Introducing the Plan 2 Win Sales Planning Tool Kit.
With 2008 coming quickly to a close and 2009 shaping up to be a less than stellar year for many people, creating actionable compelling sales strategies is even more important now. So we have taken the output from the Territory Plan 2008 and Account Plan 2008 software, and made it available in a download to help you create sales plans.
To download the Sales Planning Tool Kit simply register and click download. You will also receive an offer code for an additional 20% off of the year end special on both software products. That is both products for about $20. You spend more than that every week on Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts! And believe me when I say coffee is critical to my success, a good business plan is more important.
Of course, you can always get both software packages for free through our partnership with Trial Pay! Simply accept an offer from one of the merchants in the system (NetFlix, FTD, Sony, Apple etc.) and they pay me for the software that you get. Pretty easy.
Try out the sales toolkit and if that works for you... Great! If you need to create more sales plans and build them faster, then consider buying the sales planning software. Either way, we look forward to helping you have a more productive 2009!
We have now launched Territory Plan Pro for Salesforce.com!
As of today the application is generally available on the Salesforce.com Application Exchange. This is a similar application to the windows based sales planning tool, however, since it is a native application built on the Force.com platform, all of your contacts, accounts and opportunities are available to simply click and pick to add to your plan. Additionally, tasks and events are created in the app and they roll into your normal task lists. With workflow, you can even submit the plan to your manager for review. We are pretty excited about this and have already started on the Account Plan Pro product. If you are interested in the app, the Datasheet and a quick video for the SFDC Version are at this link Territory Plan Pro.
I hear this term more often than I care to admit. So many companies and Sales Managers tell me "We have a consultative sales approach." "We want our people to really take more of a consultative approach" The funny thing is that so few of the sales managers saying this actually know what that means. I'm not saying that you have to have been a consultant to sell like one, but you have to understand what and how people want to buy. They do not want to be sold and they are tired of the old way of selling. Andrew Sobel said it best in his book "Making Rain"
"In today's markets, you win by assiduously building relationships with clients , being willing to stick with them over the long term, and adding value every step of the way. Golf and Lunch are nice, but they no longer represent real value to clients - they can get these from anyone."
In today's market, I believe that the real consultative sales person will have the lowest expense account on the team. Bringing value to a meeting may mean a Latte or Coffee from Starbuck's, but a nice lunch or dinner only adds a dimension of Dis-trust to the equation. If you can afford to buy a nice dinner, round of golf, or fancy lunch... what does that say about 1) your prices, and 2) your business acumen.
In this economy, showing value is about understanding their business and the business challenges that they face. Once you understand that, you work diligently WITH them to help them solve these issues. This will win more sales than any lunch or golf game.
So... What is your plan to know as much about your targets and key accounts as possible?
Especially in a turbulent economy, having a strategy and a plan is critical for staying focused, staying on track and making the mid-course corrections necessary to succeed. But the basis of any plan has to be based on your knowledge of your business. What has worked and what hasn't worked? More importantly, IS THAT STILL TRUE? So do an analysis of your business whether you are the CEO or the Sales rep.
- First, what is your average deal? I really have to laugh when I ask a sales person and they tell me that "there is No average". The dictionary defines "Average" as:
–noun Statistics. | the mean obtained by adding several quantities together and dividing the sum by the number of quantities: the arithmetic mean of 1, 5, 2, and 8 is 4. |
Now, why is this important? You have to know based on your business, what you need to do to succeed. Knowing that if I closed 20 deals last year and made 110% , with an average deal size of $30,000, that is good information. (Usually what I do is take out the two biggest deals that are not typical) So now I can focus on how many I need. I can now look at my performance YTD and my pipeline and see where I am at, NOT JUST from a dollar amount. So now YTD I have 15 deals and that average is $27,000, I know that the deals are getting smaller, (or that I had a couple of big ones if you didn't take them out) and I need x number of deals based on the average deal in order to make my number. Now I can look at my pipeline and see if I have the deals I need.
- Where did the sales come from? This is critical. Are they upgrades and add-on business? Are they all net-new customer wins? Did I prospect them or did they come from marketing or trade shows? Most people I talk to THINK they know where their business came from. However, when we really analyze it, the answer is almost always different. Why do this? If something is working, DO MORE OF IT! Now, this does not mean stop prospecting just because you find that most of the deals came from marketing. What this means is that if you find that you didn't prospect most of your deals, then you can increase your pipeline and sales, just by getting better at prospecting. ADD THAT TO YOUR PLAN. Create a prospecting plan and a marketing plan, based on what you know.
- Start Building a plan! Capture what you have found, write it down, share it with your team. Then find the ACTIONS you can take to finish Q4 Strong.
More later this week. What you should know about your accounts.....
So what Sales lessons did we learn from this long 21 months of presidential politics? From a sales perspective, I would suggest a few things.
Trashing your competitor is viewed as "old school"
People want answers and solutions to problems. Anything that sounds like sales hype and competitor bashing doesn't work. With so many sources of information available, it is too easy to get a different view and more factual data. Buyers are past the scare tactics of the past (I am talking selling here). Remember FUD? (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) FUD is less effective these days, since anything we say can be fact checked and researched in seconds. Trashing the competition among your base may work (see Salesforce.com @ Dream force), but without solutions to back it up, you are preaching to
the choir.
More experience and time in the market does not equal immediate credibility
We have to earn the trust of the buyer everyday. Every interaction that doesn't talk about them and their problems and their issues, is an interaction that that is not getting new customers.
Some people embrace change and others do not
If your product or service changes the way an industry or company does business, or changes the behaviors in a significant way, look for those people that are more open to change. (Especially if you are a new disruptive technology)
Conventional wisdom can be TOO conventional
Don't be afraid to go after markets that you have never been able to penetrate before. It could be your message and they may be receptive to a different message., especially if it is about them and their pain.
Anything stand out for you?
VOTE TODAY
Today is November 4th and here in the U.S. we get to choose our President. After almost 2 years of selling and marketing their products, we, the prospect, get to choose, and make a decision. "No Decision" is not an option. For over 200 years we have practiced this messy form of Democracy, but rarely have we had this kind of an Historic Election. We as Sales people are busy, but we have to make time to VOTE! If it is in between sales calls... VOTE. If you have to leave early.... VOTE.
Have a good selling day ... and...
VOTE!
As I sit typing this, I admit that I have been staring at the screen for an hour. (well, maybe not a full hour, but..) With everything that is going on in the markets around the world, I just couldn't decide what to post. I finally decided that if I could offer some tips for surviving the fourth quarter and setting up the first quarter that would be useful.
Last week I made several suggestions including looking at past business and past messaging. All of that applies still. However, I would suggest a few more things for this quarter.
First, focus on the fundamentals. Get back to basics. One of my favorite stories is about Vince Lombardi. Every year the first day of training camp he would hold up a ball as say to the team, "This is a Foot Ball." By the way, by fundamentals I mean, Prospecting, Questioning, cold calls, customer follow up, research, and of course Strategy Planning.
What are you or you team doing to focus on the fundamentals? Check out the about.com article by Darrell Zahorsky. He has great experience and a nice write up on sales strategies.
Now is all of the focus on Q4, don't forget about Q1. I am fond of saying that as sales people we "Drain the swamp" every year end... But the most successful sales people plan for the first quarter. They get out of the gate fast and don't have to play catch up. We as sales people have a big red RESET button that gets pushed on December 31st.
One way to get a jump on the first quarter is to elephant hunt in the fourth. Why? Because you know that you aren't looking for end of year business, and so do they. You have time to build a relationship and sell at a slower pace that large enterprise companies need anyway. For a good article on Elephant hunting, see Ray Silverstein's article at Entrepreneur.com.
Last suggestion... Stop worrying about the 201(k). I say to myself and always to sales teams... "Sell your way out of it!"
Okay... Here we are. The fourth quarter. We have 3 months to complete the year and hit our number. Unfortunately, this looks to be a very tough selling environment. So how are you going to approach your sales territory in the fourth quarter? How are you going to increase your personal sales effectiveness? Are you going to make more sales calls? More cold calls? Are you going to sell more to your existing customers? Try everything, all of above? Here are some ideas..
First, look at your quota. If you are at 100% year to date... GREAT! If you are less then that, take the dollars you are short, add that to your fourth quarter quota and divide by 3. You now have your new monthly sales quota for Q4. Now in order to hit that number, a good rule of thumb is that you need 3 times your quota in pipeline in order to hit your number. This quarter, you should make that 3.5 - 4.0.
In order to hit this number, you have to first stop and analyze your business.
- Where did you get your business for the last 9 months?
- Are these industries still a viable prospect? Why? Why not? Even those industries in turmoil have to continue to operate, and there are better companies in those industries. Your job is to find them.
- WHY did people buy from you in the past?
- Is that message still viable?
Companies tend to put a brake on spending in a tough economy, BUT they will always buy a product or service that they BELIEVE will either increase their top line or reduce their costs thereby increasing their bottom line. If your message doesn't fit into one of these... CHANGE IT! This analysis is critical. Before you can create a sales plan that will help you be more effective in the fourth quarter you have to understand your business and the industry and companies that you sell to.
Now look at your pipeline. You probably have deals that are there and they are in your sales forecast. If you want to hit your number, knock it down by 30%. You are going to see deals fall away and get pushed out. Know that going in. Look at the sales cycle.
- How long did it take to close the last 4-5 sales? Now add a month, and look at how long you have been working on these opportunities.
- Do you think they will close in the fourth quarter? Be honest.
- Now look at those deals this year that have closed quickly.
- Why? What kinds of companies were they? What are the common characteristics? Figure that out. If you can find something that stands out you can then try and create that same situation again. There is very little low hanging fruit this quarter, but you can possibly create some. But you can't do that without really looking at the sales that closed quickly. If you can find one or two of these you are in a much better place.
The last thing you do, is take this information and create a plan. If you have never written one you can either download our sales planning white paper or use our sales planning tool.
One last thing... You will need to work harder and longer hours this quarter than you have possibly ever had to... Stay focused. Create your action plan that is specific.. and Work it!
I have found a new networking system that you probably want to take a look at. It is called Blitztime. Blitztime is a phone in speed networking system. The folks at Blitztime have a technology that will link your profile to conversations. You get several 1-1 conversations and your PC screen refreshes and shows you the profile of the other person.
Tomorrow is a blitz you probably want to join if you are a sales person. It is how to use social media, and the first speaker prior to the networking is Leslie Poston (@geechee_girl)
The event is free and takes place at 6:00 EDT.
http://www.blitztime.com/app/blitz/viewjob.php?jid=2312&ml=t
How much networking do you do? A great deal? some? At times it seems like networking is a waste of time... An excuse for not prospecting or a chance to get out and have drinks. And you know what? If you aren't doing it right, that is EXACTLY what it turns into.
Networking is about farming... Prospecting is about hunting... If you are going to have success not just this quarter but next quarter and so on... You have to have Networking as part of your plan.
- What are the events I should be attending?
- How many events each week or month will I attend?
- What kinds of relationships do I want to gain?
- What are the types of organizations that I can help and can help me?
- Who are the sales people that are complimentary or non-competitive, but sell to the same people that I do?
Don't know how to do it well? Here are a couple of good reads:
Never Eat Alone - Keith Farrazzi
Effective Networking - Diane Darling
The World Best Know Marketing Secret - Ivan Misner
Add some sort of Business Networking to your Sales plan... You will thank yourself next year...
Steve