So, what is a sales audit? And why should you do one?

I’ve recently completed a 1,400-mile drive across Europe and before the trip the car was serviced and fully checked. Most people would think this is probably a wise move considering the distance and the potential impact of a breakdown during the trip.

Regular replacement of worn parts and fresh of fluids keeps you safe and saves costly repairs…

But do we pay the same attention to ‘service’ or audit our sales work?

Coming out of a pandemic that has had huge impacts makes this type of sales audit vital to undertake.

Plus, it doesn’t require a big investments or resources to successfully complete.

Here are five (5) focus areas for you sales audit review:

1. Sales Process – Compare your previous sales process pre-pandemic with your customer’s current buying process. Ask them what has changed in their business? Are there new steps or adaptations you need to make to add value to their new circumstances?

2. Sales Content – It’s now clear we will be both working for home and/or from offices. Which means some of our work will take place in virtual meetings. What sales content have you been using over the last year, only to discover it doesn’t really suit your needs? Maybe you need new content, infographics or short case study videos to assist in helping customers through the buying process?

3. Account Development – Review the depth and number of your contacts across each customer account. Too often salespeople only have one senior level contact which leaves them in a weak position should any changes occur. So, ensure you have contact with a wide range of people within the account. In harmony with this arrange a quarterly review meeting so you never lose track of their key objectives and keep your relationship strong.

4. Hybrid Model – Salespeople must successfully adapt to working in a hybrid model, part face to face, part virtually. If you have been desk bound over the last year, chances are your customers are accustomed to receiving very fast responses from you.Now you are starting back out on the road this can cause real stress as calls and emails pile up all demanding instant responses! Be proactive and call your customers explain the new circumstances and agree on the expectations and the best ways to communicate moving forward.One key to managing your new environment is to ask the question:Does the situation require a face to face meeting, a virtual one or would a telephone call work? By evaluating when and how you communicate can have a massive impact on your workload and results.

   https://www.linearstructure.com/4-ways-to-thrive-in-the-2021-sales-environment/

5. Retention / Recruitment – During the pandemic many people took the time to re-evaluate their life and career, some deciding to make some big changes. Losing and replacing key salespeople is a costly affair. How are your sales team doing? Meet with them individually to learn how their lives have been impacted and any changes taking place. Discuss their goals moving forward and put a clear plan in place to ensure their engagement.

By taking action now and completing your sales audit this Summer you and your team will be fired up and ready to hit the ground running!

To discuss other fresh ideas for your sales growth book a free consultation call today!

peter.holland@linearstructure.com

07825 876161

Committed to Your Sales Success!

Peter

According to the recently published Gartner, ‘Future of Sales Report’ by 2025 80% of B2B sales will be digital.

That prediction may or may not come true, but I believe we are already seeing a permanent transformation across the sales organisation.

Change is inevitable and at the very least sales leaders and sales professionals need to be thinking about reinventing their organisations and skill sets.

So, what are some of the areas worth considering?

Historic Perceptions.

Many sales organisations are built on a geographical model with external sales people covering a defined territory.

Does this still make sense?

Will salespeople still need to drive hours to meet customers on a regular call visiting schedule?

Would a hybrid model combining virtual meetings and face to face ones be more valuable to both customers and sellers?

What are the new skill sets your team require to operate effectively in a challenging virtual sales environment?

https://www.linearstructure.com/video/virtual-selling-optimise-your-new-sales-reality/

Are your team already leveraging social media to make new connections and identifying new sales opportunities, or do they need training?

https://www.linearstructure.com/video/how-to-leverage-the-power-of-social-media-for-sales-managers/

Do you need as many external salespeople?

Is there an option to create new internal or dispersed sales roles?

Someone who can work independently from home, engaging multiple contacts within your customers, to support and increase the value your external person delivers?

These are just a handful of the questions that need answering now.

Sales strategy, sales processes and resource allocation of the salesforce will all experience a seismic shift, one that will move the sales organization from seller-centric to buyer-centric and from analog to digital as its primary method of initial engagement with customers.

This presents an immense opportunity  — but only for progressive sales management professionals who act rapidly to build adaptive systems that engage the customer in new and meaningful ways.

All of this means that now is the ideal time to start the conversation about how you can create your ideal sales future.

Let’s start a conversation today.

peter.holland@linearstructure.com

Committed to Your Continued Sales Success!
Peter

We can all recognise, in ourselves and others, the real challenges as we evolve to remote working.

What might have looked like a short-term situation back in the Spring of 2020, is now clearly here for the longer term and according to the recently published Gartner Future of Sales 2025, 80% of B2B sales will happen online.

But the future doesn’t have to be bleak, acceptance of the situation comes first and from there the light of opportunity!

So how can sales and marketing teams re-think the sales process long term?

And how can the alignment of sales and marketing teams and collaboration on the sales process amplify their success?

It starts with an open mind. Closely followed by trust.

Join me and Sara Pearce in a series of four (4) open discussions where we’ll take you through the sales process, step by step, discussing the transformation to digital sales.

Taking your teams online effortlessly, through the synchronicity of tenacious sales teams and creative marketing teams.

Explore both strategic and practical tips as we delve into 4 elements of the sales process. 

Where both sales and marketing teams create experiences for clients which can take that sale over the line.

If you missed the first session watch it here: 

Transformative Virtual Selling 01. Rethink Your Sales Process

Don’t forget to register to attend live or to receive the recording.

Transformative Virtual Selling .02 Create Online Opportunities

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Mar 25, 2021 11:00 London CET 12.00

Register in advance for this meeting:

Click here to register.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We’re looking forward to you joining us for a lively and interactive conversation!

Peter

A series of open discussions to take your teams online effortlessly, through the synchronicity of tenacious sales teams and creative marketing teams.

 Explore both strategic and practical tips as we delve into 4 elements of the sales process. Let’s start the conversation!

Current research suggests the future of sales will see a permanent transformation across the board.

Sales strategy, sales processes and resource allocation of the salesforce will all experience a seismic shift, one that will move the sales organization from analog to digital as its primary method of initial engagement with customers.

This presents an immense opportunity  — but only for progressive sales management professionals who act rapidly to build adaptive systems that engage the customer in new and meaningful ways.

All of this means that now is the ideal time to start the conversation about how you can create your ideal sales future.

Not necessarily through great monetary investment but by strategically enabling the synchronicity of knowledge from both sales and marketing teams to create experiences for clients which can take that sale over the line.

Join Peter Holland and Sara Pearce on our four-part series, each session only 30 minutes long, where we’ll scrutinize 4 important elements of the sales process concluding with a chance to ask questions and network with peers.

You are invited to register today for:

When: Mar 4, 2021 11:00 London

Register in advance for this meeting:

Click here to register.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

B2B buying behavior has grown even more unpredictable with COVID-19 and new behavioural trends are emerging fast.

Clients tell us their deal pipelines have atrophied with prospects suspending all nonessential expenditures during the months of uncertainty and lockdown restrictions.

Others report that with the absence of in-person meetings, their salespeople are not achieving the level of engagement required to progress opportunities in their pipeline to a successful close.

The world of B2B sales was already experiencing strong disruption prior to covid. But these trends show the acceleration of change, only compounded by the pandemic.

B2B buyers increasingly want to engage with suppliers through digital and self-service channels, with decision makers reluctant to see the value of engaging with salespeople.

To support this shift to virtual buying, and the growth in the number of touchpoints and interactions between buyers and suppliers, sellers will need additional skills and technology capabilities.

https://www.linearstructure.com/video/virtual-selling-optimise-your-new-sales-reality/

Current research suggests the future of sales will see a permanent transformation across the board.

Sales strategy, sales processes and resource allocation of the salesforce will all experience a seismic shift, one that will move the sales organization from seller-centric to buyer-centric and from analog to digital as its primary method of initial engagement with customers.

This presents an immense opportunity  — but only for progressive sales management professionals who act rapidly to build adaptive systems that engage the customer in new and meaningful ways.

All of this means that now is the ideal time to start the conversation about how you can create your ideal sales future.

Let’s start a conversation today at peter.holland@linearstructure.com

Committed to Your Continued Sales Success!

Peter

With exhibitions and networking postponed, salespeople have to recreate these experiences effectively online.

