I’m always both baffled and entertained by sales calls I receive.

You have to wonder sometimes how these guys make any money. Blabber, blabber, blabber. Feature, feature, feature.

Boring, boring, boring.

What surprises me even more, though, is how much time a sales rep will invest in me even though I’m an extremely unqualified prospect. They’d rather spend an hour with me in what seems like a one-way conversation (monologue?) rather than spend 10 minutes making sure I’m worthy and prime for their product or service. (Which, ironically, makes them more attractive. But I digress ….)

It’s like they get points or something for giving presentations.

With this in mind, I’ve vowed to put both sales reps and myself out of our collective misery as soon as I know something isn’t gonna happen. I’ve vowed to say “no” often and quickly.

It works really well. And though they don’t know it, I’m doing the sales rep a favor, too.

Say “No” More Often

Here’s how it’s worked so far:  Once, after sitting through a rep’s pitch for 45 minutes (in which I may have said four words, consisting of mostly “Oh,” “gotcha,” “I see.” You know, pulse-checkers), and after the rep made the amazing case for how his service will save me the equivalent of $5 million a year annually in labor costs and lead to 20% increases in retention and order size growth, I simply responded with, “This looks like a great service, but it’s not right for us right now.”

Then, silence.

I think where we prospects get in trouble is that we feel like we have to justify our responses. Like we have to make a case for saying “no.”

We don’t. We get to say whatever we want to. The whole act of sales is that the salesman is the one making a case for us to say “yes.”

So the silence is actually key here, because your sales rep is waiting for you to hem and haw about why you can’t do this right now. Because once that happens, they can throw out the “Well, why don’t I follow up with you in a month or so and see where you’re at?” To which you would typically jump at the chance to simply relieve your sense of obligation to explain your decision now. Even though you already know nothing’s gonna change in one month.

Stop doing that.

In a way that would make Nancy Reagan extremely proud, just say no. Leave it at that. If they want to follow-up, I typically tell them they’re welcome to send me anything they’d like, but nothing will change within 30 days, or 90 days, or 365 days. The service is just not a fit.

Is Saying “No” Cruel?

Oddly, you may feel like you’re being mean at this point. But you’re actually doing the nicest thing you can do for any sales rep worth their salt. You’re giving them an honest answer. You’re giving them permission to stop wasting time planning touch-base calls with you in the future. You’re allowing them to wipe your name off the white board (when it probably never should have been there to begin with). You’re making room for someone who is qualified.

You’re also saving yourself from a lot of nagging phone calls and emails down the road.

You can apply this mentality much sooner in the process, too. If you get an email from a sales rep wanting to “connect,” don’t ignore it. Quickly respond with a “no thanks.”

When you get a phone call from a rep wanting to simply set up 15 minutes next week, say “no thanks.” When they ask why not, tell them exactly why. They should consider it market research.

Start saying “no” more quickly. It gives you the chance to say yes to more of the important stuff.

(Unless, of course, you want to say “yes.” I’m not anti-sales rep; I’m just anti-clueless sales reps. If you find something you actually want, by all means say “yes.”)

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Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedamnmushroom/

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I just read through Sonia Simone’s How to Find Thousands More Prospects for Your Business over at Copyblogger.com. This post is stacked with some thought-sparking ideas and “loose” stats to help you think through what you’re doing online. She references sales strategist Chet Holmes’ idea of what percentage of your market is actually in the market.

But here’s the thought that made me pause and reread: how do you keep ‘em close? As Sonia works through her post, she lands on the classically obvious idea of building trust and keeping people in the loop so they think of you when they are ready to buy. I say classically obvious because this is what so many of us like to talk about theoretically. What made me doubletake today was I sat and wondered if this is really how it works. Do I buy things from people who keep me close?

My answer is yes, at least some. Without surrendering to a deep trance of remembrance, a few examples came to mind:

1. Seth Godin reminds me every day that he writes good stuff, for free, on his blog. So every time he releases a new book, I buy it. It’s a required purchase in my mind. His built enough trust that I don’t question much of what he offers. I know it’s gonna be good.
2. Sterling and Jay at Internet Business Mastery produce a podcast that I haven’t missed in about two years. It’s great. They also offer a monthly subscription to their academy. And guess what? I’m NOT a member. But I know I will be at some point, when I’m willing to focus on by personal internet business enough to make the most of it. So I’m a Not Yet. And it’s wise of Jay and Sterling to keep me close until that day comes….
3. Jen Fong is an authority on using social media in direct sales. She and I have met before, and stay in touch via blogs, Facebook and Twitter. There will come a day that my company will be ready for some in-depth social media training, with a budget to go along with it. When they are, Jen will get a call, no questions asked. There will be no sales cycle, because I already know what Jen is about and what she’s producing. She reminds me regularly through these channels.

Can you think of anyone that’s kept you close, and it’s led to winning you as a customer? Do you use any unique ways to keep your customers close and in the loop?

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There are lots of people who are smarter than you. Sometimes, we get to/have to work with them. The “get to/have to” thing depends on our attitude about it all. Sometimes, we eagerly wave the white flag of ignorance and welcome an smart expert into our midst. Other times, our egos make us feel threatened and we want to make sure we’re the only rooster in our hen house.

Then there’s a third instance: someone who is smarter than you and they make sure you know it. Which isn’t smart. They’re condescending and belittling. They roll their eyes and laugh at your questions. They make you think they’re doing you a favor and they couldn’t care less if you say yes or no. This is their sales pitch.

Nobody Likes a Jackass

I’ve met guys like this, even recently. My experience tells me it’s often more a sign of insecurity than anything else. They might not be insecure in their skills, but maybe they just don’t know how to pitch what they do.

Regardless, it doesn’t work.

If we all believe that people like doing business with people they like, then it doesn’t matter how smart you are or how much you know about what you do: if you’re a schmuck, then nobody likes you. Which means nobody wants to do business with you.

So, when have you been in a similar situation? Sometimes you have to work with a schmuck. How do you deal with it?

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If you’re not a schmuck, then I think you’ll like this blog. You should subscribe, either by email or RSS.

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A pair of Mormons visited me during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

I’m not kidding. Right after the Saints challenged the call on their two-point conversion, I hear a loud knock on our front door. Startled, I hustled to the door and peeked through the blinds.

And there they stood. Two young and extremely white guys with clear labels on their lapel and eager to chat.

Now hear me out on this. I’m not ranting about religion. That’s not the point of this post. I personally don’t agree with most tenets of the Mormon faith, but I’m always nice, always conversational.

Except in the middle of the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.

I yelled through the door, “Not tonight, guys.” They kept pushing. I repeated my response, and then made it clear that I was watching the game. They kept at it, until I finally had to be rude and just turn around and get back to the game.

Whose Time Are You Wasting?

You’ve got to appreciate their zeal and consistency. But I think you have to question their timing and approach. There was no way I was going to open myself up to a lengthy discussion on the Book of Mormon while the Saints (no pun intended) were making history.

The lesson is clear: why would you ask for something at the absolute most inopportune time? Seriously, why bother? Surely these guys knew they weren’t going to get anywhere on Super Bowl Sunday.

And yet, many of us do the equivalent every day. We knock on our customers’ doors, shouting out our “call-to-action,” knowing full well they are comfortable and content in their proverbial recliners, in absolutely no mood to hear anything we’re saying.

But we do it anyway.

Forget wasting your own time; how about wasting your customer’s time? How long do you think they’ll tolerate that?

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FYI, I hope you noticed I made it a point to keep this focused on business and not religious preferences. Keep it that way in the comments, if you don’t mind.

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While watching Obama’s State of the Union last night, I was surprised to find myself really enjoying his speech. For the record, I didn’t vote for Obama, and I’m not his biggest fan (nor his worst critic). But I couldn’t help but, at the least, enjoy his delivery, and beyond that, maybe even some of his ideas.

So it hit me that I could choose how I wanted to react to this speech. If I wanted to be an Obama-hater, I could find plenty of sound bytes and fact nuggets to support my case. If I wanted to be an Obama-lover, I could do the same thing.

We don’t rely on facts to help us make a decision. We choose what we want to believe, and then we go find the facts to support it.

We choose whether we’re pro-life or pro-choice, and then make our case.

We choose whether we believe in global warming or not, and then make our case.

We choose whether we’re a Mac or PC, then make our case.

Oddly enough, most campaigns, promotions and sales tactics concentrate on a group we like to call the “undecideds.” That group doesn’t exist, and they aren’t worth chasing.

Instead, find the people who have already chosen to believe whatever you’re promising, and keep giving them reasons to feel good about what they’ve chosen.

Stop thinking your in the business of changing minds and rather in the business of helping people make their case. That’s your market.

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Speaking of choices, you could make what some think is a great choice and subscribe to Marketing In Progress. Just sayin’.

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Getting new customers can seem overwhelming. While it’s fun to hear about all the interesting, novel, advanced ways your colleagues and competitors are getting new customers today, it normally leads to information overload before it leads to action.

Focus on leveraging one or two tactics that make sense for you and put them into use.

Regardless of the tactics you use, here’s a systematic program that hinges on the idea of letting momentum take root and then take off. If done correctly, it will lead to 2,379 new customers in the next year.

To start, focus on getting one customer a day for the first month. Obviously, that will get you 30 new customers to start. During this time, focus on doing the marketing tactics you’ve chosen completely and correctly. Don’t cut corners. Set the foundation from which to grow, and put systems in place that allow you to automate the process as much as possible. Your goal is to get the gears of your business churning.

In the second month, focus on getting two customers a day. Continue fine-tuning your tactics and processes. You’ll start seeing some benefits of your daily, consistent activity. By the end of this month, you’ve got 90 new customers (30 from the first month and 60 from the second).

In the third month, get three customers a day. By now, the gears are well-oiled and turning smoothly because you’ve given them the attention they needed. Your reward is they start moving on their own with less and less involvement on your end in the operational side of things. By the end of this month, you’ve got 180 new customers (30 from month 1, 60 from month 2 and 90 from month 3).

Do you see where this is going? The key with the first three months is to plant the seeds in the current season that will lead to a full harvest in the next season.

Carry out the progression. Get 4 customers a day in the fourth month, 5 in the fifth month, and so on for the full 12 months.

At the end of a year, you’ve got more than 2,300 customers.

If you were to start worrying today about getting 2,300 customers, it would absolutely paralyze you, because you’re not ready for it and you don’t know how to get that large a group. But if you can focus on getting one customer today, and then again tomorrow, and so on, you can eventually get to 2,300 customers.

What disciplines and programs do you put in place to keep your businesses gears turning?

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As I’ve meandered through countless exhibit halls and trade shows over the past few months, I’ve discovered a disturbing trend.

The salespeople in the booth are often selling stuff the customer really doesn’t care about.

No, I don’t mean the product itself is useless, although that’s not uncommon. What I’m talking about is what the sales rep says about the product.

I’ve heard helpless sales reps rant and rave about their product’s . . .  .

• display case dimensions
• scientific jargon that is familiar only to the rep
• ergonomics (that’s so 90s)
• being derived from rodent fecal matter and can be rubbed on one’s body for optimal results (my favorite)

No one buys your product because of its dimensions, and people get overwhelmed when you use words they don’t understand. And I’m pretty sure rubbing crap on your customer is never a good strategy.

You might not know right away what it is that your prospect is buying, but don’t ever try to persuade the to buy what you’re selling. You, Mr. Salesman, are the one who needs convincing. Take notes, notice what they respond best to, and keep hammering it home.

Start selling what they’re buying.

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I just got off the phone with a telemarketing rep for a business consulting group. During our quick 60 second conversation, I was disappointed not once but three times in their sales approach:

1. The rep obviously got my name from a list of attendees for the National Hardware Show. Before even introducing his company, he started asking me questions about how things went at the show last year, and how my planning is coming along this year. Like I want to just spill my guts with everybody that calls me. 
2. He explained that his company can help with Internet promotion strategy, event planning, reducing tax liability  . . .  more than 300 areas of expertise. Sorry, but no one can be an expert in 300 areas. If someone starts throwing a smorgasboard of specialties at you like this, it means they don’t specialize in any of it. 
3. As expected, he asked for a rep to come out and meet with me. I have no problem with the question, but I’m not at a point to meet with an Internet guru/event planner/tax liability specialist. So I told him no thanks on meeting, but he could give me their website and I’d check it out. He didn’t give me the web address. Instead, he asked why not? I told him I didn’t want to meet with anyone, but I would check out the website and call them if I was interested. He finally relented (and after seeing the site, I see why he hesitated. I think they need to hire an Internet specialist). 

So, the issues here are multiple. What’s the biggest lesson that sticks out to you?

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Brad wrote an excellent recap of some of his branding work at Hallmark.

There are lots of nuggets in this post, but what really stick out to me are his thoughts on adding new distribution channels while maintaining the traditional channels that got you to where you are today. In his example, Hallmark wanted to expand its presence by making a big push into mass retailers but not sacrifice their Hallmark stores and drugstore distribution. To pull one quote from the post . . .

Unleashing the power of the Hallmark brand in the mass channel resulted in substantial market share and profitability gains for Hallmark without taking away from the success of the card shop and chain drug store channels. (Hallmark card shops achieved consistent month over month sales increases for at least three years during this period, validating my held belief that the added marketplace exposure to the Hallmark brand would have a positive impact on all channels carrying Hallmark products.)

Any sales force is always going to moan over and/or fear the possibility of selling your product through another medium, be it a store front, the web, catalogs, etc. Few salespeople understand the importance of brand awareness and product exposure. They are all most interested in salesman awareness and salesman exposure. Naturally, your sales force is going to assume that having more channels of distribution is going to dilute their own chances for sales growth.

In my experience, this simply doesn’t happen, as long as the commitment to both the new channel and the traditional channel are both equally strong and appreciated. It can be destructive to the sales force when implemented poorly or when the new channel is strongly favored over the traditional channel. At this point, you have an altogether new strategy has been implemented, and that’s not what this post is about.

Increasing distribution options is just as much about increasing awareness in all channels as it is increasing sales in a single channel. Here are a few distinct reasons why:

1. More exposures everywhere = more sales for everyone. Familiarity with a product is extremely important during the buying cycle. If the brand awareness is there, then that’s one less obstacle for the salesperson because the buyer has at least heard of your product. In addition, it sometimes leads to people finding you because they’re looking for the product due to exposure elsewhere. Not everyone buys a product at the same place they first see it.
2. More introductions = more prospects for everyone. Part of the job of marketing is to make introductions to the proper selling agent. A good example would be the function of a website in a direct sales company. The beauty of the web is that it is accessible, it’s casual and it’s not an in-your-face sales presentation. But once the interest is created, the web can introduce the buyer to the appropriate sales channel/representative, be it a local representative, a nearby store or the online shopping cart feature.
3. More success = more budget. This should go without saying, but if a company is committed to returning some of their profits back to the marketing budget, then high sales company-wide means higher support company-wide. This is another area where the sales force comes out on top.
4. More options = more satisfied customers. Yes, you can “over-option” your product to where it just gives your prospect tired-head. But done correctly, where the customer receives certain areas open to customization, the customer sees value in what you offer. Some will prefer the no-hassle, low-touch channel of an online store. Others will appreciate the follow-up and hands-on approach of a local rep.
5. More service = more value. The companies that appear to succeed with both retail store placement and individual stores or individual sales forces do so by providing more service outside of the retail store placement. Using Hallmark as the example, I know I can pick up a Hallmark card quickly at my local Target. (Actually, I must admit, I never look for a Hallmark card; I just look for a card, and it might end up being a Hallmark). However, if I need something special, I often go to my local Hallmark shop, because I know I can get more than just a card. I’ve gotten Christmas ornaments there, I know there’s more variety there and the staff are much more likely to help me out. They provide an extra service that I can’t get at Target, and I actually seek that out. The more specific the sales channel gets, the more it should be able to leverage service opportunities like this. The value will become clear to the consumer.

In my experience with direct sales/MLM sales consultants and industrial B2B salesmen, the argument over “chopping their legs out from underneath them” by exploring other sales channels is usually just the most convenient excuse for not succeeding. It rarely weakens the business, and when it does, that normally has more to do with buying trends in society and not the business.

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It’s way too easy and way too common for sales and marketing to be seen as the same thing.  After all, marketing and all its tactics are only as effective as the sales they drive. And sales can only be produced when interest and introductions can be driven by marketing.

But too many of us (us can be sales or marketing folks) have a hard time ourselves describing the differences between these two eternally linked departments.

I’d like to take the next few weeks and break down how I see the differences, starting with this first rule:

Marketing is more than sales administration, and Sales is more than marketing implementation. 

In a sales-driven company, where the sales force beating the street is considered king, “marketing” could often be more appropriately named “sales administration.”  Marketing makes fliers, and websites, and promotions, and product launch plans, and the sales guys take it and run. In addition, the sales guys make suggestions for (or demand) new products, new tools, new campaigns, etc. that will help them close the deal now, while often bending the brand to serve their immediate needs.

On the flipside, other companies might be too marketing heavy, viewing their sales force as mere pawns within the bigger picture. Marketing sets the rules, the planning, the approach, and expects the sales force to implement it to the hilt. And the sales guy, who naturally has the inkling to do his own thing, feels trapped, frustrated and stuck.

Neither approach is completely wrong, but neither approach fairly represents the form and function of both sales and marketing. The beauty lies in the relationship between the two areas, realizing it takes both to make the business succeed.

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