Purchasing and Negotiation Training

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Editor’s note: Stu Schlackman is a frequent contributor to this blog.

Most sales pros cringe at prospecting for new customers! Prospecting creates anxiety, uncertainty, pressure, and fear of rejection to cite a few discouraging words.  Your success will improve when you view prospecting as establishing a relationship.

How NOT to build a relationship

On a trip to Morocco, we were bombarded with street peddlers trying to sell gold jewelery. They asked if I would buy. Hearing “no”, they continued to try to convince me. As we walked on, their price dropped by 75%. They ignored my expressed lack of interest because they did not care. They were peddling their merchandise; the sale, not the customer, was most important. 

Sales folk often equate prospecting with cold calling. Cold calling has a low return for the amount of time invested. The reason is quite simple. You’re calling someone you don’t know and you have no idea what their needs are. You do not know if there is any match of their needs and your product or services. You don’t have a relationship established. 

There are three approaches that address this quandary and lead to successful prospecting.

1st—– Reality: prospecting is NOT selling

Customers do not buy from someone they don’t know. Prospecting is only the start of a longer process which may eventually result in a sale.  Or it might gain you something else of value.  Even if you establish at the outset that they do not need your products now, building a relationship can lead to a referral down the road.

The main purpose of prospecting is to develop a relationship.  Find out about the prospects their business. There is a good chance they might not be a fit for your products or services, but they can become interested in you or appreciate your interest in them. The call is the first step down a road to creating a relationship. When calling a prospect for the first time we need to establish “a reason” for us to meet. Customers will meet if there is a good reason to.

Stu's Four People You Should Know

 2nd—– Reality: intent counts more than technique  

You might have a well established method for getting meetings with clients, but if you don’t have the right intentions the customer will reject you. Your intention should be to establish rapport and build trust.  Let the customer know that you plan to learn about their business and their needs. Once you establish this, you can begin providing value. Value is only measured by the needs of the customer. If they don’t have a need for your products or services, you cannot provide value!

3rd—–Reality: customers reject sales people, not solutions

In your initial talks with a customer, you are “guilty until proven innocent.” Overcome this negative barrier by learning about their needs. The sales professional’s purpose is to see if they can “help” the customer and not “sell” the customer. Establish that you are a person that wants to, and eventually will, convey value to the customer. If you are perceived as a person that can provide value, they will meet with you all day long!

Prospecting is critical to every company’s sales force. It provides “new” customers to the company’s revenue stream. As a general rule of thumb, successful sales professionals prospect four to ten hours a week through networking events, luncheons and other events that get them out of the office and into the field.  There they plant the seeds to establish new relationships.

Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant

Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of a 5 part series on negotiation tactics and counter-tactics.  Part 1 presents an overview, Part 2 explains the first category of Maneuvers, Part 3 deals with Flyers, Part 4 with Gambits, and Part 5 with Ruses.

Many buyers and sellers mistakenly believe that tactics and counter tactics control the outcomes of negotiators.  Tactics are to negotiation what knives are to cooking.  It is easy to pick them up, use them, and with very little practice be instantly capable of hurting anyone in range, especially oneself.  Once we have them, knowing how to use them makes us only marginally better cooks and negotiators.  We do however loom as formidable parties to be feared and respected; we look like we know what we are doing but we are dangerous to ourselves and others.  Whether we use these tools to become masters of our craft or just wield them in a frantic display of confusion is a choice that distinguishes the pretender from the professional.

We obsess so much over tactics because they are glorious, the object of praise and celebration in movies and legend.  The Good guy/Bad guy gambit is familiar to anyone who ever watched a cop show.  Books by famous egomaniacs would have the reader believe that fortunes of the kingdom rested on the emperor’s skill at negotiation tactics.  It just isn’t so.  Dedication to preparation, advanced communication skills, and adroitness with other tools (Price Analysis, Cost Analysis, Supplier Certification, etc) distinguish the successful purchasing and sales negotiator. 

The allure of tactics stems from their association with the face to face confrontations.  This is the arguably the most exciting mystique of negotiation.  It is certainly more exciting than Cost Analysis or the Robinson-Patman.  Typically, those exited by the hunt and the kill are the Win-Lose amateurs who know precious little about the process of negotiation.  The selection and application of tactics should enhance the negotiation process. 

The amount of face to face time in negotiation is a fraction of the total, amounting to between five and ten percent.  It is this small slice of our efforts, however, in which tactics exert the greatest influence.  That is, mastery of tactics can disproportionately affect the outcome of the negotiation.  Incompetence in the use of tactics can outweigh any other tactical advantage.  

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Another bona fide reason for knowing all about tactics is that we want to recognize them when used on us.  The old military adage is that a tactic recognized is a tactic neutralized.  It is helpful to think of tactics the language of negotiation.  Our goal is to make certain that tactics are not a foreign language to us.

Fluency in tactics allows the skilled negotiator to choose the best one for the job.  Good guy/Bad guy would be entirely inappropriate in a Win-Win strategy involving long term successful relationships built upon TCO.  Similarly, the Cost Analysis tool is fairly useless in a Win-Lose adversarial strategy. 

Our choice of tactics will be determined by the preparation, strategy, communication and interpersonal factors that have shaped the negotiation process.  An example of such an influence is the High Initial Demand (HID).  HID is borne of the human nature imperative to do better.  An asking price higher than the must have position is an offset to the expected demand to do better.  We choose and deploy various tactics that we believe will stimulate or guide desired behavior. 

The rationale behind using tactics at all is one of caution.  Except in vary rare cases, we cannot fully trust the other side.  Trust, like credit, must be earned.  Only a fool would extend credit to a stranger.  Trust is merely a form of credit.  Therefore, we test for traps cautiously.

We also truly do not know what the other party wants.  We probe with questions and make intelligence estimates of what we think their issues will be, their HID, nice to have, and must have positions.  Couple the fact of the cautious need to defend from aggression and our ignorance of the other side and we see that the need for tactics will always exist. 

What then are the best tactics to use?  If we knew them, could we discard the rest?  We cannot discard them because we need to recognize them as we noted.   The best tactics are those that advance our strategy.  A harmony of message and messenger imparts an aura of professionalism that smoothes out the rough spots and makes the experience more enjoyable.

Part II delves into the first category of tactics, the Maneuvers.

Harry Hough, PhD, founder of the American Purchasing Society

Editor’s note: Dr. Hough is a frequent contributor to this blog.

Small companies may not have a formal purchasing department. Employees can have multiple functions. The task of buying needed material and services is included with other responsibilities. In a highly controlled organization, the president may do all the purchasing. As the organization grows, the busy executive may turn some of the buying function over to a secretary or someone else. In other organizations purchasing activities are highly diffused. Foremen and office supervisors can purchase what they need for their particular areas 

Eventually, a purchasing department is established. Often the purchasing supervisor has limited authority and is politically weak. Employees decide on what they want and frequently even tell the buyer where to purchase the goods or services. Wise management sooner or later realizes that this system does not minimize costs and prevents proper financial control. Then the authority of the purchasing manager is increased, and policies and procedures are established to improve purchasing operations. 

It is called a decentralized system when purchasing is done by more than one department or at more than one location. The ultimate decentralized system is when every employee makes his or her own purchases. Few organizations operate in that fashion, but many big companies have local purchasing departments. Even so, there still may be a Director of Purchasing and possibly a purchasing staff at the corporate headquarters. The Director or central staff may actually purchase certain items that are used by many locations, or they may negotiate national contracts that give favorable pricing to local plants or offices when purchases are made. The Director may establish company wide policies and procedures for purchasing. The central staff may gather statistics about purchases. They analyze the data, report on activities and make recommendations to local operations and/or general management. 

