salespodder: sales blog with musings and tips from inside sales

Was reminded of a top bloke yesterday.  Dennis Brown, sadly no longer with us, was a larger-than-life natural born salesman, who started his career selling towels on Mancunian market stalls before setting up a highly successful chain of baby goods stores.  The flagship one I believe remains in the hands of his daughter in Wilmslow and is still going strong.

I once wandered into a shop of his on a social visit in school time, wearing a suit and he mistook me for a trade rep having never seen me smartened up before.  It was he who first mentioned to me that “turnover’s for vanity, profit’s for sanity.”

And I heard a definition of insanity I quite liked just now “insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results“.  How true, so why do we all fall into the trap?

The 4th of the current series of my fave show (Dragons Den on its 3rd series in England) had its usual collection of lunatic ideas, near-misses and funding secured.  Here are the relevant sales-y pieces:

• when someone mentions money, a chuckle and this line can disarm “right, get down to the hard numbers, then”
• ensuring you know where your offering is “vulnerable”, can fend off negative vibes, especially being able to explain why a so-called expert could have made the wrong decision in not pursuing interest in your product, ie: in sales terms, why other prospect’s hadn’t bought from you or customers stopped buying is vital
• you should always acknowledge a jittery persons concerns, even asking them to elaborate where possible
• give all instructions correctly pre any hands-on demo (in this episode, one forgot to say don’t drink the corked-wine, aka vinegar!)
• the funding success was for a music download idea who made sure he knew what else could be brought to the table by the Dragons

And as a personal aside, it was fascinating to see the Dragons’ views on valuation.  When viewing valuer advisers Dragon Richard after fearing a valuation which was too high, asked, “how much did they invest? there’s a big difference between valuing something and writing a cheque…” (& former Dragon Doug commenting from afar “I believe there is nothing more harmful to start-ups than the parasitic swarm of advisors that seek to “mentor” small business with no experience to speak of themselves.”  Something I’d echo from my various calamatous experiences with UK’s ‘Business Link’ small business advisors.  They’re totally useless.)

I bumped into a neighbour of my sales team’s London office who sell NLP-type training (Rebecca and Rachel) and we got chatting on their industry and the lack of funds people put aside to train their people.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development is their professional body, and I’d heard of them recently as they’d just opened a swanky £12m building in Wimbledon.  It turns out that in their latest ’state of the nation’ industry report, they found that the average amount of cash spent each year per employee on training was just £607.

That’s not a lot.  I remember around 2003 sitting in on a training course with a bloke from Tack International who, aside from his personal shortcomings on the training front and lack of sales savvy, did make one worthwhile observation; that his firm reckoned only 1½ days a year were given to the typical rep in training.

And I recall my very first formal training.  A Welshman that my sales director rated highly called Wynn Rees said he could give me a one-on-one for a day and give me the basics for around £800 (this was back in the early 90s).  Yet to squeeze more value out the day, my boss decided to include about half-a-dozen other reps.  Although Wynn was great value, this wasn’t the approach I’d recommend, as the older guys took the micturate a touch thinking it was beneath them.  And at around £100 a pop, did it really progress them?  I don’t reckon so.

In my quest for knowledge on the embryonic sales software marketplace in the mid-90s, I read a book (can’t remember what it was as some bugger pinched it from me!) that spoke about linking ‘development’ into software so that task-related elements could be reinforced by systems.  It was pretty interesting stuff, and ten years later, in Val D’Isere a CEO of Huthwaite got all excited telling me about how he was putting this in place for ’spin’. I bet firms are paying more than six hundred quid per person on this….

I try and do constant development with my guys, objection handling role play on the way to meetings at the obvious level, personal tactics to employ and so on further up the ladder.  I’ve seen many firms employ their own ’sales ops’ guys, and I’ve seen others try and turn sales managers into ’sales coaches’.  I’ve seen neither work.  They fail as the ‘coach’ is not at the permanent call of the rep, hasn’t clear and agreed guidelines for development areas agreed, lets ego get in the way, doesn’t reinforce the message on a frequent enough basis, and can’t prove where their efforts have brought about improvement.

There’s a fella I’ve a lot of time for that I’ve not spoken to for ages and, knowing that his lovely wife is about to be a mum, I was knocked off my chair when a former colleague of his informed me he’d been “gased” by his employers.  Brendan is his name, and in the six or seven years he’d worked for a global internet level email security provider, he’d made them literally millions.  I can’t wait to hear the story, as I’m sure it is they that are the real losers.

I was once a provider to said outfit, and remember being in their Manhattan offices for a couple of days when the temperature outside was around minus-10 (or as the Americans bafflingly called it ‘18′) and saw a new marketing push launched.

Part of this included a pretty good presentation by a chap named Jos, featuring the logic behind their new ‘mission’ and ‘vision’.  It began with why they wanted to be seen as the “defining force” in their sector and at the time I recall thinking how well it was broken down and could be used to position yourself neatly in front of a prospect.

The next day, I did a presentation to the same sales team and remember making reference to the newly released mission statement.  Hoping for enthusiastic engagement I asked a question on it.  And silence.  It turned out that not a single rep in the room (of around 50) could remember the statement.  I was gobsmacked.  I could recite it so why couldn’t they?  Surely it was a major event for them?

And then their sales manager made a point of saying each rep should know their customers/prospects as well as I knew them and admonished a slight slap-on-the-wrist.

It was pretty limp, such a show, and after a while of supplying them, their general arrogance and disenchantment became wearing, so Brendan, you’re better off in pastures new to let your huge talents shine elsewhere

Demo’d to a guy at global express parcel carrier, TNT, the other day.  He hailed from the genre known in my youth as ‘Sales Ops’, and did indeed seem to have a good grasp on what his immediate issues were with the 400 or so people around the sales efforts.

One thing he said to me in particular caught my attention.  In an industry renowned for job-hoppers and high rep attrition rates, he considered that it was vital “key people get a taste of success early” and you should set out to “get them there as quickly as possible”.

At first register, this may sound like one of those annoyingly obvious common-sense type pieces of advice.  After all, isn’t this what everyone tries to do?  But actually, it isn’t.  So many sales organisations I come across do not think this way.  In fact my very own reqires that people earn the right to get given leads, by self-generating them to an adequate degree first.  Whilst I firmly believe this is the right stance, to speed up this process is what I should be helping with, and to such ends our direct marketing efforts have ramped up accordingly.

Met with a top sales manager from one of my fave customers today, called Ken Welsh.  His only error of judgement seems to be supporting Norwich City.  I’ve talked with him in the past about his passion for military history, and applying the lessons in sales.  A meeting with Ken invariably involves a few lovely little nuggets about general selling practice, so here are a couple I had chance to jot down.  Thanks, Ken

Be like Atilla

Atilla the Hun is not everyone’s role model in life.  Ken’s heroes are the more acceptable Nelson and Churchill, yet he read a book once on what to learn from the infamous rogue.  You should create independent teams and give them scope to think for themselves.  This is apparently also why we English hammered the combined might of French & Spanish fleets at Trafalgar.  What would the point be of having to rely on Nelson, if you cannot see the flags and miss the semaphore messages in the fog of war? 

Be positive

“the only thing more contagious than enthusiasm, is a lack of it”

Remember focus

“a strong light through a strong lens can burn holes through sheet steel because it has focus.”

I was eating lunch outside in the pleasant Oxford sunshine Tuesday, where they’ve done a terrific job renovating the area around the City Hall and Castle.  I became conscious of a sales conversation on the table next to me, which appeared to be winding up.  Hands were being shaken all round, with one guy having ‘sold’ a man and a woman.  Then I heard something remarkable. 

“When the dust has settled, can you write me a testimonial letter please, just saying what we’ve done?”

The other bloke immediately answered yes, then the ‘seller’ continued;

“Thanks, as this kind of referral really helps to get across what I do”

And with that, they started talking about how the old prison had been transformed into a trendy Malmaison boutique hotel.

My customers at wide format printers Océ would be delighted to hear someone practice what they preach, and I must must must remember to start gathering my own such letters….

Still addicted to my favourite show, more on frolics from inside the Dragons’ Den.  I thought I was going to miss it, as over the preceeding weekend a London-Summer thunderstorm saw lightning knacker my aerial, but rescue came from the bbc broadband offerings which, although lamentably sparse and currently impossible to get onto my pda, do indeed have the full 60 minutes of fun.  Five sales lessons emerged from this episode:

Demo Disaster - Do you need to demo something as part of your pitch?  The first guy was peddling a helpline to get you around London quicker, and confidently handed over a phone to Dragon Peter.  Yet no-one picked up.  Disaster!  He was battered after this, and the message is clear, if you’re going to demo something, you gotta make sure it works, and if something can go wrong - it will, so prepare for the eventuality.

Condescending Preaching - And then there was the sun lounger towel-cum-beach bag.  The mom did the demo, the pop the chat.  Well rehearsed, so started well.  Yet Dragon Theo had sold something similar 8 years before and there was no market.  To try and dig themselves out their hole, they majored on potential cruise liner contracts, but handled every question by beginning something like “you see, in business you find…..” and passed on general tips before getting anywhere near an answer.  I was cowering behind the sofa after the second such response, and the Dragons slaughtered him.  After they even told him to lose the habit, he continued to do it!  Avoid!

Money Back - One question I loved to hear was “how am I going to get my money back?”. It made me realise that you can easily say this in pitches, by turning it around and saying to prospects, “…and how you get your money back is….” and hopefully then some.

Risk Focus - In my experience sales people are next to useless when it comes to negotiation.  Yet Dragon Theo used a belter of an approach when holding firm on equity stake percentages.  He justified his stance by listing all the areas of risk he considered existed, coupled with liberal spreading of that emotive word ‘risk’ itself throughout his answer.  Again, turning this around towards the angle of risk removal is a sales winner.

Failure Reasons - Chairs edged forward during the sonar man-overboard pitch which appeared to be a patented life saver.  Dragon Deborah, unfamiliar with the market, asked a terrific question, along the lines of “what would make it not work”.  This is a question I feel you’ve always got to be prepared for when pitching.  I’ve only been asked this once, by an IT & Telecoms Director at serviced office leaders Regus.  It took me by surprise then and I reacted just as this fella did, by pausing and quizzickly saying “well nothing really”.  Not I must admit, a textbook response, but if it happens again, I’ll nail it don’t you worry

And on a personal note, I now deduce the mix of Dragons is interesting this season for one reason. Although I’ve not yet personally made my way to match these guys (I hope that day is not far off ) I can say with confidence that from a business perspective, four of them are light on introducing earth-shattering wisdom.  For instance the annoyingly token woman Deborah (I s’pose a ‘mumtrepreneur’ is out of vogue) is actually the most traditionally masculine, without an ounze of genuine compassion for or interest in the individuals pitching, she only seems out for herself, and her regular disdain and lack of passion irritates in a way that the inventor of the posture, Simon Cowell avoids.  Even Dragon Peter (who I’ve learned is on the American Inventor panel as well) so good in the first series, now makes sure he comes up with a pun-filled insult at every turn.   The real star for me though, is newbie Richard Farleigh.  Unfortunately, he happens to be an Aussie, but putting aside this poor choice of birthplace, he shines I believe, precisely because he is not an entrepreneur.  Making wads from fund management, he ‘fell into’ investing in small businesses and has developed a niche for himself with what he calls ‘disruptive technologies’.  The fact that he has never sweated over mortgaging everything on a business idea and start-up, merely investing in other’s ideas, adds to the show in a way that aforementioned Cowell does, despite the similar fact he’s never sang behind a mic on stage and released his own ode. Let’s hear more Richard!

Had a cracking weekend with pals of mine in Manchester, and on the flight down (sounds extravagant but was unbelievably both half the price of the train, and half the journey time by car!) I suffered the bland sandwich that is BA’s in-flight “high life” (who are they kidding?) magazine.  Fortunately, I appeared to be the only person on the plane in possession of their “business life” rag too.  20 minutes flicking through this often gives you a small nugget to ponder, and this edition’s was “Ghost Compliance”.

Some dodgy-feeling article on training began with an attack on Maverick employees and how they could be reined in to the corporate fold.  Now, clearly having grown up in sales myself, I’m rather fond of such personality traits, so was a touch aghast to read that someone was suggesting correctional techniques akin to Guantanamo Bay.

Yet sympathy emerged when thinking about sales people, particularly when a new initiative gets trumpeted.  Many do not embrace it.  Whether it be selling a new product, extra reporting requirements internally, or selling in a different manner, I’ve experienced countless instances of sales person disengagement.  What the journo was bringing to my attention was this concept of Ghost Compliance.

This is where someone says pretty much “thanks for showing me the light, and boy, do I feel mega-motivated now”, then carry on regardless, having said enough to keep their boss off their back.

So, next time a new initiative crops up, as a rep you’d decide how enthusiastically to engage with it, and I bet if you chose not to comply you’d be rooted out, yet if you opted to ‘ghost comply’, your boss would miss your trick for a touch longer than more urgent cases….

What a great idea I came across reading a mag this morning, from a car dealership in an American town called Union; Planet Honda.

There’s a reception area where each new potential customer wanders in, and get asked what they’re looking for.  If they answer as the majority tend, with “just looking, thanks”, they get given a sticker to put on their chest with the initials “JL”.  This makes sure no sales person will bother them as they walk around the showroom.

And what they’ve found, is that the “JLs” become some of their best customers, as after 15 mins or so, they peel off the sticker and begin to seek out a sales person.  The approach is proved so successful, that the dealer sold 3 times as many cars as the average dealership, totalling 3,300 last year.

This is indeed a terrific approach, and I bet applying it to most other big ticket retail operations would be a winner.