The Blind Leading the Blind

Most salespeople are blind these days. They see so much, they perceive so little, that they know even less.

The first cause of blindness is lack of education and training. Education and training are more important today than they ever have been in selling because products are becoming more complicated. Manufacturers add more new features with each production run and the salespeople don't have time to learn all the features on the products from last year let alone all the new features that have come out this year.

My cell phone is three years old. I have been thinking about replacing the phone for some time. Yesterday I went to the mall to look at cell phones. As I was looking at the cell phones; whenever I asked the salesperson a question, she had to keep pulling up a binder and looking for the product spec sheets to explain the function set of each phone to me.

That demonstration of incompetence did not do a lot for my confidence about buying a phone from her. So I told the salesperson I needed to think about it. She handed me several brochures and her card as I walked out.

The second cause of blindness is lack of good leadership. Leadership is all about modeling an example for the salespeople and managing them to that model. The number one skill needed by salespeople to keep the Internet from making them obsolete is product knowledge and the ability to transfer knowledge to the customer.

To review the brochures and educate myself on cell phones, I went over to the coffee shop across the hallway and got a coffee. I sat down at one of the tables in the mallway to review the brochures and think.

While I was sipping my coffee I watched as the salesperson, now freed from pesky customers, got on her cell phone and began a personal call. I was not surprised and felt sad that our encounter didn't make much of an impression on her about how much she didn't know about her craft and her products.

If she had been any good as a salesperson, she should have taken the time before her next customer to study some of the product information so she could be better prepared for her next customer. Instead of taking the time to learn more about the products she needed to sell to make a living; she was more concerned with making a personal phone call. Her call lasted until the manager came into the store. At which time she hung up and joined a group of salespeople gathering around the manager.

I had expected to see the manager do manager type stuff like make some announcements on new products and/or services. Checking the mood of the team, and checking on sales so far that day. I was expecting him to spend a few minutes with each salesperson checking on their needs or giving them a little personal coaching on challenges they were facing to help them perform better.

Instead, he proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes talking about a basketball game with one of the staff members and making personal phone calls of his own. That type of activity is typical of why most sales management fails.

Where have all the good sales managers gone? A lot of storeowners take a top salesperson and turn them into a sales manager thinking the former star will be able to replicate themselves on the sales force and it very rarely happens. The lack of good sales management was the reason why, I didn't buy a cell phone there.

The salesperson was not educated, trained or knowledgeable and that was a much the fault of the sales manager as it was hers. Her lack of knowledge revealed how new she was, indicating high turnover to me.

The lack of training more than any other factor is the cause of high turnover.

So instead of training his people; the phone store sales manager across the mallway was socializing with his people. He obviously was too concerned about remaining "buds" with his former peers to be a real manager to them.

Sales management requires a different skill set than selling does. The skill sets are almost opposite of each other.

A good salesperson needs to act fast and adapt to the changing situation of the moment. A good sales manager has to act slowly and with deliberate thought and planning. This is important because while salespeople need the ability to shift directions to go with the flow, the sales managers need to make sure they go the right direction.

A good salesperson has to have a "laser-like focus" on the customer in front of them to the exclusion of everything that is going on around them to be effective. A good sales manager has to be watching the all the selling situations from the 30,000-foot view looking at activities of all the players all the time. This is important because a salesperson only has to win the battle, the sales manager has to win the war.

A good salesperson is able to customize and deliver the knowledge a customer needs to make a buying decision. A good sales manager is able to train and motivate salespeople to take the time and make the effort to learn, and use knowledge to help them sell. This is important because the ability to personalize the amount and delivery of information is the only thing that keeps the Internet from completely dominating the world of retail.

A good salesperson is able to put the customer first and make them feel they are the most important person in the world. A good sales manager is able to put the salesperson first and make them feel they are the most important person in the world. This is critical because how you treat your salespeople is how they will treat your customers.

A good salesperson develops their customers into lifetime clients. A good sales manager develops their salespeople continuously improving their selling skills over a lifetime. This is vital to the survival of a retail store because fewer people every year chose retailing as a profession and we need to grow our own superstars because they don't come knocking on the door everyday.

The difference between the two skill sets is like the difference between playing checkers and chess. Great salespeople play checkers. Great sales managers play chess. Taking a top salesperson and turning them into a sales manager more often than not ends up with the "blind leading the blind."

Sign of the Times 2

So once again I find myself being forced to go on a business trip to Miami. Having learned my lesson last time (see Sign of the Times in Archives: Nov 2006), I decided to fly Southwest into Ft. Lauderdale.

Honestly the Super Bowl had absolutely nothing to do with the timing of my trip.

As I pulled up to curbside checkin, I again noticed the line for Southwest was double and more the line for the other carrier I flew to Miami last time, but I was not afraid. With my new perspective I saw why the Southwest curbside line moved so fast – Southwest had six people working the curbside checkin instead of two for the other carrier. Just to keep score, I paced myself against a person who arrived at the other checkin. By the time I was cleared there were three people ahead of him. This was a good sign.

Thanks to Southwest's aggressive fuel hedging strategies, I was able to check in a 57 pound suitcase with clothes for two weeks without public humiliation. This was a good sign.

Once again I was taking an evening flight across the country. The flight left on time. This was a good sign.

Unlike my previous trip, I was surprised to learn that I was going to be on the same plane all the way. That was new and different for a seasoned Southwest flyer who is used to at least two plane changes going from west coast to east coast. This was a VERY GOOD sign.

While reading the in flight magazine I learned that Southwest now flies to Hawaii. In view of the turmoil affecting the rest of the carriers flying to Hawaii I thought this was a very good sign for me, but is going to be a very bad sign for the carriers who have been abusing passengers going to Hawaii for years.

The last time I flew to Miami, I was not allowed to bring a submarine sandwich and coffee on board because it was dangerous. About the only thing I saw that was dangerous, was the fat gram and the sodium levels. But the FAA was sure that there was a possibility that I could have used the sandwich to beat the aircrew into submission and taken over the flight.

So this time I didn’t buy a sandwich and felt like an idiot as the rest of the seasoned Southwest fliers paraded onto the plane carrying sandwiches, pizzas, Chinese plate dinners and coffee. All I was going to have eat for the long haul would be a couple bags of airline peanuts. This was not a good sign, but I blame this one on stupidity of the same person that banned toe nail clippers as a threat to national security.

The flight left LAX on time and everything was smooth sailing until we got to Texas and we encountered turbulence. There always seems to be turbulence over Texas so it was no big thing as far as I was concerned. As usual, the beverage service was stopped before the got to me. But before I could get too upset, the pilots just took the plane up to 41,000 feet until they were over the turbulence and then the beverage service continued. This was a good sign.

Of course there is no movie on a Southwest flight, but the seat and the reading light worked. I had a good book, and glass of passable wine. This was a good sign.

I got to Ft. Lauderdale. It was dark. It was late. It was raining. It always seems to be raining whenever I go to Florida. I am still waiting for proof the motto "The Sunshine State" on the license plates is justified.

Unlike Miami, the car rental concession is connected to the terminal, so I was able to make my way dry and unaccosted to my rental car. No panhandlers, no verbal abuse, no flashing. This was a good sign.

Judging Books by Their Covers

The reason it has taken me so long to post a comment on shopping, is the fact I have gone this long without doing anything other than grocery shopping. That changed this past weekend when I started looking at new cars.

I like bargains just as much as anyone else. So when I shop for a new car, I buy last year's model. To me, the very minor differences in this year's model are more than offset by the substantial discounts on last year's model, which plays into the hands of the advertising guru for the dealerships.

I went back to the dealership where I bought my last car and requested my former salesperson only to learn she was gone. I wanted to buy from her again, because she was so professional it made me want to come back. She was gone and now I was back to square one: "Whom to buy from?"

I asked my friends who have "recently" bought new cars looking for a salesperson they could recommend and got nothing but tales of bad, miserable, and frustrating car shopping experiences.

So I went to an auto mall and first dealership I went to was amazingly insulting on so many levels, it would've been very upsetting if I weren't a consultant who could use the experience as a good example of "bad salesmanship." Let's look at all the levels the dealership wasted money on marketing.

STRIKE ONE: There's an old saying: "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression." And this dealer team worked very hard to create a bad one with me. As I drove in I saw what I was expecting to see; the usual line of sharks waiting their turn.

But want made this memorable; in a bad way, was the way a salesperson "high fived" the rest of the line up as he made he way towards me.

STRIKE TWO: The salesperson took all of 90 SECONDS before suggesting very strongly we get me "pre-qualified on financing first" to make sure "we": don't waste time (looking at cars I can't afford). Since he did absolutely NO QUALIFYING on me at this point, how could he assume:

a) to know what I could or couldn't afford.

b) that I wasn't a cash buyer. They do exist.

c) that I didn't already have financing in place.

STRIKE THREE: I came in because I am looking for a 2006, and they were advertising a clearance sale on the older models. When I mentioned I wanted to look at the 2006's, the salesperson, implied I would be making a big mistake and kept extolling the virtues of the 2007 models over the 2006 models.

I had been on the lot for less than five minutes, and I was ready to leave. Needless to say, I didn't buy there and probably never will. The experience was so bad, I probably will never be coming back to the dealership, so they have lost me forever. If anyone asks me where to go, I will tell them where not to go.

So all the money the dealer spent getting me in the door has now gone down the drain because of a salesperson who was more interested in telling me what I want than asking me what I want.

Now to be fair to him, let's look at the first few minutes of the encounter from his point of view, because maybe I didn't impress him as a good customer. After all I drove up in a 1977 Toyota Landcruiser. It is a mountain truck that looks like it gets heavy use – which it does. Maybe he decided based on my clothing. I was wearing jeans, tee shirt and sneakers. Maybe he decided my fixation on "last year's" model implied I didn't have much money to spend.

Should any of this excuse his behavior? NO.

One of the oldest sayings in retail is "Never judge a book by it's cover." and it is so true. Back many years ago when I was in securities, an old man came into the office in stained khakis, a polo shirt with a hole in it and slippers. The broker who was taking "walk ins" that day called me and asked me to cover the front desk so he could take a cigarette break.

As soon as I got to the desk and looked through the glass doors, I saw why the other broker suddenly needed a cigarette. I didn't smoke or I might have been tempted to call someone else before the old man got in the door. But I was bored, it was lunch time and I thought this would be a good way to kill some time; and in the process learned the value of never judging a book by it's cover.

I followed my training and did a full presentation and took time to answer all his questions. After about 45 minutes he thanked me, took the information kit and told me he would think about it. I thought nothing of it until I was called to the front desk the following day to greet a visitor, and there was the old man – still dressed in khakis – with someone who turned out to be his CPA.

The old man was impressed with my patience answering his questions and opened a securities account with me for a very impressive amount. The other broker made a half-hearted attempt to split the account with me to no avail.

During my time in securities, I made a lot of money working with the old man and his wealthy friends all because I didn't judge a book by its cover.