Why Not Use LinkedIn for Lead Generation? Four Objections to Overcome

You may find this unusual, or perhaps not at all, but as a daily user of LinkedIn, with searches everywhere and with contacts from associates in both large and small companies, I find that those at large companies hardly use LinkedIn for anything. I can tell by the lack-of-freshness of their profiles (even the total lack of existence) and the number of connections and recommendations. Peers from smaller companies, however, seem to be more rigorous users based on such criteria. What is clear from experience with companies of all sorts, however, is that sales people are reluctant to use it for lead generation. This is a shame. (By the way, I’ll let you define the line between small and large companies, you’ll see it if you look for the same things I have!)


How come? Well of course, social media is all relatively new to all of us. If you are in sales management and wonder why your sales people won’t use the tool for lead generation purposes, consider the following reasons that I have uncovered, not through scientific study, but through discussion and observation of sales people in all types of companies:

1. It is perceived as “unethical” to prospect into a LinkedIn contact unless they are a “first level” contact

2. It is only a place to start discussions, for which sales people have no time

3. It might only be good for building a profile, just in case there becomes a need for a new position somewhere else

4. It might be good for something but I don’t know where to start

To my earlier point, I believe that “large company” sales people will point to #3 and #4 as their chief reasons to object from LinkedIn. They’ve got large lead generation programs and probably a large brand name behind them to draw interest. They don’t need LinkedIn for lead generation. So they think. Read on.

Sales people from smaller companies apparently see more value in creating a network with this tool, thus more connections and more investment in their profiles, but they may offer up #1 and #2 as reasons to stay restrained in its use. On the point of #2, by the way, ever notice how it seems to always be the very, very small business, or “one-man/woman” shops that start these discussions? Most often, however, they are great discussion opportunities. They likely have “been there, seen that and done that”.

Allow me to overcome the resistance to all four of these points, for your professional improvement, if I might - whether you are a sales person or a sales leader.

1. “It is perceived as “unethical” to prospect into a LinkedIn contact”: I have had this one thrown at me many times. I say “bunk”! What good sales pro that started out knocking on doors paid any attention to a “No Soliciting” sign? What good sales pro did not join an old-fashioned networking group(s) 10 years ago to become friends with a friend for the purpose of his/her own lead generation? LinkedIn is the “new hotel club meeting room for networking” to meet that 2nd and/or 3rd level contact. What’s different? The degree to which the sales person feels compelled to get an introduction first is up to the sales person. And, of course, there should be much thought and research put into how that contact is initially approached. In the end, LinkedIn remains a no-cost, extremely valuable way to reach out to a new prospect as a warm call, with far greater success than a cold call. For those nay-sayers out there who still believe this practice unethical and also have a “No Solicitation” sign/policy in their own offices, how would you expect your own revenue-generating sales personnel to act in such a situation? I hope that you would not advise them to “leave the area”! Otherwise, you will be out of a job soon!

2. “It is only a place to start discussions”: These discussions should become a part of your own professional development. We used to espouse reading trade journals and attending classes. Who can afford to do that anymore? Here lies an effective way to overcome time and cost to get what is truly needed, i.e. continued professional development.

3. “It might only be good for building a profile”: For those large company sales people out there, this is a mistake. Social media and Sales 2.0 will turn big company conventional lead generation and branding on its head. It already is. Who reads direct mail, email blasts and newspaper ads these days? Very few, and fewer and fewer. You need new sources of lead generation activities. Get with the program!

4. “Don’t know where to start”: Here is one place to start: make use of the Group feature of LinkedIn and appropriately advertise value-added, no cost events/products/services that you and your company may be sponsoring. Join and participate in the groups that your target profile prospect/customer belongs to for an appropriate advertisement and/or discussion on a topic of interest. They are not hard to find. Be careful, however, not to be seen as selling a product or service. The Group lead will likely ask you to abstain. If used correctly, this can be a warm and comfortable way to start a conversation with the tool.

An even better use of LinkedIn for the true sales pro, would be to use it as a place for warm introductions, with a value-add approach from the sales person, to people who are associates of associates, i.e. effective and efficient lead generation. Thanks to the internet and LinkedIn, you know something about your prospect. You know their company and perhaps its challenges. You can build rapport before you even walk into their office. There is no reason not to use this tool for lead generation, and every reason to do so. Today, we, as sales pro’s, are so much more fortunate that our predecessors who had nothing more than a telephone to make a very chilly cold call. We are fortunate, let’s use the technology. If you don’t, your competitor will!

Soft Words and Hard Words

Despite the existence of the English dictionary, though now albeit banished to the internet and out of hard print in many circles, words often have different meanings to different people. In any professional and personal communication, it’s important that we recognize this. In the sales profession, it can make or break our income if we are not careful with the words we hear.


When your prospect says, “Your “price” is too high?” what are they really saying about your “price”? Is it the price of your widget or is it the total cost of ownership? When your prospect says, “I need better “service”.” What does “service’ really mean to the prospect? These are words we call “soft” words – they mean very different things to different people, and as sales pro’s we need to be sensitive to words like this.

In fact, most of the words in our vocabulary could probably be considered “soft” words. A “hard” word means the same to all of us. But think about it, what word does mean the same to all of us? What does a “No” mean? To some prospects, it means “not now”, to others, it is “Not now, not tomorrow, never!” To some sales pro’s it says “try harder”. It is, quite often, not a clearly defined negative response despite the apparent simplicity of the word “no”. What is a “win” in the mind of yourself and most important, your prospect? A win for the home team is clearly defined, but what is a win for your customer/prospect. Hmmm. Be careful before you craft a response for your customer or prospect to a collection of soft words. Those soft words deserve some probing.

While you are in the discovery phase with your prospect/client, it never hurts to keep asking questions. Probe on those “soft” words. “What did you mean by that?” “Does this mean that you feel xxxx?” “Help me to understand your use of the word xxxx. Does it mean that……”.

In life, we tend to take some things for granted. Someone else’s choice of words is one of those. We jump to conclusions based on what our clients and prospects say, without additional clarification. But don’t, if you are a sales pro. Learn to recognize a “soft” word when you hear one, and let the alarm bells go off. “Gosh I have to question this a bit!” You’ll be far more successful!

Five Ways to Improve Your Proposal Win Rate

In many ways, I’ve viewed my sales efforts and resources much like a CXO would view his/her precious assets – I want to use them just-in-time and at the right time, every time. One of the biggest and most precious assets in the sales process is the writing and delivery of a proposal. Because I’ve viewed proposals this way, I have enjoyed very impressive win rates throughout a long career once my proposals have been delivered. Here are five tips to live by if you’re looking to increase your win rate or that of your team:

1. In naval aviation circles, Navy pilots are taught to “get a good start” at the beginning of their landing approach to have any chance at catching the aircraft carrier’s arresting wire. We, as sales people, need “good starts” as well. So hire a lead qualifier tasked with three critical objectives to accomplish before any efforts at proposals are begun:

     a. Develop and identify a compelling reason for the prospect to act on your goods and/or services (not from your perspective but from that of the prospect)
     b. Identify each member of the decision-making group
     c. Gain commitment for at least two members to be at an initial discovery meeting before any proposal is considered

If it’s not in the business plan for such a resource as a lead qualifier, do these things on your own before you start committing too many resources.

2. Avoid boilerplates at all costs. Yes, you’ll win some of those and maybe save some time, but you won’t get the improved results you need. Willy Loman Street is littered with boilerplate proposals thrown out by the prospect because:

     a. A former prospect’s name is spread throughout the proposal
     b. It shows no appreciation for the prospect’s unique challenges, i.e. “they didn’t listen to me.”
     c. It shows no effort, i.e. “how will I be treated as a client?”

3. Show only the following in your proposal:
     a. Summary
     b. Findings
     c. Feature-Benefit
     d. Cost-Benefit

Remove the “fluff’. “Fluff” is “fluff” and it is rarely read or appreciated. If you’re hoping to “catch an eye” with some written word, that work should have been done at the discovery stage. Anything outside of (a)-(d) above is “fluff”.

4. Check, double-check and then triple-check for grammar, spelling, formatting etc. And always with at least a second set of eyes involved somewhere. If you are not good at this kind of attention-to-detail, hire someone who is, just like you did in college to type up your term papers!

5. If at all possible, deliver the proposal in person. GoToMeeting and tools like it are impressive and can be tremendous resource-savers, but there is no substitute for reading a prospect’s body language as the proposal is delivered. And it gives your prospect more trust in you to see you delivering points and answering questions with supreme confidence. If you send a proposal via mail or email, you are an amateur fisherman who saw some fish biting in that spot earlier in the day, and has no clue that the fish may have “moved on”.

If you follow these steps, you’ll deliver a resource-hungry asset known as the proposal to the right prospect, at the right time, every time, and improve your win-rate. You may even get back some precious personal time for you to go off and improve those fishing skills!

Five Probing Questions to Test Forecast Validity

Our last blog post suggested five attributes of good pipeline management. Follow those suggestions religiously and you will meet your quota AND your forecast more consistently. But try as we might as individual contributors, sometimes we are not totally honest with ourselves. As sales managers, we might not be supremely confident with the forecast picture that has been painted for us. The following five questions can work for both the individual contributor and sales management to build transparency through the sometimes over-optimistic forecasts we might deliver!

