16 Selling techniques for beating recession and 5 common denials of salespeople

"...sales methods that have proved successful over a period of some 20 years will have to be discarded because new developments give rise to the need for  new working methods."

When do you reckon were those words written ?

They could have been written yesterday but weren't. 

 I have received an email from a Sales Training company only this week talking of 'paradigm shifts in selling'  and  another email the week before where the subject box read " Death of the Salesman stereotype". The changes in selling were summarised as follows

·         Cold calling is dead or on its last legs

·         Permission marketing has come to the fore

·         Old style closing is now seen as a manipulative embarrassment

·         You need to add value at every turn

·         There has been never been a greater time to be a great listener

But the quote was not from those recent emails to my in box.

I have a book on my bookshelf by Marc T Miller and Jason Sinkovitz called "Selling is dead" Copyright 2005 but the words above do not come from that book either

No,  those words come from an earlier incarnation of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management magazine - Winning Edge -back then called  Sales Management and Sales Engineering -The Journal of the Institute of Sales Management.

This issue concerned was  for December 1980 - I was 27 years at the time and the UK was in recession.

I have been clearing out my home over the last couple of weeks and came across the magazine which for some reason I had kept.

 It was from a very different era of course.

The readership and membership of the Institute back then was predominantly male. The selling profession was very much a car centred ministry of road warriors in those days.

These were days before the Internet and even mobile phones let alone smart ones.

Flicking through the yellowing  pages of the magazine, I noticed an article within the old magazine that caught my eye " Sales Techniques for Beating the Recession".

It was interesting to see that much that challenges  today's salespeople  were pretty similar concerns back then.

16 areas were highlighted ( I have written the gist of each topic after each title)

1. Too Expensive - handling the Price objection

2. Negotiate with the boss - advice on selling as high up the customer's organisation  ie 'C' suite / board level.

3. Don't think solely of your commission - selling profitably not just going for turnover sales.

4. Many salesmen just won't believe it... - various myths of selling * see the 5 boxes

5. Small orders are more of a liability for the customer ... -selling the benefits of larger orders / packages

6. Looking for new customers ?   - New Business Development

7. 'I don't know your company' - presenting the benefits of your company beyond product benefits

8. Arithmetic problem - measuring your activity ratios before Salesforce.com you had to do it yourself !

9. Tips for status-conscious salesmen - body language, personal space and presence. 

10. Good customers deserve less frequent visits - better preparation, planning  and communication skills

11. Selling by telephone - choosing the best channel to do a task -back then you visited or phoned now we have many channels e.g. email , LinkedIn, webinar, skype, blogs , twitter, You tube, personal visit etc.....

12. Between visits -  keeping in contact

13. Tactics of a doctor's salesman - although the tips were for pharmaceutical representatives they covered body language, personal space and demonstration  skills

14. The biggest of orders is worthless if the company's margin is negligible -  up selling higher price product, don't just confine the conversation to your favourite product cover the relevant range, strive for long term agreements, bulk contracts. 

15. Organisational shortcomings - an unplanned day is only half a working day- and a source of irritation and nervousness which can be transmitted in your voice. Plan some leeway for time between appointments.

16. After sales service - the customer needs reliable suppliers much more than 'cheap' sources of supply.

I guess it shows we need to embrace our brave new world but not entirely disregard the lessons from the past even as far back as 1980 !

Selling the sweet smell of success- Unilever being Sure, Balming Sore and re-making Dove

The new smaller Compressed Sure products
 along side the conventional product.

The present Boots store in London’s Kensington high street stands on part of the historic site of the former store Pontings – “the house for value”.

As in 1893 when the  Messrs Ponting Bros.  bought the site customers look for value for money. As with  ITV's "Mr Selfridge", Pontings had a "bargain basement".

So today 's customers still look for value and one of the ways they determine value is to compare prices of products by reading the labels and calculating what is good value.

This can be quite challenging when comparing different sized  or shaped products. So the introduction of labels which priced products – particularly commodity products by comparative volume or weight e.g. £ per 100 g or £ per 100ml.

I noticed a strange anomaly in the price marking in the deodorant display at Boots , Kensington High Street which may well be repeated elsewhere. My  challenge  was this:-

Q.  Which is the best value a 75 ml canister of branded deodorant (Dove) at £ 2.89 or a 150 ml canister of the same branded deodorant at £2.89.

A. They are both the same value

As someone who has always found mental arithmetic difficult I appreciate retailers labelling that prints under the unit price a separate price  of £ x per 100 g or 100 ml. An approach handy for diet and calorie counting as well.

However that method becomes confusing when price per volume e.g. ( 100 ml) is not comparing like with like.

The 75 ml Dove product comes out at £3.85 per 100ml whilst the 150 ml product comes out as £ 1.93.

Both products were marked the same – Original 48 hour + Vitamin E and the same fragrance etc.

Such is the current issue with trusted brand leaders Unilever with Vaseline, Sure and Dove deodorants.

The apparent anomaly is due the fact that smaller 75 ml product is a new product – a compressed product whose performance is twice as good for the same volume with the added benefits of requiring less packaging and therefore more socially responsible and is a handier size for a hand bag or case.

There is of course the necessity that we trust the manufacturer that the product will last twice as long but Unilever work very hard to maintain the trust of brands like Dove, Sure and Vaseline.

As Jess Hodgson , brand manager at Unilever pointed out in an article in February 12^th London Metro size matters to today’s ethical consumer.

"Greater investment in research and development has allowed many businesses to meet the demand for greener packaging without compromising on the quality of their products."

To meet such consumer demand Unilever have concentrated their Sure, Dove and Vaseline products into much smaller cans. This is a huge change for an industry where can sizes have remained more or less unchanged since the 1960s (when Pontings was still trading !).

“This is a marriage between design and innovation to meet the demands of the ethical consumer” states Jess Hodgson.

It is also an intelligent strategic response by Unilever to grow their market in a stagnant economy and  in a static sector which is viewed  by many as a commodity product.

Those familiar with  the Ansoff Grid will see this has been an example of the top right hand box of product development

It makes for a useful worked example of strategic growth through product development by Unilever

 

Mis selling Owen Paterson " Times is hard sir" for modern day Mrs Levetts and Mrs Mooneys

We like transparency in what we buy. Yet last week it appears that certain food brands did not pass the Ronseal test ( "It does exactly what it says on the tin")

  DNA analysis was used to identify the Findus Beef  Lasagne  miss sold - some samples the meat content of the product proved to be 100% horse .

The Newspapers have had a field day on this mis selling story particularly because journalists know rather more about food mis selling than the technical  details of mis selling financial services.

 After all mis selling of food products after all it was in Fleet street where the infamous fictional barber Sweeney Todd supplied Mrs Lovett with unspecified meat for her 'meat pies'.

 So the secretary of state for the Environment Owen Paterson held a summit with the heads of the meat industry both suppliers and buyers to discuss the horse meat scandal over the weekend
.
Tesco, Aldi and Findus have already withdrawn various products. One of the suppliers to these companies has been the French company Comigel.

Since Comigel also supplies the Benelux, Scandinavian and Eastern bloc supermarket chains this could be soon become a European wide problem. The paper trail has now tracked back down the supply chain to various agencies in Cyprus and the spotlight is currently on an abattoir in Roumania.

The fifty year old brand Findus took  action to withdraw product from the shelves. Their official statement reads:-
 

"At Findus UK we are committed to our customers and the quality of our products. Following a thorough investigation, Findus UK can confirm that testing of its beef lasagne, produced by a 3rd Party supplier and not by Findus, has revealed some product containing horse meat. As a precautionary measure on Monday we coordinated  full withdrawal of affected beef lasagne in the following sizes 320, 360 and 500g from all retailers. All other Findus products have been tested and all found not affected”

Ironically the body responsible for monitoring food for the country has the same letters as the regulator of the financial sector namely the FSA. Food standards Agency , Financial Services Agency soon to become the FCA


When a possible miss selling practise occurs in Food the action for decisions and Government is somewhat quicker to call the Companies to meet than in the Financial crisis.

Certainly the fear of customers radically changing their buying habits is of concern to the Meat industry especially the processed food sector.

One of the unintended consequences of Outsourcing to reduce costs is that as inspections and checks on safety are delegated to others the brand becomes that bit more fragile

The lyrics from the Sweeney Todd Musical have an uncomfortable  contemporary resonance about the supply chain in processed foods containing meat perhaps!

"Times is hard" as the song ends

You Tube Clip  of the full song from Sweeney Todd Demon Barber of Fleet street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT7n718iJzI

...These are probably the worst pies in London!

I know why nobody cares to take them,

I should know,

I make them,

But good? No!

The worst pies in London,

Even that's polite!

The worst pies in London,

If you doubt it, take a bite!

Is that just disgusting?

