How Leaders Can Ensure Their Software Investments Produce Returns is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

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. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

I just finished reading my friends at IBM’s new ERP guide called Integrated ERP Guide: Expert Answers to Your Most Frequently Asked Questions. The section that I believe is critically overlooked is on page, 11: “executive sponsor’s commitment.” In my experience, this is how software investments fail to produce their promised results.

It doesn’t matter what kind of software system you install, without leadership truly embracing the acquisition and use of the system, it will fail.

Massive software systems like ERP (even for small and medium sized businesses) can do wonders to help give you control, to give you insight, and to help you take your business to the next level. It’s the same thing with sales force automation; the software can definitely help you improve your business. But only if it is really adopted by the end users and key stakeholders.

The major mistake I’ve seen in implementations with small, medium, and large businesses, is that leadership isn’t engaged in the process of making sure that the software is utilized. They love the idea of the software itself. They’re enamored with the promise of how it’s going to remake their business. But they’re not deeply engaged enough with the execution of the software before, during, and after the installation to get the initiative all the way over the line. This is why they never get the full benefit of their software investments.

What Leaders Should Do?

So what should leaders do?

First, know that your involvement doesn’t end once you sign the contract acquiring the new software. Instead you have to provide a vision of what the execution needs to look like. You need to share that vision with everyone involved, especially the key stakeholders and peer users. You have to constantly reinforce your vision.

Second you need to set expectations about the software’s utilization and the accountabilities surrounding your initiatives. It isn’t enough just to purchase the software. You have to ensure that it generates the results that you were after when you acquire the software. This is where your key stakeholders can help. They need to share your vision and ensure that processes are put in place (lest everyone go back to sending each other emailed spreadsheets).

Finally, you need to put some key people in charge of the implementation and execution. The people you really want on projects like this are the people that are most passionate about the project. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you put people with the right title or the right position on your org chart in charge of implementation and execution. You want the fire-breathing, passionate end users, those who will spread the gospel and proselytize their peers.

If you are going to spend the money and leverage technology, ensuring you get the return you want requires the additional investment of your leadership.

Questions

Why do most software implementations fail to produce the promised returns?

What is leadership’s role in ensuring that their investments produce those results?

How should a leader ensure that key stakeholders execute?

Why do you want passionate end users on software implementation project teams?

Rumble Strips and Feedback is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

You know how you are sometimes driving down the road and you run a little bit off course? Rumble strips are those lines carved into the side of the road that create a loud noise and vibration. They are they to provide you with the feedback that you’re slightly off the road. Without rumble strips you might run off the road–or far enough onto the shoulder–that something bad happens. Rumble strips also tell you to slow down on freeway off-ramps, that you are going too fast to safely exit.

Rumble strips are annoying. They’re designed to get your attention and provide feedback when feedback is necessary.

Your Rumble Strips Are Quiet

All of the results that you’re generating in sales and business also come with feedback. But most of the feedback doesn’t easily command your attention.

When things are working the feedback is positive. You’re winning opportunities. You’re improving. Things are moving forward for you fast. No alarm bells are sounding. But you’re also provided feedback when things aren’t working quite so well. Even this feedback may not garner your attention.

When your dream clients aren’t responding to your attempts to capture their time and attention it’s feedback that what you’re doing isn’t creating value for them. Their silence is feedback. That silence should jar you to action just like rumble strips.

When your pipeline is shallow, when you don’t have enough opportunities, it’s feedback that your prospecting efforts aren’t working. Maybe it’s feedback that what you’re doing isn’t working, but maybe it’s feedback that you just aren’t doing enough. Either way, it’s feedback that you need to make some adjustment to what you’re doing, that you’re off course.

When your inside team struggles to execute on what you sold it might be feedback that you’re giving them a poor handoff. Or it might also mean that you’re selling something that your team can’t easily deliver. Maybe your team just needs your help selling inside to acquire the resources they need to execute. More feedback, if you are keen enough to observe the noise your team makes.

The results that you’re producing, good or bad, come with feedback. That uncomfortable feeling you get when things aren’t working is like driving over rumble strips. It’s supposed to warn you, to jar you loose from your comfortable state and make you aware that you need to change. It means you’re slightly (or seriously) off course and need to make corrections.

Pay attention to the rumble strips. Pay attention to the feedback (and remember sometimes the feedback is silence).

Questions

What kind of feedback are you receiving?

How do you know when you’re slightly off course?

What kind of warnings do yo get that you are going to fast for your client, that your speed is jeopardizing an opportunity?

Like driving, are you normally way off course, or does a slight correction make an enormous difference?

What Entrepreneurs Need to Know Now is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

A few weeks ago I gave the opening keynote at the Ohio Growth Summit. Michael Bowers, the program director of the Small Business Development Center, did an outstanding job building a great conference for entrepreneurs. Here are two thoughts on what entrepreneurs need to know right now.

Change Occurs When You Reach Threshold is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

The status quo is a warm bath; it’s soothing and comfortable. Change is a cold shower; it’s surprising, shocking, and uncomfortable.

Is it any wonder your dream clients aren’t excited to change? Even when they have good reason to change, they often seek the safety and comfort of the status quo. When things aren’t going well, at least they know the status quo. Change means venturing off into the scary unknown.

Do you ever wonder why your clients aren’t interested in change even when the reasons to change are crystal clear to you? Do you wonder why your ideas aren’t compelling?

People only seek change when they reach some threshold. Either there is so much dissatisfaction that change becomes the safest path forward, or there is an opportunity so great that it warrants abandoning the status quo (a positive form of dissatisfaction). But until that threshold is met, in one direction or the other, change is unlikely.

Building Towards Threshold

If you want to make the case for your change, you have to help your clients reach threshold.

If your client should be dissatisfied, you build to threshold by helping them understand what not changing is costing them now, what it will cost them in the future, and why they can’t afford to stay where they are. On the far end of this continuum is survival; there is nothing so motivating as your own impending doom. Survival is the most serious threshold of all. But losing your competitive advantage, falling behind your competitors, and losing market share can be threshold events, too.

You can build to threshold for positive changes, too. Even if things are going well, you can build towards the threshold that brings change by showing your client what is still possible, how change will better position them in the future, and what they are losing by not acting now. Faster growth now, the ability to capitalize on opportunities, or seizing a competitive advantage in the marketplace can all be threshold events. So can even greater profitability.

You don’t have to build towards threshold with bold, challenging statements. In fact, making the case this way can often lead to more resistance–it can seem self-serving. You can make the case more effectively with well designed and well placed questions.

If you want your product, service, or solution to be compelling, it has to help your clients get to threshold.

Questions

Look at the existing opportunities in your pipeline. Can you identify the threshold that is compelling your client to change?

How urgently does your client need to change? What do they lose by holding on to the status quo?

Which stakeholders haven’t yet (or won’t easily) reach threshold? How do you make a stronger case for them (or build a stronger case around them)?

Episode 18 – On Sales Fundamentals with Kelly Riggs is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Show Notes

Everything Looks Like a Meal to a Starving Man is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

The hungrier you get, the more willing you are to eat something that isn’t really good for you. If you’re starving, all of your discipline around eating goes straight out the window, doesn’t it? That’s why you’re not supposed to wait until you are starving to eat (and why you never want to go the grocery store when you are hungry). When you’re starving you make bad decisions.

I could stop writing this post right here and you would understand the point I’m making, wouldn’t you?

When you go long periods without prospecting, your pipeline dries up. You become more and more desperate for something–anything–to put in your pipeline. And then, your standards are gone. The idea that you should pursue your dream clients is gone, and with it, qualifying. Instead, every lead is automatically an opportunity, and all opportunities are good.

That prospect that spends a lot of money in your space but buys on price alone suddenly becomes a real opportunity–if only you could lower your prices. That nightmare prospect who doesn’t appreciate the value that you create suddenly becomes an object of desire. The prospect with a potential deal, the one with hair all over it, is transformed as if by magic into a dream client. That too small prospect, the one that will cost you more to serve than you can possibly make, is now worthy of your time and attention.

This is why prospecting is critical. If you always have a healthy pipeline then you never get so desperate that you feel that you have to pursue non-opportunities. To a starving person, even something awful looks like a meal.

Questions

Why do you get desperate for opportunities?

What actions do you need to take to keep from being desperate?

What happens when you do a poor job of qualifying?

The Cavalry Isn’t Coming (Part Two) is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

The cavalry isn’t coming to save you. You are going to have to take care of yourself. Go back and read this post.

But you aren’t all alone. You’ve never been alone.

We humans are social creatures. We always have been. We’ve never been able to survive without each other. And we’ve surely never been able to achieve much without help from the other members of our tribe. This is why relationships still matter, regardless of any bunk that you hear to the contrary. In fact, they’re more important than ever.

All things being equal, relationships win.

You may not be able to count on Big Industrial Age Corporation to take care of you forever. And the prospects of your Big Nation State being able to take care of you look equally bleak. You’re going to have to take care of yourself, but your tribe is going to be there to help you–and you them.

There has never been a time when it’s been more important to build your tribe, your community. It’s critical that you develop relationships with people for whom you can create value–and people that can create value for you. The fastest and surest way to gaining the help of others is, was, and always will be finding a way to be helpful to other people first.

You find a way to create value without claiming any.

Your future security is going to be determined by the size and strength of your tribe. That tribe will start with your immediate and extended family. It will include the family you choose (your closest friends). It will include the people who share your values, beliefs, and missions (fellow travelers).

I don’t know if the number is 150 or whether this silicon substrate allows for more, deeper relationships, but I know this is no time to be a loner. This social media is a toolkit for building, nurturing, and developing your tribe. It’s a toolkit for value creation. Your relationships are your real social safety net.

The Three Rules (A Sales Perspective) is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Whenever we find ourselves in a competitive sales situation, it never fails that we find ourselves competing on price. Our dream clients ask us to sharpen our pencils and, in an attempt to win, we sharpen it (sometimes down to a little tiny nub). But instead of sharpening our pencil, we should be sharpening our value creation. I’ve written about these ideas here since late 2009.

Now let me offer you some additional evidence by the way of a new book by authors Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed. The book is titled, The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think. I’ve already added the three rules to master slide deck. Here they are:

1. Better before cheaper – in other words, compete on differentiators other than price.
2. Revenue before cost – that is, prioritize increasing revenue over reducing costs.
3. There are no other rules – so change anything you must to follow Rules 1 and 2.

The authors studied the results of over 25,000 companies over a 44 year period. But in your heart of hearts, you know these ideas to be true because you’ve experienced them, haven’t you?

What’s interesting to me about point one, Better Before Cheaper, is that companies that sustained exceptional performance always competed on non-price differentiators. Even when the economy went through recessionary periods and they lowered their prices, they were still priced higher than their competitors. It’s their consistency here that makes the difference.

The second point, Revenue Before Cost, is interesting to me for two reasons. First, I continuously see companies that try to shrink their way to greatness. They focus on cost cutting to the detriment of revenue growth. I’ve even seen some cut the salesforce instead of non-revenue generating employees. The evidence points to the fact that greater revenues are more valuable than lower costs when it comes to generating exceptional performance–and differentiation is the key to gaining those higher revenues.

But second, and perhaps more interesting for us in sales, is that we don’t do enough to translate the value we create into a return on investment. During price discussions we allow the decision-criteria to turn to cost cutting and “savings” when we should be helping our clients make the proper investments necessary to the outcomes that they really need.

If you are in sales leadership, this book should be on your nightstand (and you should provide copies to the rest of your leadership team). If you’re in sales, you should read this book to acquire a greater understanding as to how you can really help your clients succeed–and why you aren’t competing on price.

The Cavalry Isn’t Coming is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

You’re on your own. The cavalry isn’t coming. No one is going to save you. Instead, you are going to have to save yourself.

Humans have lived on this planet for about three and a half million years, give or take. From the very beginning of our time here we’ve been responsible for taking care of ourselves. If you wanted to eat, you had to hunt and gather. If you wanted shelter, you had to carve it out of the earth with your bare hands. If you were going to survive–and thrive–it was up to you.

But we’ve lost our memory as to our responsibilities. Why did we lose our memories?

For a very short period starting some time in the middle 20th Century, a bargain was struck. You become an employee of the the Big Industrial Age Corporation, and in exchange for 47 years of your labor, you’d receive a decent wage, guaranteed health care, and a retirement. If you were in management, you might even get a nice plaque, a gold watch, and a retirement lunch.

But the world, as it is wont to do, changed. And those changes started to take a toll on the Big Industrial Age Corporations. Many of them had every intention of keeping the old bargain. They preferred the status quo. But at some point the bargain became too difficult to keep. Maybe it was 1980. Maybe it was the 1990′s. Some are still trying desperately to hold on.

A lot of people want to see that bargain transferred to the Federal Government. But a lot of smart people in smart countries have tried to make and keep those bargains and failed. More are failing still. That’s not a bet you can safely make either.

We are returning to the way things were for all of three and half million years, minus a short detour that we took towards the end of the Industrial Age. We’re now firmly at the jumping off point of the Disruptive Age. Industrial Age beliefs and behaviors no longer serve you. The beliefs and behaviors that allow you to succeed now look more like the beliefs and behaviors that worked before the Industrial Age bargain was struck.

The cavalry isn’t coming. Accept it and start saving yourself.

Go On a Charm Offensive is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

There’s an old joke that goes like this.

A man dies and St. Peter greets him at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter tells the new arrival that his record is good, but that he still has free will and can choose between Heaven and Hell. But before he does, he’ll have the opportunity to explore both options. Then St. Peter gives the new arrival a tour of Heaven.

Heaven is a nice place. Everything is perfectly clean. A lot of angels are walking around singing hymns and such. But overall, Heaven is a pretty boring place. After touring Heaven the new arrival gets a chance to explore the alternative.

Hell is a very different place. It’s a party! There’s a lot of loud rock music. There are a lot of people dancing. There is a lot of drinking and smoking. Everyone’s having a great time.

After his tour of Hell, the new arrival goes back to visit St. Pete. And he says, “I apologize, but I’ve decided to spend the rest of eternity in Hell. It’s nothing personal. It’s just more my style.” And off the new arrival goes to Hell.

When the new arrival gets back to Hell, it’s nothing like it was during his tour. People are literally on fire; their flesh is burning. There’s screaming and suffering. It is Hell, after all. The new arrival says to Satan, “There must be some mistake. This isn’t what Hell was like when I visited yesterday.” Satan laughs and says, “Yes, but yesterday you were prospect. Today you’re a customer!”

Remember When?

Remember when you were courting your dream client? Remember when you were giving them the full-court press? Remember how proactive you were in anticipating every one of their needs? Remember how you found a way to nurture that relationship, creating value long before you claimed value?

What changed?

What would have to change for your client to once again feel the way that they felt when they were a prospect? What would a charm offensive look like?

Would you spend time at their location? Would you spend time listening to them to get a greater understanding of their world and how you might make a difference? Would there be lunches? Dinners even?

Would both the frequency and the nature of your communication change if you were executing a charm offensive?

Would there be no problem too small to deserve your attention?

What would it look like if you were actually courting your existing clients?