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!

Six More Weeks of Winter . . . I Think

Yesterday was Groundhog Day and the little guy saw his shadow. Therefore; it means we have 6 more weeks of winter. I think.

As a kid this made no sense to me. It was confusing as hell, actually. To me, the logic was backward. If the groundhog saw his shadow, it meant the sun was out. If the sun was out, it was warm. If it was warm, spring must be close.

From my point of view, being from Boston, it was cloudy and cold all winter and sunny and warm in the spring. Therefore, the idea that seeing his shadow (made possible by the sun) meant spring was further away was backward.

Selling is similar. Often what makes complete and logical sense to us, is the complete opposite of how the customer sees it. We need to make sure we understand how are customers are looking at the problem. Their point of view my draw very different conclusions.

Don’t be quick to assume your customer is following what you’re saying, they maybe just as confused as I am with Groundhogs Day.

Can anyone explain to me why if he sees his shadow, spring is further away? I still don’t get it.

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February 3, 2010 | Filed under: Customer Service, Random, What I Think! | Comments |

Ask the RIGHT Questions

Questions matter in sales. Questions give us insight. They lead us to solutions. They give customers confidence of our capabilities. Questions are a valuable tool of sales.

If a Dr. only asks how do you feel and how long have you been feeling that way, she can’t provide the proper diagnosis. A mechanic can’t fix your car with questions like; What’s wrong with the car? How long has it been going on? How loud is the sound? To diagnose a problem requires deep, relevant understanding of the subject. Questions aren’t enough, you have to know WHAT questions to ask.

Sales is like being a Dr. or a Mechanic, it diagnoses problems. Asking a few superfluous, high-level questions isn’t enough. You need to know what you’re looking for.

Questions are a tool in the sales bag. Knowing how to use the tool is critical. It’s not enough to have it in your bag or use it once in awhile. It needs to be used effectively. We need to be experts in using questions.

Wielding the questions tool requires subject matter expertise, an idea of what your looking for, and the flexibility to ask new questions if you can’t find what you looking for. It requires openness to unanticipated answers, and the ability to probe.

Sales is the ability to solve problems. Like a Dr. or a Mechanic, Sales must first know what is wrong. Knowing what’s wrong takes asking the right questions, not just any question.

Customers are too smart to accept a weak diagnosis. They know when someone can solve their problems. Just because we offer a solution doesn’t mean it will fix their problems. We need to know what their real problems are and that comes from asking the right questions.

Ask the RIGHT questions. You’ll get the RIGHT answers. Then, you’ll know the RIGHT solution.

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January 20, 2010 | Filed under: Customer Service, Sales Process, The Chase | 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 |

No One Likes To Admit They Don’t Know – Why You Should Love Sales People

We don’t know, what we don’t know and this is why good sales people are invaluable.

We buy things to be more productive, gain a competitive edge, play golf better, sell more stuff, serve customers better, or save money. We buy stuff to make our world better. The problem is we don’t always know what could make our world better. That is why sales people are so important. They help us know what we don’t know.

Selling to us is hard because we dig in. We operate from the idea that we already know it all. We are resistant to sales calls. We avoid sales people when they walk up to us. We tell them we are all set, before we let them talk. We build a giant wall, difficult for sales people to climb. We feel good about it. We feel like we are winning. But are we?

What is it worth to find a faster, cheaper way to make your widget. What’s it worth to make your sales team more productive? What’s it worth to get rid of that nasty slice? What’s it worth to gain on your competitor? There is always a better way, a better product, an innovative solution. Finding it is the difference between success and failure.

The bigger the wall you build, the harder to improve; to find faster, better, cheaper. Sales people know what you don’t know.

Lower the wall, make sales people spend more time focusing on your problems and less time getting to you. You will be the winner in the end.

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January 11, 2010 | Filed under: Random, Sales Process, The Chase | 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 |

Growth Doesn’t Come From Sales, Part II

Five months ago I wrote a post arguing that a companies growth doesn’t come from sales. You can read it here. I read it again today and believe it just as much now as I did then. Sales isn’t responsible for growth. Sales is an accelerant. You can’t live without sales, but if you rely on sales to grow your business you’re toast.

The post has created a lot of conversation on LinkedIn back when I wrote it. For some reason, over the last two days the conversation has started up again and the folks have had some great thoughts on the idea of who is responsible for a companies growth. LinkedIn’s comments are closed, so I thought I’d bring them here. These are some of the best:

Great Post, and I agree, sales is not solely responsible for a company’s growth. There are many people who think sales people are that powerful. We’re not. In the same way no sales person (or sales team) should ever take full credit for a company’s success, they can’t bear the blame either for slow or declining growth. -Lilly Ferrick


Revenue generation is truly a company responsibility. -Walter Wise

I will take a great sales team with a mediocre product any day over a poor sales team with great product—any day. I have a team right now who complains “we don’t have anything unique to sell–our competition has the same stuff.” To which I reply–is there really a difference between the cell companies, or auto dealers selling the same brand, or RiteAid vs. CVS vs. Walgreens, or any printing company, or Dell vs. Compaq etc? In almost every market, true differentiation is in minutes, not degrees (go back to trigonometry). Sales is what finds those in the market who need or want that tiny difference and exploit it into significant profits and many times it is the sales person him or herself which is the only minute difference. -Jeffrey Bowe

The discussion appears to be quite interesting. But before moving forward the first question that should be addressed first is- What exactly do we mean when we say a “company’s growth”. So breaking up the question into two parts is required in my view. So we’ll have two questions now- What do we mean by Company’s growth and second what is Sales responsible for? Correct me if i am wrong but i feel this is a better way of addressing the topic. How? Here i go…When we talk about a company’s growth we normally mean an organization’s growth in terms of revenue and bottom line. Although i agree that growth means a lot of other things. So now, whom does an organization entrust the responsibility of bringing in revenues and bottom line growth? Thats Sales. And this also answers the second question i.e.,”what is Sales responsible for?” So when an organization decides on its growth strategies and fixes on a goal/objective for a year it does it in terms of X% growth figure to reach X figure of revenue & bottom line. So, these figures and percentage growth that does define an organization’s growth is driven through sales. Sales gives a true picture of an organization’s presence in the market, it takes a customer’s voice to boardrooms and its a real time test of an organization’s capability to understand and respond to market’s needs. So apart from being a catalyst for external growth it also ensures growth within. -Avinash M

Sales is the only process in an enterprise that creates revenue.

Sales provides the foundation for growth but that’s not enough – the rest of the enterprise must play their part to ensure that the products and services delivered are competitive and that the costs (of production, loans and sales etc) are kept down so that a healthy profit is turned – it is the profits that are earned which provide the collateral for growth and a talented management team will invest them wisely for sustainable growth. -Steve Dobson


This is my favorite. I agree with Yashwanth, sales is more responsible for growth when it comes to start-ups. Great insight.

During the initial stages of the company, sales is largely responsible for growth. A company might have the best product or might offer the best service, but the survival solely depends on how much and how fast they sell. This determines whether they move to the next stage of growth where processes play a key role.

But the biggest factor that is responsible for any company’s growth is innovation in all key areas – Creating products, marketing them, creating sales strategies, managing customers, etc.

But Sales is largely responsible for ensuring a startup moves on to the growth stage. -Yashwanth Madhusudan

What do you think? Is sales responsible for a companies growth?

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December 29, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance, Customer Service, Sales Process, The Chase | Comments |

Absolutely Make Your Stinkin’ Quota in 2010

You want to make your sales number next year? Plan for it!

This is the plan I use. What makes it good? It has the 4 most important elements of a plan; Assessment, Understanding, Direction and Accountability.

I shared my thoughts about this back in June: Why Sales Strategies Don’t Work, or Do They? Being the end of the year, with most of us beginning to thing about 2010, I thought I’d break it out again.

Most sales plans lack one, if not more of the key elements of a good plan. They are missing accountability and are collecting dust. They lack solid, in depth analysis and assessment. They lack buy in and understanding as no one truly understanding what needs to be done, why it’s important and how it’s going to happen. Most sales plans are a check box exercise that wastes everyone’s time and effort.

If you want to make your number next year, build a plan, a real plan. Execute to it, make it accountable, provide a real assessment, and bring it to life. This one has worked for me.

Account Strategy Template
View more presentations from Jim Keenan.

Feel free to use it, change it around, add to it or just ignore it. What ever will get you to your number.

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December 22, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance, Sales Leadership, Sales Process, The Chase | Comments |

I Fricking Love The Sales Process

I’m sure many of you have figured out, I’m not your typical process guy. I’m not a big fan of process, but, there are a few places where process works. The sales cycle is one of them.

David Brock thew out this sales process post last week, But We Have A Sales Process . . . It’s a good post on why a Sales Process is necesssary. I agree with much of it. His post went and got Anthony Iannariono all fired up. In response, Anthony posted this: Sales Process Problems: Turn by Turn Guidance is Unavailable. I agree with much of what he says too. They are both good posts.

After all this Sales Process talk, I had to jump in. I love fricking sales processes. This is where I agree with David. They work. BUT, I don’t measure activity and this is where I agree with Anthony. Measuring activity does nothing but constrict the sales team.

I measure results.

Every sales cycle has a series of customer events or triggers that almost always happen before the deal closes. In almost all cases they happen in a linear fashion, ie one happens before the next one happens. These events are customer driven not vendor driven. They are based on how the customer buys. They could be the combination of signing of an NDA, the approval of budget, a pilot, the creation of a evaluation team, a solution assessment and contract signing (a six stage sales process). It could simply be a face to face meeting, a trial and approval from the CEO (a three stage sales process). What it is doesn’t matter. Knowing what it is matters.

Most sales processes focus internally and are activity based. They don’t work. Activity management doesn’t guarantee results. A sales process needs to map to the decision process of your customers. How does your customer buy? What steps do they take before they agree to buy? What support must be had? What processes must be followed? Who’s approvals must be gained? What must happen before money goes out the door? Figure out these questions and you have your sales process.

Every company has a process for buying new stuff. Go figure it out. Then build your sales process around that. Don’t make it activity based. Make it results based. Let your sales people figure out for themselves how they are going to get their prospect to “create an evaluation team” or get “the CEO’s approval.” That’s their job. Just don’t let them move past that stage in the sales cycle until they figure it out. Because, that’s your job.

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December 16, 2009 | Filed under: Sales Leadership, Sales Process, The Chase, What I Think! | Comments |

Sunday Morning Blog: The Sales Blog

I’m giving a little love today, to a solid, straight-up, sales blog. The Sales Blog by Anthony Iannarin is sales all the way. He hits topics square and lays out solid perspectives and ideas. The Sales Blog is a learning blog and that’s what makes it worth something.

Anthony asks questions as the end of many of his posts. I like that. You end up taking the post with you and that makes it more sticky.

Some good posts to check out:

Why You Fail

Sales Acumen vs. Business Acumen

Persistence vs. Respectful

If selling is what you do, then read The Sales Blog too. You’ll only get better.

Happy Sunday Morning Blog reading, enjoy your coffee.

December 13, 2009 | Filed under: Sales Process, Sunday Morning Blog, The Chase, Uncategorized | Comments |

I Found My Old I-Pod, It’s a Montser

While rummaging through some stuff, I stumbled across my old I-Pod. I bought it in 2002. It’s a first generation I-Pod. It blew me away to find it. It’s been years since I’ve last seen it. It’s heavy, it has raised buttons and it has a tiny black and green screen. It looks like a monster.
PC090011

PC090012

It’s hard to believe Apple launched a new industry with this product. It seems like an eternity since I bought it. But, it’s only been five.

Product progress is what makes Apple impressive. They are constantly pushing the envelope. They look at progress differently than other companies. They don’t make small, subtle changes, they make big sweeping changes. The I-Pod has gone from the first generation to the mini, twice, to the shuffle, twice, to the I-Pod touch and the I-Phone all in 5 years.

Companies can learn a lot from Apple. Growth comes from product progress. I posted about this here in the past. Growth doesn’t come from sales, it comes from products and Apple understands this.

It was a trip to find this bad boy. I can’t find the charger, but I think it still works. I’m going to leave it on the my desk it’ll make a great conversation piece.

December 9, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance | Comments |

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