For some reason, there is often a sense of comfort when a prospective client asks us to do or provide something – see a demo, send me information, etc. We believe we have a solution that may meet their needs and we take their request as a sign that they may also believe that. As sales reps, happy to stay engaged with this prospect, we march off to provide the requested information. This prospective client may very well want this information and have a real plan to evaluate our solution and actually make a go/no-go decision on purchasing from us or not.
On the other hand, they may be making this request for any number of other reasons – and we may be playing along for any number of reasons. Those reasons can include:
They are too nice to tell you that have no intention of spending a dime with you.
They are busy and the fastest way to get rid of you is to send you on an errand.
They are really good at kicking the tires, but have no history of actually buying.
They stay in the eternal sales cycle never actually moving forward on anything. Professional window shoppers exist in every company.
They are afraid if they tell you “no” that you will keep trying to sell them. No one enjoys being on the receiving end of this tactic.
Your pursuit makes them feel important (ugly truth alert!).
They think they have some power to make this decision. Meanwhile, someone else is actually making the decision at some other level.
We feel “safe” to simply stay engaged in the sales cycle. We have something to report on our activity tracker, in our pipelines and during our team meeting updates. We’ve bought another week of activity.
You look so happy when they ask you for something.
Those just a few of the reasons sales reps are asked to run these errands. How do sales reps stop being gophers? One way is to lay out the next few steps or commitments on both sides. Next time you are asked to run an errand, ask what decision they plan to make once you provide the requested information and by when. For example, if they ask to see a demo of your software. Find out what they hope to gain from the demo (the demo may not be what they even need) and what decision they plan to make upon seeing the demo (no-go, take the next step, involve other decision makers, etc) and by when they plan to make the decision (is there even a timeline?).
It feels “safe” to stay engaged and really….it’s a collosal waste of time. Stop playing it “safe” and start helping your clients make decisions that will ultimately help their businesses succeed. Get commitments before you run the errand – everyone wins when you have an efficient process.
I am getting ready to play my first tennis match in over a year and a half. As I look forward to the match, I am reminded of something my father said to me during one of our matches years ago. Something that I have thought about during every match since when I feel like I am on defense more than I’d like to be. He looked frustrated and said “You’re not playing to win. You’re playing to NOT lose.” He described exactly what I was doing. I was back running down shots, going right where he wanted me to go, just getting the ball in play to live for another point. He was in charge, setting the pace and … having more fun than me. During that match and countless others since then, I have had to change my mindset mid-match and play to win instead of play to NOT lose. For me that means, charge the net, put some shots away, get on the offense, control the pace of the game and, in many of those cases (still not against my Dad…), win. Even when I didn’t win, I walked away knowing I did everything I could and was proud of my game, effort and attitude. There was no risk I hadn’t taken and, therefore, no “what ifs”.
I took my Dad’s insightful observation into my sales life, too, and, man, did life get more fun. Instead of sitting back following the process, chasing the RFP, settling for meeting with non-decision makers, wondering what the competitors were doing, giving discounts and sounding like 80% of other reps out there, I made a clear effort to “charge the net”.
How do you know if you are playing to win or playing to not lose?
Are you:
Following the buying process blindly without challenging steps that don’t help your cusotmers make good decisions?
Meeting with people who can’t make decisions?
More worried about your activity report volume than the quality of your activities?
Spending time on RFPs that restrict your ability to sell by limiting your ability to diagnose and share solutions?
Constantly running off to fetch the next thing your prospective customer needs with no commitments from them (”send me a proposal”, “do an assessment”, “send me a brochure”, “come do a demo”, etc)?
Coming in second or third place?
Getting surprised late in sales cycles?
Or are you:
Creating opportunities by shining light on problems prospective customers didn’t know they had?
Challenging dysfunctional buying processes that hinder your customer from getting the best possible solution?
Sharing solutions your clients didn’t know existed to problems they didn’t know they had?
Bringing new ideas, industry expertise and innovative solutions to the table?
Getting full price for the value of service you provide?
Getting creative on negotiations?
Risking offending non-decision makers to get to the actual decision makers?
Addressing sales cycle slow downs head-on and honestly?
Not afraid to walk away?
Not afraid to say and do the right thing no matter the outcome?
