What Happens in the Pasture, Stays in the Pasture

You know its that time of year again.

Its that time when strategic sales plans are updated, balanced scorecards are re-balanced, and your sale manager lays in a fetal position chanting “Sell on Value….Sell on Value….”.

One of our fans (contrary to belief we have more than one) just pinged me to let me know he was heading out to his sales meeting…..in Michigan.  Not Vegas, Miami, L.A., but Michigan.

Trying to put an optimistic spin on this locale, I commented “well, at least you don’t have to worry about your reps marrying strippers” to which he replied “yeah, but there will be plenty of booze and they have a lot of farm animals”.

This was followed by a moment of awkward silence.

This is also the time year when your marketing department provides you with a new set of updated slides for your pitch.

One of the members of my “Yankees that I like” group IM’d me the other day as his team was trying to deal with this year’s PowerPoint and wanted to hear my thoughts.

Before we get into that, do you remember our favorite sex shop, The House of Love? It seems that they made enough money in their “Going Out of Business” sale that they not only stayed in business, but have come out with some new billboards along the interstate.

The first new sign is emblazoned with the slogan “We Support the Troops“.  Being five miles away from an Air Force base, I assume that the troops support them too.

The second new sign was delivering a new set of “value add” that The House of Love is incorporating into their overall  Unique Selling Proposition:

• Pet Rest Area

• Free Coffee

Now, when you salute the troops your target market is pretty obvious.  But I had to put some thought into who would find sex toys, a pet rest area, and coffee an appealing motivator to pull off the highway, stop, and make a purchase.  My guess is retired RV’ers.

Imagine if you will, a big RV rolling down the highway with the stickers on every state visited on the windows, big-ass mud flaps swinging in rhythm, and maybe a couple of mountain-bikes attached to the back.

Behind the wheel is a distinguished looking gentleman with a head of silver hair, age lines, and a few sun spots.   His wife is sitting next to him with a pound of gold hanging from her ears and neck with a sun visor that she bought at that cute little gift shop in Boca. On her lap is an overweight toy poodle, named after their favorite waiter as some resort, looking out the side window and looking in need of relief.

As they are approaching the HoL’s billboard, the husband turns to the wife and says

You know honey, I wish we could find some place convenient where the dog could take a crap, I could top off my travel thermos, and maybe you could find a high quality sexual appliance that will satisfy you in ways that could only be achieved by a contortionist on a crystal meth binge…..Holy smokes, look at the sign!!!!

So what’s the lesson?  Have your target market in mind when building your marketing and sales strategies.

Now, back to my Yankee friend and his Powerpoint.

Our instant messenger conversation started off with the agenda

” Here’s what we are thinking:

• Our company overview
• What we see happening in the industry
• Our “vision”
• Our unique approach
• Our customer’s project

what do you think?”

To which I replied “If you pitched to me, here’s what would be going through my mind:

• Blah
• Blah, Blah, Blah
• What do I need to do for my next meeting?
• Man my boxer’s shorts are riding up this morning
• Time to fake an emergency and get out of this meeting

Then I directed my Yankee friend to watch Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule.

Then I suggested the following agenda:

• Why you are in my office taking up my time
• My problem that you can solve for me
• How you will solve the problem in clear, concise, concrete terms
• The benefit that you will deliver to me that your competitor cant

Now, if you will excuse me, The House of Love is having a sale.

Sasser

G.T.T.F.P.Q.

We have received several email from our tens of fans asking about sales methodologies; specifically, which one is better, solution selling, spin selling, strategic selling, selling to vito, etc.? As is our habit, let me share a long winded, self-serving response.

Recently I been moved over to run a business unit within my company. While in the past I have managed sales teams, this is my first time managing all aspects of the profit and expenses of an operation. For those familiar with our posts on Schmuck Vice Presidents, you will be happy to know my new title is SVP.

It’s within this new role that I found the fundamental answer to success in sales, G.T.T.F.P.Q.

Get

To

The

Freakin

Point

Quickly

Some weeks I can average 2 to 3 meetings per day on topics ranging from HR, Accounting, and Operations. Any vendor presentations are squeezed in between.

When a vendor presentation starts, I will subconsciously start a countdown to five minutes. Within five minutes the vendor has to help me answer the question Why am I in this meeting . If I can not arrive at an answer then I will “leave” the meeting, either mentally by thinking about the agenda for my next meeting or physically by looking at my blackberry and declaring “Ive got to run”.

So you have five minutes to grab my attention. What are you going to talk about?

• Your company history? I don’t care.

• Your existing clients? In the first five minutes, still don’t care.

• Profile of your executives and/or founders? Unless your founders are Playboy Bunnies, nope.

• What analysts are saying about your company? OMG, this is almost the worst.

• Your company’s “vision”? This is the worst. “Visions” that extend past 18 months are speculation and I don’t have time for speculation.

To grab my attention, you need to talk about:

• How you are going to solve one of my problems. “Our file management system will dramatically reduce paper, improve your operations, and complement your change management procedures”

• How you are going to make/save me money. “Our new merchant application system will provide your team the ability to scale by 400% without adding any additional personnel”.

• How you are going to make my life better. “We can help you implement best practices pertaining to risk management and control that will improve your compliance with Sox and regulatory and industry mandates.”

This is pretty easy to incorporate into your meetings. Simply start by introducing yourself and your team and then stating “We are here today to discuss how we can _____________________”. Then ask for confirmation that is the purpose, and then tie your points to this statement.

The meetings you have with a prospect in the initial stages of a sales cycle should be no more than 50 minutes. Use this as a guide and a motivator to throw out the “just in case” material from your presentation.

Good Luck.