Corporate Sales Guy

I haven’t gotten through Keith Ferrazzi’s book, Never Eat Lunch Alone entirely but I love the message he sends out. I think what he outlines in his book is paramount. I find that I always want to reach out to folks and ping them just to check in and make sure they are ok. It’s funny with folks that don’t know me as well, I can hear the anxiety in their voice as I continue to talk but have yet to “pop the question” as to the reason I am calling. More often than not, I will let the person off the hook early into the call. I’ll start with, “You are probably wondering why I am calling you, well - I seriously don’t need anything but wanted to check in on you. Last time we spoke you had mentioned [insert that item here], how is that going?”

With the updates that hit me from Plaxo and Linkedin I literally can skim the updates and determine if a person’s been let go, or is about to get let go. This usually occurs when I see folks that are normally very quiet stir up a whirl wind of networking activities. This unfortunately is way too late and it always makes me feel sad when I see it. As salespeople, we have no excuse not to constantly network.

-CSG

After 18 years in sales I realized one thing. Unless you genuinely like your client and they genuinely like you you won’t sell them a thing. There are always exceptions but this has been my experience for years. So many folks will tell you to build rapport and get the customer to like you. This is 50% of the task, it’s as if they can detect that you don’t like them and they choose to buy elsewhere. (This applies even to the person who can come across as ultra-sincere; it must be a meta-physical thing).

I’ve always walked away from folks that I knew I didn’t like or that I felt would be high maintenance after the deal was closed. The good news is that if you truly like your client you’ll earn their business if you meet their other needs.

I was struck by a comment in Fast Company magazine that really seemed to ring true to me. As sales people and entrepreneurs work towards their goals, I find that they are victims of folks that want to sell them “tools”. In many cases these tools take the form of books, software and seminars. It’s important to have a solid setup and I’ve expounded my love for tools like Omnifocus and GTD but I feel so many folks are producing crap just to make a buck.

When referring to the darker side of productivity, the sad part about this is as the corporate world becomes more unstable, folks are really seeking alternative means to make a living and can be quite desperate and willing to run up a credit card for a seminar that they can’t possibly afford . This is probably why no reader of this blog has been spared the MLM pitch from a normally sane and trusted friend.

I guess the long and short of my post today is to organize, clean off the desk, get those files put away or shredded that are stacking up on your desk. Get the labeler because it makes sense, spend $70 on good software or if you want to eliminate your file cabinet then go ahead and grab a multi-sheet scanner to digitize your files. Spend a day or 2 on this at most and then as Guy Kawasaki says, “Just get going.” No more excuses - if your model requires 50 phone calls a day, get going, if you to increase your networking at events - then grab your favorite shirt and tie (or dress/skirt) and get out there and do it.

Having the perfect setup in the office won’t matter if the core of your sales effort or business is being pushed off for setting up or organizing. I’d love to hear in the comments from folks that had to finally cut the “analysis of tools phase” loose and began to really build pipelines and their businesses!

For additional inspiration on this topic, Merlin Mann writes an amazing article about it called Real Advice Hurts .

As I’ve written in the past - the most productive sales person has their entire day planned out at least 1 night in advance. Preferably more than a few days in advance. I write about it here. I also feel that the best use of time is out in the field in front of clients pushing for the next step in the selling process. But what about those times you have to crank out a proposal or you are working on internal reporting that is unavoidable in a post-sarbanes oxley world? This usually involves being stuck at a desk somewhere home office or maybe the cube farm.

So when we are desk jockying what approach do we take? Should I splurge on the fancy home office with the 3 piece desk complete with credenza and spend good money on a chair etc? I remember reading an article about stand up desks, read about it here. Hard to say, check out the 2 articles (very in-depth and both are very entertaining reads.) Feel free to comment below.

-csg

Going back to basics and an item seasoned folks will know and remember but it’s always good to refresh. So if you have a deal forecasted at any percentage the 5 things that must exist are:

1. Solution

You have what they need. If they want a small reliable foreign car with great gas mileage, you don’t have the right solution if you are selling SUV’s. It’s got to be a good fit and such a good fit that when they want to upgrade in 5 years they will come back to you unconditionally.

2. Budget

Sometimes my budget is expansive other times it’s not. You have to completely understand the budget and it’s not enough to have a customer tell you, “Based on what you give me, I will formulate my budget.” I use a Sandler technique taught to me by Steve (thanks Steve) and it’s, “would a $1000 per month send you running for the hills?” This does wonders for me and has allowed me to disqualify deals in 5 minutes that would have drawn weeks of resources just to find out it was a bad fit.

3. Decision Maker

You have to be talking to the decision maker. Your deal is not forecastable if someone needs to check with a spouse or a CFO. They don’t need to be involved in your deal day to day but they must be consulted during the sales process. I am even happy if someone confides in me and states, “look, this maybe just a pricing exercise with no real cash in it for you.” I am happy because now I am doing the person a favor, the deal is staying far from my forecast and I prioritize it as low on the list as I can without appearing to be a jerk.

4. Imminent Event

This is usually something along the lines as a lease is expiring, my contract with the incumbent expires in 2 months and we hate them or something similar. Using an automotive model, “I think my car is on its last leg.” In the IT professional services world, “we are going to be audited in the summer and we want to be prepared.”

5. Time frame

This one is obvious. I am ok with folks looking to do business with me in 2-5 years from today but in order to keep sales healthy, the priority given to these opportunities have to be determined. For some of us, deals may only close every 2-5 years. (Anyone selling satellites out there?!)

-csg

Why reinvent the wheel? Read more here.

I have tried to avoid using this blog as a place to rant however; A trend that I am noticing as I move from company to company over time is that so many companies deliver a mediocre product or service. Rather than focusing on delivering an outstanding product companies will resort to:

1. Pushing sales people harder

2. Gerrymandering territory lines

3. Increasing sales quotas

4. Firing and hiring sales people endlessly

5. Re-hiring sales folks with different acumen (we need a sales rep with a consulting background!)

6. Making term commitments on contracts that are draconian with no out clauses.

7. Playing sales folks against one another

8. Setting up inane contests for performance

9. Repackaging and combining crappy existing products to make a “new” product

My suggestion to companies; ensure that sales people have the best product on the planet to sell. If it’s not the best product on the planet then it should be:

1. The only product of its type on the planet (which would be arguably the best since no others exist right?!)

2. The cheapest product on the market

Most companies I see with just fidget and tweak but never getting to the underlying issues at hand. They will sell around the weaknesses of the product even if the weaknesses are huge. Legally binding, long term contracts ensure that once a customer catches on to the crappyness they’ve purchased it will be too late to change their minds.

As far as salespeople go, if you work for a company like this now and your livelihood depends on believing and selling a product (to everyone in your rolodex) I would suggest getting out. You’ll never be truly successful if you yourself wouldn’t buy the product if you were in similar circumstances as the customer.

A final note, early stage start ups need to release v1 of their product or service. This is normal and the product will get better and evolve over time, so this is more focused on companies out there that have been around for a bit. I am not a fan of rolling out a product after 8 years to learn that the markets passed by.

It was the early 90’s and I had recently started selling industrial chemicals for a chemical company in Maryland. I had always been interested in sales but I didn’t know squat about selling and I was having a hard time getting appointments and sales. I felt that I was just making my base salary and putting 50k miles on my car each year. There were many factors keeping me from hitting my monthly number other than not knowing what I was doing but of course I didn’t let the fact that no one had heard of our company before stop me from trying to meet with everyone. It was that unreasonableness that I think taught me more than the cautious, realistic approach I take to things now.

I had long known about the vast wealth that could be had on audio books on tape. There were the greats producing excellent material such as Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracey and others. The only problem is that of the 3-4 library branches in my area none of them had a reasonable selection of sales training on audio tape. In using the card catalog system (it was computerized, even in the early 90’s) I found one branch of the library systems had almost all the popular sales trainers. I instantly drove out to the branch and checked out at least 4 sets of audio books. For the next 5-8 years I listened to almost 0 talk radio, 0 music and made all my drive time my opportunity to learn and make all the sales I could possibly make. There was no better way to be pumped than getting out of the car after having listened to one of the greats and maybe applying a new method or technique to uncover pain with a prospect.

Long story short I would have to say my favorite from a content and delivery standpoint had to be Hank Trisler. Although I learned from many over those years I think the items that I most apply came from his “No Bull Selling” series which I will try to locate and purchase sometime soon. Here are the 2 points that still resonate with me today:

1. Speak plainly. Speak directly and never try to use jargon or big buzz words to show a client you know something. If you are an engineer and you are speaking to an engineer - forget I mentioned this but for the rest of us…..

2. Folks can be categorized in 4 major groups as far as their attitudes on buying. Hank puts them into a quadrant and helps you understand how to effectively understand the underlying issues with each of the buying types.

Hank has a cool story about him buying a Mercedes that will not only put you on the floor laughing but will illustrate everything that a sales person needs to do to make sales repeatedly while building the utmost amount of trust and confidence. The story also clearly outlines the characteristics held by the minority of salespeople that make the rest of us look bad.

Happy selling

-CSG

There are many products and services that businesses have to purchase. For instance all companies these days have internet access. This shouldn’t be a difficult sale as long as you can beat out your competition. The challenge comes from selling items that companies most likely need but don’t know they need it.

Let me paint a picture. (I am keeping this very simple)

You sell bookkeeping services to small business. The biggest obstacle here is that the owner of the company you have approached does this himself and views bookkeeping services as a $300 per month fee that he can keep in his own pocket.

A person trained using Sandler’s methods would ask simple questions like:

“have you ever paid a bill late?” “What types of fees did you have to pay for sending in a check late?” Is there anyway an employee can be taking cash for themselves without your knowledge? Do you feel that at this point your revenue should be higher? If you weren’t doing the bookkeeping after hours what would you be able to focus on that would increase your business?

Basically the method seeks to find pain, relates the pain in lost opportunities or money. After these steps a salesperson would be able to show that it’s more expensive NOT to purchase their product.

Here’s a cool story I always like to share. A long time ago, I went in to purchase a car. For those who don’t know me personally, I hate drawing attention to myself. Anyways, the sales person who showed me the car at dealership #1 told me, “your friends will be jealous of you if you purchase this car!” I literally walked out on the spot.

Dealership #2. I spoke with a sales rep about the vehicle (which was out of my budget) until he got tired of me and sent his sales manager over me. He started off by asking me what I did and we just talked. It was casual and friendly. He learned that I too was in sales. After establishing rapport (another Sandler item) He began to drill down as to why I wanted to trade in my car for a new one and I had explained to him that being in sales, I really needed a car with air conditioning. Long story short, about an hour later I was $30 higher per month than my budget would allow prompting the sales manager to ask me, “would it be worth $1 per day to show up to your clients office dry and without the back of your shirt being wet from the heat of a Virginia summer?” Needless to say, I drove home that night with the car - completely confident that I had made the right choice.

If you are serious about being an entrepreneur who is going to have to hit the road selling a product or a sales person who is looking to sell software I’d highly recommend you find a Sandler Sales training seminar.

-csg

I named my blog “corporate sales guy” and somehow I veered off track drastically and began to talk only about tools and gadgets. This is my 1st in a series of articles that will bring me back to good old fashioned sales. The tools and laptops are fun to me, but time to get back to selling.

I’ve learned a few things over the years as to what works when communicating with customers.

1. A phone call is (almost) always better than email

2. Face to face is (almost) always better than a phone call.

3. Never be long winded, communicate clearly and don’t preface things too often. (e.g. “this may sound crazy but….”) just spit it out.

4. Be brief in email and the spoken word.

5. Never interrupt a customer, never.

6. If a prospect has gone quiet on you, offer a meeting over lunch or coffee.

7. If a prospect has gone quiet on you, tell them plainly, “usually when someone gets a bit quiet, it’s usually bad news for me. Is that the case here?”

Note: this has been powerful for me. It’s a tough question but one that needs asking. It also gives the customer a chance to clear their chest. Lastly, you can move on to other qualified opportunities. Push hard on all deals but know when a deal is dead and move on.

8. Outlook calendar meeting invites are powerful ways to get a response. (thanks to Jason for this one)

9. Never lie, regardless of how furious a client will be with your response. If they ask something that you cannot answer due to confidentiality issues, tell them you cannot talk about it. They will understand, they are highly intelligent.

10. Never BS. If you don’t know let your prospect know that you’ll get back to them. If you find yourself saying “I don’t know” frequently, you may want to learn your product/service better.

-csg