What to Watch for in Sales in 2012

It seems like yesterday most sales professionals and sales managers were planning goals and speculating on the year. All might have predicted, perhaps hoped for a vast improved economy. Many are still praying.

Clearly our business landscape has been altered by numerous factors but those most influential while also uncontrollable are political, economic and technical changes. Clients today have curtailed buying in lieu of budgets or making excuses using them. Life for many in sales has altered in a huge way and will continue to do so.

In volatile times it will be necessary for organizations to remain ahead of the curve rather than chasing it. Selling today is more difficult then ever. There are many issues at hand and sales institutions must follow or remain ahead of the curve. Avoiding trends or becoming cocky towards them might mean the difference between surviving and thriving.

Here are some of the top sales trends for 2012 to help keep sales teams ahead of the competition:
Service or Suicide – Clients today are increasing their desire to be treated well by their vendors. Customer service is the ultimate in competitive differentiation. Service clients right or lost the contract. Selling representatives cannot blow off sales calls, forget certain aspects of contracts, try to negotiate to hard and lose contact. Unless customer service is part of the sales culture, do not plan on selling.
It is all about value – Clients have more information at their fingertips then ever since the use of the Internet allows for voluminous information about the firm and its competitors. Selling professionals must then continually formulate value rather than speak of features. Unless the selling professional can articulate value properly, the impatience of customers will have them moving on.
Customization – Prospective clients no longer desire off the shelf solutions but rather products and services that can be customized to immediately aid competitive ground. This will also require different levels of sales support. Organizations must reengineer around customer needs rather than self – profit motivation.
It’s all about results – Sales teams, simply put, show results or get shown the door. Executives are beginning to tire of excuses in sales gaps. Sales teams must illustrate measurable results. This requires sales managers holding individuals accountable or they too will be shown the door. The competition is too fierce as organizations attempt to remain profitable so it is important for everyone on the sales team to produce.
Change the Paradigm. – There are too many organizations that pay high salaries to sales professionals – many in the six-figure range. However the organization carries the risk not the sales representative. As organizations seek to continually cut expenses look to lower base salaries and higher commissions. In fact, look to many firms hiring only on zero salary and commission only.
Cold Calling is for Losers – With the proliferation of caller ID, cold calling continually remains a futile effort. First, decision makers never make choices from a cold call and most important people are too busy. Selling professionals will be required to network more aggressively while doing some new things such as speaking, writing blogs/articles etc. Selling is a relationship business so sellers will be required to build direct relationships that matter and build business.
High T’s – With some many connected today by technology there remains too much noise. Amplification of social media, electronic mail and other platforms only adds more noise not sales. Selling professionals and sales managers will then be required to perform more high touch relationships.
Connectivity is Key – The only way to build solid relationships is with consistent and relentless communication. Direct calls, email, Skype etc are required to ensure clients keep selling professionals top of mind.
Business Intelligence – Selling professionals cannot pick up a phone and believe that buyers will just buy. The Information Age requires selling professionals to use information such as industry, competition and company to position their products/services with the client. Failure to prepare to have articulate conversations will lead to being left out of conversation.
Constant Improvement – Much like athletes, selling professionals must constantly seek methods for improvement. Organizations will stop paying for education so it is up to the individual. Sellers must engage in reading, audios or class instruction for constant improvement. Education will be the difference between surviving and thriving in tomorrow’s economy.

Stay tuned part three where I depict the major changes in, marketing and leadership.

© Drew Stevens PhD. All Rights Reserved.

Memories: Are you Making Them With Clients?

Sales Coaching: Top Tips for Increased Productivity

This article has been selected for DeFinis Communications’ “Sales Coaching: Top Tips for Increased Productivity” Blog Carnival. You can enjoy even more posts from other exceptional bloggers at their website.

