By nature, human beings are social creatures; we want to interact, assimilate, commune, share stories and experiences. Social interaction is often the medium through which we develop relationships. It is how we formulate our opinions, our preferences and determine what we like, whom we trust.

Sales is a social event; yet the inherent, old school practices of many sales organizations are preventing them from making the “A” list. One such practice is attempting to sell customers on the merits of products and services without having an understanding of their likes and dislikes, their true wants and needs.

So, how do you get your customers to open up and tell you what they’re thinking? Just listen!

Since the advent of social networking sites, today’s customers have been talking about you and your business every day, to virtually everyone! According to a recent study, “three of the world’s most popular brands online are social media related (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia) and the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites. This equates to 22% of all time online or one in every four and a half minutes. For the first time ever, social networks or blog sites are visited by three quarters of global consumers who go online, after the number of people visiting these sites increased by 24% over last year. The average visitor spends 66% more time on these sites than a year ago, almost 6 hours in April 2010 versus 3 hours and 31 minutes last year.” (Source: Nielsen, June 2010)

Getting with the program – utilizing social networking sites to hear what customers are saying and communicate with them will lead to more relational rather than transactional experiences for salespeople and their customers.

Lynda Fleming - Director of Learning & Development, Frontline Performance Group

Mary Kay Cosmetics has always been a brand synonymous with sales and service. Founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963, the firm has since expanded into a global cosmetics company posting over $2 billion in annual wholesale sales. The company serves consumers in more than 35 markets worldwide and has over 2 million global independent sales representatives.

Growing a company to this size is no easy feat. It entails creating the right corporate environment, attracting the right type of people, as well as motivating and enabling your sales force to achieve great things. Mary Kay Ash was able to do all of this and more.

The following sales leadership actions are just a few of many that came directly from Mary Kay Ash’s playbook.

1. Know Your Role

In the early days of the company Mary Kay focused on her strengths – engaging and inspiring her team. Her son Richard Rogers, who still runs the company to this day, has said she believed her job was to “energize, recognize, teach, and motivate our independent sales force.” According to Richard, she left everything else to him.

2. When In Doubt Recognize

The pink Cadillac is a key incentive for Mary Kay’s top salespeople. A complimentary two year lease of a pink Cadillac is provided for each region’s top performer. At the end of the two year lease the sales star is eligible for another car if they continue to perform well. Since its inception in 1969, the pink Cadillac Career Car has been awarded to over 100,000 top performers and is still in effect today.

3. Balance Constructive Feedback With Positives

Mary Kay was legendary for her coaching and mentoring sessions. In her book The Mary Kay Way she described positive reinforcement as “Sandwiching every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise.” This relationship-focused approach to coaching made her sales force feel comfortable, valuable, and important to the company.

Implementing effective training, meaningful recognition programs, and valuable coaching sessions has been and continues to be very successful and lucrative for Mary Kay, Inc. So much so the company’s methods and direct sales model are still the envy of their competition and the focus of many business school case studies today.

Ken Stellon - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

In the 10 years I have been with FPG, I have conducted monthly goal setting sessions with thousands of salespeople across numerous industries. One of the key insights I have gained from these sessions is the importance of seeing the potential fruits of your labor before you move forward with achieving your goals.

What do I mean by this? Salespeople need something tangible, something they can visualize, to help them achieve their goals. As a result, when setting goals it is critical that sales leaders ask their frontline employees what they would like to do with the extra incentive money earned when (not if) their sales goals are met. When salespeople are asked this question their answer is often a halfhearted “put it in the bank.” While putting it in the bank sounds and is noble, I have learned that saving more money is simply not compelling enough for the average employee to push through the additional efforts and rejection required to achieve the highest levels of sales performance.

This is because saving more does not elicit emotion. Having an extra $100 in your bank account is nice, but it doesn’t drive behavior consistently – it does not cause acute pain when it isn’t achieved. Conversely, when you are staring at a picture of a sunset on Waikiki Beach, a cherry red Ford Mustang, a pair of deep blue Gucci jeans, or a new home with a swing set and a photo of your children alongside, it hurts when you fail. It sears and it disappoints. But best of all, it angers. This type of pain is a good pain, a valuable pain because it focuses your energies, resolve and concentration to achieve something of worth…and of difficulty.

Salespeople should be encouraged to choose tangible personal rewards as part of the goal setting process, and to use pictures to remind them of their goals. However, as I always tell our clients, make sure the images placed on your refrigerator or in your work space are a true representation of what you desire most – because what you constantly think about, you become.

Albert Einstein said it best, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

What are you imagining?

Chris Brown - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Susan Hash at Contact Center Pipeline about adding sales to service-centric organizations. Below is an excerpt from the article published in the May 2010 issue of their journal.    - Ziad Khoury

Companies are overlooking the most critical element in the service to sales transition.

The idea of cost-cutting and doing more with less is nothing new to contact centers. Even before the economy tanked, managers struggled with dwindling budgets and limited resources. But now, the severity of the recession has most organizations feeling squeezed dry – and they’re running out of things to cut back on.

As executives shift their sights from cost containment to revenue generation, many are looking to the contact center as the primary opportunity to drive profits through cross-selling, upselling and enhancing existing customer relationships. The fact is, most centers now have some sort of sales component in place – whether it’s add-on sales for special promotions or full-on solutions-based selling. But have their efforts to incorporate sales into a service-centric environment been successful?

Click here to read the full article

Some may argue there is little to no difference…that it is purely semantics — I disagree.

I contend that when one is blessed with a specific, clearly definable talent, each day should be viewed as an opportunity to hone that talent rather than ride upon it.

Here are a few tips:

1. Get Over It!

“As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot.” – Ray Kroch

Don’t become so rapt by your accomplishments that you miss the opportunity to grow. Success is a moving target and someone else is always a shot away from claiming its rewards.

2. Get On It!

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – John C. Maxwell

You know what your strengths are – now make a growth plan to build upon them. While being aware of your areas of weakness is a critical component of success, the majority of your time is best spent by giving focus to your strengths. Perhaps a continuing education course or even just the practice of networking with others who have achieved success in your field will provide the edge you will need to stay at the top of your game.

3. Get Through It!

“Smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors.” – African Proverb

Once you have mapped out your plan, prepare for obstacles. If allowed, the day-to-day workings of your business and your life can take you off course. Determining the pay-off will help to maintain the focus needed to achieve your goal of improving your strengths.

Lynda Fleming - Director of Learning & Development, Frontline Performance Group