Evolving to pick the hard to reach fruit...

When times are good and business seems to be rolling in so easily that it's like fruit windfalling from a tree right into your lap, anyone can be successful as a sales person. But when times get tougher from a variety of factors, be it from increasing competition in your space, commoditization, or a tougher economic climate such as we are facing right now, it takes greater tact, strategy, and discipline to continue to acheive success.

Yesterday afternoon I attended part of Brian Carroll's web clinic. I would have liked to attend the entire thing, but my web connection would not upload for the streaming content, and Tucker duty cut my attendance on the telephone portion short. At the beginning of the call Brian polled his audience comprised of sales and marketing professionals, and the attendees reported the following:

1. 48% are having trouble generating enough leads in the current economy

2. 17% are having trouble identifying/qualifying leads

3. 17% are having trouble nuturing leads

So this is evidence that the remaining fruit is closer to the top of the tree at the present time.

To make matters even worse, Brian also pointed out the following:

1. In this economy, many companies are not finding it cost effective to spend money on lead generation and marketing.

2. Most companies do not have an established standardized process for quantifying/qualifying leads.

3. There is no agreement on what a lead or sales-ready lead is organization wide.

So the remaing fruit on the tree seems even more out of reach... But there is hope! By evolving your sales approach to get to, and more importantly harvest that hard to reach fruit, you can acheive sales success in just about any environment! Here is a brief overview of a few key core principles that I will cover in greater detail in the next few blogs to come:

1. Establish the Zebra Philosophy

Creation of your Zebra, the profile of your perfect prospect, is the first step. Real success happens as you implement the processes that drive the Zebra philosophy.

2. Establish a Culture of Selling Value

Selling based on value is more than just basic return on investment (ROI). Sales people must go beyond ROI to succeed in today’s sales environment.

3. Establish a Culture of Force Success

Force Success means including everything needed for your customer to fulfill the promised project goals, ensuring you deliver effective and consistent results for your customers. Establishing a culture of Force Success enables you to create a reputation for consistently meeting customer expectations.

More to come!

"Hello, this is Power..."

So, you've identified Power at your prospect account, and now you've got him/her live on the other end of the wire. If you're not prepared, this would be a perfect time to PANIC!

But let's suppose that you've done your homework and identified ahead of time that Power has several pain point business issues that you can heal for them with your solution. You KNOW you already have what they want and need, now it's time to communicate it.

First let's put things in perspective to set the mood... You've just sat down to eat dinner with your family, and the door bell rings. Some how your vicious guard dog (read: lovable pet that would lick an intruder to death) was sleeping on the job, and you open the door to find yourself face-to-face with a sales person. Never mind that they might be selling the greatest product in the world that could make you richer, healthier, happier, and better looking. Inevitably you find yourself thinking, 'How can I get rid of this person as quickly as possible so that I can back to utilizing my valuable time the way I had intended to this evening?'

Now that you're in the mindset many if not most Power-level contacts will have when you get them on the phone for the first time, unless you're supernaturally lucky, or you're going to need a dynamite approach to successfully secure an appointment.

GETTING A MEETING THE ZEBRA WAY

1. Inform Power of your research and communicate the pain points you uncovered. Confirm the existence of these pain points.

2. Confirm that Power cares about these paint point business issues and wants to address them now or soon.

3. Link the paint points to what you've done for other customers just like this prospect.

4. Present the prediction of value. (Use those great financials the value model can produce for you -- there's more info about building a value model in Selling to Zebras, and you can find a free template to build your own value model at Zebra U).

5. Verify that the amount of incremental value you can create is enough to be worth it to Power to spend twenty minutes discussing it with you. If it isn't, get a referral to someone in the organization, perhaps in a different department or at a different level, who would be interested. (If you know that this prospect does suffer from the pain point business issues you solve, there IS another person that will be Power AND will have responsibility for those issues.)

6. Close for a twenty-minute appointment.

Upcoming Event - Barnes & Noble - West Towne Mall

Barnes & Noble - West Towne Mall
Wednesday, 10/8/08 - 7:00 PM
Stop in and meet Jeff and Chad for a 20 minute talk, Q&A, and signing.

