Manage My Employees

Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category

Article #49

The economics of selling today, for sales managers in particular, is getting really tough out there, especially in B2B.

It’s not a time for complacency or cruise control selling. Nor is it wise to take comfort in our so-called “locked-in” accounts when every competitor is coming after them.

A lot is changing, and sales managers are groping for levers to pull as they attempt to increase sales.

The new economics of selling is something I’m calling Salesonomics™ because it’s all about making sales, making more sales to existing customers, and making new sales—all profitably!

In the coming months I’ll be rolling out a new book titled Salesonomics™ as well as an on-site managed process for sales teams which I’ve utilized in a number of companies with great success (hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars in additional business landed). 

Consider just four significant shifts (changes) in selling and I think you’ll agree, it’s imperative to target accounts (1) not successfully sold to before, (2) protect existing accounts from competitor infiltration, and (3) expand business with existing customers where we have underdeveloped opportunities.

4 Changes In Selling B2B Today:

Commoditizing everything! Differentiation used to be much simpler. Now however, areas like specialty manufacturing, high tech firms, specialized service, medical device companies, financial planners and advisors, as well as numerous other firms face stiffening competition. This development along with narrowing technological advantages, the ubiquity of the Internet for commerce, globalization, and shorter lifecycles for competitive strategy causes buyers to use commoditizing as a means to intensify negotiations with suppliers.

Read more »

Article #45

During these uncertain times, is it possible that some of your customer’s are less likely to switch loyalties to another supplier, even if that supplier ‘might’ offer some advantages?

Do you see customer loyalty on the rise? Some of my clients do and have expressed this view to me recently.

One client recently passed this story along: when his sales force blitzes a new territory for their product line, out of 300+ contacts they now only yield 1 or 2% new customers! In the past this was apparently much higher. And get this, he wasn’t referring to a direct-mail blitz, but rather, personal contacts in the field. His company has earned a stellar reputation in the marketplace, and has among the highest quality as well as lowest price points, but still finds receptivity to doing business with a new supplier much more difficult to achieve.

What factors may be driving increased customer loyalty today? Well, according to some studies (Harvard Business Review, July-Aug 2009) trust in business is running much lower than in previous years.

So, if decision-makers trust other businesses less, doesn’t it seem possible that they might be less likely to consider switching to new vendors? While resistance to changing suppliers has always been evident in competitive B2B markets, it may just be on the rise.

Fortunately, there are some ways you can ride this wave of mistrust and come out ahead.

7 Ways to Keep Existing Customers and/or Land New Ones:

• Find ways to build and earn more trust in the initial phase of your sales cycle with prospects. Offer to do lunch and learns, provide case studies of your results, provide a steady stream of customer testimonials.
• Give the sales cycle longer intervals than in the past. If your sales cycle is six months, give it nine or twelve when soliciting a prospect who has never done business with your company before now.

Read more »

Short Article #43

There’s nary a day that some imperative about the need to change doesn’t come across my monitor.

For good reason, I must admit. Change is arguably no longer periodic but continuous.

Change can also be quite startling when your company is the one caught off-guard. There are a number of possible reasons why change staggers even the best-made plans, sending leaders scurrying for a brilliant response…

• A new competitor slips in one night, launches a web site that offers virtually identical product for half the price.
• A once nascent technology now threatens to lop off your company’s market share in a nanosecond of the time it took to gain it.
• In a matter of weeks, you lose some or all of your largest customers’ business and sales drop dramatically.
• You get a letter one day announcing that your bank refuses to extend the customary line of credit.

The kind of change we’re witnessing is precipitated by our turbulent economy and the rapid introduction of new technology, as well as expanding globalization. Not much control over that, is there?

Change, inordinate change, begs a nimble response by the most adaptive organizations.

However, this requires leaders who are no longer confounded by change, but rather, embrace revolutionary transformation as the new norm. Consequently, they develop cogent, coherent strategies in response.

I’ve collected a few quotes on ‘change’ over the last couple of months. I certainly like how they mentally nudge me to consider new perspectives and ideas. I’d be interested in what you think of these 10 Quotes on Change:

• “Be the change you want to see.” Mahatma Ghandi
• “Having common purpose is the best way to predict outcomes in an unpredictable situation.” Jessica Flannery, founder of Kiva.org
• “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge.” Proverbs
• “The world is becoming less and less an extrapolation of the past.” Gary Hamel, author

Read more »

Short article #41

In his book, The Future of Management, Gary Hamel contends that the current management model centered on control and efficiency, no longer suffices in a world where adaptability and creativity drive business success.

Hamel’s perspective is credible. As well as being a bestselling author he is ranked the #1 Influential Business Thinker by the Wall Street Journal. Some points from his book:

There will be new challenges to competitive viability and profitability: In a world of immediately accessible information, there is less room for mediocre products or services. 

Modern management needs to change its model for the future. "Modern management has also stymied the opinions and free-spirits of human beings by getting them to conform to rigid rules and procedures, and in so doing squandered creative problem solving or innovation. It has brought discipline to operations, but imperils organizational adaptability."

Management innovation can bring significant advantage. In studying over 100 management breakthroughs across two centuries, Hamel notes that major advances in managerial practices often

Read more »

Short Article #38 and 39 (parts one and two)

I like this observation by business authors Fahey and Randall:

“A major limitation of most strategic planning is that the thinking and recognition of opportunity take place within the confines of a mental box – the limits of the historical mindset. Often, signals of change or threat are simply not recognized by the upper leaders involved in the planning. Middle managers often contribute to the problem by focusing on the activities that best fit the mindset. Front-line managers may be subtly discouraged from challenging the status quo. In other words, the mindset exerts a limiting role on the analysis and implementation of the plan.” Liam Fahey, Robert Randall

What thoughts do you have based upon the observation above? Please leave your comments below if you’d like to chime in.

Here are some views I have on the topic of the limiting historical mindset, based on my experience:

• In the pursuit of constancy, consistency and congruency most organizations are unable to get past status quo.
• Management is often instructed by leadership to "adhere to the course we’ve laid out” and “don’t rock the boat.” Employees are often told by management to “just do what we tell you,” and “don’t ask too many questions.”
• Organizations too often say on the one hand that they want change, yet still vehemently resist it.
• As individuals, we may truly want what’s better for ourselves, our careers or our families, and yet we stay stuck in our all too comfortable mental ruts and habits—consequently little change occurs on any front.

I find that good questions often have pertinence when it comes to carefully considering our own possible historical mindsets.

Here are 10 Questions I Often Ask Leaders and Managers to Answer:

-Why do we yearn for change but yearn to resist it?

-Why do we look at the same data, the same markets, the same balance sheets and income statements month after month, and come to the very same historical conclusions?

Read more »