Sales Blog with Sales Tips

My new book, “Comatose Management,” is now available from amazon.com.

For more information about the book – including a short video book trailer, overview, reviews and how to order – please see the information at the bottom of this post.

Review By Lorri Freifeld, Editor-in-Chief, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine

“Through simple but effective and engaging stories, Sheaffer shows how bad management landed corporate America in its current financial predicament. ‘Comatose Management’ illuminates basic truths that most of us prefer to ignore throughout our careers — preferring to believe our managers are brilliant but eccentric rather than overindulged, ego-maniacal, psychotic, or just plain clueless. Here’s a wake-up call for all companies — and all employees at every level.”

Review By Janet Rush, Author Of Nine Books Including “Zig Ziglar Presents…Janet Rush On – Customer Service”

“Experience is the best teacher and the master of all traits. ‘Comatose Management’ brings to its readers the real life trials and tribulations of corporate employees and how you, whether in management or not, can survive and succeed. Thank you, Scott, for incorporating so many real life examples.”

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>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
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Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
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Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
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The exact meaning of “Eyes Wide Shut” is debated. In the context of this sales blog post, I’m going to use the expression as a way of representing our perspective on counterfeit customers. Counterfeit customers are customers that really aren’t…well…customers.

The Reality
We’ve all done it. We’ve been assigned a new customer quota for the month/quarter/year. We immediately begin to think how we can manipulate the system to hit our quota. Our real goal is to silence sales management – and we know we can do this by hitting our new account “number.” Does this really help anyone? Eyes wide shut.

In many cases, sales management has lost sight of the challenges of adding new accounts. They think all we need is a phonebook and a phone. Period. Dinosaurs. Eyes wide shut.

Oh sure, the “new account” activity blossoms for a few months. But check back a year later. Everything is back where it was before the new business development machinations. Maybe even worse. Eyes wide shut.

This is a dysfunctional prospecting environment for both the sales professional and sales management. It produces smoke and mirror “customers.” It creates a lot of activity, but not any long-term gains. Eyes wide shut.

Counterfeit Customers
In our enthusiasm to hit our new account quota we kill anything that moves and call it dinner. Unfortunately, our kills don’t come close to satisfying our appetite and there are never any leftovers. Are the following really new customers we want or need?

• Cherry Pickers. “Customers” that buy from us because we’re the only company that has what they’re looking for. No cross-selling opportunities exist here and loyalty is zero.
• Convenience Buyers. These “customers” view us as nothing more than a convenience store. In their world, our prices are out of sight, but they’ll buy the minimum from us because we’re handy, for now. They’ll always be small; they’ll always complain about price.
• Give-Me-Credit Buyers. This, of course, is a big problem during a recession. We’re nothing but a bank to these “customers.” They want us to help them finance their business. Our credit department will be calling us for collection assistance.
• High Maintenance, Low Volume Buyers. These “customers” embody every aspect of Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 rule when it comes to investing too much time on small customers.

Accounts That Matter
We can differentiate between counterfeit customers and accounts that matter with the five-point test below. Checking all five of these boxes allows us to claim a customer as an account that matters.

1. The customer has made at least three purchases. One order does not a customer make.
2. They pay their bills according to the credit terms we’ve given them.
3. They purchase a broad spectrum of our products and services.
4. Not only does our employer make a decent ROI (i.e. net margin) on the customer’s purchases, but the commission income makes it worth the sales professional’s time.
5. We are viewed as the incumbent supplier by the customer and are connected to the right decision makers.

Sales Blog Epilogue
It’s important to evaluate our accounts. How many of them meet the five criteria above? This will give us a feel for both our number of accounts that matter and how much legitimate business development might be needed to fill the gaps.

We all sleep better – with our eyes restfully shut – when we have accounts that matter instead of counterfeit customers.

Further reading:
4 Inconvenient Truths About Prospecting In 2009
4 Sales Tips For Managing Your Pipeline
Corporate Dysfunctional Sales Behaviors In A Recession

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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I had to strongly reprimand a nice young sales professional recently.

This occurred when I met my new account manager for the first time at a Fidelity office. We went to his office. He asked if I wanted something to drink. Everything was fine.

I had been seated in his office about 120 seconds when he made his blunder. Brace yourself. “Scott, when I first saw you I was worried you might think I was too young to help you. I have been through Fidelity’s rigorous training program…”

I stopped him in his tracks. In a most fatherly and firm way I leaned over his desk (I even think I pointed my finger at him…bad form on my part) and said, “The issue is not mine. The issue is yours. If you think you’re too young, you’ll project that belief on others and they will ultimately agree with you. Stop saying this kind of thing to your customers right here and right now.”

