Quit talking about Southwestern!

Go to their world!  Give them examples of what working with Southwestern is like in terms and contexts they can relate to.

Help them understand that Southwestern is just another arena not unlike what they’ve already experienced in their lives.  Examples:

• Working in the Southwestern program is like asking someone out…it’s scary at first but once you make the call, it gets easier.
• Remember your transition to college from high school?  What was it like?  How did you do it?  Southwestern is a lot like that–it’s a little intimidating at first, but you figure it out.
• Think about your first big regional swim meet (or track or volleyball or golf).  How did you cope?  How did you feel?  How did you sort it out and compete?  How did you prepare?

I’d ask questions to discover their context, then go there to explain Southwestern.  I am a swimmer, so it would be smart to build my confidence in a competitive swimming context.  Questions like, “How did you get better and more confident as a swimmer?”  Response: “I listened to the coach.  I practiced a lot.  I paid my dues in the pool.  I worked on my stroke and technique.”  Student Manager: “Perfect.  Same principles apply at Southwestern.  You do those things at Southwestern, and you’ll be awesome.”

Hmmm.  I don’t know anything about selling, but I do know swimming.  Confidence growing!

Whatever level of fear they’re feeling regarding Southwestern is OK.

What they’re feeling is normal.  You don’t want to say, “Wow.  There’s nothing to be afraid of, Bob, I can’t believe you’re such a wuss.”  Just acknowledge their trepidation, and tell them it’s normal–it’s OK to be a little hesitant.  In fact, you felt the same way at first!  Share your story.  Your goal is to 1) go to their world, 2) acknowledge and affirm their feelings, and 3) build them up in terms of what they know.

Why waste time re-explaining what Southwestern is like?  Why not explain it in terms of what they can relate to?  This is a great way to build a team member’s confidence, reassure them, and insure that they will be a part of your Southwestern team!

“…we’ve all seen groups of supposedly smart people who just can’t work well together. That’s because, according to recent research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, and Union College, raw smarts doesn’t have much to do with team performance.

The researchers placed nearly 700 people into groups of between two and five, then gave them problems to solve, such as visual puzzles, games, negotiations, and logical analysis. Here’s what they found:  

• Individual smarts doesn’t affect performance. The average intelligence of team members wasn’t related to team performance. So if you’ve got a team that’s struggling, putting a couple of really smart people on it isn’t going to help.

• EQ–emotional intelligence– is more important than IQ. Good communication and good coordination make teams function well. To get that, you need people who are good at reading and responding to other peoples’ emotions. Teams that included even one person with superior skills in this regard had better performance.
• A ’strong’ personality hurts performance. Groups where one person dominated the conversation or the decision-making, or where people didn’t do as well taking turns, had worse performance. This correlates well with other research that shows ’stronger’ leaders are often less effective than those who perceive themselves to be less powerful.

The Key to Creating “Emotionally Intelligent” Teams

The researchers found one fairly simple answer: Add women.

Women are often perceived to be more socially sensitive, and more communally-minded, than men. To the extent that’s true, it’s easy to see how it could be helpful in a team context. And in the experiments, the researchers found that teams that included women were more socially-sensitive, and better performing, than then all-male teams. (No word on the performance of all-female teams. I’ve reached out to the researchers about that, and will update if I hear back.)

In business, it’s not always easy to change the composition of a team, and just because a team is all-male shouldn’t give it license to be socially inept. Writing for Psychology Today, Heidi Grant Halvorson suggests a number of ways any team can become more socially aware, and therefore, higher performing:

Create opportunities for team members to express their feelings, and for others to respond to them.   Encourage face-time whenever possible (emotions are difficult to read on the phone, and nearly impossible over email).  Cultivating a work environment where team members experiences are acknowledged and understood will create teams that are smarter, happier, and far more successful.”

Wow.  Do you have a number of smart, high I.Q. people on your sales team?  Is it 100% male?  Hmmm.  Let me know your thoughts or experiences on this.  We all want productive, high-functioning Southwestern teams–this is something to think about!

1. Desire for gain (usually financial)
2. Fear of loss (money, power, respect)
3. Comfort and/or convenience
4. Security and protection
5. Pride of ownership
6. Ego satisfaction 

Now think about recruiting people to Southwestern.  Which of the above emotional triggers do you employ?  Probably the first two play a big role in whether or not someone you know joins your team or not.  Think about it: desire for gain, in terms of money, personal growth, experience, resume, college credit—all play a big part of our offering. 

Now look at #2, fear of loss.  This may be key to your friend NOT joining Southwestern!  His or her friends or parents may be employing fear of losing money or respect against you.  (“I can’t believe you’re thinking of selling door-to-door!”)   How can you sell them on the desire for gain outweighing the fear of loss?  Perhaps you can even discuss how NOT selling books might hurt them later in a career interview by having nothing notable on their resume (fear of loss).  You could paint a picture of what it might be like without Southwestern experience to draw from in an interview setting. 

You could also sell #4—security and protection to your advantage.  Southwestern provides future security if they’re willing to suck it up now and work with you.  If they work with you now, their future ability to have a job and excel are almost guaranteed.  If your friend pays the price now, his/her earning potential and future career trajectory increase dramatically, leading to future comfort and options (see #3). 

There’s nothing manipulative about using these emotional triggers in making a sale.  It is simply a matter of understanding how people make decisions.  Customers will buy using emotion whether or not you sell this way or not.  You can bomb them with logic, but their emotional undercurrent is the guiding factor in their decision.

How can you use these emotional reasons more effectively in your presentations?  Are there new and different ways you can present your product or service?  Comments are welcome–even from non-Southwestern readers!  

In earlier blogs, we’ve established the fact that fear is what keeps many a potential Southwestern team member from joining you on the bookfield.  What do you do to build a team member’s confidence?    I’d suggest there are a few ways to build rookie confidence and solidify your team.

1. Remind them they should have confidence in Southwestern’s longevity.  Southwestern is an established company; we are no longer looking for guinea pigs to test out the program.  The training program works!
2. Remind them they should have confidence in the product.  Redemo the books!
3. Remind them they should have confidence in you, their manager.  Remind them of your feats on the field.
4. Remind them they should have confidence in themselves!  Then review their past accomplishments.

Be sure to tie your confidence to their past results, and be specific.  It’s not effective to make broad, bland statements, like, “John, you’ll do really well this summer because you’re a great guy.”  A more specific confidence-builder might be: “John, your playing football in high school gives me confidence you’ll be successful with Southwestern.  You have self-discipline and you understand and thrive on competition.  Also, this tells me you’re a team player.  Your background in sports is a great foundation for working with Southwestern.  There are a lot of parallels.”

Another way to build confidence is to have other people reinforce their decision to work with Southwestern.

Many of you have other student managers call new first years and congratulate them on their decision.  Smart.  They are usually getting plenty of negative feedback from friends and parents–why not give them a dose of positive influence from fellow student managers?  A quick phone call goes a long way.

Finally, let me reinforce the idea of having your new team members sit through additional info session(s). I know they’ve already been selected, but people forget the facts–the facts are what excited them initially about Southwestern!  Encourage them to attend your info session again (the more the merrier: we used to see who could sit through the most infos on campus–they showed up in Sales School BTW).  One additional info session = 3 PCs!  You can either sit and talk to them for hours about why this is great or get them to attend what got them fired up in the first place!  Your call.

This last idea is big.  I’ve been on many campuses where this is not a practice–be sure you have everyone sit through additional info sessions and you’ll be a more successful student manager.  I know many of you have ideas about building someone’s confidence.  Share them here.  I’ll blog on this Southwestern recruiting topic some more; stay tuned.

Southwestern Company Sales Talk

As the gatekeeper for Southwestern Company, I get lots of random sales pitches and marketing promotions at work.  This may be a bit of a stretch for a sales blog, but here is a real email promotion we received recently at The Southwestern Company.  I include the sales pitch in its entirety for full effect:

“how are you? we are in Shanghai, China. We are a printing company and can print the following:

gift box

stickers

catalogue

leaflets

…”

That was it.  Not a very good intro or catchy attention-getting opener; not a huge finish or action step–heck, not even a “thank you for considering us…”.  Just a list of what they do.  Presumably.  The ellipsis at the end, while dramatic, was ineffective as a closing remark.  The gripping subject line of the marketing promo?  “glad to write to you” Really?

While I’ll assume there may have been some language barrier/translation issues, here are a few tips to making a better first impression.

1. Know your prospect and tailor the message a bit.
2. Make your offering interesting–the best close is a great demo.
3. Provide contact information.  People who want business should make it easy for buyers to find them!
4. Avoid spamming as a prospecting method.  You won’t have any friends, and even fewer customers.

Just thought I’d share.  Now I’ll go adjust my spam filter.  Have you seen anything as impactful as this?  Comments/experiences welcome.

Hey Southwestern Company Recruiters!  Ever had one of those info sessions when the energy in the room just fizzled?  You full-timers, have you called on Southwestern Company Student Managers at the conclusion of your info session who delivered gripping testimonials, like: “I really learned a ton.  About people.”

