"I Only Want the Toughest Customers"

Asking for the toughest customers is like trying to pet a shark, or date a nun – you instantly know that it won’t end up well, so why ask for it? I was out to dinner last night with my friend, BigTime. Surprisingly, he let me know that he only wants the toughest customers. Say what–?

My friend is one of the best salespeople I know – he deals with an ultra-elite clientele in the Big Apple. This guy specializes in the demands of high-net-worth individuals with a skill that is both rare, and easygoing.

His customer logic goes like this: I want only the most difficult customers because, if they even think of shopping me with competitors, I will win every time. The toughest customers will chew up my competition, and disqualify them right out of the gate, because that’s the kind of service and solutions that my company can provide. He’s looking for the clients who are so tough and so demanding that other service providers get scared by their demands, and struggle to prove they can meet them. It’s not a problem for BigTime, and that’s the way he knows a qualified lead.

Interesting perspective. We bounced the idea around some more, and I came away with some additional thoughts. If you are faced with a tough customer, thank them for helping you to be better. If you are taking a beating over something you did, or your company did, or you are about to do, I have two words of advice: don’t duck. Here are six more: Face it, take it, fix it. It’s that simple.

Face up to the challenge of the difficult customer, and you will learn what it is that you need to know. For BigTime, he always looks forward to the toughest possible client as the greatest opportunity. He knows that he can offer what others cannot, that’s why he’s BigTime. A demanding client, in his business, means that the competition is out of the mix. The best way to defeat your competition is unequaled customer service. Disqualify your competition by being the one who doesn’t duck the tough stuff. When you resolve the really scary issues, you learn, you grow, and you create customers for life. The only way to know if you have what it takes, is to get started. If you’d like one suggestion on what you could do today, make up your mind to astonish the most difficult customer you know (and yes, the people you work with are internal customers). What can you do to make a difference, and show that when it comes to customer service, you are BigTime?

Difficult times show us what we are made of; difficult customers force us to be better and help our companies to demonstrate competitive advantage.

[ The names in this post have been changed to protect the guilty ]

Make Your Breaks - Thoughts on Serendipity

Serendipity is good - but can it be shaped?

The answer is yes, if you understand how to create the unexpected and turn it into opportunity. Serendipity means good luck in making fortunate unexpected discoveries; so how do we create the unexpected?

My dad always told me, "You practice like you play". As a former college quarterback, he knows a lot about the importance of practice. His logic goes like this: you practice your game, so that you can create unexpected events. Practice creates opportunity; skill allows you to capitalize on the unexpected. After all, the difference between "serendipity" and "surprise" is... results.

From Nathan Jamail's "Sales Leaders Playbook": Athletes spend 90% of their time practicing, and 10% on performance. In business, it's more like 1% practice, 99% "just do it", and hope for the best. Not a good strategy for serendipity, but it certainly can create a lot of surprises!

In the business world, effective practice means taking time to reflect on opportunities, to explore ideas (like this one!) with others, and exchange innovation with other thought leaders. By asking "What if...?" we can unlock the key to imagination - that's the birthplace of new discoveries (IMHO). Creativity shapes serendipity. Put that idea into practice by exchanging new ideas; prepare for the unexpected by considering it with colleagues you trust.

How to Go from Good to GREAT in Sales

I'll let you in on a little secret, about how to transform from good to great in the sales game. The one thing that makes a good salesperson great: It's always the customer.

If you have the talents of a monkey, but you are sitting in front of customer who wants to buy what you are selling, you will close a sale. Additionally, you will be able to answer the phone with your feet, but that's another story.

Westfall and Associates, How may I help You?
(phones answered by 800 pound Gorilla)

If you want to see a great salesperson in action, concentrate on what the customer is doing. Great salespeople inspire action by meeting needs. Good salespeople do a lot of demos, and keep busy saying things like, "activity breeds results!" while hoping for the best.

If you can only do one thing right, Focus on the customer. If you lose your way in the sales process, focus on the customer. The customer will bring you back on track.

If sales is about meeting needs, the needs you need to meet (great english, huh? sorry friends, it's my 9th language ;-) are only found within the customer.

For more thoughts on how to identify a buying customer, follow this link: http://bit.ly/deouak

What to Look for in a Coach

Are certifications the key to finding a qualified coach? Past experience? Personal empathy? Whether you are considering outside assistance for your personal life or your business, consider the one thing that consistently creates great coaches.

The best mentor or coach is the person who has had to overcome adversity in his/her career, to create great accomplishment. It’s easy to reach home plate if you start on third base; the best coaches are the ones who had to fight their way out of the dugout, just to get to bat – then after they lead the league in RBIs, they start teaching others to do the same. I believe great obstacles make great coaches. Overcoming obstacles teaches you how to win; effective coaches pass that experience on to others.Business coaching doesn’t necessarily require a particular certification or objective criteria for a personal and subjective evaluation. Consider instead: Has your mentor or coach achieved what you seek, or can they demonstrate how they have helped others to reach their goals? That track record is more important than any certification, because it is personal to you, and to your needs (or your company’s needs). Plus, a long list of degrees (certifications) doesn’t necessarily mean that the coach will be effective for you (will you get along? can they truly help you and meet your needs? does this individual fit with the culture of my organizations? certifications won’t tell you that). Experience in the face of difficulty is what matters most, combined with personal rapport. The mentor’s track record of accomplishment should give you the personal confirmation you need.

Some Thoughts on Integrity

What are the characteristics of a high-integrity salesperson? If you are looking for evidence of integrity in sales, consider the following:

1. Integrity is about doing the right thing, even when nobody's looking.
2. High integrity sales people make it ok for the customer to say "no".
   
3. You can't win 'em all. Disappointment over the facts is a hobby for small minds, and does not reflect high integrity.

If your product or service isn't right for a customer, a high integrity salesperson will know it, accept it, and move on. High integrity sales people also do not "throw grenades" into their own company when deals don't take shape. They understand how to work within an organization to get things done, within the rules, even when the sale doesn't go their way.

For me, I do not believe the customer is always right. I believe the customer is always the customer. The customer is the lifeblood of the business, but the business cannot be sacrificed to meet the customers' needs. That sacrifice is called "selling at any cost", and it has more to do with desperation than integrity.

The salespeople I admire are the ones who place the customer's needs first. High integrity sales people then become so involved with what those needs are that they know how a deal will take shape (or not). If they lose a deal, high integrity salespeople are disappointed, but rarely surprised, because (by definition) they know what's right for the client. If integrity is important to you, you want to do what's right.

Being able to push back from the table and understand that a deal is not right for a customer is a mark of integrity. It is a powerful position in negotiations, when you want to win but you don't have to. The high integrity sales person thinks and behaves in a way that serves the customer - helping them to find products and solutions that truly fit.

Overcoming Pricing Objections

My friend Ajay is taking a beating in India, over pricing. It seems that his clients are prejudiced: they always make the discussion about price. Here are some suggestions to help change the pricing game...

Look at your watch. (Did you do it? Thanks) Is that the least expensive watch on the market today? **What?** It's not the cheapest on the market today? I am [almost but not really] shocked. Why not buy an inexpensive watch - - when every watch tells you the time, shouldn't you wear the cheapest one you can find?

Do you feel like you paid too much? Or maybe, you aren't wearing a watch. So let's apply this line of questioning to your cell phone...or your car...or your address...Here's my point:

I don't claim any expertise over the market in India, but I do know a lot about buyer behavior. The only antidote to prejudiced pricing discussions is value.

Why do you value your watch (cell phone, car, etc.)? Quality? Reliability? Or are there some intangibles - the way it makes you feel? The fact is that our personal purchases are driven by both fact and emotion. Which side wins can change depending on a number of factors, but both fact and emotion impact a purchase decision (any purchase decision). My question for you is: What is the _personality_ of the company you are selling into, and what are their emotional needs? (Are they heartless, cheap, and drive a hard bargain? OK, gotcha. So, What corporate needs are driving these descriptions?)

These needs may include prestige, quality, competitive advantage, profitability, a desire to make you squirm - - only you can fill in the blanks, I don't have enough information to go further. But money - pricing - is only /part/ of the value equation. The other part is what a particular product _means_ to the company. Another way to say this: What is the value of your brand?

It may seem strange to think of a company's emotional needs, but believe me: companies have personalities, whether in Kanpur, India or Kokomo, Indiana. Individuals run companies, individuals make buying decisions, individuals have emotional needs (as well as financial). While the budget may be fixed, my take on any discussion about pricing would include a thorough understanding of the puts/takes of the emotional appeal of your solution. If you say, "there is no emotional appeal to our solution" then I would respectfully reply, "you haven't thought this all the way through".

And for the record, you have a very nice watch! ;-)

The Moment Before

What is the "Moment Before" someone finds your website, learns about your product, or decides to purchase your service? Understand that moment, and you find strategic direction for your marketing and sales campaigns.

Sanford Meisner, one of the godfathers of "method acting", first coined the phrase as part of an emotional preparation for performers. Before taking the stage, the actor must consider the "moment before" - what has just happened offstage, to create the tears, the laughter, the anger, or whatever other emotional through-line is driving a particular scene? After all, if you dog has just died, or you won the lottery, your "moment before" changes everything. This concept from the world of theater is imminently important to business today.

While actors benefit from a clearly defined script to let them know the moment before, they still have to find their own creativity to express it, engage with other characters onstage, and then move the story forward. Similarly, businesses must understand the "moment before" to create their own story, and involve customers in the process.

That moment before is crucial to understand how to market yourself (or your products), how to position services among competitors, and how to place a brand on the world wide web. In a recent client session, I asked, "What do people think of - what is the need - that causes people to find you on the web? What is the the desire - that causes them to find you?"

When a company is able to step into their customers' mind, to understand what the customer lacks - the "fill in the blank" need that causes the customer to seek out a particular solution, and ultimately, your particular company. That "I need a _______" is the keyword search and the place where the sales process really begins. PS: It's also the place where your potential customer finds your competition.

Many have written about the nature of desire. (Desire has many definitions, please stay with me on the high road here). I am speaking specifically of the desire that is part of "the moment before" a potential customer begins to seek out your product or service. At its core, desire is produced by one thing and one thing only. In fact, all desire - including the kinds of desire that are found elsewhere on the internet - have their roots in one simple thing.

All desire comes from lack - we can not want unless we lack something.

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a rider was lost
For want of a rider, a battle was lost
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost



Consider what the customer wants, before they become a customer:

The moment before is about what's missing. Lack creates the first step towards a particular product or service. So, to understand what it is that is lacking is to understand the customer.

Effective marketing and sales strategies can focus on creating that sense of lack - or capitalizing on it. So much of our effort is spent on addressing the needs of the customer, through features and benefits, but what about understanding the moment that got the client to engage? If we understand the moment before, we understand who our customer really is. Moreover, we can understand what alternatives (either competitors or substitutions) come into play as part of consumer behavior. If the "moment before" is right, the performance of the organization will be, too.

The Lifeblood of Your Business

A wise florist once said, "Nothing happens until somebody smells something." The lifeblood of a business is where it all begins, the true source of the company's progress (or failure). In a recent online post, I suggested that the lifeblood of a business is not profit, customer loyalty, cash flow, or even its employees.

By any other name, it would still smell as sweet.

A company's lifeblood is its ability to attract customers, through effective marketing and sales strategies. Without a clear vision of who you are, what you do, and who you do it for, your business will never be able to create results. And really, that's what profit, loyalty, and cash flow are to a business: the results of effective strategies, from an efficiently run business.

The lifeblood of a business is where it all starts - without it, there is no business -and that is marketing and sales. To extend the metaphor, if the blood is healthy, the organism (organization) thrives. To be sure, an organization requires many parts to make a whole, and it would be foolish to minimize one part over the other (is the hand more important than the kidney? Kneecap vs. intestine - who would win, in a cage match? Likewise, finance vs. engineering, marketing vs. customer service. Although, come to think of it, Iron Man vs. Spiderman has often crossed my mind...that would be interesting...)

This guy would win and you know it.

All parts of the team must work together to create a meaningful result. But it all starts with attracting customers. Attraction is the lifeblood of the business.

To deliver results in terms of cash flow, loyalty, and profit, it all starts with reaching out to the customer. It doesn't matter whether you are a Fortune 500 company, or a one-man-band. If your customers don't stop and smell your roses, all the other stuff will never follow.

The New Color of Luxury? Green

I had a big realization this week when I saw this picture, of a hybrid Ferrari. Actually, after my jaw hit my desk, I had a bit of an epiphany.
And some uncomfortable swelling.

V-12 Ferrari Concept - Still fast enough to make a nun curse. Click the photo to see it all.

Why is Ferrari developing a hybrid vehicle? Why is the latest Ritz-Carlton in Lake Tahoe a certified LEED hotel? Typically luxury brands like these have stood for the utmost in discretionary spending - now that discretion is turning towards the environment? In a word, yes.

I've been doing some research as part of a June article for Residential Systems Magazine, on how to "sell" green initiatives. In my research, I contacted George Velazquez, principal at Integrisys in Chicago. George just installed the electronics in the first Gold-certified LEED residence in Illinois. His company has created an innovative energy-management and home automation solution called the Liv (tm) system (link to livsystem.com here) His company is one of the most progressive firms for energy management in the smart home arena.

I was running down my list of questions with George, drilling into my ideas on what it meant to "sell green". As we spoke, I realized that "being green" or being energy efficient (or call it what you will, the meaning is "environmentally responsible") is not something to segment and sell; it is an expected part of good design. For discerning clients, there is an expectation that a home automation system (or any home electronics installed by a systems integrator) would include energy management, and efficiency of both an electronic (and human) nature.

High net-worth individuals that can afford luxuries such as the above Ferrari are accustomed to more choices than the average Joe. Luxury is about many things, but at its most basic, luxury is about options. The same idea, explained conversely: luxury is about eliminating sacrifice.

Automating a luxury residence requires a design that does both: provide options for controlling the entire home ecosystem, and eliminating sacrifice. For smart luxury brands like Ferrari, Ritz-Carlton and even Integrisys, the best options are the ones that don't sacrifice anything for their clients - including the environment.

The Best Advertising

For companies and individuals, advertising for 2010 can be summarized in one word: referrals. The wave of social media and instant connectivity means that customers are talking first, last and center to prospects, and vice versa. A client recently asked if his advertising budget looked "about right". It did; but I added: what you spend on talking about yourself is not nearly as important as what others are saying about you.Seems like today's advertising isn't about informing and driving sales, as much as it's about trying to create a 'hook" within the constant barrage of promises and promotion. There's a lot of information out there, and all of us are interested in clarity. Will the product (or service) deliver as promised? The best way to know is through what others are saying - not what the advertiser says.

The call to action today is: Please go online and find out what others say about our stuff. Ads still create interest but the best advertisement for my money: Solid referrals.