This is a problem we hear quite a bit from the sales representatives and managers with whom we work. The first question we ask in return is, “Why?”

Are they just generally a hostile person? Or did someone, such as a competitor, cause (or contribute to) an issue that made them hostile? Or did you/your company do something to make them hostile?

The answer determines your strategy.

Some people are just hostile!

I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it’s a class taught in purchasing school: How to Be Hostile to Your Sales Rep 101. The key is to not take it personally, especially from someone who is generally hostile, since this has nothing to do with you. They are either just this way or someone helped them to become this way. In either case, it has nothing to do with you. To the extent you allow yourself to become defensive, you then risk becoming emotional, and the hostility will feed on itself. We have found the best way to combat this is to do two things:

Take the higher road and don’t engage in like behavior. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Be the consummate professional and stick to the facts/data. Dealing with data generally allows the conversation to be less emotional and provides a path – the numbers – for finding common ground and agreement.

Ask a lot of open-ended questions and allow them the catharsis they need in order to, in effect, “get it all out of their system.” That way you can move on to other more productive discussions.

Someone (perhaps your competition for all you know) helped contribute to their hostile attitude!

I am always the first one to say that people can’t make people “feel” a certain way. While that generally is true, they can “contribute” to them feeling a certain way. The key with this situation is to seek to understand the who/what/when/where/how and why of the person(s) or situation(s) that helped foster this hostility.

In the course of building trust and rapport – where you are finding out about the decision makers, decision-making processes and buying criteria – find out what situations occurred in the past, with whom, why and how the impacts were felt.

Once you uncover the “causes” of this hostility, empathize with the person. I’m not saying sympathize. Rather, empathize. Seek to understand and acknowledge (not necessarily agree with) what happened. This is why empathy is the #1 desired skill of sales people. Empathy enables alignment, which leads to likability (we all like people who are like us) which leads to the sharing of information, teamwork and a relationship that allows for give and take. This, ultimately, translates into sales.

What if you or your company contributed to this hostility?

Oftentimes, you or your company contributed to a buyer’s hostility. Dealing with that is much like dealing with an objection in general:

• Remain unemotional. Don’t become defensive. Focus on the facts/data.
• Take responsibility for what you/your company did wrong that contributed to this feeling.
• Ask a lot of open-ended questions to fully understand how the situation affected them personally and the company overall, and what (if any) fallout occurred.
• Empathize with them.
• Present new information. If you were contributory, what did you/your company put in place to rectify the situation? If you were not contributory, what should you/your company and they put in place to rectify the situation? To the extent possible, position this as a shared responsibility, making the solution partner-centric.
• Prove how the solution will fix the situation. If you already have put a solution in place, walk them through it in detail and ask for their feedback on the approach. What do they like, dislike, or think should be added? If you have not already put a solution in place, suggest some ideas and indicate you’d like them to be a part of the solution (again, shared responsibility). If this is impossible, use another example of a similar situation – with impacts similar to theirs – where you initiated a solution. Describe what it was and how it helped and, ideally, include a customer testimonial or letter of reference stating how the problem was resolved.
• Close them on next steps – theirs, yours and shared – and develop a timeframe for checkups to ensure the solution has fully addressed the problem.

Then, once time has passed and the solution has worked, go back and ask for a recap and testimonial letter discussing how the process worked from their perspective. You will need this for your next hostile buyer!

Brian

But there are, indeed, times it makes good strategic sense for a rep to terminate a sales cycle, cut losses (or potential losses) and turn their attention to other opportunities.

That would include at least three circumstances I can think of.

If it’s a certainty you have no chance at winning the business.

Of the three scenarios, this one should seem like the most obvious. Perhaps you know from your analysis that the prospect is going to purchase based exclusively on price, and your two competitors in the deal are the two organizations that have repeatedly and consistently undercut your prices by 50% or more. History has demonstrated you have no reasonable chance of winning this business. To continue to stay engaged here would be folly.

If there’s a good chance you’re not going to win the business

This one is a little trickier. Maybe, if all of the stars are perfectly aligned, there will somehow be a chance you could win the deal. But more likely, in a case like this, you’ve gotten some clues along the way:

• The prospect refuses to let your team present first, if that’s what you requested, or last, if that was the case.
• The prospect has been reluctant to provide critical information that you’ve requested during the sales cycle, information that will make the difference in whether or not you’re able to effectively demo or present.
• You’re being set up as “column fodder.” In other words, it seems pretty clear the prospect has a favorite, but was nevertheless required to secure some competitive quotes or demonstrations as part of an RFP or evaluation process. It’s not a certainty you’ll lose, but it’s a better than even chance.
• Your product or service has a critical comparative deficiency that hasn’t come to light yet, but probably will once the solutions are compared side by side. This is no time for an assumption; if there’s a chance you’re wrong — about the flaw or its overall importance to the solution — remain engaged. But if there’s not that chance, face reality.

Now, you may be wondering if it wouldn’t be better to have a partial chance at winning something than a 100% certainty of winning nothing. And that would be true, if potential revenue was the only variable in the equation. But cost of sale and overall account profitability and satisfaction are key metrics, too, and management may occasionally have to call the ball in a situation where the rep is unwilling or unable to do so.

If you don’t want to win the business

If you have determined you’ve got a good chance to win, why in the world, you might ask, would you not want to win?

Perhaps it’s become clear the account will not be profitable. Perhaps the prospect has demonstrated a tendency to be so high maintenance that winning the business is just going to present problems down the road. Perhaps you’ve realized, even if they haven’t, that your solution/team/price isn’t going to be a good fit over the long run. Whatever the case, it’s better to extricate yourself now than to walk down the aisle and need to separate later.

For obvious reasons, winning is critically important in sales, and even in situations like those above, careful consideration is critical before standing down.

But in those certain situations, biting the bullet and taking matters into your own hands can be the best answer.

Mike

Why qualify your accounts? You only have so much time, so who you choose to spend your time with will have a significant impact on your sales results. If you choose to spend your time with accounts that drive your close rates, sales and income upwards, then you see greater results.

How to qualify an account? Start by asking strategic questions within your sales process. What are these questions? It depends.

What is the profile of a qualified account? For each sales professional it is different. Sure, there are some commonalities. For example, regardless of industry, a qualified account must be able to pay for your service or product and meet your terms, as you must meet theirs. But, items such as support levels, training expectations, alignment between their needs and your product and service benefits, willingness to make changes / decisions, needing to meet with the decision maker(s), etc., are all examples of what may be different in a qualified account from one sales professional to another.

Examples of some good general qualifying account questions:

• What experiences have you had with products or services such as ours?
• Will I be allowed to meet with all of the decision makers?
• Will I be allowed to meet with all those whom my product or service will impact?
• How do you hope my product or service will help?
• What is your budget for choosing a supplier / vendor?
• What criteria will you use in making a decision?
• What is most important to you in evaluating our product or service?
• How soon do you look to make a decision and/or be utilizing our product or service?
• What level of resources do you have to ensure an efficient implementation?
• Who else are you considering for this purchase / project / service?

Time can be a sales professional’s friend or foe. Make time your friend by spending time with qualified accounts. Not only will this help you increase sales results (meeting your Business Plan objectives), but it will build a happier account base, which will be more likely to stay loyal to you and your company and provide testimonials and referrals.

Dan

After 20 years in sales and sales management – the last 10 as a business owner working with other business owners helping them build better sales forces – I can tell you this is perhaps the most accurate statement I’ve ever heard.

I can trace my happiness, or disappointment, directly back to hiring decisions I’ve made.

As a result, I’ve learned from my bad decisions and honed my tactics and strategy to focus on hiring only the best. Here are some rules I’ve learned from my good and the bad experiences and the questions I ask to uncover the best and shed the worst.

Rule #1 – Always be recruiting!

The best time to recruit and make good hiring decisions is when you don’t “need” someone. When you “need” someone rather than “want” someone, your decision criteria is skewed and there is a greater likelihood of you rationalizing a bad hire. Focus on constantly upgrading, not filling, and you will hire better!

Rule #2 – Hire based on talent, not experience.

This is the number one mistake I see managers / owners make. While past performance is a good indicator of future performance, it’s only ONE indicator and things change. You need to find out what changes occurred over their career and where they are right now, as you are interviewing them!

Rule #3 – Owners should take direct responsibility for hiring.

This is not something to delegate. It’s your company, your culture, your staff. Do not delegate the most important decisions to subordinates.

Rule #4 – Ask really good questions.

What types of questions should I ask prospective sales reps?

Start with the general and move to the specific:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Walk me through your resume.
• Tell me about the decision-making process you made when you moved from this company to that company.
• What lessons or best practices did you learn in each of these positions?
• Tell me about the company culture, staff and ownership.

These general questions give you an overview of how the candidate views his or her world AND how they will view your world, relative to your company.

Focus on situational questions to go beyond experiential understanding and into how they think:

• Explain in detail your sales process at XYZ Co.
• Give me an example of what worked well and what did not.
• If you could approach that situation differently, how would you do it now?
• Give me an example of a successful sales approach and why it worked.
• Give me an example of a sale that went bad and what happened.
• What did you learn from this, what changes did you make, and what process have you put in place to leverage this knowledge?

These questions give you the “behind the scenes” intelligence on what they were thinking, what they learned, how they adjusted and what they put in place based on their experience dealing with these issues. This tells you how they will think through, learn and adjust if they end up working for you!

Give them scenarios unfamiliar to them but familiar to you and find out how they would react:

• Recently I was with a sales rep in the field and they got the following objection: . How would you handle that if you were selling for me?
• One of the things we do really well is . Walk me through how you would leverage that if you were selling for me.
• One of our competitive disadvantages is . How would you strategically minimize this in your sales process if you were selling for me?

These questions tell you how they will process through the things they will encounter in the field so you don’t have to guess!

Notice I didn’t spend too much time discussing this job or that job or their roles and responsibilities at each. Why? Because I’m interviewing sales people, I’m a sales person, and I don’t want to be sold.

Rather, I want to understand how they would think, react, adjust and execute if they were working for me. After all, do I care more about what they’ve done for others or what they are going to do for me? What they are going to do for me is my goal, so that is where my time should be spent!

I can trace every poor decision I’ve made back to me allowing me to talk myself into something, rather than asking the right questions to reveal what it’s going to be like to work with them. A bad hire is my fault, not the candidate’s fault.

You will make bad hiring mistakes. You can’t always be right. The only lasting mistake is not owning up to it and letting the person go once you realize it isn’t going to work out.

Hiring decisions directly affect my quality of life. So I want to make them when I don’t “need” people. I want to hire talent rather than experience. I will not delegate these decisions. And I will endeavor to ask the right questions and listen for the right answers.

If I do this I will win. If I don’t, I’ll continue to be dissatisfied with my team, and the fault will lie with me!

Brian

Cold calling remains one of the few proactive sales activities through which you can control the growth of your customer base. Cold calls do work, but like any other sales activity, you must prepare, execute and follow up if you expect them to be effective.

And no, these are not valid reasons for not making cold calls:

• “There are no receptionists to direct me anymore.”
• “All I get is voice mail and no one ever calls me back.”
• “They do not want to talk to me.”
• “There’s too much rejection.”

So, how does a cold call sound?

First, you have to get past the gatekeeper. Books have been written on this topic, and there are far too many techniques and best practices to cover in a short blog. That said, some of my favorites include calling before 8 or after 5, asking the gatekeeper for advice, and being prepared to overcome the most common objections.

Once past the gatekeeper, you must also be properly prepared for your cold call:

• Research what the company does, for whom, and their value proposition.
• Consider what may interest them – either generally or a specific contact.
• Identify customer references and case studies you may have, relative to their location, industry, etc.
• Put yourself in the position of the contact. Remember, you have just interrupted their day.
• Have a direct and to-the-point script prepared.
• Design a script that includes relative benefit statements and, possibly, customer references.

Remember, you are trying to earn more of their time. So deliver your message with:

• Good voice tone
• Direct and complete sentences
• Benefit statements relative to their needs
• Customer references or case studies
• A natural close for a future meeting in which you can execute your sales process

You will, of course, get objections. So prepare for and deliver your objection handling messages just as you do the rest of your presentation.

Cold calling is not easy, but it does have its place. If you need or want to grow your customer base, increase your income or enter into new markets or industries, that is the place!

Dan

Why is it such a great debate?

Well, from a recruiting and hiring perspective, if the best reps are “born that way,” as Lady Gaga might say, then it’s incumbent upon recruiters and managers to know which attributes they are looking for and hire to them.

By contrast, if the best sales reps are molded into their abilities over time, then it’s mainly up to recruiters and managers to find individuals likely to be able to, in effect, be “made” into the reps their managers need them to be.

A Star is Born

On the “born” side of the ledger are attributes like empathy, persistence and resilience.

Empathy is one of the most fundamental skills of a good sales representative because it goes beyond just listening skills, to one’s ability to put herself into the shoes of a prospect or customer and truly feel the pain being described. The ability to do that, in turn, enables a good sales rep to connect the dots between the customer’s problems and the rep’s solutions, rather than just blindly throwing things against the wall and hoping they will stick.

Persistence, of course, is the ability to stay on task amid competing distractions. A sales rep’s day is divided among dozens of competing priorities. Calls, appointments, demos and other presentations, networking events, proposal development and myriad other things. The best sales reps know which items are most important at any given time, and how to keep their nose to the particular grindstone most likely to produce results.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after disappointment. Whereas persistence is about maintaining drive and momentum, resilience is about regaining drive and momentum after losing it for one reason or another, such as losing a deal to a competitor or emerging with nothing but a goose egg after a 3-hour phone prospecting session.

There are probably other attributes that could be counted among those with which the best sales reps are born, but this list is my favorite.

Made in America

On the other side of the ledger are the arguments for the best sales reps learning their most important skills over time. This would include things like the ability to learn and apply information about products and services and the invaluable education offered by the College of Hard Knocks.

Learning and applying is important for sales reps just like it is with any profession. This especially manifests itself in a good rep’s ability to understand the features, advantages and benefits of the products and services they sell, and to be able to confidently and convincingly articulate them to the people with whom they meet. Assuming a rep is able to do this, he or she is especially likely to benefit from a good training program that clearly presents all of the information necessary to be successful.

Practical experience may be the most compelling argument from the “made” proponents. No matter how many times something is taught – and no matter how well a rep can perform on “tests” and in a simulated environment – there is no replacement for being on the street, day in and day out, meeting with actual customers and prospects. It’s where preparation meets reality, where deals are won and lost, and where the best reps truly distinguish themselves.

The Final Verdict

Having said all of that, it seems fairly clear that – like most good debates – the answer probably is somewhere in the middle. Even those who can learn everything from product attributes to world class presentation skills – but aren’t able to listen well or are devastated with rejection – probably will not last very long in sales.

Likewise, even those who are indefatigably resilient and persistent – but who can’t connect features and benefits to customer pain points – will find their sales careers short-lived.

Sales superstars – much like athletes – are born with certain God-given talents and attributes, and know how to leverage those attributes to learn and exercise the skill sets required to get the job done. It’s a yin-yang kind of thing.

Mike

It’s in that spirit that I would like to “debunk” some popular myths about the sales profession. Over my last 20 years in sales, I have heard some fantastic myths such as:

• Sales is easy! All salespeople do is golf all day long!
• Salespeople are born, not made!
• Cold calling is dead!

And myriad others.

I suppose each occupation has its myths: Lawyers are liars, bankers work short hours, politicians are corrupt. (OK, well … some of these things may be true. But I digress.)

Let’s look at each of the sales myths and try to dispel them.

Sales Is Easy

As with many myths, there may be some truth somewhere deep in the origins of the myth. That’s the case with sales being an easy job. From a certain perspective, sales is indeed easy. In fact, I’d say it’s the easiest job there is. But that’s where the myth breaks down. If sales is easy (requiring little or no work/effort), it also tends to be low paying! Sales is (or should be) all about results. Therefore, if a salesperson doesn’t work it’s pretty easy. But if he doesn’t work hard, he also doesn’t sell much, and therefore he makes little or no money.

So sales may be somewhat easy, but because success and pay are based on results, the statement isn’t completely accurate. There are very few occupations in which the hard work that one does is as directly proportional to resulting pay as in sales. Generally, salespeople are paid little if any base or hourly rate. They generally don’t have unions to help negotiate their benefits and their worth is always based on the revenue they produce. It’s the closest occupation to a true entrepreneur. Therefore, sales is easy, unless you need to eat. Then it can be hard work! Myth debunked!

Salespeople Are Born, Not Made

Seriously, with the exception of the e-trade baby, who has really seen a salesperson at birth? Doesn’t happen! Sure, some people are more outwardly directed, egocentric, enjoy being the center of attention, and naturally performance oriented. However, that describes many occupations. To a certain extent, it is somewhat true salespeople are born. They take the gifts God has given them and focus them in a directed way towards results/performance-oriented occupations like sales. THEN those raw skills (just like those of athletes) are sharpened with tools, training, mentoring and coaching to turn them into a finely tuned machine! Without the tools, training, mentoring and coaching, the God-given sales gifts are generally wasted.

The inverse is also true. A salesperson could be an introvert, dislike crowds and detest attention, but when tooled, trained, mentored and coached properly, could very well be a top salesman. How do I know? Because I am an introvert, dislike crowds (and people in general) and absolutely detest being the center of attention, yet I’ve had a successful sales career by most measurements. (At least the occupy crowd would say I’m successful! Ah, but I digress again.) How did an introvert become a good salesman? I “grew up” in sales using the best tools, had the training, wonderful mentors and coaching from the best in their various industries. Therefore, you can say I was “made” into a salesperson, not born with the right salesperson attributes, and over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of people just like me. Myth debunked!

Cold Calling Is Dead

This is my absolute favorite myth. Why? Because I’ve heard it surface three times over the course of my career thus far, and if ratios hold, I’ll hear it three more times before I retire. This is a popular myth, told generally by the snake oil salesmen of the time.

The first time I heard this myth was 20 years ago when I sold dictation equipment and digital voicemail systems. Digital voicemail profoundly changed the way businesses handled incoming calls. Sure, there were receptionists, but they just quickly dumped anyone who called – particularly salespeople – into voicemail jail, never to see (or hear) the light of day again because all the contact had to do was hit “7″ for delete and it was as if the call never happened. Forever erased from the system (and memory) of the poor soul that was being pursued by the salesperson. Cold calling was dead!

The second time I heard this myth was right after 9/11 when our country, and many businesses, came to a screeching halt, and what ensued for years following was the gradual widespread layoffs of non-essential personnel in companies. One of the first to go was the receptionist. Even today, you walk into lobbies and instead of being greeted by a charming gatekeeper, you are greeted by an empty room with a phone and extension list. Nobody from whom to get contact names. No challenging gatekeepers on whom you could hone your objection-handling skills. Nothing but a phone, extension lists and those annoying voicemail systems that everyone uses to hit “7″ and delete messages from. The same thing holds true when you call into these companies. Instead of a receptionist to chat with, ever so briefly, before she throws you into voicemail jail, now you just go directly to voicemail and a directory that oftentimes doesn’t even work. Cold calling was dead!

The third time I heard this myth was after Al Gore invented the Internet and social media was launched. Now FOR SURE cold calling was dead, the social media folks told us! You have to build networks of people, on platforms that change daily and are replaced almost hourly. It’s about your “community” that you never meet, your “network” whom you’ve never laid eyes on, your “circle” which consists of people whose hand you’ve never shaken. Heck, you don’t even need business cards anymore! Why?

Because you never actually “meet” anyone. Why in the world would you cold call anyone when you can friend them, tweet them, link with them, and circle them or whatever else we’re supposed to be doing other than actually meeting them? Cold calling is dead, again!

So maybe as the saying goes, the third time is a charm and cold calling really is dead? I doubt it. Voicemail systems forced the change in the way salespeople had to cold call, as did the move to not having receptionists, as is social media. These things didn’t replace cold calling. They simply changed cold calling. All are valuable tools and just like any other tool, they need to be used and worked properly or else you fail. Sorry to kill the number one hope of all salespeople, but cold calling isn’t dead, it’s just different! Myth debunked!

So what myth is actually accurate about sales? The only one that seems to hold water is that salespeople are very good looking and smart. Other than that, I am not sure.

What say you?

Brian

A request for proposal (RFP) is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal for a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to allow the risks and benefits to be identified clearly up front.

While RFPs can be beneficial for buyers, they can be cumbersome and limiting for sellers. So, as with everything in sales, the question really is, how can you win the business?

Here are several items to consider:

• If you haven’t already done so, create a template and/or a repository of typically required information. This will make it easier for future opportunities.
• Determine if you’ll need to work with a strategic partner to round out your competencies. It may increase your chances for consideration.
• Form teams to complete the various sections of the proposal. Let the experts handle their respective areas.
• Review wins and losses from previous RFPs to strengthen your proposal.
• Conduct research before coming up with your pricing, since this is usually a key selection factor.
• Create a list of questions that arise as you go through the RFP process, and request clarification or future details from the issuer.
• Even if everything on the RFP is clear to you, develop some strategic questions and reach out to the issuer prior to or during the RFP process. This gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your value-add, differentiate yourself from your competitors, and begin to develop a relationship with the issuer.
• Request an evaluation or review process to show your value, and expect your work to be monitored. It demonstrates confidence and will make them feel more secure with your proposal.
• Before submitting, ask for feedback from non-biased professionals you respect.
• Never submit a proposal without having read the issuer’s mission statement; ensure your proposal is consistent with – and ideally even enhances – the company’s goals and values.

Competition is as stiff as ever. Expect that your competitors are spending a significant amount of time preparing their proposals, so you’ll need to do the same.

What have we missed? If you’ve been successful in winning RFP bids, we would love for you to share your thoughts and tips in the comment section.

Dave

Your customers may realize this benefit through your core products or services, customer service response time, depth of inventory, your proactive calling approach, or myriad other things both tangible and intangible.

As a sales professional, it is your responsibility to ensure your customers understand your value. If they do not, either they have no need for what you offer, or you need to dig further into their business in order to uncover negative situations and their impacts. Doing so will help you identify ways in which you and your organization can offer and provide benefit. If, at the end of such an analysis, the major issue is that the customer simply has no need for what you offer, it behooves you, your organization and the customer to “fire” the customer. If you choose to do so, though, be sure to explain your reasoning. This is not their fault, after all. It’s just that you and the customer are not a good fit.

If you retain unsatisfied customers, you will find your reputation and your revenues will falter. While keeping these customers may satisfy present goals, it will cost you in the future. You, as a sales professional, build your book of business through referrals, the use of testimonials and case studies. That won’t be possible if customers do not see the benefit.

So, deliver benefit to your customers, and help them understand their return on investment in you and in your organization’s products and services.

If you cannot, then “fire” them and find someone to whom you can provide benefit.

Dan

Before you leave

Set your appointments beforehand. As you do so, be sure to send and receive confirmation using an Outlook invitation. Getting stood up for an appointment close to the office is bad enough. Flying or driving several hundred miles, and then having it happen, is exponentially more frustrating.

Provide your customers or prospects an agenda in advance. This can help ensure they’re prepared for your discussion, and also help to surface any potential objections before you are sitting face to face, which will make you that much more prepared.

Stack up several appointments, if possible. Driving to a city four hours away for one or two meetings may sometimes be necessary, of course. But that investment in windshield time is significantly easier to take if you’re making the trip in order to see several customers or prospects during the same sweep. This helps you maximize the use of your time and lowers the cost of sale for each individual opportunity.

During your trip

Take advantage of breakfast, lunch and dinner appointments, if possible. One built-in advantage to being on the road – at least professionally speaking – is that you don’t have other family, friend or community obligations to attend to outside of the usual 8-6 hours. Use this “extra” time wisely by building or strengthening customer relationships in an outside-the-office setting.

Limit your email and administrative duties to non-selling hours. This is true even when you are working out of your normal office, but it’s especially true while you’re on the road. As long as you’ve set the proper expectations with your customers by leaving an out-of-office message on your email and voice mail accounts – and/or made other arrangements to get urgent matters handled – use your optimal selling hours to be in front of customers or prospects. And if you don’t have appointments scheduled during a particular block of time …

Gather prospecting intelligence while you’re in the neighborhood. Take notes on the businesses that are located near your customers and prospects. If you’re in an industrial park, for example, what are the companies located nearby your customer? At the very least, you can enter them into your CRM system that evening or when you get back to the office, so that they can be included in future marketing activities. At best, you might be able to use the information when asking for referrals from your customers.

When you return

Follow up on opportunities and action items. It probably goes without saying that you’d be following up on the opportunities you identified. But remember, too, that if you’ve met with customers and discovered service or other types of issues, it’s your responsibility to work to resolve them. (In fact, depending on the urgency of what you’ve uncovered, you really should dig into these with emails or phone calls even while you are still on your trip.) Either way, helping to resolve open issues goes a long way toward building credibility with your customers.

Send thank you notes or emails. This is one of those “little things” that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Thank your contact(s) for their time and mention something specific – either business or personal – that demonstrates you listened and paid attention to detail.

Mike