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Analyzing and Adjusting Strategies When Sales Fall Below Forecast in January

January is crucial for businesses as they set the tone for the rest of the year. I enjoyed delivering live keynotes at sales kick-off events as teams are getting back together often for the first time in three years. Leaders share their vision, goals are sent out, and sales teams execute. Several leaders I work with expect this year to be a bumpy ride in terms of monthly revenue. However, when sales fall below forecasted numbers, adopting a proactive approach to understanding the reasons and implementing strategies to turn the situation around is essential.

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Analysis:

Begin by thoroughly analyzing the factors contributing to the lower-than-expected sales. Consider external factors like economic conditions, market trends, and competition, as well as internal factors such as marketing effectiveness, product positioning, and customer feedback. It sounds like an obvious question, but leaders often fail to ask: Do your salespeople have the skills to execute the sales plan this year? We often find sales skills gaps that are preventing salespeople from hitting their KPIs. It is not unusual to assess a sales team and find that 20% of the team members in quota-carrying roles do not want to be in sales and lack the skills and motivation to achieve their goals. We can coach and train these people up or move them to other roles where they can add more value.

2. Evaluate Marketing Strategies:

Review your marketing strategies to identify any gaps or areas for improvement. Assess the performance of your advertising campaigns, social media presence, and promotional activities. If certain channels or campaigns are not delivering the expected results, consider reallocating resources or adjusting your approach. In a recent study, 33% of buyers chose not to engage with salespeople. They are doing their research and engaging directly with companies they feel that can help solve their challenges. We must ensure your website has strong content about the problems you solve for customers today and several case studies and examples of success stories.

3. Reassess Product Positioning:

Evaluate how well your products align with current market demands and consumer preferences. Here, we often conduct voice-of-customer research. We interview your top customers who deliver 80% of your net income, other customers, inactive customers, and new prospects you quoted but did not win. We gather insights about how your customers buy, why they buy, and why they buy from your competitors. If necessary, we refine your product positioning or explore new features that can enhance their appeal. We often equip and train salespeople with persona-based messaging for the top decision-makers in purchasing your product or service. Customer feedback and market research can provide valuable insights into potential adjustments.

4. Engage with Customers:

Reach out to your customers for feedback on their purchasing decisions. We ask for their forecasts based on what their business is experiencing.  Here, we train salespeople in discovery and qualifying skills to help uncover challenges your customers have that your team can solve. Understanding their needs, preferences, and concerns can help you tailor your products and services to meet their expectations better. Consider having a third party gather these insights for you, as I shared in my new book, Voice Of Customer, a no-smoke-and-mirrors approach to driving profitable growth. Your leadership team will have actionable insights to adjust your plan strategically.

5. Review Sales Team Performance:

Assess the performance of your sales team to identify areas of improvement. Provide additional training, resources, or support where needed. Collaborate with the team to gather insights into customer interactions, objections, and challenges they may face in the sales process. We often assess customer-facing roles and determine their sales strengths, skills gaps, motivations, and beliefs. We also look for structural alignment. Do you have the right people in the right roles with the right skills? We close gaps with training, coaching, and often new sales tools if we discover gaps.

6. Adjust Inventory Management:

Ensure that your inventory levels are aligned with actual demand. If you overestimated the demand for certain products, consider adjusting production or implementing promotional strategies to clear excess inventory. On the other hand, if popular items are consistently out of stock, explore options to streamline the supply chain. If our voice of customer interviews discovered your competitors are delivering in four weeks. Your team is delivering in six to eight weeks, and order turnaround was a key buying criterion; we identified the constraints and developed a manufacturing plan to meet customer expectations.

7. Implement Incentives and Promotions:

Introduce short-term incentives or promotions to stimulate sales. Bundled offers or loyalty programs can encourage customers to make purchases during the period when sales are lagging. Ensure that these promotions align with your overall business goals and financial considerations. My clients who sell through channel partners often launch thematic sales incentive programs to encourage the salespeople at their channel partners to sell their products.

8. Plan for Future Months:

We often help clients perform a sales pipeline audit and develop a revised sales forecast based on the insights gained from the analysis. Use this updated forecast to guide your strategies for the upcoming months. Adjust budgets, marketing plans, and operational activities to align with the new projections.

