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09 May

Story-Telling & Sales

by Monika

How story-telling can enhance the sales process

In a consultative B2B environment we are often faced with a formidable situation when we are selling the invisible. There is no physical product we can showcase when we are prospecting on the phone and we are challenged to connect with a prospect in a short period of time. Telling stories and sharing best practices gives us an opportunity to communicate a business objective in a fashion where people can relate.

Once upon a time… From a very early age on I was fascinated by fairy tales and stories. As a grown-up I’ve come to appreciate how Story-Telling can be an essential benefit in a consultative sales environment. My experience has shown how it helps you connect with your prospects. And it is a great way to add value rather than pushing a feature or a benefit.

Remember 1,001 Arabian Nights?

When I was a kid I loved the idea of people gathering in a tent or square and listening to stories. Still to this day I remember my family’s dinner parties best where people were telling stories, sharing, laughing, showing compassion or just simply cracking a joke. As children growing up, it’s fairy tales and stories that help shape our thinking. They trigger our imagination and fuel our creativity. As adults, it’s not that different. We are always drawn to stories that we can relate to.

When I started out in sales, I had come from a public relations/marketing background with no credentials in sales so I decided to do what I liked best – listening to stories. I researched case studies and told my prospects about the success that other companies had when using our service. It worked!

Why?

Because people like to listen to stories that they can relate to themselves. Product features or benefits are boring to many people unless they can directly establish a use for them to their advantage. Nobody wants to listen to you bragging about your company, your service, how good you are, etc. What people are interested in is what your service can do for them and how it will help their business.

If you don’t have something to show, share a story

In a B2B environment you often don’t have a product to show and you need to rely on a verbal presentation and anecdotes to get people interested. This is especially true when you first engage with a prospect unless they know your company and service. The key question is “What value does the service or solution you offer provide to your clients?”

What better way to explain than sharing success stories?!

Why is it easier to sell a story than a product or service?

Rather than selling a service, focus on the value it brings to the client and the human experience. Instead of selling a service that is “better”, offer a solution that, for example, helps increase efficiencies, saves money or helps your client make money. Especially in a consultative sales environment, once we are able to tap into somebody’s emotion, and understand what triggers their interest and what their needs are, it’s a lot easier to connect. Never forget that it is human beings you are targeting. Although you are trying to sell them something, you are also an advisor, a consultant in the true sense, a resource to help them make the right decision. The right decision for your prospect or client will be the right decision for you as well.

When telling stories, it is important that you own those stories and make them yours. Be personal, just like at a dinner conversation. But first, listen to your prospects, find out what their real needs and pain points are, and then choose a case study/story that you think will resonate with their needs. I can assure you that your prospects will listen.

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Last week, on the train back from a business meeting in New York City, I started reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In”.  I honestly didn’t expect it to be a page turner but it turned out to be just that.  Sheryl has a writing style that I as a professional woman can easily relate to. Her stories are insightful and I was stunned how many light bulbs went off in my head when she was pointing out over and over that we “women in business” haven’t quite arrived.

Some examples that she featured were just simply eye opening and at some point I put the book down to reflect on my personal experience as a woman with many years in the business world.  While I could relate to most of the examples that she was pinpointing, I also felt that my personal journey, while tough at times, never left me feeling that I was inferior to my male colleagues or that I was treated differently.

After some soul searching I asked myself the question whether it had something to do with the fact that I was in sales.  Maybe, Sales is an equalizer, I thought.

Is the Business of Sales an Equalizer?

Most business practices cannot be measured in numbers only. In sales, that’s all that matters. If you put numbers on the book and you sell, nobody (sadly) cares how you do it and you are simply measured by your accomplishments.  It’s your performance that counts.

When I was employed as a sales professional, I was usually the only girl on the team. While my male colleagues were a bit suspicious and cautious at first, they had no choice than to accept me once I started producing.  They had to treat me with respect, because my managers were pleased with the results that I brought to the table and the ultimate judge is not your sales manager, but your prospects turned to clients.  If you cannot convert sales it doesn’t matter whether you sales manager likes you are not.  As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter if anybody internally takes a liking to you personally or not as long as you keep closing business. It’s really all about performance!

It was at that point where my light bulb went off.  Sales is one of the few disciplines were women (when successful) are equal to their male counterparts.  In sales we are part of the group, we have a seat at the table, we don’t choose a chair in the back (just like Sheryl notes in her book).  Our voices are heard when we bring results.

Removed from the Politics?

I also remembered that it relieved me from having to play the political game.  Many years ago I was traveling to San Francisco to attend a sales meeting and the first night after dinner the team ended up at the hotel bar for a nightcap.  At first we were drinking wine and beer but then one of the junior sales people who wanted to impress our sales manager suggested to do shots.  One of my fellow team members, who happened to be a guy and I just looked at each other and we had a common understanding of what we will do next. Tim, a manly looking guy (Dwayne Johnson alias The Rock lookalike, anybody?) who is sensible, sensitive and also a good listener (which of course made him an excellent sales person) and I excused ourselves and went upstairs to our respective rooms. I myself decided to watch some mindless television show and Tim probably checked in with his wife who was at home with their small children. The looks we got indicated that people thought we might have had something going on because we left at the same time. But Tim and I didn’t care. We didn’t have to play the socializing corporate game. We didn’t need to impress our sales manager because we were both top performers.

The Equality Gap

Needless to say that women show results in every industry and every profession, albeit though, there are ways to put us down by questioning our style (women who are driven are often viewed as aggressive, but men aren’t?), or our approach (women who are competitive are often viewed as you know what, but for guys that’s what’s expected?).  Are our results measured with the same parameters as men’s results? In sales, my experience has been that none of that seems to matter as much as in other professions.

So, in closing, I am asking all my fellow sales women out there.  Do you also feel Sales is equalizer or has been an equalizer for you?

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Posted in: CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Selling, Hiring Sales People, Sales

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Recently, I finished reading a book written by one of the “Housewives of New York”, Carole Razdiwill. Don’t judge me, I love watching these shows. It’s one of my guilty pleasures. Contrary to popular perception, this book is excellently written, riveting and it takes you on a journey that is both intriguing and sad. The author is the widow of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ nephew.

The book is entitled: “What Remains“, and it describes the story of four young people who were hoping to grow old together as close friends, just that “fate” wouldn’t have it that way.

One of the characters in the book is JFK, Jr. and it goes without saying that the crash of his airplane is part of the narrative. As most people know and perhaps remember, the aircraft he was piloting crashed into the ocean near Martha’s Vineyard.

It was determined that the crash was caused by “Spatial Disorientation”, which is a condition in which an airplane pilot’s perception of the plane’s direction, height, speed, etc. does not agree with reality.

Perception vs. Reality

It was at that tragic point of the story where I decided to write a blog about sales and how many practitioners suffer from Sales Disorientation, which is a condition in which the sales person’s perception of her/his sales approach does not agree with reality. OK, I just made that part up but trust me, it happens a lot.

In the situation where a pilot loses accurate perception of reality it would require her/him to act counter-intuitively and rely on objective, measurable criteria (instruments, radar, etc). Only in doing that, can the course be corrected and the plane landed safely.

In sales, the disconnect between perception and reality can also have very damaging effects, but to my knowledge nobody has died from it, although many sales practitioners might have crashed and burned.

The Expectation of Success

Those sales professionals who succumb to Sales Disorientation have plenty of time and resources to get themselves out of trouble, but they often continue on as if their determination to succeed at all costs blinds them to the multitude of options they could take advantage of. Why do sales professionals who become aware of their sales approach not working continue to plunge ahead? An unfounded “expectation of success” appears to play a significant role in such cases. All too often we see salespeople go into sales calls without a back-up plan, assuming they’ll be successful. Without really knowing their prospect’s/client’s real needs, without understanding what real value means, and without a Plan B, they have no other choice, truly, other than to continue on. In doing so, we find these salespeople developing a kind of tunnel vision that seems to lock up the brain as their sales process with their prospect/client goes awry. And should salespeople be occasionally successful in such situations, their habits are reinforced, and they can begin to write off the not successful encounters to reasons that have nothing to do with their approach or style.

A Counter-Intuitive Sales Approach?

Why is it that we need to be counter-intuitive? Because we need to stay connected to our prospects and their world, rather than living in our “sales” bubble humming along.

Very often in sales we are taught to work as fast and as hard as we can and say “yes” at any cost. We are encouraged to please and to accommodate although it’s really important to determine if the solution is a fit and if not, then to sometimes walk away from a prospective sale.

 

Let’s Look at Some Specific Examples

Perception Reality
1) Make as many calls as possible Only effective if you have all the resources in the world, and you are only calling the companies that could profit from your offering
2) Target as many companies as you can Don’t boil the ocean. Be specific on who you want to target otherwise you will get lost in the ocean
3) Tell your prospect what you’ve got Rather listen to your prospect and don’t push features
4) Focus on the benefits of your offering Ask the right questions and then develop a value proposition that your prospect can relate to
5) Brag & tell your prospects how great your service is Focus on the areas that can help your prospect make money, save money, improve their business or their reputation within their organization and they will get excited
6) Convince your prospect that you are the right choice Your prospect won’t need to be convinced if you are the right choice. But what if you are not? Not every organization is a good fit for your service offering
7) Try to get a “yes” from your prospects Rather go for honest responses, even if it’s a “no”. The sooner you find out, the better it is so that you can move forward or move on while leaving a good impression

 

In closing, I know that it probably takes a lot of courage to do things that seem counter-intuitive, but the results can be life saving or in the sales world, very rewarding and life-fulfilling!

Trust me. I know. I’ve gone down that path many times successfully. You can, too!

Posted in: CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Selling, Sales, Sales Effectiveness, Uncategorized

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Here is an inspiring and touching story from one of our graduates, a regional sales manager who participated in one of our In-House Corporate CSC Training Programs and gained Consultative Sales Certification He sent us the e-mail below, sharing an extraordinary experience with a prospect.

Hi Tom & Monika,

I had a very interesting meeting last week that I wanted to share with you.

