Stop Selling By the Seat of Your Pants

Posted by Commence on February 21, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

Ever wonder why some sales people are extremely effective while others fail?  There are a bunch of reasons, but those that are not effective need to assume responsibility for their failure.  Selling is part game and part science and you need to understand that prospects are masters at attaining information from you, misleading you about their requirements and how the process will play out.   Sound familiar?  How many times has the person who claimed to be the decision maker turn out not to be the decision maker?  Sound familiar?

Having a structured approach to selling is your best defense against a crafty prospect.  Keep in mind that the prospect has a structured approach. They are trying to get as much information from you without making any commitment of any kind to the next steps in the process. Sales people have been trained to be subordinate to the prospect so that you don’t upset them.  So you play their game providing as much information as you can and often getting nothing in return.  This has to stop in order for you to be successful.

Many companies today are turning to online CRM software solutions to help implement a structured approach to selling.  It’s certainly not mandatory to have a CRM system, but it can and does help.  One of the ways CRM software can assist with this process is by guiding the sales staff through a process via a series of questions that need to be answered before wasting valuable time on a poorly qualified opportunity.  Those questions include such things as: is there a critical need for the product or service you are selling, are the decision makers known and engaged in the process, is there an approved budget for the acquisition and is there a definitive time frame for a decision?   In order for the sales process to be successful there must be a “Win –Win” relationship with the prospect. By this I mean that for every bit of information you provide you need to get something in return.   If you don’t you will continue to play to the hand of the prospect and find yourself frustrated that the prospect does not answer the phone, won’t return messages and has left you with no sale and no commission.  A CRM system can provide a good way to automate the sales process so that it’s the same for each and every new sales opportunity.

Image “give a little GET A LOT…” by silkeybeto on Flickr, available under Creative Commons license

Sales Best Practice #1 – Has a strict code of ethics that governs his/her behavior on the job

Posted by Commence on February 17, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

A Best Practice for sales people by guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator.

By Dave Kahle

Situations in which you must deal with a lot of people always bring with them a great deal of temptation to take unethical short cuts.

Situations in which you deal with a lot of money always bring with them a great deal of temptation to take unethical short cuts.

And situations in which you spend most of your day unsupervised always bring with them a great deal of temptation to take unethical short cuts.

Put all three of those together and you have the daily working environment for a salesperson.  Every day, there is, in some way, an opportunity to take an ethical shortcut.  The list of possibilities is endless – everything from exaggerating a product’s features, promising impossible delivery, speaking badly about the competition or your colleagues, selling free samples, fudging your expenses,  running personal errands on company time, etc.

That’s why a strict code of ethics is such an important attribute of a professional salesperson.  Without it, the temptation to take unethical short cuts can become unbearable.  And, just one ethical short cut can ruin a relationship with a customer and derail a salesperson’s career.

A strict code of ethics is just what it says it is.  Strict, unimpeachable, non-negotiable, black and white decisions, made before the actual event, about what you will and will not do.

The best salespeople have a well-thought out system of right and wrong, and are secure in their commitment to it.  They take the time, in a calm, non-stressful time, to think deeply through their guidelines for their behavior.  They make decisions about what they will and will not do.  Some even commit that to paper.

Then, when they are in the midst of a sales call and are faced with the need to make an immediate decision, they have no qualms about it.  They have already made the decision.

Here’s an example.  Let’s say that one of the ethical guidelines you created for yourself is this:  I will never speak badly about the competition.

Now, you are having lunch with one of your customers, and he casually mentions one of your competitors, and remarks, “The guy is a real know-it-all.”  If you hadn’t thought it out and decided, well beforehand, that you were not going to speak badly about the competition, you may have said, “Yeah, he is a jerk.”

But, since you did make the decision, you keep quiet and don’t comment at all.  The conversation moves on.

Your code of ethics prevented an impulsive action that may have made you look bad.

A strict code of ethics makes decisions easier, reduces stress, and builds a reputation of trust from both the customers, as well as the salesperson’s management.

That’s why it is a best practice of the best salespeople.

To learn more about this best practice: Read Chapter 16 of How to Excel at Distributor Sales, Chapter 7 of Take Your Sales Performance Up-a- Notch, Chapter 3 of Insights & Answers, or Chapter 2 of Ten Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center™, consider Pod-34: Ethics for the Professional Salesperson, and Nuggets N-19: Ethics; N-96: Integrity; and N-215: Ethics for sales people.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle
All Rights Reserved.

Image “Creating the high-trust organization” by opensourceway on Flickr, available under Creative Commons license.

Sales Best Practices: Think a Lot

Posted by Commence on February 10, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

Thinking about Sales…

By Dave Kahle
It’s a difficult year for a lot of sales people.  The world is changing rapidly, and every new headline contains information that seems to impact business in a significant way.  The competition is more active, customers are more discriminating, and nobody has enough time.

