Social Sales was voted by you as the number 4  Sales Trend for 2010.  Arguably, social media is contributing to the democratisation of information and, armed with this information, customers will demand different things from sales people and companies. Customers are tuning into online communities, blogs, forums, and social networks to gather information and make buying decisions.

For instance, the retail car market is undergoing significant changes with customers firmly in the driver’s seat.  With the emergence of the information age consumers have far more knowledge about what to buy and where to buy it.  On the whole, customers are doing their research, checking with their networks and peers groups, reading or viewing the latest comments online, and have potentially even made a buying decision before they step into a store.  This is fast becoming the norm in car sales.  No longer is the sales consultant one of the first to engage with the prospective buyer, today they may be near last when the customer walks through the door.   Smart businesses will realise that engaging with the customer has changed and to speak with and meet viable prospective buyers they need to migrate to a new level.

In the B2B (business to business) space buyer behaviours are changing too.  The buyer is either a purchasing agent or decision maker and they are armed with far better information well before they interact with a sales person.  This will demand a different relationship.

If sales people see their role as only being ‘educational’ they will be unable to match the requirements and expectations of customers. People are getting tired of the old sales model of ‘shut up and listen’, especially if the information they are getting is patronising, know-it-all, we’re the best, readily available on the web and in some cases incorrect or outdated.

It is important that sales people recognise that customers are likely to be as informed about the product as they are (or at least believe they are).  Customers are influenced beyond the boundaries of traditional businesses and long held relationships.  We, the sales person, are unlikely to be the first person the customer will go to, even with established relationships.  The long held tradition of key account management where every person of influence in a customer account is mapped on a ‘blue sheet’ and armies of account teams are marched to surround the customer are numbered. In many cases, they are now surrounded by social media.

Customers are using social media to build up independent knowledge, and compare and contrast information and opinions. This knowledge gives the customer power, and that power fundamentally changes the dynamics of the sales relationship. The web has also opened up communication channels which has changed the landscape forever. The old model is magnified; where in the past consumers used to tell 5 others if they were happy with an experience and 11 or more if they were unhappy, they can now communicate, positive or negative, in real-time with other consumers on a massive scale.

B2B customers are demanding a different relationship.  They want to interact with a sales person that legitimately questions, challenges ideas and innovations, and can clearly articulate how they will work to bring value beyond the product.

Rather than go and talk to buyers alone, sales people and businesses need to go to the social networks to listen to, observe and interact with customers to help find a footing and take note of the consumer voice.
Social Sales will also demand that the sales team work in collaboration with the marketing group to help seed the right information about their offerings into their markets and networks where their customers look to for information and to exchange ideas.  Customers want to see your work in action and get feedback from the sources they trust.

Entering into the Social Sales world also requires sales people to put aside their reluctance and adopt new technology.  Social Sales is the dawn of the new salesperson that doesn’t shy away from using information and systems to their advantage.  The Social Salesperson will make the most of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems interlinking CRM functionality to connect with social media, marketing, campaigns, networks, etc. to track the threads of customer conversations, opinions and ideas.  CRM can no longer be ignored or treated as a telephone directory by sales people and businesses.

The responsibility for Social Sales doesn’t just reside with the sales team either, it needs to go all the way along the whole sales chain and beyond. At a recent leader’s conference, a speaker asked the 500 heads of business in the room whether they use social media including twitter, facebook and the like. Somewhat alarmingly, only 5 raised their hands. We need to use CRM and social media tools to make strategic calls – the CEO, CFO, COO, and CIO will be asking ‘Tell me what you see behind the numbers’.  This request is referring to the patterns of information, customer comments, buying decisions, influences, customer experiences, emotions, and feedback that will influence what we make, how we interact with our markets and much more.

In 2010 and beyond, leaders, sales teams, and businesses will need to invest time, resources, and money to learn how to interact in these emerging social spaces. Why? Because the traditional channels to the customer such as email marketing, trade shows, and face-to-face meetings will be less effective.  In some cases you may not even be interacting with the customer directly but with their ‘recommendation network’. The real challenge for sales will be to identify and engage with these new networks. Social Sales involves different skills, leadership, and a culture values a collaborative model of free knowledge exchange.

Social Sales is likely to change selling fundamentally – so are you and your business ready?

Thanks to Mark Parker and Charni Cargill for their collaboration on this piece.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to put a client’s field sales force through the Barrett Sales Fitness Circuit to test their sales fitness.

The Sales Fitness Circuit is designed to reinforce and continue the process of learning from the Barrett Sales Communication Training. The Sales Communication competencies (skills, knowledge and mindset) covered in the initial training is put to the test through a series of exercises. The aim is to embed the learning from the training as a way of life in the sales team’s actions and thinking.

