Don’t Talk Like Charlie Brown’s Teacher

via youtube.com

Socialtext launched a great new product recently, Socialtext Connect. I’ll save the details for another post, but needless to say, our customers are pumped up about it and it is a great thing to sell.

As with any technology, I have a tendency to over complicate things.

I was on a call, talking about Connect a couple of days ago and of course I was excited. I went into the explanation of the platform. What it does, how it does it and why customers like it. Then I asked – “So how does this resonate with your plans?”

My customer was funny and I appreciate her honesty, but she told me that she didn’t understand what I just said and that I sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Wha wha, wha wha wha wha.

It was a great lesson, one that I knew, but needed to be reminded of. Since then, I’ve taken a couple of corrective actions that I think will help you too.
1.) I ask now – how technical are you and how technical do you want me to go?
2.) I’ve written a couple of descriptions of Connect. A simple, very high level version, a medium version and a deep complex version

I’ve discovered that most people are pretty technical and get this stuff, but the ones that aren’t really appreciate when I give the simple version.

Tell me, do you talk like Charlie Brown’s teacher? How did you teach yourself not to do that? Leave a comment and let me know.

Are You 25% Better?

I had lunch recently with a friend who played competitive hockey in college.  I always love to talk with people who participate in athletics at that type of level or higher because I believe that what they do (stopping a puck in the blink of an eye in his case) transcends what the average person can do exponentially.  Think about how fast linebackers are, or how far and accurate a PGA tour player is, how fast an MLB pitcher can throw a ball.  The shear act of practice, patience, genetic freakishness and consistency blows me away.We were talking about how that relates to sales and he shared that when he played hockey just to make the team, you needed to be 25% better than the person already in that position.  25% better, just to make the team. Not necessarily to play.  Just be on the bus.  The feeling was that if you’re less than 100%, why bother.  If your only 110% better, that isn’t enough to gamble on an unknown and there is already a personality fit with the person on the team today.  You have to be 125% of what that person is.He felt that the same held true with customers interested in a purchase. If you want to replace the current widget, be it a cell phone, an ERP system or a collaboration platform, it needs to be 25% better than what is already in place.  Better can mean a lot of things and doesn’t necessarily need to be more bells and whistles.  Often, less features make it better.  Siebel vs. Salesforce for example.  Or Excel vs. Salesforce  going the other way.  Better could mean 25% fewer headaches, 25% less resources required or 25% higher ROI.  Whatever the case, you need to be 25% better.Do you know why your product is better than what is there by 25%? If you don’t you need to figure that out pretty quickly.If you’re a sales rep, are you doing the things to make you 25% better than your competition?If you are looking for a job, are you doing the things to show that you’re 25% better than the others who are applying for the job?What are you doing to be 25% better?

10 Things You Must Do To Thrive During This Recession

So here we are full swing in a global economic recession the likes of which we haven’t seen since dinosaurs roamed the earth or something like that.As a sales person, it can be easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom. My first piece of advice is don’t.Here are 10 other simple things that you can do to not only succeed, but to thrive in this environment.

1. Eat right / exercise more – In times like this, it is easy to stress out. Your company might be on the rocks, many of your customers may be on the rocks, your relationships are on the rocks. It’s easy to turn to something deep fried and drink something on the rocks.  Don’t. Hit the gym, go for a run, instead of pizza, eat salad.  Treat your body well and you’ll feel better and that will be reflected in everyone you deal with.
2. Check Your Phone Time – When I’m not traveling, I get a report at the end of every day telling me how much time I’ve spent on the phone.  My goal is 3 – 4 hours a day, though I lately, I’ve been getting in the 5 hour a day range.  Most VOIP services will issue such a report.  If you really think that you’re working as hard as you say that you are, this report will tell.  Phone time isn’t research time. Phone time isn’t email time. Phone time is time speaking with customers. There are 240 minutes in 4 hours. A voicemail, from connection to you hanging up, lasts about 45 seconds. You do the math.
3. Build Partnerships, Not Transactions – In this market, no one wants to buy from someone once and it’s over with.  Figure out how to build a long term relationship with someone during the hard times and it will pay off in spades during the good times.
4. Set Fiscal Goals – Income goals are something that every sales person should set, but now it is more important than ever.  I’ve always started with $1 million dollars a year as a good goal.  If you know what it takes to make a million dollars, you can figure out how many transactions that is, figure out how many pilots that is, how many appointments that is, how many cold calls that is.  Another good one is to be impacted by the Obama stimulus.
5. Double Your Effort – Know isn’t the time to rest, it’s time to kick ass and take names. If you know you need make 10 phone calls to get an appointment, make 20. If you know you need 10 appointments to get a deal, go on 20. The math is changing. You need to do more work to make the same amount of sales. If you’re company is looking to cut people, are they going to cut the person doing twice the work and bringing in more business than anyone else? Unlikely.
6. Go to Networking Events – I’m horrible at this.  I recognize it as a weak point and when it comes to going to a hotel lobby to see bad PowerPoint or hanging out with my family, family will win 99 out of 100 times.  But I need to go and so do you. Get out there, don’t only look for new business, but keep your eyes peeled for new opportunities for partnerships, an introduction that you can make. Tim Sanders always says ‘Your Network is Your Net Worth’.  Raise yours.
7. Ask for References – This sounds cliche. It sounds like something that every sales training ever has said, but I’ll tell you what, it works.  The problem is that it won’t work the first time because you aren’t trusted. It won’t work the second time because you aren’t trusted. It will take you asking about a dozen or more times because until you’re a trusted adviser, no one is going to refer you to anyone. Print it out and tape it to your monitor to remind you. This pays off long term.
8. Learn Your ROI Story Cold, Now Figure Out How to Shorten It – During the dotcom bust, my customers wanted to see a proven ROI in 6 – 12 months.  Now it is 3 – 9 months.  If your story has positive ROI in the second year, you’re fucked.  Show revenue, show productivity, show cost savings and show it fast. Refine your story and get stories from your existing customers to help refine it.  If you show ROI in 6 months and your customers show it in 12, you’ll win every single time.
9. Double Your Effort – Are you paying attention?  You’ve gotta hustle your face off.
10. Ask Not What Your Company Can Do For You, But What You Can Do For Your Company – I’m paraphrasing Kennedy a bit, but you need to treat your company like it is yours if you want to survive.  This isn’t time for you to take an ‘I’m just a sales rep’ attitude.  If you’re in sales, you’re in product development, you’re in marketing, you’re in QA, you’re in legal. You’ve gotta do it all.  When heads are on the block, do you really want to be ‘just a sales guy?’
11. Bonus – Get Rid of Non-Profitable Customers – Do this this week. Sit down with your VP, your manager, your CEO and explain that you’ve got a few customers that are non-profitable time sinks and you want to get rid of them.  Evaluate each customer and if they aren’t providing profit in the way of bottom line dollars or PR or product guidance, get rid of them. Now is not the time to hang on to dead wood.

So tell me, what is the single most important thing you’re doing to thrive in this environment?