Selling Power Blog

Why Success Can Elude You Even When You Work Hard

Today’s post is by Herman Dixon, president and CEO of Think BIG! Coaching and Training, Inc., a professional practice that helps CEOs, entrepreneurs, leadership teams, and sales professionals maximize their goals and opportunities.

 

You worked hard and had a strategy – yet you still fell short of your goals. What happened?

In these cases, consider the factors that constitute what I call the “dirty dozen” of why success can elude you. Understanding these factors – and then using the knowledge gained to reverse them – will go far in helping you find success.

Factor #1: You didn’t exercise the proper people skills.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. You must have the ability and desire to listen, and to be empathetic with others. Kindness breeds understanding and promotes respect. Demands must give way to being helpful and influencing others to act. Making people feel important should be an active daily event.  

Factor #2: You didn’t cultivate a strong vision.

Success demands creative thinking. People want to be led and inspired physically, emotionally, and mentally. Those who want to lead or be in the forefront but lack vision, are unable to reach their potential or provide hope to those who follow. Vision drives imagination and inspires creativity. It is a critical asset for success.

Factor #3: You failed to stay focused.  

Focus is a vital part of life. Having a clear set of priorities provides a roadmap for the right things to get accomplished so goals can be met. Beginning one project, setting it aside, and starting another accomplishes little more than piling more papers on a desk. Your disorganization can cause chaos for your customers. Remember: Simply keeping busy will not always yield accomplishments. You must work in a focused way.

Factor #4: You didn’t manage your emotional state.

Emotional management is a vital factor for simply living. Individuals who insult and rant about employees, friends, and colleagues – or who intimidate others – only make a room brighter when they finally leave that room.

Uncontrollable emotions produce non-productive results. Non-productive results lead to shortfall and outright failure in achieving business goals. Emotional management is a vital part of achieving success.

Factor #5: You fought change.

Opposing the new and being fundamentally locked into the past can be defeating. We all fall into the trap of repeating past actions and expecting different results from time to time. Just remember: Today’s business environment demands attention to new innovation and techniques that better meet the demands of clients as well as business operations. Closing one’s mind to that reality will only hold back you and your business in the long run. Expect change because it will come.

Factor #6: You were complacent.

Sometimes it is easy to feel we have “arrived.” We may be financially secure, confident in ourselves, and willing to “ride the horse” that brought us forward for the balance of time.

At this point we become, in essence, “lazy” and stop doing the things that brought us success. We deflect responsibility – at times knowingly and at times unknowingly – until we transform from a personal “asset” to a visible “liability.” Complacency kills growth, encouragement, and determination. Complacency is not a friend on your path to success.

Factor #7: You didn’t take the right risks.

Feelings of fear or simply having a poor self-image can cause an individual to hesitate and therefore find failure instead of success.

Risk taking is a valuable asset in building personal strengths. Whether it is facing the competition, creating new projects, or meeting new people, lacking the courage to engage displays a crucial flaw that lessens overall performance. A tendency to “freeze” without reason can also affect your whole team and reduce their desire to explore the unknown. As was once said, “People who take risks are the people you’ll lose against.”

Factor #8: You made it all about you instead of the team.

When one wants to do it all alone, the concept and power of everyone thinking together is lost. Refusing to take suggestions, shutting out critical insight, feeling threatened when help is offered, and firmly believing that one’s insight and approach is the only way to get things done is a recipe for certain failure.

No one is an island. Use teamwork to gain greater productivity, gather broader insight, and have the potential for far-reaching efficiency.

Factor #9: You failed to ask for help.

Virtually everyone has days in which personal issues take them out of the moment. However, when we fail to confide or seek the proper help – and our problems become our life story – we only create more problems.

Factor #10: You were overly sensitive.  

Sensitivity is a noble quality but also brings challenges. When it impacts individuals to the point where they do not want to be questioned or challenged – or receive any constructive debriefing of any type at any time – this is a prescription for failure. This affliction produces the “turtle syndrome”: You do not stick your neck out for anything. In the end it is vital to remember the age-old saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Factor #11: You didn’t accept responsibility.

There are no perfect people or situations. Mistakes happen daily. Sometimes those mistakes are huge. Other times we find mistakes to be minor. In the end, accepting responsibility for shortfalls builds credibility. This can set the stage for credibility and validation to flourish.  

Factor #12: You were stubborn.  

Standing firm for one’s core beliefs can be an admirable trait. However, standing firm – neither open to compromise nor willing to listen to win-win options in most other areas – will often be seen as punitive. Obstinance chills the soul of opportunity. In the spirit of effective teamwork and in carrying forth progress, it is imperative that obstinance be set aside and replaced by prudent reasoning if ultimate success and esprit de corps is to be realized.

Former UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” By being aware of the “dirty dozen” and applying these lessons, you should be able to clearly become your best and most successful self.

Sales Success: Focus on How a Prospect Communicates

Today’s post is by Mike Fisher, vice president of client development at the sales training innovator, Integrity Solutions.

 

Do you ever ask yourself, “How is it that one sales call is a huge success, yet another goes sideways – often due to miscommunication and miscues?”

We’ve all been there. Yet there’s good news: It’s possible to aim for more of the former and less of the latter if you take some time to learn the simple art of matching the prospect’s or customer’s communication style.   

This is key: Learning about how your prospect prefers to communicate will help you know the best way to connect most effectively with him or her.

Which Type of Communicator Are You Dealing With?

We all know that people communicate differently. Some are chatty, others more analytical, still others are brief and to the point. But how can you know what type of person you’re dealing with in any particular sales opportunity?

There are clues all around if we know what to look for. Tone, pace, the environment, and other verbal and nonverbal cues will help you recognize and frame how you communicate with them.

The Four Types of Communication Behaviors and Styles

The idea of behavior styles has been around since ancient times. But how can you apply it to achieve sales success? The most practical way is to view it through the lens of a simple framework that describes four categories of behaviors, along with the communications styles that work most effectively for each.

Those four types are:

1. Talkers: very social, chatty, optimistic
2. Doers: focused primarily on getting things done
3. Controllers: mostly analytical and methodical
4. Supporters: friendly, focused on team and group harmony

Let’s briefly unpack each of the four and explore how to communicate most effectively with customers or prospects of each style.

Talkers: These outgoing and friendly people aren’t so interested in all the details. They value relationships, and they want you to like them – and they’re prepared to like you. They make decisions emotionally.

Connecting with Talkers: Your biggest challenge to success with Talkers is getting them to focus. They like to talk about a lot of different topics, and you could spend too much time talking and building rapport. Look for the opportunity to bring up the purpose of your meeting by finding a key transition point. Then outline the reason you’re there and what you’d like to discuss/learn about.

Doers: Unlike Talkers, Doers are very direct, forceful, and results oriented. They’re not overly emotional. They make fast, focused decisions, and they prefer concise information – like bullet points and checklists. They’ll cut to the chase quickly: “Tell me what you have, and I’ll tell you if I’m interested.”

Connecting with Doers: The amount of time you get with a Doer is directly related to who’s doing the talking. If they’re talking to you, they have time. If you’re doing all the talking, they’ll typically shut down quickly and look to wrap it up. Rapport with Doers usually happens at the end of the call, so make sure you are prepared to get them talking to you from the start with a good question.

Controllers: Much different from both Talkers and Doers, Controllers are very detail oriented and deliberate. They rely on evidence to make decisions, so they want facts, data, and proof points. They’re going to weigh all the options, read everything you give them, and dive into the details. They’re also going to be skeptical and may have lots of questions for you.

Connecting with Controllers: It can be tough to build a relationship with a Controller. They hold their cards close to the vest. Best to be very prepared and to show up to “get their thoughts” on something. Bring something they can validate and with which they can engage –  and have proof and evidence to support your claims.

Supporters: These folks are focused on the team and on relationships. They need time to process information, so keep that in mind. The good news is they’re very loyal. And the bad news is they’re very loyal. That means they may be willing to talk with everyone – and might also spread their business to the full range of people who call on them. Most importantly, Supporters aren’t often the final decision maker; in many cases, they’re gathering information for that person. They can, however, be a champion for you internally.

Connecting with Supporters: Build rapport based on relationships. That goes a long way with a Supporter. Try beginning the discussion by connecting personally: “I know we have a lot to get through today, but – before we get started – didn’t your daughter have a soccer tournament? How did it go?  

A final critical point to remember: No one is just one style. We each have a combination of the styles in varying degrees. But we each have a primary behavior style, and that’s the dominant one. It’s your natural style. Some people also have a secondary style – their “adaptive” style, which they may have shifted into at work or elsewhere to be effective in that culture or role.

There is much more to the behavior styles framework – and plenty of strategies for understanding your own style and then adapting it to connect more productively with each customer, prospect, or colleague, whether you’re communicating in person, via email, or over the phone. Regardless of the medium, you honor them by communicating in the way they like to communicate. And you’ll be amazed how much more smoothly the conversations will go!

Transforming Customers into Brand Advocates

Today’s post is by Maura McCarthy, vice president of ITA Group’s award-winning Communication Solutions Group. Maura has nearly 20 years of experience in the event, incentive, and recognition arenas. Her vast expertise ranges from facilitating creative engagement strategy and execution for leading Fortune 500 organizations to directing corporate environmental branding efforts and fueling the progression of workplace cultures.

 

Customers today have more choices than ever, and loyalty is a moving target. Product and service satisfaction are no longer enough to guarantee sales growth – brands need to engage on a far deeper, emotional level.

This crucial emotional connection turns traditionally loyal customers into brand advocates or brand ambassadors – a powerful force for boosting sales.

Brand advocates are customers who are so passionate about your product or service that they credibly spread the word about it on their own volition. There is an innate credibility about these actions that simply can’t be bought. According to consumer intelligence research published in the Harvard Business Review, on a lifetime value basis, emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable in terms of spending as highly satisfied customers. In addition, through social media and Website reviews, these brand advocates reach myriad other potential customers.

Transforming traditional customers into brand ambassadors is not easy, but it is achievable.  Follow these four key steps to build and sustain brand advocates, who will then have a major impact on sales.

Step One: Encourage Employee Advocacy

Brand advocacy begins with your employees. They see what you have planned before the public does – and this exclusive access helps generate excitement and empowers employees to be brand advocates in their own right.

Use incentives and structure change management to transform your internal culture and encourage employees to live your brand message. This not only establishes a consistent and more uniform brand voice, but also improves your overall credibility.

Step Two: Relate to the Customer

Relating to the customer starts with understanding exactly what motivates them. Maybe customers want to stand out from the crowd. Perhaps they want to be part of a team. Motivations vary according to industry, brand, touch point, and the customer’s current step in the sales process. Rely on data insights and analytics rather than blindly guessing at your customers’ motivations, and you may be surprised what you learn.

Once you understand what motivates your target customers, present a clear point of view that will attract them to your brand. Strive to be sincere and authentic, ensuring that all messaging and sales interactions consistently align with your brand’s value proposition.

Step Three: Rally Your Tribe

According to a Nielsen study, more than 80 percent of online customers say they trust recommendations from friends and family members more than any type of advertising.

A strong community of customers is a well-connected “tribe” that will offer these valuable recommendations to other potential buyers.

You can create this tribe of brand advocates by giving customers unique ways to communicate with you and with each other, including online forums, polls, and apps. Also consider organizing live gatherings and experiential events to foster personal, emotional connections. Proximity to each other helps strengthen your tribe’s bonds, build brand advocacy, and increase sales.

Continuously engage with brand ambassadors so it is clear you and other customers hear and respect what they have to say. They will reciprocate by spreading the positive word about your products or services – an important component of the selling process.

Step Four: Offer an Immersive Experience

The human-to-human aspect of immersive experiential marketing cuts through the clutter and isolation of the digital age. According to the Event Marketing Institute, 74 percent of customers have a better opinion about a brand after attending an experiential marketing event.

Although live and immersive experiences require more resources, they bring people together and build the emotional connections that are an essential element of brand ambassadorship. Whether it’s a group or individual experience, it needs to be purposeful and personalized – and tie back to your product or services.

The goal is to design creative, unique event experiences that attract attendees and encourage brand interaction and social sharing. Support more elaborate events with smaller, related experiences such as games, social campaigns, or reward programs. These immersive experiences get people talking about your brand – both online and in person – ultimately attracting new customers as well as motivating established ones.

Sustaining Brand Advocacy

To establish brand loyalty you must live by your company’s core principles and go above and beyond customer expectations. Increased brand advocacy translates to less price sensitivity in customers, more impactful recommendations, and a stronger share of the marketplace.

Once you have carved out your identity, continuously engage with your brand community to help strengthen their sense of brand ownership. Prioritize mutual trust and respect to create genuine connections – and focus on the experience, not the transaction.

The result: authentic emotional bonds that turn ordinary customers into coveted brand ambassadors who are innately driven to spread the word about your brand and perpetuate an increase in sales.

How to Create the Underdog Mentality Necessary for Success

Today’s post is by Jim Hooker, president and CEO of Televerde.

 

 

“Have you ever been to prison?”

That’s the question Selling Power magazine founder Gerhard Gschwandtner asked me onstage at the Sales 3.0 Conference in San Francisco on March 13. In preparation for the session, I had prepared a talk track to cover 30 minutes, including our business model. But, in true Gerhard style, he took the conversation straight to our business model. Not that I mind. I never shy away from a discussion of the great things we do – it’s just not usually the first thing I discuss.

Challenging Employees to Push Boundaries

For those of you who missed the session, it’s no secret that Televerde works closely with correctional facilities in Arizona and Indiana to arm a portion of our contact centers with the most highly-trained, knowledgeable, dedicated, and ambitious teleservices agents in the industry. Our employees have a passion that is unmatched and supersedes common perceptions of what an inmate is.  

They come to work and instantly transition from an environment of not questioning anything to an environment where they’re encouraged to push boundaries and think outside the box. And they do it seamlessly because they’ve equipped themselves with a success mentality. They want to create a new future – for themselves, for their clients, and for the company.

I joined Televerde in 1995 when the company only had a part-time supervisor and five callers set in a trailer in the middle of the Phoenix desert. To say it was a small operation is an understatement, but I could see the vision of success.

Sculpting a Team of Successful Underdogs

I knew that, by applying the same kind of immersive sales training I had at IBM – teaching this group of motivated women how to have high-level business conversations, how to understand the ebb and flow of the conversation, and how to provide a consultative approach – I could create a team of underdogs that would succeed. What most would see as a risk or liability, I saw as an asset for the clients, for the women, for the community, and, yes, for the company. People don’t buy from us because of our business model. They buy from us because we are the best at what we do. And we’re the best at what we do because of our business model.

The women who work with us come from various walks of life with varied backgrounds. I was, and am, attracted to our business model because – if the workers follow the training and learn or hone a skill they didn’t have before – they can change the trajectory of their life. They’ll be successful upon leaving prison, able to reconnect with their families, and achieve personal success. What Televerde does can seem difficult and impossible to the outsider looking in. Don’t get me wrong – there are different challenges associated with our model. But, at a basic level, how is it much different from managing a typical sales team? As a leader, what are the challenges you face with your team mentality? With your sales processes? With optimizing your teams’ success? What would your team members achieve if their focus was aimed higher than where they mentally pegged themselves?

To get the big wins, your team has to develop a different mindset – from transactional vendor to strategic partner. I talked about my belief of “no jerks allowed” in How to Build Trust in the Age of Technology, but it’s worth repeating. When the focus is on providing value and building relationships, the salesperson becomes an asset to the prospect/client. Those lasting relationships are priceless compared to quick wins – both for the company and for the individual.  

Body Language: Watch for Signals That You're Close to Agreement

Today’s post is by John Asher, CEO of Asher Strategies - a sales advisory consulting firm focused on improving sales for business-to-business companies. Asher is the number one rated speaker on sales for Vistage, a worldwide network of CEOs, and author of Close Deals Faster.

 

I spend a lot of time coaching business people on how to make sales. In these discussions I help them understand how the brain works and how the body mirrors what the brain is thinking.

In any sales process, the ability to recognize the buyer’s readiness to buy is the most critical principle of all. You need to watch for the buyer’s shift – when the buyer changes his or her point of view and decides to go with you and your offering.

Of course, you may get some verbal signals when they’re ready to buy. For example, if they ask you to repeat something, ask risk-mitigating questions, or shift the conversation to personal information. These indicate they’re leaning to buy mode.

But the buyer’s readiness to purchase is communicated predominantly by nonverbal signals. And most of us – most of the time – are talking and not watching for the other person’s body language.

Body language is more important than the dialogue you’re having with a buyer. Often, if you look and listen carefully, you may notice multiple buyer’s shift signals occurring simultaneously. But, if you see a mismatch between what the buyer is saying and the signals from their body language, always believe the body. It almost always conveys a person’s true feelings.

