Surprising Common Traits of Top Sales Performers

Sales is possibly the hardest position to fill with success. Finding just a “good” sales professional is task. Adding an all star salesperson is even harder.

What if you knew what traits these all stars all have in common? Well a Harvard Business Review researcher has made this easy. He interviewed 1,000 of the top sales performers at some of the country’s best companies. These are the President’s Club winners- the cream of the crop.

I’ll bet many of you think you know that the common traits are: “driven, outgoing, smart” etc.

Well, I felt the same way… then I read the article and was VERY surprised by a few things.

•  Modesty was the number one trait in common. 91% showed high levels.
• Curiosity was #4, with 82% showing high levels.
• Lack of gregariousness was #5; top performers averaged 30% lower gregariousness then average salespeople—they listened better.
• Lack of discouragement was #6, 90% showed rare or occasional sadness.

I found each of the above a bit surprising. Most stereotypes of sales people are of loud, immodest, gregarious people. But when I think of the all stars that I know- they fit each of these to a T.

Modesty was cited because people like modest people, and modest people put together teams to help achieve goals.

Curiosity is obviously a good thing no matter what the career is. But is curiosity really #4 in Sales? Well, the best sales people we know are fantastic at asking questions till they discover what the prospect really wants and needs.

Lack of gregariousness was a total surprise to me. The author stated that overly gregarious people are possibly trying too hard to be liked. They over empathize with customers instead of really having conversations. Whereas the all stars get to a place of respect with customers, not allies or friends.

Finally, lack of discouragement. while not a surprise to me for Sales, I was surprised that a simple things (especially for interview purposes) was that the author tied that most top performers played High School Sports- and learned how to cope with discouragement early in their lives (based on my H.S. career I should be great at this).

So, what do you think? Do you have top performers that fit this profile? Can you use this to help find some all stars? Were you surprised by any of these?

For the full article go to this link: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/06/the_seven_personality_traits_o.html

Customer Service- Always Learning- Measure Yours?

In the past week I’ve had two customer service wake up calls that had me reflecting… “Why is it so hard to handle complaints from customers?”

First- the issues. My wife and I use a nanny service- and they’re awesome. As new parents it’s been priceless to have someone that can help us out. They’re so good, we’ve really come to rely on them. So, when they messed up and did not show up one day- we were really thrown off!

The owner of the company is very nice, but she did not handle our complaint well at all. First- she did the basics: “I’m really sorry about this”. Then she dropped into the blame game- blaming her employee for screwing this up.

For every Business Owner or Manager out there- this is MISTAKE #1. Customers do not care whose fault it is within your team. Customers view you all as one entity – the company. So, when there’s a mistake- you have to take it on as your own mistake.

Next- she crossed an incredible line- she told me that she planned on docking that employee’s pay for the entire next day that she was to work at my house!!! WOW- that blew my cork. Did she think I wanted my revenge or something? Would I really want a disgruntled employee helping care for my 9 week old? Customers DO NOT want to know how you manage the internal functions of your business!

Safe to say- she got a piece of my mind about that one.

Next- and this is killer, she would not take responsibility herself. Her ego just wouldn’t allow it. This was not the first mistake they’ve made (it was just the worst). They’ve had scheduling issues before. The owner does all of the scheduling. Several different employees have told us they were given the wrong times etc. by her.

There is one thing in common to all of these things. They work for the same owner. The owner personally manages the schedule. Yet- when I suggested that the process needs to be looked at to avoid issues I got “my process is foolproof”. Ah- really? Why then were there 3 mistakes in 2 weeks?

This is where business owners and Managers HAVE to step up- and own the mistakes… EVEN if it is not their fault. EVEN if it is the CUSTOMER’S fault! Which is probably the hardest thing to do.

A few days after this we had a complaint from a customer with some training. We did pretty well on taking it on, and not blaming anyone. But- in the process of trying to explain to our customer what happened- it occurred to them like we did not own it-… and “BAM!” we were not being 100% responsible.

Our other mistake was to try and communicate with this customer through e-mail. I’m really embarrassed to admit this- but yes- we tried to make good with this customer on e-mail. Fortunately halfway through I realized how DUMB that is- and we were able to speak to the customer, take full responsibility for the issue- and leave them feeling cared for and appreciated.

Sometimes we get too busy to slow down and remember the basics. When this happens it always comes back to bite us.

This all reminds me of a statistic about customers. 1 in 26 customers will complain about a problem (source: US Office of Consumer Affairs). The remaining 25 will leave you for someone else, and not even alert you. THAT is the best context to put every complaint into: “this customer is giving me a chance to keep their business- I need to get this right”.

Reasons customers choose others: (Forum Corporation)

–        15% for price

–        15% for quality

–        70% for customer service

I recently came across an assessment tool to rate your business's customer service abilities. Go to the Forum Corp’s website and check it out:

 http://www.forum.com/register.aspx?id=ecaa5a10-19c4-48b6-9de5-22122783d656&edocid=228

And take this test- check out where you are in customer service capabilities.

Let us know what you do that works, and how this assessment worked too!

Marketing Idea: Virtual- Video Proposals?

Creativity and Marketing go hand in hand. Now- technology has given a whole new world to how we can be creative with Marketing.

I personally cannot imagine eliminating the tried and true job site sign for a sign with a BAR CODE on it… but that is JUST what this contractor did in Oklahoma.

Yes, it sounds weird, even potentially dumb. But- if you read the article at this link… he could be dumb like a fox! What we’re talking about is a contractor that uses videos and You Tube for every project that he is doing!

So, instead of the standard old yard sign- he has a bar code that you can use to link to a video of him describing this particular project, and how his company is the best at this type of work. Sound crazy? Yes, to me too… but… he also sends his customers a video of their project walk through as part of his proposal…hmmm.

Ever go to a proposal visit, and have the owners say “ok we’ll get back to you”? Then not hear from them. Or, have them ask you what you just covered with them? Or, forget what you said to them? Well- all in one video, this contractor has wiped out all of those issues. He videotapes his project walk through, and sends it to the consumer via e-mail.

This way, the consumer can go into their e-mail and review what they went over with you. There is a video record of what was promised. If you’re good on camera- hey- they may remember how great you were after meeting several other contractors.

I’m all about separating yourself from the competition. Man- I bet you’d be the only roofing contractor that sends a video of the proposal walk through to them!

But- it gets even better. We all know that constant issues that the production teams face, figuring out what Sales promised to the consumer, or even just finding out what really concerns the consumer. How about figuring out what equipment they may need on the job before they start. Well- this contractor creates a crew video from the proposal walk through- and gives it to the Project Manager. This way the Production team sees and virtually meets the consumer. Sees the project and what it entails. Wow- this is a good one folks… now- how do I create a video?

Anyone out there doing this as well? Doing it better? Please post your thoughts and ideas!

If you want to read the complete article just click here: http://www.replacementcontractoronline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=0&articleID=1613932

How Long Can Online Leads Wait For Follow Up- a Harvard Study!?!

THIS JUST IN! The world seems to be moving faster and faster every day!!!

How long do you have to respond to an online sales lead? I think every sales pro and Contractor would say “not long- a couple of  hours”- at most.

Well, the folks at Harvard Business Review actually did a study of this question, and found some interesting things.

I love what they did: In an audit of 2,241 U.S. companies, they sent fake leads to each and then waited!

Here are some results:

• ·         37% responded in an hour
• ·         16% responded within 24 hours
• ·         24% took more than 24 hours
• ·         23% NEVER RESPONDED (?!?!)

The average response time for all was a whopping 42 hours! This is killer because they also studied how likely you are to connect with a customer- based on how long you took to respond…

• ·         If you respond within an hour- you are 7 times more likely to speak to someone than a company that took just an hour longer.
• ·         If you respond within an hour- you are 60 times more likely to speak to someone than companies that took 24 hours to respond.

Well, that makes it clear. You have to get back to online sales leads right away!

It is also interesting that Harvard said they qualified these leads by “having a meaningful conversation with the customer”- I take that to mean that you cannot simply e-mail people back and expect responses.

This should really not land as a surprise with online leads. We all are growing accustomed to logging on, going to sites, and getting everything we want- right away. And if we don’t, we bail to another website.

I wonder what the average response time is for Roofing Contractors. I’d bet it is low with the “average”- and this can be another way that top contractors get an edge… find a way to respond via phone as soon as a Sales Lead comes in!

You can find the entire Harvard Business Review article at this link: http://hbr.org/product/the-short-life-of-online-sales-leads/an/F1103B-PDF-ENG

Is there a way to have sales leads get sent directly to a salespersons, or Manager’s smart phone? Has to be, right?

REALLY New Marketing from 2011 International Roofing Expo

At the 2011 International Roofing Exposition held Feb. 14^th to 18^th in Las Vegas NV. I was happy to see something completely new (at least to me).

There was an education session on Marketing innovations. What was new? Well- the speakers were from a company that is devoted  just  to helping  Steep Slope Roofing Contractors improve their marketing!

And they had some good ideas that I’d like to share:

1)      Become the local news source for regional newspapers. Volunteer to be  a source for articles, write articles for them etc.

2)      Use www.prlog.com  or www.prlog.org  – these sites are services that help get your press releases out to regional newspapers.

3)      Stop asking consumers to memorize your phone numbers. They’re just too long. Get them to memorize your website address in ads and job signs.

4)      Make your website into a jingle. “We’re Colorado roofing.com”  was a catchy one they used.

5)      Pay just $25.00 per month to have your business show up on Google map tags.

6)      Facebook has grown 700% in the last year. It is now larger than Google.

7)      Facebook is more like “branding”- get your name out there. Google is more targeted- people looking for roofers.

8)      You can use Facebook to search markets. They researched Las Vegas.

9)      There are 1.25 million people in Las Vegas.

10)   Facebook has 650,000 users there, more than 50%.

11)   The local newspapers largest subscription is 125,000 (10%)

12)   Websites really need to have video on them now. (if you’re a Master Elite Contractor you can place Avoiding Roofing Disasters there easily).

13)   Web users are 2x more likely to watch your ad on your website than they are to watch a TV ad.

14)   If you get a bad online review- you need to work hard to bury it with positive reviews ASAP.

I really like these ideas:

• ·         Phone numbers are a thing of the past.
• ·         Website jingles really make sense.
• ·         Video on websites are a great idea.
• ·         Press release service is a great idea too.

The company that gave this presentation is Roofing Contractor Marketing (www.roofingcontractormarketing.com) out of Denver. I have not worked with them, or even spoken to them. They said they work with roofing companies from all over the USA and look like a good group.  You can find other sources for marketing assistance too, especially if you are a GAF Certified Contractor- GAF offers you lots of Marketing tools.  In any case, it is always a good idea to refresh your marketing programs to keep ahead of the pack.