Group 19 - Sales Consulting, Outsourcing and Coaching - Brian Casto

Blog is moving

2011-09-07T09:41:00.001-07:00

This Blog is moving to http://www.group19.com/ and the move should be complted by September 30. Please come visit us at the new blog.

New Sales Manager's Experience

2009-09-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

As a new Sales Manager, your job comes with a new energetic morning routine. You hit the gym, grab some Starbucks refreshment, and get to the office pretty close to 9am. You check your messages, drop off your brief case and with coffee in hand, walk into the boss’s office and sit down. You discuss your first day as a Sales Manager.

Read more of the recently published article by Brian Casto at www.salesgravy.com This "story" will help new managers understand and avoid the first mistakes you can make.

http://www.salesgravy.com/Articles/content/view/673/1/

2009-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

There are some interesting Group 19 conference calls coming up over the next few weeks. Here is the schedule.

May 1, 2009 Noon, Eastern Time

Live chat with a Professional Sales Coach, 20 guests will have the chance to ask questions and discuss any relevant topics. For more information and to enroll go to www.group19.com/event/coach_chat

May 5, 2009 Noon, Eastern Time

Self promotion using social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others. Twenty guests will participate in a guided discussion about key sites, how to use them, and how to leverage them. For more information and to enroll got to www.group19.com/event/social_network

May 7, 2009 Noon, Eastern Time

Many professionals between jobs, underemployed, etc are looking at Group 19 as a way to earn income serious income. Brian Casto, CEO and Founder of Group 19, will highlight the benefits of Group 19 membership, emphasizing not just the income advantage, but also the advantages of skill building, self promotion, and active engagement. For more information and to enroll, go to www.group19.com/event/member_overview

May 26, 2009 Noon Eastern Time

Corporate leaders looking at sales channel alternatives will want to participate in this conference call on Sales Outsoucing. Brian Casto, CEO and Founder of Group 19 will discuss the merits of Sales Outsourcing, who should consider it, who shouldn't etc. Sales Outsourcing can be an emotional subject often full of misinformation and misunderstanding. This conference call intends to help address both. For more information and to enroll, go to

www.group19.com/event/sales_outsourcing

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 5

2009-02-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Number 5 TIP on Selling in a Down Economy

Spread the Customer's Pain / Needs

You have been working on a sales effort for months and have just learned the budget has been hacked. Before you trade in your sports car, stop and think of how to broaden the impact of your proposal. Involve more departments and the project budget can grow with each one added.

The department you have been working has lost half the budget needed. Other departments likely have slashed budgets too and are looking to find creative lower costs alternatives to address their needs. A creative sales person like you, can draw in 3-4 more departments, get the full budget covered, and take down a big deal while others are complaining about lost funding.

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 6

2009-02-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Number 6 TIP on Selling in a Down Economy

Focus your Selling on Cost Savings then New Revenue Growth

Every company will be first focused on saving money - costs savings. Your clients are likely adjusting capital spending priorities focusing more than ever on saving money. For most the capital budget has been trimmed or eliminated all together. However, most senior executives will listen to a proposal that might save them money. Re-tool all your strategies and focus on cost savings 1st.

The old adage, "Nothing cures business blues more than revenue" is especially true in tough economic times. Your 2nd priority is to find creative ways for you to clearly show revenue growth from your proposals. This is not easy and most clients are very skeptical of revenue growth oriented proposals. Do your home work, study their financial situation, use rock solid references, and take a big swing.

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 7

2009-02-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Number 7 TIP on Selling in a Down Economy

Cross Sell and Up Sell

In good times or bad, cross selling and up selling to existing customers is a great idea and yields strong business growth. When the economy is tough, there can be even greater benefits from cross selling and up selling to existing customers.

Your install base of products at the client is a beach head eager for expanding. Careful examination of customer budget information and strategic efforts will reveal projects already with committed budgets. Examining those projects closely may uncover some sizable opportunities for you to "add on" to those projects.

Original justification for your install base was based on a specific need or pain. Revisit that need or pain to see if it has expanded to other departments. Use the success of that project and your knowledge of the needs to move horizontally through your clients organization looking to solve similar problems and address similar pains.

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 8

2009-02-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Number 8 TIP on Selling in a Down Economy

A Good Offense needs a Good Defense

Doing all you can to keep your customers happy and returning to you means building a good offense and a good defense.

Your offense includes all your proactive selling tasks, your CRM activity, etc. In a down economy these things must continue, with adjustments like we are listing on our top 10 list.

Your defense includes all the things you can do to keep your customer engaged with you and not with your competitors. It also means reaching out to a broader partner network and building relationships with them. Nothing impedes a competitor more than a "locked up" partner network. Use all these activities to defend your territory.

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 9

2009-02-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Number 9 TIP on Selling in a Down Economy

Strengthen Your Partner Strategy

A down economy can lengthen sales cycles, evaporate deals, and generally depress the sales volume. You can't fix it all by yourself. If you have a strong business partner network, increase your activity with them. if you don't have a strong business partner network, shame on you. It will be more difficult now to build it. But, if you don't have it, you got to do it now.

The formula is easy; more sales people in your territory = more business. Turn up the temperature and activity levels and make sure all your partners are out there turning up the business.

Selling in a Down Economy: Tip 10

2009-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Just as some late night hosts have their top 10 lists, we have ours.

Presenting the TOP 10 TIPs on selling in a Down Economy. A TIP will be Published each day for the next 2 weeks.

Find Industries less impacted

A slowing economy doesn't impact all industries alike nor all at the same time. Unique research for your territory should reveal certain industries and sub-industries that are slow to enter a down turn and those likely to exit the slow down more quickly. That historic data will also suggest which companies will be least impacted by the slowing economy.

In general terms, heavy industries are quick to see the slow down and slow to recover from them. Consumer related businesses enter an economic slow down later and recover more quickly. The Entertainment related industries historically aren't impacted as severely as other industries. These are generalities from my observation. Your situation may be different.

Sales Managers - Know more about your Reps golf game than about their pipeline?

2009-02-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Funny thing, every time you meet with this one low performing Sales Rep, the conversation always morphs into a discussion of golf. Every time you meet, you spend 30 minutes talking golf and then cram the business discussion into the remaining 10 minutes. And if memory serves me correctly, you seem to go over the same things and not much changes.

A familiar scenario? Have you even noticed this pattern? Golf, I have another that talks forever about the family and another who dissects the latest business books for me. Oddly, these 3 are ranked in the bottom half of my team.

Smile, you aren't the first nor will you be the last to be distracted by the passionate magician on your staff. These magicians have learned an hour long conversation with the boss can be painful for them - too much talk about opportunities, sales calls, prospecting, and forecasts. They have so little to say on those subjects, so deep into the top hat they reach and pull out the "Passionate Distraction Technique (PDT)".

Give them credit for being creative and successfully distracting the boss. That is not an easy accomplishment. They likely have successfully been using PDT for many years. Sometimes also practicing it on their peers, customers, and in-laws.

Deployed effectively, PDT can delay the manager's realization of performance issues. Good magicians can combine PDT with another slight-of-hand skill: "disguised procrastination with obvious platitudes (DPOP)"

DPOP is the natural partner of PDT. The magician knows eventually in the conversation the boss will make a recommendation, give an instruction, offer a suggestion, or imply a deadline, uninformed and maybe misguided, but done in a desperate attempt to drive something meaningful from the meeting. The magician knows it is coming, offers a smile and deftly presents DPOP. Here is an example.

Manager - "I know we just have a moment left. That opportunity hasn't moved for weeks. Schedule a call with the decision maker and review the proposed benefits. Then we will discuss it. That may get us back on track".

Sales Rep - "Boss that is a great idea. You are always so wise and helpful. I will schedule that ASAP. Just FYI, I am in a training class next week, and have a proposal I am writing for that really big deal you told me was so important. So it may take a few days."

Magicians protect their craft very well. So don't expect a confession or a behind the curtain peek anytime soon. But you now know the PDT and DPOP tricks. You can't be confused or fooled by them anymore. You now know they are used to avoid a set of overdue conversations about some serious topics.

You may be a victim of your own harried schedule or maybe you like to "fly by the seat of your pants". Regardless of the reasons, you must take the time and spend the energy preparing for these overdue conversations. Recognize the PDT and DPOP tricks and cut them short. Neither you nor your employee benefit long term from the neglect of serious on the job issues.

Inventory the time you spend with your employees, measuring how much time is spent on non business topics. This could be a clue to look deeper.

Good luck and good selling..

Conducting Effective Product Demonstrations

2009-02-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

Most car buyers only have a simple understanding how it works and can only identify a small number of parts on the car. They often buy the car based simply on appearance and affordability.

House buyers delegate the inspection to a hired professional, and primarily make a house decision today based on the location and appeal of the kitchen and master suite.

Computing solution buyers may not care what brand disk drive is used and may only need 30% of the software features. They buy the solution closest to their desired attributes.

Given this, why then do most product demonstrations take as much time as needed to show all the product features? Even when the customer cares only about 3 pertinent features, we insist on showing all 20 product features. We show a feature of no interest with hope it helps sell our solution. It could ultimately confuse the customer. Stumbling our way through every part of the product we show an ugly user interface that sticks in the customer's mind months later. Sadly, in their potential use of the product, they would have never ever used that interface.

Now, think about a better way. Regardless if the demo is for interest generation or solution proof, only show those features important to the real solution. Make every effort to use that precious demo time to reinforce the solution vision you have built and only that vision. Plan and rehearse the demo to eliminate all unnecessary stuff.

If your technical resources often balk at doing demonstrations for you, insist on first speaking with the customers directly, or require you to use a detailed multi-question demo request form to schedule a demo, they have likely participated in poorly prepared demos with you.

Every thing we do is to advance the sale. with proper preparation you can make sure your demo advances the sale and doesn't create opportunities for objections.

Good luck and good selling.

Financial Series - Analyzing a Customer's Financial Statements - Ratios

2009-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the first of a 6 part Financial Series to be published bi-weekly.

The analysis of a Customer’s annual report and other financial statements has been a key sales practice for many years. Some say it is slowly becoming a lost skill. So, to refresh that skill, here is a short review of some common tools used.

For each Ratio listed, desired values or normal ranges of values can vary. Seek input from specific industry analysts in your evaluation. Desired results, industry averages, etc. can be unique by industry and business type and are important when used as a comparison to other companies.

Liquidity – how effectively the company is balancing the current funds flow operation

Current Ratio = (Current Assets / Current Liabilities) can be a good sign of the customers working capital

Quick Ratio = (Current Assets – Inventory / Current Liabilities) also known as the “acid test”, lessens the effect of inventory in the analysis

Ownership: debt ratio = {Debt (Current Liabilities + Long-term Liabilities) / total assets} will offer some view of whether the company is mainly owned by its shareholders or its creditors.

Profitability –

Profit Margin = (Net Income After Taxes / Net Sales) simply how profitably they are

Return on Total Assets = (Net Income After Taxes / Total Assets) a measure of the efficiency management invests its profits in assets

Earnings per Share = (Net Income After Taxes / Number of Common Shares Outstanding) a value normally used to determine the company’s stock desirability

Activity – measures of operational aspects of the company

Collection Period = (Net Accounts Receivable / Average Day’s Sales) long or short collection periods may indicate operational health

Inventory Turnover = (Cost of Goods Sold / Year-end Inventory) very unique to the customer’s industry, but provides a great comparison to others

Operating Cycle =DSO + Days Inventory (DSO is Days Sales Outstanding)

There are many other ratios and tools used to analyze a customer’s financial statements. Sales people with a mastery of these subjects will have an easier time positioning major purchases of their products in the most favorable way.

Just as with all generic tools and techniques, they should not be done in a vacuum. You should combine the results of your analysis with other data and observable facts to draw reasonably prudent conclusions. With practice and historical data, you can use these tools to guide your selling activities and improve results.

Sales People, are you ashamed of your profession?

2009-01-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

Remember your Mother's reaction when you told her you were going to be a sales person. She likely grimaced and wondered where she went wrong.

Her attitudes about selling were likely built early in her life from experiences with car sales people, traveling sales people, and magazine peddlers. Just close your eyes and see "Herb Tarlek" of the TV show WKRP bouncing around in his white shoes, plaid jacket and white belt. Or conjure up an image of "Steve" the magazine sales person from the movie "Office Space". Remember his sales pitch? Oh, and one of my favorites, John Goodman playing Big Dan Teague in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou". He punctuated his sales lesson swinging a club.

In a recent LinkedIn exchange, I learned these images and similar based stereotypes are still alive. Normally rational people, used unflattering language to describe sales people they know. How many of us recognize these stereotypes still exist and see when they are in play?

Are you proud of your sales profession? Are you willing to fight and improve or eliminate those persistent stereotypes? Before you answer that question, answer the ones below.

How often do you sharpen your sales skills? -- class, seminar, book, etc.
How often are you fashionably late to customer meetings?
How many times have you said "I'm Sorry" to your customers or colleagues?
Are you so good, you abbreviate customer call prep time or just don't do it at all anymore?
Do you rely on instincts and experiences exclusively, forcing all situations through the filter of those experiences?
Do you actually hang around after a sale to help the customer achieve the benefits you promised?
Do you routinely disparage your competition when facing customer objections?
When customers ask you important questions, have you guessed at the answer?
Have you ever embellished your products capabilities?
Is it your practice to sell products to people who don't need them and can't afford them?

Look around you -nothing really happens until a sales person sells something. One could argue that the sales role is the most important business role in a company. It deserves respect and recognition.

We are all proud of our profession - or should be. We all work every day to defend its honor. Are you proud of your sales profession? Are you investing in your continued development as a way to srengthen our profession? Rhetorical questions yes, but should prompt some thinking none the less.

Sales Managers - When should you be most involved in the selling effort

2009-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

High on most Sales Managers annoyance list is the late Friday call from a Sales Rep looking for a price discount to close a forecasted deal. Here is that typical call.

---------

Manager (phone ringing) - "Hello this is Marc".

Sales Rep - "Marc, I need your help." I am here at the Widget Manufacturing Company working hard to close the $250K deal we both need."

Manager - "Jan, it is 5pm on Friday, what do you need?"

Sales Rep - "We have this deal in our forecast and I am afraid it is slipping into the next Quarter. The customers doesn't seem to have the urgency they once had on this deal, certainly not equal to our urgency. I believe if we offer a nice discount, we can keep this deal in this Quarter."

Manager - "Discount? This deal is supposed to be closed, heck it is in our forecast. What happened? How much discount do you think is needed?"

Sales Rep - "Marc, now don't get too excited, but I think we need to offer a 20% discount. Anything smaller and I am not sure they will take it."

Manager - "Jan, this is unbelievable, this customer called us just 2 months ago eager to explore our solution. They have had the price for a couple weeks now! That discount amounts to $50K and I am not sure the business can support that. Are you telling me if I approve the 20% discount right now, you can get the signed order today?"

Sales Rep - "Marc, you and I have talked about this deal from day one and you know how hard I have worked on this. We are both counting on this deal. I really need your help! However, I can't promise the customer will sign today at that price."

-------

We need not go any farther on this scenario. You have all participated in such a situation.

What options exist for the Sales Manager at this point?

Marc could say "NO" take the risk and reengage on Monday, perhaps re-engineering the whole deal.
He could say "YES", and gamble.
Marc is pretty savvy and always creates other options. He is thinking of the negotiating concept "give to get". So, he is thinking of saying "YES" only if the customer agrees to sign the deal today.

Wow, not many options at this point and most of the options are very risky. Marc will chastise the Rep, but on Monday will be too busy putting out other fires to really address the causes of this situation.

Now let's consider an alternative scenario late on Friday.

--------

Manager (phone ringing) -"Hello, this is Marc"

Sales Rep - "Marc, I am here at Widget Manufacturing Company picking up the order. The customer is eager to begin the project and start the clock on the benefits schedule."

Manager - "Jan, congratulations, this is great news to start the weekend. Well done."

Sales Rep - "Marc, I want to thank you for your help. If it wasn't for your guidance I would have got caught up in their urgency and bypassed the necessary sales steps to thoroughly understand their pain/needs and adequately quantify them. You saw this happen with another of my deals and I am thankful you took the time to coach me on this. Marc, the news is even better - they are paying list price and have agreed to closely monitor the project benefits so they can be a future reference."

-----------

OK, this is a bit dramatic, but I think it is warranted. It should be clear to all involved that early in the sales cycle there are more corrective options available vs. the end of sales cycle options available when desperately trying to close the deal.

Managers, use your vast skills and coaching powers to eliminate errors and defects early in the sales process before mistakes are made that can not be undone. You have significant leverage and can create a much easier closing environment by enforcing discipline in the early sales process steps.

Look carefully at the skills of each Sales Rep. Identify strengths and weaknesses and build a plan to focus on skill building with an eye on improving results. I play a bit of poker (not well sometimes though) and am willing to bet a large number of un-closable deals, discounted deals, stalled deals, etc. are the result of 3 deficient skills or these sales steps skipped.

Solution Vision Creation
Pain identification and quantification
Finding and committing the Decision Maker

More on these factors later.

Good luck and good selling..

Coaching FAQs

2009-01-19T06:47:00.000-08:00

Who takes the original initiative on coaching?
Normally, contact is initiated by the individual seeking a coach. Today, people are more serious about investing in their skills and career.

Have those seeking a coach used one before?
About half of the contacts tried other coaches before and were somewhat disappointed or found the Coach's expertise not appropriate for their specific needs.

How do people normally find a coach?
There are many coached people not interested in discussing openly their situation. Perhaps they view their coach like some view their therapist - lots of help but want to keep the source of their new energy and skill a secret. Still others freely discuss their coaching situation with close friends and selected colleagues. It is from these discussions targeted referrals are made.

Would those being coached say it was useful?
The question of usefulness has many answers. Some seeking a coach want to address specific needs right now - they were just put on a performance improvement plan, have a troubled sales territory, etc. They measure usefulness in how quickly their situation is improved. Most see benefit immediately.

Others seeking a coach are looking for longer term gain driven by a plan produced from a thorough personal assessment. Measuring usefulness can take a bit longer perhaps because immediate situations are not the focus.

Why the current increase in demand for coaches, especially by Sales Management?
The long business expansion started in the late 70s and accelerated following the introduction of Internet Businesses has produced a high demand for sales management and leadership. Many in those positions today were eager to reach those posts yet were not well prepared for them. The burdens and demands of the daily sales grind have not presented those people the opportunity to grow their needed skills.

As long as the business expansion continued, even a moderately skilled sales manager had fair odds of succeeding. As the saying goes, "anyone can lead when the times are good." However when the economy shrinks, expansion cools, and sales competition increases, the moderately skilled sales manager’s odds of success plummet. The rest of the saying goes, “it takes a real leader to lead when times are tough.”

For many corporate employees, internal company coaches / mentors are not available. Taking personal initiative to understand your challenges and to seek the right help, may be the best answer to protect your job, income, and career.

Good luck and good selling.

Sales Coaching and Mentoring

2009-01-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

The wind from falling economic momentum is blowing many sales professionals out of their jobs. Surprised by the layoff volume in Q4, the shock continues in Q1 with greater numbers. It will take months to measure the total personal impact.

For those without a job, the winter months loom as large challenges. From conversations there seem to be many sales jobs open, but with sputtering hiring activity. Caution seems to be the overriding element in current business strategy.

For those expecting a layoff action soon, you may be having unfamiliar feelings of helplessness. Since sales is a lively profession, any distractions or influences impacting your perceived positive enthusiastic approach to the job may increase your selection odds for downsizing.

Now more than ever, you must be totally invested in your success. While wrestling with the current environment, you must continue to grow your skills, build your knowledge, and demonstrate an increasing value to the organization.

In recognition of these facts, Group 19 is committing more time and energy to our Sales Coaching and Mentoring schedule. We are ready to help. For example, if you have been selected for a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and are not confident in the outcome, please ask for assistance. If you are facing unprecedented pressure to achieve nearly impossible objectives, the time is now to reach out for help.

Event with risk of looking like a solicitation, we want you to know you have options for assistance.

Good luck and good selling...

Building a Sales Fast Start to 2009

2009-01-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

Starting a new year always prompts sales leaders to consider how best to get a Fast Start on the Sales year. History and experience proves Q1 can be a tough selling Quarter. Fall too far behind in Q1 and you may spend the rest of the year trying to catch up.

Depending on industry and product, sales revenue may be dramatically unevenly distributed across all calendar Quarters. Actually for most companies, there is a predictable and familiar skew to the Quarters revenue. Perhaps the Quarterly average percent of the annual revenue looks something like this: Q1 18%, Q2 22%, Q3 23%, Q4 37%. Of course this always prompts the critical thinkers to ponder cause and effect...

If your company is slow to roll out the new year, consideration for a Fast Start effort is even more critical. Given historical low Q1 performance there is always the temptation to focus on a Fast Start effort to push results a few points higher. For many companies Q1 is full of organizational meetings, planning meetings, and other non customer oriented activities. With that level of distraction, it can be difficult to get management focus on a Q1 Fast Start effort.

Looking at the numbers, it is hard to deny the need to get started quickly in the sales year. I believe it is prudent to put an effort in place to move the sales force quickly to a sales mode and avoid a prolonged period of distraction. Given where we are economically, and a Q4 depleted sales pipeline, a Fast Start plan must be realistic in expectations. But, it should be an easy math exercise to prove the advantage or raising the Q1 contribution to the year.

Mechanically, Fast Start efforts typically include sales incentives, special product messaging, contests, and raised awareness. Examine carefully the potential benefits and costs of a Fast Start Sales effort. If a Fast Start is what you need, deploy it immediately.

A Sales Leadership Conundrum

2009-01-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Sales leadership has created a conundrum. In our sales people, we feverishly encourage aggressive competitive behavior - beat the competition, win, be the best, (you can fill in the rest). Then as the circumstances change, we persistently coach them to be passive, to fit in, to play as a team, to assimilate (from Star Trek – Borg). Most experienced sales professionals are accomplished at switching personalities type to work complimentary with their customers, so being either aggressive or passive as needed is as simple as tweeting on Twitter.

However, the challenge is keeping all the other support systems aligned with your desires. A compensation plan that dramatically rewards aggressive competitive behavior will understandably present a conflict when desiring teamwork behavior. A reward system that historically recognizes individual contributions, does not model a desire for teamwork. Strong identities built by separate organization can be good to fuel the benefits of identity politics, and can discourage fraternization outside of the organization

The leadership challenge is always to follow the corporate strategy and align all the business objectives. Each team and individual should understand and be able to confidently state their role in achieving those goals. This top to bottom alignment focuses every team and person on the behavior necessary for the entire organization to succeed, not just individual, teams or political entities. Address any misalignment, secure a commitment from every leader, and participate in a transformational experience.

Cold Calling - really?

2009-01-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Cold calling is a topic of great emotion. From the industrial age and the influence of the Quality movement, everything is described, managed, and reported as a process – a repeatable method, guided by measurements, managed to eliminate defects, until perfection is achieved. Why then wouldn’t a sales environment not be guided by the same influence.

We examine our sales pipeline evaluating it against the standard “bell curve”. We have historical experience of pipeline yields, productivity, and enough volume to be convincing. So, if you have a 5 step sales process, the distribution of opportunities should resemble 8.3% - 16.7% - 50% - 16.7% - 8.3% by step. Of course those numbers are yielded (factored) by the close probability of the step: 10% - 25% - 50% - 75% - 90%.

So this leads us to ask“Cold Calling, why do we do it?"

Applying the disciplines and math above, we have deduced that an effort must be joined to fill the early stage of the pipeline with the quantity of opportunities (potential deals) necessary to properly feed the process and achieved the desired objective. Oh, and that desired objective for a sales rep is their sales target or quota.

So, off we go implementing the traditional and understood tasks of identifying new opportunities. We haven’t escaped the influence of the Quality movement though. We constantly measure those tasks and the results, discovering a tremendous opportunity for improvement. We consider finer segmentation, better constructed calling lists, better trained people, alternative media, and other sorts of efforts. And by golly, those efforts produce improvement, more dramatically in certain unique environments.

As time advances technology gives us new alternatives to consider. We now are in the midst of the growing impact of Social Media and its impact on commerce. There are many cases where this new approach dramatically improves efforts to fill the sales pipeline. There remain skeptics as one expects. Just as we have seen over time, new techniques, segmentations, and alternatives certainly advance the science/art of “prospecting” and we should be conditioned to expect results to be more dramatic in certain unique environments.

With that background, we do find most organizations applying measurements normally found in process management efforts. They do afford some predictability and identify specific areas for improvement. Document and understand your process, measure everything possible, and apply the disciplines taught us by the Quality movement.

Using Handwritten Notes

2009-01-09T11:51:00.001-08:00

Self promotion conducted is self promotion perceived. -- BC

There is wisdom in the thoughts surrounding the professional use of handwritten notes. It seems very true even today, handwritten notes feel more personal than their electronic cousins. And indeed there is sales value in using that personal connection with your customer.

Experience has suggested to me, the impact is much greater when the recipient does not connect your communications to direct business or the promotion of your business. For example – a handwritten thank you card delivered after a sale is indeed meaningful. A handwritten card delivered following the birth of their child may have lifelong impact. The prior note is connected to the business. The latter note is connected to the person. Continue to follow that approach, long after that person is relevant to your current business, and you will find an unimagined long term richness in your personal network.

A Personality Matrix - fear/faith, scarsity/abundance

2009-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Draw a box with 4 equal quadrants. We are going to build a standard looking consulting 4 quadrant chart. The vertical axis goes from Fear to Faith. The horizontal axis goes from Scarcity to Abundance.

Some people are pessimists, overly cautious, jealous, and look at every situation with fear of the outcome. They are plotted at the bottom left.

The optimists, risk takers, adventurists, spread the wealth type people are plotted at the top right. I think you can fill in the other boxes.

Just as consultants do, you can evaluate a group, a person, a situation, etc. using this 4 block diagram and respond accordingly. Thoughts about “giving to get”, “keeping track”, “allocating credits”, etc. are most likely plotted on the left side of the box we just drew. It suggests a belief set influenced by the scarcity of good will, a jealously of reward, and a fear of a owing. One may suggest this approach will produce a rich man with lots of associates. Still others may suggest this approach will produce a rich man envious of those richer.

Thoughts about anonymous giving, celebrating other’s success, and helping people to the top, are influenced by a positive faith in the outcome and a belief in the limitless abundance of good will and rewards. One might suggest this approach ultimately produces a poor man with lots of friends. Others may suggest it will result in a rich man with lots of rich friends. Well, you are left to define “rich” and “poor”.

Consultative Selling, is it Recession Proof?

2009-01-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Having sold through deep and shallow recessions. I believe the consultative sales techniques are certainly suitable at all times during economic cycles.

A good sales person who has made targets year after year should not be overly castigated for shrinking numbers as the economy sinks. Indeed many a good sales person will sustain performance levels even when the financial markets have lost half their value. Yet there are salespeople working in economically sensitive industries, that have deeper recession valleys, or that stay longer in recession, who will struggle to make targets and personal earnings. A good sales person doesn’t suddenly become a bad one.

It is my opinion in seriously tough times a company should look at ways to relieve the pressure on sales people and increase the concentration on cultivating stronger customer relationships. They may accomplish this by suspending quota for a Month or Quarter, offering the sales reps a “draw” against future commission earnings, or similar.

Let’s be adults about this. This approach needs to be thoroughly examined and should not unduly risk revenue production. Many will be tempted (rightly or wrongly so) to shorten the focus to current month or Quarter. For many that may be the most prudent cash flow option. For others it can be seen as a time to strengthen relationships in preparation for the economic recovery.

Startup mortality

2009-01-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

The fatality rate for new businesses is dreadful. Often it is not the surprises that doom a start up, it is usually the things already known.

About half of all startup firms fail in the first year. Surviving that, many remaining will hit a wall sometime between the 2nd and 5th year. Climbing over that wall requires a change in thinking and in tactics; maybe the products needs a tweak, or marketing needs invigorated, or the sales strategy needs to evolve. Common illness that can infect a start up include: •

No money to fuel the growth
Believing a depressed product market adoption rate is just a sales issue
Overconfidence in the appeal of the product
Failing management efforts that spawn a spreading leadership fear
An allergy to outside help and expertise
An intellectual desire to grow but an unwilling heart for it

In Complex Environments, should Marketing or Sales own BizDev?

2009-01-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Most companies selling complex solutions with long sales cycles have segmented their customers with an aligned sales structure. Given there are 3 basic sales structures (Geography, Product, and Industry) with some hybridized variants, the complex solution companies normally abandon the Geographic model and focus either on the Product or Industry approach. This allows the development and exploitation of the skills necessary for more consultative selling. They also create different sales positions to match the needs of those segmented customers.

At the top, the largest potential customers are often assigned to an Account Manager, Global Account Manager or similar. These people are skilled in managing a complex set of accounts and nurturing the longer sales opportunities. Their compensation is focused differently recognizing the long sales cycle and deal complexity. This selling approach works well deployed in established companies with a good base of large complex customers / Prospects.

For the small, start up or rebuilt firm without the luxury of a large account program, these long sales cycle complex opportunities are either pursued via a business partner, modestly covered by some sort of bizdev resource, or ignored.

Invest $100K today, HOW?

2009-01-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

Given the current economic situation, time of year, etc. I believe I would invest $25K in a PR effort, $25K in traditional marketing projects, $25K in new media marketing, including social networks, and $25K to provide quota/commission relief to my sales team.