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Dave Stein

ASTD 2013 Sales Enablement Blog Series 2/27Years ago I heard this aphorism: “The only thing that never changes is that things always change.” This is certainly the case in business-to-business selling. Successful salespeople anticipate changes in the market by watching trends and adapting where appropriate. It’s not easy, but it’s definitely part of our job.ES Research sees four key trends that will affect the ability of sellers to achieve their goals and objectives through 2013 and beyond.First, and perhaps foremost, is the question: Who is doing the selling in your organization? Depending on the industry, 20 to 33 percent of people whose job it is to sell aren’t qualified for the positions they hold. That means that no matter how much training, coaching, and guidance you provide them, these people will not be able to deliver.Now, more than ever before, smart sales executives are employing a hiring process for sales and business development positions that includes a profile of the ideal candidate with requisite skills, traits, and behaviors; structured, behavior-based interviews driven from that profile; psychometric and predictive assessments; sales call and presentation simulations; and comprehensive reference and background checking. We have seen companies improve their hiring results by as much as 80 percent using such a formal, objective process.Second on the list is the need to adapt to increasingly influential buyer procurement teams. Both sides of the negotiating table—buyers and sellers—agree that buyers have gained more power during the last few years. Firms that are successful selling into organizations with a strong procurement function know that collaboration, not contention, will enable them to get the most from their negotiations. The seller’s knowledge of their own products and services, as well as the client’s business, is essential.Industry-leading sales organizations sell business improvement, not products and services. Prospects are most likely to buy when they know what value they will receive—in dollars and cents—when they will realize it, and any risks associated with the purchase. With that knowledge, sales firms are able to give their salespeople what they need, from value-oriented messaging to rock-solid business cases.Not surprisingly, technology is having a profound impact on the B2B sale. Recent research reveals that somewhere between 57 and 70 percent of a client’s buying cycle is complete before they ever contact a supplier. In this new world, it’s marketing’s job, not sales, to influence customers during the first half of their buying cycle. Once engaged, the sales team needs to be prepared to sell effectively—in a significantly compressed time frame.Sellers must leverage technology as well. Whether it’s researching your customers, learning about industry trends, connecting with potential buyers, or establishing yourself as a trusted resource and thought-leader, finding the right technologies to support your business strategy is critical. For example, savvy sellers employ Linkedin® groups to observe, learn from others, and put themselves forward as experts to those who would potentially invest in their products and services. Others use webinars and e-newsletters, such as this one, to nurture current and future customers.Join me at ASTD 2013 for my session “Sales Training: Trends and the Future” where we will begin with an assessment of the current state of sales training, common approaches that work, and those that do not. I will then discuss the key trends currently affecting sales training. You will leave the session with valuable insights and recommendations for updating or implementing sales training in your own organization. You will be able to apply lessons from this session to improve the likelihood of success in planning and delivering sales training within your own companies.Hope to see you in Dallas!The ASTD 2013 International Conference & Exposition is the premier event for training and development professionals. This year's event will take place in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. from May 19-22, 2013. Learn more about ASTD 2013's keynote speakers, educational sessions, and exposition at www.astdconference.org.

Four Trends in Business-to-Business Sales

As a seller coming out of sales, sales consulting, and sales training, I have a love-hate relationship with RFPs. I love them when I’ve written or influenced their content and, as a result, have exerted some control over the customer’s buying/decision criteria, and won the deal. I hate them (or rather disregard them, in most cases) when one surprisingly pops into my inbox and I quickly determine that my competitor has had a degree of influence in its content.The Buy-Side of the EquationWhen my organization, ESR, is running a client evaluation, we perform the requirements analysis and definition. We do that independently of any provider or any influence they might have among stakeholders.Why do we insist on doing the requirements definition? We know that whenever a sales trainer or consultant does a requirements analysis (their discovery process) it is most likely going to result in the highest priority customer needs matching the unique capabilities of the provider. It’s only natural. If I’m a trainer and have proven abilities in A, B, C, and D, I will gravitate toward challenges and opportunities for which A, B, C, and D are solutions for the customer. If the customer’s real issues are with E, F, G, and H, for competitive reasons, I may not acknowledge that—or in some cases, I might not even recognize that those conditions exist.(I know I’m going to get some angry comments and emails about this from sales trainers who will tell me they are open and honest with their clients about their strengths and challenges. I’m sure that’s true in YOUR case, but after nearly eight years of studying failed sales training initiatives, we know what really goes on a lot of the time.)Once the client signs off on the requirements definition, we propose a long list of providers based on a high-level match among those requirements and individual providers’ capabilities as we know them.Sell to the Customer in the Way They Want to BuyFrom the buy side, we expect anyone bidding for the business to understand how the customer wants to buy (by employing this process) and demonstrate willingness to work under those parameters.  It is also very important for our clients to understand how each potential supplier matches up against the prioritized criteria as stated in the RFP—criteria derived directly from that comprehensive and objective assessment we perform.When we publish the RFI or RFP, we assure each long-listed sales performance improvement provider the following:It’s a real opportunity.It has senior executive sponsorship.It’s budgeted.The timing of the events, including launch and roll-out, are short term.ESR has performed the requirements definition and wrote the RFP without any influence at all from any supplier.No supplier has been in the account since ESR was involved—therefore no one has the inside track.Every provider that receives an RFP has an equal opportunity to win. ESR will never solicit proposals from any company we don’t feel is qualified to win the business.In other words, we validate that this is a qualified opportunity where everyone participating has an equal chance to win. Many sales trainers have learned to trust ESR in this regard. They’d rather not go through this process, but they know it’s fair.The Short ListAfter the responses are read, analyzed, and ranked, a short list is determined. At that point, we strongly recommend that the client meet with representatives from each short-listed company to answer any and all questions. That’s also the time when the client and the short-listed firms get to know each other.ESR organizes and manages a finalist presentation day when each short-listed provider offers insight into how they will contribute to the customer achieving their sales performance goals and objectives. We also recommend that each provider to share with the client their differentiated and unique value and why they believe they are the best partner for the client. Each presentation runs about three-and-a-half hours. At that point the client evaluates each presentation among other factors and makes a selection.Bottom LineAs a result of this process, the selected provider is almost guaranteed to have a successful implementation because all the risks and rewards and strengths and challenges of both provider and client will have been identified and discussed openly by both parties before a contract is signed.This post is reprinted from Dave Stein’s blog Commentary of Sales Effectiveness.

Sales Training RFPs: What You Need to Know

Dave Stein’s December post, “Higher Education,” on the Sales & Marketing Management website reminds sales trainers that for competitive sales campaigns to succeed, they will likely need to provide learning opportunities that move beyond the basics. Founder and CEO of ES Research Group Dave Stein explains that salespeople typically participate in “a fairly standardized sales training curriculum, where terminology is the only significant difference from one approach to another.” Stein refers to this as Sales 101, with topics ranging from territory management to executing a sales call to negotiating and soliciting referrals. In other words, anything that falls under the categories of “building strong relationships with customers and understanding and meeting their business requirements.” Although important, Sales 101 training is not enough, contends Stein. Instead, training needs to broaden its framework to include advanced selling capabilities, including leveraging organizational politics and influence within your customer accountsunderstanding general business and financial acumendeploying military-like competitive selling strategies and tactics rather than plowing headlong into every opportunity the same way. To learn more about this advanced selling capabilities, read the complete article on the Sales & Marketing Management website.

Dave Stein

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