All posts by Peter Holland

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How to Embrace Change and Thrive!

Most individuals find change uncomfortable. Don’t let fear of change stop you embracing exciting possibilities and new experiences!

We are living through a period of unprecedented change at a relentless pace. It touches millions and reaches across political, economic and geographical boundaries. In this state of constant change its only natural to want a sense of normality and security, but today’s norm will probably involve you in changing jobs, roles and companies throughout your career.

Whether it’s in their professional or personal lives many people settle for mediocre results and their ‘comfort zone’ rather than trying new experiences or opportunities in life. In the extreme, this keeps you feeling locked in a position where you are unhappy but unwilling to change. Instead of being motivated by the excitement of new experiences you will only move once the situation becomes so painful that you have little choice but to make a move before it is forced upon you.

Organisations can suffer from this same challenge. Leaders who simply want to maintain the status quo or staff who are so stuck in a rut they are unwilling to adopt advancing technology or create new value for their customers.

I’ve been fortunate to know and work with individuals and companies that continually seek out new challenges. They thrive on opportunities and embrace change. And while I’m the first to admit that things don’t always work out perfectly first time, they are much more engaged, successful and fulfilled by adopting this approach.

So, let’s discuss some of the challenges and the keys to successfully managing change.

To thrive in today’s environment requires we identify and develop new qualities and abilities to succeed.

If you’re a sales professional, you have already chosen a career most of the population are too fearful to attempt. Plus, you are willing to take responsibility and accountability for your results!

However, you are not immune from the challenges of constant change.

So, what are some challenges we all face?

Fear of not hitting your sales target.

Fear of our best salespeople resigning.

Fear your sales team will under-perform.

Fear of changing your sales strategy.

Fear of going into a new market.

Fear of introducing a new product range or service proposition.

Fear of changing to a new CRM system or fear of changing your existing sales process.

The list is endless…

Let me share a personal experience in dealing with change. For the past ten years since founding Linear Consulting I’ve had the pleasure of working with some great companies and talented individuals here in the UK and across Europe, and I look forward to continuing to do so.

But in the Spring of 2019 as a family we finally decided to make some major changes. Over the last couple of years, we’d wanted to change things up and have the opportunity to experience some new challenges.
So, we rented our home for a year, changed our children’s education to an International School and moved to Southern Spain on the border with Portugal.

I think we’ve all learned a lot in the last year and some of those lessons I believe you will find valuable in helping you thrive this year as you tackle changes both on a personal level and in developing your sales organisation.

One of the first lessons we learned is, when you attempt to make a big change you will run into a lot of people who will try to tell you why your ideas are wrong, risky or just plain stupid. Their opinions maybe founded on good motive, but often they are simply a reflection of their own comfort zone and an attempt to maintain the status quo.

Develop strong self-confidence, and a knowledge that even if things don’t go exactly to plan and trust me, they won’t. That’s ok, you will be able to find a solution and move forward.

Life is much like an airplane journey, surprisingly all airplanes are off course 99% of the time. The purpose and role of the pilot and the aircraft controls is to continually bring the plane back on course so that it arrives on schedule at its destination. In life, you are the pilot of your own plane. To reach your destination, be that top sales figures, improved health, or increased prosperity, you must get comfortable making on-course adjustments just as a pilot does.

Here are the four qualities we found invaluable.

Clear Vision.

You must first of all determine your destination. This requires clear, specific goals, written down, with plans to accomplish them for each day. If you’re a Sales Manager this means you need to have your sales strategy clearly defined with the business results you want, the sales objectives to reach them and the daily activities you want your team to focus on. Plus, the specific metrics you will use get accountability and measure performance. Now you are in an excellent position to communicate clearly these goals with your team and accurately track your progress.

Courage.

Second, you must take off toward your destination with no guarantee of success. You must be willing to move out of your comfort zone and take risks continually, even though you know that some of them will not succeed, at least at the beginning. Leading a team through this ‘zone of ambiguity’ is one of the most valuable qualities you can develop as a sales leader. As your team will need your help to move from their current state through a period of uncertainty till you reach the desired improved state.

Adaptability.

