Professional Selling Skills Training: Value of a Customer

I recently read an article in Fast Company magazine (a must-read for anyone looking to succeed). In the September, 2006, issue, there is a great article by David Lidsky. He quotes a study stating that more than 87% of all company executives do not know what the value of a customer is to their company. Wow, totally scary but so true! I was pleased to find in writing what I’ve been hearing from companies for a long time. Even worse is a number in the article stating that 91% of executives do not know the true cost of acquiring a new customer.

For sales people, these are powerful numbers because it helps to reinforce both the importance of sales and of having competent sales people. Many times, I’m asked to evaluate a company’s sales and marketing efforts and in the vast majority of cases, I find there are no benchmarks to measure these numbers against. No wonder so many sales managers feel they’re fighting an uphill battle with senior management! However, they can only blame themselves for not taking the time to put into place benchmarking procedures to measure the true cost of sales.

Thanks to Fast Company magazine and to David Lidsky for both his article and his research with The Strativity Group.

Sales Training Tip #145: 4-Legged Sales Calls

Taking another person with you on a sales call is often a great way to demonstrate how committed you and your company are to completing the sale. Prior to going, make sure the person with you is well briefed on what they should and should not talk about. Keep in mind that it’s still your role to close the sale. Don’t leave that task to the other person.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Bad Sales Copy

Marketing materials are often developed by very competent people who know the business well. In fact, they know the business too well and we see the results of this in the final marketing copy. Many times it turns out to be a great product copy, but it is terrible in terms of allowing the customer to understand how they will benefit from the product or service. Next time you develop marketing materials, take the time to get input from real customers before you print them.

Sales Training Tip #144: C-Suite Strategy

When you’re trying to break into the C-Suite (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.), don’t hesitate to develop relationships lower down in an organization as a way of uncovering information. However, it's important to remember that what you hear at a lower level is not always repeatable at the C-Suite level. The last thing you want to do is share something that may not be totally correct and, ultimately, winds up jeopardizing the status of the lower level personnel you’ve been talking to.

Sales Training Tip #143: 50 Words

Salespeople love to talk and they often talk too much. If you could only speak 50 words in a presentation, what would they be? If you were limited to 50 words, you’d use them to ask the most crucial questions. Keep your focus on asking better questions so you get the customer to talk.

Sales Training Tip #142: First Response

You should rarely accept a prospect's first response. Actually, only after you have heard comments at least twice should you accept them as fact. A prospect will often throw out information as a way of trying to disengage you. This is a key reason why it’s important to ask great follow-up questions.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Peter Drucker and Sales

Peter Drucker was clearly one of the brightest minds when it came to understanding the business environment and, more importantly, determining how businesses should operate. What I find so interesting is that the manner in which he operated was similar to how a great salesperson should conduct himself. Peter Drucker was famous for asking deep, thought-provoking questions which required strong reflection, solid thinking, and a lot of dialogue. After the conversation was well underway, Peter would take comments made by others and put them together with his thoughts to deliver incredible insights and solutions. In the end, he was the type of person people wanted to spend time with and listen to. From Peter's example, we can conclude that a great salesperson is also a great consultant.

Sales Training Tip #141: Congratulate Yourself

Take fifteen minutes and write up a list of five to ten sales accomplishments you’ve had over the past few months. Reflect on how your hard work has paid off. Then, post them in a place where you can easily access them anytime you need to a motivational reminder.

A recent question posed to "The Sales Hunter" ...

I do B2B selling and I sell an item made of steel so shipping has become quite an issue for some of my smaller retailer's. I am not sure how to approach this product and make it into some type of selling point.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Get in the Game

If you expect to win at golf, you have to get out on the golf course. If you expect to be able to run a 10K, you have to get out and run. The same principle applies to closing sales: you can’t close a sale unless you’re out there selling and, more importantly, engaged in closing the sale. I often see salespeople spend all day reviewing prospect lists or going over customer records, all while wasting precious time that could be used to make sales calls. If you expect to close sales, you have to be out there selling. The only thing you have to ask yourself is, "How many hours a day do I need to be in front of customers?" Not too difficult now, is it?

