Sales and Sales Management Blog

November 9, 2009

Got Referrals? Great, Now Earn Even More from Your Client

Filed under: Personal Marketing, Referral Selling, prospecting, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 9:17 am
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Congratulations, you’ve just received several referrals from one of your clients.  Great job!  But hold on, you’re work has just started.  No, I’m not talking about contacting and selling the referred prospect, I’m talking about keeping your client in the loop.

One of the primary reasons clients are hesitant to give referrals is that they are afraid of being embarrassed in front of a friend, relative, acquaintance or co-worker by you not performing as you should.  So, when they do give a referral, they have a vested interest in what’s going on between you and the prospect.  Not in the sense of whether or not the prospect purchases, but in how the prospect perceives you and the value being referred by the client.

When a client gives you a referral, you learn a number of things:

  1. The client will give referrals.  Obviously, you just received one or more.
  2. How well the client understands what you do.  The quality of the referral will let you know how well your client understands what you do and who is a good referral for you.  The better the referral, the more the client understands.  The poorer the referral, the more work you must do to educate them for future referrals (and future sales to them for that matter).
  3. How much they trust you.  Generally, the stronger the trust relationship between the client and the referred prospect, the more the client trusts you. 
  4. They have more referrals to give.  Seldom will a client give you all of the referrals they can make at one time.  If a client gives referrals, you can almost bet they have more to give—if you keep earning them.

How do you get those additional referrals?  Additional referrals are earned, just as the original referrals were earned.  You earn those additional referrals by:

  1. Giving your client the assurance that you’re trustworthy with referrals.  You must show through your actions that their trust in giving you a referral was well placed by making sure that the referred prospect has an exceptional experience with you.
  2. By keeping your client fully informed of everything that is occurring with the referred prospect.
  3. By continuing to deliver superior service to your client.

Do the above mean that you must perform perfectly with the referred prospect?  What if there was an honest mistake or miscommunication?  What if something out of your control happened during the course of the sale?  Will these incidents destroy any possibility of acquiring additional referrals?

No, not at all.

The keys to gaining additional referrals from a client are to treat the referred prospect exactly in the same manner you treated the client and to keep your client informed of what is transpiring between yourself and the referred prospect.

Your client gave you referrals because they understood that giving referrals was in their own best interests and because you earned them through the service you gave them.  You must now demonstrate that same level of service for the referral they have given you.  They expect—actually demand—you perform at the same level—or higher—for those they refer you to as you did for them.  That level of service you gave them was what demonstrated to them that they could trust you with a referral.  Anything short of that and they will reevaluate whether you should be trusted with additional referrals.

That having been said, clients understand that mistakes, miscommunications, and problems arise in business.  A single issue during the course of the sale to a referred prospect, even a major issue, will not sever your ability to gain additional referrals from your client if you address and resolve the issue in an exceptional manner.

Clients don’t expect perfection, they expect exceptional service—both for themselves and for those they refer you to.  How well or poorly you handle the issues will be a major factor in determining your future refer-ability.

Keeping your client informed of the progress of the sale with the referred prospect reassures them that you’re doing your job—and that all is well.  It is also your source of informing them if there have been problems and how they were resolved. 

It is critical that you let your client know of issues involved with sales to prospects they have referred you to before the prospect has a chance to relate the incident.  You can relate the circumstances and the resolution in the most favorable light—the prospect may not.  This doesn’t mean that you can lie or gloss over it, just that you can give the background and the full resolution without the emotional involvement the prospect will have.  Of course, if you’ve done an exceptional job of resolving the issue, the tale told by the prospect should also be impressive.  However, you always want problems to be related to your client by you—you don’t want to get a phone call from the client asking what happened.

Keeping your client informed doesn’t mean bombarding them with emails, phone calls, and notes.  A simple “thank you for the referral” card immediately after receiving the referral and the occasional call or email will suffice.  The object is to keep them in the loop and to reassure them that their referral was well made for both you and the prospect.  Even better than the occasional call or email is to explicitly ask the client how and how often they would like to be informed of the progress.

Clients are interested in what’s going on with the referrals they make.  They want to know the prospect is being taken care of in the manner the client expected, and they enjoy knowing that they have provided you with a quality referral.  More importantly, they want to know that they haven’t embarrassed themselves in front of a friend, family member, co-worker, or acquaintance.

Simple actions will earn those additional referrals your clients have—you just have to earn them.

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November 5, 2009

Guest Article: “Stupid Marketing Tricks and Other Topics,” by Dave Brock

Filed under: business, marketing — Paul McCord @ 10:58 am
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Stupid Marketing Tricks and Other Topics
Dave Brock, Partners In EXCELLENCE

We are deluged with SPAM and direct mail pieces daily.  Market researchers claim each of us is exposed to 100’s of advertising and related messages daily.  My skin has gotten pretty thick, I have become very effective in filtering out 99% of what I receive, much to the chagrin of marketing professionals and agencies. 

