Sales Dialogues - Provoking Needs, Can you do this? When engaging in a sales dialogue with a prospect or client, it is important to acknowledge their current needs before approaching them with new needs. To provoke a need, sales reps can establish credibility by sharing insights and asking questions to better understand the client. In this video blog post, Andrea Grodnitzky, Senior Vice President, Global Performance Solutions, explains how sales reps can avoid acting arrogant towards clients, and offers some sound advice for how to balance needs and insights. If you are unable to see the video, please click here COMPLIMENTARY RESEARCH REPORT Organizations invest substantially in sales training and development. This complimentary report from Training Industry and Richardson summarizes data and provides recommended strategies for maximizing the impact of sales training over time. Click here or on the image below to download this report. The post Sales Dialogues - Provoking Needs, Can you do this? appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

Richardson Named to TrainingIndustry.com’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies for the 6th Consecutive Year Philadelphia, PA — March 3, 2014 — Richardson, a leading global sales training and performance improvement company, today announced that they have been named to the list of TrainingIndustry.com’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies. This top 20 list is part of TrainingIndustry.com’s mission to continually monitor the training marketplace and impartially identify the best providers of training services and technologies. Recognition on the 2014 list marks the sixth straight year of inclusion for Richardson, having been named every year since its introduction. Top 20 companies are recognized for their outstanding service, a proven track record for delivering superior training, innovation, and the overall impact they have on client sales organizations. Criteria for the Top 20 Sales Training Companies list are based on a number of interrelated items, including: Industry recognition Innovation in the sales training market Company size Growth potential Breadth and depth of service offerings Strength of clients served Geographic reach "Being named to the Top 20 Sales Training Companies list for the sixth consecutive year is a great tribute to the entire Richardson team, as well as to all of our clients and their salespeople. Simply put, this is an honor that never gets old," said David DiStefano, Richardson President and CEO. "This achievement confirms the value and influence that Richardson continues to demonstrate in the sales training industry. Our commitment to innovation and bringing robust solutions to our clients remains core values." "Continued strength in this segment reflects both the level of innovation and the introduction of new delivery and media types into the offerings of the top companies. We continue to believe that sales training is the segment leading the way in the areas of gamification and sustainability of the learning," said Ken Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Training Industry, Inc. About Richardson Richardson (http://www.richardson.com) is a global sales training and performance improvement company that helps leading organizations drive sales results. We do this in three ways: we analyze the structure and talent of your sales force, we train and develop your sales team, and we continue that development through coaching and reinforcement. We equip your sales leaders and sales force with the skills and strategies they need to win in today’s complex selling environment. What is unique about Richardson is how we create truly customized sales training solutions that change behavior and provide measurable results. COMPLIMENTARY RESEARCH REPORT Organizations invest substantially in sales training and development. This complimentary report from Training Industry and Richardson summarizes data and provides recommended strategies for maximizing the impact of sales training over time. Click here or on the image below to download this report. The post Richardson Named to TrainingIndustry.com’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies for the 6th Consecutive Year appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

Big Data: How should a sales rep approach a customer with potentially sensitive data? The availability of information provides many opportunities for sales and marketing to analyze prospects and create needs that they might not even know they have. However, sales reps must approach the conversation in a way that does not make the customer feel exposed or exploited. Join David DiStefano, President and CEO of Richardson, as he offers advice to sales reps about how to take valuable, but sensitive "big data" and present it to a client in a way that addresses their business challenges. ——————————————————————————————————————— March Industry Focus: Technology  Like fingerprints, no two organizations are the same. Each faces different cultural, managerial, operational, and industry challenges and opportunities. That’s why we customize our approach at Richardson, working with each client to develop specially tailored sales training and performance improvement solutions. This month, we are featuring our work in the technology sector. We invite you to please take a look by  clicking here to learn more or contact us directly at info@richardson.com The post Big Data: How should a sales rep approach a customer with potentially sensitive data? appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights and How to Avoid Them Selling with insights successfully should markedly separate you from your competition. This more sophisticated sales tactic goes well beyond the transactional approach (or lack of approach) of "We sell widgets; how many can I put you down for?" to one that is more meaningful and substantive to both the buyer and seller. Demonstrating thoughtful knowledge of your client’s business and industry by highlighting a concern or opportunity that they may be unaware of (or lack an appreciation for its magnitude) takes time and effort that will hopefully be rewarded. As is true with most things, there are risks to avoid when selling with insights. If you fail to heed these traps, you might not only risk the sale but also your reputation and relationship with the client. What shouldn’t you do when selling with insights? We’ve identified 9 common traps of selling with insights and will present the first 5 here with the remainder to come in my next post. 1. Preparation Trap What it is: Neglecting to put in the time to fully personalize your insight to your client. Insights that are personalized will be more relevant, more compelling, and more effective. You don’t want to be seen as an imposter, or someone who simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s okay that you’re not an expert in your client’s business - after all, it’s their business, not yours - but you need to demonstrate a mastery of the insight as it pertains to their business, industry, and competition and be able to show how it impacts their bottom line. Ways to avoid it: Not taking the time to prepare for complex selling situations is a known reason for failure. Take the time when identifying an insight to research your client, their industry, and their top competitors. Include industry and trade magazines as sources for trends and data. If you don’t find much about your chosen insight, perhaps you should switch topics because third-party sources are necessary to validate your claims. 2. Paralysis-by-Analysis Trap What it is: This is the opposite of the Preparation Trap. If selling with insights is new to you, you may have an urge to be perfect or over-prepared. Do not use this as an excuse to stall. Perfection is not required. As mentioned above, you don’t need to become an expert in your client’s business. But, you need to be knowledgeable about the issues and the magnitude of the insight and be able to connect those dots to your client’s needs or opportunity and how you can help. You need to know enough to tee up a sales meeting, not lead a PhD-level course on the matter. Ways to avoid it: Review and understand your insight. Research the client to personalize your insight message to the situation and to the needs of the individual you are speaking with. Succinctly articulate the challenges or opportunities with impacts and needs in plain English. Share how you can help, and show the value they can gain. If you do that with a personalized message and deliver it with sincerity, you will already be much more effective than most salespeople. But, don’t get so bogged down in detail, research, or striving for perfection to the point that you stall or avoid the opportunity to deliver your insight message. 3. Credibility Trap What it is: Being unable to answer specific questions from the client related to the insight. This is related to the Preparation Trap, but it specifically refers to knowledge about the insights that you are using. It especially applies to research and data, but it could also apply to an internal case study. If you cannot answer basic questions about the research, article, case study, or insight source, you can lose credibility quickly. For the insight, don’t presume to apply a catchy headline you saw to raise an issue that you’ve done no research on. Likewise, you might identify a really good insight that’s perfectly relevant to your client - but which you’re underqualified to resolve. Make sure you set yourself up to be included in the solution! Ways to avoid it: Know your insight. Whether it is an article, research study, case study, or something else, read all the source information. Unless you are in the science or research sector, you will not often be asked for research study protocols, for example, but be able to discuss the source information beyond just quoting an abstract piece of data. 4. Arrogance Trap What it is: You can come off as arrogant when leading with ideas too strongly without proper positioning and dialogue skills. Respectfully providing information to shed new light on a topic amid the course of a conversation is one thing, but "challenging" someone’s thinking is quite another. Relationship and people skills, as well as people’s feelings, still matter greatly. Ways to avoid it: Check that chip on your shoulder at the door. If you find that you’re not being understood or getting your point across, pause to come up with an alternate way to make your point without being argumentative. There are critical selling and dialogue skills to be applied along with simple courtesy, respect, and manners. You do not need to agree with everyone or everything, and you can provide new information or differing points of view. But, it is often best done through dialogue with finesse. Preparation and practice will help you do that. 5. Dialogue Trap What it is: This trap focuses on how you share the insight, specifically on delivering insights outside of a dialogue model. You should use an insight to capture attention, lead a dialogue, and create or shape opportunities. Helping someone see things in a new light is a guided discovery process, not a hammer in search of a nail. Richardson’s Insight Message Model fits into other dialogues and provides context, as well as a platform through which to tell a story, make a connection, engage your client, and create a meaningful conversation. Don’t throw away a valuable opportunity by just tossing out data or information. At that point, your attempt to shock or impress is no longer worthy of being called an "insight." Ways to avoid it: The same tactics described above that will reduce the chance of being perceived as arrogant or bullying will help here. Don’t deliver a diatribe or presentation - rather, foster dialogue. There will be times when your client needs or wants you to "spit it out," but even then, you will want to prepare and follow the prescribed path forward. You must realize that sometimes the best way from start to finish isn’t the most direct route, which has you speeding past points of interest that are critical to helping you build your case. Be patient, and tell the story that fully lays out the issue, what’s at stake for your client, and how you can help through a dialogue. Preparing and delivering an insight is both an art and a science, which demands the right touch and approach to resonate with your client. My next post will complete the list of 9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights. ———————————————————————————————————- Learn more About Richardson’s Selling with Insights® Sales Training Solutions  Richardson’s Selling with Insights® sales training program teaches your sales reps advanced preparation techniques and dialogue skills to effectively present insights, challenge the customer’s thinking, add more value, differentiate your solution, and build credibility as a trusted business partner. If you would like to learn more about Richardson’s Selling with Insights workshops and full seminars, please email Jim Brodo at jim.brodo@richardson.com or click here to read more.   The post 9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights and How to Avoid Them appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights and How to Avoid Them - Part II In part I of 9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights and How to Avoid Them, I introduced the first 5 traps to avoid when selling with insights. To review, they were: Preparation Trap - Don’t be cavalier; thoroughly research the insight and target client to be ready. Paralysis-by-Analysis Trap - Research is critical, but don’t undertake PhD-level examination on the topic; once you have enough to get the dialogue going with confidence, act on it. Credibility Trap - Make sure that the insight is legitimate and that you are capable of resolving the issue or taking advantage of the opportunity. Arrogance Trap - Especially when introducing an "unknown" insight, be sure not to come across as superior and condescending; if you want the client to trust and hire you, then you need to be someone they feel comfortable with. Dialogue Trap - Following the previous point, be sure that you don’t show up to lecture the client; structure your insight in such a way that it raises points and promotes healthy discussion. Each of the above traps may seem obvious, but following through - or more specifically, avoiding them - is often easier said than done. Here are the remaining common traps and suggestions for avoiding them. 6. Insight Objection Trap What it is: Being unprepared to respond to and resolve objections regarding your insight. Since the insight is the critical connector between the client’s challenge and your capabilities, it makes sense to prepare for any specific objections you can anticipate. If you do not have success with your insight or cannot resolve concerns about the information, you could lose credibility and will certainly need to resort to another insight (if one is relevant) or switch your approach. Ways to avoid it: As you develop the insight, think about possible objections that can be raised along the way. They could be obvious or seemingly unrelated, but you should prepare to respond honestly and avoid being dismissive. Show that you’ve already thought of that concern and have a viable resolution.  This shows that you’re thorough, prepared, and that you understand their business. If an unforeseen objection is raised, then respond as best as possible with the notion that you might need to get back to them to provide the best answer. You may not always have a perfect answer, but how you respond to objections can raise your profile or knock you down. 7. Relevance Trap What it is: Trying to position an insight that is not relevant to the client’s specific business situation. It can be difficult to recover from this trap once you succumb to it. Ways to avoid it: Avoid this by examining the challenges and opportunities you’ve identified to ensure they sync with the situation you believe your client is facing. This links directly to the first trap of being sufficiently prepared. When preparing the insight, look for recent headlines from and about your target client to ensure that they haven’t already dealt with the issue or somehow announced a change of focus that might alter the impact and relevance of your insight. Therefore, you should review the potential impacts and possible needs in light of each client. The closer the connection between the generic information and your client’s situation, the better the chance that your insight will be relevant and resonate with them. 8. Connection Trap What it is: Another trap can arise when a relevant insight is positioned to the client, but it does not coherently link the client’s challenging issue or opportunity to how you can help them (your capabilities). It is important to think about the connection from both a personal and organizational level for your client. While an insight may be relevant for the client organization overall, your contact’s focus may be on a different area (e.g., an insight about stock prices may not be effective on a manufacturing-based contact). This is similar to the Relevance Trap, but that trap is primarily about the insight. In this trap, your client is unable to see a clear connection, which is why personalization and word choice is important. Put another way, an insight focused on the importance of a marketing automation system could be perfect for the company, but pitched very differently to the heads of marketing vs. IT. Ways to avoid it: In crafting your personalized insight message, ensure that there is a clear link between the issue or challenge (which you check at the beginning of the conversation), your insight (which you connect to the issue), and your proposed action and value (which should solve the issue). The stronger this "dotted-line connection" or "breadcrumb trail," the more compelling and effective your insight will be. 9. Product Trap What it is: Engaging in a feature or product dump. While it is important to connect the issue or opportunity to your capabilities and differentiators, they must be positioned carefully to avoid sounding like a product dump. This dialogue is about them, not about you. Ways to avoid it: There is a difference between discussing a specific capability or the value you have delivered to others who were in a similar situation and talking about specific features and benefits. It’s certainly okay to briefly mention a product or service name in how you describe your action and value (your capability), but it is the action and the outcome that will be compelling, not facts and figures about your products. Avoid a product or feature dump, where you rattle off multiple features and benefits. Focus your conversation on the issue at hand, the relevant insight, and the corresponding capability that will address their issue. Conclusion There is no shortage of concerns to be aware of when selling with insights. But as was mentioned in the previous post, the rewards can be worth the risk. By embracing selling with insights and doing it well, you open yourself up to more substantial rewards through more sophisticated sales while elevating yourself from vendor or supplier to trusted partner in the eyes of your clients. If successful, perhaps your greatest challenge could be to avoid the dreaded "sophomore slump." That is, when your next sales opportunity arises with an insight client, you can’t retreat back to widget sales tactics. Rather, you must be keen to look for more insights and present them in a meaningful and compelling way that builds on your earlier project and experience. Win a Nike Fuel Band! Do you have a story to share about any of these traps or others when providing an insight during your selling process? Please share them with us and if we use them in our blog, you can become eligible to win a complimentary Nike Fuel Band. Just click here to tell us your stories.   ———————————————————————————————————- Learn more About Richardson’s Selling with Insights® Sales Training Solutions  Richardson’s Selling with Insights® sales training program teaches your sales reps advanced preparation techniques and dialogue skills to effectively present insights, challenge the customer’s thinking, add more value, differentiate your solution, and build credibility as a trusted business partner. If you would like to learn more about Richardson’s Selling with Insights workshops and full seminars, please email Jim Brodo at jim.brodo@richardson.com or click here to read more. The post 9 Common Traps of Selling with Insights and How to Avoid Them - Part II appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

Avoid the Content Marketing Scrap Heap through Personalizing Insights for Prospects The business world is being over-run by content marketing. Prospects are being overloaded with information, and e-mail response rates are in the tank. If you succeed in getting the attention of your prospect, your next challenge is to grab them with something that will keep them on the phone and engaged long enough to warrant a deeper conversation. Upon picking up the phone, inevitably, your contact’s guard is up while giving you only a portion of their attention as they wait for you to give them an opening to say, "No thanks, I’m not interested." Thinking from your prospect’s perspective requires you to consider why they would ever want to invest their precious time to meet with you. You need to offer them something of value that makes it worthwhile. Providing an "insight" is one of the best ways you can add value. This is especially true if you work across a number of organizations and can bring some outside perspective to an issue that is a priority for your target. Or, maybe you can enlighten your prospect on a growing trend that will impact them and provide more depth based on your experience. Adding value through your ideas and experiences is sharing insight. While delivering insights has grown as a sales and marketing buzzword, few really grasp the concept. Make no mistake — an insight is only an insight if it is insightful to your prospect. This is similar to when salespeople or consultants refer to themselves as "trusted advisors." I’m sorry, but that title must be earned. You’ll know that you’ve earned their trust when your client starts behaving differently. Their defenses will start to lower, they’ll reveal more about their business and situation more freely, and they’ll probe not just with challenging questions, but in a more collaborative tone that hints that they could envision working with you. Research reports and pitch books are not insights. Nor are product dumps of marketing materials and internally focused sell sheets. These can substantiate your claims to helping to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity, but you cannot lead with them with preparing an insight. Provocative content and ideas typically break down into one of the following categories: Research reports, white papers, or articles licensed from a research company Research reports, white papers, blog articles, surveys, ebooks, or infographics published by other credible sources that you find online Marketing content, blog articles, surveys, white papers, ebooks, infographics, or research reports from your company Wisdom, experience, and stories — either your own or others’ in your organization Diagnostics or benchmarking studies customized for your prospect You’ll know when you’ve delivered insight when your prospect reaches an enlightened state, opens up to your new way of thinking, and begins to seek you out. Getting them there is not easy! While these are good starting points, the challenge lies in really understanding your prospect, forming a hypothesis of need, identifying the best points from your content or ideas, tailoring the content or ideas to the prospect, and engaging in dialog that leads to enlightenment. The graphic below helps to illustrate this process. The Insight Blueprint An insight bridges a prospect’s needs with your ability to help them. Creating insight requires you to determine the challenges or opportunities your prospects face related to what you sell and then identify your unique differentiators. Then, find marketing content, surveys, research, articles, studies, wisdom, experiences, and stories or diagnostics that will pique your prospect’s interest, which ultimately leads to the "aha moment." The ensuing discussion should help them to better understand and heighten the sense of urgency around an issue or get them to think differently about an issue and the best solution for it (yours). This process will help you to create a series of "generalized" insights that you will personalize to the specific needs of your prospect. This generalization will help you scale your efforts more effectively because they cover most current issues that many of your prospects will likely face. However, I cannot stress enough the importance of preparing and delivering a personalized insight. You cannot expect to further a relationship through impersonalized, bland content and messages that indicate they’re just one of many fish in the sea to you. We all want to feel special, like we’re being spoken to directly, even if we intuitively know that you are casting out several lines hoping that someone will bite. At work and at home, we’re being content-marketed to death. Information overload is ever-present, which has dulled our senses and raised our defenses against any and all unwanted solicitations. How can you break through? You need to literally personalize it by first understanding their unique situation and positioning the relevance of the insight for each prospect. Otherwise, you’ll end up in the growing scrap heap of content marketing and sales pitches that fail to land. ———————————————————————————————————- Learn more About Richardson’s Selling with Insights® Sales Training Solutions  Richardson’s Selling with Insights® sales training program teaches your sales reps advanced preparation techniques and dialogue skills to effectively present insights, challenge the customer’s thinking, add more value, differentiate your solution, and build credibility as a trusted business partner. If you would like to learn more about Richardson’s Selling with Insights workshops and full seminars, please email Jim Brodo at jim.brodo@richardson.com or click here to read more. The post Avoid the Content Marketing Scrap Heap through Personalizing Insights for Prospects appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

Social Selling? Make Sure to Ask for Referrals Using LinkedIn is a great opportunity to network and potentially receive referrals for new prospects or expanding relationships within existing accounts, but not before you get involved. Referrals are about "give to get" and this video blog post, Jim Brodo, Senior Vice President, Marketing, shares some quick steps to take before asking a LinkedIn contact for a referral, including giving recommendations for skills and competencies. Need some more tips? Contact Jim directly at james.brodo@richardson.com ———————————————————————————————————- Learn more About Richardson’s Selling with Insights® Sales Training Solutions  Richardson’s Selling with Insights® sales training program teaches your sales reps advanced preparation techniques and dialogue skills to effectively present insights, challenge the customer’s thinking, add more value, differentiate your solution, and build credibility as a trusted business partner. If you would like to learn more about Richardson’s Selling with Insights workshops and full seminars, please email Jim Brodo at jim.brodo@richardson.com or click here to read more. The post Social Selling? Make sure to Ask for Referrals appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

The Importance of a "Heads Up" Approach to Planning and Leading Successful Leadership Isn’t as Easy as Riding a Bike Now that the weather is warming up, I’ve been seeing more bicyclists on the road. I was talking to a cycling friend recently who told me something surprising. He said that on long rides of 30 or more miles that require pedaling multiple hours at a time, it’s often not your legs that hurt, but rather your neck and shoulders. This stems from maintaining a fixed posture for a long period. How do riders prevent that discomfort? By forcing yourself to look up, turning your head from side to side, rolling your shoulders, and changing the position of your hands on the grips. I instantly saw a connection between the cyclist and business leaders and managers — especially those responsible for sales. Too often, we work like the cyclist — with our head down and legs propelling us forward. But what if we’re going in the wrong direction? Are we going too fast or too slow? Are things happening around us that we’re missing? Like the cyclist, you need to lift your head to flex those muscles to stay fresh and confirm that you’re on the right path. My favorite part of this analogy is how very illustrative this very basic scenario is for organizations: the legs, which represent the workforce of the organization, keep moving you forward toward pre-established goals. (Sometimes, they’re struggling uphill or coasting down, which mimics the pace of your business cycles.) It’s up to the organization’s leaders, represented by the head and shoulders, to remember to look up, change direction, or be confident in staying the course. Common Triggers/Times to Look Up and Look Around This begs the question: as a leader, how often do you look up, roll your muscles, stretch, and reestablish your direction? There are a few predetermined occasions when all businesses do this, such as: Annual planning and budgeting — What are our goals, who will accomplish them, and how much are we willing to spend to reach them? How much do we need to reinvest in the business? Annual performance reviews — Is your talent meeting or achieving the goals you’ve set for them? Are they developing as expected? Are your managers and leaders effective? Do you have a need to hire more people to fill a void or take advantage of an opportunity? Quarterly and monthly reports — What do the numbers show? Where is performance on track, behind, or ahead? How can you get lagging units and people on track? Can related business units keep up with those that are outperforming their targets? These are each quite necessary steps within the business process and cycle. They are so routine that they’ve likely been scripted and planned to the point where a formula is followed for the sake of efficiency (which is fine — I’m not suggesting that it’s better to reinvent the wheel). Yes, it’s important to have structure and schedules, but with each of those triggers, you’re looking at specific things. Meanwhile, there are many other variables that go unchecked. Scanning for Unscripted Threats and Opportunities Going back to the cycling analogy, those planned, automatic triggers listed are the equivalent of a deliberate pit stop or catching a breather while waiting at a traffic light. Remember that problems arise when you’re moving without a break and need to prevent your muscles and joints from locking up. Beyond the data you collect from those annual, quarterly, and monthly rituals, you need to find a way to take a heads-up approach in order to remain healthy and competitive. What else should you look for? Here are some suggestions: Competition — What are your peers doing? Are you still meeting them head-to-head in sales pitches, or have they shifted their focus elsewhere? Are they targeting a niche or aiming higher up the food chain? Social Media — This is a no-brainer, but companies still fail to successfully use social media in their business. What a powerful way to get real-time feedback and interact with people who care about your brand. Yes, you risk spam and unruly loudmouths, but for each one of those is someone willing to tell you what they like or dislike, which you should listen and react to. Innovations — Are there new technologies that influence the way you can do business or which have changed the way your buyers think about your products or services? Is there something you can leverage? Are there new threats? Trends in related industries — Look outside your common peer group for ideas and inspiration. What might you be able to take advantage of? If you share buyers, how might a change in their habits be good or bad for you? Successfully adopting a heads-up approach could lead to growth for your business or help you to introduce a new product or service. It might also give you an early warning of the demise of something no longer valued or needed. With the glut of information overload, you might consider assigning specific leaders or groups within your business to be responsible for following these unscripted triggers and trends. Have them gather their intel and share it among the group in such a way that it is helpful and not merely an added task to their already overburdened schedules. The trick is to avoid having this become yet another routine. Conclusion A key message in this post is to be proactive, not just reactive. I’m not suggesting that you respond and react to every data point with knee-jerk decisions. You should of course be prudent and disciplined to not change on a whim. But you must be aware and informed beyond what you expect to hear from your regular reports. Don’t get caught with your head down while your competitors are looking up. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to take advantage of an issue or situation or be caught off guard when a downward spiral threatens. As you finish one quarter and begin the next, force yourself and your team to look up, look around, and see what’s happening that you didn’t anticipate. ——————————————————————————————————————— March Madness - Industry Focus: Technology  Like fingerprints, no two organizations are the same. Each faces different cultural, managerial, operational, and industry challenges and opportunities. That’s why we customize our approach at Richardson, working with each client to develop specially tailored sales training and performance improvement solutions. This month, we are featuring our work in the technology sector. We invite you to please take a look by  clicking here to learn more or contact us directly at info@richardson.com The post The Importance of a "Heads Up" Approach to Planning and Leading appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

A Quick Guide for Structuring Win-Win Negotiations Consultative negotiations, seeking win-win outcomes, following a certain structure — not a precise ritual or Kabuki theater-style performance, but a series of phases that usually occur in a certain order. Below is a quick guide to help you structure this process by understanding what to do at each phase of the win-win negotiations. Pre-negotiation Phase This is the "selling phase," in the sense that this is where both sides decide to pursue a business relationship. This is the preparation phase, where each side learns what it can about the other. The buyer will have done "due diligence" and determined that the seller is worth a meeting and further investigation. The buyer will have decided whether just to meet with one company, to meet with many possible vendors and choose the best offer, or to meet with companies only until they can come to an agreement with someone. The seller will either contact the buyer or be contacted by the buyer to determine interest. In both cases, the seller will determine whether the buyer is just that — a buyer. The seller will determine how to appeal to the buyer. While the buyer is finding out if the seller is likely to be able to meet the buyer’s needs, the seller is trying to determine the buyer’s real needs as opposed to desires. Food is a good example to show the difference between need and desire. People need to eat. They desire, but do not need, to eat steak. The Opening The next phase of the negotiation is presenting a proposal. This can occur either at the meeting or beforehand in writing or by telephone. If a written proposal is sent before the meeting, the seller should spend much less time going over the details. The seller should consider having a draft written proposal at the meeting, even if that is the first contact. Edit as appropriate, and send to the client as conformation as soon as possible after the meeting ends. In all cases, be as friendly as possible, aiming to build mutual trust and confidence. Start with the basics — arrive on time and turn your cell phone off. Present the details if no proposal was sent earlier. Or, ask if the client was able to read your proposal, and then, summarize. A proposal will basically describe the product or service, the schedule for delivery, the cost, and the schedule for payment. Stress the advantages to the client. Our baseball bats cost $100 each in batches of 500. This is a better price than our competitors can offer. Our bats measure up to MLB quality controls. We can deliver batches of 500 in mid-February, early July, and mid-September (hopefully, the client is thinking post-season play). We can fill orders for more, if needed, with one week’s notice. Payments can be spread over the season. Either side can open discussions, but the one who makes the first move in presenting ideas and details sets the agenda for discussion. This side has the advantage in discussions. Counter-opening The potential client responds to the proposal. The seller should just listen, maybe asking a few clarifying questions. If the potential client has made a more detailed than normal presentation or request for proposal, the substantive discussion starts here. Converting Demands to Needs Ask appropriate questions to separate demands and wants from actual needs. One way to do this, in a process which starts before the meeting, is to find out what the customer wants to accomplish, not just what products or services they want. Find out what they really want as early as possible in the negotiations. A customer seeking consultant services to improve a supply chain wants more than just that. He or she wants a way to increase production at minimal, if any, additional cost. How can this be done? Try to determine the personal agenda of the client contact and of anyone else who has to approve. The best way to do this might be to just ask. Value Justification and Trading Use trade-offs when you differ in terms. If the client wants to stretch out payments, for example, trade this for a higher price. Summarize each point of agreement when reached. Be creative and flexible, but avoid concessions as much as possible. Be prepared, as a last resort, to symbolically walk out of the meeting if a point cannot be settled. Don’t storm out. Adjourn the meeting to a future date. Closing the Meeting End the meeting. Be the one to summarize what was decided — first verbally and then in writing and in more detail. This lets you continue to set the agenda. It is easier to just make a change than to ask someone else to change something. Agree to the next steps and their timing. Follow-up Carry out the next steps. Consider sending a thank-you e-mail to the client as soon as you return to your office. Then, send a more detailed response in a few days. Even if you are the decision maker, as a courtesy, clear it with anyone whose cooperation you need at your office. March Madness - Industry Focus: Technology  Like fingerprints, no two organizations are the same. Each faces different cultural, managerial, operational, and industry challenges and opportunities. That’s why we customize our approach at Richardson, working with each client to develop specially tailored sales training and performance improvement solutions. This month, we are featuring our work in the technology sector. We invite you to please take a look by  clicking here to learn more or contact us directly at info@richardson.com The post A Quick Guide for Structuring Win-Win Negotiations appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

Dave Stein 2.0 Dave Stein has shut the doors of ES Research Group.  He notified the world on March 15 by posting the announcement on his blog. While he promises to "continue to be active in the sales performance improvement community," his transition is a milestone worth marking. Dave, never David, is an icon in the industry. He was a sales consultant,  trainer, and author. In 2005, he founded ES Research Group and became its CEO. ES Research quickly rose in visibility, credibility, and impact. With Dave’s leadership, the company moved the sales performance industry toward greater accountability for outcomes. He championed the latest learning technologies, and led by example in the use of social media to engage audiences and assume a thought-leadership position. Personally, I had the pleasure of working with Dave for nearly a decade. He is easily one of the most knowledgeable experts about sales training and performance improvement in the industry. Dave was the keynote speaker at our annual Client Forum a few years back, and he proved to be one of the highlights of the event.  With his regular sales training column in Sales and Marketing Management magazine, he provided insightful commentaries and perspectives about selling and sales training that were truly visionary. Through the years, Dave was not only a great resource and valued advisor for Richardson, but for the entire industry. Whenever we released a new product or even updated the Richardson website, we would joke,  "Did you check with what Dave thinks?" We valued Dave’s guidance as an authentic and frequent sounding board - and he wasn’t shy about telling us when we were headed in the wrong direction. On behalf of Richardson, I thank Dave for his contributions and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We expect next-generation Dave - Dave 2.0 - to have quite a few interesting industry-related projects up his sleeve. And we hope he’ll take at least some time to enjoy the transition, whether it’s playing more trumpet or just playing with his two dogs out on Martha’s Vineyard. Either way, the break will certainly fuel new thoughts and ideas for the industry. At least we hope so. ———————————————————————————- March Madness - Industry Focus: Technology  Like fingerprints, no two organizations are the same. Each faces different cultural, managerial, operational, and industry challenges and opportunities. That’s why we customize our approach at Richardson, working with each client to develop specially tailored sales training and performance improvement solutions. This month, we are featuring our work in the technology sector. We invite you to please take a look by  clicking here to learn more or contact us directly at info@richardson.com The post Dave Stein 2.0 appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.