Bee-haviors of Successful Sales Professionals

What do you think about sales people who always appear to be doing great regardless of how things are going? When things don’t go their way, they seem to have the ability to just shake it off and move forward. When things do go their way, they almost always act as if they expected it to turn out that way all along.

If you look at the way those people handle their sales careers, you might notice that they handle their accounts with that same kind of attitude and consistency too. They dress their best for every meeting and exude the confidence that goes along with it. They take their client’s calls, and take action to resolve issues, treating each situation they encounter as an opportunity rather than a problem.

They put their time and energy into their accounts just like other sales professionals do, they just do it with enthusiasm rather than complaints. The funny part is that they seem to look forward to handling whatever comes their way—both the good and the bad.

Back when you were starting your sales career, one of your goals was to make a good impression with every account. Chances are good that you went the extra mile when you could too. Granted, the accounts you’re handling now are probably bigger. You might even describe your current list of accounts as “comfortable.” But don’t let complacency and a poor attitude become an excuse for letting things slide with any of your key accounts.

As a sales professional, your livelihood will be heavily influenced by the quality of both your attitude and your process, and that means following the same protocols with each of your key accounts.

Making the commitment to being a great sales person is what sets the stage for long-term growth in sales revenue, and it’s a great disservice to your clients to assume that they can’t tell the difference between the sales rep who’s committed to doing what’s best for the them and the rep who’s just putting in enough face time to keep the account alive. They can. So, if you want your revenues to keep growing (because maintaining without growth isn’t an option these days) put aside some time to revisit your sales process, and your attitude.

What are you doing that works? What are you doing that hasn’t been working lately? How consistent are you with your sales process and protocols? Are there times when your assumptions (rather than your research) directly interfere with your process and/or attitude to your detriment?

I could go through the long list of things there are to look at, but you should be able to look at your process, and your attitude, and figure it out. If you’re having trouble deciphering or remembering what your personal sales process is, or you’re realizing that you’ve gotten off track and aren’t sure of how to get back on, or you’re struggling to reclaim your positive attitude, it’s time to schedule a consultation with me so we can figure it out, because:

There’s never a better time than the present to reignite the fire in your gut!

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

The Top Five Sales Tactics All Salespeople Should Avoid

When someone decides they want to pursue a career in sales—which is as honorable a profession as any other—they also get to decide what kind of a salesperson they want to be. Very few people would purposely choose to become the stereotypical sleazy salesperson, but it can happen if no one ever takes the time to explain the “old school” selling tactics people associate with sleazy salespeople, and why you should avoid them at all costs. Here’s a quick refresher of the top five tactics all salespeople should avoid: 

1. Directly putting down your competitor’s products/services:  Doing this is basically telling your prospect they are ignorant of the world around them. Face it, your prospects have access to the same information you do. Your job isn’t to prove your products/services are better than your competition’s. It’s to show your prospect that your products/services are a perfect fit for them.

2.  Hoping your prospect is as lazy as you are:  I once worked for a VP who always asked, “Did you do your due diligence?" The reality is that there are business owners who don’t do their due diligence with regard to their own company, or with the sales reps they encounter. For the sales rep who gets their foot in the door, it’s a choice. They can do just enough work to get the account, or they can do their own due diligence and become an invaluable resource to the business owner.

3.  Insulting you prospects intelligence: If there’s one trait that’s become synonymous with the sleazy salesperson, it’s the idea that they’re always on the lookout for the easy mark. Never assume that the way someone looks, dresses, or talks is an indication of how well they know their business. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that just because someone’s desk is a mess, you have an edge. Don’t let your assumption about how business savvy a prospect is end up showing the prospect just how un-savvy you are.

4.  Making promises just so you can get the order:  Everybody knows how the “bait and switch” approach to business works. What people don’t understand is how it can still happen in this day and age. Easy. When the order isn’t delivered on time, or as expected, or at the price quoted, it’s always someone else’s fault. These kinds of sales lead to short-term clients. Think about it… if you go to a restaurant and everything about your visit is sub-standard, are you likely to go their again? Over time, short-term clients lead to a short-term career.

