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DEAR READERS: I will be taking a sabbatical from Champions Unleashed for a season of renewal and refocus. While away, we will be re-airing previous issues of Champions BYTES and will feature guest authors. Thank you for your faithful reading and forwarding of Champions BYTES in my absence. - Ed Norwood
"The people curse him who holds back grain [when the public needs it], but a blessing
[from God and man] is upon the head of him who SELLS it." -King Solomon
What Fierce Competitors Do in Tough Times -Part II by Jeffrey Fox
Charles Dickens famously opened his "Tale of Two Cities," with the iconic line, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." According to international best selling business author, Jeffrey J. Fox, Mr. Dickens could have been penning the mantra of what Fox calls the "fierce competitor companies." Fox writes that for fierce competitors, "Bad Times Are Good Times." Fox persuasively outlines how fierce competitors, be they giant companies, great managers or a commission-only salesperson, take advantage of tough economic times to grow market share and profits. If you are facing tough times, this series of articles from Jeffrey Fox, based on his new best seller, "How to Become a Fierce Competitor: What Winning Companies and Great Managers Do in Tough Times," are a must read.
Fierce competitors see tough times as opportunities to sell.
Fierce competitors:
16. Help sales people. Soften rejection. Get them qualified leads and referrals. Make joint calls. Have lots of little contests and surprise awards. Give a bonus to the guy who hears the most "no's" in a week. Give a bonus to the gal who visits the most brand new customers in a month.
17. Conduct daily sales meetings, even if you have a one-person company. One to ten minutes. Set a daily sales goal. Plan a pitch. Read a chapter in "How to Become a Rainmaker." Practice handling an objection. Say aloud ten times, "Why don't you give us a try?" Dollarize a product benefit.
Daily sales meetings put sales in priority and focus the sellers. Webinars, podcasts, conference calls, emails from the boss, whatever. Have daily sales meetings.
18. Prioritize. Sales managers, of whatever title, should spend 90% of their infield time with the superstars and high potential people. Spend only 10% of time giving a problematical person a last chance.
19. Sell on Friday afternoons. Customers are relaxed. Customers see giving commitments as revocable, and they are not. And no else is out there selling. Customers appreciate that and wish their sales people were selling as well.
20. Make three breakfast appointments with decision makers a week. Breakfasts are a one-way ride for customers...on their way to work. Low cost. No alcohol. Natural deadline for meeting.
21. See customer service as a survival strategy. Love the customers you have. Call on them. Help them improve their economics by investing in your products. Get referrals.
22. Sell dollarized value, not products. Sell the dollarized value of reduced downtime, improved yield, longer lasting components, fewer transactions, less inventory, and so on.
23. Increase commissions on high margin products. Give short-term rewards, one-time bonuses for acquiring new customers, for selling a strategic product, for getting a design spec.
24. Fish where the big fish are. Don't waste selling time on minnows.
25. Show sales people why pre-call planning, in writing, reduces their call-to-close ratio by 20%. That 90% of all sales are won or lost in pre-call planning. Develop simple pre-call work sheets.
One pre-planned sales call on a decision maker is worth more than 100 cold calls.
26. Remind everyone, everyday, during the daily sales meeting, that as Carlos Gomez, the great manager of Groupo Modelo says, "You can't sell (your product) sitting behind a desk."
27. Don't cut travel-to-customers expenses. Insist that every breakfast, lunch and dinner include a customer. Lunches without a customer are a waste of selling time.
28. Don't let email become evil-mail. 99% of emails that are not directly tied to getting and keeping a customer are thieves of selling time.
29. Set the example. Leadership is not "pushership." Be fearless. Make the tough sales calls. Leaders get bloody and muddy. Leaders' optimism and fearlessness is infectious. Go for it.
These notes are adapted from Jeffrey Fox's new book "How To Be a Fierce Competitor: What Winning Companies and Great Managers Do in Tough Times."
ABOUT OUR GUEST AUTHOR: Jeffrey Fox is the founder of Fox&Co, a marketing and management consulting firm in Chester, Ct. Fox&Co helps clients increase profitable revenues and gross margins. Jeffrey Fox is consigliere to senior executives. His eleven best selling books have been published in over 35 languages. There are over 200 international editions of his books. This article is inspired by Jeffrey's "How to Become a Great Boss." His newest book is "How to Be a Fierce Competitor: What Winning Companies and Great Managers Do in Tough Times." Website: www.foxandcompany.com
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