Selling to Big Companies Blog

My Summer Reading List

What am I reading? I get asked that question all the time. Here are the books I've read this past month, with a bit of commentary on each.

Growing Great Sales Teams, by Colleen Stanley
A little book with a big punch. As a former VP of Sales, author Colleen Stanley shares practical, but high impact strategies you can use to first get your sales team back on track and then excel.

What I appreciate most about this book is that it's based on the "lessons from the cornfield" where work needed to get done, crops need to be harvested and excuses weren't acceptable. In short, it's fun to read.

(Colleen is speaking on EQ + IQ = Sales Results at my upcoming Sales SheBang conference for women in sales being held September 23-24 in Minneapolis.)

Good in a Room, by Stephanie Palmer
At first I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, but by the end I was a big fan. The author wasn't a salesperson. However, as the former Director of Creative Affairs at MGM, she evaluated sales pitches on a regular basis and became fascinated by what worked and what didn't.

Good in a Room offers a fresh perspective on sales, completely devoid of any of the traditional "sales speak" preached by gurus of the past. Lots of unique insights from a good observer. Worth getting.

Topgrading for Sales, by Bradford Smart & Greg Alexander
If you need to hire salespeople, this book is a must read. As the authors so clearly point out, the cost of bad hiring can easily be over $1/2 million when you add in hiring costs, compensation, severance, disruption, & opportunity costs.

In Topgrading, you'll learn a proven hiring/interview process that helps you clearly define what skills are needed, sorts the "A" players from the fakers - and, as a result, totally transform your business.  Plus, it comes with a complete toolkit with ready-to-use forms that can easily be modified for virtually any sales position.

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, by Daniel Pink
Pink's first two books are among my favorites: Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind. But when this one came out, I personally wasn't interested in the topic: a career guide for thriving in the world of work.

However, I had to get a copy because it's the first business book in the U.S. that's written in manga, the Japanese comic book format. So what do I think? A bit light on content, but fun to read. Reminded me of being a kid again. Plus, it made me realize how much fluff is in some books - just to make them impressive.

In Praise of Slowness, by Carl Honore
In our crazy, hyper-competitive business world, it seems like doing things faster is the only way to keep up. Personally, I think people have reached the breaking point. By this, I mean corporate decision makers AND salespeople.

That's why I'm studying slowness. I think that by "challenging the cult of speed," we can positively impact sales. If you have any insights on this, please share them with me.

What have you been reading lately?

Part II: Where Have All the Prospects Gone

What can you do when your previously hot-to-trot prospects disappear into "The Black Hole?" When you don't know what's behind their silence, figuring out how to respond can be a dilemma - especially since you don't want to be a pest. Jill Konrath

Here are some strategies you can use in dealing with "The Black Hole:"

• Just keep trying. Realize that prospects expect you to carry the "keep in touch" burden - so do it. It can often take 8-10 contacts before you actually reach them again. Don't panic. This is normal in today's business environment.

• Make each connection valuable. Don't just say, "Hi Eric. Just getting back to you as I promised about your xxx decision. If you have any questions, give me a call.
  
  Instead, you might say, "Eric, Based on our conversation last week, I know how important it is to you to shorten your sales cycle. There's a white paper on our website that addresses this issue. I'll be sending you a link via email shortly."

• Have a sense of humor. After 4-5 contacts, leave a funny message such as, "Eric. I know you're swamped. But I also know that shortening your sales cycle is important to you. That's why I keep bugging you. I'm looking forward to FINALLY reconnecting."

• Leverage a variety of mediums. Mix up phone calls with emails, mailings, invitations to upcoming events, sending articles, etc. To position yourself as a resource, makes sure each connection educates, informs or adds insights.

• Create multiple entry points. Never let one person be your total gateway to a company. Identify and nurture multiple relationships concurrently. When appropriate, reference others you're talking to in your messages/emails.

• Re-evaluate your initial connection. How could you increase their urgency? Determine if you're just column fodder? Or, tie your offering more into their business priorities? In way too many cases, sellers have done a product/service dump when talking to prospects. Instead you need to on critical business outcomes and the difference you can make.

• Plan your next step now. Never leave a meeting without a homework assignment (for you and/customer) and a firm follow-up appointment scheduled. If they're unwilling to do this, it's an indicator that something may not be quite right - which should prompt you to explore their need and urgency in greater depth.

• Let them off the hook. Send an email stating that you thought they were interested, but perhaps you misjudged the situation since you haven't heard back from them in the last 6 weeks. Believe it or not, this strategy often gets a response & an explanation from a prospect who is feeling guilty about not reconnecting.

• Reduce your contact frequency. If, after ten touches, you still haven't heard, start contacting them less often. A quarterly schedule might be more appropriate. Or, you might want to keep on top of what's happening in the account and reconnect at a more appropriate time.

By leveraging one or more of these strategies, you'll often be able to re-engage a prospect who has disappeared into "The Black Hole."  Not always, but often. And, if you've continually provided value and focused on the impact your offering makes, they'll likely be ready to implement your solution yesterday.

Related articles
•  Preventing Opportunity Linkage
•  Killer Sales Disease Strikes
•  Value Creation: The New Sales Paradigm

Can you help a poor guy out?

I got an email today from Brian Lambert, the director of Sales Development & Performance for the American Society of Training & Development.

He needs your help. As a PhD student, he's conducting a survey of the competencies required for an entry level business-to-business salesperson. He needs to have 1500 people complete this analysis ASAP.  Here's a link to the survey.

His wife wants him to graduate from his doctoral program and, time is running short. I totally understand where she's coming from.

If you're a sales rep, sales manager or sales trainer, please give Brian 25 minutes of your time. It's for the good of the sales profession and for his marriage!

Part 1: Where Have All the Prospects Gone?

When I was growing up, the folk rock trio of Peter, Paul & Mary sang an anti-war protest song called, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" It's funny how after all these years that this tune came roaring back to me as I was thinking about disappearing prospects.

Don't you just hate it when hot prospects suddenly stop returning your call. It's especially hard to deal with when they'd been so eager to move forward with you only weeks before.

At first, you assume their lack of responsiveness is an isolated situation that will quickly self-correct. But after repeated failed attempts to connect, you start to question your own sanity.

You could have sworn they were interested, but their current behavior indicates otherwise. And, not wanting to appear too desperate or to come across as a real pest, you're stymied in terms of what your next steps should be.

Truth be told, they've disappeared into the infamous "Black Hole" - sometimes never to be seen again.

Why They Disappeared
As a seller, it's always important to analyze what may be causing this behavior before taking action. In my experience, these are the typical reasons why prospects disappear into "The Black Hole." Jill Konrath

• They're totally swamped. Without a doubt, this is the most common. In virtually ever company today, people have way too much to do and not nearly enough time to get it all done. They fully intend to continue the conversation, but not right now.

• Priorities changed. This can happen overnight. Changing market conditions, bad 3rd quarter results, and new leadership are just a few of the possible root causes. But when this happens, it's darn near impossible to regain your momentum in the short term.

• Lack of urgency. Sometimes sellers confuse a prospect's interest level with a desire to take action today. As such, they share all the glorious details about their offering instead of building a business case for immediate change.

• Column fodder. Occasionally prospects just need comparative bids/pricing to justify their decision to go with another company.

• They know everything. When prospects feel they have all the information they need, there's literally no reason to talk with you any further.

Different reasons call for different actions. Some you can prevent by doing things differently in your customer interactions. Always be open to this possibility since prevention is your best cure. Others you have no control over.

In any case, you need answers! Is it "yeah" or "nay"? Are they still interested or not? Should you keep pursing them or find new prospects?

We'll explore what you can do  in Part II: Where Have All the Prospects Gone?

Selling to Big Companies Selected as Top Sales Blog

When serial entrepreneur & bestselling author Guy Kawasaki launched AllTop earlier this year, I immediately developed a serious addiction.

Why? Because this site aggregates all the top blogs in a whole slew of subject areas. I got hooked on the Politics page. With just one click I could see the five most recent posts from virtually all major media sources.

When AllTop launched its Small Business site a few months ago, I was delighted to be included. 

Now they just added an AllTop Sales section - and once again, my Selling to Big Companies blog is being featured.  

The first time my blog was picked, I chose a small non-pretentious graphic to post on the side bar. But now that it's a double "best of the best" award winner on AllTop, I think I deserve this new banner!

Top Sales Resources - June, 2008

Top Sales Experts, Summer Edition

This excellent ebook features articles by everybody who is anybody in sales today. You'll find articles by Keith Rosen, Joanne Black, Jonathon Farrington,  Wendy Weiss, Paul McCord and Dr. Tony Allesandro.

Sales SheBang 2008 speakers featured in this ebook include Kim Duke, Colleen Francis, Leslie Buterin, Kendra Lee, Anne Miller, Lori Richardson and me. Click to download your free copy.

Why Marketing Stories Have Catch

In this excellent ebook, Ardath Albee shares how you can use stories with Catch Factors to transform buyer attention into engagement and consistently tip purchase decisions in your favor.

Click to download your copy. While you're there, stay a while to read Ardath's always insightful articles. If she's not in your RSS feed today, she should be!

Sales Secrets eCourse
Sales expert Colleen Francis of Engage Selling offers a free 10-day intensive eCourse when you subscribe to her newsletter. Colleen's advice is rock solid. I know you'll get a lot from it! Click to sign up now.

 

LinkedIn & High Growth Entrepreneurs

If you want to do business with rapidly growing small & medium-sized businesses (SMBs), you'll find them on LinkedIn. According to Warrillow & Co., a consultancy that helps big companies reach the SMB market, a whopping 67% of these high-growth firms are more than 4 times as likely to be registered members.

Why would this be important for you? Here's what they say:

Warrillow research shows that SMBs with more than 10% annual growth comprise just 15% of the market, yet account for 60% of spending on a core group of high-value products and services, including business credit cards, lines of credit, hardware, software, telecommunications and office management supplies/services.

Since high-growth small businesses are 4 times as likely to be registered on LinkedIn, enterprises have an unprecedented opportunity to intercept a large segment of small business owners with the propensity to spend more – and more often. What's more, LinkedIn company profiles (numbering more than 100,000 in the small business segment) offer a more in-depth business overview that helps you truly understand the people behind the business: who they are, what drives them and how to reach them.

If you're interested in learning more about selling to the SMB market, Warrillow offers weekly webinars on this topic.

How to Develop Credibility - When You're Not Credible

What are the main issues you face when you target new vertical markets where you don't  have any experience in that area. Also, how do you overcome these problems?

I get asked those questions frequently. But usually it's after the decision has already been made and the poor salespeople are struggling to gain a foothold in the new vertical market.

If you're considering moving your company in a new business direction, here are my suggestions:

Your biggest issue will be credibility. Corporate decision makers don't want to be your first client in a vertical market. They don't want to have to educate you since it takes up their precious time.

Even though you're a good company, they know that your lack of experience could lead to time-consuming and costly errors. They don't want to risk this happening.

1. Move into the market slowly.
Don't bet your company on success in the new vertical. Study the industry. Learn their terminology. Know their competitors. Double check for "fit". I've seen way to many companies leap into new markets because they sense greater opportunity there than in their current market space.

2. Define the business case.
Uncover how they're currently handling things related to your offering. What are the common status quo scenarios? What business objectives will they have difficulty achieving unless they change the status quo? What are the financial ramifications of these? Then define the value they'll get from changing to your product/service.

Potential clients need to hear a strong value proposition that clearly articulates the business outcomes they'll realize by using your offering. Use business terminology, not techie talk.

3. Create linkage.
If possible, try to create a link between your current customer base and your new one. If all your clients are schools and now you want to move to theme parks, you need to be able to clearly articulate why it's relevant.

As an example, last week I had lunch with a good friend who spent over 20 years in marketing with a large accounting firm. She was laid off a while back. Now she wants to work with technology companies.

After analyzing both industries, combined with her experience we realized that her expertise was in helping company's implement strategic changes in their marketing. That positioning makes sense to potential decision makers - and minimizes the "you don't have any experience with companies like mine" objection.

4. Pursue smaller opportunities first.
This significantly reduces the decision maker's perceived risk in moving ahead with a new player in the market. Then, make sure you do a superb job on delivering on what you promised. After that, pursue additional opportunities within the account to expand your footprint.

5. Train your salespeople on all the above.
Without this knowledge, they will flop. That I can guaranteed 100%. Ultimately these people have to make it happen. Don't send them into the field with some worthless PowerPoints explaining your technology in excruciating detail. They need to be able to have intelligent business conversation with decision makers.

6. Create field-ready sales tools.
Focus especially on the early stages of the sales cycle. Your sales reps are going to have a tough time setting up meetings. Show them how to integrate their value proposition into phone calls, voicemails and emails.

Give them relevant white papers and case studies that are closely aligned with this new market segment. They must be able to show your company's expertise to customers, so this is a necessity - even if you're moving to a new market.

Create a "question matrix" that outlines what they should be looking for on calls and the questions they should ask to uncover this information. Develop customer-focused PowerPoints to use on follow-up meetings.

7. Pray!
It takes a lot of hard work to succeed in a new marketing segment. Implement the above suggestions and your chances of success increase. Rush blindly ahead and you'll most likely waste tons of money, put your firm in financial distress, frustrate your sales force and create incredible internal animosity.

Quick Start LinkedIn Tutorial

Last month I presented a workshop on how to leverage online thought leadership strategies to attract the attention of corporate decision makers. Of course, I talked about the importance of LinkedIn.

Many of the attendees were unsure of its value so I suggested they download my ebook on Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?

Tech guru Patrick O'Malley was also at the conference, presented an excellent session on on Advertising with Google AdWords on a $50 Budget. He LOVES teaching people how to get the most out of technology.

When I got back to the office, Patrick sent me an email with several suggestions on how to improve my own LinkedIn profile. He said to include:

• Common misspellings of my name & my maiden name, so I immediately added Jill Conrath, Jill Conrad, Jill Konrad & Jill Ulseth to my profile.
• Keywords people might use to find someone like me in the summary area. So wihout wasting a moment, I added a paragraph that included words like "sales training programs, sales seminars & keynote speaker."

For more of his excellent advice, check out his LinkedIn Quick Start Tutorial or his other Time Saving "Pat Tricks."

Teleseminar: Email Cold Calling

How to Leverage Email to Get your Foot in the Door
With Jill Konrath 

When: Thursday, June 19th, 3 pm ET, Duration: 1 hour
Price: $79/person (includes live session, workbook & downloadable audio file)
Register now.

Integrating email cold calling into your account entry campaign is essential with today's phone-averse, time-starved decision maker. Don't be fooled by the ease of emailing though. To be effective requires attention to numerous details most sellers totally overlook. In this session you'll learn critical strategies and techniques to ensure your email gets opened and then gets acted on.   

Specifically, you'll discover:   

• What types of messages get quickly deleted and why.
• When and how to incorporate email cold calling into your account entry campaign.
• How to create a high interest subject line that decision makers can't pass up.
• Key guidelines and practical techniques for creating messages that elicit responses.
• Three different ways to pique the decision maker's curiosity.
• Non-threatening strategies to engage prospective customers in a relationship-building online discussion.
• How to use email to find the names of corporate decision makers who hidden deep within the corporate bureaucracy.
• and more …

Can't make the session? It's being recorded and everyone who registers will be sent a link to download it as soon as it's available. Register now.