“The Specialist” Sales and Management Training Blog

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Whoa! What a topic tonight! Hi everybody,

A very unusual subject, but a very important one. Here’s the rub. Everyone in sales has lied to a potential customer at least once. Now, before you get indignant and send me millions of e-mails, hear me out. Unfortunately for the salesperson, most of the sales persons are just as victimized as the consumer. That’s the truth whether you like it or not…

click here to read the entire post…

Hello Everybody,

I thought I would shift gears today and just take this time to wish everyone a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

I hope everyone will take just a few minutes out of your busy weekend off and say a few prayers for all of our present and past fallen heroes, along with all of the proud American Warriors that are fighting for our freedom, not only now but also for all the great warriors that have served our wonderful Nation in the past. I, being a veteran, am taking this weekend off from posting and will resume on Tuesday. Again, have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

By the way, next week I have some great topics and we will be down to only 8 days for the biggest news to appear on this blog in it’s history…can’t wait to share it with you!

“The Specialist”

We deeply appreciate the U.S. Armed Forces’ service to our Country!

Hello kind readers,

I have a special request to the thousands of readers of my blog. There will be no post tonight with the exception of a special plea to all of you to say a special prayer for someone very, very close to “The Specialist”. This special person has been informed they have a life threatening illness and may not be with us very long. All of your prayers will be much appreciated and as we all know may have an effect that medicine cannot. Thank you very much. Your support will not be forgotten! God bless you all and your families.

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I am sure everyone that has started in sales and was trained by someone will relate to this scenario…It is your first sale and you need help with the final details and your manager gladly helps you out. I think you all know where I am going with this. The next thing the new rep discovers is that the manager signs the order and TAKES the order! The amazing thing about this story is not only did this happen to me but as of last month I have witnessed this exact event THREE times!

Talk about lacking ethics, the manager or senior person that participates in this kind of behavior is not only destroying HIS or HER own credibility, but is also shamefully destroying the natural HIGH one gets from writing their FIRST SALE! Remember, there is only one FIRST SALE! The long term objective should be getting the young sales person to enjoy this experience! The motivation for such behavior ranges from things like I’m in a contest, I need the money, my manager did that to me and so on. It is clearly indefensible.

Whether you realize it or not, the rep will forever hold deep rooted resentment towards you and NEVER forget it! The right thing to do is help this young person complete their first sale. By these actions not only will the young sales person look up to you, but they might even write many more sales motivated by their new found ability. In this scenario everybody wins.

Who knows that new rep might even end up being your next TOP PRODUCER, all because you used Ethics and Morality in your profession!

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I have run across this situation in a number of work forces around the country.

It seems like in a lot of work forces there is a tremendous amount of gossip and backbiting. In order to build a cohesive work force one of the most important things to address is GOSSIP and INFIGHTING. The way I see it is if you cannot say something nice about the people or persons you work with you should find another place to work. In any organization

I am involved with I eliminate that problem immediately. It is a cancer to any operation and will completely destroy your operation. I teach all the people in my organization what I learned as a Rotarian. It is called the 4 way test!

First, you must ask yourself, Is It True? If you haven’t heard all sides of the story how do you know whether it’s true or not? Second, Is It Necessary? By you repeating the story that may be true or not is it really necessary to talk about? Third, Is It Fair? If you are repeating something that you are not sure is true or not, (even if it is true), if the other party is not present to defend themselves, is it necessary to spread the story? Fourth and finally, will It Build Goodwill and Better Friendships?

If you check what you are about to say with the 4 way test I assure you 90% of all the gossip in your organization will disappear! I was recently meeting with a manager and her crew when in front of her 3 new people she proceeded to excitedly tell me about this security guard that was a murderer. She repeated a story that she heard without any regard to the truth. She did not know whether it was true or not. My gosh, the person had not even been to court yet! Since know one knew this security guard it was really not necessary to repeat this garbage. It certainly was not fair to him or his family, and I assure you if the security guard heard her say this it certainly will not build good will and better friendships! It FAILED the 4 way test!

When this becomes a habit in your life your sales and management skills will greatly improve because YOUR character will improve! Not only will your prospects sense this about you but so will your STAFF! When one is selling themselves to a prospect or as a leader part of the closing process is sincerity, (one of the 8 basics). In order for the prospect to believe in you they must TRUST you! If I have someone on my staff that after several reminders about the damage that gossip does and continues to repeat or say things about people that do not pass the 4 way test it is obvious to me they have an agenda and it is not something that I will allow my organization to go through.

“The Specialist”

Hello,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Today I want to talk about earning an honest living.

Not too long ago a young person reported to work in my friend’s business all exhausted and spent complaining of a headache and other assorted goodies. My friend was beside himself because he could just not reach this person and get them to understand that he expected their best. We sat and talked for a while and I asked him if I could share a story with this young person? Of course he agreed and brought the young person over and introduced us.

