In every company there is that relatively successful sales rep that people joke knows nothing about their product. The people laughing are really confused since this person does not understand the inner workings of feature A and function B. However, if this person is a real sales person, when they tout ignorance, the comics are dead wrong. The person may not have a technical understanding of the product, but what they must possess to be successful in sales  is a clear understanding of how their product make a difference in the users life and why.

When working with your product or marketing team, whether it is a trainer, your CTO, or you, make sure you educate people on the why. The why is what sells, for at the end of the day, people rarely care about the how. As long as the how does not involve 8 year olds working in  sweat shops or some other horrific scenario, people just want to know how the things they use make a difference. Even price plays second fiddle to benefits in revenue, savings, productivity, and retention.

These are the things to train on when engaging in product discussions. If you are bringing in a new rep, share the unique value proposition and a high level overview of the features and functions that attribute to this value. If you are training current reps to a new version or upgrade, share with them the benefits to the customer that the changes offer. Avoid deep dives and too much competitive comparison. Competitive trainings should be completely separate and long after product education has had time to sink in.

When training on product, keep in mind that this is easily perceived as the dullest of trainings. Usually this is because some techie or marketing guru is sharing irrelevant content and going in many directions of how the ideas came to fruition. Nothing turns of a sales team faster. Sales teams want the why, even if they do not know it. I suggest that you do not spoon feed them the why, but make the engagement as interactive as possible. Get them laughing, and if the presenters lack this skill, it is your role as mediator/coach, to bring the levity to the room. Challenge the audience to uncover the value, get them communicating about the why, and it will leave the room and make it to the sale floor and sales meetings.

Finally, after every sales trainin, I like to send out quizzes a couple of days later. As with any non selling activity, cash prizes are always awarded to who gets the first perfect score, and the second, and the….

In his post today on his blog Sales Excellence, Ian Brodie does such a great job at mentoring the young services company that I felt he would get this post all to himself. He shares an important concept in passive vs. active marketing. In his post, 3 Quick and Simple Steps to Improve Sales in Professional Services Firm, he shares with firms that cutting your budget on advertising and freeing up time for prospecting is a healthy way to increase sales. Read more here: http://www.lighthousebc.co.uk/blog/articles/3-simple-things-to-improve-sales-in-professional-services-firms.html

What I would like to add to the concepts shared in this fantastic post is why this method is so effective. Really there are two reasons this wil work:

1. Direct action and proactive targeted prospecting will generate leads in a quantifiable manner.  You can start to develop metrics and forecast what the prospecting will deliver. You cannot forecast an advertisement’s results.
2. There is a relationship with a prospect that is developed from the onset. If your professionals are the ones building the pipeline, the leads are more ikely to be valuable. They will cultivate them and once they have them as a client, the trust needed for a long term relationship is already there.

Ian really sheds some light on how less spending coupled with less demand will equate to more sales.

“But if we tell all of our customers about (INSERT SOMETHING THAT WENT WRONG), we will be needlessly upsetting the apple cart. Why not just let the people it effects contact us.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a top ranking executive say something suprisingly similar to this. Worse, I watch sales reps shake in fear at the thought of sharing problems with customers. HEAR ME SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS! TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH RESPECT. Here is a thought, tell everyone when an issue arises and explain what you are doing to fix it.

BE PROACTIVE!!!

Send an e-mail, make phone calls, post it on your website, list it on the login screen of your service. and make sure everybody knows from you and not the irritation of discovering the issue for themselves. Some thoughts:

1. The people it effects will appreciate your candor and not have to go through the pain of disocvering the issue for themselves. They avoid wasted time trying to troubleshoot other things besides your problem. Best of all, they know you are working on it and did not have to go out of their way to notify you of the issue. Nothing is more irritating than calling someone about a problem and having them respond with, “We are aware of that.” Well, why did you not bother to tell me? While they might not be happy with the issu, at least they respect you as a business partner.
2. The people it does not effect will be grateful that you are so forthcoming and prepared. Why? Because if anything ever did come up that would cause them concern, they know you are the type to be up front and let them know. This is a tremedous advantage when looking at time. Now you have shown respect to someone who is not hampered by a problem.

When people are wooed by your competitors, the issues they had with your offering are not what gets them thinking about leaving. The way you handled an issue is what sticks in their mind. If you are a professional that shows the customer that you are looking out for them first and all else second, it will not be forgotten. A better price, a neat feature, they cannot succumb to these enticements, for the greatest benefit has already been delivered…trust.

