Get to know me better personally here.
Skill Sets
Diverse skill sets are what make me different. My skills are a hybrid across diverse specialized disciplines including business, technology, communication, and sales. A unique strength is an ability to fluently discuss business and technology, and little is beyond me technically. I can learn your technology in little time and create a sales solution for it.
Ethics and Trust
It is my experience, and absolute conviction, that "truth telling" is critical. The manner that information is presented is subject to discretion; however, accurate information is vital to any decision-maker, including internal and external stake-holders. The first step in customer service is to genuinely protect buyers' interests. The trust bond begins with simple truth, and regrettably, it is absent in many instances, especially selling situations. I closed many transactions simply because my customers had faith that their well-being drove my decisions, and they trusted me.
"Trust" is critical in any transaction, and time is needed for trust to develop and mature. The time required varies, and of course, the solution complexity, total cost, and continuing support, impacts the time requirements. A start-up faces different trust challenges than does a major company if the firms compete in the same space. However, the human interfaces involved are all important regardless of vendor size, and almost any firm can compete.
Selling
Sales is the key to a firm's success, and sales is both a science and an intangible since humans are the core process. Great salespeople are trained and developed like any other skill. Effective sales techniques are learned processes; although, some natural aptitudes can benefit an individual.
Sales skills are not applied only to prospects or end-users. Effective selling is applicable in all business processes and at all company levels. Sales techniques improve and enhance communication. A potential prospect must first realize that a presented solution has a credible value proposition, and without such realization, no sales will follow. The same process applies to any internal and external participant regardless of position. A value proposition exists in all concepts and activities.
About Cold Calling
I read an article recently where the author proclaims that "telephone cold calling is dead." The author claims that it is too annoying based upon the daily cold calls he receives from many persons trying to sell outsourced development work. The approach is all wrong if cold calls are irritating.
The article author may not need any outsourced development work, but the next company called may have just terminated their outsourced developer. It happens frequently, and a timely call can be welcomed. The potential customer may be saved from searching out a new vendor under time pressure. No one enjoys securing a new vendor under duress, so make it easy to do business with your firm.
The obvious key to cold calling is to not be annoying. Amateurs are annoying; professionals always have something to offer the receiving party. I've seen many situations where even mature sales reps will do anything other than pick up the phone and make something happen. However, were a sales rep to make even 20 calls per day, that equals 100 calls per week, and 5000 calls per year!
That is a staggering number of cumulative contacts.
A professional sales rep can easily average 20 cold telephone calls per day. Cold calling should be habitual and done daily without fail. Call from the airport if traveling, or dedicate the following day to 40 cold calls. It is easy to fall out of the cold calling habit, especially when busy with other critical tasks like proposal and presentation development, but professionals make the time. It is that important.
The purpose of every call is to further develop the relationship. It may be starting the relationship or nurturing it, but every call has a distinct purpose. My experience is that around 10-12 cold contacts are needed to locate a single interested glimmer. Statistical averages apply to cold calling, and numbers and quality matter.
Reaching people is a bit more difficult due to "electronic gatekeepers," but there have always been gatekeepers. Creative methods are employed the same as always, but persistence is the most vital element.
My personal experience is somewhat different than most since I am more persistent than most. I phoned an executive almost weekly for over two years during my earlier days. A message was always left but never returned. It became a running joke around my office, and coworkers made sport of me. I would sometimes announce on leaving the office, "If Smith from big company calls, tell her that I am not interested anymore!"
Coworkers enjoyed teasing me about Smith never returning my calls, but Smith did finally call, and we secured tremendous amounts of business with her firm. I was young, but my persistence convinced her that we were serious. I have many similar situations and examples where persistence prevails.
Persistence is powerful. One can even start a relationship via voice mail. "How" will not be disclosed here, but I have done it before and will do it again. Techniques exist to make it enjoyable, and it is a process almost entirely controlled by the representative.
Technology constantly promises new and better ways to reach "decision makers." Various new social networking promises many things, including "warm calls," but the more an individual is mobbed on a Linked In, the more that individual withdraws.
Direct human contact cannot be replaced. It's not easy, but few worthwhile things are easy. Sales is mostly hard work.
The Hardest Job
A small company hired me to assist with a new product launch . The firm had serious technical firepower, and they planned on working near the top of the industry food chain. That's interesting and harrowing simultaneously. The new product was theoretically good, and it appeared to have game-changer potential in a narrow market vertical. The company was doing well; it had big receivables, and everyone was happy.
The sales department consisted of seasoned sales reps from the seven dwarfs era. They were good on the phone, provided the phone was ringing. Cold calling was not something that they did, and their attitude was foreign to me. They were nice guys but didn't understand why I wouldn't spend an hour and a half at lunch with them daily.
Tech time moves fast. My attitude is to eat quickly and make the best use of golden hours during the business day.
The sales manager was a younger version of the seven dwarfs alumni club and also quite a nice guy. His background was inside sales and government bids. He had zero experience with outbound selling. The fact that the entire sales department had no functional outbound experience was surprising, but it provided a real insight to technology firm diversity.
The firm didn't need someone like me until that moment, and the work environment was challenging because no one understood me. They got along fine with the staff and procedures that they had. Senior management were all high-octane techies, and innovation was their strength. Customers would search and find them, which is a great position if a company can do it. Keeping technology customers calling inbound is an entirely different story. Remember that tech time flies.
The new flagship product was a complete new animal, and times were changing at exponential rates.
A seemingly high-end MBA marketing type fathered the new product. His new whiz-bang baby took a couple of years and millions to develop. He obsessed over the technology, and his comments regarding it were actually a bit disturbing. The tech had good features, but no one in front-line sales could see where it was "game changing" to the degree that he did. The value proposition was an age old one. "It saves money..."
Saving money is usually a compelling value proposition, but nothing in technology is guaranteed. The inherent risk tied to the bleeding edge can't be understated. Gold prospecting comes to mind regarding technological advancement. A few strike it big, but unfortunately, most don't.
My mission was to get to the buyers, and by any and all means.
No one there knew where to even begin proactively selling the new whiz-bang, including the MBA marketing guru. The first step is locating the prospective buyers, and even that alone isn't easy. I developed an alliance strategy with other firms, VARs, SIs, etc. because many routes always exist into the same place.
The alliance strategy didn't work. Few others had the oxygen gear needed to work up that high.
Little deters me, so my thoughts were, "Let's get into the data centers ourselves." The target data centers were armored and with some kind of reactive plating to boot. On a good day, a peep hole opened and someone in there would either tell me off or just laugh. They were usually polite though.
The MBA's obsession rubbed off a little on me, and it became my life's mission to penetrate these hardened bunker data centers. Every method, approach, and even old Jedi mind tricks were employed. My assorted pals, sales consultants, and all the king's horses took serious runs at this thing. We repeatedly did everything imaginable. My employers were good guys, and I wanted their new secret sauce to blaze.
An odd thing happened eventually.
It became obvious that the value proposition was ineffective. The new technology savings didn't impress the target market. Everyone at the small company believed that the new mouse trap was a must-have, but the buyers didn't think so. And they are the only ones who matter. The potential savings didn't merit the perceived risk in the buyers' minds.
Sadly, there was nothing that I could do for this firm, even after giving it my best. It weighed on me, and it surely weighed on them. They are a great bunch, and it broke my heart. IBM announced a competing product a short time later. It had more features, cost less, and it had IBM behind it. No data center manager ever got fired for using IBM to my knowledge.
Game over.
The moral of the story is that this small company could have avoided a painful loss. The market research needed is a few weeks work. My efforts would have revealed the fatal flaw had it been done before spending a lot on development. It is inherently risky to compete against an IBM - a small firm is devastated while an IBM-like monolith doesn't even notice.
The marketing guru should have known those risks. He probably did on some level, but he became overly-involved emotionally, and it colored his judgment. He should have done his homework and even picked up the phone himself. The guru was technically correct; a market existed for his nifty high-end product, but this small company couldn't sell it. And that's all that matters.
No one can sell it if I can't.
Contact me here: TechSalesPro@gmx.com
The Hardest Job
A small company hired me to assist with a new product launch . The firm had serious technical firepower, and they planned on working near the top of the industry food chain. That's interesting and harrowing simultaneously. The new product was theoretically good, and it appeared to have game-changer potential in a narrow market vertical. The company was doing well; it had big receivables, and everyone was happy.
The sales department consisted of seasoned sales reps from the seven dwarfs era. They were good on the phone, provided the phone was ringing. Cold calling was not something that they did, and their attitude was foreign to me. They were nice guys but didn't understand why I wouldn't spend an hour and a half at lunch with them daily.
Tech time moves fast. My attitude is to eat quickly and make the best use of golden hours during the business day.
The sales manager was a younger version of the seven dwarfs alumni club and also quite a nice guy. His background was inside sales and government bids. He had zero experience with outbound selling. The fact that the entire sales department had no functional outbound experience was surprising, but it provided a real insight to technology firm diversity.
The firm didn't need someone like me until that moment, and the work environment was challenging because no one understood me. They got along fine with the staff and procedures that they had. Senior management were all high-octane techies, and innovation was their strength. Customers would search and find them, which is a great position if a company can do it. Keeping technology customers calling inbound is an entirely different story. Remember that tech time flies.
The new flagship product was a complete new animal, and times were changing at exponential rates.
A seemingly high-end MBA marketing type fathered the new product. His new whiz-bang baby took a couple of years and millions to develop. He obsessed over the technology, and his comments regarding it were actually a bit disturbing. The tech had good features, but no one in front-line sales could see where it was "game changing" to the degree that he did. The value proposition was an age old one. "It saves money..."
Saving money is usually a compelling value proposition, but nothing in technology is guaranteed. The inherent risk tied to the bleeding edge can't be understated. Gold prospecting comes to mind regarding technological advancement. A few strike it big, but unfortunately, most don't.
My mission was to get to the buyers, and by any and all means.
No one there knew where to even begin proactively selling the new whiz-bang, including the MBA marketing guru. The first step is locating the prospective buyers, and even that alone isn't easy. I developed an alliance strategy with other firms, VARs, SIs, etc. because many routes always exist into the same place.
The alliance strategy didn't work. Few others had the oxygen gear needed to work up that high.
Little deters me, so my thoughts were, "Let's get into the data centers ourselves." The target data centers were armored and with some kind of reactive plating to boot. On a good day, a peep hole opened and someone in there would either tell me off or just laugh. They were usually polite though.
The MBA's obsession rubbed off a little on me, and it became my life's mission to penetrate these hardened bunker data centers. Every method, approach, and even old Jedi mind tricks were employed. My assorted pals, sales consultants, and all the king's horses took serious runs at this thing. We repeatedly did everything imaginable. My employers were good guys, and I wanted their new secret sauce to blaze.
An odd thing happened eventually.
It became obvious that the value proposition was ineffective. The new technology savings didn't impress the target market. Everyone at the small company believed that the new mouse trap was a must-have, but the buyers didn't think so. And they are the only ones who matter. The potential savings didn't merit the perceived risk in the buyers' minds.
Sadly, there was nothing that I could do for this firm, even after giving it my best. It weighed on me, and it surely weighed on them. They are a great bunch, and it broke my heart. IBM announced a competing product a short time later. It had more features, cost less, and it had IBM behind it. No data center manager ever got fired for using IBM to my knowledge.
Game over.
The moral of the story is that this small company could have avoided a painful loss. The market research needed is a few weeks work. My efforts would have revealed the fatal flaw had it been done before spending a lot on development. It is inherently risky to compete against an IBM - a small firm is devastated while an IBM-like monolith doesn't even notice.
The marketing guru should have known those risks. He probably did on some level, but he became overly-involved emotionally, and it colored his judgment. He should have done his homework and even picked up the phone himself. The guru was technically correct; a market existed for his nifty high-end product, but this small company couldn't sell it. And that's all that matters.
No one can sell it if I can't.
Contact me here: TechSalesPro@gmx.com
My services are affordable. Contact me here: TechSalesPro@gmx.com
