big bang proof 3

8/7/2019 Big Bang Proof 3

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15 Strategies

for Taking

Control

of Your

Sales Cycle

and

BeatingQuota

BANG

From Americas # 1 Corporate Sales Trainers!

The

BANG

Big


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The Sales System that WorksDEI has been working with sales teams since 1979,

when it was originally ounded by Stephan Schiman.

Now under new ownership, DEI is recognized as

one o the nations premier sales training andconsulting companies, delivering sales process, sales

management and sales skills programs or organizations ranging rom Fortune 500

companies to start-ups.

To date we have trained over 500,000 salespeople in North America, South America,

Europe, and Asia at over 9,000 companies including Nextel Communications, Boise

Oce Solutions, Cox Communications, Fleet Bank and Mintel . . . to name a ew.

DEI is not just sales training. We give sales operations a way o thinking and a way o

operating that changes daily sales and sales management behaviors. What we proposeis simple, intelligent, clear and - it works! The company was taken over by new owners

in 2009 and is building a nationwide and worldwide network o licensed resellers and

certied trainers.

While a lot o our material and writings are in the public domain already, we published

this text because o the times that are in it. Salespeople are having to re-visit the simple

principles and behaviors that have always made salespeople eective and thats what

The Big Bang addresses. The 15 strategies proposed in this book are simple, but not

simplistic, and i you ollow them, you will generate more income, more consistently and

you will be less stressed and more productive.

Michael J McGowan

CEO DEI International Sales System

Steve Mulch

President & CEO Veritas Training Group LLC (Cincinnati)

Contact us!DEI International Sales System

Tel: + (212) 581 7390 or,

+ (646) 340 1030

[email protected]

Copyright 2009 DEI International Sales

System Limited

All rights reserved. This work may not be

reproduced in whole or in part without the

written permission o the author
mailto:[email protected]://www.dei-sales.com/http://www.dei-sales.com/http://www.dei-sales.com/mailto:[email protected]


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Table of ContentsRead This First: Why This Book Is Called The Big Bang 5

OverviewFiteen Strategies, Three Weeks . 5

Day OneUnderstand and track your numbers 7

Day TwoKnow Exactly How Much Time It Takes You to Make Your Daily Call Targets 11

Day ThreeMake a Consistent Number o Prospecting Calls Each Business Day 14

Day Four

Know How Many Appointments You Will Set Each Week 17

Day Five

Understand Your Own Closing Ratio 19

Day SixUnderstand Your Own Time Line and Sales Cycle 21

Day Seven

Be Sales Process Oriented 24

Day Eight

Know How to Make Your Product Fit in a Wide Variety o Markets 27

Day NineAvoid Spending Excessive Amounts o Time Preparing or Appointments 29

Day TenUnderstand Your Companys Pricing Structure and Margins 32

Day Eleven

Consistently Negotiate Final Pricing That Is Close to the Pricing in Your Proposal 34

Day TwelveTake a Long-Term View o the Account 35

Day ThirteenKnow That You Dont Have to Take Every Deal 37

Day FourteenBecome Comortable Dealing with Price Issues 39

Day Fiteen

Be Disciplined In Everything You Do 41


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Read This First:

Why this Book Is CalledThe Big Bang

In physics, The Big Bang is dened as a hypothesized point in time when the observed

expansion o the universe began.

In sales, this book is dened as the actual point in time when the measurable

expansion o your income begins.

I you ollow this books instructions to the letter or teen straight days, you will

see an explosion in your perormance. This phenomenon may not quite be the creative

genesis o the physical universe as we know it but it will, i you are attentive anddiscerning in carrying out the advice between these covers, ensure that you beat quota,

which certainly counts or something.


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Overview

Fifteen Strategies, Three Weeks

Welcome!

This book outlines the teen interrelated Big Bang strategies or success principles

that our organization, DEI Sales, has used to turn people who miss quota into people

who hitquota.

By the time you have completed the book, three weeks rom now, you will, I think, be

convinced that it contains all the inormation you need to take your selling career to the

next level.

So let me urge you to memorize and implementthese teen principles over the next

three working weeks. The ideas should become more than words on a page; they should

become habits that are built into your daily selling routine. I cant emphasize that last

point enough. The top sales perormers that we have worked with dont just know what

to do to achieve success. Theypractice these ideas habitually, day in and day out. I believeyour ability to make quota on a regular basis depends on your ability, not just to read, but

to indoctrinate yoursel in the ideas youre about to read. I your routine is not supporting

your income goals, then its time to change your routine. Thats what this book is all

about.

Weve trained over hal a million salespeople at DEI over the last 30 years. One o the

things weve noticed is that top perormers tend to build their careers around the same ew

basic principles-the same simple ideas or mastering daily selling activity, accelerating

the sales cycle, getting the most rom their business relationships, and getting the most

rom themselves.

Another thing weve learned is that people who arentyet perorming at the top tier

o an organization really can turn themselves into top perormers i they are willing to use

some simple, proven strategies.

As you read the book, I encourage you to take notes in a notebook or personal diary on

how the content applies specically to your situation. Once youve read the book through

once, return to your OVERVIEW notes, and look or ways to continue implementing the

principles contained here. Its my experience that this extra eort will pay signicant


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dividends or you in terms o additional commissions.

So get ready or The Big Bang-teen critically important selling principles.

The rst ve strategies all under the category oenergy-initiating new business

relationships.

The second ve strategies all under the category osales efciency-mastering

the sales process.

The nal ve strategies all under the category ovalue efciency understandingthe price proposition and negotiating eectively.

We have identied these teen Big Bang strategies based on 30 years o working

with salespeople around the world; i you develop them, you will succeed. Its that simple.

Our challenge to you is simple: Read just one chapter a day-no more and no less-and

then put what youve learned in each chapter into practice!

Remember: Top sales perormers put revenue-producing ideas into action quickly.

When they come across something they can use, they nd a way to build it into their

day right away. As trainers, consultants and salespeople, we know rom experience thatthe most eective salespeople in any given company tend to take action on good ideas

within 72 hours o encountering them.

And thats exactly what were challenging you to do-or teen straight working days.

Dont let these key selling concepts linger on your to do list. Put them into practice, as

soon as you can-until they become, not just good ideas, but part o who you are.

Were eager to get your reactions to this book. Please visit us at www.dei-sales.com, or

call us at 1-800-224-2140. Or email, [email protected].

Good luck!

Michael J McGowan

CEO DEI International Sales System
http://www.dei-sales.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.dei-sales.com/


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Day One

Understand and TrackYour Numbers

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle:A > P > S

You hear it all the time: Sales is a numbers game. Personally, I think its a littlemisleading to think about sales as a numbers game. To take control o your career,

you really have to do more than understand a single number you must monitor and

understand your ratios.

Consider this: to increase your income, there are really only ve steps you can take-

and three o them involve improving your ratios. Here are the ve possibilities:

You increase your total number o dials. (This is assuming, o course, that you

sell by means o ace to ace meetings, and that you schedule those ace to ace

meetings by making prospecting calls. In such a situation, i you wanted to doubleyour income, one way you could conceivably do that is to double the number o

dials you make.)

You get through to more people - that is, improve your dials to completed calls

ratio. (For instance, by leaving better voice mail messages.)

You schedule more appointments - that is, improve your completed calls to

appointments ratio. (By developing a Big Bang calling approach, as youll learn

to do in uture pages.)

You close more sales - that is, improve your appointments to closing ratio. (By

gathering inormation more eectively and putting together better proposals, orexample.)

And nally, you get more money per sale. (You sell into other parts o the account,

or increase your ee, or raise your prices.)

I you look closely at that sequence youll see or yoursel the simple, impossible-to-

evade truth o the matter, namely that, there are really only ve steps you can take to

improve your income and three o them really do involve improving your ratios.


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Taking control o your own sales process is really a matter o taking responsibility

or your own ratios-and constantly adjusting your activity so that it supports your

income goals.

Salespeople oten downplay the importance o ratios. Thats a big mistake.

Understanding your ratios means improving your sales.

For example, i you know that every 25 cold calls leads to ve appointments, whichlead to one sale, you can work backwards to determine how many cold calls you must

make to reach a certain number o sales each week.

It really is that simple. Just monitor your own daily numbers-and do the math!

Look at this ormula:

A> P> S

The A stands or Appointments. The P stands or Prospects. And the S standsor Sales.

In other words: A large number o appointments leads to a smaller number o

prospects, which leads to a still smaller number o sales.

Think about that. In order to maintain the S (or sales) total at the level you want,

you must constantly develop and maintain a larger number in the P (or prospects)

total. And in order to do that, you must constantly maintain a larger still number o

appointments!

This is an extremely important point, one that somehow eludes most salespeople. I

you really want to be successul, you will commit the A > P > S ormula to memory-andpost it somewhere that you can see it each and every day!

Sometimes people say to me: Fine. Appointments lead to prospects, which lead to

sales. But how do I get the appointments in the rst place? Answer: Your own daily

dialing and prospecting activity. Consider these three simple categories, which you can

and should track each and every selling day o your lie:

D

CC

A


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Translation: How many dials (D) did you make today? How many completed calls

(CC)that is, discussions with someone who could agree to meet with you-arose rom

those calls? How many appointments (A) did you set as a result o those completed calls?

Keep track o your totals in these three areas every working day; monitor them closely.

Use those numbers to develop weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly targets that support

your income goals.

Why We Track RaiosWe track ratios to measure how eective we are at moving through the various steps o

the sales process.

We teach people that there are our steps to the sales process. What would you say is

the objective o the rst step o the process?

Sometimes, when I ask that question during a training program, people will say,

Well, the objective is to get the appointment, or, The objective is to develop rapport,

or The goal is to get the other person to like you and trust you. While all o that maysound right, the objective o the rst step is really much simpler.

Sales is a matter o moving relationships orward. The most important objective o the

rst step o the selling process is to get to the second step!

Thats a deceptively simple-sounding point. We have to remember that the objective

o each step in the sales process is simply to move orward in the relationship. Beore

we can close the sale, we have to close on something else-some kind o Next Step, or

commitment rom the other person.

Why Monioring Aciviy Raios Is Beterhan Need-Based Selling

Setting daily activity targets, and monitoring your own progress toward those daily

targets, beats what most salespeople do: connect haphazardly with strangers, then

spend huge amounts o time trying to either nd the persons pain or convince the

person that he or she needs our product or service.

Whats wrong with asking someone a question like, What are your widget needs this

year?

No one needs us or what we have to oer; i anyone did need us, they would have

already called us.

When you think about it, you realize theres a problem with need-based selling.

Not enough people actually need our product and service when we need to make a sale!

Thats the big challenge I have with selling that tries to nd out what the other person

needs.

Instead o asking people what they need, ask what they do, how they do it, when they


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do it, where they do it, who they do it with, and why theyre doing it that way. When

youve ound out about all that, then and only then should you ask about how you can

help people do what they do better.

Thats my denition o selling, by the way:

Asking people what they DO, how they DO it, when they DO it, where they DO it,

who they DO it with, and why theyre doing it that way. Then and only then, asking

about how you can help people do what they DO better.

Heres another question or you. What would you say is the most important word in

that denition o selling?

I hope you see now that the key word in eective selling is not need, but do.

The people we talk to may not need anything, but they are always doing something!

So wherever we can, were going to build our prospecting call-and, in act, all o ourinteractions with the prospect-around what the other person is actuallydoing.

Usually, we will need sales income beore anyone needs us enough to pick up the

phone and ask to buy rom us. By understanding and monitoring our own numbers, we

can move beyond the myth o the prospect who needs us. Why? Because we will know

exactly how many dials we need to get one real, live prospect-and how many real, live

prospects we need or a sale.

Give your best estimates in answer to the ollowing questions, and track your

activity or the next teen days, starting today.

How many dials does it take you to reach a decision maker?

How many discussions with decision makers does it take you to schedule a single

rst appointment?

How many rst appointments does it take you to generate one real prospect -someone whos willing to schedule time to meet with you again?

How many prospects do you need to generate a single sale?


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Day Two

Know Exactly How Much TimeIt Takes You to Make

Your Daily Call Targetsby Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: 15:7:1

Once you make the calls and do the math, as outlined in Day 1, youll quickly identiy

a certain number o daily dials you have to make each and every day in order togenerate a certain number oconversations with decision makers in order to generate

a certain numbero rst appointments.

You must knowexactly how long it takes you to make the dials you set as your daily

calling target. And you must schedule that time in your daily planner! Let me tell you

what I do, so you can get a better sense o what Im talking about.

Every day that Im not training, I pick up the phone and make teen dials. In other

words, I call teen companies I have never called beore. Out o these teen dials, I typically

complete the call to about seven o those people-or, to look at it another way, I get throughabout hal the time.

Out o those seven completed calls, I wind up setting one new appointment. At the

end o a week, I usually set up ve brand new appointments. The whole process o making

the fteen dials typically takes me one hour. I schedule that hour as the rst item on my

daily to-do list. Once I make the teen dials, I move on to the rest o the items on my list.

I always leave voice mail messages. By the way, heres what my voice mail message

sounds like:

Jim Smith-this is Steve Mulch at DEI. Im calling you regarding ABC Company-pleasegive me a call back at 212/581-7390. Thats 212/581 7390.

Thats it! In that message, ABC Company is a rm Ive done business with, a rm that

the prospect will have heard o. When the person calls me back, Im going to say,

Thanks for getting back to me-the reason I was calling you about ABC Company was

that we just did a program for them that helped them improve their third- quarter

revenue results by 27%. Id love to show you the program we put together for them-can

we meet Thursday at 2:00?


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Wha can you Predic?I have a question or you. I I set ve new appointments this week, how many

appointments should I have next week?

Think about it. In a typical week, I go on eight total appointments: the ve new

appointments that I just set, plus three appointments that I set during visits previous

weeks. (These are typically people Im seeing a second or third time.)Out o eight total appointments that I average every week, I typically close one sale

per week. (Thats a closing ratio o eight to one.) I I do that ty weeks a year, I close ty

new sales, which happens to be my income goal.

So let me ask you this. Whydo I make the teen dials every single solitary day that

Im in the oce? Why do I spend that hour a day in the way that I do?

I dont do it or my health, or to keep the phone company in business. And I dont do

it because I like talking to new people (although I have certainly learned to enjoy that).

Actually, I make those teen calls a dayin order to getthe one sale a week.

Fiteen, seven, one; eight appointments a week; one sale or every eight visits. Do

you see how it works? Do you see how the hour I invest, day ater day, drives the whole

process?

My whole year is based on a scheduled daily time investment of one hour.

Its the most important hour o the day.

Wha Your Call Should Sound LikeYour call could sound something like this:

ATTENTION STATEMENT: Hello Mr. Jones.

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT: This is Mike Smith rom ABC Company. I dont know

whether youve ever heard o us-were the largest producer o widgets on the Eastern

seaboard.

REASON FOR THE CALL: The reason Im calling you specically today is that we

just completed a program or Acme Manuacturing that helped them to improve

productivity by 15% in one quarter.

APPOINTMENT CLOSE: Id love to get together with you to show you the program we

put together or Acme-can we meet on January 16th at 3:00?

Then stop talking.

You dont have to use my words, but you do have to use a standardized script, one that

you know backwards and orwards and can deliver in exactly the same way, each and


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every time you call to try to set up an appointment. And you do have to make sure you

hit all our o the points Ive outlined above.

Be sure to keep the calling approach brie. Be sure it ocuses on a single, specic date

and time that you want to meet with the contact. Do not oer several times or ask when

the person is ree. Focus the call on a single date and time, speciy when you want to

meet, then stop talking. See what happens.

How much time do you have to invest every working day to meet your income goal?

Figure out the answer using the ratios we discussed in Chapter One then make

that time commitment.

Start making the calls today!


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Day Three:

Make a Consistent Numberof Prospecting Calls

Each Business Day

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: Prospect Every Day

Some salespeople tell me, I make prospecting calls when I have the time. I Im busy,

I might go or three or our days without making any calls at all. But I can make up

or it later.

Let me be rank with you. This is a recipe or disaster.

By this point, you should have a good idea o how many prospecting calls you will

need to make each day in order to hit your income goals. Once you have the answer to

that question, you must take the next step and make a personal commitment to actually

make that number o calls each and every day. What you do consistently in sales willmake ar more dierence to your income than anything you do once in a while.

We have a saying at my company:

Te most important sales appointment you can schedule on any given day is with

yourself.

As you learned yesterday, you should allot a certain amount o time each and every

working day to making prospecting calls to potential new customers. Block out that time

each day in your daily planner or enter it on your Palm Pilot. Then prepare a printed

lead list with all the contact names and phone numbers you will need ahead o time; donot conduct research as you go along.

Use your scheduled time to hit a consistent numerical call target everyday.

Assuming that you sell by means o ace-toace meetings, you should keep the call

brie and ocused closely on the date and time you want to get together with the person

youre calling. Do not attempt to sell over the phone-unless, o course, you are working

in a telemarketing environment where your aim is to close over the phone.

There is a great deal to be said about the structure o your prospecting call. Ideally


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you should read Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!), written by Stephan Schiman,

our original ounder. Heres a brie summary o key prospecting points, however, that

will help you to place the teen, twenty, or twenty-ve dials that are, in all likelihood,

what you will need to schedule one quality rst appointment each and every selling day.

Dont get too hung up about qualiying leads beore you call them to ask or an

appointment.

Just make the number o calls you are supposed to.Ask directly or a specic time and date or the meeting during your cold call, and

avoid extended conversations during prospecting calls. I the goal o the call is simply

to set an appointment, then a lengthy call is a bad sign. The person is probably either

screening you or giving you abuse.

Politely conclude the call once you set the appointment.

A word o warning: You may be tempted to improvise-to deviate rom the our-part

calling script you learned yesterday, to toss in additional inormation about your product

or service. Dont do it. Specically, when you make your rst ty calls, using the callingapproach you learned about in Day Two, you may be tempted to back o when it comes

to asking directly or the appointment. Dont! Not being clear about what you want rom

the call is a hallmark o inecient cold calling, and a great way to undermine your daily

calling target. Youll have a lot o great conversations that dont go anywhere, and your

total call gure or the day will be anemic.

I once trained a salesperson Ill call Marvin who had a lot o long conversations with

people on the phone. Marvin would get on the phone and say:

Good morning, Mr. Jones, this is Marvin Whatchamacallit rom the Thingamajig

Widget Company here in Manhattan. The reason Im calling you today is to nd outwhether youd be interested in nding out a little bit more about our company.

Inevitably, people would say: Sure, Marvin-tell you what, would you send me a

brochure?

Marvin would then get into a long discourse about which brochure hed send you and

what you should be expecting. Hed say, Heres what Im going to do. Im going to make

sure you see a copy o our Premium Widget Service brochure-this is the overview weve

put together or customers who use between 10,000 and 20,000 widgets every year. Its

three-dimensional, and its got a old-out section, and on page six, wait till you see pagesix, theres a hologram and a Web link and foor show every orty-ve minutes about

widget reurbishing in your industry ... And so on. His calls would sometimes last or ten

minutes!

But he would never ask or the appointmentduring the rst call! Or, or that matter, on

the ollow-up calls, which he would inevitably begin by asking, Did you get my brochure?

What did you think o it? Marvin never scheduled many appointments.

I you build your call around questions like Would you like to learn more about us?


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and Did you get our brochure?-you will, very oten, end up talking or what seems like

orever about everything except the date and time o your meeting. I, on the other hand,

you build your call around the question, Can I meet with you on Tuesday at 2:00?, then

what youll eventually end up talking about is when (not whether) the person will sit

down and talk to you about your companys products and services.

You must I repeat, must emphasize that youre calling to set an appointment.You really shouldnt build your prospecting call around any other goal.

Your Key o SuccessProspecting is your key to success in sales. I you develop and practice a calling

approach similar to the one Ive laid out in this book, and make a consistent number o

calls each and every day, you will get the appointments you need to be successul. Ive seen it

happen too many times to think otherwise.

In my experience, the development o an eective daily prospecting routine is theone act that is most likelyto turn a mid-level salesperson or an underperormer into a top

contributor.

Answer these questions:

Howmanyprospectingcallsdoyouplantomakedaily?

Howlongwillittakeyoutomakethem?


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Day Four:

Know How Many AppointmentsYou Will Set Each Week

by Steve Mulch

Big Principle: Evaluate Your Actual Numbers

Warning! This chapter is your moment o truth. I youve been ollowing this booksplan, you now have (at a bare minimum) two daysworth o calling numbers to

evaluate. From those numbers, you can-and should-gure out what your likely number

o total appointments will be or each ve-day period rom this day orward. O course,

as you accumulate more days o dials, completed calls, and appointments, youll get a

better sense o what your personal calling ratios are, where theres room or improvement,

and what the weekly rst-appointment gure will be, and youll probably revise your

estimates.

On the other hand, i you donthave at least two days worth o dials, completed calls,and appointments by now to review and extrapolate rom, that means you havent been

ollowing the instructions you received on days one, two, or three o this book.

And i thats the case, its time to ask yourselwhy youre bothering reading these words

at all.

I youve been reading, but not implementing, the ideas connected to the rst three

traits weve been talking about, you are wasting your time. You should nd someone who

really is interested in turning his or her sales career around and taking control o the

daily, weekly, and quarterly perormance quotas. Give this book to that person!

Once you take responsibility or a) your own daily prospecting activity, and b) thecareul monitoring o your own personal ratios, there is no excuse or not being able to

orecast, with a high degree o accuracy, how many appointments you will set each week!

I you ollow the instructions in Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3, you will discover the daily

calling pattern that makes sense or you, and you will be able to orecast your total rst

appointments or a week based on that pattern. You might, or instance, nd out that it

typically takes you twenty dials to talk to nine people to schedule one appointment each

day. I thats the case, and i one appointment a day supports your income goals,then


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you will nd a way to make the twenty calls each and every day!

I you do that, you will be able to predict, with accuracy, how many appointments you

will set each week.

When Im training, I can always tell the salesperson who doesntmaster these selling

principles rom the salesperson who does. All I have to do is ask, How many rst

appointments do you think youll have or the week o the ourteenth? (And here, I pick

a point in time thats at least two or three weeks away.)The person who has no commitment to taking control o his or her personal selling

activity will say, Gee, I dont really know. It could be two or three rst appointments, or

it could be a lot more. Ill have to see what happens.

The person who does have the commitment to take control o his or her personal

selling activity will say, The week o the ourteenth? I dont see why that week should be

any dierent rom any other week. I typically get ve rst appointments a week, so the

number that week will probably be ve.

Which kind o salesperson do you want to be?

Identiy the toal number o appointments you need to set each and every week, no

matter what.

Continue making your prospecting calls!


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Day Five:

Understand Your Own ClosingRatio

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: Makes Sense to me what do you think?

I your goal is to increase your income, the best way to go about doing that is to monitorand improve your current selling ratios. That means strategizing constant change in

your total dials, your dials-to-completed-call ratio, your completed-calls-to-appointments

ratio, your appointments-to-closing ratio, and/or the value o each sale you make.

Once you make a daily habit o tracking your numbers, youll want to keep tracking

them so you can see the larger picture. I you continue tracking your numbers or more

than, say, a month or two, youll probably develop an intimate understanding o your

own closing ratio. Youll know, or any given period o time, how many dials it takes you to

generate a single piece o closed business. This is an extremely important gure-and its oneyou should be amiliar with.

Over a period o two months, your numbers might end up looking something like this:

Dials: 603

Completed calls

(discussions with someone who could meet with you):

281

First appointments: 43

Total visits (initial plus follow-up meetings): 67Total sales: 8

Now-assume that those were your numbers, and assume that your average commission

on a sale is $1250. That would lead us to three important acts.

The rst important act is that you would have earned $10,000 in commission income

over that two-month stretch. Most salespeople would agree that thats certainly an

important number to under-stand-and most o them have no diculty under-standing it!


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The second important act is even more interesting: every dial you made during those

two months was actually worth $16.58 to you-no matter what the other person said!

Think about that or a minute. I the person said No, dont ever call me again, i

the person hung up on you two seconds into the conversation, i the person took over the

conversation and tried to sell you something-none o that matters. That individual dial

is still worth $16.58. Shouldnt you know how much each dial is worth to you?

But thats not all. The third-and most important-act about the numbers were lookingat is this: it took you 75 dials to generate a single sale. Thats your ratio. Thats a number

you should know, at least in terms o dials -75:1.

Its amazing to me. Ive met salespeople who could tell me the earned-run-average o

their avorite big-league pitcher, who could tell me how many gold records Garth Brooks

has earned, who could tell me the mileage on their car-but who had no idea how many

times they had to dial the phone to close a single sale, or how many meetings they had

to go on to close that same deal.

And speaking o closing-the close itsel should be a natural outgrowth o the salesprocess. It should sound like this:

Makes sense to me-what do you think?

Ater all-we want the prospect to decide to buy; we dont want to have to sell to the

prospect! And i what were suggesting doesnt make sense, then this makes sense

closing strategy will usually uncover the nature o the problem.

Your closing ratio is a relationship between two or more numbers

such as ace-to-ace visits to closed sales. You can and should identiy these

numbers. Keep monitoring your daily activity until you have a good sense

o what your closing ratio is.


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Day Six:

Understand Your OwnTime Line and Sales Cycle

by Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: Any time you exceed your average selling cycle, your oddso closing the deal decrease.

Weve talked about monitoring how many calls or meetings it takes you to close a

sale. How much time does it take you, on average, to close a sale-to move rom the

rst meeting to the commitment to buy?

The two key words in that question, by the way, are on average.

Please take a moment to think o your sales environment and then write your best

answer in the space below.

So-how long does it take you, on average, to close a sale-to move rom the rst meeting

to the commitment to buy?

When I ask people that question during sales training programs and one-on-onecoaching sessions, I get a lot o dierent kinds o answers. Heres a representative

sampling o the responses I hear.

Well, it all depends.

I its a big client, it might take longer than

a small client.

You never really know.


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cycle is eight weeks, too. (It may in actual act be longer or shorter than that, o course,

but or the purposes o this chapter, please bear with me and assume that your cycle is

eight weeks.)

I you know your sales cycle is eight weeks long, that one act leads you to a very

important question how was next month?

Im quite serious! I your sales cycle is eight weeks long-in act, i your sales cycle is

more than a month long-then youve already done all the work thats going to determinewhat next month is going to look like! That makes sense, doesnt it?

At our company, with our eight-week selling cycle, we always should (and always do)

know ull well what next month is going to look like! All we have to do is project based

on our ratios and our activity. I we do that-by extrapolating out rom the number o

total visits in a given our-week period, or instance-we can apply what we know about

our closing ratio and get a very clear idea o what the end o that sales cycle is going to

give us.

Identiy the length o your average selling cycle. Remember: Today is the last day

you can afect the nal day o your own sales, X weeks rom now!. Once you

identiy your average selling cycle, you will be in a much better [osition to take

control o your personal income patterns.


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Day Seven:

Be Sales Process Oriented

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: Ask or the Next Step while youre still ace-to-ace.

What does it mean to be sales process oriented? First and oremost, it means inding

ways to accelerate your personal sales process.

When youre sales process oriented, you know how long it typically takes you to close asale (see Day Six)and you are constantly developing strategies or moving relationships

orward within that time boundary.

Heres the best and simplest way to do that:

Ask for the Next Step while youre still face-to-face!

What is a Next Step? Its a commitment to discuss doing business with you at a specic

date and time, typically within the next two weeks. Read it again. Write it on your

bathroom mirror. Post it in your cubicle.Ask for the Next Step while youre still faceto-face!

This rule or success is simple, easy to remember and easy to implement; it is universally

observed by top perorming salespeople. It is blindingly obvious once you encounter it,

but easy to ignore beore you manage to make a habit o it. So make a habit o it!

Youve worked too hard to get in ront o this person to let the meeting end with lets

keep in touch, Ill try to call you next week. Thats the easiest possible outcome. Thats

the outcome that people who dontusually make quota get at the end o a meeting. You,

on the other hand, are a proessional. So make a point o asking clearly or the nextmeeting at the conclusion o the meeting youre on. Propose a specic time and date; stop

talking. See what happens.

I you do this at every sales meeting, youll nd out where the contact really stands,

youll spend less time spinning your wheels, and youll dramatically shorten your sales

cycle, typically between two and our weeks. Make a personal commitment never to

leave any meeting with a prospect without asking or a Next Step!

Prepare a primary Next Step or the meeting -and ask or it! It might sound like this:


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What Id like to do is come back here next Tuesday at 10:00 to show you some ideas

about how we might be able to work together.

Prepare a backup Next Step, just in case you dont get your rst choice: Why dont

we do this were giving a seminar on widget repair on July 13th. Id like to reserve a

couple o ree tickets or you so you can see our program in more detail. Can you make

it that night?

Whatever Next Step you suggest, it must be specic (involving a particular date andtime), it must require some kind o action on the part o the prospect, and it must take

place within your average selling cycle.

I you are sales process oriented, you will constantly ask yoursel-Whats happening

next? What is my strategy or keeping orward momentum in this relationship?

Anoher Grea Idea for AcceleraingYour Selling Cycle

Another good way to accelerate your own selling cycle is to get your supervisor or other

members o the team involved. This strategy will oten get you access to higher levels o

the target organization.

Many salespeople assume that its a sign o weakness to bring a manager or other

executive in on a sales call. Nothing could be urther rom the truth! Talk to your

manager about the possibility o working together on key sales. Use the opportunity to

get together with you and your boss as the reason or a second or subsequent meeting

with a major prospect.

We train many salespeople to have their manager, their CEO, or some other senior

executive call prospects who are on the ence to call the prospect and say something

like this: I understand were going to be working together! The reaction is immediate:

i a deal is there, the contact will agree. I theres an obstacle, the contact will say exactly

what it is. (This explanation, usually more detailed than what the representative would

hear directly, oten leads to a Next Step involving the manager, the prospect, and the

salesperson - a meeting that might otherwise never have happened!)

Your sales manager will almost certainly be eager to work with you to help you close

more sales. Ater all, getting you more commission income is part o your bosss jobdescription!

Always be on the lookout or reasons to have new meetings with new people within

the target organization.


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Ye Anoher Grea Idea for AcceleraingYour Selling Cycle

Heres still another example o being sales process oriented.

Suppose you schedule a rst appointment with someone and when you get there,

the person is nowhere to be ound.Hey, it happens.

I someone is a no-show or an appointment, heres what I say to the receptionist:

Oh, no-thats too bad I drove all the way out rom (wherever) or this meeting.

Well, listen, let me ask you a question...

Does Mr. So-and-so have an assistant?Thats greatcan I reschedule while Im still

here? Why dont I come by next Tuesday at 2:00?

(Also-i you have to call someone and cancel, do so as late as you can-people maycancel on you at the last minute!)

Remember: The clock is ticking rom the moment you meet with someone the rst

time! Build urgency into all your sales meetings, and ask or the Next Step at every relevant

opportunity.

Look or ways to accelerate your sales process. Ask or the next meeting beore

you leave. Prepare Primary and Seconday Backup Next Step requests or your nextmeetingwith a prospect and or every meeting with a prospect.


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Day Eight:

Know How to Make Your ProductFit in a Wide Variety of Markets

by Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: Practice tellinginteresting, relevant success stories.

You and I have to know our products and services better than most people in ourcompany do. We have to know our products and services so well that we are able to

apply them, intuitively, in a wide variety o settings.

I call this process o being able to adapt what we sell to dierent situations product

malleability.

Basically, product malleability means thinking creatively. It means understanding

and memorizing enough interesting success stories about dierent ways people have

used your product or service. Product malleability means being able to say to a prospect,

You know, you raise a very interesting point-let me show you how we worked with XYZ

Company to use our widgets to address this same issue.

Some years back, Robin Williams starred in a movie called Dead Poets Society. At one

point in the lm, Williams character, a teacher, told his students to stand on their desks

so they could look at the world rom a dierent viewpoint. Once the students did this,

they ound that the classroom looked utterly dierent. They ound that they could view

the scenery outside the window rom a new angle, and see things rom that angle that

theyd never seen beore.

We have to be able to do this with our own products and services. We have to take the

time to nd out how many dierent ways prospects have actually used what we sell. Itsvery likely that our product or service works in many more ways or arenas than were

currently mentioning to our prospects.

How many dierent uses can you think o or a simple object like a paper clip? Well,

i you think about it, you can use a paper clip or many dierent unctions than holding

two pieces o paper together. People have used paper clips to repair eyeglasses, to clean

machinery, as jewelry or children, and so on. In act, there are dozens o possible uses

or a paper clip! Here are some examples o what you could use a paper clip or:


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Day Nine:

Avoid Spending ExcessiveAmounts of Time Preparing

for Appointments

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: Get your prospect to help you drat your fnal proposal.

This chapter is all about the eective use o the outline during the sales meeting.

What is an outline? It is a preview o your ormal recommendation. Its a very short

document that says This is not a proposal, and it takes hardly any time at all to put

together. You shouldnt spend days ne-tuning the document that arises out o your rst

ace-to-ace meeting with the prospect. Instead, you should recap things as briskly as

possible or your prospect. Your outline should cover these points:

Assumptions rom last visit.

Product or service recommendation, based on those assumptions

Timeline

Pricing (or price range)

Again, this is a briedocument-typically between one and our printed pages. Its goal

in lie is to be scribbled on, corrected, and revised by your prospect, so you can go back to

your oce and build the right proposal, the proposal that really does make sense or this

person. (Typically, at our company thats something that happens on the third meeting,although your sales cycle may well suggest that it happens earlier or later).

But notice that this second-meeting document does not require all that much time

and eort to put together. Thats not the way the typical salesperson does things but it

is the way I want you to do things.

Heres what happens as the typical salesperson concludes the rst meeting:

The salesperson says, Ill put together a proposal and call you next week to set


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up a time so we can go over it. The prospect nods in agreement easily-since no

commitment is required. The salesperson, o course, has just violated the rule o

being sales process oriented. (To ollow that principle means asking directly or the

second meeting while still on the rst meeting!)

The salesperson interprets the prospects nodding in agreement-or any other

noncommittal response to the vague prospect o a uture meeting-as a buy signal. The salesperson heads back to the oce.

Over the next week, the salesperson spends eight to twelve hours researching and

preparing a killer proposal-or perhaps endlessly retooling an existing proposal

he developed in a similar situation or a similar prospect. Meanwhile, the prospect

is doinglets see-nothing.

The salesperson comes back and goes over the in-depth proposal, which is probably

a little too in-depth or the prospect in terms o product inormation, and probablynot in-depth enough or the salespersons purposes in terms o whats supposed to

happen next in the relationship.

The prospect congratulates the salesperson on a job well done and says, This is

ascinating-let me think about it.

The salesperson asks what the timetable is. (It should have been covered in the

killer proposal, o course, but it wasnt.)

The prospect says, Why dont you give me a call next month and well see wherewe stand then.

Where are we, exactly, at the conclusion o such a sequence o events? Nowhere! The

prospect has undertaken little or no eort on our behal, weve expended a day and a

hal on a proposal that makes no recommendation about when wed start or how much

wed charge (because we havent gotten there yet), and weve got no Next Step! From

a time management perspective, as well as an income development perspective, this

(common) scenario is a nightmare!

As you can see rom this example, theres much more danger in spending too muchtime in the development o second-meeting materials than there is in spending too little

time. Suppose the prospect tells you, Well, this is interesting, but you missed A, B, and

C. That gives you material to work with. Youve just been corrected, and the proposal is

basically writing itsel-which is as it should be.

The typical salesperson overwrites the material or the second meeting, using

inormation that is limited, wrong, or even nonexistent. Dont be that typical salesperson!

The habit o spending too much time preparing or a second or subsequent meeting


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Day Ten:

Understand Your CompanysPricing Structure and Margins

by Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: Raise the pricing issue yoursel by saying, Im a littleconcerned about the price.

As salespeople, we must be ready to make the rst move and name our opening price,

rather than expecting the potential buyer to outline his or her budget or us.

We must also be prepared to explain our price structure-so that it is not perceived as

an arbitrary gure. We must be prepared to answer these questions:

What are the elements that go into your pricing?

Why is it a air price?

How does it compare to the rest o the industry?

What results have other customers gotten when they agreed to this pricing structure?

I you sense that there is price resistance that the prospect does not want to discuss

with you you must be willing to raise these questions yoursel, rather than waiting or

the prospect to do so!

Heres what I do. When I can tell, rom the persons body language and hesitancy to

move orward, that there is some kind o diculty with the pricing, Ill bring the issueup mysel.

Ill say, Ill tell you how it looks to me-I think weve got a great program, but Im a

little concerned about the pricing, I dont know i it makes sense or not. What do you

think? Invariably, I get the inormation I need to put the deal together.

When I tell salespeople about this strategy, they say things like, But thats negotiating

against yoursel! No, its not. Its just negotiating, period.

Its getting the person whos concerned about price (but wont say so) into a discussion


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explaining each element o my pricing with me so I can share the right success stories, nd

the price that makes sense to both o us, and close the deal then and there. Thats better

than shaking hands and sending him back to his oce so he can call my competitors! I

know my own pricing structure well enough to make this strategy work and so should

you.

Think o the last time you outlined your pricing to a prospect or customer.

Did you break the pricing down and explain why each element came in as it did?

Did you share relevant success stories?

How could you have explained your pricing more efectively?


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Day Eleven:

Consistently Negotiate FinalPricing that Is Close to the

Pricing in Your Proposal

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: I your actual negotiated price is consistent ar away romthe price you put in your proposal, youre not asking people the right questions.

How can you tell how good a negotiator you are? By measuring how close the price

thats in your proposal comes to the price thats in the nal negotiated deal. I the

average deal you ask or is $50,000, and the average deal you getis $15,000, theres a

problem somewhere!

Here are my ten oundation principles o eective negotiating. Each principle is worth

studying closely; each will help you to retain more value and close bigger deals.

I. Sales negotiation has two inter-related goals: rst, to reach an agreement that

expedites the time when the contact will begin using and paying airly or your

service; and second, to end up with a better deal than you could have obtained

by simply discounting.

II. An eective daily prospecting routine improves your negotiating position.

This is because you are better positioned to walk away rom a bad deal i your

business in development than i you have nothing on the horizon.

III. To negotiate eectively, you must be able to identiy the most important

interests o each side.

IV. To negotiate eectively, you must be able to develop creative options that

allow both sides to broadcast a win to their constituents (boss, colleagues

shareholders, etc).

V. To negotiate eectively, you must be able to identiy an outcome that both


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sides will recognize as air.

VI. Knee-jerk discounting o price is the lowest orm o negotiation.

VII. You must never enter a potential egotiating meeting without a backup plan.

VIII. You must know what no-cost or low-cost resources you can add to the deal.

IX. The next best thing to actually negotiating rom a position o strength is actingas though you are negotiating rom a position o strength.

X. Negotiating begins the minute you walk in the door.

Youll learn more about negotiating on Day Thirteen.

Memorize the ten principles or efective negotiating.


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Day Twelve:

Take a Long-Term View of theAccount

by Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: Suggest creative pilot deals.

One o my companys biggest clients (in terms o ongoing purchases o sales trainingprograms) is a major player in the energy industry. Now, this company happens to be

one o the largest commercial enterprises on earth. In order to win that account, we had

to prepare pilot programs that were, in essence, calculated risks. The initial programs

were not major income-producers or us, and they were not, in terms o dollars-andcents

payback, the ideal training deals or us. But we put them together because they made

strategic sense or our company. They helped us to develop a long-term relationship with

a major client.

What am I saying here? Im saying that even a sound understanding o your pricestructure, and a mastery o the most important negotiating principles, should not

blind you to opportunity. I you have an unusual long-term opportunity, and you are

challenged to put together an unusual deal in order to bring it to ruition, you should be

willing to do that.

Build a creative, entry-point pilot deal that allows you to take advantage o an

unusual opportunity and earn more money in the long run as the relationship expands!

The big responsibility here, o course, lies in realizing that not every deal is an

exceptional long-term opportunity. You dont want to build special deals or everybody-

just the most

Identiy at least three prospects with whom you could conceivably develop

long-term relationships. Work with your sales manager to develop some creative

strategies or penetrating this account - strategies that dont necessarily match up

with the template o your standard deal.


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Day Thirteen:

Know That You Dont Have toTake Every Deal

by Michael McGowan

Big Bang Principle: Be willing to walk away.

In any sales situation, you must be ready to ask yoursel some tough questions:

When do I walk away?

How strong is my negotiating position in this situation?

Do I have enough prospects in my base o business to disengage rom this discussion

i I were to decide that the terms are unacceptable, and ocus on something else?

Who represents a better investment o time and energy?

I the answer to that last question is No, you are not negotiating, but rather taking

orders! I the answer to that last question is No, you are eectively a customer serviceperson, not a proessional salesperson! I the answer to that last question is No, then

you have miscalculated the number o active prospects you need to have at any given

time. Return to Day Two! Review and implement the principles there! Do not pass Go!

Do not collect $200!

You can only negotiate rom a position o strength i you really could walk away and

the prospect/client would preer that you didnt.

I one o my prospects insists upon a price o X or a training program, and simply

wont budge rom that price, and i X is only hal o my minimum daily ee guess what?

I have to be willing to tell that person, You know what? We dont have a good matchhere. Ill disengage rom the deal, knowing ull well that Im better o ocusing on one

o the other prospects Ive developed. There is, on the average deal, a point below which I am

not willing to go. O course, I may choose to make intelligent exceptions to this rule with

a large prospect i I believe it is in my companys best interests to do so; see Day 12. But

the point remains, I am making decisions about every deal I discuss. Im not simply allowing

each and every prospect to dictate the terms o the contract to me. I do have a point at

which I will choose to walk away and ocus on other deals.


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But what i I have no active prospects? What i I have no other deals to develop now, and

nothing on the horizon? Then my negotiating position is much weaker! Do you see now

how prospecting and negotiating go hand in hand? I I ignore one area, I compromise

my eectiveness in the other area! This is true in the other direction, as well. I I never

negotiate well, that means I am constantly closing low-value dials. Typically, I need so

many o those low-value deals that I spend most o my time working on them...and less

time than I should prospecting.For every negotiating discussion, try to identiy your best alternative to working out

an agreement with this person or organization. Identiy the point at which you will walk

away and ocus your eorts on developing something else.

In a notebook, write down the details o a situation where you you knew the

prospect/client denitely wanted to work with you and did not want you to walk

away rom the deal.

What kind o deal ultimately emerged?

What kind o deal would you try to negotiate in this situation today i you had to

do it all over again?


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Day Fourteen:

Become Comfortable Dealingwith Price Issues

by Steve Mulch

Big Bang Principle: Instead o discounting, learn to recongure ofer intosomething diferent when youre challenged on price.

The best salespeople are quite comortable dealing with price issues during the

negotiating phase. The reason theyre comortable, in my experience, is that they

ollow two very simple rules:

1. They never discount instinctively.

2. They never change the price without changing the deal.

Avoid knee-jerk discounts-and whatever you do, dont oerto discount your price.

When you are pressured to reduce your price, do so only ater making some kind o

alteration in your plan. Ask yoursel: I I must change the price, how, specically, would

I reorganize this deal?

How many dierent ways could you bundle an oering to a current prospect? Take

a ew moments today to develop at least fve dierent congurations or packages you

could present to a current prospect. Each o these congurations should be designed to

give you fexibility in the nal phases o the negotiation process.

I call this skill bundling-its the art o putting together another deal beore agreeing

to any price demand.Bundling is an extremely important skill. You must master it i you hope to deend

your pricing and protect yoursel against an apples-to-apples comparison with your

competition. You must be ready, willing, and able to use your companys re-sources to

develop these alternate or backup plans during the negotiating process.

Prepare your plans ahead o time. Dont wait until the most critical moment in

the negotiation process, and then disengage or two weeks to put your alternate plan

together!


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Day Fifteen:

Be Disciplined InEverything You Do

by Michael McGowan

Obsession without discipline equals chaos. Lots o salespeople I meet are obsessed.

Theyre ull o energy and motivation and passion. But they dont have a system.

Theyre not implementing anything that they know will actually work. Theyre notollowing any plan that puts them in control o their day, their week, their month, or

their quarter.

Very ew salespeople are obsessed about attaining their goals and disciplined enough to

choose strategies that will actually get them where they want to go. Very ew salespeople

have a system.

You are now one o the elite ew salespeople with a system.

In this book, youve learned ourteen proven strategies or attaining your sales goals.

The teenth and most important strategy is simply to commit yoursel to revisiting thesestrategies each and every business day to hold yoursel accountable or their execution.

Thats the ultimate value eciency strategy or a proessional salesperson. Believe me

when I tell you that actually implementing what you know now makes negotiation easier.

(It makes everything easier.)

I you actuallyuse what you have learned here, i you actually establish a disciplined

routine that incorporates the ideas Ive shared with you, i you actually set the activity

goals and measure your daily progress towards ullling them, then you will be successul.

Period.

I youve made it this ar in the program, I know youve got enough obsession andenough discipline to insist on implementing what youve just learned. Day ater day. Week

ater week. Quarter ater quarter.

Do it! And please do share your results with me.

(You can always reach US [email protected] or by calling 1-800-224-2140 -or by visiting www.dei-sales.com)
mailto:[email protected]://www.dei-sales.com/http://www.dei-sales.com/mailto:[email protected]


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On the ollowing page, youll nd a checklist outlining every principle youve

learned and implemented as part o this program. Commit the checklist to memory;

review it every business day. Implement it!


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big bang proof 3

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