Sales Blog with Sales Tips

Let’s face it; most of us hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. In sales, this can be a killer.

There are some not-so-nice aspects of sales that we have to manage – or they will manage us.

Below are six of the more important ones. Give yourself a self-examination. Are you aware of and managing these realities? They are presented in no particular order.

Reality #1
Your competitors are calling on your accounts. The intensity of their activity has a 100% positive correlation to how valuable the account is to you and your company.

Don’t lull yourself into thinking your great relationships within your top accounts represent some kind of absolute shield from competitive inroads.

Reality #2
For a million different reasons, sales professionals have shorter tenures at their employers than other professionals. Don’t see your current sales job as a “permanent” position. This will cause you to get sloppy with your customers and your career.

Make “sales” your job. Be a student of the sales profession.

Reality #3
Organization, reporting, dress, office politics, etc. are factors in your success as a sales professional. However, compared to how you’re performing against your sales budget, these things are meaningless to sales management.

Reality #3a
I’m calling this “Reality #3a” because it is a corollary of #3.

Sales leaders have their own sales budget they’re aiming for. It’s always higher than the one they’ve been assigned.

Reality #4
When it comes to specific customers and prospects, your sales manager may not be providing the best sales tips.

Since sales managers don’t know your customers like you do, they will sometimes unknowingly ask you to do things that move you backwards in an account.

It’s your responsibility to be pilot-in-command of your customers. Don’t mindlessly do things that don’t make sense.

Reality #5
Stop prospecting and you’ll eventually wither away and die – or be killed by your employer. Customer attrition is a certainty for every sales professional.

Reality #6
The best predictor of future sales is how full your pipeline is. Sales forecasting has been shown over multiple studies – and in my own experience – to be nothing better than a well-dressed guesstimate.

The quantity of quality prospects you have in your funnel is your best indicator of future sales.

Sales Tips Blog Conclusion
Everyone is born with fully developed skills in the area of selective observation.

It’s foolish to be blindsided by something you know exists.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

I recently spoke with a longtime reader from West Virginia who told me his sales manager has a problem with one of my sales concepts.

I enjoy controversy; this was music to my ears.

Tell Me More
I asked him to tell me the specifics of his disagreement. He said it was really only one thing. His sales manager didn’t like my “less is more” school of thought. He felt I am teaching his sales team to be lazy.

Interestingly, the reader pointed out that his sales peers are 180-degrees apart from his sales manager on this issue. They think “less is more” actually works in the real world.

Exactly What Is “Less Is More?”
First of all, I do teach that less is more in my sales tips, although I’ve never used that phrase to package my sales philosophy.

The reader explained to me that when his boss says, “less is more,” he’s talking about my concepts of:

• Don’t waste time pounding the phone in a frenzy of prospecting activity. Instead, focus on how much revenue is being generated from carefully identified and researched prospects that have turned into customers.

• Some sales professionals need a lot of time in the office and some don’t. Being out of the office means nothing. Being in the office means nothing. Look at results, not calendars.

• Paperwork and data input are niceties, but sales professionals are fired or promoted based on their sales volume. Don’t get mired down inputting endless amounts of data into a CRM system (or its ilk) whose reports get a perfunctory overview at best from sales management.

• I’m a huge proponent of new business development.  However, investing significant amounts of time with high potential existing accounts provides a 250% better return on our time (Marketing Metrics study). We must see our current accounts as prospects.

• Please  immediately stop this ABC (Always Be Closing) stupidity. If a sales professional has done his or her job, closing is simply the last step of a process. Pushing for a “close” every step of the way guarantees that the salesperson looks “salesy,” desperate and selfish. It kills relationship development and builds walls too.

I Could Go On
But I won’t.

Am I teaching “less is more?” Yes!

Will I change? No!

Why? Because I’m not going to perpetuate the sales methodology myths that are still rampant in sales training and sales management today. The goal is to sell, not to look busy.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

When I was just a sales pup I received one of the best sales tips I’ve ever heard. It was from my sales manager.

The advice I got was, “Keep in touch with your customers when they are laid off; they always reappear somewhere else.”

Why This Is Especially Important Right Now
We’re heading out of the recession, but the unemployment rate is a high 10%. About 4% of this 10% represents those who are not looking for work or chronically unemployed. This leaves us with a net real unemployment rate of approximately 6%.

What does this mean? One out of 17 of your customers has been laid off and is looking for work. That’s a lot. This percentage will vary according to the industries represented in your customer mix.

That 6% represents a tremendous sales – and helping – opportunity for you.

Staying In Touch
There are a number of reasons to keep in contact with your unemployed ex-customers.

• Most importantly, it’s the right thing to do. People feel abandoned and forgotten when unemployed. It doesn’t matter whether you think you’ll ever sell to them again or not. This is an issue of being human. The karma thing.

• 99% of the time, these ex-customers will end up in the same industry and same job they came from. They’ll want to do business with you because you’re a known and trusted person. Keeping in contact during stormy times keeps the bond intact.

• As ex-customers look for employment, you can help them by providing job leads. Think of the goodwill this creates. They will also be in a position to share information with you about companies they are interviewing with (i.e. sales leads).

Sales Tips For How To Keep In Touch
Here’s a short checklist on how to keep in touch with these temporarily unemployed ex-customers.

• If you’ve lost touch with them, you can search for them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Do a little research so you’ll know something about their current situation before contacting them.

• Contact them by email and/or phone at least every 2 to 3 weeks to see how they are doing. Be sure to mention any job openings that might fit what they’re looking for. They welcome the moral support provided at a time like this.

• Listen to them. What was true when they were active buying customers is true while they are unemployed. Listen to their needs; you’ll be in a better position to help them.

A Final Note
Don’t do this primarily as an exercise to get them back as a customer. Do this in order to support people who have helped you in the past (i.e. by buying from you). When they land on their feet – and they will – they’ll likely contact you and business can resume again.

If they aren’t able to, or choose not to, do business with you after finding a new job, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone. That has a way of drawing all kinds of good things your direction.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer