What is the one ‘killer’ question you can ask to open up an opportunity and eliminate price?

By Gregory Ferrett
Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

 I have coached hundreds of sales people, and the most common question they ask is “Greg – is there a ‘killer’ question to ask a prospect to open up an opportunity?”

The second most common question is “How can I overcome price?”

These two questions are intimately linked. In fact there is a vital first question you need to ask – and most sales people ask this to the wrong person. The second question, dealing with price, is similar.

Question 1 - Why do your clients buy from you?

This is the most important question you will ever ask. When I challenge sales people with this question almost every time they will answer, without thinking, with stock answers like;

• I have a relationship with them
• Price
• Because I am a great sales person
• Quality of our product
• Service

Some even look at me like I have two heads. Why would I bother to ask this question? We all know why our clients buy.

This is dangerous thinking.

When I first got into the sales training and coaching business I did what all good sales people do – looked at my strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities. I quickly picked up my first client and assumed, of course, they had purchased my program for one of the reasons I put forward.

A few months after that program I sat down with the director of sales and asked this simple question, “John, why did you buy my program?”

I was not prepared for the answer. “Greg, when you were selling to us we were concerned that you were new to the business. What we noticed, however, was that you were the only person who used the sales techniques you proposed to teach us. Every time you made a call you used the techniques we wanted our people to use.”

Wow – all the hot air I had come up with to sell my programs had made no impact on this sale – it was something I had not even considered. I went out and built a new sales story based on this feedback. Now I ask all my clients, “Why did you buy services from me?’ I am continually amazed at the feedback I get and use this to build stories to use in new sales campaigns.

Go to your best clients, look them straight in the eye and ask, “Why do you buy from me?” Here are some examples of other ways you could phrase this question;

• Where, specifically, do our products / services add value to your business?
• Why do you continue to do business with us year after year?
• Where in your business could we offer more value?
• What is it that makes our products / services stand out?
• What makes us different from every other company that calls on you?

Then shut up and listen. You will learn more about your sales strengths from this exercise than weeks of sitting in your office with your marketing gurus making up a story.

Question 2 - What is more important than price to your client?

Coffee pot talk about how ‘we lost a deal on price’ is very common. I recently met with the sales manager of two competing organisations. They both complained their competitor was buying business and was always 10 to 15% less expensive. How could this be?

I was standing in the supermarket aisle last week and noticed a young man lingering in the laundry powder section. I am a naturally curious person so I walked up and said “What a range – how can you ever select the right product”

“I am trying to decide which of these laundry powders is the cheapest. What do you use?” he asked

I thought to myself, "what an opportunity to test my price theory". I looked straight into his eyes and asked, “If they were all the same price what would be important for you?”

“My girl friend has an allergy – so I need to be sure that the powder washes out completely” he said.

I turned and pulled the most expensive item off the shelf, “If you want your girlfriend to keep kissing you, you need to use this brand in hot water as it washes straight out.”

It was amazing. He had gone from buying on price to buying the most expensive brand in just thirty seconds - all because I had asked a simple question.

Price only becomes an issue if you make it an issue. If you make a business outcome the issue then price becomes secondary. Even if two products are identical, your client will buy on perceived outcome.

Coaching Points

Talk with your best clients to find out why they are really doing business with you. They will provide you with your best stories and help you develop powerful open and probing questions to ask your prospects.

If price is an issue – guess who made it an issue. Stop selling price and ask great questions about business value.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/

Top 6 attributes of a sales leader in the 21st century

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

I would like to share the stories of two sales managers I was involved with last year, whose teams were producing very different results, and extract some lessons learned from them. One took a 'cellar dwelling' team and turned it around – and the other took a highly polished team and – you guessed it – turned it around the wrong way!

Sales Manager 1
This sales manager had recently taken on the leadership of a very successful telephone sales team who sold low cost office consumables. For every possible sales measure I asked him about he had it measured and could show me in an instant right there on his computer screen. He was proud that he ran such a well disciplined team – so why had the team, with the SAME team members as before, moved from being productive and highly profitable to marginal in only a few weeks – and they were slowly sliding into oblivion?

Sales manager 2
Across town there were five teams selling telecommunications services. Each week a competition was run and one team consistently came in stone motherless last. As a last resort the company brought in sales manager 2. Within ONE WEEK this team became the top performing team – and has stayed there ever since with the SAME team members as before.

What was the difference?

Attribute 1 –A Great Sales Leader Gives Until They Get

The ability to lead is what makes great sales managers stand out. Just because you have the title “Sales Manager” or “Sales Director” or some other fancy name does not make you into a sales leader. When you select and engage a sales team for your area of responsibility it is your responsibility to provide effective leadership.

Sales leadership is about being generous, within reason, in everything you do when it comes to dealing with your sales team. When you go out of your way to reward them they will reward you with more sales.

This is not about handing out more money – generosity is much more than that! Generosity comes from receiving accolades in front of peers and management, a ‘fun’ trophy for a particular measure, a trip, extra leads.

Even if your new sales person is an expert in your industry and an experienced top performer, they will still require help to familiarize themselves with your company, products, and markets. It is your role to provide all the information and support to make them successful. Experience tells me that if you have to fire someone after their probation period is up it is because of poor management and coaching.

Successful sales management requires a commitment to sales force training and coaching. Regardless of the size of your firm, an investment in sales training and support pays big dividends in revenue and profitability. Spending the time one-on-one and in the field with your sales team will not only provide support but convey a sense of the importance of sales people in your organization.

Sales Leadership coaching point

Give until you get. Be generous with your praise, your support and time and you will establish yourself as the natural leader. Salespeople have to work for a sales manager, but they want to work for a sales leader.

Attribute 2 – A Great Sales Leader Knows When to Celebrate and When to Coach

The first lesson learned is to celebrate every success – no matter how small.

“That was a great sale – no one has ever signed a deal like that before! … so, when is the next one coming?"

One common sales management blunder is to congratulate a sales person for a job well done and quickly move to ask about other opportunities in the sales funnel or areas of improvement. There is a time for celebration and a time for coaching. Mixing the two is often interpreted by the sales team as a lack of appreciation. Best practice is to separate recognition from coaching. Save the performance improvement areas for coaching sessions.

Set up opportunities to celebrate with your sales team - even if it's a small celebration. It's the little gestures of respect and celebrations of achievement that gain the hearts and minds of the sales force.

Sales Leadership coaching point

Celebration and coaching mix like oil and water.

Attribute 3 – A Great Sales Leader Has Clear and Credible Sales Plan

I recall many sales meetings where the team nervously awaited the announcement of sales goals for the upcoming year. As the targets were passed out there were audible groans as the team realised the ‘goals’ were really wishes.

The most successful sales teams are the ones who are intimately involved in setting goals and individuals have ‘buy-in’ to achieving the goals. In the second example at the beginning of this article the new sales managers’ first task was to reset team goals. She was criticised by the company’s management for setting the goals too low (25% of the ‘required’ number). The team, however, agreed to a goal on day 1, committed to it and achieved it. On day 2 they set a higher goal, committed to it and achieved it. By the end of the week they were well on the way to success – and the top position in terms of sales.

A successful sales team requires regular planning, tracking, and review to achieve targeted results. Every sales person requires their own action plan to direct day-to-day activities and set up accountabilities.
All sales plans have at least 3 requirements:

Sales Plan Development

Where most sales plans fail is they are developed ‘top down’ by the sales manager – or worse, by company managers with no direct exposure to the market, not the sales team. To ensure a high level of plan ‘buy in’, have the team develop the plan and guide them toward the right objectives.

Regular Reporting

Sales plans should be established on a weekly / monthly basis to provide flexibility in the planning cycle. Reviewing can take place on a weekly / monthly / quarterly basis. Sales management best practice involves reviewing the results against the agreed plan. Celebrate achievement and work with the team to determine missed opportunities and areas for improvement.

Sales Metrics

A successful sales plan focuses on results and activities that produce results.

In the dinosaur period of selling (when I started my sales career) I was told to carry around a card and write down everything I did. Whose door did I knock on? What was the result? How many demonstrations did I organise? How many closing calls did I make? What orders did I receive? I was expected to knock on so many doors, which would yield so many demos which would yield this many orders. I discovered quickly that to achieve success (not just quota) I had to do things differently. Not that I did not make the calls – but that I made the calls to the right people.

Establish proper sales metrics to drive your sales plan. Metrics may include: number of client phone calls, number of contacts, appointments set, appointments conducted and sales closed. Do not overwhelm your sales staff with excessive tracking numbers. Focus on the few measures that matter the most to your business – and if the measure is getting in the way of success change the measure.

Sales Leadership coaching point

Establish a clear and credible sales plan with your sales team. Once you have ‘buy-in’ measure results against the agreed plan

Attribute 4 - A Great Sales Leader Develops Their Teams Natural Ability

Top sales performers know they have a valuable skill set and will quickly walk to a competitor if treated poorly. In today’s environment this is especially so. There are mountains of average sales people – and when you find a gem you need to do everything in your power to polish and retain them. Traditional sales management, using intimidation or control, leads to low moral and high turnover.

Sales management is a partnership between the sales person and the sales manager. Effective sales management requires sharing in the responsibility to find the problems and bottlenecks in your sales process. Seek the solution together with your team. Become a champion for helping them achieve their agreed results.

• Become a strong advocate for the growth and development of others
• Devote appropriate time to training, coaching and developing others
• Understands the implications of varied emotional intelligences and learning styles and their importance to individual development, and
• Regularly follow up and hold team members accountable for their performance

Sales Leadership coaching point

Your team has all the answers. Engage with them and together you will find the way.

Attribute 5 - A Great Sales Leader Holds Themselves Accountable

Accountability is the ability to identify and prioritise activities to achieve a goal. When sales figures are down it is easy to pass off the lack of results to external forces such as competitors, the economy, or poor marketing.
Who is responsible for the lack of performance? It is your sales management program. It remains your responsibility to implement and measure the process. Creating a culture of sales accountability will not happen overnight. Remember – you and your team have set up and agreed to the accountability measures. Sales people that have agreed to the measures, under performed and will not accept personal responsibility for their own results, will leave. This is a good thing. A sales accountability culture only accepts top performers; exactly what your business needs to survive in a competitive market.