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With a centralized system all buying is done at one location or by one department. The centralized system has a number of significant advantages. Duplication of effort is avoided. One buyer negotiates for particular items with suppliers rather than many buyers bargaining for the same items. When purchasing people are at the local level, they must know about many products. Because their time is limited, they cannot become expert on all of them. With a centralized system, a buyer can be assigned a certain product category. The buyer becomes a specialist about that product. However, some large companies in the automotive and other industries rotate buyers so they do not become too friendly with particular suppliers. Other companies do so to provide cross training in different product categories. 

One of the biggest advantages of centralized purchasing is the ability to obtain economies of scale. The buyer almost always can obtain lower prices and better terms because of higher volume. Combining all the local requirements for the same items gives the buyer tremendous negotiating strength. 

Companies fluctuate from decentralized systems to centralize and back to decentralized depending on the fashion. Executives have praised the advantages of centralization and criticized it. That is because it is very difficult to successfully change from a decentralized system to a centralized one. It is difficult because people basically resist change. It is especially difficult because those who have been buying under a decentralized system fail to see how the change will help them. They only realize they will lose control of supplier selection and that they may suffer delays in receiving material that they need. They suspect that they may not get the quality they want. 

Existing suppliers will also oppose the change because they fear they will lose business. Suppliers will use their sales efforts to reinforce all the fears of local management.

 To change the system requires a great deal of planning. It requires a gigantic effort by the Director to convince both the national and local management of the advantages of making the change. It requires careful selection and supervision of the selected suppliers to make sure they deliver the quality expected on schedule. It should be better than previously obtained. Prices should be lower. Unless these objectives can be achieved, the new structure will likely fail.

Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant

 The meaning of the words, the intent of the speaker and the comprehension of the listener have three distinctly different messages in negotiation and indeed in all humanity.  

Here are the Three Levels of Meaning in any one’s speech.  

1. What the speaker says
2. What the speaker thinks he is saying
3. What the listener thinks that the speaker is saying.

 These three levels of meaning must be recognized in any communication, and are particularly powerful in negotiation.  In fact, this communication mechanism is the reason that we need to deploy tools like the reflective response, ‘I’ and ‘you’ statements.  It is not possible to always have these three levels overlap.  Moreover, it is more likely that the more familiar negotiators are with each other, the greater the odds for confusion as we assume that we know what the other side means.  Here is an example taken from the domestic scene. 

My youngest daughter and I share a love for cooking.  One night, my 10 year old and I were preparing pasta primavera.  The vegetables were done, the sauce finished, and the pasta al dente.  The cook top is on an island in the kitchen so with my back to her, I could not see that she had set up the colander on trivets in the sink.  She knew that backwash from the sink would contaminate the pasta.

 As I removed the steaming pot from the fire, seeing my daughter in my peripheral vision, I announced, “Clear the sink!” 

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 Let’s apply that one sentence to the three levels of meaning rule.

1. What the speaker said   “Clear the sink!” 
2. What the speaker thought he was saying   words to the effect that she should move away from the sink to avoid a scalding risk. 
3. The listener thought (quite to her consternation and confusion) that I wanted her to remove the colander set up from the sink.

 Such scenarios play out multiple times per day in our personal and professional relationships and are in need of our deliberate attention.  A good habit to adopt is to give level number three the most weight in communicating.  Think of the listener as the customer.  It is the customer’s opinion that matters most in many business relationships so let this be your guide.

Linda Byars Swindling, negotiation authority, former employment attorney, and author

Editor’s note: Linda Swindling is a frequent contributor to this blog.  

There are a number of tough situations that we must be prepared to address.   Here are a few and tips for success in managing them.

The unpopular position

 Some negotiations have less to do with the products or services offered and more to do with overcoming a public perception. Consider selling an expensive manufactured item like an aircraft or a piece of military equipment that is made in a politically unpopular country.  For example, at timed some Americans don’t hold warm feelings for France or Germany, especially when the governments of these countries oppose or refuse to support United States’ military action. Many of the competitors of these French and German comap0nies have produced their equipment in America with American workers. Competing with a politically unpopular product is a challenge. The potential buyers don’t want to be seen as supporting an unpopular cause or, in some cases, unpatriotic. 

Whether it is public opinion, politics or overcoming bad press, you must separate the emotional pulls from your offering. In this circumstance, you might acknowledge that governments are taking action but stress that the company is neutral in political  affairs. Your product or service has a superior history and special attention has always been given to American clients. Many businesses will overlook politics if the offering is superior. Some won’t. You must find the purchasers who will. 

Increasing price or taking something away from a customer

Negotiating with clients can be very challenging. It isn’t easy to offer your clients less services or fewer gratis items while increasing the cost of the base product. Yet, this type of situation occurs all the time. The position becomes even more difficult if your competitors continue offering the same level of service. It’s also hard to address customer needs that weren’t met or explaining to a client why the order they placed will never be filled. 

Laying an interest-based foundation for your relationship at the beginning is your best defense in this situation. Clients who believe that you are honest and looking out for their best interest are more likely to work with you when things don’t go as planned. 

Bad feelings or bad history

Persuading others who have a history of mistrust or another agenda is another difficult situation. Union leaders and management issues usually comes to mind. However, it might be military personnel working with civilian suppliers, volunteers working to persuade a government agency or representatives from various civil groups competing for restricted funds. Anytime people feel that one side may not understand or respect their perspective or position, influence becomes more difficult.

To resolve these types of issues, you must first find the common ground. There are usually joint benefits to co-operating, even if the benefit simply is understanding a different viewpoint. Respect for another’s point of view, even if you strongly disagree, is the start to a solution here. Disagree without being disagreeable and watch the relations improve. 

It affects your wallet

Probably the toughest business decisions are ones that have a risk of personal economic impact for you or a team. For instance, influencing a team decision, especially an unpopular one that could lead to job reduction, is very difficult. So is negotiating with your boss for more authority, recognition, face time, less responsibility and more communication because it deals directly with your earning ability.  It is even difficult when you are negotiating for others, for instance, improved working conditions, better recognition of peers or more control over the use of resources. 

In these instances, it helps to admit the truth or real condition. Yes, you understand that these changes could affect jobs in the future. Yes, you know your boss is extremely busy. Once awareness has been stated, present your request. Focus on why the change or request is merited and the ways you want to improve the relationship, condition or outcome to the extent possible. Make sure you point out any benefits that the other party gains by adopting this course of action.

Steve Hague, author, speaker, and Certified Purchasing Manager

Editor’s note: Steve Hague is a frequent contributor to this blog.

The old adage that, “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is” was undoubtedly born in an auto dealership. In order to increase business, car dealers are infamous for trying to hook and entice you to get you to visit their dealership.  Once you’re there, you’re playing by their rules on their home court. 

One way to prevent or discourage this type of over-zealous gamesmanship is to ask, no, tell them you want the promise they just made to you in writing.  Have them write it on their company’s letterhead with their signature.  If they fail to do so, walk out of the dealership and don’t go back. 

Too often consumers give their trust to those they are preparing to do business with only to be burned in the end.  It’s natural to take people at their word and believe that what they say they will do gets done, but too often these salespeople promise what they no they can’t deliver or what they hope that they may be able to deliver. 

When you hear something that you like at a car dealership such as, “free oil changes for life, car mats, detailing, upgraded stereo or warranty” or most importantly the price that you like, you expect that it will be honored if you hold up your end of the bargain which would be purchasing the vehicle. 

Steve Hague How To Buy Your Next Car ebook

In order to prevent disappointment and possibly anger that can lead to a broken deal after you’ve spent so much time and effort, make sure that what they promise verbally gets transmitted to paper by them.

 Watch out though as that same pen can be used as a weapon; figuratively speaking of course.  No, you shouldn’t have to worry about being physically harmed with a pen, but beware of the psychological power that a pen yields. 

When the salesperson writes “the number” that you would like to buy the vehicle for in standard blue ink, did they go “back” to speak with the manager?  If so, when they came out of the office and placed the same piece of paper on the desk in front of you with the sales manager’s writing on it, did you notice anything different about the sales manager’s writing? 

Is the manager’s writing much larger than yours or the salesman’s?  Is the color of the ink or marker red or another bold, bright color?  Is there a large circle around the figure he has written?  If so, it’s no accident.   This is a psychological message that HE or SHE is the authority figure and what he says, goes! 

Don’t be intimidated and fall for this trick.  Simply get up and walk away.  They’ll understand the psychological message that you’re delivering and most likely begin to deal with you fairly.

Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant

Every seller has posed and every buyer has considered this question. 

When the sales pro resurrects this tired old chestnut, is the answer to be found in the words of the George Strait song, “Amarillo by Morning”?  No, the seller is intentionally inciting a fool’s game of race to the low price in which both sides drive feverishly toward crash and burn.  Buyers and sellers engaging in this game violate the guiding principle of negotiation, obtaining the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).  Further, the only outcome of this negotiation must Win-Lose because there has to be a winner and a loser.

In over two decades of posing this question in purchasing and negotiation training seminars, I have found that the responses reveal ignoble behaviors.  Typically, when pressed to disclose their answers in safe discussions, buyers admit to a variety of “theoretical” evasive answers. They indicate a range, a target, and even a hard number. Probed further, they confess to exaggerating the amount a bit, in anticipation of and to offset the expected lie of the other side. To paraphrase the warden in Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a commercial case of liar’s poker.”

Any of these “theoretical” answers marks us as amateurs who understand little of the TCO basis of negotiation. This question is in reality a trap set to expose the price centered purchasing negotiator that with troubling corollaries attached so let’s examine the implications of Practical, Ethical, and Legal considerations.

Practical Implications

How do you know you could not have done better?  Forgetting about price for the moment, could you have obtained better quality, service or delivery?  You’ll never know because you have foreclosed your options.  If you demand 10% less and the seller was willing to go to 15%, you have been had.

Besides, what good is the low price if the quality is unacceptable, the delivery too late, and the service too inferior, all likely results of forcing the price under water?  You can always find a lower price.  The goal of purchasing and sale negotiation is to obtain the lowest TCO.    

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Ethical Implications

Are we all aware that ethical behavior is the buyer and seller’s responsibility under the law (Uniform Commercial Code, UCC)?  Many of us are surprised and some are shocked to learn that honesty, good faith, and fairness in dealings is a legal requirement for those engaging in purchase and sales transactions. 

Legal Implications

Herein resides the greatest danger.  A landmark case was decided on this matter in 1971 involving Kroger v. FTC.  The buyer had purposefully deceived the seller about prices.  The seller sued, alleging that the buyer and his employer had knowingly induced (or received) a discriminatory price prohibited by the Robinson-Patman act.  When the buyer argued that the court would be interfering with private bargaining if it granted the seller’s claim, the court disagreed.  It cited the legal requirement for honesty as it found against the buyer and for the seller.

So what is the right answer to this question?

Given this landscape of implications, our passion for the Best Value (defined as lowest TCO) and our professional dexterity at avoiding traps, we have a ready and effective answer to the supplier’s question of “Where do I have to be?” The answer is:

“Mister or Madam Supplier, let me be certain that I understand what is being asked. Did I understand correctly that I am to decide your price? If so, I cannot tell you what your price should be for several reasons important to us. Neither of us wishes to run afoul of Robinson-Patman provisions. More importantly, to preserve our relationship and because of the importance of the issues, we need to look at the TCO, not just the price. Since I heard you mention that the price is a function of the cost, why don’t we look first at the price, then into the costs? I am most interested in the best value, which we define as the lowest TCO. Would you be willing to work this way?”

This answer reinforces the TCO and Win-Win messages. It is also completely honest. We are interested in TCO. If we can eliminate some costs and thereby reduce the price in the process, so much the better.

The words we use complement our Win-Win strategy. The constant deflection of price to cost stresses the TCO significance to which the supplier may not be fully attuned. As a professional in procurement, you will never go wrong with costs. Seize every opportunity to bring the negotiation around to cost matters. The suppliers will come to realize that your goal of lowest TCO drives the negotiation process, not ego, price, or other hidden agendas that alienate the parties.

"Shorten your sales cycle & increase your win rate through competitive excellence"

Editor’s note: Stu Schlackman is a frequent contributor to this blog.

In Part I of a four part series, Stu reveals the Obective reasons that customers buy.  In Part II, he addresses Subjective reasons for customer purchases, while  Part III and Part IV detail the personality styles that detail the personality styles that drive buying decisions.  

Greens make logical decisions from the head. The Green personalities is objective when assessing a solution. They will research the product, market, your company, and make quantitative comparisons with other vendor’s solutions.  The objective criteria established for the purchase are very important to the Green’s consideration of any solution.

For example, how will the solution improve product quality and functionality?  How will it lower the defect rate?  How will it open new markets?  Greens are slow to make decisions since research takes time and they seek lots of information.  Once the research is complete, they will make a decision, not until!.  Subjectively, Greens are pressure averse.  With Greens you need to be patient and provide everything they ask for. For a Green, each decision is personal, usually unaffected by the opinion of others.  The best approach for moving the sale forward is to ask them: “what other information might you need?” and “what will be your next step in the assessment?”

Golds make weighted decisions for the company; a decision must impart financial well being (for the company first, and then indirectly, for them).  For the Gold, decisions are mostly objective. What is the return on investment?  How will this impact the bottom line, reduce operation costs, improve cash flow or reduce inventory levels?  Golds study the companies (yours and even your partners) that they consider doing business with.  How long have they been around? What is their position in the industry; their credibility?  From a subjective side, Golds are concerned with their position in the organization and what impact the decision will have politically.  Will it enhance their prospects and weaken their rivals?  Trust is also important to the Gold. 

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Objectively, Golds will assess the risk involved in making a decision.  Subjectively, Golds like corporate security, value the status quo, and need a prudent reason to make a decision.  Remember, Golds need to have expectations clearly laid out.  Golds are usually very organized and have a timeline for each step in the process that leads towards the buying decision; which makes them predictable as to when they will make a final decision.  For Golds, “time is money” is literal – do not waste their time.  Be supportive of the Gold and their decision making process and you can ask for the order.

The bottom line

If you are dealing with a left brain personality type (Green or Gold) the decision will more often lean towards the business aspects of your solution.  Business needs will override the personal needs.  However, if you are dealing with a right brain decision maker (Blue or Orange), the personal needs can outweigh the business needs.

Recapping, questions like: How do they feel? (Blue)  What does their gut tell them? (Orange)  Is it logical? (Green)  Is it advantageous? (Gold) Are they looking for a promotion or how will they be viewed by the rest of the organization if they make the decision? (Gold or Orange)  How will it impact the people in the organization? (Blue or Gold)  Is it the best solution? (Green)… Understanding that each personality style makes decisions can reset your approach and strategy with the customer. If there are multiple decision makers, you can emphasize the key points that will be important to each personality style involved.  Focusing on both the objective and subjective points will satisfy each individuals own issues and be significant in moving the sale forward.

Linda Byars Swindling, negotiation authority, former employment attorney, and author

Editor’s note:Linda Swindling is a frequent contributor to this blog.

How do you get your employees to focus on work when the market and economy have everyone frightened? How do you encourage people to be productive when their emotions are vacillating between rage, dismay, helplessness and financial worry? It is not an easy task. The major challenge is to control what you can. You can control your reactions to this climate. If you have management authority, people are looking to you for your response. Here are ways to restore peace and productivity to your workplace.

Give people time. This is a shock. Many people are seeing money invested for the future simply disappear. They may need more frequent breaks. There will be a lull in productivity. More sick time may be used. Expect it.

Encourage employees to get help. If you have an Employee’s Assistance Program (EAP) or counseling services, encourage people to use them. Some of your employees may suffer from stress. Others may need to deal with family members or close friends who have lost significant amounts of money, lost a home or been laid off. Refer your employees to professionals who are trained to help them get through these types of situations. With the constant conjecture from the media, you may also want to limit TV watching, phone calls and internet at work.

To the extent possible stop the gossip and speculation. People will need to talk and there is a need for information. However, too much time spent talking about the financial and political climate is not productive. Remind employees that there are top people in charge of making difficult decisions.

Consider bringing in outside help. If your work environment seems to be suffering, you may want to bring in a stress management counselor. If productivity is low, you may want to hire a facilitator to help people focus on what this financial crunch means to your business right now and what you are going to need to think about for the future. If people are concerned about retirement and meeting daily expenses, it may be time to bring in a financial counselor.

Have a cause that people can rally behind. Consider sponsoring a clothing drive, donating blood, raising money, writing encouraging cards to people in the armed forces or bringing holiday gifts for the less fortunate.

There is good news. You just may have to listen and look harder for it. Offer prizes for stories which discuss the good going on the community.

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Sing the praises of your own hometown heroes.

There are people who are doing amazing things around you to support both the community and to keep business going as usual. Some are helping the homeless, others have offered services around recent hurricanes and still others are making this world a better place. Notice and appreciate those folks. Those employees who continue doing a good job, even during this chaotic time, deserved to be recognized.

Try to turn the attention to the good that is being done. Unlike reaction to the terrorist attacks, there is a more positive attitude about financial rescue. Many state the current economic challenges can be overcome. Experts are on the job. Attention is finally being focused on the financial state of our government. Countries understand that what happens to the United States economy affects them as well and are pledging their support to a solution.   As a leader, all eyes are on you. People are watching your body language and listening to everything you say with scrutiny. You do set the example and the attitude for the office. Communication from key people is critical at this point. Tell your people that you don’t know how this may affect the business, but it has been around through worst situations. Remind your folks that it is up to everyone in this office to pull together and do what can be done to get business in the door and keep the business you have. There is a need to watch expenses and where you spend your time. Recovery will rest on what Americans do best: stay positive, find a creative solution and work with determination until the problem is solved.

Editor’s note: Steve writes, speaks, and consults on customer service.

A Chamber of Commerce recently hosted my talk ton how to tell a “Signature Story.” It’s a topic about which I feel passionate and my enthusiasm struck a chord. The audience was engaged and lively.  Afterwards many chamber members spoke with me about their Signature Story ideas along with a brief synopsis of their company’s product and service offerings. I invited these chamber members to follow up with me. What a fun time!

When I returned to my office, more chamber members had e-mailed about their company’s product and service offerings. I replied to every chamber member with a suggestion for future follow up. And that is where the story ends. Why? Because almost no one followed up!

I said almost no one. There was one chamber member who did follow up and his efforts were rewarded. How? He gained a new business relationship – with my company.

Had more chamber members followed up they might also have been rewarded similarly. My company is always looking for value-added service providers; however follow up is required to get my attention. My travel schedule keeps me on the road often so I need a little nudging along the way. For those who are persistent, tenacious and clever – there is a reward. For those who give up after the first call or e-mail, there is nothing.

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In this difficult economy, I have been very fortunate because my company’s narrow niche enables my services to stand out. I have the benefit of being a big fish in a small pond. But I still can’t assume that new business will always come to me. I have to keep searching for new relationships by following up two, three, four or more times. One time after following up with a prospect for the sixth time, she said, “Thank you so much for not giving up because we need your services.” Needless-to-say, I won this new business.

Follow up is one of the most basic sales and customer service tactics. I urge you to persevere with tenacity and tact and keep following up. Tough economies require a “back to basics” approach to weather the storm.