| With More Learning, B2B Sales Can Be Hard FunJohn Cousineau | | Selling Business-to-Business should be fun. Often it can feel like a grind. There’s a need to make selling B2B more fun by provoking more learning from the grinding. Those involved in teaching, training, e-learning, and change management have important insights on how to do so.
Clark Quinn notes (in his book Engaging Learning) that often the fun of learning, at work, is ‘hard fun’. “It’s fun, in the sense that you’re engaged, there’s a story that you care about and you have the power to act; it’s hard in that it’s not trivial – there is sufficient challenge... Read More >> |
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| Predictably Succeeding in B2B SalesJohn Cousineau | | |
Ok. A confession. I'm in the tool business, yet I generally hate business tools. For the most part, I've found over the course of my career that they're generally over-hyped in terms of their contribution to my productivity and way more time consuming to learn how to use than anyone ever led me to believe at the outset. In fact, even in instances where the tools had great potential to improve my productivity, my inability to use them effectively often impeded the contributions business tools could make.
Les McKeown's views on how firms achieve Predictable Success are an important reminder of... Read More >> |
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| Triggering Sales Productivity by Understanding Return-On-EffortJohn Cousineau | | There is much talk these days of a need for better, deeper, integration of marketing and sales. In my view, it’s desperately needed, but must be done in ways that address the underlying reason why executives are demanding it – they want a higher return on investment (ROI) from marketing and sales. At its core, this requires finding ways to improve the return-on-effort (ROE) in sales.
In recent years, marketing automation, sales enablement, and Sales 2.0 tools have helped marketing and sales teams be more informed and efficient. Despite these advances, declines in sales productivity continue (according to CSO Insights, quota... Read More >> |
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| Let Customers Actions Drive Your Sales ProductivityJohn Cousineau Kevin Davis' new book, Slow Down, Sell Faster, thoughtfully explains how sales people can speed up business-to-business sales by slowing down to get into synch with each customer's buying process. The key to this, in Davis' view, is to match the focus + timing of sales efforts to each buyer's needs. The magic in this, in my view, is how it can transform the buyer experience.
A recent study from McKinsey on the basics of B2B sales success notes that "B2B customers say they care most about product + price, but what they really want is a great sales experience." Hmmm ...
Are buyers getting valuable sales experiences today? I wonder. As firms have moved to squeeze more revenues from sales teams, they've created activity-based accountabilities; sales cultures in which if what you're doing isn't working, 'try harder'. Do more with less. The result: sales people are often too busy to be helpful to buyers. As a consequence, the hardest thing for buyers to find, these days? Help.
It's created a stark disconnect between what sales teams do + what buyers seek. Sales teams are communicating value. Content distribution + consumption metrics are king. Lead scores emerge. Sales calls get made. Activities get recorded. Everyone on the sales team is really busy. Often so busy they haven't the time to be exceptionally helpful. They're spending half their time NOT selling. Perhaps being busy is counter-productive.
Buyer's confirm it in McKinsey's findings. Of the many habits that undermine the sales experience, over 1/3 involved contacting customers too frequently.
Their findings suggest customers want fewer, more meaningful interactions with sales people. This aligns with what sales experts like Keith Davis, Neil Rackham, Jill Konrath, + John Monoky have been saying. Sales teams should shift from being busy to being productive; from communicating value to creating value. Give buyers help that's so helpful, they'd pay for it if asked. To the helpful will go the rewards. The gold in this conclusion? McKinsey estimates hi performing sales teams can boost their share of their customers' business by 8-15%.
So, how can it be done? Two keys:
FIRST, KNOW IF YOU'RE CREATING VALUE: get in the habit of measuring the success of each sales interaction by what your customer does afterwards; you'll become more attuned to seeing the process through their eyes. In my view, you'll also discover the success with which your efforts provoke buyers to take action. The only sales efforts that count are ones that induce proof... Read More >> |
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