Selling Power Blog

The Four Trends That Shape the World of Selling

The world of selling is changing at breakneck speed, and sales leaders need to adapt quickly or risk becoming obsolete. Here are the four major trends impacting sales organizations today:

1. Social media. A recent study by the Aberdeen Group shows that 79 percent of salespeople who incorporate social media into their sales process make quota, compared to the industry average of 43 percent. A HubSpot survey finds that companies using Twitter get two times more leads than companies that don’t. Research by InboxQ shows that 64 percent of customers are more likely to purchase from a business that answers their questions on Twitter.

To stay ahead of the curve, it may be a good idea to create a new strategy that includes “social listening” and the creation of engaging content. If your company doesn’t have a LinkedIn group, it’s time to start one. Every salesperson should have a LinkedIn profile that enhances your company’s brand. Teach your salespeople how to use such tools as HootSuite to track clients on Twitter and share content with customers and prospects.

2. Mobile. A Gartner survey predicts that by 2015, tablets will outsell PCs by 72 percent. Last month, laptop shipments realized their biggest monthly decline in years. More and more applications are now available on mobile devices, such as CRM; configure, price, quote tools; sales intelligence; compensation management; social media; and online collaboration and presentation tools. The most successful companies have equipped their sales teams with smartphones and tablets that are connected to the company’s sales-enablement content. Customers are impressed when salespeople can answer their questions by tapping a mobile-device screen and playing a quick customer testimonial on video or configuring a complex product on an iPad.

3. Cloud computing. More and more companies access Cloud-based apps through a browser while the data are stored on servers in a remote location. The simplest example is Google Docs. You have access from any browser to documents that you’d otherwise have to store on your laptop. Software-as-a-service is another example, such as Microsoft Dynamics. Cloud computing makes server-based computing nearly obsolete.

4. Big data. The recent bombing in Boston has shown how fast the FBI can analyze massive amounts of information gleaned from photographs and videos to track down suspects. The police crowd-sourced the investigation and located the suspects in record speed. From the dawn of civilization to 2003, five exabytes of data were created. By 2010, the same amount was created in only two days. As of January of this year, the world is creating five exabytes of information every 10 minutes.

Since companies have rapidly growing amounts of data that are often stored in multiple systems, conventional data analysis is no longer sufficient to optimize insight. New tools on the market allow companies to organize, analyze, and monetize data quickly. While conventional analytics explained the past, predictive analytics can predict future sales opportunities. According to Frost and Sullivan, 49 percent of companies are not using predictive analytics. This is the time to cash in on big-data tools to improve revenue.  

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Are You Selling at Every Level?

While many companies promise to build their organization around the needs of their customers, few companies can claim that they organize themselves around the needs of their salespeople. Yet the two are inevitably linked: in a sales-focused culture in which the entire company (not just the sales department) is involved in selling, salespeople are more successful and customers are more satisfied. Highly successful companies not only create customer-focused organizations but also back up their commitment with sales-focused cultures.

What are the elements of a sales-focused culture? Ideally, a company sells at three distinct levels. At the C-level, top executives set the tone for the organization by clearly articulating the company's mission, vision, and values. While the company's mission describes the noble purpose of the organization (selling meaning), the vision statement induces people to aim their effort toward greater future achievements (selling inspiration). The description of the company's values provides a sensible guide for creating relationships (selling trust). For a true sales culture to exist, C-level executives need to continuously sell meaning, inspiration, and trust to the company's employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders. Research shows that companies whose employees understand the mission, vision, and values enjoy a greater return than other firms.

At the middle level, sales and marketing departments create messages that are in sync with the company's mission, vision, and values. While marketing creates the brand promise, sales delivers by elevating the customer relationship to a branded sales experience. The key to a true sales-focused culture is to align sales and marketing.

At the street level, salespeople act as company ambassadors who are fluent in two languages: the customer's language and the company's language. They are able to diagnose the right problems and deliver the right solution. Ideally, the sales team's internal and external relationship skills will build a competition-proof connection between the company and clients that will ultimately extend from the mailroom to the boardroom.

