Sales managers gripe about long sales cycles and sales guys point to long sales cycles causing sales attainment misses. I had a sales manager that told the sales team to find projects. And this is good advice.
Prospects, like ice cream, comes in 186 different flavors. One type, fire hot, sizzles when called, just ready and raring to go. To read more about controlling sales cycles >>
Back in December, I worked a deal with a terrific motivation. The board dictated to the CEO and downward, to invest capital in growth initiatives. Sitting on cash, the company gained weak returns on capital based on low interest rate. The goal was fund strategic projects to lift top line growth and to beat the return on investment paid by the low interest rates. This company, eye on the ball, is thriving and seeking faster growth.
Yes, sales is a series of repeatable, measurable steps. The sales pro winds his way down the path from Prospecting to Winning the deal. And many steps, like the cold call process are repeated over and over. But sometimes sales pros, so deep in the woods, can not see trees and the lack of fruit to be born. Step back and make a change.
Change up your lead generation. Kick off a direct mail piece or start a blog. Write a new informational widiget and offer to your current prospects as an optin piece. Start a newsletter. Get creative, fire up new ideas and then act.
Often, I ask executives, “What is your sales process?” And often blank stares follow. “What do I mean sales process?” And with no surprise, the CEO is the culprit more often than not. The thoughts swirling in his executive head “is this guy is an idiot, our product is so great we just show up.” Show up and throw up is not a sales process.
A sales process has two characteristics; the process is defined and is measurable. Consider a sales team with 4 directs and a sales manager. The Monday meeting starts with “what are your top 5 deals?”
Each salesmen, in turn, describes deals in detail. The meeting eats time and money, lasting 2 hours. Meetings are ok but what if the sales process had teeth? All would know what “qualified” meant, what each sales stage which are the building blocks of the sales process is. How to define each stage is trained and is now communicated in the sales meeting.
As the process is worked by each salesman, metrics are collected. Close rates at each stage builds accuracy into a forecast. Now the sales team can see where deals reside, in a process. And best of all the process can be improved.
KISS: Keep it Simple is Best Sales Software Approach
Big CRMs like Salesforce.com are built for marketing and executives. Sales people, a distant third, have usage issues. The simplest tasks, like entering a new lead, force forms to open and unwanted choices to be made. This wastes time. Busy sales people, the real pros need to get to next call, not spend hours in a CRM.
Full CRM has a place in the small business. Top 3 business needs may be tracking marketing, product information and support. DataForceCRM.com offers a full CRM complete with Order Management, Quoting, Inventory and Portals for only 15 USD per month. This is a good value.
But knocking on the sales guys heads to fit the full CRM is a mistake. Salesmen corral prospects, follow up calls, qualify leads to sales opportunities and win the business. Sales men often work with partners like distributors or manufacturer’s reps, or if a partner, with the OEM. Collaboration is important and eats sales time. For this reason onlinesalessoftware.net is offered. This sales management tool, with none of the fluff of CRM, tracks leads, routes sales data to partners, and even automates the lead update process. With onlinesalessoftware manufacturers gain accurate data from all sales channels, directs and partners.
OnlineSalesSoftware is driven by Workbenchs. These platforms for data entry and edit, are simple, and behave very much like excel. Users, without expensive training, ramp up fast to enter and edit sales data. This real-time or near real-time approach accurizes the sales forecast and sales pipeline.
Many people fall into sales. Either dropping off other careers or motivated by easy money thoughts. Some believe they own a natural born salesperson persona. Maybe they are the life of the party or great conversationalists. Good sales people, the survivors, are forged by experience and training, and get to good enough if lucky.
read more about Sales Team Efficiency
Get deep into each sales opportunity. SWOT turns a bright lite onto your deals, touching, feeling, analyzing truth. The start of the year is prime time to kick this off. Each sales person applies the SWOT principles to each opportunity, one by one. Data is recorded in CRM or the sales management tool for all to see. The opportunity data, BANT for qualification, SWOT, and product information is visible for all. What is SWOT?
Boy, working with a company that expects account management is a bitch. The sales pro should swoop like the hawk, scooping up the unwary clover munching rabbit, slashing talons throught fragile bones to kill. Kill the deal that is. Use the gentle little old lady, the one mortified by idea of a “cold call,” to “touch base.” Baseball players and weak salesmen touch base. Real sales pros hunt and kill, like the hawk, (see above)
However, when the sales compensation plan says manage accounts it is do or don’t get paid. Well I swooped into Borders books and scooped the New Strategic Selling and with fear in my hawk heart. I read the chapter on “positioning.” Analyze current position, assess political landscape? The sales hawk swoops and kills and soars on the next thermal, right?
Wrong. Salesteams evolve in tougher markets. More is expected and good account management skills are key.
The sales guy, shifting his girth in the saddle, kicked his mule up the muddy road, toward the castle. A heavy machine trundled behind, harnessed to the mule by two stout oak poles. He could see the arrows flying, and hear the swords clashing against metal and shields. The castle ramparts buzzed with men desperate to hold off the barbarian swarm fighting to seize the castle. The sales guy, ever confident, knew his innovative product could turn the battle tide and repel the swarm, bringing safety to the women, children and men within the castle walls.
The mule stuttered to a stop at the vendors’ entrance to the castle. The sales guy lifted the heavy knocker, and shook the metal clad door with the impact. The door opened, a wrinkled, old hag, eyes bloodshot, peered through the door crack at the sales guy. “What do you want? My gosh, are you selling something? Can you not see that his lordship is indisposed?”
The sales guy craned his neck, peering into the dark interior and saw cauldrons of hot oil bubbling on the stove. Pageboys, 4 to a pot, lugged the oil up the stairs to the castle defenders. Women in the kitchen cried. Children of the cooks buried their heads under the tables. All fearful of the barbarian horde and knew time was running out. The situation grim.
“Madam, I have a solution to your siege. With my help your lordship can repel the mangy horde of killers and save the day!” Said the salesman. “You will all live happily ever after, and will sleep soundly knowing your castle is barbarian proof.”
“Send us a message, clearly written on bark about your product. At the next town, there is a very reliable carrier pigeon service. Use that and I will ensure you, my master will get your message.”
“And I am sure that is true madam, yet you will all be raped, tortured and killed during the time taken to get the bird to fly straight. Your castle and life as you know it will cease.” The sales guy said as the old had slammed the door, with no effort to listen. The salesguy, understanding rejection, looked to the next castle which stood among the trees northward.
He hitched up his pants, patted his mule and trampled down the path to the next castle, surely the barbarians next target. The mule, struggled at first with the weight of the sales person’s barbarian killing product, but soon the machine gun rolled on easily.
I am a professional sales person. I study the art of selling each day. I work to improve and to get better. And each day I speak to people whose actions are driven by a low opinion of salespeople and the sales process. I know this and have know this for a while. Yet I work hard to bring value to my prospects by listening and understanding their business and their needs.
At trade shows I watch the booth people interact with visitors:
“Hi, thanks for dropping in and our company has been in business 50 years and our ABC SuperWidget has more bells and whistles than the USC marching band. Just take a look at this.”
The hapless booth visitor ducks like shots are in the air. And the shots all miss because the sales person fires product features or bullets not at a target. This type of sales approach evolves for several reasons. Number one, the thought that sales is not an art and is not treated with the training and focus needed. And I also believe the high turnover of sales people prevents the seasoning needed.
The Doctor analogy, might be overused, but works. I visit my internist for my annual check up. The Dr., owning years of care giving experience, does not tell me about the last 5 patients, does not tell me about the latest stethoscope hanging from his neck. He starts like this:
“So how is it going?” An interaction, Dr and patient, rolls through a dialog that uncovers pains or lack thereof. This is how the professional sells.
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