BE HONEST - Just Say No

I believe that every person's time is valuable.  That is right, not just mine, everyone's.  There are many frustrating things in business, but one of the things that really gets me going is someone that wastes my time.  I try very hard not to waste anyone's time.  There are really easy ways to do that.

The easiest way?

BE HONEST.  

Sounds easy right?  There are so many passive-aggressive, can't stand confrontation, can't say no people out there.  If you can't say no thank you to someone, then you most likely should not be in a decision making position.  Really - how can you engage people in a project and then not give them the courtesy of an answer?  BE HONEST.  I would rather hear no, than no answer.

Let's face it.  Salespeople can take the answer no.  So why are people so afraid to say it to us?  Salespeople deal with different levels of rejection on a daily basis.  It could be as simple as the obvious gate keeper that says, "Oh I'm sorry, he just stepped out.  Would you like his voicemail?"  Or it could be someone yelling at you, "Don't ever call here again, we are not interested in you or your products".

Which one do you think I prefer?  #2 - hands down - all day - every day.  Just say no.  BE HONEST. It is ok.  I can take it.

We are a very service oriented sales organization.  Many consultants would say that we give away too much valuable knowledge and information during the sales cycle.   That we consult and offer things that we should actually be charging for.  Well, that may be true, but we are not going to change that.  If you decide to do business with us, we will offer you a lot of information and a high level of service.

Here is where we get burned.  Someone calls, they are looking for a new display.  Of course they are usually on a really short time frame.  They have a show coming up in just a few weeks.  We jump through every hoop imaginable, get our partners engaged, have production on stand-by because the prospect has said that they really want this booth.  Guess what happens?  They quit returning my calls, they don't answer emails.  Seriously - BE HONEST just tell me you bought something else or you aren't going to do anything.

Let's not forget the perennial tire kickers.  "Lori, we are going to look at updating our booth for the huge industry show this year.  Can you do some N/C product concepts for us and renderings and spend 15 hours with multiple meetings in your showroom, and come to our office to visit further?  Then I will decide (again) to not do anything this year and ask you to call me again next year?"

Ok, I exaggerate slightly.  But not much.

If you are just looking for budget numbers and considering an update, BE HONEST.  If you let me know that, I can gauge my time and responses appropriately.  Most likely I can get you what you need to make a good decision without jumping through all those hoops.  Will I jump through them for you the next time - most likely.  Should I pre-qualify the opportunity more?  Possibly.  But trust me, I do ask the right questions and often get the answers that indicate it is an opportunity that should be pursued.  What is your budget, do you have decision making capabilities, is the decision maker on board, what is your timeline etc. etc. etc.?

If you are not in sales, you need to know that a good sales rep gets really excited about a new opportunity.  What is the magic number where you have burned me with a no decision or a no response before I will quit responding? I honestly don't know.  If I did know, I would BE HONEST.

Will I change how I do things?  Probably not.  I still believe in full service sales and I believe it speaks to our culture.  Should I change how I do things?  There are probably a lot of opinions about that.  If you choose to share your opinions, feel free, be nice but BE HONEST.

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

Read other Total Displays Blog posts at http://totaldisplays.blogspot.com/

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

For many years I sold, installed and supported ERP software written specifically for wholesale distribution clients.  I lived, ate, slept, breathed distribution.  I worked in every aspect of the company including, sales, purchasing, accounting and customer service.  One of the age long conversations was about keeping manufacturing and distribution as separate entities.  When manufacturers started selling direct to the end user, breaking the distribution chain, there were lots of problems and lots of companies very upset.  It is virtually impossible for a distributor to compete directly with a manufacturer.  Typically the manufacturer did not have the infrastructure in place to support a direct sales team.

Fast forward a number of years.  I have left the software industry and moved in the trade show exhibit, retail, museum and event space.  We are a distributor in that industry.  We research and source the best of the best products in the industry.  We keep on top of trends so that we can best service our clients and prospects and help them look the best they can.  We feel this allows us to be objective in product recommendations and can truly listen to our customer or prospect to recommend the best possible solution without being tied to a specific brand or product line.

As part of our offerings we provide printed graphics, fabric, vinyl, sintra and many other substrates.   We work with a few providers but all of the providers that we use DO NOT sell direct to the end user.  We have a couple of companies that call on us quite regularly to try to get us to sell their printing.  We always tell them the same thing.

When our client's job is on your production floor, what is to stop a sales rep from seeing it and thinking, hmmm I should be calling on that client, I can give them better pricing.  We had a rep that I personally knew from college try to get me to buy from them.  We sent a couple of jobs to them because of my relationship with her.  A couple of months later, she emailed me asking me to price a shipping case.  She sent me a picture of a case with OUR logo sticker right on the case.  I questioned her and told her that this was clearly our client.  She said she was given this account when she started with this company.


If you have read any of my posts you know how important trust and relationships are to me.   So, she wanted me to sell her products, but yet she was selling her products to our customers.  How does this make any sense?  Why would I ever trust having my customer's work in their facility for their reps to poach?

There is another company that has wanted our business.  We have had similar issues with them.  We decided to give them a shot and to quote a job.  We sent them the details and we got "the" phone call.  He said, "Lori I had to call you about this quote request.  This company is a current client of ours and we are bidding on this job also."  Do you think we got that business? No, I am sure as they knew we were bidding they undercut their pricing to be sure their price was less than ours.  As much as I love saving a customer money, we are in business, like everyone, to make a profit.

I just found out that one of our long time product providers in another industry is also selling direct to the end user.  I am deeply saddened and disappointed by this.  I will be digging deeper to find out the truth on this one.  We have been led to believe that they only sold through a distribution channel.

So I put this right out there to all of you companies that are selling direct to the end user and through a distribution channel.  Until you decide which you are going to be, we are not interested in doing business with you.  We will compete with you.  And, I will be bold enough to say, we will win many of those deals.

If there is one thing in business that I despise more than anything else is companies that are deceitful.

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

Read other Total Displays Blog posts at http://totaldisplays.blogspot.com/

Do You Value Partnerships - Update

If you red my post Do You Value Partnerships? you may be interested in a quick little update about this situation.

To recap, we lost a deal when our prospect asked a competitor to bid on a project we already had a verbal approval on.  The prospect had a number of issues but the biggest was they wanted to get a better price.  Our supplier - quickly responded to them and gave them pricing. Their pricing was the same as ours but from my conversations with our prospect, our competitor bid way below retail to get the business.

I called our partner out for not truly valuing our partnership. I sent them an email that received absolutely no response.  It didn't matter to them who got the business, because ultimately they got the business either way right?


So we were just at a trade show for our industry.   We went in with absolutely no preconceived notions about this show.  When we walked by representatives from our partner, they did not say a word to us.  We were at a reception and they were there sitting at a table right behind us.  Nothing.  They looked right at us multiple times and walked right by.  Maybe they didn't see you, you might say.  Maybe once or even twice.  We saw them MANY times during the week, on the show floor, at receptions, in the lobby.  No one even said hello.  From the people with whom I have spoken they believe that they are embarrassed by what they did.  I don't know.  If it were me I would have made the effort to repair the relationship, not ignore it.

Needless to say, we found another well recommended supplier to replace them.  We talked to many people in the industry to find out who they were using and our new supplier came VERY highly recommended.  We even heard many negative comments about the service from our former supplier.  Today I am placing my first order with our new partner.

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

Read other Total Displays Blog posts at http://totaldisplays.blogspot.com/

Gate Keepers - Friend or Foe?

In today's world of immediate gratification it is rare anymore to even find a company with someone to answer a phone.  With the trend of auto attendants more and more companies are opting to not have a live person answer the phone.  Personally I think that is a mistake, but that is a topic for another day.  As a result of dial by names and auto attendants, I am finding less and less the traditional "gatekeeper" of old.

I will date myself, but at one time in my professional life, I was that gatekeeper.  This was before cell phones, before LinkedIn and before email.  Yikes, yes I am truly that old.  Back then, when someone was incredibly demanding and would call for the president of the company, they would demand his home phone number.  99% of the time I would politely tell them that was against company policy.   Generally speaking though people would take a phone call from anyone that called.  It was simply a matter of saying, "No thank you, I am not interested".  

So today, much to my surprise I came across a rather rude gatekeeper.  Today I was calling on a large, local financial services company.   I had already been in contact with a person at that company and had built a relationship with them.  Unfortunately they had left the company.  So my conversation went something like this:

GK:  Hello, can I get your name please?

L:  Lori

GK:  Are you a current financial services client or are you looking to become one?

(Note:  I am actually a prospect for them and they were treating me as such initially)

L:  No I am actually calling for a different reason.  I was working in the past with Sue Jones.  She is no longer there and I understand that Joan Johnson has taken over those responsibilities.  I am trying to reach her to follow up on the work I had done with Sue.

GK:  What is this in regards to?

L:  Your tradeshows and events.

GK:  Where are you calling from?

L:  Minneapolis?

GK:  What is your phone number?

L:  952-941-4511

GK:  What is the company name?

L:  Total Displays

GK:  Hold on, let me check

L:  Thank you

GK:  Due to her position within the company I am unable to put you through.

Ok, that was a complete new one to me.

So what is a hardy, pig headed sales person to do?  I called after 5 and the gatekeeper had gone home.  I was able to access a dial by name and get my contacts email address.  No I didn't speak with her in person, but the door cracked open slightly.

Now keep in mind, I wasn't trying to reach the president or even a C-Level exec.  I was trying to reach a corporate events manager.

Brand is everything about your company.  It is how you answer the phone, how you treat people, the language you use, your marketing materials and so much more.  People seriously underestimate the depth and power of a companies' brand.

So this experience raises some questions for me?

1.  When your business is a B2C business does it damage your corporate reputation when you are stand-offish or not approachable?

2. With the advent of social media and auto attendants, how important is the gatekeeper?

3.  What does it say about the company culture?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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

Read other Total Displays Blog posts at http://totaldisplays.blogspot.com/

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!

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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