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Browse every published article connected to Dave Kahle, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to Dave Kahle, or search within this exact expert archive.
Q. Dave, I am finding it difficult to manage my personal finances. As a commissioned sales person, my income varies from month to month. It seems like I’m always struggling with finances. Do you have suggestions for me? A. Congratulations for having the courage to ask that question. Do I have suggestions? Yep, a bunch of them.
I fielded a call from a disgruntled client a couple of weeks ago. He had subscribed his sales force of seven people to a program that included four, one hour training sessions, delivered on-line, and a 45 minute session for him to show him how to orchestrate and implement the training system. His problem was that only one of the sales people did the work. The other six didn’t bother. He had paid for seven people, but only one actually did it. A little further discussion revealed that he himself hadn’t bothered to view the manager’s session.
Q. We are intent on revising our decades-old sales compensation plan. Management is divided. One half favors straight commission, and the other doesn’t. What are your thoughts? A. In my work as a sales consultant, I am routinely involved in helping my clients revise their sales compensation plans. My company, on almost any day of the week, has an open compensation plan project that we are working on for some client.
Q. Occasionally, customers may say they have seen or received a lower price for the same product in order to receive better pricing from us. How would you handle that type of call? A. You mean this only happens occasionally? I’ll bet thousands of my readers see it frequently. Regardless, there are a number of things you can do.
Years of economic muddle! That was the title on a seminar brochure I received recently. As I survey some of the forces flowing through our economy, and witness the way in which they impact my clients, I have to agree. Unfortunately, these forces have brought a cloud of confusion to CEOs and sales executives trying to grow their businesses.
Good time management for sales people has been an obsession of mine for more than 30 years. In the last decade, I’ve been involved in helping tens of thousands of sales people improve their results through more effective use of their time. Over the years, I’ve seen some regularly occurring patterns develop – tendencies on the part of sales people to do things that detract from their effective use of time. Here are the four most common time-wasters I’ve observed. See if any apply to you or your sales people. 1. Allure of the urgent/trivial.
“I have my own style of selling.” That is a remark I have heard a number of times, usually from relatively inexperienced sales people. What they usually mean is something like this: “I don’t have any real system to what I do, I don’t want any scrutiny, and I probably am not going to learn anything from you.” How valid is this position? Does every sales person have a unique style of selling? Are they just trying to hide from accountability under the cover of individual “style”? Or is there some other explanation?
“Why should someone spend time with you?” That was the question I asked the six sales people who were the subjects of an intense week-long training session. The response? Blank stares. Some uncomfortable fidgeting. Nothing anywhere close to a coherent, persuasive response. That experience made me realize the need for what I call a “value-added proposition,” and what many people refer to as an “elevator speech.” It is a well-thought-out, meticulously prepared, and memorized set of ideas that ultimately answer the question above. It should exist in several different versions:
Q. How do I insure that I get the last look in a competitive bid situation? A. This is a question that I’m often asked. In a lot of industries, particularly those involved in construction, government purchases and large-volume manufacturing, most of the customers require an official bid. It’s not unusual for these to be highly formal and structured. Here’s a typical scenario. The customer sends a bid to five suppliers, and each responds with a written document by a certain specified date. The customer reviews the bids, and awards the business.
The best sales people have created a system to consistently acquire appointments with prospects, and continually work to improve that system. All routine, sophisticated work is most effectively accomplished by implementing a system. That’s one of the observations I’ve made in my 20+ years of experience in consulting. It doesn’t matter what area of work we are considering. For example, cleaning teeth, paving a road, painting a house, laying carpet, creating your income tax returns, etc. are all routine, sophisticated jobs that are best accomplished systematically.
I was speaking to a group of professional sales people in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the subject of integrity in business. At dinner later in the evening, my host, who had been sitting in the audience, sheepishly shared with me that several of the people seated near her snickered at the idea. Evidently, to them, sales was just a series of transactions, and the sales person's job was to wring as much money out of each transaction as possible, under whatever means were necessary.
“How do you create a perceived value to differentiate yourself from the competition when you are both selling a commodity?”
The best salespeople are systematic in their approach to their job, while ordinary salespeople are haphazard. That's one of the reasons why they are the best. We know that sophisticated routine work is best accomplished by implementing effective systems.
It continues to amaze me that so many sales people shuffle into most of their sales calls with very little, if any, prior planning. I suppose that is why this is one of the practices of the best.
When I was 18 years old, I got a summer job working for a company then called Jewel Tea, whose business was selling groceries, housewares and kids clothing to housewives on a route. I was hired to work the routes for the vacationing sales people who owned the route. At age 18, I had no sales experience and little personal presence or confidence, but I consistently outsold the older, more experienced people who owned the route, and was recognized by the company as the “outstanding college student” summer employee.
The job of the sales person is always a bit of a balancing act. On one hand, we continually cruise our territory to see what opportunities look the most promising. We're constantly scanning the account base to identify that to which we should react. On the other hand, we also need to be proactive, determining which accounts hold the most long-term potential, and strategizing our approaches to those accounts.
"Mañana.” It will wait until tomorrow. There are times when it is so tempting to tell yourself that, and to actually believe it. Clearly, sometimes it is true. However, when we continually put off for tomorrow those things that could and should be done today, we become less effective today. And while it is true that it is only one day, the truth is that we will never have that day back again.
I recently came across some research that confirmed what many of us in the profession of educating sales people have known for years: That purchasers would be “much more likely” to buy from a sales person if that sales person would just “listen” to the customer. (1) The survey found that some of the worst offenders were experienced sales people. Listening is one of the four fundamental competencies of a professional sales person, and yet, the profession is, in general, so poor at it that most customers remark on our inability to do it well.
Q. What do I do when my goals don’t match the company’s goals for me? A. I can look at this is in two ways – expressing two different situations. In the first, there is a legitimate difference in the expectations for a sales person, but a basic agreement on the issues on which to be focused, as well as the values of the organization. In the second, there is a deeper and more significant difference of opinion.
Thinking about your spirituality? Wondering if there is something deeper and more meaningful for your life? You’re not alone. George Barna, the researcher, has unearthed a condition of modern American life: “…recent studies at our Barna Research Group shows that more and more people are plagued by a nagging emptiness that is anchored deep within themselves. It is a crises of meaning that affects millions of Americans.”r
Q. How would you suggest I respond when a customer gets abusive and uses profanity with me? A. That's a difficult call. I have had only a couple of these experiences in my career. Let me do a little thinking out loud (or as it may be, on the computer.)r
Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams. Basketball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys. As you know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80’s. Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team. He was at the top of his game -- most valuable player on the world championship team. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Q. Dave, I have been a fan for a number of years, and have a number of your books. In the last couple of years, I have grown increasingly frustrated. Why won't people respond to my emails, return my voice mails, or even see me when I show up in person? Am I doing something wrong? A. You have asked a question that tens of thousands of other sales people have bouncing around in their heads every day. I hope the response which follows will be helpful.
One challenge of the new economy is that common business principles and practices that were sufficient on which to build a business just a few years ago, today are not. Take the case of one of my clients who told me recently, “I’ve been in business for 17 years. And we’ve done well. But now, it seems like everything is changing, and I don’t know what to do.”
Did you enjoy what you had for dinner last night? You are probably wondering what that question has to do with sales. Bear with me a moment, and answer the question. Now, pause a moment, and think about what you did when you read that question. Your mind probably flashed back to yesterday evening, and you saw a picture in your mind's eye of what you had for dinner. Then you recalled your response to the dinner, and made a judgment that you did or didn't enjoy it.
Sometimes it is so frustrating. You know you have a better product than that which your prospect is currently using. Your price is attractive, your service is outstanding. If the prospect would switch to your solution, you know they'd be delighted. You'd save them money, smooth out their processes, reduce their inventory and generally make their life simpler. So, why won't they switch? Are people really that stupid? Or, is it you? Did you do something to put them off?
Q. We use the phone for keeping contact with many accounts. I also use it for cold calling phone prospects. Any hints on how to entice prospects to call back, since over 60 percent of calls are answered by voice mail? A. Welcome to the bane of 21st Century sales people – Voice Mail! Yes, I have a number of ideas.
In my twenty plus years of educating sales people, I have encountered tens of thousands of sales people. The vast majority of them want to do better. They want the benefits of greater success: Increased income, greater respect from their peers and managers, and increased self-confidence. Yet, the vast majority of them remain at a level best described as “ordinary.” They never make the transition to being a true master of their craft. In spite of their desire to excel, few do.
It’s a difficult year for a lot of sales people. The world is changing rapidly, and every new headline contains information that seems to impact business in a significant way. The competition is more active, customers are more discriminating, and nobody has enough time. There was a time, just a few years ago, when it was easier. You could work hard for awhile, and then you could relax and enjoy the fruits of your labors. You would reach a point where life became easy, your customers were buying from you consistently, and you had your job figured out.
Q. You have convinced me that spending time face-to-face with customers is the best use of my sales time. How much of my week should I spend entertaining customers; taking them to lunch, ballgames, etc.? A. Great question. Let me answer this is two ways. First, spend as much time as you can interacting with your customers in social settings. That means that you should try to have lunch with a customer every day. You should entertain in the evening as often as your family, your boss, your life style and your budget will allow.
Q. Help! I'm so frustrated. I just attended a "sales training” program that never addressed the real issues that I have to deal with every day. What causes me problems is not my lack of sales ability, it is my company's back orders, the lack of responsiveness and competence in my customer service people, and the mistakes in delivery by the warehouse. Those are the real issues. What can I do about those things?
It is so easy to do that which is comfortable and easy as opposed to that which is smart. It’s a common temptation to which every sales person succumbs at least some of the time. This applies most dramatically to the fundamental decisions that every sales person makes over and over again every day: · Where should I go? · Who should I see? · What should I do? Those sales people who consistently make those decisions most effectively rise to the top of the sales profession, and those who don’t, don’t.
You have made a call or two on a prospect, qualified them, and rate them as high potential. The problem is they don’t have an opportunity at the moment. Lots of potential, but it’s all down the road a bit. Your challenge is to maintain contact so that when they do have an opportunity, you have a chance at it. Let’s consider all your options.
Field sales people have a unique aspect to their jobs – they have the ability to decide what to do every moment of every day. The need to make this decision – where to go, who to see, who to call, what to do – distinguishes the sales profession from most others. I’ve often thought that the quality of this decision, more than any other single thing, dictates the quality of the sales person’s results. Consistently make effective decisions, and your results will improve. Make thoughtless, habitual or reactive decisions, and your results will be sub-par.
“I have my own style of selling.” I have heard this countless times, usually from relatively inexperienced salespeople. What they really mean is, “I don’t have any real system to what I do, I don’t want any scrutiny, and I probably am not going to learn anything from you.” Does every salesperson have a unique style of selling? Or, are they just trying to hide from accountability under the cover of individual “style”? Or is there some other explanation?
Q. I have long enjoyed your articles. I am in my second year of being a full commission salesman and wanted to get your advice. When I make an onsite call or pick up the 500 pound phone and call the customer, I feel like I am begging for work… asking the headmaster for another cup of gruel. I know this isn't healthy and I genuinely believe my product is of great quality and valuable to the customer.
In our surveys, CEOs indicate “on the job” training as the predominant method of developing sales people. If everyone is doing it, it must be OK, right?
Q. In regards to personality conflicts with an account, at what point do you walk away and let someone else in your organization try? A. Great question. Let me answer in two ways. First, from a purely theoretical perspective, a professional sales person should be able to build relationships with anyone, regardless of the personalities involved. So, from a theoretical point of view the answer would be “never.” It is the responsibility of the sales person to figure out how to sell to every account, and every person within the account.
Q. I have many customers who refuse to even consider some of my products because the one they have now is working fine and they don’t want to change something that is working well for them. They feel they are opening themselves to potential dangers, problems and nightmares by fixing something that isn’t broken. Any suggestion for how to deal with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude?
Q. Customers in my industry do not accept price increases unless they have zero alternatives. How do we handle this? A. I’m sure you are not the only person thinking this way, nor is your industry the only one with this issue. Probably almost every one reading this frequently hears from their customers that their prices are too high, and that the customer won’t accept price increases.
I was in the depths of a major depression. As a third year sales person with a good company, I was doing well, and was on my way to becoming the top sales person in the nation for that company. But business had slowed down a little, and I didn't have my usual number of proposals out for consideration. So, I wasn't as busy as usual. As my activity slowed, I began to worry about my territory.
There is not a salesperson in existence who hasn't repeatedly heard of the need to "close the sale.” Every new sales manager must view the process of encouraging his/her sales force to "close the sale” as an initiation into the profession. If you're going to be a sales manager, you, therefore, must improve everyone's ability to "close.” Doesn't it come with the job?
Ten years of competitive hell! That was the title on the seminar brochure I received recently. As I survey some of the forces flowing through our economy, and witness the way in which they effect my clients, I have to agree. The Information Age is certainly one of the most turbulent times business people have ever seen.
I still remember the worst sales call I ever made. More than just remember it, I react to the memory. I get a queasy feeling in my stomach every time I think about it. It wasn’t just a bad sales call, it was a humiliating, embarrassing event. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. That’s the point. There is something about adversity that has the power to linger forever in our memories, shaping our character and molding our behavior for the rest of our life.
I just hung up the phone from a coaching call with one of my clients. He was applying for a significant executive position, and wanted my help with his resume and interview strategy. We talked for a bit, and I suggested a different way to look at his resume.
One of my Ezine subscribers recently sent me this question: "I really struggle with the highs and lows of field sales. Most days I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. In this economy, especially, it's difficult to stay positive. Any suggestions?" n This is one of those rarely voiced issues that every sales person must confront sooner or later. Sales is an emotional roller coaster, and unless you figure out how to manage those emotions and keep yourself motiv
Dave, I am finding it difficult to manage my personal finances. As a commissioned salesperson, my income varies from month to month. It seems like I'm always struggling with finances. Do you have suggestions for me? Congratulations for having the courage to ask that question. Do I have suggestions? Yep, a bunch of them. First, a little perspective, so you know from where I'm coming. For almost my entire adult life, I have been a commissioned salesperson whose income varied
One of my Ezine subscribers recently sent me this question: "I really struggle with the highs and lows of field sales. Most days I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. In this economy, especially, it's difficult to stay positive. Any suggestions?" This is one of those rarely voiced issues that every salesperson must confront sooner or later. Sales is an emotional roller coaster, and unless you figure out how to manage those emotions and keep yourself motivat
Dave, I am finding it difficult to manage my personal finances. As a commissioned salesperson, my income varies from month to month. It seems like I'm always struggling with finances. Do you have suggestions for me? Congratulations for having the courage to ask that question. Do I have suggestions? Yep, a bunch of them. First, a little perspective, so you know from where I'm coming. For almost my entire adult life, I have been a commissioned salesperson whose income varied
Good time management for salespeople has been an obsession of mine for more than 30 years. In the last decade, I've been involved in helping tens of thousands of sales people improve their results through more effective use of their time. Over the years, I've seen some regularly occurring patterns develop - tendencies on the part of sales people to do things that detract from their effective use of time. Here are the four most common time-wasters I've observed. See if any ap