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The Blueprint for Success: Building a Performance-Based Culture of Execution

In the bustling corridors of today’s business world, the difference between a successful venture and one lost in the crowd often boils down to execution. But what does effective execution look like? It’s not about clocking hours; it’s about nurturing a performance-based culture. A culture where teams move with purpose, direction, and precision, maximizing every opportunity.

The Role of Planning and Roadmaps in Execution

The Lifeline called Proper Planning

Think of planning as the architectural blueprint of a skyscraper. Without it, workers might lay bricks, but they won’t necessarily build anything standing tall. Methodical planning, based on market insights and business strengths, creates a clear path to tangible goals.

Crafting Transparent Roadmaps

Roadmaps are not just about steps; they’re about clarity. They break down a company’s vision into actionable tasks, timeline expectations, and milestones. For a software development company, this could range from initial idea brainstorming and prototyping to beta testing and final rollout. Our goal is to get all the leaders and all the team aligned to the plan.

Gleaning from the Past

By dissecting past strategies—celebrating wins and analyzing missteps—businesses get a compass for future direction. It’s akin to sports teams reviewing game footage to improve strategy for upcoming matches.

Voice of Customer Research

Just as we learn from the past, we can gain valuable insights about our customers and targeted new customers by conducting voice of customer research. Writing strategy without customer insights is criminal. Plans developed with inward facing data rarely deliver explosive growth. We must understand, capture, and act on the insights we gather in voice of customer research.

The Power of Alignment and Regular Checkpoints in Execution

One Team, One Dream

Unifying the team behind a singular company vision is paramount. Weekly workshops, detailed briefings, and inclusive brainstorming sessions can foster a collective sense of purpose, mitigating the risk of isolated silos of work.

Regular Checkpoints: The Heartbeat of Execution

These are the moments to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. Are we on track? Are there unanticipated hurdles? Regularly answering these questions keeps the team agile and prevents stagnation.

Different Checkpoints in Execution

For any company or organization, execution is akin to navigating a ship through a vast ocean. While having a clear destination (or goal) is essential, periodic checks ensure the ship doesn’t veer off course. These checks, or checkpoints, are the inflection points where businesses measure, reassess, and fine-tune their strategies. Let’s delve deeper into these critical junctures:

Daily: Implement Daily Huddles

What are we focused on today. What did we say we would do yesterday and was not completed? What is our plan to catch up? What help might team members need each day. We encourage these daily huddles to be standing meetings were each team member quickly shares their focus for the day and any activities that do not align with our team goals are addressed immediately.

Weekly: The Pulse Checks

When we talk about weekly checks, it’s reminiscent of a doctor’s routine: quick but essential. The weekly checkpoints ensure the heart of the organization—its strategies and tasks—is beating as it should.

Team Pow-Wows

These gatherings are not just routine meetings. They’re the hub of brainstorming, sharing, and strategizing. For example, a marketing team might discuss the performance of a week-long campaign, while a tech team could discuss bug fixes. These sessions foster a sense of camaraderie and collective ownership.

Leadership Scrutiny

Weekly leadership meetings are where the broader view comes into play. Beyond analyzing KPIs, it’s crucial for leaders to understand the narrative shaping those numbers. If sales dipped one week, was it due to an external factor like a holiday, or was there an internal challenge to address?

Monthly: The Progress Reports

Each month symbolizes a significant chunk of the business quarter. Thus, monthly checkpoints are less about micro-management and more about ensuring alignment with quarterly and yearly goals.

KPIs & Market Pulsars

At this juncture, it’s pivotal to gauge the company’s health via KPIs. But alongside, there’s a need to stay attuned to market ‘pulsars’ or signals. For instance, if a rival company launched a groundbreaking product, how did it affect our sales or market perception?

Departmental Collaboration

Monthly reviews should also be spaces of inter-departmental collaboration. If the R&D team has a new prototype ready, how can marketing leverage it? By promoting collaboration, businesses can ensure a seamless flow of information and integrated planning.

Quarterly: The Strategy Reassessments

Every quarter represents a business season, and it’s time for a more holistic assessment.

Peek at the Horizon

How close or far are we from our annual objectives? If a particular product line underperformed, can it be revamped in the next quarter, or should it be shelved? These questions guide the direction for the forthcoming quarter.

Economic and Industry Forecasts

It’s also the time to zoom out and view the broader industry landscape. Suppose regulatory changes are anticipated in the next quarter, or there’s a global event (like a tech summit) that could influence industry dynamics. In that case, businesses need to strategize accordingly.

Break through Constraints

We coach our clients to work on constraints and challenges during their quarterly meetings. We often set out with strong plans to grow and once we start executing our strategies and tactics we discover constraints. Quarterly meetings are a great venue to discuss and plan to remove constraints.

Yearly: The Grand Overview

The annual review is the grand finale of checks—the time to celebrate, reflect, and rejuvenate. It’s a time to review what we learned and identify data we need to create a strong plan for the next year.

Reflect and Celebrate

Every achievement, big or small, deserves recognition. Whether it was entering a new market, achieving record sales, or enhancing customer satisfaction, the annual review is a moment to cherish these milestones.

The Road Ahead

After reflection comes projection. Based on the year gone by, what will the next year look like? This isn’t just about numbers but also about envisioning new opportunities or areas of growth.

Visionary Gaze

The 5–10-year plan might seem distant, but it’s the beacon guiding the yearly plans. The annual review is a time to ensure that the business remains aligned with this long-term vision. For instance, if the ten-year goal involves sustainability, are the yearly strategies echoing that commitment?

Big Harry Audacious Goal ( BHAG)

What is your revenue target? Are you $15 million today and want to reach $60 million in five years? Then $60 million is your BHAG. Having led numerous strategic planning sessions stating the BHAG helps build our yearly , quarterly and monthly key thrusts.

Leadership’s Role in a Performance-Based Culture of Execution

Leadership is the compass that guides a ship through both calm and tumultuous waters. In a performance-based culture of execution, leadership doesn’t merely dictate direction; it sets the tone, pace, and ethos of execution.

Leadership Team Trust

As discussed in the 5 dysfunctions of a team the key foundational element of high performing teams is trust. The leadership team must have a high trust and the psychologically safety to discuss views to drive to the desired plan outcome. Unfortunately, as we assess leadership teams distrust is the default today. 30 years ago, trust was the default. Leaders must strategically build trust and not assume it is present today.

The Critical Role of Leadership in Driving a Culture of Execution

Being at the helm, leaders model the behavior they expect. If they prioritize execution and demonstrate commitment to results, it cascades down. It’s not just about hitting targets but setting a culture where excellence is pursued relentlessly. Leaders also foster an environment where teams feel empowered to take action, innovate, and contribute to the company’s overall vision.

The Importance of Leadership Tracking KPIs and Discussing Trends

Leaders need to be adept at understanding the story behind the numbers. Tracking KPIs isn’t a mere exercise in data analysis; it’s about deriving actionable insights. When a leader pays attention to these key indicators, it sends a clear message about the value of data-driven decision-making. Regular discussions on these trends keep teams aligned and aware of broader company goals.

Leadership’s Responsibility in Addressing Market Trends and Constraints

The external business landscape is ever evolving. Leaders must have a keen eye on market shifts, ensuring the company remains agile and responsive. By understanding and proactively addressing these trends and constraints, leaders safeguard the company’s present and chart out a more resilient future.

Conclusion

A culture of execution is not just about getting things done; it’s about getting the right things done, in the right way, at the right time. It’s a journey that demands meticulous planning, team alignment, and proactive leadership. For businesses eager to leave an indelible mark, remember it’s not just about the destination, but the excellence of the journey. Let the culture of performance-based execution be your compass.

If you would like to improve your teams’ execution and increase the skills of your leaders, let’s schedule a call and discuss Scaling Up.

Weathering Economic Unpredictability: Strategic Planning Steps for Challenging Times

In an era defined by its volatility and uncertainty, with markets fluctuating at an unprecedented pace, strategic planning stands as an indispensable guidepost. As an essential process that paves the way towards actualizing a vision by translating it into comprehensive goals and a sequence of actionable steps, strategic planning goes beyond mere organizational formalities. It’s a vital tool for survival, a roadmap that ensures firms remain on course amidst challenging circumstances.

Understanding the Importance of Strategic Planning

Amid the waves of uncertainty and change, strategic planning becomes an anchor, grounding businesses and enabling them to ride out the storm. This comprehensive planning process orchestrates a unified vision, primes the organization for upcoming challenges, and ensures efficient resource allocation aligning with the business mission. By threading together organizational objectives and tactics, strategic planning fabricates a coherent, robust pattern that guides the company towards its desired goals.

Steps to Creating a Strategic Plan in Uncertain Times

Economic turbulence and unpredictable circumstances call for a comprehensive strategic plan that goes beyond the norms. The approach requires being diligent, resourceful, and creative. These indicators provide you with real-time feedback, allowing for adjustments to be made along the way. Regular performance reviews should be scheduled to ensure strategies are having the desired impact, with tweaks made where necessary to optimize outcomes. This iterative process ensures your strategic plan stays relevant and effective, even amidst changing circumstances.

Here is an extended exploration of the steps to create a strategic plan:

1. Situational Analysis

Situational analysis is the first step in creating a strategic plan, especially in uncertain times. This involves a comprehensive review of the current economic environment, market trends, competition landscape, and potential opportunities and threats that might impact your business. It’s like taking a snapshot of what’s happening in your industry and broader market to identify the forces affecting your business.

An in-depth situational analysis goes beyond surface-level trends, seeking to uncover underlying factors and forces shaping the industry. This includes analyzing customer behavior patterns, technological advancements, global economic trends, and regulatory changes that could significantly impact your business. Recognizing these factors allows you to position your business to capitalize on favorable conditions and minimize the impact of adverse scenarios.

2. Identifying Core Strengths and Weaknesses

With a clear understanding of the external landscape, shift your attention inwards to the inner workings of your organization. Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses allows you to leverage your core competencies and address areas where your business may be vulnerable.

It’s about objectively assessing your resources, capabilities, processes, and structures to ascertain where you stand. Are your current resources capable of executing your planned strategies? Where are your vulnerabilities? What aspects of your operations are most affected by external changes? These are questions that should guide your introspection. This process might also involve benchmarking against competitors to understand your relative market position.

3. Setting Realistic Goals and Objectives

Informed by your detailed internal and external analysis, the next step is setting realistic goals and objectives. These should be closely tied to your company’s overarching vision and mission.

Your objectives need to be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. They should provide a clear direction for your team and be framed in a way that allows progress tracking. Whether it’s enhancing operational efficiency, increasing market share, or innovating product lines, each objective should be clearly defined and broken down into actionable tasks.

4. Develop Strategies and Tactics

Once you have set your goals, the next step involves crafting your strategies and tactics – the ‘how’ to your ‘what’. Your strategies should map out the major steps needed to reach your objectives, while the tactics detail the specific actions that will bring your strategies to life.

At this stage, it is essential to consider the resources needed for each action, including staff, materials, technology, and budget. Ensure that the devised strategies and tactics are realistic and align with your available resources. This might involve re-allocating resources or identifying potential partnerships to bolster your strategic initiatives.

5. Establish Metrics and KPIs

Finally, your strategic plan should outline how progress will be measured. Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to assess how well your strategies are working and make necessary adjustments. These metrics should be linked to your strategic objectives and provide insights into your overall business performance.

Flexibility in Strategic Planning

Flexibility is an integral part of strategic planning, especially in times of uncertainty. When external conditions shift unpredictably, a rigid strategic plan can prove to be a pitfall. Instead, embracing adaptability allows your business to pivot quickly, seizing opportunities and mitigating risks that arise.

Strategic plans should be treated as living documents, open to evolution and refinement in response to changing market dynamics. This involves being open-minded, willing to challenge assumptions and prepared to make adjustments when necessary. A dynamic approach to strategic planning involves regular plan reviews. By assessing plan performance against set KPIs and considering new market intelligence, you can refine your strategies as needed.

Moreover, fostering a culture of agility and resilience in your organization is vital. This includes embracing innovative thinking, encouraging proactive problem-solving, and cultivating an environment that views change as an opportunity rather than a threat. A flexible mindset at all organizational levels helps drive swift, effective action when the unexpected occurs.

Flexibility in strategic planning is not about constant, aimless change. Instead, it’s about being well-prepared and responsive to external changes, allowing your business to navigate uncertainty while staying on course towards its objectives.

Conclusion

Embarking on the journey of strategic planning amidst uncertain times may seem like navigating through uncharted waters. However, with meticulous analysis, well-defined objectives, and a commitment to flexibility, it’s not only feasible but also vital for guiding your organization towards its goals. Despite economic unpredictability, a well-structured strategic plan acts as a sturdy anchor, keeping your business stable amidst turbulent times, ensuring survival, and laying a sturdy foundation for future success.

By adhering to these strategic planning steps, businesses can transform challenging circumstances into opportunities for growth and improvement. It’s crucial to remember, survival in the business world is not about being the strongest or most intelligent; it’s about being the most adaptable to change. So, arm your organization with the formidable power of strategic planning and consider each change as a steppingstone towards success.

Would you like a strategic plan assessment and tune-up if needed?

Let’s schedule a call to ensure your strategic plan is designed to deliver the results your shareholders expect.

Supercharge Your Sales Force: How to Hire and Onboard Salespeople for Maximum Impact

A strong sales force is the backbone of any successful business. However, finding, hiring, and onboarding top-performing salespeople can be a challenging task. In this article, we’ll explore creative recruiting strategies, pre-hire assessments, and successful onboarding techniques to help you supercharge your sales force.

Navigating the Current Employment Situation

Understanding the competitive landscape for sales talent

Today’s employment market for sales professionals is more competitive than ever. In order to attract top talent, it’s essential to adapt creative recruitment strategies that appeal to potential candidates.

Adapting creative recruitment strategies

  1. Utilizing social media and professional networks: Identify potential candidates by searching for sales professionals on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Engage with them through commenting on their posts or sending personalized messages.
  2. Offering referral incentives to current employees: Encourage your existing sales team to refer potential candidates by offering cash bonuses or other rewards for successful hires.
  3. Attending industry events and networking to find sales talent: Attend conferences, trade shows, and networking events in your industry to discover potential sales candidates and build connections.

Crafting compelling job offers

To secure top salespeople, create a job offer that includes competitive salary, benefits, and opportunities for growth and advancement. We often coach our clients to write the job descriptions as authentically as possible. Our goal is not to sugar coat the expectations for the role and have 100’s of candidates who are not a good fit. We must share the expectations of the role, the skills required to be successful in the role and often years of experience in similar roles. We do not want to fill your inbox with 100’s if not 1,000’s of resumes that will not be top performing candidates. We must accurately describe the sales role to attract those ideal candidates who will deliver the best results in the shortest amount of time.

Best Practices for Interviewing Sales Candidates and checking references

In the book top grading where we focus on building teams of “A” players, the author suggests having the candidate arrange and book your meetings with their references.

Best Practices for Interviewing Sales Candidates

The interview process plays a critical role in selecting top sales talent for your organization. By implementing best practices for interviewing sales candidates, you can effectively assess their skills, experience, and potential for success in the role.

Crafting targeted interview questions to evaluate skills and experience

To accurately gauge a candidate’s sales skills and experience, it’s essential to ask targeted interview questions that delve into their past performance and knowledge of your industry. We recommend behavioral questions as well as the common skills questions.

Some examples of targeted questions include:

  1. How have you consistently met or exceeded sales targets in previous roles?
  2. Can you describe a complex sales process you’ve managed, and how you navigated it to close the deal?
  3. How do you approach researching and identifying potential clients in our industry?

These questions help uncover the candidate’s experience, sales techniques, and ability to succeed in your specific market.

Incorporating situational and behavioral interview techniques

Situational and behavioral interview questions are designed to assess a candidate’s problem-solving abilities, adaptability, and how they respond to various sales scenarios.

Examples of these questions include:

  1. How would you handle a situation where a prospect is hesitant to commit, despite showing interest in the product?
  2. Describe a time when you faced a significant obstacle in closing a deal. How did you overcome it?
  3. Can you share an instance where you had to adapt your sales approach based on customer feedback?
  4. Tell me about a time a buyer used hard bargaining negotiation tactics and how you delt with them.
  5. Tell me about a time you had a difficult sales goal and how you achieved it
  6. Tell me about a time you lost a customer and what you learned.
  7. Tell me about a time you felt conflict with another business group like operations or customer service and how you resolved those issues.

These types of questions provide valuable insights into how candidates think on their feet, handle challenging situations, and learn from their experiences.

Assessing candidates’ motivation, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities

Evaluating a candidate’s motivation, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities is crucial in determining their potential for success in a sales role. Here again the sales effectiveness pre-hire assessment gives us valuable insights.

Consider asking questions like:

  1. What motivates you to excel in sales?
  2. How do you stay up to date with industry trends and adapt your sales strategies accordingly?
  3. Can you share an example of when you had to think creatively to solve a problem for a client?

These questions help you identify candidates who are driven, agile, and able to overcome challenges to achieve their sales goals.

By incorporating these best practices for interviewing sales candidates, you can effectively assess their skills, experience, and potential for success, ensuring that you build a strong and high-performing sales team.

If this is a high profile role like CRO or VP of sales we craft and scenario and ask the candidate how they would solve it. We are not judging the solution as much as the process they use for problem solving.

The Power of Sales-Specific Pre-Hire Assessments

Sales-specific pre-hire assessments play a crucial role in identifying the right candidates for your sales team. These assessment tools are designed to evaluate the unique skills and traits required for success in sales roles.

The benefits of using sales-specific assessment instruments

Sales-specific assessments offer numerous benefits to help streamline the hiring process and ensure you select the best candidates for your sales force:

  1. Increased accuracy in predicting success: These assessments evaluate candidates on relevant sales skills and aptitudes, leading to more accurate predictions of their potential for success in the role.
  2. Reduced turnover and hiring costs: By identifying top performers from the start, you can avoid the costly consequences of hiring the wrong candidates and experiencing high turnover rates.
  3. Streamlined decision-making: Assessment results provide a clear, objective basis for comparing candidates, making it easier to identify top talent and make informed hiring decisions.
  4. Faster onboarding: we need salespeople who can join our team, receive training and coaching, and deliver an ROI in 3-6 months not 18 months.
  5. Reduce Brand Damage: often one of the costs of hiring the wrong salesperson is the damage they cause you’re your brand and customer relationships.

Identifying qualified applicants and their potential for success

Sales-specific assessments measure various competencies that contribute to success in sales roles, such as communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and emotional intelligence. They can also assess a candidate’s sales aptitude, motivation, and drive. The instrument I use also looks at competencies like the need to be liked, comfort talking about money and are they coachable.

By analyzing these factors, you can identify qualified applicants who have the highest potential for success in your sales team. This enables you to focus your efforts on candidates who are most likely to excel in the role and contribute positively to your company’s bottom line.

Evaluating candidates’ will to sell and cultural fit with the company

In addition to assessing sales-specific skills and aptitudes, pre-hire assessments can help evaluate a candidate’s will to sell and cultural fit within your organization. These factors are crucial, as they can significantly impact a salesperson’s performance and long-term success.

Assessing a candidate’s will to sell involves evaluating their motivation, resilience, and drive to achieve sales goals. A strong will to sell is essential for overcoming obstacles and staying motivated in the face of rejection and setbacks.

Cultural fit, on the other hand, refers to how well a candidate’s values, beliefs, and work style align with your company’s culture. A strong cultural fit can lead to higher job satisfaction, better performance, and improved retention rates.

By incorporating sales-specific pre-hire assessments into your hiring process, you can identify top sales talent with the right skills, motivation, and cultural fit, setting your sales team up for maximum success.

Onboarding Top Sales Talent for Maximum Impact

Developing a comprehensive onboarding program

  1. Clearly outlining responsibilities and expectations: Establish clear expectations for the sales role, including responsibilities, sales targets, and performance metrics.
  2. Establishing performance metrics and goals: Set measurable goals for new hires to help them understand what success looks like and how their performance will be evaluated.
  3. Ensuring alignment between company objectives and salesperson expectations: Make sure new hires understand how their role contributes to the overall success of the company.
  4. Onboarding training plan: designed to strategically equip the new candidate with everything they need to achieve their objectives while delivering the best overall customer satisfaction.
  5. Welcome packet: Here we plan a few welcome gifts, tools and resources to make them feel welcomed and valued.

Providing in-depth product and service knowledge training

Equip new salespeople with comprehensive knowledge of your products or services to help them sell effectively. Make sure to spend time helping them to build success stories they can share.

Ensuring ongoing support and coaching

Provide new sales hires with regular coaching and support to help them overcome challenges and continuously improve their performance. New associates decide if they will stay with your organization within the first 48 hours. We must plan their onboarding experience.

Retaining Top-Performing Salespeople

Offering competitive compensation and benefits

Attract and retain top sales talent by offering competitive compensation packages, including salary, commission, bonuses, and benefits. When I led sales teams, I often paid above industry averages because we expected above industry results. We use targeted compensation models that also reward extra effort.

Providing opportunities for career advancement and skill development

Encourage top-performing salespeople to stay with your organization by providing opportunities for growth, including training programs, skill development, and potential promotions. As we assess more and more salespeople, we are seeing a shift in motivation. Salespeople once were dominated by extrinsic needs like compensation. However the new generation is shifting to more intrinsic needs like recognition, training and working remotely.

Recognizing and rewarding exceptional performance

Celebrate the successes of your sales team by recognizing and rewarding top performers with financial incentives, public recognition, or other perks.

Establishing a Strong Sales Culture

  1. Fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and high performance: Encourage teamwork, learning, and a results-oriented mindset within your sales team.
  2. Encouraging open communication and feedback among sales team members: Promote open communication and feedback among team members to help them grow, learn from one another, and continuously improve their sales skills.
  3. Celebrating successes and providing opportunities for growth and development: Acknowledge the achievements of your sales team and create an environment where individuals feel supported in their pursuit of personal and professional growth
  4. Establish formal meeting and coaching cadence: Top performing sales teams have sales managers who have a formal sales meeting cadence and a coaching format. Salespeople show up for one-on-one coaching calls prepared to discuss key activities, success, as well as where they need help.
  5. Leverage the power of stories: create a build your success stories and how you helped your customers and impacted their bottom-line

Conclusion

In conclusion, hiring and onboarding top-performing salespeople is vital for your business’s success. Adopt creative recruiting strategies and utilize sales pre-hire assessments to find the best candidates. Invest in building a strong sales force to supercharge your team and achieve maximum impact.

If you would value a pre-hire sales assessment instrument and help writing your job descriptions and onboarding plans, let’s schedule a call.

Seven Innovative Ways to Drive Strategic Growth

The lifeblood of any company is its ability to grow and expand. Without growth, a company will eventually stagnate and die. This can be difficult for business owners, as it requires creativity and innovation. This blog post will discuss seven innovative ideas for company growth. Some of these may be familiar to you, while others may be new concepts entirely.

Diversification

Renew and update your business model

Voice of Customer Research

Focus on Customer retention

Invest in technology

Expand your Marketing Efforts

Sales Training and Coaching

1) Diversification.

One way to ensure growth for your company is to diversify your products and services. This can be done by expanding into new markets or developing new products that appeal to a broader customer base. By doing this, you are not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, and therefore reducing the risk of stagnation.

Diversification can be difficult as it requires detailed market research and a thorough understanding of your target audience. However, if done correctly, it can lead to significant growth for your company.

Some ideas for diversification include:

  • Expanding into new markets
  • Developing new products or services
  • Offering customized solutions
  • Focusing on niche markets
  • Expanding your business through Franchise Direct to reach and increase your customer base

2) Review and Update Your Business Model.

Another way to spur growth for your company is to review your business model. This means taking a close look at the way you do business and seeing if there are any areas that could be improved. This could involve anything from streamlining your processes to changing the way you market your products or services.

Reviewing your business model can identify areas where you may be losing money or customers. Once these areas have been identified, you can then take steps to rectify them, leading to increased growth for your company.

What should you keep doing?

What should you start doing?

What should you stop doing?

3) Capture the Voice of Your Customers:

Think about all the changes businesses have gone through during and post pandemic. How much has your business changed? Market leading organizations are conducting voice of customer research to better understand how buyers buy, what criteria they are using today to make buying decisions and understand your customers overall satisfaction. We recommend having a third party conduct this research to remove the concerns with bias. However, we recognize some clients cannot afford to engage our firm, so we wrote an eBook to help you Leverage the Voice of your Customers to increase revenue.

4) Focus on Customer Retention.

Acquiring new customers is important for any business, but it’s also important to focus on retaining the customers you already have. This can be done by providing excellent customer service and developing long-term relationships with your clients.

In one study 89% of CEOs shared having strong relationships with their clients is key to their success but sadly only 24% of those CEOs provided sales skills training on how to build business relationships.

Focusing on customer retention can ensure that your current customers remain loyal to your brand. This loyalty will lead to word-of-mouth marketing, which is one of the most effective forms of marketing. In turn, this can lead to increased growth for your company.

Some ideas for focusing on Customer Retention:

  • Developing long-term relationships with clients
  • Offering excellent customer service
  • Focusing on customer satisfaction
  • Building a solid brand identity
  • Leverage data and build win-win
  • Build multiple relationships with key account decision makers

5) Invest in Technology.

Technology is always changing, and it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Investing in new technology can improve your products and services, making them more efficient and effective. This can lead to increased growth as your customers will be more satisfied with your offerings.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to invest in the latest and greatest technology; sometimes, simply investing in updating your current technology can be enough to spur growth.

Some ideas for investing in technology:

  • Audit your current sales tech stack
  • Updating your current technology
  • Investing in new software or hardware
  • Automating processes
  • Improving website design

6) Expand Your Marketing Efforts.

Another way to encourage growth for your company is to expand your marketing efforts. This could involve anything from increasing your budget to launching a new marketing campaign. By developing your marketing, you will reach a wider audience and generate more leads, which can lead to increased sales and growth for your company.

Some ideas for expanding your marketing efforts:

  • Increasing your advertising budget
  • Update your value message by business persona
  • Launching a new marketing campaign
  • Investing in digital marketing
  • Developing a social media strategy
  • Speak in the language of your customers
  • Market solutions not products

7) Sales Training and Coaching

Buyers have spoken and 33% chose not to work with salespeople today and the numbers are growing. In one study 85% of buyers shared they expect a salesperson to connect the dots between what they sell and how it can impact the buyers bottom-line. Sadly, less than 15% of salespeople do this today. In a one-hour meeting with the average sales rep how many minutes were valuable to the buyer and or decisionmaker? SIX! Only six minutes because salespeople show up, throw up and they pitch slap their customers when they should be having conversations that lead to revenue.

Some ideas to train your salespeople

  • Complete a sales effectiveness assessment
  • Identify sales skills gaps
  • Train salespeople to close gaps
  • Equip sales managers to coach the new sales skills

In conclusion, there are many ways to encourage growth for your company. By implementing some of the ideas listed above, you can take your business to the next level. So, what are you waiting for? Get started today and see the results for yourself!

As always if your tea needs help let’s schedule a tie to chat.

 

 

Increase Sales: Sweet Sales and Profits from Value Based Sales

 

 

In my last post: The Oscar for Best B2B Sales Methodology goes to Value Based Sales I shared why a Value Based Sales method is by far the best B2B sales method. Over the last 34 years of solving sales problems I have observed sales teams using a variety of sales methods. In this post I will share how one team I served leveraged value based sales into sweet sales and profits and created a lifetime customer.

 

If value based sales produces more profitable sales faster why do so few salespeople use this sales method?

 

From what I have observed in the field on four legged sales calls coaching my sales teams the average B2B salesperson is much more comfortable discussing their products features and benefits than the customers’ market and business issues.

 

However when you ask buyers what they value and how salespeople can become more important they want B2B sales representatives discussing and sharing solutions that are relevant to their business.

 

 

According to SBI, on average 87% of the revenues in complex B2B sales environments are being generated by just 13% of the sales population.

 

Value based pricing adds value in B2B sales.

 

As Value Based sales thought leader Bob Apollo shares:

 

“This terrible mismatch has profound consequences. There’s abundant evidence to suggest that one of the most significant differences lies in their ability to systematically create unique value to their customers through the disciplined application of value-based selling techniques across their entire sales and marketing organization. And the results can be seen in top line revenue growth that far exceeds market averages.”

 

In 2000 I was asked to help a company Innis Maggiore. Back then they were called an advertising and marketing company. They had been my vendor partner for years. Today they have evolved into one of the top strategic positioning firms in North America. They wanted my help landing large accounts with the focus on creating lifetime customers.

 

The trouble is all large accounts have marketing departments who own strategy and already have relationships with advertising firms. What most business development salespeople do is try to wear down the buyers with features and benefits of their services, all the awards they have received and so on.

 

Our team created a list of large accounts that matched our ideal customer profile and one of those accounts was Harry London’s Chocolates just 4 miles from our corporate offices. Harry London’s Chocolates are a premium chocolate supplier and we wanted to serve their team because everything they did demonstrated a value for quality and providing their customers a strong buying experience.

 

We tried sending brochures and examples of our work. We called their marketing department with a regular cadence  and dropped of creative demential mailers…nothing. We heard “ we are happy with what we have, and if we ever need your help we will call you.” (They even say no thanks in a quality way…we have to work with this company.)

 

What if we took a Value Based Sales approach?

 

We did market research into possible new markets for Harry London’s. Our firm had experience serving the floral industry for many years and about 30% of a florist’s revenue are non-flower product like vases, candles and even …chocolates. (Interesting)

 

We did more research and used our relationships in the floral industry and found:

 

Number of florists: about 33,000 retailers

Revenue of industry: $7 Billion

Approximately 30% of revenue not flowers: $2 Billion

Estimate of possible Chocolate sales: $750 Million

If we won just 10% of market share: $75 million in incremental sales

Estimated Gross Profit impact to Harry London: $25 Million

 

We interviewed three local florists on tape and asked them about their business, their challenges and how they increase sales and profits. Each business owner mentioned adding non-floral  products to their services. We asked about chocolates and they all admitted they use chocolates as an added value offering to bouquets. (Back then the interviews where on VHS tapes and the cameras were so big we looked like a news crew). We asked what brand of chocolates they were using? None could share the brand. (sounds like an opportunity for a leader in quality chocolates to position themselves) We asked if they ever heard of Harry London’s chocolates and what that brand meant. They all shared yeas, and their perception was it was one of the top quality chocolate manufacturers, We asked if they thought using a premium brand chocolate supplier like Harry London’s would give them the opportunity to increase their selling price and increase their gross profits because their consumers would value this brand and each agreed it would.

 

I reached out to the CEO of Harry London’s chocolates.

 

First he received an amazing custom floral bouquet with his chocolates in the arrangements with a short note: “we found a sweet new profit opportunity for your company, I will be calling you this afternoon to discuss it. Mark Allen Roberts , Innis Maggiore”

 

That afternoon I called the CEO and my call went through to him. I asked for 20 minutes latter that week to share a new market opportunity, and I asked if we could have a TV and VHS player in the room and he agreed, …but just 20 minutes.

 

We started the meeting exactly on time and shared the size of the market opportunity and our estimates and some of his senior leaders baulked at our hypothesis. I remember sharing : “tell you what, lets say we are wrong, lets say we are off by as much as 20%…that would still be a huge amount of incremental revenue wouldn’t it?”

 

“Nothing speaks louder than the voice of customers”

  • Mark Allen Roberts

 

About 10 minutes had passed and we could tell they were interested but skeptical.

 

You know that look like …if this was a good idea we would already be doing it …look?

 

We put in the VHS tape the player and you could have heard a pin drop.

 

The senior leaders were listening and watching florists share how they would value buying their high quality premium chocolates.

 

I looked at my watch, about 18 minutes had passed so I took out the tape when it was over, closed my portfolio and said: “we promised to only take 20 minutes, thank you for your time, and we would appreciate the opportunity to help your team add $20-$25 million in incremental profits in the floral market, a market our firm has served for over 20 years…” and I started to get up from the conference table.

 

Their CEO said: “where are you going?…please sit down lets discuss this more and tell me more about your company.”

 

After following up and some negotiating we won their business back in 2000 and even after they were acquired years later , Innis Maggiore still has their business in 2018. Why? Because when all the other ad firms (and there are many of them) came in talking about their company and all their awards and cutting their hourly rates, we came in and gave Harry London’s Chocolates a new business opportunity that would increase sales and ultimately add net income to their bottom line.

 

That was a Value Based Sales Approach.

 

Lets break it down to its key components:

 

  • Determine your companies value drivers, how you create value for your customers’ businesses
  • What possible new customers match your ideal customer profile
  • Research the company
  • Research their leaders
  • Take time to understand their value proposition, brand and positioning
  • Take time to understand the business of your customers’ business
  • Know your customers’ markets
  • Create a challenge, a hypothesis, a way to create value for them
  • Present the hypothesis in the language of business
  • Build trust in every aspect of communication
  • Follow up
  • Negotiate after you establish value
  • Close with clear next steps
  • Follow up and verify the value created
  • Ask for another opportunity to create value

 

 

How do your salespeople sell today?

 

Why do you win sales?

 

Why do you loose sales?

 

Does your team use a value-based model?

 

Why wouldn’t a value-based sales model work for your salespeople?

 

That CEO is now the CEO of a custom candle company. Maybe my old team at Innis Maggiore needs to send another custom floral bouquet with a candle made from bees wax?

 

Like I shared in posts about the value of doing voice of the customer work in a number of posts sharing examples, I will share other value based sales examples in the next few posts so stay tuned.

 

 

The Oscar For Best B2B Sales Methodology Goes To: Value Based Sales

 

 

 

What is the best sales methodology for B2B sales today? What are the most popular sales methods and why do so few B2B salespeople use Value Based Sales? In this post we will review a number of sales methodologies used to improve sales performance and why the Oscar for best B2B sales methodology goes to :Value Based Sales.

 

Sales has changed over the years. Salespeople and the companies they serve are constantly searching for the best sales method.

 

As I watched the Oscars the other night I thought how we need Oscars for sales and marketing strategies.

 

To understand why a Value Based Sales methodology outperforms other sales methods we need to briefly unpack how sales people sell and how sales has evolved over the years.

 

What are the sales methods salespeople have used and are using today?

 

Selling on Price

 

This is not a method most CEO’s and business owners want to hear. In this method you must have the lowest cost to manufacture and your team leverages this low cost-manufacturing competency to win and keep business.

Salespeople sell on price when they do not know or believe your value proposition or no one has trained them how to connect the dots between what you sell and the value proposition for customers.

Why this method is so common is it is what buyers want.

Buyers want to commoditize all products and services so the only differentiation is price. Just as we train our salespeople, companies like Karrass teach buyers to dismiss sales pitches and gobbledygook sales and marketing teams spew and quickly make the key buying decision all about price. If you have the lowest price you win today. When the vendor you displaced finds they lost the business what do they do? They drop the price and you loose. This starts a gross margin death spiral and the only one who wins is the buyer.

If you have never hear the term “gobbledygook” it means all those things we say and share on our web sites that no longer mean anything since everyone we compete against claims them too like:

Innovative

Best in class

Best Quality

Top performance

Flexible

Groundbreaking

Scalable

Robust

Cutting Edge

If you would like to learn more I encourage you to download the Gobbledygook Manifesto. 

What I have found disturbing over the years when I ask salespeople why we lost a particular sale or account for that matter they say “price.”

When I conduct Win-Loss interviews with buyers, “price” is rarely one of the top reasons why a buyer buyers or chooses not to buy.

In this model your salespeople do not understand or believe your value proposition and they do believe the only thing that matters to buyers is the lowest price.

Sales finds all kinds of ways to sell , selling on price internally like : volume discounts, sales incentive rebates, volume purchase discounts, blanket order discounts and so on.

All of these and more are sales based on price.

 

 

Relationship Sale

It is true people buy from people they like. Buyers will have an impression of you within 7 seconds. In this model the salesperson strives to be liked by the buyer. They work hard to build a friendship through social lunches, dinners, and ball games. As one relational seller told me years ago: “I was the only rep invited to this buyer’s daughter’s wedding. “

In meetings you often wonder whose side the relationship seller is on? The buyer’s or yours? This seller believes their relationship with the buyer is their value proposition not your product or service.

A relational sales methodology is all about building a relationship and reinforcing that relationship through acts of service.

When I work with relationship sales people they often bring donuts and bagels and “check in ” with buyers and purchasing decision makers. When the relational salesperson is in the customer’s building everyone loves them. Rarely do they close the sale, or ask for the sale for that matter. They never have a pre-call sales plan and believe they will win whatever business the buyer has based on their relationship.

After a sales call with target accounts you will hear a relational salesperson share “it was a good meeting” although the sale did not advance and they did not win an order.

We find relational salespeople in sales farmer roles because they are terrible sales hunters.

Do you have relationship salespeople?Look where your salespeople spend their time. Are they selling and creating sales presentations? Or, are they checking on orders, when orders will ship, how we can ship them earlier, following up  with customer service to determine when something will ship? If so, you have a salesperson using the relational sales method.

This is the least effective sales methodology, but unfortunately the one most underperforming salespeople rely on.

 

Product Sales

In this methodology the salesperson’s product knowledge is leveraged to win sales. The thought here is your salespeople are trained in features and benefits of your product or service. As Mike Shultz President of The Rain Group shares “If your people cannot speak fluently about your product and service offerings and ask the right questions to uncover specific needs that your solutions fulfill, then they are leaving money on the table and losing you deals.”

Here you will find companies that are often very inward looking and not customer centric. They design and manufacture products but their salespeople are not trained on what specific types to customers to call on and what problems their products solve.

As I have shared in the past, I have observed salespeople trained in the product methodology “show up and throw up”. It’s like they are playing feature and benefit Bingo with buyers just hoping one buyer will jump to their feet and yell: “BINGO! I know a problem you can solve for me!” When you are working with a product salesperson they speak 80% of the time in the sales call and do not ask many qualifying questions. After all what they are selling is so amazing a buyer would have to be an idiot not to buy right?

Every seller must understand their products and services. However today , with as much as 70% of the buying process being over before the buyer speaks with sales this method is not as successful as it once was. Back in the day, before the internet of things, buyers had to meet with sales to learn about products and services. Today this buying criteria is just one mouse click away.

Product knowledge is a part of a top performing salesperson, but can not be their sales method today if they want to achieve quota.

 

The Lone Wolf / Sales Mercenaries

In this sales method the salesperson relies on their personal sales skills, abilities and experience to close the sale. They have been through the school of hard knocks, feel they have been there, done that and nothing will surprise them. They are very self-confidant and often deliver results even if they can’t share how they do it.

The Lone Wolf / Sales Mercenaries are often the product of a poorly designed compensation structure and a culture that does not value salespeople. They are hired sales guns that sell their sales services to the highest bidder. Salespeople who use this method are masters at following their own instincts, and writing the rules as they play the game. They win various games but often leave sales, money, on the table because they are only focused on what benefits them the fastest personally.

I had a friend share once:

“Salespeople are like water, they find the path of least resistance.”

Lone Wolf Mercenaries are often found at inward facing companies who believe their product or service is so smart “even a monkey in kakis” could sell it. Their company not only does not value and appreciate the salespeople; they treat them like a necessary evil. Salespeople are treated like they are only as good as their last…sale. Their compensation plan creates commission junkies looking for their next fix not strategic partnerships with clients.

Lone Wolf’s have a high utilitarian trait. Other words if I do this I expect to get that.

The shame is these folks could create much more value if they were valued and appreciated.

They will get-r-done many times but how they do it will leave a mess to clean up and they are very hard to manage.

 

Consultative Sales

In this sales methodology salespeople are trained in product features and benefits and how to  find buyer pain and solve the pain. Salespeople are trained in markets, and common problems their products solve in these markets.

In these buyer calls the salespeople speak about 50% of the time and ask open-ended questions searching for a problems they know they can solve. They are problem solvers.

When you observe salespeople using this method it feels like the child’s game we played in the pool “ Marko Polo”. “Marko… do you have this problem?” “Polo…yes we do” and sales races to tag the buyer and close the sale.

This model produces results if the buyer can connect the dots from the product or service to how it will impact their business drivers.

 

The Challenger Sale

This methodology became popular in the book The Challenger Sale, authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson present a sales model to give buyers new ideas to solve problems they may or may not be aware they have. In this book the author shares 40% of high sales performers use this model. More than 50% of sales superstars use this method.

In the for what it’s worth column this was my sales method for a number of years.

This model teaches the selling to take control of the sales process.

You will find some sales calls feeling more like a debate than trying to solve the buyer’s problems. In this model you uncover issues the buyers may have they are unaware of that need solved.

I continue to recommend this book to business owners and salespeople wanting to improve their skills.

I have some advice if you choose to use this model:

First, it requires you to have some experience and knowledge about your customer, their industry and the business of their business. When I have seen young salespeople try to use this model is when they lacked the emotional intelligence and situational awareness to pull it off. They failed to earn the trust early in the relationship so their challenge felt like a canned marketing pitch not a real solution.

Second, I don’t want salespeople feeling they are in charge of the buying process. You are not. You can influence the buyer’s process but if you think and act like you are in charge you will fail. Top performing salespeople clearly and intimately understand the buyers buying process and criteria and they help move the sale by giving buyers what they need at each step of their buying process.

Don’t believe me?

Ok, how many of you reading this like to buy stuff? Almost all of you right?

How many of you like to be sold? Oh, big difference yes?

Enough said.

 

Agile Sales

A recent article in Selling Power shared how Agile Sales is the best method. You can read this article here and it shares the methods top sales performers use. The article is basically saying don’t get all hung up on one sales method or another. Top performing salespeople have situational awareness and they adapt their sales method based on the situation and buyer.

This thought leading article poses the question: what if we taught our sales teams 4-5 top sales methodologies and trained them to know what to use when? The author’s share having agility, flexibility does not imply we want sales teams “winging it”. We want them to have the EQ and situational awareness to be agile within defined parameters established in sales training.

I guess what gives me pause, is so many sales teams I have been asked to help lacked a formal repeatable sales process. Their leaders and owners thought they had one. How would we implement 4-5 when sales is not even executing on the one you thought they were using? Secondly, companies often provide very strong product training and little if any situational and sales scenario training. Companies will need to do voice of the customer work prior and identify the most common sales scenarios before training their sales teams.

I have adapted my sales method based on the industry, buyer, buying process and buyer personas over the years.

The difficulty is in tracking what worked when and where and in what scenario so it is difficult to scale throughout the sales team.

I believe Agile Sales Methodology is a smart strategy but is has so many moving pieces it will be difficult for most companies to implement and scale.

 

Value Based Sales Methodology

 

This is by far the best sales methodology I have experienced over the past 34 years of leading sales and marketing teams.

In this model you know your product or service. You know your market and ideal customer profiles. You have built rapport with the customer so you can have a meaningful business discussion. You know the problems your product or services solves and you have content and case studies to prove it. Your salespeople understand business acumen and speak in the language of business. They help buyers connect the dots between their proposed solution and how it impacts one or many of their key business drivers like…

Increase Sales

Reduce Costs

Increase Net Income

Improve Efficiency

Increase Market Share

Reduce the Cost of Sale

Increase Sales Close Rate

Increase Gross Margins

 

Salespeople who use a value based sales method are about creating value for their customers and in so doing win the sale today and create lifetime customers.

Don’t get me wrong, these salespeople are likable, but they are also not afraid to challenge customers. They help buyers connect the dots to how their product or service speaks to one or many of their business drivers.

This sales method has seen tremendous success and when used properly you will see it impact your business by:

 

Faster selling cycles

Higher Gross Profits per sale

Higher lifetime value of customer revenue

Higher sales to close %

Higher customer satisfaction

 

… but admittedly it is not easy!

 

From my own experience less than 10% of salespeople use a value based selling method. The reason why so few salespeople use this model is they too often struggle with connecting the dots between what they are selling and the value impact their customers receive.

As I have shared before salespeople who are not adequately trained in your value proposition assume the position of your product or service. The value based sales method requires mastery in commercial sales skills, business acumen, product knowledge and understanding of your value proposition, knowledge of the customers’ industry and common pain points, competitive analysis and the ability to propose innovative ideas professionally.

In this sales method you qualify and identify ways your product and or service can impact one or more of your customers’ business drivers.

Is that why so few of salespeople use it? They lack an understanding of how to impact a businesses’ bottom line?

Salespeople have told me this model is hard and takes way too long.

My argument is how can you enter into any negotiation with a customer until you understand and establish value? Or is that why so many salespeople resort to relationship and selling on price? Salespeople trained in value based sales know how to impact the customer’s bottom line so they can establish and reinforce value.

 

What Sales Methodology do you want your salespeople using?

 

What Sales Methodology are they using?

 

How do you know?

 

When was the last four legged sales call you went on to inspect what you expect?

 

Is there any scenario value based sales would not be the best sales method for B2B sales?

 

Congratulations… the Oscar for the Best B2B sales methodology goes to Value Based Sales.

 

Best supporting Oscar without any drama goes to Sales Enablement.

 

17 Benefits Of Voice Of Customer

 

 

 

 

Understanding the voice of your customer is critical to achieving your sales and profit objectives today. Taking the time to clearly understand your buyers, how they buy, what they need to buy and why they don’t buy today is critical in developing a strategic business development growth process.

 

Below are 17 reasons why companies who capture and leverage the voice of their customers consistently win year over year.

  

1.Fix Sales: Knowing Buyer’s Journey is like Creating a GPS for Your Sales Process

 

2.Fix Sales Problems With The Power in the  “Voice of the Customer”

 

3.Leverage Customer Voice into “Explosive Sales Growth”

 

4.Who Owns the Voice of Your Market and Voice of Your Customer? . Hint (not sales!)

 

5.Voice of Market Identifies “Roundabouts” in your Sales Process

 

6.Voice of the Market Identifies Key Buying Triggers

 

7.Increase Sales: Key Buying Seasons Surface in “Voice of Market” Work

 

8.“Voice of the Customer” Increases Profits…Lesson from a Christmas Ham

 

9.Voice of Customer Finds “Sales Secret Weapons”

 

10.Voice of Customer: Understanding the Entire Iceberg of Purchase Decisions Today

 

11.Improve Sales Productivity With Voice of the Customer Research

 

12.What is The Biggest Threat to Customer Voice Research? (It may surprise you!)

 

13.Give Salespeople More Time to Sell With Voice of The Customer Research

 

14.Customer Voice Research Identifies Content Buyers Need Today

 

15.Identify Purchase Influencers with VOC

 

16.The End Of The Greatest Show On Earth and What We Can Learn About Training

 

17 Voice of your customer identifies new markets and channels

 

How does your team capture the voice of your customers today?

 

How often do you conduct this research?

 

Is there any reason you feel you should not understand the voice of your customer today? (please share)

 

Have you experienced other benefits from capturing the voice of your customers?

 

We serve dynamic markets today. How buyers buy today is much different than how they bought 5 to 10 years ago. How buyers buy tomorrow will likely change as well.

 

Market leading organizations understand the importance of capturing your customer voice today and leveraging what they learn to increase sales and profits.

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