Recently I’ve taken the time to look around the web take in how much material is being developed to push information products or marketing systems that are unproven.  I’m amazed at how much ‘get rich quick’ stuff I’m seeing lately.

Human nature being what it is, I suppose that I shouldn’t be all that surprised. 

New Economy Selling.com is NOT a get rich quick scheme.  Nor is it a book that will then urge you to buy my DVD or another up sell.  It’s the real deal - it’s stuff that IS proven and works. 

Can you expect overnight results?  Instant benefits?  Probably not.  Short term improvements in how you sell and produce results for yourself and your company?  Absolutely.  Some great ideas on marketing, selling and insight into where the professional of tech sales is going - I believe the answer is yes. 

Anyway, I have been solicited like mad the last few weeks by what I would call the internet hucksters and I have politely turned down all of their invitations to “join” their movements. 

There’s no such thing in my mind as “overnight income” and I don’t want to be associated with the type of people who would have you believe there is. 

New Economy Selling is a solid investment of your time and money if you are in sales, marketing, management or sales operations for a tech company.   

If you don’t think so, then check out my better than money back guarantee.

I don’t profess to know everything about the profession or the industry.  However, I am convinced (mostly from the feedback of those who’ve read my book and worked with me personally) that you are going to find value worth many times the price of the book and the time you’ll take to read it.

If you are looking for a make-money-fast system or scheme, this is NOT what I or my book is about.  

~ Brooks.

Let’s face it, there comes a time when some applications just aren’t competitive anymore.  In this business, it’s very true that you ‘can’t put lipstick on a pig’.

Recently I worked with an organization that was trying to increase market share with an application that was Windows based in a marketplace where their main competitors were offering the same functionality either with off-site hosted/ software as a service or as a web enabled deployment model.

The CEO of this company solicited feedback as to how they could increase market share and we were able to help them - but not much - due to the changed landscape of their market place.  What was worse, the CEO got rather upset when he was told that the product was no longer competitive due to the reasons above and a few others (like missing functionality that product management was incapable of building because the application because they were too busy fixing issues in the existing feature set). 

We were able to increase revenues with upselling existing customers modules of the Windows application to their existing deployments and increase interest in the brand with some good old fashioned SEO and a new website. This was a short term, sugar coated fix to a bigger problem. 

However, when it came right down to it, that software was not longer saleable in the marketplace in my (and other’s opinion) and the time had come to put the company in maintenance mode or invest in a whole new, web enabled product line.  This was a decision that was clear to most, but not easy for this CEO to make.

Ego, jobs and personal interest in a publicly traded company were larger issues.

To make matters worse, this organization remained convinced that if they could just hire some really good sales people, that they could blow the doors off and grow revenues dramatically. 

We tried that and failed, despite best in class efforts. 

I told them that the business has to be a team effort…that product management and sales need to collaborate in order to bring products to market that people needed and wanted.  This wasn’t happening and it caused a chasm of communication internally.

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t like it when Sales is constantly complaining that “if I only had certain features I could sell more”.

This wasn’t the case here - sales couldn’t sell anything new because it was missing some major elements available from other vendors, for less money.

I think the lesson here is if you are considering a position with any company, you really owe it to yourself to see if you’re being hired to put lipstick on a pig.

Look closely at the competitive landscape, do your research and compare other vendors to your prospective employer and see what’s going on out there.  Make sure their value message matches the viability of the product or service.  You don’t need the stress of being hired only to find out that your product isn’t saleable and have the entire management team tell you that you’re failing, it’s your fault sales aren’t happening and you’re not as good as you think. 

~Brooks.

Recently I was talking about prospecting with my cousin in Los Angeles.   I think that these thoughts are universal for anyone getting back into the habit of prospecting in person, by email, over the phone or a combination of all three.

 1. Call high. 

Call high enough in the organization that you can speak with someone who can say “yes” to your offering.  Most people don’t do this and it’s too bad.  They call just high enough and speak with someone who can say “no” assuming that person can also say “yes”: this isn’t always the case.  Another benefit of calling high is that it’s generally easier to qualify or disqualify quickly because you’re dealing with the (or a) decision maker. This is a big time and energy saver.  Further, the issues that you need to be familiar with when dealing with people high in the organization are fewer and simpler than those lower in the food chain.  Usually issues at the executive level include making more money, saving more money and something to do with strategy. 

2. Be Clear on who you are and what is your brand.

This simply means say (or write) “My name is Brooks Van Norman, author of New Economy Selling”.  Doing this is far more important that asking “how are you today” or some other time wasting pleasantry.  It also sets you on the path to being treated like a professional… a business peer.

