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Sales research is a regular part of my role in helping to develop better results for my customers and their projects. Increasingly the first contact most of us have with a new business contact is via their website and that may be all the contact we have.

The question is- are we making it easy for strangers and prospects to do business with us. From a recent project where I looked at some 300 sites in NZ (+ Australia & elsewhere) - the answer is not very.

In fact there were still quite a number of companies without websites at all which makes it much harder to guess how they might be useful. There just isn’t enough time to call everyone any more and chances they’ll answer the call are also slim.

Usually I’m looking for a clear indication of what is most important to that business and some reason to explore further and maybe call them. Like many prospects I want to save time and get a clearer idea of specific areas where that company might be able to assist.

As I work on multiple projects in NZ and Australia there is a very wide range of sites and industries. Your future customers may be offshore and they too will likely check your website first.

Here are three of the better examples of sales positioning from the U.S, Australia and NZ.

Customer advocacy works!
This summary from a real estate agent got my attention. Hat tip to Andy who mentioned her in passing. There is almost too much information there including a video intro which I think we’ll be seeing more of. (Scroll to the bottom of the linked Mary Pope-Handy page. )

The style of the overall site is not to my taste but the real key in this is to make a meaningful connection with prospective customers.

Conveying credibility, honesty, respect and trust in a few paragraphs is not always easy but here is a paragraph that would have convinced me if I was I was looking for this particular service.

“Folks who are buying and selling homes in Silicon Valley are highly sophisticated. They don’t need a “sales job” but an advocate who provides them with good data and a way to make sense of it so they can make intelligent decisions that will have long-term benefits.

I work to help them, every step of the way, to analyze all the facts and stay current on everything affecting the buying and selling of homes: new laws, contractual changes and implications, trends, environmental issues and, or course, market conditions.

I use a lot of high-tech tools but keep an equally high-touch approach and am excellent at staying in constant communication. I am fortunate to always work with clients who are nice, honest, and committed to buying and selling - but also clients who refer me enthusiastically.

They tell me that they appreciate my knowledge, skills, dedication and determination, but above all else they recognize that I put their best interests first.”

Recognising that your customers are smart and that you need to add real value to the engagement process is critical. Understanding how to be professional and personal at the same time can win first chance at a new sale.

Law and legal services is a complex area and many prospects are wary of the expense and time commitments. Here is a great example of sharp positioning from Dilanchian who are intellectual property and innovation specialists based in Sydney. The site has almost too much information which is exactly opposite many of the larger law firms. One post in particular caught my eye - as sales positioning it has street appeal.

10 conversations about business models

“Listed in this post are 10 topics for telephone conversations we would happily have free-of-charge. If you want to discuss the topics call us whether you are a client, collaborator or a stranger. We’re proposing an open conversation to exchange thoughts, play cards and see where that might lead.”

1. What is affordable for you to do to increase the value of your business or go to the next stage?
2. How can you improve and secure revenues from intellectual property and fee for services?
3. Which branding and trade mark registration strategies help in an age of product proliferation?

Go there to check the other seven reasons and let me know what you think?

Collaboration Excellence
Also in the complex services space is the business of Michael Sampson who is focused on effective collaboration strategies and practice for a range of local and international clients.

“Michael Sampson helps people, teams and organizations improve performance through effective collaboration practices and technology.”

This site is is also information rich and engaging and but right there on the front page there is a single positioning sentence and a eye catching which cuts to the chase quite nicely. See speech graphic below.

So - does your website generate sales leads and support your business well? If so let us know what your top examples are. If not perhaps we can help. Ironically my services page needs an update now.

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The most successful businesses that I know follow a clearly structured sales methodology and a detailed plan to get there. It shouldn’t be too surprising that in order to get to a big sales goal there are a whole series of much smaller structured activities that need to be followed through.

Here are some outlines on key learnings from many years of successful marketing and sales campaigns.

1. Define Objectives

Typically a business will select a CRM because they want new customers or new business. They see this as a sales hunting exercise and often have other sales people for farming or account management duties. The sales “farmers” are looking to grow the business by selling more products or more volume of the same products and services to the same people.

So the first step in more successful sales plan is to decide whether you have new customers/new business goals or account management goals and your strategy will be different. Remember - a CRM allows you to treat different customers in different ways according to their needs, goals and desires.

2. Tips for Lead Generation

I was talking to a business owner recently about their needs. The owner has a number in mind for new business and is looking for the best way to get to that point. The traditional approach is to hire a business development manager who can understand the market and work out where the business will come from.

Except that in this example, little or no marketing has been completed to date. Marketing is the brains of sales. An effective marketing plan has to be part of the sales plan otherwise the risk is that that sales team resources are wasted on chasing deals they have less chance of winning than they should.

What this business needs for their new Business Development Manager is a lead generation campaign so that a reasonable sales pipeline* can be built up. (*Sometimes called sales funnel - typically a list of potential customers ranked in order of their closeness to a sales decision.) Note: lead generation can now be outsourced.

The sales team needs to have directed, relevant, useful engaging conversations with their strangers or suspects, prospects and their customers to understand the most compelling reasons why they should do business with you.

3. Work your Sales Funnel

To have a relevant conversation with a business you only suspect may have a need of your product or service some form of lead development is needed.   A marketer would have a target list of suspects and some form of communication to those people is then triggered. Often this is a multi format communication like a direct mail piece to the decision makers, a case study in an industry magazine and possibly even advertising in trade publications so that the target businesses have some idea of who you are / what you do.

At this point the phone may begin to ring - however - many of your competitors are doing the same, so you really need to “close the loop” by making contact with as many people on your target list as possible. This means making a series of phone calls to decision makers so that you can earn the right to be heard when that business has need of your services.

Many sales people make 1 or 2 calls at this point - however the golden number is 5. If you make fewer calls you will get to less people but if you haven’t reached a person after 5 calls then you should probably add them to a later campaign. There will always be a group you can’t get to in any campaign cycle. When you have spoken with each contact, determine how much lead nurturing they might need in future. When is the best time to call them again and what do they need to know about so that the relationship is nurtured to the point where you can bid. 

4. What Others Say About You Wins Business

So lets say you have seeded the market with information about your positioning - what do you actually say to those suspects / prospects if you can get some of their valuable listening time?

This is where careful thought on call scripting is needed. A script needs to frame your messaging about capabilities and credibility in a way that can cut through all the other sales messaging in your market.   You probably have 3-10 seconds to say something relevant to that person at that business before you get turned away.

What really works at this point is to get the suspects attention by telling them of a well known industry success where you were the supplier. This is especially powerful if you can quote that customer in their own words. A customer testimonial has major social capital and is much more significant that anything you can say about your own business.

As Brian Clark says

“What other people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself. This is the foundational aspect of linking and the backbone of social media.

Testimonials and media mentions are important because of the concept of social proof. We all, to vary degrees, look to others for indications of what to do and how to behave. Social proof is the basis of buzz, word-of-mouth marketing and fashion trends, but it’s also an important aspect of our day-to-day lives. We avoid sensory and information overload by looking to social indicators for judgmental heuristics that help us make decisions.”

More to the point - the suspect is more likely to believe you and give you another 30 seconds to communicate the “why” you are calling. This progressively wins you the right to more time to talk about the how and hopefully earns you an appointment where you can engage more fully in person.

5. Structure Your Sales Process

A sales call is therefore very important and needs to be carefully structured so that the prospect/s needs goals and objectives can be identified along with timelines, compelling events and other material factors like budgets and people.

So the next time a business owner asks you to sell - be very clear on all the key aspects of messaging, positioning, and proofs so you can build a quality pipeline. Every sales call needs to be a step closer to a sale for your product or service. Many times you will still have to wait for a budget cycle - but that is part of the discovery process and if you know that you can be in the right place at the right time.  Those prospects will already know who you are and you should make the shortlist for serious consideration.

The other part of the sales conversation is to be clear on the other 6 key decision metrics about that particular sales need.

6. Fine-tune with Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

If we follow a structured sales plan then we can use our CRM to fine tune these process steps and maximise our chances of success by making certain we are “in the frame” when an important opportunity comes up.

It is time to improve your strike rates with new business. We believe the notes above  provide an essential guideline for your business. To get help with sales planning and lead generation contact me now for a no obligation chat.

Find out the 6 key decision metrics you absolutely need to know.

