Sales Pre-qualification 101

Managers want to make sure that their sales teams are chasing the right deals. But, what classifies a good lead? What criteria must be met for sales appointments to be made? When are the proposals to be written? 

An increased level of pre-qualification generally requires:

·         Screening, sorting and pre-qualifying leads

·         Nurturing leads offering longer term potential until ready

·         Confirmation of budget, authority, timing and need (BANT)

·         Purged databases and prospect lists

·         Optimised lead generation & opportunity management.

 ·        Customer relationship management

Sales Structures 101

Best practice Sales Management requires effective processes and structures in respect of:

·         Sales meetings, 'ride-a longs', reports & reviews

·         Commissions, Incentives, Targets & Responsibilities

·         Training, Coaching, Leadership & Team-building

·         Recruitment & induction

These are essential to the management of high performance sales teams.

 ·          Marketing campaign management (including newsletters and mail outs)

·         Customer relationship management

Sales Systems 101

Managers often complain about the difficulty of accurately forecasting sales and objectively rating opportunities. In addition they often lack the information to monitor and control sales team, or campaign effectiveness.

SFA (Sales Force Automation), or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Systems solve these problems by providing:

·         A central repository for customer, prospect & marketing information

·         Real time reporting & tracking of activity and effectiveness in terms of; leads, opportunities, accounts, etc.

·         Sales productivity tools in terms of reporting, scheduling, dairying, etc.

·         Marketing campaign management (including newsletters and mail outs)

·         Customer relationship management

A Common Sales Language

What is the difference between a prospect and a lead? Is an opportunity with an 80% likelihood, twice as likely as one with a 40% rating?

When one person talks miles and another talks of kilometers it can get confusing. This is exactly what happens when discussing the sales pipeline.

Most companies lack a common language, or scoring system in respect of leads, prospects, opportunities and accounts. This reduces the level of sales visibility, predictability and control.

Treat your sales person to a…

What have you done for your sales person lately?  Independent and self-contained as most sales personalities are they may be reluctant to ask for help, but will surely appreciate it.

Here are some of the ways you can help your salesperson – you could provide him, or her with:

·         A new story to tell about the product/solution

·         Some new insights into the market

·         A new customer reference

·         A new sales letter, presenter, or brochure

·         A new sales campaign

·         New sales leads

·         New sales collateral

·         A new technical insight (industry, or product training)

·         A new target list

You don't need to wait to be asked.  The above are all useful tools in the hands of a professional salesperson, but more importantly giving them is an indication of commitment and support in what can otherwise be a pretty isolated profession.  

And if you want something from your sales person (a new approach, better reporting, etc.) then start by giving something first.

Trends in Account & Project Management

Here are some of the Common Themes In Conversations with Managers about How the Role of Project Management is Changing:

Trend No.1:    From Projects to Profit Centres

Project budgeting and control has become increasingly sophisticated, backed up by powerful management information systems and tools.  

More effective on time and within budget tracking of projects is leading to a broader view of projects as profit centers and leveraging increasingly sophisticated activity based costing techniques.

Thus, project management and performance is being increasingly viewed in the context of corporate strategy and performance.  And as corporate performance is the aggregate of project performance, large projects are being treated as profit centres and managed like business units, with more rigorous apportioning of costs and revenues.

Trend No.2:     From Information Gaps, to Information Overload

New systems and advanced project management skills, have enabled greater project visibility, predictability and control.  However, the risk of information overload is high, with managers increasing looking for real-time KPIs in a management dashboard. 

Furthermore, users are not getting all that was expected from their new tools, often because of a deficit of skills training, or support.

Managing large projects has become increasingly complex, driven also by increased competition, tighter margins and new business models (including shared risk and reward.  These trends have eroded some of the benefits delivered by new systems. In reality, the job of the project manager has not been made any easier.

Trend No. 3:            From Account Manager to Client Advocate

Many managers will admit that their account management needs to be more proactive – that it must anticipate, as well as respond, to the changing needs of both project and clients.  

Managing accounts is no longer the objective, the focus is on not just this sale, but the next and the next.  Key to unlocking this future stream of revenue is the deepening of relationships with and within client organizations.  The test in the success of this strategy is the successful transition from supplier to strategic partner - a journey that is often not a straightforward one.

But, what is the difference between Account Manager and Client Advocate?  

     1.    It is the degree of passionate about client and project success, as well as the level of innovation, partnership, pro-activity, etc.  It is characterized by a spirit of true partnership, careful management of expectations, excellent communication and reporting, deepening personal as well as professional relationships, client development (including skills and knowledge transfer), etc. 

     2.   The Client Advocate has equal loyalty to two organisations – the clients and his/her own - and is aligned with the culture, strategy, vision and goals of both. The relationship and contact does not end with the project ends

     3.   The demarcation between sale and delivery are increasingly blurred.  For example, more upfront work is required to win the sale, while delivery is key to the next sale.  

     4.  The team selling and delivering increasingly overlap, as organisations strengthen their team-based approach to sales and delivery.

     Trend No. 3:            From project teams to networks and alliances

According to managers, project success depends on collaboration across a range of increasingly diverse actors.  That presents its own particular challenges, especially given the increasingly multi-cultural nature of project environments.

In particular, cohesion between different contractors and sub-contracts is key and requires the merging a diversity of interests into one project roadmap.  That requires excellent communication, but goes deeper to issues of; culture, esteem and trust.  One test is that people know what is happening, fell committed to it and indeed feel part of a team, even if working on a client site for a long engagement.

Access to and sharing of information in real time, has been made possible by online collaboration tools and networks.  However, managers also suggest that electronic communication cannot replace the more personal methods.

Trend No. 4:       From project manager to project champion  

It was once the highest form of praise to describe a project, or a business, as 'well managed'.  But in a more complex and fast changing environment 'well managed' can fall short.

That is why managers are now expected to be leaders.   What is the difference, between the two?  Well, vision, passion, empowerment (team work, motivation, etc.), innovation and creativity.  That means the job description has expanded, but has the skillset?

Trend No. 5:       Creativity Within A Framework

Delivering on time and within budget requires rigid project delivery in line with an agreed scope, subject to periodic review meetings and controlled change management processes.  However, larger and more complex projects are accompanied by demands for new levels of flexibility and innovation.

In software development project definition generally takes place day one and testing of developed code at a 'waterfall' date many months thereafter.  To tackle the fact that software projects have a 80% chance of slipping on quality, budget or delivery date, a alternative to this waterfall method has emerged.  Called Agile, it involves periodic and ongoing testing and review, results in progressive iterations as opposed to a single

Creativity within a framework – that is the flexibility to adapt to emerging needs and changing requirements, to creatively overcome obstacles and delays. 

An increasingly scientific approach to project management, including merging a variety of practices and processes throughout the organisation into one.  That includes; the application of management techniques such as TQM, lean thinking and continuous improvement.

Leads from the Web: Don’t forget to Register

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Deadly Myths – Natural Born Sales People

The most dangerous myth in all of sales is that sales people are born not made.  It impacts negatively on so many aspects of selling – from how sales people are recruited and sales teams managed.

You have often heard it said of a good sales person 'he, or she is a natural born sales person', or that 'he / she could sell sand to the Arabs, or ice to the Eskimos.'

Why are those myths a problem?  Well, because they reinforce the stereotype of the archetypical salesperson, that is the smooth talker, who with his/her words alone, can persuade the customer to sign on the dotted line.  But this stereotype that is the very anthesis of modern sales and an anathema to every professional sales person.

Yes, some people do possess inherent characteristics that can give them a natural advantage in selling (e.g. good communication, or relationship skills), however the behaviors associated with these advantages can also be learned (e.g. listening skills, etc.).

Personality-related variables will be important as long as there are people involved in buying, but there is too much focus on the sales person and not on the process.  Sales is a profession, not a birth right.  It is open to all who are prepared to develop and apply the skills, techniques, processes, structures, etc. of success.

Buyers want to talk to experts, not to sales people.  The different is knowledge, credibility and trust.   Lots of talk and oodles of confidence are not necessarily traits buyers admire.  The fast talker, who often has little substance, will lose out to the expert almost every time.  Shiny suits, mobile phones and slick power point presentations don't impress much either.

Different types of salespeople are required for different situations.  The trend towards executive to executive selling recognizes the fact that who better to sell to an engineer than another engineer, or to an accountant, than another accountant (or accounting technician).  

Planning A Great Sales Presentation: A checklist

Proposal preparation can often be rushed, or left to the last minute.  However, when it comes to delivering a presentation preparation is everything.  That even applies to the most polished of presenters. 

So, here is a checklist of questions to help you to ensure a great sales presentation:

1.       What is your objective for the presentation?

2.       Who is in the audience?  What size will it be?

3.       What are they expecting?

4.       How much do they know about the topic already?

5.       How cynical, or skeptical will the audience be of  to your message ( What opinions do they have?

6.       What is the message you want to communicate?

7.       How are you going to make it accessible and interesting? 

8.       What stories, anecdotes, or case studies are you going to use?

9.       How much time have you got?

10.   How do you want to be introduced?

11.   What 3 key ideas do you want the audience to talk about you when you leave?

12.   What if any formalities need to be adhered to?

13.   What size is the venue?  What is the seating layout?

14.   What equipment will you have (e.g. audio visual)? 

15.   How much interaction will there be?

16.   How much preparation and practice will be undertaken?  How long will it take?

17.   Will slides be used?  How many?

18.   What set up time will be required on the day?

Applying Manufacturing Principles to Sales & Marketing

If the processes, tools and methodologies applied in manufacturing were applied to Marketing/Sales the result would be a revolution in terms of how organizations 'manufacture customers and sales'.

Process Re-engineering Tops the Agenda

Scientific management began with Frederick Taylor who launched scientific management, by 'taking the lid of' a steel manufacturing plant and breaking it down into processes and sub-process that could be measured and consequently optimized.  It is now time for a similar methodology to be applied to sales and marketing.

Over the past two decades process re-engineering and business process improvement have become part to everyday management speak and an important focus for organizations operating in an increasingly competitive environment. 

The Application of Scientific Principles to Sales & Marketing

Compared to other business functions, such as; production, or accounting, there is still some way to go in terms of the application of science and structure to sales and marketing.  

Traditionally sales and marketing have been considered an art, rather than a science. This is evident in such widely held views as 'marketing cannot be measured', or 'a good sales person can sell sand to the Arabs'.  The focus has been on people, as opposed to process, and creativity, as opposed to discipline.   The systems, tools, or structures required to manufacture customers have often been overlooked.

But can the principles of scientific management be applied to sales and marketing?  Could the tools that have revolutionized manufacturing allow you to reliably manage the production of customers?

Viewing Sales and marketing as a system to produce customers. 

Marketing and Sales are a form of manufacturing.  Specifically, Marketing/Sales takes suspects (raw material) and converts them to customers by means of a number of stages (leads, to meetings, cycles to orders, etc.). 

But how efficient, consistent, predictable and reliable is this system to manufacture Customers?  Are there parts of this process that can be optimized?  Terms like systematic, structured, predictable and scientific are not commonly applied to either sales, or marketing.

Where to Start?

The effectiveness of sales and marketing depends on a number of processes and process related variables.  Adjust the variables and the results change accordingly.  Doing this scientifically is the application of an integrated approach that looks beyond the people and personalities, to include; skills, systems, structures, tools, processes, etc. 

With that in mind, how effective are key processes involved in how your organizations 'customer manufacturing': 

·         Are enough leads produced and how efficiently are they transformed into sales meetings?

·         What is the level of waste in terms of transforming leads to sales meetings to sales cycles?  

·         Are enough orders being produced from the stock of sales cycles?   

·         Have the processes for generating repeat orders from customers been optimized?

Asking these questions is the first step to the application of such progressive principles, as; Total Quality Management, Lean Thinking, Continuous Improvement, etc.