There was a time, just a few years ago, when it was easier.  You could work hard for awhile, and then you could relax and enjoy the fruits of your labors.  You would reach a point where life became easy, your customers were buying from you consistently, and you had your job figured out.

That’s no longer the case.  Pressures are growing on your company to reduce their costs and become more productive.  The bottom line is this: You, personally, must become far more productive than you’ve ever been expected to be in the past.  Today’s performance, no matter how good, will not be sufficient tomorrow.

Easier said than done.  How do you go about dramatically increasing your results?  My suggestion:  THINK A LOT.

I’m not suggesting that you spend your time daydreaming.  Nor am I encouraging you to ponder the meaning of the universe, do a crossword puzzle or memorize the birth dates of all your relatives.  All of those exercises would represent ways to think a lot, but they are not the kind of thinking I’m advocating.

Rather, I’m encouraging you to invest your greatest single resource, your mind, in focusing your mental energy on specific portions of your job.  That means thinking about certain things, thinking in certain ways, and doing a lot of it.

It’s easy to do your job by mindlessly going through the motions.  You see the customers with whom you are comfortable, quote the products they ask you about, grumble about the paperwork, and complain about price competition.

That’s easy.  Unfortunately, it’s also a prescription for eventual failure.  The world is changing too rapidly today to do your job “mindlessly.”  Your customers are changing, products and vendors are changing and adapting, and new competitors and technologies are springing up.  If you go through your job mindlessly, you’ll soon be outdated and ineffectual.

So on one hand, you have the need to improve your productivity to keep up with the pressures on your company, and on the other hand, you have the temptation to get into a rut, and go about your job “mindlessly.”

The most effective strategy to battle these double temptations is to “Think A Lot”.  What should you think about?  Here are three of the most important things.

1.  Think about your customers.

Ask yourself a series of questions about your customers.  As you develop the answers, write them down in your account folders, and repeat the process a few months later.  Here are some questions to get you thinking:

*  What’s changing for this customer?

*  What do they want to accomplish this year?

*  What can I do to help them meet their goals?

*  What is the competition doing in this account?

*  What progress have I made this past few months?

*  What can I do now to increase my sales in this account?

Thinking about these questions keeps you constantly close to the changing conditions in your accounts, keeps you insulated from the tendency to get “mindless,” and provides you with a method to uncover lucrative sales opportunities within each account.

2.  Think about each sales call.

Your face-to-face contact with your customer is the one part of your job that sets you apart from everyone else in your company.  It is that aspect of what you do by which you bring value to your company.

If you honestly think about it, you’ll probably observe that everything else you do can be done by other people in your company.  Someone else can accept orders, train end users, check on back-orders, etc.  The only thing you do that no one else in your company does is call on your customers face-to-face.  So, your eyeball-to-eyeball interactions with your customers are probably the most important part of your job.

Yet, most observers estimate that the average sales person spends only about 25% of his time face-to-face with his customers.

Put those two facts together, and you have the sobering conclusion that you spend very little of your time doing the thing that is the most important aspect of your job.

That being the case, doesn’t it stand to reason that you ought to invest some time and energy planning for those rare moments when you’re face-to-face with your customers?  Ask yourself these questions, and think about the answers, before every sales call:

*  What do I want to accomplish?

*  What forces are working on my customer that may influence his behavior today?

*  What value am I bringing him today?

*  Exactly what am I going to ask, say, or communicate?

*  What can I do to understand him better?

*  What can I do to deepen the relationship?

Going through this disciplined approach to “thinking about your sales calls” will be the single most effective thing you can do to improve your productivity.

3.  Think about continuously improving yourself.

First, commit yourself to the challenge of continuous improvement.  Be discontent with the level of proficiency you have obtained.  Be discontent with your results.  Think about everything you do and examine ways to improve and wring more value out of it.

Challenge and question everything you do.  Is this the best way to write up a quote?  Should you be visiting this account, or would the other one hold more potential?  Should you really be spending your time promoting this product, or is another one more important?  Should you really be lunching with this customer or should you invest that time in another?  Is this the best way to file your old quotes, keep track of customer contacts, and file product literature?

Got the idea?  Never rest.  Be discontent with every aspect of your job in order to provide the stimulation to improve on it.  Question everything. Think a lot.

It will be your key to continuous, life-long improvement.

By the way, you’ll find this kind of insight into dozens of sales issues in our Sales Resource Center. It houses 435 training programs to help every one live more successfully and sell better.  All delivered over the internet, 24/7, for one low monthly fee.

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine. A great source of specific tools to help you close is Dave’s book, Question Your Way to Sales Success. Check it out here.

Copyright MMXII by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

Sales: Question and Answer #7

Posted by Commence on January 24, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

This is a Question and Answer article for sales people from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

Q. Dave, I am finding it difficult to manage my personal finances.  As a commissioned sales person, my income varies from month to month.  It seems like I’m always struggling with finances.  Do you have suggestions for me?

A. Congratulations for having the courage to ask that question.  Do I have suggestions?  Yep, a bunch of them.

First, a little perspective, so you know where I’m coming from.  For almost my entire adult life, I have been a commissioned sales person whose income varied from month to month.  Even now, my income varies monthly.  So, I can certainly understand your situation on the income side.  On the expense side, there have been times when I had obligations that, at times, seemed overwhelming.  My wife was a full time homemaker, we raised a family of five children, and for many of those years I also had child support payments.  Those were heavy financial responsibilities.

In all of this, I have learned some things about managing personal finances.  Here are some of the lessons I have learned along the way.

Avoid debt

First, as much as possible, avoid debt.  Debt adds tremendously to your stress.  You know that you must make those payments or you are going to have lots of unpleasant consequences.  That may be constantly on your mind, contributing to sleepless nights and rising blood pressure.

Debt reduces your options.  If you have monthly payments, for example, they must be paid even if you have a bad month or two.  Without those payments, you can generally find a way to ride out low income months by temporarily reducing your standard of living.  You can eat in every day, for example, instead of buying pizza or going out.  Without monthly payments, you can even survive a few months of no income at all.

Interest you pay eventually reduces your standard of living, because your interest payments are expenses that bring you no value.  So, be careful about putting anything on that charge card.  And if you do, try to pay it off each month.  Deciding to make just minimum payments is one of the most expensive decisions you’ll ever make.

Also, be careful about any long term commitments.  Instead of a three year lease on a new car, think about buying used and paying it off in two.  Instead of a two year lease on that apartment, try 12 months.

You may not ever be able to be totally debt free.  However, you can make decisions which, over time, will significantly reduce your amount of debt, easing the pressure on you and allowing you more options.

Develop a monthly budget

Second, develop a monthly budget for reasonable living.  In good months, don’t spend the excess, put anything you make above that amount into a savings account.  In bad months or years, tap into that savings account to meet your budget.  At the end of the year, use some of the excess that you’ve build up to make those big purchases that you were tempted to put on a charge card during the year.

For example, say that you set up a budget of $4,000 a month.  In January, you take home $4,400.  Of that, $400 goes into the savings account, and you live on $4,000.  In February, you take home $4,500.  You repeat the discipline, putting $500 away.  In March, you take home $3,500.  You take $500 out of the savings for your day-to-day expenses.  When you’ve built up a comfortable surplus, buy those big things that you’d like to have.

This is one of the best things that I ever did.  Even to this day, my wife and I operate on a budget.  Here’s an example.  We have a certain amount of money dedicated each month to “entertainment.”  We use this for meals out, concerts, etc.  When the money’s gone, we’re done. If we want to go out to eat, but don’t have any money in the entertainment budget, we don’t go.  It’s called deferred gratification, and it’s the secret of surviving financially in a turbulent environment.

A number of years ago, I was involved with a group that had an excellent budgeting system, and taught it in small groups that met in homes.  If you are interested, check out Crown Ministries.

Increase your giving

Finally, one last thought.  This will sound counter-intuitive, but I have followed this rule for all of my adult life, and have found it to be extremely powerful.  That rule is this:  In times of economic uncertainty, increase your giving.

There is something about giving that helps you put your situation into perspective.  It focuses you on people around you who need help in ways that you don’t.  It gives your family a broader perspective, injects new purpose into your life, and encourages everyone to be less self-centered.

Realize that I’m coming at this from a Christian perspective.  There is a promise in the Bible that says we cannot out-give God.  When we give of our time and talents, God will respond by returning to us much more than what we have given.  I have found that promise to be as bankable as my paycheck.

You may not share my perspective.  Regardless, just from a purely pragmatic point of view, there are still some very practical reasons to increase your giving.  When you get involved in some volunteer organization, you mix with a different group of people than that with which you are accustomed.  New people, new situations, new issues are all invigorating for sales people.  Also, you’ll find, through your investigation of places to which to donate time and money, lots of people who need help a whole lot more than you do.  That helps you put your situation into perspective.  And that helps you stay positive, optimistic and effective.

Think of giving in two ways:  giving of your money, and donating your time and talent.

If you have some organization, cause or church to which you regularly donate, consider increasing your donation.  If you don’t, now is the time to find some place to donate some of your money.

Find something in which you can donate your time. If you are not involved in some volunteer work, find someplace to give of your time and talents.  For a number of years my wife and I were foster parents, caring for a total of 19 children of various ages, races, and emotional and physical disabilities.  It kept us humble, broadened our lives, and taught us a lot.  I’d recommend you find something like that – something into which you can invest your time and talent.

It really is the difficult times in your life, and your reaction to them, that shape your character and make you a better person.

Image “credit-card” owned by Baptiste Franchina (cc)
Image “Balancing The Account By Hand” owned by Ken Teegardin (cc)
Image “A MODERN THERMOPYLAE: 300 hunger strikers” owned by SpaceShoe [Learning to live with the crisis] (cc)

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leadng sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMX by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

Sales Best Practice #23 – Routinely makes powerful persuasive presentations

Posted by Commence on January 11, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

A Best Practice for sales people by guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator.

