The Sales Strategist's Blog

How More of Your Money Becomes Less of Your Money

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:32:00 +0000

If your a "high income" sales professional or executive who is earning, or has the potential to earn, more than $150,000 we want your input, comment and dialogue on this post.

If the proposed tax plan introduced by Congressman Charles Rangel is passed, here's what it will mean: The permanent repeal of the AMT tax would cost nearly $800 billion over 10 years. That would be offset by applying a replacement tax of 4% on married couple income above a certain level, not to be less than $200,000. The tax would be 4.6% on income in excess of $500,000, or $250,000 in the case of a single taxpayer.

So what do you think? How do you feel about high income earning sales professionals and executives automatically being taxed an additional 4% as a "reward" for their performance and hard work?

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but when you really think about $150K to $200K in today's world, it simply isn't that much money and doesn't really go that far. Yet, politicians in Washington D.C. believe that the backbone of American commerce (the sales professional) should be penalized for their income level that is achieved as a direct result of and individual work ethic and personal productivity.

People without initiative and without a desire to be paid what they are worth based on their personal performance will have no idea why this is an issue to be concerned over. Politicians can spin it any way they choose; a tax increase is a tax increase. That means less of our money is our money.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #13 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:02:00 +0000

The Salespeople as Businesspeople blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #13 - Business Driver: The salesperson as businessperson is recognized as an individual who understands how the client's business produces customer value and measurable results. He/She shows a strong drive to achieve client sales results and successes.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #12 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:03:00 +0000

The Salespeople as Businesspeople blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #12 - Trusted Advisor: The salesperson as businessperson is recognized as a trusted advisor to his/her clients and customers. They provide quality sales and business advice. Credibility is assured because they consistently keep commitments and have a strong track record of useful prior advice, guidance and direction throughout the sales process.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #11 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:13:00 +0000

The Salespeople as Businesspeople blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #11 - Obvious Expert: The salesperson as businessperson has a depth of product, service, technical and/or key business knowledge that makes them the obvious expert on a given topic. They have the ability to make the knowledge accessible, useful and easy to understand on the part of their client.

Was Lead Paint China's Only Choice for Fisher Price?

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:43:00 +0000

The Chinese Manufacturer that was contracted by Fisher Price to manufacturer its product had no choice but to take short cuts and use product processes that were eliminated in the United States in the mid to late 70's.

Chinese manufacturers understand economics and also understand how to make money. As a result, they have no choice but to cut corners and work around specific quality systems such as ISO or TS. That's exactly why Made in the USA means something. Lead paint was just the most recent in a line of corners that Chinese Manufacturers are cutting to make sure that they are, above all else, profitable. With their decision to outsource to China, driven by their own need to remain profitable, Fisher Price put one of the most recognized brands in toys at terminal risk.

It's likely that very few people will ever know the name of the Chinese Manufacturer that was responsible for the lead paint on toys and yet the name and brand of Fisher Price will bear the responsibility, accountability and damage for their decision. China had no choice but to use lead paint. When you manufacture goods at 40% to 60% the cost of domestic manufacturers and you're paying workers pennies on the dollar, it's likely that quality systems and processes aren't the top priority of your manufacturing operation.

China as Top Innovator is Off the Mark

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:58:00 +0000

In the Monday, July 23, 2007 edition of the USA Today (Money Section) a sidebar said the following: "One in four Americans think China will beat the United States in the next decade as the world leader in innovation, according to a survey released Sunday by Zogby International. Seventy percent said the government is not doing enough, and nearly two-thirds of the 8,046 respondents said American business isn't promoting innovation enough, either."

China's degree and depth of TRUE innovation is suspect. Let's not forget the numerous manufacturing snafus (from toothpaste to tires) that China has experienced in recent months. What China is is a leader in pirating and patent infringement. China should be recognized less for their manufacturing innovation and more for their repeated bastardizing and commoditizing of American Innovation and markets.

