Warranty Wise

42 years Since the Small Step for Man

Happy Birthday Man on the Moon.

Every year on this date my big brother has a birthday so it is easy to remember what they both mean to me.

My brother is someone I can trust at all times.  He understands integrity.  He inspires me.

NASA and the teamwork they have demonstrated over the years inspires me.

Today, as you work to close more deals, do more business, make more money, and improve your image, remember to give better service.  Do it with integrity at the forefront and make sure the entire team has the same vision in mind so you can achieve your goals together…..

Yes, the warranty business can take some lessons from NASA and by brother Dave.

Have a listen to this REM song, “Man on the Moon” from their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…pretty cool.  Not really about NASA as it is about Andy Kaufman, but still the Title works for today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4c098UVWfE

Don’t Stop

I watched my SF Giants twice this weekend at the ATT park win in the bottom of the Ninth.  Exciting. No give up.  The Giants TEAM Won.  Yes there were heroes, but it was the team that stayed focused and won.

 

I watched the Detroit Red Wings this weekend beat my San Jose Sharks at the Shark Tank, coming back from a 3-1 deficit by scoring 3 goals in the 3^rd period to win 4-3. The thing there is if the Sharks won the Wings would have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.  No give up.  The Red Wings TEAM Won.  Yes there were heroes, but it was the team that stayed focused and won.

 

I monitored a membership services contest at one of my accounts this weekend.  Some stores sending heads up and challenges to each other.  In all the back and forth over 4 days I only saw one Market Manager chime in.  What kind of leadership is that? 

 

If you are running an ESP program, what is at stake? If you are not getting buy-in from the entire team that each opportunity is a sense of urgency like demonstrated by professional sports teams, then you have to question whether it is the players or you.

 

Don’t Stop Driving Your Program or Believing You Can Win and Make a Difference. It takes a Team, but a Team takes a leader.

 

Here are a couple of “Don’t Stop” Videos to help you Remember.

 

Michael singing “Don’t Stop Til You get Enough”

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo

 

Journey singing the Ubiquitous ‘Don’t Stop Believing” in Japan.  I totally dig the base line in this song, not to mention the vocals, the lead guitar, the drums…Great Bay Area Band.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQIPVqLMUg

Positively Fer Sure Man

What works better to motivate employees to offer Extended Service Plans?  Threat of job?  Where you should demand that they offer the plans and set the minimum expectations, I can guarantee the best way to sell guarantees is a continuum of positive reinforcement.  From SPIF’s to attaboys to helping them understand people’s decision processes, being positive will enable a culture of positive and that translates into sales.  People buy from positive people they like.

 

Positively For Sure.

The “E” Ticket

Watching companies try to drive their ESP programs with an iron fist---sell it at a certain rate or you lose your job---drives me nuts.  Others try to manipulate a higher performance by raising the minimum standards above what is already working thinking that managers and associates will magically be able to sell more.  How either of these can benefit the consumer being offered the plans is beyond me.

 

Let me suggest the “E” Ticket approach.

• Expectations
• Encouragement
• Education

Work on these three in Earnest as an Employer and you will Experience

• Enlightenment
• Energy
• Excellence

Instead of

• Excuses
• Exasperation
• ExLax

Attitude is 80%, Technique is 20%

Last week I wrote about how to deal with people that just won’t “get it done” and how to deal with it. That sometimes you have to tell it like it is.   I was reminded by an associate that I did not mention attitude.   I did.  It was hidden in the word, “care” and in the phrase, “because they care”.

 

He is right, success is mostly attitude. Whether that attitude is spiritual or intellectual, attitude is the difference maker. I have seem people over the years way less intelligent than others take the prize.

 

Attitude, Care, Empathy, Effort…..

 

What word do you use to describe attitude?

When It Gets Rough

How do you say nicely, “that was really a lousy effort”?  What do you do when your employees insist on using their own techniques to sell ESP and the results are poor?  What do you do when maybe they don’t make the effort at all?

 

If you run an ESP program, or a store or a department that is in the business of offering extensions, and your results are in the toilet more than a day, then pay attention. If it goes to 2 days….pay attention….if it goes to three days it is a trend and if it is 4 days or more, you have a problem and you are part of the problem.

 

Watch winning sports teams.  Why is it when one team loses one game they are devastated and practice even harder?  Because they care. Because they are all on the same page. Because they all have the same goal…succeeding and succeeding in sports in winning.  If a top team loses 2 games in a row they are seriously looking at what caused it.  Three in a row that is a losing streak and their will be personnel changes in hockey, then line up changes in baseball, benching in football….When they set their expectations high, they expect high results…..

 

If you are accepting lousy results then you are probably wondering, how do you say nicely, “that was really a lousy effort”?  If you consider yourself a professional, then act professional and take responsibility for the results.  Set the expectations and make adjustments so you hit them….That’s what top teams do.  Don’t lower your expectations…tell it like it is.  Tell them directly when necessary, ‘that was a lousy effort and I expect more from you….here is what I expect……”

 

You must have the right vision, the right players, the right coaches and the right programs and the right communication.

UnFriend

Have you ever left someone a message and not received a call back?  Repeated messages?  Whether friendship or business it hurts.  Makes you wonder why.  Is the person just busy?  Is your value to them low?  Do they not want to do business with you?  Is there something they don’t want to deal with?  Do they think you are so close that you will understand when they do?

 

Now reverse it.  Are there people that call you that you do not call back?  Same questions.

 

Years ago I got nailed by my friend Tom for not calling him back and I explained I had just been busy.  He wasn’t buying it.  Took a bit of talking to smooth that out, but I understood I had been an “unfriend”. 

 

In business not making return calls makes you an “unbusinessassociate”.

 

Return Calls.

What Constitutes a Grand Slam for your PPP program?

• Is it selling 4 Extended Plans out of 4 opportunities?
• Is it selling one huge PPP?
• Is it going 50% for a new person?
• Is it a selling an ESP to a person that came back and demanded an exchange for an old product, and as part of the accommodation you got that customer to agree to attach a plan to their new product?
• Is it a store staff that had a tough time kicking it in and for a whole week, or month, sold an acceptable percentage of PPP?
• Is it a person set in their ways refusing to adjust and decided one day they would try the technique or script you were suggesting, and all of a sudden they were selling plans is droves

Think about what little successes are and how they add up or contribute to your overall success.   Write those down.  Share them.  Recognize those efforts.  Reward the results.  You will win more if you do.

Play Ball

Baseball season.  I am so glad it’s hear.  The best sport in the world.  Every year I love to see teams learn to play together in spring training and form true team work.  Then they head into the long season just as baseball heads into Memorial Day past Labor Day.  Then the World Series.

 

People know their positions and learn to rely on each other.  I love the baseball to retail or business analogy.  Your ownership is like the ownership in baseball.  Your Executives are like the GM in baseball putting together the talent.  Your store manager is like the team manager.  You have the best hitters akin to the best salespeople. You count on them to score.  You have a farm system to develop new players just like training newcomers in your business.  I could go on, but suffice it to say, it take a lots of committed people to win in business and baseball.  It takes a team.  Teamwork gets it done if everyone is playing for the same goal and they have a good leader they trust.