Do More or Do Better? Sales 101

Not that long ago I was reading an article on “sales data” that was written by a man who I highly respect … David Brock.

As David pointed out … sales has more data points to analyze than ever before. The problem is … are they looking at the right data and are they deriving the correct conclusions from reading it? Does their analysis lead to the most effective solutions? Not often enough, it seems, on both counts.

The common answer to sales challenges has always been to “do more”. Need more prospects? Make more calls. Need higher sales? Increase your pipeline. Now, I have always been a “do better” vs “do more” person but, there are times when you might need or want to “do both”. Continue reading “Do More or Do Better? Sales 101”

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Check Out NetWorks! Boise!

Since March 18, in response to the health crisis, NetWorks! Boise has moved to a virtual setting. I am pleased that our meetings, while different, have remained powerful and they have allowed us to explore new avenues that have resulted in some innovative long-term additions to our already full suite of services.

Once things get back to normal, our weekly lunches will resume. Until that time, we have reduced our dues schedule to reflect this. It seems like a good time to review what our standard and enhanced services, part of your dues structure, includes …

  • 48 meetings annually – Virtual for now, but the weekly lunch is included when it becomes once again feasible

Continue reading “There Has Never Been a Better Time to Check Out NetWorks! Boise!”

Customer Research Doesn’t Necessarily Mean an Informed Customer

Perhaps they are both and here is why … 

“With the advent of the internet, customers are more informed than ever before. In fact, they may have already made their decisions prior to even reaching out to you and your company.”

These changes in buyer behaviors have created dramatic new challenges, and opportunities, for today’s sellers. You need to recognize the first and then position yourself to take advantage of the second. Read on.

As one who prides himself on knowing how to leverage the internet to learn the answers to just about whatever it is that I want, I also recognize that my extensive research prior to purchasing does not necessarily mean that I will fully understand the answers that I uncover and/or that those answers that I am being presented with are even correct. #fakenews  

Am I learning just enough to be considered to be dangerous? Probably. Then, how do I parse through it? How can I make it make sense? Is this applicable to my specific need? Are these “facts” open to/subject to interpretation? Will I soon be caught up in paralysis by analysis? All of the above. Been there, done that, often.

Fortunately, I have the free time to sort this out (kinda’), and some things take a butt-load of it but, if I were an active executive, these hours are likely not available nor is this activity the best use of my time. I would be smart to find someone who I can trust to do all of this for me. The question is … what will you need to do in order to become that person?

This is one of the reasons why folks request recommendations (IRL and on the internet) from those who are already within their trusted circles. There is the assumption that these folks, unlike salespeople, are not going to be prejudiced (driven) by personal gain toward a particular product or service. True. 

Still, can a salesperson be that person, that trusted advisor? Absolutely! Of course, you are going to have to earn that position. You are going to have to demonstrate that the needs of the customer will supersede your need to sell them whatever trinkets you may offer. If you are not the right solution, you must be prepared to refer them to someone who may be. 

You are also likely going to be presented with many challenges as you go about earning your position. There will be barriers to overcome and they may be quite tall. Or wide. With water and alligators. Among them …

  • Potential clients may have already done research prior to meeting with you. How will you uncover and then address that?
  • If this is a new customer, you are not going to walk into this deal in a position of trust. In fact, you will probably be entering with the opposite unless you have been very strongly referred by a person that they do trust. 
  • Even good clients where you are considered to be a trusted advisor will do their own research out of habit, interest, or to keep you honest. A smart competitor will suggest that they do this in hopes of removing you from the table. This can be tricky to control.

I’ve always said that people buy from people that they trust. If they like you, that’s a plus. Still, “trust” trumps “like” and here are some ways to earn that …

Let’s start with this first (important!). If your customer is doing research on the internet on your products or services … where are they going to find this information? Some unnamed site? Your competitor’s site? How about your site and by “your” I mean that your company or y.o.u. … you

Both of these sites are good but “you” trumps “your company”. Your LinkedIn profile and a personal blog would be great places to educate (not sell) your prospective customers while establishing your expertise. Additionally …

You need to be R.U. M.. Remarkable, unique, and memorable. Between you and your competitors there are likely 100’s (or more) of you scurrying around. What is going to set you apart, more importantly above, your customer’s other options?

It’s not magic …

  • Where everybody practices bad behavior, you don’t. You are remarkable.
  • What everybody else does, you don’t. You are unique.
  • When they think about the best person for their needs, they think about you. You are memorable.

You stand out because you are perceived as being different from your competition and in a good way! You are R.U.M.

There is even more good news when it comes to your competition. If you don’t think that the bar to leap over them has been set low … think of yourself as the buyer, the consumer.  When was the last time that a salesperson or a company exceeded your expectations? How about never or close to it!

There are only three possible outcomes from any customer interaction …

  • Did not meet expectations – you are toast, burnt
  • Met expectations – you are corn, canned
  • Exceeded expectations – you are prime rib, medium rare

Let’s say that you win that sale regardless. If you aren’t R.U.M., you may have made a sale, but … you don’t have a customer that will buy from you again, without getting bids, and the one who will willingly refer you to others.

You were probably low bid and their ain’t no honor in being low bid. This sale gets you nothing more than this sale. Every sale going forward will be new business and starting from scratch.

At best, you have met expectations which, at best, is a neutral experience that is not all that different than … canned corn. I always get what I expect from … canned corn.

Becoming … R.U.M.

  • Humor – Relax! Inject some humor!
  • Manners – Make liberal use of please, thank you, and respect. Put your phone away!
  • Honesty is a big part of this. Your word is your bond.
  • Rapport – The correct amount of chit-chat is always important and this correct amount is dictated by the customer. You need to be able to read that. You need to be able to mirror your prospects.
  • Do your due diligence! Be prepared – This is one area where the social networks (and the web in general) can be invaluable as a research resource.
  • Personalize your approach – People are lazy and, as a result, everything is mass marketed and nothing is personalized.
  • Educate vs. sell – Establish yourself as the authority
  • Attract vs interrupt – Social profiles and activity will attract buyers
  • Urgency and responsiveness – Being on time is late. Replying the next day … is late. Don’t be late. Do you want to be viewed as unique, remarkable, and memorable? Start here. When was the last time you heard “He/she is a great salesperson but, they are just too damn responsive.”?
  • Be Proactive – The absolute last thing that you want to see happen is for the customer to contact you to check on the status. They have been thinking about it for some time prior to reaching out and, when they are thinking about things … it’s never good for you.
  • Practice clear communication – With other team members (design, install, service, Rick, support, accounting, estimating) as well as with clients.
  • Listen – Take notes. Recap. Clarify and confirm.
  • Never be afraid to tell them “no” – This includes when it is in their best interest or when it just can’t be done. You are also not afraid to tell them that “I don’t know”. This makes you human and it also means that you will always have a reason to go back, even if it is to answer a question. 
  • Organization – Always stay ahead! Beware of selling vs non-selling time. Selling time is for being in front of a customer. Non-selling time is for prep and paperwork.
  • Set clear expectations – Let them know what will happen and when and how and also makes it clear what parts they have to play in order to keep things on track!
  • Under promise and over deliver – As a general rule, however much time I am going to tell you that it will take for me to do “x”, is going to allow me enough time to make that date even in the event of … unplanned open-heart surgery. Whatever I agree to give you, in return for your business, I will give you more.

The bottom line is that R.U.M. salespeople will consistently exceed customer expectations and, as a result they will earn repeat opportunities to become trusted advisors. Now just think what that means to your overall sales performance. Outstanding!

I Tested Visme Unleashed and Here Is What I Found

A few years ago I created an eBook titled “Focused Social Selling – less really is more” To be more specific, I wrote the content and then I did it with the help of my friend and mentor, Neal Schaffer, who was kind enough to write the forward and have his folks do the layout work. We then promoted it jointly.

At that same time, I was approached by a company called Visme which, at the time, I believe was relatively new. Visme is an application to create your own infographics and these folks were nice enough to offer to create one for me, free of charge, and it was awesome!  Continue reading “I Tested Visme Unleashed and Here Is What I Found”

NetWorks! Boise Open House

March 14, 2020 – Due to the coronavirus crisis, this event has been postponed but will be rescheduled when the situation has been stabilized. Thank you! 

NetWorks! Boise is pleased to announce that we will be holding a special meeting on Wednesday, March 18 and we would like to invite qualified sales, marketing, and ownership people from the Boise area B2B community to attend as our guests.

This will be a live meeting with and a great opportunity for new folks to network with some really great people as well as to learn more about what makes us unique. We believe that we are the premier networking (leads) group in the valley and our members, many of whom have been with us for up to 10 years, would seem to agree. Continue reading “NetWorks! Boise Open House”

Bringing Back Cold Calls and Donuts

I have spent a lot of time recently contemplating the state of outbound prospecting. To be fair, most of what I am about to discuss is based on my experience as a buyer vs. as a seller. As a salesperson, I see this as a very serious concern.

I also need to make it very clear that, as we discuss these methodologies, we are looking at them for use in cold prospecting. This is not to say that they are not valuable and appropriate for use with any recognized customer or with a prospect in progress. Away we go, but first … 

This article is more a request for your opinions rather than any sort of statement of fact!

How effective is the phone and email?

  • I no longer answer my home phone or my cell phone unless you are recognized as being in my contact lists and … I like you.
  • I have filters and services which are sending the bulk of your daily email newsletters either to the trash (75%) or to a digest (15%). That means only 10% are even making it to my inbox!

Nobody is leaving me voice messages so … that answers the first question. I will then generally block those numbers although there are always plenty of new ones to take their place.

Most of the automated emails that I get are …

  • Not requested
  • Not personalized or incorrectly personalized
  • Not related to the services that I offer
  • Are extremely poorly written
  • Way too frequent!
  • Don’t properly address …. What’s in it for me??

Really? How professional! Even if I did email campaigns (I don’t), the open, click, and conversion percentages are so stinkin’ low that you would need to send out a gazillion of these suckers in order to make it worthwhile and that won’t work for me. I don’t have a mailing list of a gazillion or anything even remotely close.

Additionally, those abhorrent performance rates are for people who supposedly know what the hell they are doing and … I don’t. The simple fact is that salespeople, for the most part, function in a one-to-one environment and have little to no business attempting to perform in a marketing related capacity. My opinion.

We also have direct messaging on most social networks. 9 out of 10 connection requests that I receive on LinkedIn are not personalized. At least half of the 10% that are personalized do not answer #6 above and/or are obvious templates and likely automated. Subsequent offers are … see above.

So, that leaves us with direct mail, SMS, attraction marketing, and face-to-face cold calls. Direct mail? I get plenty each day and most of it goes straight to recycling. Your piece had better look good and had better not look to be mass produced. “Dear Occupant” or “Resident” ain’t gonna’ cut it.

I’ve read about applications that offer SMS campaigns but, I may have been on the receiving end of only two or three. Annoying and, in my opinion, a bit of an intrusion on my personal space. Maybe this is why we don’t see them more in use? Signs are that we may be seeing more of SMS campaigns.

Attraction Marketing is critical IMHO. Effective use of this capability will bring qualified clients directly to you as opposed to you running around and digging them up. Start a blog. Build a website. Put some videos on YouTube. Make your LinkedIn profile smoking hot! Get active. Educate! Engage and do so progressively!

And … we are now back to 1977 when I first got started in B2B selling … Face-to-Face Cold Calls. Bring donuts and you have Enhanced Face-to-Face Cold Calls. You will likely be the only salesperson who walks in their door today so you will be unique. They might even wish to study you  Who doesn’t love a good donut!?   

Ultimately, any methodology must be remarkable, unique, and memorable (RUM). It must be accurate and it must be personal and therein lies the problem. Mass marketing will not work on me or for me.

I do believe that if you take the time to properly target and understand the unique needs of each specific customer, and then properly apply those to your offering, perhaps any outbound prospecting tactic can be effective. More work but, better results. Worth it? Your thoughts?

Becoming a Master Networker – Step #12 – Wrapping it Up

Our final post in this series will be a little bit recap and a bit more for some additional tips …

Starting out

Remember that this is not a race. You will need to get to know your fellow networkers, and earn their trust, prior to seeing any real returns in terms of referrals. Be visible, learn about others, and always remember that givers get. Nothing will sink you faster than trying to circumvent, expedite this process. 

How much time is needed to see a return?

How much time do you give an opportunity? Time is important but effort is even more important. If you don’t put in the effort … no amount of time will be adequate. I would allow a year minimum and during that time you should be constantly evaluating your own effort. Are you doing everything that you can do to maximize your returns? 

Taking it to the next level

Most people that I know, and even those that I associate with in a networking capacity, are what I would call passive networkers. They show up, share a few leads, and will give out referrals when the chance to do so arises. Very few will follow-up on warm leads or seek to interact with others outside of a planned setting.

That’s a shame because they are only receiving a fraction of the potential benefit from any networking relationship. They do just enough to get by. If that works for them … who am I to say.

For those of you who are seeking the maximum return, and those of you who are willing to work for it, here are some tips …

Effective networking does take work and no amount of pixie dust is going to change that – Your one overriding goal is to develop mutually beneficial relationships and these take time. Real relationships are also real-life and that means, that if it is at all possible, you need to get face-to-face. Ditch any device that glows.

You can control the networking narrative – I figured this out early on. I built a number of power partner relationships but, as previously stated, most networkers are passive. As such, as much as they might like me, they rarely thought about me unless … I created an event that put us nose-to-nose. That event was called lunch.

Show genuine interest in others – I’ll let you in on a little secret. I absolutely hate talking about myself which is good because … rarely am I ever asked to do so. Rather, I spend my meetings having the other guy or gal tell me about themselves. Winner winner.

What can you give others? – This can sometimes be challenging and sometimes the best way to determine what value you can provide to a partner is to ask them straight out. Don’t be surprised if you hear … “All I want is someone who I can count on to take care of my customers.”  Being able to make quality referrals adds value to their, and your, services.

How else can you leverage these relationships? – Start by being proactive about your needs … Do you know anyone at firm “x”? I see that you are connected on LinkedIn to “x”, would you be comfortable in introducing us? 

Speaking of referrals and introductions, teach others how to do both for you and … you do the same for them! A solid introduction includes … name, company name, contact info, nature of the referral, they are expecting your call, and use my name. These are minimums!

This concludes our 12-part series and I hope that you have found it to be beneficial. If you have any suggestions for future articles or if you would like to learn more about NetWorks! Boise, please reach out to me at craig@adaptive-business.com.