October 2009 – Ed Warner-Enterprise Software Sales

It’s here folks, do-or-die time for those on the calendar sales cycle! Are you ready?

Right about now people up and down a sales organization’s chain are either confident or extremely worried about the approaching end of quarter (EOQ). No doubt, it has been a tough, tough year and it isn’t over yet, so don’t give up the ship just yet. There are some things you can do and some things you can’t.

Having one or more deals that seems to be stuck in the pipeline is one of the most frustrating situations a salesperson can encounter, and even more so as the year-end looms closer. One of the things you cannot do is BEGIN the selling process in hopes of getting closure by December 31. The exception to this is the transactional or commodity sale, but this isn’t guaranteed either. So What Can You Do?

Assuming you are still holding a live close, you can and must turn up the heat. But how?

- Go back to your internal coach or advocate and ask
- Decision maker relationships are key here; What are they waiting for? What is crucial to them?
- Sales management can help; ASK!

Holding out could just be the company’s way of negotiating. Turn this around and re-negotiate, but before you do, make absolutely sure your tactic will make a difference.

Here is a graph I share with salespeople that explains very simply where ANY action takes place; in ANY organization. I share that with you now.Â (Click for a bigger image) Using this simple graph, you can add a tick marks and pretty accurately track the closure time of the deal.

Don’t get wrapped up in emotion and be pressured to make concessions you later regret. I am a firm believer in NO unilateral concessions. If your prospect wants to play this type of ballgame, then request something from them that has value to your company, like access to the CIO, CFO or any other officer that would benefit your company and gain a deeper business relationship.

After doing all this, the deal still may slip into the next year. It happens. Especially in this economy.

Ok you are wondering about the “Beyond” part from the article title. As I stated before, some deals are going to slip into the next quarter. Here and now is where you want to begin planning for the coming quarter even if you have no idea about your quota, territory, etc. Begin planning with the thought of moving some of your customers into the top tier of your account list. In my last article, So You Wanna Be the CEO I explain how this can be accomplished. Additionally, I have another article, 5 Tips to Practice Daily that explains the refocusing of your efforts towards the top percentage of your customer base. The following picture illustrates what your goal should be, achieving the top level of this pyramid. Once you reach this pinnacle, the customer sees you as golden. Word of caution; rarely is this level obtained in the eyes of the customer.

If you find this useful, Contact Me or please leave a comment. If you have a Twitter account and found this article useful, it would be much appreciated if you would retweet this at the beginning of the article!

Happy Selling!

Ed Warner

So You Wanna Be the CEO?

CEO’s have a tremendous burden in that they must not only perform, they must often outperform. They fail not for the lack of planning, strategy gaze or the lack of a long-term vision, rather because of a simply task, Execution.

Too often we (salespeople and alike) act as though our tasks and daily routines are insignificant. On the contrary, everything you do has a certain degree of separation that touches the bottom line. We fail to realize just how important our job is, regardless of the occupation. In spite of where you are in the corporate structure, treat your sales territory as though you were the CEO… Execute!

In order to execute, you still have to have a plan, but the execution must cover the humdrum details of account management. Many a salesperson has made the mistake of believing they can do these at their leisure. and the customer will be happy! Nothing could be further from the truth. I am a relationship sell kind of person, therefore I believe in cultivating relationships for the long-term. I do not believe in the churn-n-burn mentality. If that’s your nature and it suits your job description, then more power to you. But if your goal is to keep the customer in hopes of selling to them again, there are continuous must-do’s you have to perform.

Follow-up and make sure your solution did indeed perform–their pain MUST be gone
Regular contact–this allows you to uncover additional pain or issues as they arise
Competition Watch–contact allows you to understand their penetration, if any

So what’s your excuse?
Sounds fairly simple, so why is there such a disconnect in execution? TIME Make the time and make the call or visit. I have heard just about every excuse, but the one that stands out is: I don’t have time, I need to concentrate on this quarter’s numbers. hourglass This excuse is the biggest reason for not doing anything; the illusions of time dwindle. You actually have more time than you realize and here is how you dispel the myth and reclaim the edge.

Account Division
In order to make sense of your time this really only works for those that do account management. Divide your customers into three groups, 1,2,3 or A,B,C. Decide on one key element that will divide them. It can be something like: yearly potential selling value, lifetime selling value or whatever makes sense for you.
Start by putting the top 20%-30% customers in the first tier, the next 50%-60% into the middle tier the rest in the last tier. Once that happens, make a contact plan for each of the tiers according to importance. Put this into your electronic calendar as a to-do!

Rule of thumb: 1^st tier call monthly, 2^nd tier call quarterly, and 3^rd tier call every six months. What are we trying to accomplish? Relationships. It’s all about relationships. Still true today, people buy from people! All of your 1^st tier customers should be your key account or best prospects. Increase ten-fold, the relationships you now have within those accounts. Failure to win this battle will guarantee you lose the war! This is a priority so treat it as such. Do what is necessary to cultivate the relationships

Your goal is to follow the same procedure for the next tiered accounts, but in a more restrained role. Tier 2 accounts can be thought of as the next Tier 1 accounts so starting early puts you ahead of the curve. The last tier of customers need to be jettisoned or cultivated. As a salesperson, no one likes to say goodbye to a customer, but consuming more resources than their sales potential is capable of replenishing, it is time to cut the strings.

I will leave you with this thought provoking question: Why win additional customers if you cannot keep the ones you have?

Happy Selling!

Ed Warner