steve herzberg

Traits of the bubbly sales rep

2009-11-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

I was out on the road doing some field coaching earlier this week with a great sales rep. She was a classic. See if you recognise the type:

In her mid to late 30’s
Excellent communication skills
Bubbly, effervescent and full of NRG
Keen to change the world overnight
Taking on far too much responsibility
Over promising and over servicing clients
No idea with time and territory management

From experience these are the reps that will burn out within 18 months at your company. They’ll leave your company and go somewhere else for a:

• Slightly better car,

• Better lap top

• A few extra $’s

18 months later, they’ll be off again.

So, why do you hire them?

1. They interview really well

2. They seem confident and determined to succeed

3. We like their attitude and positive outlook

Top 3 reasons why the bubbly rep won’t last more than 2 years with your company

1. No real process -Sales success is more about following a proven process than it is about having a bubbly personality – give me process over personality every time

2. Shocking self management -The bubbly extrovert often struggles with their self management and wastes enormous amounts of time being in the wrong place at the wrong time (CRMs won’t solve this)

3. Don’t understand relationships -Despite strong first impressions they are not true relationship builders and don’t really understand how a proper commercial relationship works

Who should you hire when looking for great reps?

Glad you asked Steve, as the biggest challenge any sales manger will face is finding great sales people.

My top 7 things to consider when hiring sales people

1. Work out what you want – Finder, Minder or Grinder – This is very important

2. Don’t place too much emphasis on their performance in the interview –it’s of fairly limited value. Dig deeper and look for their values, attitude and beliefs- seek evidence

3. Profile or psych test the sh-t out of them before they start. You wouldn’t spend 50k on a vehicle without a mechanic inspecting it first. Lift up the hood and have a good look at the engine

4. How long have they lasted in previous sales roles – people repeat patterns most of the time- people repeat patterns most of the time – did I just say that?

5. Always be looking for new sales people – if you advertise for a role you’ll attract the gypsies of sales – they are always on the move, they are probably the bottom 20% of the market

6. Allocate sufficient time in their first 3 months for you to be with them. Develop, nurture, coach and guide them when it really matters

7. Trust your gut – My wife is great at this. “I didn’t rate that guy, not sure why, just didn’t like the feel or vibe he gave out”

Your sales conference in the new year

I take a well earned rest from December 18th to January 20th. During this time I’ll be a wrestling referee on most days refereeing daily bouts between my 3 kids.

Tickets are still available if you want to watch.

If you want a hand with your sales conference in the new year please contact me in the next 2 weeks as my diary is filling up quickly for late January, February and March conferences.

I can speak or run sessions on:

What makes a great sales person
What makes a great sales manager
Getting more face to face selling time each selling day
Stop wasting your time with poor collaborators
Adjusting your selling style to match in with your customers
Why setting clearly defined goals is the key to sales success
Is fear holding you back and what to do about it
Selling to different generations – gen X, Y and Baby Boomers

Please stop them wasting their time

2009-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me when sales people are trying to win new business how many of them spend so much time selling to the wrong people on an account.

One of the biggest differences I see between the great and the average reps is how they allocate their time.

The average ones spend an enormous amount of time selling to the wrong people.

Just because someone has a certain title it doesn’t mean they have the authority or influence to purchase from you.

There are many great time wasting strategies reps can use but one of the best would have to be spending time selling to someone who has limited influence.

I have seen this time and time again over the years. It’s a complete waste of the sales reps time and your money if you are footing their wages bill.

Try a few of these questions to help work out who’s who in the zoo:

· Pablo, if you were to purchase from us how would you go about making that decision?
· Could we set up a time now for me to meet with the other people who may be involved in deciding? How often (and when) do you get together?
· Julie, can I just ask you, what’s your role in the decision making process?
· How did you organise to purchase from your current provider? Were you part of that process? Remind me again of why you went with them?
· What about Romeo, will he have some say on this or will he be influenced by you?
· How do we go about getting you set up with an account or organising a trial?
· Who else should I speak with about this?
· Why don’t we organise a trial now?

At your next sales meeting ask your reps to explain to you how they know they are selling to the right person on the accounts they are chasing.

Quick checklist for your next sales meeting:

For 5 accounts your team are chasing ask them these beauties:

1. How do they know they are selling to the right person / people?
2. Who else have they met with on the account?
3. How much influence does the person they are selling to have?
4. Who else could have some involvement in making the decision to go with us?
5. Has the person they are selling to boss met you? Why not?
6. Why haven’t they met other people on the account?
7. When will they present to the others who may be involved?
8. Why are they waiting for them to get back in touch with us?
9. What should we do next?

Leave your car keys and lap top with me as you leave today

When your reps give you that nonsense that they don’t want to tread on the person they are selling to toes, politely ask them to leave their keys and lap top with you as they leave the building.

Give them the name of a good recruiter or your competitors details. This is a lame excuse for not being hungry enough for the business.

There are plenty of ways of dealing with this as I’m sure you have told them.

Can Linkedin really win you new clients?

2009-09-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

Paul was asking in a Linkedin group about ideas on how to best use Linkedin.

Here's what I suggested.

The challenge of using Linkedin as a networking tool to grow your business is a complex one.

I have always found that it takes time to establish mutually beneficial commercial (and personal) relationships.

I see people looking for rapid results with Linkedin.

I suggest to paul try a few of these ideas:

1. Focus on what you can give rather than take. What books do you suggest? Which service providers would you recommend? What did you learn this week?

2. Be active with your network. Communicate ideas of value on a regular basis without becoming a stalker.

3. Pick up the phone or go and have a coffee with some of your best contacts. One face to to face meting is better than 20 emails or blog posts in my opinion.

4. Add your blog to your profile and blog about ideas (regularly) that would would be of interest to your network.

5. Think deeper rather than wider with relationships. Focus on your best 10 contacts and invest in those as opposed to having 986 fairly meaningless Linkedin connections.

Good luck. Be patient.

Selling in the year of the shrinking budget

2009-08-26T03:47:00.000-07:00

1% of something is better than 100% of nothing

Have you or your team heard these a few times this year

We are holding off on this until the market picks up
This has been a tough year so we aren't spending
Our budget has been slashed
We'd love to go ahead but we wont be able to get the job approved
Can we postpone this purchase until next year?
We've got a freeze on non essential spending this year

To succeed in selling in 2009 you must develop strategies for dealing with these.

I'm not denying that some of these are not genuine.

A lot of the time you here these objections (lets call them excuses) because you have failed to sell in enough value.

I'd say get hungry and work hard to bring forward the purchase. The longer you leave it, the more likely it is you'll end up with nothing at all.

Do you really understand their needs?

Do you really understand their decision making process?

Do you understand their current process, issues, agendas, the roles of the people you are selling to?

As great sales people know you can normally predict (With about 90% accuracy) what a prospect will say when you are pitching to them.

Be prepared for the above by trying some of these:

" That's OK, lets process an order now and we will invoice you next quarter "
" Fine, lets break down the payments into bite size pieces"
" How much , realistically do you think you can access at this point in time?"
" What do you suggest is a way of bringing this purchase forward?"
" With what you have to spend, lets look at still providing you with a short term solution "
" Lets look at a solution that costs you 30% less and still can assist you"
"If you had the money, from what you've seen from me, what would you spend it on?"

Practice these responses at your next sales meeting. Modify them to suit your business.

Get hungry. As Billy Joel says, " Don't let a good thing slip away "

You have to be cruel to be kind

2009-08-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that it’s the poor sales reps that cause you so many headaches?

13 of my favourite excuses from poor performing sales reps

Poor reps develop a pretty good list for why they are not hitting their numbers.

See if you recognise any of these:

1. Personal or family health issues
2. Our price is too high
3. The market has changed
4. The GFC has kicked in and people are holding off their purchasing decisions
5. Those customers are going through a restructure at the moment
6. It’s hard to get appointments at the moment, everyone’s too busy
7. The leads I’m getting from telesales / telemarketing are rubbish
8. The decision maker is not available every time I call
9. I’m waiting on marketing to provide me with more materials
10. I’m still waiting to hear back from them
11. I don’t want to hassle them
12. They are happy with who they currently use
13. This is a poor territory that hasn’t been properly looked after for a long, long time

4 groups you should spend more time with

I think the hardest decision you make as a sales manager each day is how to allocate your time.

Your NRG vampires will drain you. Spend a lot less time with them.

Remember the song by Nick Lowe – Cruel to be kind.

It may be cruel, but really aren’t you just being kind, if you ignore them.

You are helping them to accelerate their career development. Ideally working for your best competitor.

Hang them out to dry. If they really want to be successful they’ll lift.

If you spend too much time with them you’ll run out of NRG pretty quickly.

I suggest spend more time with these groups:

1. Your best performers – Convert them from Good to Great

2. Reps who have the right attitude, a willingness to learn, but may be lacking in the skills

3. Potential reps for your team – Go and have a coffee with someone you’d like to have joining your team

4. Your customers – ideally whilst you are out on the road, coaching your best reps and your emerging stars

So before you leave today, organise to double your coaching with your best 3 performers and half your coaching with your duds over the next month.

Getting back in front of your clients

2009-08-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

Ruth set up over 100 appointments last month.

This is a great effort and shows what can be done when you get focused on what you want. She's also a credit to New Zealand. She beat all the Aussies she was up against.

She won a Borders voucher from NRG Solutions for being the best performer.

I love a good contest for sales people.

Ruth works as an area sales manager for adventure travel company Kumuka.

She knows she needs to be in front of as many of her clients as possible each week.

The challenge for Ruth and her team is when she calls to set up appointments , her clients often say

" There's no need to see me this month, we're OK at the moment ."

Like any great sales person you need to be creative to get back in front of your clients:

9 ideas for getting back in front of your clients

1. We have something new that I have to show you. It's amazing
2. I'd love your feedback on something
3. My turn to buy you lunch / coffee / breakfast
4. I have a referral opportunity for you we should discuss
5. I left my wallet in your office last week (the George Costanza technique)
6. I haven't met your new staff member yet and want to train them / show them
7. I want to discuss a joint promotion with you and get your thoughts about it
8. My new boss would like to meet you - He's single and very good looking
9. I'd like to do a proper price comparison with you, it's easier to explain this face to face

What's your best tactic for getting back in front of existing contacts?

Sales Management

2009-08-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

How much time are you spending searching for great people?

I went to a talk last week about leadership in business. The piece of content that really caught my ear was around great sales managers and what they are always doing.

The success of your business is all around getting the right people. We all know this, yet how much time are you spending working on finding them?

A couple of the key take aways for me were:

1. View recruitment as a process not a transaction. As a sales manager, you need to be constantly searching for great people. Find them, wine them and dine them. Stick with them. Let them know you want them on your team. Finding great people takes time. Build your network and allocate time for ongoing recruitment.

2. The poor performers (in sales) are always scanning the job ads. The good performers are not actively looking. You need to get active to get to them.

3. Build a culture that will attract great people to your team. If you think you have a great culture now, ask yourself why more people aren't ringing you up to join your team?

4. Keep coaching them once they come on board. The best way to keep your best people is to invest in them. Watch what happens to them as you invest your efforts in to them. The returns can be amazing.

Have a look here for some of my favourite questions an MD should be asking their sales managers.

Coaching speakers for conferences

2009-08-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

The actor Michael Caine was once asked by Michael Parkinson who have been some of the toughest competitors he has faced throughout his career? His answer was:

" You don't compete with your peers, you only compete with yourself. You have to ask yourself did I do it better than last time?"

Nothing could be truer in the world of corporate speaking.

Earlier this week Melony and I completed our speaker coaching program for the Microsoft tech Ed speakers. www.microsoft.com.au/teched

Webinar to kick off the coaching

The program kicked off a few weeks ago with a short sharp webinar for the speakers. This helped the speakers get a better understanding of how we can best assist them.

The webinar included content on:

Structuring a presentation

Handling questions

Telling effective stories

Maintaining audience engagement

Personal delivery skills

Building effective slides

As the coaches Mel and I needed to ensure that we allowed each individual to really fulfill their potential. Remove any roadblocks that may be restricting them as speakers.

What we asked the speakers to focus on:

There were a few key take away messages from the speaker coaching program this year. We really put the onus on the speakers to work hard at:

Using real stories from their own experiences to highlight their messages
Providing evidence or proof that their ideas will have traction
Inspiring their audiences to take the next step and find out more
Looking out for props to use to illustrate their points
Engaging their audience with a powerful hook and some compelling reasons to tune in
Thinking about the types of questions they could receive and preparing appropriate answers
Letting their natural style flow through their presentation
Packaging their content in an engaging and free flowing fashion
Having a clear and well thought out call to action or next steps
Using humour at appropriate times

Some of my thoughts on coaching

The more I coach experienced speakers the more I realise a lot of your success is about getting out of the way of the speaker.

Asking them a range of questions can help them to identify for themselves what would work best for them.

There is no right way or wrong way to deliver a presentation. You just have to ask yourself are you really giving it your best shot?

An effective coach will help a speaker to consider other options and provide effective and timely feedback to them.

One of the key skills in coaching speakers is in adapting your coaching style according to whom you are coaching.

The GROW coaching model

I like to use the GROW model in coaching sessions. In fact I love it.

This is a way of asking the coachee a series of questions.

G = Goal - What are you hoping to get out of this session?
R = Reality - Where are you placed at the moment?How much work have you already done?
O = Options - What are some options we should consider?
W = What next - What are the next steps between now and your presentation?

To get a better understanding of coaching please click here.

Click here to see my top 10 tips for delivering great presentations

One tip for better coaching

To become better at coaching you need to coach, a lot.

If there is one tip I could give to most coaches, it would be this.

" Ask more questions and listen more effectively "

As Michael Caine suggests the real battle for speakers is more with themselves than it is with their peers.

Laser like focus or should you take more shots?

2009-06-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

To survive as a sales professional in a tough economy you have to decide which way to go?

On the one hand you can argue a case that you should chase down more opportunities because the economy is slower. Widen the top of your sales funnel to ensure you end up with at least the same results as last year. Make more calls, do more meetings, ask for more referrals. Less will be converted, so more shots will help you hit your numbers.

On the other hand it can be argued that you should sharpen your focus. Spend more time working on the opportunities that are most likely to be converted. Be like Bruce Lee. Have laser like focus. Hone in on your very best opportunities and don't waste your valuable time chasing low probability deals.

I guess it depends on what your selling and to whom.

Whatever you do , don't waste your selling time on opportunities you are unlikely to convert. Use your radar and intuition to be in the right place at the right time.

Neil Rackham, author of the famous book SPIN selling favours laser like focus.

Hear and see him in action here

Structuring your presentations

2009-05-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

When you listen to the news they use a standard formula.

Start: Headlines that capture your interest
Middle: Meat on the bones of the headlines
End: Recapping the main points again

When you are structuring a presentation you can apply a similar formula.

Hook

Grab your audience at the start by letting them know what's in it for them. Remember it's not about you, it's all about them. You have to know your audience to be successful as a presenter.Let them know who you are and find a way of building rapport with them. People tend to be more easily influenced by people who are like them. Build common ground. Reduce difference. Get them enthusiastic about what you will be covering.

Structure

Let them know how long you will be presenting for and what you will be covering. You might suggest they hold their questions until the end as well. Suggest people turn off their phones. Let them know you will email through a copy of your slides to anyone who may want them.

Then tell them a great story that is relevant and linked to your content.

Present your content in the best order for your audience. 3 key messages is normally enough. Go with your best piece of content first. You decide the best way to structure your messages. Use examples, quotes, simple graphs, great images. Tell real stories.

Summarise and draw it all together. Handle the questions beautifully.

Finally recommend the next steps. When, how, who. Show of hands? Who's in? Who needs a bit more time?

Thank them for their time and their feedback.

So just recapping the main points again.

When you present, have a strong beginning that engages your audience, a clear middle that outlines your points and arguments and a great ending leading to actions.

Doing business with people of influence in your community?

2009-04-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

I was having lunch with an old friend yesterday. He has recently commenced business as a mortgage broker. It's a tough market to get started in.

We got talking about how he could grow his network and referral base. We started discussing all the people in his local community he is doing business with on a regular basis.

This list quickly grew to include:

The bottle shop
The service (petrol) station
His mechanic
His wife's mechanic (the cheaper one)
The corner store
The local cafe
The local bank
His Hairdresser
His Accountant

Most of these people don't know what he does for a living.

A few things crossed my mind.

1. You can't sell a secret

2. Most people like to do business with people they like and trust

3. Start developing relationships with these people / local suppliers

4. Most people working within a community like recommending other people within a community to do business with.

Community is king in tough economic times. Focus on your local community. Support your suppliers.

Don't forget to let them know what you do for a living. You might also inform them that most of your business comes from referrals from within your community.

Developing relationships takes time. Start off by spending time with the people you want to develop relationships with.

Sales pipelines - Plugging your leaks

2009-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

I was doing some work last week with a team who are not very good at following up on opportunities that are in their sales pipeline. This is costing them thousands of $'s every month in missed commissions

Sales Managers love looking at pipelines. They think this helps them to predict what may be coming up in future business.

Of equal importance to what is going in to your pipeline is how are you plugging your pipe for leaks?

Stop the pipe from leaking

If you want to plug your leaks you need discipline and strong follow up systems. In Business to Business selling today's sale is based on your activity levels over the past 3-6 months.

The best sales people I work with have high activity levels, but more importantly they are great at plugging leaks. They know:

Who to follow up with
How to ensure they dont forget to follow up at the right time
How to position their follow up meeting, call, SMS, twitter or email
When to follow up

If you want to more successful in sales I suggest double your follow up efforts. It doesn't matter what system you use, as long as it works.

Double your follow up and I predict you'll half the number of leaks in your pipe.

Each day I suggest you should aim for 10 people you can be following up with. These should be in your CRM, diary , notebook, blackberry or whatever you use to track your movements.

Jeffrey Gitomer knows a bit about all of this. Check him out here: http://www.gitomer.com/

Presentation Skills - Answering questions

2009-03-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

Watch how skilled presenters answer questions

"I can't really comment on that , but what I can say is this.... "

Have you ever noticed how experienced presenters can effortlessly glide from the question to the answer?

It's like watching a bird land on a skinny branch. Something appearing complicated and threatening made to look effortless.

What experienced presenters do is utilise a variety of techniques to make the complex seem simple. You can try them.

These include:

Be clear on what you want to say prior to be asked questions. Use transitions to get you out of any tight spot. "I'd love to comment on that, but in fact what I really want to stress is this..."

or

"I can't totally agree with that comment but what I can say is this....."

Allow time to let the question land (say 2 seconds) . Accept the question non verbally (head nodding, smiling) and then verbally.

