People LOVE to buy… There is no question this is true. A little research on Retail Therapy supports the idea that when people feel bad they want to go out an buy things. The real question is why dont retail sales people help people buy? This is going to be a short post, and really more of a spark that will hopefully start some good conversation, but lets think about this for a second. When was the last time you had a REALLY good retail salesperson? How many times have you WANTED to buy and walked away with nothing because nobody gave you the little nudge you needed to make the purchace? Skip hit on the idea earlier this week in his post that most retail people see them selves as customer service people not sales people. Lets think about that for a second though… Isn’t helping people to buy things they WANT providing good customer service?

The retail industry needs help right now. They are stuck in a downward spiral and there is only one way out… Sales Training. Retail sales are down, but the mall is not empty. The problem is no one is buying despite low prices.

Retail managers… does this look familliar? I cut prices to drive up sales, but now I have a reduced margin. To solve that I cut costs (People usually), but revenue is still not where I need it so I cut costs again and agan and again… There is no end to this cycle other than bankruptcy.

The real solution? Retail organizations need to focus on helping people buy by improving sales skills instead of cutting prices. Imagine what would happen if a organization with only 1 Million in sales improved by 1% because of a $3000 investment in sales training… Ya, it’s only a 10K improvment but 7K is positive ROI and you have it every month from here on out… AND you did not have to reduce margins to get it. Just a thought… Now, what do YOU think?

Popularity: 27% [?]

I know you are going to think I am weird when I say this, but your presentation is NOT about your product! It’s about your client, silly!

The trick to giving a rock solid presentation is not to memorize every feature and benefit of your product and puke them up on your client all at once. The REAL trick is to get to know your client and understand their business, then in a very well thought out manner present to them only the features of your product that fill a specific need of theirs. This allows you to spend your time on what’s important (their needs) and avoid talking about things that mean nothing to them.

The real problem is in the set up. Most sales people fail to prepair properly. First you need to do your background research and have some good conversation starting questions ready, then you need to be ready to probe deeply into each issue and find root causes. finally once you have gathered all your information you can start “presenting” based on actual findings and not just random assumptions.

Finally even if you work for a company where you have a flip chart or PowerPoint “Pitch” you can still use this preperation method to convert your companies generic pitch into a targeted presentation.

Action items: Think about your sales process for a minute and ask yourself:

Is my sales process specific to my customer?

What could I do differently to be more prepared?

Am I asking enough questions?

Do I know my customers REAL motivation to buy?

What could I do differently based on this information to convert my pitch to a presentation?

Popularity: 10% [?]

One of the most difficult thing to get new (and even some seasoned) salespeople to remember is that sales is not about pitching. It’s not fair to say pitching rarely works because it does and there are instances where it is perfect. Example of this are the county fair and TV infomercials. In that environment Pitching is perfect you have anywhere from 5 seconds to 2 minutes to make your sale or you will never see your customer again. In that instance I say pitch away…. Really it’s all you’ve got.

For the rest of us it’s time to Ditch the pitch! I have a secret for you… Top salespeople are smart! The key to getting on top and staying there is learning your product inside out. You have to be creative, interesting, and free thinking. Most important you need to engage your customer.

Selling in today’s marketplace means asking questions. It means learning about your client, where they are now, what issues they are facing, and where they want to go in the future. Only after you have done all of that should you start formulating solutions.

This is easier said than done, because so many people are trained (by bad sales people) to expect a pitch. It is common to here “Just give me your pitch” or “How soon can you get me a proposal?” from clients. This is the ONLY time I’ll pitch and I still do not pitch on my product! I pitch based on my need for more information. Basically my “Pitch” is a longer version of this conversation: I have hundreds of solutions, how can I give you a proposal when I have no understanding of what your REAL issues are, what you have tried so far, and what you are ultimately trying to accomplish. My real version of this pitch is more like a 3-5 minute conversation and any reasonable person should be able to understand why this data is important. If they don’t… I move on. I am simply not willing to waste my time writing proposals where my chance of winning is similar to winning the lottery. I don’t want to guess what the right solution is, I want to KNOW. Refusal to participate is the final portion of my pitch and believe it or not it frequently turns the situation around for me. If this approach does not change the tide for me I would rather move on to someone else interested in solving their problems, invest my time there, out perform my peers, and win the deal!

I’m interested to hear what others think about pitching, and the processes they use to avoid falling into that trap. If you have a story to share or some thoughts on the issue leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

-Brad

Popularity: 11% [?]

In Sales, process is everything. By nature I am not a process-oriented guy, I am more of the fly by the seat of my pants gut-reaction type. However, not everyone works well like this (including me). I learned early in my sales career that processes, as much as I hate to admit it, are vital. They work as a road map to help us get to where we need to go. Having a process gives us the ability to look for areas of improvement and fix them. Sounds obvious, right? Not always.

The first key is to remember that in sales your process is dynamic and not scripted. For example, let’s look at golfing. You will swing the same way every time and get better and better at that swing. However, as you golf you will encounter different variables along the way. You wouldn’t use a putter for a long drive would you? No, and you wouldn’t grab your nine iron and whack away either, you would carefully select the correct club and then just like you practiced execute the perfect swing. You need to be willing to redefine the process as you move along. You need to learn to continuously develop your process along the way.

The first step to developing your process is to sit down and break your big process into steps and then break those steps into smaller steps.

A telemarketing process for technology education it would look something like this:

Rapport: To lay ground work for harder questions later.

Admissibility: Is this person illegible to go to school with us? (Why waste time?)

Motivation: Why does this person need this product?

Payment: How are they planning on paying for school? (Ignore this and people who are not sure are likely to no-show) Payment is NOT price.

Start Date: Build a sense of urgency and suggest next possible start date.

Set appointment That’s what we are calling for right?

Referral: Who would they like to have in class with them?

The process of doing this is the same in any industry, and could just as easily be done face to face with slight modification…  90% of the sales training with my team is how to navigate this system.

The advantage as a manager to this is it makes it much easier to coach because I can easily see where the issues are in your efforts, and we can train and role play around specific parts of the call instead of saying “I need to work on my telemarketing skills”. Moreover, they make it easy to track and measure metrics and identify trends and opportunities for improvement. If you are just out “winging it”, it is very hard to identify potential issues because no two calls are ever the same.

So even though I am not a process guy by nature, I still recognize that processes are vital to any sales organization. They help us to stay focused and on track, and they help us improve.

To implement:

Do you have a set process you take clients through or do you just go with the flow?

What are the steps involved in moving someone from prospect to client in your organization?

Can any of those steps be broken down into smaller steps?

Are there metrics you can watch to make sure your process is efficient?

If you have a process when was the last time you reviewed it? Is it getting stale?

Popularity: 11% [?]

Two weeks ago I wrote a post called What Is The Primary Role Of A Sales Manager?. In that post I basically asserted the primary role of a sales manager is to facillitate an enviroment where people can be productive, but in retrospect I missed one key point. In addition to facillitating the proper environment free of distraction you also need to properly motivate your staff. I’m not going to rehash the different ways sales people can be motivated because Skip Anderson did such a great job in his post “Dear Sales Manager: Please Motivate Me” (honestly it’s the post I had planned to write… I guess it pays to be earlier in the rotation!). What I will do instead is add to both my previous post and build off of Skips a bit for you.

So we are now moving towards a drama free environment that is free of distraction, and we now recognize the different types of motivation, but how do we use this knowledge to motivate our staff? It starts by getting to know them in their one on one meetings, asking good questions, and listening.

I try to do a one on one with every member of my staff every week and we cover 3 topics: A brief discussion of their funnel and conversions plus whatever else I feel is important that week, next we talk about what they want help with, and the final 10 minutes is to talk about whatever we want and can cover anything from family to football. These discussions are important, and no one part is more important than any other… it is the trust and relationship you build in this process that are going to make it easier to have the difficult discussions later on… Finally the information you learn about your staff through this process will be invaluable to you later on when you are trying to motivate your staff.

To close out this topic I’ll share with you some insight I gained from one of my own managers back when I was a new salesperson.

