Posts Tagged Successful Selling
The Importance of Understanding Buyer Needs
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 19, 2016
Virtually all companies claim to be “customer-centric,” but set many of their salespeople up for failure with the prodigious amount of product training they provide. Sellers’ comfort zones become talking about offerings rather than exploring business issues. While tolerated at low levels within organizations, it often shortens sales calls made on executives or abruptly ends them. Executives have neither the time nor the desire to be “educated” about offerings by salespeople.
Early in calls it’s important for executives to conclude sellers are sincere and competent (Steven Covey’s definition of being viewed as trustworthy). This conclusion is a prerequisite for executives to share their desired business outcomes or problems with salespeople. Buying cycles only begin when Key Players share desired business outcomes they’re willing to spend money to achieve.
As with many things in life, a seller may want to step back and realize there is work to do before Key
Players will be willing to share business goals. Sadly, many B and C players lack the patience to learn about buyer needs. Once a business outcome is shared they believe its permission to present their offerings and tell prospects how good it’s going to be. Some sellers have the audacity to begin product pitches with the words: Here’s what you need. In general, people don’t like to be told what they need to do, especially by salespeople. I believe sellers should earn the right to talk about their offerings by asking questions first.
Taking a step back, let’s look at it from an executive’s viewpoint:
- Executives are unaware of the reasons they can’t achieve business outcomes. In my mind the first step in learning buyer needs is asking questions in an attempt to uncover barriers to achieving goals that can be addressed by capabilities within a seller’s offering. If buyers knew the barriers to achieving desired outcomes, they’d try to address them without a seller’s help.
- Unless executives feel their needs are understood, they aren’t ready to have sellers tell them the solutions. Beyond that, unless sellers can quantify the cost of not achieving the desired outcome, prospects won’t understand the potential value of the offering being discussed.
- Without first asking questions, the solution will be the seller’s opinion. Given previous experiences with sellers, how much credibility does someone trying to make a sale have with a buyer? Sellers diving into product run the risk of wasting time by offering parts of their offering that aren’t relevant to the business issue being discussed. If sellers could be more patient in doing diagnoses first, they could shine a flashlight on buyer needs. Without doing so they blindly proceed.
- By asking questions first, sellers earn the right to talk about only those features that can allow the desired business outcome to be achieved. When done this way, sales can be viewed as a hurt (diagnose buyer needs) and rescue (offer relevant features based upon the way the buyer answers questions) exercise.
Executive buyers appreciate sellers that focus on business outcomes, help understand the barriers to achieving them and articulate the relevant capabilities that can be used to address them. Once compelling value has been established, buyers are incented to accelerate the decision process as they realize delays mean benefits are not being realized.
Simply said, the seller that best understands buyer needs is more likely to win the business.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Marketing Management Blog by Frank Visgatis on April 4, 2016.
How to Keep Your Clients Through Writing
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 1, 2016
It is a wonderful thing that you keep obtaining more and more clients for your business. You have a large number of clients. The question is whether you can keep those clients. Considering that you are probably using your content as a powerful tool to attract clients, you should also be using it to retain them indefinitely.
Learning to retain your clients
Of course, you must be well aware of the fact that your content is critical to your professional success. There are many different reasons why your content must be written and presented in a certain way in order for it to have the most impact on your clients and prospective clients.
The content gets the other people to start thinking about what you and your business can do for them. It is very important at this point to remember that no matter how wonderful you and your business are, the only thing that really matters is that you are able to solve the other person’s problem(s). With that in mind, it is essential that you write as effectively as you possibly can. After all, it is extremely important for you to keep your eye on the prize. That prize is being able to retain your clients forever (or whatever forever means to you and to your business).
What should your writing approach be?
First of all, it is important to choose quality over quantity. However, it is also very important that you don’t lose sight of each person with whom you are trying to establish a relationship. It is also important to understand that the value of a relationship to one person (or to two people) may not be the same for other people. Each connection that is established is slightly different. Not only is that true but if we don’t maintain the relationship and really keep it alive, even if the relationship was originally established for very good reasons, those reasons may not be enough to sustain the relationship. If you want to become much more successful than you are at this moment, you will need to step up and bring your business to the next level. So, how do you plan on accomplishing that?
There are two aspects of your content approach that you must consider. First of all, you need to make sure that the quality of your content is up to snuff. Second, you have to make sure that you content positively affects the people who are reading it. In other words, you need to understand why you are writing and sharing that particular content.
Before you start to write anything at all, you should have certain concepts in your mind.
- Getting your clients to pay attention: First and foremost, you are going to need to get your readers to stand up and pay attention to what you want to share with them. In order to do that, you need write your content in a certain way. You want to attract the right type of people, not just anyone. Remember, quality over quantity.
- Establish a connection with your clients: There are many different ways that you can establish a connection with your readers; however, one of the way is critical to your relationship with your readers and, therefore, with your success. That is the emotional connection. Without the emotional connection, you will have no common ground with your readers.
