Matt (our COO) and I flew into San Jose Sunday evening. The purpose of our visit over the next few days is to meet with prospective investors and potential ‘anchor-tenants.’ We also will be checking out real estate for the ‘West Coast Institute.’
I lived in Northern California area during the early 90s and for those of you who have not made it out this way; California is a magical place and Silicon Valley is at least 50% more surreal than the rest of the place.
Our meetings started off with the VP of Worldwide Sales for a large software company you’ve probably heard of. The meeting was set up ostensibly as a vetting session on behalf one of our prospective investors. This VP is a 10-year vet of high tech sales with a solid reputation and was employee #6 or so. Basically, this guy knows his stuff and I was humbled if not anxious by the opportunity to get in front of him.
It took Alec [not his real name] about 30 seconds to figure out what we were doing and why this would be worth investing in. The balance of the conversation turned into a sales call focusing on their company’s needs and what we might do to help.
What I learned was astonishing. As painful as the need for entry-level talent is in Denver, it is downright excruciating here. Entry-level folks start at a $55,000-$60,000 base salary and are usually making $80,000-90,000 base within 18 months. Of course, $90K is the poverty line but I digress….
What has been most refreshing about the trip is that, by and large, we have been meeting with people who ‘get’ sales. I know I have ranted in the past that it seems to take an inordinately long time to explain to people what we do. For some time, that has been our fault for having an overly obtuse and vague message…with our current website and positioning, this is less of an issue.
These days, we still speak with folks who are confused by our services bit this is usually because they have a fuzzy notion of how sales works – that despite being in a sales leadership role themselves. At least in the valley here, this seems to be less of a problem.
Back to our meeting with the aforementioned sales VP, the conversation turned to their cost of acquiring resources. To paraphrase his response: ‘I don’t care about that…every open requisition (an ‘open position’ in HR speak) costs me $50,000 per month in lost revenue.’
It seems like we are off to a good start...
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Kids These Days (KTDs)
When I talk with company leaders about their sales resource challenge, the topic of generation Y (or whatever we call it these days) rears its head. Somewhat tongue in cheek, I lump most everyone younger than myself under the heading KTDs - (Kids These Days.)
The conventional gripe seems to be that KTDs as a whole are poorly motivated yet have unreasonably high expectations about how much money they are worth as well as a fundamental belief that their work should be interesting and fulfilling. The nerve!
For those wondering whether this phenomenon is real. I am sorry to report that news of KTD’s proliferation has been greatly under-reported. The reality is much more concerning than the rumors and represents a disruptive challenge to business owners and our economy as a whole.
Select Metrix is a Minnesota based consultancy specializing in hiring solutions for small to mid size businesses and they have a lot of great content on this topic. Be sure to check out 3 Years and a Cloud of Dust
Last weekend, my wife and I went to see Sicko – the latest Michael Moore flick. For my mind it matters little whether you are a Michael Moore hater or supporter – the man makes inflammatory movies that elicit strong reactions and that’s worth the price of admission.
As a business owner (and upper income bracket earner), I recoil at the thought of paying exorbitant taxes so that someone who chooses to travel the world can return home when they need expensive surgery. I certainly can’t imagine trying to run a business where employees get six weeks of paid vacation and an extra week for their honeymoon.
That said, the movie forces you to acknowledge the uncomfortable reality of our value system here in America. Our Faustian Bargain seems to be: In order for certain members of a society to be fabulously wealthy…others must live in poverty. Similarly, for some members of that society to receive the best medical care…another segment must end up receiving no care. This is not socialistic dogma but a basic principal of balance.
The French, English, and Canadians aren’t commies – they just have a value system that relinquishes the right to extreme wealth in exchange for the absence of extreme poverty. With respect to healthcare, they relinquish the right to ‘the best’ treatment so that all can receive above-average care. For those of you looking to debate whether France or Canada truly offer ‘above-average’ care – that’s not the point I am trying to make.
So what does all this have to do with KTDs? Perhaps nothing but I am struck by the dichotomy between the image of powerlessness portrayed in Sicko and the impending shift in power represented by an ‘entitled workforce.’ I use the word entitled because that is often how I hear KTDs described. Most likely, this is a manifestation of jealousy. Honestly…if you had the opportunity to work less, enjoy a higher quality of life, and yet advance faster professional and financially than any generation before…would you do anything else?
Stated simply – entitlement is a logical reaction to circumstances where you can get away with something for a prolonged period of time. As such it is a symptom not the problem. Moreover, it will be the reality for some time. Employers that acknowledge the new reality and develop strategies to capitalize on this will gain yardage while those that gripe will find themselves in a world of pain.
Are you a KTD? If so, this old sales guy would like to hear what you have to say about this.
The conventional gripe seems to be that KTDs as a whole are poorly motivated yet have unreasonably high expectations about how much money they are worth as well as a fundamental belief that their work should be interesting and fulfilling. The nerve!
For those wondering whether this phenomenon is real. I am sorry to report that news of KTD’s proliferation has been greatly under-reported. The reality is much more concerning than the rumors and represents a disruptive challenge to business owners and our economy as a whole.
Select Metrix is a Minnesota based consultancy specializing in hiring solutions for small to mid size businesses and they have a lot of great content on this topic. Be sure to check out 3 Years and a Cloud of Dust
Last weekend, my wife and I went to see Sicko – the latest Michael Moore flick. For my mind it matters little whether you are a Michael Moore hater or supporter – the man makes inflammatory movies that elicit strong reactions and that’s worth the price of admission.
As a business owner (and upper income bracket earner), I recoil at the thought of paying exorbitant taxes so that someone who chooses to travel the world can return home when they need expensive surgery. I certainly can’t imagine trying to run a business where employees get six weeks of paid vacation and an extra week for their honeymoon.
That said, the movie forces you to acknowledge the uncomfortable reality of our value system here in America. Our Faustian Bargain seems to be: In order for certain members of a society to be fabulously wealthy…others must live in poverty. Similarly, for some members of that society to receive the best medical care…another segment must end up receiving no care. This is not socialistic dogma but a basic principal of balance.
The French, English, and Canadians aren’t commies – they just have a value system that relinquishes the right to extreme wealth in exchange for the absence of extreme poverty. With respect to healthcare, they relinquish the right to ‘the best’ treatment so that all can receive above-average care. For those of you looking to debate whether France or Canada truly offer ‘above-average’ care – that’s not the point I am trying to make.
So what does all this have to do with KTDs? Perhaps nothing but I am struck by the dichotomy between the image of powerlessness portrayed in Sicko and the impending shift in power represented by an ‘entitled workforce.’ I use the word entitled because that is often how I hear KTDs described. Most likely, this is a manifestation of jealousy. Honestly…if you had the opportunity to work less, enjoy a higher quality of life, and yet advance faster professional and financially than any generation before…would you do anything else?
Stated simply – entitlement is a logical reaction to circumstances where you can get away with something for a prolonged period of time. As such it is a symptom not the problem. Moreover, it will be the reality for some time. Employers that acknowledge the new reality and develop strategies to capitalize on this will gain yardage while those that gripe will find themselves in a world of pain.
Are you a KTD? If so, this old sales guy would like to hear what you have to say about this.
Thermal Layers
In response to my last entry, Robert Johnson poses some interesting questions. Does the admonition for CEOs to focus on ‘growing their company rather than running their company’ only apply to larger organizations? Similarly, is this principle too dogmatic? i.e shouldn’t CEOs look at these running and growing their company as allocations of their time?
Interestingly, Jack Daly (the source of the aforementioned admonition) spends a great deal of his time working with companies in the $1M - $10M range to get them to the $50-$100M+ range.
I partition businesses into three competency layers: Leadership, Management, and Execution.
Certainly, starting a company requires an execution competency and entrepreneurs typically start a company doing something they are good at. Growth in most cases means adding people and this implies the need to add a management competency to your skill set.
Some sales organizations segment their target markets according to business size. Terms like SMB, SME, Enterprise, Global, and Fortune 500 are used to describe the range of revenue and/or employee count.
I find it is more interesting to think about businesses as passing through a series of inflection points. I refer to these as ‘thermal layers’ and these represent highly disruptive periods that typically occur between around revenue attainment of $1M, $3M, $10M, $25M, and $80M. Of course they don’t stop there but companies above $150M are a different animal altogether.
Companies can fail at any point in time for any number of reasons. Thermal layers specifically refer to the internal challenges associated with growth rather than external threats such as competition.
In his article by The Whale Hunters Tom Searcy presents the statistic that less than 1% of ALL companies in the United States are larger than $25M in revenue. I am sure similar statistics exist for almost every thermal layer I mentioned which speaks to the challenge of shifting gears as your company grows.
Robert’s suggestion that a ratio approach is more appropriate makes sense but ultimately doesn’t work well. As the saying goes – If all you have is a hammer…everything looks like a nail.
Transitioning from execution through to leadership is not a smooth or measured process. In fact it causes lots of pain. For a CEO or Founder to say: I will focus on growing my company 75% of the time and managing it the other 25% is an ineffective approach largely because leadership and management are behaviors not blocks of time.
As humans, we tend to gravitate towards those behaviors we are most comfortable with. Ultimately, I believe that if you don’t completely forsake the behavior of running your company, you will find that intended ratio slipping.
I also believe (and admit as a past offender) that CEOs and Founders will go to great lengths to justify their management behaviors. The only one real barrier to making the transition is fear of losing control. We started a company to control our destiny right? You probably need to control (manage, run, etc.) your company until you reach a million dollars in revenue. You probably are capable of controlling your company through the five million dollar mark. But how much further can you take this? At what point do you decide to lead instead of manage?
The answer is simple; you must choose to lead (and hand over the management role) well before it seems practical to do so. If you are a CEO of a Million dollar company who believes you will commit to focusing on growth once you reach five million (or whatever number) I suggest you will have a tough time ever getting there.
That is because focus refers to ‘the concentration of attention or energy on something.’ Allocating your energy or attention between two or more goals is the definition of losing focus. If you agree that you will only grow by focusing on ‘growing your business’ then you must acknowledge that simultaneously focusing on ‘running the business’ implies a lack of focus.
Maybe an easier way to think about this is - Your future is attained by focusing on what you want to be not what you are today.
I’m sure many of you are wrestling with chicken and egg nature of this concept so let me know your thoughts.
Interestingly, Jack Daly (the source of the aforementioned admonition) spends a great deal of his time working with companies in the $1M - $10M range to get them to the $50-$100M+ range.
I partition businesses into three competency layers: Leadership, Management, and Execution.
Certainly, starting a company requires an execution competency and entrepreneurs typically start a company doing something they are good at. Growth in most cases means adding people and this implies the need to add a management competency to your skill set.
Some sales organizations segment their target markets according to business size. Terms like SMB, SME, Enterprise, Global, and Fortune 500 are used to describe the range of revenue and/or employee count.
I find it is more interesting to think about businesses as passing through a series of inflection points. I refer to these as ‘thermal layers’ and these represent highly disruptive periods that typically occur between around revenue attainment of $1M, $3M, $10M, $25M, and $80M. Of course they don’t stop there but companies above $150M are a different animal altogether.
Companies can fail at any point in time for any number of reasons. Thermal layers specifically refer to the internal challenges associated with growth rather than external threats such as competition.
In his article by The Whale Hunters Tom Searcy presents the statistic that less than 1% of ALL companies in the United States are larger than $25M in revenue. I am sure similar statistics exist for almost every thermal layer I mentioned which speaks to the challenge of shifting gears as your company grows.
Robert’s suggestion that a ratio approach is more appropriate makes sense but ultimately doesn’t work well. As the saying goes – If all you have is a hammer…everything looks like a nail.
Transitioning from execution through to leadership is not a smooth or measured process. In fact it causes lots of pain. For a CEO or Founder to say: I will focus on growing my company 75% of the time and managing it the other 25% is an ineffective approach largely because leadership and management are behaviors not blocks of time.
As humans, we tend to gravitate towards those behaviors we are most comfortable with. Ultimately, I believe that if you don’t completely forsake the behavior of running your company, you will find that intended ratio slipping.
I also believe (and admit as a past offender) that CEOs and Founders will go to great lengths to justify their management behaviors. The only one real barrier to making the transition is fear of losing control. We started a company to control our destiny right? You probably need to control (manage, run, etc.) your company until you reach a million dollars in revenue. You probably are capable of controlling your company through the five million dollar mark. But how much further can you take this? At what point do you decide to lead instead of manage?
