ROI and The Salesperson, Don't be a "Fool with a Tool!"

I'm sure you have heard the old adage "a fool with a tool is still a fool."  It is certainly true when we start talking Return On Investment tools.  Today with wireless Ipads and tablets, salespeople are equipped to present mobile, personalized presentations to prospects and clients.  Marketing and Sales Enablement organizations have worked hard to support these efforts.  Often ROI calculators are included as a part of these presentations tools.  Herein lies the danger.  ROI is part of calculations used in the cost analysis by many purchasing departments, Chief Purchasing Officers as well Chief Financial Officers.  ROI used by sales persons is just a part of, not the sum total of  the value assessment process and should be presented in that context. If you try to present ROI outside of the value assessment process you could very well become the fool with the tool.

When speaking about the book ROI Selling,  by Michael J. Nick and Kurt M. Koenig, Brian S. Sommers, Vice President, Research Services, Aberdeen Group said " selling tools to top executives is okay as long as the executive is a mechanic. ROI Selling isn't about having an ROI calculation tool. It's about guiding a buyer to a solution that solves a real business problem and keeping them engaged through the benefits delivery."  Value assessment , of which ROI is a component, is a process in which the customer/prospect is a key participant.  To use ROI successfully, as part of that process, the customer/prospect must buy in and participate in that process.  If you have a tool that calculates ROI without that buy in and participation by the customer/ prospect, good luck! and you are a good candidate for being a fool with a tool.

To help you use ROI as  a part of the value assessment process, I suggest the following resources:
1. ROI Selling, the book by Michael J. Nick and Kurt M. Koenig.
2. Pretium Partners,  Columbus, OH, a consulting firm that provides some of  "the best" sales training in the value assessment process. Go to their website http://www.pretiumpartners.com/ and sign up for their free webinars and the email delivered newsletter "Sharpen Your Edge."
3.Alinean,  http://www.alinean.com/ value messaging , interactive tools and training for today's more skeptical, frugal buyer.

The Evolution of Questions in Selling

One of the most important skills in selling is questioning! With the advent of The Challenger Sale by Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson the importance of questioning seemingly diminished.  They positioned that the questioning, typically used in the needs diagnosis/discovery phase of the typical consultative sale provided little value to the customer and prospect and led to a condition they called "questioning fatigue."  They proposed that successful sales people, like the  challenger profile, shared insight with the prospect.  The discovery was not conducted with questions but rather with what they called "hypotheses." The research of the Challenger was so compelling that many of us in an attempt to change to its insight principles "threw the baby out with the  bath water.".  The subsequent writing of Linda Richardson puts it best in her latest book Changing The Sales Conversation, when she writes: "It is the combination of questions and insights that is one of the distinguishing marks of the new sales conversation." It might be useful to look at the evolution of questions in selling to see how we got to this point.

The earliest sales conversations used closed ended questions or those that could be simply answered by 1 or 2 word answers such as yes or no.  This occurred frequently up until the 1970's because before this time sales conversations were heavily scripted and closed ended questions stayed with the script.  In the 70's sales leaders such as Neil Rackham and and Linda Richardson  introduced SPIN Selling and consultative selling which introduced the use of open ended questions.  Rackham in SPIN Selling introduced a progression of questions: Situation questions, Problem questions, Implication  questions and Need- Payoff questions that helped the client/prospect discover the value of the product/solution.  Richardson's consultative approach also used a variety of questions open as well as closed .  The SPIN, consultative, solution selling was very successful through the 70's, 80's, 90's and the 2000's.  With the world financial crisis, starting in 2008, the world of selling turned upside down.  The techniques that had worked so well for the previous  four decades no longer were effective.  Enter The Challenger Sale research, in 2012, by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), which, as we stated earlier, talked of questioning fatigue and replaced questions with hypotheses and insights.

Also we have now seen a new type of question introduced, the disruptive question.  The disruptive question is just that one that is disruptive.  It is designed to move the prospect out of their comfort zone.  For a prospect to buy they have to be in the proper mindset.  They must believe the problem/challenges introduced in the insight are real and affect them.  You need to emotionally connect with the buyer.  The disruptive question is often the first step in this process. Typical disruptive questions start with why or how.

Since 2012 the subsequent writings of Linda Richardson and the research by the RAIN group in, Insight Selling Selling : Surprising Research on What Winners Do Differently by Mike Schultz and John Doerr, the reactive changes we made as a result of The Challenger have been softened .  Solution selling and questioning are not "dead."  However, they have been modified by what we learned from the Challenger research.  The key point is that we,as sellers in this new age, must show insight, unique ways of looking at situations/problems.  Questioning is fine as long as it is coupled with that insight and creates value for the customer/prospect.

For a more detailed look a The Evolution of Questioning in Selling go to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rNy5AyQEQQ

The Importance of Teaching and "Clock Speed" in Today's Selling

Since the publishing of The Challenger Sale in 2012, teaching has been highlighted as a key skill of effective salespeople.  The whole insight selling approach focuses on "tell me something that I don't already know about my business. "  How this insight is communicated to the prospect is all about teaching.  Brent Adamson and Matt Dixon talk about teaching as one of the three key attributes of the Challenger Seller (Teach, Tailor and Take Control)  More specifically they talk about "commercial teaching," and they say commercial teaching is more than just teaching the prospect/customer something they did not know about their business (an insight).  It is doing so in a way "that reliably leads to commercial wins."  To do so they say" commercial teaching has four rules:'

1. 'Lead to your unique strengths
2. Challenge customers assumptions
3. Catalyze action
4. Scale across customers"

Subsequent research and writing has reinforced this key concept.  Linda Richardson, in her latest book Changing The Sales Conversation,  actually suggests a balanced teaching approach not a "commercial" one or leading one. She does add that your example insight should be backed up with data, experience and financial return and you must communicate the contrast between the new approach and the status quo.  This is similar to the "reframing" that Adamson and Dixon talk about in "challenge customers assumptions.".

In Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently, Schultz and Doerr of the Rain Group talk of Convincing as on of their three qualities of  Insight Seller (Connect, Convince and Collaborate) Convincing is very similar to what Dixon and Adamson refer to as commercial teaching.

So we can now say that the ability to teach is a key attribute of today's effective salesperson.  However before you can teach you must first be able to learn.  The Gartner Group has a term for this very effective skill they call it "clock speed."  Learning is such a key ingredient, in today's information age,that you must not only be able to learn, but you must be able to do it quickly.  

When you are evaluating the skills of your sales force or hiring new salespeople be sure you measure their clock speed and their ability to teach.

Creating a Social Profile for a Salesperson

Why should you, as a salesperson, think about creating a social profile? First of all, whether you have created one or not, you already have one.  Google your name and you might be quite surprised at what you find!  One of the first things you do before calling on a prospect or client is to look them up on social media.  Don't you think they do the same for you?  You want to be sure what they find paints a positive, professional image.

Professional is critical.  You want a professional brand that reflects positively on you.  To do this be sure you keep your private social self limited to your family and friends and the public persona you will create is the professional one.

 Let's look at the typical functions of social media connections:

1. Connecting is the new prospecting.  Your professional connections become the key to prospective clients.So you want to grow your network with quality additions.  More is not always better. People you let in your network have access to others in your network and reflect on you.
2. Sharing key information with your professional  network about your industry, your company, your competitors and with your clients and prospects is a key function of social media.  Sending valuable information to your clients and prospect improves and grows your professional brand.  Make sure you do not overload your prospects and clients with information.  Make sure it is valuable and will be perceived by them as such
3.  Discussing the information you share with valuable comment and insight can also grow your professional brand.  When you share a link to an analyst insight you can highlight, with a comment, what you think is critical to them about the insight.  This grows your brand!
4. Publishing is your opportunity to weigh in on issues, trends happenings etc.  It can be small to start, Twitter- 140 characters but can grow to blogs and then larger content vehicles such as YouTube or iTunes (podcasting) 

How to begin: (a sample professional social profile for a sales professional)

1. Connect with Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube and Blogger
2. Use LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to Share valuable content with your clients and prospects.
3. Discuss valuable content with your comments though Linkedin and Twitter
4. Publish and Share with  Linkedin, Twitter and if you wish to take deeper dives YouTube and Blogger ( for example Twitter could be your headline, Blogger could post your overview and YouTube or Itunes for content deep dives.

Good Luck and Prepare to Win!

For a deeper dive into this subject please go to YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv9w4vSYDTM

Connecting: Relationship Selling is Alive and Well!

The Challenger Sale, in 2012,  heralded in a new age of selling, not based upon the relationship/solution selling  model that has become the defacto standard for the last two decades, but rather one that is focused on "challenging" the prospect with "disruptive questions" leading to "insight".  An article, in the summer of 2012, in the Harvard Business Review, announced the "end of solution sales." In the succeeding years sales forces shelved relationship selling and abandoned principles of solution selling.  As Lee Corso is so famous for saying on College Gameday, "not so fast, my friend!"

Books by Linda Richardson, Changing The Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate and Close and Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr , Insight Selling : Surprising Research on What Winners Do Differently suggest that we may have been premature in "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."  In fact both   say "connecting" as the first step in selling.  Yes, connecting as in relationships, but instead of relationships based on  mundane tasks such as getting donuts or filling out purchasing forms for buyers the relationships/connections, are based upon value.  Specifically the value that the solution delivers to the individual  customer.  That value is quantified and the risks of solution are mitigated.  Doerr and Schultz suggest that the relationships in relationship selling and in insight selling are formed at different times.  In traditional relationship selling the relationship is made at the beginning. You establish the relationship and then you make the sale.  In insight selling the relation comes after you deliver value.  In other words the relationship is based upon the value you deliver.  Until you deliver value there is no relationship.

This brings us back to Connecting.  In sales today Connecting is the new prospecting.  Instead of prospecting we connect with prospects.  This connection is done through social media and again is based upon the value you deliver.   For more detail regarding this subject please go to my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stK2sgq_Sik

 My next blog will discuss a strategy for sales people to connect through social media.  Until then "Prepare to win!"

Something Old and Something New!, Prospecting with Insight!

I'm sure many of you have heard that: " prospecting is now old fashioned you and should instead be "connecting" through social media."  I don't know about you, but I have a blog, a Twitter account and a presence on LinkedIn and new business is not exactly breaking down my door.  The bottom line is prospecting or if you want "connecting" is still a basic fundamental discipline of effective selling.  I was reminded of this as I listened to the In The Arena podcast of  S.Anthony Iannarino where he interviewed Mike Weinberg  the author of New Sales. Simplified. which was published by AMACOM  in 2013.

Mr. Weinberg is known for being a hunter and he reminded me of some old  truths and simple practices to find new business.  Key among them is Prospecting.  He reminded me of the very simple discipline required of every successful seller.  I had recently fallen into the the trap of blaming a lack of marketing for my lack of new business.  What really was wrong was that I had not blocked time to work on getting the business from the prospects I had prioritized and researched.

So I recommend that you read Mr. Weinberg's book  But then there is the still "something new" that I think you should use to supplement Mr. Weinberg's sage advice.  In your prospecting I recommend you take full advantage of social media.  That you should research your prospects, their industry, their company and their role to discover what insight you can bring to their business, that they did not heretofore know,  and that can help their business.  To assist you I suggest you read Changing the Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate and Close 2015  published by McGraw Hill  and authored by Linda Richardson. She does a particularly good job of showing how to create "insight-led' questions that can help you in your discovery without subjecting your prospect to "questioning fatigue."

To whet your appetite, before committing to buy the books you may want to check out S. Anthony Iannarino's podcast In The Arena.  In separate episodes he speaks to both authors.
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anthony-iannarino/in-the-arena

Episode 25 Mike Weinberg, New Sales. Simplified.
Episode 39 Linda Richardson, Changing The Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate, Close

Beyond the Challenger Sale

Just when we thought "solution selling" and "relationship selling" were "dead" new research by the RAIN Group collected in the book Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What sales Winners Do Differently has proved differently: Since 2012 and the publishing of the Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation  and the subsequent article in the Harvard Business Review proclaiming the death of Solution Selling many companies have re-thought their sales development.  For years they practiced solution selling, consultative sales and relationship building and now all of a sudden these techniques and practices were in question?  Many companies, it turns out, rightfully so, did not throw the baby out with the bath water and abandon these practices.  What we did learn from the Challenger is that delivering "Insight" is key for the salesperson and relationships, not based upon value,  no longer worked. We also learned  customer needs identification based upon a dialogue of multiple questions was not working.  Customers were experiencing  "questioning fatigue."   The Challenger also taught us that the client relies upon the salesperson  teach (a special type of teaching the Challenger calls commercial teaching).

Now in 2014 we have learned more, the effective salesperson of the future has continued to evolve. Work by Linda Richardson (Changing The Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate,  Close) and Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr (Insight Selling: Surprising  Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently) have shown us how to "create" insight, reassured us of the value of relationships and given some techniques to conduct a needs dialogue without putting the client in "question fatigue" and suggestions for "teaching" or "convincing" the clients.

Both of these books are very practical and provide resources to help you engage in this new type of selling and you should read them!  However, below I have included a link to  Anthony Iannarino's  "In the Arena Podcast"  in Episode 40 he interviews Linda Richardson about her book, Changing The Sales Conversation and in Episode 35 he interviews Mike Schultz in regards to his book Insight Selling.  Both of these are about 30 minutes long and provide a great window into the books.

http://thesalesblog.com/blog/category/in_the_arena_podcast/