Tag: Sales Enablement

Customer Success:  5 Requirements to Creating Value in Every Client Interaction.

On By Joe DeRosaIn BusinessLeave a comment

 

Today’s buyers are overwhelmed with data points, reports, metrics, and an avalanche of nonstop news whether its from traditional networks, cable news, or social media.  Points-of-view are as infinite as the number of stars in the universe…or are they?  In a world dominated by countless Customer Success models I continue to observe just how complicated we’ve made some basic human interactions, and just how little value some of these interactions deliver.

 

Great Customer Success interactions require 5 crucial elements:

 

  1. It all starts with a clear customer success statement as articulated by the customer.  What does success look like?  When we meet 3 months from now, what would have to be true for you to say this engagement is a success?
  2. A strong understanding of general market conditions (macro), and the ability to connect those dots to your customer’s situation, this is what I call “pulling the thread all the way through”.  It requires solid structured thinking skills.  The ability to define a problem, understand the cause, and create a solution that reduces or eliminates the problem. 
  3. Ability to create insights – combining a fact with an implication or point-of-view,
  4. Strong EQ skills that allow you to connect/relate to your customer/buyer on an emotional level,
  5. Storytelling skills

 

I’m sure someone, somewhere is saying, “yeah, but what about…”, or “Customer Success is so much more than these 5 things…”, or “you don’t know my industry, it’s so different than any other industry…”

 

What does this look like in our daily lives?

 

Think of someone in your network you respect and learn something from every time you speak to him, or her, who would it be?  What characteristics does he/she possess? I’d suggest they made your list because they are proficient at all 5 of these competencies and perhaps expert at some of them.  Certainly, you wouldn’t offer me a name of someone boring who lacks details, confidence, or a clear point of view.  No.  Instead, you’d share a name of an individual that you hold in high regard, or perhaps even aspire to be like.

 

Once basic human needs – food, clothing, shelter, safety – are satisfied, you transition to next-level needs which include the need to be heard, understood, validated, and the ability to succeed.  These next-level human needs address both self-esteem and self-actualization.  Said differently, we all desire confidence and ultimately the need to be seen by others as being successful – that we’ve reached a position of respect, or sought-after expertise.

 

Tying it all together…

 

Customer Success Managers (CSM) are entrusted with managing, and growing client relationships.  The CSM has one of the most challenging roles in an organization as they walk the tight rope between Sales, Service, Marketing, Operations, IT, HR, Finance, and virtually any other functional area that touches the client with the potential of creating an experience be it positive or negative. Understanding macro-economic conditions does not mean going back to school to obtain an Econ degree.  As a result of the diversity of a CSMs interaction with a client it’s imperative for him/her to understand how macro conditions affect the customer’s business.   This doesn’t require an advanced education but rather some basic structured thinking, discipline and commitment.  This is the ability to define a problem, understand what causes the problem, and finally creating a solution(s) that addresses the problem.

 

Client Success Managers (CSM), need to have a general understanding of the market conditions.  What’s happening in the market?  How are interest rates moving?  What’s happening with employment numbers?  How is inflation trending?  Where is consumer confidence?  With one or two apps on your phone you can stay abreast of every major macro metric in real time…in less than the time it takes to sip a cup of coffee.  It requires the discipline to build that habit into your day.  According to an October 2023 survey by Statista, people on average spend 2.5 hours per day on social media.  Using 3 minutes of that time every day to understand market conditions doesn’t seem like a huge change in behavior…but it can be if you let it…you’ve got to commit.

 

I often use the phrase, “pulling the thread all the way through.”  This means, having the capability, or skill to understand these conditions and pull the thread all the way through to how these macro conditions affect your customer through storytelling.  Doing this allows you to clearly define the problem your customer is currently facing, or about to face, and be able to communicate this to them in a way that is both articulate and confident.  Storytelling is not fiction, nor is it fear mongering.  Storytelling involves understanding your client’s current situation, the inputs that affect the situation, and what possible outcomes may exist depending on the actions taken.  Effective storytelling can be summed up in the ability to take multiple inputs and synthesize them into a story that captivates, creates intrigue, and ultimately causes action.  Storytelling is not about scaring the client into taking the action you want, but instead is about causing the client to stop, think, ask questions, and genuinely ponder the possibilities the CSM has presented.

 

Creating insights are something many CSMs struggle to do.  Keep in mind, an insight is combining a fact with an implication, or point-of-view.  A fact could be where current mortgage rates stand, or the current rate of inflation.  An insight would be how a change, up, or down, in that rate could affect your client and what the implication would be in either scenario.  This is a learned skill.  It doesn’t just happen.  Your CSMs need to study macro conditions, practice formulating insights, and role play with sales management in order to improve their effectiveness with their client engagements. 

 

The days of “objection handling” are done.  These old school sales tactics often rely on one’s ability to out-talk, or through smoke-and-mirrors, overwhelm the buyer.  I always disliked old-school objection handling.  Too much emphasis was placed upon having quick come backs, slick words, and one-liners.  Memorize these 3 responses and you’re golden.  Unfortunately, this approach is why Sales as a whole is often viewed in a negative light.  People are reluctant to meet with a salespeople and many salespeople don’t like to tell others they are salespeople.  How can we change this perception?

 

Being insightful is how you earn your customer’s time – their most precious resource.  People are only willing to invest their rarest of resources (time) with those that they can learn something from, and who make them feel validated.  So why is this so difficult?  Why do client engagement professionals still rely on old school objection handling?  Well, I’d suggest it’s because being able to provide real insights and value requires a full-out dedication to learning and understanding market conditions versus memorizing 3 great come-backs when a client raises an objection. 

 

Still today, too many salespeople subscribe to the nonsense of Sales ABC – Always Be Closing.   If this is happening in your company, I’d suggest this is a failure of leadership not leading…not teaching.  If leaders don’t raise the bar and expect a higher degree of business acumen, then their respective teams will fall back upon these ABC rules because they have nothing else.  Leaders need to lead.  This means leaders need to teach.  Further, this means leaders need to get more comfortable with being vulnerable.  Most people dislike role playing as much as they dislike public speaking, leaders included…perhaps more so.  However, role playing is a crucial element to improving your ability to take facts, formulate insights, and tell a story that leads to action, all in real-time.  Role playing for salespeople is the equivalent of a quarterback taking snaps under center at the line of scrimmage.  Defenses unfold in real-time.  We all know that good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.  This is why professional sports teams practice, practice, practice.  The coach creates and environment that allows for real-time judgement based upon real-time changes to the scenario…all with the goal of making these bad judgements in the safety of a practice versus a real game.  As leaders it’s our job to create these types of learning environments for customer success managers to hone their skills.  It also means the leader must risk a wonky role play in front of the team.  No one has all the answers, but the best leaders, are okay with getting it right versus focusing on being right.

 

In conclusion, customer success is about having a clear success statement articulated by the customer.  Great CSMs will provide a blend of facts and insights that address their customers problems which result in earned trust and respect.  These CSMs take chances, formulate insights, role play their delivery, and embrace the outcomes as their own.  They are the game changers, the difference makers, in achieving outstanding customer success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choosing the right Chief Revenue Officer

On By Joe DeRosaIn Business, Leadership, SalesLeave a comment

Recently, I attended a webinar sponsored by Private Equity CXO.  The topic of the webinar was PE Strategy for Revenue Growth; CROs and Value Creation.  Presenting in the webinar were several Private Equity professionals sharing their insights on the impact that having the right Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) can have on an organization’s success.

Let me first say that the webinar overall reinforced my personal experiences and beliefs throughout my career as both a GTM consultant and a CRO with experience working with companies ranging in size from $50M to >$6B in annual revenue.  However, the webinar got me thinking about the challenges involved in finding the right CRO, the process that most private equity firms use to recruit CROs, and the end result…disappointingly low success rates as supported by comments in the webinar as well as in other datapoints I’ll present shortly.

While I could write pages summarizing the content of this webinar relating to how CROs should, or could create value, I will instead focus on one critical topic discussed by the group…finding the right CRO.

Herb Brooks, the famous coach of the United States 1980’s Men’s Gold Medal Olympic Hockey team, has one of the best all-time quotes and probably my personal favorite.  As he was assembling his team, he was asked why he didn’t choose this player or that player because “they were the best”.  Herb confidently, and with unwavering conviction replied, “I’m not looking for the best players, I’m looking for the right players.”  This philosophy will serve as my anchor for why the right CRO may look quite different from the best CRO. 

I believe Coach Brooks could not have been more spot-on.  While I’m sure this comment will strike a chord with some, I stand by the belief that skill is much easier to teach than attitude, let alone chemistry, as it relates to team dynamics.  A Harvard Business Review study showed that 44% of a company’s market value is attributable to its CEO’s reputation. This study further defines reputation as a combination of 3 key emotional intelligence characteristics including humility, visibility, and persuasiveness.  One may conclude that some portion of a CEO’s reputation is a direct extension of the CEO’s executive and senior executive leadership team if you believe that a company’s culture is the sum of its parts.

Throughout the webinar the conversation often returned to the importance of the CRO’s team building capabilities, and leadership skills required to build a sustainable high performing culture. 

From an operator point of view, I would say that while a new (and even existing) CRO certainly has the responsibility to lead and effect change in an organization, a new CRO especially needs to understand the existing culture that he/she is walking into, the runway in front of this them (timing expectations), and as mentioned in the webinar, a list of the “jobs to be done” – the critical items that must be completed within the next 12 months.  Measure twice, cut once, applies to walking into a new role for both sides of the relationship – CRO and private equity partners.  The greater clarity provided at the onset, the greater the likelihood of success and perhaps fewer missed expectations. 

I strongly believe that the “right” CRO has both a track record of successes and failures.  I’m always leery when I speak to any executive-level candidate who positions themselves as having made perfect decisions.  Perhaps I’ve been blessed to work for leaders like Scott Cook of Intuit, who famously pushed our management team to make more mistakes – fail fast – as a barometer for the speed of innovation.  If you’re not pushing boundaries, you’re not growing, you’re not evolving, you’re simply presiding over something that’s fairly vanilla, and hence replaceable.  Basic, or as I like to call them, cut-and-pasted tactics might work when the waters are smooth, but absolutely go out the window when faced with gale force winds that may include a tight job market, raging inflation, or a pandemic that shifted the norm on how we get things done in business. 

A status quo leader, not battle-tested by building and failing, decreases your probability of success and produces a lesser amount of value creation.  It’s just as important to know what not to do, then knowing what the right thing to do is, as both include countless variables, known and unknown.

Case studies or homework assignments are great, but here’s where I slightly divert from the consensus shared on the webinar.  In my own personal experience, focusing on the difficult questions to ask during an interview, combined with an Up-Down-Sideways reference check is another way to gauge the probability of success.  Some folks have a talent to write, research, and/or problem solve in a controlled environment, but rarely do we operate in controlled environments, and case studies and homework assignments are just that…controlled environments.   

In fact, I’d suggest that many sales leaders would have failed the case study in 2008-2009 during the GFC, or during the COVID pandemic.  The test of a strong leader lies in his/her ability to consume information quickly and being comfortable with operating in ambiguity.  According to Zippia, the average age of a Chief Revenue Officer is 49 years old.  When combined with a datapoint from Salesforce indicating the average tenure of a CRO is right at 2 years, you begin to understand why the concept of battle-testing is so important over a variety of different environmental factors relative to creating and sustaining high performing teams.   One could argue that even as case studies and homework assignments have become the norm for recruiting CROs, the success rates are discouragingly low at less than 2 years.  Why is that?  Here I’d suggest that what’s often missed is the softer, and perhaps more difficult skills to assess that include EQ (some of the items from the HBR study), charisma, and empathy, all of which are critical leadership qualities to establishing and maintaining high performing teams. 

As Stephen Covey famously said, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  A leader showing up as the smartest person in the room likely will result in a team that tries to distance itself rather than embrace.  Hence why EQ is so important when selecting a new CRO.  And, with the average tenure of a CRO being 2 years, one possible conclusion that might be drawn is that too many know-it-alls show up day one on the job versus showing up with a learners mindset. 

