Category: Sales & Marketing

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Sales & Marketing

Pricing Strategies

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A consulting colleague of mine recently sent me an email with a dilemma he was facing. His email said, “Hey Russ, I have two clients that I will be meeting with to review how I can help them improve their sales. We are looking at their business plans and reviewing their geographical market. What’s a fair hourly rate for someone to come in and review sales, processes and do a SWOT analysis?”
When I hear “hourly rate”, I usually think of my mechanic. “Well, your framastat isn’t passing signals to your defibulator, so we need to run some diagnostics and probably will have to replace your entire transgasual system. I’m guessing 12 hours at $200 per hour. Yes sir, we’re talking about $2400 or so for the job,” as he spits his cigar stub out of his mouth and into an oily can sitting next to my poor unsuspecting car. While this may be fine for the trades, business consultants can’t operate this way. We have to look at the big picture and consider the value of the work being done.
Rarely, if ever, do we go in and fix something that’s broke, like a framastat. Instead, we analyze symptoms, recommend ways to improve those conditions, and implement processes to enhance the customer’s situation. I liken that more to what a doctor does. They analyze what’s wrong and prescribe alternatives to correct the situation. If you agree with their prognosis, then you can either use that doctor to resolve your problem, choose another doctor, or take no action at all, in which case the problem will go away by itself or persist until you don’t feel it any longer or pass away as a result of ignoring it. In either case, you paid for the diagnostic visit, which is of value to you since you, a) know what’s wrong, and b) know what alternatives from which to choose. And the doctor’s visit costs the same amount no matter how long it took. He charged by visit, not by hour.
I never charge by the hour since it is subject to debate, negotiations, etc. I am not a mechanic? In fact, I don’t even charge by project. I charge by “value”. Here is how I responded to my colleague’s email. “Consider this — I’m sure you will do some prep work in advance of your meeting, and that will take some time. You will spend time on-site with your client. And, you will undoubtedly do follow-up work, such as write a needs analysis or implementation plan. Now, this final analysis or report is of value, right? And, your client could take it to another consulting firm to implement, or do it themselves. So you have to make sure you get enough out of it by showing your client it’s value, regardless of how many hours it takes you to complete. By the way, do you really have any idea how many hours it WILL take? Of course not.
“The real question is not how much to charge per hour, but how valuable will this project be to your client? And that is something only you (and your client) need to work out. But I will tell you this — I do nothing for just a few hundred dollars. It’s not worth my time to get a few bucks for a small project, unless it is one step toward a committed larger project (i.e., Phase 1). Why? Because my time is valuable too. These small jobs are often the customer’s attempt at trying to get free advice. If it only takes a brief moment to figure out, and therefore only worth a few dollars, then how valuable can it be? Not very! However, if this is multi-phased project and the first phase is a brief project plan or needs analysis, then it is definitely a valuable exercise and therefore worth doing, since it is part of a larger project. If the customer decides to use someone else to implement the solution you recommended, so be it. At least you’ll get paid for your efforts and the value delivered to the client. You need to ask a lot of questions to learn what pains they are having, find out the cost of those pains to the client, then associate a VALUE to the solution. That’s what your fee should be based upon.
“Oh, and by all means, DON’T DISCOUNT. If you do, you will be the ‘discount guy’ of your area and everyone will find out (because they’ll tell each other, especially if they are referrals) and you will forever have to discount for everyone. Bad habit! Instead of discounting, take away some value and sell what’s left for a lower fee.”
So, he took my advice and changed his approach. Darn! I just realized that I gave him free advice that had value. Oh well, it wasn’t that bad. My colleague ended up taking a full-time position with one of his clients. Perhaps he isn’t quite ready to enter the exciting world of consulting. When he learns about value-pricing, then I’m sure he will be one step closer to a new career.
Good luck and good selling!
RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Team Selling – There’s no “I” in Team, but there’s a “ME” in there

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You’ve heard the saying before that there is no “I” in team. And that’s true. A team is a collection of people working toward the same goal with the single objective of successfully reaching a satisfied conclusion. However, when you’re a sales rep there’s a slightly different spin on this little pearl of wisdom. Sometimes it’s a natural tendency to think more about “Me” than the team.
As a sales rep, you deal with a variety of people in a team-selling environment. In the early phases of selling when the opportunity is still new, you may deal with your inside sales or telemarketing people to help qualify the account. On the technical side you may engage the pre-sales systems engineer who works with the client’s technical or IT people. As you negotiate the deal the contracts people can get involved. When you get the order you could deal with your order entry staff. And, when the sale is made the customer support team may be deployed. There may even be additional people and departments you work with depending on your company and selling process.
Nevertheless, when it comes right down to it, who gets the ‘ax’ when the revenue numbers aren’t achieved? Who gets fired when the territory doesn’t hit quota? Who gets kicked to the curb when the big deal goes to a competitor? The SALES REP!!
We understand the concept of team selling and always want to be a “team player”. That’s a good thing since you need your team to help close business. Without the team, you cannot succeed. Don’t ever forget it. However, this advice can hurt you if you lose focus on who has the most at stake. Sure, this sounds selfish and greedy. But guess what, you’re the one whose commission plan has 50% at risk. If you don’t make your quota, half your income is at stake. The order entry people still get paid. The contracts administrator still takes home the same amount she did last month. Seems everyone still gets paid the same whether YOU get the deal or not – except you!
But wait! Don’t you also get paid the “Big Bucks” when you hit your quota? Don’t you get the huge bonus and over-rides when you “blow out” your numbers? What about then? Well, that my friend is what sales is all about. You are in a high-risk position. If you sell, you’re a hero and make lots of money (theoretically speaking, that is). And if you fail, you make less. Sometimes lots less. But what about the team?
If YOU have everything on the line, then who cares about the team? They get paid the same and you take all the risk. So why become a team player? You can’t spell team without “M” and “E”. So what about “ME” you say. Why should I care about the team? When I hear this from sales reps, I feel like crying. Some even believe that their team is there to serve their purposes and if things go wrong or they lose the deal, the team can take the fall. Teamwork doesn’t mean, “Let’s spread the blame as widely as possible.” It’s not about blame. It’s about success.
So, why should you care about your team? Well, if you don’t know by now, it might be too late. You cannot do your job without your team. Period! End of story! Sure, they get paid the same, win or lose. But they help make you a success. As that desperate man named Jerry said to the beautiful lady in that famous motion picture, “You complete me.” That’s exactly what your team does – they COMPLETE you. Team players in a sales environment sometimes have to weave a delicate thread when trying to balance their priorities. How do you take care of the team’s interests and priorities while not neglecting your own?
This reminds me of when I was on the high school wrestling team. Unlike football, which was truly a team sport, wrestling is a bit duplicitous. First, you are on a team and the entire team can have a winning or losing match, and season. However, each wrestler has to go out there and defeat their opponent one-on-one. You are on the mat all by yourself (well, with your opponent, of course). Your team isn’t out there with you trying to pin the other guy. If you win, that’s great for you. But you can win and your team can still lose if there aren’t enough individual wrestlers on your team who win.
In high school wrestling, each individual wrestler gets points for winning. If you win by scoring more individual points than your opponent, then your team gets, say, three points. If you pin your opponent, your team gets, say, five points. So you can pin your opponent in 10 seconds flat and look like a hero. But if the rest of your team doesn’t have enough individual points, the team loses. Sure, you can move on to wrestle in the District or Regional Championships, as an individual. But you could still be playing for a losing team. The best scenario I remember was having a personal success record and reaching the championship tournaments, while wrestling for a team with a winning season. Pride times two!
In sales, there is a big difference however. When the sales rep is out there on the mat with his or her opponent, the rest of the team is really out there too. The technical expert pitches in when needed. The contracts person does their part. Management helps where they can. And finally, if all goes well, the team overcomes diversity, the customer makes the best purchase decision for them, and everyone wins.
One way to ensure the team succeeds is to have a well-defined sales process. This entails laying out all the steps necessary to bring a sales lead from suspect to prospect to customer. The process should define who does what within each step, for how long they do it, how they hand off to the next responsible team player, if and when they get engaged again, and many more details that the entire team should understand and follow. The need for, and development of, sales processes is the subject of another article. In fact, books are written on this subject, not to mention the livelihood of many consultants dependent on them, including yours truly. But it is important to mention here as it relates to a team selling approach. No sense having a team if all the players are moving in different directions and cross-purposes.
So the next time you’re out there selling your head off, don’t forget you have a support team behind you whose sole purpose is to make the team, and you, succeed regardless of who gets paid what, and regardless of how you actually spell T.E.A.M.
Good luck and good selling!
RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Dead Man Talking

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If you are in sales and you just keep on talking instead of listening, you’re a DEAD MAN! Well, not literally, I hope. But as far as getting that sale, you might as well be walking among the non-living because chances are you won’t win over that client. They say that if you cross Selling with Talking, you get Stalking. So let’s not stalk our customers. Your goal should be to ask the right questions in order to get the prospect to talk as much as possible. The more they’re talking, the more you’re learning – learning about their needs, pains, requirements, and what it is that you might be able to help them with.
Listening is not something that comes natural for many people since it is human nature to prefer talking. And when people talk, their favorite topic is…you guessed it… THEMSELVES! People love talking about themselves. If you don’t believe that, try this little game next time you’re on a cross-country flight. Try asking the person sitting next to you open-ended questions such as, “What kind of work are you in?” and “What made you decide to go into that field” and “What sort of challenges do you find are most common in the work you do?” Watch how quickly they jump all over those questions. Why? Because they get to talk about their favorite subject – Themselves. I used to do this when I flew cross-country for a couple of years and would actually say nearly nothing the entire 5-hour flight, while my seating companion blabbered on the entire trip. It’s fun to do this, albeit rather trying on the nerves. But it is an excellent example of my point, not to mention excellent practice to help improve your listening skills.
So why is listening so important? Well, for one, we already mentioned that people prefer talking to listening. So, as a sales person you are actually letting them do what they want to do the most. Second, listening builds trust by showing you have respect for them. Also, listening compliments people by showing that you care. These are all reasons for listening that benefit the talker, or your prospective client. But what about you — the sales person. How can listening help you?
The secret to getting your prospect to tell you everything is to simply listen. Acquiring the skill of good listening will increase the amount of money you earn, period…end of story. As I mentioned earlier, you have to ask the right kinds of questions first in order to get them to talk to begin with. Ask open-ended question, or questions that don’t require a simple yes or no response. Open-ended questions typically begin with the words Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Build more questions based on the responses you receive from your previous questions. Ask questions about their company, their customers, their plans, what sort of challenges they are experiencing, what they did in the past to try to resolve those problems, and more. Get them to open up, then shut up and listen. You will gather very valuable information that will help you to better qualify your prospects and make the sale by getting them to purchase the exact solution to the problems they just described. But how do you listen?
A very good listening technique is called “Active Listening”. Active listening involves a bit of body language and verbal queues. When they are speaking, respond to certain points or topics with comments such as, “Really!”, “No kidding!”, “Wow!”, “What happened then?”, or “Tell me more.” This creates an interaction, but without you having to actually say anything. It also shows that you’re paying attention and interested. Also, listen with your body. Lean forward and toward the client to show you are interested. Never slouch or sit back looking too relaxed, else it will appear that you are bored and disinterested. Take notes. Even if they are not very meaningful or helpful to you later, taking notes shows that you are interested enough to log parts of the dialog for future reference.
Practice this at home. No, I don’t mean talk to yourself in the mirror and wait for an answer. I mean try this out on your family and friends. Try these same techniques on them and two things will happen. First, you will hone your skills for when you are in a selling situation, and we now know how that will help you. Second, your family and friends will realize that you really care and may actually say, “Wow, you are such a good conversationalist.” when ironically, you were just being a good listener. So don’t be a “dead man” (or woman) – Be a good listener and watch your sales increase.
RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Great Low-Cost PR Tactics

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Public relations can be an effective way to generate awareness and name recognition for your business. PR is also considered to be a low-cost alternative to other marketing tactics such as traditional advertising and media buying. Your PR strategy should begin with the following key elements:
1. Build your target list: Compile an accurate database of key media contacts.
2. Develop your hook: Tell a compelling story.
3. Follow up: Cultivate relationships with the media and stay in touch.
Following are five steps to help you get good PR:
1. Turbo-charge your press releases
Your news releases should be newsworthy, targeted to the appropriate contact and, above all, engaging. Break through the clutter by enclosing something unique or creative (related to your business) with your release.
2. Maximize email marketing
Email marketing software has made it easier than ever to send out professional newsletters and press releases. User-friendly templates let you customize, target and track your email releases. It’s a low-cost way to stay top-of-mind with the media. Constant Contact offers low-cost do-it-yourself email marketing solutions, as do Bronto and Benchmark Email.
3. Make the media’s job easier
Tailor your pitch to the appropriate writer or reporter. If you’re not sure who to send your release to, call the newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station first and ask. Respect their time and deadlines. Have a press kit ready if the media ask for more info, but don’t flood them with sales materials. Give them what they need, when they need it, and you’ll increase your chances for positive press coverage.
4. Develop relationships with press contacts
Network with the media at industry events. Make an effort to get to know local reporters and leverage those relationships. Establish yourself as a resource to reporters and editors. Need to find reporters or editors? Burrells,Luce Media Contacts database lists 300,000 contacts at 60,000 media outlets (fees vary). Or use Google News to search for news articles with the name of your company, your competitors or your industry, as a way to build a list of names of reporters.
5. Start a blog
Establishing a company blog is low-cost way to position your business as a leader and an expert in your field. You can then direct the media to your blog and include the URL in your press releases and emails. Blogger and WordPress are free, easy-to-use blog publishing tool that can have you up and blogging in minutes. An alternate, low-cost blog publishing site is TypePad.
If you work to become a reliable and trusted source to the media – and if you provide them with real news – they will put you and your business in a positive light.
LouBortonePhoto.jpgLou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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Sales & Marketing

Your Ideal Client – A Key Concept for Solo Business Marketing

How to identify who is – and more importantly, who isn’t!

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure
is trying to please everybody.” — Bill Cosby

Have you ever had clients that were more trouble than they were worth? Maybe they were always late to pay, or didn’t do what they said they’d do. Maybe you just had a personality clash, or they expected more than you were able to offer. Whatever the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client…a tiny voice that you didn’t listen to, that was probably overshadowed by the bigger voice that said, “Hey, it’s business; I’ll take it!”

Drawing The Line
Learn to say no to those clients, before they start draining your energy! The key to being able to do this is to understand Your Ideal Client. Once you know how to recognize who is ideal and who is not, you can practice turning down business from the latter. If you have trouble saying no, you’ll need to learn this critical business skill, and what to do to get rid of problem clients you already have; see the resources at the bottom of this article. If you have a coach, ask them to help you complete the Ideal Client exercise, or to role-play those “saying no” conversations.

How to Discover YOUR Ideal Client
There are many ways to approach the Ideal Client/Customer Profile. You can sit down and imagine the best, most wonderful client you could have–whether that is an abstract entity, a celebrity (what writer wouldn’t want Oprah as a customer, for example), or a specific demographic profile. If your customers are more likely to be companies, you could look at your current client list, and pick the company that gives you the most business, the most joy, the least heartburn.

The Ideal Client Profile
Whoever you pick, start a profile matrix with two columns: “My Ideal Client Is:” on the left; “My Ideal Client is Not:”, on the right. In the column on the left, list all the characteristics of that type of person or company. Use the questions below as prompts to get you thinking about all the different aspects of each client.

Then, either think of the opposite of all those aspects, or pick the “client from hell” and fill in corresponding traits in the right-hand column. Be really honest with this exercise! If you’d rather only have clients who make over $500,000, put that down! Your clients who don’t fit your Ideal characteristics, whether you write them down or not, will eventually know it. May as well get that over with early!

Prompts: Consider these aspects of your Ideal Customer or Client:

  • What career or business are they in?
  • What demographics do they fit? (age, sex, race, religion, income, marital status, etc.)
  • What do they think is important in business? In life?
  • What do they like most about you and your business, products and services?
  • What is the nature of their relationship with you? (transactional, long-time customer, acquaintance, friend, refers others to you, etc.)
  • How do they do business with you? (by phone, in person, on the Web; quick transactions, takes time to negotiate; pays early, on-time, at 30 days; etc.)
  • What personality characteristics do they have?
  • What do you get from them (besides payment)?

Now What?
Compare your current client list to the two columns in The Ideal Client Profile. How many have the characteristics of your Ideal Client? If the answer is “not many,” you may need to work on firing some of your clients! Check out some resources below on how to do this.

Next, post your Ideal Client Profile somewhere you will see it often. Every time a new potential client comes along, start looking for those Ideal characteristics…and beware the non-ideal! If that little voice starts to tell you something might be wrong, check in with the non-ideal list–and be ready with some ways to turn away non-ideal clients. Offer them other options–refer them to someone else who is a better fit, and make two people happier!

Ideal Clients–For Life
There are many ways to leverage the work you have just done with the Ideal Client Profile. Here are some ideas:

  • Audit your marketing materials. Do your business cards, brochures, ads and website appeal to your Ideal Client? Are you sending the right message, to the right potential clients? Hone your materials, and start seeing better-qualified potential clients walk in the door.
  • Consider your marketing channels. Based on your Ideal Client profile, where would you expect to find these clients? Is that where your marketing efforts are focused? If not, figure out a way to get in front of them!
  • Review your contracts, policies, terms and conditions. Are they set up to be friendly to your Ideal Clients? Do they give you clear avenues for dealing with non-ideal clients? If not, update them, and you might see non-ideal clients take care of themselves.

Start attracting your Ideal Clients today!