As you know I don’t do much corporate work (yet), but our company is getting into it more and more.

I recently wrote a sales proposal and the feedback I had to it led to an “AH HA” moment.

Business or Sales Proposals Are Really Sales Material…

What do I mean by that? Just because a company agrees and says “send me a proposal” does NOT mean that they are convinced or sold.

I recently made that assumption. All I sent back on the proposal was “what they’ll get” and “how much we would charge.”

The response was… “wait…what exactly are you doing and how does this help me?”

It was then that I realized a sales proposal is really just another addition to your arsenal of sales materials. Even though it’s a proposal, you can’t forget to SELL in it.

The proposal we are re-doing now has the following:

- Detailed list of BENEFITS from what we’re doing (not just what we’re doing).

- A complete detailed picture of HOW we’re going to do it (so they understand that it’s not really all that easy).

- ITEMIZED costs (this is critical, you can’t just throw numbers at them, make sure they understand why the numbers are there to begin with).

FINALLY…(my biggest tip).

We did our OWN “cost/benefit analysis” FOR them. How?

A good sales person is one who gets as much data from his potential customer first. You should have enough data to fully understand how your service will impact that company.

Let’s use an example to really understand:

Assume the company you’re selling to currently has $10,000,000 in sales and they convert at 10% at an average sale price of $100,000.

So, this means they’re talking to 1,000 companies, they close 100 of them and that’s how they hit $10,000,000 in revenue. Now, let’s assume YOUR service can help they close 20% better (of course you have to have some proof to back this).

** ANOTHER BIG TIP: Pick VERY conservative numbers. Numbers that even they cannot argue with. This way, they see it and say “WOW, if just this LITTLE change can have such a large impact, imagine if…” SOLD!

Now this means that with your service, they’re conversion rate will go up to 12%. If they went back and talked to the same companies, they should now close 120 at $100,000. That would mean that they’re total revenue would be $12,000,000.

An increase in revenue of $2,000,000!

Let’s assume that your service cost $100,000. If IN your proposal, you were to provide this example, can you imagine how much more powerful your proposal would be?

How can someone say no to a service that costs $100,000 but returns $2,000,000 (worst case scenario)!

If you really want to close the sale fast, have a face to face meeting, gather as much data as possible and do as much of the “cost/benefit analysis” for the company as you can.

You’ll shave weeks if not months off the sales cycle.

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One of the things I have had to learn the most and am still learning is the importance of a poker face in executive management. You can’t get overly excited or disappointed - EVER. I’ll give you a perfect example…

Let’s say you’re on a sales call and it seems to be going well, the other side says “they’re excited and ready, just a few steps left and let’s get this deal sealed.”

Your reaction?  WOO HOO!!! BIG one, I gotta go and tell EVERYONE, this is huge. Ok, let me start planning around this, I can hire 10 people, I can do this and that and this and that and I can go around bragging about this to everyone.

Guess what? If I had a nickle for every sales call that went well and I thought I was going to close but ultimately led to ZILCH revenue, well, I wouldn’t need to be in business right now

Bottom line is a CEO needs to be stable (something I admit I’m still working on). The best example is a cooooool poker face. Take good news at strides. The rule that I made 2 years ago and am getting better at day by day is to NOT get excited or even think about a sale until the check arrives, cashes and clears - NOW, I have a sale and can start spending the money!

No worries, when anyone is new at this it’s only human nature - but eventually after years of getting slapped around, it grows out of you.

Again, I start to understand why CEOs always look so serious, resolved, calm and well they look like good poker players!

Oh, by the way, a good poker face really helps in sales too.

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Many of you may have noticed that I’ve missed a day or two of blogging - I apologize, I know how MysteryCEO.com has become a drug of sorts for you

Well, our company is in the dead middle of a big product launch and I have literally been working around the clock (loving every minute of it - but sleepy at the same time). There is ONE thing I can’t get over, I’ve done quiet a few of these launches and have always promised myself one thing:

Next time, before we even announce the launch date, we’ll make sure EVERYTHING is done - all sales material, product, testing, etc…

What I can’t understand is why I NEVER follow through with that? It seems NOTHING gets done until a firm date is SET. But at the same time, nothing is done at the time the firm date is set (well, not “nothing” - but you know what I mean).

So, in other words - to motivate yourself TO get things done, deadlines become necessary…

Anyways - what’s your opinion on that?  Do you work better with deadlines?

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This is what’s on my mind today…

I’ve been evaluating the “sales process” inside my head and thinking about what has worked best in the past. One of the recurring themes I picked out was that any time I have “let things play” out and simply rely on my charm - the sale has happened.

At the same time, when we’ve been in “crunch mode” it always seems that the sales take longer and even if they happen - they feel very pushed and lead to more dissatisfaction for both parties in the end (versus building a strong relationship first).