• With your team establish goals that are relevant, realistic and attainable
• Agree with the team the required plans and milestones to achieve specific goals
• Make it your daily endeavour to make the agreed activities happen

It is you who are responsible to stay on target - to complete goals regardless of obstacles or adverse circumstances

Sales Leadership coaching point

Ruthlessly hold your team accountable for agreed results – not your dreams or wishes.

Attribute 6 - A Great Sales Leader Manages by Exception

A great example often used is Kirk, a competitive sales manager who assumed that a salesperson of his, Mike, was also competitive. Kirk tried spurring Mike to greater performance by telling him how much other salespeople had sold. Mike was unresponsive. Kirk finally asked how Mike measured his progress, and discovered that Mike didn't care about doing better than anyone else. He simply wanted to beat himself. When Kirk began asking Mike how he was going to top himself in a given month, Mike poured forth his ideas. He eventually became the company's best salesperson.

Of course, each employee must adhere to baseline standards of behaviour and performance rules. But within this framework, top sales managers treat every salesperson differently according to their own needs. The sales manager asks what each person wants (particular goals, frequency of progress reviews, public versus private recognition, etc.), and writes the answers down. Armed with this information, the sales manager can then focus on turning each person's unique talents into performance.

Sales Leadership coaching point

Understand the emotional drivers for each team member and manage them by exception.

Conclusions

In the ‘Sales Manager’s Mentor’ by Jeff Lehman covers 300 specific areas a leader can develop are identified. The one thing that underpins the whole sales management process, however, is having a team approach to success and implementing an honest feedback system. Alan J. Zell, "The Ambassador of Selling" feels "most sales managers do not have a system of feedback that will allow the staff to have a way to comment back to the sales manager without the fear of being chastised or being known as a complainer."

We all know the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself" Top sales managers, however, break this rule every day. In fact, they directly invert it: "Don't treat others as you would like to be treated yourself" Great sales managers don't assume everyone is just like them; they realize that their competitiveness, for example, or desire for public praise, isn't necessarily shared by their team. The belief that we all breathe the same psychological oxygen is wrong, say top sales managers. Instead, they actively discover how each individual sales person wants to be trained, coached, and rewarded.

Coaching Points

• Salespeople have to work for a sales manager, but they want to work for a sales leader.
• Celebration and coaching mix like oil and water.
• Establish a clear and credible sales plan with your sales team. Once you have ‘buy-in’ measure results against the agreed plan
• Give until you get. Be generous with your praise, your support and time and you will establish yourself as the natural leader
• Your team has all the answers. Engage with them and together you will find the way
• Ruthlessly hold your team accountable for agreed results – not your dreams or wishes.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/

Top Performers Demand Coaching

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

What is Coaching?
When I talk about sales coaching I get some very typical responses;

• “Why would I ever need coaching. I meet my sales numbers all the time”
• “we use coaching to manage poor performers – and if they don’t improve we coach them out”

The word ‘coaching’ is a common buzzword used a lot yet little understood. There is often pushback when coaching is suggested in business as people do not understand the vital role it plays in every part of our lives.

Here is an interesting question. “In sports, how many top performers have one or more coaches?”

The answer, of course, is “All of them”. In fact, when a top performing athlete has a ‘falling out’ with a coach, it makes headlines in the sports pages.

Rule one - All top performers have coaches

The Fundamental Sales Skill
Just like sport, selling is a mental game. Research suggests sales skills fall into three categories;

• Mental skills - 50 to 60%
• Technical skills - 25 to 30%
• Product skills - 15 to 20%

The percentages of importance for these three skills are typically reversed when an organisation puts a training plan in place.

In the 1990’s NCR were releasing a new range of computing platforms. As an up and coming sales representative I was invited to attend the sales training programs. During the days of training slide after slide outlining the technical superiority of the new product was put up. The problem was that no one took the time to think why someone would buy them. Of course, in the end, very few people did and the company was taken over by AT&T.

Unfortunately this is still the typical sales training program for many organisations. While product skills are important, it is an understanding of how and why the products they sell will impact the customers they call on that is important. Being positive about the business benefits, the value the company delivers – these are key message to the sales team. Just like a sporting individual or sports team, when you go out onto the field of play you have to believe, absolutely, that you are the best. What you imagine yourself and your company as will be the best you will ever become.

Rule two – Coach for mental skills first

You get the results you deserve
One of the sales teams I worked with last year insisted that the market they were in was mature, their clients were price focused, and they had the lion’s share of the business anyway. When pressed, one of the team said “My sales strategy is to take them out and get them pissed”. The room erupted in laughter. What he did not know was that facts betrayed him and his direct competitor was moving nearly three times as much product out the door at the same at better margin.

How could this be?

His belief system stood in the way. He was focused on one result and, without a strong coach to help alter his belief system, his belief had become dogma and was now a ‘fact’ in his mind.

Rule Three – Coaching changes belief; New beliefs change lives


Work with those who want to achieve
Rod was part of a sales team comfortable achieving the minimum sales figures to survive. When he called me he was struggling and needed a lift just to allow him to meet his basic needs – let alone invest for his future. While his sales manager was OK, their focus was on corporate needs and found it difficult to consistently invest the time in coaching. Within a few weeks of working with Rod he was over achieving.

