Black Sales Journal

We all have situations that demand it, and we all know the perils of not doing it.  Regardless, many sales professionals are still not adept, or consistent with their follow-up.  This is not a long topic, but it is an important one. Many professionals, sales and otherwise, do not do proper follow-up after a sales call.  This is true of a prospecting follow-up, sales call follow-up, presentation follow-up, or any other type. After doing the hard work of prospecting, a sales professional will then risk negating that work by not doing timely and well thought out follow-up. When I speak of this, I speak of the perfunctory sales calls as well as the questions that come up following any of the types of calls above.

Two Examples of Proper Usage

Follow-up, when done properly, can create the necessary evidence of professionalism.  Remember, if you don’t follow-up, the professional that consistently communicates like this will stand out.

Following the initial visit

This one requires a quick, almost instant response to the buyer.  I would say that you should do it within two days or less.  This is your chance to say how much you appreciated the buyer’s time as well as the opportunity to work with him or her.  I would keep it short and sensible. If during the visit you came away with a listing of “to do” items, or some other things to check on, don’t hold the correspondence until you get them done.  They can be fodder for another note.  The key is to let the customer know that you are looking forward to providing solutions.  Here is some simple wording: “Mr. Buyer, I appreciate the time you have taken to show me your operation and explain your (packaging, telecommunications, insurance, transportation, etc) needs to me.  I look forward to our meeting as we agreed on Monday, September 1st to share the proposal with you.  If you have any questions or concerns prior to that, please contact me. Sincerely, Sales Professional” Remember why you are composing this note.  You want to make sure that he recognizes that you appreciate his or her time.  You also want to make sure that you reinforce the proposal date, and that if there are any changes or concerns that he or she touches base with you. You could put together an epic memo, yet the idea is to make sure that you reinforce the meeting and your appreciation.

Following a Proposal

This one is very important.  If a buyer is getting four proposals, then there are four different sales professionals, attempting to make their mark with him.  They may even be getting more than four proposals and then your initial call may be less memorable. Your goal is to have the customer to remember the importance of working with a true sales professional (you), along with some of the most important features and benefits of your product and your company.  Here is your chance to list the most important points succinctly so that they can be remembered. Here is an example: “Mr. Buyer, thanks for the opportunity to show you what ABC Company can do for your organization. We are prepared to begin supplying your 14 Eastern State division with cartons if we are selected, and will begin the process of quoting your Southern division with the information you supplied to us. Please keep these important points in mind:

• We are a nation-wide organization – able to supply all 5 divisions, coast-to-coast.
• Our “Flex” Pricing Program will deliver the lowest costs overall for cartons regardless of the volume in any particular division
• Our just-in-time delivery will save you 6% in inventory costs

I look forward to working with you, and I will use my 18 years of packaging experience to keep your packaging program “state of the art.”  Do not hesitate to call if there are questions regarding our proposal. Sincerely, Sales Professional” Notice here supporting the features with some bullets just to reinforce your sales points and getting a final shot in about yourself.

Degrees of Formality

Effective letter writing is essentially a lost art out there, but there are times when you should consider it.  If you make an election to write someone an email follow-up note, follow the same rules that a letter would follow:

• Keep it short and to the point
• Know and respect your level of familiarity with the customer/buyer
• Always be professional

If you are awarded the business, which is the “grand prize” then I think you proceed to use the fine stationary or card to send a personal note of appreciation.  You might want to take a look at Black Sales Journal 2/3/2011 Make Yourself Memorable to explore this.  It carries a significant amount of power and effectiveness. The follow-up letter is a useful tool to keep close during the sales process.  Don’t let someone forget you, and don’t be overshadowed in the sales process. Your comments are always welcome.

Racial perceptions can be menacing.  We should all be viewed as individuals.  Changing racial perceptions can be even more menacing as you don’t know what experiences a customer, or an employer has had.  But… you can change perceptions, over time, in an effective way with this simple tactic.

__________

The role of any sales professional is challenging, even sometimes difficult.  It is a role that comes with many contrasts for those who are Black.  The perceptions that I am speaking of are racial perceptions, and they are a reality (because perceptions are reality) until they meet someone who starts to change them.  These contrasts paint a picture that does not always work favorably for a Black professional.

The number of Black sales professionals is not representative of the number of Blacks in the workforce.  Some of this was touched on in Black Sales Journal 1/31/11 – Why are There So Few Blacks in Sales?, yet there are so many reasons.  There is one main reason:

There are perceptions regarding whether white (or other) buyers would widely accept Black professionals in roles that have strong fiduciary and/or consultative roles as many sales professionals face.

It is difficult to recognize how many Black sales professionals leave their position before achieving their goals because they are not given an opportunity to show their worth.

Why am I Calling it Easy?

There is simplicity to changing perceptions. It involves a set of basic activities on the part of a large majority of the Black sales professionals and other Black employees that are in the market place.  It does not require a revolution of any kind, and will gradually work to change the perceptions of so many in a positive way.

Note the following statement:

Each Black sales professional or other Black employee must ‘represent’ correctly…being the consummate professional showing exemplary performance in all aspects of manners, skills, and personal interactions.  Being responsive beyond all others, and respectful of one’s time and efforts.

If that is done, we will be well ahead of the game.  As a matter of fact, if 80% of the Black professionals did this, we begin to slowly change perceptions.  There is no doubt about it.  This would be a game changer that would show the professionalism that a few bad performers could not tarnish.

There are many that will object to my premise.  I understand some of their concerns.  They will say “Why should I change anything when others in the majority do not necessarily change anything!”  My response is simple “If it is what you need to do to be successful and make the living for yourself, and your family, it is worth the consideration, you should consider it.”  If we do that, we also change perceptions.

There are times when you do all that is right and still don’t get the credit for “doing the right thing.”  Here is an example of what happens when you do the right thing, yet are subject to perceptions.

Perceptions – An Example from My Past

This is an incident that I cited once before.  I was a sales representative for a major insurance company in commercial business sales.  I was young, and thought that I was on track to get somewhere, yet nothing was assured.

I was at a sales meeting, and was sitting at a table with the Divisional Sr. Vice President, who was someone that I had only seen a picture of him in company publications.  I don’t know why he sat at our table, yet we were all exhibiting our best manners.

During a lull in the meeting a sales associate of mine, who happened to be Black as well (there were 3 of us out of 62 sales professionals) began to criticize one of the local college basketball coaches.  He was a venerable older coach who was not winning the big one but was respectable.

The SVP listened to us from behind his newspaper, and then slammed his had down on the table and said, “How dare you criticize him.  One day you will be judged on your record, just like him, and you should hope you stand up to the criticism.” He went on to say, “If you two would stop reading the sports pages, and read the financial pages, one day maybe you will amount to something.”

I wanted to be rude in my response, but was calculated.  It is unfortunate that someone is “judged” like that.  He did not know either of us.

To this day, there is nothing that has ever infuriated me like that comment.  He did not know, but I was reading a lot more than the financial pages.  Whether I did, or did not, it was not his business.  We were merely having a conversation within his earshot.  What is larger than that was the perception that we were absorbed in the sports pages, which was something that I seldom read, or read now.

He made that assumption based on his perception, and how categorically wrong it was.  Needless to say, he was long retired before I was moved up in to a senior and executive management role, yet I have often relived how I should have reacted to him.  When I reached and exceeded that level, I made sure that I respected our young professionals regardless of color and gave good constructive counsel without inserting my view of what they “must” be like.

Changing the View

You will not know how someone perceives you based on experiences and situations in their life.  What you can do is to put your best foot forward, giving them the view of a professional who is prepared for the opportunity.  We have discussed this type of professional many times in Black Sales Journal (Black Sales Journal 3/7/11- Be The Consummate Professional).

You change the landscape by being the professional that you ultimately are.  You show that race and color have nothing to do with being a solid professional, and that you might have more pigmentation, yet the result will be the same or better.

Your comments are welcome.