Great salespeople are made not born.
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Growing a book of customers means more than doing your route.
By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Sales
You’ve worked hard over the years and now have a sizeable client base that you’re responsible for. When you get to this stage, your time will be spent less on attracting new customers and much more on going “deeper and wider” with your existing accounts. Here’s how to make the most of your efforts.
Drill where there’s the best chance of hitting oil
The tendency of many Account Managers is to make field calls on the biggest and best customers. Often, these are also the customers we have the best relationship with. It’s likely that we consider many to even be our friends. The argument is “I’ve got to take care of them because that’s one of our biggest accounts”. I’m not suggesting that taking care of your customers doesn’t make sense but the key here is balance.
Is it possible to over-service a client? Absolutely, when it comes at the expense of others that have tremendous growth potential. We’re already probably getting a big “share of wallet” with our biggest, most loyal customers and it’s questionable how much more business we can get by spending more time with them. I know the thought of calling on that account who favours our competitor and was kind of standoffish with you last time doesn’t sound appealing but that’s where your biggest gains might come from!
We recommend that you prioritize your clients using a combination of existing purchasing volume and “sales opportunity gap or SOP” — that is, the difference between their maximum potential volume and current volume. The customer who buys $10,000 annually from you but spends $100,000 on products/services in your sector has a $90,000 SOP. The client who currently spends $150,000 with you and spends $200,000 in total has an SOP of only $50,000.
To continue with our metaphor, the other oil wells have already been tapped. Let’s look for some new ones!
I spend a lot of time in the field observing sales reps do their thing and in my experience, this is how many field calls go. “Hi Bob. I just thought I’d drop in see if I can do anything for you.” This is usually followed with way too much small talk and finally when they do get down to business, it might consist of something like, “What do you need?”
Your job is to uncover sales opportunities, not be an order taker, and this requires planning. Before heading out and dropping in, brainstorm on what the opportunities are. What are they buying from our competitors that they could be buying from us? How can our product or service help them accomplish more than our competitor’s? Do they know about all our products? What problems, challenges or issues are they presented with these days?
When you can relate the expanded purchasing of your company’s products or services to the solving of your customer’s problems or the achievement of some goal that’s important to them, you will enjoy continued account growth. That’s why Northbound’s sales methodology is called “Goal Aligned™ Selling”!
If you’re a sales leader, Northbound’s “Bumper Crop! Account and Territory Management” workshop outlines a proven system to help your team in growing their accounts. For more information or pricing, contact us.
In the high-pressure world of sales, maintaining a positive attitude isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a critical component of success. Salespeople face rejection, competition, and constant targets, which can be daunting.
Compounding the issue is that 80% of salespeople, and likely you too, have much more than the average of the Influence dimension in their personality. One of the highest needs of people high in Influence is social acceptance. Their biggest fear is rejection, yet paradoxically, we get ourselves into a career that involves a huge amount of it. The average # of prospects: # of sales is more than 20:1. This means that for us to make a sale, we have to be rejected 19 times! It’s not a sales funnel. It’s a rejection funnel!
The ability to maintain a positive attitude throughout all this rejection is not for the light hearted. Despite common opinion, it’s not something you’re born with. It’s a learned behaviour meaning you can learn to get better at it if you want to.
Those who harness the power of positivity not only survive but thrive. Here’s why a positive attitude is a game-changer for sales professionals.
1. Enhances Resilience
Sales is a rollercoaster of highs and lows. A positive attitude equips salespeople with the resilience needed to bounce back from setbacks. When faced with rejection, a positive mindset helps in viewing it as a learning opportunity rather than a personal failure. This resilience fosters a growth mindset, allowing salespeople to continuously improve and adapt.
2. Builds Stronger Relationships
Positivity is contagious. Salespeople with a positive outlook are more likely to build strong, trusting relationships with clients. Customers are drawn to those who are enthusiastic, optimistic, and solution-oriented. A salesperson who radiates positivity can create a more enjoyable and collaborative experience for the client, leading to stronger business relationships and increased loyalty.