The answer is simple; you must choose to lead (and hand over the management role) well before it seems practical to do so. If you are a CEO of a Million dollar company who believes you will commit to focusing on growth once you reach five million (or whatever number) I suggest you will have a tough time ever getting there.
That is because focus refers to ‘the concentration of attention or energy on something.’ Allocating your energy or attention between two or more goals is the definition of losing focus. If you agree that you will only grow by focusing on ‘growing your business’ then you must acknowledge that simultaneously focusing on ‘running the business’ implies a lack of focus.
Maybe an easier way to think about this is - Your future is attained by focusing on what you want to be not what you are today.
I’m sure many of you are wrestling with chicken and egg nature of this concept so let me know your thoughts.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Job Description
As I mentioned in my previous entry, this weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Jack Daly who spoke at our annual Entrepreneurs’ Organization chapter retreat.
Jack is a dynamic speaker and shared more than a few powerful insights. The focus of his presentation was corporate culture and he challenged his audience – business owners like myself – to ensure their company culture was intentional (by design) rather than accidental (by default.)
One of the most powerful statements he made was this: ‘As an owner, your job is not to manage your company but to grow your company.’ For many entrepreneurs, this is pure heresy but I agree this is the only way to be successful.
Thinking more about this paradigm, I am convinced it applies at all levels within a company or sales organization:
As a Sales Manager, your job is not to manage your sales people but to grow your sales people.
And finally…As a Sales Person, your job is not to manage your clients but to ensure your client’s grow.
Jack is a dynamic speaker and shared more than a few powerful insights. The focus of his presentation was corporate culture and he challenged his audience – business owners like myself – to ensure their company culture was intentional (by design) rather than accidental (by default.)
One of the most powerful statements he made was this: ‘As an owner, your job is not to manage your company but to grow your company.’ For many entrepreneurs, this is pure heresy but I agree this is the only way to be successful.
Thinking more about this paradigm, I am convinced it applies at all levels within a company or sales organization:
As a Sales Manager, your job is not to manage your sales people but to grow your sales people.
And finally…As a Sales Person, your job is not to manage your clients but to ensure your client’s grow.
Memorable Dining Experiences
I spent the weekend in Steamboat Springs at a retreat with the Entrepreneurs Organization. Basically it was a boondoggle but it was a chance to get away and spend some quality time with my wife. In addition, we had an excellent guest speaker Jack Daly about whom I will write in my next blog.
Friday night, a group of us had dinner at L’Apogee (AKA Harwigs) in their private wine cellar. The food was divine, the wine incredible, and Jack graced us with his presence. All in all in made for a memorable experience. So much so that when asked the next day, I made the off hand comment that it had been one of the top ten dining experiences of my life. This got me thinking…
Food is such a part of our lives and more than sustenance; it can serve as a ritual marking important moments in our life.
So here - presented for your amusement and hopefully inspiration to develop your own – is my list of top ten most memorable dining experiences. It was a fun exercise that I encourage you to try. In coming up with my list, I really tried to focus on all the aspects that make a dining experience memorable. Of course the food matters but not all of my entries represent fancy restaurants. For me, the experience has a lot to do with my dining companions, the occasion being celebrated, where I was in my life, and even where I was in the world.
My list turns out to be comprised entirely of those experiences that conjure fond memories. Perhaps I will share the ‘other’ list some day. By the way…I am fully aware my list contains more than ten and, other than the first entry, are not in order.
- Our Wedding dinner on the McKenna beach in Maui
- Beer + seafood with my wife on the deck in Friday Harbor, Washington
- The Countless Pizzas with Robert Leonard at Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut
- Dinner with Steve and Lynne Wardlaw at Restaurant Du Village in Chester, Connecticut
- Dinner in the private wine cellar at L'Apogee in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
- The ‘Change Jar’ Dinner on Cape Cod with Robert Leonard (I can’t remember the restaurant’s name but we saved our change all summer with the express intent of using it to fund a meal well beyond our means)
- My first blowout sales dinner at Brooks Steak House in Denver, Colorado
- Salmon + Chips at Ivars’s in Seattle, Washington with my friend Philip who is no longer with us
- Commanders Palace in New Orleans with my wife
- The many ‘fried chicken dinners’ with my Grandparents at the Vero Beach Country Club
- The 1st time at Scoma in San Francisco
- Every dinner with TJ Karklins upstairs at The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado
- High Tea overlooking the Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (I was flat broke but spent $65 for tea and mini-sandwiches)
- Peanut Soup + Silpancho in Cochabamba, Bolivia
- Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, New Jersey – By myself, overlooking the Manhattan Skyline (and drinking a Manhattan)
Friday night, a group of us had dinner at L’Apogee (AKA Harwigs) in their private wine cellar. The food was divine, the wine incredible, and Jack graced us with his presence. All in all in made for a memorable experience. So much so that when asked the next day, I made the off hand comment that it had been one of the top ten dining experiences of my life. This got me thinking…
Food is such a part of our lives and more than sustenance; it can serve as a ritual marking important moments in our life.
So here - presented for your amusement and hopefully inspiration to develop your own – is my list of top ten most memorable dining experiences. It was a fun exercise that I encourage you to try. In coming up with my list, I really tried to focus on all the aspects that make a dining experience memorable. Of course the food matters but not all of my entries represent fancy restaurants. For me, the experience has a lot to do with my dining companions, the occasion being celebrated, where I was in my life, and even where I was in the world.
My list turns out to be comprised entirely of those experiences that conjure fond memories. Perhaps I will share the ‘other’ list some day. By the way…I am fully aware my list contains more than ten and, other than the first entry, are not in order.
- Our Wedding dinner on the McKenna beach in Maui
- Beer + seafood with my wife on the deck in Friday Harbor, Washington
- The Countless Pizzas with Robert Leonard at Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut
- Dinner with Steve and Lynne Wardlaw at Restaurant Du Village in Chester, Connecticut
- Dinner in the private wine cellar at L'Apogee in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
- The ‘Change Jar’ Dinner on Cape Cod with Robert Leonard (I can’t remember the restaurant’s name but we saved our change all summer with the express intent of using it to fund a meal well beyond our means)
- My first blowout sales dinner at Brooks Steak House in Denver, Colorado
- Salmon + Chips at Ivars’s in Seattle, Washington with my friend Philip who is no longer with us
- Commanders Palace in New Orleans with my wife
- The many ‘fried chicken dinners’ with my Grandparents at the Vero Beach Country Club
- The 1st time at Scoma in San Francisco
- Every dinner with TJ Karklins upstairs at The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado
- High Tea overlooking the Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (I was flat broke but spent $65 for tea and mini-sandwiches)
- Peanut Soup + Silpancho in Cochabamba, Bolivia
- Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, New Jersey – By myself, overlooking the Manhattan Skyline (and drinking a Manhattan)
Friday, July 06, 2007
Simple Things: Volume 2 - New Prospect Appointment Setting
In the past, I have shared my belief that selling is a linear discipline. By this I mean that most activities happen one at a time and some of these things need to happen before others. As such, I believe that the mastery of the skills necessary to sell must be approached linearly as well.
Frankly, it does not matter how eloquent, persuasive, good looking, or charismatic you are if you never get the chance to position yourself in front of a prospect (in-person or over the phone.) I have gone so far as to say that ‘80% of the challenge is getting the first appointment.’
In our Career Sales Development Program we teach that an appointment is the first tangible evidence of a prospects investment – specifically, they are investing their time. We place such a premium on appointment setting that our Sales Augmentation (Sales Outsourcing) teams typically utilize at least a 3:1 ratio of Associates (Opportunity Initiators) to Principals (Opportunity Developers / Closers.)
My belief is that effective appointment setting is one of the most important skill-sets because everything else depends on getting the prospect to invest their time. This principle applies whether you are making your first cold call into an account or arranging a quarterly follow-up with an existing customer. For the purposes of this entry, we will be talking about how we teach salespeople to go about setting appointments with a new prospect.
Aim High. As long as I have been in sales, the mantra to position at the highest levels of a company (C-Level, C-Club, Executive Level, etc.) has been touted. Still, I am amazed at the degree to which salespeople will go to justify why they are calling three levels below any real decision making authority. The concept of building a consensus at the functional layer of an organization and then getting these contacts to ‘introduce’ you to the upper echelon is simply a myth.
Don’t fixate on the finding the ‘right’ person. Chances are, your target company has a single person tasked with the responsibility of buying staples and glue. For almost everything else, one person rarely makes the buying decisions. Instead, buying tends to be a complex process made up of many buying roles. We spend a lot of energy eliminating the phrase ‘decision maker’ from our graduate’s vernacular. Regardless of whether or not this concept makes intuitive sense to you the reader, lets just acknowledge that it is hard enough to get ‘in’ with a company so it makes sense to keep your efforts much broader during the prospecting and qualifying phase.
Acknowledge it’s going to take more effort and more time than you think. Here is a news flash…no message…no matter how interesting or eloquent will motivate anyone to call you back. Of course this is not 100% true but it is the right mindset for approaching the overall process. If you start out with the belief that no one will ever call you back then you will be pleasantly surprised if they do. The rest of the time, you will put in the real work necessary to get the job done. On average, it takes 8 to 12 touches across 3 to 5 potential buyers to get the chance to pitch for a meeting. This means it can take as little as 24 calls, voice mails, redirects, etc or as many as 60. Be patient, professional, and persistent.
Always ask for the prospects time. Lots of salespeople argue about this one but it is not up for debate. There is no excuse for not asking: ‘Have I caught you at a bad time or can I take a quick minute to introduce myself?’ Of course this gives the prospect the opportunity to say no but do you really think bullying past them will set you up for long-term success?
Have the right objective for your call. It may seem counterintuitive but we believe the objective of prospecting calls should not be to sell or even gather information. Think about it…what is the prospect doing when you call them? Something else! They are not expecting your call and probably regret picking up the phone as soon as you say: “Hello, my name is…” Instead, your objective must be to get them to agree to commit some of their time in the future to speak with you. Certainly some of you are already asking: ‘Why would they agree to schedule some time if I don’t talk about what we do?’ We’ll get to that but for now just understand that your objective is to get them to commit their time to listen to your pitch.
Make it easy for them to say yes. This is a simple concept that requires two elements. First, you should be directly and unashamedly asking for a brief (10-15 minute) phone conversation NOT an in person sales call. All you are doing is changing the context for delivering the initial ‘pitch.’ Second, give them some specific day and time options. This is nothing more than the time-tested A-B close. I recommend something like: “I have time on my calendar next Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm…do either if these work for you?”
Ensure your conversation is aligned to the purpose of your call. If your primary objective is to get the prospect to agree to schedule some time, it doesn’t make much sense to spend time blathering on about your company and yourself. It makes even less sense to prolong or conceal the fact that fact that you are calling for the express purpose of scheduling time to speak. I think that most salespeople are surprised at how positive a reception this approach receives. Think about it: Imagine you are the individual fielding countless calls from salespeople speed-talking a sales pitch past you while you are trying to finish a report or leave for the day. What a refreshing change for someone to respect your time enough to acknowledge that it doesn’t make sense to have an important conversation within the context of what is essentially an interruption.
Make sure the message is about the meeting. When we talk about our approach to appointment setting, salespeople invariable get wrapped around the axle when we encourage them to focus on setting the appointment and avoid talking about what they are selling. ‘How can I get them to commit their time without telling them about my product (or service?)’ The answer is simple while the application of the technique takes some finesse. Ultimately your goal is to NOT to convince them it is worth their time to meet with you because of what you are selling. Instead, the goal is to convince them that scheduling time to meet is a better framework for you to pitch them and (conversely) for them to react to what you are pitching. The challenge of course is the initial reluctance of the prospect to meet regarding something they are not entirely sure about (which is why we talk about making the it easy for them to say yes.) Ironically, the greater challenge turns out to be avoiding the urge to pitch them right there on the spot once this technique triggers the natural curiosity mechanism in the prospect.
Be prepared for objections. Here’s a shocker…this approach does not eliminate objections. Nor would you want it to. We say: ‘An objection is the logical response to an unsolicited request.’ As such, objections represent the prospects part of the conversation. They are supposed to happen so be prepared for the standard objections. Common variations include: I have 15 minutes right now, why don’t you tell me what you do? Just try me on Thursday” and the venerable: “Send me some information.”
