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Salespeople have questions. Jeffrey has answers.

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I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solve their sales dilemmas. Here are a few that may relate to your job, your life, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.

Dear Jeffrey, This is my first week in car sales. Can you tell me what sections of any of your books I could go to for help with deflecting that first, “What’s your best price?” question. I want to build rapport and provide the value of my services in addition to the vehicle. I was thinking of using your “Can you close a sale in five questions?” as my porcupine close, ignoring the price question, and asking my own question, “Jeffrey, how do you select a car or truck?” Any suggestions? Rich

Rich, Yes, I have a bunch of suggestions. First of all, you’re battling 100 years worth of doing it the wrong way. Yes, there have been a lot of cars sold, but oftentimes in spite of themselves. And the reason people come in and want the best price is because they’ve already shopped online. They already know what the car costs. The customer is now more educated in the car business than the car salesperson is because the customer has probably shopped ten different brands and the car salesman pretty much only knows his own.

So the challenge for you as a salesperson is if you get a question of “What is your best price?” get it down to the model and say, “Look, I’ll give you my best price, but don’t you want to know if this is the right car for you? Why don’t we take it for a drive and then we’ll talk about how much it is if you really want it. If you don’t want it, there’s no sense in negotiating for it and I’m assuming if I give you may best price, you’ll say ‘Thanks’ and buy it. Otherwise, you’re going to go shop around and thank me and then go talk to my competition and that’s not what we want to do. We want to put you in a car. We want to make you feel great, and we want you to get the best car for your money today and when you sell it, and we want to make sure along the way that it’s maintained. Is that fair enough?” Jeffrey

Dear Jeffrey, I’m in sales and the manager of the office is also an agent. She distributes the internet leads for the other agents and regularly keeps the highest dollar leads for herself. We have a transparent database that percentage-wise shows she’s been doing this for over a year, yet she denies it. How do I deal with a manager like this? Bill

Bill, You quit! You don’t want to work for a liar. You certainly don’t want to work for someone who garners all the leads for herself. Why don’t you give her all the leads and go get your own leads? Or, why don’t you go someplace where it’s more fair? My recommendation is first talk to her boss and ask if there is any way the leads can be distributed more fairly. Obviously, if you were getting all the leads you might do the same thing yourself. It’s called cherry picking. She knows not only what the best lead is, but also what the easiest lead to close is. Maybe it should just be random, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, and split up the leads like that. If she fights it, she’s doing it the wrong way. You gotta be ethical, you gotta be honest, or you gotta find another job. Best regards, Jeffrey

Dear Jeffrey, I have a large insurance agency and we interview for salespeople quite often. “Looking for a professional with an aggressive sales demeanor.” Somebody told me of an interview question that they ask and I’d like to get your opinion. During an interview, this person will ask the interviewee to bark like a dog. That’s a pretty rough question isn’t it? If they don’t do it, the person will end the interview. If they do it, the interview continues. The rationale is that if they don’t do it, they’re not inclined to get out of their comfort zone. If they bark, and they’re comfortable in doing it, they’ll be comfortable in doing things out of their normal task. What do you think of this? Jay

Jay, What do you think of it? Do you think it’s professional or do you think it’s third grade? Well, I’m sorry candidate, you didn’t bark like a dog, so even though you’re a great salesperson, you’re a smart guy, and you’ve got a great attitude, you’re disqualified. Dude, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life! Why don’t they just cluck like a chicken? The challenge is this: If I’m interviewing someone, I want to know if they’re smart, I want to know if they’re self-starting, I want to know if they have a great attitude, and I want to know if they have some kind of past history of success. All the rest is irrelevant. Best regards, Jeffrey

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

7 Tips for Social Media Marketing

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7 Tips for Social Media Marketing
Photo credits: Cheryl Lawson

If you have a business or project going in this modern era, you need to include social media marketing in your long-term plan. Social media is here to stay and you need to participate, like it or not. If you approach this with enthusiasm as a planned part of your mission, you can make great use of these seven tips for social media marketing!

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About the Author

Adam likes social media books online because these books provide huge information compared to junky information available online.

The Big Picture of Business – Doing Your Best Work on Deadlines: Mobilizing the Energy for Best Business Success

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We just had the first live TV musical play extravaganza on television after a 50-year hiatus. The production was The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood. This TV special got a lot of attention because it was unique live, just like opening night of the Broadway show on which it was based.

Truth is that throughout the 1950’s (the Golden Age of Television), there were comparable live TV extravaganzas on the air every night of the decade.

Many of them were consistently great. They were live, in real time. They had top talent behind them. They were well rehearsed. They had the adrenaline of “going live,” and they shined with luster.

Among those crown jewel TV moments were:

  • Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
  • Requiem for a Heavyweight, the premiere of Playhouse 90. It was written by Rod Sterling and starred Jack Palance and Ed Wynn.
  • The Petrified Forest, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda. In it, Bogey reprised the 1930’s Broadway hit and movie that launched his career.
  • The Ford 50th Anniversary, a two-hour musical starring Ethel Merman and Mary Martin. This was the first TV special and set the tone for thousands of others since.
  • The first Beatles appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” where the whole world was watching. The Beatles topped that by composing All You Need is Love while they performed it on a global telecast.

I have those any other live TV gems on DVD. I watch them to experience the magical energy of live performances. Many of us remember writing the college theme paper the night before it was due. We recall compiling the case notes or sales projections just before the presentation meeting.

The truth is that we do some of our best work under pressure. We might think that the chaos and delays of life are always with us, but we handle them better when on tight time frames.

Before you know it, you’re on deadline again. Even though the tasks mount up, you have a knack for performing magnificently under deadline, stress and high expectations.

This is not meant to suggest putting off sequential steps and daily tasks. Learn when deadline crunch time is best to accomplish the optimum business objectives. I’m a big advocate of Strategic Planning and Visioning. Every company needs it but rarely conducts the process because they’re knee-deep in daily minutia.

I know from experience that planning while going through the “alligators” is the most effective way to conduct the process. By seeing the daily changes resulting from the planning, companies are poised to rise above the current daily crises. I recommend that diversity audits, quality control reviews, ethics programs and other important regimen be conducted as part of Strategic Planning, rather than as stand-alone, distracting and energy diverting activities.

Those of us who grew up working on typewriters know how to master the medium. You had to get your ideas on paper correctly the first time, without typographical errors and with great clarity. The first time that I worked on a computer was when I was 40 years old. I took that typewriter mentality with me when I had to compose a brochure and do the desktop publishing graphics in the same two-hour window where I was learning how to work on a computer.

There were years where I kept the typewriter on the work station next to the computer. When I had five minutes to write a cohesive memo and fax it off to the client, I wrote it on the typewriter. Though I wrote all my books on computers, I wrote the modern technology chapters on the typewriter, to make points to myself that the readers could never have grasped.

In mounting your next strategic Planning process for your company, go back and analyze what elements from the past can be rejuvenated as your future. That’s a trademarked concept that I call Yesterdayism.

With planning and organizing, you can meet and beat most deadlines without working in a pressure cooker. Don’t work and worry yourself into exhaustion over every detail. Sometimes it makes sense to move the deadline to the 11th hour. Having too much time to get projects accomplished tends to breed procrastination.

Here are my final take-aways on the subject of doing your best work when on last-minute deadlines:

  • Learn what working style goes best with you.
  • Care about deadlines.
  • Prioritize the real deadlines, apart from the artificial or self-imposed ones.
  • Review the work that you’ve done on tight deadlines. Analyze what makes it different.
  • Know your own strengths and limitations.
  • Work on your own timetable.
  • When working with teams, determine the best compromise working tempo.
  • Get Your ‘to do lists’ in order.
  • Evaluate your progress.
  • Remove the distractions to doing your best-focused work.
  • Ready… Set… Be productive.

This article was written in one hour, just before the impending deadline.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

Salespeople have questions. Jeffrey has answers.

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I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solve their sales dilemmas. Here are a few that may relate to your job, your life, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.

Jeffrey, A company that installs gutter guards recently lost my business. I was solicited by their sales team twice. The second time I was in the market to buy. But their technique is different. They require both the husband and wife be home during their estimate. I do understand why they want both to be there (so they can eliminate any obstacles). However, my wife doesn’t care, nor does she want any involvement in these type of decisions. I told them if they require this, I will take my business elsewhere. They simply stated, “Thank you,” and hung up. They lost the sale, but I now have new gutter guards that were installed by another company. What is your take on this? Mike

Mike, Old-world salespeople are gonna die. In sales, it’s called a one-legged sale when only one of the two deciders is in the room. Companies don’t want to “waste their time” on someone who “can’t decide without talking to their spouse” because the objection they use is, “I’m going to talk this over with my…” The bottom line is that company is rude, stupid, and will lose people (just like they lost you).

First of all, men don’t decide anything, anyway! Only women decide. The woman will approve all decisions in any household. Don’t take my word for it, ask any husband.

