Bricks Don’t Issue Purchase Orders
Written by Elliot Epstein Wednesday, 27 February 2019 13:40This sales business is filled with data so high and cluttered, Marie Kondo (of Tidying Up fame) would not only be unable to spark joy, she would lose the will to live.
Data sheets. PDF brochures, forecast sheets, spec sheets, CRM systems, blue, green and other pretty coloured account planning sheets, internal negotiation planners, sales planners, territory maps, prospect lists, LinkedIn connection lists, email lists, call planners, proposal templates, tender response templates….are you still breathing?
Something, or actually, someone gets lost in all of this. The living, breathing, flawed human being who ultimately makes the decision on buying your pride and joy or not.
Sure, many of those ‘sheets’ are supposed to inexorably lead you to convince your client with a magical fireworks display of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) , Return on Investment (ROI) , and Cost/Benefit analysis.
Well, they do and they don’t.
They provide a good case to be considered.
They don’t really focus on the individual.
Here are some examples of the flawed individuals who say yes or no.
The incompetent, over budget manager trying to look vaguely competent to his peers because this is his third job in three years and he’s just had twins.
The technocrat who has the commercial business acumen of a first year pre-school teacher.
The procurement genius negotiator on the autism spectrum.
The power junkie with more political nous than a posse of Canberra journalists.
The little boy who wasn’t reprimanded for lying when he was little, which he then continued into his corporate career.
The female executive who learned to survive and thrive despite misogyny in her industry.
The frightened, meek, risk averse and fearful middle manager who’s just watched 30 of his colleagues hand in their security passes on the way to spend more time with their families.
I don’t often see this information when coaching sales strategies, sales planners, pitch presentations amidst all the myriad data sheets
Sometimes the person you need to address is staring right in front of you …and you’re blocked from seeing them by the blinding blizzard of data.
They are flawed, like us, but interesting, and if you help them achieve their purpose, achieving yours will simply be a formality.
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and Sales Vs Procurement – The Secrets Unveiled at the Negotiation Table and is internationally 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 negotiators.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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The Handmaid’s Sale
Written by Elliot Epstein Friday, 30 November 2018 13:47There is a scary dystopian world being conjured by those that see Sales as some sort of reactionary movement, apparently hell-bent on creating destruction and chaos throughout the land.
We need to reclaim ‘Sales’ as an honourable, beneficial and indeed, critical set of skills for success in business.
The dystopians and ‘self haters’ some of whom actually call themselves business coaches, want to obliterate the word ‘sales’ to be replaced with ‘buyer enablement’ or ‘relationship management’ or some other Orwellian euphemism.
It’s important to distinguish between ‘Old School Selling’ filled with self-interest and talking too much and ‘Professional Selling’ with its inherent skills of listening and advising, but let’s not dismiss that this is unashamedly about influence.
Old School Selling has been on the front pages primarily via the Banking Royal Commission (BRC), the thousands of pages of which can be summed up as:
BRC: So, are you aware that you put your own personal and business interests ahead of clients in unconscionable ways?
Banks: ‘Well, now that you mention it, we didn’t’ realise that the legitimate goal of maximising shareholder returns also had to be done ethically, morally and legally’.
I, for one, am certainly happy to donate to the ‘Build a Prison Fund’ for some of these dastardly acts.
But, let’s not confuse headline grabbing, abominable behaviour with the vast majority of people in the world of professional selling. The Sales Directors, Business Development Managers, Pre-Sales Consultants, Sales Managers who get up every day to do the right thing by their clients and their company.
How do I know?
This is my 20th year of consulting, speaking, coaching and training thousands of people around winning business. In addition, working live advising on hundreds of multi-million dollar pitches across all industries, gives me unique insights into the mindsets and behaviours of professional sales people.
1. I can count on one hand (with three missing fingers) how many companies were willing to blatantly lie or do something unethical in order to win.
2. Professional sales people think about improving their client’s world every day, knowing that it will mostly likely be reciprocated.
3. The vast majority of companies spend inordinate amounts of time and money proving to themselves that their products and solutions work before recommending them.
4. Clients can Google all they want. Procurement can look myopically at the minutiae of a contract but only a professional sales person can guide and advise on a best fit solution. (note: would you hire an architect or corporate law firm just from Googling?)
5. The level of skill and acumen in creating value for clients has risen exponentially in the past decade.
The shonky, Glengarry Glen Ross, Slick Willie sales person is gone or going. We hear about the remaining few because it’s good clickbait or fodder for TV shows.
Let’s celebrate the professional enterprise sales person because they are the majority – ethical, hardworking, knowledgeable and committed to both their own success and especially, those of their clients.
This is not a dystopian world filled with rank opportunists who connive in dark rooms to cheat people.
It’s a world replete with successful outcomes because, yes, someone sold them something pretty bloody good.
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and Sales Vs Procurement – The Secrets Unveiled at the Negotiation Table and is internationally 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 negotiators.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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Client Tantrums Are Not Serene
Written by Elliot Epstein Monday, 24 September 2018 13:26Bullying is not restricted to the shenanigans in Canberra and Dummy Spits are not confined to the tennis court.
