Smash the Window!

Written by Steve Waterhouse


Continued from page 1

Third, panic early, is my favorite step. Don’t wait until you are standing there in a flop-sweat to decide what to do. When everyone is inrepparttar room andrepparttar 139408 demo system is clearly not having a good day, move to your screen shots in PowerPoint or callrepparttar 139409 whole thing off and reschedule. Better that than having your team looking likerepparttar 139410 Three Stooges in front ofrepparttar 139411 client.

Fourth: If all else does fail, fail with grace. Keep your sense of humor, respect others time and move on. If you anticipated this situation, it’s easier to be cool, or at least fake it.

Finally, remember thatrepparttar 139412 world works onrepparttar 139413 Law of Positive Negatives. In other words,repparttar 139414 world likes those who recover well. I’ve seen presenters who forgot their lines, get a standing ovation forrepparttar 139415 way they handled it. I’ve seen customers award contracts to sales people after they recovered well from a disastrous demonstration. Why? Because we are all human and we connect with people who are real; like us!

The big thing to avoid is getting trapped inrepparttar 139416 Blame Game. That’s where we blame everyone else forrepparttar 139417 situation and take no ownership. Whenever you do, you’ll find yourself locked in a fight and rapidly moving further from a solution. That’s why I wrote my most popular book, Endingrepparttar 139418 Blame Game. I had had it up to my ears with sales people whining aboutrepparttar 139419 factory did this or my manager did that. Who cares? Not me. Notrepparttar 139420 client. Certainly not your boss. The sooner we acceptrepparttar 139421 blame,repparttar 139422 sooner we see ourselves asrepparttar 139423 solution. Inrepparttar 139424 end, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. All that matters is who is going to fix it.

About my boss… He was sitting there in my chair at 7 am to tell me two words: We won! The buyer had faxedrepparttar 139425 order inrepparttar 139426 night before, after I was already onrepparttar 139427 plane home. I was lucky, but I had learned a lesson that I will always remember.

BTW, Bill never charged me forrepparttar 139428 car window. I guess he figured that his $10,000 commission onrepparttar 139429 deal covered it.

For a free copy of "How to Leave a Voice Mail That Gets Results", please email article20@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #20

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.

Re-Print Permission This article may be reprinted in it's entirety ifrepparttar 139430 following conditions are met:

The complete tag withrepparttar 139431 author's name and contact information is included immediately afterrepparttar 139432 article. A copy ofrepparttar 139433 printed article is mailed torepparttar 139434 author at 1467 Walnut Creek Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003 within 30 days of publication. The article is presented in a positive light as part of an appropriate business related publication.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits.


Roman or Norman - A Customer Service Story

Written by Steve Waterhouse


Continued from page 1

Roman or Norman?

Onrepparttar other hand, I recently met with a sales manager whose sales force of 25 people spent a week analyzingrepparttar 139407 equipment needs of a paper mill and then delivered a thorough cost-saving analysis beforerepparttar 139408 customer had ever committed to spending so much as a dime.

Roman or Norman?

Which "invader" would you want on your doorstep? The answer is self-evident, and it means that when you visit that potential working partner you should be asking some questions alongrepparttar 139409 following lines.

"If you ran our newspaper, what would you change?"

"What products or services should we add to serve you better?"

"If we wererepparttar 139410 perfect supplier to you, what would we be doing differently?"

When I was withrepparttar 139411 Vortech Corporation, we had a major opportunity with IBM, but we were by farrepparttar 139412 smallest ofrepparttar 139413 four companies competing for their business. During one of our meetings I askedrepparttar 139414 buyer what we would be able to do for them if we wererepparttar 139415 perfect supplier. She answered that they would like access to our computer tracking system so that they could maximize their planning. After a few calls to our plant, I found out that this would be easy to implement with a trusted client. Two weeks later we establishedrepparttar 139416 link and locked uprepparttar 139417 business for years.

Customer surveys represent another tool that far too many companies easily dismiss. Most distribute comment cards but few read them. J.W. Marriott, Sr. used to read every one and even wroterepparttar 139418 responses and followed up with managers. His son still does it andrepparttar 139419 result is that Marriott ledrepparttar 139420 way in providing business travelers needed power and phone outlets for their laptops. They also were amongrepparttar 139421 first chains to offer lower cost alternatives through their Fairfield hotels, ensuring travelers a quality room that won't bustrepparttar 139422 budget.

Today, we all haverepparttar 139423 opportunity to learn a great deal about our clients and potential clients from newspapers, corporate reports and, of course,repparttar 139424 Internet. Justrepparttar 139425 other day I received a valuable client lead, and before makingrepparttar 139426 call torepparttar 139427 contact, I spent 5 minutes online getting information. When I made my call, I knewrepparttar 139428 company's annual sales, details about their product, their growth curve forrepparttar 139429 last five years, their target market, and their perceived advantage inrepparttar 139430 marketplace. I was ready, andrepparttar 139431 client was pleased that I had takenrepparttar 139432 time to be prepared.

The world is changing rapidly, and within months we'll all be selling inrepparttar 139433 21st century. We need to know everything we can about our customer. We need to combine that knowledge with effective plans for service, and we need to move faster than anyone else.

When our clients think of us, we want to be recognized as Romans not Normans. It'srepparttar 139434 difference between being difficult to work with or giving more than you take. Each of us can choose. We don't have to wait for word from Rome. Let's start tomorrow to dedicate ourselves and our organizations to 21st century selling. It'srepparttar 139435 way to a brighter future for each of us and our clients.

For a free copy of "5 Ways to Guarantee Great Customer Service", please email article10@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #10.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.

Re-Print Permission This article may be reprinted in it's entirety ifrepparttar 139436 following conditions are met:

The complete tag withrepparttar 139437 author's name and contact information is included immediately afterrepparttar 139438 article. A copy ofrepparttar 139439 printed article is mailed torepparttar 139440 author at 1467 Walnut Creek Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003 within 30 days of publication. The article is presented in a positive light as part of an appropriate business related publication.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits.


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