Reschedules are a part of the process. On average, 25% of meetings scheduled this way are ‘no-shows.’ 50% of these no-shows can be rescheduled. Don’t get depressed and remember: you are not scheduling a qualified sales call…you are simply changing the context of your initial pitch. Be prepared to professionally handle no-shows and focus on getting the prospect to re-commit their time.
Have an Agenda: The good news is: this method is highly effective at getting a prospect to commit a small window of their calendar to actually pay attention to what you have to say. The bad news is: you are still starting at square one. To give your initial call the best chance for success, you should have a well thought through agenda. Some scoff at the idea of an agenda for 10-15 minute meeting when that is when it is most critical. Your agenda should be direct and shared with the prospect (I like to let them know I will be sending one along as part of closing the initial call.) Generally, you will cover four areas:
- A brief overview of your company / services offered / clients in a similar industry, etc. Aren’t you happy? You finally get to tell them what you do!
- A discussion of key business issues and/or initiatives that would indicate a potential need for your product or service. You must be ready to prompt them here.
- A discussion of next steps and/or additional individuals that you plan to meet with. Notice I didn’t say ‘that you would like them to introduce you to’ and finally
- A request for them to continue participating in the conversation.
Not surprisingly, I am glossing over a lot of detail here and this represents a very different approach than most sales people are used to. Please post a comment if you have specific questions. I would also like to encourage readers to post examples of their most innovative appointment setting techniques.
Frankly, it does not matter how eloquent, persuasive, good looking, or charismatic you are if you never get the chance to position yourself in front of a prospect (in-person or over the phone.) I have gone so far as to say that ‘80% of the challenge is getting the first appointment.’
In our Career Sales Development Program we teach that an appointment is the first tangible evidence of a prospects investment – specifically, they are investing their time. We place such a premium on appointment setting that our Sales Augmentation (Sales Outsourcing) teams typically utilize at least a 3:1 ratio of Associates (Opportunity Initiators) to Principals (Opportunity Developers / Closers.)
My belief is that effective appointment setting is one of the most important skill-sets because everything else depends on getting the prospect to invest their time. This principle applies whether you are making your first cold call into an account or arranging a quarterly follow-up with an existing customer. For the purposes of this entry, we will be talking about how we teach salespeople to go about setting appointments with a new prospect.
Aim High. As long as I have been in sales, the mantra to position at the highest levels of a company (C-Level, C-Club, Executive Level, etc.) has been touted. Still, I am amazed at the degree to which salespeople will go to justify why they are calling three levels below any real decision making authority. The concept of building a consensus at the functional layer of an organization and then getting these contacts to ‘introduce’ you to the upper echelon is simply a myth.
Don’t fixate on the finding the ‘right’ person. Chances are, your target company has a single person tasked with the responsibility of buying staples and glue. For almost everything else, one person rarely makes the buying decisions. Instead, buying tends to be a complex process made up of many buying roles. We spend a lot of energy eliminating the phrase ‘decision maker’ from our graduate’s vernacular. Regardless of whether or not this concept makes intuitive sense to you the reader, lets just acknowledge that it is hard enough to get ‘in’ with a company so it makes sense to keep your efforts much broader during the prospecting and qualifying phase.
Acknowledge it’s going to take more effort and more time than you think. Here is a news flash…no message…no matter how interesting or eloquent will motivate anyone to call you back. Of course this is not 100% true but it is the right mindset for approaching the overall process. If you start out with the belief that no one will ever call you back then you will be pleasantly surprised if they do. The rest of the time, you will put in the real work necessary to get the job done. On average, it takes 8 to 12 touches across 3 to 5 potential buyers to get the chance to pitch for a meeting. This means it can take as little as 24 calls, voice mails, redirects, etc or as many as 60. Be patient, professional, and persistent.
Always ask for the prospects time. Lots of salespeople argue about this one but it is not up for debate. There is no excuse for not asking: ‘Have I caught you at a bad time or can I take a quick minute to introduce myself?’ Of course this gives the prospect the opportunity to say no but do you really think bullying past them will set you up for long-term success?
