Jeffrey Gitomer October 30, 2013

By Jeffrey Gitomer
October 30, 2013
 

 I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solvetheir sales dilemmas. Here are a few that mayrelate to your job, yourlife, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.
 
Dear Jeffrey, What is your opinion of tracking daily sales dollars versusactivities that will result in revenue? Does it really matter ifMonday’s sales dollars are lower as long as the month pans out in regard toyour goals? My thought is Who cares which day the dollars get posted as long as they do get posted. Ocha
 
Ocha, So I’m assumingyour boss is making you do this and he or she is paranoid you won’t make your number by the end of the month. Both of which, tracking thedailysales dollars and the daily sales activities, are stupid. What you needto do is track the sales cycle and know where you are with respect tothat sales cycle and what your expected revenues are. Because if yourexpected revenues are underneath your daily dollars, but your dailydollars are overyour goal, you think you’re doing well, when in fact,you could be achieving 20, 30 40, 50% MORE sales by making certainyou’re looking at your target dollars not just your actual dollars.Received dollars are real easy to record, but if you’re a salespersonand your boss needs to know what activity you’re doing every day –whether you’ve made five follow-ups and whether you did three cold calls – you’re doing it all backwards and you’ve got the wrong boss. What you need to do is look at the sales cycle and parenthetically look at thedollars, but they have to be compared to what you projected thosedollars to be. Best regards, Jeffrey
 
Dear Jeffrey, I have aregional billboard company with two years of experience. For thesmaller, greener, and less connected salespeople of the world, how doyou keep a strategy in mind at all times to help land clients such asAT&T, Best Buy, or Taco Bell? Stuart
 
Stuart, You’re notgoing to land those people without years worth of trying, banging yourhead against the wall, seeing their ad agency, and doing all kinds ofother stuff. UNLESS somebody in your family, somebody in your circle offriends, or somebody in your circle of influenceknows someone up high at those big companies. If they do, and you can be introduced, you can get in the door. And if you can get in the door with some kind of impact,you’re going to win. But here’s the secret: don’t just be selling them a billboard. Give them a design that helps them get a response. And maybe you could even arrange with your company to give it away for 30 days to measure that response and go from there. The biggest mistake anybody in advertising makes is walking into a sales call with some kind of amedia kit that shows how big a quarter page ad is, or how big abillboard is, or how many 30-second commercials there are. Go in withsomething already finished so people can look at it, like it, inviteother people in to see it, and ultimately buy it.  Best regards, Jeffrey
 
Jeffrey, You are pretty critical of CRM systems. They are here to stay, so howdo you suggest we make them less threatening and more useful to thesales rep? How do you suggest someone shows the value of CRM to thesales users? Mike
 
Mike, Make the CRM applicable to the sales cycle, not just what they did on Tuesday. Don’t count the number ofcold calls. Rather, study the sale from the beginning to the end andcoach on that. That will actually help the person who is forced to useit.
 
Keep in mind salespeople just want to make a sale. Theydon’t want to be accountable. They got into sales so they wouldn’t haveto be accountable. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not responsible.And it’s the managers or the leaders responsibility to help them beresponsible for themselves. Best regards, Jeffrey
 
Jeffrey, Isell broadcast television advertising in a small market. I havemountains of information that shows TV as a great way to advertise, buthow do I work that into my sales presentation without being overlyanalytical and pedantic? I need to give my prospective clients reasonsto buy, but I don’t want to overwhelm them with data. Dennis
 
Dennis, Good. Nobody wants data. Everyone hates data and, in fact, no onebelieves data. 74% of all people don’t believe data. Where did I getthat number? I made it up. But it sounds good. It’s data. What you needare video testimonials from customers who have already advertised onyour station, got great results, and are willing to recommend thatanother prospective customer use your TV station. That’s all youneed. If that’s not working for you, or you can’t get them because youdon’t have any relationships, then do a 30-second spot where you are the voice. And do a spot about whomever you’re trying to get – the caragency, the car wash company, the cemetery lot salesperson. Whatever itis that you’re trying to get people to buy, do that. You make thecommercial. It’s 30 seconds. It’s only 90 words. Figure it out. You’re a smart guy. Your method of being pedantic is too pedantic. Making acommercial in advance and getting a testimonial – those are the only two ways to sell. Best regards, Jeffrey