Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
German poet and dramatist

I’ve often found myself on the wrong side of a good decision. Failing to pull off the coveted success on the first try. Today I felt the pain of defeat yet again.

In sales, every proposal, every phone, every email and every point of contact with a client is the chance to make an impression. How you interact with them shapes their decision to do business with you in the future. Many of your clients will play games and work the system. My job is to always play my best game.  I want to make sure that win the ultimate battle and get myself a sale from that client by being genuine and full of integrity.

My client today had me hold inventory with the promise of a sale. Despite knowing that she was literally taking the last of what I had she still requested a contract and promised she would buy. Did she? No. She sent an email apologizing for the delay in her response and that the factors surrounding the purchase had changed. When pressed she admitted that she knew this was a possibility. WOW! I went the extra mile to work for my potential client and she lead me astray.

Not the first time…..and it won’t be the last.

I could have very easily chosen to get short or snide. Instead I chose to continue to build that relationship for the next sale. She may not have bought this time, but I am sure that she will buy in the future. The relationship is still alive and strong.

More importantly I learned my own lesson about boundaries. When I set a deadline I must keep it. In this case I chose to hold my inventory longer than I had originally committed to and got lucky. I would have turned away other offers based on this program….fortunately I did not have to do that.

Don’t be a afraid of social media. Embrace it and make the best of something new. Failure is the surest way to success. Just be aware of what and how you are sharing. I belive another wise man once said “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Thomas Jefferson

 

Social networking has utterly exploded on everything we know in the past few years. From facebook to twitter and MySpace to LinkedIn people are exposing themselves more than ever to the world we know. It seems to me that the trick here is to play the game in a way that help you expand your social brand and not hurt you in the long run……both professionally and personally.

 I have both friends and family members that have been hurt in their personal and professional lives by not paying enough attention to how they interact with web 2.0. The photos you share and the friends you have connected to all say something about who you are. The information you put on your page or pages is all a reflection of what you believe in and what you stand for. People will make snap judgments about you based on what they read and see. Have you googled yourself lately?

The most important factor web 2.0 is the understanding of perception. What anyone sees about you on the web is a direct stab at your character. From friends to family to professional connections it an unfiltered look at who you are. If you want to ensure you are getting the best of your social brand be sure to carefully judge your core. Change your style as you feel so inclined, but always ensure you are promoting the brand and character that you are.

I love being on the road!

In my line of selling it is one of the best ways to get in front of my clients. In hospitality sales the majority of my time is spent on the phone and sending emails so there is nothing better than getting face to face with those people who buy what I sell. It’s also one of the most challenging. In todays society it seems that many people (and let me be even clearer by saying buyers) are pulling away from face to face contact.

I don’t think it’s just my industry either. With the growing popularity of online buying in all area’s from travel to stereos there is more competition form online retailers that have taken away the education and value aspects of what we are selling. This makes that time that you do get in front of a client all that more important. It’s the time to shine and really educate on what experiences are involved in using my product. No stress there……..yeah right. Managing the first impression has never been harder.

If you don’t kill it the first time out of the gate then there is a very good chance that a second visit down the road will not be granted and even worse they may not think of using your product at all. I know that when it comes to selling my resort there are lot’s of options. And I know that if my clients do not understand the value, then they will choose an inferior product (yes…..at a lower price) and will most likely be disappointed. There is a difference in value that is equal to that of price.

There in lies the challenge of price shopping. You always lose out on something. For just a little more money you can usually have a far better experience and product. That is what I hold onto when I’m on the road. My job is to make an incredible first impression and ensure that value is almost foremost on everyones mind. Mine and my clients. If I can do that then I’m never afraid to ask for the sale.

I have met far too many sales managers in my professional career who believe that their job should be easy. BULLSHIT! They take the inquiry train and ride it till it slows down, or their goals increase then jump ship based on a certain level of success that they didn’t earn. Don’t get me wrong, there is a good amount of work in processing the sale and working the relationship to try and ensure future business, but the real meat of any sales person is either their ability to create opportunity.

Some of the most successful sales professionals I have ever met are brilliant at networking, building relationships and maximizing opportunity. It may seem glamorous going to the tradeshows, networking functions, conferences and endless dinners. The reality is that it is brutal. Even for the gifted naturals out there to whom schmoozing seems effortless. The real story is that it takes energy to keep conversations running and concentration to remember names and details of the people you are talking with and to string all of that together. I’ve also encountered my fair share of hardcore, down and dirty, sales peeps that just know how to prospect. They pick up their phone and make 100 calls a day because they know that if they make 100 then 10 will be a solid opportunities and the sooner they get to those 10, the sooner they get the sale. Try going into a bar and asking 100 hundred strangers to sleep with you……..see how long you last and you’ll get some idea of what that feels like.

Either style works and there will always be those that prefer one over the other. What matters in the end is your ability to work for what you want. Only then can you truly feel successful and to understand what it means to be successful. Success is about overcoming obstacles. It is about creativity and passion and commitment.

To those of you generations past…..I salute you. To those of you in my generation (X, Y, Z, Millennial and whatever else we’re calling ourselves nowadays)……..quit sniveling about what’s fair and start working.

When I first stepped into the over-hyped world of professional and personal development I learned an acronym for expressing fear. False Expectations About Risk. Since then I’ve seen and experienced a lot of other terms that claim to help people connect and overcome with their fears. I suppose this one has always echoed true with me because of my belief that the only way to overcome a fear is to experience it and understand it.

Risk is a word generally used to describe something that has a high degree of failure. Risky things are volatile and may backfire, explode or cause extreme harm to you……or at least have that perception. As result of that understanding many people also develop a fear toward things that are considered risky. No matter if they did the defining, the media defined it or society as a whole defined it. Fear takes hold where this is a lack of understanding and a willingness to abandon the search for understanding. It has been proven is social circumstances, physical endurances and business breakthroughs on many many occasions that risk is greatly minimized by education and the only way to truly overcome fear is to experience what it is you are afraid of of.

Unfortunately the vast majority do not have the courage of the fisherman to continue challenging their perception of what is risky and ultimately their own fear. The fisherman has learned that the sea is volatile, it is explosive and it is dangerous. He has also learned that it is abundant, beautiful and giving. More importantly he has learned to look for the signs that lead toward the dangerous to and trust in his own knowledge to guide him through whatever the great sea throws his way.

Most everybody knows that Thomas Edison was a famous American inventor, but not many know that he was also a successful salesman. He frequently worked more than 40 hours straight and endured failure beyond what most of us would ever tolerate. In both his inventions and his quest to make them useful. Henry Ford said “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse”. Truly great ideas take selling! The population must be educated and inspired to use a new product and that is hard. 

I love this quote because it brings a truth to center stage that the vast majority does not want to face, especially my generation. If you want to be successful at anything you have to work. No rocket science there…just a cold hard fact. Yet most of us have been coddled for so long that we expect to be given, opportunity, promotion, recognition and success without putting in the steps earn our tough stickers and the glory that goes with them. The truth is…..there no shortcut for hard work. In the end there will always be those who were given something somewhere, but the individual who has struggled and overcome will always reap a greater joie de vivre than those who were given a clean and easy route. I myslef would much rather say I chose the path unpaved and created a walkway of gold.