“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” ~Conrad Hilton I find it shocking how many people you can actually hand the keys to success to and they still do not get in the car and drive. So what if you can’t move the car into your comfort zone and drive around in a cloud of security! Is your comfort zone really secure? The answer is “no” in case you are trying to fool yourself. Your comfort zone is your path to disorder anyway…you might as well participate willingly. Embrace it!!! Don’t believe me? Go ahead, I dare you to take off your feeling hat and put on your logic and scientific hat and explore entropy and/or quantum theory. Sorry to disappoint, but there is no such thing as a comfort zone, and not moving forward. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics . So as David Mahoney says, “”There comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear.” Or as Jack A. MacAllister’s motto goes, “If you don’t make dust, you eat dust.”
You Are The Company You Keep
You are influenced most by those you surround yourself with. This includes your clients and/or customers. Combine this with Pareto’s Law (80/20 rule) and it becomes very apparent that you need to pick/target customers and clients carefully. Sales and marketing goes beyond just garnering as much new business as possible. The reason being, your customer service people will implode if you do not do it wisely. Based on Pareto’s Law, 80% of your volume will come from 20% of your customers/clients. Not defining who you can best serve and most want to serve leads to serving any and everyone who will have you. Just as 80% of your volume will come from 20% of your customers, 80% of complaints will spew from 20% of client projects. So does it not serve everyone, especially the customer relations team to plan upfront rather than clean up at the backend? Of course it does. Taking the time to develop a solid target demographic pays off not only in sales, it pays off in customer service. Like Roger Staubach said, “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” Planning upfront who you will target is the first steps along that extra mile.
Sale = Relationship
“You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise.” ~Patricia Fripp
One Size Does Not Fit All
We no longer live in a static market. So it is wise to not operate as if we do. This truth is amplified when it comes to sales and marketing. While in the past it was possible to do the same thing over and over and expect the same results, this is no longer the case. Again, because the market is no longer static. Past generalized sales and marketing plans are no longer relevant. Markets must be identified and targeted appropriately, providing the solutions that best fit them. The best fit varies, company to company, region to region, or rural vs. urban, etc. Just as market needs have changed, and subsequently presentations, sales approaches must be amended as well. If you are operating in the world a past Columbia University study described as spending approximately 90 minutes actively selling, you are no doubt no longer seeing the results you use to see. In addition if you are still selling though persuasion.closing, again, you are no longer seeing the sales you use to see and certainly are not seeing sales that you COULD see. Sales and marketing have changed. Embrace it or see yourself phased out over time. Embrace it fully. Market evaluation, presentation and personalization are here to stay. If you aren’t selling with an educational style or consulting style, you are not succeeding at the scale you could. Persuasive style selling is about you. That style is gone for good (or should be.) Selling by providing a customer a solution, through educating them and/or consulting with them is about the customer. That style is here for good. Customers are buying more than just a product. They are buying into a relationship with you and a total experience. Make it one they want to invest in! And remember, above all, sales is no longer the moment when the customer says ‘yes’, that is merely the beginning. Like Harvey MacKay said, ” The sale begins when the customer says yes.”