You're Going To Be Great At This!

I haven't posted a good "dumb story" in a while, which is unusual since I have so many of them to share. To be honest, I nearly forgot about this incident until the person involved came up in conversation a few weeks back when I was having lunch with a former colleague. Here's what happened. Several years ago I was working with a company (I will call them Company A) which had a very limited menu of insurance products to offer. The guy who recruited me, Fred*, was a tobacco chewing good old boy who looked like he couldn't get home fast enough to watch reruns of "Hee Haw". He was a member of the management team and, after meeting the rest of them, I realized this was a great example of "birds of a feather". These guys were all used to door-to-door old school selling in low income areas and expected the rest of us to do the same. Needless to say, I wasn't about to start beating on doors in trailer parks for business. Not that there's anyth...

As an insurance agent, I've always been concerned that my industry has a reputation for having pushy salespeople. In many ways we are compared to those who sell used cars. When I originally went into the business I was fully aware of this and was resistant to even get into the industry. To be honest, the first company I worked with was guilty of feeding into this stereotype. The reason for this was that instead of trying to be a consultant and helping the client structure a plan with a group of good policies we had to work with, we only had one product. We were product pushers instead of facilitators.  We were trained to be aggressive and to get out of someone's home or business with a check in hand. As my coworker would say, "Your income is in their wallet and you need to do everything possible to get it out of there." We dubbed this "guerilla selling", since we would rush in, try to make a few bucks and get out.  Unfortunately this left me with the impress...

In the last post I discussed meeting with a client and keeping everyone focused on the subject at hand. Using some basic leadership skills by setting the tone of the meeting, along with reining in conversations were helpful (I hope) tips that can be implemented immediately, or as soon as your clients allow you back in their homes or offices after the pandemic is done.  The same basic rules apply for larger group meetings. I have led meetings for groups that range from a half dozen people to crowds of over a hundred with no two talks being the same. Some were at networking events where each person stands up and gives a one minute commercial, which sounds easy, but can be much more difficult than you would think. Getting my message to the masses in under 60 seconds with a bit of humor is tough. Then there are the talks that last anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes. To make it harder on myself I go without notes. That takes preparation and a lot of mental organization. There are times when...

Have you ever had an appointment with a client that was scheduled for an hour but lasted for two or three hours? Have you been in a meeting or presentation when someone was asking questions that were either too detailed or off topic? Have you ever sat down with a group of people wondering when you will get home? These are problems that happen much too often and can be avoided if you take control of your meeting from the outset. It doesn't mean you have to be rude or obnoxious, but instead become a leader.  One example of this happens before I the appointment happens. When I call my prospect I let him or her know that I would like to meet for a set amount of time, say 30 minutes. (As a matter of fact, if you go to my website and book an appointment online, it clearly states 30 minutes). This is the first message to the prospect that there is a time limit. I am aware that we may go over the time necessary, but I don't want the prospect to take advantage of my time.  When I meet ...

Have you ever had the customer who disappeared, never to be heard from again. The "one and done" is not unusual, but wouldn't you prefer to have your clients come back and keep coming back? At first glance, this client may have found a better deal elsewhere. For instance, they may have bought a car from you a few years back, but since then they have found a better dealership. Or a better deal may be the issue. Or maybe you fell victim to one of the biggest challenges of selling, which is to keep changing where you work.  I have made a lot of money in the hair/cosmetology space over the years. Part of this is because I began building a relationship with a hair salon years ago. In doing so, I learned a lot about how that industry works.  Generally speaking, a salon owner will rent out booths to other cosmetologists who may or may not have their own clientele. Many are right out school while others just don't have the capital to open a location of their own. Or they may ...

In the previous post I discussed how staying active is important if you want to succeed in sales. I also mentioned that selling is a "numbers game" in that if you see enough people you will make some sales. But what are those numbers? Generally speaking, the numbers for each industry vary. We can be pretty sure that the ratio of sales per prospect is  different if you sell cars compared to selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door or real estate. Instead of going down that rabbit hole and doing the research for you, take the time to look into your own industry's numbers.  If you are not sure where to find this information, there are a couple of sources you can use. An honest sales manager will be able to give you a reasonable guess if they have been in the business for a while. Or you can just check on the web by doing a search. And while you are searching for those sales ratios, look into your customer acquisition costs too. That will tell you how much you are spending to get...

As I have mentioned in several of my previous posts, I started my sales career selling accident insurance plans door-to-door in rural communities. We had a crappy product that would cover someone for six months for a mere $30, so you can imagine how awesome that plan was (sarcasm is my forte).  When we were able to find someone who was home and was willing to listen to our presentation, the entire process took about half an hour. Our sales manager insisted we give 10 presentations a day, or my interpretation, which was to talk to 10 people a day. The only way to give 10 people presentations was to group them together. For instance, if I could find a small garage with a couple of mechanics, I would try to talk to them at the same time.  The point of all of this was, as my sales manager would say between his frequent tobacco spitting, was that sales is a "numbers game". This genius, who also would tell us not to get "flustrated", whatever the hell that meant, was tryi...