Social media provides amazing opportunities to connect but with so many potential contacts, leads and content available it’s no wonder we sometimes feel overwhelmed.

Additionally, for months, people around the globe have had to adapt to living under the threat of this pandemic. In such circumstances it is easy and natural to feel apathetic and demotivated, to experience fatigue. So, we need to stimulate interest and add value to those we’d like to connect with.

How can you ensure your social media efforts will produce results?

Let’s review some practical tips to organise your activities and maximise results using SMSP – (Social Media Sales Process)

Here are four (4) steps to improve your effectiveness:

1. Social media for research

Pick your channels carefully, you need to hang out where your contacts hang out.

Streamline your feed so you can quickly see the news that’s important to you.

Using lists in Twitter is a great way to do this. For example, you could create lists, for media, clients, targets and competitors which will keep your information flow organised.

Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator enables you to search and create lists with specific criteria ensuring you are connecting with good potential prospects.

Make sure you’re spending time with the right companies and titles, if the person is the right profile, you have a chance. If they aren’t the right profile, all the skills in the world won’t help you win a new customer. So, be selective and focus on the people you can add the most value to.

2. Social media for making new connections

Active contacts on LinkedIn and Twitter may be more open to connections than those who are not active. Look for trigger events to comment on, like their posts or if appropriate send a request to connect with a carefully worded invitation explaining why it would be mutually beneficial to connect.

Who do you know? It’s all about your 2^nd degree connections.

Browse the contacts of your good contacts to see if there are individuals you could possibly help and ask them if it would be worth introducing you.

Join webinars which you think your target audience will attend. Ask good question at the end to make yourself stand out. These events provide a unique opportunity to network online.

3. Social Media for meetings

Create a marketing attraction campaign aimed at delivering value and expertise.

Include a series of emails, social media messages and follow-up calls to see if your content was useful and relevant, along with an invitation to share a couple of additional ideas.

Share Knowledge – Use company produced content to send to contacts on LinkedIn but personalise it to them “thought this specific article would be interesting to you because of…” plus an invite to meet.

Add Value with Your Team – Working virtually provides a great opportunity to bring in other team members on calls. Create a standard image with photos of colleagues from other departments who might add value to online meetings. This will make the invite more personal and you can demonstrate this is part of your service offering.

Share Expertise – Share the successes of your colleagues easily with online meetings “my colleague working in Singapore has just completed a project with challenges very similar to yours. Would you like me to set up a meeting to share how they found solutions?” Real life case studies provide some of the most relevant and engaging material for prospects.

Be of Value – Offer to set up a company-wide webinar with value specifically to their organisation. This is particularly interesting for global teams who could invite contacts across their global locations.

Create Valuable Content – Plan one excellent post once a week on LinkedIn, think about what your contacts would be interested in. It could be a shared article, new brochure, TED talk or create your own article if you have something important to share like a case study. Do this in a mindful way not “because you should post something” but focus on relevance and value.

4. Monitor Progress & Results

Select a few metrics to measure your activities and monitor your success. Continually review what’s working and what’s not. Which messages and content resonated with your audience? Which ones resulted in invites for meetings being quickly accepted?

Now you have a clear social media process, a set of activities you can replicate as a team that will produce new connections, opportunities and sales!

If you’d like further insights, please watch my webinar with Sara Pearce Saffron Pea Media. How to Leverage the Power of Social Media for Sales Managers

https://www.linearstructure.com/video/how-to-leverage-the-power-of-social-media-for-sales-managers/

Committed to Your Sales Success!

Peter Holland Linear Structure

Too many of us are attempting to simply ‘copy & paste’ our pre-pandemic 8-hour workday into a work from home situation.

Do you agree it’s simply not working?

We’re feeling unhealthy, unproductive and most importantly, we know it’s not sustainable.

So, let’s rethink and recreate our ‘best’ workday for 2021.

We need a holistic approach that helps enhance our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. These topics could fill volumes but here are five (5) essential elements and how we can apply them immediately to improve every aspect of our working life.

