Yesterday, I had the satisfaction of closing a sale on which I’d been working for over two years. I can’t describe the feeling better than to say this is why you get into sales!
A two-year sales cycle is crazy!” you say? I would submit that it is more the norm these days when you look at the total life of a deal. As you can imagine this represented the culmination of many, many touch points with my client.
In their outstanding book “Professional Services Marketing,” the partners at Wellesley Hills Group espouse the concept of “Nurturing.” I could not agree more. As mentioned in the book, the “long sales cycle” equals the months and even years that it takes to foster a strong relationship while the client builds to a point where they have a real initiative and funding and are thus in active buying mode. The concept is that the “short sales cycle,” once the client is able to buy, is much shorter – perhaps only several weeks.
But you need to focus on the nurturing that puts you in a position on the long-cycles so when that buyer is ready, you are a trusted source for solutions and the obvious choice.
What are you doing to stay in front of your highest priority customers monthly, or even weekly, to nurture your way to more sales?
It is all too easy to forget this fundamental in our age of ROI, NPV and Cost/Benefit, but it is critical to remember - At it’s core, buying is an EMOTIONAL decision.
I was reminded of this today when I picked up a tweet from the Harvard Business Review that mentioned the concept in a blog post by Clif Reichard. Cliff is a 55 year veteran of sales and customer service. We can all learn a lot from that type of experience.
Cliff says that ”…Many sales organizations do little to create an emotional connection with prospective customers and concentrate instead on hype-filled sales pitches. We do the opposite: By conveying our warm feelings, we create an emotional bond without appearing phony or insincere. Then, by making an objective presentation, we show that we respect our customers’ ability to make their own judgments. The art of selling is in the heart, not the brain…”
Being honest with yourself, when is the last time that you and your team put as much energy into the heart of a pursuit as the brain?
Been a while between posts – I just returned from some vacation. The prep time before and digging out after have been significant, as always. But, should be back on track for posting now…
It’s great to unplug and step away from the daily grind and see the forest for the trees though. When you realize what you’re working for – it makes it so much easier get back and hit it. It was a great time off with my wife and kids: hiking, swimming, fishing. My son caught his first Musky…thought he won the Superbowl!
One of my take-aways this time was that I really love what I do. Not everyone can say that. There is a real vocational dimension to helping people with their most important projects that motivates me to do the best for my clients.
Also, although some people automatically think technology is extremely cool and fun (guilty) it is also continuing to change the game for everyone, so you need to pay attention.
On that note, I was reviewing some of my favorite blog reads while away and I think this one from Seth Godin wins. It’s a concise summary about the transition from the production > information > “information about information” economy and gets you thinking about all the opportunities yet to be seized…
Better get back to work!
Let’s face it. Most of us are in meetings (even if some are virtual – phone/web) most of the day.
Reachin
g someone live between the hours of 8am-5pm in today’s business world has become a near impossibility.
Just for fun let’s say you do get someone to pick up the phone. Odds are, you have just distracted that person from a task they believe to be a priority over whatever it is that you have called about. Just think of your own experience. How long does it take you to pick up an inbound call when you do not recognize the caller ID? Don’t hold your breath, right?
It is for this reason I now almost always leave BOTH a voicemail and email message when contacting a client or partner, particularly if this subject is important to them.
Try for a live discussion via phone first, of course. When you get their voicemail, leave a brief message and tell them that you will also send an email if that is a more convenient mode of communication for them. Then, send the email with “My Voicemail” included in the subject.
But don’t take my word for it. Marketing firm CCSI has this to say in their recent blog post…”Lead generation strategies that put e-mail and direct mail before telemarketing may be putting the cart before the horse and missing out on the optimal impact of each vehicle….” The gist of their post? Leave a voicemail before sending email.
Doing both has increased my response ratio significantly.
It’s the end of the week. Depending on how yours went, you either have 20 pounds of sand and a 10 pound bag and you’re wondering how your going to get it done, or maybe you are at the end of a long week and wondering if you have the steam to keep going and finish strong.
Either way, here’s an idea: Make it a 10-point day.
Give yourself a weighted value for key activities accomplished. Specifics may vary here, just make it a stretch. For example: 5 points for a contract, 3 points for an executive meeting, 2 points for an executive phone conversation, 1 point for any buyer touch-point like a nice email/voicemail combo. Now, try to reach or beat a total of 10 points today.
Hope you need a calculator!
For Chicagoans, last night’s Stanley Cup victory by the Blackhawks was an incredible end to an incredible season. When you win your first championship since JFK was in office – it’s a big deal. We’ll be celebrating for a while here. But can you take away any sales lessons from this team? You bet…
1. You can’t score if you don’t come out shooting. These guys were firing at the net the entire game, and the entire season for that matter. You have to be playing offense, always focused on the next play, or your competitors will take the momentum.
2. Defend your goal. Antti Niemi was awesome this year. He made some incredible stops (as a rookie!) . Without him shutting down the opponents, the wins would not have come. Are you protecting your existing clients as ferociously?
3. It’s a contact sport. If you’re playing it right, you may even lose some teeth! You need to know your strengths and play them hard to give your clients outstanding service – bump the competitors out of play.
4. The refs don’t always see it your way. There were a few tough calls on Chicago last night (goaltender interference? – I don’t think so!), but you have to roll with it and play with the calls delivered. There is no such thing as reality – only your clients’ perception counts! You can think you’re doing great. What do the refs (your clients) think?
5. You’ve got to win the home and away games. The Blackhawks had an awesome record on the road. Hockey is a tough game to win when you’re not on your home ice. Remember, to win over the long-term, you need to win with existing clients (home) and net new clients (away) as well!
6. The cup is worth the fight! It sometimes seems like the sales battle is getting the best of you. But if you give it all you have – and then give some more, truly serving your clients and stunning them with results, then you may get to kiss the 118 year-old trophy!
Like success in any professional career, there are many ingredients to success in selling. Accurate opportunity targeting – as my friends at Selling To Zebras will tell you, is a critical one. Chase the right prey and your hunt will be more successful.
Another key element is using a solid framework (pick a methodology that fits your situation) for high-gain conversations with prospects to elicit their needs and to link your solutions in meaningful ways.
Also important are elements like pre-call planning, lead-nurturing, compelling proposal creation, Ferocious Follow-up - the list is too long to discuss in one post.
One inescapable success factor is activity. A wise sales mentor once told me that activity yields opportunity which yields results. Sometimes hearing that sales is a “numbers game” is a turn off. It makes the sales process seem cheesy or pushy in some way. But the fact that you need to produce quantity as well as target quality is not a contradiction. It takes both. You can have the best targets in the world, but unless you are acting on them daily, all you have is a glorified list. Go ahead – put up some numbers today!
We’ve just crawled out of one of the toughest patches in business that any of us can remember. Thankfully, things seem to be stabilizing and even slowly beginning to grow again. However, every opportunity will be harder fought – tougher to find, tougher to close.
Yet, I see the cardinal sin being committed – A lack of priority follow-up on business leads.
In this fragile recovery, you must execute strong follow-up – no – Ferocious follow-up.
In his fantastic sales blog, Sales and Sales Management, I recently discovered this post from Paul McCord in which he explains that he has experienced the same. He says, “…A quality lead has a very short shelf-life—whether we’re talking about the retail situations above or a long sales cycle, sophisticated product or service. Someone–you or your company–has paid good money to get the phone to ring, to get a lead card mailed back, or get a form filled out on the internet. Every minute you wait to contact a prospect is a minute you’re giving the competition to close the deal before you even get there…”
Get Ferocious. You competitors are!
Yesterday, I had the satisfaction of closing a sale on which I’d been working for over two years. I can’t describe the feeling better than to say this is why you get into sales!
