Category: Strategy Planning

Selling To The 5 Types of Challenging Customers

Business Analysis, Customer Service, Marketing, Strategy Planning

Did you ever have that one customer? You know the one that I mean. When their name appears you know that it’s going to take a little extra time, you force a smile on your face and brace yourself for something that would otherwise be a simple issue for any other customer. Let’s face it, at the end of the day we are happy to have the sale, but why does this one make you work harder than all of the other ones? 

One of the main issues with challenging customers is that they are not all the same and cannot be treated the same. Many salespeople are like hammers always looking for a nail. We don’t know what to do when we encounter a screw, bolt, or staple. Sure, they sort of look like a nail in some ways, but when you hit them with your sales hammer they just bend and break instead of going into the wood. The agile salesperson always keeps a screwdriver, staple gun, and wrench nearby just in case. Here are the 5 different types of challenging customers and how best to work with them.

  1. Needy – Some customers just need a little extra time and care. They take comfort in the relationship that they have (or are developing) with their salesperson. Give them the assurance they need in your relationship, but help them to develop trust with you over time to shorten their buying cycle. Do this by asking them enough questions to demonstrate that you understand their need.
  2. Indecisive – Some people just can’t seem to make up their minds and, if you give them too many options, they might just bust a mental spring. These types of customers often operate unknowingly out of fear. The best way to help these types of customers is to give them limited options and create reasonable deadlines for making decisions.
  3. Curious – These customers are your tire kickers. They can spend more time thinking than buying. They are always on the hunt for more information, sometimes without any intention of buying. They can have you spending a lot of time preparing quotes but never really having a true intention of making a sale. Set the expectation up front with them by asking them how important this issue is, what their buying decision criteria are, and when they plan to make their final decision.
  4. Confused – These customers are struggling to connect the dots. Perhaps they don’t speak your lingo or maybe what you are offering them is overly complicated. Sometimes this confusion can appear as anger when it is expressed in an email. Respectfully, some customers have to be talked to like a 5-year-old not that they are unintelligent, but they are just operating on a different wavelength. Make sure you slow things down and try not to spend much time proving how smart you are by using too much industry speak. 
  5. Angry – A customer has either verbally expressed that they are upset or you can clearly detect it in their tone. Be careful jumping to this conclusion based on email threads as they do not accurately depict emotions. If you do encounter an angry customer, use the intensity reduction method. Acknowledge the issue, demonstrate that you understand the problem, embrace the challenge, and take ownership of the solution.

CHOPPED For Change: A Sales Culture Makeover

Business Analysis, Marketing, Posts, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Do you know what you look like when you are stressed? We think we do, but other people can see stress on us better than we can see it on ourselves. In fact, for salespeople, we are doing our best to hide our stress, but our body language gives us away. Our jaws stay clenched. Our brow outlines the hint of a scowl. You look like you are ready to fall asleep or collapse under the weight of exhaustion. No fun. You want and need something to change. Wouldn’t it be nice to get one of those makeovers that you see on TV? I admit that I am not one to consult when it comes to your physical appearance, but you know what else looks stressed? Your sales culture.

 

It is hard to hide the symptoms of a stressed sales culture. New sales people last for 12 to 18 months at best. Few, if any, salespeople are reaching their goals. Phones get more attention than the agenda at the sales meetings. There is no sense of sales process. You’re losing customers. You’re not finding new customers. Your sales culture looks like it will collapse under the weight of its own exhaustion. Now, here is a makeover I can help you with. Things need to get better, and they can, but you will need a process to do this. You need to get CHOPPED for change. 

 

  • Communication – You need to start talking more with your salespeople and their customers. You want feedback that is honest and conversations that happen frequently. Be ready to listen and you will hear what you team and the culture needs.
  • Habits – Small habits compounded over time make big results. What small and achievable changes can you make with your team today that will start to turn things around? Celebrate victories? Run a better sales meeting? There is much to pick from.
  • Outcomes – What is it that you really want? It could be sales, higher employee retention, better processes or just better engagement. Stay focused on that goal and, if possible, focus on one or two goals at a time.
  • Process – Change, as a concept, is easy but the work is hard. You need to create a simple roadmap that you can follow toward your desired outcome in case you get lost along the way.
  • Patience – Good things take time. Stay the course. Change is not a pass/fail test and some days it is an endurance challenge.
  • Engagement – Be with your team during the change. Cultural changes are scary for sales people; even when they are good changes (they are a suspicious bunch). Don’t become an absentee leader during this critical time.
  • Desire – Make sure the change is something that create a mutual benefit and everyone will want. No one ever likes working in a negative sales environment, but if you tap into their desire, you have plenty of people helping you with this change.

When Clients Go Silent – The Capitulation Method

Uncategorized, Marketing, Posts, Sales Coaching, Strategy Planning

Is silence a surrender or a capitulation? It can be when you are dealing with a client who has suddenly gone quiet with their communication. Nothing makes a salesperson more paranoid than a client who suddenly goes silent and stops communicating. I’m not saying that you’re the jealous type, but when it comes to sales, you kind of are. You go crazy telling yourself all types of stories about why the customer isn’t calling you back. At least 95% of those stories are guaranteed to be totally wrong, but you’ll keep repeating those stories over and over until you find out what is really going on. After all, this customer has always great and responsive and it is quite unusual that she is not responding to my email and phone calls. Clearly, she must be getting a quote from your competitor and you are going to lose her business. Is that true?

 

Salespeople tell themselves some of the most awful stories when they don’t have all the information about the client and the sale. We are a worst-case scenario bunch as we try to figure out what went wrong before we even know if there is anything wrong at all. Before you let your mind go to all the wrong places, there is a simple and effective method that will get the information and communication flowing again; The Capitulation Method.

 

Before we talk about the Capitulation Method, let’s take a moment to explore possible reasons why a client can go silent. The most common reasons usually have to do with how busy or overwhelmed a client is at a particular moment. They don’t mean to ignore you, and may not even realize that they are doing so, but they likely don’t understand the importance of your outreach the same way that you do. Even unfortunate issues in their personal lives such as sickness, divorce, or even death will make your issue rather unimportant to them. Clients are almost never silent to be vindictive or to send you some kind of message. Most of the time it is not deliberate and they are not aware of their inaction. 

 

No matter what situation your client is dealing with, you still have your needs. You have to get that form signed or get an answer for one of their orders. Perhaps it’s time to renew an agreement and it is getting down to the wire. Before you use the Capitulation Method, you need to check your communication method. Salespeople love emails as a tool a little too much. If this has been your only form of outreach, it is possible that you have been contributing to the noise in a client’s already overloaded inbox. Pick up the phone. You will be surprised how, more often than not, this gets you unstuck in less than 5 minutes. If that still doesn’t garner a response, here is the Capitulation Method (in email form)

 

Subject Line: Customer, I will be stopping by your office Thursday at 10:00 AM

 

Dear Customer,

 

I hope you have received the previous messages I was sending you about the contract renewal. I will come to your office this Thursday at 10:00 AM with the final paperwork for you to sign. Unless I hear otherwise, I’ll assume this time works for you.

 

Sincerely, Salesperson

 

Suddenly the client has to respond to you because your communication just became a reality instead of an option. Silence is capitulation, meaning that they are agreeing to your request if they don’t respond. At first glance, you think this method is bold and makes you feel uncomfortable. It is bold, but what is more uncomfortable; being bold or not getting a response from your client for several weeks? One thing is for sure, this method will almost always get you unstuck and rather quickly. You can expect one of these outcomes and most of which will work in your favor.

 

  1. ‘That time doesn’t work’ – After the client read the subject line of your email, they suddenly realize that they have to respond. That response usually starts with an apology. “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you. Thursdays are not good for me. Can you come by Friday morning?” This is the most common outcome of the Capitulation Method.
  2. *no response – You come by Thursday morning as you promised because you weren’t told otherwise. When you arrive, you finally get to speak to a real person (hopefully your client) and find out what is really going on. You may not be having the meeting you intended to have, but this should get things back on the right path because, at the very least, you’ll either find out what you needed to know or you can reschedule this meeting with your client face to face. 
  3. ‘The truth is’ – Perhaps there is a change in your relationship that the client finally has to come clean about. Maybe they are switching to the competition after all. At this point, they are forced to come clean about whatever information they are withholding. This is rarely the case, but if this happens, you now at least know what you’re dealing with and come up with a plan of how you will deal with it. 

 

The Capitulation Method can take on various forms. For example, your client’s office may be several hours away and a drop-in visit isn’t practical. Instead, you can send them a calendar invite for a video meeting and send some reminders up to the meeting. Be creative but be bold. Give your client the benefit of the doubt for sure, but don’t let them create a log jam in your process just because they are not being responsive. 

Am I a Bad Sales Manager?

Business Analysis, Posts, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Nobody is perfect. You know this is true if you have ever had, or have been, a sales manager. We all make mistakes and I would believe that most of us want to do better overall. It is a wonder that there aren’t more self-help groups for managers in general; if there are any at all. So, are you a good manager or a bad manager? 

No one wants to be told that their breath stinks and I certainly don’t want to be the one that has to tell you that, but maybe I can politely offer you a stick of gum by calling your attention to some of the common mistakes many sales managers make. Here is a list of the top 10 sales management mistakes that you can easily focus on improving.

 

  1. Not running a good sales meeting – You have no written agenda, you don’t solve any problems and no one learns anything. Time to step it up a bit.
  2. Not maintaining the goals – Sales goals come too late, are ignored, changed or just aren’t being discussed.
  3. Not acknowledging successes and failures – No one is motivated or learns from experience because you don’t discuss what is or is not working.
  4. Withholding information – Your team doesn’t get reports and projections in a timely manner.
  5. Not establishing KPIs – Your team doesn’t really have a great sense of strategy because they don’t know or understand the key performance indicators that will make them successful.
  6. Not establishing a process – Salespeople are forced to make things up as they go along because you have not established best practices for your team.
  7. Not listening – You spend too much time talking to your salespeople because you are too excited to prove how much you know.
  8. Making friends instead of success – You are avoiding difficult conversations and allowing poor performers to continue doing so.
  9. Not spending enough time with each salesperson – You haven’t learned what each person needs, where they can be coached and how they can grow.
  10. Creating excessive pressure – You are over-stressing, possibly micromanaging, the team so that they can’t think straight. Be their partner, not their tyrannical overlord.

 

Do You Understand the Sales Equation?

Business Analysis, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

There are many elements that go into sales and to list them all would be overwhelming. That’s one of the reasons why so many of us struggle in our sales careers because we are all over the place looking for answers. The unfortunate thing is that is what we are taught by our managers, experts, consultants, co-workers, blog posts, etc. We search for the latest and greatest solution for what are really some of the oldest problems that salespeople have and it all orbits around getting results. 

We all have that moment where we quietly wonder, “What in the world is wrong with me? I’m trying everything and none of it is working”. There is a simple solution to almost all of your sales problems and it is based on the Sales Equation: Pipeline + Sales Activities = Results. That’s it. Naturally you will ask, “What about marketing, messaging, strategy, leadership, pricing, and so on?” Yes, these items are also important, but they are not often the core issue with your sales success. Here are 5 ways to use the Sales Equation to your advantage.

