While there’s no easy answer to this question, there are a few basic points, known as the Training Discrepancy Model, which illustrate key areas that must be targeted for your company’s training investment to be 100% effective.

First, think of a triangle. The points of the triangle will be Skills, Individual Motivation, and Corporate Support.

Skills. In order for an individual to be 100% successful he/she must possess proper skills. It is the responsibility of the company to identify the proper skills necessary to succeed. How do we do that?

Identify the job function. Identify all the specific functions that a given job will entail.

Benchmarks. Set benchmarks for each one of the job functions. Benchmarks are simply the acceptable level of expertise necessary to succeed. If we have 5-6 different job functions, you would therefore have 5-6 different benchmarks.

Once benchmarks are set, management can then determine the skills necessary for each job function in order to hit those benchmarks. We need a global view of the job in order to understand what skills are necessary.

Individual motivation. As a sales manager you must create an environment to optimize the salesperson’s personal performance on a daily basis. You can do that by conducting one-on-one meetings with the salespeople after returning from training classes. During these sessions discuss what they’ve learned, and how they can utilize the day-to-day philosophies in order to increase productivity.

Motivation comes from within. Sandler training teaches that attitude

and behavior are key concepts needed to succeed as a salesperson. Without personal motivation it doesn’t matter what skills are being taught by the training company or reinforced by management.

Corporate support. Corporate support is very important in order for training to succeed. Training needs to be a process, not an event. It can’t be viewed from the salesperson’s perspective as a “and this too shall pass” program. At times, corporations striving to allow as many programs as possible have a flavor-of-the-month mentality. Corporate support would include things such as:

Reinforcement

Debriefing

Running sales meetings

Management participating in the training

Debriefing alone will create a culture that reinforces whatever training is being taught and will show corporate support. Salespeople on the street will realize that managers are continually following through on the concepts that are being taught.

Therefore, if we want to make sure that our people are getting the most out of their training in today’s environment, and we want to maximize the investment of company dollars, it’s critical to focus on these three areas: proper skills, individual motivation and corporate support. When all three components are targeted by management, training dollars are well spent and both management and salespeople will be pleased with the results.

©2002 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dan Hudock is an owner of the Sandler Sales Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. He can be reached at (724) 940-2388 or dan@sandler.com. His web site is: http://www.dan.sandler.com

I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. We’ll start with the positive.

Over the years, I’ve had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You’re a big success.

Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn’t have a job.)

But there’s no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.

So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business – no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business.

However (and this is a really big however) marketing is NOT going to result in overnight success. Marketing is about slow growth, building on last week’s success and forgetting about last month’s failures. (Or what you THINK are failures. It’s not uncommon that a campaign you think is a dismal disappointment may be what caused the next campaign to take off.)

Marketing is about frequency — about your target market seeing your offer over and over again until they’re finally ready to buy. Without that very important frequency, your business will start to stagnate and eventually die.

Now that doesn’t mean you won’t have a major success with a campaign. Even a massive, amazing, unbelievable success. You’ll run one ad or be featured in an article and wham! You end up with more orders than you know what to do with. While that’s a great shot in the arm, it probably won’t last unless you keep building upon it. Eventually the orders will dry up and you’ll be back to where you were before.

Marketing is also about being consistent. This goes back to building on successes. Your customers need to see your message over and over again. This builds trust and credibility. Plus, your current customers will also respond to that frequency. Not only will they not “forget” about you and go to your competitor, but it will help build their trust in you as well.

Lastly, marketing is about working hard. There’s no getting around it. To be successful

means putting in the time and energy to continually market yourself. (You can also pay someone to help you with it, but basically it comes down to someone somewhere has to put in the time to continually market you.)

If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you don’t implement your marketing strategies, nothing is going to happen.

That last sentence seems obvious, but again, I’m amazed at how many people I run into who aren’t willing to do the work. They talk about it, but when it actually comes down to doing something, they somehow never seem to get around to it.

One way to overcome that is to plan on doing one task or a little marketing every day. Then it doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. Me, I make a commitment to do X number of marketing tasks a week, regardless of how much time that takes.

Marketing is a commitment. There’s no getting around it. If you have a business, then you have no choice but to make a commitment to marketing on a consistent basis until the day comes when you decide you don’t want a business anymore.

Creativity Exercise — Make a Commitment

Since I’m interested in having all of you succeed, I want YOU to make a commitment right now to market your business on a regular basis.

Write this statement on a piece of paper, filling in your name in the proper place.

I, YOUR NAME, am making a commitment to market my business on a regular basis from now until I decide I don’t want to be in business any more.

Sign and date it.

I suggest posting it in a place where you can see it while you’re working. Or, if you really want to add some accountability to your commitment, tell someone about it. You can even tell me about it — just send me an e-mail at Michele@theartistsoul.com There’s nothing like announcing your intention to keeping you honest.

Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of “Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money.” She offers two free e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.TheArtistSoul.com.

Last week I got a call from Jose, who was looking for help improving his ads. He’d been running the same ad in four local papers for two months and only gotten one response. He was understandably frustrated. With more than a dozen very satisfied clients, he knows that the residential property management services he and his brother provide should interest more people, but he wasn’t having any success getting attention or generating leads.

Jose knew that to grow his business he’d need to do some marketing. He had a web site and was doing all the networking he could in addition to running his ads. Isn’t this what he should be doing to attract more clients? Aren’t advertising, web sites, mailings and networking what marketing is all about?

Webster’s dictionary thinks so; it defines marketing as an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer. In other words, marketing is a collection of activities. Is this how you think of it? Has approaching marketing with this mindset helped you increase your sales and pr0fits?

Think about it. You started your business to provide products or services that help people. You work long and hard for your clients to ensure they get what they want. You know that the more helpful you are to your clients, the more likely they’ll be to hire you again and the more often they’ll recommend you.

Your products and services are focused around your prospects’ wants and needs. Focus your marketing on these wants and needs and that will guide your marketing activities.

Marketing is Helping Your Prospects Get What They Want.

Marketing is not about you. It is not building your brand name, (unless you’re a Fortune 500 company and have the advertising budget to match). It is not convincing people to buy your products and services. It is not a group of activities that move goods and services. It is about your customers and what they want.

Working with Jose, I had shown him how to refocus

his marketing on what his prospects were looking for. A few days ago Jose called me back to tell me about his experience with trying out this helping model of marketing. During a recent visit to Home Depot, he struck up a conversation with a prospect, Bob, who asked what Jose did. Instead of going through the litany of services his company provides, Jose said, ‘We help landlords manage their properties more efficiently and make more money.’

That got Bob’s attention; he wanted to know how Jose helped landlords. Jose briefly explained his company’s services from the landlord’s point of view. Bob asked for Jose’s business card, so they could have a conversation about Jose managing Bob’s 56 rental properties.

Whether you are crafting your advertising copy, elevator speech, or the copy for your web or print brochure, it should focus on what your prospects want. When your prospects see you as helping them instead of just trying to sell them, they’ll be more likely to respond.

Want to help your prospects get what they want so you can increase your sales and profits? Focus your marketing on helping by doing the following three things.

* Regularly ask your prospects what they want, what their goals are and how you can help them.

* Use this information to shape your marketing copy.

* Describe in brief and in detail your clients concerns and how you help them on everything from your business card to your sales letters to your ads and to your web site.

When you focus your marketing on helping your prospects get what they want, you’ll get what you want; more leads, more prospects and more clients.

2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Strategy eBook, ’7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’ at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

Guerilla Marketing is the use of unconventional marketing techniques intended to get maximum results from minimal resources, which let’s face it; most indie musicians have minimal resources. Today, guerrilla marketing is a non-traditional, low-cost, and highly effective marketing endeavor, which when used properly can reap many rewards for the diligent user.

So what can you do to use guerrilla marketing to help further your music career? The first piece of advice I can give you is to think outside the box. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Here area few ideas to get you started:

• Use podcasts to broadcast your music, helping to expose your music to a lot of people who may have never heard it before. Make sure that you plug your website and where they can purchase your products.

• Why not go to your local library and see if they will allow you to do a free concert there in exchange for a percentage of your sales of product after your show. Libraries are in dire need of funds.

