But really…..asking open ended questions is like table stakes in a poker game; it’s the price of admission and everybody does it.

Using questions effectively is one of the most important skills a sales professional, or a sales leader, can have. It’s also one of the most poorly executed.

Most Sales pros know about:

• Open Ended questions
• Leading Questions
• Probing Questions
• Making a Statement, but disguising it as a question

But one of the most effective, and least well-leveraged is the skill of asking 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th… level questions.

What exactly is a 2^nd or 3^rd level question? It’s actually very simple; I ask you a question (that’s a first level question), you give me an answer, then I ask you a question building off of the answer you just gave me (2^nd level question), you give me another answer, I ask another question building off of that answer (3^rd level)….

This is the natural way that comfortable and meaningful conversation goes in ‘real life. So why not do it in our business life? There are a bunch reasons why this happens, or doesn’t happen – the sales person or leader isn’t curious enough…or doesn’t know how to process the impact of the answer they just received and doesn’t really know what question to ask next…or has fear of feeling like they are interrogating the prospect… There are a myriad of reasons, but frankly, none of them are good enough.

By NOT asking multi-level questions, we are having superficial discussions and we are not engaging the prospect in a meaningful way; we’re just like everybody else.

Most sales reps ask 5 questions when they speak to a suspect or prospect:

B – Do you have budget?

A – Do you have the authority to make a decision?

N – What do you need?

T – When do you need it?

The BONUS QUESTION – Can I have an appointment?

Waaaaaay too often we leave a TON of valuable information on the table because we don’t drill down in levels. Most often, a sales person or leader asks a question; example – “What problem are you trying to solve with this project”? The Prospect answers with something that usually sounds like “My current system no longer gives us what we need”. The most common thing that happens next is that the questions become about ‘What do you need in a new system”?

(Interestingly, most technology sales people and sales leaders ARE comfortable asking multi-level questions when asking about features and capability needs.)

But the real value would come from asking questions like “What, exactly, is it about your current system that is causing you problems”? (2^nd level question) “Why is that happening”? (3^rd level question) “What kinds of business problems is that causing you”? (4^th level question) “How is that affecting you and your company”? (5^th level question).

This doesn’t apply only to sales reps, this applies to sales leaders as well. When we are doing pipeline and forecast and deal reviews with our team members, we should dive in and ask more meaningful questions.

This helps our sales team mates to learn and to ‘see’ things in their sales cycles that they may not have seen before. Also (and if you’re a sales leader and you remember nothing else from this blog, hang on to this piece), every sales rep does some amount of prep work prior to coming into a pipeline / forecast / deal review meeting with you. Most will anticipate 1 or maybe 2 levels of questions you might ask them. If you simply ask a 3^rd level question, you and the sales rep will get much closer to the facts in a deal.

Asking multi-level questions when speaking with prospects, and with each other, helps us to see the situation from different angles and depths. It helps us all to learn and find new issues, new answers. It also helps separate us as sales professionals from the rest of the herd.

Be different. Be curious. Ask ; you’ll be very happy that you did.

This objective is daunting because the standard “discovery/demo” strategy hasn’t changed significantly in the past 20 years whereas prospect  buying strategy most certainly has. Historically, sales professionals and demonstration consultants were inclined to show the majority of a solution’s capabilities as well as all of its differentiating features when attempting to impress prospect stakeholders. This process often resulted in extensive discovery, exhaustive demonstrations, the setting of unreal expectations and a high cost of sale.

This sales strategy was born during a time of legitimate product differentiation, a time, unfortunately, that has largely passed us by. Whether we like it, or agree with it, or not, product parity is a reality in the eyes of the buying community (mystery shop a competitor if you disagree).  Which leads us to one of the primary changes in buying behavior drivers: “Good Enough” has replaced “Best of Breed”.

Failed projects and missed expectations, compounded by a risk-averse buying psychology brought about by a depressed economy, have resulted in a lowering of expectations. Prospects continue to confirm (by voting with their wallet) that projects/solutions that deliver acceptable results with a minimal of risk are preferable to those that promise greater benefits, with elevated risk.

If the task at hand is to increase deal velocity then we must find a way to remove the barriers that prevent prospects from making decisions, and to accomplish that feat we must remove the perception of project risk. Prospect uncertainty always results in increased due diligence and requests for exhaustive and expensive proof activities: 2^nd and 3^rd solution demonstrations, client reference calls or visits and fixed-fee requests; all buy-side strategies for increasing comfort and decreasing the perception of risk.

If prospects are comfortable with “Good Enough” then Partners should be as well. Configuring solutions sets that appeal to this growing buying group and aligning sales process objectives with prospect buying process objectives will bear fruit. Understandingly, not all opportunities are going to fit the “Good Enough” profile, but Partners that define their own unique “Good Enough” solution, based on the industries they serve and the IP they have developed, will be able to quickly qualify/categorize new opportunities into accelerated vs. traditional profiles, and then apply the appropriate sales strategy.

Identifying “Good Enough” opportunity profiles, then executing an accelerated sales process focused on risk reduction, will align Partner sales organizations with the prospect’s buying psychology, and unconsciously predispose them to want to select you as the vendor of choice. And if that strategy fails…..well, I guess you can always do another demo.

For our purposes, ‘strategy’ means that there’s a plan. ‘Tactics’ means that you’re thinking on your feet.

A sales cycle that includes both is much more likely to succeed than a cycle that relies on only one of them.

Tactics make sales fun. Strategy makes sales more predictable.

Here’s the executive summary – do both; and do them both in every sales cycle. Trust me on this; the sales cycle where you (or your rep) believe that the deal is a ‘slam dunk’ and you don’t need to plan it out…you know the one….at some point you’ll all be “standing around the fax” (or the phone, or your computer….or the mail box) waiting to get the good word, but it doesn’t come and you’ll be wondering, ‘what the heck went wrong?’ If you have a plan / strategy, chances are better that you won’t have to answer that question.

Tactics (especially when not accompanied by sound strategy) can get risky.

So the rest of this blog is dedicated to a true and pretty funny story involving sales tactics.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of working at a software company that had the best sales force I’ve ever seen. One of the very best in that group was a guy named Clark. For years a major Eastern-based utility company refused to do business with our company.  The VP of IT hated our company. No matter what anybody tried, nobody could get a meeting with that VP.

That is, until Clark got involved.

Thinking about this still makes me laugh.

Clark took an ace of hearts – from a regular deck of playing cards – and mailed it to the guy in a plain white envelope; no letter, no nothing. A week later he sent the ace of diamonds.  A week after that the ace of clubs. On the 4^th week he showed up at the guy’s door step and asked to see him. The gate keeper asked if he had an appointment. Clark said “No ma’am,” So she asked, “Whom may I say is calling”. Clark said “Tell him it’s the Ace of Spades”.

The guy came out just because he HAD TO see who this guy was. Within a quarter, Clark closed a significant deal with that company.

This is true.

There is a pretty funny epilogue to this story.

A few years later we had hired a new, young sales rep. I can’t remember her name. She was nice and she tried hard. She had heard of Clark’s story so she decided to try it herself on a particularly tough account. She did the exact same things Clark did. But, when she showed up at the Prospect’s office the guy panicked and called security! They escorted her out of the building. The Prospect had become so freaked out about the mysterious cards, he thought that somebody was out to get him!

This really is a true story.

So, tactics can be fun, but don’t rely entirely on them. Happy selling!

During my MBA I don’t recall being taught how to effectively manage or implement organizational change, nor have I seen many practical change management workshops designed specifically for business owners or senior managers of SMB companies. So how do we implement change effectively? What are the secrets to success?

I suspect that, like me, as a business executive, you have relied primarily on gut intuition, combined with practical, logical reasoning to determine how best to drive change through your organization. The unfortunate truth is that up to 70% of change efforts fail or get de-railed (Blanchard researchers Pat Zigarma and Judd Hoestrka). So here are some key required elements critical to successfully creating change in your organization and ensuring that the returns and outcomes you are expecting are actually realized.

Scare Them A Bit.

Unfortunately, the majority of the human race is inherently lazy. We like to be COMFORTABLE! We don’t LIKE to change without meaningful motivation. Politely asking people to change and expecting results is both overly optimistic and somewhat naive. With any change initiative you have to overcome the issues of complacency and comfort associated with continuing to do things the way they are currently being done. Ask yourself honestly, why should your team change? It’s not enough to create a logical business case, or pragmatic argument, using numbers and facts. You have to appeal to their emotions. At our core there are only two truly effective motivating forces: pain and pleasure. All of our behaviors are driven by either avoidance of pain or pursuit of pleasure, which makes fear a great motivator for change.

When was the last time you committed to a weight loss or exercise program? For many it was after a failed relationship, a health scare or an unexpected weight gain. Unpleasant as it might be, fear very effectively drives change, so identify the threat your organization is facing and make sure your entire team understands it, and how it will impact them personally. Ask them, “What will happen if the organization doesn’t change? If current results/behavior/production doesn’t change, what is the natural long-term outcome?” Create a sense of urgency with logic, analysis, charts and graphs but understand these are intellectual motivators. Appeal to their emotions first. As unfortunate as it may sound, a healthy dose of legitimate fear will produce the engagement you need far quicker than logic will.

I Don’t Care If You Are The Owner, Don’t Make The Change Alone.

Many times I hear; I’m the owner or boss; I make the decisions and want to be in charge, in control. While you certainly can drive change alone, it will take much longer and it won’t secure everyone’s buy in; which is critical to the effectiveness of the change process. You need well respected individuals and influencers behind the change to ensure broad based buy in. Identify your top performers and organizational leaders, and then get THEM to help communicate and drive the change. You can’t ram change down people’s throats and expect them to sustain the change long term. If you want to roll out a CRM system internally for example, take your top 2 sales people out of the field for a few weeks and have them demonstrate and teach others how to improve their sales by using the system. Your sales team will believe them more than you, and consequently they are far more likely to embrace rather than resist the change!

Plan For Resistance

It is unlikely you will get everyone in your organization engaged and supporting your change. Every change, no matter how small, will stimulate resistance. Why? Because people have to be prepared to let go of something (a belief, a process, an expectation) in order to do things in a new way. Let’s say, for example, that you reorganize your company and promote an individual; better title, more responsibility, larger span of control and a salary increase. Your expectation is that the employee should be happy, grateful and excited. Why would they possibly resist?

Intellectually they buy into the change and see the logical argument that this transition is positive for both themselves and the company. YET, at an emotional level, they are being asked to stretch outside of their comfort zone. Perhaps they feel they will be giving up some of their freedom, or feel overwhelmed by the increase in stress and pressure that comes with more responsibility. They may not feel they have the required skills to be successful and are afraid of looking or feeling incompetent until they learn the new job. Yes, they are “happy” and buy into the change on the outside… but they will likely feel fearful and emotional on the inside and subsequently resist this change, at a conscious or unconscious level.

Anticipate and plan for resistance, no matter how insignificant (or disruptive) the change and you won’t find yourself caught off guard or feel overly frustrated when there is a reaction. Identify a list of what you are asking people to give up as well as the benefits they will enjoy (which you will use to sell them on the change), then communicate clearly that you understand and acknowledge what they are losing in the process. Everyone needs time to let go before fully embracing a new way of being; it’s simply human nature.

As sales pros we get to meet and work with all kinds of people…and often we are blessed to find things that we can laugh about, and things that stick with us for a long time.

As sales people and leaders, we’ve all heard a few witticisms that stick with us.  Some of them weren’t devised with sales in mind, but they hit home in our world.

If you have some to share, please send them my way.  We could all use a thoughtful word….or a good chuckle. Even if it’s a rueful chuckle.

Here are a few of my favourites.

• “People are best convinced by reasons they themselves discover.” ~ Voltaire…. (author’s note – The best way to make a ‘sale’ is to ask questions that lead the other party to coming up with the answers you are trying to convey).
• “The big deals make you famous – for a little while – all the little deals keep you employed.” ~ Clark Hunter. (author’s note – For the Elephant Hunters out there.)
• “The things you say you know – but you don’t do – are the things that you don’t know.” ~ George Brown (CEO at Salesworks Systems).
• “You’d rather look GOOD and LOSE, than look BAD and WIN”. ~ Woody Harrelson to Wesley Snipes in ‘White Men Can’t Jump’. (author’s note – Sales is about reaching the goal, but some people are OK with failing, as long as they have a good story….. or a ‘reason’ for why they failed.)
• “If you win every deal that you compete in, then you aren’t competing in enough deals”. ~ Mike Guido (former Senior VP Sales at Computer Associates).
• “Yes I agree that having a sales process is important…in most cases…but in THIS territory, things are different”. ~  Spoken by every sales person that is not making quota.
• “Ask me for anything else, but don’t ask me for more time”. ~ Napoleon (author’s note: selling $2,000,000 in software is EASY…but selling $2,000,000 of software in a year is a tad more challenging. We all have quotas and we need to deliver in a certain period of time).
• “I’ve had lots of troubles in my life, and most of them have never happened”.  ~ Mark Twain (author’s note – sometimes as sales professionals, we get hung up on things we don’t need to get hung up on.)
• “When in doubt DO SOMETHING”. (author’s note, I don’t remember who said this to me the first time, but you’ve gotta admit, that taking some action is better than sitting there and waiting for things to happen to us.)
• “Are we managing the Sale cycle, or we servicing the Buying cycle”? (author’s note – I don’t recall where this concept occurred to me originally. As Sales Pros, if we’re just helping the Prospect buy something they were likely to buy anyway, then we aren’t really ‘selling’, are we?)
• “ ‘Hell’, is ‘other people’ ”. ~ Sartre
• Definition of Insanity – Doing something the same way, and always expecting a different result.
• “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them.” ~ Albert Einstein.
• “Do not let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do”.  ~ John Wooden
• “Leadership is action, not position”. ~ Donald H. McGannon
• “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries”. ~ James A. Michener
• “Let me tell you the secret that has led to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity”. ~ Louis Pasteur.
• “What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence”. Samuel Johnson.
• “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
• “All know the way; few actually walk it.” ~ Bodhidharma
• “Vision without Action is a daydream. Action without Vision is a nightmare.” ~ Japanese Proverb
• “An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied”. ~ Arnold Glasgow.
• “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”. ~ Henry Ford.

1. NEGATIVE OUTCOME

The Recovering Sales Leader often reacts to missing their numbers (The Negative Outcome) with shock and denial.

The denial allows them to cling to Hope as a strategy – as in “I hope that if I refuse to accept it, it won’t be true”.

As a strategy, it also helps the recovering Sales Leader to avoid dealing with the full realization of what just happened.

As a Rule Of Thumb, this period of shock and denial often lasts until the Recovering Sales Leader must present the results and their Recovery Plan to the Board, or until they receive their End of Quarter pay stub.

2. CATATONIA

Numbed disbelief…then, as the shock begins to fade, it’s replaced by unbearable pain, mingled with a liberal dose of guilt.

The guilt extends to include thoughts of the things the recovering Sales Leader did or didn’t do with/for their Sales team. The Recovering Sales Leader can often be overheard muttering sotto voce: “Did I pay enough attention?”, “Did I provide the team with the right guidance and coaching?”, etc.

This stage conjures plenty of scary feelings and inevitably, polishing up the resume.

3. ANGER & BARGAINING

At this stage, the Recovering Sales Leader begins to exhibit some of the Type-A personality that makes them a competitor. As the guilt and self loathing subside, they are replaced by the question, “Why is this happening to me?”.

The Recovering Sales Leader begins to lash out, with their head on a swivel, looking for people and places to lay blame for their miss. The usual suspects in the Blame Game list include – The Unreasonable Boss, The Never Do Well Sales Team, The Slow-To-Act Legal Department, The Never-Gives-Us-Enough-Good-Leads Marketing Department or The Always Ridiculous Budgeting Process.

While this is a time to release pent up emotion, it’s a good idea for the Recovering Sales Leader to be careful not to do or say anything that they’ll live to regret.  It can be awfully difficult to keep your dignity while trying to extricate both of your feet from your mouth.

This is also the stage where the Recovering Sales Leader will often try to bargain their way out of the situation – “I promise that I will never drink again, if you just give me a do-over on last quarter”.

Well, why not? This is a Sales Leader we’re talking about and it’s in their blood to negotiate.

4. DEPRESSION, REFLECTION, LONELINESS

Now the Recovering Sales Leader realizes the extent of their loss at missing the quarterly numbers. The Recovering Sales Leader begins to isolate themselves as they are consumed by their feelings of despair. The Recovering Sales Leader begins to wonder out loud: “Why do I do this?”, “Maybe I should just go back to being a rep – I’d make more money, work a lot less and my time would be my own.”, etc.

The Recovering Sales Leader’s teammates, family, and friends try to pull the despondent, Recovering Sales Leader out of their funk. But, truth is…they should just let the Recovering Sales Leader chill out, because the next stage means that everybody is going to have to work harder.

So if you are on this Sales Leader’s team, enjoy this stage while it lasts.

5. HOPE (REAL HOPE….THE UPWARD TURN)

Uh oh! The Recovering Sales Leader makes the adjustment to accepting that they truly are behind The Quota Eight Ball, but they realize that they can do something about it. The Recovering Sales Leader decides that this is not a place he/she wants to be very often or for very long.

The Recovering Sales Leader becomes more organized and calm. The gleam returns to his/her eyes and although it drives the people around them crazy, the Recovering Sales Leader can be heard humming the Rocky theme song everywhere they go.

6. ACTION

The gleam in the Recovery Sales Leader’s eyes becomes a fire and he/she sees realistic solutions to the challenges before their team. The Sales Leader meets with the other stakeholders to devise a strategy for success and the plan to carry it through.

7. CHOICE & EXECUTION

Get outta the way! We know what to do, how to do it and who needs to do it.

We have deals to close and behinds to kick.

Monday morning Sales Meeting is at 8:00 A.M., sharp!

Oh…and bring your up-to-date forecast.

If this sounds extreme consider that a hiring mistake costs the average Partner between $80,000 – $120,000 in salary & expenses, EXCLUDING the $900,000 (average) of sales opportunities lost over the 9-16 months an organization retains an underperforming revenue (non) contributor.

Given the economic ramifications of an ineffective hire, it is imperative that the candidate selection bears fruit, yet there are a number of factors that complicate and undermine the process:

1. Business owners and inexperienced sales managers don’t know what to look for in a “qualified” candidate beyond a history of selling business applications.

2. There are an abundance of sales professionals whose best sales efforts surface solely during the interview cycle, and whose largest paychecks come in the form of a severance check.

3. There is a belief in the channel that sales professionals coming from tier 1 ERP/CRM providers are better trained and more effective than their channel counterparts; which is not the case.

4. The technology industry is littered with sales professionals that maintain a distorted view of their own capabilities and worth.

5. Buying behavior and buyer psychology have changed radically over the past three years resulting in the need for a radically different candidate profile.

6. Previous accomplishments are not always an indicator of future success.

With evolving buying criteria and an increased focus on business case development, we cannot afford to make the wrong hiring choice.  Sales professionals that cannot secure access to and then develop peer relationships with senior business executives are doomed to a consistent string of 2^nd place finishes.

Reading The Resume

The first step in the candidate selection process is identifying high-potential candidates based on their resumes. Building on the “how we do one thing is how we do everything” theme, there are some obvious and glaring show-stoppers that will jump out of the page.

The following show-stoppers should immediately disqualify a candidate:

• Job-Jumping - Regardless of their stories, candidates that chronically jump from employer to employer every 18 – 24 months are either a flight risk or are underperformers. You want neither.

