Saturday Morning Sales

I’ve almost always left religion out of my writing. On a rare occasion, such as today, I will borrow from my Catholic upbringing and education in an effort to drive a point home. Religions, regardless of specificity, are based on faith. Faith is a belief or belief system. I’m reminded of faith and belief from a line in the book & movie Polar Express: “seeing is believing, but sometimes believing is seeing”. I was raised to believe in certain things even though I could not see them.

I have read the bio’s of many business leaders, and although not all, most have a belief system of some sort. Most have faith in a higher level beyond their own capabilities. And, I’ve found that these business leaders live a common mantra of lead without excuse. They rely on their beliefs, their faith, that a decision must be made and stood by, and without excuse. One may make a mistake along the path toward success, but one must own their mistakes, and never make any excuse for a loss or failure.

It is through faith, a belief in my abilities as a sales manager, that I can lead by example and without making excuses. I am not perfect, but it is by striving for perfection that I have been successful. The term lead, leader or leadership is not a guarantee of being good at these things. There are bad leaders, poor leadership, which may result in poor performance. Keep in mind, there are great sales people, great sales managers, and sometimes individuals that are great at both sales and management. They are never exclusive. You may possess the skills of one without having the skills of the other. It is rare to find the combination of skills to be both the great sales person and sales manager.

Leading without excuses is the first step in becoming a great leader. Believing in yourself, the skills you possess, and having faith in your abilities and the system for which you sell within will lead you to becoming a true leader that others will follow. Never making an excuse for a mistake or a loss is a key fundamental. Removing excuses is the first step.

The second step to becoming a great sales manager, a true leader, is doing so by example. It is sharing with those for whom you mentor that you are made of something beyond stats, technical terms, product data, etc. You believe in yourself and the skills you possess. You have faith in your abilities and your sales system. And, you have faith in them. You will accomplish your goals as a sales person so that you can showcase to your team members “how it’s done”. You must manage a loss publicly to them, so they too can have a small taste of defeat, but only to be pushed aside by your faith that the loss was for a good reason. You must move on, without hesitation, and win the next deal.

Lead without excuse. Show your team, as a sales manager, that sacrifices must still be made even though you’ve “paid your dues”. Attend the business networking event, be in the office early to make a few cold calls, keep your writing skills sharp. Always be mindful that eyes are watching you. Lead by example, make no excuse, and become a great sales manager. Believe in yourself, believe in your skills, have faith in your system and abilities. Then, and only then, will you be a great sales manager and business leader.

Here I am, putting my weekly post together on Saturday morning, today is April 1^st. It wasn’t hard to come up with the theme for this week, out of sheer frustration, but I wish it weren’t so. This is not an April Fool’s Joke on me, nope it is a reality I’m dealing with and it is not fun. I’ve written multiple posts over the past year or so about managing millennials in sales, becoming the elder in the group, and most recently having my experience ignored for what has been referred to as “old school sales”. Unfortunately, the declining sales performance of a few sales people close to me is not a joke today; it is certainly no laughing matter. My frustration is peeking and changes are on the horizon.

As often as I counsel others in the areas of sales and sales management, I am now being counselled as well. I’ve turned to Tim, a close friend and confidant, with an extensive background in successful sales, sales management, training, mentoring, and executive leadership. Tim and I are the same age, and although we grew up in different parts of the country, our careers have emulated one another for the past 20 years or so. I am fortunate to have someone I can turn to for such important advice and guidance, especially because he will be blunt.

My frustration with a few individuals today is not new, it has been growing for weeks, if not months. I can swallow my pride, I can own my faults, but I cannot sit back and watch my efforts and those of many others be squandered by sales people who refuse to listen. Listening skills is a requirement for any ‘A’ level sales person. Unfortunately, these few individuals have not yet honed that skill.  

Where this frustration stems from is simple, but the fix isn’t. And, in talking with Tim, he recently went through a similar situation. I just hope I can manage in the same way as he did. As if taken from a bad TV sitcom, I feel as though these sales people view me as an old man in a retirement home, where they visit, pat me on the head, and ignore any consideration that I’ve been there done that, and might just have a little wisdom to impart on them. As Tim put it, they don’t have a clue on what I can bring to the table, and it will ultimately be their loss.

Why the frustration has come to a breaking point, again no joke on the first day of April, is sad and simple. These specific sales reps performance is dismal. They are not having success on the telephone, in email, during meetings, and their revenue sold is so low that they cannot come to terms that they are at fault. A genuine lack of effort is to blame. And, to make matters worse, they are making excuses. Just when I thought I’ve heard them all, they’re telling me it is the market, the lack of qualified leads in our database, and we don’t have the proper tools for them to be successful. Did I mention they’re all still new in their careers of sales (6 months to 3 years). When I shared these excuses with Tim he told me they were all crazy.

Well, I’m not entirely sure they are the ones that are crazy, maybe I’m crazy for allowing this behavior to happen and continue. Let’s start with the market conditions: you cannot use this as an excuse when other sales reps in your own organization are closing deals, and you cannot say this when your competition are announcing new client acquisitions on a consistent basis. We have never, and I mean never, had a lack of qualified leads in our database. Each sales rep is responsible for their own lead generation, and while some are excelling and keeping their pipeline full, these certain reps are not taking the necessary steps to grow their leads. And, tools, what tools do you need other than a telephone. It is not hard to make 30, 60 or 90 phone calls in one day. You do not need a tool to do this other than your voice.

Tim reminded me that patience is a virtue. But, his words of wisdom also went beyond this old saying, and his words did not fall on deaf ears. “Patience is a virtue that will never be wasted on a person that cares about their career and the company they represent. The key is determining if the reps that are struggling do, in fact, care about their careers. And, they must also care about your company too, the two are not exclusive. Caring about their career only is selfish. Caring for the company shows a desire to be successful, and to do what is right. If they care about both, your guidance and wisdom will eventually break through to them, but if they only care about themselves, then they will pat you on the head and appease you. They will never follow your advice and guidance, they will not seek your wisdom, when they only care about themselves. For, you see, they don’t care about the company and therefore they don’t care about you, and they are smarter than you. So they think.”

As my frustration has grown, I am now forced to take Tim’s words to heart, which may be difficult in weeks to come. The conversations I will be having may not be pleasant. They may be downright disappointing. I will be challenging these reps to determine why they are in sales, why they work for our company, and what they plan to do to be better versions of themselves. I have a feeling I’m not going to like some of the answers, and we may be a few reps short sooner than later, but it should be in the best interest of the organization, never the rep. Boy oh boy, I sure wish this was an April Fools Joke.

A little over one year ago I was providing guidance and mentorship to a younger sales person. He finished grad school just a few years prior and moved his way into a sales position within his uncle’s business. He had done quite well and was meeting or exceeding the goals set forth for him. In fact, the only reason I was asked to provide some direction was more refinement of sales tactics than anything new. I spent two hours per week for about six weeks and when we parted ways I was rather confident he would continue to grow and hit his numbers for the foreseeable future. What I wasn’t expecting was that he would be promoted.

Mathew continued to meet and exceed his sales goals. Each month following our sessions he was gaining more and more confidence, and was willing to take on the toughest of sales calls. And, with the tougher sales calls, the larger the deals became, and his closing rate was nothing short of outstanding. So, the management team felt it was time for Mathew to take on more responsibility, and his uncle agreed with them and promoted him to director of sales.

Mathew embraced the new role and added responsibility with open arms. He continued to do well with his own sales and began the planning stages for advancing and growing the sales team. He laid out well intentioned strategies for marketing, lead generation, and a sales team, and he obtained buy-in from all around him. A problem, however, soon arose. Mathew had no experience in this role, and he bit off more than he could chew.

Growing sales is one thing, but growing a sales organization requires patience and the ability to be a mentor and manager, while at the same time leading by example. Mathew’s best laid plans were not working out. While he hired a few genuinely nice people, they were much like himself, young and ambitious, but with little-to-no experience. Mathew’s eyes were big and bright and full of “spitfire” (as his uncle called it). He easily rallied the management team around his ideas for growth, built a small (new) team he called his own, and he set off on a course for amazing sustainable revenue growth.

Mathew is now about a year into his new role and his team is struggling. The numbers are not adding up, so to speak. While effort is being made in the areas of cold calling, marketing through online advertising, blogging, and emailing existing clients, sales are going down. Mathew’s team are now making excuses and I’ve gone back in to help dissect the issues.

In talking with his team, to begin with, it appears the excitement and drive is still in place. However, it would appear to me that a new sales tactic is being discussed every other day. Instead of relying on what has worked in the past, the lack of experience is overriding commonsense, and the young team is beginning to grasp for anything that works. Mathew, himself, rose to fame within the organization rather quickly, and had never experienced a slump. Thinking in baseball terms, Mathew did not manage a batters slump or two in the minor league, he went straight to hitting doubles, triples, and home runs in the majors. Now, unfortunately, he cannot manage to get out of the slump he and his team are in, and much of it lies in experience. He’s not “been there done that”.

Now, some of the blame does rest on Mathew’s shoulders. He continues to talk a good talk, seems to always be agreeable with upper management, but then lacks the fortitude to step back before stepping forward. And, some of the blame rests on management, especially his uncle. Mathew did not have any go at the sport of sales in the minors. In other words, instead of dealing with at least one sales slump and learning from it, he is finding it difficult to deal with his own slump which is currently compounded by his team being in a slump.

Sometimes, with all of the best of intentions, we promote someone too soon. We, us in management roles, talk ourselves into the promoting of a subordinate for a variety of reasons, but none worthy of the disappointment when the promotion does not work out. Maybe you, as the vice president of sales, are worried you’ll lose a good sales person, so you offer them a promotion. Maybe the president of the company just likes the sales rep, believes a promotion will be healthy encouragement, only to find out they don’t really want to be in management after all.

It is important when promoting to play a bit of devil’s advocate, so to speak, and consider more about failure than success. Has the person failed in a sales call, lost a deal or two, or truly managed themselves out of a sales slump. What does the future of this employee look like if they cannot manage the promotion successfully? Will they leave, accept a demotion, or will you fire them? In Mathew’s case, he wants to take a step back voluntarily, and learn. He wants to take a few management classes directly dealing with sales and sales people. And, he wants to be patient and accept a promotion again down the road, once the necessary experience is in hand. Fortunately, for Mathew, his uncle owns the company and he’s being afforded this opportunity. Not everyone has the uncle as owner. Management: be aware of the pitfalls of promoting too soon. Sales Person: be aware of the pitfalls of accepting the promotion too soon.

It has only happened one other time in my nearly 23 year career, I’ve been accused of being unapproachable by a few (newer) employees, and all I can say is, “Guilty As Charged”. Now, I must admit, when this accusation was lodged against me, I did almost feel criminal, and I became slightly defensive. Naturally I wasn’t expecting to be called out like I was this week, but nonetheless, it was true. And, I’m not one bit sorry.

You see, I’m the guy that has always been approachable, asked for help, and even referred to as the “last resort” or the “closer”. Sometimes I’d rather be brought into a sales situation sooner, but regardless of the timeframe, I have always made myself available to help. I’m the guy that hasn’t taken a vacation in over fifteen years without fielding at least one telephone call from a team member seeking advice or guidance. I would say I’ve been approachable. I’m the guy that has met my sales reps at a coffee shop at 8:45 PM on a Thursday night to help finalize the details of a proposal. I would say I’ve been approachable. I’m the guy that has represented my firm at numerous networking events, shook the hands of many an attendee, when no one else seemed interested in going (or there was some lame excuse). I would say I’ve been approachable. And, I’m the guy who’s tucked his kids into bed, and jumped on the phone in an attempt to calm down an upset sales rep because they lost a deal. I would say I’ve been approachable.

In all times and in all cases where I’ve been needed, I was approachable. However, as this recent accusation began to sink in, the more I pondered the past few weeks to few months, I say again, “Guilty As Charged”. But, the more I’ve given thought to being unapproachable over the past few weeks to past few months, I’ve come to the conclusion as to why. And, I didn’t need therapy, counseling or court-mandated rehab, I needed to explore and evaluate what’s been going on with me and with my entire organization. I had the a-ha moment Thursday evening as I sipped a cocktail and chatted with my wife. I am back to carrying the weight of my organization on my shoulders.

Urgent Note Here To My Team: don’t take this the wrong way, it is not a true, literal sense of carrying the weight of the company, more of a feeling I’ve been going through.

You see, for many years I’ve not only served as the head of sales and operations, I have been the senior-most lead on the sales team. I have carried the weight of the company on my shoulders from time-to-time, driving nearly 70% of the revenue by myself, but that is not the case anymore. No, not now. But, I would say the feeling of need by my team came back into play a couple of months ago, as the company was expanding. Those assigned to oversee the expansion were doing their job, yet I have not been feeling very comfortable in our sales performance. Instead of talking through these issues with my team, I closed myself off to them, buried my head in my own sales efforts, and closed deals, all the while remaining in my executive management role.

Most people would think this is a good thing, closing deals, generating revenue, etc. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good thing, but in doing so I became unapproachable. Even in years past, when buried by my own sales, I’ve always made time for others. I’ve always been approachable. So, what changed this time around, the second time in my entire career?

Besides the feeling that my own sales efforts were a necessity for growth and success, I admittedly became belligerent toward my team. I didn’t go so far as to become an asshole to them in the office, at least I hope not, rather I took an “I’ll Show You” approach with my attitude. When asked for advice or my opinion, I went against my own traditional open stance, and became much more matter-of-fact. I became someone I don’t like. I became the directive giving sales manager versus the teacher.

Part of my attitude lately has been driven by my team and what I’ve taken as a somewhat lack of respect. I am now surrounded by the youngest team I’ve ever worked with and instead of them seeking my wisdom, they have, at times, brushed aside my advice. You’ve read this term in recent posts, but I’ve been called “old school” more than once lately, and it has not been a compliment. While I’ve been around the block a time or two, I am not foolish to live only in the past. Sales tactics have evolved, expanding with digital inbound marketing efforts, designed to compliment traditional selling. Yet, some younger sales folks just don’t have the willingness to listen and/or appreciate the wisdom of an older sales person like myself. And, when you don’t listen, don’t take advice, fall short of your sales goals, all the while ignoring me, well then I become unapproachable. At least this is my guess at this point.

So, to my own sales team, I apologize for being unapproachable lately. For those that know me, this is out of character, but I acknowledge it to be true. Know this, I am not always right, nor do I want to be viewed as a know-it-all. I am simply in my role to be a teacher, a leader, a mentor, a big brother, and I will continue to do so by example. Use my experiences to further your own career. Learn from my mistakes, so you too can avoid some of the pitfalls from sales. Take advantage of my availability, bend my ear, and allow me to accompany you on sales calls. And, if you choose not to take me up on this offer, so be it. I will immediately get back to being approachable for those that want my help, appreciate the wisdom I can share, and I will outsell/outperform those that want to go it alone.

And on a final note, while this is a very personal story, many sales managers and executives can relate. Take my story to heart, try to always be approachable, and lead by example.

One small indulgence I give myself is watching the food shows. Some of my favorites travel from city to city and state to state visiting diners and little holes-in-wall. I’ve always preferred a local greasy spoon to a high-end steak joint. So naturally I gravitate to these shows. Every so often I get drawn in to the explanation by the chef as they describe the recipe and how to’s in putting a dish together. I’m never afraid to try something in the kitchen, and by watching these shows, I will give these new dishes a shot.

Every so often though, just when I’m getting excited about a new food item, the chef blurts out – it’s a secret sauce (or secret ingredient), and my frustration kicks in. How dare you get my taste buds so excited and then shut me down. Then I laugh and move on to something else on my honey-do list.

I thought about these food shows the other day when being solicited by a “sales coach” who wanted to pitch me on using his services. He wants me to hire him to bring a “secret sauce recipe” to my sales team. Once again I laughed and moved on to something else on my (business) honey-do list.

When it comes to sales, there is no secret sauce, and you will be hard pressed to prove otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there is a time and place to seek sales training, but even with the biggest sales training programs out there, think Sandler Sales Institute as an example, the training is based around management of real world processes in business. Sandler doesn’t necessarily have a secret sauce, instead they have a teaching style, and those who learn from Sandler learn methods that can be applied in a variety of sales settings.

Although I am Sandler trained, I’m not a spokesman, rather an observer of the sales world around me. Over the course of my 23 year career I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of third-party training programs and I’ve also taught many on my own.

Selling, at its core, is about building a relationship with someone. Nothing more, nothing less. Is there a secret sauce to dating? Is there a secret sauce to starting a new school? Is there a secret sauce to interviewing for a new job? Some may say yes, but I say no. Implying that you need a secret sauce to be successful in relationships, at least to me, is a sad testament to our culture. Instead, I would prefer to guide sales people toward training that is grounded in openness.

A short post this week, but one I felt the need to write. Not only have I been contacted lately by the snake oil salesman pitching his secret sauce to sales training success, many of my colleagues have as well. Successful sales people can be trained. Successful sales people can learn new techniques. But, truly successful sales people, the ‘A’ level sales people, know there is no secret sauce. Their success comes from building relationships with their prospects and clients, managing those relationships with care, and sticking to traditional fundamentals of selling. Remember the old saying, if it seems too good to be true, it likely is.

How many times have you either been told this statement directly, overheard the statement being made, or even made the statement yourself: “don’t touch the stove, it’s hot”? And, how many times have you, or someone else, touched the hot stove? After the ouch factor, you then look at the person that warned you with a stare of wonderment, in a “why didn’t you warn me” manner, only to get the “I TOLD YOU SO”.

It’s happened to all of us at some point in our lives. This type of scenario even happened to me recently. I was traveling with my family and my kids told me the pool water was cold, but I jumped in any way, and it was freezing. My reaction, of course, was to ask, “why didn’t you tell me it was this cold?” My kids just rolled their eyes, laughed at me, and walked away.

These little “I told you so” moments happen in sales too. Rather than “I told you so”, I have always tried to make these learning moments, both as the student and the teacher. As my career has evolved over the years, I do find myself serving more and more as the teacher, and yet I still learn from these moments through my students eyes.

First of all, no one ever wants to hear “I told you so”, but mature, level-headed sales people will recognize and understand that constructive criticism can go a long way in building one’s sales career, because these teaching-learning moments almost always are based upon experience. It doesn’t take a master’s degree in education to be the teacher in these scenarios, rather it takes a story teller’s approach.

Sales people, so I’ve come to learn over 20+ years, tend to be more receptive when being told a story versus being given a directive. When a young sales person comes to you for advice, or you are placed in a situation where you may be tempted to offer advice (as in be careful the stove is hot), sales people have an increased likelihood of listening to you (avoiding the stove) if the advice is told in story format (such as: let me tell you, that happened to me once, and here’s how it turned in my favor). Giving a directive, the “do this” and “don’t do that” approach generally doesn’t come with any “why reasoning”, and instead comes off just as it sounds “don’t touch the stove, it’s hot”.

Think of the parent-child relationship for a moment. It’s happened since the dawn of the hot stove. Parent says to child, “don’t touch the stove, it’s hot”, child proceeds to touch stove, and child then gets a burn on his or her hand. Instead, the scenario could have played out like this: parent says to child, “don’t touch the stove, it’s hot, and trust me it will burn you. In fact kid, I did not listen when I was warned once, and boy oh boy did that burn hurt. It doesn’t look hot, but it left my skin so severely burned that it took two months to recover. I just wouldn’t want to see you go through what I went through.”

In sales we could take the directive approach: sales person tells sales manager they are being met with resistance to their closing approach on a sizable deal. Sales manager says, “go tell them XYZ and come back with a PO”. Unfortunately, that is a directive, whereas the sales manager may have taken this approach: “here’s how I would handle their objection, but realize it is all in your delivery, so you may want to try this tone of voice, use these words, and give them a few examples such as these, and also be prepared for a follow-up objection, which I’ve encountered too and here’s how I dealt with it…”. Do you see the difference?

Most sales people have an ego and asking for advice and guidance is not always their first choice. More times than not the sales manager or other seniors in the company tend to overhear the sales person talking and they chime in. They mean no harm, they simply want to be helpful. When you’re in the advice offering seat, be mindful of your message delivery, offer advice and guidance, and wish them well. If they ignore you, call you old school, and end up losing the deal, well then you can say, “I told you so”.

I sound like a broken record at times. I continue to preach about sales tactics from my point of view, which in most cases, is based upon a successful track record. Recently though, I’ve been accused of being “old school” when describing what works and what doesn’t work, because I don’t often cover topics related to social media, texting, etc. Being told that “that’s your opinion” or “your point of view on sales is outdated” generally doesn’t sit well with me. One person even went so far as to say I was “out of touch with the reality of today’s digital marketplace”. Of course, this same person has less than 20% of the sales opportunities I currently have with clients and prospective clients. And, it has now become a bit of a hot topic in my office.

There is no right or wrong way to deal with sales communication. Sales, however, cannot be built upon a single approach to communication, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any ‘A’ level sales person that says so. It requires a blending of tactics. In the recent conversation’s I’ve been a part of, I have been accused of being singularly focused on the cold call, in that I believe it is the only way to open doors. This could not be further from the truth. But, the lessons learned by a sales person in the cold calling process are invaluable and will last them their entire career. Yet, so many younger or newer sales people roll their eyes at the idea of cold calling, and then try to circumvent this tactic and find short cuts.

I consider myself the king of the phrase “touch points” in my office. Touch points with target clients requires more than just picking up the telephone. It requires email, traditional letters, telephone calls, face-to-face meetings, and yes even a text message here and there. I’ve even used Facetime and Skype over the years to blend digital communication with face-to-face meetings.

I’m not an old curmudgeon that believes we need to go back to door-to-door sales or faxing order sheets to customers. I’ve been there, done that, but do believe again there are lessons learned that make me an ‘A’ level sales person today. From my so called “days of old” I learned patience. Quick sales lead to quick losses. I have watched many a sales person become victim to this scenario more times than I would like. Yet, some continue to seek the quick hit answers to what may be a longer sales process.

As I ponder over this post, some frustration overcomes me. I am reminded of an uncle I was quite fond of growing up. Rick was a very smart guy. He was the guy that would be reading two, three, sometimes four books at a time, ranging from philosophy to crime drama to business how to’s. He could rebuild an engine on a ’69 Mustang as easily as he could whip up a five-course gourmet dinner. He was a great guy too. Fun to be around would be putting the description mildly. He was the ultimate sales guy.

Unfortunately, Rick was always looking for an easy sale or a quick buck. Throughout my childhood and into my early career, Rick started and closed eleven different businesses. Nothing had staying power because Rick never followed traditional sales tactics. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand traditional selling, rather he knew the tactics quite well, instead he chose to skip this step or that step. He refused to make cold calls and deemed them too much of a time investment. It would take too long to fill his pipeline. He constantly tried different approaches to gaining clients, but ultimately failed in his efforts. Rick is retired now and doing okay. He lives a modest life in Baltimore near family and friends. On the surface, he seems content. Under the surface, he has regrets. I know because he’s told me. He wishes he would have been much more patient, stayed the course, learned from those that had successfully gone before him, and “desperately wishes he would not have cut corners or tried to always find short cuts to success”. He never learned and mastered the basic tactics of selling which never led to the blending of tactics to increase his overall sales.

In the world of sales, regardless of what product or service you are selling, there’s really no such thing as old school versus new school. There are basic principles of sales, proper pathways to success, blending of all tactics throughout the sales process, and patience. The greatest of all sales tactics is patience.

Every company has one, but not every employee of the company knows it, but the sales person better…the elevator pitch. Ah, yes, the token statement of “who we are, what we do, why/how we do it, and who we do it for” in sixty seconds or less. The elevator pitch has been around for fifty plus years and is as important today as it was back then. Unfortunately, many companies no longer have and utilize an elevator pitch, and it is obvious.

The purpose of the elevator pitch is simple: imagine you are in the elevator with a C-level executive and you have about a minute until the doors pop open. He/She asks the simplest of questions, “so, what do you do?” And here lies the need for the elevator pitch. You can impress this executive and possibly open them up for a longer (or follow-up) conversation if, and only if, you can explain yourself before the elevator door opens and they walk off.

I heard a colleague recently say that the elevator pitch has changed, it needs to be shorter, you no longer have sixty seconds. Well, that is not entirely true. Yes, it is a fact that people’s attention span is shorter these days, especially when holding their smart-phone in hand. However, a good sales person can shorten or lengthen the elevator pitch with ease, once they have a firm sixty second grasp on it. You see, if someone takes the time to ask you what you do, then they will take the sixty seconds to hear you out. The key to those all-important sixty seconds is so very simple yet difficult too. You need to know exactly who you are (employer), what you do, why and how you do it, and who you do it for, and you need to perfect this statement. And, there lies the biggest problem, perfecting the statement.

No two sales people, or company employees, are alike and they should not sound like each other. They will come across robotic. However, the elevator pitch is about talking points. It is about making sure everyone in the organization has the same general understanding of who we are, what we do, how & why we do it, and who we do it for, which culminates in why the company remains in business, and then they can stylize the elevator pitch to make it their own.

Does your company have an elevator pitch? Do you know it? Can you present it in sixty seconds or less? Can you answer follow-up questions if asked? If you’ve answered yes to these questions, fantastic and congrats, but if not give me a call. I would be happy to guide you toward the next chapter of success in your sales career.

Over the past few weeks I have shard my thoughts on communication. After completing these posts it dawned on me that much of what I write about is behavior. In other words, since sales is all about human relationships, one’s behavior can influence the success rate in sales, but more importantly the success of the overall relationship.

Oftentimes sales people get a bad rap for what many define as deceptive sales tactics. There’s bait & switch, the “used car salesman approach”, or simply being dishonest. However, these are very few and far between. Regardless of the poor behavior displayed by the few, run with the many, and stay the course. You’re probably now saying, “what the heck is he talking about?”

Being a career sales person, I too have been insulted by a prospect or client who believed I was “up to no good” in my sales approach. I’ve even been accused of a bait & switch only to be vindicated by the client’s own employees. Honestly, and I don’t regularly use terms like this in my blog, but it really sucks. There is no worse feeling than being falsely accused simply by being a sales person. Being lumped together with the misbehaving sales people is simply not fair, but unfortunately is a part of the sales game. And so, based on advice given to me by my mentors many years ago, I work to stay the course.

There is nothing profound about this approach. Staying the course is simple, in fact so simple that many try to read into it, but finally come to realize how basic this ideal is in selling. Be honest with your client (prospective client), be honest with your employer, and be honest with yourself. There’s no need to scream this from the mountain tops: I AM AN HONEST SALES PERSON. Nope, you just need to live these words. And, when you are honest with your client, your employer, and yourself, you are in essence staying the course. You cannot become distracted in the sales process and the client cannot make false accusations (although they may try). Because, even when they do, your track record of honesty, combined with your excellent communication skills (including documentation) will shine through.

As children we’re all taught that honesty is the best policy. Sometimes, and really not too often, being honest will lead to tougher conversations. Your client may not want to hear the truth about their situation or current products (etc), but sugarcoating the situation or not being honest will steer them in the wrong direction and you have gone off course. It is better to be upfront and honest, to stay on course, so that there will not be false pretenses as to why the client is buying or why you are selling.

My last note is this…staying the course may cost you a deal or two over the course of your career, but trust me, it was meant to be. It is better for your client, your employer, and yourself to lose a deal based on honest selling tactics, then to win a deal on falsehoods. Those always come back to bite you in the butt.

Over the past few weeks I’ve touched upon a few ways in which to deal with communication. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about communication between vendor and customer, husband and wife, or father and son (etc. etc.). Communication ultimately is about human relationships. Some of us are good at managing relationships, some are okay, and some people just struggle because they have flaws in their personality. As I wrap up my posts pertaining to communication I am reminded of advice from my father. Two simple words: Be Kind.

My father is an accomplished attorney and lobbyist. He has been involved in a series of mergers and acquisitions over his 45+ year career. He is an excellent negotiator. And with all of these attributes, his best advice for communicating with others, “kill ‘em with kindness”.

We can call it human nature or something similar, but when dealing with human relationships and communication, no one is perfect. That is just a fact. We all can be short tempered or lose our cool every once in a while, just ask anyone that has been married for more than a week. However, if you manage your career (or life) with these instances being the exception versus the rule, and you simply remind yourself to communicate with kindness, well then you are less likely to end up on the losing end.

I’ve shared my ideas about communication in documenting all of your notes and conversations. When delivering the information back to a client, do so in a sincere manner, that you’re just wanting to make sure everyone is on the same page, and not with an attitude that you are forcibly reminding them of what they are or are not buying from you. When you deal with an abusive client, by email or telephone, do not stoop so low as to attempt to match them with insults. There is no place for disparaging remarks in an honest and open relationship. Sure, there are times for constructive criticism, but not for criticism alone. Bite your tongue and be kind in your tone. Maybe the other person is just having a really bad day or received bad news about a loved one. Give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they’ll understand by you Not losing your cool that maybe, just maybe, they were out of line. And, when push really does come to shove, and the other person in the relationship has no sense of reason, your kindness will shine through in the form of professionalism. Again, no need to lower your standards.

Not to bring religion into a post, but I am reminded of the “Golden Rule” – treat others as you wish to be treated. If you want to be treated with respect than you need to treat that person with respect. If you wish to be treated with kindness than you need to be kind. And, when the other person doesn’t necessary abide by these lifelong rules, you will come out ahead, simply by being a better communicator and a better person.