• Another easy and free way to get your name out there and seen is to write reviews on every product your own, have used, read or heard. Then post the reviews on places like amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Make sure to put a small two or three sentence bio at the end of each review that has the name of any CD projects you have done. You can’t post your URL there; they will delete your bio. When you post your reviews, put your vanity email address inside your “real name.” While those sites won’t allow you to post your URL, if your URL is part of your “real name,” they don’t say a word. Check out amazon.com and look for one of my reviews.

This is what you will see: “Jaci Rae – The Rae of Hope. raeofhope@jacirae.com.” (Don’t use a real email address or you will end up with a lot of spam. That is my website, but the email address if fake.) Why is this an

important step? Because people will read your reviews and you get your name out there. Most consumers are Internet savvy and if they are interested in you, will check you out.

These are just a few ideas. A very important part of the guerilla marketing process is the business side. In order for all of the ideas you come up with to benefit you, you have to be registered with the correct places so that when your hard work begins to paying off, other people know it as well. Here is a list of some of the places you must register:

Broadcast Data Systems

attn: (find out who is in charge at that time)

Los Angeles

6255 Sunset Blvd., 19th Fl

Hollywood, CA 90028

323-817-1506

323-817-1511

http://www.bdsonline.com/

and

SoundScan

http://www.soundscan.com/

Retail 914-684-5505

retail@soundscan.com

Venue 914-684-5506

Fax 914-686-1556

venue@soundscan.com

I list more ideas as well as places to register your music that will be crucial to your music success in, The Indie Guide to Music, Marketing and Money and its companion The Indie Guide to Contact Information. There are a lot of Guerrilla Marketing techniques I am sure you can come up with yourself. If you want different results and what you have been trying in the past always turns out the same, then you must do something different! Guerrilla marketing is what you need to do differently.

Go after your audience with fervor and diligence, but think outside the box to get the results you desire and the exposure for your music that you need. Wishing you the greatest of successes! Jaci Rae – “The Rae of Hope TM” Copyright 2006 Jaci Rae

Jaci Rae is the #1 Best Selling author of “Winning Points with the Woman in Your Life One Touchdown at a Time” ISBN 0974622907 and “The Indie Guide To Music, Marketing and Money” ISBN 978-0-9746229-4-1 as well as the host of the Jaci Rae show. To hear Jaci’s popular show, with some of the top behind the scenes as well as famous bands go to: http://www.jacirae.com click on the weekly show link.

Selling is just a whole lot easier when you know what people really want.

But unless you’re psychic, or know how to do the Vulcan mind meld, “getting into their brains” is HUGE!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve racked my brain trying to make sense of consumer opinion, & up until this point, I have to confess. Ain’t got no voodoo.

But here’s what I know.

Having the right product is certainly important, but it’s not nearly enough. What people really purchase are positive feelings that they associate with ownership, and they rarely express the connection between those feelings & product ownership plainly in consumer opinion polls. You must read between the lines.

People will look at the same identical product in a variety of ways. Is each one really searching for something different?

Actually, there are usually four or five common things that the majority of people in your market are looking for, and statistically speaking, those things are more or less important to them. On the surface, these things seem infinitely varied. But there’s always a common theme lurking under the surface. People at the very core of their being, are driven by human nature, instinct, and emotion. Show me a marketing campaign that doesn’t stir up these things at some level, and I’ll show you one that probably doesn’t work.

It’s easy to sell people what they want. The tough part is mining & gauging consumer opinion to find out what that really is.

A couple of suggestions,

Method One – Testing

Here’s a story from Elmer Wheeler’s “Field Word Laboratory”.

Elmer was asked by the Barbasol Company to come up with some effective sales talk to be used in selling shaving cream at retail counters. Were men at the Sears Roebuck toiletry counter looking for a clean shave, a quick shave, a cheap shave, a safe shave, a shave that didn’t bother their skin, a precise shave to detail their designer mustachios?

Out of 146 sentences tested, it turned out that sales increased an astounding 102% when the clerks approached the customer with “How would you like to save 6 minutes shaving?” Sales increased still further, with “How Would You Like to Cut Your Shaving Time in Half?”

Testing is one way to find out what your customers are after, and how best to dangle it like a carrot in front of their noses. What you’re really looking to determine is a hierarchy of wants. The top want should go in the headline. The second one in the opening lines. The third in further into

the piece, and so on. Powerful stuff!

Of course testing is a process of elimination, so it’s a painstaking process. Here’s a tip. Start out with benefits that appeal to one of these three most basic & powerful of all human motives. Self Preservation, the desire for romance, & the desire for money. Can you think of ways to tie a quick shave to these? I’ll leave that to your imagination.

The order of the benefits you’re presenting is also extremely important. If you’ve got it wrong, you’re loosing too many potentially interested prospects. You need to grab them by the lapel with the most statistically relevant top benefit! And then send them careening down a slippery slope to your order form, with the rest.

Method Two – Just Ask

Have you heard of Socrates, and the Socratic method? Here’s a guy who figured out how to answer a question with a question with a question, until the cows came home.

Unfortunately, people no longer have time to hang out under olive trees, and they only accept interrogation from their analyst.

Pity.

So what you need is a little quid pro quo (One thing for another).

Consumer opinion is gold! What can you offer your prospects, or clients in return for it?

“Two Little Words That Never Go Out Of Style!”

Of all the conversations going on inside people’s heads right now, I can tell you with certainty that “How To” is dead front & center. At the time of this writing, 68.8% of the questions received at “Selling to Human Nature”, contain this phrase.

So here’s my advice on collecting consumer opinion. Trade information about “How To” solve problems with your product or service, for consumer opinion from your customers. If you want to know exactly “how to” do this for maximum response, I strongly recommend you look at the work of Robert Collier.

Chapters 1 & 9 of my new ebook, which studies his technique, show you how to not only elicit the opinions & preferences of your market, but also make sales doing it. He did this time & time again with amazing result!

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!

http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html

Stop your expectations from sabotaging cold calls

Sales pressure is a mighty saboteur. And it comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Beginning any conversation with the anticipation of a sale puts the whole conversation under pressure. This doesn’t normally create good outcomes. It usually triggers pressure, resistance, and tension.

People have received so many calls with such a strong focus on sales that they respond in a defensive manner to any sales calls at all. If you can release your expectations while making a cold call, you’ll diffuse the underlying tension that comes with sales pressure. And you’ll be surprised how often others will welcome talking with you.

Most of us truly believe that our product or service can help others, so we assume that anyone who fits the profile of a potential client should buy what we have to offer. Isn’t that one of the first things we learn in our sales training?

But this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to cold calling. When we make a call assuming someone will be interested, we’ve automatically moved into expectations. No matter how well camouflaged they are, sales expectations block the flow of natural conversation and put pressure on the other person.

So move away from making any assumptions when making cold calls. After all, how much sense is it to have assumptions about someone you’ve never spoken with? How much can you possibly know about their problems, issues, needs, budget, or other key information?

If you approach your calls from a place of genuine interest rather than expectations, you’ll diffuse any sense of sales pressure. The other individual will relax and the interaction will flow naturally.

However, if you’re already convinced in your own mind that they should be a fit, certain pressure has already started before the conversation has really even begun. The last thing you want is to introduce this into the conversation. So rather than moving into a sales presentation immediately, maintain the natural flow of interaction instead.

You can diffuse underlying sales pressure within any conversation by focusing first on whether you are a good fit. Invite the other person to focus on this with you. And determine together whether a

good business relationship might genuinely be possible.

When our honest objective is not to make a sale but rather discover the truth of the situation, we have released expectations. The key is to offer options, so the person we’re talking with doesn’t feel pressure from us. This would only trigger the defensive reactions we’re trying to avoid.

Overcome the temptation to immediately discuss what you have to offer. Instead, help the other person overcome the fear of who you are and what is expected. Potential clients are much more likely to respond to you when they are not subjected to an immediate mini-presentation. This approach usually just creates suspicion and rejection.

So allow the conversation to have a natural sense of rhythm. Define mutual interest before launching into a description of your solution to a problem you probably know very little about at this point.

If you’re still caught up in the traditional mindset of making the sale, your voice and demeanor will be full of expectation. Although you may even be using the “asking questions strategy,” you are really thinking about moving the conversation into the sales process. Others will subtly (or overtly) react to this expectation with resistance.