All outstanding sales managers engage in coaching on a daily basis and counseling on an as needed basis. Sales coaching is the proactive manner to help support the mentoring provided for sales professionals to improve their performance and to help them when having difficulties. It is mainly focused on maintaining existing, strong performance and moving it further. Counseling on the other hand is a reactive fractured approach implemented when an employee is performing below expectations due to either a skill deficiency or an attitude deficiency. It is mainly focused on restoring performance to a minimal acceptable level or failing that, removing the employee from that job.

 

I remember the first time that I was managing a full sales force of individuals and I was asked to evaluate the sales performance of a young woman by the name of Ivy. Unfortunately I was predisposed because I had discovered that Ivy had very poor selling skills, was typically late and was not meeting the quota goals assigned to her. It was up to me to decide whether or not she was worth keeping or terminating her employment. So, with both solutions open to for either coaching or counseling I used both to help increase her performance and reverse many of the poor things people were saying. In the next few moments I will provide you some information on coaching and how to use it to help those with weak into personal skills.

 

My belief is that all sales representatives should be coached on an ongoing basis. It is a form of mentoring that enables ongoing dialogue between the manager and the subordinate so that feedback on performance doesn’t occur only when there is a problem. Nor should it occur and only one time of the year-the performance review. Moreover it allows for excellent sales work and customer service to be recognized, supported, exploited and then finally conveyed to others.

 

Unfortunately many sales managers spend 10 times more of their effort and energy counseling. Managers often confuse the two and don’t understand the difference and usually respond only to problems, meaning that the preponderance of their time is spent on correcting weak efforts rather than supporting strength.

 

The most important attributes of a sales coaching relationship includes:

1. That the dialogue is constant and ongoing it’s not situated around the periodic review.
2. The feedback must be timely and it has to be offered at a point where an issue or a problem arises.
3. It is important to understand that the manager simply coaches and mentors but the employee ultimately performs.
4. In order for a good mentoring process to occur there must be a good relationship. In other words both sides must be approachable whenever and wherever.
5. The employee must be able to be coached. Some people simply do not like the told by others how to improve performance therefore is how will to have someone who really wants the assistance to improve.

 

Counseling on the other hand is a short-term sequence of interactions with sales professionals that results in either restored or acceptable performance or unfortunately and when necessary the employee leaves the job where they can perform better. Counseling is essential to improving sales performance yet few sales managers ever engage systematically and most don’t effectively engage in it at all. The reason being is that many sales managers might believe that counseling requires too much time and effort of which they don’t have and that the employee might actually engage them in too much conflict.

 

The following is a checklist when you need to use sales counseling:

1. Determine if the poor performance is caused by a lack of skills or simply a poor attitude.
2. Focus on the behavior of the individual.
3. Get agreement on the standard and the actual performance.
4. Discuss the impact of the performance on others in the organization. Remember here to keep things objective never personal.
5. Discuss the alternatives and consequences and actually have the employee, suggest some solutions.
6. Establish action plans and dates so that the employee can be held to accountability standards.
7. Constantly review and monitor the process.

©2011. Drew Stevens PhD All rights reserved.

 

 

Drew Stevens works with senior officers and their direct reports who continually struggle to ensure their sales teams meet performance goals. Dr. Drew helps to dramatically accelerate revenues. He can be reached at http://www.stevensconsultinggroup.com

Monday Motivation from Dr. Drew – Sales Mojo

 

Monday Focus – I remember my senior year of high school. I set 6 school records in track and field, my grades were good and I had a girlfriend. I had confidence, I had confidence I had swagger. We all get swagger when things are going well…but once we hit a bump in the road it disappears quickly. Athletes need swagger to remain competitive to stay in the game. So do selling professionals. Believe it or not you can maintain your swagger but always sticking with fundamentals. Constantly develop self; read, write, watch and listen to videos anything so that you maintain your course. What gets repeated gets remembered and if you want to keep your swagger then you need to develop habits to maintain your moo.

Monday Motivational Quote – “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” Mark Victor Hansen (Author)

 

©2011. Drew Stevens. All rights reserved.

