It’s time to let it go. Ineffective sales and marketing approaches are not going to morph into success while you sleep. It doesn’t matter how much money you have put into it; if it doesn’t produce now, it won’t produce ever. I’m talking about marketing campaigns, sales systems, sales training, or any other tactic you are engaging. The longer you hang on to it, the further in the hole you will go. There is no doubt that these decisions are difficult. Especially when you were sure that “this” was going to be the driving force you were looking for. I know. Everyone got behind it and you were all sure that it would work. But it hasn’t. It won’t. Move on.

The hardest thing to do in business is convince everyone that a new tactic will work, and then have to convince them that it is time to move on. Continuing to put resources into a mediocre or worse program will ultimately cost you market share. There is no silver bullet and there is no magic wand. Hard work combined with smart and strategic planning is the only way to affect long term growth. Increasing market share requires a foundation of support for your sales team coupled with a highly motivated and skilled sales force. No buzz word driven strategy has ever succeeded in the long run and no “catch phrase of the day” is sustainable. If it can be seen in a seminar, the tactic is already antiquated. Companies like Defiant sell cutting edge strategies to corporations and leave the seminars to the terminally unskilled. The bottom line is that growing market share is very much like losing weight. Millions of “new” approaches come out every year, but at the end of the day, there is no substitute for eating right and exercising. That’s right; feed your sales staff good, qualified leads and make sure they are working them. Accomplishing this is exponentially more complicated, but the premise is very simple. Failure to do these simple things will stop a new campaign before it even gets off of the ground. After all, the only reason to engage in marketing is to drive interest in your products and/or services.

Even the best marketing is rendered useless without a system to engage and sell the prospects it creates. That is why it is important to understand that throwing precious capital at a new tactic without a solid foundation will only help relieve you of that capital. Instead of gambling on a new approach, build a system designed to generate, qualify, and close leads.  Seems overly simplistic but an evaluation of your current sales flow will probably reveal a kink in the system.

Addressing these kinds of problems is less expensive and a lot more effective. Committing resources to a trendy approach while ignoring the fundamentals is cost prohibitive and completely counter productive. When was the last time you did any real statistical analysis on your sales staff? Do you know what the rate of return of each member of your team is? How about their conversion rates, closing percentages, escalation rates, contact rates, etc…? Without this kind of knowledge, how do you know which reps are productive? How do you know who is working their leads to the fullest extent possible? If knowledge is power and you don’t know then you are powerless. Right?

        

While Power Point is a widely used tool for presentations, not using it can be even more effective than you may know. Company after company trots into the conference room and sets up the viewer to walk management through a canned set of reasons they should do business with them. After literally dozens of hours have been spent in the creation of the presentation, you start to realize that your listeners aren’t nearly as impressed as you thought they would be. Why? Probably because this is the third one they have sat through this week and as good as you think yours is; they’ve seen it. At least they have seen one just like it. Now, all of those hours seem like a waste and you have no way to shift your presentation to capture their attention. Instead, you muddle through all of the slides knowing full well you have lost them. What a horrible feeling! If you have been in sales long enough, you have experienced it. You may want to consider changing things up a bit and avoid this pitfall. Here’s why and how:

1. Versatility – Walking clients through a set of predetermined reasons to do business with you assumes that your clients are like sheep. Most decision makers have a feeling of expertise when it comes to their own industry. Therefore, the opportunity to interject and shift the conversation allows them to be part of the discovery process as it relates to your company. Also, as you develop a presentation, you do so with a set of details that you think will matter to your prospect. What if you are wrong?

2. Objections -The ability for prospects to offer objections is a fundamental part of the sales process. A “canned pitch” will often remove this dynamic and make it difficult for prospects to offer objections. It is only by knowing their objections that we can learn how to close them. If you or your sales staff are under the impression that objections are a bad thing, you need a new staff.

3. Boring – As dynamic as you think your presentation is, it isn’t. There are two fundamental things you should know before every presentation; 1. You are not germane to the discussion and 2. Your prospects only care about their business. With that in mind, why would you think that you could know exactly what matters to your prospect before you give a presentation? Further more, why would you put together a pitch that talks about how great your company is? You shouldn’t because you can’t and they don’t care!

Don’t worry. There is a solution that will make you more successful. It only requires that actually know what you are talking about and can think on you’re feet. It’s a novel idea I know, but how about………. Create a presentation that requires their participation? Sure, you can still walk them through a few slides if it makes you feel better. But next time you get in front of a group to present your ideas, ask questions in the middle of it. By asking questions you engage your audience and keeping them in the discussion keeps them discussing you! After you leave, they will talk about the discussion and points that were made; theirs and yours. The best way to keep people moving forward is to help them move forward. Let them put their fingerprint on your ideas and they will own them too. Sales psychologists all say that the path of least resistance is the one you let your prospects lead you down. In the sales process, this is much more of a factor than in the implementation phase. Remember, getting hired is the hard part, doing what you do is easy. Once you are hired they will defer to the “expert” anyway. Here some great ways to keep your presentations alive:

1. The lost art of the dry erase board- Remember when we used to walk prospects, step by step, through the process? The advantage here is you can shift to what they bring up as concerns. Also, nothing is better than this style at bringing objections to the forefront. Just a side note: For those of you dealing with “C” level executives, the age demos suggest that this may be a preferred format anyway.

2. Do you see what I am saying? – A conversational format allows you to get confirmation that your prospects understand and agree with key points. Walking through a canned pitch eliminates the ability to do this.

3. The rhythm of sales – How you make your points can be as important as the point themselves. Using a conversational style pitch allows you to dictate the rhythm of the conversation and drive key areas of contention. If your sales staff does not understand the concept of conversational rhythm, you need a new sales staff.

4. Persuasion is power – While a power point presentation will explain, conversation allows you to persuade. By overcoming objections and then offering a clear and concise counter argument, you begin to persuade your prospect that you are right.

There is no “one size fits all” solution to perfect presentations but what we do know is that convincing anyone of anything requires direct communication. Surprise your next prospect by turning the lights back on after a very short pp presentation. Walk over to the dry erase board and say, “Here is what we are thinking”. You will be amazed at the level of involvement they will have. Of course, there are always to sides in any discussion and I would love to hear from you. Agree? Disagree? Let me know! Post a comment below!

        

Most call center managers know that keeping their reps focused is one of the biggest challenges they face. Over time, good reps get caught up in the day to day grind and success is no longer as fun as it was at the start of a campaign. That’s when focus becomes so important. Often, teaching a new technique or challenging reps with new priorities can reinvigorate them. Here are some excellent things that you can use to keep your reps engaged.

1. Voice inflection is a weapon if used properly: matching or mismatching voice inflection with vernacular can keep prospects interested in the conversation. For example, if I say the word “aggressive” in a low monotone voice in the course of a normal conversation, it will not register as normal in a listeners mind. The subconscious reaction is that of curiosity every time. When used as a product specific tactic, the listener will not immediately be able to identify what is “off” but will continue to engage for the sake of finding out. While not enough to be an overall strategy, this tactic is highly effective as a single component. The reactions are predictable and fun for reps to witness.

**Warning: this tactic should be practiced before used.

2. Driving mental imagery: while this is always the goal in telephone sales, having your reps use specific situational phrases to accomplish this will have an immediate impact on their success. This allows reps to bring creative ideas on how to accomplish this to their managers. Encourage this. Allowing phone reps to impact (with tactics and ideas that work), their sales approach will re-engage them. Have them create a list of phrases that put the product or service they are selling in the minds of their listeners.

3. Making it tangible: similar to driving mental imagery, making things tangible over the phone is both challenging and important to their success. As they speak to their prospects, they should already be trying to bring the product to life. Have them take it a step further by attempting to use phrases like, “when you receive your….”, or “when you start using this service you will….”  Giving them individual tactics to focus on will increase their overall focus.

4. The rule of 3: every study ever done on the subject says the same thing. If you can get a prospect to agree with you 3 times the chances of getting a 4^th “yes” go up dramatically. Have your reps create a list of product related questions that they know will get a “yes” from a prospect. Teach them to position these questions in order and just ahead of a trial close. The results are almost comical because the concept is so simplistic. It works every time it is tried and we tend to drift away from solid tactics sometimes. Either way, the creative part of the process will have your reps thinking again and that is the key.

As those of us that have been around this kind of dynamic know, there is no magic bullet. However, a combination of sparking the imagination of your reps and applying solid techniques is bound to have a positive impact. The goal should always be to give your reps a fresh angle to look at. Keeping them engaged is half of the battle.

        

As the “crazy season” approaches, retailers are positioning themselves to take advantage of the huge influx in customers. While trying to match or beat last years numbers, retailers miss the bigger picture. By focusing on internal numbers it is easy to forget about your competitors. That’s right, you are competing for holiday dollars against products you have never even heard of and that may not be even closely related to your product line. As consumers hit the malls and online stores, they are looking for that perfect something. After all, the goal of most shoppers is to give the “wow” experience to those they are shopping for. Here are some last minute things to keep in mind as you ready your business:

1. Your staff should care about your revenue goals.

If your staff is packed with a bunch of pimply faced teenagers that don’t care about their job or your success, replace them. There are plenty of qualified people that would happily take the extra money around the holidays and that has never been truer than right now.

2. Train for the sales environment

Whether we are talking about the current staff or holiday help it is well worth the time to explain to them what they are up against. Teach some basic trial closing techniques and explain that mentioning direct competitors by name is not against the law. When a customer says that they saw a product in another store, encourage your people to explain that yours is better and that it is more desirable.  Statements like that will often be the little nudge a consumer needs. Let’s face it, although we enjoy buying gifts for other people, we certainly do not like laboring over that decision.

3. Know the data

Regardless of what you sell, there is consumer data on the web that can help you prepare your staff. It can also be helpful in display placement. Know the priorities of consumers and know what will trip their trigger. In retail, a little homework goes a long way. No matter what anyone says, display what sells the best. Do not be afraid to adjust displays daily until you are satisfied with the results.

4. Your staff

I cannot overemphasize the importance of a staff that either has a vested interest in the success of the store or is of a psychological profile that is highly conducive to driving sales. Either way, you need competency in every phase of your game. They must be willing to do what your customers need them to. Whether that is the “helpful” rep or the “pushy” rep, make sure your first line of attack is ready and able. In a retail setting, people buy from people.

5. Stay involved

One of the biggest problems with a consolidated market is that as we “kick off” our efforts and get things in line, we tend to back off and coast. The difference between killing it and doing ok is management’s ability to drive sales all the way through the season. Half way through you may be on target and then end up slightly behind. Do not coast no matter how far ahead of last years numbers you get. It will come back to haunt you.

6. Make smart decisions, not popular ones

As we get further into the season, “stars” will emerge. Use their time to your advantage. Put them in the time slots that will utilize their performance the most. Others may not like it, especially if your talent is seasonal but you cannot concern yourself with that. Your primary goal has nothing to do with being liked. Your focus must remain on the task at hand. Your customers could care less if your staff is happy with your staffing decisions. They come with a purpose and your job is simply to help fulfill that purpose.

7. Facilitate impulse buyers

When a customer walks in and makes a snappy decision, the tendency is to ring them up right away. Sales psychology tells us that doing so is a huge mistake. People that make snap decisions will make three snap decisions just as easily. Unless they request to pay and go, walk them through the store and point out other products they may want.

8. Create product driven paths

Whether you use gender, age, or products that are associated, you should teach your staff to walk customers by other products that compliment their purchase. For example, if I am buying a pair of jeans for my son, your rep should walk me by shirts for that age group and point out popular styles. Electronics are even easier; accessories, accessories, accessories. That goes for girls clothing as well. You get the point. You should literally show your staff the path to take to the register for each product group you sell. It is one thing to suggest, it is another to show them.

For retailers, the difference between a good year and a bad one is a very thin line. The addition of a lot of little things can and will add up to a big difference in the bottom line. Retail management is intense this time of year but developing a plan of action can take a lot of the heat off of the seasonal pressure. Either way, good luck this season!

        

Ok, I said it. We all know it’s true but usually refuse to address it. I’m talking about people in sales and marketing that are terminally unskilled and completely unaware. It is usually these people that are the loudest and advocate the most aggressively for their position. For the rest of us, this presents a unique challenge. On one hand, addressing it only leads to a louder and more aggressive idiot. On the other hand, compromising can directly hurt the overall effectiveness of a project. Whether we work directly with these people or contract to a company that employs them, there is no easy answer. These people typically look at a finished product and want to change minor details solely for the purpose of having an “impact”. They spout off in sales meetings about the most inane details and everyone rolls their eyes. A name probably just popped into your mind because we all deal with these people. They have no idea how to write good copy, but want to make changes to yours. They have no idea how to develop a coordinated plan of attack in the sales game, but will almost always disagree with yours. They are clueless as to how to recruit sales talent, but will always find fault with new sales reps. I call them the terminally unskilled because that is exactly what they are.

Have you ever wondered why you have to have a meeting to prepare for a meeting? It’s to coddle the terminally unskilled. Ever wonder why good companies that are positioned well, struggle? It’s because the terminally unskilled are running the show.  The reason that is possible is because nobody has ever challenged them and revealed their obvious shortcomings. The loudest one in the room often goes unchallenged. That does not make for good policy but it is true none the less. These people have been at the core of sales failure since the beginning of time and rooting them out should be your first priority.

It may seem to be easier said than done but the solution has been right in front of you this whole time. Call a duck a duck and do it often. I know that not everyone handles confrontation well but nothing worth doing is easy. Stop attending the redundant meetings and do not compromise on your principals. Coddling these people empowers them and that leads to abject failure in sales initiatives. The impact on the mind set of your sales staff when forced to deal with these people is categorically negative. Management often struggles to rein these people in and therefore affirms their place within the organization. I am not suggesting that you “have a talk” with them. I am saying that not getting rid of them is negatively impacting your business. Conversely, getting rid of them will lift a huge burden off of your staffs’ shoulders.

If none of this makes any sense to you, I would remind you of that saying about the poker table, “If you look around the table and don’t see the sucker, you’re it”!

        

Sometimes, calling a duck a duck is harder than it should be. Sales departments all over the country have resigned themselves to a statement that can be catastrophic to their company’s long term interests. That statement is everywhere. “After the market comes back…” This is pure unadulterated genius. They may as well say what they are really thinking. “It’s hard right now so let’s just wait until it is easier”. Make no mistake about this mindset and the damage it will ultimately cause; it is pure corporate treason, plain and simple. At the same time, it is also great for our business. As companies make the decision to sit on their collective hands, companies like mine are innovating their competitors. Although I can only speak for Defiant Sales, we are a “non-participating company” as it relates to the recession. Your company? It should be. When markets contract and companies wait for it to come back, you should be laying the groundwork to dominate right now!

We get the same question all of the time, “How can we grow when the market size is shrinking?” The answer is simple and requires a complex solution. The answer is to take business from your competition and then use that new business to catapult yourself to number one when the economy comes back. Seems simple enough and yet so many companies think that the better play is to wait. These are the same companies that will complain about having too many competitors, or being at a price disadvantage, or ….. Fill in an excuse here. Remember, it is always business that brings us out of a recession. The “sit and wait” approach is great if your plan is to go out of business but nobody plans to do that intentionally. So the question becomes really simple,” Are we going to make the moves to win later and grow now?”

There are differing opinions on how to best approach this dynamic. The most effective way is almost always the most direct. Causing prospects to take action is the goal and advertising is the least efficient way to accomplish this. Conversely, speaking directly with your market is the path of least resistance. Where most companies struggle is in developing the vehicle to take your message directly to buyers. Consumer markets and b2b markets require the same approach in the crafting of a message but require very different vehicles to drive action. However, both need a systematic approach that removes the reliance on individual performance. There is no better way to ensure high contact rates and strict follow through than to implement a system for both. Tracking vital stats and managing them properly can have a huge impact on outcomes. The knowledge that comes with statistical analysis provides such a competitive advantage that companies employing these tactics find themselves light years ahead of their competition. It is literally the attention to detail that will reveal the most effective messages, the best and worst sales people, the best lead generation sources, and many other areas of concern for sales. If you cannot recite the closing percentages of your reps, or the conversion rates of your lead generating sources for example, you are missing the boat. While there are dozens of moving parts in any given sales force, it all starts with understanding where you are in key areas of selling. The difference between good and good enough is often the difference between staying in and going out of business. There is no better time to get serious in your approach to selling than right now. While others wait for the recovery, you should get busy causing it!

        

You have to admit, it would be great if you could read your prospects minds. Knowing exactly what they are thinking about as they make a decision to do business in your industry would be a huge advantage. Your sales reps would know exactly what to say and what to do to close all of them. But even if you had all of this knowledge, would you take advantage of it? You would be surprised to know that the chances of you or your sales team exploiting information of this kind is probably very low. In fact, when given the exact reason that a prospect will make a buying decision, your team will almost always ignore that reason and sell based on what they have always sold on.

This may seem strange to talk about, but the discussion could not be any more relevant to your sales success. Why? The answer is both incredibly complex and overwhelmingly simple; habits trump knowledge every time! The truth of the matter is that if you did know exactly what your prospects thought about before making a decision your instinct would tell you that they are wrong and that you need to show them why. By doing this, you create a sales dynamic that is next to impossible to overcome with any consistency. Sure, you can sell some of them and the mere fact that you are still in business proves that. But the difference between companies that carve out a small niche to survive and companies that dominate an entire industry boils down to a simple concept. If your prospects think it is important, it is. No matter how silly or irrelevant the issue may actually be, it is the difference between closing and not. A great example of this concept lies within many industries. Companies whose primary task it is to get prospects to switch from one service to another often attempt to convince the market that they offer a superior service. That is to say that we do “this” better because….. What market research shows in a lot of industries is that many choose not to switch because of one simple thing, the transition itself. New technology and unfamiliar people can make companies nervous. Sometimes, it simply boils down to the work involved in transitioning from one company to another even when the benefits are obvious. Attacking this issue is best done by positioning yourself as transition experts. Talking about how easy the transition is or how involved your company is in this process can often address these kinds of objections before they even surface.  Winning the battle is often done in the opening and not in boardroom.  Understanding that prospects are inundated with solicitations that often say the same thing allows you to exploit the seams that lead to closing deals.

Do you know what makes your prospects move? Do your reps know what to say in order to hit buying triggers? Chances are the answer to both of these questions is no.  Chances are, your reps and your marketing are still attempting to explain why your products/services are better.  Chances are, you need to talk to Defiant Sales Consulting.

        

We have all been told to create a “market position” at some point in our careers. What we don’t hear is what we do with that market position to actually drive sales. The concept of market positioning came out of the ad agencies years ago and still has some credibility. However, where Defiant Sales differs is in the implementation of that position. Most companies advocate taking that position and “branding” it through pure marketing and marketing campaigns. Let me save some time and money; unless you have millions of dollars that you must get rid of, this is a bad idea. The best indicator for me is looking at seminars. The age old adage in our business is that companies with cutting edge, successful tactics, sell them to corporations.  Those employing antiquated and stale ideas, sell them at seminars. A bit harsh I know, but true none the less. All you have to do is Google sales and marketing seminars and you will find dozens of them specifically dedicated to branding and/or creating a market position. Seminars are where once great ideas go to die. Let’s face it, if the ideas offered a competitive advantage, we wouldn’t see them everywhere.
At Defiant Sales, we take a fresh look at the very creation of that market position. Knowing the triggers that cause prospects to take action is the most powerful tool to put in your arsenal. That is where intense market research comes into play. Approaching this singularly important issue from a psychological perspective is exponentially more effective that from a marketing perspective. Attempting to create a market position based on market needs will ultimately put you back to square one. The reason for this is so simple that for marketing companies to still advocate it is negligible. Markets evolve and cycle faster than at any other time in history. By the time you create a needs based position, the needs and triggers for that market have changed. That is why it is better to understand the psychological profiles and buying triggers of your prospects. It is easier to match and mirror the evolution of these variables once you build a system designed to do just that.
Market position based selling is much more than the creation of a market position. It is the streamlining of that position through your entire organization.  The repetitive articulation of this argument breeds familiarity. Branding by new customer acquisition is less expensive and immediately profitable. What nobody else talks about is the creation of a palatable market position. That is to say, a market position that makes the most sense to the prospects or market you are pursuing. Running this through a Defiant Sales System will create an immediate market reaction. We can show your company how to talk to a thousand prospects this week instead of fifty.

        

It is time to face facts; training unskilled sales people will not work. As more media sources enter our lives, it has become increasingly more difficult to market to core demographics. With hundreds of channels, the addition of satellite radio, pervasive multi media, and millions of web based media sources, marketing firms have turned to advocating more tactics that are untraceable. Sales training is just one of the popular tactics. The flaw in sales training is that it starts with a false premise; sales people fail because they lack the proper training. This can be disproved by simply analyzing your sales staff as it relates to a few variables:

1. Compensation- Is your sales staff compensated to produce, or do they receive compensation for showing up to work?

In other words, do you pay a salary that is big enough to pay their mortgage? Too many companies offer sales people a comfortable salary that is counter-productive to achieving sales goals. If their salary is big enough to cover their monthly bills, commission become a “bonus”.

2. Natural skill set- Do your people posses a natural sales based skill set, or are they in sales because it can be a very lucrative profession?

Sales is the most lucrative profession in the world and as such it attracts people to the profession that do not belong there. Just because someone wants to be in sales, does not mean that they have an aptitude for sales. I would love to be an astronaut but math is not my strongest subject, therefore I do not work for NASA! Proper screening is much more effective than training.

3. Good sales people do not need bland training; they need leads!

If you want to spend money helping your sales staff, buy leads! Good sales people do not need antiquated sales tactics from a broad based marketing company that have no market based principals anyway. Good sales people are capable of closing a certain percentage of people they talk to so to help them, get them more people to talk to!

4. It’s not you, it’s me!

If you have a skilled sales staff and they are struggling to close deals, the problem is not with them, it’s the system in which they are operating. Failing to create a sales structure that allows talent to thrive is the biggest cause of ailing companies. You must create a dynamic that is conducive to sales.

We all have a fiduciary responsibility to our companies and to our bottom line. Don’t waste money on training that will not work and has no accountability. Instead, build a system that allows your sales team to thrive by putting them in front of more prospects that have a need for your product or service. At Defiant Sales, we build exactly this kind of system. Our results are traceable and sustainable. That makes us accountable!

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