Do You Value Partnerships?

Every business has partners.    They could be an advertising firm, a public relations firm, a graphic designer, a payroll service and many more.   If you buy and sell products you probably have a manufacturing partner or a raw materials partner.

How do you view those relationships? Are they integral to your business?  Can you trust them?  Would they go out on a limb for you when you need it?

We take all our relationships very seriously.  Our partnerships include manufacturers and clients.  We pride ourselves on our service and on the relationships we build with our clients.  Are we perfect?  No.  But we work hard to build those relationships and we are very loyal.  Many of our partners have been with us for over 25 years.  I believe that speaks to the way we value and work partnerships.

Sometimes, though, things can really strain those relationships.

So many people underestimate the value of good partnerships.  I will give you two examples.

1.  We have been working on a project and bid on a new 10 x 10 booth for a local company.  We are leading with a product from one of our manufacturing partners.  We have spent hours in meetings, designing and pricing the structure.  We got a call from our partner saying that another of his distributor's was requesting a price on the same project.   This provider is actually on the East coast and not local to the customer.  (That is a story for another post on another day). The customer has also been a customer of ours for many years.  Our manufacturing partner made it very clear that they frowned on bidding wars between their distributors.  He wanted open communication and said, he would be sure that they bid their project and full retail and didn't try to undercut us on price.

I sincerely appreciate this attitude and it shows that they truly value their relationship with their distributors.

2.  On another project we ordered samples, multiple meetings, conference calls and quoted another project for a large trade show booth.

We got the courtesy call from this partner months after we had started working on this deal.  He said that a local competitor of ours was asking for a quote on the exact same project we had been negotiating and working for months.  Our manufacturing partner sent them out a quote for the same project.  If had to guess, it was very little work to change the name on the quote to us to the name of our competitor.

This manufacturing partner was here in our showroom just a few weeks before this, telling us the competitor XYZ (also local here) did very little business with them and that we were a much more active distributor.  As you walk through our showroom there are multiple samples and examples of their products in our showroom.  We bid their products on almost every single deal we quote.  We do not buy similar products from any other competitor.

Our competitor low bid the price (below retail) and got the business.  I expressed my frustration to our mutual manufacturing partner that they did not seem to value our relationship very much, if they just shot the numbers over to a competitor.  I got no response from them.  I know it is just business.  I am not taking it personally, but it think it speaks VOLUMES about their appreciation of our business and our partnership.  I guess it was a win/win for them and a lose/lose for us.


Excellence in customer service?  Is it possible?  Care for your partners and they will stay loyal.  What happens when your bottom line is more important than a long partnership?

What would you do?  What do you think?

Drunk & Disorderly

I was putting the finishing touches on a training class from Total Displays for one of our clients.  Personally I believe educational materials and classes should be a work in progress always so things are always fresh with new information.  As I was reviewing the content I kept thinking, I don't have to share this.  Everyone knows this.  I was stunned when I presented the class to people that worked in their booth at how much they didn't know.  Things about how to behave, what to wear and things to avoid were brand new ideas for them.

Let's start off with, why do you go to trade shows?  I have heard many answers to this when I ask clients or prospects.  Here are a couple of responses to consider.

1. Generate leads
2. Building our brand
3. Connect with clients
4. My competition is there so I have to be (yeah, I really heard that one once)
5. Build relationships with suppliers

One of the concepts that we teach is about alcohol and trade shows.  Drinking, partying etc.  It is not always a popular topic, because of course, sometimes it is fun to cut loose when you are on the road.   You connect with co-workers, customer, vendors and others that you may only see once a year and you want to have a good time!

 Here is my take on it.  Have a couple of social drinks, but don't get sloppy drunk.  Period.  Don't do it.  If you can't limit yourself to a couple of drinks?  Don't drink at all.  Period.

There are so many things to go into a company's brand.  One of the most overlooked is people, staff, employees.  We have all seen it, the booth staff that show up the next morning, still reeking of booze, wearing wrinkled clothing and massively hung over.  How do you think that reflects on your brand?

Another word for brand is image.  Consider your brand and your image.

We were meeting with a prospect a couple of months ago.  That prospect told me a story about his boss, a marketing director.  She was there for set up and was honestly in the way and not helping much at all.  Our contact told her she could leave and that he would finish it up and catch up with her later.  A couple hours later, he went to find her at the bar.  She was so drunk she was falling off her stool and making a complete spectacle of herself.  We have all seen those people right?  They look like complete idiots.  She was in a public place, at a show.  There could be potential customers or prospects there too.

Assuming she continued drinking through the night (if she was able to stand or stay on a stool) how do you think she looked when she opened the booth the next morning?  How professional do you think she was?  Do you think she was building their brand?  Do you think she attracted potential customers?

Not only is this embarrassing, but it is a poor reflection on the company.

Take a look at the statistics from this 3/2015 Huffington post article.  1 in 4 people say they binge drink when travelling for work.  Read the article here.

Some unsolicited words of advice.

1. Train your staff.  It is well worth the investment to be sure you are putting your best foot forward.  
2. Have formal and measurable goals for each show. 
3. Choose your staff carefully.  Be sure the staff you select will represent your company well.  
4. Monitor staff behavior while at a trade show.   

If you need help with any of this, I am happy to chat.  Total Displays offers many training options to help you get the most out of your trade show investment and staff!

===================

Lori Hanken has been in sales and marketing for over 30 years.  She is passionate about service and providing value to her prospects and clients.  She is currently co-owner of Total Displays with her husband David.  They help people look great at events and trade shows.  If you would like to learn more email her at lori@totaldisplays.com

Head Scratching Marketing - Emails That Confuse

From time to time I get email marketing campaigns that just make me scratch my head and say, "Are you kidding?".  Over the last month or so I have received a couple of these that I felt might be worthy of sharing.

To me marketing is to get a person's attention so that you can build a "relationship" with them and ultimately get them to buy something from you.  Getting their attention could mean providing them some value without asking for anything in return.  It is about being remembered.  So that when they have need for your product or service, you are the first person/company they think of.  That is called building a brand.

I subscribe to a newsletter of DIY wellness, cleaning, and recipe type blogs.  This woman is pretty well known in this space and actually has a cute, catchy moniker as well.  She has a fairly large following.  I won't share that moniker here because I really wish her no ill will.  I just found her most recent tactics very confusing.  She has a Facebook page with over 63000 likes.  She clearly has a brand.

10/26 I received this email:

"Hey you :)

It's Monday here in (insert city) and you crossed my mind as I was getting up this AM. (this is 's email right?)

If you need a quick confidence boost today to take on the week, you should give (video hyperlink here) a quick look (basically perfect for you).

Useful?

Keep it REAL,"

A couple of things to point you.

1.  I don't know this person, so I couldn't have crossed her mind
2.  See the highlighted text where she was clearly supposed to "mail merge" my name in there

Then on 10/29 I got this email:

"Hey you :)

Your name popped into my head as I was taking a walk this morning. (this is Lori's email right?)

If you are truly serious about keeping yourself healthy this season, you should give (link to a blog post here) a quick look (basically perfect for you).

Useful?"

1. Remember, I have never met this person.
2. She got the "mail merge" right this time.  But it is clearly a mail merge - the text is even in a different color.

11/10 email:

"Do I KNOW you? I mean you read my blog and this newsletter...but do we KNOW each other? Here is a story of one dedicated reader who I truly have gotten to know. Her story of transformation is right (insert link to blog page) 

I know you need (insert link to recipe)  to go with this story.

Thoughts?"

1. Confusion - I know you, you crossed my mind while I was walking but do I really know you?
2. The two sections of this email had nothing to do with each other.  A success story and a recipe.  Creates more confusion.  Each element by itself provided some value but put together was confusing.

Then today 11/17 I received the following:

"I don't think we've met (have we?) If you are like - 'I totally know you' then can you do me a favor? Can you either (insert link to survey monkey) to tell me about your situation (and introduce yourself!) ...or click the little link below to unsubscribe from my list if you found this by mistake... Go ahead and pick one now. If you chose to do neither, I'll go ahead and unsubscribe you manually. (I know you're busy and I don't want to send you occasional emails if you're not interested!) Thanks, (Insert Writers Name Here) PS - Text me if we did actually meet and I'm just having some brain fog (Insert Writers Phone # Here)" So is anyone else confused?  Let's face it marketing is emotional.  These four emails took me on an emotional roller coaster.  Here are thought processes that went through my head. I chuckled at the first email.  It was very clear that she was trying to relate to her readers and make a personal connection.  For me, that failed.  It was very easy to see through. When I received the second email only a few days later, I thought actually was a little annoyed.    I wondered who she thought she was fooling. Again, she was trying to make a personal connection.   But I liked her content so I thought I would stay subscribed to her emails. There was some value in the third email.  But honestly, I only went back and read this after I got email number 4. Then I received today's email.  Seriously?  What the heck.  I am so confused by what she is trying to do.  She will unsubscribe me if I don't fill out her form?   Here are a few points: She does have products and things she is selling through her posts.  Why would she unsubscribe someone that has been a faithful reader for a long time? She clearly has no control of her database of prospects (more on that later in a post about the value and importance of data in CRM). The tone of her email is meant to be lighthearted and helpful, but there is a subtle threat.  Fill out my form or I will unsubscribe you. The language used here, like totally offends my old fashioned ears.  If her target market is middle school and high school girls, go for it.  Otherwise, that sort of thing can turn a reader off quickly. I am not writing this to throw this woman under the bus.  She is clearly successful in many areas.  Writing email campaigns is tricky and poorly written campaigns can easily turn people away from you and your brand.  Here are a couple tips. Always add value!  Share something of value in every email, a photo, an article, a study.  Something - please! Always have a catchy subject line.  Her second email was "What I am Doing Tomorrow"  You have all heard of the "who cares" test.  If you ask who cares about your subject line and the answer is nobody.  Your email most likely won't be read. Always have a call to action.  I would not suggest your call to action be either subscribe or unsubscribe. Post a link to your website, or contact information at a very minimum. Have one main point for each email.  Keep focused on the main point and don't try to add value by going off in some other direction. Use language that speaks to your target market.  Of course you first have to understand your target market but that is another subject!   Be personal.  Personalize the email, but PLEASE be sure the personalization works before you send it to 63k readers. Be warm, be engaging, care.  You really do want your readers to like you.  Remember people buy from people they like.  Read more about that here. There are many great articles out there about email marketing with many more tips and tricks.  Read them before you send out emails that chase away your customers and/or prospects. So what do you think I did with her last email? =================== Lori Hanken has been in sales and marketing for over 30 years.  She is passionate about service and providing value to her prospects and clients.  She is currently co-owner of Total Displays with her husband David.  They help people look great at events and trade shows.  If you would like to learn more email her at lori@totaldisplays.com

Your Business Doesn't Matter or Shutting Down a Trade Show Booth Early

Retail sales rep and booth staff at trade shows and events have a lot in common.  But wait, you say, we don't sell anything while we are in our booth.  Really?  You don't sell anything?  Why are you at trade shows if you are not reaching out to customers and/or prospects?

One of the big no no's in the trade show world is to shut down your booth or to pack it up early.  I know, I know.  You have been on your feet for days, you are tired, you are hung over from yesterday (we'll address that in another post) you have a flight to catch.  I have heard it all.  The reality is, your biggest prospect may be coming through late.  You just don't know do you?  Can you afford to take the risk?

Yesterday, I was in a smaller town in MN that has some high-end shopping.  There is a cute little store that I have always loved.  Some beads and charms, cute knit items, jewelry, cards and more.  I have always enjoyed this store.  As we walked in, it appeared that they were getting ready to close. I asked, "Oh are we too late?".  The clerk replied, "Oh no, we don't close for 15 minutes".  

I proceeded to browse through the store.  Each corner where I went to look at products I had to avoid the clerk that was shutting off all the lights and unplugging things.  I am not exaggerating when I say, every time I was looking at something, I had to move out of her way so she could turn things off.  It was Halloween.  I am sure she had a party to go to.  Clearly she had better things to do than to let me and my family look at things and/or purchase something.  Every time I have been in that store over the years, I have purchased something.  Not this time.  I left before the store even officially closed, but clearly she was done serving clients.

In addition to our business, Total Displays, I have a small home based business that I do some exhibiting at small local shows.  So many people pack up and shut down early.  More than once, I have had someone come by the booth at the very end of the show that ended up buying products.

Here is the reality. When you are in your booth or your retail store, you are a sales person.  It doesn't matter if you are paid commission or not.  It doesn't matter if that is what your title says.  You represent the company, you represent the brand.  You need to be professional, always be ready to service a client or a potential client.  If you can't do these things, you should not be in a booth or in the store.  Period.  Honestly, you probably shouldn't have a job with that company.  If your livelihood depended on you making that connection, or making that sale, maybe you would behave differently?

So how does a company avoid having the wrong people in a store or in a booth.  Training!  Train your staff.  Make sure they know what the expectations are for them while they are staffing a booth.  Even if you have trained before, do it again.  Bad habits creep in very quickly.   There are many companies that offer simple booth training classes and workshops.  Total Displays does.

As a company, you spend a lot of money on trade shows.  If you are in retail, you spend a lot of money on a storefront.  What kind of staff do you have working to be sure you get ROI and make money?

========================================================================

Lori Hanken has been in sales and marketing for over 25 years (yes she is that old).  Lori's background includes training customers on a national basis on CRM, sales, and marketing best practices.  With Total Displays she has developed a number of training courses related to events and CRM usage.  Visit us at www.totaldisplays.com or email her at lori@totaldisplays.com

People Buy From People They Like

How many of you can honestly say you like sales people?  Sales people have a reputation for being pushy, aggressive and obnoxious.  You hear the term, 'Used Car Salesperson' and you immediately have a negative impression.

If you were to take those traits and flip them around to more positive traits and labels you have a very different picture.  Let's take one of those traits and turn it around!

Pushy vs. Persistent

The word pushy brings images of a sales rep that won't stop talking.   They don't listen and they throw up on you about all the great things they are going to do for you, right?  We have all experienced those reps.  How many of you have seen Glengarry Glen Ross?  It is arguably THE iconic movie about sales.

ABC = Always Be Closing.  Watch the full speech here.   Please excuse the language.  If you are easily offended by foul language - don't watch!

How many of you actually like being hard sold?  I know I don't and I am in sales.

Let's compare that with persistent.  A persistent sales person finds a reason to keep in touch and provides value in those touches.  Here are some goals of a persistent sales rep.

• Build rapport
• Build a relationship  
• Make it personal 
• Don't just go to the hard sale with questions like, "What do you need right now?".
• Gently lead - don't push
• Listen 80% of the time and talk 20% of the time 
• Don't throw up on them with all your products and services and perceived value
• If you say you are going to follow up or do something - DO IT!
• Keep notes in CRM so that you can refer back to those notes in your next conversation*
• Those notes should include personal information you glean during conversations.

Utilizing some of these tips keeps you front and center in the person's mind so that when a need arises they will reach out to you!

For a long time I thought every organization needed the "hunter" mentality.  Take no prisoners, tag 'em and bag 'em mentality.  You all know those reps.  They never stop selling. They never stop looking for prospects.

The trade show business is very service driven.  At Total Displays we believe in more of a "fisher" mentality.  Many of our clients have been clients for over 20 years.  Cast out, reel them in.  Repeat.  Do you get a bite on the first cast?  Ocassionally.  Most likely it will take multiple casts and you better have bait on your line.  You will also hear this referred to as Hunter vs. Farmer.  The Farmer type of sales rep, plants seeds and grows relationships and businesses.  Same concept!



As I have matured in my sales knowledge and abilities my opinion of that has changed.  In this day of technology people are craving high-touch, high-service sales model.  Watch for another post on this in the future.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

There is a company that we have had a very bad experience with in the past.  They hired a new sales rep.  We will call him "Bob".  He was very persistent.  He called and called and called.  We put him off and put him off and put him off.  One day he showed up at our door.  He wasn't pushy, he just said that he knew we were very busy and that he was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop and introduce himself.  (More on that concept in a later post).  We chatted for a long time about a lot of different things.

• He made it personal and began building a relationship.  We talked about our daughter and her softball team.
• He provided value by leaving us a "tool"
• He didn't push
• He listened  
• He followed up.  When he followed up he referenced personal conversations and asked how an out of town softball tournament went.  
• He built rapport.
• My guess is he made notes in a CRM system (I will have to remember to ask him).  Either that or the guy has an AMAZING memory.
• He's a nice guy
• I liked him

We had a small personal project that we needed turned around very quickly.  I said to David, "We need this quickly let's give Bob a shot at this.  You know what he did?  He did this job for us for free.  I am not saying in any way that you have to give something away to get business.  Simply care about and for your customer.  People read that and understand that.

Our second project?  He price matched an inferior product with a better product.  When the job was done, he delivered it personally.

Are you getting the picture?

Will I give him another opportunity to provide us product or services?  Absolutely.

Recently I received a phone call from a desperate prospect that needed new graphics for a pop up booth that she bought in the UK.  It was not a frame or a system that we were familiar with and not having it here could mean our graphics would not fit.  I went out of my way to find her a supplier and contact in the UK that could help her out.  Did I get anything out of it?  No.  But I know when she is ready to purchase here in the US again that she will give me a chance at the business.  I provided value.  I also followed up to be sure she got her job done.

*See my post on Can CRM Help You Retain Customers

Stay tuned for the next installment - Customer Service Matters

I Yell At Phones

Yes, I do, I really do yell at phones.  I am just going to put it out there: I HATE AUTO ATTENDANTS.

Honestly,  I would rather have a phone go to voicemail and leave a message than go into the dreaded directory search black hole or the auto attendant round about.  Personally I believe a real person should answer the phone.  More on that later.

I recently had an experience with Microsoft.  We purchased a $150 annual support plan. I honestly don't even remember what it was called.  When I went to login to use it, it said I didn't have that plan.  I had an email receipt and am getting emails about the great features of the programs.

So... what is a girl to do?  You call Microsoft.  Here is the process.

 5 Auto Attendant Prompts in order to be put on hold for the next representative

• Spell my name to someone that doesn't speak English.  Have them spell it back to me
• Explain to them my problem (most of them didn't even know what the plan was that I purchased)
• Have them put me on hold
• Have them tell me a phone number to dial for assistance on this issue
• Have them put me through to that number
• Wash, rinse, repeat.  

I went through this process 7 times in over 2 hours.  By the time the 7th lady began asking me the questions I said, "You are the 7th person that I have been forwarded to with the same process.  I am not going to give you my name, spell it, have you put me on hold and then put me back to the auto attendant to find someone else to help me.  I will just have American Express cancel my purchase, that you can't find, but charged me for and get my money back."  Yes - I hung up.  Yes American Express refunded our money.  Will I ever buy a product or a service like that from Microsoft again?  No!  

Once when I got an auto attendant for an insurance company I was sent round and round and round.  I just wanted to talk to a person about my bill.  I kept pushing buttons, saying representative and couldn't get through.  I am not proud, but yes, I was yelling at the auto attendant.  There were possibly some inappropriate words used.  Yes, I do realize how ridiculous it is to yell at the phone.

But here is the REALLY funny part.  The voice recognition software forwarded me to their mental health care line.  It is actually pretty genius if it was intentional.  :)

Yes I do realize that it is not feasible for Microsoft to personally answer every call that they receive.  If you must have an auto attendant, have it direct people to the right department and then hire skilled workers and empower them to help the person on the phone!  In my experience, it was clearly, 'I don't know what to do with this woman's problem so I am going to send her back into the queue.'

I have said it before I prefer to do business with small business every day.  We own a small business so of course I would support small business.  Unfortunately it is not always possible.  

When you find a great small business, and there are many, you have the opportunity to get real customer service.  Honestly, customer service is not dead.  Search for it.  Support small business.  Boost the local economy and job force.  When you buy from us, you help us create more jobs in our small business.  You support people, not a company that spends money on more technology to eliminate more skilled workers.  Read - AUTO ATTENDANTS.  

The resolution of my computer problem?  I went to a local business that has real people, a service department you can call or visit and got my computer fixed.  And, I purchased two new computers for the staff we have added to our company this year.  While I was there I met the general manager of the store.  He thanked me for my business.  What a novel concept!

SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESS

~End Rant

The Small Business Advantage

I believe in small business.  We own a small business.  We eat, sleep, breathe small business.  There are huge benefits to working with a small business.  I want to highlight a couple of recent stories one personal and one in our business.  I will focus on the personal story today.

We bought a couple of ceiling fans for our children's rooms.  They were $50 or so each.  Not a bad investment to help cool upstairs rooms during the summer.  So we went to the internet to find an electrician.  I honestly don't know where my husband found the company but I should have known right away that it was a bad idea.  The company name was Mr. Sparky.   Seriously?  Mr Sparky? But I digress.

We called to schedule the service.  They asked what time of the day we would prefer.  So my husband said, earlier in the day would be better.  He was told there was a $79 service call fee.  They asked if that was ok?  And he said yes.

They arrived quite promptly.  He came in and looked at the project.  He got has paperwork out and started writing up the order.  He asked a couple of questions.  One of those was what kind of switch we wanted on the wall.  We could have a switch on the wall that would control the lights and the fan.  I said we didn't need that we could just control with the chains on the fan. He told me that the chains on fans broke quite easily. I asked if it would add significant cost. His answer was no not significant.  (Great up-sell dude).  I even joked with him because at the top of his pricing sheet it showed items at $1,400 and I said I certainly hoped that it wasn't going to be that high.

Well boy was I wrong.  He told me that the price to install the fans and the switch would be over $1,700.  Ok, maybe I don't have any concept of what this should cost but that seemed incredibly ridiculous to me.  AND to make matters worse, even if I went with this price to get them installed they didn't take the service fee off the total.  You paid that no matter what.  Oh and wait - the service fee was actually over $87 when you added some other $8 fee that we weren't told about.    I told the electrician that it was ridiculous and now I was paying $87 for him to walk in our house, look upstairs and write up some paperwork.


The electrician was polite considering that I was quite annoyed.  But honestly he was a little condescending.  He kept asking, "what did you expect to pay"?  I honestly don't know the answer to that but I didn't expect it to be $1,700.  I told him that we own a business and setting customer expectations was incredibly important to customer service.  He argued with me that they couldn't even give a price range over the phone.  He was actually quite condescending.

To add insult to injury he proceeded to tell me that we "chose" a 2 hour service window.  I asked him what the other options were.  4 hour service window for $59 or so and an 8 hour service window that was $29 or so.  DUH we weren't even given the option for the other two service windows.  Talk about a bait and switch.

I placed a call to another local electrician.  I explained my situation.  He said he had heard many similar comments and complaints about Mr. Sparky.  The national company had actually tried to get him to convert his independent business to a Mr. Sparky service.  We talked through what we had.  He asked some questions and said he could do it for about $400.   The fancy switch that I was paying $300 a piece for from Mr. Sparky?  He said, I could go get a switch at home depot and he would install it for me.

So why do I really tell you about this.  This is a national company.  I know there are good large companies out there.  But my experience is the level of service and communication you get from smaller companies is much higher.   We have had similar experiences with big name horrible experiences with furnaces and air conditioners too.

It takes time to find and keep a customer.  It takes seconds to lose one.

What happens when you lose a customer because of your service?

• You Lose A Client
• You Lose Referrals
• You Lose Repeat Business

Here are the important lessons I think are to be learned from this.

1. Relationship.  Build a relationship early in the sales cycle.
2. Set realistic expectations with the prospect.  This will help you avoid frustration and unrealistic expectations.
3. Don't be pushy on the up-sell.  No one likes a "used car salesperson"  If you were to give them options and explain the options, they will most likely take your recommendations.
4. Don't be greedy.  Companies that are all about money are spotted quickly and trust is lost.
5. Earn someone's trust.  Stand behind your product or your service and make it right when someone is unhappy.
6. Trust and service turns into customer loyalty.

Give small business owners a chance.  Chances are you will get a higher level of service.  Win - win right?  

Here is another article on this item.  http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/05/ups-survey-buying-from-small-businesses-important.html

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS

Lori Hanken
Total Displays
www.totaldisplays.com
952-941-4511