CSO Insights Blog Posts

Back to Basics

I recently co-presented with Dale Carnegie Training at seminars in New York and Boston. I talked about levels of relationship, sales process and how these combine in CSO Insights' Sales Relationship Process Matrix. The Dale Carnegie Training presenter covered specific sales tactics such as dealing with price objections or buyers stalling for more time. And I do mean specifically addressing these issues with examples and precise wording.

Repetition is the mother of skill. I watched repeated role playing until individuals could perform the task with some skill. It was clear to me that if they kept the commitment each made to practice and use the skill in the next few days, they would develop confidence and competence in executing it. This can't come as news to anyone and you may be wondering why I'm bothering to write about it. And, if you don't know, I sold and delivered sales training for several years so I'm a big believer in it and also have been exposed to more two day programs (several hundred) than a normal person could endure.

What I realized during these sessions was that while I've internalized sales processes, the ability to develop account strategies, discuss ROI and financial justifications, ask good questions and many more competencies, my basic sales skills could stand to be refreshed. It is humbling to confess this publicly but a reminder of an essential component of mastery-maintaining (or regaining) a beginner's mind. Jack Nicklaus, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, reportedly returned to his original coach each year and said, "Teach me again."

It is an example worth emulating and a mindset worth embracing. This is always true and it may have added applicability in 2010. Although everyone is feeling more optimistic about the economy and the rebound of the stock market, my partner Jim Dickie points out that this is a leading indicator (investors are anticipating improved performance to continue), while sales is a lagging indicator. Your CFO will write a check out when he/she receives a check in for your products/services. Further, the numbers we're seeing in our current Sales Performance Optimization survey show that 86% of firms expect their revenue target to be higher in the coming year. (click this link to take the SPO survey now) In this year's Lead Generation Optimization survey two-thirds of companies responding indicated they expected their marketing budget for the coming year to be the same or less.

We're also seeing 22% of forecast opportunities resulting in no decision. That is, these either stalled out or simply went away. All of this suggests that you will need to make the most of qualifying and qualified opportunities. This means having solid gameplans in place and executing well. The charts summarize responses from the 2009 SPO survey on sales execution. It's interesting to see that some of the lowest rated abilities-understand the customer's buying process, close deals in the timeframe forecast, cross-sell/up-sell-reflect basic sales skills. Don't kid yourself about your team's abilities and don't assume.

We often hear managers say they want their reps to get back to basic blocking and tackling. This might be a good time to run a few drills.

Sell well,

Barry

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Gracie Pimentel

Sales takes practice

Tuesday January 26, 2010

I agree with Joanne. I have had the opportunity to train and be a mentor to many sales professionals in the recruitment industry and I have come to the conclusion that successful sales reps have tons of discipline.

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for for any sales professional, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average sales rep can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him or her. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

I strongly believe that "DISCIPLINE" is one of the top leading factors in the success of sales reps. "The most important sales success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. I've had one time hit wonders and then you have your consistent rockstars who are focused, enthusiastic, and know the true value of building relationships and having a strategic approach to their call plans and executing them.

Joanne Black

Sales takes practice

Thursday December 24, 2009

I agree that building sales skills takes practice... and more practice. Yet, so many sales people don't make the time to practice. Practice makes permanent.

A little time spent perfecting sales skills and keeping up with new sales strategies, is what sets top salespeople apart from average salespeople.

A lesson worth remembering. Thanks for the reminder.

Manny Penate

Re: Back to Basics

Thursday December 17, 2009

Dwight,

I agree with your observatiosn and know for a fact that a solid PPC and SEO campaign are essential tools for lead generation in the new envirnoment.

Manny Penate

Dwight Homer

Buying processes

Tuesday December 15, 2009

Be interested in getting feedback from others involved with sales in the current environment. Seems like there's been a dramatic increase in phone system automation; perhaps its an epidemic of rudeness, but phone contact is growing increasingly difficult. Receptionists taking calls and return calls from previous voicemail have grown less common.

Suspect that what I'm experiencing is not unique; that companies have rationalized their inbound communications to the exclusion of direct person to person contact. May be too that more and more business is conducted away from land lines on cell phones and smart phones; but I'm sure anyone who's prospected for a living knows that cold calls to cell phones are a horrible idea and a recipe for permanent exclusion.

Solution? Some kind of inbound program that takes advantage of the fact that the Internet is a permanent component of corporate buying processes. Purchasing activity starting with research happens far sooner and far less detectably than ever before. Hence, the need for intelligent keyword strategies for Web content as well as keyword driven strategies for paid search advertising with well designed landing pages that map closely to the specific issues associated with keywords relating to product and service research.

Don't see any end to the drought for telephone based sales.

Dwight Homer