Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

The JF Guest Author Spot

Linda Richardson

Selling is as much mind-set as skill set — especially today.  Sure the economy has made it harder to conduct business and find and close opportunities.  It has also made it harder to decipher what obstacles are due to the economy and what are due to our own performance.  A 2009 DI study with 1600 corporate customers showed that customers attributed 33% of lost deals to things they feel were in the salesperson’s control.

With data like that it may be time to step back and take inventory of what we are and are not doing.  One of my clients said he has banned the sentence, “Sales are down because of the economy,” out of his sales team’s vocabulary.  He’s not living in la-la land but rather he is asking the team to take charge of what they can control.

I think we all benefit from focusing extra hard on what’s in our control. 

Start by making a list of everything you can control: 
-number of customer calls
-number of prospect calls
-use of social networking to learn about prospects
-pipeline to quota ratio
-more specific ROI tied to solutions,
-calling former clients
-calling clients who have changed companies
-improved follow-up
-planning calls for the month down to each day
-sprucing up one’s appearance
-making relationship phone calls
-doing more research
-higher sense of urgency …

One salesperson who has implemented this approach says it has helped her stay in the game, and she has already exceeded her first quarter goal.  An effort like this revs up competitive juices and improves results.  You can also help your customers tweak their thinking toward what they can control. 

For example, once a customer’s problem is on the table, use questions to get at what the short-term goals are, what the obstacles are, how in light of that their purchasing strategies have changed.  With that information, brainstorm with customers how you can help them meet their short-term and long-term goals.

We can all benefit from making a list to help raise the bar on our own performance.  I, for one, will work on building stronger bonds with customers and colleagues.  What about you?

Linda Richardson is the Founder and Chairman of Richardson, a global sales training business. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence for 2006 and in 2007 she was identified by Training Industry Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Read more about Linda

I need to say right up front, that most people who complain have a legitimate reason to do so and we should actively welcome customer complaints. In fact this is a topic on which I evangelise almost daily to my clients.

However, sometimes it is just not possible to reach agreement with or appease a dissatisfied customer or client. You should always be alert to the following:

The Manipulator:

Everyone would like something for nothing given the chance, but most of us stop short of deliberate scheming. Those who are clearly out to complain to get freebies – meals, vouchers, tickets – need firm handling otherwise they go away and tell their friends to try the same trick. They could put you out of business.

The Noisy One:

Plenty of volume, fist thumping, table banging, bulging veins but no real cause for complaint. Sounds familiar?

These people just want to be heard. They’ve got a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Take them away from the crowd, sit them down (it’s harder to get angry then), stay in control and if all else fails say, ‘I’m not prepared to listen until you stop shouting’. If need be, call for back-up

Techniques For Special Situations:

Chronic Complainers:

Some people (less than 10%) complain out of habit. It’s a behaviour pattern they have learned. You can see them coming, again and again. The rules are simple.

• Be patient; don’t give them real cause to complain about your attitude.

• Ask closed questions, keep dialogue to a minimum.

• Stick to the point.

Some managers call their bluff.

‘Well Mr. Davis. I am really sorry you are yet again unhappy with our service. Perhaps you would like to try … on the High Street.’

This often stops them in their tracks.

In Summary – Drawing The Line:

Every company will draw its own boundaries but some general guidelines used by many businesses include:

• Threats of violence – physical and verbal

• Abuse – swearing, shouting

• When nothing seems to be acceptable

• When reason doesn’t prevail

• When you correct the problem but then there’s something else …!

• When it’s clear your customer is out to abuse the system

Some customers aren’t worth having. They are bad business. Don’t be frightened about losing them providing you are certain that you have been fair, acted with integrity and endeavoured to obtain a “win-win” conclusion.

Today’s News: If you are seeking advice on choosing a sales training company, then the first place you should go to seek advice is ES Research Group, who have now become the definitive advisors.

In their latest report, they suggest that all CRM vendors should partner with leading training companies and offer their customers a “total solution”. And that is precisely what SalesNexus are doing. They are about to launch the SalesNexus Sales Community and Sales Institute.

It really is ground-breaking, and we (The JF Consultancy) are very proud to be their partner – I think my good chum Dave Stein of ES Research, will also be mightily impressed!

Performance has many components, for example, our activities and abilities that are typically where many organisations focus on. Yet beneath the surface, our beliefs about ourselves, our customers, our job, can either help or hinder our performance.

You may have heard the expression, “Whatever you believe you can do, you will and whatever you believe you can’t do, you won’t.” It’s as if our beliefs (which are unique to us all) become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our beliefs can act as huge barriers that stop us giving 100 percent to something.

Here are six beliefs that can have a positive impact on your performance.

1. Every Individual is unique and their perceptions are true to them. Because we each absorb 2 million pieces of information unconsciously and can only process around 7 chunks consciously we each have our own unique perception of the world around us.

If everyone reading this was asked to explain beliefs, each individual would give a different explanation. So who’s right? Everyone is right because your perceptions are true for you. That’s why the more respect we have for every individual and the more we seek to understand the viewpoints of other, the richer our communication becomes.

By respecting the opinions of others doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to agree with them, we just have to acknowledge that every individual’s reality is the one based on their own unique perceptions.

2. Communication is successful, only if it achieves your desired results. It doesn’t matter if you think you’ve communicated well or if you think you’ve been crystal clear, what matters is that your communication is received and acted upon in the manner you wanted.

How many times have you said something to another person who has totally misinterpreted what you meant? Equally, sometimes we are on the receiving end of communication that makes us feel inadequate.

If we can look beyond the communication and try to see a positive intention behind another person’s behaviour, then our relationships and interactions with people become more constructive and empowering.

When we communicate with people and if they are ‘not getting’ our point, then the responsibility is ours to adapt our approach until they do.

For example; if we have communicated a price increase and the reasons for that price increase, and our customers have not understood those reasons, the responsibility for this mis-communication lies with us. Therefore we can only judge the success of what we have communicated based on the reactions we get from other people.

3. Resistance from another person usually signals a lack of rapport. Rapport is a vital ingredient when developing relationships because it builds trust and allows communication to flow.

When that state of rapport is there, communication is a lot easier even if you don’t agree with the other person. When we don’t feel that rapport or connection we have a tendency to ‘nit-pick’ or find fault.

Customers respond to people they perceive understand their position and are on the same wavelength. If we are encountering lots of resistance from a prospect or a customer, then it helps us to notice that we haven’t built sufficient rapport. Even if our prospect doesn’t agree with what we are saying, rapport enables us to have an open discussion where we can get an honest reason for their reaction rather than a ‘prickily’ brick wall.

4. Flexibility improves success. The greater your flexibility, the greater your chances for achieving what you want. If we accept that every person is a unique individual then we have to accept that each prospect and customer will require a different approach.

Using the same approach with all prospects and customers is like playing the lottery, the chances of getting it right are extremely low. If we have high levels of flexibility that allows us to adapt to each prospect and customer’s style then we are able to build more rapport and reduce resistance.

Albert Einstein gave the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over whilst expecting a different result. As an example, think about a fly…..have you watched how many times a fly bumps its head trying to fly out of a window? I guess that’s why it’s a fly.

The more we are able to adapt, the more opportunities we create. If what you are doing isn’t working, try something different and if that doesn’t work try something different again.

Flexibility of thinking and behaviour creates awesome sales people. Your team are also unique individuals requiring a unique approach with how you manage them. The greater your behavioural flexibility the easier it is to connect and develop better working relationships.

5. There is no failure, only feedback. Of course there is failure. If you take a driving test or exam you either pass or fail. Your sales people will either succeed in achieving their monthly sales targets or fail to meet them. The key is how you perceive ‘failure’.

Every failure can be looked at as a learning opportunity that is beautifully epitomised by Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Despite more than 10,000 failures, he stood by his dream until he made it a physical reality. He said that every discarded idea took him one step closer towards finding the idea that would work.

One of the most powerful self-coaching questions sales people can ask is, “What will I do differently next time?” or “What can I learn from this?” Sales people who make mistakes and learn from those mistakes have a tendency to do better than sales people who are scared to fail. Therefore if your team can be encouraged to see that when they don’t achieve their targets they have an opportunity to learn, because they have been given great feedback on what not to do next month.

6. Accepting 100% responsibility creates transformation. Every action you take creates a reaction that is based on the formula of cause and effect. Everything that happens is the effect of an underlying cause.

Most people spend their lives operating at effect….”It’s not my fault I always end up in bad relationships.” “Life’s so unfair, things always happen to me.” “We’re in a recession, that’s why I haven’t achieved target.” “If I could only match our competitors prices, I’d win more deals.”

True personal power can be achieved when an individual accepts 100% responsibility for what they create in their lives. To put it another way, you get one of two things; the result or outcome you want or the reasons why you didn’t (you may recognise these as ‘excuses’!)

The more you focus on the reasons (excuses) and blame circumstances beyond your control you push away your personal power. Therefore, if you believe that you are in control of the situations that life ‘appears’ to throw at you, then you are in control of your thinking and emotions, and therefore in control of your own life.

This belief has given thousands of sales people the determination to breakthrough so many barriers and overcome countless challenges when at times it was tempting to wallow in self-pity. If something good or bad happens, ask yourself, “How did I create that?” This question enables you to tap into your brain’s infinite potential and it will give you all the answers you need.

If you’re prepared to commit 100% to taking responsibility for your own life, the results can be extraordinary – believe me, I know!

Today’s News: I am looking forward to so many things in the next few months: We have five new site launches, including the amazing Top Sales World; my son is graduating from Cambridge after four years of tremendous effort – where did the time go?; spending time in England “Oh to be in England, now that summer is here”; the World Cup – and I am also very much looking forward to Jill Konrath’s new book ….

SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customer

“I feel like a proud, but still pregnant mama announcing the upcoming birth of my newest child. While I’m still in my final trimester, it’s only two months till my official due date. FYI, SNAP Selling is now available for pre-order at Amazon: http://bit.ly/btRr8T“

Telling others how you feel and what you think and believe, as well as telling them about your background, is a kind of currency, the currency of self-disclosure. Give out information and usually you will receive a lot back in return.

People swarm, flock and group together by type, background, interests, beliefs, gender, work and so on. And one of the most efficient ways to get close to one another is through self-disclosure.

As we begin to experience a powerful common bond, so too does rapport begin. Mutual interests, ideas, values and beliefs are the wrap and weft of social interaction.

Most people like people who are like themselves!

Biographic Matching:

It is rare for two human beings to be together very long before seeking to discover similarities about themselves. This biographic matching can be social or economic, achieved through outlook, education or background – common experiences of the world.

When you match, you reduce resistance by playing down differences while building on similarities.

Pacing:

Once you are matching one another, you can continue to maintain the rhythm you have created by agreeing with one another, seeing from the same point of view. Pacing is a conscious continuation of matching.

When talking, you can pace:
• Words that are used
• Tone of voice
• Language patterns
• Volume
• Body language used

Don’t overdo it – you may be accused of mimicry. Be elegant – your skills should remain unnoticed.

Today’s News: Amazingly, Top 10 Sales Articles site is almost four years old – quite incredible how time flies! We will be celebrating on April 15th. In the meantime, this month’s nominations are all extremely good – have you voted yet? No? OK, you can if you go HERE

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin

Whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there. A rapidly changing environment is the regular background against which organisations must develop.

Change is continuous and will become more rapid as we move forward over time. Senior management must be capable of reacting to those changes and be prepared to take advantage of them and yet stay within the overall framework and agreed strategy.

The role of strategy is fundamental if the people within an organisation are to be enabled to make the level of contribution of which they are capable. Strategy, based on a good grasp of the core competencies of a business, is an essential precursor to achieving optimal shareholder value.

The world’s leading organisations continuously seek to improve their performance. There may be unlimited potential for achieving accelerated improvement but if this potential is not being realised, good change agents must line up and mobilise all the forces (or drivers) for improvement.

There are five main drivers for improvement in organisations:

• Strategy

• Lean operations

• Balanced culture

• Customer responsiveness

• Leadership

Strategy sets direction and give focus to improvement. It must however be deployed throughout the organisation to be effective.

Processes need to be mapped and analysed in a methodical way; projects must be managed; problem symptoms traced to root causes; data must be collected before decisions are taken; trends in customer preferences detached and fed back; improvement activity of any kind reported on and coordinated; improvement action measured. Just about everything should be done to a discipline.

A balanced culture means effective, creative management of people. Customers are served by people; processes are managed by people. Only people can deliver quality improvement. For them to work well they must be empowered, given direction, measured, reviewed and success recognised.

Customer responsiveness keeps the organisation focused on customer needs, reactions and changing requirements.

Finally, leadership ensures that everyone is enthused and supported to work on the strategy, improve processes, served customers and active team players.

Today’s News: Here is a very poignant post from Paul McCord (don’t try and say that too quickly) that will … well, strike a chord- “Has Your Joy Been Drained?”

More than ever today, business executives have to operate as both leader and follower in the daily rounds of their job.

Those who study leadership begin to take more interest in the ‘psychological contract’ between leader and followers. In other words, they began to ask what makes people prepared to follow one leader and unwilling to follow another.

These ideas are now changing both the way we think about leadership and the style of our leaders. This is in tune with other social and organisational developments, including the move to more participative management and the rise of industrial democracy.

Other new ideas are also gaining ground. For example, only now is the notion of ‘emotional intelligence’ becoming widely understood. For the leaders of the future, it is likely to be as important as a high IQ.

In his ground-breaking 1996 book, “Emotional Intelligence”, the American psychologist Daniel Goleman explored the issue of personal and professional effectiveness. He argued that in a business world too often obsessed by cold analysis, the emotional climate is more important to the success of a leader than previously recognised.

At senior levels, ‘emotional intelligence’ rather than ‘rational intelligence’ marks out the true leader: “The qualities of leadership and the quality of the heart are largely the same”. This may explain why someone like Branson, who twice failed his elementary mathematics exam, can make a better leader than someone with a degree from Harvard Business School. Branson’s ‘emotional intelligence’ – his ‘people radar’ – is more keenly developed.

According to Goleman, studies of outstanding performers in organisations show that about two thirds of the abilities that set star performers apart in the leadership stakes are based on emotional intelligence. Only a third of the skills that matter relate to raw intelligence (as measured by IQ) and technical expertise.

“Our emotions are hardwired into our being”, Goleman explained. “The very architecture of the brain gives feelings priority over thought”. There is a sign in Harvard’s rat lab that says: “Rats under carefully controlled conditions will do any damned thing they please”. The same is true of human beings. Leaders ignore emotions at their perils.

Most important of all, the role of leaders in developing the next generation has too often been neglected. If we are to grow as a society, this must be the priority for the future. As Sir Adrian Cadbury, the former Head of Cadbury Schweppes, has observed: “Good leaders grow people, bad leaders stunt them; good leaders serve their followers, bad leaders enslave them”.

Today’s News:

Successful Selling is All in the Mind
Tuesday March 16th 2010 12 noon EASTERN

Is it all about attitude?  Is it all about motivation? Are either more important than skill? And what about knowledge of what you are selling?

What IS the mental connection to high performance?  Does one really exist?

What are mental exercises that you can do to strengthen your “game?”

Do you have to believe in your product or service to be successful, really successful, at selling?

So many questions, important ones. Join our crack panel of sales leaders who will do their best to break this down, examine it and weigh in what they believe really is essential for true sales champions. Oh, and expect some terrific tips from them as well!

Join an all-star panel: Billy Cox, Lori Richardson, Daniel Waldschmidt, Michael Griego and Nancy D. Solomon.

FREE REGISTRATION HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Wendy Weiss

Far too many sales professionals hear prospect objects as personal rejection. Because of this, many sales professionals are terrified of prospect objections. Rather than being something scary, however, the truth is that an objection from your prospect is important information. You are learning about your prospect, how that prospect thinks and feels and what is important to them. Listen carefully.

That said, however, you do not necessarily have to hear every prospect objection. There are some that you can and should eliminate at the very start of your sales process. This is called “preempting objections.”

The way that you preempt an objection is to mention that objection first, before your prospect can even bring it up. This is best used with the types of objections that you hear all the time. Addressing objections first and up front is an incredibly powerful way to minimize the number of objections you actually do hear.

With these seven ways of naming your prospect, finding the decision-maker should never again be an issue.

For example: A very frequent objection prospectors’ hear is: “It’s too expensive” as in “I’ve heard about your product/service and it’s too expensive.” If this is something you hear frequently you can eliminate this objection’s power by addressing it first. If indeed your product/service is more expensive than the competition, there is probably a reason for that additional expense. What is the reason? Does your company uses superio r quality products in manufacturing? Does your company offer a special level of service above and beyond what the competition offers? Identify the reason that your product/service is more expensive than your competitors’. Then bring it up yourself. An example:

“Our product/service is certainly not the cheapest. That’s because we use superior quality materials and 24/7 service. None of our competitors can say that.”

By addressing the objection first, you’ve turned a negative into a positive.

Another example: Let’s say that your company has been having service issues and that these problems are widely known.  You’re certain that your prospect knows about the issues and will see them as a negative. If the issues have been corrected or are in the process of being corrected you should bring those issues up first:

“While we were having some c hallenges with (fill in the blank) that caused the company to (fill in the blank with the actions taken by the company) and institute new procedures to (fill in the blank with new procedures) which will actually cause (fill in the blank with a benefit that the prospect will reap from these changes).”

As in the previous example you are turning a negative into a positive.

When you bring up an objection first and address it, you not only eliminate the objection, you are able to position the objection the way that you want it to be perceived. This usually enables you to turn that objection from a negative into a positive.

Your homework, then, is to thoroughly review all the prospect objections that you frequently hear and brain storm ways to preempt them. You will not be able to preempt all prospect objections; however you will be able to preempt many of them. If you do this well you will be in a much stronger place to be able to move your sales process forward.

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com.

Get Wendy’s free Special Report, Getting in the Door: How to Write an Effective Cold Calling Script, at http://www.wendyweiss.com.

Today’s News: The final chapter of Craig Klein’s great FREE ebook has been released:

8 Metrics You Must Know about Marketing, Leads and Sales

Simply click on the banner above to download your copy.

Before you even begin to look at engaging seriously in lots of  networking effort, it is useful to look at your own temperament or disposition. This is the individual’s internal desire to network and to find value and enjoyment from the whole process of building relationships.

For some people this will be an almost irrelevant issue to debate. Their motivation to want to talk to people regularly and to network is naturally high. Talking to strangers in supermarket queues, at bus/train stops or even in the elevators is characteristic of such people.

However, even if you really enjoy talking to people, it is a proven fact that most of us are not highly confident and highly motivated networkers. In fact, statistics reveal that only one in ten people are actually comfortable in striking up a relationship with a complete stranger.

Unfortunately, this means that their own misgivings, fears and doubts potentially hinder the vast majority of people

Four Networking Types:

In practice, you can divide people who attempt to build networking relationships into four distinct types.

o The Loner (little or no networking)

o The Socialiser

o The User

o The Relationship Builder or Networker

Although our aim is to consider the fourth of these in some detail as the role to which we can all aspire (if we are not already there), let’s briefly look at each of these types in turn.

The Loner:

•  Likes to do most things by themselves (because they do it faster or better)

•  Doesn’t want to bother or worry other people

•  Feels that their knowledge and skills are often superior to most people

•  Only asks for help as a last resort (and when it may be too late)

The Loner is an easily recognisable type, because there are times when we all believe that we will do better ourselves than if we ask others for help. The Loner will not usually want to bother anyone else, or necessarily see much point in doing so, believing that others will be slower and will set lower standards.

Unfortunately, the Loner attitude is a major obstacle to effective networking. We need to shift our thinking greatly in this area. We should be more willing to let others assist, and we should even ask for help more often

The Socialiser:

o Tries to make a friend of everyone they meet

o Tends to know people’s names and faces but not what they do

o Is not usually systematic or ordered about follow-up – contact is random

o May not listen too deeply and is quick to move on

Although the Socialiser may have a wide circle of friends and contacts, he or she knows little of substance about personal skills and resources. As a result, Socialisers do not often share their skills.

The Socialiser is also a random networker, following little or no formal contact system.

The User:

o Is likely to collect business cards without really connecting with people

o Tries to make ‘sales’ or ‘pitches’ on the first encounter

o Talks and focuses on own agenda rather than together information

o Has superficial interactions

o Keeps score when giving favours

Unfortunately, people of this type do network widely, but in a way that creates little benefit for themselves or others. Even worse, this kind of networker tends to create a bad impression and therefore can give networking an image of being about selling, taking, bargaining and keeping score.

The Builder:

•  Has a ‘giving’ disposition or abundance mentally

•  Is generally happy to ask others for help or guidance

•  Listens and learns about people carefully

•  Is regularly on the look-out for useful information for which others can also benefit

•  Has a well-ordered and organised networking system

This type of networker is what this article is all about – an individual who takes a long-term perspective on relationships with others and thinks more about what he or she can give or offer, than about the return.

This type is out there for others, or on call to offer help whenever it is needed. If they cannot help in person, they usually know someone else who can.
And Finally: Maintaining High Self-Esteem

Apart from the Builder, one factor connects the other three types in preventing them from networking more effectively. This is the issue of self-esteem.

The Loner believes in himself or herself, but not necessarily in others (especially relative strangers). The Socialiser likes people but also very much wants to be liked by others (and therefore does not want to ask for favours). Finally, the User takes a relatively selfish view of “If I benefit or gain, I might reciprocate, otherwise I won’t.”

Of course, all of these types fear rejection, obligation, being too pushy or even looking weak. All of these fears or concerns about networking need to be lessened or overcome.

In a short article such as this, a topic as largely and potentially complicated as a person’s relative self-esteem cannot be covered at any level of detail. However, it is important to appreciate how low self-esteem can have a major impact on your networking efforts if it is not at least basically understood and addressed.

An individual with high self-esteem is likely to build their own confidence to want to network by having a positive, open and ‘can do’ attitude.

Conversely, an individual with low self-esteem is likely to lack confidence to start with. They will convince themselves (and others) that they have little that would be of interest to others in any network.

Today’s News: It’s Friday, so please allow very good chum, Dave Stein, to give you a chuckle – and they say we are over-priced? HERE

Customer care has become one of the most important issues facing businesses in every market.

Customer-care programs come under a number of titles – customer services, customer satisfaction, customer focus, etc.

Their common theme is meeting the customer’s requirements and ensuring that all aspects of the business contribute to customer satisfaction. The intention is to build repeat business. If customers are satisfied with the product and the standards of service they receive, they will return again and again.

Inconsistent Customer Care

Inconsistent customer care performance can have a negative effect on customer perceptions. Gas stations, for example, know that every time a customer walks into one of their outlets, wherever they are in the country, they should expect to receive the same standards of service. Nationwide consistency is essential when customers are likely to visit multiple outlets – one poor performance can threaten the customer’s perception of the entire operation.

What Is Customer Care?

Customer care is about addressing three sets of requirements: the customer, your staff, and the overall organization.

These requirements are inter-related, i.e., it is more difficult to deliver consistently high standards in customer care if the needs of both the organization and the staff are not taken into account.

Customer Care Requirements

Your customer requires a few basic elements to feel satisfied and motivated to return. These include:

• Excellent personal service — the customer feels valued, listened to, treated as an individual

• Your products have to meet basic expectations

• Customers need encouragement to express their views and give feedback

• Clients require an effective relationship with the overall organization

• Problems and complaints must be handled effectively

Staff Requirements

To keep customers happy, you have to have an energized, motivated staff that is onboard with your company’s overall customer service philosophy. Your staff needs:

• Supervisors with effective management style

• Suitable working environment — including pay and conditions, and the right tools for the job

• Relevant training to develop skills

• Career potential — no one wants to feel they are in a dead-end position

• Clarity of role/job description

• Performance standards and appraisal systems

• Sense of involvement/value

• Open communication

• Teamwork

• Rewards and recognition for a job well done

Organizational Requirements

Organizations with a successful customer-care policy have the following:

• Mission statement

• Corporate structure

• Feedback and communication systems

• Profit

• Human and technical resources

• Demonstrated commitment

Who Are Your Customers?

If you are not serving the customer, you should be serving someone who is.

Harmonious relationships with customers and colleagues are essential to service success, because providing outstanding customer service is primarily a team effort. For excellent customer service to exist, it has to be practiced on an internal basis.

The What and the How

The “what” is the material and the “how” is the personal element. To be outstanding, organizations must deliver excellence in both material and personal service. Customer service is no longer just a question of interpersonal skills.

The difference between you and your competitors is achieved when expectations are exceeded. Doing the unexpected, going the extra mile, moves us from meeting expectations to exceeding expectations.

How To Delight Customers

• Be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is the driving force of quality service. Customers do not just want products, they want products plus enthusiasm.

• Be professional. The word “professional” does not go with the job – it goes with the person.

Be the Best

• Someone, somewhere has to be the best at this job – why not me?

• Decide to be outstanding

How To Be the Best

• Use positive self talk – e.g., tell yourself, “Every day, in every way, I get better and better.”

