You're Going To Be Great At This!

One of the first things instilled in me when I started in sales was that I had to keep in contact with my current clients. The reasoning behind this was simple in that I had already done the hard part, which was to sell myself. When a client buys from you, that means they like and trust you, thus creating more sales down the road.  Unfortunately, there are many sales professionals out there who don't quite grasp the concept. Depending on your industry you can continue to sell to your previous clients. In the insurance business, I've been told that a current client may purchase a minimum of four more times over their lifetime. And all you have to do is follow up with them with a very gentle drip system. There are some great ways to do this and most are very simple. The simplest is to utilize your Google calendar for reminders to pick up the phone and touch base. Just set a reminder to call on the client's birthday (just to say "Happy Birthday") and anniversary date...

Watching a good salesperson in action can be a great way to learn. For most of us who were first learning how to sell, we had to watch a manager or go on a "ride along" with a veteran. My first time riding with another salesperson was one of the most interesting eye openers I had ever had.  "Sam" was a veteran of the door-to-door insurance selling game and apparently was used to having new people, some of which had not even been hired yet, riding with him on a few of his stops. He had a neatly trimmed beard and was dressed in a nice three-piece suit. I found this to be unusual as it was about 90 degrees outside, but what do I know?  In the car he didn't say much, except to tell me that we were going to be seeing a lady who had the policy already. His plan was to get her premium check and try to get some referrals out of her. In a nice but firm way he told me to keep my mouth shut and let him do all of the talking. I was taken aback when he said this because I re...

When I first got into sales I was flying by the seat of my pants. Mentally I was completely disorganized and would muddle my way through the day. Sure, I would have a couple of appointments on the calendar, but during those meetings with clients I would try to squeeze in activities like lunch, paperwork and having coffee with a coworker. I was getting a few sales here and there but I didn't have any consistency.  One day I received a phone call from someone who wanted me to come work with them. "These guys are top notch! I've learned so much from them!" he said. Within a few months I was working with an organization that was almost militaristic in their approach to sales.  I'll spare you the details of my departure from this company but I did walk away with some much better ways of conducting my business. The most meaningful of these was to prioritize my activities and plug them all into a calendar.  Rather than making phone calls throughout the day, schedule a ti...

Several years ago I went to work for a very large insurance company. Accompanying me was another agent, whom I'll call Jeff. Jeff and I had met while working at another company and became friends. As usual we were required to attend a multi-week training class with a dozen or so other people new to the company. Our new employers tried their best to convince up they were a top-notch organization by plying us with plenty of coffee and snacks intermittently, as if the way to our sales success was through our stomachs.   One of the exercises we had to undertake in the second week was to stand up in front of the group and talk about who we thought our "market" would be when we would eventually get out in the field. Some of the participants were former athletes who said that they were going to call on the "coaching community". I was unaware that this was a thing, as were some of the others in the room.  Generally, the markets that my classmates were aiming for consist...

In the previous post, I discussed the strange phenomenon of "call reluctance". This problem of not wanting to prospect for clients or, in some cases, call referrals, can lead to the ultimate death of a career in sales.  There are ways to get over the fear of rejection, which leads to call reluctance. One is to change your attitude about rejection. In my book I tell the story about when I was single and would try to approach girls. My opening line was "I thrive on rejection. Can I buy you a beer?" Making it a win/win situation took the sting out of it when I was told "no". And on the rare occasion a young lady would laugh it off I could strike up a conversation.  That approach works in sales as well. (Dating is like sales in many ways) Using a sense of humor helps build a thicker skin. I'm used to people telling me that they aren't interested in what I'm selling, but each one of those people who say "no" get me closer to a "yes...

Let's assume that you are single and your friends pester you into going out with them, knowing that they are going to try to "set you up" with someone. You reluctantly go and see someone across the way that you would like to approach but you have a lot of self-doubt. Trying to build up the courage to approach the stranger, you make the decision not to go through with it because of a litany of excuses, like "I'm not that attractive" or "I don't want to come across as being too forward".  Now consider that your career is in sales and you have to go through this same scenario everyday, except if you don't follow through, you won't make any money. Sales professionals fight this battle all the time. Some are better at dealing with it than others, but in the end, the ones are work around the doubts are the ones who succeed. It basically comes down to the fear of rejection. Where does this fear come from? It can come from a wide array of sourc...

When people tell me they are in sales I ask what they sell. The responses vary of course. People are selling insurance, real estate, cars, computer programs and a vast of array of other products or services. Add to that the ones who sell B2B or B2C and you have some serious alphabet soup. And for a fortunate group of these people, they don't really have to "sell" as much others.  When I speak to groups on sales I give my definition of "sales" and it is a little different than what most people think it is. You see, the sale is the actual transaction. You give me money and I give you a pack of gum. That's a sale, but I didn't necessarily "sell" you anything. If I had suggested a second pack of gum or something else, I would have been in the process of selling.  My definition is this: "Sales" or "selling" is the process that precedes the actual transaction. One of my colleagues likes to call it "foreplay", which I fin...