Split Second Selling – The Book That Helps You Sell More In Less Time

Hi My name is Drew Stevens and I am the author of Split Second Selling. I wrote this book with one purpose - to help you sell more in less time! I want to make you more money!

Why read another book on selling? Simple. Today’s client is more informed more sophisticated and has more access to information. Sales forces are much too tactical. In the increasing age and rage of globalization and the Internet, competition rises. Assisting to thwart competitive forces, organizations typically hire more talent to sell more products or push one brand over another. Present organizations must sell smarter not harder.

Customers are seeing right through the selling representative and deplore the selling approach. Sales representatives are myopic to the needs of the organization focusing only on the “product/service” of the day. For many firms a client obtains mixed messages and misunderstands the message of your organization. Rather than use your existing lines of business, clients turn to your competitors. This loses your bargaining power, your client value, and positioning. The solution lies in adjusting to your client by offering measurements and value. Helping clients save time, money, resource focuses on bottom-line performance and instills customer value.

 

Split Second Selling will show you how to increase your sales and align with customer value. Based on over 26 years of research and experience, Drew Stevens provides a simple and easy to use formula to get you from the starting line to the finish line. Drew has condensed the myriad of selling concepts and ideas into a simple and easy to remember formula known as PRACTICE™.

 

The seven steps of PRACTICE are:

Planning – The most vital process for any successful sales professional. Sales professionals must plan each call and be prepared to offer prospective clients all the essential information.

Coaches Clinic:

• Follow industry trends by reading news and online periodicals
• Use a sales planning guide to understand objectives for the call
• Know the habits and values of your decision maker

Rapport – Building rapport is one of the largest hurdles for any sales representative. You have to get to know strangers. You must always discover new ways to connect to people and help them resolve their issues.

Coaching Clinic:

• Listen to follow body language
• Ask lots of questions to aid your relationship skills
• Study personalities to gain insight into prospective buyers communication skills

Attention – Buyers today are distracted by email, voicemail, the internet, remote controls, cell phones, etc. Sales professionals must rise above the din to be heard. And, more importantly,

Coaching Clinic:

• ·Listen intently to communication style of the prospective buyer
• ·Take notes and summarize the conversation to keep prospect engaged
• ·Use statistics or facts to link to value the client perceives.

Split Second Selling will illustrate how to:

• Identify client needs easier
• Become more efficient and productive in the selling process
• Enhance customer relations
• Understand the role of today’s sales professional
• Improve your ability to communicate with others

Simply put Split Second Selling will:

• Sell more products and services in less time.
• Increase your marketing message so that you establish more value and gain more community.
• Help you reduce the number of objections so that you sell more services faster!
• Discover your passion so that you remain more enthusiastic throughout the sale.
• Illustrate how to meet more economic buyers that make decisions faster!
• Provide you with the 12 questions that must be asked during every sale to close more quickly!
• Enable you to gain more referrals so that there is less cold calling and building a larger and faster community.
• Get you more clients
• More Money!

 

I Object!

I have what might at first seem to be an odd view of objections: I love them! That is so important I want to repeat it: I love objections!

You might think that is silly, but it is not. Objections simply help you understand where you are in the sales process. Challenging though they are, objections provide valuable touch points to gauge your progress.

By and large, objections are nothing more than concerns and skepticism on the part of the buyer. Objections are the result of indecision, fear, and prior losses. If you have done a good job discussing wants and needs, objections don’t get raised as often, but they still appear.

When prospective clients raise objections, what they’re really saying is that they’re not comfortable with the decision for a variety of reasons. Further, they are telling you that they have unresolved questions in their mind. So what’s a good sales professional to do? We must simply ad­dress their objections. The simplest way to respond to a sales objection is to listen and then some simple rules.

First, always anticipate that you will receive objections at some point in the sales process. You should never be surprised when you get one. One of the first things that you need to do when handling an objection is to use a technique that I learned many years ago called the B.I.C. Principle. The only way to maintain control during a sales presentation is to constantly listen or ask questions. You should never lose control or seem surprised. Objections are simply a part of the sales process and, more importantly, the closing process. Your ability to remain in control is essential to your success.