It’s perfectly fine to describe your product or service. However, you must introduce this at an appropriate time.

So be relaxed and low-key. Otherwise you risk introducing sales pressure immediately.

Rather than a presentation, you might begin with the question, “Hi, maybe you can help me out a second?”

The person will almost always respond by saying “Sure. How can I help you?” You’ve now diffused any immediate sales pressure. You’re being genuine and not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson is using. You’ve gotten rid of the usual initial pressure and tension that comes along with sales expectations.

When your expectations are released, others won’t feel you’re trying to lead them down the path to a sale. They are usually willing to examine along with you whether a business relationship might be good.

So there you have it. Release your expectations to avoid conveying a sense of sales pressure. Potential clients become more interested and involved as a result, and also much more truthful about where they stand.

Tammy also happens to be a subscriber of mine, and sherecently sent me in this nice note:

“I just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love theway you end your emails with, “now go sell something”! Italways gives me a chuckle, makes me feel like getting busy,and also makes me feel like you are talking directly tome!

How do you come up with endings to emails, or what qualitiescan we instill in our minds to make our ezines morepersonal?? I have such a hard time with this. I thoughtmaybe you could touch on this for us?

Thank you, I always look forward to your email…”

Thanks Tammy. I think your question is a good one and it’sprobably something that loads of other people wonder aboutfrom time-to-time.

The truth is, the number one mindset you need to havewhenever you’re writing something to a “list” or to a groupof “subscribers”, is that the person reading your message,doesn’t care about the rest of your list, and for the mostpart, at that exact moment when they’re reading orexperiencing whatever it is you have to say… they aren’teven “aware” that your correspondence is even part of anykind of “broadcast,” or what-have-you.

See, all your reader is aware of, is your message… andthemself. And that’s why

sales copy is so effective — it’sone of the most intimate forms of communication you’ll everhave with your prospects and customers.

After all, how else could you ever communicate with yourreader, one-on-one like this?

So the mindset you need to have, isn’t that you’re writingto your “list”, it’s that you’re writing to each one of yourlist members, individually.

Make sense?

I was on a consulting call yesterday, as a matter-of-fact,and a client was asking me about this exact same issue.

One thing I suggested is that he have a picture of his prospectsitting right there in front of him to make his mindset andhis writing just a little more “intimate”.

Hope this helps you out, and thanks again for your question.

Now go sell something,

Craig Garber

http://www.KingOfCopy.com

P.S. Check out all the prior archives you’ve beenmissing, right here at:http://www.kingofcopy.com/tips/tiparchives.html

If you want to know how to consistently attract a steady stream of fresh new prospects, who are pre-qualified, eager, and excited about buying from you, then Craig Garber — recognized by his peers as America’s Top Direct-Response Copywriter — can show you exactly how to do this, step-by-step. Garber’s written winning promotions across a HUGE variety of industries and you can see them all for yourself on his website at http://www.kingofcopy.com

As youngsters, many of us were taught basic telephoneetiquette. These lessons taught us the basic components ofconducting a phone conversation – politeness,attentiveness, respect, and common courtesy.Unfortunately, it seems these lessons have been forgottenby many of today’s companies. For many, the philosophyseems to say that it’s easier to forgo these practices and,instead, choose to deal with the customer serviceconsequences later. It seems the true cost to the bottom lineis of not of any consequence. Why in a time of everincreasing competition locally and abroad, along with theknowledge of customers’ high expectations, would anyonebe willing to overlook and undervalue this most basiccustomer service skill?

Common Sense

Common sense and logic aren’t so common. Common sensesays solid telephone skills cannot be taken for granted andshows our customers we value them and their business.Here are some common telephone blunders and commonsense solutions to keep your company on track. Even if youhave been guilty of practicing some or all of these blunders,take charge now and reshape your focus to create acustomer-focused organization.

* No Call Back

I am referring to calls from a co-worker, business associate,vendor, or someone with which you have a standingbusiness relationship. The reasons people choose not toreturn a call may include the following:

- “I don’t have any new information to share.”

- “I’m waiting for so-and-so to return my call or answer my e-mail.”

- “I don’t have a need for this service right now.” (Though Imay in the future).

- “I’m not the person with whom they need to speak.”

- “I haven’t made a decision yet.”

Unfortunately, when you realize you were negligent andoverdue for a call back, panic and embarrassment set in andyou feel it’s easier to duck, dodge, and dance around ratherthan make the call. This only compounds the problem anddoesn’t alleviate your uneasiness.

The solution is to pick up the phone. Begin by apologizingfor not calling back. Do not make excuses such as, “I wasbusy.” Instead, be honest and forthright, which goes a longway to building and maintaining solid business relationshipsand your reputation. Next, proceed to resolve the businessat hand. In the future, begin with the positive intention ofanswering calls in a timely fashion. If you don’t have anynews or there is no change in circumstances, let the callerknow. Inform him or her when you plan to call back, orprovide a future date when the caller can contact you – andbe sure to pick up the phone.

* Untimely Voice Mail

Imagine you call a business the day after Labor Day and hearthe following message, “Thank you for calling ABCCompany. You have reached the desk of Jane Doe. I’ll beout of the office on business from July 3 through July 15th.Please leave a message.” What does this outdated messagereally say about you to your customers? For one, it says I’mtoo busy to change a voice message, so, perhaps, I’m toobusy to meet and service your business needs. Remember,your message represents you in your absence. Be sure allmessages are timely and reflect a professional image. If thecustomer needs immediate assistance, be sure to state whomthey can contact, along with a phone number.

Another voicemail blunder is allowing a mailbox to fill tocapacity so the box won’t accept any more messages. Iknow people who purposefully do this just so they won’treceive any more calls, which translates in their mind to nothaving more work. This is a very unprofessional andunacceptable practice. Check your voice mail periodicallythroughout the business day. Save messages whennecessary. If you expect you will not be available for anextended period of time, state when you expect to checkmessages and return calls. If you find your mailbox oftenfills up faster than you can keep up, consider having a liveoperator accept your calls.

* Unpreparedness

Have you ever had a caller phone and say, “I need so-and-so’s number.” You offer the information off the top of yourhead only to have the caller interrupt you and say, “Hold ona minute. Let me get a something to write with.” Why dopeople call for specific information and yet are unprepared totake the information down? The

caller has now wastedhis/her time and yours. Every telephone needs always tohave three items beside it: a pen, paper, and a mirror. (Seethe next item as to why you need the mirror.)

* No Mirror

What you see is what the customer gets. Keeping a mirrornext to your phone lets you see what your customers hear.A warm smile can be heard over the phone. If a call hascome at a bad moment, better to allow the caller to leave amessage than risk taking out your frustrations on the caller.

* Hanging Up Before The Customer

When you hang up the phone before the customer does,you risk the client hearing comments that aren’t meant forhis/her ears. “That Jim is such an idiot. How dare he try tohaggle over price after three months of negotiations! Oh, hi,Jim. I didn’t realize you were still on the line.” Oops, howembarrassing! I have personally heard some very interestingand embarrassing conversations begun before I hung up,and I can assure you I took my business elsewhere becauseof it.

* The Noisy Hang Up

You’ve heard the crackle before –a page is sent over thepublic address system and at the end of the message youhear what sounds like a shot put thrown at the Olympicgames. When the phone is disconnected, it sounds as if thehandset was thrown halfway across the room. A better andquieter solution is to click the release or switch hook buttonfirst and then put the handset down into place.

* Phone Tag

A great game of phone tag not only wastes time, it can bedownright frustrating. Cut down on the number of “tags”and leave a message that tells callers specifically when youcan be reached or when you’ll be out of the office (so theydon’t call then). Believe it or not, some people call onpurpose when you’re out – now why would they ever wantto do that?

* Fast Talking

I’m a former New Yorker and I usually have no problemunderstanding the swiftest speaker. However, I’ve hadpeople I have never met leave me a message with a phonenumber that is spoken as fast as an auctioneer. Slow down!Leave a message assuming the other person doesn’t knowhow to spell your name or already know your number. Aproper message includes your name and number stated twice– once in the beginning of the message and again at the veryend. This way if I can’t understand or want to confirm theinformation, I can do so without replaying the message overand over again. Be sure to speak slowly and clearly. Don’tbe shy about spelling any piece of information for clarity.

* Choosing Not to Invest in a Headset

Juggling a pen, paper, and handset, while typing on akeyboard with the phone cradled in the crook of your stiffshoulder and aching neck, just isn’t productive. Ease yourpain and invest in a quality headset and make life easier.You’ll find you can locate information, write, or simply listenwith ease. While you’re at it, pick up an extra one for yourcell phone, too.

* Misusing the Speakerphone

The use of a speakerphone is useful when dialing, waiting onhold, and conference calls. There are times, however, whenit is misused and abused. Examples of this are when privateinformation is shouted into the speaker box so loudly thateveryone in a one-mile radius can hear or having aspeakerphone conversation without informing the caller thatothers are in the room. Don’t ever assume the caller doesn’tmind being on the speaker. Ask for permission first. Also,always inform callers before they utter a word that someone(if appropriate, who) is present in the room with you to givefair warning.

Telephone blunders are overlooked and all too common.Starting today get back to basics. Identify and correcttelephone blunders and you’ll shine as a world-classcustomer service provider.

Joy Fisher-Sykes is a professional speaker, author, andsuccess coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stressmanagement, customer service, and team building. You cane-mail her at mailto:jfsykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call her at(757) 427-7032. Go to her web site,http://www.thesykesgrp.com, and signup for the newsletter,OnPoint, and receive the free ebook, “Secrets, Stories, andTips for Marvelous Customer Service.”

Many people believe that the main reason for representatives leaving their organisation is that of money in that they leave for a bigger salary. In fact, the biggest reason why people leave organisations is that the role they are doing is no longer offering any challenge or excitement. The second reason is due to the behaviour and capability of the immediate line manager. More often than not, the two are strongly linked with the manager taking little interest in the representative’s development and as such the representative feels under valued and bored due to the lack of attention and challenge.

Often the blame is laid at the manager’s door, but the representative must take a share of the responsibility also. The trouble usually arises when expectations are not laid out “on the table” with both parties unaware of each other’s needs, motivations and expectations. The end result is often a lack of trust and respect between the representative and manager which leads inevitably to conflict. A good manager will ensure that a “contract” is created between the manager and the representative and that this contract is “two-way” but unfortunately this rarely happens and if any contract is put in place it is 2one-way2 with the manager outlining what he or she expects from the representative and not the other way around.

So how can you avoid this conflict and start to work productively with your manager? Act on these five secrets and watch the relationship with your manager grow.

Secret 1: Learn about behavioural styles and find out what your own is and your manager’s. Compare the two and if there are differences then work on these differences by matching your manager’s body language very discreetly. Match their tone and volume of voice, remembering not to mimic only discreetly match. Look at their eye movements and do similar. Again, do similar with body movements. When you start to discreetly match their body language you will be amazed that they start to match yours also. This is the start of the rapport building process and this goes a long way to start the building of trust.

Secret 2: Contract with your manager by getting agreement about how best the two of you are going to work together. Ask questions such as:

“What are your specific expectations of me as your representative?”

“What are my specific objectives and how am I going to be measured?”

“What behaviours annoy you?”

“What motivates and de-motivates you?”

“What reports do you want? When do you want them? What content?”

“How often do you want to visit me in the field?”

Contracting is all about managing expectations. A good manager will always outline his or her expectations and will ask you about yours. Once you both are clear about what each other’s expectations are, then this is another building block in the foundations of trust and respect.

One of the hardest lessons I learned was when I did not contract with a senior sales manager. We had completely opposite behavioural styles, which meant that we didn’t get off to the best start. He thought I was too energetic, flighty and too much of a risk taker and I though he was too detailed with no personality and constantly stuck in front of spreadsheets. We were in constant conflict because he asked me for reports that I could see no reason

for and I was frustrated when he ignored my pleas for more training budget. If we had contracted and discussed our similarities and differences and how best to work with them, we may not have had the conflict that we did have. The result of this “personality clash” was that there was little trust and respect between us and very little communication. Meetings between the two of us were, to say the least, fraught!

Secret 3: Ask for regular feedback on your progress. Ask your manager to coach you. Be pro-active and do not wait for your manager to come to you. On the other hand do not always be seen to be reliant on your manager and give them space. Agree this area of support in your contract. A great time to enlist this support is on field visits. Ask your manager if some time can be “protected” during the field visit to discuss your progress and for them to coach you through any ideas and, or, challenges you have.

Secret 4: Be seen to be a support for your manager. Management can be lonely and stressful particularly if the manager isn’t managing their boss particularly well or if the company and/or team results are not doing as well as expected. Be supportive and offer to take on extra tasks. These tasks will not only make space for the manager to work more productively and strategically they will also enable you to develop your own capabilities. Be careful to ensure you manage your team-mates expectations here too. Being seen as supporting the manager can be taken the wrong way by some of your colleagues and on occasion, the less enlightened representatives can see this behaviour as threatening.

Secret 5: Go with your instincts! If you feel that the relationship with your manager is starting to go sour, then immediately call a meeting and openly discuss your feelings. To make this easier than it may sound, again build it into your contract right at the start. Something like, “If I feel our relationship is not what it should be, can I address it immediately as opposed to letting it linger?” Do not where possible discuss your feelings with all of your sales team. You will find some people very supportive and helpful but you may also find that some may go out of their way to reinforce the feelings you have thereby making it more difficult to address with the manager. Always best to tackle these feelings head on without referring to your team mates. If you have a coach, then they are often the best people to enable and support you to handle these situations.

Relationships between managers and representatives usually deteriorate because there was little trust in the first place and as a result openness is not usually achieved. Follow the five secrets and you will go a long way to ensuring a lasting and productive relationship with your manager.

Allan Mackintosh is a professional management coach who after 19 years in the pharmaceutical industry started his own management coaching consultancy, Professional Management Coaching. He is a successful speaker and has recently turned author, having had his first book, “The Successful Coaching Manager” published in August.

Allan can be contacted on 01292 318152, e-mail allan@pmcscotland.com or visit his website at http://www.pmcscotland.com

Ideal clients are the ones who are perfect for you. They are the clients who understand your offering, are happy with your services, are willing to refer you to their friends, return for repeat appointments themselves (where appropriate), who pay their bills on time, who show up on time for their appointments, who give you 24 hours notice when they need to cancel their appointment.

We all have our own criteria to define the perfect client. What are yours? If you are not clear about this aspect of your business you will spend an extraordinary amount of time chasing the wrong people and, if you do enroll them as clients, the relationship will always struggle.

The not-ideal client will not show up for appointments, they will be late payers, they will not refer business to you. In short, they will be difficult to deal with.

In their book “Attracting Perfect Customers” Hall and Brogniez use the metaphor of a lighthouse. The lighthouse does not chase ships up and down the shore line in an attempt to serve them. It stands firm and is clear about its purpose. The ships know where the lighthouse is and come to rely on it being there.

Once you are clear about who your ideal clients are, focus everything around these clients and stand still, let them find you. Stand firm around your boundaries and your offer. As soon as you begin to try to accommodate client needs which are not aligned with your own standards and values you

are on a slippery slope.

Think about it. If you call one of your own professional advisers for an appointment you expect to be given a choice of a couple of times and dates from which to choose. Is that not so? Why then, when clients call you would you be tempted to see them out of hours, change your rate or jump through any other kind of hoop they care to throw at you? Clients will not respect you more for accommodating them.

So an exercise to work on is around who would be your ideal client?

Describe their attributes and characteristics, think about their needs and also make a declaration about your own requirements. Write all of this down and review it after a couple of days, refine it if necessary. This is one of the foundation stones of building a successful practice. You may think you have done this already and maybe you have, but indulge me, do it again. Be clear about your offer, who would want to benefit from that offer, who you will work with, what you do not do and who you do not work with. If you do not have this clarity how are you going to be able to discern your ideal clients from the not-ideal?

Donnie Harrison is a Coach and Business Mentor working primarily with clients who are setting up or building a Professional Practice in the healthcare sector – be it traditional, complementary or alternative. Further information from http://donnieharrison.com