Mystic Selling-Chronicles of a Karmic Salesperson
Talk is cheap....
Karmic sales thought: "Action expresses priorities."
This quote was famously stated
by Gandhi and is exquisite in its simplicity. Look to where you spend
majority of your actions on any given day. That unfailingly is an
expression of your priorities. From a sales context do you spend your
time building quotes and proposals or do you spend your time building
relationships. My own coach last week took me through a very interesting
exercise in this context, asking me to detail where I spend my time and
in what do I invest most of my activities on a daily basis. The crazy
thing is the things I was doing wasnt even close to the things I
considered my priorities.
Look to your actions as the expression of your true priorities. In
critically looking at what you are doing you will be able to see clearly
whats important to you.
Recognize your sales reps are people
I spend a lot of time with sales people talking not only about sales activity and skills but attitude. It is easy to under estimate the impact of attitude, emotional maturity, etc on the success of individual sales people. We in management rarely look at the emotional state of our employees, their maturity, etc simply hoping that the individuals have the requisite maturity and we can focus on the skills and results. Worst case fire the individual if they don't work out, its a lot easier than dealing with the difficult issues. Many managers believe that even further its none of their business or responsibility. I would propose this is a very short sighted view of your obligations to your company and your employees. Managers are not require just to produce short term results but also to build the capacity of the organization. And if you are not looking at the whole picture you are not doing your job.
Yet we don't have time or the qualifications to be therapists, the struggle is in the quest to find the happy medium. I think the crux of the issue is to support the person who is doing the job. In recognizing and identifying strengths and weakness in the sales person do not fail to identify areas where attitude or even emotional baggage might impede the rep in being successful. I do not propose necessarily discussing these things directly with the individual as unless you have a great relationship with the person it may be misconstrued as meddling. Rather try to implement techniques that can help address the behavior in a work context, and inevitably those habits will appear in other parts of their lives. Perhaps an example would be illustrative:
There are many reps who have self confidence issues. This behavior can manifest itself in biting sarcasm, un-necessary aggression towards peers, hard pushy selling with customers, rude and belligerent behavior with support staff. The fact is that a very simple thing can have far reaching impacts both on sales, but also your internal business relationships. As a manager what are your options.
1. You can fire the individual- this is always an option. But it is expensive and has both immediate and long term costs.
2. A better option in my mind is to begin working on eliminating the manifestation of these issues in the office. Perhaps a first conversation would be a direct discussion with the individual on the unacceptable behaviors. Next would be implementation of a set of tasks that would short circuit the negative behavior before it becomes destructive.
-Ask the individual to send all email through you for 30 days. Itemize the areas where the person is exhibiting behavior that is unacceptable.
-Build escalation mechanisms so that items are handled early before it exceeds the individuals ability to respond positively, Then as the capacity of the individual increases reduce the items that get escalated.
All of these things are entirely dependent on a willingness of the individual to work with you to get better, and a level of self awareness. For individuals who are not worth working with, or are unwilling to work with you there really is only option one. Aristotle once is attributed as having said "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." In building repeatable processes that help support and mitigate individual weaknesses you build excellence in your organization in addition to being a good Karmic Manager. Which will result in less turn over, happier employees, and more sales.
Moment of Zen
“It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand.” -Upanishad
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Yet we don't have time or the qualifications to be therapists, the struggle is in the quest to find the happy medium. I think the crux of the issue is to support the person who is doing the job. In recognizing and identifying strengths and weakness in the sales person do not fail to identify areas where attitude or even emotional baggage might impede the rep in being successful. I do not propose necessarily discussing these things directly with the individual as unless you have a great relationship with the person it may be misconstrued as meddling. Rather try to implement techniques that can help address the behavior in a work context, and inevitably those habits will appear in other parts of their lives. Perhaps an example would be illustrative:
There are many reps who have self confidence issues. This behavior can manifest itself in biting sarcasm, un-necessary aggression towards peers, hard pushy selling with customers, rude and belligerent behavior with support staff. The fact is that a very simple thing can have far reaching impacts both on sales, but also your internal business relationships. As a manager what are your options.
1. You can fire the individual- this is always an option. But it is expensive and has both immediate and long term costs.
2. A better option in my mind is to begin working on eliminating the manifestation of these issues in the office. Perhaps a first conversation would be a direct discussion with the individual on the unacceptable behaviors. Next would be implementation of a set of tasks that would short circuit the negative behavior before it becomes destructive.
-Ask the individual to send all email through you for 30 days. Itemize the areas where the person is exhibiting behavior that is unacceptable.
-Build escalation mechanisms so that items are handled early before it exceeds the individuals ability to respond positively, Then as the capacity of the individual increases reduce the items that get escalated.
All of these things are entirely dependent on a willingness of the individual to work with you to get better, and a level of self awareness. For individuals who are not worth working with, or are unwilling to work with you there really is only option one. Aristotle once is attributed as having said "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." In building repeatable processes that help support and mitigate individual weaknesses you build excellence in your organization in addition to being a good Karmic Manager. Which will result in less turn over, happier employees, and more sales.
Moment of Zen
“It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand.” -Upanishad
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Back in the Saddle again
To my fellow karmic sales people, my many apologies for not writing for the past few months. It is a non trivial task to come up with something interesting an actually worthwhile to say every week (even for a blow hard like me 
I have been actively working on a related project to this blog with great intensity and that has dominated my time (which I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon). But I am back! This week I thought given that on the north american continent we are starting to feel spring fever in earnest, it might make sense to talk a little bit about spring cleaning in our pipelines.
Pipelines tend to accumulate opportunities that seemed great at the time they were entered but now have lost some of their lustre. Its a lot like that great piece of furniture you picked up at the flea market a few years ago with the best intentions of refinishing it and returning it to its past glory. Similarly over the course of the year or years opportunities get entered into the pipeline with great promise and then sit in a corner. So what does a karmic sales person do about these diamonds in the rough?
1. Dust them off
The first an most important thing to do, is pick up the phone and make sure that the contact info you have, and the information you have collected is still accurate. Call and requalify the opportunity, make sure that there is an opportunity. If there isnt, send it to the curb, if there is redouble your commitment to work it.
2. Determine how much work is needed
Build a plan to work the opportunity. Determine what needs to be done, execute on your sales process. Build tasks and reminders so that you can begin to move the prospect forward.
3. Decide when you are going to give up
Set the amount of calls, emails, etc that you are going to do to revive the opportunity. Set gates and date where you will cancel the opportunity if they arent met. If you are unable to get the prospect to a certain stage by a certain date, or if you cant get a hold of a particular person.
4. Do not fall victim to shiny object syndrome
Dont let the opportunity fall off of your radar, as new fresh deals come in. One of the things I have learned from working with some of the most successful sales people is that what seperates the 6 and 7 figure earners is their ability to never lose sight of their long term deals when a shiny object appears.
Pipeline management is the foundation of successful quota achievement. Perhaps its time for a spring cleaning in yours?
Moment of Zen
May we be fearless... from friends and enemies...from known and unknown ... from night and day...May all the directions be our allies.”-Atharva Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
I have been actively working on a related project to this blog with great intensity and that has dominated my time (which I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon). But I am back! This week I thought given that on the north american continent we are starting to feel spring fever in earnest, it might make sense to talk a little bit about spring cleaning in our pipelines.
Pipelines tend to accumulate opportunities that seemed great at the time they were entered but now have lost some of their lustre. Its a lot like that great piece of furniture you picked up at the flea market a few years ago with the best intentions of refinishing it and returning it to its past glory. Similarly over the course of the year or years opportunities get entered into the pipeline with great promise and then sit in a corner. So what does a karmic sales person do about these diamonds in the rough?
1. Dust them off
The first an most important thing to do, is pick up the phone and make sure that the contact info you have, and the information you have collected is still accurate. Call and requalify the opportunity, make sure that there is an opportunity. If there isnt, send it to the curb, if there is redouble your commitment to work it.
2. Determine how much work is needed
Build a plan to work the opportunity. Determine what needs to be done, execute on your sales process. Build tasks and reminders so that you can begin to move the prospect forward.
3. Decide when you are going to give up
Set the amount of calls, emails, etc that you are going to do to revive the opportunity. Set gates and date where you will cancel the opportunity if they arent met. If you are unable to get the prospect to a certain stage by a certain date, or if you cant get a hold of a particular person.
4. Do not fall victim to shiny object syndrome
Dont let the opportunity fall off of your radar, as new fresh deals come in. One of the things I have learned from working with some of the most successful sales people is that what seperates the 6 and 7 figure earners is their ability to never lose sight of their long term deals when a shiny object appears.
Pipeline management is the foundation of successful quota achievement. Perhaps its time for a spring cleaning in yours?
Moment of Zen
May we be fearless... from friends and enemies...from known and unknown ... from night and day...May all the directions be our allies.”-Atharva Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Objection handling is all about planning
Objection handling is one of the key elements that separate the great sales people from the mediocre. For most sales people it is in the development of an argument in response to an objection the best sales people understand that there are many approaches. Before I go into the elements of architecting a successful response (or argument) against an objection let me describe the key characteristics of how an objection is formed:
1. Objection on fact: This is where a prospect disputes the facts as you have presented them and seeks out additional evidence of your position. For example: Our software is cheaper than our competitors.
