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Shock Treatment – Sales eXchange 1922

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Last Monday I posted about the overlooked opportunity in that segment of buyers know as Status Quo, pundits and sellers alike commiserating each other about the difficulty of selling to a ready group of buyers, vs. taking orders from self-declared buyers.

I’ll be the first to admit change is hard, especially for business buyers who have their handful, trying to make headway in a competitive market. Change is time consuming, a drain on resources, creates upheaval, usually expensive, and fraught with risk, for the organization and the individual at the centre of the decision. Moving the dial with these types of buyers requires more than a bit of effort, which is why change is also hard for sellers; it is much easier and safer to rationalize, and wait for a referral.

This is why there is a healthy and growing industry of sages ready to sell indisposed sellers every mean of just waiting at the edge of the forest, encouraging them to wait for something to come out to them, rather than entering the fray and winning business most sellers seem reluctant to peruse.

How much effort does it take? Well take a minute, step back and look around you and study what it takes for people to make critical changes in key their lives. Frighteningly, you discover that people don’t often make big changes, right changes, preferring to avoid and live with the consequences of the Status Quo. Even when they know that the new state is preferable to their existing one. The naive notion which many buy into that people will move to a better mouse trap has cost both sellers and buyers much time and money. You can build the better mouse trap, Trap 2.0, and people will rodent infestation will maybe look your way, then rationalize why they shouldn’t beat a path to your door.

Don’t believe me, how many people do you know who continue to smoke, even after their father expired due to lung cancer; how many people do you know who continue to biggie size it, despite the fact that they have to buy a new wardrobe every six months? People can change these with a effort if they wanted to, but it takes effort. How many times have you watched companies go to the brink or beyond because the devil they knew was a better alternative to the one they didn’t know?

The answer is not offering the “right” or “better” solution, or in becoming their friend. It is about penetrating the barriers the buyers have erected to protect their current state. Your only choice is to shock them, shock your way past their fortress of hope. Hope it will work out, hope it will last, and hope no one will notice. For the “be found crowd”, this is not an issue, the buyer has dismantled the barriers, and are ready to change, but for the Status Quo, intervention time.

Now I am not talking about clamping a couple of electrodes to your buyer’s temples (or elsewhere); but I am talking about asking hard and very direct questions, which at best could be called provocative, at worst a punch below their reality belt. One does not have to be rude, but one does have to shake things up, which means the ultimate relationship you have starts out a bit rough, but ends up being a solid one, built on being a reliable resource, not a cuddly friend.

There is plenty of writing and thinking out there about how to succeed with the Status Quo, mine, others who provide means and questions you can use. But the first step is for you as a seller to recognize and decide how you want to deliver value to your buyer. Once you decide that you can do more than just take orders from ready buyers, and win more business who may not think they need you or your offering, there are plenty of resources to help you, but as with other changes, you need to first admit that you are a card carrying member of the Status Quo.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Short Cuts – Do it Now or Do it Later0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

The pressure of time, or more specifically, a lack of time, for sales professionals continues to build for sales professionals. Sales people often ask me for ways to achieve something by skipping steps or finding short cuts for critical steps of the cycle. Especial when there are specific things that have to be executed in one stage of the cycle/process before you can move to the next; some may not seem important at the time, but are fundamental to a successful sale, and there is no escaping them. In some ways in sales it is very much like the old Fram commercial, you can do it now, or you can do it later.

In an environment of declining resources and increased demands and expectations, utilization of time continues to grow as one of the most critical skills for successful sellers. Given the choice between someone who is a good seller or a good user of time, give me the time skilled individual any day. Doesn’t matter how good you are, if you can’t get around to using the skill. Notice I have avoided the term “time management”, because it is never about managing time, but about how we choose to allocate and use time for critical activities; activities are what need to be managed. In most instances, with all things being equal, it is more likely that you miss deals because you ran out of time, rather than running out of skills.

With all the pressure growing each hour and day into the depleting selling year, it is not a surprise that sellers are always seeking short cuts, or tips to reduce time. While I understand what’s driving the desire, I would caution you to focus on the objective and desired outcome(s). Better to look at a sale as an exercise in building. You need to build a solid foundation before you erect the house on top. If you rush things, opt for a short cut and start before the foundation is dry, you’re going to have to go back and do it again, do it right, which will cost time, resources and money.