“Yes sir.”

For possibly the first time in my life, I didn’t tell someone not to call me “sir.” Sales tips and sales training can be a soft science at times. However, I knew I was right about this. No uncertainty. He needed some immediate and firm coaching. He got it and, frankly, I felt good about it. It helped that he was physically much smaller than I was.

But Scott, I Would Never Say Or Think Something Like That
It doesn’t matter whether you say it or think it (that’s Biblical I believe). If you think it, you’ve done it. Just thinking invalidating thoughts about yourself, your employer and your customers will hurt you. This kind of thinking takes all forms, by the way. There are a million variations; below are just a few examples.

Do You Ever Hear Any Of These In Your Head?

• I’m too old.
• This industry isn’t right for me.
• I’ll never be able to sell in this recession.
• Our product line is junk.
• This is a loser company.
• Our prices are too high.
• I wish I worked for competitor X.
• My customers never have the budget for anything.
• I have the dumbest customers on the planet.
• Our customer service is a joke.
• The quality of our products and services is not even close to our competitors.
• My sales manager is an idiot.
• Our corporate management is lame.

Sales Tips For Real World Successful Thinking Habits

1. If you say or think invalidating ideas long enough, they will come true. You’re committing sales suicide and not even realizing it.
2. I’m not perfect. You’re not perfect. No one is. Get real. Quit minimizing your opportunities for success by creating a foundation of negative and baseless thoughts about your customers and yourself.
3. No surprise here, but your employer isn’t perfect. Never ever will be. Oh sure, you can change jobs, but you’ll find all the same dummy-ridden-management but with different names. Stop wasting energy bellyaching about something you’ll never be able to change, no matter where you work.

Sales Blog Epilogue
I’m going to recommend a book to you in further reading below that was not sent to me as a freebie to review. I recommend very few books in this sales blog, but this one is an exception. I bought this book myself and have no financial interest in promoting it. It is not a sales training book, but it will make you more successful in sales.

It covers in detail what I’ve written about above. You won’t be able to put it down. It will permanently change how you see yourself, your employer and your customers.

Further reading:

• “The Power of Intention” by Dr. Wayne Dyer

My new book, “Comatose Management,” will be available from amazon.com and other distributors by mid-November.

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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We constantly let sales opportunities fall through our fingers because of our discomfort with the unfamiliar. We all do this, and we do it all the time. It’s a result of our bad habit of resisting change. The challenge is to recognize this all-too-human inclination and keep it from hindering our sales.

The Power Of Familiarity
We’re all victims of the power of familiarity. We like what we are accustomed to. We hate change. We’ll even say, “The devil you know is better than the one you don’t.” This automatic behavior causes all human beings – not just sales professionals – to miss opportunities.

This “Power Of Familiarity” Thing Is Stronger Than We Think
I can best demonstrate this concept with a true story.

Throughout the nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a large number of Norwegian immigrants to the US. Since most of the immigrants were farmers and fishers they needed to settle in a place that offered them a means of making a living. After looking around the US for potential homestead sites, guess where most of them landed? Duluth, Minnesota.

So what’s so revealing about that? The average annual temperature for Oslo, Norway (their homeland) is 44°F, the average low is 37°F and the average high is 50°F – a cold place. The average annual temperature for Duluth, Minnesota is 39°F, the average low is 29°F and the average high is 48°F – an even chillier place.

What The Norwegians Taught Us About Ourselves
Even though there were vast areas of farmland in the Midwest and ample fishing on both coasts, where the weather is infinitely more accommodating, the Norwegians chose Duluth, Minnesota. They chose it because it was what they were familiar with. They were comfortable, both physically and psychologically, in cold and harsh climates. It’s what they knew.

We’re No Different
We might be tempted to see those early immigrants as blind to better opportunities. However, we shouldn’t be too judgmental of those Norwegians before first examining ourselves.

What dysfunctional habits have you adopted as a sales professional that you refuse to let go of? What greener pastures are you not taking advantage of simply because it would require you to step outside your comfort envelope?

These are hard questions to answer and most likely will require a mentor or trusted coach to help you discover solutions for yourself. But know this: the power of familiarity is stronger than we think and we’re all victims.

Further reading:

• Core Belief Engineering

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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Are you satisfied with your sales results?
Kay Ray can show you and your team how to reach
your objectives and unlock the door to success.
thekayray.com