Selling - Sales Performance - Learning

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 8.21

2020-11-13T09:38:00.004+00:00

Persuasive communication - reciprocation.

Some argue the reciprocation is responsible for the success of human beings.

Our ability to cooperate in large groups, outside of familial ties, has been essential for the success of all major endeavours.

We rely on the common acceptance that a favour given is repaid in kind.

If a friend treats you to dinner, it creates a compulsion to reciprocate.

Experiments have shown that repayment tends to exceed the value of the favour and that refusal of a request disposes people to accept a lessor request.

So to asking for something that is certain to be refused, can pave the way for an agreement on a less onerous request.

Join the course. Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk

See the course index and links to each post, here: https://salessense.co.uk/free-b2b-sales-training

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Call +44 (0)1392 851500 or email jimm@salessense.co.uk for details.

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 7.64

2020-10-19T09:06:00.001+01:00

Planning a discovery call or meeting - expand price.

#sales #training #technologysales

If the price is not published or difficult to work out, you are likely to be asked to declare it, early in the process.

Having an authentic conversation about price, early in the discovery process, provides an opportunity to qualify the availability of the necessary funds and to set up the close.

If the question comes up before you have fully understood the issues and the value to the customer of solving them, then defer the conversation by saying something like:

"I need a better understanding of the results that this solution must deliver before I can give an accurate estimate of the costs. Is it OK if we discuss the issues more fully, first?".

Or if what you sell has a price within a narrow range:

"Without further investigation, I don't know what it will cost, however, others needing to achieve similar things have had to spend between £x and £y on a solution. Does this fit within your expectations?"

Make the £x about 25% below what you think they will have to pay, and the £y, about 50% above your estimate of the final price.

Try this out on your own senior executives or those in friendly customers.

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See the course index and links to each post, here:

https://salessense.co.uk/free-b2b-sales-training

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 7.4

2020-09-21T09:22:00.006+01:00

Planning a Discovery Call or Meeting - Potential Obstacles.

There are several opportunities for misunderstanding in a sales discovery call:

1. A common understanding of the issues.

Socrates said, "All wisdom begins with the definition of terms".

If the meaning of anything that the customer says is uncertain, it is essential to have them clarify it.

2. Measurement of the issues.

Often the customer doesn't have the data and will avoid discussing measurement.

3. How much the customer is willing to spend.

This is a common stumbling block for even the most experienced salespeople.

4. Access to the powerful people.

If you don't get agreement on access upfront, you may never get it at all.

5. Finding out what they really think.

People are often reluctant to share what they really think, especially with salespeople.

6. Avoiding the black hole.

Once they have your solution details in writing, they don't think they need you any more.

7. Having them understand how your solution truly meets their needs.

It is only the unique suitability of your solution that can separate you from your competition.

We are going to address each of these challenges within the framework of CLEAR.

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk to join the course or see it here:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

Connect with suspect executives via LinkedIn.

2020-08-10T09:21:00.003+01:00

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 5.7

LinkedIn has over 700 million members and offers some major benefits for sellers.

Those with only 500 connections, typically can see the profiles of between 200,000 and 1,000,000 people.

If your connections are mainly within professional and customer circles, many of the people whom you want to reach will be linked with someone you know.

The larger your network, the easier it will become to learn about the people whom you want to reach.

Those you contact by any method will use LinkedIn to look you up so you can use your profile to present your professional credibility.

Used effectively, LinkedIn is an alternative means of finding, engaging, and winning new customers.

If you have a LinkedIn account but have not done much with it, there are two actions that you should take immediately.

First, complete your profile so that it sings of your credibility and trustworthiness.

Second, begin the process of asking all of your professional and customer contacts to connect.

The next two posts will offer some more help for taking these actions.

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk to join this free course.

See the course here:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

How to Transform Ideas Into Innovations

2020-07-30T09:38:00.001+01:00

What's the difference between a good idea and innovation?

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Almost certainly, the difference is a lot of hard work!

Ideas are easy to come by. Acting on them requires something more than the idea.

While individuals are often accredited with great accomplishments, very often when you look into the details, it becomes apparent that they had a lot of help.

One person acting alone can achieve very little.

So the very first thing that has to happen for a good idea to become an innovation is selling.

The idea must be sold to other people.

Only when sufficient people are willing to invest time, effort, and money can an idea be transformed into innovation.

All salespeople are in the business of selling good ideas.

They are professional idea sellers.

Everyone who is engaged in making change happen is selling.

Transform your ideas into innovations.

Join our free sales training course.

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk

View the course here.

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 5.6

2020-07-23T10:37:00.003+01:00

Connecting with suspect executives via their webinars.

Since the Covid19 pandemic 2020 lockdowns, webinars have become increasingly important as a marketing method.

Most webinars are a means of finding out who is interested in the subject of the webinar. Those who register are added to a suspect list that is followed up by marketing or sales.

One of the ways that webinars can be made appealing is to have high profile speakers or panellists.

Often this includes senior executives for the organisation sponsoring the webinar.

Seek out webinars that are being held or sponsored by organisations on your suspect list.

Check the agendas to determine if any of the people whom you want to reach will be speaking or amongst the panellists.

Register to attend the selected webinars.

Prepare three questions that will help the speakers get their message across. Be ready to ask one or more of your questions during the webinar.

Your questions will be remembered and can be used to start a conversation with the executives, after the webinar.

After the event, call or email the executive that you want to reach to continue the interaction that you initiated in the webinar.

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk to join the course.

It is free. No strings. All you need is a LinkedIn membership.

See it here.

How to Improve Forecast Accuracy 5 - Confidence.

2020-07-08T10:24:00.001+01:00

There are four important sales opportunity status indicators.

We have discussed the first three in posts 2, 3 and 4.

The information is incomplete without an indication of confidence.

There may be circumstances that increase or decrease the likelihood of success that are not reflected in the other three indicators.

For example, sometimes it is necessary to bid for a contract that cannot be won, simply to gain an opportunity to bid for the business next time around.

In other circumstances, the combination of personal and business benefits may ensure a win against a stronger competitor.

So for a complete 'at a glance' picture, each opportunity should be accompanied by four numbers:

The current sales stage.
The sales stage historical win percentage.
The qualification checklist score.
The salesperson's confidence.

These four indicators together, provide an instant summary of progress with any sales opportunity.

They prompt salespeople to reflect on the realism of their sales forecast and provide managers with the intelligence necessary to ask the right questions in pipeline review meetings.

So now that you have the complete picture, can you make inaccurate sales forecasts, a thing of the past?

If you would like to learn more or need some help to implement these ideas, get in touch:

Call +44 (0)1392 851500. Email clive@salessense.co.uk or book a call: https://salessense.as.me/

How to Improve Sales Forecast Accuracy 4 - Qualification Checklist

2020-07-07T09:57:00.001+01:00

If you were sitting on an airliner waiting to take off and the pilot announced that he was skipping the pre-flight checklist to save some time, would you be concerned?

Would you want to get off?

Why don't salespeople use pre-flight checklists?

I recommend a quantified qualification checklist.

This is a list of statements that you can score according to their truth.

As you work on a sales opportunity, the score should improve. If you can't increase the score to a satisfactory level, it may be time to qualify out.

You can construct your own and base it on the critical qualification questions that determine if you are likely to win any particular sales opportunity.

Mine has 14 statements.

You can try it out here.

In addition to sales stage identification, every forecasted sales opportunity should have a current quantified qualification score.

How to Improve Forecast Accuracy 2 - Process Alignment

2020-07-06T09:59:00.001+01:00

Individual sellers have complete autonomy to understand the customers buying process and divide it into stages.

If you use a modern CRM or pipeline management application, it already has stages. They may not be aligned with your customers' buying process.

Most organisations use the standard stages that are preloaded into the software.

So to gain another substantial improvement in forecast accuracy, align the stages in your sales process management software with your customer's buying process.

Depending on the size of your organisation, the commitment of senior executives, and other system dependencies, achieving this could be easy to near impossible.

Once it is done, there should be no uncertainty about the stage a sale has reached in both the customers buying process and the seller's sales process.

If you don't manage your pipeline through a software application, you are free to create your own model and develop it as you gain experience with it.

Either way, each forecasted sale should be accompanied by a clear, unambiguous identification of the sales stage it has reached.

This diagram illustrates a buying process matched with a sales process.

How would you improve it?

Is Sales Forecasting an Art or a Science?

2020-07-03T09:39:00.001+01:00

Those with a micro-business that depends on a few clients, probably don't think about forecasting at all.

It is all about the next customer or the next order.

When things are good they are good.

When business slows, the focus switches marketing and selling.

If you have a dedicated sales role, the forecasting requirement may seem like a nuisance.

What you sell, certainly impacts your earnings however, the constant demands of managers for a committed forecast, is a drain.

If you manage a sales team, you will know the pain of trying to extract an accurate forecast from salespeople.

You are between a rock and a hard place.

Salespeople are notoriously poor at forecasting yet senior management will hold you to account for shortfalls.

If you lead a company with sales teams and managers, you are similarly stuck between your management teams ability to predict future business and your stakeholders or investors intolerance of surprises.

Then there is the problem of cash flow which is very hard to manage without an accurate prediction of how much cash that will come in every month.

So is sales forecasting an art or a science or something in between?

What do you do to reduce the uncertainty?

Book a call to discuss:
https://salessense.as.me/

How Agility Addresses Ambiguity (VUCA)

2020-07-01T09:52:00.002+01:00

An ambiguous situation is open to more than one interpretation.

It is a disaster in a legally binding agreement.

Writing a contract such that its clauses have only one possible interpretation is a sought after skill and one of the reasons that contract lawyers earn their money.

Governments have to be very good at dealing with ambiguity.

Since we have daily opportunities to watch how politicians do it, we should all be able to do adopt the necessary agility with ease!

Hold on.

Most governments are constantly running into trouble.

Then they extract themselves from it, at least as far as their supporters are concerned.

Ability to respond to what happens without losing ones sense of direction is the challenge.

Having a clear objective and a sound strategy frees people to choose the best tactics.

"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." General Dwight Eisenhower said this during preparations for the WWII D-Day invasion.

Things rarely unfold according to the plan. It is the investment in contingency planning that furnishes one with the agility to deal with the ambiguity that crops up.

Have you done enough contingency planning?

Do you want some help?

clive@salessense.co.uk 01392 851500

How Understanding Supersedes Uncertainty (VUCA)

2020-06-30T10:02:00.000+01:00

There is much uncertainty around the global reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Each country has a different exposure profile and has reacted in different ways.

The uncertainty stems from the complexity of the situation.

The interplay of many factors makes prediction more challenging.

Since clarity serves to checkmate complexity and making things less complicated reduces uncertainty, in this post, I am attempting to slay two aspects of VUCA in one go.

Break it up.

Uncertainty arises from complexity. Break up the situation into subsections or cells. It becomes much easier to anticipate the impact of an event or trend on adjacent cells.

Not all events and trends are relevant. It depends on the question you are asking.

For example:

What will happen to the infection rate?

Or what will happen to the market?

The market depends on how people react to lockdown changes.

Map out the cells on a whiteboard to see the interdependence and likely outcomes.

Take a stand back perspective to see the overall picture.

Will these actions reduce uncertainty and increase clarity?

Try them out.

Share your conclusions.

How Vision Can Mitigate Volatility (VUCA)

2020-06-29T10:00:00.000+01:00

As a sales manager in a fast-growth environment where the team sales target typically increased by up to 100% each year, I begin planning for the following year, six months before the end of the current year.

I did not know what the following year's target would be. I made an estimate and planned accordingly.

This gave my team an advantage.

When the following year's numbers were confirmed, I had already worked out how to rearrange territories, assignments, and quotas.

Leaking the likely changes and targets early, before I knew the real numbers, meant that I had time to get them accepted.

Getting a head start on recruitment, meant that I had sales feet on the street for the start of the new year.

Anticipation made all the difference.

The whole team except for one person exceeded the 120% performance necessary to win a place on the president's club trip.

My circumstances were not comparable with the volatility of the current situation.

I share the story merely to illustrate the need for leaders to use their vision, decide what will happen, and lead accordingly.

What will happen in your space over the next twelve months and how will you deal with it?

Is Your World VUCA?

2020-06-25T09:22:00.001+01:00

Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous?

Based on the 1987 leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, VUCA was used by the US Army War College to describe the situation surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Volatile - a time of rapid change.

Uncertain - it is difficult to predict what will happen.

Complex - the interplay of many clouds understanding.

Ambiguous - conflicting advice and consequences undermine decision-making.

I found this online:

Vision serves to mitigate volatility.
Understanding supersedes uncertainty.
Clarity serves to checkmate complexity.
Agility addresses ambiguity.

There is much online material describing how to deal with increasing VUCA.

Google, 'VUCA Solutions' and fill your boots.

It may help us with the current crisis.

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking", wrote Voltaire.

What do you think?

Join the conversation.

Set Yourself Apart with a Sales Letter

2020-06-23T10:35:00.003+01:00

When was the last time you sent a sales letter?

Not an email or a document attached to an email. A letter sent through the post?

So few people send letters through the post these days. If you did, it would be an unusual event.

A posted sales letter is highly likely to be read.

An email disappears from view as new messages push it down the stack.

Can you remember the last time you sent a sales letter?

Did it get a response or help you start a conversation?

Learn new ways to start a conversation with a sales suspect.

Follow our free B2B sales training, delivered through bite-sized posts on the SalesSense LinkedIn company page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

See links to previous posts here;
https://salessense.co.uk/free-b2b-sales-training

Never Make a Point Without Telling a Story!

2020-06-22T10:24:00.002+01:00

When you reach out to someone you don't know to sell them something, even an idea, you don't have a lot of time to get their attention.

Especially if the person whose interest you want to raise, is a busy senior executive.

If the spoken words, video, or text doesn't hook their attention within eight seconds, the rest of the pitch is ignored.

If your headline doesn't work, no one reads the next line.

This is the reason for 25-words business stories.

Yesterday a friend and fellow consultant, Nigel Baldwin shared a guide for a persuasive story:

"Having listened to you, you very much remind me of X".

You then tell X's story.

NOT yours, NOT your companies and NOT your products.

The buyer then sees himself in X's shoes, the HERO of the story. The hero is NEVER the salesperson, THEIR company or THEIR product, IT IS ALWAYS THE PROTAGONIST!

Follow Nigel's guide to make your 25-word stories persuasive.

Here is an example:

Harris suffered from the consultants' bane, feast and famine. When he had work, he stopped marketing. Sales dried up. Then he set up a system.

Now it is your turn.

Post a 25-word story to sell your stuff, in the comments.

Add a link for people to learn more.

If you prefer, email it to me for feedback. clive@salessense.co.uk

Get help with your stories:

https://salessense.as.me/schedule.php

Never Tell a Story Without Making a Point

2020-06-10T10:51:00.002+01:00

Film-makers tell us that there are only seven story plots!

They are:

Overcoming a monster. For example King Kong.

Rags to Riches. For example, Aladdin.

The quest. For example, Riders of the Lost Ark.

Voyage and return. For example, The Hobbit.

Comedy. For example Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Tragedy. For example, Romeo and Juliet.

Rebirth. For example, Sleeping Beauty.

It seems unlikely that all stories neatly fit one of these basic plots, however, we can use them as frameworks for arranging the stories that we tell.

The 25-word story that I shared in yesterday's post was 'Overcoming a monster'.

Here is another:

Altohighway increased sales by 54% in three months after retraining their telephone sales team.

To my mind, this is a 'rags to riches' story.

Are you up for a challenge?

Can you write a 25-word story about the main problem or issues that what you sell or deliver, fixes?

Use one of the plots to help with the arrangement.

Share your story here.

See the other posts in the series.

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 5.22

2020-06-09T10:58:00.000+01:00

Starting a conversation with a cold call - Receptionist.

What will you be asked by a receptionist?

There are usually two difficult questions:

1. "What are you calling about?"
2. "Is he or she expecting your call?"

How do you answer?

Join our free B2B sales training delivered in bite-sized posts on the SalesSense LinkedIn company page:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

Email freeb2b@salessenese.co.uk.

What is Your One Thing?

2020-06-05T10:41:00.001+01:00

What is your one thing?

What single thing from amongst your aspirations, dreams, and goals would, if you achieved it, enable you to realise most of the others?

This is a scary question because if you answer it, you just might have to act on it!

Perhaps you saw my post about holding the magnifying glass still enough for long enough.

If you have one overriding purpose, focusing all of your attention on it to the exclusion of everything else, is the one sure way of achieving it.

Achievement is not guaranteed, however, if you remain distracted by a myriad of other goals and objectives, you are much less likely to achieve your one true purpose.

So answer if you dare.

What is your one true purpose?

Follow Clive Miller's posts on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clivemiller/detail/recent-activity/shares/

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 5.1

2020-06-04T09:38:00.001+01:00

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 5.1 Starting a conversation with and without cold calling. At some point in a sales prospecting process, it becomes necessary to make an approach and talk to a suspect. In this section, we will unpack seven distinct approach tactics and provide a step by step explanation of how to use them. The seven tactics are: 1. A cold telephone call. 2. A letter or email followed by a call. 3. The parallel approach. 4. The rifle shot letter and follow-up call. 5. Introducing yourself at an off-site event. 6. Starting a conversation via LinkedIn. 7. Mounting a campaign.

See the full post here.

Join the course. Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk

Stop Fire Fighting and Start Getting Organised

2020-06-03T10:37:00.000+01:00

How to Get Out of Crisis Mode How much time do you spend on the urgent and important things on your 'To Do' list? Most people acknowledge that the urgent and important tasks, take up most of their work time. What tasks belong in the important but not urgent box? Anticipation? Planning? Prevention? Learning? Relationships? Rest and recovery? What would happen if you could make more time to invest in the important but not urgent box? Could you find the time? From where might you reclaim some time?

Join in the conversation here.

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 4.83

2020-06-02T22:24:00.001+01:00

Identify those who are ready to buy right now - staff changes. The first place to look is on the suspect's website hiring page. Most businesses post job vacancies on their own website. Searching LinkedIn or generally online using relevant role titles and the suspect company name will reveal open and sometimes recently closed vacancies.

See the rest of this post here.

Follow this free B2B sales training course on our LinkedIn company page:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

Seven Tactics for Starting a Sales Conversation with a New Suspect

2020-05-28T10:59:00.002+01:00

How do You Start a Conversation with a Sales Suspect? Do you pick up the phone and go for it? Perhaps you write or email first. There is a secret letter and follow-up formula. I call it the 'rifle shot' approach. Some have mastered the parallel approach.

See the whole post here:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/clivemiller_sales-b2b-business-activity-6671661819968413696-aQqD

For more, join our free B2B sales training course. Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk.

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 4.7

2020-05-27T10:11:00.000+01:00

Identify people who can buy what you sell - buying triggers. What prompts leaders and policymakers to seek new or improved business solutions? We call the circumstances or events that prompt action, buying triggers. Make a list of the buying triggers that prompt leaders and policymakers to take action or initiate a buying process for the things that you supply. For guidance, the illustration lists buying triggers that my business, SalesSense, is concerned with.

See the rest of this post and the other course posts here:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk to join.

Identify Decision Influencers in Sales Suspects and Prospects

2020-05-26T10:01:00.003+01:00

SalesSense B2B Sales Training in Bite-Sized Posts 4.6
Identify those who can buy - Decision Influencers. We shall abbreviate the term, 'Decision Influencer' to DI. These people are not directly involved in the buying decision yet do have an interest in what is bought. They also have access to one or more of the people in other buying roles and so can exert influence on the decision. Decision Influencers can be inside and outside the suspect's organisation. Examples include:

See the examples and the 34 preceding posts in our unfolding free B2B sales training course on the SalesSense LinkedIn company page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salessense/

Email freeb2b@salessense.co.uk for links to each post and notifications of new posts.