While certain markets and manufacturers may have grown stale, TRUE innovation and ingenuity are alive and well in companies throughout the United States. As we move forward in manufacturing, it's important that American companies direct their sales emphasis less on the low cost provision of Chinese Sourcing and more on the TRUE innovation and value that American companies provide.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #10 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:52:00 +0000

The next 13 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #10 - Inspires Customers: The salesperson as businessperson energizes customers and colleagues and facilitates sales accomplishment by promoting a clear sense of purpose and understanding around the needs and interests of the customer.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #9 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:55:00 +0000

The next 14 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #9 - Providing Direction: The salesperson as businessperson provides their customer with a clear sense of sales direction based on a thorough understanding of their needs and requirements. They organize the necessary resources of their company and navigate through them on behalf of the customer. They place an emphasis on providing feedback internally so that margin is maximized and unnecessary expense is minimized.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #8 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:19:00 +0000

The next 15 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #8 - Financial Competence: The salesperson as businessperson demonstrates financial competence by understanding the financial drivers of their business and their customer's business. They ask purposeful questions about sales targets, expense targets and pricing and margin strategies. The ability for a salesperson to interact at this level demonstrates a confidence and a competence that moves them beyond typical and into the status of trusted advisor.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #7 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:00:00 +0000

The next 16 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #7 - Highly Effective Questioning and Listening Skills: The salesperson as businessperson asks probing and open ended questions rather than closed ended questions that are answered with a simple yes or no. They use active listening skills rather than passive listening skills. Active listening skills provide insight around what was said as well as what wasn't said. They can "read between the lines" and gain greater insight into the strategic obejctives of their customer. Passive listening is one dimensional and leads to non-descript responses that reflect on the salesperson's desire to simply sell something.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #6

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:52:00 +0000

The next 17 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #6 - Persuasiveness: The salesperson as businessperson influences the attitudes, opinions and thoughts of their customers and clients. They work in such a way as to gain understanding and agreement around proposals, plans, thoughts and ideas that will have a significant impact in their customer's business. They consistently have an "eye" toward mutual benefit as the primary objective of their persuasiveness.

AT&T sales and service flop with the iPhone

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:21:00 +0000

An article from the AP in San Francisco says the following: "AT&T attributed the problems to overloaded servers as large numbers of customers tried to activate their iPhones this past weekend. After being hit with the initial onslaught, AT&T made technical adjustments to its activation system so that new users wouldn't face the same delays." said Michael Coe an AT&T spokesman.

Did Apple forget to tell AT&T that they were introducing the iPhone? Was the introduction of the iPhone a well kept secret? Have key people at AT&T not watched TV or read a newspaper in the last six months? While all of the above could be true, the fact is that AT&T simply dropped the ball as the exclusive provider for iPhones. Their PR statement, as quoted above, is nothing more than corporate rhetoric for a significant sales and service strategy debacle that left many iphone buyers feeling disappointed and irritated.

What AT&T should have simply said was: "We made a mistake and underestimated the sales and service impact of the iPhone introduction." That of course would be a refreshing departure from the sales rhetoric designed to somehow make us feel better about the fact that AT&T wasn't prepared for one of the largest mobile communication introductions in the last 10 years.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #5 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:37:00 +0000

The next 18 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #5 - Interpersonal Communication: The salesperson as businessperson demonstrates consideration, concern and respect in communication with their customers and others within their company. They demonstrate a genuine interest in the perspectives and inputs of their customers and work to clearly understand those needs before developing and aligning a sales strategy and approach.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #4 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:01:00 +0000

The next 19 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #4 - Perseverance: The salesperson as businessperson is resilient and tenacious. They continually strive to achieve sales objectives, goals and financial gain even in the face of adversity. They cope with sales disappointments and setbacks and recognize them as the most relevant sales training and development they receive. These experiences assist them in designing future sales strategies and understanding what pitfalls to avoid.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #3 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:02:00 +0000

The next 20 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #3 - Judgement: The salesperson makes rational, realistic and sound decisions related to their sales strategy and customer requirements. The resulting sales decisions are based on a consideration of all the facts and alternatives available.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #2 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:07:00 +0000

The next 21 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #2 - Problem Analysis: The salesperson as businessperson breaks down problems into individual parts and differentiates key sales elements from the irrelevant and trivial. They make accurate use of sales strategy and logic. They draw reference from information obtained by asking "why". This allows them to go beyond the obvious answers and get to the root cause of the problem.