• Sales & Marketing - Candidate that claim experience in both sales AND marketing do not possess a clear understanding of the sales discipline and will lack the ferocity and focus of a top producer.

• Misalignment – Misalignment between historical deals sizes (biggest wins) and capability claims. Highlighting a $340,000 deal is problematic if the candidate will carry a $1,500,000 quota.

• Grammatical Errors - As goes the resume so goes the proposal. Senior executives have no tolerance for sloppy work and will consciously or unconsciously judge a solution set upon the quality of the written communication an organization produces.

• Overly Self-Centered - Does the candidate focus exclusively on their own individual strengths and accomplishments or do they reference successful projects and teamwork?

Ironically, terminating a sales professional often has more beneficial economic impact on organizational performance than hiring one. Increasing the quality, duration and depth of due diligence with each candidate will significantly reduce your risk of “being sold”. For further insight into how to avoid hiring the wrong candidate review the Salesworks’ Guide To Hiring Sales Professionals, then hire slowly and fire quickly, not the other way around!

As sales managers or executives, what’s the most common request we hear from sales people?

Leads! More Leads!

What they’re really asking for is not just more leads, it’s, more, more qualified and DIFFERENT leads… the Glengarry leads.

It almost never matters which leads we have, they aren’t the ones we want.

Here’s something I’ve dealt with first hand. I’m not sure if this makes me want to laugh or to cry.

Until recently I was a VP of Sales for an international technology company. One of our more senior sales representatives was struggling. Let’s call him Paul. His forecast was thin and his pipeline was weak. Paul was concerned about his quarter and he asked for help.

Good on him for being at least a little proactive.

Paul wasn’t into prospecting. He’d wait for in-bound leads from Marketing.

Marketing Leads – Quantity vs. Quality

Paul’s feeling was that he needed to get fewer leads (huh?). He was getting lots of leads from Marketing but they were “terrible” (his words, not mine). Paul also said that although they were bad leads, in good conscience, he still felt compelled to treat them with respect. So he found himself going through dozens of crappy leads in order to find the few, worthwhile leads.

Paul reasoned that if we provided him with fewer but more qualified leads, he’d be able to dedicate more time to each of them and he’d have more time to prospect on his own.

Paul’s declared (and I quote), “It’s not about the leads, it’s about the opportunities.”

Business Development – Honing Qualifying Leads

Since we already had a group of Business Development Representatives (BDRs) that handled incoming calls, it was fairly easy to change the BDR role slightly so that they did more qualifying. We gave them the training and tools (including scripts, templates, etc.) to do the job properly.

The result was that fewer leads got through the funnel, but they were definitely more qualified.

How do you think this translated to Paul’s results?

Surprise! Paul’s results did not improve in the slightest. In fact they got worse.

Neither did he dedicate any more time to prospecting. Instead, complained that he wasn’t getting enough leads!

Go Bigger or Go… Small?

Paul then proposed a different idea. Since he was a senior sales representative (higher base salary, higher commission and higher quota), he was focused on larger companies. Paul wanted to be allowed to sell to our smaller company prospects as well.

It should be noted that our company sweet spot was in the smaller companies. These sales cycles could be pretty short; from a few days to three months.

Paul argued that as a more senior sales representative, he would be able to drive tons of business in those smaller companies and close a greater volume than our representatives that usually sold into that space.

We agreed to do a test. We began to give Paul a bunch of those smaller-company leads.

Any guesses how this went?

After one quarter, Paul had not closed one deal. Not one. He also still had done no prospecting.

When we sat down to have our difficult conversation, Paul said that those smaller company leads were, “not worth my (his) time”.

Moral of the Story

A Sales Professional should expect to generate at least 25% of their business through their own prospecting efforts.

There will always be good leads and bad leads. The bottom line is that all leads should be treated with respect. As sales professionals, the best leads are the ones that we come up with ourselves.

If somebody else gives us a lead it really is just a contact or a suspect until we’ve vetted it and if we don’t like the leads we’ve got, then we need to go out and get some other ones.

What would we do if Marketing disappeared overnight?