Harder Or Smarter? Art Or Science?

The Sales Director's number one priority
How can you measure the effectiveness of your sales team?  What should you measure?  How important is it that you measure it?  I guess the answers are mostly, "Not sure", "Not sure" and "Very"!  And although the second might be more specific, are the specifics quoted the right ones?

A survey of Sales Directors in 2008 showed 'measuring sales team effectiveness' to be their number two priority, which seems to justify my claim of 'very' as the third answer.  So what was their number one priority?
That was 'increasing revenue' which possibly implies a disconnection between sales and marketing as 'increasing gross profits' would have been mine!

But coming back to measuring the effectiveness of the overall sales function, we need to consider whether working harder or smarter is the better strategy.  On top of this we need to decide whether sales is an art or a science.

What areas and functions may be easiest to measure and then improve?

How can you measure the effectiveness of your sales team?  What should you measure?  How important is it that you measure it?

Sales is an art, and not a science
Unsurprisingly, the general opinion is that smarter is better than harder.  The expression 'busy fools' came up quite a lot, apparently.  Also we need to recognise that sales is an art, and not a science, as things that work once may not work every time when repeated.  But having said that, sales is a highly 'teachable' art, where practitioners get better with practice, and where coached and mentored practice is more effective than unsupervised repetition.

This leads on to the idea that there is no single 'magic pill' that will cure all ills.  Smarter will mean making smaller improvements across many areas, so what are the easiest for the Sales Manager or Sales Director to measure and then positively influence?

Lead Generation
This is essentially a Marketing activity, so the sales team shouldn't be being asked to do it all.  But neither should their performance be judged acceptable if they do none of it, and recognise that when they do so they will be wearing their 'marketing' hat!

In generating leads, the emphasis must be on quality rather than sheer quantity.  There must be better, earlier filtering of 'no hopers' and 'time wasters', with self-disqualification being particularly effective.  Marketing have a big responsibility not to attract rubbish in the first place!  The Marketing function should also be providing all who wear a 'marketing hat' with one or two simple differentiator/qualifier questions to further eliminate, at the time of first contact, those who will waste valuable resources.

Sales is a highly 'teachable' art.  Practitioners get better with practice.  Coached and mentored practice is more effective than unsupervised repetition.

Background Research
When following up a sales lead, before first human contact, there is a lot that can be done to research the prospect and thus colour the form of the response.  The internet provides a wealth of free information and a lot more at very moderate cost.  This is an insignificant investment when compared to the time and effort wasted on enquiry follow-ups that should have been seen as hopeless from the start.  Therefore it is a crime not to make use of it.

The sales team can be given simple, efficient tools to access this information, and be motivated to do so.  The lead generating function could even do this for them and supply the results with the lead.

Qualify and Prioritise
This continues the theme of the first two points.  If you're going to lose, lose early!  Don't waste time on no-hopers.  Unsurprisingly (but not always commonly seen) weeding out a list before you start working on it will improve your conversion ratio!  Qualification should become a habit.

These thoughts apply too when following up a lead.  Building a relationship, building rapport and trust, and getting commitments at every step is in itself a filtering process.

When following up a sales lead, research the prospect.  This is an insignificant investment compared to time wasted on no hopers.

Cross-Sell and Up-Sell
This should be a 'no brainer' but is it always thus?  Getting people to buy more is one of the only three ways of growing sales, gross profits and your business, so again it should be a habit, shouldn't it?

Oddly enough, this appears to be more of a problem in businesses with large product ranges.  It is reported that product training doesn't seem to be as effective as you might imagine, but I could find no information on how well the training was constructed or delivered!  Most effective is the sharing of what works.  So many internal sales meetings seem to focus on what went wrong, and skim over what went right!  The balance should be the other way round, but never lose sight of the fact that one size doesn't fit all.  The answer is to adapt and adopt, test and measure.

Get More From Existing Customers
I won't even bother with the cliché!  Suffice it to say that Account Planning and regular communication is a good idea, but don't plan for planning's sake.  Only do it if, and only do it in a way that, you can demonstrate it is helping.  Despite the cliché, you need to have a balance between first time and repeat business, and you should keep this balance under review.

Many internal sales meetings seem to focus on what went wrong, and skim over what went right!  The balance should be the other way round

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OK, I Can Spare You A Minute

Build credibility and rapport
When you first get the chance to have a conversation with someone in anything that might turn out to be a business context, there are several important things you must establish extremely quickly.  You need to start building credibility and rapport; you need to start allowing the other party to decide whether a 'relationship' with you might be of value to them.  You need to be 'interesting' and 'interested'!

You need to start building credibility and rapport.
You need to be 'interesting' and 'interested' for this.

Train your sales team
When this rapport has got off the ground, you may need to start 'training' this possible member of your 'surrogate sales team' to spot others who may find knowing you of value.  The ability to do this part clearly and succinctly is often referred to as an Elevator Pitch.

"An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project.  The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds and 100-150 words)." - Wikipedia

Start training your 'surrogate sales team' to spot others who may find you of value

Where to start?
Before you can start constructing and refining your elevator pitch you must have the following information available to you about your business.

• Who is your ideal customer?
• What problem do most of them have?
• What pain(s) does having that problem cause?
• What good does your customer get out of what are you selling?
  i.e. How does no longer having the pain make them feel?  All the ways!
• Why do your customers choose you, and not one of your rivals?
  All the ways!

Note which of these are singular and which are plural!

Just one ideal customer type should be defined purely by information in the public domain.  For example, there isn't an SIC code for companies with cash-flow problems!  We all know you can work with other types but you have to pick one at a time.

Their biggest problem is unlikely to be voiced at first, but finding and fixing this will remove their pains far more effectively than merely relieving one 'symptom'.  Understanding their symptoms will lead you to your diagnosis of the underlying 'disease'.  It will take a conversation with an individual to discover whether or not they display these symptoms.

