Building Trust
Although I personally have had a lot more success with selling than I did with dating, I have noticed many similarities. Whether it be asking someone out, approaching a customer, asking someone to dance, or closing a sale, in most cases one person probably would like to get more out of the relationship than the other would; or is ready for. Consequently your words early in the “relationship” are crucial.

Six Things You Should Never Say on a First Date
“So how much do you earn?”
“I’ve never had any luck with dating.”
“Sorry I’m Late, I forgot my meds.”
“Have you had any work done?”
“Let me tell you about my ex.?
“What Do You think of a big church Wedding?”

To see the entire article from E-Harmony.com CLICK HERE:
PS
No, I have not been visiting E-Harmony, this article was posted on Oceanic Cable’s Home Page today.

Six Things You Should Not Ask When Greeting a Customer
“May I help you.”
“Is there something in particular you are looking for?
“Are you finding everything okay?”
“Would you like to try that on?”
“Do you have any questions?”
“Is there something I can show you?”

While these questions may seem harmless, and even effective at times, they also can shut you down. Questions demand answers, and sometimes the answer may feel like a commitment the customer is not ready to make. The rule when asking questions is NEVER ask a question that MIGHT get you an answer you DON’T want to hear. Ask questions that are safe for the customer to answer and you will gain permission to proceed.

I do not remember where I read that, but I surely do remember the meaning, as well as the impact that it had on me. I sometimes see an experienced salesperson land a new job with a company where a well established, proven selling system is in place, like Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling. At the interview these “experienced” salespeople claim that they understand the “new” system and appear eager to learn and use it. Then, rather than do as promised, many of them will fall back on the way they originally learned to sell.
Learning is not an event; it is a process that never ends. Techniques and technology are always evolving. Everyone should always be open to newer and better ways to sell, or do anything for that matter.

Thinking Together
Napoleon Hill’s Master Mind Alliance concept was; “Whenever two or more minds come together, with a common goal, and in a spirit of harmony, there is an invisible mind created. That invisible mind is more powerful than the sum total of the individual minds, and it feeds the individual minds with ideas, hunches, motivation, inspiration and all of the things it takes to be great.”
Make note of the two essential elements that must be present for this phenomenon to work; a common goal and a spirt of harmony. Without those two elements you might have anger, resentment, ego clashes and self serving ideas that are not easily accepted. Does that sound familiar?

“That was MY Customer”
When two salespeople argue over whose customer it was, I like to remind them that it was the company’s customer, and that they both work for the company. I have been asked to “settle” far too many “after the fact” disputes between salespeople who were both there at the time, but I wasn’t. Who do you believe? If forced to make the call I ask, “Okay, who did the customer give the money to?” Would you drop your tip on any old table in the restaurant after receiving great service? Probably not. It is oftentimes quite obvious to the customer who made the sale, and it’s not always the first person that said, “Hello.” Selling starts with a good greeting, but it doesn’t stop there.

Teamwork Works
It usually takes more than one person for a company to succeed. Without the company succeeding there is no opportunity for anyone. Everyone on the team is important to the success of the company. When emotions run high, step back, take a deep breath, count to 10, and ask yourself what’s best for the customer and the company. The answer is usually evident. When it isn’t, be the one to take the high road.  

You Need To Dig For It

If gold could be found lying on the surface, everyone would pick it up. The fact is that you need to dig for it, sometimes deeper than you may want to. The same is true whether prospecting for gold or for new business. There are two kinds of people in the world; there are those who get what they want, and those who take what they get. Guess which one gets the most.
Customer prospects (and gold) are everywhere.

Put On Your “Prospecticles”

The good prospector is always on the look out for new business. Regardless where you might be, chances are there are some good prospects within sight, but you must be looking for them. I have a term; DBWA (Doing Business Walking Around). It is amazing how many people you can meet if you have your “Prospecticles” on while you are anywhere.

W. Clement Stone

Like many people I have walls of framed mementos in my office. Perhaps the most treasured of them all is this 1975 photo of me and W. Clement Stone (May 4, 1902 – September 3, 2002) taken in my Hollywood office (very faded), along with the one of him wearing an oversized “Do It Now” T-Shirt that I sent to him.
“Clem”, as he was affectionately called was a prominent businessman, philanthropist and self-help book author. “Do It Now” was Clem’s motto. While in my office that day he told me this wonderful story.

As Clem was getting into the elevator to go up to his office at Combined Insurance Company of America, a man stepped in and said, “Hey Clem, I’m ready to buy that policy you have been talking to me about”. Clem said, “Okay, I will drop by your office later today to write it up”. The policy was for a million dollars.

By the time the elevator reached the top floor Clem had an idea. He called a spontaneous meeting with his top salespeople and announced, “Just a few minutes ago a man in this building told me that he is ready to sign for a million dollar life insurance policy. I told him that I would come down today and write it up. I’m kind of busy today and was wondering, would any of you like to go take it?” Of course they all raised their hands enthusiastically. Clem then said, “Great, go find him.”

Clem told me that they sold well over a million dollars of insurance that day, in that building, and never found the man. Think about it! This story has stayed with me for the last 36 years. All of those “prospects” were in that building all along while his salespeople were sitting on their hands drinking coffee (or something). The business was right there under their noses. All it took to get them out there “prospecting”, was the assurance that someone would buy. That assurance is always the case.

“I start buying when I run into someone that is selling”
-J. Paul Getty

Clem died at the ripe old age of 100. I hope you will take the time to click and read this story. If you don’t find it inspiring, have someone take your temperature.

Who Gets In?
I have the opportunity to meet and watch numerous salespeople selling various items under all sorts of circumstances. One thing that remains constant is the top sellers. It is common see the same people at the top month after month, even though they are selling the same product at the same prices to the same types of customers as everyone else is. If you were to put these top sellers all together you would quickly see that they are quite different, just as those at the bottom are. They have different looks, personalities, ambitions, educations, and different approaches to selling. They also have some things in common, and these are things that are oftentimes missing in those that are consistently farther down in the rankings. At the top of the list is how they measure up attitude wise.

Winning Attitude
This is the biggie! Top salespeople manage to maintain a positive attitude and determination to sell in spite of whatever else is going on around them. They blow off the constant rejection from customers and negativity from low producing colleagues. They never allow non buyers to steal their enthusiasm or self esteem. They convert rejection and negativity into added determination to succeed. They make up for missed sales with added sales later in the day or month.
If your ambition is to be a top seller, give yourself a “Check Up from the Neck Up” every day. Keeping the right attitude will get you to the right altitude!

People Love It
Of course there are exceptions, and some e-mail is better received than others, but generally speaking, “You have mail” are welcome words when opening your e-mail program.

Yesterday’s Inbox
The same was true in times past when all mail came to your physical mail box. The more there was, the better you liked it.

“Thank You.”
When was the last time that you went shopping, came home and opened up your e-mail to find a simple “Thank you” e-mail from one of the stores where you shopped? Such e-mail would likely be well received, especially if it came from someone you did NOT buy from, and does NOT have a “sales pitch” as a part of it. A link to your web site is enough. Everyone likes being appreciated.

CRM’s
I talk with many companies that have Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM) in place to gather e-mail addresses and other customer information, but in too many cases it stops there. Or, they go into a data base somewhere with good intent to send e-mail about upcoming sales, promotions or new merchandise. In some cases even that doesn’t happen.

Pick One!
A good way to get e-mail addresses is to have a weekly or monthly drawing of some sort with winners posted on your web site. Be sure that you do not ask for too much information on the drawing ticket; name and e-mail address is all you need. I dropped my business card in a fishbowl at a cafe recently and got a return e-mail telling me who the winner was (not me), but offering me a consolation prize of a free bowl of soup with my next purchase.

Get it Together!
The names in your data base are pure gold. Get creative; e-mail is free, and properly used can be the most effective and inexpensive marketing tool of all.

PLEASE!
One of the hardest things to teach salespeople is when to shut up.
The bad salesperson doesn’t know when to speak up, the good salesperson too many times fails to shut up.
When the good salesperson learns the art of shutting up, he or she becomes a great salesperson.
When you shut up, it becomes the customer’s time to react. This reaction does a lot more for you than your ongoing words would. Reading the customer’s body language when you shut up will tell you if to continue, back up, or stay quiet.
When you shut up you give your customers the opportunity to ask a question, show interest or dis-interest, present an objection or to buy.
The secret to great selling is; “Speak Up, Shut Up, Observe and Mirror”. Say something, read the reaction and then act as the customer does. It’s Easy!

Retail Merchants - Outrigger Hotels
We had a great turnout this morning for the monthly Outrigger Hotels Success Rally.

31 Days to Go!
My main message today was that there are only 31 shopping days left until Christmas, and that gifts from Hawaii are unique. I shared a list of things that can be done to get our visitors to do some Christmas shopping while on vacation.

“It Worked”
Right after the rally Kate Turtura from Seattle’s Best Coffee rushed over to tell me that right after the rally she had a customer who was undecided if to get anything and when she mentioned that there are only 31 days left until Christmas, she immediately decided to buy.
Things work when you work them.

“$8.01″
I ordered a bowl of veggie chile and brown rice at lunch today and it came to $8.01. I asked the clerk if he could break a $50 and he nodded that he could. As I was thinking about dropping my 99 cent “change” into the tip jar in front of me, he asked, “Do you have a penny?” I checked my pocket and said, “No, sorry.” What do you think he did next? Right; he handed me $42 in change. I wasn’t sure if he was doing me a favor, slighting the store, or was just plain too lazy to count out the 99 cents. What do you think his motive was? What do you think I did?

UPDATE:
Okay; here’s what happened. I did not leave a tip because I considered his move to be stupid, as he made it difficult for me to tip anything less than a dollar, which was a bit high on an $8 tab. I am a big tipper, but his move showed me that he wasn’t interested in the tip and was willing to short the register by a penny to avoid counting out the 99 cents to me. Even asking me for the penny was dumb if the tip jar in front of him had any meaning to him and his co-workers.

Déjà vu
Reading this tweet from Doug Fleener on Twitter this morning caused me to dig into the archives and update this story. “There seems to be no cars available at Dollar Rent a Car. Not a very good experience sitting here waiting!”

It was mid-December (2007) when I contacted Budget Rent-a-Car saying that I needed a car on Maui on Christmas Day. “No way”, or something like that was the response. I had to understand, since Christmas Day begins the busiest week of the year here in Hawaii.
One week later I was on a plane to Maui and got into a discussion with the guy next to me. He turned out to be a VP of National Car Rental. I explained my Christmas Day dilemma and he said, “If I can get you a car, can we have your business?” I said, “You can for that trip, for sure. Where we go from there we will have to see; I have been loyal to Budget for more than 25 years.”
He gave me his card saying, “E-mail me your flight information and I will see what I can do”. I did, and when I arrived on Maui on Christmas Day, there was a driver waiting for me with a brand new car.
Well that was a year and a half ago, (now 2 1/2) and I have not been back to Budget since.
It pays to be willing to go the extra mile to get (and or keep) business.