Winning Edge: May 2016 - BESMA 2016 by Institute of Sales Management (ISM)

WINNINGEDGE FOR SALES AND MARKETING PROFESSIONALS

MAY/JUNE 2016 | www.ismm.co.uk | Â£4.95

FIT FOR THE FUTURE ISMM unveils its bold new growth strategy

BUYER INSIGHT

IMAGE MATTERS

How looking good can maximise sales

PIPELINE DREAMS

Putting an end to your forecasting nightmares

A top purchasing pro explains buyer behaviour

6 1 0 2 A M BES ISH T I R B E H T S AT S E C C U S ARDS G W A N I G T A N I R T B E E CEL ARK M & S E L A S E IN EXCELLENC

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NATIONAL SALES CONFERENCE 2016 Educate • Motivate • Innovate

Maggie Buggie

6th October Ricoh Arena Coventry

Lord Digby Jones

VP and Global Head of Former CBI Director General Digital Sales & Marketing and Minister of State for at Capgemini Trade & Investment

Grant Leboff Social Selling & Marketing Expert

Col. Kevin Farrell PhD Chief of Military History at the U.S Military Academy & Leadership Expert

Graham Davis

Will Greenwood MBE

Chris Brindley

Sales Director of Royal Mail

Former HSBC trader & Rugby World Cup Winner

Former Managing Director of Metro Bank

ALSO PRESENTING...

NATIONAL SALES EXHIBITION 2016

Showcasing the latest products, technologies and services to develop your sales force!

BOOK BEFORE 30th JUNE - SAVE £100* *ISMM Member Discount - Book tickets at www.sales-expo.co.uk

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CONTENTS

WINNINGEDGE

MAY/JUNE 2016 www.ismm.co.uk

16 COVER

STORY

Basepoint Business & Innovation Centre A22, 110 Butterfield, Great Marlings Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 8DL Website: www.ismm.co.uk Email: magazine@ismm.co.uk Tel: 01582 840001 Editorial: Marc Beishon, Tom Nash Design: Del Gentleman Print: Ridgeway Press

2 ISMM STRATEGY

22 PIPELINE DREAMS

Paul Pybus explains the Institute’s ambitious plans for the future

Darren Spence explains why smart sales forecasting is business critical – and how you can achieve it

5 EDITORIAL What would ‘Brexit’ mean for selling and sales professionals?

26 WHAT THE BUYER SAW

6 SALES TALK

Top procurement professional Tim Ussher describes the flawed selling techniques he has witnessed

The latest news and research from the world of sales

30 IMAGE MATTERS

9 EDUCATION Opportunities from Anglia Ruskin University and CommuniGator

10 SMARTER SELLING Information, insight, practical advice – and entertainment

15 THE GADGET PAGE Innovative tech kit for switched-on sales professionals © ISMM 2016. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the ISMM. The publishers endeavour to check all facts and figures prior to publication, but are not responsible for errors in material supplied to them for publication. Any article published will automatically be deemed to carry the sole copyright and be the property of the ISMM. International Standard Serial No. UK ISSN 1746-6849

16 COVER STORY Our glorious pictorial celebration of BESMA – the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards 2016 – including a full listing of all this year’s winners and finalists

Image consultant Jessica Anne advises sales pros on how they should dress to maximise success

34 NEGOTIATING Simon Buzza offers the first in a new series on a vital sales skill

36 CALLING CONSULTANTS Professional services executives can learn to sell, says Greg Turner

40 BOOK REVIEWS 43 CAREER LINES 44 ISMM EVENTS 45 NEW ISMM MEMBERS 46 DIRECTORY 48 MEMBER PROFILE 49 CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP WINNING EDGE 1

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ISMM NEWS / STRATEGY

TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE

ISMM head, PAUL PYBUS, explains the Institute’s ambitious plans

PROUD HISTORY The ISMM has a long and proud history of providing first class education and benefits to its membership. As times change, and new developments within the world of sales take hold, so the Institute needs to move forward in order to reflect the current and future environments that our members operate in. To facilitate this, the Institute made an announcement during the recent 2016 BESMA Sales Summit and BESMA awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House hotel in London, that it would be working to rebrand, reposition and reinvigorate, in order to provide an overall more effective offering for its members, including enhanced benefits, greater networking opportunities nationally and internationally, together with broader education and training to further enhance an already excellent offering. In addition, it will be looking to re-establish itself as the thought leader for the sales industry, with lofty ambitions to professionalise the role of the salesperson in the eyes of the world.

receive an excellent package that truly reflects the requirements of sales professionals operating within the industry and demonstrates great value for their subscription fee. BRANCHES AND COMMITTEES Other matters that will be progressed are branch structures and committees. Every member will be assigned to a branch that will take responsibility for organising events and seminars in its local area. These branches will be a direct link to the members themselves. In addition, the branch chairs will be invited to sit on the ISM’s national committee, which will provide a great opportunity for individuals to develop and grow with us in the future. In addition, we will be introducing a number of committees that will predominantly be made up of members. These committees will be tasked with covering a range of topics, from strategy and new membership to ethics and professional development, and will be the day-today engine room for decisions and actions by the new organisation. Prior to the formation of these committees, more details on them will have been on the ISMM website for a few weeks and members would have already been invited to nominate potential representatives.

A NEW ENTITY – AND IDENTITY Emphasis will be given to ensure that members are truly in control of their organisation, and as a first step a new entity, Institute for Sales Management (ISM), will be formed as a not-for-profit body. Existing ISMM members will then be invited to transition to this new organisation. IMPROVED MEMBER BENEFITS One of the key matters that the new body will address is that of benefits, ensuring that members 2 WINNING EDGE

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Less means more: the new Institute logo loses an ’M’, but members will benefit

QUALIFICATIONS The value of the ISMM’s qualifications within the industry has been recognised by the increased numbers of students undertaking an ISMM accredited programme over the past few years. The newly positioned Institute will be looking to ISMM.CO.UK

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ISMM NEWS / STRATEGY

further demonstrate the benefits of structured and accredited learning within the sales industry, ensuring that priority is given to converting those students into members, allowing them access to the range of membership benefits which would aid professional development, networking and career enhancement. REVISED MEMBERSHIP GRADES We are currently reviewing the Institute’s various membership grades and the requirements for each grade, including, for example, the introduction of assessment of qualifications in order to progress to the status of Fellow. In future, a greater emphasis will be given to the whole issue of membership and the progression through the grades. The table below provides a glimpse of the proposed grades, which have yet to be finalised. CONTINUED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT An integral aspect of reviewing membership will be an examination of the Institute’s continued professional development (CPD) offering, with the aim of bringing the ISM into line with other professional bodies in making CPD compulsory, along with putting in place guidance regarding the various types of CPD and how they all play a key role in members’ development. The Institute will implement a new system for logging CPD during 2016, with members selected at random for auditing of their CPD logs.

“The Institute has a great history and we are in an excellent position to move to the next level”

CHARTERED STATUS I would like to touch on the issue of chartered status and whether the Institute should progress in this direction. This is probably one of the biggest

PROPOSED MEMBERSHIP GRADES GRADE DESIGNATION Career Opportunity Member (unemployed) Student Member

N/A N/A

Associate Member: fewer than three years’ sales experience

AISM

Full Member: more than three years’ sales experience

MISM

Leadership Member: one year’s management experience

LISM

Fellow: five years’ strategic experience

FISM

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PAUL PYBUS is head of the ISMM and a partner of Price Bailey, a leading firm of chartered accountants and business advisers

questions facing the Institute. While the application process itself is not too complex, there is a considerable amount of work and preparation in putting the Institute into the position where the application is likely to be successful. It is important for us to understand, therefore, whether this is something wanted by the members. A poll of members will be conducted with the results published in early May. This will then influence our decision as to whether we progress down the road towards chartered status. TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS The proposed re-structuring will see new members joining the Institute of Sales Management (ISM), while existing ISMM members will be invited to move across to the new body. There will be a need to have transitional provisions to ensure that existing members do not lose their existing grading as well as allowing for the settling in of the new requirements. These transitional provisions will only be available for a short period of time and members wishing to take advantage of them will need to ensure that they adhere to the timelines. The transitional provisions will be announced by the end of June 2016 along with the new members’ benefits and other matters. As the Institute is currently developing and implementing this strategic planning, the directors decided that, as a goodwill gesture, during the course of this process it would be beneficial to suspend temporarily collection of all membership fees. FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH On a final note, the Institute has a great history and we are in an excellent position to move to the next level. Over the years, the Institute has been enormously privileged to develop a valuable network of endorsed approved training centres, as well as working closely with key partners in the development of apprenticeship programmes and sales academies, not only on an individual member basis, but also within our company membership and much valued corporate partner schemes, which have all reinforced the status of the Institute as the leading professional body for the industry. I would like to thank all our members – individual and corporate – for their support over the years and look forward to the exciting changes to come. WINNING EDGE 3

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OPINION

EDITORIAL COMMENT

STAY OR LEAVE? MAKING SENSE OF THE EU REFERENDUM IS HARD BUT THE UK NEEDS BETTER TRADE SKILLS

here is no more important business issue at present than Britain’s membership of the European Union. While arguments for staying in or out focus also on sovereignty, democracy and migration, it is likely that the impact on UK plc will hold sway for many people when it comes to voting in the referendum. There are some facts about Europe as far as business and selling go that are not in dispute. The EU is the world’s biggest economy – the combined GDP of member states in 2014 was $18.5tr (trillion) and Britain’s share of that was about $3tr. Of that $3tr, UK exports to the EU account for about 14%, and to the world as a whole about 30%. But the EU accounts for some 44% of the UK’s total exports, and the EU also has trade agreements with countries that for 60% of Britain’s “Over a million small account trade, according to Open firms lack skills needed Europe, a think tank with a stance but advocates for the digital age” neutral for a more flexible Europe. Britain also has a big trade deficit with the EU – it was the highest on record in January at more than £8bn, according to the Office for National Statistics (the UK’s total deficit with the world was much less, about £3.5bn, so it has a trade surplus with countries outside the EU). And importantly the UK is very strong on services, which make up half of exports. Brexit supporters say that this shows the EU needs the UK more than it needs the EU, but “remainers” point out that UK trade is actually only a small part of the EU’s trade. Whatever the situation after Brexit, though, it is apparent that UK companies could be doing better in building up overseas trade to the EU and elsewhere. Surprisingly, perhaps, only about 15% of Britain’s non-financial sector firms trade overseas, and about 11% of firms are exporters (and about the same number are importers). But as the CBI points out, those 11% that do export punch above their weight and account for about 28% of our GDP. The CBI also notes that many small firms that do not export directly do benefit from trade in supply chains. From a business and selling viewpoint, it does seem to be obvious to develop ISMM.CO.UK

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overseas trade, especially for smaller firms, but it may not only be Britain that has difficulty here as one of the prerequisites is a digital presence and also buyers who are Internet savvy. Latest figures from the European Commission show that only 16% of Europe’s SMEs sell online, and to help, the Commission recently presented proposals on digital contracts to protect consumers better who shop online, and help businesses expand their online sales. So enabling cross-Europe selling would seem to be a benefit of staying in. But a survey by Go ON UK shows that 1.2 million small firms in the UK lack the skills they need to succeed in the digital age – there’s a lot of work to do here. Another factor is the much cited “red tape” associated with Europe, and here smaller firms have voiced more support for Brexit than large companies, although it is unclear exactly what red tape is involved (and the European Commission is currently reviewing unnecessary regulations). The UK is already less regulated in areas such as employment law than most other EU countries. As for the overall impact, the CBI’s president, Paul Drechsler, is clear: “The UK has prospered within the EU and it would be tough, but more likely impossible, to get a deal from the outside that would replicate all the economic benefits that membership brings to British businesses. Halfway house relationships like those of Switzerland and Norway have serious drawbacks.” The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that 42% of the small business “vote” could still be swayed, and just over half of members surveyed said they do not feel informed and want more details on the economic impact and the burden of complying with EU regulation. On balance, the advantages to trade of staying in would seem to outweigh leaving from the small business standpoint but we hope to see more unbiased information in the coming weeks. And if you want a bet you’ll get much better odds on Brexit from the bookies... WINNING EDGE 5

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SALES TALK INDUSTRY NEWS

STATISTICS

DID YOU KNOW… Source: Ampersand Mobile

41% OF CONSUMERS MADE MORE MOBILE PURCHASES THAN IN 2014

76%

SAY MOBILE HAS A ‘DRAMATIC IMPACT’ ON THEIR LIVES

47% WOULD MISS THE SOCIAL INTERACTION MOBILE PROVIDES

BUZZWORDS

CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL The word “chartered” is on many ISMM members’ lips at present. So what does chartered professionalism entail? The concept dates back many centuries to the years following the Norman invasion in 1066. In the 21st century, chartered status is more relevant than ever in terms of winning and securing public trust. Across the professional landscape, from accountants and surveyors to civil engineers and insurance brokers, chartered status proudly demonstrates the highest standards of competence and ethical behaviour.

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ISMM IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Major events and announcements mean the ISMM is making the news

£10BN

WAS SPENT BY UK CONSUMERS ON MOBILE PURCHASES LAST YEAR

INSTITUTE NEWS

Three landmark events – the 2016 BESMA Awards, the first ever BESMA Sales Summit, and the launch of an ambitious new growth strategy – herald a new dawn for the ISMM. The annual British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards (BESMA) in March attracted a record number of entrants and culminated in a glittering presentation ceremony and dinner at London’s prestigious Grosvenor House hotel. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Dara Ó Briain, saw a record attendance of around 900 sales professionals, judges and VIP guests and set a new standard for this outstanding event in the sales calendar. For a report and a full round-up of all the winners and runners-up, turn to page 16. At the same time, ISMM head Paul Pybus announced new strategic goals, which include ambitious plans to grow the Institute at home and abroad, improving benefits, driving up membership and raising standards across the sales industry – probably including seeking chartered status for the organisation. The plan is already underway, with the imminent change from the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (ISMM) to simply the Institute of Sales Management (ISM). Pybus explains the reason for the name change and provides more details of the ISM’s bold ambitions on page 2. Pybus made his dramatic announcement in a presentation at the inaugural BESMA Sales Summit, also held at the Grosvenor House. This educational event, attended by some 200 sales professionals, sparked animated debate about the ISM’s future expansion plans, as well as discussion around some of the key issues facing the sales industry today. Other keynote speakers at the Summit were: l David Butterfield, head of learning and development at heavy building materials supplier Aggregate Industries, who explained how his

company has built a highly skilled and effective salesforce by investing in training and ISMM qualifications l Lee Chadwick, CEO of lead generation specialist CommuniGator group, who showed how companies can use marketing automation software to gather data on website visitors to create business opportunities l Keith Burns, director of marketing at accountants and business advisory firm Price Bailey, who described how his business is using client research and competitor mapping to articulate a clear sales message l John Kauffman, CEO of LRI Education, who used inventive and original analogies to show how sales development initiatives can boost salesperson effectiveness l Janet Garcia, chief commercial officer for sales training consultancy Imparta, who considered the role of the sales leader in creating and sustaining high performing sales teams l John Allison, UK sales training and development manager at construction products company SIG, who explained his company’s sales academy model for sales team development, which has used training and ISMM qualifications to improve standards of sales performance l Nigel Risner, a motivational speaker who had delegates in stitches with a hilarious, but also informative, description of the “animalistic” communication styles used by different personality types. Where salespeople are concerned, he claimed, “It’s a zoo around here.” Butterfield and Kauffman also participated in a lively panel debate, chaired by the ISM’s Tom Moverley, and joined by Otema Yirenkyi, head of sales excellence at Vodafone, and Steve Eungblut, CEO of sales training company Sterling Chase. The Summit looks set to be repeated annually on the back of this year’s outstanding success.

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SALES TALK | INDUSTRY NEWS

Talking Point

SHORT SELLING N EW S RO UND- UP

DRES S FOR SUCCESS

SELLING CHALLENGES

Sales training company Richardson has released the results of its 2016 Selling Challenges Study, which focuses on prospecting, retaining and growing client relationships, and pricing/closing. It’s available for free download.

“At work I dress conservatively. Every working day I wear a suit and tie – blue, black, or grey for Friday casual, but still always a tie. Generally, I wear black shoes. How you dress is like body language and spoken language – we send a message through the way we look. As a salesperson, I think my customers perceive me as representative of the company’s credibility. I get 2-3% credibility from the way I dress. It can be hard to sell, so I need those few per cent. If I didn’t dress smartly, I’d have to work harder.”

GOOD WORKS

Research by the UK Public Relations Consultants Association suggests that a CEO’s image is more important than ever to sales, and CEO involvement in good works impresses consumers most.

Ulf Axman, 60 year-old head of sales for Cinnober, a financial technology company

Image consultant Jessica Anne explores the issue of personal presentation further on page 30 of this edition.

ACADEMY AWARD E-COMMERCE

NET TRUST FALLING SHORT New index shows half UK users distrust the Internet

TELESALES

ROGUE CALLERS FINED Firms fined for nuisance sales calls A West Midlands firm that made thousands of nuisance phone calls in the middle of the night has been fined £70,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Direct Security Marketing, based in Dudley, made nearly 40,000 automated calls in just one day in an attempt to sell burglar alarms. Of these, almost 10,000 were made between 1am and 6am. Andy Curry, the ICO’s group enforcement manager, says: “Elderly people were among those who were left distressed after being woken up in the night by the automated calls. It’s natural when the phone rings in the early hours to fear it’s bad news.” Curry continues: “Legally, automated marketing calls can only be made if people have specifically consented to receive this type of call. This company admitted that it did not have consent.” In a separate case, a Manchester company, MyIML, has been fined £80,000 by the ICO for cold calling people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service in order to avoid such calls.

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Despite a high level of digital media consumption and engagement, 54% of UK users don’t trust the Internet. According to the Digital Trust Index, which is published every six months by Jin Digital Influence, the web’s main players, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, are all struggling to earn the trust of their users. The index shows trust to be particularly low in sectors such as health and insurance, with many websites dogged by perceived security risks concerning personal data. Eliott Maidenberg, Jin’s managing director, says: “The digital economy accounts for £180bn of the UK’s GDP, but how is this to be sustained if this medium fails to earn the trust of its users?” He says businesses should work on a number of areas to build trust, such as gaining online industry certifications, gathering and publishing user recommendations, collaborating with influencers and strengthening web design. l A separate study of 1,000 UK adults by Echo Managed Services highlights the increasing prevalence of digital channels, with 41% of all adults preferring to engage with service providers in this way, including a third of respondents over the age of 65.

The UK sales arm of sanitary parts and systems specialist Geberit has announced a partnership with the ISMM and achieved Academy status. “This further underlines Geberit’s commitment to developing its salesforce in the UK and Ireland,” says training manager Matthew Hotten.

MOBILE MARKETERS

Recruitment firm Robert Walters reports that 27% of marketing professionals are seeking a new job, with almost half planning a change within six months.

DIAL-UP REWARDS

A study by UK mobile app developer Apadmi finds that 80% of shoppers want to collect loyalty points on their phone.

MOVING STORY

Telesales specialist Darren Frostick (pictured) has launched a new service for the commercial removals, office fit out and telecoms sectors. It offers sales information on firms that are relocating.

HIGH SELLING

A survey by Crossland Employment Solicitors has found that 35% of employees know or suspect that their colleagues have a drug problem or take illegal substances, while 60% complain that resulting mood swings, missed deadlines and calling-in sick are affecting team performance.

PITCH PERFECT

Marie Perruchet, an ex-BBC journalist, has published One Perfect Pitch: How to sell your idea, your product, your business – or yourself. Perruchet runs a consultancy, also called One Perfect Pitch.

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EDUCATION

C ASE STUDY

QUALIFICATIONS Massimo Ciabattini has made great career strides since taking a sales degree WHAT IS YOUR SALES QUALIFICATION? I graduated in 2012 from Anglia Ruskin University with a BA (Hons) in sales. AND YOUR CURRENT ROLE? Since then I have progressed from the role of sales associate at Knightsbridge department store Harrods, through to a management position – I am now store manager at Dolce & Gabbana. HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR DEGREE HAS HELPED YOU? Since my degree, my career has taken off. I was a sales assistant and now I’m a store manager – and my salary has doubled. During my interview with Dolce & Gabbana in Italy, their European director pointed to the sales degree on my CV and said, “This is what we’re really interested in, you’ll bring something new to the business.” WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR SALES DEGREE COURSE? It was the pragmatic approach to learning that was so great. Anything you study academically can be applied immediately in the real world. You gain real insight and understanding by using and applying these tools in the workplace – it’s the learning cycle. WHAT DID YOU FIND MOST BENEFICIAL, EITHER PROFESSIONALLY OR PERSONALLY? I really developed my critical thinking and analytical skills. I developed the way I approached projects and I delivered projects with real tangible

benefit to the business, such as a rewards card scheme. My university project proposal for a ‘rewards card ambassador’ in each department led to increased sign up, usage and revenue for the company. The entrepreneurship in sales module, in particular, was amazing. I developed and piloted my idea of introducing a new role – stock room runner – to service the sales teams on the shopfloor, enabling sales staff to focus on the sales process and relationship development with the customer. This resulted in a 30% increase in sales and one of the directors wanted it rolled out in several departments. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE CONSIDERING THIS COURSE? Anywhere you go globally you need to sell, not just products but your ideas too. This degree gives you the tools to succeed in the sales world. It’s a way of thinking about how you can make the most sales. It gives you the passport to drive your career and it can open many doors. You will develop personally and, ultimately, you can progress to a management position. It’s really useful for many backgrounds, including different cultural backgrounds. WHAT’S YOUR NEXT GOAL? I loved studying with Anglia Ruskin and I’m interested in studying for an MBA with them now. Visit: www.anglia.ac.uk/sales

SKILLING UP STUDENTS ISMM partner CommuniGator is offering web writing internships

eb analytics specialist CommuniGator, an ISMM partner, is offering internships to locally-based University of Surrey undergraduates. The internships offer students of English insight into the business world, with a particular focus on the difference between academic and business writing. The students can also build a business portfolio, including sales best practice blogs and email campaigns, before they graduate. Ali Chambers, content strategist at CommuniGator, says: “Learning the difference between academic and business life is a tough

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lesson. It’s even harder in the technology sector. This internship programme allows students to find their feet and develop their skills before they have to consider moving into the corporate world.” The programme’s success has led CommuniGator to start teaching marketing executives similar skills in a short course held at the British Library in London. Victoria Dyke, marketing manager for CommuniGator, says: “We’ve had a great response. We’ve seen a real need for business professionals to learn new content marketing strategies.” Visit: www.gatorleads.co.uk

BEYOND ‘VA VA VOOM’ TalkSales Europe launches a new speaker-training course for sales Automotive training specialist TalkSales Europe is running a newly designed course to boost dealer staffs’ presentation skills. The course is aimed at sales and aftersales managers, to help build their skills and confidence in delivering group presentations and public speaking. TalkSales works across the UK delivering both onsite and inworkshop sessions to a number of dealer groups. Richard Beagle, managing director and lead trainer at TalkSales – and also an ISMM Fellow – explains: “Communication skills are key in these roles and the two-day workshop has been evolved through demand from current clients to give managers more skills in this area, filling a gap in the UK’s traditional vehicle manufacturer training programmes.” Delegates receive specialist training on planning, vocal delivery, using positive body language, handling nerves and the appropriate use of visual aids to help create a more professional impact.

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SMARTER SELLING

PRODUCTIVITY

SPEED UP YOUR SALES PACE ISMM corporate partner GatorLeads advises on how to become a more productive salesperson TAKE A BREAK EVERY 90 MINUTES

Increase your speed, attention span and concentration by taking regular breaks. By being refreshed, your productivity will improve. FORGET ABOUT LOST LEADS

We all lose a good lead from time to time. What matters is how we deal with it. Acknowledge what didn’t work and focus on improving those areas, so you close the sale next time. KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS

Keeping track of what is happening in your industry will help you know your competitors and present your offering favourably.

ake a look at the following practical, day-to-day tips and see if they could help you improve the speed of your sales cycle and drive up your productivity. PLAN AHEAD FOR TOMORROW

Make sure you hit the ground running in the morning by planning your day the night before. This will help you lower your procrastination levels if you are not a morning person. SCHEDULE YOUR ADMIN TIME

Sales involves often being on the phone. But there’s a lot more to it than this. You have a number of admin activities, including answering emails, prospecting and setting up meetings. Have a set time for these essential regular tasks so you don’t miss out on anything important. PRIORITISE QUALITY LEADS

Using lead scoring technology, you will be able to see which of your leads are more interested in your business. To keep their interest, you need to get in contact with these leads straight away. FOLLOW UP WITH YOUR LEADS

Contacting warm leads only once every other month is the easiest way to lose a potential customer. Instead, you must commit to dedicating time to following up leads already in your pipeline. Be prompt, even if it’s as simple as a chase-up email or phone call every couple of weeks. GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS

Did you know it takes an average of one minute and four seconds to get back to a task once you’ve been interrupted? When you have something planned, get rid of any distractions. This includes your phone and emails. 10 WINNING EDGE

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SECONDS HOW LONG IT TAKES TO GET BACK ON TASK AFTER A DISTRACTION

REVISIT YOUR SALES PITCH

No one pitch works for every prospect, so make sure to revisit your pitches often. See which performed well and which didn’t get any quality responses. It will help you improve in future. UPDATE YOUR CRM SYSTEM

To make sure your sales pipeline is always clean, make checks through your CRM system at least twice a year. This way, you don’t waste time chasing leads that are no longer interested.

WEB-SAVVY WAYS TO SMASH YOUR TARGET

1 2 3

TARGET THE RIGHT PROSPECTS Use web page lead scoring to focus on prospects who are showing keen interest in your product. FIND THE KEY DECISION-MAKER FAST Early on, ask your identified prospect if anyone else needs to be involved in the decison to buy. MAKE INBOUND LEADS A PRIORITY Research shows that sales reps are 100 times more likely to close with an inbound lead if they connect in the first five minutes, rather than the first 30 minutes. TRACK YOUR LEADS Use lead management to track where your leads are in the sales cycle and if they can move to the next stage – or should be removed from your CRM system. BASE KPIS ON SALES TRENDS Keep up sales momentum by using website data analysis of trends to set realistic KPIs for salespeople that encourage healthy competition. ADAPT YOUR SALES STRATEGY Ensure you are on top of new trends by looking at real-time analytics to see how your leads are interacting on your website. Focus on areas for improvement to make sure leads aren’t leaking out of your sales pipeline. For more information email info@communigator.co.uk, call 01483 411911 or visit: www.gatorleads.com

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SMARTER SELLING

Ask Anne C OAC H I N G T ECH NIQUES

PSYCHOLOGY

READING THE MIND OF THE CONSUMER

It’s often difficult to get to the bottom of why individual members of your telephone sales team are not getting the results you want. But coaching can help identify problems and improve their performance. Here are some of the issues I’ve faced – and coaching techniques I’ve used successfully to address them.

A game called Chinese Whispers is also very effective, where a simple set of instructions is repeated in turn, from one person to another in a line. The idea is to see how much the story has changed from the person who first recounted it, to the person who heard it at the end. The difference can be huge and really demonstrates how important it is to listen really carefully to the other person, with no internal dialogue.

