We're all in Fishbowl; Get Some Scruples!

Life in a "fishbowl" was a phrase often used on my college campus to encourage the student leaders to realize that their actions were being watched by underclassmen, and to act accordingly. In other words, act like you're being watched and criticized all the time. And don't screw up!

Well I've got news for everyone... we're all in a fishbowl!

Which leads me to my original thought- what constitutes unethical sales behavior? Or any behavior for that matter???

I thought for days about the unethical sales actions I've heard about... or witnessed... or even considered doing myself. I tried categorizing such actions into different subsets of unethical-ness, and creating a scale for weighing which actions were most unethical. So many decisions are made daily by individual sales reps it's hard to categorize every action as ethical or not.

It all started in my MBA Marketing class with the question of retailers selling extended service contacts for cell phones, computers, cameras, etc. Is that unethical? Originally I said no, because I was thinking of way more serious offenses... like Bernard Madoff! But maybe it is a bit unethical to hard sell somebody making a major purchase... while the line behind them builds up and the clerk is staring at them to hurry up and make a decision. I guess I can be persuaded either way.

So then I began thinking about the ethics of fishing. The story of Paul Tormanen came to mind immediately (though I admit I had to google to find his name... but the story I'll never forget). During a tournament a few years ago Paul caught some bass ahead of time and strategically tethered the fish to various tree stumps. During the day of the tournament he went around and "caught" those fish... but so did a competitor of Paul's who was surprised to hook into a bass that was leashed to a stump! Officials were notified... Paul was investigated... and ultimately disqualified from the tournament and banned for life from B.A.S.S.

Conclusion: We're all in a fishbowl. In the world of cell phone cameras, Twitter and every other techno gadget that exists all of our actions are destined to be scrutinized. So we should all live and act as though we're being watched 24/7. If you're doing something to close a sale or to catch a fish that you wouldn't want shown on YouTube then it's probably not entirely ethical. Chances are that would have stopped Paul, and hopefully Madoff too. I'm okay if the kid at Best Buy still wants to try and sell me the service plan, but maybe he'll tone it down if he knows he's being watched.

'Til the Fat Fish is Weighed

Over the years I have become less and less exuberant after a sale... well, after the beginning of a sale. After that first closing call I used to swell with excitement and do the 'ol Tiger Woods fist pump, but now I hardly crack a smile. Why is that?


I think it's because- depending on industry- a sale isn't final until service is delivered, payment is made, etc... and in the mean time a lot of things can change causing a roller coaster of emotions.


Last week's Bassmaster Classic perfectly illustrates this. Mike Iaconelli, known for his exuberance, was touting a 23 lb. catch the final day sending Skeet Reese into a panic with his mere 16 lb. bag. Ike exemplifies that excitable sales rep. The guy who starts high-fiving you after a prospect only agrees to meet with him. He's also the guy in the sales meeting that inflates his forecast by a good 25%-50%. I love Ike, and I can't knock him for his optimism, but it's not time to pop the champagne until the final weigh-in.

Reese, tempering his enthusiasm actually had under-estimated his catch. Ike's 23 lb. bag actually only weighed in at 18.10, so Reese's actual 16.12 was good for an 11 oz win! By the way, this is the "Super Bowl of Bass Fishing" we're talking about! A huge friggin' deal. As reported by espn;

After a victory lap around the arena floor, Reese later told reporters, he snuck away to the bathroom and repeated to himself: "I just won the Bassmaster Classic. I just won the Bassmaster Classic. I just won the Bassmaster Classic."

So when is it time to enjoy a victory lap? Not until the fat fish is weighed! It's different for each industry, but it's certainly not right after the "yes." More than likely it's after the service is delivered and invoices have been paid. At that time you can get the champagne off the ice, and tell yourself "I just closed that deal! I just closed that deal! I just closed that deal!"

If you celebrate too soon, you're just another obnoxious sales person that exaggerates everything!

Don't Muddy the Waters, Cast Only One Lure- YOURS!

There has been a couple of fishy- pardon the pun- things happening around here in the past week.

Incident #1: A Sales Rep found a message board posting about a small competitor allegedly going out of business (which was false) and then began forwarding said message to prospects and referral partners.

Incident #2: Other Sales Reps obtained a copy of the major competitor’s pricing and began sharing that with prospects and referral partners.

In both instances Management intervened immediately and stopped the ethically questionable behavior. Thankfully I work for one of the most ethical companies, and incidents like this are rare, but what are these salespeople thinking?

In the world of bass fishing these ethical/moral dilemmas don’t even exist. Why? Because you can’t fish with bait that’s not yours. You can’t cast a spinner bait out there and next to it have a less desirable lure illustrating how great the spinner is to the bass. The fish doesn’t care what you have to say about the next Angler’s lure. All he cares about is if your bait is going to satisfy his hunger.

Prospects are identical to bass in that regard. I’ve never encountered a legitimate prospect that wanted me to do anything other than prove how I was going to satisfy their particular need, or solve their problem. They don’t care to hear what you think you know about the competition- which usually ends up being inaccurate anyhow.

Now, that’s not to say that knowing the competitors price is a bad thing. You should. You need to know, competitively, where to come in pricewise. But the moment you begin speaking on behalf of the competitors you are on a dangerous path. Maybe you know their price, but don’t know about this week’s promotion, or special industry discount. And think about how foolish those sales reps look that took an internet message board posting to be factual- and it wasn’t. There goes your credibility… which, by the way, is really important when earning someone’s business!

So don’t muddy the waters by trying to un-sell the competition. Instead focus on casting your best possible lure and gaining the prospect’s interest.

The Water's Bluer on the Other Lake

Disclaimer: This is a long blog entry, but a true story worth telling.

Exactly one year ago I walked into my office, ranked in the top of the salesforce, but something was wrong... I was a salesman for a start-up line of business within a Fortune 500 company.

Translation:

Start-up; an organization with no experience and/or proficiencies...
Fortune 500; an organization with lots of bureaucracy stunting the growth of said "start-up"

Specifically, what was wrong in the bass fishing metaphor was that my fish were dying in the livewell. I would close a sale and submit paperwork to my operations team. Industry standards call for a one to three (maybe four) week implementation. In our case there were no standards and implementations would range from one day to 244 days! Several of my deals were never implemented... and deals died. If you can imagine that bass are only supposed to live in a livewell for a few hours before being "weighed-in" and then released back into their lake. Similarly with clients in that phase between sale and implementation. There's a small window of time- varied by industry- to keep the client fresh before the process wears on them... frustrations grow, and a sale is dead.

So if you find yourself in a situation where you think things would be better elsewhere what do you do? Will the water be bluer on another lake?

In my case, YES! Easy for me to say, because I had no choice. On December 12th I got a phone call from my boss shortly after 6:00 PM on my cell phone... odd. "Tomorrow they are going to announce that we are done..." What do you think my reaction was? Surprisingly I felt a weight lifted from me. No longer would I have to live in fear of my Blackberry exploding with client crises. All of my internal angst about riding out the storm or jumping ship had been answered for me.

So on December 13th I walked into the office and was told that the Company was eliminating our line of business. Details would be discussed with HR later that day.

Which leads me to the present day... and this is 100% a true story...

My wife and I had been recapping the year's events during dinner on the 12th. My new boss (who has NEVER called me on my cell phone, much less after hours) called me shortly after 6:00 PM. Deja vu? Not exactly... instead he had an extremely hot lead for me that needed to be contacted immediately... which I did, closed the sale and was then asked, "how is your implementation process?"

I should mention that I'm now at the best company in the industry, nationwide. So we actually have an implementation "process." Phew!

Some additional perspective here... My current employer is truly the BEST in the industry. Does that mean everything is perfect? Of course not, but I chuckle to myself when fellow sales reps complain about the issues, inefficiencies, etc. And then the issue is resolved within a day or two (not 244!). Issues are always going to exist- everywhere. But you need to realistically evaluate if the water will be bluer on another lake?

Oh, and when the water is bluer... get that line in immediately! You never know when the water will get murky;)

Lunar-trick or Lunatic?

Call me a "lunatic," but my favorite page in Bassmaster Magazine is the monthly lunar table page. I love it when the bar graphs max out on a day I know I'll be on the water. And I'm bummed when it's a day I know I won't be. That happened in July when my Dad and brothers were on the water and I wasn't. Just as the table predicted they had a phenomenal day of catching lunker bass... and I missed out. Can such hogwash really be true?

I don't know if lunar tables really work or not, but I do know this- your odds of actually catching fish markedly improve if you believe you are going to catch fish. The opposite holds true as well. If you don't believe you're going to catch fish, your odds decrease.

So maybe I use the lunar table as a trick. I don't let myself get too worried if it's not a favorable day according the the chart. My selective memory blocks out those days. But I head to the dock with a confident stride on those off the charts days... and those are the days the fish seem to bite!

Why is this important to my sales efforts? Because I believe the same theory applies to our success in booking appointments and selling- you increase your odds when you believe the outcome will be favorable. I've had colleagues tell me they only call during certain hours to book appointments. Others only call prospects on Thursdays and Fridays. Some call after 5:00 PM or before 8:00. Sales people do all sorts of quirky things. Why? Because they honestly believe that their chances for success are better when they do that. And they're right!

If you're struggling to get the type of activity you want. Perhaps a lunar trick will work. Just look at the table and walk out the door expecting business on those good days. Or maybe you think I'm a lunatic.

Evaluate Activity; Don't Waste Time "Casting" to Fish That Aren't There!

Okay, so I have been hammering the phones for the past four weeks. Dialing and getting dumped into voicemail. Not leaving messages. Dialing and leaving messages with gatekeepers. Dialing and getting dumped into voicemail again. Leaving messages this time. Dialing. No message. Message. Dialing… and on and on.

Question: Does anybody with buying authority answer the friggin’ phone anymore? Don’t answer that, I already know they don’t.

In today’s hyper speed, information overload era prospects are getting bombarded with marketing messages and sales pitches. And with the advent of caller ID nobody in their right mind answers one of those calls. I don’t do it at home (and when I do it’s a machine… that’s for another day!), so why do I expect my prospects to answer my call? Don’t they know how important I am, and how much time and money (blah blah blah) I can save them?

Here’s the kicker- I actually had considered those calls “casts!” Metaphorically I had envisioned myself as the Bass Pro “casting” to dozens (if not hundreds) of prospects a day. Here’s the problem- my “bait” never got in front of any real prospects. It’s as though the bass are ten feet below the surface and my jig is only going three feet down. So why did I think I was actually being productive when I was never really getting in front of the prospect? Did I honestly think that my “value statements” on their voicemail where going to entice them to swim up and take a look at me?

Ultimately the question is how can I actually get in front of enough prospects? I don’t have the answer here, but I know what’s not working! What would the bass pro do? He’d probably add weight to his jig, switch baits, switch locations and change tactics. I need to do all of the above.

This is back to the basics. The fundamentals of this metaphor are… find fish, get in front of fish, entice fish, hook fish, keep line taught, reel fish in, keep fish alive in livewell… repeat.

My problem is I was telling myself that I was in front of the fish when I really wasn’t. We need to constantly evaluate our activity and be honest with ourselves. As sales professionals and fishermen we have enough technology and information to evaluate this hourly, daily, weekly, etc. I know who my prospects are, now I just need to find better ways to get in front of them.

Authenticity Wins the Business

I was on a sales call the other day… this prospect had been presented to last year by my company but chose a much smaller regional competitor, so I asked her why she chose the competitor?

“Your sales representatives were so professional… so polished. [The other company’s] people were more like us…”

Too polished! Too professional!!!

I immediately removed my coat and promised her I could use profanity if need be.

What’s more is that she was experiencing some issues with the vendor she chose, but since they were her kind of people she was happy to let them work it out before considering us.

The thing is, I agree with her one hundred percent! I hate people that come across so polished- almost phony. I think most of us do. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for being extremely polished- especially in sales, but it can be a fine line between polished and phony.

Ultimately you have to be authentic.

Bass Pros will take brand new lures out of the box and alter them for this reason. Maybe they’ll add a red paint mark under the gill or some other seemingly minor detail. The goal is to take something that may be too polished and give it some authenticity.

It’s a lot easier to add a dash of paint to a lure than it is to infuse authenticity into a salesperson, but I think it can be done. Just think about this on your next call. Is it more important to have a superior look and presentation or to have a real and authentic exchange with your prospect?

And know when you should leave the jacket and tie in the car!