By Dave Kahle

In my first professional sales position, I spent six full weeks in sales training before I was released to go out into my territory.  Sales training was defined as memorizing two five-page, single-spaced sales presentations, presenting them to the sales training class, critiquing the video-taped playback of the presentation, and then doing it all again – for six weeks! At the end of those six weeks, every one of us could give those two presentations masterfully.

While the use of prewritten, memorized sales presentations still continues today, it’s only rarely used in the business-to-business selling environment.  It may be that today’s frantic pace of new product development makes the time it takes to memorize a sales presentation seem less valuable.  Or it may be that today’s salesperson is more sophisticated and able to adjust the sales presentation to the needs of each individual customer.

While memorized presentations may be a vestige of years gone by, that in no way reduces the need to make a well designed, practiced sales presentation. The ability to routinely make powerful, persuasive sales presentations, regardless of the customer or product, is one of the practices of the best.

The world is full of salespeople who take a casual attitude toward a sales presentation.  Some think that they know the product so well that their superior product knowledge will ooze out during the presentation, impressing the customer into buying.  Others do not put in the necessary preparation and practice time, and, in an attempt to cover their lack of confidence, focus on those parts of the presentation with which they feel most comfortable.  Still others feel that their ability to improvise will eventually lead them to a persuasive presentation.

The truth is that there is no shortcut to a persuasive presentation.  It begins with studying the customer as well as the product or service.  It takes preparation to decide which of the customer’s issues to address, and which specific features of your offer to emphasize.  It takes time to organize the facts and features into a cohesive presentation.  It takes time to build in interactive elements, and to gather the right samples and documents.  And it takes time to practice (yes, practice) the presentation before you actually make it.  A persuasive presentation begins with methodical preparation.

Maybe that’s why so few salespeople give this aspect of their job the attention that it deserves.  And maybe that’s why routinely making powerful and persuasive presentations is a practice of the very best.

To learn more about this practice, review these resources: The CD, How to Make Powerful and Persuasive Presentations, or the Video version: Persuasive Presentations, Part 1 & 2.

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center™, consider The One Month ‘Persuasive Presentations’ Course, or The Six Month ‘Consultative Selling’ Course.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle
All Rights Reserved.

[Image "Day 32: Yahoo BT sales exercise" by Kerry Vaughan on Flickr under Creative Commons license]

Nurturing Prospect Opportunities

Posted by Commence on January 6, 2012 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

Below is the latest customer relationship management article from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

You have made a call or two on a prospect, qualified them, and rate them as high potential.  The problem is they don’t have an opportunity at the moment. Lots of potential, but it’s all down the road a bit.  Your challenge is to maintain contact so that when they do have an opportunity, you have a chance at it.

Let’s consider all your options.

First, you can generate a regular series of emails.  Put them into an auto-responder, select a series of messages, and press “go.”  They will get the messages you send on the frequency that you determine.  That’s a very efficient solution.  Once you get the auto-responders set up, it is just a few clicks and you’re done.

It may work, too, if you have personalized the messages, and delivered something of value each time, and if they don’t have a lot to do and don’t get a bunch of email messages every day.  If any of these things aren’t true for the situation, you will find that your email messages will go unread, or worse yet, banned from their inbox.  Of course, there isn’t anything very personal about a series of auto-responder messages.

How about the other side of the spectrum?  Instead of taking the “highly efficient but not very effective” approach, you try “effective but not at all efficient” strategy.  You decide to personally visit every two weeks.  Great idea if…

• you have nothing better to do.
• they have a lot of extra time and can visit with you whenever you ‘drop by.’
• you have something new to discuss each time you visit.

That’s probably not going to happen, so maybe that’s not such a great idea after all.

So what now?

Let me suggest a powerful medium.  SNAIL MAIL!  That’s right.  Here’s an approach that may work for you.

1.  Create a series of “case studies” or “success stories.”  These are one page descriptions of other customers for whom you have done something similar.  Maybe you solved a similar problem, or solved a problem in a similar kind of company.  Regardless, on one side of one piece of paper, describe the customer, their issue, and what you did to solve it.  If you can get a short quote from one of the key people in that company, great.  If you can add a little visual interest with that customer’s logo, or a photograph of the building or the people, even better. For an example, click here

2.  Print a few of these.  Send one on a regular basis to your prospect.  Stick a hand-written sticky note to each one, with a personal message, hand written, by you to them. Mention their name.  Use yours. Hand write the address on the envelope.  Put a stamp on it.

3.  Now, fold into the mix a few personal email messages and an occasional visit, and you’ll have a multi-media stream of touches that will deliver something of value to the customer, keep your name in front of him/her, and demonstrate your company’s ability to bring solutions to folks like him.

