ADP and Lessons Learned in Entrepreneurship

As I get closer to the 2 year mark from the time I decided I needed to turn my life around, I’ve been reminiscing about the times before this and what drove me to do what I am doing. My career at ADP is one of them, including the people that I met.

ADP was quite the eperience. I had a referral from a friend of mine who said that ADP was a great entry into higher level sales jobs, he himself was accepting a job making six figures working for a company that sold medical devices. I was interested in the job because of this, and because I was deperate and needed work after a 2 month trip to europe. Because I had no real skills, except for an average ability to make people like me, I went for it.

I got the job and soon realized it would be difficult for me. I already hated cold calling, and it seemed that was the only way I was going to do well at selling there. I tried to work for referrals, but in a high paced sales world, none of the managers were willing to wait for me to do that. Besides, I wasnt willing to put in the time to join networking groups because I was lazy, and had no idea how to sell and market (hindsight is a bitch, aint it).

In addition to that, I really didnt like the people that I worked with. Sure, they were nice on the outside (some of them), but they all had the same personality necessary to succeed in that environment. Think of the wall street type that will do anything for the sale. These guys could cold call all day long and laugh when they got hung up on. Sometimes I thought they had to be sociopaths for not being effected by this.

After working there for a while, I would find out that they would do cocaine before making calls, and at one point I was awkwardly in a position where they were doing the drug on a counter top before going into sales calls, right in front of me. Not exactly my thing. Sadly these people were really good at sales, they would annihilate me on the sales boards. I was just average, and in sales, average gets fired.

After a year of struggling, I started to get pressure from management to improve. The pressure got too stressful and I started drinking a lot, getting ulcers, having all sorts of health conditions… not fun.

I quit a month later and got a job with American Woodmark, which is a story all to itself.

The moral of this story is, my personality did not match the job. And, I was extremely naive back then. The combination of those two things was enough to make me a wreck.

Two things I could have done differently (that fit my personality):

• Networked more, and better – I needed to meet more people and at least let them know what I did
• Avoided being around the negativity of the employees that worked there
• Not worked there in the first place, and gotten a job that would teach me skills that could last me a lifetime.

Many of those employees that I worked with went on to medical device sales, which invokes a bit of jealousy because the high pay rates and flexible hours, but I try and remind myself that what I am doing is recession proof, it is “medicare cut” proof, it is something I can rely on the rest of my life. That is what keeps me going. Entrepreneurship and lifestyle design is something I strive for, I want the best of both worlds.

Point Made… Thanks Seth

Although I really only have a few posts so far on sales. Seth Godin enforces some of the points that I have made with his recent post. Him being a better writer than I am, I would highly recommend reading it.

Its all about interaction:

1. Get yourself in front of your clients (as often as possible)
2. Introduce yourself. Offer them something of value that you can contribute.
3. Interact with them more. Invite them to events and lunches. Maybe even seminars.
4. After all this has been done, then sell them what you are offering.

This may prove slightly different for certain products or services, but the general concept will always be the same.

How are you currently interacting with your potential customers?

Efficiency in Sales

Sales can be a burden, if you spend too much time doing things that aren’t efficient.

Did you know this already? Seems pretty simple right? Well, why are people so inefficient when it comes to sales or even work in general?

The bottom line is, you are most effective if you spend 3-4 hours concentrating on one task, with little distraction. Studies have shown that people prevent burnout and promote efficiency when they work hard for a short period of time, instead of every 2 hours throughout the day (like most people do it)

The next time you go to work, think about your productivity and whether or not you can accomplish everything you need in 3-4 hours, you will be surprised.

Gratitude is Smart Sales

Charlie Hoehn is a smart guy, and I am not just writing this because of his post about recognizing gratitude and using it as a tool for measuring what works.

Gratitude is something that not only makes you feel better about yourself, but it can also be a great tool in sales and networking.

Remember to always mention things that vendors and clients are doing right, too often do they hear the wrong.

You should never expect a sale from the good words that you give them, but remember that karma works in wonderful ways.

The Dynamics of Sales

You don’t have to be that loud obnoxious person, who makes everyone so uncomfortable that they say yes to the sale just to get him out of the room.

True sales is about the introduction of your brand (yourself or the business). Letting people know you are around, then continue to be around. Maybe even providing value to the customer where nothing is expected in return with a newsletter or free consultation.

These are the customers you will acquire and keep for years.

A turn and burn sales approach only works for scams and products that don’t provide value.

You really shouldn’t be asking for the sale the first time you meet, offer something that will allow you to talk again soon, such as a free consultation, or some free service or information. Even free products work well if what you are selling provides value to your customer.

Success in Sales

Sales and marketing success is all about doing it,  getting it done and being consistent about it.

You put the hours in and do the work that you may not want to do now, and it pays off in the future.

There are probably many reasons why you dont want to do this, but two of the biggest ones include:

1. Being afraid of rejection – This is the biggest one and deserves its own post. But to give a brief solution, you need to firmly concentrate on all of the benefits that you will receive if you make that cold call, or walk into that business, and do it knowing the benefits outweigh the negative feeling of rejection.
2. Not enough time! – I have been guilty of this many times. I will concentrate too much on everything else, and make sure that everything is perfect before stepping into the ring and market or sell the product. This is a dead end, you can never make it perfect. Evolve with your sales process: Sell, then adjust, sell, then adjust… etc.

Also remember that in todays world, turn and burn sales just dont work anymore. You need to take time to build relationships with people, the future payout will be more than you know.