Rod faced his biggest challenge then – his peers. “Why bother to work so hard?” or “What makes you so special?”

With focused coaching Rod continues to be a top performer in his company. He is proud of his results, he takes regular holidays overseas and is investing in his future.

Rule four – Coaching is for performance
Top sales coaches break the ‘golden rule’ every day
Coaches don't assume everyone is just like them; they realize that the sales people they coach have different competitive drivers, for example, or desire for public praise. The belief that we all breathe the same psychological oxygen is wrong. In fact there are seven broad emotional styles that sales people may fit into and each one requires a different approach. Sales coaches discover early how each individual sales person wants to be trained, managed, and rewarded.

Darien, a competitive sales manager assumes a salesperson of his, Mike, is also competitive. Darien tried spurring Mike to greater performance by telling him how much other salespeople had sold in the hope that the ‘competitive streak’ would drive him forward. Mike was unresponsive. Darien finally asked Mike how he measured his progress. By asking this he discovered that Mike didn't care about doing better than anyone else. He simply wanted to beat himself. When Darien began asking Mike how he was going to top himself in a given month, Mike poured forth his ideas. He eventually became the company's best salesperson.

Coaches treat every salesperson differently according to their own needs. Ask what each person wants (particular goals, frequency of progress reviews, public versus private recognition, etc.), and write the answers down. This is powerful psychological information. Use this to turn each person's unique talents into performance.

Rule Five – Coaches don't treat others as they would like to be treated themselves

The Flow Zone
I am a one eyed follower of the Richmond football club and go to as many games as my busy schedule allows. The first game of the year was a challenge when the team lost by 115 points. As the team huddled together during the third quarter break I saw a despondent look on their faces and could feel their ‘pain’. They had lapsed into playing in the ‘drone zone’ – where they were going through the motions (using their technical skills). I thought ‘this is going to be another long year’.

The next week we were playing one of the premiership favourites. This week, during the third quarter huddle there was a different look and feel about the team. There was a ‘we can do this’ feel and during the last quarter we actually hit the front for a time. Was this the same team? The same individuals were playing – but they were playing with a different mindset.

What changed?

During the week each player was coached by their mentor, the coaching staff and the head coach. They reset their beliefs and emotional thermostats and they came out playing ‘in the zone’ (using their mental skills). They knew they were good, they were focused, confident and played as if it was effortless.

When it comes to sales coaching the same model needs to be adopted. We need to ask the question “How can I help this person work in the flow zone?”

Training

Yahudi Menuhim is recognised as the greatest violinist of all time. He was asked once, late in his brilliant career, what was it that allowed him to perform year after year. He responded that it was his weekly violin lesson where he worked on his scales, his rhythm – anything he needed polishing.

When you stand in front of a sales team and suggest that they do skill practice they groan in agony. “I am too busy selling to come to sales meetings”. If they were on a sports team, in an orchestra, or any other team that required skills, they would quickly be off the team. When it comes to sales, practicing the skills in a non-threatening environment is vital. You are only ever given one opportunity with the client – and when you are in front of the client it is too late to practice.

A colleague of mine went on sales calls, with a team that had this attitude, to do an audit of their skills. The results were atrocious at best;

• Only one person followed a script they planned and practiced before arriving at the prospects place of business
• Sales process, while mandatory, was rarely followed and the data input into the CRM system was often made up
• Sales closes were non-existent

When confronted with these statistics there was a loud protest. The facts (recorded interviews) silenced them.

With regular practice technical sales skills (questions, closing etc.) become a part of the normal way of conducting your sales calls. Without practice you become like the musician or sportsperson who never practices – you may know what to do but execute poorly at best.

Coaching Points
There are six fundamentals to success in coaching;

• Match the emotional style of the person you are coaching. Learn their style quickly and use their emotional drivers to bring about change. (visit www.exceptionalsales.com.au to read the article on the seven emotional styles)
• Coach with facts. For example, when a sales person is de-motivated you could say “based on your figures you made four prospecting calls last week” rather than “Your prospecting activity seems low”
• Probe previous success. Get the sales person to relive the emotion of winning. Ask questions to bring feelings of success back to the surface
• Avoid talking about failures. If there are failures that do need to be talked about ask “What worked well in that sale?”
• Ask lots of questions. Understand what it is the individual needs to feel a success. Treat them like a prospect you are trying understand
• Get yourself a coach

Follow these points and you will find your sales team responding like never before.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/

Nothing happens until something happens

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

I asked a group of sales people how important prospecting was. I received the standard answer ‘very important’. I then asked them how many new people they talked to this week. I felt the air go cold. After a bit of prodding I discovered, out of a team of 15 people, not one person had picked up the telephone to speak to someone they had never spoken to before for nearly three weeks!

Here is an interesting question. “If you knew there was a tornado heading towards someone’s corporate headquarters would you warn them?”

Sales professionals know the business weather when they call. When they call people listen.

If nothing happens, nothing happens.

My parents live in a small fishing village on the north coast of New South Wales. When I visit them I watch the fishermen come in with so many fish their bags are bulging. When I put my line in, however, I am lucky to get a nibble. When I do get a bite the fish is often so small I have to throw it back. The difference is that the experienced fishermen know where to put their line in, what bait to use, and how to reel them in.

Many sales people have the same attitude as a part time fisherman. If you put your line in enough you will eventually catch something. When they reel in a small prospect they start the process all over. No wonder prospecting is a sales person’s least favourite activity!

When fishing for opportunities how do we know;

• where to cast our lines in
• which bait to use, and
• What technique to reel them in with?

We need a formula to continually refresh our sales funnel or pipeline. What is this formula?

• Know your ideal clients
• Be aware of industry trends and challenges
• Know the individuals you will make the biggest impact on
• Be prepared with great questions, and
• Measure your results

Getting client’s to listen

I asked an attendee at a recent training program the following question “If you knew for sure every time you picked up the telephone to make an appointment you would get through to the right person, and they would agree to see you, how often would you call?” I asked

“I would make calls all the time.” came the response.

Here is the dilemma. How do we make sure we always get through to the right person and make them listen?
Let’s say you are a doctor. You notice that the person getting out of the car parked in the space marked ‘CEO’ displays classic symptoms of a person with heart disease. You call the CEO and are put through to the CEO’s ‘gatekeeper’. You say “This is Dr. Jones, a heart specialist. I saw your CEO get out of his car this morning and was concerned at his shortness of breath. Could I have a few moments of his time to check up on him please?” You are likely to get through every time.

Prospecting is the same. A business is ‘short of breath’ or there is a ‘tornado coming’ – but what does the average sales person do? They lead with their company name, their product or service – anything but what their client is interested in them. We know our clients face business challenges all the time. We also know our products and services will remove these challenges. Most prospecting, however, takes the form of “I have a product or service that you could use if …” rather than “I am a tornado specialist and I could not help noticing the funnel shaped cloud approaching your building …”

This approach can be taken even with the simplest of products.

You are selling appointments for mortgage brokers. The classic approach is to give away a fee consultancy. The problem with this is everyone is doing the same thing. How do you position yourself differently?
Here is a sample script

“Hi Mrs. Jones, it is Greg calling. I really appreciate your time. Rather than selling, I would like to ask you a simple question. Other than getting rid of annoying telephone campaigners, is there one thing about your current financial situation you would really like to change?”

You can then follow this up with a menu of common issues and start a conversation about goals ending up in an appointment. Organisations that use this model have dramatically improved their result in appointment making.

Know Your Ideal Customers

A number of years ago I was involved in winning a large contract with one of Australia’s major banks. One by one the organisations that came 2nd were briefed on why they lost. I asked the team from the bank if we could have the same opportunity – but what I wanted to know was why they selected us. They were very surprised, but agreed to the briefing.

I learned more from this briefing than I ever learned from a ‘lost sale’ meeting and now make this a matter of course for all my sales. This allows me to understand why clients buy form me and I use these reasons with my new contacts.

Another example was my first job in this business. A major telecommunications company engaged me to write and deliver a sales training program. I was a little surprised at the size of the contract as I had only been in business for a few weeks, but accepted the contract graciously. I asked John after the program why he had selected me and not one of the major training programs from the US or UK. What he said changed my business forever. “Greg, I selected you because you were using on me and my management team the tools and techniques I wanted my team to use. Not one other organisation practiced the techniques they were selling”. Wow! From then, when I prospected I used this as a part of my armoury.

Before you make your first call spend time understanding what your clients really want and need - your ideal customer profile. These are potential clients that are likely to have problems or opportunities that your products or services can help them take advantage of.

Example:
You have a program that allows an organisation to control the cost of electricity by powering on or off high energy consuming equipment at peak cost times. You decide to call all large consumers of electricity. You are soon bogged down, however, with a sales funnel full of time wasters. You refocus and decide to call only those organisations that have single pieces of equipment that have high power usage. Now, with a customer centric prospecting script, you get qualified leads with almost every call.

The difference is that you are now fishing where the fish are, you have the right bait and all you need do is reel them in.

Neglect identifying your ideal customers and you will continue to fill your sales funnel with poor opportunities and waste your prospecting time.

By taking the time to prospect only organisation that may fit your ideal customer profile you will be pursuing only those opportunities with the best chance of closing. Isn't that time well spent?

Identify your buyers

I prospected the sales manager of a large franchise network earlier this week. Being a referral I expected a ‘warm’ reception; but even with a referral I could sense his defences were up. Phil apologised in the end and said “I am inundated every day with calls from people trying to sell me sales programs and productivity tools. I need to be convinced that investing time with you will be of value”.

I hear this every day from business executives and managers I work with. Here is the question to ask yourself before you pick up the telephone;

“What is the value the person I am about to call will receive if they agree to an appointment?”

Depending on the role a person has in an organisation they will have different needs. Taking the time to understand a person’s role you will quickly come to an understanding of what is important to them at the time.

When prospecting focus on the challenges facing the role. Once you get the appointment close off and plan the sales call. Here is a sample script that can be used by simple replacing the item of potential pain based on the role you are prospecting. Of course, you will have a similar list for your industry.

“Hi Mr. Sales Person, it is Greg calling. I really appreciate you taking my call. I have been doing some work with the sales team at Jones & Jones resulting in every one of their team exceeding their sales target. I was wondering if you may be interested in a method that could help you consistently exceed your sales targets. (Wait for response – probably “What is it?”) If you have ten minutes next week I have something I would like to show you…”

Measuring the Results

The sales funnel is my favourite tool for sorting out sales opportunities. In it you rank each sales opportunity by its position in the sales funnel and probability of closing. Once ranked it is a straight forward process to plan sales campaigns to move opportunities down the sales funnel. The shape of the funnel reveals endemic sales problems.

Above the sales funnel are all your potential sales opportunities. I call this the blue sea – or universe. It is in the blue sea where you go fishing for opportunity. When you identify an opportunity you move it into your sales funnel and over time it moves through the sales funnel to closure.
Of course, now you know where to fish, what bait to use and how to reel them in.

Coaching Point

Prospecting can be a tough business. With a few simple practices in place it can be a fun and productive time. Try these ideas;

• Meet as a team and define your ideal customer
• Ask your top five clients why they buy from you. If you have time ask more. Collate the results with your colleagues and come up with a list of your top five reasons why people do business with you.
• Start up a sales funnel and review it every week. Make it a part of your weekly reporting routine.
• Call your favourite sales coach and get them to run a workshop on prospecting scripts

The important thing is that nothing happens if nothing happens. Do something today – make a start – and make prospecting a part of your every day routine.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au//

Even Eagles Need Help Seeing

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

The police could not believe what they were seeing. Here, in the middle of the Nullarbor desert, a driver had managed to slam his car into the only tree in over 40 kilometres. What they had observed, however, was the ‘rule of focus’ in action. When I observe ‘Sales crashes’, however, I am never surprised. They occur almost invariably for one reason. The salesperson has allowed their mind to wander away from the client’s goals to their own.

Positive thinking and self talk will not yield a single sale

A lot of research has been done on what makes a person successful. What has been discovered is that successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. They will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they'll fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure. While this ‘feeling good and positive about you’ will help, to make a sale, however, it does not matter how good you feel or how positive you are. What matters is how good your client feels and how positive they feel.

Why does your client buy?

Your client will only make a buying decision when they can ‘see’ the product or service you offer working in their world and delivering value to them. When they are totally convinced you have the ability to deliver what they ‘see’ then, and only then, will they buy. Most salespeople know this - Most do nothing about it and focus on building their own self confidence.

Focus on your client

I was breaking up some concrete over the weekend. I was enthusiastic and very positive about the job for the first half hour or so. I put in a lot of effort until I realised what a big job it really was.

I recalled a discussion I had with a concrete worker who had reminded me of a basic rule ‘Focus on the point you want to hit and allow the weight of the hammer do the work’

I stopped for a minute or two and re-evaluated the job. I saw what needed to be done and then started to systematically follow a pattern. This time, instead of attacking with enthusiasm I focused on the result. I allowed the weight of the hammer to do the job and focussed on hitting the right point.

The job was completed with a lot less energy, less time and my muscles thanked me for it.

This is the same as in selling. Enthusiasm is fine – but if you focus on your own goals you end up on the scrap heap. Successful salespeople are the ones that take the time to understand their clients, know their goals and ‘hit’ their clients goals time and time again. They help their clients:

• ‘See’ how things could be,
• Become enthusiastic about getting the results,
• Believe they can deliver the result for them.

Becoming Great

One of the things that make great salespeople stand out from the crowd is that they are not considered salespeople at all. They are regarded by their clients as consultants or a similar title. The moment a person is tagged by their client with the label ‘salesperson’ it means they focused on something other than their client. When you deal with your client you are there to help them achieve their goals. Talk to them about:

• their bonus plan,
• their holiday,
• their promotion.

These are the things that close the sale.

This Weeks Coaching Point

Here are some things you can do to help build your sales success:

1. Call up your top five clients and ask them ‘What is it about my company that made you initially select us, or continue to deal with us?’ The answers will tell you a lot about their perception of you and help you understand why others may buy from you. 
2. Before you pick up the telephone to your next client or prospect ask yourself ‘How will this person be better off as a result of using my product or service?’ 

When talking with your clients put your commission plan away. Hide the holiday brochure and forget about the promotion this sale may bring. There is time for that at the end of the day.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/

So you want WHAT from your sales manager?

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

The sales team is growing and doing well. You know selling is not your best skill so you decide to hire a sales manager – but what are the key skills a sales manager needs? What should you expect? What will you still need to do?

Sales Process
Implementation of a consistent sales process is fundamental to sales management. Gartner research shows that just having a common process, even if it is not the best process, may improve sales productivity by up to 40%.

Most organisations have no process and, worse, hire sales people because they have their own process that seem to work in another company, so why not here? In one company I examined they hired five ‘sales professionals’ based on previous results in other companies in the same industry. Each brought with them their own sales process!

The sales manager who hired them, when I challenged him’ said he would ‘figure it out as he went along’. He had called me in as he was struggling, was consistently missing sales forecasts and had no way to easily measure sales progress.

Just the simple act of adopting one process to all five changed the culture to that of a high performing team. I have seen many examples of companies being destroyed allowing multiple sales processes to continue just because "we've always done it that way".

One IT services organisation engaged a new sales manager and told him to “leave the top sales performer alone as he is such a star performer”! The only problem was that this star performer was leaving more than 80% of potential sales on the table for competitors. By simply implementing and following a standard, measurable, process this was identified yielding breakthrough results.

When considering engaging a sales manager take your time to talk with them about their experience implementing and managing sales processes. How will these processes integrate with support, customer service, operations and other parts of the business?

Funnel or Pipeline Management
The number one challenge a sales manager faces is understanding what is really going on in the sales funnel or pipeline. While it is easy to measure the number of leads that come in the door or how many deals are closed and their value, there is little or no understanding of which opportunities are qualified other than by ‘gut feeling’.

A sales manager must be able to identify the critical milestones of the sales process for your particular organisation and the values these milestones must be to achieve results. There are five critical areas a sales manager needs to challenge each sales person on;

• Have they identified an individual within the client organisation in trouble or looking for growth? (There is someone in the organisation that will listen and support us)
• In the view of the client will our services or products overcome the trouble or help them achieve the planned growth? (Their needs will be met)
• Is the dollar and effort investment by the client, in our services or products, to overcome the trouble or achieve the planned growth less than the cost of the client doing nothing? Or doing it themselves? (The cost is justified for a decision to buy something)
• Do they have access to the person who can make the decision? (If the person in trouble or growth is not the decision maker we can access them)
• Do they know what we need to do to get the decision maker to a position where they can make a decision to buy from us? (There a clear pathway to the point of a decision)

Every good sales manager will have their version of these steps. The way the step is measured, and the number of opportunities that progress to the next funnel stage, will vary from industry to industry. The key to funnel or pipeline management is asking the right questions. Understanding where an opportunity is in the funnel or pipeline is critical so we will apply the right sales resources at the appropriate time.

Great Sales Managers Play Favourites
Standard management practice is to spend the most time supervising the weakest performing staff members. Great sales managers, however, break this rule by spending the most time with their best sales people. In sales management this paradigm of management is critical. A sales manager is a catalyst, turning raw talent into performance by devising better ways to unleash a sales person’s distinct talent.

Great sales managers know if they pay more attention to their strugglers, and less to their stars, they will likely alter the behaviour of their stars. The star performers may begin to do less of what made them excel, and more of other kinds of behaviour that will get some kind of reaction from the manager, good or bad. People have an innate need for attention, and will alter their behaviour either consciously or subconsciously until they receive it.

There is three other reasons great managers focus on their best sales people

Fairness
Great sales managers don't define "fairness" as treating everyone the same, but rather treating each sales person as they deserves, given their accomplishments. In short, sales managers spend more time with their best because their best are more deserving of it. In one sales team I know the reward for overachievement is a personal sales coach. Investing in your best brings out the best.

Excellence
Great sales managers know they won't learn much about excellence from investigating failure. Excellence is not the opposite of failure. It has its own, unique characteristics that great sales managers continually seek to understand.

Productivity
Great sales managers know that sales people who already perform above average have the greatest room for growth, and hence the greatest potential for helping the company succeed. When hiring a sales manager ask them how they will manage top performers.

Training & Coaching
Most sales managers have ‘fallen into the job’ and rarely (if ever) get the training they need before becoming a sales manager.

In the same way, sales managers rarely conduct sales training or coaching sessions with their sales team. In a recent study it was found that the average sales team receive less than 2 hours sales’ training each year and the average sales person has read less than one book on sales skills in their life!

Selling requires cognitive skills as well as practical skills, which cannot be developed without practice.

I watched Serena Williams as she played in the recent Australian Open Tennis tournament. Immediately after each game she would go out to another court, with her coach, and practice. She knows that the best time to overcome bad habits is when they are fresh in your mind.

When a sales person has had a challenging day, however, they will usually creep quietly back into the office (or slink home). This is exactly the time when a great sales manager picks up on the emotion and uses their skills to help them overcome the bad habits and hone their skills for the next time.

Top-performing sales teams practice sales skills on a regular basis. Practicing sales skills in front of a client is equivalent to practicing football on the field during the grand final. When you are in the game it is too late for practice.

Ask your candidate for sales manager how they plan to build sales skills. If they suggest annual sales training programs you may want to get on with the next candidate.

Selection Criteria
Great salespeople are almost always ruined when they are promoted to sales management. In other careers progression to management is the ‘traditional’ career path. It is important to understand, however, that in most organisations the top earners are the top 5% of the sales team – yet it is assumed promotion is what most salespeople want. The opposite is true. Great sales people will hold on to their sales role.

Selecting a sales manager based on their sales ability is a critical mistake that is frequently repeated. The skills a sales manager needs are in the ability to motivate, recruit, train, coach, inspect process and ‘manage out’ poor performers. There is nothing in this job description about selling.

I have observed companies where a sales manager retains a sales quota for one or more clients. This behaviour is probably the most destructive of all sales management models. A sales manager needs to be available to coach a sales person when they need coaching – not the next week when a client proposal is completed. When you hire a sales manager make sure you do so for the right reasons and with the right selection criteria.

Administration – the ‘Virtual Selling Machine’
The most destructive words a sales person can say are “leave it to me and I will make sure it gets done”.

