Stop Converting and Start Selling

Hey, you. Yeah, YOU! The hip web guru in the ironic t-shirt and thick frame glasses. I know your startup is about to be the next Facebook for Groupon-like YouTube aggregators, but somewhere along your journey to internet domination you’ll be required to get out from behind the keyboard and actually talk to someone as a champion of your company. Right now you likely view these real people simply as data-points with labels like ‘Users’ or ‘Investors’. Regardless of column headings, these living, breathing and opinionated beings will need to see authentic passion behind your brand before committing capital to its cause

Forget the metrics and buzzwords for a moment. Instead, apply more human terms like ‘Clients’ and ‘Partners’. Did this transition make you uncomfortable? If so, good. Asking for money can be unnerving for even the most grizzled sales pros. If not, sign off your avatar immediately and get some fresh air.

Despite the incessant ramblings of branding consultants whonever met a company that wasn’t in desperate need of a fresh new image, real eyes, ears, hearts and wallets only connect with real people. Consumers, investors and corporations all rely on spending to generate income, and they’d rather their money go to a sincerely smiling face than a preposterously polished logo. Companies need sales. Selling requires a problem. Problems require a solution. And as the face of your company, you had better be selling this solution if you’re going to generate income. 

The great tech titans are all phenomenal pitch men, or ‘brand ambassadors’ if you must, although not in the exuberant sense and rarely regarded for it publicly (Steve Jobs aside). Bill Gates, dweeby as he may be, nevershrunk from the spotlight as an advocate for his operating system. Mark Zuckerberg’s genuine love for connecting people shines through his social awkwardness, and had he not been technically inclined, he may well have excelled at developing just about any offline community – say, a new-age hospice center - instead of a social network. Jeff Bezos is fanatical about efficiency, and had he not plodded through countless objections convincing financiers that making purchases on this new thing called the Internet would ultimately prove more attractive than browsing physical shelves, he could not have created the best consumer purchasing platform on the web. Michael Dell certainly doesn’t mind his name in front of his product, and Jobs, well, his shtick did OK building and then re-building Apple into the world’s leading consumer technology company. GroupOn’s Andrew Mason never met a microphone he didn’t like either…although that has come back to bite him of late. Most of these legendary founders are actually quite uncomfortable socially, but they all got out there and sold their visions. 

With so few barriers to entry, starting an internet company has never been easier, and even the best ideas are rarely unique or unable to be replicated. That means the startup whose founder makes the most noise is the only one that will reach a critical mass of acceptance where he or she can stop doing so for a moment to focus on optimization. After all, you can’t optimize without initial user feedback - volunteered or observed - and the internet is a pretty crowded place for a new service to simply rely on being stumbled upon. If the founder is not willing to be the pitch man for investors or early adopters, neither will be compelled to commit.

Don’t confuse marketing with sales either. Paid or free, online or offline - marketing is simply telling. Sales is about asking. It’s the art of posing the right series of questions to get an enthusiastic Yes time and time again when the question is “Can I have your money?”

You don’t have to change outfits. Just your environment and attitude. You can’t focus on converting users until you first get out in front of clients and investors selling them on your company. And selling is all about the basics…none of which require A/B tested proprietary digital tweeting algorithms.

Successful Sales Programs Are Built, Not Hired

A recent conversation with a client I’m helping launch a high-volume and scalable B2B inside sales program reminded me that those who don’t touch the sales process tend not to think of it as a process at all. Rather, sales success is viewed as correlating directly to one’s talent for charismatic persuasion. Sure, a gift for talking people into making good decisions can help you close more deals, but it’s not something you can build a team around. Coachability tops swagger as a sustainable recruitment priority, especially in the early stages of a sale career. 

Founders of growing technology companies often struggle with hiring the foundation of their rank-and-file, because they make their own choices by not thinking like foot soldiers. Leaders capable of taking on management responsibility will emerge in due time as the company matures. In the meantime, you should absolutely hire likable, money-motivated and energetic sales talent all day…just with one eye on long-term fit and the other on management potential. 

There’s more to a first sales hire than posting on a job board. A documented methodology is needed to recruit, train, coach, monitor and compensate the first sales hire and improve the chances of success for every subsequent sales hire thereafter. Keep in mind we’re not talking about team members responsible for creating long-term strategic business alliances. We’re talking about your bread-and-butter sales team who predictably sell your core product to a target market in order to bring in the revenue that keeps the doors open. Predictability is actually the goal of an effective sales program, and it can only be achieved through process, not talent scouting on its own.

In case this seems too nebulous, let me break down the elements of sales program that need to be in place before the first prospecting call can be placed:

-          Recruitment strategy

o   Job description

o   Where to post / which recruiters to work with

o   Interview process

-          Compensation plan

o   Designed around expected activities and results as they relate to target earnings

-          Sales process from cold lead to closed deal

o   Daily expectations

o   Lead tracking (see CRM)

o   Call structure

o   Competitive analysis

o   Management reporting procedures with management

-          Customer relationship management (CRM) system

o   Technology sourcing

o   Lead importation

o   Activity reporting (calls/emails per rep/account)

o   Deal flow tracking (lead status and closing probability)

o   Revenue forecasting

o   Quota reporting (for commissions)

o   Email templates

o   Customer support ticketing

-          Sales scripts

o   Initial conversation structure

o   Email templates

o   Voicemails

o   Objection rebuttals

o   Follow ups

o   Closing

-          Sales collateral

o   Product/service description

o   Differentiating value proposition

-          Training Guide

o   Product and market education

o   Basic sales execution training

o   Sales process introduction and coaching

o   Performance expectations and compensation review

o   Role playing/practice

As you can see, the gift of gab is just an (important) aspect of the recruitment process, which is only a piece of a larger commitment to building a winning sales team. Talent is great, but it shines brightest in the context of a scalable process.

Un-Template Your Sales Process

Any sales organization or professional worth their commission checks understands that the fundamental key to driving new revenue is having a repeatable sales process. Along with any scalable process comes standardized procedures in the name of efficiency. Procedures form habits. Habits are hard to break.

What this translates to in the world of sales execution is the verbal and written ‘templatization’ (yes, we made that up) of prospect interaction. Basically, your pitch becomes generic to serve the broad audience instead of customized for the particular situation and need. The widespread adoption of CRM tools, like SalesForce.com, has made the trap of boiler-plate emails and robotic conversations all too easy to fall into by giving well-intentioned sales managers the ability to provide instant access to canned replies and scripts. It’s almost effortless to email the team and say “Use this template when asked about ___” and pat yourself on the back for arming the troops with hair-trigger copy-and-paste artillery. 

The outcome is that a sales process that should look like this:

1. Uncover needs
2. Confirm buying interest
3. Negotiate
4. Close

Ends up looking more like this:

1. Introduce yourself by saying this…
2. Send this email…
3. Follow up at this time by saying this…
4.  Reply to objections with this email…
5.  Wait for reply to generic email blast…
6.  Send in activity report…
7. Use this closing technique…
8. Harass prospect mercilessly

Intelligent buyers - the kind you presumably want – know the difference between personalized thoughtful responses and recycled content. They’re constantly bombarded by newsletters, webinar invites, sales collateral and other database email marketing SPAM, and they intuitively know the difference between consultative selling and having their purchasing decision left to the whim of automation and canned responses. Nobody wants to spend money with a company that doesn’t deliver a sincere personal pre-sale experience, especially if they are going to expect attentive customer service after they’ve committed to the deal.

Here are a few tricks to show personal attention without sacrificing too much time from a pipeline flush with prospects:

1. Create an FAQ with all your template answers rolled into one document. This was you can write a personal email referencing where this answer is in the FAQ and providing a few key clarifications to show thoughtfulness. WARNING: Be careful not to lose a deal by noting weaknesses in these FAQs. These are for technical selling points only. 
2. Make a few intentional spelling or grammar errors. Nothing that can be perceived as stupid or careless, but something that makes it appear like you typed the message just for them and fat-fingered in a few places. After all, who would a mistake in a boiler-plate response…it must be on the spot.
3. Makes inoffensive jokes referencing your previous dialogue as early as possible, both on the phone and in the opening of an email. If the conversation starts out in a way that would only make sense for them, they’ll assume the rest is just for them too.
4. Follow mass emails with a personalized note referencing the impersonal nature of batch communication and volunteering to answer any questions. Essentially, follow a boiler-plate with an anti-boiler-plate boiler-plate.
5. Opt your best prospects out of all automated campaigns. This means you’ll have to be extra-diligent with your follow up, but it takes away the risk of losing your rapport to the Sales 2.0 automation machine.

As always, sales is about relationships, and relationships are personal. Don’t let yourself rely on the crutch of treating all prospects the same, or you’ll get the same reply from them all: “Please Unsubscribe”

Turning (Green Technology) Wants into Needs

Selling to wants is fantastic when a surging economy leaves businesses and consumers flush with discretionary income, and it’s admittedly been a while since I took an economics class, but I don’t see the spend-happiness of 2003-2008 coming back soon, so any business looking to penetrate new markets better learn to position their product or service as a need. To be clear, needs are essential and wants are just nice to have. This is a serious dilemma for the green technology industry. Our solutions deliver long-term savings and soothe the ailments of a deteriorating planet, but they’re not an immediate necessity for homeowners, business owners and real estate pros struggling to stay above (murky) water.

