Sell, Sell, Sell!

I once worked with a sales veteran who could show up and sit down in just about any situation and start building relationships and closing sales almost instantly.  His secret weapon was that he had worked for a Xerox distributor early in his career and had participated in a lot of Xerox sales training.

This guy had absconded with a copy of this huge binder that he had received as a part of this training.  The binder was an excruciatingly detailed sales process for selling copiers.  It had detailed step by step instructions for every scenario…  if its a referral, do it this way, if its a cold lead, do it that way, etc….  Each individual process was very detailed…

Call and say this.

Send this letter, then wait 7 days.

Call again and say that.

If the prospect responds this way, then send this letter and call again in 10 days, etc.

My associate had figured out that the words in the letters or what the binder said to say in a call where not important.  What’s valuable about that binder is the detailed documentation of all the steps, the timing and all the possible branches on the tree of possible outcomes along the way.  He could apply it to selling any product or service.

In the 70’s, Xerox was known for having one of the most comprehensive sales training programs ever developed.

So, when I ran across this article by Daniel Sitter, in Idea Sellers, I had to pass it along!

Actual video of Xerox President Joe Wilson from back in the 60’s.  The video is of Joe welcoming a group of new reps to their training program.

Its still timely and moving.

I hope you enjoy!

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That’s right, I said “put them in a bucket”…

Of course, what I mean is to categorize them.  There are all kinds of potential markets and customers for your business out there.  You need to know which ones are the most profitable for you.  I call them “buckets”.

You can only carry 2 or 3 real buckets at a time.  Its the same in marketing your business.  You have to divide and conquer.  Each bucket has certain needs.

If you’re not sure which buckets are most profitable, then identifying the buckets and who’s in which one is the first step.

The pay off is that you can then create touch marketing campaigns that are extremely effective and affordable.  Of course you can target your sales approach to each bucket also.  The bucket analogy has to do with the touch marketing part though….  Your marketing campaigns pour leads into each bucket and then your sales efforts pour money out of the buckets!

Bottom line, if you better understand who you’re dealing with, you can better serve them. So keeping detailed notes and files on each customer is a way to “know” everything about them but, its hard to quickly use that information.

If you identify objective facts that define each bucket, you’ll be able to quickly ask a customer a few simple questions and know a LOT about them.

So, how do we know what the key facts are?

Some things are obvious - industry, size (employees, revenue, locations, etc.), title, income, etc.

Pick one of the most obvious and easily identifiable things you need to know about a prospect and make a list of all the possible categories - if its industry, then your list might be Real Estate, Financial Services, Residential Construction, etc.

Now, imagine that you’re at a cocktail party and a friend is telling you about his uncle who he thinks might be a prospect for you.  What would you ask your friend about him?  The key here is not to focus on what you ask your prospects.  That’s because you often can’t ask them questions as directly as you would like to.  So, imagine your asking a 3rd party who knows them and trusts you.  There’s nothing you can’t ask.

You’d ask your friend things directed at understanding whether you should spend your time pursuing his uncle right?

What is the problem or desire your product or service addresses? What can you ask your friend to know if the prospect has that problem or desire?

These are the questions you need to get written down.

Now keep the answers to these questions front and center for everyone on your staff.  Your receptionist should know exactly which bucket a customer is in immediately when the call comes in.

Happy selling!

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In front of the customer, they’re instinctive…

But somehow, they’re tough to write down on a piece of paper.

Your qualification questions.  The questions you ask a prospect so that you understand they’re needs and what solutions you may have that they’ll see value in.

So you’re asking, why do I need to put them in writing?

Well the obvious answers are:

1. So you can select market segments to target.
2. So you can teach others to do it too.
3. So you can create things like web forms that pre-qualify leads for you by asking some of these questions.

But there’s another reason to firm up your grasp on what you need to know about a prospect - so you can be a better sales person!

How do you know who’s hot and who’s not?  Do you just remember?  Do you have notes written down that you can review to devine the quality of each lead?

That’s great but, its not good enough in this brave new world!

Here’s why:

There is a limit to the number of relationships you can manage in your head.  Pat Sullivan, the founder of ACT!, says you can multiply that # by 5 fold if you use a database to do it.  Imagine increasing your pipeline of potential sales by 5 fold!