A telesales executive on my team speaks really quickly on the phone. She says all the right things, but Most of my team have problems people can’t keep up with her. How reaching decision-makers on the do I slow her down without phone. How can we achieve demotivating her by that more often? I’m sure WHAT IS CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY? sounding like I’m it would bring us much It’s an interdisciplinary subject area, combining “Focus your criticising? greater success... theories and research methods from psychology, coaching around It’s difficult to change a This is a tough one. marketing, advertising, economics and sociology. how your team person’s telephone Nothing works 100% WHY DOES IT MATTER TO SALESPEOPLE? introduce speaking habits and this of the time, but the Psychology provides a broad perspective on how themselves at one is especially tricky. best way of getting to consumers function and reason, so you can truly the gatekeeper An effective way of more decision-makers understand your customers’ buying process. stage” helping someone to speak is not to sound like a DOES CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR CHANGE IN at the correct tempo is to salesperson when DIFFERENT AUDIENCES OR CULTURES? carry out some coaching on speaking to gatekeepers such Absolutely. Not all customers are the same. You need how to create rapport within the as PAs or receptionists. Focus your to know your target audience and understand what conversation. Advise her to focus on coaching on how your team specific techniques will work best to get them speaking at a similar tempo to the introduce themselves at the interested in what you are selling. Many businesses person she is speaking with. So, it’s gatekeeper stage. Keep it simple, still use old-fashioned, unproven techniques to fine to speak quickly if the other friendly and direct, but don’t communicate with customers. person speaks quickly, but to elaborate about what the call is HOW CAN SALESPEOPLE EXPLORE THE concentrate on slowing about if the decision-maker isn’t PSYCHOLOGY OF SALES? down if not. available. Another tip is not to leave Be attentive to the way in which customers messages if you don’t need to, but behave. You can learn a lot from observing One of my team has a ask when the best time to call back people. The key is often not to have is for ‘fear, uncertainty habit of not listening would be – when the decision-maker and doubt’. It is often preconceived ideas about what the legitimately encouraged properly to the is most likely to be available. observed behaviour means, but go and among consumers by person they are study the psychology behind it. businesses wanting to speaking with and it ANNE BAGNALL is WHAT MAKES THE PERFECT make them change causes problems later managing director of SALESPERSON? their behaviour on. What kind of Phonetic, a telemarketing A great salesperson should have an training would you company, and also of understanding of how their own behaviour recommend for them? Natural Sales Training, can influence consumer decision-making. Definitely, active listening where she advises clients Something as simple as touching a customer’s arm exercises. These can be found online on their internal sales departments. She can directly affect their response to a request. or in training books. For example, is happy to answer readers’ questions. listening to a simple story and Call her on 07876 231868, email CATHRINE JANSSON-BOYD is reader in consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and author of the books Consumer Psychology and recounting it back accurately or anne@naturalsalestraining.co.uk or Consumption Matters. Follow her on Twitter@consumertrivia. Anglia Ruskin answering questions about it. visit www.naturalsalestraining.co.uk University offers the first online sales degree in the UK, which includes an

We ask Cathrine Jansson-Boyd about customers’ reasoning

FUD

optional module in the psychology of sales. Visit: www.anglia.ac.uk/sales

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SMARTER SELLING

T he Sales Doctor YOU R P ROB L E M S A N S W ER ED

you are always looking to develop and improve and any feedback would be sincerely appreciated. Equally, ask customers you have won to share the main reasons they chose you over your competitors. This knowledge will win you more business in future. Normally, it’s small changes that make the big difference, so focus on what little things you can alter to improve your success. And ask your sales manager for advice: the opinion of an experienced third-party is always valuable – and it’s what they’re there for...

My team and I sell advertising opportunities. We are very good at closing business, but we keep getting stuck on the same objection: “I can’t advertise now because I’m working at full capacity and I can’t take on any more business”. I normally use the tactic of explaining that they can use us to push the most profitable services they offer, enabling them to cherry pick the work they take on. Unfortunately, this only works occasionally. Any advice? This could be viewed as a condition, as opposed to an objection. This means if it’s genuine and the company has no intention of growing or taking on additional resource to support growth, then there really is nothing you can do. I would accept this is a company you cannot work with for the next few months and keep in touch to see what changes. But before giving up, there are some key questions I’d ask to see if they are using this objection as a way of getting rid of you or they are telling the truth. I’d ask, “As you are at full capacity at present, what is your appetite for growing your business to the next level?” If they wish to grow, I’d ask, “What plans do you have in place to generate new business?” If they are happy working at full capacity, I’d ask: l ”Approximately how many clients make up all your current business?” l ”Out of all those clients, how many contribute to the larger percentage of your revenue?” l ”What would you do if you lost those major clients?” By asking these questions, it should help you confirm their real situation and, depending on their responses, you may create an opportunity.

A DEAR SALES DOCTOR,

I recently started my sales career and, at first, I enjoyed it – there’s nothing like closing your first sale, it feels amazing. But I have increasingly felt the pressure of meeting targets to hit commission. The other guys have encouraged me to do whatever it takes to make a sale. By “whatever it takes” they mean lie or exaggerate about the product to get a client on board. Is this just part and parcel of being a salesperson? If everyone else is doing it, should I be doing it too? Under no circumstances should you lie, no matter how big or small. It is unprofessional and unethical. You will also get found out and then all credibility will be lost and your company’s reputation will be damaged. Part of being an exceptional sales professional is finding out your client’s real needs and then highlighting the relevant benefits of your product or service around those needs, presenting them in the most favourable light possible. I would change the word “exaggerate” to “being passionate’’ There is never a downside to speaking passionately about your offering, and if you can back up your claims with case studies, even better. If you can’t, do not exaggerate – again you will get found out. Rather than lie to win more sales, invest your time and energy on analysing how you have won business before. If it’s by going to meetings, then make more prospecting calls and attend more meetings. If you are getting meetings but have low conversion rates, then look at what you need to tweak to improve your rates. Ask one of your top performers if you can attend a meeting with them to see what they are doing. I would suggest emailing the prospects where you have lost the deal to ask for feedback. Simply say that

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TONY MORRIS is director of Sales Doctor, a London-based sales training company he co-founded with fellow ISMM member, Boyd Mayover. He is the author of several sales books including Coffee’s for Closers, The Perfect Sales Meeting and The Perfect Sales Call. He will be running a one-day masterclass in London on 29 June called perfect sales call LIVE, where he will make live calls on behalf of the audience to their prospective customers. Call Sales Doctor on 020 8906 6725, or visit: www.salesdoctors.co.uk BOOK OFFER The Perfect Sales Call is the ideal ‘how to’ guide selling over the phone. To receive it as a free ebook, simply email tony@salesdoctors. co.uk with the subject line: ‘perfect sales call book offer winning edge’. Please provide your name, company and phone number. To purchase a hard copy at £6.99, visit: http://tony-morris.co.uk/ books-publications Winning Edge readers will receive Coffee’s for Closers (which retails at £12.99) free with their purchase.

Q A

I’m good at sales, but I’m finding it hard leaving my home stress at the door. How can I focus? I think the initial thing to appreciate is that everyone has home stress and you are not alone. It must be viewed the same as when we get rejected in sales: it’s part of life. If we allowed every sales knockback to affect us, we would never pick up the phone or attend a sales meeting again. People handle stress – whether domestic or work-related – differently. I like to work out at the gym or go for a jog. Other people like to soak in a bath or read a book to take their mind off things. The lesson here is to do something; take action and try different things and see what works best for you. Don’t be scared of asking for support. A problem shared…

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13/04/2016 15:34

SMARTER SELLING

Coat Hanger T H E LI GH T ER S IDE O F S A LES

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY? A new survey suggests this is rarely the case

SALES METHODS

QUIT PRESSURE SELLING Make sales in a natural and enjoyable way, says LEIGH ASHTON

Most people love buying, but only in the right circumstances. It’s a salesperson’s job to read when that is. Here are four golden rules: END THE OLD SCHOOL SELLING METHODS

There are sales methods out there that will teach you how to convert anyone, even someone not in a position to buy. But such methods are outdated and ethically wrong. Why would you want to pressure someone into a sale that isn’t right for them? The result will be a one-time sale with no long-term relationship, a resentful customer and, most likely, a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. KEEP OUT OF CUSTOMERS’ SPACE

As customers, we don’t respond to being “sold to” in the sense of being pressured, when our barriers are up but the salesperson just pushes right through them. It’s not nice in the physical sense if it’s an intrusion into our space, and it’s stressful. LET CUSTOMERS CHOOSE

We don’t enjoy choice being taken away from us. The natural instinct on being pushed for a sale is to defend our territory. This leads to a tense sales process, bad feelings between the two parties and, even if the sale succeeds, the client can end up feeling taken advantage of. That’s not good for business long term. GET THE TIMING RIGHT

We don’t want to choose before we are ready. Not having the time to digest information and arrive at our own conclusion is uncomfortable. A decision made under pressure can cause anxiety, a feeling of going against your gut reaction, and a lack of trust. None of these are feelings we want our customers to have or to relate to other potential clients. LEIGH ASHTON is co-founder of online sales support platform Sasudi. Visit www.sasudi.com

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gap between the sexes when it comes to preferred distractions, the smartphone features heavily in each group, with men more likely to spend time having cigarette breaks and playing games on their mobiles, and women more likely to spend time on social media and online shopping. Technology isn’t the only popular reason for procrastination however. The top distractions at work are cited as: l Social media, with Instagram and Facebook proving the most popular sites l Exchanging gossip with co-workers l Making tea and coffee l Mobile phones l Office visitors l Cigarette breaks l Online shopping. When questioned about their “not-working” habits, 34% of employees felt they were more productive working from home.

What’s your excuse?

Part 2

Another six lame reasons for missing target

1 2

NO ONE IS BUYING NOW – Create urgency and value. Most companies have budget and will buy if shown value. MY PRODUCT IS A COMMODITY – Is it corn, oil, rocks, paper napkins? Even with these basic products great salespeople will create value and differentiation. I CAN’T GET AN APPOINTMENT – You aren’t interesting. Create rapport and trust, and offer initial value. I CAN’T GET THEM TO RETURN MY CALLS – See #3. Did you give them a

3 4

good enough reason to call you back? NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS/ WE NEED TO RUN MORE ADS – Marketing and selling are two different things. Have you closed every single opportunity in front of you? ALL I NEED IS MORE LEADS – Closely related to #5. Cherry picking is not high level selling, so be strategic, identify your best prospects and get to them by yourself. You cannot wait for them to find you.

Todd Hockenbury is a sales and marketing consultant at Top Line Results in the US. Source: www.eyeonsales.com

very employer wants to provide a happy workplace, but a recent survey reveals that it’s possible for staff members to feel too comfortable, with one in five employees admitting that they never spend a full eight hours a day on workrelated tasks. While the average entrepreneur will spend around 16 hours in the office on a daily basis, it seems that the people they trust to get work done – and that includes salespeople – are actually putting in less than half this amount of time, with the typical worker frittering away around 1.6 of the paid hours they spend at work every single day. Shockingly, 19% of employees claim they spend less than two-thirds of office hours actually working, according to the survey conducted by virtual PA company, AVirtual. It seems the mobile phone can take a lot of the blame. Although there is a

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13/04/2016 15:34

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WE May June 16 TEXT.indd 16

ProfitB X finds the hidden wealth...

12/04/2016 14:30

ON THE MOVE

G A D G E T S F O R D I S C E R N I N G P RO F E S S I O N A L S

WHAT’S MORE

TOOLS FOR THE JOB | GADGETS

TABLET

CHECK MATE

Huawei’s MateBook is a 2-in-1 device that is a bit pricey, starting at €799, but it’s a premium convertible tablet aimed at business users as it runs Windows 10 and has the processor power to match. Screen size is 12 inch and it comes with a keyboard case and a pen that doubles as a presentation pointer. And it boasts the “fastest fingerprint recognition in the industry”. BACKUP

MEMORY MAKER

MOTORING

THE MASERATI OF SUVs Maserati has unveiled the Levante, the first SUV in the brand’s hundred year history. The design features “clear associations with the Maserati brand and its distinctive Italian character”, says the blurb, with an “aggressive front” that introduces tapered headlights separated into two elements, and a rear dominated by a streamlined shape “typical of a highperformance sports car”. Technically, you’ll get electronic suspension with controlled damping and air springs, which can be set on several levels, “Q4” intelligent all-wheel drive and an 8-speed auto transmission. There’s a choice of Euro6 petrol and diesel V6 units, and it’s out in Europe about now.

MOBILE PHONE

OPEN AND SHUT CASE There were lots of new smartphones at the recent Mobile World Congress, including Samsung’s Galaxy S7 of course, but one that caught our eye is LG’s G5, which has a modular design with a slide-out battery and add-ons such as a camera and audio player. This is a high end phone with a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB memory, 32GB storage and a 5.3-inch IPS display. It’s a nice move away from the sealed units that now seem to be the norm.

PROJECTOR

MULTIMEDIA MARVEL This looks like the most polished tablet-projector device we’ve seen – the Spro Plus from ZTE has an 8.4 inch touchscreen with 2K resolution, and projects an image using laser technology (not LEDs) up to 80 inches across from 2 metres away. It also has a JBL audio system and an optional video camera, and can pick up voices more than 5 metres away, “so you can conduct group meetings in any location” over Skype, for example. It will be available in both a Wi-Fi only version as well as one with 4G.

ISMM.CO.UK

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This is a gadget that looks like such a good idea you wonder why it wasn’t out before. The MEEM – which works with iOS and Android phones – simply plugs into your phone and backs everything up. Then if you lose your phone, plug it into a new phone and your stuff will be transferred in one step. It backs up both the mobile’s internal and removable memory. SMARTWATCH

HEART ON SLEEVE

Wearables we’re told are all the rage and we’ve picked out this Garmin vívoactive HR, a GPS smartwatch with heart rate technology. It will keep track of your active movements as you run to avoid a parking ticket and knows where you are with GPS. But we include it because it also flags notifications from your smartphone, including incoming calls, texts, emails, calendar reminders, social media alerts and more with a vibration alert. It will even locate your smartphone and will run for up to 8 days on its battery if you turn GPS off.

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12/04/2016 14:53

SALES SUPERSTARS The British Excellence in Sales & Marketing Awards (BESMA) – celebrating the UK’s top sales professionals

ritain’s finest sales professionals have been honoured at BESMA, the UK’s “Oscars” for sales managers, salespeople and sales and marketing teams. The glittering ceremony, organised by the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (ISMM), took place recently at London’s prestigious Grosvenor House hotel. “BESMAs” are awarded by the ISMM after a rigorous judging process by experienced sales experts. The ISMM’s president, Sir Eric Peacock, welcomed some 900 finalists, sponsors, guests and the media, explaining that BESMA seeks to reward the efforts of both individual sales professionals and sales teams in driving company performance, as well as recognising the key role of sales in creating a thriving UK economy. Sir Eric noted the exceptional quality of this year’s BESMA candidates and thanked the judges for their efforts in the challenging task of selecting the winners, before handing over to the evening’s celebrity host, Irish comedian and TV personality Dara Ó Briain, who duly handed out the coveted trophies. Winners include Kevin Henderson from sales performance management specialist Xactly, who won Sales Professional of the Year. Another key individual award, Sales Manager of the Year, went to Adam Clarke from ticket and events app Dice. Companies that excelled include AXA Insurance for Customer Service Team of the Year, and Yell, which won Telesales Team of the Year, as well as having the Telesales Professional of the Year in Karen Malone.

Natasha Brigo, events manager at the ISMM, says: “Each finalist should feel incredibly proud of themselves as this was one of the toughest judging processes for BESMA that we have ever seen. We were amazed by the incredibly high calibre of nominations from across such a wide range of industries.” Brigo continues: “This was our largest awards night ever and it was a delight to have so much talent in one room.” Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, who are listed on the following pages, along with each category’s sponsor and judges.

STUDENT OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY LRI

WINNER: Aaron Parsons, Jewson 2ND PLACE: Josh Allison, SIG Construction Accessories 3RD PLACE: Ashley Martin, Pitney Bowes JUDGES: Alan Fry, L&D Consulting; Lorna Leck, The Sales Activator

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SALES TRAINER OF THE YEAR

TRAINING CENTRE OF THE YEAR

WINNER: Stephen Burton, MeetingPoint Global

WINNER: SIG Sales Academy, John Allison

2ND PLACE: Mark Gallen, MG Sales Performance 3RD PLACE: John Finlay, Perfect Vision JUDGES: David Butterfield, Aggregate Industries; Gary Akehurst, Winchester and Aberystwyth Universities; Steve Lindsey, Lincoln West

2ND PLACE: Professional Academy 3RD PLACE: Growth Engineering, Anthony Organ JUDGES: Barry Hilton, Mercuri; Paul Morgan, O2 Telefรณnica; Tony Douglas, Napier University

SPONSORED BY ORACLE

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12/04/2016 14:56

FEATURE | FORECASTING

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FORECASTING | FEATURE

DARREN SPENCE explains why accurate sales forecasting is critical – and how to achieve it

The ing Find Number ic ag M

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ales are the magic that makes businesses work. Revenue goes into the top of the funnel and, as it flows through the organisation, it’s reduced by operating costs and expenses, leaving profit and cash at the bottom for the shareholders to leverage. Simple. So we know what shareholders want – consistent profits – but we also know what they don’t want, which are surprises. While the leadership team determines strategic direction, it’s fair for shareholders to expect a return – the business is being fuelled by these investors’ money, after all. And not just any return, but the return that’s stated in the business forecast – commonly known as the business plan. FORECASTING: WHY THE BIG DEAL? Managing shareholders’ expectations is critical, because if they lose confidence in their investment – either because insufficient sales revenue is going into the top of the funnel, or because unexpected costs and expenses are excessively eroding this income – they will surely react. They could pull their money out, starving the business of capital, slowing its growth and, at worst, killing it off – or they could force a change of leadership. So, managing the forecast is critical. If the forecast is managed well, with all lines in the profit and loss (P&L) account being closely monitored, surprises can be avoided and the effect of adverse events mitigated. The result will be greater shareholder confidence and increased investment, providing the all-important finance for growth, either through acquisitions or organic growth (more salespeople, marketing campaigns, R&D spend etc.), bringing further sales revenue into the top of the funnel and perpetuating a virtuous cycle of ever-rising profits and expansion. So everything comes back to creating an accurate forecast – and then delivering against it. Accurate forecasting (and reporting) is needed against specific lines in the P&L document, normally including: l Sales (ie. revenue) l Cost of sales (ie. the cost directly attributable to the provision of the product or service sold) l Gross margin (sales minus the cost of sales) l All other costs (including fixed overheads such as buildings, and support functions such as accounts, HR and marketing l Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which is essentially profit before tax (PBT), but with some additional complexity l Cash, though cashflow is normally a separately reported item.

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FEATURE | FORECASTING

All of us in the sales community have a key part to play in this forecasting and management necessity. Not only must we meet the sales targets attributed to our name, but we must also be able to forecast our sales accurately. Why? Because just as our individual sales contribute to the total sales of the business, so our forecast numbers are rolled up to form the forecast of the whole company. If we get our forecasts wrong, we upset every line in our management’s forecast – because every line in the P&L is dependent on the sales number – and ultimately risk damaging investor confidence. HOW TO GET BETTER AT FORECASTING So how then do we play our part and be a better forecaster? To answer this, and contrary to popular belief, we need to acknowledge that forecasting is not an art, but a science. Let’s consider for a moment two points: to be a great forecaster, we need to be sure our client is

C A S E STUDY 1 C ATHY Cathy was recently working on a large deal. She’d successfully qualified how her cloud service offering could add value to the mission-critical priorities of her client, and had identified and met with the key influencers for her proposition. Using the CARATS model as the basis for her engagement, Cathy was able to conclude positively that all bases had been covered, but was told that if the deal was not closed ahead of a pending acquisition it could either be delayed or discarded. Cathy called to arrange a time to meet with the signatory, but was told to call back in a couple of weeks as one of the key stakeholders, her main advocate, had left. She realised that, while she had done a good job qualifying the deal, she should have put the same effort into forging close relationships with all her stakeholders. If she had, she might have known about the pending exit. Not to be beaten, she arranged to meet the other key influencers to understand all the anxieties the remaining stakeholders had. It quickly emerged that the person taking over as the lead on the project was someone Cathy had overlooked during the sales pursuit and so was relatively unknown to her. It was this individual that had pressed the “pause” button, as they had some uncertainty over the long-term commitment Cathy and her organisation had to the technology platform they were proposing and to them as a client. Cathy was quick to connect this stakeholder with another client of hers, and was able to demonstrate her long-term commitment. She secured the order, but learned the importance of ensuring all influencers are kept fully informed.

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CAS E S T UDY 2 JO H N John recently joined a new company and, at the earliest appropriate opportunity, he made contact with a previous longstanding client of his. He and his client had enjoyed a strong buyer/seller partnership for years and had established a very strong trust-based relationship. As John knew his client’s business very well, he was quick to be able to identify and explain how his new value proposition was relevant to one of his client’s key strategic priorities. John knew the way his client liked deals to be structured so, using the CARATS model, he was able to qualify the deal efficiently. The only area that needed some further qualification was around the impact his proposition would have on the wider employee base. This was important, as John was keen to ensure there were no last minute influencers who could delay or stop the deal from completing. John was able to cover this important point off quickly and moved to secure the deal. It was the first time John had moved companies in a while, but on reflection he realised the importance of establishing solid trust-based relationships, as his understanding of his client and their business enabled him to lock his competition out early.

going to place an order; and we need to be sure we’ll be the beneficiary of that order. Each component needs a different qualification approach. Let’s dissect each in turn. IS THERE A DEAL TO BE HAD? To be certain there is a deal to win, we need to qualify the following points: l Has the person we’re mostly engaging with got the gravitas and credibility to convince their peers that they need to invest in whatever it is we’re selling? Think “Credible” – C l Have we met everyone with the collective influence and authority to make the decision? Think “Authority” – A l Is there a demonstrable saving from OF SALESPEOPLE investing in our product or service? Or, HAVE AN 80% are we able to demonstrably increase PROBABILITY THEY the sales of our client? Think “Return” WON’T CLOSE on investment – R THE SALE l Is our product or service affordable? Source: www.Hubspot.com Is there budget, or could budget be made available – perhaps from one or several departmental budgets or the capex (capital expenditure) and/or opex (operating expenditure) budgets? Think “Affordable” – A l Is there anything happening in our client’s organisation that may prevent a deal happening

44%

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FORECASTING | FEATURE

anytime soon, such as a change-freeze (common in retail organisations in the run up to Christmas), a pending acquisition, merger or de-merger, year-end etc? Think “Time” – T l And finally, is there an identified mission-critical or strategic priority that our product or service aligns to? Clearly, we want it to be aligned, because if it’s not aligned there won’t be a desire for the deal to happen when we want it to. Think “Strategic” priority – S. So, to remember these six vital components we can use the word CARATS – Credible, Authority, Return, Affordable, Time, Strategic. Everything we sell is bought as an investment, never a cost. Whether it’s stationery, software or storage, our clients are expecting a return for their investment. To work out how we’re relevant we just need to ask “So what?” a few times when thinking about how our product or service helps increase or protect the profits of our clients. We’ve established that before we can win a deal, there has to be a deal, and that CARATS is a good qualification model to weigh up the odds of a deal happening when we think it might. Now let’s turn our attention to qualifying the likelihood that we will be the beneficiary of the order. WILL WE WIN THE DEAL? To win a deal, we need to be trusted. That’s all. Sounds simple, and it is, but for 20 years I’ve heard sales and marketing professionals use the term trusted adviser without proper thought. A thorough understanding about how to establish trust leads to rapid behaviour change and actions that result in a state of trust being forged, but unfortunately far too few people really think about what trust is. As an aside, Charles Green was a pioneer on this front and established Trusted Advisor Associates (www.trustedadvisor.com) back in 1997, which is well worth a visit. Trust is the glue between buyer and seller. Without trust deals won’t stick. So, what is trust and how can we, as a sales and marketing community, forge lasting trust-based relationships with our clients? For me, to be trusted we need to demonstrate (demonstrate is the key word here) that we, and the organisation that we represent are all (another key word) of the following: l Credible l Reliable l Commercial (so we can put together deals in the way our clients want them to be structured) l Interested in building lasting relationships (buyers want to work with people who are interested in their long-term success). Unless and until we have demonstrated all of the above, our clients will always be looking to work with someone who is more trustworthy. ISMM.CO.UK

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DEAL O R NO DEA L? The forecasting matrix illustrated is a simple model to help salespeople improve their forecasting accuracy:

The forecasting matrix asks two simple questions: 1) Is the deal CARATS-positive (so are we, as a sales and marketing function, satisfied there is a deal to be had? 2) Have we demonstrated that we can be trusted? If both responses are positive, we will win the deal. If, however, the deal is CARATS-positive but trust-negative, then we’ll have failed to be at least one of the following: credible, reliable, commercial or interested in forging a long-term relationship. We can’t be 100% sure the deal is ours until all four conditions are positive.

THE ROLE OF SALES AND MARKETING IN ESTABLISHING TRUST Marketing departments have a key role in the trust journey, as that journey starts long before a salesperson is engaged. The case studies we use, the whitepapers we share, the events we run, and the way we interact with incoming calls before they reach a salesperson are among the factors that contribute to the trust journey. If we can’t efficiently transfer a call, for example, how can a client be sure we’re going to be reliable at handling and managing their investment, ie. their order? If all our case studies feature new clients, how can potential clients be sure we are capable at keeping clients for a long period of time and forging lasting relationships with them? If our salespeople lack business acumen and struggle to understand the difference between opex and capex, or the different drivers and buying behaviours of an acquisitive client versus one pursuing an organic growth strategy, how can their clients have confidence that the deal offered will be structured the way they need it to be? How are our salespeople demonstrating themselves to be commercially minded?

DARREN SPENCE is founder of Sales Gym 360 and author of the SalesGym360 App on iOS and Android. Contact him at: darren.spence@salesgym360.com or on 07771 598578, or visit: www.salesgym360.com or www.4eyedsalesguy.com

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FEATURE | BUYER INSIGHT

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WHAT THE BUYER SAW A VALUABLE NEW SERIES

There are lots of “how to sell” books, techniques and studies from sales experts and gurus, yet aside from the end consumers, the people we really need the advice from are the big corporate buyers. After all, they’re the people awarding huge sales orders and contracts, so ideally we need to hear from them. They rarely break cover to give sellers any real understanding of what they want, expect, like, hate and, above all, how to win orders. Winning Edge, however, is delighted to present a new series of features by a senior figure in the procurement community, Tim Ussher (See box: “Meet the buyer” on page 28), who will cover the following key topics over the next four editions: l Sellers must improve, and they can start by asking buyers one key question l The importance of information and preparation, and understanding the buyer and their drivers l Meeting the buyer and pitching l Tendering and negotiating. BUYERS DESERVE RESPECT The corporate buyer has become a major force to be reckoned with, as companies and their CEOs realise the significant bottom line impact buyers can have, immediately, without making redundancies or selling assets. Buyers may earn their employers 20 times their cost in bottom line profit each year. They can help deliver the targeted financial results of a firm with fast, impactful actions generating cash and profit for the CEO. Their reach now usually covers all spends across the company, and stakeholders often defer to the

“I told Jones to seat the buyer at the head of the table, not beat the buyer to the head of the table” ISMM.CO.UK

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MEET THE BUYER

TIM USSHER has spent his entire career of over 30 years as a buyer. He has led thousands of tenders, meetings and negotiations with suppliers and sellers across many industries, awarding contracts and securing deals for billions of pounds worth of business.

Ussher began buying for a large retail chain with 1,400 stores, moved to cash and carry and then over to manufacturing. He went on to become chief procurement officer (CPO) for several major companies. In the UK he has been CPO for BSkyB and Virgin Media, where he managed procurement teams of over 75 buying staff. In addition, he has led global procurement organisations of up to 340 procurement staff worldwide for multinationals such as Hilton Hotels, Williams Security Group and Regus. In his current role as an independent consultant CPO, he has undertaken major reviews and established new or improved procurement functions for the London 2012 Olympics, EMI, Diageo and British American Tobacco. In 2002, Ussher won the inaugural Purchasing and Supply Chain Professional of the Year award from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), the procurement industry’s top individual award. Tim Ussher is passionate about continuous improvement within both buying and selling, to drive up performance and professional standards. As he explains, “I want salespeople to be better at what they do, because sellers on top of their game in turn helps buyers do their job more effectively. That’s what buyers want – brilliant suppliers with outstanding salespeople.”

buyer’s recommendations, having travelled side-by-side through a thorough best practice procurement review process. Buyers have become powerful corporate king-makers, with the ability to award contracts big enough to turn the fortunes of many a seller’s firm. Doing everything possible to impress them seems like a no-brainer, so never underestimate their importance and treat them with the respect they deserve. WE ARE NOT IMPRESSED I often ask my buying teams and colleagues, “How many sellers in every ten you see, really impress you?” Over the decades the answer remains surprising, consistent and perhaps a little shocking: “Maybe just one or two.” Now, I know we buyers have high expectations – it’s part of our make-up always to want more and better – but it seems we’re not generally impressed with the majority of the salespeople, account managers and business development professionals coming through our doors.

“Buyers want brilliant suppliers that fulfil their service, quality and commercial requirements” Well, you may say it’s only an opinion, but I’ve also heard that salespeople receive an average of 15 times more training than buyers do, so why are they finding it so hard to impress us? Are we really that unreasonable? As an aside, the old days of the monstrous, intimidating buyer yelling across their desk are gone. We probably started life in the stock room placing orders, then began doing the odd deal and selecting the suppliers. Buying became “purchasing”, and then grand titles like “strategic sourcing” and “commercial supply chain” came and went. Now, we seem to have settled on procurement. Buyers have grown up and become more professional and responsible and, as procurement leaders, we often now reside in the boardroom because of the obvious importance to a company of keeping costs down. FROM GOOD TO GREAT An athlete or F1 racing team will go to great lengths to shave tenths of a second off their performance, because that small but hard-earned improvement might be the difference between first

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“He won the contract, but hasn’t yet realised he got the decimal point in the wrong place” and second place. In sport, no one remembers who came second, and in business those who come second get the same as those who came tenth… nothing. Salespeople are busy, with lots of inquiries and leads to follow up, tenders to respond to and meetings to attend, but are they doing everything in their power (like the athlete or F1 team) to be brilliant and better than their competition? I believe there are a few key lessons and tips to follow in order to go from being a competent salesperson to being simply brilliant – and one of the best in the eyes of the buyer. If you can reach this outstanding level, your buyers will always remember you and want to deal with you. We’ll cover some of these key tips on how sellers can impress buyers over the course of this series. I regularly have first hand sight of supposedly professional sellers coming in to see me and my fellow purchasers badly prepared, not engaging with us, not knowing their markets or even their own businesses, saying the wrong things, winding us up, missing our hints and suggestions, fumbling with presentations and, above all, not seeming to know how to win over or impress us to get the order. And yet that’s the seller’s sole objective isn’t it, to win the contract – profitably? ASK THE KILLER QUESTION I met a sales director from a large software firm at a school function, who took full and welcome advantage of meeting a purchasing director away from the office environment. After I relayed some of my war stories in dealing with his kin, he eagerly asked me what single piece of advice I could offer him. Without needing to consider my answer, I told him how amazed I was that hardly any salesperson trying to win a deal from me ever ISMM.CO.UK

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asked the simple question, “What do I have to do, Tim, to win this contract?” A simple question I know, but one I’ve only been asked a handful of times in 35 years. So rare are the salespeople who have uttered these words that I have a hall of fame in my mind of those few individuals. The software sales director exclaimed with glee at gaining this golden nugget of information. He too was astonished that I wasn’t asked more often this obvious prompt for “closing information”, and also admitted sheepishly that he didn’t ask this question himself. Buyers want brilliant suppliers that fulfil their service, quality and commercial requirements. So when we’re asked this question, usually mid-review when a supplier is clearly in with a chance and looking for guidance, we just might actually help them with a gentle push towards a successful outcome. “You’re 10% out”, “I need sale or return” and “You’ve got to change your account manager” (sellers beware, antagonise the buyer and it could be you that they request is replaced) are all useful prompts. Gaining hints like this can give you that winning edge and move you closer to the terms the buyer needs to award you the order. BUYERS LOVE TO CLOSE TOO It’s worth remembering that buyers love the final close just as much as sellers. It’s our reward for months of hard work, and we’ve probably got another half a dozen major spend reviews all on the go that needing sorting as well, so we can’t wait to bag the savings and move on. If you’re really lucky and in a favoured position, the buyer may choose to give you their “hint to

win”, effectively inviting you to close the deal. For example, they might say, “If you sort the delivery lead times, offer another £100k on the marketing fund and reduce the price by a further 4%, you’ve probably got this deal.” Buyers won’t naturally give these clues up. Our default is to let everyone play the game, go through the carefully planned, best practice process and see who wins fair and square. But if a buyer is asked directly what the gaps are or how does a firm need to improve to stay competitive, we will usually help. Buyers want to keep good suppliers in the running and see them improve their offer, creating competition and choice and, ultimately, a better deal for them. You may get the occasional pushback or be urged to “just follow the process”, but even then no harm will have been done by asking – it shows you’re trying to understand our needs and, above all, that you’re keen to win. So, ask the killer question, listen, and then – if you’re able to – act on it and close the deal. IT’S A TOUGH GAME As a lifelong professional buyer, I appreciate just what a tough game selling is. We buyers might typically send a request for information out to 25 suppliers, conduct a tender process among maybe ten, then negotiate with four, and award the order to a single firm. That’s one winner and 24 losers, so you really need to have winning selling to impress the buyer, compete effectively, win the business and survive. Next time, I’ll discuss the importance of information and preparation, alongside the issue of understanding the buyer and their key drivers.

WINNING SELLING... TO IMPRESS THE BUYER! gives a concise insight into the mind of the procurement professional, with no-nonsense tips, tactics and practical advice for salespeople. Recently published, it is endorsed by Lord Alan Sugar, entrepreneur and star of the BBC’s The Apprentice, who, having personally sat across the table from Tim Ussher in sales negotiations, describes him as “one of the best purchasing professionals I have come across in business”. The book is available on Amazon as a colour paperback and Kindle ebook. For further information, visit: www.winningselling.com

“Well get on with it – last one standing gets the contract” ISMM.CO.UK

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FEATURE | PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

DRESS FOR SALES SUCCESS

JESSICA ANNE advises how sales professionals can present the right image to their clients and prospects

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mage matters. It’s important whether you’re a sales leader running a team or an individual executive; whether yours is a large public company or a small firm; and whether you’re in hi-tech, finance, media or manufacturing. Whomever you represent, whatever you sell, and whomever you sell to, it’s essential that you and your salespeople always look the part in front of clients and prospects. But looking the part means much more than simply insisting that everyone wears a business suit, except on dress-down Fridays. The most effective or suitable clothing and grooming style for most sales professionals can change radically depending on their particular sales environment, so it’s vital to know what is best to wear in different circumstances. This will help individual salespeople build relationships with buyers, as well as enhancing their self-image and boosting their confidence. BRAND AMBASSADORS Many companies invest heavily in marketing efforts to ensure that their overall branding, including their logo, corporate colours, website design and advertising reflect how they would like to be perceived by customers and by other stakeholders. Quite often, however, they put too little emphasis on a key aspect – the professional image of their people. The right salesperson image will support the desired image of their business, reflecting its culture and brand values. Employees are the face of a company to the external world – and salespeople are often the first to be seen. As such, they are brand ambassadors, creating the first impression of the company in the eyes of customers and prospects. At best, the right salesperson image could lead directly to more effective client interactions, increased sales and improved business performance. At worst, an inappropriate image could do the exact opposite, alienating clients, costing sales, and ultimately negatively impacting the bottom line. It is therefore vital that salespeople portray the right brand values. Among the issues that should be considered are: l Projecting the right professional image for your company l Professional etiquette, including casual and formal dress codes l Making first, final and lasting impressions l Using colour to best effect l Styling to suit different body shapes l Building your salesperson wardrobe l Creating a personal brand and reputation l Visual success and body language. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION As a salesperson, your visual image is the nonverbal communication you are sending to your ISMM.CO.UK

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client or prospect. As such, it speaks on your behalf before your voice is even heard. Your style and standard of dress and grooming create a strong indication of who you are. Your personal presentation, along with your body language, makes a strong visual statement about how you see yourself, and it affects how others perceive you. As the cliché goes, people buy people, and to a large extent that means they buy into the image of the person they see in front of them. When looking to build relationships in business – and especially in sales – one of the key fundamentals is to show that you, and the company you represent, are credible, trustworthy and respectful to the person you are meeting. In effect, appropriate standards of dressing and grooming, state: “Yes, I made an effort to dress to impress and reassure you because I value you.”

R E B E C C A: C ONSE RVAT IVE CH IC

Rebecca works as a business development par tner in a professional fir m in the City of London Despite her evident success, Rebecca always lacked confidence in her appearance. She was especially unsure what colours or styles best suited her particular body shape and natural skin tone and colouring. Following a short session with her, I came up with a few simple guidelines that suited her natural look, her personality and the professional sphere in which she was operating. I explained to Rebecca that her make-up should be subtle and blended, and I ensured that the make-up colours she uses are suitable for her skin tone and complements what she wears. I also advised that her nails should be cleaned and trimmed to a short-tomedium length. When it came to her wardrobe, I advised and sourced “must haves” for a successful woman in a conservative business environment: l Structured matched suits for formal meetings l Unmatched “business casual”

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suits, for after work networking events and entertaining clients l A reasonable range of medium light to dark colours suited to Rebecca’s eye, hair and skin tone l Classically styled dresses l Tops and blouses, both solid coloured and conservative patterns, to inject her personality l High quality accessories. Since discovering her style and by following these guidelines, Rebecca has grown in confidence, especially through knowing how she can express her own personality, while still being perceived as highly professional by her clients. Since her image makeover, she has gone from strength to strength in her career, bringing in high net worth clients consistently for her company and creating solid, lasting relationships with them. Rebecca’s new mantra, reflecting her newfound confidence, is: “I dress every day for success – you never know who you’ll meet today.”

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND Every meeting should always conclude with a mutually beneficial outcome. Whether it is making an effective introduction, gaining a sale or nurturing a relationship for long-term business, the most important factor is to have clarity on your objective. So, before meeting a customer or prospect, think to yourself – what is the outcome I would like to achieve from this meeting? By doing so, you should begin to see how your appearance and how you come across could either assist or undermine you in your goal. CREATE A MEMORABLE IMPRESSION When you are meeting a prospect or customer for the first time, it is all about creating that allimportant memorable (for the right reasons) first impression. The key areas to get right are: credibility, trustworthiness, likeability, personal attractiveness and confidence. All these factors are influenced by your image, led by how you look. When an actor is in character, they dress to look and feel the part they are playing. Similarly, you should ‘look the part’ by dressing for the role you wish to play. If you want to come across as a successful and professional salesperson, representing a credible organisation, then dress like one. But acting the part is not sufficient on its own. For your image to be effective, it is also about authenticity – or showing the true you. It isn’t enough merely to create a temporary or illusory look, nor only impress someone when you first meet them. To sustain the right impression over time, your image must be genuine, based on your sincere actions, attitudes and personality. It is this true image that will create a positive, lasting impression. THE POWER OF COLOUR Research has shown that colour plays an influential part in the non-verbal message we send out. ISMM.CO.UK

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If, for example, you are looking to establish credibility and trust with a customer, blue is the most effective colour for both salesmen and saleswomen. Blue is a calming colour, redolent of perennial natural features of sky and sea. It is also a universal colour that everyone can wear, making it a staple in the professional wardrobe. By mixing darker shades of blue and grey, you can create a message of authority. By using lighter shades of the same colours, you are more likely to be perceived as approachable. These colours provide an excellent foundation for a salesperson’s wardrobe, with the ability to mix additional colour through tops, blouses and accessories for women, or shirts and ties for men, to create a more defined image – and send out a clear message. CONSERVATIVE CHOICES Within traditional, conservative sales scenarios, such as professional services and financial institutions, image equates with quality. Conservative is the key word here, but it is also acceptable to show your personality – even flamboyance – through your selection of style, colour and patterns to avoid looking too uniform. Top tips: Top visual success tips in this environment, for both men and women include: l Dress according to your size and body shape l Wear the best quality you can afford l Wear a high quality watch and accessories l Pay special attention to colour l Ensure that your hair is clean, tidy and well styled. Men’s hair should be modest in length, while women’s hairstyle should suit their face shape l Keep nails clean and tidy – hands play a large role in communication l Avoid body odour/perspiration. It sounds obvious, but is overlooked surprisingly often l Care for your skin. Additional tips for men: l Be clean-shaven. Despite the current popularity of beards, research has proved that having facial hair is a liability in situations such as selling, where competence, credibility and trust are important l Wear conservatively cut, high quality, medium to dark suits. The darker the suit colour, the more authority and presence the salesperson is perceived to have, with dark blue seen as most trustworthy l Opt for medium to high colour contrast. LESS BUTTONED-UP Many industries have a more relaxed approach to image and dress code than the ultra-conservative financial and professional services sectors. Industries such as software development, media and marketing, for example, are among a growing number that take a less buttoned-up approach when it comes to how their people look. ISMM.CO.UK

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DARREN: CUT T ING IT CREAT I V E LY

Dar ren works in sales for a marketing ser vices agency with a ver y relaxed approach to its employees’ appearance Darren used to present himself in what he regarded as a professional manner, dressing conservatively. But he found he attracted clients who also tended to be rather traditional, and his manager gave him conventional projects to work on. There was nothing wrong with this except that, after three years, Darren found that his sales funnel was somewhat narrowly focused on banking and financial services firms. As a result, other sectors were under-represented in his client portfolio, and he was not able to bring in as much business as he was targeted for. Last, but by no means least, he was becoming rather bored, finding the nature of his work rather unadventurous and repetitive, and looking with envy at the success of colleagues working on highly creative projects for a wide range of clients in diverse, exciting sectors. It was quite clear that Darren’s image – although it was the look and style he had adopted for himself – had been stifling his career success and hindering his personal progress in a creative industry. Darren used to believe he was a creative person, but he had been pigeonholed as someone who would not be able to “think outside the box”. He had lost his confidence and become a little demotivated.

JESSICA ANNE is a certified image consultant and founder of Jessica Anne Styling, a London-based image consultancy providing one-to-one style consultations, corporate image workshops and seminars tailored to the needs of a business and its sector. Call: 07480 229896, email: Jessica@jastyling.com, or visit: www.jastyling.com

Darren was about to leave the agency in search of pastures new, when his manager suggested a one-to-one consultation with a certified image consultant, with the cost, except for the wardrobe, born by the company. While unsure how this would help him, Darren felt he had nothing to lose and scheduled an appointment with me. I recreated his personal brand, which now reflects his true personality and his company’s brand values, while also complementing his lifestyle. My suggestions for Darren included choosing creative, but well put together, mixed outfits, high fashion boots and shoes and some grooming tips. Darren now presents himself much more confidently when engaging with prospects. He has boosted his self-belief by expressing visually the creativity that he always knew he possessed, but had kept under wraps for so long. This in turn has given Darren what he wanted professionally – to attract clients with a creative mindset and projects that he finds exciting and fulfilling. His manager is happy too, as she has retained an experienced and well-liked staff member who is now much more productive, hitting his sales targets and attracting new clients with big marketing budgets.

Top tips: Top tips for both men and women selling in a sector with a more relaxed approach include: l Show clients respect by dressing slightly more smartly than may seem strictly necessary l Wear creative, but well put together outfits l Opt for mixed suits l Consider high fashion boots and shoes l Stick with great grooming, with a hint of personality. Additional tips for women: l Choose unusual, but not eccentric, colour and fabric combinations l Wear solid colour or patterned tops and blouses l Select innovative accessories and jewellery l Go for non-classic hairstyles, but nothing too extreme or eccentric in either cut or colour. WINNING EDGE 33

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GAINING THE UPPER HAND

1. Failure to close It applies to the salesperson who assumes the other party has understood their request without being explicit about it. Unfortunately, their assumption is flawed and the opportunity falls by the wayside. Having failed to ask for closure, they are then surprised and disappointed when the deal is not done. Typically, the seller fails to ask for the order after making a perfectly good pitch – they have all but completed the sale, but because they did not take the final all-important step, the moment and the sale are lost. Recommendations l Make your request explicitly. Never assume that the other party has understood your request if you have not made it clear. Any assumptions you hold may be well wide of the mark. l Be brave – success belongs to those who are prepared to be bold and ask for the business. The customer or prospect will not be offended. The worst they can do is refuse, which will enable you to identify their objections and, OF SALESPEOPLE hopefully, overcome them. SPEND LESS THAN l Were you clear on the purpose ONE HOUR ON PREP, of the meeting and negotiation at PLANNING AND the outset? If so, you should have REHEARSAL

SIMON BUZZA offers the first two rules in his new series explaining the 12 key rules of negotiating RULE NUMBER 1: IF YOU DON’T ASK, YOU WON’T GET... This statement may sound blindingly obvious, but it is striking how many salespeople fail to ask for what they want in a negotiation. Over the next six editions of Winning Edge, I shall present my 12 key rules for success in the key sales art of negotiating – and this is the first. Have you ever wondered just how much money you may have left on the negotiating table because you did not ask for more? Perhaps you do not want to know, but importantly you should not want to leave any more... If so, read on. This rule essentially relates to two areas:

66%

SOURCE: NEWDAWN PARTNERSHIP

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prepared for the critical moment when you make your request. If not, follow Rule 2 below. l Prepare the ground for closure by asking closed questions such as, “Do you have any concerns about what I have said?” and “Does this makes sense so far?” Then close by stating, “Good, in that case the next step is…” 2. Lack of conviction This often affects unassertive salespeople who lack the confidence to ask for one or more of their deal requirements. They simply don’t have the courage, because they don’t believe the other party will agree. Typically, this could be a seller who does not state the full price, but instead offers a discounted price because the buyer has successfully conditioned them to accept they won’t be able to afford the full price. Recommendations l Do your homework (preparation, planning and rehearsal – see Rule 2). It helps enormously with self-belief in difficult situations. l Always ask for the maximum that is plausible. It often pays and you might just get what you would ideally want. It also raises the perceived value of your offering, so if you need to

“Be brave – success belongs to those who are prepared to be bold and ask for the business” negotiate further it gives you some room for manoeuvre. You can always come down on price, for example, or add further value to the deal, but you can never go up in price or take features you’ve offered away. The less you know about the other party, the higher your initial request should be. If you ask for more than your maximum plausible position, always imply some flexibility to move. When you do eventually move, the other party feels that they have a win. RULE NUMBER 2: NEGOTIATIONS ARE WON OUTSIDE THE MEETING Negotiations are won in the preparation, planning and rehearsal (PPR) for meetings, not at the table. Based on information provided by 973 delegates from 19 different companies who have attended our programmes, only one third of them spend more than one hour on PPR for a negotiation. Often this work is carried out on the hoof, in a café, taxi or train en-route to a customer, or in a rushed pre-meeting that is prone to regular interruptions, just prior to a key meeting with a customer. The old adage applies: “If you fail to plan – you plan to fail”, and this approach is clearly ISMM.CO.UK

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SIMON BUZZA is a Fellow of the ISMM and founding partner of the NewDawn Partnership, an advisory service that focuses on delivering operational improvements to the buyer and seller interfaces of a business. Visit: www.newdawnpartners.com

inadequate. The outcome of any negotiation is directly related to the amount of PPR conducted by the involved parties. The party that has allocated adequate time to do the PPR will invariably outperform the party that has not. So, do you spend enough time on PPR? Just as importantly, do you use this time effectively? Recommendations l PREPARE: This is the “What?” of the negotiation. It is about analysis and research into your position, the other party’s position and the market conditions. l PLAN: This is the “How?” of the negotiation. This is where you devise your strategy, plans and tactics. It is also where contingency planning is done so that all eventualities are explored and considered in advance. l REHEARSE: It is vital for salespeople to rehearse negotiations, to ensure that words, tone and body language are in sync, and to build confidence and spirit. These are essential ingredients of a successful negotiation, but they are often the pieces where it breaks down. We have found that the right attitude towards negotiations is the main difference between successful and unsuccessful negotiators. Getting into the right frame of mind before you begin should also be part of your preparation plan. For example, a great deal of time can be spent in developing the right words for an opening statement, but if it’s not delivered authentically and effectively, that time has been wasted. Our blueprint for success shows that, in total, at least three to four times the duration of the negotiation meeting should be allocated to PPR. This is then broken down into the three areas: preparation (our own situation as well as the other party’s), planning, and rehearsal. The diagram below shows the approximate time breakdown you should be looking to achieve. Seven out of ten delegates to our programmes say they underprepared for their last negotiation and would have had a better outcome if they had spent more time on PPR. That says it all.

NEGOTIATIONS ARE WON BY PREPARATION, PLANNING AND REHEARSAL (PPR)

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COACHING | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

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CALLING ALL CONSULTANTS: YOU CAN SELL TOO! GREG TURNER offers seven insights to help consultants overcome their natural aversion to selling

ARE YOUR CONSULTANTS DRIVING GROWTH? Consultancy firms frequently face the challenge of how to assign responsibility for winning new business. While ultimate accountability for revenue and profit usually rests with a partner or practice area lead, it is the population immediately below this (typically at the managing consultant level) that is often expected to undertake the most proactive sales generation activity. Enabling this activity can be problematic. As a result, a number of the larger consulting firms have formalised the bid process around a dedicated team that is tasked with leading the firm’s response to proposal requests (RFPs). There are two important points to make in regard to this approach. First, the perception of risk by any prospective client will always be centred primarily on the degree of confidence they have in the bid team’s ability to solve their problem. But, no matter how capable it is, the bid team cannot be successful in isolation. Second, this approach relies entirely on the prospective client’s issuance of an RFP. While the bid manager may maintain contact with the client after winning the contract, it is the delivery team that has the best opportunity to generate incremental revenue – or to generate referrals to other organisations – by identifying other areas ISMM.CO.UK

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of need or pain within a client’s business. Consultancies will therefore always benefit from developing the sales capabilities of their consultant population. While there is plenty of evidence that this can be done, and that it will lead to increased business performance, consultants have unique strengths and weaknesses when it comes to business development. Specific challenges involved in training consultants to sell include:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Many consultants see their primary function as client service, and resist the notion of selling Consultants often over-prepare for sales meetings, relying on analysis and expertise instead of dialogue with the prospective client Day to day, consultants are highly focused on service delivery and tend to miss business development opportunities Consultants are less aware of their client’s business than they think they are Consultants often lack experience in engaging senior stakeholders in a sales context Consultants are only likely to adopt sales techniques if they are catchy and practical Sales coaching is crucial, but can often be counter-cultural. Let’s explore these challenges in more detail and provide insight into how to overcome them.

MANY CONSULTANTS SEE THEIR PRIMARY FUNCTION AS CLIENT SERVICE, AND RESIST THE NOTION OF SELLING

Consultants (and other professionals) often regard sales as something that goes against the client service ethos. It can be seen as driving your own agenda: “I have something I want you to buy and so I’m going to persuade you to buy it.” Yet it is client-centricity that builds effective sales capabilities (for all industries, not just consulting). Your consultants might not readily self-identify as salespeople, but invariably they will readily identify as trusted advisers. By showing them that the most effective approach to selling is to earn the trust of WINNING EDGE 37

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COACHING | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

their clients, and bring them insights into their challenges and the potential solutions, we are able to overcome their resistance to selling. Indeed, by focusing on the client’s own decision process, we are able to position selling as another form of advice: helping the client to identify and quantify their needs, generate and assess alternative solutions, identify and alleviate risks, manage internal stakeholders and facilitate a timely decision. This client-centric approach offers the best of both worlds: it is a highly effective and ethical approach to business development.

CONSULTANTS OFTEN OVER-PREPARE FOR SALES MEETINGS, RELYING ON ANALYSIS AND EXPERTISE INSTEAD OF DIALOGUE WITH THE PROSPECTIVE CLIENT

Consultants are usually experts in a given field, and their sense of self-esteem and motivation is

“Many consultants seek comfort in running through pre-prepared insights rather than engaging the client in a true dialogue” commonly built around this. Although asking questions is a core part of a consultant’s skill-set during a project, in the stressful situation of a sales meeting, many consultants seek comfort in running through pre-prepared insights rather than engaging the client in a true dialogue. This can undermine their ability to garner crucial information. While thorough planning and preparation is clearly of enormous importance to the success of sales meetings, so is asking good questions to guide clients on their journey through the buying cycle. (For more on this process, see the box on page 39 opposite: “What is the buying cycle?”). FOUR FACES OF SELLING

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DAY TO DAY, CONSULTANTS ARE HIGHLY FOCUSED ON SERVICE DELIVERY AND TEND TO MISS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Implementation usually means working extensively at a client’s site, giving the consultant ample opportunity to identify other areas where a client’s operation could be improved. They will typically engage with many other stakeholders in the client’s business – not just within the functional area that the project is centred on. It is also often the case that solving one area of inefficiency highlights inefficiency elsewhere. All of these instances represent golden opportunities to identify the next project, but, if the consultant is solely focused on delivery, these opportunities are easily missed. Overcoming this failing is about creating both push and pull mechanisms to drive proactivity during this phase. A “push” mechanism proactively directs behaviour either by incentivising it (eg. by offering some form of variable compensation based on achieving the outcome you’re looking for) or by mandating it (eg. by incorporating that objective into a performance management system). Although both examples here are quite different, their commonality is that they sit outside the work flow and are explicit in the behaviour they are looking to engender. A “pull” mechanism, by contrast, sits inside the work flow and as such only tacitly alludes to the outcome you’re looking for. Sitting inside the work flow means that the thing itself becomes indistinguishable from the regular or familiar activities that the consultant would naturally identify as their responsibility. For example, undertaking a value chain analysis is both something a consultant would naturally see as being within their remit, but can also be successfully used to identify new opportunities within a client’s business.

CONSULTANTS ARE LESS AWARE OF THEIR CLIENT’S BUSINESS THAN THEY THINK THEY ARE

Consultancies are typically structured around practice areas, meaning that a consultant’s career development trends more towards narrow and deep than broad and general. This often benefits the client, who places a high value on this expertise, but it can lead to blind spots in the consultant’s understanding of their clients’ businesses. This can be overcome by showing the consultant where their knowledge gaps are (in a nonthreatening way) and then providing them with tools they can use to increase their understanding. Chief among these tools is a version of the value chain analysis, which maps a client’s needs in a step-by-step manner, exploring the key performance indicators, challenges and wider goals for each function. It then identifies areas where the client ISMM.CO.UK

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | COACHING

may need external support. When an opportunity is put out to tender, helping consultants to explore the client’s decision criteria gives them another powerful way to understand what is really going on inside their business.

CONSULTANTS OFTEN LACK EXPERIENCE IN ENGAGING SENIOR STAKEHOLDERS IN A SALES CONTEXT

Consultancy businesses frequently assign client (and thus revenue) responsibility to managing consultants, or staff at an equivalent level of seniority. Consultants at this level will typically be eight to 12 years into their career and they will have been largely focused on implementing projects rather than managing clients. As a result, many consultants will not have had the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to engage with stakeholders at a more senior level. If they have, it will tend to be in the context of an engagement rather than a sales meeting. It is also worth noting that as the level of seniority the consultant is engaging with rises, so the value of deep and narrow specialist knowledge typically falls. Being able to relate to the client’s broader business issues is key to showing how your own specialist knowledge, and that of your whole firm, can help them resolve these issues. This gap, a frequent inhibitor to business development, can be overcome by providing consultants with the right vocabulary to engage with senior people and encouraging them to adopt their client’s perspective, to see things first as a C-level executive will see them. The other key attribute they need to develop is courage. Few management consultants fall to the left of the diagram, “Four faces of selling”, on page 38, but many firms have too many friendly helpers: consultants who are great at executing an engagement, but less willing or able to challenge senior stakeholders as equals.

WH AT IS ‘T H E BUY ING CYC L E ’ ? The decision to purchase any product or service typically moves through a buying cycle – an escalating process that ultimately enables the potential purchaser to make the right decision.

Recognising where your client is in their buying process is critical in being able to influence and support them through each stage, and thus build a trusted adviser relationship with them.

That process starts with the potential purchaser’s awareness of need: an acknowledgement that something could (potentially) be improved or is in need of fixing.

The nature of the ideal question varies through the buying cycle, but the more questions you ask, the more likely you are to be able to understand what is really going on, and the more likely it is that client buy-in will be achieved.

It then moves to the assessment of alternatives stage, where the possible options are evaluated, including the possibility of doing nothing. Once a decision to act has been made, the purchaser seeks to alleviate the risks associated with that decision before then moving to implementation, which leads to the achievement of results.

SALES COACHING IS CRUCIAL BUT CAN OFTEN BE COUNTER-CULTURAL

CONSULTANTS ARE ONLY LIKELY TO ADOPT SALES TECHNIQUES IF THEY ARE CATCHY AND PRACTICAL

Many sales capability initiatives in consultancy businesses fail because they are either overly complex or over-engineered. The problem is not one of intellect but of time. Anything that requires too much time to complete, is another step to undertake on top of everything else, or is contrived to the point that its value is not immediately apparent, will simply be left at the office while the consultant focuses on meeting their deadlines. So, sales capability programmes in consulting environments must have tools, methodologies and skills that are simple to implement, fit naturally into the existing work flow and have immediate apparent value to the consulting process. ISMM.CO.UK

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You can overcome consultants’ natural resistance to asking sales questions by putting them into the stressful situation of a sales meeting (either simulated or real). The experience will enable them to build their “memory muscle” of what to ask and how to ask it at each stage of the buying cycle.

GREG TURNER is client director of Imparta, a leader in sales training and development and an ISMM corporate partner. This article is based on Imparta’s white paper Enabling consultants to sell: seven insights. For more information call 020 7610 8800 or visit www.imparta.com

Most senior managers, usually practice area leads, do not spend much (if any) time in a coaching capacity with the consultants in their teams. Where joint meetings do take place, we frequently see the more senior consultant taking the lead with the junior consultant simply observing. This is mainly because responsibility for managing the client tends to default up the chain of seniority rather than down. This is what we mean when we say that coaching is counter-cultural. Changing behaviour is always hard, and the success of coaching in supporting change is rooted in its focus on the way that people perform. The driver of successful coaching is the manager’s ability to understand, based on observation, how the individual currently works and what it is they should do differently in order to improve. This requires the manager to be present with their direct reports at least some of the time, so that the more senior member of staff can observe and provide support over time, so as to consistently reinforce a different way of working. The solution is three-fold: l Recognising the need to build coaching skills among the senior management population l Holding those managers to account for gaining these skills l Ensuring that the systems, processes and structures in the firm do not prevent effective coaching from taking place. WINNING EDGE 39

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BOOK REVIEWS

TRANSFORMERS

How do you transform your salesforce? MARC BEISHON finds two new books that help

hanging a salesforce to be more effective is a hard task. Salespeople are tougher to convince and motivate than those in other departments, where in any case change can be nonnegotiable (such complying with regulation, although this can apply to sales too). A continual process of at least tweaking and at times fundamental transformation may be needed to keep up with the pace of change in the market. The first book we look at addresses the change and transformation challenges; the second looks at a critical part of the transformation agenda, namely sales development and how to orient the salesforce to build a better pipeline through the inbound/ outbound mix in a world where inside sales is becoming increasingly important. 7 STEPS TO SALES FORCE TRANSFORMATION This book takes the tried and tested method of presenting a number of steps, and seven doesn’t sound too scary for such a big task. It’s written by two people at Symmetrics Group, a US sales consultancy – the lead author is Warren Shiver and the firm’s founder. They kick off by addressing the challenges and defining sales transformation: “A holistic and multidimensional programme, one that touches on every part of the organisation, not just sales, and that fundamentally changes the way a salesforce sells.” It’s not about changing a lightbulb but rewiring the house and it’s hard – they note a McKinsey study that found that 75% of companies that attempted to transform to a solutions selling approach failed to

S E VE N STE PS TO SALES H EAVEN Drivers: The forces, events, and circumstances that can compel the need for a sales transformation. Vision: A definition of the desired future tailored to the needs and specific goals of the organisation. Case: A description of what’s required to build a case for change. Support: Sales transformations require support from other areas such as marketing, and from partners and customers. 40 WINNING EDGE

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Roadmap: strategy and structure, processes and tools, enablement and people, and metrics and management. Implement: How to launch your initiative – whether to roll it out as a comprehensive programme or as a pilot. Sustain: How to make the change “stick” through leadership, sales team training, communications, management tools, hiring etc.

produce a return on investment. The challenges are about “will” (the mindset of salespeople), their skills and also how the rest of the company works to help or hinder the sales transformation. But the first question is whether a transformation is needed or just some tweaks, which could be addressed by decent sales training, but if you want to switch to the kind of change promoted in The Challenger Sale, the authors say transformation will probably be needed, as consistently delivering insights “requires new value propositions, case studies and collateral from the marketing department, new competencies, skill development, recruiting profiles from HR, and alignment with operations to refine products and services”. And the way to do it is through a “top-down, systematic approach”, which is their seven steps that answer the what, why, who and how questions of the process. The authors talk about “levers” to pull that will ISMM.CO.UK

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BOOK REVIEWS

effect change and are especially effective with sales teams. These include gaining a perspective from both your clients and from inside your firm, say by setting up a customer advisory board (the outside view) and a sales advisory board (from the inside). Aligning the organisation, not just the sales team, is key, as is leadership, defining the process and only then putting the people with the right skills in place, and identifying metrics you can measure and show to your “C suite”. Having set the scene only now does the book address the seven steps promised in the title (see also box, previous page). There has to be a driver, or drivers, behind a transformation, and in half of firms this is setting new revenue growth targets, they say. Then, crucially, a vision has to be created for the transformation that is urgent – more like the building is on fire rather than just a recognition of sluggish sales. This is key – failure to set a compelling vision for the whole firm and for the salesforce is common, and there is much detail here on customer segmentation, and on selling and go to market models. Moving on, the authors say you need to treat a sales transformation like an internal sale, as sustainable change is the greatest challenge.“Our experience has taught us that you should handle a sales transformation effort just as you would a hard-fought, drawn-out sales campaign, but in this case, the campaign is focused internally,” they say. There’s a good chapter on how to do this. Next comes developing a roadmap – and a health warning: “Make no mistake about it: the gritty, unglamorous work of charting your organisation and drafting a thorough roadmap is where many sales leaders and sales transformations fail.” This chapter takes a workbook approach to producing a roadmap that allows you to identify in as much detail as possible the gaps between your current state and your vision in terms of four main areas of sales capability and effectiveness: sales strategy and structure, processes and tools, enablement and people, and metrics and management. “We call these four areas the way of sales,” say the authors. The last two steps are implementation and sustaining the transformation. Implementation takes three chapters, spanning issues such as getting the right leaders in place and deploying the right processes and tools, addressing barriers (one can actually be success that is good but not great), and extending the transformation to partners and customers. Finally, to sustain the change you’ll need to build a culture around standard processes, accountability, and performance management or risk going back to square one. The book is from the US, but is one of the most straightforward such books we’ve seen, and has plenty of examples and references. But we agree – it’s far from simple to do a transformation... ISMM.CO.UK

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MOVE OVER BANT – HERE’S PACT Pain: Not every company has a need for your product or service And some that do refuse to admit it. If it doesn’t agree you solve a pressing issue, you’re dead in the water. Pain matters. Authority: You likely have multiple decision makers; reps need to understand the role that each plays.

“A vision has to be created that is urgent – more like the building is on fire rather than just a recognition of sluggish sales” – 7 Steps to Sales Force Transformation

7 Steps to Sales Force Transformation: Driving sustainable change in your organization, by Warren Shiver and Michael Perla, is published by Palgrave Macmillan and should be on Amazon UK soon The Sales Development Playbook: build repeatable pipeline and accelerate growth with inside sales, by Trish Bertuzzi, is out now on Amazon UK

Consequence: Prospects’ biggest issue is fear that the cure will hurt worse than the illness. You need to dig for implications of not acting. Target profile: This is about confirming fit and identifying red flags. Are there technical, cultural, or internal political issues that will kill the deal?

THE SALES DEVELOPMENT PLAYBOOK This book sounds like it has a broad remit but homes in on the sales front-end and generating pipeline. It’s a labour of love by Trish Bertuzzi, CEO of The Bridge Group, a US specialist in B2B inside sales, who says that sales development is the best response to addressing the challenges of reaching prospects who are bombarded with material, and who also now work in diverse buying units. Like most books of this type, it’s built around a structure – in this case strategy (aligning with your market), specialisation (prospect segmentation and specialist selling roles), recruiting, retention, execution and leadership. Bertuzzi introduces her own “five whys” framework for what buyers ask themselves – why listen, care, change, you (ie. the seller) and now? She relates this to getting introductory meetings or qualified opportunities, showing clearly how this should play out with mature and immature markets and how the wrong approach can seriously upset account executives if sales development reps get it wrong. She also says it is time to move on from BANT (budget, authority, need and timing) as it pushes prospects too soon. Instead she puts forward PACT – pain, authority, consequence and target profile (see box). You can add timing in mature markets to prevent your reps from handing over opportunities who are qualified but unable to buy for three or four quarters. This shows the thoroughness of the book. On specialisation, Bertuzzi looks at the inbound/outbound debate, and whether one rep can do both. Then she moves on to how to spot the qualities of people you recruit (and how to pay them), and how to retain them using coaching, for one. Execution is all about “dramatically” improving the onboarding process, the impact of “cadence” and media in outreach, and using voicemail and email that gets results. This is an excellent book that abounds with practical and tried and tested methods for developing pipeline, and is firmly focused on people rather than dry theory. WINNING EDGE 41

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APPOINTMENTS

CAREER LINES Monica Brink | I L A N D Fancy working in the Shard? iland, a cloud infrastructure provider with data centres in London and Manchester, as well as the US and APAC regions, has secured new office space in the Shard, and appointed Monica Brink as EMEA marketing director. She has over ten years of global experience in product and channel marketing in the cloud computing and ERP sectors, having been at BMC Software, Meeza and Microsoft. iland has been going since 1994 and looks to be a leader in addressing the concerns that firms have about cloud computing.

Alice Allegrini | PR E V E RO Prevero, a European business intelligence and corporate performance management specialist that says it’s “challenging the dominance of US vendors”, has named Alice Allegrini as UK MD at a new office in Richmond, Surrey. She was UK and Ireland head of sales and marketing at Tagetik, and has also held sales positions at SAP and BGP Management Consulting. Also joining is Andrew Chubb as pre-sales manager – he was at Adaptive Insights and has also been at Dell and Michael Page. Prevero was founded in 1994 and has its HQ in Munich.

Scott Tyson | I N BAY Inbay, which offers network operation and technical service desk support to managed service providers (MSPs) has appointed Scott Tyson as global sales head. Based in Inbay’s London head office he will focus the sales teams on opportunities in the firm’s three core markets of UK/Europe, North America and Australasia. He comes well-qualified for the role, having delivered on “aggressive” growth plans at his previous company, Mailprotector. The MSP market is one that is certainly growing as companies offload their IT but MSPs also have to assemble a best of breed portfolio, and Inbay has made support its core area. Speaking about his new role, Tyson says: “I feel very, very good about my new position” – nice to see someone sound so happy.

Matthew Baxter, Mark Miller | M I TSUBI SHI Mitsubishi Motors has appointed two new area managers. Matthew Baxter (left) will cover the Midlands and parts of Wales – he’s been at Nissan, with the past two years in electric car sales development, and has also worked at Damon Hill’s dealership in Warwickshire. Mark Miller (right) has taken over the east of England – he’s been at RCI, the finance division of Renault and Nissan, and Volkswagen Financial Services. Miller is a pilot and has taken part in charity events giving disadvantaged children a flight in a light aircraft.

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Katherine Hall-Smith

Colin Hay

T HE BR EW ERY

I N TELECOM

The Brewery, on London’s Chiswell Street, has hired Katharine Hall-Smith as business development manager for the gradeII listed events and conferencing venue. Having been events manager for the Club, at the London restaurant, the Ivy, she is said to bring a wealth of experience to the Brewery. Hall-Smith will focus on relationships within the financial services and technology industries, and expand the venue’s growing US customer base, particularly with software companies.

Intelecom Group, which says it was one of the first providers of cloud contact centre systems, has brought in Colin Hay as VP sales, UK. Hay had a distinguished 11 year career in the Army, during which he was awarded for gallantry, and then worked for Motorola, O2 and Three before leading a turnaround of a software firm in the Thames Valley. For the past eight years he has held a variety of senior roles in digital media companies including EurotaxGlass, Grass Valley and Red Bee Media. Hay is also an associate fellow at Warwick Business School.

A PPO I N T M ENT S EX T RA CARON LIVENS has gone to Banks Sadler, an event management agency, to run global sales, joining from Amex business travel. DAVID WILCOX and TAMMY WILSON are now sales directors for the Sun and Times/Sunday Times respectively. MIKE TATTAM and DARRAN MOWE have joined timber supplier Timbmet as sales director and commercial manager. PATRICIA PITTOMVILS has joined Ripple, a financial settlement systems player, as sales director at a new European HQ in London. RUSSELL DURNELL is heading the sales and marketing team at the Savoy, bringing much international hospitality experience.

