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Performance Through People
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The Sales Transformation program has been awarded the Best Training Award for 2009 by a prestigious industry body.
The program combines sales skills, solution selling
and tools usage in the real customer environment by working on actual customer/prospect accounts. The work is
sustained by the sales managers coaching their sales people on these accounts and opportunities. This approach
ensures that the training is relevant, measurable and delivers value in the real working environment. In the first
six months of the roll out, a revenue increase of 15% has been measured as directly attributable to the training.Do you want a training program that really drives business results?
Contact me, John Fowler, on 01625-536187 or email me
- THE SALES BLOG
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Sales Objections
July 20, 2010 – 3:32 pm
I was running a Resolving Objections workshop a few weeks ago and I always start by getting the group to call out the most common objections they face and I write them on a flipchart to work with later in the day. I always jot down the objections after the workshop and I have noticed that whatever the industry and whatever the product/solution being sold, the same objections appear again and again. As an aside, it amazes me that sales people getting the same objection day after day don’t change their approach (normally shock, horror, stumbling speech and concession).So back to the objections, here is a generic list that I have built from my workshops:
1. AAA (company) offers more options than you.
2. Your price is too high (what never heard that before!)
3. I don’t like your BBB (product/solution)
4. CCC (company) are doing a better job in this area
5. Solve all my problems, then I’ll listen to your suggestions for new products
6. Your product/solution doesn’t have the features we are looking for
7. My boss isn’t authorizing anything at the moment
8. I’d love to do it, but I just don’t have budget
9. I don’t have time now, send me some literature
10. I’m happy with my current supplier
11. You’re the third sales person this year
12. Company DDD does it cheaper
13. I bought from you 3 years ago and it was a horrible experience, why should I do business with you nowSo there are 13 on the list, some that are almost duplicates. I always say that the 10 most common objections that you hear will cover 90% of all the objections you face, so why not learn how to resolve them? I will cover a structured way to resolve objections in a later post (or posts). In the meantime are there any I should add to my list from your experience, please let me know.
Top 5 Reasons that Sales Deals Fall Apart
June 14, 2010 – 12:09 pm
Following on from the last post, I dug out some research on why deals fall apart which highlights the importance of qualifiaction and spending your time in the right places. So here are the top 5 reasons that dales deals fall apart:1) Deal Not Qualified
Some key questions you should always be asking to better qualify your deals:
Qualification Checklist:
- Do you understand the budget?
- Do you know how the decision will be taken?
- Do you know what compelling business event is driving the project?2) Didn’t Understand the DMU (Decision Making Unit)
It seems often when deals fall apart, turns out you were talking to the wrong people or misread a key individual involved in the selling process.
Decision Makers Checklist:
- Have you identified all the key decision makers for your deal?
- Do you know what role each stakeholder is playing in the selling process?
- Have you had conversations with each of them regarding the deal?
- Do you understand their perspectives?
- Have you addressed any barriers or concerns brought up?
The Financial Times, British industry purchasing report showed that for a customer between 200 and 400 employees the average number of buying influencers is 4.85 whereas the number of influencers called by sales people is 1.75.3) Weak Relationships
How strong are the relationships you built during the selling process? Chances are if you answered, not strong, you lost the deal.
Relationships Checklist:
- Have you developed a strong relationship with all key decision makers for your deal?
- Do they return your phone calls?
- Do they rate you as adding value to the solution?4) Poor Execution & Follow-up
It may be surprising but often deals are lost by fumbling the ball on some of the basic blocking and tackling to take the deal across the finish line.
Execution Checklist:
- How are quickly are you following up on action items related to your deal?
- Do you have a strategy to get your deal closed?
- Do you have all of your internal people on board to support you?
- How well do they understand the prospect?
- Have you identified key milestones for a deal?
- How are you tracking against the milestones?5) Bad Timing
Deals often go awry when the timing is just not right. You think you have a deal ready to close and suddenly the prospect stops returning phone calls. What went wrong? Well, it turns out the need just was not there at the current moment.
Timing Checklist
- What is your prospect’s timing for making a decision? This is something you should attempt to get very early in your sales process.
- Is there a sense of urgency? Without a sense of urgency, chances are your deal with be DOA.
- What is driving your prospect’s decision on timing? Key events such as contract terminations, CEO mandates, competitive pressures and cost cutting often drive timing on decisions.What’s your experience, why do sales deals fall apart for you?
Posted in Closing, Sales Process Tagged business drivers, influencer, priorities, qualification, sales person Comments (0)
Qualification Acronyms – Instant Sales Guides
June 14, 2010 – 11:36 am
Acronyms are excellent ways of remembering a set of ideas, and they are particularly good for sales qualification. To me, sales qualification is absolutely crucial for any sales person – where are you going to spend your time most effectively, which business can you win and which business should you walk away from? The one resource a sales person has is their time, and how you spend your time will decide whether you win or lose. I thought it would useful to list a few different ones that I have seen over the years, and invite you to let me know of any others you use.These can be used by sales people to understand where there are gaps in their knowledge and ask questions to get a more complete picture of the customer situation. They can also be used by sales managers to see if the sales person has control of the account. Personally, I would often start a sales review by asking “Why us?” and “Why now?” All the rest of the qualification flows from these two questions. I would be looking for a crisp response to demonstrate understanding and control, and I would drill down as appropriate. So here are a few I have thought of:
SCOTSMAN
Solution – Do we have a product or service that directly addresses their business need or do they want something that we don’t sell
Competition – Are there many competitors on this deal or are we in on our own
Only Me – Is there something that the prospect can only get from me that is critical to his decision or are we selling a “me too” solution?
Timescale – What is the prospects timescale? Will we get a rapid decision?
Size – Is the opportunity big enough to be interesting?
Money – Has the prospect got the money to afford the solution?
Authority – Are we talking to the decision maker?
Need – Why do they NEED to do this NOW, and why can’t they just wait.MEDDIC
Metrics – What KPIs / drivers will we be contributing to – revenue, productivity, time to market?
Economic Buyer – Who will sign the contract and/or who owns the budget?
Decision Criteria – Technical and commercial criteria; their priority and our position versus competition?
Decision Process – What is The Sequence of Events?
Identified Goal – What is the Compelling Event. What is the individual or group objective? Are their serious consequences if not achieved?
Champion – Who is the Individual who has a personal win associated with the success of this project? She provides easy access to MEDDI.TRAM BURP
Timing
Requirements
Action
Money
Budget
Uniqueness
Relationship
PriorityAnd two shorter ones:
BANT
Budget
Authority
Need
Timeline£AWN
Money
Authority
Willingness
NeedLet me know any others that you use and I will add them to the resource.
The Art of Sales Management
June 9, 2010 – 1:23 pm
Following on from the post “The Art of Sales”, I thought it might be useful to list some questions that can be used by sales people under the 5W’s and 1H headings. These are also the types of question I would use as a sales manager to see if my sales person really had a handle on the opportunity. To remind you, the 5W’s and 1H are Who, What, Why, When, Where and How – and here are some ideas on how they can be used in sales qualification.Who is buying?
Who is in the Decision Making Unit (DMU), what are their roles – Decision Maker, Recommender or Influencer? Key point – who will sign off on the order, are we talking to the executive sponsor?What are they buying?
What business issues are they trying to solve? How does our solution address these issues? What is the competition offering and how do we beat them?Why are they buying?
What business issues or events are driving their decision? Is it a desire for more market share? Are they on the offence against new competition? Learning their reasons for buying enables your salesperson to understand the emotion behind the decision. This prevents them from being a product-focused only salesperson.When are they buying?
When they were going to make the decision and when will they place the order? Too often, it’s much later than either the salesperson or the sales manager expected. Be sure to ask your salespeople what the prospects time frame or sense of urgency is about their decision. In many cases sales forecasts slip due to a lack of understanding of the buying process and who is involved.Where is the budget?
Where is the money coming from for the purchase – are budgets in place, do they need to go for board approval; are they just flying a kite? In my experience sales people are very weak in qualifying where the money is coming from.How will they buy?
How a prospect buys refers to the terms and conditions. How are they financing the purchase – lease, lease purchase or outright sale? What performance conditions are attached to the sale – do they need a trial first?Using these ideas as the basis for a sales review will often expose the weaknesses of the qualification and allow you to decide whether to spend time (and resources) on the bid, re-qualify by getting the additional information or move on to opportunities that are more likely to result in an order.
Posted in Sales Management, Sales Process Tagged business issues, qualification, questions, sales managers, sales person Comments (0)
The Best Sales Poem
June 8, 2010 – 4:12 pmSorry, but I seem to be having a Kipling day (no, not the one the bakes exceedingly good cakes, Rudyard). Having written the last post I began thinking about one of my favourite poems and one, that I believe, says so much about the attitude and virtues of professional selling. So here’s the poem – if you hadn’t guessed it’s
IF by Rudyard KiplingIf you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream – and not make dreams your master,
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!So how does this relate to sales? Well, I think it is a multi-layered poem with many themes running through it including patience, being able to motivate yourself after setbacks, stoicism, being true to yourself, working hard and overcoming obstacles – sounds like selling to me! So here are a few ideas on each verse:
- Verse 1, in my opinion, is about being true to one’s self. There are always going to be people who think differently than you, or misjudge you for one reason or another. I think the poem is saying that we need to rise above this, and do what we know is right and just. Don’t let others provoke you into actions you know are wrong. Know the value of your self worth, but don’t become conceited.
- Verse 2 is about overcoming obstacles that get in your path, whether by others, or of your own making. Follow your dreams, but be realistic in the approach. I believe this section is teaching perseverance, to keep going, even when things get rough.
- Verse 3 is about never giving up! It is truly hard to get back up after life has beaten you into the ground (cold calling!). It can be done though, if we always believe in ourselves and know that we did it once so we can do it again! This is a very important lesson, and one that we all should take to heart. Kipling knew how hard life can sometimes be, and I think this section of the poem is full of hope for all of us.
- Verse 4 has two important lessons. Firstly, that we are all equal. Don’t put yourself above anyone else, but know that you are just as good as everyone else. There are things to be admired in almost everyone if you look hard enough. Secondly, is to never waste time. Make every minute of every day count!
Read the poem with your “sales head” on and see how many of the themes parallel the working life of sales people. As usual, I would be interested in any ideas either about “IF” or if you think there is a better poem to sum up a life in sales.
How about listening to “IF” read by Desmond Lynam showing photographs of the 1998 World Cup – yes really
Posted in Sales Attitude Tagged authenticity, empathy, patience, priorities, sales person Comments (0)
The Art of Sales
June 8, 2010 – 12:40 pm
To me, the key skill of a sales person is questioning, being able to get the customer to give you all the information you require to enable you to deliver the order-winning proposal. After all, selling is a game and the gaining of information like searching for all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to give you the full picture.But selling isn’t the only profession that needs to excel at asking questions. In journalism, the Five Ws (also known as the Five Ws (and one H), or Six Ws) is a concept in news style and research, and in police investigations it is regarded as a formula for getting the “full” story on something. The maxim of the Five Ws (and one H) is that for a report to be considered complete it must answer a checklist of six questions, each of which comprises an interrogative word:
- Who? Who was involved?
- What? What happened (what’s the story)?
- Where? Where did it take place?
- When? When did it take place?
- Why? Why did it happen?
- How? How did it happen?
Another “profession” where gathering information is a top priority is espionage or spying. Rudyard Kipling’s story Kim published in 1901 unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. Throughout the story Kim is trained by a British spymaster in the art of information gathering, and some have suggested that Kipling himself was a British spy. Interestingly, a year later in 1902 The “Five Ws” (and one H) were memorialized by Rudyard Kipling in his “Just So Stories” (1902), in which a poem accompanying the tale of “The Elephant’s Child” opens with:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.For sales people remembering to ask good, open questions is important. But just as important is your attitude in your dialogue with the customer. I found treating the information gathering process as a game where I was fully focused on understanding everything I could about the whole situation meant that not only did I got lots of information but the customer felt that I was really interested in them – great empathy.
Tell me how you develop questions for your customers.
Posted in Coaching, Customer Focus, Training Tagged empathy, gathering information, question checklist, sales competencies, sales person Comments (0)
Call Plan – Instant Sales Guides
June 7, 2010 – 2:27 pmPart of the Instant Sales Guides series ©
Here are some examples of what questions you can ask yourself prior to a call (either face to face or telephone) together with some debrief questions to help you move the sales forward. These are also detailed in the Instant Sales Guides tab together with an actual call plan for you to download and use.Key Points
- Objectives will help you improve your performance over time
- Always be asking yourself
“What do I need to do/have to move the sale forward?”
Pre-Call
Questions to consider before calling on a new prospect or an existing customer:
☐ What is my call objective(s) – only 1 or 2 SMART objectives?
☐ Who do I need to speak to in this business/division/department?
☐ Who is the key decision maker(s)?
☐ Who is a main influence(s)?
☐ What specific actions do you want the prospect to take at the end of the call?
☐ What potential obstacles exist that will threaten the sale?
☐ What stage am I at in the sales cycle?
☐ How will I open the call?
☐ What information do I have?
☐ What information do I need to find out?
☐ What sort of objections emerge out and how will I handle them?Post Call
Questions to consider when reviewing your customer sales interaction:
☐ Did I achieve my objective?
☐ What went right/what went wrong?
☐ What does the customer think about me/my company/our offer?
☐ What information did I gather?
☐ What evidence do I have that this is still a viable sales opportunity?
☐ Did I advance the sale to the next stage?
