"I AM NOT A SALES PERSON"

Selling is one of the most scaring subjects and unequivocally one the most challenging endeavours in the world. During a process of recruiting people to partner a company to promote a programme, my colleagues and I were amazed at the number of young, energetic and smart people who said “oh! I would love to BUT I’m not a sales person”. The question the kept running through my mind is “Who is a sales person?” Of course everybody is born with unique skills and abilities so naturally some people would find “selling” relatively easier than others. However, the unpleasant truth is that it is not “selling” per se that is difficult; is it the “FEAR OF REJECTION” that scares people from venturing into anything that looks like selling. The fear of being turned away (over and over again) and even worse their fear of being told things that would bruise ones ego and the possibility that one could go for days, weeks, months or even years without producing any results is also a very frightful.

It is that same fear that prevents people from taking bold steps to achieve their dreams: whether is it proposing to gorgeous woman or getting your dream job or being a successful entrepreneur; It all boils down to ONE THING: your ability to SELL or PERSUADE others to “buy” your ideas/concepts better than the next person. Persuasion is powerful and mysterious. It requires knowledge of the human thinking process, a compassionate understanding of your fellow human beings. What motivates people? And how to bring other peoples train of thoughts onto your track. A critical analysis would reveal that the people or organisations that are considered successful may be so not necessarily because they are the best in what they do buy also because they are the best in convincing people that their brands are the best.

In Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” he makes reference to a meeting he had with a female reporter who got offended and left the meeting because he (Robert) had suggested she should take sales course in order to become a “best-seller”. He draws attention to the fact that the world often refer to “best-selling authors” and not “best-writing authors”. Of course for one to become best in anything, s/he needs to have produced good quality product but after that the product would most likely become like any other without good selling skills. The world is filled with smart and talented, educated and gifted people. We meet them every day, they are all around us. Teachers, tailors, dress makers, medical doctors, accountants, pastors, politicians etc. the sad truth is that talent alone is not enough. Talented people are often one skill away from wealth. And that “selling skill” is the ability to persuade other people to buy their ideas or skills better than the next person.

Unfortunately not too many people are willing to learn this critical skill and therefore fail to realise the full benefit of our skills. Selling is art and a science, with or without the talent people need to master that skill in order to be able to cash in on their God-given talent. If not for anything at all it teaches one how to have FAITH, COURAGE & ENTHUSIASM!!!!

By Winfred Asamoah

CEO

Walsbride

Overcoming False-Positive Service Indicators

By Winfred Asamoah

There is hardly any company that does not have mission and/or vision statements as well as attractive tag lines and protocols aimed at serving as a constant reminder to help staff offer the best of services to valued customers. In a meeting with a reputable CEO, I recounted some specific experiences and observations I had made while waiting to see him. He was awed because what I had told him was in direct contradiction to most of the company’s protocol that had been posted for all to see. Most of their regular in-house training revolves around these protocols that are obviously not being adhered right under his supervision and yet he hardly noticed obviously uncomfortable, he asked “so what can we do to ensure that they observe these protocols”. As a matter of fact most staff adhere strictly to companies codes of ethics. But they do so only when they know “they are being watched”. They are at their very best when the managers or bosses or people know their bosses are around. Other “big men” mostly, high end clients or other business leaders, or well known politicians and their close associates also receive exceptional services. If you show up dressed in a fine suit you are also most likely to be treated very nicely. All others are very likely to receive ordinary and occasionally less than ordinary services. Some business leaders prefer to look the other way and/or convince themselves that their customers are receiving the best of services. And why not, they get feedback from close associates but such feedback will most likely be false-positive. In order words friends and close associates are most likely to tell you what you want to hear or what they know will make you happy.

My answer to the Business leader and many others is to consistently monitor, monitor and monitor and ensure that results of the exercise are immediately fed back into training and briefing. I am referring to an independent and objective process. Not everything can be measured, however when it comes to providing quality services or products and meeting or exceeding customer expectations we must know exactly how we are doing. There is a lot of evidence that by simply measuring performance, productivity and quality can improve at all levels.

Deploy mystery clients

Engaging professionals is ideal, however, any well trained person should be capable of accessing specific services just like any other client and discretely score the presence or absence of most or all implementation of service protocols that defines the company in question. Avoid engaging staff, friends or close associates. These categories of individuals would most likely warn a couple of their trusted friends, who would in turn warn their colleagues thereby compromising the effectiveness of the exercise.

One-off surveys. 

Surveys are very useful in many respects but are not very effective for monitoring actual service experiences. Surveys rely on recounting past events and experiences dating several days, weeks or months. These reports would most likely be affected by recall bias. People would most likely recall extremely good or bad experiences. But the object of the process is not to just to report extreme experiences, it is to ensure consistent adherence to a certain culture or quality standards.

Operational definitions

Most service standards are clothed in fanciful adjectives. They look good on paper and in adverts but are hardly implementable because they have ambiguous connotation. Therefore actions must be clearly spelt out.

What gets measured gets done.

It is a true adage whenever you measure something; it gets performed, completed and usually improved upon. Majority of actions can and should be quantified. For instance, smiling, greeting/welcoming, maintaining eye contact, using client’s name etc can each be quantified to accurately determine the extent to which each is actually adhering to the protocol.

Not everything that counts can be counted

Qualitative techniques are more effective at providing insights and deeper understanding into some actions and outcomes of those actions. Certain key indicators may be impractical to quantify. In such cases qualitative or descriptive data can be very useful in appreciating the reasons behind those actions.

Documentation

Denial constitutes one of the biggest issues confronting reporting substandard services. Most often than not staff involved would likely deny. That is why it is absolutely necessary to document details of all encounters including dates, time, duration as we take notes of key sentences or statements used by either or both the staff and customer. Technology can provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt.

Consistent but not routine

It is not uncommon for companies to develop a routine for monitoring and supervision. This is usually done for purposes of planning. Planning is good but customers do not warn companies when they are coming to do business with them. They expect good quality service at all times, in all departments, across all branches/business offices and that is exactly how monitoring exercises should be carried out.