How NOT to Handle Customer’s Objections.

 

It is tempting to immediately share

30 years of research with you, and say
Buyer’s Objections Cannot be Overcome!

 

But, that would cause you far too much emotional distress. You don’t want to believe that is true, or you would not have started to read this Blog.

 

 

How to Handle Customer’s Objections?

 

The BEST way, by far, is to AVOID Objections completely!

In order to do that, you must first learn:
What causes objections?

YOU DO!

Yes, that’s right; Sellers CAUSE Buyers to Object!

In thousands of Sales Calls I have logged the Customer Objection,
AND what the Salesperson said  before  the  Customer Objected:

The Sellers gave the price,
then the Buyer said “that’s too expensive!”

The Seller gave the dimensions,
then the Buyer said “that’s too small!”

The Seller gave a delivery date,
then the Buyer said “that’s too late!”

The Seller asked for the order,
then the buyer said “I am happy with my current supplier!”

 

In fact, evidence based fact, the two primary causes of Customer’s Objections are:

1. The Seller giving features, Price, Size, style, speed, feed, location, colour, compatibility, etc.
2. Or, The Seller asking for the order.

If Objections were GOOD things (Buying Signals),
then the best way to get Objections is: to ASK for the Order,
early in the Buying Cycle as this is almost certain to cause an Objection!

 

Are Objections GOOD things, are they buying Signals?

If you look at the straightforward evidence of:

What is the relationship between Customer Objections and Sales success?

This is easy to measure, just COUNT them!

Then,

the MORE Objections you get,
the LESS you sell !

 

Remember:
YOU caused the Objection
by Talking Features or Asking for the Order.

 

ONE Objection?

for example: Price, this MAY be overcome if a ‘trade-off’ is made [often this is Value]

TWO objections?

You are unlikely to get the business, even if you have one good trade off.

 

THREE objections?

You have mis-sold your product or service and you won’t be getting the business.

Hopefully one of the three objections was PRICE,
now you can report to your Sales Manager,
that the Price is too high, rather than YOU cannot sell!

 

Objections are OBSTACLES.

If you believe Objections are welcome ‘buying signals’
then you have given up Rationality, rather than just giving up the sale [or selling].
When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!

Persistence is a trait of many Salespeople,
but continuing to repeat something with little chance of success is “Irrational Perseverance”

Objections are best Avoided.

You can avoid Objections by showing how your Product or Service meets the Buyer’s needs,
and by NOT Asking for the Order, until they are ‘Ready to Order’

 

OK, how do I Handle the one Objection I did get,
by giving them my Price BEFORE I gave them their Value?

First of all 99% of Sales “Objection Handling” techniques DO NOT work.

They are nonsense. I repeat, the techniques taught, and written about DO NOT WORK.

 

I have measured ‘overcoming’ Objections on thousands of occasions,
thousands of objections and the “Skills” to overcome objections DO NOT work.
You can easily measure them too.

Let’s take a widely taught Objection Handling technique “Feel, Felt, Found”.

I understand why you Feel the price is too high.

And other customers have Felt the same way.

However, when they saw the money they saved with it they Found it was really good Value!

I measured this against 300 uses for various objections,
it succeeded less often than just ‘ignoring’ the objection all together!
And, that was only “successful” in less than 15% of the time.

It does NOT work.

Or, “Preemptive” Objection Handling

using a “Script” to introduce a known shortcoming of your product or service,
then attempt to offer a scripted ‘answer’. 

“By presenting these shortcomings or negatives, our aim is to create credibility and gain trust”. 
The actual effect on Buyers is the opposite!

The Seller ‘introduces’ additional Fears, Uncertainties and Doubts in the Buyer’s mind,
then uses a “Rebuttal” or “argument” to overcome it!  Nonsense!

Again, research shows that “When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!”

 

What does sometimes handle an Objection is a Trade-off.

In this case trading better Value for a higher Price

 

Let’s take three houses.

 

If we were selling the New House A, the most expensive,
then we would have the “That’s too expensive option”.

We have to Trade Value, for the higher Price.

Against the other house B our ‘Value’ is in a Better Location, with Good Schools.

 

Is it better to have a Good location?

Yes, because this property will increase in Value faster and further than House B, 
So it will be in demand, therefore it may work out cheaper overall!

 

And, what price do we put on having our children happy at school?

If taken over a 10 year period it would be 20,000, or 2,000 per year, or 40 per week.

This money will be recovered in a higher Price when we choose to sell!

 

Against, the current house which, after the new baby, is now too small,
it’s the increased cost of the mortgage 263 per month or less than 10 per day.
However, ALL of this money, and more, will be recouped when you sell the new larger house,
i.e. the extra bedroom will be free!

Trade-offs, against Drawbacks [objections] may convince Customers to buy.

Here are a few Key thoughts about Objections:

• Objections are BEST avoided
• Objections are Caused by Salespeople
• Objections cause lost sales, they are NOT ‘Buying Signals’
• Objections are “Drawbacks”
• Objections can be traded off, sometimes!
• Objections are Statements, they are NOT Questions.
• Objections cannot be overcome with flim-flam,
  psychological nonsense, and 99% of taught techniques do not work

 

BMAC Consultants have developed an Evidence Based Objection Handling model,
based on Avoidance and Trade-off.
This is a Sales Skill, an Interactive Skill based on the ACTUAL Sales Situation. 
If you wish to see other examples e mail Brian.MacIver@Gmail.com

Do you think The Challenger Sale methodology is superior?

Jill Rowley (‏@jill_rowley) of Eloqua
Winner of the 2013 Sales Representative of the Year – Stevie® Awards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HTJQyce2Qf0

 

 

Asked me a simple, straight forward question:

“Do you think The Challenger Sale methodology is superior?”
[to the IBM Signature Selling Methodology SSM]

The short answer is “yes”.

 

The longer answer is below!

IBM’s ‘Structured’ Sales Methodology (SSM) gave them significant Competitive Advantage, across multiple Sales Channels. I was consulting with Big Data Storage when we noticed an increase in sales being lost to IBM Distributors in the early 2000’s. We were used to winning the lion’s share in this arena because it was not IBM, not IBM sales, not IBM process. It was a ‘soft’ Market. I did a number of lost business reviews, and we interviewed several job applicants from IBM Distributors.

We found SSM.

