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Why your sales process or sales system doesn’t work.

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Are you being forced to sell someone else’s way?
Are you uncomfortable using a ‘system’ of selling?

I read a report yesterday stating that 70% of all sales systems and sales initiatives fail. I have no idea who created that number (personally, I use 74% for all my statistical reports), but the point is clear. A system of selling and its accompanying sales process are pretty much doomed to failure before they begin.

NOTE: Please do not email me, telling me your system is the greatest and it works. Somebody is staking their claim that 70% or more do not work, and if yours is among the few that do, congratulations. If your system works it means you have a very small sales force, or that your system has been in place for so long that it’s refined to favor the customer, not the company.

For years I’ve written about why systems of selling fail, but please be clear about my beliefs: Almost all systems of selling do not work, and along with them are the failures of the manipulative sales processes that are attached to them. I’m about to tell you WHY the system doesn’t work, and then offer strategies that do work. Maybe it will help you in your awareness and decision-making process as you try to elevate your sales skills – or your sales results, or even your sales team – to a level of superior.

FIRST FAILURE: The sales system is all about the company that prepared it. It’s not relevant to the salesperson or not engaging enough to the customer. It’s too much perceived work on the part of the salesperson for not enough results. It’s too much of a hassle. The person that trained it sucked.

SECOND FAILURE: The sales process is at odds with you AND the market. The process doesn’t include mobile application. The process is old. The process deals with manipulation. (“Find the pain,” “what keeps you up at night,” and “qualify the buyer.”) The process deals with things uncomfortable for the salesperson. The process is not compatible with the way the company does business.

THIRD FAILURE: The sales leader who bought it isn’t convinced it’s going to work, he’s just using it as a CYA tactic. There is forced participation rather than joint buy-in. The sales leader is more interested in his or her salespeople being accountable to him or her for their activity, NOT being responsible for themselves and their outcomes.

FORTH FAILURE: Senior management has not endorsed or used the process. Senior management won’t use the process themselves.

FEAR of FAILURE: The salesperson thinks it will cost them sales. Period.

Want more reasons systems fails? Here’s a bunch – in no particular order. Pick the ones that best apply to you:

  • No buy-in from salespeople BEFORE purchase
  • No collaboration with the people who will actually USE the system
  • The system and/or the process is too manipulative
  • Lack of proof that the system actually works in your environment
  • No proof that the system or process actually works in your market
  • The system does not match the salesperson’s style or personality
  • The system is not in any way customized for your salespeople or your customers
  • The system is not flexible
  • Natural resistance to change
  • Fear of lost sales
  • Resentment for being forced
  • Poor training by the launch person
  • Too much work perceived for not enough sales
  • Sales are low right now, and this is a stab at resurgence
  • Trying to fit a round sales peg in a square sales hole

RESULT: You lose sales, lose salespeople, and there is lower morale. YIKES!

NOTE WELL: It’s most likely that many of these reasons apply to you or your system. Damn.

ALSO NOTE WELL: Sales is NOT a system, nor is it a manipulative process. It’s a series of STRATEGIES that are in harmony with salespeople AND their customers.

Here are some sales STRATEGIES that do work:

  • Create a ‘go to sale’ strategy that everyone is comfortable with: friendly, engaging, value-driven, conversational, and backed with proof from video testimonials.
  • Everyone should participate in creating the sales strategies from the CEO down.
  • Collaborate with the sales team – they’re the ones that will USE the strategies.
  • Create strategies that are flexible and comfortable. Have several different opening questions to choose from. Offer alternative ways to engage or close the sale.
  • Have a ‘Value Proposition’ in favor of the customer.
  • Whatever the strategies are, they MUST start with social attraction.
  • Whatever the strategies are, they MUST work in your environment.
  • Whatever the strategies are, they MUST be easy to use and time efficient.
  • Whatever the strategies are, they MUST be state-of-the art and state-of-the-market.

MAJOR CLUE: Collaborate with existing customers. Get them involved with and in agreement to (accept) the strategies you use.

AND NOTE REAL WELL: Sales are all your revenue and all your profit. Salespeople are the conduit for all that revenue. Why would you jeopardize your money and your profit with a system that everyone will fight?

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The ‘Art’ and ‘Lessons’ of Shopping for Bargains.

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I’m spending the day at Marché aux Puces, the antique flea markets of Paris. Also known as the “Puces” or “MAP,” it hosts 14 named market areas that offer an authentic and one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The market, steeped in history, brings together antique dealers, designers, artisans, artists, and customers from all over the world.

It’s a powerful business location. Picture 2,500 antique dealers ready and willing to sell items ranging from bric-a-brac and advertising memorabilia, to designer jewelry and handbags, vintage fashion and furniture, all the way to museum quality pieces dating back centuries.

It’s more than the eye can imagine, and way more than the wallet can afford.

I’m bringing my ‘A game’ to the market because the sellers are both seasoned and knowledgeable. It’s clearly a ‘buyer beware’ market and cash trumps credit cards by as much as 20%.

NOTE: There are three types of sales prices at the market. ‘Retail,’ ‘negotiated,’ and ‘wholesale.’ Retail prices are for the unsuspecting customer who’s willing to pay what is marked on the item or what the dealer asks for. Negotiated prices are for the savvy buyer who is able to negotiate the listed price and pay something he or she is more comfortable with. Wholesale prices represent the real amount the seller is willing take to part with his cherished item.

Of course, I’m trying to buy things between with a price somewhere between negotiated and wholesale. Meanwhile the dealer is trying to sell at a price somewhere between retail and negotiated.

Let the games begin!

After buying a few negotiated items, as luck would have it, I ran into the great Michael Andrew Wilson, a longtime friend and professional shopper.

To give you a frame of reference, Michael purchased all of the furnishings for every Ralph Lauren store in Europe. He has spent millions of euros at this market, and every seller and dealer knows him personally. You can learn more about Michael by reading his blog at http://mawparis.wordpress.com

I’ve been to the market 20 times. Michael has been to the market 1,000 times. He knows everyone. I know no one. But by walking around with him, I had ‘wholesale’ prices wrapped up.

One other advantage that Michael has: he speaks fluent French. I speak broken French without verbs. When the buyer and the seller speak the same language it’s much easier to complete an agreed-upon transaction. It’s also much easier to haggle for a lower price.

All in all, it’s a buyer’s marketplace UNLESS the buyer wants something bad. And, if the seller is savvy he or she will hold out until they find out how bad the buyer wants it. Luckily, those sellers are few and far between.

Most of the dealers at the market fully realize their sale is of the moment, and when a buyer walks away it’s likely they will never return. The more conversation the seller engages in, the more questions the seller asks, and the more the buyer feels like they’re getting a ‘deal,’ the more likely it is that the customer will part with cash.

The seller’s fatal flaw is also the buyer’s fatal flaw. It’s impatience and the need for immediate gratification. The more profitable sale is exactly the opposite. It’s patience combined with extended emotional engagement.

Which kind of seller are you? How would you be able to win the sale over 2,499 other competitors, all within walking distance on a sunny day in Paris. To me the answers are obvious, but maybe that’s because I’ve been there many times before.

Let me share a few with you so you might be able to engage your customers in a way that they will buy from you rather than your competition…

1. Find out how the buyer intends to use whatever it is they’re about to purchase. Where will it go? Who will see it? Will their family and friends admire it? Have they ever bought anything like this before? How much do they know about this particular product? How long have they been thinking about purchasing this kind of product? Do they think the value is there?

2. Try to uncover their urgency for purchase. Why do they want this now? Do they understand that this is one of a kind? How much do they love it? How much do they want it? How much do they need it?

2.5 Make certain you’ve explained affordability based on value and that their perceived value is the basis of their desire. Everyone thinks most sales are made based on price and everyone is wrong. Sales are made based on desire, need, and perceived value combined with urgency and utility.

DO THIS: Take a long look at your sales presentation. I recommend you record your sales presentation and use that for your review. You will see in an instant how engaging you are and how well you let the customer have a chance to buy. Or not.

I posted a few pictures of my selling/buying adventure on Instagram – @jeffreygitomer – if you want to take a look.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Are you a social sales pacesetter? Or are you losing business to one?

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Here are a few questions to get your social sales juices flowing:

  • Why are big companies interested in big data?
  • Why are formerly non-social companies suddenly scouring and analyzing social data?
  • Why is ‘mobile’ the new ‘social?’
  • Why is ‘cloud’ the new data room?

Often referred to as pacesetters, companies that have chosen to embrace and engage cloud, analytics, mobile, and social strategies are cleaning the clock of their competitors who have chosen the path of cautious resistance or even abstinence.

NOTE WELL: The real pacesetters are using all four strategies – not one or two.

PERSONAL NOTE: When I saw the statistic that 68% of Facebook usage is mobile, I realized the revolution was in full swing and those not playing hard would lose sales, loyalty, goodwill, reputation, and profit.

REALITIES:

  • Customers are smarter. You must be at least as smart.
  • Customers are social. You must be at least as social.
  • Customers are mobile. You must be at least as mobile.
  • The availability of online information about you AND your competition is instant.
  • Customers expect an easy-to-buy process.
  • Mobile is not an option – it’s an imperative.
  • 24-7-365 is the new 9-5.

My good friend, Sandy Carter, is one of IBM’s General Managers, and their social selling evangelist. Sandy fed me some support data from their recently published IBM’s 2014 Business Tech Trends Report. The report reveals that previously emerging trends like Big Data and analytics, cloud, mobile, and social are now being implemented across corporate enterprise beyond just experimentation and wait-and-see.

The Tech Trends Report also found that the gaps in IT skills that used to exist within these core segments are starting to narrow as organizations are uncovering the skill sets needed to use these technologies to their full advantage.

THE SECRET: These big pacesetter corporations have discovered that by partnering with smaller, specialized companies they are able to obtain the critical skills they need to gain a competitive advantage – thus paving the way for innovation and increased market share. They also learned that total integration of all four pacesetter elements was their breakaway move.

BOTTOM LINE FOR FASTER SUCCESS: Pacesetter organizations are now finding partners in a myriad of places including academia, start-ups, clients, citizen developers, and established specialized leaders. Pacesetter corporations that integrate cloud, analytics, mobile, and social technologies across their business are four to seven times more likely to use cloud to deliver social, mobile, big data, and analytics.

In short, pacesetters use technology for the competitive advantage and the results are more profitable business outcomes.

Here are a few concepts beyond buzzwords that will help you think about and understand why these strategies are being deployed and bringing amazing returns:

1. Cloud Strategies: Where can I store data and apps that are accessible on demand globally?

2. Social Strategies: How am I in touch with my customers to give them information and social proof, and how can they be in touch with me to tell me all is well?

3. Mobile Strategies: What are my customers using to communicate ideas, needs, and desires? How are they accessing my information? How are they purchasing?

4. Analytics Strategies: Data helps make better and smarter decisions. Data shows the past, reveals the present, and helps predict trends in the future. Another word for analytics is profit. REALITY: An app without analytics is a washing machine without a motor or a car without gas. How is your EXISTING data being mined, analyzed, and used to target trends, analyze profits, and increase sales?

4.5 Partnering Strategies: How are you using SEO experts, app builders, bloggers, and social awareness companies – global outside experts – that can help you achieve amazing success in a fraction of the time (and cost) it would take to do it yourself?

YOUR BOTTOM LINE: Now is the time to get your social mojo working in your favor. The opportunity is ripe and the expertise you need is at your fingertips. Carter told me, “The companies we deal with that listen to us with ‘all ears’ and eagerly implement the pacesetter solutions quickly convert their investment to ‘all clicks’ as their social interactions skyrocket and sales quickly follow suit.”

How’s your conversion doing?

“Get involved and get more.” If you search the hashtag #IBMBTT you’ll be able to access pacesetter ideas and answers – and maybe add a few of your own.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Big Picture of Business – Avoid the Tired, Trite Terms: Encourage Original Thought, Focus on Priorities and Strategy

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Words count. Put together, they reflect corporate culture. Used out of context, words become excuses, gibberish, rationales and basically wastes of energy.

When people hear certain words and expressions often enough, they parrot them. Rather than use critical thinking to communicate, many people often gravitate to the same old tired catch phrases.

I sat in a meeting of highly educated business executives. The presenter was dropping the term ‘brand’ into every other sentence. The word had lost its power and came across as a fill-in-the-blank substitution for a more appropriate though. Many people used to do the same thing with the word ‘technology,’ using it far from its reasonable definitions.

These clichés do not belong in business dialog, in strategic planning and in corporate strategy. These expressions are trite and reflect a copy-cat way of talking and thinking:

  • ‘Solutions’ is a tired 1990’s term, taken from technology hype. People who use it are vendors, selling what they have to solve your ‘problems,’ rather than diagnosing and providing what your company needs. It is a misnomer to think that a quick fix pawned off as a ‘solution’ will take care of a problem once and for all. Such a word does not belong in conversation and business strategy, let alone the name of the company.
  • The ‘brand’ is a marketing term. The strategy, culture and vision are many times greater and more important.
  • ‘So…’ In the 1960’s, TV sitcom writers began every scene with ‘So…’ After enough years of hearing it, people lapse that dialog into corporate conversations. It is intended to reduce the common denominator of the discussion to that of the questioner. It is monotonous, and there are more creative ways to engage others into conversation aside from minimizing the dialog.
  • ‘Value proposition’ is a sales term and is one-sided toward the person offering it. It implies that the other side must buy in without question.
  • ‘Right now’ is a vendor term for what they’re peddling, rather than what the marketplace really needs. Expect to render good business all the time.
  • ‘Customer care’ means that customer service is palmed off on some call center. “Customer experience” comes right out of marketing surveys, which rarely ask for real feedback or share the findings with company decision makers. That is so wrong, as customer service must be every business person’s responsibility. Service should not be something that is sold but which nurtures client relationships.

Many of these stock phrases represent ‘copywriting’ by people who don’t know about corporate vision. Their words overstate, get into the media and are accepted by audiences as fact. Companies put too much of their public persona in the hands of marketers and should examine more closely the partial images which they put into the cyberspace. Our culture hears and believes the hype, without looking beyond the obvious.

Here are some examples of the misleading and misrepresenting things one sees and hears in the Information Age. These terms are judgmental and should not be used in marketing, least of all in business strategy: Easy, Better, Best, For all your needs, Perfection, Number one, Good to go, Results, World class, Hearts and minds, Cool, The end of the day, Virtual, Right now, Not so much and Game changing.

Street talk, misleading slogans and terms taken out of context do not belong in the business vocabulary. Business planning requires insightful thinking and language which clearly delineates what the company mission is and how it will grow.

These are the characteristics of effective words, phrases and, thus, company philosophy:

  • Focus upon the customer.
  • Honor the employees.
  • Defines business as a process, not a quick fix.
  • Portray their company as a contributor, not a savior.
  • Clearly defines their niche.
  • Say things that inspire you to think.
  • Compatible with other communications.
  • Remain consistent with their products, services and track record.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The overlooked power that may be your sales kryptonite.

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I see, therefore I learn.
I see, therefore I think.
I learn and I think, therefore I reason and respond.
THE POWER: That is the power of observation.

How are you taking advantage of that power?
How would you rate your power of observation?

What are you looking at?

How does what you see impact your world, your education, your sales, your career, your success, your family, and your life?

HISTORICAL OBSERVATION: In 1939, when Napoleon Hill completed the best sales book ever written, How to Sell Your Way Through Life, he included “The habit of observation,” as one of the 28 qualities all master salespeople must possess. Here are his exact words: Habit of observation. The super-salesman is a close observer of small details. Every word uttered by the prospective buyer, every change of facial expression, every movement is observed and its significance weighted accurately. The super-salesman not only observes and analyzes accurately all that his prospective buyer does and says, but he also makes deductions from that which he does not do or say. Nothing escapes the super-salesman’s attention!

HISTORICAL OBSERVATION: Ten years ago people looked around and used what they saw to both learn and reason; to think and create experiences; to learn lessons and grow. Life lessons.

PRESENT OBSERVATION: Today everyone has a smartphone and a tablet, and the power of observation is fading into the lure of the electronic siren.

Yes, I look at my iPhone too, but I’m consciously trying my best to limit my ‘stare time.’ I’m only interrupted when my phone rings or if I get a text.

Yes, I use apps as a necessary means to wake me up or help me find my way, and I use my phone as a camera, documenting what I observe and occasionally posting my observations on Instagram (@jeffreygitomer). I get no social media notifications, no email notifications, and none of the other dings, bells, or whistles that are offered on the electronic siren.

REASON: Interruption of thought is where focus is lost.
REASON: Interruption of thought is where ideas get lost.

IF you are focused, observation can trigger a number of powerful mental responses:

  • An idea
  • A past experience
  • A fact you want to convey
  • A developing strategy
  • The capture of a thought (voice to text please)
  • It enables you to deepen the conversation
  • It helps you make a point
  • It solidifies your thinking
  • You can uncover a motive
  • You can find common ground
  • You can build rapport
  • You may even get an AHA! from unfinished thoughts or projects.

Observation is both seeing what’s around you and thinking what’s about you. When you’re thinking and staring off into space, you may not be looking at anything in particular but your mental observation is being called into play.

REALITY OBSERVATION: I see people get off a plane and walk into a wall while reading or texting, and they think nothing of it.

Smartphone or no smartphone, in my experience I have observed that most people are not observant, let alone paying attention to their surroundings. The smartphone has merely increased that lack of observation, not created it.

Whatever the outcome is from your observations, they have added to your wealth of knowledge.

The reality is I’m writing this article that will get millions of views, be made into a YouTube video, appear in my weekly email magazine, become a power lesson on GitomerVT.com, and later appear in one of my books. All that will occur while most people are staring at their phones. And while I realize that’s a general observation, there is no doubt the world has become much less observant in the last five years. Especially the sales world. How observant are you?

The reason I’m writing this is because I just returned from eight days in Paris. Arguably, the most beautiful city in the world and most people there were NOT looking.

“Dude, look at your phone later. YOU’RE IN PARIS!”

No matter what I recommend, each of you reading this will justify your own situation and circumstance: whether it’s speed of response, need to communicate with customers, need for immediate information, or the simple desire to be ‘in the know’ and ‘in the now.’ You will remain with your head buried in your phone, not paying attention to the world around you (with the things around you) and cheating yourself out of your competitive advantage. But, that’s just my opinion.

QUICK TIPS:

  • Access your phone when you’re home or in your office ONLY.
  • Access information when you want to, not when you hear a beep.
  • Turn off social media notifications during the day.

NOTE WELL: Yes, speed of response is important, but if you must ding, use it as a choice rather than a must.

MENTOR LESSON: “Antennas up!” my mentor and friend, the late, great Earl Pertnoy used to say with a smile. It was one of his early pieces of advice to me. He said, “Pay attention to every detail around you. People and things”. So, I always did. And, I still do today.

That simple, but powerful piece of advice has helped me earn a fortune. And it can do the same for you.

Free GITBIT: Earlier this year I wrote more on the power of observation. If you want more on the value of paying attention to your surroundings, go to Gitomer.com and enter the word OBSERVE in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].