2. Objection of inference: This is where a prospect does not dispute the facts as you have presented but disputes the inference you make from it. For example: Purchasing our software will result in a 20% increase in your sales.
When facing an objection of fact or inference sales people's natural disposition is to present supporting evidence to buttress the claim, for instance in the example above, "Here is a quote from one of our competitors that proves that we are cheaper." The challenge is that objections as we all well know have many claims that are implicit and explicit. Often in the handling of the explicit claim the implicit objections remain silent or unaddressed. The natural tendency to handle objections as they appear serially (ie. one after another) over the course of a sales cycle often disadvantages the sales person.
So what is a more successful method of dealing with objections? To begin the sales person must understand the complete set of objections coming from the customer and their logical basis. Objections like all arguments fall into three large categories: Serial, Convergent, and Parallel:
1. Serial Arguments.
These are arguments that follow the model A then B then C then D. Where all the variables A-D are individually and cumulatively required to support the objection. This model comes from the concept of the Serial Circuit (think old school Christmas lights) where if any point in the circuit failed the whole circuit failed. These kinds of objections are rare but if you are able to reduce your objection to this level by punching out any of the subordinate claims in the objection you can close the sale. For example:
Your software meets our needs and we love it, but it is too expensive (A), and out of our budget {B}. The most common way to tackle this objection is to provide a price concession. But as you can tell this objection has two parts (A) too expensive, {B} out of budget. (A) is a qualitative objection, ie. too expensive is subjective. The natural question is too expensive relative to what? By demonstrating with evidence that your product is not too expensive relative to similar competitors you are able to defeat the argument without necessarily subjecting yourself to the budget objection {B} and thus preserving the price. The other tact is to attack the budget objection which is quantitative. Their budget is a fixed number and as such you have two options: seek to build more value and get more budget, or reduce your price to match the budget. The common error reps make is try to address both objections simultaneously as opposed to attempting to attack the claim that has the weaker position. In doing so leave money on the table or undermine their own position.
Next week I will look at how to handle convergent and parallel objections.
Moment of Zen
"Life without goodness, good thoughts, good actions and good words is like the sky in the night without the moon or stars. It is like a wheel without a hub or spokes! No one can push a boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety while all the entrances through which it sneaks in are open.” -Atharva Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
1. Objection on fact: This is where a prospect disputes the facts as you have presented them and seeks out additional evidence of your position. For example: Our software is cheaper than our competitors.
2. Objection of inference: This is where a prospect does not dispute the facts as you have presented but disputes the inference you make from it. For example: Purchasing our software will result in a 20% increase in your sales.
When facing an objection of fact or inference sales people's natural disposition is to present supporting evidence to buttress the claim, for instance in the example above, "Here is a quote from one of our competitors that proves that we are cheaper." The challenge is that objections as we all well know have many claims that are implicit and explicit. Often in the handling of the explicit claim the implicit objections remain silent or unaddressed. The natural tendency to handle objections as they appear serially (ie. one after another) over the course of a sales cycle often disadvantages the sales person.
So what is a more successful method of dealing with objections? To begin the sales person must understand the complete set of objections coming from the customer and their logical basis. Objections like all arguments fall into three large categories: Serial, Convergent, and Parallel:
1. Serial Arguments.
These are arguments that follow the model A then B then C then D. Where all the variables A-D are individually and cumulatively required to support the objection. This model comes from the concept of the Serial Circuit (think old school Christmas lights) where if any point in the circuit failed the whole circuit failed. These kinds of objections are rare but if you are able to reduce your objection to this level by punching out any of the subordinate claims in the objection you can close the sale. For example:
Your software meets our needs and we love it, but it is too expensive (A), and out of our budget {B}. The most common way to tackle this objection is to provide a price concession. But as you can tell this objection has two parts (A) too expensive, {B} out of budget. (A) is a qualitative objection, ie. too expensive is subjective. The natural question is too expensive relative to what? By demonstrating with evidence that your product is not too expensive relative to similar competitors you are able to defeat the argument without necessarily subjecting yourself to the budget objection {B} and thus preserving the price. The other tact is to attack the budget objection which is quantitative. Their budget is a fixed number and as such you have two options: seek to build more value and get more budget, or reduce your price to match the budget. The common error reps make is try to address both objections simultaneously as opposed to attempting to attack the claim that has the weaker position. In doing so leave money on the table or undermine their own position.
Next week I will look at how to handle convergent and parallel objections.
Moment of Zen
"Life without goodness, good thoughts, good actions and good words is like the sky in the night without the moon or stars. It is like a wheel without a hub or spokes! No one can push a boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety while all the entrances through which it sneaks in are open.” -Atharva Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Is your brain working against you?
