February 26, 2010

Sales Culture - language

The sophistication of language and culture are highly related. Eskimos have several words for "snow" to depict the substance they have become so familiar with. If you've watched curling on the Olympics, you've heard English speaking participants use terms and phrases like sweeping, burning, skip, rocks, hammers, draws, and biters. I know the common definitions of these words but I'm still trying to figure them out in curling! Wikipedia contains an excellent overview of the linguistic relativity principle also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The implication is obvious. Refining the vocabulary that your organization uses to describe their selling efforts will impact their sales culture.

It is easy to detect the signs of a weak sales culture. Firms that inter mix or confuse terms like marketing, selling and business development rarely have a strong sales orientation. Vocabulary that fails to distinguish between branding, advertising and lead generation are also indicators of an ineffective sales culture. If verbs like "prospecting" or "selling" are rarely used or even have a negative connotation, a sales culture may be non-existent. Sophisticated selling cultures use terms like monkey's paw, sales template, call-to-action, pain, behavior, prospecting plan and post-sell.

However, don't expect your team's vocabulary to change overnight. Understanding a new language as well as changing culture, requires incremental application and time. Like the Eskimo that sees the subtle difference in snow, your people will begin to appreciate and utilize their new comprehension of sales through your long term reinforcement of more discerning language.

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January 22, 2010

undermining beliefs

Geoff Colvin, author of  Talent is Overrated explains how beliefs, practice and time in an endeavor overrides any innate talent advantage.  He concludes that these are the true determinants of success in every profession.  Malcolm Gladwell's research in his book Outliers further supports this.  If you were fortunate enough to have parents say that you can do anything you set your mind to, the empirical evidence indicates they were right! (yes, my mother reads every one of these posts)

Effective salespeople are always speaking with new prospects and honing their skills and techniques to remain exceptional.  They make the effort and invest time to insure their success  When their habits or expectations deviate, barriers begin to form.  Have you ever seen a good salesperson performing at excellent levels and then suddenly plateau or worse, decline in performance?  In most cases, this is not a skills problem or an effort problem.  They have encountered a belief barrier.

Undermining beliefs and attitudes are common among struggling salespeople and may lead to complacency with income, goals or planning.  Beliefs such as: 

• Our product is expensive
• The economy impacts my sales
• The customer knows what they need
• Prospects tell the truth
• The prospect has all the power
• Don't upset a prospect
• Everyone should need what I sell
• The lower the price, the better

are all examples of undermining beliefs that will reduce sales effectiveness.  In these cases, working harder will have little impact.  The salesperson will hit invisible barriers at each sales opportunity.  If you have salespeople that have these beliefs, work on their beliefs!  Pounding your first on the table or providing motivational speeches won't be nearly as effective.  If you aren't sure they (or you) have these beliefs, there are many very good assessments available now to evaluate this that we regularly use with our clients.

December 31, 2009

comfort, practice and panic zones (3 of 3)

I often hear my clients say "Chip, I just wasn't comfortable with that yet" as if it were an acceptable reason not to engage in a new activity or use a new sales technique.  Well the world is changing as fast as ever.  For the first time since the 1940's, TV executives are saying they can't make money with free programming paid for by advertisers.  Blogs, search engine optimization and pay-per-click are now important lead generation tools that did not exist a few years ago.  You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict that business development practices will change rapidly this decade.

Noel Tichy is one of several management consultants that have popularized the notion of 3 zones of performance:  Comfort zone, Learning (or practice) zone and the Panic zone.  As we launch into a new decade, make a resolution to get out of your comfort zone and get into the practice zone (so you can stay out of the panic zone).  Failure to improve, change and adapt will only increase your stress.  A willingness to engage in new skills and strategies will reward you with another advantage over your competitor who is trying to remain in their Comfort Zone. 

December 16, 2009

december sales success - wait till next year?

As we approach the end of December, it's easy for the complacent salesperson to give up on 2009 as a "bust year".  Not so.  There are many prospects out there that have money to spend before year end.  I see this every year myself.  People buy emotionally and justify intellectually.  Emotional responses apply to your business prospects too.  "We need to spend this before year end or we'll lose the budget next year.  We are already looking at a loss, so an investment in our future this year makes sense to get 2010 off to a good start."  Sound familiar?

In general, I'm not a proponent of creating urgency with prospects.  Instead, the salesperson's job is to uncover it.  But December is a unique opportunity to exploit urgency with companies that manage their books on a calendar year.  And there are still 2 weeks left...

Sandler Rule:  There are no bad prospects - only bad salespeople.  Use these last 2 weeks to find prospects with year end urgency and get a step ahead of your complacent competition.  Even if they don't have a 12/31 deadline, you will have more prospects and positive momentum to start 2010.

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