B2B Sales Pipeline

Sales Professionals - I’d like to take a moment to get up on my soap box and talk to you about KILLING the effectiveness of your Sales-Hunters. Hate effectiveness? Here are a couple of things you can ask your sales reps to do to stop them from doing that whole “Selling” thing:

1. Data Entry - You ask your hunter to find deals and close them, however you apparently also ask her to sharpen her typing skills. Leads from your friends in the marketing department should be already entered into the CRM, with any supporting information related to that opportunity. Almost every marketing automation and e-mail marketing solution provide the ability to take a lead generated by Marketing and convert that information, along with all background data, and create that as a Lead within your CRM. And don’t get me started on Landing Page / Request More Information form on your website that creates an e-mail and sends it to your sales professional…There are a variety of marketing tools available which can capture form data and enter it into the Marketing or Sales CRM system without the rep having to copy / paste from an e-mail.

2. Composing and Sending E-mails - Marketers already have a message they are trying to convey about the organization’s products and services. Quickest way to water down this message - let the sales professional distill that information into an e-mail based upon her understanding. A couple of bullet points about e-mail:

• Templates are Key - Don’t hope that your sales team understands what needs to be said, provide them templates of the key components which can be customized to meet the needs of that particular customer. The positive effect is twofold: (1) The message is consistent and (2) the sales rep isn’t wasting time typing out the corporate message over and over and over and over…..
• Automate the Process - Marketing Automation (Prospect Nurturing, e-mail marketing) systems and most CRMs support the sending of automatic e-mails to prospects. Sending them automatically basically “sales proofs” the process, and utilization of the automatic features of many systems automatically enters the information into the CRM, preventing excessive copy / paste functions just to have a comprehensive customer history.

3. Calling Blind - Let me qualify that sometimes too much information leads to brain freeze where the sales professional overthinks things (reference “Sales Proofing” above), however Marketing Automation / E-mail Marketing solutions capture open rates, as well as clicking of tracked links within correspondence, and many solutions offer visitor tracking for your website / microsite. Using this information can differentiate between a customer who has responded to your message, and one who said “Send me an E-mail” just to get off the phone with you.

Keep your hunters productive by cutting out repetitive tasks and providing some clarity as to the customers who have an interest in your offerings.

Sales Professional - Where do you live? I mean, where do you spend the majority of your time each day? If you answered anything other than “My CRM”, then in the words of Donald Trump - “You’re Fired”.

So why is the CRM so important? Whether you utilize Salesforce, Upshot, Dynamics, or something else, there are a few life lessons that my Daddy told me that ring true, and no, not his classic “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story”:

1. Use it, or Lose it - Retaining Important Information

Sure this rings true with things like your golf swing, your strength, and that jumpshot that had you 2nd Team All State, but it also rings true for CRM usage. Keep EVERYTHING inside the CRM. Names, Numbers, E-mails, Appointments, To Do’s and Customer Notes. Not using the CRM will directly effect your organization and productivity. You shouldn’t be searching for a scrap of paper that had a note on it, or having to look through Outlook to identify the last e-mail that was sent to this customer. Make the CRM your primary organizational tool, and you’ll be more effective in each communication with a customer.

NOTE - A recent post by Jim Berkowitz, CRM Mastery, indicates that 1/3 of new CRM implementations end in failure because Sales People aren’t using the technology. This is reflective of the attitude that many small companies have related to “My wallet is too full from all these 100’s, and my diamond shoes are a little too tight” - We’re already making money, so why should we care about process improvement or sales time optimization. Sad really………..

2. Shoot for Nothing and You’re Bound to Hit it - Opportunities

Your pipeline is your lifeline, so it is critical that you keep your opportunities entered, and more importantly, up to date. Having the opportunities to direct your activities will allow you to keep your focus while being bombarded by meeting requests, phone calls, e-mails and all the other things that attempt to take you away from the one thing that matters - Closing deals.

3. Focus on the Rim, two dribbles, elbow in, bend knees, shoot - Power of Process

As a washed-up, former basketball player, I often think back to days spent in the driveway learning to shoot free throws. Great free throw shooters, which I never was, shoot free throws the same way every time - it’s a process. Your sales process is defined, so reps can utilize the CRM to automate many of the common functions your sales representatives are expected to do. Most CRM Systems support the development of e-mail templates, many support rudimentary prospect scoring which can be augmented by third party products available on AppExchange (or other such sites), and most have the ability to automate the import of leads from a Marketing Automation System. Management can get into the act too, by implementing alerts when a lead is not acted upon in a specified amount of time, or receiving automated reports on a specific day.

In the end, get a CRM, use that CRM, and extend the power of that CRM by implementing processes and third party applications which provide advanced functionality. You’ll be glad you did.

There was a song in the 90’s entitled - “Things that Make You Go Hmmmmm” which was basically a series of stories about people telling unbelievable stories that made the recipients of those stories go “Hummmm?”

So a few mornings back I was taking with a colleague from another organization. This sales professional was speaking candidly about things and mentioned that they missed having sales meetings. “I’m hearing things,” I said to myself. Must still be cobwebs, since hadn’t had my coffee yet.

I was floored on 2 levels:

1. I HATE sales meetings - This is the time where you as the sales professional are held responsible for your work, asked to discuss the “low hanging fruit” and discuss your prior week’s work.

2. What Sales Manager WOULDN’T have sales meetings - This is the time where the sales manager can arm himself with up to date information as to what is likely to close, what roadblocks your rep is experiencing, and heps focus their efforts

Since you can see that I have a love / hate relationship with Sales Meetings, let me give you a short primer to sales meetings:

A. Keep it Simple - I’m a little scatter-brained, so it’s critical that I have an outline that I cover every time. Things to discuss: (a) Sales Goals such as quota, number of calls, etc… (b) Noteworthy Opportunities that are likely to close between now and the next sales meeting & new opportunities, and (c) Challenges faced / overcame during the prior week

B. Keep it Consistent - It should be at the “Same Bat Time and Same Bat Channel” every week, and should not be skipped except for the most dire of circumstances (OK, OK - You’re off the hook for your vacation to Honolulu, but nothing else). It should become an important part of your week.

C. Keep it Positive - Remember what your parents taught you - “Every gray cloud has a silver lining”. If you have the right rep, they’re competitive and loyal, meaning that if they’re underperforming, they already know it. Address this underperformance as something that you are now both aware of, however try to find something positive for them to take away from the meeting.

D. Keep it Helpful - Always provide the oppportunity to brainstorm with your sales rep. Remember - You’ve got experience that you’ll need to impart to them. Ask how you can help them with regard to strategy, and then follow up during the next meeting to see how your suggestion helped.

Once you work through a couple of these, you’ll begin to see value and hopefully improvement.

Now let’s get to work!

Many organizations look at a sale as a “1 shot. 1 kill” scineario, where the salesperson meets, greets, engages, builds rapport, educates, and closes the deal with YOUR customer. Then it’s off to the next deal. YOUR customer thinks the same thing my mother says frequently - “You never call. You never write. You never visit.” That type of behavior will get me written out of the will, and get you ridden out of your customer’s life.

NEWS FLASH - A representative from your competitor is engaging YOUR customer, and if YOUR customer feels abandoned, or the solution hiccups one time, YOUR customer will likely become THEIR customer.

IN OTHER NEWS - Customer retention costs 20% of what acquiring a new customer does, and once you have the relationship, it should be easier to up sell them (assuming your eggheads can make the solution work like you said it would and your support representatives are helpful).

So what do you do to hang on to and / or upsell your customers:

1. Make No Assumptions

Sure you like your customer - who wouldn’t - they just wrote you a PO, however that doesn’t necessarily mean that they like you. What do I mean? Greg Rohm, VP of National Sales at Datamaxx once told me “Remember - they’re your customer, not your friend.” - This is to say that  the customer / sales relationship isn’t equitable - You shouldn’t expect the customer to give up a kidney to help you out, however they may reach in and tear your heart out if your solution doesn’t work as advertised.  A great article on GuerillaConsulting.com said it like this - “…the [salesperson] never assumes a client is loyal. A client’s trust and loyalty can be swept away if you get too confident or let performance slip, even on one project or sale.” Don’t assume that because your customer currently chooses to do business with you that he or she will continue to do so. You’ve built the rapport, so ask with YOUR customer how things are going, before they become someone else’s customer.

2. Make it Right

Once you’ve had a customer long enough, you will inevitably hit a snag, and since you would never oversell and under-deliver, it was likely - A deliverable was incorrect, late or substandard; support was lackluster; AR mis-billed the customer. Whatever the cause, snafus will happen, and when they do, it’s critical that you proactively step up, and as the customer’s advocate within your organization, find a way to make it right. If you wait for the customer to complain then you’re probably already too late.

3. Make it sticky

The more entrenched your solution is, the less likely it is to be pulled for a competitor. This “stickiness” is what many leading companies utilize to (a) ensure the solution is not replaced and (b) upsell by providing additional modules or professional services. Once you are filling a large amount of a customer’s needs with quality and a proven track record, it only becomes logical that you can ask for other opportunities. Just like in point #1 - You’ve already built the rapport - so ask about additional avenues where your solution could make the customer’s life easier by dealing with only one vendor.

In closing, I’ve got a great idea - Stop reading this post and go call your key customers…just to talk, but make sure that you steer the conversation toward: How is the solution working? Anything I should know about? Since all is well, let’s talk about some of your other needs. Like me with my mother, your customer will be glad to hear your voice, and less likely to write you out of their will.

