Sales – Cold Calling

August 17, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Since my job is sales I’m always reading and listening to tips and instruction about good sales practices and techniques. Sometimes I run across material that I think is bad advice or it’s poorly written in a way that confuses sales people more than helps them. I can really appreciate when someone writes something that truly simplifies an activity and encourages the sales person to go tackle the task. Sometimes detailed instruction is necessary, but a lot of times we just need something brief to remind us how to be prepared and what to do in some simple steps. Here is a good example…

Preparing for Cold Calling
By Ilise Benun

You may hate the idea of cold calling, but you know it’s a good way to reach your best prospects. So you’re ready to hunker down and do it.

Here are the three things you need to have in hand before you pick up the phone:

1. Two or three concise opening statements that say who you are, why you’re calling, and the connection between you and your prospect (if there is one). Experiment with these opening statements to see which makes the most sense, which is more comfortable for you, which flows easier. Then test each one during actual cold calls.

2. Two or three questions you’d like answered. You may not get to all of them – but have them ready, in case the person you’re calling is open to chat and has the time.

3. One or two closing statements that spell out what you will do next, what you’d like your prospect to do next, and what you expect to receive from and/or send to him.
Don’t forget to ask for your prospect’s e-mail address before you get off the phone. Because after you hang up, you’re going to send him a quick e-mail that repeats what you’ve just agreed to.

Filed Under: Business

Innovate Traditionalism

August 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment
That title alone is a contradiction, but I’m going to give it a shot. I want to offer my own two cent idea the “traditional” churches might want to consider so they can survive losing so many members to all these terrible “contemporary mega new age” churches that keep “taking people”. I’m not knocking all traditional churches. Just a lot of them. I’ll agree with wise folks I’ve heard say that there is a role for different types of churches for different types of people – as long as they’re reaching people for Christ. That second part of the sentence is what so many traditional churches are missing and therefore making “traditional” ineffective. But I wouldn’t want those people to not have a church at all, so I have a plan. It’s a simple plan and I think it will work. Here’s what to do:

Make a bold move to run off as many people as you can who are at risk of moving to a “contemporary” church. There are several ways to do this, here are a few of my suggestions:

  • Instead of just talking about people who don’t wear their “Sunday best” – go ahead and make it an official rule and stop people at the door who don’t conform.
  • Instead of teaching about sin – condemn the sinner. Take that a step further and make them sit in the back and don’t include them in anything, or even further stop them at the door.
  • Instead of encouraging hope through having a relationship with Christ – scare hell in to people so they have a constant sense of inadequacy because they can’t perform enough holy deeds to earn their way to heaven.
  • Instead of budgeting, sacrificing, being good stewards, and praying over the church finances – have a business meeting and complain about how no one is giving enough.
  • Also at the business meeting… Fight about important stuff like toilet paper and carpet color. Anyone who doesn’t attend the business meeting isn’t on board with the church vision and should be referred to a local “contemporary” church.

Have another business meeting with another church or churches who have made their own bold moves. This is where it gets innovative. This meeting might be with multiple churches who have all made bold moves. Now that both (all) churches at the meeting have decreased their numbers down to only the ones who want tradition it would be wise to make some drastic but wise decisions:

  • Which church building(s) is goint to be sold, abandoned, foreclosed, given to the homeless, donated to the fire department for training, etc etc?? That’s right. Consolidation is taking place. Everyone is going to have to embrace another church body for the sake of traditionalism survival.
  • Which church building is going to be kept. Hint – this would probably be the building that is hosting the meeting because everyone is at the meeting – right??
  • Which pastor(s) and staff are going to be kept? Fire all but one pastor or rotate multiple pastors? A cost analysis might be appropriate here. At first glance it might seem more than one pastor isn’t affordable, but without all those buildings to pay for it would be worth running the numbers to see. Of course their salaries could be reduced if they’re rotating or they could take turns preaching, leading singing, answering the phone, visiting hospital, mowing grass, etc to cover all the jobs each separate church building used to employ.
  • Make contingency plans for replacing the pastor(s). They’re going to die one day.
  • Just keep all the deacons at first because it will only be a few years before enough are dead to get the number of deacons back down to 12 or whatever.

In about 40 years start all over again with everything mentioned above. Why? Mortal attrition is going to bring the numbers back down to where another consolidation will be necessary.

  • What about multiplying from within? Ok, that might make it last more than 40 years but eventually little Sue isn’t going to want to marry her cousin Johnny. And marrying outside the church won’t work because outsiders might corrupt the traditionalism again. Besides there is no room in the consolidated building for an outsider. Maybe arranged marriages will work so the bloodlines can be kept far enough apart.
  • Don’t forget the bold moves. Probably should do those once or twice a year even if the multiply from within method is working – just to keep up and coming rebels flushed out.

That pretty much wraps it up for the most part. Without getting in to all the minor details this simple plan should work. 

Filed Under: Faith

It’s Soccer Season Again

August 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

It’s time for the intense competition of 4-6 yr old soccer. The edge of your seat don’t miss a beat high speed action we’ve all been waiting for.

I’m not coaching, at least not “head” coaching this time. Some of Devin’s friends are playing and their dads were already planning on coaching, so I gladly accept the opportunity to watch this season. I’ve offered my assistance wherever it might be needed, but all the calling and planning and scheduling and carrying heavy stuff will be up to the point men.

Some big news for this year is Skyler is playing. Yep. She has decided to extend her summer break from dancing and do soccer season. A couple of girls she knows are playing too so it will be interesting.

All together I think every kid on this team is going to know each other, which is completely different from my experience last year. A couple of kids knew each other but never more than 2 or 3. This year Devin and Skyler know probably 8 of the 12 kids that will be on the team.

Anyway, I’m excited soccer is here. I’ll miss the coaching part I did last year, but maybe the new dads will let me get involved just enough to satisfy my little need for involvement. At least I might be able to take good pictures this year…

Filed Under: Family, Misc

Giving Food

August 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

A few times a year NewSpring asks everyone to bring non-perishable food items to church. We normally load up several small trailers or large moving trucks with food when we do this. It is normally for a local cause or for something specific like hurricane Katrina victims, etc. Shawna and I have found the best place to go and buy for these food drives. In fact we buy there ourselves sometimes because you can get such good deals.

The place is Bargain Foods in Pelzer. From NewSpring you go towards the jockey lot except when you get to hwy 29 you head north and then you take hwy 20 toward Williamston and Pelzer. You’ll make a right turn right before the Bi-Lo when you get to Pelzer then just keep going through town and over the river. Before long you’ll notice the big grocery store building in the middle of nothing off to the left. That is Bargain Foods.

I don’t know much about the place. They get tons of food that has either been dinged at the major chain stores (dented cans or damaged boxes, but the food is fine), or it is food that was way over stocked at the chain stores. The prices vary depending on what it is, but a lot of stuff is about 1/3 the price it would be at the chain stores. I’m not talkinga bout generic stuff either. It’s the same name brand stuff we pay ridiculous prices for at the chain stores. It is unbelievable.

When we go we usually fill up two cart loads of stuff like snacks and cereal for the kids and other items, but we’ve never spent more than $150 for two cart loads of groceries. To put it in perspective even at Wal Mart the stuff I’m talking about would cost $300 for two cart loads.

It is basically a warehouse with groceries in it and some back woods gospel music playing, but it’s worth the trip out there to save money on groceries.

Anyway… I’m saying all this to make a recommendation. If you’re reading this and planning on getting stuff for the food drive NewSpring is doing for the local Salvation Army then please consider Bargain Foods because I know you can get more bang for your buck there. More and more of us are joining the Joe Sangl crusade so we probably all have a dollar amount we’re able to allocate to buying food for the food drive. You can buy at least twice as much with that dollar amount at Bargain Foods and I’m sure Joe would support that decision…

Filed Under: Faith, Money

Women’s Ministries

August 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Have you ever been to a church with one of thos women ministries?? If you were raised in church for any amount of time I think you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, I’m not going to be all mean about women’s ministries. I’m just going to share about this past weekend.

Shawna went with her mom to a Women of Faith conference and she loved it. She had all kinds of stories about these popular Christian women who were there, the music, the testimonies, etc. She was excited enough she said she wants to go back next year. In Shawna’s words the weekend could be summed up as encouraging rather than discouraging. She said it wasn’t the typical spiritual overload women get at other “women’s ministries” events. They weren’t bombarded with all the instructions and overwhelming demands every woman should follow if they stand a chance at being the Godly spiritual woman she is intended to be.

No – it wasn’t like that from Shawna’s point of view. She told about one speaker who spoke of the peaks and valleys in life. We’ve all heard of the peaks and valleys but what made this speaker’s talk different is she kept it real and let everyone know that we all spend most of our lives in the valleys of life rather than the peaks – so learn to live through it. She didn’t add read your bible for an hour a day, pray for two hours, blah blah blah blah other stuff. She just kept it real. It sounded like all the other speakers shared their own stories of how their lives have been a challenge but they’ve lived through it. They basically gave everyone hope that if they could live through what life has brought their way then the other women could do the same.

I’m glad she enjoyed it. I had the kids to myself and that is always fun but interesting. I was glad when Shawna got back.

Filed Under: Faith

Oblivion

August 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

This week I’ve started going back to the gym early in the morning again. Shawna has changed her part time job schedule with the pregnant sickness she’s been going through so that has made it possible for me to go to the gym early – which is the best time of day to get it done. Not to mention I have some new friends who said they would see me there but they haven’t been there. That’s another story though – I’m giving them a hard time for slacking…

So I’m at the gym yesterday morning about 6:30. I notice some NewSpring folks were there, one of them being Perry. We’re all going about our business – not there to socialize. First I chose a treadmill (I like the new ones the Y has put in with TV’s on them – I can actually tolerate a treadmill like that). Next I begin to stretch a bit before starting. There are two older gentlemen on the machines to my right, and three or four people between me and Perry to my left. I’m painting a picture here in case you haven’t noticed.

All of a sudden I hear the older guys to my right talking about church stuff, and they were talking kinda loud. If Perry hadn’t had on earphones he probably would have heard them from where he was. They said some nonsense about “traditional and contemporary services” and such. Their church has tried this and that to accommodate people who like either type of service but it never works because one prevails over the other (usually the contemporary) etc. etc…

It isn’t uncommon for me to hear old-timers talking like this but when I heard the comment “we’ve lost a lot of people to NewSpring” I couldn’t believe what I heard. They weren’t really being negative as though NewSpring is a bad thing (like some people do) but the context of their “woe is me” conversation wouldn’t have been as bad if they hadn’t mentioned NewSpring. Now these guys wouldn’t know me from Adam but I would have to assume their mention of NewSpring was probably because they recognized Perry, and that’s probably what spurred the conversation in the first place.

Back to the picture… I mentioned the close proximity. I mentioned these guys were talking considerably loud. We know these guys don’t know me and they probably don’t realize they’re talking so loud. But did I mention I was wearing a BRIGHT RED NEWSPRING T-SHIRT?? For cryin out loud – these guys were oblivious.

Oblivion is probably not the most accurate way to term someone who has no clue of their surroundings, but I coined the word for that years ago when I lived in Atlanta traffic. Shawna knows that if I yell oblivious or oblivion that I’m talking about someone who is completely unaware of their surroundings or something going on around them. I am annoyed by it (even though I have no room to talk because I give others an oblivous impression sometimes because I don’t always respond to things going on around me).

Anyway, I was more and more annoyed the more these old guys talked. I wanted to look over at them and point out my bright red NewSpring t-shirt and ask them to kindly shut up about my church or I’ll fill them in on why their church is sucking wind. Instead I increased my running speed to 9.5 miles per hour so that I was the one sucking wind and couldn’t say anything to them. I felt good about doing that – both physically and mentally.

After my workout I had to experience more scarring for life in the locker room. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve read this post. I tell you – oblivion is everywhere.

Filed Under: Faith

Sales Myths

August 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Since I’m in sales I thought this was a good read. Because of negative feedback I’ve gotten from bosses along the way I’ve sometimes doubted my approach that is less abrasive than the stereotypical salesperson. I like reading Tessa Stowe’s monthly newsletter because it gives me helpful tips and encourages me that I can be successful without being a dreadful “salesperson”.

6 Sales Myths Busted
©Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2007

There are a lot of sales myths that not only diminish your chances of success, they also make selling more complicated and harder than necessary. Selling is, in fact, quite simple, provided you know, understand and apply some fundamentals. And you ignore sales myths.

Here are 6 Sales Myths:

Myth #1: Selling is a numbers game.

The greater the quantity of prospects you’re working on, the higher your chances of success.Truth: Selling is only a numbers game if you want to waste time and money going after sales that have no chance of success.

Selling is a qualified numbers game. The more qualified prospects you have, the more sales you’ll make. It’s not about the quantity of prospects but the quality. If prospects are qualified, they are already in the quality category. If you have a list of qualified prospects you’re working on, chances are that a high percentage will turn into clients.

Myth #2: Learn closing techniques as you need them to close the sale.Truth: Closing techniques are not necessary for closing sales.

Closing techniques are not necessary to close sales unless, of course, you are into high-pressure selling (and if you are, I hope you’re not one of my readers, as my style is not for you). Don’t waste your time learning closing techniques. Instead, spend your time learning how to have a sales conversation which naturally leads to your prospect wanting to do business with you. The only “closing” you have to do is suggest the next step.

Myth #3: There are natural born salespeople.Truth: Selling is a science, a learnable skill and process that anyone can learn.

“Fast talkers” are often mistakenly thought of as natural born salespeople when, in fact, fast talking repels most people. Talking doesn’t sell. Asking questions and listening does.
Those who are successful at selling are often thought to be doing well because they are natural born salespeople. Their “naturalness” has, in fact, been hard earned. They have spent a lot of time and effort learning and applying sales skills.

Myth #4: If you improve your sales skills, you will improve your sales results.Truth: This is what I call a ‘half’ myth. To improve your sales results, focus on improving your sales skills and also work on your thoughts and beliefs.

Having sales skills is only part of the equation. No matter how good your sales skills are there will always be a ceiling on your sales results. The ceiling on your sales results is set by YOU, by your beliefs and thoughts (mindset). If you really want to lift the ceiling on your sales results, learn the total equation of selling. Your sales skills plus your mindset determine your sales results.

Myth #5: Focus on getting the sale.Truth: Focus on helping your prospect get what they want.
If your focus and intention is on selling, selling, selling, you will repel, repel, repel. People don’t like to be sold, and if you are focusing on selling, chances are high your prospect will be looking for ways to quickly end the conversation.

Instead have your focus and intention on having a conversation to understand if you can help your prospect get what they want. Do this and watch how they open up and listen to how you can help them. With your intent on helping people get what they want, you will make more sales.

Myth #6: Focus on selling your solution.Truth: Focus on selling the customer their end result.
People don’t care about your products, your services or your solution as that is not what they’re buying. What they are buying is an end result. Your product, services and solution are simply the enabler – the method/process used to get their end result. This is a subtle distinction that will make all the difference to your sales approach and results.

After reading these 6 Sales Myths and Truths, I request that you map out some action steps you can take now to apply or benefit from these truths. A few simple action steps based on these truths have the potential to dramatically improve your sales results. Try it and see.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Filed Under: Business, Personal Growth

300

August 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Excellent movie! I took some me time last night and watched a movie by myself (because Shawna can’t handle war movies). 300 Spartans proved some points and made me think of a couple of things:

  • Spartans have a plan and they’re sticking to it. Don’t mess with any of them – men, women, and children alike. They will mess you up if you mess with them and their plans.
  • Don’t ever retreat. The 300 Spartans stood against unbelievable odds for days. This also makes me think about our troops overseas right now. They might not be facing unbelievable odds, but the opposition might see it as though they are facing terrible odds and they refuse to give up. I’ve been in support of the war for a long time but it seems like more suicide bombing idiots come out of the rockwork every day(that’s like woodwork here in southern US except they only have rocks over there).
  • Beware of traders. I won’t elaborate on that so I don’t ruin the movie in case you watch it. But if you do watch it beware of a couple of scenes that should be skipped through due to unnecessary exposure.
  • Politicians just might be hopeless. Again I won’t elaborate and ruin the movie. But it doesn’t matter how well the elite are raised (the Spartans were a very elite culture) there are still going to be leaders who make bad decisions.
  • Where did they find the guy that played the huge Persian God-King, or how did they make him look so huge? He looked 8 feet tall with hands bigger than Shaq.
  • Who would I be honored to live and fight beside? Who would I be honored to die beside in battle? I love the comraderie among soldiers and often wonder why I didn’t enlist.
  • I want to be tough like a Spartan. Those guys were laughing as arrows rained down on their shields, and still scrapping and talking smack with arrows in their chest. I had to go to the doctor yesterday with my wasp stung hand because I couldn’t get the swelling to go down. Some steroids and an antibiotic are making it better now. A Spartan probably would have just cut the stung finger off and burnt the wound shut. Now that’s tough.
  • I also want to be built like a Spartan. Every one of them are ripped – then again they were strategically bred and chosen at birth to be mighty warriors. Gotta double my efforts at the gym evidently…

Ok, back to reality. Time to get to work. I’ll just pretend I’ve got a spear, shield, and a sword on my side – even though they look a lot like a phone and a laptop and a wireless mouse…

Filed Under: Misc

Weekend Update

August 5, 2007 by Leave a Comment

In case I haven’t already said it enough – I’VE BEEN EXTREMELY BUSY LATELY!! That’s ok though. It is all worth it when we get to spend some down time with friends. This weekend it was on the lake. Then end it off with one of the most creative services NewSpring has done in the few years I’ve been going there. Unbelievable!!! So here’s a bullet summary of the lake and the service.

  • It was hot as hell Saturday (100 degrees) and we were on the lake – all day. Everyone got burnt. My head is especially red – the receding hairline and balding crown…
  • A wasp stung me on the left bird finger at the very beginning of the day – not good. My whole hand swelled up but went back down until the end of the day. Today (Sunday) it has been swollen so big I can’t even use it. I’m taking benadryl and soaking in ice but neither is helping much. Pray that my hand gets back to normal.
  • The jetski broke while our new friend David was riding it. The rest of us didn’t see him around the bend 150 yards off shore. He swam the jetski all the way to shore before I finally noticed him stranded and waving his hat in the air to get our attention. Then we went a rescued him and gave him a hard time for breaking the jetski.
  • Eric threw me off the tube twice. The second time I skipped on the water 3 times which is normal for a small stone, but I’m a 200 pound man. That means we were going really fast.
  • Did I mention it was hot as hell.
  • Speaking of hell – that’s what the service was about at NewSpring.
  • The stage set is one of the best I’ve seen NewSpring do (Jon Creamer is the guy on staff that creates the special stage effects – excellent job). Also, I have a little bit of an inside scoop on a big surprise that is supposed to be added to the auditorium at the end of the current series they’re doing. It will be very moving to say the least.
  • I’ve seen Perry come out on stage in some creative ways – with a surf board and wearing swimming trunks, on a Harley Davidson, smashing cars, and more. Today he came out in a casket. You have to watch it to believe it.
  • The music was amazing – Justin is extremely talented – all the other musicians are too but Justin amazes me with his singing ability.
  • Later this week I’m sure you can watch the service on the web when it will be posted somewhere on these pages.

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Hopefully I’ll have some time to write more this week but I already know I’m going to be very busy. Shawna seems to be doing better with the pregnancy sickness. My wonderful mom was here to help all last week, but I’m back on my own working and helping out with the kids this week… 

Filed Under: Misc, Stories

Church Customer Service

August 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I’m not talking about catering to the traditionalist who want to put more emphasis on what the church sign says than on reaching unsaved people for Christ. Just completely block that thought process out of your mind for a minute and think about what kind of experience the people you WANT to stay at your church are having. I’ll never tell what church(es) I’m talking about and don’t assume I’m talking all about NewSpring because I’m not. I’ve been to a ton of churches growing up a preachers kid. No church is perfect. There is always something that can be done better.

We all remember what the customer service is like when we go to a place of business – especially if it is bad. Well what about churches? Should they be concerned with customer service in some way? Of course! Exactly how is a challenge most churches are failing to meet but before a church can focus on that they need to identify all the customer groups they might be trying to serve.

Some of my jobs through the years have taught me that a customer is not always the people we’re trying to sell something to. It could be the department in the next office who is counting on me to perform my job so that they can do their job, such as an accounting department expecting reports from other departments. A better example might be the human resources department. The customers for a company’s HR department would be all the employees in the company who are counting on the HR people to take care of their HR needs. It would be expected that if the HR department does a poor job of customer service there will be a bunch of unhappy employees in the company.

For a church staff the customers would be more than just the regular attenders or the first time visitors. On a large church staff there are certainly particular staff positions that depend on others (like customers) to do their job (provide a service) effectively. Other customers for church staff invlolve the volunteers. The general attenders are customers to the volunteers of course. But even bigger than that the general attenders AND volunteers are customers of the staff.

Have you ever been to a place of business where you’re a regular customer and the owner knows you so you get preferential treatment? We probably all have. What about the opposite? Have you ever been a regular customer to a business that only gives good service to new customers but once they’ve “got you” the service is bad – sometimes rude and arrogant? Sure you have. If you have cable or a mobile phone you’ve experienced 2nd rate service despite being a loyal customer – or am I the only one who dreads calling those companies.

In church it works the same way. If you’ve spent any time at all in church you’ve seen the staff person who is so familiar with the regular attenders that they walk right past you without so much as a head nod so that they can go pay attention to the new visitor. It’s great to offer great service to new visitors (customers) but should the regulars at church be treated like cable customers? The opposite would be detrimental to churches too – treating the new visitors like outsiders who aren’t welcome because the regular attenders (repeat customers) get the preferential treatment.

I’ve got a good business illustration for how church staff can come across to their volunteers too. I’m a regular cable internet and mobile phone customer and any time I have to call those companies I get the same frustrating experience every time. They’re busy and they’re less than thrilled about having to troubleshoot the technical problem or they aren’t flexible to help you with something that isn’t an every day situation. But they still send me junk mail every week wanting me to buy more stuff from them. That’s kinda like the church staff person who is always unpleasant because there aren’t enough volunteers or the volunteers aren’t doing enough for them or the volunteers are showing up late, etc. But they continue to ask the same volunteers to subscribe to more volunteering despite the unpleasant experience. Eventually the volunteers get burnt out. If you read the links I linked to on Tony Morgan’s blog recently you read the wisdom of a very successful pastor on this subject – Ed Young.

(Side note – There are extreme cases in everything just like the legalistic traditionalist who has a butt mold on “their pew”. I’ve seen situations where it seemed like church staff were snotty to everyone like they have elite status being on staff or something. I’ve also seen volunteers that are almost leaches because they’re too eager to serve or they’re trying too hard to get in on the elite staff status or something, but all that’s a different subject. The point is there are always certain people attending church, working at church, or volunteering at church that screw things up).

So how does a church perfect their customer service to give the best experience to the people they want to attract and keep? I didn’t claim to have all the answers but from what I’ve seen I think it is a balancing act. For example – I’ve seen some churches do a good job just greeting everyone while others do a good job with the brief “shake hands with everyone around you” kind of thing during a service so that regulars and visitors alike experience welcomeness (I’ve also seen churches fail miserably at both approaches). Likewise, I’ve seen some churches do a great job incentivizing volunteers while others might be better at giving them purpose and inspiration. Every church has its own unique balance of what works and doesn’t to successfully serve their ‘customers’. Referring to Ed Young’s advice again – he mentioned using variety. Mix it up and keep it fresh.

Visitors aren’t coming back? Maybe the regulars or volunteers are being too clicky and the visitors don’t feel welcome. Can’t get the volunteer effort needed? Give them more than coffee and donuts as an incentive, or do more than beg and complain to encourage more participation. Knowing and understanding the balance is the first and most difficult task and after that it has to be monitored and adjusted to keep it in balance. That’s customer service, and it can apply in everything we do – including church.

Filed Under: Business, Faith
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