim Sanders calls “Love Cats”. They took an extraordinary amount of concern for and interest in their customers.

It's Sunday...I'm Recharging!

Bonus Post: L U V Shapes In Service Recovery

This post really fits in to what I talked about week before last when I posted on Service Recovery. Since I may not return to that topic soon and It does fit in with the whole February Theme of Loving Your Customers and Love In Business I will cover it here.

Last night on Jim Cramer's Mad Money he talked about the economy and stock market recovery coming in three shapes. Each shape had a brilliant corresponding thought as it applies to service recovery.

L shaped recovery - This is not really recovery at all. Your service is poor and you do nothing to recover. It is the worst of all options in sales, service, and stock markets.

U shaped recovery - This recovery is a little slow making the turn. But you and your company do follow up with the customer and make amends along with an appropriate apology.

V shaped recovery - The best of all worlds. It is fast, dynamic, robust action that completely restores your relationship with the client. In fact, it might even make the relationship better than it was before the service mistake.

Together they spell L U V. And like we talked about last week, L U V is always your choice.

Thanks Jim Cramer for your entertainment and stock market wisdom that can be applied to our personal sales business.

Love Is Tough and Gutsy

This is my last installment using Kevin and Jackie Freiberg’s book “Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success” as a spring board. I whole heartedly recommend buying the book. It’s available in the Servant Selling Bookstore and usually good in stock at your local Borders, Barnes and Noble, or Books-A-Million.

Genuine love does have a tough side. The Freibergs tell about the toughness of Southwest founder Herb Kelleher and current President Colleen Barret. The two concur on real love when they say, “I will tell you what you need to know to become a bigger, more authentic person because I want you to succeed in life. At this time I’m willing to trade popularity for the truth because my love for you demands that I tell you the truth.”

If you are a sales manager, this tough side of love may entail telling a direct report where and how they need to get better. It may mean sharing with them how a behavior is unacceptable. It may even mean terminating the employment relationship.

As a sales representative from the Servant Selling mold, it may mean refusing to sell a customer something that is genuinely not in their best interest. During the 1980’s I was self employed as a wall covering contractor installing wood veneer, fabric, paper, and vinyl on walls and other surfaces in homes, offices, restaurants, hotels, apartments, and the like. Once I was called out to look at a project that another installer was in the middle of screwing up royally. I could have told the general contractor that the installer was at fault and taken over the job. Instead I delivered a message that very few installers were willing to deliver. I explained that the selected paper was extraordinarily difficult and that because a company sold a paper didn’t mean that it was fit to be installed. I went on to educate him about wall preparation. I showed him how to use a florescent light wand to check the wall for a level of smoothness that wouldn’t show flaws from underneath the wall covering. It wasn’t exactly the message he wanted to hear because he wanted someone to just come in and take over the current job and finish it right. I recommended starting over with a new material and correct wall preparation. I told the truth and in that sense was loving. I didn’t get that project, but he called back several months later and I became his primary installer until I retired from the business.

In outside selling, love must sometimes be extremely tough. Your job is to go out and expose a potential customer to a new solution that may help them, their family, or organization. You will certainly endure coldness if not outright rudeness on occasion. If you represent a life insurance product that may mean having an uncomfortable conversation with your potential client about the fact of their eventual impending death. Whatever you represent, it may mean coming back with a different approach after you have been told no on the previous one. Some of my best customers were ones that had told me they would never do business with our company or even our industry. That requires tough love, to keep coming back. Of course it also requires sensitivity and creativity to do it in a way that isn’t so offensive that the customer moves even further from your solution.

Love Is Courteous

The Freiberg’s describe the Southwest home office: “It’s difficult to walk through the hall’s of Southwest’s corporate headquarters, without being struck by the courtesy shown by Southwest employees. In many businesses, you’re lucky if you can get people to look at you, let alone say “hi,” when you walk the hallways. At Southwest it’s more like an ongoing cocktail party without the cocktails. People you’ve never met will stop, introduce themselves, offer to help you, ask some get-to-know-you questions and then be on their way. A remarkable courtesy pervades the place.”

Basic courtesy among sales people must have reached an all-time low. But again, this is an opportunity to stand out in a positive way. Like my friend Charlotte, Billy Stegall likes to say, “Since when did rudeness increase your chance of getting a sale?”

Seth Godin, in his book, Small is the New Big tells a story about the old door to door era of selling. He recalls, that the Fuller Brush company was unusual in it’s day in that it always trained it’s salespeople to ring the door bell and then step back from the door two steps when the lady of the house came to the door. This was in an era of selling when many salespeople were literally trained to try and wedge their foot in between the door and door jamb so it couldn’t be closed on them. Fuller Brush always taught courtesy and respect. I still remember these guys coming by our house when I was a kid. They were always respectful and courteous.

I have sometimes been amazed when I go out and ride with sales reps how insensitive they are about someone’s space, especially the space of a woman when she is working in an office alone. I teach my reps in that situation to put something in their hands like a great sample, and then back away a few steps.

There are dozens of ways to be courteous in sales interactions. Please and thank you go a long way. Asking permission goes a long way. Being on time goes a long way. Calling when you’re late goes a long way. Paying attention to parking and directional signs in the customers parking lot goes a long way. Holding a door goes a long way.

Love Is Kind And Generous

The Freiberg’s continue, “Love finds one of it’s greatest expressions in kindness and generosity. People who are kind are charitable, considerate, and humane. They go out of their way to assist others. Kind people don’t look away; they involve themselves and sometimes inconvenience themselves.”

I’m going to talk more about Nordstrom in one of my posts next week. But Nordstrom’s sales people are famous for their kindness and generosity. I used to go with my girl friend to the Nordstrom near Union Square in San Francisco to do Christmas shopping every year. One year she bought a coat and within a few weeks the zipper broke. We took it back and as you might guess they had sold out of it. The sales person called around to other bay area stores, checked the computer for inventory and did all the right things you would expect from a Nordstrom employee. She still came up empty.

But if you’ve experienced the Nordstrom way of doing business, it’s after they’ve done all the right things and exhausted every possibility that they really shine. The sales rep took her lunch hour and went to somewhere around 10 stores that sell zippers before she found one that was a perfect match. She purchased it, brought it back, and the tailor installed it in the first coat so it was like new. What was her commission on this act of generosity and kindness? That day... zip, nada, zero. But here’s the thing. That is routine at Nordstrom. That’s just the way they do business. I promise you I shop at Nordstrom today, and just about every time I walk through the doors I remember that experience. I almost feel guilty if I don’t make a purchase. I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that hundreds of thousands of people all across America now have their own Nordstrom story similar to mine. These stories develop a synergy to the point that all Nordstrom sales people benefit and make huge commissions on the kindness and generosity of other sales reps in other stores, in other cities. It’s a service oriented victorious cycle that has a definite sound…. Ka Ching, Ka Ching, Ka Ching.

Sell and serve with kindness and generosity. Do it as a choice whether you feel like it or not. It will come back to you ten fold.

Love Is Patient

WARNING: THIS YOUTUBE CLIP HAS MATERIAL THAT SOME MAY FIND OFFENSIVE. It is posted to serve as a real example of what goes on in some sales organizations.

The Freibergs continue in chapter 10 of their best selling book, “Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success”. “Love is patient. The degree of patience we exercise with others reveals a lot about how much we care about them. It’s easy to take people for granted at work, and irritation and impatience with people-over projects and work routines—can often send a signal that we don’t value them.”

The “YouTube” clip at the top of this post may represent a vulgar extreme of salesperson impatience. But I have heard about and even witnessed a few examples that don’t miss this by far. People have a decision making style that is unique to them. Some are fast and some are slow. Some need to think about things. Organizations, because they are made up of people follow this pattern as well. I have sold into many organizations who are intrinsically slow in decision making because their leadership is intrinsically methodical. They measure twice and cut once.

Some sales trainers would tell you to push potential clients through the decision making process as fast as possible. What often happens is the sales person moves from being professional to being an outright jerk. This is common for some reason in the car sales culture. More than once I have walked on to a car lot and been approached with a salesman using a “close” in the first few seconds of our conversation. Usually it sounds something like this, “If I give you a good deal, are you ready to buy today?” My response is to turn around and walk away.

I do believe it can be completely appropriate to give an incentive for a quicker or timely decision. But be very careful with what traditional sales trainers often call, “The Today Only Close”. This can feel very manipulative to the customer. I have no problem when I shop at Target with the fact I can get a better price on some products this weekend than I can on Monday. That’s called a sale. I even wait for things to go on sale. Whatever your business is, you may do something similar. Just be careful to keep the customer feeling very good about the process.

