Attitude

I try to include a message here and there that may help someone out there that needs to hear this. How many times do we talk about Attitude and the importance of carrying yourself with respect for others and for yourself. I have learned the hard way that in order to have a better respect for those that are around you, you need to first respect yourself. How you treat everyone that you come in contact with has some sort of effect whether it be negative or positive. To ask the obvious question, which kind of taste would you want to leave in the mouth of whom you come in contact with? In a sales role there are going to be rejections, it comes with the job description. It's how you handle those rejections that is going to set you apart from the competition. Do we take no for an answer? The answer is YES. What!!! Yeah I know let me explain. So when you have come across someone that has no use for you product do you think that by pushing your way in and saying you NEED this product, that will make them say, Oh ok! Absolutley not! Obviouse right? We can't get them all but it is how we react to the No's that will define who you are as a "salesman."

If they don't see the value or benefit of what we have to offer why would they say yes.

Imagine you walk into an icecream shop and you ask the person at the counter what is good. They procede to tell you all of their personal favorite flavors. So you tell him that you want the oreo cookie ice cream, which is one that they did not mention. He or she is sitting there thinking, "what's the point in asking me what's good if you don't take my recommendations?"

Now enters that same person to ask the same person the same question. Imagine that the person behind the counter first asks, have you ever been here before. Customer-"no I haven't." Employee- "ok, well it depends on what you like, do you like fruit in your icecream or are you more of a cookie lover." "Yeah I do like cookies, what about this oreo cookie icecream?" Alot of the customers love the oreo cookies icecream." "Ok, I'll try the oreo cookie icecream." So what's the difference? The worker added value to his product, so instead of telling the customer what his personal interests are he/she added value by asking the customer likes. Customers buy this flavor for a reason, they're good!!! But you know that. :) This is a very simple example, but it hopefully illustrates my next point.

When someone see's value in a product they will more likely buy it. It seems simple but there are alot of people out there that do the "telling" kind of selling rather then the "asking" kind of selling. Ask qualifying questions, make it sound like they are coming up with all the ideas and you are just facilitating the conversation.

NRA Conference in Chicago

In the next few weeks our Business Solutions team from Corvirtus will be attending the NRA Conference in Chicago, IL. This is the daddy of all conferences for the restaurant and hospitality industry. It is an opportunity for thousands of companies to showcase their products and services. Corvirtus will be there at booth 3212. It is on the 3rd level, near the main entrance. If you are going to be there feel free to stop in and say hi.

This past week I had the pleasure of attending a new partners franchisee and strategic partners conference in Napa Valley, CA. They sure know how to throw a party. It was a great opportunity for me to rub elbows with some of their franchisee's. This restaurant chain is one of the newest partners to the Corvirtus family. They are implementing a customized hiring system. It is cool to see how people get excited about this stuff. I am excited about it every day so to see others get pumped about the benefits and results, it is really cool. They understand the importance of the Customer Experience. By implementing the system they are going to see remarkable results in the employees that they hire. They are going to find people that are going to believe in their restaurant, that want to make feel people feel good, and deliver a memorable customer experience. These are all key components of a successful restaurant that wants to be different and stick out from the competition.

At Corvirtus we help organizations passionate about delivering great customer experiences.

Customer Experience

As we continue further into the recession it is becoming more and more apparent that the customer experience is the driving source behind creating customer loyalty. What if you could insure that every employee you have greeted your customer with a smile and a go getter attitude? What if they always went above and beyond their job description? What would that do for your company? I can't guarantee that you will have 100% of employees that are going to have those characteristics, but with pre-emlployment assessments you can determine who is more likely to have those characteristics that will aid them in creating a memorable customer experience.

"People Talk", is what I call it. The old way of marketing and advertising is coming back into style. It isn't anything complex or difficult to understand. It's as easy as talking to a friend or co-worker about how great the food was, and not only that you had a good time there because your server created a fun and memorable experience. Word of mouth can be such a powerful marketing tool. Now, I am not in direct Marketing, however I have seen many things come to fruishen in my short career that would leave many people aw-struck. When people have an experience unlike any other they have had before, they are going to talk about it. Then when those people get curious enough and they go and check it out they are going to talk about it, and the stream of upbeat and positive feedback grows and grows. I know this isn't anything new or ground breaking. However, things of the past are just that. Companies don't have the money they did before to spend on marketing and advertising their products and services. So doesn't it make sense to put the money you do have into a staff that is going to do the marketing for you?

What is it about the customer experience that is so special? Recently Bruce Temkin of Forrester Research blogged about the 6 laws of Customer Experience. In this article one of things that he touched on was how the Customer Experience is in the "eye of the beholder." When you go to a store or restaurant you may have a totally different experience that you had at that very same store or restaurant just a few days ago. How would that make you feel if you had this wonderful experience one week then a terrible one the next? Consistency is such an important aspect of the customer experience. Pre-employment assessments can be the key to making sure you have consistent Brand delivery by exciting and energetic employees each and every time.

Business Development and Partnerships

I have to do my random rant to get this thing started. Last week I was in Orlando, Florida at a conference for the hospitality industry. While there I was able to meet a good number of people that we can hopefully be working with in the near future. Before I took this job I was excited to travel because I had this idea of what it would be like. I have to be honest--it's a bit different. Not in a bad way. I guess my point is, for me, traveling makes me appreciate my home more.

Ok, so on to the real meat. On Friday of last week we had a potential partner, who is a good family friend, come in and share with us what he does. I was really excited about this because I felt that we had a good fit. Now the pressure was on because I had our President and Co-founder in there along with our Marketing Coordinator. So if this guy came in and there was not even a small glimpse that we could work together, I would have wasted an hour and a half of his time and our Presidents time. I will admit I was a little nervous, but I felt confident that what we had was in the same industry, but different enough that we could help each other out. As he's going through his presentation I look over at our President--he is taking notes--this is good. But then I got to thinking...he is a big note taker so maybe he is doing it to be polite. But he just kept writing and writing, and kept listening to what he had to say about what his company does. I thought this couldn't be a better fit! He is the founder and CEO of a company that does branding. This guy has his Ph.D in rhetoric! Seriously, rhetoric!! How cool is that? Anyway, the hope is that as he is coming across these companies that are focusing on the brand experience and helping develop what they want as a brand experience our hope is that then he will refer us as they are going to need people to deliver that brand experience that he developed! Score!!!

In turn, when we have companies that are in need of someone to come into a restaurant or retail store, and help them develop what kind of brand experience they want, we will refer him. It was just cool to see what a match we are and I am way excited about the prospect of working together and having a lot of success.

Street Smart or Book Smart? Which One Are You?

Have you ever heard the phrase, "keeping up with the times?" That is a little different these days. There is so much uncertainty right now that "keeping up with the times" is not so much applicable, if you ask me. Let me explain. With a down econonmy there are many industries and companies that are going back to the drawing board. They are trying to think of new ways to generate revenue. Yes, times have changed, but the way we do business has also, or has it? I am sure many of you have heard, or even said it yourselves, the acronym K.I.S.S.--yes that one. Keep It Simple Sally. Right! No, but you know what it means. Yes I agree that we need to get creative with the way that we look at business, but the only way that any of us are going to weather the storm, in my opinion, is hard work. Put your nose down and grind it out! Before you know it you will look up and the recession will be in the rearview mirror and you will be ahead of the game because all those other guys are still drawing on their white boards. Ok, so my real message is this, I just needed to get that out there first.

What I really wanted to touch on was an article that I came across on Forbes.com. It really resinated with me. It was about finding good closers in sales. The author took a controversial topic and pretty much laid it to rest if you ask me. The question that came up was, 'who will deliver better? A sales guy that has the experience and book smarts or that wild card that has the street smarts and personality for success?' Raise your hand if you consider youself book smart. And raise your hand if you consider yourself street smart. I'm totally raising my hand and no one in the room even noticed. Awesome! Yea, I don't have the experience or resume that many sales teams might be looking for. What I do have is a desire to be molded and trained to become the best at what I do. I love talking to people, and I feel like I have a good presence on the phone. At this point I am like a spongue looking for water to gobble up and absorb. I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but I really believe that someone that does have a degree (like myself) yet has more of that gut following, hard working, teachable attitude would run circles around some of these experienced sales guys. So who do you hire? That is totally up to you. But maybe you should ask yourself a few questions first. This guy that has this experience and this great Rolodex, why did he leave his last job and why is he looking to join your company? Where did he get his experience? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Yes, but it may take that much more of your precious time to break him of those tricks.

So you decide--Street Smarts or Book Smarts?

Learning Curve

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, I did that partly on purpose. The reason it has been awhile is that--to be honest with you--my head has been spinning as I have been put into this new role for sales. The company I am with is so awesome! Let me tell you why. So for the past 20-25 years we have been growing organically, meaning we have been growing merely by our great name that is out there and it has worked great. However, with these economic times, as well as a change of pace that has become necessary, we have been going into the direction of sales. Of course not forgetting our foundational products and offerings. That is were I come in. In the past 6 weeks I would have to say that I have been pulled in every direction possible. Would I change anything about that? Absolutely not! Am I crazy? Maybe a little bit. :)

So as it is with anything else there comes a learning curve. I have done sales before but nothing of this magnitude. The sales I have done was purely on the phone and people were calling me. Yes a call center! It was great but to be honest it didn't really allow me to "spread my wings" and maybe that was for a good reason. I look back now and see the different jobs that I had, and my education, and see how each one of those jobs and my education has prepared me in some way for this job. At least that was the thought. When I started here I tried to call on my past experiences which helped a little bit but what I have really been trying to do is be open minded. I want to learn and grow and be the best at what I do. It has become very apparent that in order to do that I need to surround myself with people that are better than me at what I do. We have some sales consultants that have helped us a great deal. One in particular has been there as we have ventured into sales and has really opened my eyes to great things. He understands the hiccups that we will run into, because he has seen it before, and he has worked with me to find solutions. In the past 8 weeks we have more open proposals than we have had in years! Did this happen over night? Nope. Are we going in the right direction? If you would have asked me that question a few days ago I may have had a different answer but after this morning I want to say we are hopefully on our way. There is no doubt that we will get there, it is just going to take time and patience.

There is a learning curve with everything new that comes along. When new opportunities arise you can either embrace them or swim against the current. Those that swim against the current will get tired and those that "go with the flow" will be on board ready for what is up ahead. To be honest, I don't look at what I do as sales. I know it sounds funny. Of course I want companies to buy our product but it is the process that I love! There are so many steps that happen from someone showing interest to them becoming a customer. I get to be a sales guy, I get to be a consultant, I get to work with numbers for the proposals, and I get to help make decisions on the direction we want our company to go in. I don't talk to people because I want to sell them--I talk to people because I genuinely want them to benefit from what we have to offer and through that their business can grow. I would want that for anyone, except for maybe our competitors. :)

We will continue to learn for the rest of our lives if we are open to situations and circumstances that present a opportunity for growth. With that we are consistently embracing and learning, and furthering our understanding of business and our particular roles.

By the way, if anyone is looking to increase their sales or sales team, I can get you in contact with these guys that we have been working with.

Bucking the Trend

In regards to my earlier post I wanted to share a few things that I have learned since then. Interestingly enough one of the industries that is able to weather the storm of this economy is the grocery industry. I have come across several large grocers in the last week that are in the market to hire over 5,000 new employees in 2009 each. Why do you think that is? CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. They see the value in creating an experience for their customer and are seeing the results of that. So within all the doom and gloom of this economy it's the grocery stores that are able to stay afloat. What can be learned from this? The customer in today's "experience economy" is what the Brazilian people call a "Mao de Vaca" translated--Cow Hand. We are holding on to our money tighter these days and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that people don't spend their money so the economy doesn't get back on its feet very quickly. Again that is the prerogative of the American people. Money, for as long as this earth has existed, has been a touchy subject to us all. Judas, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, betrayed the living Son of God for money. Judas was selfish and allowed money to determine his behaviors. On the totally opposite end of the spectrum, today, we hang on to our money tight and want to be taken care of. It's a natural human tendency to want to be liked and treated well. Think about your best friend. Why are you friends with that person? Because that person, when you met, created a customer experience, and you bought and you have been going back ever since. That is what today's economy needs -- that customer experience that creates a friendship to last a lifetime.