InnerActive Consulting – Insights

Five Value-Adding Opportunities during the Declining Phrase

Today, I’m looking at value adding opportunities for the Declining phases of a company life cycle. This could also be applied to a company’s product or service life cycle. This information is provided to assist sales people deal with their customer’s situations and internal managers looking for ways to improve the performance of their company.

The Declining Phrase of product life cycles is one of the most difficult phrases for companies and the individuals within these companies to handle. Usually there are emotional links to these products and decisions are influenced by this emotional attachment. Emotional issues need to be overcome and some business logic applied to the solutions needed. Yet, companies that have only declining products are usually in survival mode and their choices are limited at best. The best companies have launched new products during the growth and maturity phrases and have new products becoming maturity products at this time.

So what can you do if the company or products for your company or the customer’s company to add significant value during this declining phrase? Here are five things we have found to provide the value added opportunities:

Continue reading ‘Five Value-Adding Opportunities during the Declining Phrase’ »

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on March 19, 2009 at 5:09 am under Business Acumen and Metrix, Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Declining phrase of product life cycle, Entreprenuerial leadership, Five Value-Adding opportunities
Comment on this post.

Six Value-Adding Opportunities in the Maturity Phrase of Lifecycles

Today, I’m looking at value adding opportunities for the Maturity Phases of a company life cycle. This could also be applied to a company’s product or service life cycle. This information is provided to assist sales people deal with their customer’s situations and internal managers looking for ways to improve the performance of their company.

The Maturity Phrase is an interesting period and seems to have a large number of companies in this category. However, most of these companies are in commodity industries and are working hard to stay out of the declining phrase – which I will discuss on Thursday.

There are six opportunities for you to consider when you have identified a company or product in the maturity phrase. The six that we have assisted our clients with include:

Continue reading ‘Six Value-Adding Opportunities in the Maturity Phrase of Lifecycles’ »

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on March 18, 2009 at 5:29 am under Business Acumen and Metrix, Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Business Acumen, cash flow, Maturity Phrase of product cycles, Saving Cash, Six Value-adding opportunities
Comment on this post.

Four Value-Adding Opportunities for the Growth Phrase

This week I’m looking at value adding opportunities for the growth phase of a company life cycle. This could also be applied to a company’s product or service life cycle. This information is provided to assist sales people deal with their customer’s situations and internal managers looking for ways to improve the performance of their company.

So today, we are looking at the Growth Phrase for a company or product. This is exciting times for any company to experience. Things are moving fast, sales are increasing, accounts receivables are growing and cash is once again in short supply. So here are four specific value adding opportunities for sales people and managers to use during the growth phrase.

Continue reading ‘Four Value-Adding Opportunities for the Growth Phrase’ »

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on March 17, 2009 at 4:59 am under Business Acumen and Metrix, Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Breakeven point analysis, Business Acument, Growth phrase of the business cycle, Value adding opportunites
Comment on this post.

Sales Growth is the Starting Point

I want to start the Business Acumen series with a basic discussion point: Sales Growth. This has become the top subject in many offices and board rooms due to the recessional impact by the economy. Every executive is focused upon increasing revenues. It has become the number one thing keeping them awake at night. While I will discuss this point, I want to share the balanced approach to looking at Sales Growth – since their are companies that are still growing even in this economy.

Sales Growth is one of the first things you should be looking at to understand the culture within the company. There are three variables for you to consider when reviewing growth. First, you can have growth; Second, you can have a declining sales trend; and Third, you can have no growth or no change in sales volume. The key is watch the trends. One year is never enough to assess the progress of a companies sales. Several years of sales (Five years is best, three is a minimum and for large public companies – 10 years) One of the best sources for public company data can be found in Yahoo Finance.

Trend showing Growth over a three to five year period. There are several questions to ask regarding a growth company. Continue reading ‘Sales Growth is the Starting Point’ »

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on March 3, 2009 at 5:52 am under Business Acumen and Metrix, Sales.
Tags: Business Acumen, Profitable Growth, Sales Growth, Sales Trends
1 Comment.

