This one-day program is proving extremely popular. It allows participants to recognise the impact of price reduction on the bottom line and the relationship between price and volume. It is enabling sales people to present a business case based on profit, margins and stock turns and the impact of deals.

Result: the sales person moves away from explaining price to delivering value.

A quick test:

1. Retailer buys for $1.45 and sells for $1.92.
   What is the mark up % and margin %?
   
   
2. Retailer buys for $1.35 and wants to make a margin of 28%.
   What should be the retail price?
   
   
3. Retailer buys 1,440 units for $5,040.00 and sells each unit for $5.40 .
   If sell price is reduced by 5%, how many more will have to be sold to make the same Dollars?
   
   
4. Retailer has sales of $60,000, Cost of Sales of $52,000 and Average Inventory of $1,000.
   What is the return on Inventory Investment?

Last week, at lunch time, I was in a restaurant, and at the table next to me, there was obviously a business deal going on between a young sales person and a middle-aged business executive.

In between vegetarian lasagne for her and osso bucco for him, she was doing a good job. He was agreeing that the figures she had presented made good commercial sense. The body language was excellent. You could see he was ready to move all his business from his present supplier to her company.

When, guess what happened? Her mobile phone, sitting on the table in front of her, rang. And, yes, she answered it! She spoke for about 30 seconds answering a query from someone at her office.

Now let me add here, that the mobile is a mighty aid to business. Any of us who has observed phone technology advance from the hand-cranked Bakelite to the pocket-sized whiz of today that even takes photos, will gladly confirm it is a communication boon.

But if not used correctly, it can bring on disaster.

It’s strange, isn’t it? Even after all these years, when a phone rings, there is still a tremendous urge to answer it. We want to know who is calling us, even though we could just as easily let it go to the message bank. We want to feel important, to savour the feeling that the person on the other end needs us to help them through the day.

So what could our lunch-time sales person have done? Please don’t say, “Have the phone on ‘silent’, so she could check the screen to see who it was.” One look, and you lose the other party.

Let us consider some simple mobile phone etiquette when you are in a meeting, whether with two or two hundred people:

• Turn off your mobile, and double-check to make sure it is off. Do not have it on ‘silent’. Have the courtesy to broadcast the message to your work-mates, clients, friends and family that the meeting is now the most important event and has your full attention. Leaving the phone on says that any call carries more weight than the meeting and shows little respect for the others.
• “What if it’s an important call I’m expecting?” I hear you say. Don’t kid yourself! The graveyard is full of people who considered themselves indispensable. My experience in running and attending meetings is that the more important the individual is, the less likely he or she is to have a phone on. Seldom does a mobile ring in a Board Meeting, and I don’t see Rupert Murdoch, acknowledged for his spectacular wheeler-dealer use of the phone, with one attached to his ear when presenting the latest figures to shareholders.
• Human nature, being what it is, you might forget to turn off your mobile. Should it ring, switch it off immediately. Do not look to see who it is. This sends the message that there might be something more important than the meeting. Having turned it off, apologise for having inadvertently left it on.
• Indeed, don’t even leave your mobile sitting on the table, even if it is turned off. It distracts the other parties, starting them thinking you might use it at any moment, indicating that they are secondary. Sometimes, too, it tempts people to play with it and want to turn it on! If you are not going to use it, why display it?
  

Many years ago I was interviewing people for a job. One individual sat down and placed his mobile on the desk. It was a Motorola, nicknamed ‘The Brick’, because it was the size of one and cost $4995. He explained he did not wish to leave it in his car for fear of it being stolen. Anyway, he added calmly, he needed to leave it on because he was expecting an important business call! How did I feel? Let’s just say he was never considered for the contract.

So, how did our restaurant scenario go? When the sales person finished her call, the prospective client steered the conversation to ‘small talk’, became reluctant to answer her questions in any detail, and suddenly appeared most anxious to return to his office.

It only took 30 seconds, but if she is still wondering why her hot prospect decided to stay with his existing supplier, then she need look no further than the bottom of her handbag.

The culprit is lying there, silent, but just waiting to go off …