Tricycle - Culture. Conversations. Conversions.

60 Sec: 5 Things

Tricycle Brand Management — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:40:03 +0000

This week's question: What are five things that you promise I will learn by coming to "You Can't Buy Love"?

This is our fifteenth video in our "60 Seconds" series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the "60 Seconds" series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

Register here for "You Can't Buy Love"

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Kellen Moore - future Salesperson of the Year.

Tricycle Brand Management — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:37:54 +0000

When Kellen Moore's football career is over, he needs to get a job in sales.

For those who don't know, Kellen Moore is a 4th year Jr QB for Boise State. He is 6'0" 180-ish. Out of his uniform, he looks a little bit like Napoleon Dynamite. In his uniform, he looks like he borrowed it to go trick or treating. Last night under the enormous pressure of expectations, he was a little off - no interceptions but some poor throws and a fumble. Until the final drive - where he threw completion to a 3rd string TE and a 3rd string WR. Then threw the winning TD pass. Already a Heisman candidate (he finished 7th last year), he has continued one of the most remarkable stories in football history.

To say that Kellen was "lightly recruited" is an understatement. Despite throwing a jaw-dropping 173 (Yes - 173!) TDs in high school, the only schools that gave him a sniff were Eastern Washington and Idaho - and eventually BSU. Despite the stats and the pedigree (son of a coach), he doesn't "look" like a QB.

In analyzing Kellen's success as QB, he has 3 specific traits:

Calm under pressure
Leadership
Command of the playbook.

In other words, all the things Matt Leinart doesn't have. And all the things that Joe Montana had.

So what does this have to do with Kellen's future in sales?

I have recruited, trained, and developed over 100 salespeople in the last 15 years. Some when I was a sales manager in my corporate life - and more recently as part of my role as an advisor to my clients. I have made and/or seen the same mistakes with salespeople over the years. We can't get past The Look: the good-looking, smooth talker with the impressive resume. So we hire them, pay an inflated base … and are disappointed by the results. It's not that they suck - they just don't perform with enough consistency where we can trust them. They do good enough to make us keep them, but not enough to believe in them. Meanwhile, our competition hired the nerdy looking dude with no corporate experience on his resume - and he is kicking our butt. If you have any experience managing salespeople, you have seen some variation of this scenario many times.

Why does this happen? Let's take the 3 traits of a great QB from above and apply to a salesperson:

Calm under pressure: like football, this is a combination of a number of scenarios. For sales, it boils down to one thing. Under pressure, they don't lie. Because of that, they don't respond to pressure like the smooth-talker does. They just find other ways to tell the truth about why the customer should buy.
Leadership: this is a horribly cliched term, but still vital. In sales, it means full accountability for their performance - and often the performance of the rest of the sales team. This means they don't get out-worked by anyone - and will police the rest of the team to ensure the same from everyone.
Command of the playbook: This doesn't mean they follow the talk-tracks and know every word of the sales brochures. It means they understand the intent of a sales strategy. They get that prospecting isn't just about the number of people you meet, but about meaningful conversations. They get that you have to be just as good at presenting as you do understanding the terms of a client agreement. They get that details matter but not at the expense of the big picture.

I mentioned trust earlier. Having coached both quarterbacks (although at a youth football level) and salespeople, it boils down to this: can you trust them to perform? If not, you hired the wrong person.

Kellen has one more year at BSU - and some sort of shot at an NFL career. Whenever football is over, there should be a line of people waiting to hire him to sell stuff for them. In the interim, I encourage business owners and sales managers to stop looking for Matt Leinart or Jamarcus Russell and maybe give a shot to the goofy looking guy who has a proven track record of actually moving product.

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37 Sec Rant: Boomers

Tricycle Brand Management — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:33:46 +0000

Topic: Baby Boomers

A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.

60 Sec: Case Study

Tricycle Brand Management — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:15:49 +0000

This week’s question: Here is a question is built around a scenario of a repurchased music store with a limited marketing budget. What 4/5 marketing activities should they focus on?

This is our fourteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

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I’d come for reason #5

Tricycle Brand Management — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:20:16 +0000

We would like you to come to “You Can’t Buy Love” on September 15 at Wahooz.Here are 5 reasons why.

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Valuology

Tricycle Brand Management — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:35:29 +0000

Valuology-

by Thomas Golden

The study of value, in particular- the study of value in relation to business applications and the practice of bringing value to your customers, COINs, prospects and employees.

Do you provide value?

Here is how you could provide value...
1. Do you take care of hassles your competitors provide?
2. Do you take extra steps to insure you have the best product/ service?
3. Do you have a developed program so you can listen to your customers and change accordingly?

Here’s how you’ll know if you do…
1. Are your customers delighted in you?
2. Are your customers your best sales people?
3. Are your customers providing valuable feedback?

Notice where the focus is: your customers. It is about them, not you.

Image Source

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September Events

Tricycle Brand Management — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:33:28 +0000

September Events You Should Check Out

Sep 1- BYP Monthly Luncheon Find more information here.

Sep 1- 4:30-7:15pm Dave Lakhani (local author) Business at the Ball Park "How to sell when nobody's buying" sponsored by Dex One Local Marketing at Boise Hawks Stadium with game after, food and drink included. Find more information here

Sep 8- Local Leaders Forum 5-8:30pm Linen Building 1402 West Grove St, Boise Brandon Wright leads the key issues in today's Boise market to local Business leaders, food, refreshments, networking sponsored by Dex One local Marketing Group (real issues with real solutions). Find more information here.

Sep 15- Justin Foster, President and Founder of the branding firm Tricycle, presents a 60 minute discussion from that provides the secret to true differentiation: love! Registration at 9am, Event 9:30-11am. Find more information here.

Sep 30- Meridian Business Day 4. Find more information here.

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37 Sec Rant: Bank Ads

Tricycle Brand Management — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:01:11 +0000

Topic: Bank Ads

A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.

facebook.com/thetricycle
thetricycle.com

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60 Sec: Social Media

Tricycle Brand Management — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:11:44 +0000

This week’s question: What does social media really do for a company/organization?

This is our thirteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

You can also view this video in HD on YouTube.

Posted via email from Tricycle’s Lifestream

Still Trying to Buy Love?

Tricycle Brand Management — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:03:26 +0000

“You Can’t Buy Love”

In case you missed it, the economy stinks. Yet, you still have stuff to sell and a business to run. You’d think the bad economy would create less noise and confusion in the marketplace, but it has actually made it worse. Companies are desperate to stand out; to be heard. So they over-promote, over-sell, and over-spend on marketing. Sounds fun, huh?

What if there was a different way?

What if you decided not to add to the noise?

What if you decided to earn more love instead of trying to buy attention?

Justin Foster, President and Founder of the branding firm Tricycle, presents a 60 minute discussion that provides the secret to true differentiation: love! In this fun, interactive session, you will learn how to:

Change the obsolete thinking that causes over-promotion.
Treat every relationship that touches your brand as unique and different.
Implement a unique approach to earn new business from existing relationships.
Attract the right people to your business- customers, employees, and influencers.
Use the language of love in your marketing and internal communications.

As with all of Justin’s presentations, “You Can’t Buy Love” will be thought provoking and humorous - and give you plenty of ideas you can immediately implement in your company. This isn’t some warm and fuzzy approach to business. “You Can’t Buy Love” reveals how to grow your brand, increase sales, and create a meaningful, relevant presence in the marketplace all without adding to the noise and sacrificing your ethics.

Details

Date: September 15

Location: Wahooz

Cost: $10/ person. RSVP Here.

Registration: 9:00-9:30am

Presentation: 9:30-10:30am

Question and Answer: 10:30-11:00am

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