One Question

Quick if you could only ask one question of your prospect before you demoed to them, what one question would you ask? Knowing their name might help. How big is their company is good. When they are planning to buy, not bad. What they need, very good. For me, it is one word. Why?

Why are we talking? If I don’t know why, I don’t know how. How to sell them a solution, heck, what solution they need. It is hard enough to get people to buy when you know everything. So why should answer many of the other questions you may have asked. If I ask why, they may tell me they are growing and need a new solution by the end of next quarter.

Evaluate your discovery questions and make sure you are getting to the why of the sales engagement.

Online Hell

Will it ever end? Seems not. We have all be on online events that drone on and on and on. What is your first thought when you are stuck in this situation? Well mine is what a bad job they are doing. A presentation should be dynamic whether done in person or online. Don’t let the fact that you can’t see the people you are speaking to be a crutch to do a bad demo.

How do you fix this? Have dynamic content and plan an exciting demo then practice with the environment you will be using to do the demo, online or not. Nothing worse than having a great demo flow that get stopped because someone doesn’t know how the “pass the ball”.

A good plan properly executed is the key to any demo, face to face, online, or recorded.

More or Less

What do you give? More? Or Less? Let me ask this another way, on a demo, do you show more than you think they need to overwhelm them, or less than you think they need to make them want more? Nobody gets it exactly right, so that answer doesn't work.

The approach that I like to take is 20%. If I have a demo that is constructed to show 20% more than I have determined they need, I will be able to meet their expectations. Now just because I have built the demo to do that, doesn’t mean I have to show it all. When you are done, you are done. Stop selling when they start buying.

Aiming above your target helps hit it. Shoot too low and you may never get another chance.

Mother’s Visit Sales

Mom is going to be here WHEN!?! Happens to all of us. We have known she is coming to visit for more than a month, yet it is always in the last couple of hours that sheets get changed and dishes get put away. So is your Mother the end of the month, quarter, or year?

To be blunt, it is on the calendar. It is coming, it is no surprise, why do we act like we are shocked? Generally it is lack of process. Most of us are good instinctive sales people. We get a lead, we see the need, we shoot, we score. Where is that next lead coming from? It should be coming from your process that says you need to make 20 calls a day to get 1 person to express interest, so you have 5 new deals in the pipeline a week. Your numbers may vary, but you know what I mean. Good sales process.

Knock knock, who’s there? Your Mother.

The Community Effect

I don’t care how good a sales person you are, you can’t do it alone. I’m not even talking about your coworkers and support staff. I’m talking about your community. Those people who are your competitors and peers who teach you more in a conversation that hours of sales training.

I learned this lesson more than 5 years ago when I entered the software business. Before that I worked at a small VAR that didn’t get the concept of community and leadership, so we languished, a small fish in a small pond.

Working with partners, vendors, and competitors at an uncountable number of events has made me better in every way. As much as you learn at events put on by other companies, you learn more at your own events. I learned this with our Community Live event. Even as a small company you can plan an event to help your clients, vendors, and yourself. If you want to see how one of these can be run, look here, and think about attend one of these events coming to a city near you.

Real Life Training, Real Life Results

Many of you know I go backpacking every September in the west. Every year I start training for this trip mid-summer and work hard to mold my desk riding body into a climbing machine. Every year…I fail. I fail, not because I’m not working hard, but because my workout isn’t the same as my task. That got me to thinking, does the same thing plague your sales team?

When you provide sales training to your staff, is it relevant customized training, or generic sales 101 stuff? I thought so. Ever wonder why it doesn’t pay off the way you wish it would? If you are giving basic sales training to entry level reps, the generic training may be fine. I might dispute why you think hiring and training new sales people is a good move, but that is another blog post. If you want high quality performance, you need high quality training.

Find a good sales coach who understands you industry and have them build a custom training program for you and your team, it will be worth every penny.

Sales Decathlon

How do you judge your sales people? Do you want a sprinter, always first to the line? A hurdler, able to clear obstacles?  A pole-vaulter, able to hit the big number? All of those things are nice, but at what expense? Do you care how the come in first, clear obstacles and hit the big number? You should. If fact I think you need to hire salespeople who can compete in a decathlon. Yes, but forget the Kardashians, I’m talking about a Bruce Jenner type here…

Not familiar with the decathlon, just click here.  10 different events over 2 days. Take the scores form each event, add them up and see who is the best well rounded track and field athlete. This is an even where the best rise to the top. It isn’t enough to be strong, or fast, or coordinated. To win, you have to be all of these things, and have to be able to compete at a high level.

That is how I want my salespeople. Not just hard closers, and not just good prospectors, and not just salespeople who are quick on their feet, I want all of that. I want a decathlete.