by Bill Poole | Mar 19, 2019 | Sales
Stephen Covey says that highly effective people put the “big rocks in first” because if you don’t do the important things first, they get crowded out by the smaller things.
The biggest rock for any sales professional is prospecting. It’s the #1 driver of success and the #1 thing that gets pushed to the bottom of the priority pile. Jeb Blount, the author of Fanatical Prospecting, famously said, “The #1 reason for an empty pipe is the failure to prospect!”
What’s The Annual Financial Impact?
What’s the annual impact of inconsistent prospecting? I think this is a worthy question for every sales professional, sales team leader, and company owner to consider.
To calculate the impact, let’s begin with some assumptions. (more…)
by Bill Poole | Mar 12, 2019 | Sales
Today is the 30th anniversary of the world wide web! Nothing has changed the sales profession more than this technology. As I reflect back over my 26 years in sales, allow me to offer some observations on how the internet has changed sales for good.
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by Bill Poole | Mar 5, 2019 | Sales
“Although discipline demands control and asceticism, it actually results in freedom.”
– Jocko Willink
Jocko provides helpful insight for sales professionals and leaders in the final chapter of Extreme Ownership : Discipline Equals Freedom.
If you want the freedom of excellent outcomes, you need discipline. In sales, this means that if you want financial freedom, you need to establish discipline.
The extent to which you embrace discipline will determine your level of financial freedom – avoid discipline and you’ll cause frustration.
Let’s explore some ways that sales professionals and teams can integrate discipline to improve their freedom. (more…)
by Bill Poole | Feb 19, 2019 | Sales
In the office technology industry I serve, we talk about Machines-in-Field (MIF). Every 3-5 years the leases on these machines expire or the machine wears out. Sales reps “flip the MIF” when they upgrade customers to new equipment.
MIF-flipping plays a critical role. After all, we need to maintain our customer base. However, we also work in a mature market. That means that average selling prices are dropping faster than cost of goods. Each year the delta between sales price and cost gets squeezed a little tighter.
What does that mean?
Companies and sales reps that have historically depended on MIF-flipping will suffer a slow and painful decline.
Some businesses are counteracting the revenue decline by purchasing more MIF to flip. The top line revenue of these businesses look good, but ultimately, these businesses will also feel the pain. (more…)
by Bill Poole | Feb 6, 2019 | Sales
“All the storytelling we do requires frequency. You’ll try something new, issue a statement, explore a new market… and when it doesn’t work right away, the instinct is to walk away and try something else. But frequency teaches us that there is a very real dip–a gap between when we get bored and people (our clients, prospects, and employees) get the message.”
– Seth Godin, This Is Marketing
As business owners and sales professionals, we tend to give up too soon. (more…)
by Bill Poole | Jan 29, 2019 | Sales
Every (smart) business and sales professional wants to sell more to their current clients.
In my favorite marketing book, Getting Everything You Can From All You’ve Got, Jay Abraham shares the geometric principle of business growth. He says there are only three ways to grow a business.
- Get more customers
- Sell more things to current customers
- Increase the frequency of purchase
The problem is that most businesses only focus on #1. When it comes to #2 and #3, cross selling to current clients usually gets lip service, a page buried on the website, and maybe a specialist. Unfortunately, that’s where the gold lies.
If you only do #1, focusing all your effort on new logos, your business will grow linearly. From a sales perspective, 15% growth requires 15% more new customers. It’s important work and hard work, but 15% growth won’t get anyone too excited — especially if you had to discount products to convince new customers to buy into your business.
The profitable and dramatic growth happens inside your current customer base by cross-selling additional products and services. This is especially true in mature industries where profit margins on the core offering are dropping. In this scenario, the question we should be asking is, “How can I sell more things to current clients where I have a trusted relationship?” (more…)
