Two days ago I received an e-mail that floored me.  It was from a manager at a local Cheesecake Factory who remembered my visit to her restaurant in 2005.  Here is a quote from her e-mail—

“Back in ‘05 I met you at the Cheesecake Factory where I worked. I was a manager there and I approached your table to see how your experience was going. We had a brief conversation and as I was being called away to assist an employee you asked me for my address. You told me you had written a book and would like to send me a copy. I was not only impressed with the fact that I received the book, but the fact that you spelled my name correctly blew me away. When I received the book and opened it you had written inside, “To Carmin, Thanks for the great customer service. Best wishes” and you signed it. I’ve been with Cheesecake Factory for 5 years and in all my correspondence with them they spell my name Carmen. Just wanted you to know that to this day I still refer back to your book, Idiots Guide to Great Customer Service.”

Imagine that!  I sent a book as a token of my appreciation to Carmin for her great customer service, and to this date, she remembers it and is still greatly impacted by that action.  Think about how a ittle thing like spelling a person’s name correctly can have such a huge impact on someone.  What about an employer who cannot spell the employee’s name?  Or in my case, how about when I check into a hotel, car rental, airport, etc. and spell my name outright K-A-R-R and they still can’t find the reservation because they are looking under C when I just spelled it correctly.  Afterall, they know how my name should be spelled, right?  Wrong! 

How about listening to how others do things and acknowledging their efforts.  The little things in life can make huge differences!  Let me ask you this.  The next time I speak to Carmin, do you think I will have her undivided attention?  You bet I will.  Do you think she will hear my words and I will have a certain level of influence, trust and acceptance with her?  You bet I will.  Isn’t this what sales executives and all people of influence struggle to achieve every day?Do yourself a favor.  Spend less time on planning elaborate sales strategies and a little more time on the little things like acknowledgement and getting the details right.  If Carmin was so impressed with my getting her name correct, do you think she would have been as impressed or even cared that I sent her the book if I spelled her name wrong?  Not as much. 

The difference is in the little things you do.  Carmin, thank you for making my day.  Keep on doing what you are doing.  The economy cannot recover without the herculean efforts of people like you.  You are our true champions!

Want to learn how to do this better – check out my new book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way.  Amazon has a great price for you today.

Enjoy your 4^th July.  Have fun, be safe and celebrate with your friends and family.  We have a lot to be grateful this weekend thanks to the little things our men and women in service have done to protect our freedom.

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Companies and individuals have done the cost cutting.  Jobs have been eliminated.  Dealerships have been closed.  Costs have been slashed.  All this has done is help people weather the economic slump.  Getting out of the slump is a different story.  The only way out is by selling something. 

The old adage that nothing happens without a sale rings true today more than ever.  In his endorsement of Ron Karr’s latest book, Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way, Larry Kellner, CEO of Continental Airlines, claims “Business Starts With the Sale”.  Larry goes on to say “that knowing your customers’ needs is the single most important factor in building sales”.  Continental knows this as it has outperformed most of its competition in the areas of customer satisfaction for several years.  While it still struggles because of the deep recession, it separates itself from companies like GM and Chrysler who have been accused of making products that did not meet the needs and wants of its customers.  It is the customer experience that determines whether or not someone will buy from you and come back again.  The experience includes not only the products, but the conversations customers are having with their vendors.   

For Chrysler and GM, the issue is not the dealers they are closing.  They are unfortunately victims of past sins.  The real question is what are the remaining dealers going to do to enhance the customer experience, have better conversations and close more sales.  R&D is working on making better cars.  Once production is ironed out, everyone’s attention is going to be focused squarely on the sales and marketing people.  And they better deliver. 

Ron Karr, author of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way, claims that sales and marketing teams have to undergo an transformation from being self focused (closing the deal) to being customer focused (finding out the customer’s needs).   With demand down and competition high, sales executives more than ever have to be at the top of their game to gain market share.  Karr claims there are 7 traits they must exemplify on a daily basis. 

1.    Visualization- need to know the outcome they are after to make sure actions are strong enough

2.    Positioning- talking about features and prices lead to commodity based decisions.  Value is sold on outcomes.

3.    Building Alliances- One cannot do it all.  Leads, referrals and growth comes  from supporters, alliances and others who open doors.

4.    Asking Good Questions- Most questions being asked are commodity based and viewed as a waste of time by customers.  There are questions guaranteed to get your customer’s time, attention and business.

5.    Creating Powerful Value Equations-  Most deals are lost because customers simply believe there is not enough value in it for them.  Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way  delivers case studies on how companies including Kodak have improved their value proposition to successfully gain market share.

6.    Communicating Persuasively.  Most business failures and successes happen not because of the product/service quality.  They happen because of the ability or lack of ability to communicate the value offered.

7.    Accountability.  Every CEO wants employees to be accountable to their organizations.  Fact is, employees can only be accountable to themselves.  If they are not accountable to their own word and promises, how can they be accountable to others.CEO’s will position their organizations for great success as the economy turns if they instill these traits in all their employees.  While sales and marketing have to deliver, so does everyone else.  Karr claims “you need to build high performing sales culture!  You cannot win the war with just a few high performers”.  He also claims this is not an option.  Success will only go to the organizations that figure out how to sell effectively in a competitive marketplace.  Dropping prices is not always the answer.

 Get a 30% Discount on your copy now of Lead Sell or Get Out of The Way!!!!

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Yesterday I was watching CNBC report on the huge gains in the Dow and the panel was talking about how the market could spike so high even in the wake of the GM Bankruptcy News.  A panelist then remarked the GM story is over.  They are in bankruptcy and being reorganized.  It is old news!  The market has already factored in this issue long ago.

I agree!  The issue today is no longer GM.  It is how to avoid another GM from happening.  Don’t get me wrong.  Many people are being adversely affected by the bankruptcy filing and there is a great deal of work to be done on saving GM and as many people’s jobs as possible.  But there are hundreds if not thousands of experts giving their advice on how to do this.  What I want to concentrate on are the lessons learned and what business owners today can do to avoid a similar fate.There are three key issues we should all be thinking about in helping to avoid GM’s fate.

Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way

1)    Build it and they will come – We have all heard this famous line from the movie Field of Dreams.  In sales and business, this is so true.  Build products that will meet both the needs and desires of your customers.  Build a favorable customer experience so people look forward to coming into your business and buying a new product.  The US Auto Industry failed miserably in these two areas.  For years, the cars they built were not what the market wanted and the foreign competitors took over.  As for the customer experience, my question is what experience?  I remember buying my first car 30 years ago and the sleaze ball tactics they used to close the deal.  Asking for my credit card to show the manager I was serious before making their “final offer”.  Understand we all train our customers on how to buy from us.  Granted, the old sleaze ball tactics of the auto industry are for the most part over. But think of all the distrust the auto makers have built up over the years and how that negatively affected their image.

Add to this the depressed attitudes in the showrooms today over the current conditions and you don’t have to think too hard why people are not coming in.  For GM to survive, they have to build the right products and create the right experience to bring their customers back. 

2)    Performance Based Compensation- I am sorry.  But no one deserves a lifetime guarantee of income even if they are not working.  That may have worked several decades ago, but not today when competition is intense.  Saddling one’s pricing structure with huge overhead unrelated to current productivity makes no sense.  Want a check? Perform a function of value.  If you retire, enjoy your retirement plan.  Health care benefits for life?  They are nice.  If affordable, yes, it can be your differentiating factor.  If not, you should not bring a company down with the huge costs associated.  Employees should always work on becoming less dependent on their employers and do what they can to protect themselves.  The days of having a job for life are over.  Employment should be based on performance.  Same goes for the company itself.  Customers will only buy if they feel your products and services are performing for them. 

You need to maximize productivity and drive cost out of the system as much as possible without sacrificing quality and service.  This is the tight rope both individuals and companies must walk on a daily basis as they compete globally.  If cost is not an issue, then build value that people are willing to pay for. 

3)    Brand Your Core Competencies—- GM has 8 Brands and 40 models.  Toyota, on the other hand, sells most of their models under the same roof with the exception of their luxury Lexus line.  News has it that they will spin off the Prius into a separate brand with three models in 2011. FYI, GM spent 1.245 billion dollars vs. Toyota’s 999 million dollars Jan –July 2009.  Less money and less cars to hawk.  Who do you think did the better job?  Six decades ago, GM’s model worked.  Today, it is too cumbersome and costly to operate.  GM did not change with the times.  It simply tried to keep on doing the same old thing and force the market to accept its model.  As Sellers, we must remember this:  No one entity has the power to force the market to do anything it doesn’t want to do.   As for the question of whether or not the Obama administration is making the right moves with its involvement, history will determine that answer.  My question is why did it have to come to this?  Listen to your market and make the right course corrections.  The bottom line is nothing counts if no one buys. 

Lead, Sell or Get Out the Way

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This is a really good book. But it is not a book about sales tactics. If you’re looking for the 28 best closing techniques, 15 cold calling scripts or tricks to reach the decision-maker, you need to look elsewhere. Ron Karr’s book is about strategy. And the focus is on team leadership.

Now you might say to yourself, what team? I’m out there all alone making the sale, I don’t have a team. But as Ron clearly points out, you actually have to lead not one but two teams, and it is critical that you lead and manage both of them effectively. The more obvious of the two teams is the one inside your own organization. This includes the many people involved in making the sale and providing the products and services that you sell, such as customer service, technical support, product management, R&D, accounts receivable, and you’re own senior management.

The second team that you have to manage is the customer team that is involved with the purchase. This could include the end-user, IT, operations, accounts payable, purchasing, R&D, and your customer’s senior management.

And more and more, all these people are talking to each other directly, rather than going through you. That makes it imperative that you have the leadership skills necessary to manage and lead these teams in order to make the sale and then successfully implement the sale. You must be “prepared to emerge as a team leader in a flexible network that not only crosses departmental lines, but also crosses the line between selling and buying organizations…. Your success as a salesperson depends on your ability to build and sustain coalitions both inside and outside your organization.” That is the essence of this book and Ron succeeds admirably in giving you the insights and the tools that you need to do just that.

 Order your discounted copy on Amazon now http://tinyurl.com/cb8ufm

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On This Memorial Day, we take time to thank all those, both past and present, for their heroic efforts to protect our freedom of choice, freedom of speech and our liberty.   In thinking about today, my mother comes to my mind.  She fought in two wars- Lieutenant in the British Army in WWII and a commander of a battalion of 2000 women in the War of 1949. Her leadership roles in these positions, as well as her positions of leadership in her banking career have helped formulate some of the ideas in the book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way.   

In fact, any person who served in the US military is responsible for the concepts listed below for one simple reason: The underlying theme in Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way is the idea that to be a top producer, you need to have quality conversations with your customers.  These conversations would not be possible  were it not for the sacrifices of our men and women in the military who fought for our freedom of speech.  We pause today to remember their efforts.  I too pause, and also remember the efforts of my mother Miriam, who was a pioneer in her own right and a leader for generations to come.  The following is an excerpt taken from the Introduction of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way.  While reading it, please remember the men and women of our armed forces who gave us the opportunity to have these open and frank conversations.  Please also remember those whom you feel made similar sacrifices for the same causes.  Interesting how we start with the concept of choices - The freedom to decide.

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way (Published by John Wiley & Sons).  

Three Choices 

In today’s market, you have three basic choices. 

1.    You Can Lead. You can establish a leadership role in your ownlife by taking full responsibility for your own outcomes andestablishing an attitude of complete accountability.  2.    You Can Sell. You can use that leadership role in your salescareer to build alliances that establish zones of strategic mutualbenefit for you and others, 3.    You Can Get Out of the Way. In other words, you can makeroom for a competitor who is willing to do both of the thingslisted above. Make no mistake—that’s what’s on the horizon ifyou choose not to sell as a leader. 

This book is designed to help you make the first two a reality andavoid the third altogether. My mother, Miriam Karr, was a well-known economist and,eventually, a vice president of a large U.S. bank with offices in severalcountries. She made a name for herself by identifying and buildingbusiness with emerging markets. She embraced choices one and twoabove, and she taught me at a very early age how to build businessesand make deals that produced OUTCOMES that were so powerfulstakeholders could not afford to shut them down.  In her case, that meant starting a counter-trade group for the bank that helped ThirdWorld countries find buyers for their products. These were deals onwhich commissions were paid—and a percentage of these commissionswas applied by the bank to offset that particular Third Worldcountry’s outstanding debt to the bank. Her ability to see this opportunity,put her ideas to work, and initiate powerful dialogues madeeveryone involved in her work a winner. The countries needed tofind buyers for their products; the bank needed to write down its debtand improve its bottom line. My mother made both of these thingspossible by championing something I call the Integrated DialogueTM. The Integrated DialogueTM Leaders know that a one-sided conversation is not as likely to get peopleinvested with them as allies as a powerful integrated dialogue is.What exactly is an integrated dialogue? It’s a conversation thatyou take full responsibility for initiating and guiding that draws peopleout and elicits their experiences. It’s a conversation based on a visionand a sense of shared purpose that identifies previously unidentified opportunities. 

An integrated dialogue instantly distinguishes you and your offeringfrom the competition. This is exactly how my mother built herbusiness unit in emerging markets for the bank. Whether you’ve beenselling for 30 years or you just started yesterday, there is still somethingfor you—for all of us—to learn about the way great sales leaders takeon the responsibility of initiating and leading such a dialogue.This kind of dialogue is what the very best sales professionals—sales leaders—use to give their customers something they couldn’tpossibly get from a long monologue, or a brochure, or the Internet.This conversation allows you to lead the process and establishyourself as a resource for everyone who comes in contact with you.The Internet and brochures are only capable of selling a transaction.You, on the other hand, represent the ability to create a powerfulrelationship, one that identifies whole new zones of mutual opportunity,addresses far-ranging issues, and positions you as an invaluableresource: a leader.  Leaders know that people don’t want to be sold. They simplywant someone who’s responsible and accountable to help guide them through the buying process. They are not looking to buy products orservices. They are looking for solutions to their problems. They arel ooking for positive OUTCOMES. Over the years, I’ve been privileged to work with thousands ofsales leaders—beginning with my mom—who established an integrateddialogue to share their vision, identify previously unimagined opportunities, build alliances, and guide people through the processof buying. In this book, I reveal everything I have learned from those leaders.I share their case studies with you and show you exactly how theconcepts were put into action. Let’s get started! 

End of Excerpt

Thought for this Memorial Day:  Would we have the freedom to have an Integrated Dialogue™ without the sacrifices of our Men and Women in Uniform?

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