Listening Skills

 Articles, Management, Negotiating, Prospecting, Selling, Selling More, Uncategorized  Add Comments »
Apr 172010
 

Steps To Effective Listening:

1- Listen – yes, oddly enough one has to listen without prejudice or interrupting.
2- Listen For The Main Idea – what is the main and specific idea being put forth?
3- Listen For The Reason – what is the rationale and reason behind the ideas discussed or proposed? Is the premise correct and based in fact?
4- Organize – give the message conveyed an organization and order. It helps results gel and and for the listener to retain the information.
5- Ask Questions – once the speaker has ended ask questions. Be sure that your own biases have not tainted what you heard.

Taking notes is a good idea. It shows that the listener is interested. It also is a better method of keeping record than memory alone.

*Things That Need To Go Away: listening meetings where the decision has already been made and conclusion already reached.

j03992151

Marketing Techniques

 Articles, Marketing, Selling, Uncategorized  Add Comments »
Apr 042010
 

I recently read a story about how when customers were offered several dozen tastes of jam sales decreased compared to when potential buyers were offered a mere four choices. This has been an intuitive finding of many marketing and sales professionals. Put yourself in the shoes of a customer given too many choices. Too many options often lead to paralysis. One goes back to the drawing board. One figures that there is a need for more research. Perhaps more investigation is needed? Should I consult friends? Read up more on the Internet?
In other words, choice is bad. Capitalism loses. Do not confuse your customers by offering too many choices.

While I am here, another counter-intuitive nugget is how companies want their salespersons to sell their top-of-the-line and most expensive offering. In that case, that option needs to not be the most expensive option. What? Precisely that. This is a sales technique that Starbucks perfected years ago. When faced with $6, $4 and $2 options most customers opted for the $4 option. Knowing that most customers would shy away from choosing the most expensive option and would also avoid the cheap option, most Starbucks customers picked the quasi-coffee product the company really wanted them to buy in the first: the $4 option. It was just that Starbucks had added a ‘luxury’ $6 alternative of which it didn’t expect to sell too many.
If your goal is to sell your ‘gold’ or top-of-the-line option then be sure that your offering includes a ‘platinum’ or topper-of-the-line choice for your customers to not choose.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Annual CEO Survey

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Apr 042010
 

The PricewaterhouseCoopers 13th Annual Global CEO Survey is out. After surveying 1,198 “global business leaders,” the consultancy has summarized some of its findings on topics related to how CEOs plan on steering their companies forward.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/index.jhtml

A global trend is emerging. CEOs are more confident in achieving their 2010 revenue objectives. CEOs in emerging economies in South America and East Asia are even more confident.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/ceo-survey-key-findings.jhtml?WT.ac=flash_02-2010_ceo-survey-hp_key-findings

In general, more conservative thinking dominates the results. Internal cash flow optimization is seen as more important than bond or equity issue or borrowing. Better penetration of existing markets has the CEOs more preoccupied than new geographies or new products.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/data-smarter-growth.jhtml

25% of CEOs believe there will be more headcount cuts. 39%, however, will be hiring in the next 12 months. The most hiring is in the professional services area.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/prospects-for-recovery-employment.jhtml

However, with the planned reductions which have already happened 48% plan on hiring suggesting that the reductions were overdone. The charts break down the hiring areas by geography, sector and talent.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/data-talent-agenda.jhtml

Which CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software?

 Articles, Management, Marketing, Prospecting, Selling, Selling More, Uncategorized  2 Comments »
Feb 172010
 

I was recently part of a discussion on CRM and the best way to choose a Customer Relationship Management package. With CRM/SFA/contact management becoming mainstream and accepted more and more questions come up about which one of the myriad of options is the better one.

I have been part of sales team for Oracle CRM and Sage CRM. I have also been the user, competed against or part of the buying process for Siebel, SAP, Salesforce and Sage. Here are my thoughts.

First and foremost, the starting point should not be the features and functionality of the technology. The departure point is the needs of the buyer, the existing processes of the company, how they need to change and improve and the goals that need to be realized. If these factors have not been mapped then the company is not ready for a CRM purchase.

Moreover, which software has proven capability in the buying firm’s niche, vertical or broad industry?

Next, remembering that CRM is there to enable the company to know itself and its customers, how does the productivity tool play with the company’s actual data and processes? This is where a customized demonstration including the aforementioned information is very helpful. No, not a generic demo and no not a downloaded sample of the program. Can one see the needs fulfilled in the CRM and can one see the desired improvements fulfilled in the potential package? If any integrations are required, can this be demonstrated? What about the reporting capabilities, formats in which the reports are available and, crucially, their ease of use? Which vendor gives you the best training for their product?

Incidentally, avoid paying for features one does not need and will not use.

I don’t want to get into the hosted versus on-site flavours of CRM discussion here, but should one be considering a hosted or SAAS (Software As A Service)/cloud software (the cloud refers to the nebulous Internet mode of delivery) the question to ask is what happens at the end of the contract period. Who owns the data? How can one receive it from the hosting company? Is there an additional fee attached to these stipulations?

Of course, cost is a factor. SAAS operates on the leasing model (low up-front costs/potentially more expensive overall), while the traditional method gives you the software in perpetuity (except there is an installation cost and time-line that needs to be factored in). As I said, won’t get into this aspect more at this time.

The technology’s capability will only follow the determination of wants, needs, processes and desired outcome strategies. Mastering these has the added benefit that they necessitate consulting and working with the end-users of the product, thus helping obtain their buy-in. What is the purpose of buying CRM if sales, service or the marketing department really do not want to use it?

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