Sales Blog with Professional Sales Tips

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Summary: Many sales organizations mismanage their account and salesperson assignments. There are three common problem areas.

Something that I have seen across numerous sales organizations is what I call RSTAA (Reckless Sales Territory Account Assignments). It takes many forms; see if you are guilty of any of the following:

1. The “you’ve-been-transferred” customer. This is the account that is reassigned to a new salesperson about every two to three months. The account is not that highly valued but isn’t bad enough to terminate the relationship either. It typically is assigned to new salespeople. As hard as it is to believe, sales management doesn’t really see why this account isn’t growing. Sales management needs to either dump this customer or let someone have it long enough to see what can develop. Continuing to change salespeople on a regular basis will result in the customer ultimately abandoning ship anyway.

2. The “sales-management-doesn’t-care-what-you-want” customer. The chemistry between salesperson and customer sometimes is not what it should be. If tension between salesperson and customer continues for an extended time the customer will normally request to be assigned to another salesperson. In almost 100% of cases where I have seen this, regardless of the size of the account, sales management says “no” to the customer’s request. I can’t say exactly why this almost always happens but laziness, lack of creativity and desire to keep the status quo would be good guesses. If customers really want a new salesperson, they’ll get one, one way or another. A surefire way for them to get a new salesperson is to move their business to one of your competitors.

3. The “we’ll-get-someone-assigned-to-you-someday” customer. This kind of account is similar to the “you’ve-been-transferred” customer. The account is not on the front burner but does generate some consistent revenue. This customer has no point of contact with your company. Eventually a competitor will call on them, bring them a dozen roses, double their order volume and you can kiss this reliable revenue generator goodbye.

Not being smart about account/salesperson assignments will cost you business. When customers leave you because of unhappiness with their salesperson relationship (or lack thereof) they typically don’t hire a sky-writing company to let you know why. They just quietly move on to one of your competitors.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Summary: It’s ironic that two of the most, if not the most, important sales skills you will need in a sales career are normally ignored in a salesperson’s development.

Companies spend lots of money on standardized sales training for their salesforce. This training almost always assumes that salespeople have basic abilities in the two fundamental areas noted below. It has been my experience that assuming all salespeople have this fundamental knowledge can be a big mistake. This is especially true since virtually all other sales skills are launched from these two skills. Deficiencies in these two areas normally go unspoken, because basic competency is assumed, thus making it difficult for the salesperson to adequately address competency gaps.

#1, Basic Grammatical Skills. I wish educators put greater emphasis on the importance of grammar in high school and college. If a salesperson’s spoken and written grammatical abilities are poor, they will not find a receptive customer audience. Whether you like it or not, people make quick decisions about your intelligence, knowledge and background based on your verbal and writing skills. Not only do most prospects and customers find poor skills in this area bothersome but it hinders the salesperson’s ability to communicate information effectively, and that’s an essential in sales. If you feel that your verbal and writing skills may need some work, then enroll in remedial courses immediately because your sales success and career are being negatively impacted. This will be an investment in yourself with a large return.

#2, Presentation Skills. Again, I wish educators would make a bigger point of this skill when future salespeople are in high school or college. The basic ability to stand in front of a group (small or large) and communicate ideas is an essential ability in sales. Whether you’re talking with one person or 50, you’re making a presentation. If you feel your presentation skills are not where they need to be, then connect with a Toastmasters chapter and develop those skills. This is an investment of your time that will pay substantial dividends.

Grammatical skills and presentation skills are the foundation for all sales skills. If these skills aren’t adequately developed they will permanently and adversely impact a salesperson’s effectiveness, earnings and career opportunities.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Summary: Traditional sales meetings are not particularly effective. There are better ways to achieve your goals of informing and creating relationships within your sales team.

There are two types of sales professionals, those that hate going to sales meetings and those that are liars. Sales meetings are usually and consistently awful . They go from profoundly boring to incredibly cornball. I’ve been to hundreds of them in their traditional form and they seem to be a bad habit that the sales community can’t stop. The biggest benefit of a traditional sales meeting is that the salesperson gets to build a relationship with and exchange ideas with other salespersons. Ironically, that benefit is an unplanned byproduct.

If we were to do away with sales meetings, what would we put in their place? Before you answer that question you have to ask yourself what your goals are for your sales meetings. If you’re like most people your goals are to communicate new information to the salesforce and promote camaraderie. The typical sales meeting doesn’t do either very well. The training that is conducted is normally of the classroom variety that goes on for hours. Salespeople aren’t built for this kind of learning and as a result it doesn’t work very well.

Not only do traditional sales meetings not provide a good venue for training but they don’t create the optimum atmosphere to create relationships either. The salesperson’s time is tied up in boring classroom training, role playing, vendor presentations and the long winded presentation from the company’s CEO. There is a better way to achieve the goals of providing information to the salesforce while helping them build networks with each other.

There are lots of ways to learn. Only one of the ways requires that everyone be sitting together in chairs in one big room for hours on end. Why not train the sale force in little pieces throughout the year using various types of 5–15 minute training techniques such as podcasts, short training videos, e-learning, web conferencing, etc.? Gen X’ers and those born after them prefer to be trained in little pieces on a continuing basis versus getting it all dumped on them at once. An additional benefit is that this is also a much more effective way to disseminate information.

Since you’ve removed the training from the sales meeting you are free to focus on relationship building. A sales meeting without training sounds like a party to me and this is exactly what your salespeople want! Plan an event where they can really relax and enjoy one another. Ideas for this include a golf outing, weekend getaway, day at the lake, etc. The rule is that no official shop-talk is planned. The relationship building part will take off and your salespeople will appreciate that the company did this for them. It’s a win-win.

Sales management has gotten in the habit of cloning the traditional sales meeting year after year. Part of the reason for this is that it’s what has always been done; part of the reason is laziness. Dump the stale idea of traditional sales meetings. Split the training and network building into two pieces. Try something more fun, effective and more appreciated by your salespeople.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Summary: Money is your company’s most important asset. You come in number two and customers come in number three.

There are three assets that are of critical importance to every company. Those three assets are money, employees and customers. Most companies realize that their employees are more important than their customers. Why? The right employees will get and keep customers.What many employees don’t realize is that the owners or stockholders value money (i.e. capital) more than they value their employees. And by the way, this applies to all employees including the CEO, president, miscellaneous executives, board members, etc. How can that be? With enough money a company can hire people who will execute great plans which in turn will result in new and happy customers. These customers then buy things that generate profit that starts the whole process over again. One of the key reasons Google is so successful in the Internet world is that they have more money than the Creator and are able to hire the best talent available on the planet.

The wonderful thing about customers is that they start the whole cycle over again. Your company has the money to get great people who implement great things that bring in customers who then add money to the cookie jar. Money, people, customers…money, people, customers…repeat ad infinitum.

I hope I’m not ruining anyone’s day with this revelation but it’s a reality. So what have we exposed here? We’ve brought to light that the customer is not always right; in fact they’re actually number three in importance for your company. I bet they didn’t teach you that in your new hire sales training. We’ve also shown that capital is king at your company. As a sales professional you are valued because of the money you can bring to your employer. Period. Your numbers are everything to your company. While we all enjoy the income potential of a sales career, never forget that your real value as a salesperson is how you contribute to the money, people, customer cycle.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

There is a clear difference in how you sell simple widgets as opposed to more complex products and services. Specific selling techniques and skill sets are required to be effective at selling either of them. What are the two major sales environments and what are their attributes?

Solution Selling (also known as: strategic selling, relationship selling, complex selling, consultative selling and partnership selling)

1. The customer is looking for ROI (Return on Investment) information since the sale frequently represents a capital investment.

