sales | YHBA - Practical advice for business

The Sales person has no clothes….

01/06/2012 By

Your next Sales person is quite an investment and a risk for your company.

Nowadays there is a breed of Sales executive latin name “Executivus Technicus Commoditus“. This species are found on trains, motorway service stations, or frequenting mass appeal TV shows.

They can be seen playing with their latest electronic gadget, whilst conversing with another of their species on their smartphone.

But, take these bits of modern technology away, how would they function? Would they find themselves from A to B? Would they know who to sell to? Would they be able to convince prospects of the merits of their product offering? Maybe, maybe not.

The worry today is that sales people are too dependent on gadgets, and are spending less time on SELLING SKILLS.

How many understand how to determine a clients needs? How many understand how to create a USP? How many just sell on price?

Whilst the old days of hand writing reports, researching potential clients through libraries, or calling the office in from a telephone box (with broken windows – whilst the wind and driving rain soaks your legs) are long gone, it would be interesting to see how this new species would cope without their comforts.

It would be a brave Sales Director who confiscated all gadgets for a period of two weeks from all the sales team. However, as an exercise it would certainly demonstrate the winners from the ‘also rans’!

The SGBA is full of seasoned professionals, all old enough to understand the real issues. A chat with us about your growth aspirations may prove very useful.

Happy Selling.
Ian Thomas FInstIB

Will Entrepreneurs rescue the world?

03/10/2011 By

There comes a time when Business Leaders need to take control. Many are doing just that, but just as many (if not more) are being highly cautious.

Whether it is the leader of the IMF, the Leaders of Governments (Obama, Cameron, Merkel, etc) the messages all spell GLOOM, DOOM and DISASTER.

But Business Owners can take matters into their own hands. How many are “waiting to see how matters are developing” before they make a decision? Too many.

For the shrewd, now is the time for opportunity. After all, if YOUR competitor is ‘procrastinating’, then they are at their most vulnerable.

Risk…? Every business has an element of risk. But why not take a risk at the expense of your competitors.

Bite the bullet – invest in growth whilst our ‘so called leaders’ talk the World economy down. Reinvent not only your products, but the way you do business.

Growth is there for those who are bold!

Sales Performance Enhanced by Persistence

28/09/2011 By Mushroom Internet

Selling is difficult enough in the current climate. There is a great deal of competition and when the economy is in decline getting orders becomes more difficult with more people chasing fewer opportunities. Many leading experts will tell you all the ways in which you can improve your selling activity but most of them miss one crucial peice of advice.

Research reveals that 50% of sales people give up after one “NO” from a client. A further 25% give up after two “NOs”; still more (15%) give up after 3 “NOs”. Therefore nearly all sales people give up on a client just before they place an order! Because the facts show that 60% of all customers say no 3 times before saying yes. For sales people to be successful they need to be persistent. When a client says no they more often than not mean “not yet.”

If you need help in improving your sales performance contact Bob Francis or call 07941426807.

See our latest presentation

23/08/2011 By Mushroom Internet

Customers and cash. How to get more of both!

In difficult times most SMEs need to get more of one and conserve the other. In fact many would like to get more of both. Our latest presentation gives ideas and tips on how to do both.

Feel free to comment on the presentation and we look forward to receiving your feedback.

Appointment making tips

25/07/2011 By

How do I get to meet key decision makers?

A question that I am frequently asked.

First, like all Sales people and marketeers, it is key to identify your target audience, and have a message (‘the hook’) that is likely to spark their interest. Once you have both of these clear in your strategy then you can act.

An exercise that has proved successful is to attend an exhibition. Research an exhibition that has some relevance to your business area of expertise. Check all the companies that are within your ‘geographical’ target, exhibition web sites make this quite easy to achieve before travelling. Take note of exactly where they are on the floor plan. Prepare a few words that demonstrate your knowledge of the subject, without it being a ‘sell’. It is vitally important to make sure that you are NOT selling here. In fact ‘selling’ to exhibitors is highly unethical, after all they have usually paid ‘big bucks’ to enable THEM to sell!

Only approach when all is quiet on the stand, its amazing how the most senior person pounces when all is quiet! Carefully chosen words (that contain ‘the hook’) should solicit the response, “Why dont you call in on me some time?”. Bingo! Yes, it does work.

A good tip is to practice first on two or three stands that you have NOT targeted, so, make any mistakes where it does not matter! You will be surprised how slick you will become when you come to your key targets!

Moving on to ‘telephone approaches’, the same philosophy should apply. Create a ‘guideline script’ (but create a means of expressing this without reading it parrot fashion). Approach several companies whom you regard as ‘peripheral targets’, and make your mistakes here, before you call the key targets.

How do I get past the ‘gate keeper’? This can be quite a skill! A good ‘gate keeper’ may be difficult to by pass. However, calling early in the morning, or late afternoon, when many may have gone home can prove successful. Perhaps you can inform the gate keeper of ‘what the boss is missing by not talking to you’. Another possibility is to get the e mail ID of the boss, in order to stimulate his/her interest with some well chosen words.

Networking events can also provide good opportunity. The down side is that you probably do not know who is there until after the event. But the day after, when you read the attendee list, and realise that you missed the very target you sought, drop an e mail to them. State that you wished you had met, reference something of note from the networking meeting, then state why it would be worth talking in more detail.

As a sales person, it is important to recognise you will probably never get to see every prospect you target. Some will prove impossible to track down. Accept it, do not take it personally. Learn from your approach, develop your style, and get on to the next prospect.

Want to brush up on these skills? Call Ian Thomas or Bob Francis at Southern Group Business Advisors on 0870 787 7590, or e mail ian.thomas@sgba.co.uk / bob.francis@sgba.co.uk.

Happy Selling!

Inspirational Growth

02/06/2011 By

Recession, good news about the economy, bad news, talk of double dip, exports down, quantitative easing, exports up, redundancies……….. And so it goes on!

Each day the newspapers bring a new twist to the current economic ‘state of play’. So lets blame the politicians, and those bankers are culpable too. Sepp Blatter, he’s not helped, neither has E Coli, whoever he is.

But are we not missing something? Surely confidence comes from business, at least that’s how it should be, not from the flamboyant Mr Mervyn King (sorry wrong adjective).

So, how do we gain confidence? We look for new sales – simple. Either existing clients who can buy products they do not normally get from us (they have always bought screws from us, but never washers!), or we find NEW customers.

New customers indeed? Perish the thought!

In a time when a salesman is measured by his ability to operate a CRM system, not his ability to influence and ‘bring home the bacon’ we can easily lose sight of the real issue. So a spirit of entrepreneurship must be instilled into business top to bottom, left to right.

Exports? Not for us, we’ve never travelled beyond Rickmansworth! I can hear so many businesses echo this. Lets unshackle the prejudices, kick down the doors, open the mind, and let imagination run wild. Let’s brush up on selling skills, not our dexterity on a database.

More customers, higher spending customers, exports, all key to success and wealth creation. Let’s all engender this spirit, maybe one day we’ll bring a smile to the face of Mervyn King.

Want some inspiration in your business? Talk to SGBA!

>France – a few things you did not know!

01/04/2011 By Mushroom Internet

Name a country with a productive, highly skilled work force. Germany, you say? Sweden? Singapore?

You can do better: France.

“People in France are very well-qualified,” says Clara Gaymard, vice-president of government strategy and sales for General Electric International and President and CEO of GE France, in Paris. This U.S. company has had a presence in France for over 40 years, where it employs 10,000 people.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), France is ranked just after the U.S. and Norway for hourly labor productivity, calculated by dividing gross domestic product by the number of hours worked. This calculation works to France’s disadvantage though, as Norway’s GDP is inflated by oil revenue, which isn’t entirely the fruit of a person’s labor.

Germany and Sweden, which are both well below France for hourly productivity, along with Singapore, which is lower still, don’t even bear comparison, while productivity in Europe’s “cheap” destination, Romania, is a full 80% lower.

On total productivity, or GDP per worker for 2008, France beats Norway and trounces Germany, according to the ILO. And productivity is continuing to rise in France, up in 2008 year-on-year, compared with no change in Germany and a drop in Sweden, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

While productivity is essential, sophistication and the quality of work performed are also key considerations for investors. GE chose France as the site for three global centers of excellence — in health care, energy and oil & gas — where it develops new technologies.

Although the French are “well-qualified generally,” receiving “a great deal of education in their jobs,” Ms. Gaymard finds particular strengths in finance and engineering. “France is a country of engineers. You don’t have a problem, like in the U.K., in finding the right engineers.”

In fact, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2009-2010 ranks France near the top of its list for availability of scientists and engineers, substantially higher than Germany which is around a quarter of the way down.

Yet high qualifications don’t come at a high price. French total labor costs are in line with the rest of Europe, Ms. Gaymard says.

Hourly labor costs in France for 2008 were substantially lower than in Germany or U.S., though slightly above those in the U.S., according to the ILO. These costs include not only salaries but also mandatory and contractual contributions for items like health-care coverage, which is universal in Europe, but which fewer and fewer companies provide in the U.S.

These cost calculations were in France’s favor when Toray Industries Inc. looked to add a business line in Europe. This Tokyo maker of plastics, chemicals, fibers, textiles and other products announced in February 2008 that it was expanding in France with a new €70 million plant in Saint Maurice de Beynost, near Bordeaux, to produce high-performance polypropylene plastic film for food packaging.

Toray decided to locate the new facility next to one of the company’s existing plants near Bordeaux, which makes a different kind of polyester film, says Yoshitaka Yamagata, a Toray spokesman in Tokyo. “We have well-qualified workers in this company. When we think about a new investment, it’s better to make a new base next to the existing company site rather than finding another country.”

