The Funnel Principle Blog

A Breakthrough Sales Performance Ebook

Win More Deals and Qualify Better Leads Faster

By Mark Sellers

Sales Training: Beware The Assumptions You Make About Relationships .................................3 Sales Process And Sales Management: Sales Growth In Strategic Accounts ............................6 Sales Opportunities Stalled? Here Are 7 Tips For Kick Starting Them .......................................8 Sales Recover: Repairing Broken Relationships ......................................................................10

Sales Training: Beware The Assumptions You Make About Relationships

Theres one sales topic that is guaranteed to get attention relationships. Sales people want to know how to develop them with the right stakeholders, how to get more good relationships, and how to earn the right to have the people theyre selling to fight for the sellers solution. Who would argue that relationships arent vital to making sales? Unless you work for the Greek government and have been on an extended vacation (sorry for being redundant) youve come across the relationship debate sparked by the book The Challenger Sale. At least theyre getting attention for the right reasons, not something sensational like a trailer for a movie called Taken 2. (Havent seen it but I keep asking myself didnt that girl learn a damn thing the first time around?) Relationships are a fundamental part of selling, as basic as problem solving and features-benefits. Ask any salesperson about a sale in progress and he or she will likely respond about relationships. Ive got a good relationship with so and so stakeholder, shell say, or We dont have any relationships with key people, he says. Salespeople who win will claim it was their special relationship that sealed the deal. Salespeople who lose will say

they got flanked by a low priced competitor. Hmmm. And yet in my sales seminars and coaching with clients I often tell them they have the wrong idea about relationships. Im not necessarily siding with Challenger which took a direct shot and did a lot of damage to the relationship sales approach. The main overlooked point is that there are too many assumptions made about relationships. For one, theres an assumption that the right relationship will either get you the sale or dramatically favor you. This isnt the case as often as it is assumed. The problem is the salesperson doesnt dig deep enough into the personal motivations and risk factors of the people theyre counting on for support. Those people arent likely to be upfront either if they cannot be the champion the seller is expecting them to be. Theyre somewhat embarrassed to admit it because it strains the relationship. Further, if the relationship is with someone with no horsepower to help you win, its not worth that much for this sale. The relationship is overrated. Again,
3

sometimes I see salespeople who protect the relationship even when it means the sale is in jeopardy. Then, there are assumptions about the underlying motivation that defines the relationship. For example, a salesperson might claim that since hes known a stakeholder for 30 years he knows how this guy is going to decide. I heard this recently in a coaching session with a client. But when challenged to prove how the seller knows how the stakeholder will decide there was no basis for it like a recent conversation where the stakeholder told the seller dude, Ive got your back youre going to get the sale! I think that in sales as it is in life sometimes people are more comfortable talking around the issues in the spirit of not hurting the relationship. If a salesperson asks Are you the PFA with final authority?, this is a bold question that not only sparks an answer but also can risk more than just this sale. Often salespeople confuse relationship with situational motivation. Relationship describes an overall position the seller has with the stakeholder that isnt purely tied to the buying process. Situational motivation describes the stakeholders motivation relative to this specific sale. The stakeholder has three possible options. One, she wants the sellers solution to win and will do whatever she can to make that happen.

These are your Advocates. Two, she doesnt want the sellers solution to win, and shell be passive or do whatever it takes to make that happen. And three, she doesnt care one way or the other. Her situational motivation determines what she does. If shes for change maybe its because she sees change as a ticket to a promotion or leadership or maintaining control or beating someone in the office. If she sees your solution as the right kind of change shes likely to lobby for you. She is your Advocate. The mistake salespeople often make is they generalize what the motivations might be. Sellers who make Advocates our of relationships are working the process the right way. I made a sale in 2009 to the North American business of a large global healthcare company. The VP of Sales, Ill call Jane, was a major reason I won the sale. She really wanted my solution. Months after we had implemented my companys sales methodology she told her counterpart in Germany that he should consider it for his team. Soon I was in Germany training his entire European sales team. With more help from these two stakeholders I went on to make a sale in the companys Asia division later. I know I have a good relationship with Jane. Shes on my speed dial whenever a new prospect asks to talk to a reference. But that doesnt mean she would step up
4

for me for another sale within her company. It all depends on her situation at the time. It helps you set better strategy if you dont make assumptions about the relationships

you have with key stakeholders. Its not a bad idea to validate and test those relationships from time to time too before it really counts.

