Knocking the competition - Costa Coffee versus Starbucks

‘Rubbishing’ the competition years ago was considered by professional salespeople unwise.

The wisdom at the time went something like, even if your product had advantages over your competition you shouldn't criticise the competition in front of the buyer.

By criticising the competition you brought more attention to your competitor in front of the buyer and in effect were promoting their brand not yours.

Buyers might also pick up on the over- sensitivity of a supplier who talked too much about the competition negatively in their presentation. They might infer from such behaviour signs of psychological nervousness or even that the supplier has something to hide. .



Such a behaviour is not conducive to good business relationships in any case.

Some were canny to advise salespeople against knocking the competition because it might be akin to shooting themselves in the foot in the long term if at a later date they became employed by the former competitor either through acquisition or job move.


Now we live in an era of comparison of market websites. We live in an environment of increased transparency, in a time of new openness or so it appears.

Yet in a recent survey carried out in February 2010 a survey identified from their sample of 157 people that 84 (53%) identified themselves as ‘Coffee lovers’ liked Costa over Starbucks.

The interpretation that is found in the small print of the display card on the tables refers to the 62 % of those who identified themselves as 'Coffee lovers' from which they make the claim through a leap in logic to imply the majority prefer Costa.

It depends how you look at it. 62% of the self professed 84 'coffee lovers' is 52.

52 out of the research sample total 157 comes out as 33%.

So some might reasonably conclude 33% of the sample preferred Costa Coffee.

See Stuart Smith's Blog -Sorry Costa are you better then Cafe Nero

 

The ad world has used or misused (depending on your view)rubbishing the competition for years:-
1. Can you tell the difference between Stork margarine and butter?

2. Nine out of ten cat owners (who expressed a preference) prefer Whiskas.

3. Soap detergent manufacturers still run “ Doorstep challenges”


Whatever your preference of or indifference to a coffee shop, we are all conducting more business meetings in coffee shops. The Tack Buyers Views survey 2010 reveals that 39% of Buyers had met with Suppliers informal coffee shops in the last twelve months.

Click for free summary of the TACK Buyers' Views Research 2010 research.

Let the competition sell their proposition and we will sell our own. Deciding which is the better or most preferred is the Buyer's job.

The sales job is to work hard to earn the role of trusted advisor.

Who trusts salespeople who rubbish the competition?

"Cutting your coat to your cloth" genuine bespoke offerings

In these tough times where many businesses have to curtail expenses to income and live within their means, it is instructive to return to where these phrases salespeople use daily originate.

Walking through London’s Savile Row, home of the finest English classic tailoring I came across the unexpected sight of two flocks of sheep is grazing. The breeds I was informed were’ Exmoor horns’ from Warminster and’ Bowmonts’. Bowmonts w are a cross between Saxon Merino and Shetlands are the closest derivative our country has to Australian Merino.

It was a sales /PR promotion of course called the Savile Row Field Day.

The event’s sponsors were the Campaign for Wool, Fox Brothers (flannel, and luxurious woollen and worsted cloth) and fabrics business Dormeuil still run by family members whose founder Jules Dormeuil at the age of 22 years started a business importing English cloths in 1842 and of course Savile Row Bespoke.

That word bespoke got me thinking.

Professional salespeople in all kinds of businesses use that expression unconsciously many times. Similarly Buyers increasingly ask for bespoke solutions without perhaps really knowing what a truly bespoke solution involves

So I ascended the steps into one of the shops - No 11 Savile Row. I wanted to find out how sales professionals ,who really do offer their clients a truly bespoke solution in 2010, operate.

Huntsman is a business that has been in the forefront of bespoke tailoring since 1849.

Just think about that fact.

They have sold through many recessions, wars, the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, and subsequent world depression and the heady glories of fashion booms.

In their brochure they quote Oscar Wilde’s witty remark:

“One should either be a work of art, or wear a work art”

Huntsman will sell:-
“Ready to wear”
They offer “made to measure”
But what they do best is “bespoke tailoring”
Huntsman define their bespoke offering as hand cut and sewn entirely at Huntsman’s Savile Row premises at No. 11..

At £47 an hour the production of a two piece suit takes 85 hours. Put like that £4,000 price tag seems very reasonable if you are someone who really appreciates the very best quality.

From the first individual pattern cut out of brown paper there are further stages such as ‘figuration’ the cut of dimensions into a ‘baste’ and so on.

Many special trades and roles make the whole experience there

Some of the roles:-

The cutter - is responsible for taking the measurements, drafting the pattern, cutting the fabric, fitting the garments and overseeing the whole process.

The coat maker - is responsible for making the jacket. He receives a bundle of cloth from the cutter and takes the garment to the baste stage and to all subsequent fitting stages - Aside from the cutter, the coat maker is the most important person working on the suit.

The finishers - undertake felling (hand-stitching) all linings and edges.

Specialist presser - pressing is a crucial and underrated part of the process - the jacket is expertly pressed by hand in stages to allow certain parts of the jacket to dry.

The bespoke alteration tailors - responsible for any fine tuning at the final fitting stage - will also alter or refurbish any old garments if a client loses weight over time.

Sales manager Matthew Cowley is the consummate trusted advisor in matters sartorial.

He kindly gave me some of his time when the showroom was quiet on strict request from me to attend to any real prospective clients entering the store during our short interview.

90% of the suit business is for blue and grey cloths but these Huntsman professionals can read a cloth and a client with skills that are like a Harley street consultant surgeon who know within three paces that you have L5S1 prolapsed disc before you have opened your mouth.

Similarly these guys don’t just read body language but can read your individual body with all its variances.

Have Huntsman noticed the effects of dress down business culture?

Yes there was a slight drop in accessories such as ties a few years back but now classic smart attire is back big time.

The 2007 Buyer Views of salespeople found:-
Buyers Dress Code
63% formal.
37% casual
Dress Down Day
24% yes
76% no.
Visiting a Customer on their dress down day
53% Dress to match 47% remain formally dressed

When a customer visits you on your dress down day 52% expect the salesperson to be formally dressed.

Anecdotal comments included :
“Standards are slipping”

“Flexibility at all times”

“I‘m the customer - so dress to impress- I
want to see you have made an effort
form. It doesn’t have to be formal, but it
should be clean and smart”

For Hntsman that is good for cross sales in accessories. A tie at Huntsman could set you back £100 or 0.025 % of the cost of the suit however you want to perceive it.
Of course with top quality the follow up and maintenance of the product is important.
A Huntsman suit should have a ‘sponge and press’ couple of times a year advises cutter Dario who I met outside in the street. Dario is a paragon of sartorial smartness himself. Huntsman staff walks their talk.

It is not just whether the cap fits – the suit fits.

Whilst a Huntsman client visits to have their suit sponged and pressed, they might as well consider about the next suit for upcoming season whether it’s Spring/Summer or September to Christmas new business development is practiced continuously at Huntsman.

I guess that is a lesson for all newer businesses of our century that suddenly discover they need fresh revenues from new business development!

Huntsman’s web address is www.h-huntsman.com

Sir Philip Green Public Sector Procurement Furore

Sir Philip Green has ruffled a few feathers yesterday in his interview on the BBC with Robert Preston

He says he's uncovered is a culture where there are grotesquely inadequate controls of spending on everything from mobile phones, to travel, to property and paper.

The budgets he looked at are worth £191bn in total - and he believes billions could be sliced off that, if the government did simple things like centralising purchasing and monitoring expenditure properly.



It will probably shake up those who supply the the public sector as well.

Worth taking a look at the threaeds on Peston's Picks BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/10/green_id_be_bust_if_i_ran_my_b.html

Savile Row Field Day - campaign for wool

5 hot questions a Buyer can ask to expose unqualified supplier salespeople !

New Business Development
The expression barking up the wrong tree apparently derives from the allusion to hunting dogs barking at the bottom of trees where they mistakenly think their quarry is hiding.

As salespeople on the hunt for the their quarry - new business we can fall into a similar problem. A lot of noise and bluster but no end result!

A story goes that once there was an email sent by a sales manager to his sales team which caused considerable confusion among the hunting pack.

It read “Time will not be wasted visiting small accounts”
The ambiguity caused a split in the sales team. Half interpreted the email as a directive not to visit small accounts whilst the other half interpreted it to mean that visiting small accounts was what was being expected from them by the manager.

Whether you feel your sales effort is worth spending on approaching any accounts whether small, medium or large accounts the key is to know what prepare for, and how to prepare for such interactions.

Elsewhere on this blog site we have considered the importance of developing a "Suspects List" as a pipeline for prospecting. This was in order to qualify accounts and their potential.

Of course using a term like unqualified prospect is language very much from the Sales (Supplier’s) point of view. Old fashioned tell-selling is inappropriate to buyers nowadays.

Let’s consider this issue from the Buyer’s perspective.

Here are five questions that I suggest to new Buyers learning their craft.

How would you respond on a first meeting or contact if your Prospect asked you any of the following questions?

1. “Why did you take the trouble to come and see me/ phone me/ email me?”

2. “Why do you feel your products/services will be of benefit to us?”

3. “Why do you feel that your product/service is better for us than the one we are currently using?”

4. “What will we gain by using/selling this?”

5. “Please, your time as well as my time is very expensive. Can you get to the point?”

If you can’t provide answers of quality and relevance to the above questions you are probably either not sufficiently prepared or you have not qualified the prospect adequately. But it comes to the same result.


Why not take this list questions to read over before most sales calls whether face to face, before group presentation or making telephone calls etc.

Appreciating the Buyers viewpoint is important in selling.

Like Salespeople, Buyers have their professional bodies. Today’s professional salesperson needs to know what’s hot in Professional Buying. Why not take a look at Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s website.

By looking round the site you can see what the hot topics are for professional purchasers. Take a look at the topic content of their own training programmes especially.

If you appreciate their role you are also more likely to speak their language rather drown them in conventional sales spiel.

http://www.cips.org/

To take an expression from another country sport - fishing " If you want to fish successfully think as the fish not as the fisherman"

Death by a thousand cuts? Let's keep positive

Soon we will putting back our clocks to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on 31st October 2010. We have the bonus of lighter mornings but the energy sapping early dark evenings.

The beauty of autumn and its ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ are with us for a while but we know this beautiful season is the harbinger of winter to come.



Similarly, it seems our economy acts in a similar seasonal process of change. David Cameron has laid bare his case that the country had no choice but to make savage cuts to its spending as he addressed the Conservative Party Conference this Autumn.

Despite the heralding of certain economic forecasters and pundits of the much ‘hyped ’end of recession in UK it turned out to be a false hope particualrly for the public sector.


Many businesses are still stuck in the mire. Whether the recession is going to turn out to be ‘L’ shaped or a bouncing on the bottom ‘W’ shape, one fact is clear, for most of us in selling, times will be tough for quite a while yet.

Even when the true green shoots of recovery occur according to the financial markets, there will be a lag -possibly year in many markets -before we feel the sap of sales growth rising in our businesses.


(Warwick University Conference Campus,Coventry, England Autumn 2010)

Of course there are tools and technologies to help us in these times. Our CRM if regularly populated directs us how to develop the business by not just acting as a Sales Record or reporting system but directing us to what is the aim of the next call.

Google Analytics give us the macro picture of hits on our website, indicating who’s interested in our website even if they turn out after investigation not to genuine prospects.

However many in selling at the moment are asking themselves

“What is the point of trawling through the same old list of clients who told us genuinely that they don’t have need for our product and services at the moment?”

Nagging such folk is only likely to alienate them.




Sure sales is a ‘numbers game’ but grinding through the same tired prospect lists in the hope of finding a ‘phoenix from the ashes ‘ type prospect is a depressing , de-motivating and often fruitless activity and so it does not take long for SAD ( Sales Apathy Disorder) to get a grip on our sales mindset.

Like its namesake SAD (Seasonal Adjustment Disorder) it has similar symptoms of Drowsiness, Listlessness, Winter Blues, Loss of motivation and an all too quick acceptance of weak performance

So let’s not be seduced into wallowing in every piece of bad and depressing economic news. Don’t get sucked into the ‘swamp of sameness‘and a ‘slough of despond’.
Recessions are seldom uniform across all industries or markets. Business has to go on. Buyers still are buying from somebody.




So let’s start with some Positive Mental Attitude
1. Believe you can do it and stay positive!
2. Get proactive
3. Sharpen up your sales skills
4. Improve your service and focus on relationships
5. Maximise your efforts to the full

Coming shortly in future blog posts I will be sharing an A-Z of sales skills for tough recessionary times. So keep a regular eye on the site.

Down by the Canal - Batchworth Island, Hertfordshire