Inside Our Head

I have a book published by Harvard Business Review titled Business Classics: Fifteen Key Concepts for Managerial Success.  The book contains the 15 articles in HBR’s history that have sold the most reprints.  One article, published in 1964, was titled, “What Makes a Good Salesman,” by David Mayer and Herbert Greenberg.  The author’s research found that there are two qualities that make an effective salesperson: ego-drive (or personal ambition) and empathy.  Empathy is your ability to project yourself into the heart and mind of your customer to see things as our customer sees them.

 

And yet, nearly five decades after that article was published, salespeople are seldom selected for or taught empathy.  The predominance of sales training literature is still focused on the steps of the sale, the things that salespeople need to do to sell the customer: prospect, approach, question, qualify, present, handle objections, close, etc. Are we still in the 1950s or what?

In my book, “Getting Into Your Customer’s Head, I describe the “buy-learning” process customers go through when making an organizational buying decision. But don’t for a minute think that your customer is doing a good job of buying.

According to studies referenced in the leadership book, For Your Improvement: A Guide for Development and Coaching, over 90% of the problems that middle managers and above experience are ambiguous – it’s neither clear what the real problem is, nor what the solution ought to be. These are some of the same problems that you are trying to solve by selling your solutions. And the higher up your customer’s organization an executive goes the more ambiguous the issues are. As a salesperson, if you can tap into this lack of customer clarity on the underlying issues causing that problems that you solve, you will significantly improve your odds of winning the sale, because the salesperson who wins is the one who defines the customer’s true problem. Why is it that the most experienced salespeople see the customer’s need before the customer does? Why do salespeople come across as the “expert”, talk too quickly about their solution, and ruin the best chance they have to build mega-credibility at the beginning of the customer’s buying process?  

Situation: a company's top sales rep is promoted to sales manager, but does not receive sales training on how to perform a sales manager's duties and responsibilities. Here's what happens next...

Untrained sales managers:
Don't know how to be an effective sales manager, so they continue to do what comes naturally -- they continue to sell. But this leads them to spend more time with their top salespeople, who are working on the biggest deals, which leaves the rest of the sales team out in the cold, without a leader/coach.

Allow the inmates to take control of the asylum. Untrained sales managers don't define standards of performance and they don't coach to standards. When unsuccessful sales behaviors occur the manager fails to confront the situation, and what you don't confront you condone. Without sales discipline there can be no team excellence.

Hang on to low producing salespeople far too long. Because sales managers aren't coaching reps on a consistent basis, the manager doesn't know why the rep continues to turn in a poor performance. The manager then reacts to a rep's poor production by "buying" the rep's excuses, erroneously assuming the rep will turn it around. But by this time the problem is too old to fix, the sales manager's opportunity to correct this problem with the sales rep occurred months ago, and the coaching opportunity was missed. Intuitively the sales manager knows this. She blames herself for the rep's continued failure to perform and, out of guilt, gives the rep even more time on the job to fail some more. The manager's acceptance of one salesperson's mediocrity brings the entire team down.

Become high paid, administrative assistants to the salespeople. Untrained sales managers think that if they solve the problems that salespeople bring to them then reps will automatically sell more. Not true. Managers need to expect salespeople to solve their own problems instead of doing their thinking for them. When a salesperson comes to the manager with "a monkey on his back" it is the manager's duty to
a) ask the rep how the problem should be solved
b) see that the rep leaves with the monkey!

Fail to follow-up. Untrained sales managers make suggestions to salespeople on how to improve and then assume salespeople will implement their suggestions. After all, when the manager was a salesperson, he/she implemented the boss' suggestions. Managers who fail to follow-up create a team culture that's lacking in accountability. Without accountability there can be no team excellence.

Don't manage time effectively, or set priorities. There are actually 29 specific timewasters that sales managers suffer from. Sales managers become buried in "stuff" work, reactive fire-fighting, feeling overwhelmed. They're working harder than ever, but unable to catch up, and no time for what should be their #1 priority - to coach. The result? The individual on the team with the most highly developed sales skills - the sales manager - has no time to coach. No time to teach his or her talents, skills and energies to those individuals on the team who need and want it the most.

