The Salesby5 Blog

Remember the Isley Brothers song “Shout?” One of my favorite parts of that song is near the end when they’re singing very quietly:

(Shout) a little bit softer now
(Shout) a little bit softer now
(Shout) a little bit softer now
(Shout) a little bit softer now

Replace the word “softer” with “better” and you have a formula for success.

Some of the best businesses I know have a knack for making things “a little bit better now.” Years ago I worked for a manager who had this philosophy. No matter what you did or what you brought to him he would challenge you by asking, “How can you make it better?” Since you knew you’d be asked that you would try to figure out ways to improve whatever the situation was before you went to him. It was a brilliant way to keep making the company and the employees better.

You and your team can do the same thing. No matter what you’re doing, ask yourself how you can make it a little bit better now. This applies to displays, customer experiences, signage, employee coaching, and just about anything else.

It’s a good thing to do on slower days to engage the staff and improve the company. Ask “How do we make this a little bit better now?” I like the now part because it helps us focus on improvements that have an immediate impact and are usually the least expensive to implement.

On busy days keep asking yourself, “How can I work with this customer a little bit better now?” You’ll be amazed by how you’ll be able to increase your sales and how much fun you’ll have. The best part is that customers start feeling. . . you got it. . . a little bit better now. Then they go tell all of their friends and family about their fabulous experience and the buzz about the experience gets. . . Hold on now. . . wait a minute. . . .that buzz gets a little bit louder now.

And that makes you want to throw your hands in the air and SHOUT!

Blog credit to Doug Fleener, Photo by Carlo Nicora

This is Joy and she lives her name!  She runs the computer roulette table at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. She sings, dances, gets to know the guests and loves her job.  She makes money having fun all day and gets more tips than others, no doubt! She is jumping up and down to the music as I write this.  Joy won employee of the year at the Wynn out of 10,000 employees!

Joy sold me on the Wynn, along with so many others! The culture here is great; the sounds, smells, tastes and sights all sell, but never has a dealer sold me or even been memorable. Joy, this blog’s for you! You live your own brand of joy! Thank you for the inspiration!

Your new friend,
Erik

Does your company maintain a culture open enough to lead upward?  Leading upward means that the people above you, whether in actual or perceived rank, allow you to lead them as well.  Not only does your culture need to be in proper form to allow this, but the leaders above you need to be at a stable enough level to allow you to speak freely.  This can often be a scary proposition, but if it is done with respect and compassion, both parties get stretched to a higher leadership level overall.  What would it take for this to be acceptable in your organization?  If you are at the top, are you allowing this type of leadership?  What is stopping you?  Please share with us in the comments.

photo by timabbott

Core values serve the purpose of defining who we hire, fire, promote, de-mote, etc. They are behaviors and tell your employees, managers, and leaders how to behave.

When we are unsure about what next steps to take, looking to our core values leads us in the right path. A few of ours are:

• Always deal with fact. Never assume.

• Do what is best for the customer.

• If you do not know, ask.

• Follow your heart, but… if you are ever in doubt, shout it out.

• Deliver more than what is promised.

These values guide any of us in the right direction with clients and each other. They are the guide – a roadmap for action that lives every day in your organization. If your company has not identified your core values, let us know. We can help you identify them and bring them to life in your company.

Today at 5pm, there will be a rehearsal dinner for the wedding of our CIO (Chief inspiration officer) and Co-Author of the SalesBy5 blog, Nan Palmero. He earned his title long ago, long before I met him. His friends will also attest to his incredible ability to help, lead, and inspire. When I met him, he was looking for a new career with 2 requirements; he did not want to be in sales and he did not want to be in accounting. Today, he writes for Blackberrycool.com, Salesby5, his own blog, and is a contributory writer for some of north Americas top growth gurus. Nan sells everyday! He sells our customers on the best technology to help communicate better with customers and employees and he sells our team on working smarter and not harder. There are actually too many things that he sells to mention in this blog. This man is special to us and many others. My point: Sometimes you may think you do not want to do something that is actually a real strength of yours. Pay close attention to what activity you feel strongest doing, and to those that make you feel drained. Nan uses his strengths to help our team and our customers win better and faster than their competition!

Nan, Thank you for being in our lives and congratulations on your new life with Ashley!

Yesterday, we ate at Red Robin. They have an amazing culture and really go above and beyond to make you feel welcome and make your dinner experience great. My favorite part is the Unbridled Acts of Kindness stories on the back of the bill holder. The Unbridled Acts talk about how Red Robin teams from around the country have gone above and beyond during the course of their days. At Sales by 5, we do the same. We celebrate our “Love Letters” from our clients during our morning huddles and weekly meetings. Then, we post them on our Wall of Fame to further recognize how our team has done amazing things, ready for review by the team, our clients and visitors. Red Robin, like Sales by 5, takes the time to do this because the culture is crucially important and visitors can feel it. Unfortunately, most companies do not experience this. You have a culture whether you realize it or not, is it one that you want to celebrate?

So how can you start?  Develop your set of core values, so that the team knows what’s important to the team.  Integrate compliments into your daily huddles and celebrate them – large and small.  Develop quarterly themes that support these compliments.  Once you’ve done this, come back and tell us how your company was transformed!  Need help? Check out Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish for more details.

We discuss inspiration, strengths, and motivation vs. de-motivation. We blog about many other topics, but the common thread is that it all has enormous amounts to do with sales – internally and externally!  Yesterday we had a customer visit from 400 miles away and tell us all how much we have helped them and have made a giant difference! At the same time several team members sent me emails that completely inspired me as they complimented my ideas and strategy in numerous meetings. Everything matters and yesterday was exceptional.  Use this as stimulus to see how your team is inspiring customers and, of course, one another! One last thought: our goal is to inspire 2008 people in 2008. Why? It fuels our soul! photo by coolmitch

It was June 16th, another big day in our company’s history, when Bobby the Intern started.  He was a new St. Mary’s grad with a major in General Business.  It has been less than two months and he is leaving us for a MBA with a Greehey Scholarship.

We interviewed about 14 candidates for this position.  Most interviews were 10 minutes, as we knew they were not the right fit for our culture and clients.  Bobby’s interview was unique.  I, Erik, came in late on purpose because I wanted my team to be sold versus me.  They were sending me instant messages during the interview on my BlackBerry that we had a winner.  This team is beyond hard to satisfy, but finally they were sold. Over the last 50 days, I have gotten to see his natural strengths and his ability to give the team his best attitude and talents.  We keep getting interns that change us and we change them.  Bobby, thank you for your talent this summer and may your future be as bright as the sun!

P.S. We promise to give you an update on our past Salesby5 interns, Greg and Carlton, soon!

You may or may not be familiar with Twitter.  If not, check out the video below.  The basic premise is that you answer one simple question – “What are you doing?” and you only have 140 characters to do so.  Here are 3 great ways that companies and organizations are building value in their brand by using Twitter in unconventional ways.

1.  Zappos.com, the amazing online shoe store, uses Twitter as a method to communicate with people talking about them.  They made the decision to actively engage with folks on Twitter and they are gaining steam in doing so.  They get to tell their story and people are growing personally attached.  Even Tony, the CEO, is in on it.  At present, there are 439 Zappos.com employees on Twitter.  Last night, 10 lucky followers of Tony were invited to join the Zappos gang at The Palms hotel for a 3,000 person party – with penguins!

2. Church can be many different things – fun, boring, insightful, etc.  Interactive isn’t usually an adjective that is used to describe church, though.  Imagine Fellowship, here in San Antonio, is doing things a bit differently.  They are using Twitter during the message in church on Sunday morning, where people can comment on the music, message and anything else they experience.  The use of Twitter has expanded the relationships throughout the week and people are connecting that may not have otherwise connected on Sundays.

3. BlackBerryCool.com is a world class blog that frequently travels throughout North America attending conferences for BlackBerry and other mobile devices.  Many BlackBerryCool.com readers are known to visit the site numerous times throughout the day searching for the latest updates and product releases, especially during these conferences.  Twitter allows BlackBerryCool.com to constantly inform their readers throughout a conference with minute-by-minute updates without the need of a laptop to create an entire blog post.  It is a great filler between larger written pieces.

What amazing way can you use Twitter to better build engagement with your brand?

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.