Outlook invites for day-2-day meetings

Recently I had this discussion around invites with an executive from a major Telco and it became apparent how many sales people take little to no interest in sending a customer the most basic form of communication in an OUTLOOK MEETING INVITE.

The need for this is that it allows the executive admin to print out this info and provide a professional brief, it supports last minutes changes, and informs the customer of key requirements such as a Projector. Just imagine how comfortable an executive feels when he has to forward your invite to his boss!

So here are the basics the invite should contain, the idea here is to make you think about it when you send it out.


NAME OF THE COMPANY

Brief written intro on how the meeting came to be, and what the objective of the meeting is.

When: February 24, 1.30pm - 3.00pm (local time)

Where: Customer office at
One Third Street
Great City, CA

Who:
John Smith, VP of Network Architecture
Sue Doe, SVP Corporate Communications
Jacco vdK, VP Sales
Chris M, Account Executive

How: All will be physically present (if not provide conference/Webex login)

What: Proposed Agenda

> Introduction
> Topic 1
> Topic 2
> Summary of actions

Other:
> Projector needed - Yes/No
> Open broadband connection needed - Yes/No
> Parking instructions - Yes (detail) / No
> Dress code - Business Casual / Formal / Casual

Contact info:
In case of last minute changes do not hesitate to contact me
Jacco cell (xxx) xxx - xxxx
John admin (xxx) xxx - xxxx

References:
> Related document / RFP / etc.
> Presentation / Hand-out / PR / etc.
> Map / Driving directions

End.

Using mathmatics for accurate forecasting

This article describes the importance of monitoring Age of an opportunity against the Average Sales Cycle of the product line/service in question. In an effort to clarify the point 2 different methods forecasting are described below:

a) Closing date based: This relates to a forecast in which we use the closing date validated by the QBS as the determining factor in the sales forecast. In this we rely on the QBS PREDCTING accurately the week, month, quarter, and/or year as to WHEN the deal closes. The accuracy of the forecast is dependent on the skill in predicting, and becomes more accurate as we approach a delayed closing date. With a change of staff the accuracy level is mostly reset.

b) Mathematical based: Using the age against the average sales cycle (per product line/service) of an opportunity is the determining factor in the sales forecast and provides the WHEN based on the number of days from when an opportunity. In this we rely on the QBS ENTERING TIMELY their data within a CRM based system. The accuracy increases as more data is entered into the funnel. Minor changes are experienced with a change-over of staff as long as data is entered timely in the CRM of choice.

EXAMPLE: A new sales person in the team is told by the prospective buyer that a decision will be made by March 1 (60 days into a sales cycle) in an effort to have the solution tested by April 11. If he does not make the decision by end of March he will loose his budget. Seems valid enough right?.

Well the experienced QBS having dealt with this many times before, knows the deal will get stuck in legal and that as a result a senior executive will approve budget re-alignment, he also knows that engineering can already start testing the product to ensure April 11 date is met.

In effect the experienced QBS is aware of the average sales cycle and it taking into account constants such as average time it takes legal to agree, time it takes the proposal team to write the offer up, etc.

In my opinion there is far more constants in a sales cycle than well compensated sales staff like to let a company belief, here are some of them:

MOST CONSTANT PARTS OF THE SALES PROCESS

• Time it takes from first meeting to proper follow-up
  
• Time it takes to get an NDA established
• Time it takes to put a proposal together
• Time it takes for a response to a proposal
  
• Time it takes to work an agreement through legal
• Time it takes to do a DnB/Financial analysis
  

LEAST CONSTANT PARTS OF THE SALES PROCESS

• Time it takes for the prospective buyer to make decisions

End.

Funnel Management

Over the years I have worked for many VP's of Sales. All of them use a somewhat different definition of the funnel. For myself, my team, my sales peers, I like to recommend a standardized funnel definition so we all can learn to understand the business.

LEAD phase
Leads enter the funnel at 10% as they are identified in the market through various means. During this stage no value is assigned to the deals to avoid that a weighted funnels gets valued at a high number of deals at a low probability.

10% Lead has been identified by someone
20% Contact is established (call/e-mail/visit)

OPPORTUNITY phase
Deal is being managed in sales force with some basic information

30% Interest is established and opportunity is categorized
40% Passed first meeting, minutes, NDA, ECO system has been established, etc.
50% Compelling reason to purchase is identified / Timeline is confirmed, DnB report is initiated
60% Budget is confirmed / Decision makers identified / Competition profile being established

QUALIFIED phase
Level of details goes up for all key deals

70% Competitive shoot-out, Trial / Pilot initiated, team selling engaged, value proposal is available / Organizational selling is engaged
80% Closing plan is established, ECO system selling has been engaged
90% Organizational selling is executed, What-if scenario’s are being run

WIN/LOSS phase
100% Deal is won – Deal won program is run – Win analysis doc is submitted
0% Deal is lost – Deal lost program is run - Loss analysis is submitted


FUNNEL MANAGEMENT
The health of the sales funnel can now quickly be determined by the following:

MEASUREMENT] Weigthed funnel / Complete Funnel held against quota
Where a healthy funnel has the following parameters: Complete funnel is approximately 3x quota, and Weighted funnel is a little over quota.

IDENTIFICATION] Are there any single deals larger than 20% of the quota
This is important as these large deals can offset the funnel and create huge gaps in your numbers when they fall-out

What we can now coach our team members on during the weekly funnel session is the following:

i] Coach that the objective of every meeting is to increase to the next % level
ii] Help identify the true stage of the sale, rather than guessing where a deal is at
iii] Recognize that different stages in a sales engage different selling techniques/methodologies
iv] Learn how to read the weakness/strengths within a funnel to allow for early corrective actions
v] Identify back-up deals that can be accellerated the deals at risk, identify channels that can help soften impact etc.

Example of some of the Sales Methodologies I coach my team on during the weekly funnel sessions:

• Value add sales (we must bring value to the customer)


• Consultative selling (we must think about solutions)


• ECO system selling (secures partner roles surrounding the customer)


• Team selling (you are the one in charge of all of the company resources)


• SPIN development (ask the right questions at the right time and listen)


• Account Management (once you have earned the business how can you help it grow)

That's it!

People doing business with people

In today's world we have so many tools to communicate with each other that it is easy to overlook the most obvious one. You know ... actually talking and listening to someone. There are some things to remember as we are now so unused to talking to each other that some guidelines are required:

LISTEN MORE THAN YOU TALK

Ofteh they say the best meetings are over a meal/drink. Is it perhaps because you are forced to listen while eating/drinking and everyone has an equal opportunity to talk. A good trick is to bring a bottle of water into a meeting, even if you are not thirsty, having the bottle sit in front of you is a great reminder to keep listening.

DO NOT USE EMAIL IN CASE OF URGENCY

E-mail is not to be used as a tool to communicate a sense of urgency between 2 people - No really the more urgent it is, the more you need to pick-up the phone and talk.

EMAILS MUST BE BRIEF
All e-mails should be written with the understanding that a person on a Treo/bBlackberry will be reading the e-mail. E.g. the message needs to be to the point. Direct questions or answers are preferred followed by back ground info. So no book writing with at the bottom a question.

GOOD NEWS FAST / BAD NEWS FASTER
Communicate good news fast and bad news even faster - Actually most of the times good news can wait. Its a trick taught in executive communication classes around the world to communicate bad news as fast as possible. So don't be afraid to communicate bad news, and remember bad news can be really good news as it opens up all kind of new opportunities with it.

In case of doubt - just use the phone!

Working with a CTO / VP of Technology

Bill Wishon a friend of mine provided me with helpful insights on how to work with a CTO and categorized the CTO/VP of Technology in five distinct different styles;

THE GENIUS - The ones demonstrate the power of an idea championed and largely matured by single person. Examples are Steve Wozniak at Apple and Sergey Brin at Google

THE EXECUTIVE - The Executive CTO is a businessperson who measures innovation, research, and experimentation by the contribution it makes the company’s revenues and future competitive advantage. For example is Dr. Malcolm O'Neill, CTO at Lockheed Martin

THE DIRECTOR - The Director often is a leading scientist or researcher who has shown a talent for organization, handling exceptional people, and visioning the future. An example is Pat Gelsinger, the first CTO at Intel Corporation.

THE ADMINISTRATOR - The CTO who defends the organization’s budgets from overspending on technology products, services, and project labor. This one is prepared to negotiate with outside vendors and service providers to insure that the company is receiving the resources it needs, but is not overpaying for these. Example is Jeffery Pound - CTO Air force research laboratory

THE ADVOCATE - The Advocate CTO who is generally focused on the customer’s experience of and interfaces with the company. These CTOs do not usually direct the creation of technology, but rather select and combine the best products for their specific business capabilities. Great example is Rob Carter, CTO of FedEx.


The CTO Spectrum of responsibilities covers

1. Advise - Provide advice on company products, services, strategy, and structure. Similar to other corporate executives, but with a uniquely technical competence


2. Value - Aid in the valuation of internal businesses or of potential acquisitions. Provide analysis and opinion on the value of product portfolios, patents, facilities, and skilled staff


3. Vision - Build a vision for what technology will make possible, how it will impact a company's business area, and how to squeeze the most value from these changes


4. Communicate - Communicate the vision of the company to its own technical staff, to industry groups, and to the technical trade press. Engage these groups with terms from their own domain and with the personal credentials to be respected
   
5. Manage - Lead and manage the R&D labs or operations that involve significant technologies to the company. Build internal expertise in new areas and create young new leaders to replace the current CTO and other senior members


6. Innovate - Participate in research and product creation directly. Be a significant part of innovative products, such as Steve Wozniak with the first Apple computer


7. Implement - Follow up and track the realization of the plans set forth in the vision

Simple steps to have a great meeting with a CTO/VP of Technology

• Prepare yourself, establish NDA beforehand and prepare a list of questions


• Determine the CTO/VPT style


• Research the responsibilities of this particular CTO/VPT


• Ask for approval to take notes


• Take the time to build awareness and understanding for your companies core competencies with crisp messaging supported by practical examples


• Relate your core competency to the CTO/VPT company’s vision, and mission by asking Implication and Need Development style questions


• Respect time, and allow these folks to make the next meeting


• Appreciated gifts for a VPT/CTO in general are good articles/magazines/books/etc.


• Share your findings in the form of minutes of the meeting and/or a synopsis of your research

Source: Roger Smith / CTO US Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation

The Last Lecture "Realize your dreams" by Randy Pausch

It was a colleague of mine who linked me up with this video link from Randy Pausch diagnosed with a terminal illness providing the Last Lecture. It is not "If you have an opportunity" because for lessons like these I believe anyone should "make the time" to see this.

CLICK THIS LINK (Randy Pausch Last Lecture)

As for the lessons he described:

• Brick walls exist for a reason. To let us prove how badly we want something


• When you are screwing up and no one says anything that means they gave up on you


• Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted


• To avoid screwing up: Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals!


• Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you


• Sometimes you don't know how high to set the bar, so don't


• One of the many downsides of being arrogant is that it will limit what you can accomplish in life


• Respect authority while questioning it


• Loyalty is a two-way street


• Way more important to be earnest than hip


• Get a feedback loop and listen to it


• Thank (reward) the people that got you where you are.


• Be good at something. It makes you valuable


• Luck is where preparation meets opportunity


• Don't complain, just work harder.


• If you lead your life the right way then charma will take care of itself.


• Dream

End.

Sales Teams - Think outside the box! (part I)

The definition of insanity: 'Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result'.

To do different, you got to think different, to think different you got to involve different people that help you see things from a different anlge. Below some results of people helping me think outside the box:

• Set-up a monthly book-club, choose from a wide aray of books that each bring different sales elements to the team important for that quarter. A link can be found on this BLOG with several titles


• During the next sales meeting let your best sales folks prepare a presentation as if they are the competitor selling their solution to your sales team being the prospective buyer


• During the next sales team meeting let your best networker present his/her sales organization, each person he/she is using with the company


• Take your team to one of the local colleges/universities to sit in on a class or two of psychology


• Give each of your team members $200 cash, go to a local shopping mall, each has 2 hours to buy personalized customer gifts. Upon return everyone has to talk about 1-2 items they bought and why

A good place to find these new ideas is when you meet people that are from outside the industry!

Building a Sales Organization (Part II)

Over the years I found that the best sales professionals in the world I have gotten to know all have a similar way of working. They all seem to have:

i) in depth understand the customer (s), their business, their politics, their network, their behavior, and so on

ii) intimate knowledge of the "solution" they are selling, appreciating the strengths and the value it brings, acknowledging the areas of improvement and how to overcome them, etc.

iii) a crisp clear view of the ECO system (within the market, region) and in particular have a broad/detailed view of the competitive landscape, including but not limited to; compelling reasons to buy, differentiators, roadblocks versus speedbumps

iv) ability to 'command' and 'manage' resources nearly at will without upsetting internal company politics (a development technique for this can be found in my blog on Thinking outside of the box)

v) great personal traits that are needed within the market called on (see Building a Sales Organization (part I))

vi) established a healthy credit report with their customers, often expressed in relationships that border friendship

Reasons why customer buy

The top three reasons why customers buy are simple:


a) You increase the revenues for the company


b) You reduce the costs (CAPEX / OPEX)


c) You improve time-to-market leading indirectly to the above


For each customer these three might be differently prioritized but in essence every customer has only one thing on their mind, directly or indirectly, financial gain!

Back To The Bascis

This week I have been hit by different folks from large accounts like EchoStar, ComCast and AT&T all spending millions of dollars. I was struck about how they all spoke about the same thing. To earn business they all ask for the same basic things:

• Provide demo equipment when asked for


• Support the demo with on-site folks that through it will learn about the needs


• Provide a quote of the requested equipment / services


• Respond to calls


• Ship product that was ordered and deliver on the date as was comitted


• Provide post sales support

It was striking to hear key customers say how 15 minutes in shipping can ruin 6 months of key account management.

Success x Success = Trouble

To become very successful in key accounts these are some valuable lessons:

• Sell the account to the company with equal effort as you sell the company to the account
• Involve the whole company in the process
• Review the operations from the time of the sales order to successful launch of service/campaign
• Anticipate problems, prepare for the worst, focus on success
• Communicate up/down/sideways, broadcast
• Cost it out, maintain cashflow overview
• Create a back-up plan for when it all fails

When success in key accounts takes off expect trouble around the corner. This trouble normally expresses itself by:

• Customer expectations not being met
• Company going into fire fighting mode
• Pulling resources from around the company hurting other pieces
• Customer upset

When/if the trouble hits I found these lessons as extremely helpfull:

• Do whatever it takes to fix it
• Take responsibility
• Act swiftly and efficiently
• Step in and take charge
• Don't assign blame
• Stay calm
• Communicate
• Keep your eye on the ball

I wish someone told me, coached me on these valuable lessons. Thank god for books!

Sales Leadership lessons

Sales Leadership Lessons

• My goal has to be worthy of the teams commitment. Wherever I lead my team both destination and journey must be worthy. I want to lead by example
  
• As a sales leader I must have a vision at all time, even if my bosses don't have this. I must develop this vision and discuss with my team. A vision motivates.


• Have discipline to do what it takes - Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do in the best possible manner at a time you are suppose to do it - Be on-time, and aware of time - Commitment means something, you got to be willing enough to make a commitment work even against a certain loss


• Trustworthy - Be honest and sincere - Do not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do - Be secretive but not deceiving, be a killer not a murderer - Tell the truth - Confrontation means meeting the truth head-on


• Be an optimist that thinks positive - Turn every - into a + Pay attention to detail, the deal will be found with a detail you thought did not mean anything - Think about winning, there is always a deal to be had - Have the courage to lead - Every quarter is a new opportunity - Adversity is an opportunity to have new options and perform


• Coach your team to make them think - You hear, You forget; You see, You remember; You do, You understand - Learn what works best, copy it, improve on it - A team is to accomplish what one person cannot accomplish - A team equals to more than the sum of the individual effort - Customers want sales persons to bring solutions to problems the customer is unaware of - A team that can sell on "Problem solving" instead of "Whachagot" (SPIN) - Teamselling, involvement creates commitment, build a sales team and it will feed itself (Selling is a team sport)


• Buikd a team that is tenacious till the last moment - A team that does not quit


• Respect. A team that respects and is respected - Respect for your customers, for your colleagues and for yourself - Never talk negative about a customer/prospect
  Be fair and honest treat everyone equal


• Be known as the hardest working team - Team that prepares its sales calls well (Sales checklist) - Try hard all the time, anytime


• When you have success, share 5-10% of your commission with those who made you successful!

Sales Call Checklist

THE PREPARATION
Formulate a goal(s) of the visit and write it down
Check for practical arrangements, such a dress code
Arrange for an internal briefing to agree on the goals and propose an agenda
Issue the proposed agenda days ahead of the visit
Decide if there is a need for an NDA, carry 2-3 paper blank copies with you
Do research on the company to visit:
+ Check the web on latest press releases
+ Check with colleagues on work with related companies, investors, etc.
+ Call outside relationships to check if anything special is going on (Packeteer, Harris, other service providers, etc.)
+ Check stock price to see what kind of mood they are in
+ If they have products already, know the operator status of the previous day/week
Finally prepare a travel pack with directions, and approximate driving times

THE VISIT
Respect your customer
+ Be on-time, when late call in to let them know how late you will be
+ Make notes while being with the customer, in general ask for permission
Apply SPIN selling tools to acquire information
General information needed is:
+ Opportunity vs. timeline, how to we differentiate
+ Feature and service requirements, where to provide value add?
+ Budget allocations, which department, how much, what kind of spending cycle
+ Organization/Department structure, decision maker, informer, etc.
Summarize the meeting and agree on follow-up action points, focus at your goals/deliverables!
Schedule a follow-up meeting to go over the action points
When you leave the prospect ask yourself "what is his hobby?" You need to know how to make a personal touch at some point and I want you to make that call ahead of time. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER.

THE FOLLOW-UP
Issue brief minutes on the meeting, not too long but with the essential information:
+ Date/Place of visit, full names/titles of people present, describe opportunity within the account vs. timeline
Actions that lead you to this goal with persons assigned
Write a thank you note to the person you visited within 1-week
+ Par 1, thank you and discussion topic description
+ Par 2, emphasize the key points, our added value followed by a short list of action points.
+ Par 3, start with "Name, I really..." and make a sincere statement where you think the relationship should go.
Follow-up on the agreed action points appropriately AND timely

Building a sales organization (Part I)

When building a sales organization finding the right sales person(s) is the single most difficult task for the company. The right sales person can perform magic for a company whereas a misplaced person can severely damage the image and reputation of a company.

After all you are asking for a person that sells for a living to sell themselves to your company.

In my view there are four pieces to a great candidate:

i) has a network within the targetted industry, not just prospects/customers, but also analysts, competitors, related vendors, investors, and so on

ii) understands the market, the technologies involved, and the limitations it imposes, the future challenges politically, and do they have a future vision

iii) has knowledge about different selling techniques, and sales approaches, understand different financial pricing models, and

iv) has the right personality traits (the black magic)

Below a list of traits that I commonly use to identify if someone has the 'black magic'

• People oriented


• Risk takers


• Curious and inquisitive


• Results oriented


• Ability to handle objection and rejection


• Tenacious


• Resourceful


• Competitive


• Problem solver


• Good listeners

Certainly many hiring managers will sway their decision based to a candidate that has the right 'feel'.

If this is the case I would challenge you (a) to find three candidates with the 'right feel', and (b) honor both with a well prepared detailed interview.

Is sales 'black magic'?

For the longest time I have been amazed how people refer to sales as a 'skill you are born with', as if sales managers have magic voodoo dolls they use to generate sales. In part this is true as a major part of sales has to do with human interaction, and in a world of e-mail and text message exchange this seem to get outdated.

I am certain that as you look into your current company the VP of Marketing has an MBA, and the VP of Eng has a MSC. With the VP of sales, often having an unrelated education, it therefor is no suprise that years of experience are necessary to be in charge of one of the larger cost centers, and drive the direction of the company.

In the beginning I too got caught in the magic and believed that I was touched by the hand of god to be a 'medicine-man' and spell my 'black magic' onto the people. Yet as I learned the lessons of sales (channel / sales / account management) I found that although there certainly is an element of 'magic' to it, sales is like any other skill, and just like it can be taught and trained.

It was not too long ago that practicing medicine was so magical it would make you the #2 in the tribe. Compare that to nowadays where based on education and training, pharmacists are available 24/7 at many local grocery stores.