Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Caffeine #430Sales Caffeine Issue 430
February 2nd 2010
Publisher: Jeffrey Gitomer
Contact at: salesman@gitomer.com
Producer: Gill Kilcoyne
Contact at: gill@gitomer.com
FRESH BREW FOR YOUR BRAIN
by: Jeffrey Gitomer
Service leads to sales, if you know how to act and how to ask.
Every time a customer calls it's an opportunity. The only question is: how are you taking advantage of it?
Answer HELLO! Not a thank you for the call, telling me how important it
is while you put me on hold for the next available agent, or to "serve
me better" ask me to select from among the following eight options.
Selecting from among the following eight options is not one of MY
options - and I have the money - and you want the money - and you need
the money - so wise up.
The last things to cut are sales, service, and training. The FIRST
thing to cut is executive pay, then management pay, then eliminate
middle management as needed. OR MAKE THEM SALESPEOPLE, and have them
contribute to the effort.
Meanwhile customers need help, service, and answers. Your ability to
help them in a timely manner and serve them memorably determines your
reputation and your fate.
HERE'S HOW TO SERVE:
* Start friendly NO MATTER how they act or talk.
* Get off your high (pc) horse.
* Don't worry about how you feel - worry about how they feel.
* Ask them how you can help them the most.
* Help them with whatever they need.
* Don't tell them what you can't do, tell them what you can do.
* Get them to agree that the solution you offer, or answer they need,
is the one they are expecting, and the one they are pleased with (not
"satisfied" with).
* Engage them personally during the conversation.
* Make CERTAIN customers are happy as a result of the call.
* Follow through on your promises with action and communication.
Here's the secret to service success:
* Keep it short - but get the info you need to help them.
* If the customer is angry, keep it real short, but arrange a second
call after the resolve. Tell them what will happen in their favor, and
tell them fast.
Follow up with the unexpected to set up a sale. I refer to it as: PLUS ONE
* Email thanks. Tell them how much you enjoyed talking to them and how much you appreciate their business.
* Email them back their idea or suggestions.
* Email them back their solution, or your promise to repair.
* Have a salesperson call after the situation was resolved.
CUSTOMER REALITY:
* I don't want to wait on the phone.
* I especially don't want to listen to your self-serving messages as I wait.
* I don't want to wait on line.
* I don't want to be told no.
* I don't want excuses about why you can't.
* I don't want to hear about your policy.
* I don't want to donate to your charities.
* I want help, I want YES, and I want it fast.
CUSTOMER REALITY: At the end of any transaction, that's when the
customer STARTS talking about you. They will say one of five things
about what transpired: something great, something good, nothing,
something bad, or something real bad. And whatever they say leads to
the next sale - either at your place, or your competition's place.
ECONOMIC REALITY:
* When business is down, it's likely morale is down. Invest in attitude training for every member of the team FIRST.
* When business is down, the best way to get more sales is by creating more friendly and human interaction.
* When business is down, the best way to gain loyalty from existing
customers, and get more sales (the surest path to survival and growth),
is by making service IMPROVEMENTS, not service cuts.
OK, so now that you know what to do, what are you going to DO about it?
What actions are you willing to take? What investment are you willing
to make? Do you understand it's ALL about customer loyalty (not
satisfaction)? And keep in mind that no company ever CUT their way to
success.
REALITY:
You cut your way to safety.
You have to SELL your way to success.
If you want to win in this or any economy, you must be ready to win.
Ready with the right attitude, the right information, and the right
service heart. Are you ready?
If you want some additional thoughts and philosophies about the
attitude necessary for your entire company, go to www.gitomer.com, and
enter the word ATTITUDE in the GitBit box.
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The New York Times best sellers The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling.
Chief Executive Salesman and President of Buy Gitomer, he gives
corporate and public seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts
Internet training programs on selling and customer loyalty at
www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or
salesman@gitomer.com
(c) 2010 All Rights Reserved - Don't even think about reproducing this
document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy
Gitomer, Inc. * 704/333-1112
SELF-TEST FOR SUCCESS
A prospective customer told you to follow up with them in a month, but
they never seem to take your call. What action should you take?
1. Call them everyday with a creative voicemail until they return your call.
2. Do something creative to engage another conversation.
3. Drop in at their office and sit and wait until they see you.
4. Just let it go because they are not interested.
At the heart of the sale is the science of creativity. If you are
unable to get a return phone call, but believe in your heart of hearts
that your product/service will help your prospect, then your ability to
be creative will determine your success ratio in reengaging the
customer's desire to purchase. Calling them everyday with a creative
voicemail is good, but maybe a little over the edge. One or two good
calls should do it. Dropping in is another way of forcing their hand,
and you may not like the results. And just letting it go because you
think they are not interested is a fool's mistake 50% of the time.
Salespeople's prejudgment is often their biggest expense. It is the
money they never make, it's the money they leave on the table for being
too "smart". Your biggest opportunity as a salesperson is to study the
science of creativity.
-JEFFREY GITOMER, excerpted from his Little Red Book of Sales Answers
BLEND OF THE WEEK
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March 11th & 12th, 2010
Charleston Managers - Develop your personal plan to find and keep a
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and the current circumstance in your industry, sales are still being
made. The only question is "Who's making them?" This seminar will
provide you with the ANSWERS you need to succeed, and you will learn
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in any economy -- without sacrificing price.
Click here to Register NOW!
Charleston, WV special Managers Event
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! Charleston, WV
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! - Pittsburgh, PA
April 22nd & 23rd, 2010
Pittsburgh Managers - Develop your personal plan to find and keep a
winning, loyal, well-trained, and self-directed sales team. This
seminar will provide strategies and techniques about real-world sales
leadership, plus self-evaluation to measure your present level of
achievement.
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! Pittsburgh, PA - Join the global authority
on sales, Jeffrey Gitomer for a seminar on SALES ATTITUDE. Learn how to
uncover buying motives, double your sales, get your price without
sacrificing profit, and establish a YES! Attitude for a lifetime of
success.
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Jeffrey Gitomer's Pittsburgh Managers Event
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! - Pittsburgh, PA
Want to reach my public seminar audiences of 500+ LOCAL business people
in your community? Would you like your company to receive additional
sales training from me while I'm in your city? Contact Sara or Heather
at 800-242-5388 or email publicseminars@gitomer.com for information.
A SHOT IN THE WALLET
Jeffrey,
I am an experienced salesperson who started a new sales position in another
state. The company's reputation was good and was confirmed by outside
sources before I took the job. I quickly realized my values and the
company's values were different. I have been told by my sales manager
and owner of the company to lie, to current and potential customers,
when it is more convenient than telling the truth. I was told this is
the way business is done and will not change. Do you have any
suggestions?
Sol
Sol,
Everyone has a code of standards and a code of ethics by which they
live. My recommendation is that you follow your heart. If it's the
truth you want to stick by (and I agree with you) find another job as
fast as you can. Don't burn the bridge where you are, give two weeks
notice then be gone.
Best regards,
Jeffrey
Jeffrey,
I am an innovative sales, motivation, and wellness coach based in
Curacao. I am wondering how can I better position myself worldwide to
become a more sought after speaker and trainer?
Rodney
Rodney,
Look at my model: I have a website, I have an email magazine, I have a
blog, and I am all over social media including a fan page on Facebook
and a YouTube channel. But more important than all that, I write
useable, relatable content. I have given you the formula, in 10 years
you will be fine.
Best regards,
Jeffrey
SHOT IN THE BUCK
"The Write Way: How to Sell EXACTLY What They Want to Buy"
By Josh Sundquist
Back in high school, I was what my mother would call a writing prodigy,
but what you would probably call completely full of myself.
Perfect example. At age sixteen I got the idea to write a book. About myself. (Yeah, like I said.)
Granted, I had a relatively interesting story to tell: I lost my left
leg to childhood cancer and went on to become an internationally ranked
ski racer.
The problem was I just didn't know how to tell it. Instead of thinking
about what people would want to read, all I thought about was what I
would want to write. Unfortunately, it turns out that the style I
wanted to write it in was, well, pretty boring.
In other words, my manuscript sucked.
I'm not going to lie to you, though. I thought it was really good at
the time. So I was crushed when no publisher wanted it. For about two
years I literally wouldn't walk into a bookstore because it was too
depressing to see all those other books that had gotten published while
my manuscript sat on my computer.
Eventually, at age twenty-three, I had an epiphany: Instead of trying
to sell the kind of book I wanted to write, I should have been trying
to write the kind of book people wanted to buy.
Once I figured that out, I made a list of the top ten bestselling books
in my genre, childhood memoir, and read them all. Then I brainstormed
what they had in common, things like poetic language and a focus on
family relationships. They were elements that should've been obvious,
but for some reason I had always been too wrapped up in my own ideas to
notice.
I wrote a completely new manuscript using this list as a guide, and
guess what? Within months I had a six-figure book deal with one of the
biggest publishing houses in America.
Okay, you might be saying, cute story, but what's it got to do with me,
a professional salesperson trying to plow through some emails on a
Tuesday morning?
A lot, actually. Here's how you can adopt my strategy to your situation:
1. IDENTIFY THE LEADERS - List the top ten performers in your industry or the top ten products in your niche.
2. ANALYZE - Take an afternoon and study these market leaders. Become an expert. Know more about your competitors' product than they do.
3. LIST OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS - For each of the ten market
leaders you studied, make a list of all outstanding, interesting, or
unique characteristics you noticed about them.
4. CONNECT THE DOTS - You should have ten lists of
characteristics: One for each market leader. Now look at all the lists
side by side and highlight any characteristics you find on multiple
lists.
5. RANK THE CHARACTERISTICS - Rank these highlighted
characteristics in terms of their frequency. For example, when I did
this exercise, I found that "an emphasis on family relationships" was a
characteristic of all ten market-leading memoirs, so I listed it first.
There next most frequent characteristic was in eight of the memoirs, so
it came second, and so on.
Now you have a list of the demands of your marketplace. In other words,
you now know exactly what your customers want to buy...and if you're
like me, you may discover that what they want to buy is different than
what you've been trying to sell.
Josh Sundquist's new book, JUST DON'T FALL: HOW I GREW UP, CONQUERED
ILLNESS, AND MADE IT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN is now in bookstores nationwide.
It's also available on Amazon.com. To get a free copy of the first
chapter, please visit Josh's website at www.JoshSundquist.com or send
him an email at Josh@JoshSundquist.com
DEAL OF THE WEEK
Start with YES! Every Single Time and Flip Satisfied Customers to Loyal ones.
Treat your worst customers with YES! and they will become your best.
Treat your best customers with YES! and they will become your most
loyal. This week find, build, and keep a YES! Attitude for a lifetime
of success with Jeffrey's Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, learn to turn satisfied customers into loyal, lifetime friends with Jeffrey's Customer Loyalty Concepts flip book, and refresh before saying YES! with a tin of Curiously Strong YES! Mints. All for $29.00 (a $43.00 value)!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Quality performance starts with a positive attitude!"
-Jeffrey Gitomer The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude
RECOMMENDED READING
The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching!
By Jeffrey Gitomer
These principles were written over 100 years ago but they're still good
and they still work. This is one of the fascinating things about
principles. If they worked once, chances are they'll work again. This
is a good book to keep on your desk and refer to daily. It's something
that will give you a bit of motivation and something good to put in
your work day. -Susanna
Higher Grounds
To Serve is to Sell
By: Justin Gittelman
Instead of looking for how to be of service to others, many salespeople
are on the hunt for the next commission. Most salespeople have the
concept of reciprocity reversed and show up to meetings with
"commission breath," reeking of the essence and sole desire to just
close the deal.
Customers can smell it from a mile away.
The key is to start the wheels on the tried-and-true Law of Reciprocity
by serving. Earl Nightingale, author and radio host wrote in The Strangest Secret, "If
you give - you shall receive." He was one of the first to apply the
phrase to commerce, but the concept carries strength as evidenced by
religious text and philosophical doctrine. It's time we applied it to
our day-to-day business.
Here are three steps to take now to create a service provider mindset:
1) Willingness - demonstrating the willingness to voluntarily
and ungrudgingly see past selfish needs or the illusion that you "have
to make a sale" next time you're on an important sales call.
2) Gratitude - to positively emote thankfulness and a real
appreciation for what you already have. Gratitude is an attitude! It's
also contagious. People like to do business with positive, optimistic
people.
3) Desire - To be your very best on every single occasion. Not
just when you think it counts. Show the real and authentic you. Give
yourself even if there is no commission or immediate sale to be made.
Shifting from "How can I make a commission" to "How may I serve the
customer" makes the difference, especially in this economy where penny
pinching is the new norm. In this year's Business Week
rankings, based on data from J.D. Power & Associates, more than
half of the top 25 brands showed improved customer service scores over
last year.
These businesses improved service while cutting costs. JW Marriott
cross-trained administrative assistants to step in as banquet servers
when needed. Zappos.com launched a VIP program to serve return
customers. Ace Hardware consolidated operations and put the savings
into longer evening and weekend hours for customer calls. The number
one ranking was Amazon, who consistently went above and beyond to help
customers with products, even replacing those lost in the mail.
Being a service provider means doing whatever is necessary to fill a
customer's void. Even if it requires not earning a commission or making
that sale. Why? Because, either with this customer or another, sooner
or later, it will pay off.
While staying at a hotel in Charlotte, NC a friend of mine checked out
and attended his last meeting for the business trip. After the meeting,
he had a couple hours to pass until his flight. He called the shuttle
service that the hotel provided when he was a guest and asked the
shuttle driver if he could possibly be picked up and stay at the hotel
lounge until it was time for him to go to the airport.
Even though he had already checked out of the hotel, the shuttle driver
said, "Sir, our service doesn't stop just because you've checked out."
My friend was shocked with the level of willingness this shuttle driver
displayed. He truly understood the 'service provider' mindset. The
driver served first, worried about a tip or charge second.
When looking at the bottom line, it is more cost effective to make a
good impression and gain a repeat client than market to new customers.
According to the Customer Service Institute, 65 percent of a company's
business comes from existing customers, and it costs five times as much
to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied.
Remember, willingness, gratitude and desire will lead to the attitude
of service. Take these steps now and you will continue to be amazed at
the richness your business will reward for you, your family, your
friends, and your community.
Justin Gittelman is a Gitomer-certified speaker and business growth
expert. To book Justin Gittelman for your next event, visit
www.GitomerCertified.com or contact the friendly folks at Buy Gitomer
via email or by calling 704-333-1112.
HOUSE BLEND
Your Success Strategy.
Jeffrey, we recently started a coffee company in Tampa, Florida and
are selling our gourmet coffees retail through our website and
wholesale to specialty stores and high-end grocery stores. I was
thrilled to see that your E-Zine is called Sales Caffeine. I recently
picked up one of your books and read it. Within a couple of weeks, I
read three more. It will suffice to say that I started this company
thinking that all I needed was my marketing skills. WRONG! Sales skills
have proven to be really important. I've had to get some practical tips
under my belt very quickly. Some of your suggestions have already
helped me so "THANK YOU!" -Vicky
TrainOne
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Napoleon Hill
Yesterday and Today.
There always remains an opportunity to make a new start.
Though it may not seem so when you first encounter a serious blow, you
can never lose two of the most important assets you have. These are the
power of your mind and your freedom to use it. Once you have turned
them to understanding what laid you low, you can begin forming new
plans. You may not have the money you once had; you may lack the allies
you had cultivated. But you still have the benefit of a universe that
eventually rewards honest effort, as well as gaining the experience of
mistakes you will never make again. Remember, no matter where you are
now, whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.
To subscribe to Napoleon Hill Yesterday and Today weekly email magazine please visit http://www.napoleon-hill-news.com
Jeffrey's Upcoming Public Seminar Schedule
Atlanta, GA
02/11/10 Managers Seminar
02/12/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Charleston, WV
03/11/10Managers Seminar
03/12/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Sacramento, CA
03/31/10 Managers Seminar
04/01/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Grand Rapids, MI
04/08/10 Managers Seminar
04/09/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Pittsburgh, PA
04/22/10 Managers Seminar
04/23/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Hartford, CT
05/13/10 Managers Seminar
05/14/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Greenville, SC
05/25/10 Sales Attitude Seminar
Philadelphia, PA
06/09/10 Managers Seminar
06/10/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Cleveland, OH
06/17/10 Managers Seminar
06/18/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Reno, NV
09/01/10 Managers Seminar
09/02/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Minneapolis, MN
09/09/10 Managers Seminar
09/10/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Harrisburg, PA
09/16/10 Managers Seminar
09/17/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Murfreesboro, TN
10/07/10 Managers Seminar
10/08/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
Albuquerque, NM
11/18/10 Managers Seminar
11/19/10 Sales Attitude! Seminar
To learn more about any of these seminars, visit our web site at: http://www.gitomer.com/index.cfm?GitAction=Seminars.Public
Sales Caffeine is a weekly email distributed by Buy Gitomer, Inc. and TrainOne.com
Buy Gitomer, Inc. and TrainOne.com
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