Everyone is different, that’s a given. BUT, our insight reveals there are particular competencies that are the standard of successful and influential sales professionals.

It is our belief that the following competencies have, and will continue to be, crucial to success in Sales:.

·       Planning - Taking a well-ordered and methodical approach to tasks to achieve planned outcomes.

·       Attention to Detail - Paying attention to detail in order to produce high quality output, no matter what the pressures.

·       Communication - Using verbal communication effectively as well as expressing ideas clearly in e-mail, proposals and other written communication.

·       Listening Skills – Seeking to genuinely understand other people by paying full attention to what they are saying and respecting their perspective.

·       Questioning Skills – Asking open questions that cleverly help the client identify challenges and opportunities. 

Organisations and individual salespeople need to develop strong networks in order to constantly drive Sales.

Although 'cold calling' may still remain part of some salespeople's repertoire, identifying opportunities through referrals and recommendations, or from people within their 'network', is critical.

Many organisations are recognising the emerging opportunities that Social Networking presents. Although a well-developed Social Networking Strategy is critical to contemporary business development, we still recommend face-to-face networking as the primary mechanism for developing business.

B2B Sales typically involves contracts with substantial dollar values and the vast majority of Buyers or Procurement personnel want to place an order with people they believe they can trust.

Face-to-face relationships are critical to building trust.

With this in mind, below is a list of essential qualities that have always been required of good salespeople and we believe will continue to be required for sustainable success into the future:

·      The ability to develop trust and confidence with other people

·      Personal integrity and honesty

·      An ability to self-promote and articulate the organisation's Value Proposition

·      Confidence and belief (self and organisational)

I couldn’t help but wonder about order taking today as I heard this commentary on the Ross and John show on 3AW radio.

A ‘Rumour File’ respondent was explaining how the coal mine fire currently roaring in the Morwell area could have been put out weeks ago, if they had ‘bought his product’. As he was questioned by the radio jocks he stated, "I don't want this to turn into a sales pitch, but our product does ‘this’, ‘this’ and ‘this’ and would have worked.”

Then Ross asked, "Did they know about your product?"

In an increasingly frustrated voice the caller said, "Yes, my Rep went down and saw them and they ignored him!"

The radio host then asked the killer sales question, " Is your product more expensive than the water they are currently pouring on the fire?"

“Yes”, he replied.

Silly them? Or was it silly rep?

I cannot help thinking about what might have happened here.

Could it be as the clouds of smoke began to rise above Morwell that this Rep raced down to the site with his 'stuff' in hand ready to sell. It’s an obvious opportunity to get a deal and sign an order.

On arriving he probably found that they already had a solution that was far more economical and therefore did not really stack up in the buyers mind.

Should this company have pitched its solution a long time ago to make sure the potential buyer was aware of its benefits before this crisis?

Should this sales Rep have gone down and presented a calm but urgent business case that advised of the significant investment many millions of litres of water would cost over a long fought out fire fight verses their fast acting solution?

Should they have also presented a well-branded and accurate business case supported by testimonials to prove their selling proposition and justifying the premium investment?

At the end of the day, selling is now more than just sending a Rep to meet the seemingly obvious needs of unsuspecting prospects and then expecting them to buy at a higher price. It’s obvious; order taking is finished as a sales method.

Sales now requires skills, technique and advanced business acumen. It requires you to uncover land mines for clients, advise on solutions and keep advising after the sale, supplying ongoing insight and alternatives.

This is probably another great product but I cannot help thinking it will miss its opportunity to make a difference through poor selling techniques, as so many products do today.

What do you think?

Boiler

Salespeople today have less influence in the early part of the Sales Process than they once did. Knocking on the door of a prospective client and outlining the features and benefits of their product is unlikely to generate the necessary results.

B2B Sales organisations need to recognise these changes and adjust their Sales strategy and approach accordingly.

Organisations can still influence prospective clients at the early stages of their Buying Process, however, this challenge is better defined as a 'marketing opportunity' rather than a responsibility of Sales.

A narrower process means that the Selling 'window' for B2B organisations opens and closes far more rapidly.

A narrower process means organisations need to fully understand 'when' and 'how' genuine Sales opportunities emerge.

It is in the 'deeper' part of the Sales Process where the real Selling happens.

Hope all is well in your sales land. Are you becoming a sales cat yet?

Why do we often talk more than we should? When other people talk too much, we notice immediately. When we talk too much, everyone else notices—except us. 

Here are a few possible explanations why it happens: 

1.      Anxiety. People who are anxious use an avalanche of words to avoid dealing with potential conflict (like a prospect saying "no"). Instead of balancing talking with listening, they believe that their wall of words will protect them from what they imagine as a threat. They often refuse to give up control of the conversation by adding a trail of words that echo the ones that they've expressed previously. 

2.      Lack of preparation. The less clear we are on any given subject, the more words it will take us to talk about it. Here is an eye-opening exercise. Ask a salesperson to make a presentation about your company as if you were a new prospect. Time the presentation. Next, ask the salesperson to write a brief, but concise description of your product or service in 180 words. Now, read the copy at normal speed. How much time did it take? About one minute. It should not take more time to engage a prospect.

3.      Stress. When we are tired we tend to ramble and our ability to concentrate begins to decrease. Our brain responds to mental fatigue by producing more words and less meaning. The cure: Get enough sleep, eat healthy and exercise regularly.

4.      Lack of a roadmap. Do you know where your conversation will lead before you start talking? If not, write down the answers to three questions: What is my call objective? What information do I need to get? What information do I plan to give? Stay on track, stay on message and don’t skip vital steps.

5.      Lack of a time budget. Decide to invest a specific amount of time for each call and stick to it. If you are a manager and you want to save time, conduct your meetings standing up. This forces people to be brief and to the point. If you meet with longwinded people, ask the moment they get on your nerves: "We have another five minutes, what else do we need to cover?

6.      Lack of humility. Some people think that everything they say is profound and important. When they talk, they experience a rush of good feelings and they often fall in love with their own words. They may use catch phrases and complex language to impress their customers. Being expressive is nice, however good relationships require us to be receptive to others.

7.      Ineffective thinking. While some salespeople continue to hopscotch from problem to problem, others quickly get to the core of a customer's problem, solve it and close the sale. Decide which thinking style would be most helpful to achieve your objective: convergent thinking or divergent thinking? Convergent thinking leads to a focal point in the middle of a circle, divergent thinking radiates - like the sun - away from the centre in every direction. Divergent thinking opens people's minds; it leads to new ideas, thoughts and possibilities. As a result, the conversation goes on and on. Convergent thinking leads to conclusions, and concrete results, like a closed sale.

Boiler

Sales Managers have a tough job. Grow sales by improving sales effectiveness of the sales team – the sales behaviors.

They must keep all those they report to happy, as well as coach the team, drive tactical and strategic sales, motivate, smack and hug. If we compare it to a set of golf clubs, a sales manager must use nearly all his leadership clubs daily! Some days a driver, and other days a six iron with a soft hands chip and run. They need to be flexible, multiple club players to win at sales management golf.

Amongst all the busyness there is one activity which must be completed weekly. Building sales behaviors in your sales team is key to high performing sales. 

How do you change sales behaviours?

Once you have identified the key sales competencies needed in the role of sales, audit your team against them. The simplest method is to use a scale from 1-10. Score them from a sales manager's point of view and also allow them self assess. Come together monthly and compare results. Focus on the weaker competencies and develop coaching around the main 4–5 behaviors that require change. Coach over the following 30 days to increase the effectiveness of those behaviors.

Let's say, for example, the competency is 'good planning.'  If a member of your sales team is unorganized, a little overwhelmed and/or complaining of time management issues then coach the behaviors of goal setting, priority management and one page planning over the next 30 days. Over time the results will reflect with better sales.

Armed with a set of 4–5 sales behaviors to coach every month, ad-hoc support will become a thing of the past and a disciplined approach to increase great sales behaviors in your team will result.

This is how great sales managers coach their team to become sales champions.

Boiler

A sales funnel is for sales. CRM is for managing the data about customer relations.

A commonly cited definition of CRM is that of CRM (UK) Ltd (2002), as follows:
Customer Relationship Management is the establishment, development, maintenance and optimisation of long-term mutually valuable relationships between consumers and organisations.

Let's unpack this definition.

The key to the definition is long-term mutually valuable relationship. This is based upon a definition of marketing that considers marketing as a mutually satisfying system of exchanges (for example Baker 2002).

So CRM is the building and maintenance of long-term customer relationships. The relationship delivers value to customer, and profits to companies. The relationship is supported (but not driven) by cutting edge IT. 

The business strategy is based upon the recruitment, retention and extension of products, services, solutions or experiences to customers. This is the core of CRM.

CRM is not an indicator of sales effectiveness or sales process unless the system you use directly and accurately reflects the organisations ACTUAL sales process. CRM is not sales pipeline! 

Now, get your sales process right, build an authentic sales funnel/pipeline and then coach it. Simple. 

Once that is done investigate and implement an accurate CRM strategy with a company who has a track record in developing and implementing CRM as their core business.

Boiler

Why not?

I was working with a customer a couple of days ago and at the end of our coaching session he mentioned he had an appointment with a new open prospect which they hoped to sign. "Great" I said. "What's the plan?"

The owner commented he'd get them in, have a chat, discuss rates etc. etc.

I said "Why?" "Why what?" he replied. "Why discuss rates?" He said, “Because that's how everyone does it in our industry.”

"Silly me" I said! "Try this and see how you go."

I asked my client to bring in the new customer, thank them for taking the time to come in, and then go to the flip chart. Draw a magic wand in the middle and explain to the customer that that this is a magic wand where anything is possible! Then ask a beautiful question of the soon to be customer. "If you had a magic wand and could build the perfect relationship between a customer and a business like us what would it look like?"

Then I told him to sit down and be quiet. Let the customer map his own proposal. All you need to do is ask for clarity as he goes. Then, when finished, stand up and circle all the things that you do now as a given. Then anything that is a little left field ask him to explain further.

Wham bam thankyou Mam, you have a proposal already done and designed by the customer for the customer! Remember the human brain works in pictures first, words etc. second, so allow your customers to design the perfect proposal, then sign it off.

This client of mine rang me Monday to celebrate "Boiler you are a genius!" he yelled. "Why" I asked?

"We did what you said and the prospect has now signed and for above market rates – all signed on a flip chart!" He could not believe it was possible to sell that way.

Guess what – it is.

Boiler

I found this in Selling Power and thought, "Yes that really makes sense."

An extract from the wonderful work of Dr Norman Vincent Peale - author of The Power of Positive Thinking.

Problems Are Opportunities in Disguise

Dr. Peale suggested that salespeople can be more successful in dealing with problems: "A problem is a concentrated opportunity. The only people that I ever have known to have no problems are in the cemetery. The more problems you have, the more alive you are. Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution. I often say, when the Lord wants to give you the greatest value in this world, He doesn't wrap it into a sophisticated package and hand it to you on a silver platter. He is too subtle, too adroit, for that. He takes this big value and buries it at the heart of a big, tough problem. How He must watch you with delight when you've got what it takes to break that problem apart and find at its heart what the Bible calls 'the pearl of great price.' Everybody I've ever known who succeeded in a big way in life has done so by breaking problems apart and finding the value that was there."

So what sales problem did you solve today?

Do your sales techniques and questioning style have a problem solving inclination?

Think about the great sales calls you have had. Was there a problem solving inclination? Success does leave clues.

Be positive and solve one problem for one customer tomorrow. They may just love it, and you.

Boiler