Thoughtful Thursdays - Managing your sales time?

As mentioned previously, a common subject of conversation with my clients is the matter of having too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. We all are subject to this in varying degrees and I have written several times on the topic.

Today's thought deals specifically with managing sales call time efficiently to maximize the return on your time investment.

You have targets in various stages of the sales cycle. Taking time to assess the following may help you determine where your time is best spent.

• Total potential sales volume
• Total available sales to you
• Probability of closing in the next 1, 2, or 3 months
• Value of the order you are working on

With this information you can determine a level of urgency for each your top targets. Obviously you want to spend the majority of your available time working on the potentials that will yield the highest sales in the shortest period of time.
By reviewing your targets and progress on a regular basis your process will become more efficient.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Getting past the gatekeeper

Sooner or later we all encounter the obstacle commonly referred to as the gatekeeper. Today's thought focuses on overcoming this obstacle.

First off, do not label these people as gatekeepers, they are potential customers and depending on your approach, may not want to refer you, and we all know the importance of referrals, right?

With that in mind, establish rapport, don't immediately ask to speak to someone else. It may be perceived as dismissive, most certainly an undesirable behaviour. Show respect for the person, I reiterate, they are also your customer and might be one of the most important people in your sales cycle.

Do not assume they can not help you, think the opposite; without them you are lost.

Your first sale is yourself. Be successful at this level and look forward to a shorter sales cycle.

Good selling,

Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Tips for your targeted email sales campaign

A targeted email sales campaign is a relatively low cost approach to reach a significant number of your prospects. It sounds simple enough, yet many do not produce expected results.

I client of mine recently ran a very successful targeted business to business email campaign. During a recent meeting he shared with me what he believed were key success factors and I am able to share them with you today for your thought and consideration.

1. Set clear goals for the campaign - Know why you are doing it in the first place
2. Know who you are targeting - Conduct your research first, remember we are talking about targeted campaign - a laser beam not a shotgun approach.
3. Hire a professional copywriter - Unless this is your profession, do not write your own copy. The success of your campaign depends on the ability of your message to engage and promote action.
4. Have and A/B test protocol for your message - Use what works
5. Predetermine how you will measure results - Tracking your results will help improve your next campaign. Consider using an email service.

In closing today, if you are planning to run a targeted email sales campaign, the chances of success are greatly increased when you have a clear plan to follow.

For your information my client's initial return on investment was approximately twenty fold.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - A process to consider when looking to avoid wasting time

In recent posts the subject of time has been discussed from the point of view of being in control of your time and potential cost implications to a prospect for a delaying decision.

Time is arguably one of your most valuable resources and today's thought focuses on how you might go about saving some.

When was the last time you took a good look at your sales process? Mapping it out is the first step to discovering how and where your time is spent. The goal is not to produce a detailed map as soon as possible, but to improve your understanding, identify opportunities for improvement and solve problems.

You have suppliers and inputs. Add work and you produce outputs that must meet customer requirements. The work is the process you want to map out. You may want to start keeping a log of your time and activities to be sure no steps are left out or taken for granted. Review of previous experiences is another source for this information.

Once you have a list of steps, add major decision points and any loops and support activities that may be part of the process. Take a look at the map as it is developed and walk through it to validate it and make any changes that are appropriate. At this point begin looking for things in your process that are done again.

HINT: LOOK FOR THE THE PREFIX "RE"

• Repeat
• Recheck
• Reenter
• Redesign
• Retest
• Rewrite
• Redo
• Return

These are the steps you want to examine in detail and potentially eliminate.

You can quantify your potential time savings by applying a timeline to the steps in your process. Some of the "re" steps e more worthwhile working on than others. When you do not have a definitive time for a particular step, take a best case and worse case approach. Use the best case as your target. The difference between the best and worst case is your opportunity for improvement.

Accurately mapping out your processes and follow up analysis can yield tremendous savings in time.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - How can I be different from my competitors?

Differentiating yourself from the competition is often easier to say than do. Life is like that - doing is tougher than saying.

My own mantra is to do what my competition does not like to do. But what does that really mean and how do I find out what they do not like to do in the first place?

One place to start is with your existing customers. The fact they are buying from you indicates you have already established a competitive advantage. Your task is to determine exactly what that advantage is. In most cases the behaviour you demonstrate is transferable to your prospects. Your approach may need to be tweaked depending on the personalities involved, but the underlying behaviours will likely be consistent.

What has worked for me in the past is to be up front with the customer and ask them if they would be willing to evaluate your performance and how they measure it. This is part of gaining valuable knowledge on their individual needs. Based on their response you may be able to develop insights to how your competition measures up without actually asking the question directly.

Analyze the information you gather - ask yourself what it is telling you, read between the lines. Sometimes the answer lies in what is not said. The insights gained are the true value of the exercise and will help you understand how you stand out from the crowd.

You may be surprised that it is several little things that you do that add up to a big advantage. Whatever it happens to be, you are delighting your customer.

It may be that you return calls promptly, or send regular industry information that is engaging. Perhaps they do not hear from you frequently, but very regularly and when you do communicate it is always worthwhile.

Analyze the reasons for your successes and translate them to your new prospects. This will help you to differentiate yourself and stay ahead of the competition.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - What does it cost to change suppliers?

All of the above are objections we encounter on a daily basis and can be captured in the two letter word "No".

The immediate internal response is usually "Why?" and back we go to the list of objections.

Today's thought is about a very real reason you may be on the receiving end of one of these objections when you are trying to dislodge competition.

Consider what it will cost your potential customer to switch to your product/service.

Here are a few factors that may help you to quantify the cost of changing suppliers. Once you have this information you will have added an essential sales tool to your arsenal.

• Administrative costs of setting up a new supplier
• Costs of adding additional SKU's
• Disposal of existing inventory
• Time to train staff
• Plant costs if trials are required
• Additional raw material costs beyond your product to run trial
• Costs of sampling if required

In fact, every part of a business may be affected when taking on a new supplier. I am referring to marketing, operations and finance. It can be a decision that is not taken lightly and can often manifest itself in a common objection.

Although price is always important, thinking about the costs of changing suppliers will provide further insights to the real cost. It will enable you to talk intelligently about time to recover those costs and focus on the longer term value by dealing with your company.

On the surface it  may not make sense to change. Take on the responsibility for understanding your customer's concerns and do the research so you can provide a viable response.

It is more than the your price that will make the difference.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - More thoughts on time

Two weeks ago my post Is time your friend or foe? talked about modifying or putting new routines in place in order to have better control over the use of your time. In other words, doing something different to buy some of your time back.

I don't think I would be going out on a limb by saying that the majority of people are being asked to do more with less.What insights can you draw from this tidbit of information? You might be encountering objections based on a perceived lack of time to move your sales efforts forward.

I have encountered the objection myself: "Richard, we just don't have the time to test your product right now".  The gauntlet was clearly laid down and my challenge was to find them the time.

Obviously it was not as simple as adding an extra hour to the clock as the above image might suggest. In each case it required me to review and confirm the numbers. In order to advance the sales process I had to have a plausible story that would raise the level urgency of having our products tested. Based on previous experience, the call to action was not based the on short term costs of conducting trials, but the price they would pay in the long run by delaying them.

Good selling,
Richard