N EW JO B? Have you moved job or taken up a new professional role in sales and marketing say at a chamber of commerce or charity? Send us the details, including where you moved from, what your key achievements have been and anything else you do that’s fantastic. Email: magazine@ismm.co.uk

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NEW ISMM MEMBERS

WELCOME TO THE ISMM We would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members. Here are just some of them JOE BLANKSON RELIANCE VENEER COMPANY JIM BROWN ISS FACILITY SERVICES LANDSCAPING MICHAEL BROWNHILL EUROTHERM

FERGUS GREGORY

JOHN CHAPMAN DAVID MOORE BROADSOFT

SUE REED HEAD OF LEARNING DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS PARTNER Jewson

EOIN MCGRATH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Hastings Hotel Group

ROBERT GRAY AGILIGHT

ADRIAN APPLEYARD THERMAL ENGINEERING CONTRACTS FEVZI ASLANOGLU ROLLS-ROYCE LOUIS AVENELL OBK TAX KUKU BABATUNDE FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA JAMES BARNES BOURNEMOUTH INDEPENDENT GROUP STEVE BIRLEY APPROVED INSPECTOR SERVICES

MIGLENA DIMITROVA SALES MANAGER Anritsu STEPHEN COOPER NORTHERN INDUSTRIAL PLASTICS SUSANNAH COUPER SALES MINDSET MATTERS ROBERT CRAIG PEARSON EDUCATION DR. MICHAEL NIRMAL DE SILVA REGUS SIMON FOWLER ADVANCED COMPUTER SOFTWARE GARY GARDNER ANCHOR PUMPS COMPANY

HARSHIT TRIVEDI GENERAL MANAGER â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SALES & OPERATIONS Agra

HEATHER GATENBY DA GROUP HAYLEY GOUHAR THE OXFORD COLLEGE OF MARKETING

EDDIE CALDER SOPHIE HAMBY GINA HILL THOMAS IRVINE CHRISTOPHER MACDONALD ROSS MACDONALD DAVID MITCHELL MARK PROPHET JAMIE WHARAM KESTER YOUNG JEWSON CRAIG HAYES ESRI UK WAYNE HEATH EVEREST ALEX HINDLE MIGATRONIC UK CHRIS HNATIUK SAMANTHA NORTH TACK INTERNATIONAL MARK HOLROYD CBS COMMUNICATIONS CHRIS HOWARD REC UK GARETH HUTCHEON ZUTO CHARLES JAMES POLYCOM

HEAD OF MARKETING SERVICES Informa LAURA JEFFERIES TWICKENHAM EXPERIENCE MANDY KAUR 8 X 8 SOLUTIONS CATHERINE LEWIS-TAFFT ADLER & ALLAN WAYNE LINDOR EMBOLDEN GLOBAL LESLEY-ANNE LLOYD GUILD CARE MAN FUNG LO HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY COLIN MACKENZIE EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY JULIA MATTHEWS NFU MUTUAL NEIL MORROW STYLELINE BLINDS LAURA STRINGER HILTI ELLIOTT TIGG NOVARTIS NICOLA WALKER AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES NEW COMPANY MEMBERS Courses You Present Geberit Napp Pharmaceuticals Valueplus Consult Virgin Active

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DIRECTORY | SALES TRAINING AND CONSULTANTS

THE DIRECTORY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

BRUCE KING An inspiring and unique combination of sales and motivational strategies, presented worldwide. T: 01923 859977 E: bruceking@bruceking.co.uk W: www.bruceking.co.uk

CAROLE SPIERS

The Winning Edge Directory is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for finding top sales trainers and consultants – so if you offer sales training or consultancy, it’s the ideal place to be seen. Call 01582 840001 today to secure your entry in print and online ANDY HANSELMAN A business expert, who helps businesses and their people to ‘Think in 3D’! Dramatically and Demonstrably Different. T: 01142 434666 E: andy@andyhanselman.com W: www.andyhanselman.com

ANDY PRESTON A cold calling expert, sales trainer and motivational speaker who is guaranteed to light up your conference, meeting or event.

T: 0845 130 6779 E: via the website: W: www.outstanding-results.co.uk

BID BETTER Working with both small and medium-sized enterprises and multinationals in different sectors and achieving a three out of four bid-win success rate for clients. T: Philip Norman on 01202 237506 E: info@bid-better.co.uk W: www.bid-better.co.uk

A leading motivational speaker and provider of employee counselling, stress management training, workplace bullying awareness training and employee wellbeing services. T: 020 8954 1593 E: info@carolespiersgroup.co.uk W: www.carolespiersgroup.co.uk

CLARIFY Specialist business development for enterprise technology and services organisations with high value business propositions. T: 01189 126800 E: info@clarify-uk.com W: www.clarify-uk.com

DESTINATION INNOVATION Book Paul Sloane to speak at your conference or to give high-level training on sales, innovation and leadership. T: 07831 112321 E: info@destination-innovation.com W: www.destination-innovation.com

FINESSE SALES TRAINING Sustainable results, passion, motivation, positivity, belief, measurement, leadership, sales process, aftersales, customer service, new media sales, attitudes, coaching, international sales. Degrees T: 01234 381199 at Work E: info@finessesalestraining.co.uk W: www.finessesalestraining.co.uk

GRAHAM PHELPS Endorsed by

BA (Hons) Sales The UK’s FIRST online sales degree

Graham Phelps is among the UK’s most experienced and expert sales and customer service trainers, working regularly with the ISMM for over 15 years. T: 020 8133 2629 / 07515 851691 E: contact@grahamphelps.com W: www.grahamphelps.com www.in-house-training.com www.brilliantcustomerservice.com

HUTHWAITE INTERNATIONAL Helping businesses across the world transform their sales performance, delivering long-term results through behavioural change. T: 01709 710081 E: webinfo@huthwaite.co.uk W: www.huthwaite.co.uk

IAN SEGAIL One of Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading strategists and coaches on sales performance management and author of Bullet Proof Your Sales Team. E: ians@bulletproofyoursalesteam.com W: www.salesmanagerprofits.com

I4 SALES PERFORMANCE Focused on helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) achieve bid excellence. i4 is a Shipley Business Partner. T: Sarah Hinchliffe on 07854 051979 E: sarah@i4salesperformance.co.uk W: www.i4salesperformance.co.uk

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LTD (LDL) Sales and leadership consulting. Emphasis on ‘skill+will’. Full-time consultants. 500,000 people trained. High energy learning that delivers. T: 020 7381 6233 E: learning@ldl.co.uk W: www.ldl.co.uk

LESLEY EVERETT An international authority and coach on personal branding. Keynote speaker, columnist, media personality and author of ‘Walking TALL: Key steps to total image impact’. T: 01344 427977 E: lesley@walking tall.org W: www.lesleyeverett.com

LINKS DEVELOPMENT We specialise in helping clients to grow the capability of their sales teams in complex B2B environments. T: 020 7193 6371 E: info@linksdev.net W: www.linksdev.net

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MIDLANDS SALES ACADEMY Improve your sales and management skills, working with other forward thinking sales professionals who want to be better. T: 01782 617132 E: colin@midlandsleadership.co.uk W: www.midlandsleadership.co.uk

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The leader and innovator in sales execution, we help businesses grow profitable sales through our easily repeatable methodologies. T: 01908 211212 E: ukinfo@millerheiman.com W: www.millerheiman.com

We are sales recruitment, training and development experts. We are a recognised ISMM centre and through our newly launched ‘Accolade’ service provide professional sales qualifications benchmarked to recognised standards of excellence. T: 0843 636 7037 E: enquiries@pareto.co.uk W: www.pareto.co.uk

Our 100% online approach to ISMM-accredited sales training means you can transform your skillset and earn qualifications at your own pace, and cost-effectively. T: 01753 840331 E: hello@salessuperstars.net W: www.salessuperstars.net

Enabling you to drive sales and business growth in today’s competitive marketplace. Offering award-winning face-to-face and online sales training, coaching and consulting. T: 0845 371 3099 E: info@sterlingchase.com W: www.sterlingchase.com

MTD SALES TRAINING

PROFESSIONAL ACADEMY

SBR CONSULTING

STEVE HEAD

We specialise in B2B and B2C telephone and retail sales training, working with a wide variety of clients, both large and small, in the UK and internationally. T: 0800 849 6732 E: enquiries@mtdsalestraining.com W: www.mtdsalestraining.com

The World’s leading provider of marketing courses, digital marketing courses, sales courses and management and leadership courses. We have 6 UK study centres and are accredited to deliver all levels of ISMM qualifications. T: 0844 800 5256 E: enquiries@professionalacademy.com W: www.professionalacademy.com

A regular Winning Edge contributor, we specialise in sales transformation, customer experience and go-to-market strategies, working with all customer-facing teams. T: 0845 873 3939 E: info@sbrconsulting.com W: www.sbrconsulting.com

Helping you ‘deliver more with less’. One of the most dynamic, engaging and impactful sales presenters in the UK. T: 01635 523540 / 07774 110937 E: steve@headstart-uk.com W: www.stevehead.co.uk

SOLUTIONS2SUCCESS

An International business training specialist, providing open, in-company and bespoke sales, marketing, finance and management courses. T: 01923 897900 E: info@tack.co.uk W: www.tack.co.uk

MILLER HEIMAN

NIGEL RISNER

E: olivia@oliviastefanino.com W: www.oliviastefanino.com

PARETO LAW

Interactive presentations that allow people in their organisations to grow, communicate more effectively, improve their teamwork, boosting business performance. T: 020 8447 1732 E: nigel@nigelrisner.com W: www.nigelrisner.com

PROFIT BOX

OLIVIA STEFANINO

REED LEARNING

Author, speaker, coach and media commentator. Author of ‘Be Your Own Guru – personal and business enlightenment in just 3 days’. T: 0845 456 7095 / 07768 625294

A leading provider of professional sales and marketing courses and qualifications, both for companies training their staff and individuals developing their own skills.

ISMM.CO.UK

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A proven formula which inspires sales and service personnel to generate incremental profits by increasing average transaction values. T: 01159 333480 E: info@profitbox.co.uk W: www.profitbox.co.uk

We are an ISMM-endorsed Centre specialising in an extensive range of B2B tailored in-house sales training courses. We operate across a wide range of sectors, working with large to small organisations to help them enhance sales performance and business growth. T: 0161 885 2451 E: info@solutions2success.co.uk W: www.solutions2success.co.uk

SPEAK FIRST A global, communication skills, staff training and coaching company with a reputation for being innovative, flexible and reliable.

TACK INTERNATIONAL

WILSON LEARNING WORLDWIDE Sales performance experts of choice for leading organisations across the globe. Offering a proven portfolio of sales excellence solutions. T: 01494 678121 E: info@wilsonlearning.co.uk W: www.wilsonlearning.com

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ISMM MEMBER PROFILE

KEY ACCOUNT EXPERT Winning Edge meets key account growth expert, JERMAINE EDWARDS What is your current role? I’m a speaker, coach and author specialising in growing key accounts. I’ve founded and run my own consultancy helping key account managers and business-to-business professionals retain and grow their high value customers. You can find out more about me at www.jermaineedwards.com

to their companies. Key account management, among the many terms that it’s known by, is more than a set of strategies, graphs and SWOT analyses. The real success comes from the tactical day-to-day implications of how we build trust, reduce risk to purchase, make meaningful and influential connections and create value that matters.

How long have you been working in a sales-related role? I’ve been in sales for more than ten years. Before founding my company, I was in key account management and senior account management roles for seven years. I didn’t so much find my current role as graduate to it. If you could imagine a young, hungry, rough around the edges, east London charmer, that was me. The only thing was, I was using skills I had crafted naturally, but without consciously applying them to selling. When I saw the powerful combination of these skills and “intentionality” – targeting the skills on a deliberate process and objective – represented by selling, well, that’s when my success increased. I was given the opportunity to look at much larger accounts based on those selling skills and crafts I had worked on – skills such as building rapport, creating trusted environments and developing messages that echo the story of the customer. I haven’t left it since and I’m still learning.

What are your biggest challenges? The honest answer is myself and how fast I can learn, implement and grow. The other answer is doing what I love, but not losing sight of the goal,

What do you like about the role? For me, it’s the problem solving. It’s looking at the challenge and working out the lightbulb moment that moves the sales professional or client from a position of stress to one of success. What do you like least? By far, it’s the admin and waiting. In those moments when I know it is not within my capacity to focus on or enjoy something, I’ve learnt to automate, delegate and ask for help quickly. There are always certain things you have to do whether you enjoy them or not, but there are also a lot you don’t. What’s changing in your industry? The biggest change is the shift to customer success being not about a platform or technology but the slow re-realisation that it’s about one-to-one relationships. This highlights the importance of the sales rep, their relationship to the customer, their knowledge and the real-time insight they give back 48 WINNING EDGE

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“Three main skills are important in this role: patience, persistence and passionate practice” which is building a company that will help change the way key account management professionals engage with their customers forever. There will always be challenges, but I find the biggest are always those that require you in the middle. What skills do you think are most important to your role? There are three main skills that are important or helpful to being successful in this role: patience, persistence and passionate practice. You need the patience to wait for success, the persistence to pursue it despite inevitable challenges and setbacks, and the passionate practice to strive to be better at it. If you have those three things in mind, all the other skillsets will follow, like building trust or adapting your message to different audiences. How do you benefit from the ISMM? Well, for one thing, I’m a big fan of Winning Edge, not least because I’ve been invited to contribute a new series to the magazine. In the coming months I’ll be exploring various aspects of key account management and offering my fellow sales professionals some practical advice on how to do it more effectively. I’d like to encourage readers to contact me with any particular issues they’d like me to address. They can call me on 07884 070968 or email me at jedwards@jermaineedwards.com What do you do when not working? I’m a father of four (you can guess what that’s like), a keen movie-watcher, a basketball fanatic and a long-time Arsenal supporter. ISMM.CO.UK

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ISMM Corporate Partnership Partner with the ISMM for sales success Corporate Partnership provides employers with a great opportunity to align their companies with the aims and objectives of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management. It enables them to acknowledge the key role their salespeople play in their company’s overall success and show them they appreciate their work. Established for over 100 years, the ISMM is the UK’s only Professional Sales Membership and Awarding Body accredited by Ofqual, the government’s regulatory authority, delivering qualifications exclusively focused on selling and sales and marketing management.

GatorLeads The ISMM has formed partnerships with many of these companies to provide products and services to ISMM Members, allowing both parties to benefit from working together. These organisations all have to demonstrate that they share the vision and values of the ISMM. Please visit www.ismm.co.uk for details of their services.

To learn about the advantages of ISMM Corporate Membership and why so many companies, of all sizes, have joined its ranks, call 01582 840001, email sales@ismm.co.uk or visit www.ismm.co.uk

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Winning Edge: May 2016 - BESMA 2016

Articles inside

ISM Book Review - Sales Transformation

Calling all Consultants

Gaining the Upper Hand

Dress for sales success

What the buyer saw

Finding the Magic Number

BESMA 2016 - Gallery & Wrap Up