“Onboarding” New Salespeople – 3 Things to Consider

Tom Breitenbach, Sales Enablement Professional

The good news is that you finally hired a new salesperson.  The bad news is that you’re probably asking, “What do I do when they start?”  So, you set them up to
do their new hire paperwork on Day 1 and then they spend the rest of the week sitting with various people they will be working with, observing what they do.  Then, they’ll do some ride-along sales calls with a few of your reps and be declared as “ready” to be thrown to the wolves.  Sound familiar? Believe it or not, this happens all too often in companies of all sizes.  But without a carefully developed onboarding program that takes into account what knowledge and skills a new salesperson needs, and when they need them, the ramp up time for someone may extend beyond 12 – 18 months. Keep these three things in mind when developing your new hire onboarding program.

1. Take advantage of the honeymoon.  New hires join your company with enthusiasm, excitement, and a fresh perspective.  And the best way to take advantage of this is to involve them in a well-crafted, engaging training program that makes best use of their time, talent, and desire to learn.
2. It’s about more than paperwork and benefits enrollment.   I’ve found that some companies think of an onboarding program as new hire paperwork packets and benefits enrollment forms.  If your onboarding program is non-existent or is lacking in the results it is producing, consider stepping back and assessing all of the learning outcomes that a salesperson or sales manager needs to be successful in your company.  These are things they need to be able to do as a result of your training such as, “Deliver a compelling sales message to VP’s of Marketing in the retail segment.”  Then, design your training around this foundation of learning outcomes.
3. Take advantage of training technologies.  Gone are the days when the best companies pulled their new salespeople out of the field for weeks on end to attend live training classes.  Taking a blended learning approach that combines classroom and the use of technologies to deliver training not only saves money, but is more effective in delivering the right learning at the right time.  Classroom training is still the best for complex training and certification, but is not necessary for delivering all training.

An onboarding program that is chunked into small, bite-sized learning pieces can be highly effective, if done well.  When designing your onboarding program, think about a mix of approaches like eLearning, webinars, assignments, field study, on-demand, video simulations, and classroom training that is spread out over time.  Most importantly, don’t put the job of developing a training program on the shoulders of your sales managers.  That’s not what they do best.  But, involve them in the daily and weekly reinforcement of the training, along with coaching and observation of the new hire’s skill development.

As you might think, there is much more to developing impactful onboarding for your sales new hires than three things.  But if you think about this one-time, golden opportunity you have as a sales manager or sales training professional to make an immediate and lasting impact on the new hire, your team, and your company, you will not short-change your training program.

About Tom Breitenbach

Tom is a strategic leader with a passion for developing ambitious, high-performing sales teams that achieve desired outcomes, success, and revenue growth. He does that by synthesizing his demonstrated experience and success in the following areas.

• Sales and Revenue Enablement
• Leadership Roles (VP, Director, Manager)
• SaaS Solutions and EdTech Experience
• C-Level Enterprise Sales Quota Attainment
• GTM Strategy and Execution
• Sales Process Optimization
• Sales Tools and Technologies (i.e. HubSpot, Salesforce.com)
• Sales Talent Development
• Value Selling and Outcome Sales Methodology Expertise (Miller Heiman, Challenger Sale, Sandler, Carew International, SPIN)

I Wrote This in 2014. Still Applies Today!

“Onboarding” New Salespeople – 3 Things to Consider

This is Sapping Your Sales Team’s Effectiveness

“Just work harder and longer hours to get everything done,” is commonly heard across sales organizations today.  The problem is that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do if you are a salesperson or sales manager.

I’ve noticed one critical mistake or oversight that many sales leaders are making today and it is destroying their organization’s ability to sell more business, more effectively.  It is easy to address but requires a strong sales leader who is willing to confront other leaders within his/her company.

Day after day, salespeople and their sales managers are inundated with emails, phone calls, requests, demands, and meeting invites that have very little to do with helping a salesperson prospect, make sales calls, meet with clients, and close deals.   And, many of these are non-urgent requests that are only seen as urgent in the eyes of the sender.

