Are you a Transactional or a Consultative Salesperson?  

Knowing the Difference Makes All the Difference…

Like most of you I wasn’t a born sales person nor did I aspire to be. But my first job at a daily newspaper called to something inside of me and quickly led to a sales role.  Although, the thought of being a salesperson was not necessarily what I had wanted to do… after all weren’t they the people who SOLD you something you didn’t need or really want, or at the very least talked you into the extras you always regretted later? My paradigm was based on the idea of the transactional sales person.

My first thoughts of a salesperson in media went to “Herb Tarlek” from the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati. You know the type… after shaking their hand you immediately checked to see if you still had your watch and wallet intact. Yet when I began my career in media and worked with clients… asking lots of questions about their businesses… really listening to their business situations… designing advertising that addressed their individual business needs… and bringing them the ROI they needed… it didn’t really feel like Selling… at least the way I had envisioned it???

I had been lucky to have been coached in the art of consultative sales by my first Ad Director (Dennis Keating- many of you may remember his name from the Thomson Newspaper days).  Dennis taught me to approach the business/sales conversation from a consultative or long term partnership stance…in other words… never just sell an ad (why wouldn’t you sell 3 or 6?) … develop a partnership where you assist the business reach their target audience with the correct message at the right time… He also let me in on a little secret… You don’t make a sale every time… especially if it is the first call on a business… but that is a topic to go into further at another time…  

As Jeffrey Gitomer once said… “Sales people are not needed to quote prices. They are the bridge between the selling price and the Perception of Value provided to earn the sale.”

Value lies in the customer concept or what we can do for them.

There are really two different types of sales – Transactional & Consultative.

A Transactional sale is a simple, short-term sale in which the customer already knows what he needs, so little to no product knowledge is required on the sales side. Typically, these are product rather than service-based. Buying criteria usually hinges on price or ease of acquisition.
Consultative selling is a more complex, long-term process involving collaboration of both buyer and seller, in which the latter must first develop an understanding of the customer’s business, industry, and needs, and then develops a solution to help the customer achieve their objectives.
The greatest advice we can take as sales people is to Think Like a Customer to truly understand their needs and offer valid solutions… Thinking like a customer… the difference between a transactional sale and a consultative one can be easily understood from best-selling author Roy H. Williams’ comparison of the transactional vs. relational shopper:

The Transactional Shopper

1. Transactional shoppers are focused only on today’s transaction and give little thought to the possibility of future purchases.
2. Their only fear is of paying more than they had to pay. Transactional shoppers are looking for price and value.
3. They enjoy the process of comparing and negotiating and will likely shop at several stores before making their decision to purchase.
4. Transactional shoppers do their own research so they won’t need the help of an expert. Consumer Reports are published primarily for the transactional shopper.
5. Because they enjoy the process, transactional shoppers don’t consider their time spent shopping to be part of the purchase price.
6. Anxious to share the “good deal” they’ve found... transactional shoppers are excellent sources of word-of-mouth advertising.

The Relational Shopper

1. Relational shoppers consider today’s transaction to be one in a long series of many future purchases. They are looking less for a product than for a store in which to buy it.
2. Their only fear is of making a poor choice. Relational shoppers will purchase as soon as they have confidence. Will your store and your staff give them this confidence they seek?
3. They don’t enjoy the process of shopping and negotiating.
4. Relational shoppers are looking principally for an expert they can trust.
5. They consider their time to be part of the purchase price.
6. Confident that they have found “the right place to buy,” relational shoppers are very likely to become repeat customers.

Although his article is talking to merchants and store owners, our customers, his advice still makes perfect sense. Some clients will be in transactional mode and others in relational mode, your success or failure hinges on knowing which and adjusting your selling style accordingly.

Some sales are more complex and end up as a mix of both transactional and consultative, depending on the client. Yet, in a consultative industry like ours, problems occur when buyers attempt to engage our services using the transactional approach. These are people who don’t respond well to questions and just want to know how much???  You know the client… the one comparing apples and oranges… buying an ad or online property as a commodity. Basing their decision solely on page price vs. page price not considering even the most blatant question… reach & readership or number of potential clients reached.  Your success lies in how you deal with them, and not in adjusting your selling style to match their buying mode… the slippery slope of discounting or DE-Valuing our products.

The key is to recognize and change your prospects buying mode, rather than adjusting your selling style. A transactional buyer can be converted into a relational one if handled properly. Remember… consultative selling is a long-term process involving collaboration of both buyer and seller, understanding of the customer’s business, industry, and needs, and then developing solutions to address the customer concept or their objectives. This takes time but the return spells long term success for both you and your clients.

For more conversation on Consultative Selling  principals check out our Consultative Selling webinar on http://www.mymetroland.com/  or register for our next Consultative Selling course on Tuesday July 10th (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) at the Vaughan Press Center, - 1 Century Place, Woodbridge ON L4L 8R2. To register, email Melanie Facchini at mfacchini@metroland.com.

Want to be a more Effective Salesperson?

We all strive to improve our skills on a daily basis. From asking our managers to come on coaching calls with us so we can learn from their unique perspective and feedback to  sales training, webinars, books & articles, sourcing self motivation, and setting personal goals to measure our success and growth. I read one such article many years ago that guides us with the nine top habits of highly effective salespeople. I had to hunt to find the content from “Benchmarking the Sales Function” (a report based on a study of 100 top salespeople from small, medium, and large businesses, conducted by Ron Volper Group, White Plains, N.Y.) but I believe you will agree that it was worth it…

Nine Habits of Highly Effective Salespeople

Top Salespeople...

1. Spend 60% to 70% of a sales call letting the customer talk.

2. Are better than others at recognizing and responding to objections--even silent ones.

3. Are more effective than others at identifying and prioritizing customer needs.

4. Typically wait to offer product or service recommendations until after 40% or more of the time has elapsed in the call.

5. Present recommendations more in terms of customer benefits than in terms of product features.

6. Are more enthusiastic than others about attending sales-training seminars.

7. Listen to motivational tapes in their cars and read inspirational books at home.

8. Talk more frequently about what they've achieved than about what they haven't done.

9. Smile more than others do.

Simple truths we all can learn from…

For more conversation on advertising sales success check out our AIM2 “Building on Media Sales Success” course on Tuesday June 5th (9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.).at the Vaughan Press Center, - 1 Century Place, Woodbridge ON L4L 8R2.
To register, email Melanie Facchini at mfacchini@metroland.com or check our complete list of sales courses and webinars on http://www.mymetroland.com

If you want your conversations to have a real impact, you need to simplify your message.

Great article on Inc.com by Tom Searcy on sales lessons learned from his 9 year old daughter.... That we all can use...

http://www.inc.com/tom-searcy/what-a-9-year-old-can-teach-you-about-selling.html

What a 9-Year-Old Can Teach You About Selling

I recently read a study that confirmed my suspicion that most people don't remember what we present to them in a sales call. The data suggested that the average buyer in a meeting will only remember one thing–one!–a week after your meeting.

Oh, and by the way: You don't get to choose what that one thing is. Sigh.

So what have sales professionals done about this? They have worked on "honing the message," developing a "compelling unique advantage" and, of course, the ultimate silver bullet: a surefire elevator pitch.

But here's what you're fighting: A world cluttered with information, schedules, packed with more meetings and work than a person can handle. A decision-making process with more people involved in every choice–many of whom know little about your product or service. No wonder so little is remembered; often your audience doesn't even understand much about what you're offering.

What Kids Want to Know

I have a 9-year-old daughter with spring freckles, long brown hair and blue eyes the size of silver dollars. She asks the kinds of questions that on the surface seem so simple:

· Daddy, what do you do?

· Why do people decide to hire you?

· Why don't they hire somebody else or do it themselves?

One of the great things about 9-year-olds: Like many buyers these days, they lack context. Any answer that you provide has to be in a language that they can understand.

What does a procurement specialist know about what you sell–or the IT person, or the finance person? The challenge is this: Can you answer the three questions my 9-year-old asked, for your own business?

Hint: There are right and wrong answers for both.

Daddy, What Do You Do?

· Right answer: "I help companies to grow really fast by teaching them how to sell bigger companies much larger orders."

· Wrong answer: "Our company helps develop inside of our clients a replicable and scalable process for them to land large accounts."

Why Do People Decide to Hire You?

· Right answer: "We have helped lots of companies do this before, so we are really good at it as long as they are the right type of companies."

· Wrong answer: "We have a proven process for implementation that allows organizations to tailor the model to their market, business offering and company's growth goals."

Why Don't They Do It Themselves?

· Right answer: "Just like when you learned to play the piano: Mommy and I could teach a little, but we don't know as much as your teacher, and teaching you ourselves would take a long time and be very frustrating. Daddy is a really good teacher of how to make bigger sales, and people want to learn how to do this as fast as they can."

· Wrong answer: "We are the foremost expert in this field with over $5 billion in business that our clients have closed using this system. Usually our clients have tried a number of things on their own before we work together and have wanted outside help to get better results."

In these cases, both answers are accurate, but that doesn't make them right. In a world in which more decisions are made with less information and context, our responsibility is to get to as clear and memorable an answer as possible for all of the buyers to understand.

Success is more than just luck…

Many of us enjoyed a fantastic Easter holiday weekend with friends and family. Some of us were also glued to our television screens and the 2012 Masters. Even if you are not a golf fan, watching Louis Oosthuizen, the South African golfer, make Masters history with one of the most impressive shots ever at Augusta National was a treat.  From 253 yards away on the second hole, Oosthuizen crushed his second shot, watched the ball soar through the air and then travel 80 feet across the green and into the cup for only the fourth albatross (or double eagle) in Masters history. Everyone in the room immediately talked about his luck… One shot vaulting him into the lead for the tournament and placing him as the player to beat for the coveted green jacket. I think it was more than luck. Just having the ability to compete and contend at that level indicates a tremendous commitment to self improvement and personal achievement. It also represents years of practice and training in order to achieve the success you see in the highlights on TSN.

Why does this make me think of the importance of sales training?  Because to be good at golf, hockey, tennis, soccer, piano, guitar, singing or dancing… people take private lessons or participate in practice with a coach.  Lawyers, doctors, accountants, HR professionals and many other professions are required to take additional yearly training and report their educational credits towards maintaining their professional certifications. 
However many companies do not make an effort to help their sales professionals refresh or upgrade their sales skills. Yet sales professional’s earnings are tied to revenue and productivity. It just makes sense, as a sales professional, to invest time in sales training and self improvement and practice to achieve personal success.
Metroland invests in people’s success… Apart from our scheduled sales training sessions held at our Vaughan and at our Wolfedale locations, we introduced 27 new 90 minute sales training workshops last year.  Over 650 sales staff attended our new regional training sessions in 2011.  

This year we have already had 296 staff attend sales training sessions in their regions. We have also listened to requests from regions for additional sessions and would like to introduce eight new topics including;

•       After the Sale -Selling With Service

•       Business Etiquette

•       Cross Selling

•       Diagnosing Solutions - Individual Customer Analysis

•       Key Account Management

•       Managing Expectations

•       Recognizing Opportunities

•       Selling with Spec Ads

•       Selling Specials & Sustained Features 

Additional NEW topics currently in development include Understanding Body Language and Effective Email & Voicemail.  We also offer an extensive list of scheduled training sessions, pre-recorded webinars and our full list of regional workshop’s available on www.metrolandhr.com.   

Every sales person wants their hole-in-one or even better the more elusive albatross or double eagle.  While it is widely accepted that is a really lucky shot even for a pro… playing well is based on training, practice for self improvement and good coaching feedback.

My message to you no matter what month of the year you are reading this - sign up for some additional sales training!  You will learn from other sales professionals and the sales conversations that take place. Sales Training will assist businesses of all sizes achieve plan easier, reduce turn over and out-sell, out-think and out-serve their competition with a better sales training.  And if your company doesn’t offer sales training – register for courses on your own. 

 I think Stephen Leacock said it best… “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it” … Good luck getting your next hole-in-one... Bill 

Advertising Layouts that Work

The difference between a well-written and designed display ad and a bad one comes down to one test. Does the reader understand the product offering in just one second…does something in the ad capture their attention long enough to get them to read the ad, and even better, act on it? Whether you're advertising in a magazine or newspaper, you have to attract your audience with magnetic ad copy and layout. A great ad will:

1.     Grab the readers' attention.

2.     Pique customer interest.

3.     Build brand awareness.

4.     Talk benefits of your product or service.

5.     Identify your unique selling position.

6.     Have a call to action.

Keep it simple Many beginning advertisers make the mistake of trying to say too much and filling up the white space with too much copy. A better approach is to keep your ad short and simple. Great ad copy tends to follow a spare formula that includes these basic elements: a catchy headline, a compelling lead, a proving statement, a close and your contact information.

Tell them what’s for sale Use a large Dominant Illustration … Studies have shown that an ad with an illustration that takes up 50% or more of the ad space increases readership by as much as 37%.  (NAA) When designing your ad layout, remember that research shows that the image is the first thing readers look at, followed by the headline and then body copy.

Write headlines that grab David Ogilvy said… “If your headline does not include a selling message, you may be wasting 80% of your dollars.”  A headline is the make-or-break element of your ad. It's what either draws the reader in. The best headlines are clear and concise, and they mention a key benefit of your product or service, provide solutions for a common problem or generate curiosity.

Design your layout with one reader in mind Design your layout to speak to the one ideal prospect for your product offering, (hopefully there are many of them), people read ads that speak to them… not the mass market. 

Improve your copywriting skills You can make words jump off the page if you arm yourself with the fundamental rules of copywriting. No matter what you're selling, your ad should be conversational and directed to ideal client you want to reach… use short sentences and be free of any spelling or grammatical errors. 

Armature The layout should carry the reader’s eye through the message easily and in proper sequence: from headline to illustration to explanatory copy to price to the store name. 

Get to know the Ogilvy basic ad layout The Ogilvy & Mather ad agency has created some of the world's most successful ads. Many of those ads follow a simple layout formula; a strong visual at the top of the page, for photos include a descriptive caption, use a strong selling headline, create desire with effective ad copy & place your contact information (signature) in the lower right corner. That's generally the last place a reader's eye gravitates to when reading an ad.

Simplicity is key, avoid overuse of typefaces, overly decorative borders and large areas of reverse type or reverse areas with small-point type. These devices are distracting will reduce the number of readers who receive the entire advertising message.

The same principals apply to online display design. Here are a few additional tips; Choose colors for your banner ad that get attention and will contrast to the background color of your website or landing page. Stick to brief, concise content for banner ads. Use legible fonts, Make it easy by asking them to “Click Here” to get more information by clicking through to the clients’ site. Try not to include animation for animation’s sake… remember simplicity sells.

Low-Cost Ways To Show Employees They're Highly Valued by Roberta Chinsky

http://www.fastcompany.com/1822943/low-cost-ways-to-show-your-employees-they-are-highly-valued

Small businesses can compete for talent without breaking the bank. Yes, you still need to pay competitive wages to get people in the door, but it’s the perks that will help you retain them. Here are 30 low-cost ideas for small businesses who want to show employees that they are highly valued.

1. Flex time.  Some organizations require employees to be at work during core hours, and employee can set their schedule around this. Others allow employees to put in hours at their own discretion. Most require employees to have a set schedule so managers can plan for coverage. The schedule may be adjusted to accommodate personal matters like doctor's appointments.

2. Innovation days.  Set aside several days a year to allow employees to step away from their usual responsibilities to tackle projects related to the way they work and the spaces they work in. Results are shared in a company meeting the following morning.

3. Monthly commuter benefits.  Offer a monthly stipend ($100 or so) for those who commute by public transportation. In many cities where mass transit is used, companies offer tax-free transit fare programs; you can learn more about the options available from programs like TransitChek or Commuter Check. These programs also save companies money in payroll taxes. 
4. Fully stocked kitchen.  Provide free coffee, soft drinks, and snacks for employees during work hours. Want to bump this up a notch? Keep organic milk in stock and add fresh fruit and healthy options to the shopping list.

5. Wellness benefits.  Employees can receive reimbursement for purchases related to fitness (up to $300/year). Typical items reimbursed include gym memberships, running shoes, yoga mats, bicycles, and so on.

6. Free lunch.  Order in for all your employees once a week to foster community and give employees a break from packing their lunches.

7. Canine colleagues.  Got an office full of dog lovers? Then invite house-trained visitors to join the team.

8. Parental leave.   As this infographic shows, the U.S. has some of the weakest paid family-leave benefits anywhere--while some states guarantee paid leave, it's not a federal mandate. You can immediately differentiate your company by making sure all employees are eligible for paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child.
9. No dress code.  Relax--ties are optional in this work environment.

10. Summer hours.  Employees kick back early on Fridays during the summer months, allowing them to beat the heat as well as the traffic if they're heading out to the beach for a weekend.

11. Free chair massages.  Fifteen minutes in the chair once a week, and employees will return to their desks refreshed and ready to tackle their to-do lists.

12. Optional telecommuting.  In an increasingly mobile and digitally connected world, many employees can easily and successfully work from home part- or full-time. Here are some tips on working from home that will make the transition smooth.

13. Tech neutrality.  Offer the choice of PCs or Macs so employees can work on the machine with which they're more comfortable.

14. Flexibility in paid time off.  Employees can choose how to use their paid time off bank (vacation, sick, and personal time) to best meet the needs of their individual situations.

15. A culture of work/life balance. Create an atmosphere where it really is okay to leave the office before 8 p.m.

16. Perks for part-time employees.  Many organizations treat part-time workers like they were temps. Provide part-time workers with perks and they’ll be acting like full-time workers in no time.

17. Cultural extras.  Keep the workplace exciting by mixing in rewards like concert tickets, movie outings, or passes to sporting events. Don’t forget to throw some cash your employee’s way to cover the babysitter.

18. Sabbaticals.  Offer month-long sabbaticals after five years of service, or two months after 10 years of service.

19. Laundry service.  Employ a service to pick up employees' clothes and drop them back at work, clean and folded.

20. Car care.  Who has time to take their car in for an oil change? Companies have arranged for a service to come to the office and take care of this messy task while employees are working.

21. Gift matching.  The company matches employee's charitable donations, with the match based on what the company can afford.

22. Adoption assistance.  This financial assistance can be used for legal expenses, adoption agencies, or other professional fees.

23. Take-out meals.  To help make things easier, new moms and dads are able to expense up to $300 for take-out meals during the first three months that they are home with their new baby.

24. Employee referral programs.  Good people know other good people, and the best employees are usually hired through referrals. Those who refer candidates who are hired receive a cash bonus award.

25. Green initiatives.  Preferred parking and/or subsidies for those who purchase and drive hybrid vehicles.

26. Paid time off to volunteer.  Employees are given a specific amount of time to volunteer in their communities.

27. Cleaning services.  Sweep employees off their feet--hire professional cleaners to tidy up employees' homes every two weeks.

28. Tuition forgiveness.  Offer to pay a percentage of tuition owed, per year of employment, for hard-to-fill positions that are appropriate for recent grads.

29. Easier dinnertimes.  Take care of the people who matter by enlisting a vendor to deliver ready-to-eat healthy dinners that employees can elect to purchase and take home to their families.

30. Acknowledgment of significant others.  When employees do have to work late hours, the people who really pick up the slack are their spouses who are forced to work double duty. Acknowledge their contributions by sending flowers or gift cards, along with a personal note to acknowledge their contribution.

Incorporating perks like these into your organization will help you attract top talent, increase employee satisfaction, and reduce costly employee turnover, which in the end is far more profitable than scaling back on your benefit expenses to save a few bucks.
Have you incorporated any of these benefits into your business, or found any other unique ideas that work? 
Author Roberta Chinsky Matuson is the President of Human Resource Solutions (yourhrexperts.com) and author of Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around

Dan Pink on "The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us"

A highly simplified but no less compelling statement of self-determination theory–one of the most vital psychological theories of human motivation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=player_embedded