KANE'S BEVERAGE NEWS DAILY

• 'Eating Place' Can't Sell Beer Solely for Takeout, Pennsylvania High Court Rules
• Alcohol-Related Deaths Among Collegians Rise in 8 Years: NIAAA Study
• Alcohol Impacts Brain Quickly
• Wine, Grape Industry Contributes $5 Billion to Lodi Region: Study
• Red Stripe Releases Download Celebrating Jamaican Music 
• Castle Brands Releases Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum
• California ABC Moves Up Application Dates to Ease Financial Crisis
• MillerCoors Donates 8,000 Cases of Beer to Troops in Middle East for July 4
• Stella Artois Supporting American Film Institute
• Dos Equis Most Interesting Academy to Present Urban Survival Tips
• Fast Food and a DWI Citation

• Why the Proposed Soft Drink 'Fat Tax Will Fail
• Jones Soda Introduces Collection of Spanish Labels
• Researcher Blames Sweetened Beverages for Obesity, Other Ills

• How Media Generated Unnecessary Fears of BPA: Study
• Quote of the Day

By Nathan Jamail

Every year companies look for ways to increase sales.  This year is no different, only with today's economy, the answers seem to be harder to find.  One sure way to increase your sales: focus on your first string.  This concept of focusing on your first string is very simple in theory, but it is not easy to execute.  Much like great coaching of great sports teams, it takes a long commitment to make the team better by challenging the best players and working with them to improve constantly.    

When the New England Patriots football team or the Orlando Magic basketball team practices, does the coach spend the week before the game working with the third string players, or does he focus on working with the first string players?  Answer: The first string players, of course, because they are the ones who are ultimately going to win the game.  They score the most points and usually play the most amount of time.  The coach spends a lot of time with them because they are good enough to merit his attention.  The coach's focus on the first string players sets a positive goal for all the players to strive for.  If the third string players want his attention, they have to work for it!  If the first string players want to keep their coach's attention, they have to work hard to stay the best!  In sum, this program requires every player to desire and pursue excellence.

In business the norm is the exact opposite.  Many companies have a culture in which managers leave the top performers alone and focus on the bottom performers.  It is very common to hear a sales manager or leader say, "Oh, Bob is one of my top guys, so I leave him alone and let him do his job."  Wow, what a mistake!  Another organization that understands a different philosophy will eventually approach Bob and inform him that he is being robbed.  Bob will be told he is investing all his time and energy in the company, but the company is not investing in him by coaching him and helping him to develop.  Bob will thus be wooed over to a new company.  Companies with leaders who ignore to their top performers will soon lose them.  Even worse, the company's culture is one that says if the manager is working with an employee on a regular basis, then that person must be a low performer.  The leader's involvement with an employee is viewed as a negative.   The leader is a manager and not a coach.  It is difficult to coach a person if the person feels that the leader thinks he or she is there to manage poor performance.  It's like rewarding your kids with attention only when they are bad. 

How do you fix this disordered culture?

Step 1:  Make the commitment.  All leaders want to create a culture where winning and being the best is the goal, and to do that all players have to want to be on the first string.  A leader needs to create a culture that dedicates all of their coaching efforts to the top performers and those who are willing to do what it takes to become a top performer.  Fight the tendency to leave the top performers alone because you normally focus on the weak.  A leader must commit to coaching the top performers or committed performers and manage the bottom performers up or out.  

Step 2:  Spend your time with the top performers, conducting ride days and practicing role-plays with them. Your goal is to help make them better every month.  The leader must let the team know that she or he plays favorites; if team members are successful and doing the right things, the leader will spend time with them, and the others will have limited coaching.  Once this is done, leaders will find their top performers will improve dramatically, and will find their jobs more satisfying.  The bottom performers will ask the leader what it takes to become a top performer, and they will do what it takes, or they will find another team.  Neither one of those options is a bad thing for the organization or the person.  This might sound cold at first, but it's not.  Think about a person who is struggling at his job: he knows it and he usually has very low job satisfaction.  A leader's job is not to ignore the bottom performers, but instead to move them up or out.  A leader who tolerates poor performance is a leader who will always have a struggling team and disappointed top performers. 

Many companies find internal competition to be bad because some of the lower producing sales people get their feelings hurt, so they stop recognizing the top performers or stop conducting contests in general.  This is another instance of sacrificing the top performers to satisfy the bottom performers.  In sales, just like in life, it takes skill, talent and discipline to be successful.  When a salesperson does a great job and delivers great results, he or she should be recognized.  Kids love to be recognized and feel appreciated, and professional adults are no different.  Remember: when a leader tries to recognize everybody equally in order to be fair, his blanket recognition devalues the recognition for the ones who deserves it most.  Winning is important, so do it.

The proof is in the numbers.  Let's look at this example: a sales leader has five sales reps.   The top two reps generate $100 each while the bottom two sales reps generate $50 each.  If the leader works with the top reps and they improve by 20 percent, then the revenue is increased by $40.  If the sales leader works with the bottom reps and they improve 20 percent, then the revenue is increased by $20.   It is obvious where a leader should spend time.  Successful sales leadership comes from focusing on the program or process that gives the greatest return on investment, much like successful retirement plans, marketing efforts and finances. 

If you don't spend time with your first string and invest in their success as much as they invest in the organization, someone else will. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group and author of "The Sales Leaders Playbook," is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive Director for Sprint, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, Metro PCS, The News Group, Century 21, Jackson National Insurance Company and ThyssenKrupp Elevators. To book Nathan, visit www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.

Katherine Strange built her business from a one-woman wine brokerage to one that uses 10 sales representatives to sell and distribute boutique and imported wines.

And yet, it could have ended in a forest fire last Thanksgiving weekend.

It didn't, and, in fact, while its office was destroyed, its customers and winery suppliers never missed a beat.

Learn what Strange Wine did -- and what steps you need to take to insure your business isn't damaged by fire or other disaster.  Just click the button to the right.

Effective Selling Begins with Information

By Dave Kahle

            Most salespeople love to be active -- out in our territories, seeing people, solving problems, putting deals together.  This activity-orientation is one of the characteristics of a sales personality.  A day sitting behind a desk is our idea of purgatory.  Unfortunately, this activity orientation is both a strength and weakness.  Much of our ability to produce results finds its genesis in our activity orientation.  It provides some of the energy to move us to sales success.

            But it can be a major obstacle.  Far too often, we're guilty of going about our jobs directed by the credo of "Ready, shoot...aim."  The luxury of this kind of unfocused activity is a casualty of the Information Age.  As a salesperson committed to constant improvement, you understand that, to be effective, you must be focused and thoughtful about everything you do.  Activity without forethought and planning is a needless waste of time and energy.

            If you were going to build a home, for example, you'd want to know about the nature of the ground on which the home was to be built.  You'd need to have a good idea about what kind of weather conditions the home would be enduring, what the building codes were, what materials were available and what they cost, and what kind of skilled workmen were required.  The list could go on and on.  The point is that you wouldn't be able to build a home very effectively if you didn't have good information on which to base those plans.

            The same principles apply to building a home as well as delivering effective sales performance.  In both cases, good planning requires good information.  It may be that your company provides you all the information you need.  But, it's more likely they don't.  If you're going to work with good information, you must be the one who collects that information.  That means that you must create systems to collect, store and use the information that will be most helpful to you.  Since our world is constantly producing new information, the system you create isn't something you do once and forget.  Rather, it has to be a dynamic system that is constantly processing, storing and using new information.

 The Information-Collecting Process

            Creating and maintaining your system is a matter of following several specific steps.

Here's the process:

• Create a list of the categories of information you'd like to have.
• Working with one category at a time, brainstorm a list of all the pieces of information you'd like to have within that category.
• Develop a system and some tools to help you collect that information.
• Store it efficiently.
• Use it regularly.

 Step One.  Start by listing the kinds of information you think will be most useful to you.

            Think about your job and determine what kinds of information you'd like to have to help you deal effectively with your customers.  Here's a partial list that would fit most salespeople:

• Information about your customers and prospects.
• Information about your competitors
• Information about the products, programs and services you sell.

            You may have a number of other categories, but this is a basic list with which you can begin.

 Step Two.  Once you've categorized the kind of information you'd like, you can then think about what information would be ideal to have in each category.

            Start at the top and work down.  Look at customers and prospects first.  What, ideally, would you like to know about them?  Some typical pieces of information would include information about the account's total volume of the kind of products you sell, the dates of contracts that are coming up, the people from whom they are currently buying, and so forth.  All of that seems pretty basic.  However, most salespeople have no systematic way of collecting and storing that information.  So, while you may occasionally ask a certain customer for parts of it, you probably aren't asking every customer for all the information.  And, you're probably not collecting it, storing it, and referring to it in a systematic, disciplined way.

