Checking the Pulse

You are ending a sales call and the buyer says: "well I need to think it over and compare with the other proposals I have, I will let you know."

What do you do?

Try some or all of these things:

Pulse Check: "Where do we stand at this point?" Be open to any answer and dig on those answers to understand your current position then deal with that with counterpoints.

No Commit: Set up a follow-up interaction and ask them not to commit to anyone until you two have spoken again. This is especially important if they still have some competitor meeting left. They are not committing to you because they want to see other options, thus you are asking them to not commit to the other options until you have gotten a chance to check back in.

Status Check Commitment: "As you look over your options, can I get your commitment to call me with any questions or concerns, including issues you believe are being won by our competition? I want to help you make the best decision possible and thus if I know where you stand I can see if I can provide a better solution. So can I have that commitment?" Don't just tell them to call you with questions and concerns, ask them to commit to contact. It won't guarantee that contact, but it will improve the chances.

There are three possible approaches (all can be used at once) to deal with "decision time" stalls. And lastly don't forget to sell the value and advantages of your solution and ask for the sale again. I would do that again before I start with these.

End of the Semester - New Start for BLOG

The Fall 2007 semester is almost complete. I have final role-plays ahead of me but otherwise not much left. I expect to see some great and some not so great final performances. As always I appreciate the general level of enthusiasm and dilligence with which the SBM'ers brought to the class. At times the whole experience burns us all out, but it is certainly a worthwhile ride.

In terms of the blog, my new plan is to have new posts each Thursday starting soon. I had a hard time fitting this into my week-to-week schedule, but I think I have a workable plan and should be MUCH more consistent with the posts. I hope you will join me regularly.

SBM Alumni Homecoming Party

Attention SBM Alumni, you all invited back to Kzoo on Sat Oct 20 for my annual SBM Alumni Homecoming Party. The party starts at 10:30am and goes until about 3:30pm or so (a few times we have still been socializing at 6pm!). It is at our house at 1623 Grand Avenue, which is "up the Hill" from Waldos (I figure you all know where that is!). I will have food and beverages, so there is no need to bring anything.

Drop me an RSVP if you intend to stop by (RSVP to jim.eckert@wmich.edu), but if you are in town and want to stop over on a last minute decision, don't hesitate to drop in.

So Once again....

SBM Alumni Homecoming
Saturday, October 20
10:30am - 3:30pm (WMU game is at 2pm)
1623 Grand Avenue
RSVP: jim.eckert@wmich.edu

I hope to see you all there!

Tigers Event Canceled

Unfortunately we had to cancel the Tigers event on Sept 21.

Look for a new alumni event coming soon.

And look for new posts as soon as the school year starts up.

Jim

ALUMNI EVENT - TIGERS GAME!!!!!!

Mark your calendars now.....

The second annual SBM Networking Event - Tigers Game is now scheduled.

Friday, September 21
7:05 game - food is served 1 hour before in the stadium
Tigers vs. Kansas City*
Comerica Park - Detroit

Tickets for all (students, alumni, and employers) are $35 each, and that includes food, non-alcoholic beverage, and game tickets. Please go to the SBMA website and purchase the tickets via Pay Pal. We only have 90 tickets available so (a) act fast, and (b) limit your purchase to you and a guest at most. ( in case the direct link above doesn't work, use http://www.wmusbma.org/payment.html)

I am in process of sending out an email blast, but in the meantime please start spreading the word yourselves and lets have a great event. Remember to invite your employer if that person/s are interested.

I will have real posts again when I return from my Germany, Austria, and Italy adventure. We are in Munich now and get back to the good-ole US of A on Friday.

* This year I will root for the Tigers! Unless of course they are battling the Red Sox for home field advantage.

Preparation and Adaptability

The most fundamental belief I hold about being a successful salesperson is you have to be adaptable. That is, your sales approach and sales behaviors should be customized to fit the specific elements of the selling situation you find your self in.

And my biggest pet peeve about salespeople is that they "wing-it" all the time. Recently, someone said to me, "isn't encouraging an adaptive approach just encouraging people to wing-it?" It was a great question, but I have a very firm answer to it: not at all!

It is my opinion that to be adaptive you need to be prepared. And this is even more critical in selling where the adaptable actions you must take are often while you are face-to-face with a client. It will be your preparation that allows you to quickly and effectively switch gears. It will be the preparation that gives you any alternative gears to switch to. With preperation you are making purposeful and strategic adaptations based on your evaluation of the situation in comparison to the knowledge available to you in your brain. Without that knowledge, you are left with only adaptive intentions, not adaptive abailities. In other words, even if you know you should adapt, without a broad range of knowledge you options are limited to what you know, and that may or may not be what is required of the selling situation.

A simple example. My students in Germany have an assignment due Friday. they needed to research Lyman & Sheets Insurance in Lansing and their sales manager, Dave Drayton. We set up the scenario that they represent Crystal Mountain Resort and they are going to approach Dave about having his next training or business meeting at the resort. Their job is to produce a 1 page research review that is basically 60% the company and 40% the person. I am guessing it will take these students about 2 hours to do well, and that is with them having English as their second language.

So one may claim that no salesperson would bother with this in the "real world". And my reponse would be; that is the problem. Most salespeople would simply head to the sales call or make the phone call blindly and wing the interaction. This going in blind approach means they lack knowledge that could make them adaptable, thus they are going to have to HOPE what they do know is enough and what they don't know doesn't hurt them.

The salesperson who takes an hour and creates their cheat sheet for this customer is already winning. They can start to choose the best approach strategies (Dave, congrats on being named to the Red Cross board!), ask insightful and connected questions, (I saw Lyman & Sheets does alot of work with associations, how has that worked for you?), understand organizational structure (Does Andy Sheets need to get involved in this decision?), and basically create a starting point for themselves that is already adaptive in nature.

Also, such knowledge can make you a better collector of information. Lets say you are selling a CRM software and because you did your research you learned that the staff covers most of Michigan even though they are Lansing based. During the questioning phase you take extra time to collect information related to that travel so you can best recommend the appropriate version of your product (e.g. the most mobile version). Without that pre-knowledge you might have skipped such questions thinking they were just a Lansing business.

So, my guess is you can seek, organize and assimilate information faster then my German sales students, heck you get to do it in your native language. But even if it took you 2 hours, wouldn't it be worth having a more appropriately targeted and adapted sales interaction? Given the difficulty in getting time with people, and the potential long-term value of initiating a relationship with them, I would conclude it would still be worth it.

Be Smart with Your Money.

Your sales manager wants you to go out today and buy a house, a boat, a 65 inch 1020HD flat screen and 3 Movado watches. Why? Because you will then be very hungry to make money (because you NEED that money to pay off all those debts). But that seems like a very stupid way to launch your financial life.

As I have discussed in class - pay yourself first and learn to live within your means. In the long run the freedom that financial security provides will bring much greater happiness then that flat screen. And constantly chasing an inflated standard of living should not be confused with financial security. knowing you can buy things or experiences that are very important to you and knowing that your financial future is relatively bright is a better model of financial security. As a personal example, after years of building equity in our house and living within our means, Paula & I tapped some of our wealth to buy our place Up North. And even with the place Up North (a dream come true for us) we live within our means because we weren't putting a high priced mortgage on top of our already over-debted life (did I just make-up a word?). Instead we were cashing in our past discipline and benefitting from in it in a way that no better TV set or fancier car could have ever given us.

To that end, check out the recent NY Times article on this topic. it is great reading and great advice. Check out his links to past columns at the bottom - also good reading for your financial well being.

I hope you are hungry to sell because you enjoy the challenge and you enjoy the rewards, not because you are handcuffed by unneccessary debt and spending.

Eckert without anything to say....

Yes, I can't think of anything to say. I have class in Germany tomorrow at 9am (German time - EST +6hrs). It is 10pm German time. And I can't think of a good way to start my selling course. I am used to teaching advanced selling or training salespeople, and in both of those cases people have a foundation and it is easy to pick it up from there. but where do I start with these students? The possibilities...

The Concept / Theory: I could start by addressing my picture view of selling. Introduce both the concept of "modern selling" and Adaptive Selling. This would give them a big picture foundation and a framework by which to organize what else they learn. The cons to this approach include it isn't very interactive and sometimes people need to be familiar with a few trees before the forest really means anything to them.

Basic Selling Process Overview: In this case I could use a "middle picture" approach and not do the big picture of selling as a concept, but do an overview of the basic selling process. Basically I could teach the basics of all of the things we will be discussing the rest of the semester. I usually like this approach, but in this case I may not want to do much repeating with such a compressed time frame. And I have a hard time not going too in depth once I get going on a topic.

"Sell Me that Pen" Approach: I walk in and tell someone to be a volunteer and sell me a pen and we pick up the converstaion from there. It is cheesy, but it brings the selling task to front and center immediately. It is a "do it first" then break it down and talk about what we should really be doing.

So why do I bother my loyal blog readers (both of them: Maiki and Juli), with this information? Partly because it helps me think it through, but also becasue I think people have truly mastered a craft when they are small, middle and big picture masters of that craft. So as you develop your craft take the time to ask yourself if you have a good mastery of the ground level selling skills you need (e.g. do you really have a good questioning toolbox), do you have a good grasp of how the basics all work together (e.g. how questioning and presenting should be closely tied together as tasks), and do you have a big picture selling philosophy that guides your work? As you develop yourself take the time to isolate each of these and devout time to each.

I think I have just sold myself on doing all three tomorrow. I am going to start with the Pen, then bounce to the big picture and finish with the selling process overview. Now I can go have that weizen beir that has been chilling in my fridge!

Career Negotiating: Logic & Data

Just spoke with two alum today - one who had to call me after he negotiated a job offer up $4000 and was obviously pleased (way to go Tyler!). The other is in process of negotiating a moving allowance to a high priced East Coast city. In the second case I had two words to share: logic & data.

Yes, we all would prefer a $4000 moving allowance/signing bonus versus a $1000 one. But wishing for more is not a negotiating tactic. Nor is simply asking for more, not unless you can back up why the $4000 is the better number.

So how do you ask for $4000? You need logic. In this case "East Coast Joe" will need to get himself moved to the East Coast and will need to get into an apartment. That will cost money. It will also be a contributor to his happiness and even productivity early in this move. It is perfectly logical to lay out this argument. "I am only moving for the job, the move will cost a lot of money, and not starting in a hole will help me get settled and focused on work quicker and stronger." It is a logical argument. Is it good enough on its own? NO. It needs data.

What will it cost to move? What money is needed to get into an apartment (deposit, first month rent, utility set-up, etc.)? The way to approach these questions is to do some research and have firm answers. "I did some research and it will cost $800 to rent the UHaul, $1200 in deposit, $1000 in first month's rent and about $400 to set up the utilities and such, plus this article here shows that it is typical to spend another $500 in other relocation costs (bank account set-up, change in insurance costs, etc.), so if we total that up I see about $4000 in costs I will face for the move, and thus that is why I am asking for that specific amount. And here is the documentation for all of those numbers" Now that, combined with good logic doesn't guarantee a yes answer from the employer but it makes the no harder.

So if you want to negotiate, I have two words for you: Logic and Data. If you can put those two together in any negotiating situation the defense of your position becomes that much easier.

Good luck, and remember I get 10% of all extra money earned in those negotiations!

No Worries, Mate

I was originally going to be in Australia these first few weeks of May, but not enough students signed up on the Study Abroad trip so I bowed out so that the other students would not incur the added cost of an extra faculty member. The 16 students and the 2 faculty are in Sydney right now, hopefully having a grand time. Well actually I hope they are sleeping as it is before 6am in Sydney!

But, to the point of this post......

The national saying in AUS is "No Worries" and it is not just a catchy saying it really typifies their lifestyle and approach to living. It makes visiting there wonderful. However, as a salesperson and a sales trainer I have a love / hate relationship with such a philosophy.

The love part is the reminder that not everything needs to be an emergency and most things will work out fine in the end. And even if there is a problem, if we go about solving it with calmness and competence we can quickly restore ourselves to a "no worries" state. So from a mental health standpoint, I love it.

It is when the customer is involved that I think this philosophy has its problems. We American are known in Australia as serious worriers, and it is said we are too anal and stressed about things. However, the reality I have experienced is that this intensiveness is often only on the surface and that in practice the "no worries" approach is the problem response mode very typical among salespeople. In their day to day interactions, too many salespeople basically tell the customer "don't worry about it!" and think this reassurance is enough to get them by. The fact is the customer is ALREADY worrying about it and simply telling them not to worry will often worsen the situation instead of calm them.

Instead of telling them not to worry your approach should be showing them that they need not worry. How? By crafting an action plan that addresses their worry and executing the tasks necessary to removing their worry. The ultimate "no worries" state is when you truly don't have worries, not when you simply are told to ignore them. And achieving a true "no worries" state involves removing the source of the worries. It wouldn't make for a tourism slogan, but it does make for a very strong customer oriented approach.

This plays out in selling mainly with objections and post sale problems. lets look at both.

OBJECTIONS: these are simply issues that are causing your buyer to say "not yet" to you. They are opportunities to turn a "not yet" into a "let's do it." So in essence, an objection is a worry the buyer has. What if the product is unreliable? What if I over spend for it? Will it really solve my problem? Will the change involved in switching to this new product really be worth it? In each of these cases you can C-R-C your way to removing the worry.

C-Clarify: dig with questions until you really understand the source of the worry. For example, when faced with the objection, "I think this will be a painful change," many salespeople will immediately jump into their "don't worry" speech without understanding why the worry exists in the first place. They will tell the buyer how this has worked so well in the past and how they have many happy customers. Instead, they should be isolating the root cause of this objection. For instance they could ask, "you are worried about the change, what specific problems do you foresee?" In this case, not only is the "don't worry" approach a poor response, it is premature. It is really saying "even though I don't really understand your worry, don't worry about it!" When said that way it doesn't sound so good, does it?

R-Respond: This is when the no worries approach will really fail you, yet is very common. You should recognize how weak a response is when it can basically be broken down to: Customer: "I am worried about the change" You: "Don't worry about it!" Now most of the time there are many more words spoken, but they only add up to that. The strong response directly addresses the issue and backs up what you have to say with support or action. There is a huge difference between "It works all the time, I have many happy customers who are glad they made the shift" and "well, let me walk you through how we minimize the pain and let me get you in contact with a couple past customers that had similar worries..... then go about and do it. This takes longer, but it goes directly after removing the worry, instead of glazing it over. In the long run, removing the hesitancy will shorten the time to decision, and that is a better outcome in the end.

C-Confirm: You can think of this as asking "are you still worried?" Many salespeople use the worst response you could possibly design here: "any other concerns or questions?" This is what I call a moving-on question. It says to the buyer, I am done with this issue so I am asking you about other possible concerns. Instead you need to ask a straightforward "confirming" (or closing) question such as "does that remove your concern about the change?" Salespeople wimp out on this question because they don't want to hear the answer if it is negative, but the reality is silence here can hurt you. Save your silence for AFTER you ask the direct confirming question and then deal with the answer from the buyer.

Put the C-R-C approach fully into action and you won't need to do a "no worries" song and dance, you will actually be removing the worry and the buyer will achieve a "no worries" state all on their own.

The next time this often rears its ugly head is.....

POST-SALE ISSUES: Your buyer calls you and yells at you because of problems. You cannot take a "no worries" approach. The customer is well beyond not worrying. In fact she is knee deep in worry. She needs a solution, not an empty reassurance not to worry. Now I think the reassurance is great as long as it is tightly tied to a written, action oriented recovery plan. And that is what you have to do, work with the buyer and openly craft a solution plan that will remove the problem. Then your reassurance will have some teeth to it and will be a positive thing.

I just made this mistake with my wife. She was worried about the credit card bill that has our airline flights to Germany on it (over $5000 of flights!). I kept saying "don't worry, I will get paid by the German University!" She wasn't calmed. But today I showed her the expected income flows and specifically how that balance will disappear and she was much calmer about it. I always had the plan in my head, but it needed to be more openly and directly shared to remove her worries. I didn't want her to worry about it, so I took a "I have it under control" approach, yet that approach only deepened her worries. As I was reminded today, an action plan speaks much louder then the "no worries" speech I had been giving her.

I think salespeople do this to their customers more often then we want to admit. We don't want to worry the customer with the details, just "Wow" them with the outcome. But before we get to the outcome, their worry has driven them further away. The lesson is to involve your buyer in the solution, or at least inform them of the steps that will take place. Remove the worry in full view of the buyer and her worry will dissipate faster and more completely. And that will lead you and her back to a true "no worries" state.

Post Graduation Homework

As is my custom this semester I assigned my students post-graduation homework in the form of a handout that offers them month by month ideas for achieving sales success in their first six months of selling. The idea is for them to take the foundation they put in place through their work as an SBM student and leverage that with focused and purposeful effort so that they continue to develop into the great businesspeople they wish to become.

If you want to look for this assignment it can be found on my MKTG 4600 course web page at www.partnerbuilding.com/4600/. It is called "Sales Success in Six Months" and the link to it is on the bottom right corner of the site

So the question I had today, as I was cleaning some extra copies of that handout off my desk, is what homework would the alumni recommend? Did they do any of the homework I suggested? Generally speaking, what did you alumni do to continue your SBM education? I would love to see your comments and suggestions for what I would include on an updated "Sales Success in your First Six Months" document.

So your homework is to hit the comment button and share your thoughts.......

Thoughts from Germany

I am in Germany now getting to know my students from the class I will be teaching this summer at Paderborn University. So far my opinion is great. We did a 4 hour class on Thursday and they stayed engaged and active for the full 4 hours. I wish my US students had that kind of stamina in the classroom. They seem very eager, although a bit nervous, about the course and the course requirements. Yet I am very confident they will handle it with eventual ease.

Das Wetter ist schon (missing a umlaut) and that puts me in a good mood, but boy is jet-lag starting to catch-up with me. My Deutsch language abilities are still poor, but it is fun to speak Germ-glish with people here.

My initial reaction to this whole experience is that it will be wonderful and interesting, yet it will be the same. The students will have the same concerns and issues and the campus evironment will be very similar and ultimately if we do our jobs well, both the students and I will learn alot this semester.

Aufweidersehen. Ich gehe und trinke Bier jetzt!

Lessons from Spring 2007 Semester

By this time tomorrow I will be done with the Spring 2007 semester and be on a plane to Germany. As each semester concludes I think back to the key lessons I learned from teaching another iteration of Advanced Selling. So here are a few thoughts to wrap up this semester....

Lesson #1: Don't confuse questions with understanding. I think those of us who teach selling have done such a good job of refocusing the selling task on questioning and listening, that we have actually created a new problem: questions for question's sake. I watched this semester as students seemed to confuse their need to understand the buyer's situation with a need to ask questions. Questions are the tools, not the ends. If it takes one question to understand, wonderful. But if it takes a series of 6-8 questions to understand a single issue, then ask them, combine them with strong listening, and achieve that necessary understanding. The point is not to ask a few questions and move on, the point is understanding. So as you plan out your interactions with customers, focus on using your questions as tools that will help you achieve your end; a strong, robust understanding of the buyer's needs, problems, and situation.

Lesson #2: Make recommendations, don't simply offer options. I just finished my final role-plays and the best ones all shared something in common: they brought me a concrete recommendation that was easy for me to comprehend and make a decision on. The ones that were poor often told me all the things I could do. "Could" leads to lack of commitment. Heck, a lack of commitment is inherent in the word "could." The groups who said, "based on my understanding of your situation, and my understanding of my company's product offering, here is my suggestion and here is why it makes sense" had a much easier time getting me engaged and were much more likely to hear a answer, whether it be yes or no. Those that focused on the myriad of possibilities that I could take, often encouraged me to say maybe. And maybe is possibly the worst word in selling. A good salesperson can deal with a "no", but a "maybe" reduces your options and it is my experience that most maybe's are just drawn out no's. So think about what you do, are you making recommendations, or are you just offering options? If you hear a lot of "I'll have to think it over" chances are you are encouraging this lack of decisiveness by focusing on options, not recommendations.

Lesson #3: Practice Matters. We were able to put two new role-plays into MKTG 4600 this semester and it definitely made a difference. Performance improved. It still baffles me how little salespeople practice. All other performance arts (e.g. sports, music, teaching) spend a great deal of time practicing, yet we salespeople like to think we don't need to or don't have the time to. I watched a student make a rough, but admirable attempt at telling an "imagine this" story in his call today. However, imagine this.... that salesperson put 30 minutes aside, got that illustrative story fine tuned and fully rehearsed, pulled it off in the call, really brought the product to life for the buyer and made a difficult and competitive sale. Suddenly that 30 minutes seems like time well spent. So I ask you.... what is your practice schedule? Or do you only practice on live customers costing you way more than 30 minutes of time?

Lesson #4: Nice does not equal easy. I always get a student who asks if I will be nice to them in the role plays. And I answer "absolutely!" And then I throw them off with unexpected objections, new issues and stubbornly negative opinions. Dang, I am nice! Mean would be being a push over that plays their sales straight man during these calls. Nice is forcing people to earn their success, forcing them to reach their potential. Just letting them slide is actually easier, but it would be the meanest thing I can think of. So, if you want to be nice to yourself, your classmates, your co-workers; be hard on them. Not mean or nasty, just difficult and challenging. Then when they get past the typically difficult buyer they can smile and thank you for being nice!

I am sure there were other lessons, but those stuck out to me as I sat here and reflected. Thanks again to all my students, past, present, and future, who force me to re-learn selling each and every semester. Someday I just might graduate!

Outstanding SBM Students

I had the pleasure of attending the Marketing Department Awards Banquet tonight. And SBM students shined throughout the program. Here are our best and brightest:

Academic Achievement Awards (Overall GPA of 3.5 or better)
Maggie Bradford
Donald Christofferson, Jr.
Jon Hainen
Heather Marshall
Marquita Mays
Molly Mutschler
Yolanda Newsome
Sarah Nicholson
Megan Petsch
Benjamin Ryan
Matt Schave
Ramie Sliuzas
Jeff Turowski

Marketing Department Senior with the highest GPA: Jeff Turowski (4.0)

Marketing Department Presidential Scholar (University's highest award): Jeff Turowski

Outstanding SBM Student: Jon Hainen

SBM Distinguished Service Awards: Molly Mutschler & Kate Grix

If you know these students please offer your congratulations.

Competing with that top producer - thoughts from Alexi Mavrelis

Alexi (SBM 2004 - Past SBMA President) wrote.... We all have that person or persons in our respective companies that are the ultra producer, the one who sells the most and makes the most time and time again. Is that the person we should be modeling our technique after? Would Eckert categorize them as a "Professional Salesperson" or are they different? Why is it that they are that good? Is it personality type? Experience? Their massive established network? Can we compete with them with the same consistency that they produce? Why or why not?

Eckert's Thoughts: In any area there are superstars - think professional sports, or music. And many of those people are very hard to copy. I am watching a lot of hockey now with the Cup playoffs, and in Hockey you have Sidney Crosby from Pittsburg. 19 years old and a phenom. Can you become him - probably not. His instinct and vision for the game is just out of the realm of most players. So can you role-model and copy him - certainly. Look at the things you can copy - work ethic, techniques, dedication. But in the end all "players" in any sport (selling included) have to find the style of play that works for them.

I strongly believe if you remain committed to the techniques and behaviors of the "professional salesperson" that the SBM program sets forth, that given a bit of time, you will be a strong producer. It will take some time (for instance, you can't possibly have the network a long-time producer has) and you may not become a superstar. But the beauty of this world is we all don't have to be superstars to have productive, healthy and meaningful work lives.

In selling I think there is another element also, and that is ethics. I think there are unethical superstars out there because the marketplace and the workplace allows that to happen. So I think one must be careful not to emulate someone who solely produces, I think you also have to ask if that person produces ethically. I have known "rockstar" faculty who publish more, and get more grants, but do that on the backs of their grad students and at the expense of a healthy working environment. I don't admire or respect these individuals even though on paper they look like rockstars. As much as I like success I don't consider it success if it is done in an unethical or unsavory way.

Lastly, I think you have to be careful defining success. I have spent many hours thinking about how I can be successful. Certainly being a strong faculty member is one of those. But being a great husband, father, neighbor, citizen, and such also plays a huge role. And the fact remains, by defining success broadly, it weakens me in each of the individual areas to a certain extent. Based on my definition though, I feel like a holistic success (on most days!). For example, if I had built the SBM program bigger, stronger, and more successful (as defined by external criteria) but gotten divorced and had a poor relationship with my daughter because of that, would I be successful? I think not. But there is the key - "I think". You will all need to define success on your own terms. It is easy to let others (your organization, your boss, your peers, your industry, society) define it for you, but ultimately you need to be the judge.

OK, now that I have rambled on lets try to summarize: emulate with realism in mind, define success on your own terms, then go after it. Be patient, be thoughtful, be ethical. Use what you have learned, add to it, and I have a strong hunch that most of you will squarely land in the "successful" category.

Starting a topic.... don't wait for me

Somebody asked if comments should be limited to responses to my posts - what fun would that be? If you want to make a comment on anything just hit that comment button now and let it rip.

