Git 'Er Done

The first step in a successful selling process is preparation and there is no doubt that planning and preparation are important but excessive planning and preparation goes by another name: procrastination! In some cases, we can use over planning and preparation to avoid taking action. Procrastination and its underlying causes are the biggest obstacles we face in turning our vision into reality.

Positive and Negative
We are all guilty of procrastination in some form or another. Procrastination comes in two varieties – positive and negative. Positive procrastination is actually a good thing – it is when you take some time to gather your thoughts, think things through and let your thoughts percolate on what action you need to take. Negative procrastination is when we create excuses to avoid doing something. The worst part about this is it will usually affect our results in a negative way.

Perfection
Procrastination is one of those bad habits that can be controlled. First, figure out the reasons why you’re procrastinating in the first place, then make a commitment towards activity. Activity creates production which is the opposite of procrastination. Sometimes, the quest for perfection gets in the way of production and really just becomes an excuse for more procrastination. How many times have you fell into the trap of trying to make something perfect before you can declare your task or project ready to go? Don’t strive for perfection! Instead of waiting for every aspect of a project to come into perfect alignment, bring the project to a satisfactory point and then manage and adjust accordingly.

I remember reading a story about Steve Jobs and how he managed the launch of the Macintosh computer. He mercilessly challenged his engineers to reach for perfection in every aspect of the product's design yet he knew at some point, they would have to stop, put the product into production and ship the computer. If he didn’t draw that line in the sand, it would have amounted to relentless pursuit of perfection…or simply procrastination.

Find your focus

A recent visit to the eye doctor got me thinking about focus. As I sat there struggling to read the letters on the wall chart I thought to myself, “It certainly would be easier if I could focus more.” That thought stuck with me as I headed back to my office and I came up with some ideas on how focus can help us with our business.

Learn what you aren’t good at.
A human resources buddy of mine once told me he always asks potential candidates about their strengths and also about their weaknesses. He explained that people often don’t know what they truly aren’t good at – those who are aware of this know how to channel their efforts and drive themselves by best using their talents. As a coach or a manager, encourage your team to think about finding this out in themselves. It is much more productive to expand our strengths then to be bogged down by our weaknesses.

Know what to avoid doing.
This is all about choices. In a time where you may have limited resources to invest in your business, you have to limit your options by prioritizing. This might mean leaving a good idea go until you have the time and resources to execute it properly.

Choose your focus and stay the course.
Make your decision and don’t look back. Too many times we let doubt creep into our brains after we make a decision. Stay with it – stay focused on your course of action and see it through. Evaluate the results as you go but give it time to take hold.

Given the business environment today, it is as if the world developed a bad case of A.D.D.! Just take a look at our government – at the same time they are attempting to deal with the economy, they also want to tackle health care, energy, immigration and education. Whoa! For me, it’s a matter of focus that will drive results and like Dr. Ross tells me, just look at which lenses make you see the letters on the wall better….#1 or #2.

A Customer for Life

It is the goal of every organization – that once you get a customer, to retain that customer for life. They will not consider going anywhere else but to you for your product or services. I recently became a customer for life with Dell and my experience made me think about what we need to do to get a customer for life.

The crash
I noticed that my Dell laptop was acting “funny” all day. I’d let my virus protection software lapse, it was still working, just not receiving automatic updates, probably like most of you reading this post. Also like most of you, I have external hard drives where I back up my data but I’m not regimented about it. Late in the afternoon, I decided to update my virus protection so I could get rid of whatever was causing the trouble. I download, I restart and then it happened - the blue screen and the even more horrible “fatal error” message. I stay calm. I reboot. It happens again. A twinge of panic races through me. After several attempts, nothing.

A call for help
4:37 pm. I immediately call Dell Support and after a brief time on hold, Ron, a support rep, gets on the line with me. After two hours of trying everything possible, we still cannot bring the machine back to life. I must admit, as time passed and the chances of rescuing my computer slipped further and further away, on the surface, I remained calm. On the inside I was curled up into the fetal position and crying like a baby. Ron was extremely helpful. He gave me a clear assessment of the problem and options on how to deal with it, giving me a plan to follow. There were still some unknowns, like if I’d ever see my data again, but I had clear steps to take. Ron said he’d call me the following day.

9:30 am. My phone rings, its Ron checking on my status. (Wow – I’m not alone!) I update him on my progress (still dead in the water), we weigh our latest options and decide on next steps. I head over to BestBuy to ask the Geek Squad if they can retrieve my data. With the data safe, I’ll be able to wipe the laptop clean, reinstall and reload my salvaged data. The big question was, can the data be retrieved.

The Geek Squad experience was just average. They were able to get my data, however, I felt like just another customer to them. My Geek was indifferent and nonchalant and barely explained my options - getting access to my data in 7 days (omg) or paying more than double to get it in a few hours! After handing over the king’s ransom to get the data the same day, my laptop disappeared into a backroom - I wasn’t given an approximate time when it would be ready – I don’t even remember my Geeks name.

11:00 am. Ron calls again for an update – he outlines the process we’ll follow once we get my data, gives me information, recommendations and a website to look up that will guide me on the process as well. He tells me he’ll call back in two hours. My cell rang a few hours later while I’m on another call – I notice it’s a local call and must be the Geek Squad but they don’t leave a message. I call back and a “random Geek” tells me my data is ready.

1:00 pm. I’m walking in the door from BestBuy and Ron calls. He tells me he’ll call back in ten minutes while I get myself situated for the reinstall. When he calls, we check and the data is there. (Whew – I uncurl from the fetal position). The Geeks just gave me the files, they didn’t bother to show me anything, so we didn’t know what we had till Ron and I checked them. Then Ron patiently walks me through the more than four hour process of bringing my laptop back to life.

During this time, Ron guides me through a very thorough, step by step process. He tells me what should happen next and it does. He tells me what to look for to ensure things are going the way they should. While we’re waiting for the machine to load, we talk. He explains different system back up options, even what products he uses personally, to avoid this in the future. He’s never condescending but constructive. We start to make conversation. He asks what I do and what my business is and upon learning I'm a trainer/coach, shares interesting information on adult learning techniques that he’s read about. I find out from Ron that he likes to travel and that he learns the languages (so far French, Portuguese and Spanish) of the countries he visits to heighten the experience of his trip. Ron’s an interesting guy.

5:30 pm. Finally, we’re close to being done and then it happens, the point where I become a customer for life. Ron now goes way above and beyond. While we were talking he was researching how to connect my Outlook email to my internet email and guides me through that as well. When I originally set this up it was a process that took me hours on my own and required the help of a friend and the ISP’s support line. By Ron doing this, he not only saved me more time on the phone but he saved me from more anxiety and worry about getting my system back up and running.

The steps
Ron demonstrated 100% full ownership of my problem and didn’t care whether it was in the scope of his support or not – he took it all on. He was reliable, knowledgeable, interesting, insightful and confident. He listened to me and he cared – he was just as happy as I was when the data was there and loaded properly. He ended up staying on the phone with me for about 35 minutes passed when his shift ended and wrapped up the process with a promise to call in two days to check and see if everything was working properly, demonstrating superhuman follow up qualities. He added value by making suggestions from his personal experience on what steps to take to avoid this issue in the future.

The payoff
What does this mean for Dell? Well, I’m a customer for life. If I buy a new laptop every three years for my business, at about $2,000 each, that’s roughly $20,000 in revenue for Dell. Add in the equipment I’ll be buying for personal use and for the kids in the future and that is easily another $15,000, conservatively – bringing my estimated future spend to $35,000. Now, multiply that by the number of customers that Ron touches in a year and Dell has quite a nice revenue stream coming from Ron.

We all have something to learn here to better support our customers and in turn, grow our business. Take some cues from Ron and think about your customers and how you can make them yours for life.

As for Ron, let me just say, THANK YOU.

YOU: the brand

A talented colleague and friend of mine, Melissa Arrighi, mentioned the concept of "branding yourself" to me once in a conversation. Her comments stuck with me and inspired me to think about how to do this, successfully. As a sales person, we represent a brand. This goes beyond the products we are selling to include ourselves, the brand of you! Before a customer will buy what we’re selling, they have to buy “us” first! Here are some qualities shared by fantastic brand spokespeople.

Passion
You have to have passion! If you’re not excited about the product your customer will not be either. Know why you are passionate about your product and share that passion with the world. Your passion about your product is usually bigger than the product itself and speaks to the “mission”. A builder isn’t passionate about concrete; he’s passionate about building and shaping a community. Donald Trump said if you don’t have passion, you don’t have energy, and if you don’t have energy you have nothing.

Confidence
When presenting YOU: the brand, confidence can be seen in your body language. Good posture equals confidence, competence and honesty. Look your customer in the eye, stand tall, head up and put on a warm agreeable smile.

Dress for success
What does your wardrobe say about your brand? Are your shoes scuffed – your customer could think do you pay attention to the details? Looking neat and portraying a professional appearance speaks to the visual impression you make with your customer.

Be current
Great brand spokespeople are curious and constantly learning. They bring that information into the customer interaction. In order to appear knowledgeable and interesting, you have to be current. Stay curious and up to date on your industry and your competition.

Customers will invest in you if they like you and feel good about you. YOU: the brand deserves a great spokesperson. If you follow these points and get your customers to buy you and they will begin to buy from you.

Smile! It's catching!

Have you seen the news on TV lately? Did you read the newspaper this morning? So has your customer. It seems, these days, the media is less of a source of news and more of a source of doom and gloom. I’m not suggesting we bury our heads in the sand – I’m suggesting that we focus on what we can control, like our attitude. What a refreshing change for our customers if we show up for a meeting, happy, with a smile and confident. It is actually, contagious and there are studies to prove it.

Are you happy?
If so, it is more likely your circle of friends and acquaintances are happy too. Even, a friend of a friend of a friend can be happy because you are. New research shows that within a social circle, happiness can spread three degrees – three people removed from you. The University of California and Harvard Medical School studied over four thousand friends, spouses and siblings across a twenty year period. They reported that people with a wide social circle are more likely to be happy if a direct connection is happy, 10% more likely if a friend of a friend is happy and 6% if it’s a friend of a friend of a friend. It is amazing how far our mood can reach out and effect other people!

Set the mood!
In selling, we know that we can set the mood of a meeting. We also know that we can’t let the mood of our client take control of the meeting either. We need to be positive, confident and upbeat. It is a waste of time to subscribe to the doom and gloom, to worry and despair over what might be going wrong next and drain our energy on things we can’t control. Yuck! Through our attitude, let’s create an environment of positive energy and productivity. If we do this, our customer will walk away from our meeting feeling better, more confident and in control and most importantly, looking forward to the next interaction they have with us!