My wife and I were planning on having a baby, but it was very important to both of us for her to be a stay at home mom (meaning I needed to earn a lot more money). However, my primary motivation was recognition and ego. I was winning regional contests regularly and was far and ahead the leading person in my location so both of these needs were being fulfilled completely… However, my manager recognized that there was untapped potential in me and that I was easily capable of producing even more than I currently was. I just wasn’t… and she couldn’t figure out why. I was basically complacent in my current position because I was kicking everyone’s @$$ around me, making great money and having a good time. No amount of feeding the ego, or giving praise and recognition helped, but there was something we were both missing. While it was clear I did not place my own salary as a determining factor of my self worth there was a untapped source of motivation. I wanted my wife to be a stay at home mom and for that I needed to earn a bit more than I was for us to be comfortable. To cut to the chase, once my manager pointed this fact out to me I was off to the races… I set new records, increased my salary and got 2 promotions all in about 18 months.

I tell this story because it’s important to recognize that many sales people only know part of the story about what motivates them, and while money still wasn’t my motivation it was the only thing that could feed what was… My family.

If my manager had not had years of quality one on one time with me we would have never came to that conclusion and we would probably both still be where we were then happy and complacent. Remember motivation is not something we do only for the team… The biggest bang for your buck comes from individual interactions that can only be achieved by regular, honest, one one interaction.

Takeaways: Think about your team and reflect on what motivates each of them as individuals. Now think about your team as a whole what motivates the group? Are you having weekly one on ones? Why not? What are the potential benefits of spending this one on one time with each of them? Do you have people that could produce more but are not? What could you do differently for that individual that would help them move forward?

For some more great information on this topic check out these two podcast episodes:

Steve Farber: Greater Than Yourself and Will Fultz: Rewarding Top Producers

Have a great rest of the week and happy selling everyone!

Popularity: 11% [?]

The answer to this question may seem quite simple: Drive revenue! but the reality is we carry a heavy burden. We have to plan training, observe our teams in action, coach, mentor, attend meetings, run reports, do projections and forecasts, many of us even take on marketing and PR roles in smaller companies, and even with all of this most of us could add on 10 more things under “other duties as assigned” that have little to nothing to do with being a sales manager.

My opinion though if you want to be successful is you only have one real job, and that is to facilitate an environment that maximizes sales productivity. To do that you have to look at things a little differently. I view my primary role as making sure 14 families get fed. I worry very little about my own goals because I am aware that if 80% of my team can hit plan I will have grossly exceeded my own plan. With that in mind, my entire focus is on the team and making sure everyone on it is in the best possible position to be productive, and removing anything that hinders that.

It sounds simple, but you have to take this to extremes, what if the thing that is hindering 13 people from producing at peak performance is your current very needy, drama filled top producer? In my opinion, you eliminate them. Life as both a sales manager and a member of a team is a lot better when there are no primadonnas that feel they are above the rules and are making others lives miserable in the process. Most people have enough stress at work just performing their own sales duties and do not need the extra stress of another’s personal burdens as well. When I talk about the primadonnas, I am not referring to someone who is simply going through a rough patch, this I can help them work through. A primadonna refers to someone who is a constant problem and drain on my team. This is the type of person who comes in each day with a “woe is me” or “I am the center of the universe” attitude and feels that everyone else should share in their misery or bow down to them.

My goal as a sales manager is to eliminate drama, coach, mentor and lead… everything else I do is secondary to that. Every member of my team knows that they are the most important thing in my day and that I would rather be helping them than anything else I do. Because I take this approach towards them and will do anything for them, they will walk through fire for me. Developing this relationship is not easy, it takes time to build trust and send a clear message that this is not the flavor of the week, but the long term benefits are HUGE.

Finally, this does not mean you stop forecasting and doing the other things you do, it is about shifting priorities not responsibilities.

To implement: What is your relationship like with your current team? How do you spend your day? What can you eliminate from your sales environment or process that will improve productivity for everyone? What can you do now to make sure every member of your team understands they THEIR success is the most important thing to you? Do you have a regularly scheduled one on one coaching session with every team member every week? If not why? Reflect review and implement!

Popularity: 21% [?]

Much like Karl, for me this post is a bit of a rant, because I too do not think most sales people “get it” when it comes to qualifying. We get so wrapped up in the process of “being efficient” and “not wanting to waste time” the we start looking for reasons NOT to meet with clients instead of looking for reasons why we SHOULD meet with a particular client. Granted this is a balancing act, we don’t want to just sit down with any old person we run across. However, We should be looking for reasons to include people in our sales process rather than simply excluding them because the goal of top sales people is to create opportunity. A simple switch in attitude is all it takes for you to break into new markets, and or find new uses for your product that you had not previously thought of.

