The JF Guest Author Spot

Dan Adams

Q:    Dan:  When I joined my company several years ago we had the luxury of having a new family of products that were superior compared to our competitors’ solutions. Now that the competition has announced new products it is  harder to win deals. I’m having trouble convincing our marketing department to accelerate new product launches.  Any thoughts to help me to hold my market share until our new products arrive?

Lucy Watt
Phoenix, AZ

A: 
Lucy, Thanks for your great question. Your situation is not uncommon. To solve the problem and help you on your path to superstardom let’s try to see the world differently. Here is the key:

The Product Doesn’t Matter!

True or false: A sales rep’s success is tied directly to the quality of the product or solution she is offering. As a buyer visiting car dealerships, you may have thought you were comparing car A with car B. But actually, what you were really comparing was sales rep A with sales rep B. That’s what happens in customers’ minds.

The sales rep acts as the intermediary between the customer and the product or service, greatly influencing how people buy. The customer bases his decision, for the most part, on the actions of this intermediary (that is, if the sales rep is a superstar). After all, a car is a car is a car. Any of them will get you where you want to go.

Yes, the sales rep does have to have a decent product. But in most cases the solutions are very similar, and it’s the rep who makes the difference. The rep enjoys a position between the product and the customer’s perception of that product. It is the sales rep who can make that product look worse than, equal to, or better than the competitor’s product. Superstars know that the difference between the products is really the difference that the superstar brings to the table in the form of consultative selling skills. Superstars differentiate themselves not by what they sell but by how they sell.

If the sales rep is not a superstar, then the customer makes the decision based on price and features. With no superstar rep in the picture, the customer’s decision is easy: Buy the one with the lowest price. One thing that drew me to sales training was realizing the difference a great rep can make to a company. We’ve all had a chance to observe this. Consider what happens to a company when one of its superstars leaves a territory – sales drop almost immediately. The converse is true when an experienced consultant is placed in a new territory – sales immediately increase. What changed? Has the company drastically reduced price, changed its marketing strategy, or announced a new product? No. After more than twenty years of witnessing this, I have seen time and time again that the cause of the sales drop is the departure of that particular superstar. This proves that the sales rep is critical! 

Lucy, the bottom line is that you must stop looking to your company to provide extraordinary products and look to utilizing your own consultative selling skills as the key differentiator that will earn the business for you.

Good Luck, and Close ‘Em!

Dan

Dan Adams is an award-winning professional speaker, best selling author, and consultant who draws upon more than 20 years of experience in the field of sales and marketing. Having honed his sales skills selling multimillion dollar solutions for Fortune 500 and high technology companies over the past 20 years, Dan founded a profitable sales consulting company called Adams & Associates, utilizing his own strategic selling principles embodied in his program Trust Triangle Selling™.
For more information, please visit www.trusttriangleselling.com or call 630-215-5090.

He is also a member of the Top Sales Experts team, and you can read more about him here

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with the very switched on, Ivan Misner – “Six Degrees Of Seperation”

Just click on the banner below to listen in:

Here is news of an excellent forthcoming event:

The Ultimate Appointment Making Workshop

Click here for the on-line registration form

In today’s economy, businesses cannot afford to wait for customers to beat a path to their door. Companies must “go on the offensive” and take a proactive approach to finding new sources of revenue. Companies that achieve exceptional revenue growth understand that one of the most critical steps in building a pipeline of new prospects is to get that first appointment. The Ultimate Appointment Making Workshop helps your sales representatives get their “foot-in- the-door” with new prospects so they can begin selling.

“I found the workshop extremely informative and time well spent.  Tibor is an excellent coach and manages to get his thoughts and principles across while also managing to keep his audience engaged for an entire day.  Anyone who (should be) spends their time hunting for new sales opportunities over the telephone should take this course.  Unless, of course you happen to be in the same industry as me which I’d then have to recommend that you stay away.”

The Appointment-Making Workshop enables sales representatives to use proven methods for generating leads, overcome the fear of call reluctance, capitalize upon referrals, and secure more appointments with decision-makers.

“A fabulous, pragmatic approach that is very focused on getting an appointment using cold calling.”

Attendees will develop a complete telephone appointment making approach and effective strategies for anticipating responses and handling issues in order to improve their ability to get that crucial first appointment. Sales representatives will create their own individual approach for qualifying and appointment-setting, build key skills necessary to generate new business, and practice these newfound skills through role-playing to ensure the successful application of what was taught.

Appointment Making Workshop Benefits

As a result of this Appointment Making Workshop participants will:
• Understand the value of building their base of prospects
• Develop techniques for making successful cold calls
• Turn leads into viable prospects by getting that first appointment
• Take a proactive role in filling their sales pipeline
• Create and leverage referrals
• Calling the right people at all levels
• Overcome the fear of cold call reluctance
• Effectively deal with gatekeepers
• Use references to penetrate new accounts
• Anticipate and manage negative responses to their initial call
• Leave voicemail messages that get returned
• Generate more sales as they secure more new appointments
“Thorough – simple – able to put in to practice right away. Expect immediate results”

Participants will see immediate payback for this one-day workshop as participants begin using these new skills the very next day.

