The JF Guest Author Spot

Paul McCord

Are you a salesperson, professional or business owner who is trying to market to anyone and everyone in your market that might even remotely have a use or need for your product or service? If you are, why?

Why would you try to do something that most salespeople and professionals can’t possibly do well? Marketing on a general scale is expensive—just ask Coke, Microsoft, Old Navy, Sears, State Farm, UBS, or any other major company. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year trying to do what you’re trying to do on a shoestring.

But, you say, you’re only working in a very limited area? Fine, do you have the budget of a major, local auto dealership, or major, local furniture store, or any other major, local business that is trying to do what you’re trying to do?

But, again, you say that you’re not marketing to the general consumer but to a specific industry. OK. Do you have the budget your major competitors have to do direct mail, sponsor association events, advertise in industry specific publications, and all the other things your big competitors do?

No, you say, but you don’t need the sales volume they do in order to support all of those things or the massive staff they have. Good, now we’re getting somewhere.

You don’t need the sales volume they need, you don’t have the budget they have, and you don’t have the staff they have. So, why are you trying to capture the same general market they’re trying to capture? You don’t need it and you can’t afford it.

Rather than spreading your time, effort and marketing budget so thin, why not focus on one or two very specific segments of the market where you can become a real player? Instead of trying to spread your marketing budget over say, 40,000 people, why not focus on a small, but highly focused segment of maybe 5,000 people? Instead of trying to get to 11,000 companies, why not focus on 2,000 companies that fit within your ideal prospect template? Better yet, why not focus on 800 companies that are perfect fits to your ideal prospect? 5,000, 2,000, or 800 is still a large number.

By defining your ideal prospect in as detailed terms as you possibly can and then focusing only on that group, you increase your likelihood of selling each prospect, you are more capable of making inroads with each since you can focus your message to that group specifically, and you maximize your marketing dollars. You also can become the expert to really understand and resolve their issues and problems.

Finding and exploiting one or two niches is a far more effective marketing format for most salespeople, professionals and small businesses. Unless you have the time and money to compete with the big boys, you’re better served to do what they can’t—concentrate on and become the expert in a highly focused segment of the market.

Why don’t more salespeople, professionals and business owners focus on niche markets? Fear. Fear of possibly losing a sale. Fear that the niche may not be big enough to find enough clients to stay in business. Fear that they won’t be able to penetrate the niche. Fear that they’re leaving money on the table.

These fears are unfounded for the most part. Becoming a niche player does take time. It takes effort. It takes discipline. However, there is a lot of money to be made being a big fish in a very small pond—and no money to be made being a dead fish in a very large lake.

Today’s News: Most salespeople are looking to finish the year strongly and over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Jim Messenheimer about this very topic.

Clayton says: “I refer to Jim Meisenheimer as a sales expert; he refers to himself as a lifetime student of the selling profession. Which ever way you look at him he is a “player” in the sales game having trained tens of thousands of sales producers and thousands of sales managers. He knows what is required to finish the year strong. This podcast examines if you have what it takes to nail the fourth quarter. Jim walks you through six critical questions which strategically look at your business. He professes if you invest at least one day working through these questions you will not only have a banner last quarter but set the pace for next year.”  Simply click on the banner to listen in.

Tomorrow: What do doctors and salespeople have in common?

A recent global survey of more than two thousand organisations that I recently read, identified that one of the biggest issues facing Sales Leaders today is that salespeople’s self-limiting beliefs constrain their performance, which obviously in turn, limits their sales results.

I do subscribe to the theory that whatever you believe you can do, you will; and whatever you believe you can’t do, you won’t.

Like everyone, salespeople hold stubbornly to private beliefs about themselves, customers, the market, competitors and the economy – beliefs that can have an enormous impact, either positive or negative, on their sales performance. If salespeople don’t see themselves as providers of value, they’ll be blinkered to the customer’s genuine business needs.

This manifests itself in a number of undesirable behaviours that range from being too pushy, to being far too accommodating. This can also lead salespeople trying to sell customers something the customer may not need or want, and that certainly will not build long-term customer relationships.

Typically, salespeople who believe that if they had more competitive prices they would win more deals, tend to attract more price objections. This in turn leaves them feeling fearful or reluctant to discuss price and their downward spiral becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A salesperson’s state of mind is instantly transferred to their prospect or customer because they unconsciously transmit their attitude in a variety of subtle and even overt ways. Whilst the prospect or customer may not be consciously aware of the salesperson’s underlying attitude, they will just have a feeling that something isn’t right and will put a distance between themselves and the sales person.

This problem is further compounded and validated by research from Objective Management Group Inc who found that the typical sales person possesses a minimum of ten limiting beliefs that are having a detrimental impact on their performance. Once these beliefs are eliminated the average sales person will increase their sales by approximately 25%.

Many Sales Leaders understand the vital importance of the right mindset and those who are able to tackle and resolve the issue of their team’s negative beliefs will see a dramatic upswing in their team’s sales results.

You may also enjoy:”Are Self-Limiting Beliefs Constraining Your Sales Team?”

Today’s News:

Here’s a special message from a very special lady:

Strategic Marketing Ideas in a Shrinking Economy: Referral Expo 2008 (now through October 10th!)

The Referral Expo is a virtual event, conducted over the phone. It’s free to attend, but registration is limited:

* Breathe new life into your business
* Generate more referrals
* Find better quality referrals

Get new, innovative ideas! Bolster yourself against the economy. The Referral Expo 2008: Register now.

In times like these, building relationships and creating referrals are the keys to success. By attending this virtual expo, you’ll get loads of innovative ideas and strategies for generating referrals – all from the comfort of your home or office.

The Referral Expo 2008:

Tap into 15 world-class marketing experts as they share their best referral strategies. I’m honored to be included in the team presenting at this year’s Referral Expo.

What: Referral Expo 2008
When: Now through October 10th

Each 1-hour presentation will be conducted over the phone on successive weekday evenings.
Monday – Friday at 5:00pm Pacific / 6:00pm Mountain / 7:00pm Central / 8:00pm Eastern

Cost: FREE – Register now!

See you there

Joanne Black

Tomorrow: I am doing my bit for the next Top Sales Experts ebook, which should launch in about two weeks. I am also going to be thinking about the JF Consultancy 2009 strategy – yes, it is that time of the year already – this is me with my thinking cap on

Our graphics designer, Bill Jeckells, has a great sense of humour!

OK, that’s a wrap for this week, so as ever, have a great w/e and be sure to make it back on Monday – JF

Some Background Information:

Did you know that:

• 40% of salespeople are failing in their sales careers?

• 45% of all salespeople earn the average income for their industry?

• A typical salesperson devotes only 10-20% of their time to actual selling because a large proportion of their available time is devoted to cold calling?

• 85% of all salespeople do not generate enough quality referrals?

• Salespeople who actively seek and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than salespeople who don’t?

•  Referral business closes and converts more than 70 percent of the time?

Why is referral based selling so powerful?

A referred customer is already pre-sold on the credibility of the salesperson, their company and the relevance of the products/services sold. These types of opportunities are much warmer than a cold-call based opportunity because it maximises the goodwill, inherent in the relationship between the referred customer and the referring person.

By association, salespeople are consequently perceived in a different light compared to those that have made contact ‘out of the blue’. The costs of selling to a referred customer are reduced because they are easier to see, and are likely to be reasonably well qualified so that the probability for converting the business is much higher. Generally speaking referred prospects will accelerate through the sales pipeline at a much faster rate than other types of opportunities, and they will also be more receptive towards providing future referrals.

What are the biggest barriers to getting referrals?

If asking for referrals has not been included and communicated in the sales process, this will deter salespeople’s focus as they will see asking for referrals as a ‘nice to do’ rather than a ‘must do’. This in turn usually means that there is no rigorous method for measuring and monitoring how many referrals are generated and what the conversion ratios are for closing referred customer business.

Energy goes where attention flows, so without specific attention to this salespeople are unlikely to invest their energy in this direction. (Even if they are firm believers in the positive impact that referrals can create!). For many salespeople asking for referrals is uncomfortable because they feel unsure about how to do this effectively, and they aren’t confident they will get their desired response.

If people don’t know how to do something and they believe that what they are doing will damage their existing relationships, then it’s better to avoid it all together. Additionally, if salespeople make the common mistake of asking for referrals too early on in the relationship this can result in more refusals that further erode salespeople’s confidence.

Therefore, to optimise the use of referral-based selling the following components are vital:

1. Asking for referrals and acting on them needs to be incorporated in the overall sales process.

2. Metrics around referrals should be sought and evaluated on a regular basis, because this contributes towards furthering the rationale for generating them.

3. Development and training needs to be delivered to the sales team so they can maximise the impact of referrals and feel confident with this skill.

When is the best time to ask for referrals?

People will freely give referrals when they have benefited from your product/service and have an established relationship with you. This rarely occurs during the initial meeting because whilst they may like you, they haven’t yet validated what you can do for them. That’s why asking for referrals should be when the relationship you have established is strong enough to ensure their trust and belief in you.

Assessing the strength of your existing customer relationships can be very subjective unless there is a meaningful set of relationship criteria in place.  Although these will vary from organisation to organisation, they may include factors like:

- Communication frequency with key influencers
- Satisfaction with product/service
- Speed of response to queries/problems
- Length of relationship

The customers with the highest scores (based on the relationship criteria) are those that should be approached for referrals.

What is the best way of generating referrals?

1. Prepare a description in the form of a criteria list that specifies the type of person or organisation that you are looking to approach. This should be based on the profile of your Ideal Customer.

2. Evaluate all your customers using a relationship criteria and identify a list of those with the highest scores. For every customer your aim is to generate a minimum of 5 referrals. Therefore, if you have 25 customers on your list your target number of referrals will be 125.

3. Contact each customer on your list and take the pressure of them by explaining that you don’t want to sell to them, you would like their help.

For example: “Do you know anyone who is (specify your criteria) that would be interested in learning about how our products/services can benefit them?” Preface your question with a softener such as: “I wonder if you can help me” or “I would really appreciate some advice.”

4. When customers give you referrals, ask their permission to use their name when making contact. Alternatively, where your relationship is ‘rock solid’ ask customers to make the initial introduction by letter or email. Often customers will give a glowing testimonial and create a relevant context when introducing people.

5. Thank customers for referrals and keep them appraised of your progress. This creates a positive association towards the giving of more referrals in the future.

So, there we go, my most recent thoughts on the importance of referral selling!

Today’s News: A couple of great blog posts for you: “Martini Glass Prospecting” from Colleen Francis and “What’s The Half-Life Of Sales Training?” from Dave Stein.

Tomorrow: My guest is the amazing Billy Cox, who urges us to “Expect Victory”

The JF Guest Author Spot

Joan Paul  

This morning when I opened my calendar, everything looked different. Surely someone’s been playing with my computer. I could swear I had appointments booked and paying clients taking every available spot for the next two months. I must be having a bad dream. Pinch myself. Nope. It’s true – I’ve hit the dreaded dry spell!

Entrepreneurs talk about it all the time as part of the game, but being in it is an entirely different thing. If you are like most business owners, you haven’t yet managed to balance the feast and famine phenomenon. The question is, “What do you do when the famine hits?”

First of all, BREATH!!! Preferably without hyperventilating. Don’t panic. Don’t throw in the towel. Don’t check the employment ads. Do remind yourself why you started your business. Do remind yourself of all the successes you’ve enjoyed and will once again enjoy. Do remind yourself if you are just starting up, that it takes time to build an active business. Do park your negative self-talk and replace it with positive affirmations, like “Today I am one step closer to experiencing the wild success that I’ve dreamed about!”

When things are looking a bit slow, do the following:

-Go to your database and call all the people you’ve been meaning to stay in touch with. Arrange to meet and exchange ideas or just have a coffee and find out how you can help them with their objectives.

-Apply a referral selling process. In No More Cold Calling™, The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust, Joanne Black puts forward a practical approach to building your business through referrals. This simple system can propel your business through the roof without wasting business development time.

-Attend to the business planning that you may have been procrastinating about. Revisit your business and marketing plans. It will likely re-energize you.

-Find a coach. Whether hired or a business buddy, it’s very helpful to have a thinking partner, someone to share with and encourage you to keep your eye on preparing for the next delectable feast.

-Learn something new. Take the opportunity to read the last business book you bought and put on your nightstand or attend a training program that’s been on your to do list.

Most of all, remember dry spells are temporary and keeping perspective is critical to your success. The objective is clearly to have fewer dry spells and more feasts. However, dry spells are inevitable for most entrepreneurs. If you find you are stuck in dry spell, do get some guidance from someone who can provide insight for you and be prepared to explore difficult possibilities. As Jim Collins says in “Good to Great,” Confront the brutal facts, yet never lose faith.”

 Joan Paul is a Certified Executive Coach and Sales Strategist. Her company, J. Paul Training Inc., provides customized training, strategy development and is the distributor of No More Cold Calling, TM, The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust, and The Sales Activator®, an international sales management system. Joan can be reached at (403) 607-1979 or through her website http://www.jpaultraining.com

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with “Mr Inside Sales” the very genial, Mike Brooks – “Throw Away Your Funnel” – “Suppose someone told you to throw away your sales funnel. Would you think they are contrarian or just crazy? Mike Brooks suggests the top 20% of sales producers don’t use a funnel, they use a sales cylinder. He explains how to dramatically improve your closing ratio by using a cylinder and disqualifying prospects early. Mike has a special message for the sales leaders in the audience who have grown up with, and continue to promote sales funnels.”  As usual, just click on the banner below.

