As an entrepreneur, you’re likely bombarded each day with information from various digital sources, emails, form-letters, Linkedin, social media notifications, ads, and more.  This large, growing, and often annoying volume of Digital Noise is making it increasingly difficult for individuals and businesses to differentiate themselves.  While many owners seek technology solutions to stand out from the crowd, the fact is that differentiation via technology is fleeting.  In other words, if you happen to gain any significant advantage by discovering a new digital method earlier than your competition, it is only a short amount of time before others in your space will adopt the same technology (or a superior one) that will wipe out your advantage.

Tech is advancing at lightning speed.  New creative solutions, web-scrapers, and AI-assisted technologies are being developed today at an unprecedented rate.  Some are fantastic and can improve presence, visibility, speed, and efficiency, but please don’t fall prey to the notion that you’ll be able to use any of these technologies to differentiate your company long term.  You will not.  Playing the leap-frog technology game can be expensive and exhausting.  Digital tools can occasionally gain you some advantage, but most gains made via tech will be short-lived and non-differentiated.

While selecting the right tech-stack to support your company business model and infrastructure is certainly important, it is far more essential to focus on a core set of marketing strategies if you are seeking to cut through the digital noise and truly differentiate your company in the marketplace.  Don’t overlook these basics…:

1.      Clearly define your brand and unique value proposition.  What really sets you apart from your competitors?  What truly unique benefits do you offer that no one else does?  Be honest here.  If you say “service”, “quality”, or “value”, what do you think your competitors might say?  Also, remember that all customers expect great service, quality, and value.

Once you have a clear understanding of your brand and value proposition, ensure that all of your digital content, from your website and profiles to social media posts, accurately reflects this messaging.

2.     Embrace the power of storytelling.  People connect with stories, so use your channels to tell your brand’s story in an engaging, compelling manner.  Share customer success stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business, and your journey to success.  Sharing your story humanizes your brand, making it more relatable and memorable.

3.     Deliver only quality content.  Content is king in today’s world, and the internet is flooded with mediocre content.  Ensure that every piece of your content is of the highest quality, informative, and engaging.  Tactics may include blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media, and more.  By creating content that is both valuable and shareable, you can expand your reach and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

4.     Engage with your audience.  In the digital age, it’s essential to build and maintain a strong relationship with your targeted audience.  Respond to comments and messages, ask for feedback, and provide value whenever possible. By engaging in this manner, you are building trust and loyalty, which can lead to long-term relationships and increased brand awareness.

5.     Be authentic.  The cyber-landscape is loaded with scam-artists, charlatans, and goofballs.   Authenticity is highly valued, and people can quickly spot poor actors and bots.  Ensure that your digital presence reflects who you are and what your brand represents.  Be transparent, honest, and genuine.  Avoid trying to be something you’re not.

Following these 5 steps, and executing your plan on a consistent, disciplined basis will help you cut through the digital noise, provide your company with a differentiated marketing foundation, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.  But marketing is only half of the equation.   The other half is Sales—the manner in which your customer-facing representatives interact with prospects on a conversational basis.  

After all, the last thing you’ll want to do is to invest heavily in the creation of a wonderful, digital presence and generate an abundance of marketing qualified prospects, only to lose the majority of opportunities by commoditizing your company by using salesy scripts, inauthentic pitches, and manipulative, trust-busting, used-car-sales closing techniques.  People need to buy but hate to be sold.  In other words, the absolute best way to truly differentiate your company long-term is by differentiating the manner in which your people conversationally interact with your prospects, customers, and other stakeholders.   Unlike technology or marketing techniques, developing a truly consultative conversational approach and culture will provide you and your company with high-value, long lasting, differentiated advantages that your competitors will find almost impossible to replicate, and will never be able to leapfrog.  For more about this, see here…:   » REAL Consultative Selling: Don’t be fooled by what they say - z|three blog (zthree.com)

 Copyright © Joe Zente 2023. All Rights Reserved. 

There is a very simple, but rarely utilized method that, if implemented is guaranteed to have major positive impact on the sales and profit growth of any private business.

Before reading further, consider this question…:

Is your sales manager (or sales management function) effectively growing, leading, and directing a consistent, productive, high-performance sales team?  If so, congratulations!  You are part of a extremely small minority. 

If not, I have good news, and bad news.

The bad news is that you are recurrently missing out on many tens (or hundreds) of thousands of profit every quarter, and things will likely worsen if you have migrated to more of a remote selling model. 

The good news is that most of your competitors also lack effective sales management.  In other words, you are competing with pervasive mediocrity.    Many studies show that the vast majority of companies conduct “sales management” reactively (versus proactively).   For most SMB private companies, sales management is perceived as a necessary evil, or even worse, as an unnecessary pain-in-the-ass.   Consequently, management of sales is often conducted more as an afterthought than as a vital embedded organizational habit.   Group and individual sales meetings take place inconsistently, if at all.  Sales Management activities are conducted as a fly-by.  They only occur “when we have the time…” (aka:  rarely or never). 

For decades, companies that do employ effective sales management have consistently outperformed their competitors, but during times of rapid change and economic turmoil, a solid sales management process will have an even greater effect.  A good SM process can help you quickly capture market share, grow your bottom line, and strengthen your company — a unique and tremendous opportunity.

Here are a few facts…: 

Many private businesses do not have a dedicated manager of sales (or anyone who owns the sales management responsibility).

A huge percentage of private businesses do not manage sales at all.

In many instances the “sales management function” is conducted part-time (and quite poorly) by one of the company principals, who has little or no idea what they are doing.

The most Effective Sales Managers spend a minimum of 75% of their time coaching, developing, motivating, recruiting, and holding reps accountable.  These are the Critical Activities.

Most “sales managers” perform none of the Critical Activities.  Instead, they spend time reviewing accounts, generating reports, going on ride-alongs, and rescuing.

Less than 10% of salespeople have the skills and strengths to perform effectively working from home, including basic consultative-selling proficiencies.   This deficiency dramatically increases the importance of consistent coaching.

Remote sales teams require a much greater level of sales management engagement and direction to succeed.  Again, an increased level of proper coaching here is required.

Do any of these facts hit close to home? 

If so, you know you can do much better, but may also feel like getting a handle on things can appear daunting or overwhelming.  Not to worry — there is a massive silver lining and more good news. 

1.      There are simple, time tested processes available to quickly upgrade your sales management effectiveness and team performance. 

2.      Upgrading does not require a lot of time or money.  It simply requires using time differently (and more productively), making a few different commitments, and adopting a few new processes and habits. 

3.      Today’s volatile economic and rapidly changing business environment has created a unique opportunity for you to capture massive market share and unrealized profit, for both the near and long term. 

4.      Embedding an Effective Sales Management Process into the fabric of your organization is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Few, if any, companies will maintain status quo over the next 18 months.  There will only be winners and losers.   Effective Sales Management will be a major differentiator and vital component of companies that end up in the Winner’s Circle. 

Copyright © Joe Zente 2023. All Rights Reserved.

For good reason, business owners get extremely frustrated when their salespeople forecast sales that never close.

NO one wins when a sale that has been projected to close in the next quarter or two results in a goose egg.  In addition to a salesperson missing their quota or missing out on commission, projected sales that don’t convert can cause all sorts of damage to an organization.  The larger or more complex the “opportunity”, the greater the damage.

Why do most organizations tolerate this nonsense?  Let’s take a closer look at this issue and conduct a reality check…:

• Approximately 80% of opportunities projected by salespeople in CRMs as “Hot Prospects” do NOT result in a sale.

• Approximately two thirds of these “hot” prospects that do not convert are not lost to a competitor.   They are lost to status quo.   In many cases, the prospect never intended to make any decisions or changes.

• In nearly all of these zero-result situations, the salesperson neglected to unearth much or all of the most relevant information, including (but not limited to) the decision maker’s true intentions, motivations, priorities, and buying criteria.   In many cases, they don’t even know who the decision maker really is…

According to most studies, less than 15% of salespeople generate more than 80% of new revenue.  The other reps (which make up the majority) battle over the remainder of the sales. When they do stumble upon a “win”, the purchase order is typically acquired at a much lower margin than the average sale generated by the Effective Fifteen.

The Mediocre Majority have very Happy Ears.  In the rare instances when a buyer begins to share a bit about what they are really thinking, a weak salesperson will listen through a filter of optimism, incorrect assumptions, and unrealistic hope (instead of probing further to reveal more important information).  The picture they consequently see (or want to believe) rarely resembles the picture that the buyer perceives (aka:  the TRUE picture).  So, before we know it, we have another forecast opportunity sitting in our CRM that has a snowball’s chance in hell of converting into real business.

Fortunately, all of this insanity is easily avoidable, and there is a ton that any business owner can do to improve their forecast reliability and sales team effectiveness.  There are time-tested, highly reliable, foundational best practices and processes to ensure that sales projections made by salespeople represent real opportunities.   This is GREAT news for any owner willing to implement them.

Here are just a few of the most important steps you can take today to ensure that you can dramatically improve and rely upon sales projections…:

Assess your salespeople:   The statistics described above indicate that it is likely that only one-fifth of your sales reps are operating with any level of effectiveness.  The skills, strengths, weaknesses, and key attributes required to forecast properly (and sell productively) can be easily and quickly identified.   You wouldn’t send an ineffective pilot out to fly a plane, so why would you send an ineffective sales rep out to try to sell?

Adopt a rigorous, transparent Sales Process:   Most companies, and even fewer salespeople, follow a sales process.  An effective sales process has many benefits, one of which is to gather critical information.  A Qualifier Checklist may be embedded into any process and can aid tremendously in Forecast Accuracy.  The process would force this checklist to be completed long before an opportunity could be forecast as a “Hot Prospect”.  If you have a salesperson that is incapable or unwilling to follow your sales process, it is highly unlikely they will return an ROI to your company.

Adjust your Team’s Mindset:   You cannot lose what you never had.   Since you, your products, and your services are great, but are NOT for everyone, it is important to understand that every buyer interaction should be managed exclusively to determine if there is enough mutual value to continue investing time.  A losing mindset creates feelings of rejection and deflation, making it tough for a rep to get back in the saddle.  The most successful salespeople understand that   there is no such thing as “losing a sale”.  Every sales interview can only result in WINNING or LEARNING, both of which are highly productive and inspirational.   The best salespeople spend the majority of their time listening, understanding, facilitating discovery and learning.  They gather critical intelligence, so are therefore able to forecast sales with much greater precision and accuracy than the unproductive, talkative, Mediocre Majority.

This Effective Mindset is not only based in TRUTH (versus hope), it is also much more energetic and motivational for any salesperson that embraces it.

Clearly Define each step in your Sales Process, then map each step to your Sales Pipeline:   Doing so will make your entire team far more effective, providing you with vital information about the productivity of each sales rep and your entire sales machine.  A correctly constructed Pipeline will also provide you with tons of forward-looking visibility and leading indicators about future sales; critical information required to make informed decisions regarding investments in personnel, infrastructure, inventory, and more.

Adopt a simple, transparent, consistent Sales Management Process:   Sales Management may be the single biggest ingredient contributing to the success (or failure) of a private company. Unfortunately, many SMB owners think about sales management as an afterthought or conduct it “if we have time”.  They deploy sales management reactively versus proactively.  Big mistake.  IF you have implemented the steps I’ve described above, Sales Management can be a simple,

enjoyable exercise – an process that does not require much time, but one that will pay HUGE dividends.

Although perfection in the world of sales is unattainable, continuous improvement and growth are not.  Following these simple steps will not only massively improve the reliability of your sales forecasts, but will also dramatically improve your revenue and profit results.

Wishing you record growth and prosperity in 2023!

Copyright © Joe Zente 2022. All Rights Reserved. 

I’ve been a lover of sports my entire life.  I enjoy the challenge, the competition, the goal setting, the camaraderie, and much, much more.  I especially love team sports. 

I’m certainly not the first person to draw parallels between sports and business, but I talk about the subject often, and several business owners have encouraged me to write about it.   They felt that my thoughts could help entrepreneurs lead more successful companies.  To date, I haven’t obliged.

As I was watching the Major League Baseball All Star Game last night, I decided to cave in and get some thoughts down in writing.   Unfortunately, there are way too many thoughts for a blog article, so I’m going to take this in small bites…:

To provide some perspective, my earliest memories in life involved playing baseball.   I was a 3- sport athlete in high school, played two varsity sports in college, and continued playing baseball at a high level until I was in my 40s.   I would still be playing if my eyesight would allow it (hardballs move with velocity).  I’ve also coached my 3 boys and thousands of kids and celebrated as dozens of them moved on to achieve great things playing in college and the major leagues.  Whatever path they ultimately chose, I have no doubt that all of them learned valuable life lessons from participating that can serve them well in their careers.

On the business front, I directed teams and divisions in several Fortune 500 companies early in my career, founded, grew, and sold 5 private companies, and have spent the last 25 years helping successful entrepreneurs and CEOs implement processes and practices and build and scale into their teams to create high-value, built-to-sell companies.

I only share this background to answer the “why should I listen to this guy?” question — my whole life has included deep dives into sports, coaching, and business.  

I’m not suggesting here that all superior business owners have the strength, speed, size, coordination, or other physical attributes necessary to be a professional athlete, or that all great athletes possess the skills and attributes required to quickly become superior CEOs.  However, I can say that the principles, processes, beliefs, mindset, and habits that make a successful athlete are nearly identical to those of a world-class entrepreneur.

So here goes.  Over the next few months, I’ll share a few attributes and insights that I believe are the ESSENTIAL ingredients to achieve the absolute highest levels, in either sports or business.  So here goes…: 

 1.      Desire:   No great athletes simply show up and consistently dominate.   They love what they do, and they practice, practice, practice.   The most successful entrepreneurs love what they do in the service of people who love what they do.  This passion drives them to learn to love practice.  When you witness a superstar on TV gracefully performing a feat that seems nearly impossible, you can be sure that they can do it because they have practiced the same routines thousands of times, over and over until they own it.  All athletes (and owners) that achieve great things practice consistently, incessantly, and habitually.  

 2.   Commitment:   Superior results require unconditional commitment.  Great owners (and athletes) understand that there will be hurdles.   Sometimes the journey even hurts (mentally, emotionally, or physically).   Great owners, athletes, and teams understand what it takes.  They therefore commit to leaving their Comfort Zone.   They understand that achieving the highest heights means breaking through all sorts of obstacles, curve balls, and uncertainties. It’s a minefield out there.  Compelled by their desire and commitment, superstars train themselves to become very comfortable with being uncomfortable.   

 3.   Planning for Proactivity:   Success in business or sport rarely occurs by accident.   It requires a Plan.  Mediocre performers show up on the field of play (or business) and react to the events of the day.  Conversely, superstars have a plan.  The best understand that they can do anything, but they cannot do everything, and they never allow distractions to take them out of their practice routines and processes.  They commit to non-negotiable activities that are indelibly embedded into their calendars.  This focus upon important over urgent allows individuals and teams to grow faster because they learn faster, and moves them profitably forward week after week, month after month.   After a year or two, they most often have left their competitors in the dust.

4.     Humility:   All superior athletes and business leaders understand that they don’t know what they don’t know.  They understand that even if they are at the very top of their game or “in the zone”, there is always someone right behind seeking to gain advantage.  John Wooden, one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time said: “Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you!”

 Even the best of the best understand that they do not have all the answers (not even close).  They therefore adopt a Practice that includes…:

a.      Skills Development (they learn by doing–Correct practice, practice, practice)

b.      Coaching (for insights, perspectives, accountability, and more)

c.       Collaboration (aka:  Structured Peer Learning)

d.      Curriculum (books, videos, post-mortems, game films, the right tools…)

e.      Community (massive synergies, opportunities, and learning)

Superior performers proactively control their Time and MAKE SURE that they develop the habit of working on all 5 of these components each and every month 

5.    Discipline and Mental Toughness:   Good news here.   Success in business (or in sports) is mostly about doing easy things.   Self-discipline is almost entirely about doing easy things but doing them consistently.   Interestingly, most athletes and entrepreneurs don’t do these easy things (bad news for them, good news for you)!   Most don’t learn what these key components are, and many of those who do learn, don’t commit to maintaining the mental toughness, discipline, and patience required to follow the routines necessary to blow away their competition.    If you do, you will. I’m sure you know about the wealth, job-creation, and many other rewards that success in business can bring.