☐ Who else needs to be involved in the process?
☐ What else do I need to do to progress the sale to the next stage?
☐ When am I next going to see or speak to this customer?
☐ What will be my next call objective?Please comment if you have any feedback – note that you can download a printable pdf version of the checklist together with a call plan and more information regarding call planning from the instant sales guides tab.
Posted in Sales Guides, Sales Process Tagged call planning, objective, sales cycle, smart objectives Comments (0)
Sales Mindset – The Problem Solver
June 7, 2010 – 10:46 amIn previous posts I have spoken about the New Buyer and how they differ from buyers of 20 years ago – basically they have all the information at their fingertips to make an informed decision about what you are selling. So what can the “new” sales person offer their customers?
Personally, I think we all have to move away from what we are selling and towards what problems the customer is grappling with, and how we can help them solve them. But that’s obvious, that’s what we do today! Well actually when I listen to sale people, 90% of them are still trying to force their “square” products into the customer’s “round” problem hole. They just aren’t listening to their customers and their questions are veiled attempts to position their products and solutions for selling.
So, how can we change our approach? I like to use the 4 stages of a customer/supplier relationship to graphically illustrate the point – and actually this makes a great sales team energizer. Individually get each sales person to say where they think they are on the left hand axis with an average customer. Go round the group and mark their answers on a pre-drawn flipchart of the diagram.Remember to challenge people who claim they are trusted advisors – so you work at board level shaping the customer’s future strategy? Most people will acknowledge a relationship around the Preferred Supplier level. The question is “where do you need to be in the customer’s eyes to sell more effectively?” My view is that for most suppliers the Problem Solver level is a good level – where the customer values your opinion on problems they have and use you as an independent sounding board.
So, the second part of the energiser is to get the group to come up with what actions they can take to fill the GAP between, say, Preferred Supplier and Problem Solver. This is a great discussion point, and can lead to a powerful debate around how the sales force should engage with their customers and prospects. Fundamentally, it is a question of attitude, of wanting to really understand and explore the issues that are key priorities for the customer. Never lead with products, but lead with an attitude of coaching and helping the customer work through their issues.Do you think I am right, or do you have a better engagement strategy – let me know!
Posted in Customer Focus, Training Tagged business drivers, business issues, customer commitment, priorities, questions, team energizers Comments (0)
Sales Energizer – SMARTER Questions
June 6, 2010 – 5:09 pm
As I wrote the last two posts on SMARTER questions, I thought of an exercise I do in workshops that would make a great energizer for a sales meeting. Basically, the sales manager starts the session with a 10 minute discussion on the value of SMARTER questions using the information in the posts and on the website. Then the sales people are put in small teams of, say, 3 people and asked to create SMARTER questions that they can use in their sales calls.You can then capture the best questions from the teams on a flip chart, throw in a prize for the best team questions and publish a best questions list for the whole team. Just getting sales people to ask two SMARTER questions per call will raise the quality of each discussion with your customers.
Posted in Coaching, Sales Management, Training Tagged question checklist, questions, team energizers Comments (0)
SMARTER Questions – Discussion
June 6, 2010 – 4:53 pm
A few people have asked me to say more about SMARTER questions than just the checklist of good questions that I published in the previous quote. There is some detail already on the website under the more detailed guide, but I thought I would use this post to talk more about why SMARTER questions are so useful to sales people.One thing I quickly realised as a sales person is that all sales people tend to ask their customers the same situational questions. By situational I mean questions that ask for purely factual information around their current situation e.g. who is your current supplier, how many years have you owned XXXX, etc. These are questions you need to know, but just think how boring this is for the customer!
So, the idea of SMARTER questions is to ask questions that make the customer think, evaluate or speculate and offer an opinion, after all we all love to offer opinions. This helps you position yourself higher up the food chain than other sales people, enhancing the customer’s opinion of the value of your call. I will talk about the vendor – preferred supplier – problem solver – trusted advisor curve in a later post, but the aim of SMARTER questions is to get you to the problem solver level.
SMARTER questions invite customer involvement, asking them to focus on the most important business issues and will often expose underlying issues and produce high-quality information. Dare to be different, ask SMARTER questions and get ahead of the sales pack!
Posted in Customer Focus, Executive Selling, Sales Guides Tagged business drivers, business issues, questions, sales person, value proposition Comments (0)
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About Me
My background is sales and sales management in the IT industry. I have been designing, developing and delivering training for sales, sales managers and other senior management positions for 15 years. I also coach managers with a specific focus on performance improvement. My passion is about making a difference - can you drive real behavioural change through training, how do you sustain the change and how do you measure your success.
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