A Season to Soar!

At the beginning of the year, I had the opportunity to hear Mike Lipkin speak. His message was simple; “Make this your best year ever!” After being in business for 5 years, I had a burning desire to do just that. It’s been a tumultuous economic year, and it would have been easy to blame the bad economy and settle for an “ok year” - but we chose to think and act differently, we persevered, and it has been our best year ever!

In our work with businesses and sales teams this fall, I’ve re-discovered an interesting phenomenon – the power of a positive attitude. Those companies that choose to stay positive and look for opportunities in the tough times, are the companies who thrive. In comparison, those companies and salespeople who spend their time blaming the economy and finding excuses, seem to be the ones who struggle the most.

As you reflect on 2008 and get ready to ring in a new year, what will you choose? In order to secure a prosperous 2009, I challenge you to think outside the box about yourself, and your business, and look for opportunities in places you haven’t looked before. Develop compelling reasons for why your products/services will help companies grow their business in 2009. Uncover new Ideal Profitable Customers in growing industry sectors, or re-invent your sales approach to be more consultative, allowing you to co-creating solutions with your customers – the future lies in your capable hands, make 2009 your best year yet!

The Teneo Results team thrives on helping people grow and achieve their professional and personal goals, and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve you this past year. On your behalf -Teneo has furnished two classrooms and helped two families start a new business through World Vision.

What Do Your Customers Really Want?

In our last posting we discussed the New World of Selling and the need for salespeople to truly identifying a customer’s needs in order to thrive in the Sales Revolution.

As you plan for 2009 you’re probably wondering – like everyone else – what the economic future will look like, and what the next level of selling will look like. To ensure you will continue to be successful, and get to that next level - we recommend you take the time to ask your clients what they REALLY want from YOU.

Many of the sales teams we work with are apprehensive to interview their clients. They say, “My clients don’t take time to return my phone calls or emails – they’ll never take time for this interview.” In our experience, your clients will take time to meet with you, if you show them you are more interested in their needs, than in selling them more stuff. You may even be surprised at how your clients will feel honoured that you have taken the time to ask them what they want, and you’ll be amazed at what they are willing to share with you.

How do you interview your clients to find out what they really want? Ask them for 15 minutes of their time for a short ‘interview’. Here are 5 key questions you can ask them to better understand how to become their strategic partner.

1. What are the three biggest challenges your business is facing? What is the biggest challenge in your job?
2. What qualities do you like in a salesperson? What qualities don’t you like?
3. What value and/or expertise can a salesperson bring to move the relationship from buyer/seller to a trusted advisor/partner?
4. What is most important to you? a) price b)on-time delivery c) great service d)solutions to your challenges Why?
5. What type of marketing is most effective, if a salesperson is looking to get your attention and set up a meeting with you?

When you better understand your client’s business challenges, you can successfully position your products and services to help them achieve their goals. This will go a long way in helping your clients see you as a Trusted Advisor and Value Add Sales Expert – and that’s a sure fire way to thrive in any economy.

Are You Ready for the New World of Sales?

Earlier this year, I interviewed over 10 Sales Leaders to uncover their biggest challenges with their sales teams. The results of these interviews have confirmed that the sales world is rapidly changing and that as sales professionals we must adapt and invest in improving our skills to stay ahead and thrive in the new sales world.

The overwhelming theme that appeared throughout my interviews was that sales teams have gone through the traditional sales training, but there seems to be a huge gap between what they know and what they are actually doing in the marketplace.

As sales professionals, we are so busy ‘reacting’ to our demanding customers, that we don’t have time to look at the big picture and develop a sales strategy to pro-actively grow our accounts, especially with each individual account. One sales leader described it as “All the plates are spinning – just waiting for the crash to happen.”

Detailed below are 5 of the Top 10 Issues identified by the sales leaders interviewed. To read the next 5 issues click here.

TOP 5 Issues Identified:

1. Commoditization of products has made it difficult for each salesperson to effectively articulate the value of what they bring to the client’s business and how their products are different from the competition.
   
2. The inability of today’s average salespeople to complete a needs analysis, (informally – by asking the right questions) to fully understand their client’s business challenges.
   
3. Increasing sales productivity with more engaged F2F selling time. We are all busy, but are we truly productive?
   
4. Sales Process is changing. It’s more complex and longer than ever before. More structure, business acumen and discipline are required to navigate through the complex selling cycle.
   
5. Salespeople can no longer wing-it in front of their clients. They have to develop their consultative selling skills to co-create solutions with their clients.

There is a fundamental shift happening in the sales and marketing worlds today. This shift has made identifying a customer’s needs a true art form for marketers and salespeople. In order to survive and thrive in the Sales Revolution and the tough economy, salespeople must adapt their time management skills and sales methodologies.

Is it time for you to transition from an average salesperson or order taker, to the ultimate Sales Expert so you can gain a competitive EDGE in today’s crowded and demanding marketplace?

Is It Time To Sharpen Your Sales Skills?

Today’s customer is more sophisticated, knowledgeable and demanding, thus changing the way they buy. Have you changed how you approach today’s arduous customer?

Is it time to go back to school and sharpen your sales skills, or use different tools to change your Sales Approach? Take a moment to assess your sales skills with the Teneo Sales Report Card and see how your skills measure up! (click here to download a hard copy of the Report Card)

One highly successful sales professional recently downloaded the Sales Report Card and admitted that a few years ago he would have gotten mostly A’s, but with today’s changing business climate, he rated himself with mostly B’s. After 10 years this seasoned sales professional is investing in our Phone Factor programs to sharpen his skills.

Is it time for you to go back to school to enhance your value, knowledge and credibility as a sales professional? See how our new Phone Factor Programs can help!

How Will Your Vacation Inspire You?

A few years ago during my summer vacation, I took a few hours to sit by the lake and strategize goals for both my business and personal life. I was amazed at how the view of the lake, and the sounds of the birds in the trees, inspired me to think differently and helped me to creatively generate new ideas that were aligned with my overall visions.

One of the ideas inspired by this ‘lake reflection’ moment was creating an off-site Strategic Planning Session for our Teneo team and our client’s in a quaint resort, overlooking the water. As a result, our past three Teneo planning sessions have been held at amazing locations like on the edge of Lake Muskoka, overlooking a Niagara Winery and at the banks of the Elora Gorge.

We have found this to be so much more effective than a typical hotel meeting room. At these sessions, we set our 3-Year, 1-Year, 90 Day and 7 Day goals and tasks. This off-site format has resulted in discussions, strategic directions, goals and results that are over the top! We are consistently amazed at the new and innovative ideas that come to mind when we take the time to turn off the office, relax and rejuvenate.

Now, we are doing the same for our clients with our Strategic 3 Year Vision Planning Sessions and 90 Day Goal Process. These unique team meetings allow you to get away from the every day hectic nature of your offices and open your mind to new, creative possibilities for your business.

So, on your summer vacation this year, if you feel the need to accomplish a work task, rather than spending a few minutes every hour or every day to check your blackberry – truly take a holiday and see how an hour in your lake’s reflection can inspire your next brilliant idea. We know you will find it fruitful. And just imagine what it could do for your entire team this fall when planning for 2009. It could take your business to a whole new horizon!

Were You Born With Sales Skills?

You can learn so much when you surround yourself with people who are better than you – Top Sales Performers, CEOs and even kids! Many of us are born as natural salespeople, leaders and great negotiators but something happens as we grow up - we become complacent and stop using those natural skills we are born with.

During the past month, I’ve spent time at my kid’s track and field meets and school trips. Surprisingly, going back to school was a great learning experience that generated a few ah-ha moments.

Kids Are Born Master Negotiators:
You offer to treat your kids to an ice cream and they somehow convince you to buy them the large size! Offer to buy them a new shirt and they provide you with a compelling reason why they need two shirts for the latest layering fashion look. So as adults, why do we lose or become afraid to continue to apply these same negotiation skills?

Kids Are Natural Cheerleaders:
It’s the final lap of the race and all the kids are cheering and encouraging the final runners to cross the finish line. As adults, why do we forget the importance of cheering for our team?

This summer have some fun being a kid again. Take yourself back to your youth and remember all those things you did, and skills you employed, that made you so successful and made your job and life so much fun!

And if you feel the need to go back to school and become re-acquainted with those necessary skills, watch for Teneo’s Back-to-School, Back to Business Programs this fall.

Have a splash this summer!

What Do You Say?

Teneo’s popular Phone Factor program is based on the principle of being pro-active and reaching out to your ideal profitable customers by making warm telephone calls on Friday mornings (especially in B2B markets). But one of the most common questions we are asked is “What do I say when making my warm, pro-active sales calls?”

In an effort to answer that common burning question, here is an example of a strong warm call opening that will ensure your phone call is returned, help you take the sales cycle to the next step or land that appointment.

“Good morning (reference their name – people always like to hear their name). I’m calling to tell you about how we helped (insert company name) increase their sales by (insert number or ROI) in just (xxxx) months and how a similar program might be of interest to you.”

Here is how that opening sounds in action:
“Good morning Joe, I’m calling to tell you about we helped one of the leading edge promotional consulting companies increase their sales by 25% in just 90 days with a fun, committed approach involving their entire sales team. (Pause 3 seconds and wait for their response) I would like to set up an appointment with you (either a call or meeting) to discuss how a similar program might be of interest to you.”

Is this scripting? Not exactly, you don’t want it to sound like a scripted message. This is simply an attention grabbing success story. People don’t want to hear about you or your company, they want to hear what you’ve successfully done for other clients that can also help their business.

So what success story can you integrate into your next warm call? How will you capture your client’s or prospects attention and make them want to know more?

This summer – we’ll be adding some new exciting elements to the Phone Factor program – like webinars that focus on creating marketing campaigns, developing a lead management system and yes, crafting a compelling warm phone call. More details will be announced during the next month.

Are You Ready to Plant the Seeds for Sales Success?

Spring is in the air! And with this new season comes new opportunities to grow your business. Many of the clients we work with say growing their business is their number one goal! In Phase 3 of Teneo’s Integrated Marketing & Sales Approach; “Ignite, Integrate & Accelerate” we work with clients to create an integrated marketing and sales campaign to catapult their sales.

Here’s a new and creative twist on an old idea; a 2-part strategic and relevant direct mail campaign. Last spring we too wanted to catapult our sales, so we created a unique 2-part direct mail campaign. The first package we sent contained a packet of seeds for a money plant and a letter with the headline “It’s Time to Plant…and Produce a Bumper Crop of Sales!” all enclosed in a dark green envelope (since green is the colour of money and spring!)

A week letter, we sent out a second package that contained a garden shovel and a letter with the headline “Do you have the Tools to Cultivate Your Bumper Crop of Sales?” Within this letter we included three success stories that detailed how we’ve worked with clients to grow their sales. As we all know, a typical response rate for a direct mail campaign is around 2% - but we wanted more! So, we integrated a sales strategy into our campaign that included placing a follow-up telephone call to each recipient. And yes, for those of you who know me it was scheduled for Friday morning - the best time to reach people in B2B environments! As a result, the response rate for our campaign was a whopping 34% and we landed 6 new clients! The biggest ah-ah moment was during the follow-up phone calls, when people not only liked the campaign, but they recited the stats from our client success stories and they wanted to know more!

How will you Ignite, Integrate and Accelerate your sales this Spring? Be creative, be innovative and add some zest to your marketing and sales approach and you too will cultivate a bumper crop of sales!

Are You Stuck On a Treadmill?

Two years ago, I joined the gym to finally get in shape…my last kick at the old can before I turned 40! Today, I’ve hit my endurance and fitness goals – but can’t seem to lose any weight. In frustration, I had a conversation with my personal trainer and she quickly had me complete an extensive fit test. Surprisingly, I’m in better shape than I thought! My body had simply become complacent with my workout, even though I was attempting to work harder. I’ve changed my workout from power walking to running to increase my heart rate, burn more calories – and I’m decreasing my workout time from 75 minutes to 60 minutes. A great example of how to Work Smarter, Not Harder to increase results!

When Teneo begins working with marketing and sales teams, many of them say they feel like they’re stuck on a treadmill, spinning their wheels without moving forward. To help our clients jump off the success treadmill, better understand their client’s buying cycle, adjust their marketing and sales strategies and ultimately close more business we begin by analyzing their team members and clients using various assessments. This helps us determine where they are today, and is the backbone for developing a plan to get them where they want to be tomorrow.

Making sure you have the right people in the right positions, interviewing your clients (as mentioned in our February newsletter) and fully evaluating the current economic scenario - before developing your strategic plan or investing in training, is key. Assessments will help you benchmark yourself, your team and your business – and hey, you may even be better than you think!

Now, is the ideal time to take stock of where you are and create an action plan for the fast approaching spring season. So what will you do to assess your current situation? And how will you adjust your marketing and sales strategies or invest in training your people to achieve better results, get off the treadmill and put rubber to the road?

Stop Cold Calling: Identify & Sell to Your Ideal Profitable Clients

Virtually every salesperson is extremely busy. In fact, in today's business world, too many sales people complain that they have too much to get done on any given day. Visiting clients, submitting orders, responding to customers requests, and completing paperwork leaves you exhausted by the end of the day. Finding time to prospect and cold call for new business seems next to impossible.

It doesn't have to be like that!
You see, most sales people make the common mistake of treating all of their customers equally. This is usually because they mistakenly believe that all of their customers are profitable. While this may be true in some cases, research has shown that a select few customers will generate most of your profit. Doesn't it make sense to focus your attention on this group of customers and clients?

Join me on March 5th at 3:00 PM EST as I talk to sales expert Lisa Leitch and we discuss how to increase your sales from your existing clients and customers. Lisa will present some outstanding ideas that will help you drive your business forward and grow it every week. Here's an idea of what we'll discuss during this tele-seminar.

• Identifying your ideal profitable client (it may not be who you think!)
• Discover the most effective way to stay in touch with your clients
• The best time to reach your customers and prospects
• How to find the time to call existing clients and new prospects without working more hours
• Strategies to use marketing emails and voice mail messages so that people will buy from you
• Three proven techniques to close more business right away
• How to do all this and more-without stalking!
  

This tele-seminar will explain exactly what you need to do to improve your sales results without having to spend more time in the office, on the road, or meeting with customers. Start working smarter, not harder!


Go ahead. Register for this tele-seminar right now. When you attend this live session, you will be able to get answers to your most pressing questions and concerns on this topic. Plus, you will also get an audio CD version of the session so you can listen to it over and over again.

If you can't attend the live session due to a scheduling conflict you can order the CD here. It will be recorded the day of the tele-conference and will be sent to you the next day.

Don't wait. Take action now. Sign up for the tele-seminar or order the CD now.

You won't be disappointed. I guarantee it!

What Do Your Clients Love?

We know they love great service, and they may even love your products, but how can you find out what your clients really want? …and no, it’s not always the best price! Here’s the reality. Salespeople are rarely aware of where their client’s business is headed, what targets they are trying to reach or how they plan to reach them.

At Teneo, we’ve developed an interesting approach to help you better understand what clients really want. In Phase 1 of our 5 Phase Integrated Marketing & Sales Approach, we help you create customized Client Interviews to obtain the information you need to create better solutions for your clients. You would be surprised at the kind of information your clients are willing to share if you only ask – including upcoming opportunities and their latest business challenges. You’re probably thinking – my clients don’t have very much time for me as it is, they won’t take the time for this client interview. We’ve discovered in fact that people feel honoured when you ask them for their opinion to help you grow your business. With just 15 minutes of their time and a few key open ended questions, you’ll be surprised at what they’ll share.

Applying this process will provide you with incredible insight and will help you to translate your client’s needs into a unique solution, with clear business benefits. Your clients will suddenly feel like you are speaking their language and it will become clear to them that you’re a valuable trusted advisor. So take the time to get to know your client’s business and even your client’s, clients – it will not only help grow your sales but theirs too!

How Will You Integrate Your Marketing & Sales In 2008?

For 2008, our Work Smart, Sell Smart newsletter will be focused on providing you with techniques and strategies for applying an Integrated Marketing and Sales Approach to grow your business. Derived from Teneo’s 21-Point Integrated Marketing and Sales Plan we’ll provide you with thought provoking ideas on topics such as: developing a holistic brand, increasing the ROI of your marketing campaigns, creating customer experiences not just transactions, landing more business with your Ideal Profitable Clients and much more!

When using the 21-Point Integrated Plan with out clients, the first step is to ask them “Where would you like to be in 3-years?”, “What is the vision for yourself and/or your business?”. From there we help them implement the 21 points of the plan based on their overall vision and goals.

Before you begin to make a long, or even a short list of goals to accomplish in 2008, I want you to think about your VISION first. In just three years, we will ring in a new decade, the year 2011. Give some thought as to who, and what, you would like to be in three years time. It’s a tough question, so try to have some fun with it and explore all the possibilities.