I compassionately asked the young person what was wrong and she went on to inform me of her list of ailments. After listening I asked her if she was about 80% of her normal self? She nodded as if to imply it could be worse. I then asked her if maybe 60% to 50% was more like it and she, feeling the compassion in my voice, readily agreed. I then proceeded to ask her how much she made per hour. She informed me she made $8.00 per hour. Well, I then expressed my concern that since she was a person of extreme honesty I know that she would only want me to pay her $4.00 per hour on this day since she admittedly was only up to about 50% of her potential. She got the message and decided that she was feeling better already.

I asked her to excuse herself and come back with the 100% attitude that my friend had originally hired. Especially if she expected him to pay her 100% pay that day. Whether you are a salesperson or manager, always give your employer, your team, but most importantly yourself an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay!

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

“As a man thinketh so he becometh”. Very important part of sales and management. When I was first growing up in sales the mentors I had were all old timers with horrible habits. When I reflect on how they spoke about their prospects and employees it was easy to understand what destiny had in store for them. It was ugly to witness. Gifted sale persons and managers by the age of 40 totally lost, buried in a great industry they had turned into a living hell!

How did it happen? By the spoken word. Yes. And that quote at the beginning of this post is right on!

I remember when I was brand new asking my manager what a gump was? What was a mullet? What was a gopher? These are terms I heard daily describing prospects or completed sales. I vowed that if I ever got into management I would do everything in my power to erase this horrible description of our industry’s prospects. What these misguided people were implying was that the customer was a sucker! Imagine selling something to someone and laughing at them behind their back. It happens in almost every sales organization in the country. I bamboozled that prospect. Boy did I suck them right in. These are not PROFESSIONAL SALES PERSONS! They are LOSERS!

I find it to be an honor when someone allows me the privilege to earn their trust enough to sell them something. The amount of integrity you display in front of or behind some one’s back is a direct reflection on your longevity in our great industry. It is also a direct reflection on your ability to maintain good staffing in your management team. I have fired people faster than you can blink for being disrespectful in their description of our customers. I hope I have said enough on this very important subject. Please believe me, YOU WILL pay the price for your lack of respect. Unfortunately you will pay for it for the rest of your life!

“The Specialist”

Wow! What a day. Somebody was having a bad hair day. The banter was great with some of my loyal viewers and Mr. anonymous. It was wild. I didn’t need to respond to the posting because Clyde and Mary handled it too nicely.

Saturday I was entertaining a CEO and Vice-President of an up and coming already National Company. As the evening progressed the subject of the blog came up and I was explaining that Sunday I dedicate to ethics and morals. The Vice President of this Company asked me if I thought there was a place for that in sales? I didn’t know whether he was being serious or not, so I just answered him without hesitation and a resounding YES. I breathed a lot easier when he stated that he was in full agreement. I didn’t want to think I had misjudged this very fine executive. Turns out I didn’t, so all was well.

The very next morning I was having a discussion with an elite sales person that went on to explain to me that all sales was manipulation of words and people. I was shocked. I will never convince that person, but I will share my belief with all of you. The sales profession is what you make of it. It is where your heart is. If you think you are manipulating words and people, who am I to tell you that you aren’t.

“The Specialist” long ago, in the early years of his career, came to terms with the decision to manipulate words and people or to motivate them. See, the difference is that a manipulator is doing it for personal gain only. Someone that motivates a buyer is not only looking out for himself but DEFINITELY for the folks! Maybe that is why most of my life I have been a teacher of sales because I feel the need to tell the young salespeople of this next generation that they have a choice of how they want to be perceived and how they want more importantly to perceive themselves. It is all in your heart. I can spot a manipulator a mile away. Everything they do has an agenda. Someone like myself certainly has the ability to manipulate people but I have spent literally hundreds of thousands of hours training people both for sales and management mixed with life lessons knowing full well that If only one thing I say to them may change the course of their life.

To all you sales/professionals who consider yourselves master manipulators, I say in closing GIVE BACK TO THE INDUSTRY and you will feel completely different.

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody!

This is my 1st real Sunday posting and the subject of ethics and morality being the topic was no accident. I have been thinking about this subject for quite awhile because no matter how much I help you in sales and management there is no one lesson more important then INTEGRITY!

From the earliest days of sales back in the day of the snake oil salesman, and the traveling salesman selling magic cures back in the days of the wild wild west, salesman have always carried a little extra baggage of being perceived as silver-tongued fast-talking smoothies that will tell you whatever you want to hear in order to MAKE THE SALE! I think that perception was well-deserved and I, along with thousands of other honorable salesperson’s have committed their lives trying to change that image. It is not easy. But it is the most important contribution you can give back to your profession.

As the next few months go by I will be going into isolated incidents and situations where the crossroads meet and the differences between an honest salesperson or an honest manager become forks in the road and you and only you will have to decide which path you will travel. I hope that with some guidance from “The Specialist” and some great stories you will see the perils of taking the path of least resistance. There will be many character tests along the way and you will have to decide “Pleasing methods or Pleasing results”.

I made that decision years ago and have had to defend it hundreds of times. I am very proud that I withstood “the test of time”. I wish the best for you, and you can count on “The Specialist” to give you all the insight I have to hopefully have you stand shoulder to shoulder with me as we make the biggest contribution possible to the greatest industry on the planet!

“The Specialist”