Facing lower-than-expected sales in January is a challenge that often occurs, but by conducting a thorough analysis, reassessing strategies, and engaging with customers and your team, you can position your business for a successful recovery.

You have time to adjust, improve sales results, and fix common sales problems. Flexibility, adaptability, and a proactive mindset are key to navigating challenges and ensuring long-term success.

We strongly encourage you to act. 

Some companies will do nothing, hoping January was just an odd month and February and March will be much stronger. Our challenge to teams that take this approach is: what if there is a fundamental gap in your strategy, skills, or plan? Why wait three months to fix a sales problem and hurt your revenue year? Why allow your sales plan to fall even deeper behind the plan?

Let’s schedule a call if your team missed the January sales plan, and we can help your team get back on track to end this year with strong revenue and profit growth.

Crafting Effective Sales Kill Sheets or Battle Cards for Sales Teams

The month of January will soon be over. How did your sales team perform? Are you hitting your sales plan, above plan or falling short? One way we help sales teams increase their close rates and drive more revenue is equipping them with Competitor Profiles sometimes called Kill Sheets and Battle cards.

Sales kill sheets, also known as battle cards or competitor profiles, are essential tools for arming your sales team with the knowledge and strategies needed to outperform competitors and close deals. Creating a well-organized and informative sales kill sheet is crucial in today’s competitive business landscape. In this post, we’ll explore the key steps to help you craft effective sales kill sheets that empower your salesforce.

As a reminder, we can often gather a great deal of competitor insights in conducting Voice of Customer Research.

1. Identify Competitors:

Begin by identifying your main competitors. Understand their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions. This knowledge forms the foundation of your sales kill sheet.

2. Gather Information:

Collect detailed information about each competitor. This may include product features, pricing, target market, market share, and customer reviews. The goal is to have a comprehensive understanding of what you’re up against. We share their strengths and weaknesses.

3. Highlight Unique Selling Points (USPs):

Clearly outline your product or service’s unique selling points. What makes it stand out? Emphasize these strengths on the sales kill sheet, giving your team the confidence to showcase your offerings. Often sales teams struggle because they have an outdated value proposition that is not resonating with the needs and problems of your buyers today.

4. Address Weaknesses:

Be transparent about your product’s weaknesses, but also provide counterpoints or strategies to overcome them. Equip your sales team with the knowledge to navigate objections and turn potential drawbacks into selling opportunities. In our course on handling customer objections and not trying to overcome them we emphasize clearly understanding your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as each key competitor.

5. Competitor Analysis:

Conduct a thorough analysis of each competitor. Identify areas where your product outshines theirs and vice versa. Use this information to tailor your sales conversations based on the specific needs and pain points of potential customers.

6. Update Regularly:

The business landscape is dynamic, and competitors may introduce new products or strategies. Regularly update your sales kill sheets / sales battle cards to ensure that your sales team always has the latest and most relevant information. Here we often conduct value proposition audits to ensure what we believe our customers value still holds true.

7. Customization for Different Audiences:

Recognize that different audiences may have varying priorities. Tailor your sales kill sheets for different customer segments, industries, or regions. This customization enhances the relevance and impact of the information provided. Who are your top five decision maker personas? I work a lot with B2B manufacturers, and they often have decision makers with tiles like…Owner, Buyer, Quality, Manufacturing and Operations Manager, or CFO. We must shape our value-based conversations to each persona and what is important to them.

8. Include Competitive Messaging:

Develop succinct and compelling messaging to counteract competitor claims. Provide your sales team with ready-to-use responses to common objections, making it easier for them to navigate conversations with potential customers. These conversations never condemn competitors but are fact based.

9. Training and Implementation:

Ensure that your sales team is well-trained on how to use the sales kill sheets effectively. Host training sessions, role-playing exercises, and provide ongoing support to reinforce the importance of these tools in their sales approach. Just this week I am working with a B2B manufacturing team and developing battle cards and having them practice using them in various common scenarios. Having the battle cards is step one, but we must have sales know where to find them and how and when to use them. The time to practice is in sales training not on customers.

10. Feedback Loop:

Establish a feedback loop to gather insights from the sales team. Regularly solicit feedback on the effectiveness of the sales kill sheets and use this input to make continuous improvements. Voice of Customer research also helps us understand the needs and challenges of our customers today. These insights help our battle cards and kill sheets drive more revenue growth.

Incorporating well-crafted sales kill sheets into your sales strategy empowers your team to navigate competitive landscapes with confidence and precision. By staying informed, addressing weaknesses, and leveraging unique selling points, your salesforce will be well-equipped to win deals and drive business success. Regular updates and a commitment to continuous improvement will ensure that your sales kill sheets remain powerful tools in your sales arsenal.

Does your sales team have Kill Sheets / Battle Cards for each of your top competitors?

Does sales know where to find them?

Has sales been trained how and when to use them?

Do you frequently provide training and practice using your Battle Cards?

When was the last time your Kill Sheets were updated?

Let’s schedule a call if you would like to have Battle Cards/ Kills Sheets based on the market your salespeople sell in today.

Mastering the Art of Sales: Best Practices in Sales Skills Training

In the fast-paced and competitive markets we face the ability to sell effectively is a crucial skill. Sales skills training equips professionals with the tools and knowledge they need to excel in this competitive field of sales. The sad reality is 50% of salespeople serving customers today have never had formal sales skills training and ity is showing. Buyers have spoken and over 30% of buyers today choose not to work with a sales rep and prefer to work directly with the company. In this blog post, we will explore some of the best practices in sales skills training that can transform an average salesperson into a sales superstar and an average sales team into a top performing sales organization.

1. Assessment of Sales Skills Motivations and Beliefs

We start the process of upskilling the salespeople with a thorough sales effectiveness and improvement analysis. We review 21 sales tactical skills, beliefs, and motivations. Once we identify sales skills gaps critical to the success of the sales role, we prescribe training and coaching.

2. Understanding the Basics:

We prescribe a spaced stacked sales skills training program. Before diving into advanced techniques, a solid understanding of basic sales principles is essential. Training programs should cover fundamental concepts such as active listening, effective communication, and customer relationship management. We then use these fundamentals to build upon when we prescribe training to fill sales skills gaps.

3. Role-Playing Exercises:

One of the most effective ways to hone sales skills is through role-playing exercises. These simulations allow salespeople to practice different scenarios, enabling them to handle objections, negotiate deals, close and build rapport with clients. We customize the scenarios based on the sales team’s market, customers and common conversations and objections they encounter. We have application exercises where each salesperson applies what they have just learned in exercises and shares their work with others on the sales team.

4. Continuous Learning and Adaptation:

Sales techniques are constantly evolving. A successful sales training program encourages continuous learning. One and done training does not work. If you do not apply and refresh training 90% will be forgotten in 48 hours. Sales professionals should stay updated with the latest trends, technologies, and customer behaviors. Regular training sessions and workshops can help them adapt to changing market demands. We often share articles, white papers and have sales teams read sales books and share the insights they are learning in their weekly sales meetings. Some sales managers have sales team members role play in their sales meetings to facilitate even more application and practice.

5. Emphasizing Empathy:

Empathy is at the heart of successful sales. Sales training should focus on teaching salespeople to understand the customer’s perspective, identify their needs, and offer tailored solutions. Empathetic communication builds trust and strengthens client relationships. Here we focus on EQ and situational awareness skills.

6. Utilizing Sales Technology:

Modern sales training incorporates the use of sales technology tools and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, online video meetings and social selling. Training programs should educate sales professionals on how to leverage these tools to automate tasks, track leads, and analyze data for better decision-making.

7. Feedback and Coaching:

Constructive feedback is invaluable in sales training. Regular evaluations and coaching sessions help salespeople identify their strengths and areas for improvement. Positive reinforcement boosts confidence, while targeted coaching addresses specific challenges, leading to continuous improvement.

8. Negotiation Skills:

Negotiation is a key component of sales. Training programs should teach effective negotiation techniques, including active listening, finding common ground, and creating win-win solutions. Negotiation simulations can provide a safe space for practicing these skills. We can often facilitate knowledge transfer with virtual training about negotiations, but true negotiation skills mastery occurs after practicing this skill in real life scenarios with the top three negotiations tactics your buyers use.

