Sales Management Benefit the Most from CRM Software

Posted by Commence on January 27, 2012 under CEO Corner | Be the First to Comment

Experienced well trained sales managers understand the importance and value of CRM software and how chaotic their world would be without it.  Anyone who has managed a mid-size to large sales organization knows it is no easy task.  Sales people often come from all walks of life, from college grads to mature people who may have completely changed their careers.  One of the biggest challenges in managing sales people is implementing a structure that ensures everyone is working under the same guidelines.   Unlike your internal accountants that must follow state and federal guidelines, there are no written rules for sales people.  This is where a good CRM system can be a sales manager’s best friend.

You should look at your sales organization just like a crew of new military recruits that just arrived in boot camp.  They’re all eager to be successful, but don’t quite know how and are looking for the right path to follow.  The implementation of a structure with well-established rules and procedures is what makes the military successful. Once the recruits are comfortable with it they begin to operate like a well-oiled machine.  Your sales organization should be operating the same way. Sales people want and need a structured approach to selling and a good CRM system can provide it.

What CRM software can deliver is the ability to document a structured approach to selling where each stage of the sales cycle is managed and evaluated before moving forward.   This ensures that each and every sales opportunity is being looked at through multiple eyes and not falling through the cracks.  The results speak for themselves.  Higher close ratios, higher revenue attainment, happy sales people and happy management.   It’s important to note that simply running out and implementing a CRM system is not going to deliver more sales.  CRM software is a tool and it does not run your business, people do and sales management is the key to good performance.  CRM software will at least give them the tools they need to become a more effective sales organization.

[Image "Social Business Boot Camp 2010" by Gangway Advertising on Flickr under Creative Commons license]

Online CRM Made Easy

Posted by Commence on January 25, 2012 under CEO Corner | Be the First to Comment

Every company looking for an online CRM system wants one with the most functionality, but it’s also got to be easy to use; kind of an oxymoron I think.  There is clearly a correlation between robust functionality and ease of use.  Standalone or what’s known as point solutions that do one or two things very well are by nature very easy to use.  Those that do a lot like robust CRM systems aren’t.

One CRM solution provider however has done a pretty good job of offering a comprehensive CRM system that is quite easy to use.  That company is Commence Corporation, who has been providing CRM software to small and mid-size businesses for more than two decades.   “We understand the importance of ease of use,” says Larry Caretsky, President of Commence Corporation.  “We may not have every bell and whistle of enterprise solutions, but our customers utilize our solutions and have realized substantial value from our CRM system”.

What makes Commence easy to use begins with the company’s CRM Dashboard, which enables the end user to complete routine tasks such as adding a new account, a new contact, a lead or a new sales opportunity without leaving the home page.   Sales representatives have reported that they can conduct 90 percent of their daily business without ever leaving the screen.  This makes the learning curve for Commence CRM minimal.

Commence has also incorporated what they call a multi-view inside the CRM system.  A multi-view displays multiple windows of information on a single screen. Very much like a Microsoft Windows environment does on a PC, Commence does this using HTML for their online CRM system.  This capability provides access to a complete 360 degree view of information on a single screen.  There is no scrolling up and down and no flipping back and forth from screen to screen.  This capability has delighted the management of companies that have selected Commence CRM.

There are numerous online CRM solutions to choose, but few that offer the comprehensive functionality and ease of use of Commence CRM.  To learn more about this online CRM solution visit the company’s web site at www.commence.com.

Small Businesses CRM Software – Stop Looking for a Bargain!

Posted by Commence on January 18, 2012 under CEO Corner | Be the First to Comment

Small business owners are smart operators.  They traditionally have to do a lot with very little, wear multiple hats and position their companies to be competitive in a rapidly changing environment.  Software tools and applications like CRM software can help them to automate the internal processes that can make them a more effective sales and service organization.  Newer cloud based CRM software systems also alleviate the need for purchasing additional computer hardware or software and have become extremely affordable for small businesses. The rapid deployment, ease of use and affordability of these newer programs has stimulated a high degree of growth among the small to mid-size business community.  Despite this the failure rate among SME’s with regard to the implementation and use of CRM software is greater than 70%.

Much of this has to do with a complete lack of knowledge when it comes to selecting a CRM solution.  CRM is not an appliance that you simply plug in the wall and it magically improves sales execution and customer service.  And if you think you can buy CRM software by merely entering your credit card over the internet, you are not thinking clearly. Yet many small business executives see CRM software as a commodity item, causing them to simply select some Freeware or low cost program that delivers nothing but headaches.  These business owners initially think they got a bargain; only to find out later that the time, energy and cost they put into the free product was greater than the initial cost of selecting a quality company with a product that would address their business requirements.  The point here is simple.  There are no bargains when it comes to CRM software. Anything that seems to be too good to be true at just a few dollars a month (or even better Free) is going to cost you dearly in the end.

There are several high quality companies and products designed specifically for small to mid-size businesses that will deliver real value and provide you with expertise that will enable you to improve how you market, sell and provide service to your customers.  One of these companies is Commence Corporation, a company that has been providing customer management software solutions to small and mid-size businesses for more than two decades.  While not free, Commence has experienced sales and support personnel who have assisted hundreds of companies improve their internal business processes resulting in better lead management, accurate sales forecasting and improving customer service.  Commence customers have reported greater than a 25% increase in sales through the use of the program. Would you pay for a product or service that could deliver this kind of value to your company?  Sure you would, but this kind of value isn’t free.

To learn more about Commence CRM software visit Commence.com and view a series of educational videos that illustrate how you can become a more efficient sales and service organization with Commence CRM. 

Image ‘Bargain – Save 1c’ owned by Alpha, on Flickr (cc)

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 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.

[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.

###

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.

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.

Sales Best Practice #35 – Regularly spends time and money improving sales skills

Posted by Commence on November 16, 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

Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams.  Basketball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys.

As you know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80’s.  Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team.  He was at the top of his game — most valuable player on the world championship team.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

During that time, he built a house in Detroit, and added an indoor basketball court.  When asked about it by a local newspaper reporter, he replied that he often woke up in the middle of the night and used the basketball court to practice his free throws.

Imagine that.  The most valuable player of the world championship team practicing the most basic shot in the game in the middle of the night.  Why would he do that?  Probably because he was not a 100 percent free-throw shooter.  No matter how good he was, he knew there was room for improvement, and that he could become better yet.

“Imagine how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills!  What an opportunity!”

Dave Kahle

That belief, that you are not as good as you could be, that there is always room for improvement, is one of the marks of the best sales people.

The world is full of mediocre sales people who don’t care enough about their own performance to spend any time or money improving themselves.  My own experience is that only one out of twenty sales people has spent $25 of their own money on their own improvement in the last 12 months.

While that certainly is an indictment of their lack of professionalism, it also represents an incredible opportunity for those who want to excel.  Imagine how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills!  What an opportunity!

That’s one reason why the best sales people are the best.  They regularly spend time and money on the pursuit of perfection.  They are the ones who buy the books, listen to the CDs, attend the seminars, and eagerly participate in sales meetings.

Vince Lombardi once said, “We will pursue perfection, knowing that we will never attain it.  But in the striving for perfection, we will catch excellence.”

The best sales people continually pursue perfection, knowing that in the striving for it, they will catch excellence.  And excellence is rewarded by greater competence, greater confidence, and a more robust standard of living.

That’s why it is one of the best practices of the best.

If you’d like to pursue this practice, check out The Sales Resource Center™ where we have over 435 lessons for sales people, all delivered 24/7 over the internet.

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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 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.

Sales Practices: Question and Answer #4

Posted by Commence on October 26, 2011 under Sales Training | Be the First to Comment

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

By Dave Kahle

Q. You have convinced me that spending time face-to-face with customers is the best use of my sales time.  How much of my week should I spend entertaining customers; taking them to lunch, ballgames, etc.?

Building Customer Relationships

A.  Great question.  Let me answer this is two ways.  First, spend as much time as you can interacting with your customers in social settings.  That means that you should try to have lunch with a customer every day.  You should entertain in the evening as often as your family, your boss, your life style and your budget will allow.

Having said that, here’s a second answer.  The issue has more to do with the quality of the time than it does the quantity of time.  You shouldn’t spend social time with a customer just to meet some quantity goal.  It’s not time for the sake of time; it’s time for the sake of some objective.  If, for example, you take the same customer out to lunch every week because the two of you are buddies, that’s not quality time.  If you take people out to lunch or to a ball game, and those people are minor players in an account, having little, if any, influence on the decision, that also is not quality time.

Instead, be thoughtful and strategic about the investment of your time in your customers.  Make a list of all the people who are important decision-makers or influencers in your “A” accounts.  Then, think about which of them do not know you very well.  This is a critical issue.  Remember, it’s less important that you know them, than it is that they know you.  If they feel like they know you and are comfortable with you, you will have significantly advanced the personal relationship and made it easier for them to do business with you.  So, your primary objective in spending social time with a customer is to have them become comfortable with you.  Your secondary objective is to get to know them better.

With that clearly in mind, identify those powerful people in your “A” accounts who should know you better, and try to spend social time with them.

If I found myself free for lunch on Tuesday, for example, I’d start at the top of the list, and invite my number one candidate.  If he/she couldn’t make it, I’d go to number two, and so on.  That way, I was always focusing on those individuals who were most strategically important.

The amount of entertaining by sales people has dwindled significantly in the last decade.  I recall one of my friends, a manufacturer’s rep who sold automotive components in Detroit, had an entertaining budget in excess of $80,000 annually.  And that was twenty years ago.

That sales person who is able to build real personal relationships with his/her customers will succeed where others fail.

While those days of lavish spending are in the past, it is, never-the-less, true that spending social time with a customer can be a powerful sales strategy.  In my days as a field sales person, I would take two or three customers and their spouses out to dinner at Greektown in Detroit, followed by a Tiger game.  My spouse would join me, and we would have six or eight people together for the evening.  We never talked business, but business in those accounts always grew afterward.  It was because they got to know me on a personal basis.  I met their spouses, and they mine.  We came to know one another as real people, not just people playing the role of buyer and seller.  As a result of forging this personal relationship, it was easier for us to do business together.

That is still true today, perhaps even more so.  As more and more business is done electronically, people hunger for the high-touch of personal relationships that has been excluded by high-tech communications.  That sales person who is able to build real personal relationships with his/her customers will succeed where others fail.

We have some resources to help you with this.  You may want to consider the book, “Take Your Sales Performance Up-a-Notch,” or the CD set entitled, “The Essential Secrets of Building Positive Business Relationships”.

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center ™, consider Cluster CL-15, “Entertaining your customers,” or Pod-2: “Building Positive Business Relationships.”

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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.