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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Ok, time for me to rant now because there is one thing I see entrepreneurs and business owners do that is just out-right stupid.

Naming the company after themselves.

There are times when this fits and other times when it’s just out-right idiotic. Here is a bottom-line rule to follow, if you ever want to be able to SELL your company, don’t brand your name (or you better be ready to get sold with the company).

Also, if you’re branding your name to the general consumer public, you want to stick to a name that will not likely change. It’s much harder to re-brand a name when there are millions of people that know it, rather than when only a few clients know it (or a smaller market knows it).

Here is an example of when it’s ok to brand your own name:

A legal or accounting practice where your name is what people really look for. In a case like this, it’s un-likely that you’ll sell. You’ll probably “merge” and add more names to your name. Or even if you did sell, it would only require you to alert your clients. There would be little branding

Here is an example of when it doesn’t make sense and it makes me want to slap someone:

A company that sells computers called “Daniel K. Smith Computers” - what the hell is that? First of all, it’s a stupid name. Second of all, it’s going to be hard as hell to sell that to another company unless you agree to go with it - the consumers are used to YOU and that’s what they want to find when they walk into a store.

If you really do want to brand your name, go with just the last name like “Smith Computers” - that can still be neutral.

When deciding the name you want to throw your branding power behind, just think about one question:

“Do you want to sell this company one day?”

If you do, then please, don’t brand yourself or your name - brand the company.

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On a seperate note, many times you have a neutral company name, but you still choose to brand yourself. You’re always in the store, you sign every e-mail to customers from yourself, you make all the public appearances, etc…

This is a bad idea - it centralizes the company around YOU too much and it makes it hard to delegate work and not have your hands in everything. If the company grows with your hand in everything, your life is going to suck and the business will eventually suffer.

Here is an example of how it should work:

All your customer e-mails, have your “support director” sign off.
All your marketing matters, have your VP of Marketing sign off.
All your financial matters, have your CFO sign off.
All your HR matters, have that department head sign off.

The only time I think a CEO should be specifically signing his/her name should be on MAJOR matters, investor related matters or any major announcements to the industry.

I work very hard to hide myself as much as possible so that I can be considered ‘despensable” when it comes time to sell. I didn’t always do this, as of now the company still has my name linked to it, but I’ve started working hard to disconnect and it seems to be working.

When I sell this company, I don’t want to go with it (not for long at least). The less the company needs me to run properly, the easier it is to sell the company without my neck attached to it.

The next time you sign-off on something public, think twice if it’s really your name that should show up there.     

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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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One of the things you learn as the business grows is that the “role of a CEO” can get more and more routine and even boring - it’s like I mentioned yesterday, you start to become more of a robotic manager. There are certain things that you may personally love doing that you slowly have to part with because you just don’t have the time and you have to hand those responsibilities over to others…

For my specific example, I absolutely LOVE selling. Selling is a drug for me, it makes me feel high. My adrenaline gets pumping, I can’t sleep…

I love the “win” feeling you get when you close someone or when you convince them to buy from you - something about it. I’m not sure if it’s the feeling of power or just excitement and a sense of pride. This may sound or seem a bit “vicious” but here is how I feel after a good sale (btw, I really am a nice person

(Before Clipart.com sues me, this is THEIR poster and I already bought one for my office…to buy it go here…)

The poster says First Round, First Minute - look at Ali’s face, doesn’t that excite you! That’s the kind of rush I get when I close a sale. Unfortunately though as the business grows and I’ve had to start getting involved in other areas (more management and legal related), I’ve had to pass on the selling responsibility to a very capable and well networked VP of Marketing we brought on.

I do miss it though. A lot.

My solution? At least at the size my business is right now, I feel I can still take some time to get involved with sales. Maybe I don’t do it ALL - but I can still do some! So, as of yesterday, I started sending out more e-mails and I already lined up a big company who we’ll finish the conversation with tomorrow.

My advice to CEOs - No matter what it takes, keep your hands at least a little bit on the part of the job you love(d) the most. Otherwise, being a CEO can really get freaking boring.

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Just to put this out there, if you feel like I’m bouncing around everywhere from topic to topic, that’s really the point.

A) I haven’t exactly found my “groove” - the more readers and feedback we get, the better I’ll know what to talk about.

B) I think the entire point of this “blog” is that I pretty much talk about what’s on my mind that day - I have 2 major things on my mind today, the first one…

Vaporware…

I first heard this term about 3 weeks ago from our VP of Marketing who was hired just months ago. Basically, we were in the middle of launching a product/service and she goes to say: “why aren’t we selling this already?”

My answer was: “because it’s not ready!”

Her reply: “Haven’t you ever heard of vaporware”

Obviously I had not, so she went on to educate me. Once I learned about it, I thought it was a very sneaky and slick concept, almost down right deceptive if used improperly.

Honestly, I didn’t make much of it at all until I heard it AGAIN a few days ago from another major “corporate” person who is on our board of advisors. STILL, I did not think much of it - I almost felt like it’s “wrong.”

That was all over the minute I heard my very own mentor use those words saying: “We can sell it as vaporware, just so long as we know we can definitely deliver the promise…” NOW, you have my attention.

So what is vaporware? From my understanding, it’s basically a software/service/program/product that you start selling but it’s not complete! You actually make FAKE demos (maybe just screenshots or even just HTML pages that LOOK like they are coding).

Vaporware is commonly sold to companies and even INVESTORS. The whole point is that you need the money from the investors to actually build the damn thing, so you make it look like you’re a lot further along.

The more I think about it, I’m starting to think it’s a very smart concept (of course given that you KNOW you will be able to deliver otherwise it’s just deception and fraud).

The reasons are as follows:

1. You can start selling soon so revenue comes in faster.
2. You have customers to launch with from DAY 1.
3. You get money to help you invest in actually building it.
4. You get a level of interest - if there is none, you don’t have to waste time and money making it!

Our next product/service, I’m definitely going to try this concept.

Just a word of advice, yes, everyone in corporate knows about this - but still, no one wants to BUY it - so never say the word vaporware during a presentation!

Lastly… wikipedia defines this word a bit differently from what I’ve learned. But seriously, who’s word are you going to take? Mine or Wikipedia?

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