I’ve always heard the term “Silver Bullet” but never took the time to research it to learn the origin of this term. Thanks to Wikipedia for this definition:

“The metaphor of the silver bullet applies to any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness. The phrase typically appears with an expectation that some new technology or practice will easily cure a major prevailing problem.”

Let me provide a slightly revised definition from Derek-i-Pedia:

“Holy Cow. We’ve got a HUGE problem and no idea what do do about it. Since we’ve already changed our logo, and reorganization is out of the question, let’s throw technology at the angry looking 7,000 lb. gorilla in the corner.”

Sales organizations are notorious for attempting to cure low productivity or poor win rates with technology. I just read an article in the DemandGen report which indicates that 79% of “Best in Class” organizations were using or planning to use sales analytics technologies.

These organizations will likely spend lots of money, to get a system that will take months to be implemented, which may not be adopted by the sales organization anyway. Doesn’t sound like a Silver Bullet to me.

Here’s a couple of suggestions regarding technology for sales:

1. Think Small - Need a new CRM? Organizations like SalesForce have gotten it right by providing an on-demand solution with an attainable price point for you to use and evaluate for effectiveness. Paying a nominal monthly fee for a new technology makes more sense than breaking the bank for a solution which looks great in demos, but may never work that way because of your organization’s business processes. The new world of Software as a Service (SaaS) allows you to test drive, evaluate and terminate, all for much less than the price of a purchase.

2. Think Process - No technology will magically fix the shortcomings in your sales organizations. Web Marketing Automation and Sales Force Automation tools are useless without implementing processes driven by best practices. Thinking about scoring a prospect’s activities on your website? What interaction is worth more points - visiting the pricing page (shows intent) or the careers page (shows intent to call HR for a new job)?

3. Think Realistic - The best technology isn’t going to cover up a broken system or process. Identify specific goals that you hope technology will help you resolve (e.g., Utilizing Landing Pages for my Pay Per Click advertising will improve my conversion rate by X %, or using Web Marketing Automation will allow my reps to engage X number of new clients per week because they can focus on selling rather than educating customers).

If you’re looking for technology, put the processes in place to help that technology be successful.

If you’re looking for a Silver Bullet, good luck killing that werewolf.

It’s been said that the lottery is a “tax on stupid people”, however I’ve been guilty of throwing a couple of bucks into the 6-digit retirement plan…but only when it’s at a staggering number – something like $200M…because I don’t want to sacrifice my current standard of living for something small like $50M.

For organizations who don’t have a method of lead prioritization, your Sales People are playing the lottery. Guessing…hoping, that this prospect will be the lead that materializes into a sale. Organizations which have no lead scoring methodology overwhelm their representatives with a deafening amount of:

NOISE !!!!!!!!!!!

“What is Noise?” you ask, however I’m deaf from years in sales and can no longer hear you.

Noise is the overwhelming amount of information coming at sales people, particularly in the form of inbound leads. A conversion page on a website gathers the same amount of information for everyone (e.g., Name, Title, E-mail, Yada, Yada, Yada), so giving a days worth of conversion information to your sales reps is frustrating at best because you ask the rep to subjectively sort through 50 names and prioritize them based. Generally, your faithful sales person utilizes a methodology that is roughly as objective as calling them in Alphabetical order…because we all know people whose last names start with “Y” are generally tire kickers.

Why not add Objectivity to the otherwise Subjective sales process by ranking, scoring / grading / prioritizing / segmenting your leads. A couple of basic options include:

1. By Target Organization – Give higher priority to organizations who meet your “Target Organization” profile, such as selling to a particular company size or vertical.

2. By Ideal Customer – If you’ve found the VP of Sales to be more receptive to your value proposition than the COO, utilize this information to rank them accordingly.

3. By Lead Source – Treat Internet leads from Pay-Per-Click initiatives (where you can quickly identify what message resonated with the prospect) with a higher priority than someone who responded from a trade show.

4. By Customer History – Has this prospect shown interest before, or is a current customer who has up-sell potential? Data gleaned from systems such as CRM or accounting systems can raise a prospect’s score.

5. By BANTS – Everyone knows BANT, but where does the “S” come in? Brian Carroll, an expert in B2B Lead Generation says that the “S” stands for “Sales Ready” meaning the customer is open to an imminent meeting with a sales person.

Don’t forget that there are a growing number of technology providers who provide Web Marketing Automation tools that allow prospects to be graded / segmented based upon explicit factors (title, geography) to determine quality, and scored to identify implicit factors (number of pages viewed, visits to your site, downloading of content). This then allows a sales representative to focus on all the “A” or “Tier I” prospects, and then identify all the ones whose behaviors have shown more intent.

Don’t ask your sales people to gamble…give them solid information which will help them be successful.