Too often I hear from people who are self-employed or business owners who say things like, "I could never go into sales because I'm an introvert," or "I suffer from shyness." I get it. There are days when I would rather stay in bed than go out and meet people, especially if I don't already know them. Even though I don't consider myself an introvert, there are those days when I am adverse to people in general. But when I hear these people say these things I want to shake them. If you own a business or are a self-employed contract worker, odds are pretty good that you are in sales, whether you like it or not. Highly specialized people, like neurosurgeons, are fortunate that they don't need to market themselves, but for the rest of us, we have to find out how to get our message to the masses.  It's not difficult, but it does take time and discipline. For example, carving out an hour each day to make phone calls, doing a few social media posts or att...

Over the weekend I ran into a gentleman I had not spoken to in a year or so. I run into him at a local coffeeshop every once in a while and we chat. But here we were in the parking lot of a big box retailer, both with our Covid-19 masks on in the 90 degree heat. The conversation eventually got around to our work and he was unaware that I had written a book on the subject of sales.  When I described the book as "sarcastic and snarky" he laughed and said something to the effect of, "Well, if you wrote it, I would hope so." He told me that he was still active but semi-retired and was considering a job offer with a local non-profit. If anyone would be great at the job he was describing it would be him, as he is great in a public relations kind of role.  With this in mind, I handed him a business card that I had with the name of my book and ordering information. I also mentioned that before the pandemic I was starting to do speaking engagements and sales training for som...

I've known Mike Macri for a few years now. We met at a local networking group, where he shared information on his business, My Mike Cooks (#mymikecooks, LLC). He told me that he left the long, cold winters of Connecticut to make the warmer temps of Murrells Inlet, SC his new home in 2016. He started his personal chef business, #mymikecooks, LLC as soon as he unpacked boxes and enjoys cooking for happy vacationers, as well as celebrating all types of occasions with his clients: from beach weddings; rehearsal dinners; anniversaries and even a marriage proposal dinner. Some of Mike’s specialties are Italian & Mediterranean cuisines, Mexican, BBQ and Low Country and vegetarian/vegan fare. His passion for food and serving people shows in his interaction with clients and guests. For Mike, it is an honor and privilege to be invited into ones home and prepare great meals for all to enjoy! With a great story like that I asked Mike to indulge me on his business tips and networking succes...

In the previous post, I discussed my career in retail sales and how I felt limited with my income and career path. At least my boss was honest with me (a rarity in my work history) when he said, "You'll never get rich working here, but we'll always get your back." This was true. I never got rich and on those few occasions when a customer would give me grief, my employers did indeed get my back. Whoever said the customer is always right didn't know my employers.  I had worked in insurance years before and hated it. Knocking on doors in rural North Carolina, selling a horrible product and working 16 hour days was not what I was promised during the interview process. That was my first experience with a hiring manager blatantly lying to my face and I'm still convinced that "truth in hiring" laws need to be enacted. That whole experience left a horrible taste in my mouth. And being young and naive, I decided that all insurance sales careers must suck like...

Going from an hourly job to a salaried job was supposed to be a move up, according to my corporate masters at the retail music store I managed back in the day. These folks acted as if I had made it to the big leagues, but the truth was that the hours I worked increased while my take home pay was about the same. It was not the most motivational scenario for me. At the end of the year I would get a job performance review which was factored into a giant algorithm that included a profit and loss report and, from this mathematic equation, somehow my annual bonus was determined. Another store manager, about an hour away from me, had twice the sales volume that I did. She also had double the staff, double the inventory and double the general headaches. As we were told in no uncertain terms not to discuss salary and pay with other store managers, we went about it very discreetly. It was all very covert, as we would lock ourselves in our respective offices during evening shifts and speak in fur...

As in any profession, it it important for the rookies to seek guidance from the ones who have been around for a while and have experienced the good and bad. This helps the new person solve problems before they become headaches and even out the learning curve a bit. In sales this is especially important since most of us work on commission and don't have the luxury of a salary to keep us going while we figure it all out.  Just to be clear, there is a difference between a mentor and a sales manager. The sales manager is wanting you to sell, but because it affects their bottom line, as well as their income. In the insurance world, for instance, mangers get an "override" from the company when the producer (the agent) sells something. They want you to be successful, but mostly because it helps them be successful as well. There's nothing wrong with that as long you understand that their best interest isn't necessarily the same as yours. On the other hand, a mentor typica...