December Sales Jam Recap

Thanks to everyone that participated in today’s Sales Jam Teleconference. I am always inspired and energized by the fantastic individuals that are a part of our Sales Jam Community. Being able to interface with individuals over the last seven years has always produced fantastic ideas and examples of what is possible. In this day and time it is very important for us to focus upon what is possible and the opportunities that we can control. I thought that those of you that were not able to join us today would get some benefit from the notes from our discussion.

How are you dealing with the bombardment of bad news in the media?

-Continually looking for ways to grow personally with reading and classes
-Stop watching the news
-Challenging ourselves to look for new ways to do business
-Surround myself with positive people
-Work on the processes inside our company that we could improve upon
-Understand what our customers are thinking and spend time partnering with them
-Learn from what we have experienced in the past
-Create different budget scenarios that we can adjust to based upon the circumstances
-Be positioned to shift our focus to the highest impact areas
-Have Faith
-Tweak our business model and customer mix
-Control the things we can control
-Stay focused on our positions and set short term goals that you can hit

Having the right frame of mind and having a belief window that sees us winning is crucial in dealing with the challenges that are in our path.

How do we build a fence around our existing customers?

-Realize the service is becoming a commodity and so we need to look for ways to deliver personalized service
-Be an active listener to understand what they both want and need as a customer
-Provide multiple solutions based upon their needs so that they don’t have to look elsewhere
-Work as a partner in understanding their budget status and provide solutions that meet their needs
-Make them look good to their stakeholders
-Insure that we are the subject matter experts that provide them with a solid understanding of their options
-Communicate – Communicate and then Communicate some more
-Be present in proactive touches with your clients
-Include our key customers in our business as advisors or as a client forum

What will it take to make 2009 a GREAT Sales Year?

-Understand the customers that we want serve and the conditions of the marketplace
-Know what we do well and what our competitive advantage should be
-Clearly frame what we are offering and communicate our value
-Have GREAT processes in place that make us easy to do business with. (Utilize the Working Smarter Training Challenge as a vehicle)
-Insure that we are taking care of the basics and do what we say that we are going to do
-Have our customers serve as our sales people
-Be proactive in getting referrals
-Look at the entire customer experience today and what it should look like (Look to do a Kaizen Event as a part of the Working Smarter Training Challenge)
-Be flexible to put together projects that meet the clients needs that might be out of our company norm

We wish each of you a Happy Holidays and an awesome 2009!

Bob Coulter