In nearly every sales force you have three kinds of team members. You have your Rock Stars, the average performers, and the Laggers. And your success as a business is dependent upon working with (or not working with) the right groups with the right amount of time to grow your sales.
1. Rock Stars: These are the folks that are self-starters. They are driven. This group takes very little of your time to motivate and (most of the time) they are actually pretty low maintenance. There is not a need or want of any hand-holding (for the most part) because they don’t have time for that. They are working to get the next sale.
Sometimes they are so easy to deal with you might ignore them. Don’t.
2. Laggers: As one sales manager once told me, “You can’t push a rope.” Many organizations make the mistake of spending a lot of time with the Laggers. They are often very nice guys and gals (that’s why they were hired). And the tendency is, we think that if we “coach them up” they can turn into Rock Stars. Most of the time, this is fantasy. Raise your hand if this has happened to you…everyone!
3. Average Performers: The fact is, most of your sales team falls into this category. These are good sales members that have moments of “rock star status.” They just don’t perform at this level consistently. They very well could be “rock stars” but they are not…yet. One of the jobs of an entrepreneur, sales manager, or sales guru, is to raise the level of these team members.
But how do you thank and appreciate the Rock Stars and incentivize the rest? That is, literally, the million-dollar question. Let’s take a look at a few options…
1. Status Award: When it comes to affecting sales members’ behavior, a great option is to create Status awards they “wear.” This allows them to be reminded of their accomplishment nearly every day. It also shows the Average Performers who to model their behavior after. When thinking of a status award, think of the Green Jacket that is given to the winner of the Masters. What are some other ideas for status awards? Think of doing a cool custom watch. The average person looks at their watch more than 10 times a day. Make it a fashion statement and you have something they are proud to wear. Not a fan of a watch? No problem. What about a custom ring or a special shirt. You get the idea.
Make it cool and it will get the attention you desire.
2. Fun Award: Sometimes you can really have fun with the celebration! If you create a contest or incentive around lifestyle and the fun that success can bring, you might create awards that celebrate that. What do I mean, think about toting around a very nice Coleman cooler to every event this summer with an award message. What a great way to remind your team of their success (and get people to ask about it!).
3. Public Awards: Another way to make sure your sales team knows how they are doing is to create an award program that is a very public display of accomplishment. Read more on how to really do this right here. But when you create a public display, you can really give your sales team a way to showcase their own accomplishments to everyone that walks in their office! The other cool effect of these awards is that it tells all future customers that they are dealing with a Rock Star…and we all want that. If you want to dig deeper on learning how to create a program to help grow sales, just contact us here and we will reach out to you. In addition, you can shop online for other ideas here.
Whenever there is a milestone in the year, I find myself reflecting. I try to take a look back at the goals I set for myself this year. Am I close to accomplishing them? Am I on track? Most importantly, do I feel like I am really putting in the work to make them happen? No ExcusesThat last one is the hardest, of course. It’s really easy to look back at the year so far and name all of the reasons we are not on track. “Well it’s been a tough time for the family,” you might be saying. “The economy in our area has been sagging.” And here’s the thing, that all might be true. That’s the tough thing about excuses, they are often very real reasons. I get it. But this is a great time to ask these questions…1. Did I really mean it when I set that goal?2. Do my actions show that I mean it?3. Can I do more to move me toward it?No matter whether the goal is for finance, faith, or fitness, that last one always gets me. Yes. I can do more. But don’t beat yourself up. Understand that most of us are in the same boat. So here are some quick steps to get back on track.1. Renew Your Commitment: Spring time is a great time to take a deep breath and renew your goals. It’s a new season. Spend a little bit of “alone time” and make sure your mind is right to go after it in this next season of the year.2. Review the Actions: Many people say they want to accomplish something, but have you thought about the specific actions you need to take each day to get there? If you have not thought these actions out, and then act on them every day, you will never consistently reach your goals.3. Get It on the Calendar: I often say, “If it’s not on my calendar, it doesn’t exist.” As you get busier, it will be harder to keep things all in your head. Set your time to work on your goals. Whether it’s working out or making cold calls, you need to create a habit of doing the hard stuff. Get a time on your calendar when this happens so you can push through the times you don’t want to do it!
We all like to think we are good at saying “thank you” and giving praise. But it’s hard. We get wrapped up in day-to-day activities, and sometimes, it just gets away from us. But it’s so important to make sure people feel appreciated! Employees are more likely to stay where they feel appreciated…and so do customers. As a matter of fact, 69% of customers that leave you, say they leave you because of “perceived indifference.” That’s right, nearly 70% of your customers leave because they just don’t think you care! But how do you know you are saying “thank you” in a way that matters? Here are 3 tips to make the recognition (whether for employees or customers) stand out.Make It Personal: Whether it is your customer or your employee (or whoever) your people want to know the “thank you” really comes from you. If you are an employer, make your recognition public by making a big deal at a company meeting. If you want to thank a customer, take after one of my rock star customers McWane Ductile. They create custom awards (more on that in a moment) and get them in the hands of their sales team. Their sales team then takes the awards to personally present them to their best customers. They could mail them…but they choose to make it personal and get that one extra “touch.”Make it Custom: When you can, it’s amazing to create an award that is “just for them.” McWane wanted to create an award that recognized their top volume customers. So we worked together to create an award that incorporated their new branding AND called out the customer by name. This award was larger than life and really stood out to biggest customers.Make it Public: The final step in taking recognition to the next level is to make it public. McWane does this by creating an award that is perfect for public display. This has several benefits. First, it’s a constant reminder of the appreciation they want to show for their clients. And because it’s such a nice piece, it catches the customer’s eye on a regular basis. Second, it gives credibility to McWane’s customer! Anyone visiting them sees they are a big deal to be getting awards of this magnitude. Finally, it’s a nice marketing piece. Though this is not the purpose of the award, it creates a constant reminder of the relationship between McWane and their customer. It’s recognition done right.If you want more information on creating a custom recognition program, contact us here. If you want to shop online, feel free to click here to check out our site.
When it comes to any promotional premium, there are several factors that will make your promotion a sure-fire hit.
First, the very best promotional products are functional. The best products are the ones that hold the advertising message and are used again and again. Exposure right?
Another factor we like to talk about at Hasseman Marketing is a high “perceived value.” You would love for your clients or your customers to think you are giving them something of value, maybe even something they think you spent more on it than you did!
Finally, if you can add a sprinkle of “wow” to the customers, you know you really have something! If you can create something “remarkable” you know you have a hit. We have always said that umbrellas make for great Promotional Premiums because of two of these factors. They are very functional and they have a high perceived value. The fact is, everyone needs an umbrella, but no one wants to buy one. But now we can add the “wow” on the umbrella as well!
When the customer gets an umbrella, they get a hang tag telling them to download a free app. When they do this, they will get an alert when there is a 60% chance of rain, telling them to remember to take their “XYZ Brand Umbrella.” This is a really cool combination of the Promotional Premium with Technology! But are the umbrellas any good? They are. Here are just a few of the umbrellas that come with the Rain Alertz app (for no extra charge).
The Challenger II: This 62″ umbrella has the strongest patented frame in the world. Tested in a wind tunnel at Texas A & M (really), this umbrella outlasted the competition. This umbrella will last and last. Check out the details here.
BT46 Inverted: This style of inverted umbrella is taking the umbrella industry by storm (get it?). The Phonebrella is powered with Bluetooth technology and contains a speaker and microphone in the handle connected to your phone. How cool is that? You can answer calls, play music and provide directions without getting your phone wet. Learn more about this cool umbrella here.
Promo2: And of course sometimes you just need to hit a budget point. This 44″ auto-open umbrella is perfect for this occasion. But don’t worry, this is still a nice quality piece. You can learn more here!
It all started 5 years ago. PPAI (Promotional Products Association Inc) started to recognize and celebrate Promotional Products Work Week (PPWW). The idea was to rally the thousands of people in our industry to do a better job telling our story. Promo works…and we can prove it. (This year PPWW is April 19-24 and Paul Bellantone joined me on Delivering Marketing Joy to talk about it here).Since the beginning, we at Hasseman Marketing have rallied to this cause. We have done so through Open Houses, Social Media contests, speaking at local organizations and even having our local Mayor issue a proclamation. Why? Well of course it matters to us. But should it matter to you? PPWW Talks Numbers: In today’s marketing world, we rightly want to understand the metrics and return our investment. PPWW is a time when the industry talks about the real and tangible benefits of promotional premiums. We want to be a leader in the forefront of this conversation because it should matter to you…our customers.PPWW Backs It Up: In addition to talking numbers, PPWW provides customers with case studies and data to back it up!HMC Is Always Willing to Party: Let’s face it. PPWW is a celebration of what we do. At Hasseman Marketing we are always ready to pop open the bubbly and have some fun. Industry Leadership: When it comes to new initiatives, leaders get out in front to make things better. That’s how we feel about PPWW. Our industry needs companies that are willing to help our industry overall to be better. We want to be that. And we think our customers want to associate themselves with us because we are leaders in what we do…in every way.So that’s why we are a part of PPWW! To learn more about the initiative and some statistics that might make you lift your eyebrow, check out www.promotionalproductswork.org.If you are a Promo Pro and are interested in learning more about joining our team, check out this link and get our free Sales Playbook. If you are interested in learning more about us as a company you can check us out here or email us for more information here.
