How Prepared Are You To Win?

Business people cross the finish line

Before you answer, consider the following:

  • 80% of front line sales and cross functional leaders are not satisfied with their ability to lead the customer decision and map how they meet customer needs better than alternatives to creative value. [1]
  • American Marketing Association reports that 90% of what marketing provides for sales is not meeting their needs.
  • CSO (Chief Sales Officer) Insights reports that the win rate on forecasted deals entered into CRM is at 46.4%.

Market shifts have radically altered the selling landscape, so what do I hear when I ask sales teams if they are prepared to win? The most frequent answer is “not always” and I can understand why.

Previously, I was asked to join a team meeting in Chicago with a company that believes they have developed the sales enablement solution that gives sales organizations the ability to say with confidence “we are completely prepared to win!”

After spending two days with this team—I am a believer; and I am proud to introduce to you what I think is the most compelling offering on Insight Selling in the marketplace today: 5600blue’s Precision Guided Selling.

Precision Guided Selling from 5600blue is a vertically total sales enablement solution that delivers:

Insight Data

The customized insight tracks with every stage of the new sales process from qualification to negotiation and close. The data assists sales in gaining access, creating demand, leading the customer decision and value conversation and ultimately the negotiation.

Cloud Based Technology

Insight data is embedded into their proprietary cloud based app. Your teams are equipped to leverage insights to create value propositions tailored to this specific customer’s needs and competitors’ alternatives and get compensated accordingly for that value.

Integrated Sales & Negotiation Training

This workshop is a ground-breaking program for your sales team to create (sell) and capture (negotiate) value. Integrating sales and negotiation training into a single event is efficient and cost-effective.

Key Deal Coaching

Their team provides virtual and face–to-face coaching on key deals facing your company. They also support your front-line managers enabling them to provide sales and negotiation coaching to their sales teams.

Win/Loss Reviews

They also provide virtual and face–to-face deal forensics on key wins and losses to determine how to further enhance your value creation and capture to drive organic growth.

[1] Creating and Maintaining Value Ecosystems, 5600 blue primary research 2012

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3M SDSU Frontline Sales Conference Recap

 

Sixty one highly talented undergraduates from 14 universities were in attendance last week at the 3M SDSU Frontline Sales Conference (more on the background of Frontline as written in the previous blog seen here). It was my pleasure to join them, as well as  the other 80 attendees including 3M Executives, Faculty from the universities and Sales Leaders, for a day and a half of the 3.5 days they spent together to learn more about a career in Sales.

Some of the students are graduating, and have taken position with 3M in cities across the country. Others will be going back to St. Paul, Minnesota this summer to work in one of multiple divisions of 3M that sponsor interns. Either way, these young people were a very impressive bunch; articulate, educated, well rounded with a desire to learn and earn.

Candace Mailand leads the charge for 3M’s Frontline national program, and along with Dan McGinley from SDSU (also a 3M veteran sales leader), they put on a spectacular program to give the students perspective on what is to come for them in their respective roles. Dr. Joe Belch, Dean of the College of Business at SDSU participated, and delivered a keynote presentation on the changing face of Sales. Dr. Belch reemphasized how this next generation will have to adapt to a world where buyers are data driven, analytical and loaded up on information by the time a salesperson arrives. Heads up!

It was a distinct pleasure to be on a Leadership Panel with 3 other seasoned sales veterans to share insight on career paths, the excitement of Sales and lessons learned-mistakes made along the way.  Nashwa Helmi, VP of Sales from LabCorp; Marc Martin, VP of Beer from Karl Strauss Brewery (no, not kidding on the title) and George Diaz, Business Director from 3M’s Latin American division were my counterparts. Addressing the conference was exciting, but I also enjoyed listening and learning from my fellow panelists’ adventures in Sales.

The students delivered presentations on the last day as the capstone to the Frontline Conference. Based on the level of interest they showed throughout the conference, and by virtue of the fact that they were in position to take an internship or field Sales role with 3M, I am certain success will be part of their path forward. Frontline is a powerful platform to begin their careers.

 

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The 5 Fundamentals of Effective Sales Management

We spend the majority of our time building custom Sales Process programs for our customers that help them with two (categorically) fundamental conversations. The first is the conversation that the salesperson (or anyone in a customer facing role) has with the customer. The second conversation is the one that the Sales Manager has with the member of his team, to make sure that sellers (and related team members) are focused on the right opportunities at the right time with the right message (Marketing, that’s you I’m talking about in the message).

Sales Managers are pulled in so many directions, often helping their team with external conversations (to drive revenue), and also managing a host of internal conversations to make sure their team has the right resources and information to win. It can be exhausting as many have told me over the years.

It has been a long while since I read a whitepaper that documents the “must haves” for truly effective Sales Management with such impact and brevity. In the attached document, Matt McDarby and John Golden nail down the Five Fundamental of Effective Sales Management. This should reside on every Sales Managers’ desk as the Operator’s Manual on how to run their team, meet their revenue targets and maintain a level of sanity along the way.

It’s a great read I am sure you will enjoy.

Click here to read it.

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Prospecting Spotlight: Expansion

Prospecting Spotlight: How Expansion Opens New Doors

When prospecting, strategically timing your messaging is critical for success. Last month’s feature highlighted the benefits of reaching out to decision makers when they take on a new role. Today, we focus on how to leverage news of a prospect’s expansion into closing your next deal.

Expansion takes on many shapes. Enabling a news alert feed for companies on your target account list puts updates on acquisitions, employee growth, product launches, new location openings, or any other noteworthy occurrences on your radar.

The moment an opportunity to reach out presents itself, drop your target contacts a quick note and follow it with a phone call – the gist of the message should be positive and brief. Just like with the first post in our Prospecting Spotlight series, your goal at this moment is simply making contact.

Once you have your decision maker’s attention, gently probe to see if they are experiencing any growing pains. Present your prospect with some common business objectives found within their industry through a success story you helped to create. If any of these are of interest, ask for the opportunity to meet to learn more. You are in the driver’s seat if this works.

Sometimes you will find yourself positioned as the answer to their problem before it becomes a problem. If this is the case, patience is necessary. Now that you made your introduction, if you did your job well, the prospect will get in touch when the timing is appropriate on their end.

When the conversation picks up again, be sure to create a connection to them again with your customer success stories. Show how your solution helped others with similar problems. Leave your prospect wondering what you can offer to help them.

Here is the secret behind the effectiveness of using news of expansion as an excuse to introduce yourself: you are catching prospects when they are planning ahead and forecasting new budgets. The earlier you set up a meeting, the sooner you can be a part of that budget.

News of expansion is a great reason to reach out to decision makers on your target account list. They will feel honored you associate them with the success of the company, and be far more open to a conversation.

Our next post will discuss how we can use the news of a prospect’s recent awards and accomplishments to start the conversation in a similar way, making the most of a fortuitous time.

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Include Sales Skills Assessment in Performance Reviews

Most organizations that operate on a calendar basis have completed, or will soon complete, their team’s 2016 annual performance reviews. This year-end analysis covers a range of topics depending on the role of the employee, the size of the organization and the scope of the employee’s job requirements.

Standard reviews will include organizational, team and individual goal attainment against plan and in comparison to comps from the previous year. Some organizations ask employees to complete a self-appraisal, while others rely on measuring against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or a combination of both. Another useful feedback mechanism is performance review from peers, often called “360s”, which provide a multi-directional view of how well employees are doing in the eyes their teammates.

For those of us in sales, the final results are very binary- did you or did you not hit your revenue number? But the key information we really want to get at is not if sellers did or didn’t make quota, but WHY. What are the skills those sales reps possessed that directly contributed to hitting their numbers? For most of our customers, we break selling skills into six categories. These skills may vary based on industry or whether or not they are in a complex or transactional selling environment, but for the most part, they are as follows:

  • Prospecting
  • Needs Analysis
  • Establishing Value
  • Accessing Key Players
  • Managing the Buying Process
  • Closing and Negotiation

We encourage our customers’ first line sales managers to conduct skills coaching on a regular basis (at least monthly), and not to wait for just once a year. I often ask attendees in our workshops “how often to give your children feedback?” They usually chuckle and reply “every day, all day”. Likewise, we need to provide our selling teams with ongoing performance feedback as well as a safe environment in which to practice and hone the selling skills they need to be successful.

 

 

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On The Road Again: Newport Beach, California

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Flannery Sales Systems - On The Road Again

John was in Newport Beach  last week working with a new customer in the financial services and financial technology industry at their National Sales Meeting.

Their focus is on how they sell as the differentiator in the buying process. Listen in on other featured articles in our upcoming newsletter by clicking on the arrow below. 

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How do Your Customers USE Your Product or Service?

From the MD&M Trade Show in Anaheim, CA

The MD&M trade show in Anaheim was very well attended, and full of impressive technology and innovation for the medical device industry. Of the 20 or so salespeople I spoke to at different booths in the show, only a few could articulate how their customers used their product or service. When I asked that question, most sellers went into a description of what the product did, or how it was made, and the variety of features it had. But that is not what your customers care about; they are concerned with how your product helps them to increase revenue, decrease cost or offset risk.

It was a pleasure to run into Alison Smith again (pictured above), with Meritech in Golden, Colorado. Alison continues to have sales success using the process we worked on together in 2012, and can clearly articulate how her customers use their products to maintain hygiene in the workplace. In fact, while she demonstrated the product to me, Alison was fluently telling me a success story of how one of her food service industry customers reduces their risk through the use of the Meritech hand washing system. Well done Alison and the Meritech  team, and continued success !

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On Taking Market Share: T-Mobile’s Legere Leads the Charge

The article in the January/February Harvard Business Review (HBR.org) regarding the unconventional approach to taking market share in the wireless industry that John Legere, CEO of T Mobile, is utilizing is similar to what Nextel Communications did in the mid 90’s.  Granted, the market, products and players have shifted significantly from 22 years ago, but the aggressive style that Legere embraces reminded me of the position that Brian McAuley and Morgan O’Brien created for the new-kid-on-the-block (Nextel) in the digital world. The tactics are different (Nextel didn’t trash talk), but the end goal remains the same; how to take business away from the competition.

Below are excerpts from this great read. For the full article, go to https://hbr.org/2017/01/t-mobiles-ceo-on-winning-market-share-by-trash-talking-rivals

The following four initiatives are what Legere has embraced to grow T Mobile’s market share. It is working, as T Mobile has 69 million customers now, and increase of 110% from when he took over in September of 2013.

Ask Why Again: challenge the status quo on the core beliefs and mission of the organization.

Pick a Villain: who will you go after to take share from? AT&T has been T Mobile’s target.

Tweet Reach: employ Social Media to get the message out, as well as to LISTEN to what your customers and competition are saying.

Number One in Service: Legere has a live feed to his phone where he can listen in at any time to Customer Service calls. It is working, as the churn rate (when customers fire you) has been cut in half.

In summary, Legere says the following: People want authenticity from leaders, not canned phrases full of legalese. When you practice what you preach, you don’t have to preach so loudly.

 

 

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On The Road Again: Solana Beach, California

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Flannery Sales Systems - On The Road Again

Listen in on our first video of the new year, as John discusses the importance of using patience in developing sales opportunities. And after 3 decades of sales methodology rollouts, the market has shifted and sales leaders are looking for customized programs for the markets they compete in. So click on the arrow, and/or check our blog to learn more on these topics.

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Schedule Downtime to Become More

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Last weekend we got into the Holiday spirit by attending a Christmas parade in Encinitas, the next town up the coast from us in Solana Beach, CA. After finding a parking spot, I happened upon the flashing sign in the attached photo. Upon first impression, it struck me as the very thing NOT to do as I round out the last month of a very busy year filled with family and the team at Flannery Sales Systems. However, as my personal, community and business commitments pick up around the Holidays, I do find it critical to schedule downtime for myself in order to maintain my balance and sanity.

Each morning, I start the day with a twenty-minute quiet period. During this time, I’m usually alone, although lately our new dog has decided to join me. I make it a practice to put away all my electronic devices, news sources and other “outside” influences. The only thing I keep is a reading on how to focus on the present moment and remember all the things I have to be grateful for.

My latest, favorite read during this time is a book by Terry Hershey called Pause: Becoming More by Doing Less. The chapters are broken into weekly two to three page reads, each with a focus on a different aspect of spiritual development. Each reading helps me put my mind in a positive place and prep me for the day ahead. On the rare occasion I don’t get the chance to start my day with this twenty-minute reflection, I feel like I’m running hard all day, and not nearly as effective, or present, as when I do.

There’s no shortage of information written on the consequences of neglecting to take care of yourself and succumbing to the manic pace that has become the “new normal”. This frenetic behavior has many subtle and often dangerous outcomes. Recently, I stumbled upon an article that summarizes this perfectly — The Disease of Being Busy.

Developing a practice of quiet reflection is about reduction, not addition. At this stage in my life, I have so much to be grateful for, and I find that my daily meditations help me slow down so I can savor each moment. Here’s hoping that you and your family have a blessed, happy and relaxing Holiday season. I look forward to connecting with you in 2017.

 

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