If you would like more CRM related content please see these earlier posts

• CRM is not a Magic Bullet
• CRM & Knowledge Management
• What to Look for in CRM Strategy
• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1

sales leads marketing strategy lead nurturing marketing tips

Many organisations still see CRM systems as some kind of magic bullet.

Some vendors even oversell the features of their software when everyone knows that the benefits to customers, staff and owners will only come from successful business development strategies and management to match.

It is true that implementing a CRM system will enable business development processes to become more structured and focussed but: only if the management team uses the system to support sales, marketing and service strategies already in place.

In the early days of a CRM project there is often an emphasis on system skills. That is how best can we use the new system to support the various processes that are in place.

Hopefully the new system can be used to standardise, streamline and automate existing and new processes which will make life easier for all. What is sometimes missed though, are the longer term objectives which are ultimately to support methodologies and management in developing a resilient and resourceful business culture.

Often a key driver for purchase of a CRM is to provide a platform for winning new business by adding new customers and account management by adding new business to existing customers.

The skills needed to win new business and skills needed to optimise account management are complementary but not all sales people can do both well.

This is where the CRM might need different templates for opportunity management as different tactical considerations are at work. The sales manager needs to understand those differences and be able to provide resources if opportunities get stuck at any particular stage in the sales cycle. Providing that sales progress and process is documented inside the CRM then the sales manager has some key indicators to steer the various marketing campaigns typically based around acquistion, retention and growth goals.

Sales and marketing managers need to be able to make sense of all the data that is coming from the CRM and to also be able to adjust inputs to maximise results.

For example I have experienced sales calls where it is not clear to me what the value proposition really is. A standard question to ask sales and marketing people is; How is our offering different to our competitors? and then make sure that all sales messaging and proof statements will support that positioning. Note: the very best proof statements come from customer testamonials or other reference materials.

The CRM can then provide scripting guidelines for directed conversations about areas of mutual interest, but you will only get that chance if - you can communicate key points of difference and offer benefits to your target market.

Consequently, when you start customising your CRM settings you should be asking questions like

1. Do these changes support our sales methodologies and business development strategy?
2. Will they make it easier for our customers to buy from us?
3. Will they make it easier for our staff to provde the best levels of quality, service and value to customers? 
4. What is our sales metholodogy?
5. Does the system support our marketing campaign messages?

Mike Bosworth of Customer Centric Selling (as paraphrased by me) notes that it is more successful to:

“Ask relevant questions versus rendering opinions - people like buying but not being sold too..Sales are based on conversations” not sermons…
“We should enable buyers rather than selling to them.”

We do this by focussing on needs, goals and problems and working with buyer to use your product as part of the answer.

The real work in a CRM project can often be all about the tuning and articulation of sales methologies and practice management. As Mike Bosworth also asks in this podcast

“What are you automating? Do you even have a sales process?”

This is something that we like to help with so please call us with any questions or project needs in this area. Here is a list of related features on CRM that you may also enjoy.

• CRM & Knowledge Management
• What to Look for in CRM Strategy
• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1

Every so often I get calls from a supplier rep who says something like, “It says here, that I need to call you”.  And then I get some kind of half hearted pitch from them. 

More often than not, this is a cursory process that is needed so that staff member can tick the box and get on with whatever they do, the rest of the time 

Somehow, despite having account plans, a  CRM and job that is all about serving customers the people from this particular company have missed the one thing that might get my attention.  

We live in a time where most products and services are quite similar and these “moments of truth” are the times when a customer might walk because of such auto-pilot attitudes. 

Here is a very shortened version of  a true story that did the rounds a few years ago.  

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. A father is at a school function and he tells this story about his son Shaya

One afternoon, Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, “Do you think they will let me play?”

Shaya’s Dad asked if his son could play.

The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said “We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.” Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly.

Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. Eventually it was Shaya’s turn.

Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

The first pitch came and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.

As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman.

Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first. Run to first.” Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the Third baseman’s head.

Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second.” Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, “Run to third.” As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya run home.”

Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a “grand slam” and won the game for his team.

The story is by Rabbi Paysach Krohn and is based on the experience of one of his friends. It was published as “Perfection at the Plate” in a book called Echoes of the Maggid. You can read the full version at that site.

What has all this to do with CRM and customer service? Well as Gary Bencivenga puts it:

“It’s vital for all of us to understand that our prospects and customers are people, too . . . and people like to connect with others who are unafraid of showing a little humanity, of taking some time now and then to share a laugh, feel some warmth, express some sympathy, do a favor, help a charity, be a friend.

Whatever your product, however impressive your expertise, people will never care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Every now and then, toss a few pebbles of caring into your pond of contacts. Those ripples of friendship will spread and unfailingly return to you in waves of appreciation and loyalty.” Gary B

A certain level of empathy and caring is needed in customers services - some companies even call this their customer care team.

I wonder what would happen if the company which prescribes account calls for their staff got them to place a little card on their computer screen with comments like the one Gary mentions above.

It is not about the tasklist or the computer system - it is all about caring for people and letting your customers know that you care about their business as well.  

The key to really great CRM is in the way that businesses can leverage what is known about a customer’s needs, goals and desires; (knowledge management or KM) by translating tacit (and essentially unstructured) knowledge into customer insights.

The difficulty with customer interactions is that much of the really useful information needs to be collected in a structured way before it can become a business asset. A CRM is the ideal platform to capture such knowledge.  

Those tacit insights can then be used to better serve those customers in a more defined way. Therefore the CRM is contributes mostly to what becomes the Relationship capital of the business within the definition of capital as used by the KM model.

The other two types of generally acknowledged Knowledge management are Human Capital and Structural Capital.  The model comes from Sveiby and is a convenient way of understanding the different ways in which intellectual capital might apply to business.

Relationship Capital includes brands, reputation, customers and suppliers. Where it fits in a CRM is that it is often the ‘tacit’ knowledge that we gather via the process of engaging in multiple roles and processes with our customers.

Nonaka and Takeuchi described the difference between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge as a vital concept. They also credited Japanese business success to being better able to socialize and translate that tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.  

Long ago I worked in a large consulting firm where the best currency was what we called “war stories”.  These anecdotes were a form of experience and knowledge transfer from the senior staff to juniors and were based on actual projects and invaluable in developing the tacit knowledge needed for real success in that business.

Years later when computers and intranets and the actual knowledge management concept was popularised I worked for another large management practice which had a vast KM resource. Technology had arrived in a big way but ironically much of the knowledge asset that was documented was of the lowest value to staff. This was partly because of the culture of that business and partly because explicit knowledge is easier to document.

Explicit knowledge is the type of material that can be kept in a library for collaboration such as templates and other structured process formats that can enable reuse and leverage by staff. We missed much of the wisdom of tacit knowledge that might have been in a CRM if we had used one.

Tacit knowledge by contrast, is often unstructured knowledge for example about what  customers might like or not like. When your business has a “moment of truth” which is often when a customer asks a question that is outside the normal script - will your staff know where to look for answers?

Thomas A Stewart has a useful list on the essential tasks for managing explicit knowledge. From “The Wealth of Knowledge” ISBN 0-385-50071-8 published in 2001.

assemble it, validate it; as much as possible, standardize and simplify it;
keep it up to date, leverage it;
make sure that everyone who needs it knows that it exists, where to get it, and how to use it; automate and accelerate the processes of retrieving and applying it;
add to it,
sue any bastard who steals it.

Tacit knowledge is not so easy to frame, however a smart FAQ (frequently asked questions) list distilled from customer interactions and available to staff in service, development, marketing and sales teams from alternate angles might do the job.

Knowledge Management often exists as an overlap zone between the frontline functions of sales, services and marketing delivery. In the early days of computers we dreamed that expert systems might be able to build on a platform of business rules and processes but for many businesses a more creative outcome is required.

This is where a CRM system can help. A CRM is the best place for tacit knowledge as it can provide a non-linear format for structuring some of the common memes and recurring patterns in customer engagement. 

Here are 5 practical ways I believe a CRM can help with knowledge management

1.  Provide tools for collaboration and leverage of common goals needs a framework anchored in behaviour
2. Capture the practice DNA and cultural differentiation of an organisation / customer
3.  Provide information architecture for significant and relevant practice standards within the organisation.
4.  Provide a platform to replicate and enhance key moments of truth in a business on a sustainable basis.
5. Build corporate memory and customer values into outcomes according to a defined methodology or customer service approach.

If you liked this post, please check for related posts in the crmthinking category.