According to CSO Insights, the #1 issue that worries VP Sales and CEOs, behind increasing revenue, is increasing sales effectiveness.
In a different survey, 97% of CEOs interviewed are planning on increasing revenue this year. More interestingly, 67% plan on increasing revenue while REDUCING headcount in the sales department.
Now, I am not a math major, but, if you want to increase sales and decrease sales people, each sales person has to sell more than they were selling. Right? So increasing the productivity of each sales person has to be the utmost priority. The real question is exactly HOW do you do that? Enter sales 2.0 tools.
First, let’s back up and talk about what Sales 2.0 IS… With all the stuff written, you would think that there is a new Facebook that sells the stuff for you. The reality is that selling is just as hard (more so) than ever before. The other reality is that buyers are more informed than ever before, and they EXPECT you to be. Therefore the first 2 sales calls (introduction, learning about the business etc.) are gone. Sales 2.0 is the acceleration and abrupt deceleration of the sales process. It is also the incredible number of tools and services available.
So what are the tools? Salesforce.com is the most visible tool that sales teams are now using, but InsideView, Connect and Sell, DemandBase, and Kadient are excellent examples of where sales tools are headed. The key is having the information that you need, when you need it, in a place that you need it, so you can ACT ON IT! And this is where things sometimes fall down.
For today, let’s start with Connect and Sell. This is a great tool, technology and service… BUT, for it to work, the team has to be ready and trained to use it. If they just throw up on the individuals that they get on the phone, then all you did was add efficiency to a bad selling experience and process. You will get more conversations, so by simple math you will get more deals, but you haven’t really made the sales process an engine. So a few things to make this a success:
- Have a plan and a VERY TARGETED list. Without a good target list based on a good sales plan, then this is automated “Spray and Pray”
- Have an Excellent 15 second introduction.. Get their attention fast and keep the conversation about them, their issues, and their success.
- Know what your goal is.. 99% of companies are not going to close anything on one call. You are probably just trying to set up a time to have a more detailed conversation. Get their attention, generate some interest, set up a time, get off the phone, move to the next one
- Stack industries, verticals or product lines. This makes the introduction and the conversation easier for the rep to focus on. If the first call is a bank and the next call is an engineering firm, the mental shift in a few seconds is tough. make sure that the list is focused every time you use the service.
- Turn off your cell phone and forward to voicemail your desk phone. Close your email client. FOCUS on the calls and you will be much better.
These tips should help you increase your effectiveness with Connect and Sell. In the next few days I will talk about how to best use Inside View, Kadient, Demand Base and maybe a couple of others.
Good Selling!
Steve
I was on a great webinar last week presented by Dow Jones and CSO Insights, and I recommend that you listen to the replay. You can click here to watch the “Successful Sales Strategies” replay. We can talk about Sales 2.0, and sales effectiveness, or even sales optimization. But a lot of what is making sales people successful in this economy is a) having good sales intelligence and b) having an effective sales plan or an account plan!
Why did I like this so much? First, they based the strategies not only on the sales truths that don’t change, but on the completely changed realities of selling today. 
“We Need the Right Team,
To Do the Right Things,
Using the Right Tools,
Supported by the Right Insights,
To Get Our Customers to Do the Right Thing,
Right Now!”
Now this isn’t news, but how you get there today, is very different than just 3 years ago. Today, prospects EXPECT you to know their business, before you come in to meet with them. You can expect them to know your business before you talk with them the first time even. The question is now, how do you get to the conversations in real time around issues that they care about as opposed to your product or service?
With the huge amount of information that is available, how do you get what you need in order to have the RIGHT information for a sales call or to target a prospect. Dow Jones has the product that they acquired from Generate. Inside View is a great tool that integrates with SFDC. So does ZoomInfo. What you have to do is figure out which tools or combination of tools works for your business and your industry. More importantly, what information do you need to fully have a plan? Some of my favorite statistic that CSO Insights has on this call is that fully 43% of sales reps are missing quota, and according to their managers, over 50% of the sales reps need to do more research before making a sales call.
As we get ready to end Q2 and head into the second half of the selling year, you have to stop and ask… Do I have the right information? Do I know what information I need to have a successful Territory Sales Plan or Account Plan? Where can I get the information that I need? How can I have it all easily accessible in my CRM?
The tools are there, including the sales planning tools.
The question is are you using them and is your team being effective?
I ran across this video because a friend and colleague, Trish Bertuzzi, wrote a great blog post about “Crossing the Chasm” in technology sales, and used this video as an example. Seth Godin used it and said,
“Initiators are rare indeed, but it’s scary to be the leader. Guy #3 is rare too, but it’s a lot less scary and just as important. Guy #49 is irrelevant.”
We as sales people and entrepreneurs are in many ways that Crazy Guy dancing. But hey! Look what happens if you dance long enough! Just keep dancing, and dance like nobody is watching. Maybe that means making huge mistakes on a cold call or taking a huge risk on a sales tactic or strategy. Just keep dancing and selling. You will win and you will succeed… somehow.. and maybe with a 100 weird friends dancing along 
Steve
As difficult a sales environment it is today, every sales rep needs a good strategy and a good plan. That is why we are excited to bring the newest version of P2W products to the Force.com CRM cloud . We are committed to helping sales people build trusted relationships with their clients and prospects. (See the curve above)
Being successful as a sales rep today is tough. As a manager, it is our job to give our team the sales tools that will increase their sales effectiveness without burdening them with additional software or forms. That is why we are developing in the Salesforce.com cloud infrastructure. If you are already using salesforce.com as your CRM system, check out the app exchange. There are plenty of apps that can help your team.
As managers we have to constantly be asking: “What am I doing to help and develop my team?”
Account Plan Pro 1.0 for salesforce.com is now released as a Beta product. Building on the success of the Account Plan 2008 method, we have now released the Beta version of 
Account Plan pro for salesforce.com. Integrated into the Salesforce CRM, the team can now create an Account strategy, Opportunity strategy, and Relationship strategies. If you are interested in being a Beta test site for free for your entire team, drop me an email at sharper at territoryplan dot com.
Good selling!
Steve
Well, today we have made the decision to make the desktop versions of our territory planning and account planning software, free.
That’s right, they are now free ware. If you want to download them, simply go here and register and you can download a copy to use with our compliments. Now, this also means that they are unsupported, so don’t go calling us if they don’t work on your PC.
The reason we are moving to a Free Software model on the desktop is two fold. First, we are placing all of our development into SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings. The first is of course the Salesforce.com offering of Territory Plan Pro. It is currently on the Force.com App Exchange. In the next 30 days or so, Account Plan Pro should be listed on the App Exchange.
The second reason is, frankly we are tired of trying to keep up with Microsoft. The number of versions of the OS and of Office are a real development and support headache.
That said, I hope you can get value out of the software. We will be e-mailing everyone who registers to announce the Web based versions when they are released, and offering them several months of usage of the web site. The next versions will not have to have Salesforce.com as a CRM system. They will simply be a subscription, web based version of the application.
Until then. Good luck and Good Selling!
Steve
CEO / Founder
Plan 2 Win Software, LLC.
Most sales experts will tell you that one of the keys to a successful sales person is a good plan of action. “Plan the work, work the plan”.
- Are your sales team planning their 2009
Territory Strategies? - Are each of the sales managers using a different template?
- Are all of the teams plans on power point slides?
The problem with that kind of a system is that often the plan is presented and forgotten.
Event: Building a Territory Plan within Salesforce.com
When: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10:00 am-10:30 am
Where: Webinar
So who is Harvest Solutions? Take a look at their website. These guys know more about Salesforce.com implementation than most people I know.
I hope you can join us, and if you think someone else that you know may want to take advantage of this free webinar, feel free to pass it along.
Have a great day, and I hope to hear you on the call!
Steve
For others it is a chore that is put off until it has to be done and then it gets little grudging attention. We know that having a clear plan and strategy makes even good sales people better. In fact, most sales people know this. So, why is it so hard for some to do this simple but critical exercise?
I was having this conversation with Greta Roberts, an old friend of mine who is the CEO of Target Teams in Cambridge, MA. She made an interesting point. Some sales people are naturally inclined to writing down a plan and being more organized. She should know. Target Teams has developed an enhanced version of DISC profiles that will help both predict top performers and to help coach sales people. There are natural tendencies of each of us, and some of us tend to be more adaptable to creating a written plan.
As a Manager, we need to understand who on our team is more inclined to have this kind of focus. The reality is that few Sales People have developed this ability. Mainly this is the case because a) their profile and personality doesn’t help them with things like paperwork and minutiae (that’s why we are in sales) and b) it isn’t taught any longer. (Download the free sales planning toolkit if you want to start teaching or learning about sales planning)
If you want to understand how to communicate and really work and coach with your sales team, I highly recommend using a profile assessment. DISC is my personal favorite, mainly because I used it for years and it is very easy for a sales person to learn and use. Not only can you learn about yourself, but now you can use the information to learn about your prospects and customers. Finding the best way to communicate with a hard to reach prospect, may be the edge that you need in this environment. An assessment is the first step, in my opinion.
If you want to see what I am talking about, take a free assessment here at Target Teams. They were kind enough to offer a free DISC assessment to my readers so enjoy.
NOTE: Allow 20 minutes of focused uninterrupted time to take the assessment. You want the results to mean something so do it without a break and be honest with yourself. You will be amazed at what you will learn.
Introducing the Plan 2 Win Sales Planning Tool Kit.
With 2008 coming quickly to a close and 2009 shaping up to be a less than stellar year for many people, creating actionable compelling sales strategies is even more important now. So we have taken the output from the Territory Plan 2008 and Account Plan 2008 software, and made it available in a download to help you create sales plans.
To download the Sales Planning Tool Kit simply register and click download. You will also receive an offer code for an additional 20% off of the year end special on both software products. That is both products for about $20. You spend more than that every week on Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts! And believe me when I say coffee is critical to my success, a good business plan is more important.
Of course, you can always get both software packages for free through our partnership with Trial Pay! Simply accept an offer from one of the merchants in the system (NetFlix, FTD, Sony, Apple etc.) and they pay me for the software that you get. Pretty easy.
Try out the sales toolkit and if that works for you… Great! If you need to create more sales plans and build them faster, then consider buying the sales planning software. Either way, we look forward to helping you have a more productive 2009!
As of today the application is generally available on the Salesforce.com Application Exchange. This is a similar application to the windows based sales planning tool, however, since it is a native application built on the Force.com platform, all of your contacts, accounts and opportunities are available to
simply click and pick to add to your plan. Additionally, tasks and events are created in the app and they roll into your normal task lists. With workflow, you can even submit the plan to your manager for review. We are pretty excited about this and have already started on the Account Plan Pro product. If you are interested in the app, the Datasheet and a quick video for the SFDC Version are at this link Territory Plan Pro.
I hear this term more often than I care to admit. So many companies and Sales Managers tell me “We have a consultative sales approach.” “We want our people to really take more of a consultative approach” The funny thing is that so few of the sales managers saying this actually know what that means. I’m not saying that you have to have been a consultant to sell like one, but you have to understand what and how people want to buy. They do not want to be sold and they are tired of the old way of selling. Andrew Sobel said it best in his book “Making Rain”
“In today’s markets, you win by assiduously building relationships with clients , being willing to stick with them over the long term, and adding value every step of the way. Golf and Lunch are nice, but they no longer represent real value to clients – they can get these from anyone.”
In today’s market, I believe that the real consultative sales person will have the lowest expense account on the team. Bringing value to a meeting may mean a Latte or Coffee from Starbuck’s, but a nice lunch or dinner only adds a dimension of Dis-trust to the equation. If you can afford to buy a nice dinner, round of golf, or fancy lunch… what does that say about 1) your prices, and 2) your business acumen.
In this economy, showing value is about understanding their business and the business challenges that they face. Once you understand that, you work diligently WITH them to help them solve these issues. This will win more sales than any lunch or golf game.
So… What is your plan to know as much about your targets and key accounts as possible?