In today’s turbulent market, I think it’s healthy to start with some perspective…and nothing sheds perspective better than some humour.
How do salespeople introduce themselves?
“Hi, I’m better than you.”
This was one of the first sales jokes I was ever told (by a prospective customer, of course). It is no secret that salespeople get a bad rap. The customer’s joke didn’t bother me at the end of my work day though because I knew I wasn’t “that” salesperson. It does, however, bother me today because I teach sales management. In every class of 100 students, there sit (usually at the back) at least 10 young people who have incredible sales potential and because of jokes like this one, they steer clear of that career path. I spend an entire semester going through why sales isn’t like that – something I really believe.
Those of you in management know how difficult it is to carve out and create a powerful sales team. Certainly not everyone can sell, just the same way that not everyone can schedule, estimate, etc. All too often, I see the wrong types of people trying to sell and just the right types avoiding it. And while there are always successes and failures, what I will try to sell you on is the concept that the best work is done in teams.
Identifying Future Successes
The first question that managers should be asking themselves is “how do I know someone will make a good salesperson?” Great salespeople have characteristics that make them quite identifiable. Firstly, there are those characteristics that are obvious, then there are those covert “tells” that most people don’t think of right away. In addition, there are those qualities that people think salespeople ought to have, that really aren’t necessary. All too often, it is the latter that we base our hiring decisions on.
Easy Tells
The three things that immediately come to mind as characteristics necessary for sales are as follows:
1. Motivation
We often describe people in sales as entrepreneurs or self-starters. We fuel their fire by giving them responsibilities that give them control over their destiny…and when I say destiny, I mean income. There are always those one or two students in my sales class that reveal that they are motivated by money. Having the ability to control your financial success is one of the most often quoted reasons for taking on a sales career. An easy tell of motivated salespeople is how aggressively they fight for a competitive commission structure. The more performance-related salary that they want from you, the wider you should be smiling.
2. Passion
One of the greatest salespeople I’ve known in my life is my grandmother. For her retirement, my grandma used to travel back and forth between Poland and Russia selling completely random goods at bazaars. She may not have been passionate about each item spread out on her table (I mean how excited can you be about clothes pins and clogs?), but she did love her job. She would always sell everything at her stand, and then walk over to friends’ tables to help them out. Passionate people are nice to be around; their excitement is contagious. In printing, this is incredibly important because we are a service industry that requires long-term relationships.
3. Persistence
Persistence does not mean annoying. There is a lot of rejection in sales. We should be happy that people say “no” to us in sales — if they didn’t, no one would have a single loyal customer. Persistence allows you to keep going. While you may not have a viable solution for a prospect today, it doesn’t mean that this will not change in the future. If you don’t knock on that door again, you will never know.
Covert Tells
There are qualities that are less obvious – the subtle qualities that make sales look like an art.
1. Solution-focused and empathetic
While one motivation for visiting the prospect may be financial, good salespeople understand that they are there to help the client. Especially in print sales, a world unknown and confusing to many, customers need that support to understand the best decision. Salespeople like solving problems. If you have employees you are thinking of coaxing into sales, give them a big, fat, messy problem to play with and judge their creative solutions.
2. Perceptive
Salespeople develop an ability to listen with both ears and eyes. They constantly assess their interactions. To discover this tell, try to look uncomfortable during a meeting. If the salesperson keeps yammering on, you know he/she has to work on this skill. Active listening is also an important skill. I’d like to illustrate this with an example. Take a minute right now and write down the names of three people you think are good listeners. Keep reading and we’ll come back to the list later.
3. Well-read
I have heard a lot of people complain about not being able to connect with a prospect. Often, we blame this on gender. For example, women will sometimes say that they can’t talk to a prospect because he’s in the “old boy’s club.” Or men will say, they don’t have “lady things” to talk about. Aside from the fact that every human has at least one thing in common with another, it doesn’t hurt to read. I may not be a huge hockey fan, for instance, but picking up the morning paper and flipping through the sports section is only going to give me knowledge. Knowledge is the one thing that no one can take away from you (another lesson brought to you by Natalia’s grandma). The ability to chit-chat is a direct result of reading.
The Stereotypical Tells
There are some characteristics of salespeople that really are not a necessity to success in sales. In fact, some may say that these are the butt of many jokes. Salespeople do not have to be loud, opinionated or talkative. I have met some incredibly successful soft-spoken individuals whose clients love them because they aren’t the typical sales guys. Talkers don’t usually make good salespeople; listeners do. Listeners don’t judge, keep opinions to themselves and, instead, provide solutions. They ask their clients questions to elicit their needs and better understand them. The more you ask, the more you know.
Now let’s revisit our list of three good listeners. How many of those individuals do you dislike? The most probable answer is “I like all three!” We like people who listen. You can try this exercise with your sales team to relay that message.
Managing the Flock
Now that we have an understanding of great salespeople, we move to how to manage them, and the rest of the team. The key here is team. Managers look after people and plans. The two are completely interconnected. If you plan to launch a sales blitz, you must manage the people. They are the key resource in every graphic arts business.
All too often, we manage the plan, but forget the people. Interpersonal issues can devastate a company, particularly in an industry where we work in teams of 20 on average. Sustainability is important, efficiency is important, being lean and maintaining quality are important. At the end of the day, none of them matter if the team is not synergistic.
It is important to recognize that:
1. People have different skills, and it is up to management to make sure they fit well with their job
2. People understand risk differently and, thus, have different levels of discomfort about dealing with ambiguity
3. It is up to managers to create a great work environment – not up to employees.
Team problems often come down to a lack of attention to fit. It is important to establish what the rules of working together are so that expectations are not mismanaged. This can be achieved by adhering to a set of rules you create with your team. Along with practical matters, these rules should capture what you value. For example, make it a rule that employees challenge decisions. For every big decision you make in a meeting, have at least one person play devil’s advocate. The critical eye, behind closed doors can alert you to potential future problems. Saying, “you’re wrong” to the boss is difficult. As such, you should practise constructive criticism with your team, and make it a team strength.
Many consultants offer team-building seminars. You can also simply invest in a great workbook. I have found that Pfeiffer’s Classic Activities for Improving Interpersonal Communication, while a bit pricey, has some great activities for teams. There are also many resources for collaborative decision making online. As opposed to seeking out the next trendy word in management, take it back to the basics and work on coaching. Build a strong, collaborative team and no matter what hardships the market presents, you will help your employees enjoy their job and thus, be more efficient.
We Have the Salespeople – Now What About the Sales?
In a market where buyers are nervous, sales is a much greater challenge. Even if you are providing your clients solutions, they are afraid to make decisions. Fear is the ultimate motivator and when money is scarce, people don’t spend.
One approach to a difficult market is to diversify your prospect list, but refine your specialty. We know that niche markets are less cyclical, allowing companies to prosper during market lulls. Two ways to avoid risk in such cases is to ensure that you focus on a diverse client set. All too often, I have heard of small successful printers who had to shut down because they lost their one big client. Having said this, it does not mean that a) you do everything for everyone or b) you neglect your current clients. In tough times, it is simply important that you really understand your value proposition and sell it to many (possibly similar) clients that fit your strengths well. Just remember that quality is not a unique value proposition; it’s a customer expectation.
Another tactic, slightly opposite to the one above, is to focus on your share of customer (SOC). A lot of us may be quite familiar with market share, which is the percentage of a particular market that belongs to a given company. SOC is a bit different. Sometimes referred to as the share of wallet, it is the amount of a customer’s print or marketing budget you currently hold. For example, if your customer has two printers, you have 50% share of that customer. Because your customers are buying from you already, they are a good place to start when trying to increase volume. I recognize that this is difficult in a market where no one is buying. What I’m proposing is that no matter the economic situation, it is always easier and cheaper to sell to a current client.
If diversifying or increasing SOC doesn’t seem like a right fit for you, my last suggestion is to get out there. With everyone trying to save money, we tend to recede into our corners. Even attending a conference seems like a risky expenditure. However, when things are in flux is when you want to be seen.
There are so many wonderful opportunities to get out into the community, be it locally, or within the printing industry specifically. Opportunities exist everywhere, except in your plant. You can volunteer some time or services, for example. That persistence of a great salesperson will get you through.
There are plenty of effective marketing methods today that cost next to nothing. We’ve seen the power that viral videos have had in our industry. Social media is a fresh new way of marketing. Its uses have not yet been defined. Explore the options. See what having Facebook fans can do for you. Enter competitions and awards. Join LinkedIn to connect to people in our industry. Even better, join a LinkedIn industry group and participate in discussions with prospects and colleagues. Whatever you do, don’t give up. It’s uncharacteristic of a salesperson, and even more so of a printer!
