As we arrived at Belfast City Airport, the microphone announced. “You’re very welcome to Belfast”. What a lovely greeting which is fully expected when visiting Ireland, North or South, it makes no difference. I often talk about mixing with people will make you become like these people and everytime I go to Ireland I become more up-beat, positive, smile more and generally chat plenty too.

The other thing I talk about is Joined Up Selling and there were plenty of examples of this during my hour long flight and 3 hour journey.

Joined Up Selling assumes everyone in an organisation believes they have a role to play in selling, not just those with selling in their title. In fact, real Joined Up Selling companies have latched the sales process onto everyone’s job description so that everyone has a role to play in selling.

Now that’s a true sales led organisation, not just because the CEO says so at the annual share holder’s meeting.

My airline had it sussed so let me explain how they did it.

When I booked the ticket online, they gave me an executive number which gave me some great benefits like a focussed check in desk. Yes, it was one click and I gave them some of my details. They’d captured my email for future value emailing

My online checking in gave me a boarding pass on my phone. Nothing new here but they also asked about my reason for travelling and my onward journey.

10 minutes later I received a 25% car hire discount voucher and a coffee shop voucher, all on the phone to make life easy for me. Plus a PDF map for my phone and a tip sheet “10 things to do on a night-out in Belfast for the solo flyer” Now that I liked.

So far no humans, just systems. By the way, systems can sell too.

At the baggage check in, because everything was automated, the trained person was able to engage me in a conversation about my business in Belfast and how often I travelled. I told her that I was a Sales Speaker and was speaking at a conference that evening. She saw I was an executive member, the system was clever just to show this, she didn’t once have to key anything in. Her questioning was soft, conversational, not a waste of time because the bag was already powering itself towards the plane.

“Do you ever travel further afield,” she enquired. “Yes I d,o often long haul”. You might be interested in our sleeper seats then, they’re a normal seat and at the press of a button, they convert to a bed. I’ll have the details emailed to you Mr Archer, safe journey”

She was empowered to offer me a discount a code for my next journey, because she knew I onlined booked. The CRM system told her that.

On the plane, the staff glanced at face recognition screens and greeted me “You’re very welcome on board Mr Archer; hope you enjoy your flight”. Wow, they knew my name, but they should really, after all, technology allows it.

And rather than the usual “Would you like any gifts or perfumes?” it was “Mr Archer, anyone at home to buy gifts for?” “Yes my wife and daughter.” “And what’s her favourite fragrance then?”

Clever selling because they were trained to do so.

“And how old’s your daughter Mr Archer?” “She’s 10” “Lovely I bet she’s missing you.”

On my departure I was given a teddy on the airplane, little corny but a nice touch, as I made myself to the baggage claim.

I made a few things up there, to show you what they should have been doing and perhaps what you can do in your organisation. It’s all about Joined Up Selling where everyone has a role to play.

My talk in Belfast went vey well, a fabulous audience, but I was too shattered to enjoy the 10 things to do in Belfast for the solo visitor. Never mind, perhaps next time with my 10% discount I’ll have some extra spending money.

A fascinating short audio clip to remind all salespeople what employers are looking for in modern salespeople. You might be surprised. Paul shares with you an advert for the Prudential and the attributes and skills of a salesperson needed for 2012 and compares his job spec when he joined the Prudential as a salesperson in 1986.

This made me think about white space and how the idea might be useful is selling and coaching because the world is just too full of noise, much of it created by salespeople and coaches.

Perhaps we could create welcome some silence during our selling and coaching by:

• Asking power questions when we’re coaching, you know, the ones where they say “that’s a good question”
• Listening to customers and not thinking about anything else whilst we’re doing so, come on, hands up who is thinking of their next question here.
• Encouraging self discovery from our coachees
• Becoming very comfortable with a little silence in our meetings or calls, I call these silent seconds
• Asking for the business or do a really good trial close, then go quiet
• Going silent when we need to think of a really good solution to a customer’s challenge

The list goes on.  Here’s 3 cheers to more white space in sales and coaching.

I mentioned my white space ideas to my wife this morning. “Let me know when you have them” she replied “and I’ll fill them up with jobs around the house for you”.

So much for my white space goals

Shop after shop selling a diversity of clothes, products, electronics, souvenirs. I was looking for a Sari for my daughter and some IPL shirts for my two sons. IPL stands for Indian Premier League which is the most popular sport in the country attracting millions of supporters. Its 20:20 cricket by the way and exhilerating to watch.

I found a store for the sari and the man quoted me 1,000 rupees, about £10. I didn’t like it so tuned away politely.  He shouted 800 rupees, and as I made it to the door, 500 rupees, 300 rupees.  I didn’t want it and I respectfully made that clear, but I did wonder how low he would go as I exercised my right to walk away.  This is known in negotiation circles as Walk Away Power.

The next store I found my IPL shirts and looked at the Deccan Chargers and the Mumbai Indians shirts. I thought Euan would fit the Mumbai shirt and the Deccan shirt was slightly bigger for my eldest son. They’ll love them. This was a perfect solution to the need for souvenirs.

“How much Sir?” I asked. “For the two shirts, 1,000 rupees”.

I thought, let me do walk away power and see what he’ll do. I fully expected to get the price down but as I walked to the door, nothing, I hesitated, stopped and went back to him.  The clever man knew this and deliberately kept quiet, he knew I’d come back.  The reason?  I wasn’t genuine in my walk away power. You see, I’d already chosen the shirts, matched them to my sons and measured them as well in front of the shop owner. I’d crossed the line and needed to buy the shirts. I didn’t have the power to walk away and he knew it.

1,000 rupees later, I’d learned my lesson. If using walk away power, never cross the line, as you won’t have the authenticity.

Spending £10 on your two sons is not a lot of money, so it was a cheap lesson for me. The shop owner was so gracious he even posed for a photograph. What a fabulous cheeky smile.

It was all a little last minute; I was due to fly to India the following week and I was sitting in the doctor’s office hoping to get all the jabs I needed to stay healthy whilst abroad.

The nurse called me into her office and began the painful process of sticking needle after needle into my flesh. Ow!

She finished and I complemented her by saying “Thank you nurse, you were very efficient.”

“Thank you very much Mr Archer, we try hard to please and customer service is important to us here at the surgery”

With a beaming smile, she opened the door for me to leave. As I walked out of the doctor’s surgery I thought what a shame, as the surgery’s customer service target was way too low. Yes, the service was efficient but did she engage me? No, she didn’t and thought that efficiency was enough. How wrong could the surgery be but they have plenty of room to step up the mark and engage customers fully.

The team took to the field wearing hidden heart-rate monitors and miniature Global Positioning System devices in their shirts. About the same size as a large wrist watch, they were concealed in a padded pocket in the neoprene undershirts worn by the players.  The devices track each player and monitor his wellbeing, giving the England coaching staff up-to-the-minute information on their performance. This gives the coaches data to make informed decisions on substitutions.

Clever.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had one of those for our sales people. We’d be able to monitor their well being, how stressed or pressurised they were feeling. We could monitor their attitudes, their enthusiasm, their energy. And substitute them when needed.

Seriously though, what are we doing to monitor their well being?  The Inner Game of our teams has an equal impact on their performance as their skill levels do.

Perhaps we should spend more time:

• Asking how they are feeling inside
• Observing them beyond just the skills and what they say
• Encourage them to talk to you about their Inner Game
• Focus on their Inner Game during 1 to 1’s
• Give them tools, specific training to handle their Inner Game
• Relieve the pressure we put people under. They’re only human; don’t over do it. Stressed objects will all break at some point, ask any decent engineer.

The hidden GPS system didn’t work so well last year for the England rugby team.  Secret weapon or not, I now have to wait another 4 years for the chances of England winning the World Cup again.

We’re all familiar with SMART when setting objectives, have you ever considered using the same for giving feedback.  It makes it so simple.

• S for specific.  Ensure the feedback is exact and too the point, don’t ramble on or apologise. Give just one piece of feedback
• M for measurable. Can you measure the impact when the feedback is acted upon, a delighted customer, a sales stat or metric improving.
• A for attainable. Can the salesperson actually do what you suggest they do, is it achievable?  Are they capable, do they need some extra training, some shadowing from someone, some more coaching?
• R is for relevant.  Is the feedback directly related to their job.  Not generic and a nice to do. Will the feedback make a difference?  The most important to them at that time. The one of many.  The highest priority to make an impact on the seller’s performance.
• T is for timely. The feedback has to be given at the right time, immediately after an event hopefully.  Straight after live observation, in the meeting, on that afternoon.  Feedback goes off like a fresh vegetable.

So next time you’re wanting to improve your team’s performance with coaching, remember to sell it to them, or seek permission before you give the feedback.  Then deliver it in a SMART fashion.