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Hi!
Here's the November 2011
issue of Psyche-Selling TM eNewsletter, and the
weather's getting colder while we brace ourselves for 2012.
While 2012 may
not be the end of the world as we know it, it sure has a lot of
dark clouds looming in the horizon. There are some
companies predicting a decline in sales and profits, and some
have already announced hiring freezes for for Q4 2011 in
anticipation of uncertainty and tough times.
In any case,
life will still go on. It's just a matter of whether you
know how to thrive in times of adversity.
Hence, this month's topics:
-
Thriving in in
Severe Adversity: Strategies to Overcome Insurmountable Odds
and Win More Sales; and
-
How to Overcome
Insurmountable Challenges and Achieve Great Sales Results
in the Hospitality Industry
This issue's main article is on "Thriving in Severe
Adversity: Strategies to Overcome Insurmountable Odds and Win
More Sales", and we look into ways you can help yourself and
overcome challenges to still generate sales and profits
in times of severe adversity.
In brief:
To read the rest of this newsletter, pls.
click here (http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html.
In the meantime,
catch c.j. in Beijing on 6 Dec 2011 as he conducts a half-day
workshop on
Spend Less Time and Get More Results for Your Sales Coaching
. Seats are limited. Reserve yours NOW by e-mailing
info@directions-consulting.com
.
Thriving in Severe Adversity: Strategies
to Overcome Insurmountable Odds and Win More Sales
by c.j. Ng
Carol is on a
"suicide" mission.
As part of an Oncology pharmaceutical sales team, Carol is in
charge of launching a new product to a market place that has
been dominated by a single competitor for 10 years. For
years, customers (i.e. the hospitals) have been waiting for an
alternative, and Carol's team is about to provide this
highly-anticipated alternative product.
Except that things are not
as simple as it is. Carol currently faces the following
challenges:
-
Her main competitor
Neuetische, with a 10-year lead in her market, is
well-connected with the main decision makers and buying
influencers;
-
Neuetische sales
team also outnumber Carol's team by 5:1, and could easily
deploy more manpower to specific customers to dissuade
customers from buying from Carol;
-
In terms of
marketing budget, Neuetische also has a lot more to splurge
than Carol's company could afford;
-
While customers are
looking for alternatives, most are taking a wait-and-see
attitude before committing to buy from Carol. Most are
simply using Carol's product as a bargaining tool to
negotiate for better terms with Neuetische;
-
While Carol's
products offer better healing properties for the patients,
the results are not immediate. They can only be
observed after using the new medication after a while.
In other words, Carol's product while being a better
product, is hardly a revolutionary product in any measure;
-
The Ministry of
Health is tightening its regulations on to make it more
stringent for hospitals to dispense medication to patients,
and hence shrinking Carol's already very competitive market.
If the above challenges are not enough, Carol's team is young
and most barely had any experience selling in tough market
situations, let alone selling in such severe adverse situations
.
Even in the
face of such a "suicide" mission, Carol is undaunted in her
quest to provide the better alternative to her market.
She knows that this will be a test of both will and wits, so
that she and her team can outwit, outplay and outlast the
competition.
Thriving Against
Insurmountable Odds
When we
face adversity or any difficult situations, we generally
have 2 choices: either we overcome them , or we run away
from them. In most cases, we will run away from the
very difficult challenges, UNLESS we have a clear reason why
we MUST overcome those difficulties.
Using a goal-setting concept from
Leadership IQ,
if you want to get yourself or your team to be motivated to
thrive against insurmountable odds, you have to do it the
HARD way as follow:
- Heartfelt.
Are there any reasons why you or your team resonate with
why we must overcome this adverse situation? What
is the purpose for the sacrifices and hard work to
achieve such goals? ;
- Animated.
People hardly feel excited about achieve a target.
People might feel a little more excited about "putting a
dent in the universe". Is there anything exciting
that you or your team will experience while overcome
those tough challenges?;
- Required.
What will happen if you DON'T overcome those challenges?
What are some of the negative consequences if you don't
succeed?;
- Difficult.
Interestingly, people feel more engaged when they are
given difficult, instead of easy goals to achieve.
This is provided if they resonate with your purpose, and
are given the required autonomy to utilise the best of
their talents.
One of the greatest mistakes made by
senior executives to motivate sales people is to provide
more "spiffs"
or bonuses if they deliver or exceed targets.
While some may argue
if money is a good motivator for
sales people, the bigger picture of
incentive-related motivation can be summarised using the
following formula:
In a
nutshell, if you are asking someone to put in a lot of
effort to achieve something that he thinks is
impossible, he might not even do so for a million
dollars because he does not see any chances of
succeeding, despite his best efforts.
If we
take a closer look at what's happening in many sales
teams, most sales people and even distributors tend to
sell the products they feel most comfortable selling at,
rather than the products that pay the highest
commissions. If you work out the math, it's very
simple. If you pay someone twice the bonus to sell
something that will take 3 times as much time and
effort, he won't do it. Period.
On
the other hand, if you want someone to achieve the impossible, you probably
won't be able to motivate him or her using money or any material incentives.
Achieving the impossible means putting a lot of effort to achieve something that
has a close-to-zero chance of succeeding. If someone is doing such things,
he must either be madly in love with what he is doing, or he's doing it for
something far more valuable than money, or both.
Outwit and
Outplay the Competition
To thrive in severe adversity, it's not enough to just have the will
to overcome all odds. You need to outwit and outplay your
adversaries too.
From the perspective of selling, there are 2 general ways of beating
the competition:
Generally speaking, customers hate to change suppliers, and hence
it's relatively easier to get them to add you as a back-up/
alternative supplier. Does that mean that you will always be
the back-up and not the main supplier? Of course not, and
here's why:
-
According to research by
Shipley, 80% of all bids are
awarded to current suppliers. Being a back-up supplier
means that you will get better chances to get bigger deals in
future.
-
If you provide better products or services, then let your
customers get to experience how you can add more value than your
competition for your customer. Your customer may then
decide to shift more purchases to you;
-
Being a supplier, even if it's a small one, allows you access to
the key decision makers and buying influencers, thereby
cultivating your relationship with the customer for potential
future sales.
Sometimes, even if your products and services are clearly more
superior, or even when your prices are lower, it does not mean you
will win the sale. In fact,
lowest-priced bids win less deals than
highest-priced ones, and the most technically superior
proposals lose 49% of the deals to inferior ones. To win, you
will have to consider multi-dimensional aspects so that you
lure your competitor's key accounts and make
them buy from you instead:
-
Reliability.
Compared to your competitor, can you deliver your promises in
ALL aspects ranging from product quality, delivery lead
times, maintenance schedules etc? -
Responsiveness.
Compared to your competitor, can you be more responsive?
Not just service responsiveness, but also sales team's
responsiveness to the customers' needs and concerns. This
also includes sales people who are stationed on-site at the
customers' plants, offices or facilities to help customers solve
problems when using your products .
-
Resourcefulness.
Compared to your competitor, can you harness internal and
external resources so as to provide customers a one-stop
solution for their needs?
-
Relationship.
Compared to your competitor, can you
seek to build relationship with everyone that has an influence
over whether this customer should or should not buy from you,
part from merely cultivating
guanxi with some key
decision makers? These buying influencers include the
gatekeepers, fault-finders, end users, and just about anyone who
will be affected by the products you provide, or who has some
contributions with regards to how your products can be used (or
not be used) in their company.
To obliterate the competition, ask yourself these
lateral thinking questions:
-
Why does the customer buy from their current
supplier? Why
they will or won't seek alternative suppliers?; -
Why not you suggest something that the customer is
not aware of? Why not approach someone else
in their organisation? Why not you do the
impossible for the customer?
-
What if you help customers
resolve some of their chronic problems and inconveniences?
What if you come out with some wishful and
outrageous ideas?
Give Yourself a Chance to Survive
Most
tough challenges require long periods of hard work before you can
overcome them. Most difficult periods will get harder before
they become easier. Hence, here are 3 main reasons why many
people failed in the face of tough challenges, rather than
overcoming them:
-
Trying to take on too many issues in too short
amount of time, with insufficient resources;
-
Giving yourself too tight a deadline, and not being patient
enough to see the results after a longer period of hard work;
-
Giving up half-way or getting disheartened when things don't
work out as smoothly as planned.
When things get really bad, there are times that we can
look at it from the positive points of view. In the
Six Thinking Hats lingo, it's about
using the Yellow Hat in the face of
many Black Hats. In
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), it's simply about
shouting and thinking "That's Good!" in the face of severe
adversity.
To win in tough times,
you will need to "march
1,000 miles and NOT feel tired" (行千里而不劳者，行于无人之地也), so
says Sun Tzu in the Art of War.
When
facing insurmountable odds, leaders and team members will have to
really be united as one, and be willing to support one another so
that the team synergises and thrive in severe adversity.
As Sun Tzu puts it,
if your goal and purpose is aligned from top to bottom,
you win (上下同欲者胜).
Need help in getting your team to overcome
insurmountable odds and thrive in adversity? Simply 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.
Power Breakfast Hour: 15 Dec 2011
Thriving in Severe Adversity: Strategies to Overcome Insurmountable Odds and Win More Sales
-
How to build trust and rapport
with demanding customers in difficult and challenging
situations;;
-
How to understand the causes of
bad customer behaviour, AND the objectives that you can help
them achieve; and
-
How
to use some Lateral Thinking methods to create innovative
solutions for customers that work!
VENUE: Crowne Plaza Shanghai • 400 Panyu Road (near Fahuazhen
Road) • 上海银星皇冠酒店 • 番禺路 400 号 （靠法华镇路）
DATE: Thursday, 15 Dec 20111
TIME: 08:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
PRICE: RMB 200 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.
Need a Keynote Speaker for your Annual Conference?
Whether you are holding a conference for your regional staff,
resellers or even customers, we have the right speaker who can help
you deliver the spirit of your conference, and effect positive
changes to meet your goals.
The topics our speakers can
speak on include:
-
Using the Six Thinking Hats® to
Resolve Conflicts and Build Synergy
-
The Conscience of a Leader: How to Stay True
to Yourself and STILL Achieve Exceptional Results
-
How to Spend Less Time and Get More Results
for Your Sales Coaching
-
Price is NOT the Reason Why You Lost the Deal
-
Achieving Exceptional Customer Satisfaction,
Productivity and Talent Retention by Boosting Your Employee
Engagement
-
Why Some Sales People Succeed While Others
Fail?
-
How to Lure Away Your Competitors' Key
Accounts, and Make Them Buy from You Instead?
Simply e-mail your requests
to
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-21-6219 0021
for enquiries. Sample video and audio recordings available
upon requests.
Practical Tips for Hospitality Sales:
How to Overcome Insurmountable Challenges and Achieve Great Sales Results in the Hospitality Industry
By c.j. Ng
Carl (not his real name), is the Director of Sales and Marketing (DOSM)
for a 4-star international business hotel in the suburbs of
Shanghai. Although a 4-star brand, the hotel's facilities are
good enough to match any 5-star hotel anywhere in the world.
However, the location of the hotel actually makes it very difficult
for Carl and his team to sell its 400 rooms. The key
challenges that Carl and his team face include:
-
Situated in an industrial area where there are literally no
international or big companies willing to pay the price of a
4-star hotel, so that guests can stay in better comfort and get
better service;
-
Surrounded by a litter of 3-star and budget hotels, where
cost-conscious visitors to the area find it more attractive to
choose the cheaper options;
Devoid of external parks and spaces that can be used for
outdoor
teambuilding programmes, which otherwise will make the
suburb location of the hotel ideal of teambuilding and company
retreats.
Undaunted, Carl led his team to target at the
MICE (Meetings, Incentives,
Conventions, Exhibitions) market. In particular, he targeted at
companies who would want to bring their staff a from all over China
and other parts of the world off-site to have a series of meetings,
training or strategic planning.
So far, Carl's strategy has
worked enough to keep the hotel afloat. Apparently, the
meeting facilities of the hotel is in such high demand, Carl can
actually "force" his customers to buy his hotel rooms, rather than
staying in a cheaper (and poorer quality) place across the street.
So putting ourselves in Carl's shoes, what else could Carl do to
build on this initial success?
Well, if we were to frame
Carl's target customers as "people who don't mind staying in a
faraway hotel, BUT would like to stay in a hotel with good
facilities", then perhaps we can target at the following groups:
-
Tour groups. During the 2010 Shanghai World Expo where
there's a shortage of hotel rooms, some tour groups actually
stayed outside of Shanghai, and then hopped on the tour bus to
get to the Expo.
-
Cabin crew. They've got the usual tour buses to pick them
up as well.
Companies doing outdoor teambuilding.
Didn't we say that there's no outdoor teambuilding spaces around
the hotel? Well, the nearest teambuilding facility is only
about 20-30 minutes' drive away, and companies who want to have
outdoor teambuilding AND stay in a better hotel can charter a
bus.
-
Industrial companies seeking to hold trade shows and
exhibitions. Exhibition centres are expensive, compared to
usage of hotel ballrooms. Since the hotel is in the middle
of an industrial area, why not?
-
Event management companies. Carl does not need to go
directly to customers all the time. He can also approach
the event organisers who could bring the people
The other way of thinking could be "how can we shrink the distance
between the hotel and places to shop, dine and wine?" In this
way, we have the following ideas:
-
Charter buses for guests to go to town;
-
Get a shopping mall to charter a bus, so they can bring hundreds
of hotel guests to shop at their malls. In this way, the
malls and not the hotel bears the cost of the bus;
-
Get a shopping mall to provide regular shuttle buses, especially
during peak seasons
These are just some of the ideas that we can generate to help Carl
get more sales despite his insurmountable challenges. Some
will work, while others won't, but if you don't generate enough of
all kinds of ideas, you probably won't find the one that will
deliver the best results for you.
If you would like to get more and better ideas how to overcome
insurmountable challenges and achieve great sales results, you can
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
LtdPsyche-Selling ng 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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