The Alternative Board - East Valley

SALES - LISTEN AND HEAR

When you listen, do you really HEAR what the other person is saying? Good listening followed by the RIGHT questions is critical to building rapport, avoiding misunderstandings, and matching your products and services to show clear benefits to a buyer. It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be a good listener. Some tips for effective listening:

Give your undivided 100% atttention to whoever is speaking. Turn off the cell phones. Look them in the eye, take notes if necessary, and do not look around the room or get distracted.

Body language is 50% or more of effective communication and listening. Nod occasionally, smile, or frown. You listen with your face as well as your ears.

Let someone finish their thoughts and do not try and formulate answers before the person is finished speaking. Don't immediately give a counter argument or try to overcome their objection to products and services.

Reconfirm what someone has said using your own words and additional questions to make sure there is no misunderstanding.

After asking the right questins, listening intently, you then can start closing the sale. Your comments and input are appreciated. If you want to discuss how this may help your organization have better sales, please do not hesitate to contact me.

GETTING IN FRONT OF THE PERSON THAT SAYS YES

I had the honor of giving a workshop in Surprise, AZ entitled "Getting in Front of the Person That Says Yes". It was hosted by the AZ Tech Celerator of Surprise in co-operation with the Business Development Series group. The purpose was to help small business owners, who are not from a sales background understand that there are a myraid number of ways to get into companies without the traditional cold calling methods. Even seasoned salespeople hate cold calling. There are a few basics, I would like to share with you now.

1. Getting to the right person is very dependant upon your attitude and mentality. Think of it more as a game.

2. Getting to the person requires you to present yourself as an equal.

3. Getting to the person requires very exact targeting and research of companies and industries.

4. Getting to the person requries that you do NOT focus just on the one person that makes the decision, but also the major influencers of the decision to buy.

5. Getting to the person requires that you understand the key motivators of your prospect and its not just the benefits of your product or service.

Please comment on your experiences. Let's hear the good stories and the frustrations so we can help.

SALES PROCESS - Build trust and Rapport with Prospects

Due to all the scandals which have befallen this economy, it takes more of a conscious effort to build trust and rapport with a prospect then ever before.  People and companies are afraid to buy from untested suppliers and would rather stay with established vendors even when there are problems.  How do we build the level of trust and rapport necessary to get new business?  Don't think it is by lowering prices.  I think most sales are lost because the rapport and trust just was not there, NOT price or the other excuses for not buying.  Here are some tips on building trust and rapport.

1.  Watch body language and gestures - 55% of communication is body language.  Be aware of your body language and the prospect's body language.  An effective listener notices all aspects of communication and is aware of voice tone, facial expression, repetitive movements, muscle tension, and particularly body language.

2.  Listen and hear what your prospect is saying - Make a conscious effort to hear every word and let them finish their thoughts.  Do not respond directly without using phrases like the following:

a.  If I understood you correctly......

 b.  I appreciate what you are saying .....

3.  Try and get to know your prospects on a more personal basis - Know where they came from and what got them in the business.  However, you must be very sincere about your interest.

4.  Develop the mindset of a business consultant rather than a sales person - find out other problems and challenges, and if your product or service does not fit, perhaps your experience or contacts can help them.

5.  Take notes and repeat back the actions that must be taken to move forward on the sale - Set dates when it will be done, and follow up, follow up, follow up.

6.  Keep a consistent contact - use your CRM to make periodic phone calls, send e-mails, or send interesting articles or information which pertains to the prospects problems and challenges.  DO NOT send jokes, religious, or politically slanted information.

These are only one of many issues we brainstrom and try to help each other with at the Alternative Board meetings.  If you would like to discuss this topic frurther with me, have discussions with your sales team, or disucss about joining a Board, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

The Sales Process - Prospect Development

In our discussions at our monthly TAB meetings, we frequently speak about how to manage salespeople. Managing sales people is not always an owners primary concern and their performance is usually only judged by the revenue produced. This is very dangerous. Throughout my career, I have seen many instances where the sale has cost the company more then the revenue generated. Understanding the sales process, benchmarking your best sales person, and having an integrated sales measurement system are keys to managing a sales force and maximizing profits. In November, we spoke about Lead Generation and Management . This is only the start. Prospect Development requires a whole different skill set for sales people. We now have the appointment, and now is the time for the salesperson to sell himself, the company, and then the product. Keep this in mind. A company can have the greatest product in the world, but if the prospect does not believe in you or your company, the product will not be sold. When asked 9 out of 10 sales people will tell you that they sell, because they are able to develop relationships. Although there is much truth in this statement, the sale sometimes never goes beyond that point. It is absolutely CRITICAL for the salesperson to be asking the right questions, and listening to move the sale beyond the relationship phase. Your best salesperson is the best listener, NOT the best talker. Only after the right questions are asked should a presentation be made. In this way the presentation will fit the buyer’s needs. A good exercise for your sales group is to develop a series of at least 5-10 questions for each of the following categories and then determine what are the most important in each category to be asked before a full blown presentation be made: 1. Relationship and Rapport Building – Show an interest in the person first. Ex. How did you get started in the business? There has to be sincere interest. 2. Lay of the Land and Information Gathering– What prompted you/your company to look into your product or service? How, who, and when will a decision be made? What has been budgeted for this project? What are the expectations? 3. Pain – What challenges has the company/person faced with product or service? 4. Fear – What is the company and the person afraid to do? What is the risk involved in making the decision to go with a new company, new product, or different product or service? 5. Consult Questions – The idea here is that the salesperson is bringing in the companies expertise into the picture. This really starts the differentiation from the competitors. This is especially important when dealing with multiple solutions to an opportunity, or a commodity type product. At this point the close is either to go to the next step and make a presentation, or set up a second appointment for a more full blown demonstration or proposal. Your sales team should be required to ask and document at least 5-10 key questions for every prospect appointment made. Again, get those CRM systems working so you can document, track, measure,teach, and take the proper ACTION to move forward. If this is interest, and you want further discussion, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Sales Process - Lead Generation and Management

Doing better at sales is always a topic at our Alternative Board meetings.  It is what drives every business.  Yet despite the countless books, weblogs, and articles written on lead generation most companies do not take a systematic approach to handling them.  Here are some tips:

1.  DEVELOP A CONCRETE DEFINITION OF A LEAD - Before we call them leads, we should call them suspects.  Define what a quality concrete lead is.  Just think of all the wasted hours the sales force can spend on companies or people that will not generate business.  sales and marketing should jointly develop the right questions for every new lead to help qulify them into a prospect.

2.  ITEMIZE WHERE MOST OF YOUR LEADS ARE COMING FROM - Referral marketing, direct marketing, cold calling, e-mail marketings, blogging, advertising, trade shows, and social media are all legitimate forms of lead generation.  Do you have actual numbers of where your leads are coming from?  Can you come up with at least 5 strategies, actions, and deadlines to improve each lead generator?  Are you focusing on the strongest lead generator?  Can you measure how many leads turn to sales.

3. INSTALL AN EFFECTIVE CRM TOOL AND USE IT - ACT, Salesforce, Goldmine are great tools to use for the salesperson, but they are even better for management.  Most companies fail to use the data to improve and implement better lead generation.  With these tools, its easy to gather the information mentioned in point 2.

4.  RESPOND TO LEADS WITHIN 24 HOURS OR SOONER - You snooze, you lose.  If you are not showing interest within this time period, another company is.

5.  LEAD GENERATION MEETINGS - Have your sales and customer service deparment meet on a weekly basis just to discuss what leads there are and how you can make them into sales.  Refine the questions being asked, and your companies benefits.  OPENLY discuss failures, and learn from them.  Do not punish them.

6.  KEEP COMMUNICATION WITH ALL PAST LEADS - People and companies are taking much longer to make a decision.  Your qualified leads are a potential goldmine.  Because they did not buy today, does not mean they will not buy tomorrow.  Develop programs to keep in contact like newsletters, monthly calls, sending out white papers and other educational information. 

If you are interested in having some further discussion or want to have a free sales analysis, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

10 IMPORTANT POINTS ON HIRING THE RIGHT SALESPERSON

Despite endless courses, books, and blogs trying to educate and teach sales the average turnover rate of salespeople is between 53-68%. We hire because of experience and fire because of attitude. A Carnegie Foundation study once found that only fifteen percent of a businessperson's success could be attributed to job knowledge and technical skills—which were considered to be an essential element but overall, a small contribution. A whopping eighty-five percent of one's success could be determined by the "ability to deal with people" and "attitude." Behavioral assessments like DISC and OMG offer specific programs for hiring the right salesperson. This is only 30% of the story. Here are some critical points to think about before you hire that next salesperson.

1. Can you weight the importance of the following parts of the process and how important it is to the selling your products - Cold calling, networking, qualifying, closing, maintaining?

2. Can you measure the key behaviors necessary to be a successful sales person in your business? (E.g. cold calls/day, quotes/day, talk time on phone, $ sales)

3. Which is more important selling the technical side of your business, or the business side? Every sale has these two parts.

4. Do you really know what your company’s most critical values are and how it fits with the potential hire? TTI Performance Systems breaks Values into 5 categories:

    a. Theoretical – Knowledge for the sake of knowledge

    b. Utilitarian – Interest in money and what is useful.

    c. Individualistic – Primary interest for this value is Power

    d. Aesthetic – Interest in “form and harmony”

    e. Social – An inherent love of people, selfless

    f. Traditional – Wanting a system for living, liking defined rules.

5. How are you supporting your salesperson internally?

6. Do your internal people get the message of how to work with a salesperson?

7. What is your Sales Management style, and how are you helping your sales people to succeed?

8. Have they sold product for a strong brand big company versus small poorly branded company?

9. Does your sales compensation plan reward on the behaviors necessary to do the job or just the sales?

10. Do you want to hire them because they remind you of yourself?

If these questions have stimulated some thought, and you would like to discuss them further, please do not hesitate to contact me. This can be a typical discussion at one of our Alternative Board meetings. In this way, we gain different perspectives, which help improve each others businesses.

ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS

The most iportant thing a company can do to move forward is to have an assessment of the business. It is impertive to do this before any business plan is made, if you want your plan to work.  We have a very effective and detailed assessment tool at the Alernative Board called TAB Business Vantage.  However, to get you started here are some questions which must be answered by the decision makers and key employees. 

1.  WHAT IS THE COMPANY VISION?  I will bet that 9 out of 10 employees have no clue.  The Company Vision is the driving force in the company.  It says why you are in business, and must be the basis of doing everything from hiring empolyees that fit the culture to setting goals and strategies.

2.  WHAT ARE YOUR COMPANY'S STRENGTHS? Make sure you are not giving the same answer as your competitor.  Why are companies doing business with you?  What do your employees think?

3.  WHAT ARE YOUR COMPANY'S WEAKNESSES?  Sometimes this is hard to admit.  Again look at your competitors and consider what they do better than you.  Be honest and ask your customers if you do not know  This is another good question to get your empolyees thoughts.

4.  WHAT OPPORTUITIES EXIST FOR IMPROVEMENT?   

5.  WHAT THREATS CAN INHIBIT YOUR COMPANY'S FUTURE?  Examples are health of the owner, market conditions, and cash that you cannot control.

6.  HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR SALES DEPARTMENT AND HOW CAN IT BE IMPROVED?

7.  HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR MARKETING, AND CAN IT BE IMPROVED AND MEASURED?

8.  DO YOU HAVE A FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND KEY PRODUCT INDICATORS (KPI'S) THAT ALLOWS YOU TO QUICKLY MANAGE CASH AND MANAGE YOUR OPERATIONS?

9.  IS YOUR COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY UP-TO-DATE?  Or are you so up-to-date that you spend too much time here when you can be doing something else to add to the bigger picture.

10.  WHAT IS THE ONE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR YOU NEED OT DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD?  There are many things that need to be done, but focus on the ONE thing that will drive your business.  You maybe surprise on how your business improves.

If you are interested in hearing more, and want  a 1 hour free consult to hear more, please do not hesitate to contact me.  allanh@tab-eastvalley.com or 480-656-3565. 

PRO-ACTIVE REFERRAL MARKETING

Before this recession, many businesses relied solely on referrals for business.  Now that those referrals have dried up, how can a business start being pro-active in developing referrals?  Understand the process of getting referrals before you just boldly ask. 

1.  CUSTOMER REFERRALS - If you have given extra service and your customer recognizes it, plan to ask for 3-5 referral names.  Make sure to re-confirm that they are estatic about your service.

2.  DESCRIBE VERY EXACTLY THE REFERRAL THAT YOU WANT - This means having a very clear target and the benefits that you offer.   

3.  KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS SPHERE OF INFLUENCE - Be pro-active by knowing your customers client base and knowing the problems of the industry.  Do not hesitate to use LinkedIn and other social media to know more about their contacts and how they can benefit from you. 

4.  REDUCE THE RISK OF GIVING A REFERRAL - Remember that by giving a referral your contact is putting their reputation on the line.  Give assurances that you will give the referral, your absolute best effort and will go the extra mile to please.

5.  HAVE YOUR CLIENT SELL YOU - If you can make sure that your client has an agreed written benefit statement of your services.  Ask them if they would mind you sending them something in this form, before they call or write to the referral.  Let them sell you in a way, that you want to be sold.

6.  BEWARE OF THE CANDY REFERRAL SOURCE - Be careful of wasting time with referrals, which are of no benefit to you.  There are some people that give out referrals like candy during Halloween.  Most of them are not really good referrals, because not much thought has been given to the value you bring, and the need from the other side. 

7.  IF ALL ELSE FAILS GETS TESTIMONIALS - If someone is to uncomfortable, and you recognize this, ask them if they would not mind writing a testimonial.   

A Board of peers like the Alternative Board can dramatically help you improve your referral marketing, sales, and many other areas to help grow your business. 

WHAT'S YOUR ROI (Return on Investment)?

After many coaching sessions with business owners, one recurring theme which I am always asking them is "What's Your Return on Investment on every activity that is done in your company?"  Even prioritizing daily activities should be thought of in this way.  Everyone must consider every expense and investment for what the ROI will be. 

For example, don't cut out that marketing plan, until you can determine what your ROI has been and what you can expect.

Make your sales people separate profit and loss centers by accounting for their salaries, commissions, and expenses.  See if they are giving you a return on investment.

Before hiring that new employee think about how much revenue is needed to make up that $30,000 employee.  Realize that if you are making a 10% bottom line, that in order to justify that employee you need to generate $300,000.  Perhaps you are satisfied to get your ROI in 2-3 years.  That is okay, just make sure that you think about it, before you hire.  

In conclusion, in this difficult economy think ROI.  If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me or comment on this post.   

KEYS TO BEING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER

I was just reading a post from the Business Owners Blog written in December from one of my collegues Ray Brun called SIXTEEN MIND FRAMES OF SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNERS.  Even though this was written in 2006, the mind frames are even more important today.  He refers to Successful Owners of Businesses as SOB's.  Affectionately, of course.  One does not have to perform every mind frame to be successful.  However, if you are not doing at least 50% you may want to consider taking action.  Can you add more to the list?    These are also great discussion points at your Alternative Board meetings or with your particular peer advisory group.  I hope everyone has one.  Here is the short version of the Mind Frames. 

1.  There is always a Better Way to Do it.

2.  Being a Marketer Turmps Being a Master Every Time (my particular favorite).

3.  Risk is alway Manageable.

4.  The Answer is Somewhere - Don't ever be afraid to ask for help.

5.  Delay is Costly and is Unacceptable - Take Action NOW.

6.  I can Always find Self Confidence When I need it Most

7.  Where There is a Problem There is a System to Solve It

8.  There is no such thing as a problem only opportunity.

9.  Mistakes are a Requirement for Success - See my previous blogs.  Embrace them and learn from them.

10.  They Set high standards.

11.  Creeping Excellence Trumps Perfection - There is no perfect company.  If you know one tell me, so I can work there.

12.  Focus equals power -  Who doesn't have difficulty with this one? 

13.  It is About the Goal Not the Plan -

14.  They empower others.

15.  They Break Overwhelming Projects into Small Steps

16.  Having Your own Business is a Joy.