Sales Blog from Sales expert Trent Leyshan

Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category

Miss Congeniality

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

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This week Aussie model and aspiring social worker, Jesinta Campbell was decorated with the second runners-up sash in the prestigious Miss Universe pageant.

She also won the award for ‘Miss Congeniality’ for her sense of humour and warm personality. Good on her! I’ll admit, when I heard Jesinta had been recognised for her personality; I was more impressed by that, than her third place in the pageant. The fact her personality shone so brightly, in my mind, makes her more attractive and more interesting.

In “sales”, all things being equal—personality wins! To stand out in a cold, crowded and competitive market you can differentiate by showing your personality and inviting your customers in, rather than telling them what door they should walk through. In the process you offer contrast that gives them choice—either the same or you?

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Are you telling or selling?

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Sales TrainingTelling is not selling, because the conversation only flows one way — from your lips into the other person’s ear and out the other. Telling fails to provide your customer with an opportunity to buy-in to the conversation.

Moreover, the salesperson hasn’t taken the time to acknowledge who the customer really is and what they need or really want, if anything at all. In essence, the salesperson is only communicating to the customer’s stated need, which is usually the tip of the iceberg.

You will never see who they really are until the customer trusts who you are. In the early stages of your relationship the customers doesn’t possess enough confidence in you to reveal too much about who they really are, so it’s up to you to help them. This is best achieved by engaging the customer in meaningful conversations and making what’s important to them important to you.

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Do you have to like your customers?

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

LipsThe short answer is, no. However, my experience suggests the better you get along with your customers, the more meaningful the relationship becomes. 

One this is for sure, if you dont like your customers, you must at the very least share a likeness with them. And the best form of likeness is: their best interests.

“I dont really like you, but I still really care about you.”

Is a powerful mantra I embed into service based businesses.  Even if you don’t like some of your customers’ ― you still better service the pants off them, and enjoy doing so. Is that ‘idealistic,’ you bet! But in today’s hyper-competitive market, anything less is settling for mediocrity and we all know how that story ends.

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The Art of Chen

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The Art of ChenLast week I flew from Melbourne to Sydney to conduct a two-day, 60 salesperson sales training session for a large kitchen and electrical ware supplier.

When I arrived in Sydney, I exited the terminal and quickly felt the humid morning air. I strategically positioned myself in the cab-rank and waited in-line for my ride. After a few minutes, my cabbie pulled-up and then leaped out of his seat and ran around to my side of the car. A small Asian man with a couple of teeth missing and a crooked smile greeted me. He then pushed me out of the way assertively and snatched my suitcase from me and lobbed it into his boot.

We both jumped in the cab and in broken English he introduced himself ceremoniously, “Hi, I’m Chen! Where are we off to today?” “To the Manly Novotel, thanks mate” I responded, slightly taken aback and amused by Chen’s lively demeanour. We then proceeded to take the 40 minute journey and headed through the tunnel. The traffic was backed-up and sensing my anxiety about being late for a speaking gig, this seemed to infuriate Chen, to which he profusely apologised and assured me that I would not be late for my 11am start. Though slightly perplexed by Chen’s noticeable concern, I got the impression he genuinely cared about getting me to my destination on time.

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How to generate quality referrals

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

ReferralsIts fare to say that I’ve been around the sales-block a time or two, or maybe three but who’s counting?

In my fifteen year career ‘selling’ at the coal-face, I’ve seen just about every sales approach in the book ― some effective and others not so.  And If there is a ‘so called’ bag of sales-tricks, my bag is fatter than most.

Having been a fervent student of ‘selling’ for most of my adult life, one thing is for sure, nothing excites me more at the front end of the sales process than a referral. Hot, warm or cold, I dont mind, so long as there’s a need or desire I’m qualified to fulfil. And if someone goes to the trouble of recommending me to another, I dont take that lightly, ― I celebrate it!

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Posted in Customer Service, Sales Training, sales process | No Comments »

Are you ‘equal to’ or ‘greater than’?

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Thailand market

In business today it doesn’t matter what you’re selling there is so much clutter and confusion ― competition is fierce and let’s be honest for most it’s a mental, emotional, and physical grind.

I can hear the rusty cogs of progress grinding from here, its bloody exhausting just listening to them. Can many of you relate to my wearisome words? Of course you can, I can, we all can.

Today, selling something both unique and profitable is tougher than ever. Not only are there a plethora of carbon-copy competitors in each space, added is the customer having so much choice and unprecedented access to information, thanks to the internet, correction; Google. Moreover, the general population is increasing ‘exponentially’ and the shear mass of businesses that are created every year is not going backwards any time soon.

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Posted in Customer Service, Sales Culture, Sales Training, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Loose lips sink ships

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Loose lips 2If your salespeople are complaining about clients, this is a serious symptom of a larger problem: the negative conversations are being reciprocated on the client side.

If this is the case, I encourage you to have a real and candid conversation with key people involved immediately. The first question should be, ‘what and how are we not meeting our client’s expectations?” The response, if honest, will provide valuable insight into the client’s real issues and values to allow you to address them and move forward together. I would also encourage having the same conversations with key clients to establish what’s really important to them.

You must demonstrate you genuinely care about your clients and their best interests. Unhappy clients are like fruit, if you leave them on the vine without care for too-long they rot and fall-off. Instead, identify why these team members feel the need to engage in disrespectful conversations regarding clients. Often a manager receives a deceptive or biased interpretation of the client problem. This is designed to protect the salesperson or account manager’s reputation. In serious cases, I recommend going direct to the client as a more effective course, but in a way that doesn’t disempowered the salesperson and promote an internal dissonance to the client. 

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