Clients – yes, the lovely people who buy your amazing products and services are also susceptible to unconscionable behaviour including:
Yelling abuse at account managers who are unable to break the laws of physics to fast track an order.
Threatening to ‘never, ever buying from you again’ if you don’t give them what they want – yesterday.
Playing power games as in ‘I had lunch with your boss last week. She would not take kindly to your handling of this – don’t make me call her to approve one lousy additional discount’
Playing the sales person off against the technical guru. ‘I don’t care what he’s claiming he said – Damn straight he told me that we would have the updated software for free’
Internal Politics ‘There are three other departments in here who all buy from you – it would be much simpler if I didn’t have to tell Procurement of your intransigence’
Let’s be clear. If you have genuinely made a mistake or demonstrably failed to deliver a well-documented promise, then you’d best get the coffee out to stay back till 2am to fix it.
However, many of these behaviours are considered by clients as simply robust negotiation or are designed to make themselves feel good because of their own shortcomings. (see Insecurity)
It is perfectly acceptable to ‘take one for the team’ but with the emphasis on One.
It is also reasonable to help a client out, especially when it’s unforeseen or when it will be genuinely appreciated.
But there is no reason for you, your colleagues or your manager to be subjected to the toys being violently and unprofessionally thrown out of the cot.
It’s a racket that should be broken.
Appeasement wasn’t a great strategy in 1938 and it’s not an appropriate response in 2018.
Does your leadership say ‘Just give them what they want’ regardless of the circumstances or how unprofessionally you’ve been treated?
Do your leaders say ‘Look, I know he’s a pig, but he spends a lot of his budget with us?’ or do they pick up the phone with one of the following:
1. Bob, we really value our relationship but our account management team don’t deserve to be yelled at regarding a standard delivery issue.
2. Bob, we negotiated the price based fairly on the volume you’re purchasing. Why are you giving our Account Director such a hard time?
3. Bob, our engineers were up till midnight configuring your system. I don’t appreciate threats to cancel the contract, simply because there’s pressure to upgrade the system. We both know we’ll meet the deadline.
The client persona is often depicted as a serene benefactor bestowing their gifts, but we shouldn’t be afraid to call out behaviours that are demonstrably unprofessional.
Leaders, you are elevated in the chair overseeing the court of account management.
There’s only one reason why client code violations need to be called out.
Your people are worth it.
Game, Set. Match.
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and Sales Vs Procurement – The Secrets Unveiled at the Negotiation Table and is internationally 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 negotiators.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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Your New Account Manager is Here to See You
Written by Elliot Epstein Monday, 27 August 2018 21:00Polity is a national software company, based in Canberra.
Their major client is Lektrit – a highly diversified Australian conglomerate.
They are meeting at the client’s office, in the Rudd Gillard Rudd Abbott Turnbull Boardroom.
Polity: ‘I’d like to introduce you to your new Senior Account Executive, Scott, who will be taking over your account’
Lektrit: ‘Where’s Malcolm?’
Polity: ‘Er, we had to let him go, I’m afraid. We had an off-site where everyone was supposed to drink the Kool-Aid and a number of our managers saw him watering it down with San Pellegrino’
Lektrit: ‘ Well, we agreed to Malcolm as our key executive in the contract over two years ago and now we have to go through this process all over again. Why didn’t you consult with us?’
Polity; ‘We didn’t think you’d matter… I mean, mind, and to be honest, your contract is up for renewal and we felt we had a better chance of renewing our business with you if Scott was leading things.’
Lektrit: ‘But there are so many outstanding issues with implementation. The energy costs of the new computer system we installed for your software are through the roof, the TCO you offered based on writing off the legacy system on tax is unresolved and we still don’t know what’s happening with the support team you were going to hire from overseas.’
Polity: ‘Yes, and that’s why Scott is the perfect person to help you through all that.’
Lektrit: ‘How? Since he took over we received an email that the Head of Customer Service is now the Head of Operations and the Head of Engineering is now GM of Sales and the Head of the Support Desk resigned to spend more time with her family…in Port Douglas.’
Polity: ‘Trust me, Scott will sort all these issues out.’
Lektrit: ‘When?’
Polity: ‘It would only be fair to give him 3-6 months to get his feet under the desk and…
Lektrit: THREE TO SIX MONTHS! We need this sorted out – it’s costing us a fortune in lost revenue and higher costs. You decided to make this change, not us. When are you going to make decisions that are directly linked to making us better?’
Polity: ‘Sorry, I don’t understand.’
Lektrit: ‘Us…your client… the people who pay you, the people with whom you signed a contract to do certain things.’
Polity: ‘We seem to be at cross purposes here. Polity is a private company and our goal is to maximise our own results. We reserve the right to make whatever changes are necessary to make us feel all gooey inside. Many of us have low self-esteem, you know, so we grow big, bravado egos to compensate for it. It’s quite normal in our industry.’
Lektrit: ‘Well it’s also quite normal for clients to move to another supplier if we’re not happy.’
Polity: ‘What’s the name of this boardroom again? Good luck with that.’
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease.
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and Sales Vs Procurement – The Secrets Unveiled at the Negotiation Table and is internationally 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 politicians.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Blog, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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12 Sales People Stuck in a Cave
Written by Elliot Epstein Monday, 16 July 2018 09:19Recently, 12 sales people participated in an end of financial year team building event in a Thai Cave.
The Sales Director had anticipated the team would bond together, share stories of their wins and enjoy the fun of navigating the dark cave using only their communication skills for direction.
All mobile phones were left with their Jimmy Choos and RM Williams at the cave’s entrance.
Given they were all literally in the dark, they lost their bearings and when the last game of ‘My client is bigger than your client’ ended, nobody could find their way out.
The first to speak was the millennial inside sales specialist who suggested they should first build their strength by getting uberEATS, until he realised his phone was 4 kms away.
The Pre-Sales Manager wryly observed that they wouldn’t have even been in this situation if they had built in some contingency such as allowing at least one mobile. His portable battery pack hung forlornly off his belt loop, depressing him even more,
The three enterprise sales people gathered in a corner away from the main group strategising which accounts they should take over after the sackings take place over this disaster.
Two Sales Support people moved from person to person asking if they were OK and asserted that they had to get out because they had six open orders to complete by the morning …or else.
The Sales Operations Manager started walking down a track all on their own, figuring that it was surely the same approach they had taken on the way in. It turned out to be a dead end and they went back and sat with everyone else in the bat droppings and blanket darkness.
After two days of cold, mind-numbing despair, a voice was heard in the distance.
‘Hello, hellooo’, it echoed.
‘HELLOOO’, the sales team bellowed back in unison.
‘I’m an expert navigator’ the distant voice proclaimed ‘I can help you immediately by re-training you how to take the right steps at the right time to get out of here’.
The responses from deep within the cave were astonishing.
‘Our training budgets were cut along with travel last month’ said the Sales Ops Manager.
‘You’ll have to go through HR’ said the Sales Support people.
‘I’ve done this kind of training’ said the Enterprise Sales people. ‘I already know all that stuff and it’s probably just another framework that won’t even get us half way towards the entrance’.
Then, amidst the pitch black gloom the Sales Director spoke, softly, but with conviction.
‘The person who found us is an expert, guaranteeing us the most precious gift of all – survival.
Your lives are at stake and I’m not letting you rot here without having explored every option, especially when there is a highly experienced, external resource at our doorstep’.
With that, the Sales Director called out ‘Hello, Expert Navigator – you’re hired’.
The Expert Navigator reached inside the cave, flicked the master switch and flooded the cave with light. ‘Follow the arrows…and I’ll meet you here with my invoice’ he said.
One by one, they all safely walked out of the cave wondering why they hadn’t thought of checking the entrance in the first place.
‘Sometimes, no matter how simple or complex it may be, it takes someone whose navigated over 4,000 caves to guide you through’ said the Expert Navigator as he walked off into the sunset.
The sales team reached hungrily for their phones to check Linkedin and upload pictures of the cave to Instagram and Facebook. Some even called their families.
The millennial jumped on uberEATS and ordered Pad Thai.
The team building day got an average score of 9 on the feedback survey.
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease.
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and is internationally 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 cave-dwellers.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Blog, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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MegaHarry Inc.
Written by Elliot Epstein Wednesday, 23 May 2018 17:16Harry was the Cloud King – the innovator of cloud based IT solutions in the enterprise market.
Recently, he merged with MegaCloud, a lesser known US based company that had split from its parent company some time ago.
The new entity ‘MegaHarry’ is now notorious worldwide for their fresh approach and the press is going crazy about this merger, with photos of their stunning Data Centres plastered everywhere.
Despite the excitement, the real work starts now.
Can they sustain their image?
Will this freshen up clients’ attitudes to Data Centres?
Will they fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people?
Will the merger survive the constant gaze of the world’s attention?
The truth is that the gloss will wear off and the need for reinvention and evangelical presentations will grow.
Traditionally, the presentations delivered by players in this market include:
A 96 year old company that is often racist and insults its clients.
A 92 year old company that pretty much says the same things, year in, year out.
A 69 year old company, whose CEO often changes suits mid-presentation and goes off on tangents.
MegaHarry now has a wonderful opportunity to bid farewell to the presentations we dread: the boring, overly technical, tedious drivel so often delivered in a monotone voice, trying to sound more important than they really are.
MegaHarry can now own the stage delighting the world with:
Rich, authentic stories of how people’s lives are affected, not just what they believe in.
Touches of humour, lightness, ease and connection, rather than earnest dissertations.
Personality and warmth, rather than the formality and over-controlled messaging of the past.
I’m sure you’ll join with me in wishing this happy merger every success.
We, the humble audience long to be swept up in the passion of the moment. We yearn to drink from the chalice of belief in their purpose.
Mostly though, we’re just sick and tired of being so bloody bored.
Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease.
He is the author of # 1 International Best Seller ‘ Confessions of a Pitch Consultant‘ and is internationally 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 presenters.
Published in Account Management/Retention, Blog, Executive Level Selling, Presentations, Sales Management
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