Sure, all things ‘green’ come with immediate karmic satisfaction. This just isn’t enough on its own to offset the realities of needing to put food on table and make payroll first. Green technology projects cost more than traditional building for new property development, and they require additional investments for existing structures serving their current inhabitants adequately for the time being. This means sales and marketing professionals in the green industry have to compete with cheaper materials and the short-term inexpensiveness of doing nothing. It’s not a fantastic position…but it’s also not unique to the green industry. Just about every technology sector has successful players facing this challenge, and it can be effectively overcome through the tried and true sales best practices of having your objection responses polished and appealing to the emotional desires of potential buyers.

Here are some examples of turning wanting to green into a need:

Objection: “Building for LEED (or some other sustainability standard) is expensive.”

Response: “I understand that, but companies and individuals that buy or rent green properties are 7% more likely to fully honor their loan or renew their lease.  They’ll pay a 5% premium too for the space. Are you trying to attract buyers and tenants that stick around and appreciate a superior product, or would you prefer dealing with people that don’t think sustainability is a priority?”

Objection: “My building operates just fine. I’m sure we could save a bit on energy, but cash is tight right now.”

Response: “Well, I agree that you could save on energy, and I believe you that cash is tight. The last few years have been rough for everyone. Where I disagree is that your building is operating just fine. Buildings are a lot like humans. They’re not getting any younger and it’s best to address problems when they’re detected instead of waiting. Energy prices are only going to go up too, so wouldn’t you agree that we’d be wise to get healthy before the symptoms get worse?”

Objection: “A 10+ year ROI just isn’t within our investment scope for property improvements.”

Response: “I appreciate that, but let’s keep in mind that we’re talking about hard upfront costs and projected energy savings or revenue from selling energy. We haven’t taken into account increased property value through a cleaner, more desirable neighborhood and creating a more profitable long-term asset. There’s also something to be said for employee/family pride in their company/home and the productivity/values that come with it. Don’t you think?”

Objection: “I’m afraid all this green talk is a trend, and I can’t put myself in a position where look foolish as an early adopter of something that never took off.”

Response: “I understand that what’s fashionable today will likely be appalling tomorrow, but the misconception about green and sustainability is that they are labels instead of building standards. Environmental impact requirements are being worked into building codes worldwide, and in many places, like California, rigid sustainability protocols are mandatory for all new builds and capital improvements. Would you rather be proactive about meeting future requirements or look backwards using outdated practices that will soon be prohibited?”

Objection: “I can’t interrupt my business operations by making changes to reduce environmental impact.”

Response: “Reducing impact just means operating more efficiently by getting more done with fewer resources. If you don’t learn to be more efficient, your competition surely will. Can you afford to fall behind?”

I'm not under any illusion that the “green has to make dollars and sense” mantra is anything new, but so many good-willed and environmentally conscious professionals in the green industry forget that our industry can’t thrive without a bit of sales persuasion applied to the non-converted. Some people will make changes because they feel good, but most need to feel like they’re acting out of necessity, not a desire for warm and fuzzies. 

Given a choice between investing in green and falling behind the competition, most companies and individuals will make the right decision. We’ve just got to help them understand it’s about needs.

Lose the Inferiority Complex. Build a Better Story.

Nobody wants to feel like they’re buying the 2^nd best of anything. Educated buyers are well aware of the ‘best of breed’ brand for their purchase, but they likely lack the budget, fortitude and ego required to pay the top dollar required to obtain it, and so begins the process of attempting rationalize the comparative value of the viable alternative they hope will present itself.  That’s great news for those of us who don’t represent the high-end luxury route with all the bells and whistles. We’ve just got to stay the course helping them build the story of their decision making process along the way. Put more simply, your goal is to make the prospect feel like buying the top-end is for ignorant suckers who are too lazy to make intelligent purchasing decisions.  

In the IT world, the old adage of “Nobody ever got fired for choosing Cisco” is true enough at organizations with plenty of cash and limited ingenuity. But nobody got promoted for their innovation and cost-consciousness choosing Cisco either. My reply is always “Cisco never made anybody a hero either. Wanna be a hero?” Of course they do, or at least they want to try. It’s a matter of helping them see that winners don’t pay more to play it safe. Heroes do more with less.

A chip on your shoulder can be a shackle or a piece of flare. A burden, or an inspirational thumbing of the nose at the incumbent. To use cities for example, I’ve fallen in love with Chicago since moving here three months ago, but there’s an inescapable 2^nd-class self-perception within the entrepreneurial tech community. The names of two best business blogs in town, both written by fantastic guys that have been very good to me, reek of inferiority complex: www.SecondCityCEO.com and www.FlyoverGeeks.com. Conversely, Austin TX, another city I recently fell in love with, clearly revels in their booming green technology scene staying off the radar of the general public with their “Keep Austin weird” credo. Chicago will never get over its ‘not New York’ status until it stops trying. (Full Disclosure: I’m a native NYer still trying to do the same)

Hertz car rental’s classic “We’re #2. We Try Harder” and Apple’s brilliant-till-it-wasn’t-anymore ‘Mac vs PC’ campaigns are perfect examples of reveling your role in the pecking order to the chagrin of the top dog. Instead of shying away and hoping you don’t ask the hard questions, they proactively address the needs of their core audience and glare a spotlight on their relative strengths. Ask a Hertz or Apple sales rep what makes them different and they’ll tell you everything they are that the top brand isn’t, not the other way around. People that buy their products and services feel like they’ve one-upped the chumps who blindly follow the market leader.

Another approach is to simply ignore the rest of the market in favor of an earnest emphasis on your product’s value. Take the (admittedly by them, I presume) entirely unsexy brand of Eddie Bauer. I was recently in the market for a new winter coat (Chicago will do that to you), and in the land of down jackets they repeatedly hit you with how their product provides superior warmth and functionality with classic styling that you won’t regret next season. If you want to buy a coat that you’ll never regret, but a coat from Eddie Bauer. “Ours down coats have the highest quality materials and tailoring. That’s it. The rest of the market can be trendy. We stick with what we do well.” Their retail reps don’t even think about the competition. Simple, effective and warm too.

 

There’s basically two strategies to succeeding by admitting you’re not the top dog. Either point out your obvious strengths, “It’ funny you mention them. We were actually created to provide a better solution by…” or stick to your guns “You can shop around all you want. You won’t find anyone better at this specific aspect of what we do.” Whichever one you choose, there’s no room for resentment.

Make people proud of their choices by never letting them feel like they settled.

Why Being Fearless Will Get You Everywhere @ Focus.com

I don't want to double-publish the same content, so check out this post I wrote on Focus.com: http://www.focus.com/briefs/sales/why-being-fearless-will-get-you-everywhere/

Somehow it feels like I'm selling out my own blog...but they have a bigger audience. Forgive me. More 'exclusives' are in the works.

Sales vs Marketing vs Sanity

It’s well documented to the point of cliché within the B2B blogosphere that sales and marketing rarely see eye-to-eye. Sales thinks marketers are a bunch of geeks and glamour snobs with no clue what it’s like in the trenches. Marketing thinks sales people are lazy and overpaid with no appreciation for the work done to create opportunities on their behalf. As strictly a sales pro to this point in my career, I’d like to think I’ve extended the olive branch of mutual appreciation in my day, but I’ve certainly had my ‘those dweebs just don’t get it’ moments. Now I’ve started a new venture wearing both hats, and…it’s more of the same. Sales and marketing still don’t understand each other. 

The goal of marketing is pretty simple: Touch as many hearts and eyeballs as possible. Sales too: Bring in the maximum amount of dollars.The more hearts and eyes marketing can touch, the more deals sales can bring in the door. This makes sense for agreeing with each other in a vacuum, but the nuances of each role are surprisingly contradictory.  

When I’m wearing my marketing hat, I meticulously craft my company’s message to convey a specific feeling. I focus on a singular mental image that plays on an emotional reaction I imagine a hypothetic buyer might need triggered to connect with my company. Even small changes to the gameplan require lengthy contemplation.

My sales hat is more ballcap and less fedora. Decisions are made from the hip because there’s simply no time to over-think the absolute of necessity. Time is not a luxury afforded to the salesman one step away from a meal on the table. Hit or miss, a shot must be fired. 

Ok, so let’s revise. Marketing is planning for the big picture. Sales is reacting to the immediate needs. 

Now it all makes sense. The two sides - despite working towards the same goal - tend not to appreciate each other’s efforts because their decision-making processes are so different. It’s not likely that you’d take the exact same shot given a few seconds to aim as one where you were given hours, but it’s also unclear which would be better. Are you more likely to make the perfect shot given an eternity to consider its trajectory or only a moment with a launch and a prayer?

The cerebral approach to marketing is a result on having time, for better or worse, whereas sales decisions are made with less consideration by necessity. Marketing is a thinking man’s game. Sales is for gunslingers. Anyone with time to think about it gunslinging will surely see that it’s a dangerous game, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a bullet scarred veteran with sympathy for sideline puffery.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if there’s no time for soldiers to think in a gun fight and no sense being callous in the war room, then I’ll have to appreciate the separate decision making processes for what they are – separate – and not expect them to align.

My new mantra:

Sell fast.

Market slow.

Make it last.

Go go go.