4 Competitive Strategies for Complex Enterprise Selling

Many draw comparisons between sport and selling but I prefer analogies that focus on military strategy. Yes, being pumped-up and working as a team is essential for success, but for those who consistently win large enterprise deals, cunning strategy is the force behind tactics and action. There’s nothing noble about leaping out of the trenches and running at machine guns – that’s just plain stupidity and a waste of life.

Strategy is actually a military term but essential in professional selling for managing political relationships and outmaneuvering the competition. Sales strategy can be defined as developing an effective plan or campaign after fully evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, understanding the competition (including the customer’s internal options), understanding the business drivers and mapping the invisible political structure within an organization.

Strategic enterprise solution selling demands that you engage early at the most senior levels and align with political and economic power to address the most serious problems or profitable opportunities. Solutions are then crafted with unique compelling value while setting an agenda that disadvantages or eliminates the competition.

I’ve always been fascinated by military history and I’ve also been a student of two great authors, Jim Holden (Power Base Selling, published by John Wiley and Sons Inc: 1990) and Keith Eades (The New Solution Selling, published by McGraw Hill 2004). Their thought leadership in adapting military strategy for the world of complex enterprise selling was brilliance. The following is adapted by me from their concepts and I also recognize Art Jacobs and his fine work: STRATEGY, The Art of Winning. All three of these authors have preceded me and I acknowledge them in this derivation of their work.

The four potential engagement options are:

- Head-to-head: Direct strategy based on product strength or market dominance

- Change the rules: Indirect strategy altering the selection criteria or agenda

- Incremental: Focus on a small divisional piece of business ‘under the radar’

- Containment: Engineer a non-decision so you can engage under new rules later

This flow-chart will help you decide the best competitive strategy in any given situation and detailed explanations follow the diagram.

Head to head. This is a direct or frontal strategy that works only if you have unequivocal product, service or solution strength with acknowledged market leadership. You use it when you are not afraid of ‘slugging it out’ against the competition because you have best brand, solution offering and market presence. Most sales people adopt this mode of engagement, and the competition’s price is often their main point of concern. This strategy is attractive because it is simple but demands superiority at every level. To be effective with this strategy you must have clear leadership with product and reputation, with a well established and positive customer base. This superiority must be validated from the customer’s point of view. Be careful with smaller customers who often associate product strength or market dominance with unnecessary functionality or service levels and excessively high pricing. If you are not the industry giant or leading niche specialist, consider the following strategy.

Change the rules. This guerrilla, indirect or flanking strategy is essential when you do not have the leading solution or leadership market position. This strategy is an ideal default position because it necessitates the gathering of information and forces you to search for unique value that matches the client’s specific requirements. This strategy should always be employed when nothing about your product, corporation or industry presence gives you a compelling edge. This strategy is essential when you cannot succeed based on the current engagement rules or selection criteria, typically because you were not there first. For this strategy to succeed you must have strong personal relationships with senior influential members of the buying center and power-base. Beware of fighting the good fight only to have a mystery senior executive veto the recommendation for your product, service or solution. Recommenders will often falsely give the impression they are embracing your strategy only to revert back to their original criteria at the last minute to placate the real decision maker further up the line.

Incremental. This ‘on the beach’, divisional or departmental strategy can be part of changing the rules in a large opportunity. The goal is to establish a beach-head or divide and conquer the competition by securing a limited piece of business and support within the broader organization from which you can expand. This strategy should be employed when you cannot win the whole account but there is a worthwhile piece of business that will give you an internal reference and influence for larger decisions at a later time. It is also useful when you are not seeking to displace another vendor but rather enhance the customer site (or market) by providing a complementary solution or additional functionality not offered by the competitor. This strategy is also appropriate when you decide to coexist with the competition and temporarily share the account.

Containment. This kill the deal strategy is a valid option if you are certain you cannot win and your goal is to prevent someone else from taking the business. It is designed to delay the buyer so you can re-engage under new rules at a later time. Rather than seeking to change the basis for a buying decision, you work to have the decision itself postponed. This strategy is high risk and should be used with thoughtful caution because customers do not take kindly to anyone seeking to interfere with their procurement process. A containment strategy has two major problems: firstly, it can be perceived as negative interference; and secondly, it can force you to invest further in scoping studies, trials, pilots or other resource-intensive activities. This strategy needs positive senior relationships and time to execute. The focus needs to be on how deferring is in the buyer’s best interests, and the message is ideally delivered by a credible third party.

Ask yourself these questions when considering strategy:

• What is our relationship strategy and are we aligned with the power-base?

• Do we truly understand the decision driv­ers and business case?

• Do we understand their corporate mode and personal agendas?

• Who and what is our competition and how will we position against them?

• Does the customer have other projects competing for funding?

• Which of our competitors is engaged with the customer?

• How will our competitors seek to position against us?

• What are our compara­tive strengths and weaknesses?

• How will we engineer the customer’s focus on our unique value?

• How will we prove or validate our capabil­ity and lowest risk?

• Where will we position price to leave room to negotiate?

• Do we have all necessary information and what don’t we know?

Whatever got you to where you are today is no longer sufficient to keep you there. Strategy is essential because political effectiveness demands strategy and relationships alone are never enough in complex selling. Relationships with the wrong people actually wastes time and inhibits success. A tactical plan is only as good as the intelligence and strategy that leads to it.

Competitors also learn every time you beat them and they formulate strategies designed to defeat you. Product features never win a deal but they can eliminate you. Benefits need to be positioned strategically; matched against the customer’s business needs and potentially set as ‘traps’ for competitors.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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What I’ve Learned About Personal Leadership

As I write this, I’m 52 and our family just celebrated my son’s 18th birthday. His birth and also my daughter's arrival into the world changed my life and ever since then they've inspired me to be the best father, the best man, I can be. Here is what I’ve learned so far here on Earth and I share it with you because none of us lives long enough to learn the necessary lessons from our own experience and mistakes. If you’re younger than me, I especially hope this is of benefit to you.

We are the way we are for reasons we never fully understand. Nature and nurture – genes and our upbringing – combine with our world-view and beliefs to create our values and attitude. Also within all of us is an innate and irrepressible need to protect our self-esteem, justifying our defects or limiting beliefs rather than engaging in the process of objective examination and beneficial change. As evidence of our inability to see the truth of our own state, consider the fact that a camera captures a very different image compared with what we see in a mirror. We’ve all seen a video or photo of ourselves where we look grumpier or heavier than what we imagined. This is because the camera captures a third-party snapshot of how we really are rather than the filtered version we see in our own reflection.

The first step in overcoming any challenge is to face reality. In the context of leadership we must first overcome the conundrum of the ‘human condition’, which is prone to selfishness, short-sightedness, moral lapses and breathtaking stupidity. Beyond facing the awful truth we also need to be intelligently self-aware. The dictum ‘know thyself’ is most often attributed to Socrates and embodies the concept of self-awareness which has today been enhanced within the concept of EQ – Emotional Quotient. Self-awareness combined with genuine humility is an essential part of being able to lead others and build teams that leverage strengths and compensate for weaknesses. Successful leaders value difference and the opinions of others.

The very best leaders live by example and embody unbreakable determination in pursuing their cause, yet they do not bully or manipulate. Rather than create pressure they provide clarity, focus and energy for the people they lead. They focus on providing the right environment and ask the right questions rather than give answers. They are humbly self-aware, not self-absorbed, and they are honest, direct and accountable in their commitments and behavior. They understand that a good leader is first a good human being.

Much can be achieved when you don’t care who receives the credit and when you surrender the need to be constantly right. Leaders seek to understand before attempting to be understood. They know that lasting motivation comes from within and they therefore encourage their people to personally take ownership of outcomes. They build their people’s self-esteem and promote their team’s ideas by encouraging them to take calculated risks, stretching their capabilities. When things go wrong they provide support and do not lecture or punish. Neither do they rescue when the consequences are not catastrophic; instead they regard ‘opportunities to fail’ as useful. Later, without negative emotion, they facilitate reflection.

Great leaders are morally grounded in enduring values yet adopt purposeful pragmatism rather than judgmentally holding to narrow dogmas. They suspend judgment and accept diversity. Our ability to build other people in teams is more important than having all the ideas. Be counter-intuitive in your leadership style by humbly serving rather than grandstanding. Do what it takes rather than merely your best. You cannot lead from behind – pull people through rather than push. Accept the blame when things go wrong and learn the necessary lessons from criticism and failure so that you can adjust accordingly. Genuinely pass the credit on to others when things go well – success is always a team effort.

Time is the only real limited resource. Invest your time and treasure it rather than spend it. There is no such thing as wasted time if you always have a good book with you when you travel. Do not allow the trivially urgent to prevent you from doing the important. Make time for what matters most. Set goals and priorities, and regularly measure your own progress.

Less is more – less talking creates more influence and more learning; less clutter and distracting noise creates more clarity; less information creates better cut-through in the message. The best way to improve something is to reduce it. Cut the unnecessary elements away rather than add complexity or overhead. The more we take the less we become; we only become greater when we give and contribute. We can become our very best when we let go of what we treasure and embrace the very things we fear. What does not kill us can make us stronger. Building character and developing emotional resilience is a valuable foundation for future success. Failure can educate, and with resolve to overcome, we can gain wisdom and prosper.

Happiness is a state of mind concerning how we perceive ourselves and our place in the world. Be grateful for what you have. Laugh as often as you can. Reject judgment, bitterness and revenge – they are self-destructive forces, devouring the host. Do not take yourself too seriously; instead have an optimistic attitude and positive sense of humor. Freely admit when you are wrong, and say ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ every chance you get. Forgive and move on. Be prepared to take risks but without foolhardy recklessness.

Never be a victim; instead be fully accountable for your own success and happiness. Do not blame others or bad luck for failure and setbacks. Believe in yourself and earn the right to ask for what you want. Never bully or manipulate and do not allow knowledge to manifest within you as arrogance. Do not allow success to make you egotistical; instead learn genuine humility in acknowledging the contribution of others as well as good fortune or blessing.

Choose your friends and work environment wisely as both will change you through osmosis. Avoid those who are addicted to destructive gossip. Encouragement is far more effective than criticism – believe in the competent and help them become better. Expect the best of others and treat them with respect regardless of their station in life. Serve your employer, team and customers ahead of your own interests – trust the law of reciprocity to reward your integrity and ability to create value. Show thoughtful initiative and a strong work ethic. We learn nothing while talking, and making a noise rarely makes a difference. Instead become a great listener who is genuinely interested in others, asking insightful and powerful questions.

Success is living a life of purpose and achieving your goals, yet the passage of time is the only valid perspective for measuring achievement. There is no excuse for not being your best or failing to fulfill your potential. Barriers and difficulties are there to exclude average people, and for the purpose of ensuring the worthiness of those who achieve. Scarcity is what creates value. We all wish our circumstances would improve but it is usually we who must change first. Become better rather than wish it were easier. Be the change you want to see in the world – start with your own bedroom, garage, and backyard. You cannot manage an enterprise if you cannot manage yourself. Avoid gossip, criticism and judgment. There is genuine peace in not worrying about things that don’t matter (inconsequential trivia) are outside your control.

Knowledge and technical competence are not enough. Your value to your employer and customers is defined by your ability to positively influence and deliver results. Thinking strategically and executing masterfully is more important than adhering to methodologies – obsessively pay attention to excellence in execution.

Success or failure is the accumulated result of thousands of tiny decisions. Most people become disempowered through inner-corrosion rather than by a catastrophic event. Sustained success is the result of painful and diligent growth occurring below the surface, for the most part unseen by the outside world. Work on yourself rather than criticize others. Self- awareness, self-discipline, self-leadership and positive attitude are what attract success beyond mere knowledge and skill.

Work is not different from the rest of life – bring all of yourself to your work. Treat your sales career as a profession that creates value rather than being a competitive game. It has serious and profound lessons to teach if you are open to learning. Be the person worthy of the life you seek – success and failure, belief and doubt are necessarily conjoined. Finally, lessons tend to be repeated until learned – think about that one as you wonder why you’re so ‘unlucky’. You can find the problem and the opportunity in the mirror.

Leadership really is an inside job.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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The Key To Accurate Forecasting Is Process Alignment

Many in sales do an excellent job [not] of educating their customers about how to secure the lowest price and maximum commercial concessions. They do this by offering special pricing with hollow threats of taking the discount away after the end of month or end of quarter has ticked-over. This behavior simply trains prospects to take suppliers to the wire to extract concessions every time a major deal is on the table.

It is usually unproductive and damaging to seek to unnaturally force the pace of business. Never assume that price or other incentives will change the customer’s timing. Failure to fully understand the buying organization’s processes automatically introduces serious risk and makes it almost impossible to forecast accurately. Instead, sell on value and understand the customer’s timing and process for selection, negotiation, and procurement. Align with the customer rather than pressure them.

Are you actually aligned to your customer’s timing, decision drivers and processes for selection and procurement? The best approach is to understand the date that they need a solution implemented and then validate their commitment by asking what happens if the date slips or status quo prevails. Once you are certain the client is committed to a date for realizing benefits, identify everything that needs to occur to achieve the implementation deadline. Working backwards from this date, go through the list and create a time-line with critical dates for all milestones and identify the interdependencies. Now you have a realistic date for when a purchase order needs to be issued or contract executed. Align to this timeframe rather than your own end of month, quarter or financial year.

Work with your customer to understand and manage the risks, including whether they need to submit a business case or work through a convoluted process for approval and funding. They may need to adhere to an onerous procurement process. There may be critical reviews with steering committees, and there may be approvals required from senior management or at board level. There may also be tension with other projects or initiatives. When full understanding of all these things has been achieved, in partnership with your customer, then you are able to work with them to keep everything on track and adjust your strategy and forecast date accordingly.

Every business decision has a natural pace at which the selection and buying process needs to be fulfilled. Wise sales people ensure they have full understanding before forecasting when business will close. This means there are rarely surprises, just points of risk that can be managed with the customer. They avoid pressuring the buyer or creating unnecessary tension. Instead they build a close plan but call it a Project Alignment Plan with the customer. Consider these questions when thinking about the customer’s process:

• What happens if they do nothing and defer the decision?

• Is there a compelling event or a very strong driver for buying?

• Are there external events that may impact the decision or timing?

• What are all the points of risk in securing a positive decision?

• What is the timeframe for delivery of outcomes with milestones?

• Concerning the selection criteria and weighting of various factors:

  • Which features and functionality matters most to the buyer?

  • What are the technical issues that need to be considered?

  • Where do they perceive the risks in the project or initiative?

  • How important is brand and size in considering risk?

  • How important is experience and industry specialization?

  • How is commercial & product risk assessed and weighted?

  • What role will demonstrations and references play?

• What is the required Return on Investment or payback period?

• Are they more focused on price or value?

• What are the preferences of the influencers and decision makers?

• What is their approval process and who must sign-off?

• Who can say ‘no’? Who has to say ‘yes’? Who has power of veto?

• What is the process for handling negotiations?

• If a contract is required, whose paper and can it be reviewed early?

• How is a purchase order generated or contract signed once the decision is made?

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Be A Value Creator, Not a Value Projector

Creating value is more important than articulating it. Value needs to pervade every aspect of your engagement with the buyer and be embedded within their strong business case. This ensures the necessary funding is secured without risk of competing projects diverting money or resources. Value creation, evidenced by a compelling business case, can only be achieved with intimate understanding of the customer’s business through relationships at the right level that create or uncover value through solutions to serious problems or the ability to realize potential opportunities.

The goal of a professional salesperson is therefore ‘value creation’ before ‘value projection’. Once value is established you can then focus on communicating your value proposition which must be unique and compelling. Understand however that value differentiation is what the seller needs to achieve but rarely what the buyer wants to hear about. Differentiation is nevertheless essential because customers always have a choice of suppliers who can do the job for them. Whether you are selling soap or semiconductors, widgets or ideas, products or services, bundled value or real solutions – your value proposition must be compelling.

The solution must go beyond mere features of your product or service because the real problem is almost never uniquely solved by one particular product over another. Maybe the customer actually needs a reliable supply-chain, prompt service, effective change management or something else. The product or service you sell is not a solution until it is fully aligned with addressing the real problems and delivering genuine business value.

Every product, service or solution is only worth what the market will pay for it. Your value proposition must therefore be focused on specific and tangible benefits for the customer, and directly linked to the resolution of their specific problems or opportunities – the bigger the better. Features do not necessarily equate to benefits or represent genuine value for the customer. The most powerful differentiated value propositions usually include your people, expertise and methodologies; not just your product and service. Government buyers assess value from a blend of functionality (fit for purpose) and perceived risk; price is then included in the equation to ultimately determine value for money.

Individuals and organizations universally seek best value and lowest risk. The cheapest product or solution can be perceived as higher risk and inferior value. Value is defined by the buyer, not the seller. Comparative perceptions are determinative so when seeking to identify and leverage your unique value, ask yourself the following:

• What do we offer that is of business value to the prospective customer, aligned to their specific needs and delivering tangible benefits?

• Is our product, service or solution part of a strong business case?

• How does the buyer prioritize projects and are we aligned with the required return on investment, payback period or net present value calculation?

• Who and what is the competition, and what are our comparative strengths and weaknesses?

