As a young boy growing up in Perth, I can recall for some obscure reason a TV commercial for Orbit sugar less gum. 
They had found a way of removing the sugar from the gum.
Brilliant.
Same great gum chewing experience, but with no sugar in it.
The gum cost more than a standard pack of juicy fruit or my favourite, double mint (green wrapper).
Here’s what my 12 year old mind couldn’t work out.
Why did the gum cost more? There was no sugar in it.
In essence you were paying more for what you didn’t get.
At the age of 12 I couldn’t begin to understand that there were costs involved with removing the sugar, or to find some alternative product.
I was just confused as to why you should pay more for what you don’t get.
Move forward 30 years and I now find myself confused when I order a long black coffee and pay the same price as my wife does for her skinny cappuccino. Yes, that’s right the same price.
What am I missing here, apart from the milk?
Her coffee requires not only milk, but someone to froth it.
Shouldn’t a coffee with milk, which I’m guessing is the most expensive part of the drink cost more than one without?
And as for the sugar! If I don’t have sugar am I sponsoring your sugar?
Let me just clarify that it’s never about the 50 cents, it’s the principle that bugs me.
Whilst on the subject of little gripes to start the year.
I went and saw the excellent musical Jersey Boys at the end of last year.
We booked the tickets on-line and were charged a $10 handling fee! Confused? Yes, completely.
We did the handling, not Ticketek.
We booked it all, chose the seats and printed out the tickets. No humans involved.
Shouldn’t we be rewarded for keeping a human out of the process and thereby keeping their costs down?
A lot of people in business like to talk about “creating value”.
You can create value for your customers by:
. Making it better at the same price
. Making it cheaper without compromising quality
. Letting me enjoy it sooner than I expected
. Letting me enjoy fewer hassles in the experience of consuming your service or product (better call centres, customer service, data management)
. Contacting me at the right time for me, not you as the seller
Everyone reading this will have a different way that they can create more value for their customers in 2012.
It really doesn’t have to be that hard.
At NRG Solutions we keep looking at the little things we can do that will enhance the experience our clients have.
If something annoys a client, can we remove it?
If something is bugging you, please let me know.
It’s never been about perfection, only about seeing if we can do it better.
2012 is the Chinese year of the dragon and I have decided, the western world’s year of distraction. 
Have you ever noticed that whenever a new email appears in your inbox, it initially will appear to be more interesting than anything else that you are currently doing? If not, why are you now reading this?
In 1977, Don Henley, from The Eagles sang about the Hotel California.
“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air…”
The killer line for me in the song -
“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”.
To survive and be successful in 2012 you have to find a way to check out at times and leave work behind.
How else can you stay fresh, and create new ideas?
I’m convinced that your success, personally and professionally will be determined by how you manage to deal with all of the distractions that come your way.
Yes, that includes this newsletter.
Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, and LinkedIn look like they are here to stay for a while.
How anyone can get any work done is beyond me.
If you can grab one fresh idea per month from all of the social media you consume and get that idea to stick, I’d say you are ahead of the pack.
Like most things in life, you can run from them but you can’t hide.
How you manage them is the key. I’d love to know your plan. What works for you?
Some will argue that using social media is essential to their role. I don’t dispute that, but at what price? How essential is it?
Does it really help you in your career to know that an old friend from high school who you never see any more (thankfully) had a great weekend at Noosa with their new husband and 6 kids?
I’m still not convinced it helps you.
Perhaps Henley was 35 years ahead of his time when he famously ended Hotel California singing;
“Relax said the night man, we are programmed to receive, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”.
1. What is the next step with that opportunity? When will you be doing that?
2. How can I help you to win that account?
3. Apart from price, what will their decision be based on?
4. Why do they buy most of their current products from our competitors?
5. Who else do you know, or have met with at that account?
6. How many appointments do you have set up for next week?
7. How can I help you to set up more appointments?
8. What system are you using to ensure that you are following up with all of your leads?
9. How could that follow up system be improved?
10. Why don’t you answer your phone when I call you?
11. Which of your daily tasks are restricting you from seeing more customers?
12. Who are your 5 most important follow up calls today?
13. After reading your sales report for last month, have you considered working as a fiction author?
14. How many sales calls do you need to make this week to reach your monthly sales target?
15. How would you describe your behaviour at Friday night drinks last week?
16. What sales skills are you working on this quarter?
17. What have you noticed about your results when you are using the new skills?
18. How can I help you to reach your monthly sales target?
19. When will they be making a decision about using our service and/or products?
20. What is the best way for you to generate more leads?
21. How could you improve your product knowledge with our new services / products?
When I was in my early 20’s I sold (not very well) radio advertising for 96FM, a radio station in Perth.
I used to like to ease myself into my day with a coffee and a 30 minute chat with anyone I could find about yesterday’s cricket results. One of my first sales managers, Barrie Quick always used to say to me “hit those phones, early Steve, call your prospects”. At first I couldn’t really see the point. Surely if customers wanted to place an Ad on our radio station they would call me. I didn’t want to hassle them first thing in the morning! How naïve was I.
Over time I learnt the art of calling prospects on a consistent basis with ideas of value. I also learnt the importance of always being on the look-out for new leads, so that I had regular people to call.
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post highlighting the 5 biggest mistakes I see sales people making every day. I received some great feedback on this from Sarah.
Sarah is an outstanding sales professional. She knows what it takes to succeed in B2B selling in Australia.
In her opinion she believes the biggest mistake sales people make is they procrastinate. Here is a summary of what she sent me.
“Sales people have a tendency to do everything else they have to do in their day before they pick up the phone to prospect. So by 3pm when they’re done sorting their day and completing their admin they actually haven’t done much to build their pipelines”…
As a Sales Leader you have a different skill set to your sales team. Your experience enables you to better prioritise each day. You know how to separate important priorities from the urgent ones.
I have seen so much time wasted by sales reps over the years. The sales world in 2011 makes it easier than ever before to fritter away a working day.
Here’s a list of the top 9 ways sales reps will be wasting their time today. You decide if its time well spent.
1. Dealing with existing customers who do not want to buy anything
2. Looking at Facebook and reading things about people whom they have lost interest in
3. Watching You Tube clips of cats on skateboards
4. Chasing up an order or a missing product
5. Reading Twitter updates and then clicking on links to take away more selling time
6. Reading junk emails about discount flights to the Gold Coast with 4 star accommodation
7. Writing proposals for people who don’t want to buy from them
8. Sending more information to people who are drowning in data that won’t be read
9. Driving in traffic
If you can help your sales people build in a proper and professional approach to prospecting into their sales process in 2012 I am sure you will see much better results.
The best Sales Managers I work with are not actually selling. They are developing their sales people. They are always coaching, helping ingrain the right habits. This is the best legacy you can leave your reps. A prospecting routine needs you to be part of this.
You can measure their prospecting activity with a few simple questions each day:
. How many calls did you make today to prospects?
. How much time were you selling to new customers as opposed to servicing existing accounts today?
. Where do you think you lose most of your time each day?
. How can I help you to do more of the most valuable things earlier in the day?
. Where did you get those new shoes from, they look awesome. (Seriously, complements help a lot)
To see 21 of my favourite questions for sales reps click here.
As a minimum ask your sales reps to call 5 people every day who you want them to be doing more business with. That’s 25 calls per week and 100 per month. Ask them to make these calls each day before they start doing all of their “urgent tasks”.
I learnt a lot from Barrie Quick in a short period of time. Like his surname he wanted results in a hurry. He wasn’t interested in too much fluffy chit chat with me every day. His words still ring in my ears every morning.
“Still taking about the cricket Steve? Hit those phones mate. Give your prospects a call. They’re not about to call you”.
In order from the biggest mistake, here are my top 5 that I see people in Business Development or sales roles consistently making in 2011.
1. Selling to the wrong person. Just because someone has a certain title, you cannot assume they are the buyer. Yes, they may have influence, but really how influential are they? When you sell to an organisation, finding the real buyer is not always easy. That in itself is a skill. Investing time selling to the wrong person is a hall of fame error. Your skill is to get in front of the people who have the influence and authority to purchase whatever it is you are selling.
2. Please send me more information. In a world where we are all drowning in a sea of information I cannot see how sending more information can help anyone. Do you really think they want to read more detailed documents about your offering? Isn’t it now all on line anyway? Sending more information is more likely to confuse them and delay their decision making. When someone asks you for more information, respect their request and use your skills (learnt on an NRG program) to get in front of the right people. If you don’t you are in danger of the number 1 mistake (see above) occurring.
3. Poor questioning and listening skills. To succeed in BD or selling you need two good ears and one mouth. Yes 2 ears and 1 mouth, not one ear and 2 mouths. Spend more time listening to your prospects and you will sell more. The world’s shortest course on selling is; ask better questions and then listen actively to their responses. If you want to ask better questions prepare them before you see your prospects. Do your homework, just like you started doing when you were 7 years old, if you want to get better marks.
4. Not enough prospects. If you only have a handful of opportunities in your sales funnel, you will be likely to pester those prospects to death. Endless phone calls, emails, sms’s, faxes, homing pigeons, Skype calls, twitter updates. Have you decided yet? Hurry last chance etc.! Talk about annoying. Don’t get me wrong, great follow up is a critical skill, but don’t hound people. No one likes being sold to, but people do like to buy. Your skill as a professional in BD or Sales is to keep finding new prospects. Every day there will be opportunities that are there for the taking. Have your SADAR (sales radar) switched on and be on the lookout for more prospects for your funnel.
5. Fear of closing. This is a classic error. There is a time and a place when you need to say to the prospect, would you like to go ahead and purchase today? If you try and close too soon you may not understand their real needs or even who is making the decision (see rule 1). If you close too late you’ve missed the window of opportunity. One of my favourite piano players, Billy Joel summed it up beautifully when he said “you never let a good thing slip away”. Although incidentally he did. Billy, what happened with your “Uptown Girl”, Christie Brinkley?
Last week I watched Tiger Woods playing in the Australian Open. Watching him and his fellow professionals, I started thinking about some of the differences between athletes and non-athletes at work.
Athletes don’t need to be “on” all the time. There is an enormous amount of down time. As a golfer you spend most of your day walking to your ball (or in my case looking for it). Only a very small percentage of the time, are you actually hitting it.
Athletes know the importance of being able to produce results when they need to produce. If they can’t deliver under pressure, potentially their careers are over.
Athletes train regularly to help them produce results when they need to. They also spend a lot of time relaxing and switching off. This is important for them, so that when they need to switch on, they are ready to go.
Tiger was asked what he would be doing in the afternoon after he had completed his second round that morning. His answer was, “relaxing and switching off”.
Now it’s not for me to comment on how the Tiger chooses to relax. That could get me in hot water. The point is switching off is a huge part of what allows him and other champions to be so focused, when required.
The great athletes master the switching on and off skill very early in their career. If they don’t, they burnout very quickly.
I don’t think you can stay on all day at work. You have to develop the skill of adapting your intensity to suit the situation.
If you are going flat out for 12 hours a day 5 days a week, I’m not convinced that you are giving yourself your best chance of consistently producing the goods when you need to.
A client I was coaching last week said to me she feels she hasn’t had any decent creative thoughts for months. I asked her “when was her last proper break from work?” She said, “July last year”.
You may not be a professional athlete. In your role, I am sure there are times each day that you need to really step up and have 100% focus for a variety of things. These could include:
. Key client meeting
. Performance review
. Major presentation
. Recruiting a new member for your team
. An event where lots of your staff and clients will see you
If you look closely at your work flow each day, you can learn to pace yourself properly. I think you will get much better outcomes by doing this. If you are constantly going at 100%, I can’t see how you’ll manage to get the best outcomes.
Great leaders have an abundance of NRG. They have no choice. They know their staff and their clients can interpret their body language far better than their words.
If you find yourself constantly saying things like:
“I’m flat out at the moment”
“I’m under the hammer”
“I’m still trying to clear the deck”
“I’m under the pump”
“I’m busier than Shane Warnes plastic surgeon”
Think about the message you are sending to yourself. Your thoughts become your words, your words become actions and your actions over time become your values.
But I hear you say, that’s all well and good in theory, but I have so much on at the present moment.
Perhaps the reason you have so much on is you haven’t spent enough time planning how to manage your intensity levels properly at work.
You might also find that when you do go on holiday you are taking your work with you. Why are you doing this? How is it helping you to switch off? Isn’t that what holidays are for?
Being a leader at work is about outcomes not activity levels. If your activity levels are too high and you are struggling to maintain your NRG, perhaps it’s time to learn from the athletes and understand how to switch on and off properly during each day.
When you go to Disneyland you expect a special experience. We weren’t disappointed.
Here are 5 things that I took away from being a customer at Disneyland.
1. Your body language says so much about your attitude. I didn’t spot one grumpy or frumpy employee at Disney. Yes, I was looking. Everyone moves with a spring in their step. Even the vendors selling the world’s biggest Turkey drumsticks or the organic fairy floss stood tall at their booths and served you with a smile.
2. No one puts the hard sell on you. There was no touting. “Buy 2 get 1 free”, “offer ends Monday.” If you wanted to purchase products they were available, you cant miss them. People love to buy, but no one likes being hassled into buying things. Disney knows this.
3. You can not sell a secret. Merchandising is so important. Whether you sell retail products or a service, your offerings need to look very appealing. Everywhere we went at Disney there were products available. They were beautifully presented. When you were ready to buy they were ready and waiting.
4. It was never boring. Now that shouldn’t surprise you, because it is Disneyland. How you keep yourself and your team fresh and engaged at work is a challenge. If you want to retain great staff, you need to find a way of doing this, whilst still getting all the tasks done.
5. They keep their promises. If they say the gates will open at 10am, they open at 10am. If a show is going to start at 8.15pm, it starts exactly on time. If you make committments in your business, make sure you honour them.
Last month I was playing soccer in the park with my daughters, Emily and Nicola.
Just as we were finishing up our session, a woman approached me and asked me if I knew anything about dealing with animals in distress.
There was a very sick pigeon at the park. It was lying on the ground and could barely flap one of it’s wings.
My daughters asked me what I was going to do about it. Now between you and me, if I hadn’t have been with my kids I probably would have been concerned, but done nothing.
As any parent knows you are always on show when you are out with your children. They said, “dad what are we going to do about the sick bird?”
My hands were tied. What could I do?. We had to rescue that bird. How could I not with my children with me.
We went home, made a call to Romi, the mobile vet and using her advice returned to the park with a small cardboard box. We carefully placed the bird in the box and then took it to the nearest vet.
The girls presented the bird to the vet, who thanked them for their concern.
I’m sure you would have done the same. Would you have done the same thing though if you were not in front of your children?
When I speak about leadership one of the themes I drill in to is your words are worth so little in front of your team. Your actions count for everything. You are always on show.
Have a little think about some of the things you do every day and the message they send out to your team.
. Do you have a lunch break?
. Who do you have your lunch with?
. What sort of hours are your working and what message does that send out?
. How much time do you invest each year in your professional development?
. How conscious are you of adapting your bBehavioural style for your staff?
. Are you actively listening each day or are you pretending to listen?
. What is your non- verbal message saying about you as a leader?
. Do you provide more positive feedback than negative feedback?
. How’s your wardrobe looking?
. Do you speak like a leader or do you speak like someone who is trying to impress others?
Leadership will never be a popularity contest. Strong leaders are constantly making decisions. They get some right, they get some wrong. They are willing to make decisions, every day.
“This may not be a popular decision but it’s a decision that I need to make.”
“This is a difficult discussion to have, however it’s better we have it now rather than later.”
Johny Wilkinson the UK rugby great once said that he imagines that every day he’s at training there’s a video camera filming him. Imagine approaching your role as a leader like that. With every conversation, every interaction with a colleague, every moment at your desk on camera. It could be a scary thought.
Don’t try to be perfect as a leader, but please try to be better. You owe it to your people.
I’m glad that my girls helped me rescue the pigeon. In a small way it has made me stronger. Walking away was the easy choice.
Leadership will never be about making easy choices. It’s about making the right decision at the right time.
The guy pictured on the right is Eddie from Noodle Boy in Maroubra. It’s no surprise he’s smiling in the photo because Eddie doesn’t stop smiling.
I’ve been sipping his chicken and sweet corn soup and chewing on his rice noodles for the past 12 years.
Every time you go to Noodle Boy, Eddie’s in there smiling away with his little chef’s hat on.
He seems to love what he does. It must be the perfect job for him. He always remembers my name (quick thought: “Am I his only customer”?) and asks after my wife and three children.
Another person I know who is perfectly suited to their job is a friend of mine, Darryl. He’s a chiropractor. You should see his posture!
You just need to watch him walk to tell he’s in the right role. Darryl loves what he does for a living. He doesn’t have to tell you he’s passionate about health and posture. You just watch him and you can tell.
He won’t preach to you about diet and exercise, however if you do ask him for his advice he’ll happily help you understand why so many people are confused about how to stay in shape.
Darryl wants to make a difference and allow his patients to lead more fulfilling lives.
In a strange way Eddie and Darryl are quite similar.
They have found something that they really care about. Or did their occupations find them? They want to do it well. Every time.
They don’t make excuses about GFCs or MSGs.
They get on with it. With a smile on their dial and in Darryl’s case, excellent posture. In Eddie’s case, a nice little hat.
Are you in the right job? Why do you do what you do? What are you going to do when you grow up?
I’d be willing to bet that you know a few people who seem to have luckily found a role that really suits them. I don’t know if it is luck.
Perhaps they have spent some time processing what they like to do, what they have some talent at and have worked out how to turn that in to making a living.
I often want to reach for a bucket when people tell me how passionate they are about their role when you can almost smell it on them that their not.
If you want to find real NRG at work, I think you need to find the right type of work for you. What’s really holding you back? The best time for you to start to find the right career was probably 10 years ago. The second best time might just be today.
Are your sales people selling to the right people?
Have you ever noticed that it is easy for your sales people to get meetings with the wrong people?
Yes, they did their 6 calls today. Who did they meet with? Would they have been better off doing 3 meetings with better prospects?
What every great sales person needs in their kit bag is a great SADAR. A sales radar.
Your SADAR allows you to quickly work out if the person you are selling to is actually interested in what you are selling and has the power to purchase it. The key word in that previous sentence is quickly.
A lot of prospects indicate they like what you are selling. The reality is they may like you and enjoy meeting with you. Unfortunately they may never purchase from you. This is hard to appreciate when you are new to selling. Everyone seems interested in what you are offering. They keep saying things like:
“This sounds interesting, please send me some more information”.
“We’d like to look at that in more detail”.
The tough part of sales success
One of the toughest things in selling is actually getting in front of the people who make the decision to buy what you are selling.
Companies are full of gatekeepers, blockers, rottweilers with lipstick, HR assistants etc.
These people all have very important jobs to do. Part of their role can involve not letting sales people actually get to the people they need to get to.
If your SADAR is working well you should be able to see these positive actions in the first 5 minutes of meeting a new customer.
. They laugh with you, not at you
. They have done some homework on you or your company before you arrive
. They “get you” and the value you bring
. They don’t want to spend too much time with you as they have other priorities
. Their non-verbals indicate they are comfortable about doing business with you
Here are my top 8 ways of identifying if you are selling to the wrong person:
1. It’s easy to get a meeting with them
2. When you are meeting with them they are happy to spend a lot of time with you
3. They tell you they are going through a restructure at the moment
4. They ask you to send them lots of information after the meeting
5. They don’t reveal much about how they will pay for what you are selling in the meeting
6. There are no agreed actions coming out of the meeting from them, only from you
7. They don’t respond promptly to you trying to communicate with them post the initial meeting
8. They ask you to stay in touch, but provide you with no real time lines about when or why
What can your sales people do to get in front of more of the right type of people?
1. Work from the top down. Aim to get meetings with the most senior people you can. These people are harder to get meetings with. There’s a reason for this. They are busy. Most of their days are spent making decisions about the growth of their business. Shoot for the stars and you might hit the moon.
2. Ask better questions earlier in the sales process.
3. Ask for referrals from decision makers.
4. Use your meetings with the people who are easy to meet with to get permission to get to decision makers. Make them feel good about recommending you. Don’t cut them out of the loop. Make them feel part of the process.
5. Have the people you want to be meeting with reading about you or hearing about you or your company from sources of influence.
Most sales people I have worked with over the years are comfortable about selling at a certain level. It seems they get intimidated by selling to more senior people.
Keep reminding your sales people how valuable their time is. Show them ways of getting to the right people.
Ask them about how they use their SADAR.
Remember it takes time.
Coach them properly on how to ask better questions, earlier in the sales process.
If it was easy, everyone else would do it.
