WII-FM: What's In It - For ME?

About ten minutes before I left my hotel room for a presentation, I received a cold-call from a guy working for a company that prepares taxes for small and medium-sized businesses.  He was formal but totally inattentive.  He rushed right into his calling script.  

I could tell because he was reading it like it was a high-speed radio ad.  He talked on and on about his services without pausing for a breath (or a response from me). He rattled it off so fast that I knew he had done no research on me or what I did for a living…  

And he wanted to do my taxes!

Finally I told him nicely that I could not talk with him now. But...  before I said, "thank you" he hung up on me. That's a first!  I have been hung up on a few times (less than seven) in my sales calls but never hung up on by the person selling to me!  Has that ever happened to you?

Truett Cathey, founder of mega fast food chain Chick-Fil-A held meetings with his top advisors and management. He noticed in one meeting they were discussing how the company could get bigger. Ideas were being tossed around and enthusiasm was very high. Their goal was to do whatever it took to make Chick-Fil-A bigger. Calmly, Truett spoke to them and said, “Don’t worry about getting bigger. If we get BETTER, our customers will make us bigger.”

And they did just that by providing some of the best and fastest customer service in the fast food industry.

Connect with the right person! 

Have you ever called a company's customer service number to get a situation resolved only to discover that you were speaking with the wrong person? Were you speaking with someone who lacked the authority to provide a reasonable solution? Have you had to speak with a supervisor to get real business done. 

I had a lawnmower problem and called the "Help" line several years ago and found out that guy can't help anyone. He just answers the phone... There is actually no one there that can help! That prevents them from receiving complaints. His words, not mine.

If the person you are speaking with has to get permission from “Mommy or Daddy” to make the sale, solve the issue or cut the check, you need to connect with “Mommy or Daddy.” Can it be any simpler than that?

I remember a story a friend told me about assisting a sales representative with  a tough client. The rep had been calling on this guy for several months with no success. They would talk and even go out to eat, but no decision was ever reached to close the sale. My friend went with the rep on his next visit to the gentleman’s office. After a few minutes, my friend cut to the chase and asked if he could buy.  The man laughed and said, “That’s not my job. I just chat with sales reps and take them to lunch. My boss down the hall...

Never If You See it In the Right Light!

The biggest question of 2021 is, "When will the Pandemic End?" When will we go back to 'normal'?  When will we get to stop wearing masks, social distancing, going to events, carrying on with our lives like we used to?

From school closures, to cancelled concerts, conventions and vacations we've been huddled up waiting for an all-clear signal that just hasn't come. No other time in history have this many people and jobs been put on hold for a world-wide crisis. This is our NOW normal...

Every crisis in history has either made us better or made us worse.

 Are You Standing Up, or Sitting Down?

Communication Begins Today Not by What We Say, but Who We Are. 

Communication begins today not by what we say, but who we are.

When was the last time you heard a famous person give a speech and something they said affected your life? I can name many famous people I have heard, but only a few said something that I can remember, or entertained me enough that I would want to hear them again. 

I’ve noticed that audiences don’t care what I have accomplished, what degrees or fame I’ve earned or whom I have spoken to previously. They only want to know what is in this presentation for them? Where is the benefit? Will it be entertaining? Will they learn something they can use?

Are you the same person when you aren't...

How to Develop Your Skill Set

One of the phrases coming out of the global pandemic shutdown of businesses was the term, “Essential People.” If you worked in health care, emergency services, groceries, pharmacies the government deemed you as essential to life.

However, the list kept changing as some businesses were allowed to stay open because they were deemed “essential” while others were required to close.

Home improvement stores were called essential, liquor stores were not… as a non-drinker that made sense to me. I stopped in a battery store. They said they were essential and could remain open. The restaurant next door was forced to close for several weeks, then only provide takeout orders.

One of the phrases coming out of the global pandemic shutdown of businesses was the term, “Essential People.” If you worked in health care, emergency services, groceries, pharmacies the government deemed you as essential to life.

 Violate Them at Your Own Risk!

The Secret of Our Success is
Discovered in Our Daily Agenda!

• 1. They can be learned.
• 2. They stand alone.
• 3. They carry consequences.
• 4. They are the foundation of selling.

Sweat the Details!

The world is recoiling from the COVID-19 “Coronavirus.” Businesses in every one of our communities have shut down in an effort to “flatten the curve” of the disease.  Millions of people are out of work and millions more are struggling with their businesses - not having the customers or workers they had just 6 weeks ago. The world has changed in the blink of an eye. 

“Leadership is never more necessary than in a crisis.”

Sweat the Details!

The follow through in golf and baseball swings is just as important as the stance, the swing and contact. You have to do as much AFTER making contact as you do before! How do you complete the swing?

Ask your sales manager. Nothing frustrates them more than an account executive who goes through the monitors with prospects and clients. What do they do AFTER they make a contact?

Richard Simmons, the eccentric, energetic and flamboyant weight loss guy rode around for years in a car with the license plate “YRU FAT?”  It got people’s attention and drove home the point that your weight is your decision and completely under your control. It got thousands of people’s attention and helped him emphasize his weight loss success… that anyone could replicate in their own lives.

I spent a week traveling Missouri leading sales training for the broadcasters association. One of the questions I was asked after a program was, "How do you handle objections in sales?"

Good question and my answer was brief...

To get heard, you have to hustle. You can't make one contact and hope that turns into a client or a job. You have to "hustle" and make other people's phones ring. I tell audiences all the time that I may call a lot of people, but it must work because I am there leading a presentation!

Our youngest son was looking for a job last month. He applied to one he really wanted. I was encouraging but said, "Don’t just apply to one and wait in it; alloy to many so you have more opportunities and can make a good choice." He can "own" the job search by applying to many and commanding the best salary, benefits package, hours and distance to the job site.

If you speak or write to hurting, struggling leaders (or people in general) you will never lack for an audience.  Human beings will always be carrying trouble and problems with them. Every sales person I meet says that they help hurting people. That is their motivation.  

Last month I spend a lot of time flying all over the country... from California to Vermont, Biloxi to North Dakota and New York!  On each flight the attendants remind us that we may receive a survey in a few days about our flight and to please fill it out so they can learn to do a better job in the future.  Nice.

However on one flight, where the air conditioning was broken, the attendant reminded us several times to not blame her for the faulty system.  I get it, she wants a good reputation. 

The next day, flying back home, we had the same attendant. This time, the flight was delayed an hour due to thunderstorms around the airport. Once again, she reminded passengers to not blame her when the survey arrived.  She reminded us three times that we should give her good marks despite the weather delay.

What good is a survey if the employees tell you how to fill it out to their advantage?

Most leaders micro-manage employs and rarely put into action the words they speak.  Your staff can tell if you live by your words. The closer you manage them, the more they can observe your actions in context.

Your Number One job in leadership is to work yourself OUT of a job!

If you aren’t doing this, you are holding the reigns on your people and sucking all the life and credit out of them. You are also working yourself into an early grave.

There are two types of organizational flow charts... one flows down (supervisory) and one flows up (empowerment). One has authority going down to responsibility, the other has authority flowing up from responsibility.

My daughter struggled in math during high school years. On parents' night her Junior year, the teacher reassured us that all students would pass Algebra II. He was more concerned about the Seniors in the optional Economics Class. He made fun of how they couldn't tell a deposit from a deduction and didn't know anything about FICA, savings accounts or how to open a checking account.

This bothered me.  I mean, why should the school teach her Algebra II (Sine, Cosine, Absolute Value) instead of teaching her a skill she will need to know every day for the rest of her life? Instead of teaching useless knowledge that she will never have a purpose for?