• What combination of the following represents a compelling overall value proposition compared with the competition?

o Product or service features enabling business benefits

o Service offerings that reduce risk and deliver business value

o Individual and team skills and proven domain expertise, industry knowledge and methodologies that assure successful delivery and cultural fit with the customer

o Business model or geographic presence enabling lower risk or providing better efficiency

A strategy is only as good as the information that leads to it and is of no use unless you can execute effectively. Much of the risk in developing strategy comes from not being aware of what you do not know. The hallmark of great strategy is the obsessive gathering of relevant information then fully considering the probable consequences of any potential action. Based upon accurate intelligence, strategy must be formulated for managing key relationships, creating unique and compelling value, and defeating the competition. When considering strategy ask yourself:

• Do I have all necessary information to create executive insight and do I truly understand the decision drivers and business case?

• What is my relationship strategy and am I personally aligned with the real power-base; those with political and economic power?

• How will I engineer the customer’s focus on our unique value and prove capability and lowest risk?

• Where will I position price to leave room to negotiate?

• Who and what is the competition and how will I create better value and win?

• Does the customer have an internal option (IT Department, etc.)?

• Does the customer have other projects competing for funding?

• Which of my competitors are engaged with the customer?

• How will my competitors seek to position against us and what are our comparative strengths and weaknesses?

Tactical mistakes can usually be corrected but strategic errors are usually fatal. Ensure you have all the information and that you run the various scenarios through in your mind and with your team before initiating pivotal actions. What outcome do you expect? How will the customer respond? How will competitors react? Thinking, rather than talking, is the most important activity in professional selling. There are specific engagement options for dealing with competitive threats. Jim Holden, Art Jacobs and Keith Eades are authors who have previously linked military strategy to professional selling and here is a framework for deciding how to engage competitively.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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The Most Powerful Questions In Sales

When dealing with senior executives, never use any form of manipulation. Instead allow them to feel in control and build trust through the way you engage and create understanding with the insightful questions you ask.

Outdated hook and tie-down questions are to be avoided with those in the executive suite at all times. Examples of these credibility destroying behaviors include: ‘If I could show you how to improve your bottom line, is that something you would be interested in?’ or ‘If I can demonstrate that we can meet that requirement, would you be willing to buy from us?’ These types of questions are closed and manipulative – don't do it when engaging at the most senior levels.

People are best convinced for reasons they themselves discover. Although there is a role for insight or Challenger selling for earning credibility, never forget that ‘telling is not selling’. Here are some powerful questions for C-level interactions that you may wish to adapt for your own purposes:

• I’ve done my homework but there are some questions I think only you can answer – may we cover a few of these now?
• What is really driving the need to make this kind of investment?
• What has to be delivered in terms of business outcomes?
• Where do you see the risks?
• Who are the most senior people affected by this project; and how will they be impacted and what’s their role in implementing a solution?
• What is your process and timing for making a decision and having a solution in place?
• What are the other options you’re considering? Why are these attractive?
• If we do business together, it is important for me to understand exactly what will make you 100% satisfied. What needs to happen for this business relationship to be successful in your eyes?
• The meeting today has been very useful, what would you like me to do next?
• You are very busy and have many people seeking meetings with you, so why did you agree to meet with me today?

Questions possess amazing power. The right question at the right time can create doubt, interest, support, self-reflection, decision or action. Plan every meeting and interaction; especially focus on planning the questions you will ask. Anticipate where the questions will take the conversation and go beyond the obvious of asking open questions instead of closed. Choose your questions wisely as they say much about who you are and how far the relationship is likely to go. Finally, focus on the why and when, rather than on the what and how.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Sales Relationships and The New ROI ©

Every buyer seeks Return On Investment (ROI) from a purchasing decision but the seller also makes an investment in the sales process. In complex enterprise solution selling the costs are substantial and the sales organization also needs their ROI – return on sales investment.

But here is a new take on the ROI acronym. Sales ROI can only be achieved with Relationships Of Integrity, Relationships of Intelligence and Insight, and Relationships of Influence with the most senior people within the customer’s organization – this is The New [sales] ROI ©.

Sales success at any level depends on positive relationships because customers buy from those they like and trust. Recommenders and coaches within the enterprise may provide useful information and feed-back concerning how you need to position and price your product or service, but don’t rely on or be trapped with mid-level relationships. There is no substitute for starting at the highest level possible to thoughtfully and positively challenge the status quo. Diligent research, planning and alignment with genuine political power are essential.

Strive for Relationships of Integrity because trust is essential in all business dealings. Invest however with those who represent genuine power, more than mere influence or support. Instead of being trapped with recommenders, foster powerful business relationships that provide differentiating insight and alignment with political and economic power.

It is only senior relationships of integrity that provide what is necessary to win – intelligence, insight and influence. When considering the issue of relationships, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I know all the people in the customer’s power-base?
• Who are the influencers, recommenders and decision makers?
• Do I know the puppet master, the person pulling the strings in the background?
• Do I know every person who has the power of veto?
• Have I mapped my team to all the individuals in the buying- center?
• What relationships need to be established between my team and the customer’s key people, and how are introductions and linkages best facilitated?
• Do I know every individual’s buyer type: economic, technical or business?
• Do I understand every individual’s dominant personality traits, communication preferences, political agendas, decision drivers and risk versus opportunity mindset?
• What relationships do my competitors have within the account?
• Who influences the customer externally in the form of analysts or consultants?
• What other companies are respected and watched by my customer and do these organizations use my competitors? If so, how successfully?
• What reference site relationships need to be managed?

The best way to map and strategize an opportunity is to draw the organizational chart identifying the buying center (all the people who have a say in the selection and recommendation process), and then overlay the power-base which are the people with power of veto and who own the business outcome and funding. Who are the real decision makers? Who is really leading and engineering the selection outcome within the buying organization?

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Photo by: Simon Cunningham

The 6 Risks Sales People Must Manage

Complex enterprise selling is about lots of things – managing risk is near the top of the list. Here are six risks that must be managed if we are to win large complex opportunities.

1: Not knowing what it is that you don’t know. I’ve won hundreds of millions of dollars of business by obsessing on this one. I’m always wondering what's going on in the client’s boardroom, what politics are in play behind the scenes, what my competitors are up to, what could blind-side me. I’m not negative, just positively paranoid.

The ABC of complex enterprise selling is not Always Be Closing; it is Always Be Cogitating! Be a gatherer of intelligence, a plotter, a schemer, a planner. A strategy is only as good as the intelligence and thinking that leads to it. Always seek progression in the process (closing, if you like, for the next step or action) and advancement in your standing with everyone in the power-base.

2: Inertia, apathy and status quo. Despite a customer’s desire to improve their business or department by implementing change, many a project goes nowhere. Amazingly, no one on the client side seems to damage their career – they instead see benefits in gathering lots of valuable information and, at the end of the day, saving the organization unnecessary risk: ‘All a very useful exercise for when we go ahead in the future’.

So ask yourself: Are they really committed? Do they know why they are doing this? Is their senior executive commitment beyond a mere sponsor? Is there either a compelling business case or compelling event driving the project or initiative? Is their level of dissatisfaction strong enough or can the incumbent salvage their situation? Why will they change?

3: Any negative force outside your control. This is a tough one – how do you manage something outside of your control? We need to anticipate competitors and circumstance that can enter the scene to create negative pressure. In response, we also need to be able to rally the support of those who can influence should the need arise. Think about what could go wrong and who it is that you would need the support of to address the situation. For example, could you ask your key senior decision-maker: ‘What will you do when our competition realizes they’ve lost and they offer you a deal that isn’t commercially viable for them?’ Understand the political power within the client organization and build relationships that can be harnessed to repel negative forces if needed.

4: Software or technology demonstrations. This risk is massive and for two reasons. The first is that it is very common for the seller to do a gob-smacking demo that completely misses the mark. Lots of features and functions intended to wow the audience with the capabilities of the product, simply cause concerns about training requirements, change management and complexity… ”We don’t need a Rolls Royce solution.” The second reason is that vendors seem to have a crack cocaine style addiction to showing the very latest in their product – the beta code that has the very latest functionality… and bugs.

When you are forced to do a demo, ensure that you understand what the buyer expects and needs to see. Never demo in a vacuum. Never demo without a script unless you are masterful. Ask your buyer: “What happens next if the demo meets expectations?” Most importantly, never demo to create interest! Remember that features and functions can exclude you from a deal but they almost never win the day. Pushing features and functions can actually create price or total cost of ownership (TCO) concerns.

5: Reference customers. They are your best resource in securing new business. But they often feel compelled to be ‘honest’ when doing reference calls or site visits. They can feel compelled to balance the good with some honesty. Worse than this is when your published case studies or marketing reference customer database is out of date. Never use a reference customer unless you know them and what they will say when asked specific questions. Manage this real risk in the back-end of the buyer’s process. Remember, reference site visits are all down side!

6: Your boss or other senior executives. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen senior executives just decide to wing-it when meeting clients. This is despite briefing documents and the polite exhortations of those below them to prepare well for the meeting. The worst situation is when someone above you wants to ‘touch the deal’ or ‘help you close’. There is no room for big egos in complex enterprise selling – everyone in the team needs to play their role. I recently helped a client win a $100M opportunity and the senior executives above the sales person were all amazingly brilliant in playing their role. It is amazing what can be achieved when no-one cares who gets the credit.

These six areas of risk are very real – you may have others. People within your customer’s organization will resist or sabotage change, often for reasons they themselves do not fully understand. Obsess about managing every contingency as this is one of the things that sets great people apart from the average.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Discipline Essential for Sustained Sales Momentum

Positive momentum is precious – it’s difficult to create and easy to lose. Negative momentum, on the other hand, seems to happen all on its own but is actually the result of not paying attention or not methodically executing the necessary inputs required for consistent results.

To maintain momentum and avoid inconsistency in revenue performance you must recognize that there is always a lag between inputs and results. Most sales people work very hard when their list of qualified prospects is thin or sales are sub-optimal. But as their pipeline improves and sales come in they then tend to neglect pipeline development. They usually justify this neglect by rationalizing that there is not enough time to prospect and also work existing opportunities. But as sure as night follows day, poor revenue results follow low prospecting and pipeline development activity. The people who suffer from these ups and downs usually alternate between feelings of confidence and panic throughout their sales year.

The key to consistent results is consistently engaging in prospecting and pipeline development activities regardless of the demands of current qualified opportunities. Successful sales people measure these inputs and manage their activity levels accordingly. Every industry is unique yet there will be proven metrics for the required rates of cold calling, referrals, appointments, presentations, proposals, and other key activities. Understand the specific activity levels for your own industry and habitually honor the law of momentum by having a disciplined work ethic.

It is essential to have a balanced pipeline of qualified prospects for short-term and significant long-term opportunities. There should be a minimum of three times quota in qualified prospects, and achieving budget should not be dependent upon the largest deal alone. Continue with pipeline development activities regardless of how good current sales appear to be and despite how busy you are with current prospects. An abundant pipeline provides the luxury of choice in where you invest your time and resources.

What are your key performance inputs? These are the activities that drive sustained performance. The best book available on this topic is Cracking The Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan – buy it and read it.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Ethan Lofton

Solving This Sales Problem Solves All Others

As a sales manager or CXO responsible for revenue and customer experience, everywhere you look there are problems to address. I won't give you a list here because it will just increase your blood pressure – you’ve had enough of victim’s excuses within your team or partner channel. But when you’ve looked at all the squeaky wheels and eliminated the noise, what’s the most important problem to solve? Which problem above all others, if solved, would remove tension between sales and marketing, improve morale, create productive staff, drive growth and increase revenue?

Here it is – a pipeline of quality opportunities.

In my 30 years of professional selling, leading teams and running companies, solving this problem makes all other problems become good problems. But when there’s a terminal lack of revenue, people think about jumping ship or the blame game spirals out of control. With a healthy pipeline of quality winnable opportunities, the business is happy to invest and more willing to be patient. The leaders can rally the troops and resource a bid, improve the quality of sales team execution, bring sales and marketing together, and drive strategy.

Yet sales people typically lack the marketing experience, knowledge or discipline for consistently creating early engagement [strategic] pipeline … this is where sales management leadership, and sales and marketing department alignment are critical. Here are some strategies and recommended reading for equipping your team to create quality pipeline.

1. Use traditional press and social media to listen for trigger events that could indicate an opportunity that is on the horizon. Has there been a crisis or scandal? Has there been a change in a key role? Has there been a merger or acquisition (M&A)? Has a new competitor entered the market? Are there new regulations coming? (Book recommendation: Shift by Craig Elias and Tibor Shanto).
2. Create industry and solution experts who can lead and equip sales people or themselves engage with target verticals on the basis of insights into: world’s best practice, trends driving change, emerging technologies or disruptive commercial models. (Book recommendation: The Challenger Sale by Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson).
3. Train and equip your senior sales people to become masterful micro-marketers, adept with social media to engage in communities the right way. No clumsy selling and spam on platforms such as LinkedIn; just positive insights, praise and wisdom to build their brand and contribute without a sales message or hook being included at the end of every conversation. (Book Recommendation: The New Rules of Sales and Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott).
4. Identify, measure and manage the input activities that create quality pipeline. Managers should invest more time in coaching and supporting these activities than firing-up the blow-torch at the end of the month and quarter when it is already too late… you cannot manage revenue, you can only manage the activities that lead to it. (Book recommendation: Cracking The Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan).

Every sales person needs a balanced pipeline of short-term tactical and long-term strategic opportunities. They need both types so that they can achieve their numbers in the now, while investing in the future by moving up in how they sell. It is vitally important not to allow the urgent to squeeze-out the important. Everyone needs to filter-out the noise and focus on what really matters fortomorrow as a well as today – is there a solid pipeline of quality opportunities on the horizon?

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Jeff Pioquinto, SJ

Open Powerfully By Not Talking About Yourself

Opening rather than closing is the most important phase of the sale. Initial interaction can set the agenda and establish a relationship of trust and value. The sales person should therefore possess gravitas and lead with insight to communicate business value and positive intent. But this must never manifest as being pompous or bombastic. The very best sales people are humble and customer-focused in how they establish credibility even before they’ve met their prospect face-to-face.

When engaging with senior people always be slightly early and show respect for their time. Provide context before detail and demonstrate insightful knowledge of the customer and their industry (domain expertise). Senior executives are always busy and easily distracted so you only have a limited amount of time to engage effectively. Lead with why the conversation is important and show that you’ve done your homework. Then get to the point and adopt an evidence-based approach by providing powerful examples of the business value you deliver for relevant clients.

Mentioning features or functions of your product, service or solution will immediately brand you as a sales person. Instead focus on the business outcomes that need to be delivered, understand the problems and implications, and act as a subject matter expert who can help them manage risk. Methodically ask intelligent questions designed to create understanding of the customer’s operational environment, business drivers, required outcomes, power-base and decision-making processes.

Here is a powerful challenge. In your next few meetings with prospects don't mention your product, service or solution unless they specifically ask you. Lead by being fascinated by them. How will you open with insight and earn the right to ask questions? Finally, make sure they do at least two-thirds of the talking – you should actually aim to talk no more than 25% of the time.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Post by Flickr: Brett Jordan

Why Organizational Politics Can Defeat You

Human beings are political by nature and politics pervade every organization in the form of an invisible power structure not apparent in an organizational chart. It is impossible to avoid politics when dealing with a group of people with competing agendas or differing opinions. Political tensions are the result of individual needs and agendas being misaligned with organizational structures and business drivers.

Although political factors are an unavoidable reality, they should be embraced in a positive and thoughtful manner by aligning with the right people and winning agendas. When seeking to influence the decision process within an organization you must first understand the political power structure as it overlays on the formal organization chart. The first group of people to consider may be described as ‘the buying center’. This is the group of people that make recommendations for a purchasing decision. Everyone in the buying center needs to be covered during the sales process but a recommendation can be stymied or vetoed by the economic decision maker or the power-base.

The power-base drives the informal decision process and transcends the boundaries of the organizational chart and is not fully visible to outsiders. There is almost always a senior person within the power-base operating in the background as the ‘puppet master’. Jim Holden refers to this person as ‘the fox’ in reference to the fact that you almost never see a fox, only the evidence of their work in the chicken coop. This person can be difficult to identify within an organization and usually resists engaging directly with sales people. The power-base players often, but not always, have a predetermined outcome in mind when engineering a buying process.

Government entities are particularly risk-averse and influenced by politics as individuals seek to manage perceptions of success and performance while delivering outcomes in complex consensus-driven environments. Whether dealing with corporate or government entities, the very best sales people do their research and take the necessary time and effort to understand human agendas and political power in planning sales strategies.

Politics need not be negative and dealing with the tension created by competing agendas can be done with integrity. Manipulation and subterfuge have no place in modern professional selling. The best way to avoid relationship errors or political misalignment during a sales campaign is to start at the very top and then be sponsored and coached by the leader as you work down in the organization – the leader’s agenda is always the right horse to back.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Winning Secret: Personal Agendas Vs Business Mode

Every organization is a collective of uniquely different people who have their own personal needs, priorities and agendas. Ideally, these are aligned with the organization but this is rarely the case. Internal politics, restructuring, takeovers, retrenchments and career changes are common. Honoring the law of self-interest is important. A person in the buying center or power-base of an organization may be in either a negative/conservative mode or a positive/ambitious mode. The motivations of individuals in either of these modes are as follows:

• Protect their position or reputation versus look good, be a leader or hero
• Avoid mistakes and maintain control versus receive recognition or promotion
• Avoid conflict versus be an agent of change
• Save money or reduce costs versus improve revenues or productivity

An individual does not function in a vacuum. They are part of an organization that will have certain business drivers that influence all decisions. Success in strategic selling demands understanding of personal agendas and corporate operating modes. Every organization operates in either a positive or negative mode and every commercial enterprise is driven by a need to increase profit. Most government organizations are instead driven by a desire to improve service levels, ideally without increasing costs. In both corporate and government entities, there is a universal desire to achieve ‘more with less’ and any proposal or business-case should focus on greater output (more revenue) from existing resources (greater productivity), or less cost or effort (improved efficiency).

The pace of business (decision urgency and priority) is influenced by the organization’s current operating mode. Growth and survival modes mean fast decisions, and maintenance mode means slow decisions. It is important to understand the operating mode when seeking to influence the decision making process:

• Survival mode: Decision speed is fast. Business drivers are cost reduction and improved cash-flow
• Maintenance mode: Decision speed is slow. Business drivers are productivity and profit while also reducing costs. In maintenance mode it is more difficult to identify specific drivers and close business. The buyer ‘doing nothing’ is often a real risk
• Growth mode: Decision speed is fast. Business drivers are productivity and profit

Business State / Operational Mode – Business Decision Impact

The Buyer’s Journey – Impact of Seller Engagement

The very best sales people engineer alignment with personal agendas and corporate drivers. They understand the need to balance risk with reward for the decision-makers and to align with the natural pace of decision-making and change management. Most importantly, they know what drives the risk of doing nothing, within individuals and the customer organization.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Social Media Attacks Not A Zero Sum Game

Early in my social media journey, I witnessed something unsavoury. My friend Tibor Shanto makes a huge contribution to professional selling around the world and is very active in social media, especially LinkedIn. Tibor is a positive, genuine thought leader and he did an interesting LinkedIn post on professional selling. People were adding comments and engaging in constructive dialogue... then wham – like a great white shark launching out of the water to devour a seal!

Someone had jumped in with an unprovoked, vicious attack.

It really was nasty and Tibor responded with an eloquent and factual rebuff (link at the end of this post). It’s all entertaining… people love to watch a car crash or schoolyard fight but here’s what shows me the beautiful power of the best social media platforms. Done well, they are communities and any community with positive values does not tolerate bullies or negative trolls. LinkedIn is a superbly moderated environment with 160,000 LinkedIn Publisher posts every month and over 187,000,000 monthly unique visitors. Dozens of people started posting in LinkedIn to support Tibor, and without getting nasty with the person who had attacked him. Nice, I thought, we need goodwill and good manners in the world – especially on social media platforms.

A few weeks later, I became very active in LinkedIn as my new blog platform. I deliberately don't use my posts as bait to take people to my website or capture names for marketing purposes. I simply give my intellectual property away. I do this because professional selling has been very kind to me; I have no debt with a family lifestyle I am grateful for. I also have a full book of clients I enjoy working with and I'm building a good reputation as a keynote speaker – time to give back.

Then this same person who attacked Tibor lunged at me in one of my posts. He blog-bombed me with negativity and sarcasm while seeking to hijack the discussion thread claiming his ability to have ‘insights’ about my writing was due to the fact he had written a book – and of course he included a link to take people to his website. (Click here to see my 6 Sins Of B2B Social Selling.) I chose to simply ignore him and his negativity – I’d seen his form with Tibor and elsewhere. After about 10 days, I simply took that particular post down but now I think I'll put it back up. Why should any of us feel censored or bullied into not sharing our views?

Shortly thereafter he blocked me, which meant I could not see his profile or posts. I initially wondered if LinkedIn had put him in ‘LinkedIn Jail’ but then a friend emailed me to let me know he was now bashing my credentials too. My wife signed in to LinkedIn and we had a look at his profile and posts. We read his negative comments about me and also saw that he had retroactively cleaned up his diatribe against Tibor Shanto to mask its initial intent. He will probably do the same with his negative post about me once he sees this.

Please note that this person was a complete stranger to me until he lashed out. I feel compelled to share here as a sort of public service announcement and it made me wonder, how many times has this person done this in social media or otherwise? He appears to be aggressively competing with other writers out there by piggy-backing off of their efforts while simultaneously defecating all over them. Is the motive to sell more books by attempting to discredit other authors? Maybe he thinks negative publicity is a good thing. Not in my opinion; I don't want any association with negative people or haters. My personal brand is extremely important to me and I don’t understand why this person seeks attention in a way that causes them so much brand damage.

I was persuaded to write a book after 30 years as a consistent high performer in the APAC sales trenches having personally won 7 and 8 figure deals; and then as a sales manager, country manager and managing director having helped countless sales people improve their abilities. For the last two years I've been a sales leadership consultant helping clients improve their teams and coaching them to win deals as large as $100M. So questioning my experience or dismissing me as a dilettante armchair consultant, amused me to the quick. Just as with "Tibor" he "looked into my background." But clearly he did not. Wouldn't an effective adversarial approach begin with an attack grounded in facts? Better still, don't throw mud at anyone – we all know the analogy.

I think it's incumbent upon anyone in the sales leadership and development community to encourage professional discourse in social, especially on LinkedIn. Yes, let's foster passionate debate and freedom of speech as we seek to help others hone their craft. But caustic and nasty criticism of someone who's earned the right to express a viewpoint is disappointing. Let's be egalitarian, everyone has a right to an informed opinion but unprovoked attacks such as the one on Tibor have no place on LinkedIn.

There's a more positive way to engage if you have differing views. I'm often surprised by spam bots leaving negative comments or angry folks blasting off on LinkedIn to game the system driving fast impressions and clicks. What a myopic view! Impressively, these instances are few and far between. Kudos to LinkedIn's team for keeping this forum a positive place to interact. To me, sales training and authorship is not a zero sum game. If you attack someone, their supporters will rally to enhance the person’s brand but your brand will plummet disproportionately.

Some write a bestseller. Others may not ever get global distribution or recognition but have written a masterwork worthy of global publication. They have brilliant ideas however small or large. Let's listen to all and celebrate each contribution. I learn from my mentees every day. There are genius-level sales people from all walks of life executing with excellence in the field as we speak on every continent. We can learn from them and LinkedIn provides a forum for limitless wisdom and helpful information exchange. Let's work together to expand the pie so that distinguished sales degrees can be offered in higher learning institutions worldwide and we can restore dignity embracing the highest form of what professional selling can be.

Has anyone else had a run-in with a malicious player in the sales training community? Tibor chose a rapid and assertive rebuff. I chose to simply ignore and eliminate, and I plan to continue doing so – when you argue with an idiot, it soon becomes difficult for observers to distinguish who is who. There is no right or wrong but I’m interested in what others think concerning the best way to handle unprovoked attacks? After ruminating on this question, I thought there might be valuable lessons to be learned here by bubbling this up to the global community.

P.S. You can see Tibor Shanto’s eloquent response to the hostile attack here.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Ryan Hyde

Myth Buster: Objections Help You Close The Sale

Early in my sales career I was taught that objections are opportunities to close. I quickly learned that objections instead highlight misunderstanding, create resistance, and damage trust which reduces the likelihood of making the sale. In modern enterprise solution selling, an objection can be evidence of a sales person’s mistake.

Objections are caused by attempting to close the sale prematurely or by positioning features that are not linked to genuine business value. Positioning features and benefits without aligning them to specific acknowledged business needs can create price concerns or the perception that what you offer is over-engineered.

All professional sales people should however seek to create progression in every interaction. In this sense, the concept of ‘closing’ occurs right from initial contact. Closing is not an event at the end of the sales-cycle; it’s the process of negotiating mutual commitments at every stage of the customer’s evaluation and buying process. Success is achieved through developing real trust, understanding, and then the buyer’s attraction to genuine value. ‘Closing’ is therefore best defined as ‘confirming’. The best professional sales people are not interested in pushing or applying pressure, because it creates distrust and unproductive resistance. Instead they concentrate on how they can offer the highest value and lowest risk, and they focus on securing agreement concerning the next steps in making a decision and then finalizing the commercial arrangements.

Professional selling can be defined as the process of helping someone make a buying decision that is in the customer’s best interests. This paradigm of selling demands cooperation, understanding, trust, and alignment with the buyer’s needs and processes. In this environment, the old-school concept of ‘closing’ is redundant. Instead of defining the ‘ABC of selling’ as ‘Always Be Closing’, think instead: always be consultative; always be confirming; always be committed to understanding before seeking progression.

Concluding business should be a natural next step rather than a point of risk for the sales person or unwanted pressure for the buyer. Focus on understanding their requirements and processes and then the next logical step to help the customer achieve their desired outcomes.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Is Narcissism Killing Your Brand?

Tweeting narcissistic spam or posting egocentric updates is the fastest way to destroy a personal brand. For B2B selling, no platform is more important than LinkedIn and it needs to be used to answer a key question for potential buyers of your product, service or solution: Are you a credible person worthy of initial trust?

For most sales people, their LinkedIn profile reads as an online CV, targeting potential employers or bragging about past sales conquests. This is the last thing that will appeal to a potential buyer who needs your social footprint to convey relevance, credibility and trustworthiness if they are to engage. Although social platforms rarely deliver leads in the world of complex B2B solution selling, the best buyers will check you out online before a meeting. Does your LinkedIn profile evidence your domain expertise and credentials as a trusted source of information and insights? Are you a hub for relevant content? Does your network show you are connected at the highest levels in the industry? Do you lead relevant conversations? Are you committed for the long-haul in the industry and with customers? Difficult questions I know but social means transparency and LinkedIn is not a facade, it’s the fourth dimension of sales reality. Do the work, make the investment… it’s not optional today.

The term ‘Social Selling’ is a misleading allure for those in B2B sales because social selling is more relevant to the world of B2C. In B2B selling ‘Social Projection’ will get you nowhere. Instead focus on the power of social platforms and tools for research, networking, warm introductions (rather than cold calls) and publishing thought leadership without pushing what you sell. Think ‘Social Engagement’ and about how you can attract the ‘market-makers’ into your sphere based on high value content and a genuine persona of positive goodwill. Also understand that social media activity does not equate to meaningful connection. The importance of trusted relationships in B2B selling will never go away. Your social profile must therefore support the initiation of relationships based on credibility and trust.

Carpe Diem! Seize the day. Revisit your LinkedIn profile now and update it to appeal to a prospective buyer rather than a potential employer. Start investing in building your network and value online.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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The Tao of Churchill in Sales

I recently visited Churchill's War Rooms in London and was inspired by his leadership. Everyone in sales can learn from his tenacity and wisdom.

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.” So are your customers so put your best foot forward and work to impress them with insight and genuine listening. General is the enemy of specific and mediocrity is the enemy of excellence.

“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.” Listening is everything in enterprise sales. You learn nothing while talking so aim to speak only 25% of the time. When we wing it, we will never fly. Be prepared, prepared to actively listen and be fascinated by the customer.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Sometimes the boldest card to play is silence. Sometimes the most powerful strategy is to take a conversation off-line and have coffees with other players in the deal, outside of the political power-base. The next time you sit down with a CXO, ask an insightful question about something you read in the annual report or in their social media stream. You’ll impress them that you took the time to provide research.

“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” Perseverance is critical in seeing major deals through. You must have the eye of the tiger burning bright, never faltering and never giving-in. Mastery of complex enterprise selling is hard, like climbing Mt. Everest hard. Those who have done it for decades make it look easy but make no mistake; they’ve earned the right to stand upon the mountaintop. It’s a humble road and a lonely one at that. When in doubt, go with gratitude and return to the fundamentals. Build pipeline proactively and get in front of your dream clients by knowing what an ideal prospect looks like.

“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.” It’s imperative that you integrate new methods with traditional wisdom. Getting caught-up in the latest sales training that provides a silver bullet can really be latching on to a red herring. Respect the candor in your coaches; be open to constructive 360 degree feedback. It’s the only way you’ll truly be mentored and improve. I think this quote is also a call to leverage sardonic humor as a weapon for good.

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”In baseball, you only need hit the ball 3 times out of 10 to look like a hero. In cricket as bowler, you’re only 3 deliveries away for completely turning the match. Keep that fighting spirit. Remember, the IASM in enthusiasm means: I Am Sold Myself. Champion salespeople give everyone their best. They refresh and restart each day treating each engagement as if it were their first or their last. Be fully there and give it your all when you’re in the arena. You are the face of your company’s brand. First impressions are crucial and the first experience she has with you, may have repercussions on all future interactions with her company.

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” It’s a very big honour to close a huge deal. You represent the precious brand of your company and your own reputation is also at stake. Understand that everything will rise or fall with delivery of the promise. Manage expectations all the way through. Closing the deal is the beginning of delivery – signing the contract is the beginning of a long-term relationship. You are only successful if your customer is successful and happy with your solution, service and support.

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” Humbly choose your own destiny by being intentional with the sales activities that actually make a difference. Identify and commit to the KPIs that create results. These include the number of calls you make, contacts InMailed, meeting planned and executed. Take control by creating three times pipeline coverage as a minimum. Focus on the leading measures that influence the static lagging measures. Incredibly, revenue itself is a lagging measure you really can’t influence. Understand the causal relationship between your actions and the business outcomes that they drive.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” If it were easy then they wouldn't need you. Be a problem solver who is positively paranoid… that may sound like a contradiction, breakthrough entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs were described as thinking this way. Optimism can actually positively influence revenue and prospects can sense it. Running through every possible deal scenario and fully mapping the account strategically will give you the confidence to run a winning strategy that you deserve to feel optimistic about.

“I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.” What I love about this quote is that even the extemporaneous can be planned. Be ready for what you will do off the cuff by role-playing with your colleagues. Never leave even the slightest detail to chance. Know the customer’s organization soup-to-nuts and your own solution, inside-out. Most sellers go about 10 feet deep into the water. You must dive deep into the bottom of the ocean to get the pearl… and avoid the giant squid of the status quo or enemies in the account seeking to eliminate you.

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.” In the end, it will come down to work-ethic applied consistently over time, persistently and with tenacity. (See my post on sustained self-discipline.) Many would say that selling is a numbers game but it is actually a game of strategy and sequence just like Chess. You can move the pieces ever faster and keep playing the game over and over again. Unless you get smarter with pattern recognition, deduction and predictive analysis, you will not see an increase in winning. Over time you develop more skill and a sixth sense at prediction. The harder and smarter you work, the ‘luckier’ you will become so embrace Churchill’s principle here.

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.” If you have a great idea about how to transform an account and you present in the boardroom to a dozen executives, rest assured a few may try to block you. You may have made some ‘frenemies’ along the way here. People can be duplicitous due to competing motives or politics in play within the customer organization. Press on – it’s critical to crusade for ideas of integrity that are indeed good for the client. Have their best interest at heart and transcend negativity with cunning and goodwill.

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” We must learn from our mistakes and the wisest people also learn from the trials and triumphs of others. Be a student of history and of all those who have trodden the well-worn halls of your customer before you. Internal knowledge transfer is critical. Do not take a key account for granted. Take the time to study how it was won and why they bought – know the narrative and the hard data. Research the client’s success and any challenges they’ve had implementing the solution along the way. Study the history of the deal to improve your future ability to grow the account.

“Please be good enough to put your conclusions and recommendations on one sheet of paper in the very beginning of your report, so I can even consider reading it.” Such a genius example of the busy executive or world leader for that matter. Brevity is the soul of wit. Always write the executive summary first; well before anyone on the team starts providing detail. This keeps everyone on message and helps them link the ‘what and how’ to the ‘why and when’. A forty-slide deck is a quantum leap backward. Never forget that the purpose of the first slide is to captivate the audience to move to the next. When communicating to key executives, use powerful imagery and brevity of words – practice economy of language. Have a document to leave behind that provides all the data and verbiage. The best advice I could give to sales people looking to ascend in their career is to take courses on writing. The pen is mightier than the sword and senior level executives with MBAs will very much appreciate relevant displays of emotive yet logical eloquence backed with evidence in an appendix.

“If this is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.” There’s something somewhat zen about selling. Sometimes something very bad occurs and turns out to be a stroke of good fortune. At other times, your ‘happy ears’ may deceive you. You’re dead in the water by EOD but keep the boat steady. The best deals take time and build from a simmer to a boil. Count your blessings such as a warm referral but don’t be too quick to mistake a curse for a blessing in disguise. I’ve seen an in-the-bag million dollar enterprise deal, shrivel up in an instant based on internal politics, external events or a competitor who hacked their pricing at the last minute. Success is about being the person worthy of it, learn form every failure and challenge – it makes you who your are. Remember, lessons in life are usually repeated until learned.

“I like a man who grins when he fights.” Practice insouciance. Enjoy the negotiation. Enjoy the battle. When it gets grim, find the élan vital. Personally, the most fun I’m having is when I’m solving the biggest, thorniest problem. I love to coach teams who are in the heat of a major deal and need to find a way to get things unstuck. Just like a cycling professional in a grand tour, enjoy the suffering – it’s what eliminates the competition.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” A positive attitude, thriving in the face of adversity, is how careers are made. Leadership is an inside job. I can think of several major deals that incumbents lost based on attitude issues with their sales person. Skills and qualifications do not differentiate – they’re just a ticket to the dance. Attitude and execution is what makes a person stand out.

“Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.” The greatest challenge of your life will be mastering yourself, learning to keep cool, grace under pressure, wrestling your fears and self-destructive tendencies, doing what is needed at the right time whether you feel like it or not. Every time you conquer an insurmountable challenge, you build that mental muscle. Churchill understood that a diamond is created by extreme pressure. There is dark before the dawn just as he lead the world out of a darker chapter of history. If you’re sitting at the tail end of the quarter feeling defeated, know that your luck is just about to turn if you’ve earned it. That’s the fun of sales – the uncertainty and the unknown. The challenges make success all the more satisfying. If it were easy, it would not be as rewarding.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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Great Sales Managers Spoon-feed Their Sales People

I know what you’re thinking – You’ve got to be kidding me. But hear me out on this. As a sales manager your job is to provide an environment within which everyone in your team can be successful. You need to train, coach, inspire and remove roadblocks. You also need to ensure they have viable territories, accurate competitive intelligence, and the necessary resources and tools to execute. And all of this built on strong intrinsic value in what they are selling to their markets. With all of this in place, you rightly expect them to be the positive differentiation needed to win business in hotly contested opportunities.

But how can sales people most effectively be the competitive advantage your business needs? How can they best be the difference that results in earning client trust and investment? Should you send them on training courses, drive a new sales methodology, implement a new CRM, engage expensive consultants to mentor and exhort, or perhaps an off-site team-building exercise?

There is an urban legend dating back to the height of the space race. NASA allegedly spent millions of dollars inventing a pen that could write in zero gravity. It was an amazing little feat of engineering. The USSR faced the same challenge… they used pencils. My point is that solving a problem does not need to cost huge sums of money and be a major feat of change management.

People are best motivated by reasons they themselves discover. This statement is true of prospects, customers, your CEO, management team… and yes, your sales people. Telling people something does not impart knowledge or create motivation for change… they need to feel it and own it. So what is the best tool for instilling transformational change in your sales people?

Here are some clues: It typically costs less than $40 per person, sometimes as little as $10 per sales person. The sales person then invests up to 12 hours of their personal time, rather than the company’s, in absorbing the information. They hear their inner-voice as they engage their imagination in applying the principles to their own challenges. Sound too good to be true. Every sales superstar I’ve worked with habitually uses this resource library and they are happy to invest their own money month after month. The answer is books.

Every sales manager must be a prolific reader to be truly effective. There is a book to help solve every sales problem and here are four examples. Yet it staggers me how few sales people are readers. The elite within sales, on the other hand, are naturally inquisitive and committed to lifelong learning, personal development and continuous improvement.

So, what is it should you spoon-feed to sales people? Certainly not criticism or unproductive pressure. You should spoon-feed them material to read that will inspire, educate and transform the way they think and operate. Training courses on their own just don't work; nor does forcing them to use some kind of methodology not aligned with their sales process.

For the next six months, put your team on a reading program. ‘Sales book club’ will make a huge difference if you make every individual in the team accountable. Insist that they read one book a month and schedule a monthly session to give them a written test concerning key principles in the book (have a serious prize for the person with the best test score – dinner for two at their favourite restaurant). Then discuss the book and what they learned. Finish the meeting with a workshop concerning how the ideas can be applied.

Importantly, don't let them get away with skimming content. Make your test a little obscure and with questions that can only be answered if they have read the entire book. You want them to go deep as they read. My own book, The Joshua Principle, was written as an emotional story to truly engage the reader and so that it cannot be skimmed. In the coming weeks I will be reviewing B2B sales books to help you decide what’s best for your team. Make 2015 the year of Sales Book Club!

In addition to book club, send your team a daily e-mail to read concerning sales leadership; a thought of the day with some commentary from you to inject your personality in creating relevance. Copy the leaders above you in your organization because you need them on the same page for supporting the difficult challenge of driving revenue growth. Find credible thought leaders to follow such as Anthony Iannarino from The Sales Blog, Jonathan Farrington from Top Sales World, Jill Konrath, Jill Rowley of #SocialSelling, Gerhard Gschwandtner from Selling Power or John Smibert from Strategic Selling who reads everything he recommends on social and it’s all relevant for B2B solution selling. My own blog corpus is here and feel free to plunder it to take your team on a daily 15 minute self-learning journey.

As a sales manager, invest 30 minutes a day reading blogs and LinkedIn posts to hand-pick the best to seed in your team. Harness the best minds in professional selling to work for you, getting inside the heads of your people to improve them… and all without paying for training or losing face-time with clients. This is how the very best sales managers operate.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Jessica Cross

Insight Selling Can't Be A Production Line

The pipe dream that we can manufacture insights en masse to be pushed out by marketing to align with ‘the buyer’s journey’ is akin to thinking a Henry Ford assembly line approach lends itself well to marriage counseling. Marketing automation will only take you so far. Using insights to attract buyers is a valid strategy but it’s a mistake to think that it can be executed well with spray-and-pray e-mail marketing or telesales environments for a hand-off to field sales or channel partners. Marketing automation has reached terminal velocity yet when you survey what's actually happening in the field, you'll often discover a resounding thud. Think about it yourself, when's the last time you personally responded to a generic templated drip campaign?

I realize it may sound contrarian but let's get to the deeper point. The click-through rates for e-mail have sunk to under 10% and phone calling contact rates are dismally less than 3%; with both trending worse every year. It definitely damages your brand and deafens your audience the more they feel they are being targeted with spam. The result is that when you’ve got something really important to tell them, chances are it will be ignored. Cultivating your inner Artful Dodger or Slick Willy to get past gatekeepers on the phone, requires some ninjitsu and can be done. Customers have heard everything and see it coming a mile away. But reps still boast about it! The latest script that insidiously promises a key insight report. Crafting a template that looks like an "authentic personal email" is also ubiquitous but customers receiving it tend to hit "delete." There is a better way! Executives are rolling their eyes in meetings these days within 90 seconds thinking, "Please teach me something I don't already know." Truth be it told, senior executives often seldom even see the bulk of their email. They do get LinkedIn notifications that vibrate in their pocket so making that count, prevents deleting your connection.

Predictable models for scaling revenue have been somewhat of a ‘Fountain of Youth’ concept since time immemorial. Just like any other growth industry, it's susceptible to the quick fix mentality. While seductive in concept, the predictable revenue assembly line model breaks down in practice. To achieve strong determinant growth you must have leadership, innovation, intrinsic value, strategy and great execution. It all comes down to people and it’s detrimental to business if you treat your team as expendable commodities.

Leading with insight means leading with insightful people. Teach your team to think strategically and to efficiently segment key targets, build domain expertise, understand industry drivers and trends, and to understand what a compelling business case looks like. Train them on how to leverage innovative methods to engage professionally with senior stakeholders within social communities to then be on the radar early in the awareness phase of the buying cycle. Any communications medium will always be limited by the power of the message transmitted by it. Teach your team to do their homework, to diagnose and prescribe leveraging the treasure trove of data that is increasingly freely available in the latest incarnation of the interwebs. Do they understand the true implication of trigger events in accelerating buying cycles?

Breaking up your team to make them more tactical in specialized or compartmentalized segments is the antithesis of teaching strategic thinking to even the sales people just starting out. It's a sexy idea that if they do less, they'll be more powerful. But teaching someone to fly a prop plane in flight school by darkening out the controls could spell disaster. Take a holistic approach so the sales force can think independently, collaboratively and be a trusted advisor to each customer.

I am not saying that inside sales call-centers and specialized sales roles won't work for transactional opportunities. It just seems to miss the mark for complex solution selling. When I ask sales executives to define ‘strategic selling’ I often get a very long awkward pause or an off-base answer. Here’s the reality in complex B2B selling – senior sales people are themselves best equipped to create their own early engagement pipeline. They need to personally build their brands, establish contact and engage with insightful conversations at senior levels.

The foundational key input for creating high margin revenue is, and has always been, early strategic engagement at the right levels. There are strategies and there are tactics – know the difference and use them wisely. A one-size-fits-all approach to B2B messaging is a clever mirage. Pundits will swear by the latest and greatest predictable system for driving revenue into a company but fads come and go. Any communications medium that allows blasting, eventually gets regulated. It's short-term thinking! At the end of the day, leading with insight in good old-fashioned targeted prospecting, backed with diagnostic consultative selling will continue to prevail. It's the type of approach that requires slowing down to speed up. Lincoln may have captured this ethos the best, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." The potential revenues and margins need to support the high level of investment. Beware the relentless commoditization of solutions and the trap of applying expensive business models to low margin transactional commerce.

The meta-skill of strategic selling will always sit above an engagement medium whether executed old school talking on a phone or new school in social. Strategic selling is not going away anytime soon. I've developed a road-tested framework for this that can be performed in real-time on the back of a napkin sitting at a café in Paris. How can we challenge ourselves to relentlessly think strategically in the context of any toolset? I've crafted it to withstand and be adaptable to the frenetic pace of technology evolution and change. All factors being equal, how we think will transcend the crutch of tools of the trade every time. It's the golfer, nary the club after all!

The medium changes, good messaging will always prevail.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Paul VanDerWerf

Do Nothing, Your Greatest Competitor

Every business operates in one of three modes: growth, steady state (even keel) or crisis. Only growth mode is sustainable but one of these modes is the most difficult and dangerous to engage. The way we sell is more important than what we sell and understanding the operating mode of your customer has a huge impact on the likelihood of sales success.

Every commercial enterprise is driven by a need to increase profit. Most government organizations are driven by a desire to improve service through efficiency and effectiveness (not that they have any idea what that actually means – I describe most government agencies as the blind leading the deaf). However, these outcomes for both commercial and government entities are ideally achieved without increasing costs or exposure to unacceptable risk. In essence, there is a universal desire to achieve more with less and any proposal or business case should focus on greater output or more revenue from existing resources, or achieving greater productivity (less cost or effort) resulting in better efficiency.

The pace of business (decision urgency and priority) is determined by the organization’s operating mode and it’s vitally important to understand which mode is in play when seeking to influence a purchasing decision.

When an organization is in growth mode decisions are made rapidly and the business drivers are usually productivity and profit. They also have an appetite to invest and this profile is the ideal prospect.

When an organization is in survival mode they have their own unique requirements and although they also make fast decisions, the business drivers are to reduce direct variable costs and improve cash-flow (not to be confused with profit). They are motivated to buy but you must manage the commercial risk for your side in providing credit.

When an organization is in maintenance mode (even keel or business-as-usual) decisions are usually made slowly and based upon incremental improvements in productivity and profit while also reducing costs. When dealing with a business in maintenance mode it can be difficult to identify specific drivers and obtain decisions.

Organizations in either growth or crisis mode are much easier to sell to than those who are in even-keel / steady state mode. Why should someone take on the risk and pain of change when they are operating in a business as usual environment? The answer is that there must be a compelling business case or a strong senior executive driving the initiative; otherwise you are dealing with the most frustrating and insidious competitor of all – ‘do nothing’. Ignore the status quo at your peril. Always ask: Why will they buy anything at all? Then ask: Why will they buy from me?

Winning business in complex enterprise selling is always difficult. The mix of variables can be mind-bending, as individual politics and agendas combine with corporate drivers and modes of operation to create a mine-field of explosive termination points for unwary sellers. Plan, prepare and strategize every deal – that’s what makes you a professional; you are someone who is masterful and aligning with the right agendas and managing risk.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

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The Gift That Changes Lives. Thanks Dad

We live in unprecedented times and if you are a student of history or perhaps eschatology, the human narrative is accelerating at a mind-boggling rate. Technology is now enabling ‘the information age’ at the speed of thought. Artificial Intelligence is upon us – yes, the scary science fiction kind. The ‘web of things’ is linking cars, appliances, machines, assets and people. Wearable Bluetooth and mobility tracking are combining with beacons to create geo-context and proximity alerts via wireless networks and satellite communications that are ubiquitous. Big data is extending into micro predictive analytics. Social media has already democratized the internet and cloud computing is enabling the most complex of capabilities for the smallest of enterprises. Meta-algorithms are creating their own priorities and financial systems have a level of interdependency that no-one truly understands. It all seems to be creating an ever-consuming life of it’s own – real human interaction is taking a back seat.

We have never had more access to information yet we drown in the data, drinking from the proverbial fire-hose, incapable of digesting all that is overwhelming us. We seek clarity amidst all the voices clamouring for our attention – there are a thousand channels to watch yet nothing is on. Everyone strives for cut-through and the result is sound bites and fear inducing sensationalist headlines. We have never been more connected yet so disconnected – 1,000 friends online and no-one we can count on in a crisis. We struggle to be heard – we crave for meaning and purpose amidst all the activity and interactions.

The human condition is not addressed by technology. This is why machines will never replace humans in the field of relationship solution selling. Machines and technology cannot deal with nuanced context, nor can it create insight or transfer emotion. It is certainly incapable of navigating politics. No soul, no love, and no emotional connection.

So amidst a cynical world where destructive beliefs, narcissism, fear, prejudice and distrust seem to pervade everything; how can we make a difference? Let me share this true story.

My Dad passed away on Christmas Eve 2013. He was a committed atheist and he taught me the power of belief. My parents divorced when I was age 9 and Dad moved interstate. He was a workaholic and not around very much so I really only got to know him in my late teens when I moved to live near him. I then joined him in business and wow, what a ride. Dad was a Mensa level genius, bipolar (manic-depressive) and alcoholic. What a combination; he had a break-down and was hospitalized, and I was thrown in the deep-end to manage the business. My dad was difficult to work with, to say the least, and I was young and judgmental.

But months later, over dinner with just him and me – I asked him to tell me his life story. Judgment gave way to compassion and I started to become aware of the greatest gift we can give to another person.

Dad had an unconventional childhood where he lived with various foster parents, estranged relatives, in convents and boarding schools. By the age of 12 he had lived in 16 different places. This was because his father raised him as a single parent and was an Air Force officer during World War II. His mother, Winifred, incredibly beautiful, suffered from postnatal depression and was subjected to electroshock treatment – she descended into severe mental illness and, as was the custom of the day, was institutionalized and never spoken of. Dad only discovered that his real mother existed when he obtained a birth certificate as part of applying for his driver’s license at age 22. He was told that she had died giving birth to him – but this was not true and I was there when he finally met her for the first time, shortly before she died in her eighties.

From birth through to joining the Australian Air Force in 1952, Dad’s childhood was as far removed from normal as one could imagine. He had no real sense of belonging or being loved. To compound his childhood problem of being relentlessly moved from situation to situation, Dad suffered from a severe speech impediment – chronic stuttering. He was always the loner, the outsider, and the target of bullying and sexual abuse.

I asked Dad how in the world he had managed to survive and why he wasn’t a bitter person. Dad was a pacifist and never sought revenge. He answered by telling me about Ms. Beatrice Ternan, a speech therapist, who had the biggest positive impact on him as a child. His stuttering affliction was debilitating and he was sent to Ms. Ternan several times a week for speech therapy exercises. Once she got to know Dad, she let him sit and read, no speech exercises. She would quietly do paperwork and then take him to her home for biscuits and lemonade where he was then collected by his father. She told him that his stuttering was something that would simply pass and she showed him a kindness that he had never experienced. She gave my Dad the gift of believing in him. Beatrice also taught Dad two principles that stayed with him for life: “To be interesting you must be interested, and give generously and you will be rewarded many fold.”

As my Dad and I hugged that night, emotional and slightly drunk, he whispered into my ear. “Son, all you need to make it in life is someone who’ll believe in you.” He was that person for me and I became that person for him.

So, as you wrap presents for those you love and send notes and gifts to those you work with, think also about giving something that can change their lives – the gift of believing in them; the gift of encouragement; the gift of speaking positively into their future. There are people in your life – your children, your partner, your employees, even your boss; that need you to believe in them. Every word from your lips has the power to build or destroy. Your words can be precious gifts that help change lives because behind the façade of confidence is usually someone secretly feeling that they’re an imposter. Inside the shy or reserved, is someone great who just needs a little encouragement to break-out.

Here’s the biggest thing I’ve learned about leadership: ‘It all about you but it’s not about you.’ Leadership is an inside job – then it’s about serving others by finding a worthwhile cause that changes lives for the better. Read that again. Forget the pursuit of happiness, instead seek meaning in what you do. Happiness has nothing to do with what you have but instead is all about who you are.

Professional selling is changing but don't let all the technology and all the noise distract you from what makes you powerful – be human, and be a person of authenticity, generosity and goodwill. Make every relationship count in 2015 and be kind to those weird, unhappy or nasty people you meet because they too have their own stories that would change how you view them if you knew.

If you valued this article, please hit the ‘like' and ‘share’ buttons below. This article was originally published in LinkedIn here where you can comment. Also follow the award winning LinkedIn blog here or visit Tony’s leadership blog at his keynote speaker website: www.TonyHughes.com.au.

Main Image Photo by Flickr: Andrew Magill