Consider for a moment that you are presenting to a potential prospect. You have thought long enough about their business, have asked your marketing to develop a very sophisticated animated power point, and you are sure that your prospect is going to love what he sees.
You present for more than half an hour, after you are done, the prospect tells you “Thanks for the presentation, we are really impressed, we will get back to you next week”.
Everything is fine. However you don’t hear from the prospect. After a couple of week, you finally get hold of him, and he tells you “sorry, we have purchased it from the x company”.
So what went wrong?
It was your presentation which screwed your reputation. During the presentation, you never tried to stop to ask “any question here?”, “are we clear on this?”, “This is what we think, but what is YOUR opinion” and so forth.
Asking questions is the key in sales, not only in the presentation stage, but in all sales stages.
Larry Hendrick in his recent article How To Increase Sales, emphasizes on asking questions.
His article is a must read for those who don’t understand that listening is more important than talking.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Al RUWAAD- A tasteless campaign
If you live in the UAE, there are chances you have seen the “RUWAAD” logo on a billboard. If you haven’t seen it on a billboard, then perhaps you have seen a Taxi carrying it. Moreover, the print media is filled with the “RUWAAD” logo.If you don’t live in the UAE, you have missed nothing. You now know as much as a Dubai resident knows. RUWAAD, to us is an ad campaign: white background, red logo and black text.
It has been more than a month that our city is beem bombarded with this bad looking logo and meaningless text, quite disturbing to our eyes.
I tried to search the web to get some info on RUWAAD, I found nothing. I contacted the telephone directory: RUWAAD is not listed.So what on earth RUWAAD is? Is it a new property complex being built? Is it a new restaurant? Is it a new product we will be buying in the supermarkets soon? I don’t know. But who cares? You may think, I care, because I’m writing about it. The truth is that I care, because I want to learn from others’ mistakes.Billions of Dirhams (our currency) have been spent on this campaign, such a waste. It is delivering no message. An ad with no message is wrong marketing.
Perhaps they want to trigger our curiosity? Triggering curiosity? It’s a wrong thing to do. I remember a year ago the city was filled with the message “a new buzz coming to town soon”. We waited a month, and then the ad was associated with the new Burjaman “a luxury shopping mall here, in Dubai”. Everybody forgot the campaign after a while. And new shopping malls such as Ibn Battuta and Mall Of The Emirates have grabbed attentions (and shoppers). So, I’d say, triggering curiosity is not good on its own!
Timing is important according to Ana Elisa . She says :
” One month has passed... the city has talked about "what the hell is Al RUWAAD" but nothing/no one came up with an answer - with a nice replacement of billboards with the "truth", full page ads on major newspapers, or something similar. And, suddenly, the timing has passed. People dont talk about it anymore, they just moved on. The bad news for RUWAAD is that they also moved on from the "hype" around the brand and that, most probably, the level of indifference to the brand once it gets revealed will be similar to the moment of time before they went and spend all those millions spreading RUWAAD on my way to work."
If RUWAAD’s marketers have followed Ann’s advice, it would have maid more sense to me. However I still think that billions of dollars have been largely wasted on this campaign. Companies often decide the set marketing budget before calculating the ROI. If the RUWAAD campaign generates more than what the advertiser has spent, then there is a hope. But the campaign doesn’t project any brain behind it: I still believe that RUWAAD’s marketing team has done a bad job, and the ad agency has done an even worse job.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Thought-To-Action Attitude
I’m sure you have heard of this famous Zig Ziglar saying: “It is your attitude, not your aptitude that determines your altitude.”
It is true: Our attitude determines what we are and what we are is what we get. Attitude not only determines our destiny but also it determines what kind of journey it will be. We are where we are because of the choices we have maid.
The marketers, have chosen to be marketers, no one has forced them, I suppose. Once a multimedia programmer, I found my way into the wonderful world of advertising, and after few years, I chose to move to client side. I am now the marketing manager for a medium size company in Dubai. That was my decision.
Most of the B2B marketers, are charged with training their sales team. As if we are perfect sales pros! We show them how to make cold calls. We tell them to build relationship. And we tell them that they have to adopt new attitudes.
But who tells us what the right attitude for a marketer is? Do we have the positive attitude?
“Thought to action”, is an attitude that I constantly ask my sales reps to develop. I tell them: Successful sales people take their thoughts and ideas to the next dimension: action. People tend to procrastinate. In fact, it is how many of us start our day. Procrastination becomes our worst enemy, a kind of virus. Never procrastinate, think, make a decision and act.
Previously I blogged on Adult daycare centers. We know that our sales, admin, HR, Procurment and so forth, live in the adult daycare centers. How do we know it? Because, we, the marketers, are there too.