What led me to this thought was this last weekend. I spoke at a seminar hosted by arguably the largest company in our industry. It was an honor enough to just be invited, however it seems to be turning into much more than that.

I was such a hit at the event that their CEO has already struck multiple follow-up conversations with me including a potential Joint Venture. See, I’ve been wanting to find an “in” with them for over 3 years, but frankly always avoided it because NO ONE in our industry (yes, NO ONE) has had any luck - even names that are much bigger than mine.

Some how, all of a sudden, the tables have turned in the sense that “I” feel as if the sale is coming from the other side (which is a great position to be in). You see what happened here was that I presented my value before anything. I made them realize that there was money in working with me and my company before EVER making them feel like “I was trying to get the best of them…”

The best salesman is always the one that lets the customer feel as if it was their own decision to buy the process, when in reality, he/she held their hand and led them right to the decision. By mistake (not purposely), I think I may have done the same thing here…

All in all, try changing your mindset from “selling” to “relationship building” - show value first, let them see what life could be like with you and/or your product then slightly pull it away. The sale seems to get much easier that way…

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I spoke on Saturday to a crowd of about 400 and although I’m very used to public speaking, I have to say that this is the largest group I have ever spoken in-front of. I’m never really nervous about it any more, but it still can get you if you think too much about it.

Speaking in-front of 400 people or 40,000 people for that matter is the exact same really as speaking in front of 10 - it’s all in your mind if there is any difference at all.

If you want to speak well in front of a crowd, here are 3 tips I highly advise…

1. Humor - If you’re not a fun or charismatic person, you’ve got a lot of work to do before you can get on stage (or just don’t get on stage). If you can’t get the crowd into your conversation and responding, they’re lost. I don’t care HOW technically amazing your talk is - people are people and you need to FIGHT for their attention.

2. As for Audience Feedback - I always ask questions where I say “Raise your hand if you agree?” - sometimes people don’t raise their hands, they think it’s a rhetorical question - well I stop and repeat myself until they do.

3. MOVE AROUND - I like to be on stage, left side, then right side - then sometimes come OFF the stage. The more you can force the audience to follow you around, the more they are tuned in.

If you stand still, talk in a plain boring monotone voice - kiss your presentation good bye. I don’t care if you’re presenting a way for humans to fly, you’re not going to have the crowd (ok, maybe then you would…)

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As you know I just recently returned from visiting our technical team and I first-hand experienced a “snippet” of the tug-of-war that can take place between sales teams and technical teams. Our guys are very understanding, so nothing big - but there were definitely jokes going around that showed that at times if they could ring our necks, they probably would.

Here is the bottomline to the fights between these two teams:

The sales team is the one that is out there voicing the capabilities of what they are selling and also committing to certain deadlines. But once they sell whatever they promised, they pass it along to the technical team - it’s the techincal team that actually needs to BUILD and implement the promise.

To top it off, many times if the promise is not fulfilled, it’s the technical team that is blamed, not really the sales team (since it’s just their job to bring IN the business).

Also, by the nature of the beast, a sales team will pretty much say anything to a client typically to get the sale I mean, think about it, they have a quota to meet, a reputation to keep and an ego to inflate.

I’ve personally seen three areas where I see most of the “disagreements” take place…

1. Deadlines

We personally don’t seem to really have this problem, we have “super coders!” However, in companies where the sales team promises merchandise or some custom-tailored software, this is likely a regular problem.

If the sales person has to promise a late delivery, he/she will lose the sale. If he/she promises an early delivery, then they risk irritating the fulfillment personnel. Personally, I think the sales guy just says “screw it, let me get the money, i’ll handle the technical guys later.”

2. Unfulfilled Projects

Now, THIS one our technical team has tons of experience with me being the guilty party - they won’t admit it, but I know they’ve wanted to slap me a few times. Basically what happens here is that the management/sales/product team comes up with an idea and asks the technical team to evaluate it and as always, they say “this is urgent, do it right away…”

The technical team may slave day and night to get the discussions done and a full report ready by which time the management may have already decided to “nix” the project - meaning, not follow-through with it.

Obviously this would upset anyone, if you were just told that you have to stay up forever working on a project scope and a few days later told “Oh, sorry, we decided not to do it, thanks anyways…” I can definitely understand their issue there.

The only thing is that this will never change…especially in a start-up - things change, ideas come and go, just the nature of the beast.

3. Project Creep

This one makes me laugh because we just got done poking fun at this in the office, “project creep” is when you build a system based on well thought-out requirements and feature sets. HOWEVER, as the project starts, it keeps growing.

You think of new features, more things to add and so on.

This not only delays the launch of the project but can drive the developers crazy because many of the things you ask for may require a LOT of programming which would have been that much easier had you mentioned it from the start.

Any work around this? Not really…

Again, this will happen in a start-up. This will especially happen if you are launching a new and unique concept. You have no idea how the market will react to it.