Get in sync with your customers decision making pace. Be patient. I like basketball coaching great Phil Jackson’s thought here when he says, “There’s no percentage in trying to push the river or speed up the harvest. The farmer who’s so eager to help crops grow that he slips out at night and tugs on the shoots inevitably ends up going hungry.”

When I have a customer that needs to think about it, I try to serve them by staying in touch and feeding them additional information. I usually first find out what their concerns are. Needing to think may mean the have a naturally extended decision making process, but it also usually mean they have some unresolved concerns. I may be able to resolve the concerns on the spot. If not, the additional information I feed them over the next few days or weeks will usually be an attempt to address those concerns.

Remember...Love is Patient.

Love Is A Decision To Act

In language I would expect to hear from philosophy professors, marriage counselors, or ministers, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg start off their chapter on Luv at Southwest Airlines explaining that “love is action oriented”. They continue, “A lot of people confuse love with romanticism and sentimentality. That’s not what you see at Southwest Airlines.
Southwest people are sentimental, and the company has it’s share of die-hard romantics, but at the core of this business, there is something more significant going on than gushy feelings. The kind of love we see at Southwest is action oriented and involved. It operates more as a verb than a noun.

Love is an act of the will. It’s something Southwest employees do. Sometimes sentiment and affection accompany their actions, but not always. At Southwest, love is something employees choose to do because they are committed to the well-being of others. In this sense, love is more of a decision than a feeling.”

Amen. I feel we can all just pray and go home now.

When I was around 14 years old, Ernie Collinsworth stood up in our church and said, “love is unconditional commitment regardless of circumstances”. I don’t remember what the context was for him saying this, or anything else about that moment. But those words have stuck with me for over 35 years. I’ve tried to apply that to my significant relationships, but I’ve also tried to apply it in business with my partners, associates, and customers. I’m sure many would tell you I’ve done an imperfect job. But imagine a work place where everyone was trying to apply this. Apparently at Southwest Airlines they do pretty well. As a road warrior who logs a lot of airline miles with at least some of them on Southwest, I’ve personally seen the difference in action.

How can you bring the “Spirit of Southwest” in to your work today? Remember, because we’re talking about commitment and action instead of feelings, this is something you can choose. My experience is, when you make the commitment to act, usually the feelings follow.

As a Servant Sales Representative for AnyCorp, USA, what are your commitments? In tangible actions that can be documented with a video camera, what does loving behavior look like in your business. How does it impact your response time, accessibility, sales call demeanor, responses, presentations, honesty, and follow-up. List your thoughts in a Servant Selling Journal now.

"Luv" in Sales

I’ve been studying successful people and businesses since I was about 14 years old and seriously studying them since I was 21. The deeper I dig, it occurs to me that at the real core of sustained success is loving people. There are countless examples of this, but none better organizationally than Southwest Airlines.

Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, in their book “Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success” do a great job communicating this truth about love and business. They operate a consulting company now out of San Diego, but they both worked for Southwest 10 years and give a great inside view. In chapter 10, named “LUV” after the Southwest New York Stock Exchange sticker symbol, they walk through what love means in their unique culture. This week I plan to give you a brief taste of this chapter each day and then finish the post with an application as it fits in with sales.

Southwest founder, Herb Kelleher once said, “We are interested in people who externalize, who focus on other people, who are really motivated to help other people.” This is really the essence of the Servant Selling Philosophy. It’s all about helping people. If you really get that in your bones, you are already 90% of the way to being successful. It goes without saying that is completely antithetical to the reputation of salespeople in general. If there is a profession known for raw unadulterated selfishness, it is the sales profession.

Yet the super successful salespeople I know in multiple industries, rise to the top because they set themselves apart from this stereotype. And when I scratch underneath the surface what I usually find is a love for people.

This is also a great opportunity. You can easily become, “a breath of fresh air”, as I was once called while calling on a potential client. Like Southwest, you can easily become the vendor of choice just because you treat people with care and respect...in other words, you love them. And like the employees at Southwest, you’ll have all kinds of fun and lead the most consistently profitable venture around.

It's Sunday... I'm Recharging

Make Sure It's Good This Time

A lot of sales people seem happy if they can just convince the customer the problem won’t happen again. This is short sighted at the very least and down right dishonest at the worst. Either way it’s not likely that you’ll be trusted again. If you want to build a career, part of the deal is working to insure that bad experiences don’t repeat themselves. If the prior sales person dropped the ball this may be fairly simple to guarantee that this experience is going to be a good one. If another part of your organization dropped the ball it may be more difficult.

Over time it’s critical that you build relationships with people in all the different departments of your company. In the context of those relationships you can begin to influence them on how their area affects repeat business and ultimately whether or not we all have jobs in 5 years. For a good primer on this topic, read John Maxwell’s Book 360 Degree Leadership. It is excellent. Another one is, You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader by Mark Sandborn. (You guessed it. Both are in our bookstore.) In politics, this is called Pork Barreling… it’s getting something accomplished for your district. It’s what gets you elected in politics and it will make you sales when you are able to get something fixed or accomplished for your customer. The Legendary Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil used to say, “all politics is local”. He was right and "all selling is local" as well.

When my friend Earl Estep in Northern California runs across a customer who had a negative experience while he is out cold calling, he responds, “That’s why I’m here, the company has asked me to follow up with you and see if there is anything we can do to make it right, and to do everything I possibly can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Don’t promise perfection. We employee people and unfortunately none of them are perfect. A good program does not mean a perfect program. I tell people honestly their are over 100 things that can go wrong in their program or any other companies program. Sometimes I even give them a list that I have prepared that details each of the 100. Then I tell them I can’t guarantee something won’t go wrong, but I can guarantee I will be right there with them to face it and fix it if it does. People respond to that kind of honesty and service.

My dad was a building contractor for 35 years. People used to ask him about the cracking stucco on their homes. He was a remodeling contractor for most of those years and they wanted to be sure the stucco wouldn't crack on their new room addition the way it did when the previous contractor built the original home. His response was always the same, "we guarantee our stucco to crack... it's what stucco does". He went on to explain what he did to minimize it, but the fact is, cement products including stucco does crack.

After having said that, their is a threshold of problems that go beyond acceptable business practice. Their is a point that is beyond explanation. Their is a point that will insure your customers will begin to fall away, go with a competitor, do it themselves, or not at all. If you've done your do diligence, worked in your organization to insure and acceptable product/service sequence, and significant numbers of customers are still angry and unhappy, it may be time to move on. If and when that becomes the case, hold your head high, and walk out the door into a new future with a new company that is committed to it's customer. Treading water is a good strategy that has it's place. But eventually everybody drowns.

Re-Serve...Getting The Business Back

I started a 15 year selling career with a nationally known brand in October of 1993. I immediately began calling on a large account in Visalia, California. On my first visit, Chris, the gatekeeper was very pleasant… but she very pleasantly explained that they wouldn’t be doing business with us again...ever. She went on to disclose a fairly significant breach of trust that had taken place with my company. I researched it and it was just as she had said. A severe breach of trust had occurred.

For the next 5 1/2 years I called on Chris trying to rebuild the relationship and re-earn the trust to do business again. I brought reference letters and great samples. She saw that I had a long term commitment and that I had many satisfied customers. On June 3, 1998 I got a signed contract.

I did this with numerous accounts. On February 8, 2001, I walked out of an account with a signed contract in Fresno, California. This one took me 8 years. This account decision maker had bad experiences with multiple companies in our industry.

On July 31st, 1996 I called on an account in Merced, California. The decision maker here was Harvey. He was a nice man but unfortunately he had had bad experiences with our company in two different divisions and to top it off he had bad experiences with two of our competitors. Harvey explained that their was no way he was going through this again. I listened, I asked questions for more detail, I genuinely agreed with him on every point. I even agreed their was no way we were ever going to business again. I explained as I always do in these situations that I am a consumer too, and that when I go to a restaurant and get bad service I am reluctant to return. I listened for 45 minutes. I edged for the door. As I got there Harvey shocked me with, “Well, come on back in here and let’s see what you got.” I think we were both surprised that I walked out with a signed contract that day.

On of the most challenging barriers we all face is a negative prior experience. But there is no bad experience that can’t be recovered from. Unfortunately you may not recover quickly and it may cost you the next round or even the next two rounds of business. You may even have to wait until the decision maker leaves, and a new one is installed. A great book to read along these lines is Knock Your Socks Off Service Recovery by Ron Zemke & Chip R. Bell. Another good one is Calming Upset Customers by Rebecca L. Morgan. You'll find both in our bookstore.

Learn to love the challenge of tuning around and account. If you can give them a great experience where they have had a horrible experience before, this is good for everyone.