by Art Waskey | Sep 9, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly
Make personal connections
To remain competitive in a world with lots of alternative purchasing channels, you need to know your customer. I advise management and employees to practice what Stephen Covey describes in his book, The 8th Habit, from Effectiveness to Greatness. Covey writes “The 8th Habit gives you a mind-set and a skill-set to constantly look for the potential in people… we must learn to listen to our clients and fellow employees.” When we do this, we “indirectly affirm people’s worth as whole people and empower the unleashing of their potential.” In this way you are able to establish personal connections with clients. These connections enable you to find the right solution for the customer, one tailored to his needs.
Four ways to connect
Here are four ways to know your customer and strengthen your personal connections.
- Clarity – To know the customer’s goals or priorities, it is imperative to ask clarifying questions. These questions are best posed in person so you can read your client’s body language.
- Commitment – Whether selling or leading others, you need to project commitment through your emotional energy for the task at hand. If your commitment is strong, the client or team member will pick up on that positive energy and be more willing to embrace your proposals.
- Translation – Be sure you are asking the right questions, ones that reveal your prospect’s wants and needs. Translate these responses into solutions that match the needs of your customer. Remember, to accomplish your goals, they must first be relevant to the goals of your customer.
- Trust – Unless you have the genuine involvement of the strategic decision-maker, particularly regarding his values and line-of-sight priorities, you won’t be successful. Only by making a sufficient emotional connection with the client will you gain the kind of trust that enables you to close deals.
Finding balance
Focus your attention on the people you work for and with. Selling and leadership has been, is, and will continue to be about making personal connections. Find an effective balance between the use of the latest digital technology and your innate people skills. A vital component of that equation is knowing your customer and the added-values that contribute to his goals and priorities.
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by Art Waskey | Aug 31, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly
Is anyone listening?
As automation replaces people in customer service positions, the sense that no one is really listening grows. This makes providing personal service a genuine plus for your business.
The debacle of my recent passport application illustrates the frustrations we face while talking to machines. Having submitted the required passport paperwork, I received a text from the State Department with a FedEx shipping date. As I was scheduled to be out of town that day, I contacted FedEx. This involved cycling through the numerous automated attendant steps of FedEx’s answering system and waiting. When I was eventually contacted by someone at FedEx, I was asked the same questions that I had already entered in the automated system.
Back into the Void
My delivery was rescheduled but that date came and went with no passport arriving. I was forced back into the personal void of the automated attendant system. Again, I supplied it with my information and filed a lost shipment report. The requisite 30 day waiting period passed, with no package delivered. I had to use the automated attendant to notify FedEx and was informed that my lost package claim report was closed, with no resolution.
People Solve Problems
This led me to re-initiate my passport application with the State Department where I was faced with a similar automated process. Again, there was no one to talk to. I eventually turned to my US Senator’s office where actual people helped me resolve the problem.
Personal Service is Value-Added Service
This type of consumer frustration is all too common today. Businesses that can provide in-person service, however, can use this problem to their advantage. Someone answering the phone or behind the counter in your shop, who can address customer needs, provides real value-added to any transaction.
How do you provide personal service that is neck above the rest? Are you an independent gas distributor (or other business) with a dedicated person or team to answer calls and provide face-to-face product or service advice? If so, you have a significant advantage. If not, consider how offering that personal service will benefit your customers and make them feel the most satisfied.
We can help! If you are looking for some ideas or even a pathway to get to significant growth, we offer executive coaching and team development training. Just contact us today to learn more.
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by Art Waskey | Aug 26, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Feeling Appreciated
It is easy to slip into the Best Supporting Rep role. Filling an urgent client request or fixing a problem begets customer gratitude, and, we all want to feel appreciated. When the positive feedback from the “need to please” becomes your driver, overall business can suffer however. Being dependent on customer kudos can compromise your ability to prioritize what is in your funnel. You need a balanced sales approach.
Balanced Sales – Adjusting Your Approach
Customer/rep codependency is easy to spot. You are paying lots of attention to select customers but losing ground on new prospects and accounts. Certain key accounts are being neglected. Despite working long hours to please your customers, you feel you can’t keep up. If you find yourself struggling to put more balance in your sales approach, try these ideas.
- Delegate – Let someone else in your organization promptly return calls. Your support staff is generally equipped to handle most issues and to arrange shipping or hotshot delivery. Once a situation is resolved, you can follow up with a text to your customer. Avoid a phone call so you don’t create a situation where you become overly involved.
- Realign resources – If you have allowed the customer to become dependent on you as the authority figure you need to realign resources. Offer your overly dependent customer the name of someone else inside your organization that can help him. Also suggest that he take advantage of what your store or warehouse have to offer if he goes there directly.
- Create the right expectation – For customers that call often, arrange a meeting to review call frequency and visits. Many times customers don’t realize that they are contacting you too often. When they do, they will normally participate in corrective actions that get their problems solved just as effectively.
A respectful understanding
The best salespeople built strong relationships. These can make you feel obligated to be available at all times. Using the guidelines above, you can achieve a respectful understanding of your professional responsibilities to your customers. With a balanced approach to sales, you will still feel appreciated but not overwhelmed.
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by Art Waskey | Aug 16, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
I enjoyed 47 wonderful years in a career as a sales executive and leader, seeing tremendous business growth during that time. When I reached “retirement” age, I decided to leave my job of 34 years. Rather than retire, I decided to transition to a new business, one that involved pursuing my passions. Today I head up a successful consulting and speaking business based on my writing, speaking, and consulting expertise. In this position, I am constantly asked what it takes to get a start-up off the ground. I always say that passion is the number one tool necessary to grow your business.
Critical Tools and Tips for Business Growth
Along with passion, here are three other critical tools required for business growth.
- Build a network – To sell yourself, your product, or your service, requires an ever-expanding grid of relationships. A sure way to build a strong network is to be cooperative. When you help someone find a new client, they are very likely to recommend your services. For example, a person from my professional past “liked” a posting of mine on LinkedIn. As part of that interchange, I gave him the contact information for one of my clients. Within minutes, he responded by connecting me with one of his clients that could benefit from my consulting experience. This type of exchange is not an anomaly; it happens all the time.
- Learn from mentors – I am privileged to have counsellors who believe in my abilities. They often have more faith in me than I have in myself! Meet with your coaches weekly. Schedule one-hour virtual conference calls. During these conversations, challenging ideas will be presented that introduce you to new ways of thinking and doing. This leads to growth.
- Work with peers – I have a group of 5 business acquaintances I conference with on a monthly basis. Our exchange of strategies, relationships, and industry changes is invaluable to me and my business objectives. Their insights enable me to change direction if needed and adjust my thinking at critical times. Discussions with my peers have allowed me to take advantage of opportunities that I would otherwise miss.
Grow your business
Work continuously on building your network and schedule time to meet with mentors and peers. These business tools are essential to growing a business. Be sure to apply them to your endeavors.
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by Art Waskey | Aug 2, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Being in a leadership position is an honor we work toward, but once there, you may find yourself unsure of how you go about handling success. Have you ever found yourself proud to be put in charge, but not quite sure how to proceed? As a seasoned leader, I find that the most important place to start is to consider and understand the needs of those you lead.
An effective leader
Here are some of my insights into what makes an effective leader.
Authority and responsibility – Accepting a position in sales, or any other form of leadership, is a choice you make. Such positions mark you as a representative of your company and enable you to expand your realm of influence. This is a large responsibility and one you must treat with respect.
Develop power wisely – Find and master the tools you need to succeed. As you progress in your sales and leadership roles, you will develop additional gifts and talents through “hardwired capacities.” Learn from others in your company and from your manufacturers’ reps. Let “iron sharpen iron.”
Permission – When I proved to my parents I was a safe driver, I was given the keys to the family car. Likewise, as I climbed the sales management ladder, I was given the keys to the businesses I was managing. If you believe in yourself and work hard, there will come a time when you are trusted with permission to lead. That permission comes with an understanding that you no longer have to ask what to do but are expected to know what to do and to report on it.
Life-satisfying privilege – In his book, See You at The Top, Zig Ziglar wrote: “The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job. Success is not a destination, it is the journey, it’s the direction in which you are traveling. The privilege of leading people is that you can get what you want, instead of having to want what you get.
Designed for accomplishment
Handle your success by carefully considering your position of authority, responsibility and power. The permission you have been given to lead is a life-satisfying privilege. As Ziglar would say, “You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”
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by Art Waskey | Jul 27, 2021 | Art of Sales Weekly
Napoleon Hill posited, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Hill is an example of someone who found his self-confidence later in life by believing in himself. He had repeated business failures, three failed marriages, was charged with fraud, and falsified his education. Yet, he was able to overcome the negativity of his early years and write the classic business-positive book, Think and Grow Rich, at age 54. He died at 87 a successful and respected man.
Overcome Discouragement
We all have to overcome some form of discouragement in our lives. No one gets a pass, so it is important to learn how to deal with negativity. I was named after my maternal grandfather, who told me at age 12 that he was ashamed that I bore his name. He said I was lazy and wouldn’t amount to anything, words I carried with me for too many years. Now I realize it’s better to treat comments like these in the same way as the cat who reacts to his jump on a hot stove. It may burn you once, but now you know never to go near that place again. Move on.
When we free ourselves from negative thoughts, we are able to go forward. Belief in one’s-self enables you to see the needs of others and be opened to serving them. As Hill wrote, “I will eliminate hatred, envy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude towards others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and myself.” The most successful people I know all believe in themselves and have the ability to discern the needs of others.
Find your purpose
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stated, “The greatest tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still in him.” I always believed that God had a great and unique purpose for me. By acting responsibly in the world, we uncover the meaning in our lives and can play our music at top volume.
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