            Do you think your competitors know exactly how much potential each of their accounts has?  Do you think they know other pieces of useful information, like, for example, how many pieces of production equipment each customer has, and the manufacturer and year of purchase of each?  Probably not.  If you collect good quantitative marketing information, you'll be better equipped to make strategic sales decisions and create effective plans.  For example, you'll know exactly who to talk to when the new piece of equipment from ABC manufacturer is finally introduced.  And, you'll know who is really ripe for some new cost-saving product that's coming, or the new program your company is putting together.

            You may currently be doing a so-so job of collecting information.  It's like golf.  Anyone can hit a golf ball.  But few can do it well.  Anyone can get some information.  Few salespeople do it well.

 Step Three.  Develop a system and some tools.

            The single most effective tool is an account profile form.  It's an incredibly effective tool that generates and organizes some of the most powerful processes.

 Account Profile Form

            An account profile form is a form full of questions, or more precisely, spaces for the answers to questions.  The questions are all about each of your accounts.  The form is the document on which you store that useful information.  It can exist in a couple of different forms -- paper or electronic.  If you're using contact-management software on a laptop computer, then the account profile form can be several screens for each account.  If you're not computerized, then it needs to be created on paper.  Regardless of the media, the principles and processes are the same.

            A well-designed, systematically executed account profile form can be one of your most powerful tools for acquiring a competitive edge.  Here's why.  First, it provides you a way to collect quantitative information that will allow you to know your customers more thoroughly than your competition.  All those pieces of information that you said were potentially important to you can be collected and stored in the blanks on the account profile form.  Create a one-page form with blanks in it for each of the quantitative pieces of information you want.

            In addition to the quantitative information about the business, you need another version of the form for each of the key individuals within those accounts.  That's called a personal profile, and it is your mechanism to collect personal information about the key decision makers.  You apply the same concept and principles to the task of collecting personal information about the key decision-makers within your accounts.  You may end up with one document for the company and 10 to 15 personal profiles for all the key people within that account.

            Now, imagine getting ready for the next sales call on that customer and reviewing the things that he likes to talk about, refreshing your memory on the name of his spouse, and the names and schools of each of the kids.  As you plan your presentation, you review the primary buying motivation for each of those key people.  Do you think you'll be better prepared to have an enjoyable, relationship-building conversation with that customer than your competitor will?  Of course you will.  Do you think you'll increase your likelihood of delivering a powerful and persuasive presentation?  Of course you will. 

            Finally, the form allows you to store important information someplace other than in your head.  The problem with keeping information just in your head is that it isn't always readily accessible.  When you want to have a relaxed conversation with one of your customers about his interests, you can't always remember that he golfs and was a starting halfback on his college football team.  However, if you have that information stored on a form, you can review it just before you go in to see your customer, and put it uppermost in your mind.

            To some degree, every good salesperson implements these concepts.  The difference between the run-of-the-mill salesperson and the salesperson who wants to take his/her performance Up-a-Notch, however, is the degree to which the committed salesperson disciplines himself to stick to a systematic approach.  Most salespeople do it as they think of it, but don't keep the information systematically.  Sales Masters understand the need to discipline themselves, and thus do a more thorough job of collecting information.

 Step Four.  Store it efficiently.

            You may have done a great job of collecting information, but if you've stored it on old matchbook covers, coffee-stained post-its, and the backs of old business cards somewhere in the backseat of your car, it's probably not going to do you much good. 

            If you're computerized, then your computer can be the super tool that allows you to efficiently store the information.  If not, you're going to need to create a set of files (yes, manila folders!) in which to store your information. 

 Step Five.  Use it regularly.

            Before every sales call, review the information you have stored.  That review will help you make good decisions about each aspect of the sales call.  Likewise, review the information as you create your annual goals and sales plans, when you create account strategies, and when you organize and plan your territories.

            As you can tell, an account profile form is a master tool that holds all of this together.  If you'd like help with this, visit my web site for a free download of "How to Create an Account Profile Form." (http://www.davekahle.com/free.html)

 Collecting information about your competitors

            Now that you have a system in place to provide good information about your prospects and customers, you need to turn your focus to another area of your business -- your competitors.  Information about your competitors can be almost as important as that which you collect about your customers.  As things change at an increasing rate, it's more important than ever for you to be aware of what your competitors are doing so that you don't get blindsided or seriously outmaneuvered.

