While this sounds like a total dichotomy, a recession is no time to retreat. In fact, it is THE time to steal market share, because you need revenue and it’s scarcer. Yes, the sagging economy makes corporate life pretty tough by shrinking the marketplace for goods and services. But shouldn’t your sales force be able to perform in any economic circumstances? Think survival of the fittest.
The secret to survival in any economic environment is a 90 percent closing rate. But in a recession, when economic conditions limit the number of “at-bats,” it’s critical to take full advantage of each prospect and client encounter. A 90 percent closing rate in a smaller market will score market share, while a 30 percent rate will not. So how do you help your sales force get to 90 percent?
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ROI is the cost of doing business with you: DV is the cost of NOT doing business with you. DV is far more powerful.
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Strategies to jumpstart your closing rate
1. Know your DV
At the top of the list is understanding what you bring to the prospect's table. You must know what your DV-differentiating value-is.
Don't mistake DV for an ROI calculation, which I think is nearly worthless. After all, if you were a prospect wouldn't you be somewhat skeptical about a salesperson's self-serving ROI calculation? The only valuable and believable ROI calculation is the one you LEAD your prospect through, with your DV getting full credit.
DV is the cost of not doing business with you. And to get a true picture, you must learn who is impacted by that cost. If you're talking with a purchasing agent (the intellectual buyer), the lowest price will almost always be the most important decision making factor. But the person impacted by the cost of not doing business with you is the emotional buyer whose life will be more difficult without your offering. Now you can see that DV and all forms of the "Unique Selling Proposition" are about 179° apart.
2. Develop your DV
If you're stuck, here's a crash course on developing DV:
- Start with three columns.
- In the left column, list everything you do that is unique or that you do better than competitors-maybe four or five entries.
- In the center column, you actually validate those entries by asking yourself what painful consequences the prospect endures without each entry.
- In the right column, list questions to help you uncover the consequences you listed in the center column. (Hint: open-ended questions work best.)
Once you've nailed your DV, you're rarin' to go, but hold on. Let's deal with the fixed amount of time your salespeople have to focus on prospects. While the market may be narrower, it's certainly large enough to prohibit them from working it all. So it stands to reason that they need to be selective about which opportunities to pursue.
The next Infrequent Flyer will deal with this issue and other strategies to bump up your close rate and grab market share in our shrinking marketplace. If you can't wait until then, call me at 952-832-5436; outside of Minneapolis, call toll free 877-871-3772, ext. 782 or email rlarsen@slatterysales.com. Ask about SSG's Boot Camp, where we transform salespeople so they can turn their prospects into self-closers.
For past issues of this newsletter, visit http://www.slatterysales.com/infrequentflyer.
Feel free to forward this to a colleague who wants to optimize revenues and margins. |
