If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team before the new financial year kicks in.  Many markets have and are going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and ready for action.

The challenge for any business, especially those of us who run a small business with limited man power and resources, is to take the time out to work on our business and plan for the future rather than stay stuck in the day to day  of our businesses.  This is a vital part of our job and can set us up very well for the future.  If we stop and look to review and reassess our strategies, plans and actions and take into account what the market is doing, we in a better position to note the vital signs and opportunities that can help us secure our business future.  Ideally this type of process should be done on a regular basis at least formally twice to three times per year.

So with that in mind my team and I are putting aside Friday 2 May to come together and work on our business strategy for the next 3 years and our sales strategy for 2008/09 and beyond.  My business has gone though many iterations over the years and my long term goals are now coming to life.  I now what to ensure that we are on the right track and I thought I would share with you the process we are going through to help us put in place the best and right strategy for us to realise our goals and fulfill our market potential and expectations.

Now I confess that I am not the most detailed person and ‘planning’ is one of my challenges so to keep me focused and on track here are some of the questions we will be preparing to address and answer as part of our planning and strategising. Ultimately our aim in going through this process is to make sure we have a profitable and viable business.
Our vision and mission for being in business

• WHAT do we stand for?
• WHY are we in this market space?
• WHAT do we want to best known for?
• WHAT are the values the guide us in our work?
• WHAT are our goals for the next FY, 2-3 years, 5+ years?

Our Customers

• WHO are we specifically targeting?
• WHY are we targeting them?
• WHAT does a viable ‘ideal’ customer look like?
• HOW do we find them?
• WHAT do they specifically want or need now?
• WHAT problems do we currently solve for our customers?
• WHAT products/services to we use to solve their problems?
• ARE our products/ services/ solutions solving their problems effectively?
• WHAT might they want or need in the future?
• WHAT can we offer them in the future?
• HOW do they want to buy?
• HOW do we need to sell to them?
• HOW do they want our products / service delivered?
• WHAT is our customer acquisition & retention strategy?
• WHAT are their expectations of us?

Our Competitors

• WHO is our competition?
• Current Competition
• Peripheral Competition
• Emerging Competition
• WHAT markets are they operating in?
• WHY are they in this market space?
• WHAT is their primary objective / goal?
• WHAT do they do well?
• WHAT don’t they do well?
• HOW are we positioned against them?
• WHAT is our competitive advantage?

Our Value Proposition & Service Standards

• WHAT is our unique selling proposition (USP)?
• WHAT is our promise?
• WHAT is our sales expectation?
• WHAT is our service level standard?
• HOW effective are we?
• WHAT do we do well?
• WHAT do we need to be better at?

Marketing & Product

• HOW effective have our current marketing activities and tools been? (i.e. PR, SEO, Brochures, Events, etc.)
• WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to keep on using? & WHY?
• WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to stop using? & WHY?
• HOW effective is our current product mix? What are the most profitable areas? What are the least profitable areas?
• WHAT is the $ value of our average sale?
• WHAT product mix do we take to market?

Steps to ‘Yes’  (Sales Process)

• WHAT is our current sales cycle? (how long does it take to make a sale?)
• WHAT is our current ‘prospecting : sales’ ratio
• WHAT are our current sales activities and HOW often did we do them to achieve our current revenue? (Prospecting, Sales Meetings, Account Management & Networking)
• HOW effective have they been?
• HOW often do we need to prospect to make enough sales appointments with viable prospects to make enough sales to meet our goals?
• HOW effective is our current sales process?
• WHAT do we need to change to be more effective as sales people? (Structured sales communication process & skills, human relations, motivations; values, behaviours & attitudes; problem solving & decision making; self management, planning, etc.)

Sales Inputs & Outputs

• WHAT are our current Performance Expectations & Rewards
• HOW do we need to allocate customers? (by territory, industry, size, etc.)
• HOW do we set targets? (revenue allocation, profits, phasing, etc.)
• WHAT levels of responsibility and authority do each of us need to have?
• HOW do we currently manage revenue & profit?
• HOW do we forecast?
• HOW effective is our current CRM system in terms of capturing the right customer, marketing and other sales data?
• HOW effectively are our people at putting in the right data into our CRM?
• HOW effectively do we use the data we capture?

I hope this helps.

As many of you may be aware, putting together a business strategy and associated sales / marketing/ operation plans is all well and good, however they will remain intellectual abstractions until  we put them into action.  Good luck with your business and sales planning process.

If you want a Sales Planning template for your business call us on (+61) 03 9532 7677

Ever been treated with an attitude of indifference? Ever been ignored as a customer because you didn’t look the part or didn’t fit the stereotype of a typical buyer? Ever been fobbed off in favor of someone else because you are (supposedly) not famous enough, well connected or prestigious enough to do business with?

The world is littered with stories of people who were passed over and ignored by judgmental, blinkered sales people only to take their business somewhere else where they were treated with respect and were able to buy what they wanted despite how they may have appeared to others.

Take my grandfather for instance. My grandfather ran his own timber business and was mad keen about Mercedes Benz cars. When the first Mercedes Benz dealership opened in the 1950’s in Melbourne he drove from Geelong to Melbourne in his late model Ford dressed in his overalls and check shirt to the said dealership. When he got out of his car he was ignored by the senior sales guys – he didn’t look the part. So they sent out the young rookie to look after him. My grandfather spoke to the young man, asked to take one of the cars for a drive and when they got back to the dealership, he asked the young man how much could he get for his car as a trade-in if he paid cash. And with that he pulled out a huge wad of pound notes from his pocket to pay for the car in full view of the senior sales guys. Needless to say their jaws went slack and my grandfather made sure the manager gave the young rookie all the commission.

Just because a person doesn’t have a senior title or work for a prestigious firm, or is wearing the ‘right’ attire, driving the ‘right’ car, living in the ‘right’ suburb and appears to not have what you consider important to you, doesn’t mean they’re not worth talking too. You just never know who they really are, what they know, who they are connected to and what role they could play in your career or your life in the future. And even if you were to never meet them again why not still treat them with kindness and respect – god knows we could all do with a bit more kindness and respect in the world.

This then leads me to the networking circuit and the often ugly way some people use networking functions as a networking treadmill or career climbing frame often at the expense of others. You can see them playing favourites, ignoring those whom they deem to be beneath them and you feel they never genuinely connect with you as they scan you for what they can get out of you. I am sure you know what I mean.

Ok it’s a tactic and it can work to further your cause. Many people get what they want by this strategy but I wonder how many of them think about the consequence of their actions and if any of the people they stepped on or treated shabbily may come back into their lives in ways they never imagined.

I had such an experience recently. I was invited to speak at a major networking function by a long standing client of mine a couple of months ago. I was honoured to be asked, it was a great opportunity for me and wanted to do the best for my client and for my audience. However one of the main organizers of the event was the type of person who did not value you unless you had senior title or worked for a prestigious firm etc. Never mind the work you put in to make the event a success. Not worth knowing was the message this person sent out to me loud and clear. In fact I was so not worth knowing that they didn’t even bother to follow up post the event and did not return my calls and requests for feedback as to the success of otherwise of the event. Now I am a big girl and I know this can happen so you move on. Ce la vie.

A couple of months have past since the incident and I was sitting on a senior interview panel for a client of mine. I had been requested to participate because of my expertise in sales leadership.

Unbeknown to me, the person I am referring to turns up for one of the interviews. When they realized I was on the panel the look on their face said it all.

Embarrassing to say the least. Did I use this to my advantage? Of course not. I did the job I was there to do – assess each person’s suitability for a job. But I couldn’t help wondering later what was going through their mind and if they learned anything from the experience. I hope they did for their sake.

So the moral of the story is don’t burn your bridges or it may come back to bite you in ways you never imagined.

Starting out a prospecting call or receiving a customer call with a negative, resigned or flat, uninterested attitude will not inspire anyone and more than likely lose you customers. I find people are often very unaware of just how they come across to other people and then act surprised when people are rude to them or treat them with indifference. They do not seem to realise that they are often the cause of the response.

One of the key challenges of being in a customer-facing role (sales, customer service, technical support, etc.) is that you are not in control of the conditions that you face when doing your job. However, the one thing that you are in control of is your thoughts and consequently, your behaviours and attitude.

One of the key things to remember in any customer-facing role is that whatever you put out in terms of your behaviour and attitude you will attract back to you. This is called the Law of Reciprocity, or boomerang principle. Just as with a boomerang, when you throw it, it comes back to you, so it is for your behaviour and attitude. If you send out positive behaviour to your customers, then you will get the same in return.

As we know our thoughts drive our behaviour and attitudes. So if we want to create a shift around how we interact with our clients, we first need to have a look at the thoughts that we are having around providing service or working in a sales capacity as this will drive our behaviour and attitude and in turn, our client interaction.
Consider the difference between the following:

Negative thought = I’m so busy right now, the last thing I need is another customer calling up and wanting something.

Positive thought = I get pleasure from being really good at helping customers and make a difference to them.

Once we start to be conscious of our own behaviour, we can start to observe how our behaviour creates similar behaviours in others:

• I’m polite – the customer is polite
• I’m calm – the customer is calm
• I’m rude – the customer is rude

People state The Law of Reciprocity in many forms:

• “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”
• “You reap what you sow.”
• “You get what you give.”

As Terry Bragg of Peacemakers Training (www.terrybragg.com ) in the USA, states: ‘Reciprocity is a basis of trust and a basis for legitimate power. The principle is that others will reciprocate in kind based upon the way you treat them. The world gives you what you give to the world.

Social psychologists use the term “idiosyncrasy credits” that result from the favourable impressions we make on others. These credits accumulate and you can cash them in for favours or to get others to do things for us. ‘

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, uses the phrase “emotional bank account” to describe the principle of reciprocity and the corresponding credit-withdrawal process in relationships. Using the metaphor of a financial bank account, the emotional bank account describes the trust that accumulates in a relationship. Like the financial bank account, you must make deposits before you can make withdrawals. This ties in neatly with my article last week on Contact vs. Connection.

Here are Terry Bragg’s eight important points regarding The Law of Reciprocity:

1. People expect repayment over time. This is based upon the idea of social exchange. Reciprocity is an implicit assumption in most of our relationships. Giving and receiving favours is a common exchange. When someone does something for you, they implicitly expect that when the circumstance is right, you will do something of approximately equal value for them. For example, if your neighbour helps you put up a fence, your neighbour will expect you to help them when they put up a fence or need other assistance with their home. If you cover for someone at work, you expect that they will cover for you when you need their help.

2. Acts must be mutually rewarding. A successful relationship requires that all parties benefit from the relationship and invest in the relationship. Even when one party might be the primary giver, they still often have the expectation that they will receive in kind-if not from the other party then from the world at another time.

3. Deposits don’t simply accumulate. The value of the deposits can increase or decrease over time. People may forget or ignore small deposits. People may remember big favours and large deposits for longer periods. The value of deposits is what the other person perceives the value to be.

4. You can go in the red. You can wipe out your account with a single withdrawal. If you don’t have a large accumulation of credits, or you make a very large withdrawal, or you make many small withdrawals, you can go in the red.

5. You make deposits or receive credits by making favourable impressions on others-by doing things for them. You make deposits through courtesy, kindness, honesty, respect, and other favours. The favours are often small, but they accumulate over time as your relationship blossoms. The deposits build trust and create a history of what the parties involved in the relationship expect from each other.

6. A history of reciprocity promotes trust. People evaluate your actions and motives based upon their perceptions of your previous actions and motives.

7. Reciprocity is a very powerful form of power. The expectation of giving and returning favours creates an obligation to stick to agreements. This is a very powerful and psychologically binding expectation. Although they may never discuss the expectation openly, it is there and affects negotiations and relationships.

8. Reciprocity can be both positive and negative. If you harm others, they may seek revenge or retribution. People want to make things even in a relationship. They want to do good for those who have treated them well. They want to do harm to those who have harmed them.

By understanding and using the power of reciprocity, you can improve your relationships and avoid mistakes that can permanently damage your relationships. In life and work, you get what you give.

I wish you happy and prosperous selling and service careers.

Know the feeling when you make contact with someone and you both promise that you will keep in touch but never do? Or someone you met briefly at a function, where you exchanged business cards, calls you up asking for one favour after another never seeming to return the favour? Or others still who seem to make friends with you only to use you to get to someone else and drop you and soon as they do? Well you are not alone. These are some of the pitfalls when it comes to networking and selling.

I wrote earlier this year about networking and referred to ‘Farming’ as an effective approach to building your network. Farming is slow and steady which runs contrary to this fast paced world we live in, but done correctly and with care Farming can yield far more benefit for you and the people you network with as opposed to casting the net wide and shallow.

Therefore, I thought it would be useful to look at the difference between what we call ‘Contacts’ and ‘Connections’ in networking and see what defines each of them. And which one serves you better in building a solid and reliable network.

Contacts: By definition a contact is like having lots of little plants that don’t have deep roots. If you put pressure on the plant when it doesn’t have deep roots, it will topple over or pull away from the soil and die.

In networking terms:

• A contact is someone you know but haven’t formed a strong relationship with
• You are likely to have more contacts than you will connections
• Making contacts allows you to spread the net far and wide
• You will want to consider all your contacts with a view to understanding which contacts you will convert into connections and how you will do this.
• Having many contacts does increase your opportunities for referrals; however, the referrals won’t necessarily be qualified or come from a position of credibility. It will be up to you to build that credibility with your referral lead

Connections: Having a connection is like having a large tree with a deep root system. When you put pressure on the big tree or lean on it, its root system is strong enough to support this process.

In networking terms:

• A connection is someone whom you have known for some time
• You have a deeper relationship with a connection than you do with a contact
• A connection trusts you because you have taken the time to grow the relationship so that is solid which means you have established credibility with them
• A connection will be a powerful referral source for you based on their deeper relationship with you and their ability to refer from a point of credibility.
• Having a combination of Contacts and Connections is important in networking. The key is understanding which contacts you will turn into connections and apply the farming approach with a view to yielding powerful results over a longer period of time.

Are your expectations realistic?

Testing the strength of your networking relationships is much like testing the strength of your various friendships. Some friends you can ask only so much of and others will help you with almost anything. I mean, would you consider asking a contact to help you move house over and above a life long friend?

Unrealistic expectations about what your network can provide to you come from trying to lean on or use your contacts before they have turned into connections. What results is contacts providing support out of obligation or choosing not to provide support to you as they feel that you do not deserve it. In reality, for your contacts to work for you, you need to engagement at a deeper level and develop loyalty and respect them.
Here is a great piece of advice I was given a while back and it helped make sense of particularly difficult situation I was going through at the time. I feel it holds very true for this topic as well:

You have friends for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
With that in mind you may like to reflect on your own networking relationships. I suggest you list some people that sit in the Contacts camp and those that sit in the Connections camp. Reflect on what distinguishes these relationships from each other and seek to build more connections it just might be worth it.