At Work UK Government Art Collection at Whitechapel Gallery - Does art help you sell or buy better?

In face to face meetings with clients professional salespeople need to have their radar on all the time to pick up 'tells' of the environment they visit whether in a reception area , offices or meeting rooms- even the warehouse, post room etc.. It gives us information about the culture of the organisation, the personality of the buyer and may even indicate their priorities.

Of course such decorations on a Buyer's desk are the 'image' they wish to portray to the outside world but this is useful information nonetheless.

Photographs on the buyer's desk often display their literal creativity - photos of their spouse and they myriad of progeny ( children), or their hobby - sports etc. Many have a creative screen saver or even a decorative mouse mat.

In the wealthy finance world - merchant banks and the like might well have an original art piece on their office walls or in reception. It tells us perhaps a little more about the client's culture, personality . motivation, priorities possibly even their sense of humour. Such art may even act , when appropriate, as an ice breaker to opening conversations.

(Lowry's 1946 Lancashire Fair :Good Friday , Daisy Nook was selected for No 10 Downing street by both former Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher from the current show at the Whitechapel Gallery)

Likewise a buyer's radar will pick up on our screen saver desktop on our laptop when we present - it is all part of our appearance.

Sometimes we may enter offices with no decoration at all.

"Clean desk" policies rule , the banning of personal waste paper baskets in one of the nation's big four accountancy firms tell us of the current management style in vogue from their swanky HQ on the Thames embankment to all their regional offices through the kingdom- all useful information.

Bare walls, the dearth of plants in a work environment perhaps might also indicate the prevailing management culture.

If there is any visual art it may be the graphic art of the company's advertising or those corporate motivation poster asking not for what the company can do for you but what you can do for your company ( a JFK culture!)- maybe suggesting past morale problems if not present ones!

Just think of the stark set of Lord Sugar's board room on the BBC Apprentice programme - itself reminiscent of the painting "When did you last see your father ?" by WF Yeames which shows a Royalist family who have been captured by the enemy. The boy is being questioned about the whereabouts of his father by a panel of Parliamentarians some in their puritan hats. An allegory for a sales beauty parade perhaps?! ( This painting I think is in a collection in Liverpool)

(Current exhibition currently at Whitechapel Gallery will be on tour around the country.)

Whether one likes the art or not it is interesting what the good and the great select from the UK Government's art Collection (GAC). This is a super initiative by Director of the Collection Penny Johnson and her team and the Whitechapel Art Gallery. All photos of the works in Gallery 7 were taken with the permission of the Gallery - thanks to Elisabeth Flanagan - Media Relations Manager. Scroll down for Gallery's website. You can also view the GAC on line see below)

"At Work" is a selection from UK embassies and government departments now on public display at the Whitechapel gallery that showcases the diverse nature of the Collection, its 400 locations and function. Embassies would display their art to impress or intimidate visitors.

This exhibition is supported Hiscox whose city offices I have visited has an amazing collection of art many of the investments are kept in safe keeping on behalf of clients. They also advertise their insurance service on TV.

Of the 27 or so works of Art on show in Gallery 7 my favourite was Derek Boshier’s 1962 contribution to British Pop Art, "I Wonder What My Heroes Think of the Space Race" – previously installed at the British Embassy in Moscow is very thought provoking.( seek out Buddy Holly!)

The exhibition is curated by the Government Art Collection in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery. One of the selectors was Lord Mandelson. What pictures did he as the minister for the country's buyers and sellers choose to have on his office walls?

(Two of the choices of Former Secretary of State for Department of Trade and Industry and later secretary of State for Business now Lord Mandelson - Rysbrack's bronze 1743of Sir Peter Paul Rubens - and the portrait of Elisabeth the first c 1585-95 by an unknown British artist on the back wall.)

Just under ten years ago Arts & Business released the results of a MORI commissioned survey. The research investigated attitudes towards the Art's and their effect on the working behaviours among business leaders and the general public.

53% of the workers surveyed felt that if their employer were to provide opportunities to enjoy artistic activities they would be motivated in their work.

95% of business owners surveyed said they felt that motivation is 'essential' or 'very important' in directly driving company performance.

(Geritt von Hornthorst Frederick V King of Bohemia and Elisabeth Queen of Bohemia ( daughter of King James 1st (VI))

A survey carried out by ICM and Art & Business found that 73% of employees wanted more art in the workplace, claiming it made them feel more 'motivated' and 'inspired.'



In the 1960's TV series Police 5 a forerunner of BBC's "Crimewatch" appealed for the help of the public to solve crimes often for stolen artworks as it happened. The host Shaw Taylor's catchphrase was "keep 'em peeled".

As sales professionals we may not be solving crimes but sensing the buyer's environment vigilantly adds to the information gained from our questioning and listening skills.

If you want to practice your 'sensing' skills why not visit the exhibition to try and guess which Minister of State , Ambassador or top echelon Civil Servant selected which work of art. I was surprised which were selected by the Chief of the Intelligence Service!

As a reward for your visit to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, there is a top rate tea room with proper tea pots and loose tea rather than tea bags which deputy prime minister Nick Clegg might also approve of- since one of his favourites in the GAC is David Tindle's Tea ( Picnic on Hampstaed heath - thermos and cup and picnic rug 1970-71.
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/government-art-collection-at-work

http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/collection.aspx

Mobile broadband performance well short of the needs of the Salesforce

Most sales professionals today require mobile access to the Internet in their work when they are 'out and about'.

Many use WiFi spots and those who are predominantly field based may use a dongle.

Coverage for the UK is rather patchy. ( see Hot spots -dark red and NOT spots -pale pink ! on map)

They may need it to file reports for CRM systems for their management. With more CRM systems that are on the ‘cloud’ like Salesforce.com Buddy , and Goto Meeting and webex conferencing systems and the like good performance is important.

They may need to research the Internet on the move for updates on customer news, competition, stock availability, exchange rates and a host of other applications.

So the recent survey by Ofcom/Epitiro is of particular interest to salespeople who use the Internet on the move.
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/05/26/mobile-broadband-speeds-revealed/

Ofcom’s report did not cover smart phones but dongles and data cards still represent relevant sector for the Sales world.

Sales people need a mobile Internet service which is

easy to access,

flexible

and good value.

Headline speeds are certainly not the whole story but the Ofcom report does reveal some staggering shortcomings.

Consumer research showed that 17% of UK homes are now using mobile broadband to access the Internet.

Of these, 7% use it as their only means of getting online - a 4% rise since 2009
Most field sales people now work from home and could well choose to use their dongle and data card as their business service.

The research which was carried out between September and December last year found the average download speed achieved by consumers was 1.5 Mbit per second. The average download time for a web page was 8.5 seconds.

Download speeds however improved in areas better serviced by 3G, increasing to 2.1 Mbits per second in non peak times when average web page download times were 2.2 seconds.

These results compare with average fixed line speeds of 6.2 Mbits per second and average web page download times of 0.5 seconds.

Latency is calculated by the time it takes for a data packet to travel from a user's PC to a third-party server and back again.

Some service suppliers ( who measured up poorly in the Ofcom study) have said it is unfair to compare mobile with fixed line but for sales people working out and about waiting to get back to their home/office to get a decent service is a hassle and poor use of their time.

Most buyers who are dealing with salespeople are working on fixed line broadband so salespeople out in the field are at a performance disadvantage to their procurement opposite numbers if they are depending on mobile Internet via a dongle or smart card.

Similarly Sales management based on fixed line broadband have superior Internet performance and may forget their team out in the field are not able to use equivalent
O2 has come out well on this current survey. The suppliers who have not done so well have either declined to comment, criticised the report to be six months old ( of course all Government statistics end to lag a little behind the market but the quality of their statistic is usually good)
As a consumer I am glad Ofcom does some work to help me in my decisions .

As with most things computer related individual experience is often far away from manufacturer and supplier claims. The claims usually are expressed as up to X rather than any guaranteed minimum of performance.

On the whole, urban areas performed better than rural areas due to better 3G availability.
The report noted that coverage in cities was highly variable "with no guarantee of good performance" in city centre locations.

My personal recent experience of using a dongle in central London (which has surprisingly 'flakey' reception) ended with communication with a 'helpdesk' of customer and technical service people seriously suggesting I try moving my laptop nearer to the window of the office I was trying get service from. I have switched providers.

Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards said: "This (ofcom) research gives consumers a clearer picture of the performance of mobile broadband dongle and datacards as consumers use these services to complement fixed-line services or sometimes as their principal means of accessing online services."

Well perhaps Ofcom …… but when I asked my local mobile shop

a. for a particular mobile Internet service which could guarantee coverage performance in a specific location of client's postcode, I got the usual spiel of % coverage.
b. when I asked for the minimum speed he could guarantee , he could only give me maximum speed performance data of up to mbits per second data
c. when I asked for a straightforward good value proposition- Well I got the usual confusing patchwork quilt of tariffs and contracts which make the current UK Mainline Rail ticket pricing policy look utterly straightforward! As ever caveat emptor!

"Made in Britain- Sold BY Britain- BESMA 2011 ISMM Excellence in Selling

In Episode 4 in the current series of the Apprentice we witnessed the business- suited wannabes dispatched by Lord Sugar to sell fake tan in Birmingham.

Team Logic made the tactical error of focusing on selling products, which have small margins, instead of services such as “treatments”, which have vast ones. The result was a “pig ugly” loss and Lord Sugar pointed his TV trade mark finger of fate at the team leader, Felicity.

This fourth episode was the current season’s contribution to “selling” following the previous week's on sourcing and purchasing products for the Savoy Hotel.

It made for good telly but I am not sure it tells us much about the state of 'real world 'professional selling in modern Britain.

The stories of the finalists and winners of this year’s Institute of sales and marketing management BESMA awards on the other hand, are the real stories of heroes of the Selling profession.


This year's glittering event was held at the Lancaster Hotel which overlooks the Italian Gardens of London's Royal Park, Kensington Gardens.

The BESMA evening was sponsored by amongst others The Daily Telegraph De Vere,Principal Hayley,Royal Mail Lancaster London,Maddison Media and Campaign master.

Speaking of the awards Stephen Wright, ISMM Commercial Director said “The BESMA awards are a celebration of the sales profession, the finalists knowledgeable, ethical and professional in their approach. As well as recognising individual and team achievements, the BESMA awards help to raise the profile and reputation of the whole profession.”

The objective of the BESMAs is both to raise the status of selling by recognising the vital role of salespeople, and also celebrate the value sales brings to business.

In opening the awards ceremony ISMM president,Eric Peacock read an address from no less than the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

I reproduce it in full

Headed from "No 10 Downing Street, London SW1 A 2AA"

" The success of Britain's businesses is going to be absolutely vital to our economic recovery, and it is the innovation, enterprise and dynamism of our incredible sales and marketing industry that is going to help make this happen.

Selling curries to India, car parts to Germany and fashion to France, it is clear that this private sector led-recovery not only has

'Made in Britain' stamped all over it, but 'Sold by Britain' too

.

You are the front line of our economic recovery, demonstrating that Britain is very much open for business.

I congratulate all the winners and participants of the British Excellence in Sales & Marketing awards. The professionalism , creativity and flair that you have all shown is to be commended.

(Table of Finalists Vanessa Freeman - Steljes Limited and Steve Ramussen Siptel.)

(Prime Minister Cameron concluded)

I truly believe that your achievements will help ensure that the next decade can be one of the most dynamic and entrepreneurial decades of our history"

One wonders whether the 12 sales managers who formed the first incarnation of what is now the ISMM some 100 years ago in London had any idea what the fledgling Sales managers' association was to become.

The first BESMA was awarded in 1985 and was sponsored by British Airways to acknowledge and encourage the work of their sales people.

This years winners were:-

Sales Director of the Year: Tony McHardy - Business Stream
Sales Manager of the Year: John Maund - Virgin Media Business

(Iqbal and Melina from TACK International )

Account Manager of the Year: Catriona Shearer -Lyreco
Sales Trainer of the year: James Osborne - Innergy Ltd
Sales Professional of the year : John Schofield - Merial Animal Health Ltd

Sales Professional of the year B: Steve Ramussen - Siptel Steve with his winner's trophy.

Sales Team of the Year A: Vodafone - Enterprise Small Sales team
Sales Team of the Year B: David Lloyd Leisure - Swindon Sales team

ISMM student of the year: Ayyaz Iftikhar - Handepay Merchant Services
New Sales Professional of the Year:Jonathan Beagles - Virgin Media Business

Customer Service Team of the year: Wesleyan Assurance Society Two members of the team from Birmingham with their winner's trophy

Telesales Professional of the Year: Scott Golland - Virgin Media Business
Sales Support Team of the Year: DHL International (UK) ltd

Many congratulations to all the finalists and of course the winners and runners up.

Thank you for all you do for United kingdom plc and to inspire the selling profession in the country.

As President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron might describe you in the days of the Prseident of the USA visiting the UK before going on to the G8 conference; you are the key partners for the

"Essential Relationships" you foster with customers . Those are very "Special relationships" as well! - Very Good Selling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whether you are a "real world" apprentice in selling or an experienced sales professional consider joining your professional body The Institute of Sales and marketing management ISMM.

(Scroll down for link to the membership page for ISMM)

Here are some of the benefits you will gain from membership:-



• Training, networking and development opportunities - enhance your sales skills at our events, learning from world class speakers and networking with other professionals.
• Professional qualifications - enhance your CV and sales credentials. The ISMM is a government-approved awarding body for sales qualifications.
• Continuing Professional Development - you can further enhance your training and career development with our optional CPD programme.
• Successful Selling Convention - you will get membership discount on Successful Selling, the largest sales convention in the UK.
• Win national recognition - the British Excellence in Sales & Marketing Awards. (BESMA) is the 'Oscars'of the sales and marketing sector.
• Network with fellow sales professionals - your Regional Groups give an excellent social and professional environment.
ADVICE AND SUPPORT
• LinkedIn - join the ISMM LinkedIn group to exchange ideas, best practice and even leads with fellow members.
• Professional advice - you will have access to a network of sales experts to help you with day to day selling queries.
• Legal advice 'on demand' - whether of a business or personal nature, the service is available 24 hours per day, 365 days a year to give support to you when you need it the most.
NEWS AND INFORMATION
• Winning Edge magazine - keep yourself up to date with industry news, commentary and advice to aid commercial performance.
• Research and reports - gain a deeper understanding of your professional environment with access to sales reports and research.
• sellingsuccess.tv - you can enjoy free online videos, as well as ISMM news to keep you up to date with industry news and events.
• Social media - follow the ISMM and exchange ideas and views on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

http://www.ismm.co.uk/membership.php

I hope to see you at the next ISMM show- October 20th Ricoh Centre, Coventry for Selling Expo
Click for free executive summary of the Buyers Views of salespeople research study

Taking our places for the three course dinner - plenty of razzle dazzle!

Sales Presentation on the web using PRO-WEBPITCH

The advent of 'real-time conferencing' systems such as GoTo meeting are making salespeople more productive, empowering them to accelerate sales, reduce selling cycles, improve customer service, streamline communications, and control costs.

GoTo Meeting is easy to use . I have adapted some of their guidelines for salespeople ( scroll down for Goto meeting link at bottom of this post) .

It enables even the non geeky sales professional to set up online meetings and events in just a few minutes and allows client attendees to join in just one click.

Its free voice-conferencing service makes it simple to set up audio conference calls, and attendees ( both supplier and client) can get a single meeting ID number for both the online meeting and the audio conference.

• Performance - The Web conferencing technology that a supplier organisation uses to present and share its offering to customers and prospects is often perceived as an extension of the organization itself.


If customers or prospects have a poor experience with the online meeting , they
will most likely have a negative perception of the product that the organization is
selling.

(Scroll down for free Summary Buyers’ Survey of Salespeople Research Study)
For this reason, online meeting and Webinar performance is crucial in a Buyer / Seller interaction.

GoToMeeting offers an excellent collaborative experience that keeps customers focused on the sales messages.


Selling and Buying 2.0 requires systems that are simple to use, cost effective and perform well.


Here is a model that could prove useful to salespeople embarking on a virtual sales presentation on the web.
PRO-WEBPITCH

P lan Time of meeting
R egister ID details
O bjectives of meeting entered

W elcome client attendees
E licit feedback from attendees
B ig Picture Overview
P resent and Share
I nvite questions
T reat any client problems
C ALL FOR ACTION
H old de brief meeting offline

Here is a more detailed checklist adapted from the GoTo guidelines
Before the virtual sales meeting


If you intend to share your entire PC desktop to your client audience, turn off any instant-messaging applications, notification software or other programs that may interrupt or distract your audience for your presentation.

• Switch off any streaming media applications that may take up bandwidth and resource-intensive applications that may be exhausting your PC’s processor ability.
• Pre-Set your desktop display to a neutral background and adjust display settings to a mid-range resolution (e.g., 1024 x 768) to improve the display for attendees with lesser settings. This will also be the optimal setting should you wish to record the presentation.
• Tidy up your pc’s desktop before a meeting. Remove wallpaper and icons that may distract your client audience.
• Pre-load the documents you wish to share ready to be accessed in one or two clicks. Clients dislike being held in limbo while additional documents are being uploaded.
• Hold a dry run rehearsal with a team colleague to anticipate any questions and to acquaint yourself with the set up of your online sales presentation.




Running the Meeting

• Log on a few minutes early to greet your client attendees as they arrive and start your meeting on time. It also helps to have a welcome presentation running during this time. Your presence in these opening minutes can help establish the tone and direction of the meeting.
• Create a welcome message under the Meetings category of Preferences to greet your client attendees as they click onto the meeting.
• Provide a 'Big Picture' agenda at the start of the meeting, including estimated times, and keep to it.
• Explain to your client attendees what the purpose/goal of the meeting is, what to expect and when and how to ask questions and participate in the meeting.
• Issue information on how to use equipment or services and how to get assistance if needed
• Nominate a colleague or co-worker to monitor and respond to the chat log when someone is presenting.
• Encourage participation by using open questions such as “Who What When Where How...?"
• End the meeting clearly with a call for action if suitable. Ensure all your attendees know that the meeting is formally over and stay on the line to address any last questions.
Hold a de-brief meeting with your colleague off-line to ensure


Best practice in Conference Call management

• Phone in to the meeting from a location where there is little background noise.
• Switch off system prompts and sounds for when attendees join or leave a meeting. It is worth reading the Voice Conferencing section of the help files to familiarize yourself with the conference call features.
• Avoid using mobiles and cordless phones because of static and use the phone handset or a headset instead of speakerphones because of background noise, tunnel effect and sentence clipping.
• Switch off your call waiting. The beep of a new call on another line is heard by everyone in an audio conference.
• Don't put your phone on hold during an audio conference. The hold music will play into the conference call, and make it impossible for the other client attendees to continue the meeting.
• Introduce yourself when you begin speaking and ask other attendees to also identify themselves before speaking. Not everyone in the meeting may know everyone else’s voice

http://www.gotomeeting.co.uk/fec/web_meeting

Click for free executive summary of the Buyers Views of salespeople research www.tack.co.uk/executive-summary study

“Fast talkers, “Smooth talking” or “Disfluent speaking?” Which should salespeople be on the phone? - Latest findings from the University Of Michigan

The Council of the London Borough of Westminster has recently unveiled a green plaque commemorating the Harley Street consulting room where Lionel Logue practiced his vocal coaching. No 146 Harley Street

The movie of the King’s Speech which won four academy awards starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush playing Logue has now been released on video in the UK.


The longer title of the film is revealing –
“How one man saved the British Monarchy “which if a little overblown does put across the point of the importance and power that a voice can convey.

(scroll down for free survey summary.)

Logue not only coached the King who suffered from severe stammering when speaking in public to large crowds but also in the monarch’s radio broadcasts.

Radio broadcasting is more akin to speaking to customers on the phone or speaking to clients via audio conferencing which sales people are increasingly having to do.







The power and importance of the voice is ever important to salespeople.

Recent research undertaken by José Benki at the University of Michigan has produced some very interesting findings which has implications for all in sales who use the phone in their work to gain interviews and appointments where they have to persuade the respondent to accept an interview.

José has kindly given me permission to cite his findings in this blog.

The research at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (U-M ISR). examines how various speech characteristics influence people's decisions to participate in telephone surveys.

But its findings have implications perhaps for many other situations, from sales research, appointment gaining through to closing the sales and on-going account development.

SPEECH RATE on the phone

"Interviewers who spoke moderately fast, at a rate of about 3.5 words per second, were much more successful at getting people to agree than either interviewers who talked very fast or very slowly,"

José Benki and his team used recordings of 1,380 introductory calls made by 100 male and female telephone interviewers at the U-M ISR.

They analysed the interviewers' speech rates, fluency, and pitch, and correlated those variables with their success in convincing people to participate in the survey.
Often people who talk really fast are seen as “fast talker”, and people who talk really slowly are seen as not too overly pedantic or possibly rather dim, the finding about speech rates rings true.

But another finding from the study was somewhat counter intuitive and surprising.
The research group assumed that interviewers who sounded animated and lively, with a lot of variation in the pitch of their voices, would be more successful
But they found only a marginal effect of variation in pitch by interviewers on success rates.

It could be that variation in pitch could be helpful for some interviewers but for others, too much pitch variation sounds artificial, like salespeople who are trying too hard. So such backfires and puts people off."

The Importance of VOICE PITCH


Pitch, the highness or lowness of a voice, is a highly gendered quality of speech, influenced largely by body size and the corresponding size of the larynx, or voice box.

Typically, men have low-pitched voices and women high-pitched voices. Think of the voiced characters of Orson Wells and Rory O’Shea the voices of the Carlsberg lager Advertisements versus Lucille Smith, the voice of Smurfette from the Smurfs or Mae Questel of cartoon character -Betty Boop ( "Boop-boop-a-doop".)

The MU research group also examined whether pitch influenced survey participation decisions differently for male compared to female interviewers.

They found that men interviewers in the study with higher-pitched voices had worse success than their deep-voiced colleagues.

But they did not find any clear-cut evidence that pitch mattered for the female interviewers.

PAUSING on the phone

The researchers examined the use of pauses. Here they found that interviewers who engaged in frequent short pauses were more successful than those who were perfectly fluent.

When people are speaking, they naturally pause about 4 or 5 times a minute.
José Benki points out "These pauses might be silent, or filled, but that rate seems to sound the most natural in this context. If interviewers made no pauses at all, they had the lowest success rates getting people to agree to do the survey.
We think that's because they sound too scripted.

People who pause too much are seen as disfluent. But it was interesting that even the most disfluent interviewers had higher success rates than those who were perfectly fluent."

José Benki and the team at MU plan to continue their analyses, comparing the speech of the most and least successful interviewers to see how the content of conversations, as well as measures of speech quality, is related to their success rates.

In correspondence that I have had with Jose Benki this week I asked him some questions on his study

José Benki ( JB) explained that the Michigan University group pretty much focused on the “survey recruitment” context, although they are obviously informed by other disciplines that study speech and persuasion.

HA:

What part do 'first impressions' have on persuasiveness on a call ? Are pitch, speech rate, fluency( or disfluency) more critical at different stages of the phone call to the recipient or are these consistently important throughout the call ?

JB: The findings we report are based on the first 13 conversational turns of agrees and refusals, precisely because refusals are shorter, lasting about 13 turns, and the agrees change in nature pretty quickly to procedural type interactions.

The trends are actually similar when averaging over the entire contact than early turns but some are stronger, such as pause frequency (more pausing at the ends of agree contacts). You raise an important point that we are aware of and are planning on pursuing in more detail in our corpus.

HA: What bearing does the length ( duration) of the call have on persuasiveness?

JB: Since the potential respondents are in control of the duration of the call for the most part, we have a confound in our data in that agrees last longer than refusals (agrees go on to a formal interview).

HA: Does the quality of the sound reproduction of the telephone microphone and/or receivers telephone speaker have any bearing on persuasiveness ?

JB: We were not able to look at quality of sound as an experimental or observational variable. What we did find was that the agree contacts with male interviewers had a mean interviewer pitch 14 Hz lower than the corresponding mean in refusals. For contacts with female interviewers, the effect was about half as large in Hz, which is about 1/4 as large when converting to a perceptual scale, perhaps negligible.

The paper on this research from the University of Michigan is to be written up shortly. There is a fun podcast link for the study. http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=how-to-be-persuasive-11-05-14



Click for free executive summary of the Buyers Views of salespeople research study

Solution Based Selling - Selling by whose objectives ? 6 stage model

The writings American management guru Peter Drucker (1909 -2005) are back in vogue despite some detractors of his core concept of management by objectives MBO who suggest that companies adopting MBO tend to overemphasise control rather than foster creativity.

But in these tough times of recession - control and in particular cost control has been the mission focus of many corporations. This has led to the increase of ever more professional procurement. Procurement has been under the spotlight in both private and public sectors.

One of Drucker's quotes was "If you are not part of the solution you've gotta be part of the problem". Although Drucker was primarily referring to management his slogan applies equally to professional selling and professional purchasing.

Many experienced professional salespeople in sales today find their role being one of contributing to a mutually shared answer to a recognised problem of which the answer provides a measurable improvement to satisfy procurement.

I met up this week with a good friend and colleague of mine, Simon Cooper who was running a new course " Solution Based Selling" in central London for Tack International.

Simon was discussing the sea-change in selling today due to the changes in procurement.

Simon ( see left) distinguishes between conventional selling and solution based selling.

"the key differentiation between the two"Simon believes is " that in solution selling it is the seller- who has the responsibility for understanding of the situation and then to build a value solution alongside and with the Buyer."



Simon quoted the late editor of Harvard Business Review Theodore Levitt (1925 2006)

"It is not so much about what you are selling it is much more about how what you are selling helps the customer."

In 1983 Levitt proposed corporate purpose was rather than merely making money , it is to create and keep a customer. ( sounds like another definition of Selling)

Essentially the selling message must be BE VALUABLE.


The TACK Solution Based Selling model focuses on six key areas.

The TACK International site is www.tack.co.uk

1.The creation of rapport and the building of trust.

2.The identification of customer needs and their priorities.

3.The creation and design of solution

4.The presentation of the differentiated value proposition.

5.The negotiation of of terms and conditions

6.Implementation of a solution which is subsequently evaluated and developed

.

One of the key sessions of the programme is a detailed review of the Procurement process.


From the Buying cycle delegates focus on nine key stages - a. Need Identification b. Information Gathering c. Supplier contact d. Background review e. Negotiation. f. Purchase g. Fulfilment h. Consumptive maintenance and disposal i. Renewal.

Today's solution seller has to have an appreciation of the demands and stresses of today's professional procurement specialists.





The programme investigates how procurement dpeatrments are measured and what from a corporate standpoint is Purchasing excellence- what are their KPPI Key Performance Purchasing Indicators.

As well reviewing traditional six step sourcing models the course considers purchasing strategy and and total cost of ownership, risk assessment, sourcing techniques, the prevalence of e sourcing tools, inter site synergy and compliance and ethics and corporate social responsibility.

The course examines how procurement is measured and evaluated in order that delegates get a deeper understanding of what professional procurement is about and how to work in partnership with procurement.

This is a great programme for sales professionals who know how to sell but need to step into the premier league of elite solution sellers.

This Solution Based Selling course culminates in a comprehensive checklist of 63 issues that if actioned will take you and you keep you in the sales elite.

Useful Links

Solution Based Selling and  Differentiated Value Proposition

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.com/2011/11/solution-based-selling-course-review.html

Negotiation Skills

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.com/2011/12/buy-sheep-sell-deer-12-steps-to.html


Simon can be contacted at http://www.spctraining.org.uk/


Click for free executive summary of the Buyers Views of salespeople research www.tack.co.uk/executive-summary study

Macmillan Gulls' Eggs City Luncheon – Fundraising and Networking City style

The merchant and yachtsman Sir Thomas Lipton (1848-1941) whose iced tea drinks and tea brands are still world brands (currently owned by Unilever) observed that

“ When a hen lays her eggs she clucks her knew all round the farmyard, a duck on the other hand lays her egg in complete silence and who the hell “ Sir Thomas asked “ buys ducks eggs?!!!”

His point was the importance of marketing communication.

For many businesses however the costs of PR and media advertising may not be the best of return on their communication investment but networking on the other hand is a way to cluck the news about one’s business.


The Gulls’ Eggs City luncheon brings together businesspeople from the financial community to raise funds for Macmillan cancer charity ( scroll down for donation site link) and to provide an environment of gastronomic conviviality in the beautiful and historic hall of the Merchant Taylors in London’s financial district “The City”.


The Merchant Taylors' Company, or to give them their full name by which they are described in the Royal Charter of 1503, the Gild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St. John Baptist is a most suitable place for a networking event of the fraternity and sisterhood of the Gulls eggs city luncheon guests to meet.

The Company has occupied its present site between Threadneedle Street and Cornhill since 1347. The first Hall was built at some date between the years 1347 and 1392 ( known as the “Taillourshalle”)


The Merchant Taylors and the Skinners have always disputed their precedence, so once a year they exchange sixth and seventh place. This rotation of precedence is one of the theories for the origin of the phrase "at sixes and sevens” meaning to be in a confused state of mind.
The success of the Gulls event means it was very crowded but despite the congestion all were fed with delectable smoked salmon, hard boiled gulls' egg which one dips in celery salt, washed down with red or white wine or water with plum cake for afters.
Guests were not at sixes and sevens.


The Gulls’ egg season is strictly controlled by the British Government through DEFRA. Only around 40,000 eggs are gathered through licensed specialists.
Gulls eggs are a delicacy because DEFRA (department for environment, food and rural affairs) tightly controls their collection: only around 40,000 are gathered by 25 licensed specialists every year. They are a translucent grey when boiled and richer than hens' eggs.



(Gulls eggs will set you back £6.50 each this year at Harrods.)

The Gulls Eggs City luncheon has been running for 23 years. Chairman of the event Zoe Couper of strategic advisory and communications firm Couper and partners describes the event as

“ ...eccentrically English. It brings people together: they can drop by for five minutes or stay for two hours.

There is no agenda, no seating plan, no speeches, no auction”

The luncheon has acquired a standing and it was full this year as ever, the true start of the City's summer.


“Business networking “according Wikipedia” is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities.
A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity.”
The City does this all with a certain style and super food.


The gulls eggs were delicious like very rich hens eggs. They were beautifully displayed on a bed of cress, half peeled showing the translucent egg white and reamining half its pretty spotted shell which acted as a handle to lift and dip the egg in celery salt. ( Like a very upmarket ice cream cornet but savoury)

The Merchant Taylors’ motto is Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt, meaning

"In Harmony Small Things Grow."

Well Macmillan cancer support has grown from that small thing of a £10 birthday gift of Douglas Macmillan in 1911. Congratulations to them.

From that initial £10 birthday gift Douglas Macmillan founded the Society for the Prevention and Relief from cancer.
Macmillan fund today 5,300 health and social care professionals, form nurses to occupational therapists. There are more than 3,450 Macmillan Nurses in the UK.

Macmillan rely on voluntary donations for nearly all its income.
It all costs money of course:-

£ 191 could pay for a Macmillan nurse for a day, giving someone with cancer essential information, advice and support.
£50,000 would pay for a Macmillan nurse for a year, including their training and recruitment. This is special training to give people living with cancer and their families’ essential medical, practical and emotional support.

So I hope the event raised loads of money.



So far as the networking going on - Sir Thomas Lipton might have a thing or two to say about the deafening but harmonic conversations of bankers , lawyers and various professions of the City's equivalent to seagulls calling over the ocean!!!

Congratulations to Chairman Zoe Couper, her Gull team committee members and the event organiser Miranda Brown at Macmillan a great success!

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Donate/Donate.aspx

Related Links

Speed Networking at CIPD Olympia London April 2014

  The rewards of ennobled networking