I am watching American Idol and I am bored.  Now it is Simon’s turn to critique another generic singer.

He says, “The problem is that you are completely forgettable.”

Exactly.  Although there are thirty-six finalists, maybe three of them are memorable.  This is bad news for the other thirty-three.

Here is the deal – when you gain the stage you have to put on a show.  The performance must be outstanding.  You must be memorable!

Selling is all about memorable performances - especially in person.  Unfortunately, just like American Idol, I would say that only about one in ten of us puts on a memorable performance when we have the opportunity.

Simon recently said to a contestant, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m afraid that you’ve blown it.”

If sellers heard this more often from either their sales managers or their clients we would see real improvement.  Because, unlike American Idol we get “once in a lifetime” opportunities all the time.

Here is what you must do the next time you have a once in a lifetime opportunity in front of a very important prospect:

1) Spend less time on the content of your presentation
a) You can do the content in your sleep and
b) No one really needs a better set of power point slides
2) Pick out a really great outfit
a) Ask somebody with style to give you some advice on an accessory that adds flair but
b) Stay away from goofy stuff
3) Work on the dynamics of the presentation to make it different for the prospect.  Here are some ideas:
a) Add some music to your show – recorded is good but live is better
b) Think about using an appropriate and memorable quote
c) Bring a surprise guest
d) Have a unique ‘leave behind’ that will spur memories of your performance
4) Do a complete dress rehearsal in front of an audience

Selling is a competition.  To win more frequently, you must be more memorable.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Consultative selling is just about the only kind of selling anyone talks about anymore. We don’t push products – we solve problems. We don’t sell stuff – we form partnerships.

I realized how far the pendulum had swung the other day when a sales manager told me that his team is trained to find the customer’s “pain points”. Sales people as doctors! Brilliant!

Don’t get me wrong, learning about the customer’s business and creating customized solutions that meet their objectives is exactly the right way to sell. But, customers don’t have time to teach every sales person how their business operates so that the sales person can go back to the office and whip up a customized proposal. Customers expect sales people to know quite a bit about their business before they walk in the door. Not only that, but they expect to see the skeleton of a possible solution at the same time.  The skeleton of all solutions is ideas.

Back in the early 90′s when I was first learning how to sell radio advertising, the mission was all about the consultative sale. I was trained to seek out the business owner or high-level decision maker and let them know that I wasn’t a radio sales person but had been transformed, through 24 hours of training over three days, into a media consultant. My job was to sit down with them and ask a series of questions designed to elicit their two or three most important marketing objectives. Armed with this information, and their ad budget, I could put together a whiz bang proposal.

Here is how it would usually go in real life:

I would go out prospecting and walk into a paint store. Seeing a man on a ladder stocking paint I would approach and say, “Hi, I’m looking for the person in charge of advertising.”

“Hi, I’m Bill, the owner.”

“Hey, Bill. My name is Tim and I am with Magic 96 radio. Based on research that I have done on paint stores, I am very confident that advertising on my radio station would benefit your store. I would like to talk to you about that and explore ways that we can help you achieve your marketing goals.”

Then, Bill would say something that the training had not mentioned. He would say,

“What have you got?”

What have I got? Did Bill expect me to pull out a ready-made advertising schedule? With whom did he think he was dealing? Some sales schlep straight out of the 70′s?

So, I would say,

“Bill, what I’ve got is a customized approach to solving your problems. We’ll sit down so that I can learn about your business. With this information I can go back to the station, convene a meeting of our brightest people, and customize a unique solution just for you. When can we sit down for about 45 minutes or so?”

Honestly, my intentions were good and the training that taught me how to engage a business owner in a conversation about the specifics of their business was the right idea. The problem then and now is that nobody has 45 minutes or 30 minutes or even 15 minutes to sit down with every Tom, Dick and Jane sales person to explain to them where it hurts.

So, after being asked “What have you got?” a dozen times or so and delivering the same coma inducing speech and getting nowhere, I improvised.

Now, after “What have you got?” I used this approach:

“Bill, I specialize in creating customized marketing plans for all of my customers. However, I know that you need some idea of what my product costs and the scope of our abilities. In my briefcase, I have a couple of examples of the work that I have done. I will show them to you as a conversation starter as long as you agree not to think that this is what I am proposing for you because I don’t know yet what to propose for you. Is that fair?”

In every single case, Bill and every other decision maker agreed that this was fair and I pulled out the proposals that I kept with me all the time. These proposals, of which there were usually three, indicated a range of costs from reasonable to lavish. The one thing they had in common was that all had actually been purchased by someone and they all worked. That is, the customer who had made the purchase had done business with us again because they were satisfied with their return on investment.

The answer to “What have you got?” is now a conversation starter. The conversation is about, of course, the decision maker’s business.  The basis of the conversation is the successful ideas I have sold to other advertisers.

Let’s say that none of the three proposals struck a nerve with my decision maker. My final gambit was this:

“As I mentioned earlier, Bill, I customize unique marketing solutions. These programs don’t seem to fit your needs. Before I came in here, I did some thinking about some of the most likely challenges you are facing. I thought of an idea and I am willing to share it with you under one condition.”

“What condition?”

“The idea is only half-baked. I don’t have all the details worked out and, in fact, I dont’ even know if it can actually be done in the form I am thinking about. I will tell you what it is to see if you like it and to work with you to shape it into a workable program. My condition is that you have to be ready for the possibility that the idea can’t actually be done since I haven’t dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s.”

“That’s fine. Let’s hear the idea.”

Of course, I always had an idea before pulling this little stunt but the idea didn’t have to be anything earth shattering. It just needed to have a some thought behind it and it had to make sense for the business to which I was presenting. Inevitably, if the decision maker didn’t like the idea, I would get an appointment to brainstorm some other ideas.

Business decision makers are looking for solutions to their problems. They will do business with credible sales people. The trick is to establish one’s credibility without asking the decision maker to do a lot of work to get you up to speed.

The easiest way to do that is to be prepared to answer the question: “What have you got?”  And, what you’ve got is ideas.

Popularity: 10% [?]

My wife hates it when I talk to telephone sales people. She thinks I’m rude and she would rather that I just didn’t answer the phone at all instead of being rude to the working stiff on the other end of the line.

But, I’m not rude. I’m giving sellers an opportunity to sell me without being a complete pushover. I am testing their skills so that I can write about what works and what doesn’t and educate those sellers interested in learning about the trade. Rude? For goodness sakes, I’m doing the sales world favor!

So, anyway, we receive a call and the caller ID says it is from Duane Reade. I knew it was a solicitor because we had ignored this same call on a couple of other occasions. But, needing to do the sales world a favor, I answered the call.

“Hi, is this Tim?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Tim, my name is Joe from Golf Digest. How are you doing today?”

“Fine, Joe.” (Sometimes I say, “Do you really care?” but my wife thinks that is rude and she might be right.)

“Good. The reason for the call is to make sure that you are receiving your Golf Digest and that you are happy with the magazine.”

(Another version of the “I’m not really calling to sell you anything” approach. Potentially annoying. Does any reasonable person actually believe that an automatically dialed phone call is coming from the customer service department of a magazine? If you don’t want people to be rude to you (which I wasn’t, of course) perhaps you shouldn’t assume they are stupid.)

“I am happy with the magazine.”

“That’s great! I’ll tell you what we are going to do. We are going to upgrade your account to ‘preferred’ and offer you our best rate of $1.88 per issue for renewing. How does that sound?”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, no.”

“You don’t want to renew?”

“No.”

“Alright then. You have a nice night.”

With that, Joe was gone. But, he shouldn’t have been gone. Joe got confused by my first ‘No’. Mainly because it was out of context. He didn’t ask me a yes/no question but got a ‘No’ anyway. He asked me, “How does that sound?” Naturally, he was expecting me to be excited about achieving ‘preferred’ status and to say that “it sounds good”. When I said, ‘No’ I threw him off his script and he didn’t know what to do.

So, Joe made a fatal mistake and he assumed that he knew what my ‘No’ meant. He offered me the reason I said ‘No’ by saying, “You don’t want to renew?” He should never have done that because he has now made it really easy for me to agree with him that I don’t want to renew.

When a customer throws you off by answering one of your questions in a way that doesn’t make any sense, you must get clarification of what is going on! For all Joe knows, I could have been saying ‘No’ to one of my rude children asking me a question while I was on the phone. Criminy! Is his training so bad and his reliance on his script so rigid that he just collapses when the customer refuses to play along?

How ’bout you? Is your training that bad or your reliance on a script that rigid?

Here is what Joe should have done after my initial ‘No’:

“Tim, you just said ‘No’ to a question that isn’t really a yes/no question. Was that ‘No’ directed toward me or someone in the room with you?”

“That ‘No’ was directed towards you, Joe.”

“Okay. I’m a little confused. You like the magazine. I just offered you our very best rate to renew and you said ‘No’. Why would a person say ‘No’ to renewing at our very best rate if they are happy with the magazine?”

(If you are thinking that you would never have the courage to go this direction with the conversation then you must get out of sales immediately! This is a simple clarifying question that must be asked.)

“Simple, really, Joe. I ordered a one year subscription of the magazine and I have received two copies. That means that I have ten months left before I need to renew. I never renew subscriptions until the subscription is about to expire.”

“I understand completely and it makes sense. Here’s the deal, though. We will never be able to offer this rate again. So, by renewing early you will get the very best deal and you will be locking in the very best deal for as long as you want. Even though you have only been receiving the magazine for two months, you have already experienced our award winning columnists, stroke-saving tips and interviews with the world’s best golfers and most influential golf course designers. As an avid golfer, I know you wouldn’t want to give that up and as a smart business man you wouldn’t want to pass up the savings being offered today. Would you prefer to extend your subscription for one, two or three years?”

When prospects throw you off, don’t just give up!  Fight back with clarifying questions!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Sellers are trained to overcome objections.  As a result, they don’t listen carefully to what is being said to them by a prospect and they assume that everything said is an objection.  My observation is that prospects make comments that can be classified into the following four categories:

1) Statements
2) Concerns
3) Blow offs and
4) Objections

A statement is a comment by a prospect that is spoken directly  to the seller.  A statement does not necessarily describe a reason the prospect won’t buy from you.  Normally, a statement is made by the prospect in the hope that the seller will directly address the statement as if it were an objection.  For example:

    Seller:  . . . and that is our proposal.
    Prospect:   You aren’t the lowest bidder.

Most sellers will immediately assume that this is a price objection, but it is not.  Take a look and see that the prospect has said nothing to indicate that price is the most important criterion.  Furthermore, the prospect hasn’t indicated that your price will prevent them from buying.  The seller must not treat this as an objection to be “overcome” but as a conversation starter about value, comparing proposals with other vendors, etc.  The best move is to ask a clarifying question to determine if the statement will lead to an objection.  For example:

    Seller:  You say that I am not the lowest bidder.  Let me ask you, is price the most important consideration?
    Prospect:  I wouldn’t say it’s the most important but it is definitely important.
    Seller:  I understand.  This is a big purchase and you should feel that you received the best possible value.  Let’s review my proposal so that I can properly explain how we got to the price.

At the end of the re-examination of the proposal, the seller tries again to finalize the deal and this happens:

    Seller:  It’s just too much money.  We can’t do it at that price.

That is an objection!  The point of asking a clarifying question about a statement is to uncover the objections that might be lurking in the shadows.  Of course, the prospect may not have gone this way after the proposal was re-evaluated.  The prospect may have just gone ahead and signed the agreement.

    Seller:  Thanks for explaining your proposal again.  I feel a lot more comfortable about how you got to the price.  Let’s go ahead.

