Image by Håkan Dahlström

What do your customers think? What’s important? Challenging?

If you get these answers you sell more, so we ask customers.

But their answers don’t help. They’re simplistic, obvious, ambiguous. Their answers lack the detail to help you understand their needs. They lack insight to help you develop a solution for their problems.

This isn’t derogatory, it’s reality.

When you ask customers how you can help them, or what they need help with, you’re likely to be disappointed. Their answers are not enough – but they are a starting point.

Questioning is an art, not a science, which is why following a set list of questions fails.

You want actionable questions. Questions that will give you something to work from, a base into the consultative sales process (understanding first, then being understood).

I Wanted to Know So I Asked

Stick with me here as we’re moving from “asking good questions” to “helping me help you”.

I was hunting for ideas to research and write about in this blog.

So I asked a group of owners, executives and sales managers what their biggest challenge was for their sales team in 2012.

Their answers were…a starting point, which led to more questions.

I’m still looking for an answer to that original question. I’m still looking for what you want to read about.

But I’m closer to a workable answer because I’ve reframed a few original answers into more actionable questions.

Specifically, these actionable questions will get me closer to understanding what you want to read about regarding sales. But now I need your help.

What is Your Biggest Sales Challenge in 2012?

So now I’m asking you for the biggest sales challenges you face in 2012.

Tell me which one of the questions below you’d like an answer to and I’ll get started researching and writing about the top vote getter.

But pick from the list of questions below because they’re actionable ones. The resulting articles will hopefully be more specific and useful.

Please let me know your choice in a comment here.

 1) If you can’t speed up the sales cycle, how do you win more when contracts are put out to bid?

2) Why should customers’ buying cycle care about your sales cycle?

3) If customers can buy now, why don’t they?

4) What’s wrong with a long sales cycle?

5) How do I define my target profile? (what does my perfect customer look like?)

6) What are my new business development goals? How do I create them?

7) Where does social media fit in my new business development? Or is it the whole enchilada?

8) How can I identify the decision makers in the buying process?

9) How do I analyze what decision makers’ want?

10) How do I sell to Procurement’s agenda ?

11) How can I influence Procurement prior to the bid process?

Please let me know your choice in a comment here.

Original Answers Leading to Actionable Questions

The answers below spawned the list of actionable questions I’m asking you to choose from. These answers are presented here with permission.

Randall Martin, Vice President Sales and Marketing of Skyline Building Care felt his biggest sales challenge in 2012 is to:

“Decrease the number of days in the sales cycle”.

Dan Wachtler, President and CEO of IPSA International, Inc.  is facing this 2012 sales challenge:

“What should we know and how should we and shouldn’t we use social media given our demographics.”

Robert Beardsley, Regional Vice President, ABM Security Services is looking at the 2012 challenge of:

“The biggest challenge for any sales person in the service industry these next few years will continue to be the identification of the key decision makers.  There has been a huge shift in the decision making process from front line management to back office procurement. Procurement is now driving the bus while everyone else is more or less going along for the ride.”

Remember, please let me know your choice of your biggest 2012 sales challenge in a comment here.

Image by Kevin Dooley

Your personal brand helps you sell customers what they want and need. Your personal brand is:

• What you stand for
• How you want your customers to perceive you
• The promise you keep with customers

It’s this last definition, “the promise you keep with customers”, that’s the most important. During the sales cycle, which can be years, your personal brand communicates value as much as your offering. Pre-sale you, the sales rep, are the offering. So it’s crucial that your personal sales interactions align “what you do” with “what you say”. Then your personal brand becomes powerful and moves customers to:

• Trust you
• Listen to you
• Value what you say

It won’t matter what you say if your actions don’t match your promises.

Consider Service Quality Research for Your Personal Brand

Customers are drawn to and drool over high quality service. Being a high quality service is much like being a high quality sales rep, so why not use research on service quality to amp up your personal brand?

The fountainhead of research on service quality was first published in “Delivering Quality Service” (affiliate link), by Valerie Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard Berry back in 1990.  While the research has progressed since then, this book is still the best source for understanding, and action. One of their findings was to identify the relative importance of 5 service quality dimensions.

In other words, if sales reps get these dimensions right, customers will hand over the keys to their sales receptiveness. Because they’ll have received high quality service, according to what’s important to them.

Here are their five service quality dimensions. Although I’ve added a sales spin to their uses, the five dimensions are from that research. Consider applying them to yourself when pursuing customers for sales – make them part of your personal brand.

#1 RELIABILITY – Just Do It.

Do what you say you’re going to do when you said you were going to do it.

Of the 5 service quality dimensions customers care about this one clocks in at 32%. That means you still must pay attention to the other dimensions BUT DO THE MOST HERE.

#2 RESPONSIVENESS – Do It Now.

Respond quickly, promptly, rapidly, immediately, instantly. Waiting a day to return a call or email doesn’t make it. Even if customers are chronically slow in getting back to you, responsiveness is 22% of their service quality assessment. And believe me, they are assessing you as a rep just as if you were a service.

Consider taking the 10-minute challenge on returning emails and voice messages.

#3 ASSURANCE – Know What Your Doing.

Sales reps, though not expected to be experts, must have a working knowledge of customers’ businesses and how their sales offering benefits those businesses. Why else would customers want to talk with you? Assurance is 19% of customers’ assessment – this matters to them.

#4 EMPATHY – Care about Customers as much as the Sale.

Customers can tell if sales reps are in it only for the commission – and they care. So even if the rep does their part flawlessly, they better make sure customers feel they care about more than making the sale. Empathy is 16% of customers’ assessment – no trivial consideration.

#5 TANGIBLES -  Look Sharp.

Even though this is the least important dimension, appearance matters. Just not as much as the other dimensions. I’m sure you all know of sales reps who focus more on looking good than being reliable or responsive. Look good but realize this dimension tallies only 11% of what’s important to customers.

In Summary – The 5 Takeaways

You are your sales brand. Why not be a high quality one? Consider polishing your sales’ interactions across these 5 service quality dimensions. Can’t hurt.

Customers buy solutions that help their companies survive and thrive. They also buy to make their own work day easier and less stressful.

This is the shadow side of customers – they buy for themselves too.

So help them buy. In sales proposals and presentations do more than you’re already doing. Go over the top and detail your implementation and on-going project management.

Do this in addition to how your solution helps their company but make this shadow side hyper-explicit and prominent.

Pitching Hyper-explicit Implementation & Project Management

The beauty of pitching to the shadow side is that it speaks to their companies’ benefits too.

You’re talking about how their company benefits, while knowing the individual is considering how it will personally impact them.

Although you may already being do this, stress it even more in sales proposals and face-to-face presentations – the shadow side of customers’ individual benefits.

Here’s How

This is what will help them sleep better at night. Point out the process, deliverables and methods. Consider the following:

Process Map

Show a simple map of who does what and when. Consider using a map with swim lanes that show when activities are interdependent on others (i.e. when customers’ legal dept must authorize contract changes, or procurement’s change of Statements of Work).

This can be done easily in Microsoft PowerPoint or Excel, or any draw program.

Frequent Status Reporting

Ask customers during discovery what their preferred reporting procedure is. Then make sure the following is detailed in your sales proposals and presentations.

* How they like to receive status updates (i.e. email, phone, web meeting, or in-person)

* How frequent? (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly)

* How in depth? (this will determine the length of time to plan/schedule, i.e. 15 minutes, 1/2 hour, 2 hours, etc.)

* What info they’d like to see? (i.e. schedule completion, cost variance, etc.)

Detailed Project Plan

Create a true project plan, one that has individual tasks underneath summary tasks, identifies owners, start / end dates, duration and other resources needed.

Consider using Microsoft’s Project, which is extremely powerful, or a gantt chart in Excel can work almost as well.

The length and detail of project plan is relative to the anxiety and concern of your customers. The more anxious they are, the more in-depth and detailed your plan should be.

Formal Progress Reviews

Similar to status reporting but these tend to be more quantitative, formal and include higher level customer participants. This shows you’ll be helping alleviate your customers’ on-going fears or concerns about what they’re receiving, and whether they made a good decision by choosing you.

Progress reviews often include:

* Completion of scheduled tasks (% on target)

* Variations to schedule (changes to plan and their rationale, etc.)

* Cost variations ( report overages even if they are unbillable, you don’t want to lose that good-will credit)

How Else Do You Soothe Customers’ Buying Fears?

This is not an exhaustive list but I’ve used all of these successfully many times. What have you used that’s produced the results you want?

Post up your comments here.

Web meetings are a fantastic tool for delivering sales presentations. Web meeting providers  (GoTo Meeting, WebEx, Windows Live Meeting, Adobe Connect, etc.) are eager to point out their benefits, such as:

• Not having to be there in person – saving travel costs and time.
• Customers more likely to participate instead of taking the time for a face-to-face presentation.
• Present to many people in different locations – avoiding scheduling nightmares.
• Easy sharing of PowerPoint sales decks, software demos, videos, web pages, etc.

New Delivery Technology – New Presentation Challenges

Delivering sales presentations over the web is one of the hardest things to do well. Why?

Because:

• You can’t see your customers’ facial expressions or body language.
• It’s easy to lose your customers’ attention as they multi-task, answering text messages and email.
• You must become proficient in new technical competencies and learn new showtime skills.

On the Road to Great Presentations

There is no one answer to sales presentation greatness.

I believe you get there by doing as many things right as possible. Practicing as much as possible. Learning from others, as well as your greatest teacher – experience – as much as possible.

With this humbly in mind, consider trying the following tips. I hope a few may become part of your greatness.

23 Tips to Great Sales Presentations via Web Meetings

For clarity’s sake these tips are grouped into chronologically ordered groups:

#1) Technological Preparation Tips
#2) Sales Preparation Tips
#3) Immediately Before the Presentation
#4) At the Beginning of the Presentation
#5) During the Presentation
#6) More Showtime Skills for Sales Presentations

#1) Technological Preparation Tips

Perform these in advance of the presentation date – otherwise it’s too late.

1.1 If using a customer’s web service (not one you are 150% comfortable with) be sure to:

* Practice/test session the day before to sort everything out

* Get extremely comfortable with these functions on a customers’ web service: PAUSE, SHOW, SHARE, MUTE, CHAT

1.2 If using a web service customers aren’t familiar with, be sure to:

* Ask a kind admin to test for compatibility with your web service before the scheduled date

* Prepare to start 5-10 minutes later than scheduled as the customer may struggle with logging in for the first time

1.3 Use a 2nd PC in your office and log in to a test session. Set your PC’s display to 1024 x 768 resolution, and then view your slideshow on the 2nd PC, paying attention to:

* Slide transitions, animations or builds taking too long

* Photos’ & graphics’ clarity

* Font size isn’t too small

* Correct the above as needed

1.4 Use a USB headset with mic when available from web service (this is VoIP audio rather than a phone line)

* Headset with mic frees your hands and minimizes ambient noise, such as hitting keyboard keys loudly

* Avoid using your PC/Laptop’s built in mic, which provides poor audio for your customers

1.5 Consider adding the audio conference call info to your title / walk-in slide (NOTE: some web services display that info anyway before switching over to showing your screen).

#2) Sales Preparation Tips

2.1 Plan a Sales Path and/or Scenario to follow during presentation:

* If you’re demo’ing an application – have several likely use scenarios and then walk customers through them (it’s much better than trying to show the 1,000s of bells and whistles the app can do)

* If you’re presenting for a sale decision at the end of the presentation – have a flexible path planned out for hitting only the most valuable points of your proposal (valuable to the customer that is) – these are the “vital few” points, not the “useful many”.

2.2 Write down an outline of your opening and closing statements, focusing on how you’ll solve the customer’s specific problems and deliver their desired outcomes.

* Outline in short bullets

* Practice in your own words

2.3 Plan an alternate quick ending, this is for the times your customers waste 10-15 minutes logging into your web service. Just make your content 10-15 minutes shorter than the allotted time (if you get done early no one will complain).

2.4 Rehearse (period) Rehearse (period) Rehearse (period)

#3) Immediately Before the Presentation

3.1 Set your PC’s display resolution to 1024 x 768 to minimize the chance that not all of your screen will show up on the customers screen.

3.2 Turn off your cell phone, or mute it and move it away from your PC to avoid interference.

3.3 Turn off your email and IM notifications so they don’t pop up in the middle of the presentation.

3.4 Mute or unplug phone land lines.

3.5 Mute your PC’s sounds.

3.6 Run your PowerPoint deck from your local PC, don’t run it from a network drive as oddities with your network can create a really bad day for you.

3.7 If you’ll be launching other applications or web pages, launch them before and have them open.

3.8 Use a 2nd PC in your office to log in to the session.

* You’ll be able to see what your customers are seeing and deals with the video delay during transmission

* You don’t want to be talking about slide 4 when they’re still looking at slide 3

3.9 Have a printout of your presentation deck complete with your speaker’s notes, helps  steady your nerves, and if the web service goes down and you still have audio you can complete the presentation as an audio only.

