Sales Effectiveness Best Practices

7 Important Sales Trends and Facts to Consider and Align to

2009-09-14T10:21:00.006-04:00

During some recent conferences, client meetings and readings I now realize that the world of selling is really changing more rapidly than I first thought - and I have suggested it is changing much sooner than later! I have been so bold as to suggest that the traditional sales person we have all come to know may be extinct by 2015. This "provide a transactional product/service role" will primarily go to a customer enabled/driven buying model serviced primarily by alternative transactional methods (i.e. the web). More relationship driven buying requirements and practices will be served by Strategic Account Managers or if you prefer in many situations by customer resources normally referred to as Account Managers.

Thus we have these "very important" 7 Sales Trends and Facts to consider and align to:

Effective conversations is the metric; phone and face-to-face time with buyers
Response rates to inquiries must be immediate; 5-10 minutes
There must be a documented ROI or the purchase is a commodity; price/product driven
Marketing must generate and score leads that convert to contracts; quality not quantity
Either be a "Trusted Advisor" for a customer or become a commodity
Senior level leaders must be engaged (preferably in the field) with "Top Accounts"
The "Voice of the Customer" (measuring loyalty) is more important than ever; loyalty directly connects to revenue

Suggestion - keep these trends and facts in mind as you plan your sales growth plan.

Any thoughts you have in how to keep growing sales?

You can watch a webinar I gave on this topic by going to The Chapman Group's Resource Center at http://www.chapmanhq.com/Resource-Center/Streaming_Media.html Download "Selling in 2015: Is The Future Now? Structuring Your People In This Period of Change."

Dennis

Satisfied Customers versus Loyal Customers - Who Cares? I do and we all should!

2009-05-28T14:48:00.002-04:00

Enough of this satisfied customer thing - Enough of this "I have a great base of customers who say they will refer me." (a high NPS rating). I've listened to it for years - I've even, at times, bought into the whole concept.

Every time I hear about a company who has a long list of referrals, I then hear in their next breath about how poorly their business is doing (ask the US auto dealers) - why? And by the way - any customer who says that they will not refer you are more than a "customer with an issue" these are indicators that you are going out of business - maybe quickly!

I really want to zero in on if they would refer us - before I ask them if they would! Wait a minute - shouldn't I have known they were not going to refer me prior to asking them? Yes!

The Facts:

Having referrals is a good thing - maybe even a great thing - and certainly a good place to start - just not enough in today's competitive global economy/or even within a regional community - there's competition everywhere!
Being a referral for anyone is like the minimum any supplier should expect of a customer - if you can't deliver this outcome why even be in business!? You may not be for long!
There are degrees of satisfaction - the highest degree may border on a base of more "loyal customers" I am one of those customers for the university I attended
Yes, it may be difficult in business to create "explicitly loyal customers" - however, why not try and then measure on an ongoing basis how you are doing! Maybe even ask your customers how you are doing across all of their functional areas while considering all of their needs and expectations - there's a crazy idea!

So why the concern? Because customers are saying they expect more from you - often for the same price - and many companies are still not hearing their cries! Now blend in some wild reasons why customers leave:

Relationships
Costs
Poor service
Needs going unknown - unmet
Lack of awareness of the value their supplier offers
Feeling of rowing the canoe on their own - little supplier interaction
Culturally not a fit
A wrong perception - "perception is reality"
Lack of forward thinking - innovation

These are just a few of the top reasons buyers fire suppliers - you could have known these reason and done something about it before it was too late. Too late is like asking them if they would refer you!

Times have changed! How we need to manage customer relationships needs to change with the times.

Get with it - start thinking about creating more loyal customers!

Dennis

A Pledge - Customer Loyalty - A Must Have!

2009-04-29T14:24:00.002-04:00

There is one thing that I am not going compromise during these turbulent economic times - the continued respect and loyalty from our Customers; Clients, Employees, Shareholders and Suppliers! I know we must continue to earn it - so be it! I am going to lead our team to be even better than we have ever been. We are going to:

Continue to make all of our Customers the center of our universe
Listen to our Customer's needs and expectations
Be in front of those who we need to help succeed
Make a positive economic difference in their business and lives
Ask them for feedback - do soemthing with it!
Deliver extraordinary care, responsibility, products, services and results
Work as a team on their behalf
Collaborate on their critical issues and challenges
Be more flexible and there for them - in many ways
Say thank you

Just plain and simple...work harder and smarter than ever!

Wouldn't it be great if we all do this for one another!

Dennis

Survival Tip; Keep and Grow "Top-Tier" Accounts

2009-03-10T09:13:00.002-04:00

It should be of no secret to anyone that the "New Economy" (I prefer this term) is something few if any of us have ever previously experienced. so what the heck do we do - should we do?

Keep and grow your "Top Tier" accounts; those accounts who know you, have purchased from you in the past 24 months and that afford you the best probability of current profitable revenue.
Re-engage with these accounts; go there and meet with their senior leaders - now is the time for all to work together and understand what concerns buyers as well as suppliers have. Keeping expenses in mind - web meetings are great tools!
Get your senior leaders into the field to meet these important accounts! On the phone is even a great action step!
Become more flexible than ever; pricing, payment terms, delivery processes and contractual terms.
Measure the "Voice of Your Accounts"; embed tools and process to reach out and listen to all of your accounts, not once a year, every quarter - use this informatiojn in your senior leadership teams!
Become more authentic than ever! This is about all us making a sincere and real effort to work as one through this economic situation - we all need help and friends!
Significantly increase your touch campaigns; more than ever increase the frequency that you are in touch with your accounts.
Stay focused on the accounts that make a difference; it is easy to become distracted with new ideas and new opportunities - pursue but stay focused on the known!
Think "Economic Value Proposition"; how you as a supplier offer an ROI on your account's investment with you?
Remain positive; too many negative waves - "We choose not to participate in the recession" - post this slogan in your office, NOW!

There is no magic potion; work harder and smarter than ever!

Dennis

11 Keys to Optimizing 2009 Revenue - 2009 is here; Are you ready to "Make Your Number"?

2009-01-14T09:50:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year!

Here we go - "Make Your 2009 Number"!

Review and determine your "top-tier" accounts; assign an owner and detail all revenue possibilities in these accounts - these are priority revenue targets
Connect with every "top-tier" account before the end of January (phone, personal visit or webinar - just make sure it is more than just an email exchange
Conduct a sales team opportunity brain storm and list every possible sales opportunity; capture in sales piepline system - quantify/qualify
Revisit your successful selling and account management process model; detail critical "hi-value activities" and set standards (activity targets) around these activities - add to accountabilities/repsonsibilities of sales organization
Assess your existing sales team for skills, competencies and willingness; make sure you have the right team
Determine top sales coaching skill and process need; then design and develop training
Have every sales coach conduct a "compensation planning" meeting with their sales team and determine what each person needs to execute to ensure that they overachieve their desired compensation targets
Determine top sales / account manager skill need and immediately design and execute development program
Conduct a survey with all clients to determine any possible revenue that is at risk in 2009
Make sure your sales and account management team members have the tools they need to overachieve in their roles
Establish the key performance metrics that will be used to "predict" 2009 revenue success; launch a public team dashboard to provide "now performance" views

Many more ideas to come - if you have any, please contribute so we all succeed!

2009 is a year for those who want to be successful and will be if they work smart, hard and with passion!

Dennis

Strategic Account Management - Strong 2008 Finish - Effective Positioning for 2009

2008-11-20T10:33:00.000-05:00

Time Flys - look out here comes 2009!

Before we know it will be 2009; new revenue/profit targets and we still need to close out a successful 2008 - so what do we / can we do "NOW"?

Our success all revolves around "Inspection and Collaboration" - now is the time to execute the following "5 Point Strategic Account Management (SAM) Quality Healthcheck" :

Execute strategic account internal business reviews; inspecting and collaborating on action plans and goal achievement - identify 2008 gaps
Select an immediate (by close of 2008) revenue win for each strategic account
Engage and leverage your senior management team in the "Quality Healthcheck" process - have them assume a key follow-up action role with account team leader
Identify "top priority" initiatives (revenue opportunities) and reach out to key influencers in those accounts and request a 2008 Year-End relationship review/update
Establish and communicate your 2009 SAM plan to your "Top Accounts" - offer "end-of-year" collaborative account reviews to interested parties

Remember - we can do the "SAM Quality Healthcheck" via web meetings and conference calls to save time and money!

It is never too late to generate more revenue and profits!

Any other great ideas to close out a successful 2008 SAM year? SPEAK OUT!

Limited Resources Drive Sales and SAM Effectiveness Diagnostics During "New Economy"

2008-11-10T20:32:00.000-05:00

As we all work our way through the new economy (suggest we all think this way) there is one important impact to us all - "Limited Resources"!

We are all faced with one common and testing question:

Where to focus our budget dollars for the greatest impact to enable us to overachieve revenue/profit targets?

I have observed that commonly the most efficient and effective use of resources comes from first assessing and identifying the gaps in our Sales and/or Strategic Account Management (SAM) programs. These gaps are often determined by measuring the actual "best practices" being executed within our sales organization versus the universal library of "best practices" suggested for the selling of any product/service and/or the managing of important accounts (Strategic Account Management).

A quick definition - "Best Practice"; a practice that has been identified, tried and proven to bring a desired outcome. Some thoughts as we all move toward becoming more effective and operating with greater efficiencies:

Have I defined our own "best practices"?
Do we know the selling and strategic account management "best practices" for our own industry?
Have we "benchmarked" ourselves against these "best practices"?

Extraordinary results often come from the adoption of one "right for us" best practice -

Example.... one computer company realized that they closed 85% of all VIP visits to the corporate office for more revenue - this became one of their key "best practices".

"Best practices" do enable us to do more with "limited resources" - they help us focus, gain consistency and optimize whatever resources we do have...

Think of any examples you have experienced on how a selling or SAM program "best practice" took an organization to new heights of success?

Let's Call it the "New Economy"

2008-10-20T13:43:00.000-04:00

How could you help but not realize that there is global economic turmoil - to say the least. Everybody is looking for the key to selling in a down economy - companies are even asking me to speak to this challenge - well, I prefer to think of this economic period as just another phase of another new economy! After 38 years - yes, 38 years of "Making the Number" it just means that once again we all have to be even better at generating customers and keeping the ones we have.

Relative to strategic accounts - by the way we all have them - we really need to now focus on their economic challenges and determine how we can make them more profitable through our own products./solutions - this may be no easy task - yet it must be demonstrated to and validated by your customers.

I discovered a while ago that companies get wealthier in three distinct ways - sometimes in all three ways concurrently:

Reducing their existing expense base
Avoiding catastrophic and unplanned expenses
Increasing their revenues and profits

My thought for today - how are you helping your strategic accounts get wealthier?

One way I can think of is by providing quality and well-proven goods and/or services that minimize their legal risks - in other words help them avoid catastrophic costs by keeping their names off the front page of the paper!

Do you have any ideas - speak up and share,

Dennis

New Economic Pressures Influence Global Strategic Account Management

2008-10-08T11:24:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a European trip and meeting around global strategic account management - everywhere in the world people are talking "the economy"!

Some of their feedback and linkage to strategic account management included:

We better re-connect NOW to our top accounts
More than ever a ROI approach to account relationships is paramount
As like sales, SAM programs must deliver on their agreed upon metrics
Engaging with accounts is becoming very trying considering financial constraints - technology may have to fill some voids in the relationship
Economic discussions are really driving everyone to think global implications

I, like everyone is probably very interested in any ideas anyone has to help us all through these challenging times as they relate to keeping and growing our strategic accounts - I'll give up one thing I am going to do right away...

Ensure that I am receiving any/all pertinent news about my top accounts from news services - you just do not know who owns who and who still works where when you wake up each morning!

Dennis

4 Simple Rules Around Sales Methodologies and Metrics

2008-09-22T13:29:00.001-04:00

Many of our "bloggers" have reached out on this topic of sales / strategic account managment methodologies and metrics - I think what everybody is seeking in these challenging times is the "holy grail" for sales revenue improvement.

Got an idea - as a methodology let's keep it simple -took 37 years of "making the number" for me to distill sales into 4 simple rules:

Doing the right things (hi-value activities) effectively (know what they are for your business)
Doing these right things (hi-value activities) to the right people (Decision makers/influencers)
Doing these activities the right number of times based on historical metrics that predict success
Ensure that these activities are executed by the right people (professional, skilled, informed, coached and motivated)

This is methodology!

As for metrics - I have often heard "you get what you measure"!

So Coach...

What are we measuring?
How are we using these metrics to influence and/or change our sales behavior?

Any other ideas and/or wisdom to help us all "Make the Number" in these challenging times!

Finding the "Right" Strategic Account Manager (s) is Getting Harder!

2008-09-03T12:32:00.000-04:00

What do you think? I was speaking with several clients lately and when they see the "job description" of a "Best-in-Class" SAM they shake and wonder where they are going to get these "top-performing" business resources - and when we do identify them how do we know they are really the right ones!

Couple of clients are looking outside the sales team for resources, some have suggested taking a "Farm Team" approach, developing a feeder system, some others have suggested recruiting and hiring like skills and from different industries - others are now incorporating assessment tools to find the "diamonds-in-rough".

Nothing worse than people challenges! And now a shrinking work force - tell all those "Boomers" to hang in there for a few more years and build up their private retirement funds! And a SAM position can be FUN!

Any ideas on what's working for you that you would like to share!

5 Reasons Why Your Strategic Accounts May be the Key to Your Future in a Challenging Economy

2008-08-20T18:13:00.002-04:00

We someitmes learn the hardway - I have! We spend endless hours trying to close new clients and often disconnect from our best revenue opportunities. Why not keep what we have and grow those "strategic accounts" first and then we can add "new business" from new accounts to make 2008 a very successful year! Strategic Accounts are often great "incremental" revenue sources because:

They already know your products, services and commitment to them!
We often already have "strategic contacts / relationships" in these accounts!
We know them really well - where to go - how they buy and hopefully what they need!
We often have contracts in place to feed off of!
There are ready-made "proof sources /references" within the account!

So the next thing I am going to do is have team meeting this Friday and ask my team; which of our strategic accounts can deliver our "current revenue gap" (what we have versus what we need to exceed plan) - tell you what happens later!

7 Questions for Global Strategic Account Managers

2008-08-12T09:28:00.003-04:00

Tips for Strategic Account Management - Some thoughts for you to ponder as I observe global teams "in-action":

Do you really have a documented score on the "Voice of Your Account"?
Is your team functioning globally or just regionally?
Are their rewards for cross-functional account team members?
What metrics tell you if your team is succeeding or failing?
Does your account know you have a strategic account team - are they engaged in the process?
Is the strategic account plan "in-action" or is it a file document?
Is your team using all of their technology tools to collaborate globally as a team?

Please share your thoughts on any of these key points for global strategic account management - all ideas and feedback are appreciated!

Sales effectiveness tips are coming

2008-07-21T16:51:00.003-04:00

I am jumping into blogging with both feet. This is just a test post to see if everything is working. Please subscribe to my blog and you will receive regular posts that will contain useful information that will help you be a more effective sales performer. I will also answer questions or discuss topics that are are relevant to my readers. A blog is a conversation and I don't like to talk to myself so post you comments often and we will keep this interesting.