- Get your clients to buy into who you are and what you represent: As a business owner, there are some things that are extremely important to you. One of those things is passion for what you are doing. Another thing that is extremely important for you is; really believing in what you are doing. The reality is that the more they buy into what you are doing, the more likely they will be to sing your praises to other people.
- Your approach to selling your products and/or services: The reason that you write content, which you will not share until it is perfect in your eyes, is to ultimately sell your products and/or services to other people. Your content is the ultimate tool to selling your offerings. However, it is very important to remember that your selling approach must be soft. Otherwise, you will probably not succeed at selling anything. Always use the soft-sell approach.
- Figuring out how to keep your clients: You need to figure out a way to keep your clients coming back for more through your content. Not only do you want your clients to want to stay with you but you need to write content that makes them want to deepen the relationship that they share with you. That is the only way to ensure that the relationship will progress in a healthy manner.
Conclusion
If you are going to succeed at writing content that allows you to keep your clients, that means that you consider their needs above your own each and every time you write content that you intend to share with them. Of course, before anything else, you need to have a proper strategy in place. Part of that strategy must be to empathize with them and to be sensitive to how they feel and how they think. The truth is that you are going to have to keep working at keeping your clients. It may be challenging at times but it will become easier over time and it is certainly well worth the effort.
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by Carolyn Cohn on March 13, 2016.
Ten Spring Cleaning Tips for Small Business Owners
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 29, 2016
We’re on the back end of winter, and many across the country are looking forward to the warmer temperatures and sunshine that come with spring. However, there is one chore that often comes with the new season that many aren’t always so excited about. I’m talking of course about spring cleaning.
Regardless of your feelings on spring cleaning, what many don’t realize is that taking part in doing so should go beyond the home. For small business owners, spring is an ideal time to make some changes around the company.
Here are 10 ways business owners can apply the spring cleaning concept to their company.
- Clean Up Your Website
If a small business’s website is due for an upgrade, spring is a great time to dig in. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul, and sometimes just some tidying up is all that’s needed. This can mean reworking the way information is presented to make it easier for Web users to digest, or aiming for a cleaner design. Pamela Springer talks about this in her piece for American Express’ Open Forum.
“Because more people browse the Internet these days before buying, it’s crucial that your website’s user-interface be friendly and easy to navigate,” she says. “Avoid providing all the information about your company—such as hours, offerings and location—on the homepage. Instead, list topics that link to different pages. When you’re updating information on the Web, make sure your network is also aware of the changes, since online connections can often help small businesses generate referrals and leads.”
- Consider the Cloud
Some small business owners may still be wondering, “What is the cloud?” Or perhaps they just haven’t had the time to analyze the different ways it may benefit their business. The flexibility cloud technology provides alone is worth exploring, Andre Lavoie writes for Entrepreneur.com.
“One of the most alluring benefits of cloud computing is being able to access work-related files and information from any device in any place at any time,” Lavoie explains. “We live in a mobile world. Long gone are the days where files are stuck on a single server on a single computer. As the workplace begins to cater to more remote workers and flexible working arrangements, being able to access work materials, when not at work, is essential for employees. Not only does cloud computing make it easier for employees to work outside of the office, it makes it easier for small-business owners to manage their business at any time of day, from anywhere.”
- Get Mobile
A simple website doesn’t cut it in today’s Internet-obsessed environment. Mobile sites should make it easier for people to view content from their phone or tablet, and mobile sites are arguably more important these days than desktop versions. Mobile has the potential to lead to additional revenue opportunities, which is why incorporating a responsive site for your business is so crucial. Rieva Lesonsky discusses this in a story for Small Biz Daily, which includes a 2014 study that shows mobile technology’s impact on businesses today.
“If your business is not mobile-friendly, you are likely losing revenue opportunities,” she says. “According to new research from hibu, SMBs that don’t accept mobile payments could be losing out on as much as $1 trillion in annual revenues. The study highlights the paradox of small business and mobile technology: While the SMB owners themselves predict mobile sales will grow an astounding 630 percent this year, 91 percent of them don’t have mobile-optimized websites. What’s worse is only 15 percent plan to upgrade and optimize their sites, which is a prescription for failure.”
- Upgrade Technology
If budgets allows for it, spring can be a good time to purchase equipment that improves a business’s processes and workflows. Sheen Chen talks about the impact this can have in an article for Business 2 Community, noting that these purchases are often eliminated during leaner times and can ultimately hold a business back in the long term.
“For your business spring cleaning, you should replace malfunctioning computers, monitors and other defective hardware,” Chen explains. “Having malfunctioning equipment can easily disrupt business productivity by potentially breaking at a critical time (e.g. POS system malfunctioning) and causing your small business to lose sales. If you have held back on regularly updating your software, your system may be susceptible to viruses, therefore immobilizing your business.”
- Inventory Assessment
Just as spring is a great time for homeowners to take on that long-delayed garage project or closet cleanup effort so too can small business owners with inventory. Set aside the time to examine what’s on hand and what should be cleared out, Madie Hodges explains in her piece for Kabbage.com.
