The Tires

My tires didn’t look great but in my not-so-professional opinion, they just needed to be rotated. Come to find out after much spirited discussion with the Tire Sales Professional, that for the safety of my family, colleagues and friends, I needed new tires.

The Decision

Back in October of 2011, I needed new tires. I have a 2000 Acura TL, a great car. A car I have had to put so little money into that I recommend Acura’s to anyone who will listen. I love this car! As of October 2011, I had 167,000 miles on the car. I had only gone through 3 sets of tires in that time.

Mistake #1: I was thinking I probably would only keep the car another 3 years tops so I figured was most likely buying my last set of tires.

Mistake #2: I decided to shop for my tires online! Why not? I knew enough to be dangerous. I decided I’d save about $250 and buy less expensive tires so I ordered them online and went to the retail outlet to have them installed.

Mistake #3: Upon arrival at the tire installation center, the Tire Sales Professional was concerned. He had seen that I had always had really good tires on my car and that I had just ordered some of the cheapest tires for my car. He encouraged me to look at the better tires as the performance of the cheaper ones wasn’t great. I was stubborn but finally agreed to a modest upgrade to the “less cheap” tires.

Mistake #4: I got the tires and was pleased because they looked good! They made my 11 year old car actually look like I was one of those guys who knew how to make his ride look cool. Off I went. I was extremely busy running my consulting business; I didn’t make the regularly scheduled rotations.

New Tires

Back to last, Friday, April 5, 2013. It took over 5 hours of waiting to get my car. Looking back through my rational eyes, my front tires were bald on the sides and not safe. The back tires had worn evenly but the tread was not deep enough to drive through a puddle safely.

My “Cheap Tires” lasted me a total of 22,000 miles. My old “Expensive Tires” averaged over 50,000 per set. I shelled out the dough for the good ones this time.

How to Avoid the “Cheap Tires” Syndrome

How often are we faced with clients who think they know better than we do as Sales Professionals? They think they know more than us because they looked it up online, or have used the product or service before and have it “figured out.” How often have we given them a price for the right product or service only to have them focus on the price and compare it to an inferior provider? Every deal? If not, most deals. This is where your professionalism MUST come forward!!!

1) Qualify Your Prospect

Understand their drivers, if price is #1, you must make a decision if you want that business or not. If they are not a match, walk away. If you are comfortable selling on price go for it or if you feel this is a loss leader for follow on profitable business, the decision is yours. Generally when I hear “loss leader” it really means a first sale that will lead to more losses with each subsequent sale!

2) Educate Your Prospect

How many times have you heard “with the Internet we have the most informed buyer ever?” All the flippin’ time! It drives me nuts because most of the time, they just think they know it because of a Google search. Even when they think have experience with the product or service, don’t assume it makes them an expert.

3) Don’t Waiver with Your Prospect

The Sales Professional got me to move, but not the whole way. Now I’m not happy with his company even though it was MY decision as the buyer. May not be fair but it’s the truth. When we waiver and don’t find the true value drivers for our prospects and effectively tell the story of how our solution matches those value drivers, everybody loses.

Sound like hard work? It is but Sales Professionals do this day in and day out, Sales Schmo’s don’t.

So which are you?

Recently, my wife’s Aunt and Uncle bought a new car, a Honda CRV. As with many of us, they not only did their research but they wanted to test drive the car.  This involved the dreaded trip to the local Honda dealership in Carlsbad, CA in northern San Diego County.

Talk about an industry that has created the image of the Sales Schmo! I have experienced the 20 year old sales person going to the 21 year old manager and coming back to me with the 4 quadrants of pricing that are nowhere close to what we discussed. It gives me shivers.

This day was different though.  When they went to the dealership (Hoehn Honda) they were greeted by the Sales Professional as they walked in the door.  They knew what they wanted and let sales professional know immediately why there were there.  The conversation turned to safety.  To illustrate how well Honda addressed safety concerns the sales professional told them a story.

The Story

About 1 ½ years earlier a guy walked into the dealership to ask a strange question, “How do I get a hold of Honda corporate?” he asked.  The sales professional asked why he wanted to know and the answer he got was not what he expected.

“My family was in bad car accident a little over a week ago coming down from the local mountains. A car coming up the mountain lost control in the rain and slid across the center median and hit our car, a 2006 Honda Pilot. Next thing I know we are tumbling across the road headed for the cliff.  Fortunately after turning over 2 ½ times the car flips back onto its tires after hanging upside down for a second. I looked out my blown out window and all I could see was the double yellow line in the road right below us. I looked at my wife who seemed okay then took a deep breath and looked in the back seat to see if our 8 year old daughter and 4 year old son were okay.  All I saw was two sets of big blue eyes staring back at me. After asking them to move their arms and legs and seeing they were okay. I, with the help of my wife holding the steering wheel, moved the car to the side of the road and turned off the engine. Ultimately it turned out my wife broke her wrist pretty severely and I bruised my ribs and had a small a cut on my leg, but that was it.  My children, didn’t have a scratch or a bruise.  I just came here to find out who I could thank for saving my family’s lives.”

My wife’s Aunt and Uncle couldn’t believe what they had just heard.  They quickly let the sales professional know that the man who walked into that dealership that day and told them the story was their niece’s husband…me.

“Why” the Story Works

March 20^th, 2011 is with me every day, and in this case, it lives with this sales professional as well.  My wife’s Aunt and Uncle, bought their car from that sales professional. Why?

1. They were impressed with the exact detail with which he told the story.
2. He did not exaggerate the story but told it accurately and with conviction.  I only spoke with him briefly two years ago, but he listened.
3. The story was relevant to the value of safety they expressed was a priority for them.
4. Obviously he believes in the value and the mission of his company. Two years later he is still selling cars for Honda, at the same dealership and illustrates his belief in the company by telling an honest, accurate and compelling story.

It is not enough to know what your company does, makes, executes, etc…you must BELIEVE in it.

It is not enough to know the features a prospective client is looking for…they must BELIEVE in your ability to satisfy their underlying “why.”

This is where most Sales Professionals fall down and get lazy.  You need to take a breath, take the time to discover, ask questions and tell genuine stories that connect to their “why.”

This is the difference between a Sales Pro and a Sales Schmo. Which are you?

Every company is looking for the perfect sales professional to solve their recruiting needs.  This is especially exaggerated when there have been repeated attempts at “hiring to solve the sales problem.”  The profile they are looking for generally is:

1. Someone with industry experience
2. Someone with a great reputation in their specific industry
3. Someone with a “book” of business they can bring to quickly ramp up sales (by the way if this was the case, chances are #2 wouldn’t be true…think about it)
4. Someone who can “self manage” so they won’t be a burden on leadership (another way of saying leadership really doesn’t want to have to lead)
5. Someone who is just focused on results (get one of these and you’ll never have a clue what they are working on, what deals are real and in general they will bring in unprofitable business)
6. And this person must be affordable and realize they should just be thankful to be given so much “upside” because the company and opportunity is that awesome.

Does this sound familiar? Wouldn’t we all love to have every Sales Professional fit this profile without all of the potential negative aspects I mentioned?

Short Term Thinking Drives Poor Decisions

March 14, 2013, I got a call from a senior Sales Professional.  She is tireless with an exceptional track record of success in her industry. Over this past two years she has overcome some personal challenges that took her away from her work and she had to turn over her book of business to someone else.  She now is seeking to get back into her area of expertise and is struggling to find a job.  Most recently she met with a company who asked if she had a book of business. If she could produce letters from her previous clients saying they would utilize her if she went to work for this company, they would hire her.  She is unable to do this because of the agreement she has in place with her previous employer. If she couldn’t produce those, they didn’t have a place for her.

How Do You Avoid Falling Into This Trap?

Have the confidence to look long term.

1. Know your Why.  Why are you and your firm in business?  What are the values that drive the firm? If you successfully match those with your potential Sales Pro, it’s a great first step.
2. Know your targets. If you know who are best at selling to from a company and buyer perspective, you can begin to define the skills you need in a Sales Pro.
3. Get Help. If you are at your wits end – find a great recruiter! They do this every day and are pretty good at it! Require at least a 90 day guarantee and let them run. They will come much closer to the perfection you seek than you will!
4. Create a functional evaluation process.  Listen to your gut feel but make that only one piece of the decision making.  Have multiple people who will be working with this person interview them and ask hard questions. Questions about their background and how they have handled specific situations throughout the sales process.  Have them give you examples – real ones from their experience.
5. Role play. For your finalists, set up a realistic role play based on a challenging sales opportunity from your firm’s recent past.  Practice it, assign roles and put a realistic wild card into the situation (an unexpected attendee at the meeting that happens to be the C.O.O. etc…) to see how the Sales Pro handles it.  Know your desired outcomes and measure their performance against them.
6. Check references. Please, don’t get lazy here.  Check references.
7. Take calculated risks when hiring.  If you can’t find the perfect hire as described above and you have all of these things in place, you can take a “risk” on a person who fits the values, has the work ethic but may not have the experience or book of business. Some of the greatest successes I have seen are from these individuals because they are determined to prove you made a good decision and are driven to succeed.  And guess what? They will be less demanding, likely to work for a reasonable salary and commission structure, and will stay longer.
8. Have a rock solid orientation process. Assign a mentor, immerse them in the business and don’t expect an ounce of production while they are in it. Have goals and milestones. Give them the opportunity to learn and plan.  This WILL get them productive more quickly with the right opportunities.
9. Lead. Don’t get lazy.  Be intentional, get help, read books. Collaborate, be clear, support, drive, expect and reward results.  Support, drive, expect and reward professional acumen.  Support, drive, expect and reward ethical behavior.

Elevate how you recruit and bring on Sales Professionals in your organization and you will ignite the potential of your Sales team.

Be a Sales Pro.

How can inputting opportunity and activity information into your company’s CRM be motivating for a new Sales Professional?  Isn’t it just the opposite? How boring is that!?!  Isn’t it only done so the boss can crack the whip and micro manage you? Not if your Sales leadership and Sales team is made up of Sales Pros, not Sales Schmos.

I met with one of my favorite clients this week.  She is a relative new-comer to the Sales Profession and has been struggling with the frustration of building a book of business in a highly competitive industry.

After working with her in the 4^th quarter of last year, she began the year focused on being “relentless” in her quest to sell. She meets with me weekly to coach, coax and encourage her to stay the path and remain as committed to her goals now as she was January 1^st.

Today we met and took a look at her progress so far:

1. February was better than January
2. January was better than last January
3. She is still far from hitting her number
4. Her pipeline is building with the right kind of prospects in various stages of the sales process

Wait…what was that last one?

Her pipeline is building with the right kind of prospects in various stages of the sales process.

How do we know and why does she care?  Well, to be honest, she actually pounded in a bunch of data into Salesforce in the morning to update the report so I would be happy but here is what came out of the review of her pipeline:

Opportunity Growth

1. 12 prospects in sales stages beyond Identifying Opportunities
2. 2 Prospects in the proposal creation stage
3. 2 prospects considering proposals

Guess how many she had as of January 1?  The answer? We don’t know because she was not tracking it, at least not in any systematic way.  Now we have a baseline of pipeline growth. Over the next months I expect that pipeline to grow by 4 to 6 prospects a month. Some will be longer term than others but by mid-year, she will have 30 to 40 prospects in that pipeline and suddenly things are going to start to happen and happen fast.  How do I know?

Lead Source

With each of those 12 prospects, we know the lead source.  There are some obvious groupings of the source of the leads.  Guess what? She now has an idea of how to focus her time more effectively driving opportunities from the most productive lead sources.

Focus

She now can work with the veterans on her team who are mentoring her to help her with specific situations.  She can now tell them what accounts are moving, what accounts are not moving and key ones she needs help on. This will focus the conversations, bring context to what is specifically needed and give her clearer options on how to attack the opportunities and close business.

Motivation

How does a pipeline provide motivation?  It is a tangible record of the progress this young professional has made by through networking, cold calling, dipping her toe into social media and harvesting referrals from within her agency.

In the early stages of a Sales career it can be very discouraging as you establish yourself as a professional. Now she has an early indication of what activities will drive better results. She will be become more efficient finding new opportunities and waste less time on non-revenue producing activity.

What’s Next?

She is not out of the woods.  She needs to remain relentless.

1. She needs to update her CRM daily and evaluate her pipeline and the fit of those opportunities to her expertise.
2. She needs to leverage the knowledge of her team to move deals forward.
3. She needs to continue to evaluate where the best sources of new business leads are coming from and exploit them.

She is forming good habits and the results will come.  She is on her way to becoming a Sales Pro.

This past weekend I found myself once again on the sidelines of a soccer field coaching my daughter’s school team.  It became evident early on this would be a very tight game.  Toward the end of the first half, the opponent scored on a goal that caromed off of two of our players and somehow found the back of the net.  The third quarter of the game, we dominated. We had multiple shots on goal and the ball never came over to our defensive side of the field, but we just couldn’t score. The fourth quarter was a different story…

The attack was non-stop. We could not get them out of our zone. It was one harrowing defensive stand after another and I thought our girls were worn out. There is no visible game clock but in my head, I knew time was running short. I turned to a dad and said, “If we could just get the ball down to the other side and get a shot…”

A moment later we were able to get the ball out of our zone and down to the other side of the field. Unfortunately, we kicked the ball out of bounds and the opposing team had a goal kick which most likely would result in the ball being kicked back down to our defensive side of the field.  As their goalie approached the ball, my daughter watched her and attempted to position herself where she thought the goalie might kick the ball, not far outside of the box.  The risk was if she guessed wrong the ball could fly over her head, effectively ending the game.  On this occasion, she guessed correctly.

The goalie kicked the ball and my daughter knocked the ball down with her left foot, she then dribbled the ball into the box, moved to her right and took her shot. The ball flew past the outstretched arms of the goalie into the net. Before the ball could be placed at the center of the field for the kickoff the whistle blew and the game was over.

This is my second year helping coach this team and our 5^th year watching this group of kids play together. I have never seen the team, the parents and my daughter more excited over the result of a game – and it was tie!

When you look at the goal my daughter scored, I’m sure some may have walked away saying “that was so lucky; they should have lost that game.”  Was it really luck? Or was it because she had watched the goalie’s tendencies most of the game and had a pretty good hunch what might happen in that situation? The other and most important piece of the puzzle: the entire team never gave up.  They knew they could turn the tide and the team got the ball to the other end of the field to set up the scoring opportunity.

The Lesson

In Sales, how many times have you initially lost a deal even though you did everything in your power to win it? You have the better product or service, you’ve been as thorough, complete and professional as possible and yet you still lose.

What do you do next?  You might be saying “What do you mean, what do I do next? I lost the deal; I move on to the next opportunity and don’t get hung up on it.”

Normally I would applaud this and it is not altogether a wrong answer.  The difference is:  if you know you have the better solution – should you completely give up?  My opinion is: NO. If your examination of the client needs, outcomes and value match yours better than your competition, you should:

1. Continue to cultivate the relationship with the client.
2. Continue to examine your competition and wait for the right opportunity to exploit their weakness as is relates to successfully serving the client.
3. Leverage your team and their expertise from marketing, service, production and operations to help you move “the ball down the field.”
4. When the opportunity comes, don’t hesitate and take one back from your competition!

Selling is not for the faint of heart or for those who give up when they know have the right solution for THE CLIENT.  It is not for those who think they can figure it out all on their own without the support of their team. It is not for those who give luck (whether it be bad or good) undue credit.

Elevate your Selling; don’t be like the rest, be a Sales Pro.

Do you every hear yourself saying “I know this reporting stuff stinks but we gotta do it.” Chalk that one up to Sales Schmo 101.

We can justify it by saying “I don’t’ want to be a micromanager.  My people are professionals, and I expect them to act as such.”  And the truth is, you can create this environment but guess what? It takes discipline, clarity and enthusiastic accountability. Once it is clear and you are being consistent, you will create the “cool”, “exciting”, “challenging” (you get the picture) environment everyone wants to be a part of at your company.

How do you start down the road to “cool?” You need to be Mr. or Ms. Consistency when it comes to:

Reputation

Your reputation will spread like wildfire one way or the other. What do you want it to be? “He is cool, really flexible – as long as you hit your numbers.” I guess if you want to be popular, go for it.  Would it be better to be “She runs a tight ship but everyone on her team succeeds and I’ve heard she is a great mentor.”

Respect

Are you the Sales Leader who says, “I hired you to be a professional, I’m here to support you, let me know if you need help.” Sounds respectful enough but what is your rep hearing? It could be, “Sink or swim, I don’t really have time for you unless you are bringing in business.”  Respect is built through consistency, engagement and fostering accountability for you and your team. “Yes, my boss frequently goes on calls with me.  At first I got nervous but now I realize how much I learn each time we are together.”

Results

Does your team achieve?  Do you have a consistent track record or the classic “Great one year, average the next” syndrome?  By applying the same discipline you expect of your team’s activities to your leadership approach you will exceed your goals consistently, attract the best talent and have a dedicated team that is willing to win for you and your company.

So, how does your team see you? You know the answer without asking them.

Apply rigor to your activities, expect the same from your team, reward each other for accomplishment, make the tough decisions when necessary – make the decision to be a Sales Pro. Now that’s cool.

Target Client Criteria

These criteria are focused on high level information, readily available through public or privately purchased database resources (industry, revenue, # of employees, location(s) etc…).  In addition, data about your current clients can help drive these criteria. This will narrow your list of prospects to a more manageable size initially and will most likely represent more business than you could ever execute.  This pool of companies exists at the top of your sales funnel.

Buyers/Stakeholders

Understanding who you typically sell to or who you will spend your time proactively pursuing is critical to speeding up the sales cycle. The way a CEO looks at the world is different than the way the CFO or Director of Purchasing look at the world.  You need to understand who they are, what their challenges are and how your solution either adds value or is not a fit.  Each step is meant to push a prospect through or out of your pipeline as quickly as possible.

Qualifying Criteria

Once you have an interested prospect, what are the characteristics of a good client for your business?  This information is generally the stuff you can’t find publicly.  You can only find it out through deeper research and talking with your Buyers/Stakeholders.  Examples include: Does their culture fit ours? Do they have budget set aside? Is there or are they willing to set a timeline for a decision and going live? Keep these to a maximum of 10 questions.

If you consistently utilize these “filters” to maintain focus on finding your “best fit” clients, you will speed up your sales cycle significantly.  These should be applied to direct sales activity, networking events, industry trade shows, coffee meetings, board activities – any activity a Sales Professional in your organization is responsible to execute.

As a Sales Professional you will make your quota and you will enjoy your job.

As a Sales Leader your team will have clarity on their roles and you will be able to ask them three simple questions to keep them focused.

Now go sell something!

Do you ever catch yourself saying, “I know I need to get better at ________”, then you go off and do nothing about it? Sometime later, you make the same mistake. Now, is that a blind spot? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on ME.

You have made a decision to live with your blind spot.

Regardless of your position, whether you are the CEO or the Administrative Assistant, Sales professional, or stay at home mom or dad, you can improve by simply doing the following:

1) Write down a list of your blind spots.
2) Take your “worst” one and then think about what you would do to change it.
3) Create a plan over the course of the next month to change it and keep track of your progress.
4) Post the blind spot on your mirror in the bathroom, in your car – anywhere you know you will see it daily. Instead of having a picture of your kids on your computer desktop, have your blind spot listed with your change deadline.
5) Ask for help. If you can’t solve it yourself, get someone to help you create the plan and hold you accountable.
6) Measure your progress – once the month is over, see how you did. Then move on to your next one.

If you have made a conscious daily effort to change it, you have made a decision to improve.

If you have not put in the effort or blown it off a few times because you were tired, you have made a decision to stay the same. Staying the same is a legitimate option, but you need to live with it, not complain about it. Then just move on to the next one.

If this happens with your #1 blind spot then you have a blind spot when it comes to change. Are you looking to improve or are you of the school of thought “everybody does it so it’s okay…?”

I’m fortunate, I have a coach who calls me out on my laziness when it comes to my blind spots. I have come a long way this year, but there are miles to go before I sleep.

The decision is easy, the execution is the difference. The challenge awaits you.

Why? Because the first time I met with the CEO of this prospective client I said, “I have learned over the years not to do business with companies where my values don’t align with theirs.” I was asked by the CEO I was meeting with what “alignment of values” meant.

After explaining and with little acknowledgement of its importance, I should have politely declined to engage.

After a very painful process of scope definition, negotiating and legal wrangling over the contract, we agreed to do business. This should have been my second clue. Twice I said, “we are not a fit for what you need.” But the CEO kept coming back to us, kept calling and wanting to work something out.

So, I caved in and signed the deal.

It’s just like a bad relationship, I guess. The little voice inside of you knows heading in that it is not a good idea but you think you can make it work because you see or think you see glimpses of hope.

Six weeks into a three and a half month project, the CEO sat me down and asked to exercise the 30 day notice on the account. To be quite frank, she beat me to the punch. I was out of town the week prior and had made up my mind that this client wasn’t a fit and that we needed to do something about it.

Hundreds of hours, thousands in legal and consulting fees, nobody got the outcome they wanted, we both knew in our gut going in that this was not a match from a values standpoint yet, we did it anyway because we thought we could fix each other.

We were wrong…sound familiar? I failed, and as of today I promise it won’t happen again. Mainly because I will listen to my instincts and to the advice I give my clients on a daily basis – if your values don’t align, walk away.

If you don’t know what your values are, personally and professionally, take some time and write them down.

This example should serve as proof that there is a measurable lack of ROI both for your client and for yourself when your values are not in alignment. For the benefit of your clients and yourself don’t do what I did. Embrace your values and make sure they are in alignment with those you work with.

Enthusiasm, success and positive ROI are sure to follow.

I have found however that there are some very common roadblocks to change: