Finally, Qs also capture the reasons (goals, benefits, filters, SOEs, and conditional commitments) why you won or lost the sale. Use this historical information to concentrate on customers’ goals and keep yourself razor sharp. Granted, you must fill in the data, but the more you do, the more valuable the information becomes for you. Keep thinking loose-leaf pad with rows and columns versus scattered notes.
Team Effort
Qs help coordinate your team-selling effort. Few things are worse in a joint sales effort than two or more salespeople working at different contact levels and not sharing a common language or system for evaluating their progress. You use Qs to eliminate this concern. The Qs display information by salesperson and contact levels. Everyone in a team sell is aware of which MP each salesperson is in. Everyone views the most current information of the different salespeople working on the same sales opportunity. You can make strategic decisions on how each salesperson should conduct the next MP.
In addition, Qs help you to track the different contacts when you are working with multiple decision makers on a sales opportunity. You view the goals and filters columns for each contact level in a sales opportunity. Compare the information from gatekeepers, advocates, and final-decision makers for consistency (or lack thereof). Use any discrepancies to guide the different contacts involved on what goals and filters need clarification.
For the front page of the Steven Smartsell sample Q sheet, see Exhibit 9-4 on a preceding spread.
Exhibit 9-4: Front page of Q sheet.
For the back page of the Steven Smartsell sample Q sheet, see Exhibit 9-5 on a preceding spread.
Exhibit 9-5: Back page of Q sheet.
Connect the Value Sheet
You use this sales tool during MP 3: Cement Solution. You take the information you gathered on your Q sheets to build the customers’ solutions from their goals down, not from your products’ features up. You follow the MP 3 steps as instructed in Chapter 7. The downloadable, electronic template for this sheet is found on www.measuremax.com. (See Exhibit 9-6.)
Connecting Value Sheet
Customer: Positron
Contact: Olivia Ontime
Specific Goals
Measurable Benefits
Systems of Evaluation
Solutions
Features
Value & Focus
(Internal, External, or Both)
U.S. & Value Rating
Reduce downtime
Prevent production stoppages from 18 hours annually to 9, which generate savings of $360,000 annually
Hours of downtime
Predicto Services
Variance Alerts prevent unscheduled breakdowns
Perceived Value. Both. Ensures uninterrupted shipments to their customers (E) and saves them money from lost production (I).
Yes/5
Predicto Services
Tolerance Checks prevent unscheduled breakdowns
Same as above
Yes/5
Improve capacity
Increase production by 15%
Units per hour
ProdoGain
200-nit capacity
Measurable value and internal
No/1
Conditional Commitment: Reduce the costs of $40,000 per downtime hour (SOE) to no more than nine hours annually (goal), save $360,000 (measurable benefit), begin in November and finish by December (start and completion dates), not exceed $1,080,000 budget (funding), get at least a three-year payback (SOE).
Do Proposed Solutions Satisfy It?
þ Yes
q No. Why Not?
Exhibit 9-6: Connecting value sheet.
Take the Pulled-Through Test
This sales tool allows you perform a simple test on whether customers are pulling your proposals through the sales process or whether you are pushing them through. As discussed in Chapter 1, you want customers to be at least as motivated as you are about achieving their goals. Otherwise, value and productivity suffer. Like the other sales tools, the Microsoft Word template can be found on the www.measuremax.com Web site. (See Exhibit 9-7.)
Does Your Proposal Pass the Pulled-Through Test?
Sales Opportunity Name: Central Plant Upgrade
Contact Name: Olivia Ontime
Position: VP of manufacturing
Date Customer Received Proposal: 4/10
Date of Last Customer Contact: 4/17
þ
MPC 1: Interest Confirmed obtained
þ
MPC 2: Potential Confirmed obtained
“Pushed-Through”
(Salesperson-Generated)
“Pulled-Through”
(Customers-Generated/Measuremax)
q
Goals and filters are not measurable or specific
þ
Goals and filters are measurable or specific
q
No verifications of Measurable Phase Changes
þ
Verifications of Measurable Phase Changes
q
No conditional commitment or attainment measurement exists
þ
Conditional commitment or attainment measurements exists
q
Uncertainty over what prompted the proposal
þ
Proposal generated at customers’ request using well-defined goals
q
Proposal contains limited customer’s input
þ
Proposal uses customer’s input to fill out Q sheet
q
MPs not conducted in proper sequence
þ
MPs conducted in proper sequence
q
Salesperson avoids or supplies own numbers for cost justifications
þ
Customer supplies the means for direct or indirect cost justification
q
Proposal considered as a means to flush out concerns or undisclosed goals and filters
þ
Proposal used to formalize agreed upon MPCs
q
Clarification calls to customers before making presentations are nonexistent
þ
Numerous clarification calls and the customers understand the reasons for them.
q
Unclear time frame for starting
þ
Well-defined time frame for starting
q
Uncertainty over chances of success
þ
Proposal status is well known
q
Proposal focuses on numerous product features without connecting to specific customers’ goals and measurable benefits
þ
Proposal focuses on customers’ agreed-upon goals and measurable benefits, and demonstrates connections between them and products’ features
Total Check Marks: 0
Total Check Marks: 13
q Pushed-Through
þ Pulled-Through
Exhibit 9-7: Passing the pulled-through test.
Sales Consistency and Time Management
The amount of time (in-person sales calls) you spend in each Measurable Phase (MP) has a big impact on your sales consistency. In-person sales calls are your currency. You only have so many you can invest, and each one must provide a return to warrant further ones with the same customers. Making in-person sales calls is also like farming. You have three stages, and you want to strike the right balance between them to ensure a strong harvest. They are as follows:
Planting Seeds. This stage consists of MP 1: Spark Interest and MP 2: Measure Potential. You try to generate new sales opportunities and determine what it will take for them to grow (be worthwhile to plant).
Watering Crops. This stage consists of MP 3: Cement Solution. You demonstrate how your watering (solutions) makes their yield (measurable benefits) bountiful.
Harvesting Crops. This stage consists of MP 4: Implement Agreement. You are ready to bring the crop to market (purchase orders).
The right balance ensures that your sales performance does not encounter droughts. For instance, assume that you bat 50 percent. Half of your MP 1 telephone sales calls make it to MP 2 in-person sales calls, and half of those make it to MP 3, and, then half of those make it to MP 4. Your mix for consistency requires eight times as many of your sales calls to be in MP 1 than in MP 4. (See Exhibit 9-8.)
Planting Seeds
Watering
Harvesting
Phase
MP 1 (via telephone)
MP 2
MP 3
MP 4
Total
Number of in-person sales calls
8 phone calls
4 sales calls
2 sales calls
1 sales call
7 sales calls
Approximate % in each phase
57%
28%
15%
100%
Exhibit 9-8: The right balance for sales calls.
It is easy to understand why you want to manage your selling efforts in a measurable manner. You can manage your sales activities by recording how many open sales opportunities fall into these groupings. The productivity equation later in this chapter takes into account the varying sales factors that determine your optimal balance.
Note Customers also set limits on the numbers of sales calls they will spend with a salesperson before they must know the price of your products or the measurable benefits of their goals. Which one do you want to happen first?
Using a Monthly Sales Call Planner
To help you plan and manage your selling activities, use a monthly sales call planner. It motivates you to think about where you want to invest your limited sales resources—your in-person sales calls. You use this sales tool (see Exhibit 9-9) to plan your sales calls one month in advance. (This tool can be found as an Excel spreadsheet at www.measuremax.com.)
Account
Opportunity Name
Contact Name
Position
Planned, In-Person Calls/Month
Actual
Current Phase
Advanced Computer Company
West End facilities upgrade
Tom James
director of engineering
2
3
MP 2
Advanced Computer Company
West End facilities upgrade
Becky Barr
CEO
2
1
MP 2
Advanced Computer Company
Martinville maintenance agreement
William Thomas
plant supervisor
1
1
MP 2
Positron
Central Plant upgrade
Olivia Ontime
VP of manufacturing
3
2
MP 3
Positron
Central Plant upgrade
ReutersRon
CEO
2
1
MP 3
Star Computers
Unknown
Gary Bryant
VP of engineering
1
0
MP 1
Star Computers
Unknown
Deborah Dietz
CFO
1
1
MP 1
PC Power Ltd.
Addition to 888 Market Street
Arthur Stein
plant manager
2
3
MP 4
Total Planned Calls:
14
Nonscheduled, Reactive Calls:
8
Total Monthly Calls:
22
Exhibit 9-9: Example of a monthly sales call planner.
You decide how many sales calls you need to make to practice account or opportunity management effectively. No magic number exists other than what you think you require to be successful. You are not scheduling specific dates to visit, but rather specific numbers of planned sales calls. You can also use the monthly sales call planner to solicit advice from your peers or sales management team, but before your month begins, not after. Another benefit of the planner is that it lets you evaluate how well you know who the different players are and their role in the decision-making process.