Sales Blog with Sales Tips

I have to admit that I’m a skeptic. I don’t give much weight to palm readers and crystal ball types.

Sales is no different for me. There really is no “magic” when it comes to sales superstars. There is always a formula for their success. Always.

I’m going to share a piece of their “abracadabra” below.

But First…
Before I write any further, I’d like to bring your attention to a new addition to my sales tips blog, Scott’s Inbox. It provides a video venue for me to answer readers’ questions. You may have noticed that I started including these a few weeks ago.  Just click on my photo to start today’s 1 minute video.

Today’s Scott’s Inbox is a little different because I’ll be introducing you to my best friend and sales tips consultant. You may be a bit surprised who it is. I’ve mentioned him a few times before in this sales blog.

Back To The Abracadabra Thing
Why is it that rainmakers (i.e. sales superstars) have such high close rates and always seem to be in the right place at the right time? Is it magic? Hardly.

Rainmakers know when they call on a prospect company that the decision maker will be in one of four situations:

1. The decision maker has just had a new hand dealt to him or her that is disruptive. It could be a budget change, need for a new product or service, time frame change, etc.

2. The decision maker is unhappy with the performance of his or her current supplier(s). We all know there are a million reasons this can happen.

3. The decision maker has recently changed. When this happens, we know this is a golden window of opportunity.

4. The decision maker is happy with the status quo.

How To Make It Work For You
To ascertain which of the above four states the decision maker is currently in is the challenge. You have to find out where he or she is coming from within the first 30 seconds of your call. If you can place them in category 1, 2 or 3, the decision maker will have a reason to give you more time. You’ll also accurately know where to direct the conversation.

Every industry will have different questions that can be asked to identify which category fits the decision maker you’re talking to. These are normally closed-ended types of questions. You already have this list, right?

I constantly preach about researching prospects before contacting them the first time. One of the best tools for this is Google Alerts (see Further sales tips reading below). It’s a perfect tool because it alerts you to new information about a company just as it is happening.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
However, nothing is free. For this to help you reach rainmaker status, you’ll have to spend time developing your cold calling skills. You’ll need a razor sharp set of qualifying questions that are tailored to the prospect. You’ll have to research your prospects before calling.

However, the payoff will be huge. Some studies suggest a 5X improvement in closing rates. Abracadabra.

Further sales tips reading:
A Powerful Sales Tool You’ll Use Every Day – And It’s Free
7 Sales Tips For Getting To Decision Makers

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>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
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Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
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Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
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When it comes to being a sales professional, you cannot be all things to all people – including your sales manager. But there will always be a few things you are really good at when it comes to selling. Let me give you an example from my own experience.

I Love Flying
Years ago, I sold electrical and electronic products for a regional distributor. I was doing okay but not setting the world on fire. One day I stumbled into an airport and suddenly felt like superman. Writing orders for those small airlines and general aviation repair companies was fun, and I was good at it.

It was easy for me to sell in that environment because I had earned a pilot’s license years earlier. I could relate to the people, their terminology and their jobs. I felt a little stupid that this hadn’t occurred to me earlier.

I made it a habit afterward to stop at all the airports I could find since this was an industry where I was perceived by my customers as an expert. I felt comfortable in their world, and my results showed it.

My Sales Manager Didn’t Love Flying As Much
You can guess what happened next. My sales manager said to me, “Scott, your sales are really improving but you’re a little heavy in the aviation industry.”

My response was always, “Yes, I know, I’m working on it.” Of course I had no intention of changing a thing for 2 reasons: 1) I was wisely leveraging one of my selling strengths,  2) If you’re hitting or exceeding your numbers, and not doing anything illegal, your sales manager could care less how you get there.

Watch Out, Here Comes A Sports Analogy
Why does Michael Phelps swim instead of playing football? Because his strength is found in the water. Why does Shaquille O’Neal play basketball instead of golf? Because he is fairly pathetic at golf, I would imagine.

It is just as impossible for great athletes to excel at all sports as it is for you to excel in every industry, product and service your company entertains.

If you know a certain industry well, then go after all the business you can in that industry. Be the “go to” person for your customers. If you are well versed in a product or technology, then pursue businesses that are heavily dependent on that product or technology.

6 Sales Tips For Why You Want To Exploit Your Selling Strengths (And Not Focus On Your Weaknesses)

1. You’ll make more money because you’re selling more.
2. You can command higher prices.  A brain surgeon makes more money than a general practitioner.  Why?  He or she specializes.
3. Your average order size will increase dramatically.
4. You’ll get more referrals, not because they like you, but because they want to do a friend a favor by sending in an expert.
5. Your competitors will find it harder to steal your accounts because of your added value.
6. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy your job more.

Sales Blog Epilogue
To play to our strengths we have to know them first. I will leave you with 2 questions that every sales professional needs to be able to answer without a moment’s hesitation.

• What are my greatest sales strengths?
• What are my greatest sales weaknesses? Yes, everyone has them.

Supercharge your strengths and work around your weaknesses.

Further reading:

• As a career salesperson, where do you best fit?

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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Randy Jackson, the American Idol judge, is fond of saying, “Just keeping it real.” What he means when he says those words is that he is being honest with the contestant, even though his words aren’t always welcomed.

I’m Going To “Keep It Real” Right Now
Let me address 4 realities of new business development (i.e. prospecting) for 2009 and beyond. After each reality, I’m going to provide sales tips to address them head on.

Reality 1
Screeners and gatekeepers at target companies are getting better. Just picking up the phone and “smiling and dialing” as a way to reach decision makers is no longer a realistic tactic.

Sales Tips 1: Use your network of acquaintances (you have been developing them, right?) and social media (e.g. LinkedIn) to enter a company through the side door. You’ll make fewer contacts than calling on the phone, but your close ratio will skyrocket.

Reality 2
Calling hundreds of leads on a lead list is nothing but a sheer hope-and-a-prayer exercise. “Maybe if I do enough calls it will work.”  The current thinking is that only 1 out of 100 prospecting calls yields a sale. Personally, I would find that rather discouraging.

Sales Tips 2: There is no substitute for the leads that you generate. Period. Please read “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson for some illumination on this subject. It’s a short read and a real eye opener.

Reality 3
You don’t need a Ph.D. in new business development (I’m sure some college somewhere offers that) to know that adding new business is critical during a recession. You’re losing customers faster than you realize and they must be replaced. Many of your current customers will never return, even after the recession is over.

Sales Tips 3: I’m always surprised how most companies don’t have the slightest idea what their customer turnover rate is. It’s always higher than they think. Figure out what your personal customer turnover rate is and put a plan in place to ensure that you at least replace those lost customers. I’ve provided some further reading below to help you with this.

Reality 4
You can thank Google and thousands of web-based industry buying tools for creating a new perception that sales professionals aren’t all that critical anymore. You’re just not as relevant as you used to be in a lot of buyers’ minds.

Sales Tips 4: Now, more than ever, you must know your product or service better than anyone else does. Better than your prospects, better than your customers and better than your competitors. Most critically, you must know more than what is easily googled. This is how you demonstrate your value. And, of course, you do know who is responsible for your training don’t you? You.

There’s a second part to Sales Tips 4 – relationships. Most people prefer buying from people, especially ones they like. When it comes to business development, I’ve never met a web site that could identify a good prospect, locate the decision makers and calculate a way to meet them.  The web cannot replace you.

Sales Blog Epilogue
We’ve all heard the quote about doing the same thing and expecting different results as being an insane notion. Personally, if I hear one more person say that, and act as if I’ve never heard it before, I’m going to kill them. Talk about cliché.

In reality, many of us are using worn out business development techniques and ideas that don’t work. We aren’t able to let go of the past, even though our results are abysmal. It’s past time for many of us to make a radical shift in our thinking on this subject.

Further reading:

• The Best Kinds of Leads for Prospecting
• Sales Tips: What is Cycle Prospecting or Perpetual Prospecting?
• Which is More Important, Sales Skills or Product Knowledge?

My new book, Comatose Management, will be out in about 6 weeks.  I’ll have a short overview video available for you before then.

>To receive this sales tips blog by email click here, to receive by RSS click here.
>Follow Scott R. Sheaffer on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter by clicking here.
©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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Our impatience in developing leads can cost us money. Recent research has shown that most sales professionals take a short view of the leads in their pipeline and it’s costing them sales. The results of that research appear below.

The 6 Month Window
The average sales cycle is three to four months in length. Your mileage will vary depending on your industry. According to research results, 25% of leads that ultimately purchase, do so within 6 months. That jives fairly closely with the average sales cycle. However, this means 75% of the remaining leads that purchase, do so beyond 6 months. Seventy-five percent is significant.

The 6 to 18 Month Window
Half of all leads that eventually buy from us do so in the 6 to 18 month time frame, according to the study. That statistic tells us essentially two things: (1) We must keep our funnel full because of the large percentage of leads (50%) that buy from us 6 to 18 months after our initial contact with them, and (2) If we want to increase our close ratio, we need to expect, and prepare for, much longer sales cycles.

The 18 Plus Month Window
For most sales professionals who have sales managers breathing down their necks, 18 months is the same as 18 years. But the numbers indicate that 25% of the leads that purchase from us do so after 18 months. We can’t ignore a quarter of our potential future business.

4 Sales Tips For Managing Your Pipeline Today

1. I hate to bring this up, but it’s a reality. These figures are from research done before the current recession. As a result, prepare yourself for these numbers to be conservative.
2. No one can manage a large funnel without good record keeping. This is especially true when we realize how long we have to court leads and how many leads we must keep track of.
3. Review the new business you’ve landed over the last two years. See how your sales cycle time frames match up with the numbers above. See which kinds of leads had the highest close ratios with the shortest sales cycles. Use this information as you implement a new personal business development campaign.
4. Finally, and in summary, don’t be too quick to discard prospects that look promising but aren’t moving as quickly as you would like.

If your sales manager doesn’t have the patience to wait for you to develop the prospects in your pipeline, have him or her give me a call. I’ll set ‘em straight.

Further reading:

• You’re More Effective At Prospecting Than You Think
• The #1 Predictor of Sales Success (and it’s not sales skills)

>To receive this sales tips blog by email click here, to receive by RSS click here.
>Follow Scott R. Sheaffer on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter by clicking here.
©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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Are you satisfied with your sales results?
Kay Ray can show you and your team how to reach
your objectives and unlock the door to success.
thekayray.com