Can I Help You?

I worked in some form of retail for roughly 7 years while I was in high school and college. I considered myself to be good at my respective jobs and always focused on putting in my best effort (OK, fine.....maybe not ALWAYS). I held my last retail position for 5 years before and while I was in college at Staples. Yeah, I did that....(<---that's a play on the "Yeah, we got that slogan there, get it? OK bad joke). ANYWAY, back to my original point. While at Staples I worked in a variety of roles from Office Supplies to Receiving to Office Equipment Sales, to PC Technician. The last two were pretty much the same thing; I spent most of the time selling computer related hardware, software, and whatnot to people.

I noticed an interesting paradigm when I was in this position. 9 times out of 10 when I would approach someone and say "Can I help you with anything sir/ma'am?" I would get the same response: "No, I'm all set, thanks!" I would always reply with "No problem, if you need anything, just let me know" and would then go back to whatever I was doing. I would usually get about 5-7 feet away before I would hear the real questions the person had; "How does this work?" "What is the difference between product x and product y?" "Do you know where product z is?" "What does insert technical term here mean?" and so on.

I always laughed afterwards about how resistant everyone is to being "sold." Now don't get me wrong, I am very resistant to being sold, especially by pushy and arrogant salespeople. The only difference between me and that customer I described is that if someone asks me if they can help and I have a question about a product, I say sure and begin asking questions.

Is it a fear of feeling inferior to the sales person? Or a I think I know or can figure out everything myself thing? Or is it simply something having to do with vulnerability? I'm no psychologist, so I cannot say with any qualification what it most likely is, but I can say in my opinion I think it is a combination of all of the above and that it is different for each person. I also think that the past couple generations have been grown up so inundated with advertising that we have established a natural resistance to anything trying to get us to do something we have yet to decide to do ourselves. It's kind of like building up a resistance to a prescription drug. You may be fine with a small dosage but after a little while of taking it, it takes double the originally dosage to get the same original effect. Considering how many avenues advertising has to reach its audience these days it is certainly understandable to see this resistance.

So what do those of us who count on sales for income do? Short Answer: who knows?! There are plenty of "experts" out there claiming to know the answers to this question but the fact remains they only may know the answers for certain industries. Each sales position is difference and has it's different quirks. Selling to an IT guy is a lot different then selling to a CFO.

The best method I have found is simply to build a network of trusted partners who have similar goals to yours and whose products or services serve as a direct compliment to your own. By doing this you increase your chances of getting the sale because there are more people out there looking out for you and your message. In addition to this, you have to be willing to give BEFORE you get...Yes I said BEFORE. There will be some occasions where everything works out perfectly and someone has a perfectly close-able opportunity for you, but the chances of that are slim. These days, people are less and less willing to give out contact information until they completely trust you, so give them a reason to trust you.

Like I mentioned earlier, I would never consider myself an "expert" because I believe we are always learning and adapting in business. The word expert is tossed around so much it's meaning has been depleted in my eyes. To be an "expert" means you have all of the answers and I have yet to meet anyone who has all the answers for anything. I thought this topic would be a good starting point for a discussion so please comment!

I Love Baseball

Baseball is the greatest sport known to man, and I'm so incredibly pumped that it is back. No more going home after a long day at work with nothing on TV to watch because of a writers strike, no more flipping through the channels, just BASEBALL!

If you really think about it, everything you are looking for in entertainment is wrapped up in one package with baseball. You have the suspense created by wondering who is going to win. The drama created by some no name guy hitting a game winning HR or a familiar hero delivering again. The anger when your favorite team blows a late inning lead and the joy when they hold on against all odds. Will there be a dominant pitching performance or a blowout? Is there any back story to the game against bitter rivals?

Those are just a few reasons that make this game so great.

For me, witnessing a masterful pitching performance is awe inspiring. The odds of everything clicking at once to form perfection. Think of all the things that have to go into a great pitching performance. The scouting reports have to be right on so the game plan can be well designed. He and his catcher have to be in sync on what the game plan is, and then they have to follow that game plan and make adjustments when needed. The pitcher has to execute ALL of his pitches with precision; as missing by even an inch could spell catastrophe. He must be economical and not worry about stats such as strikeouts; as a ground ball out on one pitch can give him two more pitches to throw to the next batter if needed. The defense must be on their game and able to dispose of any batter who puts the ball into play.

We're only 16 games or so into the season and there is plenty of story lines to follow. I'm interested to know what other's favorite aspects of the game are. Comment below!

Politics

Did you vote in the Presidential Primaries on Tuesday? I hope so. I do not talk or write about politics all that often, but this race seems to be one of the most important presidential races in our history. I have a couple of questions though...Followed by a rant of course!

Whatever happened to Republicans and Democrats working together for the common good? How did the liberal and conservative labels overtake party designations? Every time I've discussed politics with other people face to face, I find the same general feeling; when are politics going to get out of the way so officials can correctly govern our country? Personally, I'm so sick of the liberals attacking the conservatives or vise versa. It seems like the presidential race of this upcoming election has turned into a 2nd grade school playground argument where no one takes a stand outside of their group's opinion. Let me paint a picture...

Imagine a country that was founded on the same exact principles that the US was. Now imagine we had a candidate that was not affiliated with any party, or even is he/she was, they were not at all radicalized like our candidates of today. They ran an upstanding campaign where they do not focus any of their time on smear campaigns or attacking their rival, but talking about how they would fix/run the country. Wouldn't that be incredible? I am not against debates, as they are necessary to hash out issues so the public can see where the candidate really stands, but I am against speeches and TV ads where one candidate and/or their party attacks another. Now, imagine this candidate gets elected. Instead of filling his/her cabinet with people only from their party, they appointed people of differing viewpoints so they could hear each sides opinion and make their decision based on what they've heard and how they feel. Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing? This is how I understand what our founding fathers meant when they wrote the constitution and formed our government. Somewhere along the way, childish behavior took over and we've strayed farther and farther away.

Just to clarify, I am a registered republican with conservative tendencies. I've recently made the decision though to change my party designation to independent. The reason for this is while I do agree with most conservative viewpoints, I do not agree with the way either side has conducted themselves in the recent years.

Well there is my rant about politics. Want to know who I voted for? Email me or comment below!

Baseball Contracts

So on my ride into work this morning I was listening to Baseball this morning on XM Radio as usual when one particular comment grabbed my attention. I think it was mainly because of the way it was said but it really put the baseball world in perspective. One of the guests was talking about how teams will usually scour the wires to find "has-beens" or "journeyman" players to fill out their bench for the upcoming season. The exact comment that caught my attention was when he said "Yeah, teams will throw a million dollars at a washed up pitcher just in case it can work out." A million dollars on a chance it will work out??? Where do I sign up? I can throw a ball hard and sometimes on target, can I get a chance for a contract for half that much?

I think we as fans have to take a step back sometimes and really understand how ridiculous professional sports are with their salaries. Don't get me wrong, I love watching baseball. I can't stand however to watch the NBA and even the NFL though. I recently found myself watching more and more college basketball though. I think the reason for this is because in my mind it is still just about the game of basketball, and that's why I like to watch it. The fans are so into the game and often cheer in unison. The players play as a team, do whatever their coach tells them, and usually the one the one that executes their team game plan best comes out on top.

Back to my main point though. It is a very difficult topic to get into on how to fix the priorities of our country and contrary to liberal beliefs this has nothing to do with our current administration. We as a country seem to value entertainment and sports over everything else. If this was not true, you would see ball players still having to get jobs in the off season like they had to back in the 50's and 60's. It seems like a repetitive argument but the things that matter most like teachers, police, firefighters, paramedics, etc. get paid almost nothing in comparison to a person who can play a sport well. And many of the people in those lines of work put their lives on the line everyday. Please let me know the next time a professional athlete puts their life on the line for another. ..

Website Design

So after upgrading this weekend to Joomla 1.5, I did a little research online. I noticed a lot of companies offering web design services at a per page rate. I also noticed a lot of small groups and companies that have web pages that are terrible. When I went to look at their designer's site I found a site equally terrible. The issue here is that these people were paying close to $500 for a 5 page website!!!!! Even worse, not even a good one!

I'm a firm believer in using the Internet to better expose one's business but you're doing more harm than good by having an unorganized, dirty, plain website.

That is why I've decided that I will offer up some time to install and configure exactly what I have on brduke.com for anyone interested at a reasonable rate. This is not my livelihood, so I do not need to charge any unrealistic fees or anything like that. I actually enjoy doing this. The great thing about installing a Joomla system is that once I am finished with the initial setup, you can modify the site yourself!

If anyone is interested in my services for a small business or personal site please email me at brian@brduke.com for pricing and project details. If you are just looking for ideas or recommendations feel free to ask!