Stop Bitching About Leads And Learn How To Sell

"If only we had more leads." "Marketing is out to lunch." Phrases we hear all too often these days. Reality: Sales Reps as a group took another nosedive in terms of quota attainment results: the 6th straight year this has declined. In an economy that has been growing strongly over that same period, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and try to understand what went wrong in our sales game, what is going wrong? What will we do when things get even tougher? The blame game is in full swing these days and marketing tends to be the first stop. More leads are needed. Better leads. Better accounts. Selling success is being dominated by the top performers and leaving a trail of mediocre and weak reps that fall back on the "blame and complain" approach. In addition, sales leaders have been ineffective in moving the middle and bottom performers up to the top. Only 17% of mediocre and weak reps are being successfully trained and coached(Objective Management Group)

If you are stinking it up now, what will you do when the economy contracts, when a recession hits?

There is so much written today on the changing requirements for successful selling. Yet, many reps stampede right by this advice and wing it, free-styling like its 1999. Don't get me wrong, I have been selling for a living my entire career and it has definitely gotten tricky lately. But I also had the experience of selling for 10 long and hard years in an industry that was once prosperous but then began vanishing off the face of the US. Read that story here

I have had the experience of seeing my business disappear, my customers saying goodbye as they moved all of their business to Asia, my company going belly up, packing up my desk for good, having to find a new career at age 42. I tell you this not to bloviate, but to remind you that it can and it might get A LOT TOUGHER out there and that if you are not performing up to par now, that you ask more of yourself and find a way to get there.

Selling in 2019 is complicated, with many opinions and views of what will make us successful. If you follow my podcast, you have heard me rant and rave about the importance of these skills. Subscribe here However, there are a few key foundational elements that are a must-have. Let's start with these:

Personal Brand - This is no longer a nice to have. It's first on my list because as I have said numerous times on the program, "first impressions now occur online." What is the first thing you do when you are going to meet someone? You check out their social profiles. Is this person interesting? What is important to them? Or are they a mystery?

Lack of Social Presence = Lack of Trust

So what does a personal brand mean? It means having a point of view; it means creating original content; it means sharing, posting, commenting, liking, relevant articles, it means adding value to your network. Buyers search social channels like crazy, looking for solutions and information. An impressive social presence will enable you to rise to the top of the list of the first vendor calls they'll make. Oh, you're too busy to do this? BS, friends! Find the time.

Giving a sh*t - Buyers invite sales reps back that genuinely care about their plight. They don't want to deal with self-focused, self-absorbed reps that blather on about themselves and their product and dominate the conversation. We have heard so much about empathy, but it is not feigning concern or interest while you load up you power point and turn the conversation back to you. Empathy is vastly more complex than we think and if you really are interested in developing this skill/trait, I turn your attention to the great book written by @Helen Riess called The Empathy Effect. A few key pointers from Helen:

Empathy is understanding what is unspoken- it understanding the whole person and not just what they are saying.

It includes listening not only with your ears, but with your heart and truly understanding the motivations behind your prospect's concerns. Riess calls in 'hearing the whole person." We will get into more of this when she joins us on the podcast, but one last key point. Empathy is a two way street. You need to shoot for mutual empathy, which leads to a strong relationship based on a mutual level of trust.

Always Adding Value As I said on a recent Linkedin Video this is the era of value selling. A broad category, for sure. One of the key elements of this selling approach, is making sure we are adding value to each prospect or customer touch point. According the CEB, 74% of buyers choose the sales rep who is first to add value and insight. In today's selling environment, insight sellers boast a clear advantage. This means coming to the table with a point of view, with a desire to help( and not only that, but being able to acknowledge when you cannot help), personalizing each conversation based on your deep understanding of the prospect's issues. Your follow up adds value-a relevant article, video, case study, a personal note, that relates the 'whole person.' Not a pest-like, harassing note to see if as decision has been made, what the next steps are.

