Taking a ShoTSlingShoT gM Mark Callander

on brand building and Taking on gianTS

NOV 26TH 2008 / Issue 15

5

ThiS one’S abouT TruST leSSonS for SaleSpeople froM The eleCTion baTTlefield

hearT powerMoTivaTing SaleSpeople froM The hearT

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 2

NOV 26TH / Issue 15

inTerview

Taking a ShoT

Mark Callendar talked to NZ sales

Manager about building brands,

strategies for smaller players, and

getting to the top.

ThiS weekS MuST read

ThiS oneS abouT TruST

5 lessons for salepeople from the

election battlefield.

nZSM Calendar

Two MinuTe Top-up

hearT power

Motivating salespeople from

the heart.

SaleS SkillS booST for gen-i

Waikato school of Managemens

new tertiary sales course.

book review

The CorporaTion: The

paThologiCal purSuiT of

profiT and power

A revolutionary assessment of the

history, character, and globalization

of the modern business corporation

SaleS Training direCTorY

The CloSe

4

6

10

13

4

6

9

10

11

13

14

15

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 3

This week I have nothing to say. so instead

we’re going to give away a book on selling.

In fact NZ sales Manager has three copies

of Ready Set Sell – How To Succeed In Selling by

Wellington’s Richard Buttenshaw to give away just in

time for summer holiday reading.

To enter the draw just email subscriptions@

nzsalesmanager.co.nz with Ready Set Sell in

the subject line by 4pm Friday November 28,

and we’ll post a copy to three lucky winners.

Alternatively you can pick up a copy from

Dymocks or get in touch with the guys at

www.salestoolbox.co.nz and get a copy at the

special rate for NZ sales Manager readers of

just $15 plus $2 for postage (RRP$19.95).

Let’s face it – us salespeople need all the help we can get at this stage!

Richard

ABOuT /

short and sharp, New Zealand sales Manager

is a free fortnightly e-magazine delivering

thought provoking and enlightening articles,

and industry news and information to

forward-thinking sales managers, business

owners and sales professionals.

eDITOR / Richard Liew

DesIGNeR / Jodi Olsson

ADVeRTIsING eNQuIRIes /

+64-9-361 1375 or email

richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

CONTeNT eNQuIRIes /

+64-9-361 1375 or email

richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

ADDRess / NZ sales Manager

Magazine,127a Ponsonby Road,

Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ.

+64-9-361 1375

WeBsITe /

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

got any thoughts on this topic or articles in this week’s issue? we’d love to know

what you think. email your comments to richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz and we’ll

share the best ones in future issues.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 4

Taking a ShoT

nZSM/ Mark you came into General Management from a

sales and marketing background – how do you think this

influences the way you go about your role as GM?

MC/ It has a very positive influence because the key to

running any business is understanding your customers

and this is the essence of any good marketers. Having this

experience and background results in the development of a

very customer focused business which is key to growth and

survival in any competitive markets.

nZSM/ Over the years slingshot has been a very vocal

proponent of competition in the internet and telco market

– what’s it been like having to compete against New

Zealand’s largest company?

MC/ Fun, exciting and challenging. The key to taking on

any large incumbent regardless of industry is to do things

different and constantly challenge traditional models. This

can be achieved numerous ways, for example through

brand positioning and owning a space in the mind of the

consumer that larger companies simply cannot match. You

can never out shout or out spend a company like Telecom,

but you sure can do things smarter and faster.

nZSM/ The market for internet and telephone services is

I N T e R V I e W

Name: Mark Callendar

Age: 34

ResuMeDAILY FReIGHT: Marketing Graduate

ANDReW BRANDs LTD: FMCG sales

and Marketing Manager

TeLeCOM – XTRA: Acquisition Manager

PILLAR LIMITeD: Own marketing

consultancy

CALLPLus seRVICes LTD: Marketing

Consultant, Marketing Manager, General

Manager

\\Slingshot and Callplus general Manager Mark Callander won this year’s new Zealand institute of Management Young executive of the Year award for the northern region and competes for the national title in december. he talked to nZ Sales Manager about building brands, strategies for smaller players, and getting to the top.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 5

very price sensitive, how do you compete for the customer

dollar if you can’t always be the cheapest?

MC/ If one of your core values or propositions is price,

you must develop a business that can deliver on it. Price

will always be a key factor when you’re a challenger in

the market and for this reason it is important that internal

cost structures are managed effectively. This means

investing in back office systems and processes to eliminate

unnecessary overheads or even developing innovative ways

to communicate with customers. While both slingshot

and CallPlus are price challengers in the market, both

businesses also deliver value added services that are

difficult to match.

nZSM/ In terms of brand building, what’s the most

important thing for businesses to focus on when they don’t

have megabucks to spend on advertising campaigns?

MC/ Brand building is not just about advertising. Brand

building is established by the way your company answers

the phone, what your invoice looks like, what customers say

about your service to friends and any other touch points with

your business. For slingshot, our Contact Centre staff are the

most important people in our business because there is no

point advertising and communicating brand values if these

are not aligned or shared by frontline staff. The alignment

of external and internal brand values in any company is

essential and when this does not occur any advertising

investment will only deliver short term gains.

Lastly it is not how much you spend, it is how you spend

it. With limited budgets it is essential that you maximise

your reach to the right audience, and If you can’t measure

it you’re just guessing. This is a key area where many

businesses fail when investing in advertising.

nZSM/ As General Manager there’s a lot of responsibility

and obviously plenty of things you could turn your

attention to - how do you decide what’s most important to

spend your time on?

MC/ The most important aspect of the role is valuing staff

and creating an environment that breeds success. Just like

understanding customers you also need to understand staff

- what motivates them, how to get the best out of them and

how to create a workplace that they want to be involved in

and proud of. This is the most important aspect.

nZSM/ What are the most challenging aspects of your role

as General Manager?

MC/ Time management and the prioritisation of demands

from across the business. From an operational perspective,

it is a matter of allocating resource to leverage the most

valuable opportunities. This often requires an assessment

of each project based on the impact to the business which

is not always a financial based metric – many factors are

considered. In addition to this, the telecommunications

environment is incredibly fast paced - managing the

business day to day while thinking about what the business

will look like tomorrow is always a challenge. We can’t sit

still or we die.

nZSM/ Do you have any advice for young people who

want to accelerate their progress into leadership and

management roles?

MC/ Firstly make sure your manager knows and

understands any aspirations in this area – that is always

the best place to start. Also, look for opportunities outside

of work. For example, there are often community based

organisations that will offer great opportunities for willing

individuals and even sports clubs. These opportunities

can offer great learning curves as an interim step. Take

advantage of any training opportunities within your

business and even consider getting involved in associations

like Toastmasters which is an inexpensive way to learn and

develop some of the skills necessary for leadership roles.

nZSM/ As a GM you no doubt you get people trying to

sell you things all the time – do you have any advice on

what salespeople who are trying to sell to GM’s or business

owners, should and shouldn’t do?

MC/ Qualify any opportunities before contacting any

potential customer so it doesn’t come across as a fact

finding mission in the first instance. You are dealing with

busy individuals so get to the essence of the opportunity

quickly – background information on the company you

represent is nice to know, but not always necessary

upfront. If it takes more than 10 minutes, chances are it has

taken too long.

Brand building is established by the way your company answers the

phone, what your invoice looks like, what customers say about your

service to friends and any other touch points with your business.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 6

ThiS one’S abouT TruST

Labour’s election campaign message will still be fresh

in your mind - ‘This one is about trust.’ There has

already been much media comment on whether air-

brushed pictures, relentless criticism and dirt digging of the

competition, and political spin, helps in any way to endear

trust. I think not and while trust has been a political theme

of the past couple of months it brings a few timely remind-

ers for all salespeople.

So why mix politics with sales? Well it is interesting that

in the 2008 Readers Digest New Zealand’s most trusted

professions list, politicians, sex workers and sales professions

fill the bottom 5 places. They do so with a predictable

regularity. The sales professions listed are telemarketers (rock

bottom), car salesmen and real estate agents.

And why are politicians, sex workers and sales professions

in the gutter when it comes to trust? The report states that

“sex workers don’t normally speak about their profession –

it’s unknown. What people don’t know, they don’t trust.”

For sales people and politicians it should be a different

reason. After all, politicians and sales people generally do

a lot of talking! Of the 70 public figures in the survey, 12 of

the bottom 20 are politicians, along with a few high profile

convicted criminals. Not surprisingly there are no sales

people on the public figures list.

Ask someone to describe a stereotypical sales person,

and most would probably refer to a used car salesman.

Not necessarily because they have had a bad experience

buying a car but because decades of self serving sales

behaviour has created this image.

I must point out that my inference is not that all sales

people are not to be trusted, or to say that all car

salesmen, real estate agents and telemarketers are

not to be trusted. But perception is what it is,

and obviously when these professions are

mentioned, most people are thinking guilty

until proven innocent!

Let’s look at a five reasons why

politicians are not trusted, as there

are some key lessons for the sales

profession in this.

T H I s W e e K ’ s M u s T R e A D

5 Lessons for Salespeople From the Election BattlefieldBy Paul Newsom\\

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 6 NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 7

1. It seemed to me that Labour were asking voters to trust

them because you can’t trust the competition. Labours

‘Two John’s’ ad got a reaction - it fell foul of the advertising

standards authority (NBR 30 Oct) for carrying misleading

information.

Lesson 1 // You can’t ask someone to trust you and

expect them to do so. Trust is earned. Telling your

customers that your competition is not to be trusted is

unlikely to instill their trust in you. In fact, it will have the

opposite affect.

2. Winston Peters’ political career is over for now.

establishing whether he did or didn’t accept donations or

go electioneering in a helicopter is not the purpose of this

article. The point is, his behaviour does not allow me to

trust or believe him.

“What upsets me is not that you lied to me, but that I can no longer believe you”Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher

Lesson 2 // Not giving a straight answer, avoiding the

question and only giving the part of the story that you want

people to hear will not get you re-elected. The customer

will not trust you, and won’t come back to buy again.

3. ‘self serving’ behaviour is rife among politicians as

they defend their territory and seek to gain support of the

public. While the media has a lot to answer for in the way

it reports this, no-one other than the politicians themselves

would disagree that they spend too much time with

their playground antics. Their interests seem to be about

themselves rather than the people they serve. They say the

right words but their actions tell a different story.

Trust is established through action, not words.

Lesson 3 // comes with a look at why telesales people are

at the bottom of the trust pile.

In the Trust survey report, Vanessa Hall business consultant

and author of The Truth About Trust says “They don’t appear

to have the best interests of people at heart.” she cites their

pushiness and need to reach targets as the key impediment

to trust. “We suggest they change their approach, put

the interests of their customers first and stop calling at

mealtimes,” says Hall.

Here’s an example that I’m sure will be very familiar to you all.

I received a call from one of our high street banks the other

night. Let’s give the caller the name Mary. It went like this:

(In brackets is what is going through my mind.)

- “Hello, is that Mr Paul Newsom”?

- “Yes” I reply (I’m suspicious)

- “Hi, this is Mary from the self serving Bank, How are you

tonight”?

- “Good, thank you” I reply (what is she trying to sell me?)

- “That’s good Mr Newsom, may I call you Paul”?

- “Yes” I reply (after all it is my name. Why are you calling

me to ask me if you can call me by my name? – your

credibility is fading fast. You are working to a tired old

script.)

- “So how has your day been Paul”?

- “Good” I reply (I have no idea what you are selling yet,

but even if you have the deal of the century I will not buy

from you – I don’t trust you, your credibility is shot).

- “That’s excellent Paul, the reason I am calling tonight is to

Blah Blah Blahdy Blah……..”

A minute later I interrupt Mary to tell her that I already have

adequate life insurance or whatever it was she was selling.

- “Oh” says Mary. “Well that’s really good, I’m pleased

because it is important for you and your family. Our

product is the only one with blah blah blahdy blah” and

so Mary started again. At this point Mary did not know

how to end the call, she just dug herself into a bigger hole,

nailing the final nails into her telemarketers coffin.

These people are set up to fail by their employers. No

wonder we don’t trust them.

Lesson 3 // You are not likely to be trusted if selling is

only about what you want. You may know that you are

trustworthy, but your customers don’t. If you sound and

behave like a self serving sales person you are unlikely to

be trusted.

4. I consider some politicians to be trustworthy, yet they

are let down by less scrupulous colleagues or poor party

policy. similarly many salespeople are highly trustworthy.

They are personally trusted by their customers yet that trust

is undermined by corporate shareholder driven policy and

behaviour, and business decisions that are not customer

focussed.

unreasonable changes to terms and conditions,

unjustified price increases and obscene profits are just

a few examples. The behaviour of the corporation is not

trustworthy, yet the behaviour of the sales person is.

As a case in point, in December 2005 Westpac employees

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 8

protested in Wellington because they felt they had to sell

services like home loans even if they were not in the best

interest of clients - otherwise they felt they might lose

their jobs.

Lesson 4 // Pass this test - Would you do yourself what

you are recommending to your customer?

5. So what is trust anyway? Jack Welch, ex CEO of GEC,

describes it simply – ‘you know it when you feel it’. We get

that feeling that something is not quite right. How often do

we get ‘that feeling’ when listening to politicians?

steven M.R. Covey’s excellent book The Speed of Trust,

The One Thing That Changes Everything is one of the best

books you can read on the subject of trust. Covey’s key

message is a trust formula:

when trust goes up, speed goes up and cost comes down.

