That Time…I Got Schooled

Have you ever noticed those racks at the checkout line of your local grocery store?  You know the ones stacked full of candy, gum, and chocolate that your kids can’t seem to keep their hands off.  Those small items that don’t cost that much enticing you to just buy them. 

There is a reason why those little goodies are located at the checkout line.  It’s because they work.  See Grocery stores are one of the best volume sales entities.  These little goodies are low priced which typically lowers the resistance you have towards them.  People think, its not that much so why not if it makes my kids stop screaming.  If we are honest the kid in our head also thinks we deserve some as well.  These are great add on sales that give you extra margins.

I remember when I had just made a large sale when I was in Florida and thinking that I was the best salesman in the world…  spoiler alert…I was wrong!  I was at the International Mall in Tampa Florida.  I walked into the Clarks store to buy a brown pair of dress shoes that I had been looking at for a while.  They were my prize for being the best salesman ever… 

I picked out the ones that I wanted and headed to the register with my prize.  That is when I got schooled in the art of upselling!  This nice old lady behind the counter that was ringing up my purchase said, “You know these are a big investment, have you ever thought of getting one of these shoe sponges to clean and condition the leather?”  I asked, “Do I need one?”  she nodded so I added it on for the small price compared to the shoes of a few dollars.  Then she said “you know your wallet is looking a little worn…”  I then a wallet.  Then she told me about their amazing socks and their lifetime warranty.  Before I knew it, this nice old lady was piling up the point of purchase sales like crazy!  When she asked to see my belt, I yelled, “STOP! I’m done, I can’t take any more of this beating. 

I walked out of that store like a dog with my tail between my legs.  This nice old lady took me to the cleaners and upsold all of the point of purchase products.  These extra point of purchase items didn’t cost as much as the main purchase, but their margin is more than the original purchase.  She was like a special-ops of sales people.  She did it so nicely that I didn’t even see it coming! 

That life lesson has stuck with me ever since.  

I have even coached many sales professionals about upselling the point of purchase products after the main sale.  I have even helped hair stylists upsell their point of purchase products.  Those special hair products that are not easily found at regular grocery stores.  These products that they put in the customer’s hair during their hair styling sessions.  It’s an add on sale that the hairstylists were missing out on.  Extra profit that is an easy sell.  Just like the pack of gum at the grocery line.  They are there for a reason!

Point of purchase sales are a way to help the customer and keep them buying more and more from you as long as it is something that will benefit them.  They will grow more trust for you if you are helping them solve problems and allowing them to buy more from you instead of having to search all over town for the same product.  It’s right there! 

Next time you have a customer in front of you and you are selling them an expensive product think of the other items that may benefit them.  Why send the customer elsewhere for products that you can help them with?

Happy selling everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Three F’s You Need to Utilize!

When I am on stage speaking, I bring the audience in to where I began in sales.  I was working for a 6-foot 5-inch ex-Navy Seal.  He was a successful driven business leader.  He was intense and was always moving forward.  He also flipped my thought process upside down.

Growing up in my blue-collar family it was always pressed to do my best and do it perfect.  I am also a “one” on the Enneagram so I naturally trying to make things better and as close to perfect as possible.  I was devastated when I got into college and my best would however only generate B’s and C’s.  Highschool was easy to obtain A’s, but college was a whole different ball game.

I was failing to get A’s and I was pissed off and angry throughout college.  I graduated with an electrical engineering degree and had a great job right out of college, but I always looked back that I was not perfect in college.  It left a feeling that I was not good enough back then.

In reality no one is totally perfect.  We all have flaws.  No one can do everything perfect the first time either.  What we do is Fail Forward Fast.  Fail Forward Fast is a phrase that navy seal operators use quite often in training.

Navy seals as I was taught by my mentor are okay with set-backs.  Fail Forward Fast works like this.  Apply action -> review -> apply action for a constant loop for improvement of whatever the situation is.  Failure is not about making a mistake, failure is giving up. 

It’s okay to have a set back and learn from it so that when you are attacking the same activity the next time you move through it more efficiently.  The cool part is that the action does not have to be a massive game changer.  It is small incremental adjustments as you go through the loop.   

Another benefit from this small action is that doubt is eliminated through action.  Figuring out the next small step will keep doubt from tackling us from behind and stopping us from moving forward in our process.  How awesome is that!  A small step of action puts doubt on its butt and allows us to move forward.

Do you remember riding a bike without training wheels for the first time?  Most of us as children would fall, get back on the bike and moved a little farther, fall again, get back on the bike and moved farther and farther each time until we were riding the bike without assistance from anyone.  It took a progression and learning how to balance while pedaling and occasionally stopping before running into something.  It is rare for someone to just jump on a bike for the first time and get it perfect. 

I love the Fail Forward Fast because when I am working on a project and the “Have to be perfect” phase pops in my head, and I am able to remind myself that it is okay.  Sometimes I also find out that the desired outcome that I had was not the one I needed to be shooting for.  I am able to pivot towards the better desired outcome instead of coming to the end of the experience and learning that I am nowhere near where I truly need to be.

Fail Forward Fast is essential in all growth and I have applied it to my life so that I can keep going when tough times happen.  Sometimes we just need to focus on one small step at a time to keep moving forward instead of looking at the long path that is ahead of us. 

I hope this blog is helpful to you.  If it is, please leave a comment below of how this or another blog post has helped you!

Have a great weekend everyone!  

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Please Don’t Use The Elevator Pitch!

Have you ever been subject to an elevator pitch?  You know where the person says all these great things that they do and how you need to do business with them.  Some time ago elevator pitches came into existence because business people needed to be able to tell someone what they did in the time it took to reach your destination on the elevator.  Quick and be effective were the requirements of an elevator pitch. 

When I think about an elevator pitch, I see a picture of the old sales guy wearing a three-piece suit and playing with his pocket watch.  For those of you younger readers, a pocket watch is not your phone that is in your pocket. 

I remember when I first got into sales this was the language you needed to use when someone asked what you did.  People came up with all sorts of weird pitches.  After a few years came the unique selling proposition that you needed to craft so when you talked to customers you could use this to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Now there is a new approach that is called positioning statement.  I have used this approach when speaking to organizations for speaking and it goes like this:

“I work with organizations just like yours who want to increase sales and influence, so that they can improve profits and elevate their people.” 

