Applying the wisdom shared with me by a trucker I worked with back in the day,
Do One Thing First.
The one thing to do first is number 6 - listen. The philosopher Wittgenstein is quoted as having said "Don't Think. Look." In the case of sales, it could be usefully modified to read "Don't talk. Listen."
A potential prospect, customer or client can usually describe what they want. If they can, job one is to respond to that, first. But the real opportunities come from understanding what they need, not just what they want. To get a fix on what that might be, and how what you can do can help them there is no better approach than to look and listen - very carefully and actively.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Designers and Digital Print contd.
The brief, as explained by Goggin:
My plan for the workshop is to investigate the visible and tangible parameters of graphic design — type specimens, halftone screens and, in particular, colour tests and calibration charts — and make a book of our own self-produced tests which we will send to print on Friday afternoon using the online print-on-demand system Lulu.
The book project will therefore act as a colour/type/pattern test of the very system with which it is produced.
"Print-on-demand" is an increasingly important production system which can serve to make us designers rethink the impact our profession has on the environment and to question the often wasteful print volumes and production methods requested of us by our clients.
Graphic designers, and especially students, have a chance to use and subvert these relatively new (and fairly cheap) technological systems to our advantage.
My plan for the workshop is to investigate the visible and tangible parameters of graphic design — type specimens, halftone screens and, in particular, colour tests and calibration charts — and make a book of our own self-produced tests which we will send to print on Friday afternoon using the online print-on-demand system Lulu.
The book project will therefore act as a colour/type/pattern test of the very system with which it is produced.
"Print-on-demand" is an increasingly important production system which can serve to make us designers rethink the impact our profession has on the environment and to question the often wasteful print volumes and production methods requested of us by our clients.
Graphic designers, and especially students, have a chance to use and subvert these relatively new (and fairly cheap) technological systems to our advantage.
What are you paid to do - cont'd.
Found this today at The Business of Print It's managed by Mike Philie, a vice president and consultant in the Print Consulting Services Group of NAPL,
That's fair enough. But without knowing who has to do what, when to achieve those goals, it's just time wasting bs.
The job of a sales manager is to oversee the sales process and make sure the team has what they need to succeed. But it takes time to do and time to think and time to listen. And time is the thing we don't have plenty of.
We spoke about expectations; as the new sales managers, what does your boss, owner, management team expect from you? Only two of them felt somewhat comfortable about knowing the expectations that lie ahead. Not a good thing.The problem is that sometimes no one in the company has a goal more than "Get more.. work or customers or money" or "We've got to improve our customer service or marketing or production efficiency or most often "People have got to work harder!"
Alignment in all that we do is a critical component of successful companies. How can we work together as a team if we don't fully understand our goals and objectives?
That's fair enough. But without knowing who has to do what, when to achieve those goals, it's just time wasting bs.
The job of a sales manager is to oversee the sales process and make sure the team has what they need to succeed. But it takes time to do and time to think and time to listen. And time is the thing we don't have plenty of.
Here's what to do to create a revenue stream -cont'd
I found this at Total Sales Success. It's a blog managed by Tom Hackelman, a Graphic Communications Growth Consultant for Xerox in the Triad area of North Carolina. There is a detailed power point at his site that gives much more detail. It's definitely worth the click. In the meantime, here's what Tom says you have to do. It sounds about right to me.
The easier thing is to identify their 20% top customers. It means making a list from accessible information. If it were me, I would measure activity/revenue/and culture (are they good people to work with?) Then figuring out the threads that unite them is pretty straight forward. Then focusing on getting more like them is not that hard.
If you are a hunter, you have to know whether you are hunting for geese, whales or mice. If you are a farmer, it's good to know how to fertilize your crops.
My only quibble might be to move number 2 to the number 1 position. If a suboptimal sales process exists, number 1 is actually the hardest thing to do. If sales could really "identify and communicate a consistent and specific value that your business brings to your customers," they probably are already in pretty good shape.
1. Identify and communicate a consistent and specific value
that your business brings to your customers.
2. Based on the characteristics of your top twenty percent
of accounts, create your ideal customer and focus your
efforts on securing more of those accounts.
3. Create and implement a sales process that is
measurable, has expectations and is consistently
inspected.
4. Stop recruiting subpar talent. Only hire superstars. Hire
the best, hardest working talent. And let go of the
baggage.
5. Create a goal-oriented sales organization that is
committed to growing, changing and reaching new levels
of performance."
The easier thing is to identify their 20% top customers. It means making a list from accessible information. If it were me, I would measure activity/revenue/and culture (are they good people to work with?) Then figuring out the threads that unite them is pretty straight forward. Then focusing on getting more like them is not that hard.
If you are a hunter, you have to know whether you are hunting for geese, whales or mice. If you are a farmer, it's good to know how to fertilize your crops.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Lean Sales
To implement Lean Sales you have to do this:
Imagine that there are 5 bins: suspects, prospects, customers, clients and community of clients. The job of sales is to move people from one bin to the next one. The creative part is figuring the easiest way to get them to move.
What has to get done:
1. Find Suspects.
2. Move Suspects into the Prospect bin.
3. Move Prospects into the Customer bin.
4. Move Customers into the Client bin.
5. Nourish a Book of Business based on a Community of Clients.
Then come the real payoffs.
1. You (either a person or an organization) get a little breathing space to enjoy the fruits of the investment of your business time. Then you have either business or personal time to do what you really want to do.
2. Once you have a community of clients, you're in a much better position to figure out new things that are easy for you and hard for them. That should be a pretty easy sell.
How do you know you are on the right track?
You need clear definitions that tell you which person is in which bin.
1. Suspects are anyone that you can easily reach.
It could be new businesses within 2 miles of your plant. It could be a specific industry like pharms or publishing or non profits or designers. It could be buyers in the education, health or government space.
2. A prospect is someone who has asked for an estimate.
3. A customer is someone who has given you a job.
4. A client is someone who has given you a couple of jobs over some defined time period.
5. A book of business is a community of clients for whom you are the trusted go-to person when they need to make a printing decision.
What you should do:
1. Divide your present customer list into prospects, customers and clients.
2. Figure out the most efficient ways to move everyone from a lower bin to a higher bin.
3. Look at the indicators EVERY day to figure out what is giving you the highest ROT. (Return on Time was coined by Dr. Joe Webb). Be flexible and creative with your tactics. If a tactic isn't working, try another one. But don't change the strategy - do something every day to move individuals from a lower bin to a higher one.
What are the hard parts?
1. You have to sell stuff that people want to buy.
If you are selling the ability to communicate in print, better, faster, cheaper with a minimum risk, every person or entrepreneur or business needs that. If they are not buying, don't blame them. Figure out what has to change in your product to make it valuable.
2. Who has the time?
Sending and answering emails and phone calls, getting the specs right, going to useless meetings (either internal or external) and then chasing jobs that are in the plant does not leave alot of time left. That's why this is not about investing more time. It's about investing LESS time in activities that have low ROT, to find the time for activities that have high ROT.
3. How can I get real time information?
If you have an active customer facing web site, it's pretty easy. If not, there are lots of workarounds. It's mostly about focusing on customer exchanges. Blogging helps.
4. Why should I bother?
Situations change so unexpectedly that even a client from your book of business can disappear. People get fired or move to a new job. Companies can get bought and your contact network loses the power to buy. So, you have to keep the pipeline filled.
No doubt, it's all easier said then done. But then so is everything. A few really blessed professionals do it naturally. The rest of us have to practice and need some help. But you can't do the right thing, if you don't have a clear idea of what the right thing is.
. . . learn how a philosophy of avoiding waste of time, empowering CSR's and production people and getting more customers with an efficient, sustainable and well defined process can make their printing companies much healthier.Here's what I mean:
Imagine that there are 5 bins: suspects, prospects, customers, clients and community of clients. The job of sales is to move people from one bin to the next one. The creative part is figuring the easiest way to get them to move.
What has to get done:
1. Find Suspects.
2. Move Suspects into the Prospect bin.
3. Move Prospects into the Customer bin.
4. Move Customers into the Client bin.
5. Nourish a Book of Business based on a Community of Clients.
Then come the real payoffs.
1. You (either a person or an organization) get a little breathing space to enjoy the fruits of the investment of your business time. Then you have either business or personal time to do what you really want to do.
2. Once you have a community of clients, you're in a much better position to figure out new things that are easy for you and hard for them. That should be a pretty easy sell.
How do you know you are on the right track?
You need clear definitions that tell you which person is in which bin.
1. Suspects are anyone that you can easily reach.
It could be new businesses within 2 miles of your plant. It could be a specific industry like pharms or publishing or non profits or designers. It could be buyers in the education, health or government space.
2. A prospect is someone who has asked for an estimate.
3. A customer is someone who has given you a job.
4. A client is someone who has given you a couple of jobs over some defined time period.
5. A book of business is a community of clients for whom you are the trusted go-to person when they need to make a printing decision.
What you should do:
1. Divide your present customer list into prospects, customers and clients.
2. Figure out the most efficient ways to move everyone from a lower bin to a higher bin.
3. Look at the indicators EVERY day to figure out what is giving you the highest ROT. (Return on Time was coined by Dr. Joe Webb). Be flexible and creative with your tactics. If a tactic isn't working, try another one. But don't change the strategy - do something every day to move individuals from a lower bin to a higher one.
What are the hard parts?
1. You have to sell stuff that people want to buy.
If you are selling the ability to communicate in print, better, faster, cheaper with a minimum risk, every person or entrepreneur or business needs that. If they are not buying, don't blame them. Figure out what has to change in your product to make it valuable.
2. Who has the time?
Sending and answering emails and phone calls, getting the specs right, going to useless meetings (either internal or external) and then chasing jobs that are in the plant does not leave alot of time left. That's why this is not about investing more time. It's about investing LESS time in activities that have low ROT, to find the time for activities that have high ROT.
3. How can I get real time information?
If you have an active customer facing web site, it's pretty easy. If not, there are lots of workarounds. It's mostly about focusing on customer exchanges. Blogging helps.
4. Why should I bother?
Situations change so unexpectedly that even a client from your book of business can disappear. People get fired or move to a new job. Companies can get bought and your contact network loses the power to buy. So, you have to keep the pipeline filled.
No doubt, it's all easier said then done. But then so is everything. A few really blessed professionals do it naturally. The rest of us have to practice and need some help. But you can't do the right thing, if you don't have a clear idea of what the right thing is.
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