5. Talking over your prospect: Yes, you may have a lot of great information to share, but good sales conversations are a two-way street. Talking over your prospect’s questions before they can even ask them forces them to look for answers in what you’re saying. That might have worked in the old west when the “snake oil salesman” sold from his wagon, but many of today’s business owners know more about your products/services than you do! Remember, relevant conversations are building blocks for solid long-term business relationship.

Fortunately, many sales professionals learn not to pursue these tactics early on in their careers. But I can't tell you how many times I’ve wished I hadn’t been present to witness a sales person falling into "old school" selling tactics simply because they didn’t realize that’s what they were doing.

Chances are that the stereotype of the sleazy salesperson will never be eradicated either. Fortunately, as sales professionals, we do get to choose whether to conduct ourselves as part of the solution, or part of the problem.

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

How To Take Charge of Your Accounts and Increase Your Quality of Earnings

Quick! Print out a list of all of your accounts. Do it right now.
Did you print it? Probably not. After all, you know your list. You know your clients too, and besides, how could I say or ask anything that would be relevant to your specific list?
The reality is that after all my years in sales and as a sales coach, I don’t need to see your list to know that there is untapped information and potential there. It might be that no one ever showed you how to mine your list. Or, it might be a case of having forgotten how a few simple questions can keep you inspired to reach another level. Either way, there’s a tremendous amount of value in analyzing your list.
As you know, I’m a firm believer in the application of Pareto’s 80/20 principle. That means that if you have a list of 80 clients, 16 of them are in the 20%, providing you with 80% of your revenue. The other 64 clients aren’t.
With your top accounts, what do they have in common with each other? Is it their industry, location, or the way the company is structured? Are they all within a specific aspect of the industry that you have more expertise in? Why do you think they do business with you rather than your competitors?
When it comes to mining your top 16, think about the way their business is built and how they structured themselves. Then brainstorm/research for other businesses, companies, and organizations that mirror their setup. This will provide you with a list of more potential top 20% performers.
Make sure your top accounts really are profitable. There are times when the revenue they provide looks good until you dive into how much time, effort and work it’s costing you to consider them as one of your top 20%.
Don’t forget about your other 64 clients. Take a long look at each one of them to determine their long-term prognosis as being a good match for you and your list. Are there any with the potential of moving up and into your top 20%? If there are, consider how much time it would take to get them there. Are you willing to make the effort? If you aren’t, it doesn’t mean you should get rid of them as a client. It just means you can block the time you spend on their account off your calendar well into the future.
With the lower performing clients, maybe it’s time to consider another alternative for them—like inside sales. Could you hand them over to a new sales rep in your company? Obviously you can keep them, but you will be blocking off your valuable time to work on their accounts well into the future too. On the other hand, if you come up with a way to professionally and ethically let them go, you’ll have more time to pursue new accounts.
There’s always a balance to be struck in sales. We want to believe that our client list is structured with the necessary combination of clients who will help us reach both our sales and monetary goals. But business is always on the move—always changing.

When was the last time you went through your client list to make sure everyone on it is still performing in a way that supports their goals as well as yours?


Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work part time with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

How to Avoid a Knife in the Back

Acquiring, building, and maintaining solid relationships with clients and customers is arguably the first priority of a sales professional’s job. After all, without those relationships, there is no job. So we go into the office and set our minds to the task of keeping those relationships in tip-top shape. We might hear a coworker who always seems so pleasant and agreeable say something that sounds a bit strange, but don’t think twice about it.
We witness little things with our other coworkers too—like a look, a roll of the eyes, a gesture behind someone’s back, or one coworker whispering to another coworker—but don’t think much about it until we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a workplace drama we did not see coming.
Building relationships with coworkers is not like building a relationship with a client or customer. To varying degrees, we have a choice about who we want our sales clients to be. We rarely have a choice about our coworkers. And while it might not be fair to say that we should always be aware of what our coworkers are up to, it would be naive to believe that their actions in the workplace are designed to build anyone’s career other than their own.
If you don’t want to inadvertently get caught up in office drama—or worse, be the source of it—use some of the same strategies you’d use when you’re getting to know a client better. In the workplace, that means paying attention to the clues your coworkers are giving you.

