Kahle Way B2B Sales Blog

By Dave Kahle

It is refreshing to see a company go against the trends. In an era where the overwhelming majority of business owners have pulled back, reduced their sales and marketing efforts, and cut out any investment in the growth of the business or its people, one company has done the opposite. As a result, they are prospering.

Here’s the story.

BLDI is a boutique environmental consulting firm consisting of engineers and geologists serving lending institutions, real estate developers and M&A firms with complete environmental analysis, risk assessments, due diligence and remediation. The 11 member business, soon to be 12 with another office, began adopting the training from The DaCo Corporation intensely about four years ago.

Joe Berlin, BLDI’s president, believes in the importance of sales training. ”Our challenge at the time was that, although we had engineers who were competent in their profession, we needed to be able to show that to our customers and prospects.” 

He worked with Dave Kahle and the DaCo Corporation. Working together, a strategic plan was developed that matched the business’ strategic goals with their selling efforts. The staff was trained in The Kahle Way® and regular monthly coaching sessions were held thereafter. 

“If we hadn’t done that, my business would be in trouble!” says Joe. “The environmental consulting industry has seen reductions of over 30% lately and my competitors are really struggling in this tough economy. However, my business is up over 15%! It all comes down to our focused sales efforts.” 

Mr. Berlin goes on to say that it is difficult to differentiate yourself simply by giving good customer service. “Most everybody gives good service”, he claims. “At BLDI, we know about sales and the benefits customers receive from consistent sales contacts. It’s the daily focus and the daily follow up that makes the difference.”

“Margins are tough”, says Mr. Berlin. Reacting to the knowledge that several of his competitors are letting their sales people go in order to reduce costs, he exclaims, “I can’t imagine letting my sales rep(s) go, especially in this down economy.”

Bottom line. In a segment that is down 30 percent, his business is up 15 percent because he invested in sales.

I thought you’d enjoy his story.

By Dave Kahle

I am constantly amazed at the number of sales people who never take notes during or after the visit with a customer. They think, I suppose, that they will remember everything important. Or worse, that nothing is important enough to actually remember.

A close second are those who, on occasion, realize the need to take notes, but who seem constantly surprised by that need, and unprepared for it. They find themselves using the backs of printed pages, the margins of selling literature, the backs of business cards, etc. to scribble cryptic remarks. The concept of a well-thought-out system has evaded them.

By the way, this is one of the benefits of a well-designed and comprehensive CRM system, which forces you to take good notes by requiring that you respond to the prompts and blank spaces of a computer screen.

A well-prepared, organized sales person needs to have a system that prompts him/her to take the right kinds of notes for every sales call, organizes that information so that he/she can take the necessary follow up action, and makes that information available in every succeeding sales call.

As a minimum, that system should include forms, either electronic or paper, to record certain aspects of the account that the sales person picks up from time to time – things like the number of employees, the type of equipment used, the position and title of the key decision-makers, etc.

Then, there needs to be a place to record the important aspects of the conversation. What did you talk about?

Finally, there ought to be a place to record the action items that came out of that conversation. Do you need to call someone? Check on something? Arrange for something? These “to dos” should also be kept in a duplicate file, with the date by which you promised to have them completed.

Finally, you ought to record those things that you want to take up in the next sales call. That information should be readily assessable so that you can plan for it as you prepare for the next time you see this customer.

There are various mediums on which this information can be recorded. Some people will use paper, others will use Blackberrys and PDAs, while others record everything on a laptop. With the sophistication of today’s computer systems, there really is no excuse for a sales person not to be conscientiously and systematically recording, storing, and using meticulously gathered information from the customer.

It’s a regular practice of the best.

To learn more about this practice, review:

• chapter eight of Ten Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople
• chapters four and five of How to Excel at Distributor Sales.

By Dave Kahle

Are you wasting your customers’ time?

In this pressurized, multi-tasking world, where your customers are expected to produce more in less time, they may be growing less eager to meet with you than they were just a year ago.  Time is more precious today than ever before, and your customers are feeling the pressure.

In order for your customers to reliably make time to see you, they need to expect that they will gain some value for the time spent with you.  That means that, if you are going to be successful in the world of B2B sales, you’ll need to create a reputation that time spent with you is worth the investment.  If, over time, you can create that idea in the minds of your customers, you’ll find them generally willing to meet with you when you call.  And in an economy where “too much to do and not enough time to do it” is the prevalent mind set, that reputation is a valuable asset.

As is always the case, it starts with thoughtfulness and preparation.  As we prepare for a sales call, we so often think about what we want to accomplish and what we want to gain out of the sales call.  Very few sales people ever give any thought to what the customer gets out of it.  That’s the starting point.

Here’s a little mental trick to help you.  Before every sales call, when you are thinking about what you want to do, and what tools and materials you’ll need, take a moment and ask “What is the customer going to gain out of this time he spends with me?”

Here’s a list of some possible answers:

• Some good ideas to help him in his business or his job.
• Some ways to help him gain more business.
• Some ways to distinguish himself from others.
• Some ideas about how to reduce his costs.
• Some good things to think about.
• You helped him resolve some conflict.
• You helped him simplify things.
• You helped him solve some problem.
• You helped him move closer to some objective.
• You made him feel better about himself or his business.
• He got to spend time with your charming and entertaining personality.

The answer probably lies somewhere within the top ten items on that list.  If you can’t name anything that the customer will gain, then you can safely assume that the time the customer spends with you in that sales call will be a waste of his time.  Your relationship may be able to withstand one or two of those, but in the long-term, wasted time will destroy a business relationship.

If you are going to bring value to every customer, every time, then you’ll need to spend more time preparing to do so.  That brings us to two simple rules to add value to every sales call:

1.  Present something, every time.

2.  Ask something, every time.

Present something, every time, means exactly that.  You should, in every sales call with every customer and prospect, have something to talk about, to educate him on, which may be of value to him.

You can, for example, have an idea that you share.  Maybe an idea that will help him…

• cut costs
• increase revenues
• save time
• do something better or easier
• make him more valuable
• make his job easier.

You may have a story you can tell that provides an example of how someone gained a benefit, or solved a problem.

You could present a new product, a new product line, or a new application for an existing product of which he may not be aware.

You could present a service that your company offers in which he may be interested.

And finally, you could present a proposal to buy something from you.  The important thing here is that you prepare to present something to every customer and every prospect on every sales call.  And not just anything, but rather something that this particular customer may find of value to him.

Don’t forget rule number two:  Ask something, on every sales call, with every customer and every prospect.  And I don’t mean a question like, “What do you think of the weather today?”  Ask a question that causes the prospect/customer to

• think about his job or his business in some different way, 
• consider something that he has probably not thought of before,
• clarify some values, goals, objectives or strategies.

In my book, Question Your Way to Sales Success, I make the point that the ultimate power of a good question is that it causes the other person to think.  The thinking process that results is the value that a customer may receive from the time spent with you.  The purpose of the question is not for you to gain information, rather, it is to direct the customer to think about some things in different ways, so that the customer receives some value.

If you take the time to individually prepare something to present, and something to ask for each sales call, you will, more times than not, be perceived as bringing some value to the customer.  Over time, he’ll be more and more willing to meet with you.  And that reputation will be one of your greatest strengths in the marketplace.