Revolutionary Marketing and Sales Strategies

Deepen Your Prospect Knowledge

Exactly how well do you really know the very people you are trying to sell to?  If you can't put yourself in their shoes, you don't know them well enough.  It's called empathy.  It's hard for sales people to be empathic when they've never played the role of the person they are expected to interact with.  No ... we don't want to turn sales folks into CFO's, for instance, but if the CFO is the decision-maker, they must be able to have an intelligent conversation with them addressing their issues in a language that they understand.  Here's a link to a potential solution for B2B sales people:

Executive Link - Vertical-Specific, Role-Specific Intelligence

How To Get Motivated Buyers To Call You First (Part 2 of 2)

Becoming The Emotional Favorite

So, if being the emotional favorite means being the person the buyer want to see succeed, how do you create this relationship?

Start by asking questions about the buyer when you meet for the very first time and at the end of EVERY sales call.

Think about the last time you encountered a ‘stereotypical’ sales person, the one who immediately launches into a sales pitch. How did you react? After a minute or two, did your eyes glaze over? As the sales person drones on, you stop listening waiting for an opportunity to end the conversation. Ultimately, that sales person falls to the bottom of the list of people you call when you need something. Not where you want to be if you’re looking to become the Emotional Favorite.

Asking The Right Questions

Obviously, you’re not going to start with ‘Hi, I’m Craig. What’s your greatest challenge?’

Start with open-ended questions: Ask about how the latest government policy changes, or shifts in technology has impacted their business. Relate their business to your other industry contacts and share some of your own insights. Then you can ask about their greatest challenges and you will likely get the answers you are looking for.

Frame your questions outside your existing sales professional to prospect relationship because by default, your customer will answer in terms of your products or services. Start with “Let’s forget about what I do for ABC Company for a minute” and ask:

• What is the biggest issue you have that you just can’t get to? or,
• What is the one thing you are looking for but can’t seem to find? or,
• What issue have you tried to solve but can’t find a satisfactory solution to?

Now shut up and listen! When the buyer stops talking, wait 6 seconds and listen to what they tell you next. First they’ll tell you about the problem. If you don’t interrupt them, they will tell you how the problem impacts them and the rest of their organization.

Now you have the enough information to connect the buyer with a solution and if it’s not available through you perhaps you know a colleague who can solve the problem. If you don’t know a colleague who can solve the problem, connect the buyer with a trusted seller using a lead exchange that has a rating system for the vendors in the exchange.

What Are The Benefits Of Asking The Right Questions?

• You gain a better understanding of buyers and their organization.
• You will improve your customer relationships while buyers do not need what you sell.
• You will get more time with buyers
• You may learn of opportunities to sell
• You can become the person buyers want to see succeed, by connecting them with trusted vendors who can provide the solution they are looking for

Most customers don’t tell you of needs they think are unrelated to what you sell. When you ask the right questions, you learn of opportunities to add value to buyers, become the person they want to see succeed, and get called first when they want what you sell.

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Craig Elias is a 15-year sales veteran, noted speaker and author on sales and networking, and the Founder of InnerSell - an online sales tool used by sales professionals so that no matter what their customer needs they can get it through them. Learn more by contacting Craig by phone (866.744.7904), email (Craig.Elias@InnerSell.com), or visiting www.InnerSell.com.

Overwhelming Under Use of Great Sales Tools

There is certainly more marketing and sales tools out there than anyone can possibly get their individual arms around.  The trick?  Dialing in the optimal combination of tools to use that give the most bang for the buck (time and dollars).

It is impossible for the majority of senior-level marketing and sales executives to adequately explore many of these new tools.  They're just too dang busy.  Unfortunately, this scenario is reminiscient of the woodsman that is so busy sawing down trees with a handsaw that when someone comes to show him a chainsaw, he simply has no time.  How much easier and productive would the woodsman's life would be if only he could find a minute to recalibrate?

It's too bad too because there are some unbelievable tools (technologies and services) out there.  I'm sure that there are some that I have yet to discover myself.  But I have finally dialed in the combination that works best for me.  Below is a brief description of the some of tools that have lead to success for me (and "no, I'm not receiving comp for saying these nice things either"):

Marketing Tools:

• SurveyMonkey - This is a great tool for creating slick, professional surveys and compiling all the data in a cool, presentable format.
• VerticalResponse - A email campaign management tool.  I use this to create, distribute and measure the effectiveness of various marketing campaigns.  They also have a postcard mailing program that I have yet to try. This is an awesome tool.
• Typepad - this is a very easy to use weblog publishing tool.  I am non-technical and created my weblog here and maintain it daily.
• Profits In Progress - Vanessa Lowry and her team will actually hand-write notes for you and mail them.  If your handwriting is like mine, INVALUABLE.

