Palmer Marketing Blog

DEC

Sailing the ship without the captain

As we approach the holiday season I am currently 1 week through a 3 week vacation. Along with it being my first extended holiday in the last 24 years, it is really the first time I’ve let my team fully run the ship without at least some guidance from afar.

The timing was right. They all have confidence in their abilities and so do I. It is a necessary step in the sustainability of my company to have it run without me. What are the gaps they need to fill? What lessons can I learn from the exercise?

1- No two people will ever approach solving a problem or answering a question the same way. As an owner or manager, we have to accept that things will not get done the way we would do it and that’s okay.

2- Necessity is the mother of invention. People respond to pressure and deadlines. If we’re not there to deal with a situation, the need to resolve it will create a champion with a solution. The more it happens the better your team will be at the daily problem solving that arises.

3- For the most part, I have a young team. Most are the age I was when I started my business. And they are all more capable in their respective duties than I was at their age. That is the fact I focused on to let go of the reins to this extent and feel comfortable doing so. Kind of a sink or swim, what’s the worst that could happen scenario.

4- As managers, how can we effectively accomplish that task when we are caught up fully in the day to day? We may be the best problem solvers due to our experience level but what could we accomplish if we applied those same talents to investigating new products, processes and opportunities?

5- I had my grandson here the first week of our holiday. He’s just shy of two and his key mission in life is to demand your undivided attention. If there is trouble he will find it. Babysitting is a key element of business too. Bringing on a new account or starting a new project can be all consuming. Find the equivalent of daycare for these types of business situations. Babysitting is okay on occasion, but don’t make a career of it, as you will accomplish nothing else.

When I’m back, one of the first things I’ll do is assess what the gaps were, if any, in my absence. That will be the first blog of 2012.

Have a great holiday season everyone!

Lee’s Quote for the Day

“Say it can’t be done and that’s what will happen. Saying it can be done requires constant focus, self-belief, and tenacity. In other words, it’s much easier to talk ourselves out of it, than talk ourselves into it.”

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Confidence, holiday season, management, problem solving, trust

DEC

Lee

When to listen. When to push back.

I have a button. When it’s pressed alarms go off, temperatures rise and composure slips away. If I am told to do something that I believe is fundamentally wrong, I have a pretty hard time with it. I fight back, sometimes kicking and screaming. I take it personal. I’m learning to be more diplomatic and in the end, stand up for what I believe in without alienating my client in the process.

Like most things, experience is the best teacher, followed closely or in tandem with trusting your instincts. Most people have a hard time accepting a thought or idea that is fresh, as there is no physical reference for them to gauge whether it is good or bad. Most people are reference thinkers. If it hasn’t been done before, they are sceptical and most revert to the safer, less daring approach. The opposite is usually what is required, so you do need to be a bit stubborn to be in a business where you are creating customized solutions.

No matter what profession you’re in, you need the confidence in your abilities to do the right thing for your client, especially when they are struggling with a direction. It’s our job to guide them. When you spend a lot of your energy developing a solution, its human nature to get a bit defensive when someone challenges you and wants to send you in a totally new direction you can’t get behind. What I’ve learned over the years follows:

If you are hired as a professional for guidance, you have an obligation to provide that guidance especially when it is challenged.
If your client is challenging your solution, there is a legitimate reason they are not comfortable moving ahead. Don’t start over; just listen more carefully as often a tweak to the original plan will bring it all together.
Don’t ever think you have all the answers but be confident in communicating the facts you know to be true and be open to and encourage collaboration with your client.
Communicate in person whenever possible to get the plan back on track. You and your client will benefit from the extra effort made to resolve the hurdles you need to, face-to-face.

Lee’s Quote for the Day

“Gaining your customer’s trust is the most valuable aspect of any business relationship. It may seem a bit like climbing Mount Everest, but when you finally get there, it’s worth every step of the journey”

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Business, Communication, creative solutions, guidance, instincts, listen, professional, push back, trust

NOV

Lee

10 Tips for the Newbie Sales Person

I got into sales when my company started, decided it wasn’t my strength and got out until a few years ago. I read a book called “Truth and Lies in Advertising” and it mentioned the creative director (what I do at my company) needs to be the strongest sales person in the company.

So I made an attempt and had some success. I focus on the business, providing the right solution and that seems to work for the most part. If there’s small talk it tends to be business and industry related, although I do have a growing number of clients that share my interest in music, oddly enough.

So when is a sale a sale? When and how often do you follow up when there are extended periods without communication? When is the horse dead and it’s time to get off? As far as I can tell, these are all gray areas that no one really has the answer to. Trust your instincts and the old sayings “Strike while the fire is hot” and “Patience is a virtue” come to mind as good advice in this regard.

Here are the top 10 sales truths that I rely on:

Know and present your value proposition confidently. Be prepared to answer the inevitable question “What makes you better than the other companies providing your service.”
Get the customer talking. The more you talk, the less likely you are to find out what the prospective customer really needs.
Don’t just take the order. Why? It’s the information age. If you can simply take the order, so can anyone else. By understanding their challenges in greater detail, maybe you can come up with a bigger and better solution.
A pro sales coach may teach you to mimic body language and adopt customer speech patterns (talk fast, talk slow etc). I believe today that “Real” wins over this kind of “Slick” every time.
The more questions you ask, the smarter you get. If you don’t understand, inquire and find out more. You’ll get the insight needed to be able to accomplish number 2 and 3 above.
Follow up when you say you’re going to and after any meeting of significance. Do it while everything is fresh as it is twice as easy to accomplish.
Don’t make excuses. Explaining things in detail always weakens your position. Acknowledge and be accountable for any errors and move on.
The best way to communicate is still face to face, followed by a phone call and lastly an e-mail or text. It’s harder and harder to get the opportunity for the first two, so be careful with e-mails. Put them through spell check and make sure what you meant to say can’t be misinterpreted.
Never try and resolve an issue of any significance by e-mail. I made this mistake just the other day…I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.
Referrals are always your best way to increase sales. It’s okay to ask for them from the customers you know best, on occasion.

Lee’s Quote for the Day

If you’re having a hard time selling something, it’s either priced wrong, not a very good product or you’re trying to sell it to the wrong person. Oh yeah, it could be the wrong season, or just a bad day, or lousy timing, or budget cuts, or the price of fuel, or the high Canadian dollar or…