There has been a little bit of excitement going around about Guy’s new website Alltop. Jill Konrath included it in her blog and said how pleased she was at being selected to feature alongside a number of other thought leaders.

Do a blog search on Google and you will get over 2,000 results… I managed to read the first few pages and most were very excited about the new site, some were a little dismissive, but then you can’t please everyone. I think it’s a good nice clean site to do a little searching and finding new things… to quote Guy…

“Today we are opening Alltop , a news aggregation site that provides ‘all the top’ stories for forty of the most popular topics on the Web. The headlines and first paragraph of the five most recent stories from forty to eighty sources for each topic are displayed. Alltop stories are refreshed approximately every ten minutes.”

You can read the full post on Guy’s Blog from last week as he formally announced Alltop’s arrival and so best go there to find out more.

So why am I writing about it?… because my blog is also included in the small business section… alongside the other stalwarts of sales blogs… thanks Guy!

If you want to find out a bit more about Guy, then watch this video, it’s great!

Oh, and the best thing about being on Guy’s site… he didn’t ask for a photo!

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Following on from yesterday’s post…

I was a little worried when Jeb Blount of $ales Gravy fame started syndicating my blog and asked if I world write a few articles…

Jeb’s got a great site, full of useful articles, posts, links and has some prominent experts on his site such as Wendy Weiss - author of Masters of Sales and Top Dog Sales Secrets and then there’s Ram Charan - coauthor of Execution and the author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and many other books. Then there’s Paul McCord – author of Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income and SuperStar Selling. And there are many more great contributors on his site

…so I was quite pleased when I was asked to contribute some articles, great news, but there was a catch… he wanted a photo!

I had to explain my previous experience with submitting a photo (read yesterday’s post), promised to get a hair cut, trim the beard and find a professional photographer who can always find the best side in people… Jeb wrote back and said… “We can begin publishing without the photo so no worries. It’s funny – some of you Brits have sent photos of furniture in lieu of their mug shot”… great, so takes the pressure of, and below, just for Jeb, is a photo of my favourite chair!

Seriously… photo coming soon.

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After the exhaustion of posting that diagram yesterday I thought I would enlist the help of my friend Karl Goldfield with today’s post. He’s helping in two ways, firstly the question and secondly the photo.

Karl has an excellent blog that he maintains and part of his service is a Q&A section which he has aptly named… Ask the Coach… so I did… and this is what I asked him…

The Question
“Every organisation has to sell to survive… although the process is fundamentally the same; there are differences in the approach and the time taken for each sales cycle. There will also be different characteristics between different selling roles… for example sellers in the B2B complex sale will probably use a sales pipeline, but those in a retail selling role probably would not.

The question is how would you categorise the different selling roles that need a sales pipeline and would there be any difference in usage between each group?

For example those who run the numbers game versus those that focus on deals that they win. Is this an industry difference or a personal difference? Also consider the difference between size of organisation… someone running their own small business versus a sales professional in a global company… would they have different pipeline expectations and if so what would they be?”

… and his response can be found here and I believe it’s a good answer. I have to say that part of his response did make me laugh and I posed a follow-up question to him on his site. So make sure you have a look.

Why the Photo?
I lifted Karl’s photo from his site and added it to this post because I’m having a photo moment in my life at the moment. Our American cousins do them so well, so photogenic and we Brits, this one in particular, don’t do them so well… nor English having just re-read those last few words!

However, let me not digress… I was all lined up last year to write some articles for a prominent sales site, all very exciting as I would have been in some good company. I was asked for a photo for the site… to be lined up alongside those photogenic cousins… and not indulging in photo moments I was very limited as what to send, but send I did. Although I have to say the photo I sent across would not have looked out of place in a police rogue’s gallery. I knew the photo was not good, but I didn’t realise it was that bad because I never heard from them again!

However, there’s more to this story which I will post tomorrow… got to rush now… people to see, deals to close.

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Last Friday was a strange day for me. It started with me posting an answer on LinkedIn… “what are complex, advanced or high level selling skills”… and part of the problem with this question is that people will have different definitions of those terms… without a consensus of definition, the answer may look strange… I finished my response, posted it and left the office…. so far, so good… nothing strange to report.

