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.” (more…)

Today I had breakfast with a CEO in between positions. He recently resigned from a company he helped turned around and take to the next level. Looking for a different opportunity, he decided it was time to move on.  What struck me during our conversation were the beliefs that drive his actions professionally.  As a leader, you can see this person not only talks the talk, but also walks the talk.  Here are some of his beliefs which will positively impact all sales professionals:

1.       Planting Seeds- In his quest for a new venture, he understands the need to be pro-active.  While opportunities have come to him, the key to getting the right opportunity is to be exposed to as many opportunities as possible.  Therefore, he needs to meet as many influencers as possible, investigate all kinds of situations and put his name in the hat.  Eventually, the seeds he plants

will blossom into full blown opportunities.

2.       It Only Takes One- At the end of the day; a sales professional should not care about the people who say no.  They should only care about the ones who say yes.  In the world of our CEO, it only takes one opportunity, the right situation and the right offer, to complete his search.  For sales professionals, it only takes one person to say yes to dramatically change your view of the day.  We all get paid and rewarded by the yes’s we encounter.  We lose nothing by hearing the no’s.  We just need to not allow the no’s to stop us from moving forward to the answer we are looking to hear, the answer of “yes”.

3.       Attitude- What makes this CEO so vital to the organizations he serves?  His attitude.  He realizes that no one can make him want to do anything he doesn’t want to do.  He has to get up in the morning and want to make things happen.  This is what he needs to do and this is what he looks for in his people.  If a CEO has a group of people who want to make things happen, then his job is to now create an environment that allows each individual to maximize their productivity. (more…)

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. (more…)

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

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

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?

Order your copy of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way Now http://tinyurl.com/cb8ufm

You can have some really strong traits that will make you successful in life.  What you have to watch out for is that one weakness that can bring down your house of cards.  Annie Duke, poker champion and contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, is a great case study of how this can happen.

Annie’s ability to size up her competition enables her to employ strategies that often lead to victory.  She is energetic, fun to watch and brimming with confidence.  Annie never loses focus of what the goal is and her commitment to winning is second to none.  You may say she is the odds on favorite to beat Joan Rivers in this coming Sunday’s Celebrity Apprentice showdown.  Not so fast!  With all of her great characteristics, Annie Duke has one major weakness which can ultimately bring her down.

That weakness is her outsized ego.  There is nothing wrong with having a strong ego.  Most successful people have strong egos.  But it is Annie’s strong need to always have the spotlight on her that creates an outsized ego that simply turns people off. It is so bad it is actually nauseating.  In the last show leading up to this Sunday’s finale, the two teams had to write a jingle for Chicken of the Sea.  Annie and her teammate Brande felt completely inadequate facing the opposite team of singer Clint Black,  Joan Rivers and Jesse James.  There were moments when she really doubted whether or not she could even write a jingle.  She expected to lose against Clint Black.  She was being viciously attacked by her strong feelings of self doubt.  All of us can relate.  Yet, to her credit, she did not let it stop her and continued to march on. She did actually write a jingle; a jingle that had pop, a great message and was memorable.  They beat out Clint Black!  You can say that Annie pulled through like a champion.Until she started to celebrate! 

From the moment the jingle was finished, she let loose with a flood of self serving statements:  I can’t believe I actually wrote a jingle; I wrote a jingle that is really good, I wrote a jingle that can beat Clint Black.   The number of times she used the word “I” was so high you stopped counting.   By my count, there were at least  30 instances.  It was nauseating!

By constantly focusing on “I”, she totally ignored and disrespected her teammate Brande.  This was a two part contest.  Brande helped win the other part.  Yet Annie had no room for Brande to share in this victory.   After hearing Annie say for 5^th time “I”, you started to get sick and tired of her self-serving antics and were now looking for her to lose.  Annie managed to take all of the good will she developed during the game and toss it out of the window with her self-serving banter on how great she is.  It was so bad she is probably going to go into the final show with a large percentage of the audience rooting against her.  She has managed to drive viewers who were on the fence into Joan Rivers’ Camp.  

Joan Rivers, the other finalist, is usually not so popular with everyone.  You either like Joan or you hate Joan.  Annie has managed to move people to her side who now want Joan to win.  Joan will get the sympathy vote and she will get the underdog vote.  Annie will get what she deserves.  As for Sunday’s finale, Annie can still win. She can pull off a major victory that will nullify all other factors.  But that means she must win by a landslide.   However, if Annie could check her oversized ego and avoid using the word “I”, she would greatly enhance her chances of winning.  Too bad she has to start from behind the 8 ball because of her self-serving antics this past week.

If you want to influence others and be an effective leader, the number one thing you need is for people to be willing to follow you into any battle and climb any mountain. If you push them away with your ego, all they will want to see is for you to fail.  Very tough to win any game or challenge when your team is hoping you will fail!

See How to Make Your Sales Force Relevant – click here.
Get Helpful Tips from Watching Ron Karr in Action

Stories are going around how companies and suppliers of professionals are doing work for free to assist their clients in need.

They rationalize this because business is slow and they want to keep their employees busy. They also want to be there for their clients.

You want to be there for your clients? Become relevant!

The concept of doing free work has been used as a solid marketing strategy for years. Occassionally, I have given a free talk to certain groups as a marketing vehicle to generate new prospects sitting in the audience. And yes, in this down economy, we have helped clients by providing additional value for a nominal cost. But make no mistake about it, we still got paid for our work.

Once you give your services and products away for free, you immediately lose your value and you will never gain it all back.

This recession has changed the way the world does business. If you are doing no business or very little business, the market is talking to you. It is saying you either have to re-adjust your services to become relevant again or look for new markets who want what you have.

As a professional speaker and consultant, I am taking my materials and creating internet based venues to continue educating and advising my clients. The market is calling for this as companies have drastically reduced their travel and meeting budgets.

My messages are also being refined to be relevant to the needs of my market. And yes, I am marketing to industries that value my services and are willing to pay for them.

We all have a responsibility to reinvent ourselves and stay relevant to our markets. Only when we are relevant can we adequately serve our clients. We also have to maintain fiscal strength. It’s the same as being a care giver for a sick person.

You can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself and stay strong.

Markets like Financials Services may be decimated. But they will come back. They may be re-aligned in terms of players. They certainly will be doing business differently. If you are working with any of these businesses, do yourself a favor and figure out how to stay relevant, prosper and grow. Your customers are counting on you.

If you simply use this time to ride out the storm, you will be weakened and when the recovery occurs, you will be bypassed by the competition.

Your employees have nothing to do? Have them develop solutions for your clients and make a living doing it. You owe it to yourself, your family, your employees and your clients. Make your sales team relevant today.