We procrastinate, like our sales do. That is not only our worst enemy, but our organization’s worst enemy. We are charged with generating and nurturing qualified leads. The life and death of our organizations is in our hands. Without those qualified leads, our company will not survive. Yet, we tend to procrastinate.
I have seen many marketers (including marketing directors of a Fortune 500!) spending hours of their valuable time, surfing the web “researching” their target market, reading marketing articles, studying marketing books and so forth. These are good things to do, but not during working hours. 8 hours a day, you are being paid to market your company.
Now why we procrastinate? I read on Dave J’s blog , quoting Big Picture Guy as saying “Procrastination is seldom about not wanting to do something; it is most often about not knowing what to do."
So don’t we know what we should do? Or how we have to market? Probably not. We as marketing pros know “ a little bit of everything” but not everything. We and no one else knows exactly how we can generate and nurture leads. It’s a multimodal approach, we think. We have to keep experimenting. We have to keep on learning. Reading marketing books is good, as I said, but not during working hours. The best thing you could do is to listen to audio books, or you could create your very own audio book. Print out your favorite article, you want to study. Take it home, read it lout; record your own voice and listen to it several times. Do the same with the latest book you have ordered from amazon.com.
But during working hours, market your company. What was the excellent marketing idea you had last evening, while driving towards home? Realize that idea, now! Was it the idea of dropping an email to your old and none-active customers to convert those lapsed customers to born-again customers? Or was it to call that big company to expand your distribution channels?Whatever it was, do it now, you organization needs you to do it. Your sales reps needs you to do it. You are the most important guy in your company. How could the company live, if you procrastinate?
It is true: Our attitude determines what we are and what we are is what we get. Attitude not only determines our destiny but also it determines what kind of journey it will be. We are where we are because of the choices we have maid.
The marketers, have chosen to be marketers, no one has forced them, I suppose. Once a multimedia programmer, I found my way into the wonderful world of advertising, and after few years, I chose to move to client side. I am now the marketing manager for a medium size company in Dubai. That was my decision.
Most of the B2B marketers, are charged with training their sales team. As if we are perfect sales pros! We show them how to make cold calls. We tell them to build relationship. And we tell them that they have to adopt new attitudes.
But who tells us what the right attitude for a marketer is? Do we have the positive attitude?
“Thought to action”, is an attitude that I constantly ask my sales reps to develop. I tell them: Successful sales people take their thoughts and ideas to the next dimension: action. People tend to procrastinate. In fact, it is how many of us start our day. Procrastination becomes our worst enemy, a kind of virus. Never procrastinate, think, make a decision and act.
Previously I blogged on Adult daycare centers. We know that our sales, admin, HR, Procurment and so forth, live in the adult daycare centers. How do we know it? Because, we, the marketers, are there too.
We procrastinate, like our sales do. That is not only our worst enemy, but our organization’s worst enemy. We are charged with generating and nurturing qualified leads. The life and death of our organizations is in our hands. Without those qualified leads, our company will not survive. Yet, we tend to procrastinate.
I have seen many marketers (including marketing directors of a Fortune 500!) spending hours of their valuable time, surfing the web “researching” their target market, reading marketing articles, studying marketing books and so forth. These are good things to do, but not during working hours. 8 hours a day, you are being paid to market your company.
Now why we procrastinate? I read on Dave J’s blog , quoting Big Picture Guy as saying “Procrastination is seldom about not wanting to do something; it is most often about not knowing what to do."
So don’t we know what we should do? Or how we have to market? Probably not. We as marketing pros know “ a little bit of everything” but not everything. We and no one else knows exactly how we can generate and nurture leads. It’s a multimodal approach, we think. We have to keep experimenting. We have to keep on learning. Reading marketing books is good, as I said, but not during working hours. The best thing you could do is to listen to audio books, or you could create your very own audio book. Print out your favorite article, you want to study. Take it home, read it lout; record your own voice and listen to it several times. Do the same with the latest book you have ordered from amazon.com.
But during working hours, market your company. What was the excellent marketing idea you had last evening, while driving towards home? Realize that idea, now! Was it the idea of dropping an email to your old and none-active customers to convert those lapsed customers to born-again customers? Or was it to call that big company to expand your distribution channels?Whatever it was, do it now, you organization needs you to do it. Your sales reps needs you to do it. You are the most important guy in your company. How could the company live, if you procrastinate?
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Adult Daycare Centers
Tim Breithaupt in his book “10 steps to sales success” advices us to avoid the Adult Daycare Centers.
And what he means of Adult Daycare Center? Yes you guessed it right: Offices.
He warns us: “Don't get trapped in the adult daycare center. Your job is to get out there and sell. You can't hunt from a cave.”
