Distinctive Value Proposition;

This quarter we’d like to refer you to a Harvard Business Review (HBR) a customised copy of which you can get off our web-page (.pdf file 11 pages 304KB).  It makes interesting reading on the need for distinctive value propositions (DVP). We’ve highlighted some great points in the article and fully subscribe to the importance of this activity. In fact, we believe it is so important that we teach that DVP’s should not be left to the individual salesperson - but defined in an “extended team” activity with the outcomes tested as part of the qualification criteria for the sales opportunity.

The HBR article goes further and suggests that enterprises should have a formal strategy to define what customers perceive as value and build solutions that deliver on those perceptions. Have you thought of engaging a marketing function to articulate specific customer value for a specific sales opportunity?

Infoteam’s workshops Winning Complex Sales (WCS) for salespeople goes further in defining the DVP’s for the individual in the buying centre (BC) while Coaching the Sales Process (CSP) for sales management - emphasises management’s role in coaching and evaluating this activity as part of the PQP. (Project Qualification Profile) Have you considered rejecting a sales project because the sales-team could not articulate or measure a DVP!

Return on Sunk Investment;

Gen. Eric Sinsek (US Army)  If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less!

Not being too quick – it took me some time to understand that it was my (products) relevance he was talking about – and that leads me (rather tenuously) to my subject for this quarters newsletter – ROSI Return on SUNK Investment (.pdf file 5 pages 506KB).  Have you undertaken an investment in your sales team that has not paid off?  If so, all is not lost – you don’t have to re-invest in “another” technology or methodology - why not try to implement your current way of doing things!

This newsletter delivers 14 practical activities that you can implement in your sales meeting – or behind the privacy of your own cubicle – that will drive behaviour change.  Let us know how it helps you by e-mailing SuperSmous.

Pipeline Management Overview;

Brian Tracy - Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other!

No one can ever accuse a person of being less than optimistic when they enter the sales profession – by default, if you’re not optimistic you’ll get ground down into a fine powder in a few months – if your clients don’t do it, your “support systems” will!

When managing a sales team (or your own personal pipeline), it’s not the enthusiasm of the salesperson that must be evaluated when trying to decide on the strength of the pipeline.  We’ve all been confronted by the hyper-active assurances that the sales opportunity is on-track!  In our own experience we find Sales Managers extremely gullible and willing to believe the best.  Maybe it’s because they are salespeople firstly and just want to be “sold” on the optimistic view?

We’ve built a pipeline management tool that encompasses all that we think is important (.pdf file 5 pages 356KB) in managing salespeople – their opportunities that is!  We’ve turned the “herding cats” syndrome into a defined method.  The tool is ready for “prime time” but was created with the firm intent - to demonstrate the characteristics of a sales opportunity that MUST be managed.

The new version (v8b) (.zip file 843KB)incorporates a number of improvements.

If you’d like to discuss a way to tighten up the management of opportunities in your team, e-mail or SkypeMe on “superquads”

Science and Strategy;

Mahatma Gandi - “Live like this is your last day; learn like you will live forever”

It’s that time of year again and this newsletter is about two of our clients.  One is creating capacity in his sales team to meet the challenges of the New Year – and the other – is writing a compensation plan to change behaviour to meet the challenges of the New Year. 

There is a cliché that says that you shouldn’t expect better results if you continue to do the same things – do the above points sound like last year?

Our letter this quarter is about doing things differently.  We’ve observed in our clients a trend – the application of science (.pdf file 10 pages 307KB) to sales force productivity.  Of course this is a journey and the application of tools, disciplines and process will only pay dividends if conscientiously applied in a strategic and tactical manner. 

Our consultancy will roll out two distinct technologies through next year to meet these needs in our customers. 

Return on Prospecting - RoP

“If you’re not selling every day – you’re a bum! Selling is like shaving; if you don’t do it every day – you’re a bum! (apologies to the fairer sex)
The majority of sales teams we consult are still forced by “tradition” or management to cold-call and produce quantity in an attempt to fill the funnel of the pipeline. Current trends are to see this at ‘50’s thinking when NCR had armies of “salesmen” doing door-to-door canvassing. The definition of “cover” was some mythical rule-of-thumb like 3:1 meaning 3 prospects for every deal or 3 times value in pipeline to cover target. Little regard was given to sales “cycle time” or time left in financial year – the mantra 3:1 became a KPI and we’ve seen salespeople fired for not driving pipeline!
How silly can that be – quality prospects which meet our engagement criteria and a 1:1 win ration means we don’t add lost cost-of-sale to the cost of those we win. We’ve seen a sale teams DOUBLE their attributed product profit margin by changing the way they prospect and engage.
Download this FREE white paper (.pdf file 8 pages 255KB) on the new trend to limit cold-calling and how to utilise the salespeople’s freed up time to SELL!

Value Proposition Generator

Does your team know the difference between;

• an Elevator Pitch
• an Unique Selling Proposition
• a Value Proposition?

We’re generalising of course, but most on the teams we work with DON’T!  One of our clients found, that using our Value Proposition Generator, (PowerPoint Show 406KB) “resulted in 87% of their salespeople, achieving a first meeting with a C level influencer in a new business target account within 2 months!” (a good value proposition!)

Killer Application

Can you remember when e-mail was a killer application and today software developers give away complex e-mail clients? Everyone searches for the killer application, product or service that will protect them from competition and allow them to charge any margin that the market will bear.
Strange though, my most recent “must have” killer application was for my cellular phone, and was given away by Google for nothing! I suppose that they make their dinero from advertising. The Internet is a strange place.  Decreasing margins, increasing competition and products becoming commodities overnight, drives this mantra in just about every sales team we visit; “We have to stop selling commodities and start selling solutions” can you help us?
We think we can. This 235KB 4 page PDF will set the scene!

What really matters in B2B selling

This 2 page PDF (339kb 2 page) highlights the most important points made in a 36 page formal study of Business-to-Business (B2B) customers and what they want from their Vendors' Salespeople (accessible from the document).  We've highlighted the interesting points which cover; on why vendors fail; on a sales process; what customer say on the use of CRM; on CSF (critical success factors) for success; on Managing Strategic Accounts; on Winning Complex Sales; on influencing the buying process; on the importance of relationship; and finally, what has to be in place for a prospect to why move vendors?

Loose Early!

Our proposition is; that the longer the Opportunity stays in Pipeline, the more Cost of Sales you’ll incur. This has been known for ages and you can demonstrate the benefit of reducing Time in Pipeline (TiP) by using this free download Excel Model where a 20% reduction in TiP (move the 15 days to 12 days) adds a whopping 126% to the profitability of a deal. Ok, we know it’s only a demonstration!
For most Sales Managers, the concentration on bringing the opportunity forward is more driven by getting this months running number than decreasing the cost of sale. Most RoT (Rule of Thumb) measurements talk of a 3:1 prospect to deal ratio. Whatever it is in your team; there is a ratio. If your sales team is closing what the analyses say is common; 30:50:20 (Won deals; Deal Gone away; Lost to Competition; Notice who the best competition is!) it makes a huge difference WHEN you lose the deal.
In good times, when we are in the heart of a hurricane and opportunities are beating down the door, even turkeys can fly! Poor selling techniques are acceptable then as the numbers are being made, but, what about in a downturn? Are you measuring the prospect fallout in your team, and when it occurs?
Consider this “demonstration” (1 slide PowerPoint Slideshow). Both teams A&B close the same number of prospects which enter their sales process; 3 of 15, but team A lose the majority of their deals at the end of the process. There is a great ROI story to be told of projects where this number is KNOWN and an action is initiated to improve the “Engagement Discernment Process”. When deals enter your pipeline; they should close with a ratio of 1:1!