3. Boosts Performance and Productivity
A positive attitude directly impacts performance. Research shows that optimism can improve problem-solving skills, creativity, and decision-making. Salespeople who approach their tasks with a positive mindset are more motivated, proactive, and persistent. This leads to higher levels of productivity and better sales outcomes.
4. Reduces Stress and Enhances Well-Being
Sales can be a stressful profession, with constant pressure to meet targets and deadlines. A positive attitude helps in managing stress more effectively. Positivity can reduce anxiety, improve overall mental health, and increase job satisfaction. Salespeople who maintain a positive outlook are more likely to experience job fulfillment and a healthier work-life balance.
5. Drives Team Success
Positivity within a sales team fosters a collaborative and supportive environment. Salespeople who are optimistic can uplift their colleagues, share successful strategies, and create a culture of mutual encouragement. This collective positivity drives team success, as members feel valued and motivated to achieve common goals.
Practical Tips for Cultivating Positivity
Last week’s post on time management got some really good interest even though managing our time is not a technical selling skill. This week’s post is a follow-up strategy. Frankly, most sales people, including myself don’t come by time management naturally because of our personality type. That’s why, at Northbound, time management is almost always part of a program. We often get a serious productivity boost, allowing us to sell more just by getting better organized and disciplined with our time.
I’m going to share one of the best ways to improve your productivity that is echoed in the #1 New York Times bestseller, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. The power of saying “no”. Clear states (you could say very ‘clearly‘) that “Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all.
This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say yes to many things we don’t actually want to do. There are many meetings held that don’t need to be held.”
But how do you say “no” to people who you deal with on a regular basis without upsetting them? “It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple ‘no’ will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can muster.” says Clear.
He adds, “Saying no to these people can be particularly difficult because we like them and want to support them. (Not to mention, we often need their help too.) Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response.”
For this reason, here are 17 ways to say no from our Goal Aligned™ Time Management workshop. My favourite is number 11. They can be used with customers, co-workers, even your boss. If you’re going to use them with friends or family, choose carefully!
Try these:
1 – “I’m sorry. That’s not a priority for me right now.”
2 – “I can’t help you on this now, but I can get to it next week. Would that be okay?”
3 – “I have so much on my plate now I don’t know when I can get to it. But I do know someone over here who can help you now.”
4 – “Before I take this on for you, let me show you a few things so that you might be able to do it yourself.”
5 – “I have made so many commitments to others, it would be unfair to them and you if I took on anything more at this point.”
6 – “If I can’t give you a ride to the school dance on Friday, how else would you get there safely?”
7 – “I don’t know how soon I can help you on this, but I will get back to you as soon as I am able to help you.”
8 – “I’m sure we’re close enough that when I say “no” you’ll understand it’s for a good reason.”
9 – “Sure I can help you with your request as long as we both agree and understand that the item I agreed to do for you yesterday is going to have to wait.”
10 – “Before I take this over from you, what do you think we ought to do about it?”
11 – “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, I sure can do that for you. The bad news is, I’m so overloaded with everything else, I’ve become delirious and have been lying about my commitments.”
12 – “When I get overwhelmed like I am now, I remove every third person who asks me for something, from my “Good Friends List” and the second person just left.”
13 – “No.”
14 – “Thanks for thinking to ask me, but, no thanks.”
15 – “I would like to help you out on this but you understand I don’t have the resources available to do the right job for you.”
16 – “Now that’s the type of thing I would love to help you on if only I had the time.”
“17 – Just like you, I get overloaded sometimes and have to tell some very special people, “no”. This is one of those times.”
And as you speak, smile.
Knowing where your time is being used will allow you to spend more time on the sales activities that make you money.
I don’t read many books but at least I try to implement good ideas from the ones I do get around to reading. One of the oldest books on my shelf that is still in my top 10 is “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. The chapter on time management speaks of all activities in you life fitting into one of four quadrants. The concept is that there are two variables that can be attached to any activity you engage in.
1) Level of urgency
2) Level of importance.
Plotting one of these against the other produces four quadrants as in the diagram below. Armed with this insight, you’ll be able to make better choices deciding what you’re going to spend your time on and be more effective.
Let’s first be sure we understand the difference between urgency and importance as people often confuse them with each other. “Importance” represents the amount of value that this activity brings to you. A good example would be preparing a proposal for a big prospect. On the other hand, “urgency” refers to how quickly it needs to be done. Responding to a complaint from your biggest customer is a good example of an urgent activity. Combining both urgency and importance allow us to place them in quadrants 1 through 4. You’ll see some examples of common activities also noted in the diagram.
The problem is when we end up spending most of our time reacting to urgent activities, quadrants 1 & 3, the important. The non-urgent activities in quadrant 2 take a back seat — sometimes forever! People who live in the world of urgency often love the thrill of the accompanying adrenaline and cortisol rush but fail to grow. They often find themselves languishing in key areas of their career and life. We’ve all heard the stories of hard driving executives whose health or marriage is failing.
Closer to home, I’ve see countless salespeople who want greater sales success but can’t manage to find the time to attend training sessions or do 1 more hour of prospecting each week. They spend their time on low value, urgent things or even worse, low importance, low urgency activities like social apps or watching Netflix. They “major in the minors.” I know catching up on social and TV can be very entertaining and addictive. If it’s at the expense of building your career, getting healthy or spending time with your kids, however, I’d argue that it’s not the best use of your time.
Why does this happen? Because quadrant 2 activities take planning and discipline to happen. They don’t just appear out of nowhere crying for your attention whereas urgent activities, by definition, do. If you don’t workout today, what’s the big deal? It won’t kill you — at least not today. If you don’t make those 3 extra calls, it’s not going to kill your career — at least not today.
Set the alarm on your phone or watch to alert you every half hour. When it goes off, write down what you did in the last 30 minutes. Do this for 3 days and then mark beside each item which quadrant it falls into. Add them up in total time. I promise you that you will be shocked when you see how much time you are spending in quadrants 3 & 4. I know you will want to spend more time on quadrant 2 activities. The good news is that after this exercise, it will start to happen as you gain increased awareness and focus of where your time is going.
Effective people are experts in managing their time and have developed a ruthless approach to “time suckers.” Apply this knowledge and you too can be one of these people.
Happy selling.
Turn your “resolutions” into a goal management system and finally make them reality!
By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Sales
We’re now in the third month of the new year and I wonder how many of us have gotten a start on our new year’s resolutions. I also wonder how many of us have even taken the time to write or verbalize them. Call them resolutions or call them goals, the sad fact is that only 1 in 20 of us have written goals and worse, only 1 in 5 of those people regularly reach them. That’s an 80% failure rate! Looking at this statistic, it becomes easier to understand why even people who make the effort to set goals or resolutions often give up on the idea. Who wants to fail 80% of the time? It feels rotten. And experts tell us that we will go out of our way to avoid pain much more so than to gain pleasure. This avoidance of pain can stop us in our tracks. The good news amidst all this doom and gloom is that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Why do 80% of people who set goals fail to reach them? Is it because they’re lazy or unmotivated? Or is it because they set goals that are crazily unrealistic? The 3 most common reasons for not reaching goals are:
Reason #1 — Not having a strong enough “Why?”
Have you ever set a goal and then months, sometimes years later, question why you ever decided on it in the first place? I know I certainly have. The problem is that unless the importance of a goal is very clear to us, we often run for the hills when we meet a challenge or setback, which we almost always will. Anthony Robbins says that 80% of reaching a goal is in the “why.”
I’m reminded of a childhood friend of mine, Jeff, who, throughout public and high school, openly shared that he was going to be a doctor. At our high school graduation party, his parents had even bought him a doctor’s costume as a joke. Being a very bright and hard- working student, Jeff got accepted into med school at the University of Toronto, the same school I attended. I lost track of Jeff until several years later when I ran into him at a store with his young toddler in tow. I asked him how the doctor world was, to which he replied, “I dropped out and I’m now a Mr. Mom”. My jaw dropped. Not being one to dance around an issue, I probed, “What happened to the whole doctor thing?”. He smiled and confidently said, “I realized it was never what I wanted. It was what my parents wanted.” He continued, “I’m happier than I thought I’d ever be.”
My advice: Make sure that your goals are your goals and that you are clear why you want to accomplish them. Here’s an example of what this might look like:
RECREATIONAL/PHYSICALOverall Goal: Get healthier
Why: I will have more energy which will help in all areas of my life. My stress will go through the roof if I don’t! I will look better and if I look better, I feel better.
Mini-goal 1: Do 30 min of cardio at a 7/10 level min 3x per week
Mini-goal 2: Lose 14 pounds by the end of the 6th month
Goal for the next 30 days: Register for yoga class for the winter session
Action I will take tomorrow to start me on my way: Skip the donut with my morning coffee
Reason #2 — A weak or no action plan
How often have you seen someone who’s experienced a tremendous amount of success say, “Gee, I don’t know how I got to be so successful. It kind of just happened one day!” Hollywood will have you believe it happens much more than in reality. In the real world, great goal achievement is almost always preceded with plans for massive amounts of action.
The best sales plans I’ve seen include sales targets broken down to the number of actual calls needed per day and this time actually scheduled into the sales professional’s agenda for the week. When you think about a goal, it’s a possibility. When you plan it, it becomes a probability. When you schedule the actions to get you there, it can become a reality.
Reason #3 — No review process
I congratulate anyone reading this who has had the courage and foresight to set some resolutions for 2024. You have taken the first important step in achieving what you want. You now need to ensure that you have a system set up to regularly review progress towards your goals and make the adjustments to your tactics if needed. I recommend that you review your annual goals every month and the most important of these, every week. It’s important that you do this in a place where you can “blue sky” with no interruptions.
Once a month, preferably before the next month begins, you will pull out your annual goals and check your progress. The question to ask at this point is, “What can I reasonably do next month to help ensure that I’ll have accomplished this goal by the end of the year?” Then write it down in your month’s goals section of the planner. Prioritize it as an A (needs to get done this month or else something “evil” will happen) or a B (important but not as urgent to get done this month).
Each week, and I suggest on Sunday, review your monthly goals and ask the same question above but using a week instead of a month. Do the same thing with your A’s and B’s. There are many good goal setting apps out there, but the tech is less important than getting into the habit of doing it on a regular basis.
This whole review system will take you about 1-2 hours/month depending on how detailed you get. This is about the same amount of time as watching a TV show. Simply by time-shifting from Netflix to goal management, you can create your own dream life instead of just watching someone else create theirs!
Setting and managing goals requires skills, knowledge and action. You and your team can learn how top performers do it by participating in Northbound’s “Bulls Eye! Reaching Your Goals” workshop. For more information or to arrange a complimentary workshop for your team, contact us.
Spring Program
Starts April 17
Our live instructor-led online program, Goal Aligned™ Selling, will give you the skills & strategies to close more sales.
Last fall, we launched our Goal Aligned™ Selling program for individual salespeople and the feedback was fantastic!
If you’re a sales manager, this is a perfect way to develop solid foundational selling skills for a select few members of your team!
B2B selling is evolving and is more challenging than ever and you’ll need to equip yourself with sharper selling skills to capitalize on every sales opportunity. Our 8 module Goal Aligned™ Selling program equips you with the essential skills, strategies & tools that will not only help you exceed your target this year, but also set you up for greater sales success for years down the road.
You will be part of a small cohort of like-minded sales professionals and be taken through a carefully honed module each week.
When? 8 weekly 2-hour Zoom sessions lead by our Founder & President, Michael Caron
What’s included? Includes PDF workbooks, field exercises & customizable templates, 90-day email reinforcement, networking with fellow participants
What’s the cost? $1,395
200% GuaranteeYour fee is totally refundable if you’re not completely convinced that Northbound’s program has given you skills and strategies to at least double your investment in the first year!
RecordingsAll sessions will be recorded for exclusive access for 60 days after
April 17 – Bulls Eye!: How to set and reach your goals
April 24 – Goal Aligned™ Time:Manage your most precious resource
May 1 – Selling to Different Buyer Types:Learn how to adjust your selling style for all types of buyers
May 8 – Connecting to the Big Cheese:Connect to high level prospects and book meetings with them
May 15 – Questions Are the Answer:Learn how to create and deliver the most powerful tool in your toolbox
May 22 – Goal Aligned™ Sales Interviews:Uncover your buyer’s needs in face-to-face or virtual selling situations
May 29 – Goal Aligned™ Sales Presentations:Deliverpowerful presentations that will close the sale
June 5 – Handling Objections:Learn how to deal with price and many other common objections that get in the way of making the sale.
To reserve a spot or for more information, contact Michael at [email protected].
We all know that good questions are the most powerful tool in sales. But some are markedly better than others. One of the most powerful types is the scale question. What’s a scale question? (Good question!) A scale question is one that asks your buyer to answer on a scale, usually from 1 to 10.
To understand why they are so helpful in sales, we need to take a step back. Solutions, by definition, can only exist if there is a problem. Although many companies claim they sell “X solutions” it’s often not possible because their salespeople haven’t uncovered legitimate problems from the potential buyer that their solution can solve. It’s the dreaded trap of “a solution in search of a problem.”
Needs begin with problems and problems only exist when their is a gap between where someone is currently and where they’d like to be. This is commonly called the “tension for change.” Some might have an issue referring to this “tension for change” or gap as a problem. They might prefer to call it an opportunity instead. It really doesn’t matter what you choose to call it, however. What’s important is that we realize that without a gap, there is no possibility for a sale. The potential buyer sees no reason to change from the status quo. On the other hand, the bigger the gap, the more motivated a buyer will be to find a solution.
During the discovery phase of a sale, a good strategy is to establish what the key result areas are for the customer and then uncover the level of satisfaction in these areas. Here’s an example of a simple way to do this.
You: “John, could you share with me the 3 or 4 most important criteria to you in choosing a (your industry) partner?
Prospect: “Price is most important.”
You: “OK. And besides price, what would be next important?”
Prospect: “Great service.”
You: “OK. Could you be more specific as to what great service looks like to you?”
Prospect: “I’d like to see my rep every couple of months. I’d also like to have my phone calls returned quickly and my emails not as quick but still pretty quick.”
You: “So why is great service so important to you?”
Prospect: “If I have an issue and it doesn’t get fixed PDQ, it can cost us a lot. Plus it’s very frustrating not being able to get a hold of somebody with the vendor we use now.”
You: “So, if you were to rate the service you’re getting now from your current vendor, say on scale of one to ten, what do you think you’d say?”
Prospect: “Oh I don’t know. Maybe six.”
You: “OK. So is it fair to say that there’s room for improvement here?”
Prospect: “For sure.”
Repeat the above for at least 2 other areas. Through this process, you’ll have identified several problems — areas that are important to the customer and that he’d now like to do better in. You’ll see that in most cases, the customer concludes that they are not as satisfied as they could be in key areas and how the “gap” has negative implications. If you simply asked them to tell you what problems they have with their current vendor, not only will you get less valuable information, but they might also say, “I’ve got none.” At this point, you have nowhere to go except out the door!
Your homework for this week:
1) Come up with a scale question that will help uncover an area that you have a competitive advantage in.
2) Use it on your sales calls this week.
You should have your own list of questions that you constantly refer to in sales calls. If you don’t have any pre-written ones, these will give you a great start!
Northbound’s workshop “Questions Are the Answer” teaches you and your team the consultative approach to selling then helps you create dozens of powerful questions that you can immediately use to grow your sales. For more information or for pricing, contact Michael, [email protected].
Tom, our fictitious and ambitious sales professional sees the new year coming down the track at breakneck speed. What activity does he make part of the season? Finding the best party to go to? Taking in the crazy Boxing Day sales at Electronic World? Yes and yes but Tom also views the dawning of the new block of twelve months as an opportunity to set down some fresh goals, sometimes referred to as New Years resolutions. And that’s great. Having goals always brings greater results than without, but if Tom could embrace some of the key components of achieving goals, he’ll be a lot happier next New Years.