9. Building a Personal Brand:

In the digital age, sales professionals need to build a strong personal brand. Training should cover online presence, social media etiquette, and personal branding strategies. A compelling personal brand on LinkedIn can enhance credibility and attract potential clients.

10. Ethical Selling Practices:

Ethical behavior is paramount in sales. Training programs should emphasize the importance of honesty, transparency, worthy intent to serve and integrity. Sales professionals should be guided to prioritize long-term customer relationships over short-term gains. Buyers can smell a sales rep with commission breath a mile away.

11. Handling Objections:

What are the common sales objections salespeople will encounter selling your product or service? Here we share the most common objections, how to handle them and not try to overcome them. Then we have the salespeople practice each objection handling technique several times before they engage with customers

12. Closing Skills:

67% of salespeople struggle with how to close the sale. We must train salespeople in the top closing skills and in what scenarios is each appropriate. Salespeople learn the various closing skills then apply these skills in role plays.

13. Measuring and Analyzing Performance:

Sales training should include methods for measuring performance metrics such as conversion rates, close rate, customer satisfaction, and sales revenue. These KPIs should be leading and lagging indicators. Analyzing these metrics provides insights into the effectiveness of the training program and helps identify areas that need further improvement. Often, we conduct another sales effectiveness and improvement analysis 11 months after the first one to measure the improvement in skills and identify new sales skills gaps.

In conclusion, sales skills training is a dynamic and ongoing process. By understanding the basics, practicing through role-playing, staying updated with industry trends, and emphasizing empathy and ethics, sales professionals can elevate their skills to new heights. With the right training and continuous learning, anyone can master the art of sales and achieve lasting success in the competitive business landscape.

Do your salespeople have the right sales skills, motivations, and beliefs to drive profitable growth?

How effective is your sales team?

How much more effective could they be?

What impact would be improving sales skills have on your bottom line?

Let’s schedule a call if you would like to find the answers to the above questions and more.

Are Your Sales Meetings Costing Your Team Revenue?

In my recent video, I shared how many salespeople expressed concerns that their daily, weekly, and monthly sales meetings add little value in helping them achieve their goals. Some shared that their weekly meetings are more like an autopsy than a focused discussion to drive future revenue.

Poorly facilitated sales meetings are nothing new. Our data shows less than 50% of sales teams have received formal sales skills training, and an even more significant percentage of sales managers have never received sales manager skills training.

We often find sales leaders were once top performing salespeople themselves.

Sales manager skills include…

  1. Leadership
  2. Coaching
  3. Effective communication
  4. Deal strategy
  5. Moving opportunities in the pipeline to close
  6. Time management
  7. Training and coaching
  8. Recruiting
  9. Creating sales plans and processes
  10. Forecasting sales and creating reports
  11. Data analysis
  12. Meeting design, cadence, and facilitation

However, with so few sales managers and sales leaders, for that matter, being trained on how to facilitate a sales meeting, we must fix this sales problem.

Have your sales managers received skills training?

Do your sales managers facilitate sales meetings that move the revenue needle or waste valuable selling time?

After posting my video about poorly facilitated sales meetings on LinkedIn, I received a comment from Alan Hale, who suggested I launch a poll on this topic, so I did.

38% of participants said their weekly meeting discusses what matters and adds value.

(Awesome!)

38% said their weekly meeting adds no value and feels like an autopsy.

23% said, “what weekly meeting?”

For those facilitating and delivering meetings that move the revenue needle, great job!

Some disturbing statistics are bubbling to the surface.

Salespeople achieving quota is at an all-time low since they started measuring it in 2016.

In 2021 more salespeople failed to achieve sales objectives than those that hit or surpassed their goals.

Depending on the study, the average salesperson only spends 22% of their sellable time selling their clients and prospects.

When we investigated where salespeople spend time if they are not selling, we found the following….

Researching industry trends
Building prospecting lists
Transportation/ travel
Reporting
Reviewing reports
Building presentations
Administration and CRM updates
Assisting other departments, like Accounts Receivables and Quality
Meetings, unproductive sales meetings

Sales meetings and sales manager coaching add tremendous value to goal attainment if properly facilitated.

Training sales managers on coaching skills is one of the most scalable things companies can do today.

Unproductive meetings not only waste time but they become a cost. Think about all the salaries paid for employees to sit in a meeting that isn’t getting anything done. Consider the opportunity cost of what those salespeople and sales leaders, for that matter, could be doing.

Unproductive sales meetings can also lead to lost opportunities if the meetings are not structured and facilitated correctly. The cost of unproductive sales meetings can add up quickly, and from what I have observed, the sessions are more frequent and last much longer than we train our sales leaders to facilitate.

What are some of the sales meeting problems we fix with training and coaching?

  1. Expectations of Sales Meetings: Sales leaders and salespeople review their KPIs, focus for the week, and share where they may be stuck or need help. I recommend 2 minutes per person for daily huddles and weekly meetings, no more than 5 minutes per person.
  2. Sales meeting organization and clear objectives: Meetings without a meeting framework lack a clear agenda, objectives, or goals, leading to attendees feeling confused and often disengaged.
  3. Time management: Have you ever been in a never-ending sales meeting? You planned for one hour, and the next thing you know, 2 ½ hours have passed, and you are scratching your head, frustrated, wondering what you learned or how you might apply what was discussed to achieve your goals.
  4. Sales meeting participation and engagement design: Does every meeting participant have an opportunity to speak, or does one or two team members (or even the sales leader) dominate the discussion? Do you know if the facilitation includes interaction and planned engagement?
  5. Follow-up and action items, critical next steps: Sales meetings can sometimes end without clear action items or follow-up, making it difficult to measure progress or hold participants accountable. When we train and coach sales leaders to facilitate daily huddles and weekly meetings, we teach them to listen and take notes that become one–on–one coaching moments. Do your salespeople know what to do and how their activities align with the overall sales plan?

Are you one of the 38% where salespeople attend your meetings, understand the objectives, and receive value to move the revenue needle?

Or
Is your team going through the motions of a sales meeting, and they often feel like a never-ending meeting, leaving your salespeople scratching their heads about what was achieved and feeling the meetings are a tremendous waste of time and money?

Have you attended one of your sales teams’ daily huddles or weekly meetings lately?

Do you think this is a meeting you would look forward to or dread?

Do your salespeople know what to present at your meetings?

Do your sales meetings improve accountability or create disengaged salespeople?

One of the most significant constraints on salespeople today is time.

How they spend their time and the activities they execute must support the objective of goal attainment.

Sales meetings, from quick daily huddles and weekly meetings to monthly, quarterly, and annual sales kick-off meetings, play an essential role in your sales managers have been trained to design and facilitate sales meetings.

If you would like me to attend one of your sales meetings and provide some insights on how to get a greater return from your meetings, please reach out to me.

I do not charge for the first meeting I attend.

Pre- Sales Checklist :The Secret to Hitting Your Sales Number

Salespeople who are prepared for meetings outperform others who just show up and throw up; it’s as simple as that. We all know this right? Not being prepared for buyer meetings is one of the top reasons over 50% of salespeople will fail to achieve sales quota each year. Our markets and how buyers buy has changed significantly with as much as 70% of the buying journey being over before a salesperson meets with a buyer. In this post I will share how I coach salespeople to prepare for sales meetings to drive the maximum sales results in an authentic way.

I have led sales and marketing teams for over 30 years and I am a practitioner of what Pragmatic Marketing refers to as “NIHITO”. This stands for: Nothing Important Happens In The Office. Therefore I travel, check that, …I travel a great deal in the market doing four legged sales calls with my sales teams.

One area that is a common sales coachable skill is pre-sales call planning.

Traveling often I have taken a number of flights. As sales leaders we can learn a lot about being prepared for our mission of increasing sales profitably by watching airplane pilots. Before each and every flight pilots conduct a pre-flight checklist.

They have a standard checklist that starts at the left wing tip and they walk around the plane, checking each wing, each tire, the tail section, the nose of the plane, the cockpit instrumentation panel. They check the fuel manifest to insure they have enough fuel to fly safely to their destination.

Ben Franklin said:“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Why do salespeople fail?

There are 3 major reasons that salespeople fail.

  1. Lack of mental preparation
  2. Lack of physical preparation
  3. Poor quality of conversations

… all of them involve being prepared.

What are the top five things sales super stars do to prepare for each sales meeting?

  1. They’re prepared for anything – especially the negative circumstances
  2. They’re genuinely interested in their prospects
  3. They check their ego at the door
  4. They master the art of managing expectations
  5. They have done their research

The below checklist must be completed before trying to start a journey with a buyer today.

Buyer information

  1. Who will you be meeting with?
  2. What is their role, and title?
  3. How long have they held this position?
  4. How long have they been with their current organization?
  5. Where did they go to school?
  6. Where did they work prior to this company?
  7. Do you share any mutual contacts, if so call them and ask them about this buyer
  8. When was the last order?
  9. Do you have a buyer persona for this type of buyer? If so read it.
  10. Is there a current order in the system?
  11. If so when will it ship and arrive?
  12. What is the status of the accounts payments, do they have any money past due that may interrupt service if not paid?
  13. Has the buyer and or their teams experienced any quality issues with products and or services in the last 6 months and were they resolved?
  14. How is the buyer measured?
  15. What are your buyers’ key performance indicators?

The account

  1. How long has your company sold this account?
  2. What are your current sales with this account, and how does this compare to last year?
  3. Does this customer buy predominantly one or two products or do they support your full line of products and services?
  4. When was the last buyer call or phone discussion on the CRM?
  5. What was the topic of the last conversation and action items?
  6. Were the action items completed?
  7. Visit their web site, click on “press” and or “news’ …what is the most recent news event they posted?
  8. What are your customers value proposition to their customers? You can gather this by cutting and pasting their landing page copy into an I cloud service and see prominent words.
  9. Who are their competitors? Do you sell them?
  10. Who else is involved in buying decisions?

The Industry / Market

  1. Google this industry read top three articles.
  2. What is news worthy in their industry in the last three months?
  3. Visit industry trade association web pages and read last three news articles. What is news worthy in trade groups?
  4. Is the customers’ market up, down, or flat?
  5. What are the future projections for this market?
  6. How is this customers market segment performing for your company?
  7. Is this customer’s sales performing at the industry average, below, or above and why?
  8. Have competitors introduced any new products or programs in the last six months?
  9. Prepare two to three questions that illustrate you know the buyers’ industry, what is happening and can be used to build trust.
  10. Is their industry consolidating or highly fragmented?

Competitor information

  1. What other companies like yours also sell this account?
  2. What are their strengths?
  3. What are their weaknesses?
  4. What are your competitors’ value propositions?
  5. Do any of your other customers also use these competitors and if so what have they shared with you?
  6. Visit competitor(s) web sites, what is new?
  7. How do your competitors market their products and sell their products?
  8. Know your competitor price strategy.
  9. Does the competitor provide products you do not?
  10. Do you have unique and or patented products your competitors do not offer?
  11. What is your competitor’s service history compared to yours?
  12. What are your competitors shipping and delivery policies?

 Your Strategy

  1. Why are you meeting with this account?
  2. Why did the buyer agree to meet you?
  3. What is the buyer’s expectation for this meeting?
  4. Is meeting with the account in person the best form of communication based on your objectives?
  5. What sales tools will you need to be successful?
  6. Will you require any video or computer presentations?
  7. Will you require access to the Internet? If so bring a device to give you access in the event the company cannot allow you to access their connection.
  8. What is your value proposition? Answer the question: Why your company?…and or your product?
  9. Who are your competitors at this customer and what are the strengths of your competitors and their products?
  10. What are the perceived weaknesses of your competitors’ products?
  11. What case studies should you bring to support this sale?
  12. What STAR stories will you share in your presentation to build trust?
  13. What will you leave with the buyer?
  14. How many copies will they need for other influencers in their company?
  15. What is your buyers buying process?
  16. What criteria must your buyer have from you to make a buying decision?
  17. What does this account, this buyer’s journey look like?
  18. What are your 2-5 challenger questions for this meeting?
  19. How will you judge if this meeting was a success?
  20. What are typically next steps in the follow up process you can offer proactively in this meeting?

 

I hear some of you saying…

but mark that’s a lot of information to have before we meet with someone! On a normal trip I can meet with up to 8-10 customers…do you expect me to have all of the above for each meeting?”

My answer is YES!!!

The markets we serve are dynamic and competitive pressure is only growing. In your buyer’s world they too are experiencing pressure and demands on their time. Buyers want to meet with salespeople who do their homework and understand their account, and their markets and any challenges they may be facing. Buyers are hungry for authentic salespeople who want to understand and help buyers and their companies solve urgent market problems.

The days of …Hi how are ya meetings …are over!

The days of just dropping buy, or my personal favorite…. buying two dozen donuts are over!

…“But Mark I want to build my relationship with this buyer….”

Then do your research prior to your buyer meeting and demonstrate the following:

You know the buyer and have an interest in helping them

You know the industry and share how you help buyers like them

You understand your competitors

You know the buying journey

You know the criteria your buyers must have today to make a buying decision

You understand your products and services and the problems they solve

You build trust with buyers by being prepared

Doing your pre-flight checklist before each buyer meeting will insure a safe buying journey and help you land are your desired goals. 

Are your salespeople prepared to meet with your buyers?

What is your cost of sale today?

Do you believe having a pre-call checklist can improve your sales cost as a percent of sales?

Does your team have a pre=call checklist?

How often are your salespeople prepared for each buyer meeting?

Have you experienced a buyer meeting that took a nosedive because your salesperson was not prepared?

Below are some great articles on preparing for a sales call.

Pre-call planning the forgotten step https://www.customercentric.com/news-and-resources/articles/pre-call-planning

 

4 tips for effective pre-call sales planning https://www.jillkonrath.com/sales-blog/bid/130501/4-Tips-for-Effective-Pre-Call-Sales-Planning

 

7 steps to ace pre-call sales planning https://www.jillkonrath.com/sales-blog/bid/130501/4-Tips-for-Effective-Pre-Call-Sales-Planning

 

Pre-call planning: It’s more than just research http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?a=2847/pre-call-planning-it-s-more-than-just-research

 

Finally–a Sales Pre-call Checklist That Will Help Your Opportunities Soar! http://customerthink.com/finally_a_sales_pre_call_checklist_that_will_help_your_opportunities_soar/

 

Three Steps to better Pre-call Planning http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?a=1458/three-steps-to-better-pre-call-planning

 

How to prepare for a winning sales negotiation https://www.salesreadinessgroup.com/blog/how-to-prepare-for-a-winning-sales-negotiation

 

Preparation and Sales Success http://blog.anthonycoletraining.com/Sales-Training-Sales-Brew/bid/30683/Preparation-and-Sales-Success

 

Pre-call planning strategy checklist http://www.mentoru.com/sanfilippo/pre-callplanningstrategy.pdf

 

8 Steps to successful sales call https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/207016

 

Develop your companies’ pre-sales call checklist and watch your sales and profits soar!

Are Your Salespeople “Bare Knuckle Selling?”

It is an old-school sales approach from the 1950s through the mid-1980s. Your sales team was given a goal, and they were to just make it happen.

Business owners were focused on the objective of achieving the financial performance goals they needed and wanted hungry sales teams chasing, catching, and wrestling buyers to the ground to win purchase orders.

It was all about what we wanted.

It felt wrong to even then, but that is what we were paid to do. It was much like the movie; Fight Club, and the #1 rule of fight club is… “Don’t talk about fight club!”

For years salespeople went out with their sales bags full of brochures and returned with orders, and we often didn’t want to know how. It was like sales was some dark art business owners did not want to know about.

They just needed the profitable sales volume.

The trouble arises when sales teams today approach buyers as they did 10-15 or 30 years ago.

In my sales seminars, I used to refer to this sales method as Bare Knuckle Selling.

Sales teams who rely on bare-knuckle sales today fail to execute the sales plan and miss the profit objectives for their companies. As the Book Insight Selling shares, buyers today do not want to be sold. They want to be presented with innovative ideas.

Teams with no strategy are forced into bare-knuckle selling; each year, their performance toward sales goals suffers.

Bare Knuckle Sales involves your sales team cold calling buyers who should need the products they sell ( you have no idea if they do).

Teams who practice bare-knuckle selling focus on their goals and not their customers’ problems. They sound like commission junkies needing their next fix (and buyers today pick up on that within the first few seconds of a call).

Bare-knuckle sales teams have little if any marketing and sales strategy, and their websites are virtual brochures that often share how great they are and how long they have been great, but fail in SEO Key Word Optimization, have no content strategy, and never speak in a voice of the problems you solve for your customers.

When you challenge the leaders of a team like this, you will hear phrases like; “we don’t need a content strategy. We have been in this industry for 20 years and never needed it before” and “we need our salespeople to overcome objections and close not ask a bunch of questions…” and my personal favorite; ” we cannot afford expensive marketing!” Since the people who often challenge you most are accounting and finance types, we need to redirect the conversation to the opportunity cost of not having a marketing strategy.

Are your salespeople Bare Knuckle Selling today?

How would you know?

Below are ten quick questions I would ask you, and let’s see how you would answer them.

  1. Do your salespeople clearly understand the problem(s) your product or service solves?
  2. Have you seen your gross margins increase in the last three years?
  3. Do you know your close rate on quotes? And why did you win or lose?
  4. Have you produced new sales tools in the last 12 months?
  5. Has your website been updated in the last six months?
  6. What are the top 3 market segments your team should target this year and why?
  7. Does your team have a sales strategy and process other than cold calling?
  8. Do you have a lead nurturing program?
  9. Can you tell me the process and criteria your buyers are using today?
  10. If I asked your sales VP what the ideal customer for your product or service can they answer me?

How would you answer the above questions?

If you answered “no” or “I don’t know” to six or more of the above questions, your team is Bare Knuckle Selling and losing new business you could and should be winning.

Please share your thoughts and experience….

Is your team Bare Knuckle Selling?

Would you like a road map on how to stop Bare Knuckle Selling and start hitting and blowing by your crucial performance objectives?

Sales teams today do not need to be like Fight Club.

The #1 rule of sales today is openly discussing your repeatable sales process, and your team must constantly assess how your buyers are buying and what criteria they must have to make buying decisions.

 

Preparing Your Family for Entrepreneurship

Becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business is a big step for you, but it is also a big deal for your family, and the more you can do to prepare them for what is likely to come as you build your business, the easier it will be for you all to adjust. 

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few key things you can do to prepare your family for entrepreneurship.

Talk them through your plans

It’s easier for your family to support you and feel secure in the risk you are taking if you take the time to talk them through your plans for your new business venture, what you aim to do, and how you think it will work If they know what you are doing snd why you are doing it; if you have a clear vision and a plan to make it happen, they will feel much better about the whole thing in those tough early days, and that will benefit you all.

Secure your finances

Becoming a business owner is always going to mean some degree of financial insecurity, but if you can do everything you can to protect your family from the worst of it, this will really help to show them you are thinking about them and reassure them that things will be ok, Whether you talk to a mortgage broker about a new deal, ring-fence some of your savings for family emergencies or work out a split financial situation that helps to protect family money better, anything you can do in this area will be of huge benefit to your family at this time.

Be open with them

It’s always best to be open with your family about your business plans and how things are going. It might be tempting to conceal any setbacks from them, but chances are they will know something is wrong and they will be upset and confused that you are keeping it from them, Dialog should always bed open because not only will it help them through it, but then they will be able to support you and your business goals too.

Bring them into the business

Letting your family members come to work with you to see what you are doing; allowing them to help with big and small decisions as and when appropriate and even letting your kids come to your office with you will all help to make them feel more comfortable with what you are doing, and it will probably get them just as enthused as you too. Make it a family business and it will be so much better.

Your first steps into entrepreneurship are always going to be uncertain but if you do all you can to prepare your family and make a sensible plan to see you all through, it will be so much easier on you all. Family is important so don’t forget about them when your head is filled with dreams of making it big in business.

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