John Hirth's commentary on sales...

"Seduced by the big one... "

A few months ago (July), a good friend of mine shared with me that he had one of the biggest deals ever done by his company "on the tee". It was a monster, that would not only "make his year" but catapult him into "company sales history". It would take a lot of work, but in the end, be well worth it and provide the best commission year of his career. I was excited for him but worried that he might be "seduced" by the big deal and lulled into complacency. I asked how the rest of his territory was looking and he suggested "with this one in the bag I don't need anything else!" I bit my tongue and rather than risk our friendship kept my mouth shut.

Unfortunately, I've heard this story too many times and it almost always results in disappointment. First, our ego gets in the way and we are "seduced" by the notoriety we will receive when we land "the big one". Not to mention the ego strokes we get at the water cooler while bragging about the "mother of all deals". Second, it is human nature to think, with this big one on the line, we really won't have to worry about the little ones and it lulls us into a false sense of security and complacency. "I'm a big hitter now, why would I want to worry about all that little stuff? Besides, it's just as easy to close a big one rather than 10 little ones and takes less time.

So, what happens is we focus all of our attention on getting the big one to the exclusion of the little ones. In the end, what ever results occur, we're disappointed. Think about it... what are the possible outcomes?

1. You get the deal, make your year and after the celebration realize that your pipeline for the

next year is empty!

2. You don't get the deal (ouch!), and not only are you in trouble for this year, but that pipeline

for next year is still empty. Even if the deal comes in Q-1, you're in trouble.

3. The deal gets delayed, you look bad for the year, your first quarter stinks, you get fired and

your replacement comes in and gets paid when the big deal closes (talk about adding insult to

injury)! But, they buy you dinner and say thanks!

So, what do we learn? Selling is a numbers game that demands consistency and discipline... you have to be active and make calls. As much as you might be "seduced" into thinking you have found an easy way... sorry, there is no easy way. As soon as you think "you've beaten the bank" or "fixed the game" think again, there are no short cuts or replacements for consistent activity. To be seduced by the big deal and thinking that you have found your way out of "the numbers game" is a mirage. Simply put, sales success is tied to activity and thinking otherwise is suicide!

I just spoke with my friend and asked how the "big deal" was going. All I needed to hear was "well it's kind of a long story..." and I already knew what he was about to tell me. Is the story about to be re-written by you?

Action Step: Create an activity plan for yourself with a daily call goal. Don't let a day go by that does not include activity designed to make sales. If you find yourself with to many opportunities, we can handle that! We'll teach you to close early and relish in abundance! But don't get behind the eight ball and think you can stop calling just because you've been "seduced by the big one!"

Are you "committed to success in sales"?

The most successful people in any profession are usually the ones who are the "most committed to success in their chosen profession". Without real "what ever it takes" commitment, you'll end up in the middle of the pack doomed to be part of the 80% of sales people that do 20% of the business. You'll be an "amateur" not a true "professional" and your paycheck will show it!

To understand what commitment is it helps to look outside of our profession at examples of people that are truly committed to success in their chosen field. Being a Chicagoan, I need look no further than Walter Payton as a great example of someone "totally committed" to success in their chosen field. Walter was one of the hardest workers during the off season and that work paid off with not only great performance but durability few players have ever been able to match. Commitment to success goes way beyond "game performance" and relies much more on preparation. For sales people, this translates into "preparing" for the call and not just "making it".

"What is real commitment to the sales profession and how do I know if I have it"? Candidly, if you have to ask what real commitment is in sales you probably don't have it. True commitment in sales is the drive that puts everything else in your day "on hold" if it in anyway impedes your daily sales goals. I'm not suggesting that you become a martyr and make your sales career the "only thing in your life". However, during the day when you can be engaged in selling activities they must take priority over everything else (barring life threatening emergencies!). You've got to make a decision that you're willing to do "whatever it takes" (within legal and moral grounds) to succeed in your profession.

We'll talk about more commitment in future posts but part of being committed is finding things to do that will impact your performance and drive more successful results in your day to day selling activities. So,why not start today and identify something that you can do that can improve your results. If you can't think of anything specific, why not go back through some of the blog posts that I've written and commit to an action step that you currently don't take. Make it realistic, measurable, specific and you'll find your success will foster more of the commitment you need to succeed!