Movement – Our bodies were designed to move but WFH has reduced this to a minimum. Here’s an amazing way to increases oxygen into the bloodstream, boosts circulation and use nitric oxide to dramatically burn calories and raise metabolism in just 4 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwJCJToQmps

As a family we love doing some stretching exercise like Pilates with Katja on YouTube to relax, release stress and ease the joint pain from being cooped up at home indoors! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnG0I-M6GkCyhG_pofQKJ1A

Sprint Sessions – Our brain can only focus on an optimal level for a period of 30-45 minutes, which explains why sitting at a desk for hours is counterproductive.

After this 45-minute period your brain needs to take a break for 15 minutes. Making this one change you will see an incredible shift in your productivity, but the secret is to rest before you get tired, so, resist any urge to simply press on and keep working.

https://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-perfect-amount-of-time-to-work-each-day-2016-1

Switching to working in ‘Sprint Sessions’ is a simple and easy adjustment to make but you must respect this time and turn off all alerts and distractions and focus only on the task at hand.

Once your ‘sprint’ is over, force yourself to take 15 minutes to mentally refresh, pop outside in the garden, go for a walk or do a chore. Then come back fresh for your next focused sprint session. Test this idea out over a few days and note the difference in your productivity and results. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference.

Out in Nature – Getting outside into nature even if it’s just a walk in the park or better yet in woods or the countryside has a restorative effect. We all need some headspace to create peace of mind and feel the benefit from a much-needed change of scenery. First thing in the morning is the ideal time to do this as it sets you up for the day.

Plus, if you don’t have to commute right now this will be much more energising start to your day.

Joy Breaks – Each day block out a couple of times in the day to do something you just enjoy doing. Something fun and relaxing as a reward for the focused productive work you’ve achieved. Call a friend for a chat, listen to a favourite song, watch a funny video …whatever you enjoy.

Feed Your Brain & Body – Our body and mind need quality fuel to feel great. Starting the day with a healthy breakfast gives you the energy and mental stability you deserve.

Poor hydration is linked to a large number of health issues, lack of concentration, headaches and many other pains. It’s one of the easiest problems to fix but commonly we don’t monitor our water intake till we are thirsty which indicates we are already dehydrated, and our body is struggling to function.

This handy hydration tool gives you a good indicator of the amount you need to drink daily to keep healthy.

https://www.hydrationforhealth.com/en/hydration-tools/hydration-calculator/

Try out these 5 Simple steps and transform your workday!

Committed to Your Sales Success!

Peter

Creating rapport has always been foundational to relationships.

We all like to do business with people we know, like and trust.

Previously, for sellers and buyers this was easier to develop in face-to-face environments but in a virtual setting there are several significant differences.

Reading facial expressions and body language on video is difficult, time seems faster paced, more business agenda driven with less pauses. And the natural engagement points upon arrival, greeting others or sharing a coffee are all absent.

So, finding ways to build rapport in a virtual world where it is challenging becomes especially important.

There’s no question, trust is essential for selling and if you don’t establish rapport, you put trust at risk.

How can you overcome this issue successfully?

You must take the lead and proactively create opportunity, time, and space for rapport-building virtually.

To build rapport, be thoughtful about engaging, before, during, and after virtual meetings.

Before meetings email and social media engagement has become even more important. Use the opportunity to set the scene and tone for the meeting.

Mention you’ll have video on for the call, this sets the expectation and encourages others who may still be getting used to being on camera. Even if the other person doesn’t have their camera on make sure you do. Seeing your face is a motivating factor in building rapport with the other person and often they will end up joining you on video during the meeting.

Here are four principles to building rapport in any situation:

1. Empathy

Show personal interest in the other person. Listen actively and care.

You don’t need to make this complicated, simply ask them:

“What’s it like for you living and working from the same place each day?”

“Have you found good some ways to keep active mentally and physically?”

“When all of this turns around what are you most looking forward to doing?”

As you listen carefully to their answers, you’ll build rapport naturally as you learn and share about your family, pets and interests.

You can also ask:

“How have things changed in your business over the pandemic?”

“Have you had to innovate or make changes to improve performance?”

These are simple questions.

I’m often asked by experienced salespeople – ‘Are there more advanced ones?’

The answer is no. Showing genuine interest isn’t complicated you just need to care about the other person, their lives and what they’d like to achieve.

2. Be Authentic – People like people who are genuine. You should ask the above questions but if it sounds like you’re going through the motions you’ll come over as insincere and it will be counterproductive to your relationship. Keep it simple, Keep it real.

3. Find Commonality – Do some preparation and check to see if you have any shared contacts, companies, charities or interests in common. You could miss excellent opportunities to connect simply because the topic didn’t come up in conversation.

4. Collaborate – During the meeting actively look for ways to interact together, share in mapping out issues on a Whiteboard or show a graphic visual for discussion. Working together and collaborating to understand and solve challenges is a brilliant way to build a relationship virtually.

In a Nutshell

Virtual rapport doesn’t happen by chance you need to take the lead.

Proactively create opportunity, time, and space for rapport-building virtually.

To build rapport, plan to your engagement, before, during, and after virtual meetings and even via email or social web.

1. Empathy: Show personal interest. Listen and Care.
2. Authenticity: Keep it simple. Keep it real.
3. Commonality: Find shared connections.
4. Collaborate: Engage & Interact together

Dedicated to Your Sales Success!

Peter

Every year the powerful waves off the coast of Portugal attract some of the world’s best surfers. Watching them you can learn an important sales strategy to dramatically transform your results!

Surfers carefully choose a wave to ride, they don’t waste valuable energy chasing every single one.

In the current sales climate, it’s easy to feel pressure to rapidly fill your pipeline regardless of quality of the opportunities.

This only gives you a false sense of security and leaves you with a large number of potential sales to chase.

The valuable lesson the surfers teach us is that they have a strong mental criteria for wave selection. They rest on their surf boards patiently positioning themselves to catch a wave of suitable size, strength and speed. Only then do they spring into action with perfect timing to capture their ride.

How can you analyse your pipeline to ensure you’re only working on realistic and achievable sales opportunities?

Here are Six (6) key criteria to use:

1. Timing

Evaluate where the prospective client is in their buying process. Are they still at an early stage of investigation, or are they later in the sales process and only gathering additional quotations to reference against their preferred option? Are you in a position to strongly influence and collaborate with them on the solution, or are you playing catch-up responding to a solution someone else has created with them?

Also, study your pipeline and look for opportunities that have lingered in the same stage for significantly longer than the average duration of Won Deals and flag them up.

2. Good Fit

Does the opportunity play to your strengths in terms of the solution, service or product you can deliver? Do you have quality case studies and testimonials to demonstrate your capability? Or is the opportunity distant from your previous area or type of success?

A main reason salespeople struggle with their pipeline is that they let soft deals and red herrings slip in.  So, don’t let these issues spoil the accuracy of your forecast.

3. Slippage

If you see frequent close dates pushed back and quotation price changes these are indicators that an opportunity may be unlikely to convert. If an opportunity in your pipeline changes close date or value three times or more, you should mark it as at-risk in your forecast.

4. Average Deal Size

Most companies’ close deals of a certain size with more frequency. However, opportunities that are more than 3x your company’s average deal size typically convert at lower rates and take longer to convert when they finally do, so flag them accordingly in your forecast.

Generally, you find that buyers know what they’re looking for and generally don’t hesitate to buy once they find it. So, if you have opportunities that are languishing in the pipeline, they will often tend to convert at a lower rate than quickly progressing ones.

5. Access to a Decision Maker

Orders can only be signed by decision-makers, so if you have a late-stage opportunity in your pipeline but not yet speaking to a decision-maker, that opportunity should be flagged as at-risk in your forecast.

6. Sales Stage

Regardless of when you expect a deal to close, opportunities in the first stage of the sales cycle should not be in your forecast – they are still far from becoming a Closed-Won deal and it is overly optimistic to rely on them. Instead, limit your forecast to opportunities to those that have steadily progressed through the sales process stages rather than these ‘ambulance chasers’.

So, I encourage you to clean your current pipeline, ensuring you only have realistic and achievable opportunities left. If you tighten up your qualification of new projects, you’ll save time and energy while raising your confidence and conversion rate at the same time.

Now that’s worth thinking about.

Committed to Your Sales Success!

Peter