Climbing the Value Ladder™ – Part 3
Don’t be disposable – become indispensable (Part 3)
To read this series from the start go to: Climbing the Value Ladder – Part 1
Statistics from AllBusiness.com indicate that eighty percent of new sales are made after the fifth contact, but the majority of sales people give up after the second call.
When your sales people make cold calls, the primary goal of the person on the other side is to get them off the phone as quickly as possible. One of the first thoughts going through a prospect’s mind when they pick up the phone and hear a salesperson on the other side, is: “How long is this going to take?” or “How can I get rid of this person as quickly as possible?
Help your sales team by teaching them how to deliver messages that will move them up the value ladder.
 |
Teach your sales team to find out as much as they possibly can about the company or individual going to cold call in advance. This gives them the advantage of being able to talk to the client about their business and their needs. Understanding the client’s key challenges, pains, and obstacles will help your team to formulate a message that has true value. |
|
During sales meetings, most sales managers ask, What was your biggest success this week? I also encourage you to ask your sales team this question: What was your biggest failure this week? Then, creatively brainstorm how to turn the failure into success. Come up with creative solutions. That’s how they learn to make better sales calls. |
New technology is opening a multitude of creative avenues that can spark immediate interest with your prospects – webinars, text messaging, and personalized gifts. However, a well-directed, thoroughly researched cold call with valuable content will always be a key component of an excellent sales kit and help your sales team to become an indispensable part of your prospect’s business.
Sales Growth Question: How are you helping your team to broaden their vision and look at alternative ways to communicate a value message to your clients and prospects?
Sales Growth Lesson: Explore how to turn failures into successes through creative brainstorming.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Climbing the Value Ladder™ – Part 2
Don’t be disposable – become indispensable (Part 2)
In our previous posting, we established that it’s critical for your sales team to move from a disposable irritation to an indispensable part of your client’s value ladder. However, in order to become indispensable, your sales people may need your help.
No-one likes to fail. It feels good to succeed, but some sales people have perfected doing the wrong thing well. What do I mean?
Let’s say your sales team’s target is to make twenty cold calls in a specific time-frame. They make the calls. Do they get any appointments? No. Do they feel they have failed? No, because they reached their target of making twenty colds calls within the set time-limit. They feel successful because they’ve checked the 20 calls off their ToDo list. So, how can you help them turn this apparent failure into opportunity and success?
Your salesperson only has a few seconds to grab the prospect’s attention. Here are some steps you can share with your sales team to ensure they communicate a message to your prospects that delivers results.
Your sales person can create value by using a client-specific message that makes prospects feel they want to spend time with him. (They believe has a solution for their problem.)
Listen to your salesperson’s pitch. Does it sound as if he is reading from a brochure or has he researched carefully what he’s going to say to the clients/prospects, taking their unique situation into account?
If your team can’t get a strong message to your prospect, they will never get the first meeting. Conduct regular brainstorming sessions with your sales team to explore non-traditional ways of communicating your message.
In our next posting I will give you some more examples of how you can help your sales team to make the most of their sales message.
Sales Growth Question: What are you doing to ensure your sales team understands the importance of the message they deliver to their prospects?
Sales Growth Lesson: Client specific messages that are well researched add value to your sales strategy.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
3 Sales Shifts to Outpace the Economy: Positioning (2)
Applying the V-Principle for Sales Success
As the turmoil around us seems to grow with each new day, it becomes more and more obvious that it’s going to take some serious shifts in previously held sales truths, to survive Hurricane Financial Chaos.
Every time I see a flock of migrating geese, it reminds me that this is what I want on a sales staff. I want everything that we do to be purposeful, intentional and moving us toward our ultimate goal – together.
Teamwork = better results
Experiments have shown that a flock of geese flying in a V can add at least 70% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. People who share a common direction can also get where they are going quicker because they each bring their unique talents and skills to the group.
The advantage of the teamwork principle is not limited to the success of the sales team only. If both parties are receptive, clients and sales people can benefit equally when the principle of synergy becomes part of your selling processes.
In much the same way that the migrating geese take turns to occupy the “flock-leader” role, sales people can ultimately deliver a better service if they are willing to draw on their clients experience and knowledge.
