Cut the Clichs!

by Nancy Solt, May 30, 2008

As salespeople, we generally have between 4 and 30 seconds to make a first impression on our prospects that will compel them to want to engage with us. Unfortunately, by the end of these all-important first few seconds, the vast majority of salespeople leave their prospects feeling more like “it’s a sales person, how do I get them off the phone,” and less like “oh, this is interesting, I think I should stay and listen!” Most of us tend to open our calls with statements that create resistance, instead of a relationship.

Cutting clich statements out of your calling script, especially in the first few moments, will instantly increase your success rate. This is especially true for “how are you?” Every customer on the planet has heard that exact phrase at the beginning of a sales call they didnt want to take, or which was interrupting their dinner.

You prospects are 99.9 percent likely to be busy doing other work – which means that, when you call, you’re 99.9 percent sure to be interrupting them. Instead of ignoring this fact, I recommend that you use it to your advantage, by trying something like: “Have I caught you at a bad moment?” Or “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Why does this work? When it comes to receiving a sales call, it’s always a bad time, so having the person who’s making the call recognize this upfront is a refreshing change. Most of the time that we use this opening statement, we’re met with the same answer: a laugh or chuckle, followed by either “It’s always a bad time, but what’s up?” or “Sure its a bad time, why are you calling?”

The magic in this answer is that now it is the prospect’s choice that you’re on the phone with them, not yours. When a prospect feels like they’re being held hostage in a conversation, they tune out, stop listening and start planning their escape. However, when its their idea that the two of you are talking, they’re far more likely to listen to what you have to say, and to participate in the discussion.

Remember: the call should be about them, not you. If the prospect hears the word “I” first, it causes them to retreat and start thinking, who cares what you want, what about me? Like everyone, your clients are focused on whats in it for them. I suggest you give them what they want right up front.

Make sure that your mindset going into the call is focused on these critical points:

• Focus on the customer needs, not on yours
• Start a conversation not a sales pitch
• Be prepared for every call! An unpracticed call sounds contrived, and nothing is worse than a salesperson that comes off sounding like a salesperson. So practice, practice, and practice again until it sounds natural and spontaneous.
• Make your prospects smile, and try smiling yourself. After all, this isn’t rocket science; it’s a sales call. It isnt bad to have fun doing your job. When you do, that positive attitude reflects over the phone and more people will respond with a brighter demeanor.

By altering your approach at the beginning of your cold call and focus on the person on the other end of the phone, you can reduce cold call reluctance and get into the meat of the call more often.

Don’t Get Complacent

by Thayne Johnson, May 27, 2008

Winning takes us to our happy place where our worries and problems are non-existent. Well, at least our problems are easily forgotten, or at least quickly swept under the rug. But there will come a time when complacency will lead someone to look under that rug and publicizing what they find.

Its obvious why its so important to find out why your company loses business to competitors, but knowing why specifically your company is winning is just as valuable. An in-depth analysis of accounts won can answer a number of important questions:

• What do customers and prospects view as your best practices?
• Are we acting as a value provider or as the low-cost provider?
• Are we at risk of losing the customer in the future?
• What can we do to ensure the customer renews?
• Why did the competition lose the business?
• Where can we improve to even further distance ourselves from the competition?

Overall, you can collect an extensive amount of very valuable information from an assessment of competitive evaluations your company won. For example, I have reviewed many competitive evaluations conducted with decision makers who state that they will not choose or even consider the winning vendor in the future, and the reasons why are endless. Such instances are things a company cannot let become a trend, but they could easily become a trend if that information is unknown.

Also, with detailed reviews of won opportunities, your company can better position its offerings by exploiting your best practices in the eyes of the industry, your company, and your customers. Finally, the competitive intelligence collected is invaluable to any companys mission of keeping or creating a competitive edge. Knowing why your offering was selected over that of the competition is key to creating and sustaining a competitive advantage. The information gathered can also be used to further outdistance your company from the competition in future evaluations.

Before you become too comfortable with your companys current status quo of winning, know that your competition is doing everything it can to win business from its competitors, including you. Whatever your companys standing in the marketplace is or your win ratio may be; there is never a good time to become comfortable and forget what started your company down that path of success in the first place.

Responsiveness, Responsiveness, Responsiveness

by Mark Larson, May 22, 2008

You could almost say that sales has a similar motto as real estate. While real estate is “location, location, location”, sales is “responsiveness, responsiveness, responsiveness.”

Of course, there are other reasons why people buy homes. After all, if it were only about location when buying a house, people wouldn’t care about overall cost, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and recent improvements to the home. But the first and foremost issue on the home-buyer’s mind is still location.

This is similar in sales. If responsiveness were the only thing that mattered, we would buy from every single salesperson that stuck themselves in front of our face. However, when you’re in a competitive sales situation where the product is desired, small minute points can sway the deal. Nothing matters more in these situations than the responsiveness of the salesperson.

In the last few weeks, I had the need to consider outsourcing some of our corporate Web site issues. I made the point of reviewing several companies that offered the services I required. When I decided to contact one of the companies in question, I used their online form requesting that I be contacted. I did this on a Tuesday morning. I finally received a call from the sales rep on Fridayfour days later. I was unable to speak to him at the time and requested that he call me the following Monday. He did return the call…on Thursday the next week. Needless to say, I didn’t bother speaking with him. If he couldn’t show more interest in my business when I hadn’t even signed up yet, he certainly wouldn’t care once the money changed hands.

We all know sales is about relationships, and your level of interest in a client or prospect is directly related to your willingness to communicate with them. In return, those contacts will be greatly affected by your prompt attention to their questions and needs. If you are truly in the running for their business, nothing will impact their decision more than your attentive responses, or lack thereof.

Getting That Giant Picture

by Jessica Bledsoe, May 19, 2008

When discussing competitive intelligence, it’s hardly a stretch to say that precision defines the validity of a sample. Misquotes, statistical errors, and poorly constructed interviews can all skew data just enough to create ill-formed conclusions. And, as recent polling blunders in national politics has proved, using data from a poor sample fails to illustrate the big picture.

To avoid these pitfalls, know the importance of both pulse and trend information. Pulse data provides an immediate feel for what’s happing nowthe mood of customers, competitors, and the marketplace in general. On the other hand, trend information crystallizes this pulse into meaningful data because it eliminates anomalies and uses a wider sample. Most importantly, it can typically predict the direction a company or its customers are moving, and provide a roadmap of potholes and other blunders to avoid.

Trend information should be compiled frequently and with a valid sample that is representative of customers at large. Additionally, it is important to read the data correctly, avoiding forced conclusions based on incorrect data interpretation. Overall, when trending information, keep in mind the following:

1. Where are the majority of customers?
The majority is really the heart of any customer base. It represents key customers that have similar needs or issues, and so are easier to satisfy. Naturally though, only pandering to these customers is not prudent because it eliminates potential growth. However, discovering the general notion of customers is always beneficial.

2. What about the anomalies?
Anomalies will pop up in any data sample. While these outliers should not be dismissed, their position of relevance should be taken accordingly. Readjusting company goals because of a few complaints is not prudent and trending will indicate if their issues are indicative of a larger problem. Keep in mind, though, that outlying customers are still customers and their issues need to be addressed, if only on an individual basis.

3. How trustworthy are interview respondents?
No guarantee of future activity is ever possiblerespondents may guarantee future business without full knowledge, provide answers that they think represent the industry standards, or provide conflicting information. However, using both qualitative and quantities information can illuminate what customers are actually saying, and thereby create trustworthy data.

Using these questions to guide trend interpretation can enable companies to leverage the data accurately and create goals that respond to customer needs. Most importantly, knowing the customer base will lead to improvements in that ever-present bottom line.

Retaining Customer Relationships

by admin , May 12, 2008

How well to do you know your customers? Conversely, how well do they know you and your company? It is often said that it is far less costly to retain current customers than to find new ones, but how often do you take the time to nurture a relationship with a current customer. Consider the money that would be spent trying to lure a new prospect into the fold. How much do you spend retaining those you have?

Do you just keep using the same old references when a prospect asks for someone to call to learn more about your company, products and services? Have you actually spoken to or visited these key customer references lately or are you taking them for granted?

Keeping in touch with your customers is essential, but it is often overlooked by many companies. There are some simple, yet helpful methods to continue customer contact and retain important business relationships.