The next type of comment is the concern.  This may be the most confusing comment made by a prospect because it isn’t directed to the seller and it is incumbent upon the seller to say nothing at all about a concern until such time as the prospect addresses the seller with a statement or an objection.  How can you tell the difference between a concern and a statement?  The concern is an “I” comment made by the prospect (while the statement is a “you” comment as shown above).  The comment is often accompanied by a lack of eye contact and a lowered voice.  For example:

    Seller:  . . . and that is our proposal.
    Prospect:  (looks up at the ceiling.  Puts both hands to his face) I just don’t know how we are going to be able to afford that.

Again, this is not an objection because the prospect has not given the seller a reason why he won’t be buying.  The comment isn’t directed to the seller so it isn’t a statement and the correct response from the seller is to do nothing.  Imagine the prospect is trying to solve a puzzle in their head and they’re just talking out loud.  Don’t interrupt!  Let them work it out for themselves.  Many times, the prospect will not be able to work out the puzzle in their head and they will look directly at you as if it is up to you to solve the problem.  This is how you handle it:

    Seller:  How can I help?

Sellers who are overly eager to come up with a solution to a concern are doing so because they think they’ve been presented with an objection.  The tendency is to negotiate the price or the terms or to shave elements of the proposal to make it more affordable.  Big mistake!  Wait until they look at you and ask how you can help and you might be surprised at what happens:

    Prospect:  The only way we could do this deal is if you have financing.  Do you?
    Seller:  If we can get you approved for financing, would you like to go ahead with this proposal?
    Prospect:  Yes.

How much money did you just save?  That’s not hard to figure out.  Take a look at your company’s statistics and determine the difference between your average gross margin (or your average sale) and the #1 rep’s average.  That’s the amount you just saved and you can do it every single time if you stop solving the customer’s concerns and wait until they’ve presented an objection.

The final type of comment that isn’t an objection is the blow off.  Of all comments that a prospect can make, the blow off is the most challenging to deal with.  This is true because the blow off gives you nothing to leverage, nothing to answer, nothing to present.  Unfortunately, because the blow off is so toxic, most sellers just let prospects get away with it:

    Seller:  . . .and that is our proposal.
    Prospect:  Okay.  Thank you so much for coming by today.  I need to review what you have told me with (another decision maker) and then we’ll get back to you.
    Seller:  Um. Okay.  When do you think that you’ll be getting back to me?
    Prospect:  Sometime in the next couple of days.  We’re definitely not going to be dragging this out.
    Seller:  Okay.  Here is my card with all of my contact information.  I look forward to hearing from you.

How often does the seller hear from a prospect that has blown him off in this way?  Very rarely.  The seller will follow up after not hearing and learn that the prospect went with another solution.  As difficult as it is, the key to handling a blow off is to probe for the unspoken objection.

    Seller:  Okay, you are going to review all of this information with (another decision maker).  My experience has shown that because my proposal is so technical it is difficult to explain all of my recommendations.  Would it be possible to get (the other decision maker) on the phone to review the proposal?  I can answer all of the questions that arise right away and give both (all of you) the opportunity to make an informed decision today.
    Prospect:  Oh, I’m afraid that (other decision makers) are not available via phone right now.
    Seller:  Would it be okay to set up another meeting when all of you are present?  I would hate for you to have to make my presentation for me!

This gambit may not work but it sure beats walking out the door without any understanding of the prospect’s objections.  Assuming that the prospect will not agree to a meeting, I would give strong consideration to taking my proposal with me (and not leaving a copy behind).  This is a bold move that must be judged by each seller according to his own gut.  Are you more likely to get the audience you desire by insisting on being the one to make the presentation or will you annoy the prospect and not get invited back?  Experience must be your guide.

Another option for handling the blow off is to suggest that the prospect has an objection that they aren’t telling you.

    Seller:  I appreciate that you need to speak with (the other decision makers).  This is an expensive proposition and I want you to be comfortable making the decision to approve my proposal.  Many times, despite my best efforts at answering all the questions a prospect might have, the prospect has a concern that they just don’t want to bring up.  Let me ask you:  Is that the case with you today?

For some sellers, this is a tough path to go down.  No doubt, it takes a lot of courage and the way you use your words is critical to setting a tone that keeps the prospect comfortable and engaged.  But, let me encourage you to work hard on gathering the courage to stay in front of a prospect that is attempting to blow you off.  Your time and effort in putting together a proposal is valuable and it is fair for you to know if you are still in consideration.  No need to be rude and you’ll certainly not want to become belligerent but hang in there and see if you can uncover an actual objection before you walk out the door without any understanding of how you can win the sale.

Assuming you have deftly handled statements, concerns and blow offs, the prospect might actually give you reasons why they aren’t going to buy from you.  Thank goodness!  Objections are your friends.  Meanwhile, remember that not everything said to you during the sales process is an objection.  Try to classify each comment and deal with them accordingly.

Popularity: 9% [?]

In the classic sales movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, there is a scene in which Mr. Blake is brought in from corporate to lead a meeting to introduce a sales contest to the sellers.  And it goes like this:

Blake: We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize?
[Holds up prize]
Blake: Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.

What are we to make of a contest like this?  First place is obviously worth winning but what about second and third place?  Not so good.  The result of this contest is that any seller who thinks they can’t win will start thinking about how to make a living somewhere else.

In the movie, that is fine with Blake because he is trying to separate the men from the boys and anyone who wants to quit is welcome to do so.  But in the real world, sales contests are designed to inspire at least the majority, if not all, of the account managers to perform at their highest level.  No one actually creates a contest hoping that some of the account managers will quit.

Or do they?  Along comes a broadcast company that has just implemented a contest in which the winners take home fabulous cash prizes and trips to exotic destinations.  Plus, there is going to be a gala to distribute the prizes and to fete the winners.  The losers?  They get to clean up after the dinner.

This is akin to having a contest in which the entire sales team is taken to an equestrian center.  The winners get to ride the horses while the losers clean up the barn.

Maybe they rejected that ideas as being too humiliating but doesn’t their contest accomplish the same thing?

I once learned from a sales manager that people come to work for their own reasons.   Some are motivated by money while others enjoy the freedom of choosing their own schedules.  Some just want to get out of the house.  None of them is interested in humiliation.

Some may argue that the avoidance of humiliation is motivation.  I contend that the vast majority of people humiliated at work while making their best effort to achieve their professional goals will not try harder the next time humiliation is offered.  They will quit and avoid being humiliated at that job forever.

Here are some of the elements of a successful sales contest:

1)  Reward achievements.  The achievers are held up as an example to all while the non-achievers are simply ignored.

2)  Veterans and newcomers both have a shot at winning.  Otherwise, the outcome is pre-determined and the sellers who know they can’t win will not even try.

3)  Good prizes.  Don’t empty out the promotions closet and offer up T-shirts from a long ago concert as prizes.  Before the contest, solicit some information about the type of prizes the sellers would like to win and then put those up for grabs.

4)  The rules are clear.  Make the rules in advance, publish them and then stick to them.  Re-interpretting the rules midway through a contest makes it look like the management wanted a particular seller to win.

5)  The contest is short enough to hold attention.  Long contests that drag on for months lose their effectiveness.  Sellers will ramp up their energy level for several weeks at a time but they can’t and won’t do it for months.

6) FUN! Perhaps the most important element of all.  Find a way to celebrate the joy of selling while the contest is going on instead of just at the end.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Perhaps nothing is as confusing to me as the seller who blames his poor performance on his sales manager.  To me, it’s like a baseball player drawing a similar correlation to his batting average.

So, you don’t like your sales manager.  Big deal.  That’s not where your focus should be anyway.  A seller’s focus should be on their own performance.  Ultimately, if you’re not getting what you need from your sales manager then be your own sales manager.

To be your own sales manager you first need to understand what you expect from your manager.  Let’s break it down:

1) You want support.  That includes the necessary administrative tools that are necessary to your job.  Support means that your priorities and objectives are defended within the other departments of your company.  Support also looks like enthusiastic praise for a job well done.

2)  You want direction.  Managers are good for providing sellers with an understanding of the company’s goals and the behaviors expected of the sales force.

3)  You want training.  Most sellers want to get better and they rely on their sales managers for critical feedback and both general and industry-specific sales training.

Support

If you’re not getting the kind of support or enough support from your sales manager you’ll need to look elsewhere.  If you work in a company that has more than one sales team, there will be other sales managers.  Try to carve out a little time with one of those folks and see if she will adopt you.  Acknowledge that you’re not on her team but ask for some help and you’ll probably get it.  When you’re asked why your request isn’t being directed toward your actual sales manager, graciously explain that your sales manager’s time is being dominated by others and you are seeking to get what you need without being a demanding, whining prima donna.

Maybe you work at a company where there are no other sales managers.  You’ll have to be more creative.  Develop relationships with the department heads based on your desire to work smoothly with their people.  Be sincere.  Expect to have to broach the subject multiple times until they believe you.

Make a pact with another seller wherein that person praises you profusely for the good work you do.  In exchange, you do it for him.  Praise feels good coming from a co-worker!

Direction

Develop a strategic plan that describes the direction you are going.  List your professional goals and the achievement path for each.  Send a copy to your sales manager and her boss.  Ask if you are on the right track.  Don’t expect anyone to be proud of you.  Be proud of yourself and then work your plan.  Remember that person with whom you have a praising pact?  Give him a copy of the plan and have him ask you about your progress at least once a week.  Be accountable to the plan!

Training

Most people know when they are getting better or worse at something.  Assume that it must be one of the two and you’ll never have the luxury of telling yourself that you are holding steady.  Your performance is better or worse.  Decide that you are going to get better at least 7 out of the next 10 weeks.  Peruse the book store for the sales topics most pertinent to your job.  Read those books.  Listen to the corresponding tapes.  Put at least one new idea into practice every week.  Video tape yourself making presentations.  Audio tape your phone calls and then critique them.  Ask other sellers to listen and watch your tapes and give you feedback.  Ask them to video and audio tape their own performances and ask to see them to get improvement tips.

Ask the best seller in your company for the chance to shadow her for a half a day.  Ask if she’ll shadow you and provide some feedback.

Read and participate in sales blogs that seem to address topics relatable to your business.  Ask questions.  Be open minded about the answers.  Keep track of what is working and what is not.  Do more of what is and discard the rest.

Yeah, it would be great if your sales manager was responsive to your needs.  Don’t get too down on your manager, though.  After all, maybe her manager isn’t giving her the Support, Training and Direction that she needs to perform her job effectively.

Try to be more helpful and empathetic to your current sales manager.  Chances are that she wants to be everything you need but it’s just not happening right now.  Perhaps, you’ve been a part of that yourself?  I’m just asking.

Regardless, when the sale is on the line and it is just you standing in the batter’s box the only performance that matters is yours and the person most responsible for your results is now and always will be you.

Popularity: 10% [?]

When I first started in radio advertising sales my training consisted of watching a series of video tapes produced by a guy named Norm Goldsmith.  My fellow sellers enjoyed making fun of the Norm Goldsmith tapes because his entire presentation consisted of him sitting on his desk in front of a bizarre, psychedelic painting and monologuing.  Despite all of that, I actually remember some of Norm’s wisdom today – 20 years down the road.

Norm told me “to always be prepared to do business when meeting with a client”.  His idea of preparation was to have all the supplies you might need so that you didn’t have to return to the radio station.  This included a notebook, a pen, station information, a rate card, order forms, etc.  Good advice that I made sure to follow from day one.

I advise professional media sellers to be prepared when meeting with a client, too.  But, the preparation that must be done requires the use of today’s modern technology.

1) The Internet.   Go to your prospect’s website and read everything.  Your new knowledge will include information that helps you understand their important initiatives. 

2) Google.  Search the names of a few of the top executives – especially the ones with whom you will be meeting.  Read their Linkedin profiles or their Facebook pages and discover some of their outside interests to see if there is a connection that you can leverage.  Why not start following them on Twitter?

3) Your laptop.  No doubt that much of your company’s computing is done on the cloud and you’ll be able to access your systems with a broadband card, wi-fi or local area network.

4) Your PDA or smart phone - where you’ve stored your prospect’s contact information.  When you get stuck in traffic, you’ll want to call from the road to let them know you’ll be a couple of minutes late.  No need for directions, though as you Mapquested their address or stored it in your GPS.

As Norm Goldsmith told me many years ago, being prepared is not an option.  For professional media sellers, modern technology isn’t either.

Popularity: 11% [?]

A common occurrence in the media sales business is the follow-up.  That event in which a seller must re-contact a decision maker and ask the status of the sale they are trying to consumate.  Many sellers find this event an awkward moment – filled with anxiety and trepidation.  I’ve often heard a follow-up phone call handled like this:

Decision Maker:  “Hello, this is Jim.”

Seller: “Hi, Jim, it’s Mary from WKOO radio.”

DM: “Hi, Mary.”

Seller: “Hi.  I was just calling to follow up on my submission for the Oscar Mayer business.”

DM: “Okay.”

Seller: “Well, um, how’s it looking?”

DM: “Pretty good.  I should be done with the buy any day now.”

Seller: “Okay, good.  That’s great.  So, I should be hearing back in the next day or two?”

DM: “Yes.”

Seller: “Great, yeah, okay.  Thanks very much.”

The seller lacks smoothness in part because this type of phone call doesn’t seem to have a natural beginning.  The seller is actually trying to find out if she is going to be bought.  That is, did she make a sale.  Unfortunately, in this example she did not determine the status of her station on the buy.  Although, she will be hearing back from the buyer in the next couple of days she doesn’t know what she is going to hear.  Perhaps, the opening gambit should have been:

Seller: “I was calling to find out if I convinced you that my radio station deserves to be on the Oscar Mayer business.”

But, many sellers would find this too forward or fear that such boldness would be punished by the decision maker.  Consequently, they dance around the issue as shown in the first scenario.  If the first scenario isn’t direct enough and the second one is too direct, what then is the best way for a media seller to follow up?

The best way to follow up is to offer some additional information of value to the process.  That is, start the conversation by telling the decision maker something that you have just learned that makes your product or service offering more desirable.  For example:

Seller:  I just came out of a sales meeting where the topic was the latest ratings.  As we had hoped, our new morning show is off to a great start.  I knew you would want to know - considering that you are still working on the Oscar Meyer business.

Decision Maker:  That is interesting.  Thanks for the call.

Seller:  Sure.  By the way, what is the status of the buy?  Have we made the cut?

Another example:

Seller:  I just read in the trades that Oscar Mayer is looking for places to serve their new bologna.  That works out nicely for my station since part of my presentation was sampling opportunities at elementary schools.

Decision Maker:  Yes.  I’m sure the client is going to look favorably on your promotional ideas.

Seller:  Cool.  Are there any other t’s to cross or i’s to dot before I can tell my manager that we’re on the business?

For sellers who have difficulty with the follow-up, I always recommend that they eliminate certain expressions from their repertoire.  I ban the following expressions:  “Follow up”; “Following up”; “Checking back”; and ”touching base”.  With those expressions off limits, sellers have to figure out the value that another phone call from them brings to the process.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Unless you’re a construction worker or a coal miner or someone else that physically abuses his body to make a living, then burnout isn’t physical – it’s emotional or pyschological.  In other words, it’s in your head.

The questions we need to explore are:  1) How did it get there? and 2) What are you going to do about it?

Everyone who works for somebody else has to take on tasks that they deem unimportant, uninteresting or undesireable.  Most of the time, we tolerate these tasks and even tackle them with good humor and a good attitude.  We do this because A) we get to do enough other tasks that are engaging or B) we have a long-term view of the job and believe that better times are ahead.

Burnout occurs when we no longer enjoy enough engaging tasks or we believe that the scope of our work no longer aligns with our goals, ambitions or desires.  The mundane tasks that we tolerated before are now Sisyphean .  The long-term view of the job or the company is hopeless.

You might be experiencing burnout if you’ve never missed a day of work due to illness and you start having to talk yourself out of calling in sick when the alarm goes off on Monday morning.  Or, if you’ve always been an overachiever and now find yourself hanging around with the slackers and complaining about your boss or the economy or the commission plan or the snacks in the machine.

Burnout isn’t a bad attitude although you might get accused of having one.  Burnout is a symptom of a person who is no longer motivated to achieve the objectives of the company and can’t think of a way to achieve his own objections while continuing to work at the company.

Here are some action items you can take if burnout is charring the edges of your mind and threatening to engulf your entire brain:

1) Make a list of your professional goals – dividing them into short- and long-term

2) Prioritize the list.

a. In the short term, what is most important?  Having more responsibility? Doing more work that you enjoy?  Understanding how what you are doing is having an impact on the success of the company? Understanding how what you are doing is impacting the success of others?

b. Which goals are the most important long-term goals?  The amount of money you earn?  The title of your position?  Your work hours?  Responsibilities? With whom you work or to whom you report?

3) Sit down with your mentor and discuss how you’ve been feeling and share the work you’ve done on your priorities and goals.  Ask for some guidance in achieving the objectives.  Don’t have a mentor?  Talk to your spouse or your best friend outside of work.

4) Sit down with your boss or your bosses’ boss if more appropriate. Explain how you’ve been feeling and ask for some feedback about how you are viewed and valued.  Ask about the long-term viability of achieving your goals at the company.  Be sure to explain that you’ve come to her because you believe that your professional goals can be achieved while continuing to be employed at your current company.

5) Based on how that meeting goes you’ll know if you will soon be back on the right track at your current employer or if you’ll have the opportunity to achieve your goals somewhere else.

Don’t be afraid.  You will either get a renewal and a resurgeance at your current employer or you’ll experience it after being set free.  Being free from the emotional bondage of burnout will be worth it regardless of which outcome occurs.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Have you ever bought shoes at Nordstrom?  Besides greeting you pleasantly like everyone else; and having dress socks to substitute for your athletic socks like everyone else; and besides having their shoes on pedestals and expensive wood tables like everyone else; they do something I haven’t seen done anywhere else.

When you’ve tried on a pair or two of shoes and ask to see them in your size, the sales person disappears into the back room and comes out balancing what seems like dozens of shoe boxes.  I mean, he looks like The Cat in the Hat doing one of his parlor tricks as he weaves his way back to where you are sitting!

“What’s this?”, you exclaim silently as the shoes are set before you as if by magi delivering gold, frankincense and myrrh.

“I brought the shoes you requested and I found some others that you might like, as well,” the sales person says nonchalantly.

“You needn’t have gone to all this trouble,” you say, trying to keep from sounding like a child at Christmas.

“No trouble at all, sir”, the seller demurs.

While I am sometimes able to leave with just one pair of shoes, I always consider a second or third.  At the very least, the seller is able to interest me in shoe trees (“you would like to maintain your new shoes, wouldn’t you?”).

No doubt the sales managers at Nordstrom were looking at their statistics one day and realized that without the ability to prospect for shoe purchasers, they were either going to have to increase their closing percentage or their average ticket in order to raise sales.  Already at the top of their game when it comes to training they must have figured that raising the average ticket would be the most effective alternative.  The solution became offering more choices.

The clever part is that the additional choices are disguised as better customer service instead of a cheesy sales technique (“would you like an applie pie with that?”).  Brilliant and effective.

Now, you may not be able to offer more choices in your line of work.  The solution may be the solution.  But, don’t be in a big hurry to dismiss the possibility.  The key to the Nordstrom technique is to find out 1) The customer’s needs and 2) Their wants and then to offer choices accordingly.

Spend some time brainstorming before getting back into the routine in 2009 and see if you can use the ‘more choices’ technique to increase your top line revenue.

Popularity: 12% [?]