Biz Thoughts

Never be so clever to outsmart your target client… it’s equal to not speaking with them at all!

Frek

US Politics and Sales 2008

I grew up in a Republican household; however, I suspect my dad will agree.

This country has problems.

Bad sales people sell quick fix at the expense of sustainability. No sensitivity for the best outcome.

Good sales people sell with sensitivity for the best and most sustainable outcome.

Right now, the good sales people are the Democrats.

don’t be full of it…

I was reflecting about my dad and how he operated.

I remember one day a girl scout knocked on our door in NJ and my mother got up from her seat in the living room and answered it. The girl was selling cookies and my mom said something to the tune of “come back and I’ll buy your cookies.” My old man, who was reading (…always reading) somewhere in earshot, gave her a hard time for it.

My mom was kind and had she had any cash on her person at that moment she would have given it all, but she didn’t and probably wasn’t planning on running out to the ATM either.  Kind was and has always been her nature and I love her very much for it; however, my dad’s point, which may not seem so kind was ”you don’t ever say what you may not live up too”…or more specifically “don’t be be full of it.”

My dad always felt life was hard enough, but you could make it a little easier by just being straight with people (he also didn’t think fibbing was nice or kind.)  I don’t believe the girl scout ever came back around, but I’m sure it was a little uncomfortable there awhile for my mom wondering if she would

III. Sales Management, it requires real- world experience and the repeated delivery of client value

My third and final post in three on Sales. In my (humble) opinion, Sales Management’s primary focus should be on how to repeatedly deliver client value. How it’s handled, with many other challenges, will determine whether or not clients buy and return to buy again.

Understanding that prospective clients perceive value in many different ways, a company’s business plan is often typically challenged by the marketplace. Because the Sales Operation fields various off- plan demands from its prospect pipeline and because it is required to produce new business revenue it has the potential to become an incredibly disruptive force. Managing Sales People, trying to stick to a business plan, meeting revenue projections AND repeatedly delivering client value are only a few of the challenging responsibilities at hand.

Fundamental skills (IE nos. forecasting, motivation, prospect pipeline, etc.) a given, Sales Management must ultimately lead by supporting their people’s ability to close deals. Repeatedly closing a gap between a planned ‘value proposition’ and the client’s perception of value is a real- world challenge requiring real- world experience. Experienced Sales People work to close that gap by listening and by strategically advocating for the client, but will also minimize internal disruption by qualifying their new business opportunities (before dedicating company resources) carefully. They can accept the responsibility of new business production while managing the least disruption to resources possible, but in return expect Sales Management to support their efforts.

Often many forces exist to defend various agendas (IE Business Plan, Engineering/ Programming execution, Investor Equity, Egos, etc., etc.), meaning a Company’s resources aren’t necessarily dedicated to the sole purpose of providing clients with value. Sales Management must be able to interpret this and to leverage information gathered in the field in order to determine where and/or where not to challenge a plan. She must be prepared to fight (the balance of) management for change, for resources and for more Sales support in order to succeed.

The demands, both internal & external, make for a challenging environment, but at the end of the day all agendas rely on successful selling. Experienced Sales Management knows success ultimately depends upon the repeated delivery of client value.

II. Sales People, much more than producers of new business

Good Sales People can sell virtually any ‘value proposition’ and while they’re motivated by commissions it’s never at the expense of personal integrity. A Sales Person’s contacts are typically a result of the value they willingly add and, while invaluable, are only a small piece of the much larger scope of responsibility.

Training & experience can never be discounted, but the most productive Sales People are crackerjack prospectors, accomplished strategic thinkers, focused listeners, willing teachers, tactful in follow through and, for client, a ‘value added resource.’

Prospecting requires discipline for a nos. game the average person will not play. Experienced Sales People identify their target market, develop a plan for engagement (IE Contact 100 prospects, communicate with 50, propose to 15 and close 5 per month) and, despite massive doses of rejection, pursue their plan with a sense of urgency! ‘Sense of urgency’, by the way, is never at the expense of tactful follow through nor should it ever be a prospective client’s burden.

Product knowledge & preparation are a given, but experienced Sales People also speak less and listen more. They inherently know conversations are driven by questions and good questions lead to more meaningful answers. They possess a keen interest for what businesses do, for what they need in order to do it better AND for how to leverage a ‘value proposition’ accordingly. By listening, the answers to how are often discovered. Strategic thinking doesn’t suggest one become an expert on a prospect’s business (IE every aspect of a Co. like IBM) when the goal is to repeatedly sell through. In terms of a discipline IBM is only one…or maybe a couple sales, but hopefully the point of ‘a nos. game’ as a priority resonates here.

In summary Experienced Sales People are a great deal more then producers of new business: they develop a prospect pipeline, they create good will in the marketplace, they are long term relationship makers and they are the gatherers of invaluable field intelligence for their employers. Without these core Sales Competencies, it is unlikely said Co. can operate at its maximum potential. Without them, “good luck.”

Next Post: Sales Management

I. Sales, the most misunderstood discipline in business

Forgive me in advance, but I’m going to jump on my Sales pedestal for a few posts including a take on Sales, Sales People and Sales Management.

For Companies selling to other Companies, repeatedly producing Sales requires a heckuva’ lot more effort than simply showing up and, in an ever more time- challenged business environment, invitations are unlikely. Additionally and especially in the land of the startup, I’ll go out on a limb and say management is typically heavy on product knowledge, projections and plan but light on core Sales Competencies.

Sales is a process and it requires a repeated closing of the gap between ‘value proposition’ and where value is perceived on the part of prospective clients. In that gap lay any number of unpredictable circumstances (IE knowledge- base, existing relationships, pre- conceived notions, competition, available time, budget, etc., etc.) making Sales virtually unpredictable AND the most misunderstood discipline in business. It’s been my experience across multiple start-up companies that management often feels their product/service is so unique prospective clients will “trip over themselves” to buy. Passion is perfectly acceptable, but unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth.

Recent history shows that in order to be successful in a hyper- competitive world companies selling to other companies need to combat these unpredictable variables with an experienced & disciplined Sales effort. Because Sales is so misunderstood there is rarely investment in training making the need to employ either experienced individuals OR to mentor & manage undeniable. Good Sales People will -despite less than optimal personal treatment, imminent rejection and vast exposure to support systems (who may have little in the way of personal accountability to a client)- repeatedly fight to close the gap between proposed & perceived value based upon their rare nature. If managed well, those same people will create good will, long term relationships and they will gather invaluable strategic intelligence from the marketplace.

Without these core Sales Competencies, it is unlikely said Co. can operate at its maximum potential. Without them, “good luck.”

Next Post: Sales People

Wiki says, “Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings.” To me it very simply means, “take responsibility for what you say you will do.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The goal of accountability is at times in tension with the goal of leadership. A constituency may have short-term desires which are at odds with long-term interests.

Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, responsibility, blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds.

At its root, accountability involves either the expectation or assumption of account-giving behavior. The study of account giving as a sociological act was first explicitly articulated in a 1968 article on “Accounts” by Marvin Scott and Stanford Lyman, ^[1] although it can be traced as well to J.L. Austin‘s 1956 essay “A Plea for Excuses,” ^[2] in which he used excuse-making as an example of speech acts. Communications scholars have extended this work through the examination of strategic uses of excuses, justifications, rationalizations, apologies and other forms of account giving behavior by individuals and corporations, and Philip Tetlock and his colleagues have applied experimental design techniques to explore how individuals behave under various scenarios and situations that demand accountability.

In politics, and particularly in representative democracies, accountability is an important factor in securing good governance. Accountability differs from transparency in that it only enables negative feedback after a decision or action, while transparency also enables negative feedback before or during a decision or action. Accountability constrains the extent to which elected representatives and other office-holders can willfully deviate from their theoretical responsibilities, thus reducing corruption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountability

‘pedigree or performance?’ – disappointing business world reality

forgive the rant, but in my working life i’ve been so incredibly disappointed over a consistent business world reality. cos. often typically place an emphasis on pedigree and not performance & accountability.

i’ll go way out on a limb here and suggest experience, accountability & ‘performance track record’ trumps pedigree. harvard, duke, stanford and the like aren’t necessarily the answer.

point being, focus on the latter without emphasizing the former and it will undermine your success every time.

“yes” or “no”

regardless of interest or title, in my business life i am a salesman sales person. as such, i have developed opinions about how ’professional sales people’ must conduct themselves in order to consistently produce and maintain *good business.

my first post relates to a friendly debate i’ve been having with a friend. my friend is a world class ’information architect’, a renowned thought leader and founder of a leading **web 2.0 company. he has also been a mentor in the ways of an evolving web.

so here goes: on numerous occasions my friend has mentioned he has come to understand ‘sales is about getting to the “nos”.’ i always counter saying, ‘maybe, but to me a part of sales is understanding there will be a lot of “nos”.’

obviously, there’s a lot more to the consistent production of new business and this conversation/ debate relates to prospecting and a numbers game one must play in order to be successful in sales.

if you follow my train of thought here, successful selling begins with a prospecting and follow through discipline. understanding there will be “nos” and/ or there should be a qualifying of them (sometimes ”no” is not said, but it is the inevitable outcome) comes with the territory and while we both may have points, the big picture is about getting more folks to say “yes.”

*good business is business that understands success, to some degree, is a two way street

**web 2.0 is an evolving web built on formats (i.e. XML) that are machine friendly