Define your ideal customer by public domain information.
It will take a conversation to discover their symptoms.

Size matters!
Now you can start to construct your 'Elevator Pitch'.  In fact I believe you need several elevator pitches: 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 breath, 1 word or phrase - all have their place.

Practically you'll have to start long, then distil and refine.  You just won't get it right starting short and trying to expand.  You'll need to test and measure to see if your messages are coming across, and being received and understood.  Get a friend to ask someone what you do!

If you are a regular networker, you may feel the need to vary your pitch so you don't seem repetitive, but this risks confusing your listeners.  Getting the one-phrase version right, and then using this every time as an 'Anchor', you become known for that phrase, people aren't confused, and you can safely ring the changes.

You need several elevator pitches: 60 seconds, 30 seconds,
1 breath, and 1 word or phrase

A helping hand
One possible template for a longer elevator pitch is:
"I work with (ideal customers) who (widely held problem) which means that (widely suffered pain).  I help them (pain relief) so that they (life without pain)."

An alternative opening might be:
"You know how (ideal customers) are always (widely held problem) which means that ......"

Go on!  Give it a try.  Confidence come from practise, not further study!  Use the one-breath version as your intro on cold calls too, for instance.



Both of these ideas steer miles away from:
"I am (what it says on the second line of my business card).  I can do (a list of all the things you ever have or ever might have done)."  Followed by the unspoken, "What do you think?"  Or more likely, "No, please don't walk away from me.  Surely you can't go and find someone more interesting!"

I work with (ideal customers) who ...
I help them (pain relief) ...

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The Toughest Sell Is To Yourself

A great new idea

Often, when you come across a new idea or a new way of doing or explaining something, you think it sounds great.  You feel you want to adapt it and adopt it for yourself because you really think it will make a difference to you, and quite possibly to those around you too.

“You come across a new idea that sounds great.
You think it will make a difference to you.”

Imagine doing it yourself

So then you start to imagine yourself implementing your adaptations and guess what?  Suddenly it doesn't seem quite as right for you as you thought it did!  It still looks great for other people but, for some reason (that you get better and better at explaining - largely to yourself), it won't work for you!

“You start to imagine yourself doing it and guess what?  Suddenly it doesn't seem quite as right for you as you thought!”

Shattered confidence

The technical term for this is fear, and the biggest fear generally involves you!

With most new things the toughest sell is to yourself.  You worry about all the things that might feel uncomfortable, that might go wrong, and you've shattered your confidence before you've even started.  You don't doubt the value of the idea; you just doubt your own ability to implement it.  You need to build that confidence that was shattered before its very conception.

There are many reasons for lack of confidence, but many boil down to either a fear of getting hurt or a fear of looking stupid.  Even the fear of losing money is really only a combination of these two key fears - You'll be hurt and you'll look daft!

“You worry about all the things that might feel uncomfortable, that might go wrong, and you've shattered your confidence before you've even started”

Essential survival mechanism

These fears are largely the 'flight' part of the 'fight, fright or flight' that is hard-wired into our behaviour as a survival mechanism.  We probably need to be taught or to learn from experience that hot objects, ferocious beasts, fast moving heavy machinery and sharp tools can cause pain.  But once we're aware of a few specific examples, we can translate these into generalities, so then we can evaluate new potential threats when we meet them for the first time.  Essential survival mechanism as I said.

“Survival time.
Three choices.
Fight, fright or flight.”

The little voice in your head

Often however, the little voice in your head that's telling you not to do something becomes too arrogant and dogmatic, and tries to wrap you in cotton-wool with its CYA* policy, and you develop fears that are counterproductive to both your survival and your success.

To overcome this and gain confidence it is frequently a good idea to replace, rather than try to eradicate, this little voice in your head.  Try telling yourself that actually it's rather good to be doing this thing you're trying to do, that you'll feel great once you've done it, that it will be a pleasure and not a pain
to do it.

“The little voice in your head tries to wrap you in cotton-wool.
Don't eradicate it, replace it!”

Tell the face in the mirror

And here's the clue to increasing your confidence: "Tell yourself"!  Confidence comes from practise, not further study.  Look in the mirror and tell the face you see there the things you need to be able to tell other people.

If the highest price you've ever quoted is £1,000, tell the face in the mirror, "My price is £5,000."  Did you start to grin or laugh?  Getting in first with the laugh in the face of our own (perceived by us) silliness is a natural defence mechanism to mitigate the pain that comes when the other person laughs first at our misfortune.

Keep practising in front of the mirror until you can say, "My price is £5,000" with a straight face and mean it.  Then you'll have all the confidence you need to say it to customers!

“Tell the face in the mirror what you need to tell others.
Confidence comes from practise, not further study”

*CYA - A well known policy; it stands for Cover Your Arse!

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The Customer's Route To Your Sales Team

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!

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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.

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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.

• 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!

Sports Professionals	Sales Professionals
Train constantly	Train occasionally, if at all - Maybe one or two days per year
Work on all different aspects of their game	Rarely address more than one or two aspects
Some training is under guidance, some is on their own	What training there is will often be self-motivated and individually organised
The Coach continually monitors performance and operates a 'continuous improvement' regime	Managers monitor performance less often, and frequently wait for a crisis before offering assistance
Coaches also develop individual training programmes for each competitor in their charge	Whole team only ever goes on the same 'one size fits all' course
Huge use of role-play in practising for their event	Apart from any that is part of a training course, there is a notable lack of role-play - You're in at the deep end, doing it for real!

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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Changes In Buying Attitudes

21st century Sales and Marketing is about solutions, win-win outcomes and lifetime relationships.  It is about rapport, understanding and value.  It is about co-operation, appreciation and service.

We have to be careful that our behaviour and language do not turn the experience into confrontation, win-lose and one hit sales.  And the situation is more or less identical across most sectors.  I even talk to my friends the undertaker and the wedding planner about how to get repeat business!

Much as it was advocated in some quarters in the past, I'm not certain the 'wham, bang, thank you' style was ever hugely productive; and it is almost certainly going to be ineffective with today's more sophisticated buyers.  So what is it that is making buyers more sophisticated?

The answer lies in communication and information - in short, it lies in the internet.  'Googling' what it is they want gives them access to remarkable amounts of information from more suppliers than ever before.  In the past their decision making was far less informed, but now they will know a lot more before you ever get to talk to them.

There is a risk, however, that this increased product knowledge will become merged in the buyer's mind with price!  Buyers may well reject initial quotes out of hand, even from favoured suppliers.  They will try to treat your product or service as a commodity.  Buyers will be thinking that, if they can save a few pennies, they will do so.  If your product or service isn't a commodity, don't let them believe it is!  It has never been more necessary to understand their fundamental problems, the circumstances in which those problems exist, and to propose solutions that reflect why you are uniquely placed to help solve them.

It is also vital to understand the customer's decision making process - one of many 'circumstances' - and this may well have changed recently.  Companies are becoming more risk-averse than ever; decisions are being referred to and made by committees; and no-one wants to take personal responsibility for anything.  People are becoming terrified of being held accountable.  But you can, and should, be offering certainty - but this should also carry a price premium.

Technology is not all bad news though.  It can give access to more information about your competitors' offerings; it can make internal sharing and discussion of information easier; but it can also make it simpler for you to by-pass 'gatekeepers'.

Increased buyer sophistication is also leading to the increasing popularity of referrals.  Networks, customers, unconverted prospects, suppliers, social acquaintances and many other contacts can be approached for referrals, and should be!  It might be as simple as giving you the name of a key decision maker, but it all helps.

Most customers are seen as loyal and most want to be, but as supplier you should never take them for granted.  It is the service with which you deliver your product (or service) that counts.  Keep a customer ecstatic and they won't be tempted away, even by a cheaper rival.  It remains true that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  It is the value that the buyer derives from the purchase that matters.  The more salespeople understand what value means to the buyer in a given situation, the more they can help the buyer.  So make sure the buyers know why you are asking all these probing questions.

But what if yours is a commodity?  How can you compete against, say, cheap imports from the Far East?  The answer is for the sales team to enable their customers, and thus themselves, to fully understand the fundamental problems, the circumstances in which these problems exist, and the way in which the buyer's own performance will be judged.  In this way it becomes apparent what 'total package' is required, and the customer can be helped to see the full value of receiving it.

Key pointers for future behaviour of your sales and marketing team.

• More customer communication and contact
• More 'business knowledge' - Not just product knowledge
• Being more available
• Reducing bureaucracy
• Less 'pitching by quotation'
• More discussion and agreement face-to-face
• Better 'keep in touch' systems
• More and better induction and ongoing training
• Build more rapport and better relationships
• Understand how buyers want to buy
• Understand 'problems and circumstances'
• Don't make sales presentations - Don't dictate
• Be beneficially different
• Give buyers choices

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Recruit And Train Your Sales Team

One of your reasons for attending a Networking meeting should be to recruit and train members of your surrogate sales team.  You are lucky if you can sell to someone in the room; you need to have them and their address books selling for you.  Pretty obviously they'll have no idea how to do this and no motivation to try, until you have told them.

Coupled with another of your reasons for attending - the ability to meet and get to know strangers - this means that 'recruitment' will be on your agenda.  Please be careful!  Don't try to rush into 'induction training' too early, and don't neglect further training for existing team members.  People who already know you, what you do and who you do it for, can be re-invigorated by some pertinent Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Assuming you've broken the ice, established some rapport and are starting to enjoy each other's company, there is some pretty fundamental stuff you need to communicate, and then be sure has been received, understood and stored.

You can also use these same 'headings' when someone is recruiting and training you into their surrogate sales team.  If you don't understand these things about them and their business, you won't be an effective member of their team, so don't be afraid of letting them know you haven't quite got the full picture.  They will thank you for letting them help you be a better ambassador for their organisation, and they might just get better at explaining themselves in the future.  You will need to know:

• How to identify their Ideal Customers, using only public domain information - e.g. 10 to 40 person accountancy practices within 30 miles of Cambridge
• What 'symptoms' to look out for when you encounter one - e.g. Suffering from cash-flow problems
• How to check these really are symptoms of a 'disease' they can cure - e.g. They can only fix some of these personally: Low sales? Unprofitable sales? Excessive debtor days? High overheads? Inefficient staff and/or procedures?
• How to explain how wonderful life would be without these symptoms
• How to indirectly establish enough credibility for them, to allow contact

Neither of you is trying to get the other to sell their product or service for them!  What what both of you want the other to do is gain permission to broker an introduction, and then do so.

The sales training you do with your team on these occasions can be similar to training a 'regular', employed sales team.

• Some members of the team will be performing better than others, so study and analyse what they do, and share the ideas with the rest of the team
• Make study and analysis a continual activity, not a one-off fait accompli
• Best practice has to constantly evolve - something new might make the best even better
• Best practice may need to adapt rapidly to sudden changes in the market
• Don't neglect the 'tried and tested' techniques that new recruits can adopt, without fear of your (management's) disapproval
• Ask the entire team for ideas - "What's working for you right now?"

Again the best could get even better.  Modelling the best is just a starting point, a benchmark, a springboard, so accept ideas from anywhere.

Just as with a 'regular' team, you need to encourage communication within the team and with 'management'.  Encourage discussion of difficulties and have systems in place for team members to debate specific issues amongst themselves as well as with you.

