“The Specialist” Sales and Management Training Blog

Tonight I have a very unusual post. The only reason I am even discussing this subject tonight is because, even though I’ve tried over the years to forget about these situations, I was thrust into the center of such a situation very recently and thought it was an important clue for young and inexperienced managers to know when making important hiring decisions.

At the least it would give the young managers the pieces of the puzzle that would normally go unanswered until they had many years of experience and learned it the hard way. Ladies, you’re probably not going to like this but it IS the truth…

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Hello everybody,

It’s me again! It is not just children that love good stories. Being a professional salesman, expert trainer and nationally recognized trainer of all levels of managers I have found one of the greatest weapons in my selling, training and management arsenal…

click here to read the entire post…

Hello everyone,

I have an interesting situation that has perplexed me for quite some time so I thought I would bring it to you my great readers and get YOUR take. Here is the situation. I have literally run into this situation hundred’s of times over the years. I interview all of these out of work alleged “Great Sales People”, and what amazes me is that some of them I sincerely believe I could…

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Hi everybody,

I thought I would lighten the mood on this beautiful Friday night. I was reminded of a story that I was involved in many years ago and it was quite funny.

I had this young man that was a top sales person for me for a number of years. He was truly a character for the ages. For the sake of this post I am going to call him William. Every time I would promote this young man into management he would amaze us with his bizarre behavior. Here is just one of the funniest stories from this young man’s tenure.

It was the beginning of the summer and all the college kids came to us for summer employment as usual. Because it was a commission job it attracted college students from all over the country. It was not uncommon at all for a student to pay an entire semester’s tuition in just one summer. Well, the day before the summer rush of students William bought a 15 passenger van to take the students around that he was going to teach and work with during the summer. I questioned him about the wisdom of buying a van when he always had a problem retaining people. William convinced me this was the “NEW” William. I went along with him and proceeded to fill his van up with people.

Then the fun began… After the first night with his 15 people William came back and reported no sales. Nothing new there for William. It only gets funnier. At work the next day only 11 of his people showed up for work and I questioned William who proceeded to inform me that he was weeding the garden and he was just keeping the best people. Well that night he came back with his crew and again there were NO sales. Again no surprise.

The next day at work only 9 people showed up and I confronted William. Again William proceeded to inform me that he had everything under control and I shouldn’t worry. Well that day I decided to follow the young manager “wanna be” and see what was up. I followed him and observed him getting out of his van at a driving range and he made all 9 reps sit on a bench while he proceeded to hit a bucket of golf balls. After the 1st bucket I approached him and asked him what on earth was he doing? With the straightest face only William could display he actually told me that he was teaching his crew an important sales lesson. He told me that he had a horrible slice with his drive and he wanted to teach his crew that PERSISTENCE BEATS RESISTENCE!

I almost couldn’t contain my self. Maybe if I had used that method of training years ago my golf game wouldn’t be so bad.

“The Specialist”

Hello gracious readers,

The time is here to let everyone know the much anticipated news! In commemoration of “The Specialist’s” 100th post, thanks to all of you great readers, I have several things to announce.

First off, because of the response to my blog we have launched the new Stranger At The Door web site. The purpose of this site is to give you the readers more of what you have requested. Not only will this site be linked from my blog, but many of the topics that you have asked about are now available in our teleseminar series and publications. When you go to this site you can view the new teleseminar listings and select from the packages available. I cannot tell you how many times people e-mailed me requesting to speak with “The Specialist”. Not only that, “The Specialist” will now be on the airwaves at WPMH 670 AM Radio in Chesapeake, VA.

That’s right, you can also call me on my radio show and I will answer any of your questions (The call-in telephone number is 757-465-6700).

On the site you can order “The Specialist” gear, from mugs to t-shirts and hoodies. Be the first in your neighborhood to have your Specialist Gear. Within one week our Members Only section will be available! The Members Only section gives you, the loyal readers, a BIG break on all the teleseminars as well as the upcoming books, audio books and e-books, as well as “The Specialist” gear! Check out the site and sign up for the FREE newsletter. I definitely can’t wait to hear from you on my new radio show.

None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for YOU, the reader. In appreciation, the first 100 readers that sign up for the newsletter will receive a link to recordings of the radio show! Thanks again!

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

I gave everyone a management scenario yesterday and promised to give you my take. Well here we go.

First it was obvious that the manager should not have left the young crew leader without instructions. EVERYONE got that! But what and why if anything should the young crew leader have done with the 2 new faces that were not performing up to company standards? Let’s look at this closely.

Since this young crew leader was gone for 3 days and did not know these 3 people her first obligation should have been to assess the situation. Who are they? Are they new? Possibly from another location? Are they just on loan for the night? Are they permanent new staff? Now, regardless of her conclusion the only thing she should have done is welcome these people with open arms to HER LOCATION, make some new friends and when the Manager returns, tell HIM your concerns. The last thing the young crew leader should do is attempt to enforce company standards! That is a recipe for disaster. You will instantly create animosity.

Remember, assess the situation first, I mean lets face it if they are only on loan for a single night, why even get involved. Let the Manager do it. Always when you find yourself in a new situation around new people, win them over FIRST, then convey your ideas or implement your companies policies. Darn, if this doesn’t sound a lot like sales!

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

Okay, here’s the scenario.

Young crew leader comes back to work after 3 days off finds that her manager has brought over 2 girls and one young man to her location. The Manager has to go to the restroom and leaves the 3 new faces with the young crew leader until he returns. He gives no instructions. The 2 new female faces are not performing up to expected company standards. The young crew leader knows what everyone should do and should not do. Now keep in mind there are a lot of variations that could take place IF the Manager had left specific instructions. The fact is He didn’t and we cannot change that.

Now the ultimate question…If you were the young crew leader, how and why, if at all, would you have handled the situation? In other words, “WHAT SAY YOU?”

“The Specialist” will give you His take tomorrow!

Hello everybody,

Just a few more days and it’s on. The biggest announcement in this Blog’s history.

Today’s Post is about young Managers being intimidated by overbearing older employees, as well as competition trying to shop your location. YOU MUST make a STAND!
It is no different than when the neighborhood bully tries to intimidate you. Eventually you have to stand up to them. You will be amazed the respect you as a young Manager will earn when that moment comes.

How do you get the courage? First off, you remember who is the employer! Without YOU, He or She has NO job! Secondly, you come to terms that without them you MIGHT lose a little IMMEDIATE volume, but the long term benefit, not only for your team but especially for yourself, will be enormous. People as a whole are looking for someone to follow. You just have to step up! If you are one of the young Managers that does not stand up, you will certainly have large problems.

I have actually seen Manager’s stay away from their location just to avoid confrontation. Confrontation can be very good. Once you have taken CONTROL your staff will follow you anywhere. You will have EARNED their respect. Isn’t that what’s it all about? What say you?

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I am too excited to contain myself. Monday June the 2nd is the BIG day! All the things I have been hinting about will be announced. Even though it appears that I am teasing you, respectfully I don’t mean to, I just can’t say anything. It’s harder for me than you the gracious readers.

Now to the “Bonus Tip Of The Week”.

I often see young sales persons when giving sales presentations and while describing certain features ALWAYS refer to how much THEY like the feature. WRONG approach!

The advanced way of doing this is to comment on how much EVERYONE else likes that particular feature. Remember it is NOT about YOU! Not only that, anyone that has a fair amount of intelligence realizes that a beginner sales person more than likely doesn’t even own the product. You lost the sincerity aspect of the bonding process. On the other hand, by informing the prospective customer that EVERYONE else loves that particular feature makes the customer feel like they want to agree with everyone else and love that feature also.

Remember new sales persons It is not about YOU! The customer doesn’t care about what you like. They care what everyone else thinks. Also remember sincerity IS one of the 8 Basics of Success!

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I have a sad sales/management story to share with you tonight.

I know some “real trainers” that are very similar to myself. Unfortunately they share one of my biggest weaknesses. I believe that I can develop anyone! The fact is “The Specialist CAN! The problem is that in spite all of the belief, patience, skill, passion and training skills, there ARE LIMITS! Character and integrity cannot be developed. I am very sad to say there are people that just WILL NOT allow themselves to be successful!

I personally have given employees chance after chance only to find out that small percentage just doesn’t get it. I had this one young person that had NO social skills and no place to live, even to the point his own family would not allow him on their property. This young person continued to self destruct. No matter how much help we tried to give this young person, the more deceitful and keniving he became. It is beyond comprehension. I even fired this person once and when a new location opened up gave him another chance, hoping that a fresh start would be what he needed. All I received in return was a lesson in theft and deceit. It got to the point that it was time to cut out the cancer.

I felt very bad, having said that it could not continue. The lesson here for all of you new trainers, and even some of you experienced trainers, that truly train because you love to watch young people develop is KNOW WHEN TO CUT YOUR LOSSES! I, “The Specialist” was not a good example this time.

On my behalf, It is hard when you truly want to see these kids succeed. I used my blog to vent tonight but I do want you to know the entire staff was relieved, not just for themselves but for “The Specialist”, as they know how much I put into each person. What say you?

“The Specialist”