NZ Sales Manager Issue 81

NZSALES APRIL ISSUE 81

A Case Study in Selling via Email Email is the new phone

Sales Recruitment Secrets Why hire sales people before you see them selling?

Page 10

in today’s sales world Page 6

A Magnetic Prospecting Strategy Page 20

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From the Editor W

e all know sales people are the most important people in an organisation. The hiring manager is equally or even more important, as the value of a good hire, or the cost of a bad hire, will have significant impact.

Picking sales people who can sell is notoriously difficult, and it is a skill that is all too often learned on the job by new sales managers. Most will have a few stories to tell!

In this issue we talk to Alistair McMahon about a new recruitment tool, and Alistair shares some great tips for the recruiter, and the candidate, about recruiting and job hunting.

Many of us will use email as a prospecting tool to good effect, however Kendra Lee’s case study in our lead article shows how the top performers do it differently. This is well worth a read. To back it up, Graham McGregor gives some excellent advice on how to create a special report to use for your email prospecting.

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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-thinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals.

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ISSN 2230-4762 EDITOR Paul Newsom GROUP EDITOR Nick Harley

CONTENT ENQUIRIES Phone Paul on 04 586 4733 or email pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

ADDRESS NZ Sales Manager, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 99758, Newmarket, Auckland 1151, NZ

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ART DIRECTOR Jodi Olsson

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contents

APRIL

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ.................................................................................6 A CASE STUDY IN SELLING VIA EMAIL Email is the new phone in today’s sales world SALES RECRUITMENT SECRETS............................................................10 Why hire sales people before you see them selling?

MASTERING THE COMPLEX SALE......................................................................16 11 timely tips TWO MINUTE TOP-UP.........................................................................................20 A MAGNETIC PROSPECTING STRATEGY QUICK FIX..............................................................................................................22 It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell BOOK REVIEW......................................................................................................23 Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek EVENTS CALENDAR............................................................................................24 THE CLOSE............................................................................................................25

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MUSTREAD

A Case Study in Selling via Email

Email is the new phone in today’s sales world Words by Kendra Lee

E

mail is currently one of the most effective online customer acquisition tools – ranking just behind organic search and paid advertising, but ahead of social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

There’s just one problem with the way many businesses have begun to view and deploy email as a sales tool – they’re executing campaigns without first understanding how their current sales process can be optimised for the clients’ buying process in that environment.

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Email is currently one of the most effective online customer acquisition tools – ranking just behind organic search and paid advertising, but ahead of social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

ONE COMPANY’S EXPERIENCE WITH SELLING THROUGH EMAIL Recently, ‘Randy’, a new client of our firm, came to us with the desire to drive sales through email without involving a salesperson. He’d noticed the widespread increase in Internet marketing and believed that, because customers were getting so comfortable with buying online, that even bigger ticket items like his company’s website plug-in could be sold through online channels like email.

Essentially, Randy thought that email would allow him to increase sales and save significant cash because he could cut back on sales headcount and commission payouts. In some ways, Randy was right.

His firm’s plug-in could be easily customised for each client without the involvement of a salesperson, and his existing clients had been thrilled with the productivity savings his product delivered. Randy’s firm had written a white paper that outlined those successful client implementations and produced a video with testimonials and a quick product demo.

Even better, his metrics showed an incredible 75 percent conversion rate when prospects digested both of those content pieces.

WHY SALES AND BUYING PROCESSES MATTER IN EMAIL CAMPAIGNS The problem, we discovered, was that Randy’s email campaigns didn’t align with how the company had successfully sold its product in the past, nor did they pay any attention to how the company’s prospects preferred to purchase.

Randy’s email strategy was simple: It began with two emails that revolved around an offer to read the white paper, and followed up with So, Randy naturally assumed that all he needed to do was two more emails with an run a simple email campaign that included the white paper offer to view the video. If and video, followed up with an offer to try the plug-in, and new prospects decided to view sales would roll in. the video, they were greeted But that’s not what happened. After three months of email with an offer at the end of it to campaigns, Randy’s firm had driven no new sales. purchase the website plug-in. www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

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SO, WHY DIDN’T THAT SALES PROCESS WORK? Because, in the real world, Randy’s sales process typically included meeting a contact in person at a trade show, discussing their productivity challenges, sending the white paper after the show, scheduling a follow-up meeting (during which the video is shown), delivering a pitch for how the plug-in could be applied to that prospect’s unique situation, engaging in a discussion about pricing, and then (and only then) sending the prospect to the company’s website to order.

That’s a minimum of four personal contacts. Randy’s email campaign was banking on just one or two. If every prospect opened and read each email (highly unlikely), Randy’s email campaign mimicked just a two-call inside sales process.

Knowing that average email open rate percentages hover around 20 percent, however, it’s more likely that Randy’s email campaign modeled a one-call close sales process in which a prospect was cold called, shown the video, and asked to purchase. In either case, neither was sufficiently robust enough to nurture and educate Randy’s prospects about his product.

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REGARDLESS OF THE CHANNEL, THE SALES PROCESS IS STILL RELEVANT Ultimately, I think Randy’s experience personifies the way many business owners sell through email. They see the channel as a faster and more efficient way to drive sales, but forget that email campaigns must still model, in some way, their offline sales processes. Yes, customers are increasingly comfortable buying online with little engagement with an actual salesperson, but that doesn’t mean their historical buying process should be ignored.

To be truly successful your business needs to treat its email campaigns like it would any other sales mechanism – progressively providing the information that nurtures, educates and builds trust with prospects so that they can fully understand the value of your solution and move closer to a buying decision.

To be truly successful your business Yes, doing that might mean extending the length and needs to intensity of your email campaigns. But, as Randy’s shows, the commitment to that more robust treat its email experience sales process is more likely to pay bigger dividends than a campaigns hastily executed campaign.• like it would any  www.klagroup.com Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert and other sales Kendra author of the award winning book Selling Against the Goal, mechanism and president of the KLA Group. www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

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Q&A

Sales Recruitment Secrets You wouldn’t buy a new car without taking it for a test-drive. A professional sports team wouldn’t hire a new player without seeing them play. So why hire sales people before you see them selling?

Alistair McMahon has set out to help employers make better hiring choices with a new tool called SimBerry. We talked to him to find out how it works.

NZSM: Tell us a little about your own experience in sales?

AM: I’ve been selling, running sales teams and helping sales leaders and business owners improve their sales organisations for several years. Most of my sales experience has been in the high value B2B space.

NZSM: So why did you get into this business?

AM: I’ll never forget a frustrated Sales Manager telling me the unfortunate nickname for his sales team was “the revolving door department”.

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This guy was a capable manager and had hired what he believed to be great sales people. But when the results never came the sales people had to be let go. In spite of all the steps in his hiring process, selecting the right sales people was fraught with danger. The pain of a bad hire lingered long after the hiring decision was made.

Observing your sales candidates in real-life selling scenarios is an intuitive and reliable way to check how they’ll perform.

NZSM: How does SimBerry work and help sales managers to recruit?

AM: In the past it’s been difficult for people to use roleplays, job try outs or simulations for hiring. They have lacked authenticity, been time consuming and costly to run and hard to assess. SimBerry allows employers to audition sales candidates by recording them in real-life sales calls to sample customers in various scenarios.

The candidates get 24 hours notice with instructions and a scenario briefing document. SimBerry has a team of people At the beginning of 2013 we had the idea of using recorded who are briefed on the scenario to play the role of customers. role-plays (both audio and Employers get to see a dashboard of the candidates in video) as a tool for hiring sales recorded audio and video sales calls. people. From the feedback we Observing your sales candidates in real-life selling scenarios found using recorded roleis an intuitive and reliable way to check how they’ll perform. plays is a great recruiting tool You will see and hear concrete proof of skills so you get a for employers and candidates better insight into the strengths and weaknesses of candidates to be better matched. before you hire them.

We’re on a mission to help NZSM: And what’s in it for sales people who are job hunting? employers be more informed during the hiring process and AM: For candidates it’s a great way for them to demonstrate pick the “right” sales people for their sales capabilities on a level playing field. There’s less of a bias towards people with experience or industry knowledge. their business.

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It’s nearly impossible for someone to fake competency in a roleplay. You can’t fake the process of engaging people, uncovering needs, persuasively presenting solutions and getting agreement.

