60 Ideas in 60 Minutes!

60 Ideas in 60 Minutes!
Craig Webb, Editor, ProSales
WOLFtoberfest
Sept. 22, 2010—Lehigh Valley, PA
Roads Scholar
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43 states visited since joining ProSales in Sept. ‘06
1. Act Like a Startup
Denair Lumber, Riverbank, CA
2. “Home on the Range” Day
3. Creative Marketing Events
Running of the Dachsunds in Kearny, NE
Chicks Love Kittens & Puppies
BootScootin’
Creativity
Hold a Contractor Truck Wash
4. Learn Energy Star for Homes V.3
What’s In Store for 2011
Picture Homeowners’ Reaction
5. Inventory Alerts
Create a report in which you
estimate when your inventory on
hand will be exhausted. Color-code
them thusly:
• RED—Will run out of product in
seven days.
• YELLOW—Will run out of product
in 14 days.
• GREEN—No danger.
Use the report to help assure you
don’t run out of needed products—
but also that you’re not
overstocking, either.
6. The 21st Century’s Homestead Act
Think Outdoors, Think Sheds
7. Vary How You Pay Your Drivers
8. Put Brain in Gear Before Mouth
Those SOBs Sure Are Cheap Today
9. Reward Accuracy, Punish Sloppy
ƒ Kitchen Sales: If errors are held to 0.2% of sales,
give a $500 bonus. If they exceed 0.3% of sales, reps
must share in the pain (at 50%, 75% or 100% of the
company cost).
ƒ For OSRs: Give $500 bonus if credit returns are kept
below 0.4% of sles. If they go over 0.4%, OSR pays
for a percentage of what’s above 0.4%.
ƒ Lead rewards: $50 gift card to people that pass on
leads that turn into sales.
Smoot Lumber (Stock Bldg Supply), Alexandria, VA
10. Develop an Emergency Plan
Ideal Lumber, Galveston, TX (After Hurricane Ike)
Develop an Emergency Plan
Riverside Lumber, New Orleans
11. Upgrade Your Inside Sales Reps
Ganahl Lumber, Los Alamitos, CA
Five Steps Leading To Better ISRs
• Listen To Them
They’re uniquely positioned to give you a
sense of what’s happening, and it makes
them feel they have input.
• Get Them Onto the Job Site
Seeing how products are used and how the
customer works will cement relationships.
• Train Them To Sell
Include inside repos in your sales meetings
and teach them the basics of selling.
• Empower Them
Give ‘em a bit more authority on issues like
price adjustments, product returns, and
rush deliveries.
• Recognize Their Contributions
Put ‘em on a task force or other initiative
that shows you value their work.
12. Organize
Your Showroom
Jackson Kitchen
Designs,
North Andover, MA
13. Profits
Through
Pink
Unicorns
14.
15. Woody!
Gutherie
Lumber,
Livonia, MI
The KISS Approach
Simple But Effective
Memorably Consistent
16. Provide
camera-equipped
cellphones to your
drivers so they can
take photos of
loads they deliver
17. What’s on your business card?
18. Reviewing Job Candidates 1x1
Peter Ganahl, Ganahl Lumber, Anaheim, CA
19. Reduce Your Electric Bill
How TW Perry Cut Its by 13.4%:
1.Have sr mgt create a Corporate
Energy Conservation Strategy.
2.Negotiate long-term electricity
and natural gas supply contracts.
3.Fix thermostats to 76 degrees in
hot weather, 68 in cool weather.
4.Perform routine maintenance every
quarter on all HVAC equipment.
5.Ban portable (foot) heaters, “as they
are energy hogs and notorious for
blowing breakers.” (Be resolute here.)
6.Turn off PCs, monitors and nonessential printers/faxes in off hours.
7.Unplug ancillary devices, such as cell
phone chargers, when not in use.
8.Turn off all lights when not in immediate
use.
20. Track Your Performance Publicly
ProBuild, Littleton, CO
21. Put Your Pieces in Place
Work with the yard foreman to organize the loading area
so the top 20 or top 40 moving products are immediately at
hand. This cuts load building time and turn-around time for
the trucks, and reduces wear and tear on the fork lift.
Rasure Lumber, Goodland, KS
22. Humor Sells Better Than Sincerity
Franklin Building Supply, Boise, ID
Franklin Building Supply Ad #2
23. Time for a Technology Upgrade?
24. Watch Your (Website’s) Language
25. Everybody Has a Mother
Thomas Lumber, Orlando, FL
26. You Can’t Say ‘Thank You’ Enough
27. Don’t be a Scrounger…
Be a
Problem
Solver
28. Corporate Chaplains: Cost-Savers
29. Watch Home Shows on TV
HGTV’s “Holmes on Homes” attacks lousy building practices.
30. Improve Your
Sales Techniques
How Effective Is Your Sales Team?
Is It the Sales Manager’s Fault?
If the sales staff is weak, it could
be because the sales manager
isn’t providing enough training.
Do this:
• Count the number of sales calls
and categorize them by
appointments and cold calls to
create a track record of constant
improvement.
• Go out with your sales rep on
client calls but don’t lead the
sale. Instead, observe how the
sales rep is doing and critique
him/her afterward.
Scheduled Appointments Create Results
If your sales rep stops by at a
potential client’s office on
his/her way between
meetings, offer a $50 bonus. If
that same OSR drives 30
minutes or more to make a
cold call, deduct $50.
31. New Worker Feedback Forms
32. Limit Opportunities To Cheat
Internal Controls Worth Adopting
• Segregate sales, cash and account adjusting work.
Use separate people to make cash deposits and
reconcile the cash account. Accounts never should
sign checks.
• Customers shouldn’t load their own goods; it gives
them too many opportunities to take more than they
bought (even if you have a gate guard).
• Keep an eye on your dumpsters to see if they’re
being used as cache points for stolen goods.
• Control entries, exits and general access to goods,
particularly high-priced, easily sellable items.
33. Pictures Are Better on the Radio
34. Get on Your Vendors’ Websites
35. Help a Builder: Enlist a Realtor
Let’s Face It: Builders Could Use Help
Some Plans
Aren’t All
That Brilliant
Errors No Matter Which Way You Go
36. Two Reasons Why No. 2 Is Good
37. Can Your Logo Meet Today’s Needs?
Bloedorn Lumber,
Torrington, WY
Builders.,
Kearney, NE
Make Your Mark
One That We Missed
38. Install
More
Efficient
Lighting
39. Don’t Ignore This WINK
40. What About Green Products?
Lead the Discussion
Jack Mackin, VP, F.D. Sterritt Lumber, Watertown, MA
Promote Yourself as the Expert
41. The Silence of the Sale
42. Make the Everyday Special
Coffee as Networking Tool
43. Turn Your Pets Into Stars
Pacific Building Center, Blaine, WA
I’m Ready for My Close-Up
I’m Ready for My Close-Up
44. How Do
Your
Salespeople
Dress?
45. Recycle Your Trash
… But Beware of Thieves
46. Deck Your Halls With Local Talent
Decorate
Your Windows,
Too
47. Metric: Hours by Employees/Day
48. Answer Your Phone
49. Sell What Sells
50. Old Medium, Creative Ad
Middletown (PA) Lumber
Old Medium, Creative Ad
JAY-K Lumber, New Hartford, NY
Expand Your Persona
He’s on Twitter, Too
51. Redesign your staff sales spaces
Mountain Lumber, Boone, NC
How It Looks Now
How It’s Going To Change
Conference
OSRs
Cafe
Mountain
Mountain Lumber,
Lumber, Boone,
Boone, NC
NC
Let’s Collaborate
52. Se Habla Español Aqui
Central Valley Builders Supply, Napa, CA
53. Go After
More Than
Just the
Biggest
Fish
Focus on Market Share
Don’t Hunt
Sales; Grow
Them
54. Go Where the Builders Go
55. Learn To Get Along With Politicians
The GOPs New Poster Child
Craig Fritsche, Tart Lumber, Sterling, VA
Webb’s 5 Findings on Governments
1. An elected officer’s No. 1 interest is the wellbeing of his constituents. They’re who elect him.
2. This is a huge, diverse country, growing more
polarized all the time. Redistricting promotes
fringe thinking, and eliminates the need to
compromise at lower administrative levels.
3. Regulators generally like, and think like, the
entities they cover. But regulators also see every
rotten apple in the barrel, and have to respond.
4. Size and $$$ matter in lobbying yes, but more
simply it’s a matter of who cares the most.
5. There is nothing more powerful in Washington
than an attractively phrased idea.
56. What Tech Tricks Do You Use?
New Ways of Reaching Customers
57. Use ALL Your Co-Op Money
58. Got a Celebrity? Put Him to Work.
Allied Siding & Windows in
Tomball, TX, had Nolan Ryan try
to toss a baseball through one
of its new impact-resistant
windows.
59. Celebrate Success
Instant Rewards
60. It’s All About How You See Things
Cheer Up!
Other Folks
Have It Worse.
How Will You Respond?
Accenture Sure Learned To Adapt
61. Subscribe to ProSales
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Got Showroom?
www.twitter.com/craiglwebb
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Craig Webb
cwebb@hanleywood.com
One Thomas Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 736-3307