The same can be said of sales managers. They become the point of interaction between company operations, shipping and finance departments as well as customer service and operations.

A sales manager’s role is to manage the unmanageable, accurately report on the invisible and produce a result from nothing.

The entire organisation needs to know what their role is in the sales process. Once a sale has been completed the sales team need to be comfortable that the task of delivering the promised solution will happen without their need of involvement.

Ask this question of a potential new sales manager. “How will you work with the administrative side of the business to ensure the sales team is fully engaged in the sales process?”

Coaching Point
Before you start the process of hiring a new sales manager ask yourself some hard questions. Why am I hiring a sales manager? If your sales team is five or less perhaps what you need to do first is, with your sales team, implement a sales process.

• Do I really need a full time sales manager? Or should I get a sales coach in to help manage the sales funnel and do regular training?
• Are the tasks you want to ‘outsource’ operational or administrative in nature? Perhaps they could be reassigned to a lower cost resource.
• Salespeople and sales managers must be focused on selling while everybody else does everything else.

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/

Prospecting for Opportunities Can Ruin You Sales

By Gregory Ferrett

Permission is granted for you to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including the by-line of the author

In two recent studies it was found that:-

• 84.3% percent of all sales took place as the result of word-of-mouth advertising
• 99.8% of decisions to buy services were made because they already had a relationship with someone in that organisation (and I suspect this is really higher!)

Yet most organisations ask their salespeople to invest an inordinate amount of their time prospecting for opportunities with people they have no relationship with. Their salespeople become frustrated, start to exhibit the symptoms of call reluctance, fail to perform and end up being a part of the end of year 'Sales Shuffle'.

How would it be if there was a way that a salesperson never had to prospect for an opportunity again? And still had endless opportunities?

There are sales teams where;

• The competition to join the team is intense
• There is little or no staff turnover
• Targets are always exceeded - in dollars and profit

Is this what your sales team looks like?

What You Prospect For Makes All the Difference

The reality is that most professional services organisations are prospecting for the wrong thing. The studies have pointed out that virtually all business a services organisation is awarded comes from an existing relationship. When we prospect, then, what we are looking for are new relationships with individuals that may require our services at some stage in the future - regardless of where they are acquiring those services today or if they are requiring those services today. Many organisations think that you can (or should) only build a relationship when an opportunity develops. They invest inordinate amounts of time and effort to identify real and current opportunities - and then only close one in three of those identified.

From Nowhere to Dominance...

In the 1980's a new Japanese computer company appeared on the scene in Australia. They were not taken seriously and they were laughed at when they stated to their target market that they were happy if they continued to buy from the main supplier - IBM. Their view was five years plus and IBM's was to satisfy the shareholders each quarter. Over the first five years in Australia they did some business, but mostly invested in relationships, joint ventures and doing the things that made individuals feel important. By the time the sixth year turned around they had IBM on the mats in regard to Mainframes and they had become a dominant player in the Australian IT market. Today Fujitsu continues to be a dominant player - and they continue to invest in relationships with one of the world's best practice relationship management systmodeled modelled on their organisation.

GOOD NEWS ...

You do not have to wait until a customer buys from you to establish and build a relationship. In fact, there are ways that you can build relationships with large numbers of individuals and automatically maintain them.

EVEN BETTER NEWS ...

Once you have an established relationship you will know about most opportunities as they happen, be invited to bid more often, and close more business.

A Full Sales Funnel

One telecommunications company were finding it hard to motivate and keep good sales people. When I first met the team more than 60% of their professional sales team's time was invested in prospecting and making appointments. They were working off outdated lists and calling old clients that were so stforgoty forgaot they had purchased for my client.

Within a few months, with a new sales process installed, the same sales professionals prospect for less than 5% of their time and each one of them has a full diary of appointments with warm qualified leads.

• Sales are up more than 25%
• Staff turnover has been eliminated
• The margin on each sale is up
• The number of calls to make a sale is down

Organisations that take the time to build a formalised process of establishing relationships and sustain a rigorously followed method of maintaining those relationships are rewarded with crowds of potential opportunities.


Your sales team can then prospect for opportunities in this crowd of established relationships and continually replenish their sales funnel. Isn't this much better than making do with the slim pickings from cold calls?

This Weeks Coaching Point

Ask yourself what you are prospecting for. If you are selling a service and you are looking for opportunities you may be wasting your time. Ask yourself what you can do to establish a relationship. What can you do that will add value to your new relationship that is of high value to them and requires just a small investment from you? Can it be repeated? Can it be automated? Can it appear personal? Here are some things other organisations are doing to encourage the establishment and development of relationships:-

• A white paper on a subject of value to the individual
• Seminars on topics of value
• Free initial consultations
• Books on subjects of interest
• eZines and regular publications of interest

Answer some of these questions and you are on the way to developing large numbers of new relationships..

Gregory Ferrett's By-line

Greg is a powerful speaker and motivator who brings selling to life for people at all levels of an organisation. He brings global experience & stories of profound transformation to individuals and organisations utilising 21st century concepts. He provides weekly motivational messages at Monday Motivational Minute. Greg can be reached at greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au with details about his programs at http://www.exceptionalsales.com.au/