Building Trust and Rapport

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The above words stopped me in my tracks, literally, as I strolled through the streets of Bath, England in April. This poster was in the window of a bank, and made me think about the importance of first impressions in sales situations, and how to establish trust and rapport while meeting a prospect for the first time.

How would buyers behave in the initial meeting with a seller if they know that this phrase was going to be true? And in the absence of this sentiment, many buyers have their guard up when meeting a salesperson for the first time.  How can a seller convey that they will do what is in a prospect’s best interest, and turn them into a customer along the way ?  Or, professionally let them know that the product or service they represent is not a fit for their needs.

How Salespeople Destroy Trust

Salespeople often exacerbate the situation in many unintentional ways, including the presentation of a “solution” before doing a complete diagnosis. Also, some sellers will try to manipulate the prospect by asking leading questions or asking for the business too soon. Neither of these tactics work.

The Trust Quotient: How To Enhance It

The prospect evaluates you in three key areas: rapport, reputation, reliability.

Rapport.  This is the personal feeling or connection we have with someone; how much we like or dislike them as a person.  Factors that positively influence rapport are:

  • Your investigative skills; are you asking the right questions?
  • Focusing on the prospect, listening attentively

Reputation.  The external perception that you or your company has in the eyes of others is an important element in determining trust.   Reputation can come from:

  • Being referred by a satisfied client
  • Results that you have helped to generate as published in case studies or white papers

Reliability.  The ability to demonstrate to clients whether you are dependable and can be trusted to behave in a consistent manner is also important and can be demonstrated by:

  • Doing what you say you will do when you said you will do it
  • Providing insight into areas that are relevant to help growing their business

We ask the attendees in our Workshops “how long does it take for a buyer to determine if a salesperson is credible?”  The answers usually range from a few minutes to a dozen seconds.  Trust is the foundation of every enterprise sale, and the first minute or so is critical in building the solid foundation that you will do the right thing, or step away. Use the outline above to stay above the fray.

 

 

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Ask A Sales Leader: Bevin Carter

bevinIn this month’s “Ask A Sales Leader” we are pleased to hear from Bevin Carter. Bevin is the Founder and CEO of MC | Mercer Carter, a boutique consulting firm that focuses on accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. Bevin went through our program prior to starting her own consulting firm. Read below to learn more about how she continues to use her learnings from our program to obtain, retain, and secure repeatable business.

1. Describe how you use your sales process.

By using discovery meetings and solution development, I am able to blandish personal information out of prospects and can differentiate myself from the competition.

A rectangular piece of butcher-block paper is used in discussions with prospective clients to illustrate their goals. The visual places the clients in the center of these priorities.

Sketching out a “mind map” shows the prospect what’s important to them and what the solution looks like in their mind, I then use the final half hour to describe how MC | Mercer Carter’s services and expertise would help them reach their goals.

2. What is your approach to using your referral base to help you sell?

I religiously plan, whether that it is in my weekly calendar or in my CRM system (which is Streak- a Google extension… let’s face it, I am a start-up) to ask for referrals consistently. More than 80% of my current clients were won through a referral. Starting with my 12 highest potential relationships, the initial pool was made up of past clients, former colleagues, and personal or professional friends. I then took all those and second mapped out the peers that were within their organization, who are their firm’s best customers, who do they take advice from, who in the referral’s professional or personal community would reasonably have a need for my services and respond to a request to meet me. Betting on myself and selling my capabilities was done each step of the way.

3. How do you use the sales process with your network?

For me it has been all about gathering feedback, and mobilizing my network. I share my business ideas with anyone who will listen and take feedback seriously. Networks afford professionals the ability to develop credibility and legitimacy in relationships more quickly than they ever could on their own, and for entrepreneurs that street cred can often lead to revenue. Expanding beyond my peer groups into networks and industries are known areas where my services are needed.

4. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs as it relates to honing sales skills?

The reality is that customers are more demanding and more aware of the competitive landscape than ever. Leading with the product is absolutely putting the wrong foot forward. Instead, it is my opinion that entrepreneurs should master the art of approaching every sales pitch with questions about the needs of the prospect and the industry. What every client is really looking for is help. If you can identify that need and meet it, then you’re a problem solver. If you happen to have a product, service, or capability that meets their need, the more the better. Building a relationship is every bit as important as the sale.

5. What other advice do you have when it comes to stepping out on your own and taking the sales skills you have learned to your next venture?

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. In many ways, oblivion can be bliss- not knowing what’s around the corner prevents you from fearing it. Stepping out on my own albeit scary and exciting all in the same breath, knowing that the experiences and skills that I had learned over the last decade had me poised for a great future. As a young girl, my grandmother would quote Teddy Roosevelt, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Always remembering that has been at the epicenter of how I sell my career.  Learning about other people and collecting a treasure trove of information to mine for pain points is enjoyable for me. Once those pain points are uncovered, a natural pivot is to a suggested solution and how my firm may solve their problem. 

6. What’s next after you get this firm off the ground?

That’s a good question. I am certainly on a journey to figure that out. I have learned so much about myself since starting MC | Mercer Carter. I can’t say I know what is next but if I could dream for a minute, I would get back into the laboratory supply and distribution business. It is a space that I know and love. I am passionate about helping enable science.

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Characteristics of New Hires for Sales

Over the years,  John has spoken to the San Diego State University College of Business Marketing students about how his customers use sales process to meet their commercial objectives, and about careers in the field of sales. From the discussion, he learned what the companies they are interviewing with look for in qualified candidates. So what do companies look for when they hire new talent for Sales positions?

Matthew Bohnhoff, one of the students that John met with, gave us an inside look on some of these characteristics. He was hired by Adobe to go through their 3 Year Sales Academy program.

Matthew said that Adobe looks for three top qualities that are consistent in the sales field when hiring for a sales position.

  1. Passion. They want candidates who have a passion for sales and helping people, thus ensuring the position was right for them. Having past experience in sales also helped.
  1. Coach-ability. This is a huge aspect that holds a lot of value. Managers are constantly available to help employees and they want to make sure people are willing to take advice and positive criticism to benefit themselves and the company.
  1. Goal oriented. They want competitive individuals who will push each other and want to continue to grow and close opportunities without being over the top.

Aligning yourself with the company’s core values by being genuine, exceptional, innovative and involved could only help you in your career both professionally and personally. These qualities are just a few of the many characteristics that companies, including Adobe, look for when hiring top talent for new Sales positions. So get out there and go for it. Good luck and good selling.

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On The Road Again: Bath and Stonehenge England

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In this month’s OTRA John visits Bath, England known for its natural hot springs and 18th-century Georgian architecture. The second stop is Stonehenge, the well known prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England that was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.Hear what John has to say about our upcoming newsletter which will include articles on The Characteristics of New Sales Hires and the importance of understanding the Decision Qualification Criteria that buyers use to select vendors.

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From the Sales Process Workshop in Dubai

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Posted on the RS Fitness Facebook Page, February 2016

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Precor Incorporated and Hilton Hotels join forces and host World Class Fitness Equipment Sales Training in Dubai.

American sales training experts – John Flannery and Susan Wilcox brought their “PBO” game to Dubai last week, when Precor hosted their dealers Middle Eastern Sales Conference at the newly opened Hilton Al Barsha.

PBO, primary business objective. If you are a salesman and you don’t understand your customers PBO then you are in the wrong job.

That was the message, loud and clear. “Understand your customers business, understand what makes him happy, understand what worries him and what keeps him awake at night”. Do this and demonstrate this to your customer, that you understand their business. Do this and suddenly you are no longer a salesman, you are a trusted business advisor. That’s a nice place to be…

RS Fitness represented by General Manager Andy Staines and his Sales Managers: Ayham Al Masri, Raido Raad and Abhi Murali attended the sales conference, learned from the Precor Team and passed the “PBO Test”. Not only did the RS Fitness team pass, they passed all the other sales teams from around the Middle East taking part in the conference.

Big shout out to the RS Fitness sales team…and a round of applause for John and Susan.

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How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline to Hit 2018 Revenue Targets (Part 2 of 2)

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As a brief recap from the first part of this series, you have now 1) established qualified opportunity criteria, 2) begun coaching opportunities in early stages of development and 3) practiced skill conversations with members of your team. With that foundation in place, you’re ready to start analyzing individual and team pipelines.

Just as a doctor establishes a few baseline measurements before a more intense examination (e.g. height, weight, blood pressure and pulse), we will look at three “macro” components of a well-balanced, healthy pipeline.

  • Size of Opportunities: Is there a reasonable mix of small, medium and large opportunities in your pipeline? The most dangerous pipelines are the ones filled with unqualified opportunities. Almost as bad are pipelines with just a few large opportunities that create a “make or break” scenario. If you land the few “big ones”, you hit your plan. But, if you don’t and only get one out of the three, then the quarter or even the year is shot. We only recommend this “elephant hunting” style when you supplement your big ones with smaller, more easily attainable business in order to mitigate any risk.
  • Opportunity Velocity: How long does it take for a medium or large size opportunity to go from lead to close? It’s important for management to establish reasonable baselines for how long an opportunity should reside in each stage of the sales process and monitor this movement. Often opportunities will slow down or stop, and if they do, it’s a perfect time to implement the proactive coaching regiment we suggested in the first part of this series. Another way to keep things fresh is to age opportunities against a reasonable benchmark. This helps to remove stalled or dead business before it drags into Q4 with no chance of closing.
  • Volume: How many overall dollars (or euros, yuan, pounds, etc.) should be in your pipeline at any given time? The best way to solve this calculation is to gather historical data that tells management:
  1. Average sales cycle, or average time from lead to close. Let’s say this is 6 months.
  2. Weighted probability at each stage. At the halfway point, what we call the evaluation stage, we can assume there is a 50% probability to close.
  3. Any surplus or deficit in the salesperson’s performance to date. For this example, there is none.
  4. The sales rep’s annual or monthly revenue plan. We’ll use $2MM per year, or $165,000 per month.

Here is the calculation: Monthly Revenue Plan ($165,000) x Average Sales Cycle (6 months) = $ 990,000.00   At the Evaluation stage, only 50% of opportunities are likely to close, so reps need double that amount, or fill their pipelines with $1,980,000 of business, in order to ensure they will hit target. You can apply the same type of calculation to all stages in your pipeline to build a more accurate picture of revenue health.

We’ve run this calculation for many of our customers and would be more than happy to share examples with you. If you’re interested, just contact me at john@drive-revenue.com. Don’t wait to start examining your pipeline and looking for the three components we discussed – opportunity size, velocity and volume. Do it now while there’s still time to course correct (if needed) and have a successful, profitable 2016.

(Part 2 of 2)

 

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Fill Your Sales Pipeline to Hit 2018 Revenue Targets (Part 1 of 2)

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You just wrapped up Q1 of 2018. In the next week or so, you’ll have a full tally of how your sales teams did with top and bottom line results. For many, the New Year comes in fast and furious as you recover from the year-end push and assemble your teams to plan for the rest of the year.

So, exhale for a moment and breathe deeply; now is the time to take a good, hard look at your opportunity pipeline for the balance of 2018. Are there enough qualified opportunities in development to enable you to exceed your revenue plans? Ignore the old adage that you need to have “three times” the revenue in your pipeline to hit your annual plan – it’s not only a bad guess for how to hit your number, but it’s also a dangerous precedent for sellers who aren’t sure what a healthy pipeline actually looks like.

Here is what your sales leaders need to do NOW to make sure there is enough revenue working:

  • Establish Qualified Opportunity Criteria: this should have been done by January 1, but if you haven’t done it yet, it’s not too late. Make sure each member of your team knows the criteria required to categorize an opportunity as qualified. (We have done this with our customers, and can send anonymous examples to you by request to john@drive-revenue.com)
  • Coach Opportunity Development EARLY: don’t wait until the negotiation is coming to a head to parachute in and close the deal for the seller. Salespeople learn nothing from this, except perhaps how you close, which won’t help them when you aren’t there. Set a schedule with each of your reps to coach them on how to successfully navigate their open opportunities, and make sure a complete job is done in early stages.
  • Practice Skill Conversations: from prospecting to qualification and all the way through negotiation, make sure your team members are fluent in all aspects of the conversations they will have with customers and prospects. Not all sellers need every skill improved; a good benchmark is to pick one skill per rep per month and ensure that it is really mastered.

Once you have these basics in place, we can look at how to build the right opportunity mix for a healthy, balanced revenue pipeline (read Part 2 of 2 coming next week). But without doing the work to establish opportunity criteria, coaching opportunity development and practicing skill conversations, you’re sure to have some gaps in your pipeline that will make it very difficult to achieve your annual plan. If you do the heavy lifting now, you will avoid the year-end fire drills that many organizations go through to hit their numbers in Q4.

(Click here to read Part 2 of 2)

 

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Ask A Sales Leader: Danijela Ivankovic

Danijela Ivankovic Precor Sales Process Feb 19 2016

Danijela Ivankovic is the Co-owner and General Manager of DD Wellness Solutions in Belgrade, Serbia. Danijela runs a successful business in a developing fitness market in the Balkans. This month, she shares her insight on how they use the program we worked with them on recently.

  1. How does your organization use sales process?

Serbia is a developing market with many specific challenges and unfortunately not much structure. The elements that we learned from the Precor Sales Process (PSP) provides us with a structure which help us and clients to stay on the right path, which has a beginning and a predictable end.

Not all of the process steps are possible to follow every time, but there are always valuable tools and parts of the process which can lead us to the successful conclusion of the deal. They include:

  • Clear awareness of  the customers’ Primary Business Objectives;
  • The approach in which we are leading a client through questions, to realize that our capabilities are right to address their challenges; pointing to financial impacts and values.
  • Following the Discovery Map
  • The Negotiating plan gives us a more effective perspective to prepare to close the business
  • Developing Gets/Gives as a part of negotiation is very powerful

Clients are responding very well as their part in the buying process is much more appreciated. The whole process creates the platform in which decision they make is completely their decision.

  1. What advice would you give to other sales leaders?

Try to adopt and implement PSP as much as possible. Reactions of clients, no matter how big or small are they, are very positive, and can save you time, energy and finances which is very important.

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Join FSS at the ALC Conference in San Diego

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On May 13, John will be speaking to the Association of Language Companies (ALC) at their Annual Conference in downtown San Diego.  (Click here for more information and you can review the program here.) The title of the session is “Establishing Value Around Your Product and Service”, and a description of the program is below.

Making sure that a customer or prospect understands how they use your product or service to increase revenue, decrease cost or mitigate risk is the key component to establishing value. But before we can “ tell “ someone what our value proposition is, we must first understand how they operate today in the absence of what we are selling to them. Make sense? Is it easier said than done? Definitely.

All the features and benefits in the world don’t mean anything until a customer or prospect has a clear understanding of how your product or service addresses the challenges they are facing and helps them to meet their business objectives. So, it makes sense that we must first understand what the business objectives and challenges are before going into how we can address or improve them.  This concept is so basic and fundamental that it is often overlooked. On May 13, we will make sure we all have the concepts right before we leave the session.

ALC is a national trade association representing businesses that provide translation, interpretation, localization, and language training services. 

If you would like to join us, please contact Malinee at malinee@drive-revenue.com for more information.

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On The Road Again: From Missouri, The Show Me State

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Last week, John traveled to Columbia and St. Louis, Missouri to begin the development of a customized sales process for a new customer. Click on arrow above to hear more about our “Ask A Sales Leader” segment, and about an upcoming speaking engagement in San Diego for John in May.

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