Sales Salve

Sales Techniques to Control Internal Sales Presentations

In a process driven sales cycle, a major point of frustration can be when opportunities get stuck in the sales pipeline - somewhere between the proposal stage and the implemented stage.  As a sales manager, you know that you have made your case to the right person and that there was enough interest to move the process forward.  However, after you have matched needs with solutions, and painted a picture of what life will be like with that need met, there still seems to be no final buying decision.

Executed properly, a sales process will naturally lead a prospect or customer to a buying decision.  As sales professionals, we are aware of the stages of the sales cycle.  Salespeople are taught to prospect in order to fill the funnel, to qualify in order to assess possible fit, and to propose, close, then grow business.  One place in the sales cycle that goes neglected, and is often the exact spot where things get stalled, go stagnant, and fizzle out, is the place where your contact has to sell your service internally once they are convinced that it is the right decision for their company to make.

If you listen closely to your prospect, and identify their internal buying process, you will note that often times your contact, regardless of title and influence, will have to justify the purchase of your product or service to others within their organization.  There may be several others in the organization that will need to understand and give assent to your solutions.  This internal customer sell is often where we need help, because the sale has fallen and can’t get back up.

Think of how long it has taken you to learn your product and to communicate its value.  It can take many years to gain the old world selling skills necessary to persuade and move potential customers to take action.  With this in mind, we must come to terms with the fact that the individual stakeholder, who becomes convinced of our value, must be educated so that they can turn around internally and sell on our behalf.  Properly executed, a buying process will inevitably contain these elements of accountability, and this is a good thing all around, as long as we learn to present vicariously through our contact.   

So what proactive customer interactions can we employ as sales professionals to make sure our internal contact/stakeholder is properly equipped and prepared to present our product or service?

First we must become mindful of the questions that our contact will be asked.  The best run companies, the ones that pay their bills and become loyal advocates, are typically the most diligent in their purchasing procurement process.  Elite sales professionals learn to visualize their contact, pleading the case before judge and jury in order to comply with the purchasing approval process.  Here are some of the questions that are often asked:

1. What is this company and what do they do?
2. Why do we need them?
3. What will this cost us?
4. Where will the budget come from?
5. Are there other companies that can do this?
6. If so, can they do cheaper, and/or better?
7. If this company has good suggestions, why don't we just implement their suggestions into our current process?
8. How much of a pain will it be to implement this new solution, and how much of a disruption will there be?
9. Will this cost of change negate any benefit we might get from implementing their solution?
10. What is the return on the investment and how long before we breakeven on the investment?

These are just a few of the potential questions and thoughts that will arise as your stakeholder attempts to implement your solution.  Obviously there will likely be many more specific questions that will also arise.

If you use these questions as a guide when you are making a proposal, always thinking about the next move, you can educate your contact to present your solution more effectively.  Just to be clear, educating your client is not synonymous with bludgeoning them with massive amounts of information.  Rather, it is doing your job of qualifying and proposing properly and then putting the proper reference materials into their hands so that they have the answers to the test.  Ideally, you would like to be there with them to help them through this line of questioning but that is simply not always possible.  So what’s the next best thing?

First and foremost, remember that nobody buys confused.  We highly recommend using an online sales presentation, built on the premise of your value proposition.  With an online sales presentation, you are able to tell your story in your own words to the right person, to be consumed when they are ready!  An online sales presentation also allows you to send a complete message directly to your stakeholder, so that they may review your value proposition, then send to their circle of influence.  In this way, you will be able to disseminate large amounts of information, simply, powerfully and in context.  Most importantly, you will be equipping your contact with everything they need to sell your product internally.  Things to possibly include: the original presentation, ROI calculators, rates, contracts, contact sheets, links to customer interface, personalized messaging via audio and video, as well as implementation plans and timelines.

One of our clients recently made an online presentation to communicate an implementation plan for a very large multi-national prospect.  They sent it to one person (their contact) and watched the tracking as it was forwarded throughout the organization 55 times!  In a complex sale, there is tremendous value in leveraging multimedia online sales presentations to empower prospective buyers.

Please share any thoughts you have that will help sales people to present when not present.

