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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Is your team on your team?

Well if it isn't you're in big trouble!

I was reading a Zig Ziglar article the other day and this point jumped out at me. How true I thought.

More and more we are seeing managers and business owners pulling their hair out, frustrated at their staff going in different directions and missing their targets.

Good business starts on the inside. Your team must believe in you and what you are trying to achieve. 

“The belief in the value of what you do or sell has to be so strong that everyone who comes in contact with a customer exudes confidence in the company and the product”.

When this is the case everyone is prepared to pitch in.

If your team is not on your team – STOP!  Step back and take 5 minutes to reset for yourself the goals for your business. Detail it out in a One Page Plan: the Now – Where – How.

Share this with your team and work together to plan the route to get there. Then set them free on meeting the needs of your customers through your product or service.

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When is it TIME to innovate?

I've just returned from the Albury BMI week where I ran a workshop on Innovation.

On the morning of the workshop, I drove down Dean Street and noticed the town clock, in the iconic building on the corner of Kiewa Street, was stuck on 3pm. You know a regional centre has stopped thinking about its future when the clock has stopped and the battery not changed! 

I challenged my group on this point and an innovative concept.

With a population of around 60,000 there is a massive opportunity to build something better when it comes to retail and the regional experience.

I boldly suggested that they put a roof over Albury and rebrand it 'Albury One dot com.' There were looks of dismay. Their brains were thinking one way, and mine, another.

Not corrugated iron roofing I suggested, which was the conclusion they all clearly jumped to. A brand, a destination, an experience, a performance I explained. 

See, I believe their shopping precinct has lost it's mojo. It has turned into rows of shops with stuff on shelves with nice flower pots and speed humps as the attraction.

Shopping should be a performance, an experience of the senses. It should be like poisonous gas! It should make you clammy, cry, laugh, sweat, run, stop and drop. Albury needs to rethink it's retail purpose. 

Create an environment like Disneyland where everything they do in the magic kingdom is a performance. As 'Albury One dot com' the hundreds of retailers in Albury/Wodonga could leverage their marketing spend, logistics expense, website presence, training and supply chain. They could align themselves into categories like a Chadstone or Highpoint West shopping centre. Once that was done they could then entertain attracting customers to the value, not just the product. They need to  develop innovative ways to attract people to experience their shops again. Create clever events, entertain, engage customers and bring back the pizazz so sorely missed in retail today.

Think about it. Why do you really go to a restaurant? For the food? Be honest, you go for the experience. To catch up with friends, to laugh, to share and to engage the senses. Food is a given. The problem is most owners of restaurants charge for food only which demonstrates they think they are in the food business when they really should be in the entertainment business. There is no competitive advantage in selling just stuff.

It's time to change the clock Albury.

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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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Recognition and Reward for your Sales Team

There is a great array of commission and incentive packages to boost sales team performance but choosing the right one for your business is not always easy. Ideally it should fairly compensate and adequately motivate the team members while supporting and advancing your company's vision and goals.

Ground Rules

There are some specific ground rules that span all industries and can help provide a framework to develop your package. The most important rules include:

• Start with the outcomes
• Prioritize behaviours
• Keep incentives flexible so that they can evolve along with your company's goals
• Make it easy for everyone to understand
• Benchmark your competition to stay competitive
• Review regularly for relevance

Start with Results

It is fundamentally important to determine what results you want to encourage and design your plan from there.

The sales teams goals should reflect the company's larger goals. Consider including the corporate goals in your sales agreement to promote a unity of purpose. For additional clarity, you may want to include work objectives, even if they are not tied to commissions.

Some Carrots are Larger than Others

Every incentive in a commission plan is a carrot, but some carrots can be larger than others depending on the behavior they reward. Prioritize the behaviors you want from your sales force. You then can set up a system of rewards that encourages top-priority behavior, as well as motivates salespeople for situations that are clearly distinguishable.

For example, you may want to commission third-party products at a different rate. You also might consider commissioning services differently than products.

You can implement an accelerator plan, which provides flexibility in the commission percentage earned and paid. In this case salespeople are paid at a lower rate until they meet their target.

After that, they are compensated at a more accelerated rate for every dollar they generate in excess of the target.

Keep It Simple

A commission plan needs to be easy for your sales team to understand. Not only do sales people need to see clearly what is motivating them, but you don't want to spend your time haggling over commission payments.

Clearly identify how commissions are earned and keep the calculation formulas straightforward.

You can check your plan's simplicity by creating a few sales scenarios and asking the sales team to derive the compensation. If the plan is easily understood, everyone should come up with the same numbers. If different figures are calculated, consider reworking the plan.

Know Your Competition

If you want to retain a top-level sales force, your plan needs to be competitive. Gather intelligence on how your competitors compensate their sales professionals. You can figure out what commission levels are reasonable and competitive for your industry or profession through an Internet search at a source such as www.salary.com.

Human resource specialists can often  help you locate surveys with compensation information; or sales professionals always know what their industry pays and can share documentation. You also can tap in to your industry's professional association or ask your peers how they structure their commission contracts.

Commission Structures

At the core of any incentive plan is determining what role commissions play in the overall sales compensation package. Four of the most common commission structures are:

• Commission only;
• Commission plus salary;
• Commission plus bonus; or
• Commission plus salary, plus bonus.

Although industry standards carry significant weight when creating a commission structure, ultimately your budget and priorities will determine how you pay sales professionals.

Again, when you hire sales professionals, they should immediately understand their earnings potential. For example, if you are paying commission only, you can specify that the commission will be X percent of the net sale, less any discounts. Or, you can define a base salary along with a target commission amount--the amount the salesperson would earn at 100 percent of quota. You might pay 50 percent base and 50 percent commission, or 80 percent salary and 20 percent commission.

If you pay bonuses, you'll need to determine not only the percentage, but if they are based on company-wide goals, individual goals or both.

Different Pay for Different People?

If multiple salespeople do the same job, their commission compensation should be equal. On the other hand, if job responsibilities really are different, these expectations should be spelled out and compensated for appropriately.

You might want to reward salespeople through higher base salaries for length of service, experience or stellar performance. Most importantly, be clear with your sales staff and apply any differences consistently.

First-time vs. Recurring Sales

You will need to address what commission is applicable to first-time sales as opposed to sales to repeat customers. By establishing higher commission percentages for new accounts, you encourage your sales team to bring in new customers.

But, you don't want to discourage sales to existing customers, as this is a strong sign of customer satisfaction with the product. It may be better to pay equally, but to award a bonus to each salesperson who brings in X new customers in a given period.

Timing of Commission Payment

Your plan will need to specify when commissions are earned. Some options include payment at the time of invoicing or product shipment, when the customer payment is received or a combination thereof.

Paying full commission when a sale is invoiced or when a product ships has the inherent risk of paying out the salesperson on what may be a slow or nonpaying customer. To alleviate this risk, some companies pay commissions only after customer payment is received.

Conditions-based Payment 

Another strategy is to pay 50 percent of the commission at the time of invoicing as long as certain conditions are met, with the remainder payable at cash collection.

You can put in the plan that anything uncollected for more than X-number of days past due will be removed from commissions, motivating salespeople to assist with collection follow up.

The "certain conditions" part of the commission agreement are for behaviors you want to encourage. For example, you might specify 50 percent commission payment for sales containing net 30-day payment terms. For sales with net 45-day terms, commission might be paid only when the cash comes in.

Another condition might be pricing in accordance with the internal discount guidelines. If salespeople get any additional discount approved beyond the guidelines, then you pay a proportionately penalized commission percentage, or pay only when the cash is received, or both.

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12 Days and Still Smiling!

A few weeks ago in WA, I ventured into the heart of Northbridge to find somewhere to eat. Lots of options but not much that raised my interest until I stumbled on Aisuru Sushi.

With it's bright new interior and clearly definable prescence on the corner of James Street, I sensed something special and I was not disappointed.

As I opened the door, staff members looked and smiled at me, the customer entering their domain. "Welcome," the chef smiled from behind the counter. 

I sat down and was immediately greeted by a cheerful waitress who said "Thank you for joining us and welcome to Aisuru." She explained the menu and left me to read on. As I sat I was also welcomed by a clean-cut almost lawyer-like young man who clearly had some involvement in the restaurant.

I choose my meal and had it reviewed on a iPad right in front of me, pictures and all!

After one of the best Japanese meals I have ever had, I got up to pay. At the cash register of this beautiful establishment I was once again greeted by my professional host.

"How was your meal?" he asked. "Exceptional," I said. It was here the real story unfolded.

Ken Wong, the son of a Hong Kong restaurant family is a trained and qualified lawyer and up until 12 months ago was practicing in Perth. He decided one day to leave his life as a lawyer behind, and peruse his passion and heritage for fine dining. His first restaurant had been open only 12 days and I have no doubt it will be a roaring success.

After a great chat I thanked all the staff who wished me all the best and a big please come back smile.

What we can learn from Ken's journey so far?

What ever you're doing now, if you are not a 100% passionate and committed to it get out and find the passion. The most successful people in the world have one common thread, unwavering passion for what they do.

Smiles work! Get your people happy, engaging and smiling. Hire smile attitudes not sad ones.

Despite all the wonderful fit out, the incredible food and the position, it will be the attitude of Ken and his staff over time that will mean long term success and awards.

Well done Ken you are a sales cat and a star!

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Customer service excellence, a muffin and a sticky note works!

In early March I travelled around Australia delivering the 'AVBA On The Move seminar series—Selling Is Not A Dirty Word' program.

Throughout the journey I made some interesting observations.

While in Northbridge, Western Australia, I stayed in a hotel which demonstrated how easily you can go from Hero to Zero in customer service.

Upon checkout, and after settling my account, I was informed there was a bar charge for three local beers that night. $27 – I was shocked! Not because of the price, I could buy a slab of imported beer for the same amount, or because of the sign at reception advertising 'Take a 6-Pack to Your Room for $20.' No, I was unimpressed at the sour face and angry defense at my query on the price. I reluctantly paid and told them they should remove the confusing advertising sign.

Raving Fan scale down to minus 2 on this hotel.

Composing myself we began the seminar at the same hotel. During the morning break I collected myself a cup of tea and a muffin which, unfortunately, I had not had time to touch.

As we broke for lunch the staff began refreshing the room. I commented to one as he took the muffin away that I am sorry I did not get to eat it as the session had been so busy. He asked me "Can I get you a fresh one?" "No, no," I said "It's OK."

Upon returning from lunch, there on my table was a cling wrapped muffin and a sticky note which read "Enjoy" and a smily face. Ahhhh... my faith in exceptional customer service in Australia was reignited.

Raving Fan scale now a high 8.

Was that simple act in the induction manual? No. Was that random act of kindness discussed in the staff meeting? No.

It was a choice of attitude in a human being to do better and go beyond text book process and basic service.

No matter what you build, how well you paint it, how far you promote it, your strategic advantage will always come down to how well your people smile, engage, go over and beyond on the little things that matter, like a muffin and a sticky note.

Well done Andrew at All Seasons Northbridge.

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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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The Sales Funnel (or Sales Pipeline) Part 2

A sales funnel is for sales. CRM is for managing the data about customer relations.

A commonly cited definition of CRM is that of CRM (UK) Ltd (2002), as follows:

Customer Relationship Management is the establishment, development, maintenance and optimisation of long-term mutually valuable relationships between consumers and organisations.

Let's unpack this definition.

The key to the definition is long-term mutually valuable relationship. This is based upon a definition of marketing that considers marketing as a mutually satisfying system of exchanges (for example Baker 2002).

So CRM is the building and maintenance of long-term customer relationships. The relationship delivers value to customer, and profits to companies. The relationship is supported (but not driven) by cutting edge IT. 

The business strategy is based upon the recruitment, retention and extension of products, services, solutions or experiences to customers. This is the core of CRM.

CRM is not an indicator of sales effectiveness or sales process unless the system you use directly and accurately reflects the organisations ACTUAL sales process. CRM is not sales pipeline! 

Now, get your sales process right, build an authentic sales funnel/pipeline and then coach it. Simple. 

Once that is done investigate and implement an accurate CRM strategy with a company who has a track record in developing and implementing CRM as their core business.

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The Sales Funnel (or Sales Pipeline) Part 1

I am now officially tired of organisations that feel their CRM is a pipeline. Lets be clear—it is not!

The sales process is often compared to a funnel where new leads coming into the system (prospects) are placed into the top of the funnel (the widest part) and then worked through the system. The salesperson may then use a number of techniques such as informing, persuading, providing information, demonstrating until, at the narrow end, an order is placed and a sale is closed when payment from the customer is received. A sales funnel report presents a "snapshot" of your sales function at any given point in time. 

The funnel framework works fairly well because for all new leads that are generated by marketing, there is a closing rate that represents the sales that ultimately result. The number of resulting sales is usually significantly less than the number of total leads generated hence it is useful to think that as leads work their way further down the funnel, there will be less and less of them until they come out the narrow end as sales.

One important thing to note is that organizations define each phase in the process (or, part of the funnel) differently based on their authentic sales process. The pre-defined ‘Sales Steps’ in an off the shelf CRM system rarely cover your unique sales process therefore sales people will not naturally follow it. 

Each step working through the funnel should have clearly defined criteria so that there is specific knowledge about all the leads at that point (questions and rules need to be developed for each step). In other words, leads become more and more qualified as they work their way through the funnel, and at each step you will know exactly what that specific level of qualification is. 

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the funnel is a great way to track and forecast sales (a great tool for sales leaders) as well as gauge marketing activity.

By running a sales funnel report, the sales manager can see how many leads are at each step, if there are any "bottlenecks", or if there are an insufficient number of leads at any stage. It allows the sales manager to check the sales effectiveness of the team. Armed with that knowledge, the sales manager may instruct his or her sales force as to where they should focus more attention to keep sales at the desired level. That’s great sales coaching! They can then also work closely with the marketing manager to ensure they are generating enough leads to hit sales goals, whether the leads are of high enough quality, or what needs to change to hit sales goals. That, of course, brings about sales and marketing alignment not warfare. 

Get your sales process right, build an authentic sales funnel/pipeline and then coach it. Simple.

Stay tuned for the definition of CRM in my next post, just to completely clear things up.

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Lets drop the price and sell a bit more!

Consider the following scenario. 

You are just leaving for an important meeting with a major potential client when the phone rings and a very excited territory manager asks you for a quick decision. She is on her way to a very important meeting and has just been informed that she must make a final proposal in 30 minutes. 

The conversation goes like this: 

"There is no way that I can get any more sales of "Wonder Widget" if you insist on selling it for $10.00 per unit. Now do you want to sell more or not?"  Of course you do. "Well I am convinced that I can get the state contract if we offer it at $9.00. This will increase my state sales by 50%. How about it?" 

You trust her judgement and are pretty sure that she will really get that 50% increase in sales.  Of course it will almost certainly mean that the new state contract price will flow on to the existing customers. The increase in volume would really help your national sales, not to mention relations with those in high places. 

Your gross margin is 20% and your business group profit is running at $98,000 per year. It would be a major achievement to get this up by $100,000 pa. A slight problem is that you are under strict instructions not to let your total profit fall below $98,000. You suspect that they really mean it this time!

Question: Is this a good deal? 

How many more units (%) would you have to sell at the reduced price to ensure total profit does not fall? 

Here is an example.

Today: You sell 100 units at $10.00 each = Revenue of $1,000 

• Your gross margin is 20% 
• Therefore Total Profit is ($1000 x 20%) - $200
• Profit per unit is ($200 profit divided by 100 units sold) - $2.00
• Cost per unit is ($10.00 minus profit of $2.00) - $8.00

Now you drop the price by 10% to $9.

• Costs are not going to change and from the above example each unit still costs $8.00
• This means that you now make $1.00 per unit profit when you sell at $9.00
• Your previous profit level was $200
• You now have to sell 200 units to make the same $200 profit
• Since you were selling 100 previously this means an increase of 100%

Tomorrow: You must sell 100% more units after reducing the price by 10% in order to make exactly the same profit as you had before you reduced price. Sell only 90% more units and you will reduce your profit. 

Now use the table below to find out how much more you have to sell, to make exactly the same level of profit as previously. 

Example: Your gross margin is 25% and you decide to cut your selling price by 10%. 

Locate 10% in the left hand column and follow across to the figure in the column headed 25%.

You need to sell 66.7% more units to produce the same level of profit as before the price reduction.

Action

• Work through the process described above.
• Ensure that every member of your sales team who may have an opinion about what price you should sell your product or service at, is familiar with this table.
• More importantly, that they all know how to do the calculation themselves
• Work with you coach to develop a presentation to your sales team on the pitfalls of discounting.
• Prepare specific examples using your own products
• Involve your team in calculating the impact of price reductions.

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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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Sales Training and Banks. Why not?

While in Brisbane this week, I met with an old friend that leads up a division of a major bank.

“How’s business?” I asked.

“Tough,” he replied. “We're being asked to sell, sell, sell Mike,” he quipped. 

So I asked how that was going.

“Not well,” he replied. “Nobody knows how to do it and we’ve had no training!”

He has since approached corporate HQ in Sydney and been told ‘No budget’ for training in sales.

To use an AFL football analogy, it’s like asking the Brisbane Lions to run out, Round 1 in the 2012 season with absolutely no preparation, coaching or development. Chances of winning – Zero!

Why is it these large corporate goliaths from the relative safety of corporate HQ and their mechanical spreadsheets, still refuse to acknowledge that ‘skills’, like selling, are not innate in humans? Especially bankers!

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My 7 Best Books of 2011

Here is my reading list for this year. These fine books inspired me, saddened me and changed my thinking. What will you do with them in 2012?

Enjoy.

Thriving by Michael Grose - An insight into the world of the developing child.

Tribes by Seth Godin - Read this with my daughter in Hong Kong, wonderful book.

Coaching Sales People into Sales Champions by Keith Rosen - One of the few good sales coaching books around.

Broken Windows Broken Business by Michael Levine - My number one for the year.

Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - This book will make you think before entering hospital again.

Only 2 Seats Left by John Anderson - The wonderful story by John Anderson founder of Contiki.

And my biggest tip for the year?

Sales Cats by me!

Have a great Christmas and wonderful New Year.

Sell well in 2012.

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The kids got talent

Check out this brilliant video created by Ogilvy as part of a campaign to find the World's Greatest Salesperson.

Maybe it's time, ladies and gents, to start paying closer attention to the creative wisdom of the younger generation. A loud applause please for having a detailed plan – backed up with 'the stats', keeping the issue simple and to-the-point, being pro-active and using enormous creativity to land the deal.

Do you see the possibilities in that?

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A magic wand to create sales?

Why not?

I was working with a customer a couple of days ago and at the end of our coaching session he mentioned he had an appointment with a new open prospect which they hoped to sign. "Great" I said. "What's the plan?"

The owner commented he'd get them in, have a chat, discuss rates etc. etc.

I said "Why?" "Why what?" he replied. "Why discuss rates?" He said, “Because that's how everyone does it in our industry.”

"Silly me" I said! "Try this and see how you go."

I asked my client to bring in the new customer, thank them for taking the time to come in, and then go to the flip chart. Draw a magic wand in the middle and explain to the customer that that this is a magic wand where anything is possible! Then ask a beautiful question of the soon to be customer. "If you had a magic wand and could build the perfect relationship between a customer and a business like us what would it look like?"

Then I told him to sit down and be quiet. Let the customer map his own proposal. All you need to do is ask for clarity as he goes. Then, when finished, stand up and circle all the things that you do now as a given. Then anything that is a little left field ask him to explain further.

Wham bam thankyou Mam, you have a proposal already done and designed by the customer for the customer! Remember the human brain works in pictures first, words etc. second, so allow your customers to design the perfect proposal, then sign it off.

This client of mine rang me Monday to celebrate "Boiler you are a genius!" he yelled. "Why" I asked?

"We did what you said and the prospect has now signed and for above market rates – all signed on a flip chart!" He could not believe it was possible to sell that way.

Guess what – it is.

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Get some real action into your sales pipeline.

As you know, sales leads can grow cold quickly. Every lead and opportunity is like a ticking bomb. If your recon says that somebody is shifting, looking to buy, you have to move within a few hours, not days. If you get a web lead that looks promising, you want to call that lead within minutes, not hours. Research shows that the odds of calling to qualify an online lead decreases by more than 6 times in the first hour.

As you convert sales-ready leads in your sales pipeline into opportunities, ask yourself:

Is there a great fit for your product or solution?

Is your prospect actively looking for a solution?

What is the prospect's timetable for finding the best solution?

What are the competing solutions?

What does the company have to lose if it did nothing about the problem?

What is the company's process for making a decision?

What are the company's preferred steps involved in a purchase?

Is there a budget?

What is the full potential of this opportunity?

Do I have access to all the decision makers, and how many of them can I convince?

How long will it take until the sale is converted?

What are the potential obstacles that stand in the way of the sale?

What are the realistic chances of closing this sale? (25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent)

These questions will help you prioritize the opportunities in your sales funnel, and they will help you develop a realistic sales forecast every month.

Action 1: create a list of your most important and most urgent opportunities, and refresh this list daily by checking it against the questions.

Action 2: check again and if the prospect does not fit find more prospects to open.

Good luck.

Boiler

What customers?

I read with interest in the latest BRW Magazine the ever growing pain in retail due to the 'sudden' rise of the internet. Sudden?

I also watch with interest as retailers continue to stick to old ways of doing business, become highly irritable, like it's our fault, and resort to being extremely annoyed with the world.

It is clear that if you 'wait' for the economy to pick up, the implications of a carbon tax or the internet to change, then you will disappear as quick as change happens. You must get on the front foot now!

Look at this great example http://fiveminutetheatre.com/. Traditional theatre is attractive to a narrow band of audience who can afford it or love it. Dress up at home, go out, glass of champagne and black tie etc. In Scotland, to attract a broader audience, an amazing concept has been developed where five minute theatre is conducted in the cities over a 24 hour period to contact a wider audience. Lots of critics " It will never work" and lots of people blocking. Guess what – a roaring success and highly acclaimed by the critics, well done.

What did it take? Creativity, energy and resilience just like the Sales Cat.

Tips, traps and trips.

If you are going to survive in modern retailing you need to engage and build value based relationships now. Who are your tribe and what do they get from the retail experience with you? Do you have data on your customers? Do you know where they live what they like? Get to know them and what they need in life to be better. Like all relationships spend time getting to know them. Start a blog with them.

Smile and greet! Yes I know a basic but how often do you get an angry, don't bother me I'm busy response? Every week for the past 12 months I go with friends to a conveniently located coffee shop. They still don't know our names, we don't know theirs even though we sit in the same place every week and order the the same thing. Will they notice when we go for a better relationship or better coffee? Who would they call if we did?

Please get to know your customers and their specific stories fast before the internet gets to know them better than you and takes their business away.

Talent + Practice + Opportunity = Success

Last week I went to the grudge match between old rivals Essendon Grammar School, coached by the great Ken Fletcher, and Assumption College, the Kilmore based private school coached by the legend Ray Carroll (41 years coaching juniors).

At the lunch I heard two wonderful stories:

Firstly, the injured Essendon Football Club midfielder Jason Wunderlich described his amazing journey from Thorpedale to the EFC. In his early years he loved footy, just loved it. He would play under 16's, under 18's and seniors all in one day! In one year he played an amazing 57 games of senior footy. So his talent is footy. His practice was many thousands of hours of practice, training and playing this unique game. His opportunity came playing AFL, of which very few juniors make it to the top. His success, yet to come but who knows?

The second example of this equation working was then hearing Aaron Sayers tell his story ( www.essendon.baseball.com.au/?Page=75173). He has been drafted as a 17 year old to the big league in the USA. Here is the equation again. Dad takes him to baseball game and he falls in love, connects to his talent. Practices seven days a week while his mates are getting boozed. Opportunity came through being seen by a talent scout who then signed him up. Success will come having now met this bright young man, wow what a star.

Interestingly when I approached these two young guys and discussed the theory they agreed, however Jason posed a great question. "What about Damien Prevrill?" The 144 game tagger for EFC had no talent he quipped! However, he went on to comment, in the absence of that, the guy did double the amount of practice, much more than any other player according to Jason. Clearly what he lacked in talent he made up in practice but he did have a starting passion.

So what does this all mean for sales people and sales leaders?

If you have the talent or deep passion for the game of sales and you are prepared to work hard at getting better at your skills then opportunity and success should follow. Recognise your skills and your gaps and never stop learning. Only the best get to the top by relentless practice and learning however, what clearly kicks off their journey is the discovery of their raw talent or passion.

Do you know any other Talent + Practice + Opportunity = Success stories?

Let us know.

Pipeline

What is a pipeline?

Something to pump stuff through? To put under roads? To send oil off shore?

In those settings, who knows, and who cares. But when talking about a sales pipeline there's a lot I can share. I've noticed with some recent engagements over the past couple of weeks, there seems to be a little confusion on what exactly a sales pipeline is. Well here is Boiler's definition:

A Sales Funnel Report presents a 'snapshot' of your sales function at any given point in time. For conceptual purposes, the sales process is often compared to a funnel, where new leads coming into the system (i.e. prospects) are placed into the top of the funnel - the widest part. Then, they are worked through the funnel by informing, persuading, overcoming objections, providing information, demonstrating, providing free samples, etc., etc. until, at the narrow part of the funnel, an order is placed, and a sales is closed, when payment from the customer is received.

The funnel framework works fairly well because for all new leads that are generated by our marketing efforts, there is a closing rate that represents the sales that ultimately result. The number of resulting sales is usually significantly less than the number of total leads generated. Therefore, it is useful to think that as leads work their way further down the funnel, there will be less and less of them coming out the of narrow end as sales.

One important thing to note is that organizations define each phase in the sales process (or part of the funnel) differently based on their authentic sales process. It is also interesting to note that the pre-defined ‘sales steps’ in an off-the-shelf whiz-bang CRM system don't allow for this kind of customization. Working through the funnel each step should have clearly defined criteria so there is specific knowledge about all leads at every particular stage (questions and rules need to be developed for each step). In other words, leads become more and more qualified as they work their way through the funnel, and you should be able to articulate exactly what's required at each specific level of qualification.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the funnel is a great way to track and forecast sales (hear that leaders, a real forecast, wouldn't that be nice?), as well as, gauge marketing activities. We at Banjar believe there is one step that should be in all funnels and that is the stage of OPEN prospect. When does someone move from being just a prospect to being an open prospect? Open to a sales process with us that is real. When are they open to this really?

By running a Sales Funnel Report, the sales manager can see how many leads are at each step, if there are any 'bottlenecks', or if there are an insufficient number of leads at any stage. It allows the sales manager to check the sales effectiveness of the team. Armed with that knowledge, the sales manager may instruct his or her sales force where to focus more attention to keep sales at the desired level (that’s called coaching). He or she can then also work closely with the marketing manager to ensure they are generating enough leads to hit sales goals, whether the leads are of high enough quality, or what further needs to be done to hit sales goals.

If you do not have an active sales pipeline that reflects your actual sales process ask yourself why? Too accountable for sales? You don't know how to do it? My favourite, "We are still putting in a CRM system".

Would you drive your car with no dashboard? So don't drive your sales the same way, blind!