What Is Stopping You from Closing

What Is Stopping You from Closing All of the Sales You Deserve to Close?

Buyers and sellers have different jobs: buyers need to solve a business problem; sellers place product. Before you can sell, buyers must manage all of the internal, historic, and idiosyncratic elements that created their “Identified Problem.” And sellers have had no way to help them manage this hidden process. Until now. Buying Facilitation leads buyers through an unbiased search for the policies, relationships, historic issues, and initiatives that have created and maintained their status quo,...read more.

Before You Discount Your Price

So close…

How many times have you been in this situation:

• You meet a prospect
• You take them through your process
• You ask them the right questions, tough questions
• They reveal that they have a problem
• They know it is costing them money
• They think you can help them fix it
• They say “NO” because they can’t afford your solution

WHAT? WAIT A MINUTE! EVERYTHING WAS GOING SO WELL.

What’s really happening…….

I think our first instinct is to believe what they’ve told us - our price is too high. We obviously didn’t hear something right, or our pricing process is flawed. So, maybe I should discount. STOP! If your arm is falling off and you’re bleeding to death, do you negotiate with your doctor for a lower price?? Do you decide to let it bleed a little bit longer before you do something about it? No, you realize you have a problem, you know you have to invest something to fix it, and you believe the doctor can fix it for you. If you have a prospect with a problem as big as a “dangling arm” should they behave differently? My experience is that it’s not about price at all. It’s a belief issue.

What to do about it……..

If you have helped a prospect identify a problem, denominate the cost of the problem, and you and the prospect have decided together that you can fix it, what does price have to do with it? NOTHING! It’s about belief; belief that the problem they have exists, belief that it’s worth investing time and money in to fix, and the belief that you are the person to fix it. So, if the prospect wants to keep making it about price, what can you do? Go back to your process……….

• Historical Review – How did you get to this point?
• Up – Front agreement – “I want to find out what is really holding you back”
• Compelling Reason – What was the pain that was revealed to you? Remind them of it – over and over and over.
• Economics – What is the cost of not fixing the problem? How much is the problem costing them currently? Is the value your solution higher than the dollars they will invest to fix it? If yes, than logically, they should move forward with the solution.

If you take them back through your process and they are still hung up on price, you have to lay it out for them:

“My experience is that the problem here is really not the price. Maybe your gut tells you that the problem is not worth fixing, or that I really can’t help you. That’s okay, but if that is the case, I will have to walk away.”

If they allow you to walk away, they weren’t serious about fixing the problem. The thought of you leaving them with their problem will force them to “get real” and get you back on track for the real, true conversation.

By Brooke Green

How to Close a Sale in the First 30 Seconds

Tap into customers' hidden wants to win their trust--and their business.

Those of us in sales are often consumed with one thing: the close. We've been trained to accomplish this by pushing those all-important features and benefits. From the moment we begin the sales process, our vision is focused on the end.

What if we've got it backwards? In my observation--and research bears this out--the outcome of the sale is determined within the first 30 seconds of a presentation. It's during this key period that decision-makers often reach for the "turn off" switch.

Does this seem rational? Of course not. But buying isn't purely rational; it's greatly influenced by emotion. That's why it's essential to build a sales process around your opening gambit rather than your closing techniques.

You might use small talk to develop a relationship or position a benefit claim. You might ask prospects questions, such as "What would you like to accomplish?" You might even boldly announce your own hopes for the meeting and say, "This is what I'd like to accomplish today."

But if buying decisions are made not in the head but in the gut, are these the best opening gambits?

In the book, You're Working Too Hard to Make the Sale!, researchers William Brooks and Thomas Travisano examine how a buyer's emotional triggers influence the sales outcome from the first meeting. After interviewing hundreds of decision-makers, buyers and end-users, they conclude that customers want to buy from people they believe understand them. Features and benefits barely enter into the decision.

Most salespeople encourage buyers to talk about their needs. But an insightful salesperson will also interpret buyers' subliminal wants. Across the board, it appears that customers who share the same job role--say entrepreneurs, purchasing agents or chief financial managers--share the same underlying wants.

Take selling to other entrepreneurs, for example. Many people assume entrepreneurs are driven primarily by the desire to make big profits. As you probably know, that's simply not true. Entrepreneurs are in business for themselves because they want to call the shots. Their true wants include being the boss, ensuring the company's security and perhaps passing the company along to a successor.

As a salesperson, if you can subtly communicate to an entrepreneur that you understand his or her true wants and that you can help achieve them, you stand a better chance of closing the sale.

