“Be Prepared.” That’s the Boy Scout motto, and I’ve spoken about it before. So many sales are lost not because the customer doesn’t want to buy, but because the salesperson isn’t prepared to sell. Every salesperson THINKS that they’re prepared to sell – but few actually walk through the steps and define what it takes to make a sale happen.

What is your sales process? By “sales process,” I mean, “what are the steps involved in making a sale? Walk it through, start to finish, with the objective of understanding the “catch points,” and seeing what you can do to eliminate them. You also need to understand the customer’s interest curve, which we’ll address first.

Think of the customer’s interest as a bell curve. On the left (the beginning) of the curve, your customer’s interest is typically low. Then, as you move forward discovering needs and showing how your product or service can address those needs and generate a positive result, your customer’s interest increases until it hits the peak of the bell curve. That moment in time when the customer’s interest is highest is, as we know, the best moment to complete a sale. But how do we know? Actually, it’s easy – the customer usually asks a question.

“So, how much does that cost?”

When your customer asks for a price, they are usually at the peak of their interest curve. Every word you use, every day that goes by, before you ask that question only moves the customer back DOWN the bell curve. This is one of the places that good sales go to die. It’s not the only one, though. There are other places and other ways that we hurt our sales potential through not being prepared to make a sale happen. Here are five moments where salespeople get in our own way:

Not having good questions: Sales is, as we’ve said many times, an activity of questioning and intellectual curiosity. You need to want to know about your customer’s needs, defined result, and defined ‘win’ from the sales call. It’s not enough to have a list of questions in front of you – you have to be prepared to create good questions on the fly.

Being your own worst objector: Salespeople are guilty of this one all the time. You’ve probably done it, too – gone into a sales call thinking, “No way they’ll buy today,” or something like it. This becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t think your customer will buy, they won’t. This manifests itself in a number of different ways, including being your own worst price objector, thinking negatively about your ability to carry out the sale, etc. This results in the salesperson artificially slow-playing the sale while your competitor walks right past you.

Not taking sales tools into the call: There’s really no excuse for this one. All the time, I see salespeople who are scared to death to take sales tools ino a sales call – including necessary sell sheets, brochures, even contracts and order forms. The explanation I hear most commonly is, “I didn’t want to intimidate the customer.” Really? Your customer knows why you’re there – even if YOU don’t. Don’t be that guy or gal. When you go into a sales call, be prepared to make that sale happen.

Being unprepared to price: Look, I know that not every one of you can be fully prepared to price every piece of business. Some needs are complicated. Some are complex projects. Some require quotes from manufacturers. And, if your situation is truly one of those situations, you are excused from this comment. That said, too many of you are not excused – you have the tools, price sheets, etc. available to you to quote price, and yet when the customer asks “how much” you immediately retreat to the Batcave to develop the magic proposal. Why? If you have the tools, quote the price – because if you don’t quote price, you can’t close! Which leads us to…

Being unwilling to seek commitment: Notice that I didn’t say “being unwilling to close the sale.” Not every appointment can end with a closed sale – but EVERY appointment should end with a commitment for a next step. If you can close (i.e. you have identified needs, presented, proposed), then by all means – ask the closing question. If you do really have to continue the sales process to another appointment, then set the next appointment right then and there. If you don’t, you have no one to blame but yourself for the customer losing interest.

Don’t get me wrong. Many, if not most, sales won’t be closed in one call. However, by being prepared, you can shorten the sales cycle without annoying your customer.

What’s your most precious asset as a salesperson? Most people would suggest that their most precious asset is their traits, their skills, their experience, their relationships, their customer base, or something else along those lines. Some might even list their products or their company. And all of those salespeople would be wrong.

Your most precious asset as a salesperson is your TIME. More specifically, your most precious asset is that time window during the week that you are able to call on your customers either face-to-face or voice-to-voice. Hours wasted or simply spent inappropriately aren’t hours that are turning into revenue, profits, or commissions for you or your company. The problem is that salespeople do things every day that waste their time, and today, we’ll discuss the three most common.

1. Working junk business. This is the most common time-waster for salespeople. Last week, I visited a client whose sales calls were inappropriately slanted toward tiny, marginally profitable accounts – while the salespeople were driving by accounts that were bigger and nicely profitable. For any company, there’s a ‘sweet spot’ of accounts that have stability, profitability, and ‘sell-ability.’ If these accounts represent the top of the bell curve, there are accounts smaller than your sweet spot AND bigger than your sweet spot that represent the unprofitable zone.

   In this case, not only were the salespeople calling on tiny business – they were chasing the tiny business, sometimes making five, six, or even seven calls to win business that barely justified one call. Chasing business too far above the sweet spot can be just as bad, however; increased competition and price pressure can make the largest accounts in your territory unprofitable and (if the pay package is constructed correctly) low commissioned for you – and yet the effort you’ll put into trying to sell these accounts is a major time suck.

   Working junk business typically has two causes – fear and emotional involvement. Salespeople sometimes work small business because they have a fear of working larger accounts. That’s bad. Worse can be the emotional involvement that says, “I have to win all the business in my territory because I hate seeing my competitor there.” Get over it. You’ll never get 100% market share, in most cases you really don’t WANT 100% market share, and it’s always OK with me if my competitors are selling the bad business.

2. Artificially Extending the Sales Cycle. Too many salespeople unwittingly extend the sales cycle themselves. They do so through fear, lack of training, and a lack of preparation.

   Fear comes into play because salespeople are scared to close business. Many salespeople believe that if they ask closing questions, or even ask questions that set a closing arena, the customer will be off-put and they will miss opportunities. Don’t be that guy or gal. If you’re unsure of where you stand with the customer, ASK. And never be afraid to ask a closing question. Sometimes the time you waste is your own.

   Lack of Training impacts the sales process because salespeople don’t know or understand how to expedite the process. For instance, every appointment should end with a firm commitment for the next appointment or activity, with times and places. It’s never easier to set the next appointment than when you’re on the current appointment. Use that opportunity wisely. The ‘chase cycle’ happens when you have to call the customer back to set the next action.

   Lack of Preparation is tied with lack of training, but occurs when salespeople simply don’t take the tools of the sale in with them. Salespeople should always be prepared to take the call as far as it can possibly be taken. If you have the tools to quote price on the spot, bring them into the call. Same with order forms, credit applications, and other tools. When you have to go back to the ‘bat cave,’ you become the obstacle. Always let the customer be the one putting the brakes on – not you.

3. Chasing Customers Who Opt Out. Here’s the hardest thing for salespeople to realize: Customers can and will opt out of your sales process. From the time that they do, any time you spend on them is time wasted. Here’s a perfect example. Recently, a prospect didn’t keep a phone appointment with me. By that I mean that we had a prescheduled appointment, it was on both of our calendars with a specific time, I called, and she didn’t answer. Nor did she return a call or an e-mail. This is a rare occurrence; in fact, the last time it happened to me was nearly three years ago. Once upon a time, I would have gotten very upset (I did get a little upset; not keeping an appointment is very disrespectful) and I’d have worn out her phone and email until she spoke to me.

   No more. I called and emailed once, so in case there was a misunderstanding, we could reschedule. With no response, I simply moved on. There are too many prospects out there, and particularly with my limited selling time these days, I don’t have the time to chase. She has opted out of my sales process. Why? Who knows. Maybe it wasn’t a priority. Maybe the funding wasn’t there and she was embarrassed. Regardless, there are too many other prospects out there to wear her out for a response. Too many salespeople treat situations like this like a dog treats a bone. Don’t. There are other prospects out there who will want to talk to you and work with you.

All of these problems are characterized by an emotional response rather than an intellectual one. Back in the days when I did chase and chase and chase customers, I knew – intellectually – that they had opted out. However, my pride wouldn’t let me admit that to myself, so I told myself that the sale was just around the corner.

When you’re up against any of these situations, respond intellectually rather than emotionally, and you’ll be more successful. I promise.

Recently, in some seminars that I’ve given, it’s become obvious to me that too many salespeople struggle with identifying “Buyers” vs. “Influencers.” That’s a huge problem. If you don’t know, or can’t tell, the buyer from the influencers, you’re going to do the wrong kind of selling to the wrong kind of people.

It’s always seemed to me that highly technical salespeople struggle with this the most. Being technically oriented, these salespeople will focus heavily on the intricate and minute aspects of their product – and in many cases, they’ll gain the interest of influencers but lose the sale at the buyer level. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s how to tell the difference and how to sell to both.

A Buyer is a person who can green light a purchase without asking anyone else. He or she is the person who either signs the checks, or whose purchase order goes unquestioned by the person who does. If the person you’re dealing with does not have unilateral authority to buy, you’re not dealing with the true Buyer. In any company, this type of authority begins in the corner office (CEO/President/Owner/etc.) and extends outward only as far as the person who is in the corner office wants it to. As a general rule, if you’re not dealing at least at the Vice President level, you’re probably not dealing with a true Buyer. If you are dealing with a Buyer, however, here are five quick guidelines to selling at that level:

1. Focus on the big picture: Buyers tend to be highly focused on the big picture level of their companies’ operations, not on the day to day minutia. Talk about profits, don’t talk about product specs.
2. Question, question, question: Despite what I said above, Buyers will have many motivators that you must discover.
3. Focus on Results: At the upper levels of company structures, Buyers will be focused on the result. Don’t tell them about the labor pains – show them the baby.
4. Be time efficient: You may not get the length of time with a true Buyer that you get with middle managers (influencers) – be prepared to make the most of your time with your most impactful questions and Achievement Statements.
5. Understand the hierarchy: Buyers will let you know who else in the company will touch your product; these will be Influencers. Buyers will also let you know who, of the Influencers, has their ear the most. Pay attention.

Influencers, on the other hand, are often the people who will deal with your product on a day-to-day basis. Influencers will be much more detail-focused and operationally oriented. They’ll be interested in the nuts and bolts. Here are five guidelines on selling to Influencers:

1. Know the details: Influencers typically will be hands-on with your product; they’ll want to know the details and the ins and outs of it.
2. Question about day to day issues: If you want to know how their current product/service works on a day to day basis, Influencers are the people to talk to. The Buyer will be handling the big picture; the Influencers the implementation.
3. Know the relationships: It’s important to understand the Influencer’s relationship to the Buyer; it’s also important to know the Influencer’s relationship with the current vendor.
4. Know how the Influencer is rewarded: The Buyers are most likely rewarded directly from the P&L; know what is meaningful and rewarding to the Influencer – then figure out how to drive those rewards with your product.
5. Ask “Day in the life” questions: Understand how the performance or non-performance affects the ability of the Influencer to do his/her job, and you’ll know how to get the Influencer on your side.

One other guideline is important here: Begin your selling efforts with the Buyer, not the Influencer. The reason is simple – once you have begun selling to the Buyer, he/she will introduce you to the Influencers. However, if you start your selling with the Influencers, there’s a good chance that you’ll never make it to the Buyer.

How to Sell to Purchasing Agents

When I started in sales, I learned that there were such things as Purchasing Agents, and I thought this created a perfect situation for me: I want to sell stuff, and they want to buy it. The trouble is that this isn’t exactly what happens with Purchasing Managers. Most (not all) Purchasing Managers see salespeople alternately as servants or as adversaries (or worse, both at once).

In most cases, whatever is bought by Purchasing Departments is spec’d by other departments within the company who are either using it or reselling it. Therefore, make an appointment with a Purchasing Manager to talk about how much better your product is than their current product, and it will fall on deaf ears. Why? Because the Purchasing Manager doesn’t really know their current product. Those specifications have been set by someone else in the building. If you want to understand what Purchasing Managers are really all about, read on.

What Purchasing Agents really value:

The Status Quo. Here’s the truth: Purchasing Managers are not normally agents of change within their organizations (and, of course, to sell something new, we need agents of change). The status quo is always safer for the Purchasing Manager because he’s not screwing anything up by making a decision to buy a new product.

Price savings. Purchasing agents love it when they have a product spec that sets up competition between multiple vendors. That means that he has leverage to beat the vendors up on price – which is never a winning situation for the salesperson. If you’re looking for a pure “bid” opportunity, this is it. But why look for that opportunity? Typically, PM’s are rewarded not on growth, but on cost savings and efficiencies. Other people in the building are rewarded for growth.

Gatekeeper power. Like it or not, Purchasing Managers function as intermediaries between you and the ultimate buying power. That makes them the gatekeeper, and my experience is that most PM’s employ this power to keep you at bay. For this reason, if you start your selling with the purchasing manager, you typically stay with the purchasing manager forever. You will never, or rarely, see the people who are really making the buying decisions.

Long selling cycles. Heavy reliance on PM’s tends to extend the selling cycle. First of all, because they are tough to see, it takes a long time to get on their calendar. Secondly, because they tend not to trust salespeople, it takes a longer time for them to buy into you and your products. Finally, they then have to advocate internally for the purchase of your stuff, which they tend not to be aggressive about. The selling cycle, if it does not get derailed completely, gets extended significantly.

In the interest of honesty, I must say that the above does not apply to all purchasing managers. There are some – not a lot – of proactive PM’s out there who will see value in your product or service and advocate its use within their client companies. But those PM’s are few and far between. In fact, I was fortunate enough to deal with one such PM early in my career, and much of what I’ve just told you came straight from him. He contributed greatly to my success by telling me that I shouldn’t be starting my sales process with him.

Dealing with Purchasing Managers:

The ideal situation is to be handed down to the purchasing department by someone who has seen you, investigated your stuff, and found it (and you) worthy. In that case, the purchasing department will be responsible for the details. When you are handed down to the Purchasing Department, you have some level of power. The key is to not abuse it.
Be nice, be respectful, and helpful. Don’t treat the PM like a lesser being – they hate that and will do whatever they can to place obstacles in your path. Treat them as if they have decision power, and you will be fine.

The ultimate selling tool: When you are selling to someone who makes decisions based on some sort of growth or comparative advantage, you can effectively sell change.

One of the most frequently asked questions from business owners, I find, is how their sales force should be structured. Usually the question goes something like this: “Troy, what do you think of having ‘hunters’ and ‘farmers’ in your sales force, where the ‘hunter’ sells the account and the ‘farmer’ then manages it?” It’s a common question.

My answer is always the same. I dislike it. A lot. Whenever I see that arrangement in place, I see numerous problems. Low customer retention, high customer complaints, and higher than normal sales turnover always accompany this arrangement, and I’ll tell you why.

Think back to when you were a small child, and your parents left you somewhere for the first time (not with a close relative). Maybe it was a babysitter, maybe it was school, maybe it was a day camp, maybe it was day care. Think hard about how you felt. You probably felt a little abandoned, didn’t you? Sure you did. And it felt pretty bad.

Feelings of abandonment are one of the worst emotions we can undergo, yet that’s how customers feel anytime a salesperson ‘hands them off’ to a customer service person or account manager. “But wait, Troy,” some of you are saying. “Not at my company! My company does a clean handoff and my customers don’t feel that way.” No, you don’t – and yes, they do. Your ‘hunter’ has gone through whatever steps were necessary to build a relationship, trust, and commitment – and having done enough of that to get the deal, he sends the message that the customer really wasn’t all that important, after all; he needs to go sell someone else to keep making a living.

Buyer’s remorse is also a very powerful emotion – and the ‘handoff’ causes it to set in, many times before the first delivery is made. Is that the way you want your customer relationships to start? “That’s OK,” you’re saying, “My account managers can make up for it.” Maybe – but probably not. That’s because your account managers seldom have the quantity and quality of contact that the original ‘hunter’ had. For instance, many of these arrangements have a face-to-face ‘hunter’ and a phone-based ‘account manager.’

The second problem is the customer service issues that always arise during the handoff period. “But, but, but…your salesperson promised….” is a constant refrain from customers after the ‘handoff.’ I’ve seen many, many companies that operate this way and sales and service are seldom on the same page. That’s because sales and service are separate and not accountable to each other. I’ll never forget what a service manager said to me once: “The salesperson’s job is to sell the fantasy. The service person’s job is to sell reality.”

That kind of disconnect wouldn’t be possible if the original salesperson stayed in contact. First of all, if the problem is that salespeople have made inappropriate promises, they wouldn’t do it if they knew that they had to look the customer in the eye afterward. If the problem is that the service experience isn’t living up to the sales approach, that wouldn’t happen if the sales and service operations were under the same umbrella and the same person’s responsibility. Hence, you get high customer complaints and low customer retention.

High sales turnover also seems to be part and parcel of sales forces with this approach. Typically, I like to see annual sales turnover in the 10-20% range. Lower than this, and the company might be holding onto underperforming reps for too long; higher than this, the company is wasting money on churning salespeople.

Companies with the hunter/farmer system typically experience turnover in the 30-50% range or even higher (I know of one national Fortune 500 company that had 82% sales turnover last year with this model). That’s incredibly expensive – worse, it’s a waste of sales talent. The worst part is that both the hunters and farmers turn too much.

The Hunters turn because, eventually, nearly every salesperson burns out on a constant diet of prospecting. Yes, I’m a fan of prospecting – but if that’s all you’re doing, it gets tiresome. Worse, two ways that salespeople find gratification are eliminated if you’re a hunter. First, you never get to see the fruits of your labors; the long term relationship belongs to someone else. Second, referrals and testimonials aren’t part of your business development strategy. By the time the company earns a referral or testimonial, you’re forgotten and the Farmer is in charge.

Ironically, Farmers turn at a high rate as well. You might think that the farmer has the gravy train; being able to sell without prospecting sounds like fun, right? Not so much. The biggest reason for this is that the farmer has much less of an opportunity to grow his/her income; that’s in the Hunter’s bailiwick. Too, the service issues we discussed above fall into the farmer’s lap – and they become disenchanted, seek a better income elsewhere, and leave.

What I like to see is salespeople who are all-around players. The salesperson who can bring on new business, take care of it, and build relationships is a valuable salesperson indeed. My experience has shown me that there’s little difference, trait-wise, between the “hunter” and “farmer.” The difference is in the training and company culture. If your culture and training aren’t aligned with this reality of selling, maybe it’s time to take a new look at what you’re doing.

I honestly don’t enjoy writing about social networking. That’s not because there aren’t lessons to be taught and learned (hence this article), but because social networking is one of those things that’s written about so much these days, any article can get lost in the white noise (much like the white noise of social networking itself). But, as you’ve probably learned, my life and experiences pretty much tell me what to write and when, and so it is with today’s article.

You see, in the last month, I’ve seen numerous instances of how not to use professional social networking, or how social networking can unintentionally shine a negative light on you and on your career.

We all know that social networking can create your ‘image.’ That’s a good thing, right? Maybe. One thing that social networking does, that other methods of image creation do not, is give immediate transparency. Social networking is like ringing a bell; once it’s rung, it can’t be un-rung. From time to time, when I read posts, I’m certain that some people wish that they could un-ring bells. So, here are some issues that I see in social networking:

Don’t post items that make you look crazy. You’re laughing right now – and so am I – but I’m serious. A few weeks ago, I granted an interview to a website that focuses on marketing and sales issues for car dealers. I’ll be the first to say that I’m pretty critical of car dealers and their sales practices. I earned the right to do so; I sold cars. I didn’t like their practices even when I sold cars, and unfortunately, experience has told me that my criticisms are still right on target.

In the interview, I referred to one practice as ‘idiotic and customer-unfriendly.’ Harsh, maybe, but it’s a remark that I stand by. Well, one used car dealer in Kentucky went NUTS. I began getting alerts from Twitter saying, “You have been mentioned in….” and I took a look. At first, there were several mentions of the interview – mostly positive. This, however, was not (You can follow me at @salesnuggets).

This guy went off the rails. He said that I must have failed at car sales, because no one ever leaves the car business unless they failed, that I myself must be an idiot (every time he mentioned that comment, he capitalized IDIOT), that I should be retrained, etc. Seriously, I was starting to wonder if he was going to be outside my front door some morning; we’re talking Fatal Attraction stuff. I actually ended up with some new followers because of what he posted.

So, what was my response? Nothing. When people are going nuts on social networking, the best response is no response, which brings up another tip. Don’t get in arguments and defend yourself. If someone posts a blatant lie about you (for instance, a customer says that you didn’t fulfill a promise when you did), it’s okay to post factual information – but don’t get dragged into a contest of opinions. I offended one car dealer. No big deal. Others were helped by what I said.

LinkedIn, in particular, offers a window into your professional soul. I just got one of those “Congratulations, your contact so-and-so has a new job!” Well, great…except. I’ve known this person since 2005. This is the eighth new job that this person has had since I’ve known him, and they’ve all been lateral moves. This is one final dark side to social networking: Social networking reflects the reality of your career over the long term, so your career had better be good. Of course, I know this person would have a story about every move. Everyone has a story. Instead of a story, seek stability.

I could, of course, post numerous other examples (such as the ‘professional writer’ who posted a LinkedIn article that was so full of spelling and grammatical errors to be nearly unreadable), but if I were going to give one piece of advice, it would be this: Think before you post. That won’t help my friend in the third example – but it would have greatly helped the one in the first. To be honest, it helped me to stay above the fray when he started posting, because my instinct was to respond.

The immediacy and the transparency of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow us to do and post things that are unbecoming and sometimes damaging to us; don’t be that person.

In this clip, recorded live at the DocuWorld conference in Las Vegas, I explain the three most important characteristics of a winning sales presentation.

Do your sales die an early death?  Here’s how to avoid it.

With Memorial Day Weekend upon us, it’s time not only to grill burgers, go to sporting events, and open up the swimming pools, it’s time to honor the veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  Those brave men and women have made many things possible – including giving me the ability to sit here blogging on my laptop instead of digging a ditch somewhere.  I give a hearty “thank you” to each and every one of them.

I decided, in that spirit (and yes, it’s a huge stretch, but bear with me) to memorialize the places where good sales go to die.  In my career, I’ve seen many great salespeople open sales dialogues, have great conversations, and never get the business.  That’s when a good sale dies – and here are the three most common places and ways that good sales die.

1. Never knowing the result.  The most common place a good sale dies is here, with a salesperson who never asks the right questions to understand the result that the buyer has in mind.  People don’t buy products.  They buy the result of using or owning that product. Unfortunately, too many salespeople never know the buyer’s desired result because they don’t ask what it is.  In fact, too many salespeople don’t really ask any substantive questions – they just ‘show up and throw up,’ giving the buyer a laundry list of specifications and features.  When you do that, you force the buyer to interpret those features and benefits into his/her own result – and many times, the buyer instead simply finds another salesperson or product.  Even a highly motivated buyer can have his purchasing momentum killed by a sales call that isn’t focused on his desired results and needs. Solution:  Ask plenty of results focused questions before presenting.
   

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2. The Chase Cycle.  We all know what this one looks like.  You have a buyer who appears to be motivated.  You’ve had a great sales call.  Maybe you’ve asked the right questions, made the right presentations, and gotten commitment to evaluate a proposal.  Then……the buyer goes silent.  And never comes back.  What in the heck just happened?  You call, you leave messages, and those messages are never returned.  That’s not good.  You just found yourself in the “Chase Cycle.”  The “Chase Cycle” happens when a sales communication ends on an open-ended promise to “get back with each other,” and one party doesn’t fulfill.  Think of your communications as a chain.  One link leads to the next link, and the easiest time to forge the next link is while you’re on the current link.  Solution:  End each sales conversation with a firm commitment, including time and place, for the next contact – and put it on each other’s calendars.
   

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3. No close.  I’ve maintained for most of my career that, done correctly, the close is the natural conclusion to the selling process.  I’ve maintained that because it’s true.   If you go through my “Sell Like You Mean It” sales training program, the unit on closing takes about 20 minutes – of a 16 hour program!  That doesn’t mean that the close itself is unimportant; it just means that the closing technique is unimportant.  Make no mistake, even in today’s world with today’s educated and informed buyers, the question that confirms the sale still needs to be asked.  The reason that salespeople don’t ask it is FEAR.  They’re afraid that they’ll offend the customer, that the customer will cut off the relationship, etc.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  After you offer a proposal, you owe it to yourself and to your customer to ask the closing question.  The proposal signifies that you and your customer have exchanged enough information for the customer to make a buying decision – so ask then.  Solution:  Never offer a proposal without asking for the business.
   

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These, of course, aren’t the only places that good sales go to die – but they’re the most common, and if you can avoid them, you’ll increase your likelihood of winning business.  And you won’t have to “memorialize” as many lost sales.