To borrow an analogy from the world of music, C-level selling is like an overture that offers a preview of imminent excitement and drama. Midlevel selling engages people with a catchy tune that resonates pleasantly in the customer's mind. Person-to-person selling is more like jazz, which is the art of the moment. Good salespeople can instantly improvise and hit the right note at the right time to turn the right prospect into a happy customer.

Very few companies are able to act in concert from top to bottom. It takes an enlightened CEO and highly talented sales and marketing teams to create a sales-focused culture with all members of the organization playing their part in a symphony that inspires the customer’s delight. It's easier said than done, but the results can be magic for top-line and bottom-line growth.

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What about That Myth That Selling Is Getting “Tougher”?

Talk to sales managers about their jobs, and chances are, you’ll hear four common “complaints” about how they perceive today’s selling climate:

1. Selling is tougher than it has ever been.

2. Selling is more competitive than it has ever been.

3. Selling is more complex than it has ever been.

4. Selling is more stressful and not as much fun as it used to be.

How true are these statements? That’s a trick question. Believe it or not, these four responses don’t always reflect the state of the economy. More often, they reflect the state of mind of the responder.

I know a group of successful sales executives who say, “Selling has become more exciting than it has ever been.” These are the top performers who make things happen. They think differently because they see things differently. They know that it takes only a small shift in perception to achieve a big shift in performance.

Managing perception is what good selling is all about. A great salesperson is able to offer the customer a new perspective on an old problem. That, in turn, leads to a shift in attitude, a shift in the customer’s decision-making process. And that leads to a shift in the salesperson’s performance curve.

Top performers seem to be more effective when it comes to managing the selling’s “inner game.” While average salespeople unconsciously allow their fears to grow, top performers consciously challenge themselves to outgrow their fears.

Top performers don’t wish for less complexity, they learn to master more complex challenges. Like mountain climbers, they know that they won’t get better by seeking out gentler slopes. They have to find new ways to master greater degrees of difficulty.

Great CEOs don’t complain about the tough competition. They revel in the challenges that confront them. They meet those challenges head-on and no holds barred. Top sales leaders don’t wish for easier customers, but they build a better process for hiring more “A” players and helping them develop greater skills.

While average sales achievers automatically think that selling is getting harder, top achievers habitually take a harder look at reality and discover new ways to make selling easier for them and more authentic and enjoyable for their customers. They relate to their customers without pretense, and they don’t wear masks that prevent people from knowing who they really are.

When there is a crisis with a customer, the top performers rely on their inner reserves to see the opportunity within the difficulty, and they use a crisis to develop a more rewarding relationship with the client. How do top performers stay calm in a crisis? They take a half a step back and tune into their zone of productive awareness.

Top performers know that we can’t change reality, but we can choose to change our perception of reality. While average achievers know this as a fact, top performers live by this fact. Top performers are always aware of the secret to high achievement: as soon as we change our perception, we change our performance.

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6 Tips to Write More Profitable Prospecting Emails

Today's blog post is by Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, author of Power Sales Writing: Using Communication to Turn Prospects into Clients (Second Edition) which appeared on the Selling Power Best Books for Sales Success in 2013 list.

Every day people forward awful sales emails to me. A recent favorite opened with, "I just wanted to take a moment to personally introduce myself as your sole contact for XYX company! I am truly excited to be put in this position as I am very proud and passionate about … etc." 

It seems reasonable to assume that the salesperson who crafted that email also has her own email account, doesn’t it?  Would she take her valuable time to respond to an email like that? 

What can you do to ensure your emails don't end up on the "Can You Beat This?" segment of my Facebook page? How do you write a selling message that engages buyers and creates sales potential?

Here is the most important thing to remember: prospects are just not that into you. As awesome as your product or service most assuredly is, no one will care about a cheesy, self-involved, features dump. Here’s a hint. If your email begins with the word "I," you've just put yourself in the reader’s delete zone. 

Prospects are twice as busy as you are. Treat them that way. Show value for their time and eliminate all the parts of an email that no one ever reads anyway. From my book, Power Sales Writing: Using Communication to Turn Prospects into Clients (Second Edition), here are six practical tips to help you write more exciting, appealing, profitable prospecting messages:

1. Know why you’re writing the email. Most salespeople think the purpose of an initial prospecting email is to introduce themselves. Dead wrong! You’re writing to get the prospect excited or pique her interest about how she might do the best job. So why are you writing? Plan it out.

2. Be authentic and transparent. Opening your message with: Your name was given to me because you plan meetings... is respectful and quick. It may not be earth shattering, but at least you haven't turned off your potential lead with a phony or self-serving statement. By beginning with a simple truth, you've started the groundwork for a trusting relationship. Of course, if you have a referral, always start there ("Sophie Spaniel suggested I contact you … ”).

3. Paint a picture of your prospect's success. Instead of going into sales-kill mode, think about what the prospect gains by talking with you. Let's say you're a hotelier representing a luxury brand writing to a meeting professional.  Use words that evoke a positive emotion to help the prospect feel what she can gain from talking with you. For example, “Your name was given to because you plan meetings and when you're looking for a beautiful backdrop for your event -- one that creates a relaxing, positive learning environment - we may have an awesome option for you.”

4. Explain the next step. Depending on your brand and complexity of the sale, you might either explain how you'll take the next step or ask permission to do so. You might write, “I'll plan to phone you Tuesday morning to learn more about what ensures a productive event for you. If another time is more convenient, I'll follow-up as you suggest.”

5. Don't use pressure tactics. If the prospect wants to buy right away, she’ll tell you. In the meantime, avoid phrases that make you sounds overbearing. Instead, try saying, "when the time is right." This reduces pressure and sounds less pushy. 

6. Use a subject line that gets to the point. The best subject lines accurately reflect the main point of the email. If you're writing to request a phone call, the subject line could be, “Action request: Phone call Tuesday.” When you want your message to get opened, especially when you don't yet have a relationship with the reader, use a subject line that doesn't sell and quickly explains the essence of the message.

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Remembering Zig Ziglar – America’s # 1 Motivator

This morning we learned that Zig Ziglar passed away at the age of 86.

Zig Ziglar has been a positive thinker and professional motivator for many decades. His electrifying speeches had a reputation for drawing standing ovations and leaving audiences spellbound. And he relished every single word of his famous punch line, “You can get everything in life you want if you help other people get what they want.”

During our first interview I realized that Zig Ziglar was more than a motivator. He was a person with a strong, well-established guiding philosophy, one that had enduring value for everyone. Ziglar was his own best success story. It began in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was born one of twelve children. His father died when he was five, leaving his mother with five kids too young to work.

He became one of the most successful cookware salesmen of all time but quit knocking on doors when he recognized his ability to motivate others. Here is a transcript of my first interview with Zig that was originally published in Sept 1982.

Q: In one of your speeches you mentioned that negative thinking is as common as the cold. Did you find a cure for negative thinking?

Ziglar: If you feed your mind with positive thoughts, if you are selective about the things that you choose to read, look at, or listen to, then you are taking effective action against negative thinking.

Q: So you are saying that there is a direct link between negative thinking and negative input and that people can become more selective about the input?

Ziglar: Absolutely.

Q: What is your definition of success?

Ziglar: I believe that you're successful when you've dealt with the physical, the mental and the spiritual man successfully. If I made millions and destroyed my health in the process, or if I become the best at what I do but neglect my family, I wouldn't call that success.

Q: One of your claims is that your attitudes in life determine ultimately how successful you become.

Ziglar: Yes. Dr. William James said the most important discovery of our time is the realization that by altering our attitudes we can alter our lives. There is also a Harvard University study that points out that 85 percent of the reason people are hired or get ahead in their jobs is directly related to their attitudes.

Q: I once read a magazine article about motivational speakers that stated, "Speakers are superficial on the subject of motivation - like cheerleaders at a high school rally. Thin on content, heavy on performance." How do you respond to that?

Ziglar: I think they are right on the button. A lot of people do leave without any real meat. Excitement, yes, but nothing they can chew on the next day.

As you know, the Bible is my great source, because God's plan deals with this dilemma: He never makes a promise unless he gives you a plan. This translates into the principle that motivation without direction is very frustrating. You need to have a plan in addition to the motivation. Motivation without a goal doesn't get you anywhere. Personally, I never make a promise in a book, a speech or a recording unless I give a plan so my reader or listener can achieve the promise.

Q: What is your theory of self-motivation? How do you develop it?

Ziglar: When I build a fire in my fireplace, it will burn for a while. Then I notice that there are no flames. It has died down. I get up and take my poker and shake up those logs. All of a sudden, we've got bright flames. Now, all I did was just poke them, which created some motion. The motion creates a partial vacuum and new air is pulled into the fireplace. With an additional supply of oxygen, the fire ignites, and now we've got a flame. If I hadn't done some poking, there would have been no flame.

Now, this business about all motivation being self-motivation is only partially true. You can choose among many different sources to rekindle your motivation. In other words, the environment you select and the people you associate with become large contributing factors.

Q: Do positive input and the positive attitude need to be supplemented with a sound business plan and professional skills?

Ziglar: Absolutely. Positive thinking is an optimistic hope, not necessarily based on any facts. Positive believing is the same optimistic hope, but this time based on a sound reason. Here is an example. It would be positive thinking if I said I could whip George Foreman. It would be an idiotic action if I tried to do it.

Q: I've heard many sales managers express doubts about the lasting value of a motivational seminar.

Ziglar: They're absolutely right! Motivation is not permanent. Neither is bathing. But if you bathe every day, you're going to smell good. Fifteen minutes a day of motivation from a good audiocassette or a book can make a tremendous difference in your life and give you a motivational lift every day.

Q: You said once that life is simple but not easy, and that too many people are looking for quick and easy solutions.

Ziglar: Right. I firmly believe that the best work is often done by people who don't feel like doing it.

Q: Why do you recommend that salespeople listen to your books on tape 16 times to completely absorb the full message?

Ziglar: There are several university studies revealing that two weeks after you've learned anything new, unless it's reinforced, you only remember about 4 percent of it. That's the first reason. The second reason is that while we are listening we may experience a certain mood, and our minds will seek out messages that relate to that particular mood. On another day, let's say you just made a sale; you'll be in a different mood, and a whole new range of messages of the same recording will become clear in your mind. So by listening 16 times, the odds are that you will have absorbed the entire content.

Q: Let's say I've listened 16 times to your tapes on motivation. Do I know then how to motivate myself?

Ziglar: Yes.

Q: Do I master the skills sufficiently so that I become independent of your recordings?

Ziglar: Only if you've been practicing the things we've been advocating. It's like driving a car. You don't learn to drive a car by watching.

Q: Can I graduate in self-motivation, ever?

Ziglar: I don't think so, and I don't think I've graduated, because I constantly read and constantly study. I think you could draw an analogy with eating. You can't graduate in eating. You need to continue to make choices about your input. The same is true with self-motivation. You need to continue to make choices about what level of self-motivation you want to maintain.

Q: Many salespeople have a tough time in this economy. What thoughts can you offer to approach these tough challenges more positively?

Ziglar: A good friend of mine, Calvin Hunt in Victoria, Texas, said, "You know, Zig, it's an absolute fact that when we are in an economic slump, 50 percent of all salespeople literally slow down rather than speed up their efforts. They are not motivated to do something. They lose that enthusiasm.

"Now," he continued, "when that happens, it simply means that if business is down 20 percent, but 50 percent of the salespeople are not nearly as active, your own personal prospect list is considerably higher than if there was no recession."

Q: And the winners still keep winning.

Ziglar: Absolutely. It's their discipline, their commitment to maintain a high level of motivation and their sense of direction that gets them to the top.

Tomorrow: Zig’s Keys to Sales Success and his most memorable quotes

Sales and Golf

Today's blog post is by Steven Comfort, VP of business development at Radius Intelligence Inc. His golf handicap is 2.

Most of us have heard the adage, “The big deals get done on the golf course” (or sometimes, “on the 19^th hole”). A lot of selling happens on golf courses, but the sport teaches its players many of the qualities that are shared by the best salespeople. Here are a few of them.

It’s Just You

Because the golf ball doesn’t move before it’s struck, whatever happens to it is your doing. Your opponents are on the same course playing in the same weather conditions.  

In sales, your opponents want the same deal as you do, and the economic conditions (weather) apply to all. It’s up to the salesperson to decide on a strategy (club choice, shot direction, mechanics) and execute it.

If you chose the wrong clubs (company or product) or executed poorly, there’s only you to blame. Conversely, when you do well, success is overwhelmingly because of your individual effort.

There’s Always a Better Player

Soon after establishing a playing index in golf, you’ll want to lower it.  Despite your initial improvement, you’re forced to face the fact that you have a lot of skills to work on if you want to keep making progress and lowering your index. There’s always another shot to learn or improve on – and golf is a lifetime sport.

Salespeople typically have some natural strengths (presenting to large groups or prospecting, for instance) and other areas that they’d be well served to try to improve (perhaps writing, active listening, or entertaining). There’s always another trick to learn from your fellow salespeople, but you’ll never know it all, just like no golfer can master all the shots.

You Have to Be Able to Scramble

Good golfers can hit good shots in good conditions. Great golfers can hit passable shots in horrible conditions. Golf games are honed on the practice range, where the ball’s lie is always favorable and conditions are consistent. Scoring in match play depends largely on the golfer’s ability to scramble – to come up with a decent shot when the conditions are conspiring against him or her (for instance when a tree branch is blocking your path to the pin, or when your ball is stuck deep in a sand trap, aka “a fried-egg”). These are the scramble shots that are rarely, if ever, practiced.

In sales, the call rarely goes just the way we anticipate, and of course, sometimes things really go awry. Keeping your head about you when things get wacky is the key to escaping a disastrous call with a chance to win the sale. The best salespeople can scramble on a call and almost take a perverse pleasure in dealing with unforeseen obstacles (e.g., facing strong objections).

The Truth Comes Out in Time

There’s a saying that states if you really want to know about people, play a round of golf with them. Within the course of a round, you’ll be able to watch how a player competes, interprets the rules of the game, socializes, and performs. By the end of 18 holes and about four hours of play, you’re going to have a general sense of the person’s character: Does this person cheat? Is he or she loosey-goosey with the rules, gracious, calm under pressure, fun to be around?

In sales, the truth about you also comes out in time: Do you make good on your promises? Are you strategic, consultative, relevant, fun to be around?

There’s no faking in golf or in sales; the truth always comes out. But because these are both lifetime sports, you can always hit the range and the putting green to work on your game.

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Using Technology to Sell

Today's blog post is by Jonathan London, author of Using Technology to Sell: Tactics to Ratchet Up Results and the founder of Improved Performance Group (IPG).

 

Technology and data are exploding in every facet of our lives to the point that we can feel overwhelmed or confused by all of our options. What does this explosion mean to the world of sales?

The Internet; computing power; faster and more available bandwidth; mobile devices and their apps; higher-resolution screens and cameras; more sophisticated hardware, software, and imagery; voice recognition; GPS; and more all provide greater capability than ever before to help people sell and prospects to make decisions.

Technology advancements also allow companies to expand their markets or sell in numerous ways that they had never been able to before. And keeping up with technology and knowing which to use where, how, and when is a challenge for businesses of all types in all industries.

Because information and analytical tools are so widely available, more logical and informed purchasing decisions can be made. More prospects than ever before are using data, metrics, and measurements as part of the decision-making process.

A recent study by Forrester Research established that people who are making business decisions rely on their own research and input from people they know rather than from vendors. This is having a dramatic impact on people’s buying behavior, since they are much better informed; therefore, the best salesperson needs to emphasize different insight, such as deep knowledge of a client’s industry and the most productive applications of his or her solution, rather than just spew generic benefits or regurgitate reams of data. The terms “subject matter expert” and “trusted advisor” reflect an ability to share such insight.

Because prospects are better informed, they have a better filter to decide if what you are saying is valid, valuable, and true. People no longer have to rely on brochures or proposals.

Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is buying a car today. You can go online and find out exactly how much a dealer has paid for the car you want to buy and what incentives the manufacturer is providing. You can therefore go into a car dealership knowing the exact costs to the dealer. That puts buyers in a much better position to negotiate and choose from whom they want to buy. (One adaptation: many dealers now sell more used cars because this information is not as available, and they can charge more for them.)

What does all this mean for you, the salesperson? Two things to consider:

1. You need to be ahead of the curve in using technology to your advantage.
2. You need to understand people, i.e., your target demographic and how they buy using the Web, which methods they prefer (visual, text, PDF, graphics), what they need to know (the content itself), and when in the sales process they want information to make a decision in your favor.

The ubiquity of technology and information is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the sheer volume of information can make selling more difficult. It can become unwieldy, confusing, and overwhelming to you and your prospects, thus hurting your sales efforts. If you know how to control and use it, however, know which bits of information are important and which are a distraction, you are in an enviable position to sell more. How you best engage with technology and information and use it to your advantage to get the optimal return is addressed thoroughly in my book. As you’ll learn, salespeople need to become master craftsmen, better able than their competitors to use the tools they have. This has always been true but is more so now than ever.

Used properly, technology allows you to expand your skills and markets, get greater exposure, and create more sales opportunities.

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Selling Starts with Understanding the Buying Process

Today's blog post is by Christian Maurer, a consultant for B2B sales leaders wanting to improve the productivity of their organization with solutions based on modern philosophies.

 

Sales processes usually are linear representations of a sequence of activities a salesperson has to follow in order to be successful. While the sales process might provide guidance to the salesperson, it’s inadequate for monitoring the progress of a potential deal. In the end, it does not matter what the salesperson has done; buying happens when the customer has reached a certain state of mind.

So we have to take the customer’s buying process into consideration. Most descriptions of buying processes focus on activities from the customer’s point of view. Understanding what the customer is thinking with respect to a potential purchase is what really matters. Considering the buying process as a type of change-management process has inspired the following simple, cyclical, four-stage model.

The Four-Stage Buying Cycle

The model is cyclical to respect the trend that selling is no longer considered to be about closing deals, but opening relationships. In my mind, this means that selling can be represented only by a closed-loop model. Focusing primarily on the transition between the four stages (which represent shifts in a customer’s thinking) is a way to consider the buyer’s point of view.

A cyclical process does not have a start or end. To discuss the principle, it is helpful to start by regarding the customer as maintaining the status quo. The customer will leave this state only by acknowledging that a certain frustration is no longer tolerable.

This realization will trigger the next phase, when the customer tries to define a vision to remedy the frustration. In this phase, three things can happen: First, the customer, after further consideration, decides to maintain the status quo and live with the frustration or, second, an internal remedy is found. Only the third option, however, will trigger a continuation of the buying cycle: the customer decides that purchasing a remedy is preferable. 

This second phase allows for the elimination of do-nothing opportunities. According to CSO Insights, about 20 percent of forecasted opportunities end up in this stage. So this allows for a huge improvement of forecast accuracy.

Now that the customer knows that remedies can be purchased, the next phase is to evaluate from whom to buy. The actual buying decision is at the end of this consideration. For many selling organizations, evaluating suppliers is the start of the actual selling process. Studies show that at least 80 percent of customers who reach this point will stay with the supplier that has helped them envision the remedy for their frustration. At the beginning of this phase in the buying cycle, requests for quotation (RFQs) are issued. For a seller entering the buying cycle at this stage – by answering the RFQ – the success rate is about 10 percent. This is further evidence that successful selling requires an earlier involvement in the buying cycle.

The loop is then closed at the fourth phase, when customers put the purchased remedy into use. While the seller considers the selling finished when the buying decision is made, the customer is finished buying only when he or she can actually verify whether the perceived value meets expectations. That is the fourth phase leading, then, back to a new status quo.

How I Use This Model

Monitoring the progress of a potential deal can be based on customer evidence. For this, one has to find a set of observable customer behaviors or statements associated with each transition from one phase to the other. The positive impact on forecast accuracy has already been mentioned.

This model also allows discussion about the type of messaging needed to help the customer come to the next stage of thinking. By using appropriate messaging, a salesperson becomes more relevant to the customer.

Discussions on marketing and sales alignment become more objective. The question now becomes, how do the two functions together help the customer make the transition to the next phase, instead of fight for supremacy over each other?

Finally, this model also helps when dealing with complex sales situations in which buying centers are involved. Salespeople can distinguish between the mind-shift of the individual members of the buying center and the institutional mind-shift, which occurs when the buying center members have come to a collective decision. This, again, impacts forecast accuracy.

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How Important is it for Your Salespeople to Practice?

Dave Kurlan is the bestselling author of Baseline Selling, a top-rated speaker, and a sales thought leader. His blog, Understanding the Sales Force, was a Gold Medal winner for Top Sales & Marketing Blog of 2011. He is the CEO of Objective Management Group, the global leader in sales assessments, and Kurlan Associates, a global sales development firm. 

 

 

When I was much younger, I was a pretty good trumpet player, playing professionally for nearly 10 years. I took weekly lessons from the age of 9, played in multiple bands and orchestras, and when I wasn’t taking lessons or performing, I practiced. And I felt I should have practiced more; a lot more. I could have been so much better...

Although baseball was my favorite, I spent most summers on the tennis courts, playing with anyone and everyone, until I entered college as the #2 on the school’s tennis team. It wasn't good enough though, and I felt like I should have practiced more; a lot more.

I was not going to be a star in music or tennis.  But what if I was?  Would I have been finished with all of that practicing? No way. The greatest athletes and musicians still hire the best coaches in the world and practice harder and even more frequently! I would have done the same because that’s exactly what I did when I started my sales development business 27 years ago.

By contrast, I am a terrible golfer. Why? I never practice. It’s not very different from the sales profession. Salespeople are very much like me, the golfer. The typical salesperson receives, on average, 3 days of sales training -- in their entire career. I've interviewed thousands of salespeople and most have never had a single day of professional sales training. And practice? There has not been a single client whose salespeople had been practicing the art and science of selling before I required them to begin practicing.

Why aren't salespeople getting enough professional training? In most companies, ego, fear and money are the three biggest reasons. Sales leadership, although completely lacking in the skills required, believe it’s their job to train their salespeople. Upper management is frequently afraid of change, even when it will bring about a change in results. And many companies simply won’t invest money to develop their salespeople.

Why aren't they coached the way they need to be? Although coaching is the number 1 job of sales managers today, most have never learned the proper way to coach, instead using a home grown approach and applying it on an as needed basis.

Why aren't they practicing? Believe it or not, most sales managers are afraid of upsetting the apple cart. They believe that if they required their veteran salespeople to practice they will have a rebellion on their hands.

Are your salespeople practicing each day? 

Objective Management Group has assessed more than 550,000 salespeople and according to their data 74% of all salespeople are completely ineffective and many of them shouldn't even be in sales. They get by for a variety of reasons, among them:

• Low Expectations from management
• They are no worse than the other ineffective salespeople at their company
• Some are order takers and they take enough orders
• Some are major account managers and the accounts were previously established
• Some possess intangibles and have simply developed strong relationships over decades of work
• Many work for industry leading companies - lowest price, best reputation, highest quality product, lowest risk - and they don't have to sell, as much as show up and quote
• Some bounce from company to company never staying long enough to actually fail

Are your underperforming salespeople getting by? Can any of them become performers?  You can find out with a sales force evaluation. Even better, why not join me for my annual Sales Leadership Summit?

 

Seven Ways to Improve Your Email Response

Nicole Merrett is vice president of CRM marketing for Sage North America, a supplier of business management software and services for small and midsize businesses.

 

 

Here are seven suggestions to help you craft more effective email campaigns and get better response rates.

1. Subject Line
   First impressions are critical in any form of communication. When people receive an email, the first thing they see is the subject line, which has the potential to either gain or lose their interest. Subject lines that include your company’s name as a reference and provide specifics supporting your email topic will typically gain higher open rates. 
2. “From” Line
   To understand how important this is, think about your own inbox. Would you be more likely to open an email sent from advertising@xyzcorp.com or nicole.merrett@sage.com? People don’t want to open an automated email.
3. Personalization
   People love seeing their own name. It makes them feel is if the email was written to them personally and not sent to thousands. Online services have simple options to directly insert names from your contact database using a template editor.
4. Variety
   How often do you send out newsletters, event invites, and updates that aren’t just soliciting a purchase? Are you getting an active response from recipients? If not, try something new. Be conscious about how many emails you send out each week or month. How are individuals interacting with your emails? Are you following up accordingly? How are you engaging the people who seem uninterested? Some email services include click-through analytics that monitor which readers spend time with your emails and forward them along to colleagues.
5. Quality Content
   When you provide your contacts with quality content, they’re more inclined to read your emails and even forward them to friends. Gain your contacts’ trust by emphasizing quality of communication over quantity. One option is providing information they can use immediately. A seller of gardening supplies might offer a series of horticulture tips; and when a prospect is in need of planting materials, he or she would likely think of the insightful supply-marketer first. The best sources for good content are the questions you get from your customers.
6. Testing…
   Test the way your email appears, not only through your own email service provider, but through several providers. Test all links in your message to make sure they work. Test your graphics. Pictures are a great way to grab someone’s attention. Remember, however, that pictures don’t always show up in email messages, so test the effectiveness of your email by viewing it in an email client with images turned off and making sure your message remains easy to understand and the call to action is clear. Finally, test your email with a spam check tool before sending. Spam check services review email content to see what might get caught in spam filters.
7. …And More Testing
   Your email has passed all the tests: it looks good, the Web links work, the images are properly placed, there’s a clear call to action, and it’s made it through the spam check…but it’s not getting the open rates you expected. How come? There are many reasons, including the time of day you send your email, the day of the week on which it’s sent, the frequency with which you send emails, etc.
   
   So why not test it?
   
   Test one change at a time. For example, explore what days your recipients are more likely to open your email. Split up your recipient list, and send each set of recipients the same email on different days. Does the open rate stand out more on one day than another?
   
   A next step could be to determine the time of a particular day people are more willing to open and interact with your email. Again, divide your list and send out the same email at different times of the day. A good starting point is the start of the day and middle of the afternoon. Studies have shown that these are the best times of day to send emails. See if your tests concur.
   
   When you have a specific day and time recipients are most responsive, examine your content. What sort of subject line gains the highest response? Do your recipients react more to graphics or text? Consider the placement of your call to action. Is one position more effective than another? Do your recipients appreciate lengthy, informational emails, or do they prefer a quick read? Test each element one at a time.

With email marketing, you never need to settle for one formula because you will often have the flexibility to make improvements as you go. So make taking advantage of trends and technology the constant in your digital marketing programs. This will help you achieve more tangible results.

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