A Sales Tactic for the Complex Sale

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Just a short post to tell you something I heard yesterday that was actually quite profound.

I had a client tell me that he has come to realize that when you’re selling something that is a significant shift in thought for the prospect, you have to do much more work upfront in the pain finding and economic justification step. Why?

Because the customer knows there will be a  ‘high cost to changing’ methods. Therefore part of the proposal needs to address this shift and how the selling company can help the customer implement the solution.

Your Solution
Does your solution require a shift in how your customer thinks about things? Does the solution affect many people in your customer’s organization? If so, then think through your sales process upfront so that you aren’t getting ‘objections’ late in the sales process.

Comments?

High Income Selling Strategies-5 Rules To Govern Your Behavior And Actions In The Sales Cycle–For High Performers

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(A reprint from an article appearing in The Agora Business Center in 2006)

Everyone wants to earn more, but few are willing to change their behavior to do so. In fact, my experience tells me that most aren’t.

Yet, in my 19 years of work with the high sales achiever, I find that those people are different and worth examining. Most of them operate with a different set of rules about selling and the pursuit of new business. These new rules help govern their behavior and actions in the sales cycle. I have over 25 rules that I’ve documented, but here are the top five for you to consider:

1. Define what you want to attract.
High sales achievers are very specific about what they want to attract, both in terms of financial outcomes and business relationships. The Universe has an interesting way of delivering to you exactly what you order, so be specific on your order when you place it. The Universe doesn’t respond well to, “I just want to make more money.”

2. Bring up what scares you.
Most sales executive fears are an illusion. The worst thing we can do with fear is to ignore it. That feeling of fear is trying to tell you something and what it’s telling you is, act on it. If you’re in a sales process and you feel some fear about bringing up a difficult subject, then that’s exactly what you should discuss. Reveal what you feel.

3. Never coerce.
It’s been my privilege to work with some extremely high achievers in the profession of business-to-business sales. One thing I find about them is that they are ‘detached from outcomes.’ They spend no time “convincing, persuading, and defending.” And they spend little time trying to coerce prospects into their way of thinking. When you, a marketing and sales professional, begin to encroach on your prospect’s freedom, you become the pain and they’ll get rid of you. Tell people upfront “it’s alright if you decide this is not a fit at this time, let me know and I’ll be gone.” But do that upfront. That way you’re not 18 months into the process when you hear ‘no.’

4. Think “Process.”
The greatest businesses in the world have the greatest processes in the world. So why should a sales professional be any different? Of all the processes that the high sales achiever has, the most important one is the sales process. A great sales process is one where you can, in a step-by-step fashion, lead people from beginning to end with the constant understanding that some people will qualify “out of the process” and you can move on. Not only should you have a process, but you should also be indignant about the prospect’s adherence to it. (Here’s one of my favorite secrets: Great sales processes are better for the prospect because it helps them identify their problem quicker and create a better solution.) If you feel your sales process is only in your best interest, then you’ve got the wrong process.

5. Think ‘Leverage.’
One way to leverage your strengths is to hire other people and train them to do the things you don’t want to do. But as sales professionals–even as high achieving sellers — you might not have the latitude to go hire staff. But what you can leverage is “current relationships.” High achievers never make cold calls. Why would they? They have learned the power of referral marketing. They find a way to use their current client/network relationships to bring them new, ideal clients.

This is not as simple as “give me ten people you know, so that I can go make a sales call to them.” It is a thoughtful, strategic way to generate enough goodwill with your clients that they beg you to get them introduce you to their friends and associates. A great referral program doesn’t work if you’re not thinking “leverage.”

A Last Word
I know from the feedback from our sales professionals readers that you all strive for high competency in selling. I also hear that you are searching for a new way to sell, to communicate your value, to earn money. It is still our quest to help you be that person who earns enormous rewards in selling–without resorting to the same old, worn-out tactics that your worst nightmare sales person resorts to. You need something modern–modern thinking, modern strategy, modern language–to help you to that next level. Thanks to all for your continuous support of this blog and our sales podcast, The Advanced Selling Podcast.

Talking To CEO’s

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The Universe has a funny way of working. It seems to have the attitude of,  “I’ll allow it to happen when it’s ready to happen.” We see this in all phases in our life. We really want something—really bad. But we don’t get it. Then later, we realize we really didn’t want it. What if we were to get everything we think we want? Not so good. The Universe usually knows best.

It’s that way in business too. Everyone’s talking about how they have to call higher or get wider in organizations (call on the President.) But yet, when I ask what they’re going to talk about when they get there, I get mush.

Recently I did an exercise with a client called “Value Mapping.” We looked at the kinds of problems they could  solve for their clients, what kind of value those solutions would bring to their clients, and at what level that value was felt. 

We quickly arrived at the conclusion that much of the value was felt at the CEO level.  Yet, when I asked the account development people what kinds of conversations they had when they got in front of CEO’s, the answer was “We never talk to CEO’s.”

Again, could it be that they aren’t getting in front of CEO’s because they never thought about it? Probably not. I used to think our reluctance to call on CEO’s was caused only by our own self-image. However, I’m beginning to see that there is another issue. Our reluctance stems more from our ignorance of how they think and what they want to talk about than it does our self-image of deserving to be at that level.

Therein lies a nagging and continuous problem in the communication of your value to your client companies. That is – the person who gets the most benefit from your product seldom knows or is involved in the sales process upfront. That would be the CEO.

The first critical point in understanding the discussion you should have with a CEO is to understand how your value or your solutions impact the following areas. These areas I list are the five most relevant topics a CEO deals with daily.  So as you go through this list of five topics, scribble some notes at the end of each paragraph if you bring any value in helping them deal with these issues.

Profitability
Most CEO’s I know have a financial mind. They care about the net income of the company, either on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. They also care about the trends and the indicators that lead to the final numbers. Does your solution have any impact on profitability?  If so, your conversation with this CEO is quite relevant. If not, maybe you haven’t looked deep enough. The prospect is not going to connect these dots for you. You’ll have to do it yourself.

Employee Retention
With a tight labor market (unemployment less than 5%), especially in key positions, the CEO knows that she has to hang on to her best people. If you provide a solution that helps make employee retention more successful, you will have her ear.

Revenue Growth
Every CEO cares about new business capture, client expansion, new markets and general sales numbers.  They may not care about the process their managers go through to get those numbers, but they do care about the end results. Do your solutions touch that at all?  Before you say no, check it out. Do a mind map, where you start at the left of the page with the problem your company solves—then move to the right with the total impact of that solution. I’ll bet you’ll find some connection between what you do and their revenue.

Market Capitalization
If you are calling on publicly held companies, market cap is a big issue. If you’re calling on privately held companies, “creating stakeholder wealth” might replace “market cap” as the relevant topic. Peter Drucker says, “Businesses are in existence not to create profit but to serve customers.” While I agree, “creating profit” is a first cousin to customer acquisition and wealth for the stakeholders (not just the owners, but the employees, clients, vendors and the entire array of support people).

Vision and Strategy
Most CEO’s, if they are not visionary, should be. Most CEO’s, if they don’t have a strategy, should have one. Sometimes the very simple notion of you asking the questions about vision and strategy will cause the CEO to think about it at a different level. Just because the CEO talks about his vision and strategy doesn’t mean the other people in the organization understand what it is.  j

john Kotter in Leading Change says, “Less than .05% of the time in a leader’s day is spent dealing with company vision.”  So one must never assume that the CEO has done a good job of communicating that vision down the chain.

So as you go through these five relevant CEO topics, do you see any that you could help her with? If there is no link, then say that. But if there is a link, then you can look that CEO square in the eye and say “Ms. CEO, we help organizations who are looking to increase market capitalization and who are looking to expand their customer base.  We’ve got solutions to those problems. You have to tell me whether these topics are relevant to you.”

Check Out Your Selling Language. Is it Empowering You?

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We did a role play the other day in one of our clients. I was looking for language (the words sales people used). After the exercise, the group got into a heated discussion about the language of the new selling philosophy. We then made a list of the words of Selling in the 1900’s. And compared that to selling of the 2000’s.

Read these and check out your language. The language of the 2000’s is empowering language that will keep you in control of the sales process.

The Old Language
 What do I need to do to get your business?
 Here is what this product does.
 Is there any way I could get a meeting with him?
 I really need to see you.
 Here’s what we do…
 How much do you want to pay?
 I’m so excited to be here and to tell you what we have.
 I think I can beat that price
 Features and Benefits (galore)

The New Language
 I’m not sure I can help
 Regardless of what the product does, what are your objectives?
 What kind of cash flow are you expecting?
 What are you hoping the Return on Investment to be?
 Have you done a financial impact study?
 How does this fit with your customers?
 Who else cares about getting the problem solved?
 Why wouldn’t you just keep using the same vendor?
 Let me share with you how our process works

Hope this helps you take stock of your language in your sales process. Check with your manager (or someone around you) to see what they hear.

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THE DEATH OF THE DECISION MAKER

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I had a revelation this week that has led me to think about an old “sales 101” rule in a completely different light. If you’ve been a salesperson for longer than 10 minutes, you certainly know rule #1 is to always talk to the decision maker. “Get past the gatekeeper….find the decision maker….”

You’ve heard this in sales training class for decades. But I’ve decided to re-write the rule. Here’s the deal: There is NO SUCH THING AS “A” DECISION MAKER anymore.

Gone are the days of “my way” or “the highway” management and people making decisions at their desk or over a two martini lunch. Without question, virtually every decision made by a purchaser includes input from more than one person. Granted one person may have veto power over the decision, but rest assured that that person is collecting input, opinion and data from others.

Here’s how I’d suggest you change your process given this new vane of thought:

1 -Talk to EVERYONE who will be impacted by the purchase. If you sell dump trucks, don’t just talk to the owner of the construction company, talk to the driver’s who will be using your equipment, talk to the dispatchers, talk to the maintenance people, and talk to the CFO. All of these people will be both involved in the decision to buy your dump trucks AND in the longevity of your relationship.

2 -Stop worrying about hurting people’s feelings. I hear this in our sales training classes a lot. “I don’t want to offend my buyer by going over their head.” That’s like saying, “I don’t want to tell that guy with cancer that I have a cure, because I only deal with his spouse.” INSANE. You’re there to HELP-not to keep everyone’s feelings from being hurt.

3 -Make it part of your process from Day 1: Be sure to tell new prospects the first time you meet them, that you’ll be talking to several people in their organization as you attempt to offer them a viable solution. You won’t get nearly as much resistance if you tell them upfront you’re going to talk to their boss than if you wait until it’s too late.

The death of “the decision maker” is upon us.

Bonus 3: 2008 Sucess Insights Audiobook

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Never-before-offered-collection of the highest insights to change your thinking about what it means to sell in this decade. These come from a 20-year history of training, consulting, and coaching some of America’s top sales teams. (Value: $49)

                  

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Bonus 2: Most Pressing Sales Problems 2008

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A one-hour teleseminar recording with the answers to the most pressing sales problems of 2008. Bill Caskey walks you through the scenarios that do the most damage to your sales process and your income. The research came from a national poll of sales people. (Value: $79)

 

                               

Bonus 1: 5 Strategies For Selling In A Slowing Economy

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A 90-minute teleseminar recording on what really happens in an economic slowdown when buyers are reluctant to make a move. If you’re in B2B sales, you will learn new ways to think about your market, your value and yourself during the slowdown. (Value: $79)

                                                                 
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Bill is a sales development leader and experimenter. His ideas about selling are convictions about life, money and meaning. He has coached sales professionals and executives for over 20 years. And his philosophies and strategies have fueled explosive growth in sales and profits for clients.  Click here to learn more about Bill Caskey.

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