Have the right objective for your call. It may seem counterintuitive but we believe the objective of prospecting calls should not be to sell or even gather information. Think about it…what is the prospect doing when you call them? Something else! They are not expecting your call and probably regret picking up the phone as soon as you say: “Hello, my name is…” Instead, your objective must be to get them to agree to commit some of their time in the future to speak with you. Certainly some of you are already asking: ‘Why would they agree to schedule some time if I don’t talk about what we do?’ We’ll get to that but for now just understand that your objective is to get them to commit their time to listen to your pitch.
Make it easy for them to say yes. This is a simple concept that requires two elements. First, you should be directly and unashamedly asking for a brief (10-15 minute) phone conversation NOT an in person sales call. All you are doing is changing the context for delivering the initial ‘pitch.’ Second, give them some specific day and time options. This is nothing more than the time-tested A-B close. I recommend something like: “I have time on my calendar next Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm…do either if these work for you?”
Ensure your conversation is aligned to the purpose of your call. If your primary objective is to get the prospect to agree to schedule some time, it doesn’t make much sense to spend time blathering on about your company and yourself. It makes even less sense to prolong or conceal the fact that fact that you are calling for the express purpose of scheduling time to speak. I think that most salespeople are surprised at how positive a reception this approach receives. Think about it: Imagine you are the individual fielding countless calls from salespeople speed-talking a sales pitch past you while you are trying to finish a report or leave for the day. What a refreshing change for someone to respect your time enough to acknowledge that it doesn’t make sense to have an important conversation within the context of what is essentially an interruption.
Make sure the message is about the meeting. When we talk about our approach to appointment setting, salespeople invariable get wrapped around the axle when we encourage them to focus on setting the appointment and avoid talking about what they are selling. ‘How can I get them to commit their time without telling them about my product (or service?)’ The answer is simple while the application of the technique takes some finesse. Ultimately your goal is to NOT to convince them it is worth their time to meet with you because of what you are selling. Instead, the goal is to convince them that scheduling time to meet is a better framework for you to pitch them and (conversely) for them to react to what you are pitching. The challenge of course is the initial reluctance of the prospect to meet regarding something they are not entirely sure about (which is why we talk about making the it easy for them to say yes.) Ironically, the greater challenge turns out to be avoiding the urge to pitch them right there on the spot once this technique triggers the natural curiosity mechanism in the prospect.
Be prepared for objections. Here’s a shocker…this approach does not eliminate objections. Nor would you want it to. We say: ‘An objection is the logical response to an unsolicited request.’ As such, objections represent the prospects part of the conversation. They are supposed to happen so be prepared for the standard objections. Common variations include: I have 15 minutes right now, why don’t you tell me what you do? Just try me on Thursday” and the venerable: “Send me some information.”
Reschedules are a part of the process. On average, 25% of meetings scheduled this way are ‘no-shows.’ 50% of these no-shows can be rescheduled. Don’t get depressed and remember: you are not scheduling a qualified sales call…you are simply changing the context of your initial pitch. Be prepared to professionally handle no-shows and focus on getting the prospect to re-commit their time.
Have an Agenda: The good news is: this method is highly effective at getting a prospect to commit a small window of their calendar to actually pay attention to what you have to say. The bad news is: you are still starting at square one. To give your initial call the best chance for success, you should have a well thought through agenda. Some scoff at the idea of an agenda for 10-15 minute meeting when that is when it is most critical. Your agenda should be direct and shared with the prospect (I like to let them know I will be sending one along as part of closing the initial call.) Generally, you will cover four areas:
- A brief overview of your company / services offered / clients in a similar industry, etc. Aren’t you happy? You finally get to tell them what you do!
- A discussion of key business issues and/or initiatives that would indicate a potential need for your product or service. You must be ready to prompt them here.
- A discussion of next steps and/or additional individuals that you plan to meet with. Notice I didn’t say ‘that you would like them to introduce you to’ and finally
- A request for them to continue participating in the conversation.
Not surprisingly, I am glossing over a lot of detail here and this represents a very different approach than most sales people are used to. Please post a comment if you have specific questions. I would also like to encourage readers to post examples of their most innovative appointment setting techniques.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
