Sales Laundry

Q&A’s are excerpts of questions I have answered as part of Sales Laundry or other forums that I am apart of.  If there is a relevant sales message for the masses I post it here to share, gather feedback and discuss.

Q:  What is the single greatest obstacle that would prevent a new CRM implementation from being successfully adopted by the users (sales team)?

A:  The biggest adoption challenge to achieving successful CRM adoption is getting the willing support of the sales team and their commitment to use the CRM tool as intended.

There are a few underlying issues that perpetuate this problem.

1. CRM deployments are often designed and customized to serve the group paying for the CRM solution (management) vs. the people who actually use the CRM tool day to day (sales)

2. In many cases, few attempts are made to legitimately get the sales team on board by showing them how using the CRM package is going to help them do their jobs better/make their lives easier thus inspiring them to increase the depth and quality of data input.

3. Failing to get the sales team to willingly use the CRM package, use of the CRM package is typically mandated leaving the front line sales team feeling the CRM tool has been forced down their throats, taking up their time while not doing anything appreciable to help them close more sales.

4. Real, or perceived, there is a concern by a segment of the sales professional population that keying all of the information they know about an account and contacts diminishes their value as an individual to the company and makes them more expendable.

5. There is also an undercurrent of concern that the (Management mandated) data that a sales person puts in the CRM package under the pretense of helping close more business will actually be turned against them and used as a tool to micro manage their sales efforts or bring about their own elimination.

The end result is, when forced, that the sales team provides the minimum amount of data entry necessary to stay in compliance and will continue to use or develop their own tools outside of company purview as needed to assist them in doing their job, only further eroding the likelihood of successful adoption of the CRM implementation.

To avoid all of this, a CRM deployment needs to be developed with the front line sales team engaged from day one so they have input in the process and more importantly, a stake in making sure the implementation is successful.

Last night I saw a small business owner hitch her business to a much larger cause and pull off an absolute rock star marketing strategy.

Forget how Kellogg’s tied breakfast cereal to our kid’s education, pardon the pun, but that is kid stuff by comparison.

I was watching America’s Got Talent (you can slap me later) with my two little girls when Pam Martin’s Top Dog act began.  The act was just as you would imagine; a routine with owner and dog doing tricks to music trying their best to be one of five acts out of twelve on the show to make it to the next round.

In real life Pam Martin runs a small pet obedience training business called Top Dog in what might as well be Dallas, Texas.  Pam branded her act on America’s Got Talent with the same name as her business, so every time Pam is on television her business gets a plug because at the bottom of the screen is “Pam Martin’s Top Dog.”

Now for the Rock Star Marketing Genius part.

By going on the show with her act, appropriately called “Pam Martin’s Top Dog” and showing off her training skills, Pam has successfully created and aired two commercials almost two minutes in length each showcasing her business to a national audience on prime time network television.

If Pam were paying for commercials on America’s Got Talent she would have paid $800,000+/- for that same air time, plus the cost of making the clips, not counting the 30 second human interest pieces that endear the performer (or business woman, in this case) to the audience. No matter the outcome,  Pam has already won $1,000,000 from America’s Got Talent and spent all of it advertising her business.

Consciously or not, Pam has tied her business to the number one television show on network television in its time slot, with 11.2 Million viewers that Tuesday night alone.  Pam has also benefited from NBC’s own marketing spend in all forms of media promoting America’s Got Talent for the price of a couple of costumes and stage props.

That beats the pants off of the marketing strategy and budget of every other pet obedience school in Dallas, TX.

Pam will also get to carry forward a little bit of celebrity to add to her business raising her exposure in her market and raising obedience training as a priority in the minds of her prospects.

Where else are you going to get to spend six weeks with a minor TV star for $100?  Call Pam.

I would bet Pam’s business is booming from the national exposure boosting her efforts to earn her next million on the back of that million+ advertising budget, regardless of what happens to the million the TV show is giving away.

Genius.

Pam tied her small business to a bigger business that could raise her exposure, add celebrity and other elements making her services a higher purchasing priority in her customers minds and managed to squeeze a million+ in free advertising out of the deal.

What can you do to think outside the box to become a top priority in your customers mind and start to work on your own million?

Image courtesy of http://topdogdallas.com

Networking.

Historically just saying that word out loud has made me think of smarmy business card exchange exercises with people that have a paper-thin layer of genuine friendliness masking unfathomable depths of desperation and a near unstoppable urge to smack you over the head with their latest product pitch just because you happened to be standing suspiciously out in the open, unprotected, and dared to make eye contact with them at a business after hours event.

Just typing that makes me want to go wash my hands.  Yuck.

Why then do we even entertain the idea of slapping a plastic grin on our faces and moving about uncomfortably stuffing our pockets with random business cards?

We do it because we have been told that “networking” is important to our careers.

Which it absolutely is.

Unfortunately, who ever tossed out that bit of sage advice failed to leave proper instructions on how to “network” properly.  Thus the “biological business card dispenser” model was born, and the mere thought of attending a networking event is met by most with the same level of disdain reserved for the drill at the dentists’ office.

We have been bamboozled, my friends.  That is  not “networking.”  That is just a more polite form of Rockum Sockum Robots I like to call “notworking.”

The right way to network

So how can anyone build a solid network of people to help their business without feeling like they have been collecting business cards while wading chest deep in a pool of snail slime?

Networking for me got a whole lot less “slimy” when I stopped thinking about “me” and about the important stuff I had to say and started listening to the person I was talking to, and thinking how I could help them solve their problem/be more successful.

With the simple change in mindset of looking to help someone else first, dozens of new opportunities to genuinely connect with people began to present themselves.

As you listen to someone talk you will discover some of the things that are really important in their lives and you will find some new paths to connect with them outside of tradeshows and seminars where you can form a relationship that can help you move right past the gate keeper when it is time to talk business.

Here are a few ideas to get the wheels turning:

Start with the small stuff

Everyone in the room has something in common.  They are people.  (Godzilla and Bigfoot do not typically attend these things.)  They are people that have, more or less, the same problems and daily challenges you face.  Start with the small stuff, share something personal, and let the conversation unfold.

Listen for all of the opportunities to help, not just the ones your company’s product or service can fix. Is their child having a hard time in school or looking for an entry level job?  Offer to connect them with someone in your network that can help.  Are they relocating?  Buying a car?  Need a new cell phone?  Need some contacts to get their business going?  Planning an anniversary?  Need help pulling off a customer appreciation event?  There are opportunities to connect at some level in all of the “stuff” we fill our lives with.

Figure out who you want to network with in advance. Do your best to figure out who you want to meet at an event and position yourself to make that acquaintance instead of randomly trolling about the room.  Research them online so you can pick up some of their specific interests and have something relevant to say.

Prepare a small secondary event. For the handful of people you meet at an event that you would really like to get to know better, invite them all to join you for dinner/drinks after the event to continue the conversation.

“Networking” does not have to be a negative experience that leaves you feeling like you just ate a four pound bag of French fries.  It can be a very rewarding experience to know that someone is better off in some small way because of your selfless actions.  I would sum it up this way:

“Listen and give and you will get more than you gave.”

There are some fantastic thought leaders on the topic of networking I urge you to explore.

Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone and current NY Times best seller Who’s Got Your Back is a great resource.  You can also tap into the Never Eat Alone LinkedIn group, of which I am a member, as well.

Andy Lopata, which someone in my network pointed out to me, also known as “Mr. Network” in the UK and author of two books on the subject of networking, Building a Business on Bacon and Eggs and …and Death Came Third! You can catch more good stuff from Andy’s blog Connecting is Not Enough.

Image courtesy of http://www.marriedtothesea.com

As many of you know, last week, AlchemyEngine/I offered five free sales consulting sessions to everyone that has supported SalesLaundry in some way since its launch.  Many of you decided to take me up on the offer and by the weekend all of the slots were filled.  Thank you for the great response.

True to my word, I spent the majority of this week fulfilling all but one of those commitments which has yet to be scheduled, and have met some truly exceptional people in the process.  I am not sure what everyone else got out of the calls but I got charged up and inspired after every one of them and found myself making improvements in my own process and going through my contacts working diligently to find connections that would be meaningful and mutually beneficial for everyone involved.

I just wanted to thank all of you because as is almost always the case, I think I got back far more than I gave.

I did notice one common theme among a few of the calls and that was a desire to improve and grow the networks of people we work with and call prospects and customers.  To that end I have pushed everything else off my desk and am starting on an article tonight on the topic of how to grow and strengthen our networks to help in that area.

If you did not get an opportunity to participate in this promotion, send me an email: val {at} saleslaundry.com or signup to receive SalesLaundry updates via email if you have not already.

Thanks again.

Today something remarkable happened, I got a piece of junk mail that I actually felt compelled to open, and once I read the contents I was even more compelled to give them a call.

This impressed me because 99.99% of the junk mail I get does not make it past my office door where the shredder sits consuming the daily unwanted unopened contents of my mailbox.

I have read that the average American adult receives 40+ pounds of junk mail every year, so what did this company do that was so remarkable to get their one ounce sales message past my shredder?

The small envelope was hand addressed to me with a first class stamp.  Inside was a single page handwritten note off of a mini legal pad with a name, pitch and a phone number.

They made it personal, made me curious, communicated their message quickly, and they got me.

In this world of demographic driven marketing-to-the-masses, could simply sending personal messages to targeted groups of individuals be a successful strategy to improve lead quality/quantity and help your company stand out?

I don’t know, but at 75 cents a lead, I can afford to find out.

How personal is your company’s message?

A good first step is to read your own marketing materials.  Does the text talk about you and how great your company is or does it talk about how your product benefits the person buying it?

It’s easy to write on our websites and press releases that we are “industry leaders,” or talk about our own accomplishments and how many years of combined experience we have, but that is not a very compelling read to a potential buyer trying to answer the age old question “What is this product/service going to do for me?”

No matter the method, make your message personal and a little bit different to get your prospective buyers attention.  Then make the most of that precious attention by delivering a message that does more for the person experiencing it than the marketing department that wrote it.

Image courtesy of zcache.com

Recently I was talking with a small business owner enjoying a degree of success growing his business from a one-man-band to six person shop and achieving a degree of local business notoriety.  Our discussion centered on talk of hiring a sales professional for the company and the owners exciting growth plans to take the business to the next level.

The owner was convinced that the correct course to grow the business was through a large expansion in products, markets served and by targeting larger customers that could buy in bigger chunks.

His theory was that with a significant expansion he could grab more revenue and tap new markets to avoid the risk of his primary revenue source drying up and foundering the company.

It was a reasonable line of thinking that I identified with even though it was a poor decision that could not have been more wrong.  I know this because I was guilty of the same mistake in a similar situation at an earlier point in my sales career.

I could not persuade the owner to look at a more focused strategy of measured growth or any other option for that matter, so I knew it was something I was going to have to pass on.  With any luck, maybe I can help you avoid a mistake that your business just may not recover from.

The biggest lesson I got out of my own personal foray into this folly was simply this:

Be the Master of Something or you will be known for nothing.

As a little, growing, cash starved business there is usually a strong desire, at some point, to throw sales discipline out the window and bend your little company around any and every opportunity for potential revenue you can find to survive.

Making that decision would likely be one of the worst decisions you could make, but I also know that over 50% of you will take that leap anyway because the alternatives will be too ugly to even contemplate.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the solution is to go narrow and deep, not wide and shallow.  Narrowing your focus to your best product(s), best prospects, building your brand, your experience and credibility in a niche you can own is the best strategy for success.

Look to expand after you have become Master of your Niche and can successfully leverage your hard-won market credibility into sales of your new offerings.  Having too many offerings or serving a large diverse market where it is hard to get traction will leave you Master of Nothing, unremarkable, swimming in a sea of mediocrity.

As focusing sunlight through a magnifying glass gets the attention of the local ant population, a razor-like focus on what you do best is the best way to burn through all the marketing and sales noise that can water down your message and drown out a small company.

What is the worst that can happen?

Typically this story ends one of three ways.

1. The company expands and expands to a wider range of products and offerings in hopes of capturing cash flow and the company ends up eating the people it was supposed to feed.
2. Continued expansion occurs until the sales, support or management structure collapses, damaging customer service, reputations and sales to say the least.  With any luck the smaller but right-sized company will begin to grow again at a more measured pace.
3. Miracles happen.

Three tips for the road.

Create a sales strategy to go deep, building brand, customers, and loyalty as you attract sales.

Manage your cash carefully to avoid potentially being forced to make poor decisions in a crunch.

Get known for something before your company and bank account are worth nothing.

Want to know more on the subject?  Drop me an email with FOCUS in the subject line.  val {at} saleslaundry.com.  As an extension, click here to learn how to multiply your existing sales momentum into more sells.

Image courtesy of positivepsychologynews.com

I was posed this problem recently so I thought I would open up discussion to you and get your input.  What is the best path to grow sales for this company based on what we know below?

A company is manufacturing and selling 25 different products.

Company sales are split approximately 50/50 between wholesale and retail channels.

Sales cycles are short, the company is on cash terms with most of its suppliers, but the five year old company is making a 20% profit annually on just under a million in revenue.

The manufacturing facility is at 100% capacity with no ability to outsource and does not enough cash/assets to leverage for expansion.

50% of company sales come from one product and demand is increasing.  The remaining 50% of sales is split evenly among the remaining 24 products.

Removing any one product from the lineup will anger some segment of the customer base and potentially impact sales to some unknown degree for every other product.

Cash flow is tight because the company is still paying off the last expansion and the largest customers want the company to extend Net 10 terms to Net 30 and some are asking for Net 60 terms on payment.

The sales team is being actively pushed to sell the entire product line every day.

You are hired as the companies first VP of Sales charged with overseeing a sales staff of 8 retail and 2 wholesale sales representatives and finding someway to get past these issues and grow the business to a point where the company can afford another expansion.

The existing retail sales staff is working at maximum capacity, and just able to cover sick days.  Customer service is at an acceptable level.

The wholesale sales staff is getting irritated because their income has been capped by the manufacturing facilities inability to increase supply, and competitors in the market are promising no such problems for sales staff working in their facilities.

If everything holds steady with no significant equipment breakdowns or cash expenditures, the President has told you it will be 3 years before the company can afford the necessary expansion.

What would be your solution to this problem and how would you grow the business?

Image courtesy of jefftzucker.wordpress.com