So as you prepare for a presentation, think about the person you'll be presenting to and their role within the company. What are their wants? What's the fear or pain they try to avoid? Remember, wants aren't business goals. They're personal, emotional desires that tend to be universal among buyers in similar categories. It's to your advantage to prepare an opening strategy for each category of decision-maker you come in contact with.

Now, let's consider the purchasing agent. In general, purchasing agents need to get up to speed quickly on products and services that may be outside their realm of expertise. They live with the fear that they'll be overwhelmed with technical information they have no desire or time to master.

So when meeting with a purchasing agent, present your product or service in a way that's easily understood. Avoid technical jargon; don't try to wow 'em with your in-depth knowledge. Play to the purchasing agent's want--that your product or service is easy to understand and can be purchased safely--without delving into a mind-spinning education.

By immediately demonstrating to buyers that you understand their wants, you'll increase their comfort level with you, which is the first step to gaining their trust. Once a base level of trust is established, the buyer's inclined to keep an open mind, instead of closing the door.

A word of caution: This technique can be tricky at first. It goes against our habits. As salespeople, we're trained to unearth the prospect's need so we can solve the problem with our product or services. But needs are rationally based, while buyers are emotionally driven. So satisfy the wants first.

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Ray Silverstein is the "Sales" columnist at Entrepreneur.com and president and founder of PRO: President’s Resource Organization, a network of advisory boards for small-business owners.

SOCOMFORCE Coming Soon

This domain will be use for the development of tweaks and modifications to Salesforce.com that a company can use to customize the Salesforce CRM to help drive sales. These posts will be grow over time and will be primarily focused on the sales person and how to use your CRM to gather better information on your accounts, contacts and leads. Since a CRM is supposed to empower the sales person let's make a few adjustments in your Salesforce CRM that will drive better decisions and make your daily sales grind a bit easier the SOCOM way.

Many companies use Salesforce, they are the leader in the CRM market. The most obvious appeal for companies to use a hosted CRM as a sales tool is mainly the on demand nature of the system and the ability to give executives a view into the company with special reports and dashboards.

But what about the account manager on inside sales person? Besides having a basic listing of leads, contacts and opportunities, what can they do with such a great tool? How many dashboards are available out of the box for them? How customized are the fields in their records? Chances are like most companies you have a few special fields created and mostly the defaults for everything else. Then you wrap your sales process around that and figure it out as you go along.

I'm going to show you that salesforce.com with a few SOCOM Sales input can turn your CRM into a well oiled revenue generating machine. That's the plan anyway. :)

You say you don't use or need a salesforce.com account for work? Thats fine. Get a personal account. These are great for socialites, freelancers and contractors. Pretty much anyone that wants to use a better system than Outlook.

Download SalesForce for free here.

Here are a few posts that are coming soon.

1. Use the power of Google inside your CRM for more information on accounts.
2. Get LinkedIn integration with your contacts.
3. Add the links that matter most.

How to Improve Performance through Goal-Setting

For most sales reps, meaningful growth comes from working toward clearly defined, individually appropriate goals. As a sales manager, you probably know this. But do you know the best way to help your reps set and achieve their goals? In his book, The Inner Game of Selling: Mastering the Hidden Forces That Determine Your Success (Free Press, 2006), Ron Willingham, CEO of Phoenix, Arizona-based Integrity Selling addresses this critical coaching task by laying out the steps for defining and progressing toward a goal. Here’s a look at each step:

Step 1: Setting Goals. First, you and the rep must define specifically what he or she is going to work toward. Those goals should be written in this format: “By [date], I’ll [verb] [goal].” For instance, “By July 31, I’ll average sales of $200,000 per month.” Or, “By September 15, I’ll close the XYZ account.” Or, “In three years, I will have my MBA.” Tell your reps to write down each goal on an index card and post it where they will see it often.

Step 2: Planning Strategy. As you look at each goal, you’ll realize they have either clear, known steps of achievement and the rep simply needs to take those steps, or the strategy steps will be unknown and you will have to discover them. To work through that process, ask these questions: How can you break your goal down into sub-goals or incremental steps? What different activity levels will it take to reach your sales goal? What activities can you perform today? Once you have the answers, you’ll be well on your way to penning a step-by-step strategy to achieve the goals.

Step 3: Building Belief. This often-overlooked step in goal setting is about building your reps’ belief that they can reach their goals. One way to do this is to teach your reps to visualize success every day. As they go to sleep at night and/or as soon as they wake up in the morning, ask them to think about their goals and what they will do that day to move closer to achieving them. You’ll be amazed at how much faster reps meet their goals once they learn to spend time each day relaxing, visualizing themselves reaching their goals, and imagining themselves enjoying the rewards that come from that accomplishment, says Willingham.

Step 4: Developing Strengths. Sometimes your reps will need to develop some strengths or skills before they can realistically achieve a goal. For instance, if reaching that $200,000 per-month sales goal will require your rep to target a higher level in his prospects’ organization, he might need some training on how to have executive-level conversations.

Step 5: Managing Progress. On an ongoing basis, you and your reps will need to manage their progress toward their goals. You do this by reviewing those goals regularly, asking questions such as, “Where are you with each goal? What sub-goals have you already reached and where should you be to reach your main goal on time? What strengths do you still need to develop – or keep developing – to reach the goal?” Occasionally, you and the rep might decide the goal needs to be revised. When you follow these steps, says Willingham, you’ll find your reps often reach their goals faster than they expected, so maybe the bar will need to be set higher. Other times, circumstances may slow the rep from reaching his goal, in which case the date might need to be pushed back or the sales dollar target reduced.

Willingham promises that if you and your reps “follow this system to the letter, you’ll experience success.” And as we all know, success breeds success, which means you’ll be able to continue pushing your reps to higher levels of performance.

For more details, visit www.integrityservices.com.

Study: Users Sabatoge Presentations with PowerPoint

By Holly Dolezalek

Is PowerPoint evil? The jury's still out on that. But an Australian study suggests that it is being used in the most ineffective way possible.

A study at the University of New South Wales in Australia has revealed that the common practice of showing the same words on-screen that are being spoken out loud actually makes it harder to learn and retain the information. Since the typical use of PowerPoint involves this very practice, Professor John Sweller, an education professor at the university, told the Sydney Morning Herald that "the use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster."

The researchers found that the human brain processes information better when it is presented in verbal or printed form than when it is presented in both forms at the same time. So when you put up a list of bullet points on a slide and then go through them verbally, you'd be better off if your audience either ignored your slide or you.

Sweller developed his cognitive load theory in the 1980s. According to the theory, people learn best when the strain on their working memory (a collective term for the processes that temporarily store and manipulate information) is kept to a minimum. This allows them to move information from working memory into long-term memory. When cognitive load (the load on working memory) is too high, learning is more difficult.

Sweller notes that using a visual aid such as a chart is not the same kind of load, and that this is actually the best way to use PowerPoint. "It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form," Sweller says. "But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

Looking for some geat business blogs!

I am looking for some like minded bloggers that focus on the business, leadership and sales world. If you fit in this group or have any suggestions, leave me a comment or shoot me an email with a link.

I want to start a list of links that can point to your site.

How Much Is that Discount Really Costing You?

“Boss, if I can just drop the price another 3 percent we’ll have ‘em.” Does that sound familiar? As a sales manager, you’ve probably heard all manner of pleas for the authority to lower your price to seal a deal. And in many cases, you’ve probably granted that authority. But do you know exactly how much those discounts are affecting your bottom line? The numbers might surprise you.

Say your organization needs 40 percent gross profit margin to operate. And imagine you want to run a 10 percent discount special to push through some year end deals. Do you know how much you’d need to increase your sales to make up for the discounting? A whopping 33.3percent. “In other words, you have to increase sales revenue by one-third to maintain the same 40 percent gross margin that you had before,” explains corporate strategist Graham Foster in his book, The Power of Positive Profit (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). “Why would you want to work 33.3 percent harder for nothing?”

Here’s another example from Foster that underscores the enormous impact discounting has on a company’s bottom line: If a $100 million organization on 40 percent margin typically foregoes 20 percent through discounts, it should be doing $120 million. And 40 percent of that missing $20 million is $8 million, which means the company is losing out on $8 million in net profit through its discounting practices. But how do you reverse that trend, particularly if your sales strategy has long relied on discounts to close sales? Foster offers these ideas to get you started:

1. Educate your reps on the bottom-line impact of discounting. In most cases, salespeople don’t know how their discounts affect the company. Salespeople are trained to make sales and they typically view any sale as a good sale. When you show them the numbers (how discounts at each level affect profits and margins) and the implications (smaller bonuses, lack of budget for new equipment, etc.) they’ll think about pricing in a whole new light.

2. Update the compensation plan to maximize profits instead of volume. Switch the plan to a margin basis, or at least a blend of volume and margin, to counter the discounters on your team.

3. Require that all daily transactions pass the average margin test and contribute to the bottom line. “Manage by exception in this area,” cautions Foster. “Require that any transaction priced below the budgeted company margin must be approved and signed off.” Then have a margin catch-up plan to recover those losses.

4. Document favors in a logbook so you’ve got a written record of the value you provide and use it to justify your higher, undiscounted prices. Customers will pay more if they understand you bring certain value to the deal. Foster tells the story of a world-class chemicals supplier who lost a big account to a discounting competitor. When the client called his new supplier late on a Saturday night with an urgent request, the discounter was nowhere to be found. Desperate, the client called his former vendor, the world-class supplier. The sales rep took the call, got out of bed, opened the warehouse, and drove two drums of the needed chemicals 100 miles away. Not surprisingly, the rep soon had his big client back and happy to pay the higher prices.

5. “C” customers pay in full. By now you know the theory – every company has A, B, and C customers. Your A customers are the big, top tier customers who make up the bulk of your revenues. On the other end of the spectrum are your C customers, the ones who demand deep discounts, overload your service department, and pay their accounts as late as possible. Starting now put all your Cs on full list price with no discounts. When your reps complain that they’ll lose these customers, show them it’s a good thing: if you lost most of your Cs, your bottom line would improve.

In conclusion, keep in mind that Foster isn’t saying you should never discount. Certainly there are, and always will be, occasions when it is appropriate. The message here is to be aware of how discounting affects your margins and net profit, and to make your discounting decisions with that knowledge rather than with a simple desire to close the sale.

Selling Power

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Sales Processes

There are quite a few pieces to the sales performance improvement puzzle - face-to-face selling skills, management style, coaching, account strategy, and so on. One piece that doesn't get much attention is the sales process. The simplest definition of “sales process” is “a linked group of tasks that together create customer value.”

Some sales processes are more effective than others. In his book, Rethinking the Sales Force, Huthwaite founder Neil Rackham asks seven questions that can help you evaluate your organization's sales process:

1.	Does your sales process reflect your customers' acquisition process? If it doesn't, it's working against you.
2.	Is your process self-correcting? Good sales process learns from real-world feedback.
3.	Does your process create value? Good sales process adds value for the customers, for the sales organization, and for the salespeople themselves.
4.	Does your process increase efficiency? If your process has made your selling cycle longer, it's time for a redesign.
5.	Does your process allow mortals to succeed? Nevermind the top performers - a good process should allow average salespeople to get better results.
6.	Is your process scaleable? The test is whether your sales process is a growth enabler or a growth inhibitor.
7.	Are your milestones objectively measurable events? Good process is based on events, not on activities.

Closing the Sale

I could have used this post last week. :)

Learn how to ask the right questions that will help you complete each sale like a star.

Typically, when I talk with my students on a one-to-one basis, they ask me a lot of questions about how to close sales. That's to be expected because it's the positive end result all salespeople seek in any contact with potential clients.

In most situations where sales aren't closed, it's usually because the salesperson didn't ask the right question. In all my training, you'll hear it repeated over and over that every answer you need to get in order to meet someone, qualify them as to their needs, get permission to give a presentation or close a sale will come to you if you only ask the right questions.

Sometimes, it's not just the question that matters, but how it's presented. You may have to set the stage or tell a story leading up to the question that helps the client rationalize the buying decision. No matter how good your lead in or story is, however, you won't get the sale if you don't ask for it.

Let me give you a few closes that have proven successful for my students the world over. Don't be concerned if they seem a bit wordy--you're painting pictures and involving the emotions of your potential clients. Say the words with warmth and sincerity, and they'll work for you.

When your clients hesitate because they aren't sure it's the right decision, try what we call "The Best Things in Life Close." This is a great close to use with a personal sale, especially when you're trying to sell something to a husband and wife. Compare the decision they're considering right now to other decisions they've made and have been happy with. It's especially helpful when they've admitted they want the product but are just struggling with saying yes. It goes like this:

"Isn't it true, John and Mary, that the only time you've ever really benefited from anything in your life has been when you said yes instead of no? You said yes to your marriage. . ." [And this next part's optional: ". . .and I can see how happy you are." But don't add this phrase unless you've seen signs that they truly are a happy couple!] "You said yes to your job, your home, your car--all the things I'm sure you truly enjoy.

"You see, when you say yes to me, it's not really me you are saying yes to but all the benefits this product offers... [and then list a few of the benefits they were most excited about.] Those are the things you really want for your family, aren't they?"

With these words, you're helping them focus on the benefits they want from the product rather than their hesitation to make the investment to own it. The little agreements you ask for during the close get the "yes" momentum started. If they do truly believe your product is good for them, these words will help them get over their hesitation to give you the final yes and close the sale.

Another situation might be during a business sale where the decision-maker uses "the budget" as a reason not to go ahead. This purchase might not have been in their plans, so the money isn't in the budget. If you truly believe your product would provide excellent benefits to their company, your goal in this situation is to get them to admit and agree to that point. Ask this: "John, if the money for this investment was in your budget, would you proceed?" If he says yes, agree with him by saying "That's wonderful, John. I'm glad you see the benefits our XYZ product can bring to your business."

At this point, you can either move on to a discussion of their return on investment or try these words:

"I can understand your concern with your budget, John. That's why I contacted you in the first place. I'm fully aware of the fact that every well-managed business controls the flow of its money with a carefully planned budget. The budget is a necessary tool for every company to give direction to its goals. However, the tool itself doesn't dictate how the company is run, does it?

"It must be flexible to allow the company to manage crises or take advantage of unplanned opportunities. As the controller of that budget, you retain for yourself the right to flex it in the best interest of the company's financial present and competitive future, don't you?

"What we've been examining here today is a system which will allow your company an immediate and continuing competitive edge. Tell me, under these conditions, will your budget flex or will it dictate your actions?"

Hopefully, you see the difference between just asking for the sale and helping people make decisions that are good for them. That's the difference between an average salesperson and a great one!

Tom Hopkins is the "Sales Basics" coach at Entrepreneur.com and is world-renowned as "The Builder of Sales Champions." For the past 30 years, he has provided the finest sales training available through his company, Tom Hopkins International.

How to Make Winning Software Sales Calls

Here are eight steps to make your software sales calls more effective:

Before the Call

STEP 1. Rethink your role. A software sales call is not an opportunity to “pitch” – a monolog that attempts to convince a customer to buy. Instead, a software sales call is a rapport-building dialog between the right salesperson and the right customer. The subject matter of the call should be how your software can address key business issues – not the software and its features and functions.

STEP 2. Do your homework. You’ll never understand – or be able to articulate – your prospect’s business problems unless you do your homework. Before each sales call, learn everything that you can about the potential customer. There is a wealth of information available on the Internet about virtually every company. Here’s a rule of thumb: you should never have to ask the customer a question that’s answered somewhere else.

STEP 3. Create an agenda. An agenda positions you not as a salesperson asking for a sale but as a consultant or advisor. This is particularly important for software sales situations, because software sales always deal with business solutions and opportunities. This allows you to credibly position yourself as much more than just a product sales rep. To have the best impact, the agenda should be on your company’s letterhead, and should have the customer’s full name spelled out, with the time and date. Ideally, the agenda should consist of five to seven questions that focus the conversation on the customer’s needs, going from the general to the specific.

During the Call

STEP 4. Listen before you talk. It’s a truism that listening builds trust. In the early stages of the sales call, asking questions (and then listening to the answers) makes the customer more relaxed and allows you to learn valuable information that can help you move the sale forward. If the information stops becoming useful, compliment the customer, and gently redirect the conversation. Example: “That’s really a good point, Joe, and it reminds me of something I want to show you…”

STEP 5. Address stakeholder issues. Do not make the mistake of addressing your presentation solely to the senior manager in the room. While he or she may be the final decision maker, software-buying decisions are almost always shared by a large number of stakeholders. Therefore, as you make your presentation, speak to each section of the audience, making sure that the conversation addresses whatever issues and concerns they might have.

STEP 6. Defuse the competition. Never criticize a competitor openly. Instead, praise them honestly for what they do well, but then show the customer why it would be a better business decision to work with your company. Example: “Well, ABC is an excellent software vendor and they’ve been in business a long time and have high standards. However, I believe, based upon what you’ve told me about your needs, that we can satisfy them better because…”

STEP 7. Sell value not price. Because software is often highly discounted, it’s likely that the customer will pressure you on your license fees, consulting fees, etc. Rather than get involved in a discussion over price, you’re better off emphasizing the value of the entire software package to the customer’s firm. Try something like: “When people buy technology, they tend to look for three things: the finest quality, the best service, and lowest price. However, I’ve also noticed that no company can consistently offer all three – the finest quality and the best service at the lowest price. Which two of the three do you think will be most important for your long-term business goals?”

STEP 8. Treat closing as a process. Your objective is the action step you will ask for at the end of the call. Maintain momentum at the end of each call with the next step specifically in place or by asking for the next step. Check for feedback throughout the call to gauge how you are doing. End every meeting by saying you hope to work with the customer. Keep the action step in your court so that it is your job to follow up.

The above is largely based on a conversation with Brian Tracy, chairman of Brian Tracy International, a human resource company whose customers include IBM and McDonnell Douglas.

How to Make Price a Non-Issue

By David J. Lill

Of course price is important to buyers, but if your product isn’t the cheapest on the market there are ways of getting around the price objection. The next time you hear your price is too high, use one of these strategies to prove that you and your product are worth it. Determine needs to establish value. The better you know your prospect’s needs, the better you can explain how your product will meet those needs. Address price objections at the end of the presentation, after you have already discussed needs, value and benefits. To tackle the price issue effectively, remember to view it from your buyer’s perspective. When the price objection comes up early in the call, you can try to postpone answering it by saying, “I appreciate your concern about price, and I assure you we will discuss it completely, but before we do I’d like to be sure my service meets your needs.” Example: “Can we review for a moment why this is the best choice for you? First, you will have higher productivity. Second, it will save you $75 per hour in service. Third, you will have our three-year warranty. Doesn’t that cover all of your needs?” Use the lowest common denominator. The price that sounds huge in its entirety often sounds much smaller when you break it down into weekly or monthly installments and compare it to how the customer normally spends extra money. For example, you could justify a stereo system purchase by saying that for the daily price of a cup of coffee and a newspaper, your buyer could enjoy a terrific new sound system on the daily commute to and from work. example: “I am glad you mentioned price. We’ll translate the purchase price into small installment payments, so your actual cost per month is lower with us than with almost any other company.” Make your offer exclusive. When competitors may offer a similar product at a slightly lower price, you have to tell customers why your product is worth the extra money. Compare your product’s features and benefits to your competitor’s – if there are no big differences, dig deeper. Maybe you could find a consumer magazine article that gives your product a higher reliability rating than your competitor’s. By continuing to pursue the prospect and emphasizing how you can add to the transaction personally, you could sway the buyer in your favor. example: “Don’t be deceived by today’s price. You actually pay less because we give you more. More service, more quality, more expertise, more security. Isn’t that what really interests you?”

How to Build Reengineering into Your Implementation Plans

Strategic Software Sales (SSS) and Business Process Reenginering (BPR) often go hand in hand. While some types of software (like office automation) can be installed in virtually any corporate environment, truly strategic software, like CRM, ERP, or PLM always require significant organization change (i.e. BPR) before it can be truly effective. The reason is simple. Automating a clunky business process is pretty much like strapping a jet engine to a covered wagon.

Unfortunately, whenever a software sale crutches on the requirement to do BPR, there’s a good chance that the customer won’t buy, because nobody likes BPR. In the classic Reengineering the Corporation, authors Hammer and Champy estimate that “as many as 50 to 70 percent of the organizations that undertake a reengineering effort do not achieve the dramatic results they intended.” That’s an abysmal track record and (since it comes from the guys who literally “wrote the book”) it’s probably overstating the number of actual successes. In the real world of corporate executives, it’s widely understood that BPR is likely to become a major corporate headache rather than a truly transformative experience.

This presents the software sales rep with a challenge. On the one hand, you don’t want to scare your customer away by pointing out that a painful BPR effort will be required in order to use your software effectively. On the other hand, you don’t want to lie to the customer and pretend that everything will work without some form of BPR, when you know that if the customer doesn’t change, the project will eventually fail. Here’s how to deal with this situation:

1. Never directly refer to BPR or anything else that sounds like BPR. Treat the corporate change effort as if it’s simply part of the implementation plan – and something that’s as simple and straightforward as the rest of the installation process.

2. Create a grassroots constituency for the software project. According to numerous experts, BPR usually fails when it’s driven top down, because there’s a fear (often justifiable) that one’s job might be “reengineered” out of existence. To overcome this passive resistance, work with key customer influencers in the rank and file to create a desire to make the project successful.

3. Obtain top management commitment that echoes the grassroots movement. Rather than getting top management to try to force change down employees’ throats, try to get top management to act as a benevolent overseer, providing resources and encouragement to make the project successful.

4. Build and execute a comprehensive training plan. Changing business processes almost always involves massive retraining. The failure to adequately budget for this can scuttle long-term success of any strategic software project. For example, a CRM implementation based upon a consultative sales process, if installed in a company with a transactional sales process, will need a complete retraining of the sales force in consultative sales techniques in order to be effective. To ensure the success of your project, build a long-term training plan that gradually acclimatizes employees to both the new processes and the software layered atop them.

5. Create a communications infrastructure. BPR typically requires the participation of multiple departments to make the change successful. However, as the ripples proceed outward from the original source of the change, the sense of urgency declines, making it unlikely that the other organizations will make necessary changes. To counter this tendency, encourage the sharing of information and create a sense of shared purpose. For example, have the customer create a “team page” for each group involved in the BPR effort. Each team page consists of photos and biographies of individuals on the team, along with relevant project documents. These team pages help break organizational boundaries, getting groups to work together more effectively.

Ask Your Prospects for an I-Date

You’ve just asked your prospect for the order and you got the most dreaded answer in sales: a big, fat “maybe.” There’s no worse answer for a sales rep because, unlike a “no,” which lets you know where you stand, a “maybe” freezes you in a state of limbo. To move that prospect out of maybe, try asking him for an I-Date, suggests William “Skip” Miller, author of Ultimate Sales Tool Kit (AMACOM, 2007) and president of M3 Learning, a sales and management development company. Miller isn’t suggesting a romantic encounter. Instead, he urges sales reps to focus on critical dates – not features and benefits –to bust through indecision. There are two parts to the approach:

1. The I-Date. When sales reps think about key dates, they tend to think about milestones in the sales process: presentation date, closing date, contract signing, and so on. But prospects couldn’t care less about these things. Prospects instead focus on when they’ll be able to start using your product, when it will be fully functional, and when it will start paying back on their investment.

Find out what date is most important to the prospect, says Miller. What’s happening in the organization that’s driving their need for your solution? When is that event happening? When does your product need to be up and running because of an impending change? That’s the I-Date, or Implementation Date. Say a prospect is in the process of acquiring another company and needs to fuse their different software programs so that the two companies mesh seamlessly and transparently to their customers. Don’t try to sell your fantastic technology merging capabilities, says Miller. Instead, focus on pinning down dates such as when the acquisition is scheduled to take place and when the prospect wants the software integration to roll out. Those are the I-Dates, he says, and you can use them to drive a sense of urgency and plan back to when a decision must be made in order to meet those milestones.

2. The Dragons. Dragons are what cause an I-Date to be firm. They are key events, commitments, promises, tasks, goals, and objectives tied to the I-Date. In the example above, the I-Date might be September 22, but the dragon is the acquisition. Or say you’re an ad agency. A prospect’s I-Date might be driven by the launch of a new product – aka, the dragon. “Something, anything that makes their calendar, has their attention,” says Miller. “Ask them about their dragons, not about your features and benefits. You have to get a complete description of the dragon to see what kind it is so you know if you can slay it.”

Miller tells the story of Karen, a business professional who was looking to buy a new laptop computer. Rather than try to sell her on features and benefits, the sales rep, Scott, pushed for an I-Date. “Why do you need this laptop?” he asked her. Karen said her other one was getting old and she wanted a newer, faster one. Scott pressed the date issue, saying, “Why now? What’s causing you to look today?” Karen said she was starting a new job next Friday and the projects she would be handling were large and required a computer with more memory than her current one. Scott asked if there was anything else that was driving her to look that day and Karen explained that she would be on a business trip all week and wouldn’t return until Thursday so it was her last day to look.

Armed with her I-Dates and dragons, Scott pointed out that if Karen bought the laptop today, she could take it on her trip, transfer her necessary files before Friday and put the learning curve behind her before starting her new job on Friday. It was the revelation she needed. Karen bought the laptop.

Next time you have a prospect mired in “maybe,” try shifting the focus of your pitch from product capabilities to important dates and events. It may be just what the prospect needs to jolt him or her into action.

For more information, visit www.m3learning.com.

Eight Basic Selling Steps

Whether you sell face-to-face, by telephone, or in combination, there are eight basic steps in the process. By Helen Berman

1. Opening

2. Statement of benefits

3. Qualification and fact-finding

4. Agreement on needs

5. Presentation

6. Agreement

7. Commitment

8. Follow-through

Before the sales call, you will want to do your homework: review the account history, their market niche, sales and marketing goals, your current sales position and best initial strategy.

If you choose not to use each of the eight steps in a single sales call: you might break the stages of the sale into more than one call. For a new prospect, the opening and statement of opening benefits may be a part of your initial phone conversation to set up an appointment. Be sure when you need several sales calls, review covered material each time you call. Your prospect may not remember every salient point.

You should deviate from the basic rules when it serves you. If your prospect is ready to buy at the beginning of the call - CLOSE THE SALE. Many salespeople miss the buying signals or feel obligated to "give them a pitch." Missing your prospect's pitch is an easy way to strike out.

1. Opening:

While stating your name and purpose may sound simple enough, the first few seconds of the call are critical. First impressions do count. Present yourself as confident, professional and personable. You may not get a second chance. Most prospects decide in the first 15-30 seconds whether to give you any attention, move into resistance or give you the brush off.

2. Opening Statement of Benefits:

To gain your prospect's immediate attention, you must quickly answer his unspoken question, "What's in it for me?" Give your prospect an attention grabbing advantage you can offer his company. Write out several versions that work for you in different circumstances. Then practice your delivery.