A great thing about training and developing sales teams is that I get to work with salespeople who, by nature, are goal oriented and high achievers. If you would like to learn more about improving your skills in reaching goals, Northbound offers “Bulls Eye! Setting and Reaching Your Goals,” a workshop dedicated to helping sales professionals get what they want out of their career and their life. To learn more or arrange a complimentary session for your team, contact us.
There are many reasons (excuses!) most people don’t get around to it. Here are the 4 biggest.By Michael Caron, President Northbound Sales
Of course, at this time of year, many of us are thinking about what we’d like to accomplish in 2024. Like a lot of people, we might call them New Years resolutions. Just over 40% of North Americans set at least one New Year’s resolution. Sadly, most people fail to reach them by the end of the year but don’t let this stop you as studies have clearly shown that you always get better results with a goal than without.
Some of you already know that setting goals works. If you’re a reader of sales-enhancing literature, you’ve surely read lots on the power of goal setting. If you consistently set written, realistic goals with all the other necessary components for goal success, then read no further. If, however, you are one of the 60% of the population who is convinced, continue reading to help overcome your resistance.
A powerful question is, “If setting goals is so great, why do less than half of us do it?” I don’t know what the statistics say for the number of us who exercise, but I suspect they are similar. Both are activities that undoubtedly produce immense benefits yet seem to elude the average person. There are 4 main reasons why we don’t set goals.
#1 – Fear of Failure
The dreaded F.O.F. Many of us are stopped by the thought that, “If I set a goal and miss it, I will feel like a failure.” What is not understood is that having a goal always gets better performance than not — even if the goal is missed. What’s key is the need for goals to strike a balance between being too hard and too easy. If you’re hitting your goals all the time, it means that it’s time to raise the bar. You need to be challenged more to sustain growth and generate that feeling of accomplishment that salespeople thrive on. If, on the other hand, you are consistently missing your goals and all the other components of good goal setting are present, it’s important to reduce your goals to something more realistic. If your goals are simply too out of range, you will give up and they will no longer provide the power to motivate.
Also, what people who fear failure might not realize is that failure is necessary for growth. Knowing what not to do next time can be very valuable. Winston Churchill said, “I would rather fail my way to success rather than be a successful failure”. Failing can be the greatest learning experience.
#2 – Procrastination
To misquote Alexander the Great, “Why do something today that you can put off until tomorrow?” The art of procrastination is worthy of an article of it’s own (put title and link here). Setting goals, while incredibly powerful, isn’t something that has the urgency of other countless day-to-day tasks crying out for attention. Disappointingly, like other important but low urgency life enriching activities like exercise, learning and family, we put goal setting in the “when I have time” category.
#3 – “I’ve done OK without them”
If you’re satisfied with a just “O.K.” life, then this is a perfectly good excuse.
#4 – “I keep them in my head”
When teaching our “Bulls Eye! – Setting and Reaching Your Goals” workshop, I often hear this one. My immediate response is a query on the individual’s goals in key areas. The typical responses are some vague generalities with no time frame, no plan and most importantly no answer as to “why?” For the immense power of goal setting to be released, they must be taken out of your head and written down. The mere act of putting something in writing solidifies your brain’s ability to focus.
Your homework: Get yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Write down the biggest sales failure in your career to date. What were the negative outcomes? What were the positive outcomes? (yes, you will find some if you look hard enough) Lastly, what did you learn?
An M.I.T. study found that the 3% of a graduating class who had set clear, written career goals upon finishing school, had cumulative net worth 20 years later than the entire other 97% combined!.
With a little bit of effort and discipline to avoid the classic goal setting obstacles noted above, you too can turn your dreams into reality.
Click here for more information on the “Bulls Eye – Setting and Reaching Your Goals” workshop or contact Michael Caron at [email protected] or 416.456.1440.