It is so much more exciting to play to win. It takes more energy and guts, but it is so worth it. Charge the net this week!
Sales team meeting idea:
At your next sales team meeting, ask each team member to bring their current pipeline.
Ask each person to examine their pipeline for opportunities to “charge the net”.
Each rep should pick one deal and take a well-planned risk. Get to decision makers, challenge a bad decision, ask about the competition, exit an RFP opportunity, etc. As long as the risk will ultimately help you help your customer make a better decision (even if it’s not you), then take the risk.
Each rep should walk away with one risk to take within the next week.
Plan to report back on the outcomes of the team’s risk-taking. Not all will go well – that’s why we call it a “risk”. So be it…
Play to win. Charge the net. Have more fun.
(Post brought to you by Jill Myrick of Meeting to Win. Meeting to Win provides sales team meeting agendas for Sales Managers who want to take their team to the next level. Play to Win, Not to NOT Lose is the April 2, 2010 Agenda Topic. To get a new sales team meeting topic each week, visit us at http://www.meetingtowin.com/ to subscribe.)
I’ve had many conversations lately about movement in the marketplace. Personally, I’ve been taking calls all week from business leaders moving forward on initiatives they’ve been sitting on for months. Customers are making moves, looking for solutions and ready to move forward. I love it! I can feel it in the air.
This week our focus has been on treating our existing customers like the gold that they are. Salespeople need to be proactive to ensure they stay part of the customer team as they forge ahead. One way to do that is to be visibly accountable. This means that salespeople need to proactively manage themselves so the client doesn’t have to. There are a few ways to do this.
First of all, set up a process for regular business reviews. I believe these should be conducted quarterly and formally. This means there should be a formal agenda that covers:
A review of the original scope of work.
The actual scope of work – what’s changed (something always does!) and what adjustments have been made. This topic ensures everyone is on the same page with the way the partnership has evolved.
The successes and shortfalls. How to make the most of the successes and how to adjust to fix the shortfalls.
An updated Needs Analysis. Find out what has changed in their business, priorities, etc. Uncover new opportunities.
Next steps/Action Items
Customers should leave these business reviews feeling great about their investment with you. They don’t need to micromanage the partnership, you are doing that for them.
Secondly, get to know new people in the account regularly. Ask to speak to people who are impacted by or work with your solutions. Find out what they like, what they don’t, etc. Make sure they have your contact information. You are probably the only one talking to all involved! You will have an amazing perspective and be able to bring useful ideas to the table based on these relationships. Not to mention, your name will be mentioned in many conversations as if you are part of the team!
Then, provide regular emailed updates to senior decision makers. Often, once an account is won, the more senior decision makers move on to the next priority leaving functional people to manage the relationship. Often, the salesperson’s relationship with the real decision makers is harder to maintain and grow. To keep developing that relationship, send an update once a month or every 6 weeks hitting the highlights of recent events and successes. (You may be amazed at the places these emails will get forwarded.) They will appreciate it, feel informed and see you as a true partner and you’ll keep developing this important relationship.
Another way to stay visibly accountable is to put your bosses in front of the client regularly. Bring them to quarterly business reviews or other meetings. Make sure the client sees that your senior leadership team is aware of the work your companies do together. They will feel supported and important when they see the team behind you.
Demonstrate to your clients how important they are by holding yourself accountable in plain sight. They will see you as a valuable team member who takes initiative and ownership of results. You’ll be a dream employee they won’t want to see go.
To get sales team meeting agendas designed to develop your sales team and accelerate sales performance, visit Meeting to Win (http://www.meetingtowin.com/) and subscribe for weekly agendas. We love to work with Sales Managers who see the value of investing in their teams!
(This week’s Meeting to Win sales team meeting agenda is called 10 Things You Don’t Know. To join us and get new sales team meeting agendas weekly, visit us at Meeting to Win.)
Salespeople are wise to focus on their existing customer base to impact success during economic recovery. Competitors are getting creative and aggressive and existing relationships could be up for grabs … unless…you treat your existing clients like new customers. Think about how you treat new customers.
During economic recovery, treat your customers like new customers by trying the following things:
Conduct a thorough needs-analysis with them to make sure your solutions still are solutions. Their business has likely changed like the rest of the world.
Find out where they need help and deliver.
Figure out how your company can better service them – clear billing, better response on customer service issues, etc.
Bring senior leaders to face-to-face meetings to thank them for their business and show how valuable they are to your company.
Sincerely thank them for their business.
Share new ways to solve old and new problems.
Share industry expertise. Help them be innovative.
Help them help their customers succeed.
Learn everything you can about their business – you’ll recognize ways to help them the more you know their business.
Be attentive, present and part of the team.
Commit to quarterly business reviews to hold yourself accountable to the results you promised.
Make sure they know all that you can do for them. (Exercise: Think of 10 things your top customers may not know about your offering that may help them.) Figure out how to share all your services without giving a sales pitch. Your competitors are sharing this information. It’s best to share this information in response to a business need they have.
Be someone they can’t live without.
Competitors are gunning for your clients. Treat your existing customers like the gold that they are.
(To get sales team meeting agendas with exercises and role plays on topics like 10 Things You Don’t Know and other great selling topics, join the Meeting to Win community by subscribing today.)
“Micromanagement” is a 4-letter word to most sales professionals. Most sales reps strive to get to the point where their bosses “leave them alone as long as they get the job done”. There are times when micromanagement is actually helpful. Two of those times are (1) during the first month on the job or (2) when a sales rep is underperforming.
During these two time periods, Sales Managers have the responsibility to help their team members succeed. One “micromanagement” activity that I have seen work over and over during these two time periods in a sales career is the AM/PM Check-In Meeting.
Each morning and afternoon for one month at the beginning of the sales day and at the end of the sales day, set a time for the sales rep to call the sales manager. This should a 5-10 minute call with a set agenda. This is less than an hour a week a Sales Manager and sales rep can invest in the success of a territory. The AM Agenda should include the rep’s plan for the day and the PM Agenda should include an update on the activity they planned and executed. This AM/PM Meeting provides needed, regular guidance and accountability as a rep is building their business.
Invest in success with the AM/PM Check-In Meeting and watch the territory grow!
Post brought to you by Jill Myrick, Owner of Meeting to Win. Subscribe and get a new sales team meeting agenda packed with skill-building, sales-producing topics every week.
This is Part 3 in our Maximize Customer Meetings Series. This Friday, March 19th, the third agenda in the series goes out to subscribers. The 3 part series will soon be available on our store, also. To get weekly sales team meeting exercises that cover this and many more selling topics, subscribe to Meeting to Win today.
You’ve followed the steps to prepare and execute a productive customer meeting. You’re not done yet! To maximize the work done on this customer meeting so far, it is helpful to send comprehensive and organized Meeting Notes after the meeting. This is where many sales professionals quit. Following up thoroughly is a great way to gain a competitive edge in a sales cycle.
Get started the day of your customer meeting.
Typically, sales representatives will send a quick thank you note via email to the customer.
In that short thank you e-mail, let the customer know you will send them more comprehensive Meeting Notes to outline everything discussed and agreed upon along with a timeline of next steps.
This action gives the customer some ownership in this process immediately following the meeting and sets you both up to accomplish something, therefore, maximizing your meeting.
Within 48 hours send your Meeting Notes. Meeting Notes should include:
A bulleted list of the information the sales representative learned about the customer’s needs.
A list of action items for both the sales rep and the customer along with time lines.
A couple of bullets with high-level ideas on possible solutions you discussed while meeting.
Possible pricing scenarios (if discussed in meeting).
Call to action. At this point, let the customer know what to expect next. For example, “we will contact your administrative assistant to set up a time for you to tour our plant”.
Benefits of using Meeting Notes after a customer meeting:
By outlining this in writing post-meeting the customer has the opportunity to correct any wrong or missing information. This is critically important for the sales representative who is formulating a solution.
This demonstrates to the customer that the sales representative has a clear understanding of the needs which builds confidence and trust and ultimately rapport.
Customer is agreeing to next steps and is sharing in the ownership of finding a solution.
Often customers use these Meeting Notes internally to share progress on finding a solution or to report to senior leaders. This builds your good reputation with more of your customer’s leadership, saves them work and demonstrates that you have their best interests in mind.
Clear communication along the way is critically important when problems or misunderstandings arise in sales cycles. The relationship built along the way can make or break a sales as it gets closer to closing.
Sales Team Meeting Idea:
Ask the team to come prepared to discuss a recent customer meeting that resulted in next steps.
As a team, write your Meeting Notes and share them with the group.
Provide feedback for each other on appearance, communication style and ease of use.
To get more in depth sales training exercises and practice on this topic, subscribe for Meeting to Win sales team meeting agendas here.
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(We are continuing with our Meeting to Win 3-week sales team meeting agenda series, Maxmize Customer Meetings. We invited a friend of Meeting to Win, Kathleen Steffey, CEO and Founder of Naviga Business Services to share some great advice for the before the meeting in Don’t Wing It.)
Don’t Wing It
by Kathleen Steffey, CEO/Founder of Naviga Business Services
Quiz time: What are the five biggest challenges your prospects and clients are dealing with and how does your solution address them?
If you can’t answer that question, you need to hit the books. How can you possibly position your solution as a way to relieve your prospect’s pain if you don’t understand the source of their discomfort?
A solid working knowledge of industry issues lets you anticipate the most common objections and develop standard responses that overcome them. It lets you develop a standard list of leading questions that shift the focus from the prospect’s concern about spending money to the return they will realize from their investment into your solution.
It keeps you in control of the sales process and helps you establish a rapport and build a foundation of trust.
Is your client’s industry faced with a talent shortage? If so, how does your solution help the prospect function effectively with fewer people, or raise their profile so they can better-compete for top professionals?
Is the economic downturn causing belt-tightening? If so, how does your solution help lower production costs, reduce overhead or improve productivity?
Top sales professionals make time to keep up on the industries they serve. They read the top trade journals, find the blogs and online sites that cover their business and industry. They listen to what their clients are saying.
Follow their lead. Use the information you glean from these sources to develop a library of standard responses and questions. Practice them until you know them cold.
Now you’re ready to respond to whatever objection your prospects throw at you so you can lead them down the path to a value-based sale.
(Meeting to Win thanks Kathleen for her insights in Don’t Wing It. To get weekly sales team meeting agendas on Maxmizing Customer Meetings and many other sales performance topics, subscribe to Meeting to Win weekly sales team meeting agendas today. We look forward to working with you.)
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Sales Meeting Agenda Idea – Dust Off the Sales Training Manuals
Enjoy a sales meeting agenda idea for your next sales meeting.
Ask your team to dust off (literally) the sales training manual from your latest sales training session. Assign each person on the team one section and ask them to lead the team in the exercises, role plays and discussions from the training session over the course of the next few sales team meetings. This will reinforce the training you’ve already received and give the team a chance to practice the new skills.
Start each meeting with an update from each person regarding how they used the previous week’s lesson in the field and the outcome of that effort.
Enjoy your sales meetings while building your sales skills.
(To get new sales meeting agendas each week, join Meeting to Win. We provide energizing, fun sales team meeting agendas for motivating sales meetings.)
Great weekly sales team meetings can be powerful Sales Performance Engines. Is yours? If not, there might be a quick fix to take your team to higher and higher heights.
Take the assessment to determine if there is room to improve your weekly sales team meeting.
Sales Team Meeting Assessment: Is There Room for Improvement in Your Weekly Sales Team Meetings?
1. My team would join my weekly sales team meeting if attendance was optional.
(A) Yes
(B) No
2. I, the Sales Manager, am talking more than 50% of the meeting time.
(A) Less than 50% – Others are talking the other 50%
(B) Yes, I do most of the talking.
3. We set a clear goal for our sales team meetings and leave knowing if we accomplished that goal or not?
(A) Yes, our meetings have a purpose and a clear goal.
(B) No, our meetings do not have a clear objective.
4. In our sales team meetings, everyone is expected to contribute and actively participate?
(A) Yes. Our sales team meetings are a team effort. We see it as everyone’s resposibility to use this time wisely.
(B) No, sometimes I think people are checking email during the meeting.
5. Everyone leaves each meeting with a new idea to try or a new skill to practice in the field that week.
(A) Yes, our meetings equip our teams to sell more that very week.
(B) No. We usually just go over numbers and hear what everyone accomplished last week.
6. My sales team meeting agenda is sent in advance so everyone can prepare for a great meeting.
(A) Yes.
(B) We do not have an agenda and, if we do, it is not sent in advance.
7. My sales team meeting topics
(A) Are relevant to our current selling environment – challenges, initiatives and goals.
(B) Are the same every week.
8. My sales team would say our weekly sales team meeting is a great use of their time.
(A) Yes!
(B) Probably not. I’d be afraid to ask.
9. My team ties successes in the field to something they learned during a sales team meeting.
(A) Yes, often.
(B) Rarely if ever.
If you find yourself marking (B) to any of the above questions, there is probably room for improvement in the way you execute your sales team meetings. This blog lists many resources -articles and tools – to improve your sales team meetings. Of course, Meeting to Win is happy to help, also. Contact us to set up a consultation. We’ll be happy to provide some guidance and point you to the tools available to begin using your sales meetings as sales engines.
(This post brought to you by sales team meeting expert, Jill Myrick of Meeting to Win. Meeting to Win provides weekly sales team meeting agendas and best practices to turn your sales team meetings into sales performance engines. Join us by subscribing here.)
We are packaging our posts and sending them once per week to subscribers each Monday morning. To get your Meeting to Win Posts every Monday, subscribe now.
(This Friday Meeting to Win begins a 3-week series called Maximize Customer Meetings – Before, During and After. To join us, subscribe here.)
As sales professionals we spend a lot of time talking about, reporting on and pursuing … customer meetings. It makes sense to spend considerable time preparing for these somewhat rare opportunities. One bad meeting with a client and it may be the last time you ever see them – or at the very least you may get delegated to someone without as much authority. A good meeting and it could be the beginning of a great relationship. So, life or death? Close!
Now, you’ve got the meeting – Congratulations. What next?
Today, we will focus on one aspect of meeting preparation to maximize your customer meeting - involve your customer in meeting preparation. Too often sales professionals don’t include their customers in building the agenda or working toward the meeting goal. What happens instead is that the salesperson shows up with the same slides or brochure they use on every first meeting and the customer sits back waiting for the show. Years and years of sales meetings have taught sales reps to perform and customers to spectate. As a customer, I have actually enjoyed some of these shows. Salespeople can really dazzle. The problem is that I am allowed to be lazy, watch the show and see if anything intrigues me enough to move forward. I am not prepared to act or prompted to action. Before I learned how to be a better buyer I saw some amazing shows, with many performers. One of those performances was from a company who wanted to build our sales team’s intranet. They never got a dime of business, but I got a lot of great shows. If I had been asked to get involved in the process at any point, they would have wasted a lot less of everyone’s time. That experience taught me to be a better customer and get involved even when I wasn’t asked. As a salesperson, it taught me to get the buyer in on the work.
Here is something I began to do with great success. Not only did I have productive meetings, I also consolidated sales cycle steps, met more decision makers and built trust and rapport. You can try it and see if you get the same results.
At your next customer meeting, ask the customer to share the responsibility for a productive meeting. Send them an agenda is advance with the goal for the meeting along with an agenda to follow. Ask them for their input on the goal and agenda for the meeting. Once you both agree upon how you will spend your time together it is both parties responsibility to bring the data, people or anything else that will help get the meeting goal accomplished.
Now, you are sharing responsibility for a great meeting that uses everyone’s time wisely and gets everyone working toward the same goal – helping that company. You are a partner instead of a vendor.
Sales Team Meeting Agenda Idea:
Ask each rep to bring information about all upcoming customer meetings.
For each meeting, ask each rep to share the desired outcome or goal of that meeting.
Ask each rep to share how they plan to accomplish this outcome (this will be the agenda).
Determine what responsibility the customer has in meeting the goal of the meeting.
Ask each rep to choose one meeting and write an e-mail script for sharing the meeting goal and agenda and asking for the customer’s agreement and/or input on the goal and agenda.
Share the script with the team for feedback.
Revise the scripts based on feedback and try this before the customer meeting.
Plan to report back on the outcome of using the e-mail scripts before customer meetings
(To get more in-depth sales team meeting exercises along with full agendas, sample scripts, field work assignments and sales tips, visit Meeting to Win and subscribe for weekly sales team meeting agendas and exercises.)