The most productive activity a sales person undertakes is contacting customers.  In most businesses, you have to call a prospect a few times just to get them on the phone.  Most times you dial the phone, you get voice mail, gate keepers, etc.  If you have to read anecdotal notes before each dial of the phone, you wasting time repeatedly for each prospect.  Putting the key information in quickly visible and understandable form allows you to dial more often and contact more customers.

Having your prospects in a list or database that includes this key information and can be sorted or searched using these criteria allows you to quickly pull up a call list for today or a list of customers to send a certain product announcement to.

The tough part is getting that seat of the pants questioning that you’re so good at into a managable set of database fields.

When you do, you can create a simple call sheet that lists the questions and the most popular answers.  When you’re talking with a prospect, you just circle the answers that apply.  This is a good way to test your first draft of the questions.

Then make them fields in your contact management system.  Create drop down lists for the answers that are most common.

Now, when you’re on the phone, you instantly know which questions you’ve already asked and which still need to be asked.  You can record the answers with a couple of clicks.

More tomorrow on a simple approach to getting the questions on paper.

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Sales wins customers and customer service keeps them.  Growing your business depends on both.  In recent posts, I’ve addressed how easy and profitable it can be to use an information system to beat the pants of your competitors at customer service and turn your sales reps into top performers by getting them just a little bit organized.

If you’re sales team and customer service team are both finely tuned to execute efficiently and effectively, you will beat your competition everytime.  This is virtually guaranteed.  Why?

Because most companies struggle so much with getting there.

Here’s the secret to taking sales and service to levels your competition can’t touch -

Motivate your team to use an information system to organize and share information about prospects and clients. 

Please note - this is not dependant upon the technology your choose as your information system.  Use Outlook and MS-Exchange, build an Access database, use ACT!, subscribe to an online contact management or CRM system or spend big bucks on something with all the bells and whistles…  The #1 reason for failure across all these system is user adoption.

User adoption is where soooo many companies fail.  On the surface, it sounds too easy to mess up.  You’re the boss, you tell them to use it or leave.  In fact, most businesses fall into one of two categories:

1) Established businesses where the problem is taking the risk of changing the habits of successful sales reps.

These companies have sales people that have “been there and done that” and management is often reluctant to “force” a top producing sales rep to change their methods.  The rational being “what they’re doing now is working for them”.  Sales reps with long established habits will resist the change and nit pick minor technical challenges, using them as excuses for not using the system consistently.

In this case, the key element to success is trust.  They’ll never say it but, the inner most fear of the sales rep regarding the new contact management system is that management will be watching what they do.  They’re afraid of measurement and accountability.  Strangely enough, even the hardest working reps on your staff will fall victim to this fear.

2) New businesses or divisions where the problem is that no one really understands the sales process yet. 

No one can identify the “best practice”.  Sure, every rep has their own idea of the best processes, etc. but, there’s little evidence that any of it is right.

In this case, management is sooo busy with sooo many other unknowns that they’re typically trying to hire sales reps that can “hit the ground running” without a lot of oversight.  This leaves the sales process up to the reps.

Regardless of which group your company falls into, the problem is the same.  The inmates are running the asylum!

So, when we talk about trying to motivate the sales team to get on board with your new sales automation system, we’re talking about convincing them to give up control.  That’s never easy.

Steps to take to get your team on-board:

1. Involve the end users in every step of the requirements, selection, design and implementation process. 
2. Be firm.  Do NOT let the discussion be about “if we do this”.  Take charge.  Communicate the compelling reasons that your business needs to make this change.  Make it clear that you are committed to moving forward and resistance is futile.  So, the question for each individual is not whether they’ll have to use it but, whether they want to be involved in designing and selecting the solution before they have to start using it.
3. Identify the bits of information that each person in the team struggles to get their hands on at critical moments.  Product specs, price sheets, latest marketing materials, deal status, a copy of the last proposal, etc.
4. Do some time and motion analysis.  Estimate the amount of time each person spends preparing or searching for this information and more importantly, the amount of time customers spend waiting for solutions while your team coordinate and communicates.
5. Customize the system so that each person can find that crucial bit of information that they’re always searching for instantly.  Usually this is pretty simple.  Put a few custom fields in the database to easily record the stats you need about a customer like # of employees, trucks in their fleet, etc.  Put standard collateral like marketing materials, specs, price sheets and agreements in the system so that anyone can grab them any time.  Be sure that proposals and agreements can be easily archived and retrieved.
6. Now, sell it to them.  Show them how much time is being wasted now.  Show them how much more quickly their customers could get solutions.  Discuss what that means to your company competitively. Ask your team to help you identify the ways in which you’ll know the change has been worth it.  What evidence should you see in 3 months, 6 months or a year that making this change is moving your business to the level you set out for yourselves?  It may make sense to provide some incentives to the team for making these goals a reality.

Good news.  This process does not need to take months or involve outside consultants.  It does not require that you spend big bucks on the technology.  In fact, keeping the requirements and the chosen solution simple is your best bet. 

If you’ve defined realistic objectives and everyone involved knows what is at stake for the business, your biggest risk is that you’ll need to upgrade to a more comprehensive solution in a couple of years because your requirements will grow as you automate more and more of your process.  This is a very good problem to have!

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For those of you that don’t quite get what all the hype about Social media advertising is about, Danny Sullivan’s article in Ad Age explains why social ads don’t have the same potential as search ads.

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Per my last post, I owe you an article on how to motivate your team to use an information system to improve sales, service and support effectiveness.

However, I saw a post today that I just had to pass on.

Yaro Starak’s post about an article by Rich Schefren is a must read!

Improving the quality of every interaction you have with every person you meet or care for can unlock tremendous potential for reaching your goals and finding fulfillment.

Yaro’s article points the way.

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You don’t have to be in the Fortune 500 to build superior customer service into your business.

In fact, when’s the last time you called a Fortune 500 company for service and came away impressed with the service you got?

The big guys have the resources to do whatever they want but, their size makes it difficult in itself. Why?

Because good customer service is mostly about information. When a customer calls, they want information: how to buy, how to use, how to pay, etc. From the customer’s point of view, the measure of good customer service is two fold - how fast can I get what I need and how pleasant is the experience?

The larger the organization, the more layers and departments there are. That makes it tough to keep things simple for the customer.

For a small business, it can seem difficult to provide instant access to information and solutions. That’s because most business owners have the impression that they must spend large sums of money to implement an information system (contact management, CRM, etc.) that empowers sales and service personnel to assist customers quickly.

So, the process is normally one in which some one logs the call and the request, then promises to get back to the client as soon as possible. Then the staffer tracks down someone who has the information and authority to make decisions. Of course, this process is inherently inefficient and leaves the customer waiting.

What if any customer facing employee in your company could look up a comprehensive status for the client on the phone? Everything they’ve ever bought, service issues they’ve had, pending orders, general notes about their application of the product, etc.?

Good news! Its not that hard to achieve. If you have some IT expertise on hand, it can be done with Access or even Microsoft Exchange. Solid CRMs or Contact Management systems can be had for less than $500 per employee per year, when you factor in all the costs of implementation, maintenance, etc.

So, the client calls and the person who answers the call has all the facts they need to help the client on the spot.

The client gets what they want - fast answers without having to talk to several employees while being transferred around, waiting on hold and repeating their story.

So, if $500 per employee seems an affordable cost for beating your biggest competitor at customer service, all you have to do is decide that your company can make the transition from keeping information in their heads to entering it into a contact management database.

That transition doesn’t have to be painful. More to come in my next post on how to motivate employees to get on board with sharing information and how to make it easy to get started while reducing the training costs.

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I hope its obvious but, to be sure its understood, I try not to use this blog to shamelessly promote SalesNexus’ contact management services, which is my day job.

However, when the “godfather of modern networking”, Ivan Misner, lays the pitch up there, I just have to take a swing!

In his recent Entrepreneur.com article, the founder of BNI, lays out a perfect description of how a tiny bit of effort at organization and tracking results can yield tremendous returns.

The concept is simple and can be followed using paper note cards.  Just jot down the real business results that come from referrals so that you can refer back to them and know who referred you good business and who referred you dead weight.

So, if you sell telecom services and you network with a IT outsourcing sales person, you would have a card for your IT contact and write down the referral he/she gives you and then what results from each referral.  You could also write down the things you do to “nurture” the IT contact as a referral source - referrals you give them, tips on good deals, etc.

Yes.  Absolutely.  If you’re reading this blog, you probably have a bent toward technical things.  So, I’m hoping that the question going through your mind is “Why not use a database to track this stuff?”

Well, THAT is an EXCELLENT question!

Of course, if you put your contacts in a database and flag each of them as either sales prospects, referral sources, etc., then record which prospects came from which referral source and which prospects turned into good clients, you can produce a list of your most profitable referral sources with just a couple of clicks.

That’s all well and good but, where it gets real interesting is in being able to use that list to send special emails to or setting yourself reminders to call those contacts more frequently, etc.

These things are just scratching the surface of what most contact management or CRM systems can do.

What I find frustrating is that sales people don’t buy these system, management does.  And management buys them for entirely different reasons and then neglects to show the sales team how they could benefit from the system, while management gets what they want too.

Its a very lucky business owner or sales executive that has one or more sales people on their team that just have a knack for figuring out how to leverage these systems for their own good.  They sort it out and the rest of the team can learn from them.

Management gets a lot more out of the system if the sales team is using it because they want to, because it helps them sell more.

And it really is just as simple as Mr. Misner describes.  As Bo Jackson said, “Just do it!”

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An article by Gary Jones on Sales Motivation.net got my attention today…

Gary talks about changing your mindset to open up opportunities for sales success.

There’s no question that we are usually our own worst enemies.  Our fears and doubts slow us down and cause us to overlook opportunities.

Why is it soooooo difficult to keep one’s self in a positive frame of mind?

Of course, there is tons of medical and psychological research out there about how the core of our brains are ruled by survival instincts like fear (fight or flight…), etc.

Those emotions take over quickly and easily.

In spite of the countless books written by the godfathers of sales expertise and motivation, all of them preaching affirmations, etc., human nature keeps getting the better of us.

And as sales managers, business owners and sales trainers, we tend to reinforce the fears and self limiting thought patterns.

We focus on overcoming objections.  We focus training on sales “funnels” where most of the prospects fall out of the funnel…

At SalesNexus, many of our clients’ biggest concern is to track the activity of newly hired sales reps so that they can see where they need help, training, coaching…. i.e. what they’re doing wrong.

I see a future in which your Sales Automation system sends the manager an alert when a rep reaches a goal - 50 calls completed today - or even better, congratulates the rep.  Where the rest of the sales team can see a “leader board” of reps who have excelled or exceeded expectations.  In my business, this should not be limited to how much they sold but, its most valuable at the day to day activity level.  The blocking and tackling.

Think about your world.  What are you doing right consistently?  How can you spend more time maximizing that strength?

What are the things that slow you down each day?  What are the dark clouds that haunt you day in and day out?  Can you look past them?  What would you be able to do if they disappeared instantly? Write those accomplishments down.

Read your list of accomplishments each morning.  Watch solutions and opportunities appear where the clouds once were.

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A “put off” is something a prospect says to “get rid of you”. To get you off the phone or out of his office. To end the meeting and move on with his/her day.

Examples:

• “Send me your brochure and I’ll get back to you”
• “Can you send me your basic price schedule to review?”
• “Let me talk it over with my team and I’ll get back to you”

Countless pages in sales books and hours in sales meetings have been spent addressing techniques for responding to put offs - to prevent yourself from being “put off”. A typical response might be “If I agree to send you my catalog, will you commit to talking with me for 15 minutes next Thursday morning?”.

How about using a Judo approach? Wiki defines Judo as “the principle of using one’s opponent’s strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing his momentum to throw him forwards”

So, here we are spending considerable time and money developing online methods for our customers to obtain the information they need to make a purchase decision and to make the purchase itself.

And the customer just wants to end the conversation with the sales rep. Many times its just because there are other pressing matters that need attention.

So when the customer asks for your price list, how about directing him to the online sign up page on your website? Now their only a credit card number away from a purchase, rather than just waiting to receive something from you.

If you design your site to include other actions that a prospect can take prior to purchase, such as sign up for a webinar, subscribe to your newsletter or blog or view an online demo or presentation, these things become measurable steps in your sales process.

So, when the client gives you the brush off, you move him to the appropriate step in your process and agree on next steps.

Go through this exercise - write down the top “put offs” you hear from prospects. Then identify a corresponding piece of information or action you can direct the prospect toward on your site for each put off. Now you’ve got them going to the store in order to move on with their day.

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