I recently wrote an article for the new Top Sales Experts e-book coming out next month. It is about getting people to see how a completely different way of doing something can make a positive impact. The challenge is that this is what every sales person is working towards, yet when one is on the bleeding edge and the risk is greater, they find the hill that much steeper. What the Sales Evangelist must possess are skills beyond the average sales person. What a sales champion requires to consistently add to their customer base is similar.

Here are a couple of sentences from the article, this sales person “is a word smith, can turn a phrase and deliver the perfect analogy. They have the right story for the right time, and when it is told we do not feel they are telling it for the umpteenth time. When one engages with this professional, they are swept into their passion, their desire to see things in a better light.”

In another article for Sales Gravy, I wrote about what makes a great business evangelist, and again these attributes align with those of a sales champion. The first two are obvious, but the latter are what most people take for granted or ignore:

1. The ability to listen: This must be tiresome to hear again and again, but if one is not listening, one is not selling. A champion asks this;  at the end of the sales process, do they know more about their contact than their product? If not, they did not listen enough.
2.  The fiery drive: Everyone knows that the most tenacious of people make good sales reps. What is not clear is why so many sales people either lose this drive or never had it. If they are not hungry, they are not going to be great at sales. If they are content where they are, they may make a living, but they have not reached the potential peak of performance. The champion looks from the top of the mountain they are on for a taller mountain in the skyline.
3. Ambition and ideals: So often I watch a sales team fall from greatness to mediocrity because the manager has hired a hot shot with no morals. This person hits the ground running and quickly climbs the stack rank. The problem is they do not have true ambition, they have selfish goals. They do not cling to healthy ideals and instead disrupt and divide. All to often, the manager forgives these flaws of character in exchange for the sales. Eventually others see this and either emulate or resent this behavior. Months go by and this person climbs another couple of stack ranks, cancellations and customer complaints. These too are ignored as it is justified by what is coming in. This person starts to complain more and more and takes up even more of their manager’s time. It is OK, because we feed our eagles and the time is warranted. That is, until team numbers are missed, other solid reps quit, and eventually this rep that had so much time invested in them, quits for another a better opportunity to destroy another sales team. A champion has ideals that align with their ambitions. They bring people with them to the top and show true attributes of leadership. They will help others close deals on the last day of the month, they will share what they know with their peers freely, and go out of their way to create a culture of success.
4. The quick wit: This is straight from the artice, “Someone that plans to jump into the foray and go after the opportunities in the unknown must have a quick mind. Without the ability to problem solve on the fly and the knack to develop responses to new objections, there is little hope of unearthing the barriers of introducing new ideas to the business community.  There is a fine line between pitch and evangelizing and finding those that can educate without sounding like a pushy telemarketer is paramount. ”
   This is the thing that makes superstars become champions that is near impossible to teach. Other skills come from life lessons, trainings, mentors, hard knocks, and moments of clarity. Being quick on your feet, managing your charm, telling funny stories, captivating audiences; these things are natural and rarely can be learned. Now, some people have it hiding inside of them and it can be drawn out, but if one has never spun magic with their voice it is going to be hard to become a champion.

I am sure we could come up with many more attributes and would love to hear your input. After all, one last thing that champions do is continue to perfect their craft.

When people talk about the transfer of emotion, I believe so much is lost in the explanation. Most people feel the transfer of emotion is a tactic that a sales person must employ to get people excited about things they otherwise would not buy. This is not the case, and hopefully this quick post will share with others my perception and use of the transfer of emotion. First and foremost, no matter how pragmatic a buyer, they will rarely align with purchasing something that they have negative feelings towards. If someone is willing to buy without a positive feeling, usually you do not want them as a customer.

The transfer of emotion is your ability to share your convictions with another in a manner that gets them to feel the same way. Let’s take a current case study and examine this. No matter if you like Barack Obama or not, when he speaks you feel his words. If you like his message, you are instantly taken to a place of better times. If you do not like what he says, you go to a place of disdain and rebel against his words. No matter your take, HE FORCES YOU TO TAKE A SIDE AND FEEL SOMETHING! Barack Obama would make a fantastic sales person, and some would argue that politics and sales are quite similar. Albiet, politics is a much slimier business, in both you have to get people to feel and align with what you believe. Also, in sales, much like politics, there is no reward for second place.

If you read my blog regularly, then you probably sell something you believe in. If not, quit your job and find one where you can get behind your product. Now examine what gets you excited about your offering. Now, write these things down and when it is time to gain clients, transfer that excitement and open more doors. Passion is a requirement for great sales people. Not a nice thing to have, but greatness requires passion. The ability to speak passionately is a requirement for champion salesmanship, period!

Here is a question I received last week. It is from one of my previous team members in Pune, India.