I can guarantee you every one of the players in last night’s MLB All Star Game follow and implement each and every one of the ingredients I’ve listed in this article.   The All-star players came in all shapes and sizes from a very diverse assortment of countries.  Many came from very poor families, but their discipline and consistency has rewarded them handsomely.  The average annual salary of the 4 dozen players at last night’s game exceeded 20 million dollars, and many of them have long term contracts and a net worth exceeding $200 million.

I’m sure you know about the wealth, job-creation, and many other rewards that success in business can bring.

There are many more parallels between successful athletic teams and business teams I can share, but we’ll hold those for another day.   If you start with the ones I’ve listed, you’ll have a huge advantage.

If you’d like to share your own, please comment or email me.  I’d love to hear from you. 

Hope this helps and cheers to your future success! 

Joe

Copyright © Joe Zente 2022. All Rights Reserved. 

Is your sales manager (or sales management function) effectively growing, leading, and directing a consistent, productive, high-performance sales team?  If so, congratulations!  You are part of a VERY small minority. 

If not, I have good news, and bad news. 

The bad news is that you are recurrently missing out on tens (or hundreds) of thousands of profit every quarter on a recurrent basis, and things will likely worsen if you have moved to more of a remote selling model. 

The good news is that most of your competitors also lack effective sales management.   In other words, you are competing with pervasive mediocrity.   Studies confirm that the vast majority of private companies conduct “sales management” reactively (versus proactively).   For most, sales management is perceived as a necessary evil, or even worse, as an unnecessary hassle.   Consequently, management of sales is often conducted more as an afterthought than as a vital embedded organizational habit.   Group and individual sales meetings take place inconsistently, if at all.  Sales Management activities are conducted a fly-by, only occurring “when we have the time…”. 

Companies that do employ effective sales management consistently outperform their competitors, but during times of rapid change and economic turmoil, a solid sales management process will have an expanded effect.  A good SM process can help you quickly capture market share, grow your bottom line, and strengthen your company — a unique and tremendous opportunity.

Here are a few facts…: 

*Many private businesses do not have a dedicated manager of sales (or anyone who owns the sales management responsibility).

*A huge percentage of private businesses do not manage sales at all.

*In many instances the “sales management function” is conducted part-time (and quite poorly) by one of the company principals, who has little or no idea what they are doing.

*The most Effective Sales Managers spend at least 75% of their time coaching, developing, motivating, recruiting, and holding reps accountable.  These are the Critical Activities.    

*Most “sales managers” perform none of the Critical Activities.  Instead, they spend time reviewing accounts, generating reports, going on ride-alongs, and rescuing.

*Less than 10% of salespeople have the skills and strengths to perform effectively working from home, including basic consultative-selling proficiencies.

*Remote sales teams require a much greater level of sales management engagement and direction in order to succeed.  They also require an increased level of proper coaching.

If any of these facts hit close to home, you may feel like getting a handle on things appear daunting or overwhelming, but there is a massive silver lining and more good news.

1.      There are simple, time-tested processes available to quickly upgrade your sales management effectiveness and team performance. 

2.      Upgrading does not require a lot of time or money.  It simply requires using time differently (and more productively), making a few different commitments, and adopting some new processes and habits. 

3.      Today’s volatile economic and business environment has created a unique opportunity to capture massive market share and unrealized profit, for both the near and long term. 

4.      Embedding an Effective Sales Management Process into the fabric of your organization is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Few, if any, companies will maintain status quo over the next 18 months.  There will only be winners and losers.   Effective Sales Management will be a major differentiator and vital component of companies that end up in the Winner’s Circle. 

Copyright © Joe Zente 2022. All Rights Reserved.