DR STAN FINE

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Comment by Stan Fine PhD on September 10, 2008 at 8:20pm

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Far too often in the heat of the new-account hunt, “rules of engagement” are vague, unstated or—worst of all—assumed. The results are low closing ratios, wasted resources and sales failure. Before investing time and your company’s support with any prospect, set fair rules of engagement.

When invited to compete for a prospect’s business, salespeople traditionally let the prospect set the rules of engagement. What are those terms? Is the prospect candid and clear about what it takes to earn the business, or does he or she just want a competitive quote? You must know and understand the prospect’s rules of engagement before entering the arena.

Better still; develop your own rules before agreeing to compete. What is fair to you? What rules are unacceptable? Don’t “wing it” when setting the rules. It’s unprofessional to waste your time and the support of your company team without clear, fair, and agreed-upon rules of engagement. Set the rules by asking the following questions:

What’s the upfront commitment? By definition, “engagement” means a commitment to something. For example, if you solve a business problem, service problems for your prospect and stay within budget, will you earn the prospect’s commitment?
Don’t assume this is so until you state this rule of engagement and the prospect agrees. If your prospect doesn’t agree, the rules of engagement are not fair to you or your team. Before moving ahead, ask the prospect what it will take to earn his business.

Who’s quoting and why? Avoid excess competition. If your prospect accepts bids from multiple salespeople, what does that say about your odds of success? More important, what does that tell you about the perceived value of your professional support? Set agreed-on rules about the mix of competition that’s fair to you. When the prospect seeks multiple bidders, ask why before entering the quoting fray.

How are your markets assigned? Has one of your competitors ever given a prospect a list of dozens of potential companies in order to block those markets from you? Not only is that unfair to you, but it also puts your competitor’s interests ahead of the prospect’s. Don’t agree to allow other salespeople to block your most competitive markets.
Insist on access to the companies you count on to bring your prospects the best value. That’s fair to you and your prospect. Anything less robs you of your tools and reduces your opportunity to succeed.

What’s the budget? Understand your buyer’s budget before committing to compete. Can your prospect afford you? Is the budget flexible if your solutions add cost? Are, service and relationship advantages important, or does the account go to the lowest bid? Is your sale price is within the budget.
Define the decision-making path. What path is the prospect following to reach a buying decision? Who else’s input is required? When does the buyer expect your proposal? When can you expect a final decision? Do you have “last look” or the opportunity to adjust your proposal before a final decision is made? If not, does the incumbent or any other salesperson have those opportunities? Is the upfront commitment still valid at decision time? Insist on a fair, logical and clear decision-making path.

BAD RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Can’t you just give me an ‘apples- for-apples’ quote like everyone else?” When a prospect uses the words “apples for apples,” he is saying that price, not value, is the deciding factor. Can you always offer the lowest price? When you deliver a low price, is the incumbent salesperson given a chance to beat, match or split the cost difference? What happens when your service is superior? When prospects control competition by requiring an “apples for apples” quote, run for the hills.

“Would you just bring your best quote so I can present it to the owner?” Once again, no. When an office manager is delegating the task of getting quotes, be careful. If the owner’s representative is not the decision-maker, your probability of success is reduced.

Determine your contact’s authority level. Can he or she say yes to your proposal? Does your contact have the power to recommend your proposal to the owner, or is his or her task simply to harvest as many competitive quotes as possible? Ask if the incumbent salesperson and any other competitors have direct access to the owner. You must have access to the decision-maker equal to or greater than the incumbent’s or any other competitor’s.

“Why do you need that?” Prospects must be willing to share information to help you build an effective proposal. Some prospects may not have the information you want. Others might be unwilling to share data they perceive as negative. Perhaps your buyer doesn’t trust you with proprietary information such as financial statements. If your prospect can’t give you what you need to create a professional proposal or won’t provide negative or proprietary information, you’re proceeding at your own risk and perhaps preparing to fail in the attempt to gain a new customer.

Create your own rules of engagement before meeting with a prospect, and prepare responses to any of the prospect’s rules that are unacceptable. Don’t leave your success to chance. When you set the rules of engagement, you present yourself as a professional and become the point of comparison for the competition.

Comment by Stan Fine PhD on September 10, 2008 at 8:19pm

HOW TO PICK A TRADE SHOW TO BE IN

BY

STAN FINE

Criteria for Picking Trade Shows

With more than 9,000 Trade Shows and public expositions being held each year, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. The difficulty of making those choices is one of the reasons why some companies do not exhibit at all. Making the wrong choice can be a costly mistake. Yet there are many sources that can provide the information you need to choose the shows that will be most productive for your company, and yield the greatest return on your exhibit investment.
The following are other key factors about trade shows that are worthy of taking note of:
1. The average industrial sales call costs $229.70.

2. To close and order, 5.5 sales calls on average are required, bringing the cost to $1,263,35.

3. The cost per contact at a Trade Show is approximately $106.70 with an average of 0.8 follow-up calls required to close the sale. That results in a savings of $1,053.89 per order.

4. Contacting your entire current prospective base for the most part is an impossible task, supported by the following statistic: 92% of attendees at regional shows and 84% of attendees at national shows have not been contacted by the exhibiting business during the prior year.

5. 83% of show attendees visiting an exhibit had not seen a salesperson from that company during the previous 12 months.

6. 78% of 1st time show attendees and 85% of the veterans have buying authority.

7. 61% plan to buy something exhibited at a show.

8. 54% of show inquiries do not require a follow up call.

9. It costs 70% less to close a trade show lead than a field sales call,

10. 45% of all sales leads from a show will turn into a sale for someone within a year.

11. 75-90% of the inquiries at a show are never followed up.



What is Trade Show SALES TRAINING



Trade Show SALES TRAINING is a trade show service that works with you to help you achieve the outcome you want at the trade shows you participate in.
You’ve tried Trade Show Marketing in the past – your Company spent a lot of money and got marginal results, right? You just couldn’t seem to find the magic formula that would work for you.
There is NO magic formula for Successful Trade Show Marketing.
There IS however, a COMMON SENSE SUCCESS FORMULA that will help you structure your approach and almost guarantee Trade show Marketing Success!
It’s common knowledge that Trade Shows represent the greatest Sales/Marketing Arena in the world, with the lowest cost per sale and the highest degree of Market Penetration.
What isn’t commonly known is the process to successfully get more clients to buy more from you and to buy more often, using Trade Shows as your media.
At Trade Shows 911we help you be successful in the following areas:
• We place an Ambassador on the floor that draws booth attendees to your booth
• We connect the trade show attendees with your sales people
• We train your salespeople before and at the show how to engage potential customers and extract lead opportunities
• We work with you to design an effective lead management process