At the start of 09, I expected my own sales performance to increase significantly.  I based this expectation on two sound contributing factors.

1.There would be a greater need for my services.

Companies would have a much greater need for improvement around sales performance than in previous years. If making sales would be harder in 09, mine was a recession solution.

2. I offered a guaranteed result.

I would be offered a ROI payment option, which meant that there, was no risk in investing in my sales programmes - I guaranteed actual sales improvement. This would give me a significant competitive advantage.

My analysis of how I performed vs. my expectation.

I recently undertook an analysis of my personal sales performance for the year to date. While I am satisfied with many of my performance indicators, I am slightly disappointed with my win ratio per meeting with new customers specifically. I expected a nearer 100% hit ratio, I delivered 62%.

While some may be happy with such a return in this environment, my continued sales improvement has always resulting from me not resting on my laurels; and continually seeking out ways in which I can better what I do.

So how do I explain this?

Initially I must admit that I struggled.

While there may be room for improvement around my qualification process, I work very hard to ensure that I am talking to genuine prospects that are in a position to buy. I believe I am talking to the right people and at the right time and I am offering a better product than that of my competitors.

A more convoluted, complex and ever changing decision making process may go some way to explaining my disappointment. However, I don’t think that it is the only factor and even if it is, my payment options should go a long way to overcoming this as an obstacle.

So I asked myself, what I am not considering, what might I have not planned for.

I begin by revisited my stats on paper, I compared what I was doing against best practice, there was very little by way of explanation.

I then begin to consider that my expectation was unreasonable, that I hadn’t given enough weighting to the recession factor. While it might have worked for me on many occasions, perhaps it had also worked against me.

I quickly realised that I was engaging in the type of attitude; I so often have to help overcome in those that I work with. I was engaging in can’t do rather than can do.

I shook myself down and decided to investigate further. I pride myself on good planning, yet here was something I had failed to consider. It had left no apparent trace of itself in my work. It was bloody invisible.

Invisible! Now there’s a thought, what might have been invisible to me at the start of the year? Something I would not normally consider…….. Ah! Gotya.

it’s FEAR!!

I have trained myself to ignore fear; it plays no part in my decisions, my planning or my expectations. This philosophy has always served me well. I realised at an early age what fear can do, how it can control and how it can destroy.

At the start of the year, my intentional ignorance towards fear had allowed me to plan for success, to see abundance, and to plan for opportunity. Sounds great?

I’m afraid only to a point (did you get the joke?).

This same philosophy had blind sighted me, not to my own fears but towards the fears of others; in this case the fear in my prospects. I had failed to consider and to plan for their fears.

I started to recall the conversations where I had failed to win the deal. A comment trend started to appear.

“I know where we need to go, but I am not prepared to do what it takes to get there”

Yes, I had helped them to identify their need.

Yes, I had shown them the solution.

Yes, I had taken away the risk.

Tick, tick, tick…

But No, In a great many cases, I had failed to take away their fear of making the decision. Because I had failed to plan for fear, in doing so I had also failed to plan for how to deal with my prospect’s fear.

The good news, I am now on the case.

The Btb Interview

Daniel McVicker is director of client services for StrathMadigan , which is a professional services and business consulting firm. Their focus is on developing long lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships with clients by providing straightforward and Consultative advice. The firm is tasked with delivering genuine added value with a measurable return on investment through the provision of highly experienced and industry specific professional business consultants. StrathMadigan provide 2 distinct services across all disciplines. They can provide an entire Outsourced function for a division of your business or provide Project Staff and Interim Managers to address specific critical issues.

Me: Cost is the big issue now, is price cutting a good way to hold on to existing customers?

Daniel: Don’t lower your prices. Tempting though it is under the premise that it may increase sales, I believe that although in the short term it may generate revenue - it could have a potentially serious damaging effect on the longevity of your business.

If you cut prices now, when the upturn comes as surely it will, how will you then justify increasing your prices.

Me: So how then can you deal effectively with customers who want cheaper prices?

Daniel: Address pricing issues with guarantees. By giving a guarantee to your customers it says that you are confident in your product or service and it is also ethical. Be prepared to give generous guarantees, customers will see through guarantees which are weighted in your favour.

Me: Salespeople and business owners tell me that motivation is very difficult, as someone who is continuing to successfully grow business - what would you say to these people?

Daniel: Knowledge and ability mean nothing without action. With the credit crunch and the recession biting hard, sales people and business owners alike are becoming increasingly despondent and shying away from picking up the phone to customers for fear of hearing another no.

Now is the time to pick up the phone and stay close to your customers. The companies which are weathering the storm best at present have one thing in common, they are taking Action!

They are increasing their marketing, increasing their customer contact, whilst all the time stealing and increasing market share!

Me: So how do you know what actions you should take and when you should take them?

Daniel: There are 4 important factors in taking action:

(i) “All Encompassing Action”: taking action in all the areas of your business which require it. It is easy to fall into the trap of taking successive steps action, ie: I’ll do a leaflet drop this month; I’ll update the Website next month etc.

(ii) “Habit” Once you begin to take action makes it a continual habit, not sporadic. Successful people generally have similar habits but beyond that they have a structured plan and one that they follow religiously.

(iii)“Focus and Measurement” On taking action, make sure it is the right action, it is easy to become a busy fool taking the easy options or doing the tasks we enjoy. For every Action we take it should be measured to ensure that it is an effective use of our time.

(iv)Be positive about taking action. Taking action and making change can be difficult; it takes us out of our comfort zones. A positive attitude and a realisation that your business will benefit as a result will increase the likelihood of your actions having the desired outcome.

Me: Are we perhaps paying too much attention to the problems and not enough attention to the solutions?

Daniel: Stop talking about the credit crunch. Talking about the economy won’t change it, taking action, speaking to customers and selling will.

Over at TSE

Tuesday, June 23rd 2009 at 6PM GMT (1:00PM EASTERN)

Join Danita Bye, Jonathan London, Steve Martinez, Craig Klein and Jonathan Farrington for our latest TSE Roundtable:“The Power Of Sales Process”

Take the tour above.

Btb Guest Author

Jerry Kennedy

Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training

Jonathan Farrington wrote an excellent post, on why smaller companies are well positioned to do well in the year ahead. In it, Jonathan describes the factors that give a smaller company an edge including:

Not being weighted down by unnecessary bureaucracy

An ability to make decisions quickly

Being more capable of building stronger, sustainable relationships with customers

Jonathan goes on to talk about why 2009 will be the year of “Customer Focus” describing what is meant by the term, and why it creates competitive advantage.

(more…)

Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training

Talking to salespeople, there seems to me to be an air of futility about at the moment, about prospecting for new customers and new business. While It may be easy to find reasons to be despondent, allowing yourself to feel and behave in this way, what ever the evidence is actually counter productive.

(more…)