1. Capitalize on how digital technology has changed the sales game: If Marketing was 80% creative and 20% logistics back in the early 90s, it’s the exact opposite now. Social media, email and other resources give marketers access to honest, instant feedback and analytics whenever they want it. That means companies can adjust on the fly, tweaking their sales and marketing processes to reflect changes in buyer behavior, then monitoring the business impact of each adjustment.
2. Fuse Marketing and Sales into one department: Research proves time and again that the more Sales and Marketing work as a unified front, sharing info and ideas, the more successful a company becomes. With that in mind, a lot of successful companies are consolidating their Sales and Marketing under one large umbrella, creating more cohesive value propositions via stronger customer focus.
3. Interview your customers: Make it a priority to schedule face-to-face interviews with loyal customers and ex-customers at least twice a year to gain a one-on-one sense of what they like, don’t like, and what changes they’d like to see.
4. Map out the buying process: Once you’ve gathered and assessed all the feedback from web analytics, social media and one-on-one interviews, determine what adjustments you’ll make to the selling process to reflect buyers’ needs.

Based in part on “4 tactics to create a customer-centric sales and marketing strategy,”  MarketingSherpa.

You can get a good fix on a customer’s cost-benefit by looking at two underutilized metrics:

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): From lead source to the selling process to maintaining relationships, how much is it costing you to win (and keep) every customer.
2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): How much revenue has the company earned as a result of that customer relationship? Or, how much does it stand to earn?

Of course, when it comes to numbers like these, managers generally need to assess results on a case-by-case basis before deciding whether a customer is actually “worth the trouble.”

Some intangibles to consider:

• Does the customer provide valuable word-of-mouth business, referrals, or a certain degree of prestige in the eyes of other prospects?
• Is there a good possibility the customer will increase in value
  over time, as it grows and increases its volume per sale?
• Has the customer’s CLV decreased consistently year after year? If so, what’s changed? How can you reverse that trend?
• Break down CAC by rep to determine whether specific reps spend far too much time and money focusing on customers who don’t provide a significant return.
• Are there specific salespeople who know how to increase CLV over time? If so, how do they do it, and how can you train other reps to do the same?

Source: ““How Sales Process Can Grow Share of Wallet,” by John Kenney, Sales Benchmark Index, 1/12/12.

These come from the book How Winners Sell, by Dave Stein:

1. Salespeople depend on the capabilities of their product or service to win. Not many companies have a unique enough product or service to simply blow the competition away. Winners differentiate their product or service in ways that convey value to customers, and they don’t count on their products or services to beat the competition.
2. They’re afraid to get out of their comfort zones and assume a position of strength – to be more persistent, to negotiate for access to the real buyer, and to be more persuasive. Some are fearful on calling on executive-level buyers or are completely intimidated when selling against tough competition. Few comfortable places exist anymore for salespeople who don’t have the courage to figure out what they need to win and take appropriate action
3. They don’t know who their competition is. They get outsold because they don’t know anything about the salesperson who is competing for the same business – not their name, how they sell, whether they’re new at the job or highly experienced, or what that person is likely to do to win the business. That’s selling blind.
4. They depend too much or too little on relationships. Relationship selling usually isn’t enough anymore. If a salesperson can’t prove value, knowing the key buyers usually won’t close the sale. On the other hand, it’s always a good idea to build a win-win relationship with customers who can influence the buying decision. The key is to develop good customer relationships without counting on them too much to close the sale.
5. They don’t have a plan to win. The thought of taking control of what’s happening with customers and prospects doesn’t occur to them. They have no objective, nothing to aim for. Some of them give lip service to the plan, but haven’t done the planning.
6. They don’t really understand their customer’s business. They don’t do their homework. They don’t think that something is important. They aren’t passionate about solving their customers’ problems.
7. They didn’t have all the skills and traits required to win. The skill levels required for sales success in today’s selling environment are different from what they were even a few years ago. Salespeople have to be better researchers, information gathers and leaders than their competitors. Winning a sale today requires knowledge, planning and precise execution from beginning to end. Successful salespeople offer greater and more meaningful service to their customers and know their competitor’s next move – so they can move first.

Ted Higgins, VP for the Forum Corp., a sales-training firm, lists the 10 that have worked for him:

1. Be bold. Increase your success in retaining and growing current customers by focusing your efforts on calling on the right people in the right accounts with innovative and unique ideas. Offer innovative ideas and insights. Customers are so busy dealing with their own competitive pressures that they don’t have time to discuss tired ideas. What have you learned from others customers with similar issues that can relieve your present customer’s pain immediately. Packaging these insights creatively is key to increasing your business with this customer.
2. Be a true consultant for your customer. Talk business strategy with your customers. Show how your offering advances their strategy. Create solutions that solve your customer’s problems. Customers expect solutions that support and drive their central business strategies.
3. Talk results with customers. Show how your product or service can positively affect the customer’s performance. Identify the appropriate needs and create a compelling case for your solution.
4. Be innovative. Increase credibility as a trusted advisor by bringing to the table innovative, highly differentiated solutions that respond to customers’ unique business challenges. Customers view new ideas and insights from your experience with issues they may be facing. 
5. Do your homework. Focus on both results and the relationship. New conditions demand new strategies. Know more and turn that knowledge into value. Customers want insight. Go beyond asking good questions about the customers’ situation. Before getting in front of the customer, know the answers to questions about the customer’s own customers, competitors, strengths and weaknesses.
6. Resist the pressure to just sell something. Overpromising to customers is a frequent trap that some salespeople fall into. Gaining the sale in the short term may create havoc downstream. The outcome is predictable. Customer trust is eroded, business what should have been won is lost, and entire relationships are jeopardized when needed them most.
7. Focus on results and relationships. Show commitment to your customer by adding value, Conduct periodic account reviews to summarize the value you’re providing and pinpoint areas for improvement.
8. Go to school on your competitors, They have never been more aggressive or more vulnerable than right now. Develop defensive strategies and points of view. Help your customers develop strategies for dealing with their competitors. Be proactive in providing advice and insight.
9. View each customer’s company as a market. Focus efforts on segmenting and capturing a share of this market. Leverage successes and relationships.
10. Achieve customer loyalty. Because customers are continually changing, the factors on which they evaluate sales organizations are changing also. Achieving customer loyalty is a job that’s never done. Customers are always evaluating you to see how well you’re meeting their current needs.

An effective follow-up can be a telephone call, fax, e-mail, letter, hand-written note, personal visit or any combination of these.  An effective after-sales service philosophy requires constant vigilance and dedication. Here are eight tips for effective after-sales service to share at your next sales meeting:

1. The customer is not always right. The goal is not to discredit, embarrass, belittle or challenge them in a destructive way. It’s usually better to discover the source or cause of their incorrect perceptions, beliefs or attitudes.

2. The customer is never completely wrong. There’s usually some element of their perception that is a true reflection of reality as they see it. Customers can be informative if we keep an open mind and are receptive to what’s being said. They can help pinpoint distribution or sales methods that need improvement.

3. The customer deserves your best, regardless of the time of day, day of the week, or month of the year. The fact that you worked late last night making an emergency delivery shouldn’t become the customer’s problem. These circumstances and thousands of others like them, if they become the customer’s problem, may cause him or her to switch to a competitor.

4. Don’t pass the buck. Whoever hears about a problem owns the problem. Try to avoid being defensive or upset when a customer brings you a concern or complaint. Accept the fact that the problem exists and help get it solved.

5. Don’t be too busy for your customers and don’t make it difficult for them to do business with you. How many times have you as a customer gotten the feeling that you’re an interruption to another salesperson’s day or workload? Try not o treat customers this way.

6. Say what you will do and do what you say you will. Follow through, keep your promises, honor your commitments, and keep your customer informed of your progress. Customers tend to be more understanding, patient and tolerant if you communicate with them with integrity and in a timely manner.

7. Be interested, care and act like you’re glad the customer is doing business with you. People like doing business with people who appreciate their business. They are usually willing to give more of their business to salespeople who are accommodating and interested.
You show you care by having up-to-date product knowledge and trying to answer all questions the customer may have.

8. Think ahead of the customer with a problem-solving attitude. To prosper and build repeat business, salespeople should try to anticipate customer needs and problems. It will be too late if you wait for the customer to bring their problems to you or communicate their future desires and needs.

Adapted from 91 Mistakes Smart Salespeople Make, by Tim Connor.

According to a comprehensive OneSource study, sales triggers are changes within a company or market that increase a prospect’s chances of saying “yes.”

The key is knowing when a sales trigger is about to take place and how to capitalize. Top organizations use these four strategies to do just that:

1. Monitor personnel changes: Organizations that maintain up-to-date contact info for leads are proven to achieve better prospecting results than those that don’t. More importantly, in terms of sales triggers, personnel changes represent the biggest opportunity for sales pros to win more business. The trick: Knowing when those changes are about to take place, or if they already have. Here are two low-cost ways to stay on top of personnel changes at prospects’ companies, so salespeople are in a prime position to win more deals: 1) Send a mass email once every six months, asking prospects to take a moment and update their contact info (attach an incentive like a free white paper or e-zine subscription to boost response rates), and/or 2) hire an intern (or admin) to contact each of the companies in your lead base, gathering up-to-date contact info, including the names of key execs who can benefit from your products and services the most.
2. Follow prospects into new markets: Most of today’s companies keep customers in the know about upcoming product launches, as well as changes to existing products and services. That may spell opportunity for sales organizations that can make a case for why (and how) their offer can help the prospect’s new initiative(s) succeed. Three low-maintenance ways for salespeople to stay on top of what’s changing at prospects’ companies: 1) sign up for company newsletters, email updates and special offers, 2) add the names of top prospects’ companies to your Google alerts, so you’re the first to know whenever the company’s name pops up online, and 3) bookmark prospects’ web sites, and visit them once a week to see if there are any new updates.
3. Keep a budget calendar: Nearly a third of today’s sales execs say the most common objection they hear is that prospects don’t have room in the budget for any new purchases. The best way to overcome budget objections: Know when prospects plan to renew their budget for the year. Sure, a lot of companies renew their budgets at the beginning of each calendar year. But in certain industries, April and August are also prime months for budget rollover. Train salespeople to ask prospects when their budgets renew at the beginning of the sales cycle. Then maintain your own budget calendar, so you can frontload the lead pipeline with prospects who have a fresh budget to work with. Meanwhile, have salespeople set Outlook calendar reminders, so they’re reminded to contact prospects (and existing customers) when they’re in a position to make new purchases.
4. Attend industry events: Try to have at least one sales rep attend every major trade show and convention, so they can report back about the new products and services top prospects are promoting. This way you can tailor value propositions to what each prospect is focusing on right now. You may also want to encourage salespeople to speak at these events, so prospects recognize them as experts in the field, capable of helping them overcome some of their biggest obstacles.

In a recent CustomerCollective article, sales blogger David Cancel offered “30 Brilliant Social Media Marketing Tips from 2011“. Here are the best ones for sales:

1. Write posts with your audience in mind, not your company.
2. Stop worrying about quantity of posts, and start providing your audience with quality content.
3. Show appreciation for the social media users who constantly retweet or repost your offers by providing some type of small incentive or discount.
4. Test the response rates when posting at different times of the day.
5. Think of your social media feeds as a fun place for customers to meet and discuss relevant issues. Do not use social media as a billboard.
6. Use social media analytics to find out who your key prospects are, and what their common interests are beyond business.
7. Create specific metrics to measure the success of every campaign.
8. Use social media to generate instant feedback about products/services.
9. Hold contests to ensure customers get in the habit of visiting your feed on a daily basis.
10. Offer something of value in return for “like”-ing your company.

In his book, Slow Down, Sell Faster! author Kevin Davis explains why presenting solutions too soon in the sales process can lead to a lot of problems, including:

• It shifts the focus away from the customer and on to the salesperson.
• At this point in the sale, the salesperson doesn’t really know the full value of the solution.
• It’s too early for the salesperson to know what problems or opportunities the customer has and doesn’t have – so he or she may end up emphasizing features the customer doesn’t want and miss capabilities they do want.
• It makes the customer feel like they’re being “sold to” and makes the salesperson sound like every other person who’s trying to sell them.

Creating a unique solution

If you don’t know your prospect’s buying criteria, consider it a signal that you haven’t placed enough emphasis on uncovering his or her needs. Until you’ve helped the prospect frame an effective solution for their needs, you won’t know what to emphasize about your product or service. If you resist the temptation to talk about your product or service too early, the prospect may talk about what the solution must do.

Getting prospects to open up

During a meeting with a new prospect, it may be difficult to get him or her to open up. If you sense that a prospect is reluctant to talk, it may be a good idea to take your focus off uncovering problems and put it on potential opportunities for improvement.

Five steps of diagnosis

Here are five steps that may help you get off on the right foot with a new prospect:

1. Break the ice quickly. A good way to do that is to tell the prospect what you already know about his or her business.
2. Establish the big picture. Try to ask a few big picture questions that will help pinpoint a prospect’s goals and obstacles that might be in the way.
3. Ask diagnostic questions. Try to get background facts and current information. You want to identify the difference between what is and what should be.
4. Identify the decision makers. Try to find out who will be involved in the decision, pinpointing the most influential ones. What is the attitude of the most influential decision makers?
5. Remain focused on the prospect’s needs throughout the meeting. It’s not a good idea to offer solutions at this stage. You’re collecting information that will allow you to come up with the right solution.

1. Selling is selling – a good salesperson can sell anything. We’d like to believe this one, but large sales and small sales require different skill sets – and not every salesperson has them.

In small sales, salespeople do most of the talking and may win the business thanks to their high energy, enthusiasm and glowing product descriptions.

In large sales, the customer may do most of the talking. Salespeople who listen well and ask revealing questions that move the sale to a closing may involve a complex business solution.

2. Always call high. Just because salespeople can get appointments with top management doesn’t mean they will close the sale.

Research clearly shows that the most successful salespeople don’t call at higher levels than less successful salespeople. They start their calls at the level where the problems are, which is generally lower in the organization.

Once they understand the customer’s problems, they move up the ladder or get someone on the inside to carry their sales message – and solution – to the top for them.

3. To get more orders, make more calls. There are two sides to this one. If you sell lower-cost products and services, making more calls generally translates into more orders.

But on the high-end side, there may be a negative correlation between the number of calls and the number of sales. Reason: To increase the number of calls they make, salespeople may cut back on researching prospects and call preparation.

4. Ask open-ended questions. Some salespeople have an unshakable faith in the power of open-ended questions. Problem is, research shows, calls high in closed-end questions are just as likely to lead to sales.

In theory, open-ended questions result in open answers and closed questions in one-word answers.

In practice, 60% of closed questions during sales call result in answers of more than one word. About 10% of open questions get one-word answers. Also, closed-ended questions tend to be sharper focused and result in a specific answer.

5. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. First impressions are critical in the small, one-call sale. But in larger, complex sales, there’s no correlation between openings and sales success.

You still want to make a good impression, but prospects will overlook a poor first showing, if they think the salesperson can solve the problem.

Adapted from Getting Partnering Right: How Market leaders Are Creating Long-Term Competitive Advantage by Neil Rackham.

It’s an age-old management principle: That which you don’t confront you condone.

That’s especially true in the case of prima donna employees, particularly in sales, whose delinquent behavior could wind up having a major impact on the rest of the team.

Here are six proven steps for dealing with prima donnas, and, ultimately, transforming them into valuable assets who openly embrace the company’s mission and values:

1. Before confronting a prima donna, be sure to ask yourself, “Have I contributed in any way to the employee’s negative behavior, and – if so – what actions can I take to rectify that?”
2. Prior to meeting with the employee in question, be sure to gather as much evidence as possible to support your case. This way you can use specific instances to connect the dots between the employee”s behavior and the negative impact it’s had on personnel and/or performance.
3. When confronting an employee, ask good questions that lead him/her to draw the appropriate conclusion(s). Lecturing a prima donna usually results in resentment of  the central message.
4. Set key behavioral goals that you can somehow tie to quantifiable benchmarks or metrics. Most prima donnas don’t have a problem getting the job done, which is – coincidentally – why they behave like prima donnas in the first place. The problem is behavioral, and needs to be addressed.
5. This is one case where consequences are much more important than incentives. Consider what type of message you send by offering to reward a person for doing what he’s supposed to.
6. Set firm follow-up dates and let the employee know what you expect in terms of progress. Make it clear what the consequences will be if the employee fails to show significant improvement by an agreed-upon date.

Several months back, YouTube started giving viewers the option to skip video advertisements after the first five seconds. The results of that type of marketing provided a window into consumer preferences.

If an ad was considered relevant, or simply engaging, during the first 5-10 seconds, consumers were likely to watch the majority of the ad. If the ad failed to engage the viewer, he/she would click through.

Hulu.com, on the other hand, added a button at the top of ads, asking viewers to click based on whether or not the ad they were watching was relevant to them.

That type of intelligence has led a slew of online advertisers to start exploring a new realm of thought – specifically, why not let consumers choose the advertisement they’d prefer to watch based on which product or service seems the most intriguing to them?

Hulu recently gave visitors the option to “swap” one ad for another, based on personal tastes or interests. Example: If Coca-Cola has purchased that ad space, viewers can choose between an ad for Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Sprite.

Obviously, if this type of advertising catches on, it could lead to sharper marketing analytics, allowing companies to devote more focus to which products and ads produce the most bang for their online buck.

One obvious drawback: Viewers may see this type of advertising as one more obstacle to viewing the content they came to the site for in the first place. If that’s the case, it could affect traffic, ad buys, and the online marketing process altogether.

If the user doesn’t choose an ad in a specific amount of time, the site will choose an ad for him/her, in order to save the process from stalling users who may have minimized the screen, etc.

YouTube isn’t completely sold on the idea yet, and continues to roll out multiple-choice ads only in small, beta testing controls.

One final option that’s gaining traction: Engage the viewer by turning the ad into a trivia contest or quick game of skill. This way, the user feels entertained, while the advertiser maintains a captive audience.

Source: “Commercials, by Multiple Choice,” by Randall Stross, New York Times, 10/30/11.

In a recent survey, customers reported they were faced with a group of salespeople seeking their business whose offerings all looked the same. The only place where customers could find a clear differentiation was in price.

If customers can’t differentiate one product or service from another, they will choose the one with the lowest price. Salespeople who can’t clearly differentiate their products or services from competitors may always face the price issue.

Four value drivers

The same survey identified four “value drivers” that helped salespeople become trusted advisers and encouraged customers to look beyond price. They are:

1. The salesperson revealed to the buyer an Unrecognized Problem that the customer was experiencing. Help customers understand their problems, issues and opportunities in new and different ways.
2. The salesperson established for the customer an Unanticipated Solution to the problem that customer was experiencing. Help customers arrive at better solutions than they would have arrived as on their own. Sharing knowledge to help customers avoid problems is the key.
3. The salesperson created or revealed Unseen Opportunities for the customer. What’s being sold is more than just the product or service itself – it’s a bundle of values, including service, reliability, continuity and problem solving. Customers want to now what the salesperson will do once the problem is solved. How will the salesperson apply knowledge to help that customer’s business grow?
4. The seller served as more than just a vender of products or services but served as a Broker of Capabilities. Become a broker of services and act as a customer advocate within your own organization. In a 24/7 world, customers demand that you’re there for them.

Precise definition of value

The survey reveals a precise definition of the concept of value. When a salesperson uses these selling tactics, three outcomes may be achieved:

1. Price will become less important to the customer.
2. The customer will erect barriers to the salesperson’s competition creating a long-term relationship.
3. The salesperson will identify areas of opportunity available to them from each customer.

Communication truths

Two important conditions salespeople may want to keep in mind when communicating with customers were also pinpointed in the survey.

1. Customers put a higher value on what they say and what they conclude than they do on what they’re told.
2. Customers place a higher value on what they request than they do on what is freely offered.

Adapted from Rethinking the Sales Force by Neil Rackham and John DeVincentis.

1. Monitor your mentions: For most companies, social media provides daily opportunities to engage customers that might otherwise slip right through their fingers. Companies like Avaya (a global communications company) use Twitter and Google to monitor every time customers mention them online. Twitter allows users to search by keyword and Google uses its “Alerts” function to help users search by keyword. Avaya’s company name has been mentioned as many as 2,500 times on one day on Twitter, according to a New York Times article. Each of those mentions represents a chance to engage a prospect, help a customer or build a new relationship. The practice has helped Avaya win several accounts from top competitors (they conduct searches using industry keywords as well), and – in one case – it led to a $250,000 contract.
2. Tap new markets: One of the most common reasons some sales managers don’t pursue social media strategies is that their prospects aren’t “social media” people. But the reality is that’s one of the biggest reasons those companies should pursue social media. Example: The sales and marketing team at H&R Block ignored social networking for years, based specifically on the fact that their target demographic was older and uninterested in such things. But when online tax services like Turbo Tax started eating into the company’s marketshare, H&R Block turned to Twitter for help. Rather than use the site as a billboard, H&R Block built up a solid following, then started soliciting feedback about how the company could update their process to attract more prospects. In doing so, H&R Block tapped a whole new generation of taxpayers and earned their trust by acting on their suggestions, then posting the changes (and the names of those who proposed them) on Twitter.
3. Hold contests to boost lead generation: Macy’s, Kodak and Shoeline.com are just three examples of companies that have used Twitter and Facebook to hold contests that generate more leads. How did they do it? They announced the contest via their company Web site, email and consumer message boards, providing an online link to their Twitter or Facebook page. The key: The only way prospects could register to win was by becoming a “fan” or a “follower” of the company on its social networking page. These companies usually offer a valuable first prize (J.C. Penny offered a shopping spree) to boost registrations. Then they promote the contest constantly (e.g., daily email blasts, reminders on message boards, etc.) until it’s time to announce the winner. It’s an easy way to generate thousands of leads at once (Macy’s generated more than 10,000 leads thanks to its “Sweetest Tweet” Valentine’s Day contest).
4. Get other departments involved: Best Buy’s Twelpforce handles service issues exclusively via Twitter. Other companies (e.g. Men’s Wearhouse) solicit marketing advice from customers via Twitter and Facebook. Virgin CEO Richard Branson is one of several well-known C-level execs who engage customers directly via their company’s Twitter feed. The goal is to create a 360 social media model where everyone is on board, so you maximize the potential of online resources from several different perspectives.

Source: “Social marketing campaign raises awareness for H&R Block online,” 360i.com

Here are three statements that can be said of most prospects, according to sales consultant John Graham:

• They’re more demanding. Whether it’s the Internet or the competitive economy, prospects are more determined to get the most value for their purchases. Some of them go into a sales presentation with a sense of entitlement that doesn’t end with price, quality and service. They expect salespeople to increase their perceived value of the product or service.
• They’re more analytical and more educated about everything involved with the product or service being sold. The key to selling these prospects is to keep them satisfied – find out what they want and give it to them. You’ll be perceived as a consultant, adviser and problem-solver, not simply a person pushing a product or service.
• They expect the salesperson to be an ally, not an adversary. Prospects used to think of themselves on opposite sides of the desk from a salesperson. This is no longer true. Prospects try to establish a sense of rapport, trust and respect with the salesperson. Their current attitude reflects a sense of partnering with the salesperson.

Meeting the needs

Here are what effective salespeople are doing to meet the changing needs of today’s prospects:

• They recognize that customers have increased knowledge about the products or services they’re buying. Salespeople anticipate these higher expectations and use value-added strategies to meet them.
• They create an atmosphere of trust and openness in sharing information with prospects. They try to provide solutions that will help prospects in the long-term. They are much more open and candid in dealing with prospects and trying to develop long-term solutions.
• They recognize their pivotal role of matching the prospect’s increased demands while maintaining the overall profitability of the companies they represent.
• They understand the importance of earning the prospect’s respect. They gain it by showing prospects their conviction and enthusiasm.
• They recognize that this is the age of the expert. Prospects want to buy from a salesperson who has in-depth knowledge and experience to sell them the right products or services.
• They learn from failure and disappointment. They see problems as opportunities to use their creative energies and they look upon obstacles as challenges to be met and overcome. They are not defeated by rejection. They accept failure as a part of life and know that there’s a lesson to be learned in every setback.
• They set goals. They focus on what they want to achieve, establish priorities, and know what they have to do in order to keep moving forward. Their plans are flexible enough to allow for the unexpected, but they always have a specific destination in mind.

In a recent survey by Sirius Decisions, prospects were asked to evaluate their initial meetings with salespeople. Here are the results:

• 92% said the initial sales call was of little or no value.
• 82% said salespeople had not done their homework in regardss to the buyer’s needs, and
• 71% reported salespeople talked too much about their company and products and not enough about the buyer’s interests and needs.

The typical advice for making a better impression is to step into the shoes of the buyer. Easier said than done, as these four scenarios indicate:

1. The salesperson follows a prepared script,  talking about products or services, not about buyer needs. As a result, the buyer may have to consider solutions that don’t meet his or her needs. Buyers look for fast, clear and simple solutions that are aligned with their needs. When they don’t get them, they usually move on.
2. Buyers are skeptical that the salesperson can deliver as promised. When competition is tough, some salespeople overpromise. It’s much better to make realistic promises, and then keep them. Nothing destroys alignment faster than broken promises.
3. Key buyers in the decision process had little or no contact with the salesperson. As part of due diligence, a seller should try to learn where who the decision makers are.
4. All the vendors look the same, so the buyer bases the decision on price alone. When buyers perceive that all solutions are the same, they tend to base their decision on price alone.

Bridging buying with selling

Bridging buying with selling — and making a meaningful first impression — involves four distinct phases:

1. Recognition of needs, so sales aren’t lost because a prospect isn’t aware of them. The prospect’s most important concern in this phase is to identify a need that justifies the cost of solving it. Some salespeople lose perspective in this phase, forgetting that their task is to build awareness of the problem, increasing the prospect’s consciousness of the need. A better approach is to listen for needs. A good question salespeople ask themselves in this phase is, “What is the prospect thinking?”
2. Resolution of concerns, so sales aren’t lost due to customer anxiety. There are two dangers in this phase. One is to ignore or downplay concerns the prospects expresses in the hop they will simply go away. The other is to try to apply pressure. The most dangerous error at this phase is for a salesperson to sit back and hope or trust that those fears will resolve themselves.
3. Evaluation of options, so sales aren’t lost to a competitor. In this phase prospects have recognized a need. Now they’re weighing the pros and cons, the strengths and weaknesses, of each option. A trap here is for salespeople to fail to recognize that the customer has perceived a need and is ready to look at options. A better strategy is for a salesperson to stay focused on the need to and ask questions that make the problems more serious.
4. Implementation, so sales aren’t lost due to after-sales neglect. A buying decision doesn’t necessarily mean that the sale is done. The overriding danger now is for a salesperson to assume the selling job is done. Research shows that many sales are lost in this phase. Good after-sale follow-u[p and support solidifies sales immediately and for the future. The effective salesperson in this phase shifts emphasis onto installation, after-sale support and all other continuing contacts with the customer.

Adapted from Selling for The Long Run, by Wendy Reed.

The following charts illustrate the difference between responding to demand and creating it:

Responding to demand

• Ask questions that get the prospects to discuss their recognized problems and issues
• Present your offering as a solution to the prospect’s stated needs
• Describe to the prospect why your offerings are superior to the competition’s.
• Deliver product-based presentations
• Obtain appointments at the user level to discuss tactical problems and opportunities, and
• Understand the prospect’s budget to formulate and price your offering appropriately.

Creating demand

• Ask question to uncover unrecognized problems and challenge the prospect’s current perceptions
• Increase the size, urgency and severity of the prospect’s problems to increase the value of your offering
• Present your offering to meet previously unacknowledged problems
• Conduct value-based conversations around the prospect’s most pressing issues
• Obtain appointments at the executive level to present a persuasive business case
• Use networking, referrals and strategic prospecting to generate new business appointments.

A common mistake

The mistake some salespeople make is to look for prospects who are in the market for their products or services instead of trying to create demand by answering one or more of these prospect questions:

• Where can we cut back on spending?
• Can we get by with what we already have?
• If we have to make a change, will it increase revenues or cut costs and do it quickly?

Image and consulting

Here are two other tips for selling in tough times:

1. Watch your image. Tough times can cause anxiety. Don’t let it show. Negative messages spread like wildfire and can hurt your image with prospects and customers. Make sure you and your company are perceived in the best possible light.
2. Concentrate on consulting. Prospects aren’t looking for “off-the-shelf” solutions to their problems. Tailor your services to meet precise needs. This means taking more time to be helpful, understanding and supportive of your prospects and customers.

Page 1: Cover Letter. It should be short and simply tell the prospect what he or she is about to receive.

Page 2: Summary. Try to lay out all the key points using bulleted sentences and phrases.

Page 3. Benefits. Put in writing the benefits that you detailed in your presentation. It will give your prospect the information he or she needs to deal with other people in the organization.

Page 4. Competition. If you’re replacing one of your own products or services, give the prospect a comparison between the old and the new. If you’re out to knock off a competitive offering, compare, compare, compare.

Page 5. Service. Ask salespeople to define great service and you’ll hear things like timely follow-up visits or on-time delivery. And while these are important, other facts such as how a salesperson would handle a late delivery can make a big difference. Prospects want to hear solutions, not apologies or a dozen reasons why an order was delayed. Your proposal should explain that you’ll always be ready to fix problems.

Page 6. Implementation. Tell them what happens next. The prospect should receive a chronological rundown of delivery, setup and training. This is an excellent closing tool.

Adapted from Persuasion: How Smart Companies and Great Salespeople Sell, by Bill Brooks.

1. What are my goals? Managers need to understand what they hope to accomplish in each region, which areas offer specific clusters of prospects, and which salespeople have the best track record with those types of prospects.
2. Who are my targets? Who are the prospects you have the best chance of closing, and does the amount of time, staff and resources you devote to each region reflect the revenue potential of that territory?
3. What’s the best strategy for closing as many prospects as possible in this region? We’ve all heard the phrase, “different strokes for different folks.” In terms of territory management, managers need to consider which salespeople are the best fit for each area. But they also need to consider which overall strategy (e.g., live demos, referrals, advertising, etc.) offers the best chance of winning as much business as possible.

Source: “How to Set Up Sales Territories,” by Tim Donnelly, Inc., 9/2/11.

1. Selling only the products or services they make the most money on, know the most about, or are the easiest to sell.
2. Slowing down their sales activities at certain times of the month or year.
3. Adjusting their performance once they have exceeded their quota or their manager’s expectations.
4. Avoiding new applications of their products or services.
5. Spending too much time with customers with whom they have a lot in common, despite their limited purchasing potential.
6. Having non productive routines that keep them away from the real role of selling.
7. Spending too much time in after-sales service issues that keep them from selling more to new prospects.
8. Calling only on customers who like them or whom they like.

List the areas

List the areas in which they feel they’re being locked in a comfort zone, and then answer the following questions:

• How long have you had this behavior or attitude?
• How is it sabotaging your sales success?
• If continued, how will it impact your career in the short and long term?
• What can you do to change it?

Adapted from 97 Mistakes Smart Salespeople Make, by Tim Connor.

The measure customers are referring to is called a “sustainability initiative.”

Nearly 90% of managers have a “sustainability initiative” in place, according to a Material Handling Industry of America study.

More importantly, 42% of buyers claim they’ll only consider signing a long-term contract with companies that have such a plan in place.

All of which leads to the question, “What on earth is a sustainability initiative, anyway?”

Sustainability is a term that refers to a company or business’ ability to maintain long-term viability. It’s become increasingly important to b2b customers, given the volatility of the current economy and the risk involved with making investments.

With that in mind, it may be helpful to develop a sustainability statement salespeople can include in their presentations to alleviate prospects’ concerns.

Source: “The State of Sustainability in Material Handling,” by David Butcher.