by Tech Support | Mar 21, 2013 | Personal
Welcome home, Sherry. Meet Sherry Howell who has worked behind the scenes for TrainerTainment since 2008. Sherry and her groom are back in the USA after several years of teaching English as second language in Peru, Costa Rica and Viet Nam! We are thrilled to have her physically back with the team and wanted to introduce you to her. You’ll see Sherry out training and teaching in that “Fun Training-Serious Results” style you’ve come to depend on from our company. You can welcome Sherry home and comment on her article by emailing her at: sherry@trainertainment.net or leaving a comment on our blog. As always, thanks for taking time to read and share our newsletter each week!
Beth
When I started working with Beth five years ago, I decided that my favorite selling tip was: Find out what the customer wants and sell them that. Of course! It seems so simple, but I really just can’t tell you how knowing that one phrase can help not only with selling, but with customer service, staff meetings, training sessions, and really with so many situations in life.
As you know, I’ve just recently moved back to the USA and have bought a house. In our area, the only internet service provider is Comcast. Did I just hear a collective groan? When I tell people that I have been working with Comcast, I hear things like, “they’re terrible. They’ve got the worst customer service ever.” Pretty sad isn’t it? I guess they don’t know reputation is everything nor do they care because, in my area, they’re the only option.
After several attempts to get the installation ordered online, I called their customer service center to get some personal help. When the representative answered, I explained to her that I was trying to order internet and that Comcast was not delivering quality customer service. I explained that Comcast kept calling us, then placing us on hold for 9 or more minutes and that when someone finally came back on the line, they asked why WE had called.
I told her that so far I was very unhappy and really hoped that she could turn this negative experience into a more positive one. I gave her everything she needed to know in order to make me a happy, paying customer. Instead of listening to the customer and selling me what I wanted, however, she decided to push her own agenda first. She literally said, “before I do that, I see that you’ve only ordered internet service. Can I interest you in other services such as cable or…”
I did NOT let her finish the sentence. She hadn’t listened to anything I said. Basically, she was telling me that that before she addressed my needs, she needed to push her product. This doesn’t work, at least NOT on me! Now, I love love love selling, and upselling our products, but I think the conversation should have gone something like this:
“Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve had a rough time of it, Mrs. Howell! I can absolutely help you with that. Ok, I see that you’ve ordered X, for which I can have someone out to your house by X date. How does that sound? I also noticed that you’ve only ordered our internet services, and if you’re interested, I can save you X dollars by adding on a cable package. I can make adding cable easy and affordable for you at this time as we are straightening out the internet issues? Is that something you would like me to take care of now?”
If she had said something like the latter, she would have addressed all my needs AND made me a happy customer potentially willing to spend a little more. As we do our jobs in sales and customer service, we need to make sure we are listening to what our customers are telling us. They always tell us what it takes to make them happy!
So find out what they want, and sell them that. Plus maybe some more, if we’re good.
Thanks for reading,
Sherry Howell
by Tech Support | Mar 13, 2013 | Sales
Honestly I have had the great fortune to work with so many wonderful companies over the last 6 weeks and with the complete immersion of onsite training I’m behind with my writing.
I thought about just skipping our newsletter completely this week and then changed my mind. Rosie does a lot of work getting all of the other information in the newsletter put together each week so that you are up to date and informed about our upcoming webinars, boot camp series, tips, and specials, that the list I can do is come through with the “newsletter” part of this mailing.
So today, I’m taking the easy way out and sending you the best strategy we know of to get out there and start talking to companies, churches, youth, and charitable groups. The approach is simple. You do NOT run into a facility and start pitching your product. Instead, you go loaded with the right questions so that you can use your time efficiently and have the best chance to get in front of the person that plans events!
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by Tech Support | Mar 6, 2013 | Sales
If you decide or think you want to do something you better take some kind of action on it within 10 days or you just won’t do it. I guess that explains how I made it to London, Ontario on the 21st of February when I had only met her son Rob Szabo on the 5th! Thanks Mom.