Sales Is A Numbers Game - But No One Wants To Be A Number

To a large extent, sales is a numbers game.  Few sales professionals would argue that point.  You have to throw a lot of tomatoes against the wall to get some to stick.

These days, however, despite pouring on the numbers, many sales people are still struggling for sales.  Often times a sales manager will ask a sales person to show greater numbers.  It seems logical enough - by increasing the sheer volume of cold-calls, sales presentations, and proposals, they hope to better the odds of finding, qualifying and closing more deals.  It is a serious event when a sales person makes the all-important phone call.  The problem is that many times, under the pressure of it all and due to a bit of laziness, sales people forget what is on the other side.  On the other side, is a person first, and a potential revenue number or opportunity second.

Prospects know that they are a number; they can feel it.  Some even hire gatekeepers (a person too) in an attempt to keep the onslaught of sales forces at bay.  If a prospect feels like they are just a random number in your call cycle, I guarantee that, short of you selling life rafts as their place is flooding, you will be rejected.

Buyers who know they are a number get turned and ticked off!  The implication is that more sales people experience more rejection.  Consequently, more people don’t get the help they need from sales people who have real solutions to real problems.  So how do we, as sales professionals, overcome this?

1.    Realize that you are in sales, not marketing.  

Marketers say, ”It slices, it dices, it chops, it grates!”  A sales professional would say, “What are you doing today?  Are you slicing or dicing?  Slicing?  That is interesting, how are you slicing?  How do your competitors slice?  How do your customers perceive your slicing?  Do you have any problems effectively slicing for your customers?  Do you see yourself chopping in the future or are you looking into any other cutting markets?”                

You Get the idea:
Marketing is about getting the masses of prospects to take a look at you; sales is about you, taking a massive look at your prospect.

2.    Prove that they were not a one-call stand.

Sometimes sales people treat buyers like a lottery ticket – we hold out hope for immediate gratification but as soon as it is determined to be a loser, the ticket is summarily discarded and then off to the gas station to buy a new ticket for the next drawing.  Like so many ill-fated quick picks, they’ll then sit somewhere on a list or scratch pad never to be checked again.

Prove to your prospects that they are not a number and that you are not a taker.  The best way to prove this is to be there.  Prove that you are there to partner with them and not just there to cash in and move on.  This approach requires multiple touches - not just a cold call.  A cold call is just a starting point.  Follow up with additional communications such as another call, a proactive online sales presentation or a letter or post card.  If your prospects are close by, frequent events where they will be and seek them out with some useful information to share.  The purpose of these activities should not be aimed at an immediate sale but to demonstrate that you are looking to make a career-long sales connection. 

3.    Learn the real numbers on which the game is based.

The number that should be the priority is the number of times you touch, visit or follow-up with a prospect.   We run into more and more sales people who are looking to blast off a sales message to a large email list.  This simply does NOT work.  The thought is, to put a message into an email and assume some people will read and possibly buy.  The communications you have with your prospects need to be customized and personalized.  Does this take extra time?  You bet it does but the sales elite understand that the extra mile is part of the path they take everyday.

The numbers game that should be played is the ten-touch rule.  Do everything possible to have ten interactions with a prospect.  The number may vary but, for the most part, I have seen ten as a great rule of thumb.

So you just made a cold call, ok that’s one.  What will you do next?

Four Sales Techniques to Build Credibility with a Prospect

I have always been a fast talker, not like a huckster or snake oil salesman, but more to do with rate of speed - like the guy at the end of a commercial that reads a list of disclaimers.  Needless to say that this has always worked against me when trying to build credibility and trust with new prospects and customers.  Like many sales people, I was taught some sales techniques for rapport building.  For example, when you begin a sales call, take a visual survey of the person’s office.  Attempt to find some common ground or points of interest like golf, the kids, the alma mater or favorite sports team.  This may have a place somewhere in the sales relationship but I don’t believe that its place is early on in the process.

