‘Everybody lives by selling something’ was the trend, in our 12 Sales Trends for 2010, voted as second most important for businesses in 2010.  It is a very significant trend on many levels as it involves everyone, not just the people who are labelled as ‘sales’.

‘Everybody lives by selling something’ has had a profound impact on our business at Barrett. Since we introduced this as our core philosophy and principle behind our work it has been amazing how many people feel open to discuss the topic of selling and sales, especially those people who have been most reluctant to the concept of selling including professions such as Teaching, Law, Accounting, IT, HR, and Engineering.

At first, it seemed that this statement may narrow us to being seen as just ‘sales’ focused but in fact the opposite has occurred.  While ‘everybody lives by selling something’ has focused our attention on what we do well, it has also broadened our horizons in terms of who we work with.  This statement, coined back in the late 1800’s by Robert Louis Stevenson, has shifted the conversation to a broader landscape.  Beside sales teams, we now engage with, train and coach teachers, accountants, lawyers, engineers, and others who would never had considered selling as part of their professional repertoire.

‘Everybody lives by selling something’ seems to have allowed people to discuss an area that is fundamental to human relationships and communication, the principle of exchange.   In our lives we are all exchanging things of value.  Whether what we exchange is of value to others should be determined through effective communication, open dialogue, and trust.

Taken to an organisation wide level, everybody in a company has an impact on how the business communicates with and engages in the principle of exchange with its customers, suppliers, the broader community, and each other.

The legacy of silos in organisations, where departments distance themselves from each other, pitting their agenda against others to gain an upper hand, is the opposite of the principle ‘everybody lives by selling something’.  It flies in the face of being a fit, viable business, yet this still happens and businesses, staff, customers, and the broader community suffer as a result. All the bluster about being ‘world’s best practice’ or ‘best of breed’ comes undone in an instant when people forget that ‘everybody lives by selling something’.  The energy wasted, emotions expended, and distress caused because people think they were more important than the greater good of their company, their customers, and the community is very sad.

It reminds me of a simulation exercise we run with teams where people form groups (‘companies’) and then have to create their own departments. The dynamics of this particular simulation test people’s ability to choose between the greater good for their ‘company’ or the self-interest of their own department, thereby tests their ability to engage in the principle of exchange.   Although each group is a company in itself, they are also competing for points against the other groups (‘companies’) in the simulation. It is amazing how many people compete with people within their ‘company’ and end up losing out to a competing ‘company’.  Their focus falls internally and they miss the point entirely.

The irony is that while we say that we are focused on trying to stay ahead of our competitors with better products and services and snappy marketing, it is often the internal competitions (politicking, one-upmanship, disassociation from customers and sales) in our own organisations that is undermining our efforts to be effective, sales fit, and successful.

Everybody in our organisations needs to be an ambassador for our business, our message, and our brand. There needs to be recognition that we are in one of two roles 1) actively involved in selling or 2) supporting someone who is.

How well people and organisations embrace and practice this philosophy will be the test in 2010. We encourage you to have open discussions about ‘everybody lives by selling something’ in your business and see what happens.

Enlightened sales people and leaders already recognise that ‘product’ is only part of the sales process and that selling is actually a ‘value exchange’, underpinned by real relationships. Those companies that support and train all their people in a culture of proactive client engagement, transparent selling and proactive positive communication practices aligned with their strategy, will gain a significant competitive advantage in 2010.

So we would like to ask you, do you live by selling something?

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

Following on from last week’s article about managing and measuring the right things in sales, I thought it would be worth looking at some of the key principles for effective sales performance management systems.

The first place to start is to align your sales performance management system and subsequent key measures to your organisation’s strategy and goals.  It’s then the job of the CEO and the Sales Leader to ensure the organisation (that means everyone else who supports the sales effort)  is aligned to the sales performance management system.   When this dimension is in place the organisation is best placed to sustain high sales performance.

Issues arise when the non sales teams impose their ‘numbers’ or ‘tasks’ on sales teams which are unrelated to the effective sales performance.   i.e.

• The CFO being critical of missed forecasts and not looking into or understanding the underlying reasons why
• The Executive team demanding more activity (i.e. make more sales calls) and not understanding the potential negative impact on effectiveness
• Marketing engaging in lead generation activities that either generate the wrong leads or leads that require out of scope qualification meaning they’re in the forecast prematurely.

This leads to competing motivation, confusion and reduced sales performance across the board.

Another key area worth noting is the importance of addressing and working with values and explicit behaviours.  This is now much higher on the agenda of many businesses now, not just the outputs of performance as we discussed last week.

While the focus of this article is directed towards sales, this principles presented here can be applied to any role in your organisation. As you read through the items below, bear in mind that this is not prescriptive in nature and you should use only what works for you.

Principles of an Effective Performance Management System:

• Reflect an organisation’s values and strategy.
• Commitment to the system should be obtained from top management and communicated to all employees. Ideally input should be sought from all levels to gain their engagement.
• Business objectives need to be linked to team and individual accountabilities.
• Performance measures are developed for each function and individual to ensure that their performance is aligned with the needs of the organisation.
• Feedback is provided on an ongoing basis, not just during the annual performance review. For instance, this would include coaching conversations.
• Expectations and communication should be transparent and consistent at all times.
• Employee development and future behaviour are the focus of attention, not just past performance.
• A partnership between the employee and manager is developed based upon open dialogue, two-way feedback, and shared responsibility.
• Employees are encouraged to take accountability for their own performance and success.

Benefits of an Effective Performance Management System:

• Encourages open, constructive communication between managers and employees.
• Provides feedback on how people are doing on the job.
• Allows for mutual understanding (between manager and employee) of each employee’s job responsibilities and performance expectations.
• Facilitates identification of individual capabilities, strengths and areas for development.
• Identifies factors negatively affecting employee performance (e.g. work environment, job design, organisational policies and practices, personal issues, external factors, etc) so that action can be taken to alleviate them.
• A structured and documented process encourages objective evaluation and fair treatment.
• Assists in the achievement of strategic goals.
• A consistent way of setting goals, monitoring performance and formally reviewing performance.
• Self-managing for proactive individuals.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Sue Barrett is Managing Director of BARRETT

As part of my ongoing professional  and personal development I belong to a CEO leadership group where we meet monthly and discuss a whole range of topics to stimulate our thinking and decision making.

Recently we discussed the concept and qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs.  Besides making the obvious comparisons with ourselves as to whether we met the criteria of successful entrepreneurs I found the content translated extremely well into what I and other research is seeing in successful sales people today.

It seemed to me that successful sales people had a lot in common with successful entrepreneurs who are often the main sales people in their own businesses anyway.

I thought we could use this information to help us find and cultivate Entrepreneurial Sales People for our businesses, especially to help we entrepreneurs who need to grow our businesses beyond our own capabilities and personal time constraints.

Here is a summary of my notes:

1.    Successful Entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers note gamblers.

Unlike risk adverse people who avoid stepping outside their comfort zone and trying anything new or gamblers who seem to act before they think and often stake everything on one risky deal, Successful Entrepreneurs and successful sales people will step outside their comfort zone but not too far at first.  They will stretch themselves check for evidence of success and recalculate their actions to try and step out even further.  Good sales people do this with their clients all the time.  They will trial different options and gauge the interest and suitability of these options with their clients.  This is how new products or service emerge.

If you want to test someone’s entrepreneurial tendencies here is one way.  Play the game of Coits.  Ask anyone to try and get all six coits on the stand and see what they will do:

• Conservative, non risk takers will stand right over the top of the stand and not move dropping all six coits on the stand from above.
• Gamblers will stand far away and just throw hoping something will stick.
• Successful Entrepreneurs and successful sales people will take a few steps back throw 2 coits, get them on and then step further back and throw again always checking their accuracy.  If they miss one they will step in a bit throw again get the coit on and then step out again and so on.   They are engaging in self testing and feedback which is why they keep getting better.

2.    Needs
They also found Successful Entrepreneurs have 3 fundamental needs:

• need for achievement
• need for affiliation
• need for power or influence

It was found that the need for achievement was by far the most important, with successful  entrepreneurs marshalling the need for affiliation and power to support their need for achievement. This coincides with the research on successful sales people.

3.    Questioning

Non Entrepreneurs specialise in ‘Social’ Questioning’ which revolves around their need for affiliation and not much else.  Which is why I get annoyed when sales training over emphasises  ‘building rapport’.  You hear it all the time, sales people being told that to build rapport by asking about people about their personal lives, footy teams etc.  This is very old fashioned and not as effective as people think it is.  In fact for many first time client encounters it can be a real turn off for the client.  It often comes across as fake.  You will build more rapport by focusing on what you are really there to do – and that is work with clients priorities and address their issues.

Successful Entrepreneurs and Successful sales people specialise in ‘Opportunity’ Questioning.  Here they are looking for evidence that opportunities exist for them to work on effectively with others.  They are inquiring, curious and ideas oriented.

By looking at these qualities you can see you don’t need to start a business to have entrepreneurial tendencies.  Entrepreneurial qualities, in my opinion, can be applied in many roles, especially in sales roles and more people have them they we maybe recognise.

1. Who in your team, especially your sales team is showing these qualities?
2. How can you and they capitalise on this, especially in these markets?

With the world presently in a major transition we need more people taking calculated risks, being prepared to ask ‘opportunity’ questions and look to achieve great and positive things by marshalling affiliation, influence and power.

Your advocate for selling the right way.

1. “My most important appointment is prospecting and I do it first up every day.”
2. “I qualify all leads I generate and have an approach to handle those that aren’t ready yet.”
3. “People appreciate a professional sales approach and are able to make an informed decision to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because I clearly explain, up front, my reason for contacting them using a customer centred approach.  They need only say ‘no’ if they’re not interested.”
4. “I have a list of categorised prospects or influencers and a set approach for each category.”

Is this what you say, and how you feel and act about prospecting?

These four points about an exceptional prospector support our findings from over 40 years of international empirical research into prospecting behaviours.

Over the past 14 years, my team has conducted thousands of psychological assessments and interviews with both managers and salespeople about their prospecting and sales behaviours.

Our research has consistently revealed that salespeople often experience their greatest difficulties, dissatisfaction, and anxiety at the prospecting stage of the sales cycle.  Meanwhile, Sales Managers repeatedly express their frustration that they cannot find salespeople who are competent, confident, and motivated to prospect for new business.

Prospecting requires sales people to establish contact with people who might buy your products or services. Whether it is phone, face-to-face or group prospecting, inbound or outbound, nothing gets sold until you get in front of and/or talk to potential buyers.

Definition of Prospecting

Prospecting is looking for, qualifying, and pursuing potential sales opportunities with new and existing customers and appropriately developing viable prospects into profitable sales.

40 years of International Empirical Research in Prospecting
(Research Reference: Behavioral Sciences Research Press)

The research showed that the main predictor for success in sales is the amount of contact initiated with prospective buyers on a consistent basis!

Across industries, the sales people who sell the most are those who are most willing to get out and get in front of prospective buyers on a consistent daily basis. They sell more because, regardless of their talent, experience or knowledge, they always have new people to sell to.  They are visible and they manage their visibility so that customers know who they are and what they can do.

The hesitation to initiate contact with prospective buyers on a consistent daily basis is more responsible for the failure of competent, motivated, capable, revenue generating sales people than any other single factor. Nothing else even comes close.

Despite content or quality, no training can earn back what it costs until and unless sales people initiate contact in sufficient numbers with new and existing clients.

It is a reality that in order to achieve and exceed sales targets through attracting new business, a significant part of the process is going to come down to how well a sales person is able to apply themselves to the prospecting process.

So Prospecting Comes First!

Prospecting is not the only part of selling, or even the most important, however if you want to grow your business it must come first.  Unless a sales person will consistently prospect for new business, what difference does it make if they are empathetic or knows the product?

The Good News

While most sales people, by far, experience their greatest difficulties, dissatisfaction, and anxiety at the prospecting stage of the sales cycle, the good news is that many of their issues can be overcome and usually boil down to 2 key areas:

1. Lack of training in how to prospect effectively:  most people are thrown in the deep end and not given adequate training in clear processes and tools to show them how to prospect effectively.
2. Misconstrued beliefs and attitudes around prospecting: leading to people generating fear-based thoughts, and responses towards prospecting – in other words they avoid prospecting because they are scared of it.  These attitudes and subsequent behavioural responses are entirely learnt and can be easily unlearnt with the right support.

If you are at all concerned about your prospecting effectiveness, don’t worry you can address your concerns by using the right approach:

• If you don’t know how to prospect but are not scared to have a go then get skills training specifically covering a structured prospecting process and techniques.
• If you are afraid to prospect whether you are trained in a prospecting process and techniques or not then you would benefit from gaining insight into your beliefs and attitudes around your hesitation to prospect.  (This can be achieved with purpose built assessments and qualified feedback)

If you want advice, coaching or skills training on prospecting process and techniques call us on (+61) 03 9532 7677 or email contact@barrett.com.au

If you want to read more about effective prospecting go to Peak performance in prospecting

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the right way.

Take note: Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Marketing Consultants et al

Professional Services Firms are struggling when it comes to keeping and finding business.  This on top of the fact that many have to come to grips with the fact they need to sell.   The market has definitely changed.  You cannot sit there aggressively waiting for the phone to ring anymore.

In speaking with one partner from a well respected law firm, he vented his frustration at the lack of action being taken in his firm by partners and their teams in terms of driving the push to find new business in current and new accounts.  He stated that some teams were just sitting around with no work to do and no one knows what to do about it.

“It’s so frustrating, they just don’t even know how to pick up a phone and call clients and prospects.  They are just sitting there saying they have no work to do all the while our business is struggling to meet revenue targets.   While I know some service areas have been hit harder than others there is still work to be done and if we could only just get talking to customers we would be ok.  All I know to do is to get out and have coffee with as many clients as I can and even though I haven’t been trained in how to sell well am finding business.  Although I would like to know how to do it better for sure”.

Despite the tougher market, there are market opportunities are out there.  There is money to be made.  There are clients to be won!  However, many professional services firms are not realising their true potential.

Relying mainly on passive referrals for new business leads and glossy marketing materials, most professional services firms are not securing their current and future revenue streams.  They have left themselves vulnerable and weak.  In many cases they are not even accessing their existing client data bases to see what new business opportunities exist there.

And don’t even talk to them about cross selling and up selling other service lines – many remain trapped in the silo mentality.

Through our work and observations in the professional services sector, it appears many managing partners and principals are wanting more from their partners, directors, managers and associates when it comes to proactively building sustainable and profitable business relationships with their clients.  The problem is many of them do not know where  to start or how to do it.  They have tried to make a start by putting on a Business Development Manager but it’s really the partners and managers themselves that need to be out there selling as part of their job.

Our research shows that no longer is it good enough for these people to rely solely on their technical competence i.e. being only a lawyer or accountant.  Now and in the future, these people also need to effectively self promote and prospect for new business using professional and ethical sales strategies, demonstrating real value for money.

However, the sales function does not come naturally to most people in these professions and often they don’t possess the relevant tools necessary to make it work.  They certainly weren’t taught this at university.  In fact many were fed derogatory myths about selling and many still believe them to be true today.  Which is one of the reasons they are in trouble.

We have found that many professional services staff have not been shown the right way to sell or taught the behaviours and skills necessary to put them in a position to win quality business.  Often the sales function’s importance is undermined, underestimated or left to too few people, usually the most senior partner or “rain maker”, possibly leaving the business vulnerable to missed market opportunities, hidden revenue and competitor erosion.

Many firms lack the foundations to create a viable professional sales culture e.g.:

• Inaccurate or poor perception of what good selling really is and its importance to business
• Very poor skills in the sales area
• Partners and directors lacking direct accountability for new business and revenue growth
• Mixed messages: “I’ve got to find more business but if I don’t do my  6 billable hours I won’t meet my performance standards”.  Partners are being caught in the billable hour performance trap and not using putting the time to get out and grow business they can then pass on to their teams to deliver.
• No use of client data bases and a silo mentality limiting up sell and cross sell opportunities
• No new business sales strategy or plan
• No client retention strategy or plan
• No sales model for people to learn, follow and apply
• Sales limited to ‘pull’ prospecting strategies such as brochures, website, etc. at the expense of proactive prospecting and real professional relationship sales strategies
• No Key Performance Indicators and Key Result Areas linked to sales, new business growth etc.

To name a few.

Given that professional services firms are operating in an increasingly competitive market place with more sophisticated clients expecting higher levels of service and value and some of their services are at risk of being commoditised:

What are firms doing to differentiate themselves?
How are they ensuring their future viability and success?
How are they making sure they are sales fit?

The ones who get it right NOW will set themselves up well now and in the future.   Those that don’t will either be reduced to shadows of themselves or be out of business all together.

So to all you lawyers, accountants, engineers, and consultants out there, if you are not already, it’s time to get sales fit and learn how to sell the right way.

It will be worth it.

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the right way.