Sales by 5 Blog

Ten Days to Selling More with Less Effort - Dominate Your Market

Yesterday was all about future focus being 10x more predictive of success.

Today: The ability to dominate your market!

You have it or you do not. The data proven number one reason people do not sell is they talk too much, and number two, they have no true value that they offer. It happens to us weekly and sometimes by people interviewing with us. The most (sadly) remarkable, are the ones you have two and three meetings with and you still have no idea what value they offer or what benefit they provide.

This reinforces the importance of your message clarity verbally and in writing.  If you advertise, does it work?  And how do you know?  We have seen our clients, prior to us getting involved, spend $30,000 in one business journal without ever getting any response or business from the advertising. What you say and what you do must have a dramatic difference to make an impact.  Just to be clear, you have a 370% greater chance of success and profitability if you have dramatic difference. What is dramatic difference?  Let’s say you are selling a Honda Accord that gets 21 mpg in the city, meanwhile the Toyota Prius is getting 48 mpg in the city. Though both brands are great, Honda becomes low value and Toyota, high.  You now have to find a way to make your offer twice as valuable as your competitor’s. Get serious about value.  What can your customers not live without?  What can you make available that hasn’t been done yet?  That is your start and your finish to the dramatic difference!

Summary: Get serious about where you can dominate your market. What can you really offer? Focus on that for all of your customers. Do not try to be what you are not.  Just focus on one or two things and maximize them by figuring out how to become the best in the world.

Fuel Economy Source - http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/bestworst.shtml

Photo by flickrsquared

Look to the Future for Success

Yesterday was about giving people something to talk about. They talk, so stop blending in and start being as you as you can be.

Today: A future focus is 10x more predictive of success. A person who asks "what do your customers want?" is salt and pepper. Your need to focus on what your customers want, from price reductions to time savings and communication enhancements are a priority. As Wayne Gretzky says "Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Summary: What can you do today to help your clients with something they need or will need? What is it they will not need today or tomorrow, but 3 months, 12 months and 3 years from now?

Who asked for an ipod, tv or radio?

Photo by happylandfill - Flickr

Wayne Gretzky and Skating to the Puck

Wayne Gretzky said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

So, if point A is where you are and point B is where you want to be (the goal),  ask the question: "How do we get there?" everyday. Why?  Because things change on how you are going to get to B everyday. Go forward to where you need to be and less of where you have been. Thanks Wayne.

Photo courtesy of Hakan Dahlstrom -Flickr

The Things That Get Measured Get Done!

What can you begin measuring in your company or organization that will lead you to greater success, profits, fun and freedom?  Is it the reduction of overtime hours?  Is it the number of positive remarks your employees receive?  Find the one, not 10 or 50, thing(s) that matters and measure it. Then talk about it every chance you get!  The things that get measured, get done! 

Picture courtesy of aussiegall on Flickr

Quarterly Meetings

SalesBy5 had our quarterly off site the last two days. It was awesome. We went to Kerrville, Texas and got away from our office with the purpose of thinking big. We walked away with ideas that will grow our clients businesses by adding a ZERO! If they are doing $2 million the point is $20 million. We got it!

How soon can your company go on a facilitated, structured break that they can “get it." How well are you competing against those companies that are making the time do this?

Photo courtesy of The Rocketeer - Flickr

Triple the Size of Your Company...

What if your company grew double or triple this year? How would you keep the culture alive and perfectly in balance? We visited Rackspace today, as stimulus to our growing team. Here are two of many elements of our take away:

1. If your immediate team cannot eat lunch with two large pizzas (14 people) they are too big. Rackspace's core teams are 14 people or less to keep relationships between team members AND clients personal.

2. Rackspace has a clear understanding of their values - they live them daily.  They treat each other like family.  Many of the VPs maintain cubicles with the rest of the team instead of being on an executive floor.

We are on our quarterly advance (why call it a retreat if you're moving forward?) in Kerrville, Texas, contemplating what the world would be like with thousands of people at SalesBy5!

P.S. Thanks for the tour Sugarbear! ;)

The Right Questions...

How are things?

When were they best?

When was the company/organization most fun and most profitable?

When did you have the best people?

What were you doing different then than now?

How fast can you make changes to get there again?

Pushing on the Flywheel

The flywheel is a concept by Jim Collins where there's a large, heavy disc on an axis.  At first you push on it and it moves microscopically.  As you continue to push, the flywheel builds momentum.  After time it builds an amazing speed and people ask you "what was the one thing you did to get this moving so fast?"  A truly ridiculous question from your point of view - you've pushed it countless times, there wasn't a particular one that made it spin this way!

Through our adventure of life, we humans tend to compare.  We compare cars, marriages, weight, income, relationships, fun, the list goes on and on.  The overall difference comes down to your flywheel.  If it's a large flywheel, that may mean more opportunities, but heavier, so harder to get started.  How long have you been pushing on it in a consistent direction?  Don't be discouraged if you feel others have more than you in any area.  You never know how long they've been pushing, with what effort and how big their flywheel is.  Stay focused on your flywheel instead, the payoff is much better than sitting by watching someone else's spin.

Company Culture - You've Got One Whether You Realize It or Not

Before coming to work at SalesBy5, I worked in an insurance office.  It was the agent and myself.  Having gone to school, I had learned about corporate culture.  Interestingly, I had never considered us having a culture, because it was just the two of us.  Now, looking back, we DID have a culture and it was wonderful. Our culture was one of trust, fun, openness and respect. I learned how to communicate well via phone and email with a positive touch.  I am often tapped now to help write a difficult email or help others professionally deal with sticky situations.  SalesBy5 is the same.  In hindsight, I went from one phenomenal culture to another.  Now, while helping companies grow and teaching strengths, I see that not everyone is as fortunate.  It makes me work that much harder to help others feel excellence in their culture. 

Culture is the predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.  Core values are what you would hire, fire and promote by. They are the guide for behavior!  Attitude is what we hire for and only a positive one is acceptable.

Whether you put your core values on the wall, talk about them all the time or never, you have a culture.  It is a living and breathing element of your company.  The decision is up to you to embrace it and shape it into what you want it to be or ignore it and let the chips fall where they may. 

Once In A Lifetime Opportunities...

...show up every day.  The key is knowing when to say yes, but more importantly, when to say no.  Try running the opportunity through Jim Collins' Hedgehog Concept:

1.  What can you be the best at?
2.  Does it make a profit?
3.  What are you really passionate about?

If the opportunity makes sense after considering those three questions, then it might make sense to pursue it.