• Don’t be ordinary

• Develop a ‘How can I do it better?’ mindset

Today, Everyone Sells

In a successful company, the number of salespeople equals the number of employees. Even if your primary occupation is customer service, by providing excellent customer care, you are in effect keeping this customer and providing for future sales for your company.

So, in a sense, everyone sells something – products, services or even the image of the company.

Today’s News: Good chum Diane Helbig’s latest book has been re-released. Re-released? Yep, it’s a long story, but it’s a great read!

Why is it that some companies grow prosperous on the fruits of their success at winning major bids while others think themselves lucky to garner a few crumbs from the feast?

Just why is it that some companies consistently win more major bids than others?

What do they do that makes them so successful?

Senior marketing and sales managers have long sought answers to these questions, often with little success. Not surprisingly, the most effective bid winners prefer to draw a veil over those factors that make them successful.

But research has pulled the veil aside and provides a glimpse of the critical success factors in winning major bids. The research is part of a major project undertaken by the Faculty of Management at the University of Luton.

As part of the research 293 companies answered a detailed questionnaire, which focussed on two key areas – how successful they were at winning major bids and what they regard as the factors that made them most successful at winning the bids.

The companies in the survey represent a cross section of those British companies that compete in major bids either in the UK market or overseas and came from industries as diverse as information technology, construction, engineering, aerospace, media, consultancy, manufacturing and utilities. Between them, the companies have a combined turnover of more than £65 billion. For the purpose of the survey, a bid was defined as either, a one-off purchase or a contract for ongoing supply over a specified period

They were candid about their success; some 37 % admitted they won less than a quarter of the bids they pitched for. A further 40 % said they won between a quarter and half of their bids. Only 4 % of the companies claimed to win more than three-quarters of their bids.

There was little disagreement that winning major bids was essential to achieving business plans – 53 % said it was very important to win bids from new customers and 65 % from existing customers. Given that winning major bids is important for achieving business plans, just what is it that gets a company invited to bid in the first place?

The companies were invited to rank a number of different factors on a scale running from “very important” to “not important at all”.
 
The top five factors are:
• Perceived quality of your products/services
• Relationships with existing or potential customers
• Position of the company in it’s market-place
• The company’s overall image
• Track record in similar projects

However, if 77 % of companies win less than half the bids they pitch for – what do the best quarter have, that the other three-quarters lack?

A yearlong research project undertaken by Mathew O’Connor, one of the co-authors of the report, identified 18 activities, which contributed to success

These activities fall under four main categories:
• Assessing the customer’s perception of products/service value,
• Understanding the customer’s buying centre, (Decision-Making Unit)
• Contacting customer’s regularly and reviewing the relationship
• Communicating key messages about the company and it’s products/services)

Companies that win less than a quarter of bids, claim to perform an average of only 2.9 of the activities very effectively. Among companies winning a quarter to half of bids, the number of very effective activities rises to 3.5; those who win half to three quarters of their bids perform 4.9 activities very effectively: among those companies winning more than three-quarters of major bids, the number of very effective activities climbs to 8.7.

What is perhaps surprising here is that even the most successful companies are accomplishing less than half of the critical 18 activities “very effectively”. It seems pretty clear, that those companies prepared to focus on these activities and generate even a modest increase in the number of activities performed very effectively, could reap significant improvements in the number of major bids they win.

Aside from these critical activities, the research has uncovered some important issues for managing effective bid teams. The companies in the survey were asked to rate 15 aspects of managing bid teams on a five-point scale from “very important” to “not important at all”.

The top five issues are:
• Leadership from senior managers
• Creating a team spirit
• Leadership from board of directors
• Including team members with specialised knowledge of the product / service
• Giving clear instructions to team members on how to handle the bid

Carol Kennedy, a co-author of the report, says: “There is wide range of different issues that companies need to address more effectively if they are to win more of the bids they pitch for. Bidding relationships with the client is given a particularly high priority in the service sector.”

“There are wide variations in the effectiveness of major bid management between organisations. With more companies increasingly finding themselves pitching against overseas competitors for business, the need to create more effective bid management and use a strategic approach is more urgent than ever.” 

To read this article, “The Myths of Bidding Exploded” in full, please click here:

Today’s News: Over at AllBusiness.com, you can catch my latest “Ask the Expert” podcast – “Why Sales Managers Need To Be Coaches”

And you may also enjoy my AB blog post “Oh No, Not Another B****y Sales Meeting”