Sales Leadership Blog -

The countless options of intranet

Date: 24 April 2012

Imagine, a regular day at the office. Employee A needs a document which employee B created. Employee B needs the finances from last months project which employee C created. What’s more, employee C is looking for the most current and up-to-date presentations and can choose within 5 different versions. A structure is needed!

Described, the value of a structured system within your organization.

The first question to ask is: why should you adapt to all the upcoming changes within the digital field? Think of LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, a social intranet within your organization etc. The old method is fine, right … ?

I do research in the field of the optimization of business processes. I study all the possibilities of intranet. The amount of possibilities keeps surprising me. The options are countless and the number large. This business keeps growing and doesn’t stop innovating.

The following quotes and facts within this blog are retrieved from a PowerPoint about the social intranet and shows there is much room for improvement here. The first fact stated:

“ 71% agree that it is easier to locate “knowledge” on the web than to find it within their internal systems.”

In some cases, this trend is not hard to explain. Especially in large companies, many data is transferred and many documents are created, think of “contract-improved-final-final-version”. So where to look one the intranet for just that information you are looking for while something easy exist as Google?

However, it is important to apply similar methods to similar cases in the entire company. Structure is essential to smoothen working processes. Googling your way out is not most effective way.

Another interesting quote is the following:

How do we avoid drowning in information? “It is not information overload. It is filter failure.” (Clay Shirky)

Looking at the needed aspects within your organization, an intranet environment can be created looking at the needs, and wishes of your organization in order to save time using the back office system, elaborate the we feeling within an organization and create Unique Selling Points by installing tools which can benefit your organization.

Lesson learned: Embrace the new paradigm in communications to improve business performance and fuel business innovation.

More information can be found at the following website:
http://www.slideshare.net/marknadsstod/the-social-intranet

Anouk Smand – Project Manager – Professional Capital

Leadership in Sales

Date: 17 April 2012

Written by Maarten Colijn
Retrieved from www.verkoperscafe.nl
For Dutch, visit: http://www.verkoperscafe.nl/berichten/algemeen/142-leiderschap-in-sales/

Each sales professional wonders sometimes whether he/she will be a good sales leader. After a while in their careers, sales professionals often get the chance to lead a sales team. The question then is what is needed to become a successful leader in sales. Companies never like to see good sales men go to make room for a bad sales leader. Based on the latest trends we’ve observed in the market, you could say that the profile of success for a sales leader is increasingly changing.

First of all, it is extremely interesting to read function descriptions for this role. Without sharing all the details you can recognize the title inflation. Essence is that a sales leader (often called sales manager) is basically always head of sales. A head of sales makes some good money. In itself this is not a bad thing looking at the responsibilities the function carries. What are the most important changes within the profile of success?

Model behaviour
During a training of group of sales leaders from a listed company we once asked to start a role-play at 16h00: How to shape the customer? All 10 participants came up with excuses why they were not able to perform after 16h00. The most important excuse was the fact that after 16h00 there was no energy left to perform role-plays. The real matter? The managers only filled in balance scorecards about their staff and had not visited clients in months. After an hour, resistance was broken and the role-plays started. All classic basic mistakes were made.

When looking at best practices, one thing becomes clear: Good sales leaders understand that it is much more effective to build a lead themselves than to fill out a balance scorecard about whether or not an employee made from a suspect made a prospect. Sales people, in patricular the good ones, listen carefully to what you do, instead of what you say. An illustrative example: during a lecture at the Amsterdam Career Event of a former Dutch politician Wouter Bos, he didn’t visit the stand of his current employee at that same event. And while Wouter was giving his speech, a director of an IT company selected 10 qualified IT persons. As leader you need to find the balance between carrying out practical duties as well as important duties of a manager as e.g. coaching. In short: “Practice what you preach!”