Specific skills, competency enhancement, and behaviour change were supported during the Sales Fitness Circuit Course through:

• Reviewing and reinforcing key learning’s from the 7 Step Sales Communication Process, in particular the Pre, Analysis, Problem Solving, Recommendation and Closing steps
• Sharing lessons learnt and obstacles experienced in using the models, techniques, and skills in the field
• Reflecting on strengths and areas requiring further development
• Developing individual action plans to address skill gaps moving forward

The Sales Fitness Circuit Course provided an experiential and high impact learning opportunity.   The 1-day session is designed to be fun, high energy, and collaborative. It creates an effective learning environment that combines conceptual knowledge, real sales situations experienced in the field, and reflective learning.

Like the physical fitness circuit you would see in a gym or on the hit show The Biggest Loser, the elements of the Sales Fitness Circuit included:

• Sales people worked in discrete teams
• Each activity is set up as a station in the circuit
• Each station simulates a different activity requiring the use of Sales Communication skills, techniques and tools
• Props and visual cues were used at each station to enhance the experience and recall
• Teams rotated around the stations receiving instructions, feedback, and wrap up from the ‘Sales Fitness Instructors’
• Participants were required to perform under time pressure, simulating the real pressures in the field
• No one salesperson was able to complete all client interactions on behalf of the team
• Competencies positively demonstrated were reinforced throughout the circuit via allocation of points
• At the end of the circuit prizes were awarded to teams and individuals who demonstrated exceptional levels of sales fitness
• Participants observed others in action and were encouraged to reflect on potential positive and negative consequences of different approaches
• The participants collaborated at the end of the circuit to rate their overall sales fitness as a team across the key competencies

We have run this circuit format with many sales team sizes over the years and the feedback has been fantastic, even though some people were really challenged by it.   The insight people get into their skills and capabilities by really putting themselves to the test helps them see what they need to do and how they need to perform if they want to step up and be real sales performer.

If this has got you wondering how fit your sales team is give us a call and we would be happy to put them to the test.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

‘Buyer Beware’ is a phrase that has been around for a long time and for good reason.  There are enough stories in circulation to know that not all sales people or businesses behave honourably, and some are nothing more than fraudsters and scammers.  With the market getting more crowded everyday, the need to attract buyer attention and grow revenue, and the rise of the online business model, buyers should beware.

While most businesses and their sales people want to attract and work with viable prospects and customers, there are those less than honourable sales and business people who are after victims, not prospects.  Their entire focus or raison d’etre is to get your money at your expense.

For instance, I recently came across the website Scamnet which was put together by the WA Government and profiles scams targeting consumers and businesses.  Scamnet gives you an A-Z listing of scams ranging from Pyramid schemes to the ‘Nigerian scam’ many of us have experienced via our email.  The site shows you how to spot a fraud or scam, hopefully before it gets you.

In my line of work I also come across various of business practices offered up as sales and marketing tactics, some of which are questionable and potentially problematic.  For instance I recently found some terms I had never heard of before on Wikipedia – Ethically Disputed Business Practices . On the surface these practices may seem legitimate but are regarded as inappropriate, unethical and even illegal in many circumstances.  However, despite their dubious nature, you see these practices being employed in businesses and politics on a regular basis.  Here are some of the more common questionable business practices I thought worth mentioning (source Wikipedia):

Frugging:- In market research, frugging is “fund-raising under the guise of research”.  This behavior occurs when a product marketer falsely purports to be a market researcher conducting a statistical survey when in reality the “researcher” is attempting to solicit a donation.  Generally considered unethical, this tactic is strictly prohibited by trade groups, such as CASRO and the Marketing Research Association, for their member research companies.

Sugging: – is a market research industry term, meaning “selling under the guise of research”.  This behavior occurs when a product marketer falsely pretends to be a market researcher conducting a survey, when in reality they are simply trying to sell the product in question.  Generally considered unethical, this tactic is prohibited or strongly disapproved of by trade groups, such as the UK Market Research Society MRS, CASRO and MRA, for their member research companies.

Shill: – A shill is a person who is paid to help another person or organization to sell goods or services.  The shill pretends to have no association with the seller/group and gives onlookers the impression that he or she is an enthusiastic customer.  The person or group that hires the shill is using crowd psychology, to encourage other onlookers or audience members (who are unaware of the set-up) to purchase said goods or services.  Shills are often employed by confidence artists.

The term shill (or plant) is also used to describe a person who is paid to help a political party or other advocacy organization to gain adherents.  As with the situation of selling goods or services, the shill gives the impression of being unrelated to the group in question, and finds merit in the ideological claims of the political party.

Shilling is illegal in many circumstances and in many jurisdictions because of the frequently fraudulent and damaging character of their actions.  However, if a shill does not place uninformed parties at a risk of loss, but merely generates a “buzz”, the shill’s actions may be legal.  For example, a person planted in an audience to laugh and applaud when desired, or to participate in on-stage activities as a “random member of the audience”, is a type of legal shill.

“Shill” can also be used pejoratively to describe a critic who appears either all-too-eager to heap glowing praise upon mediocre offerings, or who acts as an apologist for glaring flaws.  In this sense, they would be an implicit “shill” for the industry at large, possibly because their income is tied to its prosperity.

My intention is not to be a moral arbiter here, I will leave you to be the judge of what you do and don’t do. However, in the spirit of ‘fore warned is fore armed’ I hope this helps you and your people steer clear of any scammers or fraudsters before they get you.  This information may also help keep you from ‘unintentionally’ taking up any dubious marketing or sales activities that may impact on yours, your  business and your customers’ viability and credibility in the future.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

‘Walk a mile in my shoes’ is a song written by Joe South and made famous by Elvis Presley.  The song is very much about challenging closed mindedness, respecting and honouring differences, and learning how to get along with each other.  However, I propose that it also has a lot to say to sales and marketing people.  For instance, the first verse sets it up well:

If I could be you and you could be me for just one hour
If we could find a way to get inside each other’s mind
If you could see you through my eyes instead of your ego
I believe you’d be surprised to see that you’d been blind

Many a customer’s ire has been roused when a sales person shows up and fails to find out what a customer’s priorities are.  Instead, launching into a self absorbed diatribe of product information and self aggrandisement leaving the customer completely out of the picture.

Another stanza points out some of the major issues with being internally focused, refusing to acknowledge and see others as they are.

Well, your whole world you see around you is just a reflection
And the law of common says you’re gonna reap just what you sow

This stanza reminds me of my common catch cry ‘who’s your brochure written for anyway?’  Many companies still fail to produce sales and marketing materials that their customers and prospects can relate to, instead producing material that is too internally focused.

Being “other” aware, tuning into what another person needs, likes or wants is vital to a successful sales career.  And it’s more than just asking a series of pre formed questions, writing down information and regurgitating it back without empathy or genuine understanding.

As Geshe Michael Roach, the author of The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life points out, the current western way of thinking, especially business and corporate incentives, has been very centred around what’s in it for the individual – ‘how am I going to benefit from this?’, ‘what will I get if I do this?’ and ‘how much will I make if I get this client on board, or deal over the line?’

Geshe Michael asks “When did you hear or read about two sales executives or two corporate executives splitting their bonuses because they did a good job together?  This individual focus causes us to concentrate on ourselves, at the expense of paying attention to others.”

‘I’ has been the centre of our business models for a very long time, however I am proposing that in order to be a highly evolved sales person we need to shift to a ‘we’ focus.  From ‘I’ to ‘we’ means including the ‘other’ in our thoughts, intentions and actions, and being able to see the world from another’s perspective even if we do not like or hold the same views or values ourselves.

Geshe Michael states “People have an instinct when they know you do not care that much about what they like or need and they have an instinct for the opposite as well.”

This statement begs some questions:

• How well do I really understand another person and see the world from their perspective?
• How well am I able to determine another person’s level of understanding about complex areas such as work, business, life, values, culture, etc.?
• How quickly am I able to become aware of how another person thinks or feels?

The practice of exchanging ourselves with others takes us out of our exclusive focus on ourselves and starts us off on the process of being sensitive to others.  It has a profound effect on work flow, performance and, most importantly, sustainable relationships.

There is a Buddhist practice called the Jampa Method which is outlined in more detail in The Diamond Cutter.  It involves exchanging yourself for another – what you do is to pretend to put your mind in their body and then open your eyes and look at you from their perspective.  You get to see or hear what it is that they (you in their body) would like from you (you).  This step is called switching bodies.  It is a little deeper and more difficult than just watching the people around you to see what they like or dislike.

When I practice this I ask myself “What does the other person need or want me to say and give to them?”  It creates a much deeper level of listening than I have ever experienced before and I find that I can really tune into the other person with greater clarity and connect with them on a deeper level.  It may seem a bit artificial at first but anything new does. I am work in progress as this method requires conscious effort and focused attention, however it can become second nature after regular practice and can make a profound difference to all relationships, personal and professional.