Of course, the right mix between EQ and IQ is critical.  And while I referenced the criticality of some of the softer skills above, I also want to be clear that an effective CRO must have the passion and capability to deliver tangible tools to the teams they lead.  I have written countless playbooks, personas, and ICPs for the teams I’ve led throughout my career as a CRO.  I study data, identify trends, create hypos to prove/disprove.  I spend a great deal of time in the field with sales professionals running these plays and adjusting them accordingly, perhaps another carry-over from my experience at Intuit with Noel Tichy’s famous “teach, learn, teach” model underpinned our day-to-day operating rhythm in the business.

Often, I see CROs rely much too heavily on outside consultants (I was one of those), to do this type of work.  Why?  Because they either are not close enough to the business to know, or in the worst cases feel that the level of in-the-weeds work is beneath them.  This, however, is exactly the work that moves the needle by building sales effectiveness, team spirit, and a high performing culture where teams recognize that their Sales leader is sleeves-rolled-up, capable, competent, and credible. 

It was mentioned several times during the webinar private equity’s desire for predictability.  Delivering a “flash-in-a-pan” result is easier than producing consistent results over time.  Again, this is why it’s critical to be clear about what is required within the first 12-month period and what resources are available to accomplish those requirements.  The resource discussion is yet another topic that is deserving of its own thought leadership piece.  For now, here’s a simple way to illustrate the importance of having the right resources…

As someone raised in a musical family, and having played drums for many years, I consider Neil Peart to be arguably the best drummer of all time.  So, was it the 54-piece drum kit that made Neil sound so incredible?  Or was Neil’s raw talent such that he’d sound good no matter how many drums he had at his disposal?  While I’d seen Peart amaze enthusiasts on a regular 4-piece Jazz set, the sounds and complex rhythms he played on 54 pieces simply amped things up a notch.  He had the resources to transcend being great to being the greatest.  Now, drop in Phil Collins behind Peart’s 54 pieces.  Would Collins, another great, sound equally impressive?  Or does it suggest that resourcing wouldn’t matter, and that Collins would just “know” how to play, what to play, and when to play it?  As a reference point, Phil’s typical set is (was) a 10-piece kit.  Regardless, it’s clear that talent, plus resourcing, equals output.  The key to success is understanding what that specific talent requires, relative to resourcing, to produce the expected or desired results.

Back to the CRO thing, a CRO must also have the ability to look at data and make inferences…quick assessments of a situation.  Deductions usually come when deeper analysis is done, and oftentimes, the ability to do a deep dive is limited by a company’s systems, platforms, access to the data itself (perhaps it’s never been captured historically), or not having the analysts (talent) available to do such work.  This leaves the CRO in the position of either taking no action as they become paralyzed by fear of making the wrong decision, or the opposite extreme, making knee-jerk decisions as they quickly fire from the hip.  This area of CRO skill must also be contemplated when thinking about culture, timeframes, and expectations.

Finally, the relationship the CRO has with his/her owners/investors cannot be underestimated relative to performance.  Are the company’s owner enthusiastic supporters?  Are they impatient investors who have gone through a series of failed CROs leading them to bring high levels of doubt or skepticism into any new relationship?  Does the CRO have solid chemistry with both the CEO and CFO?  It has always struck me as odd that I’ve personally never interviewed with a CFO while being recruited for the top Sales chair, yet my personal relationship with a CFO, as a CRO, is perhaps equally important if not more important than the relationship between a CEO and CRO.  There’s a ton there to unpack as a topic – the relationship between CRO and CFO – that opens the door for future thought leadership content.

In summary, finding the right CRO begins with an accurate assessment of the future of the asset.  Where are we in the hold period?  What has the last 3-5 years of organic growth looked like for the company?  What’s the tenure of the team?  Is it a complete build, or rebuild?  Is there a VP of Rev Ops in place, and further, how strong is that person relative to all aspects of analysis and GTM tech platforms?  Do any of the CROs previously-built-teams still exist?  Can the CRO demonstrate an example where he/she groomed and promoted their replacement, and where and how is that replacement fairing today?  With the average age of a CRO being 49, what was he/she doing during the dotcom bust, the GFC, the pandemic, and most recently our current period of high inflation and stifling borrowing rates?  Can the CRO candidate comfortably articulate key learnings from each of these periods and demonstrate how those learnings enabled them to better navigate through the subsequent challenges or crises?  What tangible examples can the CRO point to as evidence of something they built new, as a response to their own evolution of thought due to their experiences?    

In choosing the right Chief Revenue Officer, it’s essential to recognize that leadership is not just about past successes, but about the ability to adapt, evolve, and thrive in an ever-changing business landscape. The true measure of a CRO lies in their capacity to turn challenges into opportunities, ensuring that their experiences become the cornerstone for future growth and innovation.

20 Objectives For All Chief Revenue Officers

On By Joe DeRosaIn LeadershipLeave a comment
  1. Be a continuous learner – what got you into the CRO role won’t keep you there.
  2. Create a culture of innovation – willingness to try new things without the fear of failure.
  3. Demonstrate teamwork and camaraderie – people will watch and observe your behavior before they act.
  4. Focus on the people – this means getting to know your colleagues beyond their quotas.
  5. Be authentic – this equals consistency and predictability. Wild mood swings are often due to people transitioning from their “real” self to their created façade.
  6. Be vulnerable – show you’re human, it’s okay.
  7. Confront reality – denial wrecks your credibility. Quotas are huge, don’t act like they’re no big deal.
  8. Provide a path to success – it may be a difficult path but a path none the less. Remember, the leader’s job is to provide the vision…the possibilities.
  9. Be honest – shoot straight, share what you can, not only what you must.
  10. Always have an active ear – listen…actively. People want to know how much you care before caring about how much you know.
  11. Never surprise your boss – understand what’s important to the CEO and how/when to best communicate.
  12. Be deliberate in your actions – an environment of uncertainty is a byproduct of hedging bets. Your team will know if you’re not all in.
  13. Be kind – nothing in this job should justify taking someone’s dignity.
  14. Be gracious – say thank you. Give credit and recognize people consistently.
  15. Look for the good – every day find a good deed, or success from a colleague, and then share it.
  16. Know your numbers – where are you this month to quota, next month, and quarter standings.
  17. Know your business – what external factors may arise to get in the way of achieving your goals and those of your colleagues?
  18. Always be planning – “In preparing for battle I have always found plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
  19. Stay fit – CROs tend to be the heartbeat of a company. Work hard to have and maintain a healthy heartbeat.
  20. Always, always, remember (and thank) those who helped you arrive – family, friends, former bosses, mentors. No one gets to where they’re going totally alone

Leaders are not born, they’re developed

On By Joe DeRosaIn Leadership1 Comment

I recently had dinner with one of my top sales people in San Diego this week and the conversation got around to whether people are born as natural sales people, or leaders.

I’ve never been a believer that people are born into a specific life path. What I believe is that each of us is born with a set of talents, capabilities, and competencies. We are all born with a specific attitude as well. A mindset, a glass half full, versus half empty thinking. A skeptic, an optimist, or pragmatist.

Here’s where the conversation gets fun. Believe it or not there was an interesting life lesson that has stuck with me for years from a rather unexpected movie – RAMBO III. In the movie the character of Colonel Troutman gives a pep talk to John Rambo. He tells the story of a sculpture who finds a perfect stone. He drags it back to his workshop and creates an incredible statue. When his friends compliment him on his creation, he says, he didn’t create anything. The statue was always there…he just chipped away the small pieces.

We are all born with natural talents. Some are blessed with athletic abilities, others with analytical strengths, others with caregiver strengths. The difference between those that achieve their full potential versus those who don’t, is finding a mentor(s) who helps validate and provide direction for your unique set of skills.

What if there was no Earl to Tiger Woods? What if no Joe to Michael Jackson? What if no Kurt to Michael Douglas? There are thousands more of these examples of folks who are not in the limelight but succeeded because they benefited from someone who recognized their talents and provided direction and encouragement. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have had a number of bosses throughout my career who have guided, counseled, and encouraged me to embrace my skills, take chances, and stretch. Without them, I am certain I would not have accomplished what I have thus far. And while I’m now considered “middle age”, my need for their input, guidance, and counsel still remains strong. Being a continuous learner never stops…until the heart does.

So what if you don’t feel like you have a person like this in your life? What do you do to find someone to fill this gap? The answer is easy. Look around. That person is probably closer to you than you think. It could be a spouse, partner, boss, friend, someone at the gym, someone sitting next to you on a plane. In fact, my love for American history was born on a flight I was on in 2004 when I met a gentlemen who asked me what types of books were my favorite to read. Foolishly I said none. He said, how can you spend so much time on a plane and not read. He told me I was missing all kinds of opportunities to expand my thinking. When we landed he gave me a book that became the catalyst for creating my voracious appetite for reading. That book was called His Excellency on George Washington. I can’t count the number of books I’ve given away over the years to people who I just met in similar situations. You never know who, or how you can impact the life of a stranger for the better. It’s incredibly heartwarming and fulfilling.

Life lessons are everywhere. Sometimes you just need to put down your phone, take out your ear buds, and just be…be present. Take an inventory of all the things you’re good at. Jot down what you like to do. Assess the crowd you hang with and identify a few people to approach to help you clear away those stones. Remember, the statue is always there…it’s just how badly you want to chip away at the stones to show your uniqueness and value to the world.

12 Things Great Leaders Do Daily

On By Joe DeRosaIn Leadership3 Comments

McChrystal

By definition a leader is a person who leads or commands a group – at least that’s what Professor Google says.  My definition is a bit different.  Who wants to be commanded?  Sure there are times, situations, and circumstances when being in command is required.  Directing, ordering, and controlling are verbs that often come to mind when we think of leaders.

Just about anyone can be taught to do these things.  Just about anyone can dish orders, direct others, and attempt to control.  Many “leaders” regardless of training can do this for some period of time before being discovered as ineffective.  Great leaders however, take a different approach.  These leaders must do all the directing, ordering, and controlling as previously mentioned but it’s how they accomplish these things that set them apart.

Great leaders are great because they:

  1. Understand how to empathize
  2. Effectively communicate their vision
  3. Ask great questions, deep questions that provide insight
  4. Act in their own authentic way, not trying to be someone else
  5. Adopt a beginners attitude
  6. Surround themselves with people smarter than they are
  7. Spend time on self-reflection, how they operate and the result produced
  8. Network and connect with others to learn
  9. Ask for, and accept help when needed
  10. Lean on mentor(s) for coaching and perspective
  11. Roll up their sleeves, never asking others to do something they haven’t or wouldn’t do themselves
  12. Inspire others through their words, actions, and behaviors

So start today with some self-reflection.  What are you doing?  What do you spend most of your time on?  How do you interact with those around you?  What’s the reaction of others when you walk in a room, speak during a meeting, engage with others in a break-room?  Consider this list and strive to embrace each one in a genuine way and you’ll find your results improve in a timely manner.

Why Your Role as Sales Leader Isn’t to Motivate

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

MOTIVATION word cloud, business concept

Many people think “cheerleader” when they envision an effective sales leader.  Someone who gets the team fired up, screams and shouts, and sets everyone on a rah-rah march into the field to meet prospects.

The sales leader is expected to be a high-powered extrovert, charismatic, outspoken, aggressive, and perhaps even a bit shocking.  We have all worked for sales leaders that possess these characteristics and shall I dare say, some other, more wild ones to say the least.

Early in my career I worked for such a sales leader.  He’d stand on a chair or a table during sales meetings screaming at the top of his lungs, face beet red.  The hair on the back of your neck would stand on end.  You were pumped.  There was nothing you couldn’t do.  But when he finished his super-charged motivational speech, the result felt more like a tirade than an inspiration.  There’s an enormous distance between rallying a group with fear versus inspiration.

So what is the sales leaders responsibility as it relates to motivating a sales team?

Are you ready for the answer?  None.  You have no responsibility to motivate your team.  Each sales person on your team is responsible for motivating him, or herself.  So what is your job as the sales leader?  Provide vision and inspiration.

People want to follow a leader who demonstrates the confidence that he knows where he’s going, how he’s going to get there, and why getting there is so important and beneficial.  I’ve built a number of sales teams over the years.  I have worked hard to be an inspiration – doing this provides your team members with the “why” should they do what you’re asking them to do.  Inspiration transcends motivation.  You can motivate for an hour or a day but motivation is time constrained.  It lasts only as long as the instigator – you – are on duty.  But to inspire, creates a fire, that burns deep into desire.  The greater the fire you build the more insatiable the desire is to achieve the goals you’ve set – whether you’re around or not.

Your job is to find out what drives your team.  Is it money?  Is it recognition?  Is it invention or innovation?  Is it client engagement scores?  Once you know what drives each person on the team you will be able to create your inspiration roadmap.  That roadmap will provide a clear picture to:

  1. Where are we going?
  2. Why are we going there?
  3. What’s in it for us?
  4. What will we feel once we’ve arrived there?

Most organizations fail due to a lack of clarity around the vision. You’ve got to assemble a team that WANTS to a be a part of your vision.  Trying to convince someone they will be happy going to Buffalo in the winter probably won’t sell.  You can expend all your energy convincing or you can set out to find those who are interested or intrigued with going to Buffalo.  It’s the Good to Great philosophy of getting the right people on the bus and the right butts in the right seat.

Lead by example.  Walk the talk.  Model the behaviors.  Do these things and you’ll increase your ability to inspire your followers to achieve remarkable results.

Get Specific -4 Ways to Make Your Business Conversations More Effective

On By Joe DeRosaIn Business, SalesLeave a comment

Business People Meeting Growth Success Target Economic Concept

 

Your eyes are glazed over.  You’re trying to be discreet but you can’t help looking at your watch.  Is it over yet?  As meeting standards go this one is pretty brutal. It’s dull, boring, lacking insights, not informative, it’s basically a disastrous waste of your time.  Have you ever encountered one of these meetings?  Here’s a daring question – have you ever been the one driving one of these meetings?  If your answer is “no way, I’d never run such a terrible meeting”, I’d say you should probably spend a bit of time on self-reflection.  We all have coordinated and run meetings like this.  We’ve all wasted someones time at one point or another.

Here are 4 Ways to Make Your Business Conversations More Effective:

  1. Prepare – Do some homework on the individual you’re meeting with and the company.  It’s not enough to just throw out facts about the company or industry.  With the advent of social selling you’ve got to know your buyer – the human behind the decision.
  2. Ask good questions – Dump the “what keeps you up at night” question. So boring.  So predictable.  Kind of shallow.  A rookie question.  Have a hypothesis of what you believe keeps them up and night and throw it on the table.  Of course that requires having completed Step 1 above.
  3. Know what’s going on in the world – Don’t take a political stance, but know what’s happening in the world, the markets, etc.  Election year impacts, the Brexit issue, the Middle East conflicts, the Puerto Rican debt default. People enjoy spending time with people who have a bit of depth.  You don’t need to be Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffet, or Seth Godin, but you do need to have ideas and opinions beyond your company’s.
  4. Manage your time – Arrive early.  If you’re on time you’re late.  I get tired of hearing how bad traffic was.  Sales people today, especially in bigger cities think they can use traffic in Seattle, LA, NY, Boston, Atlanta, etc., as an excuse and people will just understand.  If you want to be like every other sales person walking in the office than great.  You will be – just like every other.  You want to be different?  Give yourself extra time.

One final extra tip.  Please show up with some energy.  No, you don’t have to drink 17 Red Bulls before you walk in the door.  Likewise you don’t want to be Eeyore either. Find the balance between excitement and control.  Do all of these together and you’ll run an awesome meeting.

 

 

A word or two on sales coverage models

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

 

 

Isolated Earth - Elements of this Image Furnished by NASA

In a recent conversation with a CEO of a large service organization I was asked which sales model I believed was most effective in generating improved sales results.  A popular question these days.  Everyone who is responsible for generating revenue has asked this question at least once.  The answer however, lies with your buyer.

In a vacuum there is no one single, silver bullet to drive sales results.  The most popular sales coverage models include:

  1. Generalists – sell everything
  2. Specialists – sell usually one, perhaps two products
  3. Verticals – sell to specific industries; professional services, restaurants, manufacturing, etc
  4. Revenue – sell by revenue size of client; SMB, mid-market, enterprise
  5. Employee size – sell by number of employees; payroll companies often use this coverage model
  6. Account-based – assigned specific accounts/companies to sell or cross-sell

In addition to this mix of options, a head of sales must consider whether a field sales organization or inside sales team is most effective.  Again, the decision here should be informed by the company’s buyer’s journey.  Many products and services once believed could only be sold via an in-person interaction are now sold over the phone.  Taking this a step further, we also know – thanks to Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Intuit, and others – that self-fulfillment is not just possible, but preferred by many consumers.  The ability to do-it-yourself is highly appealing.

Gaining an understanding of how your buyer makes decisions is the first step to determining which model is best for your business.  Listen to your buyers and then align a sales process that helps lead the buyer through his or her journey.  That’s the answer to which model works best.

To Sell or Not to Sell?

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

USP concept
Hand with marker is drawing USP concept on the transparent white board.

Selling isn’t about winning or losing.  It’s not about money, trips, plaques, or prizes.  Selling is not an easy job, nor should it be a job to kill time until the “real thing” appears.   It’s not a set of activities, calls, presentations, or ratios.

Selling is about helping others.  Helping others solve problems and improving lives in the process.  Simply put, to sell is to make something, or someone better.  If what you’re offering for sale doesn’t provide some improvement over the status quo you have no sale.  The key is to understand your buyer well enough to know exactly how your product or service will improve their life or business.

People know when they’re being sold.  They also know when they feel they’ve been helped.  Seek first to understand before being understood is a good way to approach helping others.  Set out to help others and the sales will follow.

Reverse Prospecting: Your Buyer’s Looking For You

On By Joe DeRosaIn Leadership, Marketing, SalesLeave a comment

 

Reverse

Understanding your buyer’s journey is the first step to delivering explosive growth results.  The age of the buyer has arrived and the seller no longer is in control.  Buyers today are prospecting more than sales people.  How?  By scouring the internet and leveraging social channels to learn and make decisions.  In fact, if you’re the seller, you’ve become the passenger on this purchasing trip.  So make yourself comfortable, stay observant, and most of all have fun on the trip.

Your buyers know more about what they need than ever before.  There was a time (and it goes further and further back each day) when the buyer had to rely on a sales person to identify his problem and present a solution…the seller’s solution.  Not any more.  Have a runny nose and sore lower back?  A quick trip to the website WebMD can provide you with information on what may be going on with you.  You need to put in a new garbage disposal?  There are hundreds of how-to videos on YouTube that provide step-by-step instructions that take a job that previously required a plumber and turned it into a DIY project.

We have all become addicted to information.  In fact, more than 80% of 18 – 44 year olds say the first thing they do in the morning, immediately after opening their eyes, is to check their phones.  Information.  We want lots of it, all the time.

Buyers have this access to information and are using it more and more.  They Google, Facebook, YouTube, Tweet, and ask their LinkedIn groups for information, recommendations, and ideas.  If you’re a seller without a social selling strategy you’re already trailing the pack.  And if you think your product or service is too complex to promote via social channels think again.  General Electric has hundreds of videos on YouTube on MRI equipment, jet turbines, and lighting.  Toll Brothers, a national builder of custom homes, provides a website that allows someone to design and build their dream home and see it!  Buyers are not just using the internet to shop for shoes, sweaters, or books.

Having a social presence isn’t enough. You can’t set up a Facebook or LinkedIn page and check off the box and say its done.  You have to be active…engaged.  You have to create content, share content, weigh in on content others have shared.  This is where your buyers are looking for you.  Your paradigm must shift.  Buyers are now conducting a form of reverse prospecting.  They’re looking for you…you just don’t know it.  So if you’re a seller, and you’re not visible in the areas your buyers are looking for you, you simply won’t be found.

So get started.  Take it slow.  Don’t try to boil the ocean in a day.  A retweet here, a LinkedIn post there, a blog here, are all activities to get you on the road to being found by your buyer.