Survival of the Fittest

Charles Darwin gave us the “Survival of the Fittest” theory, but when you read down into the text, what he is really saying is it isn’t the fittest who survive, it is those who can adapt. Applied to what is going on in business today, the companies (large and small) that weather this recession are those who can best adapt to it. Ok, so we got that down, now – how do we adapt? Let’s focus on four areas:

Protect the core
It’s pretty clear that businesses aren’t going to grow their way out of this trouble, so we need to go back to the basics, the tried and true blocking and tackling that keeps the wheels on whatever business we’re in, going. For most, this means working hard to keep the customers you have coming back and putting hard effort into getting new customers to offset any that you may lose. Right now, this is going to feel like you’re shoveling out the sand as quickly as it slips back in the hole – and that’s ok. Any money spent on the business should go to support these two efforts.

Act early – NOW
The quicker you act, the more flexibility you have. It’s like an ocean liner headed for an iceberg, the closer you get to the ice, the harder it is to turn and miss it. You want to act in an organized manner, with a plan, not reacting to a situation with your back against the wall.

Cash on hand
Try to unlock some cash in your business to support the above efforts or divert cash into these efforts by eliminating some other initiatives. Believe it or not, there is cash all around you. For example, consolidate your inventory and focus on lines that sell the best rather than having a broad representation of a few of this or that. Join your manufacturer’s loyalty program – the more you spend with one or two manufacturers, the more rewards you’ll earn and can pump those rewards into your business.

Seek out good advice
You’re not alone in this situation so don’t try to solve it alone. Ask for help. A great first step is reading this blog! Also, network yourself with peers or look to industry associations. Plagiarism is encouraged! If you hear of a great idea, use it. Every business, big or small, needs a board of directors. This can be as formal or as informal as it needs to be. Their insights, ideas and support are very helpful. Talk to your staff too - it helps even to use them as a sounding board for your ideas and get them on board with supporting them.

Take a look at your business, apply these ideas and come up with your plan. Adapt your activities around these concepts and you’ll be sure to not only survive, but thrive when we come out the other side of this economic situation. We have to say thank you to Charles - he thinks the future is going to be so bright, he's wearing shades! Good luck.

Keeping the team productive!

Your sales team is out there, I mean they are out there (pointing out the window) on the streets, in the trenches. They are talking with customers, creating contacts, meeting new prospects - and they are hearing from them all the economic bad news and encountering all the paralysis going on....first hand. How can we keep the team productive, positive, reassured and executing on the right activities for the business?

There isn't a lot of room for error and now, more than ever, it is important to keep the team, not only productive, but laser focused on the activities that will produce results. This is critical to meet the objectives we have set. As a coach, I'm often asked the three following questions by sales teams and sales leaders:

Should I change my strategy?

I answer this two ways. No - stay true to your business and to the values you've established that have worked for you all along. Stay true to the core. Yes - as always, you need to address what your clients are most interested in and have that be part of whatever you are offering to them. In today's market, customers are looking for value - add to your offer or presentation how engaging with you and your product or service can save them money.

The client isn't budging - how can I close the deal?

Everyone is under budget and profit pressure, even your client. Keep that in mind and assume that the deal is going to take longer to close than in the past. Also, make sure you're selling to the right person and you are across from a true decision maker. As budgets get tighter, your contact may not have final say anymore on the decision - you might have to do your presentation to your contact's boss to get the deal closed - make sure you know your audiance and anticipate questions you might get from their level.

What are some common mistakes I should avoid?

The sales people I typically work with are passionate people, they want to win, exceed and excel - they are emotionally connected to what they do. In a downturn like this, as leaders and coaches, we have to control those emotions to avoid the paralysis and to help the team stay focused on what they can control. In a time when sales are down and targets are not being achieved, financial motivation through bonuses might not be there but motivation through recognition can go a loooong way! Great coaches and leaders pick up the phone at the end of the month and recognize the superhuman efforts their team puts forth out there and provides encouragement.

Ask yourself these questions and think about your answers and activities in these uncertain times. It's tough out there and we've got to keep our teams closer in the tough times and remember that in this economy, everyone has to work harder just to produce less.

Four Mistakes Sales People Make - #4 (Final)

You’ve heard the saying, “we all have a purpose in life” and as I relate that thought to the world of sales, every phone call, every client meeting, every email, (I’m making a point here), every client interaction needs to have a purpose and goal. When we lose sight of that we are making the last of the most common mistakes sales people make. In the my final post in the series, 4 common mistakes sales people make, we’ll talk about how to avoid this costly mistake.

Mistake #4: They lose sight of the goal.
Ask yourself, what is the point of this visit? What do I want to accomplish on this sales call? Am I going to sell something and if so, what is it? Am I trying to get another, more strategic meeting? Is it to show the customer that I can add value as I continue to establish trust and rapport with them? All these questions, should happen well before your phone is in hand or you are in your car en route to see the customer.