Barnes & Noble West Towne Mall
7433 Mineral Point Rd.
Madison, WI 53717
608-827-0809
B&N West Towne Mall
Contact: Community Relations Manager - Jeannie Huie for more information

Removing small stones and taking care of your minutes... my reflections

Time to share my reflections on the last blog entry, and how they pertain to our sales methodology. Incidentally, this all ties in perfectly to my blog from Friday, August 22 about conducting a successful 'buying cycle' that I still wanted to get back to! Must be something about Fridays...

Remove the small stones while SIMULTANEOUSLY taking care of your minutes!

After reflection, I found both of the two metaphors in my previous blog to be quite interrelated in a sales context. In order to be most effective, we must practice techniques that remove the small stones while simultaneously practicing the discipline required to make the most efficient use of our most scarce resource... time.

One of biggest mountains sales people face is conducting a successful buying cycle, and it all begins at the base with lead generation. Three key small stones to successful lead generation:

1. Identify the profile of your perfect prospect and the critical issues your solution addresses (Zebra), so that you can...

2. Get to Power on the telephone, and make your message compelling enough to stand out by... (see Zebra Jeff's definition of Power near the end of his September 11 blog entry)

3. Helping Power connect the solutions you are selling to the critical issues they need to address in their businesses.

These three small stones account for the main aspects of lead generation, and practicing a disciplined, methodical approach to removing these stones will go a long way towards climbing the summit towards a successful buying cycle. We have thoroughly defined what a Zebra is and detailed how to identify one on our website, and you can even find a free template to create your own by signing up for Zebra U. Further, Jeff has already identified several ways to help make your message to Power compelling in his blog entry on August 27. So... what about actually getting to Power on the telephone?

First, some fun-facts:

1. It usually takes aobut seven phone calls to talk with an executive at a Global 2000 company.

2. You will be relegated and delegated to the management level that matches the image you project on the telephone when calling upon a prospect.

Indeed, the hardest part of getting a meeting with Power may be just getting him/her on the phone and willing to talk to you. There are books on the market that offer some helpful dos and don'ts, but today, Power is often guarded by an almost impenetrable voice-mail system. Some companies even make you fill out an online vender profile that is fowarded to the purchasing department for screening before they will connect you beyond the switchboard. Suddenly, you're stuck in purgatory many levels below Power before you're even out of the gate.

Here are a few steps from the proven approach detailed in our book Selling to Zebras. These techniques were specifically designed to work in today's highly competitive pursuit for Power's share of mind:

1. Uncover the names of executives who might be Power (at least three executives to pursue).

2. Send e-mail to at least three potential Power-level contacts to pave the way.

3. In all communications, mention the other two executives your are pursuing.

4. Conduct a voice-mail campaign, leaving something of value with each message.

5. Prepare an executive brief that you can send if necessary.

In the next blog we'll address the third stone: Helping Power connect the solutions you are selling to the critical issues they need to address in their businesses... aka, 'what to say to make an impact' once you get to Power.

Two "GREAT" questions...

This morning I discovered a new (to me) blog with a short yet brilliant post that I really enjoyed. The blog is called "Make It Great!," and it is written by Phil Gerbyshak, who is the author of the book "10 Ways to Make It Great!"

The post that I read this morning is actually from Phil's Tuesday blog, and I want to repost it here as I think the questions it poses are actually fantastic thoughts for sales people to ponder as they pertain to their daily routines...

Two Quotes:

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." - Chinese proverb
"I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves." - Philip Dormer Stanhope

Two Questions:

What are the small stones you can remove to get you closer to your goals?

Are you taking care of your minutes?

I'm going to ponder these two quotes/questions as they pertain to sales, and post my thoughts in my next blog. Pertaining to the first quote, my very wise wife has always referred to this method as her 'swiss cheese approach,' in that you start with a big piece of cheese, and cut holes in it until it's gone. I"m going to be sharing the slightly more profound mountain/stone analogy with her over dinner tonight, so I can reflect upon her thoughts on the topic as well.

Until next time, here's another picture of my favorite photo subject as of late... Tucker! My wife is the one holding him in the picture, but I deemed it unwise to post her picture on her without first obtaining her permission.

Upcoming Event - Cloud Summit

Cloud Summit Executive
October 14, 2008
Computer History Museum
Silicon Valley, CA

Jeff Koser will be a featured speaker at this must see event.

Cloud Summit Executive is the definitive thought leadership conference focused on the impact of the cloud ecosystem and the web as a platform. Join us and be part of the discussion as we explore and debate the business and technology surrounding the cloud. Register today for Cloud Summit Executive, October 14, 2008.

Click here to take our brief 4-question survey,"Selling in the Cloud..."

My son found his Zebra...

Just a quick and fun blog with illustration to proudly 'brag' as a new dad that my now two-and-a-half week old son Tucker already knows how to find his Zebra (note the zebra on the nook, aka pacifier)! The funny thing is, this nook really is his favorite out of an assortment. Just one of the many surprises fatherhood has brought so far; it has all been a LOT of fun. Tucker is changing so quickly right before our eyes already, that I'm already looking forward to sharing conversations about sales around the dinner table just like I used to with my Dad when I was a kid. Who knows, Tucker could just be Selling to Zebras' key to staying in touch with the sales generations of the future. No pressure though... especially given that he was born with hands relative to the size of Brett Favre's and whopping Michael Phelps-like flipper feet. Again though, no pressure (yes, I'm a VERY proud Dad indeed). A more down-to-business blog next time, but this post is the culmination of what my focus has been on for almost three weeks straight.
Life is great!

Sales–The Three Most Powerful Questions Regarding Any Prospect

In life, on many different topics, we often ask and answer questions like: "when is this going to happen for me?" When we are young we might ask it about a love interest. For that matter we might ask that question at any age! When we are in college we might ask: "will I graduate?", "when?", "will I get that job?" After college and that first, second or perhaps on our third job we might ask: "when will I get that house?" And throughout life this goes on-and-on...

For those of us in sales there are three magic sales questions we are always looking to answer:

• Will this prospect buy anything?
• Will they buy from me?
• Will they buy now?
  

Just like with the above questions in life, many sales people work very hard to answer these questions. And some of the hardest working sales people, actually work very hard, because they haven't found a good way to answer these three questions, on a consistent basis.

The key is to sell to Power. Who is Power? Well on a sale that requires multiple steps to close, Power is the person who owns the promises that will be made to get the project approved. Find Power, know the promises that are usually made to get a decision approved, and you will begin to unlock the key to knowing how to consistently answer our three magic questions. Now life's questions...well those are a little harder :).

Vormittag Associates, Inc.

A Leader in Enterprise Management Software

http://www.vai.net

Jeff Koser was recently featured as one of the keynote speakers at VAI Dealer Conference at the Venetian in Las Vegas on September 23, 2008.

Thank you to all the attendees for making this conference a success!  And special thanks to VAI Inc.'s Bob Vormittag, Kevin Beasley, Lisa Visconti and others for insuring Selling to Zebras was so well received.

View the presentation Jeff delivered at the VAI Dealer Conference.

Digital Software Magazine

Digital Software Magazine

July/August Issue

See our ad in Digital Software Magazine July/August Issue! You won't have to go far, just open the cover page! Download Digital Software Magazine July/August Issue or you can become a subscriber - click below:

http://www.softwaremag.com/

Vistage - Review of Selling to Zebras

Read the review written by: Emerald Chien, Vistage Corporate Communications Intern

Emerald’s review of Selling to Zebras supports our position as the "THINKING MANS SALES GUIDES"

Click here to download the review: Emerald Chien Vistage – Book Review

Sales is no longer a numbers game

I was listening to the latest podcast from Salesopedia featuring Jill Konrath. It was almost like listening to a female me. Not a mini-me, a female-me. The school of hard knocks often teaches the same lessons simultaneously. Kind of like the same invention happening oversees at the same time as in the U.S. with no apparent connection between the two. Perhaps the ethers connect us all...but that is a different topic. Speaking of knocks...knocking on every prospects door with equal vigor and enthusiasm proved vastly ineffective, not to mention expensive, for us. We discovered, like Jill, that the market has changed. What worked just a few short years ago no longer works. Sales is no longer a numbers game. Making 100 phone calls in an attempt to schedule 25 appoints, to do 12.5 surveys in the hopes of turning those into…well you get the idea. This activity management approach used to produce one sale. Today, this level of activity can result in a big fat 0.

How do you improve the odds? Focus is the key. How do you know you're properly focused? When you know so much about your prospects, and their business issues, that they begin to say things like, "you have answers to questions we didn't even know to ask". When you hear that— you're focused! Zebra.Jeffhttp://www.sellingtozebras.com/