Getting off the Proposal Hamster Wheel
Don't reach for normal, reach for better.
I love that expression. I heard it recently on the Michelle Obama podcast when she was in conversation with her good friend, Michelle Norris. I think it really summarizes the opportunity that is there in the sales process right now.
I certainly worked with a lot of companies over the last number of years that were struggling to keep up with the level of leads. However, the majority of those leads (80 to 90%) we're not good ones. They were complete time wasters and exasperating their team, and most directors would say to me;
"We're stuck in a rut. We're on this hamster wheel of just churning out proposals. We are overwhelmed. We have 5 to 10 proposals to send out, and we get them done as quickly as possible, and just send it back to the client."
What I saw happening in the sales process was the company sales leader was really trying to figure out what is the best way to filter these leads and to process them as quickly as possible. They were doing this instead of really sitting back and looking at:
- Where are the opportunities here?
- How can I put a system in place that's going to make sure that we're winning more of the right kind of leads; the right business, that's a fit for our business
- How can we filter out the time-wasters quicker, and not get ourselves into that position where we're overwhelmed with leads that just are going to waste our time and lose productivity for our team.
So that's what I see as a big opportunity that we have right now.
When industries and companies wipe the slate clean and enter this stage of rebuilding, they can strategically structure the sales process immediately. The steps of the process that I teach are a fabulous way of being able to do that because it's designed to give the client the experience that they want that will help them to buