Training Tips

Rules for the Receptionist: What not to do when trying to get through

Too often, sales professionals rely on duplicitous methods to reach decision-makers. When making sales calls or visits, it is important for reps to know how to handle gatekeepers. Honesty is key. In his book Five Minutes with V.I.T.O., Anthony Parinello gives “The Five Indisputable Rules of Receptionist Gatekeeper Interactions” including:
1. Never lie about the purpose of the call.
2. Never claim to know someone you’ve never met.
3. Never disregard what you hear. If the receptionist asks a direct question, give a direct answer.
4. Never purposely ask for the “wrong” person, so they can connect you to the right person. It is bad form to ask for the janitor, in order to then ask him to connect you to the branch manager.
5. Never ask for information you could have acquired yourself, such as the CEO’s name. “You couldn’t check the web site? This kind of call doesn’t build rapport with gatekeepers. It irritates them,” Parinello says.
Receptionists can be fierce gatekeepers, but with honesty and common sense, it is possible to win them over.

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Helping Others Lead: Fostering leadership in sales reps

For sales reps to become successful in their field, they have to develop a certain level of leadership skills. In his sideroad.com article “Sales Leadership: Eleven Secrets to Sales Success Through Leadership,” Mark Dembo highlights attributes managers should foster in their employees, as well as themselves.

1. Courage. “Selling successfully requires courage; taking a risk where the odds may seem stacked against you; courage to make that extra call, to deal with the tough client or prospect, and to not let anything deter you,” Dembo writes.

2. Self-control. Discipline and planning are important to reach sales goals.

3. Fairness.

4. Decisiveness. This includes decisions on what goals to set, how to overcome obstacles and smaller decisions that we make every day.

5. Confidence in one’s plans. “Plan your time, and then take action on your plan each and every day,” Dembo says.

6. Initiative. Going the extra mile will gain sales reps respect, admiration and cooperation.

7. Charisma. Although sales is not a popularity contest, a pleasing personality and amiable disposition makes customers more willing to speak with and eventually buy from sales professionals.

8. Understanding. “Selling is about understanding what people do, and then helping them do it better,” Dembo explains.

9. Mastery of detail. Often even the smallest details can cause problems with contracts or deals.

10. Responsibility. Just as managers must assume full responsibility for errors, sales professionals should accept their blame for any mistakes. Accountability is important.

11. Cooperation. Reps must learn to collaborate with one another and their superiors to get things done.

“Think about these eleven areas of leadership, and ask yourself how you do on each of these items,” Dembo concludes. 

Training Tips

Ideal Sales People: Make customers love you

There are a few ways sales professionals can strive to be the type of people their customers enjoy buying from. In her salesopedia.com article “Build a Sales Team Your Customers Love to Buy From,” Colleen Francis offers the following tips:

• Showing compassionate. “You have to care about your customer — no matter how good an actor you are, faking it won’t work. Ask questions, take notes and lean in to show that you’re engaged,” Francis writes.

• Making eye contact. By looking customers in the eye, sales professionals build and strengthen personal relationships.

• Practicing generosity. Reps must give before they expect to receive a customer’s business. By offering referrals, solutions and ideas, sales professionals can gain rapport with customers.

• Being honest. Sales reps who openly share their intentions with customers usually get good responses.

• Waiting patiently. “All too often, salespeople jump way ahead of their prospect’s buying curve. When the sales person is trying to close while the prospect is still evaluating options or determining risk, trust is broken, the prospect feels pushed and the sale can disappear,” Francis says.

• Staying down-to-earth. Francis suggests using colloquial, simple language when speaking to customers.

• Using names. Reps should be aware of what the customer prefers to be called — first name or title. Also, overusing their name can sound “corny and false.”

“When customers enjoy working with you, you improve your chances of making a sale,” Francis explains. 

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Taking the Lead:  Reasons managers should mentor

The benefits of having a mentor are well known, but what about the benefits of becoming one? According to the leadershiparticles.net article “Becoming a Mentor,” the following three benefits make becoming a mentor a worthwhile endeavor:

• Maintaining knowledge. “When you become a mentor to somebody, you’re forced to keep yourself up-to-date on the latest happenings,” explains the author. There is a common idea that whatever knowledge exists in any given field right now will double within seven years. Being responsible for the development of another person demands that managers stay knowledgeable.

• Learning from reps. Constant research and development is happening in the world of sales. A new rep will be learning based on what has just been discovered. Someone who is brand new to the industry will have different perspectives and information than a manager who has been in the field for years.

• Networking. “By becoming a mentor to another person, you might come into contact with other folks that can help you out in your own endeavors that you previously might not have had contact with,” writes the author.

“Think for a moment about one potential person you can mentor. Give it some serious thought. Would it be worth it, for you and for them?” the author concludes.

Training Tips

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask: Overcoming question reluctance

Questioning is an essential part of the sales process. According to Marilee G. Adams’ highprobsell.com article “Question Reluctance Sabotages Sales,” sales professionals often experience anxiety when it comes to asking the right questions. Waiting until the end of a call, framing questions indirectly, failing to ask for clarification or failing to ask questions altogether are ways question reluctance manifests itself.

“Many participants in sales courses say they’re afraid to ask questions because it feels like they’re being rude or even interrogating prospective customers,” Adams says.

Because of the stigma commonly surrounding sales, questioning can often lead to resistance and discomfort for reps and prospects. Adams says reps ask themselves questions constantly in their stream of thoughts. Some questions can cause question reluctance, but others can cure it. For example, a sales professional might be thinking:

• Why don’t they hurry up and say yes?

• What’s going to happen if I don’t make my numbers?

• How am I going to mess this up?

• What if I offend the customer?

Some questions sales professionals should ask themselves instead are:

• Am I listening properly?

• What do they truly want out of this?

• How can I best be of service?

• How can I make this a win-win?

“Asking yourself and others empowering questions can make a positive difference everywhere in your life. Is that what you want?” concludes Adams. 

Training Tips

Focus on the Recovery: Keep your eyes forward

According to Mike Brooks’ mrinsidesales.com article “5 Ways to Capitalize on the Economic Recovery,” better days are ahead. In fact, for some, they have arrived! It is important for sales professionals to focus not only on the negative news about the economy, but also on the talk of recovery. Many sectors have already stabilized or are on the rise.

Brooks suggests the following ways of capitalizing on the recovery:

1. Finding evidence of recovery and talking about it. “The economy doesn’t have a mind of its own — it has our mind. By concentrating on the recovery already taking place, you’ll increase it,” Brooks writes.

2. Asking for the good news from customers. One way to turn someone’s attitude around is to focus the conversation on the positive parts of their business.

3. Telling stories about someone’s recovery. Remember two or three stories about someone’s success and share them with clients and prospects.

4. Practicing perfection. “Remember if you’re using poor sales techniques including weak openings, not qualifying prospects, etc., then you’ll have no chance regardless of what is happening in the economy,” Brooks explains.

5. Developing and using positive affirmations. Sales professionals can greatly benefit from writing down two or three positive thoughts and repeatedly returning to them — especially when things get tough.

“Don’t wait for the negative news stations to finally get on board — all the good sales will be long gone by then,” Brooks says. 

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Three Big Mistakes: Sales managers should avoid these

It is not always easy being the leader of a sales team. Sales managers are often under-trained and expected to know how to translate what they learned as a rep into leading a team. By avoiding Dave Kahle’s “Three Most Common Mistakes Sales Managers Make” from salesgravy.com, managers can find more success. His findings on leadership flaws include:

1. Lack of a focused sales structure. “Many sales structures are vestiges of years gone by, the legacy of salespeople who may not even be with the company today,” Kahle writes. The way a company’s sales department operates should be constantly reviewed and perfected.

2. Lack of reliable feedback for the sales reps. It is common for sales professionals to be overwhelmed with all the demanding aspects of their job. Managers can ease this tension and help them grow by offering constructive feedback on a regular basis. Regular coaching and reviews of performance can help reps keep their sense of direction.

3. Lack of sufficient training systems. Sales managers must take responsibility to fill in the training gaps left by their companies. Not all companies have specific entry-level courses for reps, so it falls upon the manager to prepare them for the challenge.

“While there are as many other management miscues as there are sales managers, these three are the most common. Address them, and you’ll be well on your way to outstanding success in sales management,” Kahle says.

Ignition

(Apologies for not posting some of this sooner - was waiting to see what some of the fallout would be from the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies and neglected this as a result. Mea culpa.)

That being said, here's a quick summary of automotive news and notes from various print publications (predominantly Automotive News and Car and Driver) as well as other information of interest in as few words as I could manage:

- Advertising estimates? OEMs focused on TV and Internet over print and radio.
- Cash for guzzlers program? Side effect of messing up used-car prices.
- Chrysler dealer cuts? Fired ASAP.
- Future plans for cut Chrysler dealerships? 52% say used-car lot.
- GM dealer cuts? Cut contractually by not renewing in 2010.
- GM-Opel? Reins likely to pass to Magna International but product development ties stay for now.
- Hummer? Production stops in August barring buyer.
- MPG rules? Jump 10.2 mpg by 2016 (to 35.5).
- Saturn? Penske proposed purchasing to partner Saturn and Samsung Motors at sales locations.
- Suppliers in trouble too? Visteon, Metaldyne and Hayes Lemmerz all filed for bankruptcy in May.

Bits & Bytes

Internet ad revenue down in Q1. Internet ad revenue saw its first year-over-year decline in Q1 2009, falling 5% over the previous year. Based on a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, internet-based advertising revenue was estimated at $5.5 billion for the first quarter of 2009; analysts are confident online ad spend will improve as the economy emerges from the current recession. For more information, visit The Associated Press.

Meebo offers engagment pricing option to advertisers. Meebo, a web-based chat integration service that lets customers access all of their messengers in one web interface, is adding an option for advertisers to pay for ads only when ads generate user interaction. The move is an attempt to differentiate the service from other display ads in an environment where unit prices are dropping due to oversupply. Advertisers utilizing the service will pay an average of $1 when users expand ads that appear at the bottom of chat sessions. For more information, read the full story at AdWeek.com.

Industry Notes

Pending home sale figures on the rise. In April, pending home sales —as measured by the National Association of REALTOR®'s Pending Home Sales Index — were up 6.7% to 90.3%, up from the March figure of 84.6%. The figure is also a 3.2% year-over-year increase. A value of 100 on the index is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first of five consecutive record years for existing homes and the first year the index was measured. For more information on the Pending Home Sales Index and this month's numbers, visit inman.com.

Realty Trac powers search feature on Keller Williams Web site. The two companies have joined in a strategic partnership, announced earlier this week. Realty Trac will provide national foreclosure data on kw.com; the data will allow consumers to search pre0forclosure, auction and bank-owned properties through the Web site. For more information, visit rismedia.com.

Roost.com launches redesigned Web site. The site, which features MLS-based property information shared through partner brokers, has been updated to include displays of maps, basic listing data and same screen view, according to Inman News. The site currently is host to approximately 3.69 million property listings which include foreclosure-related homes, for-sale-by-owner properties and new homes. To read the full story on the redesign, visit inman.com.

WaterCooler

The site Paper Cuts, which tracks newspaper industry job layoffs and buyouts, is reporting that the first five months of 2009 resulted in approximately 10,000 losses in the industry. The reported 2008 total was 15,974. This site has expanded its mapping to include a map of newspapers that have converted to an online-only format.

For those affected by the cuts, the SOC Exchange offers five tips for marketing yourself, which boil down to building a network, building a Web page, engaging that network, pursuing opportunities to continue education and utilize recommendations. The full article can be found here.

Accountemps does highlight the silver lining of the recession, though, in noting that "seven out of 10 workers surveyed say recession has had some positive career impact." The article, found here, surveyed 457 workers and found that over half had taken on new projects, gained more responsibility or taken on more challenging work. Additionally, 12% had been promoted.

For those in the market to relocate for the sake of their careers, WomenCo.com announced the top 25 cities for careers based on average commute, unemployment (both base figure and change since 2008), city growth rates, average salaries and cost of living. The top five were Austin, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area, N.C.

A variety of niche job sites continue to spring up. Nine sites highlighted recently in the curiously-named article "Job Search: 10 Specialized Sites" on MainStreet.com include Dice.com (technology), GovernmentJobs.com, eFinancialCareers.com, Medzilla.com (healthcare), SchoolSpring.com, HCareers.com (hotels/tourism), MarketingJobs.com, MediaBistro.com (creative/advertising services) and Guru.com (freelance project facilitation).

According to the Washington Post, McClatchy announced in May that one part of its strategy to handle its debt would be to adjust its classified ad strategy, pushing ads through CareerBuilder rather than through print and emphasizing online over print in general while adding sales commissions for agencies and rate incentives for advertisers working with the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium.

EDIT: In the "spoke too soon" department, forgot the May 2009 unemployment figures came out today. The official verdict was 9.4% unemployment in the United States, a figure last seen in the summer of 1983. Americans at the time were relieved the rate had fallen from a record 10.8% at the end of 1982.

NameDropping

In an industry of movers and shakers, here is a quick update on a few of the movers:

Jandell Herum, previously VP of advertising at The Milwaukee Sentinel, is now VP of sales at The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. She will oversee advertising and marketing both in print and online.

The Dallas (Texas) Morning News named Cyndy Carr senior VP, sales. She has previously served as a VP or senior VP in the areas of advertising/marketing, strategy and niche products. Her latest role with niche products resulted in the newspaper's Quick and Al Día publications, according to the release.

Also shifting roles at The Dallas Morning News is Fran Wills, whose oversight as senior VP will expand to include marketing in addition to interactive. Wills' role also includes overseeing classified advertising sales, a combined role in which she has influenced call center improvements, Web site changes and a partnership with Yahoo!

Congratulations to Jandell, Cyndy and Fran on your new roles!

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What Gets Them Moving

Seven Ways to Improve Productivity

It is important to hire the right people for sales positions, but it is equally important to keep them and keep them motivated. In her leadershiparticles.net article “How to Improve Profitability and Employee Productivity Statistics,” Annette Estes discusses ways in which managers can ensure maximum productivity, including:

1. Holding them accountable. “A Key Accountability is something the person in the job must do on a daily basis for the position to exist,” Estes writes.

2. Pinpointing required behaviors. Managers must look for how the job needs to be done to achieve maximum success.

3. Identifying job motivators. Sales managers should understand what kind of motivation is required to do the job well. For example, a humanitarian job would require someone with compassionate values.

4. Understanding behavioral styles. “You need to know the behavioral styles of the people in the job to determine if each matches the behavior required by the job,” Estes says.

5. Being aware of employee attitudes and motivators. What motivates employees? Which kinds of values does the job fulfill? What kinds of incentives and rewards does the employee respond to?

6. Learning behaviors and motivators of applicants. In order to match good employees with appropriate positions, it is important to acquire knowledge of the motivators of applicants during the hiring process.

7. Studying ways to motivate employees. “Assessments take all the guesswork out of hiring and developing top talent and make employee empowerment a crucial part of your retention process,” Estes explains.

“There’s no better way to get and keep the right people, than to take these seven steps to achieve greatness,” she concludes.