Attract More Customers, Convert More Leads, Develop Company Strategy, Win More Sales, CEO Coaching, Management Consulting, Revenue Growth - Executive Strategy Group

9 Sales Metrics to Increase Your Sales Territory Success – Plan Like Alexander The Great

Kevin McCann — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:00:39 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Alexander the Great was born sometime around 355 BC in the area of Macedonia near Greece. While still in his early teens, Alexander grew to become a fearless and aggressive strategy-based leader who sought to conquer the whole world.

After wining the battle of Granicus (his first battle), his reputation spread quickly as a calculating, premeditated warrior known for his front line charges and coordinated attacks based on a systematic approach of planning each sequential step in his war campaign.

By the time Alexander was 23 years old, he was recognized as a controversial leader who had conquered half of the known world.

Historians debate his tactics and ambitions, but they all agree that his planning and detailed battle metrics were key factors for his success against entrenched competitors with larger armies.

Like Alexander, salespeople can plan their sales battle to minimize failure and increase their potential for sales success.

Having a sales strategy is good,
but having a sales execution plan is better!

Understanding the business metrics you need to hit your sales quota is the key to hitting personal income goals.

In many ways, sales is a mathematical model.

The following are 9 sales metrics you should use in planning sequential steps to win your sales battle. Most salespeople track their sales closing ratio as well as the overall value of their sales pipeline as business planning tools. But these two steps, although important, need to be part of a larger more detailed sequential plan to help salespeople hit their sales quota and companies reach their revenue goals.

9 Sales Metrics That Should Be Tracked

Closing ratio by job title of buyer (highest contact to whom you present.) This measures the title of executive you sell to help quantify where most of your sales will come from and helps you focus on changing your sales communication with executives who are harder to sell (i.e., closing ratios for CFO’s versus CIO’s.)
Dollar value of lost submitted proposals. This tracks potential sales volume in a territory, quality of your proposal messaging, and the sales success of a salesperson based on opportunity, not just an assigned quota.
Closing ratio by product or type of professional service you sell. Measures your sales communication success for each offering and identifies your strengths and weakness based on selling a product or service.
Closing ratio based on proposals submitted. Measures effectiveness of the style and content delivery of your sales proposals.
Closing ratio by geography. Helps identify local market demand anomalies and buying patterns by region. Also identifies market and sales quota enlargement opportunities.
Closing ratio by deal dollar value. Tracks market price resistance for your product or service and the strategic entry price-point in order to sell more. Also identifies areas in which salespeople may need training based on a price/value presentation.
Sales cycle length for each product or service. Helps identify sales forecasting accuracy based on average time for each type of sale.
Cold calls per day to new prospects. Measures your attack on new business hunting capacity.
Cold calls per day to existing customers. Measures sales commitment to sell additional revenue to existing clients.

Have a plan, follow the plan, and you’ll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don’t have a plan. That’s why it’s easy to beat most folks. – Paul “Bear” Bryant, football coach

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

Kevin McCann is President & CEO of The Executive Strategy Group, LLC. We are a managing partner of the Value Forward Network and have consulting partners in five countries making us one of the world’s largest management consulting groups focused on helping companies increase corporate revenue capture.

We work with senior executive teams to integrate sales process, marketing methodology, corporate strategy and financial management into one outbound revenue capture program to increase corporate revenue. We do this by assessing the value your customers see and the value you think you have and then measure the “Value Variance” gap between the two. Once we have identified the “Value Variance” between the two, we then make appropriate strategic and tactical recommendations on your corporate strategy and marketing programs to close the gaps. When this is completed, we then train your sales team to sell to management more effectively using techniques that are linked to our recommendations.

Top-performing organizations are increasing their company’s revenue and valuation within a constricted economy by investing in our business growth acceleration strategies. For more information, visit: http://www.executivestrategygroup.com or
call Kevin McCann directly at (603) 319-1736

Developing and Mapping Your Sales Process

Kevin McCann — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:00:18 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Developing a sales process that is successful, replicable, and measurable is one key to growing your firm. Like six sigma models, the correct sales process is designed to minimize and eliminate business errors that reduce your sales operational deficiencies and increase corporate profitability. Having corporate revenue success is not always a proven sales process. Often individual sales successes by specific members of your sales team or the sale of one large contract are anomalies that are not replicable.

Successful sales processes are business maps that can be used by a broad range of sales team members over and over again and can pull up average salesperson skills to a corporate minimum, while helping senior salespeople expand their achievements.

Deploying and managing sales metrics is the key to successful management.

