Happy Friday!
Well, it’s the “unofficial” last weekend of summer…but not the end to some great blogs from our team.
I found a great blog this week that really mirrors what we try and keep in mind every day here at AG. In Barb Giamanco’s blog titled: The Great Sales Lead Generation Debate. She talks about the constant discussion on Quality vs. Quantity, and the importance of having a healthy balance. It’s a great read as it puts both sides into perspective.
Monday, August 30th
Does your inside sales team have the tools to succeed? – Ilona Jazdowska discusses in her blog the tools she’s found to be a most useful when it comes to performing successfully in inside sales.
“I have had the opportunity to work for a variety of clients. Some coming right out of the gates with little to no name recognition (some with products still in Beta!), companies with cutting edge technology, others part of the Fortune 500. From my experience, I know what I need to be successful. I am going to share with you some of the preliminary homework that you need to do in order to make your time and investment as successful as possible…”
Tuesday, August 31st
Do Your Inside & Outside Sales Communicate Well? – Craig Ferrara offers some great insight into his past work experiences and how communication is key in sales success.
“It seemed so foreign to me to not be allowed to communicate directly with the outside sales reps. at the hotel we would simply call or walk down to the department we needed answers from. Even if it wasn't the most pleasant conversation, we eventually found some common ground which allowed the team to work more seamlessly from that point forward.”
Thursday, September 2nd
5 Questions To Ask Before Sending Out That Sales Proposal– Chris Lang discusses 5 important questions that you should be asking yourself before you send out the sales proposal.
“Sometimes sales reps act like used car salesmen. “What’s it gonna take to get you into this storage solution?” “Look at this encryption right here…it’s just beautiful and I’m willing to give it to you for half the price!” The pitch is feature and not value focused and then a proposal is given to the prospect, often times without even hearing what the prospect’s full set of needs are. Not shockingly, close rates are usually low when the sales process is less complex than that of the ice cream man selling to a toddler. (He always got me with the Choco Taco) Here are a couple of questions to ask, pre-proposal, that will ensure your prospect is ready to move forward...”
That sums it up! We hope Earl doesn’t ruin your weekend! Be safe and we’ll see you Tuesday!
Sometimes sales reps act like used car salesmen. “What’s it gonna take to get you into this storage solution?” “Look at this encryption right here…it’s just beautiful and I’m willing to give it to you for half the price!” The pitch is feature and not value focused and then a proposal is given to the prospect, often times without even hearing what the prospect’s full set of needs are. Not shockingly, close rates are usually low when the sales process is less complex than that of the ice cream man selling to a toddler. (He always got me with the Choco Taco) Here are a couple of questions to ask, pre-proposal, that will ensure your prospect is ready to move forward.
1) Do they believe in your industry? The first question you have to answer is whether or not the prospect buys not into your particular solution, but into the idea of using a solution at all. EG: AG Salesworks is an outsourced demand generation firm. When I am selling to prospect I have to make sure that they are amicable to using an outside firm at all before I can pitch them on why use AG over a competitor. I can spend an hour talking about how we do things differently than (XYZ firm) and make a great case, but it won’t matter if my prospect doesn’t believe in outsourcing to anyone at all.
2) Do they believe you are a better than your competition? This one seems obvious, but you have to make sure that the prospect knows that you are the best solution for their problem. Do not go into a proposal wondering if you are number 2. If you aren’t the best company, how will you have any chance of winning the deal? You will have to drop the price and lower the perceived value of your solution. Margins decrease, you are put into a commodity bucket and you set a bad tone for future sales efforts as you have now shown that you can be beat down on price.
3) Have you addressed ALL the influencers’ concerns? Most sales managers love what we do. We can increase their forecast and keep them working on active sales opportunities. That being said, the CFO might not think we are necessary. The VP Marketing that splits the budget for this thinks that outsourced programs aren’t needed and that sales should work harder, and the demand generation manager has someone that they have known for years that they would love to give the contract to. Make sure you know every single person that will have an influence on the decision and that you have alleviated all concerns that they have. If you leave something to be questioned…it will be.
4) Do you really know what the prospect needs? Have you taken the time to actually listen to what the prospect needs and then created an action plan that addresses those needs? Furthermore, are you confident that your team can provide exactly what the prospect is expecting? If you don’t know what the prospect is looking for and you don’t know that you can provide the right solution; you shouldn’t be trying to solve their problem. Your prospect will see through this and your contract is liable to be trash bound.
5) Are they comfortable with the price? I always like to talk price well before I even get close to a proposal. If you are afraid to talk about the cost of working with you then you are afraid that your solution is not worth the money. If someone can’t afford you based purely on numbers, then why would you continue to pitch to them? On the other hand, if they can afford you, but they think you are too expensive, you have to show them why the cost is what it is. “Yes we are more expensive, but here is why.” Make sure that your prospect knows not only your price, but why your price is what it is. When it comes down to the final 2 and you are more money than the other option; you had better make sure that your prospect knows that you are worth the extra money.
Having a lot of proposals out does not necessarily mean that you will be closing a ton of revenue. If anything, sending out proposals too early will lead to low close rates, inaccurate forecasts one very irate VP Sales. Don’t be afraid to slow down the sales process even if your prospect is asking for a proposal. Telling your prospect that you can’t send them a proposal until you fully understand their needs is not a bad thing. If anything it can be a major trust builder and a differentiator between you and the 5 other sales execs that put proposals out after one meeting. Do not send a proposal when the prospect asks for it, send a proposal when they are ready for it.
Happy Hunting.
How did everyone’s week go? We had some great blogs this week by Laney Pilpel, Craig Ferrara, Peter Gracey and Chris Lang.
As always I would like to point out a particular article I found this week that’s worth noting. Paul Castain wrote a blog titled: The 7.5 Deadly Sins Of Prospecting!. It listed 7 (and a half) things that you should not be doing while prospecting. It’s a great way to see if you are indeed guilty of these “deadly sins” and how to keep from committing them!
Monday August 23rd
Polite Persistence Pays Off For Inside Sales – Laney Pilpel offers some great pointers as to how and why being polite but yet persistent can pay off.
“The theme here boils down to this: Persistence, or what we like to call at AG, “Polite Persistence.” I think that sales people tend to get a bad reputation for being too forward, which is why we train our reps to be persistent in the nicest way possible. We accomplish this in many ways, from our tone and messaging to the amount of times we contact prospects throughout our call plan. There are two examples that really stand out in my mind and exemplify how we really go above and beyond to get the most meaningful conversations and quality opportunities possible without giving up.”
Tuesday August 24th
A Call Plan Can Help To Fix The Gap Between Sales and Marketing – Craig Ferrara touches on an article that he read this past week that discussed how to best deliver “sales ready leads”. He went on to explain how building an effective lead nurturing process was important.
“The last thing we want is that gap between your sales and marketing team to become a place where sales leads go to die. To prevent this from happening I suggest start by putting a call plan in front of your inside sales team. Step one should involve following up on any inquiry (assuming it's been scrubbed in some way) within 48 hours. As we all know, the longer a lead ages it becomes less and less likely the lead will convert to an opportunity for your sales team.”
Wednesday August 25h
0#, The Oldest And Still Most Effective Move An Inside Sales Rep Can Use – Peter Gracey discusses the oldest trick in the book, hitting 0# and how important it can be when getting key pieces of information in your calls.
”By requiring that you speak to someone live on every call you end up casting a wider net within your target organization and most importantly you get yourself a sales ready lead faster than your competition.”
Thursday August 26th
3 Ways To Shorten Sales Cycle – Chris Lang offers some great points on how to shorten the sales cycle.
“I certainly encourage all sales and marketing executives to find new ways to increase their forecast. However, you should not turn your back on the proven methods that work just because they are “old school” and in many cases tougher to do. Roll up your sleeves, do the dirty work and close some deals.”
That covers it! We hope you all have a great weekend! See you Monday!
Sales cycles are longer right now. This is one of the unfortunate realities that a lot; if not all sales executives have to deal with. Blue birds that used to close in a matter of weeks now take months or even multiple quarters with painful negotiations that drag on and on……and on. I consistently have conversations with sales VPs that are looking for easy, quick fix ways to bring their sales cycles down. Though there are some excellent marketing tools out there, I believe in some of the tried and true methods that we often forget about in our pursuit to recreate the wheel.
1) Sell based on value. A good sales person loves the product that they sell. When I talk to them their love of the product often leads to long discussions on features and functionality. Features and functions are pain easers and while everyone wants their jobs to be easier, CFO’s don’t prioritize funds for a solution that will make someone’s day better. People buy based on 3 major motivations: to make money, to save money or to mitigate risk. If your product is seen as a “nice to have”, it can wait to be purchased. You have a much higher chance to close a deal quickly if you are able to sell based on value and show the prospect how this will help their company’s bottom line.
2) Pick up the phone. Cold calling is tough to do. It takes a lot of time, a ton of effort and you have to deal with a lot of rejection. Despite these factors, if done properly, it is the fastest way to build fully qualified sales opportunities. The reason for this, it is discriminatory. If you are trying to shorten your sales cycle you do not want a ton of unqualified leads coming your way. Simply put, you don’t have the time to weed through them and separate the wheat from the chaff. Cold calling allows you to go directly to decision makers, pitch your value, qualify them in or out and advance the sales cycle in one call.
3) Aim high. When you have time you can get away with selling lower in organizations just to get an “in” and then navigate your way up. When time is short you should be selling to as high a level as possible. This of course is much tougher to initiate, but again when time is short you do not have the luxury of nurturing low level contacts in hopes that they will escalate this for you. Getting someone that will be a champion for you is great. Finding the person that signs the check is much better. Even if the person on top passes you down (which often happens) you at least have an endorsement from the right person. If my boss tells me to take a meeting with someone I take it seriously. If that person were to call me without the endorsement from my boss I am more likely to blow them off.
I certainly encourage all sales and marketing executives to find new ways to increase their forecast. However, you should not turn your back on the proven methods that work just because they are “old school” and in many cases tougher to do. Roll up your sleeves, do the dirty work and close some deals.
Happy Hunting!
Have you ever had that friend that rushes into relationships too fast going “all in” in the name of love rather than taking their time to learn about the other person?
Friend: I know it’s only been a couple of dates….but I think I love her man
Me: Well that’s great buddy, good for you guys. What do you think about the tattoos?
The one that says, “ready to die” seems a little aggressive don’t you think?
Friend: That’s from her old life man; she said she doesn’t want to date crime bosses any more.
Me: She’s in a knife fighting club Brian
Friend: You don’t understand our love!
These relationships carry on for some time often times burning out as quickly as they started. They went too fast and got in too deep before they realized they were not a great fit for each other. The sales process is a lot like dating with the inking of a new deal being the glorious wedding day (minus the drunken karaoke uncle that hates wearing a shirt). In my opinion, a lot of sales people and their prospects rush through the process leading to deals not closing or closing a bad deal, which I think is even worse. I take my sales process slower than most in my industry. I think there are certain hurdles that must be cleared before you can even think about giving out a proposal.
For starters, make sure your prospect understands the difference between your deliverable and your competition’s before you put a proposal on his/her desk. My market place is very competitive. There a million firms claiming to do what we do. Truth is, the overwhelming majority do not and I have to make the prospect realize that. If I do not, I run the risk of becoming commoditized and put into a bucket that my firm shouldn’t be in. In my case, my firm’s services are usually seen as more expensive than the competition. Giving a proposal before the prospect understands the true deliverable puts me in a “cost per lead” bucket and 99% of the time I will lose that battle. However, if I take the time to go over the prospect’s needs, their market place, their close rate on qualified ops and their revenue goals, it usually comes out that the prospect will have to spend a lot less on our services to get to the desired result. In addition, the fact that I will hold off on a proposal until I know exactly what my prospect is looking for immediately sets me apart from the competition. How can I propose a solution until I know the full breadth of the problem? That would be like going to the Dr, saying that your ankle hurts, and them telling you that they are going to cut your foot off. I would prefer to go to the MD that investigates a bit before providing a solution.
Identify issues that could blow up your deal before sending a formal proposal. In sales we are taught to keep a positive attitude, which we need to prevent ourselves from jumping out of a window during lean times. That being said, make sure you ask yourself what could prevent a deal from moving forward. Some sales people do the opposite. They hand over the proposal and try to address issues after it has gone out. In my experience, it is much more difficult to handle objections after the proposal has gone out. You may have had all of your conversations with the VP of operations and all of those conversations may have gone well. But, if you don’t ask about the other people that will be viewing the proposal you will never find out that the CFO, who has to ink the check, is interested in another solution because it offers financial analysis that you also deliver, but never talked about. You could have said all the right things to your prospect only to be dead in the water because you never talked to the CFO.
These are just a couple of suggestions for the proposal happy sales executives out there. Don’t be afraid to slow down the sales process. Allow your prospect to see the full value of your solution before you ask them to marry you.