10. Don’t wear the uniform. No matter how spiffy your company polo is you still look like you are running the fryer. Wear a suit and people will assume you are a VP and might be hesitant to approach you to beg for a T-shirt. High ranking attendees (if there are any) will inversely wait to speak with you and you might actually get a real lead.

9. Don’t walk straight at a person with your hand out and your eyes on their badge. Look them in the eye like you (and they) are a normal person and say “hi.” When they look away, glance at their name badge.  This works great for checking out other things, too (I’ll let you fill in what you like to look at on people that you meetJ).

8. Avoid being the demo dolly. Anyone that has a chance of being a real customer would want to drive the demo himself on the web, and it always works out that you are showing one of the Golden Girls how to use a mouse when a real customer happens by. 

7. Make sure you are in contact with the booth nazi well before the show so you can pick who you will be serving time with- or more importantly who you can avoid. You DO NOT want to be stuck with any of a ton of different character types, including:

- your sales manager
- your company founders- those guys all suck
- a group of people all less senior  (you will be de facto responsible and have to do everything)
- the aforementioned booth nazi who won’t let you drink a coke or go to the bathroom
- anyone who could be described as “bright eyed and bushy tailed”
- anyone who would describe someone as “bright eyed and bushy tailed”

6. Don’t give into the urge to drink the free beer at the Cheers booth (there’s one at every show). Either you stop at one and spend the rest of the time trying to pry your eyes open or you get known “at the place where everyone knows your name.” Only instead of “Norm” or “Cliff” it’s “conference booze bag.”

5. Stop by the booth early and commandeer a handful of t-shirts or the best chotchkies. You can hook-up potential clients (or “partners” if you are hard up) when everyone else in the booth has resorted to handing out the logo breath mints.   Or trade them for other booth’s schwag.

4. Make sure there is an extra web connection for your laptop. It is always uncomfortable IMing your friend “BigLeroy69” or checking fantasy baseball up on the big screen.

3. Form as many impromptu “meetings” as possible and insist that you have to leave the booth area for proper peace and quiet.  I’ve done this with people in the adjoining booth before- anything to break free.

2. Create an I-spy check off list for all the walking cliché’s you see at trade shows. One point each for lego style hair plugs, not-so-incognito recruiters, white sweat socks with a suit, dwarves, magicians, hairy chest with three buttons undone guy, power dorks cruising the Exhibit Hall on personal time, lurking competitors with fake badges, obvious job seeker guy, drunks from other booths, people of unknown gender(transsexuals count), CEOs with hired escorts (extra point if she yawns while in your booth), the small pack of asian execs who sit through your entire demo even though they don’t speak a lick of English… you know, the whole trade show gang.

1. Grin and bear it. At least you aren’t dressed as a cast member in a Broadway play- like the guys across the aisle. (If you are, quit on the spot- nothing is worth wearing tights.)

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week a dinner meeting near Open Oracle World at Moscone reminded me that an important time for sales people is upon us: Conference and Trade Show Season. All across the country vendors of every kind are banding together to co-sponsor shows around some inane topic (Web 3 dot 12, The Quickening) in hopes of luring “decision makers” from Corporate America to come take part in the latest trend in technology. I have spent a significant percentage of my sales life attending (or at least flying to and partying around) these conferences, so I plan to dedicate at least the next 2 postings to this time honored ritual.

Please don’t assume that I think big industry events are a waste of time for salespeople. In addition to being a great excuse to see a cool new city or resort, you can also scope out competitors and other companies where you might like to work in your next job. If you sell for a big company or are a remote salesperson then booth duty at a trade show it is a decent way to meet the internal people that might ultimately be critical for a sale down the road. (What better way to bond then being cramped into a 10x10 plastic box for 8 hours answering the same moronic questions from a bunch of back office troglodytes). If nothing else (be prepared for nothing else), you get a break from cold calling prospects yet don’t have to feel guilty that you aren’t ‘working.” And all the corporate logo breath mints you can handle.

But seriously, if you must attend a trade show, here are a few tips that might actually make it worth your while.

10. Take control of your time. Schedule every minute weeks in advance if you can. Fly alone and make sure the times work for your meetings, not your corporate marketing team’s agenda. Go on offense, not “with the flow.”

9. Avoid booth duty at all costs. Those slack jawed students or low level engineers wandering around Exhibit Hall A are NEVER going to become your customer. I’ll get into what to do (and not to do) if you can’t get out of your shifts (fake your own death if necessary) in my next post.

8. Research the hell out of the event venue, schedule, eating places, etc. Your prospects will want to be around you if you know the answer to every logistical question before it gets asked. I was like Julie, Vickie, Gopher AND Isaac at my best.

7. Strategically place your prospect meetings. Don’t ask your biggest deal CIO to meet you during the Jack Welch keynote. Breakfast or lunch meetings away from the hubbub in a quiet spot are perfect. Leave the Tainted Love concert for meeting large groups of people that are already customers - you don’t really want to talk to them anyway.

6. Resist the urge to get hammered in the first 24 hours of the trip (on the plane on the way to the conference with co-workers). Save that for the last night with people that you specifically choose. It has taken me forever to learn this one.

5. Hog the resources. Know every impressive person in your company (Hot Shot Exec, CTO, super tech guy, smarty pants product geek, hot marketing chick, whomever) that will be within a 100 mile radius of the conference and get them in front of your customer. Not in the damn booth!

4. Stay at the venue or at the recommended hotel. It’s where the customers that you care about are staying, and nothing says “I’m a schmuck working for a flailing company” like showing up late for a meeting because you couldn’t get a cab to pick you up at the Motel 6 in the barrio.

3. Have reasonable goals. Don’t try to complete the whole sales cycle from “Hi, I’m your account rep Shooter McGavin” to “Please sign this contract” in one show. Yes, it is exciting to be able to hang with a VP on consecutive days, but don’t wrap onto the guy like a cheap suit.

2. Partition off a couple hours to do something touristy or cultural. Beside the fact that your customer will be interested (and probably envious) in hearing about your local experience, you will take away something that you value and remember way after all the corporate dipshit stuff is over.

1. Travelling for work isn’t as fun as vacationing, but it’s still a road trip. Eat big. Check out all the freaks. Have fun.

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” -- Mark Twain

Hit, Smashed, Collided
A group of people were shown a picture of an automobile accident and were asked, “How fast were the cars going when they …..?” The blank word used was variously “bumped,” “contacted,” “hit,” “collided,” or ‘smashed.” Groups that were asked the question with the word ‘smashed” gave the highest estimates of speed. The difference in a single word led to the different reactions.

Words matter.

Words Can Make You Money
Everyone is scrambling to find new ways to help them sell more effectively. Products are updated. Materials are redesigned. Sales processes are changed. Any or all of these strategies may in fact increase business. However, there is one very inexpensive area for improvement that is overlooked by most salespeople: language. Improve your word power and you will increase your selling power.

Language and Business
In this culture, the concept of words as serious sales tools (or weapons, depending on your metaphor of choice) may seem silly. However, I would argue that it is precisely because of our cultural trends that the people who use language with precision, creativity, and thoughtfulness will have a distinct competitive advantage and triumph at the end of the sales day, with or without pretty new support materials.

There is a golden opportunity awaiting the articulate salesperson in a culture where the art of language has deteriorated so. (We could discuss our President, but we won’t go there).

Think of the many times you have heard versions of “We provide unparalleled customer service, innovative solutions and strong follow-up to help you grow your business.” (Just once I’d love to hear someone say, “We provide lousy customer service, vanilla solutions, and haphazard follow-up.” just to see how the client will react.)

Are Words Really That Important?
What words do you use to describe what you do, how you do it, and what the benefits are to your clients?

1. What words do you use to earn an appointment or a callback? For example, do you say you want to discuss “X” (advertising, software, or whatever it is you sell) OR do you say you want to discuss some “ideas” to help this prospect “solve a particular problem,” “increase sales,” or another benefit relevant to his business? When was the last time you taped yourself to rate the effectiveness of the individual words you typically choose to use?

2. When you open a business discussion, is every word designed to engage?

3. Do you articulate presentations in the most appealing way or are they filled with cliches and bland language? For example, do you say you have “very effective tools that are easy to use” or that you have “proven powerful tools that unleash the selling power of a team?”

4. Are your questions crafted to elicit the best information while at the same time creating a comfortable, conversational environment for your client?

5. Are your responses to objections strategically phrased so that your client isn’t put on the defensive?

6. When you move to the next step, do you use non-pressuring language?

"He who speaks well fights well.”-- Proverb

Words matter. Put some thought and care into them. It won’t cost you anything except a little thinking time. The result can mean the difference between a “yes” and a “no".

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Great athletes don't just show up for their games, they work out and practice constantly throughout their careers. Great musicians and opera singers do the same. Even accountants, nurses, and teachers must continue to train, forever furthering their educations to stay on top of developments in their professions. Why should a sales rep be any different?" says Michelle Nichols at Business Week.

If you want to earn more, you have to learn more. There are no shortcuts. There is no rationale in waiting for your employer to provide sales and industry training either. Your educational requirements are continuous. Your ongoing education is solely your responsibility. If your employer does not provide ongoing sales and specific industry training, then you must pursue it on your own. You must consider it an investment will pay both immediate and extended benefits, with a potential return on investment much higher than the norm.

"When I see a book that promises to improve my selling skills, I admit my first thought is that buying it will put me $25 in the hole. But then I remind myself that one good idea in those 200-or-so pages could help me make a sale and net a $1,000 commission. By that yardstick, I just made 4000% on my investment, which beats Wall Street's payouts any day" proclaims Nichols.

A down economy is a superb time to re-invest in yourself. Salespeople need to study methods and philosophies of successful entrepreneurs, business icons and sales experts to advance their success plan. An investment in yourself is always your best investment. Continuous education allows a salesperson to be positioned in front of the next wave of opportunity. Some call that being lucky. I say that the word luck is actually defined as that specific point in time where preparedness meets opportunity. Without training, the timing of that point may pass you by simply because you were not prepared to recognize it.

Your ongoing education allows helps position you properly with eyes and ears open and aware. Thorough preparation at all levels allows a salesperson to effectively operate and prosper, while experiencing less stress. Worry, fear, inconsistency, lack of account preparation, out of date industry knowledge, technical inability and poor sales planning all contribute to increased stress levels and poor performance. Continuous sales education minimizes these negative traits while elevating the importance of goal setting, developing an effective sales plan and learning effective interactive selling skills. Your need for such training is continuous. Your personal development must become a priority.

There are no shortcuts to sales success and personal fulfillment, yet the requirements for such are not at all complex. The formula is simple: Continuous Education = Prosperity.

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Customer loyalty is important to a business because of the predictable and stable revenue associated with it - loyal customers spend money and refer more new sales than non-loyal customers.  And repeat revenue is generally higher margin than new customer revenue.  An added benefit for many businesses in the fact greater repeat revenue lessens the pressure to acquire new customers.

It's hard to disagree customer loyalty isn't a strategic success factor for most businesses.  

So, what makes a customer loyal?  

I believe the foundation of customer loyalty is trust, predictability, and dependable quality:

Trust: Trust comes from holding one's interest in the same or higher regard than your own.  Honesty is a huge part of trust, but it's not enough.  Trust has a proactive quality - bringing ideas, solutions, and even bad news forward when necessary for someone other than yourself to be aware of to be protected or succeed.  

Predictability: Showing up on time, reporting on schedule, updating routinely, delivering on time, and consistently relevant - all are critical elements of predictability.  Customers want, appreciate, and depend upon timely updates on progress, plans, and efforts related to their interest.

Dependable Quality: Consistent and reliable performance is critical to business relationships because of its enabling power for work produced by disparate teams to integrate well to meet business objectives. In broader terms, predictable quality is related to expectations.  We expect quality of goods and services to be consistent.  One business supplying another with goods and services of dependable quality is necessary for business relationships to continue.  