Sales processes driven by metrics allow you to:

Reduce your sales cycle time to close a contract
Reduce sales capture costs per sale including travel and expenses and sales support
Increase your sales team success
Develop training programs based of factual sales needs
Increase your sales team retention
Increase the efficiencies of your operations, engineering and R&D groups

The design of many company sales processes generally falls into four categories:

The company has no written sales process.
The company’s sales process is based on other company’s business practices.
The company’s sales process is based on unsubstantiated sales step success.
The company’s sales process is based on one salesperson’s success experiences or the founder’s selling experiences.

A successful sales process is the sum of your corporate skills and the needs of the buyer.

To sell more products or services in this market, you must adapt your sales process to your buyer’s needs . . . not what worked for you at another company two years ago.

Sales Process and Strategy Test

When sales revenue per salesperson is down or when your company’s revenues are down, does your firm just hire more salespeople?___Yes ___No
Have you have changed your sales model during the last twenty-four months?___Yes ___No
Do you have a written, documented step-by-step sales model detailing your firm’s entire sales process from pre-sale to post-sale?___Yes ___No
When your firm discusses new sales methods and models for your firm, do they consult with internal peers and management only?___Yes ___No
Do you (or your management team) believe prospects will buy your products or services just because you think what you deliver is better or because your prices are lower?___Yes ___No
Does your sales team get paid the same commission for new business from existing clients as new business from new clients?___Yes ___No
Does your firm use the same sales model process to sell CFO’s, CIO’s, General Managers, or CEO’s as it does to sell lower-level managers?

___Yes ___No
Does your firm track closing ratios by prospect title?___Yes ___No
Is your sales forecast/closing ratio at least 75% accurate month-to-month?

___Yes ___No
Is the pricing of your IT service or product reactive to your competitors?___Yes ___No
Do you have a documented outbound sales model that describes the selling methods, sales steps, and techniques required by your sales team to capture new business (versus an inbound sales model where the sales team waits for leads from the marketing department)?___ Yes ___No
Does your firm use specific account and profit guidelines when you sell new key accounts (versus a market share approach to capture major accounts at any cost)?

___ Yes ___No
Do you allow only senior executive contacts in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or contact manager to be considered as qualified buyers when calculating your sales forecasting value (versus accepting all manager titles as valid in your sales forecast)?

___ Yes ___No
Does your sales strategy require action steps to be taken by your prospects in order to be considered as qualified buyers (versus the responsive model where you wait for the prospect to respond to your sales communication)?___ Yes ___No
Does your plan offer multiple pricing options to make it easier for prospects to buy (versus seeking big ticket sales opportunities driven by price)?

___ Yes ___No
Has your firm forecasted the market demand based on research for each IT product or service you sell (versus a forecast based on assuming there is a demand or a market study that is more than one year old)?___ Yes ___No
Does your firm have a sales model that provides ongoing sales training for your team (versus a sales model where the sales team must educate themselves as they go)?___ Yes ___No
Are your firm’s marketing efforts technology-driven based on the technical superiority of your product or service (versus pain-driven based on the client needs)?

___ Yes ___No
Is your firm market-driven by trying to sell horizontally to everyone (versus vertical-driven where each product and service has an identified market, price, prospect type, business need, etc.)?___ Yes ___No
Does your firm have an integrated management model where sales, marketing, strategy, and strategic alliances are all tied to corporate revenue success (versus a stand-alone management model where each department has its own objectives)?___ Yes ___No

Correct Answers :

1-Yes
2-Yes
3-Yes
4-No
5-No

6-No
7-No
8-Yes
9-Yes
10-No

11-Yes
12-Yes
13-Yes
14-Yes
15-Yes

16-Yes17-Yes18-No19-No

20-Yes

Each correct answer is worth 5 points. How did you score? Is your score above 70? If not, you may need a new sales process to increase revenue.

When developing a successful sales strategy process, it is important to make sure that the strategy itself does not stand alone, but instead integrates into the corporate business plan with the appropriate execution steps.

Having the right sales strategy process is the key to successful sales execution.

Sales strategy process first,
Sales success second!

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

Lost Sales Analysis For Greater Sales Management Success

Kevin McCann — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:00:15 +0000

by Paul DiModica

One of the best sales tools available to CEO’s, VP’s of Sales and sales managers when evaluating salespeople and sales performance is the use of a lost sales analysis metrics program. The lost sales analysis is more effective than percent of quota attainment as a measurement tool, because it measures not just the sales success of an account manager against some predetermined sales quota, but it also measures their success against competitors based on lost sales.
By calculating the total dollar value of lost deals and measuring that against the value of business opportunity inside the geography region, you can more accurately evaluate a salesperson’s performance.

When a sale is lost, it also means that the potential client’s recurring revenue stream is lost for three to five years (i.e., service contracts, training contracts, maintenance, repairs).

So, if a salesperson loses a deal in their territory, it is not just the immediate revenue that is lost, but generally all of the recurring revenue as well.

To focus on sales sold as a percentage of quota as the only measurement of success underestimates the firm’s potential revenue within a territory and overstates a salesperson’s success.