Coaching
Many sales managers do not coach, or hardly coach because they do not have the experience to give practical tips. If you avoid client situations you won’t have best practices to share tips how to cope with hard situations. You won’t have sufficient knowledge for good coaching. Good commercial managers travel along with their staff, unannounced. They let the seller lead, note what went well, and what could be improved. Create a culture that works, no exceptions: join visits and give feedback. If you would ask sellers what they valued in their work, good coaching is a set standard in the top 2. Striking fact is that most managers focus on targets excels, while the most important way to get there is not on their priority list.

Transparency
Managers seem to find it challenging to work transparently. Essence is that understandable choices and decisions are made based on clear criteria. A DO and a DON’T case. An example of what NOT to do?: A famous listed entrepreneur selects commercial people on “passion for growth”. What to DO?: A good manager spends consequently 0 hours coaching the lowest 20% performers within a group, 2 hours per week to 60% of its team and 4 hours per week to the 20% top performers. Sales people will be pleased with this sales leader, who also rewards the best performing with a dinner with his or her partner, every six months. We cannot make it more practical and more transparent.

Are You a Senior Sales Professional In Denial?: The Value of LinkedIn

Date: 3 April 2012

Dear Senior Sales Professional,

- How can LinkedIn be of great value to you?
- How can LinkedIn help you to easily make business?

Let me share last week’s success case with you. I posted it on LinkedIn because that is one of the ways to show my network what I am busy with:

Is it as easy as this: update your LI-profile and big deals come to you? Actually: yes. It is. Especially for senior ones with a valuable network!

A Success Case
Last week, an acquinted director asked me for some LinkedIn advise. He already “collected” 300 connections but was not really active on LinkedIn. He didn’t believe in the value of it. His LinkedIn profile was not up-to-date and his professional headline desperately needed an upgrade. There was no summary and the contact information was hard to find. “Okay, give it a shot. Here is my password. Go ahead, log in and feel free to adjust my profile.”

Are you a senior professional and still in denial?
You have a valuable network. Years and years of hard work resulted in professional relationships a starting sales man can only dream of. It is almost impossible to stay in touch with everyone you have done business with during your professional career so far. There is so much information available on line, there is so much competition. You can no longer only rely on the old boys network. It’s time to expand your horizon. It is time to expand your network. It’s time to expand your business and improve your turnover. How? Just give it a shot!

To start with, apply the following rules. You can find more here: Practical Tips for LinkedIn. In short:

1. Professional Headline: Choose a clear headline and add the name of your company.

2. Write a Summary:
a. What is your main job & what is your specialty?
b. How can you help the potential customer & what do you offer the visitor?
c. How can they contact you? Provide @ and M information.

3. Ask for recommendation: “Dear loyal and happy customer, what are the reasons you are doing business with me? What can I do to outperform your expectations next time? Could you write me LinkedIn recommendation?”

4. Contact: Make sure your phone number is visible and the visible email address is a professional one (so not: bunny69@gmail.com).

5. Visibility: Expose yourself! Post your latest jobs and successes and be thought leader in your field of expertise.

6. Looking good! Start inviting that network of yours and book your first business successes! Provide a personal message with your LinkedIn invitation and get back in touch.

Still in denial?
So why is LinkedIn of great value, especially for senior sales professionals?
- You can find and stay in touch with all the valuable connections you have ever done business with.
- You can share your expertise with them and show them what you are working on.
- They can easily find you, you can easily contact them.
- This all results in: expansion of your network, improvement of your turnover an new inspiration to provide better services and products!

Turned around or just want to give LinkedIn a try?
With some small adjustment, we were able to help the before mentioned director in the success case. In 2 days, a LinkedIn connection messaged him: “I heard you founded a new company. Let’s have dinner and catch up. Interested in what you can do for me!”

Interested in giving LinkedIn a try? We are happy to help you to!

Leanne Valom
General Manager
Professional Capital
http://nl.linkedin.com/in/lvalom
M: + 31 (0) 6 40 34 84 58

The 3 biggest don’ts on LinkedIn: Or: What to DO to generate more business on LinkedIn??

Date: 14 March 2012

LinkedIn is a great tool to generate new business. However, it can also turn against you. 3 things NOT TO DO on LinkedIn, in short:

1) Adding random people as “friend”
2) “We at OMO recommend OMO” (Dutch commercial to illustrate that recommending your own work is not very effective)
3) Asking recommendations without announcement.

Let’s turn these DON’TS into DO’S!

1) How to invite on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is about sharing professional networks. It’s about sharing YOUR network. Do you want to share your network with just everyone?

A basic rule we see effective LinkedIn-users apply is to only link when meeting before. Ever had the experience of people inviting you on LinkedIn you’ve never met before and claim to be your friend (attractive option since you don’t have to enter an emailaddress …. ?

In short:
Basic Rule: Only invite people you’ve met in person you would like to share your network with. What is in it for you / and the other party?

Tip: In case you haven’t met before look up the right emailaddress and send a personal message. You can also ask a connection to introduce you.

And remember: DON’T EVER INVITE A BUSINESS RELATION AS A “FRIEND” WITHOUT EVER MEETING BEFORE AND WITHOUT A PERSONAL MESSAGE.

2) How to be a Leader in your field of expertise?
To show your expertise in your field, it is good to join discussions. How do you participate in discussions? Let me give you a case to think about. Do you recognize this situation?

Jan Smit, ILikeCoffee
“Dear group members, what is the best coffee to have at work?”

Group member Astrid:
“I don’t care, as long as it is coffee.”

Jan Smit, ILikeCoffee
“Astrid, thank you for your comment. Read my blog on www.ILikeCoffeeBlog.com to spice up your day with fresh coffee.”

So how to turn this into a DO? What about a personal message or a call and be Astrid’s trusted advisor?

3. Call a happy customer to ask for a LI-recommendation after a recent service you provided.
You could hit the button “ask for recommendations”. Or you could try a different approach. Here is some inspiration how to get a great recommendation:

“Dear John, how are you? I was happy to hear you were pleased with the service I provided last week. I am always looking for ways to improve our services and my own skills and interested to hear:
- What did you like about last week services?
- What did I do well?
- How can I outperform your expectations next time?
- What would you say to others about me and my services?

=> Could you endorse me on LinkedIn?”

I don’t recommend to fire off all these questions at once. Get out of this what you can use in your business and relationship. Play with it.

And this is my approach of being thought leader. I share my knowledge. I make you aware of the chances on LinkedIn. I invite you to contact me in case your are eager to learn more how to use LinkedIn to generate more business. That’s what we do.

Interested to hear how this works for you (and me)!

Leanne Valom
General Manager
Professional Capital

http://nl.linkedin.com/in/lvalom

M: + 31 (0) 6 40 34 84 58

Are you a manager or a leader?

Date: 5 March 2012

By reading the following text, think for yourself how you want to be seen by fellow colleagues and in which manner you want to reach your goals. By doing things rights or either by doing the right thing..

An important factor of a good sales person is the fact a leader is constantly questioning why things are done the way they are and is able to recognize the value and potential of doing things differently. This can be derived from the following inspirational quote stated by Peter Drucker:

Managers do things right;
Leaders do the right thing.

A leader is passionate about excellence and must therefore strive for continuous improvements and change. In other words, a good leader knows that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting results.

Reflecting this to sales, not looking at job titles but at the feeling sales persons have with the field, you can choose to be a leader. In no matter what position.

Looking at a hierarchy model, where I gained experience during my internship in Africa, there is a clear division between the layers within a company and so no cooperation and a real management function. As a leader of a company, this is not inspiring.

The following movie shows the creation of an innovative idea of Steve Jobs.

Movie: Steve Jobs tells a secret

The art of selling can also be found in little operation, take for instance a call centre, where I worked for three months. It is surprisingly how fast you learn the small details and changes you have to make in order to make a deal. By small adaptions in your vocabulary and leaving out particular words, selling goes fluency. In most of the cases, you know in the first minute of the call if it will result in a sale yes or no. This depends on attitude from the receiver, and another important topic is the way you introduce yourself; the opening of the conversation and set a trigger and interest people.

Relating to the other topic mentioned earlier, being a leader is important to sell your product in first case, be innovative, create ideas and options in order to sell.

Call centres are often experienced as irritating, but on the other hand, direct selling style is used and really interesting to learn. Even within such an organization, different methods are used in order to adapt to the different projects.

Concluding, managers do things right and leaders do the right thing. You can choose which one suits you best.

Source: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/grandpuba/leadership-principles-do-the-right-thing-22870

Anouk Smand

Project Manager

Professional Capital

LinkedIn

Een heldere diagnose, de snelweg naar ambitieuze doelen in 2012!

Date: 28 February 2012

Het is begin 2012. Uw targets zijn vastgesteld. Meer dan 90% van u en uw collega’s hebben hogere targets dan afgelopen jaar. En dat terwijl de omstandigheden er niet makkelijker op zijn geworden.

Als u weet WAT u wilt bereiken, is de volgende vraag: HOE gaat u dat bereiken?

De afgelopen jaren zijn we als Professional Capital veel betrokken geweest bij veranderingen in commerciële organisaties. Een van de aspecten die we meer en meer in de intakes met het management meenemen is de vraag: “Wat hebben jullie al gedaan, en heeft het de gewenste resultaten opgeleverd?” Vaak is het antwoord “Nee”. Mislukte veranderingen laten hun sporen na in organisaties, bij de mensen en het management.

Een klassieke vuistregel is dat als u doet wat u altijd deed, u krijgt wat u altijd kreeg. Helaas zal dit niet opgaan in 2012. Als u hetzelfde als vorig jaar doet, zult u minder resultaat krijgen. De impact van de veranderende economische omstandigheden zijn daarvoor te heftig.

Dus u moet uw commerciële organisatie een zet de goede richting op geven. Maar welke?

Een van de ervaringen van Professional Capital is dat focus op 1 verandering in een jaar tot meer effect leidt, dan een combinatie van een aantal half uitgevoerde veranderingen. Maar welke verandering krijgt focus? Ik noem een paar mogelijkheden, die we nu in de praktijk tegenkomen:

• Incentivering vormgeven als commercieel leider, financieel en non financieel
• Strakker trekken van procedures om betere discipline af te   dwingen.
• Meer gebruik maken van Social Media. Maar hoe?
• Opdrachten kopen door meer korting te geven.

U begrijpt al. Dit zou beter kunnen. Maar hoe?

Een succesvolle verandering begint bij een heldere diagnose. Professional Capital heeft zich de afgelopen jaren gespecialiseerd in diagnoses op de belangrijkste gebieden van een commerciële organisatie.Daarbij    zijn    een    aantal    extra    elementen    toegevoegd:

• Betrokkenheid van de medewerkers bij een diagnose, om diepgang en draagvlak te vergroten.
• Benchmarking om te komen tot een objectief inzicht.

Op welke gebieden heeft u een diagnose nodig?

1. Doen al mijn mensen de hele dag de juiste dingen (sales activity)?
   • Op kantoor de mail doen, CRM bijwerken, face time bij klanten, netwerk event bezoeken. Doordat al uw medewerkers aan deze diagnose bijdragen, ontstaat er een interne benchmark, wordt er tijd bespaard en effectiviteit verhoogd.
2. Ondersteunt de huidige SalesCultuur onze visie en doelen?
   • Wat zou u willen veranderen aan de huidige SalesCultuur?
   • Hoeveel % van de tijd en energie gaat verloren aan niet-productieve zaken, denk aan bureaucratie? En hoe dat te verminderen?
   • En wat zouden uw mensen willen veranderen, weet u dat, en maakt u daar gebruik van?
3. Geeft mijn incentive systeem de juiste sturing aan het gedrag en prioriteiten van mijn organisatie?
   • Veel incentive systemen worden verkeerd ingezet door commerciële leiders. Wat is de balans tussen financiële en niet financiële beloning? Wat werkt effectiever? Welke bijeffecten kunnen er ontstaan en hoe daar mee om te gaan?
4. Hoe helder is mijn commerciële visie? (de why!)
   • Past mijn Visie voor 2012 op maximaal 2 Powerpoint sheets?
5. Maak ik optimaal gebruik van Social Media?
   • Een diagnose vanaf de buitenkant van uw organisatie, alsof we een klant zijn.
6. Hebben mijn account managers voldoende in hun mars? Zijn mijn account managers houdbaar voor de toekomst?
   • Een wetenschappelijke test waarin alle elementen zijn opgenomen die account managers succesvol maken.