Wow.  That makes me want to join!

Most student manager responses to ”What did you gain from the program?”  Or, “what did you appreciate most about your experience?”, are lame.  “Uh…I learned a lot about communication skills…”.  Open a window!  These kind of bland statements don’t deliver the kind of message you want as you wrap your explanation of the program.

So here’s a little formula that works.  When the person conducting the info session asks, “_______, what did you gain from your first summer?”,  here’s how I’d suggest you answer:

1)  “Well, what scared me most was…(then relate one of your fears to what the first years in the room are probably feeling).  Example: “leaving home for the first time” or “not having a guaranteed salary.”

2)  “But what gave me confidence was…(then relate a confidence-builder).  Example: “I felt like if they could teach 2500 other college students to do this every year since the Civil War, they could teach me.”  Choose your own.

3)  “But what I gained/learned was…(then answer the original question–be specific and forceful!)  Example: “I really came home with more self-confidence–confidence to present in class, confidence to ask someone out, even confidence to become an officer in my fraternity.”  Develop your own answers, but be sure they involve some feeling and conviction!  You’ll know you’re giving a good testimonial when you see the prospects nodding their heads in agreement.

Give this a try.  You’ll find your closing percentage just might go up.  Do you have good info session finishers?  How does your org do this?  Please share with us at Southwestern Company!

Every one of us in our life has areas in which we want to improve.  We may want to get better at patience, perseverance, emotional consistency, discipline, avoiding procrastination, staying organized, self esteem, or a whole host of other things.  The most common mistake we make along this journey towards self improvement is trying to attack these problems without any battle plan.  It takes focused, targeted, repeated efforts that directly attack our weakness.  So what does this look like?

If you want to get better at a “skill” (basketball, pool, etc) you need practice.  If you want to get better at a certain “mental skill” it becomes a little harder, but there are four main steps to do it.

1)      Identify exactly what you want to get better at

2)      Identify your triggers

3)      Come up with a specific plan for the moment these trigger points occur

4)      Read over your plan DAILY

Triggers

So what does it mean to identify your “triggers”?  Well, let me give you an example.  In 2006 I discovered that I really did not like criticism.  I felt attacked and instantly became defensive.  I think most of us can relate to this, but it is a mental barrier that hinders growth. In this case the “trigger” is obvious, criticism. In other cases you may have to dig deeper.  If you are prone to spurts of low self esteem, take a half hour to write out as many things as you can think of that have a tendency to “trigger” this initial downward slide.  Identifying our triggers is a HUGE step required to understand ourselves better and grow.  You can do this with any area in your life you want to improve in.  What “causes” you to slip up in this area?

Make a Plan

When I first wanted to improve in taking criticism I decided that when I felt that anger boiling up inside of me I was tempted to respond defensively to take 10 seconds and not say anything.  I just nodded and tried to think about it analytically.  Were they right in what they were saying?  Do I need to get better at what they had just brought up?  The funny thing is that I often found that they were!  Just by taking 10 seconds to evaluate what they were telling me instead of defending myself, I saved an argument and got lots of great advice.  If I thought they were wrong after thinking about it, instead of defending myself, I simply said, “I am not sure I agree with that, but I want to be open minded.  Let me think more about it tonight when I am not tempted to defend myself and I will probably realize you are right.”  Often times, after thinking about it more, they were right again!  And if not, I saved getting into an argument that neither of us was going to win anyway.

So come up with your plan.

Write down how you are going to deal with every “trigger” on that list.  If you don’t know how to; ask for advice. Compile a plan for EVERY SINGLE TRIGGER.  You will be amazed how empowering this feels.  You finally have a plan!

Read it every day

You plan is worthless if you forget to execute it.  By reading through your plan every morning you cement it in your brain.  Then when a situation arises that used to bring out the worst in you, your plan immediately comes to the surface.

Following these four steps will have a dramatic impact on your weaknesses.  Continue to get better day by day as a person and you will eventually be amazing at whatever you do, whether it is sales or anything else.  With a plan, life becomes a lot more fun and less stressful!

Make a Plan to Win the Battle of Life

As a biological engineering major, my possible summer internships options were pretty slim.  Every company I contacted wanted me to have some experience in the field before they would even consider interviewing me.  Sadly my four years of lifeguarding wasn’t impressive to them, so I faced a lot of rejection whenever I applied.  “How am I supposed to have experience as a freshman?” I would often ask my roommates.  They too had impressive resumes built on years of dedicated work in the food service industry, so they offered little help.    My assigned college counselor offered me more and more engineering firms to contact, and I applied to all of them only to hear the same response time after time.  “Try again when you are a junior or senior” became a popular expression around my dorm room. 

