NZ Sales Manager Issue 9

SEPT 3RD 2008 / Issue 9

Weight, Count & MeaSure 3 key words to remember

Professional

or Painful?

The fine line between following up or annoying your prospects

Physical v Emotional Fitness

Measuring emotional fitness

SEPTEMBER 3 rd / Issue 9 5 THIS WEEKS MUST READ PROFESSIONAL OR PAINFUL Strategies to ensure following up your clients is not seen as hassling them

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8 Weight, Count and MeaSure - three key words to remember Jim Rohn explains the

link between measuring

and results 10 TWO MINUTE TOP-UP Physical vs Emotional Fitness How do you measure emotional fitness?

11 NZSM CALENDAR

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12 BOOK REVIEW FISH! Imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day.

13 SALES TRAINING DIRECTORY

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15 THE CLOSE

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I

heard a story last week that I thought might come in handy as lead-in for a sales meeting or if you ever run out of ideas for lectures for your kids.

“On the wild plains of Africa, when the sun rises to signal the beginning of another brutal and scorching day, the mighty Lion knows that on that day if he wants to eat, he is going to have to be able to run faster than the slowest Antelope. Meanwhile, not so far away, the sun is also rising on the Antelope, who knows that if he wants to survive the day, he is going to have to be able to run faster than the fastest Lion.”

“So what have the dietary habits of the Lion got to do with selling?” you may be wondering. Well to be honest I’m not entirely sure, but the intended moral of the story is this… It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Lion or an Antelope - when the sun rises each day, you better be ready to run.

ABOUT / Short, sharp and to the point, New Zealand Sales Manager is a free fortnightly e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forward-thinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals.

EDITOR / Richard Liew DESIGNER / Jodi Olsson ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / +64-9-361 1375 or email richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz CONTENT ENQUIRIES / +64-9-361 1375 or email richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADDRESS / NZ Sales Manager Magazine,127a Ponsonby Road,

The one thing I do know is that seeing your customer as an Antelope, and yourself as the Lion, is not the correct way to look at this analogy!!! (No wonder your customers are running away from you!)

Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ. +64-9-361 1375 WEBSITE / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Rather I think that the message is that none of us can afford to be complacent, and that whether we’re running to thrive or to just to survive, we all need to be constantly training to run faster.

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Professional or Painful?

Strategies to ensure following up your clients is not seen as hassling them

By Paul Newsom

us is calling in a couple of days time, we’ll talk to her thank you’. We then received several more phone calls wanting to know if we had made a decision or wanted another meeting.

All of them were polite and none persuasive, but all were hassling.

This is an extreme case and I’m not suggesting that all sales people hassle their prospects, but it raises the question of where the line is between respectful follow up and objectionable hassling.

In this case they didn’t seem to get it that every call lessened their chances of getting any business from us.

Let’s be honest here, when was the last time you made a follow up call to a client and they said – ‘thanks for calling. I’ve been waiting for days for you to call so that I could give you the order’. Buyers don’t do that.

If they want to and are ready to do business they call you. Don’t they?

But we all know, follow up is necessary…

So How Do You Follow Up?

W

e received a cold telephone call at home a couple of weeks ago from a company offering private tuition for children. Like most parents there is nothing better to stir our emotions than getting the best for our children. Their cold call was successful and we met with a sales representative a few days later.

As the meeting ended, we were promised a follow up call in a couple of days. That was fine – it gave us time to talk and were to expect a call.

Half an hour after the meeting the phone rang. This company wanted to arrange another meeting with us. We said ‘no, the lady who has just seen

Follow up is necessary. You have to progress the sale. People are busy, reprioritise and forget things. They need help in making a decision, and your call may provide that help through your ability to aid the logical decision or influence emotion.

But self serving questions don’t help or encourage anybody to buy.

Don’t pour your credibility down the drain by looking like a desperate sales person and asking the obvious questions like ‘have you decided yet’?, or the dreaded ‘can I do anything more to help’?

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So how do you follow up, build trust and maintain credibility at the same time?

1.

At every engagement with the client, set the next step then stick to it.

This way you are managing the clients’ expectations, and will not appear to be hassling.

If you have agreed to talk again in a weeks time, then talk again in a weeks time.

2.

When you make the follow up call be prepared to discuss their business, not yours.

(Your business is what you want to know – did they receive the information, when are they going to place the order, what you can do to help?….)

If you are sending some information by the end of the week, then send it by the end of the week.

Include a note to say what will happen next, then stick to the next step.

Their business is about how you will: •

Reduce their costs

•

Improve their process efficiency

•

Help them become more profitable

•

Find ways to get ahead of their competition

•

Anticipate and solve future problems

If you do this well, the answers to your questions of when a decision will be made and what you should do next will come out in conversation.

On long lead time opportunities, consider these ways to maintain contact and build trust with the client: • Send some additional information, a report, or a website link that will be of use or value to the client.

•

Introduce clients to your network

•

Help at a project or event

• Be there when a client is not expecting it – eg, send a card or make a ‘good luck’ phone call.

Paul Newsom is Learning & Development Manager of the Rev Sales Network overseeing the content and quality of the RSN’s executive sales training programs.

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Three Key Words to Remember:

Weigh, Count and Measure An old master explains the link between measuring and results

By Jim Rohn

T

hree key words to remember: weigh, count and measure. Now why weigh, count and measure? To see what your results are from your activity, your attitude and your philosophy. If you find that the results are not to your liking there are only three places to look. Your philosophy needs to be fine-tuned; your attitude needs to be strengthened or your disciplines need extra skill. But that’s it. Activity, attitude and philosophy create results.

Now on results I teach that life expects you to make measurable progress in reasonable time. But, you must be reasonable with time. You can’t say to someone every five minutes, how are you doing now? That’s too soon to ask for a count. Guy says, “I haven’t left the building yet, give me a break!” Now you can’t wait five years - that’s too long. Too many things can go wrong waiting too long for a count to see how you’re doing.

Here are some good time frames: Number one - at the end of the day. You can’t let more than a day go by without looking at some things and making

progress. If you are angry, try to solve it before the sun goes down. Don’t carry anger for another day. It may be too heavy to carry. If you try to carry it for a week, it may drop you to your knees. So some things you must get done in a day.

Here’s the next one - a week. We ask for an accounting of the week so we can issue the pay. And whatever you’ve got coming that’s what you get; when the week is over. Now in business there are two things to check in the course of the week. Your activity count and your productivity count. Because activity leads to productivity we need to count both to see how we’re doing.

My mentor taught me that success is a numbers game and very early he started asking me my numbers. He asked, “How many books have you read in the last ninety days?” I said, “Zero”; he said, “Not a good number.” He said, “How many classes have you attended in the last six months to improve your skills?” And I said, “Zero.” He said, “Not a good number.” Then he said, “In the last six years that you’ve been working, how much money have you saved and invested?” I said, “Zero” and he said, “Not

a good number.” Then here’s what he said, “Mr. Rohn, if these numbers don’t change your life won’t change. But” he said, “If you’ll start improving these numbers then perhaps you’ll start to see everything change for you.”

Success and results are a numbers game. John joins this little sales company. He’s supposed to make 10 calls the first week just to get acquainted with the territory.

So on Friday we call him in and say what? “How many calls?” He says, “Well.” You say, “John, ‘well’ won’t fit in the little box here. I need a number.” Now he starts with a story. And you say, “John, the reason I made this little box so small is so a story won’t fit. All I need is a number because if you give us the number we’re so brilliant around here we could guess the story.” It’s the numbers that count. Making measurable progress in reasonable time.

Here’s the best accounting. The accounting you make of yourself. Don’t wait for the government to do it, don’t wait for the company to do it. But you’ve got to add up some of your own numbers and ask, “Am I making the progress I want and will it take me where I want to go now and in the future?” You be the judge!

Reproduced with permission from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine.

Visit www.jimrohn.com for more.

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Physical vs Emotional Fitness

By Paul Kernot

[

How do you measure emotional fitness?

W

hen I was young I was a competitive swimmer in a club. I trained three evenings a week at the local pool and was pretty fit physically.

At 21 I was a swimming instructor in London. I swam a mile every day before work and was still physically fit.

These days I play soccer and do Martial Arts and am still physically fit. But several years ago I realised that that’s not the only kind of fitness I need.

Back in my swimming days we did sprint training fairly regularly.

We had 30 seconds to do one length, rest, then dive in for the next one. Not built for sprinting I was usually the last out of the pool at the end of each of the 12 lengths in each set.

