"...out-learning the
competition"
HEADLINES:
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If people knew how hard I worked
to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful. |
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- Michelangelo |
MUST READ the Foreword -- I can't remember a time when I
felt the Foreword to a book was so well written and so perfectly summarized a
book that I recommended a reader start there...I'll explain below, but first...
Sales per TOP
Salesperson Tripled -- it's one thing to improve the sales
performance of your average sales person; it's quite another to triple the
results of your top performers (from $7 million to over $25 million). This is
what Shell Global Solutions achieved between 2004 and 2009 using Jeff Thull's
"Diagnostic Business Development" sales approach from his bestselling
book Mastering the Complex
Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes are High. The 2nd
edition was just released last week (250 of you will be getting copies this
week). I'm so impressed by his Sales Era 3.0 approach that I asked him to lead
the opening four-hour keynote at the Fortune Sales and
Marketing Summit in Vegas, April 20 -- 22 - the same slot Geoffrey Moore,
Neil Rackham, and Victoria Medvec filled at past Summits.
Does Complex Mean Big
-- endorsed by almost every sales master in the field, I knew Jeff's sales
insights were important, and his body of work, I've discovered, is legendary
(two other bestsellers to his credit). My concern was if his sales approach
would translate to our world - mid-market growth firms. So I dug into his work.
First, complex does not imply big. Maybe Jeff would think I'm oversimplifying,
but "complex" is any sale that's not a pure commodity transaction --
and that's most of us! It's where the onus is on us to demonstrate to the
customer that our product/service is worth slightly (or a lot) more than our
competitors, given our quality, service, benefits, approach, etc. More
importantly, it's demonstrating to potential customers that don't even think
they need our product/service that it's critical to their business.
Sales Era 1 & 2
-- the Sales Era 1 approach focused on cold calling, presenting, closing, and a
strong dose of overcoming objections. Thull likes to describe it as the age of
"show and tell," "spray and pray," "cram and
jam," and my favorite "grab 'em by the tie and choke 'em 'til they
buy" -- tactics I continue to use today! The Sales Era 2 approach is
typified by the consultative sale. It starts with the sales person asking
questions to learn the customer's view of their problem and what the customer
thinks the solution should be. Then salespeople tailor their products/services
to match the picture. Needs analysis, listening training, and relationships
skill building are part of the training, turning persuaders into credible and
trustworthy consultants.
Sales Era 3
-- Thull is quick to point out that Era 2 selling might still be quite
effective for many -- so don't mess up a good thing. But if it's not working as
effectively as you would like, then your customer might be in Era 3. "The
hidden assumption of Era 2 is that customers clearly understand the problems
they need to solve and the solutions that are required to solve them,"
notes Thull. "But it is a deadly assumption for a vast majority of today's
complex sales. If your customers have difficulty understanding and quantifying
the impact of the problems you solve, and they have difficulty sorting through
and understanding the competing solutions, they are squarely in Era 3."
Mini-Case Study
-- which brings me back to the Foreword of Thull's book. Order Thull's book and
read the nine-page mini-case study of how Shell specifically applied Thull's
approach and the results that included reducing their sales force by 60% --
from 110 to 42 -- while increasing their average contract size by 800 percent
and tripling revenues -- all between 2004 and 2009. And the diagnostic approach
and communication tools were particularly effective with Shell's engineers who
often interact with customers in explaining/selling solutions. For many of us,
its people other than sales professionals that are key to making a sale and
Thull's tools are critical.
Dana Brown
-- co-founder of MetaSolv Software, which grew from 2 people to over 1000, $150
million in revenue, $4 billion market cap (IPO), and then acquired by Oracle,
Brown was the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) that drove these impressive
numbers. Since then she's been CEO or CMO of several successful technology
ventures and most recently General Partner for RiverRock Holdings LLC, a
boutique private equity firm focused on mid-cap businesses. Brown will be
keynoting the Fortune
Sales & Marketing Summit in Vegas and her topic will be "The CEO as #1
Marketing Executive." She'll focus on the role of a head of marketing in
this situation and share a CMO scorecard to help measure what she's found to be
the most overlooked, undervalued, and misunderstood metrics by mid-market CMOs.
Hotel Room Update
-- OK, so we've exceeded our room block by over 100% and the really cheap rooms
are gone; however, their normal rate is still less than our regular rates at
Summits -- and rooms are still available. Optional hotels nearby include the Southpoint
Hotel 4 miles away between the M Resort and the airport (good taxi service)
and the Hampton
Inn & Suites in Henderson, NV which is 2 miles away, but further south
from the airport and you'll have to order a taxi. But it's all worth it given
the impact on top line revenue you'll garner from the Fortune Sales &
Marketing Summit