Sales is more than just a numbers game...

Where do I know you from; a lost art?

Long before all the fancy social networking sites and contact-sharing tools we use today, the old-fashioned encounter between two people was more like tripping over each other than a refined, planned approach. Recently I happened to see someone in a group setting and was troubled that although I knew this person, I couldn’t place where I had met them before.

I approached the woman and said, “You look very familiar, where do I know you from?” She didn’t know. So I proceeded with a few places we could have met – neighborhood, church, children’s school, etc. In the end, we couldn’t make the connection. Oh, well, maybe it will come to me later.

Thinking about this for a moment, I began to wonder why I don’t see this interaction in public as much as I used to. I reflected on my days in a sales territory where this was quite commonplace; from the casual encounter in a restaurant, the airport, a store, or at a larger group setting like a conference or event, you would overhear this opening dialogue from people, trying to become reacquainted with each other.

Early in my career, I can remember the uncomfortable feeling of not wanting to approach someone for fear I would embarrass myself, or them, with rapid-fire questions, trying for something to hit home in either one of our minds. As time went on, and after a job transfer to California, a customer of mine helped me overcome this reservation of mine.

We used to enjoy lunch at a small diner called Bette's Oceanview Diner, in Berkeley, CA. Man, I loved this place. It was small and on the noisy side, not to mention crowded at most any hour – but certainly worth the wait. We would be talking outside waiting for a table. Since his business was located nearby, it was not unusual for someone to come up and begin talking to us. But, if he happened to recognize someone and could not remember who they were, he would go up to them and say, “I don’t remember your name, or where we have met before. Who are you?”

The first time this happened, I thought the approach a bit rough and discourteous. But, when I saw the other person’s positive reaction, I decided that maybe he was on to something. There was no need to waste either person’s time in polite chitchat hoping to trigger your memory. Over time, I refined my own approach by offering possibilities of a location, or people in common, similar to the example at the beginning of this Post.

But this recent experience has got me wondering. Are people more reluctant to approach each other in-person when it’s not intended to be a “social networking event”? I haven’t changed my approach, but it sure seems like others are more reserved; even more so when approached by someone they see as a stranger. Is it just me; or have we reached a point of hiding behind screens tossing out endless digital requests, that we have lost the fine art of getting to know each other, and renew an old acquaintance.

When you think retail, quality racks can make or break a sale

Many of us who are now in the profession of Sales, ‘cut our teeth’ by starting out somewhere in a Retail business. For me, it was Women’s and Children’s clothing (independent retail store). One thing that needed attention was restocking the shelves and the various display racks. I recall when we remodeled the store, we met with the architect to select new displays for clothing and accessories. It was not much different from selecting appliances in a kitchen remodel.

As time went on, and I changed jobs, racks and displays popped up in a variety of places. We needed revolving racks for trade show displays for easy access and the presentation of collateral and brochures. Coming into the hotel at night, I would see racks stocked with regional tourism or event information. As a manufacturer, when working with distributors and wholesalers, we often provided racks for them to display our product, or marketing materials.

As I look at today’s market and economic climate, I got to thinking about this niche industry of manufacturing displays and racks. The manufacturing side is suffering the same pressure as any other manufacturer located in the United States. Also, there is the wide range of materials and designs available for the same application, i.e., why choose wire racks over acrylic/plastic ones?

When the announcement was made on Monday that Blockbuster would be closing more stores (“Blockbuster more than doubles planned store closures to nearly 1,000”), I began to think about all those racks that would be re-sold, or discarded. Looking at how thin my local newspaper is – not to mention the giant leap in price at the newsstand ‘rack’ – I have to believe the number of racks built for newspapers and magazines is on the decline. How about the declining numbers of independent, local bookstores –the movie “You’ve Got Mail” quickly comes to mind. Enter the momentum of the digital book and e-readers for the classroom, or reading for leisure with a handheld device or Smartphone – I still like ink on my hands.

With all these market forces, if you were in the display and rack business as a manufacturer, I am betting you wish there was a “Cash for Clunkers” program for racks of all kinds. Some of the display racks I see in stores or outdoors would definitely qualify and not require a means to disable them; they are nearly DOA already.

Although the above may seem bleak, there is one manufacturer I know, with over 30 years in the industry, which is far from tossing in the towel. R WIREworks, Inc, based out of Elmira, NY, offers a wide range of wire racks and displays, where “most items proudly carry a Made in the USA label “. When you look through the selection of categories and individual racks, it reminds me of one of my favorite phrases I used during my time with Unisource; “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

Selection is not always enough in their industry. Product innovation and quality are equally important to survive. They use high quality materials and pay attention to creative designs. Knowing the construction and wholesale lumber & building material dealer industries well, I could appreciate their venture into Roofing Displays. Not only do they design and manufacture these displays, but they assist their customer with layout and installation needs, too. They are taking a full-service approach to a product that can easily be seen as nothing more than a commodity in a catalogue.

Small businesses like R WIREworks are under a great deal of pressure from many directions. Pricing in the business of racks and displays is very competitive, and the cost to manufacture is not going down. To survive, manufacturers will need to not only serve their existing markets well, but also look for new markets with innovative, high-quality products. Recognizing that supplying retailers is a partnership, quality racks can make or break a sale.

Simple online add-ons make for a better customer experience

As an online purchaser, I would probably rank pretty low. I am still a ‘touch it, feel it, take it for a test drive’ kinda guy. But, when it comes to interactive chat in tech support, or product inquiry/clarification, I don’t hesitate to burn the wires with rapid-fire keystrokes.

Two recent ‘retail’ experiences have shown me that an emphasis on having a good Web site can be augmented with the addition of some extra communication add-ons for higher customer satisfaction.

After a recent purchase at the local Sears store, I sought some information on my order. It was going to be a pricing inquiry and membership discount question. Since the receipt only had the store phone, I decided this would probably be something that should be handled at the corporate level. I poked around Sears.com and found the customer service numbers. Calling the first 1-800 didn’t offer any choices that sounded like my need. Instead of going back to more phone numbers, I opted for their “Click to Call” vs. “Click to Chat”. I was greeted with a Pop-up window that offered two choices – talk by phone, or talk by computer.

I was eager to try the talk by computer choice to see how this might work. Much like using this in GoToMeeting webinars, I wanted to experience this as a customer service event. It didn’t go anywhere; an error code popped up to say there was an application error. On to Plan B, Talk by Phone. In this case, you insert your phone number and choose the delay timeframe to call the number. I chose the ‘talk now’ selection. No sooner did I finish hitting the enter button, and my phone was ringing. That works!

Ah, but not altogether true. There is no telling what department or category of customer service request is calling you back. Within a short period, I could see that this was not the right destination for my inquiry. Nor was there any offer from the customer service person to transfer me to another department or individual. This quickly hit the bin of “Good plan, flawed execution.”

On to the second example, Netflix. Again, I have been slow to adapt. When it comes to movie rentals, I still frequent my three top options: Blockbuster (local store), Redbox (local grocery store), and Time Warner Cable OnDemand. Having helped others with their Netflix accounts and movie choices, the pressure was on for me to do the same for myself. Since I am not a big movie watcher – especially now with the (USTA) US Open on ESPN2 – I never felt pressured to join Netflix.

I was finally ‘voted off the island’ and have succumbed to a subscription to Netflix – more like, I am trying this out to see if it works at the pace I rent movies. As before, the account setup and Free Trial was completed in short order; kudos to them for the ease to set-up an account and get started. With movies on order, I was a day or two away from the first one.

The movie arrived as advertised and I turned it around for return in minutes – poor choice on my part - on to the next one. Although I had experienced email confirmations from them for movies of arrival and departure, this morning a survey-style email arrived. They wanted confirmation on their delivery turnaround by offering choices of when they expected it to arrive. A couple of clicks later on my part gave them valuable customer service information on their part. Why couldn’t more companies do this?

With a little extra thought and effort, I am willing to bet that many businesses could make small investments in online add-ons and reap better (customer) results. Also, you probably have some good examples of your own. What is your company doing to improve the customer experience with online add-ons?

Channel Management is more than just pushing product

One of the topics I am asked about most is Channel Management. Distributing products through a third-party is not just another sales channel. It requires a different mindset and often a separate sales team. Done well, it can become a very good outlet for your company, and your products. Poorly managed, it can easily become a burden and one that returns little on investment.

In place of a direct sales force, companies will often turn to manufacturers’ representatives as their primary (or secondary) sales arm. Manufacturers’ reps will normally represent a range of manufacturers, companies, or products, but usually stay within a line of distribution or sale, i.e., a vertical or horizontal market, or industry (specific).

It’s not unusual for the manufacturers’ rep to represent products for the manufacturer to wholesale distributors and other retail channels. This multi-tiered approach could get unwieldy if it wasn’t managed well. The key to success comes from the way in which communication happens between the various parties.

A case in point surfaced this week as I looked into some specifics surrounding an AC disconnect box manufactured by Midwest Electric Products – founded in 1945 and became a part of GE as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1975. From their Web site, I could get some idea of layout and capability, but not the specifics I needed surrounding the installation and basic construction of the box. For these types of questions, they direct you to the “local area Manufacturing Representative”.

Here’s where Farmer Electrical Sales enters the picture. With nearly the same number of years in business as Midwest Electric, they cover the Carolinas for a number of manufacturers in the electrical industry. Typical of a manufacturers’ rep firm, they maintain an inside and outside sales and support staff that is broken down into product lines or manufacturers.

From my initial call, I had a good feeling about this experience. They were prompt in routing my call to the person responsible for Midwest Electric. I left a voice mail with some detail about the reason for the call, and sent a follow-up email – putting the unsolicited email risk aside, that’s the benefit to having an individual’s email address available from the Web site. In less than 24 hours, not only did I have the information I sought, I could also bear witness to the high quality of communication between Midwest and Farmer.

Working in partnership, Midwest and Farmer demonstrated the key to Channel Management is more than just pushing product. In our current competitive and volatile economic climate, especially for those who sell to the building and construction trade, this reaffirms my belief that high quality customer service can go a long way toward success. With their long-standing service to the industry, and the markets they serve, I am confident these two firms will be around for some time to come.

How about a SES light for the household clothes dryer?

There is not much to an electric household clothes dryer when you open it up. A control panel, a motor for the (tumbler) drum and the exhaust fan as an all-in-one, a drive belt, a heating element, and a vent to send the warm, moist air out of the house; there’s a lint filter/trap, too.

If something breaks along the way, or gets clogged up, there’s a good chance you’ll know about it. If the drive belt slips or breaks, there’s no tumbling going on. If the motor burns out, not much will happen. If the controls and circuit have a glitch, you’ll probably find something amiss in operation. But, one part might not be so obvious; in the case of the heating element, you could be running at half power and not know it. It’s one part that is completely out of view, blocked by the drum.

That was my surprise this past week. Working on a clothes dryer that’s used by others, I was cleaning out the interior with a vacuum. Months of drying towels and clothes, filled with sand from their beach excursions, makes for an annual event for me. It never ceases to amaze me as to how much build-up I find; like a hourglass, the sand drops to the bottom of the fan area, and with the moisture in the air, hardens up into a mound. BTW - don’t forget to inspect/clean out the lint in the exhaust duct, and check the vent ‘stack’ and outdoor cover (i.e., look for debris, bird’s nests, etc.). And, pull the power cord before doing any work on a dryer or other electric appliance.

During the reassembly process – I had pulled the front panel and top of the unit to expose the interior – I dropped the magnetic screwdriver tip down the inside wall and into the cavity below the drum. It wasn’t just one tip; the top had come loose off the screwdriver, and three tips when trickling down the panel. I was able to reach in and grab one, but the other two were more stubborn. A magnetic wand pulled one out, but the other one was nowhere to be seen.

After a couple more failed attempts at locating the wayward tip, I decided to pull the drum. On this Hotpoint unit (made by GE), the newer style makes it easy. But it helps if you have an extra pair of hands to hold the side panels slightly apart – pull two screws to release the sides a bit from the frame - as you pull the drum forward, and out. Looking around the general area, I still couldn’t find the tip. I had to pull the motor and fan assembly and found it underneath the motor frame.

I seized the opportunity to clean more thoroughly with the vacuum. As I looked up at the heating element, I noticed one of the element wire strands was hanging loose (nichrome wire heating element similar to what you would find in toasters or hair dryers – it’s no wonder it uses so much electricity to dry clothes). It had snapped at the edge of the ceramic tube of the first turn around the element dish; it wasn’t obvious at first, just looked out of place as it sat ajar of the strand resting on the ceramic tube.

There are temperature sensors in various places within the dryer to prevent high temperature build-up, and when triggered, they will shut the dryer down. But, I didn’t see anything that would indicate the element was out of service. I suppose you would notice it from clothes not getting dry on a particular cycle or setting, or taking longer than normal to dry. Or, if in my case, the wire was touching the heating element dish or metal, it would short the circuit and blow the breaker.

But, wouldn’t it be nice if it worked like the SES (Service Engine Soon) light on your car? If something was amiss, the little light would go on and tell you the element is in need of service.

I am going to look into a stringer kit – replace only the element wires, not the whole heating element assembly; for now, the dryer is in pieces on the floor. No worries; it’s refreshing to use an old-fashion clothesline/wooden clotheshorse and the ‘go green’ of solar and wind power to dry the clothes.