From an integrated business development approach, we do not want to focus only on individual sales successes, but instead look at revenue from a territory potential as a measurement for individuals and companies.

What has occurred is that executives have arbitrarily set up standards of measurement for salespeople that are based on elements that have nothing to do with sales potential.

Lost Sales Analysis Calculation

Here is how the model works:

Determine the potential dollar size for one year of sales within the market segment or geography in which your salespeople are assigned.
When this number is calculated in dollars, divide it by the actual sales quota in dollars to determine the territory efficiencies as a percentage.
Then take the total percentage of the person’s closing ratio for proposals submitted and add it to your territory effectiveness percentage.

Example:

Let’s say our territory potential for the first year is $10,000,000 and a rep’s quota for the first year is $1,500,000. By dividing his quota by his territory potential, you will see that his market effectiveness is 15%.

$1,500,000 divided by $10,000,000 = 15% market effectiveness

Next, let’s say our rep has a closing ratio of 25% from proposals submitted. If the rep hits his quota of $1,500,000, that means he has submitted $6,000,000 in proposals and has generated $1,500,000 in sales, leaving 40% of the market available.

25% + 15% = 40% territory effectiveness

So, is the rep that hits 100% of his quota successful?

By this equation, they are only 40% effective and in fact they may have sold $1,500,000 but they LOST $8,500,000 that year in their territory.

If the lost clients had a cumulative effect of recurring lifetime value of 35% per year through additional sales, support, add-ons and upgrades, then that 100% of quota salesperson has actually cost your firm $20,000,000 or more in lost revenue over three years.

Yet, under most sales quota systems, the rep would be deemed successful and the senior management would just try to improve their sales closing ratio as the only mechanism to increase corporate revenue.

This method of back door analysis helps management understand the relationships between sales, quota, salesmanship, territories, and lost sales opportunities. It allows executives to adjust compensation to better reflect those reps that are “territory” productive and those reps who are “quota” productive.

Generally, shooting for a territory effectiveness of 60% or better is an optimal goal to seek. This way, sales reps must increase their closing ratio and their territory penetration simultaneously to meet their corporate sales goals.

The key to successful sales forecasting is understanding where the sales numbers are, where they need to be, and where they came from.

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

8 Ways Management Teams Lead Their Companies and How It Affects Their Sales Teams

Kevin McCann — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:00:07 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Working with ten of thousands of salespeople and hundreds of companies during the last eleven years, at Value Forward Group we have identified 8 common types of management styles. These management descriptions are not always reflective of the company size but more on how they manage their firm.

Each of the 8 management models have positive and negative attributes both for the sales team that sells for them and the management team that leads them.

Understanding the mode your firm is in and the leadership approach your senior executives are taking helps you as a salesperson understand why certain actions or non-actions take place. Conversely, if you are part of the management team, you need to see how your sales team sees your leadership directions.

To help you decide where you are in the business model, review these organizational descriptions to determine where your company fits.

Maintenance Management Model, Family-RunOften top line revenues are flat or decreasing for three years or more. This leadership model is a family-run business where usually more than one family member (husband/wife; father/daughter; mother/son, etc.) is or has been on the payroll and the company is 10+ years old. Instead of investing in their business assets (sales, marketing, operations, technology), management is milking cash-flow to use the company’s revenue stream as a planned retirement program. Often these executives take long vacations, don’t come to the office very often, and generally just cruise along. This management style, rightly earned by the principals who took the business risks to start the company, has a negative impact for the sales team members seeking to maximize their income and sales opportunities in a growth-directed firm.
Growth Mode Management Model, Family-RunUnlike the maintenance mode model, this management team (although dominated by family members) understands that they must invest in their future either to propitiate future generations of family cash-flow contributions or just the desire to be more successful. It is often a positive work environment for the sales team and compensation plans are competitive or more generous than Global 1000 companies. This leadership style can provide a great place to work, but may limit senior management promotions due to family members’ ownership and extended employment opportunities for upcoming generations.
Investor/Wall Street Management ModelThis management team drives their company based on the commitment they have made to their VC’s, private investors, or Wall Street. They invest in their employees based on how close the company has hit their financial obligations, or milestones. If they miss their business numbers, they adjust the salesperson head count regardless of how close the reps are to their sales quota. This business model is driven by executives who seek financial confirmation, not an understanding of how those numbers are achieved. This leadership style is emotionally reactive and driven by management’s sense of their own employment security, rather than planned business logic.
Global 1000 Farmer Management ModelMost Global 1000 firms use a farmer management style of leadership. Instead of taking calculated risks, their corporate bureaucracy overwhelms them and they just focus on selling more products and services into their existing customer base. It is a short-term leadership model, easy to implement, and cautious in its approach, yet it creates an artificial perception of success controlled by the current customers’ ability to buy. For sales team members, it is usually an easy sales model to function under. Usually compensation is not competitive with more aggressive players and compensation is limited in the long-term as customers buy less. Companies in this mode focus more on brand selling than new inbound lead generation.
Global 1000 Hunter Management Model This is the management model of choice, not common, but definitely on the rise internationally and to some degree domestically here in the U.S. Characteristically, this management style continues to make investments in new business process, new products and services, and company acquisitions that open up new markets and additional offerings. This is a great work environment for salespeople because their compensation plans are usually very aggressive and these companies supply team members with all of the marketing and support services they need to sell more.
Product Superiority Management Model The product superiority management model is dominated by a CEO/Founder executive that has a background or education in technical areas and actually believes that superior technical capabilities in today’s market is why prospects buy. This is a difficult sales management model to operate under because the senior management team does not understand sales or marketing methodology and just expects salespeople to just sell. Often this leadership focuses on building better technical offerings without studying market demand or market gaps and assumes that if they build it, prospects will buy. Compensation for salespeople in this style of company is usually average or slightly below average as executives spend a disproportionate amount of revenue on R&D.
Entrepreneur Growth Management ModelLike its sister management model, Global 1000 Hunter Model, the entrepreneur growth management model is an aggressive leadership process that actively seeks to grow their companies based on continuous process improvement and alignment of sales, marketing, strategy and R&D. It is often led by a founder who is seeking fast growth, but not interested in an IPO in the short-term. This is a great company to work for because they usually pay their salespeople very well, support their departments with a strong esprit de corps attitude, and provide upward mobility based on achievement.
Hybrid Management ModelThis model is usually a combination of Entrepreneur Growth Management and a Growth Mode Management Model Family-Run or an Investor/Wall Street Management Model. Either way, it’s a positive environment for salespeople seeking to sell in a dynamic environment and receive compensation based on their value not some arbitrary calculation.

If you are a sales team member, review these 8 management models to determine if your company’s leadership meets your needs.

If you are a CEO, review these 8 management models to determine how your leadership style affects your sales team.

“Most business failures do not stem from
bad times. They come from poor management,
and bad times just precipitate the crisis.“
Thomas P. Murphy

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

Are You A Fireman Always Putting Out Fires?

Kevin McCann — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:00:39 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Salespeople love leads – inbound, tradeshows, networking. Leads, leads and more leads . . . that’s all we want. But the management of those leads and how they are handled is important to their sales success.

When selling prospects, there are several options to managing the prospect as a lead opportunity. You can reactively put out the obvious fires they have identified for you (like a fireman) or you can act as an advisor and sell them safety in a proactive approach.

Take the Fireman Sales Test

1. When discussing your business value with a prospect, do you only talk about how your offering can help the problem they currently admit to and verbalize?

Yes ___ No___

2. When a prospect tells you they are not interested in your offering, do you ever suggest problems that could happen if they don’t buy?

Yes ___ No___

3. Does your average gross margin per sale go down at the end of the month or quarter?

Yes ___ No___

4. Do you believe prospects know what they need to buy?

Yes ___ No___

5. Do you believe prospects know how to buy correctly?

Yes ___ No___

6. Do you believe prospects should “like” you in order to buy?

Yes ___ No___

7. Do you believe relationships start before the first sale?

Yes ___ No___

8. Is your sales closing ratio higher when the prospect tells you they have a business problem?

Yes ___ No___

9. Do you treat prospects and customers the same way?

Yes ___ No___

10. Can you name 5 specific business outcomes that would happen to your prospect if they do not buy from you?

Yes ___ No___

Correct Answers
1. No 2. Yes 3. No 4. No	5. No 6. No 7. No 8. Yes	9. No 10. Yes

Fireman Sales Test Analysis of Answers

When discussing your business value with a prospect, do you only talk about how your offering can help the problem they currently admit to and verbalize?
If you are truly a strategic or trusted advisor, sometimes you need to give advice on areas that the prospect needs help with, even if it makes them uncomfortable.
When a prospect tells you they are not interested in your offering, do you ever suggest problems that could happen if they don’t buy?
Prospects don’t always know how to buy correctly. It is your job as a professional salesperson to tell them what could happen if they don’t buy.
Does your average gross margin per sale go down at the end of the month or quarter?
When you are in a weak sales position because you have pulled your business value behind you, you end up giving away more margin.
Do you believe prospects know what they need to buy?Prospects see problems from their perspective and sometimes have limited vision on how to fix their problems. True strategic salespeople try to fix all business problems, even the ones the the prospect cannot see.
Do you believe prospects know how to buy correctly?
Come on – if you have been selling more than 90 days, you know some prospects are uneducated buyers and make mistakes during the sales buying process.
Do you believe prospects should “like” you in order to buy?
Another old fallacy left over from antiquated sales methodologies. Prospects just have to respect you . . . not like you. Management buys from salespeople who fix their business problems . . . not salespeople who take them to ball games.
Do you believe relationships start before the first sale?In commodity-based sales (logistics, IT, professional services, etc.) relationships start after the second sale.
Is your sales closing ratio higher when the prospect tells you they have a business problem?The more you know about the business drivers of why your prospect will buy – the more apt you are to educate them about the value of your offering to close more deals. Prospect knowledge and closing ratio move lock-in-step.
Do you treat prospects and customers the same way?
Treating prospects who don’t know your value the same way you treat customers who should know your value is an incorrect sales process.
Can you name 5 specific business outcomes that would happen to your prospect if they do not buy from you?
Consequence management is an important technique to close sales from prospects who don’t know how to buy correctly. The more you know – the more you will sell.

“If you want to succeed you should strikeout on the new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” - John D. Rockefeller

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

How to Close More Sales Opportunities by Using Words Your Prospects Want to Hear!

Kevin McCann — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:00:46 +0000

by Paul DiModica

When selling products and services, the words you and I use reflect to the prospect our education, training and knowledge of their business issues. In sales, communication can be the pen that signs the P.O. or the sword that cuts the deal.

When cold calling or meeting with C-level executives of Fortune 1000 firms or presidents of private companies, what you say and how you say it determines your success or failure.

As salespeople, at times we take for granted the process of selling. Many times, salespeople shoot from the hip, not from an element of carelessness, but more from an element of repetition.

But great salespeople realize that sales is a premeditated sport.

For instance, describing your firm as a “company” on the phone or in person to a prospect has specific business connotations associated with it.

Have you ever noticed what kind of firms describe themselves a “company”?

“A plumbing company”
“An electrical company”
“A landscaping company”

Yet, have you ever heard of a law or accounting firm being described as a “Law Company” or an “Accounting Company”?

What about the words “Client” and “Customer”? Do law firms have customers?

Of course not!

The words you use with a prospect paint visual impressions and deliver subliminal messages of who you are and who you are not.

The same word may have quite different meanings to different listeners. This is not surprising when you realize that the 500 most commonly used words in English have 14,070 dictionary meanings.

In the Second World War, Winston Churchill tells of a long argument in a meeting of British and American Chiefs of Staff Committee. The British brought in a memo on an important point and proposed to “table” it – which to them meant to discuss it right away. The Americans protested the matter must not be tabled, and the debate grew quite hot before the participants realized they all wanted the same thing.

You see, in sales, perception is reality.

So, just little changes in your sales presentation can make large changes in your closing ratio.

If you speak succinctly, the client will not know if you’re a salesperson calling from a Fortune 50 company inside a thirty story high-rise building or . . . calling from a five-person startup operating from your garage.

Using targeted positive communication that is unique to your prospect is one key to increased sales.

Dr. Herbert H. Clark, a psychologist from The Johns Hopkins University discovered that it takes the average person about 48% longer to understand a sentence using a negative word than it does to understand a positive or affirmative sentence.

Use positive executive words will help you sell more.

Sales Word Usage

Stay away from canned responses.
Always discuss, not sell.
Discuss one product or service at a time. Never get so excited with your offerings that you over-communicate what you have and confuse the prospect with too many opportunities to buy.
Never describe what you sell as the product or service itself; always describe your offering as programs and services.

Executive Sales Word Triggers

Below are two lists of executive sales trigger words. Look at your current telemarketing scripts and client sales presentations and substitute negative words for positive words.

You will be surprised at how slight adjustments in your speech pattern make big adjustments in your sales.

Positive Words That Sell

Firm
Specialists
Productivity
Expense Reduction
Performance
Services
Program
Value
Executive Briefing
Practice Manager
Relationship
You
Chat
Listen
Situations
Informative
Clients
Acknowledgment
Proven
Business models
Business tool
Benefits
Efficient
Discuss
Listen
Collaborate
Client support
Client oriented
Decide for yourself
Investment

Negative Words That Don’t Sell

Consultant
Demo
Technology
Company
Talk
Generalists
ROI
Salesperson
Contract
“I”
Price
Customers
Brochure
Expert
Problems
Perfect
Price

Remember, the two words “information” and “communication” are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. Sydney J. Harris

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

How to Use Cross-Selling Techniques to Increase Sales

Kevin McCann — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:11 +0000

by Paul DiModica

To increase sales performance and customer account lifetime value, cross-selling is a key business tool that when used correctly can close complicated sales opportunities, eliminate competitive issues, and create a “visual value” of your market differential.

But when cross-selling is deployed incorrectly, it can confuse buyers, delay sales cycles, and sometimes induce prospects to ask for discounts. So, the management of your cross-selling offer and packaging is strategically important to make cross-selling a successful sales tactic.

15 Techniques to Make Cross-Selling Work

When selling prospects, always have them complete an assessment questionnaire (20-50 questions) to help determine what type of packages you can wrap and offer to them.
Cross-selling should be a pre-developed company-wide technique, not an individual salesperson’s option to close one deal.
Develop at least three packaged offers with specific price points targeted at prospects based on their title (the VP of Marketing Package at $50,000, the Marketing Manager Package at $8,000, etc.).
In cross-selling, timing is important. Do not use cross-selling as a loss leader during the pre-sales process if the prospect has not selected your firm yet. Instead, use cross-selling as way to close the deal by adding value or to increase profit per sales. Add value; don’t discount.
Always offer three different pricing options with the middle offering being your targeted goal of your average sale (i.e., Option A for $10,000, Option B for $20,000, or Option C for $30,000).
Name your cross-selling offer based on the title and industry that you are trying to sell to (i.e., the Executive Operational Assessment for $50,000). Remember, sell blue shoes to blue shoe buyers.
To increase your cross-selling success, package all services as a product. This makes it more digestible for prospects to buy.
Bundle products and services together as one offering for a flat price, spreading your gross margin over the entire price.
Make cross-selling time dependent. (i.e., if the prospect makes a decision to go with your firm by September 1 and you would give them 14 months of support for the cost of 12 months).
Always have “visible” cross-selling packages that tease prospects to seek you out, but also have “hidden” packages that you hold in reserve to use as a negotiation tool when needed.
Never offer more than three cross-selling options to existing customers or new prospects. Too many options confuse buyers and extend sales cycles. Less is better.
Analyze your customer purchases for the last 24 months and develop specific packaged cross-sell offers based on their needs, not yours. Mine your current customers for premeditated sales opportunities.
Always offer a “one sheet” brochure of your packaged cross-selling offer.
Develop a planned cross-sales program based on a 12 month timeline where you contact existing customers on scheduled dates to offer them a pre-packaged offer that is time dependent.
Develop cross-selling packages based on sales objections. The “Your service costs too much” sales objection gets offered Option A; the “I am going to make the decision next month” sales objection gets offered Option B.

Cross-selling is a premeditated revenue capture model. To sell more, develop a proactive approach where your cross-selling is a planned sales process . . . instead of a reactive process.

“A mediocre salesperson tells. A good salesperson explains. A superior salesperson demonstrates. A great salesperson inspires buyers to see the benefits as their own.”
Anonymous

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

It’s Time to Play Like a Champion

Kevin McCann — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:07:48 +0000

by Kevin McCann

It’s Time To Play Like a Champion from Kevin McCann on Vimeo.

I often talk about tools and methods of how CEO’s can improve their businesses by integrating strategy, marketing and sales – and we offer numerous answers and breakthroughs for our clients in this area.

However, today’s article is going to be different.

We have all seen the news. Last week the stock market dropped 500 points, yesterday, it dropped 634 points.
The same is happening in the overseas markets.
The US just lost several of our ELITE Navy SEAL Team 6 members in Kabul, Afghanistan
RACE RIOTS are breaking out in London as I shoot this video

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Enough is enough!!

It’s tough enough to stay focused on your day with technology constantly blasting emails, instant messages, text messages, phone calls, advertisements at you with blinding speed

But now you ALSO have to deal with CONSTANT NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT EVERYWHERE YOU TURN??

The time is NOW to take control of how you personally react to the seemingly endless stream of bad news.

It’s time to BE THE INSPIRATION YOU ARE LOOKING FOR – RIGHT NOW!

I want to share a story with you:

An amazing thing happened to me this weekend. I was at a client appreciation event with my family that was put on by my wealth manager and his staff in a beautiful lake setting.

1/2 way through the day, a woman that I didn’t immediately recognize walked up to me and my wife and said it was great to see me again and asked how was I doing – etc.

She then reminded me that she had seen me speak when I had given a presentation to 100+ of her colleagues a couple years ago. She then proceeded to tell me the story of how a topic in my speech gave her the inspiration and strength that enabled her to give the speech of her life – when it mattered. That speech was her father’s eulogy at his funeral.

She proceeded to tell me that he had just passed away the day or so before I had given the speech and she was given the task of presenting the eulogy – but had no idea what she was going to say.

I inspired her to give the speech of her life – and I had NO IDEA I was doing that.

My intention was to inspire and provide valuable information to those 100+ people to help make them more efficient and productive in their daily roles. And – I was able to inspire someone to have the strength and fortitude to give the speech of her life.

Let me turn the tables for 2 seconds here and share with you how I was recently inspired.
I was with my family at a semi-professional baseball game last week and got up from our seats with my son to go and get some refreshments.
As we were walking down the ramp toward the refreshments, my son and I approached and walked past a Man and his son, apparently doing the same thing as us. Only this man was on crutches and was struggling a bit to keep up with his son. It turns out he was on crutches because he only has one leg – yet there he was, at a baseball game with his son, having a great time, laughing while he was chasing his son to get more popcorn.
This inspired me to realize that I am not my circumstances. I can choose to view ANY SITUATION HOWEVER I WANT – THAT IS MY CHOICE.

So The MORAL HERE? You get more of what you look for. If you are looking to be miserable, you will find it – believe me – there’s enough of that out there.

But if you are looking to be inspired, if you are looking for others with a positive outlook, with optimism – YOU WILL FIND THAT TOO. IT’S OUT THERE – sometimes you may have to look a little harder, but it is out there.

I read a great article in USA Today by Steve Strauss titled “Why only small business can save America”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/strauss/2011-08-08-small-business-can-save-america_n.htm

The fact is this country needs you and me more than ever right now to stay focused and upbeat and continue to drive this country to greatness.

The time is NOW to change your language if it includes terms like:

“I can’t do”…..
You CAN do anything that you put your mind to and focus on!

“They made me feel like”…..(you control your feelings – NOBODY can make you feel ANYTHING that you don’t want to FEEL)
You are not a VICTIM!

“The economy is why I can’t succeed”….(if you are waiting for the economy to get better, you may not be here next year. It’s Time to Take Action NOW!)

The question you need to ask yourself is “How would I behave IN THIS SITUATION at my best?”
“Who do you have to be in every situation to inspire others”
Believe me, when you least expect it, people are looking to you for inspiration even though they are not telling you.
In order to INSPIRE OTHERS, you must first be INSPIRED.

Today is the day that I make my personal stand to no longer tolerate mediocrity. We need to come together and create a legacy for our children and do it by PROVIDING AS MUCH VALUE AS WE POSSIBLY CAN and to BE OUR BEST EVERY DAY.

I carry this Notre Dame towel on my golf bag to remind me to “Play like a champion today”. I am yanking this off my golf bag and hanging it in my office to remind me of the importance of today’s message.

I hope I have given you something today that INSPIRES you to go out and BE YOUR BEST, especially now.

We’re counting on you. The country is counting on you!

Now go out and Play Like a Champion Today!

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

Measuring Your Sales Strategy I.Q.

Kevin McCann — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:00:26 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Selling is a “Zero Sum Game.”

Someone wins and someone loses.

When developing your sales process (as a corporation or as a quota carrying salesperson), you need to decide if you are going to use a premeditated (proactive) sales process or a reactive sales process to manage your zero sum game outcomes.

A “premeditated sales process” is characterized by:

knowing which targeted accounts are sought by name or demographic profile;
understanding why they will buy; and
using a written sales process.

A “reactive sales process” is characterized by:

waiting for inbound leads;
trying to sell everybody you talk to;
not knowing why prospects buy from your firm; and
having no documented sales model process that takes clients through action steps.

Which is your firm’s selling process?

Premeditated or Reactive?

In a sales survey by BDM News, 83% of salespeople surveyed (almost 2,000 respondents) indicated they did NOT believe their firm used a market study or market research to calculate their sales quota based on demand.

Without identified sales territory market potential, the lack of business research forces quota carrying salespeople and VP’s of Sales into a “Reactive Sales Process” unless they take corrective actions and prepare to manage their sales quota.

To sell more, you must plan more.

To sell more, use a technique of Value Forward Selling called “Risk Management”.

Key accounts, SMB prospects and targeted buyers always seek to minimize their risk when buying products and professional services. Risk management should then become a premeditated sales process tool to use when you sell.

On the first pass, most prospects (at the management level) are skeptical. They just don’t believe you or any other salesperson. It’s nothing personal. There are just too many salespeople.

So, help them manage their perception of buying from you.

8 Prospect Risk Management Techniques

Here are some guidelines to prepare for prospect risk management:

When competing against big companies, manage the risk by focusing on your strengths. Use the “bus analogy” when competing against them, “Large firms bus in and out their lead team and usually have no practice manager continuity, while our team remains the same throughout the relationship.”
Never wait for a prospect to ask about your firm’s background. Always supply details in advance. If the following variables are positive, you will want to provide corporate information including the number of employees, years in business, clients’ names and annual revenue. If these variables are negative (i.e., losing money, no installations, customers hate you), then don’t bring it up and focus on the other methods listed.
The greater the competition, the more risk management information you must deploy to balance perceived fear. Do not be passive when competing against established players – go after their largeness as a weakness. Never negatively sell; instead, communicate your value aggressively.
Never have your CEO or VP of Sales go on a first sales call. It makes your firm look small. CEO’s and VP’s of Sales are big guns held in reserve to be used when needed, not on the first sales call. Having CEO’s go to your first client meeting only works when your firm is a Fortune 500 and you are meeting a Fortune 50 C-level executive.
If you are VC-funded and have new product or service, name-drop your VC’s relationships.
If you are a small or startup firm and have Fortune 1000 C-level executives on your board of directors, say “our team includes . . .” and name-drop their positions and the company names with which they are associated.
To manage the prospect’s fear of buying something other than what was shown in a demo, it is always a good idea to have a client feature/service sign-off sheet for any demonstration. This protects the salesperson from the client’s demo amnesia and protects the client from being oversold.
Never represent your firm as a generalist. Always be a specialist. Generalist firms are always perceived to be large and slow. Specialist firms are perceived to be more customer centric.

Selling is a premeditated sport. Don’t shoot from the hip. Help your prospects purchase by managing their fear of risk.

If you manage the client’s needs, you will manage the sale in a premeditated sales manner and you will sell more.

If you ignore the client’s risk issues, you will lose the deal.

Remember, the client’s perceived risk is your sales risk.

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

The 7 Stages of Prospect Commitment You Need to Manage

Kevin McCann — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:51:25 +0000

by Paul DiModica

Are you managed by your prospects?
Are you projecting your needs onto prospects — hoping they will buy?
Are you held hostage to the small size of your sales pipeline?

To sell more products and services, it is important to manage prospects — not have them manage you. Selling is a profession where you must subliminally drive the prospect to appreciate the time limitations you have in selling and getting them to take action steps to buy.

To increase your sales success, you must move your prospects through the seven stages of prospect commitment and help them fix their business issues.

The buying cycle and the selling cycle
are always different.

So, to sell more, you must manage the prospect’s buying expectations.

You can combine some of these expectations (listed as stages below) and shorten your sales cycle even faster, but if you do not manage ALL of these expectations, you will not close the deal.

7 Stages of Prospect Commitment

Prospect Attention - Capturing the prospect’s attention happens when you successfully cold call, network, or respond to an inbound lead by making contact with an appropriate prospect who has economic approval to buy.
Prospect Disbelief - Prospects automatically tend to disbelieve you on the first pass for the simple reason you’re a salesperson. Use your knowledge of their business model and business pain to break through their disbelief filter and “prove” that you sell your offerings as a business tool which can help their business.
Prospect Value Identification - Based on your firm’s unique sales value proposition, you must position yourself and your firm differently from your competition and get the prospect to verbalize the difference.
Prospect Action Step Commitment - To sell more prospects, you need to drive them to make “action step” commitments not “verbal” commitments. Has a prospect ever told you “we are going to sign the Purchase Order in December” and then not respond to any of your calls or email inquiries until April of the next year? Prospects need to show action steps that move your sales cycle forward to prove you should spend time with them.
Prospect Time Management Commitment - To close deals, management must commit their time for your product or service review, demo’s, executive briefing, and contract negotiations. If you have a prospect who will not commitment their time, then they are not ready to buy.
Prospect Financial Commitment - There is an old Sicilian saying that my grandfather (a successful entrepreneur) use to say “No money? Call me when you have a nickel in your pocket.” Spending too much time on a prospect because they “should” buy or “will” buy sometime in the future will not help you hit your sales quota (or target) now. Prospects must make a financial commitment by giving you their budget or confirming your investment is affordable, otherwise you are just making friends – not customers.
Prospect Decision Commitment - The goal of every sales cycle is decision commitment. It’s one thing to take a prospect through 6 steps and at Step 7, they buy from someone else. It’s another for the prospect to decide NOT to buy from you or your competitors. You must force prospects to make a decision or else you are wasting your time with professional lookers.

Prospects must prove they are buyers through commitments . . . not just words.

Many salespeople “project” these steps as being completed before they have actually happened and end up incorrectly making an assumption that the prospect is going to buy.

Once you have networked or cold called your way into the beginning of your sales cycle with a prospect and established there is a business need for your product or service, give them a “Client Briefing Document” (after Stage 3) as a preliminary sales tool. It is a quick way to establish and manage prospect commitments.

A Client Briefing Document is a written outline of the expected sequence steps for your firm to sell and the prospect to buy. It should include dates, action steps, and timelines for each part of the sales cycle needed for the sales transaction to be completed from your end including forecasted time for product or service review, contract negotiations, etc. In short, it lists each step so both the vendor and the buyer know what is expected.

In sales, this is a tool called an anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphisms assign human characteristics or actions to be taken by non-human things like the theory of sales steps.

By listing human steps in a Client Briefing Document, you can gently “push” the prospect through the 7 steps of commitment.

Use a Client Briefing Document to
manage prospect commitments.

Remember, the faster you premeditatively manage sales commitments by prospects, the shorter your sales cycle will be.

“It is not what they say they’re going to buy that’s important — it’s what they buy that counts.” Anonymous

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC