Just got off the phone with Howard. He was disappointed that he did not get an interview for a role as the senior writer of Executive Communications. He has years of writing to and on behalf of the F25 C-Suite but he had not done enough in this pitch to establish just how good and unique he is.

As a writer, Howard is used to the role of a support person, who reacts to assignments but doesn’t originate them. As a Minnesotan, he is not sure it isn’t a sin to strut his excellence. Yet he is frustrated because he has been praised for many years for his high caliber writing, and is looking for a next, awesome assignment.

Howard needs to give himself permission to create the platform that showcases his skills enough to claim one of those rarified assignments. Since he wants to move to a new corporation where he is unknown and there is high degree of scrutiny due to the visibility and sensitivity of the executive communications role, it is particularly important for him to match the sophistication of the assignment with a sophistication of pitch.

Most of you hope using the same kind of pitch everyone else uses will somehow get you an assignment that sets you apart from mere mortals.

To move through the wormhole and leave everyone else behind, you need a vehicle and an attitude that will get you there.

Perhaps you will also need a presentation that teaches your customers that a higher level of performance by their organization is possible and that you can show them how to get there.

If you are not quite ready to find yourself on another planet or in another dimension of time, you need to start exercising the muscles that will get you there when you are ready for change, fame, and fortune.

I believe all of us need to get better at these skills to survive and thrive in the future Workforce 2020 marketplace.

Topics: branding + positioning, business skills, getting ahead, ideation, selling skills, technical skills, visibility | No Comments »

A huge percentage of the sales people I know brag about being “a relationship builder.” Simply because so many of you mention it, it is a useless differentiator, but there is a bigger problem with the positioning. A recent study proves that, if relationship building is your primary strategy as a sales person, you are relying on one of the least effective sales strategies for today’s market.

I am not suggesting the remedy is “consultative” or “SPIN Selling” where the rep asks the customer to identify his needs. This new study and resulting strategy comes from the same folks¹ who invented the SPIN Selling concept in the 1970s but they now recommend against a customer driven process. The sales people who are most successful in today’s market are collectively called “Challengers” and are in a position to LEAD the conversation with the client, not react to it.

Here is what we know about the sales process with challenger reps:

Success comes from helping customers think differently and bringing them new ideas. The challenger rep goes way beyond asking customers what their unmet needs are (VOC) or offering services to a customer driven solution that any competitor would have suggested. It is about identifying unarticulated needs no one else can meet. The challenger rep is more expert than the potential customer about how to grow business using the technology or services in discussion but the focus is not on selling the vendor’s product. It is about teaching the client to manage his business better.

Three-quarters of vendors currently attempt to be a solutions provider. The challenger rep can push the customer to a solution the customer had not imagined and can’t implement as well on his own. The solution will be one the competition cannot do as well or imitate for a lower price. The challenger rep is able to support his price and stay in control through the teaching role and strategic insight. This rep can sell his idea to different stakeholders across the client matrix. The soundness of the solution will make sense in spite of the condition of the economy.  (These reps gain share in a bad economy.)

Are you thinking the challenger rep walks on water? It all stems from having the self–awareness to understand why and when the client would buy from you over someone else. You can’t be all things to all people, but you can sell by knowing for which customers your company can be the preferred resource. What customers can you teach something to? Do you know the things each stakeholder at the client cares about? You must discover this before the first conversation, through in-depth market research, as discovery at a field sales call is way too late. You need to have several solutions and pitches to the different stakeholders already thought through at the first sales call and you must lead with a discussion of the client’s problem, not your products. A sales or engineering driven company is at a real disadvantage in this evolved solutions process.

Regardless of your present comfort zone or company commitment to the process, any rep can become more like a challenger rep. The key is to be pro-active and do discovery before approaching the client. Solve the client’s problems, don’t sell features. If you are in an environment of where complex sales are the rule, “Challenger” reps are 2.5 times more likely than the average sales person to be a high performer and 5 times likely than the “Relationship Builder”. The likelihood that a “Relationship Builder” achieves star status is nearly zero. Buy the book The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.

¹ Sales Exec Council, www.executiveboard.com

Topics: branding + positioning, getting ahead, ideation, innovation, leadership, selling skills, technical skills | 1 Comment »

One of the leading VCs (Venture Capitalists) in the country, Arthur Rock, maintains that a “great idea won’t make it without great management.” That turning a good idea into a good business is about everyday management of the company. “Good ideas and good products are a dime a dozen…Good execution and good management … are rare.”

He looks for leaders and teams who will know how well or how badly things are really going and not be deluded by their own optimism, ego, or their staff. A successful or innovator or entrepreneur must have enough self-awareness to know his/her own limitations and when to ask for help or delegate. Know when to change his/her management style as the company grows. Know how to select the right team. How to inspire others. How to make the hard decisions. Good managers need to be able to adapt, and change strategies quickly and gracefully if something doesn’t work.

Good business results are more about the EQ of the players than the technology of the product.

source: Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec 1987

Topics: business skills, ideation, innovation, leadership, management skills | 4 Comments »