You have to concede it!

It's nothing but crusting!

Here, drink this, you'll need it!

The worst pies in London...

And no wonder with the price of meat

What it is

When you get it

Never

Thought I'd live to see the day

Men'd think it was a treat

Findin' poor

Animals

Wot are dyin' in the street!

Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop!

Does a business but I notice something weird.

Lately all her neighbors' cats have disappeared!

Have to hand it to her --

Wot I calls

Enterprise

Poppin' pussies into pies!

Wouldn't do in my shop!.....

...Times is hard sir, Times is hard

Selling Privacy, Social media and Cyberbullying at work

At least 40 alleged crimes by people using social media sites have been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC in the last four months reported in the London Evening Standard  6th February.

Some cases  such as those that involving the threat of violence or a deliberate harrassment campaign were likely to be "fairly straight forward" and require prosecution. But he wanted to limit prosctions  in other cases because of the "chilling effect" on free speech which would result from an" overly enthusiastic"  approachig in bring charges.
His consultation will continue until next month .

Twitter and facebook have been asked for their views but he also wants the public to contact the Crown prosecution Service CPS with thir opininions on the subject. See CPS site and video on socia media  http://www.cps.gov.uk/



Cyberbullying is not just restricted to the activities of the school bully it seems. The bad behaviour has crept into the adult sphere of the workplace.

The 7th instalment in AVG’s Digital Diaries series includes responses from 4,000 adults in ten countries in relation to cyberbullying in the workplace. It maks interesting reading for both salespeople and sales managers.


10% of us has discovered secret on line conversations about us

What is said on line rarely stays on line.

Nearly one on ten has had a manager use information against them or a colleague which has been found on a social media site and 14% have had embarrassing photos or videos taken at a work event uploaded on to social media. This is as high as 19% in Spain .



 A small number of all adults (6 %) even found themselves subjected to unwanted romantic advances through on line media, and in the US this number rose to one in ten of all adults.



Of those that agreed social media has eroded their privacy at work, 24% now avoid posting on social networks that have caused them privacy concerns, while 23% limit their posts.

53% are more careful about what they post

23% have felt pressured into accepting a social media friend request from a colleague.



However we are not always the victim!

71 % of UK employees have considered criticising a colleague behind their back using digital communication such as email, instant messaging and social media.



An independent HR consultant Jenny Ungless says “ While you can’t control what people say about you on line, you can control the ‘ammunition’ they have against you.

Being more care about your posts on social networks or ensuring your privacy settings protect your personal information are just a few steps you can take”

Other key findings include:

• Different Forms of cyberbullying: Four out of five (82%) adults believe that sending unpleasant or defamatory remarks to or about a colleague using digital communications constitutes cyberbullying (93 % in UK and New Zealand). Other forms of cyberbullying include posting negative comments on a social media site about a colleague’s appearance at a work event (79 %) and criticising a colleague behind their back through email, instant messaging, social media or SMS (69 %).

• Incriminating or embarrassing activity on line: Nearly one in ten (9%) adults has had a manager use information against them or a colleague which has been found on a social media site. This is highest in the US (13 %) and Czech Republic (12 %).

• Cyberbullying driving workplace confrontations: Cyberbullying can easily spill over into heated debates in the workplace with more than half (51 %) of adults admitting they would confront colleagues in person if they felt they were the victim of cyberbullying. This is as high as 65 % in Germany, 56 % in France and 54 % in the Czech Republic. One in 10 (11 %) would retaliate to cyberbullying through digital communication.

• Cyberbullying policies: A quarter of adults (25 %) are not protected from cyberbullying as workplaces do not cover this within existing policies. Only 37 % of all adults know of a comprehensive policy, which covers cyberbullying, in the workplace. This is highest in Australia (57 %) and the UK (51 %) and lowest in France (20 %) and Germany (23 %).

• Social media responsibility: Half of all adults (50%) believe their company is responsible for the on line behaviour of employees during work hours if they are using their personal social media accounts. Sentiment is felt strongest in Canada (63 %) and the US (61 %) while only 27 % of Germans agree with this. Outside of work hours, only 16 %of all adults agree that companies are responsible for employees’ on line behaviour.

The report suggests that stricter enforcement of social media standards for social media netiquette is required. The implications don’t just stop with employees.

 Clearly employers such as sales and marketing managers who are responsible for their company’s social media presence need to engage with this issue.

 Until we all are clear about what is acceptable an what is unacceptable so far as on line behaviour is concerned, sales managers will need to take the time to  first to educate their team before establishing and enforcing policies so privacy in the work place can be protected  and the benefits of social media that we all enjoy and the free speech that the Director of Public Prosecutions is concerned about are not sacrificed.

Related Links :

Let's create a better internet

Crown Presecution Service http://www.cps.gov.uk/

Social media to improve your selling

CNBC report on the AVG study

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100421935/AVG_Technologies_Study_Reveals_Social_Media_Stokes_Workplace_Privacy_Fears

AVG Diaries

www.avgdigitaldiaries.com

Selling and Remote Working BYOD

In a study by Regus in 2012 72% of firms said that higher productivity was a direct result of flexible working practices. The desk based sales workplace is no longer always a cubicle, a hot desk or even a permanent desk. Companies and their IT companies need to adapt accordingly.

More and more sales organisations have embraced remote working. But there are inevitably concerns both from technical and cost management  view points over security concerns.

AVG in 2011 found that £3.37 million worth of damage was inflicted on small firms by cybercriminals  . AVG expect expect the figure will rise significantly for 2012 /13.

For example the Cloud computing company Dropbox last year encountered a number of serious  security issues  that may deter larger companies from using it. A number of password and usernames were stolen  from other websites and used to sign in into a small number of Dropbox accounts according to a report in City A.M. Feb 1^st .  

Advantages + for employer of Remote working

·         Competitive edge when seeking to attract/recuit new staff

·         Even increased staff loyalty

·         Reduced levels of absenteeism

Advantages +employees of remote working

           - Want and expect BYOD

- Technological advancesgive them a competititve edge in working.

IT departments are likely to be  pressured to set up and enable infrastructure from the increased use and demand for remote working. Cloud computing might help overcoming infrastructure shortages particulalry in

1.       Accessing data in real time

2.       Accessing data from multiple devices

Security concerns

1.       Network intrusion and infection

2.       Data theft and loss

Visual of security threats Trojans, worms, viruses,  hacking, malicious codes are on the rise according to BT

Security mitigation measures can include :  firewall management, intrusion detection, virus detection, spam prevention, disaster recovery, remote device deactivation

Security needs to  more sophisticated. Not only who and what is coming into the enterprise but also location and context.

Less of a concern because of their own stringent robust securitymeasures are remote meeting services e.g   Webex, Adobe Connect Adobe connect , GoTo meeting GoTo meeting

More affordable options are available through using  Skype ,  Facetime video conferencing  , communication tools like Flowdock Flowdock

It is easy to see the attraction of file hosting systems  like cloud computing such as Dropbox with its free 2Gb storage  which enables employees to access files anywhere in the world and keeps files on all computers up to date.

With this increase is remote working come additional challenges for sales team managers but that is a topic for another post.

Related Links

How will selling tackle the rise of Bring Your Own device (BYOD )?

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/how-will-selling-tackle-boyd-up.htm l

Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/

Webex http://www.webex.co.uk/

Adobe Connect http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/adobeconnect.html

 GoTo meeting http://www.gotomeeting.co.uk/fec/

Skype http://beta.skype.com/en/

Facetime video conferencing http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/facetime/

Flowdock https://www.flowdock.com/

8 core trends in Customer Experience for 2013

The Customer Experience

At the last TACK conference we had the pleasure of hearing one of the country's experts in the Customer Experience , Gillian James from TMI UK.



Gilliam James of TMI  in full flow

 I took some notes of her brilliant presentation and have made some reflections of my own to what Gillian brought to us .

Take a look at an Apple store and although it will still have Harry Selfridge’s edict about let the customer 'touch' and 'experience the stock' unlike the  Edwardian store they have done away with the cash till.

The thinking being “ Why do we need a checkout ? A checkout adds no value”

We have returned to a world where we are allowing the customer to buy emotionally. It’s all about 'love' as Gillian of TMI says.

Well that may be fine for retail but what’s that got to do with B2B?

Here are some thoughts:-

·       Relationships are even more important in B2B because as often as not we are charging a price premium.

·       The commercial world is blurring distinctions between customer, consumers. There is a an invisible connectivity going on.

·       Our company’s need to be less ‘corporate’  and appeal to people more.

·       Clients are demanding a full end to end experience. How Amazon delivers and services complaints is as important as just having the stock at a price.

·       Business has more stakeholders and they have much more knowledge

·       Business is more competitive.

·       Customers are looking increasingly for thought leadership.

Apple don’t benchmark against others in their own industry but rather compared against Four seasons and their Genius bar.

The devil is in the detail.

Evening unwrapping the packaging is designed as an experience.

There has been a move away from pay wall , charging for licencing to taste and see for free. Look at the approaches of Software companies such as Mail Chimp, Base camp etc.



Typical spectrum of responses to recession

Recession and the new normal has also seen changes in markets  such as grocery. According to Kantar Worldpanel (30^th Jan 2013)

The high end quality Waitrose growth of 8 %  4.6% market share and the lower end  value  LIDL 10%  growth market share 2.7% have done best recently and the bigger boys not so well e.g. TESCO still 30.4% market share in the last three months but a growth of only  3.3%.

Gillian gave us 8 trends to look out for in 2013 /4


I have changed her model into an octagon so let's see how the trends roll !



















1. Rise in Community

Have you noticed how stores are changing. There are becoming a space within the neighbourhood. Not only a store for whatever but a coffee shop.

This estate agent make is front of house
 look like a wine bar or restaurant

 

This estate agent has made their office
 front look like a drawing room

2. Importance of Peers

Some of us could spend 2 1/2 hours planning a trip but much of the time is now reading reviews by peers and following their recommendations.
Crowd sourcing is also to be seen other industries

In finance there is now over £0.25 BILLION lent in unsecured loans  in this way.


3. Co-creation

Customers are now involved in the creation of product. For example airline KLM got customer to suggest sandwich fillings for flights.

Sainsbury responded to a letter from a child quote wrote in asking why their Tiger bread was so called when it looked like the coat of a giraffe. The subsequently renamed it Giraffe bread ( formally known as Tiger bread)


4. By People

Customers want to relate and by related to by people even at web site. They want to feel they are dealing with a human being. We need to move away from impersonal corporate speak.




5. Transparency

Customers are demanding straight forward transparency. So MacDonald's now declare how many calories in a their burgers.
They expect Coffee stores to contribute to Corporation tax.
They dislike complicated tariff pricing for phones, texts etc.





6. Newism

We all like new !



7. Kindness- my cuppa tea

Random acts of kindness work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/worldbiz

Random acts of kindness can help businesses grow in surprising ways.

On the above link Peter Day talks with one woman who explains how the generosity of others has made all the difference to her company. Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Lady, started her firm just before becoming seriously ill.
Through the kindness of strangers she has managed to return to health and run a prosperous company. She is now a great advocate for spreading the idea that kind gestures are an important force in the way we conduct our personal and professional lives.

8. Imagination

Use your customer’s imagination. The big idea that will revolutionise your market space is already in your customers’ minds. All you need to do is empathise — see the world and imagine the future through your customers’ eyes.



Related Links:
TMI   http:/www.tmi.co.uk/

BYOD How will Selling tackle BOYD up behaviour of Salespeople?

How will Selling tackle BOYD up behaviour of Salespeople?

Bring your own device (BYOD) is helping sales teams increasingly.  To attract the talent they need to prosper increasingly graduates and early career folk will select an employer on its flexible working arrangements and the freedom to connect to work away from the conventional sales office base.

Sales organisations that permit employees to use their own tablet or phone to work remotely will not only attract new and diverse talent but will also gain from less space more cloud usage and therefore less costs.

BOYD  and remote working also provide employees with a great sense of freedom and independence. This can result in salespeople who are more engaged in their work and could well help with staff retention. They can often feel more emotionally connected with what they do and thus give the business a competitive edge.

Security Concerns

Many believe that distributed working poses a clear and present risk to data protection.

Others argue that if the correct  procedures and processes are put in place corporate security can be stronger. In the future employees need to ta responsibility for adhering to procedures and policies.

Businesses will need to overcome the IT complexity that comes with flexible and remote working. Governance and controls will have to be intensified.

The mobile connected salesperson is already here. Sales management will need to embrace it. Technology’s main advantage to Sales is its ability to create freedom in the workplace, breaking   down internal barriers and allowing salespeople to cooperate more effectively and efficiently.

Yesterday some in the UK commemorated the ending of England’s civil war in 1649 with the execution of King Charles 1 who believed in the divine right of kings.

One of his ancestors a Saxon called Canute 1016-1035 allegedly  showed his fawning courtiers that some powers ( like the Divine right of Kings)are not in the power of the executive. He demonstrated that the ocean’s tides did not respond to his commands.

Likewise today’s executive will not be able to stop the tide of BOYD and remote mobile sales teams?