When sales managers somehow do find the time to coach, they jump in and take over the customer meeting, which prevents the salesperson from learning, and implies to the customer that the salesperson is unskilled. This is the syndrome I refer to as, "Move over Rover, let the great one take over."

Unsure how to diagnose a sales performance problem, so problems in sales competence and willingness persist. Managers harp on the bad results, but don't address the unsuccessful behaviors and activities that created those poor results.

React to the issues of the day with no strategic plan for developing the team. Questions that sales managers should consider in their strategic/team development plan include:
Which salesperson is ready to step up and assume the role of the "bell cow" on this team?
If I were to set a team goal to increase sales by 30% over the next 12 months, what obstacles would stand in our way?
Is there anyone I need to de-hire?
What step of the sales process are we weakest in, and what specifically can I do to correct this?

Think primarily of job tasks, spend little or no time thinking about non-task issues such as team morale, individual rep motivators, career planning for sales reps, etc.

Effective sales management is a skill set that is altogether different from selling. I don't understand why many companies seem to believe that, without any training, a great salesperson will automatically become a great sales manager. One thing I do understand, however, is that the companies that do train their sales managers will see faster ramp-up time for new-hires, increased sales productivity and morale, and more satisfied and loyal customers. In short, the entire sales team will improve results if a company will make a training investment in a their sales managers.

Mistake #9 Inconsistent recruiting and selection program.

We have all hire somebody that didn't work out the way we thought they would, so we all know the cost of a bad hiring decision....or do we? What about those candidates that we don't hire? I learned this lesson years ago when I rejected on particular candidate who then continued to pursue a position with our company, was eventually hired by another region manager, and within 12 monthes was ranked in the top 5% of our 1,500-person sales organization. He re-introduced himself at our company's Achiever's Club trip with, "Hi remember me?" OUCH!!

Here are the most common mistakes sales managers make in the recruiting & selection process:

► Fail to try new methods of recruiting to increase applicant flow.
► Fail to identify hiring criteria (must-haves and nice-to-haves).
► Fail to develop targeted questions that uncover whether or not a candidate possesses the success charateristics.
► Fail to expose the applicant to the realities of the job before a hiring decision is made.
► Fail to identify indicators in past behavior that may indicate future success.
► Talk to much during the interview.
► Fail to poll others in the organization for their opinion on the candidate.
► Becoming distracted by daily pressures and short-circuiting the interview process.

"A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Charles F. Kettering

With a few variations, 80 percent of the objections sales people hear are:
"It's too expensive." (I can't afford it.)
"It's not in the budget."
"I don't need it."

These objections point to a problem with a single cause: the customer has little appreciation for the value of your offering.

Essentially, the customer is saying the problem your product solves is not serious enough for the price tag. In the buyer's mind, the cost of buying is greater than the value that would be gained by ownership.

Value-type objections like this are bad for the sales process because they indicate the customer just isn't interested. The best sales strategy here is not to "handle" these objections, but to prevent them. Help your customer realize that the "little problems" are really BIG problems. This goes a long way toward preempting value objections altogether.

In the sales cycle, the customer moves from Change, to Discontent. Change triggers Discontent. During the Discontent phase, the customer:

1. Recognizes a problem (or opportunity.)
2. Asks "just how serious is this problem?"
3. Asks "how much will the solution cost?"
4. Finally determines "I need to buy!"

In your role as Doctor during the Discontent stage, your challenge is to uncover more than problems. Many sales people made the mistake of trying to uncover only problems. Problems are rooted in events which have already happened.

Opportunities look to the future. It is so much more effective to look at both problems and opportunities. Doing so enhances the value of your offering and helps preempt value objections, as mentioned before.

When dealing with problems, customers often don't recognize how serious the problem is. It is the consulting sales person who helps them realize the full ramifications of "small" problems.

Remember, studying the Key Success factors in your customer's organization and how they are carried Function-to-Function. This area is ripe for studying the "full ramification" of "small problems."

"Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first." Frederick Wilcox

Your prospect now enters the Buy stage of the process, having completed the Need and Learn stages. In the Buy stage the prospect first experiences fear, putting the brakes to the whole deal. Eventually, if you pay your Therapist role correctly, the prospect will move to Commitment.

Some buyers never Fear, and move right to Commitment, so you can celebrate! However, many buyers need your help in resolving their fears so they can make that final commitment.

What makes a buyer Fear? People begin to fear that they will regret their decision. Negative images begin to cloud their thinking. They feel they are taking a risk, and they fear that they may be making a bad decision. Certainly, if you have done your job well in the prior stages of the process, these fears by the prospect are unfounded, driven by emotion, not the facts. Often times the prospect can't even tell you why they are fearful. Perception may not be logical or real, but it can drive your sale into the ground.

As a sales Therapist, you cannot "fix" these fears and concerns through traditional objection-handling techniques. All you can do is help your prospect resolve the concerns themselves. Traditional objection handling does not give prospects the chance to express their emotions. Since these fears of buying are largely emotionally-based, and since emotions must be dealt with by open expression and discussion, your role is to help the prospect express these fears and work through them.

THE THERAPIST'S FOUR STEP TREATMENT PROCESS
Be sensitive and observe
Explore concerns
Empathize with feelings
Discuss alternatives

These are all things actual therapists do in counseling sessions. The therapist does not solve problems. The therapist helps patients solve their own problems.

Negotiate Price Late in the Sales Process, Never Early

There is no reason to discuss price until buying desire has been aroused. If you customer doesn't need it, any price is too high. Discuss price only when buyers recognize what they need and why the need it. Lowering price does not necessarily make a product or service more attractive to a buyer, in fact it rarely does.

Carefully Consider the Consequences of Any Concession You Make

Without profit there is no purpose. Therefore, carefully analyze each concession before making a commitment. Any concession will become an expectation later on. Don't give away the store or that's all you wind up doing, all the time.

Don't Propose a Solution with an Already Discounted Price

Purchasing agents are often evaluated by how much they save the company. If you cut price right away in your initial proposal you may actually be doing that purchasing agent a disservice. If you don't start with significant gross profit built into the deal you don't leave yourself any negotiating room. There are exceptions of course. If you get into a deal late, you may have to shoot your best price just to be considered.

Be Patient

Relax! Slow down! If the prospect wasn't interested, you wouldn't be negotiating. Take the time necessary to achieve a true win-win.

Never Give a Concession Without Getting One in Return

To a prospect asking for a lower price you might reply with a willingness to discount if the prospect will agree to purchase several more units during a specified time. The prospect wins by obtaining a lower unit price. You win by increasing the size of the sale. (Discuss other real life requests prospects make and how you might respond by asking for a concession.)

The sales presentation is your best opportunity to show and tell, but there's more to it than just showing and telling. You also need to think strategically about the customers buying process and needs, your competitors' offerings, and why your solution is best.

To plan and deliver winning sales presentations, try the following approach:

Find out in advance how much time you will have.
Have you ever had a key decision-maker leave in the middle of your presentation because he was out of time? You can't hold someone's attention when he's looking at the clock.

At the beginning of the meeting, ask how much time the prospect has set aside, then adjust your presentation to take no more than 60% of the allotted time. Why only 60%? Because your prospect's decisions to act typically occur at the end of the meeting. Adjusting your presentation will allow enough time to resolve any remaining issues, and reach an agreement.

Check in.

Another good question to ask at the beginning of every sales presentation is, "since the last time we met, has anything changed?" If your competitor gave a presentation yesterday afternoon you may have a few new hurdles you need to overcome. The sooner you identify those hurdles, the more time you have to plan a response.

Take his temperature.

The next question you want to ask is, "Where are you in your decision process?" If he tells me he's scheduled presentations with three suppliers and I'm the first presenter, I know the chances of this prospect agreeing to a decision at the end of my presentation are virtually nonexistent. For starters, it would take the prospect more time, energy and stress to cancel the appointments than to go ahead with them.

More importantly, the prospect wants to hear all three presentations, because from your customer's perspective, comparison is necessary to recognize value. Never go for the close when you are the first presenter. You're simply asking for something that you can't get, and customers will think you're pushy. Instead, come up with a legitimate reason to come back after the other presentations, when the prospect likely will be in a position to make a decision.

Try to be the last presenter.

The last presenter has a significant advantage, because he is closer to the customer's point of decision. If I am the final supplier to present, and have shown why am I am the best choice, it's only reasonable to ask for a commitment to buy. It also creates an opportunity to address any lingering concerns that may prevent a sale.

In one of the largest sales opportunities I ever worked on, I was the third of three presenters to a committee of seven decision-makers, the most senior of whom was the Executive Vice President, I'll call him Mr. Burns.

Ten minutes before the conclusion of my presentation, the phone rang. Mr. Burns had a plane to catch, and his cab had arrived. As he stood up, I said, "Mr. Burns, before you leave, may I ask you one final question?"

I asked, "Now that you've evaluated all the options, is there any reason why my solution is not your best option?"

He paused, then said "Yep!" And out came his final concern about my solution. It was a concern I was ready for, but I never got a chance to respond because his comment triggered a firestorm of conversation around the conference table. Mr. Burns missed his cab, but several other decision makers drove him to the airport so they could continue their discussion.

A few weeks later, I learned that in the car on the way to the airport, a lower-level decision-maker had resolved Mr. Burns's concern, and I won the sale.

This example shows that today, as much as 90% of the sale takes place without you being in the room. So it's essential to make sure that the prospects championing your cause have the tools to sell other decision makers for you.

Start with a quick review of the customer's goals and objectives. On a flipchart, list each of the customers buying criteria. This list is your outline for effective sales presentation. Next, show how your solution meets and exceeds each customer criterion.

Throughout your presentation, get a reaction from your prospect. For example, after demonstrating a capability you would ask, how would this be an improvement or how would this help. Interactive presentations keep prospects more involved and interested.

Communicate all your unique strengths.

Today's customers want to know two things: can you do what we need done, and how can you do it better than the other options we are considering?

It's not enough to show that you can meet your customer's needs. You must also have some reasons why your solution is the customer's best choice.

To ensure that my strengths are understood, I always prepare a flipchart titled "Why we are your best choice" which lists at least three reasons why I'm the customer's best option. Often, I list seven or eight reasons. The more reasons you have, and the more compelling those reasons are, the better your chances of winning the sale.

In sports, when two teams are evenly matched, the winner is the team that makes the fewest mistakes, and executes its plays the best.

To deliver a winning sales presentation, you must do the same. When you implement these 10 tips in your sales presentations, you will win more sales.

Complex sales are the biggest of all sales. You have big commission dollars at stake. Sometimes, a salesperson's entire year can be made or broken on one major sale. The problem is your competition wants that commission as much as you do.




If you want to win the big sale you've got to out-SELL your competition. The 10 keys to winning a complex sale tell you how.




In a complex sale, your goal is to identify the players who will be involved in a buying decision and help them see the unique value of your solution. Any decision-maker who you do not meet is a potential threat to winning the sale. This leads to the 10 keys to winning a complex sale. The more of these you do, the better your chance of winning the sale.




1. Before you deliver your sales presentation, meet with at least three people affected by the sale.


You need multiple sources of information. Winning a complex sale hinges on gathering information about how the decision will be made, who will make it and why. If you meet with only one person, how will you know if the information that person gives you is correct? Meeting with at least three people also helps you create greater momentum in the buying process - three people who want to buy from you are better than one. And it helps you better understand the customer's needs. By the time you've met with three decision-makers, you'll know if there's someone else you need to meet with.