Sales Training Tip #139: Website Signature

It's a good idea to always add your company’s website address at the end of any email you send out. The best place to put it is directly below your name. It's a great way to advertise and may even inspire your client or prospect to look further into all your company has to offer.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Energy = Sales

I’m amazed at how often I see sales made with poor presentations in terms of content, but that still work because of the energy that’s created between the salesperson and the customer. A key thing to always remember is that momentum can impact a buying decision and the energy that is needed to create momentum must come from the salesperson. Anytime the customer has more energy than the salesperson, the result is a sale based only on necessity. Rarely will it ever be a sale that results in a relationship. Keep in mind that this idea is not a license for the salesperson to go overboard with gushing exurberance that borders on childishness. Rather, it shows the importance of the salesperson having and showing more energy than the buyer.

Sales Training Tip #138: Selling & Marriage Licenses

Just because you’ve bought a marriage license, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a great marriage. Similarly, just because you’ve made a sale, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a great customer. Remember, you have to work at it by investing time in it and being a good listener.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Silence…..

It amazes me how many salespeople I run into who claim to be great listeners and love to tell people how good they are at getting the customer to talk. More times than not, the people who say this are the worst at listening and talking too much. I’ve always believed if you have to walk around telling others how good you are at something, it rarely means you are. If somebody is a good listener, it will come out in all kinds of conversations, whether they be sales calls or any other type of conversation.

The rule I will always live by is that salespeople should never be talking more than 20% of the time, no matter what type of sales call (even during very technical calls). Remember, a person can talk all they want, but if the other person isn’t listening and, more importantly, comprehending what is being said, then it’s all a waste of time. Asking questions and getting the listener to play back to you their interpretation and application of what you’ve told them is the best way to determine their level of understanding.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Summer Sales Slump

I was talking today to a salesperson who was commenting about how much things slow down in the summer and how hard it is to get business. As the person was telling me this, I couldn’t help but think how much this person believed what they said and, by doing so, ensured that they would be unsuccessful.

The key to successful selling in the summer months is to realize that people will be harder to reach, so you will need to make many more prospecting calls. To compensate for the number of people on vacation during any given week in the summer, a good rule of thumb is to attempt 15 % more calls in June, July and August, although the exact amount will vary by industry, geography, etc.

Sales Training Tip #137: Think M/S/S

There are only three things any salesperson should be spending their time on: Marketing, Selling, and/or Servicing. On a weekly basis, take the time to identify at least two activities you currently do that do not fit into one of these categories. Then, either delegate them to someone else or simply stop doing them.

Tip #136: Friday Selling

On the next Friday that the weather is nice and you see others around you going home early for the weekend, seize the opportunity to push your networking by staying and making more calls, etc. When Monday rolls around, Friday will most likely be forgotten, and you’ll have more contacts to show for your efforts.

Quit Being a Sales-person and Be a Sale-person

Too many sales are lost because of just that—“sales.” Success in selling comes from listening to what the customer is (and may not be) telling us. Unfortunately, we don’t usually listen this closely, and instead we wind up selling multiple solutions to a single problem in the hopes that one of the solutions fits. When this happens, the customer can get overwhelmed and confused, putting the sale in jeopardy.

It starts when marketing comes out with the “greatest” new product or service yet to hit the market. Marketing proclaims this latest development will solve any problem of any customer and continues to layer it on with an assortment of product characteristics. All the while the attentive salesperson is absorbing all of this information and subconsciously looking for ways to apply every last thing marketing has put forth. It’s only natural for the salesperson to begin believing the marketing hype, and right here is where one of the biggest “quiet mistakes” in sales occurs: The salesperson adopts the mindset that their latest product or service will satisfy any and every customer’s any and every need. We call this a “quiet mistake” because the mistake is not made in front of a customer (such as misquoting a price or missing a key date); rather it’s made quietly because it occurs long before the sales call. Such mistakes make it hard to see the consequent loss in sales.

When dealing with a customer, a salesperson must exhibit patience not only to find out the needs of the customer, but also to find out which need in particular is the best match for the salesperson’s offering. Instead of taking the time to validate the needs they hear, salespeople can be tempted to treat all needs as equal, or worse yet, to endorse the universal appeal of their product or service. This failure to narrow your focus is where many sales are lost.

