You are a sales professional who labors to give the best in service to your customers.  The best in service means being responsive, innovative, and creative when it comes to your customers business needs.

Your retention of customers is good, and your acquisition of new customers is solid as well.  So what is missing?

Most sales professionals do not ask their customers “how am I doing?” and “what can I do better?”

Why it is important?

This one might be simpler to explain than you might believe.  Sometimes we forget that asking questions does more than just generate a response.

Asking those questions:

• Shows a sincere desire to give the best service possible.
• Opens the feedback channel to allow someone who appreciates you to get what they may be missing in a relationship.  It promotes communication.
• Shows confidence in the relationship by allowing constructive criticism in the quest for continuous improvement.
• Opens a window to what aspects of service, responsiveness, and fulfillment are most important, and allows you to focus on these.
• Sets up that next conversation in 6 months or a year where you ask again and get the positive feedback that you are doing all that has been asked.

You may ask for feedback in your relationships and marriage, and you may ask for feedback from your employer (in the form of a performance review), yet most often we make the assumption that our relationships with customers, especially those with longevity, are solid and rewarding.  Sometimes you need to make certain.

Your customer will feel privileged that you are asking, and will sense your sincerity.  It will create a bond that will help you when your other sales advantages, such as price or product superiority, disappear.

How to do it?

This is very easy, yet will come with some degree of surprise to many customers.  Why?  Because so few sales professionals ever ask the question.

I would suggest that this be done during an in-person meeting, one-on-one with the buyer for the first meeting.

Here is a simple suggested format:

• Ask the customer what attributes of a sales professional are most important to his/her operation.  This could be responsiveness, communications, credibility, or many other strengths.
• After getting them on paper, ask him to help you rank them in descending order (the most important attributes get a 1, and least important gets the highest number).
• Now, have him help you rank your performance against those attributes.  Use a simple A-Excellent, B-Good, C-Average, D-Below Average, F- Failing.  Rank each one, and if there are areas that you have not done, they can be incomplete.

The last bullet above will be the “moment of truth” as it will tell you what the customer perceives.  No matter how well you believe you are doing, this is important!  It is actually the point of origin of your continuous improvement program, or confirmation that you are a solid sales professional who should look to maintain your efforts along with some incremental improvement.

This does not need to be any more difficult than this.  You are opening a window or door to communication that will make more concrete your relationship with your customer.

The Manager’s Role in Customer Feedback

Managers should always feel comfort having this type of discussion with the customers of their sales professionals.  It won’t have the depth of the comments above, yet is should be designed to get meaningful input regarding the customers sentiments about the performance of their sales professional.

When I say it will not have the depth, I mean that it is difficult for the manager to get the level of feedback that the sales professional could get.  The manager’s role is to get some feedback regarding whether the professional is doing a good job and “taking care of the customer,”

With major customers, it should be expected, and it should be done with a sampling of smaller customers.  The result of asking is the same as above…you get ‘points’ for asking.  The objective is to make sure that the customer is being given good service.

Here is an example of how this can be done:

“Mr. Johnson, I am Rick’s sales manager here at ABC Corp.  I wanted to introduce (or reintroduce) myself and ask how everything is going in your relationship with our company?”  “How is Rick doing in taking care of your companies needs?”  Note here that this question must be an open probe.  It should result in conversation and not a yes or a no.

The responses start the conversation, and this should be a fairly short conversation.

Where Do You Go From Here?

I would make the following suggestions as to how you go about this activity:

• I would start with customers who you already have open communications with.  It will allow you to hone your process.
• I would do it with every customer that you feel is important.
• Always follow-up and practice continuous improvement.  Correct the issues and you will have a customer for life.
• Do it once a year on average.
• No matter how uncomfortable, or how much you modify, do it!  Initially, it will get you a better rapport with your important customers.

Give it a try and see the difference it makes in your business relationship.

We appreciate you comments.

The Black sales professional is subject to the same questions that others will face.  If you have been through several interviews, you are basically hearing the same questions over and over.  It is not that there is a lack of ingenuity on the part of the interviewers.  The interview process is a combination of observing the physical presence of the applicant, noting the reaction to your questions, and noting the quality of the answers to those questions.  The interviewer is attempting to envision you as a sales professional representing his organization.  That is the real test.

I am not going to cover the multitude of questions that you can be asked on an interview.  I will talk about some of the usual questions that you have heard before, and a quick general example of how they can be handled.

First Do Your Homework

Before you do anything else, do your research!  Know the company, and the duties of the job without reservation.  The web makes for an excellent resource for you to do this.

Check the organization’s web site to get an idea of their approach to diversity.  In larger corporations, they will have a diversity mission shown on their site, or at least their view of their diversity efforts.  This does not give you an edge, yet tells you this organizations investment in diversity and what you are up against.

7 Questions You Will Answer

I am going to cover 7 questions you will answer in the next job interview.  They may state them in a slightly different way, yet they are seeking the same information.

As commonplace as these questions sound, practice them and go in prepared to answer to them:

#1.  Why are you leaving your current job?

Do not ever criticize you previous employer or manager!  Whether the facts are true or not, this is a guaranteed way to not get a second interview.  Stay north of this issue by talking about challenges, larger product lines, better territories and products, etc.  This positive part of the interview might be the first question you get, so this chance to speak positively is important.

#2.  Tell me something about yourself?

As you practice this know the job you are applying for including the skills necessary to do it.  Know and practice your “elevator speech” on yourself. You are giving a brief synopsis of your social, educational, and employment background.  You will add to this some quality statements that set you apart from many others.  State clearly items that describe your drive, ambition, and desire to be successful.  Example: “ I am a sales professional trained in professional sales while at ABC products.  I believe in hard work and the benefits of preparation.  My successful sales career has benefited from my study at ABC University with Marketing as my field of study…” Your statement should last no more than 1.5 minutes, and is always better followed by saying “…is there anything in my professional or educational history that I may clarify for you?”

#3.  Why should we hire you over the other candidates?  What makes you different?

Since you don’t know the other candidates, and don’t necessarily know, so spend your energy on the second question.  Talk about your results orientation, your ambition and drive, your record of accomplishment, and your vision for what you might do in a better territory, with a better product, or better support.  This question hinges on your ability to verbalize why you are better.  Practice your statement and delivery.  Example: “I have a wealth of relevant experience and education.  Most importantly, I have verifiable accomplishments in this same territory selling a product that, I believe, is inferior to yours.  I know the industry, and the customers, I just need the right product.”

#4.  What qualifications do you have which would make you successful in this business?

You are the expert on yourself and you have studied the job description and the company.  Your answers here should be designed to let you list the qualities which make you’re a good candidate.  You know the qualifications that will make you successful, now you need to be able to prioritize them and deliver a flawless speech that links together your qualifications and the position.  Example:  “ I believe my technical background coupled with my quantitative skills gives me great chance of success as a technical sales representative for ABC equipment.   I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and have had an a career selling technical products to the same clients that your organization depends on.”

#5.  What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Most interviewers ask it because they just think they should.  Some ask it because you might tell them you are an impatient being that could be prone to slapping a fellow employee.  I think that if it is asked, it should be on the basis of the interviewer trying to determine your ability to self-assess and even be critical.  This one deserves more practice than many of the others questions.  You don’t want to be known as a perfectionist, nor someone uncomfortable with detail, you want to always appear well adjusted in your activities and reactions.  Example: “One of my strengths is that I am persistent, with prospects and customers.  One of my weaknesses is that I always believe that there is a possibility of the sale even when I get rejected repeatedly.  I often, in the face of low odds, continue the solicitation.”  This one takes the sales mentality and gets strength and a weakness from the same essence.

#6.  If this position gets filled, would you take another job in our organization?

This is a basic, unadulterated trap. Don’t fall into it.  A true sales professional might want to be a sales executive, sales representative, or sales manager, yet does not want to be a purchasing person or a human resource professional.  The answer, if you want to be a sales professional is no.  I asked this question in the past, and was able to determine that the candidate wanted a job, not a sales career!

# 7.  Where do you see yourself in five years?

This question is designed to find out your career orientation.  Don’t let it be a trap.  Be prepared to answer in a way that stresses that you want to be successful as a sales professional.  You want to talk about what success might look like, and you might mention that at some point down the line you might consider sales management.  They want to know your intentions.  Example:  “I see myself being a successful sales professional with a profitable, well developed territory.  I would like to be your sales leader in revenue and product sales.”

As stated before, practice is important.  Landing that new sales position will involve more questions than these, yet you can be assured these will be asked.  Practice will give you the confidence that you need to answer these, and other questions confidently.  Good Luck.

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