All posts by Peter Holland

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What do your customers ‘Really’ want?

The 4 Keys to Creating Lifetime Clients

We are in the midst of a sales revolution. Customers’ needs and wants are changing rapidly.

So what are they saying they really want from you?

I’ve discovered from hundreds of 1-2-1 interviews with customers that there are several key behaviours and personality characteristics that senior decision makers are looking for in their account manager, regardless of product or sector.

I’ll be glad to know what they don’t want is slick PowerPoint presentations, manipulative language techniques or sales spiel!

It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing the majority of your time on winning new business to the detriment of good account management.

Remember our primary goal should be to develop a happy customer base. Ones that

  • Are not just willing to buy more products but
  • Willing to refer you to other parts of the business & industry too.
  • Ones that are early adopters of your new technology and products.
  • Evangelisers of your solution & frequently tell peers and friends.

How are these types to customer created? 

  • Excellent service from their Account Managers.
  • Exceptional Product & Customer Experience.
  • They are involved in your R&D development.
  • You are happy for them to be interviewed by the media to share your story.

What do your customers really want from you?

1. Trust.
They want you to be professional.
a)    Today’s sales revolution means over 90% of customers will check you out online and expect social proof before approaching you. Is your website visually appealing and easy to consume?
b)    The initial contact, is your response prompt, friendly, helpful and does it move them forward to the next step effectively?
c)    Vital is the face to face meeting. Do you show good preparation? Ask quality questions and actively listen? How is your follow up? Prompt & reliable?
d)    Finally and most important do you provide good consistent account management to enable real loyalty.

2. Reliability.
They want you to listen, understand them and then take action.
a)    Forget emailed customer surveys. Create real communication channels that allow for continuous two-way dialogue. Use personal telephone surveys touching on the areas of concern, areas where you are doing well and specific points for improvement are much more valuable.
b)    Understand how they like to be communicated with, email or telephone, when and with what frequency?
c)    Provide clear service level agreements on lead-times, deliveries or quotations.
d)    Create an on-line customer community so they can add their comments and see their feedback being acted upon. This creates engagement and significantly increases their motivation to contribute and give feedback regularly. They can see their opinion is important and used to continually improve your service and the products created.

3. Consistency.
They need you to be Consistent.
Living in an age of social media with customer review sites ever more popular has meant companies and individuals can no longer provide poor service without it being made very public.
Therefore creating a great customer experience that is consistent and reliable has never been more powerful or valuable.
So what is consistency from your customer’s viewpoint?

  • The regularity of your communication.
  • A great user experience all the way from the receptionist to sales, engineers and delivery / installation teams.

4. Expert Advice.
They want an Account Manager to add value when they interact with them:
Your customers want you to take the time to know them well. This is not simply about trying to sell them more products. But rather getting a deeper more meaningful connection to them that is based on understanding their problems and how you solve them.

  • Engendering loyalty and unsolicited proactive promoting of your products and service to colleagues & peers.
  • It goes beyond a customer & supplier interaction and becomes an opportunity to co-innovate.
  • They bring you into strategic planning, value your opinion & insights. So you are viewed as an extended member of their internal team.’

In small and bigger ways their sales person looks to find ways to add value throughout the entire sales process.

  • “I found this white paper on the issue we were discussing and I thought it might be of interest.”
  • “We have an industry expert in town next week and I was wondering if you’d like to meet them for coffee and chat about your product? They’d certainly like to hear your opinion too on our new range.”
  • “I’d love to share some insights on the best applications of this solution using relevant case studies to highlight how difficult challenges were overcome with successful results.”

So what can you do?
These four behaviours and personality characteristics are the ones senior decision makers are looking for in their account manager, regardless of product or sector.

So ask yourself: Which areas do you excel and which are those where you have room to improve? Now pick one or two areas from the list to of behaviours to start actively focusing on to raise your game.

Now you have the four ingredients for creating Customers for Life, delivering them what they want but more importantly what they really need.

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Don’t be a quotation Hamster!

Over the last three weeks I’ve had meetings with several Managing Directors and Sales Directors and a similar issue keeps coming up.

“We have loads of inquiries coming in and our sales people and running to keep up with the quotations, but we are seeing a drop in project wins!”

As the market becomes more active, more quotation requests come in and it is easy to see the time previously spent on project tracking being lost. Unfortunately this is a key issue because if you and your sales team do not have a clear focus on qualifying project opportunities you can quickly find yourself on a Hamster Wheel churning out quotes for people while previously qualified projects in your pipeline get neglected. Without proper follow up and follow through the quality of information on these projects starts dropping significantly and more importantly so does your conversion rate.

Another issue to exacerbate the problem is that once you neglect your project tracking and follow up work you allow your competitors an opportunity to get in on the projects. Often causing you to play catch-up to get back in pole position and often forcing you to try and break the specification by offering lower pricing which hits your margins badly!

So what can you do? Two things.

  1. Focus your efforts on creating project specifications that are a good fit for your products and get involved in projects earlier rather than later.
  2. Self-discipline. Everyone in the sales team needs to be crystal clear what type of projects are best for your company and product and how to qualify these opportunities early on.

Qualify before quoting… so you can prioritize where you should spend your time and let your top 10 ‘must win’ projects be the focus of your efforts, these are the ones that really count and if you’ve done the hard work up front to create the specification you don’t want to lose focus on winning them.

Check out this short video that highlights the 5 top forecast killers and how to avoid them: Where Are You Focusing Your Sales Management Efforts

Are you meeting resistance to your proposals?

Discover the fundamental reason clients won’t say Yes!

Many sales and business professionals wonder why after having a seemingly productive meeting they meet resistance to their proposals and a lack of enthusiasm to commit to taking things forward from their prospective client.

Meeting Resitance 14.7.16 Blog shutterstock_337551491

Obviously, there can be a number of reasons for this, however one fundamental reason is that the client does not see how your product or service can help them solve their specific problems.

Why may this be?

Often it stems from our lack of investigation into their personal situation and their real issues. It’s all too easy to hear the client mention an area of concern or interest and immediately rush to provide a solution or demonstrate our own capability in this area.

Especially if we are experienced, this is an easy trap to fall into as we probably have seen a similar situation before!

So what’s the problem with doing that?

Well, you may have extensive experience and even have an excellent solution in mind, but that is not enough.  Let’s illustrate this:

Imagine for a moment walking into your GP’s office. Before you have a chance to tell him about your symptoms he whips out his pad and starts writing you a prescription…saying ‘Don’t worry Mr Holland I know your problem I’ve seen it before in a number of cases recently with men your age.

How would you feel?

Would you be confident in the solution provided?

Would you feel he had taken the time to understand your condition properly and…Would you be keen to accept the advice given and medication prescribed?

The problem lies in the fact that too little investigation into the client’s situation has been done. They see your solution as just that, it’s YOUR solution… too generic and not specific to their personal situation and needs. Even if you have got the right solution for them! Unfortunately, you will meet with resistance in them accepting the advice or solution given.

How can you overcome this situation and allow the client the opportunity to share ownership for any potential solution?

Firstly, fully investigate their situation, gently probe which areas they are happy with and what challenges they really face with questions such as……

Why do you think this area is a challenge for you?

Then be quiet and ACTIVELY listen. Their comments are the answers you are looking for and determine the direction for the conversation to follow.

By confirming back your understanding of the situation you make sure you have understood correctly. Secondly, you demonstrate to your client that you have actually taken the time to listen to them in detail and this builds confidence and trust.

Now you know the areas of concern you need to find out where they feel they are currently in resolving them…by asking.

Do you already have an idea for improving this area? Or What do you think it would take to improve or solve this situation?

Now you can transition over to discussing a solution by simply saying…May I try a few ideas?