I spoke to a gentleman on the phone last week who wanted help with his tradeshow shipments. He put a call into our office and the call was directed to me. He started giving me some details over the phone and as we spoke more I was having a very difficult time understanding him. At first I honestly thought it was a prank call and didn’t know what to think since he was so difficult to understand. I also thought maybe he just has a pretty serious speech impediment. I figured it may be much easier to understand him in person so I suggested we meet. We scheduled a meeting for Friday morning.

The man told me he was the National Marketing Manager for his company. I looked at their website and still did not put all the pieces together. He liked to communicate with me via text message as well which I thought was a little different..

When I showed up for the meeting on Friday I immediately realized he had a hearing disability since he was wearing a hearing aid. Then the light bulb went on, the company he works for makes products for clients with hearing disabilities so it made perfect sense that their employees may also have hearing disabilities.

Understanding How To Communicate With Your Prospect

From the first second I saw him, my CSC training immediately went into action. It was like my instincts took over and I knew exactly what I had to do. We sat down in a conference room to go over the details. I knew right off the bat that he was going to be a visual learner just like myself. Everything we talked about I was giving him visual examples as well. He asked about our delivery and pickup process to trade shows, so I literally drew out examples of how we move the freight and how our agents get involved to make the deliveries and pickups etc…. He asked about transit times, so I took out my calendar and showed him dates on the calendar as examples so he could see what I meant by 3-5 day to various states. I figured he was probably also reading my lips to understand me so I consciously tried to speak clearly and not too quickly.

We went over everything… As the meeting went on he was on the edge of his seat and we were both huddled around his computer and a pad of paper.

He was definitely a “Director” (behavioral style= assertive, fast-paced) – he was quick to make decisions and was open to new ideas.

A Prospect’s High-Five!

As we were wrapping up the meeting I wanted to learn a little more about him, so I asked him some general questions about his career etc. and it turns out he grew up in Boston only 2 towns away from where I grew up. We talked about the traffic, high school, the city, and family. I believe that since we were able to communicate so well during our meeting he was more inclined to open up to me. He even said he knows a few companies in the area that specialize in products for people with hearing disabilities that he wants to get me in touch with!

As we stood up to leave the room after our 75 minute meeting, he put his hand up in the air for a “high five”. I have never ended a 1st meeting with a customer with a high five in my life. It was great! He then said to me, “Whenever you are near the office, feel free to stop in.”

He wants to start shipping with us this coming Wednesday to one of his 80+ tradeshows this year. Down the line he wants to discuss fulfillment and warehousing of company brochures and other marketing materials.

Just thought I would share this you. I am certain this would not have gone this way had I not participated in your CSC training.

And No One Else Listened!

**On a side note, he told me he has made phone calls to other companies to ask about their services etc, and has been hung up on after a few minutes. (being so difficult to understand over the phone people literally don’t realize who they are speaking with.) A guy with a $1.8 million marketing budget who needs things shipped!

So, What Are The Lessons To Learn Here?

  1. Sales can be learned. Of course, there will always be people who are more successful than others, but understanding your prospects, truly listening and quickly adapting to a situation are skills that participants who work through our program acquire for the long-term.
  2. People communicate in different ways. Some people prefer (and some need) visuals while others like to listen to information. Discovering your prospects’ “communication” preference is key to success.
  3. Last, but not least, be of service and don’t disregard people who are different. It’s not only our job, it should be our dedication to discover opportunities and then to meet our clients’ needs. We can only do that if we keep an open mind and if we truly hone in on our prospects’ needs.

 

5 SALES TIPS

Our Recent Consultative Sales Certified Training Program Graduates

Would Like To Share With Our Readers:

  • Know Your Customers! Adjust your approach to each of your contacts based on their behavioral styles and role.
  • Ask questions that help you understand each contact’s vision and pain points.
  • Stress VALUE based on business impact and the personal win for each individual customer.
  • Position solutions that help the customer save time and/or money, make more money, operate more efficiently or give them peace of mind. Anything else doesn’t matter!
  • Know Your Market! Prioritize your sales efforts according to potential for sales, not based on current sales.

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When salespeople with traditional training (or none at all) start struggling, I have witnessed far too often that they tend to become overeager, focused even more so on the features and benefits of their service offering/product (or what I like to call the “bells and whistles”) rather than focusing on building relationships with their prospects and actually discovering what their prospects’ needs really are. This approach is encouraged and fostered by far too many sales leaders who often still believe that their customers need to be convinced and “sold to” by the “Product Guru”. Sound familiar?

Aside from the fact that nobody wants to be sold to, we also need to understand that in today’s business environment every piece of information can be googled or researched using all the technology available. We can use apps to find out what song is currently playing or to settle disagreements of any sort, and to look up almost endless amounts of information.
It’s no different in a business environment. Before salespeople step into a meeting, your prospect has the ability to research your company, your service offering, your competition and many other aspects they feel important in making a decision.

“Flirting with the Uninterested”?

My dear friend and former client, Maria Ferrante-Schepis (one of the most innovative and interesting women I have the pleasure to be acquainted with, and an expert in the financial services industry) recently launched her book “Flirting with the Uninterested”.

Here’s a link to the book: http://flirtingwiththeuninterested.com

A must read for people in the insurance field, but also really intriguing for business people in general. Maria was a heavyweight in the insurance industry, her experience includes positions as VP of Marketing at Prudential and CMO at The Guardian. Today, Maria works for a former client of mine, an Agency of Innovation based in Chicago. Maddock-Douglas helps their clients bring industry-changing products, services and business models from mind to market.

And here’s is a quote from her book that I personally like a lot:

  • Consumers have FAR less time for a pitch but plenty of time to surf the Web for what they are interested in.
  • Consumers must see/perceive some value in what you have to offer BEFORE they will even listen to you. They are way too busy to listen to a cold call.

Good news for Salespeople!
Ms. Ferrante-Schepis then goes on to point out that salespeople are used as a validation.

This should be really good news to salespeople who truly understand the science & art of selling, those of you who truly listen to your prospects, understand who your prospects are and build rapport, and, lastly be able to demonstrate value for your clients.

In essence, it’s the human connection is what weighs in the balance. Building relationships with your prospects, finding out who they are, what they really need and want, building trust and creating a solution that is of value to them. And if you really dig deep, you might be able to help your client in ways they did not even think possible. You can become a trusted adviser, your client’s consultant, a thought leader who will lend an ear to your prospect in truly trying to understand their needs, help them grow their business, secure their future and be of real value to their clients. That’s the World of Consultative Selling!

So, Life Insurance is Not Just Life Insurance!

Let’s take life insurance, for example. Is it solely an insurance to help the people you leave behind have a secure life? Everybody has a life and nobody would want their family to be without assets once they are gone. Of course, that’s a simplistic way of looking at it, but if it was that simplistic nobody with available funds would go without it, right?
Life insurance, just like many other product/service offerings will soon become a commodity if salespeople don’t learn to not only build rapport with their prospects but, most importantly, learn to create value in their prospects’ eyes. Why? Because today, you can purchase most anything, including life insurance on an ever-widening range of websites.

And if salespeople don’t provide more value than a computer screen than why would people choose to work with them? Because in the end, most people still prefer to buy from other people BUT only if they believe their needs are truly understood and they’re the best solution for them.

The Trusted Consultant

There really is no need to push features or point out competitive advantages unless it represents something of value to your prospect. In order to be competitive and ahead of the curve, salespeople will need to understand that selling doesn’t mean that you need to convince somebody of something that they don’t like or need.

As a sales professional, you have the unique opportunity to become a trusted adviser and to guide your prospect through a decision making process that makes sense for them.

Whether you sell or logistics solutions, life insurance, cars, heavy equipment or high-tech services this philosophy holds true. Becoming a thought leader, being an adviser, a consultant, building trust and creating value are key elements to a successful sales career in this new, information driven business environment.

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Posted in: CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Selling, Sales

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Today, on Valentine’s day we wanted to share a special present that we received from one of our participants. A wonderful testimonial from one of our recent CSC Graduates:

Tom, Monika, Marcia, … I want to thank you all for the great sales training program!! I learned so much about how to recognize the behavioral styles of my clients and prospects. This has helped me better adjust my approach throughout the sales process. During the course of our training program, I improved my sales and business development consistently. By the year’s end I was awarded “Most Improved Sales Performance” for 2012!

I want to thank Mach 1 Global for implementing the CSC program for sales and now our operations personnel to help them understand the process. And thank you CSC team for helping me improve and grow in sales! - Marianne W., VP Global Accounts,MACH 1 GLOBAL

So we thought that we give you a present today, sharing our success story that will provide insight on how one of our clients increased business revenues to pre-recession levels by implementing our CSC training program.

Cutting-edge Sales Training – A First Step to Top Performers

One of our clients decided to embark on a mission to provide a cutting-edge sales training program to a select group of their sales team who all work remotely from headquarters. This specialized logistics and transportation solutions provider wanted their sales and account management staff to become top performers, too.

Let’s face it, even successful sales and service professionals have some areas to improve. Yet top performers consistently outperform their average counterparts by large margins.

Know Your Clients and You’ll What They Need

In utilizing CSA’s Certified Training Program with a pilot group, our client quickly established that the training program was making a dynamic change in the way their business development professionals were planning and executing their business efforts. Revenues increased, for some in the pilot group by 40% and 50% within a few months. Additionally the members of the pilot group were motivated to go the extra mile for their clients as they acquired new, deeper skills and knowledge in understanding who their clients were, were able to more efficiently and more quickly to develop new business as well as expand business with existing clients. This mindset change began to spread to their operations management.

Everybody In – Let’s Congratulate the Graduates!

And today, seven months after the kick-off of their program, we can proudly congratulate the first group graduates from our Arizona client’s organization. The program is ongoing for three more groups, each with customized goals and training calendars. Their success of the pilot group is testament to their perseverance and hard work applying the core consultative sales and service concepts to their jobs on a daily basis. These seven certified top-performers can now proudly carry and use the nationally accredited and recognized CSC emblem as Consultative Sales Certified Professionals. And they have a few tips for you below their graduation photo!

 Stand up and take a bow!

 

Consultative Sales Certified Professionals – Accredited Super Sellers
These seven certified top-performers can now proudly carry and use the nationally accredited and recognized CSC emblem as Consultative Sales Certified Professionals.
From left to right: Tom D’Agostino, Chief Trainer at CSA, Kirk Stauff, Marianne Wilson – Most Improved Employee of 2012-, Yvette Cheesebrew, Ray Torres, Bob Heine, Vinnie Balsamo and Herb Reich.

A few things our Graduates would like to share with all our readers:

5 Tips from Our Super-Seller Grad

  • Know Your Market! Prioritize your sales efforts according to potential for sales, not based on current sales.
  • Know Your Customers! Adjust your approach to each of your contacts based on their behavioral styles and role.
  • Ask Questions that help you understand each contact’s vision and pain points.
  • Stress Value based on business impact and the personal win for each individual customer.
  • Position solutions that help the customer save time, make more money, operate more efficiently or give them peace of mind. Anything else doesn’t matter!

Here’s what the CEO is saying about our CSC Program

“Consultative Sales Academy’s Custom Training program has significantly helped our team improve their performance. We’re finally back to pre-recession sales results and momentum. Because of the success and positive feedback from both seasoned professionals as well as new sales team members, we are implementing this program company-wide for sales team members, sales managers and operational managers. Our team is geographically dispersed, which makes CSA’s blended approach of e-learning, web training and coaching very desirable. We especially appreciate the flexibility of the program and the personal attention that CSA’s coaches provide to each individual participant. This program is a long-term commitment that is definitely worth the time and investment if your goals are to truly impact sales performance and results. I highly recommend this program.” – Jamie Fletcher, CEO, MACH 1 GLOBAL

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

One of our clients decided to embark on a mission to provide a cutting-edge sales training program to a select group of their sales team who all work remotely from headquarters. This specialized logistics and transportation solutions provider wanted their sales and account management staff to become top performers, too.

 

Let’s face it, even successful sales and service professionals have some areas to improve. Yet top performers consistently outperform their average counterparts by large margins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Know Your Clients and You’ll What They Need

 

 

 

 

In utilizing CSA’s Certified Training Program with a pilot group, our client quickly established that the training program was making a dynamic change in the way their business development professionals were planning and executing their business efforts. Revenues increased, for some in the pilot group by 40% and 50% within a few months. Additionally the members of the pilot group were motivated to go the extra mile for their clients as they acquired new, deeper skills and knowledge in understanding who their clients were, were able to more efficiently and more quickly to develop new business as well as expand business with existing clients. This mindset change began to spread to their operationsmanagement.

 

 

 

 

Everybody In – Let’s Congratulate the Graduates!

 

 

 

 

And today, seven months after the kick-off of their program, we can proudly congratulate the first group graduates from our Arizona client’s organization. The program is ongoing for three more groups, each with customized goals and training calendars. Their success of the pilot group is testament to their perseverance and hard work applying the core consultative sales and service concepts to their jobs on a daily basis. These seven certified top-performers can now proudly carry and use the nationally accredited and recognized CSC emblem as Consultative Sales Certified Professionals. And they have a few tips for you below their graduation photo!

 

Stand up and take a bow!

Consultative Sales Certified Professionals – Accredited Super Sellers
These seven certified top-performers can now proudly carry and use the nationally accredited and recognized CSC emblem as Consultative Sales Certified Professionals.
From left to right: Tom D’Agostino, Chief Trainer at CSA, Kirk Stauff, Marianne Wilson – Most Improved Employee of 2012-, Yvette Cheesebrew, Ray Torres, Bob Heine, Vinnie Balsamo and Herb Reich.
A few things our Graduates would like to share with all our readers:

5 Tips from Our Super-Seller Grad

  • Know Your Market! Prioritize your sales efforts according to potential for sales, not based on current sales.
  • Know Your Customers! Adjust your approach to each of your contacts based on their behavioral styles and role.
  • Ask Questions that help you understand each contact’s vision and pain points.
  • Stress Value based on business impact and the personal win for each individual customer.
  • Position solutions that help the customer save time, make more money, operate more efficiently or give them peace of mind. Anything else doesn’t matter!

Here’s what the CEO is saying about our CSC Program

 

 

“Consultative Sales Academy’s Custom Training program has significantly helped our team improve their performance. We’re finally back to pre-recession sales results and momentum. Because of the success and positive feedback from both seasoned professionals as well as new sales team members, we are implementing this program company-wide for sales team members, sales managers and operational managers. Our team is geographically dispersed, which makes CSA’s blended approach of e-learning, web training and coaching very desirable. We especially appreciate the flexibility of the program and the personal attention that CSA’s coaches provide to each individual participant. This program is a long-term commitment that is definitely worth the time and investment if your goals are to truly impact sales performance and results. I highly recommend this program.” – Jamie Fletcher, CEO, MACH 1 GLOBAL

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Posted in: CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Sales Certification, Consultative Sales Certification, Consultative Selling, Prospecting, Sales, Sales Certification

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Sales is a process, especially in a consultative sales environment. CEOs often step in to control or manage the sales process, particularly when sales don’t happen.  I have seen it all.  CEOs doing the sales training, CEOs being on first sales calls, CEOs coming to the rescue. It usually causes panic and fear and utter confusion.

So here is the scenario. Sales don’t come in. The CEO panics and thinks he/she needs to take control. As a result, the sales people fear that they might lose their job and/or that they won’t make money.

The sales managers do both. They panic and fear, both for their team, for their compensation and for their reputation.

Here are 7 reasons why CEOs should not be involved in the sales process:

1) CEOs should lead the company, not the sales process

CEOs are charismatic leaders who have a vision for their company and the future of the developments, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should run every single department and be in charge of every detail.

2) CEOs know how to sell to investors, but sales is a process

Clearly, most CEOs know how to sell, but their audiences are different. They know how to sell to investors or shareholders, but sales is a process and most CEOs don’t have a background in sales.

3) Your company will look small when the CEO sells

Imagine, you sit in on a presentation from a vendor and the CEO is sitting there next to the sales person. I have seen it happen. It doesn’t leave a good impression and it makes your company look small. There is nothing wrong with the CEO coming in at the end of the sales process to impress the prospect, but everything wrong with him/her leading the sale.

4) CEOs have a strong ego and sales is about the prospect

CEOs love their company, as they should. That often means that they come from a place of vanity rather than a place of meeting the prospect’s needs. They like to talk about their company, the history, the people because they are proud of their achievements, but in a consultative sales environment the prospect is king and everything should be about their needs.

5) Sales managers get intimidated when the CEO starts meddling

Once CEOs start getting involved in the sales process it usually means that the CEO doesn’t trust their sales managers any more. Why else would they do it. So there is two scenarios. You can fire the sales manager or give him room for improvement. Getting involved will just lead to the sales manager being nervous.

6) Sales people lose respect for their sales managers

Sales people get confused once they get different messages from the CEO and their sales manager. They don’t know who to please and the results are disappointing at best. Once a CEO steps in to control or manage the sales process it’s usually a desperate measure and it leads to confusion.

7) Shouldn’t the CEO be doing other things?

Last, but not least. Shouldn’t CEOs be doing other things than selling? CEOs are in charge of thought leadership, innovation, driving the company to success. Sales should be left to the professionals, whether it’s an in-house sales staff or an outsourced solution.

Here is a message to CEOs:

Hire a sales manager or somebody who will lead the sales process and step away. Let them work their magic. There is many experts out there who can lead a successful team and put revenue on the books. Another big advice. Leave your ego at the door! It’s not about you, it’s about the end result.

Here is a message to sales managers:

I have said it before and I will say it again. Sales is a process and a process needs to be documented and communicated. Invite your CEO to your sales planning sessions, explain your strategy (if you have one!) and manage expectations. If you do that, your CEO (if he/she is wise) will move out of the way and leave you do your thing. If he/she doesn’t, think about moving on because a CEO involved in the sales process hardly ever leads to success. So, you will have to move on either way, on your terms or the latest when layoffs happen due to the lack of sales.

Here is a message to sales people:

Be mindful who you work for. If you don’t, you will not be successful and end up changing jobs every 6 months (I have seen it). If you do however understand your craft, manage up, help your sales managers be successful, provide insight into your work and supply reports of your progress. With clear communication and market research results (e.g. we are targeting the wrong people for our service offering!) you will be able to get support from your managers and you will succeed.

But only, if everybody leaves their EGO at the door.

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The other day I went to the gym and as usual, it was packed. It’s like this every year once the “New” year has started. Everybody wants to fulfill their resolutions and it’s all starting on January 1. In my humble opinion, it’s a recipe for failure, because it’s not about the end result but a starting date.

If we were to set intentions, rather than making resolutions we would probably be more successful in keeping promises to ourselves. If we want to lose weight, our goal shouldn’t be to start dieting on January 1st or 2nd but to set the intention to eat healthier and exercise more.

If we want to be more successful in our business and sales endeavors (especially in consultative selling), we should look at eliminating waste, setting meaningful objectives and then working toward that goal. Any of those intentions can start at any day of the year, that’s the beauty about it. A Tuesday in July is as good a day to set an intention than January 1st.

Know your goal, review the process and set an intention.

Make resolutions when it matters

Resolutions and goals shouldn’t be set based on a date, but on a need. If you feel that something is not working, sit down, review and reflect. Paint a visual picture of where you want to be next year and make adjustments accordingly. Most humans are not wired to make drastic changes, so essentially if we make drastic changes, very often we are setting ourselves up for failure.

Make a plan

In sales, it’s all about closed business. It’s about working smarter and not working harder. More sales calls could lead to more business, but only if we target the right people. The intention should be to increase sales by a certain percentage over a certain time period. As a first step we should review our sales/workflow process and see where we fell short the previous year.

For example, if we had 25 good prospects in the pipeline and we only closed 2 then we should look at what happened during the sales process that prospects didn’t become clients. Maybe there wasn’t enough qualification. Maybe we pushed too hard and in the course pushed the prospect away. There could be many reasons, but just blindly increasing activity without knowing where the pitfalls are only results in more activity and not in increased business.

Set yourself up for success

If we make resolutions that we don’t keep we feel like a failure and it will take a long time until we attempt another try. Usually, it’s another New Year’s resolution the following year. Having a goal and a plan, being reasonable and methodical helps us staying on track. If our goal is to increase business over the course of a year, it also allows us to make adjustments and we will not feel that bad if we make stray from the path once in a while.

Being realistic helps us reaching our goals

Nothing wrong with dreaming and reaching for the stars, but it’s important to be realistic and to break down the process into small steps. Once you set your goal, make sure that you allow for a path that will lead to success. Manage expectations with yourself. It’s always important to manage expectations whether it’s with our children, with our clients, with our prospects or our friends. We should never over-promise or under-deliver. The same holds true when we make a promise to ourselves. Being realistic and reasonable will help us succeed.

Celebrate your achievements

We are so easy to judge ourselves, to look at the things that we didn’t achieve rather than celebrating our success. Thomas Edison once said  “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.” In that spirit, we should view every setback as an opportunity to learn. It’s really important to celebrate the little things in life, especially in sales. There is so much rejection from the outside world with additional pressure from management that we need to find the time to pat ourselves on the shoulder.

Happy Selling!

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Posted in: CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Selling, Prospecting, Sales

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It’s the time of the year again. The holiday season is upon us and it seems that we are stressing out and just trying to get it over with? A good number of people I know don’t really enjoy preparing for the holidays as much as our TV commercials make us believe we do. All those happy ads with kids smiling, parents gladly shopping, and everybody being together and laughing. Not exactly the vibe I am getting when I am out shopping. People seem more stressed, or at least more impatient than the rest of the year. So, my question is – what are we chasing?

Happiness? Well, that’s probably not going to arrive in a box.

The same holds true for business success. We are always chasing the numbers, increased revenue and KPI’s. What if our measure would include human aspects. After all, every company is only as good as their customers and adding the human touch can only increase brand equity. We could go back to the basics of human interaction when doing business and maybe money will follow us. What if our KIP’s would include the following?

1) Gratitude

I deeply believe that being grateful is essential in my personal and my professional life. Without gratitude, it seems to me, some people feel they don’t have enough – keep looking for things rather than appreciating what we have. Ask yourself how many times you actually paid gratitude to your clients and employees. I am always grateful for my clients because they provide me with invigorating and challenging work and my financial health. Why not show our gratitude by sending a little something that is meaningful (and if we are following a consultative sales approach we know a little bit about our clients, right?). It’s the little acts of kindness that really go a long way.

2) Paying attention

I’ve observed of late there is a tendency for people to easily become more superficial than we’d like to be. Perhaps it’s a side effect of technology overwhelm and fast moving times. We all have so much on our plates that we often feel that we are on a treadmill in our current world of instant gratification. How many times do actually listen to your clients by honestly paying attention? Try it, it’s magical. Instead of thinking of other things, start to listen more often and you will discover many areas of opportunities.

3) Authenticity

Focusing on what’s really important also means being authentic. Being authentic means that we have strong beliefs and whatever it is that we do or decide, whether it’s on a personal or professional level it will come from a place of truth. For example, one of my former clients refused to work with tobacco companies, regardless of the money they wanted to pay him. He was authentic in his business approach and while he missed out on all the tobacco related business, his other clients respected him for his strong beliefs. You can actually increase revenue while being authentic. Put your stake in the ground, develop your own yardstick!

4) Respect

The less respectful we are, the higher the probability that we will lose clients. Being respectful is an essential KPI when it comes to doing business and there are many ways to show it. How often have you not returned a phone call? How many times have you been ill prepared for a meeting? We have all done it, but by paying attention to our behavior and being aware of it, we can all increase our level of respect when we interact with people, whether it’s employees, clients, the receptionist or the janitor.

5) Humility

There is nothing wrong with being humble and acknowledging that we are human. Which is the most vulnerable trait of humans? We make mistakes. All of us bar none. Admitting mistakes, being vulnerable and maybe even having a sense of humor about it makes us more attractive, not less. It’s a simple formula. Humility = Success

6) Reliability

Part of my success is in showing up and showing up on time. It sounds very simple and it really is when you are a professional. My motto is to under-promise and over-deliver. The more times we are on-time, prepared and deliver what we promise, the higher our chances of winning or keeping a client.

7) Honesty

Last, but not least, let’s talk about honesty. For some reason there are some sales practitioners (and their management) who feel that it is all right to be a bit dishonest in sales. It happens in other business areas, too but it’s more accepted in sales. There are companies that wholeheartedly encourage their sales people to tell some white lies in order to get business. I deeply feel that’s just plain wrong. Not only does it reflect badly on you as a person, it leaves a horrible impression of your company. I think you would agree that every successful relationship needs to be based on honesty and every single time we are being honest, we are doing the right thing. And, when we do the right thing we are better business people.

So, going forward, build the 7 Ways of Measuring your success into your KPIs and you will see that not only will business thrive but you and your clients will feel better and your company will be highly respected.

Going back to the basics and measuring our success by how our clients and customers feel after interacting with our company could be a new way of establishing KPI’s. It’s worth a try!

Happy holidays and to a 2013 where our clients are happier than they were in 2012!

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Let me start with a question: Have you ever received a phone call from a sales person who stutters around, doesn’t really know who you are, what your company does and starts rambling about some product/service offering that is not at all relevant to your needs?

I’m sure you have, and that can certainly be annoying! That sales person didn’t do her/his “homework”!

In a consultative sales environment, doing your research and getting prepared for a call is as essential as actually picking up the phone and dialing. The first step in a consultative sales approach is the “Pre-Call”, in other words, doing your “homework”. Well planned and executed preparation will help you once the person you are calling on picks up the phone.

Being informed means adding value to a conversation. Whether it’s your first conversation with a prospect, or a follow-up call with a long-time client. It also puts you, the sales person, in a position where you don’t sound like you’re dialing for dollars.

Whether you’re calling on a new prospect or trying to expand your business with existing clients, research and preparation are key.

 Prospecting For New Business

At the core of successful consultative selling is developing a customer-centric sales process and being diligent. Not pushy, not aggressive, but consistent and strategic. You will need to identify exactly what you are selling and what value it brings to your prospects.

Successful consultative sales professionals take time to understand what truly differentiates their service from their competitors’ similar products or services. They do their research. They also make sure they know their own strengths and opportunities for improvement and growth.

Once you have established what you are selling, and how the features and benefits can be of value, then you can begin to do your research to find out who your “ideal prospects” are.

Don’t try to boil the ocean! Be targeted in your approach and choose your prospects accordingly!”

While it is important to own your story, to understand the product/service that you offer and being able to communicate the value, it is also just as important to make sure that your offering fits with your prospect’s objectives. And that you will need to find out. When it comes to prospecting, we usually have to come from a place of assumption because we normally don’t really know the inner workings of a prospect’s organization. In today’s business environment, it’s a lot easier to prepare than it used to be. In the past we had to rely on hearsay or recommendations. Today, we can research companies and people using all the tools available in the on-line world.

This makes it easier for us to prepare but we also want to be careful so as not to assume too much. What might appear to be true could turn out to have changed because on-line data is not always up to date. It still gives us a general reference and guidelines to work off, a starting point for conversation and exploration, and asking questions.

The more research we do before picking up the phone, or writing an e-mail, the easier it will be to start a dialogue. Why? Because people want to feel special, no matter what their title or position is.

In a consultative sales environment, we don’t need to reach out to every single company in the universe. Usually, our universe is a lot smaller than we think once we start researching our ideal prospects.

How can we identify whether a prospect is suitable or not?

Do Your Research, Research, Research, and Some More Research

  1. Make sure you know and fully understand what your offering entails, and in what ways it might be beneficial to your prospective clients.
  2. Identify why your service or product is unique, or superior.
  3. Research and locate companies that would potentially benefit from your offering and where you see a possible fit.

 

For example, if you own a small law firm in Pennsylvania specializing in contract and trademark law, and you are not licensed outside of the state, it will be easier to determine who your prospects could be.

If, however, you are a service provider and your offering could be sold without geographic limitations, you will need to find other qualifiers to sharpen your efforts. Here are some qualifiers that can be used:

  • Industry
  • Geography (you may not want your sales people flying all over the country)
  • Revenue/Size
  • # of employees
  • Public vs. Private sector
  • Website presence (websites are the store fronts of any organization and a lot can be learned from the way a company presents itself on-line)

 

One common mistake in sales is to play the numbers game. Many sales people think (encouraged by their leaders) that more sales calls equals more revenue. It really doesn’t. The more focused you are as a sales person, the more you will find out about your prospects and the higher the likelihood is that you will have meaningful conversations to get you closer to your goal. And your goal is always either closing a sale or, if it’s not a fit, leaving a good impression.

Get Ready to Pick Up the Phone

Once you identified 15-20 companies (as a starting point) that could be a good fit for your product/service offering based on your research, it’s time to prepare what you’re going to say and even more importantly, what questions you’re going to ask. What kind of questions do you ask? Use open-ended questions to give the person you are speaking with the opportunity to explain their situation, their potential needs in their own words. Practice what you could say, how your prospects might react. Prepare a “Prospect Analysis Form” or open a CRM file so you can enter all the information you will be receiving. Then it’s time to pick up the phone. Be personal and engaging in your conversations with the presumed decision makers and they will provide you with insights on whether your initial assumption was correct. As a result you could find out that the marketing team is not the department that will buy your service, but perhaps a newly developed consumer insights team. If you are knowledgeable, courteous and respectful, people will guide and help you to find the correct path. It will also help you collect valuable market research and sharpen your message going forward.

Get in Another Person’s Shoes

In the end, make sure you visualize that you have a person on the other end of the line. Someone possibly a lot like you. You’ll do yourself a great service and be able to offer something of value by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.

Get the Consultative Sales Model
Here’s where the Consultative Sales model begins: PRE-CALL, where you set your objectives, do your “intelligence” work, and develop your
repertoire of questions for your prospects..

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Posted in: Cold Calling, CONSULTATIVE SALES, Consultative Selling, Lead Generation, Prospecting, Sales

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