It’s a problem that I’ve personally seen infect sales organizations and I believe it is worse today than it has ever been.

The fix is easy but it MUST start at the very top of the organization to be successful.  Sales leaders must secure complete support and agreement from the C-level leaders that there is one, and ONLY one, priority in business as follows:

Everything the we do as an organization must support, promote, and drive the ability of our salespeople to be face-to-face (or via phone) with customers and prospects 100% of the time during peak selling hours, everyday.

This means that anything requested or needed from salespeople that is not in direct correlation to a customer need, prospect sale, or opportunity sale must be done so in a manner that allows the salesperson and sales managers to be in the field, doing what they were hired to do.

I know this thought probably irritates many professional that do not have customer facing roles in sales or customer service.  But I’m not saying that your needs for reports, information, feedback, and the like from your salespeople is not important.  What I’m saying is that if everyone in your company works to reduce the urgent requests for things that, in the best interest of growing the company, are not truly urgent, your salespeople can then be held more accountable for being in front of the customer and selling more business.

Some easy tips to start improving your organization’s selling time immediately:

1. Evaluate everything your salespeople do in a given week against the question of, “Does this task enable or does it hinder the salesperson’s face time with a client or prospect?”  Find another way or even eliminate those things that detract from face time.
2. Develop company-wide “off-limits” time blocks where only those things immediately impacting a customer, prospect, or selling opportunity can be requested via phone, email, or meetings.
3. Evaluate every administrative task required of your salespeople and try to either limit, delegate, reduce, or eliminate those that aren’t essential.  You will be shocked at what some of your salespeople are being asked for on a daily basis.
4. Keep your salespeople off of those corporate committees that really do not require a sale perspective.
5. Don’t be punitive with people who might break the rule sometimes.  This is somewhat subjective and you don’t want to stop people from doing their important roles in the organization.  But continually asking the question, “What can we do to free up our salespeople to sell more business,” will go a long way in changing the behavior of your people and the culture of your company.

These are some ideas.  What have you done or seen that has worked to free up your salespeople to sell more business?  I’d love to hear.

Is Account Planning Dead?

In B2B selling, particularly with larger, more complex accounts and prospects, well thought-out and executed Account Plans will make the difference between crushing your goals or missing them.

As a matter of fact, if you don’t practice account planning then you are, most likely, spending your days fighting fires and doing busy work instead of executing the most important tactics that will lead to your sales success.

Technology might be changing the method, but Account Planning is NOT dead!  Hopefully, your account planning process is built into your CRM (i.e. Salesforce.com, MS Dynamics, etc.). The easier it is for sales teams to have real-time access to information not only improves the sales team adoption and use, but also serves as a reinforcement and coaching tool for managers.  But I’ve used and taught good ‘ole fashioned paper Account Planning documents that have served their purpose just fine.  So, not having a CRM or technology tool for Account Planning is not an excuse.

Let’s say that your sales quota is $1,000,000 in billed revenue for a given year.  How do you know where that revenue will come from and what strategies must you employ to achieve this?  The fact is, you don’t until you map out plans for increasing your product penetration within existing accounts or selling new opportunities within prospect accounts.

I’m not talking about doing account planning for fifty accounts.  I’m talking about using the old 80/20 rule and selecting those accounts (maybe 5 or 6) that will make up your biggest revenue opportunities.

Analyze the accounts for the following information in order to build a tactical execution plan that will guide your daily, weekly, and monthly sales activities.