Action Step: Review posts on sales strategies and make a commitment to adopt a new behavior to implement and master.

Selling is all about "lowering risk"...

Selling is all about getting people to change and change always involves risk. Generally, when given a choice, most people will always choose to not change. People are creatures of habit and change requires them to break old habits and create new ones. What makes selling difficult is the fact that it requires you to work against human nature by getting people to change (and you thought this was going to be easy!).

If you think about it, much of the resistance (objections, stalls) you will encounter in sales is a function of risk. Most people will resist change if they believe that the risk they take to change is greater than the risk they will experience by deciding to not change. The old belief "better to live with the devil you know, than the devil you don't know" is what makes it difficult to create the inertia you need to get people to change. It is a powerful force that we will all have to deal with.

So, how do we lower risk, or at least lower the perception of risk, to get more people to take the risks they need in order for us to sell. Two critical strategies come to mind for us to consider:

1. Identifying and clearly understanding your prospects problems will lead them to believe that through your understanding, it is less likely that you will sell them a solution that will not work. Asking questions that give you a full understanding of their situation will help to alleviate their fear of risk.
2. Helping them to understand that the "discomfort" that exists now (consequences, circumstances of staying the same) will be diminished by their willingness to go through the "discomfort" of change. Again helping them to overcome the perceived risk.

The first strategy requires us to be good at "information gathering" questions. Questions like:

• Tell me more about the problems that you are experiencing?
• How long have you had this these problems?
• What have you done to try to solve them?
• How did that work?
• Specifically, what impact or consequences do they have on you and your company?
• Do the problems cost you/your company any money?
• Are there any other solutions that you are considering now?
• What happens if you don't fix them?

As you gain information you create the belief that through the information you have gained it is more likely that you will deliver a recommendation that will work...hence, lowering risk (you may also find this is a good strategy that helps to differentiate you from your competition).

The second strategy requires us to ask "consequence" questions. Questions like:

• What happens if this doesn't get fixed?
• Is this something you can live with?
• How would not being able to solve the problems affect you personally?
• Who else is affected by these problems?
• Maybe it's something you really don't need to worry about?

These questions help the prospect understand that not solving the problem may actually be a bigger risk then the risk they will need to take to change. They are often exactly the questions that you need to create the inertia for change.

Your ability to ask both of these types of questions will help you and your prospect understand and limit the risks involved in changing. Lowering risk is one of the keys to being successful in sales!

Action Step:Add these questions to your sales process. Until you can establish that the risk of "not changing" is greater than the "risk of change" the result will be "no sale"!

Create a "Non-Selling Posture..."

People love to buy, they hate being sold. You've heard that before and know it's true, yet many salespeople still go in with the objective to "sell" the prospect.  We often start by asking questions but when we see that first opening (need)...bam, we're sellin'! Often, unintentionally, the "feature benefit machine gun" comes out and were blasting the prospect with our "best stuff." They feel pressure and ironically so do we!

One of the great challenges that face all of us in sales is the reputation that has been left by all of the "amateurs" that have come before us. Whether you like to admit it or not, there is a negative stigma still associated with the sales profession. Remember the old game "password", I give you a word and you come up with clues (synonyms), to get the contestant to guess the word. If the word was "salesperson" what would some of your clues be??  I'm not asking you to think of yourself but of all those "other" sales people out there. If you're honest, it's not pretty.

In my last post, on how to answer "what makes you better", I began to reveal the essence of the "non selling posture". Saying anything or doing anything that typical sale people do will have you digging a hole for yourself and on the fast track to creating "sameness". The strategy will give you a label you really don't want. That's why it's so important to take a "non selling posture" and to not be afraid of sounding a little negative. It will go a long way to building trust with your prospect and help you to avoid sounding like a typical "sales person".

Don't be afraid, on new prospect calls, to start out by saying things like:

    I'm not sure we can help you.

    Our product/program may not be what you need.

    Why were you considering an option like this?

    We're helping a lot of companies like yours, I'm not sure we can do the same for you.

On your next new account call try some of these phrases and see if taking a "non selling" posture will remove some of the natural defensiveness from your prospect. It may seem awkward at first but most new behaviors do. I'm confident that this approach will pay dividends and improve your winning percentages! On second thought, "maybe it won't work for you..."

"Stop Educating your prospect!"

Companies spend thousands of dollars every year building product knowledge "Universities". They send their sales people to these product schools to learn the features and benefits of their products. They have them go through the process of becoming "product" experts, with the hope that the expertise they gain will propel them to sales success.

Unwittingly, they promote and fund a process that ends up creating "non supportive beliefs" in the minds of their sales people that can actually inhibit their success and lose them both sales revenue and profit margins. Those beliefs include the following:

       Disseminating product knowledge to my prospect will build my credibility and make sales.

       In order for the prospect to understand the value of my offer I must educate them.

Unfortunately, we have found this type of thinking, or "non supportive beliefs", end up creating very difficult selling problems. Once we understand the problems these non supportive beliefs create we can begin to change both our thinking and behavior that will lead us to greater success in sales.

Although being credible to your prospect is important , we believe that having them trust you to provide a solution that will limit the risk they take in making a decision to buy from you is much more important. The way you build that trust is by demonstrating to your prospect, through a complete understanding of their problems,  that you reduce the chance of making a mistake in the recommendation you make.

Logically, to gain an understanding of what your prospect needs, would require us to ask questions. Through your questions, you gain a greater understanding of their situation and thereby lower the risk of making a recommendation that is inconsistent with what they need. Asking questions about typical problems and understanding the impact they have on your prospect is much more important than giving out information.

Also, we have found that educating your prospect about your value allows them to use your information and recommendations as a way to "shop" you against the competition, frequently building RFP's and RFQ's around the unique value you have educated them about. This "shopping" model allows them to get competitive bids built around your recommendations that literally extinguish your value and end up creating sameness. This "free consulting" is particularly frustrating and damaging to our technology and intangible service customers.

Educating your prospect may make you feel good but it will end up being your downfall. It's a dead end street that will force you to define your difference by a low price!

Action Step: Learn to control your conversations better by taking control at the beginning of the call. Create a list of "business problem questions" that will guide the conversation to your value.

      

      

"I guess I just got lucky..."

How many times have you heard a sales person say this, or even said it yourself about a nice piece of business that they just landed. Or how many times have you heard a competing sales person describe someone else's success as "luck". I know you've heard it, said it, or experienced it and I wanted to try to set the record straight. 

The problem is when good things happen, if you believe it was "luck", it makes duplicating what happened impossible. I think good things happen on purpose and unfortunately get blamed on "luck". Luck is also a convenient way to not take responsibility for the good things that happen to us (God forbid if it was anything other than luck someone might "expect" you to do it again).

Blaming success on luck is what we call a "non-supportive" belief. If you believe that luck drove your success there would be no reason to try to understand why you were successful and what activities led to your success. If success was truly driven by luck it would be a totally random event with circumstances outside of your control with a low likelihood of duplication. In sales, and many other elements of your life, this is simply not true. Your good "luck" is driven by actions and sequences of events that you have more control over than you think!

You need to change the way you think about success and realize that luck is not really part of your success formula. You create your own luck by managing activities that drive successful results. So your new belief might include the following:

     My success is driven by applying the right activities to the right targets.

Being able to identify the right activities and the right targets is really not that hard. Selling is a numbers game and the first activity that you have to manage is making the calls (telephone and in person). Not just calls for "calls" sake, but calls on qualified targets. Identifying good targets can be as simple as looking at the types of companies that you (or your company) have succeeded with in the past. Another way is to identify "big users" of your products or services.

Knowing that "luck" is not really part of your success formula, you can now look at the situations that you have managed to a successful result and try to find similarities in them. Once you've identified similarities in situations where you win, you now have a "target" and can "search" for other targets with those similarities. If your greatest successes have come from a certain industry, or going up against a certain competitor focus on those opportunities. Until you spend some time analyzing your wins (win loss review) you won't know what you look for.

So stop blaming success on luck and add to your "supportive" belief system. If, on the other hand, you really believe that "luck" is what drives your success stop reading this blog and buy a rabbits foot!

Action Step: Stop saying you were "lucky" when good things happen. Start thinking about what drove your success and duplicate both the activity and target selection process that has helped you succeed in the past. Do a "win" review and learn from your successes!

"Should I respond to that RFQ, RFP, RFI... yes, with an RFM!"

You know the drill... you get an RFQ(request for quotation), RFP(request for proposal) or RFI(request for information) and you're wondering whether or not you should respond? As you ponder, you decide that if you don't comply you'll lose the opportunity to have a shot at the business! You know a lot of these are really nothing more than "price checks" but you're "afraid" that if you don't respond you may seem "dis-interested" and they'll take you off their list. So, you do the work and "hope" that the outcome will be in your favor. Once again you've become the "hunted" rather then the 'hunter".

Through our work with hundreds of companies in a wide variety of businesses, we have learned and identified that much of this "quoting or proposing" ends up being a waste of time and does nothing more than provide leverage for prospects to beat up their current vendor. Or worse, we provide unique ideas or solutions that become a "shopping list" which allows the prospect to take our ideas and share them with the competition. An unfortunate and expensive process we call "cloning" or "free consulting". Expensive because it not only wastes your time but allows them to "commoditize" your offer and drive your margins into the toilet!

We regularly ask our client companies what their experience with these "undeveloped opportunities" has been and the answer is always the same, "low closing percentages"! On average we're told that closing ratios average between 10-20% (often lower), but because they "close some" they feel like they need to respond to all. They have a tough time distinguishing between the ones that are "likely to close" vs. the ones that are "unlikely to close" and because of this see no alternative other than to respond. Most of our clients tell us it is "part of the sales game" and a necessary cost of doing business.

So, the strategy would be to win a higher percentage of our quote, propose requests and stop wasting time and resources on "low percentage" opportunities. The tactic that we have created to implement the strategy is called a "filter". Filters are used to take a large quantity of substance and separate good from bad or high quality from low quality. It all starts with making a decision to "not respond" to RFP's or RFQ's in the way you have been asked (remember, you always have a choice). Responding with information does nothing more than make you look and sound like everyone else and has you losing control of your information asset! Your zeal to respond quickly and demonstrate your capabilities ends up costing you a lot of money!

Let's start by responding to these requests with one of our own... a "filter" if you will. Let's start by responding with an "RFM", or "request for meeting". Rather than just sending what you've been asked for "call to request a meeting". Anyone truly interested in doing business with you should also be willing to spend some time with you. Anyone who will not take the time to meet with you clearly identifies themselves as someone who feels you are not worth their time, which I would suggest means they are not really a good opportunity for you. This simple tool (followed up by other tactics and filters that we will discuss in future posts) will quickly help you "filter" real interest and opportunity from "smoke screen, time waster, column fodder and price check".

Action Step: Stop responding to those RFP's, RFQ's and RFI's with what you have been asked for but instead respond with an "RFM". You'll quickly know where you stand and will save your valuable time and information!

"Cold Calling Doesn't work..." (or does it!)

I was talking with a business owner (prospect) about how challenging it has been in their market to get new business. I asked if his sales team was making any cold calls and he responded by saying "cold calling is a waste of time, it's unproductive activity and doesn't work in our business"..."what we really need are more leads"..."my sales people are professional and an expensive resource so I don't want them wasting their time on cold calls"!

I've learned that arguing with someone about an "opinion" is equally unproductive, as well as not representative of our selling model. I wanted to suggest that I had a different opinion and that he had been sold a "bill of goods" by either lazy (lead dependent) sales people or a Marketing department looking for a bigger Marketing/Advertising budget (job security and better lunches from vendors!)

I had a prospect in front of me with "motive and pain" (opportunity) and wanted to argue, but quickly remembered what I teach and went into my "consultant mode". Rather than "argue and tell my opinion(sell)" I needed to ask questions or make "ground zero statements" that would allow my prospect to cast doubt on his thesis and essentially get him to "argue with himself".

