Hello everyone! Sarah here, Andy’s assistant.  I know it has been a long time since Andy’s last post and we apologize for that. However, we are glad to report that it is simply because Andy has been very busy consulting, traveling and speaking all over the country. In our busy time we have managed to get up a permanent company website at www.andymillerinternational.com. What do you think?

I wanted to take a minute to touch base with our blog readers and update them on Andy’s status and successes. One of the exciting events Andy had the privilege of speaking at was Tony Robbins’ and Chet Holmes’ Ultimate Business Mastery Summit. (I even got to go along and work the event!) It was a major success and I know a lot of good friendships were made and networking connections built.

Also, if you have not checked out Andy’s monthly webinars on Business Experts Webinars you are missing out! Andy gives value-packed calls on very relevant topics that often leave the attendees with a dozen or so gold nuggets to take back and implement right away for major results. Make sure to sign up for his next one by clicking on the sign up banner on the right hand panel.

In Andy’s “free time” (haha) he has been busy creating two very powerful products in the areas of sales and marketing that are in high demand. The first one has been in the making for years and is on Andy’s specialty – Consultative Selling.  Andy has always felt very passionate about consultative selling and has studied, practiced and taught the concept extensively. His “in the making” product will be a home study course on Consultative Mastery Selling.

His second product in the works is another home study course on a topic that Andy has used hundreds of times in his consulting, training, managing, and even in his everyday life – how to adapt your selling style to match your prospects buying style.   Andy uses the DISC personality types and he is creating a product that is specifically for sales professionals. Once these products are completed we will send out the notice to our friends so make sure to sign up for Andy’s Newsletters to stay in the loop.

Okay well I think this is enough to get you updated for now. I may help take over the writing of some of the blogs but I promise to get you great content from the guru himself. Contact me if there is anything you would enjoying seeing on here!

All the best,

Sarah

A lot of people ask me how I got started in sales. Outside of the lemonade stand my friends and I would do as kids trying to earn a buck, my first real sales job was for a little software company. 

The President of the company, a natural born sales person, said give it a try for 12 months and if you don’t like it we will move you into a technical position. That was all I needed to hear and so I started a new career as a salesperson. There were 5 salespeople and not one of us had any sales experience, training or skills. So I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I called data center managers on the phone and asked if they would like a free demo. Most people said yes, and without any qualification, I would overnight a demo tape.

Now I had to chase all of these unqualified data center managers to see if they had looked at the demo. Most had not and so I would arrange a call back and the game would continue. After 12 months the president called me into his office and said he was letting me go. From his perspective, I had not made enough sales. As I started defending myself and reviewing the amount of sales I had made, it was clear something was off. After some discussion we discovered my sales manager, Robert, had taken a couple of my large deals and credited himself with the sale. I couldn’t believe it; my sales manager had stolen my deals! Unfortunately, the President had made up his mind and said he was going to let me go anyway. I was one angry sales rep! 

I don’t know about you but I hate to lose! I knew I could do this job and I needed to prove it. So I decided make the president a gutsy offer and said, “I will make you a deal. I have total conviction that I can do this. Give me 30 days of working for free, no salary, no commission. Let’s agree on the number I need to hit. If I don’t hit my number you owe me nothing and you get to keep whatever I brought in during those 30 days. However, if I do hit my number you pay me for those 30 days plus my commission and… you make me the sales manager.”

So for the next 30 days I ate, drank and slept sales. From the time the first data center manager walked in the door on the East Coast until the last one went home in Hawaii I was pounding the phones seven days a week. Then in the late evening I was absorbing everything about sales that I could find. I read books, listened to tapes and found a retired sales guy who was willing to coach me. I was out to do whatever it took to hit my numbers…failure was not an option!

I hit my numbers and I became the new sales manager of the company. I decided, however, that I was not going to fire previous sales manager, Robert who had stolen my deals. Some perverse side of me wanted to keep him around so every day when he came into the office he would be reminded of my victory. I thought he would resign but he never did.

I learned some valuable lessons from that experience and it started me on the journey of what it takes to be the best. I learned that in order to be in the top 1%, I had to learn everything I could about selling. I have studied every topic related to selling know to man. I had to study everything, live outside my comfort zone, take chances and learn from my mistakes.

For all of you who are on the journey to become the best in professional selling, I honor you for your courage and commitment. This is a great profession, and I truly mean that. Open your eyes and look around. In the hospital, the airport, the grocery store, your office and even in your car – everything you see was sold by a salesperson. Nothing happens without sales and without sales businesses fail and economies falter. The lifestyle, the income and the impact you have on the world is profound!

If you read this far I am hoping that you really enjoyed this post.  I encourage you to share it with your friends, family and colleagues but selecting the Share This button below and choosing your favorite way to share. You can digg it, facebook post it, even directly email it or any other option that you perfer. I also invite you leave a comment by selecting the comments link under the title of this post. Thanks and happy selling this week.

- Andy

Last week I saw a sales manager tell a rep it was ok to discount and then deny to management he had authorized that discount. It reminded me of a question the author Byron Katie asks which is, “do you compromise your integrity for harmony”. She goes on to explain the damage created by compromising our integrity in order to maintain false harmony. In the sales world I see how sales professionals compromise their integrity to make the sale just as the sales manager did. Unfortunately this is short term thinking but the damage to the client, company and sales organization is always long term. Before we talk about the different ways I see salespeople and sales managers compromise their integrity let’s define it. Webster’s dictionary defines it as: adherence to moral and ethical principles; honesty. I see it as honoring your word, doing what you know to do, doing what you said you would do and doing what others expect you to do. The observable behavior I notice when a sales professional compromises their integrity is duplicity. This is where they speak or act in two different ways concerning the same matter with intent to deceive, mislead or double-deal. Some of the more common ways I see sales reps compromise integrity to make a sale are:

1) Failing to address an issue important to the prospect hoping they won’t notice
2) Misleading or use misinformation about a competitor to win the business
3) Omitting important information because the additional cost may kill the deal thinking they can charge for the extra services after the sale
4) Promising information or quote by a specific date when the rep knows they can’t make the deadline
5) Giving their word to do something but view it as an intention not a commitment
6) Lying on a cold call to reach someone
7) Letting the prospect railroad them into doing something they don’t want to do out of fear of losing the opportunity

Some of the common ways I see sales manager’s compromise integrity to make the sales are:
1) They tell a rep to discount and then tell their boss the discount wasn’t authorized
2) They over promise and leave it for the support people to clean up
3) They undermine a sales rep by offering the client a discount at the end of the quarter just to make the managers quota
4) They offer a discount or better terms unnecessarily killing the company’s profit margins
5) They are so consumed with their own performance they don’t properly coach, mentor or develop the sales team

I could drone on about ethics, regulated industries, code of conduct and all kinds of other things but I won’t because I see this as an individual issue. The bottom line is it is up to each of us as a salesperson, sales manager, executive and/or CEO to not compromise integrity to make a sale and it is up to us to correct it when it occurs.

I decided it was finally time; time to get myself, my ideas and my experience out there where it can help as many people as possible. I have been involved with the sales world – almost every aspect of it – for over 17 years.  I have been a sales rep, a sales manager, a business owner, a sales consultant, sales trainer and a sales coach. 

In the past I have chosen to work the traditional way – I gain clients through referrals only and work one on one with a select few companies a year giving them high quality service and gaining high quality results.  I decided that, although I still want to work this way – and still will continue to do so – there was another piece that I was missing.  I have heard it said before that if you truly believe in what you do and the powerful results you produce shouldn’t you consider it your moral and ethical obligation to get out there and reach as many people as possible with your talents? Well I do believe in my talents and abilities to greatly help others. Whether it be sales professionals, sales managers, Sales VP’s, CEO’s, or VC’s – my experiences and no nonsense approach have helped me to connect and produce powerful results.

Therefore, this blog is my attempt at reaching, connecting, and helping as many people as a I can with my knowledge and experience.  That being said, this is my first attempt at joining “blogging world”.  Over the next couple weeks we will be fine tuning this blog but the real value, the content, will always stay the same. Thanks for your patience and your interest. Feel free to contact me or leave comments.