Let’s face it, no matter how unique your products and services and no matter how superb your sales track record, selling in today’s tumultuous times is still more challenging than ever. There can be no doubt about that:

• Prospective clients are increasingly cautious and hesitant about buying.
• Sales cycles are definitely getting longer and longer plus there are fewer buyers overall.
• Even existing, satisfied buyers are foregoing new purchases and making do with existing resources.

But rather than focus on the downside of a down economy, what if you consider the upside of the down economy …the upside of the down?

The upside is simple: Consider that your opportunities for larger and longer-term gain are magnified because of the down economy.

While everyone else is running around caught up in the depression, you have an opportunity to radically change your mind-set about selling and your approach to how it’s done.

If you are willing to commit to making this shift, there’s a better than even chance that you’ll exponentially multiply the lifetime monetary value of your best accounts as well as the difference that you can make.

We call this approach “Selling based on being valuable”

Unquestionably, fresh approaches and skills are required to successfully sell in this challenging environment. While sales strategies and techniques have their place and the quality of your products and services remains paramount, these factors alone won’t complete the sale for you.

Selling based on outcomes and value provided makes more sense than ever. By all means, sell based on the specific results, improvements, outcomes, and experiences that buyers get from using your products and services, but I challenge you to take this to another level – a deeper, more meaningful level: Become more valuable to your existing and potential buyers by becoming known and valued as a trusted resource of information, expertise, and guidance. Some of the solutions to their problems and challenges may lie outside the realm of what your own products and services can directly provide, yet you can still point customers in the right direction. While this approach may make common sense, it isn’t commonly practiced. Nor is it consistently practiced. Are you up for it?

So then, here are a few ideas on how to become more valuable in the minds, hearts, and eyes of your buyers. If you’ll commit to consistently practicing at least some of them, you’ll ultimately position yourself as a valued resource rather than as a commodity or, worse yet, someone who only cares about the short-term gain of the sale.

1) Commit to learning what they specifically want to accomplish in their business or job and why it’s so important to them. Inquire sincerely and really listen. And dig. Don’t just accept the first three or so answers; those are typically superficial. Ask genuine questions about what they’re up to. Learn about their initiatives and goals as well as their challenges and concerns about reaching them.

2) Create a success library. Do you have a readily accessible collection of articles, websites, audios, and other media that might be of interest to your customers? This may seem obvious for items that pertain directly to your products and/or services, but be sure to expand the breadth and depth of your value by including resources that are of value to your customers, but may not necessarily promote your products and services.

3) Provide educational and training programs. Doing so positions you as an expert in your field and, in general, people like to buy from perceived experts, especially those they know, like, and trust. These can be live, in-person events and/or virtual events, such as teleseminars and webinars. They may be free or for a fee. And, to add greater depth of expertise and value, you can bring in other experts from complementary fields.

4) Create a “success rolodex” and share it freely. You might not be the best solution provider in every case, but you probably know someone who is. Do you have a rolodex of proven, reliable collaborators, even those in the same field as you? While others in the same field may be viewed as competitors, they may better serve your customer’s immediate needs. If there is a spirit of generosity and best serving the needs of the customer, your competitors become true collaborators.

5) Develop a mindset of contribution. Readily share ideas on how your prospective and existing customers can more readily achieve their goals and initiatives. Weave these ideas into your sales conversations. Yes, there’s a risk of confusing your buyers or sending them too far off track from what you specifically have to offer through your products and services. But if you approach this from the right mindset and a spirit of genuine concern for helping, then you probably won’t need to worry about that.

In a sense, selling from this mindset no longer is selling. Selling becomes an elevated form of education and sharing of knowledge; it becomes a means of contributing to the welfare of others.

This mindset, attitude, and approach transform selling to the realm of educating, connecting, and supporting one another and sincerely helping others to achieve their goals.

It avoids selling for the short-term gain, only to lose the long-term value of a client

Making this a normal part of your selling approach is certain to position you as a leader and valued resource. Businesses will pledge their loyalty and send their referrals.

Ultimately, the economy will regain strength and resistance to buying will shift. Adopting this approach of “selling by contributing” will position you to:
• Attract more and better customers.
• Increase the average transaction size of each sale, and
• Enhance the likelihood that buyers will buy more often and from you.

If you want to sell more and sell easier, then first give. Give of yourself. Give of your expertise. Give of your extended circle of expertise.

Do this, and you’ll transform the process of selling to the gift of contributing value, creating a following that is certain to exponentially expand.

Connecting with your buyers this way is more fulfilling. That connection leads to trust and that naturally leads to a collaborative relationship. Ultimately, this level of relationship enhances your ability to contribute to the welfare of your buyers and their own clientele.

This is a sure-fire approach in any economy – up or down. You win. Your customers win. Their customers win. Isn’t that an outcome worth striving for?

News: We have not only announced all of the categories for this year’s Top Sales & Marketing Awards, we have also now opened the doors for nominations … what are you waiting for? 

A skilled negotiator will create high levels of rapport and be sensitive and empathetic to the people they are negotiating with, yet can still be hard on the issues. The ability to separate the people from the issues, and recognize that negotiations are often fraught with emotional intensity, can help sharpen the focus on the interests of the other party to better balance perceptions.

If the negotiation doesn’t appear to be going anywhere and your prospect is behaving like a bully, you might feel angry and frustrated. You may already have considered simply agreeing to their demands. In difficult negotiations, there are four vital behaviours that can increase your resourcefulness and consequently your opportunities for getting to “Win-Win.”

1. Manage your emotional state
Build rapport by matching the other person’s style, pace and approach until you have achieved a ‘connection’ Personalize the negotiation by using “I” rather than your organization’s name. This demonstrates your belief in your proposal and highlights your credibility.

In the face of feelings like anger, disappointment, frustration, confusion, and resentment, we often react without thinking. In such a situation mentally detach yourself and think about it before you respond. It helps to reframe attacks and tactical manoeuvres as feedback that the other person’s interests have not been fully acknowledged. Stay focused on your goal of reaching an agreement.

2. Look for quick mutual wins to build the belief “we can agree”
The more abstract your communication the more likely you are to reach agreement. Therefore, seek to gain agreement at an abstract level first and then get into the detail.

For example, if two people wanted what appears to be very different things, such as a) nuclear disarmament and b) more resources spent on defense, if you looked at finding out both sides highest intention, you may discover that ‘peace’ was the desired outcome for both people. Therefore, at this abstract level they have found agreement so the negotiation can continue by gradually getting more detailed.

Questions that chunk up your prospect into the bigger picture include:
- For what purpose?
- What’s your intention behind (negotiating point)?

Seek to address the easy/quickest areas of agreement first to reinforce the process of agreement is simple and straightforward. If you discover an area where agreement may not be reached quickly then agree to leave it until later. If some points become contentious it can help discussions if you both move your body, because the mind and body are connected, physical movement helps to create mental movement. That’s why a walk can work wonders during tough negotiations. Provide regular summaries of what you have both accomplished to install the belief that the negotiation is making progress.

Some sales people write out all the points to be negotiated on separate sheets of paper, then as each point is agreed they move the paper to a different place, so that the buyer can physically see the progress being made which serves to motivate the entire process.

3. Use active listening skills and ask questions to give you a greater understanding of the other person’s viewpoint
Giving good attention to people makes them more intelligent. Poor attention makes them stumble over their words and appear stupid. You are best positioned to change someone’s mind after you have listened to that person. People tend to close down and stick to their position until they feel heard. The goal of active listening is for you to hear and understand other people – their words, thoughts, and feelings, and to let them know you’ve heard and understood them.

Acknowledge their motivations, feelings, and point of view, even when you don’t agree with what they are saying. Your goal is to understand the message, not judge the validity of what they say.

4. Build trust by negotiating fairly
Demonstrations of power erode trust. If you are on the receiving end of this type of behaviour, describe your observations, and the consequences of continuing the current process. For example: “You know you’ve named what seems to me a low price, and so now I’ll name a higher price, and then we’ll each insist on our position until one of us gives in. I don’t find my best negotiations work like this.”

Then propose a different way to proceed, for example: “It would help me to understand the criteria of a fair offer if we could take a look at some of the relevant standards in this industry.” Before beginning the negotiation it can help to agree the ground rules and stick to them. Act with integrity and hold a healthy respect for the intentions of the individual you are negotiating with.

There is always a reason why a point of negotiation is important to the buyer and if we can appreciate more about their underlying reasons, this knowledge can be used and acted upon.

Strong negotiation skills are absolutely fundamental to becoming a successful sales professional, so my advice is do work hard to hone your skills.

News: Lots happening over at Top Sales World today: To begin with, we have announced last week’s Top Sales Article and also this week’s Top 10 Nominees.

In addition, there are excellent articles from Jeffrey Gitomer, who reflects on the life of Steve Jobs – “The Good Times.The Bad Times. The Changin’ Times” and Kevin Eikenberry – “Trace Adkins, Celebrity Apprentice and You” 

There is still time to sign-up for Linda Richardson’s Top Sales Academy presentation on Thursday (1:00 pm Eastern – 6:00 pm GMT) – “Transforming Sales Coaching into Sales Results” – it is FREE to register. Here is a brief overview …

“Everyone in business says that ‘It’s all about the numbers.” And research shows that quality coaching is the single most important activity that a sales manager can provide to drive the numbers. Sales coaching increases sales productivity. It makes your reps more independent and accountable. It gives you back hours in your day by teaching you how to question in a way that helps reps learn how to solve problems, develop strategies, leverage resources as needed but close their own deals.

Although more and more organizations recognize that sales productivity lives and dies with their front line sales managers and are providing sales coaching training, productivity numbers show that much of the coaching is not working. Why? Because effective sales coaching is not an event or even informal sessions but rather a part of a continuous learning process, mind-set and skill set embedded in the sales culture.”

I will be hosting, so do join us - REGISTER

Today’s article was inspired by my colleague Barb Giamanco’s recent post What Sales Leaders Really Need to Know About Social Selling

What I found particularly – and I might add refreshingly – honest about Barb’s commentary was her forthright assertion that social selling is NOT the be all and end all. It is not a replacement for the way we have always sold, and in isolation, it will not increase our success.

 Barb writes : “Contrary to what you may hear, social selling isn’t a NEW idea. I can say that because I’ve been using the term in my writing and speaking since early 2009, as I was writing my book, The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media. Rather than trying to take credit for the term though, I want to suggest that you, as a sales leader, need to be wary of the sales trainers and software platform sellers merely trying to capitalize on a “buzz term” they think is hot.

Why am I bothered about the abuse of the term social selling?

Well, for two reasons:

1. The misguided assumption that the use of social tools (LinkedIn, Hootsuite, Twitter or Facebook) on their own is the strategy that will increase sales and cure sales performance problems.

Use of technology is NOT a sales strategy!

Far too many of the “self-proclaimed” social selling experts want you to believe that all your sales people need to know is how to use LinkedIn, and once they do, sales will magically increase. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a fan of LinkedIn since I became member number 874,098 on July 22, 2004, and am thrilled that my company was recently selected as one of seven to join LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions Certified Partner program. But for all the love, I know, as you need to know, that LinkedIn – just like any other technology – is a sales tool that enables a sound sales approach but does not replace it.

Ask yourself, what good is technology if your sales people do not follow a sales process; they lack basic common sense, good communication and sound selling skills?

I don’t need to tell you the answer. You already know what it is.

2. The over reliance on technology is quickly replacing the basic principles of great selling.

The gap is only getting wider as more and more sales people seem to think that the technology will do the actual selling for them. Good communication, listening, business and sales skills and even the basic principles of etiquette is disappearing…quickly!

Social selling is not merely a set of tactics reliant on one technology platform or even a combination of platforms. I believe that Social Selling is a strategic way of thinking about what today’s buyers want and expect from sales people. Yes, technology is part of the equation and can help you reach your prospects more quickly, but what are your sales people saying and doing once they get in front of them?

What do you, as the sales leader, really need to know about social selling?

Unless you have a plan that is aligned with sales objectives, the right people with the right skills, a process followed consistently, use of the right platform(s), sales messages communicated from the customer point of view, defined metrics to track, and an approach that is mixed with equal parts persistence and patience, you haven’t a prayer of achieving the sales results you seek.

Technology is only a fraction of the real sales story, but the so-called experts won’t bother to tell you that!”

You can select your own most salient points from that text, but the most relevant for me are:

“The misguided assumption that the use of social tools (LinkedIn, Hootsuite, Twitter or Facebook) on their own is the strategy that will increase sales and cure sales performance problems.

Use of technology is NOT a sales strategy!”

“Far too many of the “self-proclaimed” social selling experts want you to believe that all your sales people need to know is how to use LinkedIn, and once they do, sales will magically increase.”

“The over reliance on technology is quickly replacing the basic principles of great selling.

The gap is only getting wider as more and more sales people seem to think that the technology will do the actual selling for them.”

“Technology is only a fraction of the real sales story, but the so-called experts won’t bother to tell you that!”

 You see, as I have been at pains to point out until I am almost blue in the face, there are three critical stages that we as sellers must pass through in a typical sales cycle:

1)      Find the opportunity

2)      Close the opportunity

3)      Develop the account

Social selling really only has any relevance at Stage 1. It does not provide us with the necessary skills to close business or to then develop the opportunity into a long-term client.

Is it any wonder that so many frontline sales professionals are “stuck” at Stage 1, which has to correspond with the fact that sales performance and quota attainment are spiralling downwards at such an alarming rate?

News: Over at Top Sales World we have just published my latest white paper – “Bidding Tricks – The Secrets Revealed” Here is a taster:

“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? This latest white paper lifts the lid on “bidding tricks”  It is FREE to download here

It is common knowledge that even today in most industries, a very high percentage of training budgets are spent on “product knowledge” workshops and training sessions. This is understandable to a degree, particularly in the more technical sectors, but what about all the other types of “knowledge”?

That statement is guaranteed to produce a lot of blank faces, and considerable head scratching!

But, if we are highly motivated, and we have received ongoing skills training, and we are using the very best process tools, and we are totally au fait with the benefits of social selling etc. we are bound to be successful aren’t we?

Short answer? No, not any more. Let’s look at recent history…

Forty years ago frontline sales professionals believed that success would automatically arrive if they developed their personalities and adhered to the mantras of Tracey, Nightingale, Ziglar and co. And it is true even today that self-confidence, self-motivation, empathy, rapport building etc, will indeed take you a long way, and without most of those personal characteristics you will not succeed.

Then thirty years ago the “mega-training” companies such as Miller-Heiman, Huthwaite, Holdene, Target etc, arrived with new selling models – what I termed “scientific selling solutions” It was new thinking at the time and it was all rather good. Meanwhile, the rapidly developing “tailored solution” organizations such as Richardson, Wilson, Sandler, to name just three, were becoming market leaders in their fields – so that’s the “skills-orientated era” taken care of, which of course is still with us today.

Twenty years ago, “process and control” were the new buzz words. CRM systems began to flood the market, and sales managers licked their lips at the prospect of all that data at their finger tips. Consultative sales processes were developed – not always adopted and implemented successfully though – and the “Attitude + Skills + Process” loop was complete  … well almost.

When people began congratulating themselves that they had adopted ASP, most forgot about “K” Well, that’s not quite true. In fact they spent millions of dollars on “K” in the certain belief that it stood for “Knowledge,” as in product knowledge – only half-right.

As I alluded to earlier, “Knowledge” is a much more complex issue. What about:

Industry knowledge

Sector knowledge

Competitor knowledge

Political knowledge

Commercial knowledge

Own company knowledge

Economic knowledge

Self knowledge

These then are today’s realities, and I believe that every organization that intends to survive in this new re-engineered environment must, in my view, respond to those realities.

Let’s be clear, today’s clients/customers – who have never been more “commercially educated” are looking for vendors who can be business partners, who are willing and able to share risks and who are able to properly manage the entire sales process.

It is suggested that 84% of buying decisions are based on emotion – if that really is the case, buyers will not entertain entering into a long-term relationship with us because they like us, but rather that they trust us. Trust does NOT happen overnight, it never did.

Logically we are far more likely to trust someone if we sense synergy, if the seller talks our language and if they are “knowledgeable”

News: Over at Top Sales World, two ladies who are right at the top of their field are discussing their upcoming Top Sales Academy presentations this week: Nancy Nardin – Founder and CEO of Smart Selling Tools – is presenting on Tuesday -“The Key to Explosive Revenue Growth: Measuring Sales Productivity vs. Quota Attainment” 

On Thursday, it is Linda Richardson’s turn - “Transforming Sales Coaching into Sales Results” Both sessions start at 1:00 pm Eastern (6:00 pm GMT) Registration is FREE

There is so much happening over the next couple of weeks that I thought I should provide you with a heads up so that you don’t miss any of the action. In date order ….

We are delivering Modules 5 and 6 of the Top Sales Academy Sales Management Level next week.

On Tuesday May 21st, Nancy Nardin is presenting “The Key to Explosive Revenue Growth: Measuring Sales Productivity vs. Quota Attainment”

“Quota is the heart-beat of every organization because:

• It’s the revenue number management relies on for business planning purposes
• It’s how Sales Managers and individual performers know what’s expected of them if they want to meet their own income goals.

Here’s the problem with sales quotas: they only tell you whether you’re on target to meet or exceed expectations. They don’t tell you whether you could be selling more and what’s preventing that from happening. In this 45 minute session, you’ll learn about the concept of ‘sales capacity’ (and how to calculate it), and the two key elements needed to grow revenue substantially; sales capacity and use-of-time – both of which have to do with sales productivity.”

Then on Thursday May 23rd, Linda Richardson will present “Sales Coaching”

“Everyone in business says that ‘It’s all about the numbers.” And research shows that quality coaching is the single most important activity that a sales manager can provide to drive the numbers. Sales coaching increases sales productivity. It makes your reps more independent and accountable. It gives you back hours in your day by teaching you how to question in a way that helps reps learn how to solve problems, develop strategies, leverage resources as needed but close their own deals.

Although more and more organizations recognize that sales productivity lives and dies with their front line sales managers and are providing sales coaching training, productivity numbers show that much of the coaching is not working. Why? Because effective sales coaching is not an event or even informal sessions but rather a part of a continuous learning process, mind-set and skill set embedded in the sales culture.”

Both sessions take place at 1:00 pm Eastern (6:00 pm BST) and registration is FREE

Next ….

The Changing Sales Force: How the Latest Trends Could Affect Your Revenue

Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 11:30 AM – 2PM – Westin Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA

Thousands of CEO’s and senior leaders have attended these keynotes and this is one of only two scheduled New England appearances in 2013.  This provocative presentation will help your company get on the path to greater and faster sales and profits despite the uncertain economy. Please click here for more information and to register.

Then ……

Best Sales Blogger 2013

It is time to nominate your favourite blog: Call for submissions. Closing date June 1st, so hurry! Details here

After that, we have two significant conferences coming up …

Sales 2.0 Conference – London

Just over two weeks until the Sales 2.0 Conference rolls into town, and I do hope that if you are UK based, you will make the effort to attend. There are some excellent speakers lined up – plus me. If you use this code – s2c13londontsw - you can obtain an additional £50 discount, so that is a total saving of £150! Register HERE

May I also remind you that I am “headlining” – their words, not mine – the SMP2013 Conferenceon June 6th, and that is free to register HERE

Finally ….

Women in Sales Awards

When it comes to Diversity and Inclusion sales is one area where companies are looking; probably because sales have traditionally been a male-dominated profession. It can be a scary thing to do for anyone and can seem especially daunting for women. Women in Sales Awards is designed to find the most exemplary women in sales across the UK and Europe. Full details here

PS: And in between that lot, don’t forget we will be publishing the June edition of Top Sales World magazine, with a supeb interview with Jeffrey Gitomer and the announcement of the 2014 Top Sales & Marketing Influencers list

When it comes to looking after our customers, quite often there’s a gap, a huge gap between theory and practice. There are books about customer relations; there are videos about customer relations; there are Gurus (mostly self-appointed) about customer relations. None of them actually have to deliver customer relations. That chore is left to what was known in the last two World Wars as the PBI – as in “Poor B….y Infantry”- the foot soldiers. The front line people, your front line people. So what do they make of it all?

You know about Pareto’s Law – I discuss it often enough – yes that one, the one that says 80% of the business comes from 20% of the customers? Well, it (almost) applies in this case. More than 80% of front line staff haven’t yet totally bought into the idea of effective customer relations. The other 20% have discovered a very enriching way of achieving a satisfactory outcome from interactions with customers. In other words, most of the time they succeed! And when they succeed, the customers actually thank them!

This can’t be about you – can it?

So what’s the problem? The first answer is: ‘the Directors” the next answer is “the Managers”. “Nonsense” you say. “I’m one of those, and I have explained very earnestly why we must all focus on achieving first class relations with customers”

Mmmmm! Creating business and profit enhancing relations with customers requires the right environment, ethos, culture and philosophy. You can’t achieve it by simply telling other people to do it. You can tell them the technique for turning “difficult” phone calls around, but if they don’t feel like doing it, then they won’t.

If you and your whole organization don’t believe in developing good relations with all of your customers – it won’t happen.

When so much time and money is spent on training people about the need for constructive relations with customers, why is it often so bad? For much the same reason that when so much money has been spent on telling people that smoking kills you, they still insist on smoking.

No, the issue is the environment. There used to be spittoons in bars. What is a spittoon? It’s a bowl or bucket into which people spit. Oh yes, people used to spit into spittoons. They spat because they chewed tobacco; they spat because they had – please forgive the term – phlegm. For whatever reason, they spat. And so there were spittoons. So long as the environment accepted people spitting, there were spittoons. Once that environment changed, the very idea was repulsive. Which gets us back to relations with customers. So long as the environment in your organisation is tolerant of taking a patronising, competing or negative attitude to customers, some people will do just that.

What does that mean?

Jargon obscures. There are various terms used such as Customer Relations; Customer Care; Customer Service; Customer Support – and a few more besides.

Customer Relations refers to the principles and practice used by everyone across the board in a company in developing and maintaining a certain quality of relationship with customers and prospective customers.

Customer Care refers to the techniques and attitudes necessary to deliver a high quality of service to customers.

Customer Service / Support / Helpline refers specifically to a department set up to field enquiries and complaints from customers so that operational departments need not spend time dealing with them. The term ‘Customer Relations’ may also be used for this function.
Technical Support performs a similar function for technical reasons.

In discussing customer relations we are not just discussing the work of a Customer Service Department. We need to look at the whole company-wide approach to customers – that’s all of us, not one of us or a few of us!

News: Just over two weeks until the Sales 2.0 Conference rolls into town, and I do hope that if you are UK based, you will make the effort to attend. There are some excellent speakers lined up – plus me – and actually it is worth the entrance fee just to listen to Gerhard Gschwandtner’s words of wisdom. If you use this code – s2c13londontsw - you can obtain an additional £50 discount (which you could use to buy me a drink at the bar afterwards) That is a total saving of £150!

May I also remind you that I am “headlining” – their words, not mine – the SMP2013 Conference on June 6th, and that is free to register HERE

I better get off and spend the weekend preparing presentations and speeches.

Wherever you are, bon w/e a tous!

“The winners in life constantly think in terms of “I can” “I will” and “I am”. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have done, or what they don’t do” – Dennis Waitley

Allowing self-limiting beliefs to constrain performance will in turn limit sales results, because like everyone, salespeople hold stubbornly to private beliefs about themselves, clients, markets, competition, and even the economy – beliefs that can have an enormous impact, either positive or negative, on their sales achievement levels.

If salespeople do not see themselves as providing value for their prospects and clients, they will tend to approach customers in ways that appeal to reasons for buying, other than the genuine business need of the customer. This is what sometimes leads salespeople to oversell – for example, pressing a customer to act now in order to get a low price – or to be too accommodating. It also can lead salespeople to adopt unethical behavior, because they may try to sell a customer something that they neither need nor want. If they fail to take care of their clients’ best interests, salespeople will fail to build long-term relationships and lose customers.

The Slippery Slope

Typically, salespeople who believe that, if they had lower prices, they would win more deals, tend to attract more price objections. This, in turn, leaves them feeling scared or reluctant to talk to prospects about what they have to offer. Their downward spiral then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Salespeople’s desire to succeed may be so dominated by a need to be liked, that they’ll avoid asking prospects for information that is needed to identify the prospects’ compelling reasons to buy. When this happens, closing becomes a real issue because salespeople, fearing rejection, perceive that asking for the order might cause a breakdown in the relationship with their prospect.

Fear of Calling

Recent studies have confirmed the obvious, that is to say that “fear of calling” in sales can contribute to a significant proportion of lost sales revenues. One study that I read recently found that as many as 40 % of established salespeople experienced periods of “fear of calling” severe enough to threaten their future in sales.

Stemming the ever-increasing costs of the “fear of calling” syndrome cannot be addressed by training alone. It requires an experienced coach or mentor to work with each salesperson’s particular set of beliefs, so that they feel truly empowered to breakthrough their self-created mental barriers. One particular statistic, in the following survey, should give any salesperson suffering from “fear of calling” renewed confidence.

How Customers Regard Salespeople Survey

• Salespeople who do not bother to make appointments - 45%
• Salespeople who know nothing about the customer’s business - 60%
• Salespeople who know little about their products and services - 60%
• Salespeople who call too often - 9%
• Salespeople who don’t call often enough - 49%
• Salespeople who do not have the authority to negotiate prices - 45%
• Salespeople who do not ask for the order - 40%
• Salespeople who are not properly or sufficiently organized - 55%

Most desirable quality customers want to see in salespeople?  Competence!

News: We have announced this year’s categories over at Top Sales Awards - almost – we just have two new sections to add, and next Tuesday we are open for nominations. I am confident that 2013 will be as exciting as 2012. I am particularly looking forward to the Top Sales Book of the Year contest, with an absolute plethora of  books coming out shortly from some of the biggest hitters in the sales space.

People have been debating the nature of leadership for as long as records have been kept – certainly as far back as Homer and his peers. The topic continues to fascinate and enthral us today, but the way in which we assess leadership roles is changing.

Where once we looked to military and political leaders for inspiration and insight, now it is increasingly business leaders who hold our attention and provide role models.

Ask someone to name a leader whom they have admired and they are just as likely to name Richard Branson as David Cameron; Bill Gates as Barack Obama. This focus is reflected in the growing number of books and articles about business and the main players.

Most writing on good management – and what it takes to get to the top – focus on leadership. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of personal development. This also explains the growing interest in leadership courses.

Defining just what makes a leader effective, however, remains as difficult today as it ever was. But that does not prevent us from seeking to distil their secrets – quite the reverse.

Of course, there must be almost as many theories on leadership as there are leaders themselves and models for the best kind of leadership change with the times.

In the 15th century, Niccolo Machiavelli advocated a combination of cunning and intimidation as a way to more effective leadership. His philosophy, if not his practices, became unfashionable some time ago.

“Great Man” theories popular in the 19th century and early this century, are based on the notion of the ‘born leader’ who has innate talents that cannot be taught. An alternative approach that is still in vogue is based on trying to identify the key traits of effective leaders.

Behaviorist theory prefers to see leadership in terms of what leaders do, rather than their individual characteristics, and it tries to identify the different roles they fulfil. More recently, attention has moved away from the individual in the leadership role, to embrace a more holistic view and investing less in what some commentators refer to as the ‘myth of the heroic leader’.

Much recent work in this area has concentrated on trying to understand why some leaders are more effective than others by looking at their environment and the context in which their acts have been carried out. Situational theory views leadership as specific to the situation, for example, rather than to the personality of the leader. It is based on the idea that different situations require a different style of leader.

A leader must realize there is no one best way to influence people. We need to adopt different leadership styles, in different situations, with different people.

In essence, an effective leader needs to be:

• A good diagnostician who can sense and appreciate differences in people and situations

• Adaptable – have the ability to adapt the leadership style to circumstances

In summary I would say this to those who would suggest that great leaders are born, not made. We can examine all of the great leaders in history and identify some common characteristics, but we cannot say they were “Born Leaders.” They all developed into their leadership roles over a period of time, learning the skills along the way. I do believe that leaders can be developed – I have to believe that because currently we have far too few of them in the commercial world.

News: Sadly I have to report that Thursday’s Top Sales Academy presentation has been postponed because Dan McDade has undergone an emergency procedure, and we wish him a very speedy recovery. We will not be substituting an alternative module, but rather we will re-organize Dan’s session at the end of the program.

In the meantime, we have published details of this week’s Top Sales Book of the Week, together with a brand new white paper. You will find full details over on the TSW home page

On Wednesday we will reveal this year’s Top Sales Awards categories, and nominations open next week

Leadership has been defined as “the ability to inspire willing action”

Emphasis is placed on the “willing.” But to understand leadership, we need to delve a little deeper than that.

One thing which experience has proven over and over again down through the ages is that when any group of people are thrown together for any length of time or for any project, a leader will emerge from the group – one to whom they will listen and give their confidence and support.

Their position on the organization chart or their title alone cannot make a person a genuine leader. They must have certain traits and skills, or they will surely fail. In business, it has been shown again and again that these skills can be learned and the traits can be developed in any individual who is willing to exert an effort based on strong desire and a true hunger for success.

Generally, a leader or teacher does not actually “develop” another person. They encourage and inspire that person to develop themselves from within. Thus, leadership is, in a large sense, self-initiated.

Once we understand and identify the methods and characteristics of admired leaders, we can take steps to develop these skills and traits ourselves. We can analyze ourselves — honestly, ruthlessly, objectively – and identify which skills we need to acquire or improve (and those which we need to play down).

However, it is my view that the “perfect leader” has yet to be born. We all have room for self-improvement. If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader – what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills – we will at least have made a good start. We should analyze every genuine leader we know and try to learn which qualities influenced us to consider them a good leader.

And that is what I have done: My first experience of leading was thrust upon me at the tender age of eight years old, when I captained my soccer team – since then I have always been the captain – it is as well, because I am not a very good follower, however hard I have tried.

Does your leader inspire you into willing action … or uninspire you into unwilling action?

Final question: Are great leaders born or made? It seems that everyone has a view on that – every man, his dog, and most of his dog’s best friends: I’ll share my views shortly….watch this space.

News: No doubt about it that today’s highlight is Steven Rosen’s Top Sales Academy presentation @ 1:00 pm Eastern (6:00 pm GMT) Still a handful of places left, but not too many after a flood of registrations on Monday. Grab your place here

Also over at Top Sales World we announced this week’s Top Sales Book and recommended White Paper – full details here

Here’s an interesting question for you: How much is it costing your company to generate one lead?

Here’s another equally interesting question: How many leads does your company need to generate to create one sale?

I have spent the past two weeks asking those two questions of friends, colleagues, fellow sales commentators, clients, prospects – in fact, everyone with whom I have come into contact. And do you know what? Nobody really knew the answer. Of course, there were some pretty wild, finger-in-the-air guesses, but not one rock-solid, convincing response that you would bet your children’s inheritance on.

Don’t you find that somewhat alarming?

I do, particularly when there appears to be such a concentrated focus these days on creating new opportunities. No wonder sales departments are viewed with so much suspicion by the “grey men” in finance, they must be totally convinced that we are completely out of control.

So, what’s the answer?

The reality is that there are so many sources of leads that the process of generating leads can sometimes cause sales people to feel overwhelmed when tackling this vital sales activity.

Every organization is unique and can employ a variety of approaches in their quest to attract the attention of their target market. (This will become even clearer once you have created your Ideal Customer Profile). That’s why it is essential to invest some time analyzing which lead generation initiatives worked well in the past, why they worked well and what improvements can be made to optimize their effectiveness.

There are three areas that you must consider that can help evaluate different lead generation initiatives with greater objectively.

1. Effectiveness – which lead generation activities produced the most quality leads?

2. Cost – what were the tangible costs for each lead generation initiative?

3. Time – how much time did it take to initiate and follow-up on each initiative?

1. Effectiveness

● What number of leads were generated?

● How many of these leads became qualified prospects?

● What business was generated from these leads?

● What is the projected probability of business generated from these leads for the next 12 months?

2. Cost

● How much did this lead generation initiative cost?

● Using the number of actual leads generated, what was the cost per lead?

● What profit contribution was made from leads generated over a 12 month period? (Gross margin from sales, minus the cost of the initiative.)

3. Time

● How much time did salespeople invest in following up on these leads?

● How much time did they spend on leads that did not become qualified prospects?

● What was the cost of salespeople’s time spent on this lead generation initiative?

Unless we have an accurate handle on our lead generation activities, our salespeople will continue to be overwhelmed, whilst those grey men will continue to be underwhelmed!

News: The Top Sales Academy is in full swing, as I keep reminding you, and the next module is being delivered on Tuesday by Steven Rosen – “Managing Performance for Results” It is FREE to register HERE

Lots of very kind comments and posts about Academy, and I particularly like this one from Lori Richardson – “Top Sales Academy Offers Online Sales Education”