:The Flash Advancer

We like to do business with people and firms we know, or at
least have heard about - it gives us a feeling of comfort and
security.

What happens at a trade show? Is there such thing as a
true cold call?

I say No. And these are my five reasons I say so….

1. IT DEPENDS ON YOUR SIDE OF THE AISLE -

As an exhibitor, there will be people you have never met,
representing companies you do not know but - you are not
calling on them. The visitor has the control of the encounter
and approaches you. The cold call is TO you, not from you.

2. MOST VISITORS ARE FOCUSED -

They have a problem - immediate, perceived, anticipated or
just a dream. They are looking for a solution, and in most
cases, they are casing your company as a solution provider.
This means you need to listen carefully to strangers and
slot their concerns into your arsenal of answers.

3. MOST VISITORS KNOW YOUR COMPANY -

Maybe not intimately as a client, or even as prospect, but via
Internet research, industry gossip, publicity, conversations
with your clients,. Unless you are a brand-new venture with
absolutely no exposure, your name and reputation are out
there. Today, there is no privacy thanks to technology.

4. SELLING IS SELLING -

Does it really matter who starts the Sales Dance? Some
exhibitors insist on leading this cha-cha - which may turn
into a slow waltz when they don’t listen or acknowledge that
control of the conversation belongs to the visitor.

5. UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS -

At a trade show, the visitor is in charge. The visitor has
made these major decisions TO-
Spend the money, take the time to go the show
Read the Show Program, decide to visit certain
exhibitors
Actually attend the show
Walk down each aisle
Spot which exhibits - pre-selected or not - to visit
Stop at your exhibit
Engage in conversation, request follow-up

What happens after this is out of the control of the trade
show staff and moves to sales for follow-up. At which point,
it is certainly not a cold call.

****************************

Julia O’Connor - Speaker, Author, Consultant - writes
about practical aspects of trade shows. As president of
Trade Show Training, inc,, now celebrating its 10th
year, she works with companies in a variety of
industries to improve their bottom line and marketing
opportunities at trade shows.

Julia is an expert in the psychology of the trade show
environment and uses this expertise in sales training
and management seminars. Contact her at
804-355-7800 or check the site
http://www.TradeShowTraining.com

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By John Boe

While you may not always get what you want, you will always get
what you expect! Belief is the most powerful state of mind
because your belief system defines and shapes who you are and
determines your potential. I believe Henry Ford was correct when
he said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t - you are
right.” Your belief system doesn’t differentiate or judge, it
simply accepts as truth what you feed it. Interestingly enough,
the power of belief and expectation works just as effectively on
your feelings of self-doubt and limitation as it does on your
thoughts of success and achievement. Think thoughts of defeat or
failure and you are bound to be discouraged. In his classic
book, The Strangest Secret, Earl Nightingale revealed that the
strangest secret in life is that you become what you think
about. If you want to know what you believe, look at what you
are experiencing in your life. As within, so without. Your
thoughts are creative and express themselves through your
emotions, which in turn, drive your actions. Everything you say
is literally an affirmation, both positive and negative. You
must be careful to guard your thoughts and words for they become
your deeds.

I once heard a story about an eager, new insurance agent who had
just received his license and was looking for prospects. He met
with a successful businessman who had agreed to provide him with
referrals. As he handed the salesman ten prospect cards, the
businessman instructed him to call the prospects immediately and
report back after he had finished. One week later, the
enthusiastic salesman decided to drop by the businessman’s
office to give him feedback and to ask for more referrals. The
insurance agent was pleased to inform him that he had been very
successful! He said he had already contacted and sold insurance
policies to eight of the referrals and was still trying to
contact the other two. He enthusiastically thanked the
businessman for providing him with the ten prospects and then
asked him if he had thought of any other people to refer? The
businessman smiled and said that he was very busy at the moment
and shocked the insurance agent by handing him a phone book. The
businessman explained that he had selected the previous ten
prospect names at random out of the phone book and that the
insurance agent could go ahead and get the next ten for himself.

The clever businessman taught the new insurance agent an
extremely valuable lesson in the power of belief and
expectation. The salesman had made those sales on the belief
that he had been given ten preferred prospects. Therefore, he
was confident and eager to contact those leads and expected to
make the sales with little or no difficulty. What is your belief
about your market and what expectations do you have for your
success? Yes, belief is indeed a very powerful state of mind!

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Taking swift corrective action with poor sales performers is the key to any sales manager’s responsibilities. Nowhere is it more important than in sales to quickly take action when a sales person is not hitting their revenue targets. Management’s job is to diagnose and detect the underlying reasons for a sales person not performing and to engage in corrective action in order to correct the behavior, the activity or the results as necessary. Often times, sales managers are too slow to recognize when a sales performance issue is coming to light and waits and hopes that a sales person will sell themselves out of a slump. Only through active engagement with the sales person can sales management hope to mitigate or reduce the possibilities of bad sales performance and get a sales person onto a turn around plan that will produce the results they are looking for.

The key to managing a poor performer’s improvement is healthy, open, assertive discussions in a climate of accountability, as well as a friendly, helpful and supportive environment. A lot of sales managers come down hard on their people when a person is not producing the right sales revenues for the company. And a lot of times this is the most destructive thing. Sales people, just like everyone else in life, need positive motivation and empowerment in order to succeed. So, simply taking a harsh approach to an individual at the outset when the first signs of poor sales performance are occurring is not a remedy for the problem. And often times will have the very effect on a person’s motivation that you’re trying to avoid. A better way is to sit down and talk with the individual and understand from their perspective what’s happening in the sales process or what their sales strategy or with their activity that is the underlying cause for the poor performance.

I’ve met many sales mangers over my career who actually avoid confronting their sales people when they see poor sales performance. And sales people need to be confronted in an assertive and healthy and productive environment in order to understand what management’s expectations are and attempt to make correction to their work and take corrective action. So a sales manager’s job is not to apologize or hide from the truth, but to assertively, and in a healthy way work, with their sales people to diagnose the problem, understand what the underlying causes are for the problem, and look for solutions. The best solutions often times, come from the sales person themselves.

In particular, most sales people understand what it is that’s not going right and can reach their own conclusions regarding what they need to do in order to improve their results. So the best way to start any corrective action discussion with the sales person is to ask them what are the causes for not achieving your bookings or revenue targets, what is the competitive environment that you’re in, how much activity is actually being undertaken in order to generate the level of new prospects, qualified deals, and proposals that are going to lead to the sales results that you’re trying to achieve. Often times, sales people understand the root causes of their own deficiencies, and when given the opportunity, can step up and take ownership and responsibility for making changes in their daily routine, in their approach, in their technique, in their processes in order to fix the problem.

Sales management’s job is to facilitate this and making sure that communication is happening that’s going to diagnose the problem as quickly as it’s understood and take corrective action to accelerate sales and improve overall performance.

About Cube Management

Cube Management (http://www.cubemanagement.com) provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results. Read the Cube Sales Blog

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