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Springboard Prospect Rant #2 – I Can’t Keep a Sales Person

April 18, 2013 by Karin Schwartz

Continuation of the Bob London of London, Ink “Customer Rant” posts, see previous posts for more information and the slide share of the presentation.

Springboard Prospect Rant #2– I can’t keep a SALES Person

Typically when a prospect finds us it’s because they’ve tried the traditional route and it just isn’t working for them.  They’ve hired 2-3 sales people over the last couple of years and they have either left or failed.  The issue may be the hire, or it may be in the process, the management of the sales person or in management altogether.   Here’s what we typically see:

 

  • They hire the person based off how they interview and their resume, not qualifications or references – interviews and resumes aren’t always 100% accurate
  • They hire the person who has spent their entire career doing something other than sales and yet expects them to be closing deals in 2 months – this is a person who requires training and mentoring
  • They hire family or friends where the challenge becomes accountability, how do you tell your child, your friend that they aren’t living up to expectations?  This can be an excellent idea but it can also have damaging consequences.
  • They hire without plans for tools, expenses or process of accountability.  Tools – tracking, Customer Relationship Management, communication.  Expenses:  mileage, phone, lunches, events, memberships, etc.  Accountability – who, what, when, how?
  • They want the professional who comes with a rolodex, who is on a first name basis with decision makers, who can shorten the time it takes to get in the door, who can frame them as experts in their field, who has a process for management and follow up and who can ask and have answered some challenging questions.   This can be an excellent hire and it can also backfire.   Former executive levels at times can fall into the trap of schmoozing with little follow up and execution – if you think about it, it makes perfect sense; they always had someone else to do it for them.  This would be a great person to partner with an in house program manager or business development manager.

 

Essentially what we end up seeing is the person who should be producing but isn’t getting a very long leash costing the company far more than it should or the newer professional who needs in depth training, mentoring and time expected to perform like a pro immediately.  Sometimes it’s the hire, sometimes it’s the training, sometimes it’s the expectations.

 

Filed Under: Business Development, Maryland Business Development, Outsourced Business Development, Prospect Rants, Sales Outsourcing, Sales Tips Tagged With: Bob London, business development, business development challenges, Cadre, Derek Coburn, Karin Schwartz, London Ink, Maryland, Melanie Coburn, outsourced sales solutions, Springboard, Springboard Business Development, Washington DC

What’s your Prospect’s Rant?

April 17, 2013 by Karin Schwartz

A few months ago I attended a CADRE luncheon (www.cadredc.com) where Bob London of London, Ink (an amazing and insightful marketing strategist) was speaking about the elevator pitch – or in most cases it’s something used to bore your prospect to death in 30 seconds or less instead Bob talked about the “customer rant”.  What is it that’s just pissing off your prospects?  The more you know about what pisses off your prospects the better you can communicate their challenges and the how you can help.  (Take a peek at Bob’s site for more info www.londonink.com and here’s the link for the slide share:

http://www.slideshare.net/londonink/do-you-know-your-b2b-customers-elevator-rant-14333736

The exercise that followed was pretty easy – our prospect rants about pretty much everything to do with sales because let’s face it sales can be a real challenge especially in today’s market.  The next couple posts are about the most popular rants we hear as it pertains to sales and business development and some real honest feedback to help deal with each one.

Rant #1 – The person I want and the person I can afford are 2 different people

I have $60k but the person I want commands $100-$150k in salary alone.  Clearly this is a problem.  Our clients want operators, true business development specialists, and yet they don’t have the resources to hire that person.  After salary, taxes, benefits and expense reimbursement they’re looking at a minimum $200k investment and they have $60k, it just doesn’t compute.  Since most of our clients and prospects are in the $2-30,000,000 revenue range, the CEO is still responsible for the vast majority of operations, client fulfillment, decisions made, hiring, etc. they simply don’t have time to train a more junior level business developer nor do they have the 1+ year waiting period to allow them to come up to speed.  Ultimately the prospect feels they are in a no win situation – hiring the junior level BD person in their mind is a recipe for disaster as they can’t dedicate the time and resources necessary to bring them up to speed quickly and they simply can’t afford the person they want.

Options:  If the CEO is the primary sales person, what functions can be transferred to others in the office to free up the time of the CEO to run business development?  This works great for the CEO who really loves sales (however not every CEO who loves sales is the best option so look around the office as well).  For those that don’t or for those whose presence is truly needed in the office it may be best to identify outsourcing options.  You’re looking for the expert in your target market/s at the price you can afford.

 

 

Filed Under: Business Development, Outsourced Business Development, Sales Outsourcing Tagged With: Baltimore, Bob London, business development, business development challenges, Cadre, Derek Coburn, Ink, London, Melanie Coburn, Outsourced Business Development, outsourced sales solutions, Springboard, Washington DC

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