Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/757488
26 SMT Magazine • December 2016 tunately, I had left my tack hammer in my of- fice prior to starting my walkabout. Why such a violent reaction, you ask? Well (and I am not making this up), Super Best Widgies company shared a parking lot with our company. Really? Go see the customer! Maybe it's human nature. If you think the customer might say "no," perhaps it's a softer blow if they just ignore your email. Here's the other side of that coin: It's much easier for a customer to ignore your email than to say "no" to your face. So I have to ask: Where should your face be? In front of your computer or in front of your customer? Another real-and-not-even-slightly-embel- lished anecdote: I have a beat-up car just so I can drive to San Francisco once a week to vis- it one or two customers in person. Every week. Why a beater? Because the half-life of a car win- dow in that city at night is about 47 seconds. Why not email? Because it's not face-to-face, period. If you positively cannot be face to face, then make a phone call. But go see them in person as soon as you can. If a phone call isn't possi- ble, then email and LinkedIn are a last resort. Be aware though, these will give the poorest re- turns in the sales process. Yes, it is true that if you email enough people, you will get a sale, but its mighty low odds. Want to know a simple truth? People prefer to buy from people they like. People don't learn to like you because of your emails, or even your phone calls. Relationships are built face to face. My rule of thumb is every customer, every quarter, at a minimum. This doesn't have to be a two-Martini business lunch or a long dinner engagement—just a quick, "I was in the area" visit. Or, save the shipping folks the work, and when your company has something to deliver, deliver it yourself! I have made many deliveries personally, and reaped the rewards having a few minutes of personal interaction with a thankful customer. And whether it's a face-to-face meeting, a phone call, or an email, record the results in that fancy new database we were just talking about, and then set a follow up action. Foundation Pillar #3: If You Track it— it Will Improve Metrics, data, big data, little data, industry 4.0…whatever the heck you want to call it. If you don't keep metrics to measure how you are SALES: A.K.A., TRENCH WARFARE! Figure 1.