ARTICLEREWARD.COM

The 10 Commandments For Reps

Posted on February 8, 2008 - Filed Under Business

ONE:

‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’

REPrinted: Believe in your product or service above all others.

You must believe that your company, product or service is the best. If you don’t believe it’s the best, how do you expect anyone else to?

TWO:

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image–any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.’

REPrinted: Do not worship false idols. Most reps obsess over their monthly target and THE SALE. This is usually the result of extreme pressure from an overbearing manager. The more obsessed you become with THE SALE, the more obvious it is to the client or prospect. Clients and prospects pick up on this vibe and it’s a MASSIVE turn-off. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed they will be and by almost acting as if the sale is not important you actually have more chance of getting it. So what should you worship? 3 things:

1: SERVICE - Give better service than anyone else on the planet. Any less than 110% is not good enough.

2: VALUE - Clients must feel that you bring something of value to the table. If you are not seen as a valuable resource, you are not required. e 3: GOING THE EXTRA MILE: - Don’t just sell them a new phone, set up their speed dialling for them. Don’t just provide a new storage solution, refill it for them. Provide your new product and dispose of the old one. Get it?

Extra service, extra value, extra mile = extra satisfaction, extra loyalty, extra sales AND extra referrals.

THREE:

‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.’

REPrinted: Do not bitch, moan or gripe about the company you work for.

You may feel better for getting it off your chest but your client doesn’t want to hear it. Even if your moaning about something the client has mentioned previously, they don’t want to hear it from you. Do not give your client or prospect any reason to doubt your company or service. They have every right to complain, you however do not.

FOUR:

‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’

REPrinted: Take a day off.

Monday to Friday: Be as productive as possible, be purposeful, do not simply fill in the hours until you can go home. Have set objectives for every day and do your best to fulfill them. Give 110% every day.

Evenings & Sat morning: Do your homework, google your prospects, check their websites, plan for the week/month, read training material, join Toastmasters, finish projects, catch up on paperwork. The more you do, the more you get in return. Do not waste time with mindless TV, Facebook, Myspace or gaming.

Sat afternoon/Sunday: Relax, have a beer, get some friends round and play some poker, catch up on Myspace, spend a few hours gaming. However you like to relax, do it. Forget about work completely for a while. If you think about and do work every day, you will burn yourself out and be no good to anyone. Start every week refreshed, with a sense of excitement and urgency.

FIVE:

‘Honor your father and your mother.’

REPrinted: Do the right thing.

From an early age , we are taught manners, principles and right from wrong. Unfortunately, in the pursuit for results and success corners are often cut, shortcuts are found and actions we know to be wrong are still taken.

Before you take any action, ask yourself the following questions:

1: If what I’m about to do is discovered, what will result?

2: Is what I’m about to do of benefit to all?

3: Would my parents be proud of my actions?

If the answer is YES to all, you’re on the right track. If you answer NO to any, DON’T DO IT.

SIX:

‘You shall not murder.’

REPrinted: Don’t simply “KILL TIME”.

Many reps spend every day simply going through the motions. This type of rep is known as “The milkman”. He walks through the door with his orderbook under his arm, has a cup of coffee and a chat, takes his order, puts a sticker in the book, then with a cheery wave he’s on his way. What a nice guy.

While many clients will love this type of rep, non-threatening, doesn’t try to sell anything, happy go lucky,he’s actually not doing himself or his clients any favours. As a “Salon advisor” NOT a rep, your job is to be continually looking for ways to help your clients business and this means continually looking for a product or service (the solution) that you can provide for their wants and needs (the problem). Don’t be a SELLer of products, be a PROVIDEr of solutions. The more problems you solve the greater you’ll be.

REMEMBER: A doctor doesn’t sell medicine, he cures ailments.

SEVEN:

‘You shall not commit adultery.’

REPrinted: Do NOT mix business with pleasure.

While you may be convinced that your boss is more interested in “your figure” than your figures, that the hottie on the reception desk of your client is REALLY pleased to see you or that your biggest client is also your BIGGEST FAN for the wrong reasons, keep this in mind: IT ISN’T WORTH IT. PERIOD.

Throughout history we see examples of how mixing business with pleasure has cost so many so much. Regardless of high high or how low your position within any company, the stakes are the same. Mixing business with pleasure can cost you your money, your status, your reputation, your respect, your business, your job and your marriage. This is normally a male dominated area but the female of the species are not immune to it, in fact it’s on the increase. So I’ll say it again for you. IT ISN’T WORTH IT. PERIOD. Before you have your little bit of fun, just think what you could lose.

EIGHT:

‘You shall not steal.’

REPrinted: You shall not steal.

While taking home a pen or some Post-it notes is deemed perfectly acceptable by most employers and employees there will always be those who take things too far. Using your companys product at home is a very good way of familiarising yourself with the product and how your clients and prospects would use it but some employees and even employers are doing more than this. Selling product on the side/cash in hand, claiming the company laptop was stolen on the train or fiddling expenses for a bit more in your wage packet is STEALING and is NOT acceptable.

Those guilty of this type of behaviour will justify it to themselves by the hours they put in, the length of time with the company, the money they make the company and even the classic “everyone does it”. Just like number 7, stealing can cost you your status, your reputation, your respect, your business, your job, YES even your marriage and in many cases YOUR FREEDOM. I doubt the excuse of “everyone does it” helped those in charge of the ENRON Corporation, do you?

It doesn’t tie in with number 5 and like number 7, IT ISN’T WORTH IT. PERIOD.

NINE:

‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’

REPrinted: Don’t lie.

Most lies are told with the false hope that the truth will not be discovered. The truth will be discovered. If you have to lie to get business on board, you are doing something wrong, you are cheating not only your client but yourself and any success you have will be short lived. You may be able to get away with lying for quite a while but eventually you will be found out and any respect, reputation and trust you have built will be dashed against the shores of Karma. What goes around does indeed come around.

If a client asks wether your product can do something, and you know it can’t, be honest and tell them and if you know a product that can, tell them about it. WOW! They won’t know what’s hit’em! If a delivery is late or something’s missing and it was your fault, don’t blame “the jerks at head office”, the “monkeys in the warehouse” or “the stupid computer system we just had installed”. Strap on a pair and own up! WOW! An honest rep, I better tell my friends about this one!

Being honest will generate more respect, admiration and trust than you could imagine. Word will spread and you will get more referrals than you thought possible. Being honest also reduces stress as the more lies you tell, the more lies you have to remember, the longer you have to keep it up, the harder it is to go back to honesty and the trickier it gets. Now that sounds like a lot of hard work to me.

TEN:

‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.’

REPrinted: The grass may look greener but you still have to mow it.

Many reps, especially those first starting out for a company, see so much of there competitors products wherever they go that they find it very hard to stay positive. Instead of focusing on what they have, they focus all their energy on what thy don’t have. They figure their competitors product must be so much better that they don’t stand a chance and so they quit within a few months. They spend their working life moving from one company to another trying to find the easy life. There is no such thing.

What most reps fail to realize is that the reason their competition is so successful is because they stuck at it. They kept going through the tough times, they didn’t slack off during the good times, they did the training, they read the books, they listened to the training tapes and CD’s, they learned from their mistakes and those of others and they ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY WOULD NOT QUIT. Don’t hate your competition, learn from them. Find out why their clients love them and start doing likewise.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”. Thomas Edison.

Adam Broomfield-Strawn is a salon business advisor, on-line author, Toastmasters speaker and is married to a salon owner and hairdresser of 16 years. His ongoing work is to raise the standards of service and ethics within the business. He can be contacted at abstrawn@googlemail.com

Tags: , , ,

Share This

Related Posts

Comments

Leave a Reply