Setting your objective
Knowing your objective is the key to all the other steps in the selling process, without it, you are flying blind and you most likely will be wasting your time, your client’s time and odds are, you won’t be walking out with a sale. Once you set your objective, what it is you want to achieve on that sales visit or phone call, everything else will quickly fall into place. With a clear objective, you can begin to think about:

What questions to ask the customer to get them thinking about your objective.
If your objective is to sell a product or service, you can think about what it is about the product/service that your customer would be most interested in and prepare to speak to those features and benefits.
You can think of any objections your customer might raise and prepare for them.
It will enable you to prepare your presentation materials, product samples or any leave behind material.
You can prepare a plan for the next steps that will take place once the client agrees, an education plan, a retail sales plan, a merchandising plan, a ready made promotion around the product.

To me, a successful sales interaction starts and ends with setting and knowing your objective. When I am working with a team in a training environment, I attempt to replicate real life selling conditions as much as possible. We know that, in the real world, selling doesn’t follow a simple path from A to Z and things happen on a sales call to take us off track. That makes having an objective even more important. If we get taken off track, we can get back on.

Another point to remember is, a goal or objective isn’t going to do anything for us unless we ask for the it. A lot of times, we’ll set our objective, prepare and when we get to the moment of truth in the sales call…we don’t come out and ask for it. If you don’t ask for the longer meeting, you won’t get it. If you don’t ask for the sale, it doesn’t happen. Often, with all the questions we’ve asked, presenting the features and benefits, resolving the objections sometimes we think we’ve asked for it – but we haven’t. Go ahead a make sure to close the deal.

If there is one take away from reading this post or working with me in the classroom event, it is to set your objective. It is at the very heart of the process and will lead to success. Good luck!

Four Mistakes Sales People Make - #3

We’re all human beings and as human beings, there are some constants about us as a collective group. One of those constants is that, on some level – deep down on the inside – we really just care about ourselves. Oh c’mon, it is human nature – to a certain extent, we look out from ourselves in a “the world revolves around me” sort of way. In the third installment of my series, four common mistakes sales people make, the mistake here is forgetting about the “it’s all about me” characteristic that exists in our client.

Mistake #3: They immerse themselves in the wrong information.
A colleague of mine, Bob Coakley, president of Upgrade Performance Consulting, always uses the line, “so-and-so is really intelligent, just ask him.” During the sales call and in our desire as sales people to sell our stuff (and it is great stuff, by the way) we forget to make that connection with the customer and move right into talking about our products or services.

I find myself doing this too, I’ve prepared for the call, I’ve created my objective and agenda for the call, I get the client on the phone and off we go – let’s get down to business. It’s like the 3:15 race at Belmont, the bell rings, the gate opens and wham! – we’re headed down the track. I have to constantly reminding myself to s-l-o-w down, to talk a little bit first and ideally, engage in a subject the client knows and understands and THEY will do the talking.

Preparation
To avoid this mistake, we have to go back into our preparation. We need to add to our preparation process some “human” reconnaissance. This can be about the person we are meeting with, their company, their industry, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is to be prepared with this information so that you can connect with your customer. Some of the best resources to do this are on the internet. Services like Linked In, Zoominfo, Facebook and at the very least, Google are great ways to find “stuff” out.

I usually Google the name of anyone I am meeting with and my next stop is typically Linked In. You’d be surprised what you can find out. Also, if you happen to be meeting with your customer in person, look around their office for clues. I recently met with a potential new client and noticed that they had photos of landscapes hung in their office. I inquired if they had photographed the pictures and from there, we connected on a common interest we shared in photography. People tend to buy from people they like – preparing yourself with this human information is a great way to build trust and rapport, gain a closer connection with your client which will make them more receptive to what you have to say.

Think about what additional information you’ll need for your next sales call or appointment and where you can get it from – you’ll be surprised at what you can find. Good luck!

Four Mistakes Sales People Make - #2

This is the second of a series of four on common mistakes sales people make that comes from an article at Inc.com. As I said earlier, these mistakes or habits apply to everyone in sales and I talk a lot about how to change these habits in my programs. The second most common mistake is about showing deference to your customer, which when I looked it up in my trusty thesaurus means respect.

Mistake #2: We don’t show deference.
"I can help you," salespeople like to inform their prospects. How presumptuous is that? Prospects may be founders of successful businesses or corporate executives; they are experts in their industry. Salespeople? They are merely salespeople. "Don't say, 'I can help you,'" advises Basho's Jeff Hoffman. Instead, "Say, 'That's very interesting what you just said. A lot of our clients say the same thing. Let me tell you how we’ve helped them.'" This is especially critical when selling into a small or midsize company. "The life of a small business owner is that is, Everybody and their mother want to sell you stuff," says David Spector, an account executive at Google who founded the MIT sales club as a student. "You want to make it really clear that you have a lot of respect for the fact that I know everything, and that I have given you 15 minutes."

Let’s say, if you’re disrespectful to your clients, your sales career isn’t going to go too far. What this mistake speaks to isn’t about being disrespectful but has its roots in our enthusiasm. WE ARE ENTHUSIASTIC! We want to help. We want to solve the customer’s problem and in the enthusiasm we have wrapped around that goal, we may come across to our customer as not showing enough respect to them.

As the article says, they are giving us 15 (or sometimes more) minutes of time in their busy schedule. Rather than assume we’ve got all the answers and start talking about our products or services, a great way to show respect to a customer is to listen. True sales pro’s do one thing very, very well – they listen and not only do they listen but they use a skill called Active Listening.

Active Listening has Five Steps:

1. Pay attention: give your undivided attention
2. Show you are listening: body language, nodding
3. Use clarifying questions: “what I hear you saying is…”
4. Defer judgment: don’t interrupt & allow them to finish
5. Respond appropriately: be candid, open and honest

When responding, assert your opinions respectfully and you’ll be treating your customer the way they want to be treated, with deference. Practice the Five Steps of Active Listening, remember, it’s never too late to start TRAINing.

Joe Sileo

President - TRAIN, LLC

Four Mistakes Sales People Make - # 1

I came across an interesting article on Inc.com that I think had the wrong title. No offense to the people at Inc, the article was called, "Sales Mistakes Young People Make" and in reading through the information, I thought - Whoa! everyone makes these mistakes!! I've seen veterans who have been selling for 50 years do this as well as a newbie straight out of the gate. I decided to "rename" the article & share it. We address these mistakes, (really just habits), in our training programs and I'll share information on that with you as well. Here is the first of a series of four on sales mistakes we ALL make!

Mistake #1: We offer too much Information.

In an effort to make an impression, we festoon our pitches with too many details. "We say, 'My product does 20 things, and I'm going to tell you all 20 and, hopefully, one of them you'll love,'" says Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Basho Technologies and an adviser to a sales club at MIT, who teaches the fundamentals of sales to students interested in business and technology. No one has time for laundry lists. Be selective.

Let's face it, we are excited and passionate about our products and we want to talk about them. This mistake really speaks to two fundamental habits we need to change. The last two words in the article really tell us what to do - Be Selective.

What I mean by that is, sure, your product has a lot of fantastic features and benefits but what you need to know in order to be successful and get the sale is "Which one of those features and benefits does my customer care about the most??"

All we have to do is ask.....

Before we start talking, we have to start listening and ask our customer some questions! If we ask questions, we'll discover what their needs are and what is the most important "thing" (read that as feature) they will be most interested in.

Once we understand our customers needs, concerns, desires, etc - we can then offer them our product as a solution by leading with the the feature the customer cares about the most. At this point, it can all still go wrong. If we only talk about the feature, we are only telling half the story.

We need to connect our product's features to the benefit the customer will receive. Features are great but customers really care about the benefit.

If we first, ask questions and second, respond with the targeted features and benefits our customers are interested in, we will succeed.

Before you make your next sales call or sit down with your next client, think about what questions you should be asking and practice the specific and targeted features and benefits of your product and you'll eliminate these common sales mistakes. Tune in for the rest of the series, #2 - #4, coming soon.

Joe Sileo

President - TRAIN, LLC

DESIRE - DECIDE - DELIGHT

Last week I was working with a client to kick off an upcoming product launch. This was no ordinary line extension but a full blown expansion into a new category for the team. We applied the sales skills training and techniques that we've been working on to the launch to give the team an established path to follow. Everyone was really excited to refresh on the skills, roll up their sleeves and apply their training to this new category. We had a successful day and in the end, everyone walked out with a rock-solid game plan, ready for action.

I was also able to participate in the corporate presentations to the sales team that took place the day before and were delivered by the CEO, the Marketing team and other corporate groups. It was during one of these presentations that Desire-Decide-Delight was discussed. Three simple words that combine to form an extremely powerful message and call to action that should effect every activity of the team when they are talking about their products or services to customers and clients. The "Three Ds" are at the heart of Demand Creation. Let me break it down for you.

Desire: The fact that you are offering your product or service isn't enough. You must create the desire for your products and services with your customers. You can do this by communicating your message in a consistent way that your product or services meet their specific needs.

Decide: Once you create the desire with your customers about your products or services, you must back that up with a compelling offer.

Delight: This comes after your customers have purchased your product or service. If you've delighted your customer, you have earned their loyalty for a lifetime. This is done by achieving (and exceeding) the results described in your offer plus experiencing additional benefits from the product or service, as well. The delight is built into the product or service from the start.

Now, more than ever we have to make sure that we create demand for our products and services to ensure that we stand out from the competition and we give our customers something more to buy!

Think about how you can apply the "Three Ds" to your business, create demand for your products and services and gain your customer's loyalty for life!


Joe Sileo
President - TRAIN, LLC