SnogFrog Blog

You Don't Have to Sell, But Someone Has To!

I was talking to a colleague yesterday who runs a business. He's very well qualified to sell, and he's been doing it most of his working life. He's taken a decision to use a telemarketing company to call his clients to get him the meetings. Very Interesting. Even though he's well capable of doing them himself. If you're not going to make the volume of calls needed, then get someone else to do them! I'm doing calls every day but not enough of them to generate the meetings required, I'm caught in between. Either I have to do more calls or get someone else to do them. This is a big part of Mike Southon's book, The Beermat Entrepreneur, which suggests that the Entrepreneur should focus on being the entrepreneur, and leave Sales, Finance, Technology, Delivery, to the other 4 "Cornerstones" in the company. How many calls do you have to make to generate the business you need? Are you going to do them? Either do them, or get someone else to do them! I have a friend who has moved into this very area, working for a telemarketing company making calls on behalf of other companies to generate leads. She's only recently moved into this type of roll over the last 18 months, and she's very good at it. Better on volume than most of the salespeople and salestrainers I've known over the years. Let the people who are good at doing the volume, do the volume, and you can get on with having the meetings and letting your silky selling skills do the rest!

2 Cold Calls per Day

I received some brilliant advice today.  So obvious.

Do 2 Cold Calls per Day.  1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.  If you stick to that, it's 40 cold calls per month!!  If you miss a day, forgive yourself, and stick to 2 cold calls per day, don't recover to 4 calls.

If you're busy for several days or away on holiday, come back to 2 Cold Calls per Day.

The Future of Selling

Someone in a workshop last week asked me what the future of selling is.  What are the new and future ideas and theories on selling.  Dunno!

Actually, I've thought a lot about it over the last few years.  I think in most cases selling will always be selling, from the classic First Impressions, Opening, Questioning, Selling, Objection Handling, Closing, Repeat!  And on to the softer stuff like Solution Selling, Consultative Selling, SPIN Selling, Win-Win Selling, Relationship Selling.

The thing that bothers me the most, is the language that describes selling.  We don't use that language in everyday conversation.  "Finding a Need" "Questioning" "Closing".  It's as though once we try to define what's going on with language, something of the spirit is lost.

So the answer I gave last week, is sure I can tell where I think selling should go, but I don't know that most "Clients/Customer" and "Sellers" are ready for it.

Firstly, when you look at SPIN Selling, a newer book Selling is Dead has added "Objective" questioning whereby you're not just looking for the problem/pain in SPIN but the aspirations as well.

Secondly, I still think that a dose of Cluetrain is the pointer to where it's all going, be it more slowly than some of us want;

1. Markets are conversations.
2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.

And near the end of the book......

Have a sense of humour.
Find your voice and use it.
Tell the truth.
Don’t panic.
Enjoy yourself.
Be brave.
Be curious.
Play More.
Dream Always.
Listen Up.
Rap On.

Thirdly, I've believed for a while (and I have a model for it) that Buyers and Sellers will start to match values, not just in traditional values and business values, but in Spirituality and Lifestyle type values.  This is still some way away and it's a bit touchy feely, but it goes further than "Developing Rapport" with a customer because you learnt it on a course, to having a genuine connection with people.

Fourthly, I think the big money is in the Ranking and Rating of products and services a la Amazon, Google, eBay, whereby it's the consumer that starts to drive the information and knowledge, and more Social Networks, but not quite as we know it today.

So all in all, we're fairly traditional in how we sell and are sold to, and that's ok for the majority of situations, but things are changing, very slowly!!

What Do You Like about your product/service

Hey I learnt something new the other day.  Something really obvious.  I've spent so long looking at SPIN, and seeing problems, that it was refreshing for someone to give me a new sales acronym. CLING

Current

Likes

Improvement

Need

Go Ahead

"What do you like about your current mobile phone, and what improvements would you like in a new mobile phone?"

I like this idea of asking about what you like in your current product, and then asking for what improvements they'd like to see.  It's a real key to looking at why someone wants something new, and what would drive them to buy it.

"What do you like about your current supplier, and what improvements would you like to see in them, or from us!!"

What Makes a Good SalesManager?

I've been thinking over the last few days about what makes a good SalesManager.  One way to work this out is to think about all the good and bad SalesManagers I've had over the years.  What the good ones have in common and what the bad ones have in common, and to compare and contrast a few with each other.  I'm looking to have a few categories that I can put SalesManagers in to cover all their styles.  What I have so far in terms of what's good and bad is;

Good Sales Manager

• Creative
• Fun
• Covers for their salespeople with senior management
• Weekly one to one reviews
• Good team manager
• Charisma
• Confidence
• Uses efforts of team
• Good coach
• Leverages resources within and outside the team
• Qualifies deals and which ones they're going to help with
• Helps the low performers
• New Business ideas
• Recruits well

Bad Sales Manager

• Bullies
• Obsessed with process
• Distant
• Big Ego
• Sucks up to senior management for their own gain
• Good at selling but poor at managing a team
• Dishonest and exaggerates situations

Have I missed anything?

Big and Easy

Big or Small?  Easy or Difficult  It's obvious....Big and Easy.

Always always look for BIG and EASY business before you look at the other types.  If it's Small and Easy, then sure, go for it.  You may for strategic reasons go after some Big and Difficult business, but be careful.

Never ever go for Small and Difficult business.  And yet why do so many salespeople chase the Small and Difficult?  Why do Sales Managers encourage salespeople to chase Small and Difficult business?

Of course, there may not be Big and Easy business around, but always have that mentality in Selling.  It's the best tip I was ever given in selling.

Engaging in Conversation

Some have it.  And some don't.
That ability to engage people in conversation.  I don't have it, so I consulted an expert today!
He's very good, just like some other people I observe.
They have this innate ability to start talking to people, in queues, in lifts, at supermarkets, in parks.

My expert pointed out to me that you need to pick something about the other person that you notice.  Their tie, maybe they're wearing a badge, their hairstyle, what they're wearing.  In fact, most people by what they wear, are making a statement, and spotting that statement and asking about it, is a practised skill.

So for your homework, go away and observe a few people and work out what statement they're making, and if you're really brave, ask them about it (The thing they're wearing, not the statement they're making!!)

And say something like, "That's an interesting tie, where did you get it from."

Self Development - Getting Things Done (Contexts)

The fourth and final part of Selling, is Self Development.  The main selling bits are;

• Qualifying
• Conversation
• Networking

But outside of that there is this area of how you develop yourself, your motivation, and Getting Things Done.

So although this isn't the intro to Self Development, I had a big revelation today.

Getting Things Done has contexts/categories for where you do your actions.  In other words, you sort your actions into places where you can actually do them. At your PC.  At your desk.  At home.  At your phone.  When you sort your actions into these contexts, you don't need to worry about them when you can't do them, and you focus on the actions you can do in the context you are currently in.
So over time my contexts have  evolved to those things  I can do at work and those things  I can do at  home.  (Agendas in case you're wondering is for when you bump into people, you want to make sure you keep a list of all the things to cover, because sometimes you forget until after you've met with them, all the things you wanted to cover.)
However, over the last few months, I've been working from home, and I haven't changed my contexts.  Over the last week, I've been working from cafes, preferably with WiFi.  And it's not been working right for me.
So this afternoon, like a good GTD boy, I did my weekly review.  And Ah Ha!  I changed my contexts. Yes, that's what's not been working.  I can't make all the calls from my mobile, there are some I need to make from home.  Not all cafes have WiFi, but what can I usefully do without WiFi.  What work needs doing from home.  And finally, by changing from errands to bike, I can focus on what things I can do from my bike, and when do I need the car. It sounds so obvious, but let me assure you, get your contexts right, and it will become easier and much less stressful carrying lots of actions.  A cafe without WiFi.  No problem, and I get rid of all actions except those I want to do in that cafe.

Niche Markets Salesperson (Types of Salespeople)

From my own selling experience, working with sales people, and training hundreds and thousands of salespeople, I thought about what makes a good salesperson and came up with 8 types;

1. Lovable Rogue
2. Nice Guy
3. Talker
4. Dirty Rotten Scoundrel
5. High Activity Rate
6. Repeatable Process
7. Proposal Writer
8. Deal Maker

You can be a very good salesperson just by focusing on one of these areas and being good at it.
I’m not going to go into detail and describe each one here.  You’ll have to keep returning or subscribe to this weblog!!
But what reminded me of these 8 Types is having a Repeatable Process – Finding a niche market, supplying to that niche market something it wants, and then just keep doing it. You don’t have to even be good at what you do, you just keep doing it because you’ve found what the market wants.

I was thinking about this today, at a café here in Melbourne, that has free WiFi.  It’s attracting Geeks.  Lots of them. The word is out, and the café was packed today.  More so than any other café on Acland St in St Kilda.  And I spent more today, yet again, on coffees and breakfast, than I would if I signed up for hourly access!!

I’m just at another café and I asked out of courtesy, if I could plug the power in.  The guy had to phone up to the boss, and word came down, that I could if I ordered another drink.  Now I’ve already met a friend here and had 3 coffees.  Not exactly friendly, and it was like an alien question to them.  I’ve not been made to feel welcome, but actually, the place is so empty, it’s the best working space I’ve found so far in Melbourne!

The other niche market, that I keep scratching my head over, is my daughter’s new school.  For some obscure reason, they decided to be “The” French school in Melbourne.  In other words, they want to attract all French speaking people to the school.  In some cases the parents can’t speak English, but they want the kids schooled in English and French.  What a great niche.  If you are a French family working in Melbourne, and you’re looking for a school for your young kids, then this is the place.  If you want your kids to learn French, then this is the place.  A very tightly defined niche.

Find your niche.  Find what the markets wants that you offer.  And you won’t have to be good at selling.  The product or service sells itself, because the niche is so well defined, and there’s strong demand.

I identified this type of salesperson by realising that there are many very successful salespeople out there, who aren’t particularly good, but they’ve found their niche market, and they just focus on that, sometimes for years, having huge success. Think about the people you know who seem to sell well in spite of their talent!  It could be that they have a Repeatable Process selling in a Niche Market.

Honest Conversations!

Johnnie Moore posted a great link; Truth in Advertising

There’s a conversation going on, A Dance which we recognise and accept, but now one will tell the truth.  That’s why Dilbert and Scott Adams are so good, because they tell a truth we dare not even whisper at work.

Selling is the same. The layers of dance have been inserted into “Selling” which have taken the conversation away. Now in most cases, it’s business as usual, and this dance will go on for most of commerce. Just go watch a customer and seller meet, and work out the hidden conversation!!

What if for one day, like in Liar Liar, we had to tell the truth!!

SnogFrog Podcast on the way soon

Some days I can't think of anything to write about, so I write about that!
I learned that from The Artist's Way, and it really helps with blogging, when you've made a commitment to yourself to write every day.

So I'm doing the old trick of blogging about blogging or podcasting about podcasting.
I'm just in the process of starting to Podcast for the SnogFrog Blog, called of course, SnogFrog Pod!

I've been having a play with how best to record and there's seems to be such a steep learning curve with recording levels and editing.  I know what I want to do in my head, and when it sounds wrong, but hard to know how to change it.
I'm playing with the idea of producing the whole SnogFrog Pod live, either myself or an interview over Skype with someone, and bring in the intro music and other things live.  It has its pros and cons.

So far, I've got my intro music, a few sounds, and I think I've got the sound levels working, but not sure yet what settings to record  in, and  what to save as, so that the quality  is good enough, but small enough, and of course there are the  tag settings so that the info shows up  well  and easily on an MP3 player.
I'm looking at CastBlaster, Audacity, WavePad, WildVoice for the recording and editing, and of course SkyLook for recording Skype conversations.  All recommendations welcome for how best to record and store and tag.

And please, if you'd like to come on the show or be interviewed or have suggestions on what you'd like to hear about, then let me know.  It's probably a bit too early for this type of request because I won't have many readers yet, but give it time.  Believe and they will come!!

Networking - Who do you Know?

The third platform for Selling (or Dating or anything else) is Networking.
Having trained people in selling for over 8 years, I find this the most difficult thing to train people in, for those who don't get it.
You know people.  The people you know, know people.  When we meet someone, we both bring our networks with us, they sit like some vast forest of knowledge, on our shoulder, as we talk to the other person.
How can I help this person, with who I know, and how can they help me.

They talk about Six Degrees of Separation, but I tell you, in any group of 12 people I've trained, we've been able to get to anyone named in 2 steps!

Conversation before the Kiss!

It came to me in a blinding flash the other day.  Conversation.
We've lost sight of conversation.  We use words like "Rapport" which isn't much of a word we use in everyday conversation.  "I had great rapport today!"  I know, some of us are introvert and shy, so am I, but it is about just having a conversation with people.

We've overanalysed and broken down and built up, what should just be a normal chat with people.  I take my guide from The Cluetrain Manifesto, and those guys (Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Chris Locke) for how it's becoming, plus the Fifth Beatle, Dave Winer.  The first 5 points from the 95 Theses of Cluetrain;

1. Markets are conversations.
2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.

So I'm doing away with the word "Rapport".  It's a conversation. The category will be "Conversation". My thinking behind this, is, I strongly believe that Selling can be split up into 3 categories through which all the skills can be classified.
1. Qualifying
2. Conversation
3. Networking

And there's a fourth, which is Self Development, which includes things like Getting Things Done.
So now we have the second category of 3 main ones, Conversation, and it's probably Networking, for the next post.

Qualifying - The Most Important Thing in Selling!

I'm often asked what is the most important thing in selling (actually I'm hardly asked at all, but it sounds good!).
Qualifying.  In conjunction with kissing a lot of frogs, you can be good at selling (or dating), by knowing the right frogs to kiss.
Those who are great at selling, instinctively know which frogs to kiss, and which frogs to leave well alone.
They've learnt from bitter experience who is going to waste their time or not choose them.

So instead of trying to convince someone who doesn't want convincing, they move on, or they don't spend too much time with them in the first place.  You've got to be careful how you reject some frogs, because you might be wrong.

I remember two years ago going into a shop, desperate to buy a new mobile phone and sign for a new 2 years contract.  The salesperson at Crazy John's wasn't interested and had decided I wasn't worth the effort.  They even moved me on to another supplier (Telstra!), where I got the attention and service.  I had to buy that day because my wife needed a new handset before she flew to Sydney the following day.  Those 2 years are now up, as of yesterday.  Do you think I'm going back to Crazy John's?  Nope.  Am I going back to Telstra?  Nope.  Telstra haven't done anything beyond taking the contract.

I digress.  In general, you have to think about which frogs you're going to kiss, but not use it as an excuse to not kiss frogs.  In fact, for myself, for the first time in 5 years, I've decided to not contact and delete a number of frogs, because in my heart of hearts, they're not interested, and I wonder if I want to do business with their organisations!  That's brave of me, but as long as I have some nice frogs, it makes it easier.

You don't have to be a great convincer to be a good salesperson, you can be a good qualifier.

Hello and welcome to SnogFrog

Hello.  New Year's Resolutions and all that, so it's time to start an idea I've had for a while.
SnogFrog Blog!
What is SnogFrog?  Snog is an English word, to kiss, to pash.  It's a bit more than kissing. 
It's kissing with passion.
So SnogFrog means kissing frogs.
We don't kiss enough frogs in life.  Be it selling, dating, networking with people.
We fear rejection and failure, so we settle for kissing few frogs if any, and hoping, settling for second best, dealing with second rate customers, when in fact we should be kissing lots of frogs to give us the "Luxury of Choice" to choose the right one.
Sure you can teach Selling Skills, but no-one has the time anymore to practise them.
I'm coming to the conclusion that activity and how we organise ourselves are much easier to change than how we talk to people.

So I'm starting this blog to focus on how we organise ourselves and how we can Kiss more Frogs.  SnogFrog!!  This also includes Selling Skills, Dating, yes boy meets girl (or any other combination), and Networking, as well as a few other skills.
It also means I can keep this weblog reasonably businesslike and rant on my personal blog about football, politics, and the ills of the world!

I'm planning to also have SnogFrog Pods - Podcasts on Selling, interviewing guests, and let's see where the format goes.

Enjoy!