He gives us an example: the client followup actions.
“It's much easier just to fax over information and perhaps place a follow-up call—it will save a trip. In fact upon receiving a request for information, some salespeople will actually send a fax without so much as a follow-up phone call. My preference is to make a face-to-face appointment. “
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore in his article “stop wasting time” provides 5 easy tips to stop wasting time and to increase productivity:
1- Plan your day. Set aside time each night for Daily Planning, a time for you to take control of your most important asset, the next twenty-four hours. Create a To Do list with all the things you "have to" do and, more importantly, all the things you "want to" do.
2- Control procrastination. The easiest way to avoid procrastination in your day is to do the Daily Planning each day.
3- Avoid interruptions. Run an Interruptions Log. On a pad of paper, log in interruptions as they occur over a few days. Put down who brings them to you, how long each interruption lasts, and whether or not they were valuable or of no value. Once you accumulate your data, get the most frequent interrupters who bring the interruptions with no value to change their actions and agree to not bring as many low value interruptions to you in the future.
4- Delegate it. Review every item on your To Do list each night in Daily Planning and ask, "Is this the best use of my time?" If it is, plan to do it yourself and if it's not, try to find a way to delegate it.
5-Manage meetings. Before you commit to attend a meeting with another or with a group, ask yourself two questions. First, "Is it necessary?". Second, ask yourself, "Am I necessary?"
So, the most valuable asset you have, as a sales person, is time: use it to sell!
And what he means of Adult Daycare Center? Yes you guessed it right: Offices.
He warns us: “Don't get trapped in the adult daycare center. Your job is to get out there and sell. You can't hunt from a cave.”
He gives us an example: the client followup actions.
“It's much easier just to fax over information and perhaps place a follow-up call—it will save a trip. In fact upon receiving a request for information, some salespeople will actually send a fax without so much as a follow-up phone call. My preference is to make a face-to-face appointment. “
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore in his article “stop wasting time” provides 5 easy tips to stop wasting time and to increase productivity:
1- Plan your day. Set aside time each night for Daily Planning, a time for you to take control of your most important asset, the next twenty-four hours. Create a To Do list with all the things you "have to" do and, more importantly, all the things you "want to" do.
2- Control procrastination. The easiest way to avoid procrastination in your day is to do the Daily Planning each day.
3- Avoid interruptions. Run an Interruptions Log. On a pad of paper, log in interruptions as they occur over a few days. Put down who brings them to you, how long each interruption lasts, and whether or not they were valuable or of no value. Once you accumulate your data, get the most frequent interrupters who bring the interruptions with no value to change their actions and agree to not bring as many low value interruptions to you in the future.
4- Delegate it. Review every item on your To Do list each night in Daily Planning and ask, "Is this the best use of my time?" If it is, plan to do it yourself and if it's not, try to find a way to delegate it.
5-Manage meetings. Before you commit to attend a meeting with another or with a group, ask yourself two questions. First, "Is it necessary?". Second, ask yourself, "Am I necessary?"
So, the most valuable asset you have, as a sales person, is time: use it to sell!
Definition of Selling
Selling is talking with:
. The right person at
. The right time with
. The right solution for
. The right price, recognizing
. The right time to confirm (close).
All five must work in harmony to advance the sale.
. The right person at
. The right time with
. The right solution for
. The right price, recognizing
. The right time to confirm (close).
All five must work in harmony to advance the sale.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Back to basics: Types of customers and how to handle them
Currently studing the Tim Breithaupt book on sales :" 10 steps to sales success" I have been forced to get back to basics.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/081447165X?v=glance
I would like to highlight some of the points that I find useful as I read:
Tim thinks that there are 6 types of customers: 1)External Customers 2)Allies 3)Internal Customers 4)Repeat Customers 5)Born Again Customers and 6)Bag Of Wind customers.
This is how Tim defines each type of customers and gives tips on how to handle them:
1. External Customer:
These are the people and organizations who have a need for your
product or service. They purchase your stuff in exchange for money. They have the financial autonomy to decide where and how they will spend their budget.
The question is who gets the bag of money, you or your competitor? Who has earned the confidence and trust of the customer? You and your competitor are vying for a piece of their budget—the best solution wins.
2. Allies:
These are the users of your product or service, not the ultimate decision maker.
These customers usually don't have a bag of money but they play a vital role in your success. They do not make the final decision but they may have tremendous impact on the outcome.
You must earn their trust and confidence if you expect them to support you at the bag of money level. They have veto power, the authority to say no.
Allies can be a tremendous wealth of information. Pick their brains and learn how you can differentiate yourself from the competition. Ask them who else may be involved with decisions.
3. Internal Customer:
These are fellow employees and managers within your place of business. They support you and make you look good to your external customers.
Appreciate them and treat them with respect.
Poor internal relationships can have fatal consequences for your external customers.
When you work in harmony with your internal customers, external customers become the beneficiary of your internal relationships. Long-term success means having your entire company and all its resources focus on its customers.
4. Repeat Customer:
They are the jewels of your business. Do the job well the first time and you often get rewarded with another opportunity to serve them.
So serve them well!
5. Born-Again Customer:
These are previous customers who no longer do business with you. Dig up their file, give them a call, and settle any outstanding grievance. Do what it takes to resolve the situation. Make amends. Very frequently they will once again be receptive to doing business with you. They often become loyal customers provided you resolve the problem to their satisfaction.
6. Bag of Wind:
These people have little or no impact on the decision.
They are often an easy point of entry into an account but they seldom contribute to the
sales process. There is nothing worse than wasting valuable selling hours on people who cannot help advance the sale. Do not ignore these people but rather exploit their knowledge to deepen your understanding and confidence about the account. They may also provide clarity as to who the allies are and who the bag of money is.
So a good excersise for you (specially if you are a newbie sales executive) is to start categorizing your customers. Next time you make a sales call, or you present to a team of potential prospects, try to categorize them and then treat them in the way Tim has suggested.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/081447165X?v=glance
I would like to highlight some of the points that I find useful as I read:
Tim thinks that there are 6 types of customers: 1)External Customers 2)Allies 3)Internal Customers 4)Repeat Customers 5)Born Again Customers and 6)Bag Of Wind customers.
This is how Tim defines each type of customers and gives tips on how to handle them:
1. External Customer:
These are the people and organizations who have a need for your
product or service. They purchase your stuff in exchange for money. They have the financial autonomy to decide where and how they will spend their budget.
The question is who gets the bag of money, you or your competitor? Who has earned the confidence and trust of the customer? You and your competitor are vying for a piece of their budget—the best solution wins.
2. Allies:
These are the users of your product or service, not the ultimate decision maker.
These customers usually don't have a bag of money but they play a vital role in your success. They do not make the final decision but they may have tremendous impact on the outcome.
You must earn their trust and confidence if you expect them to support you at the bag of money level. They have veto power, the authority to say no.
Allies can be a tremendous wealth of information. Pick their brains and learn how you can differentiate yourself from the competition. Ask them who else may be involved with decisions.
3. Internal Customer:
These are fellow employees and managers within your place of business. They support you and make you look good to your external customers.
Appreciate them and treat them with respect.
Poor internal relationships can have fatal consequences for your external customers.
When you work in harmony with your internal customers, external customers become the beneficiary of your internal relationships. Long-term success means having your entire company and all its resources focus on its customers.
4. Repeat Customer:
They are the jewels of your business. Do the job well the first time and you often get rewarded with another opportunity to serve them.
So serve them well!
5. Born-Again Customer:
These are previous customers who no longer do business with you. Dig up their file, give them a call, and settle any outstanding grievance. Do what it takes to resolve the situation. Make amends. Very frequently they will once again be receptive to doing business with you. They often become loyal customers provided you resolve the problem to their satisfaction.
6. Bag of Wind:
These people have little or no impact on the decision.
They are often an easy point of entry into an account but they seldom contribute to the
sales process. There is nothing worse than wasting valuable selling hours on people who cannot help advance the sale. Do not ignore these people but rather exploit their knowledge to deepen your understanding and confidence about the account. They may also provide clarity as to who the allies are and who the bag of money is.
So a good excersise for you (specially if you are a newbie sales executive) is to start categorizing your customers. Next time you make a sales call, or you present to a team of potential prospects, try to categorize them and then treat them in the way Tim has suggested.
It hurts to understand what sales reps face!
While we (the marketers) sit at our computer, developing the launch campaign for our new and interesting product, the sales people are facing difficulties with regards to getting into customers.
Spend a day with a sales reps and see for your self what they are facing every day. And then you might feel you need to change your marketing strategies.
Read this ebook here:
http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com/selling/files/what_sales_really_needs_from_marketing.pdf
It might teach you something new.
I was directed to the ebook through Brian Caroll's blog: http://blog.startwithalead.com/weblog/2006/09/ebook_what_sale.html#comments
Spend a day with a sales reps and see for your self what they are facing every day. And then you might feel you need to change your marketing strategies.
Read this ebook here:
http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com/selling/files/what_sales_really_needs_from_marketing.pdf
It might teach you something new.
I was directed to the ebook through Brian Caroll's blog: http://blog.startwithalead.com/weblog/2006/09/ebook_what_sale.html#comments
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