sales

The Must Have SME Tool: CRM

by Sue Barrett on May 15, 2012 · 0 comments

Looking at your Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) as a piece of software? Think again. While CRMs are getting better, easier and cheaper to use, more companies are positioning their CRMs as a marketing channel to map the true value of their clients to aid their competitive edge.

For those unfamiliar with CRMs, it’s time to familiarise yourselves or be left behind. A CRM is a strategy to manage your company’s interactions with your customers, clients and your prospects. Long gone is the old trustworthy little black book. Today, CRMs use technology to streamline and automate information, enhancing your business processes. CRMs allow you to measure and record your interactions and keep your sales, marketing and business development system streamlined and efficient.

Not too long ago, surveys reported 70-75% of all CRM initiatives failed. That was yesterday. This is today.
Smart companies will position CRM as a strategy and corporate asset from the outset. This dynamic communication system will be your corporate memory and tactical delivery channel for targeted campaigns and will be used by everyone across the organisation, not just by the sales team.  Positioned and used correctly with all this valuable information tracked and mapped, your CRM can be valued as part of your asset register and eventually sold for premium.

How do you create the strategy/vision, manage expectations, organise around the customer and implement CRM best practice? And what are the latest trends in CRM?

According to www.CRMtrends.com the Top 5 CRM Trends for 2012 are:

1.    Social Media Optimization: This is the year that efforts are redoubled to improve the effectiveness of social media marketing. This includes using social activities to support search engine optimization but also involves improving the effectiveness of all social media marketing.

2.     Multichannel: Every business needs to be a multi channel publisher now. This includes mobile.

crm for small business in australia

3.    The rise of the Datarati: Google’s Chief Economist, Hal Varian once said that “Datarati are companies that have the edge in consumer data insight…Data is ubiquitous and cheap, analytical ability is scarce… The sexiest job in the next ten years will be statistician.” How true. There has been and will continue to be an increased focus on data analysis as companies continue to invest in measuring social media, understanding customer value and modeling customer behavior. If you don’t use your data to talk to your customers, others will. The investment in data aggregation and the hiring of “sexy” statisticians is a major trend in 2012 and will be for years to come.

4.    Customer Experience: Customers have more choices than ever, and are more frugal. This affords them the luxury to demand more. This is the year that the CRM Marketer will be charged with offering a consistent experience across all company touch points and developing the infrastructure to allow knowledge sharing and smart communication. Smart marketers will identify and capitalise on unmet expectations. Companies that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the companies that survive and prosper. The customer’s mobile and online experiences will begin to evolve and rival the customer’s offline experience – attentive assistants and all.

5.    Personalisation and customisation: In order to be effective in 2012 and beyond, companies will seek to increase customer knowledge and use this insight to talk, engage and interact with their customers more often and more meaningfully in new and innovative ways (including dynamic content, blogs to other social networking). 2012 onwards will be up close and personal, like it or not.

So what is CRM Best Practice?

1.    CRM is about putting your customer at the centre or heart of your business

2.    CRM is about building better relationships with your customers

3.    CRM can give you a 360-degree view of the customer which enables you to improve the quality and satisfaction of each customer interaction and maximize the profitability of your customer relationships… a win/win for both you and your customers

4.    CRM can be practiced across all levels within a business from the ‘C’ Suite to customer service, product development, procurement, distribution, marketing, and of course sales.

So…

•    Do your senior managers, sales people and your broader business know why you have a CRM?

•    If so, do they know how to use it and why it will benefit them to do so?

•    Do they know what information needs to be captured and how it will be used?

•    Do they know how it will help them grow, develop and retain viable clients?

•    Does your CRM strategy and subsequent software make life easier for your sales people to make sales or not?

•    Does your CRM strategy and subsequent software support everyone in your business to make life easier for your clients and each other?

Your CRM needs to be a business strategy and a way of life not just a piece of software.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of Barrett

Don’t lose your top performers

by Sue Barrett on February 20, 2012 · 0 comments

There they are every day bringing in the deals. They’re always prospecting, meeting clients, networking, making suggestions about how to do things even better and they never discount unnecessarily.  Best of all your clients are happy. They’re happy with your offering, happy with your service, happy with the sales support they get and your small business is profitable.

Top of the world

small business tips Sounds magnificent doesn’t it?  Your top sales performer(s) require(s) very little work. They self manage, are resilient and are such a breeze to work with. They’re low maintenance and are not temperamental like those 600lb sales gorillas. You couldn’t be happier, right?

Well this is what most small business owners or sales managers are thinking when they get a great sales performer.  ‘So easy’ they say, ‘I wish all my sales people where like this’.  And yes, we would love all our sales people to be self motivated, self disciplined, engaging people who cared as much about our businesses as we do while bringing in fantastic, sustainable sales results.

The temptation is to leave them alone and say ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken’.  Many business leaders and sales managers take this approach. However, it’s precisely the wrong approach to take with top sales performers.
Let’s look at how much would it cost you to keep a top sales performer versus how much you would lose if they left your business.

Research continues to show that top sales performers love to learn and grow. The money is good but it is not the overriding factor.  Instead they seek out opportunities to advance their skills, knowledge and mindset on a regular basis – they want to be the best.   They strive for Mastery.   The number one quality distinguishing top sales performers from their colleagues is their desire to engage in self-appraisal & continuous learning.

Here is what you are likely to see top sales performers doing on a regular basis besides selling:

  • Asking for feedback on their own performance and the degree to which they have met client expectations.
  • Collaborating with colleagues and not putting competitiveness in the way of business success.
  • Recognising and acting on the need for continuous self learning and development.
  • Appraising their own performance and competencies and initiates development activities without prompting.

These activities are often done without the support of management. Top performers create their own self development journeys and go outside to get the coaching, mentoring and nourishment they need.
This is admirable on the part of the sales person and it seems, great for the business leader/owner or sales manager. However, businesses are putting themselves at a huge disadvantage if this equation remains one-sided.

Why?

Because money isn’t enough.  We might think that all we need to do is throw more money at top sales performers. Yes they deserve to earn top dollar but it’s more than that.

We need to take an interest in their overall development.  Provide them with opportunities to further develop their knowledge, skills and mindset.  Give them opportunities. These can be to work with us on the business, take a mentoring or coaching role in our sales team, work on special projects, develop new markets or become our business’ key spokesperson. We can position our top performers as a champion, an important asset in our business or simply give them one-on-one time with us or a nominated coach who takes a particular interest in their development helping them to be even more effective.

The small investment of our time and attention to develop our sales superstars is far outweighed by their contribution to our business.  Why risk it by ignoring the very people who make us a success?  It seems logical but organizations make this mistake time and time again.

I hear so many stories from top sales performers who just up and leave organizations because they feel they were taken for granted.  Here are some stories from top sales performers who have left companies because their requests for development were ignored:

  • “I wasn’t listened to. No interest was taken in me and my development. I had no respect as a professional business person.  Management didn’t care about my professional development and dismissed me as only being ‘a salesperson’ because I did not have a business degree.  They were only interested in me because I could bring in the deals.  I tried to explain that it wasn’t only about the money and that I wanted more challenges to help the business grow.  I had great ideas and wanted to step up. Instead they just told me to keep on selling and stay in my box.  I felt ignored and taken for granted.  I became tired, bored, and disillusioned with management and so I left.  They went into free fall when I resigned and since leaving the business they keep coming back to me offering more money.  They just don’t get it do they?’
  • “My repeated requests to my manager for coaching and training were dismissed as too costly.  I went outside to get the development I craved.  My manager just wasn’t interested in giving me any of his time to coach me and certainly wasn’t interested in paying any money for my development.  So I paid $3,000 of my own money for 6 one-on-one sales coaching sessions and they really helped.  The benefits of one-on-one sales coaching were enormous. I achieved 130% of my budget in my first year and made the annual incentive trip overseas. My manager tried to claim the credit for my success.  Needless to say into my second year nothing changed on the management front so after a further 9 months in solitude I left the company to pursue a career where personal development was valued.”

The cost of losing a top sales performer is enormous and it’s not until they are gone that most businesses realises their mistake.   Are you at risk of losing someone who is vital to your business?

Before it’s too late ask your top sales people:

What they want by way of personal and professional development.  Where would they like to take their careers?   How would they like to contribute to the business?  What ideas do they have about how we could be better?
Nourish these people with your interest in their ongoing development and show them that you genuinely care about their contribution and growth in your business – not just every now and again but continuously.   If you make this a priority you will retain these top sales people and benefit. Make it a priority to do something to support them and let them know you really value and appreciate their contribution.

If you need to talk to someone about coaching or training in sales, sales leadership, sales coaching or people management contact us.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

Are you losing sales and don’t even know it?

by Sue Barrett on February 16, 2012 · 0 comments

Enquiries, questions and quotes all lead up to a sale and any smart small business owner knows time is of the essence when dealing with customer enquiries – when we provide the answers quickly, our chances of securing the deal improve.

losing-sales-advice-for-small-business
The small business game is competitive enough and by neglecting to put customer concerns first we risk losing to our competitors and there are plenty of them out there.
Having an online presence is nowadays paramount to business growth. The majority of customers go straight your company website as a first step to getting to know you and if your website is positioned in the right way for your target audience it will have a great influence over increasing sales.
So, with these two factors in mind, small business owners need to ask the question: am I effectively handling potential customers’ online queries? You just may be losing sales and not even know it.
Often online leads aren’t as obvious as they when you are face-to-face with a potential client or customer. The following tips are how you can manage your online queries and leads and show you’re a business that genuinely hears and listens to your customers and clients:
Digital communication, destinations and New Listening Skills – It’s not only our website and FAQ pages that customers and clients are logging on to. We need to look out for the digital footprints of buyers as they trawl the digital world. Mapping buyer’s journeys before they talk to sales people and setting up the right forums, blogs and opinions for them to connect to before we even speak is critical.

Prospecting online – 10 years ago it was the Yellow Pages but today avenues such as LinkedIn are a rich vein of data, contacts and prospects and are available to be researched and connected to. Make sure you accepting the relevant invitations and responding to customer and client connections. Not only does it help strengthen your relationship with your client or customer but this also gives them more incentive to recommend your business to their networks.

Interacting with special interest groups – Although a customer or client may not be asking your business a direct question, more often that not they’re asking questions everyday on forums and special interest groups that relate to your industry and they’re asking a question that is the perfect fit for you to answer. Don’t go on and blatantly self remote rather exchange ideas and get involved in your industry’s conversation.

As small business owners we need to make sure we are answering direct customer enquiries from every avenue available. We also need to be aware of hidden enquiries that can lead to great opportunities to connect with new customers and or address any concerns before they become bigger issues. With companies making huge investments in online marketing and lead capture we need to make sure we know how to respond.
Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more. Visit www.barrett.com.au, Barrett Facebook Page or follow Sue Barrett on Twitter

A little prospecting each day goes a long long way

by Sue Barrett on February 9, 2012 · 0 comments

Most small business owners recognise the link between prospecting and business growth. For small businesses, it needs to be treated as a bit of a science. Know when to prospect, how to prospect and most importantly when not to give up. For some it’s a hard lesson to learn and many new to prospecting often take it personally when a prospect says ‘NO’. Instead of really listening to what it is the prospect is saying and understanding what is behind the objection, salespeople can be quick to cease all communication.

Sometimes we will strike viable and interested prospects and other times we come across viable but not interested prospects. Don’t burn those viable and not interested prospects as they may become viable and interested in the future. But you will never know if you don’t go back.

Giving up can be detrimental to your prospecting success. When seeking out new business and giving up at the first sign of rejection we risk losing the following:

small business tips

Lessons learnt – what is it that is stopping them from working with you? Once you can determine these factors you may find that you need to make minor adjustments to your service offerings or the way that it’s being presented. You may find there is a pattern to your prospecting objections. These lessons learnt will only strengthen your future prospecting chances.

Future business – For whatever reason, if you’re prospect isn’t in the right place to make a business arrangement with you make sure that the lines of communication still remain open. Timing can be major reason as to why business deals don’t progress. Retreating to early can cause you to miss out on favorably positioning yourself to ‘leave the door open’ for future contact thus limiting their sales opportunities even further.

Recommendations – Your service offerings may not be the perfect fit for your prospect but you never know who they might know. Particularly in B2B sales, smart business professionals appreciate genuine and relevant products, services and advice. If they see that what you have on offer is viable you will be top of mind for their business contacts that might be looking for what you offer.

There can be a fine line between persistence and harassment but its important when prospecting not to give up and the first sign of rejection. With practice and patience it becomes easier to see when and where not to give up on a prospect, and if its time to walk away make sure you walk away with lessons learnt or positioned yourself for recommendations or future business. Successful prospecting is never left up to chance but requires consistent and persistent effort.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more. Visit www.barrett.com.au, Barrett Facebook Page or follow Sue Barrett on Twitter