Create strong routines = long term success

I remember being a toddler and not wanting to brush my teeth. In an effort to keep my teeth clean (and to save thousands on dentist fees) my parents made a chart. They went and made my younger brother (who always brushed his teeth) a chart also. When we brushed, a sticker was placed on the chart. When we brushed two times a day for a whole week we got a really big sticker placed on the chart. By appealing to my competitive side, my parents managed to get me to do the unthinkable; they got me to brush my teeth.

While I am not a dentist, I never understood why little children needed to brush their teeth. Weren’t they going to fall out anyway? I am sure that there are medical reasons why children must brush, but I am also confident that proper routine as a child will save that same child thousands of dollars on dental fees as an adult.

A few years ago, I was working at a telemarketing sales office that was selling a “long sale” product. Out of laziness (and because every agent gets overwhelmed for their first few work days) agents were not using the CRM properly. After a few months, management stated feeling their salaries tighten since the salesmen were not closing enough deals. After considerable research, management came to the conclusion that the low closing ratio was not due to lack of training; rather it was simply because the salesmen were not following up with their clients. Every sales agent had tens if not hundreds of potential clients who had “slipped through the cracks”.

Management put a HUGE push towards using the CRM that was offered during each agent’s initial training period. At first, they offered bonuses to anyone who had every client in their CRM by the end of the workday. As that started costing significant resources and the sales ratio did not yet justify such an allocation, they changed their plan of action. Management implemented the following rule, “Any client who was not in your CRM was not your lead. That lead became fair game to any other sales agent. But to their dismay, even after agents were retrained on the CRM software, agents were not able to seamlessly incorporate the CRM into their everyday use. Some would come in early and enter all of their leads from the previous work day, while others would stay late to input that same information. Some would even take a break between calls to input the information on the spot so that they would have a clear description of the call and the client’s needs. Management’s plan worked for a few weeks. What every agent had in common though was that after a week of work every agent became lenient again with the CRM data input.

The agents were not able to break their bad habits. For reason unclear to me, the business eventually closed down. It is possible that the product was no good, or even that the business model was off, but one thing is for sure, we will never know. All I do know is that the salesmen let themselves down by not trying to close every available deal. To this day I am a bit confused about what happened at that office. Particularly in a sales office every employee must do everything in their control to make as much money as possible. By simply inputting their sales information into the CRM each agent would be increasing their chances at closing deals. Why weren’t the agents able to break their previous bad habits?

I have found that setting correct routines always pays off. Even in situations where that might mean working twice as hard for the initial few days of a new job. While it may take an agent longer to make their first few sales, that agent will be creating a proper routine with will help them generate success down the road. An agent’s ability to build a proper foundation is what will protect that salesman from the intense sales turnover found in the telemarketing industry. Similarly, a company that enforces initial proper routine and discourages sales shortcuts will be around to see the success of that simple decision.

Success can be yours for only $10.99

Why are some people successful while others struggle? The world seems like an unfair playground where some lucky few live the good life as the rest of the world watch in envy. Wanting to be a successful person myself, I studied the element of success in order to understand how I could attain this illusive attribute.

I have created a 6 point summary on what I feel are the building blocks to success.

Step 1: Vision
Many people are blocked from achieving their life long goals because they lack the very first building block required: vision. What did Moses, Abraham, and Martin Luther King all have in common? They all had a dreams. All beginnings start with some sort of vision. Whether your personal vision is of wealth, happiness, or love, if you can’t envision it, you will not be able start creating an appropriate plan of action.

Step 2: Plan of action.
A plan of action is different than a vision. Many people have dreams of living a successful and happy life, but few actually follow up on those dreams with a creative plan of action. Get a good education and learn a solid trade. Dreamers do just that, they dream. Until you start to create a means, there will never be an end.

Step 3: Drive/Motivation
Everyone wants to be rich, but only those who have the motivation to get off their rear end can ever amass significant wealth. If you do not see any family estate checks coming your way in the near future, that might mean it’s time to get motivated about creating immediate income. Motivation has many factors and oftentimes can have many different faces. Whether someone is looking to impress others, to win over a potential spouse, or simply to be respected, all of these things within the right circumstance can create personal motivation. While some motivational speeches linger longer than others, no one motivational technique works best for all. Every clock ticks at a different time and with a different rhythm. Motivation is the building block towards creating success.

Step 4: Buying the lottery ticket
To this day no one has ever won the lottery without buying a ticket. The first real step at creating success requires taking a chance on ones self. Simply put, sometimes you need to pay $1 in order to win millions. From my experience, majority of dreams do not turn come to fruition not because of laziness but because individuals are not able to get past step 4. Success requires taking chances. To some, this can be the scariest step.

Step 5: Believing that you can succeed.
Many people who have a vision and are able to create a proper plan of action, are still not able to believe that they can actualize their goals. Just because someone “buys a lottery ticket” does not mean that they think they have any chance in winning the lottery. If you do not honestly believe that you should be awarded your dream job, you will never be able to actualize your lofty aspirations. While I do not suggest going to group “success seminars”, I do believe that there is value in what these seminars have to offer. Believe in yourself a bit more each day and as your confidence grows so will your sudden found success.

6: Work hard.
There is a Hebrew saying that goes as follows, “According to the pain - will be the gain.” Stop reading about multi level marketing schemes and get rich quick programs. If there were ways of making millions overnight, everyone would be doing it. Your work is only as good as the time and effort you put into it.

Remember there is no road to overnight respect and recognition. Create reasonable goals for yourself and with time you will find yourself on the path of actualizing your goals.

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My 6 points on sales burnout

Being the CEO of an outsourcing company has taught me two important things. Flattery will get you somewhere, but honesty will get you everywhere. Secondly, even the best employee, if not treated properly will burn out.

In my opinion sales might have the highest burnout rate of any profession. Burnout happens for different reasons. Some are avoidable and some are not.

Here are six reasons of how I have personally witnessed employee burnout in the outsourcing arena.

1. Long Sale - Short Sale
Certain sales people can only sell the short sale. I know that personally I have trouble with a long sell. There is a self rewarding feeling when closing short sale after short sale. In my experience even in the case where the commission payout is less, sales reps would rather close 10 sales in one week then 1 large sale. The adrenaline of closing helps employees over their next potential hurdle.

2. Too much stress
Sales managers often take the fun out of sales by putting unnecessary pressure on their sales team. While it is normal to have pressure in sales, too much will eventually breed resentment between sales reps and managers. Create realistic goals that can be achieved, otherwise goals will not be met.

3. Lack of recognition
Sales people need to be recognized for their sales successes. To this day I still feel energized by getting a sale and being acknowledged for it. While being rewarded financially is great, being recognized for a great achievement can mean even more. Simply writing an employees name on a white board because they reached a specific sales goal in most circumstances is not enough. Creating goals is important, but even more important is creating valuable recognition programs once those goals are reached. Additionally, I have found that the opportunity for advancement in a company is often times much more valuable than any possible bonus, raise, or prize.

4. Lack of Enthusiasm.
Selling the same thing over and over again without any change in product or responsibility can lead to burnout. As a general rule, people need to be challenged. Scripts need to be changed, and things need to be mixed up. Whether "mixing things up" means playing some music in the office, or even switching the seating arrangements, this kind of obvious refresher is mandatory. Doing exactly the same thing everyday can strip employees of their positive motivation. By creating program excitement you will at the same time be creating more potential sales.

5. Not Suited for the Sales Arena
Just because someone is good at sales does not mean they enjoy it. Many sales people are just in the wrong profession. Doing something that you dislike (even if you do it successfully) can lead to burnout. While selling can be the very nature of all business (a true salesmen can see sales everywhere, whether it's in a job interview, or bargaining for a car) not everyone is built to make a career out of it. Waking up everyday and heading off to the boiler room will inevitably break even the best of sales reps.

6. Respect
Getting back to my opening statement of this post, “Flattery will get you somewhere, but honesty will get you everywhere.” Sales reps are just as educated as any other professional. Everyone who is someone in sales knows which companies are paying their employees, and which companies have created pyramid schemes with hopes of striking it rich. Pay your employees on time and what they deserve. Do not forget that ultimately only your sales reps can bring success to your organization.

We're sorry sir, here is $50. Please don’t hate us.

For all those who don’t know, I have had some issues with Capital One. Some very troubling issues.

After significant amounts of time on hold with customer service, I decided to switch my purchasing power back to Visa. That’s when Capital One took out their “big guns”. They started throwing money at me.

Let me explain.

Capital One admitted to me that they have no idea what they are doing. For some reason unknown to them they canceled two of my credit cards. A plausible reason for the incompetence could stem from the fact that all important figures in the Capital One fraud department have been outsourced to India. In an effort to band-aid this terrible business decision Capital One has decided to hand out Ulysses S. Grant's to anyone who has a complaint.

I wonder if this specific tactic could work in the real world. I can see it now, a big bully is pushing around some smaller underclassmen. “Don’t beat me up big bully. Here, take 50 bucks.” I have a feeling the bully would take the money, and still do some face pounding.

Realizing this was a strange phenomenon, I decided to try and push my luck. I told the agent that $50 was not going to be enough. I demanded at least $100. “I am sorry sir, the maximum I am allowed to give out to frustrated customers is $50. If you would like, call again tomorrow and I will give you another $50.”

I guess their business plan is working. Apparently, $50 bills work as a good pacifier to appease angry customers when you’re outsourcing all of your telemarketing to Indians.

You Always Get What You Pay For

I have written many times about specific companies' lack of customer service. I find that people suffer from bad customer service in Israel specifically because of the accepted aggressive mentality of Israelis. While they don’t mean any harm, terrible customer service is the outcome.

I have somewhat grown accustom to the abusive way Bezek, Hot, Orange, etc. deal with their customers. Certain things still do tick me off though. Throughout all of my bad experiences I have had, never did I receive terrible customer service not because the company representative on the other line was a jerk, but because the person on the other end off the line didn’t actually speak English!

Let me explain.

I write this blog after hours of being on the phone fighting with simple minions who, to my current knowledge, really do not understand any English. They simply read from a script. The conversation went as follows. I said X they said Y. I said Z they said A. In a case when I said something that they didn’t understand they simply reiterate the last sentence that they had said. No joke! I wanted to give my readership a glimpse into my most recent painful experience. Here goes...

It all started with my “clever” decision to switch all purchases to the new Capital One No Hassle Rewards Card. Capital One is the only credit card (that I know of) that does not have a foreign transaction fee. In addition, they offer the exact exchange rate on purchases made abroad. That, tied together with the fact that they offered me 2% back on all purchases, makes me a proud Capital One Platinum holder.

My most recent episode occurred when I called Capital One to dispute a fraudulent charge on my credit card. I had purchased a Bluetooth adapter for my computer in some shady Israeli hardware store. When I returned to my office to try out my new gizmo, to no one’s surprise, the adapter did not work. I returned the item to the store. Only after the owner had his precious merchandise back did he alert me that there would be no refund or store credit for the damaged merchandise I was tricked into buying.

With the power of a platinum MasterCard in my wallet, I walked off. All the while knowing that while he might have won the battle he would surely lose the war. There was no need for me to get physical or raise my voice. I would flex my MasterCard muscles and get my way. I called up to dispute the charge.

Life was fine and dandy until a few days ago when I tried to make a purchase at New Deli (they make best hot dogs in town). “I am sorry sir, but this card is being declined.” How could that be? I had just gotten my new credit card a few months ago! I gave the man my Israeli platinum card (even more impressive than my American one. It actually has a sim card in it!). “I am sorry sir, but this card is also being declined.” I thought the worst. Maybe the Mossad had somehow found out about my hot dog obsession and had canceled my bank accounts and were now searching for me. It took me a quick second to realize how silly that possible scenario was. (Turns out my Israeli card not working was just a fluke).

I got back to my office and told my employees that I would be making a business call and therefore would be unavailable for a bit. I closed my office door and put on my investigative hat. I called up Capital One “customer service". “I am sorry sir, but I see here that you contacted us a few days ago and canceled that credit card. A new one has been issued.” Apparently they had mistakenly confused my story. Capital One thought I had called them and explained that someone had stolen my credit card. Capital One had already canceled my credit card. I was quickly explained that it was impossible to reactivate the card and that was why a new one had already been issued. I would be receiving the new card in the mail within 10-14 business days.

After 3 hours of fighting with incompetents on the phone I was finally transferred to someone located in the United States. “Sir, I am sorry about the confusion and I will reactivate your card. There will be no need for the replacement card. You should be able to use your original card now.”Apparently the nice man located in the United States was just as incompetent as the other 15 Indians who were getting paid just under $1 an hour. You cannot reactivate a shut down card.

I got my replacement card in the mail overnight UPS from the United States. Of course my wifes name was spelled wrong.

When outsourcing your Customer Service please at least try and make sure the people who will be working for you ACTUALLY speak English. I learned a long time ago that you always get what you pay for. Its too bad Capital One is perfect for my spending needs or I would cancel it! I guess my revenge is in the fact that it costs a full month’s Indian’s salary to UPS the credit card to Israel. Still unsure who came out with the upper hand on this one…

Where is your lost and found box?

I have seen some weird things so far in my outsourcing days. Today, I came across something that really made me raise an eyebrow.

I am sure you are familiar with the liability forms located on all hotel paraphernalia. “The hotel is not responsible for lost or stolen goods”. Or when you rent a car how the rental company makes you sign a form stating that, “The car rental company is not responsible for stolen items left in the car or for damage to its underbelly and tires”

Well just the other day I was introduced to another seemingly redundant liability warning.

Let me explain.

On one of the projects IOC Israel outsources for American companies, restaurants owners need to send copies of their menus so my team can put it on the website Bite2Eat.com. Every restaurants menu is a bit different, but they all have the same minimum denominator of food and prices. Some menus are fancier, others are in small font, Some are so big they don’t fit into a fax machine, but they all share a minimum level of professionalism.

I got a menu sent over to my office today that was nothing like its others! Every food item was situated next to a cartoon animal. (Snoopy - Garfield - Barney - all sorts of others I could not distinguish). As I was perusing the menu I happened upon an even greater abnormal addition to this already strange menu. This menu had the words, “The restaurant is not responsible for lost or stolen items on the restaurant premises” printed in the largest possible unsuspicious font.

Losing something in a hotel - plausible, having something stolen from your car - believable, but what exactly are people losing at a restaurant? Their pants? What valuable items are people bringing into restaurants these days? When I go out with my wife I bring only myself and my wallet. How often are people and or wallets going missing in this specific restaurant?

Could this be a scheme where the restaurant secretly steals your stuff and then points to their protective liability sign. I can see them saying, “Hey, look at the sign! We aren’t responsible if someone stole your shirt while you were sitting eating your food”.

I dunno guys. Something sounds a bit fishy…