What makes us truly unique in selling? I have dedicated my professional life to identifying what are the things that make the top sales professionals the best in their field and then to help others to role model those traits.
In 25 years of selling/account management/sales leadership the key thing that stands out above everything else is the ability of the sales person/account manager to create powerful rapport and trust within the relationship and then to use that to create the environment where a client will freely and happily share their challenges, wants and needs with the professional with a view to a satisfactory resolution of their problem.
Its said that there are only 4 ways to make a sale: 1. solve a problem 2. save time 3. save money 4. make the client 'feel good' (the EQ or emotional quotient of the sale).
I was therefore gratified yesterday after sitting down with a new partner company Deep Insight who can actually measure the quality of the sales relationship - the level of trust - that exists between you and your clients, partners or indeed staff. It did my old engineering self good to realise that there is now an effective tool for quantifying 'trust' for 'what gets measured gets done'.
Their model for sales uniqueness was similar to my own
Uniqueness = Problem Solving + Relationship
in which they measure problem solving and relationship as unique factors, even if I probably would put the relationship part first - for no one will share a problem unless they have a good relationship with you first.
Sales people, account managers, trusted advisors - whatever the term that we use - have a changed role in today's world. Where before it was just bringing the message to the market, now it's about interpreting and tailoring that information so that it becomes a solution to the unique problems that our individual clients face.
Between Deep Insight's ability to measure and my ability to educate professionals in becoming 'trusted advisors' through our new SellingEQ telecoaching and sales leaders programme, I think that we now have a winning (and measurable) formula for all our clients.
Showing posts with label Clients. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clients. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Feng Shui Your Client List
I'm working on a new article and CD/workbook programme called Rebel Secrets of Beating the Recession and thought I'd throw a few of the ideas out here in the blog.
The first one is:
Such negative clients also create opportunities for sales executives to ‘hide behind’ and justify their poor performance. They serve as ‘black holes’ for productivity and profit.
The first one is:
Feng Shui your client list. Feng Shui is the Chinese art of moving and placing objects within a room or space, so that positive energies can flow and benefit the inhabitant of that space. It can be used to create a highly relaxing environment or to attract health or even good luck to a room or building.
To me, while I am sure that there are powerful and ancient principles at play, it often seems like it’s an exercise in de-cluttering and minimising.
De-cluttering is a good thing to do. It frees up space (either physically or mentally) and allows the opportunity for new things to come and occupy that space. Therefore we should consider de-cluttering our client databases.
Over the years we have collected clients that are neither productive nor profitable. These clients act as a drain on our time and resources. The demand, they complain and they want everything for nothing. Instead of holding onto these clients we should actively remove them from our databases or de-prioritise the communication or the degree of sales contact that we give them.
Such negative clients also create opportunities for sales executives to ‘hide behind’ and justify their poor performance. They serve as ‘black holes’ for productivity and profit.
Get rid of them – aggressively. Give them a business opportunity elsewhere. You want them out so that good clients can inhabit the space and benefit from the resources they are currently draining.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Selling Smarter 6 - It's the WORLD Wide Web Stupid!
Welcome to the digital age - the evolutionary age - the age which sees the rise of a new set of values and a new type of energy. Communication, collaboration, synergies, networks - it's all about co-creation and the fabric of this new age is built on the Net.
The Internet has been with us so long now and it's so engrained in the fabric of our lives that to conceive of a time when it wasn't here is difficult. Our children are digital natives - they have grown up with technology and it infuses how they engage with each other and learn.
Many businesses have had websites for a long time - but they still remain brochure sites. Us talking at the customer.
My friend, Net visionary and one-time mentor Dr. Denis Waitley said that 'you can't afford to be road kill on the information superhighway' and yet many of us are still only at half-speed on that highway and the juggernaut of the next generation is catching up on us.
Your website today can potentially reach a global audience and with the advances of technology in this space allows us to do many more things than were possible even 3 years ago. We need to be using the Web to have a dialogue with our customers and not just a monologue.
We need to review our businesses to see what aspects of them can be done on-line - both to increase the speed and quality of our services and reduce our costs. We need to look at collecting lists of new potential clients (ethically) and then using the technology to take most of the work out of initial prospecting for us. We should look at creating 'client communities' through social networks that help us become facilitators and the network hub for our client and customer needs.
We have a responsibility to inform ourselves as to the technology and the potential that the Web and increased speeds of access to it can provide for us. The Web has gone mobile too adding an additional dynamic. This is not an option - this is a fundamental need to remain business critical.
The Internet has been with us so long now and it's so engrained in the fabric of our lives that to conceive of a time when it wasn't here is difficult. Our children are digital natives - they have grown up with technology and it infuses how they engage with each other and learn.
Many businesses have had websites for a long time - but they still remain brochure sites. Us talking at the customer.
My friend, Net visionary and one-time mentor Dr. Denis Waitley said that 'you can't afford to be road kill on the information superhighway' and yet many of us are still only at half-speed on that highway and the juggernaut of the next generation is catching up on us.
Your website today can potentially reach a global audience and with the advances of technology in this space allows us to do many more things than were possible even 3 years ago. We need to be using the Web to have a dialogue with our customers and not just a monologue.
We need to review our businesses to see what aspects of them can be done on-line - both to increase the speed and quality of our services and reduce our costs. We need to look at collecting lists of new potential clients (ethically) and then using the technology to take most of the work out of initial prospecting for us. We should look at creating 'client communities' through social networks that help us become facilitators and the network hub for our client and customer needs.
We have a responsibility to inform ourselves as to the technology and the potential that the Web and increased speeds of access to it can provide for us. The Web has gone mobile too adding an additional dynamic. This is not an option - this is a fundamental need to remain business critical.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Selling Smarter 4 - Sell Holistically Not Sequentially
What do I mean by this?
Simply that too many sales professionals have a single product or service focus. They think and act sequentially - in a series of singular steps.
If we are committed to 'service' being the root of selling then we should consider developing more holistic attitudes to our clients. Who else is involved in the business and needs to know that I'm servicing the business with an existing solution but can provide others? Have I had my existing contact draw a map or flowchart of the firm indicating where everyone is and who other potential decision-makers might be?
What am I doing about working as an advocate for my client - a true business partner? When did I last refer business to him/her? When did I last do something that made them look good in the eyes of their company or clients?
Am I the 'networking point' for their business needs? Just because I can't provide the solution shouldn't mean that I don't maintain a database of other (non-competing and quality-focused) service providers and then I suddenly become the peson who always gets the first phone call when there's a need - because I have become the '(wo)man who can' for their business.
Think about it. Sell holistically and add more value to your (and their) bottom-line.
Simply that too many sales professionals have a single product or service focus. They think and act sequentially - in a series of singular steps.
If we are committed to 'service' being the root of selling then we should consider developing more holistic attitudes to our clients. Who else is involved in the business and needs to know that I'm servicing the business with an existing solution but can provide others? Have I had my existing contact draw a map or flowchart of the firm indicating where everyone is and who other potential decision-makers might be?
What am I doing about working as an advocate for my client - a true business partner? When did I last refer business to him/her? When did I last do something that made them look good in the eyes of their company or clients?
Am I the 'networking point' for their business needs? Just because I can't provide the solution shouldn't mean that I don't maintain a database of other (non-competing and quality-focused) service providers and then I suddenly become the peson who always gets the first phone call when there's a need - because I have become the '(wo)man who can' for their business.
Think about it. Sell holistically and add more value to your (and their) bottom-line.
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