Sales Lessons for Today from the 1890's

They say: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."  I was reminded of this, when I uncovered some "pearls of  sales wisdom"  looking through the NCR Archives in Dayton last week.  I was researching John Patterson's very first sales school in Dayton, which began April 4th 1894 (120 years ago this coming April).  So I was reading "The NCR" an internal company newsletter where I came across the following  quote from Patterson himself in the May 15th issue of 1894; " Our people are teachers rather than salesmen.  It is the teaching of merchants how to do business and how to make money."  I went on reading in the biography of Patterson by Samuel Crowther, first published in 1923, where he points out that Patterson believed; "We are not selling cash registers but rather helping customers with their business."

Does any of this sound familiar?  I'm reminded of the "Challenger Sales" where salespeople are encouraged to be teachers, "commercial teaching" in their lingo and the key is to provide a unique insight to the customers business they had not thought of.  Don't get me wrong.  I believe the Challenger Sale is the next step in the evolving profession of sales but it is more a new technique.  The premise of the salesperson as teachers and discovering the business problems of their customer , however is as old as the profession of modern selling is itself.

 The reason I'm doing this research is that since retiring, after 15 years of sales training, most recently with IBM, I have made it my "mission", to do what I can to improve the sales profession, that I so love. To begin, I have chosen to work with colleges and universities to raise their awareness of sales as a profession and how they can modify their offerings and curriculum to better prepare young sales professionals.  Future entries in this blog will highlight what I have learned and experienced on my "mission."

Turning Buying Signals into Major Sales

Buying signals are typically defined as statements made by the customer that indicate a readiness to buy or to move forward.  In reviewing this topic I always come back to Neil Rackham, the author of SPIN Selling. He used his terminology of implied need and explicit needs when talking of buying signals in major sales.  Both are buying signals, but he points out that implicit needs such as: agreement by the customer  "that they problem" (capacity, speed etc.) or "are not happy" with the quality are buying signals for small sales.

Explicit needs such as: "we planning to buy a new system" are required for a major sale.  What this means to the salesperson in a major sales it is not enough just to identify a problem (implied need).  You need to receive a commitment to action such as: "we are planning to purchase a new system this year."  Then you must create the value in your product so that it is the chosen solution.

In summary: Get the customer to 1. Identify the problem  (implied need) 2. Commit to resolving it (explicit need) 3. Convince the customer that your product should be the chosen solution (create the specific value of your solution for this customer.)

Connecting with Value

Today when we talk about Social Media it is all about connections.  The number of connections you have on Linked In , the number of followers you have on Twitter and the number of friends you have on Facebook.  If you are using your connections for you professional development you need to ask yourself another question.  What is the value my connection brings to a connection, follower or friend?

As a sales trainer, I try to provide those connected to me value.  On Twitter, I follow best sales practices and key sales information related to the products we sell and the industries we sell into.  By following me, those I teach will get information about best sales practices and key product and industry information.

So if you are using social media to connect with your customers and prospects what is the value they receive from your connection, your tweets and re-tweets?

Alternatives to the Traditional Elevator Pitch

Some people think that the "elevator pitch" is "old news."  In today's world of instant communications we need something different.  Daniel Pink in his book "To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others,." has six alternative "pitches."  Try crafting your next "pitch" in one of these formats.

1.The One Word Pitch-   " the ultimate pitch for an era of short attention spans begins with one word and doesn't go any further."   " Define the one characteristic that they most want associated with their brand around the world. That is one word equity."  What technology company do you think of when you  hear the word search? (Google)What credit card company comes to mind when you hear the word "priceless"? ( Mastercard).

2. The Question Pitch- "Interrogative self talk, questions often pack a surprising punch." Think of the Reagan-Carter presidential campaign when Reagan asked, "are you better of now than you were four years ago?"

3.The Rhyming Pitch-  Remember the OJ Simpson trial and the rhyming pitch Johnny Cochran used? "If it doesn't  fit...  you must acquit"  (In reference to the murder glove in the prosecutions evidence.)

4. The Subject Line Pitch-  In email  the subject line often determines whether or not you will open the email. Construct your pitch as a subject line.

5. The Twitter Pitch-  Twitter has taught us to construct our message with 140  characters.  get even more points if you can do it in 120 characters ( leaving room to re-tweet the message)

6. The Pixar Pitch-  some of the best pitches are told as stories.  Try this format for your pitch. (do you remember "Madlibs"?)  Once upon a time______________________.

Every day_____________________ . One day_______________________________________.  Because of that________________________________.

Because of that__________________________________________. Until finally___________________________________________

I highly recommend Daniel Pink's book, "To Sell is Human:The Surprising Truth About Moving Others"  The alternative pitches is just one chapter our of a great deal of valuable material and thought.  In the book he provides additional detail and examples of each of these six alternatives.

Numbers that speak: 5 Gig or 1000 songs in your pocket.

 I work at  IBM, in sales training. Ours is a business of numbers.  How do we make these numbers relevant?  We talk about "Big Data",  gigabytes and terabytes, but what do they mean?  How do we put them in context to tell the stories of our capabilities and show how remarkable our products are?

I have a couple of  examples:  First Steve Jobs when introducing the first iPod said it had 5 gigabytes of storage.  Then he put it in context. That is "1000 songs!  In your pocket!"

Cisco's CEO John Chambers when introducing Cisco's  CRS3 router said it could download 322 terabytes per second but then said:  "that is powerful enough to stream every movie ever made in 4 minutes or download the entire Library of Congress in 1 second"

Those numbers don't just talk they sing! In your next presentation try to make your numbers come alive!

Thinking About How to Gamify Sales Training

We would like to increase the participation in our sales training by making it  social, fun and rewarding.

I  just read, (and highly recommend), Jonah Berger's just released book , "Contagious".  There are many examples of how companies create "social currency."  We ,and I'm sure you, are looking for ways to motivate our salespeople to do the things that will make them successful.  The key areas, we believe, are: 1. connecting with people who can help them in their tasks (this is especially important in a matrix organization such as we have at IBM)  2.  Encourage them to learn about the products and solutions they sell, where we have sold them successfully and who competes with us.  3. Encourage them to learn more about the industries they sell into. So they understand key metrics and challenges of their prospects/customers and. 4. encourage them to learn about the process and tools to help them sell.

To accomplish this we have established an internal social community of all sellers who are in the training or have been in the training at some time.  This is our "Virtual Water Cooler."  This community will form the foundation for our gamification.  Along the lines of "Four Square" we will invite community members to compete to be the Mayors of each of these four aforementioned areas.  They will accumulate points by checking into various activities ( personal networks, online courses, articles recordings, forums wikis) earning one point for each activity. At the end of two weeks the person with the most points will be declared the Mayor of the area.  This person will be recognized with thier sales leader and remain the mayor for two weeks while the process is repeated.

All of this is in the planning stage at the moment. I will let you know how we make out.  I would love to hear about your efforts to gamify your sales training. Please share in the comments.

"Winning is not everything, but the will to prepare to win is!"

Just about everyone is familiar with Vince Lombardi's famous quote: "Winning is not everything it is the only thing!"  He said it. Of that, there is no doubt.  However, later on when pressed on the quote, he modified it to: "Winning is not everything  but the will to prepare to win is!" Everyone wants to win, but who is willing to make the sacrifice to do what is really required to in order to win?  What separates winners and losers is their commitment to prepare to win.  Did you ever run a marathon?  If you did you will realize that the marathon itself is difficult, but more difficult, by far, is the preparation to run the marathon.  Those countless hours running in the rain , dark and cold, the muscle aches, the injuries and, the accompanying diet and the discipline and sacrifice required to practice day after day.  The marathon is tough but if you are prepared it becomes more of a celebration of your accomplishments over the last 3-6 months.

In sales we know that winning is more than having the best product, the lowest price or the most features.  It is truly all about your preparation.  Below are the 10 most common areas of sales preparation.  Ask yourself  have you done all you can to…

1.      Really understand the solution your are selling, the challenges is solves, the value it delivers, its key competitors and its differentiation.

2.      Understand the industry challenges your prospect faces? (understanding  the industry lingo and metrics).

3.      Understand the specific challenges of your prospect ,  their key competitors where they sit against their competitors, in their industry and market.

4.       Identify the key individuals to sell (business and financial and executive) and what they want to see from the solution.

5.      Discover with each of them their specific problems issues and concerns and what your solution can do to help.

6.      Arrange for demos, ROI/business value assessment and executive visits by your extended sales team that address these specific concerns and issues.

7.      Sell your solution inside your own company? (Sell inside to client exec and to management to secure necessary selling resources and approvals to win).

8.      Anticipate and prepare for the competition

9.      Anticipate and prepare for the customer objections

10.   Anticipate the unexpected and prepare to win!

And then when the signed order comes through you like, Lombardi ,will know the “finest hour.” Which he describes as” when you lie upon the battlefield, exhausted, but victorious!”  Winning,  really,  is all about the will to prepare to win. Winning becomes the easy part if you have prepared.

Make the most out of your Sales Kickoffs

OK.  So now you all have attended your sales kickoffs/FastStarts for this year.  As a result, what are you planning to do to improve your sales game?  These remind  of a similar type event I used to attend while coaching football.  February is the month, like salespeople, that football coaches attend clinics.  Like you they are trying to improve their game.

As a coach, in the 70's I remember going to clinics where we could listen and interact with the "giants" of the game: Bear Bryant, Lou Holtz and even John Madden. You got to meet the giants in your company: the worldwide sales leaders, marketing leaders, industry experts,  key business partners and successful colleagues.  Like most of you,we would be there 3- 4 days.  And like you it was information overload!  So how can you get the most out of your recent event?

1.  Have a goal.  To me as a coach,  it was a goal, that as a result of this clinic ( Kickoff/FastStart in your case), I would find something (even just 1 thing)  that could improve my game.  You can't do everything you learn at the FastStart, so find the one thing, that if you do it, it can have the most positive effect on your sales game.  What, one thing,  did you learn, that if you practice it, it can help you improve your sales game? That can be your goal.  It is hard to focus on one thing, you heard so much but you must narrow in on what will help you the most.  In football, you heard about different offenses, defenses and  special teams.  There were individual techniques, motivation, practice plans and product demos. Really great stuff.  You too had a variety of sessions, marketing road maps, product demos, client and industry presentations, success stories from your colleagues, tools to help you, competitive update and  pricing plays.  With all of this great information,  focus on using the few key things that can have the most impact.

2. Get more information on your selected objective/goal.  This session cannot provide you everything you need to be successful.  You must follow up and  go deeper.  You may have learned about 1 solution that you believe could help some of your clients.  Follow up with the presenters, ask them where you can learn more. One of the great benefits of these events is you get to interact with your colleagues.  Find those colleagues who have experience selling these solutions and pick their brains.  In football, we would find the thing that interested us and we would contact the presenting coach and follow up with him, maybe arrange a visit to his school, look at some of his game film, even observe his team in spring practice.  Also we would find other coaches that were already running this system and pick their brains as well.

3. Make an action plan. Select your clients and prospects that would benefit from this solution.  Make plans to contact them and introduce them to the solution.  Follow up internally,  to effectively utilize your teams resources to help with an effective demo, maybe a business value/ROI assessment.

4.  Make it Happen!  Persistence and practice.  In football just having a great offensive playbook won't help you.  You must practice it, work at it relentlessly you may even lose a game, but keep at it, getting better all the time.  You too may not be successful at first.  You may even lose a sale.  But persist, continue to get better and you eventually will win

The Sales Accelerator- Lessons Learned

As I mentioned in my last post, while with Sterling Commerce, we created a sales performance support tool called The Sales Accelerator.  The tool organized information for salespeople.  The problem, today, with sales information is not the lack of it (we have tons) but rather, finding the right information when you need to know it. We chose to organize the information into the following categories, which became tabs in the tool: People, Process, Product, Industry, Tools and Training.  All of the information was placed under one of these tabs.  The product was successful and used effectively by the sales force for five years.


Over time a number of challenges emerged.  The first was, since we built the tool, people believed we were responsible for the information.  What we did was organize the information to be effectively consumed by the salespeople.  Once we placed the information in the Accelerator people assumed we were responsible for keeping it updated.  We could not do this effectively for the massive amount of information we were organizing and placing in the tool.  Information became out of date.  So over time the effectiveness of the tool diminished.  We should have clearly stated to the people supplying the information that they were responsible for its accuracy and timeliness.

A second and related challenge was that we assumed responsibility for the physical updating the information.  At first this was a manageable task, but as the tool grew, it quickly became a more than full time job (which we already had without the added responsibility of managing the tool).  We should have provided the owners of the information access to and an easy way to update the tool.

The strength of the tool was it's intuitive organization and how this matched the complete flow of actual work done by the sales force.  Now I work in training and coaching salespeople, worldwide, who are new to IBM B2B & Commerce products.  We have a wealth of good information for these people to consume.  However, this information is scattered among media library sites, wiki's and various web pages.  So I'm going to create another sales performance tool called the B2B & Commerce Virtual Water Cooler.  This time the tool will actually just be a community site using the Accelerator structure to house links to the information.  It will contain little or no information itself but rather use its organization to link to the actual information.  I will let you know how this works out.  Good bye for now. Next time I will speak of the three key ingredients for sales effectiveness and more: Belief , Practice and Execution.