Question:

Hello Coach,

My question is - “How do you decide upon the factor that a rep should make at least 49 dials or 8 connects per day, for the MBO.”
Is there a particular strategy or calculation to come up with this kind of target ??

My senior has asked me to set up 6 conference calls per week, and I am managing with only 3-4 call set ups per week.
He does not consider number of dials or connects, for performance. And, problem is that my prospect list is draining fast with majority of ‘Not Interested’ status comments.

Please suggest me about what i can do to improve my performance, in such a scenario .

Answer:

The answer to how to schedule more meetings comes in two parts. Before we dig into these answers, I want to begin by outlining the first question of how effective metrics are established. I was sitting in the office of the CEO of DreamFactory, and we were discussing the methodologies of the inside sales team and how to make them more effective. When we discussed metrics, I began explaining how you had to work backwards from the end result to the most minute activity. He saw this as obvious, and could not believe that anyone would see it another way. Unfortunately, many people design metrics based on other details, not just the end result. If you want to accomplish a goal, look at how many activities it take to get to that goal. In the case above, 980 calls produced 160 connects. 160 connects produced 3-4 meetings a day. It is from this that you can now build a plan.

The first thing to look at when trying to hit an objective is how successful you are at each leg of your activity chain. In the scenario for this question, the rep is only making 50-75% of their objective. The simplest way to improve this is to increase the number of dials and connects. If you look at the 980 dials to 4 meetings scheduled, this is around 243 dials per meeting. To get to 6 meetings, you would have to increase your monthly dials by 486 a month. This is an extra 25 dials a day. While this may be simple, it is also challenging in the amount of time it takes.

The other thing to look at, and the way I would recommend increasing your number of dials is to improve your ratios of dials to connects, and your ratio of connects to meetings. Let’s look at the connects to meetings ratio. If you are speaking to 160 people a month, and only 3-4 are interested, the message is poor. Work on scripting a compelling entry statement. Find unique reasons to talk to each company. 4 in 160 is a 2.5% close ratio, and frankly this is really poor. I would want to have at least a 25% close ratio in scheduling meetings, and this would mean that I could reduce my connects to 100 a month and still make 25 meetings. Now, how would I do it? I would start by looking at what accounts I target. Next, I would look for the right contact and only call people at the highest possible level. Third I would research the company for reasons they might want to talk to my company. And finally, I would create strong entry statements that sparked interest.

At first this will be challenging as you learn to gather this information and sharpen your message. If you can increase your close ratio to 10%, you only need 60 connects to make your MBO. Your choice is obvious, either increase your activity by 50%, or increase your effectiveness by 7.5%. I know what I would do.

Again, I need to preface with one of my philosophies. If you have not read the last post, or had the “privilege” of sitting with me and talking sales after a couple of glasses of wine, you probably have never heard my opinion of closing. The greatest sales people are not deal closers, they are door openers. They see the first sale as a starting point, not the end, and no matter how you color it, closing has a sense of finality.

I ask all of the sales leaders reading this to think about what it takes to hunt. Prospecting is a thankless task, and finally one gets to qualify a contact extensively and uncover an opportunity. Then, to flush out the conditions of the sale, the requirements to make a difference, and the management of any possible objections. This process involves really getting to understand someone and what they are trying to accomplish. It involves become trusted and liked by that person. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO ALL OF THAT AND THEN BE DONE?

When you are finally done proposing and you have the opportuntiy to foster a long relationship between your company and another, it is time to start planning for the marriage. Plant seeds early to get what you want, a reference and referrals. It is critical to gain access into your contacts inner circle. People tend to run with others like them. If you develop a relationships with one person in IT, they will usually gain you access to other IT professionals. If they are trusted in their circle, you are welcomed by implied reputation. This can be even stronger within a company. Here the results can help you gain access. Doing a good job in one department can often gain you access to another. It can also make it easier to up sell or cross sell as the opportunity permits.

So, what do you do if you are not closing? The answer is easy, but takes some dedication. This is well worth the effort, since every customer you do this with can equal hundreds and hundreds of cold calls. Call them and thank them a day or two after the sale. Follow up via e-mail weekly, and remember those little news articles and tips you found and shared as you were cultivating the lead? Do not stop sending them. Call monthly and ask what benefits they are seeing. If they do not know, find out and take that data and develop a study. People appreciate these things, and once the data is confirmed, they will not only let you share it, but help you find people in their network to share it with. If this sounds hard, guess what while the answer is easy, at first doing this well is challenging. Like everything else however, it becomes second nature after time. Nothing, and I mean nothing, helps endorse a sale more than a colleague telling you why you have to do something NOW!