Focus op 1 verandering.

Onze ervaring is dat organisaties jarenlang een zelfde soort interventie kiezen in de zoektocht naar verbetering. Jaar na jaar een reorganisatie of jaar na jaar wisselingen in het incentive systeem.

Onze ervaring is ook dat een verandering vanuit een andere invalshoek veel meer resultaat kan brengen. Dat is spannend en levert risico’s op voor het verantwoordelijke management. En in een crisis waarbij carrières en posities wankel zijn, is het nemen van risico’s niet aantrekkelijk.

Onze mogelijke bijdrage aan uw resultaatgerichte verandering.
Professional Capital kan een diagnose van uw commerciële organisatie maken die:

• helder richting geeft aan uw focus voor verandering.
• u samen met uw organisatie uitvoert, waardoor het draagvlak vergroot wordt.
• met een fundament van wetenschappelijk onderzoek en benchmarking.
• binnen 1 maand is afgerond, zodat u 2012 maximaal kan benutten.

Voor elk van bovenstaande onderwerpen heeft Professional Capital voorbeeld rapportages beschikbaar voor u.

We vernemen graag uw reactie.

Bel Jan Rezelman op 06 53 44 72 66

Mail naar j.rezelman@professionalcapital.nl

Over Jan Rezelman op LinkedIn

Jan Rezelman in actie

Jan Rezelman

Practical tips for LinkedIn

Date: 23 February 2012

The importance of Social Media in business is growing, especially the role of LinkedIn. How to keep up with the latest trends in the world of LinkedIn? We like to share with you some practical tips. These tips have proven to be successful and effective for current customers we train. 5 tips to start with:

1. Professional Headline

The first thing visitors will see on your profile is your professional headline. Choose a clear headline and add the name of your company. We advise you to also add a slogan: what has your company to offer?

Jan Smit – Account manager @ ILikeCoffee – Fresh coffee for successful companies

Before, we tipped you to put your phone number in the Professional Headline field. Although this is very effective (also people out of your network, can easily contact you this way), and although it is advised in books (e.g.  How to REALLY use LinkedIn, by Jan Vermeiren (Dutch edition, 2009, page 153), we would like to add a note:

The LinkedIn User Agreement stipulates that the areas in your LinkedIn profile are only meant for the information asked.

Is a phone number part of a professional headline? It’s up to you to interpret these rules …

Something more to think about: We haven’t discovered the tip to put your phone number in the professional headline any more in the 2011 edition of Jan Vermeiren’s How to REALLY use LinkedIn.

2. Summary
“Companies don’t buy, people do”, a quote by prof. Willem Verbeke. People who visit your profile on LinkedIn they not only interested in your product or service, but also in the person they will do business with. They are interested to know more about YOU and what you do in the company. So why should you write a summary with information about your company? Provide information about yourself so the visitors get answers to these three questions:

1. What is your main job & what is your specialty?
2. How can you help the potential customer & what do you offer the visitor?
3. How can they contact you? Provide @ and M information.

And: Write it in the I-form so the visitor of your profile feels more connected to you.

Thank you for visiting my LI profile. Let me start with 2 questions:
1. “What would your day at work look like without coffee?”
2. “What information would you not have without the conversations during coffee break?”

ABOUT ME
As an account manager at ILikeCoffee, I advise companies on the best ways to organise their coffee services. Due to my knowledge of the different blends and the understanding of the role of coffee and coffee machines within a company, I am happy to serve lots of satisfied customers (for recommendations, scroll below). Interested in contacting me? Please call me on + 31 (0) 6 – 11 11 11 11 or send an email to j.smit@ILikeCoffee.com

ABOUT ILikeCoffee
It is scientifically proven that people who start the day with coffee, are more focused than those who don’t. ILikeCoffee makes sure your day at work is a great one! Interested in full service coffee possibilities, please visit our website: www.ILikeCoffee.com

3. Recommendations
What is more convincing to you? People telling thereselves they are good. Or stories from other that this person is good and for what reasons?

Ask somebody in your business network to write a recommendation what you have done for him / her, somebody like a client or a former boss. Recommendations by colleagues are not very effective; visitors will be likely to perceive this as a non-sincere trick.

“For 5 years, Jan Smit makes sure that our employees are daily fuelled with fresh coffee. The machines are well maintained and the coffee beans well supplied. The employees are happy to start the day with ILikeCoffee-coffee. I highly recommend working with this passionate person.”
1st, Managing director, Copy Pages
- worked directly with Jan Copy Pages, Amstelveen NL

4. Contact
Put your phone number and mail on your profile! Put in all this effort and not telling how your potential client can reach you is as having a store withhout a front door! And how many services or products would you sell in such a store

5. Visibility
Be visible on LI. Post updates, post articles and never stop expanding your network.

Post an update:
It is been scientifically proven: drinking coffee makes you company more successful. This is one of the conclusions of the research by Thomas Lee, Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Caffeine improves the alertness, motivation and the general sense of well being. See for more:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/thomas-lee/

Good luck with these tips. Keep you posted and blog about new tips soon.

Fabian Schotel

Project Manager

Professional Capital

http://www.linkedin.com/in/fabianschotel

Leanne Valom

General Manager

Professional Capital

http://nl.linkedin.com/in/lvalom

THE PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL MINDSET

Date: 6 February 2012

Hot news from one of our customers: Straight after taking part in a Professional Capital training program, he landed a big deal with a multinational. This multinational is going to outsource a big business process with our customer’s firm. So, how did our customer win this amazing deal? Let us share the secret…

The Sales Training Market

We can divide the sales training market as follows:

a)     Skills training: Some firms train individual skills, such as asking questions, dressing for success, and telesales training. There are plenty of these skills trainers, all to be found on the Internet.

Philosophy behind this: Selling is a box of tools that people can use at certain times, when the skill fits (or, more often, not). The idea is: Sharpen your skills and you will fly.

Problem: Selling is not only a set of tools. Selling is about proactive behavior and constant learning and improving. Salespeople should be out there, visiting customers, spotting opportunities and then via their internal network rapidly create solutions for their customers. A box of tools just won’t do the trick!

b)     Account strategists: These firms think that sales comes down to formulating account strategies which somehow or someday will be implemented. Nowadays many consulting firms teach this approach; it fits their core competence.

Philosophy behind this: sales is an intellectual sport, which makes you look professional. The idea is: Professionals should think – especially inside boxes!

Problem: Selling is not an intellectual activity where people need to show how clever they are at thinking and work on a theoretical level. Deep inside, all these people are hiding their sales call anxiety by relying on defense mechanisms – like writing out long account plans in a CRM system – to keep them safely away from interacting with customers.

Training the Mindset

What about a third view? As the title of this article suggests, at Professional Capital, we think training salespeople is all about changing the mindset.

c)     Mindset training: Research has shown that people only know what to do and how to do it well when they know why they should do something. This is why at Professional Capital we focus on training the mindset. This is actionable and creates results.

Philosophy behind this: sales is probably the second oldest profession in the world. When we were young, selling ourselves came naturally but as we grew older we learned inhibitions and now deep inside we may even feel that selling is beneath us. Many salespeople tend to shy away from contact with the customer and hide in the office instead, writing complex account plans. The idea is: Selling is about getting out on the streets by key accounts, having conversations with customers; in short, it’s about developing street smarts.

Problem: Sad to say, there are no problems to learning street smarts … except sometimes once we’ve changed their mindset, some people end up feeling that sales is just not for them. Suddenly they find selling is not intellectually challenging enough or the job doesn’t look good on their CV. Imagine having to tell your mother-in-law you got a job in sales!

Seriously now, let us tell you another secret about Professional Capital. As trainers, helping people improve their mindsets is both challenging and fun for us. When we enter a firm and walk the participants through their own mindset program with their own special mantra, we often see people blossom and, over time, their sales begin to fly. So, why does this happen?

Customers Want To Be Understood

It’s easy. People have always been sales people, all along the way, ever since we were young. But as we grow older we learn to get away from our roots. Our main root is that we are social beings who seek to gain by collaborating with people who sell themselves (in other words, people with social skills). Sales demands social skills, the skills to make contact with people, for starters, during a sales conversation. For example, when a salesperson looks a buyer in the eye, the buyer will get a ‘new’ feel for the salesperson and consequently the salesperson’s firm. Somehow a metaphysical process takes place that transforms two people in a common space. So, what is that space?

The magic that happens when a salesperson and a customer meet in a two-way conversation comes from the mirror neurons activating in their brains. Mirror neurons are nuclei in our prefrontal cortex and they let people resonate, or tune into each other. When this happens, it affects other nuclei in the brain that affect emotions, and these in turn affect the production of hormones. The feelings that emerge through this process of mirror neuron activation affect the words we use and thus affect the meaning we give to words. That is what we call ‘embodied cognition’.

Customers want conversation. When salespeople interact with customers, and connect and resonate with them, they can better feel the pain the customer is having. They can feel his pain but leave it with the customer and don’t make it their own. That is why a tuned-in salesperson can give tailor-made answers and tailor-made solutions during a sales conversation. Imagine a salesperson who cannot resonate, who just stands back and listens or asks a vague question (straight out of the toolbox) that doesn’t really apply to the customer.

Sales Is Not About Making Speeches

But, if sales is all that simple, why don’t more salespeople go out and have sales conversations? In our mindset training sessions, we teach salespeople that they really must do this: go out and talk with their customers, especially when the customer’s account is significant, meaning it offers good sales opportunities. So, why don’t salespeople do this?

An important part of the answer is that salespeople are just scared; they worry about having to SAY something! But you don’t have to make solo speeches! It’s about sharing a dialogue, as we said before, customers want to have conversations, with give and take, talking and listening. Customers want to be understood and explain their own problems and get smarter from having a conversation! When salespeople listen, feel the customer’s pain, ask pointed questions, challenge the customer and, most importantly, provide suitable examples, customers can structure and express their own problems in their own terms. In fact, they might want to meet up with the salesperson more often.

Even so, holding a sales conversation can be difficult for a salesperson because the customer will be challenging them too! Added to that, you need to guard against keeping a sales conversations on the level of empty chitchat. That’s little better than coffee tourism, and you have to get past that! Good salespeople ask for commitment. A return on their investment in the conversation. At Professional Capital It always surprises us to see how many salespeople forget to ask customers for commitment!

And that’s why we train the mindset!

Go After the Why

In Professional Capital sales training programs we don’t tell salespeople and account managers what to do and how they should do it. We ask them to go after the WHY. What, then, is the why?

The reason why you go after conversations is to give the customer a space in which he can structure his firm’s problem so that, in talking with you about it, he  can find a solution to the problem. The customer benefits from talking with you, in other words, he profits from the sales conversation.

It’s no secret. At Professional Capital we’re glad that many other firms give training in skills or in how to make big plans for strategic accounts. Let them get on with it! Meanwhile, we’ll stay focused on training the mindset because, and here’s the idea: We like making our customers stronger!

YES WE CAN.

Jacques Bakx, Maarten Colijn, Arnold Doornekamp, Ruud Evers, Fius van Laar, Ben Markslag, Jan Rezelman, Edwin Scheperman, Kim Tunderman

http://www.professionalcapital.nl/