Customer Expectations for Salespeople

I found this article by Jeffery Gitomer (http://www.gitomer.com/). It is a nice reminder of what customers expect of you as a salesperson.
Keep these in mind when you are working with your customers.
As for my customers, if I am failing you in any of the following areas on the list, let me know and I will do everything I can to correct the situation!

Here is Gitomer's short list of 9.5 customer desires and expectations:

1. They want Value -- "I want to know that what I'm buying is at a fair price, and will be supported throughout the length of my ownership. And I want to understand how I profit from the use of your product or service"

2. They want excellent Communication -- "Let me know what I need to know, when I need to know it. No surprises, and no misunderstandings"

3. They expect your Attitude to be positive (even if theirs isn't). Attitude is "Happy, eager, willing... prepared to meet my needs."

4. They expect Reliability -- "Consistent... be there when I need you."

5. They look for Tangibility of message - "Quality of product and performance, combined with a professional image."

6. They want Assurance and often need Reassurance -- "Deliver when you promised... have total product knowledge to help me... be there when I need you"

7. They expect Empathy when something goes wrong -- "Understand me and my needs. Give me your commitment."

8. They expect Exceptional Service as the norm, and use your service as a benchmark when it comes to placing a reorder - "I vote with my money, and an election is held every time I want to re-order or tell someone else about you."

9. They are hoping for a Friendly interaction -- "I want a friendly person to help me get what I want."

9.5 They want it NOW -- NO ONE wants to "press one, press two," no one wants to be placed on hold, no one wants a back-order, no one wants a delay, no one wants it to be out of stock.


I like the part about being friendly. I wonder why considering my personal brand is
"A Heck Of A Nice Guy."

Thanks Jeff Gitomer!

Ev Kam

Living Up to Your Brand As A Salesperson

Several months ago I wrote about the importance of having a personal brand when you are in sales (http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/personnal-branding-works.html)
Here are two recent quick stories on how having the right personal brand can impact your legacy in sales.

A. The president of a sales force development company was talking to a previous customer. The customer asked what had changed since they last worked with us and the president explained how the business and the staff has grown. He mentioned I was now part of the company. The client, whom I had never worked with, said "He's the Heck of A Nice Guy guy. I heard he's good."

B. The president was talking to an alliance partner, whom I had introduced to him previously, and when he mentioned that we were now working together the alliance partner said "He's good. There aren't many good ones out there."

Having the right personal brand, and living up to it, can be one of your best marketing tools.

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

What is 1 Thing You Know Now, You Wish You Knew When Your Sales Career Started?

I know as sales managers we are supposed to have all the answers to all of the sales questions, and of course we do. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier if we had all that knowledge when we started our sales careers? What one thing would we have wanted to know about sales when we first started that we know now?
Click on the link to find out what these sales experts (including me) had to say:

Everet

Can Social Media Replace Cold Calling pt. 2

In my last post I gave my opinion on whether social media can ever replace traditional cold calling can-social-media-replace-cold-calling.
Here is what some other sales experts have to say when I posed the question to them:







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l94zU3tpS1w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWLfXuauvU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10l_LH9Xhy0&NR=1

Everet
a.k.a. A Heck of A Nice Guy

Can Social Media Replace Cold Calling part 1

As a Sales Manager you probably have a few salespeople that are trying to use social media for all of their leads rather than making cold calls. As a salesperson you might be hoping that sites like LinkedIn and Facebook will be your way out of having to pick up the phone.

In my experience all the different social media sites are tools to help make cold calls more effective, but for now you still have to pick up the phone and call. That might change but it probably won't be until the people that are in their late teens and 20's now, are the ones running companies in the future. Social media is how people of this age communicate and it is what they grew up with. That is not the case for older adults in the workforce.
Lets say you are calling on presidents of companies.
Right now companies are still being run by people who were born in the 1940's-1970's. These folks are used to the phone and is what they know (anyone remember party lines?). I know several presidents of big companies that don't check or write their own email let alone use social media.

Now that more executives were born in the 1980's, email is also becoming standard to reach these people, however they have grown up in an age where the internet was brand new. While it is a part of their lives they are usually not immersed in it like their kids. They grew up using the phone (party lines were still around in the 1980's). Email might work sometimes, but you still have to call them on the phone, provided you can reach them on one of the several numbers they might have.

So if you are looking for a way to avoid picking up the phone and making cold calls, lets flash forward 20 years and have this conversation again. Only then social media will have been replaced by some new technology and we'll be asking if that will be the new tool to avoid the future version of the phone.

Everet

Why the title "A Heck of a Nice Guy"

Over the past 10 years I've used the brand "A Heck of A Nice Guy" as my tag line. It has been on my email signature, business cards, fax pages, and of course the title of this blog.
I picked the title for three reasons:
1. To be remembered by my customers
2. People love to buy but hate to be sold. When you buy something, wouldn't you want to buy it from someone you know or like
3. Reminds me everyday how I should act.
It is good to see that someone else, namely Ed Delia (President of Delia Associates) agrees with me. A recent search provided me with the following article:

Heck of a Nice Guy
by Ed Delia, President of Delia Associates

As in many businesses, at the end of the day, winning or losing a contract comes down to the personality synergies of the parties involved. We naturally tend to gravitate towards providers that we perceive to be, well, likable. In many ways, a "heck of a nice guy/girl" equals a "heck of a nice brand."

The point is, we can make all the fancy visuals, statements and tag lines we want. But if the people charged with representing the brand to the marketplace are not living and abiding by the company's brand values in daily practice, it's all a wasted effort.

Think about some of the best sales people you know. They’re personable, likable individuals, the types that just seem to draw you in. They’ve got character, and many of them even are characters.

The same thinking can be applied to corporate brands. A brand is a claim of distinction, but it can also be considered a company’s personality. Whether it’s a product or service, we buy the brands we like the best, the ones whose personality best matches our own.

That's why branding starts from within. True branding begins with the people charged with operating, servicing, selling, or communicating the brand. If you want to substantially grow your business, build a likeable brand.

First things first. Think about your A-level customers. They’re the ones that you love working with, the ones that really make your business hum. There’s a reason why they’re such great customers. They probably like the experience of working with you as much as you with them. Yours is a likeable brand. There’s tremendous value in understanding why.

If you can discover why your A-level customers appreciate the business relationship, you can position your brand - and your people - to highlight the exact characteristics that similar-minded prospects would also value.

Then your brand becomes a beacon. But it doesn’t attract any customer. It only attracts A-level customers. After all, isn’t that what we’re after? A one-time customer may represent a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in revenue, but a repeat customer could represent exponentially more.

Build a heck of a nice brand, from the inside out, and you will build a heck of a nice business as well.
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/489/Heck-of-a-Nice-Guy.html



It is always good to find out your reasons for doing something are valid.
Thanks Ed!

Everet

Staying Above The Line

Last week the baseball world was rocked when umpire Jim Joyce admitted he blew a call at first base that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game (it would have been only the 21st perfect game in major league history)
Joyce said, "It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the [stuff] out of it, I just cost that kid a perfect game. " By all accounts Jim Joyce has been a good umpire over his long career. In a span of five seconds the only thing he will be remembered for is this blown call (much like Don Denkinger’s call at first base in the 1985 World Series).

It took guts for Joyce to say what he did. Would you have said it if you were in his position? How many people in your organization would have made an excuse and not taken responsibility for the call?

Pretend you are a customer of the company you work for. You bought whatever product it is your company sells. At the time of purchase you felt good about your purchase. Over time as you have had questions about the product, your salesperson has never returned a call or email from you. In fact
you’ve never heard from your account executive except when it is time to sell something, and even then it sounded like your account executive didn't know anything about your account.
Now it’s renewal time.
Your salesperson calls and asks for the business.
You tell the salesperson that you are not renewing because of the lack of customer service.
The salesperson then makes any one (or all) of several claims:

another person in their office dropped the ball on a project that was to be done,

another account rep was supposed to take care of you,

a person in the office didn’t tell them the information you left for them

a colleague didn’t enter good notes into the CRM for them to follow up

Basically the salesperson blames everyone and anything else except themselves.
What are your impressions of that salesperson?
Are you more likely to buy from that salesperson in the future, or do you only remember the “blown call” like in Jim Joyce’s case?

Now pretend you are the salesperson in this example.
If you are calling an account that YOU KNOW you haven’t provided any customer service, and the customer decides not to renew because of that lack of customer service, do you:

apologize for your lack of follow up

prove to the client that you will be more vigilant in the future,

Ask how you can make it right by the customer

blame everything and everyone else except yourself?

make an excuse because you think that making another person look bad will make you look good and if the customer thinks it wasn’t your fault they will still buy?

What options above will leave a positive impression with your buyer?
If the customer doesn't renew, what options might make them give you a call in the future?

The circle of customers that buy your product is probably smaller than you think.
Customers can spot and smell a lying salesperson right away.
It makes you and the organization you are selling for look bad.
Plus the other people you lied about will probably hear about it and your reputation will be destroyed in their circles as well.
A good rule of thumb to remember that if you do a good job, a happy client will tell five people about how great you are. If you do a bad job, the client will tell fifty people how bad you are!

Draw a line across the middle of a sheet of paper.
Above the line write the words: Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility
Below the line write: Blame, Excuses, Denial
Be above the line in your sales career. Your clients will thank you for it!

Everet"A Heck of A Nice Guy"

Credits:
To see a picture of the play:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Robbed-Blown-call-costs-Armando-Galarraga-a-per?urn=mlb,245292
Joyce’s comments:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106
Don Denkinger’s call:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2010/06/03/2010-06-03_denkinger_offers_support_for_fellow_ump.html