Powerful Presentations

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Powerful Presentations

I'm a dinosaur. I remember the days when customers and prospects NEEDED to see me. Those days are gone. Prospects don’t need to return my call because they can find out most of what they need on the internet. Ever since “google” became a verb, the job of a sales person has either gotten easier or harder – depending on your perspective.

Delivering stunning presentations is still important, but these presentations don’t necessarily happen in the board room. They happen in the privacy of an office, a cubicle, on the train, in line at the store – they can happen virtually anywhere that there’s an internet connection and a smart device.

Hubspot posted a great blog entitled “7 Examples of Stunning Presentations” and it delivers just that – 7 examples of stunning presentations. They are short, engaging, creative, and to the point.

There are lots of tools out there to assist in the development of powerful presentations so there are no excuses left to NOT spend the time to create something that your customers will be interested in seeing.

 Would love to see other examples if you have them.

The Value of Risk

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Anyone who has been in sales for any length of time understands that you will win some and you will lose some. One of the things that I work hardest on as a sales manager is to keep my team learning and motivated through the losses.

Losses are really are best opportunity for growth. Don't miss out on that opportunity.

A friend forwarded this video clip to me the other day. It's a great clip to share with your team regarding the value of risk - and how some of the people we admire most, got to where they are with a few failures along the way.

Is Maybe stalling your Sales Funnel?

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How many “Maybes” are in your sales funnel? Typically, Maybes are viewed as potential prospects, not part of the forecast (hopefully), but still prospects - after all, we reason, they haven’t said no.  Skip Miller, in ProActive Sales Management  has a great slogan, “Yeses are great, Nos are great, but Maybes will kill you!”  His point is that Maybes sit in the sales funnel taking up valuable time and limited resources. 

Aneke Seley, in sales 2.0 stresses that high velocity sales funnels are critical to success in the new Sales 2.0 world.  I believe the Maybes deserve attention for slowing down the velocity of sales funnels. Maybes drag down sales conversions. Most Maybes who’ve been active for longer than 90 days when the average sales cycle is 60 need to be moved to a Yes or No.  Review the percentage of Maybe's for each of your reps, find out what’s keeping Maybes in your sales funnels. Maybes are a great topic for individual or group sales meetings and a great training opportunity. 

Training your team in best practices that minimize the percentage of Maybes in their funnels, empowers sales reps to focus time and effort on the deals most likely to close. Ultimately, peak sales performance is really about getting to Yes or No. 

Reaping Profits from Metrics

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Fall, the season of Harvest, has officially begun, and for many, Q4 is fast approaching. The focus of harvest is yield and quality, so regardless of which quarter you begin on October 1, it’s time for a seasonal review of metrics, time to use them as a tool to motivate and achieve new levels of peak performance.  You’ll need a clear picture of the past and present, an understanding of strengths and weaknesses, a vision for how to achieve your goals over the next three months, and finally, a tactical plan for each rep. 

Start by carefully analyzing performance against metrics for the last six to nine months (longer for long sales cycles). First, assess team averages and then compare each rep to the team averages, you’re looking for trends and anomalies.  Ultimately, there is no one magic formula, it’s critical to take a hard look at each individual’s metrics in order to uncover personal key performance indicators.  Using the personal KPIs, develop a coaching plan that will inspire and deliver results for each sales rep. For each sales rep: 

1. Identify strengths and weaknesses.
2. Target one metric for improvement.
3. Run projections for increased sales based on that improved metric.  
4. Develop a simple tactical plan to achieve the change. 

Plan a 45 minute meeting with each rep, review both team and individual metrics and demonstrate how, over time, their sales have been affected by activities (or lack of) related to the metrics.  Show your top performer her strong conversion metrics, but also that a certain B player has a higher average sale price -  then demonstrate how she could increase her sales revenues if she had the same (clearly achievable) ASP.  Coach her to a tactical plan that will accomplish this new goal.   Develop that one repeatable action she can implement to affect her ASP.  Request a weekly email outlining progress on this implementation, and schedule short bi-weekly meetings to review the initiative.  Your goal is to have each sales rep leave your meeting inspired by their new goal and action plan. Consider teaming up the reps who have similar action plans, and scheduling progress reviews as a group to share best practices and challenges.  

Follow-up on this initiative is as important as the follow-up needed to close any sales deal.  Coach to individual success and you’ll reap the finest results from this season of harvest.  By Thanksgiving you’ll be celebrating the bounty!

Increase Sales Conversion - The Importance of Web Leads

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Increase Sales Conversion - The Importance of Web Leads

In the trenches, I often find Sales Teams have no confidence in web-generated leads. Rumor in the ranks is that these aren’t serious prospects. A recent experience convinced me that this belief is a byproduct of poor lead ranking and slow response time.  

I needed to make a major purchase in a short timeframe.  I researched online, spoke with colleagues, and compared solutions. At 4 PM on a Monday afternoon I’d narrowed my options to three vendors and requested information online- it was late in the day and I wanted to get the ball rolling.  I fully completed each request with identical comments outlining my interest and time frame for purchase.  Each website claimed I’d get a response within one business day.

Within a half hour, I received my first call; I was still at my desk with notes at my fingertips and comparisons fresh in my mind.  John was knowledgeable about his product, applications, and competitors.  

The other vendors responded to my request on three days later.  The first left a voicemail responding to a request for information made yesterday. After five calls, two messages, and one email from him, I responded by email that I’d changed my mind. The final vendor emailed a proposal and followed-up with a call; but by then I had an established relationship with John.  

For two of the three vendors, I went from a high-potential prospect to a low-value lead before I was contacted.  

Consider these findings of an InsideSales.com/MIT Study:

1. 1. Your odds of contacting a lead are 100 times better if you call within 5 minutes vs. calling within 30 minutes.
   2. Your odds of qualifying a lead are 21 times better if you call within 5 minutes vs. calling within 30 minutes.

 (http://www.leadresponsemanagement.org/mit_study)

Improve your success with web-generated leads by taking the following steps:

1. Institute real time notification of web leads to Reps
2. Initiate a policy of immediate response to web leads
3. Kick off the initiative with a contest

This is powerful data, but it's results that convince sales teams.  Get the team excited to work the leads using incentives, and make sure that quality web leads with authenticated contact information are dropped in their "immediate contact" funnel.  It's just possible you'll find some hidden treasure!

Sales Team Motivation: LinkedIn Quotes

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10 Sales Team Motivation Quotes

These quotes appeared on Linkedin and I thought I would share them with you. My favorite is #6.  Feel free to share with me your favorite quote.

1. “If you're going through hell, keep going.” -Winston Churchill
2. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer
3. “Things may come to those who wait, but only what's left behind by those that hustle.” -Abraham Lincoln
4. “A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position." - John Maxwell
5. "Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it." - James Baldwin
6. "People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar
7. "A man is not measured by how much he can take and stand but by how fast he regains once fallen." - General George S. Patton
8. "Action is the antidote to Despair." - Joan Baez  
9. “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller
10. “Action is the foundation key to all success." - Pablo Picasso

Word of Mouth Campaign

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Word of Mouth Campaign - Supergenius!

WindsorONE Supergenius Invitations! from The Empty Bin on Vimeo.

One of my business partners, Craig Flynn of Windsor One, created a fantastic invitation for the Supergenius Conference which takes place in New York City next week. This is a great example of word of mouth marketing at it’s best.

The invitation is interesting, memorable and FUN. He’s given his customers and prospects something to talk about. I can have all the right channels set up to facilitate a viral marketing campaign, but if I don’t have a message that is unusual or thought-provoking, the communication won’t go anywhere.

Andy Sernovitz, in his book Word of Mouth Marketing lays out exactly how to do this. He talks about the Five T's in a successful word of mouth campaign:

• Talkers: Find people who will talk about you
• Topics: Give people a reason to talk
• Tools: Help the message spread faster and farther
• Taking Part: Join the conversation
• Tracking: Measure and understand what people are saying

Well done Craig. Wish I could be there to throw the first tomato.

A Leader's Role In Sales Coaching: 5 Simple Questions

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A Leader's Role in Sales Coaching

Do you manage sales people?  Are you in the position of leadership and your sales team comes to you for coaching?  Thomas Kayser, author of Mining Group Gold, has some advice for you.

Personalize your coaching

Ask everyone who reports to you what they need from you in order to do their jobs better.  They will define what successful coaching is--not you. Sit down with each sales executive, one-on-one and run through five simple questions:

1. What am I doing well that is helping you to be successful?
2. What am I doing that you wish I were doing differently because it is hindering your effectiveness?
3. Do you have the information you need to do your job?
4. Are you satisfied with the degree of influence you have in decisions that affect your work?
5. Am I available when needed to coach and counsel you regarding on-going or new projects/assignments?

This takes the responsibility for defining coaching success out of your hands and puts it where it belongs--with your sales people.

Effective coaching develops over time

Sales coaching is not a one-shot deal.  It involves routinely sitting down with each sales person, perhaps 45 minutes per month, and reviewing the five questions. 

Why coach if you do not passionately desire to become a better leader with each and every sales person under your wing?  With proper coaching your team will thrive.

Sales Team Metrics: "Is Talk Time a Relevant Metric?"

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By Mary Hendow, contributing blogger

Sales Team Metrics: "Is Talk Time a Relevant Metric?"

There’s an interesting debate about Talk Time on the LinkedIn group Telebusiness Alliance. I fall in the camp that believes Talk Time is a meaningful metric when used with other metrics.   

Setting a benchmark for Dials and Talk Time should be based on historical data for your organization.  Compare the last six months data for both metrics and graph them with sales revenue, for each rep and as a team average (by week or month, depending on your data).   Focus on your A players and you should find a meaningful benchmark. Remember that the Dials/Talk Time are leading indicators and revenue follows depending on your sales cycle.  This information can be used to set baseline goals for your team. 

I recommend coaching to this metric quarterly, at a minimum.  Typically there’s a “sweet spot” for reps, where the combination of dials/talk time leads to peak sales. Let me use Chatty Cathy and Frank, both top reps with similar sales results, as examples. Frank is quick to qualify, he has good intuition, and can quickly size up a candidate as either a prospect or a “no-po” (no power); his “sweet spot” is 2 hours and 65 dials.  Chatty Cathy is great with building rapport, her clients love her, and her “sweet spot” is 3 hours of talk time and 50 dials.  

If Chatty Cathy starts spending more time talking and less time dialing, her sales will fall. Conversely, if Frank’s dials go up and talk time goes down, he isn’t spending enough time probing and qualifying his clients.  In both cases, it's about meaningful conversations, probing and qualifying  There are other metrics (contact % and conversions) that identify similar weaknesses, however, when you focus on Dials and Talk Time metrics and coach to corresponding soft skill sets, these daily activities benchmarks can drive improved performance.  

Major Account Selling: The Top 5 Reasons that Sales People Fail

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Major Account Selling: The Top 5 Reasons that Sales People Fail

I read a great blog post today: The Top Five Reasons that Sales People Fail at hightechguru.com. It’s worth a read - but in the meantime, here’s the shortened version with my commentary:

1. Buyers have a system, sales people usually don’t.

Did you know that there are organizations out there that train buyers how to “get better deals?” (www.dobetterdeals.com). Buyers are afraid of being sold something they don’t want, and consequently are quite defensive. Sales people need a methodology or a “system” for adding value to the buying process.

2. Sales people spend too much time with prospects that will never buy.

60% of a sales person’s time is spent in front of people who will not buy their product. Qualifying out a prospect is as important a skill as qualifying one in. 

3. Sales people talk too much.

This one speaks for itself. You can’t learn much about the real issues that a prospect is having if you are doing all the talking. Listen more. 

4. Sales people focus too much on price.

Price is never the real issue. People make buying decisions because they have a problem to solve or they need to change something. Help them figure out how to do what they are want to do and price becomes less important. 

5. Sales people fail to get firm commitments from buyers.

All too often, sales people jump through hoops to provide presentations, proposals, demos etc before understanding the prospect’s motivation – resulting in a lot of wasted effort. Sales people need to first become adept at helping buyers feel more comfortable sharing their pain/gain – and then get their commitment to appropriate next steps. Great sales people mark the steps of the sales cycle based on customer activities, not their own.

If you find yourself losing more deals than you’d like – do a self-assessment. Do any of the five areas above have your name on them?