What is the behavioural style of your candidate?

1. FACT: 85% of all unsuccessful job placements can be traced to behavioural style clash with the job’s requirements.

2. Listen for pattern of speech. Fast paced talkers are more extroverted multi-taskers, slow paced more careful and introverted.

3. What does the candidate talk about? People or things? Those focused on numbers and objectives are less likely to perform well in people related roles like customer service and v.v.

4. How much detail in their conversation? Extrovert sales types tend towards concepts & the big picture; tech types to data and rates of performance.

5. Not everyone is happy with verbal communication. Ask if the candidate prefers verbal presentations or presenting reports.

6. Can you envisage the candidate at a meeting of the department? If not, the behavioural fit might not be there.

7. Determine if the candidate is routine, project or trouble shooting orientated.

8. Ask:  “What kind of people do you have trouble working with most? The answer will tell you a lot about the candidate’s own behavioural style.

9. Always remember that it is much more difficult to change behaviour style than it is to teach specific job skills. Where you have to choose between behaviour style and job skills, you are usually ahead going with a behaviour style match

Working with you.

      Chris Wilkinson.                                                                                                          

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga--CANADA).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Stop wasting time on 97% of prospects who are low potential customers....

If you have been in sales long enough, you probably love those calls when you reach someone who is in an active buying role.  The problem is, that only happens about 3% of the time, and the other 97% of the time you waste chasing after prospects who are either not interested, content with their current supplier or have not had enough irritation around the problem you wish to solve to warrant a change.  So how can you make you sales force more efficient and see greater return on effort?

The 3% Rule

At any given time, only 3% of your market is buying.  They are the companies calling for proposals, requesting demos, and engaging your sales staff.  These active buyers are in the sales funnel and willing to commit within the next 90 days.  The problem is identifying who these three percent are versus the 97% who are not ready to buy today.

·       3% are Active Buyers.
They have a need, they have made a commitment to change, and are actively shopping for vendors.  They want to make a purchase decision within the next 90 days.  These are sales leads.

·       7% Intend to Change.
These are passive buyers.  These companies might respond to a well-timed cold call or marketing campaign, but otherwise they aren’t proactive in their buying efforts yet.  They are simply talking about it internally, but haven’t gone out shopping for options.

·       30% are Irritated, but not enough to change.
These companies have a pain or a problem with their current solution, but have other priorities at the moment.  Until this issue becomes a priority, they won’t buy.  This is a frustrating segment, because sales people waste countless hours trying to sell to these companies that aren’t ready to buy.

·       30% are Content, and definitely won’t change.
These companies may have recently purchased another solution, they may be too small, or they may not be feeling any pain.  Either way, they aren’t buying right now.  Any sales or marketing message targeted to this group will fall on deaf ears.

·     30% are not interested in you, period.
Honestly, these companies are never going to choose you.  These are possibly customers you don’t want, or companies that don’t want you.  Don’t sweat it.  Just recognize that this dynamic occurs, and you can’t be all things to all people.

Why Cold Calling Doesn’t Work

As you can see by the numbers above, cold calling will work at best 10% of the time, and the other 90% of time is wasted.  Remember that it takes 5-7 phone calls to get someone else at the other end of the line.  When you consider that there is about a 1 in 10 chance that they would even be interested, you need to make about 50-70 calls to find a lead.

So how do you overcome these well-established metrics?  Actually, it’s pretty simple.  We can marry/align inbound and outbound campaigns to deliver leads in fewer than 10 calls.  Sounds impossible? Actually, it’s not. 

I have a simple rule, let your sales people focus on the 3% who are ready to buy, and let marketing focus on the other 97%.  The problem is, many companies have their marketing teams also focus on that same 3% and the other 97% are totally tuned out.

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga) CANADA.

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Value Proposition Examples: Words That Get Meetings…. (as in ‘face time’  with customer)

Jay is the owner of an electronic components manufacturing company. He's trying to figure out how to sell his services to the corporate market. Like many of you, he doesn't have a strong business case to capture a company's attention. That's why he recently asked me:

"I'm having trouble figuring out my value position for selling to bigger companies. When a company's challenges are rising cost from suppliers or trying to go ‘green’, it just doesn't cut it to tell them, ‘Hey I can reduce your stress during those stressful times.’ Any advice you can give is appreciated."

Here is my response:

"You're right Jay. For the most part, ‘reducing stress’ doesn't excite most corporate decision makers. You need to start thinking differently about the value of your services. What you're missing is the high cost of stress on an organization. It can lead to: higher medical costs, increased absenteeism, costly mistakes, disengaged employees, lower productivity, increased turnover and much more."

One of the biggest reasons businesses struggle in today’s market is because they have weak value propositions. Over and over again, I hear people who sell deliver ineffective statements about the value customers get from working with their organization. It doesn’t matter if these sellers are from big companies, small firms, or are independent professionals. They just aren’t saying things that get prospective buyers to say, “Come on in. We need to meet.”

And the worst thing is that many of the products or services these people sell have extremely high value to corporate accounts! But their failure to articulate it in words that appeal to corporate decision makers is their downfall. Instead, they limp along trying to drive sales but unable to even get in the door.

A strong value proposition is specific, often citing numbers or percentages. It may include a quick synopsis of your work with similar customers as a proof source and demonstration of your capability.

A value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible results a customer gets from using your products or services. Its outcome focused and stresses the business value of your offering.

Here is an example of a good value proposition:

“We help large companies reduce the cost of their employee benefits programs without impacting benefit levels. With the spiralling costs of health care today, this is a critical issue for most businesses. One of our recent clients, a large manufacturing company similar to yours, was struggling with how to reduce spending in this area. We saved them over $800,000 in just six months. Plus, they didn’t cut any services to their employees, nor did their employees have to pay more.”

Strong value propositions are your best tool for setting up meetings with prospective buyers. Corporate decision makers will nearly always meet with sellers who offer tangible outcomes and measurable results.

Jill Konrath CPSA.

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga--Canada).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net