Nancy asked this question:

OK, so perhaps I am just venting here…is there anyone else here who simply discards any applicant with grammar or typing errors in their resume or cover letter? Is there really any excuse for this?

The answers have been interesting. You can read mine there too. I chimed in a couple of times.

I think Nancy’s question begs a lot of interesting additional questions.

• Is the resume that important anymore?
• Is a Linkedin Profile more important?
• What about an online presence?

Nancy’s question assumes resumes are what they used to be. I think that’s a poor assumption.

All that being said, what do you think of Nancy’s question?

The previous game, the Celtics had beaten the 76er’s 107-91. It was ugly. It looked and felt like the game and series were over. Philadelphia was done. The game and the series looked in the bag — until they weren’t.

Philadelphia rallied back. And with less than 4 minutes in the game, took the lead and never looked back.

I couldn’t help but think about all the sales deals lost because the sales person and sales management felt the deal was in the bag.

It’s never in the bag. Customers haven’t bought until they’ve bought. The deal isn’t done until it’s done. There are a million cheesy sales phrases around this topic. I’m not going to cheese out on them, but they are on point.

When we start thinking a deal is “in the bag,” it’s the beginning of the end. We get sloppy.

I personally like “constructive paranoia.” The paranoid never think it’s in the bag.

Don’t get sloppy. Have a constructive paranoia. Ask the Boston Celtics.  Thinking it was in the bag, may have cost them a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. Oops!

What is this guy is selling?

It’s the glory of God and his ability to transform your life for the positive. At least that’s what I think he’s selling. It’s hard to tell. His “Jesus Saves” sign really doesn’t tell me very much. I’m not sure what he wants from me. Does he want me to join his church or congregation, or does just want me to go to any church? What exactly is he selling with that sign? What does “Jesus Saves” mean?

Jesus Saves is a terrible marketing message. It gives nothing to potential prospects about what is being sold and what they are buying. Prospects are left wondering exactly what does Jesus save? Why does it matter to me? Why do I need to be saved? What happens if I’m not? What does “saved” mean? How is my life any better if I’m saved? How does he save me? What do I have to do? Who is this Jesus guy? How much time will it take? Can I be “saved” later, I’m kinda busy right now? What if I’ve been saved before and it didn’t work? I know people who have been “saved” and they’re a pain in the ass. I don’t want to be a pain in the ass. Can I be saved without being a pain in the ass? Being saved seems like a lot of work, are there any other, less intrusive options? How much does it cost to be “saved?” Do you take Visa? Is there a “saved” lay-a-way plan? Do you have any references? Can I talk to other “saved” people besides yourself?

Jesus Saves as a marketing message is awful. It leaves just too much to the prospect to figure out and therefore reasons to say “NO!” Marketing messages need to give prospects and customers a clear vision of what they get and why it matters. Messages that make it easy to get to yes.

Enterprise versions of Jesus Saves-

• Cisco Routes
• McDonalds Feeds
• Toyota Moves
• Facebook Shares
• Apple Connects
• Microsoft Works

Translate this into sales and it’s what we’ve been taught for years. Find the pain, insert your product. In this case, two pills. Unfortunately, the pills may have addressed the pain, but they didn’t solve the problem.

When we look for pain, we’re looking for a place to put our products not necessarily to help the client. If you were a pain medicine sales person, you’d be prescribing pain medicine. If you were a radiation machine sales person, you’d be prescribing radiation treatment, etc. You get my point.  Unfortunately, none of this does much to help out the patient.

Our job as sales people is to solve problems, not just find the pain. Solving problems is VERY different than finding pain. Finding pain is like triage, it’s only the first step.  The true value sales people bring is in the problem solving. Problem solving requires more complex thinking. It requires more knowledge of the situation. It requires greater understanding of all the moving parts. Problem solving is a lot more difficult than finding the pain.

I don’t need anyone telling me I hurt. I know that already.  What I need is someone telling me why I hurt, what is causing it, how it happened, what is at the root, what is causing the pain, what is the impact of the pain, what else it could effect, what we don’t want to continue, what happens if it’s not treated and more.  I want the whole enchilada. Telling me that I have a pain does me very little good without the rest.

Once I know what the problem is and everything associated with it, I want as creative, cost effective, high return, low risk, easy to manage solution as I can get. I want someone who thinks differently. To do this I need someone who looks at my problem holistacally and doesn’t just see it as a nail, because all she has is a hammer. I want someone who is going to help me solve my problem.

The best sales people are like the best doctors. They do more than just tell you, you are in pain, they actually solve the problem.  Don’t just find your customers or prospects pain, find the problem then solve it.

And while you’re solving it, be pretty damn creative. It’s what will set you apart.

Stop looking for pain and start solving problems.

How you structure your sales organization can be the difference between a successful strategy and a failed one.

A brilliant sales strategy won’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t build the best underlying sales structure to support it. An old boss of mine used to say; “Structure follows strategy,” and he is right.

If you have 3 types of sales or products that target very different customers, how would you structure your organization to attack those markets?

What if each of those products had different buyers internally? Would that change things? If yes, how?

There is no right answer to these questions and the hundred others we can be faced with, the key however, is to make sure you are asking them.

All too often we focus on sales strategy, people and process. We spend time trying to identify the best go to market strategy we can. We coach and train our people. We create new processes. But it is rare we evaluate our structure. Structure can bring substantial return with very little investment. In many cases structure is simply taking what you have and using it in a different way.

Recently, one of my clients identified an opportunity where restructuring lowered the cost of sales, as they were able to reduce a management layer and increase sales as they segmented the team into two groups, each targeting a different layer of the market. No additional costs, no additional sales training and not additional sales tools.

When does it make sense to evaluate your sales structure?

1. When there are large gaps between performers and non-performers – when you have large gaps between performers and non-performers or large differences in average deal size it could be that the market is split. The performers are having success targeting the higher end of the market, while the non-performers or those with lower average deal size are targeting the lower end of the market. In this case split the market, develop two sales teams, one targeting the higher end of the market, the other the lower end. The key here is to adjust compensation to align with the sales cycles and products. Don’t pay high-end, sophisticated sales people to sell to the low end of the market. Conversely, don’t expect lower end, less sophistacated sales people to sell upstream.
2. When all products aren’t moving equally – when your sales team is successful with some products and not others, it may not be a product issue. It might not be a sales person issue either. It may be a sales cycle issue. When a product isn’t moving, while others are, evaluate the selling motion. Does the product that’s NOT moving require a different sales process? Do your customers buy it the SAME way they buy your other products? Are there different selling needs for the product that isn’t moving that need to be in place? If the answer is yes to any of these, considering restructuring along product lines. It may be the answer your looking for.
3. When you get top heavy – Why have so many Managers, Directors, V.P.’s, etc? Take a look at the organization and ask is it flat enough? Do I need this many layers? Do I need any layers at all. What am I getting from each layer. Multiple layers of management can suffocate a sales team. It can create bureaucracy.
4. When the market shifts: -Shifts in the market can mean tremendous opportunity or destruction. When markets shift, when competition increases, when threats arise, the best response could be restructuring to align with the changes. Knowing when the market is changing and ensuring your organization is properly aligned to meet the shits can be all that’s need to keep revenue up, costs aligned and morale high.

The cost of sales is an extremely important metric. Unfortunately, it’s not one I see on sales leader’s dashboards too often.

Do you know what your least expensive sale is? Is it the channel, the farmers, inside sales, the hunters, who?  What’s your most expensive sale? Calculation of Cost of Sales:  CoS = TR/TE   (Cost of sales = total revenue generated/total sales expense)

Understanding the cost of sales is critical in any sales organizations strategy. Clear visibility into how much it costs to make a sale positions you well to allocate the right resources to the right strategies and maximize return.

Imagine having a hunting  team of 10 sales people that brings in 100,000 dollars month. Also imagine having an inside sales team 0f 25 that brings in 250,00 a month. On the surface, it seems to be a good deal.  Individuals on both teams are bringing $10,000 a month.  What happens however, is when you add in the total target compensation of the hunters vs. the inside sales team things begin to get a little ugly. The hunters make $6,500 a month, while the insides sales reps only make $3,500 a month.  When you peel back the layers a bit, you can quickly see the hunting team is a very expensive revenue generating team.

Knowing the hunting team is expensive isn’t enough. The key is to dig even deeper. Imagine adding the average price per deal to the equation. What would you do if you were to learn the average price per deal for hunters was 1,500 and the average price for the inside sales team was $1,500? You have two teams, basically selling the same thing, most likely to the same people, yet one costs you considerably more.

The solution to this problem is to draw a line, not letting hunters sell a deal below $4,000 and raise their quota to $20,000 a month instead of $10,000.  Now your average deal size for hunters is NO LESS than $4,000 a month. By doing this not only are you increasing your average deal size, but you also force hunters to hunt in a different forest. You no longer have expensive, outside sales reps, selling your low end products and services your inside sales team can be selling.  You’ve created separation.

Look to create separation among your different go to market strategies. It makes no sense to have your inside sales reps and hunters selling the same thing. Each go-to-market approach, from hunting and farming to channel and inside sales has it’s on own unique approach to selling. Therefore, they have to be managed and structured in a way that allows you to get the most out of each group.

Don’t cookie cut things, you’ll pay in the end.

There is a secret and it rests in this story.

A young woman wants to get more out of life. She decides to seek out help in a well known success guru. She works hard to get a meeting with him and she is proud of herself when he agrees to meet her.  She arrives at the meeting and shares with the guru she wants to be as successful as he is and wants to know how to do it. She says she wants to get the most out of life.

The guru looks at her and pauses, as if determining whether or not she is worthy of his guidance. After a moment, he asks her to meet him at the beach at 4:00 am the next morning.

She arrives the beach the next day at the 3:55 a.m. She’s ready. She has on her best suit. She’s prepared and excited.

She looks out into the surf to see the guru is already in the water. She waves to him and he motions her to the water’s edge.  Walking on her tippie toes, as to not get her heels stuck in the sand, she walks to the edge of the surf, just to where the waves roll up.

The guru motions her to come into the water.  The young woman states the obvious to the guru; “I’m in my best suit.”

The guru responds with; “Do you want to learn the secret to success?”

Reluctantly, the young woman wades out into the water.  Her Jimmy Choos, now in her hand, are held high above her head to avoid getting them wet. As she wades out, the guru backs up into deeper water, motioning her to come to him. She wades further and further until she is at her waste. She stops and says; “OK, what is the secret?”

The guru smiles and motions her to come further.

The young woman is unwilling. She demands to know what the secret is and she won’t go any further.

The guru smiles again and says; “You’ve come this far, it’s only a few more steps. You’ve already ruined your suit, you might as well get something for it.”

Unable to argue with the logic, the young woman wades further out into the ocean. She reaches the guru and finds herself up to her chin.  She then, frustrated, cold and irritated demands the guru now tell he the secret.

Just as the last word comes out of her mouth, the guru grabs her head and pushes it under water. He holds it there. The young woman can’t lift if up. She begins to thrash and kick. She drops her Jimmy Choos and uses all her might to lift her head out of the water. As she is struggling, the guru continues to keep her head underwater, not allowing her air.

Just as the young woman is about to lose consciousness, he let’s her up.

Her head comes flying out of the water and she grasps for air. Before she can say a word and before she can even get her breath back, the guru asks her one question; “What did you want most while you were underwater?

The young woman, panicked and scared, unable to answer the question, starts cussing at the guru.

The guru stared at the young woman with no reaction. Emotionless and calm, he asked the question again.  ”What did you want most while you were underwater?”

The young woman started to settle down. Looking into the guru’s eyes and seeing his calm and unaffected demeanor she exhales and says; “To breathe!”

The guru then smiles at her and says; “You now have the secret to success. When you want, whatever it is out of life you want, as much as you want to breathe when you are drowning, you will have it.”

The guru turned and swam away.

The young woman turned looked at the beach in front of her and started back to shore, leaving her Jimmy Choos at the bottom of the ocean.

This is my own version of the story.  You may have heard it before.  I hadn’t until this morning. I heard it as I watched this video.

I’ve talked about the role hard work plays in our success. I am guilty, more than I’d like to admit of NOT wanting it more than I want to breathe. When that happens, I get exactly what I deserve, less than I wanted.

Watch the video. It’s worth it. As you watch it, whenever the pastor says “successful” add, at marriage, at sales, at leadership, at parenting, at golf, at skiing, at blogging at . . . what ever it is you want to be successful at.  Then, at the end, ask yourself of  things you say want or you have wanted do you want them as much as you want to breathe?

You will learn a LOT!

Desire is at the core of all motivation. You have to want it bad enough to get it.

I’m at the Sales 2.0 conference in San Francisco. This morning’s presentations were good. The most compelling presentation was by Jon Vender Ark of McKinsey and Company.

Jon shared his insights from a recent survey of 120 large multi-national companies averaging 30 billion a year in revenue growing of at least 5% a year. This represents an additional 1.5 billion a year in additional revenue. They also interviewed 1200 purchasing buyers. The key message, there are 4 keys underpinning a successful sales strategy;

1. Find growth before you competitors do (look out and in)
2. Sell the way your customers buy
3. Soup up your sales engine (sales operations)
4. It’s all about people

Find Growth Before Your Competitors Do;

The key her is to get out of the weeds. Look 10 quarters ahead and monitor for mega trends. What’s happening in your industry, to your customers, with regulation etc. What opportunities are coming down the pike you can exploit. Jon says, invest 2-4% of sales to this effort.

Beyond looking out, look in. You should look for ways to break down the market into descreet units, analyze growth and penetration potential and adjust your resources based on market need. Ask, what internal opportunities can be addressed to drive new revenue opportunities?

 Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy

They key here is to master multichannel sales (customers buy in many different ways), invest in partnerships for mutual benefit and innovate in your direct sales channels.

My favorite is the innovation in direct channels. Too often we assume our go to market approach and that can be costly.  Be creative with your direct sales channel.

Soup Up Your Sales Engine

Think sales operations for effectiveness, not just efficiency.  Tune your sales team for growth. Look at sales operations as a competive weapon that keeps your frontline folks selling and selling well. Leverage technology to give your sales team an advantage. Provide them with real time insights and analytics. Leverage digital channels and enable your channel partners. Make selling easier.

It’s All About You and Your People

Manage your teams performance for growth, turn rookies into rainmakers, set a solid cadence or tempo for reporting and intervention. Create a “sales DNA” or sales team culture that maps to your customers and your products. Create an A-Team. Keep in mind, growth starts at the top, therefore challenge the status quo, demand results and galvanize the team.

Jon just released a book, Sales Growth, Insights from Leading Executives.

I’ll be here today and tomorrow. I’ll be tweeting the good stuff from the conference today and tomorrow. You can follow me on Twitter @keenan or the hashtag #s20c

The test:

Ask yourself this question; “If you were given $100,000,000 for what you do, would you continue to do it afterward? Would you continue to do it with the same tenacity and commitment you do today?

If the answer is yes, then you are great or on your way to greatness. If the answer is no, you may be good, even very good, but you will never be great.

The truly great are driven by more than money and that’s what makes them so great. Tiger Woods won this weekend. It was his first win in almost 3 years. Tiger is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It would have been easy for him to quit and stop investing the time when his slide hit. He could have said fuck it, I’m done.  But he didn’t. Tiger kept going. He slogged his way through 2 1/2 years of hell to get back on top. He didn’t quit, even though it would have been easier. He didn’t need the money. Tiger isn’t the only one. Michael Jordan didn’t quit after he made his first hundred million. Oprah hasn’t quit. Neither has Jay-Z or Federer.

It’s a really simple test. The great work their ass off to be great. The money is a nice added bonus.

Ask yourself how hard it would be to get motivate to work at your craft 15 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week for 10 years plus, on just the belief your going to make a hundred million bucks at the end.  Now ask yourself, what would it take to get up and bust your ass at your craft for 15 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week with a hundred million bucks sitting in the bank.  Now, that’s playing at an entirely different level!

The great ones have a different kind of motivation and it has nothing to do with money.

What did the test say about you? Are you destined for greatness?

In it he hits on why prospects lie to sales people.  I highlighted the money quote.

“We’ve decided to hire someone with totally different skills than yours…” and then they hire someone just like you, but more expensive and not as good.

“We’re not going to buy a car this month, my husband wants to wait…” and then you see them driving a new car from that other dealer, the one with the lousy reputation.

“I’m just not interested…” and then you see the new RFP, one you could have helped them write to get a more profitable and productive outcome.

People lie to salesmen all the time. We do it because salespeople have trained us to, and because we’re afraid.

Prospects (people like us) lie in many situations, because when we announce that we”ve made the decision to hire someone else, or when we tell the pitching entrepreneur we don’t like her business model, or when we clearly articulate why we’re not going to do business, the salesperson responds byquestioning the judgment of the prospect.

In exchange for telling the truth, the prospect is disrespected.

Of course we don’t tell the truth–if we do, we’re often bullied or berated or made to feel dumb.

Is it any surprise that it’s easier to just avoid the conflict altogether? Of course, there’s an alternative, but it requires confidence and patience on the part of the seller and marketer.

Someone who chooses not to buy from you isn’t stupid. They’re not unable to process ideas logically, nor are they unethical or manipulated by others. No, it’s simpler than that:

Given what they know and what they believe, the prospect is making exactly the right decision.

We always make our decision based on what we know and believe. That’s a tautology, based on the definition… a decision is the path you take based on what you know and believe, right?

The challenge, then, it seems to me, is to realize that perhaps the prospect knows something you don’t, or, just as likely, doesn’t believe what you believe. Your job as a marketer is to figure out what your prospect’s biases and worldview and fears and beliefs are, and as a salesperson, your job is to help them know what you know.

If you keep questioning our judgment, we’re going to keep lying to you.

Questioning our prospects decisions when they don’t buy from us is our way of not talking ownership. If we are questioning our prospects decision, we’ve failed.  Stop questioning them and question yourself. Where did you go wrong? What did you miss? Why don’t they believe you or what do they know you don’t.

Question yourself, that way you’ll find yourself in few situations where you have to question them.