Create your own DEMAND The elite sellers don't bitch, they don't blame. They take 100% responsibility for everything. Not only the wins and the commission checks, but also the losses and 'no decisions' - it’s on them. They learn from what has worked and what didn’t. They come back from the losses smarter and better prepared. They'll adjust. They never complain about a lack of leads. They’ll look themselves in the mirror and figure out how to do a better job of growing their current customer base, of finding more time to prospect, to network, to spend more time on social, whatever it takes.

And finally, here is how you get more leads. You create them FOR YOURSELF!

That's it for now. There is a lot more to talk about, but let's leave it here. What do you think? Let me know how you are doing. Either in a comment below or private message. I know this is going to your Year

New Data: Our Score As Consultative Sellers-Hint-Needs Improvement

🤴Tip Of The Day 76: Data reveals: Our score as consultative sellers is 44/100. 84% can uncover challenges, but only 33% deliver compelling reason to buy and only 12% can convince buyer to do it now. Study can be found here: https://lnkd.in/d9VjnYV

Video here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6399243750517796864

BREAKING NEWS: B2B BUYERS STILL DON'T TRUST SALES PEOPLE

Hello Subscribers:
Been a while since I wrote a new article.

Have been doing videos and podcasts and will be directing you to those locations moving forward.

Cheers,
Dan

Latest video: B2B BUYERS STILL DON'T TRUST YOU

Latest podcast: HEY BUYERS: GET OVER YOURSELVES!

CMO Turnover Has Spiked: Here's Why

More CMO's were on the move in the first half of 2016 then in any time since 2012 and most companies are looking outside their walls for this key hire. This is according to executive search firm Russell Reynolds and noted first by Forbes.
Of particular interest, 62% of the hires were from outside the company. In tech, the number was a stunning 86%. So why the sudden jump and why are companies recruiting outsiders?
1) Fresh Strategic Thinking The Digital Marketing Tsunami is taking no prisoners as channels expand, and connecting with your customer is becoming more challenging. Organizations are looking for the best and brightest with a track record of achievement in the digital space.
2) New Skillset  MarTech, forecasting, vision, data analysis, personalized messaging, digital value proposition, revenue generation, building the right team..should I keep going? Most important skill: Instinct. When to call an audible.
3) More Is Expected and Less Are Achieving Let's face it, the CMO is the most pivotal position on the Executive Team today. With the rate of change in marketing at an all time high, there isn't time to waste. CMO's must quickly come up to speed and create a plan. Then they need to put their chips down and get moving.
4) Other Brand Are Further Along Digitally Why pick an outsider? The new playing field is being dominated by a new group of organizations that have figured it out. They get Instagram, Snapchat and the messaging platforms, and they are pumping resources into customer experience. They've hired the best data scientists and are calling the right plays for their team.
Let me know what you think. Why else do you believe CMO's on the move? Who is doing it right?

The Fall Of The American Textile Industry And The Bitter Fight For Survival

The phone rang. Our largest customer was on the line to tell me goodbye and that our multi year business relationship was over. As I hung up the receiver, I knew that an era just came to an end. A 20 year career in the US Textile industry was likely over. The mill I represented was foundering like so many others and about to file Chapter 11, a risk my clients could not take. This was Summer, 2005. The industry actually began to unravel 10 years earlier, when businesses suddenly began fighting over a dramatically smaller piece of pie.

It wasn't long after that phone call, that I was packing up my desk and walking out of my office for the last time. In fact, it turned out to be the end of my long run in the industry. I had been working on my next act for several years though, so by the Fall of 2005 I had started with a digital marketing agency in a complete career reset. But that's a story for another day. Today I want to focus on that 10 year battle as the industry contracted, what it taught me, how I navigated, the skills that remain with me and its relevance in today's digital economy.

History

First Hit: Hello, Sam Walton- In many ways the textile industry was one of the first industries to be disrupted. For many decades, the textile mills sold their wares to manufacturers of apparel that had facilities in the US and who in turn sold finished garments to some of the large department stores such as Sears, JCPenney, Macy's and Dillards. But by the mid '80's into the 90's, the explosive growth of the Discounters, Walmart and K Mart was creating massive shock waves in the marketplace, and these players increasingly gained market share at the expense of the department stores. In order to effectively compete and meet the low prices that the Discounters demanded, the apparel manufacturers began looking for ways to dramatically cut costs. Many shut their facilities in the US and began manufacturing in Asia. This delivered a chain reaction up the distribution network. Many of our customers were now packing up for the likes of China, Vietnam, India and other low cost countries. Buying US fabric and sewing garments here did not really make sense anymore both logistically and cost wise as many of the foreign producers were offering 'packages' which included the fabric price. This was a major business model shift and guess what, it caught most of the major players flat footed. US mills saw margins and market share begin to erode.





 


Second Hit: Government Kiss-Off 

In 2001, China was admitted to the WTO and for the first time would be eligible to have its apparel exports removed from quota. In 2002, China's exports to the United States surged by more than 100 percent. Chinese exports of baby clothes surged by more than 2,000 percent, robes by more than 1,500 percent, and knit fabrics by 21,000 percent! Overall, China increased its U.S. import market share of the apparel released from quota from 24 to 86 percent. The US Government decided to focus on the nascent, but much more promising technology industry and in the process pulled the plug on millions of jobs in the US.  The kill shot was the agreement to remove all quotas on Chinese imports beginning in  2005.

Becoming A "Wartime General"

So how do you shift from marketing and selling to customers who have been decades loyal, paid your price, and knew your families to a dramatically new playing field where all bets were off? The answer is: not well at first. Selling was pretty easy up until then, but it was now becoming a battle for survival. Our customers were scrambling, busily pursuing JV's with foreign providers, closing US facilities, and re setting priorities.
In 1994, as a senior exec of a large mill, I became part of a MBO of my division and we spun off into a stand alone company. Not the greatest time to go it alone as it turned out. The particular type of fabric we produced, called greige(undyed) goods was the first area to become commoditized. I reorganized my group in New York, but before we knew what hit us, we were on the ropes, and forced to file Chapter 7 in 1996. The business just vanished and we scrambled to compete.
The experience was painful but enlightening. I got a taste of the new business climate and learned that you can't stand still when the competitive environment is throwing hay makers.  In my next role, I created a battle plan which moved away from the traditional x's and o's and instead became a blueprint for survival. A fresh strategic approach was required and time was short. I focused on stopping the bleeding first, applying rigid cost cuts, then shifting focus on higher margin products which leveraged product innovation and lastly, began making the case against the enemy. As it turned out, the delivery times from Asia were long and commitments were not being met. Our salespeople needed to be armed with this messaging. I used this plan in my next 3 positions and in each case, was able to stabilize the situation, restore profitability and keep the doors open. Here is the essence of the plan:

Game Plan for Survival

Fight! As a business leader, it was up to me to deliver the mindset required for success. It was no longer just about meeting sales goals, but more about keeping our jobs and providing for our families. It was now personal. We were engaged in a bitter global battle for survival and we needed to come to the office every day ready to fight and win. This mindset was critical to making it work.

Cut Costs I had to make tough decisions on headcount and expenses, and it was dictated by our focus and best chance of survival. We asked more from dramatically fewer people. With the market shrinking, we needed to adjust to become leaner and compete.

Product Shift We de-emphasized products that were under the heaviest attack and shifted attention to those that were innovative and provided the greatest value to the consumer.

Revise Pricing Strategy In addition to our higher margin, innovative fabrics, we took a few orders on basic staples at little or no margin to keep the mills running. In the past, we would reject these orders but now understood their importance.

Sell Value Textile Magnate Roger Milliken started a movement in the 1980's called Crafted With Pride In the USA aimed at educating the consumer on the importance of buying American. He was a pioneer and a futurist and seeing danger in the offing, he took the industry's case to the people. In our sales conversations, we needed to paint the picture of the perils of buying from foreign suppliers, so we began to calculate the cost of late deliveries and poor quality(another achilles heel of some of the foreign providers). In today's new digital world, and some 30 years later, demonstrating value remains critical to success.

Conclusion:

The period from 1994-2005 represented one of the biggest challenges in my career. The experience was at times devastating, unsettling, confusing and frightening. But it taught me how to become a leader, how to dig deep, how to recover from setbacks, how to face your fears, how to constantly anticipate change, and how to reinvent yourself, your team and your company.
In 2016, there are elements of the 1990's textile industry beginning to re-appear. Business leaders need to think through what their future looks like in the digital world and begin taking action ahead of potentially cataclysmic disruption. The good news is that there are many examples of companies that have made the transition and re invented themselves, among them IBM, Nokia, Nintendo, American Express and probably the most notable of them all, Apple. So, keep an eye open for what is coming on the horizon. Better yet, lead the way and create the future! Good Luck!

Disrupted or Transformed: The New Reality

The new digital world, while a land of promise and opportunity, can be difficult to navigate as it matures and as your audience becomes more demanding and discerning. Yet most organizations continue to embrace the status quo. Why is that? More importantly, what can be done to remedy this problem? Many companies are coming to a fork in the road. Choose the right direction and you will digitally transform into a industry leader that is thriving in the new world. But if you choose the wrong path, you run the risk of becoming another victim of digital disruption. That's what we will discuss today.

What's Wrong?

Low Digital Quotient: McKinsey has coined a new phrase to describe organizational maturity in the digital world. Companies have a digital quotient(DQ) and many of them need improvement says McKinsey. Digital performance today is critical to an organization's viability and a key determiner of success in the future. The sophistication of your digital strategy and the execution of your digital initiatives according to McKinsey is what separates the leaders from the laggards in 2016. The laggards are headed for disruption while the leaders are paving their way to Digital Transformation.

Stuck in Current Business Model: Will you be the next Blockbuster or Uber? Is the current way you go to market and make money sustainable? According to McKinsey, it is a 'broader range of customer needs" that organizations need to constantly monitor and address. This may require a pivot in the current business model. It's a tightrope walk between the status quo and possible disruption or transformation. Keep your eye on creating value for your customers and adjust as needed. It may require a tweak to your current approach. By contrast, it may require a rip and replace.

Changing Competitive Set: Likewise, the path which leads you to transformation may bring you into competition with new players. The new business model needs to account for current and future threats in the form of the competitive landscape.

Insufficient Organizational Alignment: The digital laggards today are not aligned internally and do not have executive buy in. In many cases, the organizational culture is the key factor behind the success or failure to be aligned. Is the culture open and fluid? Or is it stuck in the "didn't we used to have it all?" past.

Playbook for Change:

So how should companies navigate their way to transformation and not fall victim to disruption?
Redefine How You Serve Your Customers: A recent IBM study revealed that 75% of consumers expect businesses to understand their individual needs. Data is now your main source of leverage in the fight for survival and excellence in driving new levels of positive customer experience. The effective leveraging of data is critical to a marketing organization's ability to create omni-channel experiences for these more demanding consumers and business buyers. And according to Gartner, 69% of marketing decisions will be quantitatively driven by 2017.  Marketers are being called upon to not only ring the cash register, but also to analyze data and attribute value for their efforts. According to Gartner,  "using data to inform creativity to generate demand, converting demand to sale, and measuring and attributing value across channels and media" is the new virtuous circle of success.

  "Data Is The New Oil"-Kevin Plank, UnderArmour

Conquer complexity: 84% of marketers in a recent Salesforce.com study believe that thelevel of complexity in their business is going to spike over the next 5 years. (see the HuffPo article, High Performing CMO's...)
This complexity will likely take the form of adopting "new business models, ecosystems, and collaboration processes that cut out unnecessary layers and re- imagine how work can get done for better, faster, more cost-effective results."
The digital leaders will be skilled at predicting technological trends, and thinking on their feet. Companies in the new digital world need to plan for the long term but also be ready to make fast decisions as new channels, stakeholders and technologies rapidly appear. Change, my friends, is constant so expectations need to be adjusted accordingly.

Push for Executive Buy In(and more budget, too!): 83% of high performing marketers report having “their executive team’s complete commitment to their marketing strategy.”(Salesforce) Therefore, the marketing leader also needs to be a master salesperson. Yes, you got it right, salesperson. Not only does the marketing leader need to know how to sell the company's products and services, he/she needs to be able to effectively make the case for more resources and if necessary, major realignment. She needs to sell the BOD, and the rest of the senior team to commit the funds to fuel the required changes.

Innovation spending: Not many experts are pointing to this key ingredient in winning the battle for your digital future. Gartner recently found that companies spend on average 10% of their marketing budgets on innovation. This figure needs to be shifted upward and dramatically. A new digital value proposition is going to require more experimentation and creation of new technologies and solutions.


Win the War For Talent: And finally, but certainly not the least important is recruiting and building the team. Gartner says you must recruit in accordance with your level of digital maturity. Makes sense. Do you need a change agent to come in and crack some eggs? And where are these art+science marketers? Are new compensation plans required? Your ability to recruit the right players to help drive your digital competence is another key.


Phew, that was a lot to digest, but it is just the beginning. I am interested in what you are seeing in your organization. Let me know. Do you think your company is making the right moves? Good luck!

The New Risk Of 'Best Practice'

"Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster."-Elon Musk

Did you know that only 50% of marketers say they are proficient at creating an effective strategy? (Aberdeen) This is not surprising in light of the dramatic changes in the business landscape over the past 2 years. Furthermore, Boston Consulting Group recently made a bold statement. It is predicting that 1/3 of currently publicly traded companies in the U.S. will be gone by 2020. The reason: the inability to effectively manage change. Pretty amazing! Here's an even more sobering stat: 50-75% of change programs fail. (Forbes) The race is on to lead your organization through a digital facelift and if you aren't out there with your sneaks tightly laced up, you are already behind. What's the next move?

‘The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.’ -Phil Jackson”

The status quo which used to be your friend is now becoming a dangerous enemy. In fact in a recent article, Linda Boff(one of my favorite CMO's) of GE says that there is a bigger risk today by "sitting on the sidelines."  Why GE’s CMO Does Everything Your Brand is Afraid Of  It's clear that the CMO's agenda is fast becoming the company's agenda. The CMO role as defined even just 2 years ago is changing. So which levers should the modern day CMO pull? How should she or he handle what is rapidly becoming the most important role in determining whether a company crosses the digital divide in one piece? Here are some thoughts:

What does strategy mean in 2016? Strategy today can be intimidating  based on the rapidly changing market conditions. A.G. Lafley, P&G's CEO wrote a terrific book on the subject that you must read. In, Playing to Win  Lafley seeks to de mystify strategy simplifying it down to 'a set of choices about winning.'

“strategy is an integrated set of choices that uniquely positions the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition.”

Excerpt From: A.G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin. “Playing to Win.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/P16jE.l

According to Lafley, strategy must answer the following questions: 1) what is your winning aspiration? 2) where will you play? 3) how will you win? 4) what capabilities must be in place? 5) what management systems are required? The CMO then is like a baseball manager sitting in the dugout making the moves needed to win the game on a daily basis. It is a series of chess moves taking into consideration the competition and the way the game has changed.

Innovation budgets need to increase- A recent Gartner study of marketing budgets revealed that innovation budgets on average are 10% of marketing spend. This figure needs to increase based on the rapid rate of change. A greater openneess to experimentation is key. Are you skating toward where the puck is going to be or chasing it from behind?  The great goal scorers, Gretzky, Ovechkin among them, are masters at anticipation.

Fast Always Wins- Speed and agility are critical. The CMO must put in place the framework for an active brand which can quickly interface with customers and effectively and rapidly serve them. The move to the chat platforms is one way marketing leaders are increasing speed.

By default, our brains are programmed to reject change and embrace what is comfortable. The 2016 CMO must be a visionary, yes, but also an egg cracker, a gifted speaker, salesperson, talent evaluator, recruiter, change agent and mad scientist. What else is needed? Let me know. How is it going for you? Are you hung up on 'best practices' or optimizing the status quo? If so, you could be in deep trouble. Just ask Sports Authority and Wet Seal. Who is doing it well out there? Are you on the sidelines? Or joining the dance? Send me your comments.

Dan Sixsmith is CMO @ Augmento, a Next Generation Digital Agency

He is VP @Alinean, Inc. a Value Marketing & Selling Agency

The Blog: "The Digital Advantage by Dan Sixsmith."

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