The Greatest Sales People in the World Will Tell You the Same Thing; They Are Not Great

The greatest sales people in the world will tell you the same thing; they are not great merely because they have some advanced selling skills. They are great because they do the basic functions of the sales profession very well.

The 5 Basic Rules of Selling is designed to give you some concrete skills that can be applied on a regular daily basis to help you excel in your profession. As time goes on you will without a doubt come to know the little intimate details of the job well; “what is a lipon”, “How many average shrimp our in a pound of 21/25 P&D”, etc. But that is not what the Basic 5 focuses on. The Basic 5 focuses on developing the solid habits necessary to help apply your specific industry knowledge more effectively.

The Basic 5 are just that… basic. In fact, they may be considered by some to be so “common sense” that they may not even need be mentioned. However, you may be amazed to realize how uncommon these habits are in the day to day lives of the average sales person. Through out my time in training and mentoring sales people, anytime that I have found a major breakdown in the success of their work habits, it always falls into one or more of these 5 areas, and is always something that seems so obvious, that one may wonder why it is not being done. But it is not always being done. Hence, the importance is to not only cover this topic routinely, but to have a system in place (i.e. the Basic 5 memory card) that can be referred to routinely to reconfirm that the basics are being met in the day to day structure of your sales career.

Basic Rule #1: Strategy for Earning the Business

What is a strategy? For some, going into the account with a hot sheet, and taking your lumps on the price of chicken each week constitutes a strategy. A strategy however, is to have an “active” game plan for achieving a positive growth goal. Key word is ‘active’. A strategy should typically constitute the following items:

 A specific plan for attacking a  A professional presentation of situation, based on your the material (i.e. custom knowledge of the situation sheets, EPS, Business  A time line for achieving the Review, etc.) goal  Ask for the business  The utilization of key resources

Basic Rule #2: Staying Organized

Again, although it may seem common sense to say that staying organized is important, you may be amazed at the lack of organization that can sometimes exist in the busy & distracting world of sales. Sticking to some very simple basics can create good organizational habits.  Have a single file labeled for each and every customer.  Keep everything related to this customer in this file, including credit memos, POS sheets, rebates, contact information, quotes, etc.  Make immediate notes of all activities in the account.  For prospects, log the call immediately after leaving the account.  Follow the 2 Minute Rule o 2 Minutes prior to going into the account, review the file for any details of the days planned discussion and strategy. o 2 minutes after you leave the account, make immediate notes on all activities, including logs, follow-up needs, etc.

Basic Rule #3: Consistent & Logistically Sound Call Times Often when asking MAs, “when do you call on this account, I hear, “I occasionally get in there sometime between 2:00 or 3:00?” To be viewed as a more dependable partner in your customers business, you need to firm that time up. It does not matter what time you go there, as long as it is down to the minute, the same day and time each week, at a time that is mutually agreed upon by both you and the customer. Consistent call times demonstrate to the customer that you are a consistent person. Consistency breeds trust, and trust is what drives the sales relationship more than any other aspect of our business.

It is also important for you as an MA to schedule your calls at a time that makes sound logistical sense for you. Visit customers that are in the same geographic area at the same time; even if you are not “doing the order” at that time. It is far better for you to visit a customer on an off day for the order, when you are in the area, than to race across town on the day they place the order, just so that you can key the order in on the right day. Call them for the order, have them place it on your voicemail, or do their order on a skip day if it makes sense. The better that you do at seeing accounts on the day that makes the most geographic sense, the more time you will actually have to spend “selling” to the customer. Being there for the order process should be second to the need to create sound positive sales creation time. No one is paid commission for windshield time. Basic Rule #4: Follow-up with a sense of Urgency

Urgent! ASAP! Must Have!! Now!!! We live in a fast paced world that expects everything immediately. Competition is fast paced, and technology has made doing things that previously took days to do, able to be accomplished in minutes.

That is why it is important more than ever to offer customers the quickest (yet accurate) follow-up available. Quick Follow-up can not only help to gain growth in the account, but to eliminate any problems exploding from something minor.

