How to make the PA your sales ally

Personal Assistant - friend or foe?

Anybody who is reaching out to prospects at C Level in large organisations knows that they are going to be talking to many more Personal Assistants and secretaries than senior executives. However, even very clever sales campaigns can fail to adequately take this into consideration.

I have spent hours and even days in campaign planning mode with clients, devising the message and the materials to make a C Level campaign effective, including carefully worded emails, Pdfs and conversation guides (or scripts as others call them).

The preparation means we are clear on the proposition to be communicated, the benefits to be highlighted and the objections we may encounter. The message has been tailored to the audience by vertical as well according to their job title, or functional area. The only problem is that in most cases that same message is going to be delivered by a third party, someone who very often does not get factored into the equation.

The key success factor in most sales campaigns is actually getting to talk to the people that we need to talk to. For those of us who need to sell to the top, as opposed to the middle, or the bottom of the organization, access to the right people depends on our success in communicating with an audience that our well chosen C Level message, or script was never written for – that is the PA.

Treat the PA as your friend and ally.

Here is the issue, we spend hours training a telemarketing person, or role playing a telesales script, all the time ensuring that the person making the calls has sufficient product knowledge and understanding to confidently engage the prospect in a conversation. However, our success so often depends on our message being communicated third hand by a PA and in a way that may be completely outside of our control.

Our sophisticated message may be reduced to a simple ‘Gavin called from ACME Ltd they sell software solutions, if he rings back will I put him through?’ That is unless we make it easy to communicate our message in the way that we want.

The PA is the gateway to C Level, the essential conduit for our message. That means its needs to be distilled so as to ensure that it can easily be passed on to the manager (whether by a full time PA or a temp) and still remain intact. By necessity it has to be a simpler and more pointed message, one that is not aimed at selling your proposition, but on selling the reason why the C Level manager should listen to you.

Tips on how to turn the PA into your sales ally :

1. Respect the PAs position, ask her, or him what is the best way of getting information to the boss, ask when is a good time to call, ask her if she wouldn’t mind passing it on, ask perhaps if she knows whether he, or is actually the best person to receive it?
   
   
2. Don’t pressurize and try not to sound like a sales person. Be friendly and polite. Get the person’s name, keep it and use it. Make a note of any conversations, together with how friendly the person was and comments they may have made (e.g. a reference to future holidays, etc.). When you call back refer to your previous conversation, so that you don’t seem as a stranger.
   
   
3. Remember you are not trying to sell to her, or even to her boss. Your objective is simply to exchange some useful information (which in turn can lead you closer to selling).
   
   
4. Provide a reason why she should pass on your message, or your email. Your objective is to communicate how what you have to say could be of benefit to the manager and to assure her that you are not going to be a nuisance (i.e. sales) call if you do get put through. So ask yourself how could the manager lose out if he, or she does not talk to you, or read your information.
   
   
5. Respect the position of her boss too, saying for example ‘John is probably very busy, but I thought this information might be of value to him because…’
   
   
6. Use your material as a crutch. If it has been crafted properly your material can communicate your proposition and why it is of relevance more effectively than the PAs third party interpretation of what you have said. The objective should be to ask the PA to put the item on the manager’s desk and see if he/she is interested. So, say you want to pass on some information and explain why it is useful. Of course, you are redistributing the weight of effort onto the email, or letter you are going to send, so it will take a lot of work and experimentation to get it right.
   
   
7. Gentle persistence. You don’t earn the right to get put through on the first call, or maybe even the second. However, keeping in touch with the PA over time means that your name becomes recognizable and your contact will build up a head of steam.
   
   
8. There are many other techniques, but in my opinion many of which are more trick than technique. Here is one that is legitimate however - if you are sending an email, or a letter, than it can be useful to put a note on its saying that you will call. That means you can legitimately say to the PA ‘I promised Mr X I would give him/her a call’ which may in turn distinguish it from a cold call. Others include calling early and late, as well as during standard holidays, times when the executive may be in but the PA is not.
   
   
9. Experiment and try different things. If your particular message of the present does not resonate and deliver the success you need, then next quarters’ could have a different effect. That again reinforces the importance of adopting a keep in touch mindset.
   