The third quality, and a real secret of success is that you must be prepared to make continual course corrections. Just as an aircraft faces headwind, storm fronts and unexpected turbulence, you will experience the same in the pursuit of any worthwhile goal. The key to success is to keep your mind fixed clearly on the goal but be flexible about the way of achievement. Be reflective and keep yourself open to feedback, look for new inputs and ideas. Learn from each experience and look for the positives in every setback or difficulty. This past year being adaptable was a real challenge. Moving to a new country, with a different culture and customs, together with learning a new language were demanding. But being both adaptable and flexible was the key to opening up some really wonderful new experiences.

Persistence.

Most of all, you must resolve in advance that you will never give up. Your ability to persist in the face of all adversity in the direction of your goal is what will ultimately guarantee your success. No other quality can match persistence, not talent or education or status. This simple resolve to keep trying has resulted in more wins than anything else. In our experiences this year we have come to learn that in other countries even simple tasks will involve a lengthy multi-step process and plenty of paperwork and bureaucracy!

At the end of the day, we make your own luck through our own hard work and determination. But the qualities we’ve discovered so essential to enjoying this experience are equally valuable to all of us undergoing change. I’m convinced that developing these qualities and skills will make you even more successful and valued in your organisation today and in a future of continual change.

So, decide upon your destination, take off, and be open to the necessity to making continual course corrections until you reach your destination in 2020 successfully.

To Your Continued Success!

Are You Struggling to Recruit Top Salespeople?

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is, “How can I recruit great salespeople?”

Many managers are struggling to find talented salespeople capable of producing the results they need.

One reason is they simply don’t have a Successful Recruitment Process in place.

Here are several tips to ensure your team is full of champions.

Recruit talent constantly.
Often the recruitment process only begins when there is a vacancy that needs filling urgently. And that is a major mistake, primarily because it causes rushed and premature hiring decisions. Managers are more conscious of filling the hole in sales figures, rather than finding the ideal candidate to join the team.
Alternatively, having an on-going proactive process in place to identify and engage top performers is the secret to hiring the best people. The best managers are constantly looking for new talent to bring into the organisation. They’re out networking and engaging with people on social media, reaching out and establishing good relationships with these salespeople long before they have a vacancy. And if someone they want is available, they will ‘create’ a position to ensure they get that talented individual onboard.
Another smart move is to set up a referral program that incentivises your best people to introduce talented new people to the firm. The great thing about this idea is that they are highly likely to introduce people they think will fit in and perform, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
Know what’s important to you.
A challenge with typical recruiting is that candidates that respond or are sent by an agency may not have the qualities or skills your organisation needs. One way to overcome this issue is to formulate a list of the key qualities you specifically want. You can do this by reviewing the individual champions already in your business. What is it that makes them top performers and fit so well into the culture? Now focus your efforts in finding more people like that. To help identify the qualities you require read Chapter 7 of The Sales Strategist – What does your ideal salesperson look like?
Interview with Purpose.
Hiring is a major decision with long term consequences, but sadly if managers ‘wing it’ with insufficient preparation at the interview stage it’s easy to lose control of the recruitment process. You need to think carefully ahead of time about which questions and exercises you will use to help identify the key qualities you are looking for. Together with mentally reviewing how these traits will be demonstrated by the candidate’s behaviours at the interview stage.
Onboarding to Create Champions.
Don’t leave anything to chance during the initial on-boarding period. This is the time when both your new recruit and you will be asking, “have I made the right decision?”. These first few weeks are pivotal in setting the tone for their relationship with you and the company. Many companies pay little attention to this process and suffer the consequences of reduced engagement and low retention. Your on-boarding process needs to support the new member through the doubts and difficulties of joining a new firm. Enabling them to quickly become comfortable and confident individuals who will stay long-term. For more specific advice on creating a solid on-boarding process read the article, https://www.linearstructure.com/how-crucial-are-the-first-90-days-to-your-success/
Coach to Keep.
No other management activity delivers stronger results. Top sales managers are skilled at coaching their teams using an ‘Asking vs Telling’ mindset. They help individuals to be more self-aware and to set their own goals and plans for improvement. This is fundamental to staff engagement and long-term retention. Smart sales organisations are investing heavily in their sales mangers development as they see a direct link between superior sales-rep performance results and their managers ability to coach professionally.

In conclusion.

Recruiting top performers is not an event. It’s a professional on-going process that will attract, recruit and retain a group of highly motivated professionals. It all starts with you putting in the time and investment to create the process and then your commitment to run it consistently. It will take hard work but not nearly as much as the alternative…now that’s something worth thinking about!

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts and ideas on successful recruiting it’s always good to share additional ideas, so drop me an email and connect at peter.holland@linearstructure.com

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Excellence is a commitment to completion

Only 10-20% of Sales Managers are smashing their sales targets.

Where is Your Team at in Terms of Results?

Here are three tips to raise your team’s performance, maximise the impact of your coaching and take your results to the next level.

Commitment to Completion.
To reach a level of excellence in any endeavour, it’s your commitment to the completion of the task that defines success. So, look around you, do you have work projects that you started that remain incomplete? At home are there jobs left undone? The reason the quality of ‘completion’ is important is because it’s the root cause of many training initiatives failing to have any impact at all.
If you want to significantly improve performance, you need to implement and support the individuals in your team as they pass through the ‘Ambiguous Zone’. This is the cloudy Grey area we all go through as we attempt to step out of our comfort zone and try to apply new skills.
Your guidance and coaching during this period is vital, until your team see clearly how their new actions are producing great results. Then you need to be committed to follow through and hold everyone accountable to the new performance standard.
Get Perspective.
As you work to implement changes don’t expect it to happen overnight. Managers often feel like parrots, repeating the same message over and over. But improvements are often being made incrementally, as each person digests the information and applies it to their personal situation. Resist the urge to get frustrated, rather get a better perspective. If you and your team have been working diligently to improve a specific performance area, look back over the last six to twelve months. It’s easy to forget the progress you have made and minimise your success to date. Celebrate the small incremental improvements as they add up to substantial gains. Use these wins as motivational fuel to drive you and your team to the next level.
Reflect then Act.

As we set improvement objectives for 2020, don’t forget to take stock of where you are now, where you have come from and where you want to go. Too often a lack of reflection causes us to keep rushing forward in one direction without taking the time to step back and see if we are heading in the right direction! So, ensure you align your overall sales strategy with the objectives and activities you choose to focus on.

Remember self-reflection is only useful when followed by thoughtful action.

I encourage you to discuss these points with your team and set your course for your best year ever in 2020.

Is consistency the secret missing from your sales success?

Take a look at the statistics behind how sales are made to uncover a shocking secret! – One that could be your secret sales weapon for success.

We have all seen the amazing moment when a sports team comes from behind just before the final whistle to score the winning goal. ‘Keep on keeping on’ is a sporting motto, but often it doesn’t happen as often as it should. This concept also applies in business but here it happens much less often.

One of the key elements of good selling is keeping on nurturing and developing relationships. The final whistle is only when the prospect says, “I definitely don’t want your product or service so please stop contacting me.” Until then there is always an opportunity to do business together and for you to provide value. However, many businesspeople in every sector make the classic mistake of giving up too early.

If you look at the statistics produced by the National Sales Executive Association in the U.S they make scary reading for any of us responsible for sales and in particular Sales Management; who may find their hair standing on end.

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect after the first business meeting;
25% of sales people never make a second contact;
12% of sales people only make up to 3 contacts and then stop;
10% of sales people make more than 3 contacts;

To put it mildly, this is evidence of a huge waste of time, money and effort. If you have targeted potential customers properly and then spent half an hour (or probably more a lot more) with them, failure to follow through is like throwing money away.

Now if we contrast this fact with figures based on sales success, we get a very interesting story.

2% of sales are achieved on the first contact;
3% of sales are achieved on the second contact;
5% of sales are achieved on the third contact;
10% of sales are achieved on the fourth contact;
80% of sales are achieved on the fifth to twelfth contact.

“Contact” covers meetings, letters, emails, phone calls – the works. The statistics are mainly based on sales to businesses but also include sales to the consumer.

Also, highly enlightening are the reasons why people stop buying from you;

1% die;
3% relocate;
5% follow recommendations;
9% find an alternative supplier whose products or service they perceive as better quality or value;
14% are dissatisfied with the product or service;
68% stop buying because of their supplier’s indifference: they take their business elsewhere because they feel undervalued.

In one sense those figures are scary, but on the other hand they represent an amazing opportunity. Because what is required to put this right is not difficult. Indeed, a big part of the reason why follow-up is done so badly is because people don’t realise, they are doing it badly.

Every person I have shared those figures with – in the sales and marketing world – has been amazed.

So, one key point to take away is: making lots of contacts delivers the goods – it doesn’t look pushy or, worse, desperate. In some business sectors from first contact to first contract may take a year and often more. But still people stop making those contacts.

If 68% of buyers move to a new supplier because they feel undervalued, you can reasonably suppose that a similar proportion don’t buy in the first place for the same reason. Staying on the case is tough, but it produces the results.

All too often salespeople are wasteful with leads, they will quickly move on always chasing the low hanging fruit. The perceived easy sale goes to the top of the pile regardless of the overall potential value of other better contacts. The result is that opportunities are wasted. Most sales managers spend half the day trying to get their guys to focus on realistic and achievable deals rather than running down the road to the next guy who might just have a budget with lots of zeros.

Business research has shown that many corporate projects simply drop down the priority agenda. The initially enthusiastic meeting, which doesn’t result in an order, doesn’t necessarily mean “no”; it could mean simply “not now”.

One client told me she never switches supplier till they have been chasing her for six months – “I want to know they are really serious” she said. So how many of your contacts may be adopting a similar approach?

An important point is to know is, how long does it normally take you from first contact to first order? If you don’t know find out, it’s worth discussing with colleagues and suppliers.

But how do you do the follow-up without turning yourself into a pesky stalker? This is very important because it is where most of the problem lies. Maybe you can’t think of anything fresh to say by phone or email, so you don’t bother. Because they are cheap and easy most people’s follow-ups are just calls or emails to keep in touch. But that is not enough, and this is where people go wrong.

Just like the best sports teams have lots of different ways of getting the ball in the back of the net so should you in business. I use and recommend to clients they write an old-fashioned personal letter. If you see a relevant industry article that would be of interest share it with them. You could also create a range of postcards as part of your communication arsenal to keep you top of mind. Why not attend industry events and meet up with them there, or invite them for demonstrations at your office? Offer to take them for a drink or spot of lunch. If you do corporate or charity events invite them along. You and your contacts need variety to keep things fresh and receptive to your message. Above all look to make your communication relevant, interesting and value driven. Focus your efforts on sharing fresh ideas and perspectives as this is the best way to demonstrate your value and create interest.

Then record what works.

Do you faithfully record what process of communication and contact works? If not, I strongly recommend that you start to.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was:

Ask why you got the order.

If you track your performance faithfully you will have a ready-made business structure which you can use time and time again.

One of the benefits of knowing these figures is that it helps justify your persistence. If you look back through your database its extremely likely that you will come across a number or prospective clients whom you didn’t follow up with properly. Contact them and apologise for that. You might quote some of the statistics mentioned here to justify re-starting your conversation! – you could find they are now ready to buy.

If a customer buys your service or products regularly or only from time to time, we need to remember that their business needs often change over time. Last year’s information may well be out of date and if you don’t maintain contact, you won’t know and could miss a valuable opportunity!

Peter Holland

Linear Structure Ltd

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Let’s Create Your Best Managers Ever!

You’ve spotted an individual with talent in your team, he or she does a great job.

“I’m sure they’d make an excellent manager!” you say.

Well maybe…you see creating great managers simply by selecting people who are very competent in their roles often doesn’t work out. This new role of managing others is a completely different skill set to the one they are currently preforming.

To create great managers, you have to intentionally develop them in several areas.

(By way of example let’s talk about developing sales managers. But I’ve applied these principles to develop managers in a wide range of roles.)

Today, let’s focus on just three key areas:

Communication – One fundamental skill is the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a wide range of personalities both internally and also externally. This understanding will enabling them to have positive conversations and get real rapport across the team. This will be vital in delegating, providing feedback and motivating others. https://www.linearstructure.com/how-do-you-give-advice/
Manage the data. – Ultimately, sales management is data driven. So, helping a new manager understand how the data and CRM reporting give insight into the sales activities in the field is essential. They need to know how to achieve sales targets based on setting specific sales objectives and linking them to the appropriate sales activities. Then they will be able to give clear direction to their team. By measuring these activities, they will have the metrics to track performance, giving them visibility and control over their team. https://www.linearstructure.com/like-the-emperors-new-clothes-is-your-crm-giving-you-a-false-sense-of-control/
Coach for growth. – To be able to take a group of individuals and help them raise their performance to the next level is ultimately the true value a manager can bring to any company. So, providing ongoing training and support along with the tools to help your new manager is vital. This often requires a mind-set change; I believe too often salespeople have not been managed well. Therefore, new managers need to learn how to work collaboratively with their team rather than by cross examination and finger pointing. https://www.linearstructure.com/if-youre-not-investing-in-your-sales-manager-youre-missing-a-trick/

Creating great managers will require your commitment, but the value it delivers far outweighs the investment involved. You can literally multiply their talent and expertise throughout your entire organisation. Now that’s worth thinking about! If this subject is relevant to you feel free to reach out to me and let’s share experiences and some fresh ideas on how you can achieve your 2020 goals. peter.holland@linearstructure.com

By Peter Holland – Linear Structure

Copywrite October 2019

Is your smart phone losing you sales?

We’ve all seen it, and probably been there ourselves too!

Watching people walking, driving or eating whilst glued to the tiny screen of their mobile device.

On average, people check their smartphones 150 times a day, or every six minutes, 46 percent say they couldn’t live without them and many prefer texting over real-life conversations.
Experts say that without time away from your phone, your nervous system stays in fight-or-flight mode, making you both wired and tired all the time.

The issue is ‘Distraction’.

So what’s the impact of distraction on results?

Here are four key ways:

Productivity – Multi-tasking is a myth. Your brain can only focus it’s full attention on one thing at a time. So, when people allow constant interruptions and notifications to distract them their work productivity plummets like a stone. Simple tasks like customer reports or CRM updates take two or three times the length of time to complete. Imagine the impact of this on your productivity over a week, month or year!
Internal Meetings – During sales meetings or training workshops, unless they ban mobile devices, their teams can’t concentrate on the agenda. They fail to contribute positively to the discussion and engage fully with their colleagues. Or worse, I’ve heard complaints of managers looking at their phones during their own meetings!
Customer Meetings – Maybe even more concerning is the effect on the salesperson’s performance during external sales meetings. Managers describe the challenge their people have to interact personally with prospects and ‘stay in the moment’. Particularly, when concentrating on the other person’s responses to questions and then responding appropriately during the conversation. It appears that our use of technology seems to be a lowering of our ability to concentrate.
Personal life – During managers 1-2-1 coaching sessions, their salespeople describe how their business life intrudes into their private life outside office hours. They are finding themselves slaves to the technology rather than masters of it, struggling to completely switch off. It’s common to find they are checking and responding to messages late into the evening and at weekends.

People’s habits are changing and their preferred methods of communication too. So, the challenge as sales leaders and sales professionals is to keep developing the art of personal interaction and communication both internally in the organisation but also externally with clients!

The overall impact of this constant distraction seems to be a lowering of our ability to concentrate, focus and stay in the moment. All critical attributes required for building trusting relationships both personal and in business.

So how can we improve this situation?

Recognise your own behaviour.
First monitor your screen time and notice how long you spend on your device each day and what activities you are doing. It’s enlightening to notice the number of pick-ups per day, it may surprise you.
Set some personal boundaries.
Turn off your phone at the beginning of customer meetings so you can focus 100% on the person you are with.
Have a ‘no phones policy’ at family meal times so you can converse meaningfully with your family and friends.
Try limiting yourself to checking your phone for email and messages eight times a day.
Set some organisational boundaries.
When you have internal meetings and presentations don’t allow mobile devices to be turned on and then lead by example.
Encourage your team to put their phone on silent for an hour or so when they need to complete any focused work.

In conclusion:

These changes are simple, but not easy, as anyone who has tried them consistently will know.

However, they will significantly improve your sales results, productivity and personal life!

Improve Your Sales Language!

Language is powerful, by its skilful use you control and influence the discussion, which influences the relationship and ultimately the business results. There’s a direct line between these three elements. If you’re in a sales, then language is the primary tool of your trade. Therefore, it behoves you to continually improve your use of this vital asset.

In this post let’s look at three key ways you can maximise the impact of your language with clients.

Adopt a Value Driven Mentality. – The notion that you are a vendor trying to sell your wares in a subservient position is simply erroneous and counterproductive to both of you. The reason you are engaging in this conversation with another professional, is to establish whether you can mutually improve each other’s situation. Your role in this conversation is to see if your expertise, previous client experiences and innovative ideas might add value to your prospective client.
So, don’t walk in trying to sell, listen for people’s objectives and focus on suggestions to achieve them.
When you start with this correct mentality it will reduce your fear of rejection, improve your confidence and enable you to use language effectively to create meaningful discussions.
Create a peer level conversation. – You need to establish peer level communication with the buyer. For example, at the beginning of your meeting you could start by suggesting.
“Helen…I’m sure we both have some expectations or objectives for our meeting, why don’t we share them and see what we have and then we can allocate our time together intelligently?”
In this way you have gently inferred that your time is as important as theirs and influenced a direction for the meeting moving forward.
Ask thought provoking questions. – Great questions open up the conversation and get people thinking differently about their situation.
“As you look forward now to the next 12-18 months what are the 2 or 3 most important things that must be achieved?”
Getting them talking about their plans and objectives. For example, do they want to increase sales volume, improve their margin, break into a new market sector or introduce new projects or services?
Where do they see the opportunities together with any potential challenges?
Based on their responses, dig a bit deeper to find out….
“Why is that such an important goal?”
“What would it mean for the company to achieve this? And for them personally?”
From this point you are in a position to switch from the LEARNING phase to the TEACHING/SHARING phase.
“May I suggest a couple of ideas that other successful clients have used in this area?
I’d be interested to see if they are relevant and might be of value to you too.”
Now you can offer your suggestions to help them reach the previously mentioned goals.
Asking questions that appear just to provide you with useful information can make the conversation seem like an interrogation. So, they need to be presented with the client’s best interest and objectives in mind to make it a valuable conversation for both of you.
“When you review your sales/production/marketing etc is there anything you’re not 100% happy with?”
“When you look at this area, where are you at currently and where would you ideally like to get to?”
The gap between where they are now and where they need to get to is your – Value Distance.
This is the value you can add and normally it’s worth much more to your customer’s business than the cost involved in investing in your product or service because it focuses on achieving a key business objective.

I hope this gives you a flavour for the type of meeting conversation you want to adopt. It’s a peer level conversation where you are there to help them grow and develop their business using your expertise and experience to add outstanding value.

I encourage you to step out of your normal meeting format and include some fresh and thought-provoking questions.

You and your prospects will both be glad you did!

To your continued sales success.

Peter

Are Your Internal Sales Team Driving Sales Growth?

Today customers are finding you before you find them. The increased importance of inbound sales marketing methods is clear to see.

However, who is the first person to respond to an inbound sales inquiry?

Normally, your internal sales team or customer service department handle these calls and emails. They have a unique opportunity to capture the interest from a prospective customer and move the relationship to the next stage.

The question is… Have you made it a priority to develop these individuals so they are confident, comfortable and capable of fulfilling this critical task of lead generation?

Too often in my experience the development of the internal sales teams is haphazard or inconsistent, which represents a missed opportunity for three key reasons.

They represent the face of the organisation to the customer.
They provide a rich source of potential people who could move to external sales.
They can win or lose you a significant amount of business.

One example highlighted this to me recently whilst working with a client, they had an internal sales team that was measured by the number of calls they dealt with each day. Can you imagine what impact this type of metric would have on the team?

Their goal was to get the customer’s question answered fast and get them off the line!

By developing their abilities to ask great questions and encouraging them to show personal interest in the needs and concerns of their callers a dramatic difference was achieved in business results.

The one small change that made the difference was to change the old call metric for a metric that added value to the business.

We asked the team to focus on how many new sales opportunities they could uncover from their sales inquiries. This change led to a significant up lift in qualified sales leads for the external sales people. We tracked these sales leads and the external team had accountability to report back on which ones had converted to orders. This allowed us to remunerate the internal team for their success and create sustained motivation and results.

So I’d like to share this insight with you and challenge you to review what you are doing to maximise the vital resource you have right within your internal sales team.

Why are your proposals meeting resistance?

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.

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, show personal interest in the business plans and objectives. Gently probe which areas they are happy with and what challenges they really face. Use questions such as……

What key objectives do you have over the next 12-18 months?
Where would you ideally like to see sales growth?
What areas of the business are you not 100% happy you’d like to improve?
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 challenge.

Happy Selling!

Let’s Create Your Best Sales Meeting Ever!

Sales meetings… Do they deliver value in your company?

Unfortunately, for many salespeople it’s the meeting they dread the most.

Their manager will go around the room asking each person to share their results. But most people can’t concentrate, they’re too busy thinking what they will say. Then once their turn has passed, they switch off. Struggling to stay engaged, as they hear colleagues discuss opportunities, they are not involved in. Some have told me they feel these meetings are a waste of time, simply an exercise where they justify their existence to management!

Let’s look at some better ways to get everyone engaged and benefitting from this potentially valuable time together.

The bottom line is you want to run killer sales meetings where you get accountability and results and your team get valuable insight and direction to win more deals.

Make a distinction and separate your Forecast meetings from your Pipeline
Your Forecast meetings are great opportunities to talk with your sales people about the deals they expect to close soon. But they are not the right time to talk about the general pipeline health, which is determined by the quality and quantity of sales opportunities in the pipeline at the early to mid-sales stages.
It’s important that you make this distinction and separate your Forecast meetings from your Pipeline meetings, otherwise confusion will reign, and you will struggle to keep the meeting on track.
In your Pipeline meetings you need to ask your sales team about the new opportunities they have recently registered in your CRM. These early stage sales opportunities are the ones that will have a larger overall impact on your company’s future health. As a manager, this is where you need to focus your energy. These early stage opportunities are where you can add the most value to your team’s efforts. They allow you an excellent opportunity to develop their performance potential. Done right this investment of time spent up stream will pay off handsomely with stronger conversion rates. And reduce time spent fire-fighting late stage deals.
Focus on transferring knowledge and maximising potential.
Rather than giving your team a grilling with a question and answer session, try using some smart qualification tools to review sales opportunities together collaboratively. These tools help you teach your team the vital questions to ask and the key information you are looking for. Identify together the gaps in their deals and agree some next steps to move them forward. This gives you accountability and visibility over your pipeline and helps them with specific points to action to win the order. Do this deal review as a team, everyone can contribute their ideas and experience which will accelerate the learning process.
Constructive criticism can wait.
Keep the atmosphere positive and upbeat during your sales meetings.
Refrain from using these team meetings for any direct personal constructive criticism. Save that for your private 1-2-1 coaching sessions. No one likes being made to look a fool in front of their peers. So, remember your goal is to win hearts and minds not arguments.
Set an agenda.
Firstly, send your sales team calendar invites for all your forecast and pipeline meetings for the year, then stick to them. Your commitment to them says volumes about the value they bring. If you start moving or cancelling them don’t expect anyone else to take them seriously.
Secondly, post the agenda well in advance so everyone knows what will be covered. It gives them time to think about the subjects and prepare mentally. Rather than turning up unprepared and unable to participate fully.
You wouldn’t go to a prospective client meeting unprepared so why inflict poor planning and preparation on your team!
Share new ideas and fresh perspectives.
Use a section of the meeting to raise new ideas, share fresh perspectives from your recent interactions with clients or the market in general. You can also assign someone to research and present briefly a particular industry innovation, a common sales challenge or an area to develop best practice.
This keeps your meetings relevant, interesting and impactful.
Jointly create win plans for important deals.
Big deals can suck you in like a vortex, taking huge amounts of time and energy. They can also cause a myopic view as you become too close to a deal to see the wood for the trees.
Help people in this situation by reviewing big deals as a team. It’s fun to do a war-room session together, map out all the gaps and share ideas on what you need to do to win the deal. Everyone in the room benefits when you share expertise and your best ideas.

So, here’s my challenge to you, don’t let your next sales meeting become boring or routine. Get creative, engage your team and drive performance to the next level!

If you’d like a sample of the tools mentioned in this post drop me an email and I’ll share some examples with you.

Here’s to your continued sales success!

Peter