Therefore as I am writing this piece I am thinking about how I, the author, can stand in your shoes.  I am imagining myself as someone reading this thinking – “What about my customers, when are they going to stand in my shoes?”

It is a common response we hear from many sales people that they would just like their customer to know how they feel too.  This response highlights the importance of how we choose our actions and emotions rather than simply responding to those of others and that someone has to start the process first.

The choice is yours:

1. Do you choose Inaction? (which means you wait for your customers to make the first move) OR
2. Do you choose Action? (where you take the lead)

So in the spirit of ‘walking a mile in each others’ shoes’ maybe we could all as customers and sales people, or simply as human beings try this approach and see what happens.

Walk a mile in my shoes, walk a mile in my shoes
Yeah, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes

Thank you very much!

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

‘Getting back to basics’ is our 2010 Sales Trend #3 as voted by you, our readers.  Despite the positive start to 2010 in Australia, especially compared to other post GST economies, we cannot forget the fundamentals when it comes to creating a healthy, viable sales team, culture and business.

One of the real challenges of 2010 will be keeping sales momentum while understanding how changes in customers, competitors, markets, innovations, media, technology and all manner of things will impact on our businesses and our people. Getting our heads around all this to find the right ingredients for our plans and strategies will be demanding.  We need to recognise the new ‘things’, in themselves, will not make things better, it is how they are integrated and applied in ours and our customers current situation and circumstances.

Often with new technologies, new trends, new ideas, and new innovations people become distracted thinking that these new things will promise to make life better, easier, faster, or more effective or efficient, all the while missing 2 key points:

1. In taking on the ‘new’ how does this support our real intentions and purpose as a business and leader?
2. How will these new innovations make our business and, more importantly, our customers lives better in action and deed?

Throwing away the ‘tried and true’ and rushing headlong into the ‘new and shiny’ without considered thought can pose great risks.   If we look at this from the customer’s perspective we will see their wary cynicism of the new and shiny, and recognise their desire for transparency, continuity and familiarity as well as their need to be up with the latest.   Many have long memories and know from lessons learned often the new and flashy is quickly dated.

Equally being closed off to the ‘new’ is just as bad because we could miss vital signals that may lead us to better places.  Either way throwing out the basics or being closed off to the ‘new’ will leave us worse off.

In 2010, wise business/sales leaders and people will embrace the ‘new’ but not forget the basics.

The Back to Basics Checklist includes having:

1. A vision with clear intention, purpose, values and actions – what do we stand for and how do we act?

2.    Clear sales strategy and tactical plan articulated at a business, state/regional, and sales person level. This would include:

• Sales goals
• Clear market message
• Client segmentation including account management, new business development and service support
• Competitor analysis – direct and emerging
• Go-to-market sales tactics including how we make contact with prospects and customers
• Clear Input and Output Measurements (role clarity, clear performance expectations, team unity, etc.)

3.    Sound Sales Processes and Frameworks including:

• Sales management knowledge, skills, and mindset (coaching, performance management, strategy, recruitment, leadership, etc.)
• Sales Planning knowledge, skills, and mindset
• Prospecting knowledge, skills, and mindset (Sourcing Leads, networking – new social media opportunities; Proactive prospecting activities like making telephone calls to new prospects, existing or lapsed clients; doing and monitoring your activities on a daily basis)
• Selling knowledge, skills, and mindset (client meetings, pitching, presentations, negotiation, account management, customer service, conflict resolution, territory management, proposal development, etc.)
• Self Management knowledge, skills, and mindset (monitoring self talk, analysing a situation accurately, taking care of personal health and well being, working with a sense of purpose and clarity)

Keeping our sales basics in tune will help us while we integrate and experiment with the ‘new’ such as  social media and other new advances coming into our markets.   It’s about finding out what is effective and then weaving in the ‘new’ and trialing it to see how it enhances or detracts from our sales efforts.  Investing large amounts of money and effort into one sales approach leaves us vulnerable.  It’s about having a blended sales approach and fine tuning it to meet our customers and our needs for being in business.

By knowing who and how to target customers and being well skilled in sales planning, prospecting, and client communication we will keep sales happening. By sticking to the basics and integrating the ‘new’ bit by bit  we will work out how Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Sales 2.0, Social media and all the other innovations will work best for us and how we need to keep on selling.  With change comes opportunity and challenges.

I suggest we repeat the mantra ‘hasten slowly’ and keep doing the basics while considering, trialing, evaluating, and integrating the new.  In 2010 the focus will be on selective incorporation, based on customers, community, company, and self, while still remembering the basics that got us where we are today.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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