1. Repeated contact. Next time you have a few minutes between meetings, consider picking up the phone and scheduling some time to say hello to your customers.
2. Visit your customers as often as possible. This means anyone from your company and not just the local sales representative. If you have an employee who is traveling to a city where several customers are located, consider building some time into their schedule to schedule a visit to the other customers in the area to keep in touch and thank them for being a customer.
3. Thank all of your customers, not just your “best” reference customers. A promotional item with your company logo is always nice but nothing is remembered more than a personalized, handwritten note thanking your customer for their time and business.
4. Bring customers to you. Hosting an annual users group is great for those customers who attend, but it does not help build strong relationships for those customers who do not attend. Consider hosting regional seminars and workshops in various locations to allow customers in those regions to get to know your products, your services, your people, and other customers in their geographic area to foster stronger relationships between everyone. When your team and your customers interact socially and professionally, it helps build a sense of community and togetherness.

I Want a Ferrari

by Mark Larson, May 6, 2008

I admit it. I want a Ferrari. Nothing would be cooler than zipping down the interstate in a bright red Fiorano feeling the power of the 12-cylinder engine roaring behind me and watching the people in other cars stare at me as I fly past them. One big problem: money. The Ferrari Fiorano costs more than my house. And since I like having a place for my bed, a shower, and a couch to sit on to watch baseball (yes, I watch baseball on TV), I have to consider my Ferrari dreams to be just that: dreams.

If I were actually talking to a Ferrari salesman about purchasing one of their cars, he would come down to one clear reason why I won’t buy one: price. After all, isn’t that the issue? If I could afford a Ferrari, I would certainly buy one, but I could never afford one.

So, in one sense he’s right. But is that the real issue? Let’s step back and look at this from another angle. Am I really his target market to begin with? Truth be told, the Ferrari dealer is wasting his time talking to a middle-income, single father of five kids. The last time I checked, Ferrari didn’t make minivans.

When you’re working with your prospects, if the issue of price comes up too often, you may want to consider that “price” by itself is not the issue. You may be wasting your time with the wrong people or the wrong business size.

The area of sales contains the constant juxtaposition of price against value. Prospects look for certain products to fulfill their business needs, and they generally understand what value that product will bring to their business. If the value you propose with your product does not exceed the cost, you are fighting a losing battle.

In the case of my Ferrari dreams, there are two definite values I see: one is speed, the other is chicks. (For any women reading this, this is not meant to be a sexist comment. After all, there are certain women who would go ga-ga over a single guy in a Ferrari regardless of what he looks like, and let’s face it. I’m not going to be on the cover of GQ anytime soon.) But my issue is that the cost to achieve these values is too high. I am not willing to reduce myself to living in a tent living off of wild berries in order to afford my dream car.

Now, if I were at the Dodge dealership talking about the latest Grand Caravan, there would be a more active discussion with the salesman. At this point, it is a clear discussion of the value of the Grand Caravan over the Honda Odyssey or the Toyota Sienna. Here, the value clearly can override any cost concerns because these vans fit my value-to-cost ratio. It may not be as sexy as the Ferrari, but my minivan satisfies my life needs and therefore makes me happy with my choice.

As you pursue clients, look for the appropriate match of value proposition to business needs as well as the cost that type of business can afford to pay. If you find yourself facing the “cost” barrier too often, you may consider that this is not the real issue. It may be you need to look at your target market a little more closely. Spend your time focusing on those that match the value-to-cost ratio, and you’ll increase revenue faster by not wasting time on those that truly are out of your market.

Open Letter to Vendors

by Martha Parker, May 2, 2008

Dear Vendors,

After many months of editing and writing exit interview profiles and listening to the feedback, diatribes, tirades, and perhaps even praise being offered up at said time, this is what I know: baring corporate office mandates or a clients identity as a government organization requiring the lowest priced vendor be deemed the winner, companies are surprisingly willing to overlook a myriad of initial miscommunications, pricing discrepancies, and product inadequacies should exceptional responsiveness be included in the package. Even more surprising is how many vendors behave as if unaware of said phenomenon.

Stories of broken promises, unanswered phone calls, and consistently inaccurate billing circulate fairly often. Much more difficult to dismiss are tales of resentful sales teams sending unprofessional e-mails or circumventing the decision-making committee to try and recruit c-level executives to swing a bid in their favor. Sadder still is the fact that an entire sales team is rarely to blamea single embittered representative may solidify a vendors reputation as unresponsive, unprofessional, or incompetent. Price and product features certainly play into any bidding situation, but in a truly competitive bid, vendor beware: the biggest obstacle your organization must overcome may lie in your own sales force.

Sincerely,
A befuddled business analyst