How simple is having an oil change done? Raise the car, remove the drain plug, drain the oil, replace the plug , change the oil filter, lower the car and refill the oil. Pretty simple right? A service so basic and mostly routine, it’s promoted often as a $19.95 service done in 30 minutes or less. So—I make the appointment, take my car to my usual dealer and wait.

Less than 30 minutes and my car is returned looking fine, all for less than $25. I’m happy, feeling great for having this essential service complete, and away I go.

Next morning as I leave my garage, I can’t help but notice a puddle—yes, a puddle, not a spot of fresh oil! I immediately stop, turn off the engine open the hood and check the oil dipstick. Yep! It’s a _ quart low! I begin looking for the source. On my hands and knees I search for the source of the leak. It’s either the oil filter or the drain plug. Something is loose. I find the oil trail at the oil drain plug. Its threads are stripped! I hurry off to the nearest oil service location, and I’m in luck—an empty bay. They pull me right in.

A quick examination confirms my diagnosis—stripped threads. Thirty minutes later I’m on my way. A new plug, oil and all for less than $25. Peace of mind again!

My original dealer was most gracious and cooperative when I outlined my experience. They reimbursed my expense, apologized profusely, and pleaded that I return for future service. They went on to ask what they could do to restore my confidence and trust. They also said they had dealt with the employee that had serviced my car.

Great ending! The way it should be when expectations aren’t met. Accepting responsibility, demonstrating accountability, and exceeding expectation. Exactly what professional sales people and organizations that provide value do everyday.

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On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your listening skills? I’m willing to bet you rated yourself too high. Don’t believe me? Ask someone who knows you really well like a spouse, co-worker, close friend or relative and see how they score you.

The truth is that all too often on a sales appointment, we, as salespeople, are so worried about what we’re going to say next that we’re not listening to what the prospect or customer is talking about. Heaven forbid we ask a question and a period of silence follows. Somebody is always supposed to be talking, right? Wrong!

While “dead air” might be a disaster if you’re a radio talk show host; it’s not necessarily a bad thing on a sales interview — a little silence could make the sale. The next time you ask a question and your prospect rubs his or her chin and remains silent, don’t say a word. That’s right, sit quietly, lean forward toward the prospect, keep eye contact and have your pen in hand ready to take notes. Your prospect will answer you when they’re ready, and what’s more, they’ll appreciate your patience and respect.

Resist the temptation to speak up and answer for the prospect – you might give the wrong answer. And your answer doesn’t matter anyway; it’s what the prospects say that counts. How many times have we complained about salespeople who don’t listen? Here’s your chance to show you’re different from other salespeople.

Go ahead; listen your way to a sale.

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When I left coaching college football in 1981 I was earning a whopping $37,000 – a far cry from the 2.0 million dollar salaries some of today’s coaches get. My reaction? It’s out of control. The tail is wagging the dog. However, that’s not the point of this blog entry.

Here’s the point. There are lots of jobs that people will do for free. Absolutely free. Some examples? Artist, actor, coach, author, and any profession with interns. The interesting thing is that each of these callings provides huge payback for those few who truly do excel in their chosen field. There is the long term hope that early poverty can lead to deferred and significant income.

How many salespeople are as passionate about what they do? These actors, artists, coaches, etc. would (and do) work for free, knowing that the chances of earning a huge income are slim to none.

Here’s the point. Sales can be a lucrative career for lots and lots of people. However, even with a greater chance of a significant payoff, most salespeople are not, apparently, as passionate as they could be about their chosen career. Most wouldn’t work for free (at least intentionally), to gain a great return later. Here’s the issue. With a profession that provides so much upside potential, what would happen if salespeople would work for free if they could afford to do so? Better yet, if they were driven by a passion as heartfelt as these other professions. What do you think?

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The SalesGenie.com ad on the Super Bowl finished dead last in USA TODAY’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. That’s no surprise. Most of the vast millions watching the Super Bowl had no interest, no need and no urgency to learn about getting more or better sales leads. The truth is most of them are interested in beer, beef, snack food or some consumer product.

So at first glance, it might appear that the ad was poorly placed – that it wasn’t shown in front of the right, targeted audience. Before drawing a conclusion, I would like to know how many leads converted to sales versus the huge price tag associated with advertising to such a large audience.

I have no idea of their conversion, but I’ll bet it could be profitable. Let’s just look at the numbers: With 86 million Super Bowl viewers, Sales Genie might hope to get just 1% of them to inquire about their offer of 100 free leads. Out of those 1% who inquire and try the service for free, let’s say just one tenth of them decide to purchase leads from Sales Genie.

With just one tenth of 1 percent of those leads converting to sales, Sales Genie wins big. They’d end up with 86,000 new subscribers.

And there’s already evidence that Sales Genie’s gamble paid off. USA Today reports that Sales Genie had generated more than 10,000 new customer subscriptions by late Monday.

If you’re in sales, you may have been offended by the ad. It’s was little insulting to all the successful salespeople who know that working hard AND smart is required to stay ahead of the competition. It could also be argued that it was far less offensive than many other Super Bowl ads due to the subtlety that only salespeople would understand. Even more importantly, I found it confusing at best. That’s not the point. Did it work?

According to CEO Vin Gupta, “Our ad wasn’t supposed to be funny or clever. It was supposed to bring in subscribers, and it’s been successful beyond our wildest dreams. We’re already working on next year’s ad.”

Here’s another interesting example, one of our clients, Volvo Trucks, defied convention when they decided to spend $2.7 million on a Super Bowl promotion for the 1998 Super Bowl. While the Super Bowl might not be an obvious target audience for the commercial trucking industry, Volvo had done their research.

According to Vice President of Marketing, Mike Delaney, “We were confident that our research would prove correct.”

Volvo learned that the Super Bowl was one television event that truck drivers just wouldn’t miss – even when they were out on the road. Not only was their target audience watching the Super Bowl; many of them were watching in truck stops where Volvo was ready to reinforce their message.

“Immediately following the commercial, truckers couldn’t wait to climb inside the Volvo 770s we had at 40 truckstops,” said Delaney. “When I saw a line of drivers waiting to see the trucks at 11:30 that night, I knew we’d nailed it.”

Here’s the bottom line, if you’ve got a lot of money and some research behind you, you might be in a position to roll the dice. If that’s not the case, a tightly-targeted message might be the way to go. I guess what budget you have really defines how much of a risk you can take. In the case of Sales Genie and Volvo Trucks, a little bit of a lot is a whole lot better than nothing from a little bit.

But back to this Year’s Sales Genie commercial for a moment. This company sells data. They have a lot of data and according to their clients, it’s extremely accurate and it proves very useful for things like direct mail and cold calling. Data is ENORMOUSLY valuable in selling. But data is not necessarily the same as a strongly qualified lead.

A name is a name. A qualified lead is something very different. For example: Is there a need? A want? A sense of urgency? A level of authority and ability that enables that name to buy? A level of trust? A willingness to listen?

Check out Sales Techniques for more practical advice on finding, attracting and reaching qualified prospects. You’ll notice that close to half of the book is devoted to what salespeople need to do BEFORE they ever get in front of a prospect.

That’s because the number one reason that salespeople fail is a lack of qualified prospects. Getting your hands on names and addresses is only the first step in prospecting. That’s just gathering “suspects.” The second step requires careful research and diligent work.

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The Tuesday’s Sales Truths are taken from Bill Brooks’ Book Entitled: Universal Sales Truths

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