I have trained many sales people over the course of my career. I have had the opportunity to work with high achiever and underachieving salespersons from all across the country. I have observed that one (of many) common weakness that separate high achieving salesmen from under achieving salesmen is in their ability to close. Countless books have been written on the art of closing the sale so I don’t want to turn all of that over again. Rather, I would like to spend a minute on an often overlooked failing, getting to the “NO”.

What are you so afraid of?

Most salespeople put a great deal of energy trying to convince their customer why their product or service they are selling is an improved solution over what the customer is currently using. When the salesman finally gets to the end of the sales process, the part where they “close”  and ask for the order, many salespeople simply lock up.  They are afraid to ask for the order for a number of reasons. Here are just a few:

• What if the customer says no? What then will I tell my boss? That I just wasted the companies’ time and money chasing a bad opportunity?
• What if the customer says no? And then I have to start all over again with another prospect? What will others in the company think of me?
• If the answer is NO then my forecast will go down and my boss is always on me regarding my low forecast and funnel. I don’t want to face that again anytime soon.
• If the answer is NO then I won’t be making any commissions on the order.

Do some of these fears sound familiar?

Each of the points is irrational in one way or another. Worse yet the irony is completely lost on the salesman; no does not always mean no.  When the customer or prospect tells the salesman NO, they also go on to tell the salesperson what it will take to make it a YES! No rocket science in this.

The customer will always tell you how to win the order if you will give them the opportunity.  So while the underachiever will often delay asking for the order out of an irrational fear of losing the order, the high achiever long ago figured out that asking for the order early and often weeds out the customer’s NO’s, which are really nothing more than objections needing to be overcome.

So how about it, get to the NO with your customer and let them tell you how to make their NO a YES!

Happy Hunting!

As a sales manager I would often ask a salesperson why they won or lost a particular order. I would further inquire about their sales process. Seven times out of ten times I would get a blank stare.  Usually the salesperson went on to sell me on why they thought they lost or won. And nearly always it was plain to see they lacked the insight each time. And so it goes with sales management.

Uh, I don’t know

Fact is most salespersons don’t know why or where in the process they won or lost their sale.  So the question is, if you don’t know how, where or why you won or lost, how then do you know how to avoid the same mistake again? And how then do you know how to repeat your success?

To the manager out there, without a clear understanding of why your salesman wins or loses a sale, your salesperson will not be as productive as he/she could be. Further, a solid understanding of how this process works will help the manager manage his/her salesperson to a higher level of productivity pointing their salesperson to successful and repeatable activity’s that lead to proven success.

Change is a constant for the Sales Process

Though few recognize it, all sales processes evolve over time. And why not given that your competitors are likely only getting better at what they do and the technology of the day keeps improving. Change therefore is a constant. Accordingly your sales process will require regular tweaking (mapping) to be sure your sales force is in alignment with your customers’ expectations. This process needs to be clearly understood to be managed to drive sales success.

What is your process?

First determine a baseline and then modify it over time regularly. As a help, the following is a simple sales process map for a typical medical diagnostic equipment sale –

Prospect – generate the lead

Opportunity – qualify the opportunity

Initial Sales Call – meet/greet with decision makers

Demonstration – perform initial demonstration on-site

Budgetary Quote – initial quote for budget purposes

Trial – user evaluation on-site

Negotiation – pricing finalized and finance signoff

Closing – verbal win, PO issued and received

All sales go through a process and have a beginning, middle and an ending. You start in the beginning and end in the ending. If a percentage of your salesmen are consistently missing their numbers, chances are they are not mapping and following the process to victory.

So, are you clear on why you won or lost? Map your process and know for sure!

Happy hunting.

On the marketing side of things, marketing efforts are encouraged to be highly focused in the following areas:

• Company Branding:
  • What does the customer think of when they think of your company?  If you are a new company it is a surety they don’t think of anything! What is it you want your customers to know about your company?
  • Product Positioning:
    • So what? How does your product solve the customer’s problem?  How is it unique?  Do they get it? Why should someone buy your product today? How does it differ from your competition?
    • Demand Generation:
      • Where is the customer? How can I tell them how to find me to solve their problem? How do I motivate the customer to call the company?

Marketing in today’s high tech economy is a little easier today than it was even 10 years ago as web technology has become nearly universal across North America. It is critical to have budgets carved out in the following areas:

• Company Web site
  • Bold and fresh, updated quarterly
  • Anything that will make your prospect customer somehow richer or more enlightened after visiting your site.
  • A solid PPC/ SEO strategy
    • Everyone is sitting in front of their computers. How do they best find you?
    • Show presence
      • Good opportunity to adjust your product or strategy to accommodate a changing market.
      • Good opportunity to show the industry/customer/prospect who you are and establish yourself as relevant.
      • Good opportunity to market and sell product, check out the competition and finally identify new sales channels.
      • Calls to action
        • Webinars
        • White papers
        • Prizes/gifts

Etc.

Relative to Sales and Marketing, two paths will need to work in tandem to achieve the company’s sales goals in a timely fashion, a Marketing plan and a Sales plan.  The marketing plan is all about branding the company and their products as well as positively impacting demand generation.

Very often the marketing plan will be financially short funded in favor of additional funding for the sales effort.  Rarely does this work though as any money saved in reduced marketing spending only comes back as an additional expense in the cost of sales category as the sales force is endeavoring to push their way into sales.  It is much more cost effective if the company can get their customers to request their products and services verses the salesperson having to force their way into sales. This is often understood as “Sales Pull” verses “Sales Push”.

Push and Pull Strategies defined:

Marketing theory distinguishes between two main kinds of promotional strategy – “push” and “pull. A “push” promotional strategy makes use of a company’s sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product. A “pull” selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising.

There are a number of sales models that a company can engage to leverage a sales pull or push strategy. They include the following:

• Direct
  • Inside and outside sales on company payroll.
  • Web
  • Indirect
    • The company engages a third party to conduct their sales activity.
      • Dealer
      • Distributor
      • VAR (Value Added Reseller)
      • Hybrid
        • This is a model that enjoys the best of both worlds. For certain portions of their business they engage a direct model and for certain portions of their business they engage an indirect model.

Sales models in most early stage organizations primarily favor a indirect reseller type model over a company direct sale. With a direct sales model the company benefits by having a sales force that is financially and emotionally tied to the company’s success. The cost of a direct sales force can be up there when you consider the cost of fielding a direct sales force with salary, commission and benefits. This cost can easily fall north of $100k for each salesperson annually can be a large burden on an undercapitalized organization.  Not counted in this $100k is T&E which can quickly add an additional $50k to this number.

Over time as sales increase it will become easier for the company  get their arms around controlling the cost of sales but therein lies the direct sales challenge; getting any sales momentum at all with just one or two salesmen  and no market presence or ongoing demand generation to speak of in a timely manner is highly unlikely.

The opposite of a direct sales effort is an indirect model, often characterized as a third party sales model. Drivers that support this model include the following.

• Reseller already has a trust and business relationship established with your end customer.
• Reseller already has a trained sales force.
• Reseller already has a service and support model in place.
• Reseller is in a better position to more quickly and efficiently introduce your product to the end customer.
• The Reseller will absorb most all the T&E sales expense.

The risks involved in working with a reseller model include the following.

• Cost of sale may be higher as the reseller’s margin requirements than what you might pay a direct employee.
• The reseller is not emotionally invested in your product and is not willing to take on unnecessary personal or reseller company risk to resolve a customer issue.
• Reseller sales training on your particular product is challenging in the best of times.

The benefits and risks of a reseller model notwithstanding, over time it is normal for organizations to develop hybrid sales models to bring their products to market.  The hybrid usually consists of a direct effort as well as a reseller effort running in tandem. The image below gives you a sense for how this might work.

Future discussions will be in alternative sales modeling and related sales and marketing execution. Executing on a sales and marketing plan should not be viewed as a singular event such with a sales call to one entity or another or as the creation of a fresh web site. Rather it should be seen more like a battle plan where all the aforementioned items roll out together pointed to a common company objective.

-End of Part Two-

The purpose of this writing is to foster an introductory sales and marketing discussion. Starting a sales and marketing structure is similar to building a house; there are many parts that need to come together in an orderly fashion for the house to become something useable and lasting. First and foremost however the house needs to be built on a solid foundation.   My apologies in advance if some of my commentary comes across as simple and obvious. This discussion is intended to bring us all to a common understanding and frame at a high level the sales and marketing challenges that face the new company as well as foster a discussion that will eventually lead one to an executable plan.

Given the early stage nature of a business start-up, relative to the sales and marketing area, there are a number of business challenges that the new company will need to overcome to begin to generate sustainable sales momentum.  One of the foundational challenges the company will need to spend some quality time on is in the value proposition area. Fielding any sort of sales effort without first validating if there is pent up demand for your product and clearly articulating a value proposition will be a very expensive and highly risky proposition.

Only after validated confirmation that there is indeed pent up demand for your product and that further you have a highly competitive offering should you begin on a sales and marketing effort.

Opening questions:

1. Who is my customer?
2. What is the problem my product is designed to resolve?
3. Does my product resolve the problem better than what is currently available to the customer?
   1. If so, how so?
   2. Is there any data that supports this assertion?
   3. What makes my product indispensable?

These are critical questions that need clarity in the affirmative area to begin working on the value proposition.

What Does Value Proposition Mean?
A business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.

Value Proposition Explained

Companies use this statement to target customers who will benefit most from using the company’s products, and this helps maintain an economic moat. The ideal value proposition is concise and appeals to the customer’s strongest decision-making drivers. Companies pay a high price when customers lose sight of the company’s value proposition.

After the value proposition for the product/solution is defined and articulated, the next step is building the company around it to market and satisfy what will hopefully be rich customer demand. In this instance I am only addressing the sales and marketing end as the business operations will need to follow a different path.

-End of Part One-

Too often, companies try to create sustainable change in their organizations through a single sales training event. As often as not these events take place at annual sales meetings and information is thrown at the sales force like water flowing through a fire hose. Usually the information is prepared by folks with little to marginal sales experience with a deficient understanding of sales processes and managing outcomes.  If the organization has more resources they will often try to outsource the training. Sales training vendors are evaluated, and the one that looks best on the shelf is hired.

Though the company may see a short-term spike in effectiveness, it will rarely see long lasting change that translates into increased revenue and productivity. My experience is most organizations that attack their sales effectiveness challenges with this approach find themselves in the same situation within months(!) after the “training”.

Sales Change Management

To implement a successful sales transformation, you must have:

• Identification, prioritization, and agreement of your sales issues.
• A focus on change management.
• A frontline management commitment to implementation.
• Documented sales processes and coaching objectives.
• Measurement and ongoing reinforcement.
• Accountability at all levels.

Look back on some of the training you have performed, commissioned or sat through. How many of these areas did you hit or miss? If you find yourself within months after a major sales training effort and you feel like you are still at square one, it is a promise half or most of these areas were missed.  Next time, set yourself up for success and focus your energies on these points, then enjoy finally the fruit of your efforts. You will be thankful you did.

I have sat through more sales and marketing presentations from folks who are supposed to know something about sales than I can count. One of the common threads I notice with poor salesman and marketing pitchmen is they put too much of a focus on a certain products features and not enough focus on the products benefits.  Think of the last product you purchased. Did you buy it because of the features? Or did you buy it because of the benefits the features afforded you to realize?  Think about it. Given my background I look at all products that come my way through this lens. It is second nature to me.  Sadly I have discovered it is not second nature to most others in the sales and marketing arena.

Show up and throw up!

We all have experience in dealing with salesmen that pitch feature after feature after feature, hoping one of them will resonate with you.  It is at this point I usually begin wishing I was someplace else, not wanting to suffer even a minute longer with this person who has not the first idea what my needs are.   The last thing I want to do is give this person any more of my time much less my money!

People buy benefits, not features.

So here’s the deal, people don’t buy features – they buy the benefits!  Further, the benefit may differ from person to person. So if you are pitching benefits you better be sure you know what they are to the person you are talking to.

• Example: You are selling a (feature) four-burner toaster… so what? The benefit is it will save time if your customer is looking for more than two pieces of toast if time is important.
• Example: You are selling (feature) rubber wheels for a medical cart…so what?  The benefit is your cart will be quiet as it rolls down the hallway and will not disturb your customers’ patients at rest.
• Example: You are selling a cell phone with an (feature) improved antenna…so what? The benefit is your customer won’t have so many staticky or dropped calls!

Get the picture?  People buy benefits.  So when you are selling or pitching a product, never, ever, ever sell a feature without associating a relevant benefit to it. You will find that when you do, your sales success will improve significantly.  At the very least your audience will be less bored with you and may even invite you back for more.

Take my (feature) advice, you are sure to benefit through improved sales!

Happy Hunting!