At some point, every single one of your customers was totally oblivious to your existence and to the products and services your business provides. And I hope you will agree with me that your best customers are those who not only buy a lot from you, very often, but who are also active members of your 'surrogate sales team'. If you could get more of the 'oblivious' to become 'sales team', that would be good wouldn't it?
If only there was a clearly defined, well signposted route available to them, don't you think that many of them would get a long way down that path? By understanding the sections this route needs to have in its construction, you can make it easy for them to do so.
The first thing is to register on the prospective customer's senses, to achieve consciousness. You need to provide several means by which this first perception can happen, and you should be doing so in places where you know your ideal customers are likely to be. You can't expect them to come to you at this stage.
Next, the prospect has to have a better acquaintance with you and the things you can provide. This could be provided by the other 'consciousness' messages which they happened not to come across first. Equally it could be the repetition of a message. In either case, the prospect will not start to absorb your messages until they have this acquaintance with you.
Now, with prospects very aware that they know of you and are familiar with you, they are in a position to absorb what good they will get out of doing business with you and what sets you apart from your competition, your distinctiveness. If you try to ram your messages down their throats before they have arrived at this point, your efforts will have been wasted. And 'ramming' is unlikely to be productive at any point!
Now the prospect has an interest in possibly purchasing from you, and you need to make sure there is a simple and obvious means for them to communicate this interest back to you. All the previous effort will be wasted if the prospect has to 'jump through hoops' in order to indicate that they'd like to know more.
The fifth step is to convert their interest into an initial sale, and for now all I will say is that this is a subject of its own, and that yet again there is not one fixed 'one size fits all' mechanism for doing this.
Having bought from you once, you will be trying to get the customers to buy from you again, to gain repeat business from them. As before, there will not be just one single tactic that will work on every occasion.
Maybe after their first purchase, or maybe later, you would be hoping that your satisfied customers will be letting their contacts know how good you are and how pleased they were to have used you. To achieve this you must not neglect the need to provide the means and the encouragement for them to do so. In other words you need to recruit them into your sales team and then 'train' them.
Several things now become apparent from this route from 'oblivious' to 'sales team'. Firstly, that it is actually a circular path, because the activities of the 'sales team' will introduce previously 'oblivious' new people at the 'consciousness' level. Secondly, that enabling a prospect to journey through consciousness, acquaintance, distinctiveness and the cultivation of interest is Marketing; from interest to sale and to repeat business is Sales; and that through repeat business, sales team and full circle to new consciousness is Marketing once more.
Thirdly, the three 'mores' of growing a business can also be mapped onto these ideas. The first part of Marketing is getting more customers; the early part of sales can also focus on getting them to buy more; and the later overlap of Sales and Marketing to achieve repeat business can also encourage buying more often.
Out of all these thoughts is born your Sales and Marketing strategy!
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get a FREE review of your Sales and Marketing activities.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
How Does Your Garden Grow?
On the basis that most if not all business owners could easily shrink their business, let us focus on how to grow it instead.
To start with, what does 'grow' mean here? If you grow sales, is this the whole answer? Well, if each sale loses you money, then obviously not! So is it growing profits? Well, yes, but you can only go so far with cutting costs, so you need to grow profitable sales.
But will profitable sales grow your business if your customers never get around to paying you? Of course not! Your business will die through lack of cash!
Leaving debt collection aside for another time, let's look at growing sales, bearing in mind we'll need to ensure they are profitable too. There are only three ways to grow sales! Sales growth comes from a combination of:
And that's it!
Your strategy for sales growth should consider all three 'mores'; how easy it will be, how much you will need to invest to get the return you seek, how profitable it will be. Your strategy will be unlikely to focus on just one of these mechanisms either. Almost certainly it will be a balance of all three, probably with one playing a larger part than the others.
Attracting new customers who've never bought from you before will involve promoting your name and your marketing messages, and is unlikely to produce instant results. Your 'new customer' strategy will need to take your messages to where your ideal customers will see them. You can't rely on strangers coming to find you where you are.
These strangers will probably need to receive your messages several times before they start absorbing much more than your name, however compelling your messages may be, so this needs to form part of your 'new customer' strategy too.
Persuading customers, be they first timers or repeat buyers, to spend more relies on having 'more' for them to buy! Not exactly earth shattering, but nevertheless often ignored!
It may be that you can persuade them to 'upsize', or you could 'upsell' by convincing them to add extra products or services to their purchase.
Whatever you do, you need to have the 'more' available for them to buy.
When it comes to the upsize, you will almost certainly be able to do this yourself by adding extra value to your basic offering, checking of course that these extras are actually seen as being of genuine value by your ideal customers.
Providing products and services to be 'upsold' does not however have to rest entirely with you. This is an area where Strategic Alliance Partnerships can be very important. If your partner's products complement yours, it is reasonably likely that your products complement theirs, so you can help each other.
Lastly, there is the question of how to persuade customers to come back for more, and get them to do so more frequently.
As existing customers, they are already know you and presumably remain happy to have bought from you in the past. Your task is to ensure that the next time they want what you supply, they will come back to you, isn't it?
Well, yes, of course, but it goes beyond that simple picture. They may only be aware of the narrow range that they actually bought from you previously, and not your entire 'repertoire'. And this repertoire may have changed since they last purchased from you any way.
You also need to be in the front of their minds at the time they decide to take action to satisfy their new want. In this regard 'a miss is as good as a mile' in terms of the timing of your messages, and there's the clue. You have to be in the front of their mind shortly before they make their decision. As you have no idea when this may be, you have to regularly remind them of your existence and capabilities. In short you need an effective 'keep in touch' system.
As a parting thought, what if you consider yours to be a one-hit business? As my friend the Undertaker reminds me, he doesn't sell to the deceased! He sells to their family. And guess what? They're all going to die one day too! So maybe yours isn't a one-hit business after all!
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get a FREE review of your Sales and Marketing activities.
To start with, what does 'grow' mean here? If you grow sales, is this the whole answer? Well, if each sale loses you money, then obviously not! So is it growing profits? Well, yes, but you can only go so far with cutting costs, so you need to grow profitable sales.
But will profitable sales grow your business if your customers never get around to paying you? Of course not! Your business will die through lack of cash!
Leaving debt collection aside for another time, let's look at growing sales, bearing in mind we'll need to ensure they are profitable too. There are only three ways to grow sales! Sales growth comes from a combination of:
- More Customers
- Spending More
- More Often
And that's it!
Your strategy for sales growth should consider all three 'mores'; how easy it will be, how much you will need to invest to get the return you seek, how profitable it will be. Your strategy will be unlikely to focus on just one of these mechanisms either. Almost certainly it will be a balance of all three, probably with one playing a larger part than the others.
Attracting new customers who've never bought from you before will involve promoting your name and your marketing messages, and is unlikely to produce instant results. Your 'new customer' strategy will need to take your messages to where your ideal customers will see them. You can't rely on strangers coming to find you where you are.
These strangers will probably need to receive your messages several times before they start absorbing much more than your name, however compelling your messages may be, so this needs to form part of your 'new customer' strategy too.
Persuading customers, be they first timers or repeat buyers, to spend more relies on having 'more' for them to buy! Not exactly earth shattering, but nevertheless often ignored!
It may be that you can persuade them to 'upsize', or you could 'upsell' by convincing them to add extra products or services to their purchase.
Whatever you do, you need to have the 'more' available for them to buy.
When it comes to the upsize, you will almost certainly be able to do this yourself by adding extra value to your basic offering, checking of course that these extras are actually seen as being of genuine value by your ideal customers.
Providing products and services to be 'upsold' does not however have to rest entirely with you. This is an area where Strategic Alliance Partnerships can be very important. If your partner's products complement yours, it is reasonably likely that your products complement theirs, so you can help each other.
Lastly, there is the question of how to persuade customers to come back for more, and get them to do so more frequently.
As existing customers, they are already know you and presumably remain happy to have bought from you in the past. Your task is to ensure that the next time they want what you supply, they will come back to you, isn't it?
Well, yes, of course, but it goes beyond that simple picture. They may only be aware of the narrow range that they actually bought from you previously, and not your entire 'repertoire'. And this repertoire may have changed since they last purchased from you any way.
You also need to be in the front of their minds at the time they decide to take action to satisfy their new want. In this regard 'a miss is as good as a mile' in terms of the timing of your messages, and there's the clue. You have to be in the front of their mind shortly before they make their decision. As you have no idea when this may be, you have to regularly remind them of your existence and capabilities. In short you need an effective 'keep in touch' system.
As a parting thought, what if you consider yours to be a one-hit business? As my friend the Undertaker reminds me, he doesn't sell to the deceased! He sells to their family. And guess what? They're all going to die one day too! So maybe yours isn't a one-hit business after all!
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get a FREE review of your Sales and Marketing activities.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Can Your Team Really Ever Be A Team?
Previously I've used sporting analogies to talk about business folk in general and then Sales people in particular. This time I'm returning to business people generally, though maybe with a slight bias towards Marketing and Sales.
Let me ask you, is a sporting analogy appropriate in every instance? Or is it true that every group of people striving to reach a common goal is a team?
Is the Three Musketeers' cry of, "All for one, and one for all" appropriate all the time?
In your Sales team or your Marketing team, do you view your colleagues as team-mates or competitors? If you get an order, does this mean that one of your colleagues hasn't got it, or have you only deprived a competitor company of the business?
If one of the team achieves what they set out to do, is this seen throughout the organisation as the team achieving what the team set out to do? Or does the reverse apply, where the individual may have reached their goal but the rest of the team are seen not to have reached theirs yet?
Let's look at this from a sporting perspective. If a rugby player scores a try, the team gets the points. If players from the same team score many more tries than the opposition, the team gets lots of points and, in the absence of penalties, the first team win the match. This then is definitely a team sport.
If a racing driver starts from pole position and stays in the lead until the chequered flag, or has passed all the cars that are in front of them by the end of the race, they are the winner, but is it a victory for a team or an individual? Of course it is a victory for a team! All the 'supporting cast' will have had to play their parts to perfection too for their driver to cross the finishing line in first place.
In fact it would be hard, if not impossible, to think of any sport that isn't a team sport, even if there is only one performing athlete in the mix.
Back in business though, things can be subtly different. The skill sets and the rewards structure may be such that one person can meet their target and be rewarded, whilst another doesn't and so doesn't get rewarded. They may well be part of a group who all report to the same person, but compared with our sports example, they don't appear to be a team, however the office jargon may describe them.
So how should we describe that group? A useful alternative in this case is to call them a 'Committee'. A team is where all win or no-one wins; the team's performance matters more than individuals' performances. A committee is where one person can win but others can lose. If you have a committee, the sports analogies actually ring very hollow, especially those about team spirit!
Is your team focused on short-term goals, as with a sports team, with importance and intensity characterising the members' behaviour - a desire to win the current game - or not? Do they give their all for today and let their position in the league table take care of itself? Are the elements of competition and results strong in your 'team'?
Most business scenarios do not have this same degree of short term intensity. Instead they are complex and there are obscure links between cause and effect. Even in competitive industries, many of the people in one organisation never get to meet their competitors, and the evidence of the results of their work is usually not as strong as in a sports team. Many cannot see how their individual efforts contribute to the overall result.
If only the 'team' behaved more like a team, there may be more to be gained from these analogies. A relay squad knows its job it to get the baton to the finishing line, but that only the runner on the anchor leg will actually cross the line with the baton. Good communication, the mutual trust to pass clients from expert to expert as their needs change throughout the sales process, and the knowledge that the only thing that matters is the order, not who gets it, would stand many business teams in a lot stronger position.
We need to use sporting analogies with care here then. Plus, there will be people in your organisation who hate sports, for whom competition is anathema, and indiscriminate sports analogies will alienate those people, not include them.
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get a FREE review of your Sales and Marketing activities.
Let me ask you, is a sporting analogy appropriate in every instance? Or is it true that every group of people striving to reach a common goal is a team?
Is the Three Musketeers' cry of, "All for one, and one for all" appropriate all the time?
In your Sales team or your Marketing team, do you view your colleagues as team-mates or competitors? If you get an order, does this mean that one of your colleagues hasn't got it, or have you only deprived a competitor company of the business?
If one of the team achieves what they set out to do, is this seen throughout the organisation as the team achieving what the team set out to do? Or does the reverse apply, where the individual may have reached their goal but the rest of the team are seen not to have reached theirs yet?
Let's look at this from a sporting perspective. If a rugby player scores a try, the team gets the points. If players from the same team score many more tries than the opposition, the team gets lots of points and, in the absence of penalties, the first team win the match. This then is definitely a team sport.
If a racing driver starts from pole position and stays in the lead until the chequered flag, or has passed all the cars that are in front of them by the end of the race, they are the winner, but is it a victory for a team or an individual? Of course it is a victory for a team! All the 'supporting cast' will have had to play their parts to perfection too for their driver to cross the finishing line in first place.
In fact it would be hard, if not impossible, to think of any sport that isn't a team sport, even if there is only one performing athlete in the mix.
Back in business though, things can be subtly different. The skill sets and the rewards structure may be such that one person can meet their target and be rewarded, whilst another doesn't and so doesn't get rewarded. They may well be part of a group who all report to the same person, but compared with our sports example, they don't appear to be a team, however the office jargon may describe them.
So how should we describe that group? A useful alternative in this case is to call them a 'Committee'. A team is where all win or no-one wins; the team's performance matters more than individuals' performances. A committee is where one person can win but others can lose. If you have a committee, the sports analogies actually ring very hollow, especially those about team spirit!
Is your team focused on short-term goals, as with a sports team, with importance and intensity characterising the members' behaviour - a desire to win the current game - or not? Do they give their all for today and let their position in the league table take care of itself? Are the elements of competition and results strong in your 'team'?
Most business scenarios do not have this same degree of short term intensity. Instead they are complex and there are obscure links between cause and effect. Even in competitive industries, many of the people in one organisation never get to meet their competitors, and the evidence of the results of their work is usually not as strong as in a sports team. Many cannot see how their individual efforts contribute to the overall result.
If only the 'team' behaved more like a team, there may be more to be gained from these analogies. A relay squad knows its job it to get the baton to the finishing line, but that only the runner on the anchor leg will actually cross the line with the baton. Good communication, the mutual trust to pass clients from expert to expert as their needs change throughout the sales process, and the knowledge that the only thing that matters is the order, not who gets it, would stand many business teams in a lot stronger position.
We need to use sporting analogies with care here then. Plus, there will be people in your organisation who hate sports, for whom competition is anathema, and indiscriminate sports analogies will alienate those people, not include them.
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get a FREE review of your Sales and Marketing activities.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Unaccustomed As I Am
Talking about MPs [We were, weren't we? At least here in the UK just now!], some years ago one of the major parties tried to help its newly elected Members of Parliament by issuing them with a template for a maiden speech.
Knowing that even to appear on a ballot paper requires pragmatism, common sense and intelligence, the covering note reminded timorous new Members to insert the name of their own constituency in the gap!
Fortunately, better advice is available for the rest of us, and politicians too if they choose to look for it! Making a 'maiden' speech to any audience of speakers might feel terrifying, but they will all remember their first time and will be willing you to succeed.
If you appear in front of them and start off by apologising, they'll expect the worst. Don't be too hard on yourself. We all have things we don't like about ourselves, but the reality of public speaking is that the audience doesn't see them. So, harder as it is to do this than to say it, RELAX!
Know your subject, and know that the audience are interested in hearing about it. Be passionate about it, and know the details. If you're asked to speak about something you don't know about, learn about it!
Never, ever waffle, apologise or thank people for listening! Too many speakers open with self-deprecating remarks. Sure the best person to tell a story against is yourself, but not right at the start! Without words, your body language is capable of committing the same sin. So don't come on cowering and trembling, saying "I don't really know why they've asked me. I'm not very good at this." Take a few deep breaths, walk on stage looking confident, and smile. Then, by way of a good, relevant introduction which grabs your audience, get to the point!
The first few seconds of your speech are crucial. You have to grab the attention of your audience, so how can you do this? How can you gain and keep their attention? Firstly, engage your audience. Some ideas for doing this are:
Whichever you do, and I'm sure you can think of other ideas of your own, you need to make them think. Within your 'introduction' you should also be telling them how long your talk will take, why they will enjoy it, and what they will get from it. Then tactfully tell them that they will receive that value only if they pay attention to you right to the end.
Learn from other people's speeches, and everyday conversation. Analyse what people do to get the reactions you seek. For example, groups of three ideas have worked well for a very long time, and still do; from "Faith, hope, and love" in the New Testament, to "Education, Education, Education" in the 21st century.
There is a difference between written and spoken English so don't try to speak an essay, and don't try to convey too much information. The written word is good for communicating details, but speaking much less so. And keep it short and simple! The full St Matthew version of the Lord's Prayer is only 66 words!
Weave imagery and anecdotes (your own!) into your speeches. Imagery
pre-dates writing and continued apace whilst general literacy levels were not high. Coats of arms and mediaeval inn signs are examples which survive, but parables and fables were once the only means of preserving knowledge.
Yet again, keep the anecdote short and simple. The parable of the Good Samaritan takes only 165 words!
The ability to ad-lib, or speak "off the cuff" is often seen as an enviable skill, but look at the literal meanings of these phrases. Ad Libitum translates as 'to the freest extent' or 'as much as one desires', and your shirt cuff is where you might well have written carefully researched and abbreviated aides memoires!. So actually we are claiming to admire both long and rambling and carefully scripted speeches! Over-confidence in your ability to 'wing it' can lead to an aimless, pointless speech with no clear structure and no clear message.
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get your FREE Sales and Marketing coaching taster call.
Knowing that even to appear on a ballot paper requires pragmatism, common sense and intelligence, the covering note reminded timorous new Members to insert the name of their own constituency in the gap!
Fortunately, better advice is available for the rest of us, and politicians too if they choose to look for it! Making a 'maiden' speech to any audience of speakers might feel terrifying, but they will all remember their first time and will be willing you to succeed.
If you appear in front of them and start off by apologising, they'll expect the worst. Don't be too hard on yourself. We all have things we don't like about ourselves, but the reality of public speaking is that the audience doesn't see them. So, harder as it is to do this than to say it, RELAX!
Know your subject, and know that the audience are interested in hearing about it. Be passionate about it, and know the details. If you're asked to speak about something you don't know about, learn about it!
Never, ever waffle, apologise or thank people for listening! Too many speakers open with self-deprecating remarks. Sure the best person to tell a story against is yourself, but not right at the start! Without words, your body language is capable of committing the same sin. So don't come on cowering and trembling, saying "I don't really know why they've asked me. I'm not very good at this." Take a few deep breaths, walk on stage looking confident, and smile. Then, by way of a good, relevant introduction which grabs your audience, get to the point!
The first few seconds of your speech are crucial. You have to grab the attention of your audience, so how can you do this? How can you gain and keep their attention? Firstly, engage your audience. Some ideas for doing this are:
- A question to the audience
- An amazing statistic
- A comparison between two unrelated things
- A promise to reveal a secret
- An amusing story
Whichever you do, and I'm sure you can think of other ideas of your own, you need to make them think. Within your 'introduction' you should also be telling them how long your talk will take, why they will enjoy it, and what they will get from it. Then tactfully tell them that they will receive that value only if they pay attention to you right to the end.
Learn from other people's speeches, and everyday conversation. Analyse what people do to get the reactions you seek. For example, groups of three ideas have worked well for a very long time, and still do; from "Faith, hope, and love" in the New Testament, to "Education, Education, Education" in the 21st century.
There is a difference between written and spoken English so don't try to speak an essay, and don't try to convey too much information. The written word is good for communicating details, but speaking much less so. And keep it short and simple! The full St Matthew version of the Lord's Prayer is only 66 words!
Weave imagery and anecdotes (your own!) into your speeches. Imagery
pre-dates writing and continued apace whilst general literacy levels were not high. Coats of arms and mediaeval inn signs are examples which survive, but parables and fables were once the only means of preserving knowledge.
Yet again, keep the anecdote short and simple. The parable of the Good Samaritan takes only 165 words!
The ability to ad-lib, or speak "off the cuff" is often seen as an enviable skill, but look at the literal meanings of these phrases. Ad Libitum translates as 'to the freest extent' or 'as much as one desires', and your shirt cuff is where you might well have written carefully researched and abbreviated aides memoires!. So actually we are claiming to admire both long and rambling and carefully scripted speeches! Over-confidence in your ability to 'wing it' can lead to an aimless, pointless speech with no clear structure and no clear message.
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get your FREE Sales and Marketing coaching taster call.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Succeeding In Spite of Yourself
What does it mean to shoot yourself in the foot? Is it that you're not just aiming too low, you're aiming so dangerously low that your foot is in the sights as you pull the trigger? Or is it what the military call a 'negligent discharge'? Have you accidentally pulled the trigger while your gun is still in its holster, muzzle downwards?
Whichever you prefer, the common thread is carelessly, stupidly, naïvely doing something that causes you pain and delay, and does you more harm than good.
I have come across many examples of businesses shooting themselves in the foot, so I thought I'd list some pitfalls for you to recognise and avoid. You can imagine a (falsely) reasoned argument in favour of each of these. I believe the counter argument carries far more weight in each case.
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get your FREE Sales and Marketing coaching taster call.
Whichever you prefer, the common thread is carelessly, stupidly, naïvely doing something that causes you pain and delay, and does you more harm than good.
I have come across many examples of businesses shooting themselves in the foot, so I thought I'd list some pitfalls for you to recognise and avoid. You can imagine a (falsely) reasoned argument in favour of each of these. I believe the counter argument carries far more weight in each case.
- Selling to the wrong people
Don't push your business on everyone you meet! Know how to identify your ideal customer. It's a waste of time trying to sell to people who simply don't need what you're offering. - Selling the wrong product
Don't assume all your ideal customers want what you are selling! Even if you believe they need it, they have to want it before you can sell it to them. It's a waste of time trying to sell to people who don't even need what you're offering. - Forgetting your Unique Selling Point(s) - USP(s)
You must offer more than just items of value to the ideal customers. You must give them good reasons to buy from you rather than your competitors. You must consistently tell them why you and your products are uniquely placed to help them. - Failing to focus on value creation
Customers only want to buy from you because the value they get from the purchase far outweighs the value of the money they have to part with to do so. If you don't create value for them, in their minds, they will see no need to purchase. - Haphazard Marketing
You need a Marketing strategy that covers all areas of the customers' long-term relationships with your business - From them first finding out you exist, to them telling all their friends how good you are! - Ignoring the only three ways to grow a business
Getting more people, to spend more, more often - These three 'mores' are the only three ways to grow a business. You must balance your efforts to increase each factor according to your market and the needs of your business. - Ignoring repeat business
The third 'more'! - You need to keep your customers aware of your existence, and have the 'more' there for them to buy - Ignoring Up-Selling
The second 'more'! - You need to offer products or services that are complementary to the things the customers initially wanted to buy - Only advertising when you need Customers
The first 'more'! - This is the one people usually focus on to the exclusion of the others. "We need more sales so how can we find more new customers?" Advertising isn't the only form of promotion, and promotion should be an on-going activity. - Not tracking results
Not even the 'experts' can accurately predict what will work for you and what won't. You have to test and measure each Marketing activity. You have to know what produced what. Then, if it doesn't work, drop it. But if it does work, do more of it! - Not following things through
If you're like most, you'll have many, many things you'd like to try. Don't waste time and money starting something that you can't follow through. - Running an advert only once
If you fix your 'haphazard Marketing', you'll be aware that people need to be given several opportunities to fully absorb your messages. If your promotional activity doesn't produce results first time, it's probably never been given the chance! - Copying the Competition
Do what you need to do because you know that you need to do it. Believe me, all your competitors could easily be making the same foolish mistake! Quite possibly because they all followed blindly! - Trying to save where it counts
Don't try to save money in places where it shows. When it comes to what your customers can see, you should spend whatever it takes to get everything looking right. - Spending too much money, unwisely
Your business should put cash into your pocket, so before you invest money into it, be clear on how you're going to pull that cash back out again - Spending too little money
Equally, don't be miserly and don't let frugality get in the way of efficiency. Take advantage of skilled outsiders who can do certain tasks more efficiently than you can. - Going against your intuition
While you might think that logic is the language of business, that's far from the truth. If you base all your business deals on hard logic and ignore your intuition, you'll get hurt! - Being too formal
Business is built on relationships and human beings don't want to build relationships with faceless corporations. They only want relationships with other human beings, so build rapport and relax formality as appropriate. - Failing to optimize
You can't simply focus on creating value, and imagine the rest will take care of itself. As a business owner, you need to find a way to deliver your value in a cost effective way. - Not collecting your money on time
Collecting money from people can be hard, so collect a substantial portion of the money first before you provide anything. When it comes to debt-collecting, if you act like you don't need the money, you'll never get paid!
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get your FREE Sales and Marketing coaching taster call.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Why is a Salesman Like a Sportsman?
Continuing with a previous thread of the similarities and differences between Sport and Sales, there are several obvious common themes.
However, the approaches to training seem vastly different.
Excuse the gap. Blogspot doesn't seem to handle tables perfectly!
Can you imagine this Sales scenario operating in professional competitive sport? Yet we have to assume that salespeople also want to perform to their best, and that their best is at a high level - otherwise why haven't they changed to a different career?
The Sales Manager and Sales Director have to view their roles as 'Coaches'. In professional football, for example, if the team is consistently performing badly, it is recognised that the results are the ultimate responsibility of the Manager. If the results don't come, it will be the Manager who loses his job before too many of the players lose theirs!
If the salespeople model themselves on any particular sport, they need to be aware of the circumstances that prevail in that sport. For example, in Formula 1 mid-season testing has been banned since 2009, but not because it delivers no benefit. Far from it! It has been banned purely in order to level the playing field for the less affluent teams.
In both scenarios, the team have to be trained and they have to have the opportunity in a 'safe environment' to try putting into practice what they have learned. Further observation and suggestions for improvement must be effectively continuous. A sports Coach will monitor their protégés in action, in competition as well as in training, because performance under pressure has to be analysed and shortcomings acted upon. Sales needs to be similar. In both spheres there has to be room for new ideas, new techniques, new training regimes and new approaches.
Those responsible for sales team training should ask themselves, "Could the team apply all they've been taught anyway?" In a sporting context you'd be hard pressed to answer anything except 'of course'. But has the sales trainer taken the time to understand the company's customers and markets? Their problems and circumstances? Have they observed the sales team in action, under pressure? This type of trainer would not be cheap, and it would mean investing a large amount in your sales team. But aren't you expecting them to be as professional at their jobs as any top professional sports star is at theirs?
Apparently, around a third of sales people change jobs each year, so does this tempt 'management' not to invest in their development? I doubt the figure is as high in professional football, despite the lively transfer market.
Do football club Managers feel it's not worth developing their players because they'll all have moved on in a few years? By not investing in those staff who do leave, you'll be failing to invest in those who'd like to stay, and they'll up and leave too because they want to be developed!
Many sports which operate in a 'club' environment make use of senior players to help with the development of juniors, and sales teams need to do the same. Neglecting the accumulated in-house wisdom would be a grave error, so analyse why your top performers are at the top. Help them to do so if they can't put it into words themselves. Get them involved in the training and coaching of the whole team.
If you have any responsibility for the results of a team - even a team of one - don't just tick the box which says 'we've done training'! Take a leaf out of the sports Coaches' book. Olympic medals aren't available for selling, but if they were, wouldn't it be nice to think that your team would be among the medallists?
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- About competition and 'performance'
- Results oriented
- Have to get it 'right on the night'
- Underperformance is highly visible
- Operating under pressure
- Past and potential performance are merely indicators
- Preparation is vital
- Preparation is no guarantee of a good performance
- Complacency is a killer, e.g.
- Underestimating the competition
- Overestimating the competition!
- Skimping on preparation
- Ignoring the need to monitor and assess developments in your field
However, the approaches to training seem vastly different.
Excuse the gap. Blogspot doesn't seem to handle tables perfectly!
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Can you imagine this Sales scenario operating in professional competitive sport? Yet we have to assume that salespeople also want to perform to their best, and that their best is at a high level - otherwise why haven't they changed to a different career?
The Sales Manager and Sales Director have to view their roles as 'Coaches'. In professional football, for example, if the team is consistently performing badly, it is recognised that the results are the ultimate responsibility of the Manager. If the results don't come, it will be the Manager who loses his job before too many of the players lose theirs!
If the salespeople model themselves on any particular sport, they need to be aware of the circumstances that prevail in that sport. For example, in Formula 1 mid-season testing has been banned since 2009, but not because it delivers no benefit. Far from it! It has been banned purely in order to level the playing field for the less affluent teams.
In both scenarios, the team have to be trained and they have to have the opportunity in a 'safe environment' to try putting into practice what they have learned. Further observation and suggestions for improvement must be effectively continuous. A sports Coach will monitor their protégés in action, in competition as well as in training, because performance under pressure has to be analysed and shortcomings acted upon. Sales needs to be similar. In both spheres there has to be room for new ideas, new techniques, new training regimes and new approaches.
Those responsible for sales team training should ask themselves, "Could the team apply all they've been taught anyway?" In a sporting context you'd be hard pressed to answer anything except 'of course'. But has the sales trainer taken the time to understand the company's customers and markets? Their problems and circumstances? Have they observed the sales team in action, under pressure? This type of trainer would not be cheap, and it would mean investing a large amount in your sales team. But aren't you expecting them to be as professional at their jobs as any top professional sports star is at theirs?
Apparently, around a third of sales people change jobs each year, so does this tempt 'management' not to invest in their development? I doubt the figure is as high in professional football, despite the lively transfer market.
Do football club Managers feel it's not worth developing their players because they'll all have moved on in a few years? By not investing in those staff who do leave, you'll be failing to invest in those who'd like to stay, and they'll up and leave too because they want to be developed!
Many sports which operate in a 'club' environment make use of senior players to help with the development of juniors, and sales teams need to do the same. Neglecting the accumulated in-house wisdom would be a grave error, so analyse why your top performers are at the top. Help them to do so if they can't put it into words themselves. Get them involved in the training and coaching of the whole team.
If you have any responsibility for the results of a team - even a team of one - don't just tick the box which says 'we've done training'! Take a leaf out of the sports Coaches' book. Olympic medals aren't available for selling, but if they were, wouldn't it be nice to think that your team would be among the medallists?
Calling all UK-based businesses. Discover how to get your FREE Sales and Marketing coaching taster call.
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