First Solar Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, one of the biggest makers of thin-film solar panels, also chose a site near Bordeaux, in Blanquefort, for its fourth plant, construction of which is due to start in the second half of this year, following an investment of about €100 million. “With good infrastructure and a solid work force, we have found a location that supports our unique, high-tech operation,” says Bruce Sohn, President, First Solar.

“Our aim is very simple. We want the best universities in the world,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy as he announced last December how funds raised by the “national loan” – a €35 billion state bond issue – would be distributed, with the largest chunk, €11 billion, allocated to universities.

The government has also earmarked €1 billion to create a huge campus in Saclay, on the outskirts of Paris, grouping institutions currently scattered around the city. And €8 billion will go toward funding research.

Education in general is a high priority in France, with some 6% of the country’s GDP allocated to cover education expenses, putting it in the top-five investors in education worldwide. In 2008, the country allocated €24.9 billion to higher education, 1.27% of GDP. Forty-one percent of 25-34 year olds in France are university graduates, a much higher proportion than in Germany or Italy.

France also boasts some of the best business schools in Europe, according to the 2009 rankings by the U.K.’s Financial Times. Hautes Etudes Commerciales, or HEC, is ranked No. 1, Insead is No. 3, EM Lyon Business School is No. 8, Essec Business school is No. 11, ESCP Europe is No. 12 and the Grenoble Graduate School of Business is No.19.

Perhaps the most famous educational institutions in France are its grandes écoles, which produce many of the country’s “movers and shakers.” While state universities accept all students from their regions — provided that they pass the very rigorous baccalauréat exam — the grandes écoles require a further entrance exam, accepting only the crème de la crème of each grade.

High school students who aren’t college-bound receive technical training and on-the-job experience undertaken alongside their studies. (Source – Catherine Bolgar – Wall Street Journal)

The SGBA are able to assist in evaluating your overseas export plans, and have direct link with a dynamic French Development Agency.

>France – a few things you did not know!

01/04/2011 By

Name a country with a productive, highly skilled work force. Germany, you say? Sweden? Singapore?

You can do better: France.

Yet high qualifications don’t come at a high price. French total labor costs are in line with the rest of Europe, Ms. Gaymard says.

High school students who aren’t college-bound receive technical training and on-the-job experience undertaken alongside their studies. (Source – Catherine Bolgar – Wall Street Journal)

The SGBA are able to assist in evaluating your overseas export plans, and have direct link with a dynamic French Development Agency.

"The Apprentice" Delivers Good Business Lessons

24/01/2011 By Mushroom Internet

The recent edition of the BBC TV programme “The Apprentice” was good entertainment. But it also provides some interesting insights into running a business whether it was a simple one like selling DVD experiences to the general public or running a large company.

It can be fashionable to deride ‘business’ programmes such as “The Apprentice” but nevertheless close observation can deliver some excellent learning points.

Planning. This is the most essential ingredient of any task or business. In the most recent episode the hapless team leader, Sandeesh Samra, failed to plan the task and failed to get her team operating effectively. She even opened her ‘store’ one hour late losing some potential business which could have won her the task.
Sales Strategy. To make up for a lack of sales Sandeesh decided to drop her prices by 25% after only four hours. This is a cardinal sin in sales. She did not look at how the team were selling and she did not encourage the rest of the team to come up with other ideas to boost revenue. When the team did think of another approach it was almost too late.
Costs. No one in the team was responsible for monitoring and managing costs. Another major error. As a result they bought twice as many DVDs to burn as they needed and no one pointed out the glaring error that they could not burn that many DVDs in the time available even if they could sell them all.

Planning, Sales and Costs were all highlighted as major areas for business leaders to keep under control. A good lesson for us all!

“The Apprentice” Delivers Good Business Lessons

24/01/2011 By Mushroom Internet

It can be fashionable to deride ‘business’ programmes such as “The Apprentice” but nevertheless close observation can deliver some excellent learning points.

Planning. This is the most essential ingredient of any task or business. In the most recent episode the hapless team leader, Sandeesh Samra, failed to plan the task and failed to get her team operating effectively. She even opened her ‘store’ one hour late losing some potential business which could have won her the task.
Sales Strategy. To make up for a lack of sales Sandeesh decided to drop her prices by 25% after only four hours. This is a cardinal sin in sales. She did not look at how the team were selling and she did not encourage the rest of the team to come up with other ideas to boost revenue. When the team did think of another approach it was almost too late.
Costs. No one in the team was responsible for monitoring and managing costs. Another major error. As a result they bought twice as many DVDs to burn as they needed and no one pointed out the glaring error that they could not burn that many DVDs in the time available even if they could sell them all.

Planning, Sales and Costs were all highlighted as major areas for business leaders to keep under control. A good lesson for us all!

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