Increase Sales Blog

Posts Tagged ‘sales process’

Execution of the typical strategic business plan fails for a variety of reasons.  The two main reasons, from my experience, are:

1. Lack or poor of understanding what strategy is
2. Lack of simplicity when it comes to actually taking action

After reading an informative article on the Ten Tips to a Winning Business Plan, I realized once again these two factors are usually ignored in writing any business plan.

Strategy is defined differently by many people. However, in researching the origins of this word several years ago I learned it was from  the Greek word “stratçgos” and came from two different words.

What this word meant was for a General to defeat his enemies. In today’s context, it means for an organization to out think their competition allowing them to go just beyond surviving to truly thriving.

A well written strategic action plan requires an investment of time to conduct the necessary research specific to:

• Target audience specific to demographics and most importantly psychographics
• Market trends from local to national to international
• Thorough organizational analysis meaning how well can the firm handle the sales process from the beginning stages of marketing to the final stage of delivery and support of the products or services
• Employee capabilities
• Management capabilities
• Future growth and innovation
• Financial resources both current and future

Failure number two of simplicity is evidence by the sheer volume of pages found in many strategic business plans.  Yes research does require compilation and synthesis and this may be included as back up documentation within the Appendix, however it does not need to be part of the published document.

What is needed is just a one page business action plan from which to keep track of current primary goals.  This one page plan can be supported by auxiliary or supplemental one page goal driven plans.

Also there needs to be a goal achievement process reinforced with a goal setting worksheet or tool to keep everyone communicating, pardon the pun, on the same page. For without this small, but necessary tool, execution will probably fail.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Very few people ever learn how to consistently set and achieve their goals. This is proven by all the failed New Year Resolutions.

Having a written plan is always a good thing, but having one that is easily understood, that secures buy in from others through its simplicity and is goal driven is much better.  By taking this action, you can indeed be the Red Jacket in a sea of Gray Suits.

One of the most fatal marketing mistakes to make is to sell from the stage. Small business owners, professional salespersons, entrepreneurs to C Level executives have experienced this “faux pas” if not at least one time to dozen of times.

For example, you attend a conference or similar event and in many cases you have exchanged your profits or your disposable income with the hope or better yet the goal to walk away with:

• New way to think
• An idea to increase sales
• Strategy to improve productivity

You sit in your comfortable or maybe not so comfortable seat to listen to what you believe are some gems of wisdom to take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Suddenly your ears pick up and you hear the last thing you want to hear that dreaded sales pitch.

Sometimes this fatal marketing faux pas comes half way through the presentation or at the end. Regardless of where this appeal is made, your eyebrows and possibly even hackles have been raised. What then happens is you become suspicious of all future events even those offered by different organizations or individuals because no one wants to be sold from the stage.

Now with the expansion of social media this poisoned marketing action has now evolved to selling from the page. Read the Tweets, Facebook wall writing or LinkedIn discussion posts and instantly any small business owner, salesperson, entrepreneur or C Level executive can quickly see the plethora of selling from the page. Many of those engaged in this first phase of the sales process where they attempt to gain attention and to build the relationship just skip right over it. They immediately jump into spewing the 3Ps virus of product, price or proposal or what Jeb Blount of Sakes Gravy shares in his book People Buy You as “pump and dump.”

Individuals who do deliver such messages are engaged in the traditional sales or product based marketing instead of education based marketing.  Their goal is not to educate and create pr show value, but rather to overwhelm their potential customers (a.k.a. prospects) with what they know about their products or services.  In many cases, these salesperson disguised as marketers are truly clueless about the value their products or services deliver. Sales Coaching Tip:  Marketing is the first phase of the sales process where the goal is to have an established relationship. Selling to strangers is very difficult.

So how does one determine if someone is selling from the page or not beyond the very obvious attempts?  One way is to see if the URL within the message takes you to a squeeze page (I truly dislike that term) where you are immediately asked to buy something. This page may be a very well written and long  sales letter.

Another way to determine selling from the page is if you go to the directed URL, attempt to leave and then receive a message are you sure you want to leave?  If the words (copy) on the page truly provided value, why must there be such a message?

Many authentic salespersons who are engaged in education based marketing and truly understand the sales process will write articles, leave thoughtful words such as the quotes of others or even pose a great discussion questions. Their goal is to share and educate not to sell. By proving their expertise by not selling, they have enhanced their credibility and have begun to build that necessary relationship.

Social media may have changed the marketing platform, but this one thing does not change. People will buy from people they know and trust. If  you want to be the Red jacket, then make sure you are not selling from the page.

If you could invest only 5-10 minutes a week to increase sales and your influence would you be willing to take that action?  Most people would say of course they would. And now maybe you are thinking what is the hitch? What are you trying to sell me?

First, I am not selling any product or service that will require you digging into your pocketbook or using your credit card. What I am suggesting is for you to revisit your values statement and think about how by walking your talk you can become invaluable as Jill Konrath shares in her book SNAP Selling.

All you must do is to write one favorable recommendation each week on LinkedIn.  Of course these must be authentic referrals and not just “quid pro quo” or “I wash your back you wash mine.”

For example, you know another business professional who goes out of his or her way for his or her customers.  You have interacted with him or her on a professional level and you even may be a customer.  What would it take, 5-10 minutes to write 50 words sharing your experiences with others.

Usually, you will receive an immediate acknowledgment from the person thanking you. Then somewhere down the calendar, this person may return the favor. However, your original purpose being the authentic and leader  you are is not to seek one in return, but to approach this from a giver’s gain philosophy as expressed by Dr. Ivan Misner.

As people visit the person you recommended they can read your referral. If they are potential centers of influence or even better yet potential customers, you have taken the first step in the sales process and that is attracting attention.  Then they may wish to be connected with you and that action transitions into the second step of building the relationship.  As Rome was not built over night neither are relationships or the demonstration of strong business ethics.

Since we live unfortunately in a society where negativity appears to be ever present, then why not make someone’s day and share a few kind and authentic words?  Who knows you may reap far more such as increase sales than you could have ever realized?

P.S. Does it not make more sense to be the Red jacket because you have demonstrated high business ethics than to be hanging with all those other gray suits?

Recently I came upon a story  (source unknown) about flaws (negative) and being believable.  Back in the mid 1980’s, an experiment was conducted by researchers at Cleveland State University with this startling discovery that flaws made a person more believable. What these researchers did was to create two made up job candidates by the names of David and John. Both resumes and reference letters were 100% identical except in one letter this statement was “Sometimes, John can be difficult to get along with.” The researchers showed the resumes and letters to numerous personnel directors.  The candidate who was overwhelmingly preferred was John because the criticism made the praise more believable.

In the sales process, being believable is quite important because people buy from people they know and trust. No one is perfect. Having flaws and being able to admit to those flaws reinforces that you are human.

How and when these flaws materialize is different for all salespersons.

One thing is that having flaws is different than being constantly engaged in negative behavior. Unfortunately sometimes people become confused between these two concepts.

No one likes and more important believe sales people who are consistently knocking the competition or always complaining about how bad business is or fellow employees. These negative behavior comments reflect a deep well of negative emotions.  And frankly who wants to be around someone like that?

Yet when a salesperson admits a mistake or even tells a potential client that he or she is not the best fit for the client only makes the person more believable and credible.  This is someone who others can relate to and probably want to know even better. To be the Red Jacket requires you to be different. And being honest by admitting your flaws may just help you to increase sales.

Anybody can sell.  Have you heard that?  Maybe years ago that was true, but in today’s highly competitive global market place, this is no longer true.

If your desire is to increase sales, then you must go beyond being Mr., Mrs. Or Ms. Anybody.  You must become the expert, the trusted advisor, the go to person for your clients.  Selling today goes far beyond earning or what others call closing a sale.

So how do you become what I like to call the be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, where you are seen first, where people figuratively and even literally run over people to talk to you?  That is a great question.

First you must look within yourself.  Since “sales is a transference of feelings” (Zig Ziglar), then you must first know your feelings before you can understand the feelings of others.  To quote Shakespeare: “To thine own self be true.” Sales Coaching Tip:  A proven assessment may help you unlock your talents and stop you from focusing on your non-talents that you may potentially turned into weaknesses.

Second, you must acknowledge the behaviors that you will demonstrate.  This is called a written values statement.

Third, you must truly understand marketing.  Many in sales confuse marketing with selling and think they are the same thing.  This is a BIG mistake.

Fourth, you probably need a proven sales process so that you know when you may be potentially making a huge misstep.

Fifth, having written goals will separate you from all the other anybodies. From my experience, the majority at least 75% if not closer to 90% of those engaged in selling do not write down their goals. Yet, these same individuals will commit their grocery list to writing. What is more important, the common every day grocery list or your professional or business future?

Sixth, you need to be committed to not being the anybody.  This means you must believe in you, know why you are different and a person to be trusted. Sales Coaching Tip:  Consider adding this book to your sales library – People Buy You – author Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy.

Seventh, you must take action.  Without action, you will indeed be like all those other gray suits. Sales Coaching Tip:  If taking action is your downfall, then find a mentor or a sales coach to help you.

As you read through these seven tips, identify the one you need to work on first.  Then turn that into a goal statement (Tip 5). Be committed to achieving this goal (Tip 6). And finally, take the pre-determined and planned actions (Tip 7) to increase sales so that you will be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits.

Getting customers is essential to any business.  With the advent of technology and its ongoing expansion to more dynamic platforms such as 2.0, some believe that the only marketing needed is a website.  And maybe for some Internet focused businesses such as Amazon this may be true. However, in my opinion, for the majority of small business owners a website is just one piece of the overall marketing puzzle.

Within the sales process of getting customers, there are both marketing and selling steps each having specific goals supported by specific behaviors. Websites are great for attracting attention, building relationships by providing value rich content or information and may make the actual exchange of dollars for purchased goods and services relatively simple through electronic shopping carts.  Yet, business (getting customers) is still about people connecting with each other or what has been called relationship selling.

Even if your business lacks a brick and mortar store front, people still need to be able to reach out to you especially when they have questions or something goes wrong. This is why websites alone may not increase sales.  For it is how you or your representatives interact with your customers that will increase sales or possibly even decrease sales.

So as you begin this next business week in getting customers, do not forget the human element as you optimized your website, enrich its content or add another products to your shopping cart.

P.S. Speaking of forgetting, you may find my weekly business column of interest.

Once again I received an interesting email about marketing and blogging. I clicked on the embedded video and was taken to a squeeze page. If I wanted to watch the video I had to leave my contact information.

Credit: yourwebpa.com

What was interesting in this email was the sender who is a popular online marketing maven indicated she she was also upset about “big-name gurus” who ” try to pass off blatant sales pitches as “tell-all interviews.”  Isn’t that also the same in many of these emails that imply you are going to get something for free and then it turns out free will cost you your contact information? I wrote about this in an earlier sales blog when Free is not free.

I began to think what would happen if she had provided the video and then offered something extra such as a copy of the actual interview script?  Would I have been more likely to leave my information?  Probably, yes especially if the content of the video interview as important to me in growing my sales training coaching and organizational development (OD) business.

Ethics and values, in my humble opinion, are so important in the sales process from the initial marketing to the actually selling behaviors.   Implications of free when it is not free only causes me so concern as to the individuals ethics and values or lack thereof. And I know become suspect as to that person’s positive core values especially if he or she was attempting to distance herself or himself from everyone else.  These individuals appear they want to be the Red Jacket, but in all actuality are like all the other gray suits.

Last June, my first book was published by Sales Gravy Press.  Today I am investing a few moments to reflect and acknowledge those who have helped.

First a  BIG thank you to Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy for having faith in me and allowing me to expand beyond where I was with just article writing. Today, I have written over 2,000 articles not to mention the over 100 posts on this sales blog since its inception in February of 2010.

And a second thank you  to all of those who have read the book and invested a few moments of their time to share their reviews of be the Red Jacket at Amazon. By the way if you have read the book and found it to have value, please consider leaving your thoughts at Amazon. Did you know that Amazon.com was one of the first social media sites through their customer reviews?  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Leaving reviews at Amazon can be a marketing strategy to encourage inbound sales leads.

The last year has been very eventful because I continue to gain greater clarity around the sales process and how alignment within the entire organization is absolutely critical for long term growth and profitability.  I have come to believe as I have written that selling within the sales process is truly a one-time event while marketing is a continuum.  McDonald’s is probably the best example of this because even in down economic times they still market through print, radio and television marketing messages.

Currently, I have made a written commitment to myself to complete my second book which will be on sales training. Since I am trained instructional designer (M.S. fro Purdue University Lafayette, IN), my sense is that I can bring a different perspective to effective sales training and sales coaching.  Another goal is to be one of the top 100 sales blogs. Also I have an idea about another book, one that is probably more inspirational and not as directly connected to sales success.

I truly believe that the more you write, the better you think and the better you think, the more you write.  I encourage everyone to expand their current writing efforts be them in their blogs, in their article marketing efforts or just within a daily dream journal as my colleague Laura Novakowski discussed in her blog.

Finally, reflection is an internal process and really speaks to self-discipline. If you are in sales, this is critical to achieve the goal to increase sales. However, even if you are not in the marketing or selling arenas, reflection is a good thing for all of us.

P.S. In celebration of this first anniversary, I am offering this special opportunity. Thanks for stopping by and please return.

Ignoring the needs of your customers within the sales process is very expensive. This was very aptly demonstrated by the primary results of June 7, 2010 in many races from state to federal elections.  In many cases, those already in office (think current vendors) ignored the psychographics of their constituents (customers and potential customers). They invested thousands to hundreds of thousand of dollars for a failed marketing campaign. (Earlier today,  I wrote about the impact of psychographics using the election results  in my article at Examiner.com.)

Beyond losing the customer what also happens when ignoring the why behind the decision making process, there is an incredible drain to the bottom line (profits). In one of my all time favorite books, Corporate Canaries which is a very short yet powerful read,  the author Gary Sutton discusses that you cannot outgrow losses.  What that means to me is you cannot outsell losses.

Unsuccessful marketing campaigns be them elections to product launches  are truly 95% marketing and 5% selling. These campaigns drain profits.  This is why I focus so much of this blog on effective marketing and business ethics.  As I have repeatedly said and will continue to do so is unless someone knows about you, your products or services will stay on the shelf and there will no new dollars in the cash register.

And when they do notice you, your behaviors must demonstrate your business ethics.  We have all witnessed when buyers find a disconnect between what a person says and what a person does.  The Helen Thomas early retirement is one such example.

The customer experience begins with that first notice.  Then if they are truly qualified they will extend that experience and potentially place additional criteria within their decision making process.  So when you understand them through their psychographics you have the opportunity to more firmly establish that relationship of trust because people buy from people they know and trust.  Additionally, you will begin to discover these additional criteria that may turn into obstacles for you. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Buying is an emotional process justified through a logical thought process.

Ignoring your customers does cost you beyond losing the sale. Remember this before you engage in another marketing initiative. Also make  sure your business  values are consistently demonstrated.  And finally, leave your ego at the door with all the other gray suits so you can that stands out in the crowd and be the Red Jacket.

Strategy is a word often used, but probably misused as well. This word traces its origins back to the Greek for a general to deceive his enemies. Today this would mean for you to deceive or better yet, out think  your competition especially if you wish to increase sales.

So how do you out think your competition?  One way is to learn more about your potential customer or client (a.k.a. prospect).

To learn more suggests you already know something because you have invested the time to research your  target market and identified specific potential customers within all of that collected data. This information has been filtered through what has been identified as Bloom’s Taxonomy with the end results of written marketing and sales action plans.

Additional time has focused on creating a written script so that you can secure that first meeting and then that coveted appointment where you truly begin to better understand your potential qualified customers and his or her specific needs.

This meeting is your first strategy session and transitions you from the first of the three phases of the sales process marketing to the second one selling.  For this meeting to go well, does require that the first phase of marketing be well executed. Sales Coaching Tip:  Depending upon the complexity of the sale, you may have several strategy sessions.

In the marketing phase, there are two steps (well within my sales process there are two steps, I am not sure about yours):

1. Attract attention
2. Build a relationship

Since people buy from people they know and trust, until these first two steps are successfully completed, earning the sales (closing the deal if you prefer) probably will not happen. Also with sales research suggesting only 2% of all sales are made during the first connection and by even the fourth contact only 20% of all sales are earned, then this should help you understand the goal to increase sales is not a quick process.

The strategy session time frame is 60 to 90 uninterrupted minutes. Here is where you can apply your self leadership skills to sales skills to even better understand the person across the table. Now is not the time for you to talk (think sell), but rather for your potential customer to share what is happening in his or her world (think actively listen). Your goal is to build connections between those happenings and how your product or service provides additional value.

Top sales performers understand the value of a strategy session and how this helps to increase sales. By remembering your goal is to out think the competition will help you to remember to:

• Do you homework
• Listen for what others have missed
• Be authentic
• When appropriate present real and sustainable solutions to real problems and not symptoms posing as problems

By taking this actions, you can be the Red jacket in the sea of gray suits.