Leadership Lesson in the Face of Virginia Tech Tragedy

When the gunfire ceased nearly 3 dozen promising lives had ended: A professor doing valuable research about cerebral palsy; Future psychiatrists, biologists, international business executives, and engineers; Musical minds with songs yet to be written and sung; Charity workers, leaving a void for the needy others will fill or that will go unfulfilled; Many hopes, dreams, promises, aspirations, and potential were lost.

The following day the remaining students and faculty, alumni, family members, political leaders, and others gathered to gain a sense of what happened and how they would face the future. It was a magnificent program of reflection and contemplation during which many powerful words were spoken, none more powerful than the words at the conclusion.

Nikki Giovanni, professor of Black Studies at Virginia Tech, approached the podium using poetry to express her feelings. "We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall fearlessly, we are brave enough to bend and cry, and sad enough to know we must laugh again."'

She concluded in a very powerful voice:


"We Are Virginia Tech.


We are the Hokies!


We will prevail!


We will prevail!"





Then the quiet crowd leapt to its feet as one in a spontaneous and repeated chanting of the school's rallying cry, "We are Hokies! We will prevail!"

The powerful lesson for business people

Disappointment faces us each day as we build careers, business, families, and our life. It is not uncommon to face set-backs, albeit not nearly as severe as what has been set upon the students, faculty, and families of Virginia Tech.

We suffer a missed promotion, lost sales, lower than expected pay increases, and harsh words and insults. Sure we deserved the promotion. Yes, we made the best proposal for the new account. Definitely we did nothing to deserve the words of hatred or insult launched in our direction.

However these setbacks should not become our daily focus. We can dwell on the suffering and see the process healing and forgiveness as a struggle. Indeed it is. As Giovanni points out we know we must move forward.

Summary

Many will spend the next months and years examining what happened at Virginia Tech. They will prognosticate how it could have been prevented, as if it could have been. They will look at the lessons to be learned. These are both valuable activities when kept in perspective.

They majority of the time should be spent in looking at the future. How we can be stronger. How we can best make up for loses. How we can once again see hope and optimism. How we can develop new dreams and make them happen.

As Nikki Giovanni so eloquently challenged us, take time to reflect, but remember you must laugh again. If you do, your career will excel, your business will grow, and life becomes much more rewarding. You will prevail. You will prevail.

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The Myths of Selling

For more than a decade I have the opportunity to interact with thousands of salespeople and I have discovered a few myths that many of them have fallen prey to. Here are just a few.

1. Buyers are liars. I'm constantly amazed how many salespeople use this expression. Do people mislead salespeople? Absolutely. But this usually occurs when the sales person has failed to earn that person's trust. Gaining someone's trust means not pushing them into making a buying decision. It means focusing your attention on THEIR situation rather than trying to close the sale. Earning trust means treating people with respect and dignity even if they are not prepared to make a buying decision right now.

2. Anyone can be persuaded to buy. This may be true of impulse purchases but in today's business world, buyers are more savvy than ever before. I once heard someone say, "If you have a strong case you will clarify it. If you have a weak case, you will try and persuade the other person." The real key is to determine whether or not the person or company you are speaking to has a genuine need for your product or service. If they do not, then your best strategy is to move on to someone who does need AND want your particular solution. Even if a company could benefit from your product but they are reluctant to give you the opportunity to discuss, your time is better spent talking to other companies.

3. Price is the primary reason people make a buying decision. I will never dispute that price is a factor in the buying process but it is not usually the primary reason, unless, of course, you fail to establish the value of your products or services. If you don't clearly show how your solution will help your customer, price will become the default decision-making criteria.

4. A technique that works well for one person will work for everyone. Countless books have been written about one sales strategy or another and I have read many of them. In this search, I have discovered that we all have our unique personality and what works well for someone may not work as effectively for us. However, instead of discarding that particular idea you should look for a way to integrate it into your natural style and approach.

5. It's critical to close the sale as soon as possible. This is one of the craziest beliefs. Yes, it's important to move people towards a buying decision. Yes, it is important to gain commitments along the way. Yes, it is important to include a call to action in your proposals and conversations. But, it is also important to recognize that not every sales decision will be made quickly. Decisions can be delayed for a number of reasons, and in certain situations, trying to rush the customer to a commitment will actually cost you the sale.

6. Close the deal at any price. Too many people feel they have to close every deal, even if it does not make good business sense to do so. I have spoken to countless sales people who will accept a deal that has virtually no margin just so they can get the sale. I recall talking to a store owner who quickly matched the prices of her competitor in order to prevent people from going to her competition. However, this seldom creates loyalty and only conditions that customer to continue asking for a better price. Decisions like this cost you or your company money. If you are not making your desired gross profit on a particular sale, then you need to consider whether it makes good business to accept it. I know small business owners who will offer substantial discounts to a large company in the hopes of generating additional business from that client in the future. Unfortunately, they end up giving away their services and expertise because they don't get any more business from that company. They neglected to negotiate an upfront agreement.

7. Do whatever it takes to get the sale. Manipulative, aggressive, high-pressure sales tactics work. But, they don't create loyal customers and clients. You may win the sale, but in the long run, you will lose the customer. I once had a participant in a workshop proudly state, "I don't care what my customer's want, I'll sell them what I need to hit my quota." Ouch! As a sales professional I take serious offense to this mentality and type of behavior.

Selling is an honorable career and sales professionals need to avoid falling prey to these myths. Focus on helping your customer make an educated buying decision. Concentrate on asking high-quality questions and positioning your solution appropriately and these myths will not affect you.

© 2007 Kelley Robertson, All rights reserved.

When the Seller is Ready, A Buyer Will Appear!

One of the cool things about having started my sales career in my teens is now being able to look back upon decades of ups and downs, big and small sales, hits and misses, and miscellaneous windfalls and shortfalls.

What are the enduring truths, the bedrock conclusions that I can offer?

You'll see some of them distributed across more than a thousand articles and a dozen books that I've written, but for now, let me share this take-away with you:

"When the Seller is Ready, A Buyer Will Appear."

You've heard the kindred expression that this taps into, I'm sure: "When the student is ready, a teacher will appear."

Both statements are true. The key here is to understand READINESS, in our case, the readiness to sell someone something.

Most sales training and clever selling models owe their distinctiveness to techniques, little do's and don'ts that can boost sales. Learning a nifty new close, for example, can give you a spike in results, if only because it is new and we tend to get enthusiastic about anything that promises to deliver an instant edge.

But what I'm speaking of here, READINESS, isn't technical; it's psychological or you might even say it's philosophical. Some would label it metaphysical and mystical, but I don't care.

By being ready, I mean you are FULLY COMMITTED TO ACHIEVING A TANGIBLE RESULT RIGHT NOW, and YOU HAVE ALREADY INTENDED THE OUTCOME.

A fellow I knew in the recording business had a huge piece of obsolete equipment for which he wanted to get a few bucks instead of paying to have it hauled off as junk. He was in a complete state of READINESS to part with it, at a profit.

He couldn't find a buyer here in the United States, but he did find one in Mexico, in a matter of mere days. He simply wouldn't allow for any other possibility except to sell that "pink elephant" at a nifty price; and he did just that.

The opposite of readiness isn't un-readiness, though I think that term is fine. It is closer to "ambivalence," that netherworld of "Maybe I'll get a sale, and maybe I won't; but I'll give it a try, and we'll just see what happens."

In this frame of mind sales don't happen, at least with the kind of frequency and regularity that a professional requires.

So, instead of blaming buyers for their fence-sitting, examine your own.

And tell yourself this:

When the seller is ready, a buyer will appear!

Opening A Dollar Store - Fuel Prices Can Affect Sales

As fuel prices creep higher and higher, the quick trip to the store that consumers took in the past now means much higher transportation expenses. Some consumers will ignore the increases while others will change their shopping habits. If you are opening a dollar store it is important that you do everything possible to minimize the impact on sales that this can have on your business.

When first opening a dollar store commit to carry the essential products that your customers want and need whenever they enter your store. What those products will be may vary from store to store. However in most cases it will include daily needs such as toothpaste, deodorant, household paper products and cleaners. If you are located near business office buildings it will also likely include items such as pens, pencils and paper. Find out what your customers want and need and stock those items.

Never allow your store to run out of the core products that you identify. There is not a bigger turnoff than for a customer to make a special trip to your store and then find that you have allowed items that were expected to be in stock to run out. With the costs associated with transportation customers will be even more unhappy with you when this happens. When opening a dollar store never allow this to happen.

As you are opening a dollar store think about the things that you can do to attract customer attention. Add eye-catching banners and special seasonal merchandise to attract attention. Rotate store merchandise frequently so customers begin to expect that you will always have something new and different when they come to your store.

Do everything possible to make the shopping experience pleasant for your customers. Be sure that you pay attention to store lighting and music as you are opening a dollar store. Aesthetics will pay big dividends as your store becomes established. People will want to come back time and time again.

Are you opening a dollar store? As fuel prices creep ever-higher it is important that the entrepreneur invest the time to really understand the steps that can be taken to make their store the one that customers are willing to pay the extra transportation costs to visit. Have the right products always in-stock. Create a great shopping experience. Keep your shoppers coming back.

To Your Dollar Store Success!

Managing Your Self Talk To Get Powerful Sales Results

I want to thank my teachers Cynthia Loy Darst, Faith Fuller, and Marita Fridjhon for their brilliant ideas on this topic. I owe them all.

Have you ever had a project where you succeeded? Sure you have. So have I. Mine include starting a business, growing my business, staying fit, having a family, and buying a house.

Have you ever had a project where you didn't succeed? Yes, I have, too. Mine include not developing a solid business niche, not losing weight, not networking regularly, and not staying in touch with out-of-town friends.

Recently I have learned a new way of looking at why we succeed or fail at certain goals or projects. The concept is called the Inside Team. We are heavily influenced by the voices we listen to from our Inside Team, that group of players who live inside our head and talk to us through our inner dialogue. These voices variously cheer us on, bring us down or get in our way.

You know the dialogue. You're thinking about changing something in your life, say, launching a new business development push, or finding new ways of helping your sa1es team surpass their goals. Then the Inside Team chatter begins:

Voice One: "Well, what if I tried this? Yeah, that sounds like a blast!" Voice Two:"Hold on, you don't have the time or energy for that." Voice Three: "I've got to try something – anything! "Voice Four:" Maybe you should just give up. You'll nev/er get around to it and you know it." Back to Voice One:" Yes, I will, I just need to find the right approach."

For every endeavour you wish to fulfill, for every issue with which you struggle, for every arena of your life, there is a corresponding Inside Team.

Here are a few members of my team who come to visit when I think of a new way to develop my business (with the appropriate names I have given them and their typical comments).

Faith, Not Fear: "It'll work out. You've been around the block enough times to know that it will."

Rottenella: "Why bother trying? You're a loser and you won't succeed."

The Lone Ranger: "Take care of all the details yourself and do everything perfectly today."

The Turtle: "Whoa…slow it down. Slow and steady wins the race."

My job is to choose which voice to listen to, and when. By paying closer attention to the helpful and encouraging voices, and toning down the critical and fearful ones (they'll nev/er go away, and there is wisdom in each voice), I can clear the way to coming up with the best solution.

Here's an exercise to try so you can start to identify some members of your own Inner Team and how they influence you. Think about a project you want to start or a goal you want to achieve. As you listen to your own thoughts you'll notice a dialogue beginning to form in your mind.

Take a moment to listen to the messages you're hearing and the differing values that are fighting for attention. These are the voices of your Inside Team as they debate about that project or goal.

What does this exercise have to do with managing/coaching sa1es people? If, as a sa1es coach, you can help your sa1es people identify their Inside Team players and access the wisdom of each voice, you help them make conscious choices about who they want to listen to, and who they want to send to the bench.

Here's how to coach your sa1espeople using the Inside Team concept:

Ask each team member to identify a project with which he or she is struggling.

Introduce the Inside Team concept.

Ask about the struggle, with an ear to hearing different Inside Team members.

Help each individual identify 5 – 7 different players. You may have to begin by sharing your insights about the players you hear, and checking whether you are interpreting correctly. The person may or may not agree with your interpretation, and that's fine. The point is to get the ball rolling.

During the discussion, here are some questions to ask each sa1esperson:
Who's that talking?
What is she or he saying?
What's important to this player?
What is he concerned about?
What does she think you are going to forget?

Have fun with this. The results, I promise you, will be profound.

The First Step In Sales

Most if not all sales processes consists of three steps. The first one is a very simple one. It is such a basic step that many tend to forget to use it. Even in a normal communication process this activity is also required, but often source of confusion when the complete step has been skipped or ignored. But whether it is the internal sales process, communicating the goals and activities to pursue or the external sales process, it starts with information.

How often do you come across a situation that you have not been informed your self by your manager? Or, as a manager have you ever forgotten to inform your team members about an important issue that will have consequences later on?

The first step in sales is about informing the other party, the other side or person on the line. Sales is not only about selling a product, but many times about gaining commitment. And the first step in doing so is informing someone.

The straightforward sales process also starts with this activity. And much of this sales process is executed by none-specialized sales agents. Instead, marketing departments take most of this responsibility. And the reason is simple, if you are able to inform more people (about a new feature) the conversion to a next step will increase automatically.

Think about the tv-campaigns, the billboards down the roads or the banners on the net. It is all about showing that you (your business) is there, waiting for the unknown prospect to approach. Telemarketing too, is often initiated after prospects have been previously informed. A normal approach is that they receive some kind of information, a leaflet or whatever so that the telesales person can elaborate on existing information – have you received our brochure yet? What did you think of it?

There are three main steps in the sales process. This first step can have a massive approach, where your organization can contact many potential clients. The distance between your (sales) organization and the potential client is still very large. In the next two steps this distance will have to be narrowed down.

© 2007 Hans Bool

Mannequin Search

Mannequins are an essential part to every clothing retail store, and thus, when any clothing retail expands their sales floor or decides to open a new store, they are forced to begin the hunt for a new battalion of mannequins, full size realistic mannequins, mannequin forms, child mannequins, and the like. There are a number of places to track down the right mannequins such as the Internet, mass production manufactures, and custom mannequin designers. There are even some used mannequin providers for those on a tight budget. Which place or business you decide to consider depends entirely upon the type of product you are looking for.

There are a few good websites that provide mannequins online. Some of these websites manufacture their own mannequins and some provide those designed and built by prestigious mannequin manufacturers. There are also websites that provide economy mannequin product in a separate section from their regular mannequin stock. These mannequins are still great for showing off clothes but are just a little lower in production quality (materials) and sometimes design. Some websites even sell used designer mannequins to keep those mannequins, still in working order, recycled. If you begin your mannequin search online, look for websites that provide pictures and descriptions so that you can be sure of the type of mannequin you are purchasing, and feel free to email the retail website contact with any questions you might have about the materials or design. This is especially important when considering used mannequins, however, it is also important to purchase used mannequins as quickly as possible. If you find the style you want, it may be gone tomorrow because this is not a manufacturer that has a certain number of this type of mannequin in stock. Think about ordering several mannequins at a time to cut down on shipping, if you can. This can also save you a bundle considering some mannequins require a sizeable box for shipping.

Mass produced mannequins are very popular and readily available, both online and direct from manufacturers. The best thing about these mannequins is that they will always be in stock and reliable. However, these mannequins are produced by the hundreds or even thousands and may often have a quite generic form. If you are looking for something unique to accommodate a somewhat unique sales environment, this may not be the solution for you and your store.

The mannequin providers at the opposite end of this spectrum create completely custom and unique mannequins every time. Though these are very high in quality, they are also quite expensive. You are paying for the artistic expression and craftsmanship of the maker. If you are considering selling designer clothing or apparel this might be a must, but for most retail environments, it is entirely up to the taste of the store display designer and the size of the budget.

Think about these different kinds of mannequin providers and scout out a few of them on your own to decide what it is you are looking for. The online sales world is growing rapidly, and some of the best providers with the largest inventories can be found on the Internet. Good luck finding the mannequins that will bring your store to life.