“why do so many managers readily blame people when things go wrong, instead of looking at the circumstances that could have caused it?” – Sandy Vaci.
Acest post este o continuare a interviului realizat cu Sandy Vaci, Adjunct Senior Professor la CEU Business School. In prima parte, publicata ieri, am discutat despre schimbarile pe care trebuie sa le facem pentru a evita greselile dinainte de criza, despre nevoile reale ale consumatorilor si despre simt de afaceri.
In randurile urmatoare, ultima parte a interviului realizat cu Sandy.
Robert Zanescu: Which was in your view a great sales experience that you’ve noticed recently (being exposed to personally or noticed in your research work)? Can you elaborate on the reasons why do you believe it was a great sales experience?
Sandy Vaci: It happened a few weeks ago at the Bucharest Marriott and was delivered by a person called Dan Martinas. (They are not paying me to say this, I actually collect and document these experiences so I can use them as examples!)
I arrived late and needed to make some small changes to my presentation for next morning. I stay at the hotel often, so Dan offered me free use of a PC in their Business Centre. This was already a nice touch – they acknowledged and thanked me for my patronage this way.
But the PC I got at the Centre did not work. Dan came over and started up another one for me. That also did not work. Apparently, all the PCs in the Centre were out of commission, awaiting some system upgrade. Although it wasn’t his fault, Dan personally apologized for this as if it was. He then personally took me up to the Business Lounge (normally reserved for those who booked a suite) and asked the attendant there to give me free access to one of their PCs.
Bad luck. All the PCs had the same problem there. Dan apologized again and offered help finding an internet café nearby to make my changes. He said he would have offered his personal laptop but didn’t take it to work. I told him not to worry, I make the changes in the office next morning and go and have a swim instead. Dan went away and within minutes a pair of slippers arrived in my room (for my trip to the pool), together with a free fruit basket and a personal note of apology from Dan, wishing me a good swim and a healthy snack after a healthy exercise.
I felt… delight. Interesting, isn’t it? At the end, I could not do what I wanted to. But I had an incredibly positive experience. Dan did not blame others. He truly represented his company. He did everything he could to help. And he finished it of with a truly unexpected touch that went beyond customer satisfaction, to customer delight. This is what I call creating a differentiating EXPERIENCE.
Now, you could say that this was service, not sales. But guess what? I return to Bucharest often for seminars, lectures, consulting. Different companies have contacts with different hotels. They would put me up at different places. With this single act Dan has bought my loyalty for years. I will always stay at the Marriott. I said earlier “sales is a higher level of service”. It is also true in reverse: “excellent service is the best sales there is!”
Which are in your view the top 5 abilities/skills that a Transnational Sales Manager should have?
First: Keeping a common sense towards people. Nobody gets up in the morning saying “I’ll go to work today to do a really bad job!” And nobody changes overnight. So why do so many managers readily blame people when things go wrong, instead of looking at the circumstances that could have caused it? Why do I hear so often “oh, yes, he (or she) used to be really good but he changed”? A manager’s job is to both ENABLE and motivate their people to greatness. Let’s look at ourselves first, what we could have done to create a winning environment before we lay the blame elsewhere.
Second: Ability to plan and measure activities and efficiencies which will lead to sales or profit, instead of measuring only profit or sales itself. We need to plan our way to success. We should not drive looking in the rearview mirror. Looking forward means managing the activities that will generate results. Tracking results alone is looking backwards. By the time I get the results there is nothing I can do to change them!
Third: Being “3-D”. I don’t mean being three dimensional. I mean knowing when to Delegate, when to Discuss and when to Decide. The worst decision is not making one, and not allowing others to make it either. This is even more important, and even more difficult, when managing across cultures. A real challenge for transnational managers!
Fourth: Having a good balance of creativity and discipline.
Fifth: Having humor and humility.
What about the Marketing Manager? Could you please enumerate the top 5 abilities/skills that a Marketing Manager should develop in order to keep up with a Transnational Sales Manager?
It’s probably too easy to say that they should have pretty much the same skills… So let me add two more. Then you can pick three you liked from the previous one and add these two to get to the magic five!
One: Ability to see marketing and sales as part of a continuum, not as separate disciplines.
Two: Willingness to understand the sales processes at work. This will allow the marketer to design better tools for the sales people, to treat every sales or service interaction as a marketing opportunity. A wonderful example comes to mind here. Back in Canada we wanted to get bank tellers (those employees who do cashier and transactional activities) involved in a retirement investment campaign. It was difficult. Their focus was reactive, to do what the customer wanted. Do it fast, do it well, don’t keep anyone waiting.
The solution came from one of our colleagues, who spent some of his time in branches and observed how things work in detail. Based on his suggestions we put a glass jar, full of $1 coins in front of every teller, on the customers’ side. There was a sign on it, facing the customer: “Take a coin if I did NOT ask you about our latest retirement savings options!” Then we told all our tellers that whatever money was left in their jar at the end of the campaign was theirs.
You should have seen the enthusiasm this generated. We had thousands of instant sales people, proactively asking every customer if they were willing to discuss their retirement needs with us. This kind of insight only comes from willingness to observe and understand how other areas do their work – then using the knowledge gained, creatively.
On that note, I guess I should add a third point after all: “of course, you should practice the above two skills while keeping your marketing mindset and professionalism”!
It was long said, “money makes the world go round”. If you were to find a replacement for this, what would you say for the post-crisis period?
I honestly don’t think it will change. And there is nothing wrong with that. Money does make the world go round. It is the oil in the engine. Problems happen when we focus so much on the oil that we forget it is only there to make the engine work. If you take the oil out, the engine will stop. But what do you do with a bucketful of oil if you no longer have a working engine to pour it into? All I would ask for is: PLEASE REMEMBER THE ENGINE!
Thank you Sandy for your time and looking forward to the workshops in Bucharest.
Sandy Vaci – Adjunct Senior Professor la CEU Business School (MBA Studies)
Despre Sandy Vaci
Sandy este in prezent Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Credit Bank of Moscow si Partener la Leaders’ Den – o companie globala de consultanta cu sediul central in Marea Britanie. A publicat doua carti despre practici globale in domeniul vanzarilor la VRL. Un cetatean global, Sandy are ca baze ale activitatilor sale Toronto, Vienna si Budapesta.
Sandy va sustine in Bucuresti doua seminarii de vanzari in organizate de BUSINESS REVIEW.
“Global best Practices in Sales Management” este un semniar dedicat practicilor internationale de management al vanzarilor, practici pe care oricine le poate utiliza pentru a se proteja de efectele recesiunii si pentru a se pregati pentru viitoarea crestere economica.
“The Latest in Channel Innovation- A Practical Guide” este continuarea seminarului “Global best Practices in Sales Management” si va face o trecere in revista a practicilor internationale privind “controlarea unei relatii” in contrast cu “controlarea de active” in scopul cresterii veniturilor cu costuri mici si flexibile.
Mai multe despre seminariile pregatite de catre Sandy la Bucuresti pe site-ul BUSINESS REVIEW.
Mi-am petrecut ziua de 19 Noiembrie 2009 la Crowne Plaza la 
