Sales Laundry

Archive for March 10th, 2009

What is Dead Air, as it relates to sales, anyway?

dead air – noun. Silence in the room when no one is talking or the silence between the time a question is asked and the answer given.

Do not be afraid of dead air.  Do not be afraid to ask your client a question and let silence fill the room while you wait for the answer.  Well placed silence can be a sales tool just as strong as any other in your bag.

Trust me when I say it is not necessary to fill up all of the gaps in a conversation with more words for the sake of saying more words to avoid awkward silence. 

 There do not have to be words in the air at all times.  In fact your words, as a dutiful Business Development Executive, should be far fewer on average than your prospects.  80%/20% is what the experts say.  Remember, you want to hear what Mr. or Ms. Prospect has to say because they have the problem you are trying to get paid to solve!

 There are times you are going to need your friend “dead air,” so you might as well get comfortable with him right now.

 For example, when the time is right, and you ask for the order from your prospect, let the dead air out there hang to add emphasis to your question.

Ask the question…

 “Mr. Jones, if I can put together a pilot project that meets the criteria we have defined here, will you sign off on the proposal?” 

Then do the most important part… be quiet and wait for an answer.

 It will either be “Yes,” “No,” a valid reason, an excuse, or he will create a diversion and run screaming from the room like his hair is on fire.  That is my experience, anyway.

 When you have pushed a man to a decision or woman for that matter, give him a chance to answer.  This is true of all of the defining questions you will ask throughout your sales career.  I will go as far as to say that your very success in sales hinges on your being able to identify and ask the right questions and sit in silence while you listen attentively for an answer.

 What do you think? (I am not saying a word until you answer.)

As a young boy my mom would occasionally pick me up after school and take me back to her work until she was done for the day.

I looked forward to those days because once we got to her work I got to walk across the street to what was then a Ben Franklin store and pick out a new Hot Wheels car for $1.24 of my hard earned allowance and head back to moms office to burn some toy rubber.

When it came time to get something to drink, though, I had a lot of choices. I could get a can out of the Coke machine in the office, I could walk back across the street to Ben Franklin or I could walk to a nearby gas station.

Even though the same brand of soft drink was much closer and priced about the same, one being only a few steps away, almost without fail I chose the gas station as the place to make my drink purchase.

Why? Because the old man that owned that gas station found a way to add value to a commodity product like a soft drink that made his place of business my first choice.

The Coke was canned so he could not tinker with the formula, the quantity was the same, 12 ounces, and he did not treat me any better or worse than any other adult.

So what did he do different?

One thing. He kept his refrigerators set just right to keep the Coke as cold as possible, forming little ice crystals inside the can. A Coke from his refrigerator was worth the walk.

Are you selling a product that is fast becoming a commodity like a can of Coke? Are you selling your product like the commodity it is, or have you figured out a way to add your own spin?

If I could buy your product from three locations within walking distance, what are you doing different to make me choose you?

Think about it.

What I do not know is how I figured out the refrigerators were so cold at the old mans gas station to begin with. If you have found a way to add value to a commodity product, how are you informing customers about the difference?

Have you found a way to add value to a commodity that is giving you an advantage in the market? Tell me about it.

What is your competitive advantage?

I love that question because it gives me an immediate understanding of a sales reps grasp of their own offerings and provides a small perspective into their understanding of their competitors.

The answer to that question can be key in some cases in determining the reasons for the success or failure of an individual sales rep or an entire sales team.

Let’s take an example from the oft in the news automobile industry. I will qualify all of this by saying I do not and have not ever sold cars. This is an example to illustrate a point.

If I only sold new Ford F150 pickups I would consider it critical to my success to understand everything I could about feature packages, engine choices, trim levels and available options so I could match the needs of my prospective client with the best combination of features that would serve his needs and what I had on the lot.

I would also want to understand what I had in inventory, what my competitors have, and what I could get my hands on in a reasonable amount of time to satisfy a customer request.

Next, for me, would be to talk to my service department and get an understanding of the vehicle from a service perspective. What parts tend to break more often? What should my client keep an eye on to avoid costly repairs? Are there any specific problems with certain engines, transmissions or trim levels?

I would also study the commercials to understand what the Ford marketing department is hanging its hat on when trying to entice the consumer to buy their trucks. Where it makes sense, I would blend their message with mine to leverage the ground work Ford has already done.

I would also need to know why my new F150 and the depreciation it would take as soon as it rolled off the lot was a better value for my customer than last years model, or any other used Ford truck still on the road. If I only sell new Ford trucks then a used Ford F150 is every bit as strong a competitor as a Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan or GMC.

Where, when and why is my new F150 a better value than my competitors’ vehicles. To understand that, I would need as much knowledge about my competitors new trucks as I know about my own, including their used models as well.

Amassing and internalizing all of this information amounts to what could be a strong value add for my prospective truck customer. Even the ones showing up fully armed with internet research.

The more information I have at my disposal to answer questions and eliminate the need for my client to go look somewhere else, the more likely I am to sell a truck.

There are several other factors that go into being a successful rep that I glossed over. Here I am speaking specifically about leveraging what you know into dough.

I ask again, what is your competitive advantage?

Why should I buy your product over your competitors? What value do YOU bring as the representative? Why should I buy my widget from you instead of number one sales guy Dave over there?

Make it easy for me to buy, help me understand the value you bring, and why I should buy from you vs. your competitor and odds are, assuming I believe you and recognize your value, I will buy from you, all other things being equal.

Chinese general Sun Tzu, living some 2,400 years ago, give or take, put it a little differently…

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tzu

Or perhaps more concisely put…

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
- Sun-Tzu

image provided by theblogentrepreneur.com

Trade show season is upon us and for those representatives that depend upon them to make their fortunes, I thought I would relate a story that might help spark some sales creativity.

Our company, focused on the financial services vertical, more specifically banks, decided at the last minute to rent a booth at one of the annual banking association shows.

At the time I was working in a new territory for the company building a new client base and relaying references from our client banks that were thrilled with our expertise and skill at eliminating a lot of the technology and regulatory headaches faced by the banking industry.

Approximately two days before the show I got a call asking me to staff the booth for the show with two of my fellow team members.

Two days and many miles later, I arrived early to make sure we got the booth setup and that we had all of the services/equipment we were paying the show company for.

As it seems to go sometimes, we had no carpet, we had no electricity but what we did have in abundance was mass confusion on the part of the show company related to what we had ordered, what was needed and when anything could get done.

Even allowing the extra time the show opened before we were able to work out all of the details and get our show strategy in place, but on the bright side, we did have a bowl full of candy.

Our last minute booth selection put us along the back wall, in a corner, that was far away from the sessions the bankers were attending. You had to want to go back there to find us. If you did manage to find the row, the massive stretch of concrete down one side convinced some to forego our isle and the exhibiting vendors on it, altogether.

Doing their part, the show sponsors staged raffles and other events almost every hour to keep the show patrons engaged, the challenge for us was that none of the sponsored events were close to our booth, so far from seeing a traffic bump each event was in fact a net drain on participants in our area.

We realized pretty quickly that to have any chance of making the show a success, we were going to need to generate some excitement to get patrons flocking to our side of the exhibit hall.

Plan A was to raffle off an expensive iPod and to place a hawker out in the aisle redirecting traffic to the booth. We later expanded this by sending two hawkers all over the show floor talking to and collecting business cards from any interested attendee.

The iPod drew interest at the time because no one else was doing it, not the case today, but even then that was not a compelling reason to get them to our booth, it was only a strong enough draw if they were in the immediate area.

Plan B inadvertently came to me while I was driving around trying to find a place to park for the event. I saw a group of 8 or 10 people having fun rolling around on Segways on some sort of tour of the city.

While at the show, I called the tourist board and found the number to the Segway Tours company, gave them a call and effectively negotiated a package including the Segway and an instructor to give lessons in and around our booth while we were at the show.

The Segway was a fantastic draw. We had lines of bankers at our booth waiting, working with the instructor or riding around the large concrete expanse around our booth.

When one banker would see another banker he knew riding around the show floor, he would head to our booth to get his turn.
The show turned out to be a success, with a lot of leads, a pile of new contacts, and a ton of awareness for who we were. For better or worse, over the next few weeks as I traveled around on follow up meetings I was introduced as the Segway guy.

The year that followed that event proved to be the best year to date for our company. I can’t tie all of our success to that one trade show, but I can say that the show was the spark that gave us an opportunity to demonstrate how the life of a banker would be better with us than without us.

Got a success story or tip? I want to read it. Any wild failures that led to a great lesson learned? I would like to read that, too.

Photo courtesy of  isdnvoices.com

Times are tough. Sales are down and Management is cracking the whip on the sales team. Forecast meetings have turned into an exercise in pain management as the same weak opportunities get hashed and rehashed week after week as revenues dry up and leads exist only in legend.

Does that about size up the sales effort so far this year? Well grind no more my good man.

Simply put, if what worked yesterday does not work today for one rep, look at what has changed about the rep. If what worked yesterday does not work today for the entire sales team, look at what has changed about the business of doing business.

In those heady days before 2008 when sales reps were writing new business in their pajamas or while still wearing the cloths they wore to the bar the night before, many sales professionals were able to check their skills at the door and become order takers, often times stumbling across an order or two blowing across the parking lot on the way in the office.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is only to make the point that instead of complaining about the market, now would be a good time to hang up the order takers apron, knock the rust off the sales armor and go jousting.

“Our clients are laying off staff, they do not have the budget to do anything this year.”

Do they still need your service in these difficult times? If you were providing staffing for them, ah, maybe not. Or, they might just need you more than ever. If you have the relationship in place maybe you can suggest temporary staff that are more cost effective to help them wind down their operation until their new reduced permanent head count can wrap their arms around the business. Maybe not, but it is a thought.

Maybe you expand your business by snapping up the best people being let go and using the power of their resumes to land them positions and you some new clients.

Maybe you expand by delivering severance package services like executive retraining, interviewing skills, or resume services.

Maybe all of these will work, maybe none of them will. The point is if business is not coming in the door the old way, think about creative ways to change the business.

“My client is saying she does not have any money to do anything.”

If the company still needs your service, it sounds like it may be time to think about ways to creatively finance your offerings or find a strong leasing or financial partner/bank that can buy the deals you write and give you some needed cash flow.

If you are in a strong position financially, see if you can bump your prices in exchange for time and terms with your client.

Think like a partner when you are talking with your client. Listen to them. What is it that their business really needs to success, or in some cases, survive? Ask questions to expose the bigger picture.

Why doesn’t your customer have any money? Are there sales down? Do they have clients not paying at agreed terms? Are they having cash flow issues in some other area of their business that is limiting the amount of inventory they hold and turn?

Think outside of the box on this one. Is there any service, deals, crucial contacts, reciprocal arrangement or vendor partners that you can marshal to help solve an underlying problem for your customer that will put your customer in a position to solve your problems by buying something.

What if your own sales team dedicated some time to finding opportunities for your best client through your own contact lists, effectively growing their sales force in the short term?

What if you developed some joint marketing efforts, effectively cutting both companies costs in half for the same ad/airtime?

What if?

The take away here is now is the time to think about problems at a greater depth than you are accustomed to doing, and frankly may not have strong enough relationships with your clients to allow those conversations to happen. You may need to solve a problem or two that is higher up on your clients list of issues than the typical problems you solve within the scope of your offering.

Got any creative ideas or stories of how you or your company bailed out a customer? Let me know.

Are you getting any value out of the time and money you are spending at trade shows?

 While I can’t say I get a lot of value out of all of them, I can give you my tips for maximizing the time and the dollars you are spending to attend.

I am not going to go over the merits of having a booth vs. not having a booth here.  Most of these points apply either way, but I write this assuming, for the most part, you are not tethered to a booth.

1. Define a strategy for the show.  Figure out exactly what you want to achieve before you set one foot on the show floor.  With clear objectives it will be much easier to stay focused and tune out the chaos that can ensue when the show floor opens. 
2. While the show is still several weeks out, identify who you would like to meet with at the trade show.  For best results, avoid the standard practice of showing up and winging it.
3. Setup email campaigns and/or call these prospects and try to setup an actual meeting time at the show.  Meet in your booth, a lobby coffee shop or a good couch, whatever works.  TIP:  Pack a snack in case your schedule forces you to miss lunch.
4. There are an amazing number of people that will take a meeting at a trade show having no idea if you can benefit one another.  For the prospects you do identify, do a little research and figure out how you can potentially benefit one another or don’t take the meeting.
5. Confirm your meetings with the prospect face to face or voice to voice on the telephone.   TIP:  Only confirm with something that can feel responsibility or guilt.  I have seen some pretty sophisticated voice mail systems, but never one that will take a meeting with you if his or her owner skips out on you.
6. The tag scanners at trade shows can be great when all you need is an effective swap of electronic business cards.  Be careful not to fall into the trap of scanning the prospects name tag and just trusting yourself to remember what you talked about.  I use a 5”x5” ruled notebook for this purpose with a handy dandy $3.00 mini stapler.  
   

   Swingline Slim T Mini Stapler

   When we exchange business cards to start, I staple the card on the first blank page on the spot and write my meeting notes.  In doing this I have found that I do not lose business cards, I know everyone I met with because I have all of their cards stapled in the book and in the order of how they were sitting in the meeting so I can keep faces associated with names.  I will write more on the value of this little spiral in a future post.

    

    

7. In my most recent trade show visits I have had a full multimedia presentation and a demo reel showing our work.  I keep a copy of everything loaded on my Blackberry as well as my laptop and use the most convenient one based on the situation.
8. Get a rolling bag.  Skip the free bag you get at registration, or the laptop bag you carry around on your shoulder, if you will be carrying your laptop or anything significant in the way of sales literature buy a rolling bag with the a retractable handle.  TIP:  Pay close attention to the quality of the retractable handle.  A bad handle will pinch your hands and in some cases draw blood.
9. In some cases I have had up to 40 meetings over the course of a 5 day show.  I keep a small version of my schedule with meeting times, names of contacts and firms, and contact numbers to stay in touch at the show.  I typically keep this information on the backside of the name tag on the lanyard around my neck.
10. Business cards.  Take twice as many as you think you will need and hand them out to anyone you talk to.  Never miss an opportunity to build some awareness about you or your offerings.
11. Talk!  This is no time to be timid.  Develop some ice breakers in advance of the show if you have to.  I talk to people everywhere.  In the lobby, at lunch, at the hotel, over breakfast, on the shuttle to and from the hotel, anywhere there is an opportunity to have a short conversation.  Don’t whack all these people over the head with your offerings, but when you find one that seems like a fit schedule a time to meet “officially” or have a good 30 second elevator pitch prepared to entice them to want more information.
12. Get a hotel room as close to the show venue as possible.  The hotels closer to the show are a bit more expensive and fill up fast, but having the ability to get back and forth to the hotel without enduring significant time loss or  logistics issues will be money well spent.
13. Evening events.  In many cases there are show sponsored events and private parties scheduled once the day on the show floor is done.  Plan to attend these if you do not have any evening meetings or dinner appointments setup.  Look for the invitation cards while you are at the show and ask around as you meet with people to find out what private events are scheduled.
14. Plan a private event.  If it makes sense for your offerings and if you have the budget, setup a private event one night after the show.  A few drinks, great snacks or a nice dinner can loosen tongues and allow conversations to take place that would be difficult anywhere else.
15. Be prepared to meet a prospect anywhere.  I think of it as traveling heavy, with my rolling bag, all my materials, my laptop, etc. or traveling light with just my mobile phone (with presentations loaded,) business cards, and a small notepad.  I will sometimes carry my 5” x 5” notebook tucked into the small of my back under my jacket.  It works well for me.

Trade shows can be an incredible source for contacts, leads, and opportunities or complete dismal failures.  From maximum success I develop my goals; I develop a primary and secondary strategy unique to each show I attend.  I try to remove as much mystery as possible by defining my prospects, pre-scheduling my meetings, and researching my prospects developing a mini strategy for each meeting.

The last thing I can say is even with all this planning, keep a degree of flexibility built into your schedule.  As I have discovered, even with all my planning, I will on occasion forget something important, like remembering to pack my pants.

Got your own trade show tip?  Is there something you have done to turn a miserable show into a screaming success?  I want to hear about it.

Image courtesy of managemytradeshows.com