Why Selling Is An Olympic Sport

Sales people are in the front line in this time of economic slowdown.  Well all know it is not going to be easy – in fact for many it is already providing to be a challenge of Olympic proportions. 

So, perhaps 'selling in the downturn' should be among those competitive sports included in the London  Olympics.  Here are some of the parallels:

1. Selling as in any competitive sport, requires discipline and stamina, strength and endurance.  A lot of hard work and preparation will go into that short moment on the track. Training and preparation is everything.

2. There will be bruises and the occasional injury along the way.  Sometimes, it will seem like you are constantly running up hill, where perseverance rather than skill counts most.  Other times you will be on a winning streak - in the zone / the sweet spot and at the top of your game.  It can switch between these at any time.

3. You will occasionally hit the wall, that may be a lost sale, or worst of all, perhaps, it may be a stalled sale.  The ability to motivate yourself to get back on the track is paramount.

4. It is not just about a single race – but an unending series of competitions.  That means you cannot rest on your laurels for long, the moment of glory soon fades.  After all, you are only as good as your last sale.

5. Winning is everything, even second place is poor consolation.  If you are not winning then you are off the team and on the sidelines. 

6. It is a team sport.  Increasingly it is not just one person in the limelight.  Every champion owes shares his/her success with a support team of trainers, coaches and so on.  Team based selling requires a combined of skills and for each person to successfully pass the baton. 

7. It could be a marathon, it is not just a long race, but a series of short races one after the other.   With increasingly long sales cycles you cannot always see the finishing line.   Or it could be in the pool, as it can require holding your breath for long periods of time.

8. A great coach is a key ingredient of success, someone that can help people to perform at their best.  So too is effective team work and an evironment that not only rewards, but celebrates success.

 

The All Time Top 11 Sales Manager Complaints

There is no question but that the economic slowdown has focused the minds of sales managers, after an almost unparalled 5 years of global growth. 

However, for the last number of years we have been polling managers regarding the challenges facing their sales organisations.  Here is the list - the alltime Top 11 sales manager complaints:  

1.       ‘Buying Cycles Are Longer’

2.       ‘Buying Decisions Are More Complex’

3.       ‘More Deals Are Stalled or Delayed’

4.       ‘Conversion Rates Are Falling’

5.       ‘Forecasting  Accurately is More Difficult’

6.        ‘Sales Targets Are More Ambitious’

7.       ‘Sales & Marketing Costs Are Rising’

8.       ‘Competition is intensifying’

9.       ‘Lead Quality is Falling’

10.    ‘Sales Rep Turnover is Rising’

11.    ‘Access to Senior Executives is limited and getting in the door a problem'

So, how many of these challenges are you facing?

Sales presentations - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Over the past 16 weeks I have had the opportunity to sit through 36 sales and marketing presentations from technology vendors and professional services companies. After the first presentation I decided I would take note of the presentations that got an enthusiastic response and those that hit a low note. If you happen to be one of the 36 people who presented to me you should know what I am going to say.

The bad

Lets start with the bad.  Why do 70% of vendors start their presentation with an ABOUT US slide?  Why not just call it the PLEASE YAWN slide.   Maybe it is interesting to the salesperson but it is not for the prospect.

Next why over 50% of presenters try to use humour to kick off their presentations? Nobody asked for a stand up commedian and that is not what the salesperson turned out to be.  Most of the attempts I have seen simply fell flat, because they weren’t funny.  It is time for salespeople to play it safe.  Trying to break the ice with a joke is a nice idea, but it does not work in most cases.

Vendors who tell buyers they can do everything…… yet experienced buyers have been around a long time, they have heard all the promises a million times, they don’t believe vendors who claim they can do everything

Have sales people forgotten they need to take notes during presentations, its amazing to see how many people present their offering, ask a few questions during the presentation (supposedly trying to identify client needs) and forget to show the buyer on the other side of the table the respect to take note of the answers they give

Eye contact – if you keep looking down at your notes, people begin to think you don’t really know your stuff

Bluffing answers – the old saying goes know what you don’t know. If you don’t know the answer admit it. Bluffing rarely works and buyers can see through 9 out of 10 bluffs

Ok please listen to this – if you have a slide with 5 bullet points and you put it up, guess what, the audience will read the five bullets and stop listening to you until they have gone from bullet 1-5 – a suggestion either use a slide build and bring one bullet in at a time or put the slide up, take a sip of water and let the audience read the slide and then make your point.

The really ugly

These things really happened I am not joking:

- Slouching in meetings with arms crossed – I felt like asking the guy if he wanted a pillow!!!!

- Checking mobiles & texting – I wouldn’t have believed it only for I witnessed it with my own eyes!

- Interrupting colleagues when they have been asked a question

- Asking what products my company sold – do your homework!!

- Answering questions without letting the buyer complete his questions

- Clicking a pen when talking

- Leaning on a lectern looking like he was about to fall over

- Telling the audience who are risk averse that the company is small

- Wandering around the top of the room speaking at the slides

- Rocking back and forth while talking

Ok here is the good

- The presentations that went down well told stories – they used client stories to demonstrate the value they deliver, they asked questions as they were telling stories, they showed they cared

- The presenters who knew their stuff and showed they were experts earned the right to ask probing questions - people like to talk to experts especially experts who show they know the challenges faced

- The presentations that work best had a really good opening and a really good close and yes it takes practice. Over a three week period I saw 6 IT vendor presentations and only one started and ended well

- The number one presenter amongst the 36 was the one person who spoke slowly, showed confidence, smiled, used his hands to illustrate key points and asked interesting questions

- Another simple thing that goes along way, clarifying the agenda and meeting expectation before launching into a slide show

-The guys who sign-posted where they were made it easy to follow – you knew where you were। When you know where you are it is easier to pay attention and interact

- Interaction – key to every successful sales meeting. If you have been around a while you will know the questions you need to ask and you will know that the more interaction the more likely people will feel you are trying to understand them, I was in a workshop recently that lasted about 6 hours, the time flew because the vendor got us to interact for at least 50% of the time, we were asking questions एंड openly answer questions.

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

Time for a New Approach to Lead Generation

As lead generation is the genesis of all sales and most sales people say it is a real barrier to them selling more, a new approach is required.

Indeed, 9 out of 10 managers say their sales people are not meeting enough more potential customers – making it the number one barrier to accelerating sales growth. Little wonder it keeps appearing in this blog (click on the labels panel to view more on the subject)!

Most sales people are still responsible for generating the majority of their sales leads, and once contacts and referrals run out, they struggle.

Our research shows that, in most companies, less than 20% of leads are generated by marketing activities, with surprisingly high levels of dependence on cold calling. Amazingly only a minority measure marketing in terms of leads generated.

Something as important as lead generation needs to be put on a firmer footing. It should not just be part of the reps job description, but an integral part of the entire organizations sales and marketing plans, structures, etc.

If something is so hard (as lead generation is for most reps) then there must be something wrong with the way it is being approached. Instead of leaving it to individual sales people and to cold calling; there needs to be a more planned, structured and systematic approach to lead generation.