This positioning statement is to position yourself as an authority and how you actually benefit people at a 10,000 ft view of what you do.  This positioning statement is to also pull the prospective customer into asking more questions to learn a little more.  This is a way to start the conversation to learn about the customer which is a better way to approach selling.  I mean how do you know what to sell someone if you don’t know what they need?

This Positioning statement flows well with my company which  “Sales and Leadership Enterprises.”  I emphasize the fact that I help people walk through the sales process and how salespeople can intentionally understand where they are at in the process.  Using the same process helps leaders gain influence with employees and customers. 

Today we no longer use the elevator pitch, and as we move into the positioning statement where we want to be in our customer’s minds.  We want them thinking about how they need more help and how we can help them through conversation.   We are not making quick closes, but we are having the conversation to help our customers move forward to a better place.

What is your positioning statement? 

Leave a comment below and tell me what your positioning statement is.  I like learning about my readers and how I can help them achieve more.  I will give a free signed copy of my book to the winner the best positioning statement!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Setting Better Goals for 2020

What do your goals look like for this year?

How many have you hit in 2019? 

Do you have goals that focus on all aspects of life such as finances, relationships, work goals, fitness, etc?

As we are head into the last part of the year, I bet if I asked most would say we have not hit all of their goals.   Each year people start with new year’s resolutions in hopes to having a better new year.  Most people fail to keep those resolutions past the first 60 days.  Some go a step further than a resolution and set goals, but those goals are abandoned quickly as well.

I was sitting in the audience a couple weeks ago for a message that revolved around setting financial goals.  There was a smaller part of the message that I think went unnoticed by most of the attendees about how to set solid goals.  It was so intriguing that I am putting it into practice for 2020.

Currently I have a list of goals in my workout area so I can look at them every day I am working out.  As you can see in the picture with this blog post I have hit a few and missed on others.  I have quite a few goals for different areas of my life.  Actually I have too many goals that are all independent of themselves for the most part.

This year I will take December to plan my goals again as I have done in the past couple of years, but with this simple new strategy.  Instead of thinking about goals I want to achieve for the next year individually, the focus will be on goals that help me get to the future self.  I will put the focus on where I want to be in five years from now and what goals will help me get there.  Having this frame of mind when creating goals will allow me to look forward into where I want to be in the future instead of just hitting a goal.  The goals will align and contribute to my future self. 

The future vision statement will be my compass pointing to true North.  I will have goals for spending time with the kids and my wife in their interests, but it will be because my goal in the next five years will focus on having a closer family.  When my goals are challenged, I can look at the future self and keep the vision of where I want to go which will fuel me to hit that goal.

Instead of the goals being independent, they will work together to achieve my vision of my future self.  Using this strategy will allow me to pull meaningful goals that have more substance to keep me going when challenged.  I will have goals to grow my business by a certain number of engagements, but that is because my future self will have a certain financial level associated with speaking engagements, trainings, and consulting.

Keeping a vision of our future selves will help us to focus on hitting those goals today so that the vision becomes a reality.  Yes, there are obstacles and roadblocks, but with our vision we can still chart out course to success.

Stay tuned and I will share my goals and how I have set it up with you this December.

Until then enjoy the fall weather!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

What is your Talk Trigger?

Where do you go when you are looking for a product / service that is new to you? 

Where do you get your knowledge from in order to make a decision?

Have you ever used a service / product that one of your friends or family members recommended?

Most of us spend hours searching for what products / services we need on Google, Bing, maybe Yahoo, etc.  We then pull together data on what features and benefits that meet our needs.  The challenging thing to know is where to get the product / service from.  Most will next move directly to price as being the main differentiator when figuring out who to buy from.  This typically ends up with an unsatisfied customer experience.  Remember the old saying, “the cheapest price is not always the best option.” – some very wise and very old person 

There is however a way to mitigate a bad customer experience when buying a product / service.  That is to obtain a recommendation from those we trust.  A recommendation of where to buy the product / service is a very essential part of the buying process and is actually the second of five buying decisions that customers have to make.  I’m not talking about small purchases like socks here.  I’m talking about purchases of $50 or more. 

Think back to the last time you received recommendations.  Did you first start with friends and family members for recommendations, or did you just use the first supplier that showed up on the internet?  Recommendations from friends and family members are valued at 27% more than advertising and online ads when making a larger purchase.

People would rather buy from someone they know, like, and trust rather than a big box store.  This is also why when looking for recommendations people will consult with their friends and family members first before picking a place to buy from.  It’s because the customer trusts their friends and family members more than any other advertising.  Even the top-rated celebrity that people use for product recommendations is only 4% effective.  Sorry Oprah…

If you are a business owner, sales professional, or marketing professional, understand that a customer experience that creates a “talk trigger” is worth more than all the marketing combined.  Focus on providing exceptional service and an experience to your customers and watch your customer base grow.  Repeat customers are where profits are made, not on the one-time sale.  Repeat purchases from the same people lowers cost and helps you with stability.  These repeat customers will also act as your free sales force and they will generage a larger impact when they refer their friends and family to you!  Advertising that you cannot pay for!

Customers want a great experience and it is up to us to provide such an experience that people want to talk about to their friends and family.  It’s not about making that extra percent, its about helping our customers have a better experience so they win when they buy from us. 

Some examples of companies killing it in this arena are Five Guys (so many fries dumped into your bag), WindorONE lumber (call kirk for a shirt), Holiday World (free pop for all guests), Skip’s Kitchen (free lunch if you pick the joker), and New Zealand Airlines (seats that fold up to a couch for long flights).  These examples are what people share when the do business with these organizations.

What are you currently doing to achieve that goal of exceptional customer experience driving repeat sales?  

For more information on talk triggers pick up the book called “Talk Triggers” and start generating yours with your customers!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Why Just Fill A Spot?

Good morning everyone,

How many of you work for an organization that you feel is just looking for someone to be a cog in a machine and not looking for the person to grow into something more?

How many of you feel like you if you speak up you will get yelled at, or worse fired for doing so?

A great deal of large organizations look for employees to fill a spot.  I like the cartoon by Andertoons as it speaks to this truth.  These same organizations then ask why they are not getting engagement from their employees.  The organizations think making the environment fun will fill the engagement issue.   Items like free pop, pop corn, bean bag chairs in the conference rooms etc are used in hopes that engagement will spirt up from caffeine and playfulness.

Gallop did a study and in late 2018 and reported that 34% of employees in corporate America are actually engaged.  Gallop reported this as a positive because it is one of the highest levels since 2000.  I disagree because 34% was a failing grade all throughout my education.  Now there are some critics that will state that you’re never going to get everyone engaged and I agree.  I do not believe that only having 34% being engaged is a good statistic.  

I have spent most of my life in corporate America and understand why this is so low.  Far too many organizations just look for someone to plug into a spot and have them do the same thing for the rest of their life.  When someone brings a new idea for executing the business, it is often written off by a manger telling them to stick to their job.  Keep in mind that manager’s purpose is to manage people and processes to keep moving smoothly.  The manager’s duties revolve around making sure their group does not implode.  They are too busy fighting fires and worn out keeping the people and processes going.  These managers get burned out and become disengaged themselves. 

Too many people in the leadership are not engaging the managers or the workers to encourage them to grow themselves.  Unless people feel like the organization has their back and is rooting for them to grow, they will not want to spend the rest of their working careers just showing up.  Hence the reason the turnover rate at corporation America is increasing.  People are jumping from corporation to corporation for high pay and ultimately find themselves in the same predicament after the honeymoon phase of a new job wears off.

When the employee observes disengaged managers, the employee will start losing hope that things will get better and that their impact will mean something.  How does this change?  It takes one step at a time, prioritizing engaging our teams and ourselves.   We need to look at “why” we are in the position we are in.  Are we there just for a paycheck and health insurance, or are we there to make an impact?  What aspect of this position keeps us coming back through the door? 

We need to keep growing ourselves and encouraging those around us to grow.  Take our teams out of the working environment on occasion to help them grow.  This does not need to be trust falls, but it could be buying their lunches while watching a live stream, find a podcast for the team to listen to together, go to a conference, or read a book as a group and discuss collectively.  In order to gain engagement, we need to engage those around us to grow every day.  Don’t just bring the bean bags, bring the enthusiasm that people will feed off and show them that it is okay to grow.  We need to show to our employees that we have their back and support their growth.  

One last thought, we should not worry about pouring into those individuals and seeing them leave.  Even though they may move on to bigger things, it will be noticed where all the rock stars are coming from in the organization.  People will start recognizing our efforts and others will want to work for us because of the benefit of growth.  Encourage, engage, and enable others, don’t just look for a body to fill a seat.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

H.E.L.P.

Good morning everyone, I hope you are doing well learning more and more about growing your sales with these blog posts, the sales process uncovered book, and my keynotes / trainings.  Today I want to focus on building a strong relationship with customers and not just making a quick sale.  Long term success is what we want to play for, not just a cheap sale.  This cheap sale is part of why sales professionals get a bad rap.

Building a relationship with a customer is like dating.  If we are not interested in the person, or don’t show interest in that person, we are not going to make it far with the relationship.   It is up to us as professional sales professionals to grow the relationships in order to grow the business.  This does not mean we have to drop sales price, give away tons of free stuff, or take part in unethical activities.

Instead I focus on the acronym HELP.

1st Get into a mindset of helping prospective customers get to a place they need to go instead of making a sale.  We want them to know that if there is anything that we can help with whether it is a location, some kind of product or service that they are trying to learn, or even great restaurants in an area.  We focus on being helpful no matter where I can.

2nd Engage in the conversations with customers and make sure we are focused on getting to know them and their needs.  Make sure that our attention is focused on getting to know them and their needs instead of talking about us and our products.  Take notes of what they are saying, putting our phones on silent and in our bags not on the table, and make sure there are no distractions.   

3rd Learn about the customer continuously.  I use the house analogy that I have written about in my past blogs and my book.  Be constantly curious to learn about customers.  Without that focus on learning about people, sales professionals will zone out and focus on just making a quick sale.  If we are not focused on the customer we will lose that connection.  Make sure to always are learn something new about the customer.

Last thing to remember is to put a priority to get to know the customer.  Customers demand priority all the time.  If the sales professional is not making it a priority to learn and help the customer, the sales process will stop and trust fades.  Without trust, there is not going to be a transaction.  Make sure we put a priority on the customer and their needs.    

There you have it H.E.L.P.  Help them, be engaged, learn about them, and place a priority on them. 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Why You Need To Be Nice To the Assistant

Good morning everyone,

Wow, this October it has been two years since I started blogging.  That is 104 blogs to date.  It has been fun to do and in doing so I was able to create the book The Sales Process Uncovered.  I hope you have found these blogs to be helpful in your success at sales.  Today I want to talk about a sales lesson that I learned early on and was recently brought up to my attention that salespeople still don’t understand.  I hope you enjoy it!

How many times have you called and not been able to get ahold of the contact you wanted?  You were successful however in getting in touch with the assistant.  The assistant’s primary focus is keeping the executive’s schedule and weeding out sales calls.  I’ve heard stories from assistants to executives where the sales people were not only rude, but threatening.  They chuckled as they tossed the message into the recycle bin if they even wrote it down from the rude salesperson.

The assistants asked, do salespeople really think this is a good strategy to be rude to me?  Successful business people treat their assistants like part of their family.  These assistants know more about the executive than most of their friends and family do.  What would happen if someone threatened your family member?  What do you think the executive would do if you threatened their assistant?

There is an old saying “you get more bees with honey”.  My mother used to tell me that when I was getting upset about dealing with others.  She meant that it does not matter what others do to you, the only thing you can do is focus on how you act.  People react to anger with anger, but its hard to argue with a whisper.  It’s equally hard for someone to argue with someone being polite and nice to them. 

If you turn the assistant off and the executive finds out you will likely hear from them, but I am confident that the conversation is not going to go the way that you hope it to go.  These executives will protect their assistants.  There is never a need to threaten, degrade, or treat the assistant as a roadblock. 

Instead focus on being nice and getting to know the assistant.  They hold all the knowledge about the executive, so why not focus on building rapport with them before you try to get after the executive.  Learn about them and get to know them.  Follow the sales process you would with any other prospect to learn about them.  They may even tell you how to meet the executive in person on accident?  Like when the executive is heading to the gym, or their golf course.

I have watched lawyers use this same process with court representatives instead of going straight to the judge.  They use this sales process principal of rapport to gain a relationship with the clerks and everyone else around the judge so they can get cases moved up as well as set up appointments.  Judges are just like executives and have a busy schedule.  Focusing on building rapport with the clerks will allow the lawyers to get where they need faster.

Remember the assistant can be your best ally, or your worst enemy.  Choose to be respectful and nice.  It will pay off in the end.

Have a good weekend and happy selling!

P.S. if you do turn the assistant to helping you, you better make sure to drop them a signed card, or even bring them a present when you score your meeting with the executive.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Sales = Influence = Leadership

When I decided to become a professional salesperson, it was based on the sales pitch that if you want to be a better manager, more successful in any career, you need to know sales.  I was an engineer at the time and wanted to climb the corporate ladder.   I dreamed of leading groups of people and helping the team shatter goals while working together.  It was not until I received my certification from John Maxwell to be a speaker, trainer, and coach that I understood that Leadership and Sales were very similar.

Throughout the certification training John Maxwell stated, “Leadership is Influence, nothing more, nothing less.”  John states this over an over when he talks on leadership.   One gauge that John uses to see if we are good leaders is to see how many people that volunteer look to us for leadership.  When we are moving forward for a cause how many people are willing to follow us when we are not paying them. 

People being paid by us are doing so because they are receiving payment for their services so just because they follow us, does not mean that they believe in us.  If we are not paying these people and they are following us, then we know that they are following because of our leadership.  This is done by our influence.  The more influence we have, the more people will fight by our side for the cause.

What I learned through sales is that the more influence we have with our customers, the more they look to us for help and want to do business with us.  The more we help them get what they want, the more we provide top notch service, and the value that we bring causes us to gain influence.  They reach out to us for advice and help.  It does not have to be the product that we sell either.  I have had customers reaching out to me for advice in marketing, digital cameras, software packages, cars, etc.  I was gaining influence with them and they were reaching out to me for help in other areas.

That is when I started really looking at this sales and leadership thing to see if there were common threads.  The truth is that sales and leadership are based on influence.  Great leaders are those that can sell a vision to their organization so much so that the people will “Charge the pits of Hell with a water pistol” – Dave Ramsey.  The most influential people use sales practices to drive forward and get their teams engaged. 

Steps in the sales process to get the customer engage translate right into the leaders process to gain influence with those around them.  They both find the needs of the organization and people, verify those needs, and present the solution in a way to drive engagement to move forward together.  The great thing is that it really is not that complicated.  It’s following a process over and over again gaining influence.  That is why I love working with leaders and sales professionals to help them move forward and grow.  They are so similar that this one process I help with will enable sales professionals and leaders to gain their influence. 

If you are someone looking to grow your influence reach out to me today and I would be happy to review where you are at, where you want to go, and how you can get there.  It’s not complicated, and you can do it. 

Reach out here if you would like to start the discussion.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

What is Rapport And Why Do I Need It?

I’ve heard sales people over the years say a sale is only dependent only on the price.  The cheapest price will win the sale every time.  I have heard others say that people will just want to buy the product and nothing else matters.  If you have the better product then you will win the sale. 

I actually had both the better product and the cheaper price, but still lost the sale when I was starting out.  There was this sales representative from my competitor that had such a great relationship with the customers and the customer’s customers.  He got all the deals.   He had some much influence that people would almost flock to him like he was a celebrity. 

This sales person had an inferior product from benefits and features stand point and had a higher price, but with his impact on people he just won.  It blew my mind and I could not wrap my mind around it.  I am engineer by nature so I tend to go black and white with details.  It did not compute.  I researched the competition and knew what I was up against.  I had it nailed all of the aspects that people had told me.  What I did not have down was the grey area where relationships reside.

I speak to this quite often when teaching sales professionals that there are three things that everyone asks themselves subconsciously as they walk up to you:

Do I like you?

Do I trust you?

How can you help me?

When I finally realized what this variable was that I was getting my butt kicked on.  It was the relationships.  When I started out in sales I was told to build rapport. 

Rapport is defined as “A positive or close relationship between people that often involves mutual trust, understanding and attention.  Those that develop rapport often have realized that they have similar interests, knowledge, or behaviors” – businessdictionary.com

Most sales trainings teach you to look around the room with your customer and find a way to connect on similar hobbies, activities, family, etc.  This is a good beginning to building a relationship with your customer, but there is a great need to go deeper with the customer. Just merely having similar interests and viewpoints is a good start, but it is a superficial level.  If you want to have relationships that a deep and fruitful, you need to go deeper.

Dale Carnegie training taught me how to build get deeper relationships.  This is done mainly with a mindset of being truly focused on the customer to know them and help them.  Having such a relationship will help you form relationships and build unmatched influence.  You end up with a relationship that brings you more opportunities and also have the customer being an advocate with others to bring you more business.  The best realtors are a great example of this.  They gain new customers by word of mouth from previous customers.  Word of mouth is still the best form of advertising.  When someone is looking to buy or sell a home, everyone is speaking about the select few realtors that the person needs to work with.

To build deep relationships with customers you need rapport, focus on learning about them, and  the trust equation.  Use these three things and you will have strong relationships with your customers and have a solid future in sales.

By building deep relationships with customers I was able to land a $20 million per year five-year contract.  That is $100 million contract.  I was able to obtain information needed to kick off my team and produce a proposal that put my organization in play for a program that we were not thought of as a possibility prior.

If you would like to carry the conversation deeper comment on this blog, reach out via email, or do the old-fashioned thing and give me a call so we can discuss deep relationships in sales.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Having a Plan to Succeed in Sales

A few years back a friend and myself decided it would be a great idea to do a sprint triathlon.  I figured I was in decent shape and could swim well.  After all, once you finished the swim all you had to do was hop on a bike for a bit and then run a 5k.  I have done 5k runs many times so I was not worried about the run and I bought a road bike so I could ride faster than a mountain bike.  I did two swims in the water, road the bike a few times, and I didn’t need to run because, hey I could do it.  I figured I had it all planned out to succeed and do well… figured I had it planned out enough…

The day came for the race and my friend and I were in the water ready to go.  The starter sounded of the start of the race and we both jumped in with our awesome swim caps.  About ten strokes into the swim I was out of gas.  I looked up and saw that there were only two rescue boats and a long way to go.  At that moment I knew I was in for a long day.  I did every stroke I could and did the dead man’s float sometimes.  Eventually I made it through the swim, did the bike, and then got into the run.  Unfortunately, my legs cramped up and had to walk part of the run right towards the end.  It didn’t work out for me and my friend crushed me finishing almost 10 minutes ahead of me.

The next year I trained and planned, and then trained some more.  I kept checking my times and the numbers from the year prior.  This resulted in me almost catching my friend.

These two items can be applied to sales.  If we want to do well in sales, we need to have a plan and we need to work the plan.  We can’t just show up and expect to for sales to just happen.  We need to map out where we want the conversation to go and what areas will hit the customer’s needs.  We need to review our notes about the customer and figure out what solutions we can address for them to meet their needs.  One image that still is in the back of my mind when I am visiting with customers and training is that of handing a bill to the customer when I am leaving.  Was the time spent with me worth the customer paying me for my time.

Would your customer say absolutely the time spent with you worth $200 for that hour meeting? 

What kind of answers did the customer come away with that will equip them to function more profitably? 

Is doing business with your organization that beneficial, or should your product be considered just a commodity with the only differentiator being price?

A plan is needed to make the sales call worth both parties investment of time and money.  This is a new age and because of technology customers are more informed and need sales professionals to help them create the best path forward.  What does your plan look like prior to meeting with your customer?  What are your premeeting preparations that you do?

Create the plan, execute the plan, and have a back up plan if something happens that you didn’t expect.  Be prepared.  And if you do a triathlon, practice swimming, it could be the difference between life and death out there!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

The Dreaded Cold Call

How many of you fear picking up the phone and calling a prospect that you have never talked to before?

How many of you believe that what will happen when you cold call is similar to the picture of this blog post?

A cold call will take most people out of their comfort zone to want to call someone that may scream at them to stop calling.  So much so many companies these days have gone to the robo call which is really annoying.  I especially like when they start the message with “Don’t hang up…”  You are literally telling me to hang up on you by saying that subconsciously.  A better opening would be “ Keep listening for some great information…”  That would create more tension in me to want to hear more.

Cold calling is almost an art form.  To get the person on the line and talk to you takes practice.  I still to this day do cold calls to associations and businesses to drive more business.  Prospecting is key in growing your business.  Cold calling is not just dialing a phone either.  You can walk into a business that you have reviewed and think would benefit from your expertise.  Just watch for those no trespassing signs. 

Cold calling is not fun for me as I am more of an introvert by nature.  Pushing myself out of my comfort zone is a must if I want to stay on the hunt for new business.   I have gotten voicemails and had to leave a message, people asking me to call them back later, people using a firm tone that they are not interested, and sometimes, sometimes I get great conversations with them and an appointment to visit to discuss more.

That is what the cold call is for.  To get the opportunity for the next conversation.  You are likely not going to make a sale on this call.  Your focus should be to get that opportunity to come in and sit with the person to learn about them and their organization.  How you can help them get to a better position.  Your product possibly will enable them to take that next step in their growth.  Don’t you think that is a good reason to talk to them? 

Insurance sales professionals have lists of people they cold call every day.  They have studied statics over the years and have a metric that out of ten calls three should result in “Fact Finding Opportunities” and then should result in one sale.  That is a 10% success rate for sales.  Very few professions have studied the results.  I have met quite a few wealthy insurance sales professionals and they all have told me that they do this by making cold calls.  If you are going to be successful selling, you need to do cold calls. 

Keep in mind though that the person on the other line has three questions that they are asking themselves when you start talking.

1.     Do I like this person?

2.     Do I trust this person?

3.     How can this person help me?

If you’ve read my book, “That Sales Process Uncovered”, been to a training, or been a reader of my blog for a while you should be able to answer these questions for them.  Social media such as linkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc have made it even easier to research your prospects prior to the cold call to help you as well.

For now, don’t fear the cold call.  Accept it as an opportunity to help potential customers get to a better place.  Who knows, you may strike up a great conversation and learn something new about someone that will help you at a later date.  Think positive and you don’t have to get off the starting blocks to the finish line in one phone call.  This is your opportunity to start helping people.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

How Is Your Customer Service?

I walked into a local package delivery service and the customer service representative was obviously not having a great day.  I was talked to as if I had just spilled my sippy cup all over their carpet.  I was questioned as if I had put something inside that might explode with a raised eyebrow.  Finally, after the interrogation I was politely asked if I wanted to add insurance the package. 

I have experienced great service at organizations from IT people and have bought their product by the referral from that IT person.  They walked with me through the entire purchase and guided me away from extras that were not needed.  They did not leave my side until I was fully satisfied with the product and thanked me.  That is right they actually thanked me for spending time with them.

I have been placed on hold and bounced between multiple departments of call centers and treated as if I was a burden on the representative that had to take another call during their shift.  All of these contribute to poor customer service with organizations, but have you ever though of yourself as customer service representative for your organization?

It does not matter what the position in the organization is whether it be CEO, a sales person, an engineer, or a janitor.  We are a representative of the organization to the outside world.  We have the opportunity to build up or tear down the reputation of our organization by how we treat others.  We are ambassadors for the organizations we represent.  We need to keep that in mind when we are sporting our organization’s name, at events, and even what we post on social media. 

It also does not matter if we are not a paid employee of the organization.  When people see us representing an organization, they are making the association no matter our affiliation.  People will make their perceptions based on the people they interact with. 

I have had people in organizations tell me they don’t care if a customer likes it or not because they don’t have to interact with the customer regularly.  It’s frankly, not their job.  Unfortunately, what these individuals don’t understand is that the customer is buying products / services that are in turn funding the individual’s paycheck.  Make enough customers stop buying from you and then you are looking for other employment.

When the customer has a bad experience now, they are able to send all over the world in a matter of seconds.  The customer can influence their friend network faster than ever sharing their story.  Organizations do not have the ability to respond to every negative comment on all of the social media platforms.  There is just too much area to cover, but we can make sure we do our part and give the customer a great experience each and every time we interact with them. 

No one is above customer service.  We are all serving customers.  Whether we like it or not, our organizations are judged by how we interact with others.  Keep that in mind when you are repping a shirt or at an event for your organization.  Make the interaction a positive one.  Be courteous, helpful, gracious, and humble.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

When It Falls Apart...

How did the deal fall apart? 

Why did the customer not buy? 

What did I do wrong? 

Where can I get ice cream close by to stress eat?

These are some of the questions that I have had when I did not make a sale.  When I first started out in sales, I did not make a large equipment sale for about 12 months.  That is right I could not make a sale to save my life.  I answered the customer’s questions, helped them get to where they told me they wanted to go, but when it came time to sign on the dotted line, they pumped the brakes. 

I had that happen to me more than once in my first couple of years in sales.  I was really rethinking the decision to take on sales from a secure electrical engineering career.  Now I look back at it as getting my reps in.  Just like a pro golfer hits 5000 golf balls every day to practice, I needed reps in sales to develop my skill.  I needed to hear “NO” so many times so I would be immune to it in the future and find my way through the sales process.

Even this past week I was helping someone sell a boat to another individual and forgot that this type of buyer was just looking for something that they could use as a rental and did not care about things that an owner operator type buyer would value.  Listening to some of the objections did not click until I sat back and understand the needs from this type of buyer.  It was not the right boat for this individual, but an owner operator will love the boat with all of the extras when it is sold in the spring.  Being in the Midwest boats typically do not sell for as much money at the end of summer as they do in the spring season.

Had I really stepped back and understood the customer’s needs better before offering up the suggestion of buying the boat, I would have identified that this was not going to work.  As a seasoned sales professional I still don’t hit the mark 100% of the time.  No one can in reality. Anyone that says they can sell to anyone anytime is lying to you and themselves. There is something that we all miss from time to time.  We all have off days.  We all make a presentation and mess it up.  We all make mistakes and that is okay, but we need to learn from them.

It’s called failing forward fast.  That is the term that Navy Seals embrace.  It’s okay to have a setback as long as they learn from it and keep moving forward.  It is not okay to just sit and mope about the setback.  Keep moving forward and keep learning, refining the approach, and getting better.  That is what we need to keep doing. 

Don’t give up when you have a setback trying to sell whether it is a product / service, idea, business proposal, etc.  Learn, refine, and move forward.  The next big deal is just around the corner and when you learn from one setback you are equipped to do better on the next time. 

Now this was an example for sales, but this can also be easily applied to other areas of our lives. Whether it be leading a team, coaching kids soccer, or with learning a new exercise routine. Don’t give up, learn from the set back and move forward faster, stronger, and equipped. You’ve got this!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Are You Using A Wealthy Mindset?

When do I hire something out rather than doing it myself? 

Why would I pay someone else to do the work that I know I can do?

Have you ever asked these questions when you had a project that you needed to tackle?

Now that I am hedging closer to that 40 years old mark and I am really having to weigh out how much work I should be doing and how much I should be hiring out.  My father taught me quite a bit to be handy around the house.  I can change out electrical outlets, switches, lights, ceiling fans, tiling, roofs, plumbing, do spreadsheets, sell, etc. 

I can do even more now with all the experiences I have had with homes including flipping one while I did all of the work.  Most of the time I would have extra experience as I would have to do it twice do to trying to short cut something.  A good rule of thumb in my experience is that a well performed project should not reveal extra screws, bolts, or other retention components when are you finished. 

What I have sometimes wondered is if I am at a deficit because I am capable of using my own hands and time to do quite a bit.  I struggle with that I can do the project, but is it the most beneficial use of my time.  I want to do it to show myself that I can, but is this approach worth it?  This has been hard because small projects are very therapeutic for me.  I can work on something that is completed in a small amount of time compared to most of my projects that take months upon months to work on.  It’s nice to be able to step back and look at something that I have created with my own hands.  The issue is that I am doing this at a cost that I have never previously rationalized.

My mentor when I first got into sales taught me that wealthy people put a value on TIME.  When working on projects, thinking about investments, they calculate the cost of their time that will be invested in the project.  Time is something that we have a limited supply of.  When we are born time seems to be ticking away until we finally expire.  We can not add hours in the day, multiply our time, we can only invest our time into those areas that we feel most important.

Lately I have had to start hiring out the work on my house so I can keep moving my business and projects forward.  I have had to put a value per hour that I would have to pay myself to perform the task.  If the quotes from contractors come in lower, or even close to my cost, I typically hire them to perform the work even if I am capable of doing it.   Most of the time they can actually do the work faster as well. 

I recently had to have two foundation walls on my house dug up, pushed back straight, reinforced, sealed, and then back filled.  Now I am fully capable in doing this work, but it would have taken me months to complete.  I did not have the time to do this on top of everything I am working on.  It took the contractor three weeks to complete and I was able to work on other projects.  The cost for them to do all this work and in the time they did it was less than it would have taken me.  Sure, I would have been able to use digging equipment which would have been fun, but they did it for cheaper than I could with all of the time that would have been involved from me to do the project.

When preparing for that next project, career change, purchase of a home, or moving dirt think about the cost of your time as a function of the investment.   Think about the amount of work and hours that you will need to complete.  Then think about how much it would cost for you to do the work compared to hiring it out so you can be freed up to do other things that are more important. 

For those of you looking for a new job, this should definitely be part of your decision if you are going to change companies.  If the new company that you are interviewing is for instance 15 minutes each way longer of a drive, you need to calculate that into your salary expectations?  See 15 minutes each way is 30 minutes a day.  Multiplied by five working days a week is 2 ½ hours a week more driving when you could be doing something else.  Now assuming you have to only work 48 weeks a year that is 120 hours a hear you will be in the car more than in your current position.  Say you make $25/ hour, that is $3000 a year that you are losing to driving.  That is also not calculating the operating costs of your vehicle or fuel.

Next time you are figuring out a budget for a project you are about to take part in make sure you are also figuring in how much your time is worth.  It may reveal that training someone else may be able to do the smaller items so that you can focus on the higher value items.  If you are looking for a new career figure out the time investment and keep the focus on if it will get you closer to where you want to be in the time frame you are working with. 

Time is a precious commodity and we need to protect it’s value! 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

The “M” Word…

I don’t have time…  I can’t just sit still for that long…  How do I do this and not get interrupted?

These are some of the excuses that I have used, and chances are you may have used when it comes to the topic of meditation.  Meditation is the act of pivoting away from distracting thoughts and focusing present goals you want to focus on.  At this point you are probably rolling your eyes at your screen thinking great, another boring topic, but I think there is value in this in order to make you more efficient.

Meditation has only been apart of my life for the past few months.  It was something that I did not want to partake in because I was very busy and did not think I had time for it.  I could not focus my mind on one thing.  I kept thinking about all of the things that I needed to get done for the day so I would hear the voice in my head rattling off the laundry list of items that I needed to push through today.

I recently spent 13 weeks in a sales training class growing my knowledge on sales performance  further.  That’s right I am continually learning so that I can be better and bring better content to those of you that I reach with my blogs, speaking programs, or trainings.  During this class it was pounded into our heads these three things:

1.      When the mind is focused on a task the body will work until that task is completed.

2.      When a subconscious thought and a conscious thought are in competition the subconscious thought will dominate.

3.      A stronger emotion will subdue a weaker emotion.

The basis for this training was to help sales professionals increase their level of self-esteem and sell better.  One way that this was done was through meditation.  Meditation is done to focus the mind so that the professional can focus on the things that really matter instead of all of the noise.  The things that will bring the most impact for your success.  Brendon Burchard has a program as well that is similar to making people more efficient.  It’s pretty good and either way you will end up focusing on where you want to go more than just treading water.

The instructor’s day from this course looks like this.  Morning, wake up clear mind for 15 minutes, read self-proclaiming scrolls for 15 minutes, review goals for 15 minutes, and then write out action statements for 15 minutes.  That is right one hour in the morning.  Then at night the same routine.  He stated by doing this, it increased productivity as well as esteem allowing the sales person to be more efficient and successful.  Two hours a day are spend in focusing in on self to become better. 

I have been using meditation to clear my mind since taking this training and have been more focused on tasks that lead me to the goals I set forth this year.  I am able to sit and clear my mind of the noise, social media, and emails.  My routine takes around 15 minutes of slow breathing and clearing all the garbage out of my brain and then reviewing a sheet from the book “fear is my homeboy” where I then review three action items that I need to do and then write I am statements.  Then I write out a stretch goal for myself for the day.  Whether it is making 30 calls to prospects, or talking to someone I have never met to just learn about them.  Something that will stretch me a little more each day making my comfort zone bubble bigger and bigger.   This helps me focus on my day and has allowed me to do more with less and I have had extra time to do other things that I would normally not have time for.   

The more I have studied successful entrepreneurs I see that they take time to meditate and focus on what will drive their goals to completion.  Some call it meditation, some call it white space, some call it quiet time.  It’s all the same thing.  It is clearing out everything and quietly relaxing the body to prepare you for your focusing on your goals. 

I am usually laying on my couch when I do my meditation and not sitting cross legged.  The main reason being that I am not sure I would be able to get back up with my legs crossed over one another.  I may need to do more stretching if I want to sit in a specific pose.  For now, laying on the couch in quite at 5:00 a.m., or in the office chair works for me.  The byproduct has been lower stress levels and increased performance on growing my business as well as myself.  Think of it as stretching before you run a race so your muscles are warmed up before they have to perform.

Take time to put into practice of closing your eyes, drowning out the noise, focus your mind, and plan your day before heading out.  This will allow you to be more focused on your most important task instead of being knocked around by the day.  Try just five minutes each morning and increase as you see fit.  Best to try it on a Saturday when you have time to relax as well.  Either way, do yourself a favor and focus on you, before the world tries to toss you around like a wave in the wind.

I hope this helps you become more efficient and knock out your goals!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Why Customer Service, is that Important!

Won’t the customer just buy my great product anyways?  Is Customer service really that important? 

These are a couple of the many questions I heard about customer service from business owners and entrepreneurs.  Many believe in the phrase form the movie “Field of Dreams”  that is whispered into the lead character’s ear while deciding if he will build a baseball field in his backyard next to a corn field… “if you build it, they will come.” In reality this does not happen.  It takes hustle and making sure your customers have exceptional experiences. 

Just because you have the best product on the market does not mean that you will get sales.  Customer super service is required.  That means making sure the customer is completely happy with their experience and that they are satisfied with their purchase.  This means that the customer needs are met and that they are treated like they matter every time with enthusiasm and manners.

Let’s look at a case study with a fast food chain known as Chick-fil-A.  Chick -fil-A is a chain that started in the south and is making the rounds across the country (yes Michigan they are starting to come your way).  Chick-fil-A makes more per restaurant than McDonalds, Starbucks, and Subway COMBINED.  That’s right they are extremely profitable and are only opened six days a week.  I have waited in many long lines for this fast food quite a few times.  Thank God they have an app now to help you jump the line. 

They do nothing revolutionary with the food differently than the competition except dipping the chicken in pickle juice (shhh secret).  There is no huge differentiator in their menu as far as fast food goes.  Although the handspun shakes are amazing!  Mix the shake with a chicken biscuit that has honey on it, and you have a great start to your day. 

What Chick-fil-A does different is that they have trained their staff to use “please,” “thank you,” “it was my pleasure,” etc. The restaurant staff makes sure the customer has a great experience every time.  They slide an extra couple of sauces over as to say I’ve got your back when you ask for extras and not rolling their eyes.  Ever felt like the person behind the counter thought of you as a nuisance instead of revenue that paid their check?  Each Chick-fil-A location has the same experience with a warm smile and an extremely helpful staff.  This same staff will walk around and pick up your trays if they have extra time during their busy day.  They are fantastic when it comes to customer service.  They are taking over the fast food industry and are moving up the charts to soon become number 1.  Watch out golden arches…

Okay enough about food (one of my love languages).  How about Apple, Disney, and Amazon.  These organizations have focused on the customer experience so much that people do not hesitate to drop large sums of money doing business with them.  People literally line up for hours when a new product drops at Apple.  Customers like feeling important and that they do matter when making a purchase.   

Below are the stats by generation based on their brand loyalty.  As you can see as the generations get younger more brand loyalty is growing.  Just for reference Gen Y (Millennials) have more population than the great Baby Boomer generation.  Brand loyalty matters and so does customer service. 

Baby Boomers – 62%

Gen X – 68%

Gen Y (Millennials)– 78%

(Brand Loyalty stats from Brian Buffini podcast: (that’s right I listen to other sales trainers to make sure what I train is constant and true with them.)

Have you ever had poor customer service and decided not to purchase from the establishment ever again?  It did not feel great did it?  Do you know anyone that you work with that should not interface with the customer because of their attitude? 

How are your customer service representatives doing with your customers?  Are they reviewing orders and finding opportunities to upsell the customer more product, help them get free shipping, etc?

If you’re unsure about your customer service team, I am glad to help you.   All business benefits by making sure that customer service is generating increased customer service.  If not, your business will lose a great deal of opportunities fast!  The world has become smaller with the internet and the competition is fierce.  I have worked for organizations in the past that did not focus on customer service and soon had to downsize, restructure, or even close without knowing why.  It all boils down to customer service.  I have won more business because of the customer support I offer each time I interact with the customer. 

If you have customer service representatives or sales professionals that are not performing as top performers pick up a copy of my book “The Sales Process Uncovered” and do a book study with them.  Better yet, I will come in and train them to overachieve for their customers and enable them to be top performers for you, so you don’t miss any more opportunities.

For a listing of trainings please follow the link:  https://www.kevinsidebottom.com/sales-training

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Staying Fit While Traveling

Why is it so hard to stay fit while traveling for work?

Do you run, do cardio?  Only stay at locations that have full gyms?  Find places near gyms?  Do you plan your meals?  Do you just give up and hope for the best?

These are questions that I have heard in the past and have run through my head when I started traveling on the road for work.

I have spent a great deal of time on the road in my career and I can say that it is extremely hard to stay fit when traveling.  As I get older it is even harder to keep the weight off while traveling.  The need to focus on my diet and workouts has been a huge focus for me.   

I have tried all different options when it comes to staying fit in my time on the road.  I have tried doing cardio while traveling and doing weight training when I would get home from my trips. I have tried to map out hotels that were near gyms as well.  I would also try to stay near restaurants that I knew had healthier options.  What I can tell you is that it takes work.  You have to be committed to staying in shape if you travel, unless you like clothes shopping.  I hate going out to find new pants and dress shirts personally.  One of my motivations to work out.

I have carried dumbells, workout dvd’s, resistant bands, etc.  I also would travel to hotels with a small gyms.  I have also rearranged the furniture in my hotel rooms so that I had room for working which I will apologize to anyone that works at a hotel that I have stayed.  I would prep workouts and plan meals on my stops between customer meetings.  It was exhausting. 

What I have found are a few options to help you stay healthier while traveling and keep it easier.

Option 1

Beach Body on demand.

Beach body has produced great workout programs such as P90X, Insanity, 21 Day Fix, etc.  Most started on dvd’s which I would buy and carry with me.  Now they have online access for $110/year.  They have coaches that you can go through to get your subscription.  I am not one.  I don’t have time to sell that too.  You have access to a library of workouts, yoga, cardio, kickboxing, pilates, weight training, body weight exercises, etc.  There is just a wealth of programs that you can do from 25 minutes to 60 minutes in length.  No gym required membership required.

Option 2

Airport gyms / yoga studios

Airports and hotels located on airports have been advertising lately access to gyms and yoga studios during layovers.  If you have a long layover this is an option to get your workout in where you would normally be sitting in a chair waiting and waiting and waiting for the next flight delay.  Get your workout on during the layover.  DTW has a hotel in the Delta terminal that allows travelers to use during layovers.

Option 3

Bring your running shoes

Take a run or walk around the city that you are in to explore.  Too often we are focused on work, work, work and never get to enjoy exploring the location you are in.  Each location has tons to offer.   I used to run beaches when I was in the gulf coast of Florida.  I was able to get cardio in while seeing all the amazing beach houses.  I would walk around the downtowns and see where the restaurants were that I needed to visit.  I would also ask people for things to do and they were very helpful to find things that most tourists would miss.  Asking questions have always helped me find places that trip advisor never shows.

Option 4

Food

There has been an explosion of healthier restaurants as well as regular places showing you the calories on the food.  Salads are not always the healthiest option either.  Yeah, I said it!  Check out some of the restaurants near your hotel prior to your visit if they are not ones you are familiar with.  Uber eats is an options if a healthier location is farther than you want to travel.  Just use the app.  This one is very important!  Pack some healthy snacks in your carry on.  TSA will even allow food to come through in your carry on.  Just not liquids.  Swing by the grocery store and pack some healthy snacks in case you are stuck somewhere and can’t get food for hours.  This will give you healthier options and not cost you a mortgage payment at the airports.

The last point is to always drink water to stay hydrated while traveling.  The more water you drink the better you will feel and it helps you not get as hungry when your stomach is full of water.    

I hope that helps any of you that travel a lot for work to stay fit and maybe some ideas on how to make the hotel staff smile when they clean your room from your furniture art.

 Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Trust, is it that important?

Good morning everyone,

We have finished up the trust equation so you now have an idea of each variable and how they all work together.  Today I’d like to talk about why we need trust.

In every interaction that we have with others there is a level of trust associated with it.  We trust medical professionals to prescribe the correct medication or surgery, the financial advisor to set up our retirement for success, our coworkers to help complete the job that we have.  We trust our loved ones will be there for us to help us when we need them.  We trust that our electronics will work when we need them to.  Trust is all around us.

In sales rapport is built on trust.  If the sales professional has no trust with the customer, then the sales professional will not be selling much of anything.  Here is the funny thing…everyone is selling something so trust is needed for everyone. Whether you are selling a product or service, trying to get your team motivated, trying to convince others to go to that restaurant that you love, or convincing your spouse to clean the basement.  You are selling an idea, position, preference, etc.  In order to do that you need rapport and trust in order to influence others.

I remember when I was in training to be a volunteer fire fighter while living in Florida.  While in a training the training Lieutenant shared a story about when he and a new probie (new recruit) were moving inside of a structure fire with the hose line.  They were moving into position when the floor gave when under the Lieutenant’s weight (think linebacker in professional football) and he was trapped from the waist down in the floor.  The fire flashed over causing a big flame and the probie jumped out the window.  Literally trust went out the window…  The lieutenant was able to eventually break free and made it out safely following the hose line.  They unfortunately had to watch the residence burn completely to the ground. 

In fire situations they require two people to navigate together so if one gets injured the other will be there to rescue.  What would you feel if you were that Lieutenant and your teammate jumped out the window?  Do you think you would trust them as much in the future to stick by your side? 

Chances are that majority of your relationships do not require the amount of trust like that of the situation above, but you still have situations that you may have affected someone else.  How do you think that customer, patient, or family member feels?  I know I have spent a great deal of time over the past year realizing where I fall short on trust and relationships.  I have been working to build up and make better on those relationships.  I make more phone calls to catch up, I send notes of appreciation, I make time to visit more often.  I also review the trust equation to gauge how I am doing with my variables.

The question is what are you going to do about improving trust?  Is there someone that we have let down that we need to rebuild trust with?  Did we not give our best effort for a project that effected the organization in a negative way?  How about did we let down a family member on a commitment that we said we would follow through on? Take time to review any areas you may need to work on trust and apply the equation to improve the outcome.

We all need trust and we all need relationships to survive. Let’s make it a point to grow both and leave things better than we have them.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com