Archive for category GENERAL DISCUSSION
Sales Management Secret to Coaching Reps Like a Hero
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on March 6, 2017
I have been trained many times in the strategies and skills of negotiation – even taking a full course in negotiation during graduate school. Consequently, I’m a decent negotiator. However, there is one thing about negotiating that has always flummoxed me, and it’s something that was never mentioned during any of my training (that I can recall, at least). That is, how to know when you’re actually in a negotiation.
Signs that You’re in a Negotiation
There are plenty of venues where you know you are in a negotiation. Two lawyers sitting across the table from one another ready to make a deal…negotiating. A buyer and sales manager in a car dealership haggling over price…negotiating. A woman and her fiancé in a showroom selecting a china pattern…negotiating. In any of these situations, you know a negotiation is taking place. In fact, both parties know it, and it sets the tone of the discussion. Everybody knows they are there to do business, and some form of haggling is going to take place.
But there are other situations where it’s not so obvious. For instance, when the person across the counter in a jewelry store is telling me the price of a watch. Do they have the authority to negotiate? Maybe, maybe not. And if not, I look like a jerk if I pull out my hardball negotiating techniques. We’d have one person in an aggressive negotiating stance, and another standing flat-footed and confused.
Or what about when the firewood guy comes around every year to sell me a truckload of wood? Is the price he’s giving me really non-negotiable? If so, I come across as a jerk trying to pressure him into taking less hard-earned cash back to the family’s table. We’d have one person trying to save $20, and the other irritated and insulted.
How to Execute a Good Coaching Conversation
I think that is the way coaching is, too. Unless both parties know they are in a coaching conversation, sales coaching doesn’t seem to work. From the manager’s perspective, it takes a very specific mindset to execute a good coaching conversation. You have to come to the meeting prepared to coach and be in a collaborative mood. You have to keep the meeting structured so distractions don’t take you off task. You might need to bring information or data with you that will facilitate an objective conversation. In short, a sales manager has to know he’s going into a coaching conversation and be prepared to create an environment to do so.
From the seller’s perspective, you need to come to the meeting with a mindset to be coached. You need to expect to be challenged and know it’s not a personal attack. You need to bring high-priority opportunities you’d like to discuss with your manager. You need to expect to delve deeply into a few opportunities or sales calls rather than rattle through a list with dozens of deals and issues. In short, a seller also needs to know she’s going into a coaching conversation and be prepared to do so.
The Difference between Sales Coaching and Just Talking
Yet this is not how most “coaching” conversations take place. Frequently, if we ask sales managers, “How often do you coach your sales reps?” the response we receive is, “I talk to my reps all the time.” Well, of course you do. You talk to them when they call unexpectedly about some issue, and you talk to them when you call them about something that just came to your attention. They call you to tell you they just won a deal, and you call them to clarify something from an email they sent. However, none of these is an acceptable venue for sales coaching. They are venues for exchanging information.
The ad hoc or unplanned interactions sales managers have with their sales reps are not coaching sessions, because most interactions between a manager and a rep are not scheduled in advance. They are triggered by some event or a realization that information needs to change hands. Right then. Unless that incoming call was scheduled in advance and both parties entered into it knowing it was a coaching conversation, it is not a coaching conversation. It’s just, well…a conversation.
So, just as I need to know I’m going into a hotly contested negotiation, I need to know I’m going into a value-added coaching session. Whether I’m the coach or the coached, I need to be prepared for the content, tone, and structure of the interaction. Otherwise, I’m just having a conversation.
Set the Stage for Sales Coaching Success
This is one of the biggest hurdles we see between the current state and the ideal state of coaching. Managers can’t, don’t, or won’t set aside time on the calendar for regularly scheduled coaching sessions. Coaching is the most important thing that doesn’t have to happen by Friday afternoon – unlike forecasts, pipeline reviews, and the other fires that flare up during the week. There just never seems to be enough time, and coaching is the one nice-to-have that sellers rarely get to have.
So, if you want to be a better coach, set the stage for success. Schedule coaching sessions and call them that. Set clear expectations for what’s going to take place, and then make it happen. If you create the venue for high-quality coaching, you can provide high-quality coaching. If you don’t, you’re destined to have a lot of, well…conversations.
This Article was originally posted to the Selling Power Blog by Jason Jordan on May 11, 2016.
How to Find Agreement When You Come from Opposite Sides
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on February 13, 2017
I’m very lucky to experience much less disagreement or outright conflict on the job than most people. Although my clients’ views may differ from mine in many ways, it’s implicit in our relationship that we’re mutually committed to figuring things out together and coming to the strongest possible joint solutions.
But some of the folks I work with have dozens of crucial disagreements every week as if they are explicitly job responsibilities! In fact, I often coach or counsel people who’ve been having the same long-running disagreement or underlying conflict for — I hate to say it — years.
I’ve observed and analyzed numerous disagreements as part of my consulting role, and have helped people work through many of them, and it’s quite clear that logic isn’t enough to ensure collaboration. Two equally logical people can hold such completely different beliefs or represent such different positions that it feels like they’ll never come to any kind of useful agreement.
Making the First Move
So how can you make a start when you truly need to accomplish something together but don’t see eye to eye? Sometimes it helps to work on the relationship itself, along with the issue.
There’s no way to force people to be comfortable as collaborators, and directing them to like each other is absolutely ineffective. But there is a useful technique that can open a pathway to dialog. It comes out of couples and relationship counseling, so it’s not usually identified as a workplace tool.
It won’t overcome structural barriers, lack of competence, or bad intent. But it has workplace application when both sides are operating in good faith, yet can’t seem to broach the wall that exists between them.
Creating a Connection
“Making a bid for connection” is how Dr. John Gottman, a psychologist renowned for analyzing the behaviors and expectations that make marriages and other intimate relationships successful, describes the process.
One of the parties initiates connection — tentatively — with a tiny action or communication to try to establish a small but affirmative interaction.
The other side may “turn away” by ignoring the bid, “turn against” in an attack, or deliver the desired outcome by “turning toward” and reciprocating with another genuine, positive communication or action. Whenever one person turns toward the other’s bid for connection, both people are on stronger footing without necessarily having expressed anything about the content of the conflict at all.
It’s usually best to start with the smallest bid and the lowest risk you can. Make the hurdle so low that it’s almost impossible not to at least accidentally clear it. “Can you believe the game last night?” is a very small bid; “Want to get a cup of coffee and discuss this?” is a larger one.
Raising the Ante
Once you’ve established tacit agreement that both sides are going to try to engage constructively, you can be more direct, and at the first airing of a potential disagreement, make a stronger bid by asking kindly, “May I share a different perspective?” That gives notice that you do, in fact, disagree, but that you’re willing to do it in the most respectful way possible, letting your opponent create the conditions for sharing. Doesn’t that sound less threatening and more agreeable than “I disagree!” or “That’s not the way it is!”?
If you’re getting a negative reaction to your input, you can make a slightly different bid: “Would you like to share a different perspective?” That makes clear your respect for the other party as a human being, as well as your desire to hear what they have to say.
It takes patience to take these very small steps. But the more frequent and the larger the bids, the more likely it is that, over time, the relationship will develop, permitting other techniques for conflict resolution to begin taking hold.
This article was originally posted to the Workplace Wisdom Blog by Liz Kislik on January 25, 2017.
Set Your Solution Apart From the Competition
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on July 1, 2016
There’s always a competitor in the sales process. Even if there’s not another vendor that’s being considered, “do nothing” or “do it internally” can be your biggest competition.
Without the ability to clearly differentiate your solution, and understand its value, a buyer’s decision is arbitrary and often price-driven.
Focus on Meaningful Value
When you differentiate on value, you can avoid the dreaded discounting that happens at the end of sales cycles. If you constantly have to lower your price to close a deal, you will lose margin and find yourself scraping the bottom of the barrel to meet your quota.
It’s important that the value has meaning to the individual buyer. You can tell me your marketing solution provides the ability for me to have 100,000 contacts in the system. If I only need 45K contacts, that feature means nothing to me. Buyers need to see the core benefits that your solution provides, in terms of what’s important to their business needs. You can rattle off features and functions that make your solution different, but if those qualities aren’t vital to the buyer’s business, your product will seem too expensive or not an adequate solution.
Remember, there is as much differentiation in how you sell as there is in what you sell.
Offer Tangible Examples
Buyers want to know that you can do what you say you can do. They want evidence of past success. When you have proof to back up your differentiation, it’s much easier for the buyer to defend the spend.
“I know we can do that at your company, because at Company X, we implemented this solution and cut their time-to-market by 50%, saving them $500,000.”
Proof of performance helps alleviate buyer skepticism. Telling buyers you can cut their processing costs by 25% is one thing. Hearing that same metric from three of your customers is much more impactful — and helps buyers believe your differentiation.
It’s Not About You
Even when you are trying hard to focus on the customer in your conversations, it can be difficult to not share the bells and whistles about your company. Potential customers really don’t care about your financial stability or company culture when they’re trying to solve a problem. They want to know how your solutions can help them achieve their business objectives. The best way to set your solution apart from the competition is to speak in the buyer’s language. How long you’ve been in business or who you have worked with may help a buyer feel comfortable signing the check, but it’s not going to seal the deal when it comes to competitive differentiation.
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by Rachel Clapp Miller on June 5, 2016.
Trust Between Seller and Client Must Be Mutual
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on June 20, 2016
Would you like your clients to trust you? Presumably you would. And in order to trust you, they must feel that trusting you is a low-risk proposition. They must feel you are trustworthy. Most firms get that.
So, most firms go about trying to appear trustworthy. (The better ones, of course, actually try to be trustworthy, since trust is a hard thing to fake.) This often translates into things such as values statements, corporate social responsibility, efforts at transparency, and programs to enhance customer focus.
All of that is well and good, but those efforts are missing a critical element. Because if all you focus on is trustworthiness—cosmetic or real—then you are forcing your client to take all the risks. And if your client is the one always taking the risks, after a while your client will notice and say, “Wait a minute. I appreciate all of the Boy Scout virtues and so forth, but I notice you never take any risks. And that’s not fair. And so I don’t think I trust you.”
You can be trustworthy to the max, but if you never trust your client, then before too long, your client won’t trust you. And as goes their trust, so goes their business with you.
Trust Is Reciprocally Risky
“The fastest way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.” That statement is credited to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, and he expressed a powerful concept: trust is a reciprocating exercise in risk-taking. First one party takes a risk, and the other reciprocates. Then the roles reverse, and the exercise is repeated.
Take the simplest of all trust gestures: the handshake. Smiling I extend my hand to you and say hello, signifying good intentions. You almost certainly return my handshake, smile, and greeting. But you don’t have to.
You could, after all, spurn my gesture, refuse to extend your hand, frown, and turn away from me. I would feel embarrassed, upset, and dismissed. And that would be the end of our budding trust relationship. You probably wouldn’t do that, though. Instead, you would meet my risk-taking gesture with trustworthiness, and our relationship would be off to the races.
Corporate Risk Mitigation
This is not an exercise in corporate anthropology. Think about the context in which you hear “risk” in modern-day business. It is almost always in a negative sense.
Risk is seen mainly as something to be mitigated. Post 2008, financial institutions have laid off layers of employees—except in risk management. The contracting process in nearly all companies has added layers of risk indemnification to its documentation. Lawyers are on hand to ensure not just compliance, but even the appearance of anything that could be considered risky. Insurance businesses are inventing new products to mitigate risk in contracts of all sorts. The last few decades have seen the creation of risk management institutes and certificates in risk management programs.
Despite the protestation that some risk is good (think “risk appetite” or “calculated risk” in the financial world), the emphasis is overwhelmingly on the “calculated” part, not the “risk” part. And once one gets outside of the financial world, it’s hard to find examples of thinking that suggest risk is good.
Execution Risk and Dereliction Risk
The management world is obsessed with avoiding execution risk—the risk of doing the wrong thing. Unfortunately, it makes a pact with the trust devil when it embraces dereliction risk—the risk of not doing the right thing.
We want lifeguards to eschew dereliction risk. If they think someone is drowning, we don’t want them second-guessing themselves. We want them in the water immediately. In basketball, Kobe Bryant is the NBA’s leader in most missed shots. He would rather shoot 4 for 20 than 2 for 5. Another athlete, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, says you’ll never miss a shot you never take—but neither will you make any shots. In all of those cases, they understand the importance of taking execution risks and avoiding dereliction risk.
Yet in business, we are afraid of a hundred execution risks. We fear having the wrong answer, giving offense, looking ignorant, looking foolish, or speaking out of turn. So, we do nothing. And because of our penchant for avoiding execution risk, we absorb dereliction risk, which guarantees failure in the long run.
Trustworthy but Untrusting Does Not Compute
You may be proud of your organization’s record on trustworthiness. But ask yourself these questions to see if you may have some work to do on trusting:
- Do you have onerous non-compete clauses for your employees?
- Do your sales pitches hedge their bets or lead with strong hypotheses?
- Do you make your subcontractors insure you against general liability with no limits?