The first encounters with a prospect are similar to that of an interview; it is a time to assess if there is potential for a mutually beneficial partnership.  Think of it as an interview where, simultaneously, the prospect interviews you and you interview the prospect.  If you want to have no chance of making a sale, go ahead and establish yourself as the master of small talk, wasting precious time that you may never get back.  Along these same lines, try not to crack jokes; no one wants to buy from the class clown.  If you have a good sense of humor, let it be a pleasant surprise later after you’ve established more credibility and respect.

The good news is that in B2B sales, there is often more time to build some history with a prospect.  A shift in thinking is necessary.  Sales people should think of prospects as potential life-long customers with whom they’re building a lasting professional bond, strong enough to survive changes in situation and even employment.  So with this is mind, leave the BS for your competition and try these sales techniques instead:

1.    Be Squared Away

One of my former mentors was an ex-Naval officer and whenever any of his employees would say, “I am sorry,” he would say, “don’t be sorry, just be squared away.”   Show up for the meeting on time, show up for the meeting prepared, with respect to your appearance as well as your pre-call prep.  Do not make excuses or jokes, and when you are asked a question, keep your answer concise and efficient.  If you don’t know the answer, say that don’t know and commit to finding out and following up with them.  Be sure to write it down (even if you know you’ll remember) and communicate back in a timely fashion once you’ve learned the answer.  Think about it - who do you want to help you with your problem, Mr. Magoo or Mr. Miyagi?

2.    Send a Pre-Call Questionnaire

I am seeing sales 2.0 lead/business information engines popping up all over the place, and there are some really good ones out there.  Without a doubt, it is helpful to have detailed research at your fingertips, but nothing can supplant the understanding you can gain first hand from your prospect, in their own language.  A great place to start is at the very beginning of the process.  Send a survey or questionnaire that asks the vital questions that will give you a head start in customizing a sales solution.  Some great free options to quickly and easily create on-line surveys is Google Docs and Zoomerang.

3.    Become a Team Member (or at least a fan)

Ask if you can schedule some time to observe or lend a hand in a certain department that relates to your product or service.  Observe and make note of the:
•    way things are currently being done
•    challenges they face
•    language that is used
•    team dynamics - see who is really in charge.

Look for inefficiencies and be prepared to make professional recommendations.  Start to look at the people you are about to do business with and see how, once your product or service is implemented, their situation will change.  Start to learn their prospects, customers and competition in order to find a way to make them more competitive in their marketplace.

4.  Prepare an Implementation or Rollout Plan

In your sales presentation, prepare and administer an implementation plan and schedule.  This can be the most effective means of proactive closing.  You will show that you know exactly what steps to follow, as well as alleviate any concerns your prospect may have that makes them feel uneasy about the difficulty of switching to, or purchasing, your product.  Furthermore, sometimes the prospect does see a fit, realizes the urgency, but has no idea what to do next.  A proactive implementation plan will serve as a guide for follow-up and help keep momentum going during the sales process and beyond.

Remember, you are not just winning the sale for today, you are building career-long business relationships.  Start the process by being squared away, then build on it by sharing powerful industry knowledge in the context of their unique challenges.  Once you’ve built the foundation of a solid business partner that provides value, you can then start to share your sense of humor and make other personal connections.  These can definitely enhance a relationship but it’s important that you establish from the beginning that these are not the basis of your relationship.

Four Advanced Sales Techniques for Opening Locked Doors

Much to the dismay of many sales managers, a lot of salespeople have a tendency to sit in limbo waiting for their prospects to put out an RFP, RFQ, or some other form of bid.  Often when sales professionals are told that there is a contract in place or that the time is not right to review their product or service, the sales professional will pass the opportunity by.  The net result: some prospects that may have the greatest potential are taken out of the sales pipeline and relegated to a calendar entry to be called sometime in the distant future.

1. Change your Approach - Respectfully

Although we need to be mindful and respectful of our prospect's buying cycles, there are things that we can do, strategically, to gain a foot in the door with some of our dream clients - even if, at first, that door seems to be locked.  I do not advocate a hardheaded approach; rather, I suggest a persistent and methodical approach to selling new business.  Here are some sales techniques you can use to open a window of opportunity when the door has been locked.