Not only will you add/delete features during the actual development, but you’ll add/delete features constantly even after the launch of it.

But it certainly CAN help to spend just a few days extra (or even weeks) PLANNING it out in the beginning…the less project creep the better. But, I don’t think there is ANY project done in history that did not suffer from the creep.

I’m sure there are many other areas where these two teams fight with each other, but thoese are three main ones I’ve seen.

What can you do? Nothing really…just take the technical team out for a beer here and there and send them some chocolates!

Maybe do some better planning and keep them involved in your sales process to some degree - if they feel involved, then it would be a team decision that everyone has responsibility over.

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Depending on who your target market is, the process used for sales can be very different. As I mentioned yesterday, after 4 years, we have just now launched the first product that requires sales to large corporations. Having no experience with corporate sales, I’ve learned quite a bit.

Luckily for us, our recently hired VP of Marketing comes with over 10 years experience of selling to corporations in our industry. Here is key difference I have noted:

TIME TO SALE

When you sell to consumers, you typically put together a “mass sales” strategy and put that strategy into action…

- Marketing
- P.R.
- Vendor/Distributor Relationships
- Good location for stores, etc…

However, when you’re selling to corporations, the process is very different and far more “personal.” A sale to a corporation typically requires a sales “team” that is very good at following up and answering multiple questions.

Any time there are multiple people involved in a sale, you have to be prepared for a lengthier process and also many “custom” proposals and “per case” pricing.

In a large corporation, there are many layers to the sales process - you have to find your way through the gatekeepers in order to get to the main decision-maker. Even after you find the main decision-maker (let’s assume you’re selling to the CEO), in larger corporations, that CEO will then want to have a meeting with the appropriate manager of the department to which you’re selling.

Some advice if you’re selling to large corporations:

1. Prepare to wait for the sale to close.
2. Assign a “sales agent” and make sure there is a close follow-up process.
3. Prepare for multiple sales calls/e-mails.
4. Pre-sales, ensure there is strong brand.
5. Hire as many “well networked” individuals as you can into your company.

The best way to decrease the sales time is to be heavily networked - the higher up the totem pole you start the sales process, the quicker the process will be!

The biggest piece of advice I have with corporate sales is that PATIENCE is key.

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As I recently reported, I’m back into the sales game baby! I’ve been on the phone non-stop, schmoozing and talking to potential customers - has it been draining? Yes. Have I loved every minute? Absolutely! Most of the business our company has done in the past has been through consumer sales and this time it’s all corporate sales. Let me just say that the process is entirely different.

The 3 rules I live by, whether I’m selling something or trying to get a vendor relationship going are:

1. LISTEN

This is one thing I’ve had to work on for sure - I have a habit of wanting to talk and control the conversation. However, the best sales people are great listeners. They control the flow of the conversation through short remarks, but spend most of the time listening.

A sales call = therapy sessions.

You’ll find that people love talking about themselves, their success, their problems - everything. If you just give them a bit of time to talk, they’ll sell themselves. They will tell you all of their pressure points that you can then “strategically” hit in your “pitch.”

2. Don’t Negate or Argue

The easiest lure to interrupt someone and take over a conversation (also lose a sale) is to negate someone when they’re talking. You will always hear something that you don’t agree with or even a statement about your product that is completely false - DO NOT INTERRUPT OR ARGUE.

The best thing to do at this point is make a note of it and LET THE PERSON FINISH. When they finally stop, actually ask them “OK, mr. buyer, I hear you loud and clear and you brought up some great concerns, was there anything else you were concerned about?”

Most likely, the person will either continue and give you even MORE pressure points to write down or they will really say “Nope, I’m done” - wait until they say they are done for you to start your part. But, still when you start - NEVER tell the person they are wrong about anything they said.

Rather…position yourself as saying “Mr. Buyer, I completely understand where you’re coming from, actually, if I was in your position, I would feel exactly the same way - you’re definitely not alone in feeling that way. Let me explain how this feature works…”

Note how I never used words like “But” or anything else that would imply I’m negating their point. You can actually explain your view without ever negating someone. The best way to convince someone that they’re wrong is to let THEM decide they were wrong. You are just there to explain the feature in a way that resolves their concern.

Be understanding, agree and wait your turn.

3. Get As Many “Yes’s” As Possible

The trick to closing a sale is to get the prospect to say yes as much as possible. One of the easiest way to get a yes is to simply listen, hear them and then make a statement that you know they would definitely agree with…here’s an example:

“Wouldn’t you agree that it’s pretty tough to find great candidates for this job you’re trying to fill?” Once you get the prospect rolling on yes’s, you can start to slip in discussions of features of your service that would make this problem that much easier to solve.

As you’re explaining, you’re build a relationship, you’re getting the prospect excited and comfortable.

So, remember…LISTEN, Don’t Argue and get the prospect to say yes.

Follow these 3 rules and you’ll find it much easier to sell someone!

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