The Cellular Sales Blog: Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer

Learning the Art of Sales from Aristotle

Posted on 26. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in sales

Aristotle

Recently, I was speaking to a group of students about rhetoric. I asked them, “What do you want to do in life?” After each of them talking about various aspirations in business, government, science and arts, I explained that rhetoric is about doing things or making things happen. Virtually every occupation can benefit from the art of rhetoric. Especially sales.

Aristotle said, “Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” He teaches his students to observe, learn, and apply the appropriate tools of persuasion in a given situation. This sounds a lot like sales.

Aristotle suggests that there are three forms of appeal that work together in a persuasive address. “Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.” He calls these ethos, pathos and logos.

These three simple ideas have helped trained many speakers, writers, artists, and thinkers to impact their audience and move them to act. When these are absent, people tend to feel manipulated and controlled by the persuasive encounter. When they are absent in a sales situation, people feel pressured by an aggressive salesperson who appears to be more interested in “closing a deal” than in helping a client.

Here’s a quick way to remember the three appeals:

used by permission (Brett Jordan)

Ethos – Appeal to credibility. The salesperson must be trustworthy. They must stand behind their word. They must be people of character.

Pathos – Appeal to emotions. The salesperson must make an emotional connection with the customer. But more than that, they must discern the appropriate emotional appeal.

Logos – Appeal to reason. The salesperson must demonstrate why purchasing the product and/or service makes sense.

All three are important and all three work together. If one is absent, the sales encounter may not be convincing. If I don’t trust the person talking to me, then I will be hard to convince no matter how many statistics they site, how many charts they show me, or how many reasons they give me to act.

Let’s think a bit more about ethos. Quintilian said that “Rhetoric is the art of a good man speaking well.” For him, the fundamental building block of rhetoric is character. The challenge of developing ethos is limited to the sales encounter. Character takes time. Even if the customer does not know that I have cultivated honesty over time, it is still often communicated in the way I speak and act. And dishonesty can ripple preventing multiple potential customers from ever even listening to the salesperson.

The wise king tells the young prince, “Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment” (Proverbs 12:19 ESV). If the young prince is to become a trustworthy leader, he must cultivate this as he grows. In a moment, a lying drains the credibility of a speaker.

On the other hand, a person who has established a reputation of credibility, gains authority in their words and relationships. In sales, this can turn into a lifetime a repeated sales. Making one sale and delivering what the customer expects can open into multiple repeated sales over time. Repeating this one pattern across multiple customers can grow in a lifetime of success.

There’s more to explore about how ethos operates in the sales moment that I’ll try to explore in future posts as well as considering the tools for developing pathos and logos. But for now, remember that ethos, one of the most powerful elements in a sales business, is formed in the life of the salesperson long before and long after the sale.

Building a Sales Business

Posted on 22. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in Company News, Marketing and Advertising

Jason White, an Account Manager for Cellular Sales, found a unique way to promote his business. He contacted local media representatives about appearing on the Fox Morning Blend and ended up doing two different segments. Jason’s initiative opened new doors for his own business while also promoting Cellular Sales in the Fort Myers area.

His resourcefulness offers some excellent insights for anyone trying to build a sales business:

Leveraging Relationships
Jay Abraham once said that one key when building a business is writing a list of every person you know, then listing everyone they might know. Nowadays with Facebook and LinkedIn this ability to discover connections is even better. This list of connections is not merely for potential sales, but to help you see the resources that could help you build your business. According to Jason, “I’m fortunate to have a good relationship with several people in the local media, so I started thinking about how I could utilize those relationships.” Jason ended up calling the local Marketing Manager to set up a meeting to discuss possibilities. Soon he had setup a deal to appear on the Fox Morning Blend.

Generating Sales Ripples
The impact of Jason’s effort is like dropping a stone in a pond: it continues to ripple. Sales success comes in different ways. “I got my first phone call within minutes of the broadcast,” says Jason, “but the majority has come in the days afterwards.” The ripples of impact continue for days after the show. “On the first show, I booked four appointments and that brought in 2 MIFI devices, and a few new lines and upgrades. The day of the broadcast I did over $500 in sales. The second show I got 2 official appointments with 5 new lines and 2 upgrades.”

Establishing Credibility
His efforts continue to help his business, both in sales and instant credibility with new clients. “I’ve turned this into a really good marketing tool for perspective clients and also my current clients. When I tell people that we were featured on Television, it gives us a little more credibility. When I’m filling out a red folder and getting my clients information set up, I’ll write the YouTube address on it so they can see the broadcast. I’ll tell them to pass it along to their friends and family so they can see the material that’s on there.”

Your Own Personal Magazine – Feedly

Posted on 21. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in Apps, android, iOS

Feedly is one of best solutions I’ve seen for tracking news, blogs and website updates. It delivers the content you want to follow in a format that looks a lot like your own personal magazine. Plus, it will sync across multiple platforms, so whether you’re on the phone, a tablet, your computer or a public device, you can instantly see the news you want, save the news your want to revisit and share the stories you want to broadcast to the world.

Here’s a quick run-down of the features I like:

1. Feedly Supports Multiple Platforms
On most days, I alternate between an iPhone, an Android tablet and a Macbook Pro. I downloaded the Feedly app for my iPhone and Android, and I added the Feedly extension to my Chrome and Firefox browsers (it also has an extension for Safari).

2. Feedly Can Be Easily Customized
Changing Feedly is easy and fast. I simply click on my name in the upper right corner and select Organize, Themes or Preferences. Organize gives me the option to drag and drop feeds between categories or move entire categories into order of priority. Themes offer a choice between different color themes. Preferences allows me to choose start page content, default layout, Facebook feeds, Twitter feeds and more. The moment I make a selection, Feedly saves the change.

3. Instant Sync Across Devices
From reading articles to bookmarks to design changes, one change in Feedly is instantly appears on all devices.

4. Feedly Suggests Content
Whether you’re researching a topic, look for good sources of new content, trying to match some of your preferences or simply wanting to subscribe to an RSS, Feedly makes it fast and easy. Click on “Explore” and you get a snapshot of the sites that the editors at Feedly like. Simply choose the “+” sign by any topic or feed to subscribe.

If you have a site that you’d like to follow, type in the name of the site, and Feedly will search for a corresponding feed. Choose from the results, and it displays a layout based on the feed. You can decide to “follow” from the site page.

You can search via hashtag (#) to customize recommendations. Either enter # and search term in the search box (like #news), or click on one of the feeds you currently subscribe and then click again on the hashtag that is just below the title. Feedly suggests related feeds that may interest you.

5. Share Feedly
Send a favorite article to your Read It Later, Instapaper or Evernote account,  or share the article with social sites like Facebook or Twitter. Feedly offers a wide selection of forwarding choices.

The Rising Mobile Society

Posted on 17. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in 4G LTE, Industry News

Cisco has been tracking mobile usage and developing forecasts for the coming years in mobile data.[1] Needless to say, smartphone usage will continue increasing over the next several years. By 2014, smartphone handsets will exceed 50 percent of all mobile data traffic. Mobile data is expected to grow at compound annual growth rate of 78 percent over the next four years, reaching 10.8 exabytes by 2016.

Smartphones Becoming Our Conduits to Life
We all know smartphone usage is growing, but it is growing at such leaps and bounds that mobile data access via smartphones and tablets are becoming a standard mode for conducting business, doing research, shopping and much more. Our mobile devices are becoming a conduit for day to day engagement with the world around us. By the end of this year (2012), Cisco anticipates there will be over 100 million smartphone users that regularly consume over 1 GB of data per month. During the same period (2012), the number of smartphones will surpass the size of the earth’s population.

Entering an Age of Machine to Machine Talk
Over the next four years, the number of mobile connected devices will grow to over 10 billion. By 2016, mobile tablets will generate as much or more traffic the all mobile traffic in 2012. At least one-quarter of smartphone users will operate two or more mobile connected devices. Based on the worldwide 4G infrastructure (IMT-Advanced), mobile data speeds should increase at least 9-fold.

This combination of multiple devices and multiple speeds introduces one of the fundamental benefits of IMT-Advanced protocols: machine to machine talk. As devices communicate health stats, preset preferences, and other forms of data, we can expect to see a wide range of health devices, lifestyle devices and more that increase convenience and dramatically expand our range of possibilities.

Mobile data access is already utilized in many non-smartphone applications such as:
• Security surveillance – Businesses and consumers alike are using video streams, nannycams, and petcams that can be accessed via mobile-enabled gateways.
• Healthcare – As healthcare facilities move toward EHR/EMR implementations, they open the way for a range of mobile access possibilities for customers, medical professionals and others.
• Inventory and fleet management: Wi-Fi has become a standard for cellular based fleet management connectivity.
• Telematics: Navigation tools apps and devices continue to grow and offer more and more customizable options.

Shifting Our Computing to the Cloud
This increase in speed and mobile access via smartphones, tablets, notebooks and more, will change the way we compute. We are transitioning into a time when our computing will look more like mobile apps on smartphones and tablets. Software and data will be stored on the Cloud and accessed much like the way we stream movies and videos now across the web.

Just this week, Apple announced that they were dropping the name Mac from their next OS iteration. It will simply be called OSX. This corresponds with their mobile platform iOS. This indicates a shift from a computer environment to an app-driven environment where data and applications run across the web instead of residing completely on a specific device.

Mobile Data Access Exceeding 2GB on Average
Currently, the average smartphone generates about 150 MB traffic each month. By 2016, it is expected the average will leap to 2.6 GB per month. More people, more devices, easier access and more options will make us thirst for data access.

Challenges and Changes Ahead
The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets that rely on mobile data devices brings a range of opportunities and challenges. As customers and businesses alike begin to rely on mobile access more and more, expectation will increase for seamless access and integration. Transparent connectivity and reliability will cause more and more people to adopt new technologies.

Plus, business will continue to explore new ways to engage this emerging mobile population, and meet the ever-growing expectations of a user base that comes to rely on network access anywhere, anytime.

Mobile Data Traffic Doubles Yet Again

Posted on 15. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in Industry News

For the fourth year in a row, mobile data traffic has more than doubled. According to a recent report by Cisco, last year’s mobile data traffic grew by 133 percent.[1] Cisco’s recent study provides both a review of the past year as well as projections for the next five years based on the trends of the last several years. The overall conclusion is that smartphones are becoming ubiquitous as more and more people establish lifestyles that revolve around constant access to mobile connected devices. By the end of 2012, the number of mobile-connected devices in use will exceed the world’s population.

Here are the mobile traffic highlights for 2011:

• The amount of mobile data traffic was eight times higher in 2011 than the entire Internet traffic on 2000.
• Mobile video traffic passed 50 percent for the first time ever and by the end of the year it had reach 52 percent.
• Mobile data connection speeds jumped 66 percent. Downstream speeds rose from 189 kbps in 2010 to 315 kbps in 2011. Mobile network connection speeds rose from 968 kpbs in 2010 to 1344 kpbs in 2011.
• 4G connections generated 28 times the average traffic of non-4G. While 4G represents only about 0.2 of mobile connection market, they generated 6 percent of the overall data traffic.
• 24 percent of all mobile data traffic comes from the top 1 percent of mobile subscribers. While this seems like a high number, it is actually dropping. In 2010, the top 1 percent accounted for 35  percent of all mobile data traffic. As more and more people access mobile data traffic, this number will probably keep dropping.
• The average amount of smartphone usage jumped to 150 MB per month in 2011 from 55 MB in 2010.
• By the end of 2011 Android data usage was beginning to pass the amount of iPhone data usage.
• Mobile-connected tablets reached 34 million in 2011, and the average mobile-connected tablets access mobile data about 3.4 times more than the average smartphone.
• The 175 million mobile network-connected laptops utilized data traffic 22 times more often than the average smartphone.

While these increases represent a dramatic increase across the board, they are just beginning. Data usage will increase even more dramatically in the years ahead as average users begin have two, three and even four devices regularly accessing mobile data traffic. I’ll circle back round to this topic in the next day or two and highlight some of the expectations for the next several years.

[1] See Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011–2016 <http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html>

Getting to Know Cellular Sales: Rick Pastorek

Posted on 13. Feb, 2012 by Jay Witherspoon in Getting to Know Cellular Sales

Rick Pastorek and Family with LSU Santa

What position(s) do you hold at Cellular Sales?
Wireless Sales Professional

How long have you worked with the company?
5 months

What is your role within Cellular Sales?
Drive revenue by providing outstanding customer service.  To me, it is all about making a connection with the customer and finding out what brings them to our location.  I want to exceed their expectations in dealing with Verizon Wireless, Cellular Sales and myself as their Customer Service Rep.  Sales reps ask me all the time, how do you know so many people?  I don’t.  My goal is for when the customer leaves the store that I know them and they know me.  I try to find a common bond and a way to connect with our customers through church, schools, work, common industry, people they may know, their children or any way that I can relate to them.  I tell them stories about my experiences and most importantly I listen to them.  Find out their needs and what is most important to them.  I need to develop a level of trust that they know I am going to take care of them and their wireless needs.

Please tell me about your most rewarding or satisfying experience — your proudest moment — since you joined the company.
My most rewarding or satisfying experience is being on top of the leader board in the Baton Rouge (Gulf Coast) market.  Also, being the number two sales rep in GC for the month of December. I enjoy the friendly competition in our market and region. My job is to provide fierce competition for my fellow sales reps.  We keep each other on our toes.  This month the entire Gulf Coast market is trying to exceed our Market Manager’s sales numbers.

What makes Cellular Sales such a special company to work for?
Cellular Sales is an outstanding company that represents the number one brand in the wireless industry.  I am proud to tell people that we have 500 locations that represent a significant portion of Verizon’s market share.  I really enjoy the group of professionals and back office personnel that our Regional Directors have assembled as part of our team.  Team GC is a force to be reckoned with as we grow the Verizon brand from Lafayette, LA to Pensacola, FL.

What do you like best about working for Cellular Sales?
I like the freedom to pursue customers anywhere I can find them.  I love that our Regional Directors treat us as partners in the business. We are given the tools to succeed.  I also want to give a shout out to the Back Office, Inventory Closet and CSOKI support.  I tell people all the time that you don’t know how awesome the support is that we are provided!

Are there any obstacles you face at work?
None that we can’t overcome.  I tell my customers that I am a problem solver.  We will go out of our way to make sure they are a satisfied customer.  And look at the facilities that Alec Rankine, Chad Maxedon and Cellular Sales provide for us to work our magic in.  They are outstanding and second to no one!!!

Do you have a funny story about working at Cellular Sales?
Well, let’s just say I had to help a customer change her child’s diaper while I was selling her a RAZR.  Sherri Logan in Abbeville can tell you the rest of the story!!! Remember, we provide outstanding customer service.  The carpet fresh came in handy!

Before working here, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
Before working for Cellular Sales, I was the Franchise Owner for Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern in Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee operating 13 locations for the last 27 years.  The movie, Waiting, was filmed at one of my locations.  It was a comedy, not reality!

What are your hobbies?
Chasing my three older sons, Mason, Taylor, and Chandler around a dirt bike track.  They are racing the Outdoor Winter series in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi. My wife, Heather, and I are their Sponsor, Chief Mechanic, Promoter, Caterer and Travel Managers.  My youngest son Noah is our rider in training.  He is 22 months old and already knows where the kick start is.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what three things would you have to have with you?
A large container of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning for all of the fish and coconut’s that I am going to cook, along with everything else I can find to eat.  Remember, Cajuns eat anything! Also, I would have pictures of my wife and sons and a Satellite Phone.

If a phone was named after you, what would it be called?
Why don’t we just call it the Rockin’ Roll Motorola Rickola.

And finally…DROID or iPhone?
DROID, they are far superior devices to the iPhone.  With that being said, we strive to exceed the customers expectation.  If they want an iPhone, we will be happy to oblige!

Get Your Hands on a Droid 4!

Posted on 10. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in 4G LTE, Phone Review, android

Keyboard lovers rejoice! Droid 4 is here. Made to be handled, this rugged phone is designed with Corning® Gorilla® Glass, protecting against scrapes, scratches, dents and dings. The power of nanoparticles protects the phone from rain, spills and unexpected sprays.

The big is deal is the low–light on a 5–row LED edge–lit keyboard. Your fingers will love the technically precise QWERTY keypad for accurate, fast and easy typing in day or night.

Powered with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, this phone flies across the Verizon 4G LTE network, streaming video and music, updating email, and downloading ringtones while giving you the speed and freedom to multitask from app to app to app.

The DROID 4 adapts to your environments with Smart Actions that adjust apps based on your custom settings. When you step into work and onto the office WiFi, the ringer can automatically turn off. You can set the phone to access certain apps at specific times of the day. For instance, on  wake-up the Ringer adjusts to high, the weather app comes on, the news updates with the latest headlines, and the phone wallpaper turns on sunshine. This phone can be set to adapt to all your environments throughout day and the battery settings will even adjust to help conserve when needed.

This phone is business-ready with security features that will make your IT folks cheer for joy (such as FIPS 140-2 government-grade encryption; PIN lock and password protection; device and SD card data encryption; and the ability to wipe the phone remotely if it’s ever lost or stolen).
Other highlights include:

• 4-inch qHD (960×540) display
• Rear-facing 8-megapixel
• Full HD 1080p video recorder features image stabilization
• 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with HD 720p video recording
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• Optional microSD memory cards up to 32 GB
• GPS for navigation and location-based services,
• Low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming
• Up to 12.5 hours of talk time

To learn more about the DROID 4 call your Cellular Sales Representative today.

DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license.

Shop and Drop Wherever You Go

Posted on 08. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in Apps, android, iOS

Whether wrestling alligators in Louisiana, running the Bulls in Pamplona, or diving with the sharks in Cape Town, you always want to be ready when that urge to shop hits. Be prepared by downloading some of these shopping apps to your smartphone now.

EBay
One of the most popular and highly rated shopping apps, the eBay app comes with everything you need to search, watch, shop and sell on this worldwide marketplace. You’re always ready to bid on that Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox, those emerald beetle earrings, or the steampunk goggles for your mom. eBay for Android or iOS (iPhone/iPad).

Amazon and Google Shopper
Shopping should be as easy as snapping a picture, scanning a bar code, speaking a product or actually typing a word. At least Google and Amazon would like it to be that easy. Their respective apps can price compare from multiple vendors; sell you new, used or refurbished product; and keep multiple wishlists. Amazon Mobile for iOS; Amazon Mobile for Android; Google Shopper for iOS or Android.

Shopkick
We all deserve rewards for shopping don’t we? Shopkick says, “We sure do!” So they give us prizes for just walking some stores. With Shopkick, you can get gift cards, donate to charities, and turn shopping sprees into your own personal game show. Shopkick for Android or iOS.

Key Ring Rewards Care
I’ve got an old plastic cassette tape case in my car. It’s filled with reward cards for gas, coffee, bread, groceries, clothes and more. With the Key Ring Rewards Card app, I can kiss the memory of cassettes goodbye forever. This app scans in all my cards so that no matter where I’m shopping, I’ve got their reward card. Hey wait a minute, this makes me think of Shopkick. With all these rewards, I’ll want to start shopping every day, hour, minute. Key Ring Rewards for Android or iOS.

Craigslist Mobile
Forget the bricks & mortar, I want to barter with my neighbors. Que the Craigslist folks. With the portable Craiglist app in my pocket, I’m ready to search for nearby deals on that weight set somebody got for Christmas and got tired of after Christmas. Last summer, New York Times suggested that this app is better than the actual web experience. Craigslist for iOS. Craigslist for Android.

Big Deal
What’s the big deal? That’s exactly right, “What is the big deal?” Apps like Groupon and LivingSocial deliver big deals to my pocket on services, products and restaurants that I simply have to try. Groupon for iOS or Android. LivingSocial for iOS or Android.

Shopping List
Make your list. Check it twice. Or ten times for that matter. I’ve found that a shopping list app is one of my top used tools on the smartphone. “What was it my wife told me to get at THE Walmart?” I’m always ready to find what I’m looking for with my handy shopping list. If you search shopping lists on Android or OS, you’re going to find a big bunch of shopping lists. So I’ll go ahead and tell you two of the top rated and most downloaded shopping list apps.

For Android try Shopping List by Fivefly. There’s a free version and paid version (ad free). With this app, you can organize, manage, add pictures, set quantities and even synchronize phone to phone.

For OS try Shopping List by Hensoft. There’s a free version and paid version. You can create, manage, sort, sync and share via email (paid), connect lists with stores (paid), and even create recipes.

Cellular Sales Renovates Downtown Building

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by dfloyd in Company News

Cellular Sales opens hi-tech store in downtown Culpeper.

Thanks to the strong relationships with our customers, Cellular Sales continues to expand, enter new communities, and meet new customers. Recently, our team in Culpeper, Virginia enjoyed the opportunity to beautify the community and expand operations at the same time. We renovated a landmark location in downtown Culpeper, transforming the old into the new.

Cellular Sales had operated a store up the highway at Dominion Square Shopping Center since 2009. This location served as a perfect base to start and build the business, but the long term goal was to be in downtown Culpeper. The building that housed Culpeper Motor Corp. for over five decades became available. This outdated and abandoned 3,600 square space looked like a perfect place to invest our time and energy.

“We saw an opportunity here where most people wouldn’t,” explained Jay Vaiksnoras, regional director of Cellular Sales. “This is our commitment to the community.” So the Cellular Sales team stepped up to the plate and invested about $300,000 to renovate the old Culpeper Motor Corp. building. In January, the old building came back to life in a dramatic new form. The Cellular Sales center opened as a hi-tech spot, complete with the latest phones, mobile devices and accessories. “It’s more inviting to the customer,” said Vaiksnoras, adding, “We are here to stay.”

Customers visiting Cellular Sales center will have an opportunity to learn about the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, mobile hotspots and much more. They’ll be seeing an old building with an exciting new look, and staff will be standing by to serve them like an old friend. “Culpeper is a smaller community where people appreciate that little extra touch – that personal service,” said Vaiksnoras.

As a regional hub, the new store will also be looking to add new employees. Already, foot traffic is increasing. The goal is to have 12 people staffing this store. Since Cellular Sales employees average more than $51,000 per year, this will be a nice boost to the local Culpeper economy.

As one of the fastest growing retail companies in the U.S., Cellular Sales is proud to build strong relations in local communities. With 32 locations in Virginia and almost 500 nationwide, Cellular Sales continues growing and thriving at a dramatic pace. As we grow, our longstanding commitment to deliver a rich and satisfying customer experience remains the same.