MY NAME ISN’T ON A $50 BILL. BUT, IT’S ON MY CREDIT CARD

“Names have power.” —Rick Riordam, American author

 If there is a field of study that creates few, if any, millionaires it is, “anthroponomy” which analyzes the names of human beings.  I have not personally met an anthroponomics practitioner. But I know person’s name is significant and has the power to shape and influence their life.

I'm not sure if I am the only person that likes his or her name. But I am proud of my name. My name is straightforward and short; not a name that invokes celebrity.

Knowing your name gives a business the ability to personalize the seller/buyer relationship. Personalization occurs in several ways. Knowing your customer buying habits and addressing them by name are only two of the ways but critical ways.

Recently I made a reservation with a local car dealer to have my car serviced on a Friday morning at 9:00, I showed up at 8:55. My motto (borrowed from the Army) is:  To be early is to be on time; to be on time is to be late, and to be late is non-acceptable.”

The service representative, greeted me with, “How can I help? WOW! How can I help? Really? You have a computer that shows I will be here at 9:00 a.m. with my 2015 car for the 12,000-mile service and the updating of two recall notices.

I’m sitting in my 2015 silver Ford Escape looking at you. It's 8:55 a.m. If you had taken the time to look at your daily schedule, you would know who I am and why I am here. I know it is early, but you set the time. A great greeting would have been, “Good morning Mr. Nalls, I see you’re right on time, and we’re ready to update those two recalls and service your Escape. Have you had any problems with the vehicle?”

What makes this a great greeting?

1.    The greeting, “Good Morning” is positive and friendly.

2.    Using my name tells me you know who I am as a person and not just a customer.

3.    “I see you’re right on time” acknowledge my punctuality and tells me that you appreciate me being on time.

4.    “We’re ready,” signals you expected me and the service would be prompt and timely.

5.    “Have you had any problems,” shows interest and concern. You want me to be satisfied with my Ford Escape.

You know my VIN, but not my name. Like most people, my name is important to me, and when someone uses it, it helps bridge the gap between us. If you’re in business, and I’m buying your product or services, calling me by name sounds like a relationship.

While my photo isn’t on any of my credit cards all of them, have my name. I hand my card to a cashier, they scan it, hand it back along with the receipt. I say, “thank you,” and they wait on the next customer. They had my credit card, with my name on it, and never once said, “Thank you, Mr. Nalls, we appreciate your business.

To be fair, there are employees in the "zone" with their customers. I had my computer serviced yesterday. The company does all the work using the internet to “look” at my computer. Once they determine the problem, they fix it. Well, this morning I got up, and the new router they had connected for me wasn’t working properly. I call them. Before I explained my problem, I said, I’m sorry to have to call you back but.” The service tech interrupted me and said, “No, Mr. Nalls you don’t need to apologize, YOU ARE THE REASON I HAVE A JOB!

So, I think about these three experiences, all three employees have my name, but only one of them called me by name. People have a name for a reason: for others to recognize us.

TEAM WORK vs. KAMIKAZE RECKLESSNESS #83 041712

The Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionarydefines team work as, “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”

I suppose that the saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team”, is based in the part of the definition that says all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. In considering this, we should also remember, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” In cooperating or working together, the team is able to produce a result that no individual alone can create.

This “lone wolf” verses the pack concept reminds me of the Japanese kamikaze pilots of the Second World War who made suicidal crash attacks upon war ships. No matter how dedicated and willing these pilots were to fight—exchanging their life in a single act of dive bombing their plane onto a ship—their reckless act bore little fruit.

A graphic picture of the success spectrum finds team work at one end and kamikaze recklessness at the other end. By focusing on team success, we see clearly how subordinating kamikaze desire for personal prominence to team work, provides a competitive advantage. Nothing beats people working together for a common cause.

Work to be the best team member you can be. Success is about teamwork. Perhaps Peter F. Drucker was thinking of teamwork when he wrote, “One of the weaknesses of young, highly educated people today is that they are satisfied to be versed in one narrow specialty and affect contempt for the other areas.”

I know when I first got started in sales, I adhered to the motto: Nothing Happens Until a Sale is Made. Those words put me at the center of company. Everything revolved around me. But, I quickly learned that once the sale was made, it took a village of people to complete the sale: Credit had toapprove the sale, Inventory was needed to fill the order, warehouse pickers pulled the order, drivers loaded and delivered the order, billing invoice the order, purchasing replaced the sold inventory and IS tracked the sale from its origination to the receiving of the customers check and bank deposit.

Over the years experience taught me additionaltruths about sales: The closer your job
ties to sales, the more secure your job. So, if you are a receiving clerk,be known as a receiving sales clerk; if you are in operations let it be known,you are in operational sales. Even a receptionist is selling. As they are often the first line of personal contact with customers and prospects, make certain they know their job is selling the company, its philosophy its values and its products and services.

Make certain that all employees know that customers exchange their dollars for solutions to their problems; customers buy solutions not products or services. The better the team identifies problems—from the customer’s viewpoint— and offers specific solutions, the more prosperous the organization.

The first team to uncover the solution to the prospect or customer’s number one problem gains the inside track. Why not get the sale quicker by asking, “What is your number one problem? Then, target a solution.

If you are a team leader, manager or supervisor, you should train your people to quickly and easily be able to state in twenty-five words or less why customers buy from you rather than competitors. Idea: Insure that everyone on your team knows who the competitors are.

Someone somewhere showed the wisdom of King Solomon when they said, “A business exists to satisfy customers.” Satisfying customers—when you drill down to it—is another name for the selling activity. So, all employees are always selling.

THREE POINT SUCCESS SUMMATION


SUCCESS THOUGHT: To build a great organization attract and retain great “sales” people. People whose job—no matter the title on their job description— it is to see things from the customer’s point of view and to offer solutions to the customer or prospects problems.

SUCCESS QUOTE: “To sell Jane Smith what Jane Smith buys, you have to see things through Jane Smith’s eyes.” —Dr. David Schwartz

SUCCESS ACTION: Get your entire team focused on sales, train them—and let ‘em sell!

wn-tampa@att.net

The Death of The Salesman? #78 072401

"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine . . . A salesman is got to dream, boy." —Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman

A lot of people have lost the dream and pronounced the death of the salesman. They say all buying will soon be done electronically and there will be no need for a salesmen.

Operating behind on-line web sites, catalogs and brochures are the talented photographers, artists, illustrators, and copywriters who sell a vivid picture of the product or service—whether with words or illustration. The better people demonstrate their talent and capitalize on their strengths, the more they sell.

While computers can search by name and come up with a profile. A sales professional knows his customer by name and knows the person behind the name.

There is probably a better way to do almost anything. Successful people assume that there is room for improvement and set about making improvements. In the zeal to improve, let's not overlook the fact that electronics can improve our standard of living but they can't touch lives. By their nature, people need people to make them feel important.

Helen Keller observed, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” Electronics may stimulate and excite but they don't touch the heart. Only a person can do that.

Selling boils down to finding a need and filling it. People will always have needs and somewhere in the buying equation is people finding solutions to those needs whether it be face-to-face or portal-to-portal. Before you say, "a sale is just a "click" away," remember the computer doesn't automatically put the sizzle in the sell.

I am not a computer, I'm a person computing how to build better rapport with other people. If computers could build relationships, how come so many people with computers feel so unimportant and irrelevant?

Buyers are looking for sales professionals who can help them solve problems. They are not looking for a product or service; they are seeking solutions to problems. Uncovering the problem and positioning yourself as a solution to that problem is what sets the professional apart from the computer and the competition.

Take time and ask questions of the prospect or buyer so you get a better understanding of the problem(s) he or she has. By paying attention to what he or she asks, you can often tailor your product or service to solve their specific problem.

To a degree everyone sells. Parents sell their children on doing their chores; teachers sell students on doing their assignments; coaches sell their athletes on practicing and improving their skills; ministers sell their congregates on helping others; managers sell employees on being effective. The better the rapport, the easier the sell.

Successful people in all walks of life learn that the ability to "build relationships" is little more than salesmanship under another name. Using people-to-people salesmanship, many professionals develop a warm and rewarding relationship with their customers, clients, children, team, congregates, employees.

The principles of salesmanship (relationship building) can be taught and learned. But a head full of knowledge doesn't make a person a professional salesman. Just like a professional in any field, you don't become a pro until you have spent a practical amount of time gaining practical "field" experience. It is in the face-to-face encounters with buyers that a person develops and hones their relationship building skills. Other things being equal, the sale usually goes to the salesman with the best rapport.

Selling is not an easy job. Nothing about success is easy. As Henry Ware Beecher voiced it, "Victories that are cheap are cheap." In four words, achievement has a price. So, dream big! Dream of helping others and discover how quickly your dreams become reality. Far from death, the relationship-building salesman lives and lives well. He or she, is still out there in the blue riding on a smile, a shoeshine and a well-earned rapport with their customer.

Selling is a great profession. If you succeed there are many perks; If you fail, you can always go into management.

Three Point Success Summation

SUCCESS THOUGHT: Computers can help facilitate rapport building but a computer cannot, of its own, build a relationship. Relationship-building is a people-to-people activity. The better you are at relationship building, the more successful salesman you become. If you want to succeed, you need to build relationship, personally and with the help of a computer.

SUCCESS QUOTE: "Along with the opportunity and privilege to make a sale goes the responsibility to make the sale." —Wayne Nalls

SUCCESS ACTION: Top successful people constantly work on their relationship building skills. Start improving a key relationship today.