A second rule of thumb is to never argue when you receive a sales ob­jection. The buyer is merely seeking to gain more information – it’s his or her way of indicating that you have not provided enough data.

Third, objections can be genuine concerns or trivial points. It is in­cumbent upon you to ask the proper questions to determine whether an objection is genuinely concerning or simply a minor glitch. In my experience, the most common trivial objection is “the price is too high.” You must ask more questions to determine genuine objections – in other words, to discern the primary reasons that the buyer considers most valid for not moving forward.

Fourth, too many people want to talk and not listen. Sales profession­als can become too focused on trying to close the sale. This can result in the salesperson neglecting to listen to the buyer’s objections. The best thing you can do is intently listen to the buyer’s reasons for not progressing.

 

So the next time you hear something such as the price is too high or I’m happy with my current vendor you might want to consider where you slipped in the sales process or what additional questions does the prospective client need to understand your value.

If you want to know more about objections you might want to read the chapter in my book Split Second Selling

Sustained!

 

© 2011. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

 

 

No Trust, No Relationship, No Sale!

Derrick arrived at my door last weekend seeking to sell me some home improvement services. I normally do not answer the door on the weekend since I am busy doing chores but needed to respond when since the front doorbell continually rang.

 

Once I opened the door I was greeted by a young (perhaps new) sales representative that continually asked me questions that included:

-       Do you need any home improvements?

-       Any windows that are broken an in need of repair?

-       Any desire to expand on your current home?

Not once did he stop to create a relationship but prodding me with questions to “buy” his services. Not once did he establish rapport or care about my wants and needs!

 

“Why don’t people take the time to learn professional selling?

 

After close to thirty years of sales it is getting embarrassing to see so many individuals “attempt” sales. Selling is a profession that requires as much study as management, law or any other professional degree. “If so many do it then why do so many fail?”

 

The problem is that selling requires a mindset that builds upon customer-centered relationships. Clients today want to build trusting relationships with their suppliers. Failure to do so only makes sellers a vendor. This reduces the power to negotiate, build a referral network and future sales. It is 88% more effective to discover sales from retained clients than prospective.

 

It is also important to be reminded that clients have choices and just because you show up at my front porch this does not produce a conversion. Door to door sales are no different from cold calling they are intrusive, unprofessional yet more specifically a waste of time. If you are in sales desiring more business then:

 

1. Take the time to build honest sincere relationships
2. Use your referral network to gain access to “buyers”
3. Stop using the same tactics as competitors; illustrate your difference.
4. Network like crazy to gain third party endorsement.
5. Build a network that gets others to speak about you while attracting them to you; end the hard labor.
6. Learn proper questioning skills focused on objectives and measurements of success.
7. Find methods to learn mastery in the sales craft; attend a public seminar, obtain a personal coach, listen to tapes – anything that makes you better.

© 2011. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

 

What best practices can you share with our readers to lessen labor and make them more effective?

 

 

 

 

How to Sell to Large Accounts

I remember when I first arrived in sales. I was selling a service to day traders. It was very rewarding but I was missing something. I worked hard for four years and worked the phones like mad but I was not satisfied. Until one day a recruiter called with a job offer than altered my life. Rather than solicit services over the phone I was asked to work for a large organization that desired to employ sales professionals who could get appointments with “C Suite” executives. Yes I was asked to sell new services to the CEO’s and CIO’s of Wall Street. Now I was Top Gun.

 

Similarly, you will want your sales team to do the same. Selling to large accounts is actually no different from selling one to one but there are some considerations.

 

First and foremost before any selling representative picks up a phone to place a call with a large account it is important to know what to say before hello. Large accounts require proper planning and analysis so that provocative conversations can transpire between sales agents and decision makers.

 

The proper research includes:

Annual Report

This important multi-section document is a must read.  Within the front pages sales professionals will find a letter from the president or CEO indicating new products, growth plans, operational woes and competitive plans. This first section will communicate how you and your producers help the company.

 

Other ways to obtain the report go to the firm’s website or subscribe to an Internet services such as Hoovers.com or Dow Jones News Retrieval.

 

Business News

To properly service your customers you must understand their successes, feel their trials and tribulations and help to downplay competitive and marketplace pressures. Reading a major periodical will apprise you of new customer news and keep you abreast of business changes.

Industry News

As important as the real-time business news is, you must clearly understand the industry you service. It is your job to follow the industry news. Perhaps you are servicing a niche industry such as I do in Wall Street Technology. Ask your clients and contacts about the periodicals they read to follow industry trends.

 

Know the Who

Once you have prepared then you must discover methods to help get you in the door. There fore you must then identify you key economic buyers. Gatekeepers waste time and do not understand value. Gatekeepers focus on victimhood and conceit. Decision makers concern themselves with productivity and value. Do not be confused by titles. There are many individuals who believe titles have enormous clout. 67% of business professionals spend too much time with those that cannot make a decision. Sellers are often duped into the process because they do not ask the proper questions. Good detective work means asking the difficult questions.

 

Large Accounts Require Results

In my entire business career so many automatically know what they want, but few know what they need. Ask additional questions that provide value by honing in on these differences. The focus here is on value to the organization and to the individual, as well as measurements for success.

 

Focus on Results

No one cares about your creative advertising or corporate office. Demonstrate important outcomes for the client, such as speed, guarantees, high return, and transition management. When you focus on client results, conversations become crisp and tightly focused.

 

Customer to Customer Influences

People like to conduct business with those whom they know and like. Begin by obtaining a testimonial from every possible client. Relationships are built based on prior expertise. Your ability to nimbly build a “book” of testimonials will assist you in becoming the provider of choice.

 

 

Selling large accounts is not an overnight process. Large Account Management takes years to master, and even then, there is always something to learn. There is no way that in three weeks you will become proficient in selling. Nor can it occur in one sales training course. Selling, like human development, is a process that will take you years of time, energy and investment.

 

©2011. Drew J. Stevens Ph.D. All rights reserved.

 

Sales Lessons

Lessons from the Sales Field

 

We just completed our latest Business Acceleration Sales Seminar. Our dialogue was crisp and thought provoking and many came away with several good best practices to take back to their firms.

 

With over 29 years of aiding sales managers and sales professionals there are some new trends developing. Here is a list of best practices from the sales field that will help you immeasurably in gaining new business.

 

1. Avoiding transaction to make traction. Selling today is about relationship. Good trusting relationships bind deals not selling widgets.
2. Cold Calling is as innovative as AM Radio. The world is changing and so too are buyers. Individuals do not have time and resources available to be interrupted by total strangers. The root to the buyer comes from different paths.
3. The key to success is differentiation. Sellers today must articulate value. Buyers research firms before the seller arrives. They know their needs what they are not clear on is the obtained value.
4. Content is king. Those that prepare for every call and every circumstance will win. Procrastinators are left at the back door. Know what to say before you say hello.
5. Moving right along. Great sellers move issues to the next level they think in terms of movement and action steps. Sellers are the leaders of the band not the other way around.
6. Consistent and Relentless Referrals. The only manner to gain successful business today is constantly seeking referrals or being introduced by third parties. Remember to make at least three to four sales when selling. You are selling the initial prospective client and others in their network.
7. Professional Presence. Selling professionals that are constantly prepared always prevail. In a world rift with casual dress and lethargy those that use the right tools, dress appropriately, engage in great conversation, articulate content on the world around them and relate to the client will always remain successful.

There are several others but for now that is base line. What might be some other best practices for the list? What are things you do to accelerate your sales success? Place a comment in the field below.

