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Desperate Times Don’t Call for Desperate or Deceptive Measures

August 15, 2008 in Ethics & Values

As markets tighten and people’s sentiment can tend towards the negative it is critical that we don’t get spooked. As mentioned before in the article about “Watch who you let near your mind” we need to examine all the evidence at hand, make informed decisions about our market and continue to ensure that our prospecting and sales efforts are targeted and at the forefront of our business activities. We also need to make sure that we continue to conduct ourselves in an ethical and professional manner working with our clients not against them.However in desperate times (and maybe it is all the time for some) some people stoop to new lows to try and get a sale. Here are a few examples of unethical and fraudulent behavior masquerading as sales activities. So beware.

For instance, last week, Carla, our Client Services Admin Manager, took a phone call from a man who said:

”Your fax machine is up for a maintenance review and I am wanting to organise a time to come in.”

There had been no mention in our business about a fax machine review. We are small enough for most things to be in our public domain so Carla knew something wasn’t right. She passed the call onto our Business Manager, Jobst who deals with all our office equipment. The man tried the same line on Jobst who, of course, was having none of it. The long and the short of it was this man was trying to get an appointment to see us to sell in new equipment but did so by deceptive means.

As Carla mentioned to me later what if you were new or not very experienced or were not kept in the loop you could have inadvertently let a person into your business who had not earned the right to be there in the first place. Why couldn’t that person have been upfront and told us what they wanted? Because sure as anything if they had got in our front door we would have kicked them straight back out again for trying to trick us.

I call this ‘Hit and miss – spot the victim’. They try and find a ‘victim’ who they can trick into seeing them and then try and bully them into buying something. While these types of stories do not make the news they are at one end of an ugly spectrum of lying and deception. At the other end of this spectrum are the tragic stories we hear and read about in the press of the elderly and vulnerable letting people into their homes for some sort of maintenance work only to be robbed or worse, badly injured or killed.

It’s bad enough that these people try getting in your front door by deceptive means but some companies don’t even call you and still try and get your money.

One of our clients informed me recently that some companies don’t even bother trying to see you instead, they just send you a bogus invoice hoping no one will notice and that you will pay it along with all your other accounts.

He mentioned two specific examples he had happen to him:

  1. An industry magazine in his market send his business an invoice with a fictitious order number for a $600 advertisement he never ordered.
  2. In applying for a trademark through his lawyer (who always invoiced all work done via his law firm) our client received a separate invoice for $1,200 from a company claiming to be a trademark firm. The official looking invoice arrived on his desk ready for payment having been approved by his accounts department. Knowing that he received all invoicing via his lawyer he rang his lawyer and found that this ‘trademark’ company was probably tapping into the trademark office data base somehow and sending out fraudulent invoices to people applying for trademarks hoping that the people were not vigilant and their invoice as well.

It made me wonder how many of us have paid an ‘invoice’ for work we never authorised and received. How many have slipped through the net?

These types of examples just remind us of the importance of being vigilant and to properly assess the credentials of anyone or any invoice claiming to do business with us.

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Daring to be Different (part 2)

August 6, 2008 in Recruitment, Sales Management

Here is the second of two articles about recruiting top performing sales people and daring to do so from outside of your industry.

Even though I have not worked as a traditional recruitment consultant for more than 14 years many of my long standing clients still talk about those ‘out of the box’ placements we made. Was it just the recruitment approach that made the difference. Well NO. What these savvy mangers is did was make sure the culture and the business could accommodate these ‘new’ types of people.

They took their current team along on the journey to the new as well. Sure it wasn’t all smooth sailing but they knew what they needed to do. As we know when we bring in difference we can often cause the current people to feel uncomfortable and if not addressed they can kill off the ‘new’ way.

So be aware.
If the overall culture of your business is not set up for excellent sales performance, all your efforts could implode. Here is an example of what I mean. A key client came to us saying they didn’t want to hire people from their industry because they just weren’t competitive in the current market. They wanted to refresh the gene pool and bring in fit sales people who were not tarnished by the industry and its way of doing things. They knew that in this over commoditised marketplace that their sales people where their competitive edge. They were on the right track but didn’t know where and how to start. So here is what we did to help them find elite sales performers:

  • Reviewed sales strategy and path to market
  • Defined Sales DNA & ‘ideal’ role/person specification
  • Built a structured sales recruitment process and kit
  • Targeted the industries the new breed of sales people could come from
  • Built and implemented the induction company sales training process
  • Implemented a sales management support system
  • Mapped & measured sales metrics

The results were fabulous from a sales initiative perspective:

The new breed of elites sales performers achieved a sales closing ratio of 4:3 within 2 months and sold annual sales budget within 5 months.

Now wouldn’t you think everyone would have been jumping for joy? You’d like to think so but sadly the new team was a small part of a very large business that had been operating in an entirely different manner (i.e. slow, internally focused, transaction product selling). Rather than embrace the new ‘fitter’ sales way of life and find more success across the board, the broader business killed off the team because it was too successful just so they didn’t have to change.

Sadly this is not an isolated incident, many a successful competent sales person or sales manager with new ideas, a healthy can-do attitude have been passed over for promotion or eliminated from the team because they were too different and too good. They did not fit the often buttoned down, compliant thinking, follow-the-rules-or-else culture that many larger business can have.

And what I still see, all too often, are senior managers and sales mangers recruiting from within their own industry sector recycling the same old people getting the same old ideas and the same old results. Relying on ‘industry experience’ as a major determining factor in your sales selection process can severely limit your potential to develop a competitive edge in your industry and find elite sales performers. This strategy has left many businesses vulnerable today as they now struggle to transform existing transactional product focused sales teams to savvy business people how can sell.
Which raises key questions:

  • How we can we find top sales performers to refresh our gene pool and revitalise our culture, our bench strength, our results, etc.?
  • How does an organisation create and the promote transparent sales performance in the field and at leadership level?
  • How do we encourage diversity, innovative thinking and outsiders into our thinking, our team and our business?

I encourage you to challenge the prevailing views and attitudes of your business and industry and really examine what your sales strategy needs by way of talent now and into the future and select and develop those people how meet your business needs accordingly.

If you do it can really pay big dividends.

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Daring to be Different (part 1)

July 31, 2008 in Recruitment, Sales Management

Here is the first of two articles about recruiting top performing sales people and daring to do so from outside of your industry.

When it comes to assessing sales and sales leadership capabilities in your business do the lines blur between the cultural morays, views and perceptions, gossip and politics and the real capabilities needed to be assessed against your actual sales strategy?

In my line of work I am often requested to sit on senior management interview panels for clients because of my background and expertise in assessing sales leadership and sales performance and the issues around of internal and external assessment of sales people and leaders. They request my presence based on the following criteria:

  • My 15 years working in the sales competency, assessment and development space
  • My eight years as a recruitment consultant interviewing approximately 8,000 sales people and managers face-to-face.
  • My independence as a 3rd party
  • My willingness to speak up and challenge prevailing views and attitudes as I am not likely to carry the internal company prejudices and paradigms that influence current thinking and culture into the interviews.

Sales recruitment and assessment is not for the faint hearted and is one of the hardest areas to get right in any business, and it doesn’t help if politics, nepotism and inaccurate perceptions of what constitute effective sales and sales leadership performance prevail. I get to see this, especially when we are looking at internal candidates.

Just recently I was in shock at the extreme contrast between two internal candidates who were two of several internal candidates vying for sales leadership roles on a newly formed senior management team:

  1. One sales leader was rated highly be their manager and endorsed by certain peers in high places but in interview it was clear they had no idea about sales leadership, strategy or process and no substance what so ever. They were a ‘fraud’ as far as the role was concerned. Yet their manager and other allies were clearly trying to position this person as a top performer which they clearly were not.
  2. Next rolls up the complete opposite. Clearly a highly competent candidate. They had the complete package, it was obvious from our investigations and we were impressed yet they had been previously rated poorly on key criteria and the lobbying by certain internal stakeholders to deposition them was astounding. His comment, when asked how he felt about being invited to participate in the interview process, was very telling. He said ‘Relief. Relief at being actually able to present his capabilities honestly, clearly and fairly without bias or prejudice.”

My client, relatively new to this division and whom I shared the interview panel with, had very little direct dealings with any of the candidates which was good on one hand, however, most of his information about the candidates was coming second hand via comments and lobbying from peers and managers and performance data ratings which may or may not have been accurate depending on who had assessed the individuals. He wanted a transparent, evidenced based approach used which is why he called me in. And our approach unearthed a whole lot of issues and raised questions around:

  • The formal performance assessment criteria and process of sales individuals (not just $ sales results)
  • Those who were doing the assessment ratings on staff and what perceptual filters they are using in addition to the standards provided i.e. biases, prejudices, etc.
  • The political lobbying in place to keep top performers from making it to influential positions
  • The actual criteria used to assess effective sales performance and leadership. Is it up-to-date and able to deliver our sale strategy?
  • The consequences of political, inwardly focused, biased culture and its effect on the organisation’s success in sales, staff performance and retention.

If the sales capabilities and performance requirements needed are properly assessed against sales strategy then what we can go looking outside of our comfort zone for top performers who can thrive and deliver I our culture. What is good for one industry may also be good for another.

I can honestly say for a fact that my best placements were people outside of the industries I recruited for. The clever sales managers recognised this and took a risk. So dare to be different.

Part 2 next week.

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Are you really listening?

July 24, 2008 in Communication, Customer Service

Ever misinterpreted or missed hearing important information which meant that you missed a vital opportunity? You’re not alone. Listening has always been, and still, one of life’s most vital skills. With so much competing for our time and attention I have found the effectiveness of mine and others’ listening skills are being increasingly challenged.

Where I notice my deficit in this area the most is when I go home after a busy day and my children want to tell me all about their day and I realise my head is still full of my work and other priorities and I am not really listening to them in the manner that I should and would like. I have made it my practice using my ‘To Do’ list to clear my mind, however, I realise that I still the need to focus on how effectively I really listen. I figured I probably wasn’t alone here hence this topic for your review.

So how well do you rate your listening skills? How accurately do you hear and interpret what others say to you? How easily are you able to break your own preoccupation with yourself and really tune into another person and what’s important to them?

Contrary to the popular myth “good sales people are good talkers”, excellent sales people are the better listeners and interpreters of other people’s information. They accurately record and reflect what the other person is saying to the point where the other person(s) feels heard, understood and respected.

I can’t stress the importance of effective listening to your success as a sales person, manager, leader, team member, parent, partner, friend or any other role you may have in your life. Listening is a vital life skill which serves you well in many situations and if not done properly you can miss many opportunities and annoy and lose people in the process.

However I find that people are often unaware that there different types of listening, not all of which are effective. If we are to truly practice effective listening we need to practice and apply Active Listening skills.

Listening is not the same as hearing. Hearing is the first part and consists of the perception of words being spoken. Listening, the second part, involves the attachment of meaning to what is being said. Passive Listening occurs when the listener has little motivation to listen carefully. Active Listening with a purpose is used to gain information, to determine how another person feels and to understand others. It requires effort on your part but the rewards are gratitude, respect and closer relationships.

Listening can be one of your most powerful communication tools!

So what are the Barriers to effective listening?

There are a number of things that can become barriers to effective listening and communication. People can build up barriers through personal insecurities or even through simple imbedding stemming from their cultural upbringing.

When it comes to listening, there are 3 levels of listening that we can exhibit.

Why not rate your current listening skills using the following checklist:

1. Marginal listening

  • Minimal concentration and listening.
  • Listener easily distracted by thoughts and fleeting impressions – leads to blank stares or inappropriate silences. This annoys the customer and causes communication barriers.
  • Listener plays with the message but doesn’t really hear what is being said.
  • Lots of room for misunderstanding
  • Person/ Customer feels the person serving/working/ etc. with them is not listening
  • This type of listening is sometimes due to lack of confidence – the person is focusing too hard on what they will say next.
  • Or the old pro may feel they’ve heard it all before. They may want the person / customer to hurry up so they can get on with the important stuff.

2. Evaluative listening

  • Second level of listening requires higher level of listening and concentration on person/ customer’s words.
  • Actively trying to hear what the person/ customer is saying but you’re not making an effort to understand their intent.
  • Instead of accepting and trying to understand the message, this listening evaluates and categorises the overall argument and concentrates on preparing a response.
  • Often anticipates the listener’s words and is ready with a response as soon as person / customer is finished speaking.
  • Most of your attention is on a response therefore you form an opinion about the person/ customer’s words before they are finished.
  • Risk of not accurately understanding the message being sent.

3. Active listening

  • Refrains from evaluating the person/ customer’s message and tries to see their point of view.
  • Attention not only on words spoken but also on the thoughts, feelings of the person / customer.
  • Requires a suspension of personal thoughts and feelings to give attention solely to listening.
  • Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes
  • Indicate to the person/ customer through verbal and nonverbal cues you are listening.
  • Good use of verifying, clarifying and paraphrasing.

Another good tip when practicing active listening is to take notes and use them when you a paraphrasing what the other person has said. However, all too often, I see sales people not taking notes relying only on their memory. After several meetings, no matter how alert you are, relying on your memory when you have so many other things on your agenda is a risky practice I would rather not undertake.

Taking notes combined with active listening skills is a useful, yet simple strategy that serves you very well on all levels. As I said when done properly the person you are listening to feels heard, understood and respected.

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Be Consistent & Keep Your Customers Happy

July 17, 2008 in Customer Service, Value Creation

One of the things that frustrate me the most as a customer is inconsistent service standards, inconsistent procedures and people’s inability to deal effectively and honourably with different types of people. If left unchecked this leads to confusion, frustration, wasted time, wasted effort, impaired brands and reputations, lost revenue and lost customers.

These issues don’t seem to be as much of an issue when you deal with very small companies because usually everyone knows what everyone else is doing and how it should be done even if it is only via word of mouth. However as businesses expand and get on board more people to work in the front line you, as the customer can’t always expect to get the same person to deal with then the challenges begin.

Here is a live example of what I mean.

I was trying to change a periodical payment amount over the phone recently normally a very simple task from my previous experiences. When I have called in the past I usually get put through to a regular group of 3-4 people who take care of our region. They have always been very helpful and pleasant to deal with. They know who I am and I enjoy speaking with them. I follow the appropriate security protocol they instructed me to use and more often than not our tasks are completed very quickly and promptly. This has been the case for over two years now. No fuss. No bother.

So when I tried to change a periodical payment to a new amount a few days ago it took three calls and 45 minutes to still get nowhere and when I tried again a few days later it took only one call and 2 minutes to rectify what I needed done in the manner I had always done it in before. What a waste! Wasted time, wasted resources, wasted relationships, etc.

Here is a summary of what happened and you’ll see what I mean:

  • My 1st call was taken by a young man who was very abrupt to begin with and would not give me his name when I asked for it later on in the call. I admit he did give me his name when he answered the phone however he said it so fast that I didn’t hear it so when I asked him to give it me again he said ‘I have already told you my name and I don’t have to tell you again”. In short he refused to help me with my request and behaved in a belligerent manner. I then asked to speak to his supervisor and he said, “No I will not do that”. I was at an impasse so I hung up and tried again.
  • My 2nd call was much more pleasant. I explained what happened with the last call and the woman (who sounded older) was very gracious and understanding however she was unable to help me with my immediate request as per my usual method as she claimed I needed to do it another way and had to get more information. So I hung up again and gathered the information needed to be prepared the next time I called. (It should be noted that I have not needed all this additional information in the past as they have it on file and I use the appropriate security information to process my tasks.) And sadly I was not able to call her back direct to carry on our discussions. I had to start back at the start with a new person all over again.
  • The 3rd call is too long to go into so in summary after I explained what I wanted to do as per the previous two calls, I was spoken over, interrupted, told that staff were getting sacked over not doing things properly, “I don’t want to lose my job” and that the way I had been doing things in the past (i.e. ringing up and giving my account details and security passwords to process simple tasks) was no longer valid and that I had to fill in forms and fax them through, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. And in this person’s attempt to finally empathise with me and my frustrations they said “Yes I get nasty too when I am not happy”. I sighed again and explained that at no time had I behaved in a nasty manner. Sure I was frustrated but not nasty. She had to admit this was the case and apologised for inferring otherwise. She stated she would send me a PDF to fill and fax back. More wasted time, more frustration, more inconsistencies. I gave up and went back to try to enjoy my day off.
  • The 4th call a few days later. I ditched the fax and did what I normally do and it was done in 2 minutes no fuss over the phone.

I have to say I was confused. I mean what is the right way to do things? The way calls 1 and 3 went were so far off the mark of effective service standards I wondered if I had walked into a comedy of errors and just a bad day at the office.

My expectations as a customer in this situation are not high at all as it was only a simple transaction that shouldn’t have taken much effort to process at all. All I expected was to receive the polite and helpful processing of my request. Calls 1 and 3 were handled so badly that they potentially ruined all the good work put in by their colleagues previously who knew better (consciously or not) how to treat customers well.

So who is to blame? I don’t know specifically in this case however I would talk to management and find out if the issue was an isolated incident or systemic. If it is systemic we need to identify the problem(s) and put in place a change process to resolve this as effectively and efficiently as possible.

So,

  • What are your service standards?
  • How do you educate and work effectively with your clients?
  • How do you expect your staff to interact and behave with your clients?
  • Does everyone know want is expected of them and how they should behave?
  • Are you all ‘singing from the same hymn sheet”?

While it’s easier to strike up a relationship with one person only, having to deal with multiple service people about the same common issues or procedures needs a streamlined consistent approach in procedures and tools in how to work effectively with different people. Educating customers on the right ways to work with you is very important especially if you are not going to provide them with the same person to contact each time. Customers want consistency.

For instance at BARRETT every member of our team is aware of our standard policy for Psychometric Assessment procedures and that we guarantee a 24-hour turnaround for delivery of reports once the assessment has been completed. If a client gets its within 24 hours that is an exception not the norm. Everyone in our business knows this and makes it clear to our clients especially the new ones who begin to work with us. This reduces confusion and sets clear expectations.

So if we are going to make it better for everyone concerned, customers and staff alike, we need sales and service staff to:

  1. handle a query simply and easily
  2. know, understand and follow due process
  3. explain things clearly
  4. use plain language the customer can understand
  5. clarify and solve people’s problems
  6. help correct any misunderstanding politely
  7. communicate in a positive professional manner
  8. make people feel welcome
  9. distinguish how customers really feel
  10. adapt their communication style with different people
  11. handle frustrations effectively
  12. don’t take things personally

If they can’t do this, they potentially send your customers away unhappy and maybe unwilling to come back and this will ruin your reputation, your revenue and ultimately your business.

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