Have you noticed that whenever we have enjoyed a great year, we are always comfortable looking back with satisfaction – maybe even a certain level of smugness – and mostly pride? Conversely, when the previous twelve months threw up all manner of disappointments, insurmountable challenges, even tragedy, not unnaturally we are anxious to put it all behind us, sneak into the New Year as rapidly as possible – and erase it from memory.

So then, how fortunate am I? I am able to look back on 2010 with considerable pride and gratitude.

Gratitude? Yes, genuine gratitude for being presented with the opportunity to work with so many richly talented, visionary, and equally committed friends, acquaintances, and colleagues – my kind of people.

Committed? Yes, committed to continually raising the bar; advancing this wonderful profession of ours; being prepared to go “where no man (or woman) has been before” After all, you can only challenge paradigms if you are able to recognize that paradigms exist. Equally, you can only look outside the box if you are prepared to accept that you are residing within one.

But there is no time to tarry too long – no smugness here – so much more to achieve in 2011. Am I excited about what’s coming next? Bet on it! More about all of that tomorrow – my 2011 objectives posted here for all to see – so I will have to achieve them. I am going to stride into 2011.

Just to say, that if Osborne was still around, I might be tempted to ask him to write something new – “Look Back In Pride”

So what about my 2010?

My primary focus as we entered the New Year was of course Top Sales World. The expectation was that we would launch “early Spring” A genuine case of best laid plans…..

Having taken the decision that this was a project too far for our internal team, we found a wonderful company, who I identified immediately would be able to translate my vision into reality – Obi Design – and I was right. They came up with a superb design, which is what we have today, but then as ten resource areas became fifteen, which became twenty, it was apparent that we were quickly running over budget – and that is something I was totally uncomfortable with. Experience has taught me that when budgets are slightly exceeded so early in a project, they will inevitably be greatly exceeded by the end – it is a fact of commercial life.

To cut quite a long story very short, we re-thought our strategy, brought the project back in-house, challenged the team, and came in a few months late – with just enough left in the budget to take them down the pub to celebrate!

Then we decided to bring all of our initiatives under one roof and the JF Corporation was formed – but with two distinct operating divisions, which I’ll describe in greater detail tomorrow as we move into top gear in 2011.

JF Consultancy and JF Blogit both enjoyed a make-over. And I made some serious decisions about the direction I want to go with both of those – again, more tomorrow. However, I can tell you that I have no intention of canning the Blogit! Visitor numbers increased by 48% in 2010, which represents consistent growth over four years – and of course we passed the 1000 posts marker in October.

Away from home, I am still writing for AllBusiness, Salesforce, t-mobile, and a host of other sites, and may that side of my “activities” long continue – so please keep the invitations coming!

At the beginning of November, I had an idea – nothing unusual about that, as I have several every week – but this one kept forcing itself to the very front of that part of my brain which demands action, totally by-passing the “pending” part.

It occurred to me that there was not an online ceremony to recognize outstanding quality – personalities/products/solutions/books/articles/blogs – or, come to that, a site which annually lauded all of this. So we did what any self-respecting crusaders would do, we created it all. From conception to launch in just thirty-two days.

Did it all go smoothly? Don’t be silly! Liaising with ninety-eight nominees, twenty-something sponsors, thirty-two judges, fourteen guests, the occasional instance of “robot voting,”  two very sore losers – but only two, maintaining the spirits of a very small back-room team, whenever they insisted on getting a full night’s sleep ……was all very challenging, but we pulled it off. Top Sales Awards is born!

Congratulations – again – to all the very worthy winners. Very special thanks to the wonderful guests, who were so patient and supportive – before, during, and after the inaugural event. I also need to express my gratitude to my co-host, Gerhard Gschwandtner. It was like intelligent, suave, worldly, charming, witty European meets internationally acclaimed entrepreneur, sales guru and giant in the sales space … and I also helped out

2010 was also a good year for making lots of new acquaintances, many of whom will develop into friends, I feel certain. And I only lost one, as far as I know – same old problem, I am afraid, found severely wanting in the all-important ethics department. But, I have been receiving tuition from a very good chum, and I am now incredibly adept at turning both cheeks – at the same time!

So that was the year that was, and if you think “Phew” is appropriate, wait until you see all of my objectives for 2011 tomorrow – 2010 was a vacation in comparison.

Finally, I want to thank that “back-room” team who I alluded to earlier. No need to mention them individually, all of my business friends know them too, and respect them as much as I do. Thank you! For your continuing faith, belief, trust – you are the very best!

More tomorrow.

JF

I realize I promised to keep posting throughout the seasonal period, but I totally underestimated my need for a complete break, and I had forgotten what it was like to have just a few days in a “commercial-free” zone. Just for once, it was wonderful to be not trying to beat the clock, and I have enjoyed myself so much, I feel certain that you will not begrudge me a few more days off?

With so many enterprises to “parent” it is so easy to continually sacrifice the appropriate amount of down-time, and convince oneself it is for the cause – that has to change in 2011, and it will.

So, revised plan is:

Friday Dec 31st: 2010 JF Review

Saturday Jan 1st: 2011 The Year Ahead - My Own Predictions

Sunday Jan 2nd: An In-Depth Look at the Future of Professional Selling – A Five Year Perspective.

Monday Jan 3rd: Normal Service Resumes.  

Finally, thank you for all the very kind seasonal messages – I am really grateful. JF

Please allow me to take this opportunity to wish all of you who are celebrating Christmas, a wonderful festive break. The greetings above was created by our resident graphic genius, affectionately known as “Bill the Graphic” from a photograph I took myself of my local church - Le Basilique. Admittedly, persuading Santa to pose was challenging, so we improvised somewhat

Ok, now to the business of the day – will sales and marketing ever get married? Of course not, no chance, ever. It is as likely as the considerably overweight girl with terminal acne and occasional bouts of uncontrollable flatulence being asked to dance by the local stud at the village hop.

Why? For virtually the same reason that sales will never marry the “pointy-heads” from the technical department, or the “sales prevention officers” in accounts. Chalk and cheese; day and night; black and white.

You see, whilst the unfortunate fat girl may slim down and find a pimple curing miracle cream, she will always think of hereself as unattractive – because she has always been unattractive and second best.

It is true that in the last two years marketing has enjoyed a new lease of life with the arrival of a proliferation of lead generation software – and then of course most forward thinking companies on the planet are creating “Social Media Strategies” which gives the marketing function something meaningful to be getting on with.

Meanwhile, the engine room of any company – it’s forward line/offense is facing a daily battle to win business against a backdrop of shrinking markets, reduced margins and typically, increased quotas.

Marketing “personnel” do not get fired for missing quota – they don’t have quotas. They don’t operate at the frontline where the blood and guts are being spilled daily – they are more akin to the Catering Corps. Their job is to provide support via a constant stream of – qualified – leads and opportunities.

I don’t think this new lease of life is temporary. I do think that the marketing function will continue to grow in importance, and I am pleased about that. It was the same when psychometric testing became widely popular, and all of a sudden HR departments were created all over the place –  someone in the company needed to be authorised to use the tests and as no-one else was remotely interested, it became an HR function.

So, in summary, forget any formal legitimisation of the relationship beween sales and marketing – co-operative co-exsitence is as much as we can hope for I believe.

(Exits stage left, in anticipation of slings and arrows from disgruntled marketing types)

More tomorrow ……JF 

Interesting question? I suspect most people do not know the answer, because they either don’t need to know, or they don’t much care, as they use the site for “purely recreational purposes”

I actually do know – well that is to say I will know in about seven days time – because I do need to know. It is important information that forms part of my “2011 Social Media Strategy”

At the beginning of December, I sent out an interactive survey to 5000 current/past clients and students. It is a very simple ten part questionnaire that should provide me with a complete insight into their online habits, preferences, and use of social media. Specifically, I hope to learn how much social media sites are influencing their buying decisions today, compared with twelve months ago when I last asked them.

Why is this so important to me? I think you know the answer to that – like most of my colleagues, friends, and acquaintances, I am always hugely time-constrained, and I simply must ensure that the time I dedicate to all my social media activities is proportional to the return I am receiving.

That is not to suggest that financial gain is the only reason I venture on to twitter/facebook/LinkedIn daily, far from it. Frequently I re-tweet interesting articles/blog posts etc, and I really enjoy the community spirit – it is like a collection of small clubs.

Whilst we have yet to formally “collate” the results of our 2010 survey, I can confidentally predict that less than 5% of my clients use twitter for anything other than recreation.

However, at first glance, it would appear that around 80% now have LinkedIn profiles, and that is a 20% increase on 2009.

I will of course share the final results with you in January.

My perception is that many of  you are now winding down for Christmas, but equally, so many of you do not celebrate at this time of year, so I intend to carry on posting without interuption during December – it will give me something to do whilst I am waiting for the turkey to cook!!

Tomorrow: I ask “Will marketing ever marry sales?”

Our plan was to extract as many sales predictions from the posse of top sales gurus during the Top Sales Awards ceremony last week, and we did precisely that. You can see them here on Gerhard’s blog: Top Sales Gurus Predict Emerging Trends for 2011

However, I did suggest that there were/are a number of other questions which I have been asked on numerous occasions recently.

Specifically:

★ When will Sales 3.0 arrive?
★ How many of your customers and prospects use Twitter?
★ Will marketing ever marry sales?
★ If 80% of Twitter users are merely”voyeurs” what are they drooling over?
★ LinkedIn groups – does size really matter? What % of group members actually contributes anything?
★ Can blogs survive another 12 months?
★ Do sales tools really make a difference? Or can we survive with Outlook and a simple CRM solution?
★ Skills development is going totally online – fact or fiction?
★ Is selling going “indoors?”
★ Will we need salespeople in five years time?
★ Why did 50% of salespeople miss quota in 2010? Will it be 60% next year?

So let’s have a go at tackling them this week shall we?

When will Sales 3.0 arrive? The reality is that with so many people still struggling to define Sales 2.0, will anyone have the courage to stand up and announce both the arrival and the definition of Sales 3.0? Will the Sales 2.0 crowd suddenly announce that the clock has moved forward?

I fully anticipate that 3.0 will mean far greater focus on customer’s needs and wants – seeing not the selling cycle, but the buying cycle through the customer’s eyes. This is not new thinking, many sales experts have been discussing this for months, but the thought that customers might just have their own agendas still continues to be ignored by at least 80% of the sales population – they will catch up eventually.

If 2010 was the year when lead generation companies, experts, and software dominated the sales space, 2011 will be the year of “customer focus” and “customer retention” Instead of a frenzied drive to continually seek new opportunities, the smartest front-line sales professionals will identify ways to strengthen and develop existing relationships.

It is now a fact that it costs FIFTEEN times more to locate, qualify, and close a new customer than it does to sell to an existing one – I have quoted that statistic on numerous occasions – isn’t that ample justification to re-focus?

The difficulty is of course that the majority of salespeople do not possess relationship building skills – they lack both the commercial bandwidth and the “social” skills to engage with senior decision makers, particularly C-Level players, and retain their attention.

What’s the answer? Later this week, I’ll be examining the reasons why so many sales professionals missed quota this year. I’ll also identify what the new breed of salesperson will look like in five year’s time, and why, in my opinion, at least 50% of sales jobs will disappear – do try and join me.

But back to today’s question: Sales 3.0 has already arrived and its principles are already being practiced by the “Top 5% Players” – in fact they adopted it month’s ago. In 2011, let’s hope more of the other 95% catches up.

I leave you with this thought. Customers are more easily persuaded when they are part of the process and not part of the audience!

Tomorrow: How many of your customers and prospects use Twitter?

We are rapidly approaching that time of year. It’s a time that many – those who have done well – look forward to. For others, it is a time of high anxiety – including the managers who have to conduct the appraisals  …… but it needn’t be that way.

Performance appraisals are an important part of performance management. In itself an appraisal is not performance management, but it is one of the ranges of tools that can be used to manage performance.

Because it is most usually carried out by line managers, rather than HR professionals, it is important that they understand this and how a performance appraisal contributes to performance management.

The performance appraisal, or review, is essentially an opportunity for the individual and those concerned with their performance – most usually their line manager – to get together to engage in a dialogue about the individual’s performance, development and the support required from the manager.

It should not be a top down process or an opportunity for one person to ask questions and the other to reply. It should be a free flowing conversation in which a range of views are exchanged.

Performance appraisals usually review past behaviour and so provide an opportunity to reflect on past performance. But to be successful, they should also be used as a basis for making development and improvement plans, and reaching agreement about what should be done in the future.

This is such an important topic, that I am presenting a FREE Masterclass on January 4th, which will be of interest to appraisers and appraisees alike. I will also give away my guide, “In Praise of Appraisals”

Please register HERE – if you cannot make it, but would still like a copy of the guide, please email me at jf@jfcorporation.com

The JF Guest Author Spot

Believe it or not, social networking isn’t the next best thing…You are! It’s the personal connection that still seals the deal.

The Internet, social networking, and other breakthroughs in technology have fundamentally changed the way we do business. New technology drives communications, messaging, and information access at warp speed, and our clients expect immediate access. This pattern of ever-increasing speed and sophistication not only creates an intensely competitive marketplace, but places further demands on us to act and react quickly.

The rise of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn have lured many sales pros into scaling back their personal interactions and relying on social media to get more “qualified leads.”

It’s time to get real!

Social Media Is a Powerful Tool for Three Things and Three Things Only

1.    Search engine optimization: Use your key words and raise your presence on the web.

2.    Find out who people are: Learn about a person’s background and your connections.

3.    Find out who people know: Look for close connections that you can leverage.

Some salespeople tell me they actually get clients through social media. Well, maybe if you have a commodity business.

Could it happen?

Yes.
Do I rely on it?

Absolutely not! I only count on what I bring about—through a proactive, intentional, referral strategy with personal introductions.

Why Social Networking Your Way Won’t Bring You More Leads and Sales.

The most important business decisions are still based on personal relationships. There is significant research about why customers make buying decisions. Bottom line: It’s because they like and trust the salesperson and his organization. Think about it. We’re selling services, investments, systems, products… we’re asking for people’s time and money! Why would they work with someone who hasn’t been referred?

There’s a saying in sales: Clients buy with emotion and justify with fact. If our clients don’t like us or don’t feel comfortable with us, they won’t buy from us. You can wow your clients with technology know-how now and try to win them over later, once they find out you’re honest and reliable. But the reality is you need people to start liking you within the first few seconds of your relationship. You need to start off on the right foot. Fancy gizmos won’t make that happen. But a trusted referral and a personal connection will.

That’s why Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, in his commencement address to the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2009, urged college graduates to step away from the virtual world and make human connections. “Turn off your computer. You’re actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around us.”

That said, a social media presence is a must-have in today’s world—but you need to change the way you’re social networking.

3 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales with Social Networking and Referral Marketing.

1.    Develop a social media strategy: Like a sales plan or a marketing plan, write your social media plan. What is your goal? Who is your audience? What do you want to communicate? Leverage social media as part of your go-to-market strategy. How does your strategy link to your customer’s needs and your business priorities?

2.    Establish relationships: Take the time to build your personal connections, pick up the phone and talk to people.  Just because you have a name in hand, doesn’t mean you have a relationship.

3.    Communicate useful information: Social sites are not for selling. They are for establishing connections, identifying ways to collaborate, and providing value. What tips can you provide? Link to other sites you strongly recommend. Get recognized as the expert and build your web presence. Be a resource.

To Trust You Paves the Way

The most energizing and exciting part of our work is the relationships with our clients-the interaction. We enjoy learning about our client’s business and matching our solutions to their needs. In an era dominated by ever-expanding technology and social media pressures, always remember that personal connections, referrals, and earning trust count most.

America’s leading authority on referral selling, Joanne Black believes that no one should ever have to make a cold call. Some may see this as heretical thinking, but for Joanne Black and her clients, referral selling is a proven way to success. She is the author of No More Cold Calling™: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust from Warner Business Books. Referral business closes more than 70 percent of the time, salespeople are pre-sold, have credibility, and the competition disappears. Without a strategic approach to referrals, businesses are leaving money on the table–every single day.

For more information, visit www.NoMoreColdCalling.com.

The JF Guest Author Spot

 
Do you require your salespeople to compile a daily or weekly call report?  If you’re like the vast majority of managers, you do.

What do you use them for? 

How useful are they?

I’ve spoken with hundreds of managers about call reports and almost to a person they agree call reports are one of the most useless traditions management clings to.  The reports are filled with fictitious information, and the information that is truthful is itself useless.

The typical call report will identify who the salesperson met with, if and when the company plans to make a purchase, an estimate of the size of the purchase, and any information the buyer wants from the salesperson.  The report may even give an approximation of the likelihood of securing the contract.  It probably looks something like this:

“Met with John Smith, head of procurement for XYZ Corp.  He said they’d be purchasing by the end of the quarter and wants me to re-bid based on a quantity of 5,000 instead of 10,000 units. I told him I’ve had the new numbers to him by Tuesday of next week.”

What does this report tell the manager?  Does it:

•    indicate why the change in the number of units to be purchased?  No.
•    discuss why the purchase decision will be made by the end of the quarter instead of now?  No. 
•    indicate the likelihood of closing the sale?  No. 
•    indicate what actions the salesperson plans on taking other than giving revised numbers?  No. 
•    indicate who the salesperson is competing against?  No. 
•    indicate if there are other decision makers in the process?  No. 

We could go on.

The Problem

Call reports are useless for three major reasons:
1.    Salespeople haven’t been taught how to construct a useful call report.
2.    Salespeople see no use in the reports.  Although they’re told the reports will be used to help them sell more, they believe its real purpose is to keep an eye on them.
3.    They believe management is only interested in how many appointments they have, so they pad them with fictitious appointments to keep management off their back.

Salespeople see call reports as a weapon—or potential weapon–in the hands of management instead of a training and coaching tool.  And most often, that’s what it’s used for.

The typical call report doesn’t give the manager enough information to be able to help identify the areas in which a salesperson needs training and coaching.  Consequently, the most often result of submitting a call report is a response of, “You aren’t seeing enough people.  You need to make more calls.”

That response is worthless.  It doesn’t help the salesperson in the least.  There is no guidance in how to ‘see more people.’  There’s no identification of what the real root problems and issues are.

Call Reports as Real Tools

Call reports, however, can be real tools managers can use for coaching, training, market and competitor analysis, and managing department assets.

The problem with call reports isn’t with the concept, it’s with the execution.  Salespeople must be taught how to construct a meaningful call report and managers must be trained how to analyze the report for coaching, training, and market analysis purposes.

A Meaningful Call Report

Call reports don’t have to be massive documents, but each call should be broken into three sections:

Synopsis of the call: a brief summary of the sales call.  Who, what, when, bullet points of key information from the call, including the length of the call.

An analysis of the call: a longer discussion that analyzes the call and the sale, indicating:
•    who the decision makers are and where the sale stands with each
•    what issues must be dealt with before the sale can be closed
•    who the competition is
•    the salesperson’s best estimate of the probability of closing the sale
•    the salesperson should rate each potential prospect as to the long-term value of the account

Moving forward: What specific steps the salesperson intends to take—and when—to move the sale forward.

A call report that follows the format above can be used to help salespeople close more sales.  It lays out for the salesperson and the manager what happened, where the sale stands, what is expected to happen, and what the salesperson is going to do to make it happen.

Using the Report

Call reports that summarize, analyze and outline how the salesperson will move the sale forward offer both the salesperson and their manager real information that can be used:

•    To spot skill and behavioral issues where the manager can step in to coach and train
•    Opportunities where the manager can offer specific help in identifying and addressing prospect needs
•    Spot accounts where the salesperson is investing too much—or not enough—time and energy
•    Spot buyer, competitor, and product trends within the local market

Some sales performance management technology products and CRM programs make the call report generation process easier and more accurate.  They can help turn generating call reports into highly useful tools for helping your sales team members become better sellers, spotting and analyzing changes in your local market, and maximizing both the department’s human and non-human resources.

Whether you are using hand written reports or using a system, you must turn the reports from wasted effort to keep management off the salesperson’s back into a real tool that can improve sales and your salespeople.

Paul McCord is the president of McCord Training, a Texas based international sales training, coaching, and consulting company. He is the author of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble best-selling book on referral generation, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), and SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or visit his training website at www.dynamicsalesgrowth.com

 * This was the 2010 Top Sales Article, and you can of course check out all of the other winners HERE

PS: Don’t forget you can download The JF Daily HERE

So that’s it; the votes were cast (36,000 of them); the judges judged; the guests rose to the occasion; the audience interacted and had  a great time, I am led to believe; Paul Kilduff anchored brilliantly; Gerhard and I hosted, and the back-room team were exceptional. Sound like a recipe for a successful inaugral Top Sales Awards event? I think it does.

Did we learn a lot? We certainly did, and we will be applying all of those lessons to the 2011 event, you can be assured of that.

Congratulations to all the medal winners, who entered into the spirit with huge enthusiasm – you can see all of them HERE

Plus a very big thank you to the superb array of special guests, who all contributed so much: (In order of appearance)Wendy Weiss, Joanne Black, Jill Konrath, Kevin Eikenberry, Nigel Edelshain, Dave Kurlan, Dr. Tony Alessandra, Dan Waldschmidt, Dave Stein, Paul McCord, Art Sobszak and Linda Richardson.

Get well soon Nancy Nardin and Keith Rosen – we missed you. We also missed Jeffrey Gitomer due to technical issues, but he sent his very best wishes.

It’s also very appropriate to thank all of our wonderful sponsors, who backed us wholeheartedly – we are really grateful.

If you missed the show and would like to listen at your leisure, you can download the entire event HERE

People are already talking; here is a selection of comments - Jill Konrath  and Anthony Iannarino and Tibor Shanto and Gerhard and Paul McCord and Anthony Part 2

So, plans for next year?

Well first of all we have already announced next year’s timtable You will notice that we have added “Marketing” and there will be a whole raft of marketing categories in 2011, to underline my commitment to persuading sales and marketing to legitimise their relationship – in fact I will be posting on this very topic next week.

We will also review all of the existing categories and possibly eliminate those that were less popular.

Phew!! Difficult to believe that this whole escapade was only conceived early in November? That’s the end of the beginning, and now I know what people mean at closing ceremonies when they say they cannot wait for next year.

Tomorrow, we get back to normal with a superb guest post and then I have a very interesting number of my own posts for you next week. I will be reviewing my 2010; sharing our exciting plans for 2011; giving you my predictions for 2011; disclosing my thoughts on the future of professional selling …and so much more.

Have a great w/e

We have completed the final timetable for tomorrow’s show, which will be in three “Acts” so you can choose when to come in.

Altogether, we have fourteen guests, all recognized gurus in the sales space, and they have all made a considerable impact in 2010. They will be sharing their predictions for 2011 and helping us to answer some of these controversial questions:

★ When will Sales 3.0 arrive?
★ How many of your customers and prospects use Twitter?
★ Will marketing ever marry sales?
★ If 80% of Twitter users are merely ”voyeurs” what are they drooling over?
★ LinkedIn groups – does size really matter? What % of group members actually contribute anything?
★ Can blogs survive another 12 months?
★ Do sales tools really make a difference? Or can we survive with Outlook and a simple CRM solution?
★ Skills development is going totally online – fact or fiction?
★ Is selling going “indoors?”
★ Will we need salespeople in five years time?
★ Why did 50% of salespeople miss quota in 2010? Will it be 60% next year?

So anticipate a lively debate!

Then of course we will be announcing the winners in all ten categories, plus inducting the first ten sales legends into the “Top Sales Hall of Fame”

If that wasn’t enough, we will also be handing out loads of brilliant prizes.

So, Mr. Farrington/JF/Jono, how much will it cost me to come to your ceremony? I hear you mutter.

It is absolutely FREE – with our compliments.

You can download the timetable HERE

Or simply go straight to registration HERE 

I can promise you that it is going to be THE online sales event of the year.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who voted – all 36.000 of you!!!