(I have been sitting on this post for a few weeks trying to figure out if it is just a rant. Well I just read the umpteenth "XYZ notion is dead" post and it set me off. So here you go...)

A couple weeks ago I was in the car and caught part of an NPR interview with Irish writer Nick Laird.

The following is a snippet that caught my attention because it was so illustrative of our society:

He went on to give examples (I've added a few) that illustrate the modern clash between fast & slow:

He really got me thinking. While not a perfect analogy, I feel we are witnessing a battle between the fast & slow camps in the world of B2B selling.

On the fast side, we are focused on those portions of the sales process than can be quantified by hard metrics. Today we are increasingly concerned with:

There are countless points of measurement in every step in the marketing/sales process.

On the slow side, many soft benefits have fallen by the wayside. We are devoting far less time to:

Can we calculate a hard ROI in:

If we cannot, does that mean they are unimportant?

On a related note, I ran into Scott Santucci's article A Story of Empathy - The Lost Art of Selling? . In it Scott discusses a Forrester study that presented 150+ Executives with the following question:

Scott highlights what separates the knowledgeable 29% from the other 71%:

Call it what you will, but my point is this: connecting the dots is slow selling.

Slow selling cannot be automated, scored, ROI modeled or put neatly into a vertical stack chart.

Please note, I am not arguing against metrics and ROI. They are crucial. But I am arguing against any religiosity that argues "everything you know about sales is wrong" or that "Sales and Marketing is 100% science (or alternatively 100% art)".

Much energy and effort is being spent today proclaiming

Here's my take: just because you're a bad driver, doesn't mean your car is broken.

Elevator pitches don't need a character limit, sales people need to improve their game, communicate more effectively and think in terms of their buyers and not themselves. Times are tough, but chasing shiny objects is a distraction.

People, tools & process: improve and overcome! Probably as true in 2009 as it was in 1909.

Thanks for listening. I am really eager to hear what you think. Please share!

(Photo credit: selva & miss bliss 55)

I recently read a great post Robert Lesser, of Direct Impact Marketing, wrote called Use Outbound Marketing to Target These Buyer Types.  It coordinates nicely with our recent discussion around The Flaw In Calculating Inbound v. Outbound Marketing.

The meat of Robert's argument is that having an intimate knowledge of your buyer has never been more important.  It is key to understand:

• The challenges they face on a day to day basis
• The projects that are important to them
• How their boss measures success

These data points should serve as the foundation for outbound messaging.

Some buyers will reach out to you...that is the power and the beauty of inbound marketing.  But, like it or not, some buyers require that you do the reaching.  Understanding how, how often and with what medium to reach out - that is the secret sauce of outbound.

Effective outbound also mandates you understand what kind of buyer you are targeting.  Robert did a great job defining different buyer types and we added our two cents on how to sell to them:

So, thanks Robert for a great post.  And readers, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts on how buyer types impact the inbound/outbound marketing mix!

(Photo Credit: mbgrigby)

The other night I saw the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness."  (Note: their spelling not mine.) It is a brilliant father/son movie that was a real tearjerker.  At times hard to watch. 

It's a true story about Chris Gardner, who is in a dead-end job selling door to door in the early 80's.  He can hardly pay his bills and put food on the table.  He discovers a highly competitive internship at Dean Witter and applies - 6 months, a "training period" & no salary.

In the internship, he has to sell investment products into large companies.  He is given a list of prospects and told to start making calls from the bottom of the list to the top.  The list was in order of total capital investment. 

He soon learns that starting at the bottom of the list is getting him nowhere.  So bucking his instructions, he goes directly to the top of the list and makes a call.  He gets a meeting with a top level executive and develops a relationship.  He doesn't get the executive's business, but he networks his way through the executive's friends and (SPOILER ALERT) earns himself the single position. When I saw that I thought what a brilliant move, starting at the top of the list.

It got me thinking: In your Reps outbound calling efforts, who do they start calling first?  Do they call the top of the food chain or somewhere in the middle?  Or do they call both? 

Nigel Edelshain shares his point of view in his ebook; Prospecting is Changing: Ideas to harness this change and tilt the playing field your way. Nigel argues:

Nigel talks about focusing tightly on the highest probability buyers and the need to develop a "prospect profile" identifying: which markets and which individuals you are targeting within those markets.

So should your Reps be selling top-down or bottom-up? It depends on your market. Ask yourself these questions:

• Will calling high lengthen or shorten the sales cycle?
• Will calling low require your Reps to bargain for access to the decision maker?
• Should you tell your Reps to be a Chris Gardner and throw caution to the wind and just go for it or do you want them to follow a process?

I would love to hear your thoughts on what is most effective. Thanks for sharing!

(Photo credit: A-m-z-xO)

So, the other day I was presenting on actionable data from prospect feedback. I threw in this graphic, which I thought was hilarious:

I put it up on the screen and waited...and waited....and...nothing. Now either I'm not as funny as I think I am (more likely than not) or garbage results like these are all too common.
 

Opportunity results tracked via CRM Q1 - 2009

I mean 82% of wins resulting from "Superior Salesmanship" (!) - that doesn't set off your BS meter?! Well, maybe it doesn't.

Think about the last time a Rep came to you with a lost a deal that didn't result from "price" or "missing features."  Did it sound like this?

It turns out I poorly qualified the business influencers. The incumbent really drove the process and we never had a strong internal champion. I learned a ton about myself and my process while working this opportunity that I ultimately lost because I didn't do my job well.

I'm guessing this is the reality that you don't hear - and truth be told - it probably doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it impacts your bottom line.

The point of my little story is that anecdotal feedback on sales opportunities is next-to useless for determining:

• strategic course corrections
• resonance of marketing tools
• effectiveness of sales process
• etc.

But the anecdotal stuff, that comes out of a drop down box in our CRMs, is all most of have to work with. No wonder my little joke failed so hard.

I recently read a post on MarketingProfs from Laura Patterson on this very topic. She argues that:

The upside of anecdotal information is that it's very affordable; the downside is that it tends to be reactive, it lacks objectivity and in-depth insights, and it tends to be too narrow-merely what the field thinks it needs to close a deal.

Now this is not to bash Sales Reps. They talk to more prospects than almost anyone else in the organization. But to play off a recent Hollywood film: Who watches the Watchmen?

We are all guilty of making choices based on gut feelings and anecdotal evidence. But today more than ever, we have the tools, technologies & opportunity to really learn for our prospects.

Please share your thoughts. How do you gather prospect feedback and how do you make sure it's actionable? Thanks!

 
There is a very common, often overlooked challenge facing many Inside Sales Teams: is supporting individual requests from the Field hindering my goals, objectives & process?

Very often Inside Sales Rep will get the following request from one of their Field partners:

This poses a dilemma.
Does the Inside Rep put their calling strategy and process on the shelf in order to get the Field Rep appointments when/where they are traveling?

The reality is a no win situation.
In many cases, the Inside Rep won't even get paid for setting a meeting unless they are deemed qualified. This is in direct conflict with the notion of "get me in the door".

Furthermore, instead of spreading their prospecting net wide, Reps will narrow their focus and call the same 10 prospects repeatedly for the next 3 weeks.  But at what cost?

• If they support multiple Field Reps, these requests begin to eat away at their prime objective which is to fill the pipeline with qualified opportunities or close business.
• Instead of adding value and solving problems for potential prospects, they become an annoyance as their number displays repeatedly on the caller ID.

Inside sales requires a consistent, repeatable process and messaging that delivers a strong value proposition and educates the prospect. Using Inside Sales to create "activity" for the Field is in reality a waste of the resource. 

A solution for some is to consider outsourcing appointment setting to a 3^rd party.
The company Green Leads has a very interesting model.  They offer a  "self service" model: no minimums, pay after the meeting occurs and oh yeah, no lists to provide.  They also have an integration with Salesforce.com available so your Field Reps can upload an Account record to them with the click of a button. Amazing!

Taking the outsourced approach, your Field Reps get what they need from an "activity" perspective AND your Inside team stays focused on having conversations with prospects that result in qualified leads.

If, on the other hand, Inside Sales will be setting "when/where" appointments, here are a few suggestions:

• Try to set one qualified meeting as an anchor and then set introductory appointments to fill the calendar.
• Set proper expectations with the field - only 10% of the prospects targeted will agree to a meeting and only a few of those will actually convert to a real opportunity.
• Create a consistent process for appointment setting.  Document the number of attempts you will make within a pre-determined number of business days.  Use a combination of contact methods; dials, voice messaging, social networking and email.  

A documented call process will allow you to tweak for success and, most importantly will force the Reps to let go and move on to greener pastures.

How do you / your team work with & support the Field?

 
So, I got your attention right?  Before anyone gets all up in arms, please note my last name....very Italian and very proud of it! 

But I laughed out loud when I read this joke sent to me by my buddy Rick Roberge.

So the joke is a little "The Sopranos" funny.  But it made me think about the conversations I have been having with prospects lately. 

There is no doubt that this is a tough selling climate and there are many sales organizations out there "grabbing their chests".

But, before we put a bullet in their heads shouldn't we try to resuscitate them? 

Here are some "health checks" for your sales and marketing organizations:

• 1. Diagnose the market
  Take the time to rethink who your buyer is and define, document and communicate that information to all customer facing personnel. You want them to be able to focus their sales and marketing energy on that Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
• 2. Triage your leads
  Not all leads are created equal. If you do not have a lead scoring system in place, now is the time to develop one. A relevant lead scoring system is based on how well a prospect fits your ICP as a primary lever and then may also contain information about how often they visited your site etc. as a secondary lever.
• 3. Take the pulse of your buyer
  How do the people you want to attract make decisions? What information will educate them and move the sales process forward? How do they use Google, blogs, LinkedIn and social media to find what they are looking for?
  
  And, most importantly, are you communicating with them in those areas with relevant content and feedback mechanisms that allow them to self identify?

The moral of the story is  - don't be a Vinny.  Don't shoot first & think later.  Take the time to invest in the health of your sales and marketing strategies and it will pay off for you.

Thanks for listening.

I have a confession to make: I used to scoff at the phrase Sales 2.0.

I mean, for the entirety of human history were we really selling one way? And just now, have we taken a giant leap forward? Add to that the hordes of technology vendors liberally throwing the term around and you might see my point.

Then I read something from Mark Parker over at Smart Selling and it finally clicked. Here is an excerpt:

Wow. I think I get it now. Here is what Sales 2.0 means to me:

• It's about communication & collaboration between sellers & buyers.
• It's about access to the right information during the sale for both sellers & buyers.
• It's about real-time measurement of the entire selling ecosystem.

Net/net - Sales 2.0 is a strategy or philosophy that allows buyers and sellers to communicate more effectively.

Tools are a big part of that communication process so I thought it might be interesting if the authors on this blog shared some tools we are using today and how they support Sales 2.0.

I'll go first. Matt Bertuzzi

Salesforce.com
Beyond the concept of CRM & Software-as-a-Service, Salesforce.com enables some truly amazing integrations & customization that deliver huge value to Sales.
For instance, in our implementation we have an integration with Google for news on our prospect & client Accounts. It provides a scrolling ticker on what is being said by and about these Accounts in real-time. (see screenshot below for the Account - "Hubspot")



Here are 3 recent & relevant articles on Hubspot delivered to me in my CRM on the Account's screen. Consider the time this saves in pre-call planning. Think about how much more tuned in I am when I can speak intelligently to what is happening in their business today.

Gail Milton

Jigsaw
"I love jigsaw because it allows me to confirm email addresses, confirm titles and get direct dial information.  This allows me to get to the prospect faster and personalize my messaging based on their role. Since the information is constantly being updated as changes or errors are found, the data is more up-to-date than many traditional list vendors."

Cindy Littlefield

LinkedIn
"Linked allows you to learn not only great information about your target prospects, but also who they know and any mutual connections you share. Like Jigsaw, LinkedIn gives incredibly up-to-date information."

Laurie Page

On-Demand Sales Presentations
"For example, Brainshark, CynoCast & others. The ability to record a presentation that prospects can view at their convenience is of value for both marketing & sales to use in their process.  The result is insight into who is interested and what specifically got their attention."

Trish Bertuzzi

ConnectAndSell
"I just had my first hour using the service and they delivered as promised.  5 connects in one hour!  Think about how productive your sales team could be if they could talk to 5x the prospects they normally do.  We will be blogging more about our experiences with ConnectAndSell in the coming weeks so stay tuned."

So what does Sales 2.0 means to you? There are lots of people out there with strong opinions, so jump into the conversation.

Tony Parinello (the VITO guy) and David Mattson (a Sandler guy - CEO actually) have written a great new book Five Minutes With VITO. Many of you are probably familiar with one or both of these schools of sales. I am a couple pages shy of finishing and am really enjoying the read.

More importantly, I have 3 copies I would love to share.

Five Minutes with VITO Overview

The book is an impressive & usefull blueprint for top down selling. Strategies behind it Preparation for it Roadmap of it The book makes the case that Sales is about reaching out to & having effective sales conversation with Very Important Top Officers.

How to Win a Free Copy of Five Minutes with VITO

1. Contribute to the conversation (comment) on any of our blog posts.
2. Thursday December 18th @ 12PM will be the cut off for entry.
3. 3 winners will be randomly chosen.
4. If you haven't already, feel free to subscribe to this blog via RSS or email. Not required, but appreciated.
5. We will post the winners on Thursday afternoon.

Good luck to all!

UPDATE:
Thanks to all who participated. And a special thanks to the authors Tony & Dave for stopping by the comments (oh yeah and for writing a great book too!)

On to the 3 winners:

• Eric Ramsdell, Sales Executive - AmeriVault, Corp.
• Lynne Nelson, Director - KRONOS INC.
• Ed Pietkiewicz, Business Developer  - ACTIVE JOB SEARCH

Thanks to all & happy holidays.

I want to share a spot-on post I read over at the Tuned In blog. It is part of a series on Winning in a Down Economy. Here is an excerpt on "Embracing the new Reality":

There is no better way to embrace your new reality than by talking to your customers and prospects. To my ears, this means a structured win loss analysis program.

Disclaimer: I am very much a drinker of the win loss analysis Kool Aid.  I joined The Bridge Group to offer our CloseRate Accelerator service doing just that.

Here are some of my thoughts on what effective win loss analysis is & what it isn't.

• Win/Loss Analysis isn't a blame game between Marketing & Sales. The program will fail if out of the gate "sales process" or "marketing tool" questions are off limits. At the Bridge Group, we focus on 4 core areas: people, process, product & pricing. These areas aren't about Sales & Marketing as silos. It is about how a buyer perceives the organization and whether or not you are speaking directly to their needs & challenges.
  
  
• Win/Loss Analysis isn't Business Development. You should not go into these calls with the primary objective of reviving / finding sales opportunities. It is impossible to effectively live on both sides of that fence. To re-work a Ben Franklin quote: They who would give up essential discovery for temporary pipeline, deserve neither discovery nor pipeline.
  
  
• Win/Loss Analysis shouldn't focus just on on driving Product Roadmaps. In my humble opinion, win/loss analysis needs to be 75%+ about the business issues that drove a "win" or "loss" decision. Staying focused on the perceived business benefits/lack of benefits - even when engaged with a technical buyer - is critical for making the program a success.

Oddly enough, even though you should not focus on all of the above, they are relevant topics that customers and prospects will want to discuss:

• Win/Loss Analysis can lay blame on Marketing or Sales. You need to know if you aren't engaging the ultimate decision makers or if your sales process is off-putting. You also need to know if your marketing materials don't speak to your buyers' pain or if your presentation loses your audience within 60 seconds. The goal here is to learn what is working and what is not and use that knowledge to drive change and accelerate your close rate.
  
  
• Win/Loss Analysis can be Business Development. A significant percentage of your "lost" opportunities aren't lost at all. You just aren't in the running anymore. Figuring out why you didn't make the short-list is critical for future success.
  
  
• Win/Loss Analysis can drive Product Roadmaps. If a technical benefit is winning or losing deals for you, all functional areas need to know so they can either play it up or kick it to the curb.. The trick here is engaging the buyer on the "why's" behind the decision and not getting bogged down on technical feature/functions.
  

In any economy, but especially this one, an intimate understanding of your market is crucial. A win / loss program can deliver that information to you and allow you to embrace the new reality, making your company faster/better/smarter than the competition.

I hope to hear your thoughts & comments.

In my role as Marketing Manager, I buy services/technology/etc. for our inside sales consulting company. So I am a buyer, but does that mean by definition I am a liar?

Full disclosure I have been in Sales as well. And even blamed an occasional slipped close date on a "buyer-liar".

Here's a real world buying situation: I am currently looking at a new service. The vendor's Sales Guy has been great to work with, it's relatively cheap and easy to measure ROI. In short, I am very excited and have decided to buy.

But - I didn't buy in July, or in August. I don't know if I will be buying in September. Am I just reinforcing the idea that "buyers are liars?" 

 I don't think so. At any point during this sales process, I could have been asked some tough (and some less tough) questions to better gauge the opportunity:

• Is this project one of your top 3 initiativesfor this quarter?
  Me: "No."
  This is a great chance for a follow up question from the Sales Guy. "When will it be?" or "Where does this project rank today?"
  
  
• When are you looking to make a purchasing decision? When will you be implementing?
  Me: "The decision is made. Implementation will be next quarter."
  Note: to me as a buyer "decision" doesn't mean "ink".
  
  
• What would you like to see happen as a next step?
  Me: "Not a thing. I have all the information I need. Once I can give this project proper attention, I will pull the trigger."
  
  
• If you were me, would you forecast this business this month?
  Me: "Definitely not this month and probably not until next quarter."

By asking these questions, the Sales Guy would have a much clearer idea of my needs, objectives & timeframe. While I am guilty of not volunteering everything, proper forecasting is his job, not mine.

Check out this post from Trish if you want to see some more Great Sales Questions. Asking questions like these can make the sales process work better for you (the Sales Guy) and me (the Buyer).

So what do you think? Am I a "buyer-liar" or are there some questions that have to be asked to bring out the full picture?