Is Blogging A Viable Sales Tool?
As a sales author, sales motivational speaker and sales force development consultant it is very important that I walk the talk and continue to learn and develop myself. One activity which I am always recommending to clients, friends and everyone alike is to keep reading new, old and interesting ideas to keep yourself stimulated and on top of your game. My personal favourite subjects for reading about are personal development, sales training, sales force development, motivation and mindset, general business and marketing.
Nowadays I read a lot of blogs and am subscribed to several via RSS feeds. One blog which I read regularly is Trish Jones’ blog. Trish designed GavinIngham.com and did a good job of meeting exactly what I wanted and needed. She recently posted two interesting posts on blogging as a sales tool and whether blogging can sell services or just products.
These are great questions and ones which every sales person, business owner and entrepreneur needs to consider and as with all great questions there are probably several answers but first a little “sermon” about blogs and blogging…
Many blog marketeers have an inherent interest in positioning blogs as the second coming, as the only marketing required in your mix, as all you need to succeed in selling your products, services, or indeed anything that you want to sell.
For most people and for most businesses this is, at best, misleading and, at worst, dishonest. Blogs are a great form of marketing but they are only one form of marketing. Even if your business is your blog you still need to understand how to market your blog in the same ways that you might market a normal website.
Blogs do not market themselves!
What’s worse is that you can market a brochure style, static website and if you do it well people will visit and when they do they may well buy from you. When you market a blog site people will read your blogs first, before they buy anything. This means that you have to write well if want to make any sales. For you to make sales on a blog site people have to want to read what you write, see value in what you write and like the way that you wrote it too.
And they still have to like, want or need your product or service enough to buy it or to make that call!
If your blog is not well written and people do not like it they will not buy anything off you even if they do come to your blog!
If you only market in the “blogosphere” and your target prospects and clients are in the “real world” you are not going to bring in shed loads of new customers. Many of my clients do not even know that my site is a blog, they just like reading it! They don’t post comments, they email me and I respond!
Blogging also needs to be consistent. It is not a quick fix. Indeed it is probably one of the slowest routes to market and requires far more effort than many other instant fix marketing options (think Google adwords).
In my opinion, blogging also needs to be personal. Your content needs to be yours if you want to sell your services and you need to read and respond to your “community” on your blog. This is all very time consuming.
So why would anybody blog?
- To demonstrate expertise.
- To share a passion.
- To promote long-lasting marketing content.
- To build a following.
- To set themselves a cut above everyone else.
But it’s not easy.
Everyone and their dog seem to be setting up blogs these days. Blogging is highly competitive. Whatever your industry is there will already be good blogs with reader bases up and running. To compete with this you need a good subject, a passion about your subject, real knowledge, good writing ability, a strong message, design skills, marketing skills and a connection with your audience. Perhaps most importantly you need to be able to add value for your readers constantly walking the line between interesting and factual. This is the minimum that you need (or need to buy in) to even get you off the starting line…
But can a blog sell a service?
Well… After converting my website at www.gaviningham.com to a blog some 18 months ago I have blogged consistently and on theme. Traffic has grown, readership has grown, enquiries have grown and conversion ratios have upped.
But does my blog sell my services?
Partly.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. I think most times my blog pre-sells people on the idea of working with me. They read my blogs and they know what I am about. They get my message and they like it. I guess that those who don’t, never call.
But those who do are pre-sold to a certain extent. You still need to know how to sell. You still need to solve their pains with your solutions. You still need to position your solution effectively. You still need to do all of the other good stuff.
As with all areas of sales and marketing, blogging is not a quick fix super drug that will turn your business around over night but if you have time to commit to it, if you are passionate about it and if you make it part of your overall sales and marketing mix then blogging is a powerful weapon for selling whatever it is that you’re selling.
The Return Of The Sales Apprentice…
A few weeks ago I was enjoying the sun on my back and a long cool drink on my balcony in Spain when I got a message to call Jennifer Celerier from this year’s Apprentice. Having written so much about them I was intrigued so I decided that I would give her a call straight back.
Apparently, both she and Kristina Grimes (who came second in 2007) had enjoyed my blogs on the Apprentice and wanted to talk to me about a sales and business project that they were planning…
I think that you’ll like what they have planned and I’ll tell you more as it progresses but in the meantime I have agreed with them that we’re going to do a podcast together in the next few weeks. We intend to talk about sales, business, the Apprentice and life in general so if you enjoyed watching them and the Apprentice this will be a must listen podcast.
I’m not promising that I will be able to ask all of them but if you do have any questions for them, why not pop them into comments below? Even if I don’t ask them on the podcast they’ve promised that they’ll swing by and read them and maybe answer them on the web too.
So watch out for that podcast and more about their project in the next few posts…
The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part X
In last week’s Apprentice the task was to rent out high end supercars. The team making the most sales would be the winner. A sales task plain and simple and one which created many interesting sales training and business lessons..
Sales managers for the day on the two teams were Michael (leading Helene and Claire) and Lee leading Lucinda and Alex. Their first task was to pick two cars per team that they would have to sell…
Michael picked a Ferrari and a Spyker, Lee an Aston Martin and a Zonda. These cars varied in sales rental quotes massively, from just over £600 per day for the Ferrari to £2750 per day for the Zonda! It’s not often in life that you can call a Ferrari cheap but in this company it most definitely seemed it particularly given the fact that the Ferrari could be sold on an hourly rental but the Zonda was only available by the day!
Sales training and business tip: This choice of cars would prove to be a wise choice for Lee’s team with a clutch of Zonda sales winning the task for him and team Alpha. There’s a lot of talk of risk taking in these shows with little to substantiate the choices. In business and in sales your choice of products and territories should be based on consientious research not guesswork!
Anyhow, this brave decision to go for such an expensive car won the day but it would have been knives at dawn for the person who made that decision if they had failed to sell any!
At the start of the show we saw Michael wandering around with a towel looking less energetic than a hibernating bear. When he found out what the task was he seemed to leak energy and ended up resembling a deflated balloon. He told the camera that he abhorred cars and that, “They are alien to me.” For all the talk of him being young and enthusiastic, there was little evidence of it. He’s only been working for a year (apparently) and he obviously has a thing or two to learn yet about sustained motivation!
Sales training tip: Success in business and sales is not about saying you’re great, it’s about proving it! That requires energy, drive and persistence; you need to keep on going when everyone else has given up and gone home. To be this tired in the middle of what is, after all, only a few weeks worth of work does not bode well…
Meanwhile, over on Lee’s team, all was not well… again! Lucinda, Lee and Alex seemed to have picked up where they left off last week – at each other’s throats! Annoyingly, this is one of those situations where we just haven’t seen enough to judge what is really going on and who is really to blame.
So here’s how I see it… you may agree… or not!
- Lucinda is a bit “kooky” in her berets, hats and scarves and takes a part intellectual, part emotional response to tasks. She has some good points (management) and some bad ones (sales and whining!).
- Lee and Alex are slightly scruffy, self-educated “salespeople” (in the broadest term of the word). They don’t seem to get on with her particularly well and I doubt they would socialise with her out of the programme. They think she is whiny and they don’t think that she adds anything to the team… particularly not in a selling task.
- They do not listen to her… Lucinda clearly suggested the raffle idea but then neither of the boys could or would remember that.
- They dismiss her… sending her off selling by herself after she said, “I don’t want to be myself” and Lee said, “You won’t be!”
Sales management tips: Sales management is not about taking the best accounts and selling into them yourself. Sales management is not about pairing up your best people (Alex and Lee in this case) and abandoning your weaker salespeople to sink or swim. Sales management is not about dismissing your team players when they want to learn. Sales management is not about failing to make decisions and then blaming others for not making them for you (Lee on whether Lucinda should or should not sell tickets for the Zonda, “Just f*****g make a decision!).
Irrespective of the fact that they won or that Lucinda was out of her depth in tonight’s sales task, Lee failed as a sales manager tonight.
Over on team Renaissance another sexual split had taken place only with Helene and Claire splitting away from Michael. Helene and Claire have radically different selling styles from each other with Claire focusing on emotions (“Do you want to hear the engine?” to an enthusiastic male sales prospect and liberal use of emotional language) and Helene focusing on facts (“They want specs” she says).
The final results will speak for themselves with Claire making numerous sales and Helene none.
Sales training tip: People buy on emotion and justify with logic. An impulse purchase of a few hours or a weekend in a supercar is always going to be an emotional choice! The size of the engine and the horsepower is not going to move people to getting their cheque books out! The thought of the wind in your hair, the jealous glances on the street and a pretty person by your side just might!
Michael, meanwhile, was trawling a veritable smorgasbord of locations in London where you would be most unlikely to be able to sell a car! He finished up in the Portobello market in Notting Hill will with a, and I jest not, German food van next to him, a dust cart parked by him and empty black bags strewn all over the road. The Italian Lakes this was not.