This takes a bit of work, but my experiance has proven that if you start a few people into your sales funnel that you feel iffy about and it dosent work out you simply need to be honest and at some point say this dosent look like a good fit, would you agree? Then instead of following the typicla behaviro and running for the hills, keep asking questions! I say this for two reasons, first, in another question or two you may uncover a hidden need, but secondly I’ll assume you are a expert in your industry… My goal would be to referr them to someone at another company i trusted that I believed could be of assistance to them. I know that this sounds counter productive, but the simple fact is good sales people solve problems… and the natural extension of that is, if I can not help you I will point you in the direction of someone who can, and then politley ask for a referral.

This simple ast has brought me more business than I can count. If you stop “qualifying” and start talking to people and helping them solve their problems you will develope a reputation in your industry as someone people like to work with, you will develope referral business, and you will ocasionally sell to clients whom you would have never met with because “they cant afford it”, “were not a large enough organization”, or “had no need”.

Action plan: Think about your sales process, and how you go about scheduling appointments. What criteria are you using? Are there questions you could change to be more inclusive? Are you seeking to exclude rather than include? What do you do right now to create new innovative uses for your product or open new markets? What SHOULD you be dong?

Popularity: 10% [?]

As a sales manager, blogger, and podcaster I talk to a lot of sales people, and one question that comes up over and over again is: “How do I generate more referrals?” My simple response is ask more often. Sales people in general are looking for a silver bullet. What I believe most of them are looking for is a way to GET referrals without having to ASK for them. Are there ways to do it? Yes. Are most of them very effective? No!

The silver bullet in referral generation is simply to ask more often. That still leaves us wondering why don’t we as a group just ask? I think it boils down to two reasons: guilt and fear. For some, it is a feeling of guilt because they feel like they are inconveniencing the client, or some how doing something to the client. For others it it just a simple fear of rejection.

I think it is important to think about what you do for a living if you want to overcome this fear. Good sales people help people overcome problems in their life or business by providing creative and innovative solutions. Our job is to HELP people. So why would we be afraid to ask one person whom we have just helped solve a problem if they know anyone else with a similar problem? The truth is they most likely do, and if you have done a good job of being honest, helpful, and respectful they have no reason not to help you and a friend out in return. People like to help people, and in most industries it is no secret that we get paid on commission. If you have good rapport, and have done a good service, many of your clients will actually want to help you out by referring clients to you because they want to see you successful too.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• How do I help people in my job?
• What problems does my product or service solve?
• Are there markets that are difficult to work in that others are ignoring, that I could enter to help more people?
• What can I do to provide legendary customer service that I am not doing now?
• Are there ways I can better connect with my clients in a way that is honest, and genuine?
• Am I honestly concerned about the long term success of my clients? What Can I do to help them that I am not doing now?

There are probably more questions we could and should look at, but I think this is enough to get the wheels turning.

The real trick to generating referrals is to simply ASK. The trick is to do it in a way that is honest, and not gimmicky. Respct your customers and they will respect you. Help them and they will help you. All you have to do is ask, regularly and often.

PS: I just released a new sales podcast with episodes released weekly. Our goal is to interview some of the best and brightest in the world of sales management and leadership.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Image by hartboy via Flickr

I had just transitioned from inside sales to my first outside sales position where I was selling some high end estate planning vehicles in the home. My clients all had net worth’s in the 5-10 million ranges, and appearance was everything. After a week or so it became clear to me that my lifted Jeep was not going to work in this environment. Besides the fact that it did not send the image I wanted to project it got wretched gas mileage, was bitter cold to ride in the wet Pacific Northwest weather, and was just not very comfortable. After a short conversation with my wife we decided we wanted to get a V6 extended cab Ford Ranger 4×4 that would meet both my lifestyle and career needs. Anyways, all that to say I NEEDED a truck, and I know what I wanted, so after work I dropped by the Ford dealership to go get a truck. I told the salesman what I wanted and he showed me everything on the lot EXCEPT what I told him I was looking for. Frustrated I ask him if he even HAD anything like what I described to him and he said not right now. Knowing there were two other Ford dealers within 20 miles or so I left him with some simple instructions: Do a dealer search for me and call me tomorrow with prices and descriptions of three or four trucks like this and I’ll be back tomorrow night to drive two and buy one.”

I felt that I had given a sufficient buying signal and waited all day for the call… It never came. So after work I went back to the dealership and was quickly greeted by my “Salesman” from the night before. I asked him “Did you do the search?” And he said no, he had been busy. Based on the activity I saw both times I had been there I assumed that meant “I have been smoking by the door all day”! Still I was busy and really wanted this to be easy so I gave him the SAME instructions, and headed off to see my wife.

I thought for sure he would do the search this time, but still no call, undaunted, I stopped by after work and there he was “busy” by the door again. With a look of disbelief he greeted me again. I ask if he did the search today and again he said he had been very “busy”. He assured me he would do it tonight and call me the next morning, but I told him that’s ok, I guess I’m not really “That” serious anyways and got back in my Jeep and headed 15 miles down the freeway to the other Ford dealership. About two hours later, I stopped back by the first dealership and met my salesman again in my new truck and let him know I didn’t need that dealer search anymore.

This story is sad because it’s true… but this guy lost a sale because he failed to do his follow-up work. He was too “busy” waiting for the easy sale that he missed the REALLY easy one right under his nose. With all of the CRM tools available to us it is silly to make this kind of mistake. A simple reminder in his to-do list, PDA, or CRM system would have reminded him to make two calls worth a grand or so to him.

Remember when it comes to follow-up is not just about filling the pipeline, it’s also about keeping what’s in your pipeline moving to the next level of commitment. Don’t let YOU be the reason you fail to close the deal.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Closing is one of the most important things we do as sales people. Immeasurable volumes of deals that could have been signed were not, simply because no one ever asks for the business. If you take a second to reflect on it though… Isn’t closing a funny name for it? Let’s think about it for a second. You recently met someone, introduced them to your product and now they are interested in buying it. In the minds of most sales people we consider the deal closed. In reality though, you are not closing a deal but rather OPENING a relationship are we not? In my opinion this simple change in mindset will help you “close” a lot more business and it works no matter what you sell.

Good, bad, or indifferent the minute you exchange money for ANY product you have now initiated some sort of relationship. It is the experience during and after this process that will really determine the quality of that relationship more than how good you were leading into it. Think of it like dating. Everyone expects you to be prompt in returning phone calls, polite, and going out of your way to please. The relationship is new and you are courting still. That’s why people freak out when you announce that you intend to marry the girl you just met 3 weeks ago. It’s a year later when you are comfortable, that the truth comes out, and you see if this is REALLY someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.

In business the same is true… We expect the sales guy to be great at building rapport, to have great customer service skills, and be knowledgeable about their products. The true test of talented sales people is what happens during and AFTER the close. Do you follow up 30, 60, 90, even 180 days later just to make sure things are going well? And if they are not; do you provide the same level or better of service you did when you were trying to earn that business? Do you send Christmas cards? Are you a valuable resource to them for industry information? These skills are what will keep your customers coming back to you over and over again… and they will send their friends because you are a trusted advisor and not just “some sales guy”

That brings us back to closing. The real trick in closing is to close without closing… instead of reading dozens of books on closing while trying to memorize The Puppy Dog Close, The George Washington Close, or saying “Mr. Prospect, if I could show you a way to have ABC and XYZ would that be of interest to you? Try switching your focus to building a partnership. Trust me… You are not fooling anyone with the new close you just learned. Buyers even go to classes to learn how to recognize and combat these tactics. It feels manipulative and dishonest to people.

People like to do business with people they genuinely like and trust. So my biggest tip in closing is to not do anything that will erode that. I think if you do a good job up front of building the relationship, setting expectations, and approaching things from a point of view that focuses on mutual benefit when it comes time to close you won’t have to close… you will just advance the relationship to the proverbial “Next Level”. That doesn’t mean you do not ask for the clients business… but it does mean you should do it in a way that is open, honest, and direct. If it is a good decision for them and everyone knows it, it should not be hard to do.

Finally don’t think in terms of transactions… If you sell houses, sell to me in a way that shows you want to sell me every house I ever buy… The same holds true if it is a car, jewelry, or even a pizza. Remember don’t TELL me. SHOW me.

For discussion: How can you implement this in your business right now and what net effect do you see it having on your current business? Do you think changing how you close will help you maintain or even increase your sales despite tough economic times?

Popularity: 13% [?]