When I moved to my home fifteen years ago I noticed some brush that had been beaten down by a herd of deer. Over the years the beaten brush became a trail and has actually became a rut in the ground about ten inches wide and five inches deep.

Each day the deer travel the same path and end up in the valley below where they graze. One would say they travel in a rut but end up where they want to be and are happy with the result.

If you have not hit your quota to date and feel like you are in a rut,

You may want to consider evaluating the following.

                Do you feel you are in a rut because you are not happy with the way you are going about running your business but are happy with the result?

                                                                                 Or,

                Do you feel you are in a rut because you are not happy with your results and do not know what changes to make or know what to do about it?

If you are not happy with your results and are happy with your process I strongly suggest you look at your sales process anyway. There is a direct correlation between the process and the outcome. Or put in a more metaphysical context. “The Laws of Cause & Effect” is at play. The sales process is the cause and the outcome is the effect. 

I welcome your response.

If you are not hitting your sales quota the problem you are experiencing, while it appears now is not really happening now. The problem started some time ago, you are just experiencing the effect now. To begin to get this situation under control you need to look at many aspects of your sales processes, systems and strategies.

Sales is a scientific process and not a “If I through enough against the wall something will stick”. For the sake of space and time I will touch on a few of the items you need to look at.

1.      Look at the quantity and the quality of the pipeline. Are there enough real opportunities, if closed would make up for what you did not close so far and carry you into 2012?           

2.      You must determine the length of your sales cycle. You sales cycle is critical in hitting your quota. For example, if you have a 90 sales cycle, anything you start working on in October until the end of the year will not close this year.

3.      Your close ratio is critical in hitting your quota. By way of example, if you have $100,000 of potential business in the pipeline and have a 50 % close ratio you will close only $50,000. If part of that $50,000 is part of a 90 day sales cycle the problem becomes even more serious.

4.      Let’s look at you ideal prospect model. How well do the prospects in your pipeline match up to the ideal model?

5.      How much data are you collecting from your sales people? When you look at your data base manager are you seeing notations like, “Called Bob, left message” or Bob told me to get back to him in two weeks, or they are not ready yet.Was your sales person so excited to be able to quote on a piece of business that it is now labeled HOT and there isn’t a shred of evidence to validate the claim of HOT?

 6.      If you are not hitting the sales number you hoped for, it is not the economy. Don’t let anyone try to convince you of that. If you have competitors that are winning business and there is a gap between available business and what you are winning you haven’t figured out how to win the business away from your competitors.

7.      If you are not hitting your quota and do not address the real issues you will have the same experience in 2012.

For addition help call me at 908-472-3848  for a complimentary Pipeline Analysis Session. No hidden fees,no committment on your part,no mumbo jumbo.

Due to bad weather and road closings in our neighborhood the Halloween trick or treat holiday was postponed to this past Friday.

My younger son had decided to trick or treat in a townhouse community near our home instead of our neighborhood, not wear a costume. He told me he didn’t want to trick or treat in our neighborhood because the houses are too far apart and there were not enough houses to go to. He was going as himself.

He also told me some people might think the Halloween celebration was last week and if he wore a costume they might not answer the door. If they saw a boy without a costume ring their doorbell they would be more likely to answer the door when they looked through the door window.

When we arrived at the town house community we found that many houses were dark, no one answered the door at some of homes even those that were lighted. In other cases people came to the door and were eager to see the children trick or treating.

On the way home after three or so hours of trick or treating, I asked Adam if he had fun even though there weren’t many people home. He said he had fun, it didn’t matter how many people were not home or answered the door, because there were many that were home and gave out candy.

There are 7 Prospecting & Sales Lessons to learn from Adam’s Halloween experience.

1.     You need to have a large suspect pool to call on. (People or Companies that could possibly use your product or service).

2.     When you prospect go as YOU; don’t wear a sales person costume.

3.     Not everyone is going to be there when you call.

4.     Some people will be there and not answer the door or take your call.

5.     It doesn’t matter how people are not there or won’t talk with you.

6.     There are plenty of people out there that will talk with you; you just have to put in the time.

7.     If you are going to do it, HAVE FUN.

Due to bad weather and road closings in our neighborhood the Halloween trick or treat holiday was postponed to this past Friday.

My younger son had decided to trick or treat in a townhouse community near our home instead of our neighborhood, not wear a costume. He told me he didn’t want to trick or treat in our neighborhood because the houses are too far apart and there were not enough houses to go to. He was going as himself.

He also told me some people might think the Halloween celebration was last week and if he wore a costume they might not answer the door. If they saw a boy without a costume ring their doorbell they would be more likely to answer the door when they looked through the door window.

When we arrived at the town house community we found that many houses were dark, no one answered the door at some of homes even those that were lighted. In other cases people came to the door and were eager to see the children trick or treating.

On the way home after three or so hours of trick or treating, I asked Adam if he had fun even though there weren’t many people home. He said he had fun, it didn’t matter how many people were not home or answered the door, because there were many that were home and gave out candy.

There are 7 Prospecting & Sales Lessons to learn from Adam’s Halloween experience.

1.     You need to have a large suspect pool to call on. (People or Companies that could possibly use your product or service).

2.     When you prospect go as YOU; don’t wear a sales person costume.

3.     Not everyone is going to be there when you call.

4.     Some people will be there and not answer the door or take your call.

5.     It doesn’t matter how people are not there or won’t talk with you.

6.     There are plenty of people out there that will talk with you; you just have to put in the time.

7.     If you are going to do it, HAVE FUN.

From the first day of school we were programmed to answer questions when asked. Our legal system dictates we tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Some sales people see the prospect as the authority figure and go into presentation or quoting mode too soon in the sales process. Other sales people wanting to be recognized as authority figures will make premature presentations or quotations and still don’t get the sale and wonder why.

How to get out of this mess?

We have been taught there are two types of questioning techniques.

                A-Closed end questions which give us Yes or No answers.

                B-Open ended questions give us a response in the form of information.

In a recent survey it was learned sales professionals using open ended questions were still asking far too many questions and not getting enough valuable information to qualify an opportunity.

Once these sales professionals learned how ask questions with a broader bandwidth they were able to gather more information in a shorter period of time. They were also able to qualify the situation in a shorter period of time.

Here are examples of open ended, closed ended and broader bandwidth questions.

1-Closed end question- Is this your only location? Closed end response. No

2-Open ended question- How many locations do you have? Open ended response. We have 3 locations. (A little better response than question 1)

A question with a broader bandwidth- What are you most proud of when you look at your company?

A broader bandwidth response-We are a third generation company. My grandfather started this company in his garage and we now have three locations servicing companies from New England to Florida. (Much better question and more information gathered than 1 & 2).

A question with a broader bandwidth- That is fantastic. Please go on.

Because of our locations we can distribute our products faster, lower our delivery cost and be more competitive in the market place, etc.

Here is the Secret to Better Qualifying. Ask broad band width questions and get more information in a shorter period of time.                                    

If you would like to learn more about this concept you can reach me at 908-472-3848.