Sales Process And Sales Management: Sales Growth In Strategic Accounts

Recently I spent two days with a client in Chicago kicking off the first round of strategic account management (SAM) reviews. If you regularly review strategic accounts here are 5 tips that could help you regain or refocus your teams attention on the things that really matter. Tip 1: A strategic account (SAM) review should be unlike any other conversation your team has. One of the common mistakes I see committed during SAMs is the team discussing the same topics and information that are already discussed daily as part of ongoing communication and working of the account. A SAM approach will quickly lose value and credibility if this is done. Instead, SAM reviews should be framed by a longer horizon such as 2-3 quarters out. The team should be talking about longer term issues like developing or nurturing relationships with key stakeholders, or making investments to penetrate new fields of play. Tip 2: SAM reviews should force all team members to participate. SAM is not about one persons role in the company but rather about a team of people

collaborating. One of the engineers at our meeting spoke up about a relationship he uniquely has with an engineer at one account. We decided that he could gain some valuable intelligence by talking with this stakeholder. Also, since many of my clients strategic accounts are global we made sure that staff from Europe and America were involved in the reviews. Tip 3: You get out of a SAM review what you put into it. All attendees of the SAM reviews have to come prepared for the review before hand. This means studying the account plan and bringing questions and ideas that the team can consider. Its like voting during an election if you think your vote doesnt count because you assume everyone else will vote thats the wrong thinking. Tip 4: Assign roles to the process. You cant just start going through your SAM review and expect it stay on point and on time. Assign a moderator to keep the conversation on point. Assign a time keeper to keep it from going too long. Assign a scribe to capture the key points, goals and action. Tip 5: Focus on how to grow funnel value and sales! Its tempting to get lost in words like maintain, protect, and manage
6

the account with strategic accounts. But if your team isnt focused on strategies that grow sales, then your investment in the account will get more and more expensive

with each passing year. The existing business could also be more at risk than you realize.

Sales Opportunities Stalled? Here Are 7 Tips For Kick Starting Them
November 5, 2012

Stalled sales opportunities can drive salespeople crazy. Worse than losing your sanity however is losing slowly and watching your productivity drop like my favorite band in high school, Led Zeppelin. Inspired by a conversation I recently had with a client of mine, Kevin S., a Vice President of Sales for a national printing company, heres a set of tips on how to kick start stalled opportunities. Before the tips let me make one important qualifier. Stalled opportunities are not the same as unqualified opportunities. If its an opportunity then it meets criteria for being qualified at some stage on your funnel. If its stalled it still has to meet that criteria, otherwise its no longer an opportunity at any stage on your funnel. If you confuse stalled opportunities with unqualified opportunities you risk wasting time on leads that arent qualified at any stage and you might not give sufficient selling time to leads that are already qualified. Dont be afraid of firing unqualified opportunities. Good selling!

1. Dont just follow up follow up with purpose. A prospect gets no value out of you following up some previous call or action. Are you completing something you said you would do earlier? Are you delivering something you promised earlier? Do you have additional information you think the prospect should be interested in? Your follow up should have purpose. 2. Dont just check in bring something of value. If you think the prospects interest has waned bring him something that might provoke a newly inspired level of interest. This might be an article or white paper or latest news about the situation the customer finds himself in. 3. Help this stakeholder generate interest with other stakeholders. Too often were quick to anoint a stakeholder as our coach or advocate but were not as quick to continually feed those stakeholders stuff that helps them sell the change to others. This is also a good way for you to get to other stakeholders who might be a bottleneck in making progress.

4. Validate with your last contact that the situation is a top 2-3 issue. Top 10 issues wont get attention right now. Often the situation hasnt changed, but what you really want to find out is if her energy for the situation has changed. Ask her if the situation is better or worse not to know the answer to that question as much as to read her take on the situation. Does she respond in a disinterested manner or does her face get red and you have to remove all sharp objects from the desk? If its a top 2-3 issue shes still motivated to do something about. 5. Shift your discovery to learning the financially compelling characteristics of the problem. Theres nothing like a cost that wasnt budgeted or a top line that isnt meeting budget to get a PFAs attention. If the problem isnt financially compelling enough to commit funding the stalled lead will stay stalled.

6. Dont let the sample become a sore spot. If youre following up on a sample you gave earlier and every time you follow up you go right to the sample dont be surprised if eventually your stakeholder stops taking your call. Maybe she said yes to the sample too soon maybe you offered it too soon. You could even be direct about it and say something to the effect of lets forget about the sample for now. Im not sure I did a good job understanding your needs the first time. Do you have a second to answer a couple of questions? 7. Recommend some ideas as a way to kick start the conversation. Janey, I was thinking about your situation and I had a couple of ideas that might interest you. Want to chat about it this Friday? Bringing ideas shows her youre mentally engaged in her problem or situation. Stakeholders like that. One of those ideas could be just the thing to inspire her to take action right now.

Sales Recover: Repairing Broken Relationships

Remember the scene in To Catch a Thief when John Robie, aka the Cat, aka Cary Grant, escapes into the restaurant of his old resistance friend to avoid the French gendarmerie nationale? Looking out onto the kitchen from inside the owners glass office suddenly an egg explodes on the window. His former resistance friends working the kitchen no longer want anything to do with him because they think hes stealing jewels again and bringing attention to them. As ex cons theyd rather lay very low. It seems hes run from one enemy into the arms of another. If youve ever taken over a territory and walked into an account and found the natives ready to burn you at the stake you know how John Robie felt. Dont feel bad for him however. He spent the rest of the movie being seduced by Grace Kelly. A recent sales strategy session with a client reminded me of how as a new rep in a new territory you can turn a situation going south into an opportunity. Joe works for a food service company in Texas. Hes the number one rep in his company. Hes set so many records the company will have to reset all standards.

During a Funnel Audit recently he described his approach to an account that had problems related to a previous employee. He said when he walks into this account he actually senses the energy being drained from the room. He doesnt dispute the previous problems. Joe had this account on his Buy Cycle Funnel because he felt it has long term potential. Bam! Lesson one dont be afraid to go back into an account that your previous rep screwed up. This sounds simple, but its tempting to avoid things that cause heartburn. In this case theres no purple pill you can take. Joe continued. He said he doesnt take it personally that this account doesnt like his company. Bam! Lesson two its not about you when you inherit a gnarly situation. I asked Joe what his objectives are when he goes into this account and he said its to repair the relationship first, then qualify some new opportunities if possible. Bam! Lesson three Joes not selling because theres no buying going on. Over time Joes salve on the relationship will heal it to a point where the stakeholders
10

give him and his company another shot at business. About twenty years ago I learned a valuable lesson like this when I inherited a trouble account in a territory selling medical devices to hospitals. My predecessor was so good that he sold more stuff than the hospitals needed. Impressive right? Hardly. The operating room manager wanted to take my head off when she learned I worked for the company whose products

were sitting idle on her shelf. After confirming there was no doctor who would use these products I agreed to return them. She never forgot that. As a result she gave me access to doctors later and eventually I sold them the products. Everyone was happy. By the way, To Catch a Thief isnt Hitchcocks best but between scenes of the French Riviera and Ms. Kelly, or Mr. Grant, you can temporarily forget about those tough customers.

11