Present How to Coach and Train Your Sales Team in the Five Selling Skills That Can Best Increase Your Competitive Advantage Day 2 Questions? You may contact Jim at: 800-526-0074 jim@pancero.com Name _________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Dallas TX www.pancero.com ABOUT JIM PANCERO If you are interested…open… and ready to improve your team’s success, then Jim Pancero has answers for you. The proven selling philosophies, processes and structures Jim shares all have just one goal…to increase your personal “Powerhouse Selling Advantage.” The leading-edged ideas Jim shares have been researched, validated and fine-tuned through his over 30 years influencing and guiding top performers selling higher priced and/or competitively complex distribution materials, large equipment, or business services. Jim has conducted extensive work within the agricultural industry including training over 3,500 John Deere dealer team members in the US and Canada. Even during a sixty-minute keynote, Jim’s combination of humor and real-world examples provides even experienced audience members who think they’ve heard it all before and are convinced there’s nothing new in sales with immediately implementable concepts that work. Jim’s proven concepts center on showing you ways to strengthen the messaging and positioning of your uniqueness and value, gaining more control of your selling processes, and strengthening your leadership team’s abilities to coach and lead in today’s hyper-competitive economy and global marketplace. Jim’s background includes being a top performer selling large computer systems for the Data Processing Division of the IBM Corporation. During Jim's prestigious IBM career he earned several awards including the coveted "Golden Circle" designation annually awarded to the top 5% of their international sales force. Since founding his sales training and consulting company in 1982, Jim has conducted over 3,100 speeches, in-depth seminars or consulting days for more than 600 companies in over 80 different industries. Over 90% of Jim's clients have utilized his ideas and services more than once. Jim has also been recognized by the National Speakers Association having earned their CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation and been inducted into their Speakers Hall of Fame. This combined honor has only been awarded to less than 3% of their 3,500 professional members. For more on how to increase your competitive selling advantage visit Jim’s www.Pancero.com website, download his free Apple or Android mobile app, and check out his video clips on YouTube® (YouTube channel “2Sellmore”). “We know you’re good. Now the only question is…are you ready to get even better?” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 1 UID HOW STRONG ARE YOUR SELLING SKILLS? (Without looking ahead in your workbook) Skill #1 – Sales consistency and professionalism Test #1 - Write down the steps of a sales call: Skill #2 – Thinking and planning multiple moves ahead selling new business Test #2 - List the steps of your multiple-stepped “Identify to close” selling process you follow going after new business (within a prospect or existing customer) Identify © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Close Page 2 UID HOW STRONG ARE YOUR SELLING SKILLS? (Without looking ahead in your workbook) Continued Skill #3 – Thinking and planning multiple moves ahead with your support of your most important customers Test #3 - List the activities or efforts you have planned to support and grow your most important customer over the next twelve months Skill #4 – Connecting within your most important accounts Test #4 - Identify your plan to get higher, wider and deeper within your largest and most important customers - Higher - Up to the top customer executives Wider - Getting to others that are impacted by your product or services Deeper - Talking with front line operators or users Skill #5 – Communicating a stronger message of competitive positioning, value and uniqueness Test #5 - Write down the major bullet points you would explain answering a prospect or customer asking “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 3 UID PROGRAM AGENDA Section I – How to strengthen the “selling best practices” of your sales team Section II – Improving Your Team’s Operational Selling Skills - Improving your personal selling skills and persuasive structures - Test #1 – Write down the steps of a sales call Section III – Increasing Your Team’s Tactical Selling Skills - Increasing your customer control and future-focused account planning - Test #2 - List the steps of your multiple-stepped “Identify to close” selling process you follow going after new business (within a prospect or existing customer) - Test #3 - List the activities or efforts you have planned to support and grow your most important customer over the next twelve months - Test #4 - Identify your plan to get higher, wider and deeper within your largest and most important customers Section IV – Strengthening Your Team’s Strategic Selling Skills - Strengthening your team’s ability to communicate a stronger message of competitive positioning, value and uniqueness - Test #5 - Write down the major bullet points you would explain answering a prospect or customer asking “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” Section V - Suggested “Next Best Steps” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 4 UID SECTION I How to Strengthen the “Selling Best Practices” of Your Sales Team © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 5 UID SELLING ‘BEST PRACTICES’ Intuitive Structural Reactive Proactive 'Only One Move Ahead' Focused Selling Planned 'MultiStepped' Selling Strategies 'Memories of Customers' Control of Customer Information © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 6 UID SELLING SKILLS REQUIRED FOR SELLING SUCCESS Strategic Focus and Positioning Communicating your philosophy and market