If you are as clever as a goose, you’ll know that it often pays to stay in formation – or in business terms, stay focused to the common goal – where you can take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of you.
Sales Growth Question: How do you tap the unique talents of each person on your team in order to create collaboration and team synergy?
Sales Growth Lesson: Know the unique strengths and development opportunities of everyone on your team.
Check out our Sales Force Evaluation Products and Services.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
3 Sales Shifts to Outpace the Economy: Positioning (1)
Applying the V-Principle for Sales Success
At the recent ROI Leader Forum, I talked about vital shifts in sales processes and sales people that CEOs, presidents and business leaders must make to ensure their sales teams have the speed, agility and resilience win.
It’s equally important to strategic listen to how your sales team is conveying your company’s positioning when talking with prospects and clients.
As autumn approaches, those of us who live in the Midwest will once again witness great flocks of Canadian geese flying south for the winter in their infamous V-formation. Before a flock of geese start the migration process, they know their destination. And, they are clear on what they have to do to get there.
Hunting: I often find that salespeople are unclear about the unique value your solutions can add to your clients’ businesses. This slows down the entire sales process. Since prospects aren’t clear, there’s little response to the salesperson’s new business development or hunting efforts.
Qualifying: A lack of clarity on the value of your services and products will translate into a non-descriptive discovery and qualification process, leaving prospects thinking that you offer yet another commodity.
Closing: There will be no sense of urgency on the prospect’s part, because the decision can be delayed until there’s a competitive face-off. So, does your team have a questioning strategy that positions your company providing a unique solution? Or, does their approach breed a more-of-the-same response from prospects and clients?
What causes the delay in hunting, qualifying and closing?
Recently, we helped a client to survey their sales people so that we could determine whether the sales team was in sync with the leadership and marketing team on Brand Promise, Value Proposition and Elevator Pitch. There were four separate Brand Promises that emerged from the sales staff:
28% said: “We fit the highest level of technology.”
15% said: “We provide the highest level of professionalism.”
34% said: “We have the highest quality product and service.”
23% said: “We stand behind our product 100%.”
With a confused sales staff, your clients and possible new prospects will be confused too. So, ensure your team is targeted and flying in formation when it comes to your positioning and messaging.
Sales Growth Question: How clearly and succinctly can your sales team articulate your Brand Promise? Value Proposition? Elevator Pitch?
Sales Growth Lesson: Ensure that everyone on your sales team has a questioning strategy that helps define your unique positioning.
For steps on how to create a clearer target message, check out Targeted Sales Focus.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Why a targeted sales focus is an evolving & on-going process in the sales pipeline
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
- Alexander Graham Bell
There’s no doubt that a targeted sales focus process can be of great benefit to a company, sales executives tell me so on a regular basis. However, to remain effective, the process should be seen as constantly evolving and developing as an on-going strategy.
As technology, markets, companies, customer needs, staff and economies evolve, so will your Target Sales Focus. Often companies with a tunnel vision will not see an emerging trend and will begin to lose market share and profitability. Identifying changing conditions will provide new opportunities and market niches where you will be able to expand now or in the future. Your company should always keep its eyes open for new market trends and opportunities.
In order for your sales team to have the focus they need to leverage their time, energy and resources, you’ll need to have a clear understanding of your prospects’ demographics and psycho-graphics. You’ll also need a clear understanding of their current business pains and business trends, as these create the opportunities for your sales team.
Always ask yourself – How aligned are you to current market trends?
I find that there are a few situations where you may want to adjust strategies. Examples of situations where your products or services can help business owners achieve their most pressing business objectives include:
- Profitability and/or productivity issues
- Shrinking market share
- Pressure from competitors
- Industry trends, market changes
- Ineffective processes, implementing regulations, operational proficiency
- Management shortcomings, i.e. communication, decision-making
- Human resource issues, i.e. staff turnover, development, morale
- Entering new markets, merging companies, entering into strategic alliances
- Growing sales, market, and/or revenue
So, make a note of any ideas that may assist you in refining your sales focus.
Strategies may evolve when clients face new challenges. Opportunity accelerates when there’s a pressing business problem that creates an environment where your solution can provide a fix, i.e.:
- Poor financial results, market fluctuations
- Major changes in economy
- Changes in consumer preferences
- Mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, restructures
- Changes in legislation
- New management
- Loss of key personnel
- Events or crises of national or international interest
Ask yourself – what are the triggers that your prospects are experiencing?
Sales Growth Question: What type of marketing planning process do you have in place to achieve company success?
Sales Growth Lesson: A successful plan is a detailed written document which can be used to promote your annual business strategy.
Get this free sales management eBook now!
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Analyze current customers as part of your sales pipeline
I speak to many sales executives, who tell me that emphasis is often placed on the research of non-customers. However, I find that it is also very important to take a look at your current customers, and to understand why they buy your products or make use of your services, rather than those of your competitors.
In this step of the process, you’ll take a good look at your current customers concentrating on factors such as their likes and dislikes about you and your products and from what they do, as evidenced by your accounting and other records. I find that it is useful to survey a representative sampling of my customers. During this process, I ask them questions such as:
- If you’ve done business with similar companies in the past, what do they offer that we don’t?
- What are the top three things we get wrong?
- What is your primary consideration when purchasing products/services like ours?
- What do you like and dislike about dealing with our sales representatives?
- Which of our products meet your needs best?
When you have answers to these questions, dig into your accounting and other records to find out the following:
- Which of your products have proved most popular?
- Which of your products are most profitable?
- What customer characteristics match up with which of your products?
Finally, sort your customers by dollar sales, margin dollars, and products sold. I always take note of any trends I spot, and then compare them with the data I’ve gathered from previous research. The overall purpose is to identify my most favorable customer types and market segments – in other words, my ideal target market.
You can get more information on current customer market research and more in my complimentary ebook, Targeted Sales Focus.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Analyze non-customers as part of your sales pipeline
So, you’ve performed your initial research, and have identified specific key segments in your market. My next step would be to take the market segments in which I already compete or would like to compete, and using the data I’ve collected, analyze non-customers to see why they don’t (or why they probably wouldn’t) buy from me right now. When executing this step, you’re looking for patterns – to find them, you will need to answer questions like these:
- What are the common characteristics of those we’re not successfully selling to?
- Are we failing to sell to a certain age group or company size?
- How does our targeted client get information on our and our competitors’ products?
- Is our message reaching a segment’s preferred media?
- Do we offer a compelling benefit to a segment but don’t have a message that resonates with that segment?
- Is there a competitive disadvantage we could reduce or eliminate?
- Are there upcoming environmental factors (legislation, economics, technological advances, etc.) that might change our performance in a segment?
By answering the above questions, I find that invaluable information can be gathered. This information can then be used to identify potential new target areas, and to understand why individuals/companies are not buying from you now.
Sales Growth Question: Have you asked each employee what’s the one thing that really gets him or her excited about your customers? What were some of the answers?
Sales Growth Lesson: Get to know your competition – their habits, strengths, weaknesses, pricing history and selling tendencies.
To read more about the importance of identifying why your non-customers aren’t buying from you check out my target market ebook, Targeted Sales Focus.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
It’s time to get specific to improve sales lead generation
When implementing a new market research plan with the purpose of improving sales lead generation, I initially take some time to analyze my market segments. Once done, and with any relevant information resources in place, it’s time to get more specific.
This is the point where I roll up my sleeves and begin chopping up the broader market into logical segments. Once I have clearly identified each segment, I compile a list of characteristics for each, such as geography, demographics, and psycho-graphics. To get you started, here’s an example of the characteristics I use:
- Location – Region/Population density/Access to infrastructure services (broadband Internet, mobile communication networks, etc.)/Climate
- Customer Profiles – Note that the demographic characteristics you choose to examine will depend on whether you sell directly to consumers or market your products to businesses.
- Individuals – Age, gender, family status/Income level/Professional characteristics (white, blue, pink, no collar, dominant industries, etc.)/Preferred media (print, television, online, etc.)/Shopping habits (online, credit, cash, etc.)
- Businesses – Industry types/Company sizes/Distribution channels/Technological sophistication/Customer types/Developmental stage (start-up, growth, mature, etc.)
- Lifestyle factors (Individuals) – Leisure activities/Political affiliation/Influences (Businesses) – Mission and values/Attitude towards technology (bleeding edge, mainstream, etc.)/Management style (consensual, autocratic, etc.)/Business priorities (growth, maintenance, etc.)/Attitude towards human resource management and development
By analyzing the above factors, you should have a good-sized list of geographic, demographic, and psycho-graphic characteristics for each of the market segments you’ve identified. Using this data and the information you gathered during your initial research, you can now determine the segments to which your benefits and competitive advantages align most closely, ranking the segments from best to worst.
Sales Growth Question: What do you do to generate traffic and how do you turn that traffic into leads and ultimately profits?
Sales Growth Lesson: There’s no doubt that a targeted sales focus process can be of great benefit to a company.
For more information on developing a highly specific market segment read my sales focus ebook, Targeted Sales Focus.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Analyze your market segments to improve sales
When embarking on a market research campaign, I find that it is vitally important to analyze your market segments thoroughly. Once you’ve got a good picture of your relationship with your competitors and to the market overall, it’s time to look closely at the various segments within your market.
For the best results, you’ll want to avail yourself to the expertise of internal and external experts on the market, and you also have to take advantage of other resources for maximum effect. Here are a few suggestions to help you with your research:
- Federal, state, and local chambers of commerce (i.e. www.uschamber.com)
- Federal and local Small Business Administration resources (i.e. www.sba.gov)
- University business libraries
- Trade magazines
- And of course, the Internet (Google, as always, is your friend)
Ask yourself the question – which source is of most relevance to my search? The internet is invaluable for research purposes, so use it when possible.
There are many sites available containing the information that you need to create an effective market research plan. With the correct research, you will soon be on your way to sales process improvement and increased sales lead generation. Once you have performed the initial research, it’s time to get specific.
Sales Growth Question: Do you have a strategic marketing process which involves ways that value can be created for the customer?
Sales Growth Lesson: Focus on what is different – not just on the common needs of your customers.
To learn more about pinpointing your specific market segment read my market targeting ebook, Targeted Sales Focus. If you have any questions or contents be sure to shoot me an e-mail.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
Market Research – Find out why your competitors are successful
There’s no doubt that market research is critical to assess your market and competition. As part of a marketing research plan, you’ll look outward as you ask yourself; why do we have competition? After all, in your perfect world, no one would dare to even challenge you. So, why do they?
To find out why your business doesn’t own the entire market, assemble a group of internal and external people who know the market, and then honestly and objectively ask them to answer the following questions:
- What are our offerings?
- What benefits do our offerings provide our customers?
- What are our organizational strengths and weaknesses?
Also answer the following questions yourself:
- In cases where our benefits exceed those of the competition, what other factors cause our prospects not to buy from us?
- Are we more concerned about what we want to sell than about what customers need to buy? If so, how can we change that?
- Where do our primary weaknesses lie? In our offerings? In the real or perceived benefits of our offerings? Do our organizational structures and policies hamper our sales efforts?
- Overall, in the markets we sell in, where do we currently stand in relation to our competition?
- Are we a major player? Mid-pack? Lower?
Make a list of your competitors and answer the above questions for them. Compare the answers, noting where your offerings differ. Categorize benefits by those you and your competitors provide, those you don’t provide, and those that you alone provide (if you don’t find any benefits that distinguish you from your competitors, don’t worry – you’ll work on that later).
Finally, stack your organizational strengths and weaknesses against those you perceive for your rivals. With this information in hand, you can gain an insight into where you are ‘winning’, and where improvements can be made.
Sales Growth Question: What needs are there in your sales industry that can be fulfilled?
Sales Growth Lesson: If you’re going to start a new business or launch a new product or service you must make 100% sure that you research the market first.
For more information on what to consider when comparing your business’ offerings to those of your competitor’s be sure to look to my market focus ebook, Target Sales Focus. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call at (612) 267-3320.
© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.
 |
 |
 |