Ask…Would it help you if when you had this issue you were able to….(add your suggestion)?

Confirm back whether your suggestion would resolve the issue fully or in part? ….’’Do you think this would give you the ability to resolve the situation?’’

By investigating properly initially in the conversation and using questions to create a better solution together you will meet much less resistance  as your client has a shared ownership with you for the solution and they will be more likely to commit to moving forward with you.

Here’s what I’d like you to do in your next prospective client meeting.

Promise not to offer any solutions until you have fully investigated their personal situation.

Follow this advice in your conversations with clients and see the dramatic impact on the number of accepted proposals!

Because now your buyer has a clear picture of how your product or service will help them solve their own particular problem.

Happy Selling!

Peter Holland

 

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Are you standing on an acre of Diamonds?

5 Top ways to maximise existing talent before you start recruiting.

With the UK economy uncertain many business owners would like to hire new people, but are hesitating.

But what about your existing talent? What can you do to ensure you keep your top performers and develop new ones?

I’ve always been intrigued by a true story – with its ageless moral. The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line. He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found. Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the farm said, ‘Heck, the whole farm is covered with them’ – and sure enough it was.

The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine . . . the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on ‘Acres of Diamonds’ until he sold his farm.

Here are five top tips to find your diamonds, increase staff loyalty, retention and results.

Dedicate some time to them.

Before you try to motivate someone, it is really important to know what motivates them. Showing personal interest in people takes time and effort on your part, but the results are well worth it. Work with them to understand their preferred communication style and personality. This will really help create good communication and build long term relationships. Nigel Risner’s book ‘It’s a Zoo around here’ is an excellent resource to assist in developing communication between all sorts of different personalities in your team. So rather than emailing people surveys or profiles to fill out online spend some time improving your communication and relationships… go out of your way to speak to them personally in a relaxed informal atmosphere.

Share your Vision.

Ask them if they know what the vision is for the business? Often the answers may surprise you! If their answers are not what you were expecting, look at how and when you and your management team are communicating this vision to everyone. Make sure it is believable and compelling not just flat words hanging on the wall. And don’t forget to tell and remind them what it is!

Give them some purpose.

Now they understand the vision clearly, show them the connection between their efforts and involvement. If they do their job successfully, what does that mean for the company? Enable them to wake up each morning having a real purpose in what they do at work, and that it does make a tangible difference. Everyone can add value and has a key part to play in creating success.

Give them some room to grow.

Retaining top performers is directly linked to their personal development. Many people have long-term personal and business ambitions. However, they may not always share them with you! But if you talk to them about them, and then help them to achieve them, you will immediately gain their loyalty, and in most cases, far greater levels of retention. Is there an area of the business that they would love to get involved with or do they have some skills that you are not currently developing or using? Why not allow them to put together their own career path and training proposal showing how they could add value to the business and also achieve their personal goals? If your staff turnover currently averages at around 2 years, then why not create 4 year development plans with each of your staff, which will help them and give them more reason to stay with you for the full 4 years?

It’s essential that the person has a path of growth within your company and can gain increasing ownership. When you are hiring, actively think about what new employees’ careers will look like not just what they’ll do day to day, how they’ll fit into your structure, and whether you can create management or leadership opportunities for them in the future. Then you can revisit those conversations to determine how they can develop and take on more responsibility over the year. Helping employees grow within your company lets them know you’re committed for the long haul.

Give (and Ask for) Regular Feedback

Many people dread their yearly reviews because it’s often the only time they get any feedback, and what if they have been unknowingly doing something wrong in the 364 days since last year’s review?

When it comes to retaining talent, one tactic often found to be of vital importance is implementing informal weekly and formal quarterly check-ins. This prevents miscommunication or unclear expectations developing from both sides. So why wait till the end of the year to inform people they weren’t doing well, or not as well as they thought they were. Use these opportunities to make adjustments and mid-flight corrections to keep everyone focused and moving forward.