 

  1. Make the pipeline crucial – The first thing I examine when helping someone with their sales is their pipeline; the list of prospective clients they are working on. It is surprising how this is often non-existent, not current or lacking in quality. Without a good pipeline you cannot get results. You must always be hunting.
  2. Examine the activities – Let’s say you have a great sales pipeline, but it isn’t producing. You must track and examine your sales activities. This is where you will most often find your defect. Activities such as meetings, phone calls and emails are crucial to cultivating your pipeline. If your pipeline is good, chances are there is either not enough activity, the wrong mix of activities or not enough touch points in your activities sequence (you are giving up too soon).
  3. Experiment with the other variables – If your pipeline is strong and sales activities are high, now you can start to tweak your messaging, strategy, promotion, etc. Any sales person with a good list and determination can be successful without the other elements of marketing, although he will perform much better when it is aligned with his plan.
  4. Stay focused on the Sales Equation – You don’t get what you expect, you get what you inspect. Review your pipeline and activities frequently and your results will drastically improve. If you focus too much time on the other variables, the important sales activities tend to be delayed along with their results. 
  5. Put it to the test – If you are not convinced, examine your own pipeline and activities, or that of your team, and match it with the results (or lack of). Does it add up? It should. Any time you suspect you have a sales problem, always put your problem to the test of the sales equation and you will usually find your answer there. 

No Apologies For Prospecting

Marketing, Posts, Sales Management, Sales Training, Strategy Planning

Have you ever been cold-called by a salesperson who opens the call with ‘Sorry to bother you, but…”? You should never apologize when selling and prospecting. How many of your co-workers in other departments, such as operation or finance, have to spend their time apologizing for doing their job? So why should you apologize for doing yours? Timid and weak salespeople bring timid and weak results. Why? Because they have a poor self-image that they project onto prospective customers who will, in turn, reinforce those beliefs.

 

If salespeople could accept the hard truths about prospecting and the benefits it brings, the less reluctant they would be to do these essential selling activities. Frankly, these aren’t big mountains for us to climb, they are little bumps that trip us up every once in a while. Prospecting new customers not only works, but it is the best way to acquire new business. So embrace these 5 realities of reaching out to new customers.

 

  1. Your call is unexpected – Of course, it is. So what? The day can be filled with a lot of unexpected things and many of them can be good? Why wouldn’t you and what your selling be one of those things? If you didn’t have something great to offer, why would you bother them with an unexpected call?
  2. You are calling at a bad time – Yup. At least that’s what prospects will tell you. My advice? Open your call by acknowledging this. “Hi, did I catch you at a bad time?”. It’s a personal favorite way to cold call. They will always say ‘yes’, but ask you what the call is about. This means they have given you permission to start selling. Go for it.
  3. You are a disruption – Salespeople who are not willing to disrupt their prospect’s day will not bring in new business. Period. You have to be a disruption to get their attention. Today, phone calls achieve this better than emails for sure (for those of you who say that phone calling is dead). If you don’t disrupt people, you will not get noticed. 
  4. You must get noticed – This is the fact in sales. You have to get noticed in order to begin any sales process. Unless you have a fantastic marketing plan that brings in a lot of new leads, you will need a campaign that gets you in front of people one way or another. 
  5. It takes more than one try – It can take as many as five, ten, or more tries to get time with your prospect. Be persistent and don’t give up too easily. Be willing to try several methods including phone calls, emails, cold call walk-ins, social media, and so forth. Sooner or later they will have to notice you good, bad, or otherwise.

Close the Deal or Walk Away

Posts, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Sometimes it is hard for a salesperson to know if they should close the deal or walk away from it. You have arrived at the moment of truth and it is time to ask for the sale. You have done everything necessary to control yourself, your process, and the customer up until this point. There are only 3 choices for the customer: yes, no, and maybe. Let’s face it, you are not going to win every sale no matter how much control you have in the process. What you are selling is not going to be a fit for everyone and sometimes you have to simply walk away from the sale. If you did not get a ‘yes’, then everyone must decide if, or how, to move forward. If you get a ‘no’ or a ‘maybe’, that does not mean that the sale is over yet, but there is certainly a barrier for you to work through. Before you decide to work through the barrier or walk away from the sale, there are 5 stages to complete to see if you can still reach a ‘yes’.

 

  1. Maintain your position – Don’t back down immediately just because the customer did not say ‘yes’ right away. Especially if the barrier to the sale is price. Remember, never lower your price until you ask twice. Even if there are other objections to the sale that aren’t priced, resist the urge to go immediately into negotiation mode. Always ask twice.
  2. Check for fitness – Be honest, are you trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? Is the sale really right for you and the customer or have you been ignoring important cues all along?
  3. Negotiation – Some barriers in the sale are negotiable, but do you have enough cushion to work with? Are the customer’s objections reasonable and workable? Do not create promises you can’t deliver on for the sake of making the sale.
  4. Managing expectations – You’re so close to making the sale. If you can cross the finish line, how well can you manage the customer’s expectations? Are you creating more problems with this sale or can you reasonably deliver on their expectations?

Is it worth giving up control? – If you have to adjust your deal to the customer’s satisfaction, that means they now have control. This may be ok, but there is a good chance that the customer will remain in control now that the sale has been made and they may become unreasonable to deal with moving forward in some fashion. If they changed the terms on you once, then they are likely to try again. It may be better to maintain control and walk away from the sale rather than developing a difficult customer relationship. 

The Parable Of The Fruit Pickers

Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Salespeople like stories, yes? Here is a fun little parable about the 3 fruit pickers, and it goes something like this. There once was an orchard filled with beautiful ripe fruits. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries and nectarines. Anyone was welcome to come and pick as much as they liked from this orchard, so a manager came and brought his 3 best fruit pickers. He sent them into the orchard and simply told them that he wanted as many fruits as possible and to bring back the fruits at the end of the day. Take as many baskets as you like.

 

The first picker returned from the field early and showed the manager the two baskets she had filled, of which she was quite pleased. The manager asked why she had returned so soon when there was more fruit to be picked. ‘I brought you nice baskets full of fruit, are you not pleased?’ The manager showed her that there were other trees to pick from. ‘That’s enough fruit as far as I am concerned’, said the fruit picker, ‘why should I pick more if I am happy with two baskets full? You didn’t expect to pick more than I needed, did you?’ 

 

The second picker returned from the field to the manager and showed him the one basket of fruit he had harvested. The manager asked why he only filled one basket. ‘I picked all the lowest ones I could reach on each tree, are you not pleased?’ The manager pointed to the fruits higher up in the tree. They were bigger and more desirable. ‘But I really don’t want to jump or climb that high,’ said the fruit picker, ‘it’s too hard. You didn’t really expect me to risk falling, did you?’ 

 

The third picker came back with only half of his basket filled. He tried to hide his shame when the manager asked why he didn’t even fill one basket. ‘There were too many others picking the really good fruits from the trees. I was afraid that the competing pickers would hurt me if I took fruit they thought belonged to them. I just gathered a few I could find on the ground.’ The manager told him to ignore the competing pickers and to return to the field. ‘It is too hard and I am too afraid of them’ said the picker, ‘Isn’t half of a basket enough? Did you really expect me to compete with other fruit pickers?’ 

 

What’s the moral of the story? Salespeople are motivated differently than managers. Without structure, goals and direction, salespeople will always succumb to their own biases and desires. They will fill their baskets in a way that suits them best (working the compensation plan), they will go for the low hanging fruit (allowing great opportunities to pass them by) and avoid situations with too many competitors (allowing the competition to have the best sales). Don’t let your sales team leave fruits in the orchard. There are plenty of fruits for you to have when you challenge them to reach higher, push past the competition and gather more. 

A Cure For Sales Report Headaches

Uncategorized, Business Analysis, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Sales reports. Do you feel a headache coming on? Do you feel fatigued? Sudden loss of appetite? Shortness of breath, and so forth? That seems to happen to everyone from salespeople, managers, CFOs and owners. Like so many other reports, it is difficult to read and you may or may not like what the report is showing. Like a child eating vegetables, you know you need the reports, but you sure don’t want them. 

In my experience, most sales reports need improvement. They have inaccurate data, they lack historical context, they are excessively complicated and they really aren’t telling you what you need to know. For most people, you check to see if the team hit their goals and, if so, you smile and move on, If not, you groan and move on. After all, it’s in the past now and there is nothing you can do about it. However, if you learn how to read a sales report objectively and reflectively, it can offer you so much more than a basic sales figure. Here are the 5 questions you should ask yourself every time you read a sales report to help make the headaches go away. 

 

  1. Can I understand it? – This is not a question of how easy or hard a report is to read. That’s out of your control and reports are hard to change. Every report is trying to tell you a story and, if you are paying attention, you should be able to see trends. That’s the real story. Hitting goals is important, but it is also short lived. Finding trends helps you to enhance strategic advantages or correct defects that block success.
  2. Can I explain it? – Do the trends make sense? Can you explain why the numbers increase, decrease or stay the same? If you can’t understand the trends, then you cannot make meaningful change and, in sales, change is constant. 
  3. Can I accept it? – Change is hard, and if the trends are indicating a need for a change or a change that is already happening, you must make a choice. If the trend shows that you are constantly achieving your goals, that is easy to accept. Not everyone is that lucky all the time.
  4. Can I change it? – Sales reports do not generate any action item other than to sell more. But there is so much more that we can do. You can identify the trend and if you choose not to accept it moving forward, what can you do to change it? This is where most of you will get stuck. 
  5. Do I need help? – Change is easier with help. The worst thing you can do is identify the need for change and do nothing. That’s why you have a team; to help one another when a problem or opportunity arises. Talk openly with the team not just about the numbers that the sales report shows, but what trends you see and what can be done to stay ahead of your goals. 

Does Success Sabotage Your Pipeline?

Business Analysis, Sales Management, Strategy Planning

Managing and maintaining your sales pipeline is difficult. Trying to keep fresh opportunities to work on while servicing existing customers is more than a full time job. And yet, that is what is expected of us as salespeople. If we had our druthers, we would have a healthy book of business with happy customers that keep us busy with constant new order. Rinse, wash, repeat, right? Most of us are not that lucky. We must continually be on the hunt for our next opportunity; especially while we are working on the existing ones.

 

Although successful sales is the name of the game, it also creates one of the biggest problems with your sales pipeline. No, it’s not just that you’re now busy with your success, but you find yourself becoming complacent as well. Why worry about tomorrow when I have plenty today. But there is a situation that is even worse; when we think we have major deals in the pipeline, we let off the gas pedal, but the deals never close. Now you’re left with no deals and no opportunities to work on. You’re back at the start and hungrier than ever. Here are 5 ways to make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

 

Be accountable – Accountability is one of my least favorite management buzzwords, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Be honest about your pipeline and don’t make excuses for letting it dry up. Excuses are a lot harder to sell when you’re not meeting your goals.

 

Set your minimum – What is the minimum amount of prospects you should have active in your pipeline? Most people can’t answer that and therefore they don’t know what to watch for. Even if it is just a 3 – 5 prospects over a month, it is much better than a dry pipeline.

 

Monthly pipeline review – It is hard to prime the sales pump when the pipeline runs dry. Make a habit of having a monthly pipeline review with a co-worker or supervisor. Discuss the opportunities, where they are in the process and which new ones do you want to focus on? You’ll find that just vocalizing these issues with someone else is enough to keep you focused and accountable. 

 

Mind your activity – Sales work is hard so it is no surprise that we love our breaks whether others are looking or not. A sales pipeline alone is not enough to keep you going. There has to be sales activity. Pipeline + Activity = Results. Make sure you are doing enough to keep the ball moving forward.

 

Remember your goal – Never take your eye off the prize. You won’t get there with just one sale. You may feel that everything is going your way right now, but chances are you still have a ways to go. Not to mention the fact that there will soon be another new goal that you have to set yourself up for. Your goal should keep you focused on your pipeline. Don’t let your success sabotage your pipeline.