Passion Power

Many small business owners I’ve come across in my 25 years of experience are scared safe and stuck. They are tired of reaching into their pockets and getting no results. They’ve always done things a certain way and they aren’t going to risk spending money trying anything new for fear they might have to come grovelling back to where they started. I worked inside a company once and you could cut the tension with a knife. Customer’s felt it the minute they walked in the store. It was a toxic environment and frighteningly quiet. The employees were competing against each other and they disrespected the owner. They had their cushy little jobs and felt they were indispensable after 8 and 10 years of employment. I don’t have to tell you what happened next. No sales-no business. The company ran out of money. They went on knowledge and low prices. My lesson here was – that’s not enough. Here are a few do’s and don’ts for running a successful sales organization. DO’s Follow ...

Introduction..   I'm sharing the very best of what I know with you in this article.  I stumbled into my first sales job 20 years ago.   I started out as an administrative assistant for a leasing company.   They still had carbon copies back then, (wow.  I'm old)  and I was a terrible typist.  I had already gotten fired from my first job as a Dictaphone typist for making too many errors.   I was let go from another job because I was unwilling to go down the elevator, stand in line at Druxy's sandwich shop and purchase lunch each day for the gentleman I worked for.  He was one of the Partners in a large accounting firm downtown.  They had two coffee breaks  each day in which one of the girls, (thank God it wasn't me) had to go around with a cart to all the offices and offer the Partner's  coffee;   I believe there was 11 of them.  The coffee was poured to their liking and delivered r...

Working in a very busy convenience store in cottage country over the summer I gained a much different perspective on human nature. People shouldn’t have to go to work and get beaten up by public unkindness. The experience helped me understand why people working in retail don’t always greet you with a cheerful smile on their face. Here are some dos and don’ts that I’ll be using moving forward. 1. Don’t roll your eyes like I’m taking too long. You’re the one buying lottery when there’s a big line up behind you. 2. Don’t complain to me about the prices. It’s not my company. 3. If you count out exact change because you think it’s faster and easier, you’re totally wrong. It’s just annoying. 4. Please don’t throw your money at me and expect me to remember what you bought. If you think you’re too good or important to stand in line like the rest of the customers remember that there’s no limo waiting for you. 5. Don’t think your griping is unique. I can pretty much guarantee we’ve ...

Prospecting isn’t as frightening as you would think. In corporate sales I like to teach people 3 things. Establish the key players When you are prospecting find out who makes the decisions. Start at the top and work your way down. Is it a VP, an owner a CEO or high level manager? Have them release the names of the people in the trenches to you. You won't step on anyone toes and people will tend to listen when you are able to name drop. You can say, “Victor Barns suggested I speak with you." It's important to introduce yourself to a high level person so that there aren’t any surprises down the road when the company starts doing business with you. They’ll remember your phone call to them. Which department takes care of buying your products? You could be dealing with multiple departments. For example in Information Technology you could be dealing with the Purchasing Department and the IT Dept. There are often many players involved. It could be 3-5 people ...

Selling is really quite simple and not nearly as scary as some people think. You get a list together of why your service or product is of value to your prospect and are willing to promote it. What’s in it for them? How are you going to make their life wonderful? Many people think about telemarketing and all those relentless calls you get at home when they think about selling products or services. It can be lawn maintenance, newspapers, carpet cleaning or just about anything else that you might find annoying to talk about after a full day of work. Usually the calls happen on your way out the door or when your right in middle of making dinner or, God forbid, relaxing for 5 minutes. I had a telemarketer call me the other day to sell me some magazines from MacLean’s. He was offering such and such and this and that and blah blah and I finally I had to interrupt him, "I’m sorry I’m not interested." What he said next surprised me. "You Don't Read?" Rule ...

Selling is really quite simple and not nearly as scary as some people think. You get a list together of why your service or product is of value to your prospect and be willing to promote it. What’s in it for them? How are you going to make their life wonderful? Many people think about telemarketing and all those annoying calls you get at home when they think about selling products or services. It can be lawn maintenance, newspapers or carpet cleaning or just about anything else that you might find annoying to talk about after a full day of work. Usually the calls happen on your way out the door or when your in middle of something like making or eating dinner. Someone could be visiting or you could be relaxing for 5 minutes. I had a telemarketer call me the other day to sell me some magazines from McLeans. He was offering such and such and this and that and blah blah blah and I finally I had to interrupt him, "I’m sorry I’m not interested." what he said next sur...