How To Cultivate And Manage Your Accounts

Ok, you’ve located the prospect, qualified the lead, made the contact, secured the appointment, made the presentation, presented the proposal and finally closed the sale.

You now have a customer; that is someone who has done some business with you.

But now what do you do?

How do you turn that customer into a loyal CLIENT?

Understand this: creating long-term client relationships is not as easy as it once may have been.

Today’s consumers are sophisticated, educated, savvy buyers who have a whole world of information at their fingertips.

Add the fact that your competition has become fiercer and are constantly trying to “buy” your customers and the result is buyers who are far less loyal then in the past and stand ready to “trade up” the moment you miss a beat.

You must know how to build “relationships” and become an integral partner in such that you transcend the lure of a discount.

In reviewing your account base for more business remember three words: Care, Cultivate and Consult!

Care – for the Customer

The dictionary definition for “to care” means to be concerned.

The first thing you must do is demonstrate that you are concerned; you care for your customer and their business.

Note the word I used was “demonstrate” and not “talk about.”

You can tell the customer how much you care but you have do actually show that in what you do. How often do you call to ensure their needs are met?

Not to see if you can get another order; but to see if you can be of SERVICE?

As you work with your base, you want to contact your customers and show that your concern for their well being and success goes beyond the commission you already spent.

Send an email asking new questions, continuing to sell your services and the fact that you are always available.

“Hi Miss Customer; of course you know we sell software solutions, but I noted the last time I was there that you were having some problems with your file and print servers. I was just wondering if I may be of some help.”

Let your customer know that you are there to assist even in areas were you do not get paid to do so. Keep notes in your CRM database, keep your eyes open for industry news that may apply to the customer and ask questions.

Listen, you did things like this when you were trying to impress the prospect to get the first sale—now keep it up!

Cultivate – the Relationship

Most sales people believe that the way you cultivate and build a relationship is to go out of your way to become drinking buddies or golfing partners with your customers and while such may sometimes be the end result, it is not the path.

The correct path to a deep relationship is to continually provide valuable services, solve problems and become a close “partner” to your customer.

By doing this, the personal relationship will automatically develop—but it will be sincere! Look, people are not going to remain loyal to you just because you sent a bottle of scotch or ‘butter them up’ with false flattery every time you see them. Be sincere and help them.

“Mr. New Customer, I came across this article on international mortgage rates and I know you are looking for a new location, so I thought you could use this information…”

A good way to cultivate is to ask the customer to explain and boast about their achievements. As they do this, it gets you deeper in to the company and closer to the client.

“Miss New Customer, since you took over IT at XYZ, you increased efficiency 85% and I am glad I was able to help with our software solutions. But I would really be interested to know how you overcame so many other challenges like high turn over at the help desk. Could I buy you lunch and…”

Consult – Always

Continue to be a consultant, which means to give advice; to be a counselor, industry authority and mentor.

“Mr. Customer, there is a conference next week on international shipping; it might be a good idea if your shipping manager could be there.”

“Mrs. Customer, I know you have a booth at the upcoming convention and I would like to give your sales team a few extra tips on using our CRM that will help them maximize the amount and quality of the leads they capture…”

For solid account management: Show you care. Cultivate and broaden the relationship and continue to be a consultant.

Until the next time, take care of yourself and happy selling!

Sean

PS If you want to improve the performance of your sales people please click on the link below and send me an enquiry:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/enquiry.html or please give me a call on 0800 849 6732

_______________________________

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Here’s a great question that Paola sent me a couple of weeks ago:

“How do you keep your spirits up when you are going through a bit of a rough patch and every potential deal seems to be falling through for reasons beyond your control?”

That is a very good question and one that takes a bit of maturity in the profession of sales to even recognize and admit. Often, it is the old school mind set sales people have in that you should just “not take things personally,” and just “stay positive and smile and dial.” That attitude of denial to the fact that sometimes things are not as well as they could be is what causes burn-out in our industry. So, I congratulate you on seeing a need to do something to help keep your head straight when things seem to spiral out of your control. Let’s face it, just by “thinking” positive will not change the facts on the ground; sometimes no matter what you do, you will have that week or month when everyone seems to say no, financing falls out of place or sales go down the tubes for the most ridiculous reasons. So what do you do?

Don’t get me wrong; I believe in the power of positive thinking. However, all of that positive thinking must be followed by positive action. As a sales professional you need a few tangible, physical actions that you can take to help you keep your spirits up. Here is an action; a physical thing you can do that will help you maintain a positive attitude under any circumstances.

Set short-term activity goals and targets. You see, normally all sales goals and related targets are all based on one thing: the SALE. All of our hard work, self worth, everything we are, we judge based on the amount of sales. Therefore, when sales are low—that’s it—everything is low!

However, you have to realise that the sale is only the end result of a long sales process and system. The sale in fact is only a small “PART” of a sales process and does not exist on its own. You can’t make a sale without a certain number of appointments, or seeing a number of qualified prospects. You can’t make a sale without a certain number of calls or emails or closing attempts. All of these activities are actually part of a sale and they pay you regardless of the outcome of each individual sale. In other words, if you have a closing average of 20%; that is you close one out of every five closing attempts, then the four that you do not close, actually have a value. They have a value of 1/5th of the average sale. When you walk out of one that you did not sell, you actually earned 1/5th or 20% of the commission that you will earn on the one that you do sell. You see what I mean? Those four are PART of the sale. You can find more on how this works on articles and material at MTD on the Science of Selling (SOS).

But in the mean time set those smaller activity goals; set 10 more appointments, send out 20 more emails, set a goal to increase your closing average on the phone to set appointments. Set a goal to get two more accounts to the proposal stage. When you set these short-term activity goals and reach them, then even when the end results are slow in coming, you will see tangible, verifiable progress and that will keep your head on track.

Happy Selling!

Thanks Again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Here’s another great question I received this week:

“At trade events/exhibitions etc, how do you approach people without sounding like a real “sales” person?”

Wow! I like this question and I am surprised I do not get it more often. It is very easy to come across to attendees at these events like a Monty Hall, lets-make-a-deal pitchman with a bunch of cheesy lines. This is a very overlooked area of the sales profession and really requires skill and practice. In fact, I think I may create a class or CD set dedicated just to training on how to handle trade shows. Anyway, let me see if I can summarise a couple of the most important points:

(a) Be very careful of the appearance of your display both, contents and backdrop. The first thing to do in eliminating that cheesy approach is to make sure that you do not have a cheesy stand. Now, I understand the need to attract attention and even to “impulse” people, but come on—some go way overboard with this. If you have clowns at your stand and you are giving away cars, how can you NOT come on like a circus ringleader? Stay professional and invest in a high-level display backdrop. They can be expensive, but if you attend more than one of these a year and they are a main source of leads for you, then get the best. Also, be careful not to put too much on the table as far a written material. Often companies have a dozen pieces of paper all with a thousand lines of text resembling “technical white-papers.” You need to have a few brochures that are very clear and that can convey a simple, readily understandable message from arms length.

(b) Don’t bum-rush people. When people stop and begin to look at your table, give them a moment. Watch their eyes and have patience and confidence. Often sales people are too afraid that if they don’t start yapping the moment someone pauses that they will loose them. Assume a more relaxed, cordial atmosphere.

(c) Create your own referrals. This is a powerful technique I use that works wonders. First have at least two of you: one stationed at your booth and one who mingles all around the event. As you walk around, almost like one of the attendees, simply meet people as you would if you were not an exhibitor; after all, that is what it is all about–meeting people. Just introduce yourself as you walk around. Stop and meet other exhibitors as well. Then after a short simple greeting, you pass out a card or a brochure to the person with, “Hey, when you get a chance, stop by our stand over on isle 16….” Now when those people stop by, in a sense, you know them! Now it is a “warm call” because you already meet in another area. I could talk about this for a long time, but I think you can get the gist of the idea.

(d) Have a good “hook” question. You want to design a question: one simple question that will get people to ask you a question, in turn. You need to look at the benefits your product offers; turn that around into what problems people suffer from when they do not have your product, and ask that question to people. You see, first of all asking a question is a far better approach than making any type of statement. A person pauses at your stand and looks at a few articles on your table. Instead of, “Hi, Sir! How are you? We are Acme Water Purification Products! Are you familiar with us?” This is the standard type of approach. Instead when that person pauses, try something like this: “Hello. Did you know that the average business owner loses about £6,000 a year due to the damaging effect of regular tap water?” “Uh?!: What do you mean?” Bingo!! Find a well designed question that you can ask that will uncover a problem that your product solves and ask that question to the attendees.

Happy Exhibiting

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Wednesday of this week I came out with a kool idea for a postcard marketing campaign and we needed to move fast…

Our designers got the postcards designed within hours and we called up our suppliers who we’ve been with for 4 years to see if they could print them quickly ready for Monday - “No problem they respond with”

I just got a call form them saying that all 16,000 of the cards are printed and ready to be dispatched.

Great job I say. Then they say “We need payment in full before we send them to you”

“But I need them for Monday as agreed” I said

“No payment, no cards” they replied with

Now, my accounts team are actually on an away day today. I’ve bit the bullet and paid for them to go rock climbing and all that stuff! So we can’t make any payments until Monday.

“I’ve been a customer of yours for 4 years and spent thousands with you” I said. “Can’t you just send them and we’ll pay you on Monday when they are back in”

“No” and then came those lovely 3 words that goes against everything I believe in:

“It’s company policy”

So was it company policy 2 years ago when they cocked up big time but I gave them a second chance? Was it company policy when they couldn’t grasp a design due to a new member of staff starting on our designs and there was a 2 week delay in the output?

I hate that term. Sure, there have to be rules and I appreciate that but whatever happended to trust?

I’ve paid them thousands over the years and now I will most likely move the MTD account. You see it’s MTD’s company policy to work with like minded suppliers!

So what are the lessons about my Friday rant?

Trust can go a long way to help you to cement building relationships. Why? Well, because there is none out there that’s why!

Trust means a lot to me and it means a lot to your clients too. They’ll love you for it if you can demonstrate it.

You need to pick who to trust though. The way that I was treated was as though I was going to do a runner!

Well, after I receive this lot of postcards I am….straight to one of their competitors!

Okay, rant over.

Just make it easy for your customers to so business with you!

Sean (I’m getting off my soap box) McPheat

Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
www.mtdsalestraining.com

Phew, what a scorcher today was!

So we decided to go to our local garden centre to have a wonder around and we ended up in the conservatory section!

My 2 year old daughter and I were looking at some plants and I look around and find my wife talking to a salesman about a conservatory. I wish I could sell to my wife!

Anyhow, I make a sharp dash over to join her before she sells the family jewellery and to my amazement they are talking figures!

GULP

To my surprise when I walk into the “showhome conservatory” I am hit by the heat. I could hardly breathe and my daughter starts to get uncomfortable. It was seriously hot. I had a major dab on!

Forcing my way into the negotiation part of the proceedings I ask “So are all of your conservatories as stuffy as this?”

The salesperson replied “Oh no sir. Yours would be a lot cooler”

“Why?” I replied “If you are trying to sell these at 15k a pop for the size we wanted why would the one on show be worse than the one we would buy?”

The salesperson was stumped.

Sales are made based on emotion backed up with logic. If I’d have walked into the showroom to find a very cool, inviting conservatory then I’d have felt good because it was 30 degrees outside. It would have stirred an emotion and the odds of me buying would have gone up considerably.

The fact that I was not impressed with the heat inside the room, the fact that I was sweating as the salesperson was talking to me did not give me a great feeling.

“Would you like to put down a deposit sir” he asked

“No, I’ll think about it” I replied

How many of your prospects say that to you?

The fact is, I didn’t trust what the salesperson was saying through my experience and I needed to find out more information. I need to find out:

1. Are they all as hot as that?
2. Was it just that brand that was boiling?
3. What else is out there?

The conditions that the salesperson had to work in were awful. It would have been like a sales person selling a freezer only to get an ice-cream from it that was nearly all melted.

Not good.

Set yourself up for selling in the right way. Our sales training would never have allowed all of the mistakes to happen and at 15k price just image how much lost revenue that company is experiencing?

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
www.mtdsalestraining.com

How regular do you think sales meetings should be organised? Should they be Individual or collective?

People tend to have two chains of thought on this, and I am glad to see this question as it tells me you have not automatically bought into either of those standard chains of thought.

While some managers believe that sales meetings can be a huge waste of time and therefore usually have too few; others believe that sales meetings are important but tend to have too many. Which is right?

There are a lot of factors that go into figuring out the best sales meeting set up for each company and situation, so I will give you the foundation and you can design a plan that best fits your organization.

You want to base the sales meeting schedule and structure on three things:

1. Your sales model; your overall selling cycle
2. The geographical and logistical parameters of your sales operation
3. The overall sales experience of your sales force

Your sales model; selling cycle: Let’s say that your sales model is such that an above average sales person should do five presentations or closing attempts every day (five days a week) and should close one sale everyday or five sales a week. In this case, I would meet with the entire sales crew everyday. Have short sales meetings to start their day, paying accolades to those who sold the previous day, correcting mistakes and motivating them to go out in the field again. You can then hold a longer, more strategic company or regional sales meeting once a month.

However, if your sales cycle is such that sales people complete only one sales presentation per week and close one sale a month, then you might meet once a week, with a more detailed sales meeting celebrating closed sales once a month and a quarterly regional meeting. You see what I mean? Figure out how often sales people should close sales and meet around those times.

The geographical and logistical parameters of your sales operation: Now with what I said above, we have to realize how geography and other logistic play into the situation. Perhaps your model is to close one sale everyday, but your sales people are spread around the county and you can not possibly see them everyday? In a case like this, I would have each sales person call me at the end of each day for a brief personal one-on-one sales meeting via telephone and hold the weekly sales meeting.

The overall sales experience of your sales force: However, in addition to the above, you have to also consider the experience level of the sales team. If they are very experience people who have been with the firm a number of years and work well independently, perhaps you scale down the weekly or personal meetings. On the other hand, with a younger less experienced sales team you might want to meet everyday, plus have a big weekly meeting and sales training session, PLUS meet with sales people individually, going out with them in the field, coaching and training them constantly.

So first, meet around the time that sales should close, your sales cycle. Then take into consideration the logistics and finally make adjustments depending on experience level. I hope this helps!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Looking for sales training?
Call 0800 849 6732

Three Motivating Factors for Your Sales Team

Motivating a Sales Team is mission critical to successes. However, it is very easy for a sales manager to THINK that he or she is sufficiently motivating the team simply because no one offers any objection or criticism. Since the sales team is not complaining, I must be doing everything right? Wrong.

Now in answering this question, let me say that it may not be what you or anyone else expects to hear. When I talk about motivating a sales team I am NOT talking about some rah-rah pep rallies or how to say the right thing or how to lead a sales meeting that fires people up. No. I am talking about real, tangible and structural processes and things that you need to do on the ground that help sales people aspire to achieve more and become the best that they can be.

Here are three main motivators for your Sales Team. Concentrate on these, and the rest will take care of themselves!

Let your sales team know that the company cares. Contrary to popular belief, the primary motivating factor for sales people is NOT the money. While it is true that most sales people originally join the organisation they work with primarily due to the lure of money, the fact is they STAY because they feel the company cares about them—personally. Demonstrate to your sales team that you deeply care for them; their personal welfare, their success. Let them know that you put their success BEFORE yours and the company’s, and they will stay motivated.

Frankly, that is how every Sales Manager should feel anyway. Think about it: If they fail, you and the company fail. Their success does come before YOURS! When Sales people feel like the company puts the bottom line before them; when they feel that the firm only cares about the money and that they are expendable—no amount of money or anything else will motivate them to reach high levels of success. Number one—let them know you care. How do you do that? It’s real simple—YOU CARE! Demonstrate to the sales team that they are the most important people in the firm. Don’t just talk about it – live it!

Second, treat sales people like the executives they are. Treat your sales team like they are true executives; directors, CEOs and give them the support they need to perform as such. In conjunction with the first rule above, understand that if that sales person does not make a sale, you, the director, the CEO, the founder, the factory, the secretaries, the accounting staff, the development staff—ALL of you are out of a job!! The sales person is the real chief executive—treat them as such. Create a sales support system that allows sales people to do what they get paid to do: SELL.

In an effort to save money, too many organisations pile a bunch of crap and non-sales activity tasks on the sales team. The thought is that you save £25,000 by NOT hiring an administrative person to handle the paperwork. Why not just let the sales people do it? Well, you might save the £25,000 salary of the admin person, but you LOSE a million pounds in the process. Give your sales team sales support to handle those tasks that are not of a selling nature.

And third, in motivating your sales team; PAY THEM FIRST! In most firms the sales structure is such that the sales person gets paid LAST. In other words, the sales person goes out and makes the sales and then a ton of things happen; sometimes it is financing or delivery options or collections or bill payments, or any number of things, but think about this: in the mean time everyone else gets paid ANYWAY!! Everyone gets paid before the SALES PERSON.