             That happened to me.  To this day, I still get a sick feeling in my stomach as I remember the day when I lost my largest account to my arch competitor.  It was an account that made up 20% of my total volume.  In my blissful ignorance, I was content to grow my business by calling on the end users and purchasing department, while my competition was successfully building a relationship with the administration.  The result?  My best account signed a prime vendor, sole-source agreement with my competitor, and within 60 days, I was almost totally out of that account. I was blindsided.

            That's a lesson that sticks with me, and one from which you can learn.  To become good at knowing what your competition is up to, begin by thinking of yourself a little differently.  Here's a simple three-step process for mastering this competency.

 Step One.  Collect bits and pieces of information

            Begin by consciously collecting little bits and pieces of information at every opportunity.  For example, you may have lost a bid or a particular piece of business to your competitors.  Rather than just moping about it, use it as a learning opportunity.  Try to find out from your customer why they awarded the business the way they did.  If it was price alone, try to find out how much lower their price was. If it's something else, find out what.  That information won't help for that particular piece of business, but it may give you an insight into the pricing policies of your competition.  Write the information down on a 3 x 5 card, a piece of scrap paper or a post-it.

            Take your good customers to lunch, and casually see if you can steer the conversation in such a way as to learn something about your competition.

            Keep your eyes open to the coming and going of competitive salesmen.  Note when you see them, and in what account.

Be sensitive and aware of competitive literature, business cards and price quotes lying around.  And don't forget to talk with the other salespeople who work for your company to get their insights.

            All these are ways to collect bits and pieces of information.  By themselves, they won't help much.  But, if you combine these bits and pieces, you may very well see trends, uncover strategies, and discover tactics your competition is using.

 Step Two.  Store the information.

            As you collect each bit of information, capture it by writing it down, and putting the note in a manila folder marked "competition."  You may even have a separate folder for each major competitor.  If you're automated, type the information into your computer, and store it in either a word processing or database file.

            Regardless, what you're doing is assembling a quantity of information.  Diligently collect those bits and piece of information, and file them away.

Step Three.  Use the information.

            After you have collected a quantity of these, you'll be able to open that file on a regular basis, consider all the pieces of information, and discover a great deal about your competitors.

The trick is to consistently collect and store information.  Eventually you'll assemble an accurate picture.  It's like the popular game show "Wheel of Fortune."  When Vanna White turns over one letter, it doesn't give you much of a picture of the answer.  But after she's turned over several of these small individual pieces, the whole becomes clear and the answer to the riddle is simple to understand.  That's the way collecting information about your competition works.

     The back of an old business card on which you noted that you saw a competitive salesperson showing a new line of widgets, by itself, doesn't mean much.  But if you filed that along with all the bits and pieces of information you've collected, and then pulled it all out and analyzed it, you might see an entirely different situation.  Suppose you reviewed that business card note, and combined it with the note you made to yourself that you saw some sales literature on the competitive widget line on the desk of one of your purchasing agents, and then saw that you lost a major bid to the competition because he quoted a new line at lower than traditional prices.  All at once you've uncovered a potential threat to your business.  Clearly, your competitor is pushing a new, lower priced widget line.  You didn't learn that from any one piece of information, but rather from the combination of all those pieces, considered as a whole.

The key to uncovering that information, to discovering what your competition is up to, is to consistently collect pieces of information, store them, and then analyze them as a whole from time to time.

            As you may be able to tell, this chapter focuses on skills that previously were not in the toolbox of the typical outside salesperson.  But, in the Information Age, much of your ability to make good decisions depends on your being able to collect good information.  If you are going to take your performance Up-a-Notch, you must see yourself as a dealer in information as well as a seller of stuff.  An important initial step is to get good at collecting good information. 

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted Dave Kahle's "Take Your Performance Up-a-Notch."  You can buy the book through our online bookstore at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964704218?ie=UTF8&tag=kansbevnewdai-20&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=0964704218

 Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients increase their sales and improve their sales productivity. Dave has trained thousands of salespeople to be more successful in the Information Age economy. He is the author of over 500 articles, a weekly e-zine, and seven books. You can join Dave's "Thinking About Sales Ezine" on-line at http://www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.html.

 For more information, or to contact the author: DaCo Corp., 3736 West River Drive, Comstock Park, MI 49321; e: cheryl@davekahle.com; Phone: 800.331.1287 -- 616.451.9377; Fax: 616.451.9412.  http://www.davekahle.com

Move prospects UP or out with 3x48:How to Tele-Prospect Effectively
By Nathan Jamail

These days, many companies are coming to the same conclusion: In order to make their sales numbers, the sales team cannot rely merely on existing databases, but must go out and get new business -- in some cases, a lot of new business.  Over the past couple years, many businesses have gotten comfortable seeing sales growth from current customers and good, old fashioned word-of-mouth.  And because of this success, many sales leaders are discovering just how out of commission their sales teams really are -- discipline and practice must be re-instilled.

