NZ Sales Manager Issue 75

september 2013 Issue 75

Take a look in

THE MIRROR

Why you need to get out more Is this costing you sales?

Focus on strengths for results NZ’s e-mag for sales leaders 1 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

CONTENTS 6

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ

Take a look in the mirror Four steps to empower your people

10

Why you need to get out more Just start with hello

12

Two Minute Top Up Is this costing you sales?

Why the manager that buys from you is costing you sales

14

Quick Fix Focus on strengths for results It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell

16

Resource corner Selling Fearlessly A Master Salesman’s Secrets For the One-Call-Close Salesperson

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 2

18

NZSM CODE OF PROFESSIONAL SELLING

20

CALENDAR

23

THE CLOSE

Home Owners or Renters Geographical location

Gender

CONSUMER VAULT Age & Income Range

Ethnicity

Vehicles

Consumer Vault is one of New Zealand’s largest and exceptionally accurate residential prospect databases Consumer Vault contains contact details for over 1,000,000 adult New Zealanders.

Being such a substantial database we focus on working with you to select the best prospects for your telemarketing, research, direct mail and acquisition campaigns. directory and as such we can offer

one of the most user friendly and

a 95% accuracy guarantee and

cost effective residential prospect

typically achieve 98%. Our high level

sources for New Zealand.

of address accuracy ensures your

Don’t buy customer or prospect

direct mail campaign qualifies for bulk mail discounts.

information you already have!

KMS Data are happy to remove

We understand the cost of marketing to the wrong prospects so we have

your existing contacts from Consumer Vault ensuring you only

gone to great lengths to ensure we

pay for new prospects.

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has been constructed from legal

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remove people that are recorded

KMS Data is a licensed provider of

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C

onsumer Vault can help you better understand your current customers

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KMS Data offer an obligation free consultation, contact us to discuss how we can help you.

data

WWW.kmsdata.co.nz

E info@kmsdata.co.nz

P +64 9 621 0472

3 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand

FROM THE EDITOR

H

Sales Manager is a free e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forwardthinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals.

EDITOR / Paul Newsom

i, and welcome to

He concluded that it was because

ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson

the 75th issue of NZ

selling was not considered as a

GRAPHIC DESIGNER / Sevim Dogru

Sales Manager. Over

true profession.... either by those in

GROUP EDITOR / Nick Harley

the past five years we have set

the wider business world, or those

CONTENT ENQUIRIES /

out to inspire, encourage and

actually in the industry.

Phone Paul on 04 586 4733 or email

inform sales people throughout the country.

To me, one of the indicators of a true professional is a personal

It is with thanks to the many

commitment to their ongoing

contributors of articles to the

personal and professional

magazine that we are able to do

development. The minority do

this. In the competitive world of

this, and they have the majority of

sales, it is always pleasing to me to

the success. We know NZSM has

know that sales people are happy to

become a valuable resource to

share their knowledge and expertise

many sales people, and hope that it

with others.

continues to help with your success.

I just had a look back at founding editor Richard Liew’s editorial from issue 1, in which Richard asked why

Happy Selling

pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / Phone Richard on 09 522 7257 or email richardl@espiremedia.com ADDRESS / NZ Sales Manager, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 99758, Newmarket, Auckland 1151, NZ WEBSITE / nzsalesmanager.co.nz

ISSN 2230-4762

Paul

the sales industry didn’t have it’s own magazine.

NZ Sales Manager would like to acknowledge the support of our major partners

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 4

Red wine gets better with age.

Software doesn’t.

Unfortunately, time takes its toll on technology.

Microsoft will soon end security updates for: •

Windows XP

•

Windows Server 2003

• Office 2003 Without these updates, you leave your organisation at risk of harmful viruses and business disruptions.

Ensure your business is future ready.

Visit microsoft.co.nz/getmodern for great deals on software upgrades.

MUST READ

TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR Four steps to empower your people

By Heather Grace

Y

ou have heard it all before, right? You need

what you need next and deliver it to you before you

your sales team to have an ownership

need it, stay late in the office, take work home and

mentality. That is the answer to business

then willingly ask for more.

success! So how do you achieve this?

Every day I hear you say “I wish my staff would

If only you could find these fantastic super-human

take ownership” or “My team seem to have a lazy

beings, that will turn up early every day, work

attitude” or “What is wrong with my sales people?”

through all their breaks, take initiative, be proactive,

You keep asking yourself: “Where do I find such

get everything done without being asked, guess

wonderful people?”

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 6

MUST READ

The answer could be much closer than you think. It

end of this psychological spectrum before we take a

might even start with looking in the mirror!

look in that mirror.

Many business owners and managers don’t like

The theory goes that people with an External Locus

looking in the mirror; it is much easier to lay the

of Control believe that everything that happens

blame on other people having bad attitudes. Plus

to them is someone else’s fault. They blame their

we have read those psychological assessment

failures on external forces, like the Government or

papers that talk about the “locus of control”. Just

the climate, their horrible boss, nasty mother-in-

to clarify, for those who may not have studied

law, or the stupid dumb prospective client that just

“locus of control” – in psychological terms there

couldn’t see the value in the item being offered.

are two ends of the spectrum in attitudes. One is

The problem with this attitude is that if everything

the Internal Locus of Control, and the other is the

happens to them and everything is outside of their

External Locus of Control. Let’s take a look at each

control, success is also outside of their control. If

Many business owners and managers don’t like looking in the mirror; it is much easier to lay the blame on other people having bad attitudes. good things were meant to happen to them, then

from those mistakes and do it differently next time.

customers would just knock on the door, the sun

They are always striving to be better. Continuous

would always shine, and they would have won Lotto

improvement is their motto, for themselves

by now. These people clearly don’t take ownership.

and others around them. They put energy into

They drift along waiting for good things to happen.

everything they do because they know their actions

On the other hand, people with a strong Internal

make a real difference.

Locus of Control believe “If it is to be, it is all up

The problem with this attitude is that sometimes

to me!” These people take responsibility for their

these people burn out. Striving to be perfect and

own actions. If things don’t go right, they learn

putting bigger and bigger demands on yourself

7 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

MUST READ

Many people cannot take ownership unless you empower them. Are you empowering your staff? is not always healthy. Working day and night and

scale. You have the ability to help your people take

being “married” to your job does not give you a

more ownership than they do now.

balanced social life and can create difficulties in the

This is the part where you need to look in the

family. These people, in the extreme, are in danger

mirror. Unless people are already at the extreme

of illness due to stress. So be careful what you

“ownership” end of the spectrum and propelling

wish for!

themselves forward regardless of their environment,

Most people are somewhere in the middle of this

most of your team will only take ownership if

spectrum rather than at one end of the extreme.

you “give” it to them. Many people cannot take

Of course, it is desirable to have people shift more

ownership unless you empower them. Are you

towards Internal Locus, or the “take ownership” end

empowering your staff?

of the spectrum. The good news is that you have

If you are already in a situation where you are

some influence over where people sit on this sliding

frustrated with the lack of ownership in your team,

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 8

MUST READ

and this has led to mistrust, or you are convinced

connected with you, your company, the culture, the

they are lazy, or don’t care – then you need urgent

vision and the values you represent. People need a

help to get things back on track. It is unlikely you

sense of belonging and connectedness before they

will turn things around without bringing in experts.

If things are not that bad, but you know they

really take pride in what they do.

could be better, take action fast before things go

CONTRIBUTION Believe it, or not,

further downhill.

most human beings really do want to make a

To empower people you need to provide

contribution. People like to feel they are making a difference in a positive way. You need to ensure

the 4 “C’s”.

COMPETENT This means you really need to assess their skills and work out where the gaps are. Investing in up-skilling your staff is making an

your people know how their contribution matters to the overall company goals, how important their contribution is to the customer, their colleagues

investment in your most important asset! When

and perhaps to society.

staff feel competent in their role they feel confident

When you provide these 4 C’s you will empower

to perform well.

your people. This will allow them to “take

CHOICES First you need to give clear guidelines

ownership” and become even more valuable and

about the process and procedures and set clear

more loyal to your business.

expectations on what results are expected. Then you need to give people the ability to make choices. Your people need to be empowered to

So look in the mirror. Are you providing the 4 C’s of empowerment to your team? If not, you are holding

make decisions about how to get the desired result.

your team back from being the best they can be.

CONNECTED I am not talking about the

Their future and yours is in your hands.

internet or BYOD! Your people need to feel

Success With Grace is home of the TechBiz Success Academy, specialising in helping technology based businesses grow. For information about TechBiz training and coaching please contact Heather Grace directly www.successwithgrace.com

9 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

WHY YOU NEED TO GET OUT MORE Just start with hello

I

By Linda Coles

attend quite a few seminars and networking

was attending. I saw Brian’s name. The lady on the

events each month with one sole purpose

desk promised to introduce me when he arrived.

in mind: meet more people. Not to sell my

services, but to chat over breakfast or a glass of wine at after 5 events because the people you don’t yet know can be the lifeblood of your future.

It was whilst I was getting myself a coffee that I first met Brian, and we exchanged pleasantries. After me flooding the drinks area with boiling water and Brian admitting he had forgotten his jacket and he

Last week, I went to a breakfast marketing seminar

had the wrong socks on, we realized we were both

to listen to a Q&A session with a well-known

on the same wavelength and we hit it off like old

marketer. When I entered the event, there was the

friends, putting the world to rights and chatting

usual table with attendee name badges all laid out,

about marketing, the subject of the morning’s

and as I always do, I stopped to look at who else

seminar. Since then, we have met over coffee to see

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how our paths might cross in a business sense and

Each one of his three pearls was given to him via an

how we might be able to use each other’s talents

encounter with a stranger, someone he didn’t really

for a project. A stranger turning into someone

know, and they have become his own life rules.

I now know.

During the event, the speaker told us a tale about how his vineyard’s name had come about, about

I wanted to ask him as a marketer, where he gets his inspiration from each day, to come up with new

how a traveller had asked for directions and had

ideas and concepts, but the answer was already

misheard him. Rather than the traveller hearing

staring me in the face. Just like my chance meeting

“turn left at the lone Nikau” (a tree) he thought he

with my new friend Brian, it’s simply about chatting

had heard “turn left at the lonely cow”! The name

to new and varied people from all walks of life, all

stuck, and he drew the logo on a scrap of paper there and then and it is still used today - Lonely Cow Wines. Without that chance meeting of a

of the time, that is where our inspiration and our future lie.

traveller, who knows what the vineyard would have

Just this week, I have been able to reach out to

ever been called.

people for funding advice and secure a conference

He also had three pearls of wisdom to offer that

speaker for an event I am involved with, all from

had been passed on to him from encounters with

getting out more and getting to know more people.

various people he had come into contact with over the years, from a business man, an architect and

so how can you meet someone new each and

a cleaner: •

•

•

You don’t meet people sat at your desk all day,

I’ve lost my fortune three times; thank goodness

every day?

I’ve made four.

You may want to hear about The Say Hello Project,

Never pull your carrots up to see if they

which is running in New Zealand on Friday October

are growing.

4, encouraging everyone to speak with 5 people

Love what you do, have something to look

they don’t currently know but come into contact

forward to and have somebody to love.

with. Contact Linda if you want to be involved.

Linda Coles is a Speaker, Author, Trainer and Content Creator. Author of “Start with Hello”, founder of The Say Hello Project. To find out more visit www.bluebanana.co.nz

11 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

2 Minute top-up

IS THIS COSTING YOU SALES? Why the manager that buys from you is costing you sales

By Elliot Epstein

J

eremy is your client. He is a mid level manager in Operations, Logistics, IT, Finance, Procurement or similar. You really like Jeremy

because he always orders six widgets a month, attends your beer and pizza product demos and he is always happy for a flat white (two sugars) to chat about how things are going.

So, what’s the problem?

Here are three things potentially going on that are costing you sales.

1. Jeremy has a limited budget. It’s actually true. His boss has said that when the $1.6M is spent, that’s it. Jeremy doesn’t want to look incompetent so he won’t challenge that budget

He likes you too. He sponsored your 10K Run for

unless the Auckland Office is on fire or Nigerian

the Kids Charity, tells you he values the relationship,

hackers have infiltrated the CRM. You are now

only screws you on price when he ‘really has to, just

limited in offering new solutions that would

this quarter’ and has told your boss that he only

benefit Jeremy’s company because they exceed

wants to deal with you.

page two on his spreadsheet.

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 12

2 Minute top-up

2. Jeremy is comfortable buying six widgets a month and he jokes about the fact that one day he’ll buy Widget-In –The - Cloud. But it never seems to happen. Jeremy is wary, anxious, risk averse and unsure so he’ll keep coming to the breakfast seminars, but won’t actually roll over to the three year managed contract you want. Stuck again.

3. Jeremy deployed some new software two years ago, and it nearly drove his managers to distraction. He was told never to do that again without executive sponsorship. So, when you have new Software Widgets to offer in addition to the six widgets a month, he thinks back to the time he nearly had to go home to his wife and ask her to go back to work full time.

No Software Widgets then.

So, what can you do?

•

Wean your company off its reliance on Jeremy and all the other Jeremy’s in your account list.

•

Get more people involved in the account – your sales director should be talking to Jeremy’s boss and your CFO could talk to Jeremy’s CFO about a new way of reducing Opex.

•

Get trusted vendors, partners, manufacturers and industry

•

Over a flat white, tell him in three months he can’t buy that way anymore without the Software Widgets. If your relationship is that good, he won’t want a new supplier and a new account manager and different widgets.

The key point here is that whilst you stay close and protect your relationship with Jeremy, fresh ideas and thinking need to

consultants involved inviting Jeremy’s

be deployed to create movement, action and results.

boss to events.

Without this strategy, Jeremy may very well join your Fantasy

Restructure your six widgets into

Super Rugby competition, but your sales figures from that

something closer to what you want.

account will be as flat as his coffee.

Elliot Epstein is a sought after keynote speaker and corporate trainer who has coached and trained over 4000 people including CEOs, senior management and successful sales teams throughout Australasia. To find out more visit www.salientcommunication.com.au

13 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Resource QUICK FIX Corner

QUICK FIX It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell.

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 14

QUICK FIX

Focus on strengths for results

M

anagers can have a tendency to focus on identifying and improving the weaknesses of

their people.

Very often, you will get more from your team by focusing on strengths, and ensuring that your sales people know how to ‘play to their strengths’ and maximise the opportunities this presents.

People may know that they have talent at certain things, but may not know how to turn this into results. Moving from good to outstanding on strengths is likely to realise the potential of your people more than moving from poor to average on weaknesses.

Should your next training session be on ‘gaining results from our strengths’?

Resource CorneR

Selling Fearlessly

A Master Salesman’s Secrets For the One-Call-Close Salesperson

Authors: Robert Terson Publisher: Winthrop & Foster Publishing Price: $15.20 from www.amazon.com

Resource CorneR

Sales books are ubiquitous, but Selling Fearlessly:

Salesmanship and divided into 57 short, easy to

A Master Salesman’s Secrets for the One-Call-Close

read chapters which allow the reader to absorb each

Salesperson, although beneficial to all salespeople,

element of selling without reading the entire book.

specifically targets the one-call-close simple-sale

This is not another book of dull, dry abstract theory;

salesperson; addresses all the elements of selling;

this is a book of captivating stories and practical

and spotlights the paralyzing fear factor that 80%

applications raising the curtain on the real world

of the 16,000,000 salespeople in the United States,

of selling. It’s like watching role-playing. If you are

who only do 20% of the business, must face every

ready to receive it, this book has the potential to

time they make a call or give a presentation.

change your life.

The book is formatted into four sections: Bridge to the Triangle, Mental Attitude, Work Habits,

17 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

THE NZ SALES MANAGER CODE OF PROFESSIONAL SELLING When dealing with me: • You will find honesty and integrity.

• You will be listened to. I will seek to understand.

• You will be told the truth, how it is and as it happens.

• We will be working towards mutual gain.

• You can expect me to follow through on the promises I make.

•

You can expect me to be committed to my own personal development.

• You can expect me to be an ambassador for the sales profession.

Does your organisation have a code of sales ethics?

We’ve developed this one especially for NZ Sales Manager readers.

Please feel free to adopt for your team or organisation! www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz / 18

CALENDAR DATE

NAME

PLACE

COMPANY

LINK

Tuesday 8th October

Overcoming objections

Auckland

Top Achievers Sales Training

www.topachieverssalestraining.co.nz

Thursday 10th October

Social Media and Sales

Auckland

Top Achievers Sales Training

www.topachieverssalestraining.co.nz

Monday 14th October

Professional Relationship Selling

Wellington

The Marketing Company

http://events.themarketingcompany. co.nz/courses/3-professional-relationship-selling

Monday 14th October-

Capturing Business

Wellington

Shipley NZ

Tuesday 15th October

http://www.shipleywins.co.nz/publictraining-schedule.html

Tuesday 15th October

Sales Basics

Auckland

Geewiz

http://www.geewiz.co.nz

Wednesday 16th October

Customer Service Basics

Auckland

Geewiz

http://www.geewiz.co.nz

Thursday 17th October

Time Management When Selling

Northland

The Marketing Company

http://events.themarketingcompany. co.nz/courses/6-time-managementwhen-selling

Tuesday 22th OctoberThursday 24th October

Thursday 24th October

Thursday 24th October

Scotwork Advancing Negotiating Skills

Auckland

Scotwork Negotiating Skills NZ

http://www.scotwork.co.nz/

Winning Executive Summaries

Auckland

Shipley NZ

http://www.shipleywins.co.nz/public-

Prospecting & Gold Calling

Hawkes Bay

training-schedule.html

The Marketing Company

http://events.themarketingcompany. co.nz/courses/21-prospecting-goldcalling

19 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

case study: stray

“I’ve forgotten about reliability issues because there are none.”

Brett Hudson Operations Manager, Stray

Stray

Stray Limited is an adventure bus company taking travellers to out-ofthe-way places around New Zealand. We caught up with Operations Manager, Brett Hudson to talk about 2degrees and their business.

Adventure Travel 50 staff 41 mobiles Around NZ Joined 2012

Why does stray need mobiles?

Our tagline is “off the beaten track” so we’re not staying at your main destinations. We’re getting out there to the extremities of New Zealand and our sole way of being in contact with our drivers is through phone communications. We have changes happening all the time and we need to be able to contact our team in real-time.

What Was your old provider like?

There were large phone bills and if we had a problem like a phone outage it seemed they were either busy or they weren’t organised, and couldn’t get back to us. It was very frustrating and it became a constant problem within the business.

and What impact is 2degrees having?

It saved us $60,000 in the first year. In the second year, it’s going to save us that again. All this will go back into marketing campaigns or growing other parts of the business. The other impact is having an Account Manager I can get hold of to get solutions to my problems when I need them.

What difference do mobile devices make?

Our drivers are now able to use their smartphones and other mobile devices to show videos, photos and information about other tour packages and options available, like our operations in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We couldn’t do that before and it has made a huge difference. Of course, they’ve now got email and internet access too.

“You need damn good partners for successful business, and 2degrees I put in that category.“ Brett Hudson, Operations Manager

hoW is the coverage?

The coverage is fantastic. Regularly, I’m on road trips across New Zealand and off the beaten track and haven’t experienced issues with coverage. With our old provider there were a lot of black spots around Auckland and I don’t get those with 2degrees. And the bus drivers could be at Cape Reinga, they could be at Stewart Island, they could be down the West Coast; so in all sorts of different coverage areas and 2degrees works well for us.

3 x $89 plan

37 x $49 plan

1 x $149 plan

hoW reliable is the netWork?

Since I’ve been with 2degrees I’ve forgotten about reliability issues because there are none. Previously I regularly had issues.

I would be on the internet and it would drop out and when I sampled a 2degrees SIM card in there, I was amazed at the speed, how much quicker it was. I would regularly be on the phone with the last network and it would just drop a call. I don’t get that any more. As I said, the word reliability has disappeared from my vocabulary because it is so reliable.

For video case studies about Stray and other businesses who have made the move to 2degrees Business, please visit 2degreesmobile.co.nz/business

better 0800 022 BIZ (249)

2degreesmobile.co.nz

businesscare@2degreesmobile.co.nz

BUSINESS

THE CLOSE

“An organization’s ability to learn,

and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

- Jack Welch

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!

21 / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz