Reputation Matters

13 Jun

I have over 1,500 names of business contacts in my Outlook folder. But there’s only about 100 business people that I know well enough to accept a referral from me. I have earned the right to make referrals to these busy people because of my prior interactions with them. So when I make a referral to them for you, it’s because I value my relationship with them and not necessarily because I’m doing you a favor. And I expect you to treat that referral like gold because how you handle the referral is a reflection on me.

Rick Roberge hammered this very issue home in his recent blog posting, “Why am I calling?” A guy could have received a great referral from Rick to one of Rick’s trusted contacts but that guy’s reputation with Rick earned him a “No”. A well-deserved “No” in my opinion. And I just loved Rick’s description of this guy in the second to last paragraph! A great lesson and one that made me laugh.

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Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move? Part Three

10 Jun

My source for these interesting emails sent me the VP’s next email about the sales meeting, an email that was sent to all sales and senior management.

The VP lists the reasons why the sales meeting is being held on the weekend. I’ve added commentary on what the sales team could be thinking as they read this email. Which response, A or B, would be yours?

Dear Team,

I have discussed the meeting dates with executive management and we have decided to firm up July 11th and 12th for our quarterly sales meeting…”

Response choices:
A – Good, the VP checked with senior management and they all agree
B – The VP must have forgot to check with the far-flung sales team

* Senior management team routinely travel 50% of their time, including weekends and holidays to support sales efforts.

Response choices:
A – They’re doing all that travel and only asking us for one weekend? That’s reasonable, then.
B – That’s why senior management makes more money then us and has 10 times the number of options

* Large public technology firms routinely plan off-site sales meetings on the weekends

Response choices:
A – We want to go public and cash in our options so we’re all for emulating those firms
B – Yeah, and they plan the off-sites in locations like Las Vegas, Atlantic City or New Orleans instead of corporate’s class B office space

* Large public technology firms require their employees to share hotel rooms

Response choices:
A – Cost savings are important so we show a bigger profit (or smaller loss)
B – Those employees share a room at the Vegas Hilton with their buddy or friend-with-benefit, which is not the same as sharing a Motel 6 room in Albany.

The VP summarizes the reasons for keeping the meeting on a weekend, “[Our company] has done more for its sales people while requiring a lot less than what other firms expect from their field sales force.”

Response choices:
A – You sold me, I’m glad I work with such a great management team
B – Ah, the beating continues. Can I find a new job in a month?

So what do you think now? Did you choose more A responses than B responses?

Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move? Part Two

1 Jun

Reader comments for my original post of “Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move” were the highest to date. The post must have struck a nerve with others, as it did for me. Ironically, I did not even write it!

I intentionally did not share who I thought was the problem in this email exchange because I was very interested in the reader comments. The early comments centered the blame squarely on the VP for sending the first email but the later comments shifted the blame to the rep.

My opinion – The rep did the bigger damage. Whether the company has traditionally held sales meetings over the weekend is not the issue, IMHO. And yes, the VP could have “sold” the meeting. But if the rep was upset and wanted to change the dates, he should have called the VP and expressed his concerns and alternatives The rep could have shared the rest of the team’s feelings and worked out a new date that the VP could announce. But by replying-all to senior management, he forced management to close ranks and support the VP. Even if the rest of management thought the VP was wrong, they had no choice but to support him and save face. The rest of the sales team should be angry with the rep that slammed the door shut on them getting out of a weekend sales meeting.

I went back to my source for these emails to get a bit more information. It turns out that this company never had a weekend sales meeting before. The VP is new from the beginning of the year and hand-picked by the CEO. Half the sales team has 3-6 years of tenure with the company and the rep that replied-all is one of the reps with the longest tenure.

Does this additional information change your opinion? It does not change mine.

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Inquisix Survey Results – May 2008

30 May

Great sales people know that the best source of information about your product or services comes from your customers – those who use your product to be more productive.

We recently sent out a survey to all Inquisix members asking them what they liked about Inquisix, what could be improved and if they’d recommend the service to a colleague.

The response rate was awesome, better than we expected! To those of you who responded, THANK YOU!

The best news of all is that many members and especially the active ones, see great value in Inquisix. The ability to generate referrals instead of names to cold call from is seen as extremely valuable to members and an offering unique to Inquisix.

The survey confirmed much of what we suspected our members are looking for. The good news is that most requested improvements are already in the works and will be rolled out early this summer.

If you are an Inquisix member and would like to see more details on the survey, please visit the member forum at

SURVEY RESULTS

If you are not an Inquisix member and would like to participate in this vibrant community of sales reps giving and getting referrals, then please request an invitation at

BETA INVITATION REQUEST

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Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move?

17 May

I was sent the two emails below. After reading the first one, I thought, “Wow, what a morale killer for the sales manager to send out that email.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

From: VP WW Sales

To: Global Sales

Cc: Exec Staff

Subject: Q3 Sales Meeting July 11th and 12th – Mark your calendars
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Please mark your calendars for our Q3 sales meeting. We will hold it on:

Friday July 11th and

Sat July 12th

You can make arrangements to be here on Thursday, July 10th and fly back on Sunday, July 13th. Please make your reservations at your earliest convenience so that we can get low cost fares.

Details to follow. Stay tuned.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Then I read the second one and thought, “Wow, what a Career Limiting Move by that sales rep.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

From: Field Sales Rep

To: VP WW Sales

Cc: Global Sales, Exec Staff

Subject: Re: Q3 Sales Meeting July 11th and 12th – Mark your calendars
______________________________________________________________________________________________

This is not acceptable. The Sales team spends a great deal of time away from family already. To have this meeting scheduled over a summer weekend is insensitive at best.

Please pick alternate dates.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Why do I think the first email is a morale killer? After all, many companies I know in the IT space routinely have dinner meetings and weekend conference calls. Their attitude is, “Hey, we’re great executives, always thinking of the reps. We reserve selling time for them during the workday thus we do all the administrivia stuff after hours or on weekends.”

The second email is a shocker. Yes, tone is often hard to read in an email but I think the tone of this email is pretty clear. The rep doesn’t think much of the idea or the manager and clearly doesn’t care who in upper management knows it. Reply-all is a dangerous thing especially when you reply to an email in anger. Which reminds me of rule #1 of email – never ever write something about someone that you would not tell them to their face.

What do you think?

Who’s to blame here? VP, rep or both?

Is the Sales VP’s email a morale killer? How could they have written it better?

Does the rep need to find a new job quick?

Who needs to attend sensitivity training?

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Marty’s Top 7 Rules Of Networking

14 May

We have a guest author today. Marty Eerhart is an Inquisix member and manages a nationwide mortgage broker and lender business based in Rhode Island. He previously owned a sales and management training company providing networking training sessions coast-to-coast.

Marty’s Top 7 Rules Of Networking

1. Don’t sell at networking meetings. Your goal is to meet people. You don’t have time to do a good sales presentation. Besides, there will be too many distractions.

2. The best way to get something from networking is to give something. Don’t expect to get leads when you never give others leads. Networking is like marriage: You get out of it what you put in it.

3. Remember me? When someone asks you what you do, say something memorable. This way it is easier for the other person to think of you when they meet someone who needs your product or service.

4. Qualify the people you meet into three categories: Potential clients, source of referrals, interesting-but-nothing-more. Realize that not everyone will be a prospect. Networking is more then prospecting. It is also finding people who could lead you to potential new customers.

5. Networking is more like farming then hunting. It takes time to cultivate and harvest. But once the harvest season starts, you will be well compensated.

6. Did you miss me or am I just another number? Remember the first date you went on? You waxed the car. You put on your best clothing, shaved or put make-up on. You opened the door for the other person. You paid him or her a compliment. But after you see them a few times, the extra efforts are gone. Keep all your meetings like the first one!

7. Remember, it is net*work*, not net*eat* or net*play.* It takes energy and effort to make network work for you.

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Lunch with Sales Coach Dave Kurlan on Wed June 18th

7 May

Inquisix members in New England have been graciously extended an invitation to attend a free lunch and sales seminar hosted by Dave Kurlan. Rick Roberge, who was the Inquisix Networking Night guest speaker, is a member of Dave’s Sales Consulting business and invited me to attend the last presentation. Dave is a best-selling author, sales consultant and great business speaker.

Dave’s talk will focus on three topics near and dear to all sales management

* eliminate sales hiring mistakes

* accurately predict future sales revenue

* have all your reps overachieve quota

The event is being held at the White Cliffs Estate in Northborough, MA from 11am to 2pm. If you’d like attend, please register HERE.

Thanks for the invite, Rick!

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My Contacts or Yours?

6 May

A buddy of mine joined a small company as a sales rep. They hired him because of his experience in the industry and his rolodex. So then he uploads his contacts to their CRM system and the marketing department comes down on him. “Where did you get those names?” “Didn’t you read the employment agreement?” “Take those names out!” were all comments ringing in his ears.

“What’s their problem?” he asks me. I’m thinking it’s the age old battle of defining what constitutes a lead. Marketing considers those contacts to be leads but Sales considers them to be nothing more than names. One group finds value in just the names and the other does not. This is the same battle that companies wage when a sale rep leaves and management tries to make sure the contacts don’t go with the rep.

It’s the combination of my buddy’s industry experience, the rolodex and his relationship with those contacts that makes those names valuable. The rolodex without the relationship is nothing more than the yellow pages suitable for spamming.

So let the rep come/leave with names. In today’s world, those names can be found anywhere on the web so there’s no trade secrets or IP attached to them. What’s valuable is the relationship to those names. And that’s why my buddy got hired, because of his relationships.

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5 Simple Rules to Reach Business Contacts on Social Networks

27 Apr

An Inquisix member recently sent me this link to an interesting blog posting. The author, Noah Elkin, writes about how marketing professionals can reach out to business contacts on social networking sites. While Inquisix is primarily a business networking site for sales and business development professionals to exchange referrals, I felt Noah had some interesting comments to pass along.

I’m cutting and pasting his comments that I find most relevant but you can read the full posting here.

“The principal difficulty lies in the ever-shifting nature of personal and professional boundaries…..some individuals are more judicious than others in accepting “friend” requests.”

“With etiquette and consideration in mind, here are five simple rules to follow when using social networks for business purposes:

1. Ask permission, not forgiveness — even though they may be public, social networks are highly personal
2. Remember to inquire about each person’s preferred mode of communication
3. Treat each contact as an individual
4. Respect the boundaries each contact sets (but adjust as the relationship develops)
5. Don’t bombard anyone with messages, regardless of the delivery method”

These simple rules should work for everyone, not just marketers and sales people.

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Quality vs Quantity

24 Apr

When I was graduating college and needed appropriate interview clothes, I spent my money on one good suit.

When I was furnishing my first apartment, I spent my money on one piece of quality furniture. Of course it was the stereo system.

When prospecting for business, I’d rather get one good referral instead of making 100 cold calls.

When I think of who I can really count on, I see a few very good friends instead of lots of casual acquaintances.

It seems simple – for the important things, quality triumphs over quality.

I received a request via LinkedIn from a guy who worked for me over 7 years ago asking me to endorse him on LinkedIn. I replied, “Sure, why don’t you write something for me and I’ll edit as appropriate and post.” I haven’t heard back.

I get the feeling he thinks I’m the bad guy here because I was asked to do something by a former co-worker who’s connected to me in LinkedIn and I pushed back.

But he’s looking for a reference from me, one that will be available for all to see. Google him, you’ll find my recommendation. Google me, you’ll find my recommendation of him. So my comments not only say something about him but also about me, too. After all, if I don’t have a good reputation then my recommendation of him is worthless to him. If I recommend everyone who asks me for one, then what’s the value of my recommendation?

If YOU wanted a recommendation from a former boss (or customer), how would you go about it? Would you call them? Send them a personal email? Or send them a form-generated email thru a social network like LinkedIn? I wonder how many other former bosses received the same form email as me?

How much effort was expended asking for this particular recommendation? Does it not deserve the same effort in return?

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