2. Because of the size and complexity of the sale and the number of decision makers involved the sales cycle can be long.

3. The relationship with the customer is paramount.

4. This sounds cliché, but the salesperson is really selling a solution to the customer’s perceived needs.

5. Information gathering can consume a substantial amount of time in solution selling; questioning and listening skills are essential.

6. The salesperson will be dealing with high level, if not C-level, decision makers.

Transactional Selling (also known as: commodity selling and retail selling)

1. Success in transactional sales is oftentimes primarily a result of raw sales activity.

2. The primary role of the transactional salesperson is to match the customer’s needs with a product or service.

3. Surprisingly, there have been studies that indicate that the top one percent of transactional salespeople earn more income than the top one percent of solution salespeople. Transactional sales professionals that can manage themselves and their time so extraordinarily in order to sell enormous amounts of products and services are well compensated.

4. The sales cycle for transactional sales is short.

As the products and services that are available to businesses get more complex, the number of solution selling sales professionals continues to grow. With the explosion of ecommerce the number of traditional transactional sales professionals continues to decline. Simply stated, the Internet is replacing many non-value-added order processors. All of this is good news for salespeople; there is an increasing number of more highly paid and rewarding solution selling jobs available.

Whether you are selling commodities in a transactional environment or selling complex services or products in a solutions based sales environment, it is essential that you use the appropriate and most effective selling techniques for what you are selling and to whom you are selling. I’ve seen too many salespeople get this mixed up and use transactional techniques with customers when they should be using relational techniques and vice versa. It is important for sales managers to keep their sales environment in mind when hiring. Moving a salesperson from one type of selling to another can be difficult and frustrating for everyone, especially if the salesperson has many years of experience in primarily one environment.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Twenty-five years ago I started my sales career. It is amazing that we were able to sell anything back then considering the limited technology. Think about what was not commonly available back then:

No PC’s or laptops
No spreadsheet or word processing software
No voice mail
No email
No Internet
No FAX
No cell phones
No overnight delivery
No CRM, SFA or ERP software tools

For the most part it would be virtually impossible for sales professionals to do their job today without most of the tools noted above. If we look ahead 25 years what changes can we anticipate? New technology will continue to be created at an increasing rate so we can expect some significant changes in available technology for sales professionals. For instance:

1. A salesperson in 2032 will carry a foldable tablet that will allow them to access information; it will also allow anyone they designate to easily access information they want to share. Unfolded it will be 8-1/2” X 11” and will fold up to wallet size. It will be operated by touch and verbal commands. If desired, a picture of the person they’re talking to will be available. It will run for weeks without needing any kind of power input. The salesperson will be able to create text by just speaking; no keyboard or mouse will be needed. Instead of printing, the salesperson will simply send data to other users’ tablets. Did I mention that these tablets will be about $100 or less in today’s dollars?

2. Personal assistant software will be how the busy salesperson will organize their day. This software will take its cues from the user’s foldable tablet and from additional voice input provided by them. It will take all of this information and ensure that the salesperson receives it in a way that best suits their style. It will learn their scheduling patterns and preferences and adapt accordingly. Through artificial intelligence the customer’s personal assistant will automatically contact the salesperson’s personal assistant if both personal assistants conclude that customer and salesperson need to be in contact. It will know all of the salesperson’s customers and prospects and ensure that they follow-up with them in a timely fashion.

3. Almost all of a salesperson’s contact with prospects and customers will be through technology. A three dimensional holograph of both salesperson and customer will be available in holographic meeting facilities. These facilities will be much like video conferencing facilities today. Product demonstrations can be easily accomplished through these facilities. Because of the increased use of technology for communication, sales territories or boundaries will disappear, a process that has already begun. The globe will be the territory for the salesperson selling in 2032. Foreign language skills will be quite valuable for sales professionals in the future.

