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Education

StreetSmarts SM

SHARING WISDOM
SHARING WISDOM

WITH JEFF FORTNEY WITH JEFF FORTNEY

Don't duplicate: create your own brand of success

By Jeff Fortney your competition. Implementing these tenets is a signifi-
Signature Payments cant change of approach for many. But today’s new nor-
mal is an opportune time to improve your approach.
n my last article, I mentioned five basic tenets of
sales. I strongly believe in them. They have worked In "Identify your targets, the top tenet for sales success,"
for me during my sales endeavors, and I've seen published by The Green Sheet, Sept. 13, 2021, I explained
I many other sales professionals gain greater success the first tenet: identify your targets. This is primarily an
by using them, as well. I also believe that whether they're internal effort to avoid scatter shooting so you can iden-
called “tenets” or something else, we all use them in some tify true targets (not wish-list merchants) and better plan
form. Essential to applying them is flexibility. After all, your efforts.
“tenet” is defined as a principle, philosophy or belief.
The remaining tenets provide philosophical direction for
I developed my five tenets 17 years ago: 1. Identify your approaching those targets. While identifying targets is an
targets; 2. If your competition is doing something, stop internal activity, the remaining tenets are external. The
doing it yourself; 3. Never chase maybes; 4. Listen more; second tenet—if your competition is doing something,
and 5. Act as a mirror. At the time, merchant level sales- stop doing it yourself—may require the most effort; it's
people (MLSs) were in the midst of a race: the race to the also the most impactful when executed.
bottom. They struggled to get merchants to listen—even Stop doing what your competition does
when they didn’t talk about price. Too often, merchants
knew what MLSs were going to say before they said it. You may believe you already adhere to the second tenet.
Many didn't get past introductions. But ask yourself: Have you led with price recently? Do
you know what your competition is doing? Taken literally,
Something had to change. At minimum, we needed to if your competition is marketing a new product, you won't
readdress the sales process. But, as I researched further, discuss that product. But the second tenet isn't meant to be
I discovered the issue encompassed more than the pro- taken literally.
cess. A change in philosophy was needed. This led me to
revamp my approach and develop my five tenets. It also Professionals in all industries often attempt to emulate
changed how I helped ISOs and MLSs. When talking with success. Our industry is full of those who copy their com-
or training salespeople, I would explain the tenets, why petition. The result? It all becomes about price, and mar-
change was needed and how it would help them. gins get squeezed tighter and tighter. ISOs can still profit,
but MLSs find their residuals are minimal at best.
Each situation is unique
Many who adopted the tenets had found it difficult to get Merchants recognize and anticipate the cost-savings ap-
merchants to speak with them. After attempting to apply proach. For example, several years ago, I was asked to
the tenets, some quickly reverted to the "show me your spend an afternoon with a new MLS from a large ISO. My
statement and I'll save you money" approach. It helped goal was to observe and provide insight after each visit.
them when I pointed out that in sales, basic tenets can’t On our sixth call, immediately after the MLS introduced
be scripted or contain specific steps that must be done to himself, the owner sighed and grabbed three papers from
guarantee success. They must be executed with flexibility. the counter behind him. He laid them in front of the rep
If no two prospects are alike, how could a one-size-fits-all and said, “This is what you want to see, right?” It was
approach work? The goal in sharing basic tenets is to help the merchant’s statement. Confused, the rep looked at me.
you develop a philosophy that is consistent throughout He was used to asking for statements, but our aim was to
your efforts while helping you differentiate yourself from change that approach. I stepped forward, put my hand on
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