3. Whether or not you’ve met your prospect before or not.

In this case, it’s very important to let busy people know how you found out about them or if this is the first time they’ve heard about you.  If someone they know (like another customer/ friend/ acquaintance) thought you should talk to that person - then say so.  Something like “Your business associate at Les Deux thought I should contact you”.  Or if you haven’t talked to this person before, then say something like “You and I haven’t spoken before…”  The value of doing this is to disconnect the human instinct to start the mental Rolodex of trying to place your name and lose focus of your message. 

4. Explain your business model quickly and simply

Here you would say what ever it is that you do which can help address the common issues of your prospects likely concerns.  Something like “We help companies turn their unsold inventory into cash by matching up our large mailing list of buyers online who are interested in what you have that otherwise wouldn’t know about it”. 

5. Share the typical results you have provided.

The idea here is to paint the picture of how much value you can provide based upon the results you or your business has already created.  You could say, “Typically we can turn your inventory into cash for you within 45 days at 85% of your last sale price”.    What ever it is, this needs to be your most compelling, clear as possible value statement.

6. Name Drop.

In today’s world, people want to know who you’ve helped to feel more comfy even considering you and your services or products.  You would say something like, “Some of my / our customers include [company or persons name and company or person’s name].  Usually two is enough to make the point - the key is to ensure they would be known to your prospect. 

7. Ask for feedback.

The point here is that you’ve been talking for about 30 seconds now and it’s time to give the floor to your prospect.  A question like “Is this something you could use in your business?”  or “Is that a need that we / I can help you with?” It doesn’t matter how you phrase the question - but it needs to be closed ended and seem wrong that they would say no unless they already are partnered with someone who does exactly what you do.  In other words, the answer needs to be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 

8. Persist in following up.

It’s possible and very likely that the prospect is too busy at that moment/ wants to check out your references or would like you to forward some information and then follow up.  This is fine.  The key is how you manage it.  I would say something like “Ok, I’d be happy to forward some information and if it looks like what we do can be of value to you, I’d be happy to have a follow up conversation.”  Then send something that reinforces your brand and message and keep in touch by phone at least twice a week, with a follow up email once per week.  Each time you should rearticulate what you do and ask how you can help your prospect with your services or products. 

~Brooks.

In New Economy Selling I mention that one of the worst things you can do is rush the sale.   No matter what you sell, there are generally four major elements to every sales cycle: Qualification, Developing a Solution, Negotiation, Closing.

Usually, the part that takes the longest is the second part - developing a solution.  This is where most sales people feel the need to rush.  One of the best things that you can do to create patience for yourself and help the buyer along as well, is to document all the steps and checkpoints the buyer wants to see completed before they commit to buying your solution.

I suggest that these things be documented, with milestones dates attached to each event and co-managed with the prospect.  This does a number of things.  First, it shows that the prospect has some ’skin in the game’ because they’re willing to invest in and participate actively in the evaluation process.  Second, it creates a time based road-map of how long the sales cycle should take (which of course is always longer than we’d like).  Lastly, it helps you to manage your manager (and helps managers manage their bosses) because you can show this table of events to them as they are being checked off week after week. 

This is a great way to manage down the usual pressure that comes from above when your pipeline is being scrutinized.  If your manager says we need to close this business NOW, you will have a credible tool to show them why it’s not ready yet and why rushing would be a bad idea.  It also helps to “see” what is happening at each of those steps so that you can proactively manage success with each step.

I just love this approach. It has always worked well for me and is a great method to help you resist to succumb to the pressure of rushing the sale.  It also helps the prospect feel like they are working with a credible, professional organization who has their processes together.  

Sales cycles have only one agenda when it comes to timing and that’s the buyer’s.  If you’re feeling pressure to rush a sales cycle - don’t.  Instead, I suggest that you spend your time and energy finding more prospective business so that you don’t have apply pressure where it isn’t prudent.

~Brooks.

It’s not unusual for me to hear sales people say that prospects “didn’t get it”, or “they are just plain dumb”. 

I always wonder what this says about the sales person making this statement.   It’s important for us to remember that we are conveyors of information…like a pipeline.  We are supposed to connect the flow of value through that pipeline between the prospect and our company.

Therefore, it’s unacceptable that we should expect prospects to know much, if anything about us and our organizations.   There is one area, however, the prospect DOES know a lot about and that’s their own situation and problems. 

Remember that true selling is helping people solve their own problems.  You must approach this task as the prospect’s partner - or equal.  Don’t be arrogant or cop a superior attitude - it will show through.

If your prospects aren’t catching on as quickly as you’d like, it’s your problem. It’s your marketing departments problem.  The actual problem is that your messaging isn’t as clear and compelling as it should be.  Until you come away from every interaction where the message was clearly received, you and your business have work to do.

The job herein is the align with the prospect’s intelligence, not to expect them to align with your existing message. 

If the prospect didn’t “get it”, that’s your fault.  Figure out how to make is clearer for the audience you’re speaking with.

 ~Brooks

If you are going to work for a tech company today, it is very important that you CLEARLY understand their value proposition BEFORE signing up.  In fact, I think this should be in the top TWO reasons why you would join forces and help them sell. 

Not long ago, I worked with a company that had a poor value proposition in the marketplace and it was very difficult to build sales and marketing messaging that was compelling.  Here were their problems:

• They could only sell 90% of thier product line in Canada due to regulations and tax laws
• The product had to be 100% installed on customer hardware and offered no viable options for offsite or “hosted” services
• The product took 6-12 months to install and the services to do this in many cases were 2:1 as expensive as the licensing.
• It was very difficult to cost justify replacing many separate systems with this company’s single database system, due to the high capital outlay required to buy this software package. Most customers were willing to live with their disconnected systems rather than spend on a new, unified one.
• Their platform was focussed primarily on the healthcare vertical, which is notorious (at least in Canada) for being very slow to make decisions (read: loooooong sales cycles, before you get paid!), slow to adopt new technologies and fraught with a very high level of subject matter expertise required to sell it (read: your personal training commitment is going to be bigger than other companies you might work for).

Are you excited to work with a company like this? 

I didn’t think so.   If you’re looking for a new company to sell for, I suggest you REALLY do you homework and focus on understanding their value proposition.  Companies that would be ones I suggest you consider are those whose value proposition is going to be easier to manage in your sales conversations that the one I outlined above.  For example, a good value proposition would include:

• Anything with Software as  a Service, where the product or software is hosted by the vendor.  Companies like Salesforce.com, SugarCRM are two such examples in the Customer Relationship Management sector. 
• Anything where displacing people and their jobs is the main driver towards cost savings.  Even though it fundamentally makes sense at the economic level, nobody likes to lose their jobs or bring in solutions where that will happen.
• Anything where it helps people do their jobs and eliminates frustrating, long standing IN-efficiencies in the day to day operations.
• Any company that has broad adoption accross the range of industry.  Unlike my healthcare example above, companies that offer solutions anyone can use for a specific problem to all or most businesses is a good place to be.  The Business Intelligence vendors like Business Objects and Cognos did a great job of this in the last 15 years.
• Anything that can either A)directly help drive more revenue (such as the improved conversion in e-commerce traffic like those offered by companies like HackerSafe or The Online Sales Accelerator) B) make the process of driving revenue easier to manage (Digital River is a classic example of this type of business).

These are some examples of things you ought to be considering.  Ask yourself if you understand what the company does and if you can get behind it.  Does it make sense to you?  Would you buy it if you were in the market for such services?  If not, don’t sign up.  

A solid value proposition is one of the most important things you must have in your current or next employer if you’re going to be successful in technology sales.

~Brooks.

Friday night I had dinner with a friend who works for a tech company that has him on the road most of the week.  His accounts are spread out between 4 medium size cities.  He’s travelling most of the time and therefore eating out most of the time.  He’s had this job for two years now and while he’s making a decent six figure income, he’s put on more weight than he’d like. 

He didn’t realize how much weight he’d put on until he saw some recent Christmas pictures of himself. 

Unfortunately, this situation is all too common.  I would have to say that a large percentage of the people that I have worked with over the years in technology experience a similar situation IF THEY ARE TRAVELLING A LOT. 

That’s the key - if you’re on the road, it’s not hard to put on the weight.  Especially if you’re not used to that lifestyle:  You’re entertaining clients, taking them out for dinners, drinking more alcohol than usual and typically eating portions that are larger in both calories and serving size.  But it all tastes and looks SO good! Further, you’re almost always eating on the company expense account which makes for slightly less inhibitions when it comes to have the best stuff on the menu.  This is more true lately with companies being more generous with such perks to keep employees who travel frequently more happy.

Anyway, my point is this, if you’re about to take a sales position that will have you travelling and eating out more often, be wary of the above and do what you can to eat well and stay fit on the road.  Because my friend now has set the goal of stripping OFF that twenty pounds while his travel schedule remains the same.  He said it’s affecting his energy levels and therefore his productivity. 

 …maybe I can document his progress and share the results in my blog.  Take care of yourself if you’re on the road and be wary of all the extra calories that exist in restaurant prepared meals.

 ~Brooks.

Nothing makes a sales person sound more insincere and afraid than speaking too quickly. 

If you’re not calm and comfortable in your own skin, buyers are going to pick up on this and treat you accordingly.  I suggest that you role play your company’s message and sales conversation to the point where someone could wake you up at 3am and have the sales conversation without hesitation or fear.

 The most important thing however, is to speak with a pace that isn’t too fast.  When you speak too quickly, you sound like you’re trying to get everything out as fast as possible.  This type of communicating does not allow buyers to participate in the conversation.  And that’s exactly what a selling situation should be  - a conversation. 

 When I listen to new reps (and some vets) sell, I am often reminded at how much better their results could be if they slows the pace of their speech down and allowed buyers the opportunity to speak more. 

 Don’t speak so slowly that you should stoned or drunk, but to take the time to clearly enunciate and sound like you know what you’re talking about.

 You’ll have much better conversations that will move sales opportunities along farther and fasted because people will buy into your confidence.

The fact is that buyers are going to do what buyers are going to do.

Put another way, you can’t change human nature. One of the greatest sources of stress in selling comes from trying to manipulate people into doing something that is not in their best interest.

Sales close with higher frequency, for less (or no) discount and with less stress if you stay in alignment with buyers.

The best way to help buyers facilitate their own buying decision is to find out early (and often) if they actually have a problem that your product or service can help them with. The next step is to identify how much improvement is possible should they choose to use your product or service.

The worst thing you can do for alignment is to start telling people what they need. Telling isn’t selling. Telling is just a one sided way to have a conversation. It’s bad news because it doesn’t allow you to know what buyers are thinking. Nor does it allow others to add value to the conversation.

The old adage “always be closing” is dead. Instead I recommend that you change it to read like this: “always be confirming”. That is the best way to stay in alignment.

Remember what Ben Franklin said, “Convince a person against their will and they are of the same opinion still”.

If you can help buyers come to their own favorable conclusion about your product or service, then you’ve done a solid job of selling. However, that is only possible if you think of them as a friend first, not someone who should buy your offering at all costs. To achieve this, you need a basic understanding of your buyers situation.

How does one do that? Simple. You ask. Remember; always be confirming.

For more ideas on how to get and stay in alignment with buyers, read New Economy Selling.

You can’t get away from it. But you can learn to manage it.

Added stress is inevitable in sales.

Whether they admit it or not, most people in this industry are affected in some way by the stress of this career. While I feel strongly that the excitement and benefits of this business are worth more, you still must be able to handle the stress that comes with a sales career in I.T.

There are a few things that I have found to consistently manage stress when things get crazy (too many opportunities to manage, quarter end pressure, new product launches, excessive travel commitments). They are simple, reasonable and effective.

1. Drink more water. Cold water is better. Your brain functions better when your blood is more hyposmolaric (the word used to describe increased viscosity in your blood, from higher water intakes). Stress increases cortisol levels in the blood, which the renal system has to deal with. Increasing water intake can help minimize the negative effects of this hormone. You will go to the bathroom more frequently, but the stress reducing effects are well worth the visits.

2. Get more sleep. Sleep is critical to managing stress. I actually plan for it near the end of a quarter when I know that my efforts and activities are increasingly critical. Sleep also helps manage cortisol levels. Chronic stress can lower productivity and mental acuity, both of which can be minimized with more sleep.

3. Meditate. Ok…I’m not talking about loin cloths and medieval chants here. Rather, I’m suggesting you try this. See if you can find a quiet place to sit still with your eyes closed for at least 60 seconds. Don’t move. Don’t do anything. Don’t open your eyes. Sit perfectly still. Just focus on your breathing. Think about the air going in an out of your lungs through your nostrils. It is amazing to me how many people CAN’T do this! If that’s you, chances are there is way too much “white noise” in your mind which is dramatically affecting your ability to sell. People say to me “…but Brooks, I’m too busy to even take a minute out to do something like this!” My response is always the same, “That’s exactly when you MUST do this.” Get rid of the clutter in your mind that stress creates and do this daily.

These three practices I feel reduce my stress levels by 50% or more on any given day. More importantly, they make me feel more in control and focussed.

In New Economy Selling I recommend further ideas on how to manage your mind and body to increase productivity.

~ Brooks.