During these Economic Times, Focus on Singles and Doubles

Yes, another change for our company during these interesting economic times is the shift from power hitting home runs to collecting more singles and doubles – to use a baseball analogy. Let me explain. First, in baseball terms the power hitters will hit a few homers, yet, they usually strike out more than they hit. The players that hit singles and doubles however usually have higher batting averages. Therefore, since they are on base more, they score more runs and are highly valued by their organizations.

The perfect player is one who hits for a high average and has enough power plays for an occasional home run. These are the high performers of baseball and command respect – and usually high salaries due to their production.

In the world of sales today, if you are only hunting for big game, or swinging for the fences at every at bat, then you are probably striking out in today’s economic environment. Play smart and go for the higher batting average – get the smaller sales and the medium sales from customer who will take a risk for smaller commitments (and cash!). The interesting thing is if you get enough of these sales they add up to large sums of sales. Your risk is spread around, so if you lose one account it does not hurt as bad.

Our focus has shifted to the small and mid-size accounts for a strategic reason. The “bigs” are not buying or if they are buying – they are not paying very fast. The impact of slower pay is actually worst than if they do not buy because of the expenses involved in selling a product or service. The small and midsized companies have a tendency to take care of business in a timely manner. We enjoy a steady flow of receivables to worrying about when a “big” one will pay – 46-60-90 days or longer! Ouch!

Build a board base of accounts that are active and appreciate the value you bring to the table. Actively search out the “progressive” customers who understand that cutting expenses will not grow any business in the long term. Now is the time to prepare for the future. Get your activity rates up on sales and marketing efforts. Touch your prospects and customers as often as you can without becoming a “pest.”

These economic times are difficult, so simplify your life by going for more small sales and let them add up over the month. Activity levels must increase to offset the smaller sales, but that is okay. You got to the level you are by making one sale, then another sale, and another. You and I can do it again. I even like the idea of helping my smaller customers grow their business to new levels. They can take me to the next level if I serve their needs the right way.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 26, 2009 at 5:30 am under Sales.
Tags: Growth Strategies, Sales and Marketing strategies, Sales Growth, Small and Mid size sales
Comment on this post.

What Change Are You Willing to Make to Get Better?

Last week I received a question from one of my connections on LinkedIn. The question got my attention in a big way and I responded with my answer of what changes are we making. Here is a review of both the question and my response:

Question Details:
——————–
“If we expect to get different results in these challenging times, what are the few critical things that we must personally do differently…starting now?”

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein

We must embrace change — new ideas, new points of view, new business models and different personal behaviors.

Your question is excellent and timely. Yes, change must be embraced and creativity comes to the forefront.
We have done a complete review of what got us to today, what is still working, what have we forgotten to do today that worked in the past, will it work today questions are applied to everything. Testing of ideas has become more important.

Lead generation is our most critical issue and we have set up three areas of focus:

Networking everywhere – all the organizations that bring people together that fit our targeted market – well – we are showing up and participating.
Internet Marketing – we are checking all the keys from SEO, PPC, landing pages, specific selling sites to the actual copy on the site (More important than most people realize is the copy – is it about you or the client?)
More coordinated selling efforts – direct mail is back due to the spam filters for email and voice mail for telephones, calling old clients, finding old clients that moved to new locations, face to face meetings whenever possible and learning to use “gotomeeting” or some other web-based video conferencing tool.

The key is to get more aggressive in sales and marketing today if you want to be around tomorrow.

One last thought, create a better or complete description of your ideal customer and focus all your energy on finding them. Our biggest lesson during the downturn is we had too many “commodity or traditional model” clients and a need for more progressive clients who know the right way to move forward during this time period.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 25, 2009 at 9:45 am under Sales.
Tags: Managing Change, Proactive Change, Questions for Action, Sales Growth
1 Comment.

The Seventh Sales Myth and Truth

The seventh and final sales Myth is sales people don’t need any new training or development. Some believe that experienced sales people already know all about selling. The only thing required is more product knowledge! Why do these organizations find sales results less than expected? Because sales people are focused upon products and not the customer.

I am amazed how often “experienced sales managers” tell me that investing in sales training and development is not his or her responsibility. Or the worst excuse is – we have no budget for this activity. Yet, in the same breathe, they talk about how sales will increase this year! How? They have no new products or services, no new sales people, no new territories, and no new sales methods. I call this “growth because I said so!” The old traditional parental approach of having no explanation for change – it’s just going to happen. This does not work for sales or parents.

The final Truth is that sales people need continuous development. The risk of poor selling strategies is a permanent loss of a customer. The excellent salesperson must have skills and knowledge in products, and have mastered effective communication, industry norms, and the ability to manage many different customer’s personalities. These are skills and knowledge that develop relationships with customers. These relationships are based upon rapport, trust and a clear focus upon the needs of the customer.

The understanding of these myths and truths have assisted our customers to successfully increase their bottom lines. The key is learning. A commitment must be made to improve the quality of the sales team. We find that successful companies invest 5-15% of annual sales payroll in development practices. Join the winners today!

Contact us today to join the ranks of the winners in sales growth and profitability. We have assisted our clients to consistently grow. Our office hours are 8-5pm Central Time and our phone number is 901-757-4434.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 24, 2009 at 5:00 am under Sales.
Tags: Continuous learning, Engaged Employees, Learning sales skills, Sales Myth and Truth
Comment on this post.

The Sixth Sales Myth and Truth

The sixth sales Myth is that successful sales people focus upon the product or service being offered! This idea has been amplified by operations oriented management and product managers who are in love with “their baby”. I have never seen a product or service sell itself. Someone had to differentiate the product or service from the competition’s and value during the process. Sales people need to demonstrate the superiority of their product or service over the many options open to the customer.

An unusual situation occurs when an founder of a company retires and leaves his or her company in the hands of an operations oriented manager. These managers have a common tendency of taking the old established accounts – that were actually the personal accounts developed by the founder – and turning them into “house accounts.” This action is strictly a method of eliminating a commission to a sales person on these “established” accounts. And, I have been told by these managers – that the “house” accounts will do business with us “just because of who we are!”

The truth about this “house” account stupidity is that these old and profitable accounts will leave due to a severe lack of action. Competitor’s are smart and become more aggressive in going after these “house” accounts. They offer innovative new products and in some cases partnerships or joint ventures to win the business. “House Accounts” must be aggressively marketed by the company and your best sales people should be assigned to these legacy accounts.

To summarize the sixth Truth, being successful (growing and profitable), your sales process must be focused upon the customer. For customers to buy, they must feel that you are offering the best value, not the best prices. They must feel you understand their issues (not learning at their expense) and offer innovative new ideas and opportunities. You show that you will be involved for the long-term, not here today and gone tomorrow. I’m seeing too many companies abandon customers during the tough economic times. They justify these decisions as making economic sense and necessary due to the economy.

Most importantly, they trust you, they feel that you have their best interest at heart and that you will do what you say you will do! Remember, you are in business to sell and grow – both your company and your customers’ company. You always have a choice – make the right choice and grow.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 23, 2009 at 4:30 am under Sales.
Tags: Customer Focus, Growth Strategies, Sales Myth and Truth
Comment on this post.

The Fifth Sales Myth and Truth

The next Myth is that sales people must be “showing and telling” customers about their product or service. Canned scripted presentations abound. This activity usually leads to a price driven buying decision! Some consider presentation ability to be the key sales success factor. They think that sales people should present their product whenever customer shows even a glimmer of interest.

This show and tell mentality comes internal focused people. Its all about the product or service and therefore has nothing to do with the customer’s wants or needs. This method leads directly to the previous myth that you needed to be excellent at handling objections. Well, the only reason for handling objections is the lack of customer engagement and involvement. When the customer has no interest in a product or service, the old school sales person would attempt to trick or pressure a “yes” just to make one sale. The downside to this approach was no repeat business and a high return rate or order cancellation.

Today’s Truth is that sales people must focus first and foremost on the customer. They have to master questioning and listening skills to be successful. Customers demand that you totally understand their unique situation (even if its not really unique – they believe it is unique.). Customers want salespeople to know the customer’s industry and the company’s specific issues. This requires sales people to utilize value added selling of customer specific solutions. At the same time this yields the benefit of higher profitability than can be achieved using the bidding method or generic open bid packages.

Customers want to deal with people who care about the customer’s success. The customer needs to feel that the sales person will support the customer – even in difficult times like today’s economic environment. Take the time to build relationships within an organization. Go wide and deep to insure that everyone is supporting your product or service. These people will override the blockers within the organization that want your competitors to win. Take the external point of view – know your customer’s situation, support their growth and needs and help them win using ROI and creative results.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 20, 2009 at 5:17 am under Sales.
Tags: Customer Focus, Industry Knowledge, Questioning skills, Rapport Building, Sales Myth and Truth
1 Comment.

The Fourth Sales Myth and Truth

The Fourth Sales process Myth is that tricks, methods and techniques should be used to overcome the customer’s objections. This will allegedly “close” the order. However, today’s customers do not want to be sold anything. They recognize and resent manipulation. They plan to buy value to satisfy their wants and needs. They seek truth rather than clever selling tricks, methods and techniques.

The Sales Executives who believe that the only thing a good sales person needs to learn is how to handle objections – have not been in the field lately. I give them the benefit of the doubt here. These sales executives were trained in the old traditional methods of selling and have not learned that there are newer and more effective methods to use.

Today, the best sales people earn the trust of their customers, learn about the current situations and compare to the desired situation, calculate what needs to be done to close the gap and then produces an ROI statement for the customer to use in their decision process. Simple yet, not easy. Discipline is a key measure for these sales people to be successful. No presentations can be made until all the issues are found and value calculated.

The Truth is sales people must understand both the selling process and the buying process to be able to win the trust, confidence and business of their customers. Successful sales people seek to understand the customer’s buying process and then align their selling process accordingly. It is important to align the sales process with the buying process. This alignment insures both processes are working to create a win-win position. Major mistakes occur when the sales process gets ahead of the buying process and price based presentations are made before the customer is ready to decide. ( Some cases we have found the customer has heard an entire presentation – including a low price – without even knowing they had a need to buy something.)

Objection handling should be a very minor issue when the sales and buying processes are aligned and the sales person uses questions to both uncover issues and involve the buyer in the process. Issues are discussed and solutions are found without the need for tricks and techniques to persuade. Engage the customer in the sales process from the beginning and align with the buying cycle and watch your sales success grow.

Share, Email, Print or Bookmark this

More »

Posted by Voss Graham on February 19, 2009 at 4:59 am under Sales.
Tags: Alignment, Handling Objections, Sales Myth and Truth, Sales Process
Comment on this post.

Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

Five Value-Adding Opportunities during the Declining Phrase

Six Value-Adding Opportunities in the Maturity Phrase of Lifecycles

Four Value-Adding Opportunities for the Growth Phrase

Sales Growth is the Starting Point

During these Economic Times, Focus on Singles and Doubles

What Change Are You Willing to Make to Get Better?

The Seventh Sales Myth and Truth

The Sixth Sales Myth and Truth

The Fifth Sales Myth and Truth

The Fourth Sales Myth and Truth

Most Recent Insights

Blogroll

IACG Special Sites

Links

Topics and Categories

Historical Review of Insights