I then left to catch a train to London. I hate travelling on public transport… especially when busy… our train system is designed to carry midgets… a bank of seats looks like 3, but only room for 2 normal or 3 small people… I’m not small… so I buy a first class ticket… more cost, but more room… and I keep my sanity… small price to pay. I bought my expensive ticket… that has just increased in price by more than double the rate of inflation… when I met a good friend of mine on the platform… so we travelled up together in standard class… bagged a 3 seater and I was not budging up for anyone… I lost out on paying for first class, but picked up a number of possible leads… my friend is well connected!

As I got off the train I had a text message from an old colleague who I was supposed to be meeting in London… he called off the meeting as he needed to go and see a customer… very noble… customer comes first and all that stuff… doesn’t matter that he wasted my time… my time is expendable!

So, not a good start… I travelled across London to my first appointment… a collaboration meeting with another training company… meeting was for 11am… I hate being late, I arrived on time… we were meeting at a business club… I called my contact on the mobile to make sure he was there… he wasn’t… he thought the meeting was for 1pm… he apologised, said he was making his way across now and would be 45 mins late… I should call his partner as he was also going to be at the meeting… I called… no answer, left a message and wondered off to find a coffee shop… severely disappointed that others don’t respect my time.

I found the shop, got a nice cup of steaming coffee and settled down with a book that I’m reviewing for Ford Harding – the 2nd edition of Rain Making… just got settled and started on sipping the hot stuff and got a call from the other chap… he was in the club all the time… got there at 10:30… if only I had gone in!… so packed up, dumped the coffee and made my way back.

Got to the club…settled down and started general discussion… biding our time before the other chap arrives. Chit chat on families over… other chap nowhere to be seen and so we made a start… to say it initially did not go well is an understatement and it all centred around the phrase Account Management. His definition of account management and my definition were completely different… I’m obviously right… I have numerous books on the subject… but this didn’t help because in his eyes he was right and to prove it, he was going to ask his colleague to confirm, when he arrived,… without prompting!

So we sat waiting for reinforcements… I was going to be outnumbered 2 to 1, but I had size and righteousness on my side! Colleague arrived at 12:30… we had important things to sort out… just as well my second appointment for 1pm was cancelled because I would have had to send him a text saying I could not make after all… I’m sure he would have been fine with the short notice cancellation… funny how things work out.

After bombarding the enemy with sure fire argument and taking return hits I was mentally wounded in the cross fire but came out the other side… alive and with a mention in dispatches for taking on the enemy while being heavily outnumbered.

We have patched up our differences… made friends… and will be progressing… albeit with a little caution making sure we tread carefully. I had high hopes for this relationship… and hopefully it will succeed, but I did lose my rose tinted glasses in the fight… but, then that was not such a loss.

I arrived home later than anticipated, still licking my wounds, and waiting for me on my email was a list of those high powered contacts from my very good friend who doesn’t like paying too much for travelling… I was feeling better already!

To summarise last Friday… started with explaining that a different understanding of a common phrase can lead to misunderstanding… paid for first class travel and went coach class… was stood up for an appointment at short notice… didn’t like it… turned up for first meeting, but no one there, bought a coffee, but no time to drink it… got into a fight over misunderstanding of a common phrase… thanked my guardian angle for arranging the cancellation of second meeting… negotiated a peace settlement… lost my rose tinted glasses… received a list of high powered leads with personal recommendations… and now working on making most of peace settlement… strange day!

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I have had a little bit of correspondence with Jill Konrath of Selling to Big Companies fame and she has kindly agreed to add this blog to her blog roll… however, she doesn’t like the Entrepreneurial Salesman title as she says it sounds too much like the site is just for guys… so we are listed as Firstborder… which is fantastic, but I hate the thought we might come across as a bit sexist with the title.

So, the reason for the post is to see what you think… I’ll start and give you my thoughts…

I have to admit that I originally had the same concern as Jill, but was assured by my copywriter… Graham Stewart of bpodr… that the word “salesman” is nowadays as non gender specific as chairman, actor and manager… we used to see chairlady, actress and manageress, but not anymore, although I have noticed the word actress is used in the states… the Oscars for example… so perhaps on this side of the pond we have a different view of these words. However, at the end of the day I certainly don’t want others to think the site is just for guys… that’s really bad… so I’m looking for feedback… we did also consider salesperson, but it was voted against because it was felt that it did not sound right… and that was the women who said that!… but again, from this side of the pond.

… so, those are my thoughts what are yours?

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Just a quick post today to say I have added Courtney Benson’s Ask Business Coach’s Weblog to my Blog Roll. She posted a comment on Part 2 of the recession proofing series and naturally I went to have a look at her own blog. I like what she has to say and I recommend you also have a look.

Oh and by the way… I’ve got another post pending for Colin’s Corner on Karl’s blog so that should be up soon… The 6 Fears of Using the Corporate Pipeline.

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As a sales guy how valued do you feel?… do you believe the organisation values your input?… If you don’t feel valued does the organisation get the most out of you? So who’s more important… the organisation or the individual people?

The organisation of course… far more important than the people… people come and go, but the organisation remains. Let me give you an example… Coca Cola is a global brand, it has been for many years, but the guy who started it no longer runs it… so the organisation must be stronger than the individual… it stands to reason… and what can any one individual do to make a difference anyway? The organisation is made up of numerous individuals all working for the common goal which gives rise to the old saying… “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”

However, I don’t agree with this argument… we are all individuals and we need to be motivated to do our best… each of us have different qualities and it is only by focusing on us as individuals that these qualities can come out and it is these individual qualities that make the difference, not the collective team qualities.

If you are running an organisation you can dictate from the top or nurture from the bottom. It is what Frank Dick did to help the British Athletic team win the European Cup in 1989 and then come second only to the USA a few weeks later in the world cup. Both times Britain beat their old nemesis East Germany (as it was then) which was unheard of at the time. Frank did it because he understood that each member of the team must be treated as an individual, must be allowed and encouraged to make his or own statement, but within the context of the team. You need to read Frank’s book… “Winning – Motivation for Business, Sports & Life”… to understand and put in context that last statement. The book is a very good read and is an excellent blue print for getting more out of the sales team.

The European Cup and indeed the World Cup are won by individuals accumulating points for their team. 8 points for a win, 1 for eighth place. Athletes like Linford Christie, the 100m sprinter, was expected to get 8 points… he always did and so had to do it again, but the likes of Shane Peacock, a hammer thrower, was normally good for 1 point. Shane was tasked with getting one extra point. There was no way he would win, but he could improve by one point, this was how he could get his personal win and contribute to the team. Shane ended up getting 3 extra points… in fact the whole team raised their game, won their personal bests and won the competition. This was only achieved by focusing on the individual.

The great thing about this approach is that it galvanises the team. Individuals make personal contributions that help the team win. When Britain beat East Germany to second place in the World Cup they won by 2 ½ points. When Frank asked the team who was responsible for those vital points everyone put their hands up! The point being made was that to get the best out of the individual they must believe they are valued and can contribute. Every member of the team matters… every extra point matters… each member of the team must know that their contribution matters…it’s how championships are won.

I see no difference between what Frank had to achieve and what sales team all around the world are expected to achieve. It is team work, but it has to begin with treating everyone as individuals. It is what we believe in and what we help sales team achieve… we have it in our Manifesto, listed in no particular order as item 9, where we have turned around that old saying and rephrased it as… “The sum of the parts is greater than the whole”

Individuals do make a difference. They are the difference between a team winning and losing. Focus on the individuals to achieve their best, let them see their value to the team and you will find the organisation achieves.

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I thought I would share with you our Manifesto… It’s what we stand for, what we believe in and what we help our customers do / achieve… I believe it is food for thought for the New Year… assuming you need more food after the last couple of weeks!

1. Every business in the world has the same 3 sales tasks- Fill the pipeline, Manage the pipeline and Close the pipeline.

2. Bottom up thinking beats top down thinking.

3. Winning companies treat sales people as entrepreneurs running mini-businesses within companies.

4. There is no such thing as half a customer or half a sale. CRM percentage forecasting is fantasy.

5. All great sales begin with great questions. All great salespeople begin as great question askers. Small companies that ask great questions can beat big companies that don’t.

6. All sales success starts with naming deals that will close to make their target number.

7. Everyone with a sales target needs to show how they are going to make their number. Sale people, pre-sales people, product specialists, etc… follow the commission plan.

8. Winning and losing is separated only by which deals are focused on early.

9. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole - focus on the individual salesperson, not the organisation.

10 Biggest reason sales managers fail- they demand too much irrelevant data collection rather than focus on a few high quality sales actions.

11. A team which focuses on few relevant high quality sales actions can beat a team which spends its time capturing and reviewing large amounts of unimportant data.

12. A team that collaborates outside the traditional silos within an organisation can beat a team stuck in silos.

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This was a question posted in the answers section on LinkedIn a few months back by Bob Apollo.

Here’s my reply…

First, let me first express my interest… I run a sales development company that specialises in sales methodology… your question hits right at the heart of our existence!

I agree with your sentiments and others that sales methodologies are similar, but that should be no surprise because the buyers, whoever and wherever they are follow the same basic process – they have a need, put together some requirements, find a solution and negotiate a deal. This sameness can be said about other products… a car is a car, there are hundreds of different models, but they are all based on the exactly the same principles. It is consumer preference that allows the complexity of choice.

If you are looking at the methodology market then contact ES Research as they have produced some excellent work on analysing the major sales training providers and their Sales Training Vendor Guide covers most of the names you mention. However, you will not find us in any of their research… yet!

If you are looking purely at the methodology you can take any of the ones you mention and they will produce good results. However, it is not the methodology per say that produces the results but the way it is implemented within the organisation. Most organisations can not and do not implement methodology correctly. However, for those organisations that can do it correctly they get the results, but it is the sustaining of the results that is also a major challenge. In my experience very few organisations have the desire and skill to sustain a methodology through the various personnel changes that are inevitable in all organisations. Therefore, if you want to differentiate companies that offer methodology, first look at the way they implement before you look at their methodology.

This is how we distinguish what we do…

A sales methodology has to cover the three basic sales tasks – filling the pipeline, managing the pipeline and closing the pipeline. Most methodologies cover closing – deal management, some cover filling – territory management and account management, but none (that I know of) cover pipeline management. The pipeline has to be at the heart of the methodology because it has to be used to show how you are going to make your number. The primary requirement of anyone in sales is to hit target and therefore this has to be the prime requirement of a sales methodology. This is our first area of differentiation – we provide sales pipeline methodology that works.

The second area of differentiation is that our methodology is simple, visual and easy to use. It has to be or sales reps won’t use it. The methodology must not take up much of the sales reps time. Less is more. A rep can use as little or as much as they need – it is not a one size fits all.

The third area of differentiation is methodology embedded in software. We provide our methodology as personal productivity tools that deliver benefit to the sales rep. For example, we get the sales rep to forecast their commission as part of the pipeline – just a small incentive to help with forecast accuracy.

Lastly and most importantly we don’t like training, we prefer coaching. Training sessions are minimal; coaching is carried out over many sessions using real deals, real pipelines and real accounts. We also look to encourage sustainability making sure the methodology is embedded in the organisation’s DNA.

In summary, to a certain extent we are a variation on a theme – but then every business is. We can and do differentiate ourselves and our customers will testify to the great results.

There is a start of a new trend that will challenge CRM – sales methodology embedded in software. We are not the only company beginning to do this, but we are the only one to produce personal tools – a differentiator!

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I’m looking to hear from sales professionals who have an interest in pipeline management and accurate forecasting and who would like to participate in obtaining some free training and software tools to help them achieve forecast accuracy of greater than 95%.

We specialise in personal pipeline management and have developed methodology, process and software tools to help sales professionals achieve outstanding forecast accuracy with minimal input of data and time.

With our corporate customers we have helped them achieve 99% forecast accuracy, quarter after quarter. Using a personal pipeline tool has also increased the accuracy of the corporate tool. However, we have achieved this using classroom based training to delegates in the same company. We now want to see if we can achieve the same results using purely remote training to a diverse group. Before we put together a commercial proposition we need to learn and gain some experience of remote learning. We are therefore looking for a group of people from 1 to 100 who would like to benefit from our knowledge. In return for your time and input we will provide our software tools, methodology and time for free.

The size of organisation you work for does not matter; all that is required is that you have the interest, desire and time to manage a personal pipeline in order to achieve your target and increase forecast accuracy.

If you are interested then please let me know, or if you know of someone else who maybe interested, please forward this on.

please reply to forecast@firstborder.com

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