Five Easy Things To Address

So, you know now that we’re in a deep and most likely long recession. You can either sit and bemoan the fact that things are not so great, or you can recalibrate. You can do a few things, right now, to move forward while everyone else is moving backward. Here are five areas you can get to work on:

• Enhance your field sales force effectiveness through additional product and sales technique training so that no competitor in your industry knows more and closes faster;
• Enhance/Improve the market perception and your sales team’s reputation through the image and messaging they project;
• Enhance your brand reputation through developing a brand management strategy and then implementing it;
• Increase the number of referral clients by asking current contacts and others, obviously those who would be happy to champion you, who could they refer you to with a personal introduction;
• Increase your customer satisfaction rate (CSI) and customer retention rate (CRR) by developing and conducting a survey to find out why they love you and what else you can do to be more valuable and preferred.

Oh yes, there are a lot more things that you can do to drive your business forward. But this is enough for now if you’re stuck and in a rut. The challenge is this: DO SOMETHING. Take action, develop target goals, use metrics to monitor progress. Just don’t keep doing things the same ways you have before. The world is different.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell

PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

pete@performabusdev.com

Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/

Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.

Clarity and Specificity

Perhaps you have the same challenge as me. I’m always challenged on how I can be clearer and more specific in my words, both written and verbal. It’s critical because everything that I communicate has to be well understood. It must be so crisp and to the point that instantly, people ‘get it’. Frankly, I have a lot of improving to do in this regard. I’m going to be reworking and simplifying my simple web site once again, because I think the messaging can be much better.

I got thinking about this today because I had had received an email from a business friend that, for me, wasn’t as clear and specific as it should be. The person was asking for my feedback on the wording of a communication. Now, it may be that I didn’t process it well. But that’s the point. I didn’t get it. Kudos go to my friend for taking the time to reach out to me (and others) and ask for feedback.

This may be something for you to think about also. Is your marketing message clear and specific? Is your sales conversation clear and specific? Are work order instructions in your company clear and specific? Are job descriptions and expectations clear and specific? They should be. If they’re not you may be wasting valuable resources- money and time.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell

PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

pete@performabusdev.com

Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/

Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.

Cutbacks Here To Stay

A small but interesting article caught my attention today in the Wall Street Journal. A recent survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide indicates that many of the cuts in jobs, pay and benefits that have taken place over the past year or more will be permanent.

What You Think, Part 2

Picking up where I left off, we know the following: (1) what we and customers think about is what is fresh in the mind right now, (2) macro marketing over long periods of time affect what is in each person’s brain and how they think about things, (3) what is in the mind is literally made up on the spot. This is important for the profession of sales.

As a sales person, you should know that things that are made up, right now, may be true or they may not be. They might be making something up that is off the topic (maybe their mind is wandering or they have a personal issue clouding things), off the wall (maybe they are confused or not focused), or is pure nonsense and you should pay attention to that one.

Let’s take a look at the nonsense part, because this is something that occurs frequently.

Buyer: “We’re looking for you to reduce your prices to us by 10% a quarter over the next three years.”
Yeah, right. Let’s think about this scenario. Your product has a cost of $1.00 and you sell it for $1.35. Reducing the price by 10% twelve times brings it in at $0.38. What nonsense. Even if you squeeze your vendors a bunch, and you decrease your margins, you won’t get close to this. Call him on it. He just made it up. By the way, this actually happened to me.

You: “Mr. Buyer, I totally understand your concern about and need for cost reduction for your organization. But frankly, this demand doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s take a moment to go through the numbers and I’ll show you where I am coming from. That will give us both a better understanding of things and would be worthwhile, wouldn’t it?”

And then take a page from your business best practice book- go on to point out the real math for the example. Use this opportunity to ask more questions about how you and your company can help them to achieve their goals. And remember, both of you will be making it up as you go along.

This is where verifying what you hear comes in. The practice of listening and reflecting back isn’t a little game to mimic someone. It’s a technique that makes the words more real. When you reflect back to someone exactly what they just said, what they were just thinking, it becomes more real- for them and for you. Write down what they say and review it with them, word for word.

“Mr. Schmedlap, what I think I heard you say, is the most important two things for you to move forward with us are…… Did I get that right?”

Mr. Schmedlap will either say “Yes”, “No”, or, “Well, that is what I said but what I really meant was…” It could be the key to how you develop your proposal because your proposal should match what they said was critically important.

To sum up, the way you think and the way your customers (or, buyers) think are point-in-time thoughts. They are made up on the spot. Be aware of this. Adjust your conversation around this awareness and question into what customers actually say. Get deep and detailed with your questions. Confirm what they say and make it real for them. Use their words exactly and weave these into your proposal or into building your relationship. Make thinking about what you think or they think a business best practice.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
Business Best Practices, Business Strategic Planning
pete@performabusdev.com
Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com
Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/
Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.

What You Think, Part 2

Picking up where I left off, we know the following: (1) what we and customers think about is what is fresh in the mind right now, (2) macro marketing over long periods of time affect what is in each person’s brain and how they think about things, (3) what is in the mind is literally made up on the spot. This is important for the profession of sales.

As a sales person, you should know that things that are made up, right now, may be true or they may not be. They might be making something up that is off the topic (maybe their mind is wandering or they have a personal issue clouding things), off the wall (maybe they are confused or not focused), or is pure nonsense and you should pay attention to that one.

Let’s take a look at the nonsense part, because this is something that occurs frequently.

Buyer: “We’re looking for you to reduce your prices to us by 10% a quarter over the next three years.”

Yeah, right. Let’s think about this scenario. Your product has a cost of $1.00 and you sell it for $1.35. Reducing the price by 10% twelve times brings it in at $0.38. What nonsense. Even if you squeeze your vendors a bunch, and you decrease your margins, you won’t get close to this. Call him on it. He just made it up. By the way, this actually happened to me.

You: “Mr. Buyer, I totally understand your concern about and need for cost reduction for your organization. But frankly, this demand doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s take a moment to go through the numbers and I’ll show you where I am coming from. That will give us both a better understanding of things and would be worthwhile, wouldn’t it?”

And then take a page from your business best practice book- go on to point out the real math for the example. Use this opportunity to ask more questions about how you and your company can help them to achieve their goals. And remember, both of you will be making it up as you go along. 

This is where verifying what you hear comes in. The practice of listening and reflecting back isn’t a little game to mimic someone. It’s a technique that makes the words more real. When you reflect back to someone exactly what they just said, what they were just thinking, it becomes more real- for them and for you. Write down what they say and review it with them, word for word.

“Mr. Schmedlap, what I think I heard you say, is the most important two things for you to move forward with us are…… Did I get that right?”

Mr. Schmedlap will either say “Yes”, “No”, or, “Well, that is what I said but what I really meant was…”  It could be the key to how you develop your proposal because your proposal should match what they said was critically important.

To sum up, the way you think and the way your customers (or, buyers) think are point-in-time thoughts. They are made up on the spot. Be aware of this. Adjust your conversation around this awareness and question into what customers actually say. Get deep and detailed with your questions. Confirm what they say and make it real for them. Use their words exactly and weave these into your proposal or into building your relationship. Make thinking about what you think or they think a business best practice.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell

PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

Business Best Practices, Business Strategic Planning

pete@performabusdev.com

Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/

Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.