As an example, consider this simple selling situation.

The seller helps to identify and solve a problem in the

customers business. Trust is quickly established between

the buyer and seller, and speed goes up as the customer

makes a quick buying decision. The seller knows it and

does what is required to progress the sale. The cost of

doing business comes down through a quick and efficient

sale and purchase.

Contrast this with a seller who makes repeated calls to a

business trying to sell a product, having no idea whether

there is a really a need. Finally the seller is given the

opportunity to trial their product for a 3 month period, but

at their cost. There is then a protracted negotiation, and

multiple meetings as the buyer cautiously works their way

to a decision. The buyer eventually decides not to change

supplier for another 12 months. With little trust, speed

goes down and cost goes up.

Lesson 5 // Trust is the one thing that changes everything.

When you come out of a meeting with a client, ask

yourself, what did I do to build trust with the client? As

we all know, every sales meeting must have a purpose.

One key purpose should always be to build trust. Read the

book The Speed of Trust, particularly the ‘13 Behaviours,’

to find out how. As Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes, says on

the back cover of the book, ‘we often take this critical

intangible for granted, and we do so at our ultimate

competitive peril.’

As a final thought, consider one of the old sayings of the

sales industry – ‘he could sell ice to an eskimo.’ That is,

he is so good he can sell something to someone that they

don’t need. Well, I don’t know many eskimo’s but I would

imagine they wouldn’t trust this sales person sufficiently to

go back to buy again.

I would rather have a sales person on my team who

sold ice to people to fill their chilly bins, and who sold

radiators to eskimos. I would trust him, and he would

probably sell a whole lot more too.

paul newsom is learning & development Manager of the rev Sales network overseeing the content and quality of the rSn’s executive sales training programs.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 9

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THu 4 DeCWeD 3 DeCTue 2 DeCMON 1 DeC

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suN 21 DeC

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sAT 13 DeCFRI 12 DeCTHu 11 DeC

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suN 30 NOV

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FRI 28 NOVWeD 26 NOV THu 27 NOV

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NZsMCALeNDAR

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Hit The Ground Running seminarTop Achievers sales TrainingAuckland

Fundamentals of selling WorkshopTop Achievers sales TrainingAuckland

Hit The Ground Running seminarTop Achievers sales TrainingHamilton

NZsM / NOV 12TH 2008 / 10

hearT power

Motivating salespeople From The Heart//

Let’s face it, most salespeople think they go to work for

their pay packet. The bigger their salary and higher

their commissions the happier they are….and so is the

boss with increased sales.

However, happiness is intrinsic and what the heart desires,

the head has to provide methods and systems to assist in

creating those dreams.

Recently I attended a sales course with sales star and

was reminded that most purchase decisions are based on

emotion. Then, they are supported by logic to rationalize

and justify the process. If a company is in pain, find the

pain and offer a solution which is their “buy in” as you

provide a method to fix their need.

It is the same with your sales staff. Whereas the

pay packet is fantastic, include some emotion in the

motivation process and you not only tap into their needs,

you elevate their hearts desires by focusing on fulfilling

their dreams. sales people are from the personality group

who make decisions based on emotion so this motivation

works best for them.

3 TIPs FOR CReATING A MOTIVATeD sALes TeAM

1. Improve their attitude. understand the traits of negative

and positive attitude and provide tools to keep their

‘thinking’ and attitude positive.

2. Create a confident team by boosting their self belief or

esteem. A sales person who lacks confidence will not

ask for the sale or up-sell. To help create a confident

sales person, consider offering them the opportunity to

attend Toastmasters, where they will not only learn how

to increase their communication technique, they will

also boost their self esteem.

3. uncover your sales team members’ personal 2009 goals.

support their desires and dreams when goal setting and

tap into their emotional needs to motivate them.

By Janice Davies

T W O M I N u T e T O P - u P

Janice davies is a professional speaker, author and success coach known as The attitude Specialist. visit her website www.attitudespecialist.com for more tips and articles.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 11

Being a good sales person requires a lot more than

product knowledge and the ability to talk up features

and benefits. Sales are key to business survival yet

selling is not regarded as a prestige occupation and rarely is it

taught at tertiary level.

That’s about to change with a new collaboration between

Telecom’s corporate ICT subsidiary, Gen-i, and the

university of Waikato Management school. From 2009,

Gen-i staff will be able to study for a Postgraduate Certificate

in Management studies, specialising in sales management.

Gen-i already has its own sales Academy and graduates

from its in-house programme will be able to enrol in the

new qualification that’ll be delivered by faculty from the

university’s Centre for Corporate and executive education.

“Too often sales is seen as a subset of marketing,” says John

Woodyard, sales and service academy manager at Gen-i.

“But it’s a stand-alone discipline far removed from the

silver tongued sales person or product hustler of old.

Today’s sales people have to have leadership skills and

need to understand business and the wider world they’re

operating in. They have to be able to move easily in any

sector of business and be able to map technical solutions

to business pressures. To do that, they require a depth of

business understanding and education.”

Woodyard says Gen-i chose Waikato Management school

to deliver the postgraduate sales qualification for a number

of reasons. The school has successfully led Telecom’s

Leadership Development Programme for a number of

years, it’s ranked the number one business school in New

Zealand, and Woodyard says he liked the people he was

dealing with from Corporate & executive education.

“They talked through what we wanted in a constructive

way, they weren’t overbearing and didn’t come loaded with

theory and preconceptions.”

Associate Professor Roger Brooksbank has already worked

with Gen-i on its salesperson assessment panel and he’s

impressed by what Gen-i has already achieved in its

academy. “It’s probably the best in-house training that I’ve

come across by a country mile,” he says. Fifty Geni-i staff

have graduated since 2005 and it was Gen-i graduates who

asked to extend their education still further.

sales skills boost for Gen-i

“Too often sales is seen as a subset of marketing, but it’s a stand-alone discipline far removed from the silver tongued sales person or product hustler of old.”

JOHN WOODYARD

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 12

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“It’s about providing our people with more tools to enhance

their revenue generating capability,” says Woodyard. “ICT

is a tough market, and the better service we can provide

for our clients, the more successful we will be. Doing this

qualification with Waikato Management School will enable

us to take client relationship skills to an advanced level.”

The four postgraduate papers that make up the PGCert may

count towards the Waikato MBA if Geni-i staff wish to

continue with tertiary study. The papers will cover

relationship management, strategic marketing, global

marketing and action learning - where students apply an

area of their study to their daily work. Gen-i staff will fit their

study round their jobs and use case studies relevant to ICT.

Waikato Management school dean Professor Frank

scrimgeour thinks it’s a win-win for both organisations.

“The qualification will give Gen-i access to some leading

researchers in sales and marketing, while for us, we

can use aspects of Gen-i’s best practice models in our

research and teaching.”

Brooksbank, who’s the author of Hot Marketing, Cool

Profits and How to Close More Sales, says it’s probably

time New Zealand followed the us lead and placed

sales as a stand-alone subject in tertiary education. “You

could say that sales has been a bit of a late developer in

academia, but perhaps that’s changing now.”

www.execed.ac.nz

from re:think, the waikato Management School’s newpaper for business

Brooksbank...says it’s probably time New Zealand followed the us lead and placedsales as a stand-alone subject in tertiary education.

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 13

R e s O u R C e C O R N e R

Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen

from relative obscurity to become the world’s

dominant economic institution. eminent Cana-

dian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends

that today’s corporation is a pathological institution, a dan-

gerous possessor of the great power it wields over people

and societies.

In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character,

and globalization of the modern business corporation,

Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:

• The corporation’s legally defined mandate is to pursue

relentlessly and without exception its own economic self-

interest, regardless of the harmful consequences it might

cause to others.

• The corporation’s unbridled self-interest victimizes

individuals, society, and, when it goes awry, even

shareholders and can cause

corporations to self-destruct, as

recent Wall street scandals reveal.

• Governments have freed the

corporation, despite its flawed

character, from legal

constraints through

deregulation and

granted it ever

greater authority

over society through

privatization.

But Bakan

believes change

is possible and he

outlines a far-

reaching program

of achievable reforms through legal regulation and

democratic control.

Featuring in-depth interviews with such wide-ranging

figures as Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, business

guru Peter Drucker, and cultural critic Noam Chomsky,

“The Corporation” is an extraordinary work that will

educate and enlighten students, CeOs, whistle-blowers,

power brokers, pawns, pundits, and politicians alike.

The CorporaTionThe paThologiCal purSuiT of profiT and powerBy Joel Bakan Published by Free Press

$33.66 from

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 14

09 573 1484

NZsM / NOV 26TH 2008 / 15

“ “I have nothing, I owe a great deal, and the rest I leave to the poor.

French writer,

Francois Rabelais

(1494-1553)