“Over one-third of IBM’s employees use the IBM Signature Selling Method every day as they develop solutions to client problems. IBM has learned that the professionals who have trained on and use this method sell two to three times more than sales personnel who have not. The method is supported by a portal to allow IBM sales representatives to hone their selling skills and to help with soft-skills development, such as self-image and rapport-building, that is necessary for sales success.

IBM’s learning transformation story. 2004

SSM is an elegant methodology which gives IBM and its Sales Channels a common language, allows for rapid scaling and experience sharing. IBM drove it from Marketing, which gave SSM reach and funding.

It is based on the process that Rackham had published several times, most specifically his 1999 “Rethinking the Salesforce”, accurately subtitled as: redefining selling to create and capture Customer value, which he co-authored with John De Vincentis.

Rackham’s Process is described in Chapter seven “Sales Process light in a long dark tunnel”,
where the basis of IBM SSM is covered.

The KEY point is that Sales, unlike other departments, do not have clear boundary “handoffs”, where ‘lean’ improvements can be made.

Rather Sales have an end to end process…….The BUYING Cycle!

And, Sales have to fit with that.

But then you knew that!  Jill, you are the EloQueen.

What you may find interesting is his “Seven Characteristics of a Good Sales Process” page 217.

And, that was what IBM did,
they tested their Sales Process against those seven Characteristics.

From 2003 on in Big Data Storage and Data Services which, compete head to head with IBM, we have used an SSM, underpinned by Consultative Selling Skills based on SPINFAB to successfully compete with IBM and its distributors. If you do not have a SSM, you will lose, a lot, against IBM. In Big Software we underpinned our SSM with Enterprise Selling based on Advanced Selling Skills using VALUE CONSTRUCTION.

When 2008 happened, we had problems all over. Delayed decisions, status quo decisions, losing to the cheapest competitor, and really, really tough Price/Cost negotiations with procurement. Sales were down, margin was down, and profits were down. Yet some Salespeople were doing OK, Revenue Growth, Margins held, and they were earning good Commission!

We audited and assessed the Salesforce. Compared to previous audits there was no skill drop off, but there was substantial activity change. Late entry [or even last minute entry] in the Buying Process was becoming the ‘Norm’. Selling was becoming a matter of weeks of FRANTIC activity followed by months of inactivity in both Strategic accounts and Major accounts.

 

 

In 2010, in London, I held a breakfast briefing with clients from Big IT, Big Data Storage, Big Telco and Big Software, where I suggested that Relationship Based Selling was NOT working.

It did NOT go down well!
We had a lot of toys thrown out of prams.

 

 

 

Some of these Corporations were betting their shirts that the ‘relationships’ they had been building [for 10 or more years] with their clients in Banking, Government, Industry, Transportation, Energy and Petro-Chem were going to sustain them through the “turbulent” economic climate.

Relationships, did not help.

By 2012, we had the following general situation.

 

Yes, SIXTY per cent of the Profit contribution
was coming from only 15% of the Salesforce.

This means that losing a Sales Top Performer, a Rock Star,
was really hitting the bottom line.

Just promoting the Top Performer, could seriously impact Profit performance.

 

In several Telecom Clients in 2010-2012
we took the step of cutting the bottom 15% of Salespeople
who were causing a 20% profit contribution LOSS.

We then gave their accounts/territories to the Top 15%.

It had a very positive Profit Contribution response.
(This technique was used by Unisys in the 1970’s)

 

Then, in late 2011, we began hearing about some of the SEC-CEB research,
and the forthcoming Challenger Sale. I read Rackham’s endorsement,
and obtained an early copy of the book.

Jill, I have worked in Evidence Based Selling skills for 30 years, ~
I am NOT taken in by Fads, silver bullets or Hyperbole. I am a Sales Skills Sceptic.
To be even more precise I use an ‘eliminative philosophy’ which simply says:

“If what you tell me is true, then show me the proof and let me TEST it!”

I wrote a Philosophical Criticism about The Challenger Sale in November 2011.

http://brianmaciver.blogspot.com.es/2011/11/philosophical-criticism-of-challenger.html

I cautioned, TCS would be misunderstood, and it is now the most misrepresented Sales Methodology around. It has ‘disciples’ who don’t get it, and it has “critics and detractors” who don’t get it, either. I suspect that many who comment for, or against, the book have never read it!  Not understanding the Book, the Research, or the Practice does not seem to stop anybody from commenting about it.

Remarkable!

2011, and The Challenger Sale, I already knew that Relationship Selling was NOT working. The startling new Information that the book offered was a sound statistical basis to take a fresh look at Selling,
since the 2008 financial collapse

The emergence of The “Challenger” profile, as distinct from the “Lone Wolf” was really helpful, as both in my research, and is most other research, they were both in the SAME category “Top Performer”. However, now we could measure that one type of ‘top’ performer was in decline, and the other in ascendancy in current Market conditions.

The TCS comparative Statistical Analysis on the ‘Challenger’ out-performing the ‘Relationship Builder’ by more than 10:1 in Complex Selling, was even more than our calculated 7:1.  We had a Validation for what we had perceived in 2010, and had implemented by restructuring the Salesforce population.

Now Jan 2012, the real work began:
“What were the Sales BEHAVIOURS being used by Challengers, and Relationship Builders,
which were defining their success and failure?”

Challengers are “Challengers” because of what they DO,
not because of who they ARE!

Likewise for Relationship Builders.

Early research, we had a 15 year database of Sales Behaviours and Sales Performance results to examine, (n=3000 approx.) We had 300 hours of Video to review. And a current base of 350 audited and assessed salespeople to improve behaviourally.

 

We had several early wins.

Challengers and “Lone Wolf” both used more Suggestions than Proposals unlike Relationship Builders, who used almost exclusively Proposals. This is NOT published in the TCS book and is unique to BMAC Consultants.

What do I mean?

• A “Proposal” is a Statement: “You should do this!”
• A “Suggestion” is a Question: “How would it be if you (or we) did this?”

Challengers and the Lone Wolf by using Suggestions
were having a 60% Buyer agreement rate and a 40% disagreement rate.

Relationship Builders by using Proposals
were having a 60% Buyer rejection rate and a 40% agreement rate.

i.e. this behaviour alone was proving to be 50% MORE successful.

The second early win was on Challenger “Insights.”

See: http://brianmaciver.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/putting-challenger-sale-to-work-four.html

This was the method we used, very successfully,
to generate insights for Big Software to sell Cloud Based substitutes for Enterprise Software.

We then looked at the Behavioural Practice to deliver the insight content.
Again using the Challenger group and comparing behaviours to Relationship builders.

Challenger exhibited a 60:40 ratio of DISAGREEING to Agreeing

Relationship Builders exhibited a ratio of 40:60 disagreeing to AGREEING

It has to be noted that Challengers disagreed rationally, by saying WHY they disagreed,
and delivering an insight, RB’s tended to agree with Customers without saying WHY they agreed.

The Impact on the Buyer is noticeably different!

The Buyer would accept the RB’s agreement and reinforce their current approach.

The Challenger’s rational disagreement would cause the Buyer to defend their current approach and enter into Customer Engagement where the Challenger could PROVE their insight.

So, the question

“Do I think The Challenger Sale methodology is superior?”
[To IBM’s SSM], is:

That they work together!

Using a Structured Selling Process is better than not using a Structured Process.

(NB. it’s very worthwhile to test your “Structure” against Rackham’s Checklist,
just any old “structure” will not do!)

Using the Challenger Approach to initiating Customer Engagement, is superior to most alternatives, especially the Problem Discovery Question based, then Solution offered approaches.

Hence, the furore over “solution selling” is dead discussion.

My research leads me to conclude that Salespeople will NOT learn the ‘behaviours’ of a Challenger just by reading the book, but anyone in Selling can become a successful Challenger by learning the Challenger behaviours and USING them correctly!

 

 

The Golden Triangle, the very Top 5%, Performers in Sales can be developed by careful construction and combination of:

• Revenue Generating Sales Activity [an SSM],

• Evidence Based Selling Skills [including TCS] and

• Business Knowledge [access to Business Insights or an Insight Generation system].

 

 

 

And, all of this fits right on top of current best Practice in Marketing from Companies like Eloqua’s cloud-based marketing automation and revenue performance management software.

Eloqua’s modern marketing cloud delivers best-in-class capabilities to ensure every component of marketing works harder and more efficiently to drive revenue. Having a robust Evidence Based Structured Selling Methodology and an Evidence Based Sales approach, with Validated Sales Behaviours delivers the REVENUE and PROFIT results!

Sales, a Job for Life! Part Two

 

Why some Sales people consistently outperform others.

Transferable Selling Skills are not COMMON sense.

If the skill is just “COMMON” in Sales then it is usually “Common Nonsense.”

 

“The last thing the Sales Manager saw and heard
before the Salesperson won the business was the Salesperson Asking for the Order.”

The Sales Manager used inductive reasoning
and made note of what he had seen. 

He saw it again soon after.
Then, again and again.

 

 

 

 

 

Considering the “evidence” he had seen, the only conclusion he could draw,

by INDUCTIVE REASONING, was Asking for Orders, CAUSED Buyers to Buy!

 

He labelled this Sales Behaviour “Closing” –

Closing the Sale or Asking for the Order.

The Sales Manager left his job and became an independent Sales Trainer.
He called himself an “Expert” and claimed to have discovered the “Secret of Selling”.

He promoted his Master Class in Selling under the Title

“Close the Sale!”

So sure was he about his “secret” that he offered a money back guarantee, if you did not win more sales by learning his secret!

Some people tried to claim their money back.
But, he simply said “It works for everybody else!”
And, then he added
“You are not doing it properly,
with great confidence and a positive mental attitude”.
So, he did not refund their money.

But, he did carry out some more research.

He found that Closing did NOT always work, the first time,
so he altered the “secret” and said you have to ‘Close’ FIVE TIMES to win the Business.

His Training now said “you can’t close too early and you can’t close too often!”
He developed many ‘types’ of Closing to give variety to the repetitive close five times!

The Assumptive, and the step by step,

The direct ask, and the indirect ask,

The alternative, and the trial close,

The Ben Franklin, and the Half Nelson close,

The Sharp-angle close, and the Positive-negative close.

His original 2 hour session was now a TWO DAY Sales Workshop called:

“101 ways to Close the Sale, the SECRETS to Sales Success.”

He performed in larger and larger venues.
He was a Rock Star, and the show went from Teaching to Theatre.

 

He trained over 200,000 people.

 

His Sales Training ‘heirs’ have passed his secret on to Millions of Salespeople,

through several generations of Salespeople.

But, He never conducted the simplest of all research, a behavioural experiment:

“Do Salespeople who Close MORE often, SELL more,

  than Salespeople who Close LESS often?”

If he had conducted that experiment,
then he would have uncovered that:
People who ‘Close’ LESS often SELL MORE, and
People who ‘Close’ MORE often SELL LESS.

What he had been selling as “The Secret to Selling”,

was in fact, a DYSFUNCTIONAL Selling Skill.

THE MORE YOU DO, then THE LESS YOU SELL.

If he had used Evidence Based Research, simple behavioural research,
instead of Inductive Reasoning, then he would have found that:

The most likely Buyer response to an “Early Close” is an OBJECTION.

He would have also been able to observe that:
the more often you close, the more objections you get!

And, he would have been able to empirically measure that:
the MORE Objections you get then, the LESS YOU SELL!!

When a Positive Attitude to Closing is displayed
by “Closing” too Soon and too Often then:

You do NOT succeed in Sales!

Three Great Selling Skills that really work.

 

Opening The Sale

is becoming a lost art.

During recent Sales Field Coaching
I have watched a few Rookies and some Veterans fumble the opening ball pretty badly.

We are in the Customer’s office;
the social pleasantries have been completed now it’s time to

OPEN THE SALE!

· “Right then, down to business!”

· “How’s business?”

Both are equally BAD,
even though one is a statement and the other a Question they BOTH immediately lose you control of the call.

You are now on the Customer’s Agenda (usually ill-prepared; as you had asked to meet them so they thought you were going to prepare an agenda.)

 

 

There are three evidence based techniques to OPEN THE SALE.

They are:

1. Initial Benefit Statement

2. Initial Problem Statement

3. Initial Value Statement

None of these are elevator pitches.

An elevator pitch is a general statement about
What your Capabilities are and How that may be of general interest to Suspects.
Keep Elevator pitches for chance meetings with strangers and elevator journeys.

Bob Apollo has written a useful guide to Elevator Pitches on this link 

http://tinyurl.com/74xggs3

Do NOT use Elevator Pitches in face-to-face sales calls, they DON’T work!

1. Initial Benefit Statements,
take a LIKELY need and show how your capability can fulfil it.

“Many Commodity Traders need the LOWEST POSSIBLE LATENCY (time delay) to make their trades early. We offer the lowest Latency from the City of London to the Frankfurt Market.”

“Would this be of interest to you?”

(36 words) with TWO simple ideas: The need for Speed and our ability to deliver Speed.
The Client was a the Head of Trading in a German Investment Bank

 

2. Initial Problem Statements, take a LIKELY Problem and show

how a Capability we have is being used to overcome the Problem.

“Recently we are being asked by more and more Clients

to help them REDUCE STAFF TURNOVER, without increasing Payroll costs.”

“Could we show you how we would be able to help you do this?”

(34 words) with TWO simple ideas, lower staff turnover and no increased costs.
The Client was the Head of HR in a Call-Centre.

3. Initial Value Statement,
are clear statements of DELIVERED Value in similar situations.

“Typically our Inventory Management System increases stock turns in a business like yours from 6 to 7 or even 8 times a year. This has delivered a 13% up to a 25% stock cost saving.”

“Is this something you would Value?

(40 words) with TWO simple ideas Increased Stock Turns and Cost Savings.
The Client was the Head of Merchandising at a large store.

In all three cases we are INITIATING The Sale with an Idea,

that is LIKELY to be of interest to the Client,

and then we ask for the Client’s agreement to continue.

In the Research none of the three techniques worked ALL the time.
Each should work about 4 out of 5 times.
If they don’t work then review your CONTENT,
it may not be relevant to the Client or the Client doesn’t understand it!

The total words used should not exceed 40.

The Initial Statement should contain only TWO ideas, THEIR need and YOUR capability.

OTS	First:	Then:	Finish
Initial Benefit Statement	NEED	BENEFIT (possible)	Question
Initial Problem Statement	PROBLEM	HELP (never a Solution)	Question
Initial Value Statement	CAPABILITY	RETURN (indicative)	Question

 

Proof Statements, if appropriate, can be used if less than 40 words from Client referrals, Testimonials, Editorials or Articles.

 

In Golf you may “Open for Show” (Drive), but “Close for Dough” (Putt), but

in Sales if you don’t “Open for Dough”, then you never get to “Close for Dough” either!

In Sales how can you ‘lose’ a sure thing or ‘win’ a no hoper?

 

Measuring and ‘predicting’ customer loyalty is a fascinating field.

This blog is inspired by the work and research of Burke Inc. www.burke.com

 

The usual triangle to calculate Customer Loyalty (repeat purchase) is:

1. Current Satisfaction

2. Willingness to buy again

3. Recommending the product to others

 

This Security Triangle is often thought of as 3 separate aspects;

Sales are often targeted on Customer Satisfaction,

but NOT Repeat purchase or Recommendations to third parties!

 

Sure Thing or “likelihood to buy” is the product of all three factors.

Let’s look at some scores

 

For example:

An account has a 7/10 score for all three areas

Current Satisfaction = 7/10

Willingness to buy again = 7/10

Recommend the product to others = 7/10

7/10 x 7/10 x 7/10 =343 /1000 or 34.3% or a poor score,

I wouldn’t bet my House or my Pension on you winning the business!

What happens if its 8/10’s?

8 x8 x8 = 512/1000 or 51% better that 50/50; a good bet but YOU NEED 8/10 in all three boxes!

What happens if its 9/10’s?

9 x9 x9 = 729/1000 or 72.9% you may well win 3 out of 4 times!

NOW you know why Account Management
(not Relationship Management)
is so important.

 

The sure thing is 10/10 in all three areas and nobody gets that!

 

So, there is no such thing in selling as a “sure thing” or a “lost cause!”

This rule applies to our competitors too.

 

You need 8/10 in all three boxes for a fighting chance

 

You have to SELL to Customer Satisfaction

You have to SELL to Customer Willingness to buy

You have to SELL to Customer Recommendations

 

There is no such thing in Selling
as: a Sure Thing or a Lost Cause!

Run a Customer Engagement Workshop and hear what your Customers really think!

The Secrets of a Sales Expert

 

Familiarity does not mean understanding.

 

Making “familiar” things intelligible to others is very difficult.

 

Understanding the things that you are very familiar with is also very difficult.

We are all familiar with learning to talk; almost all of us did it! Both as Parents and family members we have seen infants develop from smiling mutes into talking machines.

We expect it to happen;
we worry when it doesn’t happen.
We become anxious when,
in our opinion, it happens too slowly.

We feel inordinate pride when it happens quickly;
we associate the speed of learning to talk with “clever”.

“Isn’t she clever, only 18 months
and just listen to her talk and talk and talk!”

 

 

 

Yet, with all of the “familiarity” we have with learning to talk,

the process by which it occurs is unintelligible to most of us.

 

WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT.

 

A few, a very few, researchers have some understanding but far less than complete.

How many of us would claim to be Speech ‘experts’?

How many of us would ask for the title
“Trainer” in helping infants to learn to speak?

 

Yet, in Selling, any ‘familiarity’ with Sales is a claimed qualification to be a “Sales Trainer”. We even have the ludicrous situation where self-appointed bodies, who at best have “familiarity” with selling claim a right (By Charter, God given or simply self proclaimed) to accredit Salespeople and Sales Trainers. In medicine such people would be dismissed as QUACKS, yet in Selling they abound.

LinkedIn, has given us all a tool to look at people differently. We only see what the person uploads but it is more the absence than the presence that impresses me. “SALES EXPERT” have a look at their history, where was the point where they earned this title?   Nowhere?

“Many years in selling”, often not there. And we know from research that “Tenure in Sales” doesn’t equal
‘understanding Selling’ nor does it ‘predict’ sales success.

 

 

There are a growing number of “Sales Gurus”,
who have never been in Sales,
who have little or have no understanding of Sales and
instead substitute pseudo-sales knowledge of “Marketing”,
“Software” or “Social Media” as their qualification and justification.

But, how if you have no intelligible grasp of a familiar process,

can you claim ‘expertise’ in it through
a familiarity with an ancillary process?

Speech Therapists, work with the ancillary processes of:

phonation, producing sounds;

resonance, use of vocal chords;

intonation, pitch changes; and

voice, the use of diaphragm Breathing for the ‘mechanics’ of speech

Yet, the actual Brain Process of Speech remains unintelligible.

 

BMAC Consultants focus on understanding the actual Process of Selling.

You can benefit from our 20 years of research into the Selling Process
as well as 20 years worth of knowledge and practice
helping Adults learn how to sell.

We scan Evidence Based Sales Research
looking for new insights to bring to light for you.

You can avoid dysfunctional Sales Behaviours

(the curse of current Sales Training)
from our Training and Coaching because we make every effort to exclude them.

We believe that the Research into the Buying and Selling process over the last 10 years has negated much of the myth and nonsense trained to unsuspecting sales people for the last 40 years.
However even a casual look at current Sales Training Content and Sales Trainers shows a woeful amount of Myth, Magic and Folklore still being sold
as “Magic Bullets”.

 

Pity!

If you wish to discuss evidence Based Sales development contact brian.maciver@gmail.com

Is a Sales Methodology needed? Only if you want to succeed!

From Dave Stein's research area five of
The Real Reasons Sales Training Fails and What To Do About It

#5 Is an inadequate or completely absent Sales Methodology

(the organising principles underlying Selling)

In more than 20 of my Clients medium and small I have discovered that there was no methodology at all to their selling. They had a Sales Department, a Sales Manager and Salespeople but NO methodology for Selling. That is usually why I get called in because: “not having a Sales Methodology”
like “not having a Sales Strategy” means that you usually fail!

Dave Stein’s ESR site has a good enough definition of Sales Methodology and how it differs from Sales Process on http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/12/02/more-excuses-for-not-doing-...

In my view, it is also about having a Sales Process that is driven by
YOUR Product/Market BUYING METHODOLOGY.

That is Selling the way your Market wants to Buy.

“Easy to Buy From!” is always the highest rated characteristic of a Supplier in the eyes of the Buyer when you survey Buyers.
“Trusted Advice” scores low at 30%.

How do you know if you have a working Sales Methodology,
a broken Sales Methodology or no Sales methodology at all?

Well, you can retain a Sales Consultant like me, or you can ask your Customers:
“How easy are we to buy from?”

Ask some of your Lost Business Prospects:
“Were we easy to buy from, or did the difficulty in dealing with us play a part in why we lost the deal?”

Fixing a broken Sales Methodology (or a partly working Methodology), really does need a Consultant (internal or external). The output is ‘This is what we do wrong and why (PROOF),
and this is HOW through Changes we will put it right and these are the measures to prove its improving’.

Perhaps the toughest part of SALES METHODOLOGY is when you finally realize you cannot BUY one,
you have to CONSTRUCT one. Some great Companies like Huthwaite (SPIN is only a Part, you have to buy the Package), Miller Heiman, TAS, or Holden will sell you the components, BUT YOU will have to do the Assembly and the heavy lifting IMPLEMENTATION.

You can, if you are smart enough even mix and match
getting the Right, not just good enough, Components.

Sales Training without a Sales Methodology doesn’t work.

 

IBM (referring to their Structured Selling Methodology)
calls them their Cash Generating Machines!

So, save all your wasted expense on novelty courses
and one day training events, daft books, sales blogs and sales tips.
And, invest the money and time to build a Working Sales Methodology.

Advanced Selling Skills in 30 minutes, the long version.

 

How long does it take to learn Advanced Selling?

Recently, I was asked what could be done in 30 minutes?

 

A One Minute Message:
Advanced Selling Skills are competences
which only the top 5% of sales people have.

The 3 Minute Message:
Advanced Selling Skills which are held by less than 5% of Sales people are Interactive Skills ,
composed of 20 Verbal Behaviours.
Interactively Competent Salespeople, Practitioners of Advanced Selling Skills, know the Behavioural Effect of the 20 different Verbal Behaviours.
They are able to use Behavioural Modification (BMod.), on themselves in order to increase significantly successful outcomes in interactions with Prospects and Customers.

 

 

 

The 9 Minute message

include details of the 20 Verbal Behaviours, how B. Mod changes other people’s verbal behaviour,
e.g. How to double the chances of a Prospect agreeing to your offer.
It is supported by 9 slides using Beyond Bullet points to tell the Story.

The 27 minute message

gives examples of Gaining Agreement, avoiding Disagreement and Managing Successful Interactions.
It identifies 5 “deadly” behaviours and 3 “Golden Behaviours”
It is supported by 25 slides (Beyond Bullet points) to tell the story.

The 40 minute Presentation

“Why Advanced Selling Skills?” is an interactive version of all 4 of the above Messages,
it has a reduced Pack of 14 slides, requires two flip charts and a 3M post-it pad and a medium point Felt tip for each person.

 

If YOU still want to do ‘something’ in 30 minutes then.
I suggest that YOU:

Spend the 30 minutes “interactively” establishing (by them) how important it is to have Advanced Selling Skills.  You can do this by asking THEM to list the implications of NOT having Advanced Selling Skills and the Value of having better Selling Skills than 95% of their Competitors.

If your Salespeople have written long lists in both columns,
then run a 2 hour Interactive session with "Desert Survival" from the Copyright holder Human Synergistics, Inc.
(Don’t use a plagiarised copy, it is probably wrong anyway!)

http://www.humansynergistics.com/products/survival.aspx

While the Delegates solve the Survival Problem in groups of up to 8,
YOU use Behavioural Analysis (Observation and Categorisation) to identify the Behaviours they currently use (pretty basic).

You then present a Benchmark Model Behavioural Analysis of Advanced Sales Behaviours, together with the EVIDENCE that previous delegates, with Advanced Selling Skills achieved substantially better results at the exercise, than they did. My, BMAC Consultants, Behavioural Bench mark has n=1500 approx., but the copyright holders have a substantially larger one, for all kinds of people.

 

EVIDENCE BASED
SALES SKILLS WORK,
so use them!

 

The real answer is;
Advanced Selling Skills is a 3 day learning event,
it takes 3-9 months of coaching to “internalise” the skills and
about 2 years for the Salesperson to be a “Confident Practitioner”.

 

Imagine, your Cardiologist telling you,
just before he carries out the by-pass,

“I learned this off of a 30 minute YouTube video”

 

…good luck!

 

 

Send me a request for the 5 “deadly” behaviours and 3 “Golden Behaviours” to brian.maciver@gmail.com

Or, ask me to send you a copy of the 1, 3, 27 or 40 minute messages.

.

.

"shortening sales cycles"

The most effective way of shortening the selling cycle is to arrive at the very end of the buying cycle. If your buyer is going to decide tomorrow, you will have a selling cycle of less than 24 hours!

Usually, in fact almost always, you won't get the deal.
But, the upside is you have only lost one day!

Other sales people, who started a year before you,
they will have wasted a whole year!

I once visited the flight deck of a 747 Jumbo Jet.
I was overwhelmed at the number of dials and indicators. The Captain patiently explained to me the purpose behind each one.
Fuel Gauge and Fuel Burn Rate.
Altimeter and Vertical Speed.
Air Speed and Forward Looking Radar. 
Each Indicator or Measure giving critical information for the effectiveness or the security of the airplane and their passengers.

 

 

 

But there was one gauge, not mentioned,

marked from 40% to 100%,
with Green, Amber and Red zones.

Pointing to this colourful gauge, I asked “what is that one for?”

“That’s the External ‘Humidity’ Gauge.” replied the Captain.

"But, what is it for?" I persisted

The Captain smiled widely and then answered
“That’s so we can answer a head office Executive’s question, ‘Is it raining outside?’”

“But, that’s not really relevant, is it?” I asked.

“No, but in Sales you have head office Executives who pour over
the ‘Sales Cycle Time’ figures don’t you!”  He replied.


I have to say that, this is the same Aircraft Captain who caused Kaplan and Norton
to write their book “The Balanced Scorecard”, and create "Dashboards"
in response to the Captain flying from New York to London
using ONLY his Altimeter.

They had however, booked a flight from New York to Chicago!

.

Setting Stretch Sales Targets for 2016

One of the measures we use at BMAC is a firm’s “Maturity”,

their ‘Sales’ maturity is WHEN and HOW they use:

‘Stretch Targets’

  

Firms that use “stretch targets” outperform
their expectations and outperform their competitors. 

They are High Performing Companies.

 

Our measurement is M1 through M4,
based on Ken Blanchard’s “Leading at a Higher level”.

 

What is a “Stretch” Target?

Simply put it: It is what you NOW believe Sales can achieve,
based on the ACTUAL Sales Velocity or Run Rate.

A Stretch target recognises that ‘Forecasts’ are just predictions.
That things like Markets, Products and Competitors change;
as do the Economy, Laws, Technology and Fashions.

Therefore, “Forecasting” and “Targeting” a year ahead is often inaccurate.

Within my Clients over the last twenty years,

I have seen from 50% to 200% variation from forecast.

Then, is it their forecasts that are wrong?

By their very nature, forecasts are unstable.
You predict in December the result
for December of the following year
...no mean Task.

It is far easier to predict NEXT MONTH,
based on the last 3 months,
still prediction, NOT certainty.

 

How then do I use the M1-M4 scale, and what do I do with it?

 

What is the involvement of the sales people in setting Sales Targets?

 

• M1: the least mature Firm’s 12 months forecast,
  set the Sales Target then divided it amongst the Sales people
  and they NEVER modify it.
  They congratulate themselves for achieving any monthly, quarterly or annual milestone,
  and blame any salesperson who does not.
  There are three failings inherent in this system.

  • It de-motivates sales people
  • It is sub-optimal in that it accepts the Target as success, rather than overachievement
  • It has no strategy for failure, it simply repeats month after month

• M2: set a 12-month Goal, based on a 12 month Forecast,
  divides it amongst Sales Managers,
  who accept the Target after Consultation and ask for the resources to achieve the Target. 
  The Sales Managers seek to aggregate their salespeople’s results to achieve their Target.
  This can produce either a ‘Coaching Culture’ or the ‘Blame Game’. There are still three in inherent failings at this level of maturity.

• It continues to be sub-optimal in that the target is success,
  and any combination of sales result that meets Target will do.
• Sales are composed of ‘motivated winners’ and ‘de-motivated losers’.
• The Strategy for failure is to focus resource on winners and ignore losers

• M3, the Goal is set based on the Forecast and ‘deep dialogue’ with Sales Managers,
  which is then agreed by consensus amongst their salespeople.
  The VP of Sales owns the overall Sales Target; it will not be simply divided out,
  but will be apportioned according to the Consensus of the entire sales force. 
  It is based on an optimal result.
  
  The VP of Sales is tasked with using the resources in an optimal manner,
  reviewing Strategy on a Monthly basis:
  optimising People, Accounts and Opportunities into a ‘most likely to succeed’ scenario.

  • The major drawback at this level is finding a VP of Sales with the skill set of:

    Leadership, Creative Thinking and Sales Management,
    who is both capable AND motivated to do it.

• M4 the goal is to “Sell As Much As Is Profitable.” 
  Forecasting and Targeting are for planning purposes only,
  in execution each person within Sales
  from VP to a Sales Rep is fully engaged on “Sales Optimisation”. 
  The true M4, in fact, everybody is involved in Sales Optimisation. 
  [Usually, you only find M4 in Professional Services:
  Legal, Accounting, and Management Consultancy.]

You would do well to look at them.

In Ken Blanchard’s Book on Leadership,
his basis is “give the people (or the firm) the Leadership they NEED”.

However, in Sales, we tend to get the Leadership they HAVE, especially from the CEO.
Hence, most Sales Firm’s have the Maturity Level of their CEO’s Leadership Style.
The Forecast, Targeting and Goals, which is the CEO’s ‘preferred’ style.

This may disconnect Sales from the Market reality;
instead Targets are based on the Risk Aversion,
Control Requirement and the “People Outlook” of the CEO.

• “Set Sales Targets 15% higher than aggregated Managers targets
  and then aggregated Managers Targets at 115% of the Firms targets” (Planning for Failure)
•  “Put up all their targets by 15% every year.”  ( High staff Turnover)
• “Set the targets low in order to meet them.” (No shareholders)
• “Set the Targets just out of reach, so we minimise bonus payments.”  (when the CEO listens to the CFO)
  
  or

• “Let’s go for it!”

How were your sales targets set this year 2015?

Based on the Market reality under an Umbrella Sales Strategy
with every Salesperson’s buy-in and commitment?

Or, were they dealt off the top
of the “Target Pack” after a shuffle.

 

Will you be happy to achieve ‘Target’ in 2016 or will you :
“Sell as Much as You Profitably Can”

BMAC Consultants offer a free Diagnostic Pack

“What is your Sales Maturity and
  What is your Sales Leadership style?”

Contact brian.maciver@googlemail.com

.

The Philosophy of Sales Pricing

It was with some amusement that I read in CSO (Chief Sales Officer)

http://www.csoinsights.com/Topics/Sales-Strategy

that:

· 80% of sales opportunities are LOST to lower prices by the competition,

but ONLY

· 20% of sales opportunities are WON by lower pricing than the competition.

This, as a statistic, does not make sense.
To make sense they would have to be similar.

Instead, they are a Pareto:
80% of the time, I lose on price, and 20% of the time I win on price.

How would we rank this salesperson? 
Wins 1 deal in 5, and wins that deal on price?

Unless they have 500% pipeline to target coverage, they never make target.
As a Company, we cannot be growing market share,
in a vibrant market but losing four out of five deals.

We cannot work with focus,
because we do not know which deals we will win or lose
until the pricing quotation is made at the end of the sales process!

The report includes these statistics too,
Poor Sales Process execution is a factor in 20% of losses, and
Sales Execution is a factor in 35% of wins.

Product ‘superiority’ accounts for 75% of wins,
yet is only a factor in 25% of losses.

These combined would suggest that if you have

the cheapest and the best product you succeed

in sales, with the process of selling only playing
a secondary factor!

Finally, a statistic that makes sense:

• 44% of deals are won by the best Customer Relationship and

• 55% of deals are lost by a poorer Customer Relationship

Conclusions

• You do NOT need salespeople and sales process
  to sell your superior product at the lowest price.

• you DO need skilful Salespeople to sell
  your similar product at a similar price,
  because Buyer Relationship counts!

• You need a Sales Process which WORKS and
  you need skilled Salespeople
  to sell your product in a market where
  you are perceived disadvantaged by product or price!

“WE NEVER LOSE ON PRICE” doesn’t mean you are the cheapest,

it means you have a perspective on the secondary importance of Price

BMAC Consultants specialise in developing skilled sales people
with a powerful sales process that builds strong Buyer Relationships.

.

Sales Forecasts are just estimates

“which describes a twenty-year study in which 284 experts in many fields, including government officials, professors, and journalists and ranging from Marxists to free-marketeers, were asked to make 28,000 predictions about the future. He found they were only slightly more accurate than chance, and worse than simple extrapolation algorithms.”

Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? PHILIP E. TETLOCK

Review your Sales forecasts for 2015, how did you do?
Did you miss the number, overshoot or undershoot?
Did you book any bluebirds, miss any certainties or drop a ball?
Would you bet your pension against next year’s 2016 FORECAST?

 

The Captain called the Navigator to the map room.

“I want you to tell me, where the ship will be in three days time,

  if we steer South by South-east?”

The Navigator looked at the chart, and then drew a red line almost a thousand miles long.
He cut the line in three places.

Pointing to a spot just short of halfway, he said.
“We will be here if all goes as it has gone for the last three days.”

Moving to a point much closer to their current position
“But, we will be here if all goes against us.”
Then pointing to a spot well past halfway on the line, he said.
“Or, we could be here under optimum conditions.”

The red-faced Captain demanded.
“I need you to point to where you BELIEVE we will be in three days time!”

“It depends.” Responded the Navigator looking at the Captain calmly.

“On what?” Retorted the Captain

The Navigator responded.
“On the wind, the tide, the weather,
how well the crew sail the ship, and unexpected circumstance.” 
 

The Captain insisted. “I still need your answer”.

The Navigator rejoined.
“My answer can only be an estimate, based on speculation and judgement.
  Best case, worst case and probability based on recent experience.” 

This story is repeated weekly in Sales ‘Forecasting’ meetings all over the globe.

The Sales Variables are:

How good are we at Selling? Economic factors, interest and exchange rates, Market Price Movements, demographics, psychographics, Market sector, Political environment, Product preference patterns;
seasonal or cyclical buying patterns;
Buyer attitude, expectation and perception;
Competitive activity: pricing, selling, new product announcement, market positioning and strategy.
Internally we have, technical capability and support, Financial resource or lack of limitations,
Product Marketing, PR, Lead generation, product and service innovation,
R&D, HR and Administration.

By comparison, the Navigator has an easy Job!

Sales forecasting, even short term, is fraught with difficulty.

The factors we control are outweighed by those factors we cannot control.

At best, it’s an estimate based on

speculation and judgement,
with probability based on recent experience!

And, in sales often the the sales person has little idea where they are now!
If you would like to look at Forecasting based on probability and not guesswork,
based on buyer behaviour and not speculative ‘Sales Process’
then contact brian.maciver@googlemail.com

The biggest self-deception in Business

 

The biggest self-deception in Business today is............................

 

 

That Sales People have any leading role in their Client’s Buying Process!

 

 

Buying 2.0 and the ever-growing network of greater Client savvy,
means Buyers do not NEED Sales.

Salespeople now only have a walk on part.
If their part is “scripted”, then they are not needed at all.

How long the Salesperson stays centre stage and
keeps the Client’s attention is a function of Sales IMPROVISATION and Buyer Activation.

The art of selling in 2013 is based on Creativity, Imagination and Insight.

Clients rarely tell Salespeople what they are ‘really’ thinking.
Buyers know they are being sold to,
so they tend to believe more about what Competitors say about each other’s products,
than what Salespeople say about their own product.

There is no place for Selling by repetition, or being an information point.

The days of just Communicating Value, [talking brochures] are over!

Customers want customization.

 

The success factors in selling today

• Understanding Buyer’s Needs, What, How and Why.

• How Sales Strategy Must Adapt to Buyer 2.0

Just before, you fire the Sales force and give the money to Marketing.
Don’t do it, because, Marketing is just as out of tune with Customers as Sales! 

Marketing ask for more and more money,
but can’t show other than anecdotal evidence of Return on Investment.
(Return on Marketing spend).

Every sales success is ‘claimed’ as a Marketing “win”. Yet, ask Buyers for opinions on time wasting websites, unfulfilled inquiries, hopeless “Corporate” presentations and one size fits ‘no-one’ or over-priced products. 

If you closed Marketing today, you would not notice any effect on Revenue.
In fact, if you replaced Marketing by a Customer User Group,
or Buyer Forum you would see both Cost savings AND Revenue growth.

 

What do you have to do?

• Give Salespeople Product Knowledge and Customer Business Knowledge -
  train them to offer insights.
• Get sales people to ask questions lots of questions until they can describe their Buyer’s needs accurately and comprehensively.
  This is what I want, this is how I will use it, and this is why I want it.
  So, that Salespeople can Customise [Tailor, if you prefer]

Selling is an art and a science.
You only manage the science;
you develop, adapt and refine the art.

Sales Innovation Pays

 

Working as a Sales Consultant last year, I did a Lost Business Review (Part of my Sales Audit). This was a substantial Sales Loss, to a Key Client (major financial organisation). I made one 30-minute visit to the client, conducted semi-structured interviews with the Salesperson, the Sales Director and the Sales Support (engineer).

 

My findings were straightforward.

We had been invited to bid only to make up the numbers. We filled a column on the Decision Matrix that was “new kid on the block”, along with ‘Preferred supplier’ and ‘Do nothing’ options.

We were occupying the “Sure Loser” column.

We did not help ourselves by bidding a high price and the wrong product! We were only selling to the Technical Recommender and had no access to the Financial Decision Maker or the User Group.

• Price too high,
• wrong product,
• inexperienced salesperson and a
• demanding customer

I took in all the facts; then I drew my own conclusions.

We had been out sold!

We never understood the Buyer Process, never met the Key People in the Decision Making Unit, then we bid the wrong price on the the wrong product. We put a ‘junior’ salesperson of limited competence on the account, he sank and we lost the business!

Our next ‘Big Opportunity’,
was a Company associated to the Client that we had just LOST!

As soon as this came on the Radar, I decided we are going to innovate.

The initial meeting had identified a need for “stuff” an ‘initial response’ and ‘outline proposal’ had already been delivered.

I STOPPED THE CLOCK!

We held a series of Account Reviews; with Sales, Sales (engineering) Support, Marketing and Provisioning.
I invited Finance to collaborate in financial modelling but they ‘preferred’ to work as a Sales Obstacle as the Sales “Margin” Police.

We called ‘High and Wide’ in the Account, including visits to their base in Paris from our offices in London.
We focussed on Demonstrating Capability and most importantly FLEXIBILITY.

We were aware of the competitive activity from client feedback
and slowly it became a “two horse race”.

I was determined to either “KILL” the opportunity or “WIN” the sale.
During our Go-no-Go week we had
full contact with the Financial, Technical and User Decision Makers.
We had a complete understanding of what they wanted and what they wanted to do with it.

I held a “Battle Ready” session with my CTO, Sales, Sales Support and Marketing Manager,
we agreed to innovate!  We ‘vertically integrated’ two services, we had the capability and some experience, we just did not have the product or service in place.

I took a commitment that it would be in place in 90 days,
so we sold the innovation to the Customer, it met ALL their needs.

We offered the Client a ‘Tailored Service’ at a ‘Competitive Price’.  Our proposition was based on our ability to deliver and execute, while the Value in Business terms to them was very attractive.
The Competitors offered a standard solution (meeting most but not all of their needs) at a good price.

 

WE WON THE DEAL

‘Contracting’ presented considerable difficulty
both internally and externally.

Despite the deal being Cash Flow positive from Day 1,
we NEVER received any support from our finance people!

In conclusion, sometimes you have to ignore the
“You Can’t do it” voices, you have to walk in
your Customer’s shoes, and then INNOVATE.
There isn’t always time to wait until it’s ready,
a No Sale generates No Margin.

 

The real purpose of Sales is Cash Generation.

 

We won for all the right reasons,
our Competitors on this occasion were OUT-Sold.

Sales (SOP) Standard Operating Procedures

 

I am like most of you from a generation who did not give Military Service to my country. 
In the Military SOPs Standard Operating Procedures run the Organisation. 
Or, you would have to stop and devise methods to carry out even the most simple task.
“Doing it by the numbers” is the answer to avoid constantly solving the same problem again and again.

It can be mundane events filling and empty Barracks, layout kit
or simply load a gun with ammunition. 
You don't have time ask “How do I load this?” when under fire! 

There are SOP’s for once in a lifetime events, the Coronation of a King
or the burial of a Queen.
You can’t postpone the Funeral for six weeks to organise like a Wedding!

As a Sales Consultant, I audit SOPs in Sales Departments.

• Contracts, renewals, Cancellations for recurring events

Less frequent, but just as important

• Buyer Objections, Cold Call Scripts, Call Planners,
  Presentation Structures, Proposal Outlines
• How to run a corporate Golf day,
  Lunching a customer or prospect,
  or Monthly reviews.

These are Sales ‘Enablers’, part of Sales Enablement.

How good are your Standard Operating Procedures?

Part of the BMAC Sales Audit includes SOP review.

2013 Sales Year is over, start 2014 NOW!

 

The current average Sales lag time in ICT is 7 months.

28 weeks from pipeline entry to sales close.

(Provided you spotted the opportunity
when it was first available!)

 

 

Writing in May 2013 then this year is over,

what is in is in, what is not is not.

What then must be done to make 2014 a great year?

1. KEEP PROSPECTING or 2014 is going to be a poor year.
May/June/July Prospects will be your Quarter 1 sales results in 2014.
2. Cleanse your 2013 pipeline.
William Ocknen’s brilliant book Managing Management Time –“Who’s got the Monkey?”
will show you how to painlessly remove dead and dying deals (Monkeys) from the pipeline.
http://ht.ly/2GXLu 

Don’t waste time LOSING deals “Cleanse your pipeline!”

3. The combination of 1. & 2. above,
is that you are now likely to succeed both this year AND next year.

That is IF you PLAN now, you will in fact need quite a few plans.

Using the Urgent/Important criteria,
in this case Urgent is date of Client required installation and
Importance is the multiplying your likelihood (%) to win by the Revenue.
Plan the most important and urgent first.

Sales people may have to work over a weekend or two!

4. EXECTUTE all your Plans, account plans and opportunity plans.
Recognise that selling continues through July and August only if you Plan and Execute in May and June.
5. August is the best month to plan the 4^th quarter.
Scour your Territory for 2013 ‘bluebirds’ in their final stages:
be PRICE aggressive, disrupt the Competition!
6. September is the focus month: what really could close before Sales year-end? It is no coincidence that final quarter of the year (whenever it occurs in the financial year) is always the biggest quarter. Managers think it is their ‘push’, but in reality, it is sales people’s focus. So, let us make more time to focus.
7. October, November and December will define for many their success for this year 80%, 100% or 120%.
Executing the plan, you made in September.
You must be focussing on the best opportunities,
activating events that enable the Client to move through Decision to Purchase.
October, November and December also defines your next selling year, especially your Quarter 1 results. (Early in my selling Career, with a big territory and a good product I had hit Target in April.
Before attending the previous year’s President's Club, I had my ticket to the following year’s President's Club!).

• BMAC offers the following rules of thumb:
• October  4 days per week selling for this year, 
  and then 1 day selling for next year.
• November 3 days per week selling for this year,
  and then 2 days selling for next year.
• December 2 days per week selling for this year,
  and then 3 days selling for next year.

That gives 36 selling days for this year,
and 24 for next year, use them well.