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One of the worst habits to get into is becoming a Task Salesperson. A Task Salesperson loses sight of their sales goals and sales skills. They primarily focus on the mechanics of sales. This can happen to us without even knowing it.

I used to observe two polar-opposite sales representatives. One of them was incredibly well organized, a hurricane of activity and was under budget every month. It looked like he had everything under control but in reality needed a lot of sales help. The other one sat in a garbage dump cubicle reading her favorite sales blog, always seemed relaxed and blew out her sales budget every month. What was going on here? One of them was most likely focusing on the mechanics and tasks of sales while the other was focusing on the true goal of sales…developing relationships with customers.

“Be careful not to be a slave of what doesn’t matter in sales.”

Giving sales tasks too much priority will keep us busy but normally doesn’t make us a sales leader.

Task Salespersons have these habits:

-Respond to every proposal and lead that is sent their direction
-Spend three days on a proposal that could be done in four hours
-Contact 100 prospects each day regardless of the quality of the leads
-Spend a minimum of two hours preparing for each customer appointment
-Spend 90% of their time on administrative functions
-Their sales manager loves the quality and penmanship of their required sales reports
-Never seeks sales tips from his or her peers and refuses all sales help

Goal Oriented Salespersons have these habits:

-Ensure they have a relationship with a company before investing time in them
-Are always prospecting but primarily to referrals and other qualified leads
-Do only mandatory administrative duties that aren’t directly related to sales
-Are always getting screamed at by their sales manager for past due sales reports
-Relationships are first, administrative perfection is number two
-Are consistently hitting and exceeding their sales objectives
-Welcome any and all sales advice and are open to any sales tip given to them

Remember, no sales representative is ever paid more or promoted simply for their administrative abilities. Be careful not to be a slave of what doesn’t matter in sales. What matters is customer relationships.

Related links: Your Personality is What the Customers Wants to See, Free Sales Tips: Don’t lose sight of this when selling, The Attributes of an Unsuccessful Salesperson

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

Even if our employer pays our fuel bills and we’re not concerned about recent gas prices, the CFO has noticed the price increases and is working on ways to control this cost. If we are currently paying our own fuel bills we directly feel the pain. Here’s a sales tip to keep in mind; we’ll see many companies in the upcoming months change how they handle fuel expenses. Many will stop paying fuel costs altogether.

The great news is that by necessity we are being forced to better manage our accounts in ways that will help us in the long haul…in ways that represent solid basic sales skills.

“…by necessity we are being forced to better manage our accounts…”

• We need to determine who our best customers are (and by that I mean most profitable) knowing that fuel costs are justified for this class of customer.

• Identifying outside customers that are marginally profitable is a valuable exercise. We can handle these customers through another channel (e.g., inside sales, website, etc.) or fire them with a dull pencil. Firing a marginally profitable customer with a dull pencil simply means we raise their prices until they either become profitable or they quit buying from us. This was one of the most important sales tips I got when I first started in sales.

• Our sales manager is constantly preaching to us to sell more products and services to existing customers. He or she is giving us good sales advice. Now is an excellent time to get more out of our existing customer contacts instead of adding small customers at additional locations.

• We must take control of our calendars. Instead of jumping all over town, we need to plan our customer appointments so that they tend to cluster in the same area on the same day. Our customers understand that it is costly for us to drive to their location and will provide sales help in our scheduling.

We have to manage around the reality of $4+ gas. The things we do to help us control those costs will actually make us better sales representatives by improving our revenue within accounts and sharpening our territory management skills.

Related links: Fire a Customer for Fun and Profit, Cross Selling

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

I’ve observed something important over time about sales managers. I’ve seen that a sales manager is in a unique position to help us if we have a good relationship with them. The ways they can help us are frequently not readily apparent. Their position allows them to improve our sales skills and assist us in how to sell for our company.

“The ways they can help us are frequently not readily apparent.”

It doesn’t matter whether we think our sales manager is the best thing since cell phones or if we dislike them more than filling out call reports. They can provide real sales help if we’ve built a relationship with them. Here are some of the benefits this relationship provides:

• Territories are always being changed and/or being reassigned (once a year in many companies). The sales manager is the person who decides who gets assigned to specific territories. We all know that all territories are not created equal.

• Sales rep’s leave companies and frequently they’ll have some cherry accounts that need to be reassigned. Who do you think makes those assignments?

• They have the combination to the safe that holds the best sales leads. Do you think they give them out fairly? Of course not. They give them out to sales rep’s they like and think will best handle them.

• Who do you think is the primary influencer of budgets or quotas? There is nothing more loosey-goosey then setting sales budgets. They are very subjective. A good relationship with your sales manager will only help you here.

Sales managers are in a position to help us in many behind-the-scenes ways. The password to this sales help is relationship.

Related links: Sales Manager and Sales Representative, Working Together, Do you think your sales manager is competent?

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

There have been many studies researching the main reason that some sales reps are extremely successful and some are less so. Virtually all of the research comes to the same conclusion and it is surprising in its simplicity.

Sales managers want to know this predictor because it can help them hire the right people and provide focused sales tips in order to teach them how to sell. Sales reps want to know in order to improve their sales skills in an area that will have the biggest impact. This quest for the magic pill is one of the reasons that there’s a new sales blog around every corner.

“This predictor of success is not one that you have any control over…but in a way you do.”

What is it? Time in territory. That’s right, the longer a sales rep is in his or her territory the more likely he or she is to be successful. In the math world they call this a positive correlation. As the length of time increases, so does sales volume.

I think the implications for this are significant:

• If you’re a sales rep and thinking about changing jobs, remember that you’ll have to start the clock over again. Be careful about throwing away the time in territory that you’ve already earned with your current employer.
• Sales managers, do you have a long term sales rep that is not performing like you think they could? Then get out there and encourage and nurture them. You don’t want to lose his or her time in territory.
• Changing jobs frequently can hurt a sales rep’s career and a high sales rep turnover in a company can hurt an employer.

The bottom line sales tip is that hanging in there with our sales job or, if you’re a sales manager, hanging in there with a struggling long term sales rep might be the best thing you can do for your sales volume.

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

What follows is some sales advice about asking for special discounts from your sales manager for that prospect with lots of potential.

The not so effective request:

Salesperson to Sales Manager: “I have this great prospect who is going to yield us tons of future business if we can just get the first order. To be competitive they said we’ll have to discount our normal price by 38%.”
Sales Manager to Salesperson: “That’s below our cost! What do you know about them?”
Salesperson to Sales Manager: “All I know is that they need the stuff really badly and they promised us lots of future business. Oh, about our costs, they want 10,000 so we’ll cover the loss with volume. I know how to sell this prospect.”
Sales Manager to Salesperson: ???

The productive request:

Salesperson to Sales Manager: “The XYZ Company says they will buy from us if we can come off our price by 38%. Here is what I know about the decision makers, budget, competition and account potential [realistic and well prepared information provided here]. This is how I plan to demonstrate our added value in order to increase our odds of getting future higher margin business [more good information]. A realistic price quote would be 20% off our normal price. I need your approval for that discount.
Sales Manager to Salesperson: “Approved!”

When you go to your sales manager with reasonable and researched requests you’re much more likely to get a thumbs up. It will also allow you to show off your sales skills and a make for a happier sales manager. Your fellow sales pro’s are frequently going to your sales manager with a continuing chorus of “I need a big discount to get into this prospect that has tremendous future potential.” When asking for a big discount on a prospect, the sales manager needs to feel reasonably confident that the prospect will actually buy in the future and at higher margins. The key is information.

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

I’ve been noticing lately how many empty and overused sales words we use and I thought it was time I pointed out some in my sales blog. As sales professionals our most important tool is our words. That sales tip was given to me years ago and it has proven to be very true. I’ve put together a list of sales chatter that gets in the way of our sales skills and annoys customers or at best doesn’t even register with them. Customers appreciate when we use clear, sincere, non-jargon language with them.

1. “This is a win-win for everyone.” [Contrary to a lot of popular sales advice, customers don't really care that much about whether we win; they care that they win. I much prefer something like, "This solution is going to work well for you."]
2. “What would I have to do to get your business?” [This is really rookie sounding. My eyes hurt just reading it. Either the salesperson is not listening and/or not asking the right questions.]
3. “I’m just touching base with you.” [Why can't we be honest about why we're calling? It's a basic of how to sell. "I'm calling to see if that contract has been signed."]
4. “We are the biggest, best, oldest, best trained…” [I've observed that customers don't really appreciate all our verbal magnification about how wonderful our employer is. They want to know what we can do for them. Did you know this is the best sales tips sales blog in North America? See what I mean? Big turn off.]
5. “Please don’t hesitate to call me.” [How dated does that sound? If our prospects or customers need permission to contact us, we need serious sales help. We're going to need more than a few sales tips to fix this one.]
6. “I guarantee that…” [As salespeople we can't personally guarantee anything. This always sounds a little desperate to me.]
7. “Trust me.” [This has exactly the opposite meaning to every person in the known universe. Customers want sales help, not empty confusing statements.]
8. “To be honest…” [Now everyone is confused. Either you're now being honest and you weren't before or you always were and you're just reminding us.]

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

I walk into a prospect’s office with a new salesperson named Zack (not his real name).

We have the obligatory first-meeting conversation with the prospect.

Out of the blue the prospect holds up a part and says, “How much do you guys get for this?” Will Zack remember the sales advice I’ve given him about these situations? Zack immediately dives for his catalog and finds the price. “$375.00 each.” The prospect looks unimpressed and says, “Too high. I can get those all day long for much less. Thanks for coming by.” [Sound of door closing behind us]

When we get out to Zack’s car I ask him what he thought of the call. Zack is a smart guy and he knew where he blew it. We reviewed the following basic sales tips when a price question is unexpectedly thrown in our face.

Fundamental sales skills tell us to never quote a price when you’re not prepared. Never quote under duress. Hold off quoting until you get more information and can educate the customer on your added value.

When you get blind sided with a price request and you throw out a price, you’ve eliminated the chance to sell your added value. Remember, you justify your pricing by telling the customer all the additional things you and your company can do for them besides shipping them a product. An ISA study found that 74% of buyers would buy at a higher cost if they better understood the added value a vendor brings.

Always be sure to ask how many the customer needs and when they need them as part of your information gathering. If you have them in stock and they need them quickly you gain some pricing control. If they say they don’t need any at this time, then you know they’re just price checking and you should ignore the request (see Customer Price Sensitivity).

What are the two most important things to remember when you’re hit unexpectedly with a price request and forget how to sell? Information and time are critical. Find out some basics about their needs, educate them on your added value and tell them you’ll get back to them with a price.

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

I saw a sign at a salesperson’s desk once that read, “Dear Customer, you may select any two of the following when purchasing from me: service, quality, price.” The words on that sign are true and they provide real sales help. They tell us that customers always have to pay for value. There is no free lunch.

Think about the selling environments that are possible using this bit of wisdom. We all sell in one of three scenarios noted below, depending on our market and our selling situation at the moment.

1. We can provide great service and high quality products, but we can’t do it at discount prices.
2. We can provide great service and discounted prices, but we aren’t going to be able to provide high quality products.
3. We can provide high quality products at discounted prices, but our level of service will be low.

This is a simplistic model, but it demonstrates that it’s impossible for a company to be profitable if it provides its customers with high quality products and high levels of service at discounted prices. Professional sales help and support come at a cost. Companies that have tried to do all three at once go out of business.

As seasoned sales pros we know that we have to sell the value we bring to our customers in order to justify the pricing. When customers understand the value they are buying they understand the price too. They know they can’t get sales help and assistance for free.

Sometimes we find ourselves in selling situations where we are selling a cheaper product or a lower level of service. It is important in those environments to educate the customer about the compromises they are making in order to receive lower pricing. It’s all about setting realistic expectations about value and price in the customer’s mind.

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

[I had the opportunity recently to ask Jim Fowler, CEO of Jigsaw, some questions about his company. Jigsaw is a fast growing company with interesting concepts regarding leads that will be of interest to many sales professionals.]

1. You are the CEO of Jigsaw. What is the history of Jigsaw?

Jigsaw was founded in late 2003 with the mission of mapping every business organization on the planet. The concept was that salespeople could work together to build a gigantic shared Rolodex.

Jigsaw launched in late 2004, has raised $18M in venture funding, currently has ninety employees and has over 500K members (mostly sales professionals) who build and maintain the collaborative database.

2. Who do you consider your biggest competitors and what are the differentiators?

Jigsaw competes most directly with traditional data companies like Hoovers and InfoUSA. Jigsaw differs from them in several key ways:

They build and maintain their own databases. We believe there is no way a few dozen or even a few hundred employees can compete with an army of 500K motivated salespeople who build and maintain the Jigsaw shared Rolodex.

We have many more contacts and they are much better. Specifically, every single Jigsaw contact is complete – including email address and phone number. Seventy-two percent of Jigsaw contact records have a direct dial phone number. Virtually none of our competitors’ records have either an email address or a phone number.

We give our company data away for free. Members can download up to 50K complete company records at a time in the format of all of the major CRM systems.

3. As a sales professional what are some of the compelling reasons for me to use Jigsaw for leads versus more traditional ways of lead attainment such as leads lists and networking groups?

Jigsaw’s data is not only complete, but it is also much fresher than any other lead list. Jigsaw’s 500K members constantly clean the data, updating records and graveyarding dead ones.

Jigsaw is, in essence, the largest networking group around. There are currently almost nine million complete contact records on Jigsaw.

In essence, Jigsaw is doing to the traditional data companies what Wikipedia has done to Encyclopedia Britannica.

4. Is Jigsaw responding to a change in how professional salespeople network and acquire leads?

We prefer to think that Jigsaw is changing the way sales professionals network and acquire leads. Never before have leads of this quality been so easily obtainable. We believe the increase in transparency of data will fundamentally change the way salespeople sell. We believe that it will no longer be about just getting the data, but about how to rise above the noise. We believe salespeople are going to have to become better marketers in order to get a prospect’s time.

5. What is your sales demographic and industry demographic? In other words, are you marketing Jigsaw to certain types of sales professionals that operate in certain industries?

Technology sales professionals were the early adopters, but now sales professionals from all industries and company sizes use Jigsaw. We offer a Jigsaw Team product that allows entire sales teams to use Jigsaw. We have over 600 of these corporate accounts.

Members use Jigsaw for two main purposes – to find prospects and to map organizations in order to understand the buying influencers for deals farther in the pipe. Our market must almost always perform one or both of these tasks on a regular basis.

We also sell our CRM cleaning and maintenance services to CRM owners/administrators. This is the fastest growing part of our business.

[Thank you, Jim, for answering my questions. I think many readers will be interested in looking into Jigsaw further. Scott]

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

Do you know someone that is perfect? They never seem to make mistakes. They look perfect. They act perfect. Many sales trainers dispensing sales tips will tell you never to show a weakness to a customer. I disagree.

No one really likes perfect people because we know it’s impossible to be perfect. I know I’m certainly not. We like hanging around people that are real with all of their good points and their bad ones too.

Our customers feel the same way about the companies where we work. They know there is no such thing as a perfect vendor. They know the company they work for isn’t perfect and they know the company we represent isn’t either. The more we try to convince them of how flawless and perfect our company is, the more they aren’t buying our gospel.

So what are the sales tips then?

We must be willing to give away something to our customers. I can best explain this with an example.

Customer: “Debbie, I need 20 of your assembly line robots and I need you to install them at all my locations.”

Salesperson (Debbie): “I know we can do a good job of taking care of your robotic needs and I’m looking forward to this project. When it comes to product availability and service there is no one better than us and everyone knows that. We could install those robots for you but that is not a strength of ours. I can arrange for another company that is excellent at these installations. I’ll take care of all the details. I want this equipment installed with no problems because I want to keep you as long term customer.”

Debbie was brilliant. She “gave up” one thing by stating that her company wasn’t strong at installations, but she gained the trust and respect of her customer in the process. She kept the part of the business that makes Debbie and her company the most money. She demonstrated to the customer that she was looking after their best interests. She was partnering with them in the truest sense of the word.

Put yourself in this customer’s shoes the next time they need to buy something from Debbie. Would you be inclined to believe Debbie’s recommendations? Absolutely.

Debbie gave away an ounce of business and earned a pound of credibility and a pound of future business.

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