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What Does It Mean to ‘Invest In Yourself?’

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I’ve talked a lot in this space about salespeople and their tendency to not invest in themselves and their own productivity.  I’m constantly amazed at the fact that, despite sales being one of the highest-paid professions, most salespeople won’t spend $20 on a book to build their skills.  Let’s get beyond that, though, and let’s discuss real and genuine investment.  Let me tell you about Dave.

Dave is a salesperson for an office supply company in the Midwest.  In fact, Dave is, and was, the company’s top salesperson.  Six years ago, Dave had a problem.  He was topped out.  His territory was strong and he was making decent money, and he had a strong and stable customer base.  Most salespeople, at this point, would have gone into “coast and collect” mode.  Those salespeople would have watched that huge base of business decline over a period of years, too, but that’s beside the point of this story.

One of Dave’s attributes is that he is very good at self-analysis.  When Dave analyzed himself as a salesperson, he new very clearly that he had one primary strength.  Dave is that rarest of salespeople.  He’s a pure “hunter.”  Dave is at his best when he’s chasing, presenting and winning, new business. Dave is like a seasoned thoroughbred racehorse.  On the other hand Dave recognized his primary weakness: He not a Farmer. Account management is neither his favorite part of selling, nor his top skill set.  Dave still wanted to grow his territory.  But all those hard-won accounts were now monopolizing his time, so how would he do it? He was at a greater risk of losing many of those hard earned accounts because he couldn’t keep up with the daily administration.

Dave did what a lot of salespeople would do first.  He went to management and asked about getting a skilled inside account manager to augment his efforts.  Management, looking at dollars and cents, and felt it wasn’t in the budget. So, this is where Dave got creative.  A couple of offices down sat another salesperson named Karen.  Karen had been with the company for just a few years, and Dave had noticed that Karen was a very gifted administrator, and that cold calling and knocking on doors was not her primary strength.

Dave approached Karen to see if she might be interested in making a shift in her responsibilities and becoming the inside account manager for the new Dave/Karen account management team. Dave would be the knock-on-door-cold-calling machine and Karen would take over the admin side. As Dave would say “I will Kill ‘em, Karen will Grill ‘em”. (NOTE – no actual customers were harmed in the making of this sales success story.) Dave figured that he and Karen, both using their specific skill sets and talents, would be a dynamic sales machine.

To make this work, Dave and Karen would merge their businesses into one territory. Dave then gave up part of his own compensation to increase Karen’s earnings. From that point on as the business grew, both Dave and Karen would benefit financially with continual account growth.  The company’s ownership, to their credit, allowed this innovation.  Thus, Dave and Karen determined that focusing their own individual strengths could catapult them to greater success and higher earnings.

If you’re waiting for me to tell you how the story went wrong, you’re going to be waiting a long time.  It’s been a rousing success.  Six years later, Dave’s territory (remember, already the company’s largest), now the Dave/Karen team’s, has grown over 260%.  This unique team approach has been wildly successful.  By far and away they are the top producers for the company in terms of sales revenue, gross profit, new account acquisition, customer retention and customer satisfaction.

Dave acknowledges that there is no doubt that Karen, with her inside account management gifts, is a heroine in her own right.  Not only does she retain accounts, but she also helps to grow those existing accounts.  The team of Dave and Karen could be a prototype for sales success.  What makes it work?  Let’s ask Dave.

“For us,” he says, “It was really about capturing and combining both of our unique talents, giftings and personality traits. It was also about completely honest in recognizing areas of ‘less than’ qualities. I’m good at certain parts of selling, and so is Karen. Between the two of us, we add up to a great sales team.” Dave says that it’s New Sales Math… One plus One equals Six. “Since both of us are working in our personal talent zone, we are motivated and happy. Yes, did I say happy. Ultimately it translates to having happy satisfied customers that notice a significant difference in their perception of our company, the services we offer, and most importantly how they are treated by Karen and myself. I’m sure you have heard the saying about marriage; Happy Wife, Happy Life. Well, Happy Customer, Happy Commission Check.”

This, Dave thinks, can be or should be a model for other salespeople and companies.  He’s probably right.

I believe that many company managers and sales people won’t take the risk or make the personal financial investment to see if they can multiply their output. If you have a territory that’s reached its practical limit in terms of productivity, maybe it’s time to think out-of-the-box like Dave and Karen.  Dave reminded me that Henry Ford’s greatest invention wasn’t the Model T automobile, it was the assembly line. Instead of building cars one at a time, as before, Ford subdivided the responsibilities with people using their greatest gifts and proficiencies and produce a thousand automobiles a day.

Here are the issues as I see them.

In any company, the sales role essentially consists of three elements:

  1. New account selling – prospecting, needs analysis, presenting, proposing, closing. This all falls under the umbrella of “Acquisition” selling.
  2. Driving growth in existing accounts through upselling, cross-selling, etc. I refer to this as “Development” selling.
  3. Retaining existing accounts through relationship development. This is “Retention” selling.

Let’s be honest.  Few salespeople – even superstars – are superstars at all of those elements.  I would bet that at least 80% of all salespeople would welcome the opportunity to sub out parts of the sales process that are not their favorites.  For instance, I’d guess that somewhere around half of salespeople would gladly get rid of prospecting if they could.

Many of those salespeople will, in fact, request to offload parts of the sales responsibility.  Even in companies where there’s only one salesperson, I’ll hear comments that ‘if the company would just get someone to set my appointments for me, I’d be so much more successful,’ etc.

What separates Dave from nearly all of those salespeople is his willingness to put his own skin in the game.  Dave didn’t just ask for an account manager – he volunteered part of his own compensation to make it happen.  In doing so, he was betting on himself.  Dave’s bet was that the money he gave up to pay Karen would more than be repaid back to him through growth in his sales territory.   Seeing the results, it’s hard to argue with him.

Should you go down the Dave road?  That depends.  First of all, you have to make a good self analysis.  What are you good at, and what are you not good at?  That’s the easy part.

Second, you have to gain an understanding of what it will really take, compensation-wise, to provide the parts of the sales process that you wish to offload.

Third – and this is the painful part – you must then be willing to invest in yourself, as Dave did, to make it happen.  Don’t get me wrong, if you can get management to provide the resource at no cost to you, more power to you!  But for most of us, that money has to come from somewhere – is it going to be you?

Fourth and finally – this is not a fix for failure.  I wouldn’t advise any business owner, sales manager, or salesperson to try to ‘save’ a failing salesperson with this model.  This model worked precisely because both parties were successful – Dave at winning new business, and Karen at retaining and developing.

Dave believes that this could be, and should be, a new model for selling.  I think he could be right – IF salespeople are willing to put their own skin in the game.  Whether that’s you is up to each of you to answer.

How To Use Social Media in Prospecting

The Navigator News

Is there any part of selling that’s more talked about these days – or less understood – than social media?  Ever since Linkedin came on the scene, various trainers, consultants, and other assorted “experts” have been telling salespeople that the magic button that they had always sought – the one that would remove the need for prospecting – had finally arrived.  Simply put up your profile on LinkedIn, make some posts, and while you’re at it Tweet a bit and Facebook a lot.  Then say, “come to Papa,” and all the prospects you’d ever need would come to you.

Some salespeople are still waiting for that to happen.  Want to know how I know?  Because I was one of those salespeople.  You see, I’ve been building my national speaking career for about five years now.  I read and heard the advice of the top people in my profession, and they all said, “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you’ve done it – this is the one place where cold calling doesn’t work.  You WILL NOT get booked off a cold call.”

Since they were the experts, I believed them.  So…..I posted on LinkedIn.  I Tweeted.  I Facebooked.  And I put up videos on YouTube.  And I said, “Come to Papa.”  And….well, to be totally honest, I did get a few speaking engagements from word of mouth, and my “rebook rate” (the rate at which past clients bring me back) is very high for the industry.  Still, I looked at my business last year and realized that I didn’t have as many national-level engagements as I wanted.

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I would do what “didn’t work,” at least by what the experts told me.  And I found out something.  In the industry of professional speaking, cold calling doesn’t work…..except when it does.  Yes, I have booked several well paying engagements at quality conferences by cold calling.

But, this article isn’t about me or what I’ve been able to do.  It’s about YOU and what YOU can do.  You see, I discovered something very important about social media in this process.  I made cold calls, I set appointments, I had good conversations.  And then, do you know what my prospects did?

They went to my social media and looked at all of those posts, all those YouTube videos, the testimonials, etc.  Social media was their tool for establishing my bona fides.  Once they did that, we re-engaged and they booked me to speak.

You see, in today’s world, it’s not enough to just do conventional prospecting.  Nor is it enough to do social media.  You must do both.

Think about the last time you exhibited at a trade show.  You had your display, samples, and you had people assigned to the booth just for the purpose of prospecting (new lead generation).  Now imagine that you’d done it one of two ways.

First, imagine that you’d only put up your display.  You didn’t put any people in the booth; perhaps you just put a bowl on the table with a sign saying, “If you’re interested, drop your card into this bowl.”  All thoughout the show, the booth sat empty with no people in it. How many cards do you think you’d have at the end of the show?  Not many, if any at all.

Now, imagine the opposite.  Instead of putting up a display you put a simple sign up with your company’s name, and had two of your people in the booth.  Now how do you think you’d do?  My guess is that you’d probably do a little better than by using the display and no people.  That’s because your people could engage people as they came by.  But, either way, you probably wouldn’t get the results that you’d get with a display and your people.

In prospecting, your social media is your trade show display.  It’s your backdrop, your brand, your samples, and it provides you with the air of legitimacy and bona fides that your display does at the trade show.  It’s a way for buyers to check you out and to discover more about you.  Nowadays, you’ll find out that many of your potential customers – even ones that you cold call – will check you out on social media.

This is a switch in paradigm from how most salespeople are attempting to use social media (unsuccessfully in most cases).  When we recognize that social media is not our primary prospecting mechanism, but a supplementary prospecting mechanism, it changes our approach to our social media postings.

Instead of posting with constant calls to action – in an attempt to get a cold response from your readers and followers – instead focus on postings that build your brand, your name recognition, and your professional reputation.

One particular mechanism you should focus on is the “Recommendations” tool on LinkedIn.  There’s never been an easier way to get testimonials from your happy customers than by requesting recommendations through LinkedIn.  Those recommendations can be in context (since LinkedIn specifically refers to the job you’re requesting the recommendation for) and allows you to review the recommendation before posting.  Once you have a recommendation, then it’s time to fire up Twitter and link to your new recommendation.  It’s easy.

YouTube videos can be great for posting product demonstrations, case studies, etc., and if you link to those, your customer can use these as a tool to check you out.

That said, the knowledge that social media is a “due diligence” mechanism for your customers also has implications about what you should NOT post.  Everything you post on any of your social media pages needs to be carefully vetted with an eye toward what you might not want your customers to see.   When in doubt, don’t post it.

Social media may someday replace conventional prospecting – but the medium for that hasn’t been invented yet.  For now, keep prospecting and use social media as your backdrop.

Credibility – Your Stock in Trade

The Navigator News

Recently, the news media, and even some of our government officials, have been agog about what they call “Fake News.”  In the current, working definition, “Fake News” is a story that has no basis in reality, but is designed to play into political beliefs; for instance, “(Candidate X) smells like old cabbage.”  What these media sources are saying is that one should only pay attention to media sources with CREDIBILITY.  Interesting concept, and I’ll get back to it in a moment.  The problem comes in when you fact-check some stories from a “Credible” media outlet, and they too come up wanting.

You see, the most desirable characteristic in news media is the same as the most desirable characteristic in selling.  I’m often asked what the #1 characteristic a salesperson needed to possess to succeed with his or her customers.  Most people expect me to say, “Trust,” but I didn’t.  I said, “Credibility.”

My definition of credibility is this:  Credibility means that people believe what you are saying because it is you that says it.  They don’t feel the need to check your sources, research your facts and claims, etc.  Credibility means that, in the customer’s mind, “Troy said it.  That’s good enough for me.”  You might be wondering, “Isn’t that just another word for trust?”  My reply would be, “No, not at all.  Credibility works at a higher level than trust.  Trust is simply one of the prerequisites for credibility.”

In professional selling, trust means that the customer believes that you would not intentionally steer them wrong, and that you have their best interests at heart. That word, “intentionally,” is a big deal.  “Trust” means that the customer allows for you to make mistakes in your verbiage, in your claims, in your references, and in your recommendations – and if the customer allows for these mistakes, that means that they will back-check at least some of those potential mistakes.  You cannot have credibility without trust, but you can have trust without credibility.

See the difference?  Credibility means that they don’t back-check you.  This is desirable not just for you, but for the customer.  Just as it’s a lot of work to back-check a suspect news story, it can be a lot of work to back-check the claims of a salesperson.  Many customers will solve this time crunch by opting out of both the salesperson and the transaction. Can we agree, then, that credibility is a much higher level of dialogue with the customer?  Let’s talk about how to achieve it.

First, achieving credibility means taking something of a sales Hippocratic oath:  “First, do no harm.”  In sales, that could mean, “First, make no false statements.”  This is a big problem for salespeople for a couple of reasons.  The first reason is that salespeople want to be seen as experts – even if they’re not.  Now, I’ve said before that becoming an expertise provider should be the goal of every salesperson; part of expertise, however, is realizing what you don’t know.  The salesperson who decides to “wing it” and gives a false answer forever calls his claims into question.

The second reason is that salespeople fear giving the “I’ll get you that answer” answer to a question because it can slow down the selling process.  Well….maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t.  The advent of technology means that we can be far more prepared with resources to answer questions than we used to be.  I once sold for a distributor of bearings and power transmission products that represented and stocked over 150 product lines.  If I needed technical information on all of them, my car wouldn’t have been able to store all the catalogs and technical documents I needed!

Today, however, we can carry all those documents – or access to them – on a smartphone.  Think about it for a minute.  What if you carried all your technical information on micro-SD cards (or whatever memory source your phone takes), labeled, so that if you had a particularly tough question to answer, you could simply load the proper document on your phone and give the CORRECT answer?  That wouldn’t slow the process and your customer would respect your efforts.  This, by the way, is one way that even rookie salespeople can generate credibility very quickly.

Another way of generating credibility is getting in front of particular problems.  If there is going to be a problem such as a delayed delivery, incorrect product spec, etc., the credible salesperson finds out about it before the customer, and communicates with the customer as soon as possible – rather than just letting the delivery happen incorrectly and letting everything hit the fan.

A third way of generating credibility is never throwing your team members under the bus to the customer.  This is difficult, but it’s the most common way I see that salespeople blow any potential for credibility.  You win as a team, and you lose as a team – and when you lose, the credible salesperson says, “we messed up,” not “they messed up.”  Take the lumps for everyone else – and then, fix problems in-house and behind closed doors.

Finally – and I know that this will hit some of you hard – credible salespeople stay at their jobs for a reasonable period of time.  I talk to a lot of salespeople who change jobs on a frequent basis, and it hurts your credibility, both in the interview process and in the selling process.  If you’re going back to your customers on an annual basis and saying, “Guess what – I’m selling something different now!”, you’re not going to have any credibility whatsoever.

Gaining credibility requires more than sales skills.  It requires discipline in your actions and your conversations.  It is, however, worth the effort, because it’s the highest level of business relationship you can achieve.

2017: Making the Decisions that Matter

The Navigator News

What will your 2017 look like?  Right now, I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this has projected that 2017 will be your best year ever.  Me too.  I’m also willing to bet that by April 1 – if not sooner – most of you will be saying, “Well, I can still hit my projections, if I have a solid last part of the year.”  Then by October, you’ll be saying, “Well, things will get better in 2018.”  I’m not saying this to put you down.  I’m saying this as the result of something I discovered recently.  More about that in a moment.

You see, most business owners – and salespeople, and sales managers – depend on EXTERNAL factors to lift their boats.  I just got back from a big trade show in Las Vegas, and the common theme that I heard was that “2017 was going to be a great year.”  When I asked why, they’d say, “Because the economy is going to be very strong.”  I happen to agree with that sentiment – but I always wonder what we can do to make our OWN economy.  This leads back to my discovery.

I’m going to step outside my normal mode here of ‘how to’ articles, and talk about my own business and something I’ve done recently.  I’ve had a lot of discussions with potential clients in the last two years, and I’ve done pretty well in winnning new projects with new customers.  My closing percentage on proposals is well over 50%, and I suppose it ought to be, if I’m trying to teach you how to sell, don’t you think?

Still, “well over 50%” isn’t 100%.  As much as I wish I didn’t, I lose sales, too.  We’re all living in the real world here.  When I counted my losses over the last two years, I found that I had 33 proposals that did not result in a ‘yes’ answer.  That bothers me; that means there were 33 business owners that didn’t see the value in working with me.  And these were business owners who had needs.

Some (most) needed to turn around an underperforming sales force.  These were comprehensive projects that included consulting, coaching, and training.

Some wanted training for salespeople or sales managers.

Some wanted individual coaching and consulting for themselves.

Some wanted help in hiring people.

ALL of them had unmet needs and goals.

Whether they were trying to build value in their business to sell and have a comfortable retirement, or whether they wanted to maximize profit to enjoy a better lifestyle, or perhaps they wanted to set the business up for success for the next generation of their family, they all had needs.

I decided to do some follow-up.  I decided to call each of the 33 to see if, and how, they met those needs, if they didn’t invest in work with me.  The results were pretty depressing.

I got ahold of 26 of the 33, which I figure is a good ratio.  Two of the companies were – unfortunately – out of business, so that answered every question I had for those owners.  Out of the 26 that I called, I reminded them of the goals they had when we talked, and I asked them how they achieved those goals.

The answer shocked me.  ONLY ONE of those 26 had hit their goals, and they did so by choosing a different coach.  That’s fair enough.  I’m not for everyone, and everyone isn’t for me.  To be honest, this was the least upsetting answer that I received.

More common was an answer that, “Oh, well, we didn’t hit our numbers because, you know, the economy.”  In other words, these business owners decided to play it safe, do nothing different, and defer their dreams and goals for a day when some undefined outside source would carry them to prosperity. How mediocre.  There’s nothing worse than just settling for being blown along with the wind.

That, however, wasn’t as bad as the answer I received from four of my contacts.  Four of these business owners confessed that they wished mightily that they’d worked with me back then, WHEN THEY HAD THE MONEY (I’m not cheap but I generate ROI).  Now, no matter how much they wanted to, they simply didn’t have the cash in the bank.  I suspect that in another year these phone numbers will be disconnected as well.

I’ve been reviewing those sales, examining my own efforts, and wondering what I did wrong.  Should I have closed harder?  Should I have presented more aggressively, or maybe asked a question that I neglected to ask?  At this point, it’s hard to say, and it won’t make much difference.  I will say that two of the 26 have engaged me now, so there was a profit to the exercise (and that, too, should be a lesson to you – don’t neglect past prospects as a source of future business).

So now that I’ve given you a peek behind the curtain, I have some questions for YOU.

How confident are you that your 2017 will be what you want it to be?

What are you going to do differently to help you get there?  Don’t give me bilge about ‘the economy.’  MAKE the year be what you want it to be!

If you need outside help, are you going to engage that help?  If not, why not?  In fact, let me say this:  If you need outside help to achieve your goals and your dreams, there is no excuse for not getting it.  If I’m not too proud to use outside help (and I’m not), you shouldn’t be either.  Get the help you need.

More to the point:

If you’re a business owner, have we talked?  If not, why not?  Contact me today.  I’m a nice guy – really – and I’ll be happy to give you a free phone consultation to see if I can help.

If you’re a salesperson, have you looked at my products to help you sell more and build better relationships?  You can buy them here – and I’ve even extended my New Year’s sale to help you afford them.

My pledge to you is this – I’ve learned many things from these 26 calls, including identifying service offerings that might have made the difference.  Look for these new service offerings in the first quarter of 2017.  There’s nothing I hate more than calling past lost sales and hearing about goals unreached, dreams deferred, and battles unwon.  I want to help you reach, achieve, and win.  That’s my theme for 2017.

Opportunity – a Non Renewable Resource

The Navigator News

Back in 2011, as I was still trying to figure out this business of speaking at a national level, I came across a live program that promised to help me figure it out.  It was called “The Odd Couple – Marketing for Professional Speakers,” and it was hosted by experts in the subject matter named Patricia Fripp and Alan Weiss.  Even better, it was being held in Las Vegas, one of my favorite places.

The problem was that, at the time, the fee for attending was enough to have made my finances a bit tight.  The scheduling would have been tight as well; I had a training program scheduled the day after I’d have had to take a late flight home from Vegas. Neither the finances nor the scheduling were prohibitive – just a little difficult. I decided not to go, and figured that they’d have it again the next year – after all, this was the third annual.  I would be there for the fourth.

You might have guessed the rest.  There was no fourth annual.  After the third, both Fripp and Weiss decided that the event no longer fit with their respective business models.  Since then, I’ve spent a lot of money and time taking advantage of Fripp’s expertise in speaking skills, and I’ve availed myself of Weiss’ work as well.  I even bought the MP3 audio of the last Odd Couple (the one I decided not to go to).  All of those things convinced me of one fact.

I missed one hell of an opportunity by not going.  I’ve gotten quite a bit out of the audio.  And Fripp has become not only a valued mentor, but a good friend.  But I’m quite confident that, had I been in the audience, asking questions, hearing things live, that I would have accelerated my career by a good 2-3 years at least.  This opportunity was a non-renewable resource.

If there’s any trend that I’m seeing in the world of small to medium sized business, it’s a growing conservatism in decision making.  I’d like to put this at the feet of the Baby Boomer generation aging and being more careful about spending and investing, but I can’t; the conservatism doesn’t seem to be isolated to any one age bracket.  More and more, business owners are allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good, and waiting for ‘the next time’ to come around.  Oftentimes, it doesn’t.

In business, life, and sales, the equation of success looks like this:  Success = need + solution + opportunity.  There’s a moment in time when opportunity is presented, and we need to take advantage of it.

In selling, one of my good friends, Marc Lonesk, says “any selling is useless unless the customer’s window is open.”  (I.e., if the customer isn’t willing to hear your message, they won’t.)  He’s not wrong about this, but more importantly, I’ve found that the entire buying process culminates in a moment in time where the customer is most motivated to buy, is on board with the solution, and just needs to be asked.

This is where all too many salespeople have to run back to the batcave to develop a ‘formal proposal,’ or ask permission from a manager for something, or otherwise follow a sales process that doesn’t sync with the buyer’s buying process.  Then they wonder why that sale no longer happened.  It’s simple.  Opportunity knocked and the salesperson failed to open the door.

Even something as simple as having to run out to your car for a contract or an order form can be a deal-killer.  The best salespeople are always prepared to do business when the customer wants it to.

A few years ago, a business owner I am acquainted with had the opportunity to buy his biggest local competitor.  He engaged me to do a bit of analysis, and I came back with the opinion that, while the competitor’s operations were lagging behind, he had just made some personnel moves that resulted in a potentially great sales department.  He should, I opined, buy them NOW, not later.  My rationale was something you’ve probably read before:  SFE. Sales Fixes Everything.

As that great sales force ramped up, I explained, they would create pressure within the company that would force the operations to fix themselves.  Once that happened, this company would eat his company alive in the sales arena (I should point out that this was the first engagement with the business owner – his sales force was very small and not very good).  If he didn’t buy now, his only alternative would be to beef up his own sales force to defend their accounts.

The owner of company A chose not to buy and not to invest in the sales force.  Instead, he stood pat, figuring that the poor operations of company B would continue to drive customers away and thus drive the price of company B lower.  Instead, the scenario that I previewed played itself out.  Company B is now the lone survivor, having bought company A three years later at a fire sale price.  I now work with company B from time to time.

I’m going to give you another example, and this involves opening my business kimono a bit.  I stopped doing recruiting, for the most part, two years ago (I still do a bit for selected favored customers).  At the time I stopped, my recruiting services started at $20,000 per search, and it was worth it.  We got winners.  Still, the time demands were such that handling a few searches at the same time became difficult.  So I dropped the service, but I’ve been looking for ways to monetize a very effective hiring process.

A few weeks ago, I attempted to do just that.  Partnering with Kirk Young of Job Match Assessment, I hosted a two-day training program designed to teach managers and business owners my hiring process, with nothing held back.  Since hiring is such a hot topic (and we were only charging $995 per person – $845 if they registered early), I figured we might sell out a 30-person class.  We did not.  Suffice it to say that attendance was very small and it was not a financial success.  But, as one attendee said, “I can’t understand why this isn’t sold out.  This is a great program and hiring is the #1 thing that’s discussed when I talk with other business owners.”

Still, I felt the market had spoken; this wasn’t a desired offering.  Then came a few calls and emails asking, “When will you be having this one again?”  The truth is that we probably won’t.  But the “best” response was one owner who said, “Well, I wanted to get some first hand knowledge from someone else who attended before I committed those resources.”  Really?  This person operates a $15 million business and wasn’t willing to risk $1000 to find out how to staff his company appropriately?  In fact, if all of the “When are you doing it again” people had stepped up and registered, we probably would be doing it again.

If you’re thinking that I’m venting a bit of frustration, you’re probably right, but to me it’s a commentary on our business climate.  The irony is that the businesses that are owned by these people weren’t built on conservatism; they were built on risk taking.

My message from this article, if you’ve read this far, is this:  Any business decision can be made on 80% of the applicable information, and your accuracy on those decisions will be near 100%.  Whether you are in Sales, Operations, Management, or Ownership, at 80%, stop dithering and pull the trigger.  You’re going to be right nearly all of the time, you’re going to save yourself many hours of hashing and rehashing, and your company will be growing while your competitors are trying to figure out what happened.

“Untrainable” is a Decision

The Navigator News

Recently, I participated in a panel discussion at a convention where I heard the most amazing statement I’ve ever heard at one of these events.  A fellow panelist looked at the audience and said, “What you have to face is that 70% of your sales reps are incapable of growing your companies.  They’re untrainable, they’re gray, and they’re incapable of learning new technologies that will drive this business into the future.  23% are acceptable and 7% are elite.”

Wow.  My mind locked – as everyone else’s did – on that “untrainable” comment.  Asked to clarify, he explained that the industry in question had an aging sales force that was incapable of learning new technologies.  By this point, you might be expecting this comment to come from someone in his 20s or 30s, correct?  You’d be wrong.  I don’t know exactly how old the man was – I didn’t ask and he didn’t volunteer – but he couldn’t have been a day under 60, and therein lies a number of interesting points.

As much as I disliked what he said (and frankly, him), he wasn’t totally wrong.  I encounter people in the sales and sales management world every day who have picked a date where their learning and evolution simply stopped, and they won’t learn any more.  Put new technology in front of them, and they simply shake their heads in refusal.  They have an unshakable belief in their old people skills, and they think that’s enough.

I see the same thing in training sales techniques; many more seasoned salespeople simply refuse, during training, to even entertain the thought of learning new ideas, skills, or approaches.

I see it in managers who won’t update their hiring techniques and methods, even though hiring has experienced several sea changes in environments from regulatory to the technical tools we can bring to the table.

And yet…..

I see sales reps in their 60s who use LinkedIn more effectively than reps 40 years their junior.  They’re a whiz at CRM, know how to use it to enhance every sales call, and only gripe if for some reason they can’t pull up the customer’s most recent activity in the car, on their smartphone, before walking in.

I see sales reps in their 40s, 50s, and greater who can’t wait to learn new sales approaches and techniques so they can integrate them with the hard-earned skills of a long career.

I see senior managers who are constantly researching new ways of hiring, leading, and coaching their employees to better results.

When I was in my 20s, I used to hear about ‘age discrimination’ in the workplace and thought it was something imaginary.  After all, who wouldn’t want someone with a 20-year track record over someone newer to the workforce?  Now I know better.  I talk to salespeople, and managers, in their 40s and upward who have been pushed out by youth movements (which sometimes are cost reductions), and have difficulty being hired.

Here’s the problem that I have:  I don’t think, for a moment, that 70% of the sales reps in that industry, or any other industry, are untrainable (and I said so in the discussion).  If I did, I’d probably get out of the sales training business.

What I do believe is that too many people render themselves untrainable by a simple refusal to update.  If your evolution stopped in 2000, 2005, or 2010, you’re behind the curve, and you have a lot of ground to make up if you want to stay vital.  That’s on YOU.

I do believe that one reason that many managers find more senior reps to be ‘untrainable’ is that they simply haven’t tried, or haven’t tried very hard.  I didn’t get a chance to ask my follow-up question at the discussion:  “How many of you have given a strong effort to train senior reps in new technology or skill – and failed?”  I have a feeling that the number of those who have tried would be small, and the failures would be smaller still.

If you’re managing a ‘graying’ sales force, I think you owe it to yourself, and to them, to give them every opportunity to succeed in today’s technology and Internet driven sales environment before simply casting them aside (as the other consultant was advocating).

And finally, if you’re hiring salespeople, don’t overlook this demographic.  I’ve helped my clients make hires in this space in the last five years, and some are setting records now.

How to Be Disruptive

The Navigator News

Business magazines, books, and articles use the word ‘disruptive’ quite a bit to describe an ultimate goal – the domination of an industry or the building of a virtually competition-proof customer base.  It’s an admirable goal and we all want that, don’t we?

The problem is that being ‘disruptive’ in this sense requires the Big Idea.  You have to invent the next iPhone, the next Uber, the next Facebook, etc. It’s a great goal and a great ambition – but I often wonder how much time and energy gets squandered attempting to be “Disruptive” (capital-D), when you could have a lot of success being “disruptive” (lower case-d) by changing the way you sell what you already have.   Yes, you can be disruptive in selling, and let’s talk about how.

In selling, disruption happens when customer paradigms are changed.  What this means is that, for disruption to happen, customers must not only evaluate YOU, but your COMPETITORS, through a different framework than before.

To change paradigms, change the conversation.  In every industry, there is an ‘industry standard sales call.’  It goes something like this, from the salesperson’s perspective:

“So, how are you using my competitor’s products?”

“What do you like about them?”

“What do you dislike about them?”

(By the way, there’s nothing wrong with these three questions – I teach them too – but most salespeople are done at this point; if you learn my program, you’re just getting started.)

“In a perfect world, what would you like to change?”

“The price question.”  I refer to it this way because it’s phrased as everything from “What are you paying now?” to “What’s your budget?”

By now, the customer’s mind is set that there’s really no difference between the person in front of him and the person that sold him whatever he’s buying; hence, there’s only one variable.

If you have the same conversation your competitor has, the only way to differentiate yourself is price.  When salespeople say to me, “But Troy, in my industry, everything boils down to price!” they’re probably right – but they’re also not changing the conversation.  They’re asking the same old questions that their competitors ask, getting the same old answers, and leaving themselves only one place to differentiate.  Price.

So, how do you disrupt?

Ask questions that your competitors don’t ask.  Be inquisitive to the point of OCD.  Know everything you can know about your customer – or THEIR customers.  Use lots of questions that begin with “why.”  Make your prospect dig deep in his or her head for answers that your competitors don’t hear.

Research things that your competitors don’t research – and your customers might not, either.  If you’re going into a business that deals with the public, you should know their Yelp ratings (as well as other review sites) to the decimal point.  You should be able to quote from some notable reviews, or have them printed out and with you.  Are you selling recruiting services?  Be prepared to discuss your customer’s comments on GlassDoor, and how that affects their hiring picture.  Be Brave.  Some salespeople are scared spineless to confront a customer with a low Yelp rating or a bad review.  Don’t be that salesperson.  It’s reality and we sell in the real world.  Maybe there’s a ‘hook’ there that can get you in the door.

Tell Stories.  Stories, as I’ve said before, are one of the most powerful means of communicating customer success – and precious few salespeople know how to do it.  Learn, and get good at it, then use that skill constantly.

Tell them “No.”  Few things are more disruptive than a salesperson who tells a customer “no,” particularly if the customer is asking about price.  “Can I get a lower price?” is usually followed by weasel words like, “Well, I’ll have to check with my boss….” Or “If I could, would you?” This nonsense plugs you into the exact same size hole as your competitors.  Tell them “no,” and mean it.  You have different and better value than your customers; be proud of your price.

Try things.  This sales mindset virtually mandates that you try new techniques and discard the ones that don’t work.  Don’t worry – unless you do something truly offensive, no failure is permanent.  Try new presentations, new benefits, new questions, etc.  Your customers will let you know what works.

