Image: Grow The Business

Every sales trainer since the turn of the 20^th century has proselytized that open ended questions are the key to sales success.  Those glorious questions like “How do you market your business?”, How would you describe your relationship with your current supplier?” and “How do you differentiate yourself in the market place?” are a constant in any sales training revival session.

The thought is that these types of questions will get your customer to leap to his feet and open up to you about his motivations, beliefs and values.

Except when they don’t.   The reality is that open ended questions are effective when there is already a good degree of trust established.  Open ended questions asked when trust is low can feel intrusive and just too much work to answer.  Both of these feelings by the way, shut down the sales process.

Here’s why it happens.  When you ask,   “I’m curious, how do you market your business?”  The client often thinks “Who the heck are you asking me that?” (The client rarely says this out loud, but rather will insert “brush off” language like “I’m really happy with my current supplier”).   The client could think as well “Gee, that’s complicated and you know what?, I’ve got work to do”.  Both of these reactions are the result of an unbelieving, untrusting audience.

There’s a better way to get at the same information when trust is low.

Here’s how:  Say “I’m curious, is the business marketed online, offline or both?”   Think psychologically why this makes more sense:

1. You took the “you” and “your” out of the question.  When trust is low a question about how you do something (especially something important like “marketing”) is a little too personal.  By saying “is the business marketed…” defers to something that, while it may be close to the client’s heart, is an it and not a you.

2. You gave options like “marketed online, offline or both?”.   Every Malcolm Gladwell Blink reader knows that options help decisions to be made and ideas to be chosen.   Wide open questions with no options, especially in this harried, rushed world, can stop communication altogether.  If the client has choices of responses, they are more likely to respond.

So here’s the message.  Take your list of open ended questions and ask yourself a closed ended one before you use them. “Does the client/prospect trust me or my company enough to be asking these questions this way?” If the answer is “no” or “I don’t know”, take the “you” out of the question and add options to choose from. >>Read the rest of Mark’s advice here.

Customer Think suggests that there are three primary reasons why customer strategies fail:

1. You measure the wrong things – Good strategy is the result of careful, intelligent analysis; however, the old maxim “garbage in, garbage out” applies here. One way to avoid this shortcoming would be to conduct a pre-program strategic assessment – this step will allow you to learn not only the key customer touchpoints, but also identify the critical needs of key stakeholders in the process. It will also help you make certain you are profiling the customers the right way and focusing on the most critical.
2. You make the wrong decisions – Even if you measure the right data, there is no guarantee you will make the right decisions. Some of this is related to the data itself and that is the direction of where the market in total is heading. Every decision is framed not only by the data you observe, but also by your outlook on the competitive environment in general. To ensure you get it right, there are three recommendations:

• Include competitive assessments in your loyalty measurement program – Having an idea on your position relative to the competition can help fine-tune your analysis. You can read more about benchmarking options in this series.
• Commit to ongoing measurement – This does not necessarily mean an ongoing data collection effort; rather, it is about knowing when to re-assess the customer landscape to ensure you are accounting for all the relevant issues. Most clients do this every 18 to 24 months at a minimum.
• Build macro and micro-level strategic plans – The overall strategy that emerges from the statistical analysis is best used in the context of focal areas that have the greatest impact on the greatest number of customers; however, building more micro-level, customer-based action plans will ensure you are accounting for the individual differences that exist among customers.

3. You do not take action – This is the one we tend to see the most. The phenomenon of acting in ways that are not in your best interest is less about intelligence and more about discipline. I tend to use diet and exercise as an example – I know I should exercise more and eat less, but it is far easier to do the opposite. The key disciplinary elements needed to take action? Organization, process, communication, and motivation.

Certainly there are many reasons strategies can fail; however, I suspect that most of the reasons would fit into this framework. Being mindful of the potential pitfalls that may exist can help you be more proactive in building a plan that will maximize your probability of success. >>Read the full article here.

B2B marketers across industries have one fundamental goal in common: ensuring their sales team has a surplus of qualified leads to draw on to meet their goals. If marketing isn’t generating leads, sales can’t sell . . . and that means something needs to change.

Unfortunately, the process of delivering promising leads gets more and more complicated every year. Marketing methods are evolving and changing rapidly, and the proliferation of channels has created a complex web of touchpoints. According to a recent study from B2B online, Online Marketing: The Next Frontier of Email, Display, Search & Social, more than six out of every ten B2B marketers (63 percent) find it difficult to meet the demands of the sales pipeline with their current set of approaches.

Image: Business2Community

Many of the challenges B2B marketers face involve qualifying leads in the digital era, and then tracking the effectiveness of digital campaigns. They’re having trouble with:

1. Tracking marketing campaigns

2. Not having enough qualified leads

3. Sales acceptance of leads

4. Less interaction between buyers and sales representatives.

But, can marketers leverage this online trend to their advantage? What information can be gleaned from online conversations, and can this data be integrated into the pipeline? >> Read the rest of the article to find out.

