 |
   |
|
Seeds For Thought
Securing Your Future Through Commissioned Sales
If you can sell, you'll never go hungry. If you can sell, your income potential is high.Being a commissioned salesperson, you think and act like an entrepreneur. You are a small business. You are the business. You will profit or starve on your abilities. As a salesperson, you can put all of your Catholic Action Principles to work. Nothing is more rewarding or frustrating in business than sales. It's lucrative because it's tough. And, it's lucrative because all businesses need rainmakers. These are the front line troops who find the customers. If you are a business owner, either you have to hire a competent sales staff or you must assume this responsibility. Without customers, there is no business. If you've watched my speech, you know Mario. Could you do what Mario did? Mario would fearlessly knock on one door after another. This is known as cold calling. It is making your introduction without benefit of a referral. You are standing out there "cold," on your own. Cold calling is the toughest type of sales. But, again, look at the Mario story and what happened. Since Mario did a good job, he only has to sell Mrs. Quinn once and then Mrs. Quinn becomes a regular customer. Mrs. Quinn calls her girlfriends for Mario so that all of his calls aren't "cold" calls. So, Mario began his adventure by cold calling but was soon able to find customers through buzz marketing; that is one customer telling another customer about Mario's wonderful home services. In most organizations, the sales people are the elite. They are like the priests and nuns who become missionaries. They are doing the job that most others can't do. Are you self-assured and tough enough to spend day after day hearing, "No, no, no, no, no"? And, sometimes those negative responses are not so politely delivered. Many people avoid direct selling or try it and don't like it because they take product rejection personally. The customer doesn't want the vacuum cleaner. It feels like the customer rejects you, "No, I don't want to buy YOUR vacuum cleaner." It takes an extraordinary tough personality, like Mario's, to take a deep breath and say a prayer to Saint Lucy of Syracuse, patron saint of salespeople. Then, smile and knock on the next door. And, being a commissioned salesperson, your next paycheck is rarely guaranteed. Budgeting takes self-discipline. For example, in real estate, you might make ten thousand dollars one week and then nothing for the next three weeks. If you are a chef and own a restaurant, you probably don't want to sell. You want to plan your menus, shop and cook. However, for your restaurant to be success, someone has to bring the diners to the tables. You may want just to be an artist, left alone with your creativity. However someone has to sell your genius to the gallery owners who can then present your work to the critics and the buying public. A big advantage to becoming an entrepreneur in commissioned sales is that you don't need any seed money. You work for commissions, which means that you don't get any money if you don't sell. It's good old, pure as it gets, free enterprise. Here's an example. You get yourself a commissioned sales job and the boss says, "You think you can sell cheese. OK, go out and sell our cheese. Here are some business cards, our price list, an order book and a link to our website. Good luck." Go. Get out and sell that cheese. Make two hundred dollars or two thousand dollars. You leave the office with your Blackberry, laptop and cell phone, and business cards. Can you still do research? You bet. Go to the library and you'll find many books on salespersonship. You'll find "how-to" books. You'll find inspirational biographies. Research. In fact, sales are so important to business and so unpopular a job that everyone is always looking for some magic bullet, some secret and, hence, there are thousands of books on sales with Amazon.com listing over 22,000. Happy researching! Let's make this a little easier. Start today and don't stop talking with successful salespeople in your industry. They can be active or retired. Ask. Call them up. Be sincere. Be direct. Buy them dinner. Carry their briefcases. Find out what they do. Do what they do. This is not rocket science. This is the simple and direct path to success. Find successful salespeople and model yourself on their styles and attitudes. In the beginning, your modeling should border on mimicry. Later, you can add your own style. In general, you, the salesperson, will look and act like a successful version of your prospect. In other words, your appearance can border on the 'wild' if you're selling CDs for Virgin Records. But, creative dress is not considered compatible with selling insurance for the Prudential. You can probably find legendary salespeople who sell refrigerators for Sears', suits for Nordstrom's and shoes for Macy's. There are commissioned salespeople who work for companies large and small and who make more money in a year than two doctors' salaries or three lawyers' salaries. If you want to be like them, find them and do what they are doing. Finally, commissioned salespeople are almost always people who are optimistic, organized and full of life. They have to greet life with a smile. They believe in themselves and their products. If some people don't want their wares, they know that others do. Most successful salespeople will tell you that your time is better spent looking for prospects who already want to buy their products rather than wasting time trying to convince people to buy products they don't want. What should you sell? You can get rich selling almost anything: rubber bands, coffins, real estate, cars, coffee, anything. Do your research. Work a little harder and a lot smarter and you're going to be a success. If you like tennis, sell tennis gear. If you like to fly, sell airplanes. If you enjoy science, sell laboratory equipment. Who's stopping you? Be an extremely valued employee to any company. Say a prayer to Saint Lucy for guidance and become a successful salesperson. Kirsten Likes TVThe television industry fascinates Kirsten. This industry offers her multiple sales opportunities. Kirsten was happy to learn that one of her favorite saints, Claire of Assisi, was the patron saint of the television industry. Claire started the Poor Claire Sisters under the guidance of Saint Francis. Saint Claire has been described as humble, merciful, charming, optimistic, and chivalrous. Kirsten knew that Saint Claire would be an excellent role model and spiritual guide. Kirsten is enthusiastic and optimistic. Can she sell television stations? Why not? Somebody does. Can she sell commercial advertising for a television station? Can she sell television equipment to television stations? Can she represent and sell the skills of on-camera personalities to television stations? Can she sell syndicated shows to local broadcasters? There are dozens of sub-specialties open to Kirsten as an industry salesperson. She has to pick one and get going. How about Kirsten selling plain old TV sets? Since most TVs are sold in department stores, Kirsten's buyers will typically be drawn from in-store foot traffic. Kirsten is dependent on the department store management to bring the consumer foot traffic into the store. It is the responsibility of management to offer the promotional incentives necessary to bring buyers interested in consumer electronics to Kirsten's department. She really can't do much until the customer shows up. Where does this leave Kirsten? Management may look at their sales' sheets and decide to promote TV sales aggressively only two months a year, in November and May. During these two months, the store emphasizes TVs in their advertising. During these two months, the sales are great. Now, what does Kirsten do the other ten months? Kirsten is an entrepreneur, a self-starter. She does not want to stand idle for eight hours a day staring at 65 TV sets all tuned to the same channel. She does not want to spend most of her day dusting TV sets with 65 faces of Geraldo staring at her. Kirsten decides to speak with her store manager. The store manager is sympathetic but non-committal. What can he do? The store manager pulls out a copy of the magazine, Chain Store Age, which clearly shows the research that most TVs are sold during just those two months every year. However, the store manager likes Kirsten's initiative. Someday, he may recommend that she become the Assistant TV Manager. At the department store, Kirsten has a job but she won't get rich. Next Kirsten's tries discount store sales. Kirsten goes to work for Mid-Central Electronics Warehouse. (MEW). At MEW, they generate plenty of traffic. They undercut everyone's prices. Have they got a deal for you! They don't even need display space, their prices are so good. At MEW, there are always twenty people waiting in line. Working at MEW is like working at a psychedelic carnival. "You want a wide screen high definition TV. MEW's got wide screen high definition TVs. Anywhere else, you'd pay $1,300 for this set. For you, darling, $750. Now, where is your car parked? How many sets today, handsome? If you want to think about it for a minute, you'll have to please step to the side and take a new number. Next." In moving from the department store to MEW, Kirsten traded being a salesperson and selling a few TVs to being an order clerk and taking orders for lots of TVs. At MEW, Kirsten sells ten times as many sets as she did at the department store. At the department store, her commission averaged $27 for each set sold. At MEW, her commissions were $2.70 for each set sold. Kirsten decided that if she wanted to make it big in sales, she had to think big. Rather than selling one set at a time, how about selling 10, 50 or a 100 in one go? Who buys in quantity? Stores do. Who do stores buy from? They buy from manufacturers' representatives. Kirsten does her research. Unfortunately for her, the top brand manufacturers don't need ambitious salespersons, only online order takers, because the sets sell themselves. If televisions are going to make Kirsten rich, she'll need to research the electronics industry. Everything that Kirsten needs to study is already printed or on-line. What are the TV manufacturing industry's publications and websites? Kirsten realizes that there are specialized publications and websites for almost every business field. There are newspapers, magazines and newsletters. She goes to the library and has the research librarian help her find them. They won't be in the library. They won't be sold at the corner bookstore. She has to write away for them or call their toll free numbers. She will get some or all of the publications and read them. She searches on Google. What does Kirsten want to know? She wants to know everything. She wants to know the up-to-the-minute buzz in the TV industry. Where are the rising companies? Which companies are on the vanguard of new technologies? Are cable ready flat screen TVs with built-in stereos and recordable DVD players going to be a hit or a flop? Is it only the top five or six brands or are there some real dark horse candidates poised for success? How are the various sets rated? Are there any dark horse candidates? Where are the trends? There are researchers whose job it is to research, predict and write on trends and rising stars in the television set sales business. Who are they? What do they have to say? Sales can be a competitive business. Kirsten learns the jargon, the language, of her business specialty. When making her sales pitch to a prospective buyer, Kirsten is ready with persuasive arguments. She has her Power Point facts in order. At the end of each day, Kirsten stops to reflect and say a prayer to Saint Claire. She is committed to the Catholic Actions Principles philosophy of self-improvement. Today, what worked and what didn't work? Kirsten asks herself what she has learned today. Kirsten makes a personal choice to work hard. What other resources can she explore? How about Wall Street? All the big stock brokerage houses maintain market research departments to track the television manufacturing industry. Which companies are riding the crest of current technologies and which companies are simply floating along with the current? Most stock market research can be found online from anywhere at anytime. 
How has research helped Kirsten? She knows a lot about the television manufacturing industry. She knows about the new technologies. She now knows what people are buying and why, and she can make an educated prediction on what and why people will be buying in two years, five years and ten years. Kirsten still needs a job. She makes a list of the top twenty television manufacturing companies. These are her target companies. Kirsten goes online. There will be business reference websites, which will list the names and addresses for the top executives in each of her target companies. She downloads the relevant material for each company. Who is the Chairman of the Board, the President, the Vice-President, the Director of Research, the Director of Personnel, etc.? Kirsten has a plan. She isn't a starry-eyed dreamer resting her future on scratch tickets from the lottery. Kirsten starts writing letters: June 30, 2006 Mr. Philip Ordstein, Chairman Diode Electronics 34 Tech Circle Wellesley, Massachusetts 02181 RE: Research Report - Diode Electronics, Interview Request Dear Mr. Ordstein, My research into the television manufacturing industry has yielded the following information specifically related to Diode Electronics: * Diode should shake the industry with the impending introduction of Model 3454, Wrist TV. * Diode will receive stiff competition in the cable ready market when Omega Industries launches its below $600 Trinolon Series. * Wall Street would look more favorably on Diode Electronics stock if Diode writes off its floundering stereo business. * The tax incentives of building the new Diode Electronics plant in Puerto Rico should cut labor and end product costs considerably. * End of 2001, Wall Street predictions for Diode Electronics stock:
In researching the television manufacturing industry, I have confidence in the future of Diode Electronics and would welcome the opportunity to be part of your progressive team. My specific interests are in sales marketing. I would appreciate your assistance in securing a position with Diode. Thank you. Best regards, Kirsten Libby She starts by sending letters to the person at the top, the Chairman of the Board. Kirsten gets herself a little notebook and records Ordstein's phone number and the date she sent the letter. After a few days, she calls Mr. Ordstein. Kirsten states the reason for her call. "Yes, I would like to speak with Mr. Ordstein regarding a research report written for Diode Electronics." Needless to say, the Chairman has a good secretary who can be counted on to screen unsolicited calls, "I'm sorry, but Mr. Ordstein is in a conference this morning. Can I have your name, please?" This one's easy, "Yes, it's Kirsten Libby. Are you Mr. Ordstein's secretary?" "Yes, I am." Kirsten boldly counters, "Can I have your name, please?" The secretary politely answers, "Yes, Mrs. Walker." Kirsten goes for the gold ring. "Mrs. Walker, I'm sure that Mr. Ordstein will wish to comment on the research report he received. When would be a more convenient time to call?" Still, Mrs. Walker does not know to whom she is speaking, "Well, Ms. Libby, Mr. Ordstein is a very busy man." Kirsten offers a compromise, "I appreciate that, Mrs. Walker. If you will discuss the report with Mr. Ordstein, I will call you back on Friday for his instructions. Thank you." Kirsten calls back Mrs. Walker on Friday, who tells Kirsten that Mr. Ordstein suggested she call Mr. Fenton. Who's Fenton? Isn't he Vice-President for Personnel? That would be a nice coup. Maybe Fenton is ten steps below the corporate ladder from Ordstein? That's OK, too. The further down the list Fenton is, the more intimidated he will be by the mention of Ordstein's name. Kirsten is on a roll. She calls Mr. Fenton. "Good morning, Mr. Fenton's office." Now, Kirsten is talking from a stronger position, "Good morning, my name is Kirsten Libby. I recently completed a research report for Mr. Ordstein and Mr. Ordstein suggested that I follow it up with Mr. Fenton." Is Mr. Fenton's secretary going to put off a caller who is using the Chairman's name? No way. "Certainly, Ms. Libby. Mr. Fenton is in conference. If you wouldn't mind holding for a moment, I'll get him for you immediately." Kirsten could already be on her way to a job interview. But what if the call to Mr. Ordstein drew a blank? Well, who is the president of Diode? Kirsten can retype and send the letter to him or her. Why give up easily? Kirsten can work the letter report system through the Diode chain of command. Will there be a bite somewhere along the line? Kirsten can be using the same letter and call system with the other fourteen television manufacturing companies on her list. Most people looking for jobs start at the bottom with a clerk from human resources. Kirsten can start at both ends with the executive branch and the human resource office. Kirsten gets her sales job at Diode. She got the job through her letter writing but she could have gotten the job from a referral or an ad in the Sunday newspaper or an ad in an industry publication or from a Monster.com listing or from CraigsList.org or from a head hunting firm. It doesn't matter how the door was opened. The door was opened by Kirsten's willingness to be pro-active. Get out and do things and meet people and make good things happen. Kirsten becomes the marketing representative for Diode Industries in St. Louis. What does she do? Of course, she researches. What has been Diode's prior position in the St. Louis market? Which retailers are currently buying Diode products and why? Which retailers aren't buying Diode products and why? Who are the people who make the buying decisions for each of the retailers? You want peoples' names and not company names. You sell TVs to people. Kirsten is selling the store buyers on quality, features, service and price. Kirsten sells fifty sets the same way she sold one set. Why are Diode TVs known for quality? What features do Diode TVs offer that others don't offer? How is Diode on the vanguard of new technologies? How does Diode Electronics stand behind its products as few other manufacturers do? Why are Diode TVs a good value for the buck? Kirsten is pro-active. She gets in the game. She doesn't wait for the phone to ring. She makes the phone ring. She sells. If Kirsten hears, "No," she has to figure out what that "No" really means. Does the "No" in one case mean, "Yes, we'd like to buy 50 sets but we only have the money for 30?" Or, does the "No" mean "Yes, I hear what you're saying, but, what you're saying about Diode doesn't correspond with our experiences with Diode in the past?" Or, does the "No" mean, "Yes, we'd buy 50 if the price were better?" Or, does the "No" mean, "Yes, we'd buy 50 if we had the warehouse space for them? Or, does the "No" mean, "Yes, we'd buy 50 if you'd finance the order?" Kirsten has to find out what the "Nos" mean and then sometimes she can find a "Yes" in the "No" answers. Can she personally guarantee better service? Can she offer a better price? Can she offer warehouse space or staggered deliveries? Can she offer financing? Kirsten is pro-active. She finds solutions. Kirsten works with the retailer to solve his or her problems. Can she offer a sales seminar for the retailer's sales personnel? Can she offer practical suggestions to better showcase the Diode TVs in the retailer's electronics department? Can she work with the retailer to develop a more effective print advertising campaign? Can she offer to participate in the advertising campaign with the retailer? Kirsten can sell 50 sets by proving to the retailer that he or she can sell 50 sets. Kirsten knows that the retailers are on her side. They want to sell TVs. Kirsten puts herself in the retailer's position. If she were a retailer, what incentives and assistance would she expect from the manufacturer? Kirsten makes an effort to work with each individual retailer. It may seem like a lot of effort when she may be working with 50 or 100 different retailers. How can she possibly give personal attention to each? Kirsten, by constantly talking with and monitoring the needs of her retailers, finds common concerns. How can these common concerns be addressed? Kirsten can become an important link between her retailers. By observing and listening to her clients, she may find that store "X" has developed a workable strategy to build sales or solve a problem that, if appropriate, she can share with stores 'A', 'B,' and 'C'? Kirsten's job boils down to keeping the 50, 100 or 200 people who are buying her sets happy and productive. Here is a little shops that sells 10 sets. How can she help them to sell 20 sets? How can she help the chain that sells 200 sets to sell 400 sets? Maybe Kirsten calls the chain store buyer every two days and the little shop owner once every two weeks. Sometimes, Kirsten's message may be simply, "I care." Is Kirsten doing more than her competitors? She'll know, because she'll ask. She always follows through. Kirsten is a whiz. She never stops researching, analyzing and thinking. What's happening in the TV manufacturing industry? What's happening in the retail industry? What's happening in her local sales territory economy? What's happening with her time? She sees the big picture and the little picture. She learns by herself and from her company and her competitors and from her buyers. Is it possible to become the world authority on television set sales in St. Louis? Yes, it is. Kirsten did it. Kirsten has a knowledge, which is unimportant to most, but a knowledge, which could make her rich. It is a miracle of faith to Kirsten that her prayers to her patron saint, Saint Claire bear so much fruit when Saint Clair lived eight hundred years ago. Saint Claire must be looking down and smiling from heaven. How many other salespeople in the television industry are praying daily to Saint Claire of Assisi? Is there any doubt why Kirsten quickly rises to the top ten percent of her profession? Go to Lesson Nineteen13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 Index
|
 |
 |
© Copyright 1994-2006, American Success Institute. The Action Principles® is a registered trademark of the American Success Institute. We are a nonprofit research, publishing, and educational corporation headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts. |
 |
