Sales Chump

This article comes from our good friend Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy:

Look around you. It’s as if everything, along with the economy is just creeping along. This is a far different pace than in the boom years that preceded the recession. Some of this is understandable. When we are afraid, we want to take our time so that we make no mistakes. After we’ve been burned we move forward tentatively. We become more deliberate. We slow down. But is this the right course of action?

 

I have a friend who works as a sales director for a division of a large company. We like to get together from time to time and share war stories. In a recent conversation he told me about a paradox that was impacting the ability of his team to sell. He said that because of the recession his company was being more cautious about brining on new customers. They had installed a new layer of approvals and it was taking twice as long as it had in the past to get new contracts approved. But at the same time he said he was getting tremendous pressure to sell more business because his organization desperately needed top line revenue. He threw his hands up, “What the hell do they want me to do Jeb? My salespeople are frustrated, our new clients are questioning our integrity, and though I know it is not intentional, the entire sales process is grinding to a halt.”

Unfortunately, this is not that unusual. During recessions we have the tendency to slow down. And slowing down is not just isolated to businesses – we do the same thing in our personal lives. Look around you. It’s as if everything, along with the economy is moving in slow motion. This is a far different pace than in the boom years that preceded this crisis. Some of this is understandable. When we are afraid, we want to take our time so that we make no mistakes. After we’ve been burned we move forward tentatively. We become more deliberate. We slow down.

But there is good news for the individuals and businesses that rise above this paradigm. These are the people who will not allow fear to cloud their vision. With clarity, they can see opportunity where others cannot. And instead of slowing down they speed up.

Think about it like this. If you were driving a car on an interstate going 70 miles an hour and there was another car going 60 miles an hour one mile ahead of you, how long would it take you to overtake and pass that car? I won’t bore you with a high school word problem suffice to say it would take miles of driving to eventually catch up. This is what business is like in a normal economy. It takes much more time, effort and money to catch your competitors. However, what if you were in the same car going 70 miles an hour and one mile ahead of you there was a car parked on the side of the road stationary. How long would it take to pass that car? What if you were moving even faster?

This is the argument for accelerating during a recession. Businesses and people everywhere have pulled over to the side of the road and parked, hoping to ride out the recession in safety. Others like my friend’s company are creeping along in the slow lane. So right now, there is amazing opportunity to put the pedal to the metal and pass them while they are all standing still. Right now, speed is your greatest competitive advantage.

Now is the time to aggressively attack the market, adopt new technologies that improve productivity, introduce new products and services, and become more efficient. Now is the time to hit your competitors harder, invest in your brand, set new goals and create a new vision for yourself. To prosper during the recession, urgency is mandatory. Sooner or later, the recession will end and when that happens speed will give you a huge head start over your competitors who have been sitting on the side of the road.

Urgency and acceleration are about mindset. In many ways just a simple belief system that gives you the strength to trust in yourself and your talent. Acceleration in a down economy is about getting out of your comfort zone and letting go of the status quo. It is about accepting that things have changed, letting the past go, and then building a new future. I’m not saying this is easy because it is human nature to default to our comfort zones. But it is necessary if you want to thrive during the recession. Take time to set new goals. Get clear on what you want. Open yourself up to new possibilities. And then take decisive action to move forward one step at a time.

There is opportunity everywhere. And opportunity has always been here – it didn’t just get up and leave because the economy went sour. It is just different opportunity. But you can only see this opportunity when you look forward instead of backward. You can only exploit it when you replace fear with trust in the fundamentals of sales and business. And when you accelerate, moving faster, driven by urgency, always looking forward, I guarantee that you will be unstoppable.

Jeb is also the writer of the Sales Quick and Dirty Tips.

What do you do when the sale comes down to price? First, you should probably ask yourself, “How did I let it come to price?”

In basic economics class, we learn the sprit of capitalism. Charge what the market will bear. This means that if find a diamond on the ground and pick it up, that I shouldn’t simply sell it for $1.00 just because it was free to me. The object has value and it is entirely fair and ethical for me to charge what the market “buyers” will pay me for it. Even, if that means selling it for thousands of dollars!

Before going into your presentation and talking 80% of the time, ask them lots of questions first. You want to know what their situation is, how long it’s been that way and what they want to accomplish with you or any other vendor. Is your product or service a part of a larger strategy that you may possible to offer something entirely different?

By uncovering the needs of the prospect, you are creating value. This accomplishes two major wins in your direction. 1, the customer is thinking about their situation being better with your product or service and 2, they are beginning to believe that you are sincere in helping them look good to their superiors. Even top executives have to answer to someone (i.e.: shareholders) and everyone wants to look good to those they answer to.

When you are asked, “How much is it?” or “What’s your price?” you should confidently tell the prospect the amount. Do not hesitate, obviously the prospect will sense your uncertainty and will lose confidence with you and worst of all, your offer. Customers buy from people they trust and like. Even in a bid situation, the customer will feel better about paying a higher price, if they believe in you. Sell value, not price.

This poem is from Jill Konrath’s Selling to Big Companies:

       The Buyer’s Lament

Don’t waste my time, please go away.
I will not talk with you today.
You call me up, you want to sell.
But all you do is tell, tell, tell.

I do not want to hear your spiel.
I will not play let’s make a deal.
So listen up, take my advice.
Discover how you can entice.

If you aspire to earn my trust,
Research is an absolute must.
Know my goals, the issues I face.
Use this to build your business case.

What have you done for firms like mine?
How have you helped their bottom line?
Can you cut my costs or help me grow?
Now that’s the info I want to know.

If you can help me solve my plight,
I’m wide open to fresh insight.
I need to find new perspectives
So I can reach my objectives.

Want me to remember your name?
Launch an account entry campaign.
Ten contacts is what it may take,
When there’s so much business at stake.

Just think of this next time you phone
And you’ll get past my no-entry zone,
Once you get your foot in the door,
I guarantee you’ll sell lots more!

I dabbled just briefly with B2B Sales in B2B Sales Part 1.  Now we get just a little further into this section of sales.  There are full sites dedicated to B2B Sales so tackling all aspects in a matter of one or two posts will not be feasible nor would it be logical to do so.  In this edition of B2B Sales, we will talk about “the chase”.

The chase is the beginning steps of the B2B sales process.  This is where you will be either cold calling or gathering information.  It’s called “the chase” as you will be trying to find the decision maker or when they look at the service you provide.  Not every prospect you talk to will be looking at your product or service right when you happen to call them.  In a perfect world, this will happen but we all know the world we live in is not this way.

Set goals for the first part of your call.  For me it results to my goals for cold calling.  I want to accomplish just a couple things in my first call in a B2B sales process.  I want to know:

1. Who the decision maker is
2. When they make these decisions
3. How important this service is to their business

Those are my biggest 3 objectives on my first call and the beginning steps of the B2B Sales process. Now this step is called the chase because #1 above isn’t always as quick as just asking for it.  Sometimes it takes time.  Especially dealing with big companies that have their own bureaucracy.

As in the other post, this type of sales cycle tends to be a little longer.  Sometimes it can be quick but don’t get frustrated if the sales cycle lasts longer.  Look at the product your selling, how long it took others to act on it and various other factors.  If your average sales cycle is 3 weeks for an entire sales cycle, don’t spend 3 weeks on trying to get a decision maker.  You could have completed another sale by now.  If you can’t land a deal, cut bait!

Here is a little story about turning lemons into lemonade. A little over a year ago, I lost a very close friend of mine due to an illness. I researched, planned and did whatever I thought I could do to try and help her. After a short battle, I just couldn’t change what was in the cards.

There are some things you just can’t change, no matter how unfair they may be or how hard you try. But, you CAN change what these events mean to you. It’s an incredible power, which gives you total control over your life. If you can’t change what is happing to you, you can surely change what it means to you.

It’s not easy at first, it will take some practice and discipline. Your mind is like any other muscle in your body, it gets stronger with repeated action. By flexing your mental muscle, it will get easier to “look at the bright side” of things.

In the case of my beloved friend, I was very upset and began blaming myself, God, the doctors, etc… It was an extremely powerful feeling of sorrow that I knew I had to change or I would fall into a deep depression. I took this negative feeling and began focusing my energies on my current situation. What did I not like about it? Well, I was not that happy with my job, the city I lived in, or my current state of health. I decided at that moment that was going to change everything in my life that I was not satisfied with. I felt that dealing with the passing of my friend would be easier if I could begin on positive changes in my own life. Life will make more sense when energy is not spent blaming others, but rather concentrating on how changes to certain feelings will fix the problem.

After just a year, I have obtained a great new job in a fun and exciting city, received a promotion, dropped 12 lbs, furnished a house, paid off nearly all my debt and recently married a beautiful woman. Life has gotten a little easier, although. I still miss my friend very much, but the unfairness of the situation has taken a backseat to the good times that I remember more clearly now.

The point is that life will change in ways that you don’t initially want it too. But, welcome it with new eyes as you control what these changes will mean to you. You have the power of how these changes will affect you. It takes practice and in some cases, a lot of reminding yourself of what you’re trying to accomplish. Strengthen those mental muscles and they will get stronger. It’s an unlimited power that you can give yourself.

The positive changes in my life have helped me deal with an extremely negative experience that could have easily gone the other way, if I l let it. It was much harder not to, but in the end it was well worth it.

“When faced with a decision to make, the harder one to make is usually the right one.” – The Negotiator