Sell the prospect on actively engaging in the sales call or to consent to a personal interview. Your prospect wants to know at once the purpose of your call. If you beat around the bush, you lose credibility. Many salespeople err by mistaking the opening benefit statement for the presentation. Many salespeople begin by bombarding a prospect with a series of product features. They believe that if they speak fast enough, not daring even to take a breath, they might be able to make the sale immediately.

3. Qualification and Fact-finding:

By asking questions, you can quickly determine if the prospect is a qualified buyer. Rapport is most easily built during this stage of the sale. Make hefty deposits into the emotional bank which you may need to draw upon when answering objections. By asking strategic questions and uncovering his needs, you can prepare him emotionally and intellectually for the presentation.

The more your prospect begins to formulate and voice his own ideas that will support your presentation later, the more powerful a mark your presentation will make.

4. Agreement on Needs:

Once you and your prospect have discussed his needs, summarize the conversation by listing them. Get any further clarification and agreement about their priority. I find lists of three to be easiest to work with. Be sure the list you create together emphasizes needs your product can meet. You have created the cornerstone of the presentation.

Explain how your product can help meet specific needs. You have created a home base, a safe space. If you lose control of the sale, return to agreement on needs. It provides a transition, signaling your client that you are proceeding to the next stage of the sale.

5. Presentation:

Here's where effective salespeople play their "trump card". Based on understanding his needs, you save your most powerful point - the clincher - for now. This is your opportunity to tie your product's features and corresponding benefits to your prospect's specific needs. Make the cogs of the machine mesh. Reinforce whenever possible the relationship between your product and meeting the prospect's goals.

As you continue the presentation, refrain from a dog and pony monologue whenever possible. Keep your prospect involved or risk losing him.

6. Agreement:

Get the prospect's agreement that the product's features and benefits do meet his needs. He will often have concerns which you need to address. Continue the consultative relationship. Avoid the trap of becoming an adversary.

7. Commitment:

While there are many techniques of sales closing, the close should be a natural outcome of the first six steps. Unfortunately, some salespeople are afraid to ask for the order. As a wise man once said, "You don't ask, you don't get." Get your prospect to agree to specifics. If that isn't possible, get a commitment on something, even just another appointment.

8. Follow-through:

Establish the next action, clarify any procedures, and let the prospect know what to expect. Thank your client for his business and reassure him that he made a sound business investment. Buyer's remorse has resulted in many a cancelled contract. Do what you can to reinforce the sale and your on going relationship.

TEN COMMANDMENTS TO PROPER LEAD GENERATION/PROSPECTING

I. Quantity will lead to quality. Look to contact a minimum of five new prospects per day. Only by attempting to get a hold of 50 people can you actually speak with 5. And don’t stop at five, keep on rolling, it gets easier at you get more under your belt.

II. Don’t be fooled by the “send me some information ploy”. This is almost always a complete BLOW OFF. Call them back, say that you will be in the area on day X meeting with a client (have a client name available in case they ask) and would like to deliver it yourself. It is a lot harder to blow off someone after they have met you.

III. Qualify your leads. Don’t waste time on small opportunities. Ask for help when qualifying a lead. Talk to more experienced sales people, your Sales Manager or others if you are unsure about the worth of an account. Find out what the prospect does and whom they sell to, this will help to determine potential.

IV. Prospecting equals sales. The fastest way to FAIL as a sales person is to be afraid of the phone and the inevitable avalanche of “No” that will lead to the “YES”. Set aside two hours every day for prospecting. Change your voice mail in the morning so that your clients will know that you are unavailable, but will be back soon. This will stop them from getting antsy.

V. Only meet with clients once you have established their value. Nothing is worse than spending an hour driving to a client for a single $500 job, unless $500 now means $5,000 later.

VI. Use the resources that you have. If you are having trouble getting into an account, enlist the help of your Sales Manager. There are many times that an alternative point of view in regards to the attack plan on an account can make all the difference.

VII. Don’t be afraid of telling a new prospect that you don’t know the answer. Clients would prefer that you call them back with the right answer, over a fake one right away. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

VIII. Let it go in one ear and out the other. If you have properly qualified a lead and they tell you to call them back in a few months, call them back in a few weeks. Many salespeople fail to understand that buyers will do anything to keep the status quo. Familiarity equals comfort.

IX. Out of sight, out of mind. A client will forget all about you if you don’t keep yourself deep in their world. Call buying clients every few weeks. Prospecting means additional business from current clients as well as new ones.

X. It’s okay to be second. If a prospect is very happy with their current vendor, just tell them you want to be their secondary vendor. There will be a time when the current vendor can’t get the job done, and that will be your time to strike and save the day.