Why You Need a Killer Business Plan with Peter Mehit #232

My guest Peter Mehit delves into to the importance of having a business plan. We observe how the skills that make great entrepreneurs, are not the skills of a great CEO. Entrepreneurs and sales professionals are known for taking quick action. But too often they do so without a plan. This is the death of many companies. Peter is the author of the book “Killer Business Plan” . In this episode we learn how a business plan is what’s needed to take your business to the next level.

Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst

If you don’t visualize the destination, nor understand where you’re at, you’ll not know where to go. As business professionals we need to have a clear idea where we’re heading. Business plans are important to decide where you’re business is going.

Peter paraphrased former guest Geoffrey Moore and Adoption Curve guru stating the skills of an entrepreneur are not the same ones to grow it. Entrepreneurs can make immediate decisions, but lack the skills for long term planning. We each need to be CEOs and see our business as a machine. Instead of living in a world of response, we need to move to a world of planning.

Any Plan is Better Than None

A simple business plan made with business cards and a poster board might be more than adequate to get started. You need to understand WHERE you want to go. You need to learn discipline and ask:

Who’s the customer?
Why would they buy?
Are they in your geographic area?
Is it about you, or the customer?
Is it about what the CUSTOMER wants?
If you’re selling to everyone, you’re selling to no one.

To earn raving fans you have to target them and their taste, values and the things they care about.

When Sales Are Flat

If sales are flat, look at your products. Ask….

Are they still relevant?
Where could they become relevant in another market?

You could be at saturation, or you’re no longer competitive. It could be time to move on. Or it could be time to find a different market for your product. You may need a marketing plan which is a subset of a business plan, the biggest part of the plan. When complete, test! Take something from AGILE planning, trust but verify.

Thoughts on Business Model Canvas

Business Model Canvas is a diagram taught in business schools for starting a business plan. Peter believes it’s a good starting point, but only that, a starting point. You should be able to logically explain the steps described on the canvas. Otherwise an investor’s going to take a pass. Think beyond the creation and manufacturing of your product or service. Focus on how you’re going to sell it and grow revenue.

Take Action Plan

Visualize clearly who you’re selling to
Know what they’re about
Always ask am I talking to the right person
Always ask am I doing the right things

Unless you’re checking yourself, you’re wrecking yourself – Peter Mehit

How To Find Peter Mehit

You can find Peter and Custom BPS here:

Website: www.custombps.com
Book Website: www.killerbusinessplan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/custombps/
Twitter: https://twitter/pmehit

His “Killer Business Plan” 3 part book is available for you. Send an email to pmehit @ custombps.com and get a copy of the book for free!

Past episodes mentioned:

How To Grow Business

Here are past episodes to keep up the conversation. Listen today!

December 5, 2017December 4, 2017

Why Commissioned-Based Sales Plans Fail to Work with Justin Clark

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Why Commissioned-Based Sales Plans Fail to Work with Justin Clark

Justin Clark is the Director of Sales for a janitorial and packaging products distributor. Over time, Justin’s company found sales reps spending more time auditing their paychecks than selling. They also found the commission-based sales plans failed to motivate reps to do the best for their customers. To overcome this challenge they moved their sales staff to a pure performance review based salary plan. In this interview, Justin shares the story of how they were able to make this extraordinary change in their compensation plan.

Challenges Faced

Money is emotional. 100% commissioned sales people would spend as much time making sure they’re paid what they earned vs selling.
Reps pushed products that brought the most money. There were SPIFs (Sales Performance Incentive Fund) for products that were not good for the customer.
Wanted to promote consultative sales and stop sellers pushing products and instead finding solutions.
Commission-based sales plans were holding the company back.

Transition Plan

Because of these challenges, Justin slowly created a transition plan to move the organization.

Did not move immediately to salary compensation.
Slowly moved from commission-based sales plans to salary and bonus plans
Still too much focus by reps understanding the bonus
Commission-based sales plan was slowly phased out

Final Plan

Once the final plan was finalized it was found to contain:

Paid full salaries on most recent best year.
Reps paid same as last best year.
Money is a manager. Without commission-based sales plans you need to manage. more hands-on and ensure accountability. The final plan requires more coaching and more investigating into reasons reps are not successful.
People do good work for many reasons, not just money.

Results

Since the plan has been in place, the results contain:

People felt like they needed to hit their goal because the company was ALREADY paying them.
Everyone is now on the same team with the exact same goals.
Raises are based on performance review.
Some employees didn’t like the plan and found they are not a good fit for the company. Some reps have left the company, others asked to leave.
It’s been a 10 year process.