INVESTMENT:   $307

PRICE INCLUDES:  Workshop, Workbook, Text book and Audio Book on CD;
Continental breakfast and snacks

SPECIAL BONUS:
FIRST 50 PEOPLE TO REGISTER WILL ALSO RECIEVE AN ABSOLUTLEY FREE COPY OF THE BEST SELLING BOOK: ”ASKING QUESTIONS, WINNING SALES”

Click here for the on-line registration form

Friday November 28, 2008
8:00 am to 9:00 am: Networking, Continental Breakfast and Registration
9:00 am to 3:00 pm: The Ultimate Appointment Making Workshop

Delta Markham
50 East Valhalla Drive
Markham, Ontario L3R 0A3

Directions & Map

Tomorrow: For most salespeople, management is their ultimate ambition – why? And why do so many fail?

There are four personality types or social styles – Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables – and all four have their own unique approach to business, their own language and thought processes etc. As a consequence, the very best sales professionals have become adept at recognising which personality they are dealing with and adapt their approach and communication style accordingly.

In every boardroom, you will always find three of the four personality types, occasionally, all four: I have discovered over the years which personality is likely to fill which position on the board, but more on that later.

The Driver:
Let’s begin by looking at the characteristics of the Driver. Drivers are action and goal oriented, need to see results and have a quick reaction time. They are decisive, independent, disciplined, practical, and efficient. They typically use facts and data, speak and act quickly, lean forward, point and make direct eye contact. Their body posture is often rigid and they have controlled facial expressions.

They rarely want to waste time on personal talk or preliminaries and can be perceived by other styles as dominating or harsh and severe in pursuit of a goal. They are comfortable in positions of power and control and they have businesslike offices with certificates and commendations on the wall. In times of stress, drivers may become autocratic.

The Analytical:
Analyticals are concerned with being organised, having all the facts, and being careful before taking action. Their need is to be accurate, to be right. precise, orderly, methodical and conform to standard operating procedures, organisational rules and historical ways of doing things. They typically have a slow reaction time and work more slowly and carefully than Drivers. They are perceived as serious, industrious, persistent, and exacting.

Usually, they are task oriented, use facts and data, and tend to speak slowly. lean back and use their hands frequently. They do not make direct eye contact and control their facial expressions. Others may see them as stuffy, indecisive, critical, picky, and moralistic. They are comfortable in positions in which they can check facts and figures and be sure they are right. They have neat, well organised offices and in times of stress, Analyticals tend to avoid conflict.

The Expressive:
Expressives enjoy involvement, excitement, and interpersonal action. They are sociable, stimulating, and enthusiastic and are good at involving and motivating others. They are also ideas oriented. have little concern for routine, are future oriented and usually they have a quick reaction time. They need to be accepted by others, tend to be spontaneous, outgoing, energetic, and friendly and focused on people rather than on tasks. Typically, they use opinions and stories rather than facts and data. They speak and act quickly; vary vocal inflection, lean forward, and point and make direct eye contact.

They use their hands when talking; have a relaxed body posture and an animated expression. Their feelings often show in their faces and they are perceived by others as excitable, impulsive, undisciplined, dramatic, manipulative, ambitious, overly reactive, and egotistical. They usually have disorganised offices and may have leisure equipment like golf clubs or tennis racquets. Under stressful conditions, Expressives tend to resort to personal attack.

And Finally – The Amiable:
Amiables need co-operation, personal security, and acceptance. They are uncomfortable with and will avoid conflict at all costs. They value personal relationships, helping others and being liked. Some Amiables will sacrifice their own desires to win approval from others. They prefer to work with other people in a team effort, rather than individually and they have an unhurried reaction time and little concern with effecting change. Typically, they are friendly, supportive, respectful, willing, dependable, and agreeable. They are also people-oriented.

They use opinions rather than facts and data, speak slowly, and softly, use more vocal inflection than Drivers or Analyticals. They lean back while talking and do not make direct eye contact; they also have a casual posture and an animated expression. They are perceived by other styles as conforming, unsure, pliable, dependent, and awkward. They have homely offices – family photographs, plants etc. An Amiable’s reaction to stress is to comply with others.

Most people’s first reaction after reading the four profiles is to believe that they fit into more than one category and this is absolutely right. However, everyone has a dominant style and no-one should believe that they fit into more than two because they don’t.

So, which Social Style do the various residents of the boardroom typically have?

Managing Directors/CEOs are typically Drivers, as you might expect.
Finance Directors are usually Analyticals
Sales Directors are nearly always Expressives
Marketing Directors are also Expressives
Technical Directors are almost always Analyticals

And Finally: In Sales
Level 3, Top 5% Achievers, are normally Drivers
Level 2, Sales Professionals, are typically Expressives
Level 1, Emerging salesmen and women are almost always Amiables

It is of course dangerous to generalise and there will always be exceptions, however based on my experience, I have very rarely been mistaken using this concept of personality identification, which makes communication so much easier and indeed relevant.

If you want to learn more about the four social styles and how to influence them, you will enjoy this: “How To Relate To And Influence The Four Personality Types”

Today’s News: After much anticipation, the Sales SheBang 2008 Conference  kicks-off tomorrow, and we couldn’t resist creating a “Good Luck” card for the seven Top Sales Experts who will be presenting; To Jill Konrath, Leslie Buterin, Kim Duke, Lori Richardson, Colleen Francis, Anne Miller and Kendra Lee, we send our very best wishes.

Tomorrow: Another Top Sales Expert, Tim Wackel is my guest on The JF Guest Author Spot, and he has some timely tips for selling in a sluggish market.