I don’t know how many times I have seen something so trivial snow ball into losing a big chunk of business, merely because a simple promise was not followed up on. Often times, big problems are only big because they are made up of several little problems.

The key to good follow-up is as follows:

 Verify the need of the customer  Verify the customers expectations for addressing the customers needs  Clarify with the customer if you feel those needs can be meet within the time expected  Take immediate action to achieve the task within, or preferably ahead of, the expected deadline.  As the old saying goes, “Under promise, over deliver”.  Utilize a solid system of organization (Basic #2) to be sure that realistic time frames for completion of the task are being met. Basic Rule #5: Focus on generating Profit for your company and theirs

All businesses have one thing in common; they need to be profitable to survive. This is no different for your customers or for us at SYSCO. When analyzing your strategy for your account, always test the soundness of your strategy to ask yourself the following questions:

 Is what I’m doing increasing the profitability of my company  Is what I’m doing showing a service or value (worth charging for) to the customer?  Is the customer aware of the service and value that I provide for them? If not, how can I best demonstrate this value to them?

In sales, we have to walk that fine line of maintaining the goals of our company, with the goals of our customers. There is an old cliché that states that our goal is to sell our items for the highest possible price, and our customer’s goal is to buy the product for the lowest possible price. This seems to be conflicting goals if you look at it at the extremes. The truth of the matter is that there is a common ground in the middle, where both company and customer can find a happy median (although it may not always feel that simple). The key is to show the customer consistent value each and every sales call.

Types of value would be:

 Brokers & specialist visitations  Rebates  New Idea Samplings  Menu Analysis  Competitive Cuttings  Menu Engineering  Aggressive Pricing  iCare Vendor Support  Effective Product  Leveraging Business Comparisons  Current Promotions  Educational Information and Current Trends

Constantly reevaluate your strategy, and be sure that it is always focused on demonstrating value to the customer, and generating the appropriate profit deserved for the value provided. Basic 5 Rules of Selling Exercises

Scenario #1: Prospect

You have walked into an account for a follow-up call. You have not been in there for two weeks. There is a new chef that has started, and the chef that you previously spoke with is gone. The new chef is very concerned about the rising prices of beef. He currently has four steaks on the menu, and is looking to streamline the beef selections. Today is Monday, and he has guaranteed that he will have the new menu done for the owner on Saturday. What will you do?

Basic Rule #3: Consistent & Logistically Sound Call Times

Basic Rule #4: Follow-up with a sense of urgency

Basic Rule #5: Focus on generating Profit for your company and theirs Basic 5 Rules of Selling Exercises

Scenario #2: Damage Control

You have just walked into one of your accounts, and the chef just let you have it. He has been getting a lot of pressure from his GM on his food cost. It is your fault. You are still sitting on that credit that he needed two weeks ago, he has been waiting for the broker you promised would call him to call him about replacing his china, his truck is always coming at the middle of lunch, and he never knows when you are coming in. What are you going to do?

Basic Rule #5: Focus on generating Profit for your company and theirs Basic 5 Rules of Selling Exercises

Scenario #3: Penetrating the Account

You have been struggling to grow in one of your accounts. Currently, you are only getting canned & dry items; because you are a broad line distributor, and that’s what you do (per the chef). You want to go after some of the dairy & produce, but the chef is insistent that you can’t touch the deals he is getting from his dairy & produce guy, nor can you touch the quality. You see the chef on Tuesday afternoons, and his produce and dairy are being delivered when you get there. You are not in the area on Monday. What do you do?

Basic Rule #5: Focus on generating Profit for your company and theirs

Basic 5 Rules of Selling Exercises Scenario #4: Dealing with a customer whose business is struggling

It is 5:00 PM, and you are racing in to see your last account of the day. The customer is whining about how bad the business is. He shares with you that he does not know how he can possibly lower costs any further; he is already comparing pricing between five different vendors. He is working over 80 hours a week, and is now covering for one of his cooks and manager at lunch time. There is a chain that has moved in down the street that is killing him. You thank him for the order; shut your laptop and leave. After you go, you start thinking… what could I do to help?

Basic Rule #5: Focus on generating Profit for your company and theirs