It's showtime!

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Last Thursday night I watched most of the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Baltimore Ravens season-opening football game. Since Baltimore is in the same division as my team, the Steelers, I was happy KC won. Now, certainly, Baltimore is a good team with a great quarterback but what I noticed, as did the referees, is that Baltimore was set up for failure many times with off-sides and illegal formation sets. Each of those infractions cost Baltimore time on the clock, yards, downs, and chipped away at their confidence.

This is similar to a golfing buddy of mine who prepares for every drive with an open stance, hips and shoulders pointed left, and a cutting swing. Not surprisingly his drive slices off to the right into the rough or trees and costs his score dearly. If you’re a golfer you know what I mean and if you’re not a golfer, a slice is a banana ball curving way to the right….it’s bad.

So, what about you, are you set up for success each and every day or do you have good days and bad days, or just wing it and hope for the best?

The most important part of each sales day is the space between your ears. What’s your attitude? My wife used to get so mad at me when we would be having a discussion about something I had done wrong as we would be going to some social event yet as we walked in the door I was Mr. Congeniality. She was still PO’d but I was all smiles. Just like a sales call, it was showtime.

Preparing yourself for the "show"

I’m sorry but the world doesn’t really care about your problems or your personal issues. Keep them to yourself. Your customer probably has their own sack of issues and as hard as it may be you have to listen to their problems but can not unload your own.

Try relating this to going out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Compare your tip percentage when the server is less than friendly and not particularly helpful to when the server makes you feel special, attended to, and that they are happy to help you. That 20 percent average tip will often jump to 25 percent or dip to 15 percent depending on the server’s attitude. Wouldn’t you love that 25 percent increase in your revenue?

Who wants to buy expensive tools from Grumpy Gus or someone who seems to have the weight of the world on their shoulders? No matter what pile of crapola has landed on you lately, it's showtime.

The commercial visitor vs. the sales professional

Get your head set up right, paint on that happy face, and get out there. Once you've completed those steps, then you'll have to decide if you will be a commercial visitor or a sales professional.

A commercial visitor is the person who stops by a business, has the latest weather report, sports scores, industry rumor, or (please no!) some political opinion. None of these topics sell tools. In fact, expressing a political opinion at this time is probably worse than talking about religion.

The professional salesperson understands clearly why they are making calls and orchestrates each call with a success plan.

One of the best Klein Tools salesmen that I worked with was Darrell Brown in San Francisco. Darrell opened up every sales call with a review of the previous call. This accomplished several things. It showed the customer that he was important and that Darrell was thinking about them. It was also an excellent way to close the deal on something that was presented on the previous sales call without success.

“Last time we talked, you were seriously considering the new XYZ high-speed grinder. I have one with me today. If you remember it is an adjustable head for flexibility and a zillion rpm drive motor. Would you like to go ahead with it?”

If this approach works only a third of the time just think of the extra income it will earn you.

A professional sales plan also should normally include something new that is based on that customer’s unique needs and work applications. Showing a bodyman the latest exhaust analyzer, just because it is on promotion, is probably a waste of your time and theirs. So, unlike the Baltimore Ravens, go into each play, or customer interaction, set correctly and professionally for success.

Getting ready for the BIG sales

Now I understand that in a normal work week, you make sales calls to 200 or so technicians. I know that each call is important, but some are really important. By really important I mean the presentation of a $12 - $15,000 tool storage system or a big-time piece of technical equipment. These don’t happen every day and you really need to be set up for success for these important transactions.

Even though this is a work purchase and not a personal purchase people normally make big decisions the same way.

Just think of the last time you bought a new personal vehicle. You were initially with the salesperson who reviewed the features and benefits of the vehicle you were interested in. They then got you sitting in the driver’s seat and started using words like “your car”, and "your pride of ownership” so that you started to feel like this was your vehicle.

Next, you went on a test drive for you to get a feel for your new vehicle. And by now the salesperson is phrasing things to reduce your “sticker shock.” After the test drive, you probably went to the salesperson’s quiet desk or even a private room without distractions to close the deal.

What I’m getting at here is that the shop floor is absolutely not the setup location to close a big deal. There are too many noises and activity distractions and potentially prying coworkers to butt in during your presentation. Just think of asking a prospect for $12,000 with an air hammer pounding in the next shop bay. Your mobile store, a breakfast location before work, at lunch, or even the prospect's home are all better locations to close a big deal. The shop floor is not.

Back in my Knipex days, when our team was getting ready for a big presentation at the major automotive brands or major industrial distributors, we were 100 percent set up for success. We developed and rehearsed a presentation based on that prospect’s needs. We were prepared to answer whatever questions and objections that might come up. We had respect for those we were calling on and had an excellent sales/marketing team in place. In your case that’s you.

We were set for sales success on each and every call and you need to be too.

Now, go sell something … it’s showtime.