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Category: Sales

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Best Practices Investing Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

The CEO Blues: “Winning Sales”​ vs. “Winning Profitable Sales”​

The “winning more sales” industry is huge, crowded, and noisy; the “winning more profitable sales” industry is, well…disturbingly quiet. There are a few sales performance companies who put terms like “profitable sales” into their advertising. Unfortunately, precious few know how to turn tagline into the profit line.

To a sales leader, the difference between those two may be a secondary concern.  However, there is nothing a corporate leader cares about more. Corporate leaders:  here are the organizational differences between the two.  Sales Leaders:  I want to prepare you to have this conversation with your CEO.

World Class Sales is a Real Achievement.

Building a winning sales organization isn’t easy. According to CSO Insights, “world class” sales organizations make up only about 5-9% of companies each year. Without diving into research methodology (I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a research wonk), suffice it to say that I think this year’s definition of “world class” is as good as any they’ve ever come up with. This year, the world-class label applies to companies who (I’m paraphrasing below. If you want a copy of the report, contact me):

  • Add value to every customer interaction, every channel.
  • Build persona-specific customer value consistently, through the customer’s journey.
  • Align Cross-functionally (although CSO Insights takes a narrower view than I do of which functions they include ) to deliver a consistent experience.
  • Continuously learn and improve by building a great coaching infrastructure.
  • Enforce rigor around call planning and forecasting.
  • Leverage their sales analytics as a sales improvement tool, not just a sales monitoring tool.
  • Use a purposeful talent strategy.
  • Have built a system of finding, harvesting, and replicating best practices.

Building an organization with all of these characteristics is a challenge. Disappointingly, achieving “world class” might simply be causing the CEOs Blues: winning sales, but not profitable ones. While world class is a huge achievement for many companies, most CEOs want more.

Selling Profitably Isn’t Much Harder. But it’s Very Different.

Selling profitably means selling at a win-win price reflecting customer value. Most sales training companies help sellers build enough value to win a sale, but not to win it at a value-based price. When done correctly, the higher value-based price actually coincides with higher customer preference.

Let’s look at some of the differences between world-class sales, and world-class profitable sales. Comparing/contrasting with the list above:

  • “Adding value during every interaction” goes from “figure perspective out for yourself” or “use the persona-based value propositions we give you” to developing a deep organization-wide understanding of customer value and specific tools for salespeople to build it.
  • The entire customer experience evolves beyond providing persona-specific value messages. Besides messaging, value-enabled sellers gather customer insights and build customer value from first web click-through customer’s end of product life.
  • Cross-functional alignment extends beyond the walls of the sales and marketing silos. In contrast, everyone who touches a customer has a value-building and value-insight-gathering role.
  • Great coaching culture is equally valued. What’s coached, plus who all is coached expands.
  • Customer value shapes call planning and forecasting more directly. Think about it: if you know clearly just how highly a customer values each offer you will make next month, how much more accurate do you think forecasts will be?
  • Sales analytics are even more focused, emphasizing how sellers focus on value.
  • The talent strategy is every bit as important.

A few years ago, a VP of sales with a Fortune 500 company described this as “elite level” selling. I can’t argue and maintain that it’s within the reach of most sellers. As your organization begins building a value culture, it takes on these characteristics.

Pricing is Profit. Value Shapes Pricing.

As your company masters elite selling, you have the tools to price with confidence, with your customer’s blessing.

Ask your CEO if he/she’d like more profitable sales. In preparation, do yourself a favor and do a quick exercise: calculate 1% of your company’s revenue, then add that number to your net income line. Next, calculate that increase in profitability as a percentage. You just calculated what your CEO could report to your company’s owners if your sellers simply added just 1% to your company’s pricing. Phrased differently, this is how profits would increase by discounting just one percent less.  Heck, do the same calculation for a 1/10th of 1% reduction discounting.

When your CEO indicates that it seems worth pursuing further, dig a little deeper. Ask:

  • Does everyone who touches my customers (aka sellers) regularly conduct commercial/value conversations with their customer contacts?
  • Do my sellers know how my customer makes money…and all the ways my offer can help them (hint: most “world class” selling organizations don’t)?
  • Do my sellers know how to measure customer value with a customer?

Contact me with your answers, and let’s see if we can have some fun together building your business…profitably.

To your success!

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Women In Business

How to Stop Crazy Negotiators from Killing Negotiations

“To stop crazy negotiators from acting crazy, preempt them before they do so.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“That #negotiator was crazy. He made offers and then took them back. Worse, when you mentioned it, he acted like he didn’t know what you were referring to. I thought his antics would kill the #negotiation. How did you learn to deal with such crazy negotiators?” – said a junior member of a negotiation team to his team leader.

Everyone has encountered an experience such as mentioned. You engage in a negotiation assuming the other negotiator will act rationally. And instead, that person risks killing the negotiation because of his craziness. Such antics can leave you wondering if you’re dealing with a sane individual, someone that’s attempting to use ‘crazy’ as a tactic, or someone that’s just full of buffoonery. In either case, the following information will give you a format for dealing with such people.

Form of Communication:

If based on prior behavior, you believe you’ll be negotiating with someone that’s erratic, put as many components of the negotiation in place before sitting at the negotiation table. You want to leave as little to chance as possible. To do that, consider using written communications to outline what will be negotiated and to set the conduct boundaries before agreeing to meet. He may act unreasonably face-to-face. But if you’ve set prior parameters, you can point to them to illustrate when he’s out of bounds.

Team Environments:

When dealing with an opposing team, the dynamics can be a little more daunting. That could be due, in part, to the team’s leader not having the control to manage it or any number of other variables.

Nevertheless, if you sense irrationality due to inner bickering amongst the opposing team, consider a divide and conquer strategy – play the strongest against the weakest and the weakest against the strongest. To do that, lend more credibility to an offer made by a weaker member – they should be speaking with one voice but remember, they’re bickering. You’re endeavoring to get the team to bicker more with one another to sow discontent.

Individuals:

When dealing with an individual, you need to know more about the forces that are motivating his actions. As an example, he may have been told to close a ridiculously difficult deal or lose his position with the organization. He may have inferred that he’d get a long-awaited promotion if the deal is within certain parameters. He may also be the setup for the next phase of the negotiation and not even be aware of that. Thus, he’s told to hammer you hard for a deal, only to have the deal supplanted by his superior who will assume the role of lead negotiator in the next phase. You think you’re dealing with one person that’s acting irrationally when, you’re really dealing with a team that could be playing good cop/bad cop – you just don’t know it. And that’s to your detriment.

To insulate yourself from such tactics:

  1. Inquire about others in his environment that might be interested in the deal.
  2. Have him confirm in writing that he has final approval to agree to a deal (watch his body language when doing this – if he displays any form of hesitancy, he may be sending a signal of discomfort. That could indicate that he’s not the final arbiter.)
  3. Get him to commit in-writing every understanding that you have about a deal. Do this as you move from one phase of the negotiation to the next.

The point is, if he’s acting crazily, you want to identify the reason for such actions and eradicate them before investing a lot of time in the negotiation.

Conclusion:

There are multiple numbers of ways to control a negotiator that appears to be crazy, irrational or one that attempts to bully you during a negotiation. When dealing with such, point out what’s at stake. Get their buy-in for the agreement and state the consequences as being huge and painful if broken. Doing so will lessen the chance that the crazy type of negotiator will get the best of you … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Crazy #negotiator #BodyLanguage #Liar #Beware #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #BodyLanguageSecrets

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Entrepreneurship Marketing Operations Personal Development Sales

Reach Out and Touch Something

We learn about products primarily via the visual channel, but this real estate is severely oversaturated.  That’s why smart marketers also look to the other four senses to break through the clutter.

One of the most overlooked is touch:  So-called Haptic senses appear to moderate the relationship between product experience and the confidence we place in our judgments. This confirms the commonsense notion that we’re surer about what we evaluate when we can touch it. Individuals who score high on a “Need for Touch” (NFT) scale are especially sensitive to the haptic dimension.

To read more, please visit my Forbes article.

 

 

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How Does This End?

“Always assess whether you should attempt to influence outcomes. It may be more beneficial not to.” –Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

You should always attempt to accurately assess a situation before attempting to influence it. That assessment will leave clues to how it might end. And, if you don’t like the possible ending, you may be better off not doing anything at all.

The Story:

The leader of team one was engaged in a negotiation against two other teams – they were negotiating the extension of a contract worth $10,000,000. To subvert the efforts of team three, the leader of team one offered a silent payment of $20,000 to the leader of team two if he could get team three to withdraw from the negotiation. After the teams haggled for several weeks, team one won the contract.

With glee in his heart and dollar signs in his eyes, the leader from team one gladly remitted the $20,000 bounty to his team two confederate. When team one’s leader asked the leader of team two how he convinced team three to drop out, he said, “it was easy. There was a clause in the current contract that stated the three teams had to negotiate in good faith for the extension renewal. The fact is, neither team two or three wanted the extended contract.” With that, the guy from team one said, you mean I could have saved my $20,000? The team-two leader said with a smile on his face, “that’s right!”

Survey:

If you knew something would end badly before engaging in it, would you go through with it? When a few hundred people answered that question, some of the answers were surprising. Some of them said they’d embrace the situation because it would prepare them for other activities – thus, they would learn from the bad situation, which would allow them to be better prepared to address a greater situation in the future. One would think that thought process goes against conventional wisdom. But it may not, depending on who you’re dealing with.

Assumptions:

How can you predict how someone will act if you don’t know their source of motivation? It’s a difficult assessment to make. You can’t even assess an accurate probability of how they might act.

When dealing with people, you should always attempt to predict how they might respond based on their interest. Don’t assume they’ll act in a prescribed manner unless you’ve received direct input from them or another reliable source. Even if it comes directly from them, you still must verify what they say through another source. To do less is to set yourself up for possible foolery. Adopt the perspective that people may not act in their best interest if you don’t know what their best interest is.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Don’t assume you know how people will act or react. When negotiating, understand what the other negotiator wants, why he wants it, and the reasoning behind his desires. To do that, solicit his honest input – tell him, the only way you can give him what he wants is to know exactly what that is.

It’s of equal importance to know what the other negotiator doesn’t want. This, combined with what he wants, will give you a more complete picture of what may drive his actions. With that insight, you’ll have a better idea of how the other negotiator wants the negotiation to end. Then, all you need to do is assist him in walking down that path. At the end of it, there will be a winning combination that’ll make him embrace the outcome of the negotiation. The point is, you will have known the answer ahead of time as to how does this end … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#end #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

Negotiator: How to Detect Hidden Danger in a Handshake

“Danger lurks in many forms. Don’t let the concealed danger of a handshake endanger you.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert 

“I didn’t come here to learn about handshakes. I came because I wanted to become a better #negotiator.” Those were the unfortunate comments of a seminar attendee. He didn’t realize that he’d overlooked a huge gambit in the negotiation process.

A #handshake conveys important information. The more people exchange them between one another, the more information they convey. It can say, I’m feeling overly optimistic today. It can say, my mood is somewhat deflated. It can also say that I’m going to dominate you because I feel superior today.

Very few people understand the value transmitted when they clasp someone’s hand. Are you aware of such messages when you shake someone’s hand?

After gaining insights from the following information, you’ll never look at, sense, or interpret a handshake as you’ve done in the past.

Wimpy:

Some people equate a weak or wimpy handshake with someone of the same character. Be careful of the assumptions you make.

A weak or wimpy handshake may send a silent message of subservience. It can also be the disguise of someone that’s significantly stronger in character than the handshake conveys. It’s one tactic that good negotiators use to dupe the other negotiator into perceiving a false sense of weakness. That’s done to acquire insight into what the other negotiator might do once she sensed that she was dealing with a mentally weaker opponent.

If you wonder about the validity of such a person, shake hands several times during your interactions. Note the slightest degree of change in the firmness of their handshake. To the degree change occurs, it’ll serve as a barometer indicating a change in character.

Bone-Crushing:

The delivery of a bone-crushing handshake can be an attempt to display strength and dominance. It can be someone’s lack of recognition of their strength related to the hand they’re shaking. It could also be an attempt to conceal weakness.

I recall a business associate telling me that I shook his hand too hard. I knew I possessed a firm handshake but I’d not considered it to be bone-crushing. My associate reiterated his statement a few times. After that, I was always more attentive to not shaking his hand with the prior degree of intensity that I’d used before.

The point is, if you do have a firm handshake, know when to moderate it based on the circumstances. If someone delivers a bone-crushing handshake upon you, and it’s painful, consider saying something. Then, note if any change occurs. If it does, the person is displaying more alignment with you. If it doesn’t, the person doesn’t care how you feel. In either case, you will have gained valuable insight into the person.

Releasing:

The person controlling a handshake is the one that releases it last. A handshake on average last about five seconds. Thus, the person holding the hand of the other individual the longest is stating that they’re not ready to release that person.

Take note when someone extends a handshake pass what’s normal for the situation. They may be sending a subliminal message that they’re superior. They might also be holding your hand longer to comfort you or themselves. Therefore, note when such occurs and the situation in which it happens. Doing so will allow you to gain additional insight as to why they’re committing that act.

Conclusion:

In every negotiation, note its beginning through the information sent via a handshake. If you become attuned to its intent, you’ll have greater insight into that person. That insight will add additional information about how you can negotiate better with them … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Danger #Handshake #negotiator #BodyLanguage #Liar #Beware #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #BodyLanguageSecrets

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Best Practices Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Leadership Marketing Personal Development Sales Technology

Marketers Must Learn to Anticipate Content Trends

Do you remember when MTV was the best way to get in front of the teen and young adult audience? Once mobile technology became popular, it didn’t take long for that age group to be on the move.

In no time, videos were streaming on iTunes. Though teens continued to watch, viewership dropped. Then came instant messaging, followed by social media. For a time, Facebook gave advertisers their niche audience of young consumers congregated in one place.

That is until Snapchat and Instagram came along.

To add to the challenges of the last couple of decades, smart speakers are now in about one-quarter of U.S. homes, and podcasts are gaining popularity. In fact, about 50 percent of households now say they listen to podcasts, with a majority of them joining the trend in just the last three years.

According to whypodcasts.org, 38 percent of listeners are age 18-34, and 64 percent listen on their smartphones.

What’s Next in Target Marketing?

As technology-driven change changes direction, it is easier, and far more profitable, to change direction with it. “It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction it is going.” That’s what my grandfather told me as a little boy working with him on his farm in Texas.

Every company, regardless of size, knows they must advertise if they are to grow. Yet with all the money that is being spent, it is increasingly difficult to get your message to the right audience.

This is where it pays to be anticipatory. Using the systemic method outlined in my Anticipatory Organization Model, you can ready your organization for the disruptive transformations ahead.

Three Hard Trends and Two Tech Trends to Watch

In my work as a technology and business futurist, I have found the most effective way to approach becoming an AO is to focus on demographics, government regulations, and technology. In addition, it is always good to know which consumer technology trends will stick around. I call these Hard Trends (as opposed to Soft Trends, which may come and go).

  • Demographics drive opportunity. There are nearly 80 billion baby boomers in the United States. Not a single one is getting any younger—a definite Hard Trend.
  • Government regulation is a constant. As a general rule, will there be more or less government regulation in the future? Of course, there will be more, and that’s true regardless of the industry or organization. That’s also a Hard Trend.
  • Technology will continue to grow. From the ever-increasing functional capabilities of our smartphones to the growing use of 3D printing, technology is inevitably going to become more functional, more sophisticated, and more widespread. That’s another definite Hard Trend.
  • Multi-layered media is here to stay. According to research, our attention spans are shorter than ever, and consumers demand instant gratification and quick fixes—not a litany of product features and benefits.

Today, content channels such as social media, Apple Watch, and Google Home provide the perfect vehicles for interactivity at any time, in any place, and with any person.

  • Consumer attention is likely to stay at a premium. At least for the foreseeable future, multi-layered media is here to stay. Consumer attention remains at a premium.

Advertisers know the harsh reality: Running an ad on a major television network and supplementing it with web banner ads is no longer a guarantee of reaching the audience.

If you use my Hard Trends Methodology to look ahead to the future of marketing, you’ll be able to anticipate the fast-moving innovations to come. New devices are likely to be developed, and their connectivity doesn’t show signs of slowing any time soon.

Learn to be anticipatory—start with my book, the Anticipatory Organization, available on Amazon.com.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

What Are You Waiting For?

“To achieve more, you must know what more is and why you’re waiting to acquire it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“I want to be fit and in shape. But I don’t put forth the effort to exercise. Thus, I’m not in shape. I have low-energy. And my physical appearance could be better. Still, I want the results of looking good, feeling good, and being fit. I don’t know what I’m waiting for before committing the actions required to achieve those goals!” Those were the words spoken by an associate as he lamented his plight. Have you pondered such thoughts about the goals you’ve sought to achieve? Have you thought about the consequences that lie in wait tomorrow, as the result of not beginning the quest of your goals, today?

Do you know what you’re waiting for before moving in a more positive direction? It’s a question that everyone needs to evaluate when assessing why they’re not in a better place – at a better point in life. When you engage in activities that don’t support the goals you wish to achieve, you should ask yourself, what am I waiting for? When you find yourself veering off-track of a successful endeavor, take note of where you’re headed. And if you don’t like the distant destination that you’re headed towards, ask yourself, what am I waiting for before getting back on track.

To be more successful in life, you must be self-reliant. That means as the cliché states, you must adopt a mindset that states, “if it is to be, it’s up to me.”

Everyone becomes encumbered by life’s activities at times. And yet, everyone always spends their time doing what’s most important to them. I’ve issued that summons to individuals over time. Some have stated that they only participate in activities that advance their goals. When questioned about their engagements in activities that don’t progress their goals, they sheepishly admit that it does occur sometimes.

The point is, everything you engage in is the priority that you’ve chosen to invest your time. Because, you’re stating by the fact that you’re engaged in that activity that it’s the most important thing to you at that time – to thine self be true.

Recognize what you do as being what’s most important to you when you’re doing it. Don’t sugarcoat it! You’re only playing with your mind if you don’t acknowledge that fact. There’s no right or wrong or need to assess blame. Just realize what reality is. You can’t address a situation, good or bad unless you recognize it for what it is. Once you examine your actions in the light of reality, you’ll be in a better mental space to take corrective actions. But you’ll only do that if you really want to achieve that ‘thing’ that you say is so important to you. Once you start on the path of achievement and stick to it, you’ll feel better about yourself and the achievement of your goals … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In every negotiation, timing plays a key role in when you should extend your offers and when you might obtain what you seek. Thus, you must become keenly attuned to your timing. If you hesitate in making a request, a demand, a concession (yes, they are different), you should question yourself as to what you’re waiting for. If you wait too long, you’ll miss your opportunity to acquire more. If you pursue too soon, you could meet the same fate or worse, lose what you’ve acquired.

It’s stated that timing is everything. That’s especially true when negotiating. Thus, always be mindful of how you utilize your time. And note the waiting period that you engage in as to why you wait sometimes.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#waiting #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales

Does Your Sales Approach Blow Off Profits?

Many experts agree that selling with perspective/insight improves selling performance, but most ignore the role played by business acumen.  Business expertise is foundational to perspective selling success. Ignoring it is a mistake; best case, you can win some more opportunities, but at suboptimal margins.  Worst case: your insight selling investment won’t get you anywhere.

Perspective selling can be a huge difference maker. CSO Insights found that companies who incorporated perspective into their approach had 12% higher win rates.  This rose to 23% higher win rates for companies who master perspective. The data was conspicuously silent on profit margins of those won deals. Thus, selling with perspective can be powerful, but your mileage can vary widely, depending on how you implement.

Unfortunately, some sales training companies cover business expertise with little more than a vague hand wave. Their treatment: “Take your business acumen…you know, that business acumen that you have (right?)…and use it to provide some valued perspective”.  Apparently, hope is a strategy.

Others tell us to apply our business acumen to expose an unrecognized problem, unrecognized solution, unforeseen opportunity, or to bring a third party’s capability to bear.  Those are great suggestions for how to use already-established business acumen.

Business Acumen is a Serious Discipline, not Some Buzz Word.

I’ve heard business acumen (for sellers) described as “understanding how your customers make money”.  That’s a great start.  Adding “to the point you know how your offer can help them make even more” should become the standard for every customer-facing person in your organization.

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is better than nothing but doesn’t help a seller develop very meaningful insights.  It doesn’t help your people meet the standard above.
“Understanding growth drivers” sounds helpful, but don’t you need business acumen to for that level of understanding?

Sellers need a set of tools which help them understand how business works well enough to look at a prospect company with a “mechanic’s eye”:  ability to diagnose what’s working well, what’s not, and how their offer can help.  My business acumen framework covers a business in enough depth to help sellers do just that.  Here’s a diagram of the major parts of a customer’s world: What elements of their environment shape a business, internal elements that shape their world view.  On the right, is a list of some of the major outcomes you might be able to help them change.

Customer's World Business Acumen copy

Because this framework is about your customer’s world, it works with any sales training system or methodology. Contact me if you’d like to learn more about this overview.

Business Acumen Shapes an Entire Pursuit, it isn’t Just a Process Step

I’ve seen leveraging business insights to “provide perspective” and “provide insight” as one step in the selling process.  I reject this; such a suggestion shows a fundamental misunderstanding of business perspective.

Business acumen helps a seller throughout the arc of the customer experience:

  • Secure an initial appointment by showing that the seller has valuable business advice to give.
  • Shape discovery by uncovering new value and expanding known ones.
  • Expand the decision ecosystem by connecting unanticipated outcomes with your offer.
  • Expand the total value of your offer by adding outcomes all over the company.
  • Earn executive meetings by connecting to executive-level concerns.
  • Negotiate win-win pricing by walking your customer through the monetary value of all of the outcomes you help them achieve.
  • Explore even more outcomes as all of your people engage with a customer post-sale.
  • Capturing all of these value insights helps your marketing team produce content that targets the customer outcomes that win most of your deals, generating leads that self-qualify for your differentiation.

That’s why I promote a company-wide “value culture”.  In a value-focused culture, a lot of roles participate and several loops get closed.

How Business Acumen Fits into a World Class Sales Culture

Business acumen is a backdrop to a phased process, each phase of which blends into the next. Thus, Business acumen is foundational to professional selling.

Perspective selling 3 circles2

Initially, a seller should uncover needs, value gaps, and potential customer outcomes.  I have a tool called value networks which helps guide this process more efficiently (these are company-specific).  In this phase, sellers need to envision all of the parts of a customer organization the selling company’s offer might impact. As customers have become more siloed, this job has become more challenging.  My value networks help make this easier, and work with any sales training system or methodology.

During this process, a seller should be able to develop value (build the desirability of various outcomes) in the mind of various buying personas.  The diagram in this middle circle reminds sellers that they need to develop value while they can.  Once a prospect has decided you’re on the shortlist, it gets increasingly difficult to “sell value”.

Ability to sell value vs discounting

To begin the closing process, a seller needs to connect their solution to customer-validated outcomes, recap the value of those outcomes, and then position the solution based on that value. Pricing – even premium pricing– should reflect the value of those outcomes and share a win-win philosophy.  I have often experienced higher customer preference at premium prices once the customer-validated value is used alongside the price for context. 

Venn Diagram

Selling with Perspective is Good.  Selling with Value Perspective is Profitable.

Perspective selling is powerful.  It increases close rates and strengthens customer relationships.  With a few simple additions, it can do all of those things more effectively…and more profitably.  That is, you can close more deals at a higher – and more customer-appreciated – price. Since pricing power is profit power, those small adjustments make a huge difference.

Comment below.  If you found this valuable, like this article and/or share with your network.  If you’d like to learn more, please contact me.

To your success!

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Best Practices Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Personal Development Sales Technology

Beyond Bitcoin: The Future of Blockchain Technology

Bitcoins were introduced in 2009 to great fanfare. Although there had been predecessors, Bitcoins were framed as the first form of cyber currency.

Shortly after Bitcoins were introduced, I labeled them a Soft Trend—one whose future was looking good, but not a future certainty. I also labeled cyber currency a Hard Trend that would continue to grow, predicting that there would be many more cyber currencies.

Since then, I’ve seen no need to change either designation, as there are now more than 100 different cyber currencies. At the same time, as Bitcoins struggled to gain widespread use, blockchain—the technology Bitcoin transactions are handled with—were growing.

Unlike bitcoins, blockchain development has shown no signs of slowing down and represents a Hard Trend that will continue to grow. The rapidly evolving technology of blockchain holds enormous promise for game-changing disruption across any number of industries and fields.

O’Reilly Media presciently noted in early 2015: “The blockchain is the new database—get ready to rewrite everything.”

Blockchain Explained—Security in Numbers

A blockchain is a system of decentralized transaction records. This means a transaction is created without any input from a controlling entity. A blockchain also employs cryptography to keep exchanges secure, incorporating a decentralized database, or “digital ledger,” of transactions that everyone on the network can see. This network is a chain of computers, needing exchange approval before it can be verified and recorded.

The Game-Changing Opportunity in Financial Transactions

Roughly $20 billion in gross domestic product is currently held in blockchain form, according to a study by the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council. However, projections show blockchain use will increase significantly in the next decade as banks, insurers and technology firms embrace the technology to boost transaction speed and security, and trim expenses. This is already taking place, for example, with Swiss banking giant UBS and banks such as HSBC, Santander, and BBVA, which launched corporate venture funds to make equity investments in financial technology companies.

More Than Just Money

The future of blockchain is exciting. Outside of its use solely in financial transaction applications, it can transform several other industries. Other examples include:

  •      Data Storage—Current storage services using cloud technology are centralized around a single provider. A blockchain lets users store data and information via a decentralized platform, improving security and lessening reliance on any one provider.

 

  •      Voting—A blockchain voting network is inherently more reliable than paper or electronic ballots since changing one vote would require changing multiple votes simultaneously. A blockchain voting network has already been used—Denmark’s Liberal Alliance employed a blockchain for internal voting back in 2014.
  •      Military Use—The U.S. Department of Defense and NATO are actively investigating the use of blockchain. Among other applications, they’re interested in messaging platforms capable of transferring information by way of a secure decentralized protocol.
  •      The War on Terrorism—In May 2015, the Isle of Man implemented the first government-run blockchain project, leveraging it to create a registry of digital-currency companies operating on the island. The system also counters money laundering, helping prevent terrorist financing since the flow of money can be traced specifically to the source of the transaction.
  •      “Smart” Contracts—The idea behind a smart contract is that it self-manages the fulfillment of the agreement and is verified programmatically via the blockchain instead of a third party. Two or more parties agree on terms, program those terms into the blockchain, and allow for payments and other transactions once those terms are fulfilled and validated by the blockchain.
  •      Regulation—Because a blockchain cannot be changed without a majority of participants agreeing to do so, the underlying technology might be used in place of a variety of regulations, such as those mandated by Know Your Customer (KYC).
  •      Identity Management—Labeled the first comprehensive blockchain-based identity service, Onename allows users to create tamper-proof digital identities for themselves called Passcards that replace conventional usernames and passwords.
  •      The Music Industry—In October 2015, Ujo Music unveiled a working example of how blockchain-based technology would allow consumers to purchase registered works directly. We can also pre-solve the problem of legalities, where artists publish policies on how their music may be used to avoid legal action against misuse.

More Reasons for Excitement

Blockchain use is largely restricted to private forms of transactions, but when looked at in an anticipatory way of thinking, blockchain could be used for anything that requires proof of identification, the exchange of goods or verification of contract terms.

One executive involved in the development of blockchain summarized its potential in a framework we can all appreciate: “‘Check it on the blockchain’ will be the phrase of the twenty-first century. It will be as commonplace as people saying ‘Google that.’”

When it comes to blockchain, get ready to rewrite everything.