2. Make an Appointment - Proactively

Within your dream prospect, try to find someone in a position of influence and understanding with whom you can begin to forge a lasting bond.  Make the appointment like this, "Hello Ms. Smith, I realize that you're under contract with our competitor for the next two years.  When your contract is up for bid, in order to ensure that my company is prepared to make an offering that truly meets your needs, I would like to begin to understand your business now.  I have long realized that in order to add value to an organization, I need to become a student of the organization.  I would like to learn about what you do and what challenges you face".

After you make the initial phone call to set your appointment, I suggest leveraging online presentations for your sales follow-up.  Online presentation software enables you to email your prospects engaging, personalized and trackable information via email.  You can add quick-capture personalized video using your prospect's name and their company's name.  This way, they know that your communications were tailored specifically for them and not part of a generic mass marketing campaign.  After they've had a chance to view the online presentation, call them and ask if they have any questions.  If you weren't able to set the appointment with your initial call, use this sales follow up to book the appointment.  You have now started to differentiate yourself from the sameness in sales.

From experience, I can tell you that you will get many appointments this way.  By focusing on customer need, the threat level is low.  I recommend on this first appointment, do not attempt to sell anything other than your desire to learn and understand.  Simply ask questions and do just what you said: learn.  Learn about this individual, their department, the company mission and the challenges that they're facing.  Take copious notes and before you leave, make sure you schedule another appointment.  Most importantly, establish the fact that you respect and are intrigued with their company, and while you are not asking for them to use your product, ask if it's okay if you share specific industry trends and information that might help them to be more successful.

3. Stay Connected - Virtually

After meeting with this potential client, send a follow-up in the form of an online sales presentation.  In it, sum up what you've learned in your meeting and stress the importance of having another meeting to dig a little deeper.  You may also use online presentations to keep this prospect informed of industry trends and news that might interest them in regard to the things that you've learned about them.  This enables you to include more dynamic multimedia content and gives you the necessary tracking to assess their level of engagement.  You may also have an opportunity to educate them with powerful information that, most likely, your incumbent competitor is not sharing with them.

When you cannot be in front of this client, leverage video to keep your face in front of their face.  This will help in developing the sales relationship - staying top of mind and keeping the sales momentum.

4. Ask for an Opportunity - Naturally

Over time (and it may be sooner than you think), you'll have the selling opportunity to ask for some piece of business that you may use to prove yourself and your company.  As time goes by, the scope of the contract may be altered as an organization's business needs evolve.  New needs for products and services within your industry may develop outside the scope of their current contract.  This may give you an opportunity to present one of your solutions.  You will have already established that you:

• Care about this customer enough to learn about them
• Have meticulous follow-up and listening skills
• Put your prospect needs ahead of your own
• Were a friend and business partner before you asked for one dime

Once they transition from prospect to customer, make sure that you keep up the same level of attention that earned you their business.

I called this post an ‘advanced selling technique' because I've seen very few other sales professionals employ this approach.  Does anyone have any selling techniques they've found to be very effective yet rarely utilized?  Please share.

5 Tips for More Effective Sales Communication

Hello Mr. Customer, it's Dave, I just wanted to touch base with you because I heard that you had awarded my competition a contract to handle your online sales presentation business?

Hi Dave. Yes, we awarded that business to your competition.  I had no idea your company performed that type of service.

Mr. Customer, with all due respect, the last four times we spoke I brought up the fact that our company had a cutting-edge sales presentation product, and that we could make it available to you at a fraction of what our competitor would charge because of your existing business with us, does this ring a bell?

Yes Dave, I remember now, and not sure why, but I had no idea that's what you were talking about, sorry about that...hope there are no hard feelings, just wish you had made it more clear, so when are you coming by to take us to lunch?

The above scenario is not uncommon. It is absolutely mind-boggling how you can tell a customer something over and over again while looking them right in the eye, but they do not hear you.  Has this ever happened to you?  If you've been in sales for more than a few months, then it probably has, and you share the frustration with all other sales people.  But what can be done about this? How can we make sure that we are getting our point across?  I would like to offer five suggestions to help you in your quest to be heard and to turn the hearing into understanding and understanding into earning.