For example:

Gossip - A coworker might ask you a question about yourself, or someone else in the office, that seems innocent enough to answer. BUT, what will they do with your answer? Will it come back to bite you on the #%&? Stick to the facts, and take care with the jokes or information you might be tempted to share about others.

Superficial Sincerity - People in the workplace can become very good at hiding their insecurities behind a facade of sincerity. It would be nice if all of our coworkers felt confident, comfortable and secure in their jobs. BUT they don’t. Don’t expect a coworker to jump on the sword perched in the middle of the room even if it does have their name on it.

Trust – This is one of the most important aspects of any relationship, BUT it’s hard to build trust in an environment of casual “work” relationships. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust the people you work with. It just means that if you witness a coworker doing or saying something behind someone else’s back, chances are extremely good they’ll do the same behind your back too.

None of this is a suggestion to look for trouble where there isn’t any. It’s just a reminder that the same ability you use to build relationships with your clients can be used to help you safely navigate through office politics with your coworkers. All either situation requires is your attention.

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work part time with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

No Value,Low Price,Welcome To Wimp Road

If you were in a room with 99 other sales professionals, and you were about to be ranked based on your skill and professionalism as a sales person, where would you land? Would you be in the top 20%? Or somewhere in the midst of the 80%?

If you were a client or customer trying to decide which sales professional you were going to do business with, would your first choice be to work with someone outside of the top 20%? Would you be willing to go outside of the top 20% if the price was right?

Unfortunately, all sales professionals—both the good and the bad—have to answer the one question a prospective client or customer is trying to answer without asking it. “Which do you care more about – my money or my business?”

The reality is that most sales people should not be in the selling profession. That may sound harsh, but being likable, and having the ability to strike up a friendly conversation with a stranger while simultaneously shaving a few dollars off your competition’s price isn’t selling. It’s the wimp’s version of selling – peddling prices instead of value. For the wimp, it’s all about the money.

Ask the wimp what their value position is, and they’ll stick to talking about price because they don't understand value, and aren’t inspired to put any effort into understanding it. To them, price is enough to get the job done. They believe that’s their potential client’s chief concern too.

A professional sales person understands the competitive advantages of their product or service above and beyond price, and can confidently explain the value proposition their product or service will bring to the business relationship.

The wimp is content to trek down Wimp Road looking to peddle their prices to clients and customers willing to base their decisions on price. For the wimp, success is measured by the next sale that falls their way.

Professional sales people can make informed decisions about when it’s time to walk away from low or no margin business propositions. They want to build business relationships with clients and customers who care about their business, at least as much as they care about the price of the product or service they are thinking about purchasing.

Wimps who are content to focus on price as their main strategy don’t make an effort to improve or grow their sales skills. They don’t read books about sales, or attend training seminars. They believe they know everything they need to know.

A professional sales person knows that building long-term business relationships with clients and customers who say, “We just love doing business with them,” happens when they continue to educate themselves and stay current with innovations, ideas, and best practices that might have an impact on their client’s or customer’s business.

So now, I’ll ask the same question from a slightly different perspective. Are you in the top 20% of your immediate competition? Or are you moving dangerously close to detouring down Wimp Road?

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

Is Business Protocol Dead?

Is Business Protocol Dead?

If you ask a highly successful sales person what the keys to their success are, they would likely start by pointing out the importance of doing due diligence research prior to approaching a potential client or customer. They’d be less likely to start by pointing out the importance of protocol when it comes to interacting with potential clients and customers. They would however remind you not to forget it.

The tools we have access to have changed the business landscape, and it would be easy to convince ourselves that all business decisions come down to dollars and cents so it shouldn’t matter how we present ourselves. In one sense that might be true. But think of it from this perspective… if both you and your competition have access to the exact same information, and can offer the exact same deal, how will you differentiate yourself from them?

One way to ensure your forward momentum is to take the time to make sure you do as good of a job presenting yourself as you do of presenting what you have to offer. Here are 3 time tested do’s and don’ts of sales protocol.

1.     Don’t talk to people like you know them—before you know them.

Do:  Dale Carnegie said, "A person’s name is the sweetest sound to them in any language." But that doesn't mean Mrs. Debra Nice, the president of a company you’d like to do business with, will appreciate you calling her Debbie. Address people formally until you are invited to do otherwise.

2.     Don’t disregard the chain of command.

Do:  A chain of command might be annoying to deal with, but it serves a purpose. If you disregard it and go straight for the chief decision maker, you might get the “yes” you were hoping for, but he or she is very likely to turn the deal over to the people you just stepped over—not the best way to build a business relationship. Be respectful of the people you interact with as you work your way up the decision maker chain, and they will be more likely to return the favor by speaking well of you and what you have to offer to their higher-ups.

3.     Don’t speak poorly of your competition.

Do:  Successful sales people know that their clients and customers aspire to rise to the top of their market. But trash-talking your competition doesn’t provide any positive information about how you and your company can help them achieve that goal. Keep your presentation/discussion focused on what the client really cares about—how the product and/or service you offer will improve their position in their marketplace. Do a good job with that and your competition won’t matter.

Yes, these sound like common sense protocols everyone would know and follow, but they’re rarely taught, so many sales professionals end up learning them the hard way. Once you include them as part of your own best business practices though, they are evidence to potential clients/customers of your confidence, professionalism, and experience.

Alan Luoma is a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new product development, sales and product training. He works with a national sustainable packaging company and their distributors to increase sales. Alan is an expert that speaks on eliminating behaviors that prevent you from being successful in sales and uncovering sales prevention departments that hinder your success. He is a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view his profile on LinkedIn, or contact him at Luoma@snet.net

Are You Comfortably Numb

The first time I ever heard the words “comfortably numb” within a business context was when Larry Caizzi, the Director of Purchasing at Pacific Packaging said them. Over the years, I’ve realized how right he was, and how easy it is to become comfortably numb. Take sales people for instance. We put in all that time and effort to finally secure the account we’ve been pursuing for a long time. And then, once the ink is dry, we breathe in a big sigh of relief and relax, thinking about how great everything’s going to be now.

But we’re sales people, and that means looking for the next big account to bring on board. Over time, the account we just secured naturally starts drifting down our list of priorities. We know it’s still there. It’s a persistent noise in the background reminding us that there’s more to sales than just acquiring new accounts. We promise ourselves we’ll reach out to them just as soon as we can, but never seem to find the time to return their calls or schedule the much needed in-person sales call.

It might even get to the point where we start complaining to our manager that the account is becoming a real pain-in-the-ass. Yes, I said it. I’ve witnessed it too, the evolution of an account full of profit potential being relegated to nothing more than a pain in the… well… you know. From there, it’s just a quick hop to becoming numb to the account altogether.

Of course the greatest danger is not just being comfortably numb when it comes to our work, but in life as well because the reality is that if it’s happening at work, then it’s probably happening at home too—and vice-versa. Here are a few reminders that might expose areas in your life where the pressure to succeed might have nudged you into the comfortably numb zone:

• Take responsibility for what you bring into your relationships. It can’t always be someone else’s fault.
• Simple words like “Please” and “Thank You” are words that will help you build rapport. Once you start looking for opportunities to use them, opportunities will abound.
• Treat every encounter like it’ll be the last time you’ll be able to meet with that person… because it just might be.
• Let people know you value your relationship with them. Doing so will build bridges that will stand the test of time. 
• Remind yourself of how much it meant to initially establish the relationship. If it was worth the effort then, isn’t it worth the effort now?
• Remind yourself of what you stand to lose if you continue to ignore the relationship.
• Shift your focus away from thinking solely about what’s in it for you. Think and act from the perspective of adding value, and your relationships will continue to blossom and grow.
• Don’t just post an update on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+ and think that will suffice. Don’t just send a tweet, or post on Pinterest, or send a group email. None of these adequately replaces the respect of picking up the phone and actually speaking with someone.

Now it’s time for you to stop and think about the areas in your life where you’ve become "comfortably numb". Decide what you need to do, do it, and let the results you get speak for themselves. 

Alan Luoma is a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new product development, sales and product training. He works part time with a national sustainable packaging company and their distributors to increase sales. Alan is an expert that speaks on eliminating behaviors that prevent you from being successful in sales and uncovering sales prevention departments that hinder your success. He is a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view his profile on LinkedIn, or contact him at Luoma@snet.net