The best practice that we have found is that when it comes to competitive information, buyers needs, value propositions, and your benefits and differentiators, these
need to be organized in a context-sensitive search engine rather than in a marketing encyclopedia full of brochures. The search engine is the key.
A few years ago, Jon Hauck and I met with the company with which we had just been merged.
The manager asked us, “So, what did you guys do about six months ago? All of a sudden, you started turning on a dime. We used to be able to try a new tactic on you half a dozen times before you would finally have a sales meeting and get wise to it. Suddenly you started having an answer ready the very next day. Not only could you handle the objection, but you had set a trap for us and spun it the other way!”
What we had done was use the then-new technology of voice mail to create a clearinghouse of information so that whenever a salesperson discovered something new, he or she passed it through the product and brand managers immediately, and it was back in the field the next day.
The simple use of this technology made millions of dollars for us, but speed was the real issue. Now, with the Internet, this competitive speed should be even easier and faster.
Speed of Feedback Is Advantage
The best practice is to refresh information every 48 hours and to have somebody in charge of each competitor and each industry to keep that information current. You also need a feedback loop where a salesperson in one part of the world who uncovers a competitive trap can spread the word and have the rest of your salespeople ready for it before your competition can use it on you a dozen times.
| Technology Scorecard |
| Best Practices, Technology | Importance | Execution |
| Degree of Importance (1 = low, 10 = high) | Agree, but we never do this | We sometimes do this | We often do this | We do this consistently |
| Individual | | | | | |
| We have a standard, widely adopted contact management system for our firm. | | | | | |
| Opportunity Level | | | | | |
| We have an effective, widely adopted opportunity management planning tool. | | | | | |
| Our metrics allow sales managers to track lead responsiveness. | | | | | |
| We regularly conduct win-loss reports through a third party. | | | | | |
| Our sales process and methodology are imbedded into our forecasting/pipeline system. | | | | | |
| Our forecast/pipeline system includes early suspects for management visibility. | | | | | |
| Account Management | | | | | |
| Our CRM system gives us visibility into opportunities for a given account worldwide. | | | | | |
| We have a C RM system that is widely adopted by the sales force. | | | | | |
| Industry/Market | | | | | |
| We have a tool for gathering and distributing feedback from our reps quickly. | | | | | |
| Marketing information is organized and indexed by industry, solution set, individual buyer, and competitor. | | | | | |
| Our sales force is equipped with tactics and messages, by industry, to respond to competitive traps and objections. | | | | | |
SECTION VI: Trust
I never made a good deal with a bad person, and I never made a bad deal with a good person.
Warren Buffett
Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.
William Shakespeare
CHAPTER 8: Trust
It Starts with the Heart
I’ve asked many sales managers what they think is the most important thing in selling. Some say that it’s closing, some say prospecting, and some say process. I say it’s trust.
Trust is always the strategy. Trust isn’t about what you do; it’s about who you are. If you want to be trusted, you have to be trustworthy first. And it starts with the heart— you can’t fake it.
You can lose with a great product and a great company through a weak salesperson whose messages are not believed. All your value can be lost because there is no bridge of trust between the buyer and the seller. All your investment in your company, product, and marketing can be lost just as if it went off the edge of a broken bridge.
Although character is the foundation of trust, most companies don’t interview for it, don’t require it, and don’t reward it. And yet it may be the root cause of most sales turnover, sales losses, and customer problems.
I had one salesperson who was struggling in a given year and asked me for advice as his manager. I told him, “I’m your manager and your friend — and you can take it or leave it — but I think I’ve identified your problem. You are doing almost everything right except one thing: You’re a snob. You like the finer things in life — which is fine — but you have no tolerance for those who don’t. You basically don’t like your customers, and you can’t hide it. You aren’t a good enough actor — none of us are.
I watched you in one sales call where you were disdainful of the administrative person and barely tolerant of the project leader, and you patronized the decision maker. None of those emotions are genuine. I can see it, and I’m sure they could see it, too. You have to find something about your clients to like and discard the rest. But most of all, you have to be genuine. You have to build sincere relationships that have value.”
Alignment — Opening the Door to Rapport
The first decision a buyer makes is about the salesperson. The first step in the process is alignment. This is sometimes called neurolinguistic programming and means matching one’s voice, rate of speech, level of humor, level of familiarity, and body language to those of the buyer. It removes the physical barriers of bias from the salesperson’s message.
You can lose a great product and a great company through a weak salesperson whose messages are not believed.
Alignment is the first step in building rapport. Many salespeople ruin the entire call by aligning badly—becoming too friendly too fast, laughing at things that aren’t really funny, being too familiar (this is especially deadly internationally), or dressing inappropriately for that industry.
How many salespeople have you met who were too aggressive and turned you off? They could have been selling one dollar bills for 50 cents and you still wouldn’t have bought from them. They create barriers to what may be a very sound solution. A good message can be lost through a bad messenger. Sometimes salespeople are so bad at this that they become sales prevention people. They just annoy us.
I once walked out of a clothing store that had a suit I had been looking at for months. I ended up leaving because I refused to buy it from that particular salesperson. Unfortunately, when I went back for the suit later, it was gone. I didn’t find it again for two years, but it was still better than buying it from that jerk.