1. Business Drivers and Initiatives:  What business initiatives and drivers have been identified as critical to the company’s growth?  What industry drivers (i.e. federal regulations, etc.) must be addressed by the company?
2. Key Contacts and Drivers:  Who, within the account or prospect company do you know and who do you need to know? Who is involved in the buying decision for your solution?How do they feel about you and your company?  What are their biggest challenges? Remember, these issues and challenges will be different based on their role, industry, and motivations.  If you are only talking to people in the Purchasing department, you might be missing opportunities being driven by marketing, finance, human resources, and other areas of the company.
3. Products, Services, and Solutions:  What are they buying currently, from you or your competitors?  What should they be buying from you?  What is the delta, or difference, between what they are buying from you and what they should be buying?
4. SWOT Analysis:  What are your areas of strength with this account?  What weaknesses or perceived weaknesses must be addressed?  What opportunities exist to leverage your strengths and/or improve your weaknesses?  What external threats must be considered?
5. Tactical Action Plan:  Based on the information you’ve captured in regards to 1 through 4 above, along with your overall revenue objectives for the account, what strategies will you employ to be successful?  Don’t stop at strategy level though because you can’t do anything until you break each strategy down into tactical actions you can take to achieve the strategy.  The magic of this is that you now have the daily, weekly, monthly actions you need to prioritize and execute, in a step by step fashion, that will lead you to success.  Build these into your activity list and have laser-like focus in doing these things while avoiding the things that waste your time and don’t contribute to your sales success.

Of course, there are several different account planning tools and processes available.  I like to keep it as simple as possible.  In addition to your efforts, your account plans are critical when you are team-selling and involving others inside your organization.  The plans provide communication, organization, and a roadmap to ensure that all sales resources are moving in the same direction and focused on the same opportunities.

Give it a shot.  The only wrong answer is to avoid account planning and keep living on “someday” island (someday I’ll hit my goals, someday I’ll do account planning, etc..)!  Let me know if I can help.

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance

tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs

 

Trust = ?

Years ago I was introduced to a trust formula that made complete sense to me and is very useful in my sales training and coaching today.  In selling, everybody talks about the importance of building trust with your client or prospect and becoming a “trusted advisor”.  But trust is a somewhat nebulous term.  What tangible things can a salesperson do to establish trust?

I find the answer hidden within this formula:

TRUST  =  EMPATHY  +  CREDIBILITY

By thinking about things a salesperson can do to show empathy and demonstrate credibility, you start to understand why sales performance improvement professionals train, reinforce, and coach the specific sales activities and best practices that we do.  Below is a brief listing of these sales best practices that either show empathy, demonstrate credibility, or do both.

Showing Empathy  

• Pre-call planning
• “Ben Duffy Technique” – think about questions they might have for you prior to your meeting and be prepared to address each.
• Asking questions in a conversational, non-threatening manner
• Listening and demonstrating “active” listening
• Confirming your understanding of what they said
• Empathizing with their objection (not agreeing) – “I understand how important price is for a project of this size…”
• Adapting your style and approach to fit their personality style – called “mirror and match”
• Avoid being self-interested – put yourself in their position and always work on helping them first rather than selling what you want to sell them

Demonstrating Credibility

• Being professional – Appearance, language, enthusiasm, timeliness, respect
• Pre-call research – know their industry, company, and business issues better than they do
• Using a customized, compelling message in your prospecting that leads with something about similar problems you solve for customers like them, rather than a sales pitch about you or your products
• Asking hard-hitting, targeted questions that demonstrate your preparation and understanding of their needs
• Providing thought-provoking insights about their business – “Tell them something they didn’t know about a problem they didn’t know they had.”
• Digging up specific implications of their issues in terms of costs and percentages (ie.  customer returns due to wrong address costing them $x annually)
• Following up every sales call with a well thought out thank you, summary, and next steps
• Opening every meeting and presentation with the purpose, actions, and benefits to them for attending
• Call planning before every call will be evident to the client during the meeting
• Ask permission – “Would it be okay if we took a few minutes to discuss what’s happening with….?”
• Not pitching product before discovering their needs
• Doing what you say you are going to do when you said you were going to do it

I’m sure you can come up with a bigger list of tactical things you can do to more quickly and effectively establish trust by showing empathy and demonstrating credibility.  By simply paying more attention to these best practices, you will solidify your prospect and customer relationships and take on that all-important role as “trusted advisor” to them.

 

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance
tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs

The Perfect Sales Call

Tom Breitenbach
Vice President, Top Gun Sales Performance

First of all, there is no such thing as a perfect sales call.  A great sales call, yes.  But the road to sales failure is littered with those awaiting perfection.  They wait and wait and wait until they realize they’ve done nothing that will move them toward their goals.

The best salespeople I have had the pleasure of working with never wait for perfection.  In fact, they take the four-letter word “wait” out of their vocabulary.  They execute when their plan is good, rather than waiting until they think their plan is perfect.  But make no mistake, they understand the power of planning.

So, I get confused when salespeople tell me that they don’t have time to plan a sales call.  After all, the Holy Grail of sales activity is the sales call, or appointment.  So why would a salesperson think so little of the value of THEIR time, or the time of the prospect they are calling on,  to not plan for the appointment?

Over the years, I’ve used and taught some very simple things that a salesperson can do to prepare for a sales call and dramatically increase the chance of that call being a “great” call.

1. Be excited.  Get your head straight before any sales call.  Just because you might be down or discouraged on a given day doesn’t mean you need to ruin the other person’s day by bringing them down too.  Also, nobody wants to buy from someone who lacks enthusiasm, confidence, and passion.
2. Have call objectives.  Think about what you need to accomplish on that sales call.  What outcomes do you desire?  Write them down.  I used to work with a wise, yet “crusty” sales manager that told the story of how he flew into town for a ride-along with one of his sales reps.  The rep picked him up at the airport and proceeded to head toward the first appointment.  When asked what the call objectives were the salesperson obviously had not prepared and hadn’t thought about the objectives.  My “crusty” friend had the rep take him back to airport and he caught the next flight back to home to the office.  That’s how passionate he was about call planning and the sales rep was never unprepared again.
3. Have a professional opening. This holds true for any meeting, whether a sales call or internal company meeting.  I encourage reps to write some bullet points on their notepad that relate to three things:  the reason for the meeting; the actions (or agenda) that will be taken in the meeting; and how this meeting will benefit all parties, especially the prospect.  You might have heard of the acronym, PPP, which stands for purpose, process, and payoff.  Another is RAB, which stands for reason, actions, benefits.  Either way, they mean the same thing.  The critical statement is about the meeting’s benefits to the prospect.  Many times, salespeople think that, “Learning about your business,” is a benefit to the prospect.  In reality, prospects expect you to already know a lot about their business and it is of no benefit to them if they have to tell you what their company does.
4. Prepare for potential questions and objections.  Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes and think about questions, issues, or objections they might have for you.  Then, write down how you can respond to those or address them right from the start.  Sometimes called the “Ben Duffy” technique, this exercise can be a lifesaver.  For example, if your small company is competing with large, major competitors for the prospect’s business, you need to know that this is probably on the mind of the prospect.  You may even address it upfront and blow up the objection before it ever happens.  You might start by saying something like, “You might be wondering how a company our size can address challenges of a multi-billion dollar company like yours.  I’d like to address that and any other questions you might have during this call.”
5. Have an interesting or compelling insight to share.  Do some research on their industry or company.  Think about your own experience working with customers in their industry.   Have an insight or two that is of value to them.
   

   I love the saying, “Tell me something I didn’t know about a problem I didn’t even know I had.”  It captures the true essence of how you can provide value to the prospect and help demonstrate empathy and credibility.

6. Research their potential challenges.  Before you walk into the call you should have a good idea of the potential problems and challenges that the prospect might be dealing with.  Use your own past experience with solving your customers’ problems and think about ones that might apply to your prospect’s industry, company, and role within their organization.  For example, if you are calling on a Chief Financial Officer you know that their focus will be bottom line numbers,  margins, and the finances of the company.  If you can demonstrate how you helped a similar customer improve in those areas, you will likely get the CFO’s interest.
7. Write down questions you will ask to uncover their challenges.  Use the challenges you think they have (see #6 above) and start writing down some open-ended questions that you will ask to uncover those challenges and the impact they are having on your prospect.  The purpose here is not to script questions and be robotic on your call.  By writing down questions, you more firmly entrench them in your mind so that you will, in a very conversational manner, differentiate yourself by the great questions you ask during the call.
8. Stay healthy.  Suffice it to say that I know when a salesperson that calls on me was out late the night before slugging down some pops.  The stresses of sales require a healthy regimen of eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep.  You’ll be sharper and your sales results will be better in the long run.

While it is easy to write down or read these eight tips for a great sales call, putting them into practice is the most important, yet hardest part.  If you take 2 through 7 above and simply put them into a Word table, you will have a call planning tool that you can quickly fill out for each call and that will result in improved preparation, confidence, professionalism, and sales results.

 

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance
tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.

6 Down and 6 to Go – Practical Sales Tips for a Strong End to 2014

If you are responsible for enterprise or non-transactional type of selling, you probably realize that even though 2014 is only at the midpoint, your selling year is almost over.

Depending on your holidays and vacations (if there are such things when you are in sales), there are about 135 selling days left in the year, as of the date of this post.

But don’t lose faith my fellow salespeople.  Achieving quota and earning that nice commission check is still possible for many of you.  And, if it isn’t possible to make your numbers in 2014, there are things you can do to end the year strong and position yourself well for 2015.

1. Know your gap.  Doing a pipeline gap analysis is critical and a very easy process that I’ve been coaching salespeople on for years.  But it requires more than simply deducting your current revenue from your annual revenue goal.  Make sure you take into account factors such as average deal size; opportunity stage; time to implement; average pipeline close ratio; the billings that can be realized in 2014; and ongoing churn of any existing business in order to arrive at a true number of opportunities you need to close.  Simply stated, try to answer the question, “I need x number of opportunities in my pipeline on or before x/x/2014 in order to achieve $xxx.”
2. Prioritize your opportunities.  Take a close look at your current opportunity pipeline and prioritize those opportunities that are most likely to help you in 2014 and early 2015.  Apply criteria to each and put a laser focused effort on moving those deals through the pipeline to close.  Examples of criteria that help determine priority are things like complexity of sale; time to implement; time to revenue; amount of revenue projected; sales cycle stage; and your current position versus the competitors vying for the deal.
3. Prospect for low-hanging fruit.  If your pipeline is not full enough to accomplish your 2014 sales objectives, think about the easiest and quickest opportunities that you can go after, and then go to work on them.  While you might be going after the “less glamorous” business, it might be the difference between achievement and failure.  This might even require you to take on some transactional deals in order to bill some quick revenue.
4. Use your time wisely.  How you use your selling time and what you do during that time will make a huge difference in the results you achieve.  Surfing Al Gore’s internet and answering non-important emails during the golden hours of selling will cost you precious sales.  Identify the sales activities that are both urgent and important to your goal achievement and work on those first.  Work on those things that are important but not urgent next.  Try to delegate those things that are urgent but not important, and avoid those things that are neither (playing Candy Crush, hanging at the water cooler, etc.).

So take heart and take your game up a notch.  There is still time to crush your quota, achieve your goals, and overtake your fellow salespeople on the leader board.  If you’re already in the lead, don’t let up.  The salespeople that are applying these simple tips are lurking.

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance
tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.

 

Love Your Sales Reps

Tom Breitenbach
Top Gun Sales Performance

I recently blogged about the sales management role, its importance, and its difficulty (Happy Sales Manager Day).  Now, I want to reach out and give some love to the world’s second oldest profession, sales.

Just like the sales manager is confronted with a multitude of daily problems, issues, and frustrations, so to is the salesperson.  I feel fortunate that my first role after college (before cell phones) was in sales.  But back then, colleges didn’t teach selling.  Instead, sales was the career chosen for you if you couldn’t find a job in your major field of study.   Ironically, it served as a foundation of knowledge, skills, and experience that I couldn’t replace with any MBA or PhD.

