by Tech Support | Feb 28, 2012 | Sales
I don’t know if you know this…but my early sales career included a very long stint with Tupperware home parties. At the tender age of 23 or 24 (I can never remember) I joined Tupperware. I was motivated by the fact that I could set my own hours. My husband is an air traffic controller and in those early days he worked a different shift every day. I had two young babies and we had one car.
I attended a party and met the coolest, most exciting lady I had ever met in my life. Mary Lou Benson got committed to helping me earn a company car. In those days it was a station wagon and then we got Dodge Caravans. I earned nine brand new cars in those 11 years I spent with Tupperware.
All I know today about selling has everything to do with what I learned during that time in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I continue to learn, read, listen, and pay attention to what goes on around me. In fact, I learn from you on a daily basis. Thank you.
Hubby and I are on the way to Maui this morning and I realized in the ninth hour that I had not prepared a newsletter this week.
So this is what you get. I’m on the plane reading an awesome book … You must go buy it today. It’s called Sales Tough, written by Sam Parker and Jim Gould (and I’m listening to iTunes).
This is how inspiration works. The 3- Dog Night song, I Can See Clearly Now, came on and I was reminded of the profound influence Tupperware had on my life and career.
Here’s the story: In the early days when you qualified for manager (which I did in about 5 months), you were considered a new manager for a number of weeks. During that time, recognition in the region came across every week. In short order my distributor begin to help me focus on the fact that with my unit’s performance we had the very strong possibility of being recognized as a top performer. I can’t explain what happened … but to this day I can remember what focus felt like. Charleen, the female half of my leadership team, reminded me often to keep my eyes on the prize. I think the drive I had during the 1st quarter of 1985 is kin to what athletes refer to as being in the “zone.”
I didn’t even know what the prize was, but I knew I wanted it. The value of recognition is HUGE! I was promoted to manager in December. The recognition opportunity happened In April at an event Tupperware referred to as, “Sessions.”
I remember being in my car visualizing them calling my name and the name of my unit up to the front as a top performer. It felt like academy awards stuff. Maybe I was just young but honestly it set the stage for me in my sales life to have a great understanding of success.
So back to inspiration… They announced the top five new units in top sales performance, and my unit, the “bowl- u-overs” was recognized as number four – it was exhilarating. I don’t think it could have been any better for me if we had been number one. I’ll never forget it…the announcement came: “In the number 4 position, from wrangler Party sales, Beth Standlee and the bowl- u- overs…” I jumped up, promptly fell down, picked myself up, and my distributor Jim Goodson, God rest his soul, did his best to keep up with me as I ran to the stage!
Selling is about winning. You can do it every day. It should be fun. It’s work. A lot of work. And if it’s your choice I hope you’ll start winning today.
Oh I nearly forgot. During that race to the stage, the song, I Can See Clearly Now was playing. It gave me great comfort. I wanted to be a top performer so bad. I was incredibly nervous. Maybe number one would have been better but I was overjoyed at the time with the new manager spot.
I want to encourage you to shoot high. Never settle. Plan to win. Do not do what is expected. Do more. Surprise yourself. Others will notice. You never have to tell them.
Thanks for reading. I hope to see you soon. We are going to be at the amusement show and if you’ve not attended our party summit I hope you’ll accept my personal invitation to join us March 11th & 12th.
Happy Hump Day!
by Tech Support | Feb 21, 2012 | Sales
Holy guacamole … I saw someone who has posted over 191,000 tweets. And they want to follow me?! I don’t even know what to think. Fortunately, I have Brooke who helps me with my tweet thinking. I love to talk, which I guess translates into tweeting in very short sentences (which I’m not particularly good at). But my word, 191,000 tweets. Who has the time?
How have you been doing with your social media communication? I thought it might be interesting to hear from the less professional member of my team about how I’m actually managing the social media side of our business.
We are blessed beyond measure to have Brooke’s brilliant mind pushing our efforts forward. In all of her brilliance, she still gives me the opportunity to experience Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube on my own. Fortunately, she covers me when I can’t figure out that people are communicating with me; and I’ve missed it completely. Also when I forget to post regularly because I’m caught up in a new center opening or training a new sales person she makes sure our presence is known. Don’t you wish you had a Brooke?
One thing I do handle on my own is to jump in and participate in the discussions on LinkedIn. If there’s one thing as a business owner (or a party manager, GM, or a group sales leader) I could recommend, it would be to listen in on some of the conversations going on out there. It’s interesting. Everyone has an opinion. Your filter will certainly impact how you read the information that’s shared.
Here are the groups I belong to; I was surprised the list was so long!
Effective and Fun Training Techniques
Family Entertainment Center
FEC Party Managers
FEC- Family Entertainment Center/Location Based Entertainment
IAAPA Family Entertainment Centers Council Community
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
Sales Playbook!
SalesBlogcast.com
The Business of Bowling
The Business of Remarkable Groups and Parties
The Sales Playbook Reading Club! a subgroup of Sales Playbook!
Trainer Talk
Tribal Leadership
Vistage / TEC – CEO Leadership
Some of these groups are closed and you have to be accepted into them. Some of the groups I just receive information. Some days, I don’t do anything with the information and some days I jump right in. I’ve jumped in and out before. I try to always follow my mother’s rule: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
I definitely know I am in better communication with people I would never have the opportunity to visit with because we talk in the same circles on LinkedIn. I’ve found some amazing articles and very cool resources from those mega tweeters on Twitter. I have a ton of fun keeping up with friends, family, and my business buddies on Facebook. I found out people care about what I say and that’s encouraging. I am surprised sometimes at what people have to say. I am educated. I am inspired. I am bored. It’s interesting that all of these things are part of the process. I have found great books to read because of recommendations from others.
Social Media takes time. I don’t handle it all myself. I can’t. But I do believe the time I have invested has really created a “return on the conversation” that has deepened my relationships with the people we serve business-wise, and has created a trust factor that would normally take many years. And when I have the time it is fun.
So what was my real thought for this week? Oh right, 191,000+ tweets … hmm, you probably won’t see that from TrainerTainment, but we will be sharing our opinion as often as possible. If there’s a conversation that you think we need to be having, please ask! I’ll probably answer in the blog or on Facebook or LinkedIn because I won’t be limited in the amount of words I can use. But for all you short answer guys and gals – TWEET AWAY!
by Tech Support | Feb 6, 2012 | Sales
I have the best boyfriend in the world. Not only do we have a very mature and grounded relationship with great communication … he buys me David Yurman. Most women will tell you they love receiving a piece of Yurman jewelry. Truthfully, we love receiving any jewelry, but Yurman is a very popular brand due to Yurman’s unique braided bands and the use of rare precious stones.
We had to return the ring he got me for Christmas because it was too big, and went to the Flagship store off of Park Avenue in NYC where he purchased the ring. One would expect top-tier service at David Yurman – especially the Flagship store off Park Avenue! However, that’s not what happened.
We entered the store, which was fairly busy for a Saturday afternoon. There were three couples with sales associates looking at the amazing selection of jewelry. One sales associate was walking around the cases, looking like she was taking inventory, and two other associates in the corner chatting with one another.
We waited. I didn’t mind at first, as there were many sparkly things to look at, and Alex had mentioned that he’d like to get me the matching earrings. We searched the case nearest for the earrings he wanted to get and waited to be approached, but that never happened.
In fact, Miss Red (the associate taking inventory) kept walking right past us from case to case looking “extremely busy,” and Chit and Chat just kept gabbing away, deep in conversation. I finally got really annoyed. I did what most women would do in a fine establishment and placed my hands on my hips and gave the “stare of death” to Chit and Chat until they looked up from conversation.
Chit ran over and gave an apology and asked if she could help us. We had waited about ten minutes to get anyone’s attention or any sort of acknowledgement. Not even a, “Hi, we’ll be with you shortly.”
She helped us make our exchange and Alex asked if I wanted to see the earrings. I halfheartedly said yes, mostly because I REALLY liked them. I tried them on and Alex was ready to pull the trigger, but I was so put off by the lack of service we received that after trying them on I said I wasn’t interested.
That’s right, I let the gorgeous hematite earrings go right back into the case over ten minutes of waiting. I also immediately put the kibosh on the sunglasses that caught my eye while browsing.
Yes, we all get busy, and I’m sure there are times when Yurman, or your center, or any place gets absolutely mobbed. But in my mind there’s ALWAYS enough time to acknowledge a paying customer, a potential customer, or anyone who looks like they need assistance. If I can leave several hundred dollars of “shiny things” behind based on having to wait, your customers can certainly leave behind another game of bowling or laser tag … and what’s stopping them from walking straight to your competitor for better customer service? Nothing but YOU and YOUR employees!
Make sure your front line understands how best to handle busy times. Even a smile and holding up a finger goes a long way when you’re stuck on the phone with one customer waiting. And a quick, “Hi, I’ll be right with you” will remain a classic in great customer service.
Has a situation like this happened to you? Do you have measures in place to keep situations like this from happening in your center? Let us know about them in the comments section below or on our Facebook Page: www.Facebook.com/TrainerTainment