It's impossible to be loyal without trust, predictability, and dependable quality. And without loyalty, repeat revenue is questionable at best.

That said, I have three questions for you:

1. Do you agree with me that trust, predictability, and dependable quality are the foundation of customer loyalty?
2. What would you add or subtract as a foundation element?
3. Lastly, do you disagree with me that customer loyalty is most valuable to a business as it relates to future revenue generation?  Why?

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"What was the #1 strategy you used last year that significantly impacted your sales?" asked Jan Visser of Sales Team Tools.

Now that's one good provocative question! Almost immediately, an answer popped into my head. Then the next moment, another response emerged and then another. Before long, I was in a full-blown argument with myself with six different strategies vying for the top spot.

But after a rigorous analysis, I finally decided that the best results came from the strategic relationships I established with other firms who sell to my targeted decision makers.

These companies leveraged my expertise (in the form of ebooks, podcasts & webinars) as a part of their lead generation campaigns. Essentially, they "blessed" my work, telling their prospects and customers that I was a well respected thought leader in the sales field.

As a result, my ideal clients learned how my company could help their salespeople crack into corporate accounts and shorten sales cycles. In short, I leveraged their database to create more opportunities with minimal extra work.

The key to this strategy is LEVERAGE!

Have you ever stopped to think how you could achieve the same or better sales results with less effort? Mmmmmm?

I bet not! For some odd reason, most of us feel we need to slog it out by ourselves. Each morning we get up with a humongous list of "to dos" we need to accomplish in order to grow our business. And it seems like we can never get ahead.

So I'm going to challenge you to step back from your normal way of working for just one day to see if you can come up with a leveraged approach to increase your sales. 

The first thing you'll want to do is identify potential strategic alliance partners. Think about who else calls on the same decision makers you want to reach. I'd suggest looking at companies that have related, but not overlapping products or services. Also, talk to your customers to find out which companies & individuals they respect.

Once you have some names, set up a time to explore the concept of strategic leverage. Be creative! There are so many things you can do together. You can share leads, focus on developing your business at specific firms, bring each other in as trusted resources and more.

Here are two examples of alliances that turned out to be extremely profitable for all involved.

• The top salesperson for a company that sells to the automotive industry established an alliance with other sellers who call on the paint shop. This enabled him to keep on top of new developments, thus ensuring that his customers didn't experience any line-stopping problems. Even though his offering is pricey, his sales are growing at the expense of the competition.

• Several years, I joined forces with four other firms to put on a seminar about new product launches. We co-marketed the event to our combined databases. Then, at the workshop we each talked about our areas of expertise. The event paid for itself, but more importantly, everyone netted new clients.

Have I got you thinking? I sure hope so, because it doesn't have to be so darn hard to get sales and grow your business. 

When I realized that strategic leverage was my #1 growth factor, I took a long lunch with myself to rethink my own plans. Within two hours, I came up with a couple knock-your-socks-off ideas that will take my business to a whole new level with less effort.

You can do the same thing! Figure out your own top growth strategy and do more of it! Or borrow mine. What matters is that you act with deliberate intent, analyze your results and focus on strategies with maximum impact.

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sales philosophies and actions are at the core of good business itself

When I was at school I liked the idea of being a businessman, with high powered meetings, traveling around meeting influential people and striking deals. Aside from setting up your own business or running someone else's sales is the profession closest to that school boy's dream. Ultimately, good sales and good business require many of the same perspectives and actions.

Consider the GetAbstract summary of the book The Definitive Drucker. Drucker has often been called the Father of Modern Management, but his teachings on how to be successful in business were remarkably similar to how to be successful in sales. Consider the following 7 points that summarize his advice to business leaders:

• Be customer centric - Customers belong at the center of all business decisions. The purpose of a business is to create and serve a customer. Sales people find customers, discover and develop their issues/problems (create the customer) and then design and deliver a solution (serve the customer)
• Be selective - Decide who is your customer, and who is not your customer -- sales people decide on a target market and then carefully qualify each prospect, hand-picking the opportunities to spend time on.
• Identify and deliver value - What does your customer consider value? Possibly the ultimate question for the sales person to find the answer to.
• Be proactive - Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work; Sales is one of the most active disciplines in the modern business. As IBM's Thomas Watson said, "Nothing happens until someone sells something".
  
• ...but Don't confuse motion with progress. - it's all about results.
• Ask the right questions Ask probing questions to drill down to the essential issues.
• Look outside of your business -- Strong business leaders focus on the outside world, where customers and competitors are. Just like sales do, day in, day out.

Drucker's perspective should serve as a reminder to us all as sales professionals that we are at the core of the business.

Good business = good sales.

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Interesting article at BusinessWeek.com about how entrepreneurs and corporate workers network differently.  The biggest difference?  The latter group doesn’t do much at all.  Some just don’t understand why they should bother, while others are “afraid of being hit up by job-seekers and service providers.”

I’m fairly certain I could change people’s minds about the first reason, but I have to admit, I see their point about the second reason.  My husband has a high-level position at a Fortune 500 company, but I never mention it in networking situations and really try to downplay it as much as possible when asked.  It seems like EVERYONE has an idea or a product they’d love to sell into his company (heck, so do I!), but I don’t want him to be bombarded with sales pitches and requests for introductions.

In general, people hate to be in a position where they have to tell you “no” – no, we’re not hiring, no, I don’t know anyone at my company who is, no, we don’t need that service, no, I’m not in a position to introduce you to someone who does – and on and on and on.  It makes them uneasy to admit that they aren’t quite comfortable with you yet to refer you on, or that they may not have the connections inside their company to get you to the right place anyway.

So keep that in mind when you’re networking with corporate folks.  Don’t just jump into sales mode and focus on what they can do for you, before you even know what they do.  Approach them like you would a fellow entrepreneur, with the intent of building a relationship first, learning about them, and uncovering ways to exchange value FIRST.  You can't credibly offer your service as the answer to their problems, when you haven't spent enough time understanding their situation.

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By Richard Fouts

in·no·va·tion (from dictionary.com)

"the act of making a change or a new arrangement; doing something new or different; the act of starting something for the first time"

If you're not selling your solution based on its ability to innovate, perhaps you should start.

Through 2010, business innovation will remain a top 10 business initiative among Global 1000 companies. In fact, 90 percent of executives from this esteemed body say innovation is key to their survival (Gartner research).

By 2010, products representing more than 70 percent of today's sales will be obsolete due to changing customer demands and competitive offerings. (2005 Global Benchmark of Manufacturers, Deloitte and Touche).
54 percent of CEOs surveyed by IBM expect to radically change their companies over the next two years. These execs also plan to innovate operational and business models to drive business growth.

Participants in the 2006 World Economic Forum said innovation in creativity and design will make 20th century structures obsolete, replaced by new models and more flexible business processes that serve more diverse, more global audiences.

Selling the ways your product and solutions deliver innovation, can take place at several levels and in various discussion frameworks, starting with the CEO or members of the CEO staff. Senior executives are clearly the ones putting priority on innovation - and they are the ones that can fund it.

Focus not just on business strategy, but process and culture. Our good friends at futurethink have tools and techniques for making innovation part of an organization's everyday culture. You'll get attention if you can show how your solution drives long term innovation, versus incremental improvement. Check them out at getfuturethink.com

Focus on people, not just technology. The enabler of change is most often identified in technology terms, but be careful not to let technology inhibit your efforts. If you have to choose, go for process innovation that is not dependent on big involvement from IT.

Find the person accountable for innovation processes, practices or learning. Many organizations have put such a person in place -- and it won't hurt to ask. The owner of innovation ensures that people remain engaged in the ongoing process, not just the occasional brainstorm.

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Salespeople are under-appreciated.

Salespeople do some of the hardest and most important work in the vast majority of companies and yet often are the "scapegoat" when things go wrong.

All this negative energy directed towards sales people often starts to seep into our own psyche and starts us off on a round of pessimism that impacts our performance.  Anyone who has sold anything knows you have to be "up" on yourself every day if you want to sell effectively.

My friend Stuart Scott just wrote the first in a series of articles about appreciation.  This first one is about appreciating yourself. 

If you sell, read this article (and the following ones in the series).  It may seem a little alternative to some but if salespeople appreciate themselves they will have more positive energy and hence will sell more. Hey, I can appreciate that!

This spring I declared into existence The Appreciation Project. Its purpose is to increase the total quantity of appreciation in the world. Just for the fun of it.

I’d like to tell you how the project got started. It grew from a simple observation - that appreciation doesn’t exist until you express it. Merely to feel appreciative doesn’t add to the world’s stock of appreciation. You have to communicate your appreciation for it to have an effect.

More of the article

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We spend a great deal of time honing our value propositions and marketing collateral so they project a positive image of our company. But all that can be undermined in 10 seconds if the sales person (or supporting team members) who turns up to the sales meeting looks scruffy and unprofessional. 

(Research shows 67% of a first impression is made even before you open your mouth to speak and it takes 17 subsequent encounters to undo the effects of a negative first impression.)

So here are some tips from my friend Sharon Kornstein of Image Design LLC, an image consultant, on how to best package yourself:

Knowing your best colors and most flattering styles is important. Some of us look better in the cool colors - blues, reds and grays. Others look better in the earth tones – browns, greens and gold. It depends on your hair color and the undertones in your skin. But knowing what is most flattering on you is only half the equation. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what effect we’re wearing has on the people we come in contact with? Here’s a quick guide:

Blue: Honesty, Trustworthiness, Organized.

Gray: Powerful, Business-like, Serious.

Brown: Friendly, Warm, Approachable.

Black: Authoritative, Elegant, Assertive.

Red: Exciting, Confident, Passionate.

Color is a significant component of what we present to the outside world, but other areas to consider when assessing your wardrobe are clothing styles, patterns and accessories.  Some tips to consider:

• Pinstripes do make you look taller and slimmer, providing they’re the right width for your body type.
• Darker colors worn as one part of an outfit make that part of the body seem smaller (note the popularity of black pants).
• Accessories should always be at the same level of dress or casualness as the outfit i.e. no rubber-soled shoes with a business suit, no short-sleeved dress shirts with a tie and no small dressy handbags in the office.
• Buy clothing in mix and match patterns to increase their functionality
  
• Remember that hair is an accessory, and if it’s long or fussy tone down everything else.
  
• Make sure your clothes fit and that they’re the right size. Clothing that’s too large will make your look heavier as will clothing that’s too small.
  
• Dress for the level where you want to be, not for where you currently are.

So if you want to fully package your offering in 2006 keep the messenger in mind too!

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been reviewing resumes recently for sales positions at one of my clients and I cannot believe how poorly written some of them are.  About a third of the resumes contain glaring and repeated spelling and grammatical mistakes. 

The two most extreme examples of poorly written resumes went far beyond pure mistakes in English:

• Example 1: I received a resume that was a template where the candidate had not completed the customization.  So it literally said "I feel I am a good fit for [fill in the job]" (and the words "fill in the job" were actually in the resume), then it went on to say "because of my skills in [fill in the skills]"

• Example 2: I received a resume that had come from LinkedIn so I went to the candidates LinkedIn profile.  In the person’s profile a found the candidate had only one endorsement (testimonial).  And the testimonial read "John, I do not remember you, so how can I give you a testimonial"

I am a pretty forgiving person but how in good conscience could I proceed with interviewing these people? As a Sales VP I cannot escape the vision of these individuals sending out emails and marketing materials to my prospects!

So sales people, when you are (a) applying for a job or (b) sending out communication to your prospects and clients, please make sure that your correspondence does not contain any glaring errors in content, logic, grammar or spelling. 

Sales people do not have to be the "Bard" of their company but they do need to get the basics of communication right!

Posted by Sales 2.0 at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)