(Assume that the sales process is built on the following progression: suspect is qualified to become a prospect who is pursued for the purpose of an appointment to conduct discovery in order to present a proposal and then close. Each bold point is a critical step in the sales process and marks an advance through the pipeline and subsequent forecast.)

1. When, where, how and with whom was the discovery appointment conducted?

Based on your sales process and sales cycle, this question will often reveal the opportunity’s true place in the forecast. For instance, if your average sales cycle is 60 days from appointment to close, and the appointment occurred 90 days ago, this opportunity is possibly slipping and may not even deserve a place in the forecast. Also, if discovery was not conducted with all the major stakeholders, then perhaps there is more work to do and a less optimistic forecast should result.

2. What is the “compelling reason to act” in the proposal?

In other words, have we clearly identified the prospect’s pain point(s) in the proposal and matched the feature(s) of our product/service to create a benefit, or compelling reason to buy? Often I hear, “well, we are less expensive” or “they don’t like their current provider”. I’ve met thousands of prospects who retained a more expensive product/service even when they didn’t particularly “like” the current provider because the provider presented benefits elsewhere. If I can’t get better compelling reasons than these replies, the opportunity is removed from the forecast.

3. Who is the key decision-maker? And how do you know?

This is my favorite! Mostly the reply is this, “Well my contact is because they told me they are.” Ugh. Everyone in business is a self-proclaimed decision-maker! If we were not, we would only be worker-bees. And the person who will sign the contract is not always the key decision-maker either. Identifying the key decision-making person or group gets more difficult with more complex sales opportunities. I like the Miller Heiman framework for help in flushing out who that person or group might be for the complex sales opportunity.

4. Who and what is your competition? How would the prospect rank you against them?

I have seen way too many 30-day forecasted opportunities swept away by the competition at the last minute. Here’s a classic reply to this question, “Well, nobody, they are only looking at us!” And another, “I didn’t want to ask for fear of bringing up the idea of shopping us.” This is capitalist America, where choice and the right and duty to pursue choice are king! You better bet there is competition, if not from a direct competitor, than at least from a decision to source the solution internally or to make absolutely no decision at all. If we have not nailed down this crucial factor, the opportunity has no place in our forecast.

5. How do you know the opportunity is closed without signed contracts in hand?

The deal is never closed until the ink is dry on your contracts. Or in some sales processes, the deal may not even be closed until the product/service is delivered. In most sales processes, there is still a long way to go between a “verbal yes” and the point at which your company measures it as truly “closed”. Ensure that your sales process and associated forecasting ladder maps each and every critical step between the “verbal yes” and eventual closing.

Over the last two posts, you now have a way to manage your pipeline and to test the validity of your resultant forecast. I hope it helps you to beat quota and forecast every time!!

Five Attributes of Strong Pipeline Management

Strong funnel or pipeline management results in the best chance of forecasting your results accurately and your best chance at exceeding your quotas. As we say in our profession, it is one thing to miss your objective. It is yet another step and a serious miscue to miss your forecast too, in the same month or quarter. The seriousness of this offense will grow the more senior in sales management you become. Do it too many times and you may find yourself in the Accounting office!

Before I suggest the five best attributes or indicators of strong pipeline management, it is important to understand the terms used in pipeline management. I see pipeline and funnel to be synonymous. Both are a depiction of each and every opportunity and its stage within your sales process (http://sellingwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/01/process.html). The stage-gate which the opportunity holds in your sales process should indicate its placement in the 30/60/90 day window since your sales process and average sales cycle should combine to become a predictor of time.

Your pipeline is not your forecast or “commit”, a term often used synonymously with forecast, although generally whatever is in the 30-day window should be your forecast or commit for the next 30 days. If at that stage in the sales process you cannot accurately predict its closure in the next 30 days, you should give consideration to placing the opportunity back into the 60 or 90-day window. Anything that could be signed in the upcoming measurement period, i.e. month or quarter, but is still somewhat tenuous in its placement along your sales process might be considered “upside” to which you are not willing to commit. Enough definitions!

Ok, so here goes. Here, from my experience, are the five best attributes or indicators of strong pipeline management:

•“The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. You can give good news late and bad news early. It gets real ugly if you can’t do either and you miss your quota. Even Clint Eastwood could not shed that reputation!

•“The Multiplier”. You have at least 2x, 3x and 4x your monthly revenue quota in the 30/60/90-day window respectively. Same can be said for the number of opportunities in each window, based on the average value of your sale. You need this buffer to protect against the unexpected. You have life insurance don’t you? Put those multiplication tables from the third grade to use!

•“Green, Yellow, Red”. From month-to-month, each opportunity moves at least from one window to the next (Green), never stalling more than 2-3 months (Yellow) in the same window. If the opportunity is stalling past 2-3 months, move it way back in your pipeline (Red). Where it is moved will depend on your sales process but I would suggest that since it is “Red” it is close to “Dead”. Find something new to work on. Better yet, ask for help.

•“Equal Opportunity”. Diversity, presented in terms of different companies or opportunities, products/services offered and revenue amounts associated, exists within the pipeline. Live by the elephant, die by the elephant if it decides to play elsewhere in the jungle!

•“Upside”. Forecast is at or near quota with enough upside to likely produce an exceeded-quota measurement period. Relying on the stretch of forecast only to get to quota is like asking for a quarter tank of gas to get you the manual-prescribed mileage for that quarter tank. Go get more gas, no matter the octane. Be safe with yourself and your passengers, i.e. your management!

So there you have it. Remember these five descriptors and paste them to your cubicle or PC/laptop for best pipeline management!

A word for sales management: if you have a closely defined sales process and stage-gates with specific criteria, and you combine this process and these stage-gates with careful probing of the sales person during forecast reviews and your first-hand knowledge of the prospect, you will meet your forecast almost every time. Just as important, you will quickly determine the sales effectiveness of your sales person, i.e. are they effectively executing the work necessary to fill the pipeline and advance opportunities, or are they “selling you on a bag-of-goods”. Many are sales people are good at the latter, far fewer are better at the former – these are our true Sales Pro’s!

Is Selling The Same as Persuasion – Part II?

Let’s replay those definitions from last week’s post:

To sell:
“A recommendation to sell a particular security.
The process of liquidating an asset in exchange for money.”

To persuade:
“To prevail on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging: We could not persuade him to wait.
To induce to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince: to persuade the judge of the prisoner's innocence”.

It is amazing to me how each definition is so narrowly defined. Sales Pro’s sell more than “securities” and do more than “liquidate assets”. I hope I never catch one of my Sales Pro’s liquidating assets! According to the definition of persuasion, one can only prevail “on a person”? I persuade my dog all of the time, through much urging, to use the bathroom outside. I must admit, I am not always successful.

Some big pieces are really missing here. “To sell” is more than a single act. It is a process, a series of steps, each step performed at an appropriate time with expertise, rigor and finesse (i.e. the art and science of selling).

Persuasion, as defined above, does not necessarily cover the sales process and therefore does not make selling and persuasion equal. Show me a sales person who, during the sales process, only “advises”, “urges”, “appeals to reason” and “convinces”, and I’ll show you a sales person who typifies the very low end of our profession, the ones who give us all a bad reputation. There is no room in persuasion for listening, empathy and probing, the very acts embodied in good selling.

Sure, there is always a point or two in the sales process where we may have to perform the act of persuasion, but persuasion is not selling. Selling is a far greater cause. It is a process that combines art and science, and a bit of persuasion here and there. If you throw too much persuasion onto your sales process, you will have thrown a bit too much flame on the beef and ruined a perfectly good steak. Selling is sometimes persuasion, but persuasion is never selling! What’s for dinner tonight?!

Is Selling The Same as Persuasion – Part I?

Did you ever buy a new car and then suddenly notice how many people on the road own your same make and model?

I was asked, in question form, the title of this posting during an interview recently and suddenly, I see the topic popping up everywhere on blogs and LinkedIn groups. So I thought I would add a nickel to the thought reservoir on this topic since my earlier “two cents” during the interview apparently was not enough to get the job. I am, after all, still writing this blog. Perhaps my “nickel of thought” will provoke a “dime of thought” from you!

Before engaging in a game of semantics, I consulted my trusty source of definitions on the web, Dictionary.com. The results were not inspiring. I sought out the verb definition of selling and persuasion, i.e. “to sell” and “to persuade”. Here is what I found:

To sell:
“A recommendation to sell a particular security.
The process of liquidating an asset in exchange for money.”

To persuade:
“To prevail on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging: We could not persuade him to wait.
To induce to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince: to persuade the judge of the prisoner's innocence”.

Yecchhh. These definitions leave a Sales Pro wanting much more and feeling cheap. So it is natural then, to rest our response to such a question on the “art and science of selling”, the very premise of this blog!

So come back next time to “Part II” when I suggest that selling is sometimes persuasion, but persuasion is never selling.

"Sales and Service – Do They Mix? – Top Five Reasons Why"

There are certain things in corporate life that don’t mix well with Sales. Like Sales and Finance. Always seems to be a conflict there, i.e. “Why are you discounting the price?” Or Sales and Manufacturing, i.e. “Why did you sell it before we made it?” Or, my favorite, Sales and Marketing, “We paid for that lead, why can’t you convert on it?” While some might view this as conflict across the functional disciplines, I view this “conflict” as a healthy check and balance system for the corporate entity. It works if managed well by the senior leadership team. But what about the idea of Sales and Service? Are the two mutually exclusive? Should they compete with one another? Are they different disciplines?

My premise is this: Sales Pro’s should always be servicing, and Service Pro’s should always be selling. Dictionary.com defines Service as: an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service. You are a Sales Pro, so you know how to define Sales. Can these skill sets be combined? I say they must. Here’s why:

1. Both Sales and Service Pro’s work with clients who have a need. No matter who we are, it is our job to fulfill it.

2. Prospects need to be assured that they will be serviced after the sale and judge that criteria based on their perceived level of service during the sales process.

3. Service Pro’s get the opportunity to engage with clients at a time of self-proclaimed need. After that need is satisfied, an opportunity presents itself to open up the conversation to uncover other hidden needs for an up-sell or cross-sell opportunity.

4. Sales Pro’s present and sell a solution that fulfills a need – is this not Service?

5. Interaction with a customer and/or prospect is a precious commodity. Sales and Service Pro’s are pressed up against the client or prospect and gain these interactions. Whether this interaction is for a sales or service purpose, it presents a wonderful opportunity to broaden the relationship. Take advantage!

I recently called my cable company for problems with a router. While they were quick to offer suggestions for a fix, they never asked me whether I was enjoying my experience with their offering. Like you, I receive marketing materials from them all of the time, only to toss them into the trash can or delete file on email. I am quite sure there are a couple of other channels out there that I have not heard of that I might enjoy, if only I had the benefit of a conversation. A lost opportunity for this provider!

"Discounts and Buyer Behavior - Where's The Logic?"

Everybody wants a deal. Even if the client is dead set on your product or service, you may very well have to provide a perceived price concession just to seal the deal. As a sales pro, you’ve been there before, haven’t you? Well here’s my question: when it comes to comparing costs and gaining price concessions, why does the buyer often favor the cost and/or concession when it is framed as a “discount” even though your effective price, after the discount, may still be higher than your competitor’s?

I have run into many situations where when it was time to consider price, the buyer compared only the discounts, not the list price or rack rate with the discount. Doesn’t it make perfect sense to do the latter and is it not foolish to do only the former? Look at marketing collateral everywhere – “discount!”, “discount!”, “discount!” is sometimes all that is printed. Why is the buyer in love with discounts, and not actual prices? I don’t get it.

I even try to put myself in the buyer’s shoes, I am one from time to time, and I still cannot develop the love affair with the discount in my choice of products and services. But it is always there! Back in my sales shoes, I experimented once and left discounts out of the cost page of my proposals and showed only actual pricing. I wanted to be simple and direct with my prospects in the belief that such an approach would improve my success. My win rate declined. Lesson learned there: always show your costs as a discount to something! And be prepared to bump the discount up a few points just to seal the deal. Everybody wants a deal.

In a perfect world, us sales pro’s would always be selling value and our buyers would always be buying value, thereby negating the need to spend much time on pricing and discounts. But it’s always there to consider. I just simply marvel over the attention a discount gets above and beyond that for the effective net price. Everybody wants a deal – “hey, I just got 30% off!” “Off of WHAT?!” I ask!!

“Top Ten Things I’ve Learned About RFP’s”

With a number of years responding to Requests for Proposals (RFP’s), I have learned a few things about these dastardly thorns in the side of a Sales Pro. It is an interesting buying process for the customer. In the government, it is mostly mandated. In the corporate sector, it might be mostly desired, but rarely followed, depending on your industry or product. One fact for sure, RFP’s are highly resource-intensive on both sides of the table, for both buyer and seller. In these days of “do more with less”, that very aspect of the RFP stays at the forefront of my mind while deciding how to handle the newly-arrived RFP. Here is what I have learned, or come to question, about RFP’s: (Forewarned, this is not the Letterman format, 10 is best!)

1. There are three types of RFP processes: (1) The process where contact and communication are allowed freely through-out (2) The process where contact and communication are closely guarded or totally prohibited through-out (3) The process where you are the incumbent. In response to each situation, I say respectively, “Play, Run, Must Play”! The words of my second-grade teacher at recess are ringing in my ears!

2. RFP processes that do not allow a free exchange of ideas and questions between participants and customer do not educate the customer and will most likely end up in a poor decision for the customer, unless there are experts on your product and industry on the side for the customer. So why do buyers, without experts, sometimes put up so many barriers? They don’t want to be bothered by account teams? It shows the respect they have for our profession. I say let them go away in this case, if unsolicited. Even if you win it, it will likely be a relationship-poor and margin-poor relationship between the two companies. Bad divorce coming!

3. The RFP you helped to write is likely the one you will win. The RFP that arrives unsolicited is likely the one you will lose. This one’s been around since Ben Franklin sold his first time-piece! I wonder if Ben ever put his kite up into a cloud of incoming RFP’s and hit lightening??!!

4. Every study that I have conducted suggests that my team will win 10-15% of unsolicited RFP’s. Miller Heiman and other reputable sales training firms will likely back that up. What’s the opportunity cost of NOT pursuing other non-RFP opportunities to spend the time winning that 10-15% of the business? I say mostly it is not worth the trade-off. It’s like playing the slot machines. When do you quit throwing quarters at the machine and decide it’s time to go home and earn an honest wage?

5. Over a third of delivered RFP’s never result in a decision. More than 50% of RFP’s, when awarded, result in a major change of scope, almost always downward, significantly. My opinion and experience anyway. It’s the princess before midnight, and then it turns into an ugly pumpkin. And you spent all that money on the prom dress!!

6. Beware the RFI (Request for Information) that is supposed to result in an RFP. As the vendor, if you can make your presence “felt” by the prospect in the RFI stage, keep chasing it. Otherwise, run! How many RFI’s do you think even really turn into RFP’s? An extremely small percentage. We’re back at the Black Jack table! And your partner is up in the hotel room ordering expensive room service!

7. No single RFP is ever the same. Why can’t we make a rule in our business that “all RFP’s must have the same format for our product?”  The fact that no RFP and RFP response will ever be the same, suggests that if your organization decides to spend much time here, that a dedicated group, or an RFP Response Team is put in place, so that traditional selling resources are freed up to do what they do best. This is a significant investment but required if RFP responses are significant to the company’s sales plan. Do you really want your OUTSIDE Sales Pro’s INSIDE in the company library pulling volumes of material and editing content? That’s like asking the landscaper to paint your living room!

8. In any RFP response, follow the customer’s format, question progression and instructions to the absolute letter-of-the-law. Put many sets of eyes on the final response. This cannot be overstated. The easier it is for the client to read your response (with a quality response, of course), the faster you pile on points for your team.

9. If you are the incumbent, take nothing for granted, but know that you have the biggest advantage in your favor: change is extremely hard for a customer toward a new provider. If you have provided good service and quality at a fair price over the preceding time, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. Got to bed tonight, get a good night’s sleep and attack it with fresh eyes tomorrow! The princess will still be a princess!

10. Here’s the RFP I like most. Our Sales Pro creates the opportunity through great discovery and relationship-building with a number of decision-makers. The solution begins to become scoped and the prospect suggests, “yes, but we must go to bid.” This Sales Pro does not quiver. S/he is extremely confident that she has everything in his/her own favor, and plays willingly and enthusiastically. Because s/he has the deal “under control”. There are no pressure tactics to force the prospect’s hands at not going to bid and there is no remorse on the part of the Sales Pro. In the end, it is a win-win for the prospect and the provider.

Is Number Ten nirvana for you? Maybe it is, but it should be your goal to create situations like this. If you’re in control, it makes perfect sense to let the deal take its course in accordance with the prospect’s buying process.

So maybe you can tell, I don’t like RFP’s. Truth be told, I don’t. They make capitalism inefficient (government business excluded from this remark). But I understand its role in our marketplace. And I have won my fair share of them. As a provider, just be sure that you have a well-planned and well-supported process for handling them. I hope the “Top Ten” help you and your organization to find that kind of governance if it is not already present. Good selling!

Top Ten Half Truth's, From a Sales Leader's Perspective

From time to time, we all say things that we don’t really mean, don’t we? Not that any of us lie intentionally, but our conviction behind what we say can sometimes be tested. As a sales leader, I get to converse with customers, prospects, employees, peers, superiors and competitors. That’s kind of neat I think. I’ve heard it all. Not really, every time that is said, something new always comes along!

Just listen:

10. “Your prices are 30% higher than your competitors.” (Really?)

9. “I make the decisions here. You can communicate through me.” (The buck only stopped at Harry Truman from my experience.)

8. “I’m waiting for signatures on the contract.” (I hate that word “wait” – see earlier post. While it’s true the sales exec might be waiting, it’s not true that the contracts will come back signed!)

7. “These changes will be good for you!” (I’ve been on both sides of this one. Sometimes but not always true – it depends on the changes and it depends on you!)

6. “Trust me!” (If you have to ask for it, it means you haven’t earned it.)

5. “There are no right or wrong answers to these questions.” (Then why are you asking them?)

4. “We’ll get back to you by the end of the week.” (This is less than a half truth and more than a half lie, more than 50% of the time it never happens!)

3. “These leads are no good.” (Ok, you know what comes next….)

2. “Sales can’t convert on our leads.” (Ugh.)

And finally, “half-truth” number one…..drum roll please!

1. “We’re from headquarters and we are here to help.” (Oh-oh, run!)

Tell us what “half-truth’s” are your favorites!

The “Give’th and Take’th” Approach for Sales Pro’s

As a sales pro, you have undoubtedly had more than a couple of opportunities stay stagnant in your pipeline. You can’t get that opportunity up the sales ladder and it’s causing you sleepless nights. We’ve all been there. I especially appreciate one technique that gets a sales opportunity up the ladder, or off of your ladder, and sales forecast, right away. Use this technique, and you’ll impress management and your pocketbook!

Let’s set the surroundings first. You have met several times with your prospect. Sincere interest has been shown on both sides. You have conducted great discovery sessions with your prospect and you both agree that there is a need for your product/service. You have presented the proposal, a strong cost-benefit analysis and/or return-on-investment analysis, and the deal sits. And sits. And sits. Your primary point of contact goes silent on you. “What the heck went wrong?” you ask. Absolutely frustrating, isn’t it?!

As a sales leader, I might have the following questions for you:

• How well do you have the decision-making landscape covered, i.e. who has influence and/or need and where? Where are your relationships?
• How well do you have the competitive landscape covered, i.e. against your prospect’s needs, who is strongest?
• How formidable is your “compelling reason to buy” from the prospect’s perspective?

As a sales pro, you might try the following:

As buyers of goods and services, whether we are consumer or business buyers, we possess a certain psychology and buying process. Our buying process shapes up this way:

• I/we have no problem and no need (BLISSFUL)
• I/we might have a problem and maybe a need (AWARE)
• I/we do have a problem and a definite need (ACTIVE)
• I/we determine best solutions to my problem and need (SEARCHING)
• I/ we select my best provider(s) (FINDER)
• I/we negotiate my best financial arrangement (NEGOTIATE)

If your opportunity is languishing in your 30/60/90 day pipeline, have you asked yourself a true and tried question, “Where is my prospect in their buying process?” Are they AWARE, are they a FINDER? Where are they? If the deal is slipping, you have likely misaligned your sales process to their buying process.

Try this to understand if you have or have not misaligned customer-buying and sales process. I call it the “Give’th and Take’th” approach. It goes something like this:

“Mr/Ms Buying Prospect, I have worked hard to put the best proposal in front of you that I possibly could assemble for you. I am concerned that I have had no feedback from you for XX weeks/days. I am concerned that either I have not presented enough information to you or that there may be no real apparent need for my product/service. If I do not receive a response from you in the next XX days, I will put our opportunity to work together in the “do not call file”. Please call me if you’d like to resume discussion.” You have “Given”, now you are about to “Take”.

This technique can be a great barometer of where you are with the prospect’s buying process. And it works with the enterprise client, SMB and the consumer. If the decision-making team is ACTIVE or further in their search process, you will get a response. No one wants a potential provider to “go away!” If there is no response, your sales process likely developed a bit ahead of the prospect’s buying process. You will need to re-align your sales strategy.

So when your next opportunity starts to slip in your pipeline, try the “Give’th and Take’th Approach”! I know, you’re thinking, “I would never tell a prospect that I am taking them off my list.” But remember that people often want what they do not have. If they are in the ACTIVE stage or further, they don’t want potential partners leaving the stage. Sometimes our buyers get so busy with other priorities that you opportunity loses visibility. They won’t leave you if there is a true need. If they do, it means you have a heckuva lot more selling to do, and you don’t need them hanging around in your sales forecast!!

The Customer is Always Right?

We have all grown up with this mantra placed on our sales and service mantels, haven’t we? This is rightfully so, because a customer is a customer, not always a prospect for your offering. A customer might be defined as an entity that has bought from you previously that you now continue to serve. Period. A prospect might be defined as an entity (either customer, former customer or not) who is a candidate for a new product or service from which they may benefit. But many of us in sales sometimes confuse a customer with a prospect. I like to proclaim that while the customer is always right, THE PROSPECT IS ALWAYS WRONG! But in the heat of the sales chase, I often hear the sales person say, “Well the customer said show me xyz and I showed them xyz……”. Ugh. They forget they are selling to a prospect, not a customer.

While your prospect may be a current or former customer and deserves the appropriate care with regard to the product and/or services they have already purchased from you, they must be seen as a prospect for the new product or service you think may benefit the client. And THE PROSPECT IS ALWAYS WRONG!

I like the slogan of one famous merchant who promotes, “An educated consumer is our best consumer.” As a sales pro, that proclamation scares me. It means they see no need for our profession. They have just replaced toll-takers with FastPass! (I’m sorry, bad analogy for sales pros, but you get the picture!) What do sales pro’s do anyway? We teach, educate, evangelize, question, question and question even more to understand the reasons behind pain, challenge and/or opportunity. Then we match our products/services to those needs, show a benefit and close. This is the work of a sales pro.

If the prospect knew what they wanted and what would serve them best from my shop (my definition of a commodity), I would eliminate my sales force and set up a 1-800 order-taking line. I would probably even forget about the 800 number and set up ecommerce on my web site. It is much less expensive. Why do I need a highly paid sales force if my prospects understand their needs and my products enough to make a successful match? I don’t, all I need is a web site.

I know, I get it. Sometimes the prospect is demanding and wants answers based on the research they have done. We feel compelled to respond instantly with answers, not with sales techniques that will provide the prospect with the best product/service at the best cost. In this day and time, the prospect can gain an upper-hand on the research they have at hand, i.e. thank you internet. (This is a good thing!) But they can never truly understand your products or services and how they can solve problems and challenges unless your company provides such detail on their web site, that they no longer need you. Check your company web site now and then!!

The sales pro is an expert at uncovering the prospect’s needs, understanding his/her own product offerings and making matches to create benefits. The sales pro then closes on these benefits. The prospect is not an expert in this field. Never! And don’t let them think they are! The next time a prospect says, “I want to talk about xyz…..”, what’s your next response?

Why Is It That Hardly Anyone Grew Up Wanting To Be A Salesperson?

Isn’t it the truth? When you were eight years old and your friends were playing “cops and robbers”, were you on the sideline saying, “No thanks, I want to be in sales management one day – let’s do role plays instead!” We’ve all played “doctor/nurse”, “fireman”, “postman”, “scientist” etc. but who ever played “sales guy/gal”? Well, maybe in the school store, but that’s order-taking!

In school, there are few courses to support and extend our discipline. Most I have seen have a title like “Sales and Marketing 101”. Sales is not marketing and marketing is not sales. I have a son who is a sophomore in college. When I asked him to read this blog he told me, “I have no idea what you’re talking about in your posts, but I like the layout!” No one teaches the art and science of selling, not in K-12, undergraduate, post-graduate, or god forbid doctorate. Why? Should they?

Here are some of my thoughts why few of us grew up wanting to be sales people:

Sales people build poor perception in others. I am not so sure. Lawyers have been accused of building poor perception in others, but how many of your friends wanted law school badly out of college?

Nobody likes a quota hanging over their head. Maybe, but doesn’t every profession have a productivity quota over their heads? Scientists must accomplish so much research. Consultants must have a certain number of billable hours.

Let’s try some more potential reasons:

Hollywood and TV don’t glamorize the profession. Right on. Doctors, lawyers, cops, soldiers and even dogs (Lassie etc. etc.) get all the glory when you are a kid growing up watching TV, movies and/or reading books and magazines. Heck, I remember only one exposure to the sales profession in a book required for 7th Grade Literature, Death of a Salesman. It scared the heck out of me! And I’m sure it did the same for you! My next exposure to the sales profession from the entertainment media was not until 1992’s “Glen Gary Glen Ross”. I was two years into my sales career at the time. It didn’t scare me, it depressed me. Not until my third viewing did I come to find it absolutely hysterical. It almost drove me from the profession. I put that movie on top of a Willy Loman sandwich and I went looking for a new career. I’m glad I did not find one!

Schools don’t teach the profession. Right on. Where else can a child or teen or young adult learn about, wonder about and explore our profession? I am not sure why it is not taught, but I have some ideas. Any professors/faculty out there care to weigh in? Is it because the profession is not deemed worthy (that perception thing again)? Is it because few appreciate the “science” of selling? Is it because very few sales pro’s go back into the academic community to build content and teach it? Is it because of a perceived lack of demand? Since when does student demand dictate a class schedule anyway? My sophomore son can’t register for half of his desired classes because they are full!

My vote is to teach the profession starting in high school and then into college. What is missed here is that one of the problems in this world is that not enough people of the world know how to sell. And I don’t mean it’s important to be able to sell a widget. I mean that it’s important for people from all walks of life to do the things good sales pro’s do all the time. It’s important to listen, to effectively build relationships, to persuade rather than force a view point. It’s important to be able to find solutions to problems, to evangelize a new concept, to win a new friend. It’s just too darned important to be left from our school’s curriculum. Forget about Hollywood, that’s a story for another day! What are your thoughts?

It’s the Oscars – Should Successful Sales Pro’s Own an Academy Award??

Is the successful Sales Pro also an actor or actress? Hmmm.

I have never acted. I would be horrible at it. I wouldn’t like it. But I can sell and I appreciate the acting profession. I don’t know it, but I appreciate its place in society.

So, don’t we, as successful Sales Pro’s, need to be able to play actor or actress from time to time? I say yes, absolutely!

The world is full of different personalities. If you have a pipeline of 30 opportunities, I guarantee you that you have at least 100 different personalities on the decision-making end of those opportunities. Should you maintain your presence, style, process and charm with each one of these personalities? You better not!

Good sales pro’s alter their approach, delivery and even personality based on the prospect before them. It is why there are so many good programs out there like Myers Briggs and the DISC profile. These great programs help you to sort out the different personality types and how to interact with them.

I call it “dancing” with the prospect. I have also heard “pace-setting” and “rapport-building”. If you are dancing with one who likes to “take charge”, you better follow. If you are dancing with one who is “calculating”, you better know your steps. The roles you must play on the dance floor are numerous. You need to adapt as a successful sales pro. If you maintain your persona and style at every opportunity, your win rate will diminish. Guaranteed!

When it comes to inside sales vs. outside sales, the opportunities here are vastly different. How do you show your persona and style in these different settings? Most research will suggest that your prospect reacts to three different attributes in your presence:

• The spoken word
• Voice inflection
• Body language

Guess what gets hardly any attention? The spoken word. Guess what gets most attention? Your body language! Two of the most successful sales pro’s I know had this shared characteristic: when the prospect was talking, they leaned forward in their chairs, put a hand up to the chin, squinted the eyes a bit and looked as if they were “The Thinker”. Really cool to watch. And their intent was genuine.

For outside sales pro’s, and it is why you are “outside” sales people, you have this skill to master, body language.

An aside: as an outside sales professional, I sometimes look at these web-based collaborative selling tools as a threat to our profession. We do our best work in the face of a prospect, not across a computer. Having been on both ends of a web-meeting, I think they suck to be blunt. Is the world changing and should we? Sure, but there is no substitute, ever, ever, ever, for face to face contact with another human being no matter your intent, desire, objective, need etc. Body language is first and foremost in the mind of the prospect. Always will be.

For inside sales pro’s, you must rely on voice inflection. Your prospect will read the positive and/or negative inflection in your voice before they ever register the spoken word. Remember that voice inflection does not necessarily mean a high at every spoken word. We all see right through that. But at the points where you think you’ve matched your product/service features to the prospect’s needs, pronounce the benefit with huge inflection. You’ll get the sale and an Academy Award!

So why do I love selling but cannot act? How can these skills live together? I can act in the sales situation because the desire is genuine, to build a new relationship, to make a new friend, to try to find a way to solve the business challenge. I do not suggest that acting is insincere but Academy Award acting as we know it is for a different purpose. Just ensure that your desires are sincere for your client, you and your company! You will be very successful if you can adapt your approach to the prospect!

"You Know It's Going Well When....."

You know the sales call is going well when the prospect:

• Starts asking you questions
• Writes down what they are hearing (my favorite indicator of a deal headed the right way)
• Maintains an upright and/or forward posture in their chair
• Keeps you for at least an hour
• Does most of the talking
• Invites others from the organization to participate in the meeting

You know the sales call is going really well when the prospect:

• Buys you the lunch
• Asks for your boss’s name to send a thank you note
• Tells you how your product/service will get them a promotion
• Invites you to their daughter’s wedding

Things are not going so well when you:

• Suffer dry-mouth from too much talking
• Start pulling out the marketing collateral
• Are asked to leave your manager in the lobby
• Discover an urgent need to find the restroom
• Have no clue what the prospect just said
• Spilled coffee on your white shirt on the car-ride to the appointment
• Get “30 minutes to tell us why you should be our choice”

The story you have just read is based on actual occurrences. Names and places were changed to protect the innocent! What other indicators do you use to tell you if your work is being well-received?

Employ the "Coach-Finder!"

In a January post, I spoke of the opportunity to employ a “Coach-Finder” or two, and challenged you to watch at least a 30% increase in your pipeline as a sales leader and individual contributor. What is a “Coach-Finder?” This is my term for a traditional lead qualification specialist. You know who they are. Hundreds of firms exist to satisfy the need to outsource a company’s appointment setting requirements. Many firms employ them directly. I have a different spin on this type of resource.

I must qualify my remarks by stating first that I have never had direct experience with employment of an outsourced appointment-setting firm. I am sure that there are many potential relationships with these firms that would work well in certain situations. I only know that by taking direct control of the lead qualification process, my group was very successful. When under my tutelage, I turn them from “lead qualification/appointment setting” resources to “Coach-Finders”.

Why are “Coach-Finders” important and where and how do they succeed where lead qualification/appointment-setting resources may not? In a complex sales environment, defined by Miller Heiman and others as a sales situation packed with multiple decision makers, this role is key. A true Coach will coach you through the complex arena of decision-makers and the client buying process so that you can match your sales process toward the buying process and a successful win. Someone on your side has to determine who the real potential Coach might be early in the sales cycle, determine their influence and develop the relationship into Coach-Finder if the potential Coach has influence and insight. In this way, when your outside sales resource is deployed, they are doing their best work at the right time in the sales cycle.

I have found that there are door-openers and door-closers in my tenure as a sales leader. Most outside sales folks are not the best at both. Even if they are, you are spending lots of money to pay for that outside resource to do a lot of heavy lifting, early in the sales cycle, with small return. How many cold calls and/or lead response calls result in meaningful dialogue between company and prospect? This depends on your industry, product and competitors but 5-10% is a good benchmark for most competitive industries. Point is, you want someone inside, with the right skills, dedicated to this all-important task. Find yourself a door-opener or “Coach-Finder” and put your outside reps to work doing what they do best, discovery, presenting and closing.

I ask my Coach-Finders to identify the following before an appointment can be set for the outside sales person:

• A compelling BUSINESS reason for buying
• The decision-making landscape, roles, titles, influence and identification of the Coach
• The competitive landscape, who else is being considered and why
• A commitment to put at least two of the stakeholders at the table for the appointment

The overwhelming majority of these appointments will result in a closed sale. But hold your Coach-Finder to these requirements! This is the science and discipline of good selling.


What about the competencies of a good Coach-Finder? The true Coach-Finder does nothing but ask questions. They don’t respond to price quotes, they don’t pitch features. They perform outstanding discovery interwoven with tremendous telephone relationship-building skills. They can attract a prospect’s interest on the telephone with those relationship-building skills and solid business questions. They are naturally inquisitive. And, most important, they are willing to work closely with sales management while triaging each opportunity.

If you are an individual contributor and your company will not hire a Coach-Finder, go find one for yourself. Pay them from your increased commissions! If you are a sales leader without this role defined, build a business plan for this role and sell it to your management. If you are a sales leader with this role in place, either in-house or outsourced, is it performing to your expectations? If not, try my suggestions. I hope that I can help.

Tales of an Interviewer

Sticking with interviewing theme and with over 15 plus years of experience screening and interviewing sales candidates, I can boast a fairly robust resume of stories. You can too, if you’ve been a sales manager for some time. Sales folks can be a tough, and humorous, interview!!

Like there was the time when……

• (From an earlier post)…..I once interviewed a sales admin candidate who spent her career in the construction industry, an industry far from mine at the time. As I probed for the attributes she possessed, I asked, “Why have you spent an entire career in the construction industry?” She quickly and assertively replied, “Because I love men!” The interview ended quickly….

• The resume pronounced 5+ years of “PNL experience”. Where does one find “PNL experience” anyway??

• The candidate enthusiastically expressed that he wanted to get into “outdoor sales”. You mean “outside sales?” No “outdoor sales!” he exclaimed. I guess when you think about it, there is probably no difference…

• The candidate who kept me waiting for 15 minutes while he went to the vending machines to buy an ice cream sandwich and dutifully unwrapped it and slowly ate it during the interview….it was a short interview…..

• The resume listed three references, all of whom turned out to be relatives, posing as executives in local companies……

• The candidate who proudly described a certification earned in 1982, when the certification did not even exist until 1992…...maybe a “senior moment?”

• The candidate who woefully failed the interview and then sent a LinkedIn request to the interviewer as a “thank you”………

• The combative candidate with all sorts of ideas on how to run the business better, like “you really ought to build a better hiring profile to keep your attrition down….”

• And my favorite…..the interview starts with ”I know my resume looks scattered and ridiculous……..but……” We ended up hiring the candidate!

The Profile of a Hunter

FOWARD: I am pleased to present insight from Greta Roberts, CEO, Target Teams, Inc. around the profile of a Sales Hunter. Her work is timely for this blog given our most recent posts on recruiting, profiling etc. Greta also presents some strong ideas for managing and retaining the successful Sales Hunter. Thank you Greta. Enjoy!

- Gary Johnson


Tracking the Sales Hunter
By Greta Roberts
CEO
Target Teams, Inc.



Every sales executive dreams of having a stable of hunters – especially during a recession – yet how do you identify, motivate and keep them on board?

When it comes to sales reps, you could say there are two kinds of people – hunters and farmers. Hunters live to uncover and seize new opportunities while farmers are better suited to cultivating an existing client base.

While both are invaluable to a company, when it comes to surviving in lean times, the hunters are being hunted more than ever because of their ability to create new opportunities and see them through to profitability.

As a sales executive, you know you need to cultivate an environment that will enable the hunter to thrive, despite a challenging economic climate that presents fewer leads and has created slower sales cycles.

While experience and instinct has taught you what makes a good sales rep, it’s not always easy to identify the characteristics that differentiate the hunter from the farmer.

Based on extensive research conducted with hundreds of sales professionals, what follows are the top 12 traits of the sales hunter. Along with outlining the pros and cons of each characteristic, you’ll also find helpful tips on how to manage and retain the hunter so that they are working to their full potential for their careers and your bottom line.

1. Hunters like to solve problems on their own and on the fly.
Pro: the autonomous sales rep will close the deal with little handholding.
Con: team collaboration can present a challenge.
Tip: break down the responsibilities of the team to ensure the hunter is still able to own and drive part of the effort.

2. Hunters like to lead whatever projects are on their plates.
Pro: they will successfully lead and execute sales initiatives.
Con: they can present a challenge to the manager who is trying to lead the team.
Tip: provide opportunities for the hunter to independently manage projects and ask them to demonstrate the results in a public forum to the manager and the executive team. This will allow the hunter to gain public recognition without usurping the role of the manager.

3. Hunters want (and need) to be around people because they thrive on the energy of others.
Pro: they naturally gravitate toward meeting new people and initiating cold calls and are comfortable addressing a larger audience at the prospect’s site.
Con: if this hunter works from home or is based in a small regional sales office, they will feel disconnected and are more likely to disengage.
Tip: Find a reason to bring them into corporate headquarters several times a quarter and arrange for meetings and other interactions with colleagues and executive personnel. Also, be sure to regularly check in with them on a personal level as hunters appreciate and come to rely on their 1:1 personal connection with their manager.

4. Hunters like working on a lot of different projects at the same time.
Pro: they can successfully manage more territories and service more clients.
Con: they may interrupt existing processes and defined roles in their pursuit of juggling lots of activities simultaneously.
Tip: provide a wider, well-defined territory so that the hunter can tackle lots of projects without negatively impacting other staff.

5. Hunters like change.
Pro: they’ll easily adapt to change whether it’s ushered in by internal or external forces.
Con: they will get bored with routine.
Tip: include changes in the hunter's role every 12-18 months for renewed enthusiasm.

6. Hunters have a strong sense of urgency.
Pro: they want sales to close quickly. No prodding required from their management team.
Con: their patience is tested when it comes to deals that may require longer sales cycles.
Tip: consider matching the length of the sales cycle with the "sense of urgency" of the rep - i.e. small account sales rep with sales cycle of 2 weeks vs. global account sales rep with a sales cycle of a year and a half.

7. Hunters tend to bend the rules.
Pro: hunters will creatively solve problems (and potentially bend some rules) to creatively progress with prospects --typically leading to an increase in sales.
Con: this trait can frustrate those responsible for enforcing the company’s administrative and business processes.
Tip: provide flexibility in the sales process -- require process requirements if they are absolutely critical.

8. Hunters dislike entering sales forecast data.
Pro: they have an innate ability to hold a great many facts in their head and this helps to support their primary focus on active selling.
Con: lack of accurate rep forecast data can impede management's ability to accurately forecast for the executive team and make critical business decisions.
Tip: require only critical forecast data -- potentially sales operations or administrative support to capture and document rep conversations with regard to sales status and forecasts.

9. Hunters want to be paid -- and paid well -- for their high performance.
Pro: greater profitability for everybody involved.
Con: reps are highly motivated when paid immediately. If not paid well, they will leave and chase compensation elsewhere. A reps loyalty is to results and top compensation.
Tip: work with your finance department and CEO to create easy to understand compensation plans that are tied exclusively to performance.

10. Hunters are naturally politically savvy.
Pro: they are superb at recognizing power players inside of an organization and winning them over in the pursuit of their career as well as closing the deal. They love the game of competition.
Con: they will thrive with visibility with senior leaders within their own company that may not always be available.
Tip: establish mechanisms for the hunter to connect with senior leaders in your organization so that they are recognized publicly and privately for their efforts.

11. Hunters are systematic problem solvers.
Pro: they are curious and ask questions making them the ideal consultative sales person.
Con: they don't like to be told how to do something, even if they or the processes are new because they love the challenge of figuring something out on their own.
Tip: encourage and reward questions from reps - as well as challenges from them when they seem to act as if they know everything.

12. Hunters love to learn and to teach others.
Pro: they are highly useful to colleagues, prospects and clients in breaking down and explaining complex topics and ensuring that the team and client has the information to either succeed in their job and/or make an informed purchasing decision.
Con: they can sometimes come off as a "know it all"
Tip: provide an opportunity for the hunter to share their knowledge with their peers or with other departments (i.e. customer service, product development, marketing, executive team).

Certainly, there are many variables that contribute to sales hunters being successful. Yet, more often than not many of these 12 traits appear consistently in sales teams of all sizes and in all industries.

Businesses spend money, time and effort training, coaching, changing compensation plans, redefining territories, changing sales management -- often without examining the most critical element of sales success -- the sales professionals themselves.

Contact Target Teams to learn more how to quickly conduct a “sales audit” of your sales professionals – are they hunters, are they farmers, or something else. How valuable would it be to know?


Greta Roberts is CEO and founder of Target Teams, a recognized leader in creating solutions to help businesses align their Talent Strategy with Business Strategy.

Why Use a Hiring Profile?

Do you even have a hiring profile? What is a hiring profile? Why is it important? So you might be reading this saying to yourself, “Time to find another blog – I simply make my hiring decision on whether I would buy from him/her after the interview…….” But WAIT – don’t change that blog! If that’s you talking, stop and remember that sales people are good at selling themselves during the interview. They better be! If this is your only criteria, the candidate will win the job every time, and you will or you do have a revolving door of entering and departing sales people.

A hiring profile is critical to your revenue generation efforts because, if properly deployed, it will increase the chances of a strong hire ten-fold. Not only will you be more likely to make a strong hire, you’ll find:

• Faster ramp times for your new hires
• More productive discussion amongst the team interviewing the candidate – individual evaluation is no longer gut instinct, it is based on common evaluation criteria
• Less attrition and less of the painful costs that go with attrition
• More time in your day to focus on areas other than recruiting

A hiring profile is a list of competencies required for success in your open sales role. Competency can be defined as a skill, knowledge area or attribute that belongs to the successful sales pro in your organization. In the profession of sales, one skill might be “negotiation skill”. A knowledge area for a sales pro might be “product knowledge”. An attribute of a successful sales pro on your team might be “creativity”.

The difference is in the objective vs. subjective evaluation of that competency. Consider that skill and knowledge are fairly objective criteria. The candidate either has the required skill/knowledge or they don’t, and it is fairly easy to evaluate in a candidate through behavioral interviewing, experience, role playing etc during the interview process. Attribute, however, is much more subjective. The attribute indicates the candidate’s motivation to apply that skill or knowledge. It is often difficult to evaluate during the interview process, but it is critical to do so.

I like to determine five objective competencies, and five subjective competencies for my successful sales pro. I determine these competencies from my already-successful performers, AND their customers. I provide a ranking scale of 1 to 7 next to each competency. I list the objective competencies on one page, the associated ranking scale and room for comments, and I do the same on page 2 for the subjective competencies. Then I give the tool to each interviewer in our interviewing process, and I cross my fingers!

Herein lays the biggest challenge of a hiring profile – compliance amongst your team with the tool during the interview process. Many won’t use it at all. Most will use it, but put little thought into it. Team members may not use it to guide their questions and/or they’ll provide little to no feedback on the tool. In smaller organizations, I’ll typically hear this, “s/he was pretty good, you’re the sales guy, it’s your decision.” Ugh!!

If that is you during the hiring process, sell your boss on the potential impact of the hiring profile and watch compliance improve markedly! Above all else, at least build the tool and use it for yourself. You’ll be much more comfortable with your decision when the interviewing team says, “it’s your call!”

HUMOR: I once interviewed a sales admin candidate who spent her career in the construction industry, an industry far from mine at the time. But her experience and interview answers led me to believe she had many strong skill and knowledge areas for our position. As I probed for the attributes she possessed, I asked, “Why have you spent an entire career in the construction industry?” She quickly and assertively replied, “Because I love men!” The interview ended quickly!

Do You Insist on "The Rolodex" When You Hire?

We talk more on recruiting and hiring. Would you hire “the rolodex” and only “the rolodex”? So many job requirements stipulate a strong need for a rolodex of industry contacts. It makes perfect sense. The sales hiring manager wants someone who knows the industry, knows the players and with those contacts, can move some business in the direction of the hiring company. This last motive, i.e. hire someone who can move business to the hiring company, is a questionable motive from this perspective.

I have managed sales in two different industries and three different market segments. In this limited experience, I have never seen a “rolodex hire” worth a pot to “you know what” in. I am sure that in some niche businesses where there may be few competitors, where change of vendors is easier, and where the customer-supplier relationship is built on relationship and relationship alone, the rolodex counts for much. But that description does not apply to most B2B selling organizations.

I have seen many a hiring candidate and employee use the rolodex as a front to mask otherwise huge gaps in their experience and/or success. Despite supposed great relationships with key decision-makers in their space, the newly-hired cannot convert the prospect to your company’s offerings. Why? Here are a few reasons:

- Despite a strong relationship, change for the customer is hard
- Often, the sales pro views the relationship stronger than the buyer
- There exist other decision-makers who have significant influence on any change/buy decision
- People move on from job to job – that rolodex gets stale very quickly

My opinion is that if the hiring requirements rest heavily on a rolodex, you as the hiring manager will be fooled and led into a bad hire. I want someone who can show evidence of having built a strong rolodex and converted it to revenue. That’s your best hire!

Would You Hire the New College Grad?

Let’s devote the next several posts to recruiting and hiring top-notch sales pro’s. Here is a question near and dear to my heart: “As a sales leader, would you hire from the new-college-graduate ranks for your B2B sales role?”

The answer to this question really depends on a variety of factors. But I would argue, never dismiss this potential pool of candidates for any B2B sales role you are looking to fill. We all want 3-10+ years of experience of sales experience selling a similar product into similar industries, market segments etc. But I would ask, do you want 5 years of experience selling your same product to the same industry, when the experience and success has been mediocre to poor, even though during your hiring process they convinced you it was stellar, or do you want a potential pure sales pro, who will learn your sales process, product and industry quickly and go on to become a superstar? I know what my answer will be!

The BEST sales person I ever hired came directly out of college. He has now gone onto several much larger sales management roles in a very large company selling and managing to very large accounts, with much success. At the time, I was managing a B2B effort in the SMB space for a large company. Our stringent requirements were 3+ years of sales success in the B2B space, but management was open-minded and encouraged all sorts of recruiting channels. I went after the colleges, and naturally, departing military officers!

When I found “Bob”, he was graduating after having sold condo’s for two years during his summers. He absolutely loved it. I know of another college grad who found his way directly into a successful sales career after having sold cemetery plots in college! “Bob” was smart, well-educated and hungry for a career in sales. He was after money and recognition. I brought him into our company hiring process and he quickly impressed.

“Bob” quickly impressed me out in the field, too. Extremely hard worker. Incredible ethics. Learned quickly. Despite his youthfulness, his energy, enthusiasm, persistence and newly-found sales skills were used to overcome almost all of his competitors. When other sales pro’s in his group, years older and more “experienced”, were having poor months, “Bob” was always there to deliver. Time and time again.

So I learned a lesson – don’t dismiss the new-grad hiring pool. While doing so, keep in mind the following:

• Very few of us went through college aspiring to be a sales pro. When you find one, get him/her into your recruiting process!

• Be sure that your hiring process is exhaustive and demanding. My interviews for sales positions out of the military often included large-scale role plays and panel interviews.

• Look for schools and a transcript that has taught business acumen. The GPA does not matter. The best sales pro I know, who I didn’t hire, left school with a 2.5 GPA, but his school is known for teaching incredible business acumen. He just like to party a little, not a bad thing for a sales pro!

• If s/he is hired, be prepared to devote significant coaching time to this new-hire.

You may read this and suggest, “This is fine in the SMB sector, but I’ve got large accounts.” Or, “Our sales process is too sophisticated.” In these B2B segments, we’ll often employ team-based selling. Give her/him a very junior role. S/he may lift the team to new heights!

What is better? Five years of mediocre experience selling your same product into the same industry or bringing on a potentially pure sales pro who will know nothing but success for themselves and you? Everyone of us started some where, for someone who decided to take a chance!

Probing Techniques - It's How You Ask It!

This post wraps up our discussion in the area of discovery, namely that this all-important stage of the sales process brings together the need for several sales skills:

• Product knowledge
• Listening skills
• Business acumen
• Competitor knowledge
• Probing techniques

With well-honed skills in these areas, you’ll minimize your sales cycle, greatly improve your chances of winning and truly satisfy your new client. Today, we close with probing techniques.

When you ask a prospect a question, how should it be phrased? The science to this practice suggests the idea of open vs. closed probes. An open probe:

• Encourages the prospect to talk at length
• Starts with “Tell me about….”, “How does….”, “Why do….”
• Gives the best chance of finding a need
• Should be controlled

Open probes sit in contrast to closed probes. Closed probes, typically used later in the sales process:

• Encourages a yes or no answer from the client
• Ends with, “Doesn’t it? “Shouldn’t it?”, “Isn’t it?”
• Sets your proposed solution up for a close

Open probes are your best bet during discovery. Get the prospect to elaborate, to talk. At this stage of the sales process, “you talk, you lose.” A tip I’ve offered my sales pro’s at this stage has been, “If you need to take a swig of bottled water to sooth your throat during or after discovery, you talked too much!”

If your prospect is talking, you are more apt to find hidden challenges that you can solve with your product or service. If you’re talking, you’re feature-dumping. But, be careful. Sometimes people can talk and talk and talk! I’ve left many a discovery meeting, only to look at the watch and proclaim, “we just spent two hours in there and did nothing to advance this opportunity.” Guide your prospect politely, if they are taking you off course. And remember, for many astute buyers, it’s a deliberate tactic to talk and talk!!

What about the art of probing? It’s all in how you ask it, isn’t it? Absolutely it is! An example I hear of time and time again, is the sales pro-wannabe who suggests, “I can’t ask about the competition, if I bring it up, they’ll be more likely to look!” Well guess what, they’re already looking! And there are ways to “bring it up” without getting the typical “I can’t say” response or offending the prospect. Try these:

• “As you survey the alternative offerings out there, what do you like best? What don’t you like?”
• If you’ve purchased a product/service like mine before, what sorts of attributes of that product or service were important to you?”

• “If you were the CEO, today, where might you rank my product/service and why?”

Finally, think carefully about word choices. Certain words can create an offended and/or disinterested prospect. Here are some examples:

• Instead of “pain”, try “opportunities”
• Instead of “other decision-makers”, try “other stakeholders”
• Instead of “difficult”, try “challenging”
• Instead of “you’re right”, try “I understand”

HUMOR: I once saw a thank-you letter back to a prospect, after a discovery meeting thanking the prospect for the meeting and agreed with the prospect on every objection brought about by the prospect. Then, the author launched into a description of the wonderful attributes of his product. Obviously, this was an attempt by the sales pro-wannabe to be “agreeable and appreciative” to the prospect. Right intent, but wrong method. Ugh. Be very careful where you use the word “agree” and “you’re right”. Go back to an earlier post that touts the value of empathy over agreement!!

Know Your Competition!

Good sales professionals know their competition, and they know the competitive landscape on every opportunity. Whenever I hear in a pipeline review that “they’re not looking at anyone else” I get very nervous! This opportunity will not make it into my forecast. The prospect is always evaluating your competition at this stage – NEVER believe anything else. This is America where capitalism reigns. Capitalism means choice. Your prospect is exercising choice, trust me!! It’s critical in every discovery call to begin to survey the competitive landscape and to begin to “lay traps” for your competitors at the table. This objective implies that you must know your competitors cold.

Before we start asking questions of the prospect about potential competitors, let’s refer to the “Competitor Matrix” embedded in this post. This is a great tool that allows you to assemble your competitor knowledge into one concise area and forms the basis of questions and traps you might put forth on your discovery call. Construct one of these for each competitor in your space.

List your company’s strengths and weaknesses across one axis. List “the bad guy’s” strengths and weaknesses along the other axis. You’ll want to do everything you can during the sales process to stay in the “Sweet Spot” quadrant and avoid those “Danger” quadrants. Don’t waste your time in the “Me Too” quadrant. If you can create or exploit a need of the prospect in the “Sweet Spot” quadrant, you’ll begin to pull away from your competitors.

How do you learn your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses? This can depend on how well your company supports you here and/or the help of your fellow sales pro’s. Of course, the internet is a potential source. But your best source is your prospect and client base. Ask them. Many times, of course, the prospect will put their arms up and say they are not able to provide competitor information. Don’t stop there. Ask questions like, “What else are you seeing in the marketplace…what do you like best about a particular vendor(s)…..what do you like least about a particular vendor(s)?” etc. You’ll learn quickly with experience that your competitors are at the table.

Now that you’ve completed your Competitor Matrix with knowledge of your competitor(s), here is an example on how we might exploit the “Sweet Spot” to gain an edge. Go back to an earlier post on “Product Knowledge” and discussion around “features, needs and benefits”. Then, look to the “Sweet Spot” where you’ll see a list of features about your company’s offering that the competitor cannot match. Formulate a question that would highlight a need for that feature and describe the benefit.

Let’s say you sell consulting services and unlike most other competitors, you can deliver on a fixed cost or time and materials basis. Your contractual and billing options are flexible. It’s your “Sweet Spot”. Your competitor(s) you have learned, are tied to a fixed cost model. You might ask questions during discovery such as these: “We appreciate the comfort you see around a fixed bid. Your costs are contained. But are you comfortable with the vendor’s assumptions behind the bid and their ability to deliver to those assumptions? If you could move between fixed bid and time and materials throughout the lifespan of the project to best ensure the minimum outlay from your company, would you see a benefit?” This is a classic example of “laying a trap” for your competitor.

Know your competitors and know them cold. Do you know the name and selling style of the competitor rep in your area?? A quick word on your competitor – never bash them. We have all been taught this, but it creeps up again and again in many sales calls. Once you start to bash, you are done. Lay those traps instead….build those Competitor Matrices and aim for the Sweet Spot in your discovery!

Business Acumen

B2B sales pro's need to understand how a business operates. They need business acumen. Sounds obvious doesn't it? Some of us miss this point. The better you understand the inner workings of a business, the better and more credible your probing questions become during the discovery phase. Your questions will be better targeted and you'll more likely uncover hidden pain and/or the reasons for that pain.

There are two aspects of a business that should be understood, accounting statements such as the Balance Sheet and Income Statement, and the Cash Flow Cycle. Today, let's address the cash flow cycle. I like an appreciation for the cash flow cycle because it helps us to sell to all job functions and titles within the company. Information and questions from an Income Statement, for example, will not often be understood by your relationships within the prospect company.

Bear with me through what may appear to be extremely obvious. A business is in business to make money or profit. Profit equals revenue minus expense. To the extent that the CXO can control expenses while driving revenues AND collecting on those revenues, s/he is making profit. Every employee, every job function and title has an impact on the cash flow cycle. That's why I like it so much - you can find opportunities and people to talk to all around the cash flow cycle!

Please direct your attention to the cash flow diagram in the upper right. It suggests a certain direction, certain objectives, i.e. sell and deliver, and typical job functions responsible for those objectives. It all starts at the top doesn’t it? The CXO suite oversees the raising and return of equity into the business so that first, infrastructure needs may be met. Let’s say your prospect is selling widgets. Your prospect has to build an assembly line to manufacture those widgets, hire people through HR to staff the line, invest in IT infrastructure to help manage the business etc. etc. These functions and activities are heavily expense-oriented. Continue moving clockwise around the circle. Now that the widget has been produced, it must be sold and delivered. The widget now begins to represent revenue rather than expense. Once the widget has been delivered, the organization must now collect on that revenue, as effectively and quickly as possible.

Notice that the CXO suite oversees all aspects of the cash flow cycle and will appreciate and understand every aspect of it. It makes the CXO suite a great place to be positioned! But often it is harder done than said. So let’s assume you are positioned with a team of IT managers. They are positioned squarely in the expense side of the cycle. Guess what their overwhelming concern will be? “How will your product or service reduce my costs?” They won’t react to an interest gaining statement that might suggest, “my product will increase your revenue stream by x%” nor will they normally have any answers to questions around revenue generation challenges or issues. Moreover, those types of questions will make them feel uninformed. This is not a good way to start a relationship!

Instead, deliver questions that address cost concerns surrounding their IT infrastructure. If your product or service is considered too expensive for them, look for ways that your product or service might drive cost out of other aspects of their IT operation. Your job as a sales pro is to make the price point of your product or service a side-point to the overall cost-benefit it can provide.

Let’s say that you sell a software application that helps to improve the DSO’s (days sales outstanding) of the prospect’s receivables. Finance, your logical point of first-entry, initially pushes you off to IT. Any reference related back to IT about the improvement of this prospect’s DSO challenge, if they have one, will not necessarily be appreciated. They’ll want to know, “Does it interface with my other applications…..how will it be installed….who will manage it?” etc. Most of all, they’ll want to know, “how much does it cost?” So in your discovery phase, try to get a sense of where the budget might exist (functionally) for this type of expense. Would your product be replacing something else? What is IT doing to support AR efforts currently? Where might there be other cost concerns within IT? You get the point.

Keep your business acumen sharp at all times. Learn not only from the web, existing courses and publications but also from your trusted associations with existing clients. Ask them what their day is like, who and what are they trying to satisfy and why. During discovery with a prospect, keep your questions pertinent to the position your contact occupies around the cash flow cycle. In the end, you will have performed extremely well in discovery, and your sales cycle will be much shortened with a positive outcome!

Listening Skills - The Lost Art!

In the view of this author, listening skills are the most important skills a sales professional can possess. Without them, you’ll throw chili against the wall hoping that something will stick with the prospect. Hoping is not a good sales strategy. With good listening skills, you'll understand the prospect's needs better of course, but most important, you will breathe enthusiasm and energy into the relationship between you and the prospect.

An over-used phrase in our profession, albeit true, is that "people buy from people they like." I think it's better to say, "People buy from people who listen." Think about it. Why is your best friend your best friend? I'll bet because s/he is a great listener for you.

But listening is a hard skill to command. Much of what I'll offer in these remaining paragraphs comes from Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and his chapter “Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.” This chapter is mandatory reading for every aspiring sales professional in my opinion. It will truly teach you how to listen better.

Think about the four forms of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening. How many years of schooling did you get in reading, writing and speaking? Maybe more than you wanted! How much schooling did you receive in listening? This seems to be a skill that our educators expect us to learn on our own, if at all. Or perhaps it has never been valued as a required skill – much to the demise of the sales pro that must depend on this skill at every interaction with a client. Why? Your prospect really needs to be understood first and foremost. Then, and only then, will they truly start to listen to you. The oldest job interview tactic in the world is to get the interviewer to talk more about themselves and their company than to pull words from you. People love to talk about themselves, their issues and their challenges. Use this same approach in your sales encounters.

It is one of our greatest psychological needs, to be understood. We don’t often need agreement and support for our thoughts and ideas, we only need empathy. Don’t confuse empathy with sympathy. Dictionary.com defines empathy as: “the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.” Simply put, you’re able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Rather than respond with empathy in a discussion, us human beings tend to listen with the intent of responding. Just like a tennis match, we’re thinking about our next shot while the opposing player is executing his/her’s.

If we’re thinking about our next response to a prospect while s/he is speaking, how can we possibly be listening? Instead, show empathy by taking what you hear from the prospect and paraphrasing it back to the prospect. Show it in your body language that you care. Be genuine. Don’t worry about your response should be. If you empathize well, you won’t need much of a response. Rather, you’ll see the relationship between you and your prospect grow with energy and enthusiasm. Inevitably, s/he will buy from you because they like you!

TIP: I test for listening skills in the interview process with one very simple question: “How much money do you NEED to make?” Seventy five percent of the candidates come back with something like, “We’ll I’d really like to make $X”. Wrong answer! I did not ask how much you wanted to make, I asked how much you need to make. That’s a big difference! I also like to ask this question because in many sales positions, a ramp up period is before the new hire and s/he may have to live only on a base salary for a period of time.

Discovery - The Art and Science of Probing

For me, there is a magic moment in the sale process when we've reached the discovery phase, the point at which we gather the prospect’s requirements. I call this the "50% Stage” on the forecasting continuum or sales ladder. If this is done well, you’ll have a much easier time of climbing the rest of the ladder. Your sales process will shorten. You’ll improve your win-rate. You’ll also notice better margin in your sale!

Critical sales skills come together at this all-important stage of the sales process. They are as follows:

• Product knowledge
• Listening skills
• Business acumen
• Competitor knowledge
• Probing techniques

Let’s address one each day this week. We’ll start today with product knowledge.

Obviously, any good sales person knows their product or service. In fact, we spend so much time training in this area, it often results in a non-professional sales person performing a “show up and throw up” at this critical meeting(s) of discovery. When I say “product knowledge”, I am really referring to a true understanding of features, needs and benefits and an ability to distinguish between them. You may know your product cold but nobody likes a feature dump!

“Feature” might be defined as an attribute of your product or service.

“Need” can be defined as your prospect’s want or desire for a solution to their challenge.

“Benefit” is the product of matching your products feature(s) to your prospects need(s). People buy benefits, not features!!

The science of discovery suggests that you are asking questions that might draw a need for your product feature(s). If your questions draw a need, great, you’re moving forward. If not, find another prospect, or keep reading this blog! Every successful sales pro I have ever met can ask thoughtful questions into the night. They are naturally curious, careful to ask only the right questions, know their product and pitch the benefit, not the feature.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you sell bottled water to the cafeteria manager. One feature of your bottled water is that it comes in easily-dispensed fruit flavors. That’s a feature. Some potential benefits might be that it’s a healthier choice over the office coffee machine and it’s less costly to deliver than the same cup of coffee. But these are only benefits if the prospect has expressed a need to reduce their coffee costs and/or provide healthy choices for their employees. You’ll draw that need out if you ask questions such as: (this will be obvious, but it is amazing how many sales-pro-wannabe’s can’t make the connection)

“Do you look for healthy choices for your employees in the cafeteria?”

“Is your coffee machine expense rising amidst a need to reduce costs?’

You get the picture. If there is a “yes” to any one of these questions, your response might be, “Through the adoption of our fruit-flavored H2O dispenser, organizations like yours have improved employee morale and reduced cafeteria refreshment charges by 25%.” THAT’s a benefit!

HUMOR: I love the sales management role. You are always the second set of eyes invited to an appointment. And when your sales pro runs out of questions to ask, s/he invariably turns and twists their head at you, with wide open eyes, and a look of peril looking for that life-saver! If you’ve seen the movie Avatar, those wide-open eyes on each character brought me back to many sales calls! When a sales pro gets on a roll, I let them go. But we have an agreement: Need help? Tug on the ear. I’ll pitch in!

CHALLENGE: If you run out of questions to ask from time to time, or you are new to your firm, build yourself this great tool. First, in column A, list your product’s features. Second, in column B next to each feature, list the potential benefits of each feature. Third, in column C, write down the question you might ask to develop interest in that benefit. You’ll have hundreds of questions to ask your prospect on the discovery call to draw out their pain!