SalesGiants interviews Matt Geier from The Sales Corner

1)    Hi Matt, thanks for the interview. In a short sentence, what companies should be interested in The Sales Corner's services? 

We especially appeal to Home Based Businesses to Small Medium sized ones. This is partly due to the fact that we encourage having personal interactions with the people making decisions in their business.

2) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will companies NOT find in The Sales Corner?

To be honest, there's not a company I would feel comfortable with saying we cannot help in some way. In the world today, whether you are a sole owner, or a corporate president, there's usually something that The Sales Corner can offer you. It's just a matter of identifying what that something is. 

3) Besides your websites (http://www.thesalescorner.us/), what other sales websites would you recommend? 

I would have a few for this question to give your readers a good idea of what kind of people we work with. These are all websites that we have a direct interaction with at some level of The Sales Corner. We personally endorse them!

• http://www.drewstevensconsulting.com 

Recently nominated as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management, Drew Stevens works with senior officers (CEO’s, Presidents) and Sales Directors who struggle with their sales teams to meet organizational goals and acquire new clients. Drew helps them to create relationships with economic buyers so that sales people close sales quickly and gain more revenue. He is a frequently requested keynote speaker and the author of seven books. He conducts over 40 international keynotes, Seminars and Workshops per year. Dr. Drew is the founder of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling.

• http://processspecialist.com/increasesales/

As Chief Results Officer for her 10 year old international executive coaching and consulting, Leanne Hoagland-Smith is not the typical coach or consultant. She holds a Masters in Science from Purdue University, she's the author of over 1,600 articles, a weekly business columnist for Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, regular contributor to NBiz Magazine as well as to other regional business journals and the author of Be the Red Jacket in a Sea of Gray Suits,  and believes in a no nonsense approach.

• http://www.intromojo.com/

Part of being at The Sales Corner, means taking advantage of opportunities to tell people of "new school" tools that are hitting the market of Sales. 
This is a place to be! I recently wrote a review on them here - http://www.thesalescorner.us/blog/2010/10/13/intromojo-review/ - I would highly recommend anyone trying to be proactive to utilize tools like Intro Mojo and find a way to integrate them into their sales processes! Tools like this take a place in "new school" sales roles! It's very awesome! 

4) How about your preferred sales/business books?

This is a hard one for me. Most people I know have read several books in this kind of category. I find myself at a loss. As I was growing up, holding my attention in a book was hard. I could attribute this to several things that seemingly came into the way of staying focused on the words in front of me. Occasionally I read a book, but I never make it through for one reason or another. Instead I find myself reading White Papers about technologies, Press Releases and taking time to learn that way, through what's being done and available as knowledge I can gain to come up with new ways to sell, or think, or position a product solution set. I spend most of my time developing relationship which result in a higher sell rate for myself, or result in a new opportunity months from when I started talking to someone, or learning something new. I'm a huge fan of Trigger Selling, and selling on the idea that I have something someone wants. I would recommend Dale Carnegie books, programs, and associated literature!

5) How did you get started in sales?

Officially I got started when I worked at Silicon Graphics as an Inside Sales Support person. All I did at first was take calls and send documents, routing customers to "The Sales Rep." Prior to that, I worked many years in Customer Services. I also did some bit of technical support and aspired to be a Hardware Engineer. Only with time, and going through a series of layoffs, ups and downs in the Technology Industry, I found a role in Sales which has definitely carried my into the sales career I am in today. I'm a firm believer and practitioner that "Sales" is in the center of every business. After all, opportunities closing, keeps the lights on and the product reputations going!

6) Most memorable sale? 

Every sales opportunity has been different in some way or another for me. The people make the opportunity memorable. I've worked with a lot of people over the years in my sales role. Sometimes some of the most important sales opportunities that I have uncovered are not due to the direct prospecting but simply being in good connection with my clients, customers, and their needs. I like to stay in touch with people, and I'll use anything I can in my arsenal to draw a conversation. Conversations open the doors! 

7) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?

I'm pretty optimistic. I've found that lost sales in my territories were due to changes in an organization or something that was not under my control, such as "projects put on hold" or people changing the way they want to work. I think everyone has, at some point has that "big one" that could have worked out and didn't. People like myself just like to ride the waves as far as they can go. Sometimes they don't go as far as you think. Most of the time though, they do, and often sales will close.... you just have to give them time, and make sure you've put all the information in front of the buyers that you can. The rest is up to them to make an informed decision! 

8) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert? 

Management that do not take their sales teams seriously. I see a lot of management that don't spend money training their teams or crossing the borders in an organization to allow their sales people to better understand the products, application uses, etc. They would rather put a set of numbers and expectations in front of their sales reps, and expect them to achieve. Rather than learn how each of their sales reps would utilize their training to sell, or establish processes to make their selling effectiveness better and more worthwhile for the company.

Also being “unproactive” is also very common. I'm referring to the sales methods where you sit and wait for the phone to ring, or you wait for the fax to go off, and then respond. As a sales person, I've always been very proactive, at just about everything I can. When you're selling, you need to communicate....about everything you can, which ultimately gives you the best handle on the sales opportunities and puts you in place to sell effectively.

9) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

I work well with all kinds of people. One of the most important things that I've learned is that in every sales method, there's a "curve." Most of the time I think people will get to the top of their curve, and start to go down. The best advice I've had is to always find a way to remain at the top of that "curve" which ultimately means being able to stay ahead of "the sales game" and always being at your best, in whatever you can.

***

To know more about Matt Geier and The Sales Corner, please visit: http://www.thesalescorner.us

SalesGiants interviews Adrian Priddle, from Growing Clients

Adrian Priddle,
Growing Clients

1) Adrian, let's begin by talking about Growing Clients. What is exactly that you stand for?
Growing Clients is all about helping professionals build more productive relationships with their clients.  Whether that leads to greater efficiency, improved service, new business or all of those things, the aim is to recognize the fundamental importance of the person to person relationship within the professional service business.  I started the business with my colleague, Jamie Rowland, after we had worked together on a number of projects and found we shared the same beliefs around how a client relationship should feel and what both parties should be getting out of it.
 

2) In your experience, why do companies usually perform poorly when growing clients? Why do you think that happens and what are the consequences?  

The main reason appears to be that the firms forget to focus on the client. They stop hearing the client’s needs and agendas and begin to concentrate only on what their own professionals think is important.  The impacts of this can be numerous, but most importantly the client feels that they are not the most important person in the relationship. They feel they have not been listened too, valued or understood.
 

3) In a short sentence, who could benefit from your expertise? What kind of companies do you help?  

We mainly work with professionals in finance, law and property.  If you run a business that provides a service to a client then we think we can help.
 

4) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What kind of problems are outside your area of expertise?  

 We don’t provide technical training on accounting or the law, our expertise is around the service, winning the business subsequent client care.
 

5) Let's say that a sales manager is dissatisfied with the results he/she is getting from his/her salespeople. What's the first thing you would advise a manager to do if he/she wanted to turnaround his/her sales team?  

As with a lot of team performance issues the answer could lie in a number of areas. We’d probably start with understanding what the challenge was that the team was facing, so for example, was the sales approach being adopted the right medium for communication and whether this matched the decision making of the buyers for the service.  Other potential areas would be to benchmark the performance of each team member and consider whether the set up of the team was getting the most out of each individual.  The performance management of the individuals would also need to be considered, so how are the team members measured and what skills does the sales manager have in coaching and developing that team. Sometimes the issue is not the team but its leadership and development.

6) What do you think of online training/e-learning for salespeople? Is it being used correctly in your opinion?
Online learning has lots of advantages, particularly in areas of knowledge acquisition (such as firms services or expert theories).  Clearly it can be delivered at a time that suits each individual’s diary and life, and also allows the salesperson to spend as little or as long as they like on particular subjects.  Where it has been used correctly it is generally part of a package of interventions to help people develop, for example linked into a classroom experience to practice the rapport skills elements or to assess personal impact.  The biggest obstacles appear to be the lack of a plan as to how the learning would be used by salespeople and a limited IT infrastructure that reduces the creativity of what can be delivered.
 

7) How about classroom training? What advice would you give a sales manager trying to be more effective regarding training his/her sales team?  

As a deliverer of classroom training I believe it is the experiential element that classroom’s can offer that produces the best feedback and learning for a sales person.  The area of client relationships contains so many variables which can change the judgment of the sales person and the client that the opportunity to discuss and then practice these is important to achieve real improvements.

The key piece of advice would be take the time to make the right choices.  So many training courses booked in haste and without consultation or advice, fail to deliver because they are not aimed at the need.

Look carefully at what it is you want to achieve, as targets, as behaviors and as attitudes, before making any decisions about the training you will use.  Often the larger programs, sometime even residential, are not the right answer because not everyone responds well to large amounts of learning in one go, they can also prove costly and poorly attended as people pull out nearer the event.  Consider whether an approach with modules, some classroom, some online would meet the need more effectively and also make better use of your resources.

When determining the needs you and your team have think about the impact of leadership and teamwork within your team and the mix or personality types you have.  It may be that a better understanding of each other and your client base will improve the results of sales activity without changing the activity itself.

About your preferences:
8) Besides your own website (www.growingclients.com), what other sales websites would you recommend? 
 I find many networking forums very helpful, so I tend to use LinkedIn and Twitter a lot, as well as more specific networks such as the Professional Marketing Forum at www.pmforumglobal.com .

 In terms of blogs to read I use a number of blogs including Seth Godin (www.sethgodin.com).

9) What are your preferred sales/business books?  

 - Managing the Professional Services Firm and Trusted Adviser  by David Maister
 - Trust Based Selling by Charles Green
 - Selling to Win by Richard Denny

   

About you:  

10) How did you get started in sales?  

My previous career was as an auditor with a Big 4 accounting practice, so from an early stage of management part of the measurement was about your client relationship building activity leading through to new business development.  I always enjoyed meeting new people and clients so I found that part very attractive as well as highly motivating.  I got involved in some proposals for new work but always felt quite limited in what I could say and the degree to which someone at my level became involved in the business.

When I left to work free-lance in training then sales became part of the way of life, if you don’t sell yourself you won’t have any work to do or money coming in.  To be able to take the time to really get to know people in a business, their needs as well as the business needs provides me with the diversity which I find motivating and the challenge which I find inspiring.

11) Most memorable sale? 
Winning client development work for an accountancy firm in the UK.  This involved interviewing clients of the firm to get their feedback and to then report this to the partners at the firm in order to develop an action plan going forward.  It was exactly the sort of work I like to do and with a team of people I have stayed in contact with as working with them has been a pleasure.  The work has ranged from the very tough assignments, where clients are unhappy through to the glowing reports of some clients who couldn’t be happier. The first are often where the greatest reward and pleasure lies, because here we can make a real difference to the service the client is receiving and therefore their business, as well as potentially saving our clients from losing long and well-earned client relationships.
 

12) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?  

Answering questions in a proposal and watching every member of the team have a go it, and slowly realizing we’d missed the point entirely.  The impact on the client was to disconnect from us, we looked like we didn’t understand and we looked like we hadn’t listened.  I remember stopping the conversation and saying, “Did that answer your question?” and being met with a very awkward “Not really, but please move on.” Painful.  Ever since I’ve taken the time to ensure I understand questions before I answer them in proposals and meetings, much prefer to be seen to be repeating something rather than my earlier experience.
 

About your work as a sales expert:
11) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert?   

The biggest mistake I see is where people believe that by saying more, or using impressive words, they think they can impress the client.  The saying I have used often is “Be Interested, not just interesting”, and too often we do the opposite.  Sure people want to know what we have to say, but clients prefer to spend more time talking about their business to make sure we really understand it.

The second biggest is to forget their existing clients in pursuit of new work, there is a lot of research to demonstrate that most new business comes from existing clients, not brand new ones.  Build great relationships with your clients and make sure you know what you can do for them, otherwise you are missing out to your competitors by making opportunities for them.

12) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?
Be interested, not just interesting.  Ask questions, listen to the answers and clients will tell you what they need.

13) What advice would you give to someone just starting out in sales?
 “No” is not a scary answer, it maybe “not now” or “not in that form”.  Don’t be afraid to ask for work or to offer help or something that might be useful.  If you get “no” when you’re being proactive, they’re much more likely to speak to you when they do have a problem.

14) What are you working on right now that makes you feel energized? What's your next big project?  

Social networking workshop to help new professionals integrate their current knowledge and use of social networking into their business networks.  I love this because we continue to look at how the world around us is changing business while some fundamentals remain true.  We deal with people in professional services, so we will always need strong networks and relationship building skills.
 

15) Any additional comments?  

Do everything you can to understand the business and the world from your client’s view, what’s it actually like to be them, performing their role and the day to day stuff they do.  By really standing in their shoes you can begin a really worthwhile relationship in which you can collaborate and build a win win scenario.

***

To know more about Adrian Priddle, from Growing Clients, please visit www.growingclients.com. Twitter: @Growing_Clients

SalesGiants Interviews Marcus Sheridan, From TheSalesLion blog

Marcus Sheridan teaches businesses how to create awesome web content that leads to traffic, sales, and growth. For the last 10 years, he’s owned his own business in the swimming pool and hot tub industry and his SalesLion blog is a reflection of his thoughts about Sales/Marketing/Web 2.0, Blogging, Self-Improvement, Motivation, and of course, the roller coaster that is owning a business. 

1) Let's begin by talking about your website. In a short sentence, Marcus, who should visit www.thesaleslion.com? 

The Sales Lion is a mosh-pit of sales, marketing, and self-improvement advice. What makes it unique is that I simply don’t write about something unless I’ve personally ‘been there, done that’. Everything is real, frank, and applicable to just about anyone or any business looking to get better.

2) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will readers NOT find in your website?

I’m not a Tech Nerd. In other words, I’m like the 99% of the world that doesn’t know HTML, code, and every new piece of technology that comes out. Notwithstanding, I teach people, many of which are average Joes, how to blow-up their business—be it sales, marketing, website tips, you name it.

3) Besides yours, what other sales websites would you recommend? 

Dang, there are a bunch out there. To me, sales and marketing are the same thing in the information age. They’re inseparable. But in terms of straight ‘sales’, I’d strongly recommend Paul Castain’s : http://yoursalesplaybook.com/ -- The guy is a tremendous writer and motivator, and he is freaking hilarious to boot…In terms of marketing and thought leadership, I’d urge anyone to check out Seth Godin’s (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/) or Chris Brogan’s (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/) blog.

4) How about your preferred sales/business books?

Every book out there right now, at least in my opinion, is simply a follow-up to Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Fact is, if every sales person had that one book alone and mastered its principles, they’d be the best in their chosen field. I’m not exaggerating here at all. Carnegie was a genius.

5)      What's the first thing someone should do after visiting your website?

See my photos at the bottom right of the page. I want viewers to feel like they know me, my family, and that I’m just like them. Relationships are what I’m after, so let’s get to know each other. I learn more from my readership than they do from me, which is why I love being a part of the blogosphere community.

About you:

6) How did you get started in sales?

I started a swimming pool company right out of college. This position forced me as a 23 year old kid to sell $50k plus pools to people who were my parent’s age. But it was through this process of owning a business that consisted of retail and in-home sales that I was able to refine my systems and become great at what I do.

7) Most memorable sale? 

My system of building trust and selling is unique in many ways. In fact, I always tell clients that upon our first meeting, I expect to earn their business at that time. In other words, I’m there to sell. (To me, SELL is not a bad word. [Sorry Tom Hopkins] The only thing bad about it can be the sales person’s approach.) But the word itself is what makes the world go round.

For example: I once was in a meeting with a couple regarding their swimming pool purchase. At the end the presentation the husband looked at me and said, “Thanks for all this information Marcus. We like what we see. Can we let you know something tomorrow?”

To which his wife looked over and replied to him, “Honey, Marcus didn’t come here tonight so you’d let him know something tomorrow.”

Needless to say, I walked out of their home that evening with a check, and it was all made possible because I told them both beforehand the purpose of my visit was to sell them a pool at that time.

About your blog work:

8) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert? 

There is a huge lack of education-based sales and marketing in this world. With the internet, the ‘sale’ starts long before the first meeting with a client. Sales professionals must be great teachers. They must learn to think exactly like their customers. By so doing, they can truly answer the needs and concerns their customers have regarding their products. Sadly, too many ‘sales experts’ suffer from The Curse of Knowledge and therefore relate very poorly to their client base.

9) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

See the world as a question. This simple statement taught me to ask questions…all the time…without stop. I want to hear from clients. I reality, they don’t want so much to hear about me until I’ve fully heard from them. Great questions are the only way to make this a reality.

10)  What are you working on right now that makes you feel energized? What's your next big project?

I’m doing more and more public speaking. In fact, I see myself as a very average writer, but I’m a pretty darn good vocal communicator. My blog is the platform for my voice, but it’s also the means by which businesses learn about the way I see the world and then invite me to share my thoughts and ideas with them.

11)  What is the best testimonial/comment you have ever received? 

Gosh, this one is tough. I’ve been blessed to receive some tremendous comments. The ones that tend to bring me the most happiness have to do with an individual or company that has embraced a new way of thinking or doing and now feels completely empowered to reach their goals. People so often know they want to be successful but just don’t know how they’ll get there. I teach them how to get there. Once they see this vision, everything about them, whether it be temporal, physical, or spiritual; changes for the better. It’s an amazing process.

***

You can learn more about Marcus Sheridan and his work here: www.TheSalesLion.com

SalesGiants Interviews Hank Trisler, Author of No Bull Selling

Hank Trisler, author of No Bull Selling

At 73, Hank Trisler has seen it all. And he tells it how it is.  According to Hank, selling isn't very complicated. It's not exactly nuclear physics. We all know people less intellectually gifted than we are who consistently sell at high levels. Selling is hard work, but it's simple. People selling well know that customers buy based on two principles:

1. People buy on emotion and justify the purchase with fact,
2. People buy for their reasons, not ours.

In this interview Hank Trisler, author of No Bull Selling, shares with us what he’s learned with all his years of practice.

About your book:

1)      Hank, let’s start by talking about your book No Bull Selling. 

       Who should read it?

NO BULL SELLING is written in large print and little bitty words. People new to selling will find the examples clear and the assignments manageable. Assignments? Oh yeah, you start selling on the first day. Grizzled veterans will get back in touch with techniques that made them great in the first place.  That’s more than one sentence, but there’s a little something there for everyone, even non-sales folks.

2)      On the other hand, who should’t read it? What will salesprofesssionals NOT find in your book?

Those looking for easy answers and “canned pitches” will be disappointed. The pay is far greater for asking the right questions than for knowing the right answers, so I have not attempted to include the answers in my book.

3)      What is the book’s greatest lesson?

There are two primary lessons in the book. The first is to shut up and let the customer buy. The second is that this is not brain surgery. You have to forgive yourself your stupid mistakes and keep on keeping on.

4)      What should people do after they finish reading the book and put it down?

Don’t put the book down. There are exercises at the end of the chapters. You’re talking to suspects, prospects and customers the first day and every day thereafter. Never stop doing that.

5)      What are your favorite sales books?

Tough question, as there are so very many good ones. I have long loved, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger. People Buy You by Jeb Blount and Snap Selling by Jill Konrath lead the list of current offerings.

       

    

  

About you:

6)      How did you start your career in sales?

I don’t think I really ever had a choice. My Dad was a salesman and I just always assumed I’d sell.

7)      What was your most memorable sale?

Damned if I know the most memorable sale. I’ve long since spent all the commissions I’ve earned and that’s what was most memorable. I don’t look at selling as some sort of art form, but rather a business. I don’t have any of my customer’s heads on my office wall, either.

8)      How about your first sale?

I sold my first big truck to a fellow named Ralph, who owned a lumber yard in Renton, WA. I didn’t know that HD springs stood for Heavy Duty springs and didn’t want to get surprised when the truck came in, so I didn’t order them. When we put a load of lumber on the truck, it just squatted. Wouldn’t roll an inch. The whole story is in NO BULL SELLING, if you need it. There have been countless other disasters, but there’s little point in dwelling on them.

About your work as an expert:

9)      What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales consultant?

No problem here. Talking too much is the runaway winner. Salescritters fear silence and run their jaws to keep from seeming stupid and prove just the opposite. Talking too much leads them inexorably into a whole string of problems, many of which can simply not be overcome.

10)  What project are you working on right now that makes you feel energized?

Your question is a good one and makes me realize that, at 73, I have pretty much run my race as far as acquisition is concerned. I’ve been most of the places I wanted to go and have owned most of the things I really wanted. You’re absolutely right, I need a project and I’ll get one week after next.

11)  What is the best testimonial you have ever received?

I have a wife and children and grandchildren who all claim a certain affinity for me. I guess that’s my greatest testimonial.

***

To know more about Hank Trisler’s work, you can visit www.nobullselling.com .

Success Strategies of Top Salespeople – Goals and Plans

 BY JOHN AT GOSELLGO

What success strategies do top salespeople use when it comes to goal setting and planning?  How can you implement the same techniques of top achievers to increase your sales?  It’s simple, follow these six basic rules for setting goals and making plans and watch your sales soar.

Set Goals Based on What’s Important in Your Life

Don’t let life just happen.  Ask yourself, what are my life dreams?  Then set goals to make them a reality.  Goals provide focus and direction to ensure you’ll live a life based on what’s important to you.

Set Exciting Goals that Create Passion

Imagine how difficult it would be to be passionate about a goal such as “increase sales by 10 percent”.  Is this goal exciting to you?  Probably not, so let’s try rewriting the goal.  First, think about what inspires you and incorporate it into your goal setting process.  If spending time with your wife is important and you like to travel here’s an example of how you might rewrite the goal: “Increase sales by 10 percent to earn a bonus of $5,000 which will enable me to take a dream trip to Australia with my wife by March 1st”.  Now that’s exciting!

Set Aside Time for Goal Setting and Planning

Set aside time each day to review your goals and write down tasks to help you achieve them.  Early in the morning is an excellent time, when it’s quiet before work day distractions.  Devote time to reading positive, uplifting messages including; books on sales skills, positive thinking and other material geared toward self-improvement.  Then review your goals and write down what needs to be accomplished for the day.  Do this every morning to start your day with the right attitude and moving in the right direction.

Set Specific Goals with a Deadline

Be accountable for your objectives and set specific dates when they’ll be reached.  For larger goals, break them down into smaller tasks with target dates leading up to your end goal.  For example, a daily goal of making five sales calls, or 20 phone calls, may be less overwhelming than selling $1 million.

Review Your Goals When Planning

Keep your list of goals close by and refer to them often.  Top salespeople incorporate tasks into their daily plans that help them reach their objectives.

Prioritize Your Tasks

To be effective in selling, focus on activities with a high return on investment to get a clear idea of what needs to be done on a daily basis.

During you planning session, write down all the tasks you’d like to accomplish.  Next, review each task and decide which is the most important.  Repeat the process and list your six or seven most important tasks in order of their importance.  Work on your highest priority tasks first  and do it on a consistent basis.

Conclusion

Try following these six rules of goal setting and planning.  Set aside time each day to think about how you want to live your life and go to work setting your goals.  Figure out a plan and work it.  When you do, you’ll soon find yourself in the top echelon of salespeople everywhere.

John Sligh is a Salesman and Founder of GoSellGo.com - a blog about everything related to selling for salespeople everywhere.  For free tips on sales, self-improvement and motivation visit John today at http://GoSellGo.com

***

Twitter: @GoSellGo

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsligh

Site: www.gosellgo.com

Creating Fresh Sales Opportunities

By Jill Konrath, Author of SNAP Selling & Selling to Big Companies

There's nothing I like better than engaging prospects when they're NOT thinking of making any changes from the status quo. 

This may seem counterintuitive or perhaps even like sales heresy if you've spent your career chasing prospects who are already in the buying mode. After all, they already have money in the budget for your product/service and are actively looking for new options. 

So why would I recommend chasing "non-lookers" versus the tempting low-hanging fruit? Lots of reasons:

• The incumbent is sleeping.
  
  Since dislodging the status quo is always your biggest sales challenge, you want to slip in under the existing provider's radar screen.
  
  By bringing in new perspectives that help prospects better achieve their objectives, you gain a foothold in an otherwise impenetrable account. The incumbent's failure to do so creates a credibility gap for them and opens the door for you.

• Your competitors aren't around.
  
  If you do things right, you can prove your capabilities, demonstrate your expertise, and establish a strong relationship long before any competitors enter the scene. They'll be playing catchup from the start. And, in most cases, they'll find it extremely difficult to close the gap.

• You set the playing field.
  
  By bringing new ideas, insights, and information to your prospect, you help determine the criteria against which future "go-ahead" decisions will be judged. This gives you a chance to best position the strengths of your product, service, or solution.

• Sales cycles get condensed.
  
  When you leverage your expertise to help customers sort through everything that has to be considered to make a change, their decision-making process go faster.

• Customers often love you.  
  
  Okay, I don't mean literally. But if you've ever had someone show you a better way, then made it simple to implement it, you know what I mean. That's how I feel when I visit the Apple Genius Bar, where tech gurus show me how to solve seemingly insoluble problems on my computer.

As you can see, there are many good reasons to get engaged with prospective customers earlier rather than later. Plus, you won't find yourself constantly fighting pricing battles. 

So start thinking about pursuing business with those non-lookers today. But don't talk about your products or services. Your prospects are only concerned about their objectives or eliminating the barriers that stand in the way of achieving them. 

Keep your focus on that and the possibilities are endless!

Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into new accounts, speed up sales cycles and land big contracts. She's a frequent speaker at sales conferences. 

For more fresh sales strategies that work with crazy-busy prospects AND to get four bonus sales-accelerating tools, visit  www.snapselling.com.

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Twitter: @jillkonrath


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Are Your Salespeople Overpaid ?

By Brian Jeffrey, CSP


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Take the Guesswork Out of Hiring Salespeople
Improve your odds of finding a winner with the Sales Temperament Assessment (STA). When hiring new salespeople, use this tool to make sure you don’t put a square peg in a round hole. The STA will help to assure a good fit between the candidate and the sales position. Find out more...
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As a sales management consultant I'm often asked, "How much should I be paying my salespeople?" That's a question that I think most sales managers and business owners would like answered. So I'm going to share my concept with you.

The average salesperson, on the other hand, will probably want to lynch me after reading this article. And why would they want to do that? Because a lot of salespeople still believe in many of the timeworn generalisations that apply to the world of selling such as:

• The grass is greener on the other side,
• I have a lousy territory,
• My prices are too high, and
• I'm underpaid.

I'm not saying that these statements are untrue. What I am saying is that many salespeople use these arguments without really confirming their truth. The truth is that sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, some salespeople do have a lousy territory, sometimes their prices are too high, and some salespeople may well be underpaid.

This article is not about paying salespeople what they're worth; it's about how much the business can afford to pay their salespeople.

Disclaimer

The concept I'm about to share is not cast in stone. It is a generalisation, like Pareto's Principle (the 80/20 rule, i.e. 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers) that has stood the test of time. Think of what follows as the Jeffrey Theory of Direct Sales Compensation (i.e. direct sales compensation should be equal to or preferably less than 20 percent of gross profit). As you work out your own numbers, remember this is a generalisation and your mileage may vary.

Sales Efficiency
I'm going to show you how to determine how efficient your sales department is, and I guarantee you'll either be delighted, stunned, or dismayed at the result.

I recommend you do the calculation for the entire sales department, as gross numbers are usually easier to find. If your result is out of whack, you'll probably want to do the calculations on a salesperson-by-salesperson basis to determine where your problem lies. In fact, doing this exercise for each salesperson is an excellent measure of a salesperson's sales efficiency. It will also tell you if you are overpaying for the sales you're getting.

Sales efficiency is a subtle but important factor in running a sales department. Your job is to bring in more money than you spend — a lot more — but you'd be surprised at the number of organizations who are paying too much for their sales. Don't let this happen to you.

There are two ways to determine sales efficiency — the Quick Test and the Bean-counter Method. Most sales managers will prefer the Quick Test but it is wise to go through the Bean-counter Method as well.

Quick Test
Here's the rule for the Quick Test and it's the basic premise of the Jeffrey Theory of Direct Sales Compensation which states that direct sales compensation should be equal to or (preferably) less than 20 percent of gross profit. The lower the percentage, the more efficient your sales operation is from a fiscal point of view.

Direct sales compensation includes salaries, commissions, and bonuses. Indirect costs are taken into consideration in the Bean-counter method outlined below.

That's it. I told you it was quick.

Bean-counter Method
In order to determine your sales efficiency, you'll need to calculate your true cost of sales. Some people do this incorrectly. They neglect to include the hidden costs such as benefits, expenses, and cost of supervision.

If you know your actual numbers, use them in the formula below. Otherwise use the percentages shown, and you'll be pretty close to reality.

The Cost-of-sales Formula:

• Start with the total yearly compensation (direct sales compensation, see above).
• Add 30 percent for benefits and taxes.
• Add 15 percent for supervision.
• Add in automobile expenses or allowances.
• Add in direct communication costs or allowances (pagers, cell phones, etc.).
• Add yearly travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses.
• The total is your annual costs of sales.

Now calculate what percentage your cost-of-sales is of your annual gross profit. The lower the percentage, the more efficient you are.

If it's less than 30 percent, you're running a very efficient sales department.

If it's between 30 to 35 percent, you're still okay but you may want to weed out any poor performers who aren't pulling their weight.

If it's between 36 to 40 percent, you're running a high-cost, low-efficiency sales department.

If your sales costs exceed 40 percent, you're in the danger zone and starting to pay too much for the sales you're getting.

Once your sales costs exceed 50 percent, you're running the business to feed your salespeople while you're probably starving.

An Example
Let's take the example of a sales department with five salespeople with a total sales compensation cost of $367,000. Thirty percent of $367,000 is $110,100 and 15 percent is $55,050. The annual T&E expenses ran $48,500 for a total of $580,650. The annual gross profit was $1,760,000, which means the cost of sales was about 33 percent.

While that's okay, it's a bit too high for my liking. I'd want to do the calculations for each of the salespeople to see if I have any problem children. If all the salespeople were about equal, I'd take a look at my overall margins to see if they're too low, my costs too high, or if my compensation packages are too generous.

The Advantages
Doing this exercise for each salesperson has a number of advantages. It can help with performance reviews. It allows you to rank your people in terms of efficiency so you can see who's giving you the most profit for the least cost. It tells you if the salesperson that's a perpetual pain in the lower part of the anatomy is worth keeping.

Stay Profitable
Your job as a manager is to run a profitable, efficient operation and this exercise will help you determine how close you are to hitting that target. Good luck!

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Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes
Before hiring a new salesperson, find out whether your candidate is temperamentally suited for your particular selling situation. Use the Sales Temperament Assessment (STA) hiring tool to make sure you don’t put a square peg in a round hole. The STA can help you make a better match between the candidate and the sales position. Find out more...

About the Author

Brian Jeffrey is President of Salesforce Assessments Ltd. His company works with sales managers who want to make the right hiring decisions and build a strong sales team using his sales assessment test. For more articles like this and your free copy of "The 8 Biggest Hiring Mistakes Sales Managers Make" go to => www.SalesforceAssessments.com

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