Week of May 4, 2009

Good and bad service come in a lot of ways. Many cell phone companies make it almost impossible to replace a broken phone. because your phone is obsolete as soon as you pay for it. iPhones seem to be a different story when you deal with an Apple store. The customer service is superb. Automobiles are legendary for bad service. A friend called me last week saying his daughter had taken her car to a dealer because she was having overheating issues -- and they gave her a list of repairs needed to cure the problem adding up to over $2,000. I put him in touch with a dealer of the same brand who I know is honest. The charge was $130 because it was nothing more than a broken hose and low coolant. Guess who gets the return business!

Take some time this week, step back from your business and evaluate your customer service from a client's point of view. How easy is it to buy your products? When the inevitable mistake is made, is it corrected quickly and with a smile? Are your customers thanked consistently for their business? Do you call on them yourself just to be sure they are happy with their purchases? You'll probably find some steps you can take to ensure repeat business.

Positive attitudes are contagious. It is difficult in times like these to maintain optimism when you see padlocks appear overnight on auto dealers you thought were bullet proof. People you've been doing business with for years are suddenly bankrupt. You have to lay off good employees to be able to meet already downgraded goals. With all of this happening it, is difficult to fight a negative outlook.

So what is there to be positive about? You're still working and providing employment for most of the people who were with you a couple of years ago. You live in the most advanced country in the history of the world. Take a trip to another country for a few days and make an honest evaluation of it compared with the USA.

Try to surround yourself with people who have positive attitudes. The best way to find them is to have a positive attitude yourself. Fight off the tendency to let all the negatives bring you down. Develop an optimistic outlook on life and your business in the 21st century. If you do, it will rub off on your employees and they will be more productive. If you don't, the opposite will happen.

The next time someone says, "How is it going?" Say, "Great." You'll be surprised how good it makes you and the other person feel. Optimism and pessimism are contagious. Which one prevails is up to you.

For your next manager's meeting in your market, why don't you take it "off campus" and get away from the office? Back in the day, when we had the money, we used to go to a great hotel or restaurant and meet over a good dinner while we cemented our relationships among our fellow managers. Every month when the Arbitrend came out, the PDs, Sales Managers and I would go to one of the city's great restaurants for lunch. Whether the Trend was good or bad, it was a great time to discuss how we were going to sell over the next month. Some great ideas came out of that lunch.

You can still do meetings away from the office. Get creative with trade, do it at someone's home, or here's an idea ... bite the bullet and pay for it yourself. Hard times require innovation to keep good things happening

I hope you're already doing this, but with the economy in bad shape and auto sales are in the tank because people are keeping their existing cars longer. As a result, their vehicles are in need of service and repair more than usual, so the service and auto parts stores are logical advertisers. This week's brainstorming session among your "best and brightest" is one to determine the companies (not necessarily automotive-related) in your market you can help benefit from the bad economy.

I got a call from a friend of mine last week with one of the quintessential sales management questions: How many face-to-face sales calls should each AE make each week? There is a simple, solid rule you can follow that works. Here's the rule: It depends! It depends on the AE. Please look at your sales staff as a group of individuals with different strengths and weaknesses ... and push them in the direction of their strengths. That's not to say you shouldn't push them to do more face-to-face calls. You know the old saying, "You can tell a successful salesman by the number of times he/she has to re-sole shoes." I'm a big believer in face-to-face calls, but one should always remember the point of selling is to bring more top-line revenue into your business. It doesn't matter how that revenue arrives at the door.

There are AEs who are great at cold-calling and face-to-face calls. Some actually do great on the phone and you have to do some gentle persuasion to nudge them out from behind the phone, text messaging, and e-mail. Another way of looking at it is to assess the number of face-to-face calls each AE is making and determine if, in your opinion, it is enough. After all, you are still the boss, aren't you? You get to make those decisions. Just don't make the mistake of demanding the same number of face-to-face calls for all AEs. I've seen it tried over and over; in the end it doesn't work and creates animosity. A little understanding of each person's unique abilities goes a long way.