Know It Well

While meeting with the sales staff at Avila Retail in Albuquerque last month I described the importance of telling your customers the “W’s” about your store; WHO you are; WHAT you are, WHAT you sell, and WHERE it is in the store. Doing this breaks down barriers, makes the “trust sale” and gives the customer direction.
To be prepared, you must have it memorized and practiced to the point that you can deliver it as if it were the 1st time you ever did.
I was delighted this morning to get a call and follow up e-mail from Bob Shank in Albuquerque wanting “my take” on this memo he is sending to his sales staff. I think he say’s it very well.
Do You Have Your Elevator Speech Ready?
By Bob Shank

Do you remember the last time you rode in an elevator? If there was someone riding with you, nine chances out of ten you had some sort of conversation. You probably told them a little bit about yourself; such as where you’re from, what you do, and why you’re in town. Now think about the length of the ride. It was probably no more than a minute or two, tops. This conversation is called your “Elevator Speech”. Now think about a short, to the point “Elevator Speech” that you can use when you “TELL” (Step 4) your customers about your store. In Retail Selling Made Easy, Ron says “Tell your customers who you are, what you are, what you sell and where it is in a pro-active, no-pressure manner. Pro-Active, No Pressure Selling enables you to make the most of your time with customers while enabling you to effectively use the 9 Steps to Sales City. Good luck to you all and remember . . . keep riding those elevators!

Still Only $10 Each

The Ron Raw series of CD’s recorded live and unedited at recent Success Rallies is growing and becoming very popular.
These “lively” CD’s are ideal for listening to in your car or as “background sound” while working on your computer.

The current available titles are:
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“Systems Work”
40 Minutes

This CD outlines the differences that following a system can make, as compared to “shooting from the hip” when selling, or playing “mental combat” with customers.

This CD explains why so many customers reject a salesperson right from the start, and how you can break down that defense.
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“Stop Shoplifting”
20 Minutes

Whether you call it “Pilferage”, “Shrinkage” or “Shoplifting” it all costs you money. Some of it is unavoidable, but much of it can be controlled.

This CD shares things that you can do to CUT YOUR LOSSES.
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“First Impressions”
52 Minutes

Customers begin forming impressions from the moment they enter your store.
First Impressions are lasting impressions and you only get one chance to make the best one.

This CD outlines the keys to making the best first impression, both visually and audibly.
How you Look and What you Say make the first impression. When you make the right one you open the door for selling success.
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“Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling 9 Steps”
66 Minutes

This CD Features Ron presenting a total overview of all 9 steps in one fast moving hour and six minutes. This is a CD that you will want to listen to over and over in your car and on your computer.

Pro-Active, No-Pressure is a system. By hearing to it repetitiously you will eventually find yourself using it automatically in the store. When you do, your sales will go up and up.
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“Restaurant Success”
62 Minutes

It’s the little things that determine the level of success in any business. When it comes to a restaurant, those “little things” add up to the customer’s total experience.

Amazingly, the same behavior that leads to a great dining experience also leads to a better bottom line for the restaurant as a business.

This CD covers those little things. It is something that you will want everyone to hear from the hostess to the dishwasher.
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“Questions Are the Answer”
51 Minutes

Someone is always in control; if it not the salesperson, it will be the customer. Salespeople that know where they are going and how to get there are the ones that have the most success.

Questions give you control. Questions allow you to determine the direction you are going with a sale. There are good questions and there are bad questions. This CD tells you which is which.

Order Yours Today - 808-947-7500

You Cannot “Train” People!

I am oftentimes introduced as a “trainer”, or “sales trainer” and I quickly deny that description of what I do.

Some people claim, “People are a part of the animal kingdom, if you can you train one, you should be able to train the other”. I can accept the “should be” part of that statement, but the reality is that there are some major differences between the human animal and the others.

A dolphin can be “taught” and then “trained” through repetition and reward to jump over a bar every time the whistle blows and the little stick is held out. The dolphin (or other animals) will do what they have been “trained” to do, regardless of their mood that day, the weather, or what the other animals are doing.

People can surely be taught to do something, however they may or may not do it depending entirely upon their mood that day, the weather, or what other people are doing.

Head Coach

In the game of football the head coach never misses a down. People need coaching, watching, critiquing, praising and sometimes even reprimanding just to get them to do what they were taught to do.

This story was sent to the salespeople at Curtis Wilson Cost Gallery on Maui
http://www.costgallery.com

Many years ago, I had a tennis-lesson-from-hell at the Maui Country Club. Steve, the club pro, came up to the edge of the net and asked me to hit the one stroke I was absolutely certain I could return successfully within his reach every single time. He would hit it back to me and we would count how many hits we could accumulate before missing a ball. He fed me a ball and we started rallying and reached 10 or 15 before I missed one. Steve re-approached the net and said to me again “hit the one ball you know you can hit each and every time.” The next rally got to 30 or so before I missed another. Steve once again approached the net but this time he raised his voice. “Hit the one ball YOU KNOW you can get back safely!” His tone was a little unnerving and I started to wonder what gave him the right to speak to me like that. After all, I was his client, not his subordinate. Our next rally got to about 35 hits before I hit another a little out of his reach. All of a sudden, Steve threw down his racket and marched up to the net and yelled at me. “CURTIS, HIT THE ONE YOU KNOW YOU CAN HIT BACK SAFELY EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I stood there completely aghast as he walked back to pick up his racket. He turned and calmly fed me another ball. I was beside myself. I could not believe the nerve of this guy. I decided that I would report his abuse to the club’s board of directors. When the ball reached me I hit it so focused on not missing another one that I hit a safe little dink, just to make sure it went back to him. I did this again and again, focusing and concentrating on my footwork, bending my knees, stepping through the ball making absolutely sure I got it back to him. We reached well over a hundred hits. At that point Steve grabbed the ball out of the air. “Exactly! That is exactly what I’m after. That focused little dink you’re hitting is the one I’m looking for. You need to be aware that you possess it.

That’s the shot you need to rely on. It’s the absolute minimum and essential shot that will get you out of trouble.

I walked away intent upon reporting him to the club officials. He had clearly crossed the line. On the other hand I DID learn what he meant for me to learn. There is a place to go to, mentally, which has a different focus. I didn’t know that I possessed a shot which I can hit every time if I focused and concentrated on removing all the unnecessary variables. I would not have found it if Steve hadn’t taken it to such extremes. In my quiver of tennis strokes, this is the one on which my game is now based.

My motive in telling this story has to do with the Boss Card goals in the Morning Report. When you set your Boss Card goals, you need to use the same strategy.

Boss Cards are an instrument to HELP you, not demoralize you. If they are demoralizing you, they are not set right. Set your goal at something you KNOW you can daily attain. It’s okay for it to be low, but it MUST BE REACHED EVERY SINGLE MONTH. Remember, it’s an average. You might make up a few bad days with one good day. But it is vital that you commit to a number and maintain it.

It’s also equally important to use the diagnostics Ron Martin provides to improve your performance to higher levels, such as the Sales City Express charts.

Everything yields to focused concentration and attainable goals. It’s a proven system you can rely on. The charts are illuminating if you use them, but they must be used to do any good.

Ask others for tips and advice. Make Proactive No Pressure Selling the focus of your time at work. Read a chapter in the book before starting each shift. Rehearse the steps with every customer.

Set reasonable and reachable goals and commit to them.

Curtis

More and more I find myself believing that you cannot “train” people. Often times I am introduced as a “trainer” and I usually find my talk starting with a disclaimer to the introduction.

It is an easy assumption to think we can train people since we are a part of the animal kingdom, and animals can be “trained”. You can teach a dolphin to jump over a rope suspended in the air by offering a reward when done. Once that behavior has been learned, the dolphin will always make the jump EVERY TIME the reward is offered, regardless of the weather, the dolphin’s mood and what the other dolphins are doing.
It is just not the same with people. You can teach people what to do, but they are oftentimes greatly influenced by things like the weather, their mood and what other people are doing, regardless of the rewards.

Once taught, people must be motivated, coached and inspired to keep doing it. Even professional athletes that have been taught the game well need constant motivation, coaching and inspiration to play at their best potential.

In professional football there are more coaches on the sidelines than there are players on the field. The head coach never misses a down, and these are pros. In business we often times find the head coach (manager) in the office, the back room or down at the bank during the game (business day).

No wonder there are so many “fumbles”.

Teaching “clerks” to become salespeople is the name of the game. Clerks “ring up sales”; salespeople “sell”. The best way to “teach” is by example; People will pay more attention to what the manager does than says. Do what you expect, and then inspect what you expect, and you will get what you expect.

Step #1 – Understanding. Teach your people that customers need help, but won’t ask for it. Customers have questions, but won’t ask them. Customers will buy more, but don’t know what it is.
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