The Worst Sales Direction EVER! “Treat it like it’s your own business.”

I've just heard this story too many times not to share it as a learning moment.
I received a call from a salesperson asking for advice as he struggled to meet his quarterly sales quota. I assumed he was calling looking for new sales techniques or particular guidance on moving a client to close. But this was not the case at all. Here is how the dialogue went:
Salesperson says, “I’m selling a product in a market where I have a competitor selling the exact same thing.”
I replied, “Same thing? You mean same features, same everything?”
“Yes”
“Are you more price competitive?”
“No, not really. We offer trade in of older equipment to bring the price down but so does our competitor”
“What about service?”

“Yeah, we do support the customer better than they do.”
”That’s good. But will your customer pay more for this better service?”
“No.”
“Interesting, so tell me what kind of direction have you received from the owner of the business you work for?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, given the market realities you’ve outlined, how does your owner expect you to win new business? Is he doing things to separate you from this competitor? For example, specializing in a certain niche (becoming experts and thus the preferred vendor) or using marketing and strong advertising techniques to build brand preference (aka, Colgate vs Crest toothpaste)?”
“No, the only guidance I was given was, “Treat it like it’s your business.”
Even the best salesperson will under-perform or fail under these conditions. It is not the salesperson's job to identify target customers and invent ways to differentiate. The role of the owner, President and/or CEO of a business is to equip your sales team with the tools to be successful. At a minimum this includes the following:

• A list of “target customers” 
• those inline with the customer mix outlined in your short and long-range growth plan
• who match the profile of those who will value your product, expertise and/or differentiators
• The compelling story to support why clients should buy your product over competitors
• Who are the competitors the sales team can expect to face and what differentiates us from each
• A supportive marketing (lead generating, branding, demo tools, social media, samples, brochures, etc...) strategy
• The right sales tools and support (travel budget, conference attendance, CRM, bid and proposal, quoting, etc...) - tools that actually help the sales team do their job versus those that help the owner monitor the sales force.

Given that only 28% of a salesperson’s time is spent in front of the customer and about 50% of that time is actually selling (the rest is prospecting (35%), relationship building (10%), and training (5%)), it is imperative, you the owner, equip him/her with the tools to ensure it is the right prospect and that he maximizes the productivity of that time.

In my 12 years of consulting "under-performing sales" has been by far the number one pain point with the blame typically placed squarely on the salesperson or VP of Sales. It is not long into the engagement when humility kicks in as the owner discovers it is their lack of a long-range plan, a clear understanding of what makes them different, a detailed knowledge of their competitors, and an ineffective or non-existent marketing strategy that are the real culprits.

Want to grow your metro Atlanta business?  Let's talk over a cup of coffee about what we can do to give your sales team the right tools for success? Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

The Threat in S. W. O. T.

I was given the privilege of being the Chairman of this year’s Selection Committee for the next recipient of Metro-Atlanta’s Small Business Person of the Year Award. It was quite an experience as there were several outstanding candidates. The announcement of the top five finalists and winner will occur at the Metro Atlanta Chamber on May 21st during an event-filled Small Business Day.

What was interesting to discover in this process of selecting the winner was the variety of answers we received to the first of three, and the only business related question asked during the personal interviews. The question was: “We know the importance of strategic planning in facilitating the long term growth of a company…. the basis for building a strategic plan rests with a thorough SWOT analysis....and one element of the SWOT is Threats. Other than the economy, what is the single biggest threat to your company’s future growth?”

We asked this question to get a sense of how well these small business owners truly understood their business and did they, in fact, have a plan for growing their company.

Before reading further, what would your answer be to this question? Write it down.

Now read on.

Here is a quick recap about SWOT. SWOT is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is usually done as a prelude to building a Strategic Plan. It drives you to look at your business both internally (Strengths and Weaknesses) and externally (Opportunities and Threats). With this analysis completed, you have the material necessary to craft a Strategic Plan - a plan that should address how you intend to enhance your strengths, minimize or correct your weaknesses, exploit the market opportunities and counter the threats.

Though this may sound simple enough, surprisingly very few small and mid-sized companies undergo this assessment. Worse yet is they perform this appraisal but fall into the trap of drinking their own bathwater by believing, for example, something is a Strength when in reality it is simply a minimum customer expectation. “Our people” or “our customer services” are the most common Strengths I hear from business owners that fit this - bathwater - category. You have to have some highly credentialed (PhDs...) staff or be constantly providing ultra-extraordinary customer service experiences to make either of these legitimate business strengths.

So what are legitimate Threats to a business and why is it important to identify them? First, as far as a SWOT analysis is concerned, a Threat is an external force - never internal. Second, accept the fact every business has real Threats which should be acknowledged and guarded against. Third, failure to identify these Threats and take action to counter them can bring a business to its knees.

There are numerous case studies of businesses large and small that either failed to acknowledge a Threat (“we have no threats”), or failed to change course to counter a threat. Imagine being that company producing tube televisions because you didn’t think LCD - flat panel technology - was legitimate or the mighty internet company (Yahoo) who produced the first marketable online search engine yet failed to believe anyone could make a better product (Google).

As a business owner you should clearly understand the threats to your future growth. Whether it is technology that makes your product or services obsolete (digital camera vs. film), a new trend (Facebook) which renders your product (MySpace) passé, or a competitor who is marketing a better “mousetrap” (iPod), it is incumbent on you to not only be aware of these Threats, but have a strategy in place on how you are going to thrive despite them.

About the author: Mike Gomez is the President of Allegro Consulting, an Atlanta-based business growth specialty firm. Allegro provides operating advice to businesses and organizations on a wide range of management issues that effect growth, such as strategic and organizational planning, marketing, sales and business process improvement. www.AllegroConsultant.com