3.10 Have a mug of something hot, or glass of water near to combat dry throat.

#4) At the Beginning of the Presentation

4.1 After introducing yourself, clear the meeting for time by confirming with your customers that the presentation will last 60 minutes and complete by 10:30 am (you don’t want any surprises).

4.2 If using a web service customers aren’t familiar with, spend a minute on how to use the web service controls immediately after clearing for time but before starting the presentation. Quickly tell them:

* How to minimize the web service console so they can see more of your slideshow on screen

* How to enter a CHAT message

4.3 If audience is less than 10 or 15, tell them they can ask you questions as they occur to them (you want their engagement from the start)

* If more than 15 customers, request they ask their questions using the CHAT function (keeps the racket down when they step on each other)

#5) During the Presentation

5.1 Switch from your PowerPoint deck to open applications through a hyperlink on the slide, or hit ALT + TAB (in Windows) to toggle through the open applications in Windows.

#6) More Showtime Skills for Sales Presentations

In the near future (hopefully) I’ll be releasing a book to help you win more sales through presentations: “Presentation Perfect – Showtime Sales Skills that Seal the Deal”.

It’ll cover in-person and web-meeting sales presentations in much greater detail, along with a preparation checklist and design audit.

What’s Not Listed?

What tips do you know that help make great live sales presentations on the web? Share them by posting a comment.

If you liked this article please re-tweet it.

Getting started in a new year can be tough. Maybe you’re like me. In this first week back at work it’s easier thinking about negatives, before moving ahead with positives.

Here are three negatives in selling and marketing to get rid of quickly in 2012. Onwards and upwards.

• Magic Words
• Visual Noise
• Hubris

Magic Words

There are none. No secret words injected into proposals, brochures, or web pages guarantee results. Yet many sales reps and marketers hold onto that belief – that magic ones are out there, they only have to be found.

Time to let go.

Here is the only magic to sales and marketing:

Persuasiveness in a consultative process.

And this magic comes in many different words. It’s the music, not the notes.

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – find out what customers want & need

Second – communicate to them you understand their wants & needs (otherwise they wont listen)

Third – communicate you have a solution that delivers their wants & needs

Lastly – all other communications validate you can deliver

Visual Noise

Think about the 1,000s of marketing messages that flash across your retinas every day. From those overly busy web sites with 100s of widgets, flashing animations and graphic display ads – to the wildly desperate print ads sitting cheek-by-jowl on page after page in trade magazines.

They’re all exhausting in their attempts to suck you into a call to action. Visual design is overloaded.

Time to let go.

White space is the new magnet. It directs viewers’ focus, raises their engagement and increases their retention of information. When they can see it, (and it’s relevant and valuable) they’re yours. Google proved that.

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – ruthlessly refine & distill the kernel of the message you’re trying to communicate into a purity that is almost painful

Second – eliminate everything that distracts from that single pure kernel, then eliminate more

Third – go with the almost painfully pure look & design

Lastly -  trust in that one message (if you want to communicate something else, do it separately)

Hubris

Hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance, which many reps and marketers suffer from when they believe they were the sole cause of their success.

Time to let go.

Obviously chances of success increase the harder and smarter one works but luck is its own being. Success at any level has a healthy portion of luck (in addition to effort and smarts).

Onwards and upwards. Positively do this:

First – change “No” as the first out of your mouth to “Why?”

Second – pay heightened attention to diverse ideas & opposite opinions (leads to innovation)

Third – listen empathetically, think judiciously

Lastly – strive for humility & self-confidence in equal measures

What negatives will you let go of in 2012?

2011 is just about in the books. For Revenue-IQ it was a good year:

• Circulation nearly tripled (3x)
• 54 new articles focused more narrowly on 8 categories
• We provided a free ebook & sales plan template
• Readers tested our concepts & sold more, got more appointments and improved their results

But in case you missed any of this year’s goodness, here are two lists of the top articles for the year, each measured differently.

Top 10 Articles of 2011

Here are the top 10 articles as measured by open rates through our email delivery service:

•  Personal Positioning Statement
• When Prospecting, Never Leave Voice Mail Except…
• Writing a Proposal: The Moment of Truth
• The 10-Minute Challenge for a Greater Personal Brand
• Tyrannosaurus Procurement
• 4 Prejudices Incumbents must Battle
• A Proposal in One
• Give to Get
• Cold Calling – Last Question First
• 3-Point Checklist for Persuasive Proposals

Top 10 Most Popular Articles for 2011

Here are another top 10 articles as measured by page views from our web analytics:

•  12 Tips for Great Sales Presentations
• Playing by the Law: 1099s vs. Employees
• 23 Ways to Get a First Meeting with Prospects
• Seller’s look at Procurement Strategy
• 6 Ways a Sales Plan Keeps Your Success On Track
• Selling Large Service Contracts to Big Companies
• Unsolicited Sales Proposals: Part 1 – The Downside
• Buyer Motivation: 4 Reasons Customers Change Suppliers
• The Secret Trigger to Inbound Marketing
• Your Sales Engine is Leaking

Hope your 2011 was good, and wish you and even better 2012.

Cheers,
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ

“Grant me the serenity to accept sales’ facts of life (sFOL)
- the courage to do the right selling work
- and the wisdom to know the difference.”
a Seller’s Prayer.

Here are 12 sFOL and what to do about them.

#1) Buyers buy on emotion & justify (to themselves & others) with facts

- do more than your competitors
- dig to uncover buyers’ emotional motivation
- attach it to publicly verifiable facts
- make the sales conversation about them both together

#2) Buyers buy what they want

- give buyers what they want so you’ll get the chance to give them what they need

#3) Buyers rarely know what they need

- help them learn what they need
- they don’t want to be educated

#4) Buyers don’t buy in a vacuum

- buyers have options; they can take no action, go in-house, select your competitors, or choose you
- learn buyers’ options
- develop compelling offerings that counteract each, except choosing you

#5) Buyers buy in their Market Range of Pricing

- they rarely buy at 2x the market price
- be aware of how they see market pricing
- price yourself where your service fits (premium, average in the middle, bare bones low end)

#6) Price is meaningless without value

- sell value, which is what buyers get for what they spend
- your pricing then makes sense (read “Price Without Value is Meaningless“)

#7) Buyers negotiate price at the time of the sale

- don’t let buyers fixate on purchase price alone
- research Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which is what buyers will spend over the life of the contract
- move the sales conversation onto TCO

#8) Buyers need sellers

- respect the selling profession
- buyers have problems they solve with buying the best solutions they perceive
- buyers need those who can help them make better buys

#9) Buyers aren’t what they used to be

- buyers have changed, they now face job turnover, career insecurity, and lack deep on-the-job experience
- it’s a new school of  buyers
- don’t sell them as if they’re old school

#10) Procurement is the biggest baddest buyer out there

- learn to love Procurement, learn what it’s about (read “Seller’s look at Procurement Strategy“)
– become proficient selling to Procurement (read Sell Service as a Strategic Spend to Procurement“)

#11) Social media is more noise, except when it isn’t

- find where buyers seek knowledge, be there, give there, for the long term, but don’t sell there (read Seth Godin’s The trap of social media noise )

#12) Free valuable info is the new price for buyers’ attention

- give valuable info away for free, even if you can no longer bill for it, even if your competitors may see you doing it – you’ll come up with more good stuff
- buyers will see you as the expert (read The Secret Trigger to Inbound Marketing )

What do you accept & how does it change the way you sell?

• What are your Facts of Life in selling?
• What do you do because of your sFOLs?

How often do you waste time on a prospect that is really a suspect? That’s time lost with as much chance for a sale as a snowball on the sun.

You can’t chase every suspect you come across, so screen them. Qualify suspects into prospects.

The problem is you don’t get enough info to qualify them at your first sighting. You have to pick up bits of info along the way, over time.

Here’s a quick and easy way to quickly cut through the suspects to the prospects.

Answer these 2 questions

Always keep these two questions in your mind and you’ll quickly and easily see who’s worthy of your sales time, and who’s not. And it’s great to be selective as a seller, gives you more self-respect.

What the heck, cut to the chase. Slightly rephrase these questions and ask your suspects directly. You never know what will happen, and it’s fun to turn the tables about who’s courting who.

Question #1 –> Can they afford me?

It’s “Can they afford me?”, not “my company”. This is personal, even though you’re working for a company. It’s your investment of sales time that needs immediate and definite direction.

This question defines a suspect’s sales’ attractiveness – “Is this a good fit with what I want as a seller?”

Also, the question should lead to other questions you’ll be pondering, such as:

* Do they buy what I’m selling? (i.e. Do they need what we offer?)

* Do they value what I’m selling? (i.e. Do they know how important our service is to their business?)

* Are they ready to buy? (i.e. Are they willing to invest time in a supplier relationship?)

* Are they aware of market pricing & scope? (i.e. Are their service expectations in line with their pricing expectations?)

Question #2 –> Will we enjoy working together?

This gets you thinking up front about after the sale. About the alignment and desirability of a long-term relationship with this particular customer, not an anonymous number in a sales funnel.

With this question in mind, you’ll start looking at suspects for signs of:

* How likely are they to make unreasonable demands? (i.e. Are they reasonable, knowledgeable about your service?)

* Will they pay as promised? (i.e. Will they make getting paid difficult?)

* How realistic are they about the variability of service? (i.e. Do they accept that service is never perfect? That hiccups occur?)

* How willing are they to work with you? (i.e. Are they flexible when it comes to finding win-win solutions?)

There is Always the Long Way

The long way is your company’s Prospect Qualifying Matrix.

It’s the one that includes multiple factors. It weights and rates individual prospects’ attractiveness, then calculates an index for how hard you’re supposed to go after that prospect.

Don’t laugh, I’ve developed one and it’s cool. But during your day-to-day sprint do you have time to fill it out?

I suspect not. Which is the reason for memorizing these two simple questions when hunting for new business:

Q1: Can they afford me?

Q2: Will we enjoy working together?

How Do You Qualify Prospects on the Fly?

"It ain't bragging if you can do it" Dizzy Dean, American Baseball, Hall of Fame Pitcher.

That’s right! You deserve more money IF you’re a top producing sales rep (in the top 20% of sales reps in your company).

You also deserve more resources, and respect too.

If you (or they) are already selling tons why should you (or they) deserve more money?

Because it may be more effective supporting (and paying) sales reps who already are successful – instead of trying to raise the skills of the lower 80%.

Also, those top 20%ers are driving your company’s sales success. If they leave for a better offer elsewhere your company is in a tight spot to find equal replacements.

Top Sales Producers Have Many Skills in Many Roles

Let’s face it, selling successfully means succeeding in many roles. There isn’t a single sales activity that guarantees success.

Many skills are needed in many roles. Here are the big ticket ones listed by stage of the sales cycle.

STAGE 1 – Pre-Approach

Before sales reps contact prospects there are a number of roles to be filled. Here are the ones top producers fill, or have when they were starting out:

Strategist – to select the vertical markets, services and geographies that best align with your company’s ability to deliver

Researcher – to quantify vertical markets, identify prospect sources & figure out how to estimate sales sizes

Profiler – to create a target prospect profile based on the strategy and research

STAGE 2 – First Contact

At the first contact with a prospect sales reps must be very good at these key roles:

Greeter – to make friends of strangers (prospects), welcome them to company marketing events and sponsorships

Politician – to meet as many prospects that match the target profile and gain their trust

Telemarketer – to reach out quickly, efficiently and effectively to a large audience of targeted prospects

STAGE 3 – Follow-Up Campaign

The majority of 1st contacts aren’t sales, so top producers use follow-up campaigns to be there when prospects are ready to buy. These are the key roles needed for this stage:

Marketer – to select, design and produce outreach efforts for the rep individually, rather than waiting for a company effort (see inbound and outbound marketing )

Educator – to help prospects learn how the service they buy impacts their business, postively and/or negatively

Promoter – to participate in trade associations, volunteering to charities, all to get the company and rep’s name out there

STAGE 4 – Proposal Opportunity

The moment of truth comes when reps get the opportunity to develop a proposal for a customer. The rep’s roles for this stage include:

Investigator – to dig out the real truth behind what prospects are willing to say

Consultant – to understand prospects’ situation and then design a solution to solve it

Writer – to create the written document that captures the insights gained through investigation and persuasively present the consultative solution

STAGE 5 – Presentation Opportunity

After the the proposal has been submitted, reps now must take on additional roles to do the face-to-face presentation. Here are those roles:

Presenter – to be the leader of the in-person sales presentation

Facilitator – to rehearse and facilitate members of the sales team with their designated topics

Negotiator – to be the go-between person between the prospect and your company finalizing pricing and contracts

What To Do IF…

#1) You are in the Top 20%

You deserve more; money, support and respect. Ask for it. You have the numbers to justify it.

#2) You are in the Bottom 80%

Work at getting better. It’s your career, either at your current company, or at the next one that will hire you.

Get busy learning:

• Seek out sales training (click here to see how I can help)
• Shadow a top 20%er & learn their tips, tricks & secrets
• Use a coach or mentor: pester them with questions (click here to see how I can help)
• Read, get smarter. Here are some of my favorites (I’m an Amazon affiliate):
• No Bull Selling(an oldie but worth it)
• Little Red Book of Selling
• Permission Marketing
• Speed of Trust
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

#3) You are the only Sales Rep

You can assume you’d be in the top 20% of a like company and ask for more, or not ask. Or you can improve yourself by doing the same things as #2 above.

#4) You are the Sales Manager

First, increase your support (and compensation) to your top 20%ers – you don’t really want to lose them, do you? So where it’s practical, provide them the:

• Sales sheets, brochures, etc. they ask for
• Administrative help in filling out reports, printing proposals, etc.
• Marketing & promotion projects they come up with

Second, create a hiring profile from the roles and skill sets mentioned above. Now you can interview and hire to that profile. You’ll be glad you did.

Summary

It ain't bragging if you can do it...
Dizzy Dean, American Baseball, Hall of Fame Pitcher.

If you’re good ask for more. If you have very good sales reps, keep them. If you’re not as good as you could be, get there, or look for somewhere else.

What do you propose?

We make proposals to:

• Get a meeting
• Qualify as a bidder
• Make a sale
• Start a business
• Form a new division
• Offer a new service
• Get a date

Proposals ask something of the person(s) with the authority to grant the request.

Why not succeed more often?

In One

Those you’re proposing to are like you, too much to do and too little time.

“In One” means concise and crisp.

If your proposal is in a document – that’s one page total. The document could be on letterhead, or a full page format. But it is only one.

If your proposal is in an email – it’s one crisp, condensed puppy. Five sentences plus the subject line. Then your signature line.

If your proposal is in a voice mail – it’s 30 seconds or less. It’s shaped along the lines of a Personal Positioning Statement, but with more meat in it (see the outline below).

The Outline

Here’s an outline for a proposal that gets you what you want, and more often.

1) Title it with a hook
2) Set the stage
3) The opportunity fulfilled
4) Your proposed solution
5) The financials
6) Call to action

1) Title it with a hook

This is the most important part of your proposal.

And though its the first thing presented, it’s best created after you’ve developed everything else in the proposal.

The hook is the compelling reason your audience should give you their time and attention. Fail here and there is no proposal.

The hook is the uber benefit – what they’ll receive. The sexiest, most attractive result your proposal will deliver.

LENGTH: And you have to distill it down to a single line, five to seven words max. It’s poetry.

2) Set the stage

Briefly describe the burning platform – the reasons action (your proposal) must be taken now.

Identify a big pain that needs to be fixed. Describe a desirable want that can be realized.

LENGTH: Do it in two to three sentences. Specific, factual and illustrative.

3) The opportunity fulfilled

This is the vision of the perfect future. When everything has worked out the way it was promised.

No guarantees, unless you can. Paint this picture using terms that truthfully describe this future having a high probability of occuring.

LENGTH: Keep it to two sentences, one is better.

4) Your proposed solution

This is what you’re going to do. The high-level process, program and resources.

Call out your unique approach, capabilities, or expertise.

LENGTH:  Stay lean here too. Three to five sentences max, two to three paragraphs total. Hit only the high points. Stay out of rabbit holes and the weeds.

5) The financials

There’s always a cost. Don’t pretend there isn’t.

This is either what they’ll need to spend in money, time, or action.

State it here. As a price, cost, or even better a Return on Investment (ROI).

LENGTH:  One sentence. Numbers make it better. Dollars even more so.

6) Call to action

What is it you want them to do? Now, this moment.

• To pick up the phone and call you?
• Email you a request for a meeting?
• Put you on the bidders’ list?

State the one thing you need them to do. The next step. The action to advance towards fulfillment.

No ambiguity. Blindingly crystal clear so there is no doubt whatsoever of what you want them to do.

LENGTH: One sentence, one call to action, few words.

Sign off

After your call to action, end your proposal. Sign off  with your name, title, company and how to be contacted. Repeat that last bit about how to be contacted (say it twice on the phone, spell out your email in your signature line, or write your phone number next to your name and title in the document).