Then I made one of the best decisions a college freshman can make.   I applied for internships outside of my major and a whole new world of opportunity opened up!  There are lots of opportunities to students willing to try something new and different.  I looked at sales internships, investment companies, entrepreneurship opportunities, and many others.  I ended up getting a challenging job where I would run my own business for the summer.  After completing the summer, I found that my skills I had gained during the summer were priceless.  I now had engineering firms seeking me out and contacting me for jobs!  They saw my engineering knowledge combined with the sales skills I had learned from my internship, to be highly sought after and worthy of their time.

So to all underclassmen who have a lack of experience, but are ambitious enough to search for an internship look outside of your major this summer.  There are great jobs, even careers that have been started by students who took a chance and tried something different.  But beyond all else, you only get four summers in college (or five if you are on the hard partying course plan) please make the most of them.  It is never too early to start get ahead in life.

Fear.

Fear of failure.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of being ridiculed by friends.  Fear of selling.  Fear of making a bad decision.

Make no mistake: our Southwestern Internship program is not for everyone.  (Read that again.)  But, having said that, many students who attend an info session know the Southwestern Internship would be a great summer option.  What can we do to help students do what they know they want to do?

First off, we can’t get sidetracked by answering mini-objections one-by-one.  We need to address the core issue for students, and that’s fear.  You can spend a lot of time comparing this opportunity to another job, convincing them that summer school won’t set them apart, trying to show them that working for their uncle on the ranch isn’t their best option…in other words, you can work on them logically until they agree with you, and they still won’t join your team.

I remember one student I was attempting to close.  He was bright, a great guy.  What objection did he give me?  The profit margin objection!  He said, “I just wouldn’t feel right making 40% commission–that’s too big a markup on the product.”  I remembered he worked at Pizza Hut and asked him how much the ingredients cost to make a $15 pizza.  “A couple bucks,” he replied.  We looked at each other.  He swallowed.  Trapped.  Good news: I won the debate–his profit margin was much higher on the pizzas, and somehow he justified working there.  Bad news: he never sold with me. 

I won the battle and lost the war.

I didn’t address the underlying issue: fear.  I should’ve almost ignored his “moral” profit margin objection and talked with him about the real problem–his fear of failure.  Here are a few questions that should be running in your mental background as you attempt to sell someone on joining your team:

• what can I do to give this person confidence?
• what is their frame of reference? (eg., can I use a sports analogy?)
• how can I discover their unspoken fears/reluctance?
• what objection can I answer in advance?
• how can I help them emotionally realize this is best for them?

If we put time and energy dealing with their fears, we will help them and, as a bonus, they will work with us.  How do you build peoples’ confidence?  What do you share with them to deal with their fears?  I welcome your comments.

This is all captured on tape.  But as soon as the ornament breaks, my brother turns to the camera and screams, “Haley did it!”

The video pans to me in my footie pajamas, minding my own business on the floor.  Not being very productive, but definitely not dropping ornaments from 6 feet above.  For my 4 year old brother, his diversion of blame was quite clever, even cute.  But to divert blame as an in independent adult – not so cute.   A waste of energy, more like it.  

We, and we alone, are 100% responsible for our own lives.  (Remember that from Southwestern’s Sales School?)  We are the ones who should take the blame for the status of our grades, the quality of our relationships, the state of our health, our careers … everything!

And when it comes to selling, and specifically, to recruiting… every result, every output – is your responsibility.  Is everything that happens completely under your control?  Ha, we wish.  But how you respond to those circumstances absolutely is.  It’s not someone else’s’ responsibility to recruit a 10-man team for you, or collect a pool of hot prospects, or get you an A in Philosophy, or make you magically feel fulfilled in the process.   Nor is it anyone’s fault if you fail to do any of these things.  There’s no one coming to the rescue… but YOU.

And once we accept this responsibility, and hold ourselves accountable for every aspect of our lives – we can much more effectively create our experiences to be the way we want them to be.    Blaming “bad PR”, or “jerky people”, or crummy facilities – doesn’t do us one bit of good.   Instead, use that energy to pick up the pieces, and proactively work to create the results you want.    You know what you want to accomplish this year, and you know what it’s going to take to get you there.  Accept that it’s your responsibility to get there, and decided that you ARE going to get there, no matter what crazy stuff happens in between.  Thoughts?  Please comment!