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NZSM: What’s the one thing that sales managers must consider when choosing this tool?

AM: There is no magic bullet for hiring the right sales people.

Smart sales leaders know they need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of candidates from many different angles.

Any tool that is used for recruiting needs to be complimentary to the rest of your current hiring process.

The question you need ask yourself is “how will observing my candidates selling to real people in real-life selling situations help me make better hiring choices?”

NZSM: What’s different about this tool?

AM: Most of the sales assessments on the market are question based. Candidates fill out responses to specific questions. There’s a complex algorithm making decisions based on those responses and the results then get interpreted. Many people feel these tests get “gamed” by candidates or there’s little correlation between the tests and on-job results.

It’s nearly impossible for someone to fake competency in a role-play. You can’t fake the process of engaging people, uncovering needs, persuasively presenting solutions and getting agreement. If they can perform in a realistic role play it’s very likely they will be able to perform on the job.

Recorded role-plays give you the added benefit of being able to review the performance of candidates more than once.

Many people share the recordings with other people for a second opinion. This speeds up the recruiting process for both the employer and candidate.

NZSM: What’s your sales recruitment secret?

AM: Here are two recruitment secrets.

1. Don’t hire for the middle. Many managers hiring sales people benchmark candidates against the middle of the curve. When recruiting you should have a plan on how you can recruit people who will outperform all of your current sales team. If your candidates aren’t stacking up favourably against the top 10% of your existing sales team then you should review your sourcing strategy. Which takes longer to fix, a bad hire or an empty seat?

Which takes longer to fix, a bad hire or an empty seat?

Do they dig for more detail by asking questions? Do they jump straight to a solution? Do they not have a clue? Are they crazily creative or extremely practical? Do they come up with a range of solutions or just one? Does their thought process make sense? Do they panic?

You will get so much insight from such a simple question.

2. Problem solving curveball. A big part of sales is solving problems.

Half way through the interview explain your biggest sales problem to your candidate and ask them how they’d solve it. You can tell an enormous amount from how they respond.

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NZSM: What’s your secret for sales people who are job hunting?

AM: Here are three tips:

TIPS FOR JOB HUNTERS 1. Identify your superpower. Too many candidates try to be the perfect salesperson that’s brilliant at everything. People know that’s not possible.

Be clear about what makes you special as a salesperson. You might be great at solving complex problems, or fantastic at turning around angry customers, or brilliant at building influential networks or the consummate closer.

2. Do your research. Learn as much as you can about possible employers from their website, social media or customers. Be ready with some insightful questions or perspectives about their business.

Taking the time to do your research shows initiative, enthusiasm and preparedness.

3. Don’t be the same as everyone else. Employers see hundreds of CV’s and candidates; if you look exactly the same as everyone else you’re doing yourself a disservice. There’s a difference between being memorable (positive) and standing out for being weird or gimmicky (negative). •

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www.simberry.com

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A big part of sales is solving problems.

Half way through the interview explain your biggest sales problem to your candidate and ask them how they’d solve it.

Talk to us to nd out how we can help you grow in 2014!

Contact Ross Wilson on 021 152 8400 or email info@growingorganisations.com for a no obligation discussion about how we can help you achieve your sales goals in 2014

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SALESTIPS

Mastering the Complex Sale 11 timely tips Words by Jeff Thull

1. Every sale is not a good sale. About 35 percent of all sales are bad sales. In one way or another, they leave the customer disappointed or the seller with excess costs and diminished returns. Often salespeople are so concerned with "getting the order" that they write business that is not good for themselves, their company or the customer.

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Sales professionals know that the preparation put into understanding the customer and his or her industry is vital to success 2. Walking away from a situation that is not profitable for anyone is the right thing to do. It requires that the salesperson become comfortable with both hearing and saying "no" and moving on to the next opportunity. When professionals move on, they open themselves more quickly to higher levels of opportunity and success.

3. Spectacular success is always preceded by unspectacular presentation. Traditional selling maintains that if the salesperson is clever enough to say all the right "sales stuff," he or she will be successful. This is far from the truth. Sales professionals know that the preparation put into understanding the customer and his or her industry is vital to success. Understanding the customer's critical issues and dissatisfactions and recognising the business opportunities that arise from them takes research time and dedication.

4. Do not allow the customer to self-diagnose. This is not to say that the customer isn't intelligent, it's just that he or she doesn't make a decision regarding your products and services very often. A customer may only make such decisions once a year or even far less often.

Sales representatives, on the other hand, continually diagnose customers with similar situations. The successful sales professional takes on the role of valued advisor or business consultant.

5. You have competitors.

Your customers have options. When you're with your customers, don't refer to your competitors as competitors; for example, by asking a question like "Who are some of our competitors you're considering?" It conveys a very traditional sales image of concern about the competition in the sales process verses concern over the customer's situation. A better question would be, "What are some of the options you are considering?"

6. Never ask for the order.

If you have to "ask for the order," it should be clear that your customer has missed something, and it's your fault. If the diagnostic protocols have been followed, and the customer has recognised problems that can be eliminated by the solution you offer, the decision to buy will come as the next step in a wellexecuted quality decision process. The arm-wrestling of the traditional selling process is replaced by the acknowledgement that a mutually beneficial business relationship is developing. www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

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7. You will gain more credibility through the questions you ask than through the stories you tell.

Every prospect expects salespeople to say good things about themselves and the products they sell.

Thus the stories you tell are rarely taken seriously and are frequently discounted.

What is taken seriously is the concern and knowledge you display in learning about the customer's situation.

Ask thought-provoking questions which will help you to understand the customer's unique situation and will help you and the customer to manage quality decisions. When the customer hears your question, he should say to himself: "She wouldn't be asking that if she didn't understand our business."

Salespeople don’t have problems, their customers do 8. Always be leaving. Customers have learned through annoying experience that a traditional salesperson won't take "No" for an answer. They hang on to their customers like a bulldog on a postman's leg. Consider that the customer's view could be valid. Displaying a willingness to accept the customer's view will greatly reduce the tension and cause the customer to be more comfortable in expressing his or her real feelings. This relaxes both of you and helps build an atmosphere of mutual cooperation and trust.

9. Don't get emotionally involved. Salespeople don't have problems, their customers do. As you perform your diagnosis and lead the customer through a quality decision process, "Yes" is not a problem and neither is a ‘quality no’. The customer who is losing $1 million in sales due to inability to get a finished product passed by quality control has a problem. It is only when you feel the need to get the order now (when you come across as ‘too hungry’) that you run into problems. The professional operates with an objective and clear mind and methodically unravels the customer's challenges so both the salesperson and the customer can come to a mutually beneficial understanding of the problem and the alignment of the solution. Being emotionally involved is being defensive and biased toward your needs.

10. People never say what they really mean . . . at first. People learn from a very early age that saying what is really on their minds can have negative consequences.

As a result, they are cautious to express their real feelings until they feel "safe enough" with another person. The professional salesperson "peels the onion" to allow the customer a feeling of safety, which allows for the free expression of thoughts, opinions and feelings.

11. You can't sell a group. A guaranteed prescription for failure is to present to a group without having first identified and appealed to the critical perspectives of its members on an individual basis. By the time you present the solution, there should be no surprises to anyone. Everyone should be aware of how the proposed solution will impact them, and enough support should exist to guarantee that the group decision will be a mere formality prior to implementation of the solution.

 www.primeresource.com Jeff Thull is a leading-edge strategist and valued advisor for executive teams of major companies worldwide. www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

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TWOMINUTETOPUP

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A Magnetic Prospecting Strategy After 35 years in sales and marketing I’ve noticed something very interesting. If you position and market yourself the right way you can get good numbers of ideal clients to approach you about buying your products and using your services

Words by Graham McGregor

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o do this effectively you need to use Magnetic Prospecting strategies that do two things.

ONE: They should position you as an expert in your field.

TWO: They should make it very easy for a potential client to make contact with you.

Here is a proven magnetic prospecting strategy that will help you to do both these things in your business.

Special reports are a fantastic way to ‘attract’ new customers and clients to your business like a magnet attracts iron filings. One of the best things about using special reports is that it eliminates the hard work of ‘chasing’ new clients. It’s a lot more fun when they are ‘attracted’ to your business as a result of ordering or reading your special report compared to you having to ‘chase’ them and try and get them to talk to you.

How to create an effective special report

3: Make sure your special report looks attractive, then have a few copies digitally printed and use them to promote your business.

1: Give it an interesting title that will make potential Here’s a good example. clients keen to read it.

• The shocking truth about cosmetic surgery • Five things you should know about hiring great people for your business • How to solve the two biggest money problems faced by people over 40 2: Include valuable and useful ideas and tips in your special report.

A business that did expensive office fit outs created a special report called ‘The 3 Critical Steps to a Successful Office Fit Out.’ This special report contained a large number of ‘how to’ ideas that were invaluable for anybody planning an expensive office fit out.

The special report covered the common mistakes people made in office fit outs and explained how to avoid them.

It also showed some simple ‘tricks of the trade’ that a person could use to save time and money in successfully completing any office fit out. And it contained some great testimonials from some of their best clients.

• Explain the steps involved in buying and using your There are dozens of ways to get potential clients ordering product or service.

• Show customers the potential problems that can happen and how to avoid them.

or reading your special report. You can offer it on your website, advertise it with display ads, send out personal letters or emails inviting people to order it and so on.

Best of all, once a person reads your special report you will have instant credibility and this makes it very easy for them to choose your business to spend their money with.

• Tell customers the common mistakes that people make when buying Invest some time and create a special report for your your product or service and give them the most business that potential clients would find useful. • important questions they should always ask.

• Include information that will help your customers to more effectively solve their problems or reach their goals • Do all this in a way that is simple and easy to understand.

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www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com

Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing. He helps clients to enjoy an unfair marketing advantage by being positively remembered at all times (this creates raving fans and highly profitable repeat and referral sales). You can download Graham’s 396 page Unfair Business Advantage Ebook at no charge at his website above. www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

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QUICKFIX

Are You Selling at the Right Level?

Make sure you don’t aim too high or too low

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f lead times are too long, or you are not closing sales, take a look at the level that you are selling at in the prospects organisation.

Are you settling for trying to enter a prospective account too low, maybe because the appointment was easy to get? If you have not qualified the prospect properly, and are happy to talk to anyone that will listen you are less likely to be meeting with decision makers.

Are you aiming too high, where your product or service does not have sufficient importance for the level of seniority in the organisation. It can take a long time to secure a meeting with these people and they may not be your decision makers.

If you are calling on too many of the wrong people, determine where your product or service fits in each prospects organisation, and go in at the right level, not the easy level, or the highest level.•

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RESOURCECORNER

Leaders Eat Last

Why some teams pull together and others don’t

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hy do only a few people get to say “I love my job”?

It seems unfair that finding fulfilment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organisations, to feel like they belong. Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion.

Today, in many successful organisations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. In his travels around the world since the publication of his bestseller Start with Why,” Simon Sinek noticed that some teams were able to trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives were offered, were doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure.

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www.fishpond.co.nz

When it matters most, leaders who are willing to eat last are rewarded with deeply loyal colleagues who will stop at nothing to advance their leader’s vision and their organisation’s interests. It’s amazing how well it works.•

By Simon Sinek - $25.25 from Fishpond.co.nz

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EVENTSCALENDAR

DATE

NAME

PLACE

COMPANY

29 April

Personal Success

AUCKLAND

KND Consultancy

1-2 May

Key Account Management

AUCKLAND

NZIM

5 May

First Line Leadership

AUCKLAND

David Forman

12 May

Presentation Skills

AUCKLAND

David Forman

19 May

Sales Development

AUCKLAND

David Forman

20 May

Cold Calling and Prospecting

AUCKLAND

Top Achievers Sales Training

20 May

Sales Basics

AUCKLAND

Geewiz

27 May

Sales Process

AUCKLAND

Top Achievers Sales Training

27 May

Sales Basics

CHRISTCHURCH

Geewiz

29 May

Sales Management

AUCKLAND

Top Achievers Sales Training

024 |

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THECLOSE

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative”

David Ogilvy

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Image credit: http://tedxmaastricht.nl/inspiration/program/simon-sinek/

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