A Note to Your Inner Sales Person: Experience Doesn’t Necessarily Make You Better.
We sell sales training. An objection we hear at least once a day is “My people are experienced, I don’t have any new people.” When we hear a manager say this, we really want to shout “We’re experienced too, but we still make mistakes.”
We miss opportunities to be a source of value for a prospect because sometimes we sometimes don’t listen well, or maybe don’t ask the right questions. Maybe We’re not working with the decision maker. We want to say to this manager that sometimes experienced sales people get stuck in bad habits. Even experienced people lose business. There is always room for improvement and growth.
Does this sound like someone on your team, or maybe even you? If you have been selling for a long time, when was the last time you tried a new strategy or tactic with a prospect or customer? Do you do the same thing over and over hoping for different results?
We are often asked to give advice to new sales people. Based on ourselves and the experienced sales people we know, we think the advice below is helpful for experienced salespeople as well as rookies!
LISTEN
The most important skill a new sales person can learn is to listen to what not only what a customer is saying but what they mean. Don’t be afraid of silence. Silence is okay. Customers want to know you are listening to them. Take notes. Think before you speak. Check for clarification to make sure you understand.
WRITE AND CREATE ELEVATOR STATEMENTS
Create value statements about your company to use when leaving a message or sending a text. Practice saying them out loud. Really work on understanding the value your company offers not only your customers, but your customers’ customers as well.
ASK QUESTIONS
Invest time to develop questions that provide information to move the process forward. Before any sales call, write seventeen questions you want to ask the prospect. The first few will be easy. Sales people need to stop telling and start asking questions.
SELL VALUE
If you make a statement about how great your company is to the prospect, be aware the prospect is thinking, “SO WHAT!” Understand your prospect’s needs and pain points. Connect the dots for your customer.
GET WITH THE DIGITAL AGE
Use the tools available on the Internet to connect, stay in touch, and research your customers. The vast majority of sales people consistently use a fraction of what is available.
CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS
What you don’t know in a sales call may be more important than what you do know. Assumptions made prior to, or during a sales call, limit your ability to consider alternatives and impede the search for facts.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF AN OBJECTION
Ask questions to find out why the customer has an objection. Make sure you understand the reason for the objection. Think about the objections you most often hear. Plan ways to reduce risks for your customers. Ask your coworkers what they do when they hear specific objections.
RECOGNIZE CUSTOMERS’ STYLES
Determine if your prospect is task oriented or people oriented. Determine if they make decisions slowly or quickly. Don’t treat everyone the same way. Some customers need to build more rapport more than others. Some need to know the price first. Some need all the details and then more details! Be aware! Customers are not all the same.
UNDERSTAND THE FINANCIAL IMPACT YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES HAVE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS
Spend some time and learn financial concepts and how to use them to uniquely cost justify your products and services. If you can, show a customer how quickly they can make a return on their money. You will close more business.
CLOSE
Ask for the business. Follow your gut. Closing should be natural. If closing is awkward or a struggle, then you are messing up at the beginning of the process, not the end.
It’s not just about your customer! It’s about your customer’s customers.
Here’s an easy quiz for you. Do it quickly. It’s not difficult. Name three of your most significant customers. If you are like most of us, you don’t have to go to your phone, computer, a written list or anywhere else to immediately recall your best customers.
Here’s the second question. You may find it a bit more difficult. Name three of your customer’s most significant customers? Better still, can you describe how your products and services impact your customers’ customers?
If you’ve been to any of Sales Concepts’ classes, you know we stress putting the emphasis on your customer, not yourself. We regularly see salespeople talking about their company and their products and services. We believe it’s about your customers, not you. People would rather buy than be sold. Most of us want our customers to agree with us, but what changes when we agree with our customers?
If you tell prospects something, their choices are to agree or disagree. There’s not much room for them to elaborate and be involved in the process. If you ask prospects about their needs, they are able to go on at any length. When you hear something that matches a solution your company offers, you can agree with them. Chances are this point applies to you as a buyer. No one likes to be sold, we all want buying to be our idea. So if that’s good for you, why isn’t it even better for your prospects?
Since you had no trouble listing your most significant customers, how’d you do when you tried to list your customer’s most significant customers? How about describing how your products and services help your customers help their customers?
Try it sometime. If you don’t know, find out from your customer who their best customers are. Who are the prospects they’d like to turn into customers? How can you help make that happen? You see, as wonderful as it is when you focus on your customer instead of yourself, it’s even better when you focus on your customers’ customers.
When you’re able to connect your products and services to your customers’ ability to win more business from their customers, your solution financially justifies itself. In the eyes of your customer you’re a critical resource, not a vendor.
When I think of the sales of which I am most proud, I almost always discover it’s because I helped my customer help their customer. It’s ironic, but the farther away you get from focusing on you and your company, the more rewards you receive.
What do you want from your people? What do your people want from you?
“Train your people well enough so they can leave.
Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
Those words by Richard Branson; founder of Virgin Group, should speak to every manager. At Sales Concepts, we work with nearly fifty managers per day. Every one of them has a wish list. They wish their people would do this; they wish their people wouldn’t do that. What’s on your wish list? Chances are good you sometimes struggle with convincing your people to do what you expect. If so, I have a quick two-question quiz for you. Ready?
First, write the name of a person who reports to you. Think about your interactions with this person over the past year. Write the number of hours (rough estimate here, don’t get too literal) you spent talking with this person in the past 12 months about their production. This would include conversations about their customers, prospects, meetings, quota, forecasting, selling, saving business, renewals, expenses, trips, etc.
Second, write the number of hours you spent speaking with this person about their career. This would include their dreams, their aspirations, their successes, their failures, what they want to accomplish, whether they feel they have a job or a career, their life in general. You get the idea.
Take a look at the two numbers. I’m willing to bet the first number is at least ten times larger than the second. As managers, we tend to focus on our people’s production and forget this may not be what drives them. So, consider the following maxim. It’s just about 100% spot-on every time.
“The more you speak with people about their career, the less you have to speak with them about their production.”
“Don’t worry. I have 100% of their business.”
W
ith the way the economy has been going for the past several years, I have heard many sales people say that their strategy has been to focus on their current accounts and do everything they can to maintain their current levels of business from their established accounts.
This strategy is based on a fallacy; that these are not good times to pursue new business. I have recently heard many sales people say that they have 100% of the business from a particular account. That is their goal, and they have accomplished it. I have heard them say, “Sales from this account may be off this year.” “They are not buying as much because they are cutting back.” “There just is not as much business available from this account.”
Really? I always get nervous when I hear someone say they have 100% of the business from account X.
Let’s evaluate the possible problems with this reasoning. First, what does 100% mean? I know this sounds silly, but have you really thought about what it means? Do you get 100% from the individual person in the account with whom you are working, or from that division within the account? You should have a full understanding of just how deep the account is, as well as, how high in the account you are calling. How many different people are you working with in this account? If it is only one or two, you may be setting yourself up for a big surprise one day when your trusted friend within the account leaves, gets laid off, or reassigned to a different area. Y
ou may find that you are starting all over again with an account that you thought you had under control. Are you really calling at the right level within the account? Research has repeatedly demonstrated that sales people typically call two levels lower than they should. Let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that you really do have 100% of the business, but you are working with the person within the account at a level below where the decision is made. What happens when your competitor calls at the higher level? You may find yourself in a bidding war where you are not the favorite. Your competition already has a head start, even if they are new to the account because they are calling at the higher level. Remember, your 100% is always at risk. Never slow down. Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, repeatedly stated that you have got to be paranoid. You have got to understand that even if you actually have 100% of the business you can’t take your loyal accounts for granted. Treat them as if you never really have them established. Always ask yourself the following questions:
- Why is this account buying from us? Who decides?
- How are we providing unique value?
- How can I add and reinforce the value?
- Do I truly have 100% of the business from this account? How do I know?
- What can I do to maintain my status as the favored supplier?
- Who else should I be working with in this account?
- What is happening in this account that could jeopardize my relationship?
These are just a few of the questions you should constantly ask yourself. There are others. Please send us any of your favorites not mentioned here. Treat every contact like it is your first call. Ask questions. Confirm assumptions. Above all, keep your eyes and ears open. Remain flexible. Be alert. Then, one day you may find that you actually do have 100% of the business.
Price versus Value
Are you uncomfortable asking prospects to pay the price of your products or services? If you are, you have a serious problem.
Resolve it by doing your homework. Get out a pad of paper and start listing the benefits that contribute to the price and value of your product or service.
Maybe your product is the only one that automatically calculates and presents data. Perhaps it is the only one that automates an otherwise lengthy manual process. When you think about it, your products or services have unique features and advantages. These features provide benefits for your customers. Benefits save your customer time and or money. Benefits may increase productivity, safety, convenience, or revenue. Take time to list the features and benefits of your products and services and how they impact your customers. Add to the list as you work with customers and new ideas occur to you. Unique benefits that impact the customers of your customers provide an exceptionally powerful punch when it comes to justifying your price.
If your product incorporates advanced electronics, customization, or a high-tech ceramic coating, this technology adds value and boosts the price. Buyers of Swiss watches and luxury cars know that components and workmanship add to the price of the watches and the cars. Enumerate the unique advances incorporated in your products and services as well as the benefits for your customers.
These may not be so obvious to your customer. Use your benefits to create targeted questions to uncover areas for your customer where your solution could have a significant impact on their business. Help your customer understand why they are important and how they can be of benefit.
You are your customer’s link to your company and are always there to help; however, there may be field service personnel or customer support groups as well. What social media resources exist for your products and services? Document how these resources assist customers. Use testimonials from satisfied customers.
As you write about your product or service, read what you have written aloud. Where you have any trouble is where you need to edit the language so that it flows. By doing this, you are practicing your presentation to your customers. Only when you understand and believe in the value of what you sell can you convey that value to customers and prospects. Sales Concepts Financial Justification course helps you justify your price with value.
Price is what the customer is asked to pay for the product or service. Value is what the customer thinks the product or service is worth. Sell value, not price.
What’s your time worth?
Is it worth your time? You have a prospect that has indicated they may consider buying from you if you do x, y, and z. Well x, y, and z take a lot of time on your part. Should you do x, y, and z as an investment in future business, or write it off as not worth it?
The difference between good sales people and great sales people is wisdom. Great sales people know when and how to say no to a prospect. They don’t waste time chasing business that provides little or no return on their time. Decide what is worth your time by using a proven method we at Sales Concepts call CPOD or cost per order dollar.
Here’s how it works. Figure out the number of hours you have to work for an entire year. There are 365 days per year. Take out 104 days for weekends and another 14 for vacation. Take out another five or so for personal days. (Insert laughs and jokes here.) You now have 242 days per year to work. How many hours a day do you work? (Insert more laughs and jokes here.) Let’s say you work nine hours a day on average. Now you have 242 days times 9 hours a day gives you 2,178 hours a year to work. Now, you are in sales so you have a quota, right? Let’s say your quota is a cool million dollars. That is how you justify your existence to your employer. You have to come up with that million for the year or else. How much do you need from each of those hours to get a million? Well, one million dollars divided by 2,178 hours is approximately $459.14 per hour. To fulfill a quota of $1,000,000 you need to sell almost $500 per hour. Now how do you feel about that fifteen minute coffee break? Is that coffee break really worth $125?
Once you know what your time is worth it becomes easier to allocate it. How much time should you spend to win a $30,000 order? Using our formula for a 1 million dollar quota:
$30,000 order ÷ $459.14 per hour = about 65 hours and 20 minutes.
Wow! You need to be pulling in $30K every seven business days!
You could invest about 7 business days to get that business, anything more and it’s not worth it. Let’s try a different number. How much time should you invest to win an order for $350K? Same math applies:
$350,000 ÷ $459.14 per hour = 762 hours and 20 minutes.
762 hours = approximately 84 business days, give or take, but you get the idea.
We have not addressed the element of risk. You may not want to risk 762 hours if you feel you have a small chance in winning the business. Spending that amount of time and not winning the business would be disastrous. What does CPOD tell you? Don’t risk any more than 762 hours in the preceding example. However, if you believe you only have a 10% chance of winning that business, you should only spend 10% of 762 hours on that business, or 8.5 business days. The topic of risk can become complicated. We’ll save that for a later time.
What’s your time worth? If you don’t know, you owe it to yourself and your company to find out. We all have 24 hours a day. Your competition has the same amount of time you do. Use it wisely.
Do you have a different method of calculating the value of your time? We’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below.
