Sales Laundry

Posts Tagged ‘relationship building’

In training new people to become sales professionals and developing them into successful sales teams, or building sales engines as I like to call it, I have found that how you allocate your sales team is just as important as the training and development that gets them ready for a sales career in the first place.

The default way to allocate sales professionals seems to put the strongest relationship builders and highest income earners on the largest companies/named accounts in a territory, and then allocating the balance of the sales team in support of those large account representatives or scattering them across the remaining territory, engaged in outside sales, inside sales, or sales support typically based on their years of experience.

This approach can anger and annoy customers and prospects alike. This method can also be an incredibly inefficient way to field a sales team that unnecessarily raises Cost of Sales.

What if we divided sales teams not by the size of the customer but by the way a customer prefers to buy?

Your company has customers that could care less about your sales team or interacting with them because the customer knows your products and their applications as well as you do, perhaps better because they interact with your products every day. Does it make sense to deploy a “relationship building” sales professional or a dedicated sales team to this large customer and raise your Cost of Sales by providing your customer sales resources they do not want or value?

Nope.

Regardless of the client’s size, if they are ultimately only concerned about bottom line cost, then provide a method to purchase for them that meets their needs. Let them order through an inside sales representative or build a nice functional online purchasing mechanism that makes sense for you and will let them do business with you in a way they prefer.

For those clients that value the expertise of your sales professionals, big or small, deploy your relationship builders and subject matter experts, delivering the products your customer needs and the support the customer values and is willing to pay for.

If you are thinking ahead a bit, you might envision a scenario where a very expensive relationship building sales professional could be assigned to a small opportunity with a company valuing your expertise that could be as wildly unprofitable as anything we have mentioned previously.

Your right. So, don’t do that. You need more than a sledge hammer and a flyswatter in your bag of sales tools. Allocate internet sales, inside sales, junior account managers, senior account managers, Subject Matter Experts, Field Overlays and your Sales Top 10% where it makes the most sense for your customer and the most profit for you and your sales professionals.

The one guiding principle of this model that needs to be understood is that regardless of how sales people and resources are deployed, they must meet or exceed the accepted level of service the customer requires. Under deliver and you lose the customer, exceed their expectations beyond the point of where a customer cares and you are unnecessarily raising your Cost of Sales again.

Before you begin a full sales retreat and cut your head count or risk alienating your customers by trying removing some of the perks customers have come to expect from a relationship with you, I urge you to reassess how you sell your products. Is it possible to cut your Cost of Sales by reorganizing your sales team to sell the way your customer wants to buy and continue to grow your company while your competitors are running for cover? I don’t know, but I certainly hope you will tell me when you find out.

Image is the sales team for Microbizz and provided by Microbizz.

part⋅ner [pahrt-ner] –noun   1. what every book on sales says a salesperson or business owner should become in order to be successful and make cow choking quantities of money that one could not hide under a house, let alone a mattress.

 Webster’s Dictionary would define the word partner a little differently, I am certain, but we are not talking about the dictionary for normal people, we are talking about the Zigler-Hill Unabridged Dictionary for Sales Professionals & Business Owners.

What is a Partner? 

A partner is a trusted resource that can be counted on to assist on an as needed basis in a mutually beneficial, but not necessarily equal, relationship.  We help solve our client’s problems with our expertise and they help solve some of our problems with cash.

None of us are experts on everything we have to make decisions on in our daily lives.  We need partners, advisors, parents, attorneys, accountants, carpet cleaners, plumbers, electricians, cable guys etc. to help us make good decisions and keep our lives running.

By saying you want to be a partner you are saying you want to occupy that small slice of someone else’s life that you happen to be an expert in.  There are only so many available slots so how do you get to be that guy?

How do you become a Partner?  Here are eight thoughts to get you started.

• Acquire knowledge that your client needs but does not have the time/desire to acquire.
• Bring a unique and valued perspective.  If you deal with many clients in the same industry there may be instances where you have seen common problems solved many different ways that you might be able to suggest.  Your unique perspective in this instance is something your client cannot duplicate easily.
• Understand your clients business to the point that your client can just explain the issues without having to explain the business.
• Look ahead for your client.  There are so many fires to put out each and every day it can be difficult to look down the road and watch for issues or advantages that could impact a business.  Be the eyes for your client, keeping them informed of new laws, products, technologies or trends might impact their business.  The better you understand their business the more valuable this type of resource can be.    
• Be consistent and reliable.  You can only be a partner or trusted resource when you are there when needed.  If you are unreliable or inconsistent your customer will find another resource to help solve problems in your area of expertise.
• Make your client’s job easier.  Provide information, insight or resources that help your client do his or her job better.
• Go to bat for your client when needed.  Sometimes your employer’s interest or even your own personal interests can conflict with what is best for your client.  Sometimes your clients need a man on the inside protecting their interests. 
• Respect your client’s time.  If you call or stop by, have something worth saying.  If you want to talk about the latest wiz-bang features on your product then limit it to the features that would make sense for your client and explain them in terms of your clients business.

Establishing partnerships is a mindset not a mission statement.  The easiest way for me to remember to stay in the right frame of mind is to remember a simple line. 

“Help your client build his business so he is in a better position to help you build yours.”

Image courtesy of Visionpoint.dk

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:  How important are relationships in selling? Are they the only reason people buy, a prerequisite or not that big of a deal?  I understand that some customer’s do make a buying decision in our favor, but is it the 80/20 rule or relationships?

A:  A relationship could be critical to your success or of absolutely no value.  In my opinion it depends on where the customer places value in a given situation.

For example, I have bought products from sales professionals that brought a lot of knowledge I valued, but did not like them or care to see them again.  The value of their knowledge drove the transaction, not the relationship.

 I have bought products from sales professionals that I had a great relationship with where the product was average to not as good, in retrospect, I suppose because I placed more value on extending the relationship than I did the product.

 I have also bought products that I was enamored with and placed so much value in having that I bought them regardless of the sales process/relationship or the professional.

 So, speaking just for myself, a strong enough desire for the product, or the value I place in that product, can render a relationship unimportant to me.  (Unless I think I am going to need support or handholding to get the full value out of the product.)

 Otherwise, the importance I place on a relationship is directly proportional to my perceived need for that relationship in finding, acquiring and implementing the end product or service.

 Hope that makes sense.  It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

I was reading an interesting article this morning on child behavior, more specifically why toddlers don’t necessarily do what they are told. According to the research, three year olds don’t think like the rest of us.

For everyone older than three, if you realize it is cold outside you can think ahead and grab your coat before you head out the door. The three year old, however, has a different mental process. The three year old HAS to run outside, experience the cold, retrieve the memory of where his coat is, and then go get it.

As I continued to think, though, the article gave me a potential explanation for some curious customer interactions I have seen over the years.

I have seen clients trust their Account Managers recommendation enough to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hardware and software, but then slash the recommended implementation and training budget thus hobbling the deployment before it even begins.

Curiously, what were two of the top 5 things customers were most unhappy about after their deployments?  Perceived poor implementation and insufficient end user training.

Why does your customer “hear” you and order the hardware and software but then selectively ignore you on the topics of implementation and training?

In short, because the customer, like the three year old, either can’t register what you are saying,  does not have the frame of reference on which to fully comprehend the question, let alone make an informed decision or just does not trust your recommendation in this area. He may very well have to experience the pain, then seek the remedy.

More specifically in these instances, I see two possibilities.

Your client does not take your recommendation because you have not established an unwavering trust in the areas of implementation and training to override his lack of understanding of the potential ramifications.

Or.

Because you are perceived as an expert in hardware and software, an area where the client acknowledges he has little knowledge, but are also perceived as less than an expert, or worse yet, a corporate shill, in implementation and training, where the client may feel he has some relevant expertise.

The resolution is similar for both.

Put the same level of planning and forethought into discussing the training and implementation as you put into the discussion about your core offering. When you do discuss training and implementation, discuss hard numbers from other similar implementations, with references if necessary, to build the same level of trust you built on your core offering.

Give me your thoughts on this “Theory of 3.”

Image courtesy of http://seo2.0.onreact.com/

On almost every small to medium business web site I have ever looked at, when I read the “About” section, it almost always starts off with something like this.

 X Company, an industry leading…  or X Company is the world leader in X…

 How can everyone be leading their industry?  They can’t.

 Newsflash.  I don’t believe you when you say that and neither does your customer.

 Interestingly enough, the one place I do not typically see the “industry leading” moniker is on the web site of the company that actually is the industry leader.

 Why?  I assume because everyone in their market solar system of competitors, prospects, clients and vendors already knows this information and considers it a given.

 So, if you are number one, we most likely know it already.

 If you are not the best, or close to it, but you say you are, you can improve your message by just shutting up.

Your startup or 2 year old services company should not be blowing smoke about being the best or being an “industry leader.”

 Stop it.  You are destroying your own credibility.  If I can’t belive you on something that basic, how am I going to believe you in your area of expertise where my limited knowledge forces me to travel with you on trust?  

 I can’t.

 Muhammad Ali said “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

 The difference is he delivered proof of his personal branding message under the bright lights of a live event repeatedly on national television.

 Are you the best?  Should you be considered the best?  Don’t tell me how great you are.  Show me.  Give me evidence of your greatness from a source I will trust.

 One example of “evidence” not to follow would be the supposed professionals quoted on  DVD cases.

 “Best family movie of the year” – X Magazine.        

“A thrill ride from beginning to end!” – NY Times.

 No one believes the hype on the box, especially if it only lists the title of the reviewing publication.  Was there not one single guy working there that was willing to put his name to the review?  So what does it amount to?  A waste of time to write, an erosion credibility, and an abuse of the customers time spent reading it.

 Give me a video testimonial.  Give me a signed reference letter and a phone number that I can call to back it up.  Give me independent research.

 If you are not the industry leader, tell me what you are, and give me a compelling reason to forsake the safety of the industry leader to take a ride with you.

 One last point.  It has been consistently proven that people are by in large not trying to make the very best choice they can, they are trying to avoid making a bad choice.

 You don’t have to be the world wide number 1, you just have to be number 1 for me. 

You heard it here first, if Global Warming is real, the source is not cow butts or cars, it is the smoke spewing from the collective mouths of crusty reps and unimaginitive copy writers. 
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Hyundai has a problem shared by every car manufacturer; we are not buying new cars. 

 Sales are down 30%+ across the industry and GM, once the pride of American manufacturing is on the verge of being delisted from the stock exchange as shares trade under $1.00.

 The difference is Hyundai gets it.  Instead of gutting their value and defensively dropping their shorts on price, rebates and financing, they are on the offensive, effectively saying “Mr. customer, I dare you to lose your job.”

 they are on the offensive, effectively saying 

“Mr. customer, I dare you to lose your job.”

Hyundai already has a sales strategy and marketing message that I would think would play well in this economic environment.

 That message being “We build stylish high quality, inexpensive cars, and we back it up with a strong warranty” which was designed to solve the problem of “I don’t have a lot of money, but I need a car that is better than what I am driving now.”

 That message has a lot of appeal, but apparently not enough to keep sales from falling off of a cliff. 

 Hyundai took a deeper look at why business was slumping and thought way outside of the box for ways to solve a problem weighing much heavier on the minds of their prospect than the problem their current value statement was solving.

 That deeper problem being “What happens if I lose my job and cannot pay my bills?”

 The answer until now has been “The car gets repossessed.  I lose my transportation.  It would be harder to find a new job.  My credit gets ruined, and I won’t be in a position to buy a car on credit when I do get back on my feet.”

 Final decision:  “A new car would be nice, but there is just too much downside right now to justify it.  I will keep my old car; at least it is paid for.”

 So what did Hyundai do?

 Hyundai Assurance Plus:  If you lose your income, we will make your payments for 3 months.  If that is not enough time to work things out, you can still bring the car back within a year.  By the way, you still get the 10yr warranty.

 I have no idea how this strategy is going to play out for them, though I assume it will be fantastic as long as legal did not pack the contract with too many outs.  I can, however, tell you how it makes me feel as a consumer.

 I feel like Hyundai is a company that gets it.  That they understand and they are offering up a legitimate “bail out” for the little guy if it becomes necessary.  More importantly, I feel like Hyundai cares.  Hyundai is willing to step in and help out if life’s challenges get a little too big for a while.

 Hyundai is going to earn some respect and get a look by a segment of the market that would not have looked at a Hyundai before and Hyundai is going to win a deep loyalty from the customers they end up helping out.

 More sales today, more happy customers and more market share tomorrow.

It is an aggressive move in a market that finds most of their competitors retreating to a defensive position of low price.

 Ask yourself, does your present value statement carry the same weight it once did?  Is there a bigger problem in your customers mind than the one you are presently solving?

Identify that problem, find the solution, and then figure out how your company can help deliver that solution alone or with strategic partnerships.

 If I were an independent car dealer right now I would be calling my financial partners to see if we could put a “Hyundai Solution” in place for my dealerships.

 What is the creative solution for your industry?  Get it right and you will be the one rewarded with customer loyalty and market share. 

I am looking forward to reading your thoughts.

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.