Meet Barbara Szabo. In the mid 1950’s Barbara, a young woman, risked the border crossing from Hungry into Austria in her early twenties on Christmas Eve. I ask her why; and she looked at me very matter of fact and said, “communism my love.” She had dreams. She believed there was more for her and that she could not live those dreams in Hungry. She fled with another young woman and made her way to Canada.
She had to hang out in an Austrian camp for about 6 months before they could get the proper arrangements to go on to Canada. I asked her what she did while she was there. She said, “Not too much of anything but I did learn a bit of German.” Everything Barbara touched seemed to have good meaning for her and to her. She must have used the phrase “I have a happy life” 6 or 7 times during our conversation. I believe that she lives “happy life” on purpose.
Once Barbara made it to Canada she eventually went to work in a delicatessen for a German shop owner. Very soon was running the store as if it were her own business. The owners were so confident in her ability that they left the business to her as they traveled for two months at a time. Mrs. Szabo made $25 per week. After about a year, the love of her life suggested that it was time for her to ask for a raise. She did.
What happens next is the absolute epitome of success, belief, risk, guts, vision, faith… Her owner said in response to her raise request, “Barbara, if you think you are so smart why don’t you go over to that shop that is for rent (just a few streets over) and start your own delicatessen”. Barbara told her boyfriend what had happened and they decided to go check on the shop that was for rent. The phone number hung in the window, so they stepped just a few feet away and used the pay phone to call. It turns out that the landlord lived up above the space that was for lease. Excited that there was a prospect he came downstairs and showed them the place on the spot.
Barbara liked the location. The landlord explained that the rent was $135 per month. I believe Barbara Szabo is probably a fairly good negotiator because she looked in her purse and saw that she had $100 and promptly offered that as the 1st month’s rent payment. The landlord said yes immediately and Barbara was in business!
She went to work the next day and told her (unwilling to pay a raise owner) that she had taken his advice and leased the space that he had mentioned to her the day before. Barbara told me that her boss exclaimed that he had NOT really meant that she should go and start her own deli! He let her work all day and then fired her that evening. He was concerned that most of his customers came to his delicatessen because they loved Barbara. She knew he was right and was not surprised that they became her customers the minute the doors were opened.
Gotta’ love that story. Right? I’m so inspired by this woman. Ms. Szabo was not intending to give me advice; and I suspect she’s even unaware of how inspirational she is. There were 3 things that really stood out to me and I’m compelled to share them with you:
- She laid out her success very simply by stating that it is 90% work and 10% luck. I sure think that so many of us just view or desire the luck. It’s a small part… the rest is what we do. It’s the work.
- Don’t touch it! She was specific about doing the best, being the best, and having the best. That is you couldn’t do things at a top level, whether you were the janitor, the waitress, the chef, the boss or the owner, that you shouldn’t event touch it! Sound advice I think. Why not get “all in” if you are going to do something.
- This one piece of wisdom was the most significant to me. She seems to have a gift of not worrying. The reason I say this is that I asked her what was hard about business. She paused, looked a bit confused, and then said, “nothing”. I wasn’t expecting that answer. It made me think that without worry nothing has to be difficult. Ms. Szabo said, “You don’t know if things will work. You try and if it works, wonderful. If it doesn’t work, you do something else”. There’s nothing to worry about with this philosophy. It’s simple. I think Nike must know Barbara Szabo!
Barbara used the phrase “happy life” probably 7 times in our conversation. This is an intentional way that Ms. Szabo has chosen to live. It shows in her son. It shows in their staff that has a long tenure with Palasad. It shows in the youthfulness of her beautiful 80 year old face.
You know I travel a lot and have the wonderful fortune to have some very nice dinners and to meet some very interesting people. Saturday night, February 23rd is one dinner with one amazing business woman that I’ll not forget. I asked Mrs. Szabo if I could write her story. She said, “no”. So if you are reading this now, somehow I was able to convince her to let me print her story. If not I don’t even care. I have the story recorded so that I won’t forget a single detail.
Thank you for a beautiful evening Barbara… You make me feel so proud to be a woman in business.
