Top 5 Priorities for Sales Meetings

We have been asking managers about their challenges and priorities in terms of maximising the effectiveness of sales meetings (as measured by conversion rates from meetings to sales cycles).

Here are the top 5 challenges:
1. Not enough sales meetings
2. Getting past the first meeting / advancing fast enough
3. Meeting the wrong companies/people
4. Uncover & build consensus around needs & payoff
5. Expert not sales person

Here are the top 5 Priorities:
1. More systematic needs analysis
2. Greater pre-qualification & preparation
3. An expert led approach
4. Communicating a more compelling reason to buy
5. Adopting a multiple-meeting approach

Right back to square 1

It can be the most difficult thing to do, but when a key aspect of the buying decision changes you have to go back to step one of your sales process. 

For example:

You find out that you are not talking to all the right people

You find out that the needs or priorities of the buying organization have changed

You find out that the budgetary situation is not as you anticipated

The customer tells you that the solution you have been pushing does not address their needs

You become aware of new competing choices being considered by customer.

So, what is square one?  Well listening to understand what the prospects needs are (implicit and explicit) and their business impact.  You have to revisit the buying process, the decision makers and influencers, the timeline, etc.   Go through all that again?  Yes.

Why purchase decisions get stalled

Sales people often complain that 'sure thing' purchase decisions are increasingly getting stalled – often at the last minute.  It is all the more frustrating because salespeople feel there is nothing that can be done about it. 

However, looking beneath the surface there are reasons why buying decisions get stalled and things that we, as salespeople, can do to avoid all our hard work being 'put on ice'.

Situations change – the customers priorities, needs and budget have changed and this has caught the sales person off guard.

Failure to proved the value – that is quantified the benefits and in particular gained agreement as to the business impact of the solution.  The sales person did not present a sufficiently compelling reason to buy at this time.

Getting ahead of the customer and failed to notice that he/she was falling behind.  You failed to interact sufficiently with the customer, or to incrementally build commitment and gain agreement throughout the sales cycle.

Don't surprise them!  They did not see or agree to what you were proposing and what it would cost before you submitted your proposal. 

Failure to talk to the right people – or to systematically covered the buying unit.

The leap to be made by the customer is too big – the level of risk on the part of the customer might have been reduced by means of a pilot, a phased approach, etc.

Before Your Next Sales Meeting Consider This...

Before you race off to your next sales meeting, what type of meeting
have you in mind? Is that what your customer is expecting and how
effective will it be.

There are lots of different types of 'sales meetings' and
understanding the differences between them is key to success.
However, salespeople and sometimes even the customer get it wrong,
with the result being a mismatch of expectations. Here are two classic
examples:

1. A buyer makes an enquiry and the sales person visits as a result.
The sales person arrives expecting to listen and engage with the
customer to explore his needs and requirements, but it does not turn
out as planned:

- To his surprise the buyer is withdrawn and says very little. It
becomes more like an interview of the salesperson, than a two way
conversation, or exploration of needs. The salesperson ends up doing
most of the talking and leaves confused about why the buyer even
wanted to meet.

- Worst still the sales person arrives to be led into the board
meeting, introduced to a number of people from the buyers side and
shown where he or she can connect a laptop in order to deliver a
presentation.

2. A sales person arrives to meet a potential customer for the first
time. After a few short pleasantries, the salesperson powers up
his/her laptop and launches into a slide presentation about his/her
company and its solutions.

After a dozen slides the buyers eyes glaze over, but with a lot more
slides to get through the sales person does not even notice. When the
presentation is over the buyer wants to get out of the room as quickly
as possible.

The sales person has used up all the time talking about himself and
has found out little about the buyer and his requirements. Because
he/she delivered a presentation before finding out what the customer
wants, there is no way of ensuring that the content of the
presentation reflects the requirements of the customer.

All too often when a sales person visits a prospect the objective is
to deliver a sales presentation – a slide show, or powerpoint
presentation. But, although that is the most common approach, it is
suited to only a small proportion of all sales meetings. The problem
is that it means the sales person ends up doing most of the talking.

Successful sales meetings are conversations - purposeful two-way
conversations that explore needs, the implications of those needs and
the potential solutions that can address the same. The word purposeful
is important here – in that you have giving the buyer a reason to meet
and that reason is clear. There is no mismatch of expectations.

For almost all sales meetings the salesperson almost always does more
listening than talking, although the balance can shift as the sales
cycle / relationship develops.

Selling - The Characteristics of Success

It struck me following two conversations yesterday with a sales
manager and a highly experienced and successful CEO that there are a
number of key characteristics to those people who will continue to
sell successfully and those who will continue to struggle. These are
three I noted from my conversations. There are many more but I would
be here all day if I tried to list them all.

1. Sales is a tough profession, sales people who recognise this and
take the good with the bad are the ones that do the business. Don Juan
in Carlos Castaneda's A Seperate Peace puts it well - The difference
between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees
everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as a
blessing or a curse". The sales people who succeed may not know it but
they are following Don Juan's philiosphy.

2. Sales people who are at the top of their field are the ones who are
always looking to learn, they read, attend sales conferences and are
hard on themselves after sales calls. Some food for thought:

* what was the last sales book you read
* when did you last attend a sales training course
* when did you last ask for frank feedback after a sales call
* have you ever asked a customer/prospective cleint for feedback
after a sales meeting?

Sales people who read and are looking to develop their sales
management skills will sell more.

3. Maybe old school given the new web 2.0 generation that is emerging
but you know what when you are selling complex products you will need
to be willing to build a relationship with the customer. As Brian
Tracy (www.briantracy.com) says the customer doesn't care how much you
know until they know how much you care. Its worth buying one or two of
Brians' books.

All the best

John - www.acceleratesalesgrowth.com

Is your USP a Compelling Reason to Buy?

Small, medium and large sized company directors are telling me they
need to review their unique selling proposition.

I ask them what they mean when they say this and I get a blank
response……should they not be thinking about the compelling reasons
they should give their customers to buy their solution rather than a
unique selling proposition which 9 times out of ten is internally
focused and product led?

I have no doubt customers will buy if you give them a compelling
reason to. Your sales results can drastically improve if you focus on
the compelling reason you give your customer to buy.

Lessons from the man who sold buckets!

I picked up a book on success stories in Irish business last week and
in between my golf and changing nappies I got the chance to read the
chapter on John Concannon from JFC manufacturing. For those of you who
haven't heard of John he was a framer who came up with an idea to link
three buckets together which ultimately got him on the road to develop
a 250 person organisation with €40-45 million turnover (Source That'LL
never work by Gaffney and O' Brien, its worth a read).

I suggest we should take note of John Concannons leaning mindset. It
seems John knew nothing about sales and marketing when he started off
but to his absolute credit he did realise he needed to "educate
himself" in sales if his business was to succeed. In his story he
talks about reading, studying sales and delivering to client
specifications when tackling markets. Sounds simple.

I say we all need a learning mindset don't we.

So how does all this relate to Sales growth. My response if you talk
to the right clients, listen to the client and deliver to their
expectations you increase your chance of success. So for all you sales
managers, sales trainers, managing directors, entrepreneurs a word to
the wise listen more, speak less and deliver exactly what the clients
wants not what you think they want.

John at www.acceleratesalesgrowth.com

Selecting a Telemarketing Agency - Key Questions to Ask

8 out of ten companies say they need help with lead generations.  But, before you engage the services of any lead generation/telemarketing company ask them the following questions:

1. Will they allocate a dedicated resource to your account?

2. Generally how long does it take to access a decision maker?

3. How do they track and record call backs?

4. What do they see as the KSF to a lead generation campaign are? If
they don't say lead generation is about a programme of activity and
ongoing communications then end the conversation

5. Will they run a pilot for 3 months?

6. Can they show you sample qualification information they look for???
The good ones can

7. What are the common objections they get over the phone? Again the
good ones will rattle off an answer to this question.

Lead generation comes in many guises. It requires a system and process
not just a person on the phone making calls.

Your sales team need to be either prospecting, presenting or advancing
sales cycles. If they aren't generating leads you will need to get
them some support. If you do get outside help ask the right questions.

John O' Gorman DirectorAccelerated Sales Growth, sales managment

Selling in tough times means doing more of the tough stuff

Yes times are not as good as they were. However I sat with a company
last week who closed three new deals .

Their people have realised they have got to do more prospecting, more
phoning and more meetings, the hard part of sales. One of the
directors gave me an insight into the attitude of the sales people who
are succeeding right now. He said prospecting and following up on
opportunities has become a daily goal for the guys that are uncovering
opportunities. They are doing the things they don't normally like
doing first.

John O' Gorman Director

Accelerate Sales Growth, sales management

Secrets of the Black Art of Sales

In my travels over the past week I have met with 10 senior managers
all looking to sell more. They want sales now. Nothing new there.

It struck me over the course of these meetings that sales managers and
business owners need to get back to basics; focus on what it is they
have or do that makes a difference to their clients lives and increase
their level of customer/prospect facing activity.

As my old marketing professor used say, "face the customer, listen to
what they are saying and then uncover the personal win your prospect
will get from buying your product/service/solution".

Selling is still the toughest profession in the world. But it is not a
black art. It can be made much easier and less stressful if you
listen, ask the right questions and stay in contact regularly.

John from The ASG Group: www.theasggroup.com