One Eyed Jacks

Most people I have met have a story to tell.  Many of those stories are very interesting and many have stuck with me for years.  It is funny how one remembers people.  After leaving the east coast in 1967 and returning in 1995, I had occasion to visit a friend in a professional capacity.  He and I both went to U of Maryland and he went on to become a dentist.  When I shook hands with him after not having seen him for at least 28 years, the first thing he said to me was " you may be a one eyed jack around here but I've seen the other side of your face"  You see as we rode back and forth to U of Maryland when we went home for the weekend, I talked about movies a lot and my favorite at the time was a 1961 western called "One Eyed Jacks" starring Marlon Brando.  I was constantly quoting lines from that movie.  I did not realize that at the time I was making myself memorable to my friend but now I do.  Part of building a great relationship is making yourself memorable.  There are many ways to do that. It is essential in a relationship to have things that are memorable about yourself and they don't have to be like I describe above. Remembering things about others can make you very memorable. Being some who is a good listener can make you very memorable.  Being someone who can be counted on to find a solution not another problem can be very memorable.  This is your brand.  Mine is humor so most people remember that about me.  Have you established your brand? If so are you developing it to your best ability  

It is what makes you memorable!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055257/quotes

Giving Just For The Sale Of Giving

I have observed over the years that there are two ways to view your customers.  One is as a money machine from which with a minimal amount of effort you can extract dollars.  The other is as human beings who have feelings and emotions and are just like us,susceptible to acts of kindness.  We do business via an agent with whom I work closely with a company called The Color Run  http://thecolorrun.com/ . They organize 5 K races with a very unique theme as you can see on their web site. I mentioned this to a co-worker who told me that she would love to run in their races in DC and Philly but they were booked up.  Long story short, our agent was able to put her in touch with his contact there and she was able to not only book herself but two friends into the races. The contact was able to add three customers for his company, the agent got props for the referral, and both Trinity and The Color Run benefited.  You want referrals from your customers?  Think about the many creative, not so obvious, ways you can provide referrals for them.  Do you think they just might reciprocate?  Even if they don't, won't it make you feel good to know you helped someone and that they might "pay it forward"?

Overload

I read a statistic the other day that the average small business employee can effectively handle about 50 emails a day.  While I think that might be a tad low in our fast paced transportation business, it allows me to make a point here. If a prospect gets 100 emails and/or phone calls a day from sales people seeking their business, what is the deciding factor as to which ones they actually read or answer?  I think it is the degree of creativity in presenting something which they might perceive to have value to them in growing their bottom line.  Which of these would you open:

Hello , I’m Dan Dobson with Trinity Logistics. We are a 3rd Party Logistics provider. We move all types of freight by the following ways. Less Than Truckload (LTL)  Over The Road (OTR)

(Flatbeds, Dry and Refrigerated Trailers) & Intermodal (IML) . I would like an opportunity to discuss your freight movement and see how I can help you and your company. I have attached an email flyer on our services. I look forward to hearing from you!

OR

 

Hello! I am Dan Dobson with Trinity Logistics Inc.  I provide realistic solutions to logistics challenges.  If I could offer you ways to increase your company’s profit by learning more about how your business operates, when would you allow me to call you?

 

Giving and not expecting anything in return

I got this on 6-6-12  from one of my friends and Blog followers Ginger Jensen, Marketing Specialist at Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, DE and there is a lesson here for all of us about relationship building by just being genuinely friendly and caring

The other day I thought of you. Mainly because this was something that I thought you might blog about. It fits into that “giving and not expecting anything in return” category.  I received a note in the mail from someone I didn’t know. I knew OF him, but don’t even think I  had ever met him. Anyway, it was from Bob Wheatley, who is with Whayland, Alliance, Sussex County Planning and Zoning, etc. He simply placed a cut out of a newspaper clipping from The Seaford Star (of a picture that Lynn Parks took that shows me taking pictures at Nanticoke’s Girls Night Out Event) and taped it on his letterhead with a note that reads, “Your efforts to keep NMH in the public eye are noticed and appreciated! Bob Wheatley” Now, isn’t that the nicest?!?! That really made my day, my week, heck, it might even make my month! I don’t think he knows me from a hole in the wall, and he sent just a little note of gratitude. Now, do you know what I did immediately after receiving his note? I Googled him and his business, looked him up on Linked In. I now know who he is and what Whayland does. Now, how’s that for making me feel appreciated and, in turn, having one more person in the community who knows a bit about him and his business. Great thinking on his part!

Givers

Give to give not to get and you will be a much happier and more successful sales person. This is also known as giving with no expectations. I take it a step further in my life. Someone wants to borrow money and I can afford to help them I never LEND as that comes with expectations of being repaid and can come with the disappointment of not getting it paid back. Give it as a gift and let their conscience be their guide as to giving you a gift in return. It will make you a much happier person especially when you are surprised to get it back.  You be a real friend to your customers and give to them like you would a true friend.  It might NEVER come back to you with them but I can promise it will come back to you from someone.  Quit thinking about taking or receiving and start concentrating on the part you can control which is YOUR part.  YOUR PART is to do the giving without expectations.  Try it and see if it works. But remember no expectations also means no time expectations either so be patient.

Memorial Day

Monday is Memorial Day. It is the day we honor all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our liberties.  From 1775 to the present and unfortunately still counting 1, 343, 812 Americans have died to protect our freedom.  In our own Civil War, 1861-1865 , 599 Americans died PER DAY which makes it the costliest war we have ever fought and we fought each other!

Lincoln said it best in his Gettysburg Address.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Excitement

Excitement it is an essential if not the most essential part of sales.  It is what separates the "sales technician" from the "sales professional..  You cannot get someone excited about the steak if you don't provide the sizzle.  During my sales career I was probably the very worse technician.  The reason. I did not waste time learning the in depth technical aspects of the products or services I was selling (and I was selling medical products).  There were experts and catalogs for that.  Instead I learned what it was about my service and product that would get people excited.  For example, making their lives easier or making them more efficient or making them look good to their superiors.  That is selling sizzle not steak.  We have some stuff here now that creates sizzle and you should be the one selling it with excitement.  If you cannot get excited about the potential of making a sale, you are likely in the wrong profession.  To those of us who have made this profession our success, making a sale or the possibility of same is like a runners high.  It is exhilarating.  It is fun. It is welcome. It is very exciting. Will you fail occasionally.  You bet (actually more than you succeed)!  Baseball Players in the Hall of Fame fail about 66% of the time)  But you can make failure an exciting lesson to make you better if you are excited about what you are selling in the first place .
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless
you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived
at all."