One of the challenges in the situation is that there is not a lot you can do to force the opportunity to the forefront.  Like a child in a mother’s womb, it will come when it is ready.  Your task is to keep your name and your company’s capabilities in front of the prospect so that when it is time to act, you are on the short list of people to contact.

That requires that you begin to nurture a personal relationship with your contact person.  But, the best sales people understand that a personal relationship only takes you so far.  You must add a growing knowledge of your company’s capabilities to the personal relationship.  You can be the greatest, most entertaining and attractive person in the world, but if they don’t believe your company can deliver a value-added solution, it doesn’t matter.

Delivering a case study in the manner described above solves both problems.  The personal note is a one-on-one touch, delivering a “feel good about you” impact on the prospect, while the detailed case study demonstrates your company’s capabilities.

Mix a handful of these with a few personalized emails, a couple of phone conversations, and an occasional live visit, and you’ll have a system that will keep the prospect aware of you for months.

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

Sales Practices: Question and Answer #6

Posted by Commence on December 29, 2011 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

This is a Sales Question and Answer article about sales best practices from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

Q. What do I do when my goals don’t match the company’s goals for me?

A.  I can look at this is in two ways – expressing two different situations.  In the first, there is a legitimate difference in the expectations for a sales person, but a basic agreement on the issues on which to be focused, as well as the values of the organization.  In the second, there is a deeper and more significant difference of opinion.

A little reality check

Let’s consider each separately.  In the first scenario, the sales person and the company differ on the degree of what is possible.  The sales person expects a 10% increase, while the company thinks 15% is reasonable.  Both agree that sales growth is reasonable, but the amount of growth is the issue.  What do you, the sales person, do in this case?

Persuade and negotiate.  Try to convince your boss that your perspective is more accurate than his/hers.  Don’t just assert that, be convincing.  Back up your beliefs with substance.  Describe specific situations and accounts, and explain why you think about them the way you do.  Prove your point.

At some point in this process, there is going to be a resolution.  There will be a quota or a goal.  Whether it is your idea of what it should be, or your manager’s version, or some compromise, it doesn’t matter.  At that point, when the issue is resolved and the number is set, your job is to give all of your best efforts to doing what your company wants you to do.

You are, after all, an employee of the company.  Your job is to do what your company wants you to do.  That’s what they pay you for.

Sometimes sales people can get a little too convinced of their own importance.  I succumbed to that temptation more than once when I was selling full time.  We think that we really are in business for ourselves, that we own our customers, and that we know what is best for the company and the customer.  So, therefore, we become agitated and upset when the company asks for a 15% increase and we think 5% is reasonable.  We are tempted to go off mumbling under our breath about the screwy management, and we decide we are going to do what we want to do instead.

A little reality check is in order under these circumstances.  If you worked in the warehouse, would you be able to decide what you wanted to do today?  If you were a customer service rep, would you get to determine how best to spend your day, and which parts of your job you’d really do?  If you were in the purchasing department, if you didn’t like the company’s direction, would you have the freedom to ignore it?

So what makes you think you are so special?  Answer — nothing.  Let’s put the freedom that we enjoy and the money that we make in perspective.  We are, when all is said and done, employees of the company.  And, I believe, we have a moral obligation to give our best efforts to that company for as long as we accept a paycheck.

Sometimes the price is high

Which brings us to the second situation.  You have some major difference of opinion in not only the degree of what is expected, but a deep-seated difference of opinion in the basic issues themselves.  I’m not talking about issues like you think you need to focus on your current customers and your company wants you to sell new customers.  Those are relatively superficial issues that fit into the previous discussion.

Instead, I’m talking about differences in fundamental values and ethics.  Here’s an example from my own experience.  I once worked for a company that introduced a new product, and developed a quota for each of us to sell that product.  The problem was, the product never worked.  It didn’t do what the company said it was going to do.  We, the sales people, knew it, and the company knew it.  Yet, they still wanted us to sell it.  We were given quotas and strongly directed to go out and get orders at all costs.  They directed us to, in effect, lie to our customers.

I left the company shortly thereafter.

The issue wasn’t “Do I sell 100 or 130 of these?”  That’s an issue of degree.  Instead, the issue was, “Do I lie to my customers?”  That’s an ethical issue.

If it’s an ethical issue, then I think you have only one choice.  Find another job.  Life is too short to spend it violating your ethics and compromising your integrity.

That sounds simple, and it rarely is that black and white.  It almost never happens that your manager sends you an email that says, “From this day forward you will lie to your customers.”  Instead, it is more likely that a pattern emerges over a period of time.  One incident is generally not representative of a character flaw.  But, when you see a pattern of cutting ethical corners, of disdain for integrity, of fuzzy moral boundaries, then you can conclude that those are expressions of a corporate character flaw.

In my situation, the “lie to your customers” direction was not the first indication of a lack of moral compatibility between me and the company.  It was, however, the final one for me – the most recent and blatant of a string of incidents that made me feel uncomfortable with myself for being a part of it.

Also, sometimes the price is high.  The position I left was the most fun, most challenging, best paying job I ever had.  It was 15 years before I made the kind of money again that I made in that job.  Believe me, leaving that job for ethical reasons was a difficult decision.

Money is just money.  It comes and it goes.  People, and sales people particularly, who will do anything for money, who evidence no compulsion and no moral boundaries, are sad characters.  They have succumbed to the most superficial of temptations and displayed themselves to all those around them as people with little integrity.  They are unfortunate examples to their families, friends, and all who know them.

You only have to read the newspapers over the last year or so to see multiple examples of the damage that greed, un-tempered by morality, can do.  The real damage, though, is not the highly visible corporate crooks that we read about every day.  The real tragedy is all the less visible managers and sales people who we don’t read about – those business people who share the same “money at all costs” attitude – whose legacy is not as public, but none-the-less still damaging.

I would hope that you would not be one of those.  That you would have the strength of character to disassociate yourself from a situation that comprised your integrity.

So, when it becomes an issue of morality, I think it’s time to leave.

Good luck.  Sell well.

P.S. I expect that my comments may generate some responses.  Feel free to email a comment to me.

********************************************************************************************

You may want to dig deeper into the issues uncovered in this article.  I’d recommend the book, “Take Your Performance Up-a-Notch.”

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center ™  consider reviewing these lessons:  Pod-21: “Goal-Setting,” or  Pod-34: “Ethics for the Professional Sales Person.”

Image “tired and dirty” owned by Rennett Stowe (cc)
Image “Sour Lemon” owned by Alan Maddox (cc)

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leadng sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

Sales Best Practice #33 – Focuses on spending the greatest amount of time with the highest potential customers

Posted by Commence on December 12, 2011 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

This article focuses on Best Practices for sales people from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

It is so easy to do that which is comfortable and easy as opposed to that which is smart.  It’s a common temptation to which every sales person succumbs at least some of the time.

This applies most dramatically to the fundamental decisions that every sales person makes over and over again every day:

• Where should I go?
• Who should I see?
• What should I do?

Those sales people who consistently make those decisions most effectively rise to the top of the sales profession, and those who don’t, don’t.

Here’s an example.  It’s Monday morning, and you must make those decisions.  You could attempt to see a high potential prospect, or you can go see a small customer.  You know the customer will probably see you – he likes you.  And you’ll spend an hour or so in friendly conversation.  You also know that the likelihood of increasing the business with this customer is next to nothing. But, since it’s comfortable and easy, you choose to see the customer.  You rationalize it by claiming to be “building relationships.”

Or, you are all set to visit that high potential, but challenging prospect, when you receive a call from a “C” account who has a question.  You are not too distant from them, so you change plans and drive to see the “C” account.  Why?  Because you know that he’ll see you, and you’ll be able to answer a question, and that makes you feel important, and gives you a sense that you are actually accomplishing something.

In both cases, you chose to do that which was comfortable and easy, as opposed to that which was smart.  You succumbed to the temptation.

This is such a common thing among B2B sales people that those who “focus on spending the greatest amount of time with the highest potential” stand out on the basis of this one best practice alone.

That doesn’t mean that you totally neglect smaller customers.  But it does mean that you define, with some rigor, the highest potential customers in your territory and you then, with discipline and willfulness, spend more time with them.  My recommendation?  Fifty percent of your time with the top twenty percent of your territory, and fifty percent of your time with other eighty percent.  Note that the definition of the top twenty percent is based on potential, not necessarily the amount of the current business.  So, in other words, an “A” account is a high potential account, even though they may spend nothing with you now.

This is such a crucial practice that it is a part of almost every seminar and training session that I do.  Those who consistently implement it routinely report dramatic increases in sales.  Most commonly, they report tripling their business in two years.

While that sounds almost too good to be true, it isn’t.  It is predictable and almost routine for those who consistently practice it.  That’s why it’s a best practice.

If you’d like to pursue this practice, we have some resources to help you.  Consider Chapter Six of my book, Ten Secrets of Time Management for Sales People, or the video training program,  “Prioritizing your customers to dramatically increase your sales.”

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center™, consider Pod-55: The most powerful time management strategy for sales people.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

The Incredible Power of an Elevator Speech

Posted by Commence on December 7, 2011 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

We’ve teamed up with the best sales people to bring you these insights into customer relationship management each month. Below is the latest Sales Management article from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

“Why should someone spend time with you?”  That was the question I asked the six sales people who were the subjects of an intense week-long training session.

The response?  Blank stares. Some uncomfortable fidgeting.  Nothing anywhere close to a coherent, persuasive response.

That experience made me realize the need for what I call a “value-added proposition,” and what many people refer to as an “elevator speech.”  It is a well-thought-out, meticulously prepared, and memorized set of ideas that ultimately answer the question above.  It should exist in several different versions:

1.  There should be a one-page (250 words or so) description of

*  who you are

*  what you do

*  why your customers and prospects should care.

2.  That should be reduced to a 30 word version that should be memorized by everyone who has contact with the customer.

3.  Finally, that should be further reduced to a four-to-eight word version that can accompany every communication, from web site advertising to face-to-face interactions.

Why this is important

“Five minutes or it’s free.”  That was the banner hanging over the fast food restaurant near my house.  I noticed it as I drove past one day.  Interesting.  In a mini-environment of intense competition (there must be a dozen fast-food options within a mile of this road) they chose to focus on one aspect of their offering – speed – and turn it into a “value-added proposition.”  In a world of other options for the customer, they chose to take their strength, turn it into a benefit for the customer, and boil that down to say to the customer, “Buy it from us.  We’ll guarantee quick service. “

It had its desired impact.  I noticed the banner, and decided to stop in for breakfast.  The waitress took my order, noted the time on the order pad, and handed me a stop watch!  I took up the challenge, clicked it on, and waited to see if they would perform.  The order arrived within five minutes.  I noticed the waitress look at her watch and note the delivery time on the order pad.

Let’s consider what we can learn from this experience.  First, the value-added proposition consolidates some of the strengths of the organization, and turns them into benefits for the customer base.  Then, it translates those benefits into a “proposition” which challenges the customer to become involved.  It reaches out into the world and says “Consider me.  Here’s why.”  It serves, then, as a proactive way to interest and attract potential customers.

Just as importantly, it helps refine who you are as an organization.  You will become who you tell people that you are.  For example, I suspect that the restaurant did not have a quantity of stop watches in their inventory prior to deciding to toss “Five minutes or it’s free” into the world.  I suspect that the order forms were modified to accommodate the claim, that the wait staff was trained in the processes to implement it, that some items came off the menu and others were added, and that there were some cooks who don’t work there any more because of their inability to be who the restaurant said they were.

Once you say that you provide “outstanding customer service,” or “the highest quality products” for example, you have to back that up.  You must become who you say you are, and actually do what you claim you do.

The value-added proposition, then, brings with it tremendous power to focus your image to your customer base and, at the same time, organize your internal operations to deliver what you say you will.

From the point of view of the sales force, the value-added proposition gives them a focal point — a place to hang their claim for uniqueness. But it also gives them a wedge into the doors of the prospect, and an appropriate topic of conversation with every contact.

That’s why the 30-word version should be memorized and practiced until it can be delivered accurately, fluently and persuasively.

How to do it

The creation of a value-added proposition can be much more significant than it may look at first glance.  Once you understand the power of this set of words to attract customers, equip sales people, and shape operations, you will realize that this can be a “bet the business on this” strategic initiative.

Get it wrong, and your organization’s very survival may be in jeopardy.  Get it right, and it can provide fuel for your growth for the foreseeable future.

So, it ought to be treated as a major strategic initiative in your organization, and given the allotment of resources that accompany such efforts.

Gather your best people for a brainstorming session.  Capture the output, and bring it to a more analytical group to refine.  Put it in the hands of your best communicators to create the three versions mentioned above.

Then, test it before you commit to it.  Put it in the hands of some sales people and gather their comments. Float it by some of your customers whose honest opinion you expect. Run it through the search engine optimization folks.

Refine it until you are ready to live with it.

Then, publish the short version in every conceivable place.  On business cards, letterhead, voice mail messages, web sites, email signatures, etc.

Bring the sales people in, require they memorize the 30-word version, and train them in persuasively presenting it.  Lots of role-play and practice here.   Do the same with anyone who has regular customer contact.

Finally, publish the one-page version.  Make it into a hard copy leave-behind for the sales force.  Publish it on your web site.  Hand it to every vendor.

Distribute it to everyone who has an interest.

Then, watch as it begins to flow into every aspect of your business, stimulating and shaping your growth.

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If you are interested in digging deeper into this subject, you may want to purchase, “How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.”

If you are a subscriber to The Sales Resource Center ™ , consider Cluster CL-72: How to market your small business on-line, Cluster CL-46; Four part elevator speech, and Pod-47: How to make a more effective first call.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

Sales Practices: Question and Answer #5

Posted by Commence on November 28, 2011 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

This is a Sales Question and Answer article about customer relationship management from guest poster Dave Kahle, author and leading sales educator. Follow Dave’s latest Tweets at @davekahle.

By Dave Kahle

Q. How do I ensure that I get the last look in a competitive bid situation?

A.  This is a question that I’m often asked.  In a lot of industries, particularly those involved in construction, government purchases and large-volume manufacturing, most of the customers require an official bid.  It’s not unusual for these to be highly formal and structured.

Here’s a typical scenario.  The customer sends a bid to five suppliers, and each responds with a written document by a certain specified date.  The customer reviews the bids, and awards the business.

