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Sales Training on Sales Tools – Could this Help You?

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Do you agree with the following 3 statements?

Traditional Sales Training focuses on a set of techniques that are taught to everyone taking that type of training.
The particular techniques being taught may or may not work in your particular sales situations.
But you still come away with an insight that could help you sell more. But often there is little or no follow up to help you develop that insight into a useful Sales Tool that you know will help you meet your sales objectives.

If you identify with this scenario, then Sales Training on Sales Tools may help you.

“The Right Tool for the Job” is how sales professionals distinguish themselves from others.

The Right Tool for You should be Customized to fit your particular sales situation.

It should be taught using the sales situations you face each week as part of the training, to help you really learn the tool and internalize it so you can use it confidently whenever you need to.

That mean on-going coaching is part of this approach. This helps you to stay focused and to learn to use your experience as a yardstick to make the Tool better for you.

If this resonates with how you feel Sales Training should be for you, then call us to find our more about how this can specifically help you sell more.

Frank Hood

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Sales Strategy, Sales Techniques

Is Sales Training Right for You?

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

You Have Additional Resources to Help You with Your Marketing and Sales Efforts

The first question to answer is, “What is the Return on the Investment of my Time and Effort, and the Money I am spending now?” You can determine this by adding up the hours you spend on marketing and sales, multiply those total hours by a fair hourly rate for your professional time (based on what you could charge for your time if you were spending the same amount of hours delivering your product or service) and then add to that the hard dollars you are spending now on whatever it is that you are doing. Add up this Total Investment $$.

Then divide your Current Gross Sales by Total Investment $$ and you will get your Revenue Per Dollar.

How, the ONLY reason you might want to consider Sales Training is to INCREASE this number.

No one is giving you money. You and your family eat from the results you get. This is all about the ROI on YOU.

You can Increase this in two ways. Get Higher Gross Sales, or Lower the Total Investment $$, or get a Big Hit by doing both at the same time.

Which type of Sales Training will give you the Biggest Hit?

Some Sales Tools focus on one or the other. Sales Training Classes focus on helping you Close an Interested Prospect. They assume you have an Interested Prospect to sit down in front of.

CRM and Marketing Automation focus on cutting costs. They may or may not have an impact on the number of highly qualified leads that you sit down in front of.

Another type of sales training is Sales Process Training that both INCREASES your sales while at the same time CUTTING YOUR COSTS to get those sales.

You must also consider what resources you have, even as a small company. You have your Time and Effort and Monthly Marketing Budget (no matter how small) as the Foundation Layer. Then one level up, you have Your Best Sales Message and the Best Media to Deliver that Best Message as resources.

Whatever you do, you must align the sequential elements of the RES Lead Generation Equation:

Line up The Best Message to the Best Person in the Best Target using the Best Media in the Best Sequence.

This is the KEY to getting a GOOSE THAT LAYS A GOLDEN EGG.

The more you line up each element of the Equation – the higher your overall yield, thus the higher your overall sales for the time, effort, and hard dollars you put in.

Now, you can operate off an Inverted Sales Growth Pyramid. You start with a low cost technique that will get you some initial results.

You reinvest some of that early revenue into a higher yielding, higher cost technique that still follows the RES Lead Generation Equation.

As you go up the Pyramid, now you have even more revenue to enhance your best performing technique, and to add new ones.

When you are comparing Sales Training systems, which one can offer you a variety of techniques that give you the option to choose the cost/yield variable?

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Categories : Uncategorized

RES Selected to participate in White House “Startup America: Removing Barriers” Workshop

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Revenue Enhancement Strategies was invited by the White House to participate in the “Startup America: Reducing Barriers” Workshop to be held in Pittsburgh at Chatham University.

Dear Startup America: Reducing Barriers Participant,

Your company has been selected for this important event. The Startup America: Reducing Barriers event is a regional platform that allows federal agencies to hear directly, from entrepreneurs and local leaders like you, on how we can achieve our goal of reducing the barriers faced by America’s entrepreneurs. Senior Obama administration officials need input on what changes are needed to build a more supportive environment for entrepreneurship.

I will report back to you on the items that were discussed and some of the solutions that were presented.

I will report that Uncertainty is keeping most small businesses from moving forward. The declines of the dollar, high fuel prices, both are causing inflation which impacts profits. Recommended Solution – Cut Federal Spending in Areas where waste and fraud are known to be high, do not raise taxes, redo the Health Plan so business owners know what kind of cost adding new employees will be after the year it takes to train them to be productive. Allow drilling on our own lands, with appropriate supervision and technology to protect the natural resources.

Do you have any comments that we can share with the contacts we will make tomorrow? What would be YOUR plan to get small business vibrant again?

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Categories : Small Business Issues

Replacing Lost Customers

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

This recession has hit all of our customers very hard. Some didn’t make it. For those that did survive, they may be coming back and their business level with you may be getting closer to what is was before this all hit in the fall of 2008.

If so, maybe you don’t have a need to find new customers. But if this isn’t the case, or if you need/want to grow your business from brand new customers because your current level is not enough, then this blog may offer some helpful advice to you.

So what do you need to do to get new customers? From our experience (61 + years combined) follow this sequence.

Every business owner soon learns, if you don’t invest in some kind of marketing activity, your business will not grow. So we are assuming that you are doing something here. The key is to ask yourself this question: “Is what I am doing getting me the results I want, or is there a better process that may get me better results for less cost?”

How did you answer that question?

This, for most businesses, is THE $64,000 question. Sales are the lifeblood of your business. If Cash is King, then Cash Flow is Queen, the King’s Boss.

How do you know, when it comes to the combination of your marketing and sales, how high is high?

The answer is simple. Measure, Measure, Measure.

Change one variable that could impact the results, do IT again, and measure. Is there an improvement?

The Market ALWAYS votes with its dollars. When your processes are aligned, you will see it directly in your results.

So what is YOUR Marketing Process? Better yet, what is YOUR BEST MARKETING PROCESS?

The same question goes for sales. What is YOUR BEST SALES PROCESS? Why?

What is the marketing and sales processes you are following now to capture business from new customers?

Figure out how to find the answers to these questions – and you will be able to have a Sales Generation Machine that will replace lost customers with new ones.

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Sales Strategy

In Your Opinion – Which is More Important – Your Sales Person’s Skills, or the Sales Process They Use?

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Many business leaders would probably say Sales Skills, as a natural reaction.

But how many of you have looked at the Sales Process your sales people are using? Have you taken an in-depth look, beneath the surface?

This data suggests that you might want to do this.

First – from a CSO Insights Survey, 80% of companies who reported even a non-monitored, non-measured sales process reported an improvement in sales last year, in the height of the current recession.

Second – from a Harvard Business Review survey of 1,275 companies, those who had a Level 4 Sales Process had a much higher level of sales success with much lower costs. Which process best describes how your sales team operates?

Level 1 – Everyone follows their own plan – sales unpredictable

Level 2 - Expect Sales Person (SP) to follow a process – but not monitored or measured

Level 3 – Enforce Stnd Process – but measurement looks backward – miss market changes

Level 4 - Dynamically monitored with feedback to SP on performance – coaching focus

Actual Results for companies with a Level 4 Process compared to Companies with a Level 1-3 Process:

Step 1 of Typical Sales Process - Accurately Target Prospects 47% to 27%

Step 2 of Typical Sales Process - Properly Qualify Leads 57% to 27%

Step 3 of Typical Sales Process - Effectively Present Value Add 79% to 49%

Step 4 of Typical Sales Process - Sell without Excessive Discounting 73% to 30%

Third – a Psychological study showed that Top Performing Professionals (including sales people) performed an astonishing 48% higher than Average Performers.

Here are the lessons these studies seem to reveal:

Both Process and Skills are important
So is Hiring the Best Person for the job
If you don’t have a Defined Monitored and Measured Process, you are late to react to changing market conditions and thus are wasting resources

Here are some questions these results provoke:

WHAT is your BEST SALES PROCESS? How do you know for sure?

WHAT are the skills that can optimize your BEST SALES PROCESS?

Aren’t these the ones you should be focusing on developing?

How many resources (and how much of your money) is being mis-spent now?

What is your opinion on all of this?

Smart Selling!

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Uncategorized

How to Quickly Assess What Sale Process Tweaking Could Do for Your Company

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

In one of our Blogs – we postulated the question – which is more important for sales success – the skills the sales person uses, or the process they use?

Our answer was both, but you have to focus on both. The Best Process that will yield the Best Results then sets up the Best Skills that will produce the Best Results from that Best Process.

So here is a Quick Way for you to see what we are talking about here. What could be the actual $$ impact on YOUR business?

Most business who have more than one sales person have a range of performers. There is a Top Performer, and usually some Average Performers, and usually one or more Less than Average Performers. Would you agree this describes your business as well?

For your Top Performer, write down here what their averages sales/month is: $____/month

For your Average Performer, write down their average sales/month: $____/month

What is the GAP in $/month?

Now, by using sales process analysis and tweaking, what if we could close that gap by half?

What would this mean in extra sales for your company in just one month?

Multiply that by 12 – what would this mean in extra sales for your company over 12 months?

Now multiply this yearly number by the number of average sales reps your company has.

What is the Total Impact in terms of increased sales over the next 12 months?

Is this large enough to look into this more closely?

Smart Selling!

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Sales Strategy

Are You Grappling with Not Being Able to Reach Prospects These Days? A Zen Answer

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Are you, like many small business owners and sales reps for larger businesses, finding it harder and harder to even get someone to talk to when you are prospecting these days?

Do you leave voice mail after voice mail, send email after email, and get zero response?

Does this make you feel that prospecting is futile and a waste of your time?

But what other way does your business have to generate new business? Business may be down from your past clients, so what is the answer?

I would like to suggest that you go back and take a good hard look at your MESSAGE.

This means EVERY ASPECT of your Message. The focus, the words you use, the tone of your voice on your voice mails, the content of your emails. The whole message does impact your results.

Here is a lesson that can be instructive if you apply it to your situation.

Your prospect has a need. You know, from his industry, that he has a need for a hole. But every time you contact them, you are telling them all about your drill. It’s features, its benefits, your training, your warranty, etc.

The prospect does not give a whit about your drill. He needs a hole and whoever can provide that, with a price that is reasonable, will get his business. He is too busy to compare your drill to your competitors.

If you reconsider this by putting in the details about your product, would that work for you?

If you keep doing what you are doing, and getting the same results, why keep doing that?

Good Selling!

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process

What is the Importance of Knowing Your Ideal Customer?

By Frank Hood · Comments (3)

Friday, January 14th, 2011

If I were to ask you, “Who is YOUR Ideal Customer”, how would you answer?

Don’t’ dismiss this lightly. The key to getting more sales with less frustration and money is contained within your answer.

One definition that is spot on is this:

“My Ideal Customer has a need for what I offer, knows that they need outside help, and will appreciate me and my product/service and realize that he/she will get an ROI from investing in that, so he/she will not nickel and dime me as we progress through the installation.”

There is also the often overlooked Other Side of The Coin. What is your Ideal Customer NOT?

They are not everyone. They are not too small or too big. They are not located outside of where I want to travel or offer my product/service. And so on.

Take 10 minutes this weekend, and do yourself a HUGE favor. Ask yourself both these questions, and fill out on a piece of paper what comes to mind.

Then on Monday, look at this again, and see if you can formulate WHO you should be focused on with your sales efforts. Can you see how focusing on your Ideal Customer will help you Drive Your Business?

Good Selling!

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Sales Strategy

What is Inbound Marketing – and Why Should You Care?

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Friday, January 14th, 2011

If you have been in business for any length of time at all, you have developed some methods to reach out and touch people. Either your current customers, or prospects, or both.

No matter what technology you have found that suits your needs here (email newsletter, snail mail, periodic phone calls, postcards, etc.), you do have to reach out to keep business flowing.

But do you recall, the most famous “missing piece of the puzzle” of all?

What you are doing now is called Outbound Marketing. Are you using Inbound Marketing to close the loop?

Inbound Marketing is providing an easy and quick (both are important today) way for people to reach out and communicate with you.

It is almost entirely overlooked today, yet look at the results from companies who are using Inbound Marketing (results combined from an Aberdeen Report and an MIT Sloan Business School Report):

5 Times the Visitors to their Websites

4 Times the Sales

3 Times the Return on Investment for every marketing $

2 Times the ROI from their field sales people

No matter how big or small your business may be, would you like to get results like this?

Even if you did not get exactly this level of increase – what are you missing out on by not having Inbound Marketing?

Good Selling!

Side note – RES can provide you a very simple to use Inbound Marketing Automation tool for just $99 a month. Why not contact us to see if this could add value (and ROI) to you.

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Process, Sales Strategy

Want More Sales in 2011? The #1 Area for You to Focus that Will Grow Your Sales

By Frank Hood · Comments (0)

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

If you are like most people responsible for delivering sales results, you have a lot of balls in the air, a lot of initiatives that you are trying that you HOPE will generate business for you in 2011.

Are you doing networking? Some form of Direct Mail? Do you have a website that you expect to deliver leads for you? Do you depend on Referrals for the majority of your new business?

Out of all of these, the ONLY one you have Direct Control over is the Direct Mail. But if you have a limited budget of both money and time, this has its limitations, and most often is akin to pushing a rope up hill.

The others depend on someone else acting on your behalf, and with every other business person just trying to keep their business afloat, this is a Sales Strategy based on HOPE. And Hope is NOT a Strategy.

What % of your effort is under your control? Is this enough for you to Drive Your Business to the level you want, when you want?

If you don’t Drive Your Business, it will Drive You, causing frustration, anxiety, and causing you to WASTE your time, your effort, and your money.

Is this what you want for 2011?

If you don’t change what you are doing, but you expect different results, you know what that defines.

So WHAT can you do if this describes your situation now, but you have to deliver the goods in 2011?

From all of our years of experience, from Direct, Indirect, and Consulting many companies on sales and marketing, the #1 action that you can take is to make sure your marketing and sales message is spot on.

If you look at your website, it is more about you than the prospect you want to convert into a customer?

Look at your marketing materials, your handouts, trifolds, One Pagers, your Sales Presentations, etc.

Would they pass the “It’s Not About Me” test?

If your message does not resonate with your prospects, then you are wasting your time, your effort, and your money trying to convert prospects into customer.

If you really want to propel your sales forward in 2011, TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT THIS AS SOON AS YOU CAN.

After all, it’s YOUR time, YOUR effort, YOUR money that you are investing, and it’s YOUR results that you are responsible for.

If this resonated with you, read this again at least 2 more times.What message do you hear in your mind? Write that down and start to act on it.

Good Selling!

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Categories : Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Strategy