Transition Advice

Now that they’ve reached success, Justin has some clear advice for others interested in changing their compensation plan:

Management team needs to look at staff, consider how they will manage them and if they are OK if people leave.
Answer this: is it worth getting everyone surrounded around the same purpose. It probably is!

How To Connect With Justin Clark

Commission-based sales plans no longer exist in Justin Clark’s sales department.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn and learn further details.

How to Manage Sales Teams

July 25, 2017July 24, 2017

How to Hire a Sales Rep that Hits the Ground Running #174

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How to Hire a Sales Rep that Hits the Ground Running #174

In this solo episode we finish up the second part of a two part series with advice on how to hire a sales rep that’s a perfect fit for you. Last week we talked about how to get a job, this is the other bookend of the conversation. Inspired by a previously published LinkedIn post , this episode gives practical advice to discover how a candidate sales hires will act on the job. Stop guessing. Know for fact, your candidate will hit the ground running.

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Why Hiring is the Sales Managers Most Important Job

The lifeblood of a fast-growing startup is it’s team. People are the foundation of every organization. Building a thriving culture, hiring skilled individuals and forming an amazing team creates rapid success. It’s not easy. But it’s something within your control. Given that revenue growth is the key success metric, your first sales hires are paramount.

Steps For Hiring Reps That Hit The Ground Running

Don’t use the resume as the primary mechanism for assessing ability. Give candidates a series of tasks to demonstrate they have great selling skills:

Author job ad using all your market skills. Know and describe your IDEAL employee
Ask them to call you when they apply
Validate they sound like professionals on the call
Give them a written set of questions
Go over the questions and resume. Qualify them
Give them a presentation/demonstration task
Invite them to lunch
Give them an offer (given they pass all previous steps)

When you give candidates tasks that represent selling skills, you can better assess if they will fit into your organization. Don’t believe what people tell you, believe what people show you.

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How To Build Your Own Accelerated Hiring Process

This podcast episode was inspired by a LinkedIn article with the same title published in June 2017.

Pat has an entire hiring process available for managers who want to meet and exceed their hiring goals. Contact Pat here to get a copy of your own customized 8 page hiring process to find quality hires, you never fire.

It’s frustrating and time consuming spending all your time on hiring. Yet it’s the most important job you have. Let me help you grow an elite sales team. Contact me today.

How to Manage and Hire Sales Teams

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SlideBean in the Media

The free cloud-based presentation tool that is storming the business world with head turning content is being lauded by the press:

January 17, 2017January 17, 2017

The Invisible Sales Organization with Mitch Russo #147

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The Invisible Sales Organization with Mitch Russo #147

In this episode we meet Mitch Russo, author of the book “The Invisible Organization” . Mitch and I talk about the pluses and minuses of moving your sales team OUT of a brick and mortar building and using the power of information systems to connect and build culture virtually. Can this work for you? Mitch is certain it can and in this episode he makes his case on how marketing and sales are good opportunities for an invisible sales organization.

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Invisible Sales, What’s that?

An invisible organization is a virtual organization. Instead of staff working out of an office, they are working at home. Sales is a good fit for many businesses to set up virtually. Unlike operations and production, the tools of the craft are electronic. The key is to have information management systems in place that measure productivity. Productivity is the only thing that counts according to Mitch.

Success Keys

Selling has historically been managed by CRM based tools. Metrics and such allow pipeline analysis and sense of revenue in the upcoming future. Organizations rich in metrics are good candidates for the invisible sales organization. Marketing is a candidate worth considering. What makes for organizational success?

Telephone based selling works best. Outbound lead generation centers or appointment setting.
Professional development is key to getting staff productive quickly. Mitch recommends using an LMS (Learning Management System) to move training quickly.
Promote culture through Slack . It’s a messaging tool that is incredibly easy to use. This was mentioned in an earlier episode.
Culture is a big deal in any company. Mistake commonly made is to not build the culture before hiring staff.

Organizational Culture

Culture telegraphs to your staff the boundaries of activities or actions individuals can take within an organization. It’s the unpublished guide. How this is done:

Answers the question what it means to be successful and what is failure.
Explains to staff what they’re responsible for and not responsible.
Rewards people as leaders in a your sales community. They become models for the organization.

How To Find Mitch Russo on Social Media

You can find Mitch in the following venues:

Website – www.MitchRusso.com

Twitter – @mitchrusso
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/mitchrusso
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchrusso

Special Gift for Sales Babblers – www.MitchRusso.com/SalesBabble

How to Manage Sales Teams

Here are some other episodes that will help you manage your sales team. Listen today!

March 22, 2016

How To Be Your Customers Hero with Adam Toporek #104

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How To Be Your Customer’s Hero with Adam Toporek

In this episode we meet Adam Toporek, an internationally recognized customer service expert, keynote speaker, and workshop leader. He is the author of Be Your Customer’s Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines (2015), as well as the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog. When he’s not speaking or delivering high energy customer service workshops, he can be found co-hosting the Crack the Customer Code podcast (of which I will soon be a featured guest!) and writing extensively on customer experience.

Today Adam and I discuss how to be your customer hero by providing a terrific sales experience and then a terrific support experience.

Sales and Support Matter

Sales support are two sides of the same coin. With great support comes references and referrals. Both organizations must work together to on-board clients and keep them happy. It’s all about building relationships. For the selling professional this is how how you can be your customers’s hero. The easiest customer to sell is one whose bought from you before.

How To Close a Deal

Concession Close

Here you are offering the customer a con- cession and asking if that will satisfy her. You can generally use some version of the following: “If I could _, would that _?” “If I could apply a credit for the difference to your account, would that work for you?”

Trial Close

Trial closes are small closes you use along the way that lead to the final close. In larger sales processes, the sales-
person is looking to get a certain number of “yes” answers to get him to the final “yes.” In customer service, you’re testing the waters to see if you’re heading in the right direction. “If I could ship the dress to you on your trip, is that something you would be interested in?” Or you can ask more general questions. “Are we heading in the right direction?” “How is April 17, 2015 this sounding so far?”

Ultimatum Close

This technique is an absolute last resort for when you’re simply stuck, have tried multiple options, and the customer will simply not be satisfied. You’ve decided that it’s time to move on, one way or another, so you give the customer an ultimatum. “Sir, I’m really at the limits of what I can offer. Is the option I presented acceptable to you?” If the customer says no, my favorite line to follow up with is, “I wish I could do more, but that’s as far as I can go. How would you like to proceed from here?”

How to Find Adam Toporak

You can find Adam easily online:

https://twitter.com/adamtoporek
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtoporek
https://www.youtube.com/user/customersthatstick
https://www.facebook.com/customersthatstick

Contest

To win a copy of How To Be Your Customers Hero with Adam Toporek enter the contest here.

Closing Sales Tips

April 28, 2015May 6, 2015

Strategic Sales Skills from Sales Management Author Ken Thoreson #57

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Ken Thoreson, is a strategic sales skills management author and speaker. As president of Acumen Management Group, he consults and coaches companies and organizations on implementing processes that grow sales and predictability.

In this episode we talk about sales staff. Ken provides insight on the strategic sale skills that illuminate, motivate, and rejuvenate revenue performance.

Ken shares practical advice across the entire sales process: A to Z. Well as much as we can do in on podcast. Ken is a nationally recognized speaker, sales and marketing influencer, and sales coach. It’s an honor to have Ken as a guest.

Strategic Sales Skills List

In this interview I walked Ken through a sales skills list:

Persistant
Creative
Listen Wells
Expresses Empathy
Builds Trust

Further advice:

When trying to land a difficult prospect, build a power network. Consider everyone in their sphere of influence. Not just LinkedIn but professional organizations, hobbies, philanthropic activities. Leverage your network to get an introduction. Brainstorm five tactical steps.
When meeting a client a second time ask “Has anything changed since we last met?”. This is a great way to find out if the deal is going sideways.
Study personality styles and adjust your selling to the context of the prospect your meeting.
When selling technology your clients will want to know
1. Do you have the technical ability
2. Do you understand their industry
3. Do you understand their business processes
4. Do you have terrific references
It’s important to always reflect and avoid selling on autopilot. At the end of any sales call answer the question… “How could I have done that better?”

Ken Thoreson Contact Information

Website: www.AcumenManagement.com Email: Ken@AcumenMgmt.com Blog: www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

This is the free document Ken mentioned in the interview:

The Job of Sales Management

Sales Training

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This is not a time to be shy. You too can start the new Selling With Confidence Academy today!

Click here to learn more about Selling With Confidence.

February 7, 2014September 11, 2017

6 Simple Steps of a Sales Process: Sales 101

Steps of a Sales Process

I’ve just created a free infographic titled Sales 101 – 6 Simple Steps. Many small business entrepreneurs need to grow their business, and sales is a cost effective way of obtaining new clients. Often times non-sellers avoid sales because they don’t understand it. This infographic explains sales in plain language. In 6 simple steps, you’ll obtain a clear understanding of selling mastery. Once you understand it, you’ll realize it’s a straightforward process and build confidence to bring your passion, to the marketplace.

This infographic is only available to Sales Babble subscribers.

Did you find value in this post? It doesn’t stop here. Sign up for the free Infographic “Sales 101 – 6 Simple Steps”.

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