Sales and Sales Management Blog

January 30, 2009

Guest Article: “The Unprecedented Sales Management Challenge for 2009,” by Lee Salz

Filed under: sales,Sales Management,selling — Paul McCord @ 11:42 am
Tags: , ,

The Unprecedented Sales Management Challenge for 2009
By Lee Salz

Sales managers are facing a set of challenges that they’ve never experienced before. They think their team is focused on generating sales, but they are completely distracted.

As a sales manager, for years, you’ve had Human Resources preaching to you about the importance of work-life balance for your sales team. They reminded you that studies showed that productivity increased when employees had balance between their work life and their personal one.

They told you that the team needed time to recharge their batteries so they could sell more for the company.

Some still talk about work-life balance, but the truth of the matter is that this is a yesterday issue. Work-life implies that “work” is a stressful world and “life” is a place of solace. Those days are gone with the way our economy has evolved. Your sales team is getting it from both sides now. They have unprecedented, high levels of stress at work and at home. The former life of solace is now filled with concerns of mounting debt, drastic drops in home values, a real fear of job loss, and disgust over their investment portfolio.

When your sales team arrives to start the day at 8am, the reality is that their day is already over. They began their day by watching the morning news. “Unemployment is at a record high! Housing values continues to fall! Consumer confidence is non-existent!” What a great way to start a productive sales day!

Imagine a boxer who gets beaten up before he enters the ring…What chance does he have of being successful in the match? ZERO! Today, your sales team is faced with the same challenges as that boxer. The media is defeating them before their day even begins.

They arrive at work to begin their day, but the truth of the matter is that they are already finished. They’ve already lost. Despite all of these woes, the company is relying on the sales team to pull the company out of the painful downward spiral driven by the economic mess. Logic would tell you that with the present state of affairs, the sales team is more focused than ever on generating sales. Every minute of the business day, they are either on the phone with a prospect or meeting with one. All they can think of is… Make a sale!

Unfortunately, logic does not come into play here. All of the external noise is leading your sales team in the complete opposite direction. They are checking the market hourly, their 401k every 15 minutes, and checking the job boards. It’s as if there is total sales paralysis. Sales productivity is probably at an all time low, at a time when the company needs them most. As the sales manager, this all falls in your lap. You are the face of the sales organization. The company needs you to change your hat from manager to leader to help focus the troops on the task at hand.

Since this is a relatively new issue, most sales managers have not been trained how to help their team regain their focus to drive productivity (a.k.a. sales). As a sales manager, what can you do to regain the reigns of the team and lead them to sales success?

  1. Communicate, even…over communicate. Open and honest discussion about the present state of affairs helps to relieve the angst that the team is experiencing. As a manager, you may be in a leadership chain, but the team looks to their direct leader for guidance and support.
  2. Hold the team accountable. While empathetic and understanding, the sales leader needs to remind the team of the task at hand. Direction provided to the team should be clear and team members should be held accountable for performance.
  3. Coach them. Little things can help your team regain their sales edge. Suggest that they not start their day by watching the morning news. Have them read the news online so they have total control over which news to become informed. They control the information saturation point, not the television media. (This is a prudent thing for you to do as well.)
  4. Lead by example. While challenging, put on your game face and show confidence. Keep the conversation on the task at hand, not external influences. Smile! If you walk around showing stress, your sales team will mirror your behavior. They will think something is wrong and sales paralysis enters.
  5. Be visible! When the number of closed door meetings increases, sales people speculate that something is wrong. While a productive meeting may be taking place inside, on the other side of the door, your entire sales team is talking about what you may be discussing in your meeting. In the absence of direct knowledge, your sales team will guess the meeting is about gloom and doom. Limit your closed door meetings. Be visible with your sales team. Join them on sales calls. Meet with clients.

Other industry experts have also weighed in on this issue. If they were talking to a sales manager about how to focus their sales team and drive productivity, they suggest…

“Sales managers must remember the behavior of sales people is driven by the desire to avoid pain or gain pleasure. The more powerful of these two drivers is the desire to gain pleasure. Smart sales managers recognize that achievement and recognition of that achievement are the two most powerful motivators in sales. So instead of cracking the whip, they are whipping up contests, games, spiffs, and awards that keep their sales professionals focused, happy, and engaged.”
-        Jeb Blount, CEO of SalesGravy.com and author of “Power Principles”

“Stop being complacent to selling professionals. Selling professionals control their destiny more than any other organizational function. Nothing happens unless something is sold. Selling professionals must speak with customers, requesting referrals and closing business. Watching the news is simply a form of procrastination. They must discover the unspent allocated money from the current budget year and request the business. Products and services are still needed. Tell selling professionals to do what the competition is not – sell something!”
- Drew Stevens, PhD, Business Growth Consultant and Author of “Split Second Selling” and “Ultimate Business Bible”

“Managers need to shift away from fear based management and develop more of a collaborative coaching culture. You cannot inspire others when you are afraid and you can’t be inspired when you’re full of fear and worry. Conduct more frequent one-to-one meetings, build greater accountability by relinquishing your role as Chief Problem Solver and have less tolerance for mediocrity. Ultimately, management needs to adapt, innovate and evolve or suffer from corporate inefficiency, rigidity and declining profits.”
- Keith Rosen, Executive Sales Coach and author of the award winning, “Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions”

“In tough times, sellers must be at the top of their game. As a sales manager, your job is to infuse your team with fresh thinking – to make sure they have the knowledge and skills to deal with today’s challenges. Start a “book of the month” club. Register for webinars or teleseminars put on by sales experts. Encourage sign up for sales e-newsletters. Lead weekly “how we won” sessions. For maximum impact, start now!”
- Jill Konrath, Sales Strategist & author, Selling to Big Companies

“Sales managers must help salespeople to maintain clarity, calm their nerves, help them function, keep them positive, get them motivated, challenge them to perform, urge them to fill their pipelines and hold them accountable to all of that. And talking the talk isn’t quite enough. When conducting pre-call strategizing, coaching must include how the account or call plan will be executed – with role play – so that sales managers are certain their salespeople truly have the ability to get it done. Your pipelines may have been thrown into a holding pattern. Orders haven’t canceled or been lost to competitors; they are simply delayed. The sooner that everyone gets over their initial reaction to the recession and gets back to just doing business, the sooner that money will loosen up and start changing hands again.”
- Dave Kurlan, Sales Development Expert, and author of “Baseline Selling”

“To get the malaise out of your sales team give them permission to press the “off button” and shut out the negative media. Protect seller’s natural optimism – have contests for the best joke of the day – buy coffee for the winner. Equip them with the winning words – role-play the very words decision-makers long/need/want to hear: which are how your product increases revenues; decreases expenses; mitigates risk.”
- Leslie Buterin, founder ColdCallingNetNews.com

“We read & hear the doom and gloom every day about this economy. Well, I believe we need to start managing our attitudes and mindsets, as well as our sales efforts. It is time to look at all the challenges, issues and problems as OPPORTUNITIES wearing disguises. Strip off the disguises, identify the opportunity and deliver a solution. Be positive, persistent, proactive and patient in this time of change.”
- J. Glenn Ebersole, “Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

“Here’s my best piece of advice to those leading sales teams today: Do all you can to continually boost your staff’s confidence – confidence in themselves, confidence in their product, and confidence in the problems your product solves for your customers. Suggestions on how to do that: Remind them of successful case studies often. Feed them creative ways to confidently answer your top objections. Work with them one-on-one to develop their own individual style, so they sound and act naturally confident. Today’s customers have NO margin for error in choosing their suppliers; do all you can to help your staff be the ones that others can trust to make them look good!”
- Bill Guertin, CEO, The 800-Pound Gorilla and author of Reality Sells: How To Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again by Marketing Your Genuine Story

“Many sales teams are not only going through a big wake up call on the economic front, but are going through an earth moving generational shift…from Baby Boomers and Generation X running the show to men and women under the age of 30 making critical business decisions for our organizations. At the end of the day, they want to know “How are my ideas being incorporated and actually applied to our sales processes to make us better at what we do?”
- Bea Fields, Leadership and Generation Y Consultant and co-author of the book “Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders”

“To create momentum, keep your sales team focused on what they need to do today, or this week, by implementing a 20 point system. On this system, they earn points for doing the right types of sales activities: conversations, appointments booked, face-to-face meetings, referrals, closed files and closed business. The focus on the right kind of activities with targeted prospects will result in creating the desired energy.”
- Danita Bye, President of Sales Growth Specialists

“Sales managers should hold a meeting with their sales teams with a focus on creating two lists: one containing the things the salespeople CAN’T control, and one containing the things they CAN control. Managers should then encourage their salespeople to focus 100% of their attention on the things they CAN control. Nothing blows away feelings of helplessness like having an action plan and TAKING DAILY ACTION against that plan.”
- Alan Rigg, Sales Performance Expert, and author of “How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance”

“Downturn leadership requires laser-like focus. Focus to reinforce customer service, existing customer relationships, and presence in the marketplaces. This results in improved perception of market position and stronger, more profitable customer relationships (again, what every sales leader wants more of). Focus on the “vital few” – the 20 percent of customers, product lines, industries that has the greatest impact. Do not only rely on your instincts to identify your vital few-use data to determine the truth about your sales and customers.”
- Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., author of “Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence”

“During this time of stress, management needs to attend to the emotional needs of their sales professionals. Part of that attention is to help them understand what they can change and what is beyond their abilities to change. For example they can change their attitude in how they approach each day, keeping a positive focus and working to produce results. What they can’t change is how the market will fluctuate on an hour by hour basis.”
- Gregory Stebbins, Ed.D., internationally recognized Sales Psychologist

“Sales managers need to roll up their sleeves and join the team. The worse thing to do in this situation is to add pressure from above with no active participation in the solution. The sales teams I’ve coached tell me that because I’m in the trenches with them, they are more motivated-even in tough times. Your sales team needs to know you are in it with them. Together you will conquer!”
- Shannon Kavanaugh, president of Go-To-Market Strategies

“There has never been a more critical time for sales leaders to work overtime to ensure that their teams remain focused and fully motivated: Attitude is, after all, that small thing that makes such a big difference. Strong leadership from the front, and by example, is the only way to reverse the downward spiral that comes with self-limiting beliefs and fears.”
- Jonathan Farrington, Chairman of The Sales Corporation

“In order to re-energize your team you need to help them become more successful. The fastest way you can do that is by establishing a killer sales strategy that focuses on a moderate amount of ideal clients. An effective strategy positions you as the industry expert, educates the client/prospect on how to run their business better, sets the buying criteria and establishes doing business with you as a forgone conclusion. Your sales people will be fired up because they are closing lots of business, making good money and loving life!”
- Andy Miller, sales strategist

“Although the current economic situation presents problems for you and your sales team, it also presents unprecedented opportunities. There are still prospects buying and customers purchasing additional products and services, and your competitors are facing the same daunting and depressing news. Salespeople who overcome their lethargy and seek new business can turn this economic downturn into a record-breaking year. Empathize with their issues, but emphasize the tremendous opportunities your team has while their competition is sitting on the sidelines.”
- Paul McCord, management consultant and author of the Sales and Sales Management Blog

“The key to making the sale in this economy is to help your team stay focused on solving real customer problems and enabling them to add immediate value to their business. We have been in this economic situation before and we will be here again – the strong will survive and 20% of sales people will exceed their quota in spite of the economy. Our job as sales managers is to not let the economy become the excuse for non performance and lack of productivity.”
- Julie Thomas, President and CEO of Value Selling Associates and author of “ValueSelling: Driving up Sales One Conversation at a Time”

“The sales manager needs to communicate the company’s vision, mission, values, goals, and expectations to the sales team weekly and then reward their accountability. The senior management team must define and communicate the criteria for a profitable customer and all sales efforts need to be focused on securing and managing those accounts. The sales professionals, who learn how to thrive in this economy, will develop skills and talents that will guide them to long-term success.”
- Janet Boulter, Profitability Consultant, Center Consulting Group

“Salespeople will be excited to come to work when they adopt a referral-selling strategy. They’ll meet with decision makers, shorten their sales process, and convert prospects to clients more than 50% of the time-while acing out the competition and landing new, profitable clients. They’ll meet only with the people they want to meet and who want to meet them. What an irresistible proposition! Money in their pockets. What a great motivator!”
- Joanne Black, founder of No More Cold Calling and author of “No More Cold CallingTM: the Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust”

“The issue has become one of finding and sustaining mental energy. Not just the energy you and your team need to achieve sales. Even more important is your ability to sustain the enthusiasm, calm and inspiration needed to get your team through these torrid times. Instead of work life balance, it’s about getting the right flow of personal energy input and business energy output. Having an enjoyable personal interest that enables you to switch off is a good start.”
- Peter Nicholls, Director, Work Leisure International

“My recommendation is simple. Identify specifically two things that your sales professionals have done well to adjust to the new marketplace. Once you determine them, discuss 2-3 areas that you both agree are in need of development. Reach out to all your sales professionals and repeat this process. Compile the responses and put together a measurable action plan for your team. And don’t forget to follow through.”
- Charles Brennan Jr., President of Brennan Sales Institute and author of “Sales Questions That Close the Sale”

“Employ equal doses of inspiration, motivation, and oversight to simultaneously raise morale and maintain production levels. Use anecdotes from well-known figures in history who’ve met and overcome challenges. Set specific short-term goals, and monitor progress against them. Project an air of optimism, and lead by example. Direct the team to focus with laser-like discipline on only those opportunities that have real legs. Provide oversight to ensure they are maintaining that focus.”
- Craig James, sales consultant and trainer, president of Sales Solutions

 

Lee B. Salz is a sales management guru who helps companies hire the right sales people, on-board them, and focus their sales activity using his sales architecture® methodology. He is the President of Sales Architects, the C.E.O. of Business Expert Webinars and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Lee is an online columnist for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, a print columnist for SalesforceXP Magazine, and the host of the Internet radio show, “Secrets of Business Gurus.” Look for Lee’s new book in February 2009 titled, “The Sales Marriage” where he shares the secrets to hiring the right sales people. He is a passionate, dynamic speaker and a business consultant. Lee can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitecture.com or 763.416.4321.

January 29, 2009

Is Your Company Value Statement Killing Employee Morale?

Filed under: attitude,business,management — Paul McCord @ 1:10 pm
Tags: ,

Chances are your company has a written set of values.  A growing number of companies do.  If your company does, chances are very good that one of the statements says that employees are valued above all else.  Chances are also good that one of the statements has to do with how family oriented the company is and how employee commitment should be to family before company.  Chances are also very good that there is a statement that says customers are the key to company success.

I’ve consulted with, visited with, and worked for hundreds of companies that have value statements.  Most are interchangeable-both in terms of the value statement verbiage and the company’s actions.

Not often are the company’s actions in line with their value statements.  Most often, especially in large retail environments–but certainly not exclusively-the company’s value statement and the company’s actions are diametrically opposed to one another.  Maybe not on purpose (although for many, the value statements are nothing but something the company uses for PR purposes with both employees and customers), but opposed to one another they most often are.

Most value statements are people oriented.  Most corporate actions are people oriented also-either for stockholders or senior management.

There is nothing wrong with a corporate value statement.  Likewise, there is nothing wrong with a company focusing the company’s benefits on stockholders or senior management.  Every company has the right and the freedom to focus resources and benefits how and where they want.

Nevertheless, employees do notice the inconsistencies between what a company proclaims it values and its actions-and those inconsistencies can destroy morale.

One company in the retail business claims in its value statement that its primary reason for existing is to serve its employees and especially to encourage the growth of strong families.  Sounds great.  The reality?  It requires its salespeople and mid-level managers to work 10 ½ hour days, 24 days per month on average.  Senior management works only about 40 to 45 hours per week.  To top it off, if the salesperson is not on target to meet their sales quota, they are encouraged to work their days off.  Working beyond scheduled hours is strongly encouraged also.  Taking earned vacation time is frowned upon.  Most employees consider the value statement a joke-but resent the fact the company is constantly preaching how important a strong family life is to the company. 

Another regional retailer also claims that the strength of employee’s families is a central concern to the company.  However, low and mid-level managers are expected to regularly work 70 to 80 hours per week.  Vacations are limited to a maximum of three days-including Sunday’s–at any one time.  Managers unwilling to work the expected hours leave the company in short order.  Divorce rates within the management ranks of this company that stresses its concern for families is over twice the national average.  The hours are long; morale among managers is low, productivity lags behind industry average.

There are thousands of similar stories.  The morale-breaking culprit for many of the employees of these companies isn’t the hours or the stress, although they contribute to it.  The real morale breaker is the belief that they have been sold a bill of goods about who and what the company is and then experience actions that in their mind prove it to be a lie.

There are certainly many companies whose actions reflect consistency with their value statement.  Many, many others are hard at work trying to bring their company’s actions into line with their value statement. 

Most of the employees I’ve interviewed regarding this topic, no matter their level within their company, expressed respect for their company when they believed the company either adhered to or was striving to adhere to the company’s value statement-no matter what the value statement contained.  In addition, most of the employees of companies whose actions reflected consistency with or who were actively striving to have company actions align to the company’s value statement felt that the company’s value statement helped to boost employee morale.

Although it seems a simple notion that what a company does is more important than what it says, it appears this concept has escaped a large number of companies.  Spouting platitudes in order to try to encourage employee morale without the actions to back the platitudes up produces far more harm than good. 

What about your company?  Is your company value statement helping to build morale or destroying it?  Does your company live its value statement or is it simply a flimsy tool to try to manipulate employees?  If you’re not serious about your value statement, you’re better off not having one.

January 27, 2009

How to Sell–and Not Sell–a Consumer Commodity

Filed under: Customer Service,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 6:58 pm
Tags: , ,

My wife and I moved over the weekend.  Like every move, some parts went very smoothly; others, well, not so much.

One of my primary jobs in regards to the move was acquiring all of the various utilities.  I had expected this to be a relatively quick job once I had worked my way through the automated receptionist with each company.  It was.

Then came the day when the various utility service providers were to install or turn on their services.  We arranged for Debbie, my wife, to spend the entire day at the house, waiting for the two companies that had to come into the house, the cable company and the gas company, and doing preparations for our move the next day.

How these two companies performed during the initial request for service phone call and the actual instillation is a demonstration in how one company can thrive through superior service while another’s success is tied to lack of competition.

The cable company we chose (we have a choice of two) is SuddenLink Cable.  Suddenlink is a fairly small cable provider when compared with the really big boys, but unlike their big competitors, they don’t rely on size to sell.  Instead, they rely on service.  And that’s exactly what I received when I called to order cable and internet service.  I had heard nothing but good things from my friends who had the service.

The Suddenlink rep seemed genuinely concerned that I get the best, most cost effective package.  He also went out of his way to schedule instillation at my convenience, not Suddenlink’s.   The rep informed me that the installer would be at the house between 12:30 and 2:30 on Friday and that he’d call prior to arriving.  I figured that like most service providers, that meant he’d show up sometime before 5 and might even call before he came-or he might not.

At 12:30 sharp Debbie received a call from the installer who said he’d be at the house at 1:30.  He showed up 5 minutes early, was finished within 45 minutes, cleaned up his mess, and gave Debbie a detailed presentation on how to use Suddenlink’s recording feature.

The only hitch we experienced was with the internet service.  When I hooked up my laptop on Sunday-no internet.  I called Suddenlink’s customer service, worked my way through the automated receptionist (makes one wonder if these companies have any idea how angry these systems make their customers), was put on hold, and reached a technician within 3 minutes.  Unlike with my previous service providers, this technician was more than willing to spend as much time on the line with me as needed to both fix the issue and to make sure there were no other issues that might cause an issue.  Rather than getting me off the phone as quickly as possible, he was interested in making sure my system was working as it should.

The company lived up to its reputation and insured itself of another customer who will gladly recommend the company to anyone in their service area needing cable or internet service.

The gas company was a totally different story.  We have several choices of gas providers.  When I asked friends about their experiences with their supplier, not one person recommended the company they used.  Complaints ranged from pricing to lack of service to billing errors.

For gas service, I was on my own.  I chose Atmos Energy.  I don’t know what the others are like since I have only used one of the available choices in the past, but I believe Atmos is a strong candidate for worst company in existence.

Rather than call to establish service as I had done with Suddenlink, I applied for gas service on-line.  I should have known then it might be a rocky road as it took them 3 days to process the order.

But process it they did.  They sent me an email confirming my instillation date as Friday, Jan 23rd.  They said a technician would call prior to going to the house-and that a $23.50 hook-up charge would be added to my first bill.

Since I didn’t want the installation charge added to the bill, I called Atmos to pay the fee with a credit card.  Of course, when I called I had to wade through the automatic receptionist and was then put on hold for the next available customer service rep.  Within 60 seconds I was connected with a representative who gladly took my payment and then very courteously asked if I’d like to be put on the automatic payment plan.  When I told her ‘no’ she thanked me for my payment and reminded me that the technician would be calling on Friday prior to coming to the house.

Friday afternoon at around 3, my wife called me and asked if I’d heard from the gas company.  Not a good sign.  I immediately called Atmos’ customer service and was given a number of options by the automated system.  I chose to speak with a customer service rep regarding a scheduled instillation.  I was put on hold-for an hour and fifteen minutes.  While on hold I heard a continuous loop of messages from Atmos.  Four rotating messages played over and over-one on tips to reduce heating costs and three on the easiest way to make payments-the Atmos automatic payment plan.  They didn’t seem too interested in helping their customers, but seemed very interested in getting paid.

When I finally had the opportunity to speak to a customer service rep, I was told that the technician had called and no one answered, he then went by the house, no one was home, and he left a tag on the door stating he had been by.  I responded that I had my cell phone with me all day and had not received a phone call from Atmos and that Debbie had been at the house all day and although the electric and cable companies had come by, no one from Atmos had been by.  The customer service rep told me that the technician had noted that he had been by the house at 10:33 and had left a note and that both Debbie and I were either mistaken or misrepresenting what happened.

I asked to speak to a supervisor.

Upon explaining the situation to the supervisor, he told me that I had to be mistaken because the technician had noted in his log that he had been by the house at 12:30 and left a tag informing us that he had been by and could not turn on the gas because no one was home.

When I asked what had happened to the notation in his log that he had been by at 10:33, not 12:30, the supervisor simply said that he had been by and we had missed our appointment, but that he would personally arrange to have someone there the next day, Saturday, to turn on the gas and since the house was empty to just leave the door unlocked and the technician would take care of everything without having to have one of us at the house.

Saturday came and went.  Atmos Energy didn’t.

I called the Atmos customer service department Sunday morning.  It must have been a slow day as I only had to wait on hold for about 40 minutes.  The customer service rep informed me that no one had been by the house the day before, but we were scheduled to be hooked up Monday morning and someone had to be at the house since it was now occupied.

Monday, 11:40 PM.  I call Atmos customer service once again to find out where the technician was.  For almost an hour and half I listen to the loop of four Atmos messages-the one about how to save on heating bills and three telling me that I need to sign up for their automatic payment plan.

While on hold I receive a phone call from the Atmos technician asking if I am supposed to have my gas turned on.  When I answer ‘yes,’ he tells me he’s about 10 minutes away from the house and if no one is home he’ll have to leave and I’ll not get service turned on that day.  Fortunately, I’m at the house.  He shows up about four minutes later.  He turns on the gas, checks the water heater and furnace and is gone in less than 10 minutes.

In four days I’ve spent almost three hours on hold for an Atmos customer service rep, have been told that I either don’t know what I’m talking about or am a liar, and have been advised maybe 150 to 200 times to sign up for their automatic payment plan.  But I have found out that if I’m calling to make a payment I can reach a human willing to take my money in less than a minute.

I’ve had Atmos Energy as my gas provider for less than 24 hours.  I’m looking for a new provider.

One move.  Two very different experiences with service providers.  One I’ll let everyone who asks know how great they are.  They other I’ll let everyone I know know how lousy they are.

Both have limited competition.  One is a necessity, the other a ‘necessary’ luxury.  One company is growing due to its great service; the other is growing as their website indicates, because they are buying other natural gas providers and assets.

One earns their success, the other buys their success.

If, like Suddenlink, you don’t have the resources to buy your way to success, you’ll have to take the Suddenlink route and earn it by providing exceptional service.  And since, like Suddenlink’s, most of your competitors are probably little better than Atmos Energy at customer service, you’ll quickly stand out from the crowd.

January 23, 2009

It’s Not Your Client’s Responsibility to do Your Job

Filed under: business,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 12:38 pm
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Most salespeople want referrals.  Almost all sales trainers preach the need to generate ‘em, usually by saying something like, “all of my clients give me four or five great referrals to their friends and family, while I’m filling out the paperwork, just write down the names and phone numbers of four or five people who might need my services,” or, “by the way, do you know of anyone else who might need my service?”

Most salespeople learn very quickly that these approaches don’t work well.  Sure, a salesperson might get an occasional name and phone number, but usually they aren’t much better than taking out the phonebook and pointing at names at random.

There are several reasons these approaches don’t really work such as not defining for the client what a good referral is, not giving the client time to get comfortable with the idea of giving referrals, and not giving the client a reason why they should give referrals.  In order to get a large number of high quality referrals, you must address and overcome each of these issues. 

But one of the major reasons clients don’t give lots of quality referrals is that they don’t know whom to refer.  They just don’t know enough about your business to give you really good referrals.  They really don’t know what you’re looking for-even after you define whom a quality referral is.  Besides, they have enough to think about, they don’t need to be doing your job for you.  It isn’t their responsibility-it’s yours.

Does that mean you can’t get great referrals?

No, not at all.

It does mean, however, that you can’t rely on your client doing your job. 

So, how do you get referrals from clients without them having to do the work?  Simple.  You do some investigation to figure out whom your client knows that you know you want to be referred to. 

OK, it isn’t simple.  It takes work on your part-detective work.  But it’s your business, not theirs.  You have to take responsibility for building your business, not pass it off to your clients.

Being a referral detective means you have to listen to your client.  You have to ask the right questions.  You have to observe his or her surroundings.  You have to be alert to discover who you have reason to believe they know that you know would be a good prospect for you.

Most often you’ll uncover referral opportunities through casual conversations with your client and observing their office or home surroundings. 

A few examples:

  • If you’re speaking with the VP of Finance for XYZ Company, during your rapport building, casually asking them whom they worked for prior to joining XYZ will reveal a potential referral. 
  • If your client is purchasing a car, asking who’s next in their family to purchase a vehicle may reveal a referral
  • If your client has a plaque from the local chamber of commerce for his work as one of last year’s directors, whom in the chamber do you know you’d like to be referred to?
  • If your client is a purchasing agent for ABC Company, what companies do they purchase from that you’d like to be referred to? 

Instead of asking your client a general question that he or she may easily answer in the  negative, ask your client if they would refer you to the person or company you’ve uncovered from your detective work.  If you’ve done a great job and you’ve uncovered someone they know, they will refer you.

Then, take it one step further.  Instead of just getting a name and phone number, get a real referral-a direct introduction to the referred prospect.

Yes, this isn’t as easy as asking the typical ‘referral’ question; but are you looking to build your business or just slide through doing as little as possible? If you’re serious about building your business, take responsibility for its success and do the work for your client.  You’ll get a lot more referrals-and a lot better referrals-for your effort.

January 22, 2009

Guest Article: “5 Leadership Actions to Kick Start a New Year,” by Kevin Eikenberry

Filed under: business,Leadership,management,Sales Management,small business — Paul McCord @ 6:45 am
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5 Leadership Actions to Kick Start a New Year
by Kevin Eikenberry

The beginning of the year is a typical time to read these types of suggestions. In many ways we ascribe a special significance to the beginning of the year as a time to proactively do things to improve our future. These actions are just as relevant whenever you may be reading (or re-reading) this – at any time of the year.

As leaders we know that being proactive is one of our most important attributes – for without a bias to act, we won’t be leading anyone anywhere.

The five actions suggested below can set a proactive tone for you and your whole team or organization. In fact, they apply equally well for anyone, leader or not, regardless of role. When you take these actions you will gain a new perspective, a new focus, and will move forward more resolutely and with greater energy.

The Five Actions

  • Call ten Customers. Now is the perfect time to call ten Customers and thank them for their business! This is NOT a sales call. It is a call to connect, thank people for the opportunity to serve them and to ask them for feedback. While this should be a regular task on your leadership list, now is a perfect time to pick up the phone, say thank you and ask for input. If you’re an internal leader and don’t deal with external Customers, this advice remains the same. Talk to those people you and your team support to thank them and ask for feedback. No matter who your Customers are you will gain credibility, learn a lot and perhaps set the stage for the next action.
  • Pick a relationship to improve. As a leader you have many relationships to manage. You have relationships with Customers, suppliers, your team, your peers and your boss(es). You have relationships across your network, and among your friends and family as well. Pick one. Pick one you feel needs some strengthening, or you believe needs some attention, or one you just want to improve for any other reason. Pick one and make it your goal to do whatever you can to improve that relationship in the coming days, weeks and months. Even if the relationship is outside of work, you will gain benefits as a leader from these efforts. There is no better time to pick one than right now.
  • Find a focus. You might think of this as a theme. Look at the months to come, the challenges you will face, the opportunities you see and the current state of your team and create a singular focused theme for the year. Share this with your team (or have them help you craft the wording from your initial ideas). Then use that theme to focus and unify the team in the days and weeks ahead. Use it as a guidepost to help you prioritize and maintain a proactive focus.
  • Set goals with your team. If you have an intact team or organizational goal setting process, these goals may already be set. If so, review them collaboratively in light of your theme. If not, use your theme as one input in creating the goals for the team as a whole and individuals in particular. As leaders we must role model goal setting and goal achievement behaviors, and there is absolutely no time like the present to do just that.
  • Decide what you need to learn. Each of the previous four actions will be inputs into this decision, but may not create a complete picture. As a leader who wants to improve and grow to help others create better results, you must be on a path of learning. More specifically, you must be intentional about your learning path. Investing the time to determine what you need and/or want to learn is an important step. Once you have taken this important step of deciding, then you can build a plan to help you achieve those learning objectives.

You’ve read the list. My suggestion is to do all of them. Even if you aren’t sold on or see yourself doing all five, before you leave this article and move onto your next task, commit to doing at least one of them. Of course the more of them you do, the greater edge you will gain. But, one is better than none, and becoming a Remarkable Leader requires that you move forward proactively doing things to help you learn, grow and stretch.

All five of these actions will do that for you. Happy New Year! It’s time to get started.

Potential Pointer: The actions suggested in this article are valuable anytime of the year. If you are reading this the 5th of January, the 5th of April or the 5th of September the value is the same. Take the time to take these actions and you will, in effect, create the start of a New Year! And all will help you become a more informed, confident and effective leader.

Kevin Eikenberry is a two-time best selling author, speaker, consultant, trainer, coach, leader, learner, husband and father (not necessarily in that order).  Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that has been helping organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential since 1993. Emphasizing the power of learning, Kevin’s specialties include leadership, teams and teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, training trainers and more.

January 20, 2009

A Pep Rally Isn’t Sales Training

Filed under: motivation,sales,Sales Management,sales training,selling — Paul McCord @ 5:30 pm
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Last fall I was invited by a potential client to attend one of their company’s training seminars.  The session was presented by a well-known name in the industry who spent two hours with the company’s top salespeople.  The session’s topic was generating business in a weak economy.

It was expensive for the company-this gentleman didn’t come cheaply.

It was expensive for the salespeople-it took them out of the field for three days.

After the presentation, my host was pumped.  His evaluation of the presentation was that it had gone better than he had hoped.  He had a trainer everyone recognized and admired.  His sales team was excited and ready to hit the streets.  His team members knew what to do and sales were going to pick up-they were going to go through the roof.

Three months later, his analysis is that the session was a massive waste of money.

Why did his program turn out to be such a disappointment?

Focus.  More accurately, focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time.

My host had confused a motivational presentation with sales training.  He bought a short-term shot in the arm instead of long-term behavior change.  He paid for an emotional high instead of new tools and new techniques. 

The session he paid for was full of fun and laughter.  His sales team was captivated during the entire two and a half hours.  The presenter had wonderful, memorable stories and a boatload of well-turned phrases.  The audience loved it-and they were pumped, ready to hit the streets.

It was great entertainment and motivation.  But it wasn’t training.  Rather than sales training, it was a pep rally with stories of how salespeople successfully-and some unsuccessfully-used a few prospecting strategies.  There was no training on the how, just entertaining examples of the why.  It was sales vaudeville. 

Certainly, there is a place for this type of presentation in sales.  When a company is seeking serious, in-depth training isn’t the time. 

I’m not saying that a training seminar cannot be fun or have humor.  I’m not arguing that a training seminar should be devoid of a motivational aspect. 

However, there is a distinct difference between a training seminar or workshop and a motivational presentation.  And although both have their place, they are not interchangeable. 

I got a call last week from the host of last fall’s seminar. His company is launching a new product in a few weeks.  He’s now looking for a solid, well-defined sales training program to precede the launch.

Again, his timing is way off.

Last fall when he brought in the motivational speaker, he needed a sales trainer.  Now, with the launch of his new product, he really needs a motivational speaker-the pep rally-to get his team excited and pumped up to hit the streets with their new product.  Now’s the time for the short-term burst of energy that speaker would provide.

Timing is just as important with sales training and motivation as with any other aspect of business.  Which you employ depends on your goals.  In this company’s case, the goal is to whip up the troops and get the new product off the ground quickly.  The initial success of the program is the focus, not long-term sales skills.  Last fall, the focus was on creating long-term sales success.  Unfortunately, they misidentified the right product last fall, and almost did the same this time.

Don’t hire your speaker or trainer unless you have a very clear vision of what you want to achieve and what they can provide-it can be a very costly mistake.

January 19, 2009

Guest Article: “Identify and Overcome the Four Curses of Sales Success!” by Dave Anderson

Filed under: attitude,sales,selling,success — Paul McCord @ 3:21 pm
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Identify and Overcome the Four Curses of Sales Success!
By Dave Anderson

There are certainly more than four curses of success but these four are perhaps the most devastating. Up until this point you can claim to be unaware of these curses and plead ignorance as a reason for falling prey to one or more of them. But once you are aware of them any future deviation cannot be blamed on ignorance. Instead, you must consider your failure as a confession of stupidity!

1. Abandoning the basics.
Thinking you’ve outgrown the basics or that they somehow don’t apply to you anymore is a surefire way to turn your up times into a sudden descent.

2. Getting cocky.
Cockiness is one of the most reprehensible and alienating traits of successful people. You become cocky when you feel superior to those you work with and look down on them; when you gloat and brag about your success; when your pride blocks your growth and causes you to go into denial when someone suggests a way you could improve. When you’re ready to “write it down; build the manual and document the formula” people will secretly anticipate and cheer your fall. And normally, they won’t have to wait too long.

3. A diminished work ethic.
The Law of Laziness declares that, “As prosperity rises the work ethic diminishes.” Keep in mind that the price you must pay for continued success is never paid in full. It is a lifelong installment plan and once you default, your decline is not far behind.

4. Becoming selfish.
Successful people often catch the “Disease of Me” and start to think that the sales department should revolve around their own ego-driven universe. In their selfishness, they turn increasingly inward rather than stepping up and fulfilling the vital role of a sales leader, which is turn more outward and add more value to the people around you.

Three Tips to Overcome the Four Curses

1. Compete against yourself more than with others.
The truest measure of your success is not whether or not you’re better than everyone else, but if you are better than YOU used to be! You can be better than everyone else and still be WORSE than you used to be, which is no reason to beat your chest in pride!

Remember: Your objective is not to become successful and then let your pat on the back turn into a massage. Rather, your objective should be to strive to reach your maximum potential. As long as you continue to grow, you will never reach your maximum potential. It is an endless journey. But it’s the journey that keeps you moving; stretching; learning; hungry and humble.

2. Don’t financially overreact to the good times.
When you’re making good money, pay yourself first and save a few bucks. Don’t fall into the trap that tells you that you’ll never see another poor day. Overextending yourself during the good times can create an inner stress that distracts you and your fear of loss can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, sending you into a downward spiral.

3. Maintain an attitude of gratitude.
The secret of “never being satisfied” is to always be grateful for what you have while you strive for what you want. It is not an excuse to dismiss or disregard your current blessings. (Remember: the more you’re grateful for, the more you’ll have to be grateful for. But when you’re ungrateful for what you have, you’ll soon have even less to be grateful for.)

Peak performance author, columnist, trainer, speaker and radio show host for sales, management and leadership, Dave Anderson walks the talk as a leader. He has led some of the most successful retail automotive dealership in the country-the most recent dealer group he led had over $300,000,000 in annual sales-and now gives 150 presentations, workshops and speeches annually on sales and leadership development around the globe.  Dave is author of over 50 training programs on sales, management and leadership including the books, Selling Above The Crowd: 365 Strategies For Sales Excellence and No Nonsense Leadership: Real World Strategies To Maximize Personal & Corporate Potential.   He is president of Learn to Lead

January 16, 2009

Sales Blogger Union Issues First E-Book

Filed under: career development,sales,sales training,selling — Paul McCord @ 9:41 am
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ebook_downloadThe Sales Bloggers Union is a group of 9 sales trainers from various backgrounds and industries that each gives their perspective on a sales related topic once every two weeks.

Although I don’t know all the members, most such as Ian Brodie, Karl Goldfield, Nesh Thompson, Brad Trnavsky, Skip Anderson, and Tibor Shanto I know well, and based on my knowledge of them, I’m confident you’ll find all members to be knowledgeable and their contributions to be thoughtful and provocative.  They address topics from cold calling to closing to selling on the internet.

This group has just released their first e-book:  How to Sell More by Reducing Risk-and it’s free for the taking.  I’d suggest you head over and download your copy now.

 

 

January 15, 2009

Track the Wrong Numbers–Get the Wrong Actions

Filed under: crm,management,sales,Sales Management,selling — Paul McCord @ 2:23 pm
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Do you track your prospecting and sales numbers?  Whether your company has an automated tracking program or you do it by hand, you must have a tracking system that will help guide you in how you spend your time, energy, and marketing/prospecting investment.

However, knowing you should be tracking numbers doesn’t answer the question of what numbers you should be tracking.  The numbers you decide to track will have a direct influence on the activities you engage in.  Track the wrong numbers and you’ll very likely concentrate on the wrong activities.

For example, one company has set up their tracking system to track the number of contacts with prospects each of their salespeople have.  Every day, each salesperson must complete a form that indicates how many contacts they had that day, where the contact came from, and how many sales they made.  Although the form lists a number of ways the salesperson may have contacted prospects-phone, internet, in person, etc., it makes no distinction between a new prospect and an existing prospect.  Rather than identifying new prospect contacts and follow-up with existing prospects, the company’s system only identifies the number of contacts.  Each salesperson has a daily contact quota.  At the end of the month each salesperson’s sales to contact ratio is calculated and rewards-or corrective action-are based on that ratio.

The problems associated with this system should be obvious:

  • The system treats each contact as a separate and unique sales opportunity, so the system doesn’t give the salesperson or management an accurate picture of the number of true potential sales the salesperson had during the month
  • The system encourages contacts, but not a particular type of contact, so neither the salesperson nor management have an idea of whether prospects are being followed-up or new prospects being contacted
  • The system lends itself to easy manipulation by salespeople
  • Management has no idea where their sales force is spending its time and energy or what the real sales cycle for their products and services are
  • It creates resentment on the part of salespeople who believe their ratios are being kept artificially low since if they had 15 sales opportunities during the month and closed 10–a 66% closing ratio, but it required 60 contacts to make the 10 sales, the system calculates a 17% percent closing ratio (10 sales divided by 60 contacts).

This company has the right concept-track numbers; they just have the wrong format.  In actuality, they haven’t thought through the why and what of tracking numbers.  Their object was to keep their tracking simple, which they did; but even simple tracking must be well thought-out since what is tracked determines which activities are engaged in.  This company tracks contacts, which encourages their salespeople to make contacts.  But since the system doesn’t care what type contact is made, the salespeople don’t care either, and consequently they go after the easiest contacts to make-follow-up contacts whenever possible.  In addition, since their ratios are based on sales vs. contacts, not sales vs. unique sales opportunities, the system encourages salespeople to make the minimum number of acceptable contacts.

Whether you are looking to track your personal numbers or those of your sales team members, before settling on what numbers to track, think through what activities those numbers will encourage.  If the numbers you are thinking of tracking don’t encourage the right activities, they’re not the right numbers to be tracking.

January 14, 2009

Guest Article: “Stop Sounding Like a Self-Serving Salesperson,” by Jill Konrath

Filed under: cold calling,prospecting,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 7:22 am
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Stop Sounding Like a Self-Serving Salesperson
By Jill Konrath

After several months of leaving a series of voicemail messages for a prospective customer, she finally picks up the phone. “Marie Trent speaking,” she says in a flat tone.

