Do I really need a Mission Statement?

What is a Mission really? The answer to why I exist? Come on!!. We all know the reason for that?My purpose of my existence is to make money. That;s it. period. Once we do that, then we can "give back" to society, etc etc.

Why do I really need a mission for my business?

Because otherwise you as a business owner or sales head will keep running after every inquiry that comes your way. And you will be so busy running after multiple leads that you will end up doing "Spray & pray".

What is Spray & Pray?

Spraying the same sales pitch on everyone and praying that someone listens!! Recipe for failure.

It is an insecure business that goes running after every business opportunity out there.

Why is that not such a great idea:

a. As a business you are not good at everything.
b. You only do a few things well.
c. Your happiest customers are those where you did what you do right.
d. The assignments where you botched up are those where you were not following your "mission".
e. The work that gave you maximum satisfaction was the work that you do well.
f. As a business, that is exactly the kind of assignments that you need to do repeatedly.
g. Strategic Sales Management is discovering your mission and focusing only on those clients where you can fulfill your mission.


For a detailed worksheet of how to develop a "Mission Statement" for your company, click here



Maneesh Konkar is a Consultant is Sales Strategy & Leadership. He actively consults with business & sales leaders. To book him for a consulting session, refer to the right sidebar for details. 

10 Ways Aristotle would want sales professionals to use Linkedin

10 Ways Aristotle would want sales professionals to use Linkedin

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In his text 'Rhetoric', Aristotle - the Greek philosopher introduced us to the Modes of Persuasion. He mentioned that persuasion is clearly a function of demonstration and that one needs to demonstrate the following attributes to be persuasive :

• Ethos : Credibility or Reputation
• Pathos : Passion or Emotion
• Logos : Logic or Reasoning

Sales as a profession is all about persuasion. Countless books on influence, persuasion and related topics have sold millions of copies using what Aristotle wrote way back in 350 B.C.

LinkedIn is a great place to persuade your customers and partners given that your LinkedIn profile comes up whenever someone tries to 'google' your name.

Here are 10 ways you can leverage LinkedIn to improve your persuasion power using Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion

Ethos

• Use the Experience and Education sections to add credibility to yourself. Strong work and academic credentials help create a positive impression even before you meet a prospective client
• Recommendations especially from customers and partners give you immediate trustworthiness as a professional
• Endorsements for the right skills and by the right people can help you persuade when you speak on a particular topic from a position of authority
• Honors and Awards showcases your achievements as a professional. Everyone wants to work with a rockstar

Pathos

• Use the Summary to exhuberate passion towards your work and your company
• Active participation in Groups is another place where your passion for a topic could shine through to your prospective clients
• Use the Volunteer Experience & Causes section to show what causes you care about
• Use the Interests section in Additional Information to highlight some non work related passions

Logos

• Use Pulse to gather insights about your profession, industry and companies that lets you have intelligent conversations during customer meetings
• Use your Company Page to share proof points about your products and services using customer testimonials, canned demonstrations using YouTube or Slideshare and relevant case studies

Why is it so easy to sell Google?

Google's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have created a phenomenally successfull company that is the greatest media and internet sensation of our time. Of course they did a lot of things right, below are mentioned some things that stand out:

a. They focussed on creating a superb product: Management schools talk about advertising, these guys had one overriding passion. To create the best search engine in the world. Focus on doing that and they figured the rest would take care of itself. For many months, the Google founders had no clue how their search engine was going to make money, they actually had no clue how to monetize it. These guys were so passionate about creating a better search engine, that was the key. Completely different from the rest of the crowd which creates a mediocre product but then soends tons of money trying to promote it.

b. No advertising: This is one company that has never done any advertising. It initially attracted and continues to attract lakhs and millions of users purely bacause its search engine is the best.

c. Home page - no clutter: Every other website has a highly cluttered home page. That has two dangerous consequences - a - the page takes way too long to load and b - what you actually want you have to search for - which takes time. And time is what a web surfer does not have, The Google home page has no ads. Salute to that

d. A business has to solve real problems: Andy Bechtolschiem, one of the early investors in Google, said "Build something of value and deliver a service compelling enough that people would just use it. That's exactly what Google does - the primary motivation - "an abiding excitement about helping people find more relevant information online, and faster".

e. Have a value proposition that attracts the best employees: And how did they do that. The value proposition to future employees - "millions of people across the world will use and appreciate your software". The investors say about the founders - "they had a great sense of purpose, which is a prerequisite for anybody nutty enough to want to start his own company - says Micheal Moritz of Sequioa Capital. "That burning sense of conviction is what you need to overcome the inevitable obstacles" John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins.

Interested in knowoing more? Read the book. Outstanding work. Google by David Vise. Buy it now.

9 ways to handle a price objection

You want to have fun with salespeople? Do this. Call the call center, ask for a representative to come over, listen to the full sales pitch and then say "Your price is too high"

And then sit back and watch the fun!!!

A price objection is the most commonly heard dialogue that salespeople struggle with. Am reproducing below an excerpt from the book "Young Leaders at Every Level" that details 9 dialogues that experienced sales people can give in response to a price objection from the customer:

Customer says "Your price is too high"

Respond with:

1. Good things are not cheap, cheap things are not good. Then explain the quality of your product. “Maybe I did not explain the value of my product well!” This assumes that a price objection is a “value” complaint, implying that the customer does not see value in the price being charged.
2. “Nobody gives discounts because their products are selling too well.” Explain in detail by giving examples from within the industry of products which are heavily discounted because they are not selling. This response creates doubts about why others are giving discounts.
3.  “Are they so desperate?” This is in response to a specific statement by customer “Your competitor is 20% cheaper than you are”. This is similar to point 2 but is more specific towards a competitor.
4. What would be more important to you - price or cost? Then elaborate on cost. Price is what a customer pays upfront to acquire the product. Cost refers to the sum total of costs incurred in using the product also referred to total cost of ownership. For eg price of a car is the acquisition price. Cost of a car includes petrol and maintenance.
5. Give examples of other premium products where the customer has paid more – eg for men / women. Men show wealth by watches, mobiles, pens, cars, etc. Women show wealth through clothes, jewellery, bags etc. Sir, this watch that you are wearing is a Rolex. It is by no means a cheap watch. You have obviously invested a lot in it. Why? Because you look like someone who is prepared to pay provided he sees value. Madam, this diamond ring that you are wearing is a high value item…….”
6. Reduce the excess price over life of the product. Sir this car you are buying will be used by you for 5 years. You say it is $10,000 more than the competitor. $ 10,000 over 5 years is $ 2000 per year. That’s $ 6 more per day. Is that really so significant in the long term.
7. Reduce the profile of product being offered. Sir These shirts are in the range of $ 150 to $230. You could also consider these shirts which start from $ 110 onwards.
8. “Actually our product is not meant for everybody….” This was the opening line of what is acknowledged to be one of the world’s most successful direct mail campaigns by a credit card company. Most direct mail campaigns get a 1% response rate; this one got 10%, that’s 10 times better. The message positioned the credit card as something meant for special people.
9. “xxxx” customers cannot be wrong (give national sales data). We have 2800 customers who are using our AMC services across the country. They are also at more or less similar prices across. We understand what you are thinking, others have also felt that prices were high, but after trying out these services, they agreed it was value.

How to say all these dialogues:

a. Politely but firmly. No rudeness please. Smile. Smile. Confident and assertive.

b. Say two or three to begin with. Practice them at all calls. Then add the others to your list.

Try it. Its effective.

Maneesh Konkar

Author of eBook "Young Leaders at Every Level"

Click here to buy the book on Amazon now