One example is the propensity to present proposal way too soon, long before key facts are uncovered. I know sellers face tremendous pressure, especially when others are willing to submit at the drop of a hat, but in the end, a bad proposal is a bad proposal no matter how fast you get it in, which why so many come down to price, no foundation.

I was taught that there are five things that have to be in place in order for a proposal to be properly underpinned and solid. Sure I can submit with only four, but more times than not, I have to go back and resell that missed portion or the whole thing. Slowing me and the sale down, if not risking it all together. Again, I know there is pressure, and the other guy is in, but I am will to bet they usually win on price not based on value or the merit of the product or proposal.

The problem with short cuts in sales, is the same as the oil filter, you can do it right the first time, or you can do it later. Problem with later is that it ends up sucking up more time, money and nerves.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

What’s Improving – Your Sales OR Orders?2

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

As the economy continues to show hints of progress, and business picks up, it is important to understand the nature of the improvements in sales you and your company experience. Taking into account the old adage “all boats rise with the tide”, you need to be able to discern where your growth is coming from. Is it from increased sales, or just an increase in orders due to an improving economic environment; and yes Sunshine, there is a difference, much like the difference between sales professionals and order takers.

More than ever, having a defined sales process, with supporting metrics is a must. Without that, you may easily mistake increased revenues with improved sales or selling, when in reality the improvement may be organic. Increased demand, leading to an uptick in orders or improved selling, the two are very different, but often mistaken.

In fact, this is one of the risks of relying strictly on a single lagging indicator – Revenues, rather than a mix of leading and lagging indicators. In many ways you can look at it the way investors look at interest rates paid on fixed income instruments, where they back out the rate of inflation from the total rate they receive from an instrument to arrive at the real rate. Think of the organic increase in orders as inflation, and the real rate as YOUR ability to sell more or better in a given market. All sellers benefit from a rise in demand, only those who focus on selling will grow sales beyond the herd, and get more than their share of growth. Increased market share is always a good thing.

To avoid being caught, you need understand your intra-sale conversion rates, understanding if in fact you are doing a better job of converting leads to prospects, prospects to proposals and proposals to wins. By measuring these and other critical points you will know if you are just benefiting from an increase in demand – more leads, or ability to convert those leads. If you have a 4:1 lead to prospect rate, then it goes without saying that you’ll have more sales from six leads than 4, 1.5 sales vs. 1. But if your sales and selling skills improve, and you can move to a 3:1 ratio, you’ll sell proportionally more. This is important in down markets too, but people get fooled in up markets when the wind is in their sails.

Once you understand these measures, you can set goals for theses (or other) conversions from stage to stage, and benefit from the compounding effect, and increase both real and organic sales. With goals and metrics in place, it is much easier to develop and Execute a tactical plan, you will be in a position to adjust or change your model to ensure continuous growth and skills improvements.

Not knowing can create more than false comfort, it could lead you to make wrong decisions, and by the time you realize, you may be left too far behind the competition.

What’s In Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Solving The E-Mail Black Hole1

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and intrigued by some of the possibilities presented in the original and even Star Trek NG. Interesting how some of the things that seemed farfetched, now are not. One that always fascinated me was the black hole; little did I think we would experience it in selling, specifically when using e-mail.

We all wonder when we hit that send button “what will happen with this e-mail?” Will it reach its desired destination will it invoke the desired reaction, what reaction will it initiate, what will its fate be, ignored, read over and over, create action? Hard to tell in the black hole that is e-mail.

Sure, you can ask for a “read receipt”, so what, the is still an information void because all you know is if the opened it, you don’t know if someone read it more than once, where, if they read it on their phone or office or both, or if there is any interest. For salespeople, this creates “prospect paralysis” because they don’t know whether to follow up and, if so, when and how.

But recently I discovered a tool that helps me have a better grip in the black hole. ContactMonkey, a new smart email tracking service for Outlook and Gmail that tells me in real-time if, when, how many times and where a message is opened, as well as what device or browser was used.

Armed with this knowledge, a salesperson has valuable and actionable insight to make better and more informed selling decisions and actions, so they can focus on the most promising prospects and opportunities.

The idea for ContactMonkey emerged when Scott Pielsticker, a serial entrepreneur, was frustrated with not knowing if his sales pitches were getting read or were resonating. To solve this problem, ContactMonkey’s developers created the software, which was recently launched.

Here is an example, a seller fires off an e-mail to a prospect. After the email has been sent, the salesperson will be able tell if and when the email has been opened, which is a great starting point. The more the message is opened, the more interest someone likely has in the proposal.

But there’s even more insight that can be gleaned. Where was it read, what device was it opened on. ContactMonkey allows you to know if a message was opened on a mobile device, within the Chrome browser or Outlook. If an email is originally opened on an iPhone, and then opened on Chrome or Outlook, it could mean the e-mail and or any attachments generated solid interest.

The same approach works for location. An email opened by recipients in Toronto, Boston and London is another indication of good interest. Especially if you are working with prospects with decision makers in multiple locations, as it makes its way around you gain insight.

For salespeople, this information makes it easier to focus on better prospects interested in their email, while they can quickly ignore or reformulate plans for prospects that paid little or no attention to their email.

For “warm leads”, you can figure out the best time to follow up. If there’s a lot of interest in a message in a short period of time, the salesperson can strike while the iron is hot — knowing that they will likely get a good reception.

ContactMonkey allows you to add a new layer of intelligence to email so salespeople — and other people who want to know if their email attracts any interest — can work better, more productively and close more deals.

I speaking with the team, they tell me they are planning to add a dashboard to let people take a holistic view of their email activity to extract key trends and best practices.

If you are a seller and you want to get more out of your email, check out ContactMonkey and see how it can help you Sell Better.

Please note – I get no commission or compensation from ContactMonkey.

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Plan Z – Sales eXchange 1831

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

I think (hope ) it is safe to say that every seller, especially B2B, has a Plan A. A road map or process for how they plan to engage with a buyer, and work with them to mutually navigate the buy and sale process to arrive at a mutually beneficial situation, each party attaining their objectives. Having said that, I still see many who wing it.

What surprises me is the number of sales people or organizations who have a game plan or playbook, that is totally one dimensional in nature. It starts by completing a pastel coloured sheet, same info, same way, every time; some have a Plan B, they go to it based on the push back to Plan A. Now this would not be a big problem if you are selling a commodity, in what can be described as a “binary” sale, but it is an absolute killer if you are selling anything that involves more than a price decision.

Rather than using a “plan” or playbook approach, it is more effective to use a mind map approach. This allows you to evolve with the buyer as you uncover facts, opportunities and aspirations. You can use Plan A to engage, and begin the process, but as each client is different (in big or small ways) you need to adapt rather than try to get the client to fit the plan or playbook.

The way to achieve this is to commit to two basic disciplines. First, is to commit to reviewing all sales transactions you are involved in, whether you won them or not. This will allow you to anticipate broad and narrow trends, and adjust your game in real time. Think of this like watching the game tapes.

To support this, you need to adopt the practice of follow through questions, not question, but questions. Most sellers tend to stay narrow and shallow, they hear something that sounds like what they need to hear, and they go with it. But if you develop the skill to ask several layers of “impact questions”, you not only get to the root of the opportunity, but differentiate yourself from those who stop at the surface or layer two. Combined these give you the grounding to go beyond what you practiced with on the nice coloured sheet, while not meandering, because in the end you still need to bring home the revenue.

Discipline is one thing, rigidity is another, this is why we introduce the concept of fluidity. Visually it may be easiest to think of this approach as a three dimensional “Sales Mind Map”. It forces you to think, anticipate and respond based on client input, while leveraging market and sales experience. It allows you to not only have a Plan A, Plan B, but a method for having options that may take you to Plan Z, all based on the buyer’s objectives and requirements.

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Don’t look around in your office for the answer, look at your prospects.

Who is a better closer, you or the buyer you are facing? In most cases the argument can easily be made that the buyer is a better closer. In more cases than not, they end up achieving their objective more than you do.