National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC)

The 2007 NCSC was held at Kennesaw State University just north of Atlanta and via the new tournament style, WMU entered the competition ranked #1 in the nation based on our consistently strong finishes over the last four years. And once again the team did fantastic. We finished 4th as a team and both Molly Mutschler and Joe Kotz made it to the semi-final round. This performance should assure WMU of a #1 or #2 seeding for next year's competition. And it continues the tradition of WMU finishing in the top 5, a feat WMU has achieved for 5 consecutive years - something no other school has accomplished!

Some SBM Program Survey Results

We recently distributed a survey to 450 SBM Program alumni (2002 - 2006 Graduates) and 281 completed the survey. Some quick facts about the alumni of the Sales & Business Marketing Program at Western Michigan University include....

• 81% started their careers in sales and the same percentage currently work in sales
• 71% are in outside sales with another 29% doing inside sales
• 63.1% of alum report selling mainly in a B2B environment, while 25.9% report functioning in a mainly B2C selling world (11% report a 50/50 split)
• "Relationship Building Competencies" were deemed "Most Critical" for success by 60% of the Alum
• 57% of SBM Alum work in Michigan and the other 43% work in 20 different states.
• 94% report being either "Highly Satisfied" (66.5%) or "Satisfied" (27.4%) with their SBM Program experience
• 95% reported being either "Highly Prepared" (59%) or "Adequately Prepared" (36%) when they left the SBM Program in terms of their readiness to succeed in an entry-level sales position.
• The median self-reported annual salary/bonus/commission is $41-50,000 per year. 14.4% of alum reported making in excess of $75,000.
• The three industries represented most were Financial/Insurance, Pharmaceutical/Medical, and Communications/Technology. However no single industry represented more than 16% of the alumni, and 12 industries had at least 5%.

Add these all up and what we found is the SBM Program Alumni are the salespeople we thought they would be and they feel strongly that the SBM Program gave them the preparation they needed to be successful in their careers. Look for a longer report sometime over the summer.

Are you Trustworthy?

TRUST: The belief that another will fulfil their obligations and their promises.

TRUSTWORTHY: Deserving of trust

So how does one become trustworthy? Being a good person is not enough. If you expect to earn the trust of your buyer you need to incorporate three things into your approach....

1. Unwavering Reliability: do you consistently do as you promised? This is simple in concept, yet difficult in action. The first question to ask yourself is whether you have a system to produce reliability. That is, how do you document and track the promises you make, and what is your system for moving those promises made into the promises kept category. If you don't have a good system that works for you (versus one the Steven Covey tries to sell you) I can pretty much guarantee you are failing the reliability test more often then you should.

2. High Levels of Capability: are you a resource and a value to your customer? If you are reliable, but lack capability, then you will receive limited trust. What capabilities are needed? Think two areas: knowledge and skills. First you need to have the product, process, industry, customer and general knowledge that makes you a resource to your client. Without this knowledge you have limited potential for trust. Second you need the skills that would make you an asset to your client. these might include listening skills, analytical skills, and communication skills. With knowledge and skills you become capable of meeting your obligations.

3. Honest Communication: are you willing to frankly communicate the dependability and capability of your company and its products. The reality is that as salesperson, you are often directly responsible for the promises made, but only indirectly responsible for the promises kept. The kept side often involves the many people and processes within your firm that "touch" the customer. Your level of trustworthiness will be partially determined not just by your firm's performance on these, but also on your communication related to the performance of these. Put simply, if you communicate weakly or slyly, you should expect lower levels of trust.

So there you have three factors to consider when you ask yourself: am I trustworthy? If you don't like the answer to that question, hit each of these areas and improve the belief in others that you will meet your obligations and fulfil your promises. And continue being a good person - it won't hurt, but it won't be sufficient on its own.

Purposeful Selling

Welcome to my blog on selling. I hope to use this share my thoughts on selling as well as provide a line of communication between myself and the students and alumni of the Sales & Business Marketing Program at Western Michigan University. I hope to update it at least once a week.

Why the title, "Purposeful Selling?" Well, first that is the name of the selling oriented book I am working on - so I might as well do some blatent marketing! Second, because if I can have one impact on the world of selling it would be to get salespeople to take a more purposeful approach to their selling. If I could wave a magic wand salespeople would "wing-it" less and instead they would smartly apply preparation, good technique, and adaptive execution to their selling. I strongly believe if they could do this they would be more successful and we, the selling community, would go a long way towards achieving the goal of earning the title of professional salepeople.