That’s why it is important to think in terms of “sale,” and not “sales.” Top-performing salespeople sell to the customer’s primary need. Average salespeople, on the other hand, sell to numerous needs, and in so doing overwhelm the customer and lose the sale. To avoid being a “sales”person, focus your attention on a chief concern of your customer. This will not only result in a higher closing percentage, but it will also allow you the opportunity to focus your attention on the next chief concern in the future.

Selling a Higher Price in a B-B Environment

Even the most sales savvy among us have been there: fighting back the nerves that materialize whenever we are faced with telling a customer about a price increase.

Talking about a price increase never makes for an easy conversation. When discussing a price increase in a business to business environment it’s important to bear in mind that our customer has probably had to have the same discussion with their own customers. A company exists only as long as it earns a profit and a company can only earn a profit long-term if it delivers a quality product or service that is priced right. This means the key to any price increase conversations is to emphasize that such an increase will ensure product quality.

As you begin to prepare your strategy for communicating a price increase, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the customer take your product/service and add a standard percentage increase in price when selling to their customers? If this is the case, you can point out that your customer will make more money by taking a standard percentage of a higher amount.

2. What percentage of the customer’s business is your product/service? If the percentage is small, point out that the amount of increase is only a small percentage of their total business. If the percentage is great, then you can emphasize that the price increase is necessary to maintain the level of product quality necessary for them to serve their customers.

3. Has the customer faced any other price increases from other vendors? If so, try to identify what some percentages of the other increases have been. If your price increase falls into the low end, then you can point out how your increase is comparatively lower than many others. If your increase is at the high end, you can explain how your increase is the only one you expect to take; or you may point out that you wouldn’t be surprised to see others coming back to take another round of price increases.

4. How does the customer view you and the products/services you sell? If you have a reputation and record of quality, then you can emphasize that the increase has been carefully thought through and that the increase is only being taken to ensure continuing quality. If you have a spotty record with the customer, then you should stress how the price increase will allow you to begin addressing some of the issues in question by allowing you to increase the overall quality of service the customer has been receiving. Naturally it is important to make sure all comments are backed with a commitment to follow-through.

5. Will the customer raise an issue with the price increase? Be prepared to show documentation of how your costs have increased and how the same increases your company is facing are being dealt with by other companies. (One example is the increasing cost of oil, which has forced any company that uses petroleum in the manufacturing or transportation of goods to most likely increase prices.) When having this discussion, be sure to show empathy for the customer, but remain firm in what you’re saying. If the customer senses any hesitation on your part they will likely try to exploit it in the form of a price concession from you.

Also be prepared to share steps that your company has taken in an attempt to avoid a price increase. This can include ways you’ve already cut costs, or how the price increase is the only way to maintain the quality and service the customer expects.

A final point to emphasize is the time lag between this price increase and the previous increase. Having information available concerning the rate of inflation during that specific time period may also help diffuse the issue of the price increase.

6. Why does the customer buy from you anyway? Knowing the real reason(s) the customer buys from you will allow you to reinforce these points when talking about the price increase. You should also have ready at least two key needs of the customer that your product or service satisfies. Be sure all of your strategic information about the customer is up to date before a price increase is announced.

7. How much business is at risk from the customer? We can sometimes get carried away thinking that if we raise prices we’ll lose the customer, even though this is rarely the case. Think through what steps the customer would have to take to move to another vendor. Many times the work involved in moving is not worth the effort, and thus the business is less at risk than thought.

The following are best practices to employ when executing a price increase:

1. Give the customer lead-time. Provide the customer with enough notice of the lead-time to allow them to make adjustments in their information systems and to exercise at least one more order at the existing price.

2. Do not show favorites. Pricing integrity is always essential, but especially so during a price change. Do not treat particular customers more favorably in pricing during an increase. Different pricing levels are fine as long as they can be logically defended so that a customer who is not receiving the price break can understand and accept the price change.

3. Invoicing integrity. Do not allow your customer to find out about a price increase from your invoice. Any changes in pricing must come from the account executive or a person of high position in the company. Information regarding a price change should only appear on an invoice after every person involved at the customer has been personally notified. (Sufficient time should occur in the price increase timeline to allow at least one invoice to contain a note of the pending increase in price.)

4. Customer service blunders. Make sure each customer service representative and anyone else who comes in contact with the customer is fully aware of when the price increase is going to be communicated. One of the most significant possibilities for customer difficulty during a price increase is the potentially confusing information they hear from different departments. Everyone in customer service needs to be fully briefed on the price increase, the reasoning behind it, and the logistics for implementation. They should also be provided with a FAQ guide to ensure that when customers do ask them about elements of the pricing increase they are able to share accurate information.

5. Believe in the price increase. In order to be paid what we’re worth, we must charge what we’re worth. Although this is not something that can be explicitly communicated to the customer, this general sense is what sets apart the best practice companies and high-performing sales professionals.

6. Open-phone/open-door policy. Any time a price increase is taken, it is important for all senior executives to be willing to take a phone call from a customer or to make phone calls on key customers. Nothing sends a stronger signal to a sales organization than seeing their senior executives on the front-line when dealing with a price increase.

7. Monitor orders pre- and post-price increase. Make sure order patterns are closely monitored for the sales cycle leading up to the price increase and the sales cycle following the price increase. It is important to catch quickly any changes in ordering patterns at the customer level due to any price increase, and monitoring this information in total will not allow you to see customer changes fast enough.

During the 1970s and 1980s, price increases were common and expected. During the past 10 years, however, we’ve all grown used to lower inflation and the overwhelming impact Wal-Mart’s philosophy on pricing has had on nearly every industry. Today price increases are again growing more common and acceptable so long as they are well thought through and not seen as a way to merely increase profits. As an inevitable part of business today, we can’t let ourselves avoid tackling price increases; instead we should seek to use them strategically to increase our selling potential.

Good sales people continue to be in demand.

It seems a week doesn’t go by without somebody calling me looking for a sales person. Sales has always been a position everyone thinks they can do and yet few can do well. What is even more amazing is how too many employers, especially those in search of a good sales person want to pay their sales people at the low-end of compensation and on top of that do not want to invest their development. It blows me away when I run into these situations and they’re far more prevalent than you would imagine.

What really made this hit home with me is a survey I saw which was conducted by Manpower, the employment organization. They surveyed 32,000 employers in 23 countries and the number one position they had trouble filling….sales rep. Wow, now that’s proof beyond anything else I’ve ever seen about the struggles of finding good sales people. What is amazing is how the issue of finding sales reps was higher than what would be perceived as far more technical positions such as engineers, accountants or technicians. Now add to this equation that the competition is not going to go away and the struggle to find quality employees is only going to get tougher. All this means we need to focus even more on the development of sales people and not just entry level training but serious on-going development. When I mention this to employers it’s amazing how some of them will remark how they don’t want to invest in something that can quit on them at anytime. If this is the belief system held by an employer then there are far bigger issues. Any employer who is not willing to invest in a person’s development on-going especially in a field such as sales is an employer not worth working for.

Let’s not think the only person responsible for developing the skills of a sales person is the employer, it’s also the responsibility of the person themselves to continue growing. Here’s where another argument comes up and that is the argument of how sales people do not believe they’re paid what they’re worth and therefore why should they invest in themselves since the company isn’t paying them enough to begin with. If this is the attitude of the sales person then we have a sales person who will never be better than average at best and more importantly a person with this type of attitude will never become a high-performer. Every time I meet with a high-performing sales person it becomes very clear that they have reached this level because they have not just relied on their company to supply training but they have also made an investment into the development.

The question that has to be asked is what is the right level of on-going development a sales person needs to perform at a high level. Unfortunately there is no uniform answer as the solution lies not in the level of time or money spent developing somebody but on the continuous results the sales person is achieving. Here the key is to not assume self-development does not need to occur as long the person is achieving their goals. Just because a person is achieving their goals does not mean they don’t need training. I’ll take the position the best time to train is when things are going good since the person will be more relaxed and open to ideas “vs” being in a panic mode of trying to find short-term solutions. In the end the answer as to how much on-going development is needed for sales people must be answered by the sales person and their employer. However I would be safe to say there is probably less than 5% of all sales people who are receiving the correct amount of training on-going.