Some of the technologies mentioned above are already available in elementary forms. Increasingly we know that sales organizations that leverage technology are more productive. It is important that sales management keep their eyes open for emerging technologies that could benefit their salesforce.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

I had the distinct pleasure of going Christmas shopping with my daughter last weekend. When I interact with retail salespeople I always come away with a sales training story to tell; this shopping spree was no exception.

Let me begin by saying that I am all about being confident and taking charge with customers and prospects whether you are in retail or business to business sales. Customers want you to take control and assist them; that’s why we have salespeople in the first place. Sometimes I think we forget that. But there is a limit.

My daughter and I were considering a purchase at a department store that is known for their outstanding customer service. Surprisingly, the salesperson that was helping us could not have been more annoying if she had been coached to do so. Included in her many sins was that she was inappropriately aggressive. In spite of her, we bought something. Sadly, I’m afraid that our purchase will only serve to reinforce her less than stellar sales techniques (this is known as the “Benevolent Dolphin” effect which I will cover in another post). We went on to another well known department store and ran into another pugnacious salesperson. Her aggressiveness made me think that if I found myself in a street fight, I would want her on my side; victory would be certain.

I used to have a sales manager that told me, “Scott, don’t push on customers; just lean on them.” What great sales advice that was. We need to be assertive with customers but never aggressive like the two salespeople mentioned above. Assertive means confident and self assured. Would you trust your doctor if he or she weren’t confident and self assured? Your customers won’t trust you either if you aren’t confident and self assured and they will be less likely to buy from you.

Being aggressive with customers is normally counterproductive. Do you respond favorably to people that treat you in an offensive, arm twisting or forceful way? When a customer perceives that a salesperson is trying to force the sale, a bounty of objections will soon follow. They will try to stop the selling process in its tracks by using objections. How do you ensure that you’re not being aggressive (versus assertive) with prospects and customers? Talk to an experienced salesperson that you trust who has observed you on numerous sales calls. Allow them to give you some honest feedback. It might be that you have the opposite problem, being too meek; either way, the feedback will be good.

Every prospect or customer has a different threshold for when they believe a salesperson is becoming aggressive and therefore offensive. We have to adjust our assertiveness for every person we contact. Controlled assertiveness is a necessary ingredient to be successful in sales. Aggressiveness is never well received.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

I think I’m like a lot of people in that I have to watch my weight. And just like a lot of people I’m always looking for that magic pill (literally) that will help me get and keep the pounds off. Sometimes I think if I just read the right diet book that it will give me some profound insight that will help me get slim and trim forever. I have even hired expensive exercise trainers that I’m sure gave me all kinds of good advice on weight control. Through all of this I have truly learned one important thing. Any type of weight control that I’ve been able to accomplish has solely been because of what I did for myself.

The same is true when it comes to sales leads. Your company can throw all kinds of leads at you and subscribe to all kinds of lead services, but the leads that matter the most are the ones you create yourself.

Think about it for a second. Does your company ever really scrub the leads they send you? Is there really someone that is aggressively qualifying those leads before they send them your way? They are doing nothing more than forwarding you a bunch of unqualified leads because there is no motivation or capability for most sales organizations to do anything else. A lot of companies shotgun out a bunch of leads to make them at least feel like they are doing something to help you find new business, but they are in denial.

Let’s look at it another way. What is one of your primary functions as a sales professional? To find new business of course. At the end of the day it is your responsibility to locate new business and therefore it only makes sense that it is also your responsibility to load your own gun with qualified prospects. No one is going to be as interested in finding you qualified leads as you are. You know what your strengths and weaknesses are, you know your territory and you know what kinds of companies you like to cold call. When you create your own lead you also have an investment in that lead and a higher level of commitment in making something happen.

The close ratio for leads that are self generated is vastly higher than those leads sent from the home office. You’re much better off creating and nurturing a few prospects on your own than you are sifting through 1,000 leads sent to you from headquarters.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer