![\"top](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/top-10-1.jpg\")
There are many ways to analyze a business and equally as many ways to break down the details around it. Recently, I asked my team to look back over the last few years to see if we could identify a pattern or somehow gather the ten most popular topics discussed with dealers.<\/p>\n
Obviously there were thousands of conversations, articles and presentations to consider. After a fair amount of work we reduced it down to the following list and tried to arrange the topics in a logical order. I will briefly describe each situation and if appropriate, a solution or my personal thoughts for each. This month, I\u2019ll review the first five of these ten most requested topics.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0Finding Your Way To The Future –\u00a0<\/strong>This question usually pops up in our first conversation with a dealer principal. What they typically want to know is what I see as the prevailing profile for the copier business of the future. I do see so many distractions in our industry and things that can take a dealer down the wrong road. My advice is, whatever you do to get to the future, you must protect your core business while building the deliverables for the future.<\/p>\n At an industry trade show I heard one speaker talk about how the future was in 3D printing, and all of the opportunities that can create for a dealer. Another said that information workflow and big data was the key. I would simply say the bridge from today to a successful tomorrow must be built with a plan that protects today\u2019s revenue and one that most likely includes technology services. Those services should be closely related to your current day offerings and allow you to expand your business into your current base and present a more comprehensive value to prospects. Managed Print and IT services are definitely part of it, but I see a complete comprehensive technology package coming where the deliverable of the future contains all technology in a single monthly invoice. The customer runs their entire technology platform from your program. If you can get there before your competition, you\u2019ll enjoy a nice product life cycle and a little \u201cfirst to market\u201d profitability as well.<\/p>\n 2. Building \u201cDifferentiation\u201d –<\/strong>\u00a0Differentiation is a non-stop topic. I have some really interesting conversations with dealers who tell me that they are disrupting their marketplace with deliverables that are way ahead of the competition. In most cases the disruption is between their ears and what they believe is highly competitive is nothing more than what I find in almost every dealership. Creating a real differentiation is going to take market research and I mean real market research where very smart people ask very smart questions to all levels of your customer base.<\/p>\n This has to be someone who really understands your industry and how to dig to find that missing element or hidden nugget that exposes your way in. It\u2019s not from a manufacturer, a supply distributor or another dealer and you won\u2019t get it from a workshop. You get the strategy for differentiation from your customers and prospects. It will be a program or deliverable that solves a problem that they may not even know they have. A company\u2019s differentiation is often born when someone says, \u201cThat\u2019s impossible and that just can\u2019t be done!\u201d Find that continual request from your marketplace and solve that problem.<\/p>\n 3. Selling Deliverables Clients Will Buy –<\/strong>\u00a0I once sent out a direct mail piece to 10,000 companies and offered a copier at full retail price and that direct mail campaign sold almost $150,000 worth of copier hardware. I know, direct mail had its time and most likely doesn\u2019t work the way it used to, right?<\/p>\n You\u2019re probably thinking that must have been a long time ago when one could get a full retail price for a copier. When the mailer went out is irrelevant, it\u2019s all about selling something a client would want to buy. The facts are, most clients hate financial surprises and one of the biggest unknowns about copiers is, they really don\u2019t know how much your device will cost them over the years. So I sold them the copier for full retail. I included all of the toner and maintenance they\u2019d need for 3 years.<\/p>\n Their number one reason for making the purchase was, \u201cThey knew exactly what their financial risk was over the term and there were no surprises!\u201d So were they buying a copier or were they buying predictability? You can answer the question.<\/p>\n 4. Designing The Sales Organization<\/strong> –\u00a0There\u2019s no telling how many different ways I\u2019ve been asked this question: How to design a sales organization. What they\u2019re really saying is, \u201cWhat is the best way to generate success using the sales reps we have or want to hire?\u201d This question is answered easily if you\u2019ve defined what your sales organization is expected to do. I\u2019m not just talking about revenue total, I\u2019m talking about the deeper purpose of a sales organization.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very common for dealers to put out an annual revenue goal but it\u2019s not that common for one to have defined the actual process and the talent that performs that the best. Most super sales reps ARE NOT phone prospectors, they\u2019re simply not! Instead of dividing up your zip codes and putting moderate to weak talent on each territory, divide up your process and put high talent on each step of opportunity development.<\/p>\n A sales organization should be designed to create a sustainable flow of opportunity, large enough to attain a healthy annual growth percentage. It should include all of the necessary personnel, tools and components to accomplish a non-stop, steady flow of opportunity.<\/p>\n When you think about it, your sales organization design has to:<\/p>\n Beef up any weak areas to ensure successful opportunity development. Once that\u2019s built, set a realistic revenue growth number and go!<\/p>\n 5. Attracting High Quality Sales Talent –<\/strong> This has got to be one of the most popular questions I\u2019m asked. The answer is not that hard. Typically great sales reps ARE NOT OUT THERE LOOKING FOR A JOB, they\u2019re employed and making a nice living. But one thing is in your favor, they\u2019re coin operated so all you have to do is find out how much coin brings them to your business. Don\u2019t be stingy.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t attract them with a comp plan that offers them less than they make today\u2014like most people they\u2019re looking for an upward career move. I am not saying you have to have a large salary, I am saying you have to have a path for them to make six figures without climbing Mount Everest to get there.<\/p>\n Their personality is a strong one, they like themselves and they believe they\u2019re worth a lot of money. The best profile you can hire is a closer and one that wants to make a lot of money. If they can see the path to the money, they won\u2019t be afraid to work hard or long hours. If your compensation plan doesn\u2019t have a path to above 100k, you\u2019ll never get them and you\u2019ll continually drive the revolving door for sales reps. The facts are, there are millions of mediocre sales reps out there. The higher quality sales reps are one in ten thousand, but they are out there.<\/p>\n I know, I know, you can\u2019t pay that much, right? I would simply say you\u2019re looking at it the wrong way. If you have four sales reps now, I would bet you $100 that three are failing, right? Take two of the salaries and create the base for your super hero and take the third salary and hire a telemarketer, a real telemarketer. Set appointments for the super hero and drive net new business appointments. When your super hero wins big, share the coin with your telemarketer also so everyone loves winning!<\/p>\n The good news is, this plan won\u2019t cost you anymore than your current payroll does. Once they get a taste of the money, you won\u2019t be able to stop them. Manage their success and then build a second team just like the first one.<\/p>\n Although these top ten most wanted topics were derived from a long list of questions and conversations, they remain as some of the most important questions I receive today. Continual analysis and improvement of your sales results, activity and process will always yield better sales results. I\u2019ll review the rest of the five questions next month.<\/p>\n Happy selling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are many ways to analyze a business and equally as many ways to break down the details around it. Recently, I asked my team to look back over the last few years to see if we could identify a pattern or somehow gather the ten most popular topics discussed with dealers. Obviously there were thousands of conversations, articles and presentations to consider. After a fair amount of work we reduced it down to the following list and tried to arrange the topics in a logical order. I will briefly describe each situation and if appropriate, a solution or my personal thoughts for each. This month, I\u2019ll review the first five of these ten most requested topics. Finding Your Way To The Future Building \u201cDifferentiation\u201d Selling Deliverables Clients Will Buy Designing The Sales Organization Attracting High Quality Sales Talent Successful Compensation Sales Activity Sales Funnel Management Deal Strategies & The Close Understanding Forecast Ratios 1.\u00a0Finding Your Way To The Future –\u00a0This question usually pops up in our first conversation with a dealer principal. What they typically want to know is what I see as the prevailing profile for the copier business of the future. I do see so many distractions in our industry and things that can take a dealer down the wrong road. My advice is, whatever you do to get to the future, you must protect your core business while building the deliverables for the future. At an industry trade show I heard one speaker talk about how the future was in 3D printing, and all of the opportunities that can create for a dealer. Another said that information workflow and big data was the key. I would simply say the bridge from today to a successful tomorrow must be built with a plan that protects today\u2019s revenue and one that most likely includes technology services. Those services should be closely related to your current day offerings and allow you to expand your business into your current base and present a more comprehensive value to prospects. Managed Print and IT services are definitely part of it, but I see a complete comprehensive technology package coming where the deliverable of the future contains all technology in a single monthly invoice. The customer runs their entire technology platform from your program. If you can get there before your competition, you\u2019ll enjoy a nice product life cycle and a little \u201cfirst to market\u201d profitability as well. 2. Building \u201cDifferentiation\u201d –\u00a0Differentiation is a non-stop topic. I have some really interesting conversations with dealers who tell me that they are disrupting their marketplace with deliverables that are way ahead of the competition. In most cases the disruption is between their ears and what they believe is highly competitive is nothing more than what I find in almost every dealership. Creating a real differentiation is going to take market research and I mean real market research where very smart people ask very smart questions to all levels of your customer base. This has to be someone who really understands your industry and how to dig to find that missing element or hidden nugget that exposes your way in. It\u2019s not from a manufacturer, a supply distributor or another dealer and you won\u2019t get it from a workshop. You get the strategy for differentiation from your customers and prospects. It will be a program or deliverable that solves a problem that they may not even know they have. A company\u2019s differentiation is often born when someone says, \u201cThat\u2019s impossible and that just can\u2019t be done!\u201d Find that continual request from your marketplace and solve that problem. 3. Selling Deliverables Clients Will Buy –\u00a0I once sent out a direct mail piece to 10,000 companies and offered a copier at full retail price and that direct mail campaign sold almost $150,000 worth of copier hardware. I know, direct mail had its time and most likely doesn\u2019t work the way it used to, right? You\u2019re probably thinking that must have been a long time ago when one could get a full retail price for a copier. When the mailer went out is irrelevant, it\u2019s all about selling something a client would want to buy. The facts are, most clients hate financial surprises and one of the biggest unknowns about copiers is, they really don\u2019t know how much your device will cost them over the years. So I sold them the copier for full retail. I included all of the toner and maintenance they\u2019d need for 3 years. Their number one reason for making the purchase was, \u201cThey knew exactly what their financial risk was over the term and there were no surprises!\u201d So were they buying a copier or were they buying predictability? You can answer the question. 4. Designing The Sales Organization –\u00a0There\u2019s no telling how many different ways I\u2019ve been asked this question: How to design a sales organization. What they\u2019re really saying is, \u201cWhat is the best way to generate success using the sales reps we have or want to hire?\u201d This question is answered easily if you\u2019ve defined what your sales organization is expected to do. I\u2019m not just talking about revenue total, I\u2019m talking about the deeper purpose of a sales organization. It\u2019s very common for dealers to put out an annual revenue goal but it\u2019s not that common for one to have defined the actual process and the talent that performs that the best. Most super sales reps ARE NOT phone prospectors, they\u2019re simply not! Instead of dividing up your zip codes and putting moderate to weak talent on each territory, divide up your process and put high talent on each step of opportunity development. A sales organization should be designed to create a sustainable flow of opportunity, large enough to attain a healthy annual growth percentage. It should include all of the necessary personnel, tools and components to accomplish a non-stop, steady flow of opportunity. When you think about it, your sales organization design has to: Find new business Present your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1882],"tags":[1800,2192],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13930,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13928\/revisions\/13930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n