“Spring is a great time to go through your entire inventory and get rid of damaged, aged, or expired products,” Hodges writes. “You are taking this time to make your business a better place, and your product or service is the bread and butter of your company. So taking this time to improve the options your customers have can really make a huge difference in your sales. This is also a great opportunity for you to look into new types of vendors and products. Spring is the best time to expand because it’s the start of a new, high volume-selling season!”
- Clean Out that Inbox
When emails go unread and begin to pile up, it can become a legitimate nuisance that damages your ability to be productive. A lot of it may be junk mail that just needs to be deleted, but it’s also possible that you’re missing important information in an email buried deep in that unread pile. Springer addresses some other problems of this in her American Express piece.
“It’s no surprise that you feel bombarded by quirky spam, given that an estimated 247 million emails are sent every day, according to Email Marketing Report,” she says. “If it’s difficult to decide what’s trash and what’s treasure, it’s time for a deep-clean of your inbox. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your weekend to delete junk mail; instead, take 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each day to sort emails into appropriate folders. Most email providers offer support for automating cleanup, through use of tools including searches, labels and filters.”
- Consider Security Measures
Hackers are constantly lurking on the Internet for people and businesses to take advantage of, so it’s a smart call to analyze your company’s security measures. Lesonsky examines this for Small Biz Daily, saying that small businesses are often easy targets for these destructive individuals do to the oversight of implementing strong security protocols.
“What do attackers want from companies as small as yours?” she asks. “Think about the valuable information you have, particularly customer lists, contact information and credit card or other sensitive data. And while the payoff is likely bigger when they attack bigger businesses, the fact is it’s easier to hack into businesses like yours, since you’ve very likely not kept your cybersecurity up to date. You need to make sure you install the latest security patches and updates as soon as they become available to keep attackers from breaking into your system.”
- Evaluate and Acknowledge Good Work
Spring brings with it a sense of renewed energy and intentions of improvement. This doesn’t just apply to business owners but to their employees as well, making spring a perfect opportunity to encourage their good work. As Hodges writes, springtime can be the right time for employers to evaluate their employees overall performance, and to reward them for all their hard work during the often stressful holiday season.
“Go through and do employee evaluations and reward those who deserve it for their hard work, and trim what doesn’t seem to fit,” she says. “Now is also the best time to adjust your budgets and find out where you can add bonuses to your payroll. The most effective way to handle employee evaluations is to sit down with your management team first and discuss your employees’ objectives. Then sit down with each individual employee and go over their measurable results. Remember to always ask for their feedback about your management styles.”
- Get Social
In addition to a cleaner website and effective mobile capabilities, social media presence has become a must for modern businesses in today’s world. The ability to connect and engage with consumers helps increase awareness of your business, which can translate to revenue gains from attracting new customers. Chen talks about this in his Business 2 Community story.
“When used appropriately, social media can be a great platform to attract new business,” he writes. “Depending on your business, you’ll need to find the appropriate social media platform to engage your customers. You can also help spruce up your company’s image by adding a blog to your website and keeping your customers informed and improving your website’s SEO.”
- Literal Spring Cleaning
Yes, taking the time to literally get into taking care of things that need some serious cleaning can be a worthwhile exercise around the office. This can apply to the overall cleanliness your equipment and the office, Lesonsky suggests in Small Biz Daily.
“Your hardware and peripherals are likely much dirtier than you think. Take some time to clean your keyboards (use compressed air), monitor screens and check the batteries in your mouse or wireless keyboards. Check your printer as well. Do all the parts move smoothly? Are you up-to-date on manufacturers’ updates? Is the printer free of paper bits? Make sure you have extra cartridges on hand, so you’re never caught short without ink.”
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by David Kiger on March 12, 2016.
Does Your View Of Value Limit You And Your Customers?
Posted by Rick Pranitis in Sales Process Evaluation on March 25, 2016
Value is one of those $25 words everyone talks about. We all want to talk about our value and value propositions. But we have huge variations in the way we interpret value and the way our customers interpret value.
Value in it’s simplest form is price. Unfortunately, that’s where the majority of sales people compete. They provide the customer with their best price, crossing their fingers, hoping to win. The customer is left with the challenge of which alternative to choose. Since, inevitably, the entire alternative will meet their requirements; the only differentiator becomes the vendor offering the lowest price. Customers still struggle, their job isn’t over, and they still have to justify the investments they are making to their management. A lot of “done deals” get undone at this point, so even if our price has been the lowest, we don’t get a PO.
Some sales people, unfortunately far too few, go a step further. They provide a business justification for their solution. It may be a cost benefit analysis, they may have calculated ROI, NPV, Payback. That’s a huge step forward. It changes the basis for comparing alternatives, because it focuses on return the customer will expect to receive. There are still some challenges with this, and value that we leave on the table that could be claimed by both the customer and us. Most of the time, we are looking strictly at the business case for our solution, not the business case for the customer project. We may just be a component of the solution, so we aren’t helping the customer understand the entire picture. Maybe we’ve done a TCO, which should look at the entire project over its life cycle. But there are a number of other things the customer has to consider in their business case.
Risk is a huge part of what the customer has to figure out. This is both risks in the project success and in achieving the long term outcomes which is why the customer initiated the project in the first place. (That last part is often called value realization. I’ll be coming back to this later.)
The other challenge the customer faces is justifying this investment to their management. Their managers are responsible for determining how to best invest in various projects that compete for funding. To get what they want, the customers presenting our solution have to position–justify the project in terms of how it contributes to the attainment of the strategic goals. Only the best alternative will win. But too often, our customers don’t recognize they need to do this, or don’t know how to do this. Unless, we’ve understood the company priorities and goals, unless we’ve helped the customer connect the dots from this project–what they want to do–with the strategic priorities of the company, they won’t get the funding. We don’t get the PO.
The next level is value realization. Are they actually getting the value we claimed in the first place? Did they get the results expected? Too often, we ignore this. After all, we and the customer don’t know until sometime after we’ve gotten the PO. It could be months or years. We’ve already spent our commission checks on the deal. But value realization is critical to the customer. If they don’t realize the value expected, they have failed. It may mean a failed product launch, adversely impacting the perception/competitiveness of their company in the markets. It could be a failed internal project. They don’t achieve the cost/expense reductions expected. They don’t achieve the quality and customer satisfaction goals they expected. They didn’t achieve the margin or profitability improvements expected, They didn’t see the revenue uplift expected. Failure to realize value has huge business consequence for the customer–they could, in fact go out of business. It also has huge personal impacts for the customer, they could lose their jobs. The impact of not realizing the value expected can be devastating. For example think of Takata Airbags and the impact on automobile manufacturers, dealers, and customers.
People in SaaS, embedded products, or similar types of business are seeing the importance of value realization. Customers simply aren’t renewing their contracts. When the contract expires, the customer doesn’t renew it.
This challenge also applies to outright purchases. If the customer doesn’t get the value they expected, they won’t buy again–for the upgrade, the next project, the cross-sell opportunity. They might even become a negative referral, impacting potential business in the rest of the market.
So making sure our customers realize the value claimed is critical for their and our future success.
But there’s more.
We know 60-70% of projects end in no decision made. Most of the time it has nothing to do with selecting solution alternatives, but it has everything to do with the customer internal project success. These are customers who have already recognized the need to change. They have committed to a project and a project team to develop a plan, drive the change, realize the expected value. But they struggle to align themselves, their agendas, their goals/priorities. They struggle with the project itself, often failing before they started their buying journey. They recognized an opportunity to change, that there was business value to be seized or realized, but they fail to realize it before they even start. As a consequence, an opportunity for us has disappeared. Getting that opportunity restarted is very difficult.
To address this challenge, we have to think of value differently, not just the value of our solution–to be realized at some future point. But the value of helping them solves their problem so they can realize that value and we get our PO.
Just think about this issue from pure selfish motivations–getting PO’s. If 60-70% of projects end in no decision made, we are leaving twice as much real, qualified opportunity unaddressed. We and our competitors are only getting 30-40% of the real opportunity available. There is the 60-70% where a customer has been committed to taking action, but they blow up before they can take action, or before they select a solution.
Making our numbers seems trivial in the face of this! All we have to do is help our customers become more successful in the early stages of their change management projects! We focus on a different type of value, value creation or value in the process.
Of course, this requires changes in what we do and our own capabilities. We can no longer wait for the customer to reach their 57% before engaging them. Many projects with customers having a real need to buy will have blown up long before this. We have to be finding and engaging customers much earlier. We have to be helping them with their project, not focusing just on demonstrating the value of the solution. This means new skills, both in prospecting, change management, project management, and facilitation.
It’s not over yet. What about the biggest part of value that we can create and claim? What about those customers who don’t even recognize the need to change? They may be struggling, knowing something’s wrong but not doing anything about it, except working harder. They may be settling, thinking good enough is good enough, when they are losing share, there are emerging new competitors, and their future is threatened.
From a selfish point of view, these are easy opportunities to spot. All we have to do is look at the underperformers in our markets. Or even those whose performance is OK. We have to be able to engage them in meaningful conversations about the costs of doing nothing. We have to incite them to see the potential value that can be realized. and guide them in the journey to realize that value.
Our perspectives of value can seriously limit us and our customers. The majority of sales people focus purely on price–minimizing the value they can claim in competitive situations. Those that develop rich business justification models are doing better, but aren’t claiming as much value as they could. Consequently, they are missing huge growth opportunities, both now and in the future.
Changing our perspectives, having a much larger view gives us the opportunity to at least double our own business volumes. More importantly, it cements our value and leadership position with customers by helping them achieve and realize more value.
The key issues are: Are you hungry enough to chase this opportunity? Do you have the skills and tools to change your engagement model? Do you have the skills and tools to provide the right value to the customer at the right time?