Then we would get a whole 90 seconds rest and do it all again! During the 90 seconds rest I would hold my thumb on my wrist and count my pulse rate on the big clock on the wall.

Physical fitness is measured by recovery rate. It’s not so much about how fast or how long or how high but how long it takes for your heart rate to get back to normal.

In seminars these days I often ask the question; How do

you measure mental and emotional fitness?

And the answer is the same - Recovery rate.

How long does it take you to recover from the inevitable set backs we all experience in life? What methods do you use to stay mentally and emotionally balanced?

Take some time to find some ways to “Switch” your mind from negative to positive, any time you need to. Your ability to instantly change your thought process and therefore your mood and general outlook whenever necessary, is a powerful tool that you too can learn with practice.

Paul Kernot is a highly respected corporate trainer, who will increase your sales and assist you to realise personal goals. You can visit his website at www.pksalestraining.co.nz.

NZSM / SEPt 3rd 2008 / 10

NZSM CALENDAR SAT 6 SEPT

MON 8 SEPT Sales Development David Forman Auckland

SUN 7 SEPT FRI 12 SEPT

SAT 13 SEPT

Consultative Sales Skills NZIM Northern Auckland Sales Development David Forman Dunedin

WED 3 SEPT

TUE 9 SEPT Sales Development David Forman Auckland Sales Development David Forman Dunedin Sales Attack (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland

FRI 19 SEPT

FRI 5 SEPT

Effective Proposal Writing David Forman Auckland

Effective Proposal Writing David Forman Auckland

WED 10 SEPT

THU 11 SEPT

Sales Development David Forman Auckland Sales Development David Forman Dunedin

TUE 16 SEPT

WED 17 SEPT

Customer Service Skills NZIM Northern Taupo Key Account Management David Forman Wellington Sales Development David Forman Wellington Creating a WOW in Your Customer Service Pro-Formance Driven Auckland

Customer Service Skills NZIM Northern Taupo Key Account Management David Forman Wellington Sales Development David Forman Wellington Selling In The New Economy Rev Sales Network Auckland Sales Basics Geewiz Christchurch

Basic Sales Skills NZIM Northern Auckland Sales Development David Forman Wellington Serious Selling Geewiz Christchurch

SAT 20 SEPT

MON 22 SEPT

Sales Development David Forman Wellington

Negotiation David Forman Wellington

Motivation & Attitude Geewiz Christchurch

Essential Selling Skills (Healthcare only) Pro-formance Driven Auckland

SUN 21 SEPT WED 24 SEPT

THU 25 SEPT

FRI 26 SEPT

Negotiation David Forman Wellington Essential Selling Skills (Healthcare only) Pro-formance Driven Auckland Advanced Serious Selling Geewiz Auckland

TUE 30 SEPT

Consultative Sales Skills NZIM Northern Auckland Sales Development David Forman Auckland Sales Development David Forman Dunedin

MON 15 SEPT

SUN 14 SEPT THU 18 SEPT

THU 4 SEPT

SAT 27 SEPT

TUE 23 SEPT Negotiation David Forman Wellington Essential Selling Skills (Healthcare only) Pro-formance Driven Auckland Sales Skills Level 1 EMA Northern Auckland Sales Basics Geewiz Auckland

MON 29 SEPT

SUN 28 SEPT WED 1 OCT

THU 2 OCT

FRI 3 OCT

SAT 4 OCT

SUN 5 OCT NZSM / SEPt 3rd 2008 / 11

BOOK REVIEW

FISH!

By Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D, Harry Paul and John Christensen

I

magine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day.

In this parable, a fictional manager has the responsibility of turning a chronically unenthusiastic and unhelpful department into an effective team. Seattle’s Pike Place Fish is a world famous market that is wildly successful thanks to its fun, bustling, joyful atmosphere and great customer service.

By applying ingeniously simple lessons learned from the Pike Place, our manager discovers how to energise and transform her workplace. Addressing the 21st century’s most pressing work issues with an engaging metaphor and an appealing message, “Fish!” offers wisdom that is easy to grasp, instantly applicable, and profound. $19.99 from www.fishpond.co.nz

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IT'S NO JOKE

Q: H ow many salespeople does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:

Four. One to change the bulb and three to pull the chair out from under him.

NZSM / SEPt 3rd 2008 / 14

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm�

- Winston Churchill

NZSM / SEPt 3rd 2008 / 15