I’ve come up with a brief, slightly sarcastic,  list of why salespeople and the sales position should be, but rarely is,  the most valued role in any company.

1. They’re always overpaid.  Ask most non-sellers in a company and they’ll complain about how all the salespeople are overpaid.  Then, ask them why they aren’t in sales then if they think there is so much compensation potential.  Listen closely to their answer.  Do you hear crickets?
2. Their job is easy.  What’s so hard about selling, right?  After all, prospects love meeting with salespeople and love to buy just about anything.   Customers never have issues and prospects never mislead salespeople, too.
3. We don’t need them.  How many times has someone in an executive office said, “Our product sells itself.  We don’t need all these salespeople.”  So they cut their sales force and pour a ton of money into their website, only to find that within a year they’ve lost a substantial amount of revenue and the pipeline is bone dry.
4. Compensation plans always favor the salesperson.  Sales compensation is probably the most questioned and talked about item in every boardroom.  And, just when the salespeople have figured out how the current comp plan works, it’s time for a new plan that takes another year for the salespeople to understand.
5. Sales quotas are carefully assigned and fairly developed.   If the salesperson even gets their sales quota before the start of the year, you can rest assured that some of the smartest bean counters in the company had their hand in setting them with the sole purpose of paying as little as possible.
6. Salespeople say “yes” to everything.  Okay, this one might be true.  Salespeople are pretty famous for telling the prospect, “We can do that,” without having a clue as to what the prospect is asking for.  But think about it, how many times did your organization stretch itself and innovate because it had to figure out how to do something that a salesperson promised?
7. They’re given an abundance of sales tools and support.  Sure, they have a CRM system that is supposed to make them twice as efficient and twice as effective.  In reality, many companies implement what I call a “one-way” CRM that forces the salespeople to put in every bit of activity and information from every minute of their day but provides no significant value in return.  Can you say, “Hello, big brother?”
8.  They are mean and nasty people.  Okay, this one might be true, as well.  But who else within a company is an advocate for the prospect or customer?  Sometimes, that requires a little bit of “mean-ness” to get something done for the customer.  But, in addition to customer service reps,  the salespeople are the most knowledgeable about the customer and the industry, but rarely get asked their opinion on new offerings, company policies, and the  like.
9. Salespeople never have to clean up customer issues they didn’t cause.  Who is the first person that an irate customer calls when they have a major issue?  It’s probably the salesperson with whom they have the relationship (if not customer service rep).  So, the salesperson plays liaison between some corporate department who created the situation and the irate customer.  Oh, and by the way, don’t bother calling corporate after 5PM because everyone went home and that irate customer wasn’t important anyway.
10. I could go on and on...

Let’s just say that I might have over-characterized the perception that organizations might have of their salespeople.  But, suffice it to say that while salespeople can be difficult to deal with at times, they are the face of the company to the customers and prospects.  The last time I checked, revenue was not growing on trees.  Big deals and big revenues come from salespeople that suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous customers every day.  So take some time to love your salespeople and they’ll love you right back.

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance
tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.

Get Them To Take Your Call

Tom Breitenbach
Vice President, Sales Performance & Development

You left two voicemail messages and sent your prospect an email, but haven’t heard back from them and they won’t take your call.  Time to move on, right?

Sales research companies have published multiple studies that show the high percentage of salespeople who quit trying to reach a prospect after as little as two or three contacts (email, phone, mail, etc.).

The reality is that everyone is doing more with less nowadays.  The prospect you are trying to reach is probably buried with his/her own issues, projects, and problems.  But reaching them and establishing some type of connection is possible.  Here are some obvious, but rarely followed, tips on how to improve your “hit” rate with prospects.

