The difference between Good & Great

A 20 year view on Sales & Account Management Methodologies.

What separates Good from Great? With most things it’s something less than qualitative, subjectively its opinion that’s formed from a set of bias. The difference between two cups of coffee, they both may be great but suit different people. One is not better they are just different and appeal to different preferences. So it is with Sales and Account Management strategies, different strategies suit different people in different situations. With a career in Sales and Account Management spanning 20 years across multiple industries and markets, there are consistent patterns and themes that shine through the sales processes in each of these industries and markets.

Unlike coffee, in Sales there is only one number that counts. Nine times out of ten this is never measured, so while performance against target is important - the real number is what was sold against what the market purchased. These quantitative measurements give us the sales metrics that defines good and great. Then the question is how do sales people get from good to great? What is it that a sales professional can do differently to the person beside them to be great?

The skill of every Grand Master comes from knowledge. In my experience it’s all about the array of sales tools in the sales person’s tool kit and then, how well they can use them.

There are several well-known and respected sales methodologies. There are also a range of amazing concepts that in isolation are a great read and very motivational but when leveraged with other sales frameworks are incredibly powerful. However like the coffee not all of these suit everyone. The question for any sales team and manager is which of these to use and how to develop each member of the sales team to be more than good, but to be great.

To give the game away, there is no silver bullet, no one methodology on its own is a complete system. It’s the combination of some and all of these sales methodologies that gives sales teams the tools they need to be more than good.

Starting at the beginning. Before mastery, you must understand yourself. This point is missed on so many sales people, young and experienced alike, as the typical sales ego regularly gets in the way. Having a clear view of who you are, what motivates and excites you, and what scares and confounds you is critical to understanding the tools that will feel comfortable in your hand and at the same time allow you to be open to strengthening areas of development. The Myers Briggs Type 2 personality test provides the foundation and key to successful personal development. Self-realisation may sound a little Taoist, but it is essential to gain balance, in that you are able to take on board and accept that who we are is the foundation that all other skills and tools will be used upon.

Communication is key to all human interaction, which includes and is specific to selling. The ability to influence someone to transact on the sellers terms defines sales, as everything else is order taking. The DISC Profile provides insight into the preferred communication style of people. More importantly, with practice it allows people to identify other people’s communication styles and then manage their commination to match the recipient’s style. Again, this takes practice but is highly valuable. Remember most people make up their minds about us in less than 30 seconds. People are more receptive to those people who communicate in the same way they do.

With an understanding who we are and how we communicate, the next questions is which sales methodology to use? SPIN, TAS, Miller Heiman, The Challenger, The Sandler Selling System. The simple answer is all of them, more specifically the best of all of them. Bruce Lee called Jeet Kwon Do his form less martial art “the art of fighting without fighting” the best of all styles without their limitations. In the same way each of these structured selling methodologies have strengths, all have limitations and situations they are not suited for. The great sales professional will know how to wheel each of these, using the right tool for each situation.

Each market and industry is different, impacted by the selling cycle and product / service type. Across all markets and industries there are two constants; lead indicators and people. It is in the elements of the selling cycle, lead indicators and people that lay the secret to understanding which tool to use when. It is really not that complicated, its having a clear plan and knowledge of each of the established sales methodologies. As the sales cycle compresses or expands and the decision making is simple or complex, it’s knowing what to take out or how to swap tools without disjointing the sale process. A plan is critical, the process is the key.

Targeted Account Selling (TAS) maps the political landscape to understand who makes the decision and who will influence the decision maker. Who are the supporters and who are the detractors to my business inside their business? Ever walked out of a sales meeting feeling like you were ambushed? TAS helps to understand if a direct or indirect approach is best and how individuals may respond. TAS is also good to show who will be impacted by the sale, will this sale mean changes for the manager, front line staff etc? This allows the sale to be broken down into different components so as to understand how to influence each of the stakeholders effected. Taking the time to think at this point is critical. Using the Miller Heiman Blue Sheet or a good old fashioned mind map, will reveal what was not obvious identifying any potential red flags in the sales process.

With an understanding of the landscape pitching the deal is caffeine in the coffee, get it wrong and there is nothing worse than the taste of burnt coffee. These next views are cruelly unfair to the success of the respective methodologies, pragmatically its how I see them. SPIN – using a feather to tickly the underbelly of the customer and make them feel good, their problems will all go away with your solution. Alternatively. The Challenger – a sledgehammer to smack the customer over the head, what was the customer thinking… As I said grossly unfair to summarise them this way. They both have their place and both work. Both provide a framework for the conversation but not the skills to deliver the communication.

It is a fine line to challenge someone’s industry knowledge and their processes (The Challenger), without coming off as conceded and condescending. Likewise, SPINNING without being over bearing or ditsy and light on detail for complex deals is an art in of its self. Over many years I have used and trained staff in both of these strategies with great success. In the right situation, both are equally effective as a framework for the pitch. So why the contradiction. The answer lies in the way we use words, the delivery (people communication) for which there is a solution beyond what is offered by these two methodologies.

The Six Principles of Influence - by Robert Cialdini, Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing. The “Tools of Influence” are the must have basics of every sales professional’s tool kit. Understanding how to wheel Reciprocity, Commitment, Social Proof, Authority, Liking and Scarcity provides the language and strategy to make the pitch robust and alluring at the same time. These strategic language skills do more than turbo charge the SPIN and Challenger methodologies, Cialdini makes these selling frameworks complete. Remember, the sales professional still needs to decide based

on who they are, the communication style of the decision maker (understanding there may be more than one who each have different styles), with consideration for the supporters and detractors, with knowledge of any red flags, which of these to best suit this pitch & this situation.

For what it’s worth I have tended to use 50% SPIN, 40% The Challenger and 10% just made up or got lucky. This last 10% are the deals or pitches burn the coffee. The reason that I have been able to make these work has always been honesty and transparency.

Honesty & Transparency – these qualities are not taught in any sales methodology to my knowledge, not suggesting it’s not assumed in all of them, but it’s not explicitly taught. Cialdini addresses honesty and transparency when talking about authority, commitment and liking, then to a lesser extent in social proof. It sounds too obvious to even make a fuss about, but you will be surprised or maybe not, at the number of times people are not honest and transparent. To be clear, it only counts when the conversation is difficult and one you would prefer not to have.

The other obvious sales activity that is at the front of the sales process is cold calling. In account management it’s booking regular meetings to push your agenda (Sales Target) even when there is nothing new to talk about. The sales cycle and call cycle have a symbiotic relationship. Networking calls to expand your network are the same, which without an introduction can be like a cold call. While there are no hard and fast rules there are a bunch of tips and tricks, like call between 9:30am – 3pm, outside these times people are less receptive, Mondays also seem to get less response. When you can’t get someone, call early or late 8am or 6pm. There is no substitute or easy way to get around cold calling, either you’re up for it or not. This comes back to knowing who you are. Again there are strategies for those needs to make calls but are not motivated by them.

Too often the metrics of calls and meetings are left to the sales person or manager and are based on that less than qualitative science when in fact they should be set in a structured and quantitative way. Broken down by activity and hours in the day, this is just straight maths. Remember that people are not robots and typically anything more than 85% productivity is wishful thinking that will result in employment churn. Some of the best sales experiences I have been on the receiving end of are the dogged ones, when people are honest about why they call and ask to follow up, I have found this appealing and it has always worked in their favour over the long term. Being consistent in the initial sales process tells the customer something about your business, consistency is one of Cialdini’s tools of influence. It suggests a consistent behaviour that is part of the product or service you purchase and that has value.

Account Management is the same in terms of setting meeting metrics for the number of meetings for account managers. The difference is the type of meetings and who meets with who. In most businesses I see the account manager meets with their peer in the customers’ business. It provides a single and tenuous link that is easily damaged or broken, often in a single incident. Most times the account manager doesn’t even know that something has happened.

If you take notice of nothing else take note of this; CEO calls CEO randomly once per year just to say thanks for your business. Sales Director randomly calls CFO / COO, Head of Procurement & Account owner three times per year to check in and meets with them at least once per year, preferably informally. State Manager / Account Manager has structured regular meetings with key contacts and then meets as many other people as they can in the business to talk about the customers’ business and how it works. This should be targeted CEO down. This may sound like a big ask and it is, but that’s the difference between good and great, are you a double shoot pocillo or a soy decaffe (two ends of the

extreme – nothing wrong with soy). It is always about confidence, often conformity to a social norm based on seniority and the ability to manipulate this. This is why personality (Myers Briggs) and communication (DISC) are so important, Cialdini providing the skills to have a structured conversation.

Of course nothing is random and it’s all plugged in the CRM on a 12month cycle, all part of the account management plan where the political players are mapped out and as a business team individuals in the customers’ business are targeted by individuals from your business (TAS). There is nothing wrong with using the customer’s organisation chart to target key individuals. Using LinkedIn is a great tool for new and large accounts, in business no one is unconnected. The CRM is critical as no one person can hold all of this information and the information needs to be passed from one account manager to the other. When the account manager can pick up on the themes of the conversation the CEO had with the CEO, as the account manager bumps in to the customers CEO in the hall. The conversation and the account manager are provided with authority and social proof (Cialdini) making the CEO feel like the account manager knows their business (Liking).

Measuring the strength of existing account can be difficult. Shared reporting and formal meeting structures are all great tools to help align expectations and perceptions. A less used tool is a relationship web, it askes a set of agreed questions, a mix of qualitative and quantitate of both the customer (how is the supplier performing) and the supplier (how is the customer performing) and highlights where the parties agree and disagree. This is an incredibly powerful tool, based on honesty and transparency. Remember to make sure you are ready to accept and process the answer before you ask the question.

Like the coffee that takes the shape of the cup, sales people will take the shape of the sales processes, the sales metrics & commission structure. In this metaphor the quality of the coffee will depend on the sales team’s knowledge of the sales methodologies. Sales and Account Management are processes that rely on human interaction and response. Selling will always be dependent on the skill and therefore knowledge of the sales people, the difference between good and great, unlike coffee, is the skilful application of knowledge. Sales people don’t acquire these skills by osmosis, someone must teach them, in market where they can be developed refined and practiced.

BE GREAT

Nigel Matthews – A career that is as varied as a Surry Hills coffee menu. Nigel has worked across multiple markets selling a range of products and services in both the B2B and B2C environments for corporates, SME and NFP organisations.