Let them know the company cares, treat them like executives and pay them first. After you do those things, then and only then will all of the motivational speeches make sense; pounds and cents!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Looking for sales management training?
Call 0800 849 6732

Sales Managers Need Good Communication Skills

If you’ve been in management for any length of time you will already know it doesn’t take much to cause animosity, resentment or even real distaste with people that you manage simply by answering a question. I mean just by answering a question, you can cause a host of serious problems. You have to remember the old adage, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

The wrong word or the tone you use to deliver the word can cause misunderstandings, ill feeling and resentment, which create barriers that will cost your organisation lots of money, time, employee retention and eventually unsatisfied customers. It is essential that you approach and communicate effectively with your Front Line People.

First, keep in mind that it is extremely easy to inadvertently make people feel belittled or even stupid, when you speak because of your position and experience. When people you supervise feel that you talk “down” to them, it makes them fear talking to you or asking you questions. Then, small problems you thought you’d resolved suddenly spiral out of control, they fester and grow into major obstacles before you know it. So how do you communicate comfortably with people without sounding like the big cheese? Developing effective communication skills requires serious and practice. However, here’s a few tips to avoid making people feel inferior:

Listen.
When someone comes to you with that question you’ve heard and answered a million times. You know! that one you know what they’re going to say before they say it question; do you have a tendency to “cut them off” with an answer that goes something like this “I know what you’re going to say, It’s a stupid question which I’ve answered a thousand times, go away and stop wasting my time”. BIG MISTAKE. What you need to think about is, ‘OK, YES’, I’ve been asked this question lots of times, along with many other questions which I know the answer to before the question is even asked, You know though, no matter how tempting it is to be abrupt and cut them off because you know you have far more important things to do, you must let them talk. Let them get it out, look them in the eye when they ask the question, yes the question maybe one asked many times before but not by them so LISTEN—HEAR IT!

Wait.
When someone comes to you with a question or situation they feel is important, don’t be too quick to answer or provide a solution straight away, let them SPEAK and you LISTEN. You may well have the answer on the tip off your tongue, but slow down, don’t blurt it out, you can gain a lot of respect and credibility by simply delaying the response, wait a second or two and in-between a “yes, that’s a good question”, gives you time to think about the tone and attitude you use to deliver your response. Your response, if well thought out won’t be patronisng or demeaning, instead it will make them feel valued and important and WOW they will even think they’ve asked the BOSS a question he’s had to stop and think about!

Can I get back to you?
Let’s face it though, sometimes we’re too busy to employ such tactics. However, you don’t have to say, “I don’t have time for you now, go away.” You can still build value and camaraderie if you accept and understand that any question is important! You need to get across that ‘YES’ you appreciate the value of the question but in order to give it the attention it deserves you need more time than you have right now to deal with it. As an example, (you don’t want to cut someone off and make them feel un-important so you might say something like;) “Listen, Steve/Sue, I think I know what you’re getting at, and it’s a really good point; which we do need to talk about, but, I need more time to figure it out. I’ve only got a few minutes now so let’s meet first thing Friday and we can give it the attention it really deserves.”

Can you help me?
You can give commands and orders all day long. However, it is often better to ask for help instead. For instance when you have to delegate tasks, especially tedious or labor intensive ones, people can feel “dumped on” They’re at the bottom of the pecking order, the lowest employee, so you dump the worst jobs on them. No one wants to feel worthless and it’s never your intention to make them feel this way, so why not try a different approach and ask for ‘HELP’ with a ‘PROJECT’ it humanises you, ‘the BOSS needs my help Instead of Graham/Ann, make sure you empty the shredders in the accounting department and dispose of the rubbish correctly…” Why not try something more like this: Graham/Ann, I really need your help… You know the shredders in accounts have been down for a few days, there fixed now but there’s a backlog? It’s really important we handle the sensitive information properly, can you make sure it’s disposed of properly? thank you” People respond when asked to ‘HELP’ instead of being ‘TOLD’

Ineffective communication is like a cancer, if it isn’t detected early, it will grow and spread quickly throughout your organisation; directly and indirectly it will cost your company precious time and a lot of money. Effective Communication is a process, and an ‘Effective communication skills will increase productivity, bring down costs, thereby enhancing your bottom line!

Happy Communicating

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com