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. 

THE SALES PLAN

All businesses need a written yearly Sales Plan. Just having commissions and giving a sales number to achieve is not a true measure of performance. There are to many salespeople that are allowed to survive on old established accounts rather than continuing to prospect for new business. A plan keeps the direction of the sales force in focus. . The first step is to make sure the Vision of the company is well known and everyone buys into it. A great vision is self directing. Get your sales team input in what is needed or lacking to achieve that Vision and take action. Remember a Mission is what you are today, the Vision is what you want to be when you grow up. Next is to set goals. They must be SMART quantifiable goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely). Make sure there are short term quarterly goals and yearly goals. Total Sales, Total calls, new products to Current Customers, Average Gross Margin/Sale, Average Sale, New Customers / Month and Presentations/month should be part of the compensation plan. There must be strategies behind every goal. You cannot just say you want or expect 10% growth, there has to be at least 4-5 strategies behind it. By nature, sales people are competitive. So post those results for everyone to see and have smaller bonus prizes or contests to keep the competitive juices flowing. In this way, your sales people will be more self managing and you will be amazed at the results.

GROWING YOUR SALES IN A DOWN ECONOMY

Many of my TAB (The Alternative Board) members have been concerned on how few leads they are getting, and how consumers and businesses are putting off buying because of the uncertainty of the economy.  Perhaps it is time to turn back to the basics to get more leads, and referrals.  We have gotten very reliant on the New Wave of Internet marketing, networking, and referral marketing.  No one believes more than I about getting sales by networking and referrals.  Its fun and its easy, and it makes you feel like you are doing something.  After all, who likes cold calling.  However, times are difficult, and sometimes we have to get back to basics with quicker solutions than these new low cost marketing tools can give us.  My suggestions are as follows:

Business owners and managers get out of the office and tell your present customers how much you care.  Don’t rely on your salesperson being the only contact point.  Help your salespeople look for low hanging fruit.
Do not allow the downturn as an excuse for you not to reach your company goals.  Be positive, realistic and show everyone that you are willing to take Action to make things happen.  Let your competitors worry about the economy.   
Make a list of all your old contacts, prospects, and customers.  It should not matter if it has been a year or 5 years.
Stop waiting for the phone to ring.  Stop whining.  Have your sales people make appointments with themselves to call potential leads and old customers at a set time, for a set period.  NO EXCUSES.  Just imagine if your salespeople were assigned to make 60 calls a week which is 3 hours to old leads, new leads, or past customers.  All they need is one new customer, and it is worth the time investment.  I have one client that set aside an office without a computer, or other distractions and demanded that the sales people sign up 3 hours a week just to make phone calls.  Her sales jumped immediately. 
Ask your customers why they do business with you and how you can service them better or find solutions to customers needs.
Really hone in on your Sales Process where it is breaking down, and ask your sales group how it can be done better.  Get their ideas and their commitment.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated.  As always, this is just a guide to help you grow your business and your sales.

Sales and the Introvert

One of my private coaching clients is a very shy, intelligent introvert.  George is second in command of a multimillion dollar family owned company.  Customer contact to this point has been strictly through Customer Service and a Distributor network.  There is no sales force.  We had very intensive conversations about the necessity of having direct contact with the customers through sales people and/or business developers.  Sales have been flat for several years, and overtime there will be decreases if there is no active sales and marketing.   Jim was reluctantly determined to do this himself.  At first, I discouraged this idea.  He had no idea what to say or do.  However, after much discussion, we agreed that Jim would call 10 customers in 2 weeks.  The purpose of the call was to just go over their YTD sales, ask them what the driving forces are, and have a few prepared questions to ask.  We wrote down a script and discussed the different scenarios.  I left and came back in 2 weeks and Jim had only made 2 calls.  Then came the excuses.  We went over all the scenarios again, and I said I will be coming back in 2 weeks and expect 10 calls.  As I approached his office I was ready to fire my client.  I was pleased to discover that Jim made 8 calls, and all I can say is WOW.  By formulating the right questions, Jim got valuble market information like pricing and products.  He now has at least 1 new project for his lab, which could generate substantial sales.  He has been invited by 2 distributors to travel with them to their customers.  It is a start.  I may have been more pleased then him.  There is a true thrill when you see someone achieve success.