The writer of the question wants the ability to go in after the bids have been submitted, to look at the competitive bids or at least the lowest bid prices, and to change his/her prices in order to be awarded the business.

First, it should be noted that in some instances, the “last look” is illegal.  In many cases, it’s viewed as unethical.  In other industries and situations, it’s viewed as business-as-usual.  This question and answer is only relevant to the latter situation.

I have responses for this on several different levels.

1.  Avoiding a bid situation to begin with.

2.  Making a last look unnecessary.

3.  When all else fails, insuring that you get a last look.

Let’s think about each one separately.

1.  Avoiding a bid situation to begin with.

OK, I know that bids are standard operating procedures in your business.  But, I also know that a lot of business is “negotiated.”  In other words, the customer selects the vendor he/she wants to work with, and then negotiates the best deal with that customer.

I’d much rather you get yourself into a negotiating rather than a bid situation.  That way,  you’d avoid the bid scenario altogether.

And, while it is true that you’ll never convince 100% of your customers to negotiate with you rather than send out bids, if you are successful over the next few years in moving 20 – 30% of your customers to negotiating status, you’ll see a tremendous improvement in your sales.

How do you earn that position?  Two ways:  First, build powerful business relationships, be a reliable supplier, and offer a special relationship – “negotiating” – with all your good customers.

In other words, bring the subject up regularly, plant the seed in your customer’s brain, tell stories about how you were able to work effectively with others – how they cut costs, paperwork and time out of the cycle by working with you.

If you are good, and persistent, you’ll eventually convert a significant chunk of your customers.

The second way to operate effectively in this situation is to become more deeply involved in the customer’s buying process and influence the creation of the specifications in such a way so as you are the only one who can meet those specifications.  The bid then, becomes superfluous.

Some of you who have been in my programs have heard me tell the story of how I did the most profitable transaction of my life in an account whose policy it was to bid everything to five vendors.

2.  Making a last look unnecessary.

“…if you have some aspect of your product, service or offer that sets you apart from the competitors… then the customer should be happy to do business with you even if you are not the absolute lowest price.”

The whole concept of a “last look” implies that the reason the customer would do business with you is that you are the lowest price of the group of bidders.  While there is a time and place to be the low price, I’d like for you to question whether or not this is how you’d like the customer to think of you.  If you have done a good job in the past for the supplier, if you have become the low-risk supplier, if you have understood the customer’s situation at a deeper level than your competitors, if you have some aspect of your product, service or offer that sets you apart from the competitors, if you have communicated those things in a persuasive way, then the customer should be happy to do business with you even if you are not the absolute lowest price.

In other words, if you have done a good job of selling, then a couple percentage points in the price should have no impact on the deal.

So, rather than try to be the low price, I’d prefer that you do a deeper, better job of selling this account so that you don’t have to be the lowest price. And that means that you have created powerful, trusting relationships with the key people, that you have understood the dynamics of their situation at a deeper and more detailed level than any of your competitors, and that you have fashioned a unique proposal that meets their deeper needs.

When you do that, you don’t need to worry about the last look.

3.  Insuring that you get a last look.

While everything I said above is fine, the reality is that there will still be some situations where you won’t be able to implement those strategies, and are reduced to one option – be the low bidder.

Some of your customers negotiate the business with you, and the last look is, of course, not an issue with them.  Some of them will buy from you because of the good job of selling you did, and the last look, with them, is not an issue.

But you will still probably be left with those who are going to bid and award the business primarily on the basis of price.  It’s that group for which you’d like to have the last look.

How do you do that?  By achieving excellence in the basics:  building powerful, positive business relationships with those key contacts, by understanding their needs in deeper and more detailed ways than any of your competitors, by doing everything you can to assure that your company is highly respected by the customer, and finally, by asking for the opportunity.

What you are really asking for is the preference of the customer.  In other words, where the customer sees no difference between you and the other guy in your offer, he still prefers doing business with you.  This scenario assumes that there is no difference between you and your competitor, and there is no reason for the customer to pay a little more to do business with you.  Your only hope is that the customer will prefer to do business with you, providing you are the lowest price.

Ask yourself why the customer would prefer you.  Create a detailed answer. Then set about becoming the supplier with which your customer would want to do business.  And, continually ask for the opportunity to have a last look.

Remember that getting the last look is the last, least desirable strategy to pursue. While there will always be times and situations where it is your last resort, those times and situations should be minimal.

If these ideas resonate with you, you may want to dig deeper into the concepts expressed above.  Consider the CD’s, “Conquering the Number One Buying Obstacle: Reducing the Risk.” or “Sales Practices to Increase Margins.”

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center ™, review Cluster CL-1: “Preventing the Price Objection,” and CL-11: “Price Pressures”.  Take the lessons in Pod-16: “Successfully Selling in a Price Sensitive Market,” and Pod-18: “How to Sell Value, Not Price.”

Image owned by Amanda G (cc)

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leadng sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.