In “Wall Street And Broken Social Trust” Charles Green articulates very well what most of us are thinking right now – you might enjoy the read.

My own view is that there is only one thing uglier than a fat cat, and that’s a dead fat cat. Once upon a time in the UK, if someone introduced themselves as an estate agent, you would count your fingers after shaking hands – the banking industry has now been passed that baton and is viewed with considerable disdain by anyone with an I.Q. of more than 30.

Tomorrow: In response to the question: “What is THE most important leadership trait?” I provide the answer – for me, it is a “no-brainer” 

The JF Guest Author Spot

Tim Wackel

The experts have started to whisper recession and you can almost hear the collapse of sales funnels everywhere. Account managers are complaining about how difficult it is to close business in this slowing economy. This doesn’t come as a big surprise.

Less than half of today’s business-to-business sales professionals have ever weathered a true economic downturn. These folks learned how to sell in the nifty ‘90s which was one of the longest business expansions in U.S. history. Hey, it’s not that hard to hit quota with double digit market returns and huge growth in the number of new jobs. But what should you do when the economy starts to tap the brakes?

Rule one—don’t blame the economy. Companies still have to buy goods and services no matter what the economy is doing. They may buy different, they may buy less, but they still have to buy. If you can’t convince prospects that what you’re offering is a solid investment with meaningful return, then maybe the problem lies closer to home.

Let’s look at this a different way. The major objection most reps face during slow times is, “I have no money.” How is that possible? If your customer has no money then they’re out of business. What they are really saying to you is, “Your ideas stink.”

What can you do to close more business in a slowing economy? Start by answering these three questions that will put you back on the path to success. I can’t guarantee that they will work for you, but I can guarantee that they work.

How much energy are you wasting on insignificant activities?
You’ve probably been told that business will improve if you just make more appointments, increase the number of demos, give more presentations and ramp up your number of cold calls. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing incorrect with increasing these selling activities; especially if you sell low-value products to one time customers.

Experience tells me that chasing everything that looks like an opportunity keeps you busy but makes you very ineffective. You’ll be working hard, but you won’t be working smart. Eventually you’ll burn out your prospects and yourself – toast for two!

Start today by re-qualifying every prospect and work on cleaning out your funnel. Focus on your best selling opportunities and put your energy there. You’ll create more success by investing the right resources into ten solid opportunities than you will by chasing twenty five half baked leads.

Are you making every conversation count?
Clients and prospects should be impressed with your preparation for every sales call. When you demonstrate that you’ve done your homework it becomes easier to have an open and honest dialogue with you. When the economy slows down, people get nervous. They don’t want to waste time meeting with sales reps unless they see some potential value.

The “smile-n-dial” mentality of simply pounding on more doors with the same pitch may produce extra appointments. But it also creates the fear that you’re going to sell them something that they don’t need.

Open your next client conversation with this simple phrase, “In preparing for this meeting I took some time to…” Then simply highlight the two or three critical things that you did to prepare and watch what happens to the atmosphere of the call. You will blow away the last rep that opened their meeting by announcing that they were just “checking in” to see if anything new was going on.

The goal is to stop “educating” your customers. They don’t care unless they are engaged. Talking about your company, your products and your reputation will not engage customers. Talk about them, ask about them, provide ideas for them and communicate in terms of them.

Who are you talking about—you or them?

Do you have any questions?
Knowledge is a key ingredient to sales success, especially in a slowing economy. The more you demonstrate knowledge, the more prospects will take time to listen. And the best way to establish expertise is not by pitching features; it’s by asking questions. Questions that can differentiate the value you bring to every call.

Many reps fall into the common trap of asking questions that are self serving. “What does your purchasing process look like?,” is a mind numbing, self serving question that doesn’t create new insights. Your customer hears these types of questions every day and they bring zero value to the dialogue.

Instead ask questions that get customers to stop and think. Ask questions they haven’t been asked before. Ask questions that get the customer to pause and say, “That’s a really good question.”

Creating high impact questions takes extra time. But it’s worth every minute. Start investing sixty percent of your time doing research, forty percent of your time making calls. I know this contradicts traditional wisdom, but this isn’t a traditional selling environment.

Don’t pick up the phone or walk into the lobby until you’re absolutely ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue. You’re not going to get a second chance in a slowing economy, so make sure every one counts!

Tim Wackel is founder and president of a training and consulting firm based in University Park, Texas and is an active member of the American Society for Training and Development. He holds a professional membership in the National Speakers Association.
More about Tim Wackel…

Today’s News: Here is a very interesting post from my friend Christian Maurer that you might enjoy: “Surprising Numbers”

Another good friend, Leslie Buterin is presenting a webinar direct from the SheBang Conference tomorrow – just click on the banner below:

Finally, over on my Sales Gravy blog, I am discussing time robbers and monkeys, plus giving you an opportunity to identify your own time robbers, simply follow this link

Tomorrow: I discuss an incredibly efficient way of extracting more from your most important accounts.

As the recession begins to bite hard, now is the time to make the very most of our most important customers.

A vitally important sales activity is that of managing existing customer accounts to consolidate and grow the relationship. Yet unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while salespeople’s interest levels tend to decrease. This creates a “relationship gap” and is due entirely to complacency.

Another major issue is that too often the salesperson fails to expand his “contact base” as this next survey proves which results in vulnerability and exposure to competitive activity

Periodically, the Financial Times conducts a survey of British industry to establish how companies go about their purchasing. The survey is very comprehensive, broken down into many kinds of products and services.

From a Sales Director’s perspective, these are very worrying statistics.

Customer size (Number of employees): Less than 200

Average number of buying influencers: 3.43

Number of influencers visited by salespeople: 1.72
Customer size (Number of employees): 200 – 400

Average number of buying influencers: 4.85

Number of influencers visited by salespeople: 1.75
Customer size (Number of employees): 401 – 1000

Average number of buying influencers: 5.81

Number of influencers visited by salespeople: 1.90
Customer size (Number of employees): 1001 +

Average number of buying influencers: 6.50

Number of influencers visited by salespeople: 1.65

In essence, without a sustained approach to ongoing servicing and support activities, customers that took months to win are ultimately lost because there was a lack of interest from their supplier.

To-days clients/customers 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.

Fact: It costs seven times as much to locate and sell to a new customer
as it does to an existing one.

Are you making the most of your customer base? Answer the questions below honestly and find out.

1. How many regular clients do you have?

2. Has that number increased in the last twelve months?

3. How many of them have bought in the last three months?

4. Of those ‘regular clients’, how many have you contacted in the last month?

5. Of those, in how many have you progressed upwards from the user/recommender?

6. With how many of them do you enjoy exclusivity i.e. preferred supplier status?

7. How many of your clients have bought more the ‘second’ time around than when they originally bought from you?

8. With how many of your regular clients have you conducted an account review within the last six months?

Study your answers – are you still confident you are making the most of your most important accounts?

You may also enjoy: “How to Conduct A Formal Account Review”

Today’s News: I promised to share with you the second interview I recently did with Eyes On Sales, which focuses on achieving what I call “Top 5% Status” – you can listen in by simply clicking on the banner below.

I can now update you on the tremendous strides we have made towards the re-launch of TSE 2.0, which will be taking place in about four weeks time – it might be four and a half, you know what a perfectionist I am!

We will be adding ten new sections to be housed in a brand new “TSE Resource Area,” which will be available to subscribers.
 
1) TSE Article Vault

2) “How To” Guides

3) Podcasts

4) Webinars

5) TSE Radio

6) Ask The Experts

7) TSE Newsletter

8) TSE Blog

9) The Expert Interviews

10)  TSE Round Table

In Addition:

Of course, we will continue to release the quarterly e-books – next one is due for release early October, BUT, here is the exciting bit, Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy Press has agreed to publish us in hardback twice a year and rather than just compile a collection of our articles, we are going to make the books topic related – for example: “The Top Sales Experts on Business Development”

We will also have a Jobs Section, re-routing visitors to Sales Gravy and Salesopedia and naturally, we will continue to add new facilities as demand requires.

Ambitious? Of course, but we do not plan to put this all in place in one go. Rather, we will stagger the section launches and it should all be there by the end of November.

This really is shaping up to be the most innovative and ultimately, we believe, the most successful venture of its type.

Tomorrow: Paris is enjoying some warm Autumn sunshine right now, such a contrast to the drab grey summer we had to endure, so I will be out and about. Wherever you are, have a great w/e, and do make it back next week. – JF

The responsibility for ensuring that every member of a sales team is successful and performing at optimum levels lies entirely with management and when a salesperson gains promotion to management the first thing they have to do is to quickly acquaint themselves with a new set of working relationships – and a new set of rules.

The salesperson’s primary working relationships are with customers: However the sales manager’s is with the sales force i.e. his subordinates. For example:

Essential Attributes Include:

Successful Salesperson:
- Personal drive (Ego).
- Needs to win battles (Individual sales).
- Able to work alone.
- Persuades customers to see his/her point.
- Needs selling skills, personal skills and knowledge.
- Able to work away from the office.
- Works well with people and numbers.
- Good at implementing sales tactics.

Successful Sales Manager:
- Submission of personal needs to the goals of the Company (Corporate drive).
- Needs to win the war (Meet corporate goals).
- Able to work with others.
- Persuades the sales team to see the Company’s point.
- Needs management skills and marketing knowledge.
- Needs to work at the office.
- Works well with people, numbers, paperwork and the corporate hierarchy.
- Good at developing sales and marketing strategies.

The most common danger in having sales managers who are basically super salespeople is that relations with subordinates including the critical tasks of development and supervision may deteriorate.

When I am asked to diagnose why an individual or even an entire team are not performing at optimum levels, I usually ask just four very straightforward questions:

• Are they visiting/talking to enough clients/prospects? In other words are they pro-active and are their activity levels high? I call this CCT as a percentage of TWT (Customer Contact Time as a percentage of Total Working Time)

• Are they talking to the right people within those client/prospect organisations? Are they able to penetrate the formal DMU (Decision Making Unit) and reach the MAN? (The person or people with the Money, Authority and Need)

• Are they saying/doing the right things? This really means – how strong are their selling skills?

• And finally, how is their attitude – that small thing that makes such a big difference.

From these four questions, I usually discover the answer but actually, it can sometimes be a little more complex and I refer to the“Eight Reasons Why Salespeople Fail”

If you really want to discover how healthy your sales organisation is right now, you can complete this FREE Health Check now and receive an immediate score – I will provide you with further information on what your score means on Friday, or if you want to discuss it personally, e-m me at jf@jonathanfarrington.com.

Today’s News: I am travelling home to Paris and as there was a fire in the Tunnel last week, I am having to break my journey with an overnight hotel stay: If I said the internet connection was “flakey” I would be being very generous, so you’ll get a double helping of news tomorrow – I promise.

Tomorrow:Also tomorrow, Lee Salz on The JF Guest Author Spot, so be absolutely certain to join me!

The JF Guest Author Spot

Steve Kraner

Despite tons of money spent on CRM software, and hours of time dedicated to business pipeline reviews, the forecast is still not accurate. Why?

Hope-based forecasting

The fundamental flaw in all forecasting is that we are asking sales people to report on their own performance. It’s a bit like the US Congress asking pro baseball players if they use steroids. If we ask salespeople to report that they are failing, we are kidding ourselves.

Level 1 Fix

Most organizations and sales managers ask for a forecast and apply a lot of pressure in the process. For example, a Sales VP told me the other day that his people could not properly project their business. I asked what he had tried to improve forecast accuracy. He said, “Last December I asked them all to commit to what they were going to close in the following 90 days.” I asked if that approach worked and he said, “No. They didn’t make the number they had committed to and they were THEIR numbers!” I asked him what they said when he debriefed their opportunities and walked them through a structured analysis of each deal in progress. He said, “I don’t do that.”

Please stop and think about that for a moment.

If you hired a golf coach who said, “Steve, the problem with your game is that the ball doesn’t go in the hole early enough and often enough.” What would you think of that golf coach?

You can’t coach based on OUTCOMES. If you want to change an outcome you have to address the underlying behaviors. When we beat them up with their own numbers, we aren’t adding any value and we are probably damaging their self-esteem. This results in subjective and inaccurate forecasts.

Level 2 Fix

So then we try a ‘uniform milestone’ grading scheme in an attempt to remove the subjectivity by establishing clear guidelines for what it means to be “at 80%.” This is better, but still more subjective than objective. These approaches fail because they try to solve the problem with tons of paperwork or lots of annoying buttons in a CRM system. The problem is that the reps gather all the information and then PUT IT IN A FILE OR IN A CRM SYSTEM. They look at it as busy work and they do just what it takes to keep their boss off their backs..

Further, if you’ve ever been through an account or opportunity review as a rep you face a manager who keeps asking questions until he find one you didn’t ask. It’s reduced to a game of “gotcha.” Again, very little learning is accomplished and the rep’s self esteem is bruised.

State of the Art

The state of the art is to use an Ultimate Contract. It is an agreement between the salesperson and the customer that outlines all of the key qualification conversations and the due diligence process that will lead to the ultimate ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ The purpose of this document is to make sure you don’t develop a proposal unless you are certain you have captured the full set of requirements and that they are seriously consider buying from you.

“The greatest enemy of communication is the illusion of it.”  – Pierre Martineau.

The Ultimate Contract requires the rep to ask the tough questions. (Please note, the real problem is that reps don’t ask the tough questions! We need to help them learn how to do this.) The verbal agreement is then reduced to writing and SHARED WITH THE CUSTOMER to ensure clarity. Since you send it to the customer, it serves as a behavior trap that you set for yourself, to make sure you ask all of the tough questions.

Since the customer had to see it and agree to it, it adds the next level of accuracy to the forecast. Subjectivity is removed by verifying the conversations with the customer. The account review becomes an integral part of the sales cycle.

How to do it

The manner in which you get to those agreements – tactically – conversationally – is the difference between being pushy and mutual agreement.

We use the term ‘contract’ to emphasize that sales people on the average need to recognize that it is a two-sided agreement and that both parties should have an equal degree of commitment. Contrast that with a proposal – in which the buyer’s only commitment is to allow the proposal to enter their in-box. When you call to follow up, they say, “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.”

It’s in both parties best interest that you reach an engaged agreement or pull the plug on a process that is going nowhere.

As with any sales tactic, if well-executed, it works well. If not, it comes across as pushy.

Don’t toss out the CRM system

By-the-way, you can still use the CRM system. Just have the salespeople attach the Ultimate Contract to opportunity. Ask them to do less paperwork, then insist they do the minimum essential. The Ultimate Contract will give you a clear window into the real status of every opportunity and into the skills set of the rep who produced it.

I humbly suggest that a verified, mutual agreement is central to the original question about accurate forecasting.

An engineer by background, Steve Kraner is now the CEO of Sandler Sales Institute, a company that helps high tech executives embrace and develop their sales strategies.

Steve confesses that he disdained the sales side of business early in his career. A mistake, he says, that’s often repeated by ‘techie’ founders and CEOs. Steve admits that he had to learn to love sales – and says that so do high tech leaders if they want to win. According to Steve, many technology leaders don’t like selling, so they hire salespeople instead of embracing and leading the sales process. The result, he says, “is a technology company with as many sales systems as salespeople: a company that cannot forecast, team sell or scale.” In sum, a company that’s going to lose.

skraner@hightechguru.com
www.hightechguru.com
703-966-0192

You can read more about Steve here

Today’s News: The Queen of Cold calling, aka Wendy Weiss, has made another royal proclamation:

What would happen to your business if you were able to double the number of qualified, prospects you are able to reach?
 
How would it affect your bottom line if you met with and/or had comprehensive telephone conversations with twice the number of qualified, decision-makers?
 
How would it feel to have qualified, decision-makers eager, willing and delighted to meet with you?
 
Join Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling, as she discusses cold calling and how she helps entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals – just like you – prospect fearlessly and schedule more new business appointments in less time.
 
The Cold Calling Free Preview Call is on September 18, 2008 and details can be found by clicking the banner below.

Social Media Today is enjoying a birthday today, so to Robin and the gang – best wishes!

Tomorrow: Question: Why do potentially good salespeople fail? Answer: Bad management.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Kendra Lee

Sooner or later it happens to the best of salespeople – a sudden slump that starts slowly and then snowballs.

Conventional wisdom says the best way to break out of a slump is to keep doing the things you’ve always done.

Avoiding the deep slump.

To get back on track and avoid a deeper slump, try these six tactics:

1. Retrace your steps.

Are you leaving anything out of your presentation that’s worked in the past? Maybe it’s a word or phrase, a transition you skipped, or a step you omitted.

Ask yourself if you’re stressing the same things. Or, are you including something that may be turning prospects off?

Compare a call you made before the slump started to one you’re making now. Can you see or hear a difference between the two?

2. Be persistent

Selling, like football, is a contact sport. If you don’t stay in contact with your customers, your competitors will.

Can you trace your slump to a period when you didn’t stay in touch with customers as much as you should?

Maintaining regular contact so you’re there when the customer is ready to buy is a great way to avoid slumps.

3. Try to keep your confidence up

Confidence and morale are usually high when sales are good. When sales are harder to come by, it’s difficult for salespeople to stay up.

You’ve proven that you can sell in the past. Now it’s a matter of finding out what’s missing and getting back on track. Once your confidence is back up, your sales will probably follow.

4. Set specific goals

Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re sure to end up nowhere.” The same can be said of a salesperson who tries to break out of a slump without setting specific goals. Maybe you should make more calls or do more prospecting than you did before the slump hit.

5. Plan each step

Salespeople who spell out the steps they’re taking to break the slump are more likely to get results than those who simply go back to the plan they used when things were good. The slump may have nothing to do with you or your sales techniques. Maybe the market has changed, and unless you adjust your plan accordingly, you’ll have difficulty ending the slump.

A plan is not just a means of breaking out of a slump. It’s a process for learning from and building on the past, a confident way of knowing that the steps you’re taking at the moment are actually in a forward direction.

6. Never relax the tension

Some salespeople blame “burn-out” and “stress” as the major cause of slumps. Salespeople who keep up the pressure usually stay ahead of the pack. To never let up may be the smartest way to avoid “burn out,” “stress” and “slumps.”

Kendra Lee is author of “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the Small & Medium Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. For more information, contact the company at +1 303.741.6636 or info@klagroup.com or visit www.klagroup.com.

KLA publishes an industry-leading online newsletter. To subscribe and get a free Quota Gap Calculator ($18.95 value) visit www.klagroup.com. For information on sales training, call 303-741-6636.

You can read more about Kendra here

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Shannon Smith, the image guru – interesting stuff!! Just click on the banner below:

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic feedback on The JF Journal, it really does make it worthwhile.

Finally, a great blogpost for you:”Is This Describing Your Product Or Service?”

Tomorrow: “How’s Your Elevator Pitch? Mine’s OK!”

The JF Guest Author Spot

Leslie Buterin

The best cold callers on the planet are topnotch sales professionals. Oddly enough we are also the worst.

When we sales pros first start the process of cold calling prospects, it’s not unusual for us to establish new records for scheduling meetings with decision makers—magically transforming scheduling as many as 8 appointments out of cold calls to 10 prospects. 

Then, one day, seemingly overnight, the novelty wears off. The thrill is gone. The smile and dial routine, becomes, well, routine.

Although cold call prospecting is lucrative …

You quickly tire of the repetition.

You want the meetings and deals that energize you. But the process of  ten to twenty calls per day, five days a week, leaves you bored right out of your gourd!

Did you know many people thrive on repetition and routine? More than half the population falls into that category. As you may well imagine, those folks aren’t drawn to the sales profession.

Our natural behavioral style gives us:

The confidence to do the difficult assignments

The ability to think on our feet; and to support (or oppose) strongly

The talent to bring fresh ideas for solving problems

By our very nature we:

Are optimistic, enthusiastic, and build confidence in others

Have the “gift of gab” and an ability to verbalize our feelings

Are excellent troubleshooters

With the right incentives we sales professionals are willing to take risks that can give our companies unbelievable success.

Routine. Our nemesis.

So, how do you reconcile the fact that the most successful cold calling system has to do with using the same script over and over again?

You have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses so you can develop strategies to meet the demands or routine cold calling. You must claim victory over “the boredom-factor”.

I know that’s tough to do, nonetheless, your ability to fight the boredom is critically important to your success.

Folks like accountants and clerks who gravitate toward routine flip out as they read these suggestions. But successful sales professionals, you’ll laugh … and value these simple yet effective tips. Blast past the dreaded “boredom barrier” as you follow through with these techniques, and keep laughing all the way to the bank.

OK. Let’s shake things up a bit

Your prospect never needs to know you are doing these kooky things on the other end of the line to break the monotony of cold calling decision makers.
 

These are the tips that’ll blast you past the boredom barrier.

Get rid of your chair.

Conduct calls from squatting position—position yourself as though you are sitting on air. The physical tension of this “squat” will distract your brain from the boredom as you are challenged to sound natural to the executive assistant on the other end of the phone!

Stand with pen in hand over a calendar or stylus over your PDA—ready to schedule a meeting. The changes in your voice as you assume this position and your sense of expectation will convey to your prospect. Much like when you extend your hand in person and expect the other person to extend their hand to shake yours; your sense of readiness will convey to your prospect. 

Keep the chair. Lean back in it and put your feet up on the desk, like the big wigs in the movies.

Oxygenate – project your voice with clarity and strength.

First time I did this I got dizzy and called the doctor. He said, “No worries. Your brain isn’t used to that much oxygen! This is good for you. Keep it up.” To get as much air in as you can, put your hands on your bent knees. Lean forward into this slight squat lean, take 5 deep breaths in through your nostrils–so deep that your abdomen fills first then your lungs, and finally your chest. Then, exhale through your         mouth. This will pump you up for your calls and add strength to your voice.

Immediately follow one successful call with another.

Your sense of exhilaration and success will carry to the listener. And you’ll feel the sweet sensation of riding the crest of the wave of success!

Is boredom keeping your from your personal best with cold calls? You will blast through that barricade as you master these tips! 

Forward this article to friends—they’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit www.ColdCallingExecutives.com ! Or call the office of Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author, speaker, Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at  (816)554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

Today’s News: First up, my apologies for such a late post – we had some technical issues, and I am also with clients, so news today is brief. I can tell you that The JF Journal is definitely launching today, and it really does look great, so grab a copy!! 

Tomorrow: “How’s Your Elevator Pitch? Mine’s Pretty Good”