Here We Go Again
I often joke that I get the pleasure of addressing groups of people every day of my life that are assembled against their will. I never know what to expect.

“Uh-Oh!”
I have been doing consistent Success Rallies for the merchants at Whaler’s Village on Maui for 19 years now. I always arrive a bit early and usually find Lelani’s to be empty. Fear rushes through my body, thinking, “Will they show up this month?” or “Did they get the memo?” or “Do they still like me?”

“Whew!”
In a short time my fears are washed away with the adrenaline created by the arriving crowd. There is a buzz of excitement in the room as they all get their coffee and sugar rush. I always head for the airport with my head already in the clouds.

“Oh No!”
The very next day I get to do it again, in this case for the merchants from the Outrigger Hotels on Oahu. Once again I show up early and get the “Uh-Oh” feeling in my gut.

Yeah!
But then as usual they begin arriving and my spirits soar again. My mission is to always say something that they can all take away from the rally and add to their selling routine that will make more money for everyone and create a lasting memory for their customers. Look for the “Yeah’s” in your job. Life is an exciting adventure.

Customer Contact

Dealing face-to-face with customers can feel like “mental combat” at times. Not everyone is cut out for it. While customers are not always nice, salespeople must be.
“We found that we could hire nice people and teach them how to sell. We had problems hiring salespeople and teaching them how to be nice.”
-The Nordstrom Way

“Leave Me Alone” 

Customers do not always welcome a salesperson’s approach, even when it is a friendly one. Customers have all encountered pushy salespeople, and think you just might be one of them. Customers can be pretty “closed up”.

“How about…?” 

Getting close to a customer is a lot like flirting with a love interest. One person may want more out of the deal (at the moment) than the other, but both have an interest, or they wouldn’t be there. You want the sale and the customer needs your help. Timing can be everything.

Togetherness 

Your goal is to build a bond with the customer and break down those barriers early on. 
The tricky thing is doing it without appearing phony. The best way to come across as “real”, is to be “real”. The customer is in your store. Talking about the weather or anything outside of the store can be seen as insincere. Sincerity sells!

“Come On In” 

Your customers take a big step when they make the decision to enter your store. Their purpose is not to tell you how they are doing today, so don’t start off by asking that question. Doing so (unless you know one another) is phony. They don’t think you care how they are doing today, and you probably don’t. Be Real!

“Relax and Look Around” 

You probably have a lot of things for your customers to look at, and if you ask, “May I help you?” the answer will most likely be, “No thanks, I’m just looking”. Bad Question!
Always ask a safe, but meaningful question to get started. When you ask a question that assumes a purchase before the customer has seen what you have to offer, like; “Is there something in particular you are looking for?” you set yourself up for an answer you don’t want to hear.

Launch the Discovery 

Most customers are on a discovery mission. You can get in synch with your customer’s mission, launch their discovery and seize control all at the same time by asking the right question. Ask, “Is this your first time in our store”, or in the case of a repeat customer, “How long has it been since you have been in our store”. These are both non threatening, safe to answer questions that set you up to talk about the store and fulfill your customer’s mission.

How Many Do You Want?
People using Twitter seem to be obsessed with how many “followers” they have. It’s as if it is a status symbol or contest of some sort. I even saw someone today bragging about getting 100 followers in one day by simply signing in on this website, which allows you to buy followers at three different prices. I thought, WHY? Perhaps as a celebrity there is a value in having more followers. I see Conan Obrien creating an audience for his I Will Survive Tour, and staying in touch with his 873,577 fans after losing his show, but he surely didn’t have to buy those followers. People with a universal message of goodwill should accumulate as many followers as they can, such as Bill Gates, to promote his foundation for a better world.

“Please”
For the average person to benefit from Twitter, these three things more important than how many followers you have:
-Having the right followers-Your target audience
-Following the right people-Those you can learn from
-Having something to say-Something to make you worth following
When those three things are in order and working, Twitter becomes a very valuable tool for business. Without them it is purely a distraction and a waste of time.

Somebody’s Got To Do It!
Companies spend enormous amounts of money on things intended to generate revenue. Things like, Rent, Advertising, Signage, Displays and Merchandise. Too many times they then expect these things alone to bring in the sales. The most they can do is attract a customer. What’s now needed to make these expenditures pay off is a good salesperson doing a good job. It all comes down to that. You can have a great location with great merchandise, wonderful advertising and beautiful fixtures and signs, but a poor salesperson can undo it all. Likewise a great salesperson can succeed when these other things are marginal. Your biggest challenge and most important priority should be in building and maintaining a first class sales sales team.

Hiring
Recruiting is a process, not an event; it never stops. Don’t wait until you think you need a salesperson. That may be too late. Always be on the lookout for someone better that your weakest salesperson. Weak salespeople talk to customers and miss sales that a strong one would make. Even worse, they turn customers off forever. For HR reasons, companies these days are afraid to hire and afraid to fire, but both are needed to be the best that you can be. The Dead Sea is dead because there is no outlet. Rain water comes into the lake and then stagnates. Life cannot exist in a stagnant environment. As soon as it becomes apparent that you have made a hiring mistake you should make a replacement. In order to do that you need a “bench” of people ready to go to work for you.

The Bench
In sports the bench is obvious. Talented athletes are sitting there waiting for their chance to get in the game. You most likely will not have the budget to hire people that are sitting on a bench. Your “bench” is your ad in the paper and a steady flow of applicants. The better your team becomes the more difficult it is to find someone better that your worst one. That’s a nice problem to have, and much better than “grasping at a straw” when someone quits and leaves. We hate it when people quit and leave, but it’s worse when they quit and stay.

Hire Attitudes; Teach Selling
Customers form a fast opinion as to if they like a salesperson or not. When they don’t, they don’t buy. Think the same way when recruiting or interviewing. Look at the applicant as a customer will. Too many times companies pour over a resume to see if the applicant has the ideal experience. They say things like, “She doesn’t have enough sales experience” or “He has had too much sales experience, he has moved around too much.” Some of the best salespeople you will find will come with no sales experience at all, and when they get it from you will be loyal and stay with you. Hire the right stuff and be willing to teach the easy stuff.

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!

Or, at least tone it down.

This guy at the airport let everyone 10 rows away know about the details of the bridge his company is building. When you add his comments to the loud speakers in the airport itself and the other cell phone users screaming their business, and airport lobbies are becoming the worst noise polluters there are.

What is it about people talking on their cell phones that cause them so talk short of the scream level? It is almost as if they think they are talking on a tin can through a string.

Little Thing, Big Impression
I was totally blown away when I pulled into the parking lot at The Madden Corp. this morning and saw this sign on the front parking spot. I know that they have 150 employees that might like to park in that spot. Even though it was temporary, it made me feel very special. It was the thought that mattered; doing something they didn’t have to do. It was a great reminder to me of the power of recognition. Something like this is so easy to do, yet so few people would even think about it.

Big Guy Small Frame
While at Cutter Chevrolet checking up on their Morning Report, manager Terry Bennett took me back into the garage to meet Kevin, their top big engine mechanic. This guy fixes engines on big trucks and busses, yet he was moved so much by seeing his name at the top of their Morning Report recognizing his production success, that he had it framed.
What can you do today to recognize and impress someone?