Either Way You Better Be Selling
Earlier this month I attended two very interesting educational events. One was the April meeting of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC), Chicago Chapter. As a member of the Chapter board, I assisted in assembling a panel of sale training experts to address “How to adapt your sales effort to be more effective in this tough economy”. Below are 20 very practical and proven tips that the experts gave.
The other event was the 2010 Economic Forecast Breakfast hosted each year by my friends and First Merit Bank. Again we heard from Chief Economist, Brian Wesbury, deliver his decidedly optimistic perspective on the economy. His speech shared the same title as his new book It’s Not as Bad as You Think.
We have all come through a very difficult economic time. This has and will influence how our customers react and buy. There is a heighten level of fear and stress in the market place, therefore we must be vigilant about building trust and increasing service. 2010 is showing signs of improvement, so there are opportunities to help our customers and in turn grow our businesses. However we don’t know how long this will last. So whether you believe we are in recovery, or will continue to struggle in a weak economy you had better be out-selling and out-performing your competition, either to take advantage of the growth or to prepare for the next downturn.
It’s like the African proverb. When the lion wakes up she knows that she must outrun all the other lions or she will go to bed hungry again. When the impala wakes up he knows that if he doesn’t outrun other antelopes, he may not go to sleep at all that night. So whether you see yourself as a lion or antelope, either way you better be running!!
Panel Discussion of Sales Training experts – IMC Chicago April Chapter Meeting
How to you adjust your selling approach to this tougher economy?
- Be more collaborative. Find and work with strategic partner who are targeting your same ideal prospect profile
- First make sure you know what your ideal prospect looks like
- Focus on your core customers – those most important to you, and your core competencies.
- Recognize that buyers are seeking safety. Increase your services to them – can’t afford to lose your best customers
- Leverage technology more – CRM, Linked In, Website are all table-stakes
- Hold yourself accountable. Be consistent in you prospecting and marketing. Establish daily/weekly disciplines for prospecting. Track measurable results, not just sales activities.
- Ask for testimonials and referrals
- Re-evaluate the networking groups you invest your time with. Make adjustments if the ROI is not there.
How to maintain a stream of work / pipeline
- Keep picking up the phone. Follow up with people. Don’t assume they are thinking about you
- Move them forward in the buying process
- Mine additional opportunities for current customers. In tough times and busy time, people all have needs
- Bring quicker hits for your customers. Demonstrate value right away
- Given increased uncertainty in the marketplace:
- Show how to reduce risk in doing business with you
- Understand your customer; do your homework and ask relevant questions
- Buying = risk, providing service = a promise. Therefore you must increase both trust and belief in you
Ways to Collaborate for Additional Value
- Be clear about what you are looking for, draw the picture for your potential alliance partner
- Be clear about what YOU bring to the alliance partner. The synergy must help all parties
- Provide “trigger “ words to help your partners identify opportunities
- Connect to “witnesses”. Partners who witness or see your prospects pain
- Walk before you run. Start slowly with simple projects then move to formal agreement. Have common values and style
- Discuss how you will handle problems. Owen the problem, keep the customer out of it
- Have a pre-planning session for team selling opportunities
2010 Economic Forecast Breakfast hosted by FirstMerit Bank
Brain Wesbury, Chief Economist – First Trust Advisors
It’s Not as Bad as You Think
Brain made four key points:
1. The black swan event (high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations. – Wikipedia) was not that the US economy experienced a recession. This has happened before and will likely happen again. The high-impact event was the US Constitution that has enabled our economy and culture, to experience unprecedented growth for 80 of the last 100 years, or 40 of the last 50.
2. 10 measures indicate The Ecomonmy is improving:
- Change in nominal GDP; Federal Reserve Board
- Real GDP Ex-housing; BEA, First Trust Advisors
- Personal consumption –turned up mid 2009; Bureau of Economics
- 6 month annualized percent change in retail sales and manufacturing output; Census Bureau, Federal Reserve Board
- Copper Futures Price; CMX, First Trust Advisors
- IMS Manufacturing index; new orders and production; Institute for Supply Management
- Payroll surveys; Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Household Survey – Jobs; Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Home Price Index; Standard & Poor’s
- Unemployment rate is high but appears to have tipped; Bureau of Labor Statistics
3. However, government spending is at an all time high (23.7% of GDP; OMB, BLS). The gap between spending as a % of GDP and Government revenue as a % of GDP has never been wider. Depending on how the Administration decides to address this, will have an impact on continued growth.
4. For the rest of 2010, make hay while the sun shines!
