Fortune Magazine released the 2009 Fortune 500 list yesterday and while there were winners in 2008 like Exxon Mobil Corp which retook the #1 position from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the year was not as positive for most of the other companies on the list. According to the Associated Press, overall earnings sank 85%, the biggest one-year decline in the history of the Fortune 500 list.
Despite the state of our economy, disciplined distribution sales
organizations are finding ways through their customer focus and consultative selling to add value to positively impact theirs and their customer’s bottom line. In our just
published book Driving Distributor Sales Beyond: Best Practices for Outselling Your Competitors, chapter five outlines integrated strategies for developing proactive customer focus sales efforts.
Taking an account from $2,000 to $120,000Last year, while the Fortune 500 was sinking, one sales representative within the sinking boating industry was able to take his dealer account from about $2,000 in sales to over $120,000.
Here are six ways this sales rep added value to generate his success.- Initiated conversation that had meaning to the customer
This rep used one simple question to set the stage for productive talk with the dealer, “What can we do for you, that somebody else isn’t doing?” He didn’t dwell on the dealer’s work with current suppliers or even suggest that he wanted to displace them. He simply, yet skillfully, focused on the dealer's situation and asked where that dealer could use some help now . . . and they told him. “We sell boats,” they said, “but we don’t know how to sell accessories.”
- Understood the customer’s perspective
The dealer’s general manager invited the rep to meet with the whole staff. During that consultative selling discussion, he especially noted their “take” on unmet opportunities. He exited with a clear challenge -- to create an easy, user-friendly way for their sales staff to sell more boating accessories.
- Focused on identified need
Distractions can be killers in sales. The rep didn’t try to be all things to the dealer, or sell everything in his catalog. He stayed fixed on the named need.
- Tapped appropriate resources
The rep tapped his marketing department to develop a simple, captivating brochure that showed recommended “bundles” of accessories. It saved the dealer’s salespeople from having to pause and mentally create a fitting combination of items on the spot. Its one-page format suggested that it was both simple and easy to use.
- Added value in a meaningful way
Thouth this rep's company demonstrates many capabilities, he carefully chose which of its values he’d present to the dealer. You might say that through his consultative selling process he handpicked values that would mean something to the folks at this account, given the specific challenge they named.
- Stayed alert for new ways to add value
Inspired to personally add value in a variety of ways, the rep continues to seize opportunities that make his customers’ businesses better. For instance, he shows dealer salespeople how to step away from the “car dealer” approach, to sell a dream concept the customer might have (like fishing at a favorite spot, or enjoying a summer day at the lake, listening to music, and watching the kids have a blast).
Your Turn To Share Customer Focus ExamplesHave you seen customer focus deliver surprising results even in tough times? Please share your inspiration so that we all can benefit from it.
On Monday we posed some thoughts on Customer Retention. Here is an advertisement that I love – this one from American Airlines that I believe stimulates thinking on customer retention. Take a look …
Jenkins is not going to lose that customer! He has made himself invaluable.
Over the years we have helped thousands of companies evolve their sales representatives to what we call a Sustaining Resource. Sustaining means on going. Resource means somewhere from which to draw from. I think we become invaluable to our customers when they see us as Jenkins – that individual they can tap on an on-going basis to bring ideas and solutions to help their business succeed.
Can you think of individuals who are invaluable to their customers, teams, businesses, and or units? Here are some that quickly come to my mind:
- Jenkins was invaluable to his client in the American commercial
- Steve Jobs is invaluable to Apple
- Sidney Crosby is invaluable to the Pittsburgh Penguins
- Kay Wingate, our e-learning coach is invaluable to our clients
- Fred Smith is invaluable to FedEx
- General David Petraeus is invaluable to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan
Traits like innovation, performance, expertise, desire, work ethic, results, leadership, empathy, knowledge, creativity, high standards, values, and others help each of these individuals become Sustaining Resources and invaluable. For those of us in sales, these are the types of things that will lead to customer retention.
Your Turn – Please Share With UsWhat does becoming invaluable mean to you?
How does your definition of becoming invaluable lead to improved customer retention?
In a recent presentation, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer
Cal Ripken Jr. said the key to his hall for fame baseball career and record 2,632 consecutive games played with the Baltimore Orioles was that he made himself invaluable. As he addressed the audience
Ripken said: “Frank Robinson pulled me into his office and said ‘You know how many times I said this was the day I was going to take you down and pull you off the lineup? You couldn’t hit and I was tired of looking at it. But I looked at everything else you do, and I didn’t want to replace it.’”
How interesting is that! Even though Cal Ripken "couldn’t hit" (with a batting average of .276 over 21 seasons), he was invaluable none-the-less to his team, teammates, and manager.
From a business perspective, like Cal’s ability to hit, no company is perfect. Orders will be late. A customer service process will be flawed. Inventory levels will fall short. Yet it is our job to insure we stay in the line up – to insure customer retention.
In these times customers are having their doors knocked on by more sales people than ever before. Sales people are hungry and they have found a renewed interest in prospecting. You competitors are targeting your business, making a customer retention strategy imperative. Here are five keys that we have found important to maximizing customer retention:
- Focus on what you don’t know – Most sales people fail to bring anything new to the table because of their myopic thinking. They focus on what they already know about their customer rather than what they don’t know. Customer retention requires digging deeper for broader understanding of the customers business.
- Get deeper within the organization – It is human nature to stay within our comfort zones. If we have a relationship with the purchaser for example that is where we devote our focus. Customer retention requires multiple relationships within the account – up and down the chain of responsibility.
- Be visible – If the only time the customer sees you is when there is an order to be had, you are at risk. Visibility is important, multiple touches are important, but in all cases, with each touch you must bring value.
- Talk of tomorrow – The past is just that, history. Customer retention is all about the future and what you and the customer together can accomplish going forward. Of course we need to remind the customer of the value we have delivered over the course of the relationship, but don’t stop there. Look to tomorrow and how you can help their business take the next step towards improvement.
- Run towards problems – Most sales people run from problems. Order is late – they blame operations. Inventory levels are not adequate, they blame purchasing. Customer retention on the other hand requires that we run towards the problem and take the accountability to make it right.
Give Me Your Top ThreeThere are of course more keys to customer retention, and I hope you will share your thoughts. What are your top three tips for becoming invaluable to your customers?
Have you ever noticed that every sales person has the best service, the best product, and the best price? At least, that's what they claim to their customers and prospects. But until you can prove what you have, you are just like every other potential supplier throwing out platitudes and stereotypical sales banter.
Jeff Fisher, CEO of Florida Lift Systems, Inc. is right when he says, “A sales person without evidence is what gives sales a bad reputation.” Evidence is required to stand out and to support your propositions.
If we take Jeff’s clue, we can use this to our advantage because as I remind our clients of the lack of professional selling skills - how the use of visual aids and evidence is becoming a dying art in the profession of sales. It’s a shame because the Strategic Account Management Association tells us that when visual aids are used as professional selling skills to communicate evidence:
- Their audience is 43% more likely to be persuaded
- Their audience will pay 26% more attention
- The presenter covers the same material in 24 - 40% less time
- Learning improves 200%
- Retention improves 38%
An example of evidence usageOver the years we have had the opportunity to help several
Toyota Material Handling USA dealers take more from the market than the market is prepared to give through a combination of employee development strategies. We have learned that Toyota forklifts have a differentiating feature that addresses a key need – workplace safety. Toyota’s SAS – System of Active Stability™ electronically monitors and controls lift truck operations helping to reduce the risk of accidents. It’s really pretty cool technology.
So, if we were to assume that a prospect names safety as a top-buying criteria, which of the three options below would be most effective in selling the SAS safety feature of the Toyota trucks?
Option A - Verbal Presentation
A verbal presentation, where you describe the capabilities of the SAS system: you tell about technology that permits electronic monitoring and control of lift truck operations that reduces the risk of accidents. You also tell about the Active Control Real Stabilizer System, and the Active Mast Function Controller System.
Option B - Verbal Presentations With Pictures
You present the same information as above, pausing to show these graphics as you are describe the capabilities:
Option C - Show Video Of SAS in ActionYou discuss the capabilities of the SAS and then show this
video that captures the SAS in action.Clearly, the more effectively you communicate evidence to help tell your story (the use of pictures in option B and the video in option C) the more believable your story becomes.
Let’s stop giving sales a bad reputation and begin incorporating evidence into our sales presentations.
What do you think?Do you agree in the power of evidence?
Do you have an example of how evidence has helped you close more business?
Do you agree that the use of evidence is a dying art as a professional selling skill?