Prospecting/Research Tools:

• Lead411 - This is a great tool to find out company event specific information ... what companies just had management changes, received financing (how much and what purpose), or made an acquisition.
• InnerSell - Used to generate and gather referrals from other people.  This is the ultimate in the principal of giving to get.  Their CEO, Craig Elias, has written some insightful, well-aligned articles ... go to their website.
• LinkedIn - I use this tool to see who I know that can provide me introductions and/or referrals to the people I want to target.  The basic service, that I use, is FREE.
• Jigsaw - I use Jigsaw to get person-specific contact information (V-card stuff).  If you contribute data the service is FREE.
• X-Sells, Inc. - the strongest outsourcer for lead generation I know of.  Tim Young has built that company into a very well-oiled lead machine.

Sales Management Tools:

• Various CRM tools -  For planning and managing activities, contacts, pipeline:  Salesforce.com, SageCRM/SalesLogix, SugarCRM, RightNow Technologies, Inside Sales, NetSuite, SalesNet.  Cost for these tools are anywhere from $45 to $125 per month per user.

Sales Execution Effectiveness Tools:

• Executive Link - The best way I know to prepare to a specific vertical and role is to interview others in the same position.  That's exactly what Executive-Link offers.  Executive-Link has 56 person-years worth of research (14 people x 4 years) where they interview execs in all different verticals and roles and tell me what's keeping that person up at night.  Cost runs $45 to $65 per month per user (depending on size of client).

Presentation Tools

• COItalk - COI is a much lower cost version of WebEx.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles but I don't use those anyway.  It's $25 per month for an unlimited number of uses.

How To Get Motivated Buyers To Call You First (Part 1 of 2)

By Craig Elias, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder, InnerSell, Inc.

How many sales opportunities have you lost to competitors who seemed to have the inside track? It’s likely the buyer purchased from their emotional favorite.

Selling goes beyond communicating the value of your products and services. Selling is also about communicating the value of doing business with you. It is about connecting with buyers and becoming their ‘Emotional Favorite’.

Success in sales requires three things:

1. A viable product that addresses a need
2. Credibility
3. Timing – being in front of the right buyer at the right time

Some in sales claim in sales timing is everything; experienced sales professionals know timing is the ONLY thing.

There are a plethora of credible businesses with viable products. To be truly successful at selling you need timing - to be the first or second person motivated buyers talk to when they need something.

There are three simple ways to get timing:

1. Sheer numbers – if you contact enough buyers, you’ll eventually find opportunities
2. Referrals – someone tells you the buyer has a need for your product or service
3. Become a buyer’s ‘Emotional Favorite’ – a motivated buyer calls you first

Value Of Being First

Being one of the first suppliers in front of buyers at the time they need what you sell is key to getting the business. Once the buyer begins to shape a solution around a vendor’s product or service, they become emotionally tied to that solution. People tend to make decisions and move on to the next problem.

What Is The Emotional Favorite?

Think about the last time you purchased a product or service. When you picked up the phone, did you call the person who helped you in the past? The person who adds value to your business or your career every time you ask for their assistance? Chances are you did. The fact of the matter is most people do. They make emotional decisions and rationalize them afterwards.

It used to be that people bought from those they know, like, and trust. To be successful in sales today, you need to go one step further and connect with buyers to become the person the buyer knows, likes, trusts…and want to see succeed – Their ‘Emotional Favorite’.

The emotional favorite is the person a buyer calls first, regardless of what they need.

Becoming The Emotional Favorite

So, if being the emotional favorite means being the person the buyer want to see succeed, how do you create this relationship?

We'll answer this question in part 2 of this series

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Craig Elias is a 15-year sales veteran, noted speaker and author on sales and networking, and the Founder of InnerSell - an online sales tool used by sales professionals so that no matter what their customer needs they can get it through them. Learn more by contacting Craig by phone (866.744.7904), email (Craig.Elias@InnerSell.com), or visiting www.InnerSell.com.

A Vapor Trail from SAP - Chris Selland

Is Salesforce.com getting under the skin of SAP?  You betcha !!! Read this post from Chris Selland, one of the most insightful and imbedded sources in the CRM marketplace.

A Vapor Trail from SAP

Cisco, CEO, Chambers Calls For Verticalization

The concept of verticalization is rapidly spreading.  In this article, "Chambers Issues Verticalization Call To Partners", John Chambers, Cisco's noteworthy CEO, has made the call to all partners to go vertical.  In this article he acknowledges that the challenges to move in this direction will be great, but the ultimate payoffs can be even greater.  In this same article, Cisco's SVP of Worldwide Channels, Paul Mountford, says, "You can make more margin based on your differentiation".  He is referring to relationship differentiation only possible with going vertical.

Any time an organization changes from a technical, horizontal-focus to a vertical-focus AND their solutions are complex, enterprise-wide impacting, like Cisco's, the transition is even more difficult.  This is because complex, enterprise-wide impacting solutions require an executive level sales approach.  As I learned the hard way, early in my career, in this case the executives require that you have a certain level of expertise in their vertical.  You must, right off-the-bat, demonstrate that you understand their vertical and their role specific issues.  That's a far departure from selling at the lower levels where product knowledge is king.

I will be conducting another webcast on this subject this Thursday, 8/11, from 2-3pm Eastern Time.  If you are interested in attending just shoot me an email as an RSVP.  In turn you will receive an invitation with web info and dial-in info.

Chelsea - Allstar Panthers - National Champs

This is unrelated to marketing or sales.  My youngest daughter cheers competitively (like the ESPN stuff).  With all the blood, sweat and tears she puts into it and all the time, energy and money my wife and I put into it I feel okay bragging a bit.

Her squad won Nationals at this year's championships in Orlando.  Here are some pics:

National Championship Photos

Boosting Marketing / Prospecting Effectiveness

For a minute, put yourself in the shoes of a CFO in a healthcare organization.  You receive two letters; one from John Doe of Selling Org, Inc. and another from Sally Mabry of BizSolutions-R-Us, Inc..  Both companies are well known and have offerings that are comparable and would meet the needs of the CFO.

John Doe’s Letter:

·        Is a standard letter John uses for all prospects regardless of vertical market or role

·        Explains a new product that his company has just introduced

·        Discusses features, functions and benefits of Selling Orgs offering

·        Highlights an example of how Selling Org has helped other clients and the benefits derived

Sally Mabry’s Letter:

·        Is written specifically to a CFO of a healthcare organization - Language/jargon

·        Addresses one or more specific issues that Sally has learned that healthcare CFO’s are currently experiencing

·        Directly links her company’s offering(s) to the specific issue that executive is facing

·        Highlights an example of how BizSolutions has helped other healthcare CFO’s and the benefits derived

Ask yourself … c’mon be honest!  If you were the healthcare CFO which person are you most likely to grant access to and invest your time in?  I know this is a setup, but most (almost all) sales forces opt for John Doe’s approach (“throw enough stuff against the wall & something is bound to stick” philosophy).  I will reiterate my favorite saying … “Executives buy, not because they understand, but because they feel understood.”

Neither Sally nor John has ever been in healthcare, much less a CFO in a healthcare organization.  Somehow Sally was able to communicate to that executive, “I get you!”  So how was Sally able to create such differentiation?  She had single source access to real-time intelligence that enabled her with enough domain-level expertise to be viewed by that executive as someone who could potentially add-value.  Look at this link to see the vertical-specific, role-specific intelligence Sally had that gave her such a huge relationship advantage:

Healthcare CFO Profile - Areas of Responsibility, Primary Issues, Reasons for the Issues, Potential Solutions to the Issues, Others In the Organization Impacted & How, and Key Performance Measures

Sally's company, BizSolutions-R-Us, can also tailor to include their specific offerings to match up with role specific issues their specific clients are facing.  Talk about a targeted, aligned approach to Marketing, Sales and even Product Dev/Mgmt ... all real-time, collaborative and available 24/7. 

The above app is called Executive Link and it will arm your organization with a previously unheard of level of intelligence.  Intelligence needed to improve win percentages, close business and develop key executive relationships that ensure client retention.

CRM and Sales Effectiveness

Hats off to Scott Ehmen, now with Salesforce.com (previously in this article with Intellinet).  After reading several of my posts and then this article where Scott Ehmen is interviewed by Inc. Magazine, you'll see why we align so well.

A Second Act for CRM: Customer relationship management software is back -- and worth another look. Really.

THE MAGIC IN CRM SUCCESS IS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION ... PERIOD ... PROCESS, PEOPLE AND PREPARATION