Do you let this guy stop you from getting the deal?

Years ago I had a scheduled an appointment with the VP of sales for FedEx. I had done everything right…found his pain, set an agenda, confirmed the appointment and tied it down to make sure it didn’t get canceled. He knew I was flying in to meet with him and had confirmed the night before. However when I showed up for the appointment he wasn’t there. I was concerned because he had confirmed and I didn’t believe anyone would miss it unless an emergency happened. I had his assistant track him down and she found him at home. He said he decided not to come in that day and that was it. So now I had a few hours before my flight out and I decided to make the best of the situation. I pulled out my org chart that I had made and started calling around. Everyone was either in meetings or out of the office. So I decided to shoot for the moon and do a cold walk-in on the CEO, Fred Smith.

With a little detective work that even Scotland Yard would have been proud of I found out that the CEO was in town and was in his office that day. I found out what building he was in and took the campus bus over to his building. When I walked in it was about 10am and the security was tight. I knew I couldn’t just ask for the CEO so I asked for the Sales VP who I knew was not there because he stood me up. So the security guard started tracking down the sales VP and after a few calls got nowhere as I knew would happen. What this did was gave me time to get to know the security guard. While I was getting to know him I asked him where he liked to go for lunch and he named his favorite place. I asked when he liked to go and if it was crowded because I liked to avoid the rush and he told me when his lunch break was. So guess what. I left and returned when he was at lunch. When I walked up to security I said “Hey you aren’t Joe…oh yea it’s his lunch time”. The point is I sounded like I belonged there!  I told the security guard that I was there to meet with Fred Smith and they told me to take the elevator to the 6th floor and he was the hallway on the right. Earlier I had found out his assistant’s name so when I got up to his office and she was there I told her I was there to meet with Fred.  It was a good idea and I almost made it all the way but unfortunately at the last minute they realized what had happened and I was excorted out by security.

Ok so I didn’t actually get the meeting but what surprised me was how far I could get with a little tenacity and creativity.  My question for you is have you ever pushed the limit and been thrown out of an office building?  I am willing to bet the most of the time you are “playing safe”. I say go for it…shoot for the moon and see just how far you can get. You may be surprised.

Good Luck!

The Key To Reaching Decision Makers

How badly do you want to reach your prospects? When salespeople tell me they can’t reach someone I ask, “How badly do they want to reach them?” If their loved ones were being held hostage and all it took to earn their freedom was to reach that person within one business day, do you think they would find a way? Of course they would. I could tell you story after story of salespeople who were not hungry enough reach their prospect and many stories of those who were. I can think of one man in particular who tried to get into an account for months but got nowhere. The account was reassigned to another rep and he had a meeting scheduled by the end of the first day. What was the difference? Desire! The new rep used email and phone calls to the main number, direct number, dialing the direct number +/- on the last digit and asking if the person he needed to get a hold of had an assistant. Pretty simple but work and determination paid off.

I once had a client who wanted to reach the CEOs of the Fortune 50. They tried everything but without success. I said give me 10 names and let me try for a day. I had 4 appointments scheduled by the end of the day. What was my secret? I found their letter to the shareholders on their website and identified an issue that was important to them that I knew my client could solve. Then I picked up the phone asked for their assistant and said, “Your CEO said this was an important issue in the letter to the Shareholders…is it really or was that just marketing fluff” (in a light hearted way). When they said it was important (always) then I asked if it was important enough to schedule a five minute phone appointment and did. It was very simple but the difference was that my self-talk was “I can reach anyone” and I was hungry to make it happen.   

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Best,

I had a client call me and ask about motivation and compensation plans. I get this question a lot so I decided to post my thoughts on this topic. Personally I think it is a matter of internal motivation. People who are motivated will do whatever it takes to be successful. They will take training, study books and DVD’s even if the company doesn’t provide anything. They will explore, discuss and practice what is working and not working and seek out coaching, training and advice without being prompted by management. They don’t ask “if” something can happen instead they look for “how” to make it happen. When a child wants to earn something really badly they say to their parents, “I will do anything” and then the child and parents negotiate how that can happen. Once the agreement is made you never have to push or prompt the child because they know the rules and they are really motivated to get what they want. Nobody had to motivate their kids to earn that first bicycle, buy their first car, go on their first date or finish college. It is the same thing with adults (same psychology just bigger bodies with bigger wants/needs). However we are all motivated by different things so it is a matter of finding someone whose motivation matches the opportunity you offer.

One thing I look for is people who have a high money need or wants to make a lot of money. If the base is enough to cover their basic needs and be comfortable in life then the need to produce has been removed. So I prefer a plan that is enough to cover their basic needs but not be comfortable without selling. In a perfect world I prefer a rep given the choice between base + commission or no base + high commission would chose the no base plan because they see the opportunity and are motivated to make great money. That is why in general I am against caps on sales plans. You want no cap so a money motivated rep can keep on selling and make more. Don’t get me wrong money isn’t everything but for a business cash flow is the life blood and sales are what feed the cash flow.

What hinders many salespeople is a lack of motivation. If you disagree that motivation is the issue then look at activity level. If the activity level isn’t at the level of your best person then it is a lack of drive/motivation or lack of skills. If you think it is a skills issue then ask yourself what have they done on their own to improve their skills? If the answer is nothing then it is back to a motivation issue. If they are doing something on their own then they need some skills and drills and coaching until they master their craft.

All the best,

Do you agree? Leave me your opinions by going to the top of this post and clicking on the comments link and leaving a comment. Thanks for your viewpoint!