1.  Listen First

Always listen first.  You are designed very purposefully, with two ears and one mouth. This design ensures that we are very slow to speak and very quick to listen so that when we do speak, we will have more to say. By listening actively, you will ensure that your customer or prospect feels heard, because they are heard. Once your customer or prospect is heard in a sales situation, they will be more apt to give the floor to you. Mainly because you will be speaking in the context of their understanding.

2.  Clarify Your Understanding

When you do not understand, ask for clarification.  Sometimes your customer or prospect says things to you that simply don't make sense, at least you. Sometimes your mind is wandering, thinking about the next thing you'll say, or the next place you are going (this is human, it happens). But what are you to do about it? Hopefully, pride does not come before a fall. When you do not understand something the customer saying or you do not grasp some nuance of their business model, simply stop and ask for clarification. No one will ever fault you for wanting to understand.  They will, however, fault you if they tell you something, you nod your head in assent, but in actuality you never really get it. Little will kill a sale faster than this.

3. Ask Smart Questions

Never introduce an idea to a customer by pontificating. Although it might feel great to you to go on a rant and rave about the things that your company has to offer, it is simply white noise to busy people who have their own things to worry about. Start instead, by asking questions, smart questions, questions that demand an answer that lead to uncovering a need that you, naturally, have a way to fix. Instead of saying "my company has sales consulting services, if you'd ever like to take advantage of it let me know," ask the following: "Are you up against some difficult revenue objectives? Wouldn't it be nice to have your sales force achieve its sales objectives and bring some much-needed revenue to the table? If this is the case, I think we can help. If I could show you a way to solve this problem, would you be interested?"  Think they are listening now?  You bet.

4.  Follow-Up

When a new idea is introduced, always follow up: never assume because you connect with someone on a certain topic that they have understood what you said and have committed it to memory, or that they are willing to act upon it.  Instead always assume that you need to clarify your objectives and offering in order to ask for the business.  Always summarize the thoughts and ideas that are born from sales meetings, sales presentations, sales calls and any other selling situation.  Never take anything for granted, and remember nothing your company offers is worth anything until a customer understands it and buys it. Sales follow-up is by far one of the greatest differentiators between top sales performers and those who never quite make it.  Millions of dollars are left on the table due to lack of sales follow-up, because once momentum is lost, is very difficult to break inertia once again. It is even more frightening to think that after you have introduced your client, prospect or customer to a new concept and identified a need at their organization that, because you didn't followed up, they turn around and select your competition as the provider.  I encourage you to consider utilizing online sales presentation software - sales software specifically designed to help sales professionals stay connected with their prospects and customers.

5. Be a Detective

Utilize the famous pre-planned Columbo close.  If you have ever seen the 1970's crime drama series, you would remember Peter Falk, on his way out the door, turning around and saying just one more thing.  That 'one more thing' would unlock all the mysteries of that episode - the culmination of all of the facts he had gathered during the episode.  After a while you would know, that just when you thought it was over and there was no way he could get the bad guy, 'that one more thing' would nail them to the wall.  This is a great selling technique.  Before every sales meeting, plan the Colombo close, just one more thing that you will ask the customer on your way out.  "Just one more thing, Mr. Customer, who is handling your brokerage business out of Southeast Asia at this time? Is that right? I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but we actually provide that service and using our service would be a tremendous enhancement because..."

Just one more thing...I was wondering, do YOU have any suggestions for making sure there is powerful two-way communication during the sales process?

Effective Sales Tips: Video E-mail

I was just thinking about you, as your name came up several times during sales meeting with a mutual acquaintance. This acquaintance was saying what a great guy and exceptional sales person you are, and stated that they really like your company and it's products.  I was echoing that sentiment, by saying how much respect I have for you, and how personable you are. So naturally, I was shocked when I checked the visitor sign in book I saw neither your name nor any mention of your company (even though I thumbed back through several weeks of records).

I thought you might like to know that this mutual acquaintance, though quite complementary, was a little bit concerned that they had reached out to you for some help with some very important compliance forms, but had not heard back from you.  Luckily I was able to help them!  They had also mentioned that their business model had changed slightly, and that they needed some adjustments made to the way they were doing business with your organization. Fortunately, I was able to provide them with a web link that quickly solved the problem. Then, according to their records, you are scheduled to come visit them in about three weeks. I would also like to pass on to you, the fact that they said they had some questions about miscellaneous charges that keep showing up on their bills. These charges seem to keep mounting and are beginning to become quite a nuisance, but I'm sure you will address all of this in a few weeks.  Believe me, I know how busy you have been these last few weeks.  However, you have a geographically dispersed territory. No one can hold any of that against you, after all your great guy.

One last thing, this acquaintance was actually your largest customer. And I am the sales professional who represents your competition. Starting today, I have a new largest customer - thank you for being so busy. Next time I see you, the drinks are on me! You really are great.

Anyone from the least experienced telemarketer to the most experienced sales manager can tell you that this story is NOT fiction. All too often we take our eye off of the ball with our most precious commodity, (our customers) in favor of a myriad of other responsibilities. One way to stay in front of your customer, even when you can't physically be there is to send an online sales presentation through e-mail, it allows you personalized contact one-on-one with key decision-makers so you can stay connected. If you are managing your customers properly, you will not miss out on new business development opportunities, and equally important you'll keep your competition out.

For some sales training on exactly what types of online presentations to send please check back with this blog over the next few weeks. Also, if you have any selling tips or sales techniques for the most effective way to stay connected with your prospects and customers please let us know.

Presentation Dos and Don'ts

When creating sales or marketing presentations, there are a few do's and don'ts to keep in mind if your end goal is to close more deals.  Whenever prospecting sales, it is important to remember how your presentation will come across to potential customers.

There are certain presentation strategies that must be met in order to convert sales leads into customers. First and most importantly, is your online presentation easy to access? Busy business professionals don't have the time to mess with long downloads and complicated processes to check out presentations. The advantage with on demand multimedia is that prospects can check out your presentation when it is convenient for them.

Below are a few guidelines to follow with online presentations:

DOs:

• Do use graphs, pictures, and visually appealing text.
• Do make sure you address the point of your presentation quickly.
• Do keep the jargon to a minimum. You don't need fancy industry terms to impress prospects.
• Do add video to personalize and draw in prospects even more.
• Do add your contact information to your presentation.

DON'Ts:

• Don't have 20 slides when 10 would suffice.
• Don't add clutter or too much text to your slides. Prospects will become distracted if there is too much information.
• Don't address too many issues within one presentation.
• Don't forget a call to action for your prospects.
• Don't forget to follow up with a phone call to all the leads you sent a presentation to.

10 Reasons to Use Online Presentations in the Sales Process

Online Presentation software features and functionally have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. These tools now give business professionals the ability to create multimedia sales presentations using PowerPoints, images and video. Depending on the platform, users can then email them to contacts and track who opens the presentation, what slides were viewed and for how long.

The following are the Top 10 reasons why professionals are integrating online presentations into their sales efforts.  

1. Standard presentations can be created and then quickly personalized for each lead with text and/or video; conveying to contacts the value a company places their business.
2. Analytics features enable users to identify those contacts interested in a product by seeing who opened the presentation and for how long they viewed it.
3. Prospects are given a presentation that they can easily forward on to their supervisors or the company’s decision makers.
4. Users can track each presentation’s ability to convert viewers into leads by monitoring who takes the presentation’s desired call to action.
5. Online presentation tools make it possible to accurately determine return on investment, ensuring a company is getting the greatest value for their money.
6. The threat of a presentation being automatically sent to a spam folder is eliminated because there are no large file attachments — presentations arrive as a link in the body of an email.
7. Leads can view sales presentations at their leisure, instead of when they are preoccupied and not fully paying attention.
8. Sales teams are provided with a tool that can be used at different stages in the buying cycle. Presentations can introduce a product/service to a potential customer, or serve as a follow up to a one-on-one sales presentation.
9. Company’s can distinguish their sales pitch from the competition’s by delivering it in a new, interactive technology.
10. Long-distance leads are given the option of putting a face to a name with the integration of a personalized video in the presentation.