The Fog of Being New

At the end of my last post I used the term ‘fog’ as in “The Fog of War” a term used to describe being in a situation that does not allow for perspective.  I often don’t know what I should be doing or if I’m doing things correctly… I’ve been trained and I’m following my training but I don’t know that what I’m doing is correct or best practice.

Being new in an office is very different to being new in outside sales. In an office one can observe and mimic others as well ask quick simple questions anytime… I played phone tag with my manager for most of the day today. In outside sales you are alone for most of your first 90 days and being alone with everything new the fog can envelop you.

The good thing is when a fog lifts it was like it was never there, you don’t remember it and the day can seem more clear then ever.

Traded to a Better Team

I was listening to a sports radio show in the car, they were talking about a player who was a franchise player in a small market who was then traded and didn’t do as well with his new team at first.  I was quickly seeing parallels with my situation, I was a key person in a small company and didn’t like where I was going and  didn’t see a ‘championship’ in the future. I asked for the ‘trade’ as did this player and I feel that I’m struggling a bit in my new role.

The radio guys then talked about how the player had turned his play around in the last few weeks and how there is an adjustment period with a new roll, new team and ultimately remembering who you were. Right now I’m buried in paperwork, e-mails, meeing new people and making mistakes… so much is happening that I cannot remember who I was… I’m looking forward to being out of the ‘fog‘ of beign new.

Quitting Your Current Job

Before you start your new, better outside sale job you need to quit your current one. When you give your notice you will either be walked out or asked to work your two weeks.

You should prepare for both scenarios no matter what relationship you have or think you have with your employer. The key to both scenarios is to be professional and keep from burning bridges.

Surfs UP! Two Days With… The Dude

I am now in a pattern of shadowing others… I know that it’s good for my training and overall preparedness… however I don’t need to have anyone questioning me about being scared to venture on my own.  I shadowed for my final time with ‘The Dude’ who is a easy-going guy with very natural people skills, comfortable to be around and likes to surf.

The Dude has the credentials and knows the product from a user and rep point of view. His sales approach is one of buying coffee’s and answering questions when asked.  The couple of ‘business’ situations I did observe he took them with serious yet relaxed attitude… like trying to catch the next wave.  He wants to be a friend and give everyone the biggest discount or extended warranties without negotiation… he wasn’t looking for confrontation or angles.

Day 26 – Help me Seth Godin… you’re my only hope!

This week I’m traveling with the VP again and then I’ll be one third of the way through my first 90 days… next week I will summarize my experience and look to the next 60.

Right now I see myself going into a learning curve dip, Seth Godin wrote The Dip for occasions just like this… I think I’ll read it again this weekend.

2 Days of Shadowing With ‘The One’

Neo in The Matrix is called The Legend, “The One”… the one to bring balance to the force?.. no that was Anakin Skywalker… I’ll digress.

I traveled two days with the VP of Sales who is an absolute professional sales person, and in my company he is seen as “The One”.  He probably wouldn’t consider himself as a sales person on first thought however he is the quintessential sales professional.

What makes him a professional is;

Credentials – He has a doctorate and extensive field experience

Knowledge – His depth of knowledge gives him the ability to challenge the most academic expert and daily users

Adaptation – He is able to be a chameleon in any situation and quickly adapt to his surroundings and audience

Network – There are not many people he doesn’t know and if they are important or influential… he knows them well.

From my two days traveling with him I learned how to act and talk with CEO’s and how to stay connected with all levels of the industry.

The First Few Days Without an Agenda

It’s funny how things are… new job, looking for a new car for the new job, blog posts, kids going to school, back in the chaos/rhythm… I have been multi-tasking dozens of activities for two days now and it’s mentally draining.

I went to the gym tonight to get a mental break, after a short weight workout I rode the exercise bike while watching sports highlights and… I flipped through 5 business/tech magazines… what a break from multi-tasking!

My First Client Visit Flying Solo

Today I was busy with getting software running, sync’d with Head Office and trying to find a presentation that I had to give at 4PM.

My first appointment was an account that does not currently use our products, they did in the past and were very slow to pay.  They owe us a small amount of money and are on COD… which is unusual for this industry.

My objective was to understand why they were COD and see if I could turn them into a productive account.  My contact wanted us to move to 65 day terms, my thought is that he might owe other suppliers and he’s looking to bring us on and get some sales to pay the other suppliers.  I am planning to see if we can get him to commit to a small amount to get started and reevaluate from there. I need to buy time to see how he is going to pay… and for me to get my feet wet.

I knew he wasn’t a strong account going in however that was perfect for my first appointment alone… if I screwed this one up no one would care.

Shadowing Day 2 – The Talker

Today I traveled with my manager who talks loud, at a fast pace and often. Her expertise is product knowledge with some good selling skills.

Our first appointment was and hour and half long and we needed about 4 hours to get everything done. The problem is the account had cut us off as a supplier for a year or so and now that we are back in they have missed 4-5 training appointments.  We were able to get some information, train them on one product and secure another meeting.

The second appointment was with a former employee that has opened her own clinic, we had lunch and talked about getting more of her business.

The third appointment was uneventful.

The last appointment of the day was booked just to have me view what our new product training looked like.  The prospect had not bought from us for years and we had no plan to ‘sell’ them… however our presence opened them up to telling us they are looking for a new supplier, gave us competitive information and was a great appointment.  I learned that no matter how much an account buys you should always keep in touch.

Another good day, one more then I get pushed out of the nest.

Hit the Ground Running….

…Fast and Furious… In like a Lion… Baby bird pushed from the nest…

Call it what you will I am quickly getting overwhelmed with the influx of calls looking for Training. This is different than most sales jobs… they come looking for me.  It sounds good however it can be very intimidating to a new rep.

Traditional sales where people don’t want to see you and you have to fight to get an appointment seem difficult… from my point of view it’s what I want.

I knew this was how it would be… however I did think there would be this magical easy period of soft introductions and small talk. It has been said that “talk is cheap” and I’m quickly learning that lesson.

Day 5: Listening to Others

I was listening to the VP on the phone with prospects yesterday and I made note of some phrases he was using to better understand how to talk with them.  The one phrase I picked up was ‘we’d like to have some of your business… would that be possible?’. I keyed in on the word some seeing that we are not a 100% supplier with even our best accounts and realized that new business will come slow with incremental increases.

I also picked up the opening question of ‘What has been your experience with company name‘ as a good opening question for me as a new rep. The word experience will lend itsef to being answered with how they feel about the company and past relationships.

Can You Know Too Much About Your Accounts?

Today the VP gave me the skinny on all the accounts including all the dirt… who got caught sleeping with the staff, who drinks too much and who doesn’t drink.  It was an introduction that I don’t think many people would get when starting an new Sales position. The only reason I was privy to this information is that I’m from within the organization and I have a friendship with the VP.

I am wondering if I would benefit more knowing what I now know vs. finding out on my own. When you discover the details of a client first hand you build a deeper memory… however with my current knowledge I can target better and sooner… or…. will I avoid the account the VP told me ‘will have nothing to do with us’ or will I be better off going into a meeting with this account knowing it may be hostile?

What I do know is that that this is the hand I’ve been delt… an it looks like a good one so I wont worry about ‘what would be best’.

The common theme of today is that the past two reps did not have the number of visits (or any visits) that they should have.  Lucky for me the territory has slipped and all accounts have lower sales numbers over the past 2 years.  Sales is about seeing people and then adjusting to what happens in that meeting… the first step is seeing people.

Part of my plan is to determine who are my A, B and C accounts then figure out how often I should see each. For now it looks like I would be best to see my A accounts twice per quarter or 6-8 times a year, B once a quarter or 3-4 times a year and C 2-3 times a year.

Business Plan Review OMG

Tonight I reviewed the 2008 Business Plan by the former territory manager.  Right from the beginning I couldn’t get past the smile emoticon after her professional designation. My two thoughts were ‘my god what am I about to read’ and secondly ‘this should be easy to top’.

Terms like ‘crazy deals’ are used to describe how aggressive the competition is as well as phrases like ‘big players’ and ‘getting into the game’ are used to describe other competitors… yikes.

The percentage of market share is described as ‘I would say, approximately 22-25%’ without any facts or history or data.

The previous rep was a Technical specialist and not a professional sales person, I plan to have excellent product knowledge as well as the skills of a professional sales person to set a path of success.

Day 2; I’m Quickly Becoming a Distraction

I first want to explain my geographic and managerial situation… I live in a city 3000 Miles from our company head office which includes my direct Manager, customer service and admin… the VP of Sales lives in the the same city as me and was the Territory Manager for my area from about 2000 to 2005.

The VP is the obvious person to introduce me to key clients and to run through the territory with me as he knows all the accounts inside and out… what I am getting from him is that the longer my ‘training’ is the more of a distraction I am to his day. This is especially true this week as he has 2009 budgets to form and is under pressure.

I’m quickly learning that despite the great relationship we have, the sooner I’m on my own the better… I couldn’t agree more… I just didn’t think it would be so tangible.

80/20 Rule – Who Should I Target First

I met with the VP of Sales today and after some banter we started to look at specific key accounts as well as; competition, industry terms, margins, discounts and all the basics.  In my territory it looks like the 80/20 rule (The Pareto principle) will hold true, however the 20% that brings in the 80% of the business could be maxed out and it doesn’t look like I can significantly grow that portion of the business.

The VP’s recommendation was to attack the 80% that has been ignored for the past 4 years if I am to look for growth.

The 80/20 rule is so simple to understand that when it’s challenged as Chris Anderson did in The Long Tail “The 80/20 rule is one of those phrases that means pretty much whatever you want it to mean” it can open a much bigger discussion. He has a great chapter on it… be sure to read the book.

Chris goes on to talk about how the 80 and the 20 don’t have to add up to 100 because they are talking about two different values however the 80/20 looks and sounds nice and it’s what we know.  In reality your business might get 80% of it’s revenue from 40% of your clients or 90/10… 80/20 has just stuck with us.

Tim Ferris talks about how he has a 95/5 rule and focused only on the 5% of customers that brought him business and ignoring the rest.

The more I thought about what the percentages are and who to target… the more I lost focus.  I now see the 80/20 rule not as absolutes I need to follow but as a guideline that a minority of customers will represent a majority of sales. What I do need to do it make sure I know how to manage the minority and the majority.

Need an Ego Boost? Move to a New Division!

Tomorrow is my first day at the new position and over the past few weeks I’ve been letting client and co-workers know of my change and have had many nice compliments e-mailed to me.  Many of my co-workers sent a basic ‘congratulations’ and depending if they were on the old side or new side I would get ‘we’re going to miss you’ to ‘glad to have you on the new team’.  My client responses were filled with warm messages regarding my relationship with them and how they enjoyed working with me.

My most interesting comments came from the phone calls I made to the independent channel owners that I managed.  Some were very upset and one was on the edge of tears (I could hear her voice crack holding back emotion) then others were very to the point with ‘this is not unexpected… you seemed too driven to continue in the same position’ and then the fear of who will replace me was a common theme.

Wow what an Ego Boost! I hope it doesn’t all go to my head.