Salespeople as Businesspeople #1 - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:12:00 +0000

A salesperson with the competency of a businessperson reflects individual attributes and abilities that can establish a distinct competitive and sales advantage in the marketplace. This means more money to the salesperson and more sales and profit to their company. The next 22 blog posts will deal specifically with the behaviors, strategies and skill sets that lead to salespeople thinking as businesspeople and achieving advanced levels of sales performance.

Competency #1 - Strategic Thinking & Analysis: As a businessperson, the salesperson uses a wide range of information and sources to assimilate quantitative financial, economic, product, market and technical information. The salesperson as businessperson identifies issues and opportunities to improve customer profitability and competitiveness in their industry and in turn impacts results for themselves and their company.

Monitoring Sales Health - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:04:00 +0000

When a message comes in threes I've learned to pay attention. That means that it's time for a comprehensive physical.

If you're like me, you may find it difficult to slow down long enough to get a physical or see the doctor on a regular basis. As a salesperson, properly monitoring and maintaining your health means you can continue to advance your sales results. A failure to do so means that you put income generation at risk.

It's also a good time to conduct a check-up on your sales territory and assess the health of your customer base. Properly monitoring and maintaining the health of your customer base means you can continue to advance sales results. A failure to do so means that you put income generation at risk. Review the following elements of customer health on a regular basis:

1. Volume of the account
2. Margin being made from the account
3. Depth of relationship
4. Strategic contribution
5. Purchase history

Bad Sales Seminars and " Bad Opportunities" - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:01:00 +0000

The Wall Street Journal published an article earlier this week detailing what happens when good people, with great ideas and great reputations connect with people and companies that are looking to make a buck.

A very high profile idea creator, author and financial "guru" had worked (licensed) with a " sales training company" to certify individuals in the delivery and administration of his processes and methods. This is a common practice for individuals looking to franchise or distribute their intellectual property be it sales or other content.

Unfortunately for him, the "training company" is now under investigation for mis-representation, false statements of guarantees and numerous other offenses. The WSJ Article specifically said that the investigation centered on the company licensed to administer and not on the individual, but damage has certainly been done in both cases.

Selling product and other offerings is an accepted practice throughout the sales seminar industry. This is the way that participants can take the ideas and insights they learned away with them for future use and reference.

The best individuals and companies conducting/associated with seminars (sales or otherwise) make the purchase of product offerings an appropriate option at the participant's choosing. These highly credible and reputable providers don't make false, unsubstantiated or enlarged statements of expected return or results.

Beware of bad sales opportunities! There's something wrong when you're attending a seminar for free, or a nominal fee, and then the pitch comes to buy the entire "guarantee your success program" for some outrageous amount of money at the back of the room.

Some of the most significant and relevant seminars being offered charge the most money at registration. The reason; serious attendees will recognize the value and potential return of the content and are willing to pay for it. All of the support materials and product offerings are included because the creator knows that the real key to success comes in the application of the content for which the participant has paid.

Selling as a Team Sport - By Brent Patmos

bpatmos@perpetualdevelopment.com (Brent Patmos) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:11:00 +0000

If selling is a team sport then why are the indivdiual efforts of salespeople rewarded most often? Because the only person that believes selling is a team sport may be the sales manager or vice president of sales when they are rewarded for team performance and team results.

This is exactly as it should be. The belief that sales is a team sport is a delusion created by a company's overreaching desire to somehow make indivdiualism less offensive and arrogant. There are significant benefits in working with a sales team; idea sharing, resource pooling, networking and moral support to name a few. The best salespeople, those that have a clearly defined sales process, produce results, consistently develop great customer relationships and have a great attitude, possess an indivdiualism that should be relentlessly rewarded and should exist independently of any other salesperson on their "team."