Startled by the human voice on the other end of the phone, the message you spent hours crafting disappears instantaneously from your memory bank. Instead, you blurt out:

“Hi. My name is __ and I’m the sales rep for Generic Industries. You’ve probably heard of us. We’re the fastest-growing firm in the market right now and we have locations in 13 different cities. The reason I’m calling today is I’d like to get together with you to explore your needs and show you …”

“Excuse me,” she interrupts. “We’re already working with another company.”

“Which one?” you ask, fingers crossed.

“Newco. And we’re quite happy with them.”

“What do you like about them?”

“They take good care of us, they know our firm and their pricing is great.”

“Would you be open to considering other options? I’d be glad to show you what we could do for your company.”

“Not at this time,” she answers curtly.

“When should I call you back then,” you ask politely.

“Why don’t you try calling in six months.”

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time you took with me today. I’ll get back to you then,” you say, smiling inside because you “KNOW” it’s only a matter of time before get lots of business from this firm.

~ ~ ~

What’s wrong with scenario? Actually, just about everything. If you were the seller, I’d tell you that:

  • You suffer from a bad case of delusional thinking. The buyer brushed you off, plain and simple.
  • You interrupted someone’s business day with no thought as to what they were doing when they picked up the phone.
  • You lacked a peer-to-peer approach. Intelligent buyers immediately sense you’re a lightweight when you’re so eager to settle for a ‘fictional” appointment six months from now.
  • You solidified your prospect’s positive feelings about the competition by the questions you asked.
  • You were entirely focused on “what’s in it for you” – not the value your prospect gets from your using your product or service.

Certainly that wasn’t your intention. You were trying to be nice, conversational and perhaps even avoid sounding like a typical salesperson. Unfortunately, that’s not how you came across. You sounded pretty self-serving.

Tips For Getting High Quality Appointments

1. If you’re sick and tired of getting yourself caught in situations like this, use these tips to help you change the game. Plan out multiple contacts before you even pick up the phone.

  • Develop multiple scripts highlighting various aspects of your value proposition.
  • Then, write out various emails you can send depending on your prospect’s business situation.
  • Finally, develop a campaign you can roll out over time.

2. Make sure your message focuses on your value proposition. Ensure each contact states the clear business value that clients receive from working with your firm.

  • “We work with clients to significantly reduce time-to-market on new product introductions.”
  • “One of our customers saved over $1/3 million in just the past year by eliminating the redundancies in their system.”

3. Treat the person you contact like a human being, not a prospect. In calling a friend, you’d:

  • Automatically ask if you were interrupting: “Is it a bad time?”
  • Notice if they sounded distracted and address it head on: “Hey, if you’re swamped right now, I don’t want to interrupt. I’d rather catch you when you have a few minutes to talk.”
  • Immediately suggest a future contact, initiated by you: “When is a good time to call you back?”

4. Prepare for the common obstacles prior to the call – and eliminate them if at all possible.

  • “We already use ___.” You respond: “Well I assume a company of your size would be working with another firm. (pause) AND that’s why we need to meet … “
  • “We’re really busy right now. We couldn’t possibly take time to look at options.” You respond: “You and I know that six months from now your workload isn’t going to be any lighter. AND that’s exactly why we need to get together …
  • “Your prices are too high.” You respond: “Yes our prices are higher than others on the market. AND that’s exactly why we need to meet …”

Please note that the second sentence starts with AND, not BUT! Because ‘and’ doesn’t negate your prospect’s perspective, they’re interested in learning more.

Then, reel off 2-3 valid business reasons that this prospect should get together with you. They need to flow out of your mouth without hesitation, so prepare them ahead of time. These are true statements, not slippery manipulations, so make sure you state them with quiet confidence.

If you (or others in your company) can’t come up with any reasons, then you’d better take a serious look at the sustainability of your business model. Just because “you want their money” is just not a good enough reason for them to meet with you!

Recently I interviewed Amy, the “Vice President of First Impressions” for a small technology firm. Using the phone and email, she arranges meetings between her company’s sales reps and Chief Technology Officers from Fortune 1000 firms.

In less than 8 months, she’s set up appointments with over 50 of these big companies. She’s a real telesales professional. If you heard her conversations with prospects, you’d think they were her long-time friends.

Amy focuses on business, treats these C-level executives as equals and enjoys her conversations with them. But, she also has at least 4 voicemail messages and 3 emails at her fingertips, ready to use as needed.

In addition to the above strategies, Amy recommends that you:

5. Piggyback off competitors, if at all possible. When you’re trying to get into an account, don’t immediately try to displace long-standing incumbents. Instead, position your offering as one the co-exists alongside their current supplier or even enhances it.

6. Keep “tweaking” your “message” till you get it right. In her first three months on the job, Amy didn’t set up one single appointment. Yes, she was extremely discouraged. AND, she kept trying new approaches till she found ways that worked.

7. Be yourself! Laugh with your prospects, enjoy them – and let them know you’ll be coming back.

SUMMARY

Sounding like a sleazy, well-oiled seller will not get you an appointment in today’s market. Think of your phone calls as business-to-business conversations with peers. That may be a hard mind shift to make, but it’s where you need to be. If your business acumen is lacking, start reading up on the subject so you can become conversant.

And, most importantly keep working at it! Try focusing on different aspects of your value proposition. Try reframing what you say. Change a word or two, if need be. But don’t keep doing the same thing, again and again. That’s insanity.

Jill Konrath, a leading-edge sales strategist and business advisor, is a popular speaker at annual sales meetings and association events. She helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, speed up their sales cycle and win big contracts. She’s the author of, Selling to Big Companies, an Amazon Top 25 sales book for 3 years running. Most recently, Fortune magazine selected it as one of eight “must read” sales books, along with classics such as How to Win Friends & Influence People and Getting to Yes. Visit her website at www.sellingtobigcompanies.com

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