- Do your salespeople refuse to answer direct questions about price?
- Do you ever admit you don’t know something when asked a straight question?
- Do you insist on client non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) beyond your industry’s norm?
- How many ex-employee lawsuits has your firm been involved in in the past five years?
- Are your tardy account collections handled by accounting or by account managers?
- Would you ever recommend a competitor to a client if the competitor were clearly the better candidate for the job?
- Do you use lie detector tests for employees?
- Do you encourage your salespeople to comment on their own and others’ feelings?
- Do you share your cost information with clients?
- Do you share your supply-chain information with suppliers or clients/customers?
- How many paragraphs of fine print are in your client agreements? And how fine is the print?
- Are your standard client agreements longer or shorter than your biggest competitor’s?
- How do you handle overruns by you with your clients? How do you handle overruns by your suppliers with you? Which is more onerous?
You can be as trustworthy as a Boy Scout, but if you force your clients to take all of the risks, then before too long, they won’t trust you.
This article was originally posted to the Trusted Advisor Blog by Charles H. Green on June 6, 2016.
Why Artificial Intelligence is a Huge Gift for Salespeople
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on February 15, 2016
I recently read a report that said the inside sales market is growing at rate of over 42,000 new jobs per year in this country. That’s three times faster than outside sales and a real testament to the fact that this part of your sales organization deserves a lot of attention – if you are not already providing it.
There are any number of best practices that can increase the results from your inside sales team. Five that readily come to mind are
- motivation techniques
- establishing a strong culture
- outstanding training and development
- establishing specific goals and metrics
- optimizing productivity
At the same time, you need to make sure you have the right recruitment, retention, benefits, and salaries that allow you to find and keep the right people. Each of those areas requires time, money, energy, management, and focus you may or may not have. But you really don’t have a choice.
Or do you? What if you could hire your next inside salesperson and not bother with any of that?
Technology may once again have found the answer. Artificial intelligence, which has captured our imaginations for decades, is finally beginning to make headway into the workplace. According to Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, we are in an AI “Spring” and will start to see more artificial intelligence applied across sales and marketing. Companies are already starting to use AI virtual sales “assistants” that can take the most onerous of inside sales jobs – slogging through a mountain of leads to find out which are hot and which are not. Once found, they can be passed over to a “real person” to do what they do best: sell and close. If you haven’t looked into this area yet, let me give you five reasons you should.
- Artificial intelligence can handle an unlimited number of leads.
Many sales executives run into the problem of how to efficiently increase lead engagement and conversion. Good marketing automation tools and techniques can generate mountains of leads, but who has the time to get through even a portion of them? Inevitably, your people end up wasting a great deal of their time trying. But AI software today can actually engage an unlimited number of leads in email conversations to find out who is ready to talk to a salesperson…and they can engage so convincingly that most prospects would swear they are interacting with a human.
- Artificial intelligence can create a more positive workplace.
Speaking of frustrating, the atmosphere in the office can make or break your department. If your salespeople are not happy or are feeling even slightly discouraged, their productivity will take a nosedive. If you can eliminate the grunt work so your salespeople don’t have to waste their limited time chasing cold leads, it can definitely lift their spirits – along with the bottom line.
- Artificial intelligence never asks for a raise, vacation, or time off.
Your virtual assistant is never going to ask for a raise. You’ll never have to worry about scheduling vacation time because “she” will never take one. No benefits, no time off, no sick leave, and a total workaholic putting in as many hours and as many days as you choose. No complaints over working the early or late shifts here. And HR will love you.
- Artificial intelligence never resigns, so you don’t have to deal with turnover or training.
This “employee” doesn’t require training. She’s a professional lead engagement machine that already knows how to do her job, having learned from millions of email conversations. She quickly learns the intricacies of your business and never departs for a sweeter offer or to go to the competition.
- Artificial intelligence could cost less than a quarter of the average salesperson and is probably the best hire you’ll ever make.
In a nutshell, humans cost more a lot more than software and aren’t nearly as scalable. Artificial intelligence software doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, in most cases the cost per “assistant” is a fraction of what you would pay a new human employee. And you’re not replacing people with technology; instead, you’re removing the boring and inefficient work and freeing up your human team to do their best work closing deals.
So, instead of considering that next human hire to build out your inside sales team, take a look at how artificial intelligence can scale your existing team. If AI can handle repetitive, boring tasks and free up the rest of us to ring the bell, then I’m all for it. It’s certainly worth exploring. You can bet your competition already is.
This article was originally posted to the Selling Power Blog by Alex Terry on December 9, 2015.
How More Accessible Information is Forcing B2B Sales to Adapt
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on January 15, 2016
Over the past 20 years, information technology and digital channels have changed the way consumers shop for products ranging from cars to homes to electronics. Those forces are dramatically changing the way B2B companies and their customers approach buying and selling, too.
Business buyers are more connected and informed than ever before. Sellers must respond. For buyers and sellers alike, this creates complexity, anxiety, and opportunity all at the same time.
From the buyer’s perspective, information technology and digital channels provide access to information and enable self-sufficiency. When a buyer wants to learn about virtually any product or service, an internet search yields thousands (if not millions) of results, including online articles, videos, white papers, blogs, and social media posts. In addition to supplier websites that showcase specific solutions, there are likely to be online sources (ranging from the self-serving to the unbiased) to help buyers learn and compare solution alternatives. Buyers can also use self-service digital channels for new or repeat purchases and for training and support. Using information technology and digital channels, buyers can take over many steps of buying that salespeople once cherished as their source of value.
Buyers are at different levels of self-sufficiency: any single buyer can be at one level for some purchases and at a different level for others. Sometimes buyers prefer to eliminate the salesperson completely. According to one corporate technology buyer: “Our supplier’s customized self-service purchasing portal makes it easy to place reorders, track shipping, and return products hassle-free.” Other times buyers seek help from salespeople. The same corporate buyer relies on salespeople when evaluating new technologies: “It’s more efficient to work with a few trusted salespeople, compared to spending hours on my own sifting through all the information and misinformation that’s out there.”
Because of the diversity of buyer self-sufficiency, the traditional methods sellers use to customize their selling approach for customers are no longer enough. Considering factors such as customer potential and needs is still relevant. But today, customer knowledge/self-sufficiency is a growing driver of how customers want to buy. At one end of the spectrum are the “super-expert” customers, skilled in gathering information from many sources and self-sufficient in using that information to make purchase decisions. At the other end of the spectrum are the “information-seeking” customers, who want help with examining and evaluating the plethora of information. Many customers are in between these two extremes, or are at different points at different times or for different purchases.
Smart sellers match their selling approach to the customer’s level of buying knowledge and self-sufficiency. For example, when leaders at Dow Corning observed in the early 2000s that some customers wanted an easier, more affordable way to buy standard silicone products, they created Xiameter, a brand that includes thousands of less-differentiated products sold exclusively through a low-cost, no-frills, self-service online sales channel. Customers who desired a higher-touch approach could still purchase products under the Dow Corning brand name, which also includes specialty silicones backed by research and technical services.
As sellers need a more customized approach to reaching customers, they have a big arsenal of data and technology at their disposal. Systems (e.g., CRM), tools (e.g., data management, analytics), infrastructures (e.g., mobile, cloud), and information (e.g., big data) give sellers knowledge about buyers and enable sales force members to make smarter decisions. And sellers who once connected with customers primarily through personal selling can now use an array of digital communication channels to supplement or supplant face-to-face sales efforts.
Consider the impact of information technology and digital channels from the seller’s perspective. Here are examples from several industries.
- Finding banking customers: “Social media allows us to cost-effectively reach out to more prospects and showcase our services.”
- Understanding specialty chemicals customers: “Big data and analytics help us improve customer targeting and achieve more cost-effective deployment.”
- Acquiring advertising customers: “We now have richer demographic information to help us create more powerful sales messages, resulting in more sales.”
- Serving and growing business logistics customers: “Our salespeople use a business review app to guide quarterly account reviews with major customers. By sharing data about performance and cost savings, these discussions enhance customer value and retention.”
Information technology and digital channels can help sellers become more effective and efficient, but they can also be a source of disharmony and confusion if implemented without thought. Too many sellers have wasted millions of dollars on sales technologies such as CRM systems and data warehouses that never lived up to their potential.
Success for sellers requires many sales force changes beyond information technology and digital solutions. To start, salespeople need new competencies. Customers are no longer interested in meeting with “talking brochures,” so salespeople must do more than share product information. They must adapt to each customer’s level of knowledge and self-sufficiency. They must use email, social media, webinars, video conferencing, and other tools judiciously to maximize their own productivity and make things more efficient for buyers. They must help their companies coordinate customer outreach across multiple communication channels to ensure buyers get a well-orchestrated and consistent message.
For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, gone are the days when the majority of physician education occurred through face-to-face contact between salespeople and physicians. Companies are now tracking individual physician communication preferences and are reaching out with the combination of face-to-face visits and/or digital methods (e.g., websites, email, podcasts, virtual detailing, video conferencing, mobile apps) that best meets each physician’s needs. Salespeople need competencies as orchestrators who can ensure an effective and efficient connection.
Developing new sales force competencies is just a start. Sales leaders must also reengineer their sales forces by implementing changes across the entire range of sales force decisions: roles, size and structure, hiring, training, coaching, incentive compensation, performance management, and sales support systems.
This article was originally posted to the HBR Blog by Sally Lorimer on January 6, 2016.
Trust in Business – You Either Got It or You Don’t
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on December 28, 2015
Business is made on the foundations of trust – trust me.
The glue that holds together any solid business relationship is trust and everyone has a different idea of its significance in running a profitable business. It can be the difference between a contract won and a contract lost. A failed negotiation could come down to a money issue, differing opinions or some small detail in the product line BUT if a person/company does not trust another person/company’s ability to say, deliver the goods, then say adios to a future business relationship- it’s over.
People buy from people they KNOW, people they RESPECT and people they TRUST.
You need all three components; it’s extraordinarily difficult to get away with only two, let alone one. A good friend lamented to me once, “Everybody knows me and knows what I do, why don’t they buy from me?” It was true, he is well connected, everyone respected him, and he’s known as a generous and easy-going man, but people did not trust him. People trusted him as a person absolutely, but the back-end of his business let him down. People did not trust the businesses ability to deliver a good service, so they went elsewhere. Tough, but in business you have to have all the dimensions right or someone else will. Nearly everything right is not good enough!
If only it were this easy to spot.
So where does trust come from? Trust is either implicitly there or it’s not. If it’s not then, you will be holding an entirely different conversation with the client than if it was. In the dying seconds of business agreements, you’ll find people attempting to reassure the client that they and the company are trustworthy. They’ll treat it like an auction, willing back in the bidder with statements of ‘updated plumbing’ and ‘fresh coats of paint that will last the years.’ They fail to comprehend why the trust isn’t there.
Many see trust as unquantifiable and intangible; it is considered little more than a nuisance rather than a critical factor for success. Often it can be forgotten, when dealing with big corporations, that there is a person behind the company’s money with whom you are speaking. Failure to engage successfully in a way that results in confidence and high expectations are costing businesses money. If the trust doesn’t exist, it will result in lower expectations, skepticism and closed deals.
In fact, a four-year study of 600 businesses found that only 21% of satisfied clients intended on maintaining their relationships with a particular firm. The main reason for clients leaving was a lack of trust stemming from the company’s behavior and an absence of communication. If that doesn’t make you sit up and think and reassess your commitment to trust then perhaps convert those lost customers to lost profits.
Now I have you attention and it’s been established that trust is a valuable and quantifiable commodity; it’s time to talk about how exactly we lose it. Let’s face it losing a client not only crushes your bottom line but it’ll put a dent in your ego.
Dishonesty – Nothing kills trust like lies. The moment something untrustworthy comes out of your mouth, whatever follows is tainted. Avoid at all costs because even a small lie can ruin a solid business relationship.
Inconsistency – Variety is the spice of life but not during matters of business. If your performance varies day to day, people won’t know if you can perform when it counts, and they will turn to someone else.
Not listening – If you’re not listening, game over. Any trust already established will fly out the window when you ask a question further up the line that was explained earlier but you weren’t listening.
Lack of communication – If you suddenly fall off the face of the planet someone is going to notice. Sending emails, making phone calls and updating any website or social media the company has running allows any past or future clients to keep up with the company’s news or updates. It’s also an effective way to stay fresh in a client’s mind.
Neglecting to provide or deliberately withholding information from the client is a quick way to eliminate any future business relationships. Word will spread, especially if the deal goes catastrophic; don’t be surprised to find your company in a lot of strife in the future.
Only takes a second to break.
Beginning with trust is easier than losing it. It is about you and your company being transparent, listening to the client and reacting appropriately, and refining your business structures to know how to deal with any issues that arise. Behave in a reliable and trustworthy way with everything you do. Listen to your prospect and never push them down the garden path for your gain.
If you are known, respected and trusted in the business world you will start each new client meeting with trust. If you are a trusting person, you will find people will open up to you. If your business has a trusted, respected and well known past people will trust it. It’s about having the background to create the future.
Don’t be oblivious to the negative feedback, lost or dissatisfied clients. If your optimism does not reflect your reality, review your reputation. A company that is willing to have a frank and open discussing regarding issues of trust will find it will open a new door for clients of the future. It’s not too late to learn from the past, as long as you’re willing to admit that things need to change and not get stuck with a foolish past belief system. If you are a non-trusting person, you’re asking for something you’re not willing to give – trust me.
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community Blog by Michael Lang on December 7, 2015.
Want to Drive Better Sales? Manage People, Not Things
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on November 11, 2015
It doesn’t matter whether you are in the C-suite or just promoted to your first management position. If you think you can lead through policies, bullet points and messaging, you are not going to inspire the best in your people.
To create a culture that fosters confidence, collaboration and commitment, you need people that feel trusted, respected and empowered. Give them clear direction and let them use their skill, talent and creativity to drive wins. Not only will they exceed their goals – they will also deliver new levels of customer service and teamwork.
Here’s how to do it.
Involve everyone in the sales effort
Today’s business moves faster than ever, with more information and communication coming at you every day. To keep people focused on what matters – and to keep them from getting distracted by garbage work that never ladders up to anything – you have to keep things simple. It doesn’t get any simpler than this: Every single person in your company is in sales. Not just your sales department. Lawyers, human resources, engineers, communications professionals, anybody that you employ. They all should be able to answer one question: What did you do, today, to help us win more business?
Everyone in your company is making an impression – internally and externally – and influencing the attitudes and opinions that impact your business. Whether they interact with strategic partners, employees, end users or suppliers, they all shape the image of your business and people’s willingness to do business with you. The more people know they are a part of sales, the more sales – and the customer experience – will be a part of everything they do.
Open the channels of communication completely
The most unhealthy thing you can do is pit people against each other. All that does is create suspicion, paranoia and resentment. The more time sales reps spend worrying about internal competition, the less time they think about real competitors and helping customers. Encourage teamwork at all levels.
You can’t do it with just messaging, though. Salespeople believe what they are told when they see their leaders living it. Win or lose, pick up the phone and say great job. Build communication, one-on-one, one conversation at a time. Don’t send out group emails, or c.c. somebody’s manager, to make a big production out of it. Let them know it is personal – not political.
Not only does that strengthen connection, it also builds trust and transparency. Up and down your chain of command, everybody should be accessible. Anybody should feel free and welcome to email the CEO or a VP with a question, without you or their manager knowing about it. If your team doesn’t have that level of openness and comfort, it is going to be harder for them to work together on the kind of big wins that demand collaboration.
Let people do their jobs
Why bother attracting, hiring and retaining great people if you’re not going to let them use the experience and insight that made you want to hire them in the first place? Back off! The day you have to oversee somebody’s efforts, get into their business or tell them what to do next is, frankly, the day they have to go.
Everybody needs coaching and direction, but that’s very different than micromanaging. Empower your teams to set their own agendas, take control and communicate openly. Because nobody wants to be told what to do. And if you like telling people what to do all the time, you are not leading people, you are managing things.
Keep the attitudes in check
It’s easy to say that prima donna salespeople are more trouble than they are worth. But, as we all know, that’s not always the case. Every once in a while, an arrogant, me-first, high-maintenance sales rep can provide an in to an important account. In that instance, it may be worthwhile in the long run to put up with them for a short period of time. But you have to recognize that as a short-term strategy.
The bigger the deal, the more members of your team it will require to close. A selfish, difficult salesperson will eventually run off some of your best people and clients, costing a lot more than they bring in. Not only do people hate having to work with someone like that, tolerating that kind of behavior will often make others question your leadership and judgment. Your most valuable employees will be the first to leave.
It’s not just about the product
If your organization is going out and trying to sell a product, you are setting yourself up for failure. Of course, the product quality, performance and specs matter. But, more than ever, you have to focus on business outcomes and customer experience. Because of the amount of data and information available online, people now have more than 70 percent of their decision made before you speak with them – up from about 25 percent a decade ago. The question is, can they translate that information into customer benefits?
That is what real salespeople do: They lead customers from the product information to the business outcomes in a way that is authentic, honest and focused on solutions. And that is why they are so valuable and important, both to your organization and to your customers. Make no mistake, that last 30 percent of the decision is made now. And it is your rep that helps the customer make it. The human factor is more important than ever before. So lead accordingly.
This article was originally posted to the Sales & Marketing Management Blog by Mark Weber on September 16, 2015.
Facebook Tries to Woo SMBs with New Customer Engagement Tools
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on October 29, 2015
Recently, I did something I haven’t done in years: I picked up my phone and called a store to ask a question. A friend told me about a farm that sells lavender but she wasn’t sure whether customers could pick their own flowers. Since the information wasn’t on the farm’s website or Facebook page, I called the farm.
I reached the farm’s store and an employee told me she would have to call me back with an answer. Two hours later, she called back and told me that the harvesting season was done, but to check the farm’s Facebook page for updates about the lavender crop next summer. Clearly, this conversation wouldn’t have been necessary if the farm owners updated their Facebook page or website more frequently.
However, Facebook is trying to make it easier for small businesses to share information with customers, particularly on mobile devices. On Tuesday, Facebook unveiled new features for its pages for small businesses.
The new features include the ability to highlight information about your business by sections such as a “Shop” or “Services” section. A spa, for example, can list the different types of massages and facials that they offer under services and a retailer can display products in the shop section. Each section will also have a corresponding tab for videos and photos to get more details.
The new features are designed to “house the information people are looking for, help you communicate with your customers and support your unique goals,” Facebook writes in a blog post. However, adding tabs and sections to a mobile site seems like a step back in functionality by making it easy for a fat finger to tap on the wrong tab.
But for the most part, these features complement Facebook’s e-commerce features like the “Buy” button it launched earlier this summer. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine users being able to make a purchase directly from the shop section. And a few weeks ago the company rolled out updated messaging features including the ability to send a private message to a business directly from a News Feed ad.
Of course, none of these features are useful if a business doesn’t take advantage of them. Hopefully by next summer, I’ll know when the farm’s lavender crop is ready to be harvested.
This article was originally posted to the 1 to 1 Media Blog by Judith Aquino on September 10, 2015.
Do Your Prospects Really Want The Cheapest Price?
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on August 29, 2015
I bought a new smart phone last week. I had absolutely no intention of getting a new phone when I walked into the store, yet I still walked out with one. How did this happen, you ask? Solely because of the professionalism of the sales representative!
Before you say it, no, I’m not an impulse buyer. In fact, anyone who knows me will tell you I’m quite the opposite. I was only there to buy a car charger!
When I walked into the store, I was promptly greeted by a very friendly sales representative. He asked questions about why I was there and then showed me exactly what I had asked for. Most sales representatives would have stopped the process right there, and sent me off to the cash machine to pay for my new car charger.
Not this sales representative, though. He didn’t stop. He kept asking me questions. He probed deeper into how long I had had my phone, what I use it for, how much I was paying for it etc. He finally said, “You know, for only $20.00 more than you were going to pay for that car charger anyway, you can have a brand new phone that will allow you to take those better pictures like you wanted to.” The first thing I thought was, “Tell me more!”
As I said, I’m not an impulse buyer. I didn’t sign the contract right then. I had questions. Yes, you could even call them objections. Objections like:
- How much is the screen protector, carrying case and memory card going to cost? It all has to be more than just $20 up and above a car charger.
- How are you going to get my contacts from my old phone to my new phone because I certainly don’t have the time to re-enter them all.
- I want to stay with my current carrier. They are very dependable in the rural areas where I frequent (i.e. the golf course).
- What about the car charger? That is why I came in today, after all!
This sales Rep had done his homework though. He knew about all the current promotions from his store and my carrier. He was able to deal with all of my objections, one by one. It really was only $20 more than the car charger. Granted, my new plan was going to cost more per month, but with all the extra services I was going to receive, it was going to save me money in the long run because I won’t have those overage charges any more.
Wait, did I just say I had agreed to pay more than what I was paying when I walked in? I was only there to buy a car charger, and now I had bought a brand new, shiny phone with all these fancy bells and whistles, on a moment’s notice, no less? More importantly, I was (and still am) feeling absolutely wonderful about the whole experience. I guess it really is true; we all want the cheapest price, but the cheapest price for what we want.
When I look back, I realize, he didn’t sell me anything. He simply made it very easy for me to buy the solution that was right for me. But isn’t that what the best sales reps always do? Like I have always said, “Better the fact find, happier the customer, better the paycheck!”
This article was originally posted to The Sales Compass blog by Susan A. Enns on April 2, 2015.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the GENERAL DISCUSSION category.
Follow On The Web!