Roll up! Roll up! Get your hot bratwursts and schnitzels. Hot and spicy sausages to take away. With or without onions. Oh, and don’t forget your Ferrari rental!
Yeah, righto. Fool!
At 5pm both teams headed for Canary Wharf where they had 4.5 hours to sell as many more rentals as they could. Michael, who thinks he is a great salesperson despite the fact that he sold nothing, is losing it, “If you’re not going to do it for a weekend, at least a day. At least a day. Bl***y h*ll!”
Hopefully, Andy Smith will write something in the comments about emotional intelligence… Emotional intelligence is about self-awareness, about being more aware of how you feel, more aware of how those feelings affect your behaviours and more aware of how those behaviours affect others. It is also about being more aware of other’s emotions and how they affect their communications.
Emotional intelligence is a key skill for salespeople, sales managers, business owners and leaders. Michael was clearly frustrated at this stage and had lost it.
“Inside my brain I’m meant to be a high calibre salesman,” he opined. Yes Michael, and there, like many of your Apprentice “friend” is your problem… inside your head.
In the board room…
- Sir Alan asked Lee why he sent Lucinda by herself.
- He asked Lucinda if she thought she got pushed aside.
- Lee said that you cannot hand hold people. (Maybe not Lee, but to abandon a third of your teamis just foolish).
- Lucinda said that she was impressed with her own improvement during the task.
- Sir Alan pointed out to her that she didn’t sell anything!
- Lucinda said that she was not any good at closing.
- Sir Alan said that selling was about closing deals.
- Sir Alan asked Michael why he went to Portobello Road market where he clearly was never going to sell any cars?
- Michael told Sir Alan that, “He’s be surprised!”
Sales training tip: Don’t fight with reality! You will never win! How can you look like anything but a fool when you sit there and say things like that with the results so horribly stacked against you?”
- Michael said that he was a good salesman.
- Sir Alan asked if he thought that even though he did not sell any cars?
- Michael replied in the affirmative.
The results…
Renaissance with sales manager Michael, £2114. Alpha with sales manager Lee, £11,815 with Alex closing more than £8000 of the sales.
The Renaissance show down…
Back in the board room it became evident that Claire was safe when up against Helene and Michael. Sir Alan seemed unimpressed with both Helen and Michael. Surely Michael, finally, had to go. After some soul searching and some grand claims from both of them about their commitment Sir Alan made his decision, “Michael, I think I have to say to you… you’re fired.”
In the car Michael was busy pulling victory from the jaws of defeat, “He saw something in me that reminded me of what he was like when he was younger.”
I wonder if Sir Alan would put it that way? Unlikely, I think.
Sales training and business lessons from tonight’s show…
Know your market!
Knowledge of your market, who buys from you, when, where and why is critical for your success. Knowing which cars would and would not sell, at what prices and to whom proved to be a decisive factor in tonight’s show.
Perhaps this was luck, perhaps they did some research when we weren’t watching! No matter. If this was your business, then this knowledge would be critical.Claire made many smaller sales tonight but could not compete with the huge daily rental fee of £2,750 of the Zonda.
Work on your sales skills.
In tonight’s show we saw Lee’s team win because they made bigger sales. This was partly due to the more expensive Zonda rental price although also because they were selling full day rentals not hourly ones.
Claire did a good job of “upselling” from one hour to three but seemingly failed to sell any full day or weekend rentals.
You can help yourself to make more sales and at higher prices by getting into the mindset of your clients. £600+ for one day for a Ferrari may seem a lot to our humble (now there’s a word I wouldn’t have thought that I could have got into a sentence about them!) Apprentices but to a city trader with million pound plus bonuses how much is it really?
Let your results speak for themselves.
I’m sick and tired of hearing how good they are.
Prove it.
Many salespeople I work with tell me how good they are. They tell me how good they could be. They tell me how they could close more sales if only… they had a better territory, they were more respected, the market was different, the price was lower, they were more competitive…
Poppycock!
Sales results are all that counts. Not words. I don’t care what you could, might or should have done. That won’t impress me, it won’t impress your boss and it won’t pay the rent!
Michael had no prospects because he did not know how to prospect not because there were no prospects.
Claire made too few bigger sales because she did not go for them not because the clients weren’t there.
Lucinda only made one sale because she spent too much time making some tickets that the team never used rather than speaking to people!
The great thing about sales is that it’s not about education, background or upbringing, it’s about results.
In sales, results speak for themselves. Can you handle it?
How Not To Sell A Watch
For the last few days I have been in Switzerland running a sales training seminar for one of my clients. I really like Switzerland – the people are friendly, the country is clean, things run on time and the chocolate is fantastic!
Last time I went over to Switzerland I flew straight into and out of Zurich (via Amsterdam) so I thought this time it would be a great idea to fly into Geneva, take a couple of days driving along two of the lakes and on to Zurich. Hence, yesterday afternoon I found myself with some time to spare in Geneva airport.
My fiancée, who had come with me on this trip, is thinking about buying a new watch but is still in the, “I’m not sure what I want yet” stage. That said, if she had tried on a watch that she really wanted we would have bought it…
As luck might have it Geneva airport is full of… you guessed it… watch and chocolate shops (well what else would you expect?). Watch shops seemed to be the lesser of two evils so we thought that she should try some watches on. You wouldn’t have thought selling a watch was something that you could get that wrong would you…
You’d be wrong!
After pointing at three different watches the sales assistant got them out for us and Alex tried them on. They were all quite nice but it was clear that her decision making processes were leading her towards a sporty little number with a black face. We had already seen this watch elsewhere with a silver face; a sale was looking likely.
So let’s pick up the sales conversation from this point in the sales process. Keep in mind that the whole of the conversation below can be heard by myself, Alex and the sales assistant…
Alex: “I still like this one the best. It’s the same one we saw before in Zurich but with the black face rather than the silver one. (To the sales assistant) Do you have it with the silver or white face too?”
Sales: “No.”
Alex: (To me) “What do you think of the black face?”
Me: “I like it. I think it looks sporty but professional too. It’s fine for work or casual.”
Alex: “Yes.”
Sales: “I don’t like it.”
Alex: (Thinking she has misheard) “Sorry?”
Sales: “I don’t like it.”
Alex: (Still struggling with this concept) “Sorry, you don’t like this watch?”
Sales: “No.”
Alex: “Oh.” (A bit crestfallen!)
Sales: “Yes, I think you need something more glamorous. You couldn’t wear this with an evening dress.”
Alex: “I don’t want to, I have a watch for that. This is for every day wear.”
Sales: “Yes, but even so I think I would prefer something like this.”
The sales assistant then got out a totally different watch which we had not expressed an interest in even though it was only a couple of watches away from the others in the sales display. This watch looked nothing like the others. It had a metal (silver coloured) bracelet the same as the others but it was much more shiny. Much more bling! The face was much bigger, probably twice as big, and it was encrusted with diamonds all around the watch face. Oh, and it was also twice as expensive!
Alex: (Without hesitation and without trying it on) “I don’t like that.”
Sales: “I think it’s much more you. I mean, it’s only my opinion but the other one is not right and this one is much more you.”
Alex: “I don’t like it.” (Clearly getting annoyed)
Sales: “It’s much more you.”
Alex: (to me) “I don’t want a watch. Let’s go!”
Hey! I don’t think this one even requires any sales training or business tips other than to say…
Make sure that your staff are trained properly to deal with the sales situations that they find themselves in! Every member of staff who comes face to face with customers and clients needs a basic understanding of sales and selling… and a dollop of common sense and communication skills to boot!
The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part IX
Well! Well! Well! What was that all about? What did you miss if you chose to watch Man U and Chelsea rather than tuning in to Sir Alan and his wannabee business moguls! After tonight’s Apprentice I was left feeling that something must have been left out in the editing, that something must be lost in translation somehow…
Tonight’s show was an odd one with few or no sales training lessons to learn but plenty of mini-lessons in personal development, management and presenting.
Week 9 – Atishu! Atishu! We all fall down.
At the start of tonight’s programme only 7 contestants remained and only 4 tasks separated them from ultimate victory but as one “unlucky” apprentice wannabee was about to find out, sometimes one bad task is all that is required to see you evicted on this show.
After a bit of team restructuring we were left with Alex heading up Lee and Lucinda and Raef heading up Claire, Helene and Michael. Their task was to create an advertising campaign for tissues consisting of the box, a press advertisement and a TV advert. This was snot an easy task!
Once they had created their brands and their ads our teams were to present to one of the UK’s biggest ad agencies and the team with the best presentation would win. You know the rest.
Raef was immediately in his element, “I have done a lot of theatre in the past” he stated, “I love advertisements”… I’m not sure whether these guys are “set up” by the film crew asking them questions to make them look stupid but you couldn’t help but watch this and think, “Are they setting him up for a fall here?”
On Alex’s team they were thinking of branding and started with the name, A Tish U… Atishu!
Back on team Raef they were getting somewhat carried away with the “story” but eventually came up with the name I Love My Tissues… A strange name this one and not one really representative of tissues at all. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think that anyone feels that passionately about their tissues!
Back on Alex’s team, Alex and Lee were not getting on too well with Lucinda. She, in turn, was not impressed by their “story” asking, “Who wants to hear about a normal bog standard family?” She suggested a story about homosexuality which was immediately rejected by Alex.
Seemingly to get rid of her, Alex sent Lucinda out to find a location whilst he and Lee designed the box for the tissues.
With two boys and a girl on the team, this was no doubt a flawed plan from Alex. Surely most tissues are bought by women and it would therefore have been logical to keep Lucinda involved with the branding and design…
Tonight I really did feel that we missed a lot of cuts as what people were saying really seemed out of whack with what we saw at times. Lee and Alex were adamant to camera that Lucinda was being unreasonable but from what we saw (whilst accepting she was a little negative) it looked a lot more 50/50 with them not wanting to work with her because she did not agree with them. I would have liked to have seen more of the “reality” of the situation…
Over on the other team however, we saw Michael and Raef behaving like they were creating a blockbuster movie rather than keeping their focus on the task in hand.
Sales training and business tip: As a motivational speaker I have the privilege to work with many different companies in a multitude of industries and it never ceases to amaze me how so many people can manage to focus their energies and attentions on entirely the wrong things. The key behind this task was to persuade the ad agencies that they had a viable concept not to persuade them that they were the next Spielberg… The second option might have been more “sexy” but it was always going to lead Michael and Raef down a slippery slope…
Next morning the tissue boxes arrived at the house. Lucinda did not like the boys’ efforts calling the box “ugly”. Lee thought it was “quality”. Alex thought it was fine. Lucinda and Alex were about to kick off in a full scale argument when Lee stepped in saying that what they needed was “cohesiveness” and that they needed to “pull together”.
Sales training and business development tip: If everyone in the boat rows in different directions as many of our apprentices seem to do then the boat is not going anywhere! Many companies and teams work really hard but with poeple working at cross purposes much of their potential is lost.
Over on the other team Raef and Michael could hardly contain their joy at meeting their “celebrity” star, Sian Lloyd. They both seemed convinced that she would be a real winner for their campaign. Even Sian herself was not so sure saying that if they Googled her they would know that she was not a mother (they were casting her as one), she was single and she had never worked with children. She also expressed surprise at the concept that they thought that she was “wholesome”.
Ed: But when all you’re interested in is fame, it’s not surprising that they did not consider any of these facts rationally! They were too busy meeting a “star”.
Raef and Michael meanwhile were joking about getting into the movies. This might have sounded like light banter but it masked a much deeper ill, they had lost sight of what it was that they were supposed to be doing…
In the editing suite Raef and Michal struggled to cut down their advertisement from 54 seconds to the required 30. Between the two of them they managed to decide to cut out the one close up of the tissues, a decision that would come back to haunt them.bClaire was not impressed by the finished ad saying that she was disappointed by the quality of it.
Cut to the pitch…
In the audience Sir Alan has placed 3 agency chiefs, a group of consumers and… himself!
Meanwhile Lee was doing some last minute rehearsing. Lucinda and Alex were helping him with his wording. Margaret commented to the camera that she thought that it was too late to be changing the pitch. Lee said that he was still struggling with the order of the pitch. This did not bode well!
Raef’s team presented first. The problem with these “sales presentations” as with the negotiations and the selling situations is that we never see enough of them to really judge what’s going on. Certainly, we seem to be getting even less of this, the good stuff, than we even did last year.
And then Lee came on to make his presentation…
Oh dear!
Lee is not a natural presenter. He seemed glued to his notes, seemed to be struggling to read them, seemed to get lost at one stage (and we only saw a few seconds!), had no flow to his pitch and seemed to use very unnatural language.
Sales presentation tip: Great presenters engage with their audiences not with their notes! Great presenters talk naturally and openly with their audiences. Great presenters base their talks around key benefit points not fact after fact after fact. Great presenters know how to get and keep themselves in a positive mindset.
In the board room…
Raef said that he and Michael had experience in drama!
Michael said that he had his own theatre company at university.
Sir Alan told Lee that his presentation was fumbly, unprofessional and poor.
Nick told Lee that Claire used no notes.
Lee said that he was absolutely gutted.
Alex said that he found Lucinda abrasive and border line upsetting.
Lucinda said that she buys a lot of tissues.
Sir Alan said that the brand name Atishu was excellent.
Sir Alan then played both ads to the two teams. During the playing of Alex’s ad, Raef and his team looked smugly on. You could see it all over their faces… They thought they’d won. They could barely contain their laughter at what they thought was an inferior ad…
And then Sir Alan told them that they had lost. Raef had created an ad for tissues with no tissues in it. Sir Alan said that he did not know what their ad was about and that it would not sell any tissues.
“This is not my opinion. It is the opinion of the experts.” Sir Alan barked, kicking a man when he was down.
Alex looked relieved. His smile appeared to be one of almost unbelieving relief. He clearly could not believe what had just happened.
Michael’s face meanwhile said it all – going, going, gone! “I love my tissues”!. You’d better, you’re going to need them. So finally we will get rid of Michael…
… Or maybe not!
Raef elected to bring back Michael and Claire.
Michael was quick to claim ownership of “everything” that Sir Alan had liked. Raef was, understandably, put out by this saying that Michael was being dishonest. From what we saw I would agree. Stupidly Raef backed himself into a corner by saying that he was totally in charge but then saying that Michael wanted to take the close up of the tissues out not him. A contradiction.
Sir Alan had a half-hearted attempt to rope Claire into the afray accusing her of not wanting to stand up and fight to correct the mistakes that she said shre saw to try and salvage the win for her team. But it not going to wash… no-one seems interested in her here.
Sir Alan to Raef, “You have been lucky to only be in the board room once…” and then, “Raef, you’re fired!”
What?!
So ok, he shot off on a tangent with the task, he got totally carried away with the whole filming thing, he should have know better, he didn’t manage his team particularly well but, seriously, how can you elect to keep Michael and fire Raef? What are Sir Alan’s criteria?
So where does that leave us tonight with our sales training and business development tips…
Presenting well is a key skill.
In every walk of life the ability to present a clear and compelling message and to engage an audience is critical. Whether you are selling face to face, pitching a product or an idea or motivating a sales team you need to be able to present naturally and persuasively.
If this is an area where you do not excel at present, fear not. Anyone can improve their presentation skills with practise and dedication. Here are a couple of tips…
Improving presentation skills, tip 1: Awareness
The first stage of improving your presentation skills is to be more aware of how good, or not, you currently are. Most salespeople take feedback badly. Most salespeople go on the defensive when they are given feedback. This is a shame as without feedback you will struggle to become self aware and without this awareness you will struggle to improve.
Improving presentations skills, tip 2: Practise
Practise is the key to making good presentations. Do not confuse practise with rehearsing 5 minutes before the event! Practise is a constant focus on improving your overall ability to present in any situation.
Anyone can create opportunities to practise their presentation skills whether with clients or with your peers. Many people who would benefit most from this practise are the same ones who avoid it!
If you really cannot find any opportunitites to practise then try your local Toastmasters club where you can practise inside the safety net of a specialist club dedicated to helping you to improve.
Don’t do like many business and salespeople do and put off working on your presentation skills until you have a huge pitch coming up… Even the week before a life changing pitch is too late… start now!
Improving presentation skills, tip 3: Be natural
Great presenters learn how to present naturally. They don’t pretend to be anyone else. They don’t copy others. They show their audience their true genuine selves.
People today are bombarded with sales and selling messages all day long. Some of these messages are amateurish. Some are incredibly slick. You may never be the best presenter in the world but that doesn’t matter… People will connect with presenters who they see as being genuine, presenters who they see as connecting with them.
You don’t have to be the best presenter in the world, you just need to be the natural, genuine, you!
Improving presentation skills, tip 4: Constant improvement
No matter how good you are or how good you think you are, you can always become a netter presenter. Making sure that your mindset is focused on constant improvement will steer you away from falling into bad habits and mis-steaks!
One of my favourite questions to ask myself after making a presentation is, “How could I have improved that presentation?”
(If you want to know more about making powerful and persuasive presentations then check out my Powerful Presenting seminar schedule.)
So there we go, a strange decision tonight and one which leaves me none the wiser as to what Sir Alan is looking for. I’m really interested in knowing your thoughts so let me have your comments below…
Who do you want to win? Who do you rate and why? Who should go next and why? Is there anyone worth hiring??
