Welcome to The Pipeline.

Influencing Sales and Sellers!0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

There were two lists recently release by two different organizations you should all be aware of and make use of. They both list sales influencers. The first is Top Sales World’s Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers 2013, the other is OpenView Sales Labs Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013.

What you will find on these list are a set of professionals with a wide range of advice, resources and ideas focused on helping you sell better. What qualifies them for this list is not a common view of sales, in fact the people on the lists come from and offer contrasting views on sales and sales methodologies, but they are all experts in their field, which is why they are on these select list, some on there over multiple years.

I encourage you to get familiar with them as you are not only bound to discover many new ideas, have current successful ideas reinforced, and all in all sell better.

I have the honour of not only being on both lists, but being a repeat appearance on both. For that I not only have to thank the committees tasked with producing a list that lives up to billing, but more importantly, you the loyal readers and supporters of this blog and my work elsewhere.

Thank you,

Tibor Shanto

You’re Great At What You Do – But What You’re Doing Isn’t That Great0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

One of the things that makes great sales leaders great, is their ability to delicately balance various and at time juxtaposing dynamics in sales. One of the more subtle but potentially very impactful of these is in achieving structured change and improvement in the way their organizations and individual sales people sell in changing environments. Specifically the need to do the right things through the sales cycle, and – executing those actions well.

The challenge is to strike the balance between doing the right things and doing those things consistently better.

Organizations should be striving to create an environment and process that evolves with the demands of the market, which by definition means a continuous evolution in the way buyers buy, and the way sellers sell. This does not mean daily or weekly changes, nor does it imply dramatic change, but over the course of time, say over 12 – 24 months there will be clear differences and movements in your buyers’ expectations, at times even the buyers themselves, and in the way your product is sold and how your sales reps interact with the market. This in turn means the way you need to sell, the “right things’ you need to do and execute to win sales, will also change.

While this change or evolution is desirable and good, it does impact the other side of the scale, the “doing things better” side. Just as you begin to make progress on one skill set, or element of the sales process, change happens, making improvement a challenge, although not impossible. The reality is that improving sales skills is not an overnight process like many try to pretend, as a result it is entirely possible that just as you gain competence and confidence in a given skill, the market will require that you change, and acquire additional skills which will take time to learn and master. Starting the cycle over again. This is why the difficulty in achieving a balance between doing the right thing and doing it better.

Companies deal with this in a number of ways. Some choose to adopt core practices, and then spend time ensuring that their teams are improving their execution over time. The up side, better execution, the downside, the skill is no longer relevant or revenue generating. For an example of this, just look at the experience of those in industries moving to managed services from a previous product or similar sale, look at IT or print as an example. IT players spent years perfecting the break fix sales or solution sales, when everything changed, from the buyer to the way they sell to that buyer.

Others will send individual sales reps to different programs provided by different third parties. Some have told me that this allows for different ideas, and these will be shared among their team. Interesting concept, I have yet to see it implemented well, and usually leads to many inconsistencies as a result of disparate inputs, certainly makes it hard to have a cohesive process.

One company I know invites a motivational speaker each year, their goal is to “pump up the troops, provide a little magic, and set them loose”. While this may be fun, a 60 minute “motivational” presentation at a kick-off meeting, is a lot like cotton candy, sweet, fun, little nutritional value, and does not last much beyond the sugar high; it gets some laughs, some one-liners you can throw around the rest of the year, but does little get people to think, and does not ensure adoption of newly required skills. Without adoption, there is neither improvement nor change, especially for adults who already have day jobs. A consistent focus on adoption leveraging practice and a follow-through process, including a series of hands on sessions extended over a period of months, as we do with our programs, will drive adoption, which results in a change in how people sell. Once you get them to implement, then you can work on helping them do it better, but again, shifts in market expectations. But the reality still remains that just as they do it better they may be required to change.

One thing we do with our clients is to shift the focus of the sale, getting them to look at and focus on the buyer’s objective over other things, such as solutions. The challenge in focusing on solely on solutions, is it leads to sales people running around the country side, where everyone they run in to looks like a problem that is right for their solution.

Many buyers have much greater clarity about where they want to go, their objective, than how they want to get there, the solution. By changing the focus of the sale, you not only get deeper and better engagement, but you can adopt a specific interview style and process that drives engagement around the buyer’s objectives. This creates a sort of “pull-through” effect, as the markets and individual client’s objectives evolve and change, so does the way you sell, and meet those newly evolving requirements.

Beyond the many benefits of putting their objectives in the bulls-eye, it allows organizations to create a real balance between getting your teams to sell the right way, while allowing them to execute better before introducing new ways to sell.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

The Sales Version of Chicken or Egg – Sales eXchange 2050

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

For many the age old question continues to be which came first the chicken or the egg, and while some have claimed to have the answer, there is a similar one playing out in B2B sales.

Most agree that you need to develop and maintain relationships with buyers (then clients) to succeed in B2B selling, but there is lot of debate about which comes first the relationship, or the sale?

First thing you have to do is define “relationship”, it is one of those words in sales that people use without often quantifying or defining its meaning. Maybe the assumption is that “everyone knows” the meaning, but that is a false and risky assumption. Some use it to hide their lack of knowledge or understanding of sales, and relationship is one of those sunshine words, if you keep using it, you sound as though you are in the know and good at sales. I see this a lot when I ask sellers I work with to define sales, they’ll talk around the question, and throw in “relationship” at a few critical junctures where their response looks weak.

When you get into more formal definitions, you find two main camps. One basically states that the primary objective is the building of long-term relationships with customers from which repeat business will flow. The other, believes that relationships evolve from good results delivered on sales that were initially made before there was a relationship, based on a positive experience, the interaction continues, relationships build and evolve.

Both agree that relationships are important and make for better and more sustained business, but like the chicken and the egg, they seem to disagree on which comes first, the initial sale or the relationship. For the sake of disclosure, I tend to line up with the “sales comes first, relationships evolve” camp, rather than the camp that feels that sellers need to focus on the relationship first, and then business will flow, a definition borrowed from a popular sales glossary.

Relationship do not ensure sales. I remember having a rep in Ottawa who finally landed a big government department, when asked by her peers how she did it, she told them she established a solid relationship. She failed to mention the 10% discount she negotiated with me to close the deal. A year later, she lost the department, the only one of the many we had as clients, as we were reviewing the deal, I couldn’t help but ask what happened to the relationship?

We have all seen or experienced where buyers, not just new buyers, but established customers, ones sellers thought they had a relationship with, who end up buying from someone else. It usually comes down to either price, the other seller, the one without the relationship, being cheaper. Or even more biting, the other seller was able to convince the buyer that they can move them closer to their objectives than you. In outselling the relationship, they show that attaining objectives will trump relationship for a buyer every time.

We work in a world where companies and reps need sales to thrive, sales in the current month and quarter. This is why companies all pay commissions for sales, not for relationships. This is why it makes more sense to develop a sale, delver to or above expectations and use that as the platform for building a relationship, rather than building relationships with customers from which repeat business will flow. To be clear, I am not saying no relationship, or relationships have no vale, but that there is a sequence that delivers more for both parties, and that sequence is, start building the relationship and the sales as soon as you engage, but get the sale first, it will take time to build a real and worthwhile relationship.

So there, we have solved that one, and if you are interested, and have a sense of humour, the question of which came first the chicken or the egg, has also been answered. Again, if you have a sense of humour, you can learn about it here.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

3 Point Summer Sales Tune Up!2

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

As part of my monthly column for The Globe and Mail Report on Small Business, this month I outlined three things sellers can do to ensure that not only does summer not need to be slow or a down time, but in fact there are specific things you can do to win business, and set yourself up for the rest of the sales year.

Boost your summer sales with these three tips

This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a start, take a look, comment, let me know what you think.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

What Makes You Different?2

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

People always want to present themselves as being unique or different, even as they are lined up overnight for the latest iGadget, all adorned in the latest gadget-ware from Fashion Star. So I am rarely surprised when sales people tell they or their products are different.

I recall meeting with a VP of sales from a software company, the latest killer app, and while he agreed to take the appointment knowing what I do, it seemed his objective was to validate how their product and sale were different than anything I had seen to date. If I had $10 for every time he said “Tibor, you have to understand we are different, our product is different, and our sale (process) is different”. While I am not qualified to comment on the nature of the software, I had to ask about the sale of their software.

Me: Am I right in thinking that all your reps are all delivering quota?

VP: No, we have a couple that are, some just below, about half haven’t hit goal for the last couple years.

Me: So let me see if I understand Harvey, your people don’t have to prospect, leads and prospect are abundant, normally potential buyers are lined up around the block; it’s just because you knew I was coming this morning that you cleared the sidewalk for me?

VP: No, no, no, we need to prospect like mad, we are always looking for ways to get enough of the right prospects in the funnel, we get a web leads, but they need to prospect more.

Me: But once they get in front of the right prospect, getting the buyers to buy into your value prop, and getting to proposal is just a formality, right?

VP: No, we have to do a lot of information gathering, understand their needs, and explain what we do just to get them to actually appreciate what we can do for them. It’s a grind and a struggle for some of the AE’s.

Me: but once they articulate the value prop, and the buyer gets it, it just goes straight to signature and close.

VP: No, there is a lot of haggling, back and forth, we lose too many sales at this point.

Me: So Harvey, I may be slow, but I am not sure I see the difference.

Do you? The one area where Harvey failed to differentiate is in the way they sell. Like other mere mortals, they have to prospect, engage, execute a discovery to find common ground and gain commitment?

The difference is rarely in the product, the difference is in the way you sell. If leading products have an overlap of some 80% or more in features, capabilities and output, the only way left to differentiate is in the way you sell and interact with your buyers. If you are no different in that perspective, than there will be little difference in results moving forward.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Aligning Time Horizons (#video)0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Time is pivotal to sales success, on the plus side, it can help you better engage with potential buyers, and on the down side it can create distance and barriers between you and the buyer. One specific is the degree in which you are aligned with the buyer’s horizon. All too often we get ahead of the buyer, or fall way behind, either can slow down or cost you a sale.

Take a look at what I mean, then download our E-Booklet – Sales Happen In Time:

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Small Talk Is For Small People – Sales eXchange 2040

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

When I talk to sales people about how they start sales meetings with new potential buyers (first time they meet), most (not all) tell me they “break the ice with some small talk”, then they “get in to it!” We’ll leave the getting into it for another time, what I don’t get is the “small talk” bit, I am not sure that in the current format, as practiced by most sellers is effective, necessary, and at times can be risky to the opportunity.

I am antisocial, (although some have accused me), but spending time talking about the weather, or the useless season the local sports team is having seems counterproductive to the goal of the exercise, helping the buyer move closer to their objectives, and yours. And while the people buy from people crowd may want to pounce on me, wait. You can “break the ice”, and set the mood without having to resort to pointless gibberish.

The buyers are all busy, as I should think you are, you obviously said something that caused them to invest an hour of their time with you, it is up to you to maximize the ROT for both. Getting to the point may not the worst strategy. Some buyers may make you feel that they required “small talk”, but that is more conditioning than anything else, if you deliver value by the end of a successful meeting, they will not complain about not having their time wasted.

I am also not suggesting that you jump right into the deep end, I know that the “void” walking between the reception area and the office or meeting room has to be filled, it is how you fill it that can differentiate you from the others.

As you are doing research ahead of your meeting, look for recent events, announcements, or analyst coverage, not specifically related to your product, but significant for the company and or the person you are meeting. A while back I was meeting with a dairy company that was the first to introduce Omeg3 into a line of product, to accentuate the launch, they introduced a beveled edged carton so it would look different from the other milk cartons on the shelf.

On “the walk” from reception, I asked how the packaging was received, changes they had to make to production, and were they looking to use packaging as a differentiator way with other products. While this had nothing with what we were meeting about, it indicated to the buyer that I came prepared, that I was taking an interest in the entire business, not just the part I can sell to, and I can relate the benefit of my offering to the other responsibilities he had. In return, the information he shared with me about the above, helped me refine and better position my value vis-à-vis his objectives. Small talk, yes, but it beat talking about snow in March or the fact that the Leafs were going to miss the playoffs again.

While we think we are being social with small talk, it can and does often come up being hollow, unimportant, and does not move things forward even one millimetre, in which case, what’s the point. It is also interesting that many people who don’t like the small talk when they are buyers, rely on it when they are sellers.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Straight Commission Can Deliver Twisted Results0

The Pipeline Guest Post – Michael Villeneuve

Let’s start by imagining your only sales goal is to get reps to bring in revenue. That no customer ever buys more than once. And that only the sales rep interacts with the customer. Then, commission-only could work. It’s simple to calculate and execute. It’s easy to understand. It motivates.

But it creates a lone-wolf culture that, let’s face it, can be short-sighted.

Compensation style dictates breadth of view and company culture
Compensation affects every employee’s focus and breadth of view. If you’re a career sales person you’ve probably seen deals signed with off-target customers just to meet the quarter. And you’ve seen organizations pay the long-term price of those deals.

Straight commission rewards and drives individual effort, typically at the expense of collaboration. It pays out only for today’s top line results.

One person is the hero; the rest of the people in the office are drones. Even within the sales team, the hunters are rewarded, the farmers and service reps, not so much. Cue workplace tension!

Aligning your compensation with your goals
When Andrew Bulmer was recruited in 2011 as our Senior VP and Managing Director, he defined our goals in broad strokes as:

Build internal trust in order to get synergy and work as a team.
Build external trust through long-term robust partnerships with customers.
Focus equally on retaining on-target customers and acquiring new ones.

But we quickly realized these goals were tough to achieve when our account, sales, and media teams each had their own compensation system and culture.

Creating internal and external alignment through trust
Active International helps companies sell slow-moving or obsolete assets in return for Trade Credits. These credits are then combined with cash to purchase business goods and services, such as media, printing, freight and logistics. The big upside for our customers is that we help them avoid expensive write-offs that negatively impact their bottom line.

Trust is especially critical with our business model. First, our customers have to trust us to deliver on a faith transaction – they give us assets and we promise that they will get something in return. Next, we – and by we I mean our sales people, our account managers and our media people – have to trust each other and collaborate to make it all happen.

Now, everyone’s a salesperson
To move towards that trust, we chose a type of EBITDA compensation that rewards all of our people the same way. The EBITDA-based reward is based on the longer-term sale effects, not the immediate pay-off. So now, everyone’s a salesperson.

And it was astonishing, literally astonishing, to see how immediate the effects were on culture and behavior. Our previous system, which was more commission-based, had stood in the way of how people really wanted to work.

Suddenly everyone was seeing how they could work together to get and retain on-target customers. Now it was to everyone’s advantage to solve each other’s problems. And it was in everyone’s interest to negotiate the right contract for the right customer.

Compensation is one part of the big picture
Of course compensation is not the only factor. At the same time as we changed compensation, we gave our people greater access to decision-making. We allowed them more control over their own schedules. And we launched a peer recognition program.

Sharing connections, generating results
We used to lean more on cold calls. But now we use a referral sales approach. The first step was to get everyone on LinkedIn. Once we did that, we had 10,000 connections, including happy clients, to act as references and help with introductions. Next was to work out who our target customer was – their goals, their challenges, their needs and their key decision makers.

Results? The culture shift has pushed us to the next level of growth. Top-line sales are up more than 30% and we’ve added six major on-target customers in the past 12 months.

Can commission-only work in the corporate world?
I love the process of establishing trust with what were once arms-length prospects. And now that we’ve got a compensation system that motivates us to show the customer just how much we can offer, we’re all incented to go that extra mile

I’ll go out on a limb and say straight commission is no longer a valid model in corporations that rely on (and really, who doesn’t?) customer loyalty. It divides and separates – colleagues from colleagues, and sellers from buyers. I’ve always agreed with Benjamin Franklin’s words: “Gentlemen, we must hang together, or we will surely hang separately.”

About Michael Villeneuve

Michael Villeneuve is Group Vice President of Sales at Active International Canada. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

How Many Sales People Can Dance On The Head Of A Pin?0

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Ever wonder why some companies can generate as much revenues with less sales people than others with more? I think it has to do with the hoarder mentality that permeates sales thinking. “The more territory, the more accounts I get, the better I will do”. Yet often the opposite is true, more often than not, less is more in sales accounts and territories.

I remember when I was given responsibility for a new region, eight sales people looking after 13 states. First thing I asked them to review the status of their top ten accounts, recent activity, and their specific plans for the next 12 months (pre CRM days). Each of the eight territories, had some 300 – 500 accounts; on average, the top ten accounted for 72% of revenues in the territories, ranging from a low of 64% to a high of 82%. Coincidentally, around the percentage mark of where they were to quota. Their coverage plan was routine rather than inspiring, and growth was going to be more from momentum and rhythm, rather than execution of a structured plan.

I then asked them when they last saw or spoke to account number 25, account number 51, and number 100. As you may expect, #25, sometime in the last six months, one remembered speaking to number 100 at Christmas, mostly because they called in to update their password, a call they transferred to their inside account support person.

When I asked them what can be done to hit their goals, all but one suggested that we add accounts to their territories that were homeless due to a recent departure. When I suggested that I was actually planning to go the other way, reduce the number of accounts down to about 50 per rep, the hording gene really kicked in. “That crazy Canadian, I always knew they were socialists, he is looking to nationalize my accounts, reduce my empire”.

Well I wasn’t going to nationalize, but give it to the support team, who were dealing with accounts number 50 and on as it was. This would make for less clutter for the territory reps, and provide the clarity they needed to work with their clients, prospect for new opportunities, and drive success. They thought I was nuts, when I suggested they can have as many accounts as they want to prospect and bring on, 20, 50, 100, whatever they liked. But with nearly 72% of their revenue coming from ten accounts, it would be easier to grow the ten, add a few juicy new accounts to make goal, rather than spending their time counting accounts from a distance.

The hoarding gene is strong in sales; after all, some of these reps become managers, then directors, and eventually VP’s. You can tell when you meet them, the solution to everything is adding more resources, more territory, more reps, more accounts; behind on the numbers, “give me another rep”. At the same time you meet others, who after analysing the data, look to optimize territories to maximize client experience and revenues, shrinking territories to create focus, rather than growing them and creating dilution.

One of the only good things to be said for the recession is it showed many organizations that they could in fact deliver more numbers with less headcount. Reducing creates focus which drives creativity, when you reduce, the competent reps step up and deliver, while others demonstrate why you may be better off with less. Sellers always tell you that in sales it is “quality over quantity”, why not apply that to territories and reps as well?

So to answer the question as to how many reps can dance on the head of a pin? A lot less than you think you need to have on that head.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

How to and Why to Cold Mail – Sales eXchange 2032

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

If you are a regular at this blog, you know that I am big proponent and supporter of cold calling. I don’t fall into a camp. I think clod calling is a necessary part of a multipronged approach for engaging with potential buyers you have not have not spoken to before, or have a means of generating a referral to. While social media is a big plus, there are times when still the most direct, cost and time efficient to get “in front” of someone is to pick up the phone and make a cold call.

Unlike some others who will tell you to use only one method over another, I have more respect for your intelligence and time than to tell you to only cold call and ignore referral selling, I believe you need to leverage as many tools and resources as are available to you to get you message to the right person. Furthermore, the reality is that in some markets, with some products, where the audience is not involved in social media, or is unreachable through referral, your choices are limited, especially if your goal is to engage and sell, not just to look cool and modern.

One key reason you want to use as many tools as possible, is that it could take many touch points to get someone to engage, not to buy, but just to engage, depends who you read it could take anywhere between 5 – 9 touch points for the nickel to drop with a potential buyer. Consider:

48% Of Sales People Never Follow Up with a Prospect
25% Of Sales People Make a Second Contact and Stop
12% Of Sales People Make a Second Contact and Stop
Only 10% Of Sales People Make More Than Three Contacts
10% Of Sales Are Made On the Fourth Contact
80% Of Sales Are Made On the Fifth to Twelfth Contact

To make the most of the touch points, you need to mix up the modes of approach. As with most tools, it is important you use the right one for a desired outcome. What follows assumes:

• You need to have a direct conversation with the prospect to sell successfully, either face to face or by telephone. • The e-mail in question is your very first attempt to reach the prospect.

Given the above, especially the second point, you need to determine what your objective is. If you have never spoken to the buyer, the objective is clear, to schedule a firm time for the first conversation. It is not to sell, deliver your value prop, start a relationship, or anything other than getting their commitment to speak at a specified time. You want a call back to confirm the call, or as you will see in a moment, to actually schedule a meeting. If your goal is different than that, what follows may not be for you. On the other hand if you have never spoken to them before, and you need to direct, then what other outcome could you hope for?

The Format

Keep it short, two or three lines – in a 140 character world, you need to focus. Chances are your e-mail will be read on a mobile device, if you don’t capture them in that first screen, you won’t. You may get one flick of the thumb, the second will be to delete.

The Subject Line – think of how you do things, first question do I know this person? If not, you look at the subject line, if it doesn’t grab you, delete. If it does, you may open it, as a result the subject line is crucial, as the reader will not know you. This is why your subject line should be your call to action with a question mark.

Example (from a few years back):

Subject: Meeting June 30, 9:30 am?

Dear Mr. Prospect,

I am Tibor Shanto Principal with Renbor Sales Solutions, over the last three years we have helped The Business Development Bank of Canada set more appointments with Canada’s small business owners. I read about The Scotia Bank RV, and am writing to set up a meeting to discuss how we may help you and Scotiabank reach your objective.

How is Monday June 30th at 9:30 am?

Thank you in advance, Tibor Shanto

Result, within 90 minutes, I had response saying the date did not work, but they suggested an alternative time for us to meet.

Doesn’t work every time, about 10% – 20% of the time it does, but it is just one of many tools. Combined with voice mail, a presence in social media, and you have an effective means of engaging, or at the least, an effective touch point.

An interesting observation, while the perfect result is 10 – 20 percent, I do see a number of people visiting my site after getting the e-mail, and while many may not call back, when I follow up with my next touch point, they are more aware of who and why. When they visit the site, check out the blog, see what I am up to on social media, I am willing to bet, that some of the appointments I get through other channels with these same people was helped by the initial short and direct e-mail.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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