What should you look for in body language? The most important thing is tension. If it’s there, the buyers haven’t shifted. If they’re relaxed, they have shifted. It’s not possible to identify all the variations, but here’s a list that helps you see when buyers are “green’ (shifted) or “yellow” (not shifted):

Face – (Green) Smiling and slowly nodding or (Yellow) Scratching face and pursing lips

Eyes – (Green) Good eye contact with wide eyes or (Yellow) Sideways glances and squinting

Arms – (Green) Arms released and loose or (Yellow) Arms crossed and shoulders raised

Hands – (Green) Palms open and to the sides or (Yellow) Hands clenched or behind back

Legs – (Green) Legs uncrossed or crossed toward you or (Yellow) Bouncing legs and tapping feet

Body Angle – (Green) Upright and toward you or (Yellow) Leaning away from you

Reading body language is more an art than science. It’s observance of “tells” that psychologists, card players, and people with high emotional intelligence use to understand other people.

And body language can vary geographically. The crossed arms of a Midwest farmer, for example, may mean “I’ve laid down my tools and am giving you my full attention” rather than “I’m not listening to you.” Further, some cultures are more energetic in their gestures and easier to read. The key: It’s mainly about the presence or absence of tension.

One final thing to remember is your own body language. If you don’t monitor it and relax, you’ll give off a negative impression. Even in a tense situation, don’t let your own tension spoil your message. With buyers who haven’t shifted, your relaxed body language will help them feel it’s safe to. If buyers have shifted, you’ll reinforce their positive impression that you’re the one to deal with. By reading their body language and adjusting yours, you’ll greatly increase your chances that buyers will buy you and your offering.

Increasing High-impact Behavior with Peak Performance Mindset Training

Today’s post is by Jamie Crosbie, an accomplished senior executive with a proven record of sales leadership success. Contact Jamie today at 214/720-9922 or jcrosbie@proactivate.net and find out how to take your business to the next level with Peak Performance Mindset Training.

 

Success can be difficult to achieve – and even more challenging to replicate.

One of the keys to sales growth is to identify (and continually implement) high-impact behaviors; and it is not just for the management team. Your entire company culture should be identifying and practicing high-impact behaviors.

That may sound like a tall order, because it is. The results, however, can be stunning. For better or worse, actions are often like a series of dominos, ending up with improving or slumping sales.

Consider too the well-known 80/20 rule (also known as the Pareto Principle), which states that roughly 80 percent of events are really caused by approximately 20 percent of specific actions taken. The 80/20 rule is really a double-edged sword in that it can apply to both positive and negative results.

For example, if one or two of your team members are generating conflict, or a single sales manager is creating barriers to reaching goals, the impact can be much larger than their role might suggest. Likewise, if a handful of producers are moving the sales needle, their results can raise profits and increase overall company viability. The point is to dig down to what works and promote it repeatedly until it becomes soaked into the company culture and mindset.

What Are High-impact Behaviors?

The exact nature of high-impact behaviors may vary to some degree, based on the type of organization, but, generally speaking, high-impact behaviors could be defined as those that:

• Are people centered
• Create well-defined goals and expectations
• Relentlessly improve focus on the overall vision and strategy
• Increase transparency
• Prioritize actions that help achieve goals
• Use existing resources strategically
• Solve problems and create opportunities (including the ability to turn challenges into launching pads)
• Improve overall performance and productivity
• Provide feedback in a way that fosters understanding or promotes improvement
• Are actions and attitudes that generally promote forward movement
• Encourage communication and collaboration/cooperation across boundaries

While entire books could be written about the above behaviors, suffice to say, successful companies understand they need to provide a framework of success. In short, team members need the tools to succeed. Behavior flows naturally from mindset. Successful people are not necessarily born; they can be created. Mindset is one of the biggest indicators of who will, or will not, achieve a goal.

Learning to Implement High-impact Behaviors

Believe it or not, even those with a poor performance track record can improve their performance if they believe they can and also learn to implement high-impact behaviors. You read that right. A growth mindset (and the associated high-impact behaviors) can not only be learned; they can be used to overcome long-standing behaviors that may have contributed to previous failures.

In many cases, team members really do want to succeed; they simply do not know how – or even that they can. Brain plasticity research has shown that mindset and brain rewiring are not only possible; they are really a natural part of the way the mind works and can be stimulated by training.

New York Times bestselling author Norman Doidge, M.D, writes in The Brain That Changes Itself, “We are in the early stages of a Brain Plasticity Revolution. That revolution begins with a clearer understanding that the brain’s machinery is being continually rewired and functionally revised, substantially under your control, throughout the course of your natural life. You have a remarkable built-in ability to strengthen and grow the person that you are, at any age.”

In a nutshell, this fascinating book declares that the way you think – and even what you think about yourself – has a real-world physical effect on the structure of your brain and how it performs. Success is really built on a series of mental habits, concepts, and ideas that lead to specific high-impact behaviors that are then naturally expressed as part of who we think we are – and what we are truly capable of doing.

12 Reasons Your Sales Force Will Fail to Make Quota

Today’s post is by Jason Jordan and Matt Heinz. Jason Jordan is a founding partner of Vantage Point Performance, a global sales management training and development firm focused on sales managers, and co-author of Cracking the Sales Management Code. Matt Heinz is president of Heinz Marketing Inc. Matt has more than 15 years of marketing, business development, and sales experience from a variety of organizations, vertical industries, and company sizes.

2018 is well under way, and sales teams are working to ensure a successful year. Sales leaders have prepared their teams to reach this year’s goals, and the emphasis now is on successful execution.  

Even if you’ve hired and retained the best people, you may find there are areas in which they need improvement. Let’s examine the following issues – they are usually the reasons reps fail to make quota.

1. Reps lack discipline. Reps are insufficiently focused on things that need to be done on a regular basis to execute well. They need a daily, focused plan and to hold themselves accountable for it. Distractions should be minimized, meetings contained. Organizations must teach reps these tools, but reps must execute.
2. Pitches suck. Reps can be too self-focused on products and services and fail to create a fundamental foundation of customer need. Reps must address why prospects need something before trying to sell them their goods. Don’t talk about your product in your first call. Bring prospects new insights and new ideas, and then challenge them to change.
3. Lack of motivation. There is often inconsistency in sales forces. Leadership must understand what motivates their sales organizations to excite them to come to work. An environment of transparency and constructive criticism will lead to improvement. Individuals, teams, and the organization must be held accountable.
4. Ability to tolerate chaos. Reps, teams, and organizations have to change direction on a dime. Solid plans may have been laid for the first quarter, but they may need to be changed in the next. Reps who require help could be assisted via exercises, drills, and selective use of technology and tools. What problem is technology solving – and is it helping to facilitate the buying process?  Fewer tools may be better than more.
5. Pushing prospects too hard. Many salespeople push faster than buyers are willing to go. The buying and the selling process must align. Complex B2B solutions require that prospects understand the need for change, and that takes time. Do not create friction with existing prospects by pushing your timeline. Instead, find additional prospects who are ready to buy.
6. Unhealthy pipelines. Most pipelines are filled with deals that are not winnable. A bigger pipeline doesn’t automatically mean a better chance of success. Sales managers with effective pipeline meetings drive 15% higher revenue than those without. Don’t waste time on deals that won’t close.
7. CRM is not designed to help reps sell. Instead, it helps leaders get better visibility into events via reporting. Sales reps view CRM differently than management. They are afraid it will be held against them in some way. CRM should be used and deployed not as a database of structured information, but as a tool to help guide the use of time.
8. Sales managers are not coaching enough. Managers do spend time with their reps, but they inspect for compliance instead of improving for future activity. They focus on volume metrics rather than quality of calls or pitches. They tend to be reactive and ad hoc with sellers. Reps do not experience this as coaching, because they receive little value from the conversation.
9. Reps don’t understand the industry and customers. Salespeople must understand the ecosystem inside B2B prospect companies and their internal politics. They must also understand the language of the industry in which they work – its jargon, seasonal calendar, events, and acronyms.
10. Marketing does a bad job with leads. Typical B2B databases deteriorate 2-3 percent per month, so data hygiene and data development are critical. Marketing and sales should work together to improve the leads and the follow-up. The more departments work together as one unit with a focus on sales and revenue, the better the quota attainment. Awareness building is part of the buying cycle – not independent of it.  
11. Lack of revenue responsibility. There are good sales and bad sales. The economics of the business must be kept in mind to understand where the best deals come from. This is a responsibility for sales reps and sales managers. It is also marketing’s responsibility and should be a marketing department metric. Sales pipeline contribution should be a marketing KPI.
12. Lack of empathy. Sales teams lack empathy for each other, for other departments, and for their organizations. Find out what is important to your fellow reps, your boss, your prospects. The more you understand their situation, the easier the creation of trust and credibility that will differentiate you from others.

Keep these 12 points in mind as you navigate the choppy waters toward this year’s quota.  They will stand you in good stead.

The One Thing All Top Sales Methodologies Have in Common

Today's blog is by Sharon Gillenwater. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Boardroom Insiders, the only business intelligence tool designed exclusively for C-suite sales, marketing, and recruiters who need to reach, engage, and build relationships with C-level executives. Gillenwater is a long-time marketing consultant with expertise in marketing strategy, account-based marketing, and CXO engagement programs.

 

SPIN Selling. NEAT Selling. SNAP Selling. CustomerCentric Selling. MEDDIC. The Challenger Sale. These are some of the most popular sales methodologies today.

There are other models, of course. And you can be sure we’ll see new ones in the future. But, at a high level, what they seem to have in common is this: Relationship and solution selling is out, and using actual customer insight to drive impactful business conversations is in.

What salespeople should be doing is diving deep into the heart of the customer’s issues – what do they care about, where are they going, and what’s standing in their way? Dig into any of the aforementioned sales methodologies and you’ll discover that success requires a fundamental understanding of each customer’s business.

The Sales Experience Matters

The Challenger Sale authors, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, conducted one of the largest sales studies ever done and found, among other things, that 53 percent of customer loyalty is driven by the sales experience – not brand, price, service, or even product. It’s about the interaction salespeople have with their customers. So, if you go into a conversation unprepared and uninformed, it won’t matter how great your product is or how low the price. The customer will be annoyed that you’re wasting their time.

So…how do you get the right customer insight? There’s no silver bullet; you have to dig. Read earnings calls. Search for articles and interviews with the company’s key executives. Review articles and press releases about the company. Is it in the process of making acquisitions? Is it launching new products or moving into new markets? Is it cutting costs and laying off workers? Most of the time, the information is out there. The challenge is in knowing how to find it, determining what is wheat and what is chaff, and, of course, just finding the time to do the research in the first place.

Boardroom Insiders does all that and more, using experienced business analysts and editors. We do the heavy lifting of research and then refine the information (which also includes personal and biographical information on executive decision makers) into an easy-to-digest format.

Finding the Right Prospects

We also make it easy to find the people you’re looking for. We recently launched a revamped database search tool that allows robust filtering across multiple criteria. So our customers can now filter our database of thousands of C-level executive profiles by industry (e.g., financial services), function (e.g., technology/digital), gender (e.g., female), interest (e.g., tennis), title (e.g., chief security officer), region (e.g., northeast), and keyword.

For instance, if you’re looking for financial services executives in the northeast who are talking about “digital transformation,” you can now combine filtering and keyword search to find C-level executives who meet that specific go-to-market criteria. If your CEO is into aviation, you can also find other CEOs who share that interest, which can help with small talk and making authentic connections. Want to set up a cricket watching event for executives in the northeast? Our interest filter makes finding C-level cricket fanatics a snap. Or, if you’re a non-profit looking for new board members, you can use our new filters to easily identify C-level corporate leaders who care about your issue – whether it’s STEM, autism, human trafficking, or domestic violence.

Clearly, there are numerous applications for using our database, but the fundamental one is to get a deep understanding of potential customers. With knowledge and insights about a given organization and its leaders in hand, you can get on board with a SPIN, a NEAT, or a SNAP, and have confidence that – when you get that meeting with a decision maker – you will be prepared to speak their language and make an authentic connection. Our deliverables complement your sales methodology by providing the fuel and fodder for business conversations. Armed with this information, you’ll be that rare sales pro who is prepared to help your customer navigate their options, advise them on business issues, and educate them on solutions that will help drive their business goals.

Of course, determining the best sales methodology for your company will depend on your market, products, industry position, and culture; no one model is right for everyone. But don’t forget the common thread that runs through them all – deep customer insight and the ability to connect the dots to what you’re selling.