HERE’S THE SECRET: If you’re in the business of sales, you’re also in the service business, you’re also in the people business, and you’re also in the friendly business. Anyone says, “I’m not going to give my sales presentation unless both decision makers are in the room,” doesn’t fully understand that concept. But that’s the bad news for them. The good news is you can call their competition and coach them on what to do correctly. Somebody obviously did. Best regards, Jeffrey

Dear Jeffrey, My company delivers mobile dictation and transcription service to field workers in IT and health care, saving these people time in reporting. Lately I have been promoting the service to sales professionals. I have written several 30-second commercials for this but keep running into all sorts of objections. Salespeople are difficult prospects and I’m constantly trying to find the right pitch. How would you approach the market of sales professionals and sales management? Do I need two different approaches? Gerhard

Gerhard, No. You need one approach. Every salesperson who has a CRM – SalesForce.com, Microsoft Dynamics, whatever it is – is required to put stuff into their computer on an everyday basis for every sales call they make and there’s one universal truth about it: they all can’t stand it.

But if you could get them to record something on their laptop immediately, like a two minute, this goes here, this goes here, and you could actually do their CRM entering for them… Oh baby! Their boss would buy it, they would buy it, their CEO would buy it, and their spouse would buy it. Everybody would buy it and they would pay double.

The problem is you’re trying to sell your service instead of giving them an answer that they’re looking for. Big mistake. Don’t tell me what you’ve got. Sell me what I perceive that I need and then I will buy. Best regards, Jeffrey

Jeffrey, I’m an independent commercial real estate lender and commercial real estate mortgage broker. I’m trying to link up with referral sources such as CPAs, commercial realtors, financial planners, etc. Do you have suggestions for a thought provoking question or line of conversation to help me connect with these folks and open the door to more meaningful dialogue? Dennis

Dennis, Dude, you’re providing them with money. You’re helping them get deals done. Why don’t you ask them questions like, “What do you think about when your deal doesn’t go through? Do you think that there’s another alternative way?” and then follow with, “My name’s Jeffrey, and I would love to be your secondary source for the deals that don’t make it. If I can prove myself on a couple of them, maybe I can earn my way to becoming your primary source. Fair enough?”

All the people you’re talking to in the real estate business only want to get a deal done. That is their primary objective. It doesn’t matter what the interest rate is. It doesn’t matter where they get the funding from. They only want to get the deal done. If you can be a person who can help them get the deal done, they will use you. Best regards, Jeffrey

Jeffrey, I am a devoted reader of your weekly email magazine and a fellow Phillies fan. I’m not a salesperson by title, but as GM turned entrepreneur, selling is a vital skill, and your insightful information is greatly appreciated, not to mention it just makes sense. My strengths are more on the production and supply side, so I was wondering if you had any advice on how to find qualified salespeople in specific industries. I have several products that I’d like to develop sales channels for, but I’m not sure where to begin effectively. Rob, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Rob, Qualified salespeople are already working someplace else. You must attract them with reputation, range of salary and incentives, and social proof that you’re great. Look for people in related industries or directly at your competition. Ask your vendors. Ask your customers who they love to buy from. Search LinkedIn by keyword to see who may be “looking for career offers.” Go Phillies! Jeffrey

Jeffrey, My boss and I have drafted emails to different types of industries specifying how they can make money and profit from our service. The plan is to send out these brief descriptions through email and see who gets back to us. After reading almost all of your material, I know you don’t believe in cold calling, but in this case is it better to email the companies or call them on the phone? Ryan

Ryan, The answer is neither. What you need to be doing is blogging information about these companies that they would consider valuable. You have an email magazine. You post something on Twitter. And with their search for keywords about their own stuff, they will find you. If you only send out information about yourself… “We have this great service and it’s the greatest thing in the whole wide world” …delete, delete, delete! But if you put value messages out that they might be able to find, it will be delight, delight, delight! Best regards, Jeffrey

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The New World of the Global Consumer

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A customer-centric brand is clearly a priority today for most organizations. But how can management achieve that if they can’t believe what customers tell their market researchers?

The new global consumer appears to be a bundle of contradictions who keeps secrets from marketers and sometimes lies to us. A recent Y&R study, Secrets & Lies, the Hidden Side of the Global Consumer found that people appear to be hiding some of their most important desires and brand perceptions. The study asked about consumer personal values and their liking of brands in two ways:

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About the Author

Chip Walker is Executive Vice President, Brand Planning at Young & Rubicam Advertising, where he helps clients with brand strategy and consumer understanding as well as heading thought leadership initiatives for the Agency.