 

©2011. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

The Killer Sales App

In speaking with my clients recently all sales managers seem to have the same issue on their mind how to gain more production and profits from their sales staff. With audacious goals this is a grave issue.

 

Stunted growth still continues to haunt sales teams as organizations continue to sit on cash. Many continue to seek the magic bullet or in today’s vernacular the “killer app” to aid in sales profits. However, while many question where to discover “the secret”, it might very well be in front of them.

 

During any economic resurgence innovation begins. Such transitions are needed within many sales organizations. The recent recession created a need for organizations to terminate many non-productive selling personnel. Through attrition those that did not meet goals were asked to leave. However this does not decrease the notion that there exist some remaining underachievers.

 

While many managers continue to seek new talents and personnel there is a dire need to look from within to discover sales mechanisms that harm sales teams. Many do not know they exist and many do not know how to identify them so here is a brief look at those applications killing your sales performance.

 

1. Value – Selling today requires a keener look at the value that organizations provide to clients. While this term tends to get as overused as that of “guerrilla” in the late 1980’s there is a dire need for sales professionals to focus on the value they provide. Organizations must strategize and help selling professionals articulate a message that attracts clients and helps manifest the brand. The use of value propositions and audio logs will be helpful here. Forget the “Elevator Speeches” and assist the team with the articulation of value.
2. Relationship – Just sitting at my desk writing this post I received two cold calls. These are transactional methods that do not work today. Consumers are simply too busy in this world with too much interference. They lack time and attention and will not reply to a cold call from someone “pitching” products and services. Transition your sales team to become less transactional and motivate them to create customer-centered relationships with true buyers.
3. True Buyer – We all know the power of negotiating with the decision maker but are your sales professionals really speaking with the proper person? More than 86% of sales representatives spend enormous amounts of time with gatekeepers. Sales Managers must ensure sales agents are spending less time with subordinates. Sales teams must only spend time with economic buyers since they control the budget, understand the objectives and realize how your services integrate with the firm’s strategy.
4. Knowledge – The single most alarming issue for any sales manager is working with professionals that do not know what to say before hello. Similar to an athlete that must practice prior to the competition selling professionals must conduct research or homework so that they have the right questions, are aware of any objections as well as have a “script” to articulate value.  Content is king and a lack thereof will kill sales performance.
5. Behavior - Some sales managers are unclear of their talent. I have been asked many times over the years about the proper behavior for a successful representative. Too many today seek gregarious highly persuasive individuals. Behavior is dependent on the clients. When we speak of behavior there are really two issues the ability to be assertive as well as persuasive. Good selling professionals are good communicators that perform well under duress. While persuasiveness is useful it sometimes hinges on ethical boundaries since being too persuasive can equate to “pitching” products. Sales Managers must simply seek talent that understands the products, can articulate value as well as be assertive enough to generate prospective clients. Look at your team to discover whether the right individuals are sitting in the dugout.
6. Need – Sales professionals harm themselves and future business when they cannot establish need. The only method to ensure discovery of need is with terrific questioning skills. These questions are based on client objectives, the measurements to ensure success and the value to the organization. These questions should be scripted. True buyers will provide the answers. However the path to success is based on the selling professional that can lead the buyer in a clear direction.
7. Priority – With the crazy world in which we operate both buyers and sellers are extremely busy. The issue then becomes what is a priority. If sellers want to close business then the actual sale must be a priority to the buyer. When buyers do not see a priority the seller has failed to establish value and meet prospective client objectives. It is vital for every seller to establish value and illustrate the priority to buyers otherwise the sales cycle becomes very long as everything else takes precedent.

 

Selling today similar to many technological tools requires more innovative concepts. The notion is working smarter not harder. This requires a relentless focus on customer value so as to shorten the cycle and better performance.

 

Sales Managers what best practices do you teach your selling personnel so that they create value and better performance. Alternatively what ”killer apps” have you experienced in your sales team and how have you overcome them? Please provide comments in the area below.

 

© 2011. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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