Jan/104
How the competition can make you hurt yourself
I was recently involved in a negotiation on behalf of the holder of intellectual property and a small (relative to industry average) potential contract manufacturing partner.
After only a very short set of preliminary meetings, the contract manufacturer sent us an unsolicited, highly detailed proposal for a partnership. This was the smallest mistake they made, and it was no small mistake. As a note on this point alone, a professional salesperson (or negotiator) should certainly work to learn as much as possible about the needs of all parties and the feasibility of various solutions before formally proposing a solution.
But it got worse.
During the course of the preliminary meetings, our side made it clear that we would require the sourcing of a highly complicated, capital intensive and critical component of our product from a well-known and well-respected component manufacturer. The component manufacturer that we specified was considered one of the best in the world, and was used (with positive results) by almost every major manufacturer in our field.
In the proposal from our prospective contract manufacturing partner, it was suggested that this industry leading, highly acclaimed component manufacturer was grossly overcharging us, and that the small contract manufacturer should also produce the (very complicated, very expensive) machines that make the specialized component – an extremely ambitions suggestion. They further suggested that they could make the machines for less than half the cost of the world famous component manufacturer, with twice the capacity, and in less time.
It sounded too good to be true, and that is just how we interpreted it. This unrealistically ambitious suggestion came at a time when we had just begun exploring our relationship, and well before we had explored many of the much more basic issues related to our potential partnership.
This did not bode well for our perceptions of this prospective contract manufacturing partner!
As a general proposition, it is important to show prospective partners that we are competent and capable potential business partners for them. However, making unrealistic claims early in the process is not the way to do it. Especially if this happens before needs are fully understood, and true capabilities are established. The situation is made even worse if these claims are packaged in the context of an obvious attempt to undermine an existing relationship, and even worse than that when attacking the existing relationship is not necessary. In all of these cases, it just appears desperate (and probably is).
This kind of poor execution usually just winds up hurting the efforts of the needless aggressor. Attacking the competition rather than working to learn what problems exist that can be solved together is not the correct behavior of a professional salesperson, and certainly not the most productive.
A small child may be able to brag to his friends that his fathers new car can go 1000 miles per hour, but when you make a similar gesture to your prospective client in hopes of having them reconsider a more realistic offer from one of your competitors, you are hurting yourself far more than you are helping your efforts to secure the business.
Jan/100
How the talk inside of your head is hurting your sales
Do you remember what it was like when you first learned to drive a car? How about riding a bike? Using a computer for the first time?
If you remember your early experiences with these things, then you may remember what was going on inside of your head at that time, and how different that is from what goes on inside of your head now as you do these same (presumably now familiar) things.
When we first learn something that requires a lot of concentration and/or that has a lot of “moving parts”, we tend to talk to ourselves a lot. We feed ourselves reminders about what we need to remember as we go through the mechanics of executing the task at hand.
“OK, check the mirrors, put the gear shift into ‘drive’ – no wait, first push the break….”
“OK, single click the ‘start’ button; highlight ‘applications’; select ‘Word’; click the ‘file’ menu and click on ‘new’….”
After a short time, these things become routine. Part of the “background operating program” in your mind. Now you pull the car our while talking on the phone, sipping your coffee, or checking your makeup. You open a new word document as you multitask through 10 other things both on and off of your computer screen.
I am not a fan of multitasking, but I’ll save that rant for another post. My point now is that when you have achieved a certain level of comfort with the set of steps involved in accomplishing a task, then you are able to execute that task with a greater level of attention.
Wait a minute, what? Shouldn’t that be a smaller amount of attention? I just said that instead of concentrating on the steps, we can now concentrate on other things as the mechanical actions are run in the background?
That is not the right perspective – here is why. If your attention is focused on the minutia of your execution, then you are not fully present for the larger experience of getting your task done. For example, if you are backing out your car, and you are focussed on the minutia of the mechanics, it is easier to miss the fact that someone just walked behind your car.
So how does this all tie back to sales and selling? As you undoubtedly know by now, I attribute a lot of the elements of sales success back to the development of and the proper execution of a well-developed sales process.
With respect to this concept then, the salesperson who operates with confidence within the framework of a well-developed process is able to concentrate on “other things” as the mechanical elements of selling operate quietly and predictably in the background. If properly applied, these “other things” should include actively listening to the prospect; taking copious notes about the conditions and concerns of the prospect; floating trial solutions and noting the degree to which they resonate with the prospect – and why or why not – according to the prospect, etc.
In contrast, a salesperson who does not have a clear path, who does not have a visceral feel for the next steps and interconnected nature of the full sales process at a near unconscious level will spend his or her mental energy worrying about the right way to respond to the remarks of the client, as opposed to “effortlessly” arriving at their next strategic move by better understanding the needs of their conversational counterpart.
Samurai warriors aspired towards a mental state of what is called Mu Shin – or no mind. This served them well when they fought another Samurai. These fights usually played out as both Samurai standing in a fighting position, with swords drawn and ready, and within striking distance of each other for perhaps hours. The first Samurai that moved (due to less mental strength and stamina) often revealed an opening which the other exploited, usually with deadly consequences.
These Samurai would not have been well served to stand in their fighting position thinking about all of the possibilities that might confront them. They were successful if they “owned” that information, and were able to tune out that internal noise in exchange for a keen awareness of the present moment.
You as a salesperson need to own your sales process, and the steps and elements that comprise it. In this way, you will be able to stick to your path, and remain engaged with your opponent (prospect) in a way that leads you to the best result. An informed position, free from internal noise, that allows you to direct the course of action forward as is most applicable based on your observations and your internal knowledge.
The alternative, all too common, is a course of client engagement clouded by internal noise, which is a function of a lack of discipline about how to properly do the job of professional sales, and how to manage the sales process that you move through with each and every client.
Jan/107
Does Social Media Marketing Work?
In my blog post last week I wrote about questions. I’d like to continue that theme, but from a slightly different angle.
In the last year or so, I have seen a similar question come up again and again in the Question and Answer forum on LinkedIn: Do social media venues such as LinkedIn / Twitter/ Facebook, etc. work as vehicles for generating business.
The majority of the answers provided in the forum, like those in most debates, fell onto one side or the other – yes it does, or no it doesn’t. With respect to this specific question, I had a revelation while watching a Disney movie with my kids over the holidays. The revelation was that the factor that makes social media work or not for a business is the same thing that makes the Disney machine work: Great content.
The idea came to me since we had just come back from a Disney on Ice show that introduced the kids to Ariel of The Little Mermaid (and to Disney Popcorn – profit center number 2 for Disney). We went home and later rented the movie (number 3). In the middle of the movie the kids asked when we could go back to Disneyland (number 4).
Disney is a great example of an effective integrated marketing company. Exposure to one kind of product leads naturally to interest in another.
Social media is best thought of the same way. It is infrastructure. Asking if Social Media works is like asking if plumbing works to deliver fresh water. This is really two questions. The first question is “does the plumbing work”. The second question is “will the water that comes through the plumbing be fresh”. Very simply put, the water will be fresh if it is fresh, the pipes are clean, and the pipes do their job and deliver it.
If you have content that resonates with your audience, and you can connect to that audience through the infrastructure of social media, then social media may help you reach your business goals. If you content is not interesting to the audience, then no infrastructure – social media or otherwise – will help.
As sales and marketing professionals, it behooves us to stop evaluating the potential effectiveness of tools and communication vehicles with binary questions based on someone else’s opinions. If we know our business, and know our audience, then we can use the tools that present themselves to us to reach them. From there, we need to connect via great content. If we fail to do so, then social media will work to help your prospects leave your content just as fast as they came.
So does Social Media work? Sure it does. Will it work for you? Depends what you put into the pipes, who you ask to turn them on and how you do it.
Jan/105
Asking the right questions
I love my iPhone. Since it is a mobile device, I use it out of the house and office a lot. Hardly a week goes by without someone seeing me use it and asking me the wrong question:
“Is that a good phone?”
Why is this the wrong question? Good is a matter of perspective. The iPhone is a great phone. For me. It may or may not be good for the person asking the question, and the question they asked won’t help them to figure that out.
I like the iPhone because I rarely use the phone, but often need a wireless modem, e-mail checking on-the-fly, navigation to find a new office while not driving (I use public transportation a lot), and I like that I can also use it in place of my iPod – one less thing to carry!
I have been told that many “power phone” users don’t like the iPhone. It is not well suited for them.
So how is all of this relevant subject matter for a sales blog? It gets back to the question people ask me when they see me using my iPhone:
“Is that a good phone?”
Weak salespeople love questions like that (for example, “is that thing you are selling good?”). It allows them to respond by showering the asker of the question with all of the reasons that the product (or service) in question is indeed good. It typically leads to a conversation in which information is pushed in one direction or the other rather than shared and collaborated on.
The better question for sales people to ask is, “What is it about that item that you like?”, or, “how well does that item meet your needs?”. When asked the “bad” question (is that good), then a better response from the sales person should be some variation on the theme of “well, it depends what you are looking for, or what problem you are trying to solve”.
These questions allows the salesperson to learn what is important to the prospect, which in turn sets up a more effective sales conversation. It invites the prospect to speak, and to define their needs. These are good sales questions. It is more than just a matter of being open-ended, which is important, it is about evoking the things that are important to the prospect about the product or service in question.
People (other than many engineers I know) don’t want to buy things because you bombard them with a bunch of features. People buy benefits. Asking your questions with this in mind will help lead you to the place where you can discuss benefits, specifically the benefits of your solution that are most important to your prospect. This is kind of conversation you want to have if making a sale, or any kind of informed decision is your goal.
Jan/100
Back to basics (part 2 of 2)
In the last post (part 1), I began to discuss the problem of information overload out-of-context for the sales newbie trying to learn the craft of selling from the blogsphere. Simultaneously, I addressed the problem of the veteran who can’t replicate success because the path to success is not known or fully understood.
In this post, we will address a solution: For those of you who know me well, or know of my book “Mastering Your Sales Process” (available on Amazon in February 2010), you know that the solution is based on a process-oriented, systematic approach to the sometimes (often) seat-of-the-pants approach that most sales people – new and veteran – take to their craft.
Sales has the potential to be a very high paying career, so why do so many practitioners refuse to study and systematize their execution? In my opinion, it is because there are VERY few resources sales people have with which to see their craft in any kind of macro, holistic way.
Most sales books, blogs, trainings, etc. focus on a few techniques, or a limited scope. This makes sense, as many authors write from what they know; what has worked for them specifically. This is not wrong or bad, just as any single piece of a puzzle is not wrong or bad. It is just not complete. A better resource for those looking for streamline and systematize success is one with a full-framework perspective.
The newbie needs a structure in which to put the new pieces of information that come in from both study and experience.
The veteran needs to be able to look at the things that have worked for them, and organize them into a set of replicable selling steps and skills that can be applied as needed to new business opportunities in their current job, or in a new sales job that they decide to pursue.
In my blog post on strategy versus execution, I emphasize the need to develop the strategy well before blindly executing. The newbie and the veteran salesperson alike will benefit from a well defined sales process, within which their execution can achieve the velocity possible from correct practice and effort over time.
I have been accused of being a broken record about sales process. I am guilty of that, but in my defense, it is the core of my personal success, the success of my trainees, and now of my readers. Give it a try. Give yourself a raise. You can, if you want to (and you do something about it!).
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