Do you have to be assertive today?

Today, it isn’t so much what closes the deal but who closes the deal.  When contrasting how a sales rep engages the customer, a reactive “relationship builder” will struggle compared with a more proactive “challenger” individual.

What describes “challenger” personality?

1. Communicates new insights with executives (in their language)
2. Weaves their solution seamlessly with client’s needs and objectives
3. Imposes their will which drives productive customer action

The “challenger” imparts different insights based upon client audience with the ultimate goal of enterprise-wide consensus.  For example, CEOs want to know what they don’t know about their competition.  While CFOs will listen to unique and unknown ways to cut costs.  As a general rule, quantifiable business value is more substantive than soft returns (like increased customer satisfaction.)

Can a “challenger” personality be coached?  While most “challengers” are opinionated and even combative communicators, they consistently impart informed insights which earns credibility with the customer.  While friction is not sought, being informed and confident are fast becoming a requirement.  In my opinion, an assertive personality can in fact manifest in just about anybody.

Using LinkedIn as a sales tool

With LinkedIn, you can research accounts in general and/or individuals in particular.  If and when you are cold-calling a company, it often helps to ask for a specific individual when you reach the operator.  Otherwise, they may not transfer you to the (unknown) VP of Operations, for example.

LinkedIn provides you the ability with Advanced Search to find specific individuals within a specific business.  You can use Keywords to narrow the search to specific domain areas such as Operations Management or MES.

The possibilities are quite endless.

Should I email, phone, or text?

Assuming you can gain access, is email, phone, or text preferred?  Don’t assume everybody has a smart-phone, let alone reads their own email.

I suggest (as always) asking the question: what is the best way to reach you?

Direct questions typically receive direct answers.  Where you keep this vital piece of information is another question.  To my knowledge, no CRM tool captures this valuable tidbit of information.

BTW: if you simultaneously leave voice mail, send an email, and text, you may upset the recipient

Follow on Twitter

Next generation social CRM is provocative, but not commercially-validated (as of yet.)  However, using Twitter to follow prospects, clients, your competitors, prospects’ and clients’ competitors, industry leaders, and others can definitely provide insightful information tidbits.

Tweets are short and sweet, but most importantly they are current.  When communicating with business leaders, sharing a little competitive intelligence (for example) will go to establishing equal business stature.  It may just pique interest and be a catalyst for sponsorship and subsequent partnership.

Closing will always be manual

Do SFA tools automatically close business?  Of course, not!

However, the tools on the market today (which have come a long ways from the days when Scopus, Clarify, and Vantive were the big players) are quite flexible and productive.  While SFA tools are powerful, they won’t create a compelling “call to action” for your customers.  Closing will always be a manual process.

With microscopic-focus, identify what it will take to make a buying decision.  It may be internal based upon negative activity ratios or it may be external, such as feared competition.

Sales team functionality

Many CRM tools provide “sales team” functionality which essentially enables more than just the “opportunity owner” with read and write privileges.  This feature is very handy for organizations with team-selling environments.  While you may have to overcome potential “control” issues by the default “owner” the benefits are straight-forward, including:

• automated tracking and updating virtual sales team
• expanding sales and marketing reach across team
• easy transition/assignment of ownership
• strategic “divide and conquer” territory management

Camaraderie is nice to have, but expanded and improved territory coverage is a must.

Territory break-even analysis

Are your sales territories partitioned properly?  Does your current territory map beget maximum revenues?

Hopefully, management and sales agree on the answers but that is often not the case.

There is a break-even point (BEP) where adding an FTE (another sales person) is advised to optimize overall sales performance.  In this economy, companies carefully measure costs and expenses versus revenue.  However, companies often rely on ancient territory definitions which are not optimized.  An audit provides actionable insights; which can be derived by analyzing sales history (perhaps 4 trailing quarters) at a granular level (e.g. by products, services, new vs. recurring, direct vs. indirect, etc.)

I’m not trying to solve the unemployment problem, but if your company boasts a notion of “growth strategy” restructuring sales territories can accelerate revenues overall and result in new hires.

Day in the life of sales (funny video)

The following video accurately depicts life in sales, while being painfully funny.

However, the language may be offensive to you.  Consider yourself disclaimed.

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVLAvix-dX0&feature=player_embedded

Comments?

Sales and Marketing alignment?

Consultants (like me) often speak to lack of alignment between Sales and Marketing.  While that may sound nebulous, let me give you a concrete example.  To analyze this start by asking Marketing their plans…high-level marketing strategy, execution plan, specific tactics and initiatives?

With this example, the Marketing organization focuses solely on email marketing.  The tactical requirement for this type of initiative is a robust database of contacts; it also requires data accuracy and integrity be consistently maintained.

Therefore, the perfect example of sales and marketing alignment here is having Sales department continually update Contacts in the marketing database (aka CRM database.)

What % of your day is pure sales activities?

This is valuable intelligence as it goes directly to revenue.  Either ask your sales people the question or conduct an empirical study.  I  suggest with confidence, you won’t be happy with the results.  Unfortunately, far too few sales organizations leverage a sales model and supporting processes to optimize and dedicate maximum cycles to pure sales activities.

What else might they be doing with their time?  It could be spent responding to internal emails, providing superfluous sales forecasts, but more likely the big time suck is when the sales model itself commands inordinate cycles that distract from pure sales activities.

Savvy sales organizations (albeit rather oppressive) manage sales teams by pure sales activities such as number of phone calls made, number of online presentations delivered, number of quotes provided, number of visits made, and so on.  In contrast, if your organization has adopted a sales model and methodology which by nature creates excessive administrative coordination you are losing valuable time which could otherwise be spent selling!