All Posts by John Aberle

Freakonomics Provides Huge Lesson for Sales Managers

By John Aberle | Sales Management , Sales Motivation

At first glance, Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, seems like a strange book for sales managers. It was a book with no unifying theme. It was more like a collection of essays. However, these stories did indeed have a theme: motivation.

Finding the Underlying Motivation Can Be Challenging

The key point is that motivation is a complex issue. Sometimes money provides the motivation to take great risks, like street corner drug dealers or, in the case of real estate agents, to not risk losing a sure sale for the potential of getting a better offer for their clients later. Sumo wrestlers demonstrated that sometimes maintaining their close knit relationships outweighs the potential dishonor if you are caught throwing a fight.

Hard Sell Sales Organizations Rely Heavily on Money, Recognition, and Material Rewards

The same is true in sales management. The predominant motivator in hard sell organizations is money, lots of money. They also use recognition and other material rewards, like rings, watches, cars, and trips to exotic places.

True Soft Sell Marketers Won’t Push Their Customers Just for a Material Incentive Continue reading

If You Don't Like Selling, It May Be Due to Forcing Yourself to Do Hard Sell Sales

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Sales Management

When You Sell as a Service, You’ll Be Unhappy in a Hard Sell Company

Have you ever felt out of place? I have. I find it happens most often when I seem to share nothing in common with the group where I am. Despite having been in sales and marketing since 1979, I feel uncomfortable in a company or a conference where the sales style is hard sell. I have friends who excel at it. They like the game of jockeying for control. My orientation instead is a service one. I like affirming the client and working with him rather seizing control and dictating. It was really challenging working in a company where I was expected to take control of the client and to prescribe what he would do. One executive told me that I’m the doctor. It’s my job to tell clients what to do.

Had to Find a Way to Satisfy My Boss While Acting Consistent with My Values

I spent 40 months dreading talking to my office because I had to find a way to take their orders and attempt to carry them out using my style of working in partnership with the client. I believe that lasting change comes from buy-in, which comes from agreeing with the objective and contributing to the solution. That’s hard to do when you are ordering instead of proposing a course of action and discussing.

Judith and Jim Seek to Make a Space for Soft Sell Sales and Marketing PeopleContinue reading

I Apologize for My Having Removed My Last Three Posts

By John Aberle | Blogging

I love WordPress, however. Nothing in life is bullet proof as I demonstrated to myself almost a week ago. I decided to delay the post publishing until 8:00 AM. When I editted the time to post, WordPress showed me the date. I wanted to post at 8:00 AM – my time. 12:30 AM or 1:00 AM I was too tired to realize the “time” was there under the time I last saved. It was already after 8:00 AM UTC. So later in the morning when I checked to see if “How to Reframe Memories of Sales Calls Gone Badly” was up, it wasn’t there. Now refreshed with a night’s sleep, I saw my error. Unfortunately, not knowing what I was doing, I decided to move the time a few minutes from then, using UTC now, and told it to publish again. Not a good move. Now that post disappeared and messed up two others.

This brings me to why I am reposting the last three. And crossing my fingers that I don’t have to do a restore.

Sales Training: When You Walk the Talk, Expect to Stub Your Toe Occasionally

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Sales Training

I admit to having egg on my face. You probably gathered from this headline that I believe in walking the talk. I have put in hours on the copy in my website to be sure that I approach everything – as best I know how – from the viewpoint of “What’s in it for me?” where the “me” is you the reader. Additionally, when I do sales training, I constantly emphasize the importance of benefits instead of features.

Well, last night I sent off a prospecting letter for a job I would like to get, even if it means convincing the prospect that they need such a position. Typical salesman, I see the need or suspect there might be a need. Now I have to find out if the prospect agrees that they do indeed want such help. I was really excited about approaching them to sell them on my services. There in lay the potential problem. I got so excited that I didn’t double check my benefits statements.

It wasn’t until I was listening to DeBorah Beatty’s interview of Barry Friedman of GetMoreCorporateGigs.com that I realized I failed to do what I teach clients to do. I sent a list of my accomplishments, which I expected my prospect to translate into benefits instead of my doing it for her.

Now in my favor, I did propose a benefit in the first part of my email. It could have been stronger though, like, “Would you like to take more time off to enjoy your success? My management skills and experience will enable you to leave the office with peace of mind that your business will be thriving when you return.”

The other positive was that the tone of my letter carried the viewpoint of what I wanted to be able to do for them. So that’s why I only take credit for stubbing my toe instead of scraping my nose, elbows and knees. Ah, well, that’st the other part of what I tell clients to do. After a sales call, ask, “What could I have done better?”

