My son recently returned to bowling after a two-year hiatus.  In a few months, he was carrying about a 200 average in two leagues.  Then came the inevitable slump. Watching him bowl, I realized after a few days that he was not following through as he released the ball.  I told him “Tim, exaggerate your follow through,” and it worked. He came out of the slump.

I though about other sports and the impact of “follow through.” Baseball: whether you’re hitting or pitching, basketball: whether it’s a jump shot or a free throw, football: the quarterback throws with speed and accuracy and a clean follow through. Whether it’s golf swing or a hockey shot, if you want consistent performance you had better follow through.

What about your customers? What are they really looking for? I believe your customers too are primarily concerned with “follow through.” They want to know that you approach every order with consistency, an attention to detail and thoroughness.

Your customers want to know that when you say you’ll get back to them in 30 minutes, it may be 29 minutes, but never 31 minutes. That’s “follow through”.

Your customers and prospects want to know that when a salesperson commits your company to specific performance levels, it’s not just sales hyperbole to secure a job order. The salesperson’s promise of specific performance guarantees require a service capability of the highest level. If you can’t follow through on promises made by your sales staff, the new orders you receive will be the last orders you receive.

When a prospect gives a salesperson that first job order, what’s really being said is: “I’m putting my faith in you to do what you said you would do for me. Don’t let me down.” Thoroughness minimizes customer dissatisfaction. Attention to detail builds long-term customer relationships.

Breaking down the prospect’s resistance to change by building familiarity with your people and your company will shorten the sales cycle and lead quickly to that first order. The following five steps will help the prospect develop confidence in you and your company.

Never leave an initial sales interview with a prospect, where you have received a positive response, without attempting to schedule a follow-up visit for the following week or as soon as possible.

Quickly try to develop a relationship between your service staff and the prospect. At the end of the initial sales interview, schedule a return visit with a service staff person to meet the prospect for a tour of their facility and/or set a date and time for the prospect to visit your office for staff introductions and a review of your procedures and their temporary help concerns.

At the very least, mail a short note (handwritten, if necessary) to the prospect on the day of the sales interview, thanking the prospect for his/her time. Add a postscript to your letter that asks for a job order.

Within two to three days of your initial sales interview, have your service supervisor make an introductory telephone call to the prospect with appropriate comments relative to the prospect’s needs and concerns that were developed in the sales interview. Before this conversation ends, the service supervisor should ask for a job order.

After the above telephone call, the service supervisor should send the prospect a short follow-up note that indicates an awareness of a special service concern of the prospect. “Mr. Prospect, I’m looking forward to the opportunity of working with you and will give particular attention to your concern of temporary employee turnover on long-term assignments.”

In the world of science there is something called Pareto’s Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. This rule says, in essence, that the vast majority of your outcomes are brought about by a small fraction of your efforts. In other words, most of what people try in the laboratory doesn’t work – but scientists don’t know which 20 percent will produce the corresponding 80 percent of desired outcomes.

Applied to the world of sales, the 80/20 rule would seem to dictate that about 80 percent of your sales dollars would come from about 20 percent of your activities. To be sure, there are any number of salespeople whose efforts and results are accurately described by Pareto’s Principle: The vast majority of what they try doesn’t work.

But the truth is that for superior performance in the world of sales, you’re better off following something I modestly call Parinello’s Principle.

The Parinello Principle for 75/125 rule, states that 75 percent of your sales activities will yield a 125 percent quota performance – if 75 percent of your work time is managed properly and directly supports the sales process. (You’d be amazed how much work some salespeople do on things that have nothing to do with moving the sales cycle forward with suspects and prospects or with keeping current customers happy).

When was the last time you saw a retail display or advertisement promoting some time management system or other – a new personal calendar design, new piece of software or new book that promised to help you turn your messy, disorganized work and personal life into a seamless, well-coordinated whole? If you’re like me, this happened within the past 24 hours.

Time management is a multi-million dollar industry. You can buy all sorts of electronic gizmos with special function keys that allow you to “tag” key records or issues “wake-up” buzzers that help you make your call or keep your appointment. If one of these tools works for you, that’s great. In my humble opinion, though, the most important factor in the success or failure of any time management system isn’t the new organization philosophy, the layout of a daily planning sheet or the name you give to an “activity transaction group” (whatever that is). The most important factor in your time management system is you – the time manager, as it were!

The Parinello Principle – the 75/125 rule – says that you must manage your time with extreme precision at least 75 percent of the time.