2. If the gatekeeper is not an influential person in the decision, get past this person as soon as
 possible.

How? Ask the gatekeeper questions that he or she can't answer. If the questions you ask are important to understanding the need, you'll hopefully get the gatekeeper's OK to find out the answers.

Offer to gather information from other people and report back to the gatekeeper with your findings.

Sell your gatekeeper on it. There may be benefits to the gatekeeper if higher level decision-makers get involved. One possible benefit is that the money to buy may come from someone else's budget besides the gatekeeper's.


If you do it early in a sales process, you may be able go over a gatekeeper's head without asking for permission. This is more upsetting to the gatekeeper the closer you get to the decision. If a decision is about to be made, and you think you're going to lose, going over the gatekeeper's head sends the message that you are questioning his or her decision-making process. This is what is so upsetting to them. But if you go over the gatekeeper's head early in a sales process, the gatekeeper has less invested in the decision, so he or she will likely be less upset by it.




3. Identify all the decision-makers and their positions on the team.

A few general questions to ask would be: How will your organization go about making this decision? Who else will you need to talk to?


To identify specific players on the buying team, ask these questions: Who's budget is at stake here? (gets you the Virtual Authority). Who will be evaluating the technical aspects of this decision? (gets you the Integrator).

You'll have no problem finding the User, and the gatekeeper usually finds you! And, you must find the Power Broker, so ask, "Who will be the key decision-maker on this?"




4. Finding the Power Broker before your competition does is crucial.




If the Power Broker wants to buy from you, your success is almost assured. If the Power Broker prefers your competition, forget it.

The Power Broker derives his/her power from credibility with the Virtual Authority, perhaps by being the recognized expert. Or, the Power Broker may be the Virtual Authority's "right-hand person."


Power Brokers tend to be strong-willed individuals who are goal-oriented and persuasive communicators - just like salespeople. An effective Power Broker is an effective internal salesperson. So, which member of the buying team is the most effective salesperson? Chances are, that's your Power Broker.




5. Identify where each decision-maker is in the buying process.




Your sales approach with each player depends on where that person is with regards to the decision. Be a "doctor" with someone who doesn't recognize a need. A prospect in the comparison stage needs to know why you are their best choice, how you are different from the other options, etc. So, you want to be a Coach.


Think of the roles as "selling hats." Which hat you wear depends on where each prospect is in the buying process. When a player moves in the buying process (hopefully forward, but possibly backward) change your selling hat to meet their new needs. The speed with which each buyer's wheel turns determines how fast you should change your selling role.




6. After each meeting with a prospect, send that person a letter stating your understanding of their needs.




You cannot rely on verbal communication alone, because selling the person sitting in front of you is not enough. You must also provide your prospect with the tools needed to sell other decision-makers on your behalf. And since most sales literature focuses on your product's features and benefits, not on your customers' needs, they're ineffective as a leave-behind.


Your letter of understanding will reinforce the importance of the meeting for your prospect, solidify why the need is important, and provide information your prospect will need to sell other decision-makers.

7. Develop as many sponsors for your cause as possible.

Think back to the biggest sale you've ever made. Chances are, there was at least one person in your client's organization who wanted you to win the sale.


A sponsor is any decision maker who wants you to succeed. Think about a complex sale you're working on now. Is there any decision-maker in there to wants you to succeed? If not, what can you do to develop one (or two)?




8. Find your enemies and neutralize them.

While you are cultivating sponsors for your cause, your competitors will be busy developing sponsors for their counterattack. The biggest threat to your winning a complex sale is the existence of an individual who wants your competition to win.

The most successful strategy is to neutralize that person by being proactive. Identify who is against you, assess that person's power influence on the decision, and take action to defuse the threat. Don't sit back and wait!

Sometimes, your enemies are difficult to recognize. They may not want you to know they exist. These people may say wonderful things about you to your face, but as soon as you leave, they begin pulling strings to make you lose. Once again, having multiple sources of information is the key to identifying these stealthy adversaries. Ask your contacts, "Is there anyone who may be opposed to this?"


To neutralize your enemy, try overwhelming them with superior numbers. If you can develop several sponsors among the members of the complex buying team, you can create enough momentum for your solution to overpower the enemy's opposition.


How much credibility does your enemy have with other members of the Complex Buying Team? If your answer is "a lot," try to meet with your enemy one-on-one. Ask questions such as "What concerns might you have about our solution?" Apply the sales role of a therapist and try to draw out their concerns.

Don't underestimate the importance of personal agendas. The best supplier with the best offering does not always win. Suppose you made a sale to Department A that was successfully implemented. Now you're trying to make a similar sale to Department B. If department A's manager is at odds with the manager of Department B, you may lose the sale to B because you were successful with A.




9. Develop a complex sales strategy by answering these three questions:

What factors are working for you in this sale? What factors are working against you? What can you do better to position yourself to win?




10. Don't get overconfident!




The greatest barrier to winning the sale may be you! Overconfidence about how a sale is progressing may lull you into a false sense of security. Always question your basic premises. Sir Francis Bacon said, "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." Don't assume anything!

Winning a complex sale is difficult. Your competition wants them as much as you do. Winning is no accident. The salesperson who wins will likely be the one who works just a little bit harder than the others, who does a few things that other salespeople don't do.

Work harder and apply these ideas, and you WILL close more large-dollar, complex sales. You can bet on it!

I recently reread Jim Collins' book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't and found that many of his ideas can help you improve performance of your sales team.

Collins' book answers the question: How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Using tough standards, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of "comparison" companies that failed to make the leap from good to great.

Over five years and 15,000 hours of research, Collins and his team deduced the key determinants of greatness – why some companies make the leap and others don't. Here are a few of their findings and what, I think, Collins' findings mean to you and the development of your team.

Good is the enemy of great

Some sales teams will never be great because their sales managers settle for being good. It's easier than being great.

First Who... then What

Collins expected to find that Good to Great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. What their research discovered, however, was that the best leaders first got the right people on the team, de-hired the wrong people, and got everyone in their optimal position... and then decided what the vision and strategy was. The saying, "People are your most important asset" is incorrect. It should be changed to, "The right people are your most important asset." Then, put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.

Application questions: Is there anybody on your team who shouldn't be? Do you have any team members in a less-than-optimal position, a person whose skills are not being fully utilized? What, and when will you rectify these situations?

Confront the brutal facts, but never lose faith

One of the most important findings from Collins' research is that breakthrough results come about by a series of good decisions, diligently executed and accumulated one on top of the other. You don't need to be perfect, but to be great you do need to make many more good decisions than bad ones. And good decision-making requires accurate information, which can be difficult to obtain. Collins writes:

Indeed, for those of you with a strong, charismatic personality, it is worthwhile to consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.

Winston Churchill understood the liabilities of his strong personality. He was concerned that he wouldn't get accurate information from his subordinates, so, during the darkest days of World War II, he founded the "Statistical Office", a separate department outside the command structure that fed him the most accurate, indeed brutal, facts of the war. Churchill also possessed the second requirement of greatness -- an unwavering faith that Britain would survive and thrive, even when things looked so bleak.

Application questions: What's one great dream you would dare to dream (for your team) if you knew you could not fail?

Your "Stop doing" list is more important than your "To do" list.

Many sales managers lead busy lives, accomplishing task after task after task. Interestingly, the leaders studied in "Good to Great" companies made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They continually asked themselves:

What can we do better than anyone else? What type of opportunities are we passionate about? And, what segment of customers allows us to make the most profit?

Good to Great leaders instilled the culture of discipline - by teaching their team where to focus, and what to ignore.

Application questions: What opportunities, or customer segments, can your team make a compelling case of being the best choice? Which of these opportunities are most profitable, and why? Finally, what can you become passionate about?

Is your team brilliant on the basics? If not, you may be losing sales you should be winning. At TopLine Leadership, we help salespeople re-focus on the fundamentals of effective salesmanship, and sales managers to master the basics of management / leadership. We can help you and your sales team with these concepts. Contact us today.