It is the beginning of the week for most and the most important day of the week. How you start your Monday determines how successful your week will be. Make sure you start your week off right and ask yourself the three most important Monday questions and give it serious thought and answers.
1. What is my goal for the week?
2. What are my most important activities this week that I must get accomplished to help me reach my goal?
3. What are the things that are keeping me busy but not important and preventing me from reaching my goals that I need to stop doing?
Ask yourself these three simple questions every Monday morning you will be on track to set your week up for success and get results.
Have a productive and successful week!
Mike Brenhaug
Business Growth Expert
www.bluerockcoaching.com
]]>Kevin shared a few marketing insights from his new book which is a business fable. I like Kevin’s unique approach in his book as he shares marketing insights from a 3,500 year old process.
Kevin shared with the listeners giving customers the Awesome Experience is the key to long-term growth of your customer base. Kevin defined the Awesome Experience as the convergence of Need, Entertainment, and the Unexpected. Kevin made a very good point on the show when he said that many businesses don’t take the time to create the Awesome Experience because it does take some work. You need to create a value proposition that truly differentiates you from your competitors which is shared in his book Roar! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle. www.awesomeroar.com
I’m big on working with business teams and entrepreneurs to create alignment between their goals, team, customers and actions – Alignment creates success. What I love about Kevin’s book and what you’ll gain from it is alignment with your sales & marketing objectives, your goals and more importantly your prospect & customer base.
You can hear more of what Kevin Daum shared from his book Roar! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle by listening to the playback on Fast Biz Growth Radio. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastbizgrowth/2010/06/03/roar-get-heard-in-the-sales-marketing-jungle
If you’re tired of getting the same results tune into Fast Biz Growth Radio where we bring you expert solutions and fresh ideas to help you achieve Fast Biz Growth. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastbizgrowth Remember, if you continue to do the same old things you’ll get the same old results. Do something different!
Mike Brenhaug
Business Growth Expert
www.Fastbizgrowth.net
If you’ve ever said to yourself, “My Marketing Isn’t Working and I Don’t Know Why???” then you’re not alone. Most business owners are confounded by the changes occurring in buyer behavior in 2010. They complain, “Why aren’t my ads working? Why am I spending so much on marketing with little result? Why can’t I attract the right kind of buyers? The answer is in the huge shift in buyer behavior. Eric Keiles explains how we have quickly moved from mass media to Reality Marketing™ and how business owners can take advantage of this change by building a new kind of Marketing Machine™.
On the show I asked Eric to share his “One Thing” that is the most important take away. Eric’s “One Thing” he shared is the importance of having a Remarkable strategy. Put your marketing strategy before marketing tactics and ask yourself “how can my company be remarkable?”. Companies like Disney, Apple and Zappos.com are truly remarkable. To begin building your remarkable strategy, consider the following key points discussed on the show.
1. Identify your goals and what results you want from your marketing objectives.
2. Understand and really get to know your buyers shopping behavior and pain points.
3. Target the buyer and align your marketing tactics to address the pain points and the buyer’s behavior. Don’t tell them how great you are. Be the solution to their pain or as Erick & Mike state in their book “Cure your customer’s pains” chapter 10.
You can hear more of what Eric Keiles shared from his book “Reality Marketing Revolution” by listening to the playback. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastbizgrowth/2010/05/27/transform-your-business-into-a-money-making-machin
I’ve shared with you in the past that I’m a big fan of business solutions that are proven to get results. What I like to call “Business Recipes”. As business owners and entrepreneurs you don’t have time to figure things out on your own. You’re in business to make money from your product or service and to make more of it. Reality Marketing Revolution is a great marketing “Business Recipe” that will get you results!
Listen weekly to Fast biz Growth Radio where we bring you Expert Solutions for Fast Biz Growth!http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastbizgrowth
Mike Brenhaug
Business Growth Expert
www.Fastbizgrowth.net
I love the fact that companies have video available to make email and Internet communication more personal; to deliver a more compelling visual message; to say with emotion what can’t be said in an email; to introduce themselves or their companies; to tell a story; and yes, to sell in a way that can’t be done with text.
But before you go crazy and decide to include or increase your use of video, let’s talk about the mistakes to avoid. While the mistakes on my list may be in the domain of marketing, in my opinion they are glaring Sales 101 mistakes. It seems to me that “stars” of their own videos have forgotten that First Impressions are Everything! I am horrified by some of the video sales pitches I have seen lately starring “Professionals” (CEO’s, Presidents, Entrepreneurs, VP’s, Sales Managers, and Salespeople:
- Talking about their unique expertise while in tee shirts instead of suits. There is a reason that broadcasters, emcees, guests and analysts dress up when on camera - it looks better!
- Driving their cars, acting cool, believing that recipients will be impressed that they can shoot a high def video, drive on the highway, look in the mirror, and talk, all at the same time. I’m impressed too, but only with their ability to multi-task, not with their credentials!
- Sitting in front of a $5 green backdrop that makes it obvious it is an undersized, incorrectly hung, poorly positioned piece of crap. Might as well take it down and let us see the real crap behind their chairs!
- Reading from a script. I know they don’t want to stumble through their message but if they don’t know their stuff by now, why should we watch them read it?
- Failing to look at the camera. If they aren’t going to look at us, they might as well just read the message and send us an audio file!
- Using video because it’s there. If it can be effectively communicated with text, then communicate it with text!
- Compressing the video to make it portable. If the resolution is horrible, it is horrible!
- Emailing mini-videos. If the finished video is so small that you need a magnifying glass to see it, well, we won’t see it!
- That are Boring. Give us a break. If your message isn’t valuable, interesting or thought-provoking, change your mind and don’t share it!
- Don’t Speak Well. If you don’t pronounce your words correctly or have a speech impediment, we won’t hold that against you but for crying out loud, have somebody else deliver your message. We won’t know the difference.
It should go without saying that your videos should be professionally produced and directed. The do it yourself videos made on the fly are prone to all ten of the mistakes listed above. Unless you are in the marketing, advertising or videography business, you have no business doing this yourself unless you want to give people reasons not to buy from you.
What would you do if one of your sales reps called at 5 PM on a Friday, the last day of the month, on the final day of a bad quarter and said, “Good News - I closed ___________!”(insert any huge company here)
You’d get excited, your heart would beat a little faster, you’d feel relieved because things seem to be turning around, and you’re thinking, “This is good, damn it.”
You ask, “What did you close them for?”
Your salesperson responds, “They bought a ___________.”
(the least expensive thing in the smallest possible quantity)
You know that it would have been more appropriate for them to buy a _________________.
(the most expensive thing you sell)
You yell, “What? Are you kidding? How did that happen? And you’re calling me to brag about it? Are you crazy?”
The salesperson says, “But we’re in!”
So here are some questions for you;
Is it better to “be in” with something sold today, or to still be out, and hoping to sell them the appropriate solution tomorrow?
Is it better to say “they’re a customer” now, or is it better to wait and do it the right way later?
Is it better to know you have to sell them one more time, or take a chance that you may never have the chance to sell them what they really need?
Let’s explore the opposite scenario.
Let’s say that you failed to close a company who decided against buying what you were trying to sell them. Does it make any sense to return to them and offer to sell them what they are willing to buy?
These situations occur on a daily basis in most companies, (at least the companies with enough activity taking place) and everybody has a different preference as to how they should be handled. What would you do?
Scenario 1 - happy to sell them something or wait to sell them the right solution?
Scenario 2 - return and try to sell what they’re willing to buy or move on?
Here’s another way of looking at it. In scenario 1, you waited to sell them the right solution and they wouldn’t buy it. So now you have moved to scenario 2…
On the show Bob shared a few key points from his latest book “The New Experts”. Winning the newly empowered customer” www.thenewexperts.com. In Bob’s book he discusses how the seller is no longer in control of the sell encounter and the buyer is in full control and armed with information from the internet. Technology is a beautiful thing which has given buyers a powerful tool for researching and comparing products and ultimately leading them to where they purchase their product or service.
The first sentence in Bob’s book is a powerful argument “Buyers no longer care who they buy from”. Bob shares a few tips from his book that will help sellers be in a better position to respond to the new experts, and to attract and retain customers.
During the show I ask guest to give us ”One Thing” that will help you, the listener, in your business to achieve Fast Biz Growth. Bob’s One Thing he shared is the seller needs to think like a buyer and not a seller. Your product, service and company need to be the preferred choice. Bob talked about the 4 decisive customer moments to help you understand buyers and how to change your thinking to attract and retain customers.
You can hear more of what Robert Bloom shared by listening to the playback. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastbizgrowth/2010/05/12/win-todays-newly-empowered-customers
Or download winning-todays-newly-empowered-customer-robert-bloom
Listen weekly to Fast biz Growth Radio where we bring you Expert Solutions for Fast Biz Growth! www.Fastbizgrowth.net
Mike Brenhaug
Business Growth Expert
www.Fastbizgrowth.net
I was listening to Red Sox manager Terry Francona being interviewed on one of Boston’s sports radio stations the other day when I heard him say, “When we get information we try to know what information we are getting.” Huh?
It turns out that he was referring to the difference between what the statistics tell him and what he sees with his eyes. The statistics don’t tell the entire story. A baseball example of that might be the shortstop who leads the league in errors. If you look at that statistic you might think he was a defensive liability but if you were watching him perform, you might see that he completes all of the routine plays, regularly makes outstanding plays to prevent runs from scoring, and most of the errors were harmless throwing errors that didn’t cost the team runs or games.
Which salesperson would you rather manage? The salesperson with $1 million in annual sales or the salesperson with $650K in annual sales? You think I’m going to choose the $650K person, right? Well it depends. If you simply look at the data, you would choose the $1 million salesperson. If you also watched them, you might still choose the $1M salesperson. But let’s look a little more closely at the make-up of their business.
Our million dollar man has just two accounts but they are big ones; one is worth $650K annually and the other $350K annually. He wins roughly 2 deals a week from those two accounts and he’s always happy, smiling and confident. The company and the salesperson were both very eager to have these two accounts and offered sizable discounts in order to land them. The margin on all of this business stands at only 10% and it’s a senior salesperson, earning 30% (of margin) commissions. So we have a salesperson investing 100% of his time managing just two large accounts that contribute only $70K annually to overhead after commissions. Yikes!
Our $650K salesperson has only been with the company for three years and has 65 small accounts at a 30% margin. His commissions are 20% (of margin) and he brings in about one small order each week from one of his small accounts. If you were watching, you wouldn’t think his accomplishments were nearly as impressive as the first salesperson’s. But this salesperson is contributing around $175K to overhead, more than double that of our million dollar man.
The differences go beyond the contribution to overhead though. If salesperson #2 loses an account, there is almost no change to the business. If salesperson #1 loses an account, it has a major impact on revenue, capacity and cash flow. Additionally, it is much less difficult to replace a small account than one of those large accounts.
If salesperson #1 were somehow able to leverage those two large accounts and capture business from two more accounts like that, at 20% margin instead of 10%, that might make his contributions more valuable, but only if the average order from the four large accounts doubled or tripled in size. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the time to effectively manage twice the workload and the company might have to hire additional workers to handle the volume.
So things are not always quite as they appear.
Do you have salespeople that aren’t profitable, don’t contribute enough to overhead, won’t change what they’re doing and simply aren’t benefiting the company?
Ensuring you have a stable business is the advantage you need for sweet success.
There’s no doubt the current economy has created an environment where people and organizations are working harder with fewer results. It’s easy to get caught up in the “doing” instead of focusing on the right activities that generate results and promote stability.
Three ways to restore balance and improve efficiency:
1. Spend time reviewing your strategy to make sure it’s in alignment with your purpose, goals and vision. By doing so, you bring the team together and avoid competing priorities. A plan with measurable metrics is a valuable tool that will help keep you and your business on track.
2. Focus on high payoff activities to maximize your time, efforts and increase your results. If you feel stretched it’s a good indication your plan is insufficient and lacks focus.
3. Evaluate your expenses and cash conversion cycle to optimize cash flow and redirect towards growth catalyst such as sales and marketing activities which will produce new business.
A crystal clear plan will create alignment with your team, allow you to execute effectively and ultimately restore balance in your organization.
For more Success Tips, visit www.FastBizGrowth.net
]]>Well the opportunity to watch a pitching duel never materialized as both teams hit better than they pitched. The game itself was fun, but the pitching matchup failed to meet expectations.
Yesterday must have been an incredibly slow news day. The 11 PM News had a brush fire in Boston (a brush fire?), Josh Beckett’s contract extension, Tiger Woods’ first day back to the PGA, The President throwing out the first ball at the Washington Nationals’ Opening Day Game, and two women who, while walking in their neighborhood, were struck by pellets fired by bicycle riding teenagers. I kid you not. For the Beckett, Woods and Obama stories to be included as part of the news instead of the sports shows just how slow a news day it was. Yesterday’s news really failed to meet expectations.
Yesterday, one of your salespeople learned that their opportunity with that nice large account is not going to develop. While they were simply out kicking tires, your salesperson got excited about the potential. In the end, the prospect decided to stay with their incumbent vendor. This opportunity failed to meet expectations.
What’s the difference between a baseball game or the news failing to meet expectations versus one of your salespeople’s opportunities failing to meet expectations? (Rick was writing about the same thing this morning!)
The game and the news are quickly forgotten and don’t impact your life unless you bet on the outcome of the game or happen to be the leading story on the news. When your salespeople focus too much of their time and resources on a large opportunity and it doesn’t materialize, you can lose 6-12 months of productivity from them. Not only that, your forecasts fall short, your budget goes to hell, and you could have a frustrated, demotivated salesperson on your hands. The worst part is if you have a long sales cycle, say 8-12 months, and the salesperson devoted most of his time and energy to this opportunity for 8-12 months, it will take an additional 8-12 months before the pipeline will produce new, meaningful revenue.
Has this ever happened to you?
Dave Kurlan
]]>Mike Brenhaug
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I’m reading Sarah Miller Caldicott’s book, Innovate Like Edison.
There are some noteworthy quotes which, although written in the context of innovation, apply equally, if not even more to selling and sales management.
“Psychologist Karen Horney (1885-1952) undertook groundbreaking work on optimism early in the twentieth century. She discovered that most people actually succeed when they decide, with full commitment, to accomplish something. Most of what people label as ‘failure’ according to her research, is a function of their doubts acting as traitors, causing them to withhold full commitment and give up too soon.”
Ain’t that the truth! I couldn’t have said that better…here’s another.
“As Edison phrased it, ‘Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged.’ He adds, ‘Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.’”
Ditto for that quote. One more…
“Dr. Martin Seligman, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, and author of Learned Optimism, has researched optimism for more than thirty years. His work offers further confirmation of the validity of Edison’s approach. According to Seligman, optimists get better results than pessimists in most areas of life. His research shows that optimists perform better at school, in relationships, on the athletic field, and at work….And optimists make significantly more money. All this is true despite the fact that pessimists are more skilled, according to Sligman, in their ability to analyze current problems accurately. For the pessimist, the optimist is someone who simply doesn’t yet see the facts as they are. But despite the tendency to view the world through rose-colored glasses, numerous long-term studies confirm that better results emerge when we err on the side of optimism.”
I’m not an optimist or a pessimist. I tend to be a be a realist. Relating the aforementioned quotes to selling, I believe that optimists find it difficult to challenge people. I can easily slide over to the pessimistic side when necessary, like when it’s time to debrief a salesperson on a recent call. It’s difficult to punch holes or question a salesperson’s account of a call if you are an optimist. Optimists often become overexcited and set unrealistic expectations about the likely outcome of an opportunity. I believe you must be able to slide back and forth between optimism and pessimism. Get yourself motivated and excited, be realistic about what’s happening, and challenge people when what you hear doesn’t sound right. What are your thoughts?
Posted by Dave Kurlan on Wed, Mar 31, 2010 @ 04:50 AM
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