Archive for October, 2013
Sales Witchcraft and the Insanity of “Turn-and-Burn” Selling Strategies
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on October 29, 2013
It’s October. Fall and Halloween are upon us. So here’s a scary story for the season. I call it scary because I still see it going on, and it scares the ‘you-know-what’ out of me.
Far away, in the magical land of sales wonderment, there exists the holy grail of selling immortality. A place of “drop the facts on you” efficiency where all you need to generate massive amounts of revenue is you spinning through the scripts that came alongside your amazing product. Scripts so magical objections fall away in front of your mighty verbosity. Scripts so powerful you don’t need to know anything about the prospect or the reason you are there. The scripts are enough.
Enter the land of the “one call close”, a land of magical un-engagement. A place where you get what you want first. An opportunity for you to spend as little time as possible creating as big a deal as possible. And if it all sounds too good to be truth, that’s because it is.
You can’t care less and win more. It’s really that simple.
But that doesn’t stop some from agreeing with the sales rep making the off-hand remark about how “He doesn’t want to deal with the details. He just wants to “turn-and-burn”. He’s applauded as if he is the last bastion of sales efficiency and thought leadership, a true example of effective qualifying and “trusting the process”. But that guy is really a moron. And so are those buying into the selfish insanity of “I’ll care when it benefits me” style of business.
But that hasn’t stopped some from romanticizing ridiculous turn-and-burn sales strategies:
• They imagine that a perfect set of closing lines can replace genuine empathy and a relationship.
• They expect that enough marketing emails can replace personal attention and the discipline to prospect better.
• They want to believe that by backing our customer into a corner with what we believe to be our “consultative selling” that we can force them to act quickly instead of giving them space to feel in control.
• They assume that getting another customer is a better strategy than making sure our existing customers stay satisfied for life.
Fantasy land might create a wonderful sub-plot for Hollywood, but it’s crippling to performance.
Caring is simple. You do. Or you don’t.
And despite how these people might try to justify their selfishness, all around them can be seen the ugliness of their attitude and actions. Someday they will too. But it might be too late to do anything about it then. Maybe it’s time to rethink things now – while you still have a chance to change the world.
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Effective Sales Coaching – It’s All About Timing
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES LEADERSHIP on October 18, 2013
The fundamental mistake which sales managers make, which is perhaps the worst culprit in terms of de-motivating a sales force, is managing only results instead of the behaviors and activities that lead to the results.
It came be seen as entirely rational for sales managers to focus on results because that’s how we are measured and, of course, compensated. Unfortunately, it’s not very effective at motivating salespeople.
Here’s why…
A sales “result” is what comes about as a consequence of the sales process or processes preceding. Sales managers who manage by results, by which I mean a sales manager who waits until a poor result is produced and then confronts the salesperson about the poor production, is like a “Monday morning quarterback.” They are criticizing what happened after it happened, and much too late to do any good.
To be an effective sales manager you must focus on the input side of the production equation, the sales behaviors and activities that contribute to the sales results.
Many sales managers haven’t clearly defined the behaviors and activities sales representatives need to be successful. Here’s a test for you. Suppose you were to email five of your salespeople and ask them to each reply to the following question: “Please describe to me the specific behaviors and activities you need to perform to achieve the sales results our company expects.”
How many different answers would you receive? If you’re like the managers who have actually tried this test, chances are quite a few. In too many sales organizations, there is a lack of clarity about and understanding of the behaviors needed for success. Your salespeople, then, are selling on instinct.
Now imagine you’re a salesperson. You’ve just had a bad month. Your boss confronts you about that bad month, but he or she doesn’t have a clue what caused the bad month. The manager just pushes the button that sales managers always push when they don’t know what caused poor production-: “You’re not making enough sales calls. Increase your activity level and you’ll sell more.”
If you were a salesperson, how would that make you feel? I suspect you’d probably be demoralized. You feel like you worked hard, and don’t really know what to do differently. You would appreciate a more constructive coaching discussion, but you’re not getting it. Your boss just tells you, “get out there and sell more.”
To be a great sales coach you need to define the behaviors and activities your sales force needs to know and do to achieve maximum sales success. Put those in a document titled “Standards for Excellence.” And communicate them clearly and repeatedly to your sales team. Have your salespeople practice new skills and approaches while you observe so you can give them specific tips. Give them the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback early in the sales cycles.
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This article was originally posted to the TopLine Leadership Blog by Kevin Davis on November 20, 2012
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Ten Commandments for Creating Great Customer Service
Posted by Rick Pranitis in CUSTOMER SERVICE on October 10, 2013
We all know the realities of the professional sales world regarding the cost ratio of keeping versus regaining a good customer. When it comes to maintaining your share of the market, satisfied – returning – customers are key. AND very likely the most important element in controlling your bottom line in cost of sales. 
Keeping customers happy and feeling valued should be everyone’s top priority. Customers don’t expect rock bottom prices everywhere, but they do expect good treatment. It’s all about Customer Service!
Borrowing from Daniel Kehrer, Founder & Managing Director of BizBest Media Corporation, here’s ten great points – commandments if you will – for establishing great customer service within your organization.
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Happy employees create happy customers. Employee satisfaction translates to great customer service. Employees who like their jobs and care about the business they work for are more likely to go the extra mile for a customer. Creating that feeling in your employees will pay you back exponentially.
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Always respond quickly. Your customers are busy, too. They shouldn’t be left wondering what kind of service they are going to receive or when. Answering email inquiries, returning phone calls and responding to messages or other contacts on Facebook or other social media should be part of a daily routine.
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Make it easy to do business with you. Never make customers jump through hoops to buy something from you. Have a return policy that is easy to understand and puts customer interests first. Provide refunds quickly and efficiently.
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Keep customers informed of what’s happening. When customers know what’s happening with an order or request, they can enjoy doing business with you. For example, if you’re handling a return and typing information into a computer, you might say, “I’m entering the date of purchase and product number so we can make sure to give you the maximum refund possible.”
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Use technology to provide good service. Today’s technology offers every small business the means to provide service more quickly and efficiently than ever. Business owners sometimes assume that customers don’t like to be communicated with online. And for some that might be the case. But most people appreciate the ease online communication provides.
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Make your customers feel valued. Understand that each and every one of your customers is special. As the late business guru Peter Drucker said: The sole purpose of business is to serve customers. Make sure your employees understand this, and that above all else they must focus on making customers feel valued and appreciated.
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Remember, disgruntled customers won’t complain; they just won’t come back. If you don’t take time to provide excellent service, customers won’t take time to tell you how to improve your business. What’s more, unhappy customers will tell others about their bad experience. And in this age of social media, the ripple effect can be very damaging.
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Provide special training for front line employees. Employees who interact directly with customers are critical to your business. Their attitudes, communication skills and style of service are what customers associate with your business. Make sure they are trained to handle the potentially stressful task of working with customers.
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Make sure the first customer is happy before moving on to the next. Customers value quick service just as much as they value quality service. But you can’t sacrifice one for the other. It’s important to make sure one customer is satisfied before you move on to the next. That can be as simple as asking, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
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Compensate for mistakes. Never shortchange your customers. If a mistake was made or some other circumstance is preventing you from providing the best level of customer service, find a way to make it up to your customer. Give employees the latitude to provide customers with solutions when they can’t satisfy a need.
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Payoffs to Asking Questions in Sales Calls
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on October 1, 2013
If salespeople are going to bring value, new ideas, and insight to customers, they must understand the business issues and the challenges their customers face. Questions are a primary consultative tool for getting that done.
Bringing value can be achieved just as well by the thoughtful question as by fact telling. For example, if the customer seems to be thinking about a business strategy that involve risks, asking questions about how they plan to manage the risks shows you understand their situation and enables you to offer a thoughtful solution later in the discussion. Here are five specific payoffs for getting good at asking questions:
1. Asking questions leads to more memorable interactions. Well-planned questions go a long way in establishing your credibility particularly when they are framed around issues and challenges important to the customer.
2. Second, they help salespeople avoid the temptation to jump into the conversation too soon. A common scenario is for the salesperson to start the conversation by asking some thoughtful questions … the customer says something about an issue or concern … and then the salesperson immediately jumps in to provide information related to the answer. Equally often that is a trap since the definition of the problem is incomplete and/or all the issues are yet to be surfaced.
3. Alternatively, asking follow-up questions is an effective way to better understand the scope of the problem as the customer sees it and to explore what the possible strategic, operational, and financial ripple effects might be. Follow-up questions help a salespeople drill down to gain a better understanding of the problems facing the customer, as well as, helping the customer discover new insights about the nature and extent of the problem. It also means that salespeople avoid the temptation of talking about their products too early in the call.
4. Next, questions can be used to assess the potential value of a solution. Questions are not only valuable for exploring the scope of the problem; they are also useful for assessing the potential value of a solution.
By asking questions you can obtain insight about the customer’s view of how the overall situation would be better off if the problem is resolved and the possible downsides of maintaining the status quo. This approach to questioning also provides an opportunity to add a benefit that the customer may not have envisioned as an achievable outcome.
5. Finally, consider using questions for shaping the customer’s point of view. Shaping helps customers redefine a problem in a way that brings value to them and creates a better fit with your capabilities. It is important to emphasize that this use of questions is only legitimate when shaping brings new useful insight to the customer. Trying to persuade the customer to a point of view that is not in their self-interest must be avoided at all cost.
There are two major times in the sales cycle where shaping comes into play. The first time is in the early part of the sales process when the customer is defining their needs.
The second time is when the customer is defining the decision criteria they will use to decide between competitors. Helping customers think differently about the criteria and your capabilities to meet them can be helpful to them and can help position you as the best qualified candidate to deliver the solution.
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This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection by Janet Spirer on September 27, 2013.
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