Over my 30 years of sales leadership I have thoroughly enjoyed leading large teams of sales people to deliver great results with companies like AT&T, MCI and Dun & Bradstreet.  Learning how to be a good sales leader does not come to a person instantly but with good mentoring and learning from failure. I believe I can help you with your Blueprint.

Your Blueprint for Success must include your Short Term Tactical Plan (first 90 Days) and your Long Term Sales Strategy.

First, the Short Term Tactical Plan:

You need to be focused on establishing your leadership brand immediately.  Your company and your sales team are excited to have you as the new Sales Leader and are expecting great things from you.

The two priorities you need to focus on in the short term are: 1) establishing yourself as the leader, and 2) make instant impact as a decision maker.

How?  Well for #1 above – Establishing yourself as the leader, I refer to this as introducing “the new sheriff in town”.  Walk in the shoes of your sales team, what are they expecting to see from you?  If your plan is to become a “CRM Jockey” and sit in your office all day sending out emails to your sales team inquiring on the status of opportunities you will fail miserably.  Becoming a master of internal meetings will also lead you down the “slippery slope” of failure.  Your team is expecting a strong, decisive leader who has a plan.  My simple view of a great sales leader was one I was proud to bring out to see a client.  This person was firm, decisive, had my back and maintained a fun selling environment.

With all this in mind the best way to do this is to meet with your sales team immediately and cover the following with them:

1. Introduce yourself and talk about your expectations for the team and yourself.  This is your Sales Covenant with your team and adds immediate clarity to mutual requirements.
2. Review your team’s Financial Goals at the 30,000 ft. level (avoid the “Investment Banker” version at this meeting)
3. Ask each team member to tell a little about themselves and what they want to accomplish
4. Tell them you will schedule one on one’s with each team member to review their responsibilities.  Tell them you will be sending out an outline of what they need to be prepared to discuss.
5. Conclude with an open Q&A

Keep this meeting brief, to no more than 90 minutes.  This helps you to stay “on script” and avoid your first meeting from becoming a rambling griping session.

For #2, Make an instant impact as the new sales leader, you need to get some quick wins.  I found that the best way to do this is to look for choke points in the sales process.  Where are sales being delayed?  As they say “follow the money”.  Check the Proposal Development Process – are proposals getting out fast enough?  Check the Contract Process – are there any contracts you can help legal get out the door?  Check the Discount Authority Levels – if you gave your team members a discount they can work responsibly with could they close business faster? (Caution:  you need your boss’s alignment and you must communicate that the discount is used only after rigorous defense of the “retail” price has been conducted with the client.)

During your one-on-one’s with your team they will tell you where deals are stuck.  This will be your opportunity to show your bosses some short term results to reinforce their decision to make you a leader.  It will also give you the credibility to move forward with your Long Term Sales Strategy.

Your Long Term Sales Strategy:

Okay, this is the “Secret Sauce” behind your ongoing success.  It is centered on what I call the Five Sales Effectiveness Drivers. Your Long Term Strategy will be perpetually focused on: 1) Sales Talent, 2) Sales Process, 3) Sales Planning, 4) The Customer, and 5) The Product Story.

I) First up is Sales Talent, the “Holy Grail”.  If you can find, build and develop the best sales talent you will satisfy 80-90% of what you’ll need to accomplish in order to become a great sales leader.  What you need to do initially is to assess your sales talent.  Rank those from Top to Bottom (get input from the previous leader and others familiar with your sales talent).  Take this ranking and segment into 10%/80%/10%.  Your top 10% are those sales people that leap out of their beds in the morning and start providing results with little guidance.  The middle 80% are good solid workers who you will need to focus the majority of your effort on.  You will need to be very prescriptive with them.  The bottom 10% are your low performers.  For years I tried desperately to increase the capabilities of my bottom 10% but I usually ended up suggesting they do something else.  My recommendation to you is to reinvest the monies associated with your bottom 10% into the middle 80% (training, compensation, etc.) so they can produce like your top 10%.

II) Next is the Sales Process.  In the equation Art + Science = Sales this is the “Science” part (the “Art” is in the personal dynamics involved in customer interactions).  A rigorous sales process will lead to an accurate pipeline, forecast, and results.  The best method to maintaining a great selling process is to use one of the several CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tools available like Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, SAP, Sage, Sugar, etc..  I will assume you are familiar with these.  What I want you to focus on here is how to use these CRM Tools properly.  As mentioned earlier don’t lock yourself in your office scanning your CRM and firing off incendiary emails to your sales team inquiring about sales opportunities.  Rather, roll up your sleeves and get involved in the process.  In addition to using the CRM Tool for Pipeline Analysis and Forecasting you need to use the CRM as a Sales Coaching Tool.  Use the analytics to focus on changing behavior and salesperson development.  For example, if your total sales force spends 30 days in “Contract Negotiations” and “Joe”, on your team, spends 50 days you have an obvious coaching opportunity.  You can achieve huge gains in sales productivity by searching for ways to shorten the selling cycle.

III) The third Sales Effectiveness Driver is Sales Planning.  Sales Planning is divided into two areas that are critically connected.  First there is your internal sales team planning.  This includes Opportunity Planning, Account Planning and Territory (I prefer “Franchise”) Planning.  The second part of the Sales Planning process is external planning.  This means the confident communication of your sales planning derived forecast with other key constituents in your company (i.e. CFO, CEO, Product Leaders, and your Boss).

The following is the outline for your best-in-class Sales Planning Process:

The Internal Sales Planning Process

-          Opportunity Planning – Each salesperson identifies known and unknown opportunities.  The plan includes the identification of key decision makers and other stakeholders (influencers, etc.), the competition, the business reason for considering your service, an ROI section, the size of the sale in Revenue, and Probability of Sale (POS).

-          Account Planning  – This is the sum total of all the identified Opportunities as well as the Business Overview of each account.  Here, look at the account’s senior leadership.  Do intensive research on them (company website Bio’s, Google, Linked-In).  Where did they go to school?  What associations/charities do they belong to?  Find that connection.  For example, the CFO of one of your clients could have gone to the same university as your CFO.  There’s a connection you can use.  A great Account Plan looks at establishing solid relationships.  Also, look at a client’s Financial Statements.  How do they measure up to their competitors?  How can your product help them compete better?  Do they make decisions based on an ROI (Return on Investment) hurdle?  Most do (I read recently that ROI calculations are used 90% of the time when a company is considering a new purchase).  Do you and your team members feel comfortable having that ROI conversation with your client?  (If not go to www.isalesman.com and download our ROI Calculator for practice—seek teaching help from your Finance team too).  In my experience most sales people shy away from these ROI discussions.  Get out of your comfort zone and learn to use ROI.

-          Territory (Franchise) Planning - Awhile back I joined an old, established company that was experiencing flat sales growth which was the reason I was recruited into the company.  Upon inspection I found several reasons why but the biggest reason was due to the lack of a company wide prescriptive planning process.  They were conducting Opportunity and Account Planning but not one salesperson had a plan covering their entire Franchise.  To me this meant there was a lot missing.

The way to think and articulate a Franchise Plan is to make the analogy of a Business Owner or Entrepreneur seeking investments for their company.  All Banks, VC’s, Angel Investors, etc., would require the Business Owner to develop a Business Plan.  This Business Plan would require the Business Owner to outline how they will maintain present cash flows while growing new business.  The Franchise Planning process is the same thing.  Each salesperson (or Franchisee) is required to develop an annual plan that identifies how they will maintain their Base of Revenues

while growing New Revenues. Regarding the Base Revenues the salesperson details how they plan on retaining 100% of their present clients.  My focus here was creating solid relationships with clients, ensuring customer satisfaction and locking in incumbent revenues with multi-year contracts (aka How to disappoint the Competition).  Regarding growing New Revenues this is the compilation of the Account Planning Process.  A good Franchise Plan includes an Overview Summary of the Franchise which also includes a Financial Summary (Total Retention and Growth Projections).

Regarding the company that I introduced  Franchise Planning to—– the total of each salesperson’s Franchise Plans showed 18% revenue growth potential.  That year we achieved 9% growth, then 12% the following year.  Remember they were trending flat growth before this.

The benefit of the Franchise Planning process was that each salesperson felt that they had ownership in their “Franchise” and the plan clearly outlined all of their opportunities and the potential for higher commissions.  They were more confident and they produced great results.

The External Planning Process

Now with a crisp Internal Planning Process you are prepared to defend your forecast numbers with Finance, Product and other senior level leaders in your company in order to gain their alignment with your numbers.  This will ensure proper sales goal setting as well as ensure that your senior leadership is giving proper financial guidance to investors.

IV) The fourth Sales Effectiveness Driver is The Customer.  Of course without The Customer none of the other Drivers are necessary.  What I mean by this is that you have to have a plan to use your customer’s feedback to sell more.  What mechanisms does your company deploy to measure client feedback?  How do you use this feedback?

The following are some great methods of enhancing your and your company’s image in your customer’s eyes and increase sales:

-          Conduct an annual Customer Satisfaction Survey.  Have your sale people present it to the client personally (if possible).  Inquiries should center on your product, how your clients use them, your service and your client’s level of satisfaction, and your personnel assigned to the account.  Always ask how “how can we improve?”  Never ask about pricing as you already know what the answer is (your client would like to pay more of course).

-          Have “Ideation” or “Innovation” sessions with your preferred or “Strategic” clients.  Your product executives should participate and a guest appearance by your CEO or other appropriate senior executive is advised.  Your clients should be prepared ahead of time on the subject matter (i.e. Customer Service, New Products, etc.) and a strong meeting facilitator is recommended.  The clients invited should be those who you can count on to give direct feedback and contribute in a professional manner.

-          Think about establishing an Executive Sponsor program.  You don’t want your company’s senior executives to sell for you (carry your water) but you should have a program to strengthen executive relationships between companies.  As you don’t want to overwhelm your senior executives I suggest you start with ten accounts and grow from there.  Your CEO, CFO, Product Leader and Marketing Leader should have two accounts each where they have the opportunity to strengthen relationships with your client’s top decision makers.  It will be up to you and your team to keep it relevant and current by keeping your Executive Sponsors involved.

-          Other programs to consider are Customer Positioning Events.  These typically include inviting clients to sporting events, customer awareness forums, shows, concerts, etc..  Due to new Ethics and Compliance requirements just make sure to pay attention to your client’s Code of Ethics (usually found on your client’s website).

-          Selling on the Service Call – when a client has been satisfied with a service issue be sure to ask if there is anything else you can help them with.

V) The last Sales Effectiveness Driver is The Product Story.  Very simply this about how your sales teams present your products to their clients.  With one client I worked with I asked several sales people to present their product story to me.  They each presented very professional overviews of the company and their products but they were all different!  While I applaud individual creativity this will only lead to client confusion.   Additionally, you’re taking a risk that a salesperson could make a mistake which your client makes a decision on.  Not good.  The guiding principals of developing one, company wide, Product Story is as follows:

-          Start with your Company Overview

-          The next section shows how your product is developed

-          Next is why your product is unique

-          Have a section on testimonials and key client logos

-          Include a sample ROI Analysis

-          Conclude with a compelling summary page

One person in your company should be responsible for developing and maintaining the current Product Story.  I recommend your Marketing Leader.  Your sales team’s job will be to use this presentation to constantly educate your clients.  Why?  So when your competitor shows up and presents their product your client is comparing it to the standard he/she knows – your Product Story!

Track your progress with each Sales Effectiveness Driver to ensure ongoing success.  Use a scorecard and share your team’s progress with key constituents in your company.

In summary, if you follow this Blueprint you will be successful – I guarantee it!

Ethical Selling. To the uninformed this sounds like an oxymoron like “Jumbo Shrimp” or “Marital Bliss”.  However, to those sales people striving to be the best these two words mean everything.  You cannot be a successful salesperson if you do not develop trust with your clients as well as with the company you represent. 

Trust = Results = $$ Commissions

Let’s take a look at Ethical Selling from two angles.  One is the Legal aspects and the other Cultural, or the good solid business reasons why Ethical Selling produces great sales results.

First the Legal Aspects:

There are overarching laws in the U.S. as well as internationally that governs how one conducts business.  Some of these include Contract Law, SEC Regulations, Anti-Trust laws, The RICO Act, The Economic Espionage Act, etc..  For those sales people conducting business internationally there are two more very important laws to understand.  These are the Federal Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the new UK Bribery Act.  The penalties for violating these laws can be severe and salespeople can be found personally liable under the Alternative Fines Act.  Penalties can include huge fines and considerable jail time.  Pleading that your boss had you perform the indiscretion (i.e. Bribe) is no excuse, and neither is ignorance of these laws.

So “Protect Thyself”.  Make sure your company provides you with adequate ethics and legal education and support.

The Ethical Sales Culture Rules:

Okay, we know there are laws we need to abide by when selling and conducting business but there are also Rules regarding Ethical Selling.  Companies that have solid reputations as ethical companies simply perform better.  Websites for organizations like Ethisphere and Corporate Responsibility magazine contain studies illustrating that highly rated Ethical companies outperform the S&P 500 and The Russell 1000.  Ethical Selling = Results.

To ensure that you are always mindful of creating and maintaining client trust I have condensed the Ethical Selling Rules into Ten.

Here they are:

Rule #1: Do Not Disparage the Competition:

I know what you’re thinking.  How can I not say something to my client about the things I know are wrong with my competitor’s products?  The answer is you can, but you have to do it right, but first let’s get one thing straight.  You need competition!  Without competition you my friend don’t have a job.  There is no need for salespeople if there is no competition for your product.

How then do you point out the advantages of your product vs. your competitor?  There are several ways — here are just a few:

a)      The Ben Franklin Approach.  Remember this one?  You construct a matrix with the client’s derived buying criteria comparing your product with your competitor(s)’.  With your client you put an “x” next to each criterion under either you or the competitor.  Of course, you should role play this first before engaging with the client. Remember the 5 “P”’s (Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance).

b)      Stress the benefits of your product.  Get back into the habit of reciting Feature/Function/Benefit to the client.

c)      Offer to help write the RFP if you expect one.

d)     Get in front of the competition by proactively bringing them into the conversation.  I have seen clients react very well to my statement that “XYZ” and “ABC” can also provide what you need but let me show you why my product can provide you with so much more.  This demonstrates your integrity as well as your confidence.

Rule #2: Do Not Un-Hook a Competitor’s Contract:

Trying to convince a client to terminate an existing agreement is just plain bad business.  In addition, it could present legal issues for your employer and they can be accused of “tortious interference”, “inducement of breach” or “contractual interference”.  I recommend you find ways to co-exist with an existing competitive contract in order to establish your credibility.  When the contract expires — pounce!

Rule #3:  Don Not Bribe the Customer:

Oh, so you think this is an obvious one?  There are new Ethics & Compliance rules that get real specific about what constitutes a bribe.  What was at one time considered customary entertainment and gifts are now considered bribes that I outlined earlier.  Your best bet here is to know what your company’s rules are on entertainment and gifts as well as your clients’.  Specifics can be found on your client’s website in their “Code of Conduct” section.

Rule #4:  Do Not Overhang the Market:

Your client cannot sign a contract based on a feature or capability that is not available today.  You must be careful about describing the features provided by your product.  Of course you can show your client a product “future” but you must be crystal clear that it is not presently available.

Rule #5:  Do Not Misrepresent your Product:

This is just plain stupid and bad selling.  However, even the best sales people with honest intent can get overly exuberant about their product and inadvertently induce a client into believing that the product can do more than it’s capable of.  Again, make sure you are clear with your client about your product’s capabilities in both conversation and writing.  As a salesperson it is your job to create customer excitement with your product but make sure they understand 100% what they are signing up for.  As in Rule #4 above, the amount of time , energy and reputation you have to invest is damage control is not worth it.  One can say “that’s why we have contracts” which is true but a client mainly goes by what he or she remembers you told them.

Rule #6:  Do Not “Bait and Switch:

We’ve all been on the wrong end of this one.  How did you feel about the salesperson and the company they represented?  By definition, this means you offer a product to a client knowing full well you can’t deliver on it, get the client interested, and then substitute it for another product or service.  My most memorable “bait ‘n switch” experience was when I signed up for a golf membership to a course that was not yet built.  After the course was finally built they doubled the membership fee!  If you really want to upset me mess with my golf!

Rule #7:  Do Not Alter a Contract:

You know not to change or alter a contract but I have seen many clients pull a reversal on the salesperson.  Experienced buyers know how to “work” the salesperson.  They are very aware of month-end, quarter-end, and year-end selling pressure.  So it happens more times than not that at the 11^th hour, when you really need that contract signed, that the client will demand one more contract change.  I have see clients actually handwrite in a contractual change and ask the salesperson to co-sign with their initials.  My advice to you is to stop, take a breath and tell your client you are not authorized to make revisions but “if you give me five minutes I will call my boss and get and answer”

Rule # 8: Do Not Take Competitive Information:

Under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 theft or misappropriation of trade secrets is a federal crime.  This act is intended to cover competitive information that is not available in the public domain (i.e. brochures, websites, etc.).  If the information is private and confidential and you get your hands on it and use it to your advantage you have violated the law.  Even if your client hands you a competitor’s proposal you must refuse to accept it.  My advice is to simply ask the client where you need to be to win.

Rule #9:  Do Not fudge your Pipeline and Forecast Numbers:

In fact, take the time to very accurate with your sales numbers.  Accurate sales figures are the “Holy Grail” for your Sales Executives, CFO and CEO.  As a sales leader I have had the pleasure of managing some very successful salespeople who couldn’t forecast worth a lick.  Upon inspection I found that this was usually the result of insufficient time spent on the forecast process or they simply didn’t want sales management to know.  The cure for this was giving the salesperson the “option” of converting to a 100% Commission Compensation Plan as accurate forecasting was a requisite for receiving a Base Salary.  I always had 100% forecast accuracy compliance after that.

Rule #10: Don’t Ever Say “Well to be honest with you”:

When I was a young salesperson starting out at IBM I picked up a bad habit.  I got into the habit of saying “well, to be honest with you”.  I further added twists like “in all candor” and “to be perfectly frank with you”.  I noticed that when I said this to a client they drew closer to me so they can hear the next words out of my mouth that I had teed up with this declaration of honesty.  Then one day while presenting to a prospective client I went into my “well, to be honest with you” bit.  The client then said to me “so Carl, now you’re going to come clean with me?  You haven’t been honest with me up until now?”  I froze in place and went silent.  The client then smiled at my discomfort then told me to never declare my honesty again.  Even though it was an expression he assumed that I was honest until proven otherwise.

One simple method I use to establish trust with a client is to ask the client” It is important that I establish trust and credibility with you.  What is the best way I can do this with you?”  I will pretty much always get the same answer – “just be straight with me”.  Clients appreciate this approach and I do believe it always gets me extra credit.

Conclusion:

As a salesperson, the brand you want to establish is like a two-headed coin.  You want your client to judge you as an honest salesperson and you want your employer to recognize you as a sales producer.  As you hopefully learned these are all linked like hand and glove.  The benefit to you the salesperson is that you will sell more, make more money and go to heaven.

Good luck and good selling.

Integrity

This has to be right at the top, because if the team has cause to doubt the integrity of its leader, then it will fail when the team is exposed to stress or a risk. If a person is capable of minor lapses in their personal integrity, they fail to keep faith and then they could let their own team members down when they are under pressure. Once the team doubts the leader, that doubt greatly limits their chances of the fullest success.

Good Memory

To enable them to recall peoples names and the few essential facts that are pertinent to a wide range of problems.

A Genuine Interest In People

Those that you are responsible for leading will know at once if you are genuinely interested in them – and particularly in their development. Show this and you create that personal bond which is essential to the success of your team. You cannot fake an interest in people – they always find you out. A leader can only be successful by ensuring the success of every individual in the team.

The Ability To Communicate Effectively

A good leader must be able to talk and write simply, clearly and persuasively. They must also listen and digest information intently – communication is a two way process.

Decisiveness

There is a time when a decision must be made and a risk taken, even though the facts may be incomplete. A leader must recognize when further analysis is unprofitable and action is needed. It helps if the cost of changing the decision is known. If the cost is low, the risk is low.

The Ability To Relax

If the team is kept tense and under pressure, irritation arises and performance fails. This is overcome by deliberately introducing a break – just a light remark or opportunity for laughter. The importance lays in the frequency and the need for the break to be related to the task, or the people – not a funny story. The break should be brief, even momentary. It should also come at an opportune moment.

Genuine Enthusiasm

Inner conviction, belief in the team and the objectives before it, gives rise to enthusiasm. This must be visible to the members of the team. It provides the motive power they use to tackle their jobs with courage and hope. If the leader has no belief in the task, why should their team even attempt it?

Those are my top seven, and tomorrow, I’ll reveal the five main drivers, which point organizations towards success ..

News: Lots of comments about my Hardtalk interview with Dan Waldschmidt  “The Problem With Sales Trainers” – if you missed it, simply go HERE and look in the right-hand column.

We are putting the finishing touches to our new project – topsalesmanagement.com – which launches next week, plus finalizing the details of the Top Sales World magazine, which publishes next Tuesday …

This month’s highlight is undoubtedly Linda Richardson’s interview with genuine thought leader, Neil Rackham. Plus, in my new monthly column – JF Uncut – I take a tongue-in-cheek look at the reasons why any imminent marriage between sales and marketing is unlikely, and we also have superb articles from Colleen Stanley, Tibor Shanto and John Doerr.

Finally, we announce all the categories for this year’s Top Sales & Marketing Awards. It is certainly going to be a bumper edition!

For those of you who have not been to a Rudy’s, they are located in upscale gas and C-stores in Texas. I recently visited the one at 620 and 2222 in Austin and took this photo of their mission. I love this mission statement and I believe it permeates through the staff at Rudy’s. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. They want you to be delighted.
I’ve read about a phenomenon that takes place in crowds where if someone needs help, they are less likely to get it. It seems that in a group of people they assume someone else will help. It works that way in business and in life. It’s not my responsibility, it’s someone else’s.

In the past year our church has grown over 30%. In that timeframe our Children’s church has grown from 22 to nearly 80 with the same amount of volunteers. We could not get anyone to sign up when we asked for it. We suggested it, and told them there were signup sheets in the hallway. No one signed up. Last week I shared with the congregation this photo of Rudy’s mission. I suggested it wasn’t someone else’s problem; it was a challenge for all of us and then passed around signup sheets immediately after I addressed them. We had 43 new volunteers.

In our consulting business we see this frequently. When we identify new opportunities and build a go to market strategy for our customers, their teams are apprehensive about the change. We have around 20% of the population in a customer’s team that sees the vision and moves forward to execute on their own. An additional 50% straddle the fence, do nothing and wait to see if the new strategy is going to work. Finally 30% of the population actively resists the changes and fights to keep the status quo. Our leverage point is the 50% who are waiting to see if it works. We encourage them to act. Don’t wait on the strategy to work, drive it to work. Don’t depend on or wait for others to take action. If it is to work, it is because of me. Just like Rudy’s.

Look at your life, your business. What are you looking for others to do before you take action? What can you do to delight the “customer”? What can you do to “guarantee that every customer is delighted because of me”?

Step One: We have to feel MOTIVATED to make a purchase, irrespective of its type or size.

Step Two: At some point after we’ve become motivated to want to buy, we make a DECISION to buy.

Step Three: Then, after we have made a decision, we want to feel CONVINCED that our decision is the right one and at this stage we may seek approval and input from other people. Then we’ll make our purchase.

Step Four: Finally, after making our purchase we seek REASSURRANCE. Interestingly, if sales people haven’t nurtured newly acquired customers, this can result in ‘Buyers Remorse’ and the customer may get ‘cold feet’ and cancel their order.

Every step of this process requires careful handling, yet if the sales person lacks the ability to motivate their prospect to talk to them, let alone buy from them, the other steps become redundant.

It is now common knowledge that people are fundamentally motivated in two main ways:

1. What problem or pain they can avoid and move away from

2. What pleasure or benefit they can move towards

Imagine your alarm going off in the morning and you realise that you have to get out of bed. It’s just too warm and comfortable where you are, so you give yourself another five minutes. Then, after this time, you decide to lie in for another few minutes until you suddenly get a picture in your mind of your angry boss! The consequences of being late for your meeting with him scares you into jumping out of bed.

Alternatively, imagine your alarm going off on the morning of your holiday. The prospect of sun, sea and Sangria fills you with excitement as you jump out of bed to start your two week vacation.

If a prospect feels content with their current supplier or their current situation, then it will be a huge challenge to motivate them to want to buy your product or service. That’s why every pain your prospect feels is an opportunity for you.

Your task, during the initial fact-finding stage is to uncover their ‘pain’ and help them to dwell on their problems. The stronger the pain or the bigger their problem, the greater their motivation will be to move away from it. If you can convince prospects that your organization can reduce one or more of their ‘pains’, then you will have suddenly discovered a powerful way to unleash their motivation to buy from you.

Here are some examples of questions that probe for pain:

● “What areas of your current situation don’t you like?”
● “What is this costing your organisation each year?”
● “How do you feel about (problem)?”
● “Who else is aware of these issues?”
● “How do they feel about it?”
● “Why haven’t you tackled this before?”
● “How do your issues compare to those in similar organisations?”
● “Which of these problems is causing you the most concern?”
● “What have you done in the past that’s not worked?”
● “When did you begin noticing this issue?”
● “Why is this such an issue for you?”
● “When will you decide to resolve this?”

When probing for pain it’s more effective to start with general questions to build rapport, encourage discussion and plenty of input from the prospect.

As you begin using questions that probe for pain you’ll notice shifts in their body language that can provide you with important feedback that your questions are hitting the mark. Ideally, encourage the prospect to define the consequences of their problem, this magnifies the problem in their minds eye and consequently builds their motivation to want to get it solved.

Finally, you need to gain their commitment to resolving their problem by asking, “How committed are you to resolving this issue?”

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” Anthony Robbins

My friend & colleague, Jill Konrath, just came out with a new book to address this key issue. It’s called: “SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers.”

I highly recommend it. It’s already soared to the #1 Amazon sales book!

Here is an excerpt from the book…

Make Decisions Easier for Your Prospects

By Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies

Crazy-busy prospects can’t handle complexity. They hate it when things are difficult to decode, decide or decifer. It grinds them to a screeching halt – which is the normal human reaction to being overwhelmed and stressed out.

Because of the chaotic business environments we work in, simplicity has recently emerged as a key factor in sales success.

As a seller, your job is to make things easier and minimize the effort for your frazzled prospects. This is especially true when you’re dealing with people who seldom make decisions like the one you’re proposing.

Here are some strategies you can use to make things easier for your frazzled prospects.

Augment, Don’t Replace

Your prospects already use something or someone to address their needs. You can make it a whole lot easier for them to get buy-in for your product or service by positioning it as an “add on” to an existing program, process, or technology.

For example, when I talk to VPs of Sales, I always stress that my workshops on selling to crazy-busy buyers or cracking into new accounts compliment their existing sales training initiatives. I even assure them that I’ll tie my strategies in with their current methodology.

By coexisting with the status quo, you can get your foot in the door without encountering a major battle. Once you’re in, you can work to expand your relationship and win additional business.

Sometimes your “competitors” are internal staff whose number one concern is job loss. I knew this was going to be a major obstacle recently when I proposed a new idea to a prospect. So I dealt with it head on.

First I showed them how we could bring much-needed services to an underserved customer demographic. They loved it. Then, I talked about leveraging outside resources to “jump-start” the new program. And, I clearly stated that the ultimate goal was to turn it over to their IT as soon as possible.

Not only did I avoid an insurrection, but I quickly got their support because it provided them with more job security. Augmentation is good. It simplifies and speeds up the decision process.

Think and Act Small

If your prospects like what you’ve proposed, they’ll want to get it approved as soon as possible. However, big ideas with big budgets are riskier and require more buy-in.

As a result, they’re harder to get through the system. When you start losing momentum, your whole proposal is at risk.

So even if you have a big idea, be realistic with your prospects. Talk about starting small. Show them how you can get started, demonstrate your success, and build from there. For example, you could:

• Propose an initial assessment to understand the scope of the problem.
• Tackle a small problem where you could demonstrate immediate short-term results.
• Focus on bringing in just one of your products, services, or solutions.
• Suggest a change in only one of the departments or a single facility.

IT seller P. V. Bhaskar frequently proposes pilot projects to his clients. With a 90 percent conversion rate, they’ve become his secret weapon to simplify the decision-making process.

Prior to getting started, he allows the CIO and CFO to set the success parameters. As he says, “When a pilot exceeds the incumbent’s performance, all I need to do is demonstrate that the success can be scaled to an actual project as well.”

Going for the whole shebang at once makes things more difficult. And when you’re working with frazzled customers, that’s a setup for having your opportunity get derailed, delayed or dismissed forever.

But once you get your foot in the door, the hardest part is over. If you do a good job on your initial piece of business, it will be logical for your prospect to move to the next stage with your company. Your next proposal simply augments what they’re already doing.

Root Out All Complexity

In many cases, your prospects don’t know what to look for or how to decide. If things get complicated, they’ll quit and you’ll be gonzo.

That’s why it’s imperative for you and your company to ask these questions all the time:

• At which point do our prospects tip into overwhelm?
• What are the complexities that grind decisions to a halt?
• How can we reduce the ease and effort needed to make a decision?
• In what ways can we minimize decision-making risk?

Discuss these questions with your colleagues. Observe what happens in conversations with your prospects. Talk to your existing customers to get their feedback.

Then eliminate as much complexity as is humanly possible.

If you don’t, it can easily become a major showstopper – which is not a desirable outcome. When you embrace the first SNAP Rule: Keep it Simple, you’ll win more business with a whole lot less effort.

Of course, there must be almost as many theories on leadership as there are leaders themselves and models for the best kind of leadership change with the times.

In the 15th century, Niccolo Machiavelli advocated a combination of cunning and intimidation as a way to more effective leadership. His philosophy, if not his practices, became unfashionable some time ago – thank God!

“Great Man” theories, popular in the 19th century and early this century, are based on the notion of the ‘born leader’ who has innate talents that cannot be taught. An alternative approach that is still in vogue is based on trying to identify the key traits of effective leaders.

Behaviorist theory prefers to see leadership in terms of what leaders do, rather than their individual characteristics, and it tries to identify the different roles they fulfill. More recently, attention has moved away from the individual in the leadership role, to embrace a more holistic view and investing less in what some commentators refer to as the ‘myth of the heroic leader’.

Much recent work in this area has concentrated on trying to understand why some leaders are more effective than others by looking at their environment and the context in which their acts have been carried out. Situational theory views leadership as specific to the situation, for example, rather than to the personality of the leader. It is based on the idea that different situations require a different style of leader.

The basis of Situational Leadership is to provide a means of effective leadership by adopting different leadership styles, in different situations, with different people.

Situational Leadership is a model – not a theory. The difference is that a theory attempts to explain why things happen, whereas a model is a pattern of existing events which can be learnt and therefore repeated.

Requirements of a Leader

An effective leader needs to be:

• A good diagnostician who can sense and appreciate differences in people and situations

• Adaptable – have the ability to adapt the leadership style to circumstances

A leader must realize there is no one best way to influence people.

The Basis of Situational Leadership

Situational Leadership is a way of describing and analyzing leadership styles. It is a combination of directive and supportive behaviors.

Directive behavior involves telling people what to do, how to do it, where to do it, when to do it and then closely supervising this performance.

Supportive behavior involves listening to people, providing support and encouragement for their efforts and then facilitating their involvement in problem solving and decision-making.

There are four leadership styles: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating.

Each style is appropriate in certain circumstances. They can be shown as follows:

• Delegating – i.e. Low Supportive & Low Directive

• Directing – i.e. Low Supportive & High Directive

• Supporting – i.e. High Supportive & High Directive

• Coaching - i.e. High Supportive & Low Directive

In Summary

To those who would suggest that great leaders are born, not made, I would say this: We can examine all of the great leaders in history – and I have examined most of them -  and identify some common characteristics, but we cannot say they were “Born Leaders”. They all developed into their leadership roles over a period of time, learning the skills along the way.

I do believe that leaders can be developed – I have to believe that, because currently we have far too few of them in the world.

1.  Take a Vacation – Why do we always feel guilty about taking a vacation?  Most of us have gone years without taking a full week of vacation.  That’s part of the reason for burnout.

2.  Get Some Sleep – Lack of sleep turns into fatigue, sluggishness, and headaches.  Why put yourself through that?  Get at least seven hours of sleep every night this week and see how it affects you mentally and emotionally.

3.  Eat Healthy - It’s easy to get frustrated and irritable because of the way we look and feel.  My dad is a former college football coach.  I used to love being in the locker room before the game.  One of his running backs used to primp in front of the mirror before hitting the field.  I remember him saying, “You look good, you feel good, you play good…”  It’s funny… but it’s true!

4.  Exercise – This one closely resembles to the last tip.  You look good, you feel good, you…

5.  Try Something New - Have you ever had something you’ve always wanted to do, but never got the chance?  Go do it!

6.  Strengthen Relationships – There are people who love you.  Go spend time with them.  Don’t think about anything but strengthening your relationship with them.  Enjoy the time.  Embrace the process.

7.  Take Some “Me” Time – We all need people, but we also need some time for ourselves.  My wife is one of those who feels guilty for needing some “me” time.  If you are like her and you give… and give… and give… it’s important to allow yourself to give a little time… to yourself.

8.  Simplify – How complicated is your life and your work.  Is it self-imposed?  Look at everything that you are doing and get rid of the things that don’t add value.

9.  Have Fun – We’ve heard motivational speakers discourage us from wasting our time watching TV, playing video games, and other mindless activities.  Maybe it’s OK to be mindless when we are “resting.”  If you enjoy doing those things… then go ahead… RELAX… have some fun!

10.  Get Some Wins – Do all of these things to keep yourself mentally and physically refreshed… you know you are unstoppable when you are sharp… and winning is the best way to burn down burnout!

STOP with This 10 and That 10! Enough already!

Review it?

Okay, if you’ve nothing else to do.

Dwell on it?

Not okay, unless you’re a stalk of celery waiting for a dip.

Give it up! Get back to work! Unless there was some outstanding, earth-shattering play, nobody in their right mind sits around watching more after-game replays of the game that they’ve just watched (including the 14,786 replays that they already watched during the game!)

New Year’s always does this. It makes people nuts!
Business and professional practice owners rush to look back at who and what did better and worse than they did in the past year, which is (ahem!) past?
Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that the past is over and nothing can be done to change it . . . so, who cares who was best and worst and in-between?
What’s happening this minute? Ah!

If we could pull together all the collective time we waste looking back at who did what to whom and why B happened when A was supposed to happen, and could apply that to productive forward movement, small business would be in the economy’s driver’s seat, where small business belongs, instead of our inept government ”servants” (who do indeed serve themselves admirably).

Wallowing in the past has never –N~E~V~E~R– moved anyone forward. Now, I’m not talking about remembering stuff, nor even occasional reminiscing (which can serve to relax the stressed-out mind that’s overloaded with here-and-now focus).

No, I speak of the guy you went to high school with. You know him. He’s the one who’s still hanging out in the same local bar with his 30-year-old winning touchdown as conversation topic one.

Okay, so we can put this disastrous 2010 year behind us, right?
Now that’s a good thing, but that doesn’t authorize us to jump ahead to the point of worrying about 2011.
And kill off those empty New Year’s Resolutions that waste even more time deciding on and pursuing.
It simply means it’s time to roll up your sleeves, get your glove and get back into the game . . . get back to work.
Forget about those philosophical Tweets you read: It’s time to work harder, not smarter.

You’re already smart enough to succeed or you wouldn’t be here reading this. Working harder doesn’t mean physical labor or adding hours or wearing 20 hats instead of the 18 you’ve had on.

It means working harder to keep your mind in the here-and-now present moment as much of the time as possible — because it’s the only way to make your business and your career succeed.

You thought this was just a modus operandi for surgeons? Wrong! You are, in what you do and the ways you do it, a surgeon in your own right.

You take a history, do an examination, test, interpret results, form a treatment plan, perform the necessary procedures, decide on a prognosis, start therapeutic action to accelerate recovery, re-examine, and set up a maintenance plan.

So the bottom line, Doctor, Business Owner and Manager, is to stop wasting time analyzing 2010, and start attacking 2011. Now. One patient’s needs at a time!