I just lost a deal. Boy, do I hate that! After I got done with my pity party (it was a good one), I had to act like an adult and ask myself “what’s your problem?”. Losing isn’t all bad, right? I grew up playing sports and now mainly play tennis. I still really (really, really) hate to lose. I am a gracious loser, always congratulating the winner and complimenting their game. It’s another story when I am back in my car away from my opponent. I will break down every shot, point and decision to see where I went wrong. I’ll think about where I lost concentration, momentum and so on. My husband is a tennis player so when I get home I spend the remainder of the evening thinking out loud to analyze the match with him.

The outcome is that during my next match, I don’t make the same mistakes, I pay attention to avoid similar pitfalls and with each match gain experience and expertise. I play at a much higher level than I did several years ago.

The benefits of losing exist in sales, too. I never make an excuse for why I lost in tennis yet I found myself making excuses for why I lost this deal. Too often, when I am on the winning side of a tennis match my opponent makes an excuse for why they lost. They say “I just played a three hour match last night and am tired today” or “my back has been acting up” or any number of other excuses. I make a point to never do this in tennis. So, why did I let myself do this in sales? It’s easy to blame the economy, the prospective client’s decision process, the dishonest opponent or any number of things other than ourselves. Maybe our egos are the problem. The reality is that these outside factors will exist in every deal I pursue so I might as well work on myself and how I can sell in an imperfect world, ego aside.

So, as I asked myself “What’s your problem?” I answered a few questions that I’ll share here. Maybe they will help someone going through a similar exercise.

• Did I stop to explore anything that may have indicated we weren’t the best fit? Or did I ignore my gut and continue down my sales path hoping that issue would go away?
• Did I follow my sales process?
• Did the client act as a partner through the process or was I doing all the work, hitting all the deadlines and “fetching”?
• Did I have complete access to everyone at the prospective client who would be involved in deciding the best solution?
• Did I involve the right resources in my own company to best showcase our solution?
• Did I understand what they were willing to pay for the outcomes they expected?
• Were they all on the same page and, if not, did I address that with someone?
• Did I understand what was going on in my client’s organization and where this fit contextually?
• What was my state of mind? Was I willing to walk away from a less than great match or was I desperate?
• After my presentation, did I have any clue where we stood?

These are just a few of the questions that have consumed my thoughts. We will lose and, as much as that hurts, we can take away very important lessons that will help us win more. We must be open, stop making excuses, put a time limit on the pity party and get back out there better equipped for the next round.

Happy Losing!

Jill

Meeting to Win, LLC

When times get tough, too often sales managers spend much of their time behind closed doors. Not because they are hiding, of course, but because they are being asked to send in report after report for senior leadership. Sometimes I think the senior leadership team is hoping some report will come in to reveal things aren’t as bad as they think. Who knows – one thing is for sure, poor performance equals more reports.

So, what can a sales manager do about it? Sales Managers can lead by example and spend time with their teams and their customers. Each week, sales managers should spend 3-4 days in the field attending customer meetings. Managers should get face-to-face with as many customers as possible and, with their reps, determine where they can add value. Managers can also use this time to stay close to their reps and provide coaching on existing and prospective customers and opportunities.

This is no small task. Schedules will be rearranged, managers may work longer hours and they may even have to push back on a deadline from senior leadership. Good things happen when managers commit to spending more time in the field with their reps and customers.

Just Sell Sales Quote of the Day

BONUS:
Check out Jill Konrath’s post today, 8 fresh, pertinent strategies to land big accounts.
#5 is one I’ll think about today as I continue my own business development campaign.

I’ve been reading Jonathan Farrington’s articles and blog posts for the past few months. He is very clearly in tune and insightful. As I have followed his work, I became aware of this Top Sales Experts initiative launching today, Feb 10th. I’ll share what seems like an amazing set of resources in Jonathan’s words.

Excerpt from Launch Message:

“Today, we opened the doors on Phase Two of the Top Sales Experts project, and we added a number of new resources, which we have in fact been working on for a number of months. We very much hope that you will want to be part of this forward thinking initiative and join us as we aim to create the most significant online sales orientated location available.
Please allow me to provide you with all the details:
First of all, what is TSE?”

(There are 14 days to get the introductory rate.)
To read the rest, visit here.

I am on a mission – a mission to eliminate cold calling from my business development strategy. Yeah, I know, it probably won’t work. Cold calling gets a bad name and the definition could be debated for hours. I consider “cold calling” calling someone I don’t know. I am always calling with a value proposition hypothesis and plenty of research under my belt, but still they don’t know me and I don’t know them. I think I am actually pretty good at these. When I am “in the zone” it is fun to reach out to organizations and share programs, tools and resources that could help them succeed. I’ve closed my largest, most rewarding win-win deals on cold calls, but…. is there a better way?

For the past 2 years, I have been using LinkedIn and fairly recently have put more focus on this tool. It is the most progress I have made on my mission to eliminate cold calling so it seemed like a good time to share some ways I’ve used LinkedIn to secure first meetings. I know that much has been written about using LinkedIn effectively. My experience has come from feeling my way around. Now that I see what a valuable tool is can be, I’ll make an effort to read more on the topic. For today, I will simply share my own experience and then turn to the experts for more ideas moving forward.

#1: We’ll start really tactical. Put your picture on your LinkedIn profile. This has truly warmed up more calls. When I see someones picture, it personalizes them and makes them a human being with human qualities instead of a salesperson with … well, salesperson qualities. I can others feel the same way because this has made a huge difference in the tone of my first conversations with prospective customers. This can work against you if you use the wrong picture, of course. (Did I need to mention that? Judging from some pictures, I’ll go with “yes”.)

#2: Use your LinkedIn profile as your Bio. Websites have Executive Bios listed often. Since my company is probably not going to post my bio and credentialize me, I figured that I could do it myself with LinkedIn. Make sure your LinkedIn profile, much like your resume would, focuses and showcases your experience as it relates to the product/service and value you bring to your customer relationships.

#3: Now, get that Bio out there. Use a link to it in your signature line as a way for a prospective customer to learn more about you and assess whether you may add value for them or not. This has been working so well for me.

#4: Make relevant connections. There could be much debate on this topic. How well should you know someone, etc? If I have had a valuable exchange with someone or we have had a meeting, I typically accept or invite that person to join my network. The purpose is to share referrals, ideas and stay in touch with those in your industry or prospect base. I am building a network of people using LinkedIn for the same reasons.

#5: Join one or more Groups. Recently I have begun joining relevant groups and these have enriched my professional life in several ways. I start and join discussions within these groups and gain many, many valuable ideas and insights. The most obvious product of my involvement in groups has been to add to my referral network. I have gained professional relationships that have resulted in introductions to prospective customers. I also connected someone I just met to a VP of Operations at a Fortune 100 company where his service might be a perfect fit. These are rewarding connections for many reasons.

#6: Start a Group. I’ve started two groups and the experience has been great. The intent needs to be to create an environment where your members feel they gain information, connections and access that helps them grow their business. It is important to keep these on track and not allow marketers to hi-jack your group. As a group manager, you do have some control over who can join and what they can post. No one will visit a Group that is all “commercials”. I’ve unjoined groups where this is rampant.

#7: Use LinkedIn applications to build your brand and reputation. LinkedIn now offers useful tools or applications that allow you to show your blog, share what books you like, post presentations, collaborate with other members, etc, etc, etc. They seem to be adding new ones regularly. Use these to your advantage.

#8: Right under your name, there is a “twitter-like” section that allows you to share what you are doing now. I update this a few times a week to share how I am helping my customers that week. Last week, it read “Jill is setting up Business Reviews with her Clients.” When you do this, it shows up as an update for all your connections and is there for all your profile visitors to see. It creates an impression of what you do and maybe why someone may want to work with you, also.

#9: Make it a habit to share referrals with your connections. I am always seeing who my network is connected with and gaining and giving introductions respectfully and appropriately (love Referral Flood by John Jantsch).

#10: Learn to navigate LinkedIn. LinkedIn is better than any tool I have found for finding contacts in organizations you’d like to work with. I’ve never been a user of tools like Jigsaw, etc. I have no opinion on them – I have simply never used them. I have never been let down by LinkedIn as a resource for contact names, though. It also seems LinkedIn users are open to networking and meeting when they stand to have a good exchange. They can check you out on LinkedIn, see who you are connected with and get a good idea of how you may help them.

So, this is simply 10 ideas from my experience. As more and more people join and use LinkedIn, I expect to learn more. An upcoming Meeting to Win series will focus on using LinkedIn as a sales tool because it is such a powerful way to build your brand and create loyal customers for YOU and your company.

Happy Linking!
Jill
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jillmyrick