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Selling in a Tough Economy … By Kelley Robertson
February 12, 2010 — adminTimes are tough. Companies are cutting back, people are tightening their belts, and many decision-makers are holding off on major purchases. However, your company has not reduced your sales quotas. Selling in a difficult economy requires a different approach than during a robust one. Let’s look at what you need to do to actively compete and keep your sales afloat.
First and foremost, don’t believe everything you hear. Just because the media says that the economy is sliding downward does not mean that your sales will be affected. Your mental mindset plays a tremendous role in your success. While it is difficult to maintain a positive perspective during times like this, it is essential to keep focused on your main objective. Associate with positive, like-minded people and avoid naysayers like the plague.
Tighten your prospecting. Too many sales people cast a wide net when prospecting with the intent of catching anything that comes their way. However, this approach is simply not a good use of your time. Instead of cold calling one hundred companies, determine your ideal customer and target businesses or organizations that more closely match this description. If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, look at your existing clients. Who generates high revenue with high profit margins? What problems do you help them solve? Why do they do business with you? If you don’t know, ask.
Do not, under any circumstances, say, “…and I will sell to anyone.” This is the equivalent of selling to no one. In a difficult market, it is critical that you focus your efforts. Sales guru, Lee Salz recommends that you limit your prospecting efforts to exactly twenty-five new customers.
Use an account-entry campaign. Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, suggests that you use a multi-touch campaign in your prospecting once you identify your top prospects. Use a combination of email, telephone, targeted letters, trigger events, and networking to connect with key decision-makers. This takes planning and time which means you cannot effectively prospect to more than twenty-five companies. Once again, this reinforces the importance of narrowing your prospect list rather than using a shotgun approach.
Focus your presentations. Anytime you meet with a prospect or existing client, make sure that your presentation is directly focused on their problem. Skip the nonsense about your company, how long you have been in business, blah, blah, blah. Instead concentrate on showing your prospect EXACTLY how their business will benefit from using your product or service. If your product will save them money, tell them EXACTLY how much. If what you sell will improve productivity or reduce errors, show your prospect EXACTLY how. Decision-makers don’t stop making purchases; however, they do expect more in terms of value.
Get closer to your customers. Hopefully you already have a great relationship with your existing clients. Now is the time to strengthen that relationship. Aggressively look for ways you can help them solve problems they may be experiencing in their business. This does not necessarily mean selling more of your products. It could mean connecting them with experts in different fields, helping them on a project or recommending other resources.
Become more visible. Resist the temptation to crawl into a cave and hide until the economy recovers. Your customers may forget about you and you may die. Now is the time to increase your networking activities—make sure that you network at the appropriate events. You can also increase your visibility by writing articles for industry trade magazines, speaking at industry conferences, and volunteering at your association’s events. Your prospects may not have the money to make a buying decision right now, but when you increase your visibility you may just give them a reason to buy from you versus a competitor.
Fine-tune your sales skills. As a sales trainer, I always come back to this and with good reason. The skills you currently possess got you where you are today but they won’t get you much further. During times of economic uncertainty, it is essential to refine your questioning skills and learn to ask some tough questions. How has your customers’ buying process changed? What new challenges are they facing? What needs must your customers have satisfied now as opposed to later?
In addition to death and taxes, the one thing you can count on is that the economy will fluctuate. Right now, it is considerably more challenging than it was two years ago. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t reach your sales targets. Get smarter. Get focused. Get busy. Get ready to succeed in a tough economy.
hireMAX Leader Named “Consultant of the Year”
February 9, 2010 — adminNEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
hireMAX Leader Named “Consultant of the Year”
Norm Bobay receives honor from TTI Performance Systems
Fort Worth, TX (Feb. 1, 2010) – Norm Bobay, founder and President of hireMAX, was recently honored by Target Training International (TTI) as the recipient of the 2009 Consultant of the Year Award at the TTI Winners’ Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was selected from over 7,000 Value Added Associates in more than 50 countries.
TTI presented the award to Bobay for his professionalism and ethical practices for over 18 years in the industry. Bill Bonnstetter, Chairman of TTI, said that Norm Bobay represents the professional and ethical standards that TTI seeks in all their consultants’ world wide.
“It is indeed an honor to be singled out from among so many outstanding consultants,” Bobay said, “the TTI community continues to grow in size, expertise and excellence. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
About hireMAX: hireMAX has been providing “Long Term Employment Solutions” since 1991. hireMAX uses some very unique services such as: applicant tracking programs; candidate pre-screen testing services; position benchmarking; specialized recruitment; candidate interview assistance; staff development (Sales, Team & Leadership).
We work on a national basis, and sometimes internationally, helping our clients hire and keep productive personnel. Some of our clients include: Ambassador Steel, Cabella’s, Dupont Hospital, McDonalds, Samsill Corp., US Vision to name a few. hireMAX takes the “guesswork” out of hiring and developing personnel and shows organizations how to retain motivated employees for the long term.
Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Target Training International (TTI) is the leading developer and marketer of research-based, validated assessment tools to help businesses and organizations effectively meet their human resource needs.
Groundbreaking Research on What’s Inside of Top Sales Performers in the United States and Europe (By Bill J. Bonnstetter)
February 4, 2010 — adminResearch studies of top sales people in both the United States and Europe confirm that top sales performance can be predicted. The most successful organizations in the world already know that hiring the right people has the potential of becoming the most powerful “secret weapon” in their arsenal of competitive strategies. What they don’t know is that hiring the right sales people can be as simple as following a recipe based on recent findings from an international study conducted by Frank Scheelen of Institut for Managementhberatung and Bildungsmarketing and myself, Bill Bonnstetter of Target Training International, Ltd. in Scottsdale, Arizona.
As a result of our twenty years of research, development and distribution of assessment tools to measure performance, we have been telling organizations that it is what’s on the inside, not the outside, that counts, especially in sales performance. What we are fighting is the myth that hiring people who look and sound good leads to good performance. As global competition forces organizations to greater heights in key performance arenas such as customer service, quality and customization, aggressive organizations must be ever vigilant in the identification, acquisition, development and integration of innovative technology. This type of innovative technology is now available to select top performers.
Much of the research conducted in the past on top salespeople has been focused on behavior. Behavioral research has been popular because, like looking good and sounding good, behavior can be observed. Little, if any significant study has been focused on what goes on inside a top salesperson. Our groundbreaking research in the United States and Europe now confirms that attitudes far outweigh looking good, sounding good or behavior in distinguishing top salespeople.
Two of our most significant assumptions were confirmed by the two studies. (1) Top performing salespeople around the world are similar and, (2) Attitudes or values are more important than behavior in sales performance. (See Study 1 and Study 2 attachment)
In both studies, only top performing salespeople responded. In the United States study and a separate German study, top performing salespeople responded to two assessments. One was based on the internationally validated DISC behavioral model and the other was based on the Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values model, currently being validated internationally.
Note that in the United States study of 178 firms, top sales performers tended to be spread across three behavioral dimensions. In the German study, top sales performers tended to be spread across the same three behavioral dimensions. In view of these results, it is reasonable to conclude that salespeople can sell in most, if not all, behavioral dimensions.
However, when it comes to what is on the inside of top performing salespeople, both United States studies as well as the German study confirm it is hands-down, a Utilitarian Attitude.