So I started with:

"That's interesting, you've obviously studied your business and know what works..." (by suggesting I agree with his comments I remove any defensiveness from the situation). You're not alone I have other clients with exactly the same problem (third party reference, removes defensiveness, builds rapport).

"It sounds like your sales people are very busy and use their time wisely... I'm sure every minute of every day is spent on productive activity and they never have any down time" (never is hard to accept).

and got the response:

"Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far and frankly I question how busy some of them really are". "I have a couple of sales people who have low handicaps and expense an awful lot of golf".

and continued with:

"So in a sense, some of what they do is already unproductive..."

"Well of course I suppose that's true..." (movement)

"I would also guess that with all the leads you give them they appreciate what they get and close a high percentage of their opportunities."

"Oh yes..."

"And you have a system in place that can tell you the exact closing % of all those leads..."

"Well, we really don't keep track of every lead so I'm not exactly sure what happens to all of them"(weak sales management and accountability).

"And I'll bet they never complain that the leads aren't any good..."

"Oh, we hear that all the time, they whine a lot that's why I said we need more leads".

(It's amazing, sales people will tell you cold calls don't work and that they need more leads, and then in the same breath tell you that the leads the company provides are of poor quality. Remember "Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross"?)

Well, since you have suggested that they have some unproductive time on their hands (his words not mine), and since they complain about the leads they get anyway, maybe getting more leads is not the answer... maybe the answer is helping them do a better job on the leads they have and put some of that unproductive time into making cold calls.

"But I told you cold calls don't work..."

"Yes, and you didn't want them to waste time, but now you just told me that your sales people have some unproductive time on their hands when they are essentially doing nothing".

"Cold calls don't work well, but they do work! They are a low percentage activity, but need to be part of the equation. I guess you can let your people waste their unproductive time doing nothing, or have them use their unproductive time on an a low percentage activity that will probably work better than doing nothing".

Would you be open to a discussion on how some of our other clients have resolved this issue (third party reference)...

Now, that's the end of the story and you may be asking why I told it. There are two reasons... first, a demonstration of "the art of persuasion". I am faced with this exact situation on a regular basis when I talk with people about cold calls (sales people and company management). My response is well crafted and practiced... something you need to do for the objections you will face in your business.

Second, cold calls work, but are appropriate only after you have done all of the other "high%" prospecting activities that we teach in our program. Most sales people are looking for people like me to tell them that "cold calling doesn't work". Sorry, I won't do that because I know better. You may not like them, you just have to do them. There are unpleasant aspects of every job in life and in sales prospecting is one of them.

Action Step: Next time you are on a sales call (already spent the time and money to get there), think about walking next store and asking for the name of the contact you usually work with. The worst thing that can happen is you will get the name and address of a company you can "nurture market" too. Funny thing... someone may just want to talk with you!

"Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat...!"

2400 years ago (talk about history lessons!), ancient Chinese strategist Sun Zu wrote the book "The Art Of War". In the book, he wrote "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory" and "Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat". We often talk about both strategy and tactics and have always believed there is a link between the two. However, which comes first, and how can we instruct and teach our sales people to connect and leverage both to get the best results we want?

It is not uncommon that we find companies and their sales people engaging in "tactical" (selling skills) sales training without an overall selling strategy (sales process or model) to leverage the skills. An example would be teaching "questioning skills" to uncover customer needs and wants. Good questioning skills is an important selling "tactic" that can uncover valuable information. However, using the information our questions uncover without a good selling "strategy", can be disastrous. We need to include a "strategy" to support the tactics that can help people understand "how and when to use the information once they have it".

Suppose you become a great questioner, your skills uncover information that you believe has high value to your prospect and you build your presentation around the information you have uncovered. Then, you make the presentation, attempt to "close" and discover that your prospect needs to get offers from three other companies before they can make a decision. You've provided them valuable information that they can now use to "compare" offers, or worse, bring the information to your competitors so they can copy or "clone" your ideas! This is one example of how "tactics without strategy" can become the "noise before defeat". You must have an overall "information management strategy" to support your "questioning" tactic to guard against this problem.

If you listen to Sun Zu, you realize that your desire to "sell value and not be the low price provider" is a strategy. However, the "strategy without tactics" (selling techniques to implement the strategy) will enable you to win (sometimes) but by "the slowest route to victory". We meet many companies and sales people that have "strategy", or direction, but have not done a good job of helping their sales teams develop "tactics" to implement the strategy. They may eventually win, but it will take a long time and will require a lot of hit and miss attempts (offers, presentations) that create a low winning percentage and high selling (and emotional) costs. Building, creating and teaching a"value translation" model is the tactical implementation of the strategy and usually the piece that is missing.

Example: If your strategy is to "sell value not low price" then you need to develop tactics that support the strategy. When confronted with the "price question" a tactic to use would be "We're not usually the low price provider, will that be a problem?". If the answer is "no" you may have identified someone who is willing to consider your "strategy". If the answer is "yes, we only buy the low price", you still have options (see post under sales strategy "is it really price?"). You could  leave and save time by not doing "missionary work" (best left to the church!) or develop tactics that will make you good at "re-framing" the price question... like "so does that mean that quality is of no value to you?"

Additionally, if your strategy is to "sell value not price" then part of the strategy would be to call on people in the organizations who benefit more from your value, and not just low price. This would entail develoing "tactics" that would help you call over and above the "purchasing department" who is normally focused on buying for low price. You'll need good "messaging" that will get the interest of those people who really benefit from your value, rather than having them "refer" you back to purchasing.

In upcoming posts I'll try to further expose "strategies without tactics" and "tactics without strategies" and help you put these concepts to work for you. You'll also find some examples in previous posts that can be found in the archives of this blog.

Action Step: Identify your "strategy" and make sure you have "tactics to support it. Identify are you guilty of "tactics" without strategy?

"Get your prospect emotionally involved..."

I was reading an article in the paper today about the trial going on in Chicago of Publisher Conrad Black. He stands accused of bilking $84 million (chump change) from the Hollinger International Newspaper chain through what has been called "a conspiracy to defraud one of the worlds largest newspaper chains."  It appears that they had sold phony and fraudulent non-compete clauses and just happened to pocket the money rather than give it back to the company. Another new low in the ethics of business and a clear "declaration of greed".  Definitely adds new meaning to the "go big or go home" mantra!

Anyway, there was an interesting discussion about how the defense attorney was able to get Gov. Jim Thompson (Ex. Governor of the great state of Illinois), a witness for the prosecution, emotionally involved on the stand. Great defense attorneys know how to "pick" at a witness and provoke them into getting emotional because they are likely to reveal information that they know (intellectually) they shouldn't. Great cross examiners know, that to get what they need, they have to break down the "intellectual barrier" and get emotions to take over.

In our training we often refer to the need to get your prospect "emotionally involved". As long as your prospect remains in an "intellectual state" they will be guarded in what they will reveal to you. Intellectually, they know there are certain things they shouldn't say, but when they get "emotional" they can't help themselves. That's also why most good defense attorneys won't let their clients take the stand, for fear that they "slip" into that emotional state and cut their own throat (like in the movie "A few good men" where Tom Cruise gets Jack Nicholson to "spill the beans).

This strategy will help our clients avoid intellectual discussions about "products and services" or "quality and delivery" and get them to focus on discussions about "client/business" problems. By focusing on key business problems that are "emotionally charged, you are much more likely to get your prospect to slip from their protected "intellectual state" and slide into their "emotional state". Once there, they are much more likely to provide information that will help you sell them. Information like:

       "Our deliveries have been late", or "they are out of stock".

       "I hate their rep" or "they have to many rejects and poor quality control"

Getting them emotional by asking problem questions is a good start but then you need to have the patience to not say,"we can fix that", but rather, "tell me more about the problem". Drilling down and getting more information will not only get them emotional but might get you information that no one else has. That might be exactly what you need to be able to "differentiate" your offer from the competition.

Action Step: Create a list of "business problem" or "motive" questions to ask the different types of prospects you call on. Practice with an internal partner and "role play" your questions and responses.