Practical Eloquence Blog |

A Sales Lesson from the Election Results: Trust the Numbers

By Jack Malcolm / 11.7.2012 / No Comment

The truth is in here somewhere

Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened.

Winston Churchill

I was wrong, but at least I know why.

My guy didn’t win last night, but this article is not about politics. It’s about critical thinking, objectivity, and trusting the numbers. And trust me, I’ll relate it to sales in the end.

Like so many others, I’ve been closely following the polls over the past few weeks for a clue to the outcome. Almost all of the polls predicted Obama’s victory, but there was plenty of other “evidence” that suggested the polls were wrong, and that’s what I chose to focus on:

Some experts said the polls were fundamentally flawed because they were based on 2008 turnout proportions, and of course everyone knew that the Democrats would not turn out in those same numbers this time around.
Others told us how large and passionate Romney’s crowds were in the past two or three weeks, and said that would make the difference.
Still others assured us that undecideds tend to break for the challenger.
My own theory was that the polls are fundamentally flawed because people either don’t have home landlines anymore, and those that do use caller ID to avoid answering calls from pollsters, thereby making random samples impossible.

Of course, when I was explaining that theory to my son, who works in politics, he pointed out that if my theory were correct, it would probably mean that the polls would overstate Romney’s support, because younger people are less likely to have landlines. (He was much more objective and accurate than I was during this whole process.)

Naturally, experts on the other side had ready answers for my theories, but of course those weren’t the ones I focused on. My own confirmation bias told me that they were victims of confirmation bias. Here’s another example: just last weekend the Miami Herald, my local paper, published a poll showing Romney ahead in Florida by 6 points, and yet the same day the Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama ahead in Florida. I noted the disparity, but of course put more faith in the Herald numbers, because after all, they would know more about Florida, wouldn’t they? I suppose if it had been the other way around, I would have justified the WSJ numbers by saying they’re a much more prestigious paper.

At least when I was doing this, I was completely aware of what I was doing. When I would click on a favorable article and ignore another, I knew I was indulging my confirmation bias. I knew that that I was not being completely objective, but I hoped that this time I was wrong. I was a “prisoner of hope”, but at least I knew it. In some ways, I was using the entire process as an experiment, and the results are pretty conclusive: trust the numbers, not your gut.

Here’s where all this relates to sales. Mike Weinberg, in his book New Sales.Simplified., cautions salespeople against becoming prisoners of hope. Hope is a great motivator but a poor crutch. Salespeople become prisoners of hope when they fail to prospect, because they hope something will fall into their laps. The funnel numbers may be bleak, but instead of doing the work to fill the funnel with qualified prospects, they instead fall back on hope as their principal strategy. Something will come up, they say; it always does. Except when it doesn’t.

Trust the numbers, especially when you don’t like what they’re telling you.

Sales

How Not to Write A Marketing Email

By Jack Malcolm / 11.6.2012 / No Comment

Sometimes material for a blog post just falls in your lap. I received the following email from a marketing company. I think they’re trying to sell me something, but I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s options, or leverage, or simply a trusted partnership?

I’ve copied it exactly, except for removing the company name.

Hi Jack,

I wanted to touch base with you directly, as we have been working with organizations in similar vertical markets, providing a scalable, Marketing infrastructure.

My company, _________ provides these services (Fortune 500 type marketing options) and utilizes leading technology to make this all accessible.

We have found that many leading executives leverage our people and tools, in an effort to focus their finite resources on the core business at hand.

Finally small and mid-sized companies have a trusted partner to help them contain marketing costs. Minimize employer-related risks, relieve the administrative burden of marketing, and keep their focus on business success.

I would like to set up some time to discuss your current marketing environment, and see if our solution may be a good fit for you. Let me know some date(s)/times(s) that work, and I can coordinate calendars for a meeting.

As Dave Barry says, I’m not making this stuff up.

Success

Relentlessly Motivated

By Jack Malcolm / 11.5.2012 / No Comment

You think you’re motivated? Meet Ahmad Jan Ali.

It takes motivation for any kid to make it through college and then to get a job in a Congressman’s office. But what if that kid first has to learn English without any help, risk his life repeatedly, and then make it through college in a foreign country despite never having gone past sixth grade?

Ahmad was born in Afghanistan and went to a school with no windows, no desks, paper or pencils—and one textbook that the dozen or so students took turns using. At the age of 12 his family fled from the Taliban to Iran, where Ahmad was not allowed to attend school. He decided he wanted to learn English, and talked his parents into allowing him to quit work to devote himself to the task. He bought 150 cassette tapes containing university lectures and political speeches, and studied eight hours a day, holding imaginary conversations with lamps and chairs, and imitating George Bush.

Of course, since he had no one to actually talk to, he didn’t know if his English was actually any good, until his family returned to Afghanistan and he approached some American soldiers. When they heard him, they asked him how long he had lived in the States. In one article, Ahmad said: “I felt like I was hit by an asteroid. That’s how empowering that was. I realized right then that hard work pays off.” (The article is fascinating. Go ahead and read it; I’ll wait.)

He became an interpreter for the troops and regularly risked his life on combat missions and negotiations with local leaders. In 2007, he jumped at the chance to take advantage of a visa program for interpreters, although he first had to travel to Pakistan, evading Taliban patrols, to get the necessary papers. He moved to Oregon and lived in the home of Col. Bob Elliott, enrolled in the local community college and eventually graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in international affairs. He now lives in DC and works in the office of US Representative Greg Walden.

It’s easy to write about motivation from the safety and comfort of an American middle-class life, so occasionally it’s useful to remind ourselves that many people face far greater obstacles than we do just to achieve what we already take for granted.

In a story written in the Bend Bulletin[1], Ahmad is quoted as saying: “I want to have a positive impact on what is going on.”

I would say he already has.

[1] This quote is taken from an excellent article about Ahmad in yesterday’s Bend Bulletin, but apparently it is only accessible to subscribers.

Book reviews - Sales

New Sales. Simplified.

By Jack Malcolm / 11.1.2012 / No Comment

Are sales hunters going the way of the dinosaurs? Is cold calling dead? We’re told by sales experts that prospecting is no longer effective in this age of social media and information abundance. You have to find new customers through referrals and social media, and cold calling is ineffective.[1]

Mike Weinberg begs to differ, and has written New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development to solve that problem. He makes an eloquent case for the continuing need for old-fashioned prospecting: selecting targets, cold calling and making appointments to generate new business.

I usually don’t read books about prospecting, because I think of them like diet books—the theory is simple but the doing is hard. Everyone knows that you have to eat less and exercise more, and it’s hard for a book to say something new on the subject or to motivate you for long. That being said, Weinberg has come through and delivered an excellent book which outlines a clear path for generating more revenue and brining in new customers, as long as you’re willing to do the work.

The promise implied in the title of the book is kept. Mike writes in a direct and compelling style, stripping out all unnecessary complexity and jargon out of the simple process of prospecting. Prospecting is a function of numbers, discipline and skill. The first three chapters are about the motivation and discipline needed, and the rest of the book provides the skill in three sections:

Choosing your targets. The key issue is to focus. Although prospecting is generally seen as a numbers game, you can stack the numbers in your favor by quickly eliminating the low-percentage prospects and then selecting a finite and realistically workable list. Weinberg suggests finding companies that “look, feel, and smell” like your best clients. You know you bring value to them, and you have instant credibility, and you speak their language. Then, target their senior executives with the sales story that you develop in the second section.

Marshaling your sales weapons. The most important weapon in your arsenal is your sales story. An effective sales story is written in outside-in fashion; instead of yourself and your company, you need to make the customer the center of your story. I found this to be the most helpful section of the entire book, in that it made me do something I rarely do when I read a sales book. I took out a pen and several sheets of paper and worked through the exercise that Mike suggests for creating a compelling sales story. The first step is to brainstorm as many possible ways as you can think of to complete this sentence: “Companies bring us in when…” You then list common pains you can eliminate, problems you can solve, opportunities you can help them take advantage of, and results they need to generate. The second step is to honestly list your differentiators in plain language. It’s a simple exercise, but very eye-opening and very productive.

Planning and executing the attack. I have some differences of opinion with Mike’s suggested approach in this section, but overall I believe his method is very sound and will be effective, for any sales hunters. The main difference might be that I and the clients I generally work with are going after very large accounts, so that there is a smaller population to choose from and a more rifle-shot approach is necessary. I’d like to see more “warming up” the cold call by sending email or using a referral before the first call, and more detailed sales call planning. That said, the differences between us are only in degree, and not in kind.

If you are reasonably new in sales and need a solid and complete manual to learn how to prospect, New Sales. Simplified. is an excellent book for you. If you have been around for a long time and need kick in the back of the pants to get you re-started, plus some excellent suggestions for refining and improving your approach, then this is also the book for you.

This book may make you uncomfortable; it will make you money.

[1] In The Challenger Sale, we’re told that buyers on average have already gone through 60% of their buying cycle before they speak to a salesperson. Maybe that’s because salespeople have stopped calling them.