Tag: Russ Lombardo

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Sales & Marketing

Selling the Customer What the Customer Needs – Not What You Want

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I’d like to tell you a little story about Sam, an old acquaintance of mine. The first time I met Sam I had stopped in his little general store while passing through town to buy some soda for my long car ride back home. His was the only store in this very small rural town and he did a sizable amount of business. As I walked down one of the aisles to get to the refrigerated coolers in the back where they kept the soda, I couldn’t help but notice that the shelves were loaded with containers of salt for sale. There were salt containers from the front of the aisle to the back, from top to bottom, and on both sides of the aisle. I couldn’t believe it, an entire aisle dedicated to just salt.
I grabbed a couple sodas and went to check out.

As Sam stood there smiling I said to him, “Excuse me, but I noticed you have hundreds and hundreds of salts for sale.”

Sam simply said, “Yup. That’s right.”

So I said, “Well, you must be one heck of a salt salesman to sell that much salt.”

Sam slyly responded, “Nope. Actually, I’m a terrible salt salesman. But the guy who sold me all that salt, now HE was a great salt salesman.”

Dumbfounded, I paid for my soda, went to my car, and drove home.

Since I had so much time to think during my long drive, I couldn’t help but wonder about how Sam’s salt plight was so typical of customers who end up purchasing something they don’t really need. They purchase what the sales person wants them to, which is not always what the customer really wants or needs. Obviously, Sam did not need all that salt, but the salesman made a good commission check on that sale nonetheless.

Do you think that the sales person who sold Sam all that salt has a snowball’s chance in you-know-where of EVER selling ANYTHING to Sam again? Of course not! If he sold Sam only what he really needed at the time, he would have had a chance to develop a relationship for life and, over that life-time relationship, he would end up selling a lot more salt than he did in that one single sale.

This is one of the biggest lessons in sales – Understand what the customer needs and sell him the right solution for those needs. In doing so, you not only have done right by the customer, but the customer will trust you and that is how a relationship begins. Since customers are more knowledgeable, and even sophisticated, in today’s market, they are looking for sales people who are more problem-solvers and planners who can work with them as a partner rather than someone who is just trying to sell them something. Therefore, sales reps need to sell VALUE, not products or services. By developing your relationship-selling skills you’ll position yourself as a partner who sells value, which will make you stand out from the normal crowd of sales reps who are pushing products down their client’s throats.

Relationship-selling involves listening, instead of “telling”. Asking the right questions, shutting up, and carefully listening to the responses are the key ingredients for doing this right. Prospects will tell you almost anything if you show you care about them. The traditional “sales pitch” is now replaced with an interview, with the goal of solving your prospect’s problems. By considering the prospect’s bottom-line, instead of your own quota, you create a win-win situation. By solving their problems, you will get the sale and both of you will win.

In a non-relationship selling environment, the sale rep spends very little time in the early stages of the sales cycle. These stages include the initial contact phase where rapport needs to be built and the qualification phase where you establish whether there’s a good fit or not before wasting a lot of time. As a result, that same sales rep ends up spending way too much time presenting the solution, since they don’t know exactly what the right solution is. Therefore, the negotiating and closing phases take proportionately longer.

To sell value and develop a relationship-selling environment, you need to become a strategic partner who can bring value to the entire relationship, right from the start. Spending more time in the up-front phases of the sales process to build rapport and trust and to properly qualify your prospect to understand their needs, will make the next steps in the process go much easier and quicker.

You also need to be easy to do business with. Don’t make every step a painful experience. Each step should be viewed as something that is helping your prospect and driving them toward the conclusion (“their” conclusion) that they would be crazy not to purchase from you. If you are viewed as a valued problem-solver, then you will actually help them make their decisions, which is what many customers need. In other words, be part of their team.

Remember, it’s all about the customer, and not about what is best for you. So next time, try positioning yourself this way instead of focusing on your own needs. You’ll end up selling a lot more salt than you ever did before.

Good Luck & 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.

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Sales & Marketing

Runaway Sales Calls

runaway-sales-call.jpgHave you ever been on a sales call where the client was in total control? Of course you were. We all were. And it’s a real bear trying to change things when it happens. At some point, it becomes a runaway sales call and the client has manipulated and controlled everything. When this occurs, you lose all negotiating power, your ability to identify their problems, the chance to close, and anything else that will help you win their business.
I was in one of those memorable events once along with one of my resellers, in a previous life. Since we only sold through the dealer channel (i.e., value-added resellers), I was there representing the software vendor I worked for at the time and supporting our reseller. So I let the reseller run the meeting. Sounds innocent enough. Yea, Right! The client had about four or five people in the room and were very polite and cordial. And then they brought in Hans, their “technical guru”. (Seriously, that was his name – Hans) That’s when things changed for the worse.
Hans began to tell us about how challenging their business was as one of the leading carpet manufacturers in the industry. They sold to carpet distributors (who sold to stores such as Home Depot), major retail outlets (such as Home Depot), small carpet dealers, and other various distribution channels. As a result, their challenge was forecasting future business, since many of their clients changed or canceled their orders even after his company started manufacturing their orders. This caused enormous wastes when not managed properly. So they were looking for a product that would help them plan their business, forecast sales, manage their accounts, and basically cure world hunger (well, not exactly, but that’s what it sounded like at the time).
Every time our reseller tried to present how our product could potentially solve his problem, Hans, in his heavy Bavarian accent, would shoot it down, saying in a condescending tone, “You don’t understand our business. That won’t work because…” It seemed like he kept trying to set us up with a description of a problem, only to say that anything we proposed wouldn’t work. It was as if he already knew it wouldn’t work before he opened his mouth. And, in fact, that’s exactly what was happening. You see, he told us that every vendor he brought in had the same useless solutions and we were no different than them. He proceeded to challenge us to solve his problem since no one else could. He was in total control of the meeting. He made it clear that he was bringing in vendor after vendor, only to chew them up and spit them out. This painful episode prevailed for quite some time, that is until I spoke.
Since I let the reseller do all the talking so far, I noticed that he was desperately trying to solve this guy’s problem and sell him our product. I, on the other hand, saw something else going on — a big game that Hans was enjoying. I think he called it “Kill the vendor”. He was, in fact, trying to find a solution since his problem was genuine. But he was using his unique situation to challenge every vendor he could get his hands on. That is until I realized that his problem was a process problem, not a technology issue. In other words, his problem was systemic and had to be resolved by the way they did business with their clients. Once that was resolved, then they could use technology to track and manage their business. Unless they fixed the way they handled their own customers, technology wouldn’t do them much good.
I waited for just the right moment to initiate a well-placed cough to get their attention. I then leaned forward in my chair and said, “Excuse me Hans, but what makes you think that technology can solve your problem.” He started to answer, but only a few half words and stutters came out. He stared at me, then at the ceiling. After what seemed like 5 minutes of total silence, he leaned forward and said, “No one has ever asked me that before.” So I said, “So what’s the answer?” And he said, “I don’t know. But I think you are on to something. We’ve been looking for a solution in the wrong place.” We then had a very cordial and intellectual discussion about business processes and how to handle customers who screw up his business by canceling orders after he started manufacturing them. Hans’ demeanor totally changed. He started treating us with respect and assigned himself a project to figure out how they will change their processes to resolve their internal issues. Only after that was done would he revisit technology.
I have since moved on and don’t know what Hans and his company ultimately decided to do. Frankly, I don’t think our product could have helped him anyway, but it was a very interesting exercise in managing a sales call. Wouldn’t you agree? With some good listening skills and asking just the right questions, you can keep control of your sales meetings, qualify your prospects, and arrive at the right solutions, even if that means walking away because you don’t have the right solution for their problem.
Good Luck & 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.

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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.