"Thanks for that question Julie, it's something that often comes up when I present on this topic"

Repeat or rephrase the question if need be to allow you time to gather your thoughts.

Answer the question, use someone else in the room to answer it or defer the answer depending on the circumstances.

Above all else , stay calm and relaxed. You only have to look at a presenter to tell if they know their stuff.

Keep your answers relatively brief and prepare for the types of questions you could receive and some potential answers prior to any presentation you give.

Oh, one final thought. If you don't know the answer, mention that you need to look into that and will come back to them. It isn't a crime not to know everything about a topic.

Check out this article for some more tips on presenting and how to persuade an audience.

http://www.nrgsolutions.com.au/index.php/steve-herzberg/steve-herzberg-articles/

Does sales training work?

2009-03-06T01:35:00.000-08:00

How do you know if sales training will work?

Why do companies invest so much money in something that can be so difficult to measure?

What proof really exists that it will work?

The above 3 questions are not easy to answer. I often say to my clients if you were a racehorse trainer and had 10 horses to train how would you decide to invest your time and money? Would you allocate 10% of your time to each horse or would it be better to allocate the majority of your time to the top 2 or 3? Maybe get rid of the non performers or send them off to the fair ground to give pony rides to little children.

What to consider when developing sales people

Positive Attitude
History of embracing new ideas
Willingness to learn
Can handle rejection
Strong desire to succeed for a variety of reasons (cash flow / debt / status / ego )
Proof that they are adopting the changes you are working on
Results - How long do you give them before you let them go?

For more on high performing sales people and the importance of handling rejection click here

What do you think about sales training? Do you think it can make a difference?

The problem with vested interest

2009-02-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

If a person who provides financial advice for a living is telling you it would be a good idea for you to meet with them to discuss your financial situation, should you meet with them?

What about a Real Estate agent mentioning that now is a good time to be looking at selling your home?

Or how about the stock broker who is happy to inform us the market has bottomed out and there are great bargains to be had?

The issue of vested interest always puzzles me. The question is, are you really interested in me and my needs or are you more interested in what you have to sell me?

At NRG Solutions we sell Corporate Training Solutions to our clients. I could tell everyone now is the best time to be investing in their staff because:

To have the edge on your competitors it's critical to develop and motivate your people in a slowing economy.
Morale may be low and the best way to get people focused is to show them they matter by investing in them.
There are great opportunities in this market to win new business as so many companies look to trim costs. Your people need to capitalise on these opportunities and need the skills and the hunger to go out and be effective .

You probably wouldn't believe me because I have a vested interest in the outcome.

So what, I hear you say and how do I get around this?

Get people who don't have a vested interest to make the recommendations and watch what happens to your business.

How do you get that to happen? Try hard work, great results and a focus on fulfilling other peoples needs.

Free sunscreen for every home in Australia

2009-01-25T23:27:00.000-08:00

Why isn't an allocation of free sunscreen provided to every home in Australia every summer?

( We receive the Yellow Pages every year and never request them. )

I know that people may choose not to apply the sunscreen, but surely it would reduce the chances of people going unprotected in the sun.

Whilst I'm at it, shouldn't local councils employ people to walk up and down the beaches and offer sunscreen to any one who wants it?

Health care costs would surely be reduced in the long term with a proactive approach to skin cancer as opposed to knee jerk reactions.

If you have an answer to the above let me know.

What else do you think should be provided free to every family every year?

Are you successful?

2009-01-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

Why are some blogs more successful than others?

I read Seth Goddins blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ most days and like it for 4 reasons.

He challenges me to think about how I interact with my customers
He uses normal language not business jargon
He is a marketer with a proven track record
He is a business owner and so am I

One of my goals this year is to expand my blog readership.

This is no easy task. What do you, as the reader want to read?

Most of my work involves helping people to have a decent crack at something. I speak and coach people about sales , leadership and presenting. These are very broad subjects.

What I'm most interested in is why do some people have more of a go than others?

There are rarely short cuts to success in life.

I just read Malcolm Gladwells latest offering, Outliers. He looks for patterns in successful people.

You wont be suprised to find out that he discovered:

The environment you grew up in; A degree of luck; and persistence are all key ingredients.

What motivates you to surf the net, read blogs, go to work etc?

Why are you so successful or for that matter unsuccessful?

Are you running in the fog?

2008-12-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

How focussed are you? This little man, Zac, who happens to my son, knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. He's only 11 months old, but I'm already proud of his focus. His goals are very clear. " Feed me, change me and let me eat some toys or plants". Outside of that not much else really matters at this stage.

Most of the high performers I work with are crystal clear on what they are seeking. Ask yourself as the year draws to a close.

Do you have clarity on what you are seeking in 2009?

Are you running in the fog?

Take a few minutes to assess what you want to achieve in the next 12 months. Watch what unfolds.

I suggest you write down 5 things you would like to achieve next year and then jot down how you will go about achieving them.

One of my clients wants to ride his motorbike down the Great Ocean Road in Victoria next year.

Freud, said, "People by and large tend to become what they think of themselves". What do you think will become of you, your business and your relationships in 2009?

Who cares?

2008-12-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

Social networking tools are taking over the world.

Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, My Space. I'm trialling Linked In at present on the advice of some of the Microsoft community I know and trust. I'm more of an old school networker and prefer public speaking, the telephone and face to face to contact.

I've often wondered a few things about all of these tools:

1. Who cares about what you are thinking / doing unless you have a reason for me to care?
2. Who has the time to monitor / update these tools (this blog update took approx 15 minutes)?
3. Why don't you do some real work instead?
4. What about walking your dog or playing with your kids. Wouldn't that be a better long term investment?

Perhaps as Tony Hollingsworth mentioned to me yesterday these tools can turbo charge your networking. I'm not convinced yet, but am willing to trial them for 12 months. Like most things at NRG I'll measure the real results over time.

Share your social networking experiences with me here. If i don't get back to you I'm probably walking my dog. Come to think of it, I don't have dog.

How inviting!

2008-11-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

What a great idea! I saw this sign when I went to buy some fruit and veg today.

This is stupid for 3 reasons.

1. If I hadn't considered snapping off the stems to reduce the weight of the broccoli, you have now given me the idea.

2. How many customers will come back and shop here again after incurring the double payment fine?

3. It sets a tone or feeling for the fruit shop. It implies, " on the whole we think a lot of you are thief's and we don't like you or your attitude "

I was wondering if this is such a big deal, can't they find other ways of dealing with it?

eg: Cut the stems off before you display them and charge an extra 25c per kilo. If customers think your broccoli is too expensive they are probably not your ideal customers.

Or, offer to cut the stems off at the checkout to reduce the total weight. This will leave the customer with a feeling of appreciation.

What about change the sign to say, " Snap off the stems if you want, but we'd rather you didn't as it we don't want to ban you from our shop "

Drop the sign altogether and except that a small percentage of shoppers will snap off the stems. Does it really matter that much?

After I left the fruit shop, with my broccoli and it's heavy stems, I went to the bank. A smiling girl met me as I walked in and offered me a little wrapped sweet from a basket. Nice touch.

Think about the messages you are sending out to your customers / staff / patients / every time you communicate with them.

Selling in a slowing economy

2008-11-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

5 strategies for growth in a tough market

I’ve often said to sales teams I work with if you can’t really sell you should get a job in the post office, or perhaps the library.

When the economy is bubbling along the old adage about being in the right place at the right time will always ring true.

This blog shows you 5 strategies that will ensure you can weather the storm as the economy rapidly slows.

Who wouldn’t be able to make a few dollars as a mortgage broker in a strong housing market? What about selling real estate in the same market? Not too tough. When the stock market is hot and everyone is trading it must give you a sense of comfort to know that the calls and the orders will keep coming in. How about being a financial planner when people are flush with funds and the superannuation laws change every 3 years?

You’ve probably noticed in the past 6 months that the economy is shifting. Customers are becoming more demanding. Purchasing decisions are taking longer to make, even avoided. Your customers will still need to buy products and services but perhaps not as many as last year.

They may not be as flush with funds now as they were over the past 10 years.

Now is really a great opportunity to try and ascertain if you really are cut out for selling. Get through the next few years and you know you are in the right profession.

At NRG Solutions we sell a service, primarily its professional development. You could argue it’s a non-essential spend in a tight economy. Many of my prospects and clients are doing a good job of positioning this with me at present! Obviously I beg to differ, but I’ll cover that in more detail in my next article.

Selling and surviving in a tight market – 5 strategies you must apply

1. Focus on selling additional value

You’ve probably recognised that your customers will have become more discerning. They are on the lookout for discounts and deals. I’d argue they still need to purchase your products or services, although probably in smaller volumes.

In a tight market they may be more inclined to push harder for discounts or extended trading terms. By all means consider those options. Over and above sell value. If you are nothing more than a talking brochure then your time is limited. Buyers have a multitude of purchasing options that didn’t exist in the past. These include buying on line, 1800 numbers and purchasing through resellers. You need to offer real business value. The best way to do this is to try and understand your customers. What are their real needs? Where are their issues? Ask questions, observe, listen and take notice of how they operate. It’s the best way to provide real value.

Examples of additional value would include:

v Additional in-office or in-store training at no additional charge
v Email and telephone support included as part of the initial project or purchase
v Providing on-site support and access to specialists
v Upgrades to later versions as part of the initial purchase
v Add on services (seminars, related products, etc) bundled into purchases

2. Widen the top of your funnel

Depending on what you sell, you will notice in a tight market that your conversion ratio will be dropping. In a strong economy you may win 70% of the projects you quote on. Pitch for 10 jobs and you’ll win 7. To win 7 new jobs in a tough market, you may need to pitch for 20. Your conversion ratio will almost certainly be a lot lower.

When the going gets tough, you will need to take more shots to achieve the same results.

Michael Jordan argued that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. You will need to take more shots in a tight market.

Consider how you can use technology to help you take more shots. Change your phone plans so you are not paying excessive amounts to make more calls. Refine and improve your database. Create email newsletters of value. Make more quality calls more often. Ask existing satisfied customers for referrals.

3. Develop some great objection handling techniques

You know you will be hearing plenty of these comments:

v “Now’s not the right time, money is tight”
v “Things have slowed down a bit at present”
v “We’ve actually got a freeze on non-essential spending at present”
v “We’re cutting back in that area”

Like a boy scout, a true sales professional will always be prepared.

Plan well in advance how you will be responding to these sorts of comments. I’ve been trying a few of the following responses and have been having some success.

“That’s ok – let’s only do a smaller part of the project at this stage”
“I’ll do the work now and invoice you next quarter”
“How can we find funding for this? What other budgets could be accessible?”
“What do you suggest we should do to get things started?”
“Have a complimentary place this time. It’s the least I can do”

4. Focus on strengthening existing relationships

The reality is that when the market gets tight your best opportunities will exist with the clients who are already purchasing your products or services. Spend time with these accounts and focus on how you can further strengthen the relationship.

This could involve extending terms and conditions, drawing up a preferred pricing agreement, perhaps collectively sitting down together and working out the best way to work together in this economy. The chances are they are feeling the pain as much as you are.
Recognise their loyalty and reward it. These are the accounts you cannot afford to lose so don’t let your competitors get under your radar. Invest appropriately and put enough bricks in the wall to stop these accounts from escaping and to ensure against competitor activity.

5. Invest in yourself

I’m probably biased on this one as this is the core of our business. I’d say the 2 best things you can invest in would be:

1. Yourself
2. The key relationships in your life

By investing in yourself you will remain in touch with fresh ideas. Keep yourself sharp and focused by reading widely, attending relevant programs and continually working on strategies for business and personal growth. Transfer these ideas back to your customers and you start to create real business value (see point 1).

If you are not growing and developing as an individual, then I’d say you are of limited value to your customers in the long term. Pablo Cassals (Google him) was asked at the age of 95 why he was still practising the cello for 20 minutes a day.

His answer? “Because I’m still making progress.”

Summary

Stop talking about how it’s getting tougher. Do something about it. Get busy with lifting your activity levels and deepening your relationships with your best accounts. Be prepared and be creative about how you deal with standard objections. You need a plan and you can’t expect to achieve the same results in this market by applying the same approach you took in a strong economy.

“If you change nothing, nothing changes”

November 26th - Free pizza and soft drink

2008-11-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Building your contacts

I'm speaking this wednesday evening at (6.30pm) Microsoft in Sydney, about networking skills for developers.

Most geeks will be thinking great, unsecured or secured? Reality is it’s all about how developers can build up their network and contacts to help them grow their business and raise their own profile.

I suggest that a good start would be come to this exciting session and invite along a client or supplier.

In a highly engaging presentation I'll be be covering:

· How to get the most out of attending an event
· Why it’s so important to build your network
· Appropriate behaviour at a function or networking event
· Building rapport with people who are different to you
· Tips for starting conversations with people you don’t know
· How to remember people’s names
· Are you a stalker - the rules on staying in touch with new people you meet
· What to do when you are NOT connecting with someone at a function
· Steps for becoming a better networker
· Old school ideas versus new school networking (social networking tools)

For more information email Craig Bailey 'craig@craigbailey.net'.

Networking - Notice the word work

2008-11-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

Network – notice the word “work”?

If you met one new person every day, stayed in touch with them and you introduced them to other people over time, then you would probably become the best networker in Australia. There are two simple ways to change your life – the books you read and the people you meet. Great networkers are always focused on meeting new people.

This Christmas, as you entertain your loyal clients and wonder whether you will be working with them again next year, consider this: “Are you putting the work into building your network”? Notice the word “work” in network? It’s not called “net easy”, or “net no worries”, it’s called “networking”.

Anyone who's been in business for a while knows we like doing business with people we know and trust. For many of you it’s not easy getting out of your comfort zone and meeting new people. One lesson I have learnt in life is that your network will be closely linked to your networth.

What do great networkers do?

The best networkers I have met display most of the following traits:

· They are interested in people and finding out what makes them tick
· They don’t like talking about themselves, but can do, confidently, if need be
· They are excellent at remembering names and little details about people
· They make an effort to stay in touch with new contacts
· They make an effort to link others and provide referrals
· They ask interesting questions, probe and actively listen
· They turn up, a lot (they apply the Woody Allen rule – 80% of life is just turning up)
· They read widely and get involved with different associations and groups
· They speak at events
· They embrace social networking tools

If you want to assess your own networking skills mark yourself between 0 and 10 for each of the above.

10: You do it all the time
5: You’ve thought about doing this, occasionally
0: You never do it

Guidelines for events

Good to attend, better to host, best to be the speaker. I’ve wasted a lot of money, myself, over the years by attending events and not applying some basic networking principles. I’ve learnt from my mistakes.

Here are a few simple guidelines for events.

Don’t attend an event if you can’t answer these 4 questions about yourself:

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. How does that help your clients?
4. What’s your USP?

6 event tips

1. Act like the host – it’s obvious, but hardly anyone does it
2. Try and invite someone or a few people to join you at the event - a good client, staff member, supplier, etc
3. Ask these 3 questions when meeting new people, and then probe and build on their responses: “What prompted you to come along tonight?” “What type of work do you do? Wow, sounds interesting.” “Tell me, how did you get into that type of work?”
4. Think deeper rather than wider regarding new contacts. Focus on establishing rapport with 3 people as opposed to 30
5. Introduce people to each other and look for common ground
6. Use a strategy to remember people’s names

Staying in touch

Be careful. It’s a bit like dating. Don’t be a stalker. Too soon, with follow up, and it can smell of desperation. Too often, and if it’s not being reciprocated, you’ll do more damage than good.
Maybe leave it a day or two. Send them a short email with your v-card attached. Ask them if they would be happy to be added to your distribution list.

Great networkers realise that it takes time to establish proper business relationships. If you meet someone this Christmas and they start immediately referring you work, I’d be concerned. We like to work with people we like and trust. Great networkers appreciate that networking is very different to speed dating.

Make an effort to stay in touch. How you choose to do that will vary depending on your role and people’s receptiveness to you. Don’t over-analyse this. I recommend communicating with new contacts once a quarter. Invite them to an event that you think they might be interested in. Ask if they’d like to be a speaker or guest at an event you are hosting. Find a way of staying on their radar without annoying them. Email those articles or links to sites they could be interested in.
Remember their little details and build on this - kids’ names, interests outside of work, holidays, aspirations, people they know that you know. It all helps. Google your contacts from time to time.

What next

Firstly, you have to decide you want to be a better networker. Stick with it. It takes time. You need to work at it. The rewards are enormous. Attend some events and have a plan at those events. Take an interest in people and find out as much as you can about them. Make an effort to build your contacts. Aim for a certain number per month of new, meaningful contacts. As a starting point, I suggest try for one new contact per week.

Recommended reading

Get More Referrals Now - Bill Cates
Swim with the sharks without being eaten alive - Harvey Mackay

Stand up and be counted

2008-11-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago I did 15 minutes of stand up comedy for the first time. Wow was it scary. It was to help raise money for a school. I only did it because I wrote down that I should try it this year as one of my goals. Goal setting is very powerful.

A few things took out of my first stand up experience

It was great to get out of my comfort zone
It was shit scary getting out of my comfort zone
Presenting to a business audience and getting a few laughs is very different to being introduced as a comic and having the expectation on you to make them laugh
I really enjoyed being in the moment when I was up on stage
Tailoring content for the audience was a very similar experience to presenting
Writing the content is tricky - write a lot and keep editing
Memorising the lines and delivery is harder
I now have even higher respect for great comedians
I can sense like most things, there's a success formula the great comedians use
Practicing standing up, whilst driving, in the shower and doing little run throughs were really important for me and helped a lot
Getting smooth segways is no easy task
Using comic props can help add impact

Now I've got the bug I'm on the lookout for my next appearance.

How persuasive are your presentations?

2008-01-20T01:59:00.000-08:00

We ran the first 2 days of a 3 day course last week for a client on how to Present With Confidence.

In my opinion ,the reason most presentations are remarkably ineffective is they lack the 3p's. Punch, Persuasion and Passion. They are too vanilla.

Consider this when you present. Are you trying to persuade, inform or entertain ? If you want to be persuasive your need to incorporate the following into you presentations:

Statistics to give you legitimacy
Value - Understanding the audiences needs and addressing them
Developing relationships prior to and post the presentation
Using reference stories , examples, metaphors and anecdotes in appropriate places
Pain - have you built enough to get them to change

If you change nothing , nothing changes.

Trying to change the thoughts and belief systems of an audience is no easy task. You need a range of skills and you need to deliver your message in a very engaging fashion.

Above all else, you have to totally believe in your message. No ifs , no buts. If you don't believe in it the audience will smell your lack of conviction before you get past your first slide!

To access my top 10 tips for delivering persuasive presentations just email me at steve@nrgsolutions.com.au