Are you a Fireman, Always Putting Out Fires?

Welcome to the November 1, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we discuss how to handle prospects and the sales process.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

Business Success Architect

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a Business Health Check-Up to get you ready for 2011.

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Are you a Fireman, Always Putting Out Fires?

by Paul DiModica

Take the Fireman Sales Test

1. When discussing your business value with a prospect, do you only talk about how your offering can help the problem they currently admit to and verbalize?

1. When discussing your business value with a prospect, do you only talk about how your offering can help the problem they currently admit to and verbalize?
   
   If you are truly a strategic or trusted advisor, sometimes you need to give advice on areas that the prospect needs help with, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

2. When a prospect tells you they are not interested in your offering, do you ever suggest problems that could happen if they don’t buy?

   Prospects don’t always know how to buy correctly. It is your job as a professional salesperson to tell them what could happen if they don’t buy.

3. Does your average gross margin per sale go down at the end of the month or quarter?

   When you are in a weak sales position because you have pulled your business value behind you, you end up giving away more margin.

4. Do you believe prospects know what they need to buy?

   Prospects see problems from their perspective and sometimes have limited vision on how to fix their problems. True strategic salespeople try to fix all business problems, even the ones the the prospect cannot see.

5. Do you believe prospects know how to buy correctly?

   Come on - if you have been selling more than 90 days, you know some prospects are uneducated buyers and make mistakes during the sales buying process.

6. Do you believe prospects should “like” you in order to buy?

   Another old fallacy left over from antiquated sales methodologies. Prospects just have to respect you . . . not like you. Management buys from salespeople who fix their business problems . . . not salespeople who take them to ball games.

7. Do you believe relationships start before the first sale?

   In commodity-based sales (logistics, IT, professional services, etc.) relationships start after the second sale.

8. Is your sales closing ratio higher when the prospect tells you they have a business problem?

   The more you know about the business drivers of why your prospect will buy - the more apt you are to educate them about the value of your offering to close more deals. Prospect knowledge and closing ratio move lock-in-step.

9. Do you treat prospects and customers the same way?

   Treating prospects who don’t know your value the same way you treat customers who should know your value is an incorrect sales process.

10. Can you name 5 specific business outcomes that would happen to your prospect if they do not buy from you?

    Consequence management is an important technique to close sales from prospects who don’t know how to buy correctly. The more you know - the more you will sell.

Walter Wise
Business Success Architect
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

How Much Are You Spending on Marketing and Is It Generating Qualified Leads?

Welcome to the October 1, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about best practices for marketing in today’s economy.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a Business Health Check-Up to get you ready for 2011.

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How Much Are You Spending on Marketing and Is It Generating Qualified Leads??

by Paul DiModica

When coaching CEOs on best practices on how to grow their business, one question we are often asked in this economy is “how do we generate more qualified leads?”

Generating leads — specifically qualified leads — takes knowledge, business funding and a planned strategy.

Often when working with clients, we find that they have a silo approach to lead development and end up focusing on one type of lead generation model which they or their team members are comfortable with.

This silo lead generation approach usually fails because it limits the potential capture of new prospects to one communication medium.

Most successful lead generation programs use multiple communication which we call the “three legged stool of lead generation.” The three legged stool of lead generation includes cold calling, networking and marketing. Each one of these approaches has their own budget, planned process and projected return on investment.

According to research from several different sources, your firm’s website should be your best lead generation tool.  Other sources in order of their value are: search engines, print and online advertising, trade shows, telemarketing and finally direct mail and email.

What marketing methods is your firm using?

What marketing methods are most successful?

Do you know your marketing costs?

During a recession, never reduce your marketing budget. There are always buyers buying; you just don’t know who they are. Instead, tighten your marketing focus on your most likely buyer based on their demographic profile, negotiate better on your vendor pricing and track your lead return on investment.

Marketing should generate qualified leads . . . or else it is a wasted investment!

“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

Sales Process Questions For VPs of Sales And Their Account Managers

Welcome to the September 15, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about the Sales Process.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check? In today’s economy, a key business driver for success is to take an action step to change. As the calendar year ends, to maximize your business successes next year, you need to use all of the 12 months of available revenue capture time you have by having your growth programs in place now. If you wait until January or February, you are going to restrict your growth potential because you will only have 11/12ths or 10/12ths of time left,  forcing your company to do double time to catch up to your 2011 goals in less time.

Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a year-end Business Health Check-Up.

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Sales Process Questions For VPs of Sales
And Their Account Managers
by Paul DiModica

In consulting with clients, daily I hear the following questions being asked by both sales management and account managers. When comparing the needs and business department requirements of sales and sales management for success in the coming year, there appears to be a common thread of expectation for both. Both seek more support, teamwork and increased revenue. Both expect each other to be more responsive. Hopefully, through more direct and deliberate dialogue, each group can achieve greater success by working closer together.

In this economy (more than ever) actions speak louder than words. Promises by sales reps that they will work harder are lost just as quickly as VP of Sales who commit to support the sales staff when confronted by difficult sales issues in their weekly executive meeting.

10 Questions Sales Account Managers May Want To Ask Their VP of Sales

It’s been a tough year. I have cold called, networked, and prepared many client proposals to sell our products and services in order to make quota. Some have purchased, some have delayed their decision, and some don’t even call me back. The days have been long and the months even longer. As my boss, I have expectations on what your job responsibilities are to management and to me, as part of your team. So based on these expectations and you being the VP of Sales, I have a few questions I would like to ask you to help me understand your direction and activities in the coming year to help me sell more.

1. How was my quota determined and is it realistic?
2. How come I don’t get 10 good qualified leads each month from the marketing department and what are you going to do about it?
3. Why have we not completed a new competitive review feature by feature and service by service against our competitors during the last six months? It is tough out there. We do not know what we are up against, budgets are tight, and I need to be informed to sell more.
4. When will I get more sales training? I am a professional salesperson and I need ongoing sales training every month.
5. What is our firm doing to position itself as a specialist not a generalist? In this economy, no one spends money on products or services that don’t increase corporate profits.
6. Our average proposal or contract takes too long to turn around in our firm. We need to reduce the approval time. How will you change this?
7. We have a lot of strategic partnerships, but I never get any qualified leads. Why do we have alliances if they don’t generate revenue?
8. I know you’re busy, but as the senior sales executive, why don’t you go on more sales calls with me or the rest of the team? We can use your help.
9. We seem not to have a specific corporate message. When we talk to prospects, we have no insightful way to communicate who we are. Can you get senior management to focus on crafting one succinct message that will help clients listen and help us penetrate new opportunities?
10. We seem to have lots of department silos. The company talks about teaming and leadership, but at the end of the day, all department heads focus on their department needs only. How will you change this?

8 Questions Every VP Of Sales May Want To Ask
Their Sales Account Managers

This has been a tough year. Some of my account managers may make quota, some may miss it and some may just give up. Currently I sit in meetings with the CEO being grilled on the commitments to revenue I made last year. I hold meetings with the CFO to discuss new department travel and expense management controls to reduce our overhead and I listened to my account reps’ frustrations daily about the economy. So, based on these issues and you being one of my account managers, I would like to sit down and chat with you to better understand your commitment, direction and activities for the coming year.

1. Day in and day out, you tell me you are working hard, but when I review your telephone usage, it appears you make less than 30 calls a day. When will you commit to cold calling?
2. When I look at your closing ratio, I am not pleased. You are a professional salesperson. What are you doing to increase your level of sales success? Are you continually studying the mechanics of the sales process?
3. Your sales pipeline seems inflated. It appears that you are selling me rather than clients. What are you going to do to produce a more accurate sales forecast?
4. I am here to help, but I am a shared resource. I cannot work with you on every deal. You need to close deals on your own. How will you do this?
5. When I look at your sales pipeline, your key contacts all hold titles of Directors or below. What are you going to do differently next year to sell to C-level executives and Vice Presidents since they are the ones who OK purchase orders?
6. Your paperwork and sales forecasting is never done on time. We all hate paperwork, but it is a tool for management to understand your progress and our firm’s current sales position. Will you commit to do better?
7. Looking at your ratio of leads to proposals, it seems low. How will you convert more qualified prospects into proposal prospects?
8. Listen, times are tough. But I need my sales staff to be positive and committed. Will you have a more positive approach in the coming year?

To succeed, VP’s of Sales need to be more aggressive in generating leads for their sales force and expecting a greater ROI from associated departments (marketing, strategy, alliance managers), which impact sales opportunities. Likewise, sales account executives need to fine-tune their sales skills to close difficult business and not wait for corporate to feed them leads. Hey, we are all in this together. Salespeople need to hunt for business.

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

Remember: “It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

About us ……

The BPI Strategy Group is a Veteran-owned, management consulting firm with consulting partners in three countries. Using the copyrighted Value Forward method, we work as IT business success advisors by integrating financial management, marketing methodology, sales process, corporate strategy and operations into one outbound revenue capture program to help high tech firms grow.

We use a hybrid advisement model to help drive a company’s success. We are CEO Coaches, Executive Management Consultants and a Training Firm all at the same time. We advise CEOs on action steps to take to grow revenues, consultant with management staff on best practices, and train sales and marketing teams on tactics and strategies that work.

Selling IT in the Eye of the Storm

Welcome to the September 1, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about variables that contribute to your sales success.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a Business Health Check-Up to get you ready for 2011.

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Selling IT in the Eye of the Storm

by Paul DiModica

Selling IT successfully is based on more than just your skill and knowledge as a salesperson or your firm’s advertising budget. It is more integrated than that. You are not a silo who inherited a sales quota which was calculated in the back room. Instead, you are a recipient of the success or failure of your firm’s marketing, strategy and product development.

IT salespeople do not operate or sell in a vacuum.

When consulting with clients to determine why their IT firms either did or didn’t hit their forecasted sales numbers, we have observed a pattern of five primary variables that contribute to the result.

For you to sell IT successfully as a quota-carrying salesperson, you are dependent on these five business variables. Some are your responsibility; others are the responsibility of your company.

When all five of these business variables are present and both the sales team and management team are continually trying to map this approach as a coordinated effort, individual IT salespeople hit their assigned sales quota.

When one or more of these variables is missing, individual IT salespeople stumble and are held accountable for lack of corporate revenue.

Below are five variables that contribute to the ability to hit your sales quota:

1. Your individual sales effort and sales skill;

2. Your market demand analysis and prospects’ needs;

3. Your knowledge of the product and/or service you sell;

4. The qualification of the buyer with whom you are dealing; and

5. The strength and competitiveness of the product and/or service you sell.

So, in the eye of your sales quota storm, what should an IT salesperson do?

First, determine if you are maximizing the three variables which are in your control as listed above (effort, IT knowledge and dealing with qualified buyers). This is a personal assessment that only you can calculate. Don’t look at your management for input on this - it is between you and yourself.

Second, if you decide you are not giving 100% in all of these areas, develop a personal MAP (Marketing Action Plan) to adjust your performance in the areas that need additional improvement and then commit to it.

If after an honest assessment you conclude that you are giving 110% in each of the three controllable areas you are responsible for and you still cannot hit your sales quota, then rest assured it is not your issue.

When the salesperson or the company fails to deliver the business variables which they control, the imbalance causes the storm to overpower the company and then everyone fails.

Selling IT is like living inside the eye of the storm. Peace and stability can only happen when all business variables co-exist to create a perfect selling environment of calm.

“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

How to Increase Your Proposal Acceptance using Webinars

Welcome to the August 15, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about using webinars to improve your proposal win rate.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a mid-year, Business Health Check-Up.

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How to Increase Your Proposal Acceptance using

Webinars

by Paul DiModica

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t . . . and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” Robert Frost

Using email often reduces the closing ratio of salespeople because when they send their proposals electronically to prospects, it often disappears into an invisible land where salespeople scramble to follow-up for confirmation and prospect feedback. Management and salespeople use email as a delivery method for proposals for a host of reasons including time restraints, convenience and prospects that reside at geographically distant locations.

Negotiating in person is always better, but when it is not financially or logistically feasible, instead of just emailing your proposal to your prospect, you should provide them a Webinar Proposal first. By using webinar proposal, you force your prospect to walk through your proposal page by page allowing you deal with sales objections as they happen, instead of invisibly by email.

When your proposal is ready, call your prospect and tell him that you would like to go over his proposal in detail. If they say, “just send it” and they will get back to you, respond “I appreciate that input, but my firm always presents the proposal by webinar first to make sure it meets your needs, and then we follow up with a written document.”

Webinar Proposal Guidelines

1. Keep your webinar proposal to 10 slides or less.
2. During the presentation, show high level information of your detailed proposal including your offering description, your reference slide, a high level operations slide, the investment slide, and the conclusion page of why they should buy.
3. Do not show detailed technical or operational information during your webinar proposal. Instead, save that data for the follow-up email proposal.
4. Write down the top ten sales objections you anticipate hearing during the webinar proposal presentation and prepare your answers.
5. After you have finished the webinar proposal presentation, only then send your traditional email proposal.

Use this format, and you will close more deals by managing sales objections proactively as they arise, instead of reacting to follow-up email or phone calls.

1. “Negotiation depends on the right communication.” Art Windell

“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

Measuring Your Sales Strategy I.Q.

Welcome to the July 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about Sales Strategy.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a mid-year, Business Health Check-Up.

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Measuring Your Sales Strategy I.Q.

by Paul DiModica

Selling is a “Zero Sum Game.”

Someone wins and someone loses.

When developing your sales process (as a corporation or as a quota carrying salesperson), you need to decide if you are going to use a premeditated (proactive) sales process or a reactive sales process to manage your zero sum game outcomes.

A “premeditated sales process” is characterized by:

• knowing which targeted accounts are sought by name or demographic profile;
• understanding why they will buy; and
• using a written sales process.

A “reactive sales process” is characterized by:

• waiting for inbound leads;
• trying to sell everybody you talk to;
• not knowing why prospects buy from your firm; and
• having no documented sales model process that takes clients through action steps.

Which is your firm’s selling process?

Premeditated or Reactive?

In a sales survey by BDM News, 83% of salespeople surveyed (almost 2,000 respondents) indicated they did NOT believe their firm used a market study or market research to calculate their sales quota based on demand.

Without identified sales territory market potential, the lack of business research forces quota carrying salespeople and VP’s of Sales into a “Reactive Sales Process” unless they take corrective actions and prepare to manage their sales quota.

To sell more, you must plan more.

To sell more, use a technique of Value Forward Selling called “Risk Management”.

Key accounts, SMB prospects and targeted buyers always seek to minimize their risk when buying products and professional services. Risk management should then become a premeditated sales process tool to use when you sell.

On the first pass, most prospects (at the management level) are skeptical. They just don’t believe you or any other salesperson. It’s nothing personal. There are just too many salespeople.

So, help them manage their perception of buying from you.

8 Prospect Risk Management Techniques

Here are some guidelines to prepare for prospect risk management:

1. When competing against big companies, manage the risk by focusing on your strengths. Use the “bus analogy” when competing against them, “Large firms bus in and out their lead team and usually have no practice manager continuity, while our team remains the same throughout the relationship.”
2. Never wait for a prospect to ask about your firm’s background. Always supply details in advance. If the following variables are positive, you will want to provide corporate information including the number of employees, years in business, clients’ names and annual revenue. If these variables are negative (i.e., losing money, no installations, customers hate you), then don’t bring it up and focus on the other methods listed.
3. The greater the competition, the more risk management information you must deploy to balance perceived fear. Do not be passive when competing against established players - go after their largeness as a weakness. Never negatively sell; instead, communicate your value aggressively.
4. Never have your CEO or VP of Sales go on a first sales call. It makes your firm look small. CEO’s and VP’s of Sales are big guns held in reserve to be used when needed, not on the first sales call. Having CEO’s go to your first client meeting only works when your firm is a Fortune 500 and you are meeting a Fortune 50 C-level executive.
5. If you are VC-funded and have new product or service, name-drop your VC’s relationships.
6. If you are a small or startup firm and have Fortune 1000 C-level executives on your board of directors, say “our team includes . . .” and name-drop their positions and the company names with which they are associated.
7. To manage the prospect’s fear of buying something other than what was shown in a demo, it is always a good idea to have a client feature/service sign-off sheet for any demonstration. This protects the salesperson from the client’s demo amnesia and protects the client from being oversold.
8. Never represent your firm as a generalist. Always be a specialist. Generalist firms are always perceived to be large and slow. Specialist firms are perceived to be more customer centric.

Selling is a premeditated sport. Don’t shoot from the hip. Help your prospects purchase by managing their fear of risk.

If you manage the client’s needs, you will manage the sale in a premeditated sales manner and you will sell more.

If you ignore the client’s risk issues, you will lose the deal.

Remember, the client’s perceived risk is your sales risk.

“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy

Linking Business Elements in Your Sales Strategy Implementation

Welcome to the June 1st, 2010 edition of BPI News!

In this issue, we talk about Linking Business Elements in Your Sales Strategy Implementation.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Walt

P. S.  Is it time for your Business Health Check?  Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a mid-year, Business Health Check-Up.

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Linking Business Elements in Your
Sales Strategy Implementation

by Paul DiModica, CEO - Value Forward Network

Most sales strategy implementations fail because they do not link vital business requirements to drive results.

It’s easy to say “I want my sales team to hit their 2010 sales quota”, but . . .

• Is your sales strategy linked to a compensation plan that induces specific sales results?
• Do you have a documented sales process that educates your sales team how to find, propose, and close prospects?
• Are your marketing and operational departments linked to the success of the sales department?
• Does your sales strategy focus on engaging prospects and customers to see your business value through a “value forward” method? In other words, does your prospect experience your business value before the sales team talks with them?

Like a balanced scorecard, the key to sales success is using a sales model that links four specific elements together to help your sales team implement your sales strategy. The four elements are: 1) training the sales team, 2) developing a premeditated sales process that is replicable, 3) providing prospects with value forward identification, and 4) providing the sales team with financial incentives. Below is a diagram to illustrate.

When these four sales elements are linked together, each area reinforces the corporate goal of increased revenue.

When these four elements function as individual silos by design or by hap stance, it is unfair to expect your sales team to hit their sales quota.

If you focus and align just the sales process, you can sub-segment this area into Business Sequence and Cultural Sequence. These two areas parallel each other when developing your sales process. Your Business Sequence becomes the sales methodology you seek to have deployed and the Cultural Sequence is the perspective you wish to influence. These two areas need to be linked together to end at the same place. If you ignore one, the other will fail and the goal will not be met.

So, when developing your sales process, focus on linking the action steps needed to the enforce outcome and you will increase your success.

Linking is the key to execution . . . not hope.

“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”

Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918

www.bpistrategy.com

TWITTER: BPIStrategy