Image: SalesCrunch

Customers are the backbone of any business. Without customers, a business simply can’t survive. When prospects first approach your company, it’s typically in the best interest of the organization to treat them with respect. For better or worse, a business must build trust with their prospects, even those who never seem to buy anything. Why? Because bad customer service prompts customers to spread rumors about your business. And like it or not, word-of-mouth–especially in a social world–is what marketing is all about. It doesn’t matter how often a customer sees your gorgeous advertising or Google AdWords, when push comes to shove, customers overwhelmingly listen to a friend’s advice about their personal experiences.

It is essential to develop trust with your customers and prospects. The best way to do this is to find a way to interact with them in a meaningful way that reinforces trust. If you can find out what matters to your customers most, you can develop lasting relationships with your them.

But how do you build trust?

Like anything, start with the “Golden Rule” and treat them as you would like to be treated. If you offer to give them a specific level of service, don’t qualify it by saying, “Yeah, I know that is what we said, but this is what we meant to say.” Own your mistakes, give the customer what they pay for and above all, don’t ever go back on your word. Don’t promise the world when you know you can’t deliver and don’t overestimate your abilities. While it’s important to strive for excellence, it is always better to exceed customer expectations than to under-deliver.

Read the rest of the article here.

1. Four Ways to ‘Pull the Plug’ on a Sales Rep: One of the most difficult responsibilities of sales management is to terminate a sales rep.  Unfortunately, over 78% of sales managers in our surveys also indicate they don’t really know how to prepare do it.  >>Read article.

2. Sales Relationships, 80-20: Fact or Myth? The 80-20 Rule: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Now, with all the talk of value-based selling and relationship building, a new application has appeared: Sales is 80% relationships and 20% business. True or false? >>Read article.

3. 9 Ways to Package Your Solutions Better: Prospects today are bombarded with websites, speeches, and seminars that contain glittering generalities and do not distinguish the sales people from their competition. What’s a better option? >>Read article.

4. Are Your Prospecting Results Disappointing? Sales-centric selling is a problem that persists today. Just this past month, I have been discussing this issue with a group of top sales and marketing consultants. The vast majority of prospecting calls and emails we all receive are sales-centric filled with “me” statements, “my products, our services, our existing clients…” >>Read article.

5. What Did You Call Me? The Power and Peril of Salesperson Titles: There are many different titles used for sales people, but there are consequences when you use the wrong one. Learn how to select the right title for your sales roles here. >>Read article.

The 80-20 Rule: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

This concept is actually called the “Pareto principle,” named by business-management consultant Joseph Juran after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population and developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.

80-20 has become a rule of thumb in business:

• - 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers
• - 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers
• - 80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend
• - 80% of your sales come from 20% of your products
• - 80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff

Now, with all the talk of value-based selling and relationship building, a new application has appeared:

Sales is 80% relationships and 20% business.

This application of the 80-20 rule is flawed for a number of reasons, but primarily because it operates under the assumption that every business relationship you build is with a potential prospect: they’re all looking to buy and it’s just a matter of when.

The fact is, if there isn’t a need or pain and a corresponding solution, there won’t be a sale – no matter how strong your “relationship” is. Though value-based selling does put a heavy emphasis on building trust and maintaining relationships, there doesn’t appear to be a clear definition of what those two terms mean. I think they’re better defined as credibility (trust) and rapport (relationship) with the prospect with whom you’re already speaking with.

In short, the 80-20 for relationships and business doesn’t apply – just because you’re on good terms with your prospect doesn’t mean that strategy goes out the window. We should be establishing relationships (rapport) as part of our business practice, not separating the two.

When to fire your customers. (image: Sales Crunch)

1. Cold Calling Gets a Facelift: Long presumed “dead,” iProfile weighs in on the transformation of cold calling. >>Read article.

2. When Is It Appropriate to Fire a Customer? Sales Crunch had the web buzzing this week with a startling new concept: the customer might be wrong. >>Read article.

3. Stop Proposing and Start Selling: Ron Karr, business transformation expert, dishes out advice on how to sell more in less time by being more selective with your proposals. >>Read article.

4. Why You Won’t Be Successful: Sales strategist Dan Waldschmidt for Eyes on Sales writes how success means having to do things that hurt on days when you’re already hurting. >>Read article.

5. There Are No Shortcuts to Successful Selling: Dave Cooke, growth expert and CEO of Strategic Resource Group, is never looking to “close a deal.” >>Read article.

Image: ronnkarr.com

If you really want to sell more in less time, stop wasting your time on writing proposals that are unqualified and unnecessary.

A proposal should be a summary of the agreed upon issues that need to be resolved with proposed deliverables and investment figures.  Understand the key word here is AGREED UPON.

How much time does it take you to write a proposal?  I have seen cases where it may take from 15 minutes to as much as a few days depending on how complex the sale is.  How many times do you do this in a year?  How many of these proposals actually turn into business?  In most cases the closing percentage is very low because most proposals are unqualified.By unqualified I mean you are writing proposals when:

• - Appropriate need is not identified
• - Customer is not really interested in your solution
• - Customer tells you to please send proposal (many times done to get rid of the salesperson)

By now you get the point a huge amount of time is wasted.  So when should you write a proposal?  When the following conditions are met:

1. 1. Legitimate need is identified and there is urgency to solve problem
2. 2. Customer shows legitimate interest in your solution by asking you the right questions
3. 3. There are appropriate budgets or commitment to find the money
4. 4. Decision makers and decision process are identified
5. 5. There is an agreed upon time set to either present proposal in person or review by phone
6. 6. There is a time commitment as to when the decision will be made (if the decision won’t be made for a few months, why are you sending the proposal now?)
7. 7. You are so sure you are on the short list for this deal that you start forecasting it with a confidence factor of 70% or more.

If you have not met the above conditions, then either get the information you need to justify the proposal or move on to another customer that gives you a better chance of getting the deal.

Time is money.  You control that.  Don’t waste a whole lot of money and time writing proposals that won’t sell!

Read more business development advice from Karr here.

Haven’t you heard? Cold calling is dead.

There’s no doubt that this statement has received an almost comical amount of attention in sales magazines, blogs, and message boards in recent months. A quick search yielded the following article titles, which range in response from emphatic agreement, to fervent disagreement, to just plain confused:

• - Cold Calling is NOT Dead!
• - The Truth About Why Salespeople Don’t Like Cold Calling
• - Why are people saying cold calling is dead?
• - “Cold Calling Is Dead” Is a Lie!
• - Cold Calling is DEAD… Inbound Marketing Lives!
• - Why Cold Calling is DEAD
• - Who says cold calling is dead?

I’ve personally participated in message boards where this debate has come to digital blows and watched as the level of conversation quickly deteriorated with the sales equivalent of yo’ mama jokes (i.e. “You couldn’t close a door” and other gems).  As a result, ‘Cold Calling is DEAD’ has become meaningless buzzspeak in the sales realm.

Whether you agree or disagree, it’s obvious that the way in which people sell has evolved with the technology and tools available to them. I’d like to propose that cold calling as we know it has changed, but isn’t “dead” – mostly because I’m not morbid and partly because I’m right.

Cold calling is picking up the phone, running your finger (or cursor) down a list, and trying to speak to someone with whom you have no previous relationship. There’s nothing wrong with cold calling as a strategy and it has proven to be effective, but people would like to argue that a true cold call – speaking to a prospect you know zilch about – no longer exists.

The change I’m referring to has to do with the way sales teams research. Before you pick up the phone, odds are you’ve at the very least checked out your prospect’s LinkedIn profile, fired up the Google Machine for relevant news, and visited the press releases section of the company website. Beyond that, you can hire a research team, have Sales Support pre-qualify your leads, or enlist the help of sales intelligence providers.

However you choose to go about researching the name-behind-the-number to take your prospect from “cell A71” to “John Smith, EVP of Widgets Inc., previously of Gadgets Corp” – isn’t the point. The “death of cold calling” simply refers to the availability of information, the ease with which you can gather this information, and the improvements in tools and technologies to help you organize and prioritize it all.

In short, cold calling isn’t dead. It got a facelift. So unless you’re posting “Cold Calling: Before and After” pics, I think it’s safe to say this topic is closed for discussion.

For further reading, check out Inc. Magazine’s collection of tips and advice for developing “the most difficult skill in sales” here: Inc. Magazine Guide: Tips and Sales Techniques for Cold Calling

1. ‘Why’ is the key to gaining access. In general, we’re seeing vendors with a sharply defined WHY gain access to new leads faster, and more predictably, than those who lack a clear WHY (or at least one that matters to their buyers).

2. Old habits die hard. Most of our clients are dealing with revenue uncertainties. When faced with such uncertainties, we’re seeing an enormous temptation for firms and their salespeople to persist with past practices. Old habits die hard; this cycle of comfortable conformity impoverishes learning and, when things go poorly, it drains passion. Overcoming them requires personalized learning that seeds a courage + curiosity to try new approaches.

3. The fast past to success is paved with fast learning. As Victor Chang notes, in uncertain times firms with the fastest decision cycles – firms able to adapt faster than others – will be the winners everyone else notices thru gains in market share.

Read the full article here.