My 7 Best Books for 2012

Here is my reading list for this year. These fine books inspired me, encouraged me and changed my thinking. What will you do with them in 2013?

Enjoy!

To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink - Explore the power of selling in our lives.

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham - A book I revisit year in, year out. There is always something to pick up on to improve sales performance effectiveness.

Sales Cats V2 by Mike Boyle - Yes gratuitous self promotion I know, but version 2 has a significant change. Can you pick it out? It may make a difference in your salesmanship!

Good to Great by Jim Collins - Haven't got the time to spend investigating what you company needs to become a great one? This book has done all the research and discovered  the distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great!

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - What makes high achievers different? Gladwell brilliantly explores why  your personal upbringing and where you are from play such an important part in your success.

Switch by Chip and Dan Heath - How to we balance the rational mind with the emotional mind to achieve change in our business and personal lives? In this book we learn why and how!

Tested Sentences that Sell by Elmer Wheeler - A classic read for any salesmaker. Learn how to uncover the most persuasive benefits in everything you sell. As Wheeler says, "learn to sell the bubbles not the wine"!

Let me know of any great reads you have discovered this year. I can add it to my holiday reading list!

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The End of Solution Sales

I have just been reading an article in the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2012) and was intrigued with the headline: ‘The End of Solution Selling’.

The article announces that “the old playbook no longer works” and that “star salespeople now seek to upend the customer’s current approach to doing business”.  Bold statement and interesting observation I thought.

For many years we have championed the cause of sales professionals solving the problems of their customers to win business, and ensure repeat business - solution selling. 

But in recent times it has become apparent that being the font of all knowledge to our clients and solving all their problems is not enough. For a start, customers make an approach or enquiry armed with more knowledge of our product or service than ever before. They have researched and compared all before walking through our door.

As the article outlines, “customers completed, on average, nearly 60% of a typical purchasing decision – researching solutions, ranking options, setting requirements, benchmarking pricing, and so on – before even having a conversation with a supplier”. With this in mind, the celebrated ”solution sales rep” can be more of an annoyance than an asset!

“Insight selling” is now the mantra of the best salespeople. It is a new strategy that demands a radically different approach across several areas of the purchasing process.

Solution Selling	Insight Selling
What kind of company to target
Organisations that have a clear vision and established demands	Agile organisations that have emerging demands or are in a state of flux
What sort of initial information to gather
What need is the customer seeking to address?	What unrecognised need does the customer have?
When to engage
After the customer has identified a problem the supplier can solve	Before the customer has pinpointed a problem
How to begin the conversation
Ask questions about the customer’s need and look for a “hook” for your solution	Offer provocative insights about what the customer should do
How to direct the flow of information
Ask questions so that the customer can steer you through its purchasing process	Coach the customer about how to buy, and support it through the process

Source: Harvard Business Review August-July 2012, p63.

Sales professionals need to be adaptive. Solution selling skills need to be complemented with strategies to challenge, insights to engage clients and the touch to coach how they should buy. Successful reps “may still be selling insights. And in this new world, that makes the difference between a pitch that goes nowhere and one that secures the customer’s business.”

The full articles is linked on our website, so take the time to have a read and see how Insight Selling might better suit the ‘new age’ customer in your market?

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Business People Who Sell

There is a common myth in sales circles that sales people are born not trained. Of course this is nonsense. Send me the details of any midwife that recognised an up and coming sales person like Zig Zigler at birth!

The facts are that selling and the science of selling, like any science, is a learnt skill. The basic foundations of this learning are effective communication, planning, goal orientation and problem solving. These elements combined form the foundations of what we call "Sales Swagger” or the “Sales Essence” of an individual.

For many years now I have said consultants are in a privileged position when it comes to selling. They generally have a fantastic ability to solve problems. They have become good listeners by being forced to understand their clients issues in order to offer solutions. They also, if involved in accounting and professional services, come from a ‘trusted’ position via existing relationships and the perception of accounting in the wider community.

So what is the issue with selling if all these factors are stacked in your favour?

Why is it so hard to become “A Business Person who Sells” when the customers prime driver is to go forward, achieve their goals, be successful and achieve growth and profit?

Through observations, training and my own business experience, here are the top key blockages:

• Confidence in your own selling ability 
• Inadequate time allocated to proper sales cycles, from start to finish 
• A poorly thought out (SCA) or Unique Selling Proposition (USP) 
• Lack of sales process or model to find suspects, convert to prospects and then convert to customers 
• Fear 

Fear is not even worth talking about. I have never seen a salesperson shot by a customer! The worst thing that can happen is the customer says “No”! If you have a robust pipeline this will never be a problem.

Selling is not something you can do once a month at the Club Golf Tournament. You need to allocate time to the process of selling. Time for pipeline development, relationship building, sales calls and follow up conversions. Everyone in your organization need to be involved in the process of customer development — not just the ‘rainmakers’.

You need to be able to anchor your sales process with a point of difference to make sure your USP is in fact unique. Understand your SCA. Build a sales process and then consistently use it leaving nothing out. Don’t skip steps.

Lastly, begin to build goals, targets and milestones. Set yourself a meeting target, proposals out for consideration target, conversion goal and win/loss ratio.

Lets be clear. Customers want future goals and success. They are not interested in your products and services, sorry to burst the bubble. I challenge you to ring 20 customers now and ask if you can come over and show them product X, Y and Z. I bet none take you up on your offer. Instead ask them if you can meet to discuss their top 5 blockages to success you can help them fix, and you may even find they offer to pay for coffee!

Here is a model or approach you may have heard of. Sit down with a customer and ask them “Where are you now?” (Listen) Then ask them, “What are your top 5 issues for the next 3 months? You know, the burning ones.” (Listen) Then ask them “Where do you want to be in 12 months time?” (Listen) Then with them, discuss and agree on actions and strategies to get them there. Abracadabra! Looks like a plan!

If you want to be “A Business Person who Sells”, become a person that helps everyone you meet grow in some way. As these people slowly make sense of the value they are getting from the relationship chances are you will become very popular, very successful and well paid.

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The Quiet Sales Cat – Are they Really Selling?

During the production of our book Sales Cats much discussion was had about the behaviours of those Sales Cats—top gun sales people.

Most people's perceptions are that all sales people are gregarious, loud and ego driven. In some cases, elements of this is true. There is no doubt that self confidence, high energy and resilience rank highly in top performing sales people. So what about the quiet ones?

Today I was building a sales strategy with a CEO of a wonderful small business in Perth when we started to discuss one of his high performers. "He has all the attributes you describe in a Sales Cat and a lot of the competencies you outlined in the Banjar competency model" he commented, "but he is unusually quiet and often says, "I'm not really selling."

"What?" I said, "Not really selling! How could that be?"

The facts are this guy is so comfortable in his particular selling environment he has become the ultimate stealth bomber Sales Cat. He knows his product well, he is experienced in the particular trade he sells into and most of all he clearly understands how his product solves problems and helps the customer see this. He is a true business person who sells!

The tip here is this. Recruit sales people who know their product or service well, however make sure you recruit and coach people that are intimate with the application of their product or service in it's business environment. What problem does it solve? How will it add value to the clients business so they get better? Teach your current Sales Cats about the industry they sell into. If it's retail get a retail person to describe the language, issues and gaps to success in retail.

These quiet sales stars will grow raving fans in your customer base and no competitor will hear it coming.

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Why have strategic business meetings?

Strategic Business Meetings are a very useful method of understanding what your customers actually value when it comes to their business. Keep in mind without customers you are dead, period. Not knowing why customers do what they do or what they value is like having a tooth ache and not going to the dentist because you are scared.

Traditionally in Australia customers very rarely tell us they are unhappy or dissatisfied with our service or offering, they just go somewhere else. Therefore we should spend as much time as possible understanding them and their reasons for doing what they do.

In the late eighties, IBM took a group of their best sales people off the road for a 2 week period to conduct a test with stunning results. They instructed these sales people to go to their top 15 customers and spend time understanding them and their blockages to growth and success. Of course this was very new ground for these people as they were used to hunting and selling product, however the results of this exercise were staggering. After this exercise IBM found that the group of customers interviewed and understood spent nearly 21% more with IBM in the next financial year. Pretty amazing result considering all the sales people did was to stop selling for a moment, take a breath and take a little bit of time to understand their customers better.

Following is a road map for conducting Strategic Business Meetings with your best customers, good luck.

Objective: To increase the interaction between key customers and management both in the quality and frequency of calls.

Rationale: We believe by making key customers feel special and understood we will achieve and secure more work from them in the future.

Outcome: To gain valuable understanding of a customers environment, so as to continue to present unique selling propositions and ideas to them.

The Process:

1. Define Key Customers
2. Develop an Engagement List
3. Contact Key Customers by phone
4. Conduct a Strategic Business Meeting
5. Follow up with a thank you letter or email

1. Define Key Customers – Strategic Business Meetings should involve your Key Customers or “Gold Stars”. Using your database you can identify your 20 – 30 most valuable customers. If you wish to more accurately identify the most valuable client list you can use the “Luxury of Choice” process.

2. Prepare a List or Report – From that produce an excel spreadsheet that you can use as a planning document.

3. Contact Key Customers – Keep in mind this is all about the customer, we must remember this is not a sales call; it is not another opportunity to front product. You are going to use this time with your customer as an opportunity to gain understanding of their business problems and “blockages to success” that will enable you to assist in tailoring solutions in the future.

You are calling to make time with them, respect the fact they have little of it! A suggested approach may be:

You: “Good Morning Michael, the purpose of my call is to see whether you would have the time to meet with me at some stage to discuss what is on the horizon for your business, which will assist us in the planning of our business? As one of our best customers I was hoping by spending some time with you, approximately thirty minutes, we could learn how to help you and your business better. Please keep in mind that this is not a sales call.” 

You: “Do you have a time that suits you?" (have diary ready) 

Customer: “How does 9.30am on Wednesday sound?”

You: “That’s fine Michael, I think this should be a pretty informal process so would you like to go out for a coffee/sandwich/quick bite or is the office O.K.?”

Customer: “Good idea …………………………..”

You: “How does Acme café sound?”

Customer: “Done!”

Keep in mind you have 15 seconds to convince this valuable customer that they should see you and spend their valuable time with you. 

You must have a - Purpose for the call,

        - Process how long will this take?

        - Payoff         what will we both get from spending time together?

Plan out your approach, document or write it down if you must, practice it and then put it into practice. It will feel a little awkward at first, however as you get some appointments it will become easier. Also the role play above is a guide, it is not a script. Change it and develop it to suite your own style and delivery method but don’t forget the rules, purpose, process and payoff.

4. The Strategic Business Meeting – With the key objectives and outcomes defined meet with the customer as scheduled. Be on time! Firstly you must thank them for their continued support and custom. Again restate the “purpose, process and payoff” and check for agreement. “Is that O.K.? “Are you right for time?” Then by asking clever, “open questions” you should look to allow the customer to open up about their business. A good question to start with might be: “So John, I know a little about your business, however I would love to know more, especially about what the next 12 months has install for you?” or “Could you describe to me the 3 biggest challenges you face in your business in the next 12 months?”

Keys for this meeting:

• Planning
• Open questions
• Empathy
• Active Listening
• It should feel like you are genuinely interested in them and their business. It should not be an interrogation with the secret police!
• Take notes (remember to ask for permission to do so at the beginning of the meeting)
• Note down actions agreed on and then carry them out.
• Look for clues!
• Look for opportunities to close the GAP for them.

5. Follow Up – After the meeting is completed make sure the information gained is inputted into the appropriate database or document. You should also send a thank you message. Using email, a card, with comps slips or a letter with a simple short message can be a powerful indication that you care and appreciate the time they gave you. Make sure all agreed actions are followed up promptly or within the agreed time frame.

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Key Account Management

The Sales Science of gaining, developing and keeping Key Strategic Customers with multiple projects.

With sales changing so rabidly for all sellers of products and services post GFC, Key Account Management is the one area that has seen major shifts in the buyer behaviour model and the skills needed to respond through sales effectively.

Unfortunately for most sales organisations this is one of the most organically developed, poorly skilled and resourced areas of a sales teams. Most organisations key customers have grown via an organic simple sales approach into large high value business using the same simple sales approach.

This is a problem, a big problem in 2012.

If these customers supply a large part of the organisations revenue and we still treat them as ‘simple’ customers who we simply call on more often, wine and dine sometimes, and keep via price/margin shrinkage, we will inevitably loose them. Ask these questions of your sales team:

‘Is sales getting easier or harder?’

‘Are we being treated in sales as a commodity more today than before?’

‘Are customers demanding more support, technical expertise, knowledge and time of our sales people?’

The answers, nearly without fail are yes, yes and yes. 

But hang on a minute. They want commoditisation and yet more ‘consultative’ support? Surely this is an impossible position for a business to fund with the massive cost of running a sales team? 

Of course it is, however that is the reality due to many reasons and the real reason it is essential for sales groups to build their Key Account Management Expertise.

At Banjar Group we take a unique approach to developing the skills of Sales Teams when it comes to Key Account Management.

Science + Experience + Skills + Strategic + Planning = KAM

Science – With Sales so often devoid of any ‘science’ we must bring a level of science to improve the effectiveness of KAM within organisations. The science may involve:

• Consumer behaviour modelling
• Use of DISC, MBTI and or TMS profiling behavioural tools
• KAM Competency Modelling
• Innovation
• Key person analysis

Experience – The collective global wisdom of Banjar Group combined with its 180+ years of selling experience mean one thing, we know what it takes to win big business. We have:

• Run customer ‘war room’ scenarios
• Planned and been successful in winning major accounts of up to $50 million in value
• Lead, coached and participated in large scale key account management at both B2B and B2C levels
• An understanding of the culture and skills required to win big and keep big
• The knowledge to communicate this wisdom and create effective learning beyond just ‘ego’

Skills – What are the skills needed to create great sales behaviours, techniques and outcomes at the KAM level? They are over and above the simple sales training matrix. They may include:

• Coverage modelling
• Team selling
• ‘War’ room principles
• Strategic Business Meetings - SBM
• Question techniques for high level selling
• Negotiation skills
• Call structure for KAM phases
• Follow up matrix
• Account planning
• Problem solving at KAM level
• ‘Octopus’ selling in layers
• A pure consulting model – the art of sales consulting

Strategic – What are the strategic foundations of why we must develop this business? The essential reason for selling. Does it affect the critical success factors of our business? This may include:

• Sales Strategy – Vision, philosophy, story, principles, product, resource
• Coverage
• Product portfolio analysis – what fits?
• Forecasting
• Justifying resource
• Short term v long term
• Value proposition
• Revenue, cost, risk
• Business cases for profitability

Planning – If we have all the above checked and taught, then implementation is required. For this the best KAM planning skills will lead to the most effective sales results. High-powered planning is key to KAM success, fact! The areas covered here are:

• Planning as a culture for sales
• Tools – 1 page plan and beyond
• Project planning
• Follow up
• Activity at sales levels
• 3 Tier plans
• Short term v long term
• Decision process
• Forecasting Goal, Budget and Target
• Phases of activity
• Change force fields

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What is your Sales Story?

What does your business do?

What problem do you solve for your customers?

Why does your business exist?

Your Sales Story is a precise description of what your organisation does. It describes the business the company is in. It is a definition of why your company exists currently. Each member of your sales organisation should be

able to verbally express your sales story.

lt should include:

–     Some history

–     Your Unique Sales Proposition

–     Your Strategic Competitive Advantage

–     An explicit reason why a customer should buy from you

Every sales person needs a great sales story.

Imagine that a sales person was meeting a potential customer for the first time. Typically they have a minute or two to introduce their business – the sales story for your business.

It is our experience that companies don’t often get this right. We can visit sales teams and ask them for the story, and get different answers from each team member. When you see teams that have it right – a consistent story – it

has a lot of power.

The scary thing here is that many sales employees have no story.

We strongly believe that every business should have, and everyone should know, a very powerful sales story.

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War Room Sales

Sometimes sales teams need to consider a specific sales strategy and focus for key customers, especially if they make up a considerable percentage of your organisations business. Just lately I have been working with a customer where we have a war room for selling. Here are the tips, tricks and traps for war room selling.

In my mind, war rooms look like Winston Churchill's WWII Cabinet War Rooms, model ships laid out, tanks and soldiers to bring focus and plan implementation. Always in a bunker with a large map and table in the middle. For sales the concept holds true. 

In a challenging sales environment, assemble your key sales people, set aside a space and start to build a visual, focused and structured sales offensive.

The space – A room with plenty of bare walls, whiteboards and flip charts. A research computer with internet access, basic tables and chairs and lots of paper and pens. Less is more. More of what matters counts.

The sales vision – Write it down and stick it up on the wall. Include key strategies for sales success and the purpose and prime objectives of the space. Start with the end in mind.

The process – Once you have the vision, map your 80/20. Who or what are the 20% that give you 80% return? Who are the key clients that you need to develop - switching cost, relationships of sales intimacy and extension into wallet share. Mind map each customer on their current state, covering every detail you know about them, then everything you need to know.

Innovate – When all the mind maps are done, begin to consider your plan of attack. Don't go straight into action! Consider first the opportunity in each client. Agree that there is, or is not, an opportunity to grow. Then map ideas. Go wild! Seth Godin 'Purple Cow' style and then action.

Action and implementation – Now use the old one page plan method to action up each client attack plan. See the video on our YouTube channel or contact us for instructions.

People – This is a great opportunity to select a strong team to mange the process. Choose your best soldiers then run a specific 8-week cycle where you meet regularly, set targets then review and refine. Celebrate your steps to success. It can be fun, a great learning environment and who knows, may just increase sales.

Remember, the key for selling to big zebras is winning the wars not the battles!

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Selling in a downward economy

"Train my sales people – fast!". As the world goes once again into a giddy spin, I'm hearing this time and time again. Let's take a look at the mechanics and dynamics of sales effectiveness, and why sales performance may not be improving?

Mechanics
Sales training has been around for a long time, see John Patterson's NCR Primer from 1887, and every year we see old ideas tossed aside to make way for the new.

It is reported that in 2008, US corporations spent around $6 billion on sales performance improvement, yet sales productivity (pre-recession) was down.

On Amazon there are 40,000+ "how to sell" books and 12,000+ on "sales techniques". Social media and blogs are teeming with daily offerings, free webinars, articles, ebooks, videos, everyone is searching for help to improve sales capabilities.

There are numerous surveys, reports, magazines and firms, including ourselves, circling around sales and marketing ineffectiveness. Add to this Sales 2.0, apps, Facebook, Squidoo, LinkedIn and copious other associations and groups.

People are looking for help. So what Boiler, you may ask?

To us, and many others in the field of sales training, the core issues of sales ineffectiveness are clear. There's plenty of sound advice and answers for anyone that cares to look. There's a proven process, that when properly applied, works.

Regardless whether organisations are large or small, some act and find success while others do nothing and never change.

So, GFC, interest rates, retail slumps aside, why is sales as a profession and function, going backwards?

Dynamics, I think.

It's the attitude of sales people, sales leaders and directors to the function of selling. The loss of passion, attitude and drive to be outstanding sales professionals. Business people who sell.

Rarely mentioned, dynamics are deemed soft and very hard to measure, so often considered not important. Yet in every role, in every business, the whole person comes to work and must be engaged fully – both mechanics and dynamics.

Are your sales team committed to the art and profession of selling? Do they have the energy to be Sales Cats or just mechanical reps, "order takers?" Do you lead, coach and or manage the whole person?

Challenge this idea and let us know the results.

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