What if I told you that the #1 characteristic for being a good salesperson is simply – to be a decent human being?  We have opportunities to demonstrate character, or lack of character, every day in our selling careers.  Our success or failure in those opportunities will, over the long run, determine our career trajectory. I can train a lot of things, but I can’t train someone to be a good person.

I had an opportunity to think about this recently while doing a Hiring Assistance project with a client.  I interviewed a person for a position with a client, and despite doing two interviews and vetting his credentials, I couldn’t bring myself to forward him to my client as a finalist.  I couldn’t put my finger on why – and then he called me.  He demanded (not asked) to know if he was a finalist.  When I informed him that he wasn’t, explaining that it was a tough competition and while I appreciated his time and application but he was not, in my opinion, the best fit for the position, he hung up on me.  And then it hit me why I didn’t submit him along – I had found him to be a little bit of a jerk in the interviews; not bad enough to cut the interviews short but enough that I didn’t end one with a positive feeling.  And regardless of credentials, if someone isn’t basically a good person, I couldn’t recommend him to my clients – because sooner or later he might be hanging up on a customer or co-worker.

As I said, we all have opportunities to demonstrate character in our sales world, and I’d like to discuss some indicators of good or bad character:

How you treat people whom you perceive are no help:

This is a big one.  The reason that the man I mentioned above hung up on me was that I was of no further use to him, and if I was of no use to him, it wasn’t worth the niceties to keep a relationship whole.  I get that, and I’m no angel, either.  I’ve dismissed interviews within 10 minutes before.  The key is that I always attempt to do so politely.  Same way with networking contacts, etc.  Again, I’m not perfect, but I always hope that making the attempt counts for something; and I think it does.  People know when you’re trying to do the right thing, and when you’re not.  The classic “how you treat the server and the janitor” falls into this category, as well.  The candidate could have thanked me for the opportunity, kept the relationship live, and I might have recommended him for a different job.  But he didn’t, and the bridge is burned.

How you treat your co-workers:  We all have our “triggers,” but this is one of mine.  One of the common old tropes about salespeople is that, “aw, the best salespeople are really difficult people to work with, they don’t treat co-workers nicely, and you just have to deal with it.”  Bull. Good people are good people, and they treat people with respect – even when those people have disappointed them.  Years ago, as a sales manager, I had an issue with a production supervisor over a big mistake she made that caused a big problem with a brand new customer.  When I went to talk to her, her explanation made no sense, and it was clear that she just wasn’t thinking when she and her staff made the mistake.

Well, if you know me, I do have a bit of a temper (although I’ve mellowed since then).  Some pretty insulting comments immediately rushed to my mind and one nearly escaped my mouth.  Instead, what I said to her was, “Give me a second to run to the restroom and then we’ll talk about this.”  I didn’t have the call of nature, but I knew that if I didn’t take a couple of minutes to compose myself, I was going to turn a bad situation into a very bad one.  I walked away, got a drink of water, and when I came back, I approached the problem as a “we” situation instead of a “you” situation, but I also made sure that she knew that it was a big mistake and that I very much hoped that it wouldn’t happen again.  And it didn’t.

How you confront problems:  Think about this situation; you have an angry customer, and you know it.  Do you confront the problem head-on by calling or meeting with the customer, or do you duck and run?  Ducking and running might be comfortable, but it is seldom the best solution.  You will gain respect, even from people who are dissatisfied with your performance, if you confront problems head-on.  There’s another piece of this, too, and I call it the “4:30 phone call.”  Let’s say your customer has a problem, it’s the end of the day, and you don’t have a resolution.  The instinct is to not call the customer, because you have nothing new to tell them.  That’s the wrong move.  If you don’t at least touch base, the customer will go home and stew over the problem and they will just get madder and madder, and even if you do have a fix in the morning, they won’t like it – or you.  The best path is to call and say, “Hey, they haven’t gotten back to me with an answer yet, but I want you to know I’m on it and we’ll get it handled.”  The customer just needs to know that their problem has become your problem.

Truthfulness:  I had an interesting exercise a few years ago.  A very good friend of mine was applying for a selling job, and she had just been fired from her previous employer.  Neither the previous employer nor the new one was a client or had any relationship with me; however, based upon knowing her for a long time, I felt that the new job was a much better fit for her.  In any case, she asked me how to handle her recent firing when she was asked about it.  I advised her to be truthful.  Explain that she’d been fired, honestly tell the interviewer what her numbers were (they weren’t bad), and what she’d learned if anything from being fired.  She did so.  Today she is employed on what just might be her own personal dream job and successful – and I’m confident that she wouldn’t be if she’d tried to ‘spin’ the situation.  There are times when the truth is anything but convenient – but if you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.

You have promises to keep:  The biggest complaint about salespeople (well, besides pushiness) is that they make promises to customers and then don’t keep them.  Want to differentiate yourself?  Keep your promises!  Of course, sometimes the biggest part of keeping your promises is knowing what promises NOT to make.  I had a situation a couple of years ago where I’m pretty sure I could have sewed up a Sales Audit and a hiring assignment by simply making a commitment about the industry experience of the final candidate.  The problem is that I’m not sure I could KEEP that commitment; searches can be unpredictable, and honestly, the industry itself was very specific.  Instead, I committed to the other characteristics that were important.  Result?  I got the assignment after a couple of weeks more selling, and I got it on terms that I knew I could fulfill.  And the salesperson is still there and succeeding.  Sometimes the quick and easy route becomes hard later.

I look at this list and think that it should be obvious; unfortunately it becomes less obvious every day.  In many ways, good old fashioned character is something that has fallen out of fashion in our society.  Don’t be a victim to that trend.  Be the kind of person your customers could trust with their dogs, and you’ll be the kind of person that is very successful in selling.

Recently, I was in the middle of a conversation with a business owner who has been achieving some admirable sales growth lately.  He was bragging on his sales director, who, he said, had just “won a $250,000 order by $5,000.”  When I asked him what he meant, he said that his sales director had put in a bid that was the lowest price – but by “only” $5,000.  I smiled and continued the conversation, but I was lost in thought.

You see, l don’t consider being the lowest price as “winning” the sale.  Here’s why.  To me, as someone who has been involved in and passionate about the sales profession for over 30 years, sales is a persuasive activity.  That’s what I love about it.  There’s nothing better in business than facing off against another salesperson, mano a mano, with the prize being a valued piece of business.  To win a selling contest by persuading the customer that my solution is the BEST – that’s what I have lived for in my entire career.  It’s gratifying emotionally, intellectually, and yes, financially.

I’ve never gotten that emotional charge by simply underbidding my competitor.  When you get a piece of business simply by being the lowest price – even if it was a large piece of business and the margin of victory was small – all you’ve proven is that you’re willing to take the lowest profit in order to get the business.  If there was persuasion involved, it was that you were no better that equal to the other competitors.  You qualified.  That’s all.

By now, you might think that I live in a fantasy world where no sales are decided by price.  If so, you’re wrong; I do understand that some sales are decided by price, and that sometimes, you have to pencil-whip a piece of business to get it.  I get that.  I’ve been there.  I’ve done that.  And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do it.

What I am saying is that language matters, and it’s important to be careful how you discuss these types of sales.  When you celebrate a low-bid piece of business and refer to it as a “win,” (no matter how small the margin), you send the message to your salespeople that the way to “win” is to cut price.  This is how sales teams lose the skills of actually winning sales through persuasive means, and become simple price-cutters.

When you do engage in low-price competitions for business, there are a few things to understand:

First, understand that price-selling is a zero sum game.  Price selling is essentially playing chicken with  your competitors to see who is willing to take the lowest profit in the interest of getting the business.  The trouble with this approach is that there is (usually) a bottom beyond which price can’t be cut.  Years ago, I cost one of my competitors about $200,000 through one of these situations.  There was an online ‘reverse auction’ for the services with a large customer, and each of five competitors could bid.  We knew going in that we weren’t willing to be the lowest price, so we decided to have some fun.  The rules of the auction allowed us to lower or raise our bid at any point, so I did a little trick.  We put in an absurdly low price, watched our competitors go down into the dirt to try to match us, and then with 60 seconds left we pulled our bid and dropped the business on a competitor.  Over the 5 year contract, they lost about $200K on servicing the business.  To this day, the owner of the company growls when he sees me.

The point is that you must be willing to walk away from bad business.  That brings me to my second point.  Bad business doesn’t get better.  Every sales manager has had the experience of having a sales rep come to us and say, “Hey, boss, I know this deal looks bad now, but it will get better over the long haul.”  The trouble is that it doesn’t – when business is sold based on bottom-dollar price, it stays at bottom dollar.

The third point is that low price customers tend to be unhappy customers. When I was in the car business, we had a saying – “The higher the profit, the happier the customer.”  It was true there and it’s true everywhere else.  That’s because a higher-profit customer has been well and truly SOLD.  They have bought into you, your products, and your services, and a good foundation for a relationship has been established.  “Bid wins” seldom have that quality.

Fourth, Bid ‘wins’ aren’t loyal.  Keep in mind – if the reason they went with YOU is a low price, that’s going to be the reason you’ll lose them, too.  Someone, somewhere, will pencil-whip the numbers and come up with a lower offering, and then you’re out the door.

And finally, Bid ‘wins’ set a bad example.  Every sales manager, or business owner, works on his/her sales team to get higher prices – but you lose the moral authority to do so when you do lowball pricing.  You lose it MORE when you celebrate those ‘wins.’  Remember, your example influences your salespeople.

So, how do you thread the needle between the sometimes-necessary practice of low-bidding, and still trying to maximize your profit?

First, keep low-bidding to rare and important circumstances.

Second, have clear and justifiable reasons for low-bidding.

Third, recognize that you haven’t really built a true “relationship” with the customer, and manage accordingly.

Finally, don’t celebrate as if you really WON a sale, so as not to send incorrect signals to your sales team.

Keep those concepts in mind, and you’ll be able to occasionally grab a low-bid sale while still retaining the ability to have your salespeople achieve good profits.

Since I started my business nearly 20 years ago (not kidding – my 20^th anniversary is on September 1, please feel free to send me car stuff), I’ve specialized in Business-to-Business (B2B) selling.  I’ve only had a handful of clients in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) world, and that’s by intent.  Frankly, I enjoy B2B more and I feel I’m better at it.  I’ve made no bones about being a B2B guy.  Most of the pages on my website spell that out.

What I haven’t done is spelled out why B2B selling differs so much from B2C.  That difference is important, because it has implications for hiring, training, and managing “crossover” salespeople – as well as significant differences that the salesperson has to remember in every call.  The steps in the Buyer’s Journey are the same – but the fundamental underpinning of the Journey (Motivation) is very different, and that affects the progression from step to step.  So, let’s identify that difference.

For most large ticket B2C sales opportunities, the sale tends to be emotionally motivated and intellectually checked.  For instance, if someone decides that they want to remodel their kitchen, it’s less likely that they’ve done a time and productivity study on their cooking habits and decided that they need to reconfigure the kitchen in order to reduce cooking time, increase food quality, and enhance the social aspect of their home.  Instead, they look around and just plain don’t like the kitchen as it is anymore.  They want nicer cabinets, newer appliances, etc.  Yes, aspects like features, convenience, and usability come into play, but those aren’t the initial motivators.  The initial motivation tends to be emotional.

What I mean by the sale being “intellectually checked” is that, once they have Investigated their needs and arrived at the Solution, the sale can hit a roadblock at the Evaluation phase.  At this point, the Buyer starts looking at their household budget, the value of their home, and other intellectual factors to ask themselves, “does this make sense?”  That’s where the sale can stall.

The emotional Motivation of B2C selling also means that the Buyer’s Journey tends to happen much more quickly than in most B2B sales.  The urgency is supplied by the Buyer’s emotions, as well as the fact that their motivating factor is basically staring them in the face every day.  The person who wants that kitchen remodel (or car, or house, or new TV, etc.) is looking at that old kitchen on a daily basis – and once they’ve seen the Solution, that kitchen looks a little worse every day.  That means that the B2C salesperson’s pipeline is a fast-moving one all on its own, and even though B2C salespeople can be some of the pushiest ones out there, they really don’t need to be.  Their Buyers are going to reach a decision pretty quickly.

On the other hand, B2B sales cycles can be weeks, months, and even years.  That’s because most B2B sales tend to be intellectually driven and emotionally and intellectually checked.  It’s a partial reversal of the B2C dynamic, but not a complete one.

Most of the time, B2B Buyer’s Journeys begin with someone in the business identifying a need for a new piece of equipment, facility, service, etc., and making at least a partial business case for it.  “If we had this new paving machine, we could add another crew, which would generate X revenue,” and so on.  The skilled B2B salesperson has a much heavier burden in the Investigation phase to help the customer identify the needs and motivating factors behind the purchase – then must tailor the Solution to those needs and achieve the customer’s definition of success.

So far, so good, right?  Here’s the biggest issue that “crossover” salespeople must confront, particularly those moving from B2C to B2B sales:

In B2B selling, the salesperson has a much more active role in helping the Buyer move from step to step through the Buyer’s Journey.

That’s because the B2B Buyer may be motivated – but the motivating factor isn’t staring that Buyer in the face every day as it is with the B2C buyer.  That new paving machine might be a great idea, and might produce amazing ROI, but it’s something that could or would be great to have.  Meanwhile, that Buyer has employees that aren’t showing up, a bulldozer breaking down, and other day-to-day factors that take him away from thinking about the new paving machine.  The proposal then sits in his inbox, getting covered up by other pieces of paper.  It’s not staring him in the face, and it sure as hell isn’t looking at him when he gets home.

The B2B salesperson then enters the “chase cycle,” which is no fun at all.  Meanwhile, the B2C seller has long since gotten their decision on that new kitchen remodel and is either scheduling the installation (because he got the sale) or moving on to the next Buyer.

What’s even funnier is that both buyers could be the same exact person at the same exact time.  The B2B buyer who repeatedly puts off a decision and is perceived as “indecisive” by the salesperson can be the same buyer that quickly says “yes” to the B2C salesperson and buys that new kitchen.  Is that because the B2C salesperson is better?  Not necessarily.

It’s because the B2B buyer can quickly lose Motivation because the need isn’t visible and urgent on a daily basis, while the B2C buyer’s Motivation stares him in the face every day.  Combine that with the fact that B2C decisions tend to initiate emotionally, and that emotional buying decisions tend to carry more urgency than intellectual ones, and it’s no wonder that the B2C selling cycles are much shorter than B2B.

“Ah, but Troy,” you’re saying, “You said that B2B buying decisions end to be emotionally checked. You didn’t explain that.  Are you going to leave me hanging?”  Nope.  The emotion that tends to slow a B2B Buyer’s Journey is FEAR.  Essentially, after the Buyer has progressed through the Investigation, Solution, and Evaluation phase, fear can set in and postpone or even kill the Decision.  That fear can be summed up in one phrase:

“What if it doesn’t work?  I might lose money/lose my job/not get the promotion/etc.”  That fear, if not alleviated, can be a sale-killer.  We’ll talk more about how to alleviate that in a future Navigator.

For now, however, let’s circle back.  What are the implications of the difference between B2C and B2B selling?

For sales leaders looking to hire a “crossover” salesperson, part of the interviewing should be assessing that salesperson’s ability to handle the different dynamic.  For a B2C salesperson crossing to B2B, the slower movement of the sales pipeline can be a morale-killer.  A B2B salesperson crossing to B2C might not understand that the motivating factors are different.  Proceed with caution.

The same goes for “crossover” sales leaders and managers.  Without significant acclimation and retraining, the sales leader can be coaching their salespeople on the wrong motivators.

If you’re selecting a sales trainer, look carefully at their writings and philosophy.  Trainers who focus heavily on customer emotion can be a bad fit for today’s B2B environment.  In fact, one of the biggest changes in selling is the decrease in emotional motivation of B2B buyers.  This has been driven by the abundance of information and technology.

I’ve heard it often said that “selling is selling.”  It’s not. At the very least, B2C and B2B salespeople are different breeds of the same animal.  We’ll talk more about some of the things I’ve discussed in future Navigators.

It’s a common maxim that, in business and in sales, we get what we ask for.  That’s not true, at least normally.  The truth is that we get what we work for.  I’m not talking about working HARD – we all do that.  Nor am I talking about working SMART, because that’s a term that can be interpreted in many different ways.  I’m talking about working INTENTIONALLY, and with the end in mind.  That’s what successful business owners and managers do.

Many times, I talk to business owners who may not be getting what they ASK for – particularly in sales – but they are getting what they WORK for.  This came to mind recently when talking to a business owner who has been through three sales managers in the last five years, complaining that he couldn’t find anyone who really was able to develop salespeople.  Instead, he gets sales managers who focus their time on selling.  This wins business but it doesn’t make the company better.

In going through his past hiring efforts – from ads to interview questions – I quickly realized that he might not be getting what he asks for (he does ask for a sales manager who develops people), but he gets what he works for.  Although he recognizes that the core of sales management is developing people, when it comes time to interview and hire, he focuses on candidates’ sales ability and the time they spend closing sales.

Worse, his entire company culture is centered around selling and sales ability as the measurement of the worth of a sales manager.  His salespeople constantly consider themselves to be in a contest of sales ability with the manager, and the sales manager is evaluated based in part on the number of deals he helps close.  The compensation is heavily weighted toward individual production.  Now I ask you – in this environment, what would you do?  Would you focus on developing salespeople, or would you build your individual sales production?  I think we know the answer to that one.

Or, consider another business owner whose company sells both reconditioned machines as well as new ones.  When confronted with a low price/profit opportunity (which is a separate issue), the salespeople will lean toward selling a reconditioned machine, rather than a new one.  Why?  You’ve probably guessed it – they make more because they can generate a higher profit margin for the company and their own commissions with a reconditioned machine.  No problem, right?

Actually there’s a significant problem.  The sale of a new machine is much more valuable to the company – they get rated on the sales of new machines by the manufacturer, and they get rebates.  Every reconditioned machine sale actually works against them with their manufacturers.  Yet, they still need to have reconditioned machines available for their customers.  Again – he’s getting what he works for (or in this case, pays for).  The obvious solution is to change the compensation structure to compensate the salespeople based on the value of the sale to the company, which in this case is not necessarily the gross profit.

In both of these cases, the business owner was doing what’s common in their respective industries, but not what matched up with their company’s goals.  They were certainly working hard.  Some in their business would say that they were even working smart (admittedly, I wouldn’t).  But what they definitely weren’t doing was working intentionally and with the end in mind.  To do those things, you have to take a global, strategic view of your sales program.

Start with your eventual goals for the company.  How do you want your company to progress?  Define your goals for growth and profitability.  My favorite measurement, by the way, is profit dollar gain year-over-year. I like that number because it’s the only thing you can spend.  You can’t spend top line sales nor profit margin, but if you make $100,000 more this year than last, you have $100,000 more you can actually spend (or save, if you’re responsible like that).  Define where you want your business to go.

Next, break it down.  How do all the pieces fit together?  How many salespeople do you need in order to achieve those goals, and what level of performance do you need them to have?  Define your gaps, and figure out how to fill them.

Next, define your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) for every position.  Are your KPI’s matching up with what you need from the position?  If your sales manager is really a “super salesperson,” is that what you need from that position?  If not, you need to retool your KPI’s and match them up.

The point is to align all your goals and KPI’s with your needs – then work toward that with a laser focus.  In the first case we discussed, the solution for the business owner was to retool his hiring process to discover soft skills in hiring and then hire based on that.  Once that’s done, the compensation and evaluation structure needs to be aligned with the manager’s achievement in management and development, not sales production.  Finally, the salespeople need to be led to understand that the manager’s job is not to sell, but to foster the development of the salespeople.  Further, lead by example to show that everyone can learn and improve, and that the salespeople aren’t competing with the manager.

It will be hard work.  But it will also be intentional, and I have a feeling that he will get what he’s looking for.  And what he’s WORKING for.

I’ve been talking a lot lately about the need for salespeople to be memorable.  Last week, I was reminded of a funny thing that happened several years ago. I was in a business networking meeting, and we got to the point in the meeting where referrals were passed around. It’s a group of professionals from different (non-competitive) industries who get together once a week to network and further each other’s business.

To protect the innocent, I’ll not mention any names – but the insurance salesman turned to the mortgage broker and said, “I have a lead for you. One of my customers wants to refinance his home. He bought it a year or so ago, but he thinks his credit situation has improved, so he wants to see if he can get a lower rate. He didn’t know any mortgage people, so I gave him your name. Here’s his information.”  Comedy ensued.

Mortgage broker takes one look and says, “Hey, this is my lead to you! I passed this guy to you six months ago.” Immediately, there were two embarrassed faces and twelve laughing ones around the table. Most of us were glad we weren’t the mortgage broker right then. Turns out, he had written the customer’s home loan.

How does this happen? Six months ago, the mortgage broker had a relationship with the customer – or at least he thought he did. Now, the customer doesn’t even remember him. Is it possible for someone to forget the person that helped them get a home that quickly? Well, yes. In fact – as has been demonstrated numerous times – it’s possible for a salesman to think that he has had a “great” appointment with a customer, and the customer to not even remember the salesman’s name the next day!

Here’s a test you can try on your own. Next week, have someone else call back all the new prospects you met with this week. They should say that they are calling from the research department of your company, and they would like their help in gauging your company’s selling effectiveness. Ask your prospects if they remember meeting with someone from your company. Ask them if they remember the person’s name that sold to them. Ask them if they can remember anything specific about the meeting.

If you’re really good at your job, the answers will probably look like this:

• About 75% will remember meeting with someone from your company.
• Less than 50% will remember your name.
• Less than 25% will remember anything specific or unique about the meeting.

Sound depressing? Well, it is, but it isn’t. Remember, I said those are the numbers if you’re really good. For most salespeople, your numbers will be a lot lower. When I did this with a company I worked for some years ago, a few reps were remembered less than 10% of the time! What’s more amazing is that some of these reps were still making quota.

If this suggests a major problem to you, you’re not alone. Think, for a moment, about the old phrase that “sales is a numbers game.” Well, yeah. It is, kind of. The real equation of sales is this:

(Quantity of activity) x (Quality of activity) = Results.

Let’s say that, of every 10 prospects you see, you close one. Your closing ratio is 10% – probably about average. But, if only 50% of your customers remember you after your first call, that’s a pool of five, so your closing ratio is actually 20% when a customer remembers you. Therein lies opportunity. Make more customers remember you, and you’ll win more sales.

So, how do you make your prospects remember you? Since memory is individual, it’s not going to be enough to have technical mastery of sales skills, presentation skills, or your own product. You must truly tune into your buyer – and get your buyer tuned in to you. Here are a few good ways to get started:

• If your product lends itself to a hands-on, user participation demonstration, do that – and make it more fun and interesting than anyone else’s. If it’s not a hands-on product, come up with some sort of a hands-on game or activity that will get your prospect physically involved.  People remember being participants far more than they remember being spectators.
• Ask questions that are so radically different than anyone else in the industry that your prospect has no choice but to stop and think before answering. That won’t be tough – most salespeople are genuinely lousy questioners.  Remember that the Investigation phase of the Buyer’s Journey is about helping the Buyer discover his or her true needs, and this requires deep and incisive questions.  People remember what they are ASKED more than they remember what they are TOLD.  The standard questions “what would you change about your current service if you could?” have gotten so routine that clients can answer them in their sleep.
• Simple respect for the Buyer’s Journey sets you apart.  For instance, respect the Buyer’s progression through the five steps and don’t just blast sales messages.
• Use technology in innovative ways.  For instance, if a plant tour would be helpful to your sales messaging, but it’s hard to get prospects to your plant, why not create an engaging video tour?

The number one way to get a prospect to remember you is simple.  Make the sales call an enjoyable experience.  Most sales calls are pretty neutral for the customer – the “great” meeting tends to come from us, not from the customers.  Whenever you have a “great” sales call, ask yourself if your customer would call it “great.”  If they wouldn’t, you shouldn’t.

You get the idea. To start out, do the exercise and count the people that remember you. That percentage is your “memory index.” Then start working on making yourself – and your company – memorable. Keep taking your memory index every three months. Don’t let yourself become forgettable.