Black Sales Journal

2012 may not be a memory yet, but it is effectively ‘old news’.  I hope you have made it through this year, but you have got to be looking toward the future to have a chance.  You should have completed your 2013 plan, but if not, this will help.  Effective planning and hard work are two important ingredients for success!

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I know that it seems premature to focus on 2013, as it is upon us.  1st quarter 2013 is a few weeks away.  You are probably busy trying to close out the 4th quarter of 2012.

If your manager has not done it yet, he or she will say: “What are you projecting for 2013?  I need your numbers!”  You need to be ready for that conversation, but more than that you should do the preparation as it tells you what type of a 2013 you can have.

Between now and the end of the year the management of your organization will engage in the following activities:

• Plan 2012 new production metrics
• Plan next year’s revenue from existing customers
• Set your 2012 personal goals and metrics
• Make decisions on manpower in the sales organization

Another reason to finalize your 2013 planning is that in many industries you do not want to  ‘miss’ the first quarter as this period is instrumental to reaching your annual goal.  Preparation for a strong first quarter cannot start in January 2013, as a matter of fact; it starts now.  It should benefit you by giving you focus and clarity as to what you must do to be successful.

What you can do is to prepare your production scenarios so that your conversations with your manager are productive and based on fact and logic.  You will stand out from the rest.   It is time to give good thought to next year!

Putting Together a Plan

You should be able to project your 2012 successes within the realm of reasonability, and avoid the “stab in the air” that comes with having no basis for your calculations when asked.

Your plan should be to:

• Project your 2013 success based on your knowledge of 2012 and 2011 in terms of hit ratio and total sales production.
• List your major prospects by month and quarter, with recognition of your chances of success (by percentages).
• Work your formula (Black Sales Journal 2/28/2011 – How Many Prospects Do You Really Need?) showing what you need to be successful and refine the numbers including statistics that are applicable to you and your situation.
• You should estimate your retention of existing customers, and whether they will buy at the same levels

Armed with this information, you would be able to have much more educated estimates as to what your successes will be for first quarter, and for all of 2013.  Knowing your prospects, your basic success rates, and your average account or sale size will lead you to be able to do a lot of wise forecasting.

Your Business Plan

Once you put all of the variables together, you will have the basis to put together a business plan that will show what type of success that you should be having.  Remember that you are doing it for you.  You are taking this excellent opportunity to review your 2011, and construct from this a logical projection of your efforts for 2013.

Many organizations have assistance for you in the form of Salesforce.com, Gold Mine, or other tailored sales and customer relationship management (CRM) software.  Whether they exist or not, your exercise is for you, then you can use it to fill in the blanks for any company sponsored software plan.

Your Business Plan discussion with Your Manager

Every organization is different, so your organization may have a routine in place for your conversation with your manager regarding your ‘plan’.  Most organizations have a process, although timing is not always well devised.

Here is your chance to “put a stake in the ground” on numbers and your thoughts.  Chances are your manager will be looking for higher numbers, and that may mean stretching your numbers upward.  Your manager will be pleased with, and maybe even excited about, your diligence in putting together numbers as they have to give the same requisite thought to the prospects possibilities and abilities of the sales professionals that work in their particular unit.

Benefit “You” First

Some larger organizations have already begun that process.  Much depends on the complexity of the planning cycle.  In medium and smaller organizations, the time is now.

This process is for you.  It may tell you that you have a lot of work to do, or you’re your funnel is replete with strong prospects.  Take a moment to do this exercise for your own benefit, and you will also have fodder for your sales discussion.   Remember to be honest about the prospecting part as it does you no good to plan the prospects for next year while you know that some of the prospects are actually ‘suspects’ (prospects that you doubt can come to fruition).

Be prepared for that conversation, and for the year ahead.

Always be prepared.  Your comments are welcome.

Invariably it will happen no matter what minority group you represent.  With all of the good customers in the world, there are some who just have no filter on what they should say.  Know how to deal with these situations.  Always be prepared!

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Customers come from all walks of life, and certainly have their goods and bads, but we cannot live without them in the sales world.  They are human, and with that in mind, are capable of saying things that are subject to translation, and sometimes downright wrong and insulting.

This post covers how you might react to those comments, or better yet, how you might better react to those comments.  Remember, just as we stated in Black Sales Journal August 22,2011, Reacting to Improper Racial Comments from Co-workers and Black Sales Journal 8/29/2011, Reacting to Improper Racial Comments from Managers, which covered how you might react to statements from co-workers and from your manager, you have the right to react, I am just suggesting to you do so in a professional manner.

Just because someone is doing business with you does not mean that they can say things that are demeaning or even cruel without a formidable response.

Intent Does Count

Before we get deep into this, I would like to point out that intent does count.  I would like to explain that there are intentionally harmful racial comments that are made with malice, and racial comments that are made in ignorance.  Although neither of these should be considered acceptable, and they both probably warrant a reply, the requisite responses might need to differ.

Statements that are made because one is ignorant and unenlightened obviously have the same effect, yet have less gravity than a statement meant to harm by some one who is rude and insensitive.  Here are a couple of examples:

Statement A: During a business meeting your customer talked about safety in the area that his business is located. He says with a smile… “They say that one of your brothers pulled off the robbery of that fast food joint down the street last night.”

Statement B:  During a dinner entertainment session, your buyer indicates she needs to terminate a Hispanic employee “who is still wet from the swim across because of the new immigration laws.”

Both statements are offensive, and both deserve a response.  Which statement is, in your view, is the most racially charged?  How would you react to each of these?

Always be calculated in your response and consider the intent.  I will discuss how I would respond in a moment.  First I want to acquaint you with a personal situation and how I handled it.

A Personal Example

When I was in sales, many of my customers were owners of trucking companies.  This industry, like many others has people that say what is on their mind, and sometimes what is on their mind can be disparaging.  In the instance that I am about to cite, I definitely responded incorrectly the first time, by not responding.  When the second time came around, I think I definitely handled it in the correct manner.

I was on a call basically to deliver policies to the account and we got involved in a conversation about a driver who had generated a lower back workers compensation claim.  Everyone knows that lower back claims can be subjective, and tend to linger for long periods.

During the call my customer indicated that we should investigate the claim of Ben T.  He stated that he had reason to believe that Ben was malingering, and it was our job to get to the root of it and make sure that the claim was compensable, and that payments should be stopped until we knew for sure.  He then said, “You have a good work ethic, and I wish all of your people had that same work ethic.”

I was a 26 year old sales professional and initially, my response was to say nothing other than that I would check it out.  I thought I needed the client, and needed my money.  I realized within minutes that my response was wrong.  It kept me up at night for a little bit, and relived it several times.

When I returned to the customer location the following week, I explained to him the situation behind the back claim.  This individual was going to undergo surgery and his claim was legitimate to our people.  I then sat with him, looked him in the eye and said, “Respectfully Bob, I take offense to your comments last week about Ben T. and work ethic.”  He developed a puzzled look and quickly said, “I did not mean to offend you Michael.”  I then advised the following, “I know you did not mean to offend me, as we speak openly, yet you offended a whole community of people, of which I am one.  It would have been the same as if I said that you are special, but most of your people are drunkards (Bob was Irish).”

A light bulb went on in Bob’s head.  I could see it happen… enlightenment, that is.  Bob said, “Point taken, but we Irish like to drink!”  I quickly responded, “You do get my point, don’t you?”  We smiled and completed the meeting.

Back to Our Questions

Well, both situations are enough to of these statements are bothersome, and unfortunately situations like this happen in the workplace frequently.

Regarding Statement A:  This is the least charged, as this person is attempting to refer to a felon as a ‘brother’ presumably because we often call Black people ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’.  It should not have been said but you would not have to use a nuclear bomb on this one.  Your response should be simple and professional, “Respectfully, no one who would do that is a brother of mine.”  Remember, this is a customer.

Regarding Statement B: This is a racially charged statement.  You might hesitate to respond to it, yet the races are interchangeable in this case.  If you do not respond, I suppose you would be waiting until this customer got around to taking a ‘shot’ at African Americans  next.  An improper remark against any group or religion is an attack on your diversity.  Your response should be professional and impactful.  Something like, “Kristin, honestly I take offense to that statement.”  She knows it was wrong and if she is worth her salt she will not make another one like it.

Recognize your principals.  I am not saying that you should not work with a customer as much as you need to be true to yourself.

Always be true to yourself.  Always be the professional.

Your comments are appreciated.