Keenan 411

Jim Keenan is a Senior Sales Executive, Enterprise 2.0/Web 2.0 Connector, an Entrepreneur still trying to get it right, and a PSIA Certified Ski Instructor for Vail Resorts. Husband to Big E and father to four great kids. In a nut shell, I'm a Sales Guy. Life is good!

Why Care

Caring means you have to commit. Caring means you have an interest in a positive outcome. When we care the little things matter, we go the extra mile, we take ownership. Caring is hard. It saps our energy, it works our self-esteem, and holds us accountable.

Caring also is rewarding. It gives us a sense of accomplishment. It tells people who we are and what we focus on. Caring creates followers and builds leaders. Caring is a key part of success.

Caring is a lot harder than not caring Not caring is easy. It absolves us from ownership and responsibility. It allows us to make our issues other peoples problems. When we don’t care we avoid accountability. When we don’t care the outcome doesn’t matter. Not caring doesn’t make a difference.

Care about what you do. It makes a difference.

If you don’t care about what you do or the people you do it with, do everyone a favor and care about doing something else.

Even that will make a difference.

March 1, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Brand, Personal Development, Uncategorized | Comments |

I Don’t Care About Hospitals

I was in a customer meeting the other day when the customer asked about the financial benefits of our new technology. The account manager answered the question by confidently telling the story of how our technology enabled a hospital to reduce it’s discharge times from 4 1/2 hours to 30 minutes. It was a compelling story. By reducing the discharge time, the hospital saved money, increased room availability, and reduced employee time spent transitioning patients. It was an excellent example of what our technology can do.

The problem; our partner doesn’t sell to hospitals and they aren’t a hospital.

The partners response? “That’s a great story, but I don’t care about hospitals, our competitors do. That’s part of their business, it’s not part of mine. I don’t sell to hospitals. This continues to show me you don’t understand my business.”

Our partner was right. He wanted examples of how his business could benefit from our technology. He wanted to understand how we were going to help HIM meet the market demands HIS company is facing, not those of his competitors. He doesn’t care about hospitals, he doesn’t sell to them.

This happens far too often. A company has this killer case study, a great story of how their product made a huge impact on one of their customers. It’s the perfect story illustrating the value of the companies product. It spreads through the sales team like wildfire. Eventually, it becomes part of every sales persons “pitch.”

The problem is; it’s not one size fits all. It has the wow factor. It hits all the sales elements, but smart customers see right through it. It’s not relevant to their business.

This weeks Sales Smack asked the question, Is Sales on Autopilot. I think this is an example of yes, they are.

If your customer isn’t a hospital, don’t talk about hospitals. If your customer isn’t a bank, don’t talk about banks. If you customer isn’t a hotel, don’t talk about hotels. Know your customers business, and give them examples they can understand. Make your stories matter or just don’t tell them.

February 12, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process, The Chase, Uncategorized | Comments |

Something Different

I did something different today. I did something I almost never do. I took a day off. I didn’t go on vacation. I just took the day off. I never do this. I am too busy and just don’t feel comfortable putting it all on hold for a day.

Today, I did.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I drove up to Vail and skied all day. I took a bump clinic from a former World Cup mogul skier and thought of nothing else but skiing.

The weather was beautiful. I met a bunch of cool, fun people who could shred. We spent the day ripping the mountain, coaching each other, and critiquing each others bump skiing. It was awesome!

Finding the time to do this is hard for me. But, this year I made a New Years commitment to 4 theme’s; complete/finish, learn/grow, organize and fun. Today definitely fell into the fun category. It’s not often I get to ski at the level we did today and I remember how much I enjoy it.

When I was a kid my dad used to let us take day off from school everyone once in a while for no reason. He called them “mental health” days. I loved them as a kid. Today was exactly that. It was a “mental health” day.

What about work? It was exactly where I left it. No deals were lost. No buildings burned down. No customers upset. The world didn’t come to an end.

The work is still there, but I feel great and that always makes the work that much more fun.

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February 10, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Development, Random, Uncategorized | Comments |

You Want Big Dollars; Solve Big Problems

I was on a call today with a partner when they told us they weren’t going to bid our solution. They said they were going to go a different direction. A few people on my team asked a couple of high-level questions, but you could tell everyone was a bit shocked and little was being said. I sat and listened for a minute, concerned no one was going to probe. Just as I was about to start the probing myself, someone jumped in and started asking the right questions. They asked the partner why they chose the alternative option. They asked how they came to the decision they did etc. They probed and asked a lot of good questions.

I don’t suspect we will change their mind, but the questions led to something much larger. We are chasing that down now.

This reminded of a great story from one of my favorite sales books; Hope Is Not A Strategy

In it, the author, Rick Page told this story of a sales call:

Mark open the meeting by asking, “What can we do for you?”

The information technology officer replied, we have a fifty-thousand dollar engagement for technical architecture consulting for an application we are starting to build.

Mark reacted. “Is that it? Fifty thousand dollars for technical architecture consulting? That’s not what we do best. There are other product vendors that do that as effectively as we can, for less money. But at that point he began to drill down to the business problem. And the knife he used to peel back the onion to the business problem is a simple word. “Why?’

“Why do you need the technical architecture?”

“Well we have an application to develop, and we need to do it by January.” said the IT manager

“Why January?” asked the business development manager (Mark)

“Its a government regulation.” said the IT manager.

“Why is it a government regulation?”

“Derivatives control.”

“Ah, derivatives control. Let me guess: You have one person trading highly leveraged derivatives, the whole bank is exposed and nobody knows what he’s doing . Am I right?”

“Precisely,” said the V.P. of finance

The business developer said. “So this is a survival issue to the bank, isn’t it?”

“Exactly,” said the V.P. of finance.

“And since you’re one of the lead banks in this country, this could be a survival issue for the country?” said the business developer.

“That’s why it’s a government regulation,” said the VP of finance

The business developer could have stopped there, but he actually went farther and higher up the value chain of business issues. “I understand you lost three hundred and fifty million dollars; people lost their jobs and went to jail; and it was all over the newspaper, right?”

“Right,” said the VP of finance.

The business developer then went further and held up the annual report. “I read in your president’s statement that he wants you to be one of the lead banks in Europe for multinational banking; is that correct?”

“You’ve done your homework,” said the VP of finance. It’s an important goal.”

The business developer asked, “Do you think he’s going to be satisfied if we tell him that we built a system to make us compliant? We’re just like all the other banks, we’re compliant. Instead, how would you like to have the best derivatives control system in Europe, to be able to draw multinational banks to you and gain competitive advantage?”

“That’s exactly what we want,” said the VP of finance.

The initial inquiry was for fifty thousand dollars. When they signed the deal, it was for five million dollars, which may only be a starter kit for several years of the same billing level.

Sales is about going deep. It’s about getting in the shoes, pants, coat and life of your customers. It’s about getting to the core issue, and peeling back the onion.

We almost missed this today. But we didn’t. We found a bigger problem.

If you want big dollars; solve big problems

February 9, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments |

Sales Leaders; Got Your Coaching Hat On?

My friend Jen Ward wrote a post the other day about how to change behavior. It had this great quote in it;

“sales reps need to become comfortable with making others uncomfortable.”

I agree with her.

Someone also agreed with her and left this comment.

“This makes sense. I rarely ever push for a sale from a client, yet I routinely see companies who do a lower level of quality take sales away from me because they push the clients really hard. I’ve ended up with many clients who went with someone else to build their site and then a year later came back to me to fix what the first company did. Pretty much, all of my business comes from recommendations from previous clients or people I have already worked with.

I have a client today that is struggling with the decision to rebuild his 8 year old simplistic website (and poor artwork) with a well designed site able to handle all of the features he wants. Money doesn’t seem to be a factor. He is nervous with change. It’s summed up with “The unknown is scary”.

There are tons of “opportunities” in this comment. My coaching side just wants to take over. I can see a bunch of ways “Toff” could improve the way she sells.

What about you?

Based on the comment, how would you coach her?

February 6, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Leadership, Sales Process, Uncategorized | Comments |

100 Raffle Tickets

When I was in 8th grade we had raffle selling contest to raise money for our school. The student who sold the most raffle tickets won a prize.

I remember being determined to win that contest. I sold tickets to all my Dad’s friends. I went out every day. I went door to door in my neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhoods. I rang doorbells, gave presentions, appealed to peoples good nature and sold like crazy. I busted my ass selling those things.

I learned a lot selling the tickets. I learned that there are many different reasons or motives people buy. Some people bought from me because they wanted to support the school. Others bought because I was a young kid out hustling and working hard. Some bought because they wanted the Grandfather clock. Others bought because they felt guilty. You’d be amazed at all the different reasons people will buy a raffle ticket from a kid. (I bet girlscouts know all about this)

As the number of doors I knocked on, and the number of doorbells I rang grew, I started to figure out what peoples motives were before the dialog would start. With this sense I would target my pitch, to what I thought would motive them. (yes it was a pitch, not much room for consultative selling on a doorstep). I wasn’t always right. Sometimes I had to switch my tactics midstream. But, overtime I got good at it and learned selling to each persons unique motives sold a lot more raffle tickets.

The more motives I uncovered, the more prepared I was to sell.

I learned a lot about selling during those two weeks. I learned that people buy for a lot of different reasons and to assume there is only one or two motives can cost you a sale. I learned that hustle and grit go a long way. I learned I like to sell. I learned I like to compete. I also learned life isn’t fair.

On the last day of the raffle contest, I was reved-up. I was convinced I was going to win. I had sold 10 books or 100 raffle tickets.

As school started we were sitting in homeroom and I was asking everyone how many they sold? Three books someone would say, two books, one and a half books, but no one was close. Except one kid. I couldn’t even tell you his name, so we’ll call him Bobby. He sold eight. Phew! Close!

Feeling confident in my victory, I sat back and waited for the afternoon assembly where they were going to announce the winner of the raffle selling contest.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in the auditorium, waiting, proud to have my name called as the winner; the guy who sold the most raffle tickets. When I hear; “The winner of the raffle selling contest is . . . Bobby!”

What?!!!?? Bobby??

I didn’t win! The kid who had sold eight won!?? I wanted a recount!

What happened?

The kid who sold eight called his mother and she came and bought 4 more books pushing his total to 12.

I came in second and won a free ice cream sundae. I don’t remember what first place prize was. But I’ll never forget how bitter that ice cream sundae tasted.

I’ll always remember that experience. Despite how pissed I was, and I was pissed, I mean adult pissed off, it was a very influencing experience in my life.

I learned a lot from the 100 people who I sold raffle tickes to, at least twenty more lessons than Bobby, and that has been worth more than any prize Bobby’s mother won for him.

February 4, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Development, Sales Process, The Chase, Uncategorized | Comments |

Sales “Tough Guy” Problem

Sales has an interesting legacy culture. It’s a “tough guy” culture. I still see it lingering around.

mean-bossIt works like this. You get your quota and you make it. Period.

The “tough guy” culture doesn’t allow for business discussion on the reality of the quota or how it was derived. It’s not open to industry or environmental impacts. It basically says; if your a real sales guy, if you’re a good sales guy then you’ll make your number and if you can’t, you aren’t and we’ll find someone who is.

The “tough guy” culture celebrates the person who makes their number, regardless of how they make it.

The problem with the “tough guy” culture is important information doesn’t make it back to home base. Customer feedback is buried, for fear of not looking tough. Product enhancements are not shared, because a “tough guy” can sell it anyway. The impact of a competing product is dismissed, because a “tough guy” can sell against his competitors. An unsatisfied customer . . . who cares, I sold them something.

“Tough guy” cultures are aggressive and cut throat. They aren’t a fun place to work. Little emphasis is put on the customer, or the product. It’s all about pushing sales.

It’s an old culture. It seems to be dying, but it’s a slow death. There are fewer companies with a “tough guy” culture today, but many companies are still holding on to parts of it.

The “tough guy” culture creates a big wake. A wake of unsatisfied customers, inconsistent sales, and high sales turnover.

The “tough guy” culture used to work when information was hard to come by. When those who controlled the information had an advantage. In today’s open, social internet world, a “tough guy” wake can kill you.

How much of the “tough guy” culture is in your organization? Get it out.

As my dad used to say; “It’s not about being the toughest, but the smartest”

Build a “smart guy” culture, it’s what today’s information world demands.

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January 19, 2010 | Filed under: Business Performance, Sales Leadership, The Chase, Uncategorized | Comments |

Would You Fire Jay Leno?

Jay Leno’s new show isn’t working. They want to move him back to his 11:30 time slot. Maybe they should just fire him. He’s not making his numbers after all.

But wait, Conan O’Brien is in Jay’s old slot and his audience is smaller than Jay’s was. Jay had twice as many viewers when he was host of The Tonight Show. Maybe they should fire Conan. I think that’s what they are going to do. Unless Conan agrees to give Jay his spot back. Conan’s not making his numbers either. Maybe NBC should fire them both.

Is Jay Leno bad goods? Is Conan not worth having around?

Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien are good. They are valuable assets and NBC understands this. They made a mistake putting Jay into a prime time slot and got themselves in a bit of pickle, but if they play their cards right they will keep two very valuable people.

Just because Jay couldn’t make his numbers in prime time doesn’t mean you don’t want him on the team. Just because Conan couldn’t match Jay’s Tonight Show numbers doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be on the team either.

Firing people because they don’t make their numbers is a weak, lazy way to manage a sales team. I’ve watched and listened to more than my share of weak sales leaders berate and threaten sales people who weren’t making their numbers. I’ve watched sales leaders stack rank sales people solely on their number. I’ve watched top performers get promoted into roles they couldn’t handle. I’ve seen good, solid sales people get fired after not making their number in the first 6 months.

It’s easy to use the number. Either they did or the didn’t make their goal. You don’t have to focus on the environment. You don’t have to evaluate what the sales person is doing. You don’t have understand how they are doing it. You just focus on the number. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

Watch the number. Then dig deep. Why is the number missed? Are poor decisions being made? Does the sales person lack product knowledge? Are they not asking for the close? Are they incapable of crafting solutions, uncovering customer needs or overcoming objections? If so, you’ve got a problem. If not, dig deeper and don’t be so quick to get rid of what could be a great rep in the wrong spot.

Jay Leno isn’t making the his number. But, I’m not firing him, are you?

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January 12, 2010 | Filed under: Hiring/Firing, Sales Leadership, Uncategorized, What I Think! | Comments |

My Themes

I wish there were some type of calendar that allowed me too track daily activities on my blog.

I’ve determined my themes for 2010 and I’d like to chart my progress here if there were an easy way to do it.

Rather than have a set of specific goals, I wanted to have something that was broader and more encompassing. Chris Brogan’s post here and Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project were the biggest influences on me in choosing to focus on themes rather than specific goals. I’m excited, I’ve got some good themes for me.

I’ve picked 4 themes for 2010. I chose them based on what I thought would give me the greatest pleasure and most success for 2010.

The themes are:

  1. Complete/Finish
  2. Fun
  3. Grow/Learn
  4. Organize

Complete/Finish – Each day I need to make sure I finish big. I need to finish. I can have a tendency to put things off, especially the mundane or boring. In the first week, it’s been very liberating. I’m finishing more things, therefore waking up with less crap from the day before.

Fun – If I’m not paying attention, I will spend the entire day sitting in front of this computer. I want to get out more often. I want to do things that move my mind and body from work and more. Each day I take at least, (I mean at least) an hour to go do something competly different. My girls are loving this part of it. So far we’ve gone bowling, swimming at a water park, to a kids gym and more. I’m also looking forward to using this theme to spend more time with my buddies.

Grow/Learn – I love learning new stuff. Asking “why?” is a past time for me. Each day I want to learn something new. I need to watch a product demo, read a new book, do some research etc. This goal is all about personal development.

Organize – I tend to get lazy. I don’t do “to do” lists. I let my email box get cluttered. I don’t always take the few extra steps needed to put things were they belong. I’m struggling a little with this one. It’s not always obvious to me what to organize, but I’m looking for little ways to get things more organized each day.

At the end of each day I mark a calendar with a check or an X next to each theme. It’s been pretty cool so far. I definately notice a difference in my day when I have more checks than X’s. I’ll be real curious to the results of a year of checks.

Checks equals a great year.

What are you doing to make 2010 your year?

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January 10, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments |

Sales Needed at Enterprise 2.0 Boston

I need your vote:

Back in November I posted how a Sales track was conspicuously absent during Defrag. I made a note of how Enterprise 2.0 companies have a very difficult road to hoe when it comes to selling their wares to companies. Most Enterprise 2.0 companies have been started by technologists and lack the experience, knowledge and understanding of B2B sales. So rather than chirping about it, I figured I need to do something about it.

I’ve put in to do a sales session at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. The session is called Enterprise 2.0-Someone Has To Sell This Shit.

It looks like not enough people read my earlier post, because it appears there isn’t another sales track at Enterprise 2.0 Boston.

Enterprise 2.0 isn’t like Web 2.0 or other consumer products. There is no “build it and the will come.” A decision must be made in order to penetrate a company and drive revenue. Someone has to say “yes,” I will buy your product. Getting to this stage takes effort, and strategy. With my partner in crime Paul Dunay and we will break down the sales aspect of driving Enterprise 2.0 into the enterprise.

So, do us a favor and go vote. Thanks!

If we make it, I’ll post our presentation here.

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January 9, 2010 | Filed under: Enterprise 2.0, Uncategorized, Web 2.0/Social Networking, What I Think! | Comments |

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