Not Service Industry! Supply Chain Management, What?

A few months ago I had the pleasure of going through a training by Tim Searcy, with http://www.whalehunters.com. Tim is by far one of the most passionate and energetic sales people I have had the pleasure to meet in a long time.

During this training Tim had said something to me that really blew me away. Tim first asked, "what industry are you in?" Of course the crowd all from call centers said, "Call Center." Tim abruptly said, "Wrong!" As all of us looked at one another thinking this guy must have had a few to many cocktails, he started to explain. "None of our company's are in the call center industry, we are in the supply chain management industry." "All customers are looking for us to do is make the flow of goods or services become easier to get to their customers."

When I heard this I quickly wrote it down as it really rang true to me. I thought to my self how all my customers come to me with an issue and that issue is almost 99.9% about issues in their supply chain to customers. When I heard this I began work on a different way of selling our services. I began to build an atmosphere that was informative and helped client's streamline their supply chain all the way from manufacturing to their customer as much as I can.

This strategy was not as easy as typing a few thing down, it took a crazy amount of work to accomplish. Below I have listed what I did to learn more about how I can help consult my client's on their supply chain. These were only a few of the steps. If you are interested in more please feel free to comment and I will add more.

1. Joined & began attending events with 2 different business networking organizations here in Chicago.

2. Networked with other outsourcing companies that I know from past experience would offer a benefit to my client's.

3. Did background checks on all the businesses I met and spoke to their clients to categorized their service quality.

4. Created strategic partnerships with those businesses I felt were the best and began negotiating costs and services for my client's if I were to refer them.

5. Developed presentational materials for the most common issues client's inform me they are having. This way I can provide them a complete solution in a nice bundle.

This is what I did first. By doing this I learned a ton about who I was as a sales person and what I really can offer a client. Knowing this information I have been able to increase my sales drastically and not be just another sales person to my client's, but a trusted advisor to them. Being a trusted advisor, a.k.a. FRIEND, I get to reap the rewards of frequent referrals and great testimonials. That alone has paid for all my hard work in spades!!!

So what are you doing still reading this??!! Email me for what else I did after my first step and start increasing your sales...

My Favorite Movie Quote:
" I know you're not standing on your front porch with a bag of money waiting for me to call you. But I'm not some 18-year-old selling a cure for AIDS. I'm 46 years old, I have 22 years market experience, I know this business. So pick up your skirt, grab your balls, and lets go make some money"

- Boiler Room, 2000

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Not Service Industry! Supply Chain Management, What?” offers a new look at an industry that commonly just sees it self as an outsourcing solution. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.