December 2006

There have been millions of poems and other wise words written over the eons about smiles. Far too many salespeople have never read any of them.

I walked up to a foreman on a jobsite today and the first thing he said was something about me smiling every single time I walk up to him.

Why wouldn’t I smile ? I’m outside, the sun’s shining, there’s material I sold all over that construction site and that contractor always pays his bills.

I even met a new subcontractor on that jobsite today. I walked up to him, with a smile, and said,

” You know, he’s right (referring to the foreman), you ARE bigger AND uglier than I am ! “

Now, if you can walk up to a rather large, rather ugly masonry contractor ( bricklayer ) and say that as the first words he ever hears you speak and not get hit, you know a smile must be powerful.

In fact, it made him smile rather broadly.

Here’s the best part - I wanted him to switch his favorite brand of mortar to one that I needed to push a little of and he agreed instantly, because of that smile.

The man uses one brand of mortar every day of his life and instantly agrees to switch, just to help a guy who walked up and insulted him … with a smile.

‘Nuff said.

Now go sell something with a smile

PS - Where’d the $40,000,000 in the title come from ? That’s how much product I can prove I’ve sold since ‘94. I don’t have records before that.

PS X 2 - I noticed the Related Posts have a couple of references to the worth of this blog. I went to that little generators homepage and I’m now worth over $50K … up over $40K in a year. I’ll take it in cash or PayPal.

I heard it said that ideas are like boxcars behind a locomotive engine travelling thru a mountain tunnel. As long as they go thru one after another, they’re okay, but if you try to push two or three side-by-side, you’re gonna have problems.

I’m sure the writer was explaining the art of convincing others, but I’m gonna stretch it out a bit and use that for sales approaches.

In those writing’s, the author knew that a listener can only absorb one idea at a time. In sales, the prospect can only buy one thing at a time.

Some of the salesmen who’ve called on me in the past, have represented multiple lines and as soon as I say I’ll look at one, they want to start shoving another one at me.

As soon as they try that approach, I call their sales manager and tell him the boxcar story and explain that as long as his salesmen use that approach, they’ll never be as successful as they could be.

Even if your company sells 99 items, make every sales call about one specific item. One. Only one.

Do not try for another sale, if I agree to try one item. Accept that order and make sure I get good, useful service from that item first and then I’ll be more agreeable to looking at another item.

If you’ll be patient, I might be a customer for all 99, given enough time and given some breathing room.

It doesn’t matter the industry or field, this applies to all salesmen. Learn how to get my attention and then you can sell me more easily. Attention is the key, not the quantity of info you shove down my throat.

Remember the railroad tunnel and ideas parallel. And thanks to MTSU for their article and image.

Over the last 2 years, I’ve spent about 50 nights in a hotel in Louisville, KY. Every one of those has been at a Hilton franchise, namely a Hampton Inn.

On the road in Knoxville, Hampton Inn. Nashville, Hampton Inn. Horse Cave, Hampton Inn. There have been other cities, but the one constant has been the franchise … Hampton Inn.

Over the last 2 years, my Hilton Honors account has gone to Diamond VIP, which is as high as it goes for their customers.

I’ve always enjoyed their cleanliness, their business services, the great, hot breakfasts and USA Today newspapers, the fine service, etc.

The one thing I haven’t enjoyed is their rates which fluctuate too much for my comfort.

Right now, 7:20 PM on Sunday nite, December 3rd, 2006, on their website there are 13 different hotels listed and there are 10 different rates. They range from $79 a nite to $179 a nite.

10 rates for 13 hotels is just plain crazy. Those hotels are blocks away from each other in some cases and on different ends of the same city in other cases.

I can drive for 20 minutes or less and save my company $100 a nite. That’s dumber than a box-o-rocks to make me make that choice.

Why can’t a diamond VIP get a rate that doesn’t fluctuate and consistently stay at the same hotel every week ?

3 weeks ago, I was waiting to check in and the young lady who was attempting to help me with that answered the phone, instead of finishing my check in, because she was the only one here, she said.

She told the caller that his rate would be $79 per nite. I was standing in front of her at the time. She never asked if he was a Hilton Honors customer or not, so he could have been a first time customer. It might be the only time he ever stays in one of their hotels.

She then proceeded to try to charge me $99, but I pointed out that she just gave the guy on the phone a better rate. She said that was because he was staying 5 straight nights.

I pointed out that I would stay in that very hotel for 26 to 50 times in a year, so she dropped my rate to $84.60.

This last week I called for a reservation and the same young lady wanted $109 for a room. That’s $30 more than a month ago. It amounts to a 38% increase in 30 days.

Does your industry raise it’s prices 1% a month ? Mine neither.

Same room. Same newspaper. Same bedspread. Same breakfast. Nothing new. 38% more.

No deal Hilton. No deal Hampton Inn. I won’t play.

I have a blog that reached over 40,691 visitors last month. Those people viewed 78,020 pages.

I work for a corporation that has 18 locations in 4 states. We have “several” sales people who stay in hotels each and every week.

We attend forums, seminars and training several times a year, nationwide, and spends thousands upon thousands of dollars in hotel bills.

I’m ready to make a deal and get a consistent rate for my stays … or I send out a memo and eliminate all stays at Hilton franchises.

What’s it gonna be Hilton/Hampton ?

Deal or no deal ?

I’m sending a link to this post to my Diamond rep and I’ll let you know what we agree on.

If we can’t work this out, I’ll be asking for recommendations on hotel chains.

Either way, you’ll know how it ends.

One of the most mysterious parts of the sales process is The Approach. It’s comparable to the headline when writing sales copy or a blog post.

The approach is the simplest ( you know I like simple ) and easiest way to get the sales process moving forward, yet it’s little studied by those who sell for a living.

It’s also the first place you can lose your prospects attention … and the sale, so you absolutely must master the approach and learn which mistakes you cannot make.

Experts agree that the approach, which lasts about 3 to 10 seconds, is accountable for approximately 75% of the selling process. Just like the headline of a great piece of sales copy, a newspaper story or a blog post, you have to attract the attention of your prospect immediately … or lose them forever.

In other words, you have the first 3 to 10 seconds after stepping up to bat to hit a home run or strike out. Success or failure is a thin line and unless you study the sales approach and refine yours, you’ll be batting blindfolded.

Now that we know just how important this part of the sales process is, we need to find some simple ( there’s that word again ) and invariable rules that we can use to make sure we have a better chance at success and fewer opportunities for failure.

I’m sure I can come up with 25 to 50 stories about sales approaches over the next few weeks, so stay tuned to this mecca of sales info for further updates.

The image above is from a book by Hal Becker. He’s a master of sales approaches and all the other parts of the sales process and I highly recommend all his books, of which I own 5 or 6.

I met him a year ago and his works have inspired me greatly. His books are available at Amazon or on his website.