Category Archives: Feature

Creating and Understanding a Corporate Culture

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Understanding corporate culture builds the necessary framework to create a thriving organization. It defines the attitudes and shared values needed for all employees to meet the company’s goals and vision. Without a firm grasp of your company’s corporate culture; well, your employees would operate like a football team without the season’s playbook.

Let’s take a look at the four types of corporate cultures that can positively shape your company.

What Is Corporate Culture and Why Is It Important?

First, let’s take a moment to define what culture is in the corporate setting. According to an article in the Harvard Business … Read the rest

How to Stand Out Without Lowering Your Price

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Selling yourself short?

Is what you do for a living perceived by potential customers as being a mere commodity; more or less the same as others in your profession? When that happens, customers revert to the easiest differentiator — price.

The outlook gets worse as you realize that somewhere in the global economy there is likely someone offering similar products or services for a cheaper price. And with the internet, it’s easier for your customers to find them. What’s most frustrating is when you know your products and services are indeed different, but customers don’t seem to get that and … Read the rest

ABC: Always Be Closing Is Now ABV: Always Bring Value

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You’ve heard of ABC: Always Be Closing.

Let me tell you something: The days of ABC are gone. It’s closed. ABC is now ABV: Always Bring Value.

I want you to be thinking about this in every conversation you have. It is always about bringing value.

Let’s walk through the 10 things you need to be doing right now to be bringing value, because you will not be accomplishing this through ABC.

1. Ask More Questions

You create value by actually understanding what the customer is looking for. You understand what the customer is looking for not by telling them, … Read the rest

B2B Sales Myths: Great Relationships

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The world is full of B2B salespeople who claim, quite proudly, to have great relationships with their customers. If that were true, it really would be great.

But unfortunately, “great relationships” is too often a veil that salespeople hide behind to keep from exposing the weakness in their sales skills.

Here’s How It Works

An experienced B2B salesperson believes that he or she has developed great relationships with customers. Therefore, he spends his time visiting these great customers and focusing on maintaining the relationship. He can’t really dig deeper into the motivations and needs of the customer because he’s never … Read the rest

Staying on the Offensive

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Rather than waiting for the proverbial next shoe to drop, Vic Myers Associates (VMA) went on the offensive when it came to dealing with the understandably onerous restrictions that agencies like it and others had to work their way through during the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic.

An important part of that offensive move was the acquisition in February of new headquarters space in Arizona, specifically for the purpose of allowing VMA personnel, customers and principals to meet face‑to‑face.

With four main offices located in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, VMA is an agency engaged in the representation of instrumentation and … Read the rest

Anxious to Get Out in the Field

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As lockdown restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic continued to be lifted, it sounds like Linda Gunter was feeling the same restlessness and impatience she faced in her previous career as a paralegal. She couldn’t wait to get back out on the road meeting face-to-face with customers.

Gunter, president of Gunter Medical, LLC, San Antonio, Texas, admits that it’s not easy for her to sit still. “I’m a people person. I just can’t sit on a computer all day or sit behind the desk. I’ve got to be out there meeting with people.”

That’s why when the travel and customer … Read the rest

Sales Success Really Boils Down to These Two Things….

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Almost every time I get a new client and start to look at what the sales team is doing, I see the same patterns and mistakes over and over again.

Many times there is a plethora of things to fix but what I’ve found is that if you can just focus on two key areas, a lot of other things align and allow you to significantly increase sales. So, instead of overwhelming them with everything they need to fix, I break it down to two steps and tell them to simply focus on these two areas.

Step 1: Make Lots … Read the rest

Ten Commandments of an Ethical Salesperson

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Here are 10 commandments that sales professionals should follow to ensure they follow ethical sales practices.

1. Ethical salespeople don’t intentionally misrepresent anything.

Never, never, never lie to a customer. About anything. Ever. Period.

2. Fix any important misunderstandings.

It’s possible that your customer will form incorrect ideas about some of the products you represent or the services that come with them. It’s also possible that they will misunderstand things about your competitors, and about the needs and statements of other people who work in their organizations.

It’s very tempting when these misunderstandings work in your favor to ignore them. … Read the rest

Looking Back at Last Year’s Most Important Advice

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This might not be a pleasant memory but close your eyes and picture yourself one year ago. Remember what you were thinking and how you were feeling. The pandemic was new, and the fear caused by the recently implemented shutdown was raw. People who sell for a living were shell-shocked, wondering how they would pay bills or keep their businesses afloat.

I have written more than a thousand articles in my career, but a year ago today, I wrote one of my most important ones. It was titled, “How Can You Sell Your Way Out of This Crisis?” Here’s a … Read the rest

The Worst Leadership Styles to Avoid

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Avoid these four worst leadership styles that can sink a company.

There is a popular saying, “People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses.” Let’s face it, with 40 hours a week dedicated just to work, no one wants to willingly show up to a place that is emotionally and mentally exhausting.

A good leader has to keep their head in the game at all times, otherwise, they can stifle creativity, lower productivity, yield poor employee retention and contribute to poor quality of work. In this post we’ll examine the four worst leadership styles to avoid when leading your … Read the rest

Why Setting and Achieving Goals Is Difficult

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For now, I am going to walk through problems people have that make setting and achieving goals so difficult.

1. Unreasonable

Here is the problem: Oftentimes, people simply set unreasonable goals or are even given unreasonable goals by their boss. However, your goal is only unreasonable if you fail to put a plan behind it.

If you are not willing to take the time then yes, it is completely unreasonable.

The unreasonable becomes reasonable when you have a plan.

2. No Commitment

The issue may be that you simply do not make a commitment to it.

You set your goals … Read the rest

Are You Too Busy to Be Productive?

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Let’s be frank — if you work for a company, then your primary goal is to make money. Period. You may have secondary goals to serve customer and employee interests and to be a good corporate citizen, but your number one priority is strictly return on investment. Profit.

When I speak at conventions and meetings on how to boost profits through customer retention, I often find that business owners and managers don’t have their priorities straight. The result is they lose customer loyalty, face increasing operating costs, scramble to replace staff turnover, and struggle just to keep up with the … Read the rest

To Plan or Not to Plan

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MANA and Agency Sales magazine have long advocated for independent manufacturers’ reps to have a business plan for their agencies — and not only have the plan, to but update it regularly. The adage “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” comes to mind as reps are constantly reminded of the importance of updating and communicating the existence of their business plans to principals.

Even the quickest review of articles that have appeared in the association’s monthly magazine over the years will reveal a constant reference to the importance of business plans. Then there’s the contents of innumerable … Read the rest

Thoughts From An Old School Rep

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When he’s asked to describe himself, Marc Carver maintains he’s simply “…an old-fashioned rep. If anything, I am old school. I want to see my customers eye-to-eye, face-to-face. I am just a people person and I love what I do. I think my personality is perfect for being a rep, as I like to be self-employed and have no one to answer to except myself along with my customers and vendors’ greatest needs.”

Today, with more than 35 years under his belt as an independent manufacturers’ rep, Carver heads Carver & Associates, LLC, located near Portland, in Lake Oswego, Oregon. … Read the rest

Are Salespeople Coin-Operated?

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A quick and convenient answer to that question would be a firm “yes.” However, upon closer examination, this common refrain hides some revealing observations. We suggest here that these relevant factors, once considered, will lead compensation designers to craft better sales compensation plans.

What Does “Coin-Operated” Mean?

The expression “coin-operated” suggests that salespeople respond only to pay incentives, offered by sales management to manipulate sales personnel actions. It also implies the sales force is somewhat immune to other forms of managerial oversight. “Unless it’s in the pay plan, it won’t get done.” Further, it suggests a negative view about sales … Read the rest

Following Up With Prospects

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Eighty-one percent of sales and appointments are made after the fourth contact. Eighty percent of salespeople never make it to the fourth contact.

Most salespeople give up way too quickly. And, it’s usually with a plethora of excuses and stories they make up about why someone isn’t getting back to them:

  • “They probably don’t want to hear from me.”
  • “They probably already bought it from someone else.”
  • “They’re probably too busy.”
  • “They probably think I’m a pest.”

Whatever excuse you come up with, or reason why you think they aren’t getting back to you, you’re wrong 95 percent of the … Read the rest

Selling Styles: “I Have My Own Style of Selling”

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On a fairly regular basis, I run into a belief that limits a salesperson’s behavior. These often sound reasonable and are embraced without question. Looking a bit closer at them, however, uncovers how they limit a salesperson’s performance.

One of the most common of these negative and limiting beliefs is this: I have my own style of selling. This is one of the most pernicious of them all because it excuses the salesperson from any responsibility to improve. More salespeople have remained plateaued far below their potential because of this limiting belief than any other.

Let me explain.

Like so … Read the rest

Win New Business Via Referrals

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You want to know the quickest path to winning new clients?
Use referrals.

It’s getting harder and harder to cut through the clutter and reach influential decision makers. That’s why referrals have never been more valuable than they are today.

In an era when buyers are jealously protective of their time, a referral from a trusted source is your ticket to the show. The more senior a prospect is in a company; the more important referrals are.

Reaching busy decision makers is not the only reason you should ask past and current clients for referrals. By asking for business leads, … Read the rest

10 Ways to Make Prospecting Work

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Let’s not kid ourselves: Prospecting is tough. It is hard. I wrote the books High‑Profit Prospecting and A Mind for Sales because in order to prospect right, you have to have a mind for sales.

I want to walk you through 10 ways how you can make prospecting work.

1. Identify Your ICP

You will never be able to do effective prospecting if you are just spraying and praying.

You need to know who your ICP, or ideal customer profile, is. Get tight and get specific.

The tighter you are, the more specific you are. As a result, you are … Read the rest

Hire Fast, Fire Faster

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At first glance “Hire fast, fire faster” might sound harsh, but it is the exact opposite. It is about being clear and transparent to those we hire and those we currently lead. As leaders we make bad hires more often than most of us would like to admit. I believe that a bad hire does not mean they are a bad person, it means it’s just not the right fit for the person or the team.

One of the most common reasons leaders keep a person that is not a good fit is we would rather keep the bad hire … Read the rest

Getting Your Team to Care About Customers

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Strategies for Creating a Customer Service Culture

One of the most common challenges I hear from managers and business owners is how to get staff to want to provide better service. After having trained literally hundreds of customer service teams for more than 25 years, I’ve observed that the organizations who nurture the best service behaviors use the following five strategies.

1. Educate Towards Empathy

It’s easier to get employees to care about customers by putting them in the place of customers. That’s why when clients bring me in to conduct customer service training seminars for their teams, I ask … Read the rest

Where and How to Find Rep Salespeople

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“When I start thinking about adding someone to my agency, I know I’m in for a rough ride. Just about everyone working in my industry right now is in the 50- to 70-year-old range. It’s more difficult now than ever before to find someone younger who might be interested in carving out a career as a rep.”

“I was so desperate the last time I had to hire someone that I developed a flyer describing the position and ran around town dropping it off in the hopes someone would be interested. I don’t think it’s a surprise to me or … Read the rest

Growing the Family Business Through Multiple Generations

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In the following article James Loy Jr., president, Scout Metals, Charlotte, North Carolina, recounts his beginnings in the rep profession leading to the establishment of his own agency last year.

One of my earliest childhood memories was pulling through a bay door of the Alpha Tube plant in Toledo, Ohio. Our semi-reliable 1975 Buick Skyhawk made another trek through the winter weather to pick-up Jim Sr. My dad walked from the tube mill to the car with a smile, but clearly he was worn out from his 10-hour shift. Both my grandfathers were investors in that tube business. It was … Read the rest

Check the Boxes!

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Things everyone who sells for a rep agency should do. A check list for every rep firm owner/manager.

Selling as an independent representative salesperson for a manufacturers’ representative agency is not an easy job. Success demands great organizational skills and discipline.

Here is a review of essential elements: See how many boxes you can check if you are a territory salesperson. If you are the boss, how many boxes are the members of your team checking off?

1. Line Card Review — Territory Results Analysis

In your line card, how many of the lines do you actually sell productively?

Which … Read the rest

Do You Have a Brain for Sales — and Success in Life?

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Last month my article was on motivation when it comes to selling. This month we’re digging into another psychological aspect that once you understand it, you may find it easier to make prospecting calls, do other difficult parts of the job, and maybe even make some significant changes in your life.

Here are some facts about the human brain and human nature that may shed some light on some areas where you seem to be stuck. Because this is a relatively short article, I’m not going to go into all the psychology and background.

  • The brain’s primary focus is survival.
… Read the rest

30 Days to Improving Your Sales Skills

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This month, I’m sharing 10 ways to improve your selling skills in just 30 days.

1. Discipline

You have to be disciplined in how you use your time and what you spend your effort on. You cannot allow yourself to be caught up in the shiny objects. You have to be disciplined to know exactly what you are going to achieve, and then be actively achieving it.

Do not waste your effort; if salespeople would simply be more disciplined in how to use their time, it is amazing how much more successful they would be.

2. Consistency

This means consistency … Read the rest

What Do Billionaires and Top Sales Reps Have in Common?

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Forbes has a fascinating feature called “The Real-Time Billionaires List,” an up-to-the-minute listing of the world’s richest people and their current net worth.

Remember all that talk about Elon Musk passing up Jeff Bezos as the richest person? Well, it didn’t last. Bezos is back on top with $192.8 billion as of the morning of February 5, 2021. But Musk is still getting by; his net worth as $185.4 billion. Bill Gates is fourth richest. Zuck is fifth. Warren Buffett is 9th. The richest member of the Walton family is 17th. China’s Jack Ma comes in at 20th.

But each … Read the rest

Sales Is a Noble Career

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When we try to not sound “salesy,” we are more “salesy” than ever. Being genuine is the most important part of being a great salesperson.

We Don’t Want Our People to Sound “Salesy”

Unfortunately, I have this conversation more than I would like in my current career. This request is made by many organizations who believe “sales” is a bad word or something dishonest. Recently I had a potential client call me and ask me if I would do a keynote for them. They said they loved my energy and message about sales and sales practice. Then they asked, “Can … Read the rest

Will Employers or Workers Have the Upper Hand After the Pandemic?

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It’s been over a year now since we came under the relentless domination of the coronavirus. After all this time, the picture isn’t pleasant. The end is uncertain and the implications for the future are far from clear.

McKinsey reports that “Seventy-five percent of employees in the United States and close to a third in the Asia-Pacific region report symptoms of burnout. European nations are reporting increasing levels of pandemic fatigue in their populations. The number of those who rate their mental health as ‘very poor’ is more than three times higher than before the crisis, and mental health issues … Read the rest

Time and Territory Management — The Quickest Way to Impact Sales Performance

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Over the more than 30 years that I have been working with B2B sales forces, I’m often asked this question: “If you could improve a salesperson in just one thing that would bring the quickest and biggest change, what would it be?”

My answer: Time and territory management. Here’s why.

Time and Territory Management Is Easily and Quickly Implemented

Every other sales competency takes time and practice before it begins to show up in the salesperson’s behavior and therefore in the customers’ actions. Take a fundamental sales competency like asking better sales questions. I can train a salesperson to ask … Read the rest