The Sales Page

Tribute - Joe Terry

One of the best salespeople on the planet has gone.  Joe Terry, a Senior Principal with The Complex Sale for almost 15 yeas and a VP at MSA Software prior, passed away in November 2010.

We worked together for over 25 years.  What made this man a great salesman is that he was first a great person. The two things are inseparable. Trust is built on character and assurance that a salesperson will never do something for themselves that is not in the customers best interest. Joe always said that if he wouldn't take an offer himself, he wouldn't offer it to a prospect.

The ABC's of Selling - L

L - Learning

We learned years ago that adults learn differently than children. And salespeople learn differently than adults - other adults, that is. Many salespeople have high energy and short attention spans. Many, like me, have ADHD. Many great salespeople I know were not very good students because our education systems are designed for left-brain learning in a structured, linear fashion. And our schools don't teach interpersonal skills vital for building business relationships.

The ABC's of Selling - K

K - Knowledge

There are four kinds of knowledge you need to be a successful salesperson today.  Obviously you need to know your product and company. But you also need indepth knowledge of:

1. your client
2. the industry
3. your competitors

The reason that knowledge about the client is important is so that you can be a consultative salesperson and can connect your benefits with their problem or opportunities - by individual. Otherwise, the linkage or connection of your solution to their needs will be done by the client who often gets it wrong or misses the benefits of your solutions. Or worse, the competitor links into a pain you weren't aware of to close the deal.

The ABCs of Selling - J

J -Justification

As in cost justification also called value proposition.  We see many sales reps submit a cost justification with their proposals calculating the potential savings or revenues from their solution and ending with an ROI (return on investment) percentage.

Yes, this is a necessary step in most sales cycles. However, don't expect a good ROI to cause a deal to close in this economy (unless it's really big).  Why?  Because every CFO has a dozen or more investment opportunities on their desk, all with good ROI's, but only so much cash to spend. The question is, Why should they spend it with you?

J -Justification

As in cost justification also called value proposition.  We see many sales reps submit a cost justification with their proposals calculating the potential savings or revenues from their solution and ending with an ROI (return on investment) percentage.

Yes, this is a necessary step in most sales cycles. However, don't expect a good ROI to cause a deal to close in this economy (unless it's really big).  Why?  Because every CFO has a dozen or more investment opportunities on their desk, all with good ROI's, but only so much cash to spend. The question is, Why should they spend it with you?

The ABCs of Selling - I

I - The Least Important Word In Selling

Although most good salespeople are driven by their egos, this word needs to be removed from most conversation and written correspondence with clients. Only when you are making a commitment at the end of the message should you use it.

Selling is serving and solving. You need to talk about their pains, their problems, their needs and how you and your solution can solve them. If you will listen first, out-care the competition, and present benefits and solutions, you will do better in today's world of selling.

The ABCs of Selling - H

H - Hunters

Hunters - this term has come to be the label for new-name business salespeople. These are the fighter pilots and the Jedi Knights of selling. The term is common, but what makes a good hunter? We have worked with Ross Rich at Selection Strategies and Spring Lake Technologies to assess and identify what traits, skills, and behaviors predict success.

Here is what I look for:

The ABCs of Selling - G

G - Growth, Personal Growth

I have given over 250 keynote speeches to sales organizations and countless classroom workshops. I often ask what the salespeople in the room read to develop themselves as professional salespeople. Then I ask how many have read Spin Selling or Solution Selling - two foundational books on consultative selling. A few hands, very few. I ask how many read the Harvard Business Review or Fortune. Even among consulting firms the hands are few.

Dave Stein asked in one of his blogs why with so much selling material available on the web and through training, is selling becoming less effective? There are several answers:

The ABCs of Selling - F

F - Financial Benefits

Usually when salespeople sell the financial benefits of their solution they focus on price, cost savings or ROI. But these are the only financial benefits that could come from a solution.

The problem may not be the price; it may be the payment terms, or a lack of cash. In my first book, Hope Is Not a Strategy, I related the story of a win at Turner Broadcasting from when I was selling in the software industry. We were losing the product evaluation of financial systems when we learned 

The ABCs of Selling - E

E - Execution

Our principals review many sales deals along with the managers of our clients. Among the reasons that we see sales plans fail are simply poor execution. Almost all of this stems from:

1. poor attention to detail
2. failure to anticipate what could go wrong 
3. no strategy session before the event about tactics, messages, or plan B 
4. and leaving things to chance  

The ABC's of Selling - D

D - Differentiation

After the client deterines the "Why Buy?" question, then the next question in the sales process becomes "Why Us?". Differentiating your solution and company in a professional manner is an essential skill and part of any complex sales process.

There are different types of differentiation: