Before I start, I want to post a shout out to my twin daughters, Theresa & Annie. Today is their twelfth birthday! Happy Birthday Annie & Theresa!
Love
Daddy
Account Penetration into Different Business Units & Offices
So, if the scenario is similar to the last posting, but instead of being the secondary provider to the business unit using the bulk of your product, you are the sole or primary provider for this unit but there are other areas of the company that also use your product you have a similar approach. You still leverage your relationships.
You might have to help your source uncover the person you need to reach. You can help by looking on the Web Site. Sometimes the Branch Manager or the Division Manager's name is listed if you look on the offices or business group pages. Sometimes the information is readily available and your contact will have to dig out the information internally.
This is important, so please make a note. There is NO BETTER WAY to reach someone you don't know than through an introduction / referral! If you have an established relationship with people in this company, they will be happy to tell you who you need to speak with if they know, or in many cases, try to find out for you.
Why is this so crucial? Think about your own life. If a friend or a manager in your company came to you and said, "We're doing business with Alphabet City Widget. Joe, the Account Executive has done a great job, giving us good service. The orders ship quickly and they're right, so we're not doing a lot of returns and re-orders. Why don't you meet with him and see if he can help you out?" How likely are you to refuse to meet with or at least speak with Joe? It's highly likely you would at least speak to him is it? Why, because if a friend whose judgment you trust or a manager, who at some point in the future might be able to help you asks, you want to be accommodating if you can don't you? Of course you do, its human nature.
Even if your contact doesn't know the person in the other division, having the ability to refer to him/her as a happy client is helpful and the fact that you have the ability to confidently begin your conversation by saying, "I know we haven't spoken, but I have been working with Mary in your Flushing office for several months" is a great ice breaker. They might call Mary to see what her experience is, or they might not, but it will definitely relax the barriers of entry a bit for you.
Thanks for reading my post. If you enjoy this and get some useful information from it, please tell your friends & business associates to check it out!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Business Development & Account Penetration
Business Development & Account Penetration
OK, so now you have established a toehold in a business that has the potential to really kick your business up to the next level. You're currently earning about 5 to 8% of their total annual spend on your product or service. Are you satisfied? I hope not!
So what are the next steps? As I teach my Martial Arts students, if you're attacked, you never throw one punch or land one kick and then stop and stand back to admire it. There are very few one strike fights. If you land one punch or a kick, you follow up immediately with another kick or punch; and another; and another, until your opponent goes away or is out of commission. The key is to follow up.
You need to determine whether the additional business comes from the area of the company you have established ties with or if it's originating in another office or division. If you need to work with the people you currently have developed relationships with, the task is pretty straight forward. You need to determine why they are using someone else for the majority of their needs and what their pain point is, and position yourself to solve that problem for them. It might be as simple as inertia. "We've been doing business with them for the past five or ten years, the order to them is kicked out to them automatically as soon as we run low." You need to provide a compelling reason to change their process so the orders are automatically sent to you. Sometimes it's as simple as asking; they simply forgot to change the order process. So ask and you shall receive. The sticking point might be relatively minor and easily resolved. They might say "You're getting 100% of our orders for equipment with an RS232 connection. Most of our customers now want a USB connection." Then you either tell them you have a USB connection, get a bunch of incremental business and take a bow, or you go to your Product Team and find out what needs to be done to offer a USB connection on your box.
Thank you for reading my Blog.
Next: Account Penetration into different offices and business units.
OK, so now you have established a toehold in a business that has the potential to really kick your business up to the next level. You're currently earning about 5 to 8% of their total annual spend on your product or service. Are you satisfied? I hope not!
So what are the next steps? As I teach my Martial Arts students, if you're attacked, you never throw one punch or land one kick and then stop and stand back to admire it. There are very few one strike fights. If you land one punch or a kick, you follow up immediately with another kick or punch; and another; and another, until your opponent goes away or is out of commission. The key is to follow up.
You need to determine whether the additional business comes from the area of the company you have established ties with or if it's originating in another office or division. If you need to work with the people you currently have developed relationships with, the task is pretty straight forward. You need to determine why they are using someone else for the majority of their needs and what their pain point is, and position yourself to solve that problem for them. It might be as simple as inertia. "We've been doing business with them for the past five or ten years, the order to them is kicked out to them automatically as soon as we run low." You need to provide a compelling reason to change their process so the orders are automatically sent to you. Sometimes it's as simple as asking; they simply forgot to change the order process. So ask and you shall receive. The sticking point might be relatively minor and easily resolved. They might say "You're getting 100% of our orders for equipment with an RS232 connection. Most of our customers now want a USB connection." Then you either tell them you have a USB connection, get a bunch of incremental business and take a bow, or you go to your Product Team and find out what needs to be done to offer a USB connection on your box.
Thank you for reading my Blog.
Next: Account Penetration into different offices and business units.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Maximizing An Account's Potential
Maximizing An Account's Potential
Creating a relationship with a business so they begin to purchase your product or service is hopefully the start of a beautiful relationship. So the Purchase Orders begin to come in and life is good. Now, assuming (always dangerous) that your agreed upon pricing means the transactions are profitable for your company, you're ready to sit back and look through the new car catalog to decide if you want that convertible in silver or red, right? Maybe, or maybe not.
Before you start sipping that cold, well deserved, iced tea & head over to the car dealer, here are some questions you should have answered.
Are the orders being processed correctly and in a timely manner? Are your installations being completed in the agreed upon interval? And the big one... are they paying their bills? The corollary to the old saying "Nothing happens until a sale is made" is "It doesn't matter how much you sell until the money is in the till."
So you're not quite ready to put the top down on your new convertible and sip that iced tea yet. You need to check to make sure your customer's credit line has been approved or they are willing to accept things on a C.O.D. basis (not likely unless they're desperate). THEN, you need to make sure the Bill to & Ship to information is correct, as well as the pricing, and after that you need to make sure your Accounting Dept is sending out the correct bills. I have yet to have a client send my company a check BEFORE they received a bill.
OK, so now everything's good! The orders are coming in, they're being processed, shipped and installed correctly and the customer is paying in a timely manner. The current run rate shows you'll receive about $200,000 in new business for the year. High five? You can go out, put the top down on your new silver convertible, open that baby up and zoom down the LIE at 30 MPH (yes, 30, it's beautiful sunny summer Friday, and it's rush hour on Long Island!).
Sure, until Monday, ... when you go back to sit down to see what else you need to do to get more business from your new account. You'll need to do that because you've realized that $200,000 in new business annually is a good start, this firm spends $25 Million on the product you're providing. This means you have lots of upside and growth potential.
What now? As always, you follow the money! Is all $25 Million ordered by the people you're currently dealing with? If it is, it seems likely that they're using you as a secondary source. Then your mission is to convince them that you're company is the best and you should either be their only source, or at a minimum their primary supplier.
Are you getting all of the business from the team you deal with and there are other parts of the business that order from your competitor? If you need to probe and penetrate other areas of the business, you need to expand your presence in this account & establish relationships with the other decision makers to get the additional business from them.
How? We'll talk about that next time.
Thanks for reading. Questions, comments are always appreciated.
Creating a relationship with a business so they begin to purchase your product or service is hopefully the start of a beautiful relationship. So the Purchase Orders begin to come in and life is good. Now, assuming (always dangerous) that your agreed upon pricing means the transactions are profitable for your company, you're ready to sit back and look through the new car catalog to decide if you want that convertible in silver or red, right? Maybe, or maybe not.
Before you start sipping that cold, well deserved, iced tea & head over to the car dealer, here are some questions you should have answered.
Are the orders being processed correctly and in a timely manner? Are your installations being completed in the agreed upon interval? And the big one... are they paying their bills? The corollary to the old saying "Nothing happens until a sale is made" is "It doesn't matter how much you sell until the money is in the till."
So you're not quite ready to put the top down on your new convertible and sip that iced tea yet. You need to check to make sure your customer's credit line has been approved or they are willing to accept things on a C.O.D. basis (not likely unless they're desperate). THEN, you need to make sure the Bill to & Ship to information is correct, as well as the pricing, and after that you need to make sure your Accounting Dept is sending out the correct bills. I have yet to have a client send my company a check BEFORE they received a bill.
OK, so now everything's good! The orders are coming in, they're being processed, shipped and installed correctly and the customer is paying in a timely manner. The current run rate shows you'll receive about $200,000 in new business for the year. High five? You can go out, put the top down on your new silver convertible, open that baby up and zoom down the LIE at 30 MPH (yes, 30, it's beautiful sunny summer Friday, and it's rush hour on Long Island!).
Sure, until Monday, ... when you go back to sit down to see what else you need to do to get more business from your new account. You'll need to do that because you've realized that $200,000 in new business annually is a good start, this firm spends $25 Million on the product you're providing. This means you have lots of upside and growth potential.
What now? As always, you follow the money! Is all $25 Million ordered by the people you're currently dealing with? If it is, it seems likely that they're using you as a secondary source. Then your mission is to convince them that you're company is the best and you should either be their only source, or at a minimum their primary supplier.
Are you getting all of the business from the team you deal with and there are other parts of the business that order from your competitor? If you need to probe and penetrate other areas of the business, you need to expand your presence in this account & establish relationships with the other decision makers to get the additional business from them.
How? We'll talk about that next time.
Thanks for reading. Questions, comments are always appreciated.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Creating and Building Business Relationships
Creating and Building Business Relationships
One of the most difficult areas in sales and yet one of the most critical areas that a person new to sales needs to learn is how to cold call and how to establish relationships. This is necessary in almost any business because the most common way to grow is to add new clients. You need new clients to replace clients that leave, move, change their business due to market forces, etc.
Most people fear the rejection of going into a business where they know no one and try to establish a rapport and start to develop a relationship with this new potential client. I would not categorize this as a trivial area, I don’t think it’s as intimidating as some its made out to be in many publications and many seminars I taken. The keys are to get your subject’s attention and interest. Think of it as a “Business Blind Date”. You never know what might develop…
A huge part of the issue is getting into the proper frame of mind. Keep your eye on the prize! This is the potential opportunity to break into a new account, meet someone who might be the decision maker for new business or you might just meet someone who is pleasant and you end up with a new friend. If you have a mutual friend or business associate, ask them introduce you. Meeting for a quick cup of coffee if possible makes the meeting a bit more relaxed and eases the tension. Having a mutual acquaintance breaks the ice and establishes some common ground for you both.
But it’s very important to that you respect the other parties’ time constraints and keep in mind that this is an introduction, not a sales presentation. Keep it light and keep to your agreed upon time frame. If you ask to meet for a half hour for a cup of coffee, keep it to thirty minutes. You should make a remark when you’ve been there for close to the half hour mark like, “ I noticed that its been almost a half hour since we sat down. I want to thank you for your time. I’m happy I had a chance to meet you and spend this time with you. I know your time is at a premium, so if you need to get back to your office now, I certainly understand. Can we continue this later in the week?” You are making this person aware that you respect their time. You are also setting up a follow up meeting. You might also get lucky if they’re interested and they’ll say, “I have some more time, let’s keep going.” But even if they leave, that can mean they have other obligations to fulfill. Don’t be discouraged!
Thanks for reading. Your comments are always appreciated.
One of the most difficult areas in sales and yet one of the most critical areas that a person new to sales needs to learn is how to cold call and how to establish relationships. This is necessary in almost any business because the most common way to grow is to add new clients. You need new clients to replace clients that leave, move, change their business due to market forces, etc.
Most people fear the rejection of going into a business where they know no one and try to establish a rapport and start to develop a relationship with this new potential client. I would not categorize this as a trivial area, I don’t think it’s as intimidating as some its made out to be in many publications and many seminars I taken. The keys are to get your subject’s attention and interest. Think of it as a “Business Blind Date”. You never know what might develop…
A huge part of the issue is getting into the proper frame of mind. Keep your eye on the prize! This is the potential opportunity to break into a new account, meet someone who might be the decision maker for new business or you might just meet someone who is pleasant and you end up with a new friend. If you have a mutual friend or business associate, ask them introduce you. Meeting for a quick cup of coffee if possible makes the meeting a bit more relaxed and eases the tension. Having a mutual acquaintance breaks the ice and establishes some common ground for you both.
But it’s very important to that you respect the other parties’ time constraints and keep in mind that this is an introduction, not a sales presentation. Keep it light and keep to your agreed upon time frame. If you ask to meet for a half hour for a cup of coffee, keep it to thirty minutes. You should make a remark when you’ve been there for close to the half hour mark like, “ I noticed that its been almost a half hour since we sat down. I want to thank you for your time. I’m happy I had a chance to meet you and spend this time with you. I know your time is at a premium, so if you need to get back to your office now, I certainly understand. Can we continue this later in the week?” You are making this person aware that you respect their time. You are also setting up a follow up meeting. You might also get lucky if they’re interested and they’ll say, “I have some more time, let’s keep going.” But even if they leave, that can mean they have other obligations to fulfill. Don’t be discouraged!
Thanks for reading. Your comments are always appreciated.
Friday, May 7, 2010
...And make no mistake, sales people, GOOD sales people are skilled!
And make no mistake, sales people, GOOD sales people are skilled, they're not just order takers. They add value to your company in numerous ways. I said I would address this in my next post on April 22, but things got a little away from me.
So here we go..
Skilled salespeople are not just order takers; they are the direct marketing line of your business to your customers and prospects. They are the people that generate revenue for your business. Skilled sales people bring new revenue in the form of new business. That increases top line revenue which should increase your bottom line revenue as well. They can also generate revenue in many other ways. Your Top Guns can increase your account penetration by expanding your geographic reach with an existing account (selling to new locations you haven't previously done business with in the past. They can increase your account penetration by selling products the client has never purchased from you in the past. This is done by leveraging the relationship they have with the people they have established relationships with in the account.
They achieve this in one of three ways.
A) They ask for a referral from someone they have built a relationship with over time. For example: "Hey Tom, I know your team does not have responsibility for Laptop maintenance, so can you please introduce me to the person responsible here who is? Our company has a great program and I want to make sure your company is aware of that, since you have used someone else for as long as I have been your Account Manager." Or,"Hey Mike, I now have responsibility for NJ, can you please put me in touch with your counterpart responsible for NJ?"
B) They offer a bundled offer discount. "Hey Sue, since you are using our laser jet toner, I want you to know that we can offer a discount if you also purchase paper from us too." If you've done a good job, they already feel comfortable with you and if you can shave a few dollars off for them as well, that makes it attractive. And most businesses want to do business with as few suppliers as possible. Working with more vendors means they aren't getting as large volume discount as they might if they spent more of their money with a smaller pool of vendors. In addition, their accounting costs drop, since they have less vendors to add to the approved vendor list, less invoices to check before payment is released, less checks to cut etc.
C) They find the client's pain point. They find out from their discussions where the other suppliers are dropping the ball and offer your solution. Here is another example: The probability is quite high that the person that the person buying Category 5 cable from you, knows devices the cable is connecting. Is it for a LAN? It is? We sell hubs & PC's. Routers? Is it for a WAN? A strong salesperson will know what's going on in your account and make sure the client is aware of every product offering and service your business provides. They might not need it today, but you need to lay the groundwork for the future, NOW.
Salespeople aren't just the people with Sales Representative, Account Executive, Account Manager etc, on their business cards. Your installation & service teams are also in a position to increase (or decrease) your sales. Make sure you coach them as well to look for opportunities.
Thanks for reading. Please send me any questions or comments you have on this Blog.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this. Enjoy your day!
So here we go..
Skilled salespeople are not just order takers; they are the direct marketing line of your business to your customers and prospects. They are the people that generate revenue for your business. Skilled sales people bring new revenue in the form of new business. That increases top line revenue which should increase your bottom line revenue as well. They can also generate revenue in many other ways. Your Top Guns can increase your account penetration by expanding your geographic reach with an existing account (selling to new locations you haven't previously done business with in the past. They can increase your account penetration by selling products the client has never purchased from you in the past. This is done by leveraging the relationship they have with the people they have established relationships with in the account.
They achieve this in one of three ways.
A) They ask for a referral from someone they have built a relationship with over time. For example: "Hey Tom, I know your team does not have responsibility for Laptop maintenance, so can you please introduce me to the person responsible here who is? Our company has a great program and I want to make sure your company is aware of that, since you have used someone else for as long as I have been your Account Manager." Or,"Hey Mike, I now have responsibility for NJ, can you please put me in touch with your counterpart responsible for NJ?"
B) They offer a bundled offer discount. "Hey Sue, since you are using our laser jet toner, I want you to know that we can offer a discount if you also purchase paper from us too." If you've done a good job, they already feel comfortable with you and if you can shave a few dollars off for them as well, that makes it attractive. And most businesses want to do business with as few suppliers as possible. Working with more vendors means they aren't getting as large volume discount as they might if they spent more of their money with a smaller pool of vendors. In addition, their accounting costs drop, since they have less vendors to add to the approved vendor list, less invoices to check before payment is released, less checks to cut etc.
C) They find the client's pain point. They find out from their discussions where the other suppliers are dropping the ball and offer your solution. Here is another example: The probability is quite high that the person that the person buying Category 5 cable from you, knows devices the cable is connecting. Is it for a LAN? It is? We sell hubs & PC's. Routers? Is it for a WAN? A strong salesperson will know what's going on in your account and make sure the client is aware of every product offering and service your business provides. They might not need it today, but you need to lay the groundwork for the future, NOW.
Salespeople aren't just the people with Sales Representative, Account Executive, Account Manager etc, on their business cards. Your installation & service teams are also in a position to increase (or decrease) your sales. Make sure you coach them as well to look for opportunities.
Thanks for reading. Please send me any questions or comments you have on this Blog.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this. Enjoy your day!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Part 2 - Marketing is like Fishing...
Part 2 - Marketing is like Fishing...
... because you need the right bait to be successful! When you go fishing, you can't use one type of bait for every type of fish. You use flies, minnows, killies, worms, corn or dough depending on whether you want to catch, stripers, bluefish, flounder, etc.
In the same manner, you need to get your message out in the right media to catch the most likely users of your product. If you're selling custom office furniture, you won't want to advertise in comic books, you want your space ads in the Wall Street Journal or Fortune Magazine. Someone marketing to businesses for off-site meetings won't want to spend marketing money in a publication that is frequently read by non-profit organization or small businesses. Their target market is large businesses with big budgets.
When you've determined you want to reach the DECISION MAKERS of large businesses that hold off site meetings, how do you contact them? You need to understand their habits and interests.
So there are two things that are critical for marketing success. You need to know your target market! If you don't know who is likely to have a need for your product, your marketing is guesswork. After you figure that out, you need to understand the best way to reach them. If your product or service will be purchased by a wide group of people, like coffee and donuts in Part 1, you need to reach everyone in a reasonable driving distance of your store. If you have a smaller audience, you need to reach a smaller slice of the population but you probably want to cover more geography.
Thanks for reading.
Comments, questions, suggestion for future topics are all greatly appreciated.
... because you need the right bait to be successful! When you go fishing, you can't use one type of bait for every type of fish. You use flies, minnows, killies, worms, corn or dough depending on whether you want to catch, stripers, bluefish, flounder, etc.
In the same manner, you need to get your message out in the right media to catch the most likely users of your product. If you're selling custom office furniture, you won't want to advertise in comic books, you want your space ads in the Wall Street Journal or Fortune Magazine. Someone marketing to businesses for off-site meetings won't want to spend marketing money in a publication that is frequently read by non-profit organization or small businesses. Their target market is large businesses with big budgets.
When you've determined you want to reach the DECISION MAKERS of large businesses that hold off site meetings, how do you contact them? You need to understand their habits and interests.
So there are two things that are critical for marketing success. You need to know your target market! If you don't know who is likely to have a need for your product, your marketing is guesswork. After you figure that out, you need to understand the best way to reach them. If your product or service will be purchased by a wide group of people, like coffee and donuts in Part 1, you need to reach everyone in a reasonable driving distance of your store. If you have a smaller audience, you need to reach a smaller slice of the population but you probably want to cover more geography.
Thanks for reading.
Comments, questions, suggestion for future topics are all greatly appreciated.
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