As well as understanding prospects' problems and circumstances, all the team must be able to access the information which allows them to understand your problems and your circumstances.  By this I mean that they need to know the questions you (management) will ask as part of monitoring their performance, so they will have asked their own questions of the prospect and have answers ready for you.  They will be able to monitor their own performance against these well-publicised and understood rules too.  Bi-directional feedback will be of great help in resolving any bottlenecks.

For your surrogate team, out there prospecting on your behalf, processes and later developments of them will only work if the team 'buy into' them.  Your surrogate team need to feel listened to, the processes need to make sense, and they need to be extremely simple to follow.

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Sales Presentations Are So Last Century

My advice to anyone asking about a sales presentation would be, don't do it!  What purpose do you think it will achieve?

Why would you ever need to make a sales presentation?  If you don't yet understand inside-out and upside-down the prospect's fundamental problems and the circumstances in which they exist, how can you possibly know what to present?

And if you do understand, it's not a sales presentation, is it!  You will be presenting your suggestions, your proposal, won't you?

Yet many thousands of words continue to be written on the subject of sales presentations, by well respected people in their books and in well respected publications.  Just looking recently at a small number of articles on this subject revealed some amazing things.

I find it frightening that this stuff is being broadcast to sales teams as state of the art, immutable fact, under the banner of professional bodies who claim to represent these teams' interests.  Within the 'sales advice' community there seems to be this continued fixation with:

1. Giving sales presentations - Generally involving PowerPoint or something similar
2. Having a 'one size fits all' sales presentation, yet one that is flexible
3. Letting specialist outside companies produce your sales presentations

Authors identify the five situations where they feel you ought to want to give a sales presentation:

1. In meetings with buyers
2. In corporate account presentations
3. When helping your 'customer champion' to convince their colleagues
4. At events where 'customers' gather
5. As a response to a request for information!

The advice seems to be grouped into four categories:

1. General Advice
2. Detailed Advice
3. Presentation Design
4. Detailed Design Steps

My own reactions to all the points raised can be summarised as one of:

• Hear, hear! - because I agree
• Why? - because I don't believe they've justified their assertion
• Amazing! - said with huge irony
• Well, yes! - said with almost as much irony
• Expletive deleted! - said in genuine amazement that anyone could still think that way

Let me give you the detail on the first two.

General Advice

• Your presentation must be flexible - Repeated ad nauseam - Amazing.  So why try to have a one size fits all?
• Cover your scope and capability - Why?  Surely it should be about what the customer will get out, not what you can put in!
• Use a specialist presentation design company - Why?  Apart maybe from graphic design and PowerPoint coding, shouldn't your sales and marketing team be well enough skilled and well enough trained to write the copy themselves?

Detailed Advice

• Keep it to 15 slides so you don't bore the audience - #ED!  And 15 won't?
• Think from the buyer's point of view - Amazing!  Is there any other way?
• Don't just blow your own trumpet - #ED!  Words fail me!
• Start your presentation by describing the state of your marketplace - Why?  What interest does the audience have in that, that they aren't aware of already?
• Get an early agreement on something, anything - Hear, hear!
• Use your smartness to create a pleasant surprise - #ED!  And being a smart-arse is the way to build lasting, win-win relationships?
• Convince the audience by showing what you can deliver - Well, yes!  But if, and only if, what you deliver is being described in 'value to the customer' terms - which is quite a different thing from benefits - and is pertinent.
• There is often too much focus on what the salesman wants to say rather than on what the buyer wants to hear - Amazing!  And yet you're still trying to push the idea of a sales presentation!
• The salesman is trying to promote change and all change is risky - Hear, hear!
• Few sales presentations actually address the senior decision makers - Amazing!  You could never guess they would be involved in the decision making, could you!
• You don't need to be the biggest or the best to win - #ED! You don't say.
• Linking content to customer outcomes gives you the ability to quote higher prices - Why?  Linking content to outcomes allows the buyer to see the value, and thus see the return on their investment!
• Your audience is under time pressure and is inwardly focussed - Well, yes!  So cut the crap and get them to admit the value outcomes to themselves!
• Only present when you've established a potential need - Amazing!  Unless there is a full-bore want, why waste time on a presentation?
• Your presentation should turn 'need' into 'desire' - Amazing!  And there was me thinking your 'conversation' should allow the 'prospect' to do this for themselves!
• Research your audience and their business requirements - Hear, hear!  But do use the best source for that information - Your audience!
• Address the concerns of each member of your audience individually - Well, yes!
• Hone your abilities at handling supplementary questions in the Q&A session at the end - Well, yes!
• Spread enthusiasm and take your time - Well, yes!

There is another way, a better way.  If you recognise yourself or your organisation in any of these, please allow me the chance to talk to you and start to explain that there are other ways.

There's lots more advice like this in my regular bulletin.  Get your FREE copy!

Sales Myths And Folklore

Research has shown that some of the preconceptions about sales folk are in fact untrue.  Apparently salespeople are not 'only interested in deals', 'only motivated by money', 'lazy', or 'mercenary'.  What has emerged from the surveys is that salespeople are 'influential', 'hardworking', and 'passionate about their contribution to the business'.

On the other hand some of the generalisations that salespeople themselves like to believe, have been shown to be well founded.  For example, over 70% of salespeople are men, who are likely to be paid more and probably have a more senior position than their female counterparts.  Unsurprisingly there is a variation in the figures from industry to industry and from one region to another.

Over 50% of salespeople never planned a career in sales and barely 20% of salesladies look on sales as a lifetime career, compared to almost half of the salesmen.  However, the ladies felt far more positive about the way their careers had progressed in recent years, compared to the men.

Salespeople are proud to be in sales, and 95% enjoy working in the profession.  Of the 5% who say they don't, a large number are in IT and Telecommunications where earnings are generally highest.  The sector with the highest 'enjoyment factor' is Business to Business with 98%.

Salespeople tend to judge their own work primarily by performance against targets, but this maybe because that is what others measure them by.  With advances in technology being applied to the sales process, face-to-face selling is still reckoned to be the most effective way to secure business.  Perhaps surprisingly, sales divisions were reckoned to have the most influence in over 60% of companies, with accounts/finance at 20% and marketing at 11%.  But then the researchers were surveying sales people!

Unfortunately almost two-thirds of sales people do not feel well-managed, with 'laissez-faire' and 'distant' criticisms coming to the fore, rather than 'aggressive' or 'dictatorial'.  Almost as many claimed they could fulfil their line manager's role more effectively than the incumbent.  Amongst the managers of this group specifically, 'aggressive' and 'dictatorial' did dominate.

For the sales managers, long hours, long weeks, short holidays, working whilst on holiday, and taking insufficient exercise all loomed large.  These managers stated that their biggest motivator was winning the respect of their teams.

At a higher level, the sales directors still work long hours but not long weeks.  Far more than the managers, the directors were applying their own skills to their CVs and other career related activities.  Somewhat bizarrely, the directors and the non-managerial salespeople do seem to take plenty of exercise.  Looking at other aspects of lifestyle, most salespeople eat healthy lunches, with less than 10% resorting to burgers, chips and pies.  One in eight claimed never to eat lunch.

Rather worryingly, one third of salespeople had received no sales training at all in the previous twelve months, and only 10% had received more than 5 days.  Amazingly not even half had taken it upon themselves to read a self-development book, and a quarter said they would not be interested in a free newsletter dedicated to sales improvement*.  Once again it was in the Business to Business sector where the greatest proportion reckoned they actually had received adequate training.

The researchers concluded that:

• Sales is getting tougher
• Salespeople's needs are more complex than just money
• Salespeople are hardworking
• Sales needs more women
• Salespeople enjoy their work and are proud of what they do
• New talent needs to be better nurtured and developed
• Salespeople want to improve their sales skills

*There's lots more advice like this in my regular bulletin.
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Recognising Buying Signals

In our society we're not very good at saying either, "Great!  I'd really like to buy this from you, NOW, PLEEEEEASE!" or, "It's probably OK but not for me!  I don't want it, I don't need it, I doubt if I ever will, and if I did I wouldn't buy it from you, certainly not on those terms!"

Unless of course, you're an Auctioneer, when people will either scratch their nose, pull their ear, wink, nod, wave their hand or a piece of paper, shout, even wave a numbered ping-pong bat at you.  Or else they'll keep still and quiet and do and say nothing.

You have to be 'tuned in', alert and looking out for the 'Buying Signals' that people use instead.  It is hugely important to spot and react appropriately to buying signals.  In fact it can be positively harmful to your business if you don't.

You should respond to a Buying Signal by making suggestions!  If the signal took the form of a question, answer it briefly, but move straight away into making suggestions.

These signals can be misinterpreted so you have to be careful.  The prospect may just be seeking clarification, but at least they are still 'playing ball' with you.  And you have to be aware of what it is they're signalling they're ready to buy!

You need to react immediately to Buying Signals.  These signals can and do go away as quickly as they appear.  If you don't change tack and respond to buying signals by making suggestions, and instead keep 'presenting', it's very likely that you'll talk yourself out of an order that was there for the taking.  Any information you give to a prospect after they've decided to buy from you begins to give them reasons to change their minds.

Then there are the 'Not-Buying Signals'.  You need to be even more alert for these as you don't want to waste your time chasing 'browsers'; you want to be chasing 'buyers' instead!  As you seek appointments or follow up enquiries, you need to sort out the buyers from the browsers, and then lavish your attention on the buyers.  You need easy wins, not hard fought victories (rare piece of military analogy!).

Let the very way in which you prospect help you weed out the non-buyers.  People look in trade directories because they need a tradesman, not to while away a rainy afternoon!  People who buy from suppliers of complementary services to your own need you to add value to their original purchase.  If you have a website and use pay-per-click advertising, choose keywords that are buying queries, not browsing queries!

Types of Buying Signal
Buying Signals can be verbal or non-verbal; they can be questions or they can be statements.  They might even be playing, "If .... then ...." with you.  The verbal signals fall into several categories.  In many cases they can be worded either way.  The most commonly met are the first two, but they are all important signals to be looked out for.

• Repeating a question that has already been fully answered, and generally acknowledging that it has been - "How much did you say it costs?" - Be aware that if it's said in shocked surprise and incredulity, it's a cue for more probing!


• Picturing themselves working with you - "I could see you on a Thursday" - "How often would we need to meet face to face?" - "We'll need to involve Janet"


• Asking for a sample that's not necessarily free - "Can I try it for a month and see if it works?" - "I'll need to see it in action"


• Making positive noises - "That sound really good" - "Who could say no to that?"


• Asking 'chicken' questions - "What will happen if it doesn't produce results?"


• Any statement or question about money - We don't need examples here.  Even if they say it's overpriced, to have got to the top of their priority stack, these comments or questions say they want to buy.


• Asking questions about details - "Which of my people will be directly involved?" - "What exactly will you be doing?"


• Any statement or question about timing - "When can we start?" - "It'll have to be next week" - "Can't we do it in four weeks instead of five?" - "I'm tied up until Thursday" - If this type of signal arrives as a question, you can legitimately avoid answering it by asking back, "When would be best for you?"


• Asking for your professional guidance or opinion - "What do you think would be best?" - "What would you do if you were me?"


• Asking a colleague who's in the room - "What do you think?" - They've decided but they just want confirmation that they're not being daft.


• Mentioning a negative experience with a previous supplier - "Everyone I've tried has been useless!" - These types of comment are actually cues for more probing


• Asking for references or for a personal contact with a satisfied client - Again no examples needed.  It's effectively a no-brainer!  Again they just want confirmation that they're not being daft.


• This leads us on to no-brainers of the 'sledgehammer' variety! - "What happens first/next?" - "Where do I sign?" - "We've looked at other suppliers and we like you best" - "Here's our Purchase Order" - Or they may start to negotiate - "Would you accept £4,000?"

Then there are the non-verbal signals

• Spending time concentrating on just one of your products


• Asking/looking for help


• Touching their wallet or its contents, or their chequebook - Literally or metaphorically


• Changes of body state - Relaxing, moving stance, gestures, skin tone, style of speech


• Getting out their pen - Literally or metaphorically

Types of Not-Buying Signal - Maybe it's time to move on

• Unwillingness to trade commitments - At least unwilling to make their own in return for yours


• Your calls, messages and e-mails go unanswered


• "I really like your suggestion but I need to ........ before we can go ahead"


• Avoiding eye contact when you meet


• "We'd really like you to help us but we just need a bit more time/have some other priorities to deal with first"


• 'Playing' with your product, or looking at many without ever concentrating on one


• Physically moving around a lot, quickly

So what should you do here?  There could be legitimate reasons outside your control, but largely there won't be.  We Brits are just hesitant about coming out with the truth!

You should confirm your interpretation - Ask further probing questions.  You can even ask, "Did we do something wrong?"  This can even be your voicemail, SMS or e-mail when earlier messages have gone unanswered.

Then either leave well alone or make some more enlightened suggestions.

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Determining Value-Based Fees for Software Projects - Part 2

Register now for my 'Pricing By Value' Workshop in Cambridge, England on September 29th.

The mystery correspondent was of course Florida-based Mark Richman of http://www.empiresoftware.net/

Mark went on to ask me:-

"While I understand the concept behind value-based fees, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how to apply them to what I consider highly commoditized services. That is not to say I devalue my own worth, but I do recognize that there is an upper bound to what someone is willing to pay for a service, regardless of ROI - price elasticity of demand.

"At what point am I delivering a valuable service, expertise, information, guidance, and coaching, and at what point am I simply laboring to produce a relatively undifferentiated good (i.e. a presentation website)? I tend to think I do much more of the latter, unfortunately. Certainly, I can rattle off a unique value proposition to a prospect, but many will have shopped around before they talk to me and already have an expectation of what they will pay.

"This brings me to my next hurdle. Assuming I have somehow navigated past the prospect's early push to hear a price quoted, I find that I get nervous asking for more money than I think is "fair" (whatever that means). Is it a lack of self esteem, or a sense of ethics run amok?"

I cover all of the dozen or so points he raised in my Workshop (and more!), so again, I replied to him in detail, tackling his points one at a time.

"what I consider highly commoditized services"

"It really doesn't matter what you consider! The client's perception is the only thing that counts!

"You are unique and provide a unique service, so it is only by your own lack of 'Sales Conversation' skill that a client could be allowed to retain that impression of "highly commoditized". If they do retain it, this just means you haven't done your selling job well enough!"

"not to say I devalue my own worth"

"It's not yours to devalue (although you could blow it completely!), and it's not your worth that matters! It's the client's perception of the worth of having their problem fixed that matters, coupled with your personal value to the client. This is where the 'Value Conversation' needs to be heading. As I said previously this can take quite a large chunk of your sales conversation, and mustn't be truncated."

"there is an upper bound to what someone is willing to pay for a service, regardless of ROI"

"There is an upper bound, but based almost exclusively on ROI! Having enabled the client to articulate for themselves the true value of having their problem fixed, your fee will be seen as an investment on which they expect that return.

"A ROI of 20 to 1 sounds mightily attractive! 10 to 1 is still pretty good. Many consultants say they'll make a client at least three times their fee, but I think this is not desperately attractive. Less than 3 to 1 is certainly not a brilliant investment, even though it does make money. We are trying here to get a reaction of "That's a bargain!", so go for a high ROI."

"price elasticity of demand"

"Re-read Alan Weiss's Value-Based Fees - particularly the 'Supply-and-demand illogic' section of chapter 2 (in my edition) on ''The lunacy of time-and-materials models'. Alan explains brilliantly why the economists' theories that apply to commodity markets don't apply to non-commodity markets such as you providing your services. "

"At what point am I delivering a valuable service etc"

"Easy! When the client believes you are!"

or "laboring to produce a relatively undifferentiated good"

"Easy again. Only when you allow them to think this way!"

"I tend to think I do much more of the latter"

"At the risk of sounding repetitive, it's not about what you think! It's about what the client perceives and believes."

"I can rattle off a unique value proposition to a prospect"

"Do I sound like Elvis Presley continually saying "one more time" to the band? The client is the one who determines value! You have to allow the client sufficient time to reach this conclusion (generally with your guidance via your questions, but certainly not putting words into their mouth) for themselves, so 'rattling off' is almost by definition not going to work. And your proposition comes almost at the end of the sales conversation - it's where that entire conversation has been heading all along - it's not even at the end of the value conversation. Re-read the rest of 'Value-Based Fees'!"

"already have an expectation of what they will pay"

"This is natural, but will be based on their perceived remedy to their perceived pain, turned into a commodity, and put out for the world to bid the lowest price for! If you hear "that's too expensive" this really translates as "I haven't understood enough of the value of having my problem fixed in this way to see this as a bargain investment in order to achieve that return."

"You need to get them to understand for themselves what is their fundamental problem; their 'underlying disease' that is causing the 'symptoms' or pains that they are experiencing. Once they understand, they can articulate it to themselves, and then to you, and then you can understand also!
A useful question is "What keeps you awake at nights?" I doubt the answer is lack of a website! Lack of profitable sales, maybe! You have to ask other value seeking questions first though."

"somehow navigated past the prospect's early push to hear a price quoted"

"Well done for identifying this one. Client questions about your daily rate are designed (even if subconsciously on the client's behalf) to identify you as a supplier of commodities, and thus be suitable material for forcing into a price war.

"There is only one way to get rid of the daily rate question and that is to say "I don't have one!" And mean it! If you're not charging for your time, why do you even need one in your head?

"It would be wrong to leave your answer there however. You need to continue along the lines of "I'm quite prepared to quote my fee, at the appropriate time, later, but at the moment I don't know enough about your issues to do so. Please can we start/return to talking about the problems that are bugging you right now?"

"I get nervous asking for more money than I think is "fair" (whatever that means)"

"Firstly you have to accept that backing winners at odds of 10 to 1, even 20 to 1, is more than 'fair'! Secondly, everyone gets nervous when they see how they've been undercharging in the past. [They've also been under-delighting, which is why they've been under-charging!]

"I know I was no exception, particularly in moving from "I'll invoice you at the end of the project" to "My standard terms are 50% before I start and 50% after four weeks". Stating that my fee was five or ten thousand pounds instead of the two thousand I would have asked previously was less of an issue for me, but all of us have different types of nervousness."

"Is it a lack of self esteem, or a sense of ethics run amok"

"Almost certainly it's a lack of self confidence! The good news is there are simple techniques for gaining confidence at this.

"As we've implied already, the toughest sell is to yourself. One technique that works for many people is to think of the highest fee you've ever been able to charge, multiply it by five, and then look in the mirror and tell the face you see there "My fee is x thousand dollars". Keep doing this until you can do it with a perfectly straight face and no hint of embarrassment.

"Confidence comes from practise, not further contemplation. If you can say it to yourself, you'll be fine in front of clients. And it gets easier every time.

"Do the value-based thing properly and effectively you're telling the client 'I know a horse that is absolutely guaranteed to win, but you can still place your bet at odds of 20 to 1.'"

I concluded by asking Mark, what is there to be embarrassed about in that?

More to come soon ...

Determining Value-Based Fees for Software Projects

Register now for my September 29th 'Pricing By Value' Workshop. Backed by my Money-Back guarantee.

A couple of days ago I noticed someone talking on Twitter about "Determining Value-Based Fees for Software Projects"

Specifically they said:-

"While I generally agree that Value-Based Fees (a la Alan Weiss) are the best way to charge and get what you're worth as a consultant, I don't know how well this approach translates to the software development domain.

"How do you determine value to the client without spending inordinate time performing
requirements discovery and analysis? How do you manage change requests in a Value-Based fees approach?"

This made the person concerned very interesting to me, so I posted a reply:-

"Software development is one of the key areas to be adopting a Value-Based Pricing approach -as you indicate following the Alan Weiss/Ron Baker et al model.

"I think you've almost answered your own question here. You DO need to discover a lot of information before you can suggest a Value Based fee but not, I would argue, specifically to do with requirements, and not in a time consuming manner.

"There are efficient ways of finding out as much as possible about the client's PROBLEM and the circumstances surrounding it. Then you can go through the remaining stages of the 'Sales Conversation' and present your options (see A Weiss) and then the associated fees - all in the space of say an hour or two.

"I'm guessing that your 'value (to the client - not the price tag) package' options might all start with a research project to work with the client to discover and agree the detailed requirements of a software solution to the problem.

"Having agreed (in writing) with the client the scope of the 'value package' they have selected and your FIXED fee, any 'Change Requests' can be simply dealt with.

"If it's within the scope of the project, it gets done for no additional fee! If it isn't, then this is a separate chargeable project! You will be asking the client if they would like
you to stop work on the current project while you complete the new one, or whether they'd like you to finish the current one first. As Jonathan Stark (another Value Based Pricing disciple, from the software world) points out, you can only run one project with any one client at any one time!"

This elicited further questions from the original author:-

"Using the Value-Based approach, how does one deal with the "we're a startup, we can't afford that!" response to a proposal? Often I am asked to design/develop websites for clients, which in my opinion is pretty much commoditized at this point. While the value to the client could be extraordinary, the fact that there is limited price elasticity here is working against me. How do I value-price something that can be had at similar quality for a fraction of the cost?"

Once more I replied:-

"I'd question 'similar quality'! You are unique! Only you can deliver your project! I work with a web design colleague and we recently talked to a one-man-band about his first website. We didn't ask his budget but I'd guess a few hundred pounds. After the full 'Value Conversation' based 'Sales Conversation' (which took us about 1½ hours) he agreed to a £4,000 fixed fee for an e-commerce site. Having seen what it would mean to him to have a website that sells, he found a way of getting the money to invest in the enormous return, and paid 50% up front a fortnight later!"

The understandable response came back:-

"How did you convince him to cough up the equivalent of US$8,000 when he could have easily gone with any number of hosted solutions for under $100/month? I suspect the value conversation took 15 minutes and the sales conversation took the rest?"

My response was to say:-

"The Value Conversation is one of four 'Conversations' that make up the Sales Conversation, and mostly takes longest of the four. The skill is in helping the client understand for themselves the value of having the problem fixed. In this case we'll help him achieve increased gross profits of over £100,000 per year with the new site . There will be additional (chargeable) work involved in driving sufficient traffic to the site, but even so he's backing a winner at odds of better than 10 to 1!"

To be continued

It's The Way I Tell 'Em

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Sometimes the way we express ideas uses analogies that are deep rooted, but whose day has been and gone. We need to move on in our speaking and writing and let go of the old ways when they are no longer relevant.

I wonder how many readers have won an order this month? How many have launched a new Sales and Marketing campaign during the last quarter? How many joined forces with a strategic alliance partner to blow away the competition and capture some business last year?

If, as I believe, Sales and Marketing is about long term relationships and both parties gaining the maximum possible, why do we persist with military analogies? War is a win-lose process leading ideally to the early death of the losing combatant, so why do we use their language?

There is a better alternative!

Let me ask you to imagine a visit to your doctor. If, as you are about to sit down in the Consulting Room, you are aware that the doctor has already decided what treatment to prescribe for your condition, do you think you would trust their medical judgement? Of course not!

But isn't that how sales used to work? You knew what you had to sell and you jolly well went out there and sold it! And the best salespeople were known to be able to sell sand to the Arabs and snow to the Eskimos!

Actually the conversation with the doctor may well run like this:- "What seems to be the matter?"; "Where does it hurt?"; "What does the pain feel like?"; "Where else does it hurt?"; "Does it hurt when I apply pressure here?"; "Can I take your temperature and blood pressure?"

What the doctor is doing, and we find it quite natural for them to do this, is understanding the problem. They are asking probing questions, then keeping quiet and listening to the answers, in order to gain understanding. This ties in exactly with one of the best one-liners I know in Sales and Marketing: "Talk less, sell more!"

I'm presuming that everyone has heard of 'open' and 'closed' questions; that 'open' questions - the ones that start with Who, Why, When, Where, What or How - are allegedly better than 'closed' questions - to which you could answer Yes or No - when information gathering.

Notice that our imaginary doctor does not exclusively use open questions! Open and closed questions don't matter! I can ask you an open question and get a one-word answer.

What colour car do you drive?

Or I can ask a closed question and get a lengthy diatribe.

Are Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling handling the current economic situation in the best way possible?

What matters are questions that produce open answers!

Meanwhile, back in the Consulting Room, the doctor hasn't finished yet. The conversation continues: "When did it start?"; "Does it hurt all the time?"; "Does anything seem to set the pain off?"; "What have you tried already?"; "Have you found anything that works?"; "What seems to make the pain stop?"; "Do you drive or operate machinery for a living?"

The doctor is now seeking to understand the circumstances in which the problem exists. At the end of this they will have a very good grasp of what is wrong with us, and what treatment to prescribe. And if they don't, they will have the professional integrity to admit it and in that case probably say, "I'm not 100% sure about this. I'd like to send you to the hospital for some more tests and to see the Consultant."

And during this process the doctor will have been checking back with the patient to make sure he has understood correctly what they have said.

The Sales process should be exactly the same. Understand the problem and understand the circumstances, and only then prescribe (suggest) the remedy, or refer the prospect to someone better placed to help.

Be aware that you have to really concentrate on staying focussed on the circumstances. It is so easy to slip back into the detail of the problem. And don't worry about forgetting to understand the detail. As I just said, you will naturally slip back from circumstances into detail without really having to try!

Why Bother Going To Networking Meetings

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Why do you bother going to networking meetings? Why do you

• Get up before dawn?
• Have a shower before the central heating's come on?
• Drive several miles in the cold, dark and rain?
• Consume rather more caffeine and cholesterol than you ought to?

So what's your answer? While you're thinking about it, let me tell you mine. I go to networking meetings for four key reasons:

• To meet strangers
• To recruit and train my surrogate sales team
• To be recruited and trained by other people into their surrogate sales teams
• To enjoy myself, and help others do the same

I hope your reasons and objectives are along approximately similar lines. How can you best go about achieving them?

1. Meet Strangers
If you meet exactly the same people every time, what are you gaining by going? You could claim that every time you meet, you get to know each other a little better, and I should jolly well hope this is true! But do you need to go to a networking meeting in order to do this? You now know each other and have one another's contact details. Couldn't you arrange to meet for a (several?) more in-depth chats without needing to do so at a networking meeting? If it was the case that strangers were there to be met at the networking event, wouldn't it rob you both of 'stranger-meeting time' if you were to talk to each other?

And one other thought. Any one-to-many networking that you do - such as going round the table, each introducing yourself for 30 or 60 seconds - has only one purpose. To stimulate a request for a one-to-one conversation! It would actually be most unusual for anyone to get business as a result of their elevator pitch without any other contact whatever!

Are all strangers likely to be equally nice to chat to, in need of your contacts, or helpful to you? Of course not! We can all work on our rapport building if we need to, and become nice people to chat to. But who might be most in need of your contacts? And who might be the most helpful type of stranger for you?

The answers to these two questions are really the two sides of the same coin. Both of you want to be meeting people who are naturally 'rubbing shoulders' with your ideal customers. And you need to make sure this happens regularly. But this does not always have to be a one-to-one process. Several people can form such a 'loop' and it will work as long as the loop is closed.

2. Recruit and Train Your Sales Team
How many of you have gone to a networking meeting with this as a specific objective rather than as vague wishful thinking? OK then, how many of you have either been employed in a sales team and never had any team building, product training or motivational meetings, or could imagine such a scenario if you haven't? Of course it sounds ridiculous, so why think you can avoid it when it comes to your network?

There are three crucial ideas you must keep in mind about what is, after all, your 'surrogate' sales team.

• You don't employ them so they don't have to do as you ask
• You don't employ them so there's no financial incentive to do as you ask
• You don't employ them so they don't have a job to lose if they don't

Now you have to get them to sell for you!

Do also bear in mind, you're not requiring them to actually sell your product or service! You can do that yourself when you get face-to-face with the prospect. What you want them to do is to spot and qualify opportunities for you. But you don't just want them to say, "I noticed this .... as I was driving past. Why don't you contact them?"

You want them to have had conversations with people which conclude with something like, "You really need to speak to my friend ..... They should be able to help you. I'll get them to contact you."

To do this your 'salesperson' must know, because you have trained them, how to spot one of your ideal customers and how to identify that they have the sort of problems you can fix. Most importantly they must be able to build up sufficient empathy that the person will agree that they would like to find out more about getting rid of the pain the problem is causing.

To do this you must have trained your team to recognise the symptoms or pains of such problems, and the key to this is giving them a very simple tool that will help in this identification. For example, if your forté is helping companies whose Marketing function is not fully effective, you need to give me a tool for recognising ineffective marketing.

This also covers point 3. and I'm sure you don't need my help with number 4.!