The Old Prospector! part 2

Happy Friday!   "Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman - not the attitude of the prospect." W. Clement Stone   Prospecting is hard work...   Yes, I said that yesterday, but it is still true!   If you do not have a steady flow of client opportunities, then you have to prospect.  If you are an independent sales person then the full responsibility of finding clients falls to you.  Even if you work for a company, they are relying on you to augment their marketing efforts with opportunity cultivation of your own.   Before we begin to look at the specifics of each method, here are my "Top 10 Things to Consider When Prospecting";   1. Prospecting is not selling.  Yes, I know insurance people who canvas and go right from the front porch to the kitchen table...and sell policies.  Great work if you can get it!  There is a place for that strategy based on several factors, but generally, the goal of prospecting is to build a pipeline of qualified people that you can then make a full presentation to.  In most cases, it is a two-step process.   2. Price is no an object.  Don't objectify your product by offering price while prospecting.  When someone asks, "How much does it cost", we get excited thinking they are showing genuine interest.  The moment you give price without value creation, you allow commoditization of your product - the cheapest product usually wins...is your product the cheapest?   3. Who is your ideal client?  If you could create a "perfect" profile of your ideal client, what would they look like?  Make sure to include key demographic factors such as age and income ranges.  For effective and efficient prospecting you have to narrow your focus to the group that needs and is willing/able to buy your product and services.   4. Where can they be found?  If you are selling used Bentleys, then your clients are in a particular zip code.  Selling insurance, then you can cast a wider net.  Either way, you may need to seek professional help.  Reputable list companies can help you locate conentrations of people who are likely purchasers of your products and services.   5. Name recognition.  Is your company well known in the market you are prospecting?  Is the reputation positive?  Do you represent a group of companies and some are household names and others obscure?  As you look at effective prospecting you have to be mindful of your companies place in the mind of the prospect.  Lead with the strongest message possible.     6. What prospecting methods work for top producers?  As you go to seminars or weekly meetings, observe what the successful people are doing.  Likely, it is heavy on repeat business and referrals (skill phase) but successful sales people are always engaging other prospecting methods.  They still call on businesses or do direct mail...they are always prospecting. Their results mean it is possible for you too!   7. How much time can you commit?  All forms of prospecting require effort...which means time.  We all have to eat while we hunt, which means you have to find clients while you are closing clients.  If you have a limited pipeline, you should block out specific days to devote to prospecting and the other days to full sales presentations.  If you have a steady stream of opportunity you have to devote time as it is available so your well doesn't run dry!   8. How much money can you commit?  If you have no money, then you have to engage prospecting methods on the left side of the "y" axis (upper left quadrant!).  As you begin to have money to invest in your marketing efforts, you have to decide how much.  If you knew you could spend $500 on a direct mail campaign and close $2,500 in commissions...would you do it?  Are you doing it?  Invest in your business!   9. How effective have you been with prospecting?  Gut check.  Are you prospecting at all or with half-hearted effort?  Are you pushing with tenacity and grit?  Either way, if you are not measuring, monitoring and managing you could be spending precious time, effort and money on the wrong approach.   Review where your last 90 days of sales came from and use that as a jumping off point for broader prospecting effort.   10. You need a plan.  The real challenge I see with sales people is a lack of strategy and the corresponding tactics.  Each prospecting method requires a different approach so you would need to be agile in your execution.  More than likely, 2-3 prospecting methods fit your business model and once perfected, you simply repeat, repeat...repeat!   Next week, we take a step-by-step look at the strategies of each major prospecting method.  Begin to review your current efforts and begin to devise an approach that can take your business to the next level...stay positive and motivated about your possibilities.   You could be one simple change away from a higher level of success!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The Old Prospector! part 1

"There's a saying among prospectors: 'Go out looking for one thing, and that's all you'll ever find.'" Robert J. Flaherty   Prospecting is hard work...   But is also job one.  Prospecting is a major area of challenge for most sales people.  Of course, it will be hard to be successful in sales if you don't have clients to see or talk to.     That explains why many sales people are drawn to programs that provide leads because prospecting is challenging.  Or they invest in a "fail proof" lead system that ends up being Pyrite...fools gold.   I do a lot of consulting/coaching with agents that market products to seniors. They hear that 10,000 people a day are turning 65 but with the various rules, regulations and challenges find it difficult to locate the people that are supposed to be right in front of them.   They are not alone.  Most sales people in other industries have a similar view of the challenge of finding an audience.   Make no mistake, marketing is tough and requires persistence and adherence to the "science of selling". As we review the possibilities for your marketing efforts, you will have to suspend judgment on what you think will work and what won't work. These methods are working successfully for those people that work them.   As a sales trainer and philosopher, I do believe that people have to work "authentically". Some of the methods described over the next few days will not be true to your personality or will have to be catered to fit who you are and your talents.    That is not an excuse not to do the hard work.    Being able to do something but not being willing to do it are two different things.    This is not a matter of whether you prospect but how you prospect. This is not a matter of if you have to do telemarketing, but instead, the script you use has to be an extension of you...authentic to your personality so it is natural and not robotic.   Ok, we know we have to prospect...how do we do it?   Let's begin by reviewing the types of prospecting methods broadly available to most sales people.  If you are new to sales, you will have to begin at the top of this pyramid and work your way down.  Not every prospecting method is appropriate for every industry or sales position.  These are broad categories that meet the needs of most independent sales "warriors" who can't afford a television campaign!    As we will see tomorrow, there are lead generation methods that cost effort, some that cost money and others that require skill such as repeat business and referrals.   There is no excuse for a professional sales person not to avail themselves of any and all of these options until their business becomes stable, scalable and sustainable.  Don't look at this list and dismiss any of these options.   "I don't have any marketing money" is the #1 answer I hear from sales people who say they do not have enough opportunity.  Lack of marketing dollars is a poor excuse and must be offset by tenacity and grit. If six-figure incomes were easy, there would be more than 8% of the population in America that earns it.   Each one of these methods engages the "science of selling" and if you engage The Law Of Large Numbers and do enough of each activity it should generate a predictable return on investment.   If you could pick which method you would predominantly spend your time pursuing which one(s) would it be?   I hope you answered repeat business and referrals.    They have the lowest cost (essentially free!) and have the highest close ratio. That puts a higher importance on each sale that you close because these two sources can only come from a current client. Make sure you put a premium on client relationships!     As I mentioned the science of selling, all forms of lead generation require you stick to it and refine it as you go, to improve your metrics. Doing it one day and giving up because "this doesn't work" is not true prospecting.   We're going to take a look at the full spectrum of prospecting, lead generation and marketing and as the saying goes "Nothing begins until a sale is made". That means that nothing really begins until you are sitting down with the prospect who becomes a sale, who becomes a client, and eventually becomes a raving fan.   That can only happen when you are...   The Old Prospector!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The Sales Process!

Taking yesterday's car analogy further, every car has the same basic platform.  Wheels, brakes, steering wheel, and some sort of fuel. Doesn't matter if it is an exotic sports car or your teenagers first car, they will all have the essentials.

 

Sales is also made up of some basic parts. 

 

Some people work for companies that have two week orientations and ongoing training and development opportunities...some of us have the "school of hard knocks".  For some, the basics of sales has not been a formal education, but one of trial and error. 

 

Knowledge is funny.

 

Until you use it, it is just knowledge.  Once you use it (knowledge applied), see that it works (experience)...then it becomes wisdom.

 

"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

The more wisdom through experience you have, the better you will be in sales. 

 

I want to take this session to give you a first exposure or re-fresher on the mechanics of The Sales Process.  There are variations on this process, but the wheels, brakes, steering wheel and fuel are all here;

 

Prospecting and lead generation. You have probably heard that "Nothing begins until a sale is made"...that is true.  But the sale never has a chance until someone is interested in your product.  The process of getting them interested is the marketing component of the sales process - turning "suspects" (no slight intended) into bona-fide prospects who are at least interested enough in your product to want to hear more.

 

The Sales Call.  The marketing machine has done its job and you are now face to face with a potential client.  What happens next will determine if you are top 5 on the leaderboard, struggling to make quota, or somewhere in-between.  The sales call has 5 phases.  No one puts up a cue card to signify the end of one phase to another.  It is the instincts of the sales person taking the cues from the potential buyer that drive the process.

 

1. Opening.  First impressions, chemistry, building rapport and establishing an environment conducive to buying.  Some believe that the opening determines if we will close.  That's a lot of pressure on the first 5 minutes of two strangers meeting...but it is a pretty accurate assessment.  We all usually execute the classic Lionel Riche opening..."Hello"...then things proceed quickly from there. 

 

2. Identifying needs.  Don't they have needs already...I am there aren't I?  If they "buy before you sell" then you don't really have a sale...you have an order.  Make no mistake...take the order (those are far and few in-between!) and give thanks for your good fortune.  For most people, your presence at the kitchen table is due to their interest and it is your job to expand interest into desire/needs.  Neil Rackham, the author of SPIN Selling says that without Explicit Needs being uncovered and developed...you wont likely close the sale.

 

3. Presenting your solutions.  Showtime!  The preliminaries out of the way, it is now time to show your wares.  If you did an effective job in Identifying Needs, your presentation should be heavily focused on the features of your product that satisfy the uncovered explicit needs of your clients...benefits.  Whether the presentation be a notepad, flipchart, or state of the art visual program, your professionalism and command of your product should shine through.

 

4. Overcoming objections.  How you handle objections is usually the difference between the 20% top sales people and the 80%.  Paradoxically, there is something about human nature that makes us want to avoid conflict.  Handling Objections feels like we are trying to win an argument. If you are prepared for objections you will actually begin to welcome them...we will get into it more later, but remember two things...

 

#1 -You need objections to solidify the sale - experts say 2-3 objections

are required to close the average sale.

 

#2 - Better to deal with all objections now...not later...after

the sale (can you say chargeback?).

 

5. Closing.  Most sales people see this as the moment of truth.  Actually, there have been several already if you have made it this far.  Certainly, this is the phase of the process that determines if the CFO knows your name...or if you take the walk of shame!  Asking for the check is the culimination of the Sales Call.  There are hundreds of closing techniques and tricks of the trade.  Ultimately, if you have done everything else effectively, closing can be a "simple" logical conclusion to the process.

 

Servicing.  The deal is done...you won...ok, everybody wins but take your moment to celebrate your part in that synergistic victory!  Now, the real work begins...keeping the client, getting more business from them and getting referrals.  Sure, there is an administrative arm of your company that handles most of the service, but do you want to leave your financial future to that process without your involvement?  Didn't think so...

 

The foundation has been laid...this is what it takes to be very successful in sales.  The stronger the foundation, the higher the building can go.  Do you want 6-figures...7-figures?  Do you want to build a sustainable career in this business...then you must understand and master...

 

The Sales Process!

 

Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The Mechanic & The Mechanics!

I have never been especially mechanical when it comes to cars.  No shame.  Just not something that has ever interested me...not even now that I own two Corvettes.

 

Inevitably, someone will come up to me to have the "gear head" conversation about the cars...particularly the Stingray.  I have to admit, I do get a little embarrassed that I own such a car but have no real idea of what makes it an engineering marvel.  I don't dig the technical hole any deeper by pretending to know...I just nod my head and say "she is fantastic".  I am fortunate now that I own great cars...

 

Years ago, that wasn't the case. 

 

I owned cars that needed little fixes to make them work...a little aluminum foil in the fuse box, a wire that ran from somewhere in the engine to the drivers seat to crank, and needing to disconnect the battery each stop because all the accessories were wired "hot" (still don't know what that meant but the car eventually caught fire!).

 

Each time my car would breakdown I would be at the mercy of The Mechanic & The Mechanics.  I had to trust what the mechanic said because I was ignorant of the mechanics.  If I could not afford new factory authorized parts, I was subject to his "rigging" it to make it work.

 

Even if unorthodox, he understood the mechanics of engine operation enough to implement a "work around"...and I needed my car.

 

Sales people depend on their cars.  For most of us, our jobs require we be road warriors.  If the car does not work, the whole business shuts down. 

 

 Ever had a car that had "issues" and you had to figure out how to make it run so you could get to point A...to B?

 

Sales is no different.  There is The Sales Person & The Sales Process.  Some of us are "shade tree" sellers operating on instinct and superior people skills.  Others are college educated, classically trained "professionals" who engage highly advanced techniques.  The others are all up and down the line and somewhere in-between.

 

Our goal as sales people is to get from point "A" (prospect) to point "B" (closing).  We don't ususally question how it works...as long as it works...until there is a breakdown.

 

One thing I know about cars having owned the worst of them to the best of them...when the hood it up, it can only mean one of three things...

 

1. You are trying to fix something to make it run
2. Doing maintenance to keep it running
3. Improve something to make run better

The next several weeks will be dedicated to helping you with all three.  We re going to lift the hood of your sales engine and help you diagnosis what may be wrong, what is right, and making it all run more effectively and efficiently.

 

To do that, we have to take a look at The Sales Process.  We will break it down part by part and understand what it does (mechanics) and how to do it better.  Many of these things you know by instinct, or you take them for granted.  Either way, we are about to lift up the hood so we can understand...

 

The Mechanic & The Mechanics..

 

Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

Goooaaal!

I have to admit, I am not a big soccer fan.  There is no doubt the rest of the world is...millions (possibly billions) are watching the World Cup.

 

I am a big fan of goals...the other kind.  The kind you set, pursue...and achieve.

 

The first day of summer was the other day.  I didn't really need a reminder of that either as the temperatures crossed into the "I'm melting" category. The kids are out of school, the pools are open, and it is time to prepare for summer vacations to even hotter places!

 

It is also the mid-point of the year...end of the 2nd quarter.  Time to check on your progress...

 

How you are doing on your goals?

 

There are some of you that are on track and everything is going according to the detailed plan you created at the beginning of the year...congratulations.  You still need to review your progress and make sure the next two quarters exceed expectations!

 

Yes, I can hear some of you... "Brandon, we just spent a week getting our mojo back and now you bring up goals and quotas...I didn't need a reminder that I am not where I want to be."

 

Whether you are on track or not, this is the perfect time to review your goals (or make them!) and begin doing the various mid-flight corrections that it takes to get a 747 from New York to Los Angeles.  Life vary rarely travels in a straight line so you have to make adjustments;

 

1. Re-calibrate your target - In reviewing your business goals, it may be time to adjust them.  For some, the revenue target will be higher, for others, lower.  Big companies always re-forecast their earnings based on market conditions, upcoming opportunities/challenges, and their performance at the mid-point of the year.  It is better to achieve the 6 month re-calibrated target based on realism than to miss the original number in futility.  

 

2. Re-Assess your tactics - If you have been measuring, monitoring and managing your metrics, you have a good idea if you have been effective with your day to day activities.  Marketing efforts and close rates will have a tremendous impact on revenue.  Getting a higher response rate, or close rate will help you increase your income.  If the results are lower than you anticipated, you have to make the tweaks and changes to give yourself a chance to rebound in the 2nd half of the year.

 

3. Infuse new blood - Can a new product offering add new opportunity and clients to your portfolio?  Would a new lead source generate a higher volume of prospective clients?  What new and innovative marketing approach can you use to separate yourself from the herd of other sales people in your industry?  The point I am trying to make is simple...try something new!

 

4. Turn up the volume - How hard did you work the first half of the year?  A tough question but one that may hold the key to why you are not achieving your goals.  Deep down, you know if you gave it your best effort of if you were cruising along waiting for a "breakthrough".  In the second half of the year, focus your energy on giving your best effort toward achieving your goals.  You would be surprised in what you can accomplish when you throw your "whole self" at your goal...hold back nothing!

 

5. Stay committed to your plan.  After you do steps 1-4, you have to resolve to stick with it.  Marketing engages the law of large numbers...you have to give it a chance to work.   A new sales presentation needs development and practice before it becomes effective...stick with it before you dismiss it. If you were thoughtful in the creation of your plan, doesn't it deserve your commitment?  Make your plan...and work your plan.

 

Mid-year adjustments are not a concession that you have given up.  In fact, they are more an indication that you are still ready and willing to fight!  Take the weapons you have available to you and build a set of tactics that will make the 2nd half of the year better than the first half. 

 

With a plan and commitment, I know you can reach your...

 

Goooaaals! 

 

Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!