NZ Sales Manager Issue 37

NZSALES APRIL 7th 2010 / Issue 37

We Interview

Microsoft’s Jared Pedersen How To Deal With Grumpy

Customers Recognised

Sales Qualifications

buyer into a sale

Listen your

Take a Walk Are you one of this week’s winners?

SEE INSIDE!

NZ’s e-mag for sales leaders

APRIL 7 th / Issue 37

4

4 THIs Week's MusT ReAD AN INTeRVIeW WITH JAR We interview American Jared Pedersen of Microsoft NZ. 8 HoW To WITH GR What to do when your customer goes APe APe. 11 NZsM cALeNDAR 12 R Introducing recognised qualifications into the sales profession.

8

ARe you oNe of THIs Week's WINNeRs? see INsIDe!

18

16 ResouRce coRNeR DIRTy LITTLe secReTs the book that takes the reader behind the scenes to understand how buyers buy, and offers tools to help them.

17 sALes TRAINING DIRecToRy 18 TWo MINuTe ToP-uP LIsTeN youR R buyeRs INTo INT A sALe how to plan your questions to get the customer talking.

20 QuIck fIx It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell.

20 THe cLose

t

elecom has been put through the wringer over the past couple of months for the Xt debacle, and it got me thinking about the customer-facing people who take the wrath of unhappy customers.

For the sales person, this can be a terrible time. the technical problem is totally beyond their control and influence, yet they have to carry the can for the problem.

Lost customers, vanishing prospects and probably a reduced pay packet are inevitable. No one wants to talk to you unless they are making a complaint. so I asked ‘grumpy customer’ expert John Faisandier to share some of his wisdom on how to survive in these situations. his advice is well worth reading.

manager with Microsoft NZ. their innovative recruitment process for the Road Warrior project provides some great insight for everyone who recruits sales people. Jared’s thoughts on the over-emphasis of building relationships in the expectation that it will produce sales are worth reflecting on. I’ve said it before: buyers generally don’t need more mates. t too often I see relationship building has no purpose other than ‘getting to know the customer’ over a coffee or beer. these relationships don’t stand the test of time when things go wrong. Make sure you have a business purpose and objective next time you ‘catch up for a coffee’. there are wine and book giveaways again this week – remember to look inside to enter the prize draw and to see if you are one of this week’s prize winners!

We also talk to Jared Pedersen, sMe sales and marketing

happy selling!

Paul

ABOut /

eDItOR OR / Paul Newsom

richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

short and sharp, New Zealand sales

ARt DIReCtOR / Jodi Olsson

ADDRess / NZ sales Manager, C/- espire

Manager is a free e-magazine delivering

GROuP eDItOR / trudi Caffell

Media, PO Box 137162, Parnell,

thought provoking and enlightening articles,

CONteNt eNQuIRIes /

Auckland 1151, New Zealand

and industry news and information to

Phone Paul on 04 586 4733 or email

WeBsIte / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

forward-thinking sales managers, business

pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

owners and sales professionals.

ADVeRtIsING eNQuIRIes / Phone Richard on 09 523 4112 or email

TH I S W EE K ’ S M UST R E A D

An Interview with Jared Pedersen

Sales and Marketing Manager, Microsoft NZ

We interview American Jared Pedersen, Sales and Marketing Manager, small and medium business, Microsoft NZ.

J

ared Pederson is a finance manager turned sales and marketing manager who has found his passion and discovered his potential. Jared is the innovator of the current Road Warrior campaign. This started by identifying and selecting five sales people through an ‘idol’ style panel judging process. The five Road Warriors are spending the next four months each visiting 200 medium-sized businesses around the country to promote Office 2010.

We talk to Jared about differences between the US and NZ, what he has learned from the Road Warrior project so far, and some of his perspectives on sales management.

NZSM: With a background in finance with FedEx and Microsoft, how do you find leading the sales and marketing team?

when a product doesn’t perform as it should and that you are willing to apologise and make things right. They want to know you stand behind what you sell.

JP: I’m absolutely loving the connection to partners and customers. It’s great to have the transferable finance skills, but I’ve never felt so passionate and engaged as I do now working with the small and medium business team.

THE HUMAN TOUCH! Customers want to buy from real people, not from scripted cue cards. The best way to do this is to humanise your interactions, to be real, and to tap into human nature. In the end, selling is about persuasion.

People feel more compelled to pay what something is worth if it is clear to them how the value translates into their core human values.

NZSM: As a sales manager, in your experience what do you think sets top sales people apart from the rest?

JP: PASSION! This is not easy to fake. True, honest, sincere passion for what one is selling will always come through and makes the sales person believable. This is the WOW factor!

EMPATHY! Customers want to know that you really care about their needs and that you have an understanding of what drives them. They want to know that you feel their pain NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 4

NZSM: Have you noticed any general differences in the way salespeople are viewed in New Zealand as opposed to the USA? JP: Sales is a very mature profession in the USA. The ‘stereotypical salesman’ is often still the butt of jokes, but corporate salespeople and entrepreneurial businessmen are well regarded as credible, professional, intelligent,

passionate, and as a driver of the overall strength of the economy. In a global economy with international trade continually increasing, the catch phrase ‘Made In America’, still holds great sway in the USA. Sales people are usually very proud to represent American ingenuity, invention, and creativity. I believe that US consumers acknowledge sales as a critical engine to keeping the economy strong and vibrant.

In the US, the idea of ‘soft-selling’ – where a sales person plays more of a consultative role and focuses primarily on building relationships rather than unapologetically acknowledging that they are engaging to actually sell something – gained traction in the past decade or so. The term ‘cappuccino salesperson’ indicated a schmoozing kind of role that was meant to win customers over through the power of relationship building.

Sometimes the performance and results orientation of hitting hard core quota and sales targets gets lost. The US needs to get back to the basics of good selling.

New Zealand probably did not swing as far toward the ‘soft-selling’ model as the US did, so there is not as much of a correction to be made here. In the end, it should be made clear that no amount of relationship building will make up for a basic lack of skill at describing and persuading with honesty the true value of a product or service to customers.

NZSM: What areas do you think the sales industry in New Zealand needs to pay more attention to, to compete on the global stage?

JP: Here’s two things: • New Zealand has a great brand in the US and throughout the world. New Zealand needs to leverage its brand to increase exports.

• Individual productivity enablement through the use of IT: there is no better way to get scale at relatively low cost than through the power of the internet and information technology. I know it sounds like a sound bite for Microsoft, but it is absolutely true that companies can empower their sales people to do more, talk to more customers, stay connected, and to have all the data and intelligence at their fingertips where and when they need it through the adoption of the latest technologies.

NZSM: As a sales manager, what’s one of the best lessons you’ve learnt about hiring salespeople that you can share with fellow sales managers?

JP: CVs and resumes are not always the best indicators of a candidate’s ability to do the job. My suggestion is to use role play. In the interview process, make sure you give the individual an opportunity to sell.

PASSION! This is not easy to fake NZSM: You have just completed the Road Warrior recruitment process. This was a very innovative and brave idea. Why did Microsoft do it this way?

a few internal Microsoft people, but eventually everyone warmed up to the idea. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback from everyone involved.

JP: Microsoft needed to hire five individuals in a short period of time who looked credible, exuded passion for technology, who presented well, and who could succinctly describe the business value of Office 2010 in a way that is compelling and clear to customers. We needed to involve our distribution partners in the recruiting process and wanted to drive some social media and PR buzz at the same time.

NZSM: What selection criteria did you use?

NZSM: Where did you get the idea for doing the recruitment in this way?

JP: It sounds crazy, but we kind of had in mind the TV show, New Zealand Idol. Lights, TV cameras, judges, immediate feedback from the panel, all the drama and nerves of the performers. It is an exciting atmosphere and would take us out of our comfort zone. That was exactly what we wanted to achieve. It took some convincing of

JP: There were three main contributing elements to our decision-making process: • The applicant’s CV • The applicant’s job application form (we asked them questions like why they love to use Office and how they might employ the use of Social Media to generate buzz for a product) • The eight-minute judged presentation on competition day, where we looked for the following things:

- Clarity about the business value of Office 2010

- Overall presentation skills

- Business and customer credibility (would I buy from you?)

- The WOW factor. Basically a subjective measure of the candidate’s passion and creativity.

5 / APR 7th 2010 / NZSM

(The short-listed candidates were given free copies of the Office 2010 beta for them to take home and start using. They had eight days between the briefing and the competition day to get their presentations ready and to become comfortable with the product.)

NZSM: Did it attract better quality candidates than conventional recruitment methods?

JP: Yes, definitely! We were very pleased with the quality of the candidates, which we attribute to the challenging format. The people needed to, by nature, have confidence and courage to present on camera in front of a panel of eight judges plus other observers. This was enough to scare off the weaker candidates. Plus, in order for them to invest eight days of time to prepare, to learn a product, and to build a presentation, they had to have confidence in their ability to be competitive, and be willing to take on the risk.

Travel expenses were at the candidate’s cost. This investment of money further sifted out those who didn’t feel confident.

NZSM: What have you learned about how to recruit sales people from the Road Warrior project so far?

JP: Make the job into something exciting and inviting. People

want to be involved with something that is cool, creative, and forward-thinking.

• Challenge the candidates. Make it a demanding recruitment process to let the cream rise to the top.

• Allow them time to prepare and to be fully briefed.

• Give them the chance to show what they can do. You generally won’t be disappointed.

• Throw the net widely enough to capture critical mass of solid candidates.

NZSM: The purpose of the Road Warrior campaign is to help business managers understand the benefits of some of the new features of the new Microsoft Office 2010 package.

Are there any features you think would be of benefit to sales managers and sales professionals in particular?

JP: Yes. Outlook, one of the Office Suite of applications, is hugely beneficial for anyone who needs to stay connected to a list of customers or contacts. Business Contact Manager, which is part of Outlook, is basically a built-in CRM application that integrates seamlessly into Outlook and allows salespeople to track not only contacts but also sales pipeline, sales activities, and appointments. It’s a part of Outlook that not enough people know about and will definitely help to make sales professionals more effective. It is especially good for smaller companies who cannot afford the large enterprise level CRM applications available on the market.

Make the job into something exciting and inviting. People want to be involved with something that is cool, creative, and forward-thinking.

NZSM: What advice would you give to someone considering a career in sales management?

them but also let them deliver without too many restrictions.

This is particularly true of sales people.

JP: Be open to your potential. I spent seven years in finance, a back office function. I didn’t actually realise until I changed career into sales that I had a lot of strengths that I wasn’t fully tapping into in those back office roles. Now I feel more passionate than ever before, as I’ve allowed myself the chance to have more direct contact with customers and partners.

NZSM: What is your favourite motivational tip or quote?

The people I manage do their best work when I allow them to meet their own potential as well. I prefer to assume the best and to give them a challenge then to get out of their way. Employees perform best when managers challenge

JP: Not take it personally...and stay passionate. By seeking the buy-in and support of others, and by being flexible enough to make changes where required, most things can be turned around. 

NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 6

JP: Tap into human nature!

NZSM: The Parting Shot: When I feel frustrated that things are not coming together as I wish, I proceed to:

The Rev Sales Network invites you to join us for

“The Mindset For

Sales Success” With Paul O’Donohue, Director, SalesSTAR RSN Rev-Up Series AUCKLAND 2010

The Topic Success in sales is not just about having the right sales skills!

With thanks to

Often the margin between missing and gaining a new sale can be very small; hence the right motivation and mindset can make all the difference.

Recent studies point to Mindset as being a major contribution to sales success. Your attitude and belief systems form the foundation of how good you are at executing the sales skills you know, and is often the key to raising the bar of sales performance.

By understanding exactly where and how in the sales process your mindset affects you, you will be more capable of executing the sales skills you possess.

In this fun and informative seminar you will learn: • The crucial "DNA" for sales success • Hidden weaknesses that can sabotage sales

performance • Identify the impact of hidden weaknesses in your

sales process

The Details RSN Rev-Up Series 2010 The Mindset For Sales Success With Paul O’Donohue 12pm—1.30pm, Tuesday 20 April 2010 OfficeMax Training Centre 30 Sir Woolf Fisher Drive, Highbrook, East Tamaki Auckland Rev Sales Network Members: Free Non-members: $49 + gst pp Includes light lunch

The Presenter Paul O’Donohue, is co-founder and Director of SalesSTAR, a sales development company that takes a holistic approach to helping companies and people increase their sales effectiveness and revenue.

Paul has vast experience across many sales disciplines, including being a Sales Engineer in the electrical industry, Key Account Manager for an electronics company and selling intangible business services, as a commission only Recruitment Consultant and self employed Business Consultant.

Over the years Paul has done extensive research and study on what makes successful sales people tick and how effective sales systems can lead to success.

How To Register To register your attendance click here to go to our Event Registration page, or just go to our events page at www.rsn.co.nz and complete the registration form before Friday 16 April.

Hurry! Spaces allocated on first reserved, first served basis. Limit 80 attendees only.

Visit us at www.rsn.co.nz

John Faisandier is an award-winning speaker, trainer and author who helps customer-facing people to understand and manage emotions in the workplace with his innovative programme, TUF: Thriving Under Fire.

To find out more visit www.tuf.co.nz

How To Deal With Grumpy Customers What to do when your customer goes APE

By John Faisandier

“You’re a dumb b*$#@d,” one of your best customers yells down the phone. Your stomach churns, you get that sinking feeling and you inwardly curse the despatch guys, the purchasing department, the warehouse and the management. You brace yourself for the details. “That order I gave you last week has turned up with only half the stuff. Where’s the rest of it? How the hell do you expect me to run a business if I can’t rely on you to keep me stocked up? I’m losing sales because of this.”

NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 8

A

s a salesperson you are right in the front line.

You have the relationship with the customer and you get to hear about it when there is a failure. It may not be your fault but you somehow wear it.

What can you do to calm them down, find out exactly what is wrong and above all keep them as a valued customer?

Even more, how can you look after yourself when you keep getting abused like this?

These suggestions can help you thrive when you are under fire so that you can look after yourself well, deliver excellent service, improve your relationship with upset customers and increase your sales.

We’ll examine the APE principle then consider a couple of practical ways you can respond to their emotions, not take it personally and stay positively connected with your customers.

The APE principle APE is a way of understanding what happens when someone is upset. There is an:

Action Perception Emotion • The Action is that not all of the order was delivered.

• The Perception is that you are incompetent and caused the mix-up.

• The Emotion is anger, frustration, annoyance, panic, irritation, or any number of things.

The APE principle says Respond to the EMOTION first. This is the thing that the customer is experiencing most intensely.

When someone feels an emotion, especially when it is felt so

strongly, they tend to shut off from the rest of the world. They are alone with their feeling and they don’t expect anyone to appreciate what they are going through.

If you can find a way of letting the person know that you see them and you can acknowledge their feeling, without fear and without judgement then you have a good chance of staying in relationship with them.

Two common mistakes You want to correct the perception– such as “It wasn’t me that did that, the warehouse must have got it wrong”, or “No, that was the order you put through”. Even if the person has a completely wrong perception, that can wait. It may seem unjust to you to be blamed for something you didn’t do, but that is not the most important thing right now. What is important is their experience, their emotions. Acknowledge those!

You want to fix the problem immediately without first acknowledging the emotion. Fix-it people are very task oriented, they want to be as helpful as possible and in the process they can miss the importance of recognising the feelings in the other person. Feelings don’t need to be fixed. They just need to be recognised and acknowledged, then you can fix the problem. It might only take a sentence or two, but do it.

Feelings don’t need to be fixed. They just need to be recognised and acknowledged, then you can fix the problem. It might only take a sentence or two, but do it.

Some notes on responding to emotions: Say sorry When you say sorry you implicitly acknowledge that the other person is aggrieved. You may or may not be culpable but you are concerned that they are affected by what has happened. “I’m sorry this has happened again” or “I’m sorry you aren’t happy with what we delivered”, then you can expand and acknowledge the emotion more specifically.

Be genuine You may need to practice in order to acknowledge their emotion in a genuine way that is not condescending or

fake. Certainly you want to avoid a statement like “I know exactly how you feel”. Nobody knows exactly how anyone else feels. Our feelings are like the fingerprints of the psyche.

We can nevertheless make an approximation based on what we hear, see and feel is coming from the other person. Try something like: “I know you are totally frustrated that this has happened again”.

You do the work You don’t ask “How do you feel?” because it is patently obvious that they are feeling upset, angry, frustrated, disappointed, or whatever. Besides, your question in this situation requires work from them. It is better for you to do some of the work and say: “I can see this has really upset you”.

9 / APR 7th 2010 / NZSM

Give space As you can see a simple statement acknowledging what is right there in front of you would be a good place to start.

“I can see this has really upset you Amanda and I can understand that. I am very sorry that it has happened” and then PAUSE. When people are angry and upset you might feel uncomfortable and want to get past that moment as quickly as possible. One way to do this is to keep talking, but that will only frustrate your customer. Give them plenty of time and space to express themselves, to say what they need to say and listen to them.

Stay present You may be tempted to emotionally run away or tune out to protect yourself from this onslaught. They will notice.

You could take a different view and not think of what they are saying as an onslaught. Instead you could see them as someone who is expressing strong emotions. Their emotions belong to them. They are having strong feelings and this is the best way they know how to express those feelings.

Feelings change Feelings are simply feelings. They come and go in people all the time. They tell people what is important to them. People get angry if something important to them is threatened. The customer in this instance is passionate about their business.

They are upset because they are loosing business. That is perfectly understandable. Of course they are angry.

Just do it You don’t have to crack this in one go. Start out practising on ordinary people in ordinary situations. Acknowledge what anyone is feeling, happy, sad, upset, disappointed or whatever.

If you respond to the emotion first you will form a stronger relationship with your customer and be in a better position to deal with the Perception and the Action that led to these strong feelings. 

Don’t take it personally The feelings belong to them, not to you. They are feelings, they need to be acknowledged. They won’t hurt you, although you may fear what action the person may take because of these feelings. You may fear you will lose this account, or they will report you to your boss and you will lose your job. Having those thoughts won’t help you in this moment and they are probably not accurate. You don’t make a customer feel angry. The customer actually chooses how they will feel in response to events which may include among other things what you and your company have done.

If you respond to the emotion first you will form a stronger relationship with your customer

Book Competition!

NZ Sales Manager has two copies of John Faisandier’s book to give away...

“THRIVING UNDER FIRE” Turn difficult customers into business success To enter the draw just send an email to pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz before 5pm Friday 16 April along with your name and contact details. Winners notified by email.

NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 10

NZsM CALeNDAR 7 April 2010

sales Development

sales Dynamics

hamilton

Auckland

David Forman

sales stAR st

www.davidforman.co.nz/

www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/9-sales-dynamics 14 April 2010 Better Business By Phone

Consultative selling

Auckland

Auckland

sales stAR st

sales stAR st

www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/34-better-business-by-

www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/5-consultative-selling

phoneworkshop sales Development 8 April 2010

hamilton

Foundations for sales success

David Forman

Auckland

www.davidforman.co.nz/

Zealmark Group Limited www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz

Advanced selling Geewiz

9 April 2010

www.geewiz.co.nz/

Business to Business sales skills Auckland

15 April 2010

Zealmark Group Ltd

Negotiating skills (Day 3)

www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_Business.php

Auckland scotwork

12 April 2010

www.scotwork.co.nz/How+Youll+Benefit.html

sales Development hamilton

Reaching Decision Makers

David Forman

Auckland

www.davidforman.co.nz/

Dinanmite www.dinanmite.com

13 April 2010 Negotiating skills (Day 1)

sales Development

Auckland

hamilton David Forman

Negotiating skills (Day 2)

www.davidforman.co.nz/

Auckland scotwork

20 April 2010

www.scotwork.co.nz/How+Youll+Benefit.html

Mindset for sales success Auckland RsN N Rev up series 2010 20 - 21 April 2010 Key Account Management Auckland sales ales stAR st www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/8-key-accountmanagement 23 April 2010 Business to Business sales skills Auckland Zealmark Group Ltd www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_Business.php

11 / APR 7th 2010 / NZsM

Recognising Sales Introducing recognised qualifications into the sales profession

L

ate last year, the Retail Institute embarked on a major initiative to investigate the possibility of introducing recognised qualifications in selling onto the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

By selling, we are referring to sales people employed full time in a job that requires personal selling either face to face or by phone. So we are referring to sales people employed by retailers of, for example, shoes, clothing, whiteware, electronics, furniture, (but not by supermarkets). We also include people employed in office-based sales or field-based sales. Sales management is also included in the scope of the project.

“Like most other countries in the world, selling is not viewed as a profession or a career in New Zealand, and does not have a recognised career path as many other professions do. The stereotypical perception of a sales person that still prevails is of someone who puts on the ‘hard sell’, is highly persuasive and manipulative and not to be trusted. However the fact is that the modern sales person requires high-level interpersonal skills and business acumen if they are to be consistently successful in today’s complex and sophisticated markets. They need to be detectives to uncover opportunities and doctors who do a good diagnosis of customer issues and problems and are able to facilitate change decisions. They then need to be able to prescribe optimum solutions.

The need for qualifications Project Manager, Paul Newsom, explains four of the main issues that are driving this project:

“Unlike doctors and detectives, many people begin a sales job with no relevant qualifications and many fall into sales rather than starting with a career plan. Although graduates

NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 12

“there is certainly no national system in New Zealand to produce good sales people and there is no consistent benchmark to use as a measure of competency. It is usually left to employers to hope that they are making a good recruitment decision, and they usually have to train new recruits in how to sell. some companies are very good at this, but many struggle.

“

“While there are many different sales roles in the labour market, and some of them very specialised, New Zealand has an unusually large proportion of ‘sales generalists’ because of the preponderance of small to medium enterprises (sMe). sales people here are very often expected to be the whole sales department, including the sales manager, on their own. t too often they lack the support and help required to be successful. After all, many sMe’s are started because the person p erson has a passion for a product or service and not because they are experienced, sales people and sales managers who are good at selling their product or service.”

An international perspective A key part of the project is to review what is being done internationally and to use this research as a reference to ensure that what is introduced into New Zealand is up to international standards. the Marketing and standards setting Body (MsssB) of the uK is a lot further down the pathway than we are. they have had National Occupational standards in sales for some years. their 2009 strategy document states that: “Our vision is for a comprehensive and robust qualifications structure for the sales profession”.

Newsom says this is a vision we can aspire to here in New Zealand. he believes that “We can be consistent with the stated aims of the MSSSB. Specifically our aim should be to: Promote the use of learning and development, mapped to national standards, for sales people, and for those engaged in the professional management of a sales force.

• •

t enable recognised career entry points and provide to structure for a recognised career progression. to provide a consistent benchmark of competence and t assessment which adds value to the sales profession.”

“

are increasingly being recruited into the more technical or complex sales jobs, the career ambition of many new entrants is to progress quickly into management, not to be a career sales professional.

Our vision is for a comprehensive and robust qualifications structure for the sales profession Industry consultation shows high demand National qualifications recognised by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority are designed for industry, by industry. the starting point is demonstrable evidence that the qualifications are required by industry. During the consultation stage completed during Q4 2009, 63 businesses were contacted from a variety of industries and types of B2C and B2B selling, including small to large high street retailers, banks, wholesalers, manufacturers, logistics, print and media, document solutions, software, business machines, sales trainers, and consultants.

Businesses consulted employed from two to 1500 sales people. In total these businesses employ approximately 13,000 sales people or 5.7 percent of the total sales people

employed in New Zealand.

48 respondents (76 percent) said that sales qualifications should be introduced.

33 respondents (52 percent) are definitely interested in using the sales qualifications.

With regards to sales management there were 14 respondent companies. t ten (71 percent) said that they would use the qualification. Paul noted comments from several respondents that “many involved in sales management feel there is a big gap in sales management capability and training in New Zealand.”

Based on these responses, the project has been moved onto 13 / APR 7th 2010 / NZsM

the next stage of beginning to scope the unit standards.

Training industry collaboration One of the clear challenges here is that because selling is truly pan-sectoral, qualifications must be generic enough to be relevant to the majority of sales people and sales managers while still being specific and flexible enough to meet the needs of both employers and the sales people themselves.

Given that sales people/managers are employed by a quite range of industries, the Retail Institute is keen to work with other Industry Training Organisations (ITO) on the development of these qualifications to ensure that they are appropriate for all relevant industry sectors and will therefore be widely used. Several ITO’s have expressed their interest in participating in a feedback discussion group.

NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 14

John Meeuwsen, CEO of the Retail Institute welcomes the collaboration that will be needed to make this project a success.

Qualifications will help accelerate the evolution of selling Although the majority of businesses that employ sales staff are providing some sort of training, the types of issues raised by those consulted suggests that much of this training is not particularly effective. As expected, respondents suggested a wide range of sales skills and behaviours for the content of the qualifications. That said, many respondents struggled on the question of qualification content, giving incomplete answers, or finding it necessary to go away and think about it.

In contrast, some companies believe they have the capability and resources to deliver sales qualifications in house, and have expressed interest in getting alignment and accreditation

of their own in-house training with the unit standards.

shifted from overcoming objections to consultative questioning.’

Newsom comments further on the findings from the industry consultation, and reflects on the evolution of selling in New Zealand:

“too too many companies are largely selling the same way t now as they were 10-15 years ago and New Zealand is not alone in this. Procurement is becoming more professional, and buyers are wise to traditional sales techniques. they now expect salespeople to have the ability and desire to understand the buying company’s processes and practises and adapt to gain mutual benefit. The good thing is that the top sales people have been selling this way for decades – we just need more of them.

“

“For example, thomas stewart, editor of harvard Business Review said in August 2006, ‘Customers buying processes have evolved in our world of ubiquitous, instant, global communication, but companies selling processes have for the most part stayed the same.’

“More specifically, the American Society of Training and “More Development New sales Competency work (2009) states ‘over tthe he past decade, the skills required to create and close deals have

“There will be no point introducing qualifications onto the framework that just contain the same content that was taught 15 years ago.

“It is time to change because those that don’t will be left behind, and I’m not just referring to individual sales people here. For New Zealand’s economic performance to improve to the extent that is needed, the nation’s businesses need to get better at selling.

“John Key has stated that his ‘driving goal is to accelerate the growth of the economy’ (Dominion Post 19/11/09), and in

“

“When asked about the content of a sales qualification, many respondents described the basic steps of a traditional sales process, referring most commonly to objection handling and closing. Compared with the current research and recommendations on world-class sales competencies, I consider this thinking to be 10-15 years out of date for most forms of selling. there are plenty industry thought leaders who share the same view.

Our ability to sell and compete on a world stage will be the key to accelerating the growth of the economy. hopefully opefully these sales qualifications can be part of that change. his recent speech on February 9, he stated that he ‘wants to make it easier for New Zealanders to sell their goods and services overseas.’

“Our ability to sell and compete on a world stage will be the key to accelerating the growth of the economy. hopefully these sales qualifications can be part of that change.”

Panel of experts advise on learning outcomes A ten-person panel of experts has been appointed and is working to determine the performance and learning outcomes of the qualifications. Experts from Barkers, Fairfax, BNZ, Achieve Global, sPOs (an sMe), Microsoft, DhL, Office Max, Scotwork, and the Retail Institute, together with Newsom are on this panel. t tony temaru of Microsoft, explains why he is excited to be t

an industry representative on the panel: “Besides the formal training processes provided to me through the companies I have worked for there is not a certification process that sets New Zealand standards in competencies in selling.

“When I was asked to contribute knowledge and experience to a sales qualification framework in New Zealand, I was only too willing to give back to a new generation of people who are embarking in a sales career. I think it is an exciting proposition for individuals and companies to have a benchmark to measure the capability of sales people against a recognized standard.”

For more information, contact the project manager, Paul Newsom - paul@salespartners.co.nz 15 / APR 7th 2010 / NZsM

ResOuRCe CORNeR

Dirty Little Secrets Author: sharon Drew Morgen Publisher: Lightening Source UK Ltd us$18.99 from Amazon

s

ellers often don’t close all of the sales they deserve to close.

Why? the sales model itself fails to address the off-line issues buyers must manage before making a buying decision.

Dirty Little Secrets takes the reader behind the scenes to understand how buyers buy, and offers tools to help them.

Dirty Little Secrets exposes the problems with sales that have resulted in over 90 percent failure rates, and offers front-end decision facilitation tools to mitigate the failures.

NZsM / MAR 17th 2010 / 16

until now, sales books have focused on helping buyers through the solution-placement end of the buying decision.

No other book takes the seller through the behind-thescenes issues that buyers must address before they get buyin for a solution. this is not a sales book, but a sophisticated examination of systems, change, and decision making to help sellers close more, find more prospects, and greatly minimise the sales cycle. this book is essential for any serious student of sales.

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

Phone: Contact: Office:

09 473 9240 Ann Mayer Auckland

0800 438 255 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:

021 217 1633 Jean Barr Auckland

www.topachieverssalestraining. co.nz

0274 350 950 Brett Burgess Hastings

www.salesimpactgroup.co.nz

SalesCoachingWorx

SalesFish

09 362 0588 Kerry Swan Auckland

Phone: Contact: Office:

www.salescoachingworx.co.nz

Sparkplug Phone: Contact: Office:

027 679 5027 Hugo Meares Auckland

www.sparkplug.co.nz

Win More Tenders

Top Achievers

www.peoplecentral.co.nz

www.rightfitrecruitment.co.nz

Phone: Contact: Office:

Zealmark Group Phone: Contact: Office:

09 573 1418 Grant Shields Auckland

www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz

Phone: Contact: Office:

Paul Kernot Phone: Contact: Office:

03 547 8376 Paul Kernot Nelson

www.paulkernot.com

Sales Partners International Phone: Contact: Office:

04 586 4733 Paul Newsom Wellington

www.salespartners.co.nz

Sales Star

09 834 6655 Liam Venter Auckland

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

www.salesfish.co.nz

www.salesstar.co.nz

The Foresight Institute Phone: Contact: Office:

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

www.dinanmite.com

www.mayerconsultants.co.nz

Phone: Contact: Office:

Geewiz

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

The Sales Academy Phone: Contact: Office:

021 816 372 Tony Hillyard Wellington

www.thesalesacademy.co.nz

T W O M I N UTE T O P U P Brett Burgess is a Sales Trainer and Programme Developer for Sales Impact Group Ltd. Go to www.salesimpactgroup.co.nz to find out more.

Listen your Buyer into a Sale Plan your questions to get the customer talking

By Brett Burgess

T

here is an old saying in sales – “You can listen a buyer into a sale faster than you can talk them into one.”

To get your customer talking – and you listening – you need very careful planning of questions that will focus your thinking to gain an understanding of their situation as it relates to your products/services/solutions.

Therefore you should never ask a question that could cause the prospect to think about an issue that could adversely affect NZSM / APR 7th 2010 / 18

the sale moving forward.

For example, I will ask you a question shortly and whatever you do don’t think of the answer, remember read the question but don’t think of the answer!

When is your birthday?

If you are like most people you would have thought of your birthday.

One such question most salespeople ask or some

There is an old saying in sales – You can listen a buyer into a sale faster than you can talk them into one.

variation of is: “Who is your current provider?”

This focuses their thinking on the incumbent supplier or sales person and if they have a great relationship with them, regardless of what sort of job they do, you are defeated before you ever get going.

Many salespeople ask a few perfunctory questions which the prospect view as self-serving. Then they dive into ‘show and tell’. That is they begin showing

the prospects samples, brochures, technical data or telling them about the solutions they offer or all about themselves, their company, who they have done work with – you get the idea!

Buyers sometimes refer to them as ‘Show up and Throw up Artists’. So it’s a matter of developing a list of questions to help build trust and uncover a number of needs. These will help you establish the opportunity gap, which in turn will allow you the opportunity to show the return on investment.

19 / APR 7th 2010 / NZSM

QuICK FIX

QuIck fIx

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

Take a walk

Y

ou’ve got a critical client meeting, the stakes are high. You judge the 30 minute drive to perfection, have ‘the Rock’ on full volume to motivate you, and pole position is vacant in the customer carpark when you arrive. You bowl on in to the client’s reception in a frenzy of nervous anticipation and excitement.

“

Guess what – the first five minutes of the meeting are a bit of a disaster as your nervous energy dissipates.

If you are feeling nervous prior to an important meeting, rather than taking pole position in the car park, park two streets away and walk to the client’s office. The five-minute walk will relax you. Breathe deeply and your brain will be oxygenated and you will be thinking clearly. As you walk, replace the distraction of the music by visualising how you want the opening of the meeting m eeting to go.

If you have a favourite ‘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 high powered laser pointer pen, courtesy of the great guys at Brand storming Promotions.

WIN A LAseR POINteR PeN FOR YOuR R Qu QuICK FIX! If you have a favorite ‘quick fix’ that you would like to share with our readers (without giving your winning secrets away!)

IMG_2752.jpg then email the editor at pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz You will be in to win a high-powered laser pointer pen, courtesy of the great guys at Brand storming Promotions.

“

Better keep yourself clean and bright.

You are the window through which you must see the world.

IMG_2764.jpg

IMG_2776.jpg

George Bernard Shaw 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 every third Wednesday!

IMG_2790.jpg

NZsM / APR 7th 2010 / 20