Here are some quick tips of how to improve on our sales and marketing letters:
• Have people you respect for their writing ability, especially marketing copy, review your letter or email before sending it.
• Sleep on it and re-read it – preferably with a notecard in front of you that says: “So what?” (If it doesn’t answer the question, “So what?” it’s not a benefit.
• Have a checklist for what you want each propsecting email to contain:
o Benefits — be sure you stated them clearly.
o Call to action — “Request your gift download now.”
o Ways to contact you — set up your email signature to include phone and email address at the least.

Recognize that despite your best efforts, sometimes you won’t do everything “right.” Accept it as a learning experience: review it then take action to ensure you avoid that mistake in the future. I gave three suggestions above that I hope will help you – as well as me – be sure your communications with your prospects are as effective as you can make them. And while you’re at it, request my report, “Easier Sales: 7 Steps to Winning Customers,” in the box at the top of the righthand column. May your sales be fun and mutually rewarding.

Master Sales Call Reluctance to Become the Hero in Your Own Story

By John Aberle | Prospecting , sales

The Main Character in a Novel Is Much like a Salesperson
Because I decided to take a break from the genres I normally read to relax, I finally recognized the parallel between the protagonists in my novels and making sales calls.

The Protagonist’s Internal Conflict Makes the Story Interesting
In every genre I read, the main people in the stories must be likeable enough that the reader will care about them. At the same time, they must have some flaws that make them human. Ideally, these weak character traits will help set up the tension for the conflict that they must overcome. Especially among Dorothy’s favorite authors but also in many of my preferred sci-fi/fantasy novels, the conflict takes place within the protagonist’s mind and emotions. In other words, the central character must overcome some fear or other weakness to win the prize, which can be anything from a kingdom to a battle to a relationship, such as a happy marriage.

All Salespeople Must Confront Call Reluctance
This is the very thing that I found when I started out in sales. Sales managers call it “call reluctance.” It’s a fear of cold calling and prospecting. Continue reading

I Knew Better but Did It Anyway – And Now I Wish I Hadn't

By John Aberle | Customer Experience , marketing

I Confess, a Pretty Picture Led Me Astray
Anybody who’s been around computers and software as long as I have has no excuse for what I did. But it looked so pretty. And their sales pitch was so seductive: “faster, safer and easier than ever.” Besides, it was FREE. So I went ahead and took the upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.0 BETA.

Testing Software Should Be Done by Professionals
If you’ve been around software — and are not a developer or programmer yourself — you doubtless know enough to run just as fast as you can from version x.0, in this case 8.0. Of course, someone has to run software and test it so the developers can fix it and test it again until it is ready for general release to the public. Normally they test it in a simulated live environment. But the testers shouldn’t be the end users. They should be programmers, professionals who are willing to run it through its paces, people who expect problems and are temperamentally suited for the challenges. They don’t mind a bad customer experience because they love that kind of challenge.

Microsoft Excels at Marketing, Not at Giving Great Customer ExperienceContinue reading

Fun Time Adds Zest to Life

By John Aberle | Recreation

This weekend Dorothy and I celebrated her birthday at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Even though she had to work most of the day, we arrived around 4:30 PM and enjoyed the attractions until 9:00 PM when we grabbed dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

We had a blast! We visited the Boudin Bakery and ate some Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread, watched the Pixar Play Parade, walked the boardwalk at Paradise Pier, then flew over California in the Soarin over California ride – it’s our favorite ride in that park. What incredible views: flying over snow covered mountains just above the skiers, zipping over the waves with surfers almost touching our feet, shooting over San Francisco and Los Angeles, gliding over the rocky shore near Monterey, and ending at the Disney Theme Parks in Anaheim. From there we went to Disneyland to shop, helped Buzz Lightyear fight the evil Zorg – twice, and took the Monorail completely around its route and returned to Downtown Disney for dinner.

Most of all, it was an opportunity for me to pull away from work to just enjoy time with my wife. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt describe this in their wonderful book, The Power of Focus. In “The Achievers Focusing System,” they include “Fun Time!” as one of the seven areas of our lives that we need to plan for. It recharges us. Living a balanced life includes allotting time for recreation (that’s when we re-create ourselves).

While Disneyland may not be your birthday treat, get away from everything work related for a day or two or three. Dorothy and I plan a fun outing every two to three months for just the two of us, even if it’s just to go sightseeing. These mini-vacations give zest to our lives.

By now you may suspect that where I go, my camera goes. And so do at least two books. What’s your favorite way to unwind? And do you do it with someone or go by yourself to enjoy the solitude?

Sales Can Provide a Great Life as Well as Great Income

By John Aberle | sales

Becoming a Servant Salesperson Made Life Rewarding and Enjoyable
Selling is one of the most challenging professions imaginable. And yet for over 25 years I have loved every day of it, especially once I learned to become a “servant salesperson.”

Sales Involves a Bit of Detective Work
If the challenges are so great, why did I stay in this profession for so long? First off, I wanted more out of life than most jobs could give me, like control over my time and income. But along the way, I found that I really love selling — true, it normally provided me with an above average income; however, I enjoyed the people side of the business. There’s an element of being a detective involved in many of my business-to-business sales because I had to find out what was really important to them.

You’re Not Always the Most Important Person in Their LivesContinue reading

When Disaster Strikes, Are You Ready?

By John Aberle | Disaster Preparedness , Sales and Marketing

Last Friday, one of my consultant friends sent me an email about disaster preparedness. Living in California, this is something most of the people I know prefer to ignore yet it’s an ever present fact of life. Basically, there is no area of the country truly exempt from some potential disaster: hurricanes, tornados, floods, and earthquakes. While this is not strictly speaking a sales and marketing issue, the whole purpose of sales and marketing is for a business to survive and thrive. Given this viewpoint, I asked permission to share the following email. Tom and his friends all agreed:

My friends called me Tuesday night because their 15 year old daughter ran away.
That kept us up until after 1:00 AM when she was found safe.

Wednesday night, I went to a scheduled disaster preparedness workshop. The
presenter showed the familiar images of Northridge, Katrina and other disasters,
projected on a very large screen; that had a much larger impact than seeing the
pictures on TV.

Here are some things I learned from these two events that you can use for your
children, your parents, or yourself.

Those ubiquitous, small flashlights with LEDs and other light sources are nice in
some places. But when it is dark and there is no electricity, such as in a park or after
an earthquake, you need a large, multi-cell flashlight to see where you are walking
and to illuminate possible threats.

Thanks to digital photography we have lots of photos of families and friends. The
downside is we rarely have paper prints of those people to show to others such as
fast food restaurants as we say “Have you seen her?” The upside is the digital
images can be e-mailed to the police department and electronically forwarded to the
squad cars.

Speaking of digital, PDAs and smart phones with names, addresses, phone
numbers, and medical information such as prescriptions, can have the data police
and other involved parties need.

Cell phones with built in GPS can help find people, but the person must be carrying
it.

There have been twice as many earthquakes in California and around the world
during the first month of 2009 as there were in previous years. We are due for a big
one.

That earthquake kit in your home must be duplicated in the car.

The workshop was taught by April Kelcy of www.EarthquakeSolutions.com . Go to
her web site for future events and products. I just printed out the instructions on how
to get water out of my water heater.

Now look at how ready you are.

Tom Lenzo,
Business & Technology Consultant
tlenzo@att.net

I hope that these tips will prove helpful to you and maybe help prepare you better for whatever challenges, besides the economy, that life has in store for you. If you never need them, I will be truly happy for you. In that case, let’s focus on growing your business in a way that’s fun and mutually rewarding for you and your customers.

How Well Do You Take Care of Your Best Customers?

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing

What’s your experience with promotions run by companies to get new customers? In my experience, most companies run these enticing offers to get new customers to sign up. However, once they have my business, I become a given in their minds. I don’t count any more. (You don’t either to these companies.) They only focus on getting new business so the offer doesn’t apply to me, or you if you’re one of their existing customers.

Recently with travel off and the economy in a turmoil, businesses like amusement parks have been taking a serious hit in their revenue. As a result, Disneyland created a clever marketing campaign that invites you on your birthday to come free. Naturally, they expect you will bring your family or friends, spend the day, and spend money on food and souvenirs. Good campaign, but typical so far. Being the cynic that I am from past experiences with banks and mobile phone companies, I figured that this wasn’t a deal for annual pass holders who already get in free any time during the year – depending, of course, on your type of pass.

That’s where Disneyland did something truly amazing. They remembered those who committed to them long before this campaign began! They offer annual pass holders a credit equivalent to the price of a one-day admission. This credit can be used in their stores at the park. There are certain restrictions, like it can’t be used for food or for purchases at their carts located throughout the parks. Fine. That’s understandable. To me the incredible thing is that this company actually remembered the people who are their best customers, their loyal customers who buy passes year after year and come multiple times a year.

There are all sorts of articles by marketing experts and studies that show your cheapest – and easiest – sales are to your existing customers. The question is, how well do you treat them? Do you do things to keep them loyal by showing you care and keeping them informed about what is happening in your business, or do you figure that once they bought from you, they’ll come back so you can focus on finding the next sale? I suggest you follow Disneyland’s example. Your customers will love you for it.