|
 Hi!
My name is
c.j., your trusted Sales Advisor, and here's the June 2009 issue of
Psyche-Selling
TM
eNewsletter.
Last month, we discussed about paying less and
getting more results for your sales training. Well guess what?
Check out our BIG event on 31 July 2009,
the 1st Kirkpatrick workshop ever to be held in China,
"Linking Action and Results to Training in China Using the Kirkpatrick
Model".
Go to
http://www.directions-consulting.com/Kirkpatrick2009.html for
details now!
War is
business, and business is war, or so they say. There are indeed a
lot of simlarities between the two, and most of how we organise
ourselves in business have their origins in some ancient armies.
In that sense, why not we look at one of the earliest "consultants"
known in war history, Sun Tzu (Sūn
Zǐ 孙子)?
Hence, this month's topics:
-
Sun Tzu and the Art of Selling; and
-
Optimising Your Sales Coaching for Best Results
This issue's main article is on "Sun
Tzu and the Art of Selling",
and it gives sales people some ideas on how to leverage a couple of strategic manoeuvres
that will help you in achieving better sales results .
In brief:
-
Know yourself and know your adversaries,
and most of your adversaries are your
customers rather than your competitors;
-
Just like water flows from upstream to
downstream, you can also opt for the
paths of least resistance and highest
receptivity;
-
If this is one sale where the stakes are
high and lots of people will be involed
in the buying process, cultivate your
network of informants to illuminate your
road ahead, or be prepared to lose the
sale.
Read on... ...
To
read the rest of this newsletter, pls.
click here (http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html).
Sun Tzu and the Art of Selling
by
c.j. Ng
It is a mis-conception that Sun Tzu (or Sūn
Zǐ in pinyin, 孙子 in simplied Chinese, or 孫子
in traditional Chinese) was a "real"
general, since there were no historical
records of Sun Tzu ever leading an army into
battles. He might have been conferred
the title of General, but in ancient China,
General lead armies at the frontlines, NOT
doing the planning and logistics at the
base, which was what Sun Tzu did.
However, the reason that Sun Tzu's treatise
in the 6th century BC, The Art of
War, have so much impact after 2,000 years
around the world has to be attributed to Sun
Tzu's keen observations of the battlefields
and other less visible aspects of war
In short, Sun Tzu
had observed, analysed and summarised what
works and what doesn't at war. Most of
what he had written turned out to be true,
if applied correctly. In fact as
recent as the 1st Gulf War in the
1990's, the elements of deception, speed,
and attacking the enemy's weaknesses used by
the allies had so much in parallel with the
Art of War, that some guessed General
Schwarzkopf probably used it as part of his
strategy. In other words, Sun Tzu is a
consultant, and a good one, whose
observations and conclusions withstand the
test of time.
In business, many
companies have used lessons from the Art of
War in business strategy, and more
importantly, in leadership. However,
there are some lessons from Sun Tzu that we
can apply in the field of selling too.
Know Thyself and Thy
Adversary
Once again, the biggest mis-quote of the Art of War is "Know
yourself and know your enemy, a hundred
battles fought with a hundred victories
gained".
The quote according to the
original text is actually "Know yourself and know your adversary, a
hundred battles fought and not be imperiled in any" (知己知彼，百战不贻).
The number "hundred" here has the same meaning as "countless". The
word "adversary" is used instead of "enemy", because in the former means
"opposing force", which is closer to the original text, while the latter
has elements of hatred in it, of which such strong negative emotions may
cloud your judgment in war (or business).
If you were to ask
any sales person who he think is the
adversary or enemy, chances are the answer
will be the competitor. Unfortunately,
unlike war, you can't blow up your
competitors' office and stop them from
selling. The adversary in sales, is
actually the customer.
Think about it.
Before you make your sale, your customers
may have their reservations about buying
from you. Your aim is to optimise your
profits and fetch a good price. Their
goal is to save money and cut unnecessary
spending. Both parties started off as
adversaries, initially.
The second most
frequent quote from Sun Tzu is probably,
"The best victory is the one that's won
without fighting." This couldn't have
been more apt for dealing with customers, as
your goal is to win them over and not to
crush them.
Yet according to studies conducted by
HR Chally,
some of the key customers demands of sales
people these days include:
-
"Sales people MUST understand our
business"
-
"Sales people MUST be our advocates"
-
"Sales people MUST provide (innovative)
solutions that work!"
From these comments, it's quite clear that many
customers are indeed waiting for some
enlightened sales people to win them over!
If you know what your customers' business
is, and you know how you can add value to
their business, you would probably have won
them over.
To win over customers, sales people would
have to do more planning before
communicating with customers.
In a less-often quote in the Art of War,
"Those who plan more will win those who plan
less." (多算胜少算，而况于无算乎) That's probably the predecessor
of "Failing to plan is planning to fail".
Unfortunately, most sales people and
managers are so obsessed with action and
activities that they forgot to plan, i.e. to
planning to understand customers' business,
be their advocates and provide innovative
solutions that works. While some may
view planning as a waste of "calling time",
if they plan less than their competitors,
they will lose the deal. If the plan
less than their customers in researching the
right facts, preparing for the right
questions and providing the right responses,
they will lose the deal.
And just like war,
being in 2nd place does not mean
you win the silver medal. Instead, it
may mean you've lost your customer to your
competitor, and may have to play catch-up
for years to come.
Be Like Water
"Just like water avoids
the upstream and go downstream, you should
also avoid the areas of strong opposition
and strike at points of least resistance",
says Sun Tzu (水之行避高而趋下，兵之形避实而击虚).
I would make a slight amendment on that
quote to make it applicable to sales.
In sales, avoid the people who resists you
most, and start talking to those who are
most receptive.
While conventional
sales thinking is to get the sales person to
call as high as possible, sometimes this may
not be feasible, nor may that be optimal.
If you don't really know your customers'
business enough to suggest possible
solutions that might work, some senior
people in your customers' organisation may
view meeting you as a waste of time, and may
not want to see you yet.
When this happens,
look around for those in your customers'
organisations who may be the most receptive
to your ideas and solutions. In China,
if you sell technical machinery, parts or
other solutions, customers are more
receptive to seeing technicians than sales
people. Their logic is that
technicians are there to help them solve or
improve some technical issues, while sales
people are there to take their money and
run.
Hence, in this case
you could get your technical people to play
the double role as sales people, or get
sales people to go on joint-visits with
their technical colleagues. Then you
target at their points of the greatest
receptivity.
There's another
quote regarding water too. "Now you
put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You
put water into a bottle it becomes the
bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes
the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend". That's from
kungfu legend, Bruce Lee.
In China, some
sales people can be so inflexible as to
communicate with the procurement manager
only, and when they meet strong resistance
with procurement, they just give up the
lead. One of our clients' sales person
decided to do something different. He
"flowed" to the more receptive department,
which in that case was the design
department, and increased the revenue from
that account by 10 times within 3 weeks!
Build Your Network of Informants
When you focus on your points of receptivity, don't just
stop there.
While some of these receptive people may be
influential enough to help you with the
sale, others may not. In any case,
once you won receptivity, you might as well
gather information from them. The
information you may be interested may
include:
-
What is the buying
selection criteria of the
decision-making body (sometimes when
even seeing the key decision makers may
not even give you any clues);
-
Whom amongst you and
your competitors are the key decision
makers and influencers favouring;
-
Who else do you need
to win over to win this deal, AND how
should you win them over?
Even when you lose a sale, find out the
reasons why you lost, and what you must do
in order to win the next one! One of
the key frustrations managers have with
sales people is when sales people reported
they've lost the sale to the customer's
regular supplier, and no further information
is given as to what needs to be done to move
one step closer to the sale the next time.
Depending on
the industry you are in, some sales cycles
may be longer than others, and a lot of time
and resources will have been committed to
get the sale. In fact, the higher the
value of the deal, the more likely that more
time and resources would have been committed
to winning that deal.
Hence, you owe it to your company, your boss
and yourself to get as much information
about your customer (or adversary) as
possible. If you don't, then "you are
extremely inhumane, you are not a leader,
you are unable to assist your boss, and you
definitely are NOT a winner".
(不知敌之情者，不仁之至也，非民之将也，非主之佐也，非胜之主也) . So
if you are not a winner, then you are a
loser. And during times of war, being
a loser will get you, and everyone around
you, killed.
To understand how Sun Tzu's observations can
help you boost your sales performance, e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-136 7190 2505 or Skype:
cydj001 and arrange to buy me a some
Chinese tea.
All information shall be kept in confidence.
Power Breakfast Hour: 8 July 2009
Sun Tzu and the Art of Selling
Join International Sales Leadership and
Performance Coach c.j. Ng in this breakfast meeting in Shanghai where he
will be sharing with you how strategies of war can be used in the art
(and science) of selling too:
- How to know yourself and your customers in greater detail -
before, during and after meeting them;
- How to be as flexible as water when dealing with tough customers; and
- How to gather information about your customer and competitors
through your network of informants
VENUE: Waga's Hongyi Plaza 288 Jiujiang Lu. G116 (Near Nanjing
Dong Lu Subway Exit 1, pls. enter via the office entrance)
(venue is subjected to change depending on demand)
DATE: Wednesday, 8 July 2009
TIME: from 08:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
PRICE: Just Pay for your Own Breakfast at the Counter (50% Off before
10:00 hrs + 1st cup of coffee @ additional RMB 12 ONLY!)
To make this a more conducive discussion, we are
expecting a small group of about 15 people only. The room can only take
in 18, so please register early to avoid disappointments. Please e-mail
your registrations to
sales@directions-consulting.com
Pls. check out our web sites
www.directions-consulting.com and
www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for more inspiration.
Creating Lasting Impact, Actions and Results for Your Annual Sales Conference
Are you planning for your annual or semi-annual
sales conference?
Rather than just talk, would you like your
sales conference to have longer lasting impact, and will lead to action
and results?
If yes, the good news is
whether you are looking for a
30-minute key-note, or a half-day workshop or a full-day's seminar, we
can help plan to make sure your next sales conference will be a runaway
success with lasting results. Whether you have a local staff of
10, or regional sales strength of 50, or a global network of 200 sales
people and distributors, you can have the peace of mind to have us
organise your sales event of the year for you.
Contact us
sales@directions-consulting.com or call +86-13671902505 to find out
ways to rejuvenate and recharge you sales force now!
Practical
Tips for Sales Managers:
Optimising Your Sales Coaching for Best Results
by
Michael "Doc" Pasela
(c.j.'s note: this is a statement from a practicing sales
manager on how he used coaching to get his sales team improve their
sales performance, with significant results)
I focused my training in a few easy steps and found great success
(17% increase over conventional classroom. (1 week field training
every third weeks for the first three months)
1. Spend two weeks prior to field training talking with the
recruit on the phone and emails. This gives you time to plan your course
of action and training.
2. Meet the recruit for coffee the night before and set down
the ground rules of the training. i.e. start time, meal times, outline
of the actual training, what you want to achieve and what you want them
to achieve. Bond, motivate and build the relationship.
3. Meet 45 minutes prior to starting every morning for
motivation time and the days outline and what needs to be achived for
the day. This builds time management skills, budget awareness skills and
relationship building skills.
4. You are at your first client's location. recruit
needs to go over the "What I need going in process. this takes a few
minutes and they are ready. The first day, try to do most of the
sales presentation and include the trainee.
5. You have left your Client. Now is the time to take
out their note pad and write down ..What was done, what was discussed,
did I achieve what I went in for and most important, What could I have
done better. You ask the questions and let them fill in the blanks. I do
this after every call I make and I have done it for 20 years. Have them
keep all these notes in a folder for future reference, after you have
made copies for yourself.
6. Day's end. Sit down for 1 hour. Discuss with the
recruit- did you plan your work and work your plan, discuss each sales
call, discuss successes and improvements.
By going thru this process and integrating them into the sales
culture you can handle objections, closes, presentations without losing
the sales. The mentoring and relationship building process occurs
and you will see your turn over drop and sales increase. I build
sales people for life this way.
This is a 12 to 13 hour day for both and it's is worth it.
I increased recruits weekly sales dollars by 23% and reduced roll over
20%.
Now, here's the real bomb. My sales peoples produced 18.5% sales
increase for 2008. All my people sold over the one million each in
2008 and they made 17% commission on the average.
P.S. That is why my middle name is Doc.
Thank You,
Michael "Doc" Pasela
+1-216-214-1085
Drdish1@aol.com
Linkedin -
http://www.linkedin.com/michaelpasela
My Linkedin Group: The Conference Room
For more ideas on how to implement effective sales coaching, you can also e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-136 7190 2505 or Skype:
cydj001 and arrange to buy me a mocha.
All information shall be kept in confidence.
About PsycheSelling.com
Sales... ...
the
lifeblood of a company, a matter of "life and death", survival or
extinction. Indeed, something that needs to be studied,
applied and re-modified consistently.
Yet today,
-
many companies
still don't have a coherent approach as to how they can generate
more sales and achieve better margins;
-
many sales
people are still lying to their customers so that they can meet
their targets at the end of the month;
-
many customers
are still waiting ethical and professional sales people to help
them find out their real needs, and provide solutions that work
Psyche-Selling
TM
is set up
so that companies and sales people can make healthy profits and
STILL provide genuine solutions to customers.
Psyche-Selling
TM
would like to create an environment where customers can trust sales
people to give them what they want, and NOT be pushed with all kinds
of products and services. In return, customers will become
loyal fans of these ethical and professional sales people, and repay
them many fold for the long-term.
Psyche-Selling
TM
will not rest, until the above is achieved. Not just in China.
Not just in Asia. But everywhere where buying and selling
takes place.
Psyche-Selling
TM
is a
wholly-owned brand of
Directions Management Consulting Pte Ltd that specialises in the
field of improving
sales performance by enhancing the performance of the entire sales
team. Apart from the regular "selling skills training",
Psyche-Selling
TM
conducts pre- and post-training analysis, interviews, monitoring and
reviews, working closely with managers and even senior management,
to deliver real improvements in sales leadership and performance.
Hence,
Psyche-Selling
TM would like
to be known as the preferred choice of outstanding and remarkable
clients, and pride ourselves as such. We will also be
continuing to assist our clients achieve greater heights in 2009 and
beyond.
Enquiries and suggestions,
pls. e-mail
info@psycheselling.com
or visit
www.psycheselling.com
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