Over the past six months I made a number of purchases contributing to the sales volume at the Home Depot store in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

The first major purchase was a log splitter. Not knowing what to buy and having a large selection to pick from, I was helped by Don Orfield.

Don asked me a number of questions to understand what I was trying to accomplish. With his help I was able to select an electric portable splitter I could move easily by hand. By the way it does a great job.

My next major purchase at Home Depot was a snow blower. Not know anything about snow blowers and having a large selection to choose from I was lucky to be helped by Don. We talked about my needs and with his help I made my purchase.

After the purchase Don offered to have the snow blower assembled and would call me when it was ready. The day I picked up the snow blower Don had it ready with some gas in the tank. At first glance the machine looked very complicated to use.

There were multiple handles and switches, a choke, and an electric start. Don took the time to show me how to start it up and use the controls. He said that watching someone demonstrate it would make it a lot easier when I got it home and read the manual.

This year I needed to change the locks in my house. There was a combination of eight dead bolts and entry locks.

I was told that a locksmith would charge about $85.00 per lock to match all the locks. I went to Home Depot thinking it would be cheaper to just buy all new locks.

This time I was waited on by Matt Unkel. Matt suggested instead of buying all new locks I should go home and see what different types of locks I had and then come back.

When I went back to the store I had two of one type of lock and an assortment of the others. Matt suggested I buy two locks. Go home and bring in the locks I had on my doors and he would re- key them for me.

When the project was completed all my house locks matched and I spent less than one hundred dollars. Matt did not charge me for the rekeying of all the other locks. His words were, I see you in here a lot it is on us.

Due to high winds in my area the brackets for the hot tube bent when the cover was up.  I tried to buy new brackets. I thought my only choice was to buy a new system that would come to over three hundred dollars.

I took the mounting brackets down to Home Depot thinking I would buy new aluminum pipe and build new brackets. I saw Don Orfield and asked if he had any suggestions. Don took me to the plumbing department.

Using a pipe bender he was able to straighten the pipes. I purchased two new bolts, nuts and washers along with pipe insulators and I was back in business for under eleven dollars.

From time to time I have purchased paint at Home Depot. Gerry Figurelli and Cate Oakley have always been there to recommend the right brush, match colors and do whatever it takes.

There are some very important lessons from these experiences from a big box store.

If you want to increase your market share, increase sales volume it takes more than a just trying to sell stuff. It takes an attitude of customer service and building relationships

• Don, Cate, Gerry and Matt were genuinely interested in me.
• They took the time to ask questions to determine what I was trying to accomplish.
• There were no sales pitches.
• They all made suggestions they felt were in my best interests.
• They gave of themselves. (On the day Matt worked with me he was getting ready to leave the store and  stayed to help me. Don was just about to have lunch when I arrived with the bent hot tub cover brackets and helped me.)

I can buy a snow blower, a log splitter, a bolt anywhere. I know when I have to buy something I can go to Home Depot and get the help I need. My experience with Home Depot’s sales processes and systems was that it is built around customer service and customer satisfaction.

 I know when I have a problem there will be someone there interested in helping me.

When the board of directors of a company, select people that know how to build relationships, they in turn will be building a customer base that will stay loyal.

My conversation with Bill went like this.

Bill: Hi Al, I wanted this session with you because while I had a good sales year and hit my quota, I feel I can do better. I don’t know how much to increase my sales numbers, sales quota and how many more business opportunities I can capture.

Al: Well Bill, you certainly have a positive attitude, can you expand on that?

Bill: Sure, I have a vision of improving my sales process, not to be overly challenging and yet increase my sales performance. I want to increase my sales volume, do a better job of pipeline management and have a sales plan that would help me increase my quota and sales for 2012. But I don’t know exactly where to start.

Bill: Do you have any ideas, sales tips or new concepts that would help me increase my sales and market share.

Al: I want to take you through a sales process that will help have a clear vision of how to increase your sales and market share. Are you open to some self improvement as a sales person?

Bill: Sure, Where do we start?

Jumping ahead, Bill, at the end of our meeting had created a sales plan and sales strategy and a sales quota that represented a substantial increase in sales over his previous year and felt he was on the road to success.

Like Bill you can discover what you can do to increase sales, profits and market share in 2012. Here is the process we went through which you can replicate.

First determine how many new first appointments you had in 2011.

Then figure out how many working days you have in 2012.

• Start with                                 365 days
• Subtract weekends                   104 days
• Number of days left                   261 days
• Subtract holidays                         9 days
• Number of days left                   252 days
• Subtract vacation days                15 days
• Number of days left                   237 days
• Personal/Sick/Misc days              5 days
• Number of days left                   232 days
• Sales meetings/planning days     24 days
• Number of days left to sell         208 days

When Bill went through this process he realized he had 47 new appointments in 2011 in a 208 day period and closed forty percent for a total of 19 new accounts. Bill could not account for the rest of his day’s activities.

Bill also realized if he doubled the amount of first appointments to 94 he still had and all other variables stayed the same he could close 38 new accounts and 114 days left.

If he committed one day a week for phone calls which is 52, he still had 62 days left. Bill committed to attend 1 networking event each week and still have 10 days left over.

With a commitment to increase his first appointments he still had time each day for follow calls, servicing customers and making new appointments.

Every situation is different. But the exercise Bill went through should give you some insight on how to increase your sales. I would suggest you calculate how many working days you have in 2012. Then calculate how many first calls you had in 2011.

You will have to engineer your own vacation days, holidays, sales planning and sales meeting days, and planning the other days mentioned above where and if they apply.

Please let me know what sales plan you come up with and if there is room for increased sales and market share.

Susan called and wanted to know how to get out of the quoting game. The conversation went as follows;

Susan: Al, when I am cold calling and find a business opportunity how do I get out of the quoting game and still win my market share of the business?

Al: Susan, if you needed a product or a service and you had a good friend who was a sales person who sold that product or service would you go to them to make the purchase?

Susan: Sure.

Al: Would you go out and get a quote from someone else?

Susan: No.

Al: Why?

Susan: Because I have a relationship with them, I respect them and trust that they would do the right thing by me.

Al: Good. So how do you know they would do right by you?

Susan: Well that did happen to me. I wanted to buy a hot tub and my friend asked me a lot of questions.

Al: What kind of questions?

Susan: John wanted to come out to the house to see where I wanted to put the hot tub.

                Was I going to use it twelve months out of the year or just in the summer?

                How many people would use it at any one time?

                What kind of a budget did I have in mind?

                When did I want to have it in use?

                And a lot more questions.

Al: So how did you feel about the questions, what was your attitude?

Susan: It was fine. I got the feeling he was interested in me and was trying to make sure I bought the right tub.

Al: How would you feel if John just sent you a picture of the hot tub and a price?

Susan: I would probably look around and talk with other people.

Al: Really, why, I thought John was a friend?

Susan: Well, if he just sent something out in the mail I would think he wasn’t that interested.

Al: So Susan, since you had that experience what do you think would be important when dealing with a prospect that needed your product?

Susan: Really learn a lot about what they wanted to accomplish. Let them know I was interested in them and they were important to me.

Al: So if you wanted to get out of the quoting game what sales tips would you give someone?

Susan: The sales tips I would give them would be;

                Don’t be so quick to just give a price.

                Go see them.

                Let them know you are interested in them.

                Let them know you really need to understand what they

                want to really help them.

                Make suggestions and not just sell.

                Make their agenda your agenda.

Al: Susan that’s great, you are on your way. Would you like to set up another coaching session to take this session to the next level?

Susan: Sure, let’s do it.

What did you learn from my interaction with Susan? Feel free to add your comments below.

I received a call from Peter asking if I would debrief a prospect sales call. Peter was having difficulty getting in touch with the decision maker to book another sales appointment.

Our sales call debriefing session went as follows:

Al, I had a great first prospect telephone call. During the call I was able to determine the prospect had some issues that I could address for him successfully. From there we booked a first meeting two weeks out.

When I arrived I met with the decision maker. During the sales call I made sure not to go into a premature presentation. Most of the prospect call was dedicated to the prospect telling me where they currently were in their business, where they wanted to get to and what they perceived was getting in the way of their business growth.

After hearing all the issues I was able to determine my software would address all their issues and systems successfully.

While I did not tell the prospect how I would fix the problem I did focus on what it would be like after I fixed their processes and systems. As we came to the end of our meeting the decision maker had to leave and wanted to get together again to continue our conversation.

I told him I would call him to set up the next meeting. I have been calling for over two weeks and have not been able to get him on the phone.

When I spoke with his assistant she said he was out of town and would be returning in a week. She also said he keeps his own calendar and could not book an appointment for me.

I asked Peter what he saw as the problem. Peter’s reply was,” I can’t get him on the phone to make another appointment”. I had to let Peter know that not being able to get the decision maker on the phone was not the problem but was the effect of the problem.

The real problem was Peter did not set up another appointment with the decision maker while he was on the sales visit with the prospect. And, as a result had elongated his sales cycle.

Sales Tip: When you are on a prospect call or a customer call set your next appointment prior to leaving the prospect’s office. When the prospect books the next appointment with you, it confirms their interest and helps you control the sales cycle.

Tell me in the comment box below if you ever faced this sales issue and what technique you used to address it?

Long sales cycles or longer than expected sales cycles are one of the many causes of companies not hitting their sales quotas, and profit quotas.

It will also determine whether they capture their market share within a specific time period.

Three sure fire ways to shorten your sales cycle close more sales and profits and improve your selling systems.

1-Make sure you are dealing with the decision maker and/or understand the decision making process for that prospect. These selling skill concepts will help you avoid dealing with someone that is just gathering information for someone else. Dealing with the information gatherer and not from the decision maker will make your sales cycle longer than it needs to be.

2-Find out if the service or product the prospect is inquiring about is something they need and not just something they are thinking about. This will help you eliminate the tire kickers and the researchers that may not really want or need your product or service. You can always keep these prospects in your sales pipeline as a potential sale for the future.

3-Ask the prospect when they actually see themselves needing or using the product or service. This will give you the drop dead date and also help eliminate the tire kickers.

I received a call from John. I could tell by the tone of his voice he was upset about something. The conversation went like this.

“Al I am really upset with my company. They are never satisfied. No matter what I do it is never enough.”

I replied, “John, slow down you sound like you are going to have a heart attack!”  

“Yeh, they are raising my sales quota again this year. Every time I hit it they raise it again. I am getting tired of this.”

Here is what John missed:

Sales people sometimes get upset when quotas are raised. This is an indication of a weak sales person. A strong sales person knows they need and want to hit sales quotas.

Stronger sales people working on commission are not necessarily driven by the company quota but their own quota which is usually higher than the companies.

These stronger sales people are not upset when sales quotas are raised because they are driven by the quality of life they want to create for themselves and their loved ones.

They know the more they sell the more they earn and the better the quality of life they have.

As we move toward the end of the year it is a good time to look at our successes and failures. If you have been in a sales rut or not hitting your quota.

You may want to measure yourself against some of the characteristics of Top Performers. The list below represents some of the more common characteristics of Top Performers. See how you measure up. If you are not doing some of them it is time to put a plan in place for 2012.

1. Strong desire to be successful
2. Committed no matter what
3. Has a positive outlook in the face of adversity
4. Have personal goals in writing that are tracked and monitored
5. Prospects consistently
6. Gets to the decision maker
7. Gets appointments
8. Is rejection proof?
9. Is in control of emotions
10. Attempts to close
11. Upholds margins
12. Takes responsibility
13. Has a positive attitude
14. Doesn’t need approval
15. Comfortable talking about money
16. Has a supportive buying cycle
17. Bonds early in the sales process
18. Discovers buyers budgets
19. Discovers why prospects buy
20. Discovers how prospects buy
21. Have strong hunter skills
22. Have strong qualifying skill
23. Has a strong sales process
24. Is open to coaching
25. Recognizes that there is always room for improvement of sales skills and sales strengths
26. Maintains a full pipeline
27. Has a good model to measure prospect against
28. Has set criteria for cold, warm and hot prospects
29. Joins trade associations and participates on committees
30. Is committed to prospects and customers success
31. Provides solutions to customers and prospects while maintaining profitability
32. Cross sells and up sells
33. Has high retention levels
34. Doesn’t accept put offs
35. Attends networking events
36. Prospects by phone or walk-ins
37. Gets referrals
38. Doesn’t quote inappropriately
39. Schedules appointments that are not broken
40. Doesn’t make assumptions
41. Quickly develops and maintain relationships
42. Keeps good records in a contact manager
43. Has a high dollar tolerance
44. Recognizes a non opportunity and is willing to walk away
45. Asks good questions
46. Knows how to handle people
47. Has a presidential mentality
48. Manages time effectively
49. Makes appropriate follow up calls
50. Is highly motivated.

When I moved to my home fifteen years ago I noticed some brush that had been beaten down by a herd of deer. Over the years the beaten brush became a trail and has actually became a rut in the ground about ten inches wide and five inches deep.

Each day the deer travel the same path and end up in the valley below where they graze. One would say they travel in a rut but end up where they want to be and are happy with the result.

If you have not hit your quota to date and feel like you are in a rut,

You may want to consider evaluating the following.

                Do you feel you are in a rut because you are not happy with the way you are going about running your business but are happy with the result?

                                                                                 Or,

                Do you feel you are in a rut because you are not happy with your results and do not know what changes to make or know what to do about it?

If you are not happy with your results and are happy with your process I strongly suggest you look at your sales process anyway. There is a direct correlation between the process and the outcome. Or put in a more metaphysical context. “The Laws of Cause & Effect” is at play. The sales process is the cause and the outcome is the effect. 

I welcome your response.

If you are not hitting your sales quota the problem you are experiencing, while it appears now is not really happening now. The problem started some time ago, you are just experiencing the effect now. To begin to get this situation under control you need to look at many aspects of your sales processes, systems and strategies.

Sales is a scientific process and not a “If I through enough against the wall something will stick”. For the sake of space and time I will touch on a few of the items you need to look at.

1.      Look at the quantity and the quality of the pipeline. Are there enough real opportunities, if closed would make up for what you did not close so far and carry you into 2012?           

2.      You must determine the length of your sales cycle. You sales cycle is critical in hitting your quota. For example, if you have a 90 sales cycle, anything you start working on in October until the end of the year will not close this year.

3.      Your close ratio is critical in hitting your quota. By way of example, if you have $100,000 of potential business in the pipeline and have a 50 % close ratio you will close only $50,000. If part of that $50,000 is part of a 90 day sales cycle the problem becomes even more serious.

4.      Let’s look at you ideal prospect model. How well do the prospects in your pipeline match up to the ideal model?

5.      How much data are you collecting from your sales people? When you look at your data base manager are you seeing notations like, “Called Bob, left message” or Bob told me to get back to him in two weeks, or they are not ready yet.Was your sales person so excited to be able to quote on a piece of business that it is now labeled HOT and there isn’t a shred of evidence to validate the claim of HOT?

 6.      If you are not hitting the sales number you hoped for, it is not the economy. Don’t let anyone try to convince you of that. If you have competitors that are winning business and there is a gap between available business and what you are winning you haven’t figured out how to win the business away from your competitors.

7.      If you are not hitting your quota and do not address the real issues you will have the same experience in 2012.

For addition help call me at 908-472-3848  for a complimentary Pipeline Analysis Session. No hidden fees,no committment on your part,no mumbo jumbo.

Due to bad weather and road closings in our neighborhood the Halloween trick or treat holiday was postponed to this past Friday.

My younger son had decided to trick or treat in a townhouse community near our home instead of our neighborhood, not wear a costume. He told me he didn’t want to trick or treat in our neighborhood because the houses are too far apart and there were not enough houses to go to. He was going as himself.

He also told me some people might think the Halloween celebration was last week and if he wore a costume they might not answer the door. If they saw a boy without a costume ring their doorbell they would be more likely to answer the door when they looked through the door window.

When we arrived at the town house community we found that many houses were dark, no one answered the door at some of homes even those that were lighted. In other cases people came to the door and were eager to see the children trick or treating.

On the way home after three or so hours of trick or treating, I asked Adam if he had fun even though there weren’t many people home. He said he had fun, it didn’t matter how many people were not home or answered the door, because there were many that were home and gave out candy.

There are 7 Prospecting & Sales Lessons to learn from Adam’s Halloween experience.

1.     You need to have a large suspect pool to call on. (People or Companies that could possibly use your product or service).

2.     When you prospect go as YOU; don’t wear a sales person costume.

3.     Not everyone is going to be there when you call.

4.     Some people will be there and not answer the door or take your call.

5.     It doesn’t matter how people are not there or won’t talk with you.

6.     There are plenty of people out there that will talk with you; you just have to put in the time.

7.     If you are going to do it, HAVE FUN.