Category Archives: Business

An email arrives at the website general email address.

A possible sales inquiry.

Everyone looks it over.  They agree that I would get the honor of answering it.

“Looks like a possibility.” says one of my colleagues.

After reviewing it I frown and explain that it doesn’t look that great to me.  He reminds me that we need to look  at all of these inquiries as possible sales and have to try our best.

I agree.  Each and every one of these inquiries could lead to a possible steady client, maybe even a fortune in revenue for the company.

But I’ve been around the block.  I don’t claim to be the greatest salesman ever born.  Truth be told I lack some of the innate qualities that salesmen need to be really good at this game.  But still, I’ve picked up a few things over the years.  Some of those things are warning me about this inquiry.  They’re saying that this is not going to be a sale and that it is in fact a waste of time.

I know that they all expect me to go all in on this inquiry and spend all my attention on this just as I would for a known client that’s been coming to  our company for years.  That’s what I always do but so many things tell me that this is a dead-end.  Little things pop out from the email, niggling little details that run up red flags for me.  The way the potential client words the email, the lack of details, just the way that the whole thing is put together.

I will willingly commit myself to new business opportunities, to personal challenges, even to new dating opportunities.  But I need to feel that at the very least I have the slimmest of chance of succeeding.  In this case I see nothing of the sort.

I mean I’ve even gone in blind into situations where I didn’t know anything about my chances of success.  Even into situations where the odds looked bad and conditions were unfavorable.  Sometimes it was a business proposal, or sometimes scaling down a cliff, or asking someone out.  I’ve been in those positions many times.  But something would always tell me “take the chance, maybe its worth a try.”

This time though, this email said to me “no, this is not going anywhere”

But I’ve promised to do my best.  So I take the task to heart and try my best.  A week later and several emails back and forth it turns out that the potential client is an elderly shut in and had no money and just wanted someone to chat with about professional matters.

I get the satisfaction of knowing that I was right but that really doesn’t make up for the time lost.

We live in a world where 40 hours a week sometimes doesn’t cut it anymore.  The advent of email, texts, and phone messages means that you’re reachable by your superiors or clients at nearly any time of day.  Challenges or opportunities can come up at any time and you’d better be able to answer them.

In a large corporation this doesn’t matter as much.  You have multiple teams of people to work on a problem or project and if you don’t do it then someone else will.  Either way the company prospers.  But if you’re in a small business then more often than not you have to burn the midnight oil.

I’ve had to do this on several occasions in order to write up proposals for clients that waited till the last second to request a quotation or to finish up projects by a particular deadline.  In particular I once did a 72 hour marathon session that other than for food or bathroom breaks I never left the computer.  Not something that I’m eager to repeat.

As an employer you do this because this is your company, your trade, your passion.  In essence this is you.  You are working on the embodiment of your ideas and your dreams made manifest in stone or on paper or in electronic files.  This business represents all that you are and hope you will become.  So you better be willing to put in that extra time.

So as an employee why do this?  I mean if you’ve signed a contract as an hourly or salaried employee and you put in your honest 40 hours a week then why go that extra mile?  Basically it’s all comes down to keeping the company going.  When you’re in a small business every contract is crucial no matter what the size is.  Not only are you worried about completing contracts and getting paid but you also worry about your reputation as a reliable source of products and services.  This indirectly impacts whether your next paycheck will be valid or will even come at all.

Just as a side note it doesn’t look good on a resume to note that the last company you worked at failed.  May not be your fault but it still looks bad.

Bosses should take note.  Specially when it comes to salaried employees that are putting in that extra time and effort to keep your small business going.  Note the cheerleaders that try and boost your co-workers spirits.  Note the go-getters that have the passion for the work and are always asking for more responsibility.  Note the supporting cast that do their work quietly and behind the scenes and are always quietly there for you.

Show appreciation.  Doesn’t always have to take a monetary form, though I would be lying if I said that workers don’t like more money.  But after a project is done (and I mean right after, I don’t mean 2 weeks later or at the end of the year) let them know you appreciate the extra work.  It’s a small company.  Walk around to their desks, cubicles, or whatever.  A 5 or less minute talk with each of them won’t take too much out of your busy schedule.  Ask if the project was too much to handle or if something could have been done better.

If they do something wrong you’re going to let them know about it, right?  Then let them know when they do something right.

Employees, realize that the small business owner has a lot at stake in this little company.  They not only have to keep an eye on your performance but on everyone else and they have to take care of a myriad of other details that you don’t even notice but take for granted.  They never get a 40 hour work week.  You can always walk away and find a new job, they can’t.  They’re there for every up and down.

They feel each failure deeper than you do.  Reach out to them when they need it.  Listen to what they have to say and do it their way.  Cut them some slack.

To both sides, reach out, talk, understand.  You’re in this together.

I originally wanted to call this post “Building your future on BRICs” but that would give you a false impression about sales to international clients.  No doubt that the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries are important players in the world economy but they are not the only people out there that look for high quality goods and services from American companies.

In the modern world we have to realize the importance of offshore clients.  No matter what your field is, there is now and in the future there will be an increasing number of clients hailing from offshore locations that want to do business with you and you better be ready to handle that.

The company that I work for relies mainly on offshore contracts for the majority of its contracts.  We have developed a very good website that draws attention from all over the globe and this has led to me having to understand and deal with clients of all sorts of backgrounds.

Having had to deal with folks from all sorts of cultures has taught me a few lessons in sales that really should apply to selling to any client.

1.  Check your prejudices at the door.  If you have problems with other people’s race, religion, or anything else about them, then sales is not the field for you.  Having been on the receiving end of a salesperson who seemed to have a problem with my race I can tell you that even if they don’t say anything overt that the attitude does transmit itself to the client.  From a pragmatic point of view you are not only giving bad service to the client but to your employer as well.

2. Treat people with the respect that they deserve.  If they have a PhD or have some other sort of title then treat them with the respect that it merits.  These are fellow professionals making a serious inquiry.  Act accordingly.

3.  Disregard the faulty syntax.  So they may not know a particular word in English or their grammar may not be so great.  So what?  Who learned a foreign language and tried to communicate using it?  not you.

4.  Don’t fake it.  I had a colleague who would try to greet foreign clients in their own language by googling appropriate greetings.  Mixed results at best.  If you don’t know then don’t try it.  You will look foolish or you may even end up offending them.

5.  Somewhat related to the last point, what do you do when you get an inquiry in a foreign language that you don’t understand?  Answer back in English.  Again you don’t speak their language.  You could try online translators and risk making errors or hiring foreign language specialists to translate responses although that gets expensive.  Ultimately I think your best will be to answer back in your own tongue.  If the company gets enough business in that language then maybe they might want to consider hiring a foreign speaker to handle sales for that market.

6.  Keep away from all politics or anything that is not related to the business at hand.  You’re not the State Department and you’re not here to sell politics or your personal opinions.  You’re here to do a deal.  If they’re the ones persisting in trying to bring it up then deflect the subject back to business.  That’s all that both sides should be focused on.

Basically it all comes down to respect.  Not only is it polite manners but it helps to bring across the idea that despite any differences in distance or culture that you are truly interested in helping the client achieve his goals.