In the case of active buyers, those in the market, reaching out directly to sellers, or actively seeking input from their peer network; or passive buyers – those buyers who are not actively looking but are no longer happy with their current situation, making entrees into the market, searching the web for “what’s out there”. The buyers are usually the better closers, simply by closing you on the fact that they have other options, and unless things are done entirely on their terms, you’ll lose the deal. The more one capitulates here, the clearer it becomes that the buyer is closing the seller on the deal they want. Discounting is an issue in most verticals, either you close the buyer on the value you deliver, or they close you on what you have to surrender to win the deal.

In circumstances where there is no deal, either because the buyer bought from someone else, or decided not to make a decision, again the buyer was the better closer because they closed themselves on not buying, where the seller was not able to close them on buying. Assuming you were truly convinced that they had a need, and you qualified them, and they didn’t buy, they were the better closer.

Where sellers seems to be much better closers are with those buyers commonly called as status quo. Where the seller was able to engage in a proper manner, meaning not waiting around to be found by someone with preconceived ideas and price points, but engaged as two peers around a common opportunity. This involves a proactive approach by the seller, doing the research as to who is in a position to benefit from their offering and engaging with them as a potential means of achieving objectives, not as a latter part of a buying process that started long before the seller was aware. Where the seller takes the initiative rather than the buyer, the odds are much more even.

The reason for this is obvious but often overlooked. In the end, it is not about the close but everything that precedes it. All the elements of the EDGE Process; beyond the research, it is the prospecting Engage long before the buyer goes to market; the Discovery to help confirm the buyer’s objectives, and build value through a collaborative process that encourages the buyer to be part of the process – and part of the outcome. Leading to the point where you Gain commitment based on the mutual definition of value, and then of course Execute together with the buyer.

The ability to change the focus from close to outcome allows you to help more clients close on you.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Every morning the financial pundits stick their finger in the air, and tell us how things are looking in Europe, and the Greek crisis, then they parade a series of talking heads to support the daily view. Things look good, markets rally; things look bad, markets tank. Many sales people start their day watching these pundits on say CNBC, or on their favourite app, but fail to take away the clear and real lesson that could help them sell better and more. As a result, they end up selling like Greece.

When you boil it down, the “crisis” (real, manufactured, or imagined), boils down to a simple thing, exemplified best, (or worst) by Greece, a country that simply does not have enough money to deliver against their obligations. Yes I know this may terribly over simplify things but after all I am a pundit of sorts, and as such at the very least I have an agenda to promote; Greece just does not produce enough revenue to meet their obligation; add the contagion factor, and you have a snap shot of Europe and their crisis.

Read On…

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Today I have a bunch of things to do, so we’ll make things short, sweet and to the point, I need to prioritize and maximize my time. Coincidentally, the point of the post is about improving the results of your prioritization process, extending the return on effort.

We have all heard the expression “practice makes perfect”, there is no debate that doing something repeatedly, will help you do it better if not perfect. This is great as long as you are doing the right thing, or doing something the right way; perfecting a bad practice is not that good no matter how perfect you make it.

Forget for a moment how you prioritize your target competitive accounts, there are a number of methods you can use to make sure you are pursuing the right opportunities, based on your specific criteria and measures. It is what happens once that list is complete that I want to focus on. Change this one thing now, and you’ll close the year strong and set yourself up for 2013.

10% of sellers, will take the resulting list, put their Amazing Kreskin hat on, and proceed to second guess their work, and divine using their mystic powers who they should call, in reality who they should not call, and why, amazing powers I’ve yet to master; but I have made my numbers, where many of these psychic sellers do not.

Another 15% – 20%, will do the right thing, and pursue the best opportunities first; start with the A’s, B’s second, and C’s last. Apportioning 50% of their prospecting time to the A’s, B’s 30%, C’s 20%. Some will add a filter to make sure that the A’s represent the highest value, and greatest probability for closing.

The rest of the sellers will hit the list in alphabetical order, the way they are spit out is the way they will work the list. I am not going to change that here, but let me make a suggestion, start at the back of the list, start with the Z’s, they have never been called. Here is why, regardless of what people will tell you, activity does lead to interaction, interaction leads to prospects, prospects lead to sales; and all these things require time and your focus.

As people hit the list, improve their approach, they do get better with practice, which means as they get past the letter A and B, their prospecting is getting better, by the time they get to E, they are in a groove, and getting more traction. By the time they get past G, they have opportunities in their pipeline, they have real things to keep them busy, and they have success. And what happens to most sales people when they get some customers? They stop prospecting and “look after the customer”. As a result, the companies at the end of the alphabet have a very small percentage of sellers calling them.

Go ahead, give them a call, surprise them and yourself.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Some things in sales can be called by various names without much consequence, the underlying subject being very much the same, prospect – potential buyer, information gathering – discovery, and many others; it comes down to words not actions or outcomes. In other cases the semantics are very important, and cannot be simply interchanged for convenience. A stellar example of this is the confusion between pipeline reviews and opportunity reviews. They are not the same, you can equate a pipeline with a funnel and funnel review, it is not the same as an opportunity review, and pretending they are will cost you time and money.

For me both type of reviews are important, in many sales organizations necessary, and if not done right, or just plain not done, could have big consequences. One of the biggest is lack of engagements by the reps, many having spent countless tedious and unproductive hours in some of these meetings, simply stop taking them seriously, a disengagement that has big negative impact on success.

A pipeline review is a snapshot of the state of the pipeline and the directly contributing factors, usually activity. Regardless of how you look at your pipeline or funnel, it is likely to have a minimal number of clear stages or sections. Lead – Prospects – Pre-Proposal – Proposal – Initial (verbal) Agreement – Won Business (Closed). A pipeline review just needs to look at the opportunities at each stage – are they real, next steps, and volume based on the individual rep’s documented conversion rates. Are there enough leads to sustain the subsequent stages, and is the rep focused on the right activities. Reviewing this in a brief efficient, and frequent fashion, leads to continuous movement of the right things through the pipeline or down the funnel. You can do this review in as little as five minutes per rep, if you have 8 reps, you can be done and wiser in 40 minutes. If you have a large volume of deals you can cut it back to a more than significant representative sample that will ensure short and snappy meetings. These pipeline reviews should be done as a group, and in my opinion weekly, you don’t all need to be in the same room, and with today’s technology can be done from anywhere, including the parking lot of your next appointment.

An opportunity review is much more, and could involve a heavy dose of coaching, as such the first difference is that these are done individually with each rep, and therefore not as frequently, not more than once a month. In this meeting you review each opportunity, how the rep arrived at where they are, strategies on what to do next, and develop a specific action plan. This where the coaching is key, using the review not only to impact the outcome, but to directly impact how your reps can sell better using a real live scenario as a springboard. Helping the reps to not only widen their view of the deal, but others like it. It is an occasion to examine why some opportunities died, and why specifically some were one, or did not take a decision.

Trying to cram both into one meeting is useless, and typifies the KPI mentality many bring to the process, “did it, I can check it off the list”. They conduct these meetings neither to help their reps, or to understand the state of their pipeline (all their reps’ pipelines rolled up to one), they do it as a CYA exercise. Usually because they have to go into to a meeting with their seniors, and want to be in a position to answer questions they anticipate. If they were to conduct both types of meeting separately, ensuring they achieve what they need to from each meeting they would be way ahead. They would be in a position to directly influence the outcome of their reps activities, and by extension the outcome of the meeting with their reps and results presented. They would also be in a stronger position going into the meetings with their superiors, not only answering anticipated questions, but presenting in a way and with content that would negate the questions and focus on results.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Hanging Out with @GlobeSmallBiz: How to develop a Winning Sales strategy

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business’ Small Business interview series on Google+ Hangout. As the title suggests, we discussed a number of topics relating to sales, and sales challenges important for small business owners.

This was not only a great use of the technology, but we covered a number of key issues potential pitfalls, and opportunities for small business owners.

Take a look, comment, enjoy, and profit.

httpvh://youtu.be/A3FEyN2B4dE

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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What's In Your Pipeline?

Shock Treatment – Sales eXchange 1922

Short Cuts – Do it Now or Do it Later0

What’s Improving – Your Sales OR Orders?2

Solving The E-Mail Black Hole1

Please note – I get no commission or compensation from ContactMonkey.

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

Plan Z – Sales eXchange 1831

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

Who Is a Better Closer? – Sales eXchange 17946

Selling Like Greece!30

Read On…

Z to A – Sales eXchange 17042

Pipeline Vs. Opportunity Review – Sales eXchange 169128

Hanging Out with @GlobeSmallBiz: How to develop a Winning Sales strategy45