InterMizzi - It will become obvious

Vale Simon Price

2011-10-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Simon always encouraged me to add to this blog so in keeping with the theme of the blog, the sub-heading is: How to Create Demand in your client base.

Last month I attended the memorial for a much admired friend, Simon Price.

I first met Simon in about 1984 when he stuck his head around a corner and asked if I was interested in buying some ergonomic furniture. I was working for the Country Roads Board in Kew and, in turn, had my head stuck in a PC probably trying to figure out if the GEM Desktop was going to be replaced by Windows. That he had found his way onto the first floor, along the corridor and around the corner into a small office to find me, spoke to the determination that he showed for the rest of his 48 years.

As it turned out I did not need the ergonomic furniture, but he did turn the account into a multi-million dollar revenue stream for his employer, and we forged one of those strong friendships in the IT industry that endured, albeit with some gaps in continuity.

Simon was just building his career and he was moved onto another account and I lost track of him for a few years. His successor managed to lose the account by insisting that I buy into the IBM PS/2 architecture. He forgot that the relationship had been built on a trust that he was not a part of. The relationship was not with the company, it was between two people who were trying to help each other.

Some ten years later, after I had opened the Melbourne office for a NSW Distributor, Simon re-appeared as a Business Developer at a reseller of the distributor. He wasn’t there for long but his move was to a reseller with whom the distributor had some existing business. I was still new to sales and hadn’t developed sufficient processes to ensure a strong funnel. I recall having lunch with Simon and calling on his advice to shake some business loose. Without hesitation he asked me if I was interested in selling to Holden Special Vehicles. As was his practice, he was straight onto his mobile phone call to call HSV and organise an appointment. He was someone who acted upon his ideas. He didn’t wait to lose the initiative. The trust that he was able to establish with his clients meant that if Simon said that I was worth meeting, then that was all that was needed.

It was also a lesson in backing yourself and understanding that business is done between people, not companies. It took me about five years to repay the favour which I was happy to say, worked well for both Simon and the client. The reason that I was able to replay the favour was the trust that I had built with the client in the same way that Simon had shown me.

Simon always enjoyed himself and took great pleasure in catching up for a beer. The last time that I caught up with Simon was about five weeks before his passing, which was around two weeks before he was told that his cancer was terminal. He bought lunch so I’ll have to find another way to repay him.

Just in case you did not know Simon, I want to point out that he could also be a bit of a larrikin. I recall a story told to me by another of his long term clients. The story was told around a table at a charity luncheon that Simon did not attend and I can’t recall if I ever checked the veracity of the story with him. However, I assure you that the teller of the tale is a highly respected CIO currently on an international assignment.

The story was of Simon when he was new to the sales profession. He was working for a pest control company and was given an inner Melbourne suburb to prospect. After knocking on a few doors, Simon realised that pest control was only valuable to the client if the homeowner had some pests to control! Showing confidence, initiative and the wisdom to invest in creating clients, he bought a packet of icy poles. He then walked along the street and tossed an unwrapped icy pole into the front year of every other front yard. The next day he revisited the same street and knocked on the doors of the homeowners who now discovered that their front yard had a sudden influx of pests that needed to be controlled. Simon didn’t create the infestation; he just made it obvious in the same way that he made his friendship obvious; he took the time and initiative. I, along with the many friends he created, will miss him.

Sales substitution lessons from my Dad

2011-06-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

Some of you may recognise that my surname is Maltese. My father grew up in Malta during the second world war. It was only after his passing in 2001 that I learned how he and his younger brother would leave air raid shelters to bring more food and water to his family. They weren't even teenagers. At the end of the war, my father was apprenticed to an uncle as a carpenter and it was with this skill and background that he emigrated to Australia as a nineteen year old.

Of key importance here was that my father learned to be inventive and could build anything from wood. He eventually became a troubleshooter for the state roads department in fixing bridges.

Before he retired he bought and renovated a beach house so he could indulge in his passion for fishing. Fishing seems to be a birthright for anyone with a Maltese heritage. Dad was never one to spend money on material items if he could build it himself, unless there was sufficient gap in the functionality that he desired but could not achieve.

Two examples come to mind:
1. He was happy to spend money on a fiberglass fishing boat and fit it out with an endless array of paraphernalia because he could not easily replicate the strength, lightness and maneuverability that he needed to get through the rip into the open sea. Spending this money helped him achieve his goals.

2. Dad loved to sit back after dinner and watch some television. Because it was a beach house he did not spend where it wasn't warranted. His problem was that the old push button television did not have remote control. Rather than spend hundreds, or thousands, of dollars on a new TV which would have given him more functionality including a remote control, Dad took a long piece of timber dowel (otherwise known as a stick) and shaped the end of the stick to fit the buttons on the TV. So he substituted a completely different product that fully complied with his required functionality at a fraction of the cost. Fights over the remote control took on a completely different aspect.

Often there is a danger when we sell specific products and services that we become focused on the benefits and features of "our" products. We do this in order to line up against a competing product and overcome objections by differentiating our product from a competitor's product. When we do this we forget to focus on the customer's goals.

Sales Poetry - Poetry as an analogy for Sales

2010-11-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

I originally wrote this as the basis for a speech and found it again when I was recently trawling through my documents folder. I hope you enjoy it.

Passion

Poetry needs passion, so does sales.

You can write a limerick and get a laugh, you can run through a process and get a sale. But if you want to leave them wanting more, you need to approach Sales with passion. After all, it is sales that gives your company its life blood, revenue. You may as well get passionate about it.

Consistent format

Poetry has consistent formats eg: Haiku, Rhyme, Quatrain, Iambic pentameter and limerick. Similarly, Sales generally follow a process.eg: Prospect, Qualify, Position, Align, Proof of concept, determine scope of work, Quote, Negotiate, Close.

Explores Facts and Emotions

Poetry explores and questions facts, assumptions and emotions:

Eg: There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around

That the colt from old Regret had got away,

And had joined the wild bush horses — he was worth a thousand pound

(with apologies to AB "Banjo" Paterson)

A sales person might question the truth of this and seek to understand if the owner was happy with a replacement. If not, what would the owner do in the mean time to satisfy the need for a colt. Possibly strike an agreement to outsource a colt of similar stature at 100 pounds per month for the next 6 months and if the colt from old Regret could not be found, the owner could purchase the replacement.

Sometimes unexpected ending

Poetry can lead you down the garden path, certain that a pot of gold awaits at the end. Then, just as you feel it in your grasp, it is snatched away. Sales are the same, but if you write the script, you can be more certain of the end.

Sometimes inspired

Famous American poet Ruth Stone described how a poem would fly to her when she was harvesting in the fields. See http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html I had my own experience when I was able to out manoeuvre IBM. This is also a story about flexibility in smaller companies.

Sometimes just hard work and persistence

Sometimes a poem just flows; sometimes it’s just hard work. When it is hard work you can still get there but you need to follow a process and make sure that the deal is still worth the work.

· 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact

· 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact

· 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact

· 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact

· 80% of sales are made on or after the 5th contact <<== WOW

There are highs and lows

Just as poetry can take you on an emotional rollercoaster, so can sales.

Month on month you can be elated at the end of the month then realise then you need to do it all over again.

The best way to avoid this is to have visibility of a pipeline....

Not everyone is a poet

Just as everyone is not a poet, not everyone can sell.

The features and the benefits from which you can tell

That you understand all the tricks and avenues

It might be obvious to all, that you are clever with words

Adds up to nought when you are dealing with revenues

Networking or Putting yourself in the way of your targets

2010-11-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked by a trainer, who had just decided to start his own company, how I use networking to find business. In answer, I told him that it was about putting yourself in the way of your targets. He got it immediately.

Just in case it is not, I’ll try to make it more obvious with some examples. There are many occasions when you could be invited to an event or gathering that might turn up some good prospects. I recall one instance when I was looking to be employed by a company but wanted to impress upon the CEO that I would be able to take a different angle to most others. I started subscribing to an email specific to his industry. Very soon, I noticed a conference that was being run by a government body responsible for that industry and that he was listed as a speaker. As it was a government conference, anyone with an interest could register to attend. By the first break we had “run into each other” and he was offering me the role. He had not expected me to be there and the fact that I was showing interest beyond others proved to him that I was the right selection.

This is an especially good way to learn about an industry that you may be targeting and can give you great exposure to who is the decision maker.

Most of your sales team suck at their job.

2010-09-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

If your sales team runs true to form, about 20-30% of them produce about 70-80% of the revenue.

It’s one of the things that we tend to take for granted. We know that if they don’t perform in a given timeframe, we can present them with the hard evidence and march in the next contender.

I sometimes smile when other professions talk about negotiating their KPI’s. It doesn’t get much cleaner than the sales KPI.

Some companies have a standard practice of “releasing” the lowest 10% of performers knowing that, over time, they will end up with the best “over” performers. Why over performers? Eventually all of them will be exceeding target which means that even though you have let go 10% of your sales team who over achieved, the remaining 90% are performing so well that you hardly feel it. And the practice acts as a prod to the rest of the team.

There is another way of getting 90% of your team over achieving their targets.

You need to train them and coach them to perform at their full potential. Sounds simple, but the problem is that all of us have different skills and aptitudes. Good HR departments started using psychometric testing decades ago. However, it is hard to apply these to a sales profile.

Over recent years a number of sales ability specific tests have been developed that assess a sales person specifically for the job, or role you wanted them to do.

One of the tests is called Fit-4 from www.salesassessment.com

Are you the Rainmaker in your small or medium business?

2010-09-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

A "Rainmaker" is someone who brings in the big deals.

This is really addressed at the owners of small or medium businesses who have worked hard to build their company but just can't seem to grow beyond a particular limit. I've noticed it more over the last few years.

Often, the person who started the company best understands the product and where it fits in the market.

Usually they, the company, has matured enough to put together a business plan for growth and have often designed their systems to scale to handle the increased volumes. It just that for some reason, no one seems to be able to sell their product or service quite as well as the owner.

Standing on the outside, it became obvious to me that there are three main reasons that this occurs:

The sales person does not have the authority to make the call. This allows the owner to always be the rainmaker.
The owner hired someone who understand the technology or complexity but does not how to sell. This person is often best at after sales support. This allows the owner to step back in and be the rainmaker.
The owner hired sales people who cannot sell, or has them in a structure that cannot scale, which often amounts to the same thing. So, in an attempt to grow, the owner steps back into the rainmaker role.

I'd love to hear of similar observations.

Social Media is not Selling

2010-08-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

I’m fairly new to the social media scene and certainly don’t consider myself an expert in the field. So it may be best to regard this as an early observation.

In order to get an understanding of what social media is about I decided to follow some of the more obvious thought leaders in social media including @thinktankmedia and @smcmelb for a local perspective and @mashable for an international perspective. Interestingly most had initially bypassed Linkedin having started in social media from a marketing or blog background.

I recently attended a gathering for @smcmelb and was amused at the reticence of attendees to engage. Most of them were busy using their various smartphones to check the latest stream of witty comments. I was specifically there to meet people as I’m recruiting for some sales roles, so widening the network helps. It was better after the presentation but I’m sure that was an effect of the wine. This probably explains why social media clubs like to gather in a bar!

My observation is, apart from a few, most social media experts get there from two perspectives:
1) Marketing People using a new medium, or
2) Technical experts who understand how to configure the applications.
It reminds me of the time when every person who could run a PC suddenly became a “Desk Top Publishing” expert. Just because you can drive word processor, or blogger, it doesn’t mean you can increase revenue for any company, especially your own. Likewise, having a twitter account or facebook fan page does not make you capable of engaging a market or selling a service.

Whilst social media is great for brand awareness, product and business, and can be a great source for leads, business to business sales for any complex product or service still requires a structured sales process.

Consultative Selling Lessons for Labor and Liberal Parties

2010-08-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

I happened across this tweet from @fast_thinking The Public Private NBN Divide. and it reminded me that unless you are aiming to meet the business goal of the client, you will inevitably fall back to trying to sell product features and benefits and this always leads to a price comparison.

Often, the client is left trying to choose between benefits that, in the end, do not make much difference to the goal of the client. In this case, both solutions can handle a simple video conference. If you are not across the relative merits of the technology, it will become obvious that the discussion falls back to price.

This is great for the Liberal and National Party but disastrous for the Labor Party and the Greens.

But if your goal is to improve health in regional Australia then a simple video conference in not going to make the grade.

I think the spin doctors in Canberra can do with some consultative sales training.

Why is hiring sales people such a risky and expensive business, when it doesn’t need to be.

2010-08-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

I interviewed a candidate for a sales manager role this week. When I asked her to describe an experience of having to sack a sales person for non performance she gave me the following story….

The CEO wanted to establish an operation in Sydney. The organisation provides professional training to engineering staff. The decision was made by the CEO to establish an office, hire 3 trainers, and hired a sales person that had a good resume and interviewed well.

Five months later, after giving the sales person extensive induction training and then additional hands on support they let him go. He was just not performing, and yet during the hiring process, which was rigorous, our candidate seemed perfect for the role.

Total direct cost of this exercise was $750,000. This included the cost of the office lease, the salaries of the three trainers and the salary of the sale person; other additional costs that could have been included are the cost of recruitment or the cost of lost opportunities. This was a very expensive exercise as a result of failing to hire a top performer in just one role.

If you want to know if the sales person can do the job, I can help you from making the same very expensive mistake.

Visit this site to find out more and organise for more information that explains the challenges of hiring.

Selling at the C-Level

2010-03-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it’s the C-Level customer that is the roadblock because they do not understand the difference between someone selling them a product and someone trying to help. Sometimes it’s because the sales person is still stuck in the “feature, benefit, close” sales process.
The April 2009 Harvard Business Review posed the question “Who can help the CEO?” The answer is other CEOs, or peers. This can make it difficult to engage with C-Level Executives and appropriate decision makers in organisations, unless they see you as a peer.
Many companies, even consultants, try a front on approach that necessitates a product based discussion. Whilst it might be true that your product may eventually fit a possible client, a product based approach generally ends up in an early discussion of feature, benefit and price.
Based on prior experience I recommend a course of action that engages the target decision makers at a business level that is not directly related to your product. My experience shows that it is easier to get C-Level Executives into a smaller setting when they know that the focus of the meeting will be them, not the technology or services company.
The idea of peer support becomes viable in the smaller environment and is in line with current thought leadership in business approaches. The best result is that in being part of the discussion, you too become a peer.

How do you catch your ideas?

2010-02-03T00:56:00.000-08:00

Last year I listened to a description of how a poet would feel a poem rushing toward her and how she would then have to rush to her writing desk to make sure she caught it all. If she didn't make it in time she would end up with half a poem.

Today I listened to a songwriter and a comedian discuss how, when a line came to them, even if it was out of context, they knew it was a good line and they needed to capture it. One used an iPhone to record the thought, the other used a notepad.

When you are thinking of how to solve a business problem for a client, it should be obvious that as a sales person you need to get creative. Maybe you should use similar techniques for capturing inspiration!

Do you know your Sales Cycle? Has it changed?

2009-12-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

I was prompted to write about this by the news, today, that more than seven in 10 CEO Institute
members are expecting their revenue to increase in the first six months of 2010. One task stands out above all others for the CEOs surveyed — maintaining sales (46 per cent).

So if you are just getting back into the swing of positive action on sales, bear in mind that decision criteria will have changed, approval processes may be different and attitudes are different than they were a year ago.

More than ever, showing value is paramount, but bear in mind that your customers are also hinging their hopes on an increased revenue stream that may not yet have materialised. I'm seeing more customers who are interested in a phased implementation, limited commitment approach. In other words, they want to taste it before they buy.

So be prepared for a changed sales cycle.

More Sales Gems

2009-08-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some more sales gems as promised.

If you don’t pay commission to your sales people then they are not sales people
o Customer service people who up sell without commission are not sales people
o Marketing people are not sales people
o Accountants are not sales people
o The closest thing to sales people are company owners. They are the only other category who only get paid if they exceed their job duties.
Don’t limit commission
o Decide beforehand that you are happy to pay for delivery. The quickest way to lose your best sales person is to start arguing after the sales is done.
Do pay a percentage of last month’s billings(revenue or margin or both) as commission, if you are in an annuity business.
For most industries, there is no such thing as seasonality, only lack of planning.
The key to sales, as with any science, is research and research implies asking questions.

It is obvious that these gems, as with any gem, require to be viewed in the correct setting.

If you would like to delve deeper into this area, please visit www.intermizzi.com.au or send an email to paul@intermizzi.com.au And now you can follow me in www.twitter.com/intermizzi

Some Sales Gems

2009-08-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked what I would present, as Sales Gems, in 20 minutes to a group of up and coming company owners. As I have not updated the blog for a while, I though they may be useful here.

Here are a few of them.

Sales does not have to be an Art, it can scale through application of technology and process.
Don’t let a sales team just happen. There is a skill and team balance just as there is in any team.
Don’t be happy with 20% of your sales team delivering 80% of your sales. If this is the case then you’ve either a) Picked the wrong team, or b) Don’t understand your sales process
If you, as the company owner, are the company’s best sales person then you haven’t been able to document your sales process.
Don’t expect the sales team to share your values a) You built the company, they didn’t and b) Sales people are rarely in the office, they don’t get to share the daily banter and the daily examples of how you apply your values.

I've also put together a template for a sales plan.

If you would like a copy please email me at paul@intermizzi.com.au

The Art of Sales and when to use it.

2009-06-27T01:38:00.000-07:00

Anyone in sales will know what it is like to have to put up with the all of the forms and systems that your company insists that you complete. I recall a sales person in a successful Telco telling me that he had to enter the same data in seven different forms each week and couldn't understand why. I admit that it doesn't make sense to me. This was a bureaucracy that had to produce reports and they didn't care that they were taking time away from revenue generation to obtain the data. At worst you should only have to enter the data once.

It will become obvious to anyone who cares to examine the sales process that it is better to spend money on a system than reduce sales time. So you still need to collect the data but make sure that any system is helping sales and is not designed to penalise the sales person for not wanting to spend time entering data into a system that will not help the sales process.

So where does the Art of Sales come into play? I've realised that the Art in a sale is the part of me that enjoys winning a deal. The Art of me in a sales process only needs to be engaged once I have a qualified opportunity. It is the sales process, or sales production system, that delivers the opportunity to me. And don't confuse an opportunity with a lead.

If you want to find out more about creating a sales process then visit www.intermizzi.com.au

Networking is Forever

2009-05-29T16:46:00.001-07:00

This is probably some of the best advice that I can give on Networking to anyone, especially if they have just entered the workforce or just started their career in sales. Keep in touch with your peers.
If you are going to succeed there is a fair chance that the people that you know, and meet, are also going to succeed. Whilst they may not currently be in a position to make decisions, it will become obvious that a number of them will make it to the top of their various pyramids. I still stay in touch with people that I worked with 25 years ago. We may not see each other socially but every now and then they receive either a phone call or an email from me.

As a sales manager, whenever one of my sales people came back to the office and reported that a person that they were dealing with had left the company, my first questions were 1. Where did they go? and 2. Do you have their contact details. Why? Well why waste all that work developing a relationship and not use it to gain entry to another company?

Social Media sites such as LinkedIn have made it easier to do this. You can see my LinkedIn profile here.

If you want to find out more about networking then go to www.intermizzi.com.au

There is another way!

2009-05-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

This is where the inspiration lead me. (See prior post)

I’ve been working on a business concept for businesses who can see no way to survive the recession other than retrenching a large amount of employees.

You may be aware that I’ve started a series of seminars to help generate business for my own company. During research for one of the seminars “Great Things About Recession” a customer called me to ask about sales to a large company that was about to announce significant retrenchments. So I posed the question “Is there another way?”.

It took some time to research the pertinent facts but unsurprisingly, after much research, it became obvious!

The only remaining problem that I have is to find companies before they take that step.

So if you know of a company that is looking at retrenching employees please let me know.
After all, if I could show you how to save up to $1m and come out the other side of the recession with a stronger, more successful company with a more committed and productive work force, wouldn’t you be interested?

To help me inplement this I have set up a business alliance with one of the most successful business and coaching organisations in the world.

The sooner you contact me, the better it will be on all counts.

PS: I haven’t put anything on my website about this because it’s too new and I’ve only just worked it out.

Inspiration, Where do you get it?

2009-04-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to come up with a few topics for a seminar series and was struggling. Just because I might find a topic interesting does not mean that anyone else will. Then it became obvious, if I was struggling for inspiration then many others, probably, are facing the same problem.

Those who have known me for many years know that I will usually get up and pace. There is an amazing difference between the level of ideas that I can generate at a keyboard compared to when I pace. I think it is one of the reasons that I learned to enjoy giving presentations. My wife and work colleagues will often tell stories of me pacing like a caged lion.

However, I have now made another observation. A 4am this morning I managed to gain some clarity as to some future business growth strategies, and figure out what I wanted to add to my blog.

Immediately following this epiphany I recalled one of my favourite poets, Rives, and his theory about 4am being the new midnight. Check him out at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/148

If you want to explore some inspiration then go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Speaking with Authority

2009-03-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

Last week I presented the first in a series of InterMizzi seminars. I was coming off the back of a successful talk on Digital Signage and thought that my topic "Selling to, and for, C-Level Executives" would hold the interest of the audience. It will become obvious that even if you are an experienced presenter, there are a few rules that you must to follow.

I have presented on over 200 occasions over the last five years. This has given me a greater appreciation of the skill of some of the greatest presenters. I started this presentation with a short video of the poet Taylor Mali and his spoken word piece titled "Like you-Know" in which he questions the wisdom of the bumper sticker "...it is not enough to challenge authority, you gotta speak with it too." Then I went on to stumble over my words.

It is hard to talk with conviction and authority about something that you have never before vocalised. You can be passionate but not necessarily authoritative. So one of the rules about presenting, at least for me, is to rehearse out loud.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Five Rules for Keeping Your Sales Job in this Recession

2009-03-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I sat in on a Webinar presented by Jeb Blount from SalesGravy and hosted by Landslide, a Sales CRM company.

The focus was on sales people, mostly in the US, who are worried about keeping their jobs. The five rules given are:

Activity is Everything
Don't Complain
Become Indispensable
Make No Enemies
Have a Backup Plan

Most of the advice is the same as the advice that you would hear for advancement in more prosperous times. The significant difference is that recession brings fear to those who thought they were on a comfortable ride, and the ride is always relative.

Whilst Australia is fearing unemployment rates of 7%, the US is predicting 10 to 12%. A recent survey in the US found that 50% are worried that they would lose their job. Clearly a large portion of them are focussing on worrying rather than doing their job.

Then I found an article "The Upside of a Down Market: 10 Reasons Why a Recession is Good for Selling" written by Victor Antonio in which he relates his time as VP of Sales in Argentina when Argentina's unemployment rate was somewhere between 20% and 25%.

So it is obvious that whilst there might be 5 rules for keeping your job in a recession, there are at least 10 reasons why a recession is good for selling.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Just like a Salesman

2009-03-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

When was the last time that you received this compliment? I'll bet that it wasn't meant as something in which you could take pride. Ironic given that we are the people charged with bringing in the revenue!

I recently gave a speech to the sales team of a large international company with a very recognisable brand. I was asked to present to their sales team of thirty and I started with the question “Who in the Sales team started their career with the goal of sales as a profession?” I was surprised that two people raised their hands. I’m usually rewarded with an audience bereft of hands. It is a sad fact that Sales is not seen as a professional career when sales can be one of the most rewarding of professions.

Studies in the USA (HR Chally Group) show that, of all employee groups, sales staff has the highest turnover. This ranges from 25-30% in a good organisation with the worst companies up to 60-70%. Another statistic from the study is that over 50% who graduate college become sales people.

So it is obvious that there is a great chance that Sales people end up being the leaders of the organisation, as long as Sales people treat their career as a profession. This means that you need to invest time in your career.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Qualification, Qualification and Qualification

2009-03-01T01:44:00.000-08:00

This is a mantra that I've held for many years. Where Real Estate preaches Position, Position, Postion the equivalent mantra for sales must be that the three most important things to remember for sales is Qualification, Qualification and Qualification.

So what does that mean? It means that you should not spend your time with those prospects that don't need your attention right now. It will become obvious when you think about it that you can still get it all wrong if you don't have some plan for the qualification. You need to know the criteria that allows you to see if a client fits you. Then you will be able to determine if you fit the client.

And this is not to say that you ditch a prospect just because they haven't called you back as persistence is still key. I sat in on a sales teleconference yesterday where the following statistics were given:

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact
5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact
10% of sales are made on the 4th contact
80% of sales are made on or after the 5th contact <<== WOW

So if you have tried at least 5 times then at least you are not selling yourself short. Just make sure that you are qualifying the opportunity on the way through.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Focus on the Positive

2009-02-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

Living in Central Victoria, the last two weeks have been proven to be a difficult time to maintain a positive outlook. With the number of people out of a job and the economy nosediving everything looks gloomy. Then again, how do you compare this with the death toll from the bushfires now over 200 and over 1000 homes lost. I live 20Km from one of the fires that broke out on 7th February so was naturally worried but a friend of mine got out of Marysville about 1.5 hours before it was lost. How do you balance that with reports that up to 100 people lost their lives in Marysville? You don't and you can't. All you can do is grieve and then remember to focus on the positive.

It will become obvious that for most of us, we have friends and family to help share the load. Hopefully for those left without a family, friends will help fill the void.

The Karma Deal (not to be confused with a bluebird)

2009-02-10T22:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I coined the term Karma Deal or not. The first time I used it was in 1994.

A colleague and I had started the Melbourne office of a distributor and we were having trouble getting the orders flowing. After a few months of desperation I went to a former senior sales executive that we had both worked with a few years prior and asked him, what was his secret?

He gave us a simple format that provided regular activity and contact with companies that should be interested in what we had to sell. It worked! And every time sales slowed down we would dust off the same routine and it never failed to work. The funny thing was that, often, the sales came from a different direction than we expected.

The lesson we learned was that the sales never came if we sat pondering the universe. Eventually, it became obvious that we created our own Karma.

Bluebirds are those opportunities that fly in the window with the salesperson not having to lift a finger. They have nothing to do with Karma!

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

Making More Of It Obvious

2009-02-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

Most of the people I know make sure that they read and listen to new ideas because it is obvious that the quickest way to gain knowledge is to learn from those who are already successful at it.

So when there are thousands of books, audio streams, courses, websites and blogs out there, how do you know which ones to follow up? I do know some people who seem to be trying to read everything that comes along. I prefer to follow the path of the advice above and take recommendations from those who have already read the book.

A recent great read is the book Made To Stick by Dan & Chip Heath. It is about making ideas stickier. They have some great free resources at their website www.madetostick.com

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

What is top of mind right now for everyone?

2009-01-29T21:35:00.000-08:00

For most of us it is “Will I make it through the recession?”

Those of us with enough experience (some would say “wisdom gained with age”) have the fortune to have lived through this a number of times. One of my favourites was in 1993 when my General Manager told me that he would know by breakfast if our whole division was to be closed.

When he met me the next morning he informed me that we were both out of a job!
Then “The Internet” took off and both of us worked our way into senior roles in the IT&T industry.

There is always a way through and most of the time it will lead to something better. If you can't see the way through then ask someone for help!

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

How to develop a corporate partnership?

2009-01-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked how to establish a partnership relationship instead of being known as a product supplier. The answer is in the questions that you ask.
A partnership is a strategic relationship. If you get to be in front of a decision maker and start pushing your product then you will be relegated to the position of product supplier. On the other hand, if you start asking questions about their business then you will immediately differentiate yourself from the rest of the field.
What questions should you ask? Take some time to research the company and you will find suitable questions. If you really want to impress then make sure you read their annual report and press releases and organise your questions to seek clarification. This also happens to be the best way to figure out where your product or solution will best assist the company in reaching their goals.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.

On Recovering from the Global Recession

2009-01-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Most companies will take time honored approaches to try to get through a recession: reducing costs, delaying projects, stretching creditors, reducing debtors.
However, it is obvious that there must be a focus on maintaining, or increasing, revenue.
One of the assumptions is that sales revenue will be reduced, that the current sales team will not be able to close as much business as last year. The problem with this assumption is that the best sales people will still find business. So why can’t the rest of your sales team make their numbers?
Only those sales people who know how to sell, know how to prospect, qualify, engage, negotiate and close will be able to achieve budget.
Why do you have sales people in your team who don’t know how to sell?
As the market grew, you looked for anyone who resembled a sales person. This is not an uncommon mistake. I have made the same mistake in the past. The only difference is that I now know more about selecting a sales person.

Go to http://www.intermizzi.com.au/ to find out more.