It seems, however, rather than getting smarter about marketing programs, companies are “dumbing down” their marketing, substituting volume, gimmickry, and noise for clear and compelling messages.  They lose impact through shoddy and unfocused execution.  They  adversely impact their brand equity through poor fulfillment.

Over the years, I have kept files of some of the worst examples of marketing I have been the victim of.

Example 1:  There is the German automotive company, focused on creating the Ultimate Driving Experience, and excelling in serving their customers.  Actually, they do excel in serving customers, but every time I have my car serviced, I am instructed on how to complete their customer satisfaction survey.  They actually provide a copy of the survey with every answer filled out, indicating the best service experience. 

If an organization is serious about getting feedback on customer service, it should seek the real views on customer experience.  Without these unprompted responses, organizations cannot understand what their customers want and how to respond.

Recently, in the space of 24 hours, I received four emails from a very good software company.  While each message was different, the intent was the same:  “Thank you for your interest in our products.  Buy them now at…..”  There was no attempt to communicate the value I would get from their software, no attempt to tell me anything about their features or why I would want to use their software, and no offer to motivate me to buy it now. 

Example 2:  Even the junk mails that offer products to improve my sexual performance offer a value proposition.  The mail was simply a directory of the outlets (direct and retail) where I could buy the software.  This was a lost opportunity to communicate something meaningful about this company and its products.  It could have separated the company with a very good product from its competition.  Instead, it was simply an attempt to “peddle” software products. 

However, it got worse.  I simply deleted the first message, shrugging off the bad attempt at email marketing.  With the second through fourth messages, I clicked the “Unsubscribe” button.  It didn’t work, there was no site that enabled me to unsubscribe.  I was on a mission, I went to their website,  eventually found their privacy page, waded through all sorts of legalese, and finally found a statement saying I could Opt-out by sending an email to support@companyname.com.  I sent the email, getting a response that it was undeliverable. The final insult; each email was sent from “U-r-valued@companyname.com  (I’ll disguise the company name.).  Clearly, I wasn’t valued.

This is a massive failure in execution!  Not only was the marketing program meaningless, but none of their support mechanisms worked!  If this is the quality of their performance with prospective customers, can real customers expect anything better?  This CRM company offers its customers the promise to mine gold—perhaps they really mean fool’s gold.  Opt-in email marketing can be a powerful tool.  It is easy, fast, and inexpensive to send a strong offers to your customers.  However, the ease of doing email marketing is causing many marketers to become lazy.  Sloppy, poorly thought out programs, executed at the speed of the Internet will produce negative results.  There has been strong backlash from businesses and consumers on this type of stupid messaging.  Not only will customers not buy, they will withdraw from future relationships, eliminating the opportunity for the company to reach out in future marketing efforts.

Example 3:  Another software company, a giant in its industry, offered a “webinars” on its products.  The subject of the webinar was interesting.  I responded to the link to register for the webinars.  Guess what, the link did not work.  After trying several times, I ended up going to the company’s website.  I eventually found the webinars and registered.

How many prospective customers are going to spend 20 minutes trying to sign up for a webinars where the objective is to sell something?  For any email or direct marketing piece, make sure the fulfillment channel you have chosen works!  If you ask people to click on a link to respond to an email campaign, test it and make sure it works.

Response rates on many direct marketing programs are dropping.  Don’t lose valuable leads by not being able to fulfill the response.

Example 4:  Over the Christmas and New Year holidays, I was visiting the sales executives of a good client.  They were frustrated trying to manage an initiative the marketing people had thought of in the last two weeks of the year.  They were calling customers who had made purchases at a certain level, offering a discount on 2004 purchases if an agreement would be signed by year end.

It was a great offer!  It could save regular customers a good amount of money and created commitments for 2004 that would drive good sales growth.  The problem in implementation was the timing.  Customers were being asked to make a decision committing them to certain purchase volumes in the coming year.  The problem was, they had to make the commitment within about 36 hours—yes, the offer was being made in the last few days of the year.  Even customers who wanted to take advantage of the offer could not get the approvals in time to meet the deadline.

This program could have been a very strong program.  It presented clear value to the customer.  However, the implementation made it impossible for most of the customers to take advantage of it.  In some cases, the offer created a negative impact.  Frustrated customers wanting to take advantage of the offer but could not became upset with the company.  The sales people were frustrated because they knew this would create additional hurdles in working with these customers in the future.

In any marketing program or offer, make sure that you understand the customer decisionmaking processes required to accept the offer.  Your offer needs to accommodate the timing required for the customer to act on the offer.  Anything else is, at best, a wasted opportunity, or, at worst, creates negative customer feelings.

Example 5:  Recently, we were involved with a client considering purchasing a reasonably expensive software tool ($25K/seat).  The software company arranged a web conference, demonstrated the program and answered all our questions.  We asked for follow up to go the next step in the buying process, tossing the ball into the software vendor’s court for the next step.  Several days went by and nothing happened.  We sent an email for follow-up and received a nice response.  More time passed, but we still haven’t gotten the response.  In the meantime, our client is now considering other alternatives.

While this is not a stupid marketing trick, failure to jump on “hot” opportunities on a timely basis results in lost sales.  When customers are in a “buying cycle,” your selling cycle needs to be synchronized with the customer.  When these cycles are out of sync, the likelihood of winning business declines dramatically.

Example 6: am amazed at how poorly professional marketers market themselves.  Every day, I am deluged with resumes from various services.  The latest techniques are sending them through email, with a nice note like:  “I enjoyed our phone discussion, thanks for asking me to send you my resume.”  The problem is, they are always addressed to info@ourwebsite.com.  Last I checked, we don’t have anyone named Info in our company who had a conversation with a job applicant.  Our phone records don’t indicate anyone at our offices having conversations with these people.  Pretty soon, I expect to be getting resumes from deposed Nigerian government employees who are willing to give me some percentage of the $75 million they have gotten if only I would give them a job……

For those searching for jobs, marketing yourself in the most professional manner possible is critical.  It is the only way to make yourself stand out for the few jobs that are available.  Don’t let the lure of the internet and the ability to deluge thousands of people with resumes adversely impact the most important brand you have to market—You!

Final Thoughts:

Professional marketing is tough.  Creating and implementing programs that resonate with customers requires strong thinking and disciplined and flawless execution.

The spammers and junk mail marketers make it more difficult for professional marketers.  All customers are filtering the messages they receive through all channels.  They are less responsive to advertising, direct marketing, email marketing, and other programs.  Only the strongest and most compelling messages will be effective.

Some of the newer marketing channels are seductive in their speed and low cost.  There is a temptation to be sloppy since the financial cost of poor results is low.  However, the long term cost of bad programs on the value of the brand is very high.  Don’t let the speed of the internet and related channels adversely impact the quality of your messages and brand.

Good marketing communicates a message that resonates with the target audience.  Strong and compelling messages that address real needs and communicate meaningful value to the target customers will produce results.

Professional marketing can be simple, though not necessarily easy.  In your programs, make sure:

  • You have a well defined audience that you want to reach.
  • You understand the needs of the audience and have a compelling message that addresses those needs directly.
  • Your message is simple and to the point.  Clear messages do not require tricks or gimmickry.
  • Your offer is compelling, motivating your audience to act on the message.
  • You can fulfill their response in quickly and professionally.
  • If you approach your customers as “idiots,” with dumb messages and tricks, the only customers you will attract are “idiots.”  Treat you customers and prospective customers respectfully and professionally.
  • Throughout the process, you create value for your customer and your brand.

It’s a shame that so many so-called marketing professionals think so poorly of their intended audience.  It’s also a shame that so many business executives let these “marketers” foist these terrible ideas on them.

Let’s stop the stupid marketing tricks, they don’t produce business, they create customer dissatisfaction, and they waste money and brand equity.  Raise the bar on your marketing programs to improve the results produced.

Dave Brock is President of Partners In EXCELLENCE, a boutique consulting company, helping its clients produce profound results in the development and execution of their business, marketing, sales and customer service strategies.  We support a global client base including current and emerging leaders in technology, financial and professional services, consumer products, retail, printing and publishing, not for profit and other industries.  More information can be found at our website: www.excellenc.com.

November 3, 2009

Learn How to Make the Internet Work for You

Filed under: Sales 2.0, Sales Resources, marketing, sales — Paul McCord @ 10:17 am
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rumbauskasMy friend Frank Rumbauskas has just released his latest book–The Never Cold Call Again Online Playbook–revealing in detail how he has learned to use the internet as a prime sales tool—and he shows you how you can do the same.

From building a website that converts visitors to sales to building your email list to creating brand recognition and using social media to create name recognition and drive sales, Frank shows you exactly he has done it and how you can use his hard earned knowledge to build your online presence and business.

If you purchase the book now, Frank has arranged for you to get over $3,000 in ‘ethical bribes,’ that is, products ranging from ebooks to podcasts to free registration for webinars from folks such as Gitomer, Joel Comm, Joe Vitale and many others.  Yes, yes, I know, many of these bribes are just junk, but some are really good and well worth paying for—and you get them free for spending less than $15 to get a book that itself is worth every penny you’re paying.

If you are really interested in learning how a really top notch internet marketer has grown his business a created his own little empire, I encourage you to get a copy of The Never Cold Call Again Online Playbook. 

Go HERE to learn more and purchase your copy

October 30, 2009

Guest Article: “Ten Secrets of Persuasion,” by Nido Qubein

Filed under: Closing Sales, Handling questions, Persuasion, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 10:14 am
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Ten Secrets of Persuasion
by Nido Qubein

Do you want to boost your selling power?  Then, add power to your persuasion.

But how can you add power to our persuasion?  How can you become more effective at persuading your customers to buy?

Let’s look at the way the skilled professionals put power into their ability to persuade.

Let me share with you ten secrets I’ve learned from some of the most persuasive salespeople in America — ten ways to add power to your persuasion.  I call them the 10 P’s of persuasion.

(1) Be positive.

One of the most successful insurance salesmen in America is a country fellow from South Georgia, who says, “You can no more sell something you don’t believe in, than you can come back from some place you ain’t been.”

Successful salespeople are positive people.

They have positive mental attitudes about themselves, the companies they represent, the products or services they’re selling, the prospects they’re attempting to persuade, the country they live in.  They’re positive about everything.

Enthusiasm is contagious.  When you’re excited about life and the work you’re doing, you can persuade with power, because you can get other people excited.

(2) Prospect. 

Successful salespeople have learned to direct their persuasive power toward people who have the resources to buy and have good reasons to buy what they are selling.

Professional salespeople pinpoint prospects who are likely to provide long-term profitability.  They analyze the possibilities for cross-selling.  They know that it takes an average of three calls to cross-sell an existing customer but seven to sell to a new customer.

In short, the powerful persuader targets all efforts at the person who has the resources, the motivation, and the authority to buy, and the potential for profitable repeat sales.

(3) Prepare. 

Red Motley, who started Parade magazine, said that the average salesperson will work like crazy to get an appointment, then blow the opportunity with a poor presentation after the decision-maker has agreed to the interview.

You don’t make sales to busy people by rambling on for 40 minutes about features and benefits.  Usually, after such disjointed presentations, neither the salesperson nor the prospect can summarize what’s just been said. 

Professional salespeople always do their homework.  They know that the better they’re prepared, the more persuasive they’ll be when they walk in to make a presentation. 

They research to find out everything they need to know about the prospect.  They plan what they will show and what they will say.  And they practice, practice, practice.
 
(4) Perform. 

Amateur salespeople complain furiously when they are beaten out by a competitor.  How could that customer buy that overpriced, poor-quality product? He must be an idiot!

The customer was no idiot.  The complainer was just outperformed by a more competitive salesperson. 

Remember: People don’t buy; they’re sold.  In fact, nothing is ever bought.  Everything has to be sold.  If you don’t make a strong presentation, you can’t persuade your prospect to buy.

Powerful persuaders are like stage actors playing to a full house.  They are artists at making their presentations.  They’re entertaining and informative to watch and hear.

To succeed in business, you have to make every second of every minute of your “action time” count.

(5) Be perceptive. 

Powerful persuaders are alert to everything that happens during a sales interview. 

They are not preoccupied with personal problems, with airline schedules, or even with the next call they are going to make.  They know that reaching a sales goal always begins with making the sale at hand.

Powerful persuaders tune into their prospects and look for the motivating forces in the life of each.  Once they discover that motivating force, they play to the motivation.

To add power to your persuasion, learn to read your prospects and to discover the motivations they have to buy or not to buy.

(6) Probe.

Average salespeople do a lot of talking.  They can give you a 30-minute speech on any subject you want to name.

That’s why silence is so threatening to most salespeople.  The instant a prospect pauses to take a breath, the amateur will jump in with a sales spiel, just to break the silence.

But powerful persuaders use questions to diagnose the needs and concerns of a prospect much as a skilled physician uses them to diagnose the problems of a patient.

They become masters at asking penetrating questions, and they use those questions to draw prospects into the selling process.
 
(7) Personalize.

The most powerful word in selling is you.

The emphasis on you marks the difference between manipulative and non-manipulative selling.

Manipulative selling is self-centered.  It focuses on what the salesperson wants and needs.

Non-manipulative selling is client-centered.  It focuses on the needs and desires of the prospect.

A person who is looking at the business proposition you are offering wants to know just one thing: What’s in it for me?

If you want to add power to your persuasion, personalize every part of your presentation to meet your prospect’s own personal needs and wants.

(8) Please. 

Powerful persuaders seek to close sales by pleasing their clients.  When prospects become excited about the idea of owning what you’re selling, they become customers.

Professional salespeople know that they can’t force their prospects to buy.  Their challenge is to make them want to buy.  So they seek to please them in so many ways that they create the desire to buy.

(9) Prove.

Salespeople with selling savvy don’t make statements they can’t back up with facts. 

And they don’t expect their clients to accept at face value everything they say.  They are always prepared to prove every claim they make — to back up those claims with hard data, with test results, and with performance records.

One of the best ways to persuade by proving is to give proof statements from people who are happy with your products or services.  Third-party endorsements go a long way in building credibility for your claims, and for your products.

Facts and testimonials are very persuasive.  Learn to use them, and become a powerful persuader.

(10) Persist.

Call on good prospects as many times as it takes to sell them.  About 80% of sales are made on the fifth call or later.  Yet studies have shown that:

·  50% of America’s salespeople call on a prospect one time, and quit.
·  18% call on a prospect twice, and give up.
·  7% call three times, and call it quits.
·  5% call on a prospect four times before quitting.
·  Only 20% call on a prospect five or more times before they quit.

It’s that 20% who close 80% of the sales in America.

You don’t have to become a dynamic personality to sell.  You don’t have to put pressure on people, or out-talk people to sell. 

The most effective thing you can do is to apply your own selling savvy to these ten ways to add strength to your persuasion.

Learn how to persuade more effectively and you will boost your selling power.

Nido Qubein is president of High Point University, an accredited undergraduate and graduate institution with 3,000 students from 50 countries and 44 states. He has written numerous books and recorded scores of audio and video learning programs including a bestseller on effective communication published by Nightingale-Conant and Berkley. Qubein’s business  savvy led him to help start a bank in 1986 and today he serves on the board and executive committee of a Fortune 500 financial corporation with 115 billion-dollars in assets and 25,000 employees. He is also chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company with 218 stores in 42 states. He serves on the boards of several national organizations including the La-Z-Boy Corporation, one of the world’s largest and most recognized furniture retailers. Learn more about Nido Qubein at www.nidoqubein.com

October 28, 2009

Interview of Sharon Drew Morgen on Buying Facilitation

Filed under: Client Relationships, Handling Prospect, Sales Failure, Sales Process, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 9:42 am
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I interview my friend, New York Times best-selling author and creator of Buying Facilitation®, Sharon Drew Morgen.  She discusses what Buying Facilitation is and her new book, Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it:

Sharon Drew Morgen Interview

I encourage you to visit Sharon Drew’s website and grab a copy of her new book Dirty Little Secrets at either Amazon or the book’s website.

October 26, 2009

Guest Article: “Position Yourself as a Value Provider,” by Ardath Albee

Filed under: prospecting, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 8:54 am
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This is cool, I get to promote two friends at once today: The following  article by Ardath Albee was first published on Jill Konrath’s 2009 Sales shebang conference website.

Position Yourself as a Value Provider
By Ardath Albee  

When a salesperson jumps into the lead relationship after marketing has nurtured them, it’s essential to do so in a context that matches the lead’s expectations. Depending on the amount of information the salesperson has available at the point of transition, the message they send can have a huge impact on how well they position themselves as a value provider.

Your prospective buyers experience information about your company’s offerings in a myriad of different ways. Depending on their priorities, messaging can miss completely leaving that lead to wonder what the heck happened and causing them to question whether they really want to work with a company who understands them one minute and acts like they’re a stranger the next.

Let’s consider an example.

Sara has been actively following a marketing campaign from your company about how to gain more efficiency in staff utilization. She’s read every white paper and web page that relates to increasing staff productivity, attended a webinar on the subject and requested a salesperson call her.

You get assigned Sara’s account. But, you have no idea that her express interest is increasing efficiency so you choose a pre-populated key value message that’s worked well in the past when you email her to set up a telephone meeting—the one that emphasizes reducing costs by cutting head count.

Sara doesn’t respond. In fact, when you try to call her to follow-up, her assistant insists she’s busy and dumps you directly into voicemail.

Both of you are now wondering what happened.

You think marketing got carried away and over scored Sara’s account, pushing her forward in the process when she wasn’t “hot” enough to move to sales activities. She thinks you’re uninterested and out of touch and can only shudder at the thought that once she becomes a customer her account will be handled in the same fashion. Sara also likely thinks that all you care about is the sale, which is a total disconnect from her previous dialog with your company.

The problem here is a failure to communicate.

You need to make sure that you get as much profile information about leads assigned to your queue as you can. If you step into the conversation with a relevant message that conveys a high level of understanding and attention to customer detail, Sara is likely to have an entirely different response to your message. You’ll have positioned yourself as a value provider focused on helping Sara solve a high-priority business issue.

Research by Huthwaite® in regards to prospecting showed 94% of buyers couldn’t remember a single prospector or message they had received during the last two years. This means that the more closely a salesperson ties their message to the marketing dialog the lead is accustomed to, and anticipating, the better outcome they can achieve. If your message is disconnected from their prior experience, it can be like pushing a rock uphill to get that opportunity back on track.

By the same token, make sure your outreach does not assume too much. As the shift from nurturing to sales activities takes place, you need to re-establish a comfort level with the lead. This means you need to enter the dialog at the same place they’re at in their buying cycle.

The following tips can help you do just that with the leads you receive from marketing:

  • Reference their implicit interest in a high-priority business issue
  • Offer something of value – article, success story, etc.
  • Do not pitch them
  • Do not mention your product
  • Give them a specific reason to respond to you – one that has value for them.
  • Be professional, but personable

It’s important that your communication be perceived as valuable by the lead. The entire sales process is now about the value buying from you can deliver. Let’s face it, if they wanted just the product, they can probably find one similar to yours somewhere else. Products are commodities.

Glen Petersen, in his book The Profit Maximization Paradox, says that 85% of the decision to buy is directly impacted by the interactions between salespeople and the customer. So once the transition to sales happens, the ball is almost entirely in your court. The relationship you establish will make or break the deal.

Let’s look at a real message I received after exploring global collaboration on a vendor’s website. Although I’ve removed any specific company references, I think you’ll get the point.

Ardath                                    

As gas prices continue to rise, many businesses are looking for creative ways to cut costs and remain competitive. Our company’s product can help you reduce expenses, while increasing productivity throughout your business.

Let me show you how you can:

  • Product Benefit A
  • Product Benefit B
  • Product Benefit C

Do you have time this week or next for a brief discussion about your business needs? Please reply with the best time for me to contact you.

Best regards,
Sally Salesperson

Does anything about that message speak to my interests or let me know the salesperson has any idea what matters to me? Even though that first sentence could speak to a need, it’s generic, assumed and doesn’t show they even know what I’m interested in. On top of that, they want me to make time to educate them about my business needs. They obviously have no idea about my priorities.

This kind of “so what?” message will leave you in the dust as fast as a lead can hit the delete button. It is not about the potential customer, it’s about them. The salesperson hasn’t done their homework. Most of your leads will see right through such poor messaging, resulting in diminishing engagement with you, and your company.

Now, let’s look at a message likely to generate a better response:

Ardath,

I noticed you’ve read a number of our website resources about how to collaborate more effectively across geographic locations.

I’ve researched your company and would like to share an example of how we’ve helped companies like yours achieve that goal. Not only have they achieved higher levels of collaboration, but demonstrated value by delivering innovations to their customers—much faster than ever before.

I’ve attached a success story to demonstrate the business case and have some additional ideas I’d like to share with you to help your company quickly achieve these kinds of outcomes.

If you think your company will benefit with this kind of successful collaboration, let’s talk.

Thanks,
Sally

Which one of these messages would you not only rather receive, but be more likely to respond to? The first one is company focused and indifferent to the lead’s expressed interests. The second one shows you care and positions you as a value provider. By sending targeted messages, you’ll have a much better shot at assuring that 85% of the purchase decision swings in your favor.

B2B marketing strategist and CEO of Marketing Interactions, Ardath Albee helps companies significantly increase their marketing effectiveness by generating more and better leads for their sales organization. She helps them capture the attention of web site visitors, and keep in touch with high value content till they are “sales ready.”

October 22, 2009

Book Review: RFPs Suck:How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business

Filed under: Book Recommendations, Book Reviews, Sales Resources, business, small business — Paul McCord @ 9:40 am
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RFPs suckIf you’ve had to respond to RFPs—even just one—you know that RFPs do, in fact, suck.  Lots of books have titles that don’t work well, are misleading, or weak, but RFPs Suck is a title that speaks to the soul of anyone who has fought—and probably lost far more often than won—the RFP system.

RFP’s Suck: How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business by Tom Searcy (Channel V Books:  2009) is designed specifically for small to mid-size companies seeking to compete with their large competitors in the game of responding to the Request for Proposal or Request for Quote that is so often the vendor selection method preferred by major companies and by government agencies.

Searcy is a veteran of the RFP wars having won over 1.5 billion dollars in business through the process.  He’s turned that experience into a lucrative consulting/training business.  Now, he’s taken the next step and turned it into a book.

RFPs Suck is a short, direct, to-the-point guide to giving you and your company the advantage you need in order to compete in a process that is, as Searcy says, “not built for you.”  The system is built for and caters to large vendors, not small to mid-size companies.  In fact, Searcy says, in many cases rather than giving you a chance to compete, the system is designed to keep you out.

Can you as a small to mid-size company compete in a system that is built not only to cater to your large competitors but to keep you in your place? 

According to RFPs Suck, you certainly can—IF you learn how to recognize and take advantage of real opportunities, avoid those where you have little or no chance of winning, and construct a proposal that gives you the winning advantage.

RFPs Suck is a short, direct, to-the-point book that wastes little space.  You won’t find lots of tangents, filler stories, or attempts by the author to become the next Hemmingway or Faulkner.  Instead, Searcy concentrates on laying out in concise chapters the guidance you need to become an RFP expert:

  • How to recognize a real RFP opportunity—and how to recognize and avoid dead ends that can cost an arm and a leg in both time and money
  • How to determine if your company is ready and capable of competing
  • How to ‘read’ an RFP to discover the real motive for issuing it 
  • How to stand out from the crowd and give yourself the necessary advantage to win the battle
  • How to write the RFP from cover letter to the addendums
  • How your proposal will be evaluated and how to get it into final consideration
  • Detailed examples of responses to RFPs with an analysis of the response

In only 143 pages Searcy takes you from beginning to end in evaluating and responding to an RFP or RFQ and shows you how to create a winning proposal and does it very well.

In a world where RFPs are becoming increasing important, knowing how to create a proposal that gives you the best possible shot at getting the business is crucial—and surprisingly simple (simple, not easy).  Whether RFPs are a regular part of your business or just an occasional pain, RFPs Suck is a guide book you really shouldn’t be without.

October 21, 2009

Are You a Small Business? Take Advantage of the Current Populist Anger

Filed under: Culture, business, marketing, small business, trust — Paul McCord @ 10:35 am
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Polls show that more and more Americans distrust the government.   Other polls indicated that banks, insurance companies, multi-national corporations, and the recipients of government bailout monies are also suffering from distrust on the part of a large part of the American population.

Big in all its organizational forms is on the outs.

The distrust of government is nothing new; after all, America was founded on the distrust of large government.  There’s nothing more American than distrusting politicians and government, whether national, state, or local. 

Aside from government, look at who’s getting creamed in terms of trust issues:  banks such as Chase, Bank of America, Citi; financial services firms such as Merrill Lynch, UBS, any company with the word ‘insurance’ in it; GM, GE, Chrysler, Exxon/Mobile, Halliburton, McDonalds, Walmart, and dozens of others.

What do they all have in common?

Size.

These are all huge corporations that have attracted a considerable amount of distrust, some because of their financial weakness, others because of real or perceived greed, still others because of political correctness.  But no matter the cause, they’re currently on the trust hit list.

What does that mean for small and mid-size companies?

A void to be filled.  An opportunity to take advantage of.  A chance to penetrate markets.  A bit more level playing field—at least for a time.

Just because consumers don’t trust major corporations doesn’t mean that they don’t need and/or want the products and services those corporations provide. 

Banks are still needed.

Financial services too.

People still have to shop and eat.  They still buy cars, appliances, electronics.

If the politically correct turn from Walmart, where do they go? Possibly a local or regional retailer.

 If they refuse to purchase from GM but want a Tahoe, what do they do?  Possibly purchase from a local used car dealer.

 If they reject Chase and Bank of America, who do they bank with?  Maybe with a local or regional bank.

If they’re not going to McDonald’s or Burger King for lunch, where are they going?  Maybe they eat at a local or regional restaurant. 

Maybe they buy from you.

Big is out and it has to be replaced.  Why not by you?  Why can’t you step in and fill the trust void?

In today’s economy where those who seem to be thriving are doing so as much by cutting payroll and expenses as by maintaining sales and profit margins, finding and exploiting any advantage you can find is critical and taking advantage of the current populist anger toward big business can certainly benefit those small and mid-size businesses and their salespeople who recognize the advantage they currently have over their large competitors.

Rather than sitting back hoping to continue to survive, hit the streets and start calling on those prospects who didn’t think you were big enough, experienced enough, or had the financial strength to earn their business. 

We’ve certainly seen that experiece, size, and financial strength don’t mean much.  All those well educated and experienced Harvard MBA’s made a mint while destroying the companies they were supposed to be running.  Those old line companies were the ones ‘too big to fail’ that should have been left to fail.  Those financially stable behemoths were anything but financially stable.

Now isn’t the time to be hiding and hoping, it’s the time to be aggressively seeking new business because as has happened in the past, the anger at big business won’t last forever, so take advantage of it while you can.

October 20, 2009

Guest Article: “Listen to What Your Prospect is Saying to You,” by Wendy Weiss

Filed under: Communication, prospecting, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 9:28 am
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Listen to What Your Prospect is Saying to You
by Wendy Weiss

I just hung up the telephone after an annoying conversation with someone who called to inquire if I would be interested in a joint venture. You see, yesterday I had received an email from Jane, the marketing director, describing their program and asking if I would be interested in promoting the program to my list. I took a look at their web site and it looked like they could have something of value to offer. While the program Jane wrote about in her email did not seem like a great fit, I am interested in finding joint venture partners that would add value for my subscribers, so I replied to the email:

“Hello Jane,

“Thank you for your email.

“I am not sure that we have an ideal fit for my list with this program, however I am looking for joint venture partners to work with.

“My list is entrepreneurs, business owners, sales professionals, service professionals and network marketers. I currently have 9600+ subscribers.”

We agreed via email to have a telephone conversation.

At the beginning of our conversation, I reiterated that I was not sure that their current program was right for my list. However, I was interested in finding potential joint venture partners. I asked what other types of programs they offered.

Jane responded by asking me about the market that I serve. Since I’d already given her that information in my email (”my list is entrepreneurs, business owners, sales professionals, service professionals and network marketers”), that was a bad first question. I pointed out to her that she already had that information.

Next, Jane began to give me details of their program offering. I let her talk for a minute or so, then said, “Jane, I just told you that I did not think this program is a fit for my list and asked you about other programs you plan to offer in the future. Why are you telling me about this program? It’s not a fit.”

She then offered to tell me about their principal, Mr. X, and his background and credentials. As I never promote any programs or products to my list unless I am familiar with them, I agreed to hear her out. Jane told me that, “Mr. X was a renowned and award-winning author and expert in his field. He had helped thousands of business owners with his unique and amazing programs…” I interrupted the hype and told her I didn’t see a fit, but I thanked her for her time. End of conversation.

So, what are our lessons learned today?

Jane sounded “on script.” That is, she’d been given a script, and a hypey one at that, and she was hell-bent on delivering it no matter what. She paid no attention to the information in my email, hence her first bad question. She didn’t listen to or question me when I told her that I was not interested in the program she was promoting but wanted to talk about other possibilities. She could have asked me, “What types of programs are you looking for?” or “What types of programs would be of value to your list?” Unfortunately, she did not.

While I am a true believer in scripting, that is not the way to use a script. While you always want to craft your presentation so that you are prepared, you also must listen to what your prospect says to you. Sometimes, despite all of your preparation, you may not have exactly the right script. Occasionally, you will come across a prospect who asks questions or offers objections that you have never before encountered, so you don’t have an ideal way to deal with them. Even so, you need to respond to your prospect appropriately. If you ignore their questions or statements (the way Jane did), you will end up with a prospect who is seriously annoyed (as I was).

If you encounter a question or an objection that you have never before heard, listen to your prospect and respond to what they are saying to the best of your ability. You may not be perfect, but that’s ok. After you hang up, write down exactly what your prospect said to stump you so that you don’t forget it. If you thought you had a good response, then write that down too so that you don’t forget it. Otherwise, go looking for better responses. Talk to your manager, colleagues, coach, read books, attend teleseminars or seminars – do what you need to do so that you don’t ever get stumped by that particular question or objection again.

You must pay attention to what your prospect says to you. In the above instance, if this was the only program that Mr. X produces, and the only program that Jane was interested in promoting, then I was not a qualified prospect for them. I very clearly told Jane in my email that, “I am not sure that we have an ideal fit for my list with this program…”  If she had nothing else to offer me, she should have responded to my email, told me that was their only program and thanked me for my interest. She would have saved us both time and aggravation.

Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling™, is an author, speaker, sales trainer, and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Her clients include Avon Products, ADP, Sprint and thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the country.  Visit her website

October 17, 2009

The Top 25 Ranked Blogs on Sales and Selling

Filed under: Sales Resources, sales, selling — Paul McCord @ 10:48 am

The top 50 sales blogs on the internet as ranked by BlogRank using 20 different criteria.  I’ve included the Twitter address for each that I could find

ChangingMinds    http://twitter.com/changingminds 

Cross-Cultural eMarketer And International Sales Specialist  Cindy King     http://twitter.com/CindyKing

Persuasive.net

Sales Machine  Geoffrey James   http://twitter.com/Sales_Machine

B2B Lead Generation Blog  Brian Carroll   http://twitter.com/brianjcarroll

Sales Team Tools? 

SalesBlogcast – Sales and Leadership Blog  Doyle Slayton    http://twitter.com/SalesBlogcast 

Shane Gibsons Sales Podcast and Sales Blog – Sales Training Canada – USA – Motivational Speaker   http://twitter.com/shanegibson

Sales Management 2.0

Simplenomics  Mike Sigers   http://twitter.com/MikeSigers

Sharon Drew Morgen     http://twitter.com/sharondrew

Sales and Sales Management Blog  Paul McCord   http://twitter.com/paul_mccord

Selling to Big Companies   Jill Konrath   http://twitter.com/jillkonrath

Modern B2B Marketing | Marketo Blog  Mac McIntosh  http://twitter.com/B2B_Sales_Leads

Sales Lead Insights: B2B Marketing Blog    

Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Neuromarketing  Roger Dooley   http://twitter.com/rogerdooley

sales training blog – startup sales mentor  Karl Goldfield   http://twitter.com/karlgoldfield

Creating Revenue and Retention  David Dalka 

The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer    http://twitter.com/alenmajer

Life in the Telebusiness Trenches  Josiane Feigon  

Online Lead Generation Blog 

Understanding the Sales Force  Dave Kurlan

Sales Training Blog  Josh Gordon   http://twitter.com/JoshGordon

Inside Sales Experts Blog  Trish Bertuzzi    http://twitter.com/bridgegroupinc

These are only the top 25 blogs of the top 50.  Rankings change daily and all 50 of the blogs are superior and deserve your consideration of either following on Twitter or putting them into your RSS reader.

See all 50 blogs

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