Chutzpah

Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance; and, as the late American humorist and Yiddish lexicographer Leo Rosten once wrote, no other word, and no other language, can do it justice.

A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for a dollar each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time and as he passed the pretzel stand he would leave her a dollar, but never take a pretzel.
This offering went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his dollar as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him for the first time in over 3 years. Without blinking an eye she said: "They're a dollar and a quarter now."

Moral:  If you are not showing your appreciation for allowing you to serve them EVERY time you speak with your customer(s), you are missing an opportunity to not only do what is right but to also set yourself apart from the crowd.


Thank You For Allowing Me To Serve You,
Dan

In A Slump

    I have been a Red Sox fan for 60 years and the season we are having this year would not have bothered me that much prior to 2004 as we had come to expect poor performance. Our first World Series in 86 years changed all that. Now it is a crisis to be where we are in the standings half way through the season.
    If you are in sales you are either in a slump, coming out of one or getting ready to go into one.  That is the nature of the beast we serve. 
    How does one get out of a slump? I have heard all kinds of cures but the best advice I can give is to get back to the fundamentals that you learned in "sales school".  1/ Develop a great introduction/opening, 2/Plan and Prepare aka Research, 3/ Ask informed questions 4/ Listen Intently (taking notes) 4/ Offer solutions of value, 5/ Reach a consensus (formerly known as a close), 6/ Follow-Up Follow-Up Follow-Up Follow-Up.
    In order to exercise fundamentals you don't go up against the best pitcher in baseball but rather find someone to throw you some soft stuff to regain your form and confidence.  Soft stuff in our business is shippers and consignees of your existing customers.  You have either hauled in or out of their facilities and you usually have a name to ask for since you likely had to make a contact there.  Calling on these folks is a good way to get back in the game and out of the slump.
    I heard another good suggestion today.  Go to your desk on the weekend and clean out everything you have not touched for a year or more, rearrange your surroundings so it looks new and fresh, and on Monday come back dressed up a tad and hit the field running.  Just don't step on the chalk lines as it is bad luck!!!


Good Hitting,
Dan

Old Friends

     Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamond! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!

     I genuinely enjoy people so it is natural for me to want to keep in touch.  I like to know what they are doing with their lives even after we no longer have commonalities such as working for the same company or a customer/vendor relationship. 

     I got an email the other day from a former co-worker, who has gone on to another career, asking me to come down and visit she and her boss about providing some of their transportation needs.  She mentioned that her boss also knew me and, as it turned out, while I had lost contact with him, he was a great friend and customer at a previous place of business, which was a customer of mine.  Well, it was like a homecoming of sorts for all three of us and obviously created a perfect atmosphere for us to relax with each other and for then to talk and me to listen and ask questions.

     I was exhilarated when I walked out of there to say the least.  I have no ulterior motive in my continuing relationships with people who are no longer directly in my life circle. But I can tell you that it is fun for me and I think so for them and often brings pleasant surprises when you don't expect them.

     How are you doing with your keeping in touch with "old friends"?  They are Golden!

Reverse Referrals

I was talking to one of our new customers for whom we haul  one ton metal roll off containers in bound and during the course of the conversation the subject of referrals was brought up by him not me.  And it was not about giving me one but rather about me giving him some.  He told me for every franchise he was able to sell based on someone I referred he would give me 5 grand.  While that would be unethical for me to accept as a employee of Trinity Logistics, it really reinforced the notion that I have held for many years that giving a referral is the very best thing you could ever do to show your customer (or prospect for that matter) how much you REALLY appreciate their business.  I call our customers regularly and tell them how much we appreciate them allowing us to serve their transportation needs.  Imagine if my calls contained a potential customer for THEM to prospect that would help grow their company. Do you think they might remember me?  As I mentioned in a previous blog, we referred 3 customers/runners from Trinity Logistics to our customer The Color Run 5 K Race earlier this month.  I am betting that will stick in their mind for a long time.  Start thinking about how you can help your customers grow their businesses by referring them potential customers.

Attitude Is Everything!

    I used to have a sign over the entrance to my warehouse when I was in the import basket business in Arizona.  It simply read ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING. 
    I have never known anyone with realistically achievable goals who was able to successfully accomplish what they set out to accomplish that did not have a "can-do" attitude.  The thing about people with great attitudes is that they are able to actually see themselves accomplishing what they are in the process of attempting. The technically oriented would call that visualization.
    I never took a skiing lesson in my life but thanks to the famous ski film maker Warren Miller, I was able to visualize myself skiing down a mountain by carefully watching the moves that the skiers made on film and imagining myself doing the same thing to the point where I was actually able to sense what to do on the slopes in my own living room.  So one day I went to the top of a mountain and skied down as if I had been doing it all my life.  I had no fear because I had seen myself doing what was necessary to ski.
    Sales requires visualization. You plan your sales calls carefully and a big part of that planning should be a visualization of what will occur during that call and afterwards. Visualizing success is setting yourself up to succeed.  Believing in yourself, believing in the company you represent, and believing that you are providing value to your prospect or customer is tantamount to being successful.
    So shut your eyes for a moment and see yourself for not what you are but what you want to be.  Focus on that image and strive to become what you can be with the right attitude about your chances for succeeding.  That is the start.  Becoming that success will take hard work and constant learning but none of that will happen without the right attitude.  Because you see: ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!