Don’t forget that feedback is a two-way street, so be prepared to roll with the punches when you ask for some. A leader’s willingness to have difficult conversations is one of the most underrated management skills out there, but it is only during those conversations that you get a true reading of people’s views. You can facilitate this by creating an environment that encourages everyone to speak up freely, but remember it may also require you to push for truly candid feedback on your own performance … and then be prepared to accept it gracefully!

Why not put an on-going plan in place to develop the individuals in your team? I have found this significantly increases client’s staff retention levels and helps them discover and develop talent that was already within the company just looking for an opportunity to shine.  Copyright Peter Holland 2016. All rights reserved.

What Impact Is Technology Having On Lowering Your Performance?

Yes you read the title correctly. You probably expected it to say on raising your performance.

However I’d like you to consider an opposing view.

We’re living in an age that has never had more advanced methods of communication. Email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram the list is endless, all providing excellent mediums for communicating both locally and globally.

Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 10.17.13 AMIronically, the challenge of finding time for quality personal communication and engagement with our family, friends and colleagues has never seemed more relevant, even on vacation.

Everywhere you go you see people hooked to their smart phones narrowly avoiding other pedestrians or oncoming traffic! In restaurants we sit opposite each other, browsing or texting someone else other than the person we are with.

I recently observed a young woman drop her boyfriend’s iPhone into his pint of beer. In response to his explosive reaction she simply said, “I’m here…but you’re not with me” as she calmly walked out of the bar, leaving him speechless. The lesson?

If you’re in the room. Be in the room.

Be present.

The effect of this syndrome is equally potent in business. In meetings with clients salespeople fail to gain trust, being too distracted to really listen to what the client is saying. Instead their focus is on the next point they want to make, rather than focusing on the answer the client has just given them to their question. Or worse still they have one eye checking their phone for text or email alerts mid-meeting.

In the office environment how much time is wasted by constantly checking email rather than focusing on completing a task of real value.

Often when you suggest to people that they could be more efficient and effective by checking their email less often, (4-5 times a day) they look mortified. They often reply that they need to be responsive to clients at every moment. Refusing to consider the impact that their email or text alerts have on their ability concentrate.

When Italian fabrics company Gabel restricted internal emails for a week. Managing Director Emilio Colombo wrote, “Together we will begin the following experiment, which will take us back in time to when people talked more,” declaring an “email free” week until 13 November. “We invite you not to use email for internal communications (between colleagues at the same location), in favour of a more direct and immediate contact.”

What was the result? Productivity levels rose, stress levels reduced and personal communication improved.

This highlights that our inbox is not a life support system. The last time I checked you’re not running homeland security for the Pentagon. In the majority of cases people are happy to receive a response within 90-120 mins.

And here’s the point. What could you achieve with two hours of concentrated work? 

Quite a lot actually. 

Naturally, I’m not saying technology hasn’t improved performance and productivity in many areas.

But everywhere I go I’m seeing a different reality, in terms of how humans relate to using this technology in an effective way.

My recommendation, remove the distractions. Take off call waiting, delete mobile text and email alerts for two weeks and check your voice and email only 4-5 times a day.

I’d love to hear your comments after taking this challenge, write and let me know if it makes difference to the number of valuable tasks you have been able to complete in record time.

We’re all so focused on the importance of being busy. As if busy was a medal or the goal, rather than the achievement of a worthwhile task.

Technology is an incredibly useful tool but it is only a means to an end not the end itself.

Why not try this tip I learned from a smart MD on managing your influx of daily emails.

It’s not uncommon for people to let their inbox emails pile up into the hundreds.

For other more organised folks there is the trap of creating numerous folders, one for each and every project, event or person. Initially this sounds efficient and appealing, however, frequently they find themselves spending significant time filing all their emails into a myriad of folders. Unfortunately, only to find they have to spend a frustrating amount of time looking for the emails they carefully filed away.

My tip is to create just 5-6 main folders, it reduces your time spent filing and accelerates your email retrieval.

An example of email folders:

  • Current Projects
  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Archive
  • Key Accounts

Use technology to your benefit and not detriment.

Go and enjoy your family and vacation time to the full. This ultimately is the resource that once gone you can’t reload!

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How Crucial Are the First 90 Days to Your Success?

“Why don’t more of our new recruits become real top producers?” –“we always seem to be re-hiring for the same positions…”

Does this sound familiar?

Retaining current talent and attracting new talent has a significant impact on business success.

We have seen it happen over and over where a business owner or manager will invest a lot of time in recruiting and selecting the right candidate, only to let things slip through a lack of preparation, guidance and in not establishing strong foundations with their new team member – from day one.

Therefore, if you want to make a great first day impression, make the effort to get things organised, prepared and looking as though you are ready for this person’s arrival.

From the recruitment process your new team member will have a general understanding of your business. But they are unaware of the inner workings of how you operate, the culture and how they are really expected to carry out their role on a day-today basis or where they fit into the organisation.

Coming into a new role most people have their own way of doing things, whether they realise it or not, their habits are carried over from their previous organisation- both good and bad ones, this is typical no matter what the business.

Therefore it is critical that you map out the first 90 days with clear guidelines, goals and objectives and the support structure that will enable this person to become one of your champion players. By using this initial 12 weeks wisely you can form a firm foundation for a strong working relationship with them.

No matter how skilled and talented they are no new employee can come into your business and be fully productive and effective from day one. So this can be a nervous time both for them and you. During the first week or month a lot of evaluation is going on either consciously or unconsciously…. “I have I made the right decision?”

If you map out the first 90 days, you are providing your new team member with their own personal roadmap. This helps the person feel confident and for people who want to achieve it’s a great start as they can create their own success benchmarks and monitor their own progress. By having this conversation you set clear expectations for your new team members, and it provides a platform from which to coach them and get the best performance from them. Remember too that coaching is not just about telling people where they can improve, it’s also about highlighting their strengths and showing you appreciate and value them.

Set up a daily review process during these first 12 weeks, just ten minutes at the beginning of each day to identify the priorities and manage expectations. This will enable the new team member to have the opportunity to identify what is working and what they are achieving, what challenges they have and what further training in certain areas may be needed. This process supports them and enables them to ask much better questions.

We find that something special occurs close to the end of the 90 days. All the parts of the puzzle start to fall into place and they see the whole picture.

It is only natural some of their previous job will come with them. Typically this shows up in phrases like “this is how I did it in my last job”.  The old familiar habits are comfortable and depending on the personality type they could be quite forceful in pushing that their way is the right way or certainly better than the way you are currently doing it.

Change either for a business owner or new team member is not easy, even if they are excited about their new role. But ultimately, companies are looking for results. When you find people with the right attitude and enthusiasm then results will come. This induction process allows space for letting go of old habits and time to become confident in a new way of doing things.

It is also important to induct your new person into the ‘right’ type of culture. If you don’t have a 90 day induction for new team members and demonstrate what culture you would like them to follow, they can become ‘corrupted’ by segments of the existing culture. They may join enthusiastic and inspired by your business and their new role, and begin to suggest new ideas and ways of working. Only to be met with cynicism from some of your other employees – with responses such as “we already tried that”, or “that’s not the way we do things” – quickly the new person can become discouraged and disillusioned about the possibility of creating change and reaching bigger goals. So you need to spend time sharing your vision with your new people, ensure that the environment will be receptive, enabling your new member to flourish.

The vital ingredient in getting your new champion up and running is that you set them up for success from day one and work with them closely over the first 90 day period. Based on the success of the first 90 days, you will then be able to set the next 90 day challenges and continue the process for the life-time of their employment with you.

This process is very simple but also very powerful. Ask any structural engineer how important the foundation is they will tell you it is critical and where they would invest their time to ensure they get it absolutely right.