Score More Sales

Turning Competition Into Industry Counterparts – Part 2

Lori Richardson — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:42:01 +0000

It is a great sound bite to “change those in your industry from competitors to counterparts” but does it really work?

A recent post of ours, 3 Sales Tips to Turn Competition into Industry Counterparts received a long comment peppered with real-life questions from Steve, so this post serves as “Part 2″.

Steve says he has tried to collaborate with others in his industry locally for several years and feels a number of issues come up. He wondered if, in the example I gave of attending a meeting of many of my industry counterparts whether I felt guarded or if others seemed that way.

The broad answer, Steve, is that just like talking about marketing or sales, working with those in your industry is a wide and complex topic when you consider many different industries with various issues and accepted practices. I’ll work to answer a number of your questions.

In the case of my industry counterpart get-together, by day’s end, and through follow-up conversations, I resonated with a subset of attendees there. There were certain people who didn’t seem to be interested in talking with or working with me – so I have always tried to be a good observer to those queues and don’t go any further with those folks. By cues I mean by body language and just in how open someone is. Have you ever talked to someone who had their arms crossed? That is a very closed position – it shows they want to protect themselves. Just because I am open to collaboration doesn’t mean I’ll do it with just anyone – same with you. In fact, I would contend that you just need one or two open-minded business builder personalities to start with to prove this concept CAN work in your market.

First off see if YOU are conveying openness and interest – not just because you approached them. In fact, sometimes people are very weary of those who approach, because they think they are trying to get from them the very things you mention you want to keep of your own.

EXAMPLE: Since you are a graphic designer, I’d like to mention Web Designers Unite. This is a local group of more than 30 web and graphic designers in the small town of Bellingham, Washington who decided to meet once a month to be less isolated and to potentially collaborate when appropriate. This does not mean they don’t take on individual projects, and that local companies don’t contact a number of these folks to “bid” on work. They very well do compete at times, because the town is too small for that not to happen.

What makes Web Designers Unite work, though – is that they can work with companies anywhere, and the best part, I think, is that by having a pool of other counterparts, they rarely feel that a project would be too big for them to take on – there is always someone they know and trust who can do a part of a project. Also, as you know in the field of design, there are many different experts – coding, print design, logo work, etc. I know many of these folks – some who work together on a regular basis now – and it is amazing to see how this works in a town of 80,000 people.

One idea is to reach beyond your local area and find virtual collaborators – many businesses do that, in fact I’ll mention another industry.

We worked with a client who was a successful, family owned remodeling business. The remodeling industry is riddled with companies who do poor work and who do not honor their word. The industry has a bad name with many people. So, they helped develop a network of their “industry counterparts” – companies just like them who were located in other parts around America. This took the local competitive possibility out of the picture and allowed them to focus on best practices, share ideas, and all the companies have grown because of it. They get together annually with key executives

Back to Steve’s questions:

1. Can you discuss with industry counterparts without giving away your unique selling propositions (USPs)? YES. Keep your focus on what you DO want to discuss. Be comfortable to share your bottom line – such as how you would not do anything knowingly unethical, for example, or how your past track record shows that you are a person of your word. The truth is that your USPs are more about who YOU are and less about your “secret sauce” – they are not you, so they can never be you. If you do have a unique way of doing something that you feel wins you business, you don’t need to share that. Just share what you are comfortable with.

2.Can someone be a collaborator and a competitor? YES. It happens in many industries all the time – just look at manufacturers who sell direct and sell through distributors. I ran into that in the technology industry all the time. I was selling to major accounts and so were they. I actually lost deals because the manufacturer did a price cut to win business – but they also were helpful to direct me to other business opportunities I would not have known about as a distributor. Tricky and delicate issues.

3.What do you do if it feels like a potential partner is less willing to share than you? INTERESTING QUESTION. First of all, they might be leery about what your goals are. Be upfront and clear about what you want and what you see they could gain. Give it some time, and if you continue to feel this way, they are NOT the partner for you. Listening to your gut instinct is often correct – but not always – so be sure you can give someone an extra opportunity before you move on to someone or something else.

You can read Steve’s comments and add your own here or at Eyes on Sales. What do you think?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management”. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for tips and strategies in selling.

Turning Competition Into Industry Counterparts – Part 2 originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 29, 2012.

Cold Calls Warm With Research in Advance

Lori Richardson — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:15:04 +0000

We are assuming you are doing inbound marketing in your b2b business. The question I was asked:

“Would you rather make 100 cold calls or 20 well-researched calls to b2b sales prospects?” (A trick question?)

Of course we’d all take the 20 higher caliber conversations over a “dialing for dollars” mentality. In fact those days of calling anyone without research are long O-V-E-R.

Here are some tips and tools gleaned in a fun roundtable conversation on Pre-Call Research I participated in through the Docusign SalesGuru site which included the following experts:

Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools Miles Austin of Fill the Funnel Lars Nilsson of SalesSource

The archived audio is an hour long and I promise that if you listen to it, you’ll pick up a tip or a tool you didn’t know about – since all of us on the panel took notes as well.

Pre-Research Tools to look into:

Our #1 “go-to” is LinkedIn for research. Look into “advanced search”. Even without upgrading to a paid account you can glean a lot of pre-call information through LinkedIn.

Look at and join LinkedIn groups in your target niche. Get involved, add value, and make connections. Just like participating in an in-person organization, you usually get little value without being involved.

Prospecting and LeadGen Tools (in no particular order)

Data.com (integrated into Salesforce.com)

Jigsaw InsideView Netprospex OneSource

Zite Alltop SiftSocial

Gist Rapportive ConnectedHQ

Rainking (to understand a prospect’s tech platform)

Don’t forget free tools like Google Alerts and Twitter for research

Subscribe to news services that serve each market your prospects are in.

Bottom line:

Block out time in your calendar to prospect and to do prospect research.

Don’t call anyone without knowing something about their company, about them, about their industry and issues, or without some connection. Faking it doesn’t count. That is bad – don’t do that!

Work quickly when doing research – it is easy to get caught in an endless research mentality and you may forget how little you are actually on the phone or reaching out at all. If you have any sort of call reluctance, and many sales people do, you need to time your research and keep an eye on it.

Also check out: 4 Sales Tips for Reaching Prospects by Phone recently published.

Cold Calls Warm With Research in Advance originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 24, 2012.

Smarter Commerce Grows Sales and Customer Loyalty

Lori Richardson — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:18:25 +0000

How many times have you called your bank or utility to ask a question and were transferred more than a few times? Worse yet, each time you were transferred you had to re-tell the story of why you are calling – that is, AFTER you explained who you are and often PROVED it by answering security questions.

Smarter Commerce is long overdue. In simplified terms, this is when businesses contact you and interact with you in a meaningful way, to provide an optimal experience.

The word optimal has Latin roots and it means most favorable or best.

Can you honestly say you have OPTIMAL results in your retail transactions as a consumer?

This strikes a nerve with me – although I write about B2B experiences, whether I’m interacting with a company for my business or for me personally, retail experiences have slid dramatically. We could spend 5000 words just writing about my negative buying experiences in the last couple months. (perhaps that will be a future post)

Today, IBM is working on this issue and has an entire Smarter Commerce program. I’ll be participating in a Twitter Chat later today (if you see this post after today, the link should route you to the archived chat).

Recently I spoke to Ron Kline, Director of Marketing for IBM’s Midmarket Division. Ron reminded me of the Chief Marketing Officer global study that was compiled after interviewing 1,700 CMOs about many of the issues the Smarter Commerce program works to tackle:

How the social ecosystem can work well to support retail organizations
How to deal with all the many channels of communication and distribution
How shifting demographics demand shifting strategies

You can download IBM’s Global CMO Study.

For mid-market companies, Kline says that businesses can now use analytics much more effectively, citing the term “glocal” as an example:

Glocal: a combination of a global strategy instituted locally for a particular geographic area. There is no more mass marketing. Customers demand a more personal and local experience.

Kline also mentioned the power of “earned influence” in the social marketplace – which a company cannot buy, no matter how large.

For an example of a mid-market company that is listening and responding to customers using analytics strategies, take a look at Laurie McCabe’s post about Speedo International (yes, the swimsuit folks). Laurie is an analyst with the SMB Group.

If only more retail organizations would focus on building better advocacy, measuring true and accurate metrics and offering greater brand loyalty we could have improved shopping and buying experiences. I, for one, am ready for that.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

Smarter Commerce Grows Sales and Customer Loyalty originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 23, 2012.

Make 5 Strategic Calls This Week and Grow Sales

Lori Richardson — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:55:21 +0000

It’s a simple concept – being strategic in your thinking, planning and acting in sales works.

This week is an important week – it precedes the first weekend of Summer here in the U.S. and is a power week to make contact with buyers. Many are focused and intentional about getting work done – so be sure YOU are also intentional.

Here is what I ask of you:

Make 5 calls this week that are strategic in nature. These are calls to people you may or may not know – and they are all people who can refer you to others – or support you in the sales opportunity you are already working on.

It is OK to call people you don’t know. Just do research first and have value to add with your products and services.

If you don’t know how to do this, listen to the roundtable about pre-call research with a panel of experts on the topic.

Five names on a list you determine at the beginning of the week, and by week’s end you at least have calls in to these folks – ready to follow up next week if need be.

Being strategic helps you grow business because you are planning ahead. You’re not in reactive mode. Instead, you look for people who can understand what it is that you do, and over time, trust you because you do what you say. These connections are critical to build referral business over time. No time like the present to get started in this.

Five calls. Do you know who is on your list?

I have mine. Let’s compare notes at the end of the week.

Post your comments below – we will answer all questions and share your successes.

Make 5 Strategic Calls This Week and Grow Sales originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 21, 2012.

Analyzing Sales Opportunities in Your Pipeline

Lori Richardson — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:05:51 +0000

Do You Have a Sales Funnel?

Are you part of a B2B sales organization proactively looking each week at what deals are in your sales funnel (or sales pipeline)? You probably fall into one of three camps:

A. You have a robust, helpful CRM tool that gives you several helpful reports which you can review each week, and lists you can easily pull up on a just-in-time basis.

B. You have a poor CRM tool, perhaps not cloud-based and it is difficult to use with poor reporting capabilities. Basically you work around this system if you work in it at all.

C. You have no CRM system and use some combination of e-Mail, Excel, Outlook, and/or sticky notes to “track” your prospective sales opportunities.

Whichever scenario you are in, there is hope as long as you are clear on two points:

1. Finding ways to shorten your prospective customers’ buying cycle which brings revenue in sooner is a very good thing.

2. Making improvements in all aspects of your sales efforts should be a critical part of your sales plan.

What to do if you have a very good system in place already: First, be appreciative because a lot of sales teams are still working with sub-par tools. Your goal is to take advantage of the tools you have, and find ways to leverage them and gain knowledge that assists in bringing deals to closure sooner. Most systems are under-utilized because of a poor roll-out and non-existent ongoing training.

Example: Look at how and when follow-up is happening and how it is happening. One company had a sales rep who would only do e-mail follow-up. Once we were able to see a report on how reps were following up, we encouraged this seller to start picking up the phone and engaging in valuable conversations. The result? Two of his deals moved forward, and one closed simply because of awareness and creating a plan of action.

What to do if you have a poor CRM / reporting system: See what you can accomplished with the tools that you have already. Don’t spend selling time researching your dream sales enablement tools. Instead, focus on understanding what sales opportunities you have, and what stages they are in so that you can create a plan of attack to move them forward. It can be very frustrating when you see other companies with other systems in place – especially if they are your competitors. There is a lot of selling that can go on even without great tools – so no excuses in place of getting your job done. If you were hired for sales, that is what you need to focus on. Make a case for what you need, and help build the ROI for it, outside of the normal work day. Learn what your peers and colleagues are doing to enable more sales, better.

If you have the “MacGyver”, (American action-adventure television series that ran from 1985-1992), pieced-together notes about potential customers, on paper, on sticky notes, and in your email or accounting system – you need executive buy-in on a modern system that will help you identify, win, and grow revenues. At the very least, you must know what sales opportunities you and your company have, and you need to set next actions on an ongoing basis. Having a snapshot of what you are working on as a seller is critical to keep you on track, on focus, and motivated.

No matter what system you have, put your top opportunities on a white board on the wall to further motivate you and keep them in your view. You and those around you will know what to focus on this way, and you also post a list of target companies you’d like to make progress on over the next few months.

Visuals can be very motivating. Use them, in conjunction with a great sales system to make your numbers.

Read this post for “3 Productivity Tips for the Sales Pipeline”

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

Analyzing Sales Opportunities in Your Pipeline originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 16, 2012.

3 Sales Tips From Two-Year Olds

Lori Richardson — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:55:38 +0000

Before I got into professional selling, I was a preschool teacher who worked with two-year olds. We were licensed for 12 two-year olds in our room within a daycare center, and I had two assistants. For anyone who knows me now, it may be hard to believe that I did that for five years, utilizing my degree in education. I actually loved it, but unfortunately, it didn’t pay the bills.

I got into professional, business-to-business selling and made a wonderful career out of it – but what I learned from two-year olds stayed with me years later. It was reinforced after hanging out with one special guy I call Vitamin E this past weekend. He has mastered these sales techniques, and I want to make sure as you start off your week, you think about these, too.

PASSION:

When you are interacting with a prospective buyer, do you have the energy and passion of a two-year old who loves to see garbage trucks and motorcycles go by? Crank up your energy two degrees – you will be amazed at how people will receive you differently on the phone and even in your writing. In person you can easily show how you exude energy, enthusiasm, and passion for the prospect’s issue and how you may be able to help them. Generally we all need to tune up our enthusiasm level, and that includes in your follow-up.

Too “busy” to send follow-up notes or next actions right away? Make it happen immediately – otherwise you will get diverted and distracted. Keep energy high for setting a plan and causing next actions to happen. I’ve found that for me, I have to consciously do follow-up the same day, or the very next day to stay on track. How about you?

DETERMINATION

Two-year olds are masters at repeating what they want. It’s clear we were all born with this ability to state a goal and keep reminding big people around us what that goal is – as if we just have to keep saying it, because sometimes that’s enough to make something happen. That doesn’t mean you bulldoze prospective buyers into doing what you want to have happen. It DOES mean that you focus on appropriate goals and stretch goals and your determination along with the right actions will make things happen. Will you come all the way to hitting your stretch goal? That depends on your plan of action, the value you are presenting, and the activity on the right things that you create. It’s not magic, but it also won’t happen without focus and determination.

QUESTIONING

The best questions you can ask prospects in your sales career are focused around the word, “Why?” Two-year olds have this one down pat. Have you ever lost a deal because you had too much information? Probably not. Have you lost deals because you didn’t have enough information? I bet you have – I know I have on numerous occasions.

NEXT STEPS:

For more youthful inspiration read about Caine’s Arcade - an amazing kid with a big vision and endless determination.

Look in the mirror today and see if you are that high energy, enthusiastic person that represents great products and services. If not, work on conveying more energy on the phone and using power words in your e-mail to convey this enthusiasm. Don’t go overboard, and be sure to couple enthusiasm with knowledge.

Do you have activity goals in addition to revenue goals? Post them and work to make them happen. Keep personal goals in addition to corporate goals. Share them with others for support.

Ask better questions. If you can’t answer why an important prospective customer is doing or saying something, go back and find out the answers. Be conversational and sound inquisitive rather than like they are at an inquisition.

Find friends or relatives that have a two-year old and ask them about passion, determination, and questions, unless you are lucky enough to have one yourself.

3 Sales Tips From Two-Year Olds originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 14, 2012.

Productivity Tips for Sales Teams With iPads and Tablets

Lori Richardson — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:30:04 +0000

photo courtesy of Apple(R)

Did your team receive iPads or other tablet PCs and you find them under-utilized? As a long time PowerPoint user myself, I have felt guilty about my iPad being my glorified Evernote platform and e-mail source on the road.

Ashley Furness, CRM Market Analyst at Software Advice recently wrote about this very issue – teams of salespeople have received or will received tablets but do not have clear deployment plans. One company we know bought them to appear to be on the “cutting edge” over their competition, but they don’t do anything unique or amazing with them.

While 78% of businesses plan to deploy tablets by the end of 2013, more than half lack an articulate deployment plan. Ms. Furness asked 7 sales and technology experts what advice they would give to business leaders in this situation. Some top recommendations include:
1.    Monitor & set goals for usage
2.    Create dynamic content that goes beyond PowerPoint
3.    Invest in custom apps that address the team’s unique needs

I echo her point about thinking big when it comes to rolling out any new technology. The classic mistake is where you choose one app and in very short order, the sales team will want and need something to integrate with that. Instead of throwing together your plan as you go, create a deployment strategy. Read the insightful article here.

Marketo also has a helpful article written by Silicon Valley veteran Phil Fernandez on how sales teams need to adapt to the new ways of selling and using a tool like a tablet to do that.

Has your company invested in tablets throughout the sales force? If yes, what applications are you running, and how do they work for you and your sales team in general? Do you have a plan?

Post your answers as a comment, or email them in if you want to be anonymous. I’ll share the blended results at the end of the month.

Productivity Tips for Sales Teams With iPads and Tablets originally appeared on Score More Sales on May 11, 2012.