NZ Sales Manager Issue 48

Page 1

NZSALES march 2011 / Issue 48

The rise and rise of procurement • Where to spend your time • Don’t bag the competition!

NZ’s e-mag for sales leaders


CONTENTS mArch 2 nd / Issue 48

6

6

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ NEVER TRUST A SILENT CUSTOMER Make complaining clients one of your biggest assets.

8

THE RISE & RISE OF PROCUREMENT And its implications for salespeople.

15

8

12

NZSM CALENDAR

13

SALES TRAINING DIRECTORY

14

TWO MINUTE TOP-UP WHERE TO SPEND YOUR TIME Prioritising your accounts.

16

RESOURCE CORNER SMART CALLING

17

Quick Fix It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell.

18

THE CLOSE


MID STRENGTH FULL FLAVOUR FULL LIFE


From the Editor

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand Sales Manager is a free e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forward-

O

ur thoughts go to our readers, family and friends in Christchurch who are going through a most terrible time and supreme test of their resilience. As sales people we need to be

thinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals. EDITOR / Paul Newsom

resilient in our work, and I am sure we will draw on all our resources and

ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson

do our best to help each other through these times. The support of the

GROUP EDITOR / Trudi Caffell

nation will be felt for a very long time to help with the recovery.

CONTENT ENQUIRIES / Phone Paul on 04 586 4733 or email

In this issue, Sean D’Souza takes a lively look at all the good things that come with customer complaints. It is only when customers complain that

pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / Phone Richard on 09 522 7257 or

we get a real barometer on how we are performing and it often comes

email richardl@espiremedia.com

with a smack in the face reminder of what we need to do to improve.

ADDRESS / NZ Sales Manager,

So, go and wake up your silent customers this week and give them the

C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162,

opportunity to give feedback!

Parnell, Auckland 1151, New Zealand WEBSITE / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

The first RSN Rev-Up is on in a couple of weeks time, with guest speaker Bill James. If you are in Auckland, be sure to reserve your ticket as this event is filling up fast.

Happy Selling

NZ Sales Manager is a GREEN MAG, created and distributed without the use of paper so it's environmentally friendly. Please think before you print. Thank you!

Paul

  Generating consistent and qualified appointments can be a mundane and time consuming process... Let the experienced professionals at Ibex Marketing set them for you so you can spend more time meeting with prospects and helping them solve their problems!

Call Murray Beer on 021 279 2783 or email murray@ibexmarketing.co.nz today! NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 4

“We make the call… you make the sale”

www.ibexmarketing.co.nz 4 / APR 7th 2010 / NZSM


The Rev Sales Network invites you to join us for

Auckland Rev-Up #1 Wednesday 16 March 2011 Guest Speaker Bill James RSN Rev-Up Series AUCKLAND 2011

The Topic "COLD CALLING" – and even the most hardened sales professionals head for the door! If making more calls is something you know you should be doing this year, then you need to hear from Bill James! It has the potential to be a great source of business but so often leads to hard and fearful work with little result. Is it our own fears that stop us? An inbuilt feeling that we are intruding that makes us sabotage our own efforts? Or possibly a lack or mismatch of training in the past? Yes – to all of them. Our guest speaker Bill James will show us how to ‘cold call from your comfort zone – almost!’ Whether by phone or in person, you will leave with fresh insights on how to make your team, or yourself, a cold calling success with the courage and techniques to make a scary marketing tool into a valued asset in your sales arsenal. This session will be of value to new recruits and seasoned professionals alike, as well as those that don’t really feel comfortable about selling but have to do it anyway.

The Details RSN Rev-Up Series 2011 Auckland Rev-Up #1 With Bill James 12pm—1.30pm, Wednesday 16 March 2011 OfficeMax Training Centre 30 Sir Woolf Fisher Drive, Highbrook, East Tamaki Auckland Rev Sales Network Members: Free Non-members: $49.95 incl gst pp Includes light lunch

With thanks to

The Presenter Bill James is internationally recognized for his ability to show new and experienced sales professionals (and those that find sales a challenge) how to find and land new business. His unique approach enhances the individual’s natural style and produces great results time and again. His strategies have helped many well known NZ businesses and hundreds of sales professionals increase sales revenue so don't miss this opportunity! You can find out more about Bill and hear what others have to say about him at www.billjamesspeaker.com

How To Register To register your attendance for this event, or for more details click here or visit our website www.rsn.co.nz and register before Friday 11 March 2011. Hurry! Our first event for 2011 will fill fast! Spaces allocated on first reserved, first served basis. Limit 80 attendees only.

Visit us at www.rsn.co.nz


TH I S W EE K ’ S MUST REA D

Sean D’Souza is an Auckland based marketing strategist, speaker and author, and the principal of Psychotactics. To find out more visit www.psychotactics.com

Never Trust a Silent Customer Make complaining clients one of your biggest assets By Sean D’Souza

D

o you have customers that leave suddenly? You were doing an outstanding job for them, lavishing them with truckloads of service and yet they disappeared without a word.

$30 per week. But let's assume they spend just $20. Imagine you did something that bugged this customer, but he or she never told you about it. What would you stand to lose if they left?

The key operating factor here is 'without a word.' That's the scary part! The silent ones are always the most dangerous. If you would like to learn how to keep your customers, you've first got to keep them noisy. Read this marketing article to find out just how you can make complaining clients one of your biggest assets.

Its simple math: You lose $20 x 50 weeks. That's equivalent to $1000 a year. If you lost just 10 such customers per month, you'd lose about 100 clients a year. That's $100,000 that could be in your back pocket if you were a little complaint-conscious.

Imagine you run a pizza parlour You have all these neighbourhood families that pop in at least once a week for some pizza, garlic bread and Coke. On an average, one customer spends about

NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 6

That doesn't happen in our business: The Denial Syndrome Overtly it won't. In a Bain & Company survey of major corporations, they found that on average, U.S. Corporations lose half their customers in five years. Notice, it wasn't 'one year' or 'suddenly'.


Clients have a tipping point. They get unhappy bit by bit and then its camel-back-breaking time. So, if you think that all your customers are happy with you-they aren't. It's a basic fact of life. What's really weird is that you can't measure how much business you're really losing. A study was done on a bank, they found they had as many accounts as they had a year ago. What they failed to measure was how most of the people had 'silently' transferred the money out into other banks and the closure of the account was a last measure, somewhere down the line. The same thing applies to your customer. Like a patient Buddha, they will seemingly appear to put up with everything, till suddenly you find they don't use you anymore. This is a classic flight of business. You hear nothing of it, till it's almost gone and it takes a mammoth effort just to hold on to the business.

If you look at it from another perspective, you might even be getting equal to or slightly less business from your customer. Naturally this doesn't ring any alarm bells. However, if you've been watching carefully, your customer has probably grown bigger and richer in the past few months or years. If your business with them has not grown exponentially, you are actually LOSING OUT. No matter how successful your business, you will always have scope for improvement. Best of all, you will always have complaining customers. Don't deny the fact. Accept it and then do something about it. The real reason why you lose customers Last month we went to KFC to pick up some chicken and chips for dinner. On the way home we discovered that the chicken and the chips were soggy and tasted terrible.

No matter how successful your business, you will always have scope for improvement. Best of all, you will always have complaining customers. Don't deny the fact. Accept it and then do something about it.

How would most customers react? It would depend on their history with the product, but most people would grumble and simply not go back. We complained. We picked up the phone and called the toll free line at KFC. They asked us to place our order.

Most companies act precisely in the same manner. For one, they have no real complaint department. If clients are unhappy, they feel embarrassed to complain and because no route has been cleared to vent their feelings, they avoid it completely.

We said we didn't want to place an order, we just wanted to complain. They said, "We don't take complaints on this line. You'll have to call the manager at the branch where you bought it and talk to him."

Then they leave. Obviously, you can't wait for something to go wrong. Your job is to find ways to get the client to complain. If they complain, you are getting feedback that is extremely valuable and is probably relevant for all your other clients as well.

Now why would I bother to go through all that trouble? It's easier to never go back. All that money that KFC spends trying to get new customers is going down the drain and out the back door because they don't have a complaint line.

Best of all, empowered with a complaint channel, a well-trained client will complain at every juncture giving you the opportunity to fix the problem and regain their trust.

7 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


How companies react to complaints Virgin Airlines CEO, Richard Branson, sometimes makes an appearance at the gates when a flight is late, apologising profusely to all passengers as they check out. How mad would you continue to be if you ran into a situation like this?

Yeah, Right! Because of their crummy service, the plane took off without you, you missed your meeting and lost more than just your temper. Do you think, just replacing something is going to erase all that trouble? It's going to take much, much more.

Yet most companies detest complaints. Living in their ivory towers, they refuse to believe that any of their clients would leave. So they never ask for feedback. On the rare occasion that clients get mad enough to put it in words, it's too late. Even then, a complaint is treated with nuisance value.

A simple replacement is never the answer. It has to be a heck lot more than just a numb 'sorry' . You've got to woo the customer back like you would with the girl that you had your eye on.

The first step a company takes when dealing with complaints is that they fix it.

Going down on your knees and begging for forgiveness is a start. Then you've got to lay it on thick and the thicker the better.

What you need to do to ensure a regular stream of complaints. Dump the feedback form and go out and ask your customer's face to face. Do it regularly and have them know whom they can complain to, if anything goes wrong. There is no such thing as a silent customer.

The problem with zero defect Lots of companies ran themselves into the ground trying to achieve zero defect. In an unpredictable world like ours, that goal is unreal. Even the best of intentions aren't much use if you run into a flash flood. Clients recognise that. However, it's up to you to have a disaster recovery plan in place. When I say that, I don't mean a grandiose 'in case of a nuclear attack' plan. At Nordstrom stores across the U.S., salespeople are empowered to do 'whatever it takes' to fix a problem, even if it means going to the store across the street and buying the product at a higher price.

NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 8

It's called the art of immediate recovery, and it assumes that something will go wrong and you will have a Plan B to fix it. The more you prepare yourself for this inevitable event, the less chance the client has to complain. More often than not, a complaining client is complaining about everything but the product. Ever see people complaining about the food at a restaurant? The principal purpose of the restaurant is food, yet people leave because of loud music, bad service and everything else. Your job is to assume you're a restaurant and find out what your 'everything else' is.


34

1

Getting complaints is like winning lotto! They're giving you free feedback that would cost a fortune at a research company, so reward them. They've been inconvenienced on top of getting a bad product or service. That inconvenience factor deserves payment in the form of a reward over and above just fixing the problem. Customers who are bought back from the brink are extremely loyal and extremely 'noisy.' Treat them like the asset they are.

What you need to do to ensure a regular stream of complaints. Dump the feedback form and go out and ask your customer's face to face. Do it regularly and have them know whom they can complain to, if anything goes wrong. There is no such thing as a silent customer.

25

Remember, it costs eight times as much to get a new customer, than it takes to keep an existing one. Keep them at all costs. Atone for your sins.

Complaining customers are always very precise. They eliminate the vagueness of feedback forms. Listen to them, act on their complaints. It's not that they want to leave. They want to be wooed back. Fix the problem and then let them know how you fixed it.

Rule #1:The complaining customer is always right. Rule #2:When in doubt, refer to Rule #1 ■

Boost sales 20x4

2/17/11

12:01 PM

Page 1

REGISTER NOW to see Jack Daly present his one day seminar ‘Boosting Sales and Driving Profits’ on Thursday 10th March, 8am-5pm at Eden Park. Don’t wait* - places are limited! Text ‘Jack 3’ to 244 or go to www.salesstar.com

*Strictly limited availability. Reservations close at midnight 8th March. Conditions apply. Texts cost 20 cents.

Sales STAR presents Jack Daly In association with:

9 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


Paul Rogers is a freelance procurement consultant. To find out more visit www.paulrogers.pro

The

&

Rise

Riseof Procurement And the implications for Sales People By Paul Rogers

NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 10


I

recall an experienced sales manager sitting me down and patiently explaining to me how I should try and sell to the ‘MAN’; that is the person or the team in the prospect organisation who had the Money, the Authority, and the Need. “There's no point trying to sell to someone if they can't say 'yes!'", he explained. "Find out who's got the budget, who has the authority, and who to pitch to. No point in wasting your breath selling to the wrong person!" Now that advice is still valid, it’s just that business to business selling has become a little more complicated with the introduction of a new participant in the sales process - procurement.

Traditional purchasing Most of those who have been involved in selling to corporates are familiar with the traditional purchasing department. Historically, purchasing staff have processed the purchase orders, and in many businesses, if you can't quote a purchase order number, the invoice won't get paid. This has led to most purchasing staff being regarded as administrative gatekeepers; they issued purchase orders, and may have issued quotations or requests for proposal [RFP], but the real decisionmakers were elsewhere in the business. Traditional sales approaches, and indeed contemporary models of “strategic selling”, promote a model of the sales process in which a proactive sales person–you–

Whether labelled “procurement” or “strategic procurement” the new breed of purchaser is not content to be sidelined as a “tender jockey”.

diagnose the prospect's needs and propose a solution based around your company's value proposition. If the purchasing department was involved at all, it would have been involved in registering you as a supplier, managing any bid process, and probably trying a lastgasp chiseling of your price to try and get a discount. Contemporary procurement However, the largely administrative contribution of purchasing staff is not the same as the more fundamental role of procurement. Whether labelled “procurement” or “strategic procurement” the new breed of purchaser is not content to be sidelined as a “tender jockey”. Procurement is promoted as a profession, and the peak body claims that it is the fastest-growing profession in business in New Zealand and Australia. Procurement practitioners perceive that their role begins with the definition of need; the 'questioning funnel' beloved of

solution sales still happens, it's just that the definition of what is needed is undertaken as part of the procurement process, rather than as part of the sales process. Implications This has significant implications for those of us working in a sales role and pitching to prospects where procurement takes a central role. The opportunity to influence the process, and indeed to eyeball the key decision-makers and build a relationship with them may be diminished. Anyone who has received an RFP which states that "ALL communications shall be channelled through the procurement representative" can relate to how frustrating it can be if we are pitching to someone who does not have the budget, does not have the need, but does have the authority to say "no!" Here are some key concepts which you will encounter when dealing with procurement 11 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


practitioners, together with analysis of what they mean for salespeople. “Value for money” Value for money can mean anything to anybody! If your prospect works in the public sector, the term has a particular meaning. Procurement governance in the public sector emphasises the importance of focusing bid evaluation criteria around “value for money” rather than lowest price. In theory, this should focus buyers on the elusive “total cost of ownership”, but for many procurement practitioners the challenge that they face is that price is the most easily measured of all the dimensions of value. If you are in dialogue with a procurement practitioner, and you ask 'what are your key

Category and sourcing managers So what is different about a category manager? A category manager is typically someone who manages the end to end process, while a sourcing manager will typically only be involved up to and including the award of the contract. The significance of this is that a procurement or sourcing manager is likely to be a generalist, dealing with your market today, and another market tomorrow. However the category manager will deal with their market day in and day out, and probably knows at least as much about their category and the suppliers in the market as you do. This highlights a fundamental problem of an emerging profession; the lack of standards. The business card may say “Strategic Sourcing Manager” or "Procurement Manager", but as there is no consensus about the role and scope of these job titles, you will have to explore with each individual jobholder what they actually do.

evaluation criteria?', the response you will get will be “we consider a variety of criteria of which cost is one factor, but not the only criterion. We also take into account quality, service and lifetime costs, in order to identify the best value solution.” Unless the person that you are talking to is a category manager, dealing exclusively with that category, this may be an opportunity for you to leverage your subject matter expertise. Your response might be: “based on our experience of many buyers in this market, we have found that the key decision-making factors are typically quality, service, reliability and cost" or whatever combination fits in with your offer. The opportunity is to influence the bid evaluation criteria so that your solution has the best chance.

To complicate matters more, the rapid emergence of procurement opportunities has not always kept pace with the supply of qualified personnel. In practice this means that sometimes the business card may read “strategic procurement manager” but the behaviours (and indeed the occupant of the role) may have more in common with traditional old-fashioned purchasing. Tactical or Strategic? So how do you tell the difference? All procurement staff are measured by hard dollar savings, but we can distinguish between “tactical” procurement people who will focus disproportionately upon price, and more strategic procurement people, who will tend to focus more on cost–and maybe even value. So one question to ask is 'what are your key evaluation criteria?' If the response you get is “we consider a variety of criteria, and cost is one factor, but not the only criterion", then this is the standard reply! You need to probe deeper; "How important is quality?"


A tactical buyer will acknowledge the importance of quality, but will quickly focus upon the commercial aspects of the deal, specifically price. A more strategic operator will link fitness for purpose, or the performance of the product or service in use, to the total cost. A follow-up question should explore "who sets the specification?" Tactical procurement staff tend to be passive in the needs definition process, facilitating stakeholders in a “needs and wants” meeting. More strategic operators tend to create a cross functional team, which collectively determine the specification in the light of technical and commercial issues. The significance of this is that if you propose an adjustment to the specification in order to reduce cost, a tactical procurement person will have no authority to do this, and will decline to discuss the standards: "it is what it is." A more strategic player may accept a tradeoff, if it does not compromise their "must haves." Tell tale statements The three strongest indicators that you are dealing with a tactical operator are • "have another look at your prices" • "sharpen your pencil" • "come to the party"

No self-respecting procurement person would make these statements; they are all euphemisms for "I want 10% discount so I look good!" So if you hear any of the above, hold on tight, you are dealing with a tactical buyer! What it means to you The implications for salespeople of the rise and rise of procurement are; •

The traditional sales process is no longer possible if all communication must be routed through procurement. Build a relationship with procurement people as early as you can, and try to diagnose if they are strategic operators or more tactical.

If they are tactical operators the procurement process will have multiple rounds, and so you may need to anticipate a "10% discount" request at the end of the process. You may be able to access the end-users, though tread carefully.

If they are genuinely strategic procurement professionals, accept that the same process will be applied to all suppliers not just to you! Try to reverse engineer the bid evaluation criteria, and adjust your offer so that it aligns with the prospect’s agenda. They may not be the MAN, but procurement people are here to stay! ■

Is graffiti damaging your company image? then Call the graffiti doctor!

TM

for nationwide brand protection call

0800 482 437

www.graffitidoctor.co.nz

13 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


NZSM CALENDAR MARCH-APRIL 2011

9 March Foundations for Sales Success 45 d Mt Wellington Highway Auckland Zealmark Group www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Foundations_of_ sales_Success.php

16 March Business to Business Sales Skills 45 d Mt Wellington Highway Auckland Zealmark Group www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_ Business.php

10 March Overcoming Objections Auckland Top Achievers Sales Training www.topachieverssalestraining.co.nz

17 March Sales Process Auckland Top Achievers Sales Training www.topachieverssalestraining.co.nz

10-11 March Complete Presentation Skills Wellington Effective Speaking www.effectivespeaking.co.nz/complete-presentationskills-course.php

17 March Sales Dynamics Auckland Sales Star www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/9sales-dynamics

10-11 March Essential Sales Fundamentals Auckland NZIM Northern www.nzimnorthern.co.nz/wa.asp?idWebPage=16885 &idDetails=118

24-25 March Professional Sales Coaching Auckland AchieveGlobal www.achieveglobal.co.nz/calendar

16 March RSN Rev-Up Auckland www.revsalesnetwork.co.nz 16 March Introduction to Presenting Wellington Effective Speaking www.effectivespeaking.co.nz/introduction-topresenting.php

28-29 March Winning Proposal Strategies Auckland Shipley NZ www.shipleywins.co.nz/training 7 April Cold Calling/Hot Knocking Auckland Top Achievers Sales Training www.topachieverssalestraining.co.nz 7-8 April Key Account Management Auckland NZIM Northern www.nzimnorthern.co.nz/wa.asp?idWebPage=16885 &idDetails=110


NZ Sales Manager - Sales Training Directory Looking for training or coaching for your sales team? Please support the following supporters of NZ Sales Manager!

AchieveGlobal Phone: Contact: Office:

09 489 8308 Martin Percival Auckland

All Links

09 473 9240 Ann Mayer Auckland

Phone: Contact: Office:

03 351 5078 Lincoln Rout Christchurch

Phone: Contact: Office:

Phone: Contact: Office:

www.alllinks.co.nz

www.achieveglobal.co.nz

Mayer Consultants

Dinanmite

Momentum Phone: Contact: Office:

021 324 229 Deano Harrison Christchurch

021 526 456 Jason Dinan Auckland

People Central Phone: Contact: Office:

06 833 6465 Steve Evans Napier

www.momentumtraining.co.nz

Rev Sales Network

RightFit

Sales Impact Group

Phone: Contact: Office:

Phone: Contact: Office:

04 586 4733 Paul Newsom Wellington www.rsn.co.nz

Sales Toolbox Phone: 0800 007 283 Contact: Richard Buttenshaw Office: Wellington

www.salestoolbox.co.nz

Scotwork Phone: Contact: Office:

021 662 452 Adam Sands Auckland www.scotwork.co.nz

09 414 1160 Colin Quinn Auckland

Phone: Contact: Office:

www.peoplecentral.co.nz

0274 350 950 Brett Burgess Hastings

0800 433 949 Richard Gee Auckland www.geewiz.co.nz

www.dinanmite.com

www.mayerconsultants.co.nz

Phone: Contact: Office:

Geewiz

Paul Kernot 03 547 8376 Paul Kernot Nelson

Phone: Contact: Office:

www.paulkernot.com

Sales Partners International 04 586 4733 Paul Newsom Wellington

www.rightfitrecruitment.co.nz

www.salesimpactgroup.co.nz

Phone: Contact: Office:

SalesCoachingWorx

SalesFish

Sales Star

09 362 0588 Kerry Swan Auckland

Phone: Contact: Office:

Phone: Contact: Office:

www.salescoachingworx.co.nz

Sparkplug Phone: Contact: Office:

027 679 5027 Hugo Meares Auckland

www.sparkplug.co.nz

09 834 6655 Liam Venter Auckland

Phone: 09 524 0999 Contact: Paul O’Donohue Office: Auckland

www.salesfish.co.nz

www.salesstar.co.nz

Team Success Phone: Contact: Office:

www.salespartners.co.nz

0800 TEAM4U Barry Watson Auckland

www.teamsuccess.co.nz

The Foresight Institute Phone: Contact: Office:

09 478 4066 Jamie Ford Auckland www.foresight.co.nz

Win More Tenders

The Sales Academy Phone: Contact: Office:

021 816 372 Tony Hillyard Wellington

www.thesalesacademy.co.nz

Top Achievers Phone: Contact: Office:

021 217 1633 Jean Barr Auckland

www.topachieverssalestraining. co.nz

Tweet Twins Social Media Phone: 09 525 0411 Contact: Jenny Wilmshurst Office: Auckland www.tweettwins.co.nz

Zealmark Group Phone: Contact: Office:

09 573 1418 Grant Shields Auckland

www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz


T W O M I N UTE T O P U P

Brett Burgess is a Sales Trainer and Programme Facilitator for Sales Impact Group Limited based in Hawkes Bay. To find out more visit www.salesimpactgroup.co.nz

Where to spend your time Prioritising your accounts By Brett Burgess

A

challenge I hear from many salespeople and business owners alike is that there is never enough time to keep in touch with all their clients. The results can be many lost opportunities and indeed lost clients. Our existing clients offer the best opportunity for future growth for a couple of very good reasons. Firstly we have already earned their trust as an advisor/ supplier and are therefore most likely to be offered the first opportunity of further work. Indeed in many cases we are only getting a percentage of the business. Some studies have shown that most of our better clients are in fact only giving us slightly more than 50 per cent of their potential business. Secondly, a key reason for the missed opportunity is a lack of account strategies and planning, particularly in smaller businesses. This may come as a surprise to many salespeople who seem to believe if we look after the clients we will automatically get all their business. So to maximize sales to our existing clients we need to develop an account strategy. The first step in this process is to identify the services and products they are already buying from us then work out what other needs we can fulfill for them and

NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 16


build these into our call objectives. Another step is to work out a call cycle. This will depend largely on what type of client you are dealing with. A common trap is to categorise only by turnover. It is very important to look at a number criteria when categorising accounts, such as gross profit, margin, lifetime value, wallet share, or potential growth. All accounts, including those of prospects and customers, should be categorised to keep their call frequency as productive as possible. You must decide which accounts are most important to your company. Categorising helps determine this. For every prospect or customer, there is a call frequency that will give you maximum return per call. It is based on the belief that a greater portion of time should be spent on prospects or customers who offer larger volume potential. Less time should be spent on lower volume prospects or customers.

A key reason for the missed opportunity is a lack of account strategies and planning, particularly in smaller businesses. This may come as a surprise to many salespeople who seem to believe if we look after the clients we will automatically get all their business.

You will categorize your prospects or customers as A, B, and C accounts. ‘A’ accounts are major; statistically they number about 15 percent of your accounts and give you 65 percent of your volume. The following 20 percent of your accounts are ‘B’, or minor accounts. They give you 20 percent of your total sales. Of the remaining prospects or customers, 65 percent are ‘C’, or marginal accounts. They give you 15 percent of your total sales. These percentages apply in most industries and are an excellent rule of thumb for determining account classification and setting sales-call frequency. In most businesses, this simple analysis is rather startling. You will probably find that a small number of accounts produce the majority of your sales dollars, whereas a majority of your prospects or customers provide you with a small percentage of your sales. The classic statement that “80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers” is refined somewhat in the three account classification – A,B and C. A good exercise would be to go through your database of clients and categorise them as A, B or C. By understanding this you can then manage your time more effectively and look after the 20 per cent of your clients who are indeed giving you 80 per cent of your income and more importantly retain these very valuable clients through regular call cycles. ■

17 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


RES O URCE C O R N ER

Smart Calling Author: Art Sobczak Publisher: John Wiley & Sons $29.95 from Fishpond.co.nz

T

his book shows you how to avoid rejection and get a win on every sales call. Cold calling is not only the potentially fastest and most profitable way to initiate a new sales contact and insert oneself into a buying process - it's also one of the most dreaded tasks a salesperson could perform. The solution is Art Sobczak's unique, never-experience-rejectionagain system, Smart Calling. "Smart Calling" is a guide to placing sales calls while minimizing the pain, fear, and rejection associated with cold calling, and being successful in achieving one's objective. While other books on cold calling dispense longperpetuated myths, this book empowers readers to take action, call prospects, and hear 'Yes' more often. Full of hundreds of real-world examples with word-for-word conversational language, Sobczak's proven process will appeal to even the most calling-averse person. It outlines specific techniques for avoiding the pain of rejection and turning a cold call into a successful sales opportunity. No salesperson should pick up the phone without reading this book and absorbing its clear, field-tested methods for turning the cold call from a nasty and often fruitless rite-of-passage to profitable tool. â–

NZSM / MARCH 2011 / 18


QUICK FIX

Quick Fix It's not what you sell, it's how you sell

Don’t bag the competition When in pursuit of a sale, don’t bag the competition. Remember that you have competitors, your prospect has alternatives. By putting down the competition you run the risk of being seen as unprofessional and perhaps a desperate salesperson making a vain attempt to make yourself look good. Politicians do it all the time – does it endear you to trusting them? You will soon break trust if your prospect has previous good experience with your competitor too. All this could result in you being taken off the prospects list of alternatives. You should however be asking what alternatives the prospect is considering so that you can position the value of your offer or solution. Differentiate from your competition by focusing on the value you can provide to meet the prospects decision criteria and there will be no need to sling mud at your competition. ■

If you have a favorite ‘quick fix’ that you would like to share with our readers (without giving your winning secrets away!) then email the editor at pauln@ nzsalesmanager.co.nz. You will be in to win a highpowered laser pointer pen, courtesy of the great guys at Brand Storming Promotions.

IM G _2

IM G _2

IM G _2

776.jp

g

764.jp

g

752.jp

g


Enjoy NZ Sales Manager? Check out these other great Espire E-Mags Issue 18

Oct 13 th 2010

NZ PHOTOGRAPHER

Helping you tak e better photos

Enjoy photography? Introducing NZ Photographer - the fun, free and informative new e-magazine for Kiwi camera owners every four weeks. Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper, a student of photography, or just want to learn more, NZ Photographer will help you take better photos and make the most of your camera!

www.nzphotographer.co.nz

How To: FooD PHoTograPH Y Still Life Competition w inner NZIPP Iris awards winne rs Photoshop Tips Sony NEX revi ew

1

NZ Photographer

Oct 13

ISSUE 5 January 2010

NZ FISHER Enjoy fishing?

If you love fishing you'll love NZ Fisher, the fresh new e-magazine for Kiwi fishing enthusiasts... and it's free! Packed full of tips, ideas and

stories to see you through to your next fishing

Unlocking the Secrets of Rarotonga// //

outing, you'll land a shiny new issue direct in your email inbox every four weeks! www.nzfisher.co.nz

Working the jigs

w w w .n zf is h e r. co .n z www.nzfisher.co.nz 1

Subscribe to these great e-Mags for free at www.espiremedia.com


“ Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.

-Mark Twain

Have you subscribed to NZ Sales Manager? It’s free! Simply visit www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz to get a copy of NZ Sales Manager delivered straight to your inbox monthly on Wednesday!

21 / MARCH 2011 / NZSM


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.