As many of my readers know, I am constantly saying that we learn our best marketing lessons when we are the customer. I had a great reminder this past week. My wife, Michelle, had to undergo a rather serious abdominal surgery. It doesn’t matter how busy you may be, or who you are, such news…
The reality in most flooring stores is that the sales manager was likely one of the firm’s top producing salespeople who got promoted. While I believe this often to be a mistake, as coaching a game properly requires an entirely different skill set than playing a game well, it’s a fact just the same. Many…
An exercise that I find surprisingly few companies doing effectively is conducting regularly scheduled staff meetings. In my experience, these businesses are letting a great opportunity go unrealized, as this is often the only hour of the week that everyone is gathered together to “get on the same page” with each other. Think of this…
Even if you’re an experienced sales manager, it’s likely you may find it difficult to advise other people about areas in which improvement is needed. Praising a good performance is easy; everyone likes to receive a compliment. Both parties are smiling and, for the moment at least, life is good. But what do you do…
Doesn’t it drive you mad when terrific, yet underperforming, sales people can’t seem to be focused on their jobs for even an entire day? You know the type. They always have to take their car to be serviced, bring their pets to the vet, meet a contractor, go to the dentist, etc. They never want…
A frequent sore spot between sales staff and sales management is caused by management’s desire for higher gross profits, and the sales rep’s wish for the ability to reduce prices to meet the competition. Basically, many employees think that owners are making a fortune, and that they have many perks that others in the company…
Too often managers overseeing projects, goals and key initiatives make the mistake of just setting a final deadline. To ensure that both momentum and enthusiasm can be maintained throughout a project, it is necessary to establish “tollgates” to monitor progress. Readers that are familiar with the building industry know that there is a projected timeline…
In sports, we hear the term “home field advantage”. When we are visiting a customer’s home or office to measure and estimate, think of the customer as having the home field advantage. You will often find a very different person than the one you met initially in your store. They now have their comfortable shoes…
You cannot listen to any successful coach motivating his team for long without hearing the phrase “just do your own jobs!” This is a deceptively simple statement that can have nearly universal impact and benefits. In sports, what the coach is saying is simply that when everyone on the team does what is expected of…
I am a big believer in reducing costs and quotations to the lowest common denominator possible. I read a great example recently. Please allow me to share. Post recession, Hard Rock Café had a corporate goal of adding $150 million to its bottom line. Most would agree that this is a number beyond our comprehension….
One thing that I’ve learned over time is that it’s important to take a minute and celebrate a win before you move on to the next item on your to-do list. I was reminded of this point recently when reading an article on NASCAR’s Hendricks Racing Team. For those who may not know, this is…
We have all heard that we need to make a connection with those who we have just met and to whom we would eventually like to sell something. My experience is that only a small minority of sales people have learned this important technique. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that these few…