Sales people, like many folks, rely heavily on the combination of their intellect, experience, analysis, and intuition to make decisions and advance sales. The karmic sales person is no different, except for the requirement of a level of self awareness. When you lose a deal, it is natural to blame the prospect, process, or some external variable. But are you lying to yourself? More often than not you will find that the reason the deal didn't happen, was not due to some failure in the external environment, but one within your internal one.
This does not mean second guess your strategies and decisions. It means that the karmic sales person needs to take the time to safeguard his/her decision making against falling victim to the failures of the intellect. What are these? Well there are many but a few key ones are as follows:
Over confidence
This is the classic failure where the salesperson in having closed many deals, believes they are infallible and as such can close any deal in any circumstance. How do you know when you are falling victim to this fallacy:
-You bypass key elements of your process because "you already know" what the customer is going to say.
-You ignore listening to or addressing minor objections because your believe you can deal with them later
-You ignore key pieces of data that would lead you to believe this deal isn't going to work because you feel you can overcome them
on force of personality
Sunk cost effect
This is when you have invested a large amount of time and resources into a deal, and feel the need to invest more to justify the initial investment. This is often exhibited in a late stage deal that may have stalled for any number of reasons. Sales people often spend an inordinate amount of time following up, building business cases, etc to try to get the customer to move forward.
Recency Effect
The view that the most recent experience in your sales career is representative of past events and a valid predictor of future events. A great example of this is when a rep closes a big deal without following a process, gets on a hot streak and decides that he doesn't need to prospect anymore, etc. The recent experience overwhelms the mountain of data that went before it and leads the sales person to believe that what is happening now is the new reality. When in fact it is perhaps just a blip on the radar.
Confirmation effect
This is when reps seek out information that confirms their initial impression of the value of an opportunity. I cant count the number of times a rep has gotten off of a call and told me this is going to be a huge deal and its a lock. In my opinion that view can cause many more problems later on for the rep and the customer. It is critically important not to form an opinion about an opportunity until you really understand what is going on (see my post on the babel fish). The confirmation effect is that the rep will seek out data that verifies this initial opinion often discounting or disregarding data that is contradictory.
There are many more of these effects where your brain will lead you astray. The goal is not to eliminate these effects, but as a karmic sales person to mitigate them in order to more effectively support your customers and your own success.
Moment of Zen
“The mind acts like an enemy for those who do not control it.”- Bhagavad Gita
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
This does not mean second guess your strategies and decisions. It means that the karmic sales person needs to take the time to safeguard his/her decision making against falling victim to the failures of the intellect. What are these? Well there are many but a few key ones are as follows:
Over confidence
This is the classic failure where the salesperson in having closed many deals, believes they are infallible and as such can close any deal in any circumstance. How do you know when you are falling victim to this fallacy:
-You bypass key elements of your process because "you already know" what the customer is going to say.
-You ignore listening to or addressing minor objections because your believe you can deal with them later
-You ignore key pieces of data that would lead you to believe this deal isn't going to work because you feel you can overcome them
on force of personality
Sunk cost effect
This is when you have invested a large amount of time and resources into a deal, and feel the need to invest more to justify the initial investment. This is often exhibited in a late stage deal that may have stalled for any number of reasons. Sales people often spend an inordinate amount of time following up, building business cases, etc to try to get the customer to move forward.
Recency Effect
The view that the most recent experience in your sales career is representative of past events and a valid predictor of future events. A great example of this is when a rep closes a big deal without following a process, gets on a hot streak and decides that he doesn't need to prospect anymore, etc. The recent experience overwhelms the mountain of data that went before it and leads the sales person to believe that what is happening now is the new reality. When in fact it is perhaps just a blip on the radar.
Confirmation effect
This is when reps seek out information that confirms their initial impression of the value of an opportunity. I cant count the number of times a rep has gotten off of a call and told me this is going to be a huge deal and its a lock. In my opinion that view can cause many more problems later on for the rep and the customer. It is critically important not to form an opinion about an opportunity until you really understand what is going on (see my post on the babel fish). The confirmation effect is that the rep will seek out data that verifies this initial opinion often discounting or disregarding data that is contradictory.
There are many more of these effects where your brain will lead you astray. The goal is not to eliminate these effects, but as a karmic sales person to mitigate them in order to more effectively support your customers and your own success.
Moment of Zen
“The mind acts like an enemy for those who do not control it.”- Bhagavad Gita
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Look whose coming for dinner?
It is interesting how sometimes sales people are their own worst enemy. Pricing is a classic example of this. Most sales people dont know how to structure a proposal in such a way that all the preliminary work done by the sales person is reflected within it. Pricing should never be given before you have seperated the prospects from the suspects. I have covered previously how sales people hear different things from the same conversation. It is critically important that you only provide pricing to those people ready to purchase. So having completed your sales process you are at the point where you need to provide the customer pricing for the solution that will solve their problems and at the same time is competitive with the marketplace and their budget.
There is no hard and fast way to do this, but there are a few landmines you should avoid at all costs:
1. Avoid ranges. Customers will only hear the bottom figure.
2. Make sure its reasonable, logical, and defendable. If you cant in good conscience defend the pricing you are providing, through level of effort, market conditions, complexity of solution, etc. Dont price it. Anyone who is following this blog knows that karma has an impact. If you want to build repeat customers, referrals, and ultimately consistent quota achievement. Dont fleece your customers, be fair and reasonable and you will win them for life.
3. Avoid itemization. Itemization of all the things you are doing often sparks more questions than answers. It also give the customer an opportunity to cut out things that they dont feel are critical (ie. you havent done as great a job of presenting the value).
4. Pricing without understanding budget. The last thing you want to do is either price too low or too high. If you dont understand the budget of the project there is no way you are going to be able to fairly structure or price the engagement. If the scope is too great for the budget, break up the project into multiple milestones. Get the customer on board, build confidence, and then the ongoing relationship will result in follow on business.
5. Presenting pricing to someone who cant sign the check. If the person you are talking to cant sign the check, dont discuss pricing wiith them. Absolutely discuss budget and scope, but never negotiate. If you dont you will get forced to negotiate serially, which will mean that you will accept deals that arent necessarily good for you or the customer.
Pricing like many elements of the sales profession is more art than science. After working so hard to get the customer to the table make sure you share the meal and no one leaves unhappy.
Moment of Zen
"If one has faith one has everything"- Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
There is no hard and fast way to do this, but there are a few landmines you should avoid at all costs:
1. Avoid ranges. Customers will only hear the bottom figure.
2. Make sure its reasonable, logical, and defendable. If you cant in good conscience defend the pricing you are providing, through level of effort, market conditions, complexity of solution, etc. Dont price it. Anyone who is following this blog knows that karma has an impact. If you want to build repeat customers, referrals, and ultimately consistent quota achievement. Dont fleece your customers, be fair and reasonable and you will win them for life.
3. Avoid itemization. Itemization of all the things you are doing often sparks more questions than answers. It also give the customer an opportunity to cut out things that they dont feel are critical (ie. you havent done as great a job of presenting the value).
4. Pricing without understanding budget. The last thing you want to do is either price too low or too high. If you dont understand the budget of the project there is no way you are going to be able to fairly structure or price the engagement. If the scope is too great for the budget, break up the project into multiple milestones. Get the customer on board, build confidence, and then the ongoing relationship will result in follow on business.
5. Presenting pricing to someone who cant sign the check. If the person you are talking to cant sign the check, dont discuss pricing wiith them. Absolutely discuss budget and scope, but never negotiate. If you dont you will get forced to negotiate serially, which will mean that you will accept deals that arent necessarily good for you or the customer.
Pricing like many elements of the sales profession is more art than science. After working so hard to get the customer to the table make sure you share the meal and no one leaves unhappy.
Moment of Zen
"If one has faith one has everything"- Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Are you a willow or an oak?
Sales is a career that is full of adversity (I would submit most of it unfairly). Whether it is customers inherent lack of trust in anything you say, your managements assumption that you are "screwing them over", technology, finance, market conditions, the list of things that limit or prevent a sales person from earning "their due" is almost endless. Many reps look for positions where organizations limit the "sales prevention" challenge. Either through a powerful VP sales, CEO that comes from a sales background, or sales centered organization (ie. other departments are service organizations for sales). This tactic brings with it, its own challenges. Often such organizations are shark tanks with the only metric being sales success and heaven help you if there is any blood in the water.
I believe that it doesn't make sense to put sales at the center of the organization (I am sure some sales people out there are doing a double take). In my humble opinion the customer needs to be at the center of the organization. The challenge with putting the customer at the center is, that not all agents of the organization are compensated to positively effect the customer, nor is it necessarily easy to make a direct connection to what all employees do to customer impacts. Most organizations seek some balance between the customer and other stakeholders. From a sales person's perspective this will often present internal challenges to completing the sale. How do sales people deal with this hybrid?
1. Identify what are the internal issues you are going to face to get your deal through. This list is really important as this is your play book for navigating and executing on the sale. For example get the parameter from finance to extend trade credit, the ball park estimate from professional services for installation, or customization.
2. Who are the people who are responsible for those areas that can approve your activities. Wine and dine them. Make sure you have lots of favors banked for when you need them.
3. Don't make commitments to customers that you cant keep. Ensure that you have all your ducks in a row internally before you commit to anything with a customer. Failure to do so could at best case result in egg on your face, worst case some serious liability and burned bridges.
4. Know who are the "subject matter experts" in each of the areas that involve your customers. Make sure you informally consult them before making a pitch to the decision makers in two. They will feel a lot more comfortable approving something out of the box if they have someone on their teams already saying that it is possible and not going to cause negative effects for the company.
5. Always smile! Anger, frustration, etc almost never help, and will not get your deal closed if the going gets tough. Being a bull dozer will earn you no friends and though you might get what you want this time, leaving people with a bad taste in their mouths is going to hurt you in the long run.
6. Be a willow not an oak. Understand that things are going to change through the course of the deal. Move with the winds of change, be creative and accommodating. If you stand too firm on any given area you might find your roots in the air and your deal out the window.
Sales is tough enough with all the external things that can scuttle a deal. Be sure you know and can manage the internal process that will ensure that you get the financial benefit of all the hard work that you have done with the customer. You leave it to chance at your peril.
Moment of Zen
"Ego is your enemy..."- Rig Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
I believe that it doesn't make sense to put sales at the center of the organization (I am sure some sales people out there are doing a double take). In my humble opinion the customer needs to be at the center of the organization. The challenge with putting the customer at the center is, that not all agents of the organization are compensated to positively effect the customer, nor is it necessarily easy to make a direct connection to what all employees do to customer impacts. Most organizations seek some balance between the customer and other stakeholders. From a sales person's perspective this will often present internal challenges to completing the sale. How do sales people deal with this hybrid?
1. Identify what are the internal issues you are going to face to get your deal through. This list is really important as this is your play book for navigating and executing on the sale. For example get the parameter from finance to extend trade credit, the ball park estimate from professional services for installation, or customization.
2. Who are the people who are responsible for those areas that can approve your activities. Wine and dine them. Make sure you have lots of favors banked for when you need them.
3. Don't make commitments to customers that you cant keep. Ensure that you have all your ducks in a row internally before you commit to anything with a customer. Failure to do so could at best case result in egg on your face, worst case some serious liability and burned bridges.
4. Know who are the "subject matter experts" in each of the areas that involve your customers. Make sure you informally consult them before making a pitch to the decision makers in two. They will feel a lot more comfortable approving something out of the box if they have someone on their teams already saying that it is possible and not going to cause negative effects for the company.
5. Always smile! Anger, frustration, etc almost never help, and will not get your deal closed if the going gets tough. Being a bull dozer will earn you no friends and though you might get what you want this time, leaving people with a bad taste in their mouths is going to hurt you in the long run.
6. Be a willow not an oak. Understand that things are going to change through the course of the deal. Move with the winds of change, be creative and accommodating. If you stand too firm on any given area you might find your roots in the air and your deal out the window.
Sales is tough enough with all the external things that can scuttle a deal. Be sure you know and can manage the internal process that will ensure that you get the financial benefit of all the hard work that you have done with the customer. You leave it to chance at your peril.
Moment of Zen
"Ego is your enemy..."- Rig Vedas
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Sales like football is a game of inches!
Sports analogies and sales go together like a great single malt and a Cuban cigar. So its not surprising that some of the key tenets to be successful at one would translate into lessons for the other. In honor of the start of the NFL season here is my view on how to be successful at winning deals Don Shula style (347 wins most of all NFL coaches).
1. Win the Time of Possession Battle - Throughout the course of a game, the opposing teams trade possession of the ball. The length of time that a team has possession of the ball is referred to as its time of possession. While no guarantee to victory, generally speaking the longer a team has the ball throughout the game, the better. It's kind of like "keep away" - if you don't have the ball, you can't score!
Sales Lesson: The possession battle in sales is about time that the prospect spends evaluating your product vs the competitors. The evaluation process for customers has a finite time limit. The greater amount of time spent evaluating and discussing your product features and pricing the less time they will have for competitors. More time for you equals stronger relationship, more comfort, less competitive options, and more sales.
2. Win the Turnover Battle - A turnover occurs when a team unwillingly gives up possession of the ball to its opponent, either through an interception (ball thrown forward and caught by an opposing player) or by a fumble (ball carrier loses possession of the ball that the opposing team recovers). Each time a team "turns the ball over" (turnover) to its opponent, it gives itself one less and its opponent one additional opportunity to score. One too many turnovers by a team can be costly; it can be the difference between winning and losing. A team can usually live with one or two turnovers in a game, but if it turns the ball over three or more times, it usually spells DISASTER.
Sales lesson: Turnovers in sales equal mistakes. These could be miscalculations on budget, not identifying who your champions are, what the key business needs are, etc. The lesson here is not to never make mistakes (though that would be great if it ever happened). But to ensure that you are disciplined to minimize these errors. The easiest way to do this is to have a defined regimented sales process that you implement religiously.
3. Convert on 3rd Downs - When a team has the ball, it is given a set of four downs (plays) to advance the ball at least 10 yards, or else it may have to give up possession of the ball to its opponent. 3rd down is probably the most critical down, because if it doesn't convert (advance the ball far enough after its 3rd down), it very likely on 4th down will have to give up possession of the ball by kicking it (punting) to its opponent.
Sales Lesson: Convert on the key stages in the prospects evaluation process. The challenge in sales unlike football is reps don't often know when they are on a third down and must convert. How do you figure out what down you are on? ASK! Most prospects have a process for evaluating purchases. Ask them what are the gates in the process and the criteria for passing on to the next step. If they don't have a process suggest one. Negotiate so that you are able to control how many downs you have and let your competitors guess where they are on the field.
4. Successfully rushing the ball against its opponent - In football, there are two types of plays that a team uses to advance the ball forward: Passing (throwing the ball forward) and Rushing (running with the ball from scrimmage) While ideally, a team would like to be successful at both, it is of particular importance that a team has success rushing the ball. One reason is, the more successful a team is at rushing, the longer it is able to keep the ball in its hands and out of its opponents To briefly explain, when a team rushes the ball, the game clock( used to time the action) continues to wind down, leaving less time for its opponent when it has possession; whereas passing the ball can stop the game clock if a pass thrown is incomplete (not caught). Another reason is, rushing the ball wears down the opposing team.
Sales Lesson: The rushing equivalent in sales is taking the time to understand the clients needs, what they see as their ideal solution, negotiating pricing, etc. In larger deals make sure that you take the time to understand these things before you make your pitch or proposal (the equivalent of a pass). Once the pricing is out there you have conceded to your competition for their move. The longer the customer is working with you the less they will have to work with the competition.
5. Successfully stop the opposing team from rushing - Just think opposite of what was just described in the previous point
Sales lesson: If you are competing against a skilled and effective competitor, recognize the game your playing and stop their rushing plays. The easiest way to do this is to win initiative, through a game changing maneuver (often a free trial, or access to some special resource can do this). The goal is to get off of the defensive as quickly as you can, and back into driving the ball forward.
All analogies aside, selling really isn't a game but it is a structured and strategic approach tied to meeting your prospects needs, and countering your competitors maneuvers. The karmic sales person is able to navigate both these solitudes and does not sacrifice the clients requirements for the best solution in their efforts to win the business.
Moment of Zen
"Success or achievement is not the final goal. It is the 'spirit' in which you act that puts the seal of beauty upon your life"- Swami Chinmayananda
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Ethical salesperson..an oxymoron?
Over my career I have worked with many folks who if prompted on the likelihood of working with an ethical sales person, would likely rate it in the same class as "red 13" on the roulette wheel (ie. doesn't exist). Given that I have chosen this profession it is no surprise I would vehemently disagree, but I understand the sentiment. The challenge with ethics in a sales context is that things aren't black and white. The assumption is that full disclosure ultimately is the sales persons responsibility so that the prospect can fairly evaluate the business proposition and determine if it is going to make sense. In a perfect world I would agree. Yet buyers are no more ethical than salespeople. Manipulating and withholding information is considered perfectly acceptable. Presumably in a capitalistic society it is ok for the holder of resources to act unethically to preserve their resources from those who would seek to take them. Herein lies the rub. Prospects expect full disclosure through the sales process (in fact have no problem disparaging sales people if they don't get it) yet have a clear conscience when bold face lying to the sales person about many elements of the economic transaction (ex. budget, key reasons for looking, which competitors, etc) or not following through on commitments made through the sales process.
A more sophisticated test is required than simple honesty to determine if your sales person is ethical. In my humble opinion there is much that occurs through the sales process that brutal honesty is not helpful for (on both sides of the table). What is critical is that both parties are forthright in answering relevant questions factually. It is not helpful to ask something like "Is this the best price possible". First off your likelihood of hearing an answer that is honest is probably quite low, about the same probability as, you the customer ,answering the question honestly " Would you pay more for this than I quoted you?". Secondly its not relevant. What is relevant is whether you as a customer are getting the necessary value out of the economic transaction to justify the price.
Ethicality is a strange bird. Most folks identify it with full disclosure and brutal honesty. I think it is more accurately described as not withholding information that would prejudice the customer's ability to fairly evaluate the product or service. If I may be so bold I would also assert that the only prospects deserving of an ethical salesperson are those who act ethically through the sales process, ie do not withhold information from the sales person that would prevent the salesperson from fairly quoting his/her price. When both parties enter into the sales engagement with this philosophy in mind a partnership is formed that will inevitably result in both parties succeeding to a far greater extent than would be possible advarsarially.
Moment of Zen
"The only real failure in life, is to not be true to the best one knows."-Buddha
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
A more sophisticated test is required than simple honesty to determine if your sales person is ethical. In my humble opinion there is much that occurs through the sales process that brutal honesty is not helpful for (on both sides of the table). What is critical is that both parties are forthright in answering relevant questions factually. It is not helpful to ask something like "Is this the best price possible". First off your likelihood of hearing an answer that is honest is probably quite low, about the same probability as, you the customer ,answering the question honestly " Would you pay more for this than I quoted you?". Secondly its not relevant. What is relevant is whether you as a customer are getting the necessary value out of the economic transaction to justify the price.
Ethicality is a strange bird. Most folks identify it with full disclosure and brutal honesty. I think it is more accurately described as not withholding information that would prejudice the customer's ability to fairly evaluate the product or service. If I may be so bold I would also assert that the only prospects deserving of an ethical salesperson are those who act ethically through the sales process, ie do not withhold information from the sales person that would prevent the salesperson from fairly quoting his/her price. When both parties enter into the sales engagement with this philosophy in mind a partnership is formed that will inevitably result in both parties succeeding to a far greater extent than would be possible advarsarially.
Moment of Zen
"The only real failure in life, is to not be true to the best one knows."-Buddha
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
Everyone is a sales guy!
This week I had a very interesting discussion with a good friend of mine in Human Resources. We were talking about the skill set to be successful in the business environment and how individuals self perceptions can sometimes work against them. A case in point is the comment: "he is such a sales guy". I personally have heard this so many times I have lost count. I understand that the intent is to insult the target of the comment but in my humble opinion this is actually a great complement! Here is why:
1. Sales people are the infantry of the work force. Sent into messy situations, often with little support (ie. here is the phone book start dialing for dollars). In spite of this they persevere, often taking heavy losses and making sacrifices to ensure the missions success.
2. They are problem solvers extrodinaire- Often having to deal with issues that they don't know about, operating with limited visibility to scope and difficulty. Yet through a disciplined process and flawless execution succeed and bring the customer to the table and revenue to the business.
3. Collaborators and consensus builders- You will not be successful in sales if you are unable to build consensus and collaborate with the many support resources required to bring the sale to fruition. Salespeople have to be adept at understanding and balancing multiple interests and agenda, seeking middle ground, and collaborating with both internal and external groups.
4. Strategists and tactical mavericks- The best of our profession are able to view each opportunity as a battle. Not against the customer but against all the forces working against the partnership (internal and external). The successful sales person recognizes that the careful movement of pieces and the use of adept strategy and unmatched tactical maneuvers are key to overcoming objections, bypassing roadblocks, and securing consent.
This is a short list (I am sure there are many more) but key in my mind is that these are skills that, irrespective of your function in the organization, anyone would be proud to have attached to their name. In fact, I would propose, that to be successful in any function in the business world you would need to have developed skills in each of these areas. At the end of the day everyone is selling something-whether its a product, idea, yourself, promotion, etc. The skills of successful selling brings value to every organizational function and as such in my mind there is no higher compliment than being called a "salesperson".
Moment of Zen
"A man is made by his belief. As he believes so he is."-Bhagavad Gita
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
1. Sales people are the infantry of the work force. Sent into messy situations, often with little support (ie. here is the phone book start dialing for dollars). In spite of this they persevere, often taking heavy losses and making sacrifices to ensure the missions success.
2. They are problem solvers extrodinaire- Often having to deal with issues that they don't know about, operating with limited visibility to scope and difficulty. Yet through a disciplined process and flawless execution succeed and bring the customer to the table and revenue to the business.
3. Collaborators and consensus builders- You will not be successful in sales if you are unable to build consensus and collaborate with the many support resources required to bring the sale to fruition. Salespeople have to be adept at understanding and balancing multiple interests and agenda, seeking middle ground, and collaborating with both internal and external groups.
4. Strategists and tactical mavericks- The best of our profession are able to view each opportunity as a battle. Not against the customer but against all the forces working against the partnership (internal and external). The successful sales person recognizes that the careful movement of pieces and the use of adept strategy and unmatched tactical maneuvers are key to overcoming objections, bypassing roadblocks, and securing consent.
This is a short list (I am sure there are many more) but key in my mind is that these are skills that, irrespective of your function in the organization, anyone would be proud to have attached to their name. In fact, I would propose, that to be successful in any function in the business world you would need to have developed skills in each of these areas. At the end of the day everyone is selling something-whether its a product, idea, yourself, promotion, etc. The skills of successful selling brings value to every organizational function and as such in my mind there is no higher compliment than being called a "salesperson".
Moment of Zen
"A man is made by his belief. As he believes so he is."-Bhagavad Gita
P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!
