I personally hate the term “selling.” There is an immediately implied tone of pushing and convincing people to buy something. I am not interested in pushing or convincing anyone to do anything. I see a lot of people who are responsible for developing new business put on this persona designed to convince and persuade. Or, I see people that don’t want to ever come across like this so they do nothing. Either way, what I see with most professionals is an extremely inefficient approach toward the goal of attracting more profitable, long-term clients. I see new business development as a process that you facilitate, to help a new prospect get clear about what they truly need, and explore who is the best fit to meet that need. We often assume the prospect knows what they need and has an effective process to get that need met or problem solved. This is a BAD assumption to make. Often, they have no idea.

Facilitating vs. Selling does not mean being passive. Quite the contrary. To facilitate well you actually have to be more prepared, more disciplined, and more mentally tough. Also, as a facilitator leading the new business development process, you can easily come off as manipulative and controlling UNLESS you have:

High Intent

•   A genuine interest to help them make the best decision to meet their needs (this can’t be faked)

Strong Process

• Your engagement process is designed to uncover the truth, get all the info on the table (willingness to ask tough questions & suggest next steps that might be different from their regular process)

Detachment

• Willingness to respectfully walk away at any point if the prospect is unwilling to follow certain key steps of your process (such as: your ability to talk to key stakeholder(s) before presenting solution)

Are you selling or facilitating? What key skills do you need to work on in order to better control the new business development process? Much of this is easier said than done. I talk with clients every day that are good at this, but it takes time. If there were three things you can do to start getting better at this over the next few weeks, I suggest:

1. Start seeing yourself as a facilitator, whose job it is to uncover the truth about a prospect’s true needs and who is going to be the best fit to serve these needs.

2. Get more prepared before every new business call / meeting. Make sure you have an idea what the next step is (or what the options are) at all times, and get yourself mentally prepared for any outcome.

3. Conquer your fear by asking that next most difficult question – the one that you are thinking, but not asking. Just ask. This will give you both more information than any of your competition and help you stand out as different from the rest.

As you head into the new year, take an inventory of your mindset and process for developing new business. Now is the time to strengthen your skills and approach to ensure a more profitable 2008.

If you have comments, questions or success stories, email me directly any time tom@perficency.com.

• Re-think and rebuild the foundation of all sales-related Thinking, Language, and Processes. You can’t just work on the process side of things, you have to also look at your language (i.e.: how you TALK about your value) and your THINKING (i.e.: how you think about yourself and your company value).

• Integrate a new approach slowly and consistently over a period of time. Be patient. To make sustainable changes in people’s thinking and your culture, it will take ONE YEAR.

• Meet as a management/sales team 1-2x per month focused on a new approach to new business development. Ensure that each person is accountable to specific actions. Make real-time, situational discussion before/after big meetings & calls a priority.

• Ensure you have hands-on participation and support from key leadership. They must be willing to actively participate or any changes you make will be not be sustainable.
  

Be realistic with yourself and your team when you are trying to get different results and make a change. Most people over-promise and get way too excited too early. Many others don’t accept responsibility, and often are always searching for the next quick fix or new thing. Any of this ring true for you?

“When you pull back the curtains you discover the “truth” and realize, as did the characters in Oz, that corporate success springs from the willingness of an organization’s people to embrace accountability. Too often, however, companies employ the latest management program only to abandon it when an even more up to the minute new program comes along. …Moving from one illusion of what it takes to achieve organizational effectiveness to another, executives never stop long enough to discover the truth. In reality when you strip away all the trappings, gimmicks, tricks, techniques, methods and philosophies of the latest management “fads” you find them all, albeit awkwardly, striving to accomplish the same thing: to produce greater accountability for results… the essence of organizational success will always be found in the accountable actions and attitudes of individuals.”

— Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman, The Oz Principle

I wish you continued abundance.

Tom

• They have just been really busy and actually are still interested.
• They decided not to move forward with the project.
• They chose to work with someone else.

Left to wonder, your brain can make up all kinds of stories about what’s going on for your prospect. This is a waste of your valuable time and energy. So, what do you do? First thing is to remember that when communicating with prospects, you have two goals:

Get a response & Get the truth.

If you appear too needy and pushy, you can easily scare your prospect away. It is especially easy to fall into this trap if a prospect has shown some initial interest. You get excited about the possibilities and then get frustrated by their lack of response. You might even take it personally. It’s not personal. Keep in mind that your prospect has a lot of other things going on in their business. Be patient. If you have not heard back from them, give them FIVE business days to respond to you. Don’t hound them. Give them some space.

It’s like the beginning of any relationship. After you have reached out to them a couple of times via email or phone and have not heard back, you have a decision to make. You have three choices:

1. Continue emailing or calling with the same message.
2. Stop contacting them altogether and move on.
3. Send them what I call the “I’m going away” email.

When I first suggest this to new workshop participants they often get terrified. They are afraid this means they have to go away forever and never contact the prospect again. It's not forever it’s just for right now.  Here are two real-world examples I received this week from clients that got a response within a few minutes of sending after weeks of no response. Sometimes you have to risk going away (respectfully) if you want to get a prospect re-engaged.

“I left a message for my contact after having a productive conversation about their needs and asked that he call me back so I could ask a couple of follow up questions before sending some kind of proposal.  I then followed up with an email articulating the same message. Two weeks and no response later, I sent another email with my questions and pricing ranges.  A week later we still had not heard back and I was beginning to think that the prospect was sticker-shocked, went with another vendor or scratched the project altogether. 

I then sent the following email.

Hi Joe,
I tried reaching out to you a couple of times and haven’t heard back. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will assume that you are all set for the September study. If at any time you want to resume conversations about us helping you with one or all of your projects, certainly feel free to call me.
Warm regards.  Stacey

I got a phone call within 5 minutes of sending the email. He apologized profusely about not calling me back. We scheduled our next conference call, and I moved on with my day. Now I know where he stands, and we have a clear next step. I also have a sense that my final email helped reinforced his desire to work with us.”

Here is another real-world example that a client sent recently. This is a prospect with multi-million dollar potential that showed some initial interest and then became unresponsive.

Stuart:
I do hate to bug you. Since I have not heard back from you, I will assume that you are not interested in a discussion. That is fine. I do wish you the best success moving forward.
Sincerely,  Deborah

The prospect immediately sent a note back apologizing, mentioned there is some interest and that he had been on vacation as well as dealing with some internal company issues. He suggested a date and location for a face:face meeting to talk further.

In order to pull this off, you have to be willing to hear the truth. Sometimes the truth is they are not interested or timing just isn’t right. You have to be willing to go away and not pursue them further, at least for now. As a professional responsible for developing new business your job is to move prospects into and out of your new client engagement process. The quicker you are able to move them in or out, the more effective you will be. This takes discipline and patience.

Be bold. Risk hearing the truth. Be willing to (respectfully) walk away.

Tom Batchelder,
Founding Partner

You don't have to have all the answers. 

Sometimes asking questions (rather than just telling) is an even more effective way to show prospects who you are and what you know. Make sure you are clear about your intent for asking these questions and that you're asking in a way that doesn't make someone defensive or feel like you're leading them towards "The Close." Let them know you're going to ask some specific questions and that your intent is to better undertstand their situation in order to help you both decide IF there is a good fit. Then ask what you want to ask. What are you curious to better understand? Too often we don't ask that next, most important, question. Just ask. Nothing bad is going to happen to you because you ask thoughtful, well-intended questions.

Your questions, ability to listen and genuineness throughout the process will help differentiate you from the competition. It will also help you more quickly weed out prospects that are not a good fit. 

Tom Batchelder,
Founding Partner

Blog Question: With a recent prospect or client, what did you get afraid to ask or bring up?

In my experience working with business leaders and sales professionals, every one of them, at some time has gotten stuck holding on to something that was definitely "dead." Either holding on to a deal that’s going nowhere or trying to get an employee to be someone they are not and are never going to be.

We all have our perspective on what is "supposed" to happen and what we think is best. Sometimes other people’s perspective and motives are the same, and sometimes they are different. One of the biggest time wasters for business owners, entrepreneurs and sales professionals is holding onto a potential deal (or employee) too long. Most are afraid to walk away, to let it go. They feel like if they don’t keep pushing that it won’t happen. This may or may not be true. There is of course a time and place for being persistent, focused and working hard to make things happen. That being said, most ambitious, well-meaning people hold on way too long to things that are obviously dead. Sometimes the most humane thing to do is to walk away, to move on. There are people that want to work with you, that are a good fit. Spend your time finding and cultivating those. And when it’s clear things are not working out, move on. I know very few people that do this well.

Why do people hold on too long to things (relationships, deals, employees)? Well, from a new business perspective it’s because they don’t have enough else in their pipeline to work on. Another reason is they are in denial. They think if they keep pushing that this is time well spent that will pay off. They are afraid to move on, afraid of the unknown and what’s next. When searching the phrase "Barking Up a Dead Horse" which is the mixed metaphor title of my upcoming book about the time we spend Barking up wrong trees and Beating dead horses in business and sales in particular, I found this great reminder of our absurdity below.

Riding a Dead Horse

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse." However, in government, education, corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

As you go throughout your week, ask yourself, one or both of these questions:

• In my new business development efforts, what am I holding onto that I need to let go of for now?
• In regards to my team, who do I keep trying to get to change to no avail?

- Stuart Wilde, Silent Power

You might wonder what the heck does "ego" have to do with sales, business communication, and negotiation? The real question may be, what part of sales doesn’t the ego play some part in? The ego is useful to you in various ways, and yet it is destructive in many others. There are a number of specific situations in sales where your ego’s compulsive reactions cause you undue stress, cost you time, and most importantly, money.

Our ego’s sole purpose is to uphold the illusion that we alone, are at the center of all situations, separate from other people. The ego helps us construct a sense of self able to cope and keep it “together” in our separately complex world, otherwise we would most likely fall apart during stressful situations. Edward Edinger, M.D. speaks of our need to protect ourselves that drives our creation of a persona (Latin word for an ancient “actor’s mask”). This is our public face. When we under-identify (feel too exposed or sensitive) or over-identify (get too rigid or defensive) with this persona, we can get disconnected from what is real.

The ego is intent on creating autonomy for itself. To be separate and completely self-sufficient. If it can stay independent of any influence or power except its own, then it can retain control, never get hurt, and never be surprised. From this state, it’s impossible to be authentically curious, detached from the outcome, have a clear and high intent, and listen effectively, and empathetically. All key principles of an optimal and sustainably effective sales mindset.

There are thousands of examples of success built on the shaky, shadowy foundation of a compulsion to be good enough, smart enough and then a fear of losing it once we get to the top. I was reading last week about a successful business man living in $50 million Beverly Hills mansion who ended up dying mostly alone, and unhappy. There was no family at his bedside, just a nurse in this huge, soulless house. I was talking to a prospective new client last week that made – and lost - $10 million over the course of a couple of years, thanks to a very shaky foundation. His fall from grace, full of ego and over-compensating behavior was tragically inevitable.

The ego is very inefficient in its ability to drive high-quality sustainable business growth and ideal client engagements. Your ego can power achievement, but it cannot power sustainable relationships and optimal efficiency. The ego self is built upon more of a straw hut, than a brick building. Even if it appears solid and strong on the surface, it can crumble at any moment. It’s always at the mercy of external influences – who’s loving me, who thinks I’m great, who am I better than, am I right, am I getting validation that I’m smart, good, sexy, cool.

Even if you have your ego in check, you run into ego every day with clients and prospects. You can’t avoid it. You can better understand it and figure out how to deal with it, without getting what I call “triggered” by yourself. Remember, this is all about you maintaining a level of clarity, strength and control throughout your conversations, negotiations with prospects and clients. Beware of the ego - yours or your prospect's. It will (eventually) limit your income and fulfillment every time.

When is the ‘ego’ most useful and when isn’t it in the sales process?

I had a client yesterday tell me they finally analyzed all their clients, 500 in all. They found that their top fifty clients (top 10%) do 87% of their total business. They also uncovered that this group has a higher average growth rate (18%) than any others. I had another client recently tell me after a meeting he had with one of his sales reps that they discovered his rep’s top two customers do 50% of his business and take up about 5% of his time.

Your best existing clients are always the easiest places to find new growth, quality referrals and a blueprint for the right kinds of new prospects. At the most basic level, the blueprint for growth-related activities is two-fold.

1. Periodic Ideal Client reviews.

Developing a focused and thoughtful plan for top account reviews. If done effectively, you will uncover new opportunities and also get a chance to proactively address any problems that might be boiling beneath the surface. These give you a chance to deepen relationships, as well as ask for referrals when appropriate.

2. Focus prospecting on finding more Ideal Clients.

Spend some time better understanding what qualities make your Ideal Clients so "Ideal." It’s also important to understand from some of them why they bought from you in the first place, and why they keep doing business with you. Develop a profile of who these people are, why they buy from you, how they think, how they work with you and what they are open to that makes them so ideal.

Risk being bold and specific about this. It’s not that you won’t take on a project or a client that isn’t "perfect." I have found that it never hurts to be more specific and raise the bar around how you talk about what kinds of clients you’re looking for “more of” and who you find you best fit with.

Notice any resistance you, or your team has to being more specific, or to asking any of these questions – of yourselves or your clients. Notice any discomfort around talking more specifically with prospects about who you are ideally looking to do business with. There will be a voice in your head that won’t like this. It will tell you that if you’re too specific or bold, no one fit your profile. It will tell you that you’re being greedy or egotistical and you should just be happy to get any business that comes your way. That’s your scarcity voice. Notice it, and ignore it. It costs you a lot of money.

There are only so many hours in the day. Spend it better understanding your best clients, and more effectively engaging new clients that fit the same profile. This sounds so obvious and simple.

Why is it so hard?

Can you define your ideal client?

What are some ways that help you take ‘hope’ out of the sales process?

One of the words that I hear often from salespeople or subject matter experts who are responsible for generating new business is "hope" or "hoping".  This word is like nails on a chalkboard.  There is no room for "hope" or "hoping" in sales.  I find that most salespeople are much too optimistic.  They are not realistic about where they are in the process with a prospect and what the chances are of them becoming a client.  At the core, this is a process management issue.  Most in sales do not have a process for engaging new clients that allows them to be in control, know where they stand, and close 50% of their deals that get to the presentation stage.

• What is your closing percentage? 
• How do you measure it?
• What should it be?

If nothing else, look for words (from yourself or your team) like "hope" and "hoping".  Risk being overly realistic about your projection.  And, take a hard look at your client engagement process and where things break down and you lose control.  If you want to close more new business, you must find new approaches that allow you to better control the process vs. defaulting to the prospect's and "hoping" that it all works out.

What are some ways that help you take ‘hope’ out of the sales process?

A lot of companies use buzzwords they think people want to hear, they include terms like:

• We provide good customer service. (Who doesn't?)
• We are customer focused (I hope so)
• We have world class people (They travel a lot?)
• We offer competitive pricing (You better)
• We are cutting edge (I hope so)
• We provide high quality products and/or services (I prefer bad products and/or services myself)
• We are passionate about what we do (I prefer working with people that don't care)
• We exceed expectations of our customers (I have heard that before)
• Our Customers are King (I feel so good now)
• We are the market leader (What does that mean?)
• We provide out of the box solutions (How does that help my business?)
• We are unique (HOW?)

Over the past ten years of working with business to business sales and professional services organizations, I have concluded that all of them discount their own unique value. They don't really understand it, and don't effectively communicate it. This leads to getting commoditized, beat down on price, losing control of the sales process and wasting time with "C" clients and prospects.

"Your company value is led first by the value you have in yourself and your unique gifts and talents."

Think about what you do best, what comes most naturally to you and your team. What do clients tell you about why they buy from you and what they most appreciate about you? Have you asked? Why not? Ask a few of your best clients what they think your unique value is and why they keep coming back. The clearer you are about what makes you unique (as a person and an organization), the more you will be compensated accordingly. Are you ready for that?

"The better we understand and connect the things that are most effortless for us and meaningful to others, the more sustainable our growth."

Does the language you use to describe yourself truly reflect the value you provide your clients? Or, are you using the buzzwords like your competitors?

• “Why now?”
• “Why not just keep doing what you’re doing?”
• “Why us?”
• “What’s the cost of having that problem or missing that opportunity?”
• “Why does this matter to you?”
• "Is there anyone else that cares about this?"

You can put these questions into your own words and ask them in a more thoughtful, less direct way, but you have got to get answers to them before presenting solutions.  Otherwise, you are out of control and might very well be wasting your time and theirs because they are not ready for you and might not be a good fit.

Question:  Of the above questions, which one do you think is the most important?

Have you ever made these assumptions when talking with a prospect about new business?  Assuming early on that...

• You can help them and are the best fit to solve their problem.

• They are really interested in solving their problem and understand what is costs them.

• The person you’re talking to is the ultimate decision maker.

• They fully understand what you can do for them and how your approach is different

• Because they are open to talk to you, they are motivated and ready to make a change (with you).

• You would want to work with these people.

“Just because someone is open to talking to you does not mean they will buy from you – or from anyone. Don’t confuse openness with a compelling reason to change.” Bill Caskey, Same Game, New Rules

As you are having conversations with new prospects and also with existing clients about new opportunities, think about what you know and what you don’t know. Notice any assumptions you might be making. Take a risk and ask that next question that you’re thinking but might be afraid to ask. The more you ask, and the less you assume, the more control you will have, and the more truthful and revealing information you will receive. In the end, you will close more new business and waste less time.

Question: What is the one assumption you are most guilty of making when talking with prospects or clients about new business?

Our words carry much more weight than we realize. Too often we are thinking and saying things that put us in what I call a “one-down” position. We cannot sell and solve problems from a position of strength if we are “one-down”. These phrases put you in a “one-down” position.

Think of sales like dating. Who would want to date someone who is talking to them like this? (note: All of these phrases came from actual emails or phone calls, from well-intentioned, educated people)

• “I’d love to earn your business.”
• “Please get back to me”
• “Thank you so much for your time”
• “I hope to hear back from you”
• “I’m excited about the opportunity to tell you about what we can do for you”
• “I know we would make a great partnership”
• “I know you are very busy”
• “We would greatly appreciate being considered for your upcoming projects.”
• “Thank you for taking a look at what we have to offer.”
• “I hope you would consider a discussion…”
• "Anything that ends in an exclamation point “!” (when you don’t really know them)

If nothing else, this week, remove any references to “hope” and "hopefully" as well as "please" and "thanks for your time." This would be a good start.

Unless you enjoy getting commoditized, treated poorly, and beat down on price. You are the one with the solution, right? Your client or prospect has the problem, right?

Watch your "one-down" language and thinking with email, phone and face: face communication with prospects and clients. You will get more results, and will feel better about yourself while doing it.

Question: From the above list, what word or phrase are you most guilty of using?

Ask yourself: "

• What is my intention for this meeting?
• What am I going to be most focused on?
• What is most important that we get out of it?
  

As you are clarifying your intent, check your mindset for any attachment to a particular outcome ie : ("I have got to get this business!"). This will guarantee you get lied to.

As you start your meeting or call, begin with stating your intent and ensure that everyone has bought-in. This both puts you in a position of strength, and lets people know what to expect. The most important outcome to a prospective client meeting is getting the truth about what's working and not working for them, uncovering a motive for change and finding out if you are a good "fit" to help them. If you are, great. If you are not, then you are obligated to MOVE ON.

You can ask these three questions a hundred different ways.  In the end, the fundamental framework remains.  Here are a couple of examples below:

• Why change (Why not just keep doing what you're doing?)
  
• Why now (What is it about now vs. 6 months ago or 6 months from now that seems important?  Why not just wait?)
• Who else cares about this? (Is there anyone else who has a stake in these issues that would like to see them solved?)
  

In your next new business call or meeting consider asking these questions before moving to any kind of next step.  It will save you time, and in the end give you a better chance of closing the deal.  Hard to argue with that.

Tom