This means focusing only on issues that support your goals and move the sales process forward with any given customer or potential customer. This means you must become an expert time manager on your own. That means learning to make the most of your own time resources – and not relying on anyone else (like your sales manager) or anything else (like your palmtop organizer) to do that for you.

Experts know exactly where and how they are spending their time. To become a time management expert, you must be willing to ask, “How am I spending my time?”

Every staffing company should have a marketing strategy to educate clients whose primary interest is price. Whether you are bidding for a major new order against the largest national firm in our industry or presenting a new service to a faithful customer, it is up to you to resist the urge of de-valuing your services just to get low-margin or even non-profitable business.

The pressures of today’s economy have driven many companies to be "price dictators," asking for the delivery of (more and more) services for a pre-determined or client-calculated price.

It’s not uncommon to be expected to respond to a complicated, lengthy Request For Proposal (RFP) that asks you to divulge everything but your zodiac sign and favorite ice cream, when all the customer really wants to know is not "how well will you service me" but "how much will it cost for you to service me?"

1. Pass up the business – If the client’s asking price is significantly lower than your margin standards, politely decline to bid on the order. If it’s not a very large-volume account, chances are you’ll make little to nothing or perhaps even lose money. Tell the client that for his price, you don’t feel you can provide the level of quality service that he’ll need to get the job done right, the first time.

2. Wait for it to come back – When another vendor accepts the low-price order, check back with the client regularly to see if all’s well. Sometimes the customer will confess that the cheaper bid fell short of his expectations. Suppress the desire to say "I-told-you-so" and extend your services again.

3. Then sell it strategically – Hold to your original price, reminding the customer that anything less might put him back to square one. Reinforce your company’s commitment to exceptional service and added value.

4. Customize it to a "t" – Small businesses have the distinct advantage of tailor-making programs to a client’s specific needs. Submit a creative, custom-designed plan only after you’ve listened to your client’s objectives thoroughly and asked a lot of questions.

5. Innovate ingenuously – Take the "if it ain’t broke, break it" approach to a client’s goals, challenging his current systems to find better ways to manage his business.

6. Adapt aptly – Small businesses also have a lot more room to be flexible. The ability to make change readily can save tremendous time and money.

7. Add irresistible value – Studies say people are willing to pay a little more if they believe they’re getting more. Sell long-term, comprehensive partnerships, not just isolated, one-time solutions.

8. Be obsessed with service – In every possible way, shape and form.

9. Measure it with precision – Devise a plan based on the client’s criteria to regularly monitor the results of your service delivery.

10. Continuously improve it – Anticipate adjustments and know what to fix before the client finds someone who can do it a little better.

According to one expert, price is never the primary reason people buy things. No one buys something they don’t need just because the rate is good. Focus on the need and your ability to fill it. The following statement is suggested when a client asks about price too soon in the presentation: "Let’s first talk about whether I can do all the things you’re looking for. If not, my price is irrelevant."

SALES REMINDER

Posted October 2007

A salesperson must seek out the prospect’s motives early in the interview. They are related to the prospects problems and needs and can be discovered in these four ways.

1. ASK QUESTIONS: "If I could reduce the aggravation you are experiencing because supervisors frequently call you complaining about poorly skilled temporaries, what would your reaction be?" Most important, clarify and have the prospect elaborate. Use the open ended questions that begin with who, what, how, why, when and where thus forcing the prospect to amplify his/her remarks and not answer with a yes or no.

2. LISTEN FOR VOLUNTEERED COMMENTS: The prospect says, "I often wish I had more time to get my job accomplished in a normal workday, instead of skipping lunch and working late." Perhaps the reason the prospect is skipping lunch and working late is because of unqualified temporary help that requires extra time when they must be replaced. Probe and find out. For most of your customers the ordering of temps is only a part of their duties and the time spent dealing with temp services and company supervisors takes away from other functions or day to day activities.

3. LISTEN TO COMMENTS DURING THE PRESENTATION. "I know it’s too much to expect of temporary services to provide a temporary without a day’s notice." If your company is not geared to filling same day last minute emergencies, you’re missing out on one of the best ways to open new accounts. Gear up to fill job orders that your competition gives up on.

4. OBSERVE. Study the prospect, his surroundings, evidence of hobbies, products he now owns, the activity level in his office, is he interrupted during the interview? Is time a major factor he considers when selecting a temp service? Can the temp service satisfy his needs with little involvement on his part?

The average salesperson can’t expect to know all that is involved in the mental and emotional process that makes a person finally buy. It would be an interesting study, but unnecessary. You do, however, have to recognize certain facts.

The prospect will not buy until being prodded into the purchase by a specific buying motive.

The prospect is not interested in the features of your service, but rather in the benefits the features produce. People don’t buy color television sets, they buy the pleasure of watching a beautiful picture. Sell the pleasure. People don’t buy from one temporary service over another for better performance – they buy from a temporary service to avoid the loss in time and money and/or peace of mind they would lose if they did not get better performance. Sell the time and money you will save them and the peace of mind you will give them.

Is Being Liked Enough?

By Dusty Rhodes

Posted August 22, 2007

It has often been said that people buy from people they like. Rarely does someone buy from people they don’t like. But, in today’s competitive, consultative selling, partnering environment, being liked is not enough. The customer is looking to buy from the person they trust and trust is something you must work very hard to achieve. In life, there are a lot of people we may like, but how many do we really trust? I submit that if a client has a choice of doing business with someone they like or someone they trust, they will choose the one they trust. The question then is, "How do I gain my customers’ trust?"

I feel there are three key elements to earning or developing client trust. First, always keep your word. Do what you promise, when you promise it. Your integrity is all you really have and if you ever give a customer cause to doubt you, you will have lost that client forever. Make people believe you are what you say you are by what you do. Nothing speaks louder than action.

Second, do every thing the client expects…and then some. Promise the ordinary and produce the extraordinary. Most sales people just do their job. Period. But, how can a client trust you if you are not going all out, doing the little extra to satisfy, please, or exite them? You must produce the extraordinary…and then some, to receive your client’s trust, not just admiration. If you’re not doing all you can for your clients, then someone else will.

Third, follow up, follow up, follow up. Follow up means so many different things but, essentially, it means always knowing how your client feels and thinks about you, your service, your product, and your competition, at all times. The client wants to know that you care about them and their business. They want you to reach out and touch them. They want to see this not only in words, but also in actions. Ask yourself, "What am I doing to insure complete and total customer satisfaction? Great selling and great customer satisfaction is a result of good follow through. Show your customer your on top of everything and they will give you the trust you deserve.

Basic? Elementary? You bet! To be a winner, you must stick to the basics, the fundamentals. But, isn’t that true in most things? Success in sales is always going to be about basics and fundamentals. Trust and success must be attained the old fashioned way, "You must earn it!"

Dusty Rhodes, a staffing industry entrepreneur, began his industry career with Norrell Services. He later developed a staffing service in Texas that was sold to TRC Staffing Services and another in Florida that was purchased by Talent Tree.

Why prospect?

By Dusty Rhodes

Posted July 9, 2007

Sales success is dependent on great prospecting. Too often, however, salespeople get caught up in going around and around the same circles, never expanding their sales sphere of influence. When prospecting does not happen, neither does growth. What are the key elements to effective prospecting?

1. Be disciplined. Prospecting is not necessarily a fun task, but by prioritizing it, you will do the necessary. Set a time each day devoted just to prospecting. The hours of 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. are generally excellent times for prospecting.

2. Be prepared and organized. Know before you call whom you’re going to call and why. Don’t waste time by not having names and phone numbers at your fingertips. Also, know the potential of your prospects. Quality is always more important than quantity; however, make sure you make a lot of quality calls. Lastly, keep track of whom you called, what was said and what follow-up is required.

3. Know your objective. Have a goal in mind before you make your call. If the goal is an appointment, you should not try to sell your service. Sell the appointment first. You can sell your service when you are in front of the prospect.

4. Be persistent. No one has ever achieved greatness without persistence. Keep trying to develop your prospecting skills and don’t give up. Most people give up too easily. Don’t be like most people. Go for it!

Prospecting may not be fun, but it can be profitable for those who work at it. The alternative is to stand still or fail. It’s your choice.

By Dusty Rhodes

Posted June 20, 2007

Winners make things happen, losers let it happen to them. Which are you? There are some distinctive traits that many winning salespeople exhibit. Review the following list and determine where you belong; winner or loser.

LEARN: A winner never stops learning. Devote 15 to 20 minutes a day to learning. Books, tapes, CDs and seminars are all available to improve your knowledge and skills. Listen to a tape or CD while driving to and from work or read one book a week. After 52 weeks you will be infinitely smarter and your clients will notice your growth.

ATTITUDE: Believe you can win. Believe that you are in control of yourself and the circumstances around you. The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a positive thought and a negative thought. Think positive thoughts. The mind only knows what you feed it.

ACTION: Winners don’t talk a good game, they take action. Make it happen! Do it now!

DEDICATION: Dedication has been defined as "the ability to carry out a promise long after the mood in which it was made is gone." Very few people are truly dedicated. How about you?

EMPATHY: The ability to sense what the customer is feeling is empathy. Always put your customers’ needs first. Winners always do.

ENCOURAGE: Make the client feel important. Search for something on each call that enables you to sincerely compliment the client. Do this on every call.

VISUALIZE: See yourself winning. Imagine your sales calls and the result you want to achieve. See yourself making the sale, getting the big order.

SELF-TALK: Have conversations with yourself. Tell yourself 100 times a day, "I am a winner" or "positive thinking will help me achieve the results I desire." Convince yourself you are a winner.

In conclusion, a winner is a winner only when they make things happen. A winner exhibits all the attributes discussed plus, the character, competence and sense of urgency to do it right now. Winners "Just do it!"

One of the most strategic methods of selling is the effective use of questions. The Socratic method of selling was named after Socrates, a Greek philosopher (or was he a salesman) who lived 500 years before Christ.

The Socratic method consists of questions by which the prospect’s thinking was guided to the only correct conclusion possible – the ultimate truth. When Socrates did the selling he would begin with a question, let the prospect do the talking and figure out what the next question would be – all the while taking the prospect down the road he wanted them to travel. He became so good, he rarely lost a sale.

What are some of the benefits and advantages of this type of selling?

1. You pay your prospects a great compliment. You give them a chance to express their ideas and opinions. The prospect likes you because you are a good listener.

2. You get an opportunity to think and size up the situation. You can figure out what is most important to your prospects and how you can help them get what they want. This will draw you closer to achieving your objective of making the sale. When you do the talking, you are simply telling and not selling, praying that you will hit the right target or hot button.

3. You are going to learn a lot by using the Socratic method. Many customers have a lot on the ball and by gaining insight and knowledge from them you can apply this learning to the present situation as well as for future opportunities.

4. It keeps you out of trouble. If the prospect is talking it’s almost impossible to get in trouble by expressing an opinion. Salespeople should never express opinions.

5. You will stay customer focused. You will think about their wants, needs and desires. Isn’t that what great selling is all about? Helping other people get what they want so you can get what you want.

If you don’t think about yourself (most of us spend about 94 percent of our time thinking about ourselves) you won’t talk about yourself and you focus on what the prospect is saying. When you do this, you can count on seeing your sales increase. Using the Socratic method will make you a better salesperson. What do you think?

When you think of opening statements, think of a hyperactive toaster oven. If things don’t go right in eight seconds or less, you’re toast.

I use this eight-second standard not because there’s unanimity among the sales experts about exactly what constitutes the length of time necessary to leave a good first impression (there isn’t), but because my own experience is that this is the outer limit for sales professionals. Believe me, I’ve made every mistake possible to make when it comes to opening statements. Eight seconds is all the time you have to get things off on the right foot. I have yet to run into a veteran salesperson that disagreed with me on this point.

Not long ago, one of my employees and I were driving to an important face-to-face meeting with a contact who’d never spoken to either of us before. Daniel, the salesperson who was accompanying me on this visit, was skeptical about my eight-second standard.

He looked at me and said, "Boss, eight seconds is too short a period of time! That’s hardly enough time to take a deep breath, let alone make a meaningful opening statement!"

We happened to be waiting at a red light when he said this. As the light turned green, I kept my foot on the brake and started counting: "One thousand one, one thousand two . . ." People started honking. By the time I got to "one thousand four," Daniel was begging me to get moving. By the time we hit the sixth second, the guy behind us was starting to get out of his car and Daniel was looking for a place under the floorboards to hide. When I finally hit eight, the intersection was a symphony of honking horns and shouting mouths. I hit the gas.

Daniel never questioned me again on how long eight seconds really is or whether you can make an impact in that length of time.

Goals for the High-Impact Opening Statement

Your three big goals with regard to the opening statement are:

• Make it sound conversational. Once you develop an opening statement, read it into a tape recorder. Then play it back and transcribe it – write down every word of it. Then read it back into the tape recorder. Repeat this process five times! If you do, you’ll sound much more natural when you deliver it in real life.

• Deliver it with confidence. Butterflies? Everyone gets ‘em. But you have to learn to reach down deep inside and say it like you mean it – because you do!

• Get a favorable interruption – one that puts your contact in control – as soon as possible. That’s what lots of people you’ll be dealing with, especially leaders and directors, are used to doing, being in control.

SOURCE: The Complete Idiots Guide To Dynamic Selling by Anthony Parinello. Tony may be contacted at (800) 777-VITO.

In just the last 20 years, we have gone from dial telephones to digital switches, from mailing to faxing and from messages left with a secretary to voice mail. This explosion of technology (designed with the goal of bringing us closer together) has, unfortunately, pushed us further apart. For example, fax machines, designed to get documents in peoples’ hands quicker, often slow the conversation and prevent face-to-face meetings.

One major milestone of the technological explosion has been voice mail.

At first, it was positioned as a personal answering machine at people’s offices. Receptionists feared that it would replace them (it hasn’t), managers feared it would prevent people from being responsive (the jury is still out), but salespeople saw it as a great breakthrough!

Our boundless optimism told us that since we no longer needed to wrestle with a gatekeeper for access to our decision-maker, now voice mail was going to be the next great boon to the selling profession.

And here is where everything went a little wrong.

Voice mail was created to prevent people from having to answer every call that comes to their desk, as well as capture information while that person was away and unable to answer the phone. It was created as a tool for the user. Salespeople grabbed onto the misconception that voice mail would be their new "call to action" tool.

As a result, voice mail has become a thorn in the side for salespeople across the nation. They asked: Why don’t people return my voice mail messages?" "How many times do I leave a message before I give up on someone?" "How do I get around voice mail and get the decision-maker on the phone?"

Valid questions. Let’s look at the selling process as a whole for some answers.

One of the most reliable facts about selling is that people buy based on EMOTION. All humans buy from someone with whom we feel comfortable.

So how do people arrive at a place where they feel comfortable buying from us? We tend to want to make the right decision and want to avoid making the wrong decision. It follows then, that voice mail would be seen as a great communication tool. A great way to get to know someone. But communication must involve more than one person and must move ideas back and forth. Our definition of communication is: The positive, progressive, exchange of ideas. Too often, we assume that people will listen to our lengthy, detailed voice mail message, because of how excited we are about the topic.

Since people buy based on emotion (their own – not ours), we must realize that voice mail is a broadcast tool.

We are compelled to use it as such. A brief, pointed message, indicating what next step we will take to get in touch with the person we are calling, is all we have time for.

If you have voice mail, you must have a DELETE function. Chances are pretty high then that people you call leave voice mail messages for have a DELETE function as well.

Now think about how quickly you cycle through your options when making decisions about pending voice mails. You can decide to listen, save the message for later or delete it now.

With these facts in evidence, how do we come to a conclusion about how to move forward?

Here are some simple, reliable steps, to take the bite and frustration out of your experience in selling to voice mail.

Create a 15 second commercial and be prepared to deliver it a few times to someone’s voice mail, so that they become accustomed to hearing your name, company name and WHEN YOU WILL CALL BACK. I capitalize that sentence, because if your job is to find people at their desk and then get them emotionally involved in a conversation, then you must be consistent, persistent and professional. Do not go into five reasons why they should call you or when you are available – it is your responsibility to find them. Be proactive!

2) Be sensitive to the laws of repetition and recognition.

Advertisers tell us that it takes six different impressions of a message or idea before a consumer recognizes the product or service. If, over the course of a week, you leave six messages, you are increasing recognition of your name and company name in the mind of the decision-maker. Once you actually get them on the phone, they may not even remember where they have heard the company or your name, but they will know that it is familiar and that creates a significant advantage for you.

By all means, after the third message, leave a number where they can reach you, but assure them that you will be calling back, whether in an hour, at the end of the day or tomorrow. I have coached people in selling professionally, who reach a prospect’s voice mail and plan the next call for a week or two later. WHY??? What if your competitor calls them tomorrow morning? We must create a sense of urgency on our desk and plan calls for 90 minutes for two to three hours a day.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was any successful sales career. Keep in mind that one phone call does not make or break a career. Careers are built through consistent, daily effort. Voice mail is a great tool, when used properly. Use these techniques for a week and see how your expectations and then your results, change!

John Klymshyn’s new book, "The Ultimate Sales Managers Guide", can be purchased at: amazon.com