Sales - Increase revenue. Consistently!

Internation Sales and Business Development

2008-04-12T12:17:00.004+01:00

Internation Sales and Business Development Podcast

I'm about to start a series of podcasts on international sales and business development. The questions I'll be asking are:

To kick off would you introduce yourself and say a little bit about who you are and what you do.

What experience do you have that gives you that credibility in international sales and business development?

To add some depth to it mention some lines of business (or industries), geographical locations and channels to market that you used/been involved in.

In a way to summarise that where do you think your greatest experience to date is? Line of business, location, channels to market.

Within the market you've described what do you think are some of the greatest challenges today? (3-5?). Please consider environment (where), behaviours (what people do) and attitude (mindset, beliefs, emotional states).

For each challenge that you've given give some ideas or examples of how you would or how you have approached them.

If you were looking for a sales person in the sort of context we've discussed, how would you know who to choose?

Before I ask you for your contact details and if there is anything you want to plug is there anything we've left out that you think is important in international sales and anything that you would like to emphasise as important.

Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time out for this discussion. Is there anything you're doing that you would like to bring to our listeners attention?

And if anyone wants to contact you how can they do it?

The results will be published on:

NLP Experts Forum

http://nlp-experts.org/sales/

Interested? Call me Michael on +44 (0) 1908 506563

Winning Business through the web

2007-05-31T11:13:00.000+01:00

The FREE ''Winnining Business through the Web" (Worth £27)eBook now released!

Volume 1 - Getting Started

Listen to a eight minute interview between Web Whisperer Ryan Nagy and Author Michael Beale on 'Winning business through the Web'

You can now download the eBook FREE Here

The purpose of this short eBook is to share my experience on the web and with New Media, outline what’s possible, make some suggestions for where to start, and give you access to some of the best resources available to enable you to start winning business through the web.

Contents

Introduction
Why sell through the web
How to sell through the web
Creating your funnel
Content, content and content
Making it easy
Definitions and resources
And a marketing idea
Why the Web Whisperers?

Appendix
About the author, Michael Beale
About the Web Whisperers

You can now download the eBook FREE Here

To take part in a FREE teleseminar on the web and new media and be the first to hear about our Web Whisperers Bootcamp - Then register here

Michael Beale
01908 506563
Director
PPI Business NLP

http://www.ppimk.com/eBooks-nlp.htm#Winning%20Business%20through%20the%20Web

Sales Modelling Project - Ayes Amewudah

2007-05-15T17:15:00.000+01:00

Ayes Amewudah – Energis – Head of Sales and Marketing, Retail and Travel

Introduction

Ayes has an MSc from Cranfield and before joining Energis had senior positions at B & Q, BT and Lucent.

He is also a Non Executive Director at the Virtual Office Group.

Current target customers

Target customers are large customers in the retail and travel sectors

Sales revenue £M60PA

Sales methodology used

Powerbase, medic, platinum gold, TAS

How do customers benefit from what you sell?

Telecommunication and related services enable our customers to introduce new revenue streams, improve customer service and reduce costs.

What do you think makes a good sales person?

Ability to really put themselves in their customers shoes – know what their customers want and feel.

Good project management ability – able to work with and put together the right teams.

Environment and behaviour

I work in the office on customer’s premises and at home normally between the hours of 09:00am and 07:00pm.

My behaviours are around reviewing, instructing, coaching and leadership.

If you were going to teach me how to do it what would you ask me to do?

Understand the ‘big picture’ as to customer requirements and how to get solutions developed within the company.

Protect your team from ‘company crap and distractions’

Galvanise your internal network to meet the team’s requirements

Monitor, manage and motivate your team to do what’s necessary – particularly during the occasional but inevitable ‘lows’.

Capability

This leads from what I said before:

Analytical capability to review performance,

Management and Motivational capability so that the both the team and the wider team are enthused to ‘do the impossible’ at times.

Beliefs

What do you believe about yourself when you do this?

I’m continually moving in the right direction

I’m experienced enough and have thought through the options so that nothing that comes up will faze me

I can get people to enjoy themselves – and therefore enable them to produce better results.

What do you believe about your team?

That people really want to do a really good days work

They want to part of something bigger than themselves

They have both an independent and a team spirit

Identity

Do you have a personal mission or vision when you do this?

I’m someone who can contribute to the aspirations both of the company and my family. I’ve a work life balance and don’t loose sight of the family

More sales related questions

How to you monitor your own performance?

Sales performance vs. target

The motivation of my team; that they’re enjoying and get a satisfaction from what they do!

What do you think are the biggest issues that effect sales people today?

The market is bit ‘beige’ can be difficult to penetrate

Meeting and opening the ‘right’ people

Fighting for internal resource – much has been cut back

Really understanding customers wants (and sometimes the wants that they don’t yet know they want!)

What challenges do you have?

Galvanising people to work in a new ways

What is your attitude to selling?

It’s a means to an end!

How is selling changing in the 21st Century?

Continual drive to keep costs down, from both ourselves and our customers. Apparent ‘busyness.’

The need to successfully keep on top off and use ‘New Media’ and ‘New Channels’
.

Who in your customers do your sales people see?

For example:

Initiator
Gatekeeper
User
Decider
Influencer
Purchaser

All with particular emphasis on influencers, decision makers – and a group you haven’t mentioned ‘blockers.’

Generic stages in a sale – what makes the difference?

Give each of these stages a vote out of 10 for importance (0 is low, 10 is high)

Prospecting 10
Making contact 10
Identifying needs 8

Quality and plan approach 6
Develop offer and value 6
Present solution 8

Negotiate and handle objections 8
Close 8

Implement 8
Track value 9

Which would give you the highest opportunity for improvement?

Prospecting – People tend to only stay in their comfort zones; they need encouragement to develop contacts in new areas.

Key sales capabilities – what makes the difference?

Give each of these stages a vote out of 10 for importance (0 is low, 10 is high)

Market knowledge 7
Proposition knowledge 7
Attitude 7
Influencing skills 9
Problem solving skills 9
Buying sales cycle knowledge (specific customer) 10
Taking action 9

Which would give the highest opportunity for improvement?

Understanding how specific customers buy

Key influencing skills – what makes the difference?

Give each of these stages a vote out of 10 for importance (0 is low, 10 is high)

State 8
Appearance / Image 10
Breaking / Making rapport 7
Eliciting values 9
Agreeing outcome / vision 9
Questioning 9

Listening 9
Presenting 7
Storytelling 10
Belief Change 8
Profiling (adapting to cultures) 6

Which would give the highest opportunity for improvement?

Listening and questioning skills.

Key values

What are your key vales in selling? What has to happen for you to be fully satisfied in your role?

Hitting target
Broad contact base in customer (No surprises!)
Positive feedback from customers and team

What have we left out?

The importance of developing the right sales managers

Remuneration!!

You can read Ayes profile on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1175947

Important note: Since completing this project Ayes moved on to be Director of Sales and Marketing at Insurecom Ltd

Michael
01908 506563
Copyright 2007 PPI Business NLP Ltd

Sales modelling project - Neil Shorney

2007-03-03T19:18:00.000Z

Sales modelling project - Neil Shorney

by Michael Beale on 2-Mar-07 5:43pm

Sales Modelling Project - Neil Shorney - Telesales Manager at ESI

This is the first of number of modelling projects that I'm carrying out with a number of people that (I think) are excellent sales people and managers.

The purpose is to identify some top level skills and capabilities which will then be modelled in more depth. I'd be interested if anyone added any further skills and capabilities that they think are important in good telesales.

Neil is telesales manager at ESI. ESI is the world leader in project management training. Neil and his team of six sell into the UK and Stockholm with a mix of telesales and face to face selling. See Neil's LinkedIn profile.

Customers range from global players like Shell who are looking for a global consistency for their training to smaller clients looking for a one off training.

About 30% of their activity is cold calling for potential new business.

What do you think makes a good sales person?

Listening, enquiring, having credibility, matching response to the answers from elicited questions. Being 'real' rather than 'scripted'.

Where and when do you sell?

Mostly office based although I and my team visit customers for an average of one day a week. The atmosphere in the office make a difference - I like to keep it light hearted and fun.

It's important to start making calls early - If left, momentum can be lost and it can take most of the day to get it back.

What do you actually do?

Plan the day the night before, normally a mix of activities from following up previous course participants, researching and cold calling new potential clients (sometimes from seeing billboards or alerts from Google news) and keeping in contact with larger customers.

I'll always have an outcome for a call whether it's for a sale of referral or being put on a preferred supplier list. I always aim to explain the reason for the call within 15 seconds, be polite and gain agreement to continue with the call.

If I don't get agreement I'll always find out the reason.

How did you learn to be good at this?

8 years experience, good training, reading books, subscribing to relevant email newsletters.

Learning from sales that go wrong. Always ask the reason - It can be the start of another sale.

What do you believe about yourself when you sell?

I'm good at what I do and never stop learning to do it better. What do you believe about your customers? That they will benefit from the right course - I've left jobs in the past where I didn't believe we were genuinely helping our customers.

Who are you when you do this?

Myself!

How to you measure your performance?

Activity, conversion rate, customer response and success of team against targets.

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges sales people now face?Keeping motivated through the bad times as well as the good and being positive about ever increasing targets.

How is selling changing in the 21st Century?

In our market many of the 'rules' of selling have are the same. What has changed is the development and use of technology and information on the web. For instance many of our ongoing customers prefer using email where in the past they would have used the phone. We now use the web for prospecting and customer research.

The continued drive to respect customers' time.

If you had to describe your relationship with your customers as a metaphor what would you say?

Not sure about a metaphor but the words 'friendship' and 'partnership' come to mind.

Who in your customers do you contact?

Initiator, gate keepers, users, decider, influencer, purchaser.All of them and we treat all of them with respect.

Rate the following elements of a sales cycle out of 10 for importance in your market?

Element Max 10

Prospecting 07
Making contact 10

Identifying needs 10
Qualify and plan approach 06
Develop offer and value 10
Present solution 09
Negotiate and handle objections 08
Close 07

Implement 10
Track value 05

Closing is a seven because when you get the other key steps right the customer will want to buy.

Improvement in which area do you think would give you the biggest gain?

Identifying needs.

Rate the following sales competencies out of 10 for importance in your market?

Element Max 10

Market knowledge 07
Proposition knowledge 10
Attitude 09
Influencing skills 07
Problem solving skills 09
Buying / sales cycle knowledge 08
Taking action 10

Improvement in which area do you think would give you the biggest gain?

Problem solving skills

Rate the following influencing skills out of 10 for importance in your market?

Element Max 10

State 10
Appearance / image 09
Breaking / making rapport 10
Eliciting values 08
Agreeing outcomes 08
Questioning 10
Presenting 09
Storytelling 04
Belief change 03
Profiling (and reaction to culture) 05

Improvement in which area do you think would give you the biggest gain?

State

Your key values

Security, freedom

Your profile (metaprogrammes)

Active / reactive
Mostly active

Towards / away from
Mostly away from

Internal / external
Mostly internal

Options / procedures
Mostly options

Independent / proximity / co-operative
Mostly independent and proximity

People or task
Task but through people

Sensory preference: visual / auditory / kinesthetic
Mostly visual and auditory

What else do you think is important?

Being flexible and not having too formal a structure
Appreciate difference
Make it easy for your customers to buy!!

Copyright 2007 PPI Business NLP / Sales analytics

Michael 01908 506563

Director

PPI Business NLP Ltd - The Business NLP provider of choice
Sales Analytics - Information to improve your sales

Sales modelling project - initial call

2007-01-07T19:59:00.000Z

The next stage will be to arrange a call (preferably on skype – although I can call out to any number) for up to an hour.

I would ask you a set of questions based on those on http://www.nlp-irc.co.uk/2006/12/sales-modelling-project-any-ideas-or.html (These questions are being continually updated.)

However at the start of the call I’ll briefly introduce myself, the project and answer any questions you may have.

You do NOT need to do any preparation – it works better if you answer naturally. My job is to listen to you and develop any ideas that come up. You will have plenty of time to put any points of view forward you want. The call will be recorded (but totally confidential)

As I mentioned in my original question most people find going through this process valuable as it enables them to clarify and articulate their own sales approach and their own abilities more effectively.

The next stage will for me to write up a brief transcript of the call, give you a copy so you have the option of amending anything you choose.

The specific information gathered is confidential and nothing you say will be disclosed without your written agreement. However with (and only if and with your written agreement) we may publish some of the agreed transcripts. We will use the aggregated information for our future research.

The next stage depends on the results from this initial set of interviews. However I’d be delighted to keep you up to date with future progress if you wish.

Sales modelling project - Selling in the 21st Century - Any ideas or thoughts?

2006-12-04T22:39:00.000Z

We're all aware selling is changing in the 2000's. The from the cost and effectiveness of multi channel strategies to the up and coming impact of social networking via the internet. While it's unlikely that social networking is going to replace cold calling it's already beginning to have an impact.

To put a stake in the ground I'm going to be running a modelling project on top sales people in early 2007, the purpose is to identify some of the attitudes and skill sets of successful sales people. What does actually make the difference in 2007?

For the participants it's a low cost option (the phone conversation will take about an hour) which will give them the opportunity to reflect on their own skills and capabilities - which they may choose to use in their owm personal development plans.

However the collated information will be invaluable both as a benchmark and a 'sales needs analysis' relating not only to training and coaching but also to marketing, customer service and proposition development.

The approach is to use a series of questions as a starter and checklist - although the conversation will go wherever it goes.

As well as the factual anwsers I'm interested in my own intuition about the individuals. The key target is corporate

To model some of the skills and capabilities of top sales people in the 2007

The approach will be both logical and intuitive (or DTI in NLP terms). The following question set will used to start various conversation threads. The frame is exploring top sales performance.

The current question set is:

Backgound - brief answers!

Name, organisation and brief bio
Target customers
Brief description of your customers decision process in a typical sale?
What model or methodology do you use?
Do you work to a sales process, if so what is it?
How do you identify and contact target customers?
What benefits do customers get from you product / service?
What do you think makes a good sales person?

Modelling questions

Environment

Where and when do you do it?

Behaviours

What specfically do you do?
If you were going to teach me how to do it,what wouldyou ask me to do?
What different behaviours are useful at different parts of the sales cycle?

Capabilities

What skills do you have that enable you to do this?
How did you learn to do this?

Beliefs

What do you believe about yourself when you do this?
What do you believe about your potential customers when you do this?

Identity

Do you a have a personal mission or vision when you do this?

Other questions
How to you monitor your own performannce?
Are you paid for revenue or profit?
What difference do you think this makes?
What do you think are the biggest issues that effect sales people today?
What barriers hold you back?
What would help you achieve your objectives more quickly?
How would you describe your attitude to selling?
What are your outcomes when selling?
Why do you think your customers buy from you?
How do you know you're good at this?

How important to you is F2F and electronic networking?

What key associations or societies are you a member of?

Are you a member of LinkedIn, Xing, Ecademy, Plaxo or other?

And last question - how do thinking selling has changed and is changing in the early 21st Century?

If you had to describe sales as story with fairytale, fantasy charachters or animals how would you describe the sales client relationship?

Additional checklist:

Your product / solution type

Product
Problem solving solution
Value service

Incremental value / disruptive value?

Your product solution vs market

Dog (low growth market and low market share)
Problem Child (high growth market and low market share)
Star (high market growth and high market share)
Cash Cow (low market growth and high market share)

Your customer?

Do you have to influence different people in your customer / account:

Initiator?
Gatekeeper?
User?
Decider?
Influencer?
Purchaser?

Generic stages in a sales – what makes a real difference?

Prospecting
Making contact
Identifying needs

Qualify and plan approach
Develop offer and value
Present solution

Negotiate and handle objections
Close

Implement
Track Value

Give a score of 1/10 for each of the above as to their importants in your market. 10 is high. Which gives you the biggest opportunity to improve your own performance?

Activity

Where could you get the greatest improvement:
What you do?
How well you do it?
How much you do?
Who you are?

Key Sales capabilities – what makes the difference?

Market knowledge
Proposition knowledge
Attitude
Influincing skills
Problem solving skills
Buying / sales cycle knowledge
Taking action

Give a score of 1/10 for each of the above as to their importants in your market. 10 is high. Which gives you the biggest opportunity to improve your own performance?

Key influencing skills – what makes the difference?

State
Appearance / image
Breaking / making rapport
Eliciting values
Agreeing outcomes / vision
Questioning

Listening
Presenting
Storytelling
Belief change
Profiling (and adapting to cultures)

Give a score of 1/10 for each of the above as to their importants in your market. 10 is high. Which gives you the biggest opportunity to improve your own performance?

Key values

Meta Programmes (personal profiling)

Active / Reactive
Towards / Away from
Internal / External
Options / Procedures
Specific / General (Big picture)
Feeling / Choice / Thinking
Independent / Proximity / Co-operative
People / Task
Sensory preference: visual/auditory/kinesthetic

And lastly has there been any sales training / coaching that has made a real difference? What aspect of selling did they cover and what was good about them?

Subject to any confidentuality issues that arise I'm happy to share the results.

The purpose of this article is to let anyone suggest:

Additional questions
Considerations before I start
Ideas of who to approach

I'm not setting a firm timetable on this until I'm comfortable with both the approach and I have the right people, who will be genuinly open enough to makes the results useful.

Any thoughts and ideas really appreciated,

Michael
01908 506563
Director
PPI Business NLP Ltd - The Business NLP proider of choice
Sales Analytics - Information to improve your sales

See also:
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=77229

Internet Marketing - Santa Fe

2006-10-31T20:54:00.000Z

Internet Marketing and Digital Product Creation: a Bootcamp for Professionals

By "The Web Whisperers": Bill O'Hanlon and Ryan Nagy

Where: Santa Fe, New Mexico

When: April 27-May 1, 2007 (cost $989) or Mini-version: April 27-29 (cost: $600)

The Internet provides an entirely new world of income and marketing potential for professionals. But for most, learning and implementing those strategies can be highly complex and intimidating.

Unfortunately, most seminars in this area assume a great deal of technical knowledge on the subject and simply tell you about internet marketing strategies - leaving you on your own to implement them. In our intensive 'bootcamp' you will start using Internet-based marketing and income generating strategies from the very first day.

We will cut-through the technological jargon of internet marketing, demystify the process of getting your ideas on the web, and give you immediate hands-on experience with the most important Internet innovations.

You will learn the essential tools for creating: blogs, effective website design, podcasts, digital audio and video, e-books, email marketing, tele-seminars, and affiliate marketing partnerships.
You will learn everything that you need to know to move into the 21st century with your business ideas and marketing.

This intensive seminar (don't plan on doing any 'tourist' things during this workshop - you won't have the time) is led by two Internet entrepreneurs who are successfully using these strategies on a daily basis and who were clueless about them only a few short years ago. Together, we will help you avoid the costly mistakes that we made when starting out, navigate around the 'snake oil salesmen' who sell useless products, and help you quickly grasp the most effective and profitable strategies.

We will make this simple and do-able. You will leave with experience, strategies, and actual products, set-up and ready to market, increase your visibility and reputation, and make you money.

Read more

7 Critical success factors for business development

2006-10-02T21:56:00.000+01:00

This is a summary of David Regler's excellent report "7 critical success factors for business development." You can access the full report from the link at the end.

If you want to maximise the return on your new business campaign then you need to think about the 7 Critical Success Factors I have outlined in my report.

Long-Term Relationships - plan to nurture long-term relationships and capture future as well as immediate prospects

Targeting Your Sweet-Spot – think about who your target customers are and who you want to work with

Building Your List – invest in finding prospects that match your sweet-spot

Lead Qualification – decide what a “sales lead” really is

Your Value Proposition – understand your customer’s perspective, “what’s in it for them”

Integrated Marketing Tactics – combine different direct marketing tactics to increase response rates and ROI

Pipeline Management – put in place the process & feedback loops to improve quality and recycle lost or stalled deals

Don’t just think about telemarketing & telesales as a quick fix to “get some leads”

By considering these factors, you will get some immediate results plus you’ll also start an ongoing and effective process of developing relationships and building a pipeline of potential new business.

To access David's article click the link below (you need to input your email address)

http://www.maine-associates.co.uk/new_business_report_signup.html

I am getting BUSINESS emails- by Ron Bates

2006-09-03T21:09:00.000+01:00

Internet Presence - "I am getting …BUSINESS emails!" - by Ron Bates

Building an Internet presence is something many people have invested a lot of time into - and are absolutely blowing a great opportunity to further their professional objectives.

I'm constantly amazed at the number of individuals unfortunately unaware of how simple changes to their networking profiles can turn their networking profiles into powerful tools that actually impact their business objectives.

Granted not everyone joins networking platforms to further their professional objectives, and that is obviously fine. I've personally developed a number of great relationships that have nothing to do with business objectives through on-line networking platforms.

For those that do care about how on-line networking platforms can further their professional objectives, an Internet presence can be developed in a very short amount of time simply through the profile you create on a networking platform such as Ecademy, LinkedIn, et al.

Unfortunately the way many people construct their networking profile, it does nothing for them from a business exposure perspective.

Heidi Heyns has been kind enough to let me use her as an example. Heidi and I are connected on LinkedIn and Ecademy. She is a wonderful caring vibrant personality who absolutely excels at her profession of - voice-over actor.

When I first saw Heidi was on Ecademy, I Googled her name, and sure enough, this was what I found:

Heidi Heyns - Ecademy Profile
I am So completely Filled with Light at all the LOVE I have experienced in this place called ecademy...If you are new, PLEASE say hello and if you ask...
http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=118678

I recommended to Heidi if she cared about actually generating business leads as a result of belonging to Ecademy, as opposed simply enjoy the social aspects of Ecademy, she should make some simple changes to her profile. I explained that once Google grabbed the new more descriptive text from her Ecademy profile it would be more supportive of her business objectives.

She made the recommended changes such that her Ecademy profile hit in Google now looks like this:

Heidi Heyns Ecademy profile
Commercial voice over actor, message impact expert and consultant. Ican help you not just reach, but also more effectively appeal to your target audience.
http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=118678

Shortly after implementing these changes, Heidi sent me a note that said:"OH wow! ...Ron! Have you seen my new revised profile???

I am getting completely different kinds of emails…BUSINESS emails!"In Ecademy, you can actually drive what the descriptive text says in Google given

Ecademy basically supplies the first 150 characters of what you type in the "Profile Text:" box when creating your profile. The search engines like Google use this as the descriptive text below the hit link.

Unfortunately, you can't do this on all networking platforms. Some networking platforms only provide the search engines with generic descriptive text you can't control. The search engines then use this generic text below the hit link such as LinkedIn et al.

By simply making a small adjustment to your networking profile content on sites such as Ecademy where you can drive the descriptive hit text, you create a useful hit in Google that actually has a chance of adding to your Internet presence in a way that is supportive of your business objectives.

I also discussed these concepts in more detail in a post last April called: Is your Networking Profile useless?

Happy Networking,

Ron Bates
Managing Principal Executive Advantage Group
rbates@executive-advantage.com

www.cv-advantage.com
www.job-search-campaign.com
https://www.thenetworkingedge.com/

Copyright Ron Bates 2006 and reprinted with his permission,

Cold calling is dead?

2006-07-30T08:59:00.000+01:00

The Death of Cold Calling - by Ron Bates

I saw an advertisement for a sales training course recently stating boldly that in the new information age - cold calling is dead.

I don't think so.Anyone that thinks "cold calling" as a business tool is dead is only trying to sell you an alternative way to - cold call. The Internet has made cold calling more challenging, that is for certain, but it is far from being dead as a way to engage a prospect.

When I was a sales executive I used to ask sales reps the following question:"Do you like prospecting?"

There are two kinds of sales reps: Those that hate cold call prospecting, and liars.

Prospecting is a critical sales skill. This is also a foundation skill critical for networking. Can you reach out to someone you don't know - proactively?

Cold calling is -not- about being able to pick up the phone and mindlessly start "dialing for dollars".

Cold calling doesn't even have to involve a phone, letter, email or fax. Cold calling is not "a numbers game".

Cold calling is about one thing: gaining access to a targeted individual.You can strive to be 100% effective in your cold calling efforts. With out exception, anyone successful in selling or networking is adept at cold calling.

Whether you're approaching someone as part of a sales process, job search campaign, or you're simply trying to develop a critical networking contact, the key to successful cold calling is to do everything you can to turn the "cold" call into a "warm" call before you make the call.

You want to be able to do the same thing when making contact for the first time with someone you want to network with.How do you do this? It's really simple.

Do your homework. What does that mean?Find out everything you can about the individual you are attempting to prospect (or network) with before attempting contact. Understand their current business situation in as much detail as you can get your hands on (e.g., market, competitor, technology, product, finance issues/challenges and associated critical success factors, etc.), and if it applies, relevant personal details as well (e.g., you both go to the same church, his kids play soccer too, your spouses went to the same school, you both like skeet shooting, etc.).

A master at this is Harvey Mackay, author of Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive : Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition

Harvey Mackay epitomizes the concept of knowing your prospect with his 66-question customer profile.How do you find out all of this information? The Internet is a good place to start. You can identify a ton of current business intelligence via the Internet. Even better, you can discover most of this information, and the most important aspects of this information by -networking- with people that know the individual you want to approach! Hey, one of those individuals might even provide you with an introduction to the individual you are targeting.

Prospecting is a skill-set (emphasis on the word "set"). This implies there are different tools to leverage, which in turn implies that there are proficiency levels associated with the various tools.Read as many books on Cold Calling and Prospecting as you can stand.

Why?

Because not all techniques work in all situations, and you want the techniques to become integrated into your personal style of communicating - not change your style of communication to conform to one technique.

At a minimum read:The Power to Get In: A step-by-Step System to Get in Anyone's Door So you Have the Chance to…Make the Sale…Get the Job… Present Your Ideas - by Michael A. BoylanandSelling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello

These are without a doubt the best two books I've ever come across for how to approach new prospects in a deliberate targeted way. These principles can be extended to many forms of cold calling and prospecting, and they can most certainly be extended to cover networking objectives. But don't stop with these two.

There are many, many, more worth reading.The key to getting good at cold calling - is to do it.

The additional success you realize will take the sting out of the process.

Happy Networking,

Ron Bates
Managing Principal Executive Advantage Group
rbates@executive-advantage.com
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Copyright Ron Bates 2006 and reprinted with his permission,

Sales outsourcing - Is it appropriate for you?

2006-07-05T11:52:00.000+01:00

Sales Outsourcing by David Regler

Before considering whether outsourcing part of all of your sales is appropriate for you, let's get a clear understanding of what Sales Outsourcing is.

My definition of sales outsourcing is: "Contracting another company to execute part of all our your sales process"

You can think of a typical sales process including:

lead generation
lead qualification
preparation of bid & proposal
sales negotiation and closing
implementation and order fulfillment
post sales support and customer retention

So, Sales Outsourcing could cover all or any of these tasks within the typical sales process. The reality is that businesses have been outsourcing their sales for as long as there have been retailers. Using other parties as a route to market is effectively outsourcing part of your sales process to someone else. Since the rise of call centres and tele-marketing agencies, companies have also been "outsourcing" lead generation and lead qualification to third-parties. And with in-bound call centres it is now common to outsource post sales support and customer retention too.

A channel partner, in some respects is an outsourced sales resource. They provide an indirect route to market and fulfil many, if not all, elements of the typical sales process. In recent years, there has developed what is known as a "sales outsourcing" model.

Similar to a channel partner, a sales outsourcing company will cover most of the sales process (typically up to and including sales negotiation and closing) but there is a crucial difference: a sales outsourcing company remains a direct channel to market, representing its client directly. For me, this is the key distinction.

So is Sales Outsourcing right for you? I get asked this every day by potential clients. Like most things, it's best to start with the outcome you want and then work back.

The first question to ask is "Is a direct sales channel the best fit for you?"

That's a very big question and one which I urge you to spend time thinking about. Read Lawrence G. Friedman's excellent book "Go to Market Strategy", it is the simplest and best book on the subject.

In essence, you need to consider a whole number of areas but I believe the top 4 are:

1. Does your potential customer want to work directly with your company or through a third-party? For example, do you have a product or service that requires a lot of support, consultancy or is highly configurable?
2. How accessible is your ideal customer? Are they easily identifiable, or are they best found through companies that are already serving them?
3. How much competition is there through indirect channels? Are people asking to sell your product or do you need someone to drive it hard to be noticed?
4. How much time do you have? It is estimated to take at least 18 months to develop a strong indirect channel to market. Would you be better concentrating on a few significant direct wins?

The reality is that you could choose a combination of direct or indirect channels. OK. We want a direct sales channel. Do we outsource it?

Let's leave aside whether you are outsourcing just some part of the sales process. Working with a company to generate leads for new business development is an example, and is the area that my company specialises in.

I firmly believe that you should never outsource all your sales. Sales is a cornerstone function of the business and having someone within your business responsible for sales is critical to the success of your business. Even an outsourced sales resource will need to report to someone and have support from your business.

A more appropriate question is: "Should you hire and manage your own sales team?"Contracting your direct sales team out to a Sales Outsourcing company brings benefits such as:

• No setup costs or recruitment fees
• Flexible contracts (no employment law to deal with)
• More performance focused contracts than direct employees
• Highly scalable
• You can focus your management time on other aspects of the business
• Shared risk payment models preserve your cash-flow during start-up and growth periods

Is there a downside? Sure, nothings ever all one-way is it? Here are the top three areas you should consider:

Capacity - you never get 100% full-time focused on your sales.

Flexibility and scalability come at the price of exclusivity. Most sales outsourcing companies have between 2 to 5 active non-competing clients at any one time. Make sure you get performance metrics built into the contract.

Commitment - a shared risk model is good but it needs to be balanced. If the client doesn't have "skin" in the game, in terms of retainer payments, then the sales outsourcing company could simply walk away if the going gets tough (and it will).

This is why freelance commission-only sales people always seem a good idea but rarely deliver. Consider your sales outsourcing partner as a co-venturer.

Fees should be high enough to maintain interest but low enough to motivate performance. Cost - a shared-risk model, if it works, will cost you more than if you employed your own people. The running costs will be lower but the rewards to the sales outsourcing company will be higher (particularly if some of reward is taken in equity). Of course, if you fail to get the sales you need, you have less exposure and an easier exit than employing your own team.

For companies needing growth without significant outside funding, sales outsourcing could still be the best route. It is particularly suited to entering new geographic regions, or non-aligned markets and its scalability allows companies to rapidly acquire market share without the associated costs of building an in-house team.

David Regler
Maine Associates Ltd
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