It is interesting how things sync up in life if you are just paying attention. The receiving of this question paralleled a potential client giving me an amazing little book titled: 212 The Extra Degree by S.L. Parker. For the review, if you are familiar with my format, I give it 10’s across the board. If you do not know my format, when you are done reading this, click on the book review category to see from other posts how I rate books. This little tome took me less than an hour to read, and in that hour I was again transformed by a simple concept spelled out clearly. Now, to the question:

Question:

Is .9999 repeating the same as 1?

Answer: 

While I am quite certain that this week’s question was sent to me as a joke, the sender could not have known the significance in their timing. In Parker’s boo, he shares some statistics from sporting events and other activities. One of these is close finishes at the Olympics and there is one event that is so close that the difference between gold and fourth place is .o7 seconds. I want you to imagine four people passing you in .07 seconds. Actually, I want you to try and register .o7 seconds.

Now, think about the question again. If the person in fourth place had done one more push up a day, ten more feet of running daily, focused one iota harder at the beginning of the race, they could have transformed from unknown to a medal winner. The answer to your question is yes, and the difference is tremendous! Now let’s translate this difference to sales. In sales, what is the reward for finishing second. Last time I checked it was nothing. If it happens often enough, perhaps a pink slip. In sales that infinitesimal point zero ad infinitum one is enough to cost you a client, a commission,  and all that comes with success. If you cannot see the difference and you are in sales, in my opinion you will not be in sales for long. If you cannot see the difference and want to, buy Parker’s book (There is a link to your left). It will open your eyes… it reopened mine.

It is so hard for me to talk to sales people about process. While they would never know it, I cringe inside every time I hear someone talk about closing. I understand that the concept is about closing a deal, a completion of a process, but in this day and age, is any sale the end of your relationship with the buyer?

In our times, the snake oil salesman, or door to door vacuum dealer is almost non-existent. These are the only people that have no commitment to a customer after a sale. What we should be teaching our sales people in our selling world is OPENING, not closing. With a mindset of opening, getting someone to sign on the dotted line is the beginning of something, not the end result. Yes, it is a milestone, yes it has ended a cycle, but it your team is not looking beyond that moment in time, you are leaving opportunity after opportunity on the table.

The doors you can open after completing a sale:

1. The obvious, referrals to other departments in a company.
2. Referrals to colleagues in other companies.
3. More business through up sell opportunities.
4. Reference materials, from case studies to reference calls and quotes.
5. And finally, you may change companies and have something new to sell. Once a buyer is comfortable with you as a business partner, this relationship provides a lifetime of value.

Now, before you start adjusting your pipeline because you have a customer base, I have to admit this takes some work from the onset. First, you have to maintain a relationship with your customers after they have made a purchase. This means service oriented calls where you provide some value. If you ask for more business it provides no value. Instead, give them some information about their industry, or share with them some results of using your product. These are the things that get people excited to hear from you. If you do this properly, they will provide referrals, references, and always take a hard look at your offerings. If you give them value at the beginning, during, and after you sell them something, you will always find more opportunities…and you will not have to look too hard.

Some people make a sale based on the rapport they built with the buyer and others sale based on their knowledge, ability to meet the buyers needs and merits of the product. It may vary depending on the industry, but I ask to understand which should I focus on in a sales interview for a job. Expertise or “making friends”?

Question:

Paige Dumoulin asks, which of these two approaches are more likely to close a sale?
Relationships or Information

I was not sure what she meant, so I asked her to elaborate; she replied:

It may vary depending on the industry, but I ask to understand which should I focus on in a sales interview for a job. Expertise or “making friends”?

And this:

It may vary depending on the industry, but I ask to understand which should I focus on in a sales interview for a job. Expertise or “making friends”?

Answer:

This is an interesting question, as it brings up an argument that shapes many a sales team and methodologies. While many people can get by in sales on one or the other, to be in the top 10% and a true overachiever you must possess both qualities.

The classic artists will tell you, that people by from those they like. The modernists will explain that if you are not seen as a trusted advisor, you will never get in the door. Guess what…they are both right. Buyers tend to be driven by two things, their perceived needs, and their comfort. An easier way to explain it is trust and fear. If they like you, they are at ease and can will both share and listen. If they think of you as an asset they will pay for your services. Some may lean one way or another but the greats have both skills and know how to use them.

If you are looking for help in an interview, I would suggest the hard to control, being a likable person and the manageable, research the company and their target audience. Prepare for an interview like you would a sales call.

You may also want to read this post (click here) and download the free presentation on knowing your buyers. You can grab it by signing up for my blog via e-mail, or go to http://karlgoldfield.com.