Nov/095
Sales Prospecting Priorities
The other day I was attending a network event when a sales professional stated his business was way off, the phones just stopped ringing, and his commissions were drying up fast.
He inquired if I could help him?
I asked, “How much time did he spend prospecting each week?”
He said, “Maybe an hour on Friday afternoons, my important work for the week has been completed.”
I explain he had his priorities misaligned and he needed to put prospecting had the head of list each week. I suggested he set in his Outlook calendar or Google calendar a block of specific time and day that is sacred with no interruptions. Do not answer incoming calls, respond to emails, answer your door – just hunker down and prospect.
In today’s market place sales professionals must spend 20 – 50% of their waking hours filling their pipe line with new leads that turn into appointments and eventually become full fledge prospects and ultimately result in a sale.
There is no easy way around it!
If you are an owner, sales manager or sales professional focus on getting more appointments and keeping your sales funnel full of new opportunities.
This flow of potential customers will determine your success or failure in achieving your sales goals. It’s not the big wins but the day to day wins that will will be the foundation for a solid sales pipeline. www.nealabc.com
Oct/090
It still pays to do the right thing…
Last week I presented at a senior executive forum in metro Phoenix. During the discussion the principle of ethics in business and the sales process was raised.
One of my mentors and highly regarded business associates posed the notion that part of the current business dilemma we are experiencing today, has to do with unbridled greed and unethical business practices.
Possibly a subject left to discuss when times are better?
Doing the right thing is not restricted to when the timing is right, but rather a pattern of behavior honed over years of understanding the ethics and standards we follow in our society.
Without getting too preachy, I would suggest each of us examine our own sales process and reestablish the values, rules, and practices we as leaders convey to our entire enterprise.
We often give sales professionals great latitude in dealing with customers and prospects, reconnecting them with your ethical foundation is the right thing to do and good business! Once a reputation is sullied, you all know how long it takes to recoup if ever.
Proper business ethics never go out of style! www.nealabc.com
Sep/090
Easy way out selling on ‘Price’…
In many of our engagements over the last two years we hear sales professionals complain “the old days are gone it’s all about price!”
Price has never been excluded from the equation. Perhaps there was a little less emphasis in the past, but always lurking near the surface.
Although we are in the most difficult economy in our lifetime hasn’t it always been about price, value and relationships?
Sales professionals can become pessimistic allowing the customer and themselves to obsess over price. World class sales professionals continue to dig deep and wide looking for opportunities to creatively bring value, innovation, cost reduction, and relationships to the sales process.
As owners, sales managers, and sales professionals we must all look introspectively and resist the tendency to fall prey to the price mantra.
Do you believe in your goods or services? If so challenge yourself to find the differentiators. Price will has always been and will always remain relative! www.nealabc.com
Aug/090
Staying Relevant in the Sales Game
A couple of months ago my two sons’ and daughter urged me to remain “relevant” by being connected to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking offerings.
After an initial defensive response, I pondered their observation and deduced we all must keep moving ahead never accepting the status quo. The notion that we are not a finished product unless we say so is thought provoking!
This is thought provoking for personal as well as professional endeavors.
For owners, sales managers, and sales professionals the question is are you keeping pace?
Are you remaining relevant to the needs, wants and desires of your customers?
Does the market place offer new opportunities that “old “perceptions are preventing you from taking advantage of?
Pose these questions to your sales team, challenge them to think out of the box, encourage them to try new approaches, keep them relevant! www.nealabc.com
Aug/091
Leads are the life blood of the sales process.
Leads are the life blood of the sales process.
Generating leads and following up on them is a tedious job yet a fundamental requirement for world class sales performance. Warm leads are precious and the process to turn them into initial appointments and true prospects needs to be consistent.
As the CEO or VP of Sales are you aware of the number of leads your sales people process each day, week, or month? Can you identify where the leads come from and how timely they are followed up on?
Statistics demonstrate that all too often sales people do not have enough leads at any one point in time to keep the pipeline filled; thus they have gaps or voids in the flow of legitimate prospects. Another critical issue is frequently sales professionals don’t follow up on “hot” leads in a timely fashion and loose the majority to competition.
Keeping your sales force focused on consistently generating leads and tracking their status via a CRM is one of the single most important task management can provide. www.nealabc.com
Jul/090
Sales Professional Time Allocation
Time is money!
All sales professionals have the same amount of time to sell (24hrs/7 days a week)? How they spend their precious time can make a big difference.
According to a survey conducted by CSO (Chief Sales Officer Insights) only 35.7% of the average sales person’s time is spent in face to face selling. Arguably the most important use of a sales professional’s time allocation.
Certainly there are other tasks: administration, quote preparation, generating leads, meetings, etc. that require an expenditure of time.
Are you aware and monitor where your and your team’s time is spent? Do you condone where the time is spent? Do you coach sales professionals to increase valuable face to face selling time?
One obvious area to examine is the use of technology (CRMs, laptops, cell phones, webinars, etc.) to reduce manual processes, thus increasing face to face sales time. www.nealabc.com
Jul/090
Know Your Customer’s Perspective
Most entrepreneurs, CEOs, and sales managers focus internally on their products or services and try to figure out how to make them more appealing to a customer.
This product “pushing” mentality, at least from the seller’s perspective is not in concert with today’s consultative sales approach. Customers want to engage in problem solving vs. product flash.
As a result, knowing your customer from their perspective is the only perspective that counts.
Management needs to help their sales professionals understand customer’s wants and needs both present and future. This requires more of an inquisitive approach, asking more probing questions and understanding the customer’s entire business proposition.
This macro view allows specific products or services to create more value when connected to the customer’s situation. www.nealabc.com
Jul/090
Listening the Lost Sales Skill
The two most sought after skills for sales professionals today are their ability to listen and ask intelligent questions.
If you want your sales team to differentiate itself from the competition help them listen more effectively and improve their skill to develop penetrating questions that reveal a customer’s “real “ concerns and needs.
This does not require years of experience merely a mind shift in sales approach and some basic sales training. www.nealabc.com
Jul/090
Closing the Sale is Not All or Nothing
In his book, Give & Take, Chester Karrass discusses negotiating skills and strategies and one of his quotes I find particularly insightful, ”if you can’t get a steak get a sandwich!”
Sometime sales professionals view the sales process as an all or nothing game. Developing relationships through small wins takes time; however, it can pay big dividends in the long term.
Review this concept with your team to see if they are walking by a sandwich ( trial orders, one time specials, limited engagements, scales down services, small margin items, etc) these sandwiches create the foundation, trust and face time to selling the steak. www.nealabc.com
Jul/090
Sales Management: Make a Commitment to Continuous Improvement
It is axiomatic in any endeavor that we must practice to make perfect, the problem with most of us is we don’t know what needs to be improved or how to improve it.
So it is with most sales professionals.
To overcome this natural tendency NABC recommends four simple steps:
Assessment +Training +Accountability = Continuous Improvement
1. Get an unbiased third party or an assessment tool to diagnosis areas of improvement.
2. Establish standardized training methods to address the concern.
3. Make sales professionals accountable to employ new methods.
4. Measure results for continuous improvement.
Sales professionals are more likely to follow management’s lead if senior management demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement and establishes the ongoing training and accountability process to make it stick.
Integrating these steps routinely in sales meetings will underscore management’s commitment. www.nealabc.com