Babette Ten Haken: Do You Mean Business?

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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A pleasure to welcome Babette Ten Haken to the show! She is the author of Do You Mean Business: Technical/Non-Technical Collaboration, Business Development, and YOU. She is the founder and president of Sales Aerobics for Engineers, LLC.

TODAY’S SHOW NOTES:

1. A discussion about the challenges technical people face when interacting with customers and prospects.

2. Engineering schools, business schools, and even some sales teachers don’t actually teach you how to have a conversation with the people who matter to your business…

3. Discussion about simultaneous translation, and it’s importance to your ability to communicate?

4. “You are the physical embodiment of your company.”

5. Team-selling verses the solo salesman.

6. “Adapt, adopt, and apply.”

7. You can learn more about the book and Babette’s company here.

8. You can purchase Babette’s book here (affiliate link):

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Filed Under: Sales Strategy

Andy Paul: Zero-Time Selling

April 22, 2012 By 4 Comments

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Andy Paul

A pleasure to welcome Andy Paul, who is the author of Zero-Time Selling, and the principal and founder of Zero-Time Selling, Inc.

SHOW NOTES: On the show, we discussed the following topics:

1. What exactly is zero-time selling?

2. How to sell with the sharp end of the stick (meeting customer needs faster).

3. Speed kills competition, right? Andy shares why his approach is different, and his theory on why there are SLOW sales cycles…

4. The importance of information content as a part of your sales process. But also, don’t forget about context.

5. The importance of a CRM, and its role in the sales process, and collecting “company treasure,” the data. And why too many sales reps see no value in a CRM.

6. The importance of the human touch.

7. Andy says do everything now. And he explains why. ["Later lives on the same street as never."]

8. “A sales lead is like a lottery ticket.”

9. Andy shares some hints and tips on making good sales hiring decisions. Testing, he claims, is very important.

You can learn more about Andy Paul, and the book, Zero-Time Selling, here. You can purchase the book below (affiliate link):

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If you enjoyed this show, and want to learn from more sales leaders like this one, subscribe to our podcast on iTunes here. It would be greatly appreciated if you would leave a customer review – and a positive rating – too!

Filed Under: Sales Strategy Tagged With: ,

Richard Brock of LeadLife Solutions

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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Richard Brock

“Digital Fingerprint.”  That’s the phrase that stuck in my head more than anything else after this interview with Richard Brock, Chairman and CEO of LeadLife Solutions.

It’s pretty clear that we all have our own unique digital fingerprint.  We all go to web pages and download things that are of particular interest to us, and invest a lot time on pages that are especially relevant according to our own unique set of interests and needs.

But how can a sales professional use that fact to sell more?

Talk to Richard for a while, and it starts to become clear.  Think of all the digital content you have that helps you sell; web pages, white papers, e-mail newsletters, customer testimonials, application examples, etc. , etc., etc.  Even if every single piece of that digital content is excellent, only a tiny fraction of it is relevant to any given buyer.  So the trick is guide the buyer along a path through that mass of content – to point the buyer to the information of most interest to the buyer.

You’d also want to have the timing down right.  If there are 10 pieces of great, highly relevant content, should you dump it all on the buyers head right now?  Or just present 2 of those pieces now and then 2 more a week for the next 4 weeks.  Or 4 now and 1 more a week for the next 8 weeks?  Or…

Well, if you could actually analyze a buyer’s digital behavior, you could in fact do exactly that.  And that would lead to more sales.  And that is what LeadLife’s “brawn and brains” can help you accomplish.  Pretty heady stuff!

We also talked a lot more about LeadLife value, CRM, marketing automation, the new, much longer, buyer-controlled buy and sell cycles, getting sales reps to actually want to use digital tools.  And…  banana pudding.  You have got to listen to this whole discussion if for nothing else to understand the banana pudding analogy.  It’ll help you sell more.

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Jay McDonald, Serial Entrepreneur, Serial CEO and Vistage Chair

March 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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Jay McDonald

Now and then we have a guest who really knows how to pack a boat-load of insight into a short conversation.  Jay McDonald, a serial entrepreneur, serial CEO and currently a Vistage Chair in metro Atlanta is one of those guests.  The fact that he cleared all the hurdles to qualify as a Vistage leader all by itself establishes his credibility.

If you are the least bit intrigued by the value Vistage can provide to you as a CEO, you’ll hear an outstanding summary.  Think in terms of working closely with a group of “agenda-free truth-tellers” combined with great speakers, independent thinking to process tough issues and relief from some of the “loneliness at the top.”

You’ll also get energized by Jay’s outlook for entrepreneurship.  He sees lots of available capital for well-though-out, good ideas backed by a solid business plan.  Information technology enables a strategy with global scope and there is plenty of management talent out there ready to get in the game.

And it gets better!  As I have, you’ll want to listen repeatedly to Jay’s riff on what strong leadership is all about,  Openness, candor, humble self-confidence, assuming responsibility, credit-giving, listening, open-mindedness, authenticity, walking around sense, intelligence, a sense of humor, lifelong learning…  Wow!

Finally, proving that he too has a great sense of humor, Jay, with a gleam in his eye, shares his philosophy on how to “Lie, Cheat and Steal” your way to success.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

Opportunity in adversity – Gary Hart of Sales Du Jour

March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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Gary Hart

Gary Hart of Sales Du Jour knows sales, and in this interview shares a wealth of perspectives and insights.  His notion of “opportunity in adversity,” and how sales professionals must deal with things like being the second-least trusted profession after politicians, all by itself makes it worth the listen.

Sales 2.0?  How about Sales 10.0?  “Social media is no longer a new thing,” says Hart.  Sales reps need to know “…how it works, how it can be effective, where it’s effective and the dollars and cents impact; how it affects the cost of sales per hour.”

STOP SELLING!  Instead, think “Un-Selling!”  That’s how trust gets established.  Yes, financial justification is needed, but without trust, you’ll never get to that later stage of your sales process

How else has the sales rep’s world changed with Sales 10.0?

  • Buyers are doing their research online, so sales people are getting into the buying process a little later.  They must be a part of that online vetting process, or they’ll never get to see the customer.
  • Every day it’s dealing with the “12 Angry Buyers”
  • Commoditization of marketing with “language cloning” makes differentiation tougher
  • Price pressure – and the fact that it drives quotas higher

Finally, don’t miss Gary’s riff on “Is sales dying?”  You really want to hear his take on “hybrid” sales/marketing reps, “E2E” and later-in-the-sales-process drip-feeding of highly customized content.

Filed Under: Selling Skills Tagged With: , , ,

Rick Howe, The Knotts Company

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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The Knotts Company out of Berkeley Heights, NJ, might be 60 years old and immersed in the tradition-bound world of industrial distribution, but its attitude is about as forward thinking as it can get.  The whole notion of “embrace change” is embodied in thirty three year company veteran, now owner and CEO, Rick Howe.

In this episode he talks about how dramatically different selling today is vs. a few decades ago.  Value propositions, for example, have evolved from what a product can do for an application to what a service or total package can do to help a customer’s business.  Even more than that, a good sales rep should even be equipped to help customers better understand and serve their customers – and explain it all in dollars and cents terms.  Howe’s perspective on how to help sales pros make that transition is instructive.

We also discussed sales tools.  Knotts was an extremely early adopter of CRM and continues to push its boundaries.  Their reps see it as tool for their own benefit, not some management-imposed burden.  “CRM is more a sales tool than a management tool,” says Howe.  He followed that comment with this one:

“The traditional sales manager isn’t needed any more.”

How’s that for radical thinking?  Hard to argue though, with his logic of having a robust sales process, metrics and tools in place and having the sales pro self-manage.  (You don’t want to miss this section of the interview!)

In my view, the most forward thinking part of Howe’s strategy revolves around content marketing and use of social media tools like Twitter, QR codes and of course the Knotts blog.  When asked, “what next?” he didn’t miss a beat…

“Each rep has to develop an e-Rep. “

The pace of change, the sheer volume of information and knowledge and ever-intensifying competion all demand it.  “Each rep needs an electronic guy out there!”

Great stuff!

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Mike Janis of Deloitte on selling a “Business Within A Business”

September 3, 2011 By 1 Comment

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Responsible for the sales process in a business-within-a-business?  Like many “start-ups” inside larger, established companies, Mike Janis, the sales leader for Deloitte’s Global Benchmarking Center, is focused on leveraging existing client relationships.  The center, established just over four years ago, helps organizations operate more effectively and efficiently by examining and responding to industry-specific performance metrics.

Mike’s primary focus is the 15-minute “Touch Point Call” with Deloitte partners.  These are the folks who “own” the client relationships, and as you would expect, are no-nonsense, profit-focused and crazy busy.  The value proposition, therefore, must be articulated in a net, clear, compelling fashion.  “If they have responsibility for five clients,  you don’t get them on the phone and talk to them about all five clients,” says Janis.  “It’s very, very focused.  You get them on the phone and talk about one specific client.”

The value proposition itself changes depending on the type of Deloitte client.  For an audit client, the partner is most concerned with maintaining loyalty; a deep and trust-filled relationship.  With these, Mike’s team emphasizes how a benchmarking effort provides both the client and Deloitte with more robust insights into their business operations, making a switch to another auditing firm more time-consuming and risky.  Benchmarking helps protect and maintain Deloitte’s business with the audit client.

With a consulting client, the emphasis shifts to landing new business.  Mike’s approach is convincing.  “It’s not about the money for the benchmark; those are fairly modest fees,” he explains.  “It’s really about the business opportunity the benchmark uncovers.”  Here’s yet another example of how serving your customers first – identifying and diagnosing a problem or opportunity in this case – leads to longer-term, more profitable contracts later.

An internal web site with detailed, industry-specific examples of value to be delivered is a second critical sales tool.  Janis notes that, “It adds a level of stickiness.”  It reinforces the concepts reviewed in a Touch Point Call.  In many cases, the site also “reaches out” and captures the attention of a partner looking for ways to lock-in existing business and/or find new opportunities.

This interview deserves your close attention.  It’s loaded with insights into selling the intangible.

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Author Barbara Giamanco on Sales Thinker Radio!

August 14, 2011 By 2 Comments

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Barbara Giamanco

Todd and I were thrilled to welcome good friend, and author, Barbara Giamanco to the Sales Thinker Radio Show. Barb is also the CEO of TalentBuilders.

Sometimes, you just have a conversation with someone where there are massive amounts of learning, good debate, and extreme value provided over the course of the conversation.

Barbara, the author of The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media, shared some amazing insights in how to incorporate social media into your B2B sales process.

If you still doubt the importance of social media as a part of your sales process, this interview is for you. I promise…

Topics included: the importance of engaging people to advance sales opportunities, social media as the modern equivalent of networking and prospecting, getting more organizational adoption of social media by demonstrating how to make more money + how to close sales faster.

Barb made it clear that blogs, email marketing, geolocation, audio, video and webinars are all included in how new media impacts sales. We also discussed how much time to invest in social media, how and why to “get found,” quality verses quantity, the value of your online network and the importance of influence.

And let’s not forget, we discussed Barbara’s book, which can be purchased here (affiliate link):

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Dave Ogden, CEO of AML Communications

July 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Dave Ogden, CEO of AML Communications understands big business and small business.  After a highly successful career with IBM, Dave took the plunge and bought into this growing telephony company.  When he says, “I love it!” you can’t help but join up with his enthusiasm.

The Problems AML Solves

  • “I’m having a tough time getting hold of you.” – Customers have little patience with a slow response to voice mails and e-mails
  • Interruptions and delays in workflow – Poor communications can disrupt the flow of business process more than almost anything
  • Creaky, ornery, old telephone systems – Incremental additions to a phone system over many years add up to Rube Goldberg proportions.  It can cost a lot more than you really need to be spending
  • Dealing with turnover and training – HR issues in a contact center, for example, can create all manner of issues – mostly bad…

The Value AML Delivers

  • Big company telephony functions in “slices” – Technology allows the little guy to have all the sales-enabling communications functions enjoyed by the big guys
  • Hard dollar savings with advanced technology – Old technology might be “paid for,” but keeping it going isn’t cheap.  Hard $$$ savings with AML systems can more than pay for upgraded function
  • AML software systems schedule and deliver training as needed – Reduces turnover, speeds up education, gets new contact center hires up to speed much more quickly, AND with no negative impact on the revenue stream either!

The most interesting part of the conversation?  Dave told us how his best referrals come from prospects who don’t buy!  He explained the long term value of shooting straight with customers.  Integrity sells!   Listen carefully for this important sales and business lesson.

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Henly Shelton of Compliancy

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Doing business in “BRIC?”  That is, Brazil, Russia, India or China?  You just might be putting yourself and your company at risk – BIG TIME RISK – unless you know and are complying with a whole host of U.S. and international laws.  Is what you call a “Business Gift” considered to be a “Facilitation Payment” or a “Bribe” according to the FCPA, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

Knowing the difference can literally mean going to jail vs. going home at night.  Seriously…  One company made a $5 million profit, but got hit with a $21 million fine.  Another made $22 million, got a $300 million fine and the executive in the middle of it all is now in prison.

Dreamland Radio is always focused on the numbers, the “hard-facts-only” ROI of a business case, but frankly, we’re not quite sure how a prison sentence factors into the cash flow calcualtion.  We’re trying to figure out if this interview is the spookiest we’ve ever done, or more like the most important Public Service Announcement in our history.

Henly Shelton, VP of Sales & Development for Compliancy, told us that a $350-500K investment might just enough to prevent those sorts of ugly consequences.  Is it worth the risk?  Don’t know about you, but he has our attention!

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