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.