Just because sales in your industry might be down 25%, it doesn't mean your company has to be down 25%.  A company can increase sales in any economy by increasing their share of the market. And keeping in mind that a sales leader's goal is to capture more of the marketplace, it is important your team reaches as many people as possible. For that, we have tele-prospecting.  Unfortunately many salespeople don't like tele-prospecting, but the truth is, in order to grow the business your sales team will not only need to do it, but be effective at it!

Here's the scenario: How many times do salespeople in your organization leave the same voicemail for a prospective client over, and over, and over again?  It's common practice for many sales reps to make a call, leave a message and then schedule a follow-up call in their calendars for the following month or so. While this process creates activity, it very rarely creates results.

First, the prospect receives hundreds of calls every month, so by the time your sales rep calls back two months later, he doesn't remember the first call. 

Second, the calls are so infrequent that the prospect is easily able to ignore the call and hope it goes away. 

Third, while most people hate getting rejected, they hate rejecting others even more. Compare it to your personal life. How many times have you known someone who wants to break up with her significant other, but doesn't want to do the rejecting, so she tries to make him mad so that he breaks up with her? Business is no different.  A prospect would rather ignore the salesperson than reject him.

Here's where tele-prospecting comes in. The 3x48 program will not only put an end to the scenario above, but it will move the process along and allow a salesperson to move the prospect up -- to a possible client -- or out of the call rotation altogether. This is referred to the "move them up or out" program.    Here is how it works: 

The salesperson will make three calls, each one 48 hours apart. For example:  The first call Monday, the second Wednesday and the third Friday.  Each call has a different goal, and each is a step to get the prospect to return the call.

Call Number One:

The goal of the first call is to introduce yourself to the prospective client and ask him or her to call you back. Here's an example:

"Hello my name is John Smith and I'm with ABC Company.  The reason for my call is to introduce myself to you and to offer you a free business analysis of your 2009 sales plans.  We have helped many clients increase their profits in difficult and changing markets. I would greatly appreciate it if you would call me back at 972-555-0000.   Thanks and have a wonderful day."

Call Number Two:

The goal of the second call is to let the prospect know you are following up to the call you left a couple days ago.

"Hello Mr. Prospect my name is John Smith with ABC Company. I left you a message a couple days ago and wanted to follow up with you regarding your free business analysis.   Again my phone number is 972-555-0000.   Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you soon."

Call Number Three:

The goal of the third call is to let the prospect know you are not trying to pester him, and give him permission to reject you (this call is key).

"Hello Mr. Prospect, this is John Smith with ABC Company. I know I left you a couple messages this week and don't mean to be overbearing, but I want to make sure I do a good job following up and let you know that I would love the opportunity to visit for few minutes.   I was hoping you would do me a favor and let me know if either (A) you would like to talk to me but you have just been too busy, or (B) you don't feel it would be a good time for us to meet and would prefer I don't call again.  I know your time is valuable and I would appreciate your direction as to how to proceed next.  Thanks again and have a wonderful day."

This method is successful because:

·        The calls are close enough to each other that the prospects remember you (after the third call, they definitely know who you are).

·        The prospects start to think that if they don't call you back you may never stop calling.

·        You gave the prospects permission to reject you, so they feel more comfortable calling you back.

·        You are assertive but not aggressive. Your calls are consistent and direct, but not generic or too "salesy."

Prospecting is the worst part of any sales position; you might compare it to the bar exam for lawyers or spring training for baseball teams.  But much like in baseball, to have spring training is not good enough to win; the coach and team must work hard every day, just as salespeople must continuously tele-prospect to increase their business. The companies that play to win will get new customers and take the market share. 

Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group and author of "The Sales Leaders Playbook," is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive Director for Sprint, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, Metro PCS, and Century 21. To book Nathan, visit www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.

Luck and key decisions have enabled Click Wholesale Distributing to grow from a six person Seattle, Wash., start-up with first year revenue of just $2 million to what is expected to be a $20 million operation next year with 64 employees.

Just a few weeks ago, it was named the Craft Beer Distributor of the Year by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association.

To hear Rick Steckler, president, tell how the company did it, click the button to the right.