This article was originally posted to the Partners in Excellence Blog by David Brock on March 2, 2016.
Six Thoughts on How to Sales Prospect More Effectively
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 22, 2016
When I first started out in sales, I didn’t expect sales prospecting to be so tough. I was a bit naïve and expected more instant success. I wasn’t prepared for strong objections and rejection.
I wish someone had said to me beforehand, “Look, this is going to be hard. You’re going to get knock-backs and rejections. The win rate is going to be low at first; you’ve got to expect that.” Now, I know how tough prospecting can be. If it’s not page one of the sales manual, it should be.
Here are six thoughts on how to sales prospect more effectively.
- Set an objective. Know what you want to achieve with every call to a prospect. The goal of the first call might only be to set up a second call during which you can have a needs dialogue. Or, the goal might be to have a physical meeting. You have limited time to get your point across, so know what you want to accomplish beforehand.
- Develop a really sharp elevator pitch. Yes, you will need an elevator pitch for your first contact, so prepare a compelling statement that grabs the prospect’s attention in 30 seconds or less. These days, prospects are so bombarded by sales calls and e-mails that you have mere seconds to establish a connection and pique their interest.
- Develop a few good lines. Let’s say you’re in a sales meeting with a prospect who has just admitted that there is an incumbent provider who is performing satisfactorily. You just might open the door to some new opportunities by pulling out a few broader lines of questioning. “If you had an unlimited budget, what else would you like? What would be the dream scenario?” Sometimes, this approach can lead to a wider discussion about what’s working well and what’s not and it can also uncover new paths of possible collaboration.
- Forget the formula. Most people don’t like being sold to or feeling coerced or pushed into a corner. They want to feel like they’re having a sensible conversation with someone about something that’s quite interesting to both parties. The problem is when the conversation begins to sound more like a script. The most successful sales professionals know how to have conversations with prospects without sounding formulaic. They hit all of their marks, following their targeted questioning techniques while making it all sound natural and conversational.
- Consider marketing colleagues as allies. There used to be a distinct boundary between marketing and sales. That boundary is now more porous, if it exists at all. I’ve heard it said that business development is really that strong link between marketing and sales. As sales professionals, we need to be much more aware and savvy about effective ways to work with our marketing colleagues. Even in recent years, sales professionals might have thought that e-mail or LinkedIn campaigns were marketing tools and that, instead of electronic communication, they should “just pick up the phone and see if anybody’s interested.” Now, the capabilities and work alliances are more fluid, and sales professionals are realizing how much more effective they can be when sales and marketing work hand-in-hand.
- Do your homework. If you’ve done all the hard work to get yourself in front of a sales prospect who’s interested in what you have to say, you certainly don’t want to blow it because you’re not prepared to engage in a proper needs dialogue and to discuss the value of what you can offer. Success in prospecting only opens the door. You’ve got to draw on your selling skills in order to walk through the following phases of the sales process: developing the opportunity, developing the solution, presenting the solution, negotiating and closing, and then maintaining and expanding the relationship.
This article was originally posted to the Richardson Sales Enablement Blog by Jonathan Craig on March 1, 2016.
The Best Elevator Speech is Not a Speech
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 17, 2016
As the story goes from time to time you are alone in an elevator, the door opens and in walks someone you have been trying to schedule a meeting with forever. You now have an opportunity for a 2-3 minute conversation – so what is your message?
If you find yourself face-to-face in a similar situation– are you prepared for a short conversation that your “new found friend” will find compelling?
Let’s review some specific ideas to keep in mind for the proverbial two to three minute “elevator” conversation:
- Remember the purpose. An elevator speech and a sales presentation are not the same thing. In fact, they are entirely different! Sales presentations are more formal, longer and delivered after a significant amount of work understanding the challenges faced by the customer. An elevator speech is a short, casual conversation that you hope earns you the right for setting up a subsequent meeting. So, in an elevator speech, don’t simply try to tell your regular product story twice as fast.
- One size does not fit all. There is no such thing as an effective “preparation” that fits all situations. This is why sales management cannot craft some generic “elevator speech” that fits all situations. But you can get a head start – sometimes sales management or Marketing can provide core talking points or salespeople can think about a message or two they would like to share and then modify as appropriate. The flip side is also true … you can think about a few questions your customer might ask. What would you say if asked the simple question – “What’s new?” If you’ve thought through a point or two, you can then adapt the message to fit the person with whom you’re talking.
- A problem-centered approach works best. Because issues and challenges have center stage in any customer’s mind, a problem-centered approach is preferred. As is always the case, the focus needs to be on the customer. When planning a meeting, organize what you know about the issues and challenges the customer may be facing.
- Share short success stories. Sometimes you have a chance encounter with a customer that you never thought you would encounter – so you have no plan for the interaction. Here, the best preparation is simply always being aware of the most current success stories your company has experienced.
Above all else – remember the best elevator speeches are not speeches at all. They are short statements that enable you to engage the customer in a conversation. In the first 30 seconds of a two-minute impromptu meeting relate your talking points to a problem that you know a similar customer would face, and then immediately ask a question to shift the conversation so the customer is doing the talking. If you can get the customer engaged, you just might end up with the customer saying – “do you have a few more minutes?”
One may think the elevator speech is such a small part of the interaction with customers that it is simply not worth focusing on. It’s true that elevator speeches don’t close sales. But they are opportunities to advance the sale – obtaining an appointment for the following week, or asking the best way to get on the customer’s calendar.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spier on February 16, 2016.
Beating The Competition In An Undifferentiated Market
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 19, 2016
When is selling the most fun? Certainly it’s when you have a superior product. Perhaps it’s even a “killer product”, like the Xerox copier vs. the mimeo machine.
Unfortunately with global competition and advanced manufacturing technologies, those days are rare and if they do occur they are difficult to sustain. Today even when you have a superior product a competitor is likely come out with one that is just as good or better than yours in half the time of yesteryear. Or you come face-to-face with the dreadful “it’s good enough” response.
So let’s take the worse possible case. You are selling in a market where the competition either has products that are just as good as yours or they have products that are perceived by the customers to be “good enough” compared to yours. How do you adapt your selling strategy to these market scenarios?
Here are two strategies:
- Better understand the competition as viewed by the customer.
- Adjust your sales strategy to the undifferentiated market reality – you have to do some things differently.
Let’s take at look at both strategies starting with developing a better understanding the competition.
Managing the competition.
As the old saying goes – “you have to keep your eye on the ball” and the ball is the customer. Particularly in an undifferentiated market, keeping an eye on the customer is key when it comes to executing an effective sales strategy for beating the competition. It is easy to take your eye off the ball and fall prey to the trap of getting in a defensive mode by reacting to the competition. It is critical to stay focused on the customer’s needs, challenges and concerns. Top sales performers focus on the customer and manage the competition.
If you focus on the customer and can answer these four questions (CAPS) about the competitor you have a better chance of executing a sales strategy where you win and they come in second:
- Capacity. What is the customer’s perception of the competitor’s major capabilities and limitations?
- Assessment. Why is the customer considering the competitor for the present opportunity?
- Performance. If the competitor is presently in the account what are they doing exceptionally well and poorly and why?
- Strategy. What is their sales strategy for the present opportunity?
Adjusting your sales strategy.
How can salespeople differentiate themselves from their competitors in an undifferentiated market? Over the years we have asked that question to sales managers. Here is what they said:
- Sell a total solution. To differentiate, sales reps must move beyond the product and identify the value-adds that will help the customer achieve their business outcomes.
- Understand all aspects of the competition. The competition isn’t just the other company or its products – it’s also the company’s sales reps. So know the competitor’s sales reps, their histories with the account, and their relationships with the customer.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of relationships. Although effective B2B selling is not just about building relationships, selling is still a personal business. People buy from people they know and like – so get to know all the people that are engaged in the buyer’s decision journey and understand what value means from their individual perspectives.
- Be an effective communicator. Do what you say you are going to do, if you don’t know don’t pretend, if you make a mistake admit it, correct it, and make sure you don’t repeat it, have unbridled enthusiasm, and convey a compelling belief in your company.
- Create an accurate picture of the competitive landscape. Learn your natural supporters and adversaries and spend time developing willing and able internal champions. Determine how much impact the various players have on the buying decision and have an accurate picture of the competition’s perceived position from the customer’s view.
- Look at the big picture. Understand the external issues facing the company – e.g., economic shifts, regulatory changes, and industry trends.
- Leverage your experience. Bring breadth to the sales environment by helping the customer see how other companies have tackled similar issues – have the stories available to bring that experience to life.
- Be aware of passive competitors. Passive competitors are products or services that aren’t direct competitors in that they don’t do what your product or service does – but they are competing for the same bucket of money. This happens more often than one might think – a medical device, for example, not being adopted by a hospital because resources will be dedicated to buying capital equipment.
- Helping the customer understand the consequences of inaction. It’s very common to go through a sales cycle and find out at the end that the customer decides that doing nothing is preferred course of action. Sometimes this happens for good reasons – like the customer decides they are not ready to make a purchase or the resources required aren’t available. In other cases, they don’t want to deal with the disruption that the purchase might bring. Here you can sometimes beat the competition by helping the customer see the consequences of inaction.
In the end, if you are going to beat the completion in an undifferentiated market you must distinguish yourself by how you sell, not just by what you sell. You have to be the competitive advantage.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spirer on January 6, 2016.
Five Ways to Drive Sales With Technology
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on December 18, 2015
Sales situations tend to be inherently stressful. Whether clients are in the market for a new phone, TV, or car, anxiety and emotion are major factors in a purchasing decision. As a salesperson, it’s your job to put their minds at ease, make them feel in control, and ultimately drive a conversion. After all, companies don’t make clients feel valued — people do.
It’s no easy feat to build rapport with customers while also asking them to make purchases, but it can be done — especially with the help of modern technology. Here’s how to utilize the devices all around you to build authentic connections with your clients:
- Educate employees. Sixty-three percent of sales employees have admitted to lying to customers about products due to a lack of knowledge, so there’s clearly room for improvement on employee education. Maybe that’s why so many consumers trust their mobile phones over salespeople to find product information. By giving your employees easy access to inventory and product information — perhaps via a custom app or iPads linked to an internal microsite — they’ll become much better resources for clients.
- Give prospects a peek into your world (and be sure to peek into theirs, too). If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then social media is the window to your brand. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram let you both show and tell your customers exactly who you are and what you’re brand is about. As a salesperson, social media is also a great opportunity to research the organizations or individuals discussing your brand or to find the real decision makers behind that tricky negotiation you’ve been working on.
- Offer easily digestible context. Send useful links to prospects and customers that will help them gain perspectives on your industry, company, and products. Train yourself to constantly evaluate how you can help customers solve issues they’re dealing with. Do they seem overwhelmed? Send an article that paints a broader picture. Do they seem like they want to engage on a more personal level with your brand? Direct them to your social platforms.
- Floor the gas pedal on response time. The right tools can help you respond more quickly and efficiently to clients’ questions and concerns. This also helps them see you as a valuable resource outside of the sales transaction. Add top clients to your VIP email list, and turn on smartphone notifications so you never miss an email. Keep a digital list of FAQs on hand that you can easily tweak and customize to best match client concerns.
- Make the purchase process a cinch. For brick-and-mortar retailers, if it’s been a while since you’ve updated your purchase process (or, worse, you’re still cash-only), it’s time to upgrade. The easier the purchase process, the more likely your customers are to buy in the first place. Conversely, a poor experience could cause customers to abandon the sale early.
At my company, we integrate technology by offering a “Mobile Wallet for Merchants” that extends well beyond transactions to create a rich customer engagement experience. The experience includes services like loyalty, offers, express check out/pickup, and alternative payments.
Clients’ assessments of quality and value are often fraught with emotion, but most sales processes don’t anticipate those challenges and aren’t set up to address them. We live in a tech-driven world that makes it easier than ever to build rapport with clients via employee education, social engagement, and more, but it’s up to you to take advantage of those resources
This article was originally posted to the EyesOnSales Blog by Sona Jepsen on December 1, 2015.
Five Tips for Giving a Killer Sales Presentation
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on December 14, 2015
Salespeople have a lot of responsibility riding on their shoulders. Colleagues have spent weeks, and maybe even months, hard at work to build innovative, impactful solutions. Now it is up to sales teams to sell that product, driving revenue and recognition for the company. Here are five tips based for giving killer sales presentations.
- No muss, no fuss
We’ve all been to meetings where the first 15 minutes are spent fiddling around with in-room AV systems or listening to hold music until everyone figures out how to dial in or download meeting software. It won’t matter how amazing your sales presentation is if you frustrate your customer before you even start. Your customers are busy and their time is valuable, so don’t make them jump through hoops. Make joining your Web meeting as easy as typing in a URL.
You also want to make it easy to include people in the meeting at the last minute. There are usually several stakeholders in the buying process, so it’s not unreasonable to expect that your buyer will want to add participants. Use tools that make it easy to include people without notice – or frustration.
- Everybody loves a video
Videos are literally taking over the Internet taking – and not just for consumers. The most compelling business products include video case studies or online product demos. An analysis of anonymized ClearSlide customer data found that presentation slides that include rich content, like video, attract at least 15 percent more viewer engagement than static slides (and sometimes as high as 50 percent). Even more compelling is personalized content. For example, our ClearSlide sales team has experienced a 60 percent increase in email open rate by including a personalized video. Sales and marketing teams need to adapt to video – it drives engagement and results. - It’s about the story, not the slides
Delivering an in-person presentation and emailing a slide presentation are two very different situations. When you email a presentation, you need your slides to tell an interesting and informative story. You are not physically there to walk a customer through your value proposition, so create a presentation that can stand up on its own. At ClearSlide, every presentation is sent out as a link to cloud content so we can get notified and track who has viewed, how long they viewed the content, who they forwarded the material to, and more. This allows us to get a complete picture of how customers are truly engaging with our story and helps our marketing team better understand what is resonating with customers so we can collectively create effective content.
When giving a live presentation, you have the opportunity to explain things and provide color and context. The slides on the screen can be supplementary, but the bulk of the material should be coming from you. Don’t just read what the slides say, because guess what? Your audience can read too. The better strategy is to use rich media content – photographs, images, Web slides and video – to enhance your story and keep your audience paying attention to you, rather than the screen.
- Listen to the data
Every time you give a sales presentation is an opportunity to learn and improve. How much time did the customer spend on each page? What did they skip? Did they view all the pages or drop off halfway through? By looking at how your content is being used and responded to, you can refine it into a winning customer presentation.
According to our data, the average length of an emailed presentation is 11 pages, but viewers spend 80 percent of their time engaging with the first five pages. The takeaway is that introductory sales presentations need to provide the most important information up front so viewers see the information they need to know.
The same data principle applies for Web meetings. Sales teams know that it is easier to get buyers to agree to meetings on the phone or online than in-person. This is because in-person meetings don’t allow them to multitask (it’s true, we all do it). But from the seller’s perspective, you do not want buyers checking email or looking at other work – you want them paying attention to your presentation. The key is to observe when you hold attention and when you lose it during your presentation, and adapt accordingly.
- A job half done
Customers are 60 percent or more through their buying decision process before they ever interact with a salesperson. They gather information online and reach out to peers for advice. As a result, linear sales processes are no longer effective. You don’t want to waste your limited presentation window reviewing information your customers already know – it’s frustrating and a waste of their time. Instead, listen and adroitly respond to where your customers are. This means you need to easily switch between presentations and slides without throwing off your game or taking up too much time. You buyer will appreciate your willingness to be flexible.
Every sales presentation is an opportunity. Ensure your best chance at success by approaching it with the right attitude, the right content, and the right tools.
This article was originally posted to the Sales & Marketing Management blog by Dustin Grosse on December 7, 2015.
The Six Main Components Which Create Sales Excellence
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on August 3, 2015
Excellence is a word that is bandied about so much these days that it can often lose its meaning or its differentiation. The dictionary defines it as ‘being exceptional, being superior in some way, achieving extreme merit, preeminence or distinction’. When we use the term, we commonly confuse it with something that is just better or an improvement of some sort. However, for something or someone to be given the accolade of ‘excellence’, we have to be more than just better; we need to identify the qualities that deserve the term, or we are in danger of diminishing the stand-out qualities that are required to receive the honor.
To achieve excellence in sales, we need to lay the foundations that support and enable the results we need to achieve. Here, we’ll discuss just six key components that create excellence in salespeople and make them stand out from the crowd. The first three are classed as intra-personal skills (internally-focused) and the others are interpersonal (externally-focused). Each one will assist in the development of quality and stature.
Develop a Full Range of Skills & Attributes
The top salespeople we have encountered take their own personal development very seriously. They create and implement a development plan for themselves that include seeking out training and coaching opportunities, reading, listening to and watching subject matter experts, update their product knowledge, develop their industry knowledge and plan their career progression in such a way that it enhances opportunities at every step.
Also, they see how new technologies their own company and competitors are producing add value to the industry, learning how these advancements affect and add value from their customers’ perspectives.
Accept Change As The Norm & Embrace It For Progressing Salesmanship
Great value-creators recognize that they must build a clear and flexible path through the changes their customers and industry must go through. They understand that their products and services must be instrumental in driving those changes. This requires the mindset to be adaptable to whatever circumstances the customer may throw at them.
Become Future-Focused
The high-quality salesperson will recognize the lesson that past teaches. Grab hold of the opportunities the present offers and develop the foresight to apply those learning’s to the future. In other words, they see the only things they really have control over are those future opportunities.
By recognizing the future is a blank slate ready to be written upon, the great salesperson doesn’t harbor resentment over what has occurred, but treats it as a school to learn how to build resilience and elasticity in their future plans.
Understand The Customer’s Business As Well As The Customer Does
Yes, it takes time, diligence, effort and guile, but it differentiates the haves from the have-nots in terms of knowledge and partnership abilities. Treating your customer’s business like your own means you build trust, and with that come the openness and exposure that allows you access to the inner sanctum. By having the attitude of curiosity, great salespeople build reasons for customers to develop close business relationships with them, hence reducing the emphasis on price that might let in competitive offerings.
Be Passionate About Service & Business Results
Passion is a chosen response when you feel enthusiastic and engaged with a project or task. Great salespeople choose this emotion wisely and use it to drive their actions and responses.
Having a passion for something engages you like nothing else does. Without it, you lack the inspiration or drive to concentrate on excellence or quality responses. Having passion separates you from the masses who allow the ‘that’ll-do’ attitude to affect their diligence. Having passion for business results helps you build value in the customer’s eyes as they recognize the impact your intensity and desire for improvement has on their business
Build Relationships Throughout The Customer’s Business
High-quality salespeople recognize the value of building many strong relationships throughout their accounts. This allows them to build business acumen and confidence when dealing with various people at differing levels. They see the value of discussing financials with the accounts team, talking strategies with the sales management team and highlighting technological advancements with the product-development team.
This allows a clear understanding of the shared needs and unique concerns of each component that makes up the customer’s decision-making teams, and allows trust to be engendered throughout the purchase experience.
Each of these components need to synergize together to create an overall impression of professionalism so that the salesperson is seen as a major asset to the customer’s business rather than just another supplier who blends in with the competition.
It takes time to determine which of these components are best developed and utilized with every account; but they offer a differential that will set you apart in many customer’s eyes as someone who is indispensable to their future journey.
This article was originally posted to the MTD Sales Training Specialists blog by Sean McPheat on July 2, 2015.
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