Colin Pearce's Blog

Success in business seems simple enough. You need a larger than life personality – or seeing that most people have had their personality surgically extracted – you need a sales system.

A larger than life personality works
Take the Angeletti brothers for instance. Ric is the Hotel Ambassador at the Hindley Hotel Grand Chancellor and Marco is the Hotel Ambassador at the Sebel Playford around the corner. They are given that title instead of "concierge" because they are much more than concierges. The are as mad as meat axes. 

Attracting attention is easy if you're Ric or Marco
I dropped into the Sebel yesterday and there's Marco with the fire extinguisher putting out an engine fire in a taxi. He's shouting at the top of his voice, "Whoo-eee! Been here 8 years and this is the first time I get to use the fire extinguisher. Look at 'er go." He then sprays the office block next door. "Look how high up  she goes. I feel like a 10 year old boy in the school toilet. Might as well wash the neighbour's windows while I'm here." Then he turns to the crowd that has gathered to admire his performance. "Anyone get that on camera?" That's a larger than life personality but that's probably not you, so you need a sales system.

A sales system works
You will agree that most people in sales have the personality of a back door knob and can't think for themselves so you have to give them a system. They need a phone system for example, exactly the right things to say on the phone when a sales enquiry comes in. And don't tell me you haven't told them exactly what to say. Please don't. I like you too much to find out you're that stupid. OK I'm sorry. That was mean. You can tell me and I'll welcome you with loving open arms because that's MY system.

Sending customers away is easy if you don't have a system
If you're ever diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea (like I was this month) may the Lord have mercy on your soul while you try to get someone to sell you a machine to manage it. I rang five companies to get someone to look after me and four of the phone answerers needed to be on the machine themselves.Talk about being asleep at the wheel. Now these machines are in the range of $2000 each so it's not like selling hot dogs at the footy where you can be as dopey as you like and people will still buy because they are up for a treat regardless.

Gruff. Arrogant. Dismissive. Uncaring. Self Seeking. No love, no manners, no charm, no arousing in me the desire to buy. 

And yet they'll be at a Barbecue tomorrow complaining that the government and the foreigners and the American banks and the terrorists are ruining the economy and it will not dawn on one of them that they are causing their own recession.

Stephanie Whelan at Respironics won me in one second though and today her company is $2000 better off. Why? She used a system that talked about me: the nicest guy in the world the centre of the universe, the only person I think about from dawn till dusk - just like all of your callers – we're the blokes and blokesses  who pay the wages.

If you don't have a sales system for phone and interview, call me. That's what I have done for a living for 30 years and I'm very good at it – and you're probably very good at something else.