position Test #5 – Answering the question "why, based on all of the competitive alternatives available to me, do i want to buy from you?" Tactical Tools and Controls How to utilize the rest of your team in your selling process Test #4 – How to call "higher and wider" within a customer's organization Test #3 – Understanding and controlling your “January 1st to December 31st” existing customer support plans Test #2 – Understanding and controlling your new business "id to close" selling process Operational Skills and Abilities Test #1 – Steps of a sales call Personality awareness skills ("Why people buy") Product and industry knowledge Attitude & Energy © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 7 UID INCREASING YOUR SELLING SKILLS - What to expect from strengthened strategic selling skills - The ability of your sales team to sell at higher margins because they understand you are not in a price driven market - The ability to answer persuasively a customer asking them “why, based on all the alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” - What to expect from strengthened tactical selling skills - Sales professionals planning their daily and weekly activities or travel schedules in advance and in a logical way that is visible to everyone within your sales team. - Sales professionals better able to answer where any customer currently is and what they have planned to maintain or grow their business - Sales professionals being more proactive and initiating competitive protection activities sooner and with a higher degree of effectiveness - More ongoing new business prospecting efforts - What to expect from strengthened operational selling skills - A more consistent and persuasive sales professional able to handle a wider range of customers, their concerns, their needs and expectations. - A sales team who will come across to your customers as more customer focused, more professional and of more value than your competition. - What to expect from strengthened attitude and energy selling skills - A sales team who has earned customer's loyalty due to their proven professionalism, values, and commitment to helping. - A more energized, excited and harder working sales professional. - A "coachable" sales team open to your suggestions and guidance. © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 8 UID SECTION II Improving Your Team’s Operational Selling Skills Improving your personal selling skills and persuasive structures Skill #1 – Sales Consistency and Professionalism Test #1 – Write down the Steps of a Sales Call © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 9 UID SKILL #1 – SALES CONSISTENCY AND PROFESSIONALISM Test #1 – Write down the steps of a sales call - Mastering (and utilizing) the steps of a sales call… - Increases your control, consistency and organization of your sales calls - Increases your ability to complete a successful sales call even when given only a few minutes - Steps of a sales call gives you control - Control gives you calmness (even under pressure) - Calmness gives you professionalism and the ability to successfully complete your sales call - If you ignore or are unaware of the steps of a sales call - Some sales calls will go well, but others will “crash & burn” - You will appear unfocused, unorganized or scattered in your thought processes - Your sales call will fall apart if you receive any resistance or objections - You will likely not leave yourself a reason or excuse to return and continue calling - Ideas to help you evaluate your team’s mastery of the steps of a sales call 1) Ride with your sales reps to observe how they handle a sales call (did they follow the steps?) - You will likely observe a lack of control or consistency in the steps they follow on a sales call 2) In a sales meeting ask your sales reps to write down the steps of a sales call they are using - Most cannot complete the exercise having little written down © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 10 UID STEPS OF A SALES CALL 1st - Lower resistance 2nd - Ask questions and qualify - ID customer needs. - Learn/understand their environment. - Qualify the relevance and appropriateness of your solution. 3rd - Present your solution 4th - Close - Where do we go from here? - What happens now? - What do we need to do next? 5th - Agree to your next contact © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 11 UID THE THREE MOST CONSISTENT SELLING WEAKNESSES FACED BY ALL SALES PROFESSIONALS Weakness #1 – Sales people without control of their steps of a sales call will talk too much of the time in front of customers - What percent of a sales call do you talk vs listen? - Most sales calls are interactive, but the sales person still does as much as 90% of the talking - Customer asks a 5 second question “Why are you so expensive?” - Sales person provides a 10 minute response - Take a test – Next time you are making a sales call over the telephone record your side of the conversation on your cell phone. You don’t need to record your customer, just assume any silence on your recording was when your customer was talking. Go back afterward with a stop watch and record what percent of your call you talked versus listened - What do you think would be the best persuasive balance of you, the sales person talking compared to your customer talking? ________ % sales person talking / ________ % customer talking © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 12 UID THE THREE MOST CONSISTENT SELLING WEAKNESSES FACED BY ALL SALES PROFESSIONALS Weakness #2 – A sales person without control of their steps of a sales call will collapse under pressure and only present/talk - Pressures caused by: - Selling pressures - Relationship pressures - Time pressures - Competitive pressures - Environmental pressures - A sales person without control of their steps of a sales call will forget about lowering resistance and asking questions and will only talk…sometimes not even asking for an order or next contact - How would you handle a customer saying “You’ve got five minutes…what do you want?” - The impact of selling under pressure without selling structures. Sales professional in control and using their steps of a sales call Sales professional without control of their steps of a sales call 1st – Lower resistance 2nd – Questions and qualify 3rd – Present 4th – Ask for the order 5th – Agree to and/or set up next contact Will show a visual of a collapsed steps with only the word “Present” in really large letters. © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 13 UID THE THREE MOST CONSISTENT SELLING WEAKNESSES FACED BY ALL SALES PROFESSIONALS Weakness #3 – All sales people are using the same steps…even the high pressure “Slime Balls” - The problem…they are using the exact same steps of a sales call you are using - The difference between the most ethical customer-focused sales professionals and the highest pressured “slime balls” is in how they apply the steps of a sales call "Slime Balls" sell by talking and "pitching" 1st – Lower resistance 2nd – Questions and qualify ___________________________________________________ < 25% Asking > 75% Talking © Copyright 3/2016 3rd – Present 4th – Ask for the order 5th – Agree/Set up next contact Jim Pancero, Inc. "Low Pressure Selling Professionals" sell by asking and listening > 75% Asking 1st – Lower resistance 2nd – Questions and qualify ____________________________________________________________________________ < 25% Talking Page 14 3rd – Present 4th – Ask for the order 5th – Agree/Set up next contact UID HOW TO GET MORE HELP WITH THE STEPS OF A SALES CALL - This is the easiest skill to receive help for your team - Do a search on “Steps of a sales call” - Google search generates over 68 million hits - YouTube search generates over 100,000 free videos - Check out local sales training organizations - Franchised businesses such as Sandler Systems and Dale Carnegie - Local independent sales consultants and trainers - Whatever training resources you utilize, make sure they are not teaching a higher pressure style of selling and are teaching a selling process (ending with setting up your next contact) instead of a selling event (ending with asking for the order) © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 15 UID SECTION III Improving Your Team’s Tactical Selling Skills Increasing Your Customer Control and Future-Focused Account Planning Skill #2 – Thinking and Planning Multiple Moves Ahead Selling New Business Test #2 – List the steps of your multiple-stepped “Identify to Close” selling process you follow going after new business (within a prospect or existing customer) © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 16 UID SKILL #2 – THINKING AND PLANNING MULTIPLE MOVES AHEAD SELLING NEW BUSINESS Test #2 - List the steps of your multiple-stepped “Identify to close” selling process you follow going after new business (within a prospect or existing customer) Mastering (and utilizing) the steps of your “Identify to Close” selling process - Increases your control and effectiveness selling new business to either a prospect or existing customer - Allows a sales rep (and their team) to predict and anticipate customer buying expectations and needs - Allows for the entire sales team to learn (and improve their “ID to Close” selling process) from the successes and losses of the rest of the team - If you ignore or are unaware of the steps of your “Identify to Close” selling process - You will be constantly surprised by the demands of your buyer or the selling efforts of your competition - You will be outsold and will lose more business (if your competitors are thinking and planning more moves ahead than you are) - You will slow your selling process down (and waste a lot of time) by not knowing what to do or suggest as a next step to your buyer - Ideas to help you evaluate your team’s mastery of the steps of your “Identify to Close” selling process 1) Drawing this visual, ask each sales rep to write down the steps they have been following from the time they identify a new selling opportunity until they have a signed order Identify Close - Expect to learn few (if any) sales reps are thinking or planning multiple moves ahead with their selling efforts and instead just keep repeating a "next best step" approach to selling © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 17 UID SUGGESTED SELLING PROCESS FOR A TRADITIONAL SUPPLIES DISTRIBUTOR Step 1 – Set up, Positioning and Establishing an Appointment - Identify Potential Selling “Success Factors” Step 2 - Initial Sales Call, Plant Tour & ID of “Next Best” Application to Promote - Can you position your customer’s evaluation/decision process by recommending your four questions? 1. What’s my total cost? 2, Can you support me? 3. How much risk am I taking doing business with you? 4. How will you help me improve my business? - What step are you on as an organization? 1st – Decide pain 2nd – Decide direction 3rd – Decide solutions 4th – Decide vendors 5th – Decide process Step 3 - Do More Research/Positioning and get “Higher wider & deeper” Step 4 - Proposal Positioning & delivery Step 5 – Justify Your “Higher Price – Lower Total Cost” Philosophy - Have you walked your customer through the ROI of buying from you? Step 1 – “Apples to apples” (Are we talking the same products and specs?) Step 2 – Prove “Hard Savings” (Can be quantified and validated) Step 3 – Prove “Soft Savings” (Not as quantified and harder to validate) Step 4 – Explain your “Insurance Policy” (Can’t quantify or prove the savings of this point…but it is important to the buyer) Close is to say…”For only $xx/month (or unit or assembly) you get all of this extra coverage and protection” Step 6 – Post sale support to identify and position your next application solution Step 7 – Evaluate, Adjust & Prepare For Your Next Sale © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 18 UID HOW TO GET MORE HELP WITH THE STEPS TO YOUR "IDENTIFY TO CLOSE" SELLING PROCESS - This is one of the toughest sales training topics to get help since few sales trainers or publishers understand or teach the tactical skills of thinking and planning multiple moves ahead - The majority of the selling industry thinks of "steps of the selling process" as the steps of a sales call…not the steps of a multiple sales call selling process - The first two pages of website listings for a Google search of "Steps of the selling process" only shows definitions of the steps of a single call and talks nothing about how to manage or sell through a multiple sales call selling process (the reality of the majority of distribution and manufacturing sales) - Meet with your team to discuss and debate the multiple-stepped selling processes included in this workbook - Work with your team to define your own unique "Identify to Close" multiple stepped selling process - Even a weak plan is better than no plan - Actively coach and lead your team through the planning and implementation of these steps - The more you try to follow the steps of your defined selling process, the more feedback you will receive that will adjust and improve your stepped selling plan © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 19 UID Improving Your Team’s Tactical Selling Skills Increasing Your Customer Control and Future-Focused Account Planning Skill #3 – Thinking and Planning Multiple Moves Ahead With Your Support of Your Most Important Customers Test #3 – List the activities or efforts you have planned to support and grow your most important customer over the next twelve months © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 20 UID SKILL #3 – THINKING AND PLANNING MULTIPLE MOVES AHEAD WITH YOUR SUPPORT OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS Test #3 - List the activities or efforts you have planned to support and grow your most important customer over the next twelve months 1/1 12/31 - Mastering (and utilizing) a multiple-stepped plan to maintain and grow your most important customers - Increases your customer's loyalty and satisfaction with you and your company - Provides a great response when a buyer asks "What have you done for me lately?" - Provides a support plan that can be understood (and supported) by your entire sales and support team - Customer support and inside sales teams can provide better customer support when they understand what you, as the sales rep, are trying to accomplish or achieve with a customer - If you ignore or have no multiple-stepped plan to maintain and grow your most important customers - Your most important customers will likely see less value, or uniqueness in you and your company opening you up to lower priced competitive threats - Your customers will treat you more like a vendor than a trusted advisor - Without a plan you will likely just keep repeating the same sales call to a customer asking them (in the same order every time): - "Anything you need?" - "Anything coming up?" - "Anything I can help with?" - "How's the family?" © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 21 UID SKILL #3 – THINKING AND PLANNING MULTIPLE MOVES AHEAD WITH YOUR SUPPORT OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS - Ideas to help you evaluate your team’s mastery of a multiple-stepped plan to maintain and grow your most important customers 1) Drawing this visual, ask each sales rep to write down everything they have planned for their most important customer over the next twelve months that will help maintain and grow their business 1/1 12/31 - Expect to hear three sets of responses from your sales reps: 1st – "This is how often I call on this account" - But only solving problems and asking the same four questions of: - "Anything you need?” - “Anything coming up?” - "Anything I can help with?" - “How's the family?" 2nd – "This is the social activity I have planned with this customer to strengthen our relationship" 3rd – "The only efforts I have planned are the things I plan to personally do" - Notice no efforts being done by the rest of your team will be part of their list or plans © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 22 UID WHERE ARE YOUR CUSTOMER’S SUPPORT LEVELS NOW? - Write down the five best “things” your customer services team are doing now to contribute to your customer’s experience 1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ - The four levels of customer service 4. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ - The evolution of customer service and support as a competitive advantage 1st – (Oldest) – Service based on responsiveness 2nd – Service based on preventative efforts 3rd – (Newest) – Service based on predictive efforts © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 23 UID WHERE DO YOUR CUSTOMERS SEE YOU? Trusted Advisor - Increasing customer order size and loyalty Business Growth and Profit Generator - Offering new ideas and suggestions PROACTIVE REACTIVE "Specials" Presenter - Covering as many "special deals" as possible Order Taker / Problem Solver - Taking care of your customer's problems © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 24 UID WHAT EXTRA "WOW" EFFORTS CAN YOU OFFER YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS? - Customers do not tend to remember reactive service and support efforts (unless there was a problem) - Invest in your most important customers by offering or initiating efforts to help - Your proactive selling efforts will separate you from your competitors - Helps improve a customer's overall satisfaction and loyalty - Gives you an excuse to get "Higher, wider and deeper" within your account - What can you offer or suggest to provide extra value to your most important customers? - In-house safety or skill training for their workers - Personal contact (phone or face-to-face) with your senior leadership - Senior management asking "What kind of job are we doing for you?" and "What can we do to make it even better?" - When your customer's business is significantly smaller than yours, offer free business training seminars or consulting conversations with your corporate experts - How to make more money (or lower your costs) in your business - HR or management organizational issues - Participation in special projects looking for new opportunities or efficiencies - Arranging a private meeting with your support team to discuss how you can improve your support and make working with you easier - Attended by your sales manager, outside sales rep, inside sales rep(s), service or warehouse manager © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 25 UID SUGGESTED ACCOUNT PLANNING COACHING SESSION AGENDA 1) History (Brief time) - “What’s been happening?” - “What’s the latest?” 2) “Crisis” and transactional closing problems (Brief time) - “What’s it going to take to close this business?” - “What’s it going to take to solve this problem?” 3) Review and discuss planned actions with your selected account 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. To whom are you talking? What equipment/products do they currently have? What additional equipment/products do you think they will need? What other competitors do you expect to be going after this business? Who do you think you should be strengthening your relationship with at this account? How do you plan to position our company’s philosophies and messaging with this customer? 7. What is your 90-day plan to work to win this business? 8. What can you do to increase your competitive advantage with this account? 9. What else can you do to get your profitability up on this sale/proposal? 10. How can you best position our higher price? 4) Recap and summarize identified action plans and completion deadlines © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 26 UID ACCOUNT PLANNING FORM - Page 1 of 4 - Where we are now Account Name: ______________________________________________ 1. Important top contacts you have already met: Status - Champion (and supporter of your company) - Friend (of your company) - Neutral (toward any company) - Biased (toward another company) - Unknown (where they stand) Name ______________________________ Job Title _________________________ Status ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ 2. Current products used: Products ______________ Quantity Part # _________ ______________ Date first purchased _________________________ ______________ _________ ______________ _________________________ ______________ _________ ______________ _________________________ 3. Products requested by customer or expected to be proposed Products ______________ Quantity ______________ Why? _________________________ Expected Delivery _________ ______________ ______________ _________________________ _________ ______________ ______________ _________________________ _________ 4. Who else do we expect will be proposing? Competitor Strengths Weaknesses ______________ _________________________ __________________________ ______________ _________________________ __________________________ ______________ _________________________ __________________________ 5. Who currently has the competitive advantage to win this business? _____________________________________________________________________ © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 27 UID ACCOUNT PLANNING FORM - Page 2 of 4 - Where we want to go Account Name: ______________________________________________ 6. Most Important top contacts still want/need to meet: Importance - Critical (to us winning this business) - Important (to us winning this business) - Positive (for us to be talking with them) - Unknown (what their real impact will be on their final decision to buy) Name ______________________________ Job Title _________________________ Status ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ ______________________________ _________________________ ______ 7. Our current competitive strengths and weaknesses with this customer: Strengths Weaknesses _____________________________ ____________________________________ _____________________________ ____________________________________ _____________________________ ____________________________________ 8. How we plan to position our company and our philosophies and messaging with this customer: Our selling message ______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 9. Key goals we want to accomplish with this customer Goal #1 _________________________________________________________ Goal #2 _________________________________________________________ Goal #3 _________________________________________________________ © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 28 UID ACCOUNT PLANNING FORM - Page 3 of 4 - How we plan to win this business Your planned selling strategy with this customer Selling “to-do’s” and action plans to win this business © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 29 UID Sales Professional: ___________________________________________ Account Planning Form For Existing Accounts – Page 4 of 4 Account Name__________________________ 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Date Prepared ___________ 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Account Growth Plan - New products to propose Contact Growth Plan - Existing accounts - New contacts - New locations Business/Executive Review & Growth Planning Introduce New Products and Technologies Executive Involvement Social Entertainment Customer Service Reviews © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 30 UID HOW TO GET MORE HELP WITH YOUR MULTIPLE-STEPPED PLAN TO MAINTAIN AND GROW YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS - This is also a challenging sales training topics to get help since few sales trainers or publishers understand or teach the tactical skills of thinking and planning multiple moves ahead - Lead your team in a discussion of what you can do that will have the most value and impact on your important customers - Could be done for all customers - Could be done for all of your most important customers - Could be done (and of value) to just one of your important customers - The key to this planning effort is to identify ideas and areas you can suggest and initiate with a customer that they will find of interest and value - Goal is to prove your interest, support and value to this customer - How will you help them: (The Four Core Values) - Lower their risk? - Make their lives or work easier? - Increase their profitability (or lower their total costs)? - Increase their competitive advantage? - Look to other industries for creative ideas - How can you involve other members of your support team and upper management? - Include these ideas and plans in your account planning efforts - These types of proactive efforts will only continue to occur with involved management coaching and multiple-stepped account planning - Organize your year into selling campaigns - One campaign cycle is long enough for a sales rep to talk with all of his/her important accounts (Most selling campaigns are four weeks long) - During each campaign each sales rep will talk about those ideas to as many of their customers as possible as they make their normal sales calls in their territory - Have a maximum of two ideas highlighted in any campaign - One campaign idea focuses on how to better use, or get more value out of your products/services - One campaign idea is to help improve your customer's business that doesn't necessarily require them to buy your products to take advantage of your idea or suggestion - Work with your team to plan and prepare multiple campaigns in advance - What literature or support material will be needed to support this selling campaign? - What additional information or training does our sales team need for this selling campaign? © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 31 UID Improving Your Team’s Tactical Selling Skills Increasing Your Customer Control and Future-Focused Account Planning Skill #4 – Connecting Within Your Most Important Accounts Test #4 – Identify your plan to get higher, wider and deeper within your largest and most important customers © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 32 UID SKILL #4 – CONNECTING WITHIN YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS Test #4 - Identify your plan to get higher, wider and deeper within your largest and most important customers - Getting “Higher, Wider and Deeper” - “Higher” - Calling on more senior managers or company executives - “Wider” - Calling to other departments or users who are impacted by your products or services - “Deeper” - Calling on the front line operators or users of your products or services - Getting "Higher, Wider and Deeper" within an account - Potentially opens up additional business opportunities because of your conversations with a wider range of people within your customer account - Increases your competitive advantage (reducing competitive threats) because you have a wider range of people aware and interested in your company and products - Improves your customer service opportunities by receiving feedback from a wider range of connections at your important customers - If you ignore or make no effort to get "Higher, Wider and Deeper" - How many of your accounts are "One car wreck" away from you losing the business (or having it put out to competitive bid)? - The "Car wreck" sales test – "Did you hear the news? Your main buyer contact at your most important account was just killed in a car wreck…will you still keep the business?" - The average distribution sales rep has over 50% of their accounts exposed due to them only calling and being connected with a single buying contact at their customer - You expose yourself and your company to an "end run" where your competitor convinces other departments or more senior executives on the value and uniqueness of doing business with them instead of you - Ideas to help your team get "Higher, Wider and Deeper" 1) Look for exposed accounts where a sales rep has not successfully gotten "Higher, Wider and Deeper" - Put those customers or prospects through your account planning coaching to identify plans to correct this situation © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 33 UID ADJUSTING YOUR LANGUAGE AND SELLING MESSAGE TO YOUR BUYER Owner/CEO Level STRATEGIC LEVEL (Proactive) “How will this help me improve our brand, profitability or market share?” Direction, profitability, growth and market share Vice President Level “How will this help me improve our performance, profitability or effectiveness?” Department Head Level “How will this help me improve my department’s budget, performance or quality?” TACTICAL LEVEL Department profitability, budget, tracking, product and quality improvement Manager Level “How will this help my team by making their job simpler, faster or lower cost?” Worker Level “How will this make my job easier or improve the quality of what I do?” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. OPERATIONAL LEVEL (Reactive) Maintaining productivity and quality Page 34 UID HOW TO GET MORE HELP GETTING YOUR SALES TEAM "HIGHER, WIDER AND DEEPER" WITHIN THEIR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS - This is best handled as an account planning and sales coaching opportunity - Include discussions about how to get "Higher, Wider and Deeper" within all of your account planning discussions - Getting "Higher, Wider and Deeper" does not happen naturally within an account relationship - It takes creative planning and selling to get around or above a main buyer - Ideas to help your team get "Higher, Wider and Deeper" 1) Never go around a buyer…take them with you - They will need to see the value to them in you getting higher, wider and deeper than just calling on them - Use the four core values (How can you help lower this buyers risk, make their life easier, help them save money or increase their competitive edge?) 2) Change your message - The higher up you go within a company the more your language and focus of discussion will change 3) Have a reason to meet them - "Just wanted a chance to meet you and introduce myself" just tends to irritate customers - Great reasons to get a few minutes in front of senior customer management - Explaining a new industry direction (and its impact on their business, profitability or usage) - Significant new industry technologies, products or services that can dramatically impact this customer, their business and profitability 4) Use your senior managers - The easiest way to get a meeting with customer senior management is when "My senior manager would like to meet with your senior manager to discuss how we can be of more value and assistance to you and your company" © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 35 UID SECTION IV Strengthening Your Team’s Strategic Selling Skills Strengthening your team’s ability to communicate a stronger message of competitive positioning, value and uniqueness Skill #5 – Communicating a Stronger Message of Competitive Positioning, Value and Uniqueness Test #5 – Write down the major bullet points you would explain when answering a prospect or customer who asks, “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 36 UID SKILL #5 – COMMUNICATING A STRONGER MESSAGE OF COMPETITIVE POSITIONING, VALUE AND UNIQUENESS Test #5 - Write down the major bullet points you would explain when answering a prospect or customer who asks, “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” - Mastering (and utilizing) a consistent message of competitive uniqueness and value - Increases the consistency and persuasiveness of your sales team by having a brief and effective message of why you are unique and have more value - Helps you sell more at higher prices - The more of a differential in value you can communicate, the higher a price buyers will pay (compared to your competition) - Helps provide a common message or focus for all employees to work to fulfill for your customers - If you ignore or have no consistent message of uniqueness and value - Inconsistent performance results from the sales team due to each sales person communicating a different message of value and reasons to buy from them - Sales people will be promising support the rest of your team doesn't know about or is able to fulfill. - The weaker your message of uniqueness and value, then the weaker your competitive advantage and justification to win the business at anything other than the lowest price - Ideas to help you evaluate your team’s mastery of your message of uniqueness and value 1) Ask your sales team to write down the major bullets they would cover if a prospect or customer asked them "Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me, would I want to buy from you and your company?" 2) (After everyone has written down their answer) build a list on the board of everyone's answers - Notice how 1) everyone has different answers and 2) Few of the responses are actually of value or unique from what your competition is already saying © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 37 UID DO YOU HAVE A STRONG STRATEGIC MESSAGE OF COMPETITIVE UNIQUENESS? - How are you answering the question, “Why based on all of the competitive alternatives available to me, do i want to buy from you?” 1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 38 UID THE FOUR CONSISTENT PROBLEMS WITH A SALES TEAM’S MESSAGE OF UNIQUENESS Problem #1 – Everyone’s Saying the Same Thing… - Four most common answers: - “Our high quality products or services” - “Our strong level of support” - “Our competitive prices” - “You get me” Problem #2 – Everyone Has Different Answers (when they aren’t saying the four same points). - How many different responses did your team generate? Problem #3 – Sales Reps Only Talk About Themselves. - Give your answers the X’s and O’s test… - “X” out every time you say “us,” “we,” “our,” your name, your company name or your product/service names - “O” circle every time you say “you,” “your,” or mention the customer by name or use their company name - What is your balance of “X’s” to “O’s”? Problem #4 – Your Answers Assume You Are Alone in the World. © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 39 UID USING THE “FOUR CORE VALUES” ON A DAILY BASIS TO INCREASE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE - Focus On Core Values, Not Just Product Intangibles. - Why do your customers really buy? - The closer you identify to your customer's core values, the stronger your position of uniqueness. - Positioning Your Product vs. Your Competitors. - How Can You Incorporate the Four Most Critical Core Values Into Your Selling Message? - “Lower my risk” - “Make my life or work easier” - “Lower my total costs or increase my profitability” - “Increase my competitive advantage” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 40 UID THE EVOLUTION OF A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Connectivity & Info Control Speed, simplicity & ease of doing business Brand Service Products Location/Proximity BOOMERS Most Value MILLENNIALS Most Value Connectivity & Info Control Connectivity & Info Control Speed, simplicity & ease of doing business Speed, simplicity & ease of doing business Brand © Copyright 3/2016 Brand Service Service Products Products Location/Proximity Location/Proximity Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 41 UID TEN STEPS TO STRENGTHENING YOUR TEAM’S MESSAGE OF COMPETITIVE UNIQUENESS Step 1 – Agreement - You are not in a price driven market. - All markets are value focused. You increase your ability to win against lower priced competitors by increasing your value and uniqueness – not by dropping your prices. - Your goal is to communicate how you are not the lowest price…but can prove how and why you are the lowest total cost for your buyers. Step 2 – Identification - Your uniqueness and competitive edge will no longer likely come from your products, but from your support organization to help your customers increase their utilization and ease of using your products. Step 3 – Build a team list - on a flip chart pad or white board, of the major points to answer a customer or prospect asking you, “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?” Step 4 – Put your completed “Why buy” list through the four consistent problems or tests of your uniqueness message. - This proves to your team how and why their current responses need to be strengthened and improved. Step 5 – Discuss the “Four Core Values” and how they apply to your organization. - To prove these core values fit all buying opportunities ask your team to identify any terms on their “Why buy” list that do not tie directly into at least one of the four core values. Step 6 – Discuss as a team how you can repackage your value and uniqueness into one consistent message delivered by all members of your team. - Once you develop your new message do not put it in print, in a brochure or on your website so you can keep your message away from your competitors © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 42 UID TEN STEPS TO STRENGTHENING YOUR TEAM’S MESSAGE OF COMPETITIVE UNIQUENESS... Step 7 – Test your message to insure you are moving in the correct direction. 1st - Share your new message with some of your best customers (“We’ve been working to clarify why others would want to buy from us…do you think our new message accurately describes our competitive value and uniqueness?”). 2nd - Share your new message with prospects (“We’ve always described our uniqueness and value based on…”). 3rd - Start sharing your new message with everyone your distributorship talks to, either existing or new. Step 8 – Discuss your expectations of how much of your message you expect each member of your team to be able to communicate. - Sales people – all message levels. - All managers – at least the first two levels. - Service and support people (including your drivers) – at least the first level. Step 9 – Work with all members of your team to learn and consistently communicate your new message of value and uniqueness to all prospects and customers. Step 10 – Monitor your customers and competitors to insure your message continues to accurately communicate your competitive value and uniqueness. © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 43 UID SECTION V Suggested “Next Best Steps” © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 44 UID KEYS TO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND INCREASED SALES 1) Strong response to “Why buy from you?” consistently delivered by your entire team. 2) Defined (and coached to) “Selling Process Best Practices.” - “ID to Close” new business selling process. - “1/1 to 12/31” processes to support your best customers. - Operational “Steps of a Sales Call” and “personality flexibility” skills. 3) Proactive “Selling Process” coaching to all team members. - One hour a week, (for each assigned sales person), discussing “Future Focused” account and territory planning and strategy. - Free up time to coach. - Each sales person prepares written plan for his or her five most important accounts. - Break up the year into 2-4 month selling campaigns. © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. Page 45 UID APPLYING THE SIX PHILOSOPHIES OF SUCCESSFUL SALES COACHING Be Proactive Be Tactical “Can I stop reacting and start initiating?” “Am I following my multi-stepped selling process?” Be Strategic Think Multiple Moves Ahead Be Politically Aware Be Value Focused © Copyright 3/2016 Jim Pancero, Inc. “Have I communicated my value and uniqueness?” “Can I think and plan more moves ahead?” “Can I get ‘higher, wider, and deeper’ with my customers?” “Am I selling ‘lowest total cost’ instead of lowest price?” Page 46 UID VISIT PANCERO.COM TO ENHANCE YOUR SALES AND SALES MANAGEMENT TRAINING - Blog Articles for Sales Pros and Sales Managers to help you with In-House training. Each article has a "Print & PDF" button that will format the article for your printer or create a PDF, your choice. http://www.pancero.com/videos-audiosevaluations/ - MP3's - MP3 audio training by Jim that you can listen to while on the go, can be played from your phone or tablet. http://www.pancero.com/videos-audios- evaluations/ - Videos - Watch training videos from Jim. Sales and Sales Management topics are covered, including new videos covering SWAT Team Selling and more coming so bookmark the site. http://www.pancero.com/videos-audiosevaluations/ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TAP INTO THE APP! Have Jim’s expertise at your fingertips, Videos, Audios, Articles, Sales Evaluation, available anytime to help sharpen your selling and sales management skills. Available now for iPhone, iPad, Android, Tablets. Search for: Jim Pancero _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Evaluate Your Skills! Free 20 Question Sales and Sales Leadership Tests! The 20-question multiple choice Sales Evaluation for sales reps is a comprehensive analysis tool designed to help you as a sales rep increase awareness of your strongest selling skills, as well as the skills that, if improved, could most help you increase your selling abilities. www.pancero.com/sales-evaluation The goal of the 20-question multiple choice Sales Leadership Evaluation is to help improve your ability to lead a sales team. By answering these evaluation questions, you can learn specific skills that could improve your leadership success. www.pancero.com/sales-leadership-evaluation Both tests can be taken multiple times to see how your skills are increasing and all tests results and analysis are instantly available online and emailed. 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