OK, so there are a huge amount of digital ad companies out there coming up with the new cutting edge method to control the consumers buying habits and get them to buy their clients product or service. So, in the chase for the best method, they’ve developed tools that track sites you visit and then attempt to predict what ads you should see over and over so you buy that product.

Sounds pretty good in theory. I mean, that makes sense right? If I go to a site, then it would serve to logic that I am interested in that product or service and therefore I should see ads related to it that should cause me to buy. Except, I’m not interested in them and here’s why. I was doing some research for one of my clients related to other similar companies pricing scales etc which caused me to go to a few sites that I wouldn’t normally go to. I then proceeded to see ads all over the place for these companies. I then was looking into possible ideas for the weekly bonuses for my sales team and while looking came across sites like Disney and then again proceeded to see ads all over the place. This caused me to start looking at all the ads and I realized that I had no interest in many of them. I then started thinking about how many ads these behavioral strategies are making me miss. In other words, the ads I should be seeing, I’m not.

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So, the question is, how do the ads actually get to the right person at the right time? I’m not in the digital ad business but we do know the answer to this question, however, I don’t want to make this blog a pitch for our services so I leave you with that thought.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

As we grow a little older and become more involved in business which includes the ups and downs that sometimes occur, it’s easy to get a little too serious about it all. We tend to become a little edgier with people. A little less polite at times. A little less friendly. All the while working toward being successful but the irony is that being serious is very counter-productive to success.

Richard Branson is someone I admire in business. If you know a little about him, then you know that he’s not remotely serious about his work and yet his success is enormous both financially and in general. One could argue that he has a lot to be happy for and that would be true but he’s been this way all along. If you inspect the points in your life that worked out the best. The times when everything seemed to go your way – I’m willing to bet that it was the time when you were having the most fun and were playful in spirit.

Monitor your level of “seriousness” and focus on making yourself act and be less serious and you’ll see greater success. You can always be determined and professional and focused on what you’re doing but keep a light heart and have fun with it – because if your not having fun, you may as well get out now.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

When you’re selling a prospect you need to understand that it’s similar to a lock combination. There are several digits that you need to get right in order to open the lock. The lock combinations are considerations or objections from the prospect. More consideration really. So, you need to know that. If the prospect tells you they are sold but they still are not buying right then and there (the contract isn’t signed and money isn’t collected) then you haven’t actually nailed all of the combinations and for all intents and purposes – the lock is still locked.

So continue selling all the way through. Keep thinking about why the prospect is even talking with you. What do they need? What problem are they trying to handle? Once you have answered these questions, keep selling them on this until you have handled every consideration and nailed the combo to open the lock and close the deal. See, you may have handled 7 out of 8 considerations the prospect may have but the deal won’t close because there is still one left. You need to continue to sell until you handle that remaining point that completes the deal, opens the lock and concludes the sale.

Do not buy the prospects reason for why they haven’t bought (budget, timing, delays, other reasons etc) it’s none of them. You need to handle the real considerations and once you do, the deal is done. You’ll know it when you get there. It’s as clear as seeing a lock click and the vault door open.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

 

It’s said that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. While it’s probably debatable whether that is true or not, we’ll use that as an analogy for this blog. The weakest link being your management team or executives going into agreement with the supposed problems or barriers put forth by the staff of the company. In other words, the actual problem is that anyone in an executive position is actually agreeing with the problems being suggested by your staff and by that agreement, making it a reality for the company which hurts many areas of the company resulting in bigger and bigger problems and crashed stats.

So the challenge is to get your management team and executives to disagree with the idea of obstacles, problems or barriers. They must be willing and able to listen to the staff and understand the problems but then be strong minded enough and strong willed to know that they are not really problems regardless of what is being said by the staff. They must push the staff toward handling the supposed problems. By disagreeing I mean, mentally not buying into the problem. For example, you may have a VP over the sales area who has a sales rep come to him or her to say that the reason there were no sales lined up today is because all of the prospects the sales rep is dealing with are getting answers back for various questions and so the sales rep needs to wait for the answers to close the deals. So in this scenario, the VP of Sales would become your weakest link and would add fuel to the fire to ultimately create bigger problems for the company by simply “buying in” to the idea presented by the sales rep why no sales could occur that day. The VP of Sales would then present that same idea to the senior executives who also buy in and the ripple effect continues to poison the other sales reps as the agreement of this idea continues to the point that sales have come to a grinding halt. 

So the correct handling is for the VP of Sales to listen to the sales rep’s reason and then immediately correct the sales rep to say something like, “I understand what you’re saying here but the truth is, all sales are caused by us not by waiting on the prospect. We’re the ones that make sales today or not. So, make a list of every way that you can get in touch with your prospects today to get an answer back today. Find any reason to call them as well as create a list of anyone you haven’t called or need to get in touch with and then write the entire list down. Make a copy for me as well and then email and call everyone on the list today with an exact plan for what you will do to close each deal on the list today. I will check up with you to view progress at 10AM, 2PM and 5PM to see if you need anything. Thanks” This could be communicated many different ways but the point is, the VP of Sales would not express agreement or go into agreement with the idea that there won’t be any sales today based on the reason put forth by the sales rep. The other sales reps would also see this as an example and realize that the VP operates this way and it will start to rub off on them as well. 

A culture will develop around not agreeing with barriers or obstacles in the way of the company goals. The anchors to this strategy is your executives and management team. They have to be strong mentally to not be swayed by any of the staff’s reasons so they become weak minded to agree with the problems or barriers. Their strength and complete disagreement will result in growth and expansion for the company. It will also result in a Spartan like team that pushes through all possible obstacles that present themselves. 

To end with a great quote that forwards this concept, in the movie Mission Impossible 2, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins discuss the mission they need to take on and Commander Swanbeck says “you think this will be difficult?” Ethan Hunt replies “Very” in which Commander Swanbeck says “Well this is not mission difficult Mr. Hunt, this is mission impossible…. difficult should be a walk in the park for you.” 

So that is the frame of mind. Damn the barriers. Disagree. 

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

In this day and age, it’s common to have companies offering free services or operating on the “freemium” model but don’t get disillusioned into the idea that it’s the way to go – it isn’t. At least, it’s not the only way you want to operate. You have to work out a very clear plan that will pull in revenue to support anything that you plan to make free – someone has to pay for it after all.

One of the main problems with the free model is that it breeds a society that expects something for nothing. We start looking at our current economic state and it’s easy to see that a lot of companies need to knuckle down and really focus on driving revenue. 

What you don’t know and don’t see behind the scenes of these freemium modeled companies is that they’re heavily funded by venture capital which is acting like their revenue – only, it isn’t revenue it’s debt that is a liability strapping down the company. So the company needs to quickly figure out how to make enough revenue to cover the liability and fast. 

Meanwhile, the public (people) that do business with these companies with their free model start to crave more free service and expect everything free for nothing from them. This can really damage the economy as well as the operating basis of our society. 

So, we need to get back to a clean exchange system where the public expects to pay for a service and the company delivers that service or product once paid for. It’s a highly stable and sane model. I’m not saying the free model needs to go away but I do believe in many cases it needs to be scaled back. It’s not a great solution for most companies. Companies should collect money for their products or services rather than try to subsidize their free model via some other method like ads or venture capital which makes a pretty shaky company. 

When a company is working on a free model, it also de-values the product or service and the motivation internally to make it the best it can be but reversely, when you charge a fee upfront the whole company is motivated and incentivized to make it great. Their being paid to make it great. 

In this market, more companies need to drive revenue that can be injected back into the economy and in order to do that we need to build solid and stable companies that operate with clean exchange that charge a fee and deliver a product or service to the client. Then do this in high volume. Rather than some subsidized life dependent company that solely relies on advertisers or venture capital. Let’s get back to basics. 

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Now I realize that most people in business have heard or have been trained on the concept that “the customer is always right” but it’s a trap for your business and not a long-range strategy or operating basis that you should subscribe to. 

The truth is, it was you that came up with your business idea. You have created it everyday and worked out the kinks – not your customer. Customers don’t always know what they need or want until you acutally present it to them. While it is very important to listen to the customer to understand their needs or problems – it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to take every suggestion or to listen to their ideas for how to operate your company. 

Your job is to solve their problem. Stick to what you do and stick to your ideas for how to accomplish that. Become intimately familiar with the customers problems and then work out the solutions based on your own insights and knowledge to attain what is needed. If you operate on the premise that the customer is always right, I can almost guarantee that this will lead you off your course down a dark path that you shouldn’t be. You’ve built an entire company based on what you have come up with, your ideas, your methods and the customer signed up because of it. Deal with any suggestions or complaints as they come up, sure. But don’t deviate off course based on listening to everything the customer say’s until one day…. your progress slows or declines because you’ve been changing your company based on “the customer is always right”. 

Know your company. Know your clients problems and then know the methods to solve them and stick to it. Continue to improve your company to solve the problem better but don’t get distracted by customer input, ideas or complaints. If you solve the problem and get good at doing what you do and you consistently impropve what you do based on what you know, you won’t need to worry about the customers input because they will be extremely pleased with what you have done. 

Here’s a great quote from Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, that relates to this:

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

So focus your efforts. Improve your systems and delivery for what you do but ultimately you have to know your company goals, purposes and who you are as well as what you are trying to be. That will carve your company into the ideal vision you are trying to attain. The customer doesn’t know what the vision is or how to get there and they never will so just focus on doing what you do and servicing them better to handle their problem, need or want and everyone will be happy. 

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

It’s pretty common to hear people complain about not having enough time or being busy. There never seems to be enough time right? Too much work and not enough time to do it. However, a huge sum of the problem is not related to how much time there is, it’s related to what people do to themselves that cause bottle necks in their schedules and gobble up their time.

I could list out many many examples of this but for the purpose of keeping this short and sweet, I will name just one. Decisions. Taking forever to make them, that is. Here’s an example: your company needs a product or service that has been discussed in the past and everyone agrees that it’s something that you do indeed need or want. You have found a company to do the work and all seems to look good. At this point, rather than making an immediate decision to move forward swiftly to get what you want – meetings are held, emails are exchanged back and forth, time is added, people need to approve it, questions and objections are voiced…… well….. you know this example well I’m sure.

If you observe this situation or any situation just like it, you can clearly see where your time goes. It gets eaten by the simplest of things. Learn to make fast decision and you will learn the art of creating time. WAY more time! Do not hesitate to pull the trigger on decisions. Make them fast and make them now. By disciplining yourself to get into the habit of this, you can get a lot more done. You will start to have an abundance of time. Time is not the issue, the issue is the things that waste time and gobble up the little time you have. Focus on making fast decision for everything and complete cycles related to decision immediately and you will start to recapture your time.

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

In sales, you can frequently be knocked off of your position by your prospect which can lead to no sale. What I mean by this is that sometimes the prospect will push you on a negotiation point that you attempt to handle and cater to, only to realize that this didn’t close the sale.

Bending over backwards and allowing every request from the prospect will not close the sale. You must have the ability to hold your position and stay true to what you sell and what you can or cannot do. Use tactful communication to steer the conversation where you want to go and handle objections rather than just buckle to them. It’s OK to say “no”. In fact, it can be an incredible negotiating tool and sales tool to simply say, “I’m sorry but we can’t make that work but here is how we can address this…” or simply walk away from the deal if you can’t handle the concern. You would be amazed at how walking away from a deal can be a powerful tool to close the sale. Many prospects will reach back even stronger after you have walked away from it.

The key point here is to stay strong on your position. For example, if the price of any item is $1000 and the prospect wants it for $900, you can simply say, “we can’t do it for that price but the truth is, the market price for this is $2000 so you are already getting the best rate and dealing with us, we will provide a best practices guide at the end to help you with this which will help you dramatically improve sales from this service….” With this example, you hold your position while selling them and concluding the deal with a value add. Be smart about how to handle each situation and just keep in mind that buckling under pressure from the prospects demands will not help you make a sale. You’re better off to hold your position and use tactful communication to steer the deal toward the desired outcome.

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

It’s a simple concept but few recognize it or actually apply it to sales or business in general. Care. You have to care about your prospect. Care about your client. Care to be interested. No, not the fake kind that comes across as awkwardness on the receiving end. The authentic kind. Actually be interested in your prospect or client. Ask them questions. Take some time to study their site to clearly understand their company and where they may need help and where you may fit in. See, all too many salespeople clearly only care about one thing – their commission to fatten their pocket but the truth is, that is the longest and hardest route you could take. Instead, focus on caring authentically about the prospect. There is a reason or purpose or need that they are trying to handle or resolve which is why they called you. Care to find out what the reason or purpose is. Understand it. Ask questions. Problem solve with them to help handle it. Get excited about them and their company and focus on helping them attain their goal faster. Be genuine and care. This is your fastest route to actually making a sale. It’s actually difficult to express this one factor in text format in a blog but all I can really tell you is that you have to care genuinely about the prospect or client enough to be truly interested in them and focused on helping them. Care enough to have engaging dialog, even if it goes off track leading to things like family, travel or life – care to listen, care to be interested and care to genuinely help. Believe me, it will come across to your prospect and they will love you for it. You want faster sales? This is the way. Care.
- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group