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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Sales Tweet #62

by Rick Baker
On Oct 12, 2010
Sales Tweet #62 What's your company's Differential Advantage? Are you thrilled about it? Are your Clients thrilled?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Why should people buy from your company rather than buy from one of your competitors or do nothing? If you can not answer this then ask your boss. Or ask the Marketing Vice-President. Check your marketing literature. Check your website. Can you see how your company's Differential Advantage screams out to Probable Clients?

Tags:

Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #61

by Rick Baker
On Oct 11, 2010
Sales Tweet #61 Buyers tell Ernest Seller they have no money. He's thinking of lending them some to close more sales.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Don't worry. Ernest didn't do it. Actually, his wife wouldn't give him any money so he couldn’t do it. As mentioned before, Ernest is a natural born sales man. He wasn’t cut out for numbers or finance or other stuff like that.

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Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller

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Sales Tweet #60

by Rick Baker
On Oct 8, 2010
Sales Tweet #60 You can state all the things you must do to get the success you desire in 4 words - Change For The Better.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
For example, if we look at this week's Sales Tweets: #56 - Ernest could make a change for the better if he actually set aside 2 hours and completed the profile of his Ideal Client, #57 - a sales person could make a change for the better if she set aside one hour and started creating a list of Client-questions that could be tested for their emotion-touching value, #58 - Ernest could make a change for the better if he tried to understand the reason behind his Client's anger rather than ignoring it, and #59 - a sales person could make a change for the better by setting a C-level connection target and a draft-plan for achieving that target. [Search Changing For The Better at the Activestor website - www.activestor.ca]

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Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller

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Barry’s Corner - Why focus on strengths?

by Rick Baker
On Oct 7, 2010
Recently I asked my friend Barry the question,
 
“Why do you recommend a focus on people’s strengths?”
 
Barry shared the following thoughts.
 
When we focus on people’s strengths…
  1. We look in the mirror and that helps us understand ourselves
  2. We concentrate on other people and their uniqueness
  3. We have an opportunity for a positive experience for everybody
  4. The process itself helps create better results on many fronts, for example, we effectively apply The 80-20 Rule
More about people’s strengths in future Thought Posts…
 
Footnote:
According to the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, Barry’s Top 5 themes are: Strategic, Individualization, Futuristic, Woo, & Communication.

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

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Sales Tweet #59

by Rick Baker
On Oct 7, 2010
Sales Tweet #59 Check your journal...how many C-level people did you connect with during the last 30 days?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
It is relatively easy to connect with C-level people. Many sales gurus have written numerous chapters, full of suggestions. Yet - as we talk with sales people we find the vast majority rarely meet C-level people and very few sales people have set a goal for meeting C-level people.

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Using R.A.D.A.R. to succeed at complex sales

by Rick Baker
On Oct 6, 2010
If you sometimes feel your major sales efforts are a little out of control then an injection of organized sales process will help.
 
If you have any of the following symptoms then your major sales process could use a tune-up:
  • You have this feeling of discomfort about your overall sales...you know budgets are not being met or you worry they won't be met
  • While enough major deals are being done you believe money is being left on the negotiation table when your team works with major Clients
  • Your sales team is doing lots of deals but the deals are too small; you wonder if your sales people are afraid or unable to take on larger challenges...when you talk about this with your sales team you get the sense results could be much better
  • You do not have enough major 'Marquee Clients'...or, borrowing from the Heath brothers, you are not passing 'The Sinatra Test'
There are several ways to solve this problem.
 
One way is to use R.A.D.A.R.
 
For military applications, R.A.D.A.R. was developed to provide early information - early warning - and that allowed smaller forces to do the right things, at the right time, in the right place.
 
In his book 'Hope Is Not A Strategy, The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale', Rick Page outlines the R.A.D.A.R. process he developed to help sales teams manage a portfolio of sales opportunities. Page presents his R.A.D.A.R. Sales process as: R.eading A.ccounts and D.eploying A.ppropriate R.esources™.
 
Concentration of force is Page's first principle of strategy. 'You must pick the battles you can win, then win the battles you pick.' That means sales people can not waste time on lower-quality prospects.
 
Page outlines 6 keys to winning a complex sale:
Challenges     R.A.D.A.R. Process
Value.   1. Link solutions to Pain (or Gain)
Resource Allocation.   2. Qualify the Prospect
Competition.   3. Build Competitive Preference
Strategy.   4. Determine the Decision-Making Process
Politics.   5. Sell To Power
Teamwork.   6 Communicate the Strategic Plan
The first 5 steps are inputs and the last step is the plan. The steps are performed simultaneously.
 
The sales team receives the following benefits when (Step 6) Communicate the Strategic Plan is fully performed:
 
• Increases competitive advantage from consistent, effective execution • Crystallizes your thinking and forces a decision • Provides early detection of blind spots and visibility into the future • Leads and empowers your team with a clear direction • Prioritizes the urgent from the important • Increases your ability to control and manage multiple accounts • Develops respect with peers and management
 
R.A.D.A.R. can be used on its own if your sales team presently has no defined major-sales process. Or, R.A.D.A.R. can be used to complement your existing major-sales process. And, small sales teams or even individual sales people will benefit from the injection of some discipline like that provided by R.A.D.A.R.

Tags:

Sales | Seeking Simple!

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