I’ve said before that FEAR is the obstacle of all good things in selling.  I mean it.  The reason this approach isn’t tried more often is that it’s safe to go with what’s ‘proven.’  Taking this approach means stepping out of your comfort zone as well as your customer’s, trying new techniques and skills, and making note of what works and what doesn’t.  In essence, you’re letting your customer be your sales coach – and with this comes risk of failure.

The reward, however, is being much, much more than the average salesperson.  The reward is being one of those people that dominates their industry, that is attractive to customers, and that builds bullet-proof customer relationships.  Do you want to be that person?

Seven Core Competencies of Today’s Sales Manager

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Seven Core Competencies of Today’s Sales Manager

Many years ago when I was a salesman, one of my greatest ambitions was to become a Sales Manager.  I figured that I’d love the job.  You’ve heard the expression, “Be careful what you wish for?”  This was not one of those times.  I loved being a Sales Manager.  I loved leading a group of salespeople, developing them, watching them grow, and watching the results come up.  In fact, I still love it – it’s just that I get to love it now with many companies at once, rather than one at a time.

It’s been over twelve years since I’ve led a sales force, and the most amazing aspect of those twelve years is how much the job of Sales Manager has changed.  Some of those changes are due to technology, some are due to changes in people, some are just due to changing times.  What is disturbing to me is how many Sales Managers aren’t changing with the needs of the job.  Today’s Sales Manager has different requirements than even twelve years ago.  Let’s talk about the core competencies that will make a Sales Manager successful in today’s world. These are presented in no particular order.

  1. Training and Development. This is still the prime skill set of Sales Management.  The ability to contnue to train and develop salespeople – both initially and on an ongoing basis – is the core of Sales Management.  If you’re a Sales Manager, your job on any given day is to ask yourself, “How can I help my salespeople – or even one salesperson – to be better and more skilled at the end of this day than they are at the start?”  And then, by the end of the day, have an answer to the question.
  2. Understanding of Process. Yesterday’s Sales Manager did things on gut feel; today’s must understand the value and execution of processes and road maps.  Whether we’re talking about hiring processes, sales processes, or coaching processes, the top sales managers understand that good processes (continually refined) are key to increasing productivity in every phase of their sales force’s development.
  3. Talent Acquisition. Note that I said “Talent Acquisition” instead of “Hiring.”  There’s a difference.  Today’s sales manager is always working to upgrade his or her sales force through finding and acquiring new talent and skill sets.  This means being open to the approaches of other salespeople at networking events, trade shows, and even when being cold called.  Although sales managers will excecute hiring processes when needed, they’ll always have their ears and eyes open.
  4. Understands the Science of Hiring. This goes along with talent acquisition, as I mentioned above.  This is a relatively new development.  Fifteen years ago, our primary hiring was on our gut and instincts – and we were wrong more than half the time.  In today’s world, we have scientifically valid psychometric assessments that can bring our hiring accuracy to 80% and above – IF the manager understands how to use them.  Too many managers don’t; many are unwilling to even try.  If that’s you, you’re behind the times.
  5. Is CRM Savvy. By “CRM Savvy,” I don’t mean that the Sales Manager can program CRM, but that the Sales Manager knows how to0 use CRM as a tool for getting the most out of his or her sales force.  That Sales Manager also knows how to manage the sales input into CRM and makes sure that the CRM system is working well.
  6. Is Social Media Savvy. Like it or not, social media is part and parcel of selling and managing salespeople.  It’s a conduit for learning about the competition, about the industry, and disseminating your message to your customers.  One of the best sales managers I know spends the first 20 minutes of each day on social media, on the topics that I mentioned above.  Some days he learns things that turn into sales, and some he doesn’t – but the ones where he does pay for the ones that don’t.
  7. Is Constantly Learning. Here is the scary part for some.  What I’m talking about here are the core competencies of a sales manager TODAY, and as far into the future as I can see.  And you know what?  There could be some Earth-shattering development tomorrow that could change everything….and as a sales manager, you absolutely must be able to change with the times.  I meet many sales managers where my only question is WHEN their learning stopped.  1980?  1990?  2000?  2010?  Whenever it is, if your learning has stopped, you’d better start again.    Your company and your team depend on it.

You might think that I wrote this column for the Sales Managers out there, or for the business owners who employ them.  And, partially, I did.  But I also wrote this for those of you who maybe were where I was in 1997 – working toward that first Sales Management job.  I got it in 1998, but nobody told me what the core competencies were.  I had to figure them out.  Hopefully this shortens your path.

 

 

How to Find the Decision Maker

The Navigator News

One of the questions I always get, in nearly any sales seminar or training program (whether the subject matter is related or not), is, “Troy, how do I find the decision maker?”  This is one of those questions that has bedeviled sales reps as long as there have been sales reps, and it shouldn’t.  Actually finding the decision maker in any organization is one of the easiest things you’ll ever do (as I will explain below).

The problem isn’t finding the decision maker.  It’s having the courage to approach the decision maker.  What these salespeople are asking really isn’t “How do I find the decision maker,” it’s “How do I find someone who can help me that I’m not afraid to go after?”  That’s the bigger issue, isn’t it?  The obstacle of all good things in life and in business is fear.  With that said, let’s find that old decision maker, shall we?

First, let’s define our terms.  A Decision Maker is someone who can green light a purchase, or make a change in purchasing decisions, without having to ask anyone else.  I’m always talking to salespeople who claim to have “found the decision maker – he just has to ask his boss.”  Then the boss is the decisino maker, and you’ve been dealing with an influencer.

Now, with that said, let’s understand how purchasing power is allocated in a company.  The power to unilaterally green light a purchase, without having to ask someone else, begins in the corner office and emanates out only as far as the person in the corner office wants it to.

This is a tough concept for many salespeople to get and to implement because of that old ‘fear’ factor again.  Are you dealing with the President or CEO?  Then you’re dealing with the Decision Maker.  Beyond that, you can’t be 100% sure.

Typically, people whose title starts with a “C” are decision makers.  That means, “CEO,” (Chief Executive Officer), “CIO” (Chief Information Officer), “CFO” (Chief Financial Officer), etc.  The exception is when companies give these titles out like candy.  I’ve seen a receptionist titled “Chief First Impression Officer.”  I’m guessing that receptionist, no matter how competent, probably doesn’t have much purchasing authority.  There’s another exception to this, which I’ll deal with in a moment.

People whose title start with a “V” probably have some decision making power.  That is to say, “Vice President of….”  One exception to this would be the banking industry, where half the people in the building are Vice Presidents.  VPs seldom have full purchasing power, even over their own departments and budgets; ‘major’ purchases will still need to be kicked upstairs.

People whose title ends in “Manager” seldom have much purchasing authority, except in very small businesses, or when their title is “General Manager” or “Plant Manager.” Middle managers hardly ever can purchase anything significant.

The final note is this:  Only Presidents, CEOS, and sometimes General or Plant Managers have purchasing authority over more than one department.  This is important if you’re trying to sell cross-departmental solutions.

If you read my articles on “Fred,” (and if you didn’t, go read them now), you know that Fred – your IDEAL customer – always has purchasing authority.  You also know that successful salespeople spend 2/3 of their time or more on Fred.  Here’s a little self test:

How much of your time is spent talking to departmental managers?

How much is spent on departmental VP’s?

How much on departmental C’s?

How much in the corner office?

If you really want to succeed, it should look like this:

Department managers:  10% or less

VP’s and departmental C’s (the roles tend to be similar): 25% or less

The Corner Office:  66% or more

If you’re not getting the results, you need to change your call patterns.  Call on the people who can buy.

NEXT STEPS:

Attend my “21st Century Selling” Boot Camp in Overland Park to learn how to SELL the Decision Maker!

or, if you can’t make it….

Buy My Audio Sales Training Package!

 

Three Steps To Improving Your Customer Service

The Navigator News

Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that can change a customer’s experience for the better or for the worse.  I had an example of this a couple of days ago.  A couple of months ago, I bought a used Harley-Davidson Road King.  I love this bike.  I purchased it from an independent (non-Harley) dealer, and bought an extended warranty (again, non-Harley).  On a road trip over the weekend, I had a minor problem with the shifter.  Minor in that I was able to make a few roadside repairs and keep the road trip going – but the ultimate fix would be a warranty job.

Since I hadn’t used this warranty yet, I didn’t know where it was accepted and where it wasn’t.  You’re thinking that I probably should have ascertained this before buying, and you’re right – but I get as excited about buying as anyone else.  So, I decided that the easiest thing would be to go to the company’s website and use their dealer locator.

They didn’t have one.  No way to plug in my ZIP code on their website and find the closest place to get a warranty job done.  OK, no problem.  I’ll call them.  Here’s where it got frustrating.  I first spent nearly five minutes navigating menus (press 2 for, etc), and finally ending up with a receptionist who would direct me to member services…..which put me right back to the receptionist.

Now I’m getting irritated.

After another call, I ended up with a customer service person.  Good deal, I thought.  I’d just explain the situation to her, she could look on her computer, and tell me where to take my bike.

Wrong.

She got flustered, and said that there was really no way for her to find the information but she would talk to people in the company and call me back.

An hour and a half went by.  Now I’m thinking what you’re thinking – I bought a worthless warranty.  There are no Harley dealers in Kansas City that will take my warranty, and now I’m going to have to get a refund on the warranty, perhaps with my lawyer as help.

Finally she called me back, but without any information.  She was having trouble finding out what I wanted to know.  So, I made a suggestion.  How about I tell her the names of the dealerships in Kansas City, and she could tell me if they took the warranty?  She wrote down the names and promised a call back.

Another hour went by.  Now I’m mad.  You would be too.

When the call back came, it was from the Operations Manager, who told me that, as it happened, the closest dealer to my house did in fact accept their warranty.  I thanked her for the information, but asked her why in the world it was such a hassle to find out?  She had no good answer for me.

As I hung up, I reflected on all the times that companies make customer service harder, not easier, by making obvious information difficult to get at.  Take a good hard look in the mirror.  Do you do that?

Here are THREE STEPS to improving your customer service, and creating an experience that will leave your customers with a smile.

  1. Make a list of the most likely information that customers will need when they call your company. (FAQ’s)

  2. Make a list of the most likely people to get that customer call.

  3. Equip the people in #2 with the answers to #1.

  4. You’re done.

As a customer, the most frustrating aspect to dealing with any company is an inability to get answers.  So, why make it difficult?  This is an easy project, and yet I’ll bet that 2/3 of those reading this (at least) have never done it.  And, when your customers struggle to get information, they begin asking themselves “What else?”  As in, “If this is this much of a problem, what else will be problematic?”

Oh, and the story has a happy ending.  I took the bike to the dealer, it’s fixed, the warranty worked, and I’m happy.  But I’m not delighted about the experience and the time wasted, and if I were asked advice on buying the warranty, I’d give less than an unqualified recommendation.