Conrey is for Closers » Sales

Are Your Clients Happy Enough?

conrey — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:47:51 +0000

Are your clients happy enough?

Happy enough to not call you when there is a minor annoyance?
Happy enough to not call you when you miss a delivery date?
Happy enough to not refer you to their colleagues?
Happy enough to not automatically think of you for new opportunities internally?
Happy enough to take 2-3 days to get back to you?

Or are they excited to be working with you and willing to tell everyone about it?

Many times we focus on getting the sale, getting it closed, and then getting it done. Anyone can do that. It takes a real salesman to nurture that relationship though. When I was selling cars one of the guys I learned from would say “I don’t want to sell you a car. I want to be your car guy so that whenever you or anyone you know needs a car, you call me even if its not “. Is that the attitude you are taking? Or are you settling for making them happy?

I recommend reading Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless by Jeffrey Gitomer for 256 pages of this line of thinking and how to get better at it.

Are Your Clients Happy Enough? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Outkicking Coverage

conrey — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:59:34 +0000

What do you do when you are outselling capacity? Is it a good thing? The proverbial “Good problem to have?” or are you harming yourself long term? A good salesman should be in sync with the production team wherever possible without letting them hold themselves back. The sales force should be the foot on the gas pedal for your production. The production team will usually be the significant other in the passenger seat telling you to slow down before someone gets hurt.

Find that balance to keep both sides happy and everyone wins, but if you’re slowing down – especially in today’s economy – then you will lose ground. Momentum is the most powerful force in business.

Outkicking Coverage is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Commissions = Motivation?

conrey — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:05:25 +0000

I’ve recently been reading Drive by Daniel Pink, who you see above in his TED talk. The basis of the book is that people are motivated differently by intrinsic and extrinsic things. Pink argues that for creative work, extrinsic motivation leads to short term success but is not a good long term method of motivation – however extrinsic motivation works great for menial mechanical tasks.

Now if you consider sales to be a menial mechanical task you should probably stop reading here. In fact, you probably should be asking yourself why you are reading this blog at all. If you agree with the premise that sales is “creative” work in the same way that visual design, software development, art, or music are, then it leads to the obvious question. SInce 90% of salespeople’s pay plan is commission based, and commissions as an extrinsic motivator are shown to be a less effective motivation technique, why wouldn’t you pay a salesman a good wage and let the commission structure die on the vine?

Surely a good salesman can make more money through commissions than with a base salary alone, and some salespeople “need” that extrinsic motivator (see Justin’s 2-4-6-8 problem post), you could argue that Pink’s premise is exactly what leads to the 2-4-6-8 problem.

In full disclosure, I’ve been both a 100% commission based employee and worked on salary and the mix of both. The book did stir up my brain though and made me wonder if -as Pink says repeatedly in the book- there is a gap between what Science knows and what Business is doing.

Commissions = Motivation? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Are You In Charge?

conrey — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:48:35 +0000

“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” – Thucydides

If you’re really in charge of your situation and the world around you, doing what you can – what you choose – is an available option. This requires mental strength and discipline beyond what most are able to maintain. It happens to all of us when we get those feelings of being out of control, being at the whim of the winds of fate.

In sales when you’re struggling and things aren’t closing it is tempting to blame bad luck, random chance or damn near anything but yourself. But if you’re in control, you know that there are cycles that will come around so long as you stay disciplined and focused on the processes that get you there. Processes and metrics work because they allow you to do things that you know work to build success. Just because they aren’t working now after having worked for the past doesn’t mean that they are suddenly out of date.

Go back to basics and remember that sales is easy if you work at it.

Are You In Charge? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Ballpark

conrey — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:15:32 +0000

A simple stall/objection rebuttal for your Wednesday:

Every salesman has heard this one before “Can you just give me a ballpark of what this will cost?” Inwardly you groan. You know that they’re only going to hear the lowest number you say in the range and judge from there. If your low number is in their budget that’s the most they’ll ever want to pay. If your low number is out of their range you’ll never hear from them again. I hate to give “ballparks” because they are not usually worth the air that you expel to say them.

Rather than saying “I can’t give you a ballpark, I don’t know enough” or something similar – I go straight for the disarming move. “Which one do you like, Fenway or Wrigley? Left Field line at Fenway is 305.” This will get at worst a chuckle, if not a real laugh and a tangential conversation. From there you can launch into the “I can’t give you a ballpark number…” and do whatever you need to do to get the information to give a real estimate or bid.

What’s your favorite stall or objection rebuttal?

Ballpark is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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Monsters

conrey — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:04:05 +0000

In a great conversation tonight with Chris Young, our Scrum Master at Integrum, we came up with the phrase “The Monsters under your bed are always scarier than what’s really there”.

People will stall, stammer, and avoid things they fear. This extends beyond the 3-year old to professionals working around you. Usually they’ll spend as much or more time making excuses and explaining why it can’t be done than it would take to just jump in and get it done.

Chris tells me that if you’re dreaming that you’re being chased, the best way to wake up peacefully is to turn around and face whatever is chasing you and let it eat you. If you can get the people around you to do the same in their waking lives, imagine how much you can get done. How many cold calls can you make if you just get over your fear of getting hung up on. How many deals can you close if you just ask for them? How many difficult problems could you solve if you just started ripping away at them?

Remember the Litany of Fear. Make it happen people.

Monsters is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Bending the Rules

conrey — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:02:18 +0000

I don’t cheat. I don’t like cheaters. If there are rules I would never suggest that you break them. I will how ever suggest and even encourage that you find any and every loophole that works to your advantage. Case in point, a service where you’re not supposed to be able to directly contact another user but that user uses their real name as their user name. There’s nothing to stop you from googling that person’s name, and finding another way to contact that person. For a double bend of the rules, you may find that person’s LinkedIn profile and use your attempt to connect message as a way to reach out to them.

Walk that line as close as you can, because if you don’t someone else will. Find your angle, and make sure that you check all of them.

Bending the Rules is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Doubts

conrey — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:12:15 +0000

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end of wisdom”

Any salesman will hit a slump. And they’ll begin to doubt themselves. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, it happens. The difference is what happens next. It is easy to trap yourself in the slump and get into desperation mode. You start to flail about in a panic and look at things you should have done right along the way.

Stop that. It’s the mental equivalent of thrashing in quicksand, you’re just going to get pulled deeper.

Take a breath, step back, and get back to the things that you know work. Back to basics and get things rolling forward.

When that doesn’t work, just like when you’re in quicksand, call for help and have someone throw you a rope.

Doubts is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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Get Personal

conrey — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:57:54 +0000

Do you know the names of all of your clients to the point where you can match them up to their company without thinking too hard? Do you know the big high level needs of each of them off the top of your head? If you ran into them at Starbucks would you be able to say hi and talk about things without looking out of the loop? Do you know what their number one concern is with you? Or their favorite thing about you?

If you answered “no” to any of those questions – then go get personal with your clients. If you’re a sales manager you need to ask each of your salesmen these questions on a regular basis.

Get Personal is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Make a Way

conrey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:29:39 +0000

“I will either find a way or make one” -Hanibal

Not the guy from the A-Team or Silence of the Lambs of course, the General from Carthage. Who knows if he really said that quote, but its attributed to him and if you do a little research it certainly seems to fit his personality and actions.

If I’m hiring sales guys I want a guy who has this mindset, a guy who will get from where he is to where he needs to be come hell or high water. A guy who is like a bulldozer, just pushing things out of his way to open the path. Pushing past obstacles and objections, skillfully brushing them aside.

Find one of those guys, or become one of those guys, and then you get to walk in the cleared path.

Make a Way is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Dr. Suess as a Salesman