   
10. Engage in a little chit chat and be personable, this is the sure way to make sure that out of the many salespeople that the Personal Assistant talks to today, or this week, you will be the one remembered.
    
    
11. If you really want to talk to the manager, then try calling slighly outside the normal office hours when the PA is not at his/her desk, for example calling at 8.40am as opposed to 9am, or 5.35pm as opposed to 4.30pm.

I asked for a view from North America on how to make the executive assistant your ally. What are successfull marketers doing there to tackle this issue. Pretty much the same thing, here is the advice of Steve Lightstone the President of C Level leads generator to many big name vendors, Corner Office Leads:

''Earn her trust instantly by setting her at ease, letting her control the process. Right away, let her know that you won’t go around her, you won’t approach her executive directly and you will work through her. Her primary role is to protect her executive from unsolicited outreaches from outsiders like you, but she also lets some through. When she knows her executive is protected she’ll become your Guide, not your Gatekeeper. Differentiate yourself from all the others by your approach.''

Good advice Steve, it sounds like the same sophisticated approach is required on a global basis.

Getting Ready To Start Prospecting

The need to start prospecting

Things start happening when people pick up the phone and start talking to prospects and customers. It is as simple as that.

Indeed, when the market is tough, that calling becomes more important than ever. That explains why it is the focus of so many articles we have written. Most organisations are not calling enough potential customers, or doing it in as systematic manner as is necessary.

The bottom line is they find it tough, with most salespeople creatively avoiding it in many ways. The lack of prospecting is the number one complaint area for many sales managers. When outside telemarketing agencies are used the results too are often disappointing. The solution to both these problems is more preparation.

Preparation falls into two categories

I started my career making approximately 50 telemarketing calls a day. In a way I was well trained and quickly learned the importance of preparation for any campaign. That generally meant physical preparation, such as:

• Deciding who and how many will be called, what the objective of the campaign (metrics, etc.) is and how long it will last, number of days to allocate, setting review dates, etc.
  
• Building the list
• Writing out and re-writing what you are going to say, until you are happy with it
  
• Writing out questions you are likely to be asked and your answers to them
  
• Practicing what you are going to say and how you are going to say it
  
• Formulating a list of questions you are likely to be asked, or barriers that arise and answers to them
• Preparing your list of questions / information you want to gather on the call
• Deciding what you will say to the PA and what voicemail message if any you will leave (if any)
  
• Gathering product/industry knowledge
• Deciding what you will send if somebody wants more information, or what web page to point them to
  
• Preparing the list – agreeing the criteria, finding the names, numbers, ensuring that the company has not suscribed to any 'do not call' list (e.g. TPS in the UK), etc.
  
• Doing your homework on the persons and the companies to be called
  
• Using a database, or a spreadsheet to track your calls
• Allocating time, including uninterrupted slots in your diary for calling
• Determining what supporting marketing activity, such as direct mail, will be employed
• Undertaking a pilot (a couple of days of calling in order to test the approach and its effectiveness) before ramping up activity

Psychological Preparation

Less obvious and equally important is the mental preparation required for calling prospects. All too often that gets forgotten about. Yet it is the single most important factor that determines long term success and failure. In particular it is key to the ability to sustain sales prospecting activity, beyond the initial burst of enthusiasm.

I believe 80% of the success in sales prospecting is psychological, here are some of the factors:

• Focus on the goal. You can do anything if you believe it is important enough.
  
• Practice and prepare, it will make you feel more comfortable and confident. Write out what you are going to say – it is comforting to have the information beside you.
  
• Jump straight in – don’t put it off till tomorrow. Launch bravely – just get started. Allocate a slot of time each day or each week and when that is over you can feel good about it. Free yourself from interruptions (block incoming calls, close your email application, etc.). Reward yourself when you are done.
  
• Start small and then grow from there – set realistic expectations (both about the results, the number of calls and the time you can allocate to it) – remember It is a marathon not a sprint
  
• Remember it is an information call, not a sales call. So, have something useful to say, or some information to share (focus on what is in it for the buyer). Your objective is not to sell it is simply to call – to gather and share information. In that way every call is a result and every hour of calling is a success.
  
• Remember you cannot mess it up and you cannot fail (unless you give up). After all what is the worst thing that can happen? That somebody says they are not interested?
  
• If they are not interested then no worries, your job was just to provide them with information and tell them about your company (anyhow they may change their mind later you never know)
  
• Let the averages work for you - remember you don’t have to talk to a manager in every company you contact, and you don’t have to get a positive reaction from every manager you talk to, it may work out to be 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 or some other rate of interest, no worries that is fine. Once you know the average you know exactly what you need to do. The focus becomes the 20 not the one.
  
• Go home happy once you have done your calls, regardless of the outcome, then the next day ask if there is anything that you could have done any differently. But persist regardless.
• List the calls you make each day and count them. Feel good about it. Each call is a result.
  
• Eventually you will talk to somebody that is interested, you will gather useful information, you will build awareness of your company, you will add to your skills/resilience, so keep going. Make one more call, that could be the opportunity you have been waiting for. All the time remember that you are planting seeds today that will grow over time
  
• You don’t have to talk the buyer into buying (very few high value B2B products are sold over the phone), your job is to provide him/her with useful information and to arrange a future conversation (or other appropriate follow-up)
  
• Remember this is the beginning of a relationship; it is not just about one call. The next call will be easier as he/she will remember you.
  
• Don’t rush to judgment; don’t make a hasty assessment of success or failure based on the first few calls, or the first few days of calls. Give it time and switch off the internal conversations fortelling failure in the meantime. Too many campaigns are afflicted by premature and ongoing postmortems. Remember you only fail when you give up. Success lies in keeping the activity going. In that way results are inevitable. If the results dont come in time, then be stoic - perhaps the outcome is telling y0u to change your strategy, or approach.
  

More psychological preparation

• It sounds obvious but dont assume that the person you are calling will be interested. Don't be afraid to start of by saying 'i am not sure if this is something that might be of interest to you, but...'.
• See yourself on the same level as the person you are talking to and dont see yourself as interruption.
  
• Act confident and you will be confident. So before each call, sit up, take a deep breath, raise your shoulders and smile. The speak slowly, clearly and confidently. All this will make you feel more confident.
  
• Have a genuine interest in the other person. That is you genuinely want to pass on some information that will be off value, or encourage him/her to explore a solution to a problem.
  
• Speak more slowly than normal, in that way you won’t have to worry about your accent and being understood. It will also make you sound more confident and professional.
  
• Smile, it will come across to the person you are talking too (strange I know, but it has been proven to work).
  
• Don’t take any rejections personally. Remember occasionally you will talk to a grouch, or somebody who is just having a bad day.
  
• Remember the last time you got a call, how did you feel?
  
• Respect the persons time:
  - Don’t assume they will be interested – in fact tell that you are not sure if it is relevant to them
  - Don’t assume that they have time to talk to you, or that you have called at a good time
  
• Don’t put down the phone – make the next call. Keep calling - the call you did not make is the call that might have got you that result you wanted
• Set a time for call, preferably a slot earlier in the day, when you will make your calls, without interruption. When that time is up, you can move on to the next task feeling good about having completed what you had set to do. It is useful to set a pattern to your work, for example calling on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, thereby reinforcing the habit.

Sales Revenues Fall as Sales Effectiveness Slides

There are two key variables that explain the peformance of most sales teams: the levels of sales activity and effectiveness.

The first one is the number of sales leads, meetings, cycles, proposals, etc. The second is the conversion rates at each stage of the sales cycle - from sales meetings to sales cycles, as well as overall win rates. Here is a good example of this in the real world.

A long established business services company dominated its market for more than 20 years growing sales in a manner that at times seemed almost effortless. However, in more recent years sales had shown a dramatic decline.

The sales team pointed to increased competition, changing buying patterns and minimal marketing by the company as the causes of the downturn.

However, further analysis identified that low levels of sales activity and effectiveness as the prime factors involved. For example:

· On average sales reps met only one new customer, or potential customer, every 2.5 months (i.e. 4.8 per annum).

· Conversion rates stood at 25% and average order values of £15,000, posing a real challenge in terms of growing sales

· The sales manager complained that sales people were selling products, as opposed to solutions and pointed to the ability to communicate value as the key challenge.

· There were no targets for growing revenue among existing customers, a siloed approach to selling across divisions and no key account plans. These factors explained declining levels of repeat business among existing customers.

By increasing the level of new customer sales activity by 15% over 6 months, growing average order values by 10% and repeat business by 7%, the company reached its year-end target midway during quarter 3.

Where are the opportunties in your business? What is the potential to increase the level of sales activity, or sales effectiveness?

What should your sales plan look like?

No manager wants to spend days writing a sales plan, and no rep, manager, or investor wants to spend hours reading such a plan either.

Everybody agrees that a plan is required, but how to keep it short and at the same include all those key elements that will ensure the sales team stays on course for the year.

Here are some of the key ingredients included in the best sales plans:

1. Too many sales drives stumble at the first hurdle, that is lead generation. So you plan has to include a target and budget for lead generation from multiple sources over time.

2. Activity gets results and for many managers getting the level of sales activity up (e.g. getting in front of more prospects) is a key priority. However, targets and plans in this area must be balanced with the need to improve the level of sales effectiveness. Quite simply, it is a lot better to do 10 meetings and convert 20%, than to do 20 meetings and convert just 10%.

3. Too many plans are short on specifics, in particular those metrics and KPIs that can be used to track progress on a weekily, or monthly basis, including number of meetings, conversion rate from lead to meeting, from proposals to orders, etc. then track them.

The precise form of the KPI will vary depending on the particular managers priorities, but here is a good example.

A start-up company set an assumption regarding conversion or success rates and then set a target for the level of activity required – that is they needed to meet with 7 target companies every month for the first 12 months. That provided the manager with a clear measure against which he could benchmark sales activity and sales effectiveness.

4. Set a target for new and existing revenues, set target for up-selling and cross selling. Outline targets for growing revenue in key accounts and key account management and customer service priorities/policies.

5. Focus on a number of campaigns, around which you can centre your activities. Don’t have one plan for marketing and another for sales, but an consisted and integrated campaign arranged on a quarterly basis for example. Agree the message for each, the target list / target list profile for each, etc.

6. Help individual sales people put together a 2 page plan for themselves. Nobody is more committed to a plan than if they write it themselves. In addition, this an ideal opportunity to coach them towards achieving their full potential. Your overall sales plan is the summation of all the individual sales plans of your team.

7. Don’t beat around the bush, exactly how many leads and meetings will be required for each sales person per week, or per month in order to achieve target.

8. In your overall plan focus on this/next quarter in detail, relating it to the individual sales plans of each of the sales people and the overall campaign set out. Include an rigorous validation of the pipeline, that is related to the key stages of your sales process.

8. Focus on the issues of sales process, sales systems, sales structures, etc, Identifying opportunities to ensure the smooth running of your sales organizations/sales team.

Click here if you would like to read more on why you're going to need a plan, or the questions others are likely to ask regarding your plan.

Good advice for bad times.

Aristotle famously advised that we should choose our philosophers as carefully as we choose our butcher (or words to the same effect). In age of BSE, samonella and occassional high profile recalls of tukey, pork and beef products that is an important point.

We all know the effects of eating bad meat, but what are the affects of consuming bad advice? The quetion is this: n the present challenging business climate - is the advice we are getting helpful, or harmful?

Last week I attended an enterprise evening with 3 consultants, 1 solicitor, 2 bankers. Their message cut back expenses, draw out credit, delay making payments and generally 'batten down the hatches'. I was left uninspired, apart from one presenter who reminded the audience that Microsoft and Apple among other companies were founded during a recession.

The message is the same time and time again - a negative one. A few weeks ago you may have heard me complaining about a high profile, but very de-motivating breakfast event delivered by the Chief Executive of an international consulting firm and a former senior civil servant.

Every day we read the 'recession-laden' advice of journalists, economists and pundits. And it all leaves me feeling like the meat is gone off! But then a voice of wisdom breaks through!

In this case the words of a veteran entrepreneur and holder of the title; Master Entrepreneur of the Year (a title awarded by Ernest & Young) and MD of Peninsula Systems a successful B2B services business that has grown from 50 to 23,000 customers over two decades.

So, what was the same Peter Done's remedy for difficult economic times? Quite simply this: 'our telesales staff now work an extra hour each day and an extra two hours on Wednesdays.' If the market is tough then increase the level of sales activity.

So, while everybody else is cutting their way back to success (in line with the advice of all those others mentioned above), their customers are being targeted more aggressively by companies like Peter's.

The Psychology Of A Slowdown…

Psychologists have an interesting way of describing how we deal with set-backs, disappointments and disasters.  So, it struck me that the same principles probably apply to how we deal with such events as; a market slowdown, or a sales slide. 

In particular we, as sales managers, move through the key stages of; denial, anger, depression and acceptance?

Now, very few people are in denial regarding the present market slowdown - the media coverage has made sure we are all fully aware of the economic reality.   Here is a typical example:

'we already see a dramatic drop off in the number of government tenders  and we are anticipating the private sector to do something similar...'   No denial there - that manager is prepared for the worst.  But, what is he going to do about it?

John O Gorman and myself talk to dozens of managers every week, for sure some are 'angry' - 'the government, or the banks shouldn't have….' and many more are 'depressed' - 'I don't know where we will be at the end of it.. there is no real appetite for  business development in the short term at least...'

However, a growing number of sales managers have reached the all important acceptance stage and are now empowered to take action.  They are focused on the key strategies required for selling in a slowdown – increasing the level of sales activity, sharpening their sales skills, etc.

Here is an example: 'With the redundancies out of the way we are now very clearly focused on getting out in front of our customers, as well as potential customers – we know exactly what we need to do.  We need to sell, sell, sell...'

So, which stage are you in?  Is the rest of your management team at the same stage?  Do you know exactly what you need to do?

Selling in a Down-turn

In the mist of all the doom and gloom here are 5 tips managers are applying to gain a higher proportion of a smaller number of orders during the slowdown and be primed and to be ready when the downturn is over.

1. Stay positive

It is vitally important not to succumb to the negativity that will
de-motivate and paralyze so many. Don't get involved in complaining - the
market is still big, even in a downturn.

2. Re-double your Sales Efforts (work harder)

- Increase the level of sales activity - a market downturn means you
are going to have to work harder. If you did 6 sales calls last month
then do 8 or 10 this month.
- There are still people buying so be proactive – get out from behind the desk more often and get in front of more potential customers.

3. Focus on sales effectiveness (work smarter)

- Revisit your sales proposition - can you offer the customer a more compelling reason to buy?
- Put a personal, as well as a business; sales plan or campaign
together so as to guide you in what needs to be done.
- Sharpen your sales skills, take a sales course, attend a seminar, or
buy a book/audio cassette.
- When budgets are tight it is important to sell higher (i.e. to more
senior level managers)
- Prequalify early and often, it is important to focus your sales
energies where they can deliver results
- Look at ways of reducing the level of risk / commitment on the part
of new customers (e.g. small initial assignment, pilot project,
phasing of payment, etc.)

4. Leverage what you have got

- Leverage your customers and contacts - ask for referrals and
recommendations from them
- Follow up all leads and revisit any dormant accounts
- Focus on cross selling and up-selling among your existing customer base

5. Help your customers through the down-turn

- Show how your solutions/services can cut costs, or increase
sales in their business.
- Keep customers, by growing relationships and improving service

Sales Avoidance Tactics

We have all got them – that is reasons to delay making that cold call, following up on that lead, or visiting that prospect.

Don't feel like making that call today? Well you are not alone! Jeff Thull in his book 'Selling Excellence' quotes research suggesting that 90% of sales people have some degree of sales call reluctance, with 40% having sever reluctance.

A nice term for them is Sales Avoidance Tactics – attending a management meeting, preparing a report, submitting an expenses claim, sending emails, etc.– all tasks that compete with sales activities for our attention.

No sales person is reluctant to collect the cheque, or co-sign the sales order – it is other parts of the sales process , in particular, lead generation that people run from. Specifically, the number one area of reluctance is cold calling (about which you find lots of information elsewhere in this blog).

So, you are not alone. But, knowing that won't get the job done. Sooner or later (and preferably sooner) a bit of 'just do it' is required. So launch yourself bravely, with your goal in mind, and get stuck in.

Remember, if you do the hard jobs first the easy jobs will take care of themselves.

Start small and start easy. Pick the people you feel most confortable approaching first and block some slots from your diary. Have all your preparation (including list, call guide, email, etc.) and practice (role playing) done and find out about the person and company before you call looking for a common link, connection, or topic of conversation. Then take the phone up and dont leave it down till you are done.

Remember as Dale Carengie said ‘Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest way every yet discovered to conquer fear.’

Why Most Lead Generation Initiatives Fail

Virtually every manager believes his/her sales team could sell more if they have more and better sales leads. In most organisations lead generation is broken, but who is going to fit it?

We are soon to publish a benchmarking study of sales and marketing by Irish B2B technology companies (70 in total), here are some of the interesting findings with respect to lead generation:

· 88% of sales managers identify sales lead generation as a challenge

· 96% want more sales leads

· 80% say sales people are not spending enough time prospecting

· 63% still rely heavily (if not exclusively) on cold calling

· 61% don't have a plan, target or budget for lead generation

So it seems that, although of vital importance, sales lead generation doesn't get the time, or attention it deserves.

Most lead generation initiatives don't work, more often than not creating tension between marketing and sales.

In fact there it appears, more than almost any other area of sales and marketing, lead generation lacks structure, process and science.

'There is a recession!' & Other Negative Sales Beliefs

I was at a talk recently about the importance of a positive mental attitude in business.

The main point was that most people have beliefs that hold them back. That started me thinking of the beliefs that can represent barriers to sales growth.

From our experience with hundreds of companies, here are the top 5 negative beliefs found in sales organisations:

1. The market is bad! - this can a fatalism regarding sales revenues

2. Our product is the best! - this can cause a blind arrogance and a failure to listen to the customers real requirements

3. He, or she can sell sand to the arabs! - this leads to too much focus on the sales person, as opposed to the sales process, or the customer

4. They wouldn't be interested in our solution! - the result is that potential customers who could buy are not contacted

5. They will definately buy! - in the absence of sufficient insufficient prequalification this belief can lead to false optimism and inaccurate forecasts

The presenter repeated a number of times that famous quote from Henry Forde - 'either you think you can, or you think you cannot - either way you are right'. How true that is!.

It is not the recession that worries me, it is sense of helplessness that often goes with it

Almost everybody is talking about recession.  That is everybody except those sales managers most determined to meet target.

The newspaper, radio and television may be screaming RECESSION, but a downturn in the market doesn't have to mean a fall off in your sales.  That is unless you believe it will. 

The real danger is that talk of a slowdown can quickly become a self fulfilling prophecy.  So every time you hear the word recession; pick up the phone to a prospect, make a sales call, get a referral, or take some other action that has the potential to contribute to your pipeline. 

Last week the CEO of a young company reported to investors on progress with respect of sales.  Although the results were reasonable, the CEO began by talking about the slowdown in the market.  To the audience it sounded like an excuse, their response was to work harder.

Remember, even during a recession there are still products being bought and sold.  Maybe the market is not going to grow on last year, but that does not mean your sales need take a downturn. 

So, instead of worrying about a reduction in demand, increase your level of sales activity, as well the effectiveness of your sales activity.

Seize the opportunity from your competitors who are dazed by the changing fortunes of the market.  Help your customers guard against a slowdown too by showing how your solution can protect its revenues or controls its costs.

Don't let anything distract you from your sales tasks

Did you ever notice how 101 things will arise during the week to distract you from the sales activities you had planned - calling that prospect, arranging that meeting, following up on that proposal, asking for that referral, etc.

Managers continually tell us that although sales is priority number 1, more urgent but less important activities continuously strive to put it in second, third or fourth place.

Raising funding, completing the business plan, preparing for the management meeting, sorting out a delivery problem - all noble tasks but ultimately futile unless the revenue keeps flowing in.

Remember even a full time sales person gets to spend only a small proportion (around 25%) of their week selling on the phone, or face to face. We all need to make a firm resolve to spend time on sales related activities.

So starting this week, make a new determination with me - not to leave what matters most (selling) at the mercy of what matters less (administration, paperwork, returning calls, etc.).

Block time out of your diary, whether it is two half days or two full days - that is time uninterrupted by meetings, visitors, phone calls, or emails, for making your sales calls, following-up on enquiries, etc.