Wow, this Great American Print Sales Prospecting Contest is going great! I already have more than 200 entries!
Companies are sending me their monthly results. This is a lot of bookkeeping for me, but it's worth it to see salespeople earning new accounts. The contest winners get, among other things, a visit by me and I'll be washing the winning salespeople's cars in the company parking lots while the salespeople watch.
I'm practicing up on my car washing. I sure hope the winners don't have any SUVs or Winnebagos. I know that Marvelle Stump and all the salespeople at Dynolithographix in Hot Coffee, MS, have some nasty old pickups. But, there's no way in hell they can win.
It's not too late to enter your company in my contest. Read the rules on this page and enter now. It's your chance to put your name in the annals of printing history AND get your chariot washed by the ol' Mañana Man. I will also be buying a big dinner for the winners and giving each winning salesperson my coveted Mañana Award.
These are tough and tragic times. Apparently, I'm too old, dumb and slow to qualify for the Delta Force that's tracking down the lousy terrorists.
I went to the local Marine recruiting office, filled out the application and got in line. The recruiting Sergeant never looked up as he scanned my application. When he did look up at me, he laughed until tears ran down his tanned, muscle-bound cheeks. He said, "I've had 17-year-old kids lie about their age, but I've never had an old gray beard try to convince me that he's 25. Get out of here old man! Go swig some Geritol, keep payin' your taxes and wavin' the flag."
Then I looked up the qualifications and training required for the Green Berets and the Navy Seals. It appeared to me that I would be in traction after the first morning in boot camp, so I didn't bother to call.
I guess I'll just have to make a contribution with this column.
Good Behavior Shines
The days since September 11 have brought out the best in most good people. Their ordinary good behavior is even better. They are even friendlier, more helpful to strangers and more charitable. All this good behavior has made bad behavior even more apparent. Now, watch this clever segue to my topic.
Good behavior is the foundation of good selling. Knowing how to close, question, overcome objections or prospect is worthless without fundamentally good human behavior.
Sometimes the best way to describe something good is to talk about what is bad. I'll tell you about a couple of printing industry executives I know whose atrocious behavior belies their positions.
Of course, I can't name these executives because they'd sue me in a nanosecond. I'll call them "Louse" and "Ratso". I can tell you that neither Louse nor Ratso reached the top through sales. Basically, they have been lucky. Louse lucked into a great partnership with a well-behaved genius partner who has managed to cover all of Louse's shortcomings. Ratso, on the other hand, interviews extremely well and manages to get good jobs but, once he's got the job, can't perform due to his dreadful personality. Ratso has had several jobs in the past few years.
You've met people like this terrible twosome.
No matter who you know, Louse knows them better. Or, if he doesn't know who you know, he knows people who are better than the people you know. Some of your customers may practice this kind of one-upsmanship. That's okay. Listen to them and agree. They are simply insecure and the easiest customers to manage and sell. They are customers. Never, never, however, one-up a customer.
My two heroes always have things that are better than the stuff you've got. And, if you have the same stuff, they paid less for it. You see they are smarter than you, so they know how to buy the same stuff cheaper. Or, if they have better stuff, they will tell you where they bought it, like Rodeo Drive for example, and how much they paid for it. They have low self-esteem and need to feel better about themselves. If customers do this, you should be modestly awed by their things and applaud their genius.
Frequently, my bad twins will tell me about something that even my four-year-old grandson is likely to know already. You know, it's the kind of thing even Marvelle Stump probably knows already. They might say, "My highly placed friends in the White House and the Pentagon tell me that Osama bin Laden heads a terrorist organization known as Al Qaida and they are behind the September 11 attacks." Oh, really? Never respond by saying, "You idiot; I knew that already. The entire population knows that!"
A Better Answer
Instead, ask the lout, "What else have your friends told you about these terrible people?" Conversing with boors requires great patience, and the great print salespeople that I know are inordinately patient.
Because of their exalted positions, Louse and Ratso can beat up their subordinates, and they do it with vigor. They do it because it makes them feel better about themselves. People with low self-esteem ALWAYS need to feel better. Your print-buying customers who have low self-esteem may need to beat you up.
If they do, don't strike back. Instead tell them something like, "You are teaching me something useful about my company and myself. Help me by telling me how to serve you better." You will disarm them and they will run out of steam. Remember that you have too much self-esteem to strike back.
And, that is the point of this column. Successful print salespeople have self-confidence. Self-confidence, however, is not loud, boisterous, bragging one-upmanship; it's a quiet, secure behavior that is focused out to other people.
I have a very secure friend whose waters run deep. His recent remarks and his behavior inspired this column. He knows who he is and, my friend, this one is for you.
Now, put down this magazine, sign up for my contest, target some new accounts, and get out there and sell something!
—Harris DeWese
About the Author
Harris DeWese is the author of Now Get Out There and Sell Something!, published by Nonpareil Books. He is a principal at Compass Capital Partners and is an author of the annual "Compass Report," the definitive source of information regarding printing industry M&A activity. DeWese specializes in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales, marketing, planning and management services to printing companies.
Enter the Mañana Man Sales Contest
Enter your company in the Second Great American Print Sales Prospecting Contest and win these great prizes.
1. Harris "Mañana Man" DeWese will fly to the winning company cities where he will wash the cars of the winning company salespeople in their company parking lots. The CEO and the sales manager at each winning company must assist the Mañana Man.
2. Harris DeWese will host the winning salespeople at a dinner where he will present individually engraved trophies and championship T-shirts.
3. The winning team will receive an official Mañana Man sombrero to display in the sales department.
4. The winning teams will be featured, with group pictures, in this magazine.
Okay, here are the rules.
1. Winners will be determined based on the number of new accounts obtained over a one-year period ending October 31, 2002. To qualify, a new account must order at least three jobs during the contest period.
2. There are four categories of contestants. Category I will be companies with calendar 2001 revenues of less than $5 million. Category II will be companies with revenues between $5 and $10 million. Category III will be companies with revenues between $10 and $20 million.Finally, Category IV will be companies with sales in excess of $20 million. These categories are limited to one plant location.
3. Winners will be determined by the total number of "new accounts," as defined above, opened during the 12-month contest period. A "new account" is a customer that is not doing business with your printing company. You get one point for each new account. You will receive two points for every "resurrected new account," which is an account that has not purchased printing within two years of the contest start date of November 1, 2001. Finally, you will receive three points for every "lost account" that you resurrect as a new account. A lost account is one that fired your company because of poor quality or service. Obviously, we are relying on the integrity of your sales manager, owner or CEO to tabulate correctly qualifying "new accounts" and the appropriate number of points for each account.
4. Your company "reporter" will fax your monthly results to Harris DeWese at (610) 293-0211 so he can report on the contest results in this column.
5. Your CEO or sales manager should write Harris DeWese and say, "Mañana Man, we are in." Give us your company name, address, city, state, phone number and an estimate of your 2001 sales. Mail your entry letters to Harris DeWese at Compass Capital Partners, 259 Radnor-Chester Rd., Radnor, PA 19087, by e-mail to deweseh@comcapltd.com or fax to (610) 293-0211.