I know that this has a phrase that has been beaten to death recently with regard to reporting on the recession but I thought it summed up the situation we are facing in B2B selling right now.
I had lunch with a successful senior executive last week to discuss how he was getting on with a recent role move. His job is to re-invigorate a very large sales team within a very well established firm and a very well known name. To his horror he has discovered something of great interest to all of us charged with leading the way back from the brink.
It's not just that his sales people have neither sales process nor sales relationship skills - but his sales managers don't have it either and so can't support the front line sales people. Yes folks the truth has dawned - we are dealing not just with sales people who have been order-taking and not really selling (actively acquiring and building profitable relationships) but a whole generation of sales managers have been promoted who don't have the skills of relationship or process selling either.
Traditionally sales managers were good sales people who were promoted to keep them and their sales ability within the firm. They might have traditionally lacked leadership skills but at least they had the sales skills. Many of today's generation of sales managers have neither the sales or the leadership skills - and that is the perfect storm.
I work with firms to provide a three-tiered intervention that deals with just such a scenario. if your firm is facing just such a 'perfect storm' and you'd like some complimentary guidance on how best to resolve it drop us a line here and let's talk. We've got the skills to help you ride out the storm.
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Monday, 11 May 2009
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Thank God for Recession!
I just rang my local cinema to book tickets for a show - their automatic answering service referred me to another automated answering service that informed me that it would cost 15 cent a minute for the privilege of spending my money with them. I hung up.
It's like booking airline tickets - its a great opportunity for airlines to 'do' you for a per ticket (not per booking) Visa charge of Euro6 everytime. So 4 people to fly - that's a Euro24 charge. Is somebody not getting the message here?
In straightened times when people will watch the pennies the businesses that provide you with a real person to talk to and don't use the opportunity to extort you will win the business. Time to get with the r'evolution.
It's like booking airline tickets - its a great opportunity for airlines to 'do' you for a per ticket (not per booking) Visa charge of Euro6 everytime. So 4 people to fly - that's a Euro24 charge. Is somebody not getting the message here?
In straightened times when people will watch the pennies the businesses that provide you with a real person to talk to and don't use the opportunity to extort you will win the business. Time to get with the r'evolution.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Fire Tempers Steel
Anyone else finding it tough out there recently? I'm finding it challenging getting people to make decisions around coaching and seminars. It seems like we are in the middle of a huge upheaval in business at the moment - a time of momentous change for all of us and nothing will quite be the same again. R'evolutionary.
A time of fear, nervousness and uncertainty. But also a time when ingenuity, flexbility and innovativeness will be rewarded.
When the news struck last week I was working with a group of bankers on the 7th floor of a hotel. Needless to say I made sure that the doors and windows were immediately locked! These guys did not want to be in my room learning how to coach their teams. My co-facilitator turned to me and said 'so how do we make this r'evolutionary Seán?'. Good questions..wished I'd thought of it.
So we turned the day into a practical exercise on how they were going to coach their reports on how to handle the crisis situation. By role playing they internalised the learnings - and learned from each other. Then we role played using their coaching skills to coach clients on remaining calm - I couldn't have asked for a better example of coaching the 'reluctant client'.
A friend once said to me that 'fire tempers steel' - we are being forged in the fires of chaos now. But the steel will shine through in the end. Innovate, adapt and triumph.
A time of fear, nervousness and uncertainty. But also a time when ingenuity, flexbility and innovativeness will be rewarded.
When the news struck last week I was working with a group of bankers on the 7th floor of a hotel. Needless to say I made sure that the doors and windows were immediately locked! These guys did not want to be in my room learning how to coach their teams. My co-facilitator turned to me and said 'so how do we make this r'evolutionary Seán?'. Good questions..wished I'd thought of it.
So we turned the day into a practical exercise on how they were going to coach their reports on how to handle the crisis situation. By role playing they internalised the learnings - and learned from each other. Then we role played using their coaching skills to coach clients on remaining calm - I couldn't have asked for a better example of coaching the 'reluctant client'.
A friend once said to me that 'fire tempers steel' - we are being forged in the fires of chaos now. But the steel will shine through in the end. Innovate, adapt and triumph.
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.
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Sales Sabotage
Are your support staff sabotaging your sales?
At a time of 0% growth in the UK economy for the first time in 16 years, it would do sales leaders and entrepreneurs well to look at what part their administration and support staff play in either gaining or losing sales for the business.
I've just decided to move my business to a new garage. In fact, not only that but I'm prepared to significantly inconvenience myself and pay more in order to do so. Why? Because the receptionist in the previous garage was incapable of making me feel like I was a welcome customer.
After buying my new car I had several reasons (checks, some faults that needed attention, a service) to come back. Everytime that I came into the reception area I was left standing for some time in front of the receptionist while she finished a call or was speaking to a colleague. Not a 'just a moment' with good eye contact and a smile. Not an apology for being kept waiting. Not an indication that I was anything other than an inconvenience. Well, she's the inconvenience and so is the business. How much money have they lost because of this 'glitch'in the customer contact chain.
I rang another garage and was greeted by a receptionist with a pleasant voice, a clear series of questions about my car and my needs, a promise to provide a car or taxi to minimise my inconvenience - if they can manage a smile and 'hello' when I make it in - then they get my business for life.
Time to review and upskill your customer contact chain. In a time of scarcity, when the customer will again be king, we can't afford the sales saboteurs in our midst.
At a time of 0% growth in the UK economy for the first time in 16 years, it would do sales leaders and entrepreneurs well to look at what part their administration and support staff play in either gaining or losing sales for the business.
I've just decided to move my business to a new garage. In fact, not only that but I'm prepared to significantly inconvenience myself and pay more in order to do so. Why? Because the receptionist in the previous garage was incapable of making me feel like I was a welcome customer.
After buying my new car I had several reasons (checks, some faults that needed attention, a service) to come back. Everytime that I came into the reception area I was left standing for some time in front of the receptionist while she finished a call or was speaking to a colleague. Not a 'just a moment' with good eye contact and a smile. Not an apology for being kept waiting. Not an indication that I was anything other than an inconvenience. Well, she's the inconvenience and so is the business. How much money have they lost because of this 'glitch'in the customer contact chain.
I rang another garage and was greeted by a receptionist with a pleasant voice, a clear series of questions about my car and my needs, a promise to provide a car or taxi to minimise my inconvenience - if they can manage a smile and 'hello' when I make it in - then they get my business for life.
Time to review and upskill your customer contact chain. In a time of scarcity, when the customer will again be king, we can't afford the sales saboteurs in our midst.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Recession-Proof Attitude
Oil prices, sub-prime meltdown, banks in crisis, property crashes - things look tough.
There's no question that life in business is going to get tougher. But is that really a problem? Necessity is the mother of invention and when times are good there is very little innovation in business. Staff can charge high salaries and often deliver less results. In selling, less is required from sales people as the money just rolls-in from all the businesses flushed with cash.
Come the first winds of recession however and everyone starts to 'dig-in'. Businesses retrench, budgets are slashed (often reflexively) and people start to hoard their cash.
However to take an attitude of retrenchment in business and especially in selling is disastrous at a time like this. This is exactly the time to start ramping up your sales operations. Coach and train your people now in the best of relationship management techniques - how to find, engage and keep the customer. Many of your existing sales people probably have little skills in networking, influencing and closing business.
As others start to believe that there is less opportunity in the market place - this is the time when we train our sales teams in believing that there is more opportunity. The 'mind set' of the competitors removes them from the market as they fail to see opportunities that their 'attitude of loss' blinds them to.
Whatever we believe sufficiently in - we manifest. This is not psycho-babble but real psychology. Our perceptions are created by our beliefs and expectations. When we expect things to happen they often do - because the brain and our perceptions re-aligns itself with what we expect to see - thus if we see opportunity, the brain will make what opportunity there is clearly stand-out from our everyday reality.
It still means targeted, effective, sales activity is required. But with more opportunities spotted, the competitors hiding in their recession 'bunkers ' and a greater expectation of success in the minds of our sales teams - we can recession-proof our businesses.
There's no question that life in business is going to get tougher. But is that really a problem? Necessity is the mother of invention and when times are good there is very little innovation in business. Staff can charge high salaries and often deliver less results. In selling, less is required from sales people as the money just rolls-in from all the businesses flushed with cash.
Come the first winds of recession however and everyone starts to 'dig-in'. Businesses retrench, budgets are slashed (often reflexively) and people start to hoard their cash.
However to take an attitude of retrenchment in business and especially in selling is disastrous at a time like this. This is exactly the time to start ramping up your sales operations. Coach and train your people now in the best of relationship management techniques - how to find, engage and keep the customer. Many of your existing sales people probably have little skills in networking, influencing and closing business.
As others start to believe that there is less opportunity in the market place - this is the time when we train our sales teams in believing that there is more opportunity. The 'mind set' of the competitors removes them from the market as they fail to see opportunities that their 'attitude of loss' blinds them to.
Whatever we believe sufficiently in - we manifest. This is not psycho-babble but real psychology. Our perceptions are created by our beliefs and expectations. When we expect things to happen they often do - because the brain and our perceptions re-aligns itself with what we expect to see - thus if we see opportunity, the brain will make what opportunity there is clearly stand-out from our everyday reality.
It still means targeted, effective, sales activity is required. But with more opportunities spotted, the competitors hiding in their recession 'bunkers ' and a greater expectation of success in the minds of our sales teams - we can recession-proof our businesses.
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