Monthly Archives: April 2014

According to Qvidian research 2014, only 63% of sales people will make their sales target in FY2014.

That leaves over a third of you either auditioning in the Tap section of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ with your manager or connecting with a dozen more recruiters on LinkedIn.

If you managed to reach or exceed quota…well done, but it was probably harder than ever and one of the key culprits is the ‘Long Sales Cycle’ -the Golden Staph of Selling

Here are my Top Five Ways to Shorten Sales Cycles

Stop talking to the Flunky

Your main mid level contacts have limited budgets and authority.

They don’t know everything that’s going on in their organisation.

When they say ‘I have no budget for 12 months’ it’s probably true and simply an inconvenient fact.

Your mother didn’t even carry you in the womb for that long so why gestate him for 12 months in a long sales cycle.

Start talking to C Level and get your whole organisation involved. They will be able to move faster than a politician at a baby photo shoot if your solutions can help their business.

Twelve months becomes three if the right executive hears your potent story.

Use the client’s balance sheet

One company went back to their client and asked how the financial return or ROI was faring on their implemented solution.

The client smiled like a kid who got away with farting in Science class and said ‘Oh, we virtually paid for it in 6 weeks’.

The sales manager said ‘6 weeks! Fantastic, but why did you bash us around for weeks for reduced pricing if you knew the ROI was that good’?

The client smiled again (must be an on-going flatulence problem) and said ‘Just part of the game – we knew we could delay and push you against your quarterly targets….bit of fun really’.

Find someone who can read a proper balance sheet, a director, your CFO or your Weird Uncle Archie who likes Over 50s Singles Ballroom Dancing at the RSL but also happens to be a qualified CPA.

Nothing shortens the sales cycle more than when you walk in with financial proof that every month they delay is costing them money or poor Return on Assets/Capital/Cash Flow.

Qualify like a Reality TV Show 

If you’ve watched any of the talent shows on TV, you know they are ruthless in weeding out the people who can’t cook, sing, dance or walk a catwalk.

They even flaunt it for their own glory by showing you brief shots of these insecure, destroyed souls who missed out on the chance to burn a soufflé on national television.

Anyone who has been to an audition knows that it’s more ruthless than an ICAC investigation into Grange Hermitage (NB Penfolds, do I get a 1959 bottle for the free plug?….happy to write a thank you note.)

Despite Bid/No Bid Systems, Sales Meetings and Forecasts, qualification is still done poorly.

Mostly, it’s because the pipeline isn’t big enough so we hang on to prospects more than we keep our favourite pair of worn, de-elasticised, comfy undies.

Yes, the red ones.

Poor qualification leads to long sales cycles and forecasts about as accurate as the Bureau of Meteorology -the place where pathological liars are sent for work experience.

Let’s have the courage to ask prospects questions like:

‘Based on our initial meeting/s, before we go any further the budget for this is typically around 300-500k. Are you happy to continue talking?’

‘We have three experts coming off projects in June who will then be allocated for the next major client assignment.

‘What are your thoughts on that timeframe for you?’

If yes, you’ve shortened the sales cycle. If not, you can still keep them warm, but they’re not part of a long sales cycle because they have qualified themselves out.

Your hairdresser, masseur, car mechanic does this effortlessly.

There’s no need to be squeamish about ‘Are you ready for us or not?’

As the great philosopher, Beyonce said ‘If you like it you should have put a ring on it’.

Stop being the clingy, needy boyfriend/girlfriend. Move or Move On.

 Get your Really Senior Management Involved 

In my work consulting on major pitches, we have seen tremendous results by getting your CEO, Regional Director, Global CEO or Chief Superintendent of Intergalactic Greatness to call the client.

Depending on the situation, he or she may say one of the following things to your client’s senior management:

My people have been working with your people for 6 months – this has global visibility at our end and the ROI seems to be less than 12 months

–what’s the hold up or what hasn’t my team done to prove this yet?

‘I’ve just come back from a meeting with one of your competitors who implemented our solution months ago.’

‘Help me understand why this appears to be dragging on so long?’

‘With respect, I can’t give you our global expert, Rita any further without some understanding of where and when this is going?’

Basically, it’s the Jerry Maguire moment ‘Show Me The Money’

Timeline on a Whiteboard 

We have used this to help win pitches for years.

NOW ______________________________________________________________THEN

You work backwards from ‘THEN’, the point in time where they indicate they need to see a result in cost reduction, implementation, cash flow improvement, customer acquisition or whatever is their Holy Grail.

You then fill in the blanks with:

6 weeks to implement and train

5 weeks for testing

7 weeks for procurement and shipping

2 weeks business analytics

4 weeks stakeholder engagement and signoff etc etc

Before you know it, it will often become evident that they should have ordered this thing in 1978 to get the results they want.

Too many sales people do the opposite by promising that they’ll expedite things to help.

All that does is take the pressure off the client to commit because s/he knows you’ll run around like a Coke addict (not the Cola kind) to get things done even if they delay decision making.

Stuff that for a game of Monopoly.

Show them the real timeline that has in-built protection, assurance and quality and ask them if they want to get a 457 Visa for Dr Who to Time Travel back to meet the deadlines or simply place the PO now.

Shortening sales cycles is like sticking to the speed limit to avoid penalties. You have more control than you think.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can shorten sales cycles join me in the Salient Executive Level Selling Program HERE.

As CEO of Salient Communication, Elliot is a sought after keynote speaker and corporate trainer who has coached and trained over 4000 people including CEOs, senior management and successful sales teams throughout Australasia and Asia including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Elliot is a specialist sales speaker for high profile corporates having spoken at over 1500 conferences, workshops and break-out sessions on presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Computershare and CUB.

He is renowned for ensuring sessions are engaging, interactive and relevant to winning business in competitive markets.

Elliot is based in Melbourne where he lives with his wife and two expensive children.

John Cleese’s genius in the classic Fawlty Towers is amplified by these extraordinary facts about work ethic:

• Each 25-30 minute episode took 6 weeks for Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth (Polly) to write.
• There was a full hour of post production editing for every minute of each episode. One Ep. =25 hours.
• The best episodes of all e.g. ‘The Germans’ had two or three plot threads that came together at the end, leaving the audience with resolution, satisfaction and admiration.

Lesson #1 is that to craft a major winning pitch that captures decision makers takes time, skill and artful structure. Preparing the night before in a hotel room doesn’t cut it even if the view overlooks an ’erupting Krakatoa or herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically’

Here are my other sales lessons from the Episodes of Fawlty Towers.

Waldorf Salad

 Basil’s American guest wants a Waldorf Salad:  ’Apples, Celery, Walnuts, Grapes with Mayo’

Fearing his lack of stock of these simple ingredients, Basil proclaims he’s ‘all out of Waldorfs’ and tries to sell him a fictitious ‘Ritz Salad’ with the unappetising mix of apples, grapefruit and potatoes.

Sales people today still try and convert the clients requirements into their preferred products and services because it’s convenient, potentially profitable or in stock.

‘Changing the ground rules’ is a phrase heard often and it invariably leads to longer sales cycles, frustration, disengaged procurement and lost deals.

‘Satisfied customers, eh? Let’s ask ‘em’

Mrs Richards

 Mrs Richards has a bit of a hearing problem and doesn’t always turn her hearing aid on because ‘it wears the batteries down’

Remarkably  her hearing is suddenly perfect when her sister calls to tell her  she has a low offer on her house replying instantly ‘ I told them 92,750, Stephanie and not a penny less…why don’t people listen’

Selective hearing occurs in sales when we hear something we don’t like such as favourable comment of a competitor, no budget or long timeframes.

Common old school sales responses include deferring, changing the subject, ignoring and refuting, all of which are unhelpful.

No matter what the client says, explore it with questions ‘Tell me about the lack of budget, what is your incumbent doing so well, why such a long timeframe’

You’ll learn a lot more about the opportunity than by stonewalling.

Clients need you to recharge your virtual hearing aids and ‘PLEASE, TURN IT ON…’ or they’ll ‘visit you in the small hours of the morning and put a bat up your nightdress’.

The Germans

 The classic line ‘Don’t mention the War….I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it’ comes after a concussed Basil has repeatedly turned everything his German guests said into a WW2 reference.

In my previous blog, 10 Ten Things Pre Sales and Experts Do That Loses Deals , we discussed the impact pre-sales have on winning or losing deals.

Pre-sales experts and gurus often don’t realise that mentioning the product might not work in some rare conditions, qualifying any semblance of value the client might derive or reducing the client’s confidence in your solution is tantamount to  ‘Don’t mention the war’

Unless it absolutely won’t work…’Shut up, Basil’

In the words of ‘The Psychiatrist’ ‘There’s enough material here for an entire conference.’

If you would like to learn how to ‘sell someone to a vivisectionist’ or in the real world sell to C Level decision makers, join me in April for the Salient Executive Level Selling Program here:

 Salient Executive Level Selling Program – April 28-29

You can also email me at  elliote@salientcommunication.com.au

As CEO of Salient Communication, Elliot is a sought after keynote speaker and corporate trainer who has coached and trained over 4000 people including CEOs, senior management and successful sales teams throughout Australasia and Asia including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Elliot is a specialist sales speaker for high profile corporates having spoken at over 1500 conferences, workshops and break-out sessions on presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Computershare and CUB . He is renowned for ensuring sessions are engaging, interactive and relevant to winning business in competitive markets.

Elliot is based in Melbourne where he lives with his wife and two expensive children.