Dealstorming | Tim Sanders | Part 5

9781591848219Social Selling!

Social Selling is a word that is trending all throughout the internet. Believe it or not, there are A LOT of people out there not doing it… and there are A LOT of people out there doing it wrong.

“Incorporating social selling into your day-to-day prospecting approach consistently can make a big difference on your total performance. A recent survey revealed that ‘72.6% of salespeople who in corporate social media into their process outperformed their colleagues.’ These tech-savvy sellers make contact where the ‘smile and dial’ crowd continues to get voice mail.”[note]Page 159[/note]

Social selling is here… NOW. You need to incorporate this into your daily routine before you get left in the dust. There are multiple things that play into social selling, so I can’t exactly tell you what you need to do. However, send me an email, and we can talk about how to get you started. My favorite guys to follow are @JackKosakowski1 and @gabevillamizar. There are about 15 people I follow and like in terms of social selling… but I like these guys messaging the best.

The HARDEST part about social selling is seeing the ROI right away. It’s like going to the gym. You have to go more than once to see result. You need to put time in each day to make it happen. If you’re not social selling, chances are you’re not maximizing your potential. Social Selling gets you in the door, but once you’re there, you have to provide value!

“During our next dealstorm, it hit me: “Show them, don’t tell them.” We collectively came up with a way to powerfully illustrate our total value proposition to the ad agency account planners, using a graphic we called ‘The Iceberg.’ It combined an image with the numbers.”[note]Page 170[/note]

Yea… This is an Ah-Ha Moment! Give your prospect a visualization of what you’re offering and what goes on ‘underwater’ and they will fall in love with you. I am definitely borrowing this image so I can share it with my prospects and team. In the SaaS world, prospects often get ‘vendor blur’. It when the prospect doesn’t remember what the vendor does because they all kinda do the same thing. Then, they end up picking the vendor with the cheapest product. If you give them a visual that resonates with them like ‘The Iceberg’, it’ll separate you from the competition.

Ideally, when showing someone a visual of what you have to offer and how it’s going to fix their problem, they provide you feedback. Try imagining your sales pitch from the prospects view. Does everything make sense? Do you see the value in what you have to offer?

“Too often we see the world through our day-to-day experiences or based on our role at work. By adopting a new point of view, you open up possibilities for creativity in everyone on the dealstorm team.”[note]Page 178[/note]

Whether you look at this quote from the dealstorming perspective or from the prospect perspective… it can provide you with a lot of insight. In a dealstorm, you can get the view point from a lot of team members. From the prospect’s perspective, it can help you win a deal. Maybe you can relate more with a prospect when you’re learning about their pain points. The more you connect with a prospect, the better chance you have at them becoming a champion for you. Having a champion within an organization can make or break your deal.

“They get you and your offer in front of influencers and decision makers by vouching for you and opening doors. Later in the process, they marshal support for your company and drive others to action.”[note]Page 185[/note]

A lot of times, these champions will give you information that you don’t already have. While working at Cornerstone, one of my reps told me that their champion was in a meeting with the decision makers and they were narrowing the vendors down to three. The champion texted the rep and told them that they needed to drop the price or else we won’t be considered. The price was dropped and Cornerstone stayed in the picture. Obviously, we never want to lose a deal based on price… but that was the driving factor in narrowing down the vendors. Without that champion, we would have been gone.

“When people perceive you as a giver, they are usually ready to reciprocate by telling you what they know.”[note]Page 196[/note]

I’ve written about this many time! Once you can get off of your agenda and onto the prospects, you’re improving your chances of earning business. Help fix someone’s problem and they’ll return the favor. There aren’t a lot of sales people that take this approach. The ones that do… are rockstart sales people.

“With the dealstorming process, you now have a tool that not only produces measurable results, but by its collaborative nature created influence, power, and transparency for those who lead or participate in one.”[note]Page 222[/note]

Leaving you with this quote should encourage you to purchase this book and read it! There is so much incredible information throughout the book! Sander’s digs into his past to share stories from himself and other success people. I look forward to reading about his future success!

 

Connect with me on Twitter @Barta57

Connect with Tim on Twitter @sanderssays

 

Dealstorming | Tim Sanders

Get “Dealstorming” on Amazon.

Dealstorming | Tim Sanders | Part 2

dealstormingDealstorming has really opened my eyes! Sanders is teaching the reader something that they might know… but the depth he is able to go into will blow your mind. The process that he walks the reader through is bound to give you a few Ah-Ha Moments!

“When it comes to problem solving, your network truly is your net worth.”[note]Page 48[/note]

This is the second time I’ve written about this quote and I see it on the internet throughout the week. It is so true though. If you’ve got a small network, that’s okay, you better know those people extremely well so you know when they can help you. If you’ve got a huge network, great! But make sure you have some true type of connection so you can call apon them for help when you need it.

The whole point of using your network is so that you can get things done faster! Like I’ve said before, you by yourself isn’t the best option!

“The purpose of collaboration is not collaboration itself. It’s achieving better results in a shorter amount of time.” – Tamara Schenk[note]Page 50/51[/note]

How many of you have ever been in a meeting? How many of those meetings have been productive? People complain about meetings being a waste of time on the daily. Do everybody a favor and only call meetings that are useful. Have an agenda set prior and make sure people have something to do prior so you can maximize your time. I’m not going to tell you how to run a meeting, Sanders does that and it’s awesome!

One thing though, you should do prior to setting a dealstorming meeting, is make sure that there is a real issue you’re looking to solve.

“For sales leaders, the first checkpoint for qualifying and staffing dealstorms is to verify that there really is a problem.”[note]Page 62[/note]

Is there actually a problem with retaining or getting a new client? Or could it be that a step in the sales process got skipped and now you’re trying to figure out how you can win the deal. Did the client take the required steps to dispute their issue or did they go straight to the account manager to have them fix it? Calling upon a group of people to fix an issue could waste a lot of time and money. Be careful to put together a dealstorm without actually understanding what it is you’re accomplishing.

When you come to the conclusion that you need to hold the dealstorm, you have to be careful whom you choose. Don’t only bring salespeople to the table… they’ll tell you how to sell the deal. Bring on other departments!

“… draw up a map of who touches an account, from concepts to delivery to billing to analysis and so on.”[note]Page 72[/note]

If you didn’t think about this before, you’ve just received an Ah-Ha Moment! For instance, I’m sitting down next week to kick off my first dealstorming session. I’ve asked my manager to add some additional people to our meeting so that we can begin conversations. Implementation and customer service will be joining us for a conversation and I’m so excited about how we can work together. None of this would have come to fruition without Sander’s book.

Another point he makes while you’re going through the process of picking your team, is make sure they know why you’re doing what you’re doing. He uses Simon Sinek’s, “Start with Why.” If they don’t understand the strategic nature you’re taking, they’ll just think it’s another pointless sales meeting. I think something great to add to this statement is; also let the people know why you’re choosing them. Blasting out an email asking for people to volunteer won’t get you very far.

Personalize the approach, and you’re bound to get the response you want from people. Don’t forget, you’re asking them to take time out of their day to help you. That doesn’t come cheap.

 

There’s more to come from me about:

Dealstorming | Tim Sanders

Get “Dealstorming” on Amazon.

Dealstorming | Tim Sanders | Part 1

9781591848219The value that Dealstorming brings to life is the collaboration among people to get the job done.

“Gather a team, put your brains together, and make it rain!”[note]Page 1[/note]

The information coming from a collective group is so much more valuable than one person. Everybody has different personalities, viewpoints and opinions. You’re going to find a solution if you have a team to help you. I ran into a snag last week at work. I found out that one of my prospects was apart of an association and they didn’t think they could buy my product. However, they’d entertain a call to see if there was another way I could help… Guess what.

I reached out to six other people; four within my organization and two external people. After a few conversations with experts on the association, I learned that the prospect had been mislead in which vendors they could purchase. The meeting has been set and now I can do a little educating. If I hadn’t reached out to those people, I never would have been able to compete for their business.

“As it turned out, sales genius didn’t come solely from individual sales reps, my researchers, or me. Sales genius, I discovered, is a team sport. It was about all of us in the room finding and solving problems as one.”[note]Page 5[/note]

Different ideas come from different individuals. Have you ever worked on a project and then asked someone for feedback? Then realized that the feedback they gave you was really valuable… but you never would have realized you needed to make the changes they were suggesting? It’s truly amazing what other people can offer. Don’t just choose anyone though! Make sure you choose wisely because sales in only getting tougher.

“Today, tough sales are the norm.”[note]Page 18[/note]

Man, ain’t that the truth. The list is never ending. You’ve got the internet… you can compare price, service, competition, reviews… just about anything. There are purchasing teams, consultants, influencers, people who think they’re influencers but aren’t, and the never ending madness of people changing jobs. If your champion decides to change jobs… you’re starting from scratch. Start-ups trying to get some traction in a market. Heck, don’t forget about the ‘research companies’ that determine who the big players are in each industry.

“Customers on average have completed nearly 60% of their purchasing decisions before having a conversation with a supplier.”[note]Page 21[/note]

You better hope that your buyer is looking in the right place to find your product, or you’re shit out of luck. Having to re-educate the buyer on what your company sells or stands for is difficult. The internet is full of information and you need your buyer to consume the right type.

When you get the opportunity to re-educate your buyer, because you will, you need to get off your agenda and onto theirs. They already know their pain points and they’re looking to you to help fix them. It’s now your turn to understand them and find more pain points so you can bring more value.

“Their insight is yours: When the going gets tough, the ambitious get innovative.“[note]Page 27[/note]

If you want to win that deal, you better bend over backwards to figure out the answers to their questions. If you don’t have the answer, get together with your team to find the answer. Get innovative and come up with outcomes that nobody else thinks of. Don’t just give up. Find another way… find a better way to get it done.

 

There’s more to come from me about:

Dealstorming | Tim Sanders

Get “Dealstorming” on Amazon.