• Go after the right prospects.  Your time is valuable.  Start with prospects that fit the criteria of your best customer.
• Get referrals.  Find people in your network that can provide a referral to the person you are trying to reach.  This makes it virtually impossible for them to ignore you.  Ask for a direct referral, though.  A direct referral is when your networking contact introduces you directly to the referral, rather than simply telling you, “Tell them that I sent you.”
• Have something compelling in your introductory message.  Find out what challenges your company has solved for people in similar roles and industries as your prospect.  Build that into your introductory message, email, or marketing piece.
• Don’t pitch product.  Called the, “show up and throw up” syndrome, leading with a product pitch is not an effective way to generate the interest and attention of your prospect.  They don’t  care that your company has been around since 1890 or that you graduated with honors from college.  Keep the message about THEM.
• Blend your methods.  One method of reaching your prospect is not enough.  Some people like voicemail, some don’t.  Some people like emailing.  Some don’t.  Some like “walk-ins” and some don’t.  Vary your approach and blend your message into several methods.
• Be creative in your approach.  Blending your message into emails and voicemails is fine.  But even more powerful are the creative methods of delivering your message. I’ve seen three-dimensional direct mailings that almost always get opened. Handwritten letters and print mailings are making a comeback, thanks to the mess that technology has caused with the constant stream of email spam that hits our inbox.
• Lather, rinse and repeat.  Don’t give up after 3, 4, or even 5 attempts.  High level executives, in particular, need to be contacted 10 or more times, on average, before they will take your call or contact you.  Be professional, and persistent.

Sales is tough.  Prospects are tough to reach.  But you can differential yourself and get the attention of your prospect by doing some simple, common-sense things that are proven to work.  Put these to the test and let me know how it works.

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance
tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.

 

Fly at a High Altitude – Calling on the C-Level Executives

Tom Breitenbach VP, Top Gun Sales Performance

I’m going to issue a challenge to any salesperson reading my blog and for sales managers to challenge their own teams.  Take one prospect or customer that is important to your success and identify every C-level executive in that company that might have an interest in the value that you and your solutions provide.  Apply some basic tips below and reach out to them for an appointment and see what happens.  I’d like to hear about your success afterwards.

Let’s face it, calling at what we at Top Gun call a “High Altitude” within an organization is a challenging, yet extremely rewarding thing for B2B salespeople to do.  But it is natural for salespeople to be “afraid of heights” and migrate to their comfort zone by calling on the same contacts in lower level, more tactical positions.  Don’t get me wrong, these lower level contacts are important too.  However, earning the attention and successfully starting at the C-level not only differentiates the salesperson but places them in a more favorable position versus the competition.

In customer accounts, having relationships with C-level executives insulates you from losing business to a competitor that calls at a higher altitude than your contacts. Depending on the company, situation, or project, the salesperson should almost always call in a high as they can.  They can always let gravity bring them down to lower level contacts, but it takes a lot more thrust and energy to climb up the organization ladder if you don’t start at the high altitude from the beginning.

Here are some basic tips for you to apply today to the C-level sales challenge.

1. Understand their focus.  High altitude executives are responsible for leading.  Successful C-level executives are more strategic and concerned with high level business drivers, strategic direction, and vision.  They are looking for solutions to their mission-critical issues.  If they run a public company, they have a huge interest in the stock price.  The salesperson that can understand the mind of the C-level executive and adjust their approach will be viewed as a partner, not just a seller.

2. Assume they are a “driving” social style.  If you are familiar with the concept of “mirror and match” to the social style of the person you are calling, you will understand the power of this concept.  Most C-level executives display many of the characteristics associated with the driving style, even if this style is not their natural, dominant style.  They are fast-paced, controlling, focused on results, and generally a “let’s get down to business” type person.  To successfully connect with the executive and more quickly lower any suspicion or tension that exists when two people don’t know one another, the salesperson should appeal to this style by being prepared, respectful of their time, and results focused.

3. Have a compelling opening message tailored to them.   What is important to a purchasing manager is different than what is of interest and importance to a CFO.  Salespeople that tailor their opening message, either via email, voicemail, or in-person, will get a C-level executive’s interest more often.  Abandon the product pitch.  It’s not about you.  It’s about them.  Find out problems and issues your company has solved for C-level executives like them, and build that into your message upfront.  Most importantly, speak their language by including some tangible results you have achieved.  Say something like, “We have helped CFO’s at companies like yours increase their profits by 18% in less than 6 months,” and make sure you can back it up with case studies and testimonials.

4. Welcome the gatekeepers and assistants.  There are books and articles written all the time that tell salespeople how to “avoid” the executive assistants and receptionists that serve as the “gatekeeper.”  I’ve found quite the opposite to be true.  I’ve found executive assistants and receptionists to be phenomenal resources and also internal coaches that help me get positioned correctly, call at the right time, and even get privileged information at times.  The best way that I know to do this is by being genuine and just plain nice instead of phony.  They can spot bull a mile away and keep those salespeople away from the executives.  People innately like to help others when asked.  I simply tell them what I’m trying to do and ask for their help.  Try it for yourself and see how it works.

So, are you afraid of heights or are you willing to “take the challenge” and get a sales appointment with a C-level executive at your prospect or customer?  The risk might be higher, but the rewards are too.  As we say at Top Gun Sales Performance, “Aim high and fly at a high altitude.”

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.

Consultative Selling – Not Dead Yet

Tom Breitenbach VP, Top Gun Sales Performance

Everytime I see a book or article that says, “Consultative Selling is Dead,” I think of the bridgekeeper knight in the movie, Monty Python and The Holy Grail.  Even after the knight gets all of his limbs cut off, he still challenges his opponent and proclaims, “I’m not dead yet!” Similar to the knight, consultative selling is not dead.  But over the year, it definitely has progressed and changed.  So, what has changed in consultative selling?  First of all, technology and the availability of information at the click of a button, along with the speed at which we can communicate globally via something as small as a smartphone have changed the world of consultative sales.  There are three other concepts and practices of consultative selling that stand the test of time.

1. Questions are the answer.  In sales, consultative questioning is and will always be paramount to diffusing tension, building trust, establishing credibility, and uncovering customer needs that your solution addresses.  What has changed is the level of preparation and approach required of the salesperson before walking in the prospect’s door.  No longer can the salesperson “wing” it like in the old days.  No longer can a salesperson walk into a prospect’s office and ask them, “So, what do you do here?”  Today’s salesperson needs to make use of information technologies and needs a robust CRM that provides tools and information of true value to their sales process.  This preparation is reflected in the types and quality of questions they ask.

2. Provoking prospects with insights is not a new concept.  For years, consultative selling has emphasized the art of bringing new insights and fresh perspectives to prospects in a compelling manner.  The consultative approach is deliberate and achieves the greatest success when the salesperson can bring awareness to problems that the prospect didn’t even know they had.  In other words what insights can the salesperson provide about problems they’ve solved for other customers in similar situations, and how did they do it.

3. It’s all about THEM.   At the heart of consultative selling is the concept that you can be more successful in sales if you make everything you do relate to helping the prospect solve a problem or get what they need.  Instead of treating their selling as if the world revolves around them, the successful salesperson approaches every sales interaction as if the world revolves around the prospect.

So the next time someone tells you that consultative selling is dead, think about the knight and also some key concepts of consultative selling that have changed but still apply today.  The bottom line is that if a salesperson improves their consultative selling skills, or their ability to approach prospects in compelling ways, effectively diagnose using great questions, and avoid the trap of self-interest, they will be highly successful and achieve great results for both themselves and the customers.

About Tom Breitenbach and Top Gun Sales Performance tbreitenbach@topgunhq.com

Breitenbach is the Vice President of Sales Performance Learning at the Mason, Ohio based company, Top Gun Sales Performance.  After spending his career in sales, sales management, his own training company, and as the head of training & development for a large company in the print and electronic communications industry, he joined Top Gun in order to work with companies that are struggling with consistent revenue growth and sales team performance.  Top Gun provides a suite of products, technologies, and services that extend from demand generation resources (lead generation and inside sales) through sales assessment, training, CRM integration, and ongoing coaching and reinforcement programs.