Who Cares About Web 2.0? Sales Training & Business Development Tips For The Uninitiated
What is the best way to bring in and attract new business? How can companies ensure that they have a constant stream of new business opportunities? Why is it that one company has loads of leads and opportunities whilst another struggles to generate enough new prospects?
Great questions all.
One of the things that I have noticed on my travels as a motivational speaker and sales training expert is how stuck people seem to get in the way that they do things. Once someone starts to do something one way then they assume that it is the only way to operate their sales and marketing efforts. Whole companies operate “one-trick pony” sales and marketing strategies because “it’s the way that they’ve always done it”!
It reminds me of one of the first personal development stories that I ever heard…
A newly married couple have invited some friends around for Sunday lunch and they had decided to have a roast. The wife, wanting to impress her new husband (see I told you it was an old story!), is focused on doing everything perfectly. Just before she puts the beef in the oven she cuts it in half and puts each half in two separate roasting trays.
Seeing this, her new husband asks why she did this. She replies that that’s what you do for it to cook the best. Confused, the husband asks why the meat cooks better this way and the wife replies that she would have to ask her Mum as she taught her how to cook.
A few days later at the mother’s house, the husband asks his wife’s mother if she cuts her beef in half. “Yes” she replies, telling him that it helps it to cook better. He again asks why the meat cooks better and she says that her mother taught her!
A few days on the husband is visiting his wife’s grandmother and he asks her if she used to cut the roast in half. “Yes” she also replies. So he asks her why. Her answer, “Because our over is not big enough to take a full roast so we have to cut it in half for it to fit!”
Sales training moral: Just because something has always been done one way does not mean that it is the best way to do it!
I have met companies that only cold call to win new business… I have met companies that never cold call for business. The first might say, “Cold calling is the only viable way to bring in new business in our industry, it’s just so competitive.” The second might say, “Cold calling just doesn’t work in our industry, it’s just so competitive.”
Hmmm… so far, so confusing.
I don’t believe that either of these stances are correct or that either are wrong. They’re just different opinions and there are always different opinions in every market and every conversation! If, like me, you want to increase your sales, grow your business and get great results then right and wrong are not half as important as what actually works…
My sales training take on this is that I want to take the best from all sales philosophies and get the best possible results.
In my opinions there are only two correct and right answers. Your sales development activities need to:-
- Create enough new prospects and leads for you to hit your sales targets &
- Your lead generation needs to be sustainable in volatile markets.
The first question is easy enough to answer and the answer, once you’ve worked out your sales statistics, is an easy “yes” or “no”. Adjusting this answer by doing more lead generation activities is simple as long as you are committed to getting results (sales training aside: the problem being of course that many people aren’t committed enough to getting results… but more of that another day!).
The second point is perhaps the lesser asked question and it’s too easy to ignore when things are going well…
Let’s say that you only do one or two marketing activities and they both work really well bringing in enough prospects and leads for you to make oodles of sales. The temptation is to keep doing these and ignore all other lead generation and marketing activities.
This might work well for a while but there is always a danger that the market conditions might change and you will run short of leads. Now if you have the sales skills and resources to rapidly open up other routes to market then that’s fine but if you don’t… this could spell trouble. (Running short of lead generation ideas? Check out my article 98 lead generation strategies…).
At this moment in time a lot of “real world” business are ignoring so called Web 2.0 strategies.
Indeed, and on mentioning the phrase, many of them have never even heard of Web 2.0. I guess that’s not all that surprising as the world of online marketing is a difficult one to pin down and one could fill up a life time of research sifting through the online sales and marketing strategies, tactics and sales approaches to work out what does and what does not work!
So first of I suppose we should answer the question, “What is Web 2.0?”
Well there’s another nonsense question… If you search Google the first search result says “A term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform …”
Righto!
But what does that mean to you?
Web 2.0, in my mind, is the transition of moving the web from something static to something where people get involved and voice their own opinions… think blogs, social networking and video posting sites and you’re on the right track.
Perhaps 10 years ago, websites were all about putting your brochure online and getting people to look at it. Most companies couldn’t get people to look at their brochures. Even if they could they were similar to their “real” brochures so not that exciting. Most companies bombed and failed to sell successfully online. Not surprising really as people quickly realised that any idiot could put up a website and say anything about themselves or their business!
So what is Web 2.0 really?
- Web 2.0 is the maturing of the web and the utilisation of the technology to create meaningful conversations with your prospects and customers so that they can interact with you on their terms.
- Web 2.0 is the opportunity for you to demonstrate your expertise and to leverage the power of he web to reach and talk with your potential (and actual) client base.
- Web 2.0 provides the chance for you to get your customers onto your website and keep them there.
- Web 2.0 is an opportunity for you to answer customer queries and problems.
- Web 2.0 encourages your customers to refer you to their friends, colleagues and business partners.
So what is Web 2.0 not?
- Web 2.0 is not some magical sales lead generation elixir. Don’t listen to the hype. Great results online come from hard work and effort – exactly the same as offline.
- Web 2.0 is not a replacement for your offline activities. If you are a “real world” business Web 2.0 should form a part of your sales and lead generation strategy but not your whole lead generation strategy!
- Web 2.0 is not easy. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of approaches, hundreds of gurus and hundreds of “axes to grind”. Sorting out the wheat from the chaff is a full time job.
- Web 2.0 is not the only way. Remember… a one trick pony is a one trick pony! Even if you are setting up a purely online business offline activities will increase your results. Many of the top internet marketers use offline strategies for collecting names, gaining PR, leveraging the media, getting to know their prospects and customers better…
So where does all of this leave us?
Web 2.0 is an important arm of any new business development plan. Web 2.0 can help you to make stronger and better contacts with your customers and prospects. Web 2.0 can leverage the power of technology to reach more people, more easily than ever before…
So how do I avoid the pitfalls and generate more leads and powerful interactions with my clients using web 2.0?
Great question…. And that’s for another article coming soon…
The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VII
Lights! Camera! Action! We were down to 10 but by the end of the show these 10 were to become 8! What went on in tonight’s Apprentice and what sales training and business development tips, if any, could we learn from it?
At the start of tonight’s programme I was concerned for Sir Alan… Could it be that there is no-one remotely worth hiring in the show at all this year? I’m really not sure and not much occurred to change my mind tonight although there could yet be some dark horses to watch for…
7am. Michael answered the phone to be told that they were going on a two day business trip. “Unbelievable,” he responded. Not really Michael! On telling the rest of the house we could hear several female sounding voices erupt in screams.
Where have they got these people from? If their CVs are to be believed (and they certainly cannot be taken as gospel – see Michael’s Jewish intro later) they are already successful business people so why the juvenile celebrations over a two day trip to Marrakech? You’d think that they had just been told they were flying to the moon and back…
Next morning in Marrakech the teams awoke to their task which was to buy 10 specific items and return to the hotel by 630pm that evening with those. The team who spent the least amount of money would be the winner.
Our teams were to go forth and haggle, negotiate, barter, beg and trade to get themselves and their teams the best possible deals.
This show had promise…
- There should have been plenty of negotiation, selling, persuasion, influence and closing tips. We should have had plenty to learn and apply. Unfortunately, these lessons were, by enlarge, never to appear, being replaced instead by far more basic lessons and…
- I have been to Marrakech as a motivational speaker to speak at a sales conference where the sales teams did a very similar (although rather more stretching) exercise in the Souks. I was looking forward to some tips and ideas that I could share with future clients wanting to do something similar…
Unfortunately, they weren’t to materialise and the teams I went with were significantly more successful and creative in their efforts in the Souks than our Apprentices! - On a more personal note, I personally bought some silver jewellery in the Souks and I was interested to see how their experiences of “negotiating” compared to mine…
Before they started, Sir Alan rejigged the teams sending Jennifer and Michael to Renaissance and Sara to Alpha. I don’t know about you but I have lost the plot with these teams. The players have been substituted so many times I have no idea which team is which! The only permanent thing about the teams seems to be their names and their affiliations to Nick and Margaret.
Lee and Jennifer were made team leaders. I was looking forward to seeing these two in action. Jennifer because I have previously thought her somewhat ineffective and incompetent and Lee because, until last week’s attack on Sara, I thought he was a potential dark horse…
Raef was quick to get into the spirit of things and suggested that they would all be able to negotiate more effectively if they dressed in local garb. Given the pigeon French that we heard on the flight over it is unlikely that this would have fooled anyone. Fortunately, this idea was rejected quickly by the team…
Lee suggested that they should start the project off by getting on the phones and locating the items before they set off. This made total sense. Planning and preparation was going to be key to covering the ground necessary to get the items that they wanted at the best prices.
The Souks really do represent mile after mile of shopping opportunity but as I found, it is really easy to get lost if you don’t keep your eyes on where you are going. This might be fine for me in my touristic ramblings with my Canon camera – but not so good for people on a strict time budget and with a mission to accomplish!
Jennifer was not as wise as Lee and elected instead to push on into the Souks and hope for the best. A poor strategy by anyone’s standards.
Despite her lack of research Jennifer’s team were lucky to stumble upon an orange Santos juicer. Alex and Claire pretended to be a couple and tried to negotiate together. Unfortunately, we did not really see enough of this negotiation and I would have loved to seen more. Suffice to say however that the scenario did not play well and resulted in them agreeing a ridiculously small discount of only £1!
Sales training and negotiating tip: When you are entering into client negotiations with another member of your team present it is critically important that you agree rules and boundaries for how you are going to work together. Claire thought that she was free to speak as and when she wanted. Alex, on the other hand, felt that there were too many cooks spoiling the broth and that only he should speak.
Negotiation tip: Understanding the core games that buyers play, recognising the psychological pressure that these put you under and learning to deal with them will greatly improve the results that you get from your sales negotiations.Introducing your own games can work well (e.g. good cop / bad cop) but if you get caught out game playing you could well severely compromise your negotiation position.
There is a great story told in personal development circles about a factory owner with a broken down machine. He tries everything that he can to fix it but cannot get the machine working again. Eventually, he calls out an expert who takes one look at it and then hits it once with a hammer. The machine is fixed.
The factory owner is delighted until the bill arrives for £1000. He rings up the expert and angrily asks how the bill could be £1000 when it only took 5 minutes to fix. He asks for a break down of the bill.
The expert responds with the following:
Hitting the machine £5.
Knowing where to hit it £995.
The moral is clear. You can run around in your business like a headless Kosher chicken but if you don’t know where to put your effort you are unlikely to be successful.
Lee, having observed this cardinal rule of business and selling, had spent part of the morning on the phones and planning and was looking good..
Meanwhile Michael was reminding us what an arrogant idiot he is, “I am an extremely arrogant person,” he said not beating around the bush in any way! He then blundered into a deal on a cow hide knocking the dealer down from 2500 dirhams to 825. He was ecstatic about this and later boasted of his prowess to Sir Alan.
Like any good cock fight you really ought to know the size of the cock before you start crowing about your big cock. Across Marrakech in the tanneries Raef had bought their cow skin for a mere 250 dirhams, a price so good even he could not believe it! From what we saw he did not negotiate at all so he may well have been able to get it cheaper still!!!
Back in the Souks Michael was trying to buy 1.5 kilos of Kosher chicken. I have never seen such a fiasco in all of my life. Michael, whose CV apparently started with words something like, “I am a good Jewish boy” did not know what Kosher was. Later in the board room he was to protest that he was only half Jewish. Well, I’m not Jewish Michael and even I know what kosher food is.
(Interestingly, I did not think that Kosher food needed to be blessed and it is implied later on in the programme that they were penalised because it was not blessed correctly. According to this article at Judaism 101 it would appear that the blessing bit is a myth…)
On planet Jennifer meanwhile her team were having difficulty even sticking to the script, buying a white mosque alarm clock rather than a green one and some unbranded Tagine dishes rather than the branded ones that Sir Alan had requested. Surely when they bought them for 100 dirhams rather than the guide price of 800 they might have suspected something???
Nope!
With time ebbing away both teams resorted to desperate measures, Lee’s team scouting the streets for an orange juice machine and Jennifer’s team looking for a green alarm clock…
Chasing one of their last items, tennis racquets, the teams found themselves in the same shop. Jenny (and a non complaining Michael) offered to pay the shopkeeper to tell the other team that the racquets could not be strung that day. This outrageous idea was rejected by the shopkeeper…
Last chance lesson in sales training, business development and life: Attempting to get ahead by underhand means is unacceptable. What’s more it rarely works.
I remember attempting to get into an account once that one of my friends was working with. He had it sewn and stitched it right up and my chances of getting an opportunity were slim until… he personally attacked me in the account. An underhand, untrue and unprofessional slight on me. The prospect, who until this point was barely talking with me told me exactly what had been said, told me that he did not like his attitude and gave me all of the business…
A sales lesson for all indeed. But back to the show…
In the final moments of the task Lee managed to secure an over priced second hand juicer for 120 dirhams. Cue another round of screaming and shouting. “Come on!” yelled Lee… (see my “Why People Think Salespeople are Stupid” article of mid week referring to Charlotte Ross’ piece in The Evening Standard)…
Back at the hotel Nick told Sir Alan that Sara and Lucinda were “a revelation” this week. Margaret said that Jennifer was a bit “scatter gun” in her approach.
The results were in…
Alpha had spent £413.61 and all of the items were present and correct. Renaissance had spent £449.60 but two items had incurred penalties so their final figure was £603.59.
Alpha had won and headed off for a hot air balloon ride at Leeds Castle.
Back in the board room next day Sir Alan was not happy…
“Good evening.” He barked.
“Bonjour,” came back the reply.
“What’s the significance of bonjour?” Barked Sir Alan. Now, now Sir Alan… I think you know!
“Just wanted to say it in French” stated Jenny.
“I see.” Said Sir Alan grumpily.
What a stupid conversation.
Sir Alan then attacked Jennifer for not doing any research. Claire said she thought Jennifer was OK but messed up by getting the wrong colour alarm clock. Sir Alan rightly pointed out that buying a clock was not brain surgery…
Now there’s a scary thought… any of this lot with a scalpel messing around inside your head… Enough to give me nightmares for a month!
Alex meanwhile was attacking Claire for basic negotiation errors. Have you noticed how Alex, at least once per week, manages to preface some statement or other he makes by reminding us that he is in sales?
And then there were some rapid fire attacks…
Alex said the negotiations were not his fault (very slippery shoulders that one), Sir Alan told Jenny she was older than the others and should know what Kosher was (not sure age has much to do with it), Sir Alan said he could check if Michael was Kosher by pulling his trousers down (not sure that’s a particularly useful technique Sir Alan), Michael said he was only half Jewish (and?), Sir Alan said that he could fire all of them right now (Ed: Go on! Go on! Please!)…
And then…
Alex admitted a mistake buying the wrong pottery, Jenny said Claire was hard to shut up, Claire said she thought she was doing a boyfriend / girlfriend role play, Michael said he did the best deal of the day (cow hide), Michael called Jenny a liar, Margaret accused Jenny of a cheap trick over the racquet strings…
And Sir Alan sent them all out. A shame that he did not sack them all really…
He then called them back in and asked them if they had a clear vision in their minds as to why they should stay?
Jenny was the first to speak. Sir Alan listened and then responded by saying that she was listening to what he had to say and then basing her arguments on that. “Jenny you’re fired”.
Thank goodness. I’ve not rated her since the first time that she opened her mouth. Bye!
But Sir Alan was not finished, “Right who’s next?”
Jennifer was next up admitting that she did not pay attention to detail but that she did her best to rectify her mistakes. Sir Alan pointed out that it was not even her who noticed the mistakes.
Michael then stepped in to say that he had made a horrific mistake with this Kosher business.
Alex, said that he gave it 100%.
Not the best answer but Sir Alan seemed happy and asked him who he would fire. Alex said Claire. Claire then said she would fire Jennifer as there should be some accountability. Jennifer then said that Claire was like the Tasmanian devil and should be fired. Michael said that Claire was “fabulous” as a project manger and Jennifer should be fired.
Claire and Jennifer then started arguing with each other only to be interrupted by Sir Alan, “Here’s my next move. Alex – go back to the house. I’ll see you on the next task. OK. You three go outside. I am going to have a chat with Nick and Margaret and then one of you is going to get fired.”
Back in the board room the games continued but Sir Alan decided to sack Jennifer holding her responsible for the failed task and accusing her of changing like the wind. “Jennifer you’re fired”.
Not a bad decision because she was incompetent although personally I would have probably sacked Michael too.
I do find however that the board room shenanigans are becoming a bit of a farce. It seems the whole thing is designed to promote aggressively Machiavellian tendencies. I dread to think what non-business people must think about the world of business. In the real world, this lot should be judged on results and results alone not their ability to play some TV friendly game in the board room…
Back in the house Raef said that he hoped that they all got fired for lack of integrity… I didn’t like him in the first show or two but he seems to have mellowed a little (or is it just that I was still hopeful for a star then?)…
Whatever, I’m coming around to him… a little…
So what sales training and business development lessons did we learn from tonight’s show? Not the ones that we would have hoped to have learned that’s for sure. Certainly not top negotiation or influence tips nor selling or closing tips…
Planning and preparation is essential.
Yet again the good old sales training and business staple of making sure that you have planned and prepared effectively. Lee’s team spent the first part of the task on the phones planning who they should visit and marking out their time.
This saved them valuable time and energy on the ground and meant that they could focus their activities on getting the results that they wanted.
Most sales and business people do either to little or too much planning and preparation. Knowing when to stop planning and start taking action is as important as knowing how to leverage your planning and preparation efforts to work smarter not harder.
Work as a team.
Lee seemed to have a greater control of his team than Jennifer who seemed to have as little control as she did planning.
Team spirit and shared goals and aspirations are essential if you want to create high performance sales teams.
Be straight and honest.
Salespeople hate being called dishonest, shifty and elusive yet clients did not just make this stuff up one day! Some salespeople are dishonest, shifty and elusive (as people are in all walks of life). You need to make sure that you are not one of them.
Jenny’s dishonest tactic was underhand and unacceptable. I would have sacked Michael for this too. He had neither the strength to stand up and say “No” to her nor the strength to admit he was in on it fully to Sir Alan. He was hoping to surf the wave whichever way it went.
Because of the bad reputation that some salespeople have many clients throw up barriers to the sale and lock salespeople out. You cannot disarm these barriers with fast talk and schmooze. The only way to unlock them is by being straight and honest with your prospects and clients (see my 6 Psychological Keys to Sales Success in my Professional Selling Skills programmes).
I’d be real interested in hearing your thoughts on the 8 remaining Apprentices. It’s midnight and I’m in a hotel in Ireland… I’ll let you know my thoughts later in the week…
Why People Think Salespeople Are Stupid…
Last week I was on the train travelling back from London having run two of my sales seminars – No Fear Cold Calling and Professional Selling Skills – and I was reading the Evening Standard.
On page 12 (Comment – Thursday 1st May 2008) there were a few pieces written by Charlotte Ross and a picture of Kevin and Sara from The Apprentice. Underneath it was written the following…
A bunch of true believers
Salespeople have always mystified me. This year, most of the Apprentice contestants are drawn from that world, so every Wednesday we witness team hugs, air-punching and yells of, “We’re going to smash them!”
But what they lack in intellect they make up for in self-belief that borders on the delusional. As Kevin, the comically thick leader of the losing pack, said, “There’s nothing I can’t sell. I had my first Porsche by 23. By the time I’m 40, I’ll be the most successful businessman in Britain.”
Needless to say, Sir Alan fired him.
As those of you who know me must have guessed already… I have plenty to say about this…
First off, these people are not salespeople…
We have seen little sign of any of them being salespeople as yet. Between them they have shown precious little sales aptitude or application. To those (including Charlotte) not in the know – selling is not about fast talking, closing and "whooping", it is about questioning, understanding and expertise…
Secondly, good sales teams as all good teams have energy and commitment…
But they do not whoop and holler like a pack of hyenas. This lot are pathetic. What’s worse, their boastful gloats are very quickly found out. Top salespeople under-promise and over-deliver not the other way around…
Thirdly, good salespeople are not stupid nor are they necessarily intelligent Charlotte.
Agreed, salespeople do not need degrees (by enlarge). Agreed, salespeople do not need MBAs. Agreed, salespeople do not need MENSA level IQs.
But salespeople do need common sense, something that is desperately missing in today’s society. Salespeople do need to be able to get along with others, they do need to be able to build rapport with a wide variety of people, they do need to be able to understand the problems and issues that a multitude of different people face and, most importantly, they do need to be able to help their clients to make the right decisions to solve those issues in the right way.
If they’re smart too then all the better! But it’s not what you have that matters in sales, it’s what you do with it that counts!
Smart in this situation is not labelling all salespeople based on a narrow minded and stereotypical view. Particularly one where the writer, by their own admittance, starts, "Salespeople have always mystified me."
Fourthly, Kevin was not a salesperson, he was a bank manager.
People talked about being a bank manager at school (albeit several years ago now) in the same breath as law, accountancy, journalism (touché) etc. Certainly not in the same breath as sales.
And Kevin certainly wasn’t sales anyway.
Had he have been a better salesperson he would still be in the show. Had he have been a better salesperson he would probably never have been on the show. Had he have been a better salesperson he would no doubt have come across far better. Had he have been a salesperson he would have been far more aware of the real persona that he projected rather than the imaginary one that he thought that he did.
Finally, because I’m bored and could go on all night, salespeople are not boastful.
They know the value that they add for their clients and they don’t have to brag about it. There are great “salespeople” in every profession and every industry. They are at all at the top of their fields. If you want to get along in life you need to be able to sell. Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, a concept or yourself – sales is one of the most important skills that you need if you want to get on.
Whether you’re a business person, a solicitor, an accountant or a journalist… your ability to sell will help you to maximise your success. Far too many people never deliver on their true potential because of their inability to "sell" what they do.
Enough!
The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training & Business Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part V
Week 5 and Sir Alan is still looking for a new apprentice but what exactly is he looking for? With Claire in the frame to be a project manager for the second time in 5 shows tonight, this should be interesting.
730am and Sir Alan turned up at the house. Maybe he has, but I cannot remember him doing this before. Interestingly, the vast majority of the wannabees were still in bed. Now I have nothing against people grabbing some extra shut eye but I thought this was “the job interview from hell”?
Few serious business people I know are still fast asleep in the land of nod at 730am in the morning. Most serious contenders of their age and with their claimed aspirations would be at work or well on the way to work by this time. This lot would struggle to get up, get dressed and make it to the office by 9am! Not quite the behaviour that one would expect from “future business tycoons”. I can’t say I would have been happy at all if I had been Sir Alan…
After wishing them all a good morning Sir Alan rejigged the teams a little moving Kevin over to Renaissance. A good decision. There are far too many cliques and petty rows going on – it’s making the whole thing even more trivial and Big Brotheresque than it actually even is. He then appointed Claire and Lucinda as project managers of the two teams.
This should be an interesting task! These two seem like chalk and cheese. Surely, between the two of them and their sales teams we can be served up some powerful business and sales training lessons…
The task this week was to represent two country farms who do not sell ice-cream to London yet; to develop new flavours of ice-cream and then to sell the ice-cream to the trade. The highest volume of orders would win. A straight business and sales task then…
The teams headed off for the countryside and their two farms where they needed to decide on flavours, organize tastings, make the ice-cream and plan their sales strategies and tactics. Claire split her team taking part of the team on the hunt for ingredients and leaving part of the team to look after the kitchen.
Now I’ve got a problem with this… Who are you going to sell to tomorrow?? By my reckoning and with 6 on each team, they could have had 3 sales teams of 2 the next day who could easily have covered several appointments in central London each…
When’s the right time to get on the telephone making those appointments? Now would have been my answer…
Anyway, meanwhile Lucinda had appointed Lindi as her 2nd in charge. I’m not really sure why. She has displayed little gravitas, seems to have little management experience and is overly-confident of her own sales abilities which seem to consist mostly of smiling and being positive… Certainly a start but not anywhere near enough…
Lucinda seemed to start out well as project manager. Both halves of her team were working well with her kitchen team getting down to producing the ice-cream and her sales team booking people in for both the evening’s tasting and the next day appointments with prospects.
On the other team things were not going so well. Claire had struggled to find the ingredients and they had still not booked any appointments or organized the evening tasting session.
On Lucinda’s sales team, and under the guidance of Lindi, over-confidence was spilling over. Raef was on the phone describing himself as the CEO of Renaissance Ice-cream, Jennifer had successfully booked a sales appointment with a chain of independent cinemas and Raef was going on about how one hit can boost your confidence. If that’s the case Raef why did you all stop at 6 appointments? Surely you would have been better using this confidence to make more calls! 6 is not enough. Make more!
Sales training and business success tip: Fear of picking up the phone and approaching prospects destroys the careers of many salespeople and the businesses of many small business owners. A large proportion of new businesses fail mainly because their owners are seemingly incapable of getting on with this simple activity.
One of the best ways to get over call reluctance is to force yourself to keep cold calling and prospecting until you get some results and until it starts to feel second nature. The best way to defeat your fears and boost your sales and your business is to face your fears and do it anyway!
Unfortunately, Raef must have missed the sales training lesson that teaches how consistency is key. They were on a roll, they should have kept going… But they didn’t and Lindi, Raef and Jen were still boasting… “It’s going to be a walk in the park,” (Lindi) as they knocked off cold calling for appointments.
Back at the house Lucinda thanked her team for working well. I’m quite impressed, she’s not had a bad day and for the first time this series we have seen signs that our wannabees might actually be able to work together. But then the cracks started to show as Lucinda suggested that Lindi, because of her sales experience, should work with Lee and Helene the next day. Raef, Lindi and Jen just stared at Lucinda. They were clearly not happy.
You see right there is the problem. These characters only work together when they want to. As soon as anything upsets them they take their bat and ball home. Sir Alan will later tell Lucinda that mixing up the teams was a good idea and that she should have enforced it. Easy to say Sir Alan, not so easy to do with this lot. This was a management Catch 22 scenario…
This was a case of which is the lesser of two evils? Should Lucinda have left the teams as Lindi and friends clearly wanted them to be and hoped that they worked well together and got a result? Or should she have enforced the changes to maximize her team’s sales skills at risk of upsetting them so badly that they would have deliberately sabotaged her? Difficult call…
I know what I would have done in the real world but in this strange twilight world with egos and one-up-manship floating on the air like a bad smell…
Day 2 and Claire’s team had only 2 appointments set up compared to the 6 confirmed sales appointments on the other team. Alex told the camera that he thought that 2 appointments from 3 salespeople in a whole day was pathetic. I agree!
In the field our teams started to make some sales and Lucinda discovered that 3 of the 6 appointments that had been set up by her team were with shops who made their own ice-cream. She rang Lindi to discuss this… Lindi was dismissive and said that all clients say that and refused to take responsibility for the poor quality of leads that Lucinda had been given.
Meanwhile, Alex, on the other team, had approached an independent cinema in Clapham. The manager seemed to like the ice-cream but said that there were 18 cinemas in the chain and the he would have to speak with them and set up another appointment later on that day. Alex was pleased with his progress and hopeful of a big deal.
Cut to Lindi, Raef and Jen who were pitching another cinema in the same chain only they have both the cinema manager and the head buyer present! We watched as they won the order and as Alex got a call from the manager at the Clapham cinema cancelling the meeting. He was gutted and blamed the manager for pretending he was the “big cheese”. From what I saw, he didn’t but whatever the case there is a powerful business and sales training lesson here…
Speaking to the right sales prospects who can make sales decisions (or not) can make or break you. Understanding decision making processes is critical. Knowing who can and who cannot buy will help you to make more sales and grow your business. There are no excuses, you either know it or you don’t. Any gaps in your knowledge of your client in this area represent huge holes in your sales potential and your ability to accurately sales forecast.
Claire’s team were struggling. It looked like Lucinda’s lot were going to romp home with this one. Alex was mourning his team’s situation, “If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.”
On the way back to the board room Raef and Jen were moaning about Lucinda. Lindi said that she was more of a manager than her… Lindi, you need to read Andy Smith’s comment of last week about self-awareness…
In the board room…
Renaissance were complimentary about Claire and her team leading skills. Alpha were positive about Lucinda except for Jen. Lindi got taken down a peg or two for booking appointments with people who make their own ice-cream. Lucinda said that her sales team had not wanted to be split up. Jen denied this saying she had been happy to move. Both Lindi and Jen got lampooned by Sir Alan for offering unauthorized exclusivity deals to clients.
And the results were out…
Lucinda’s Alpha 1273.64, Claire’s Renaissance 1455.45.
Probably a lucky result for Claire. Her failure to plan the sales approach could have cost her dearly. Conversely, Lucinda’s hands off manner and (personally stated) lack of sales knowledge had meant that she did not question her sales team’s activity nor assess the quality of their appointments.
Sales training and business tip: All sales leads and sales appointments are not created equally. Activity is important but it needs to be the right kind of activity. Any fool can get busy. As a successful sales professional or business owner you need to get busy working on the right stuff.
As Claire’s team headed off by helicopter to play golf and archery, Lucinda and her team were left to ponder what could have been.
Back in the board room Sir Alan was not happy about the poor appointments or the granting of exclusivity. Lucinda elected to bring back Lindi and Jen to the board room… the only two choices really.
Now just the three of them, Lucinda said that she did not want to upset the teams by moving people. Sir Alan said that she should have. In the real world he’s absolutely right but in this strangely surreal world I’m not so sure, but I do know that this lot should know when to shut up…
Lindi and Jen were at each other’s throats. Lucinda stayed pretty quiet as they shouted at each other right across her. I have often thought many of the apprentices incur Sir Alan’s wrath by attracting too much attention to themselves in the board room by behaving this way. Lucinda, quiet because either she thinks like me here or because she had nothing to say, was under the radar. Would Sir Alan see this as wise or weak?
Sir Alan on Lucinda, “Do I need risk managers?” On Jen, “The exclusivity thing is unforgiveable.” On Lindi, “Lindi, you were second in charge for the most important part, selling, and it is sales you lost this on and this brings me to the conclusion that Lindi, you’re fired.”
The right decision in my opinion.
In the car the humility of Simon last week was no more. Lindi, “Sir Alan did not see enough of me. I am in shock that he did not see how special I am.”
I’m bored of talking about ego and self-awareness so I won’t…
So what are the main sales training and business tips that we learn tonight that can help us to make more sales and be more successful?
Lead generation is critical
In this task, lead generation was critical. With only one selling day but time to pre-book sales appointments a large part of the resources on both teams should have been allocated to setting up enough quality appointments. On the sales day itself both teams had neither enough leads nor the quality of leads. This was not a hard “sell” and setting up appointments should have been easy. The teams should have been booked solid on appointments with no reduction in the qualification and quality of those appointments.
Not every sales lead or sales appointment is created equally. Just because you can secure a meeting does not mean that it is worth you investing your valuable time and effort in it. Many sales and business people think that because a client will agree to see that you ought to and have to go.
They are wrong.
Sales is a two way process and you have choice about who you deal with as your client does.
Deal with decision makers
Far too many salespeople and business owners waste far too much time and effort and lose far too many sales because they do not speak to decision makers. Finding, targeting and building relationships with decision makers and understanding decision making processes is fundamental to your sales future.
I am always amazed by how little salespeople, business owners and directors know about the sales processes and decision making steps in companies that they are pouring huge amounts of time, effort and resources into. In tonight’s episode we saw one team’s efforts totally derailed in one big sale because they had failed to uncover the decision making process or speak to the key decision maker.
Say “No” sometimes
After hearing about the debacle of the “exclusivity” deals that both Lindi and Jen had agreed to Sir Alan said that he would not have allowed their deals if he had known before. These deals were agreed because both Jen and Lindi were prepared to do the deal at any cost.
Some people call this selling. I don’t. If you cannot make a win-win sale then why bother?
Exactly.
There are many things that can make deals win-win but none of them were present here. In both cases these two should have stood their ground and walked away if necessary.
As a salesperson and a business owner or entrepreneur you need to know who your target clients are and what you need to achieve in a sale. Only by being congruent with what you are trying to achieve and who your clients are can you create any real value in what you do long term.
Why not let me know if you think Sir Alan made the right decision tonight? Or share your opinions by commenting below?
The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part IV
[widget:ad_unit-157502571] This week the teams were sent by Sir Alan to Blue Water, Europe’s largest shopping centre to photograph customers and to sell them their photos. To try and shake things up a bit Sir Alan mixed the teams up a little sending Jenny, Sara and Claire to the boy’s team and Raef, Lee and Kevin over to the girl’s team.
Their task this week: to set up photography stands, charm customers into posing for them and then convince them to pay for their pictures. The winner as usual, the team with the most profit.
Finally! A task involving selling! Surely there must be both some sales training tips and some business strategies to be learnt tonight? Perhaps we will even see one or two of our apprentices step up and demonstrate their sales expertise? Or would putting their money where their mouth is be just expecting too much from them?
On both teams tonight there were volunteers for the role of project manager. Simon volunteered for Renaissance and Helene for Alpha. Simon’s offer was not met with enthusiasm with both Claire and Alex questioning his decision.
Meanwhile on the other team, Helene was shooting her mouth off, “I am business woman with a lot of balls and front. What pisses me off in business is incompetence.” What is it about this lot and their arrogance? As Andy Smith commented on my blog last week, they seem to have no self-awareness whatsoever! Why do they think that success in business and sales requires this gobby, self importance? It really doesn’t!
Could it be that mild-mannered Kevin, the bank manager, is at it too? “I am really good at sales,” he boasted.
As a sales motivational speaker and sales training expert one of the things that I have noticed about top salespeople is that they are not boastful. The thing about being good at selling is that you really don’t need to tell anyone. If you are, they will have to sit up and take notice when the sales results come rolling in! Top sales professionals let their sales results speak for themselves.
Conversely, if you’re not good at selling, you’re going to be found out… fast. As I always say when running sales training seminars; sales success is all about activity and results not about mouth and trousers. It matters not what you say, rather what you do. It matters not what you say you’re going to sell, what matters is what you do sell. I nearly sold that PC system is no better than I lost the deal!
It seems to me that this series every single apprentice thinks that they are sales superstar… At least, that’s what they seem to be lining up to tell us anyway. Can’t say that I’ve seen much sign of it myself so far!
Simon asked Alex to be his right hand man but Alex backed off and accused him of delegating responsibility for the task to him. Simon wasn’t but he had the sense to give the job to Claire instead. Unfortunately, this was later to prove not to be the best management decision ever… but more of that later!
When choosing themes the two teams had very different ideas of what to do. Alpha decided to hire a David Beckham look-a-like and Renaissance economised and aimed to deliver a glamorous shoot on a low budget. Claire, meanwhile, was already starting on the first of a series of undermining assaults on Simon comparing him to her toddlers loudly in front of the rest of the team.
To the camera Simon, quite rightly, acknowledged that his team had little faith in his business ability.
Aside: Simon seems to be one of the few on the show who seem to have any self-awareness at all but can that save him?
Apparently, Blue Water attracts 180,000 customers a day. The teams only needed to convert a very small number of these prospects into paying customers to do very well. Very well indeed! This seems like a target rich environment to me! But as usual our heroes have their own seemingly unique ways of screwing it up…
So let’s you and I chat for a moment…
Let’s suppose that you have a team of half a dozen salespeople and you are sited in the busiest shopping centre in Europe. 180,000 people pass through the doors every day. They have their credit cards and their cash burning a hole in their pockets and they are out shopping. How much money would you want to make in a day? How many sales would you want to make? How much do you think you could sell?
I don’t know about you but I am thinking… a lot!
To bring this into perspective, our winning team will finish this task having made only 145 pounds profit. 145 pounds! If they had had to pay for their own pitch both teams would have lost substantial sums of money. As a business exercise, the execution of both teams was truly pitiful.
These individuals seem to be incapable of working together and it’s killing them. They spend more time knifing each other in the back, massaging their over-inflated egos and trying to get one over on each other than they do on the task in hand!
But back to the show…
It seems that Alex got out of bed the wrong side today. He was not happy! He clearly had a problem with Simon and was seemingly incapable of hiding it. It radiated off him in his body language, his tone and what he said. He, of course, denied all of this saying that he was a top salesperson and that he wouldn’t be one if he was negative.
Hmmmm! Add him to the list of people who have said they are sales superstars then!
Sales training and business tip: As a salesperson you need to be emotionally aware. You need to know how your emotions affect your actions. You need to be aware of how your interactions affect both your communications and your relationships with others.
Alex was either lying about the fact that he did not have a problem with Simon and could not hide that fact or he was unaware of the communications he was emitting. Either way, something he should be working on…
Helene’s David Beckham look-a-like was pulling in the customers. This lead generation strategy worked well all day however Alpha suffered meltdown in the processing arena and had to stop taking photos because they could not process them for a huge portion of the day. This was mainly due to the fact that Helene had put Lucinda in charge of the technical side of things despite the fact that Lucinda had told her that she was hopeless in this area.
Helene, another one oblivious to her outward persona, ignored Lucinda in setting her this task, shouted at her when she said she was struggling, and did not restructure her resources to solve the problem even when she knew about it.
Her business strategy instead? Shout at Lucinda and carry on with the failing strategy hoping that it might magically start working… Not surprisingly, it didn’t!
Back in the Renaissance camp, Claire was trying to ride rough-shod over Simon. I know it’s all in the filming but we have seen little sign of Simon’s alleged “emotional” or “aggressive” side but we do see both Claire and Alex making Simon’s life a misery. As I said on a text to a friend, in their current mood these two are unmanageable. They won’t support him, they won’t help him and they won’t work for him. And worse still, they are moaning to others about him and poisoning them too.
I’d like to say that this exercise was all about sales but it wasn’t. It probably should have been but today’s task was all about team work. Correction! Today’s task was all about lack of team work. Today’s task was all about how one or two people can effectively destroy the success of a whole sales team and rob your business of sales and profits.
In the board room Helene blamed Lucinda. Nick stepped in and said that Helene was “wishy-washy”. It’s true… Helene appeared indecisive as a team leader and made bad decisions when she did. She seemed unwilling to correct her mistakes regarding resources and appeared aggressive and overbearing when dealing with Lucinda. She could well have been leaving tonight except for the fact that…
Team Renaissance under Simon were worse! They actually lost 73.81 pounds!
Swanning of for some fun on a yacht Helene seemed pleased with her superior management skills… Her wake up call cannot be long coming…
Talking to the camera Alex said, “It will be a massive error to take me back into the board room because I will destroy him (Simon) if he takes me into the board room.” Oh come on! Who speaks like this? Where do they learn to speak like this? Is this what we get when our children are reared without the benefit of Watch with Mother?!
Back in the board room Simon said that he got a less than enthusiastic approval when he put himself up as project manager. You’re not joking Simon! Both Sir Alan and Margaret told Claire that she had little respect for her team leader. You don’t say…
Simon, not surprisingly, decided to bring back Claire and Alex.
Back in the board room the heat was on. Interestingly though Alex, when asked who should be fired by Sir Alan, said Claire. Claire meanwhile was firing all cylinders at Simon. Maybe this was a tactical move by Alex? Did he realise that Claire was committed to attacking Simon and that she could not now turn her sights on him? Was he quick enough to realise that had he broadsided Simon, Simon could have taken him on whereas by attacking Claire he left those two slugging it away together and him out of the loop?
After some discussion, Sir Alan, in his now familiar manner, said that he had heard enough. This is the tried and tested formula and the message to the contestants is to shut up as Sir Alan has made a decision. Claire however had other thoughts and interrupted him to defend herself again. Sir Alan, maybe amazed at her front, was quiet for a moment before saying that he wanted her out of his sight!
So Claire left…
But not the programme, just the board room and a date and an outing as a project leader in next week’s show!
An interesting twist so now only Alex and Simon remained. “I am sorry my friend I think you are out of your depth here. With regret you’re fired,” and Simon was gone.
A strange choice in some ways and not one that I would have made. We have never really seen the emotional or the aggressive side of Simon that the others complained of. He has worked hard and applied himself. Sir Alan had pondered as to whether he was a doer not a leader and… and that’s a fair question which we will now never be sble to answer…
But in reality he had shown no less leadership than any of the others because few of them have showed any leadership skills as of yet. And most of them show no signs of being able to get the task done either so he was way ahead of them there! What’s more, Simon does seem to have some self awareness…
Not for Simon the self-denial, blame and ego so associated with apprentice losers but a dignified and somewhat anti-climatic departure, “Thank you Sir Alan. Thank you for a wonderful opportunity.” And then in the cab, “I gave it my best shot. I give it everything I had…. At the end of the day I failed. I will go up and pick myself up”
I’d have kept him… for the moment anyway.
So we continue on our strange journey… business, drama, humour, pantomime… whatever this journey is, searching for our next apprentice. To date, no-one has caught my eye. No-one has shown any real leadership skills. No-one has stepped up and showed any real sales skills or presence. It’s an open game…
So let’s help ourselves…
What sales training and business lessons did we learn tonight and how can we use these to help us to improve our sales and our businesses?
Get the right people in the right job!
Successful leadership, management and business is all about getting the right people in the right jobs at the right time. There’s little point employing talent if you don’t leverage it. I am flabbergasted that Lucinda apparently knows virtually nothing about computers but she did declare that to Helene. Forcing her to do this role either out of stupidity, pig-headedness or spite was ludicrous.
Frequently, I work with companies who are trying to hammer round pegs into square holes. Even if you could, why bother? They won’t fit as well as a square one and they will never sit happily there!
Working out what your team are good at and capitalising on those talents is one of the signs of a great leader. If you want to make more sales, this skill is critical.
Working as a team is one of the keys to business and sales success.
For sure, you can climb to the top of success mountain by yourself but what are you going to do when you get there? Team work is the quickest, most effective and most sustainable way to grow your business.
In The Apprentice tonight what we saw were (allegedly) intelligent people destroying their sales and business results and potential because of their inability to work together. Helping your teams to support, appreciate and respect each other will deliver exceptional sales and business results.
Many sales teams do not work together and miss opportunities to help each other through referrals, advice, support and motivation. Shared goals, values and systems create a powerful forward momentum. Working to achieve this is essential.
Systemise for success.
As a salesperson or a business owner you need systems. Not complicated, hard to follow systems but simple, easy and repeatable ones.
In tonight’s show we saw both teams lose valuable sales due to not having a systemised approach to their sales activities. Leaving your sales efforts to the whims and moods of individual members of your sales team is wrong and could well lead to the collapse of your sales results.
Successful companies have successful systems. Successful companies have sales and marketing systems. Successful sales teams have proven sales systems. Great salespeople have their own proven systems. People work better when they are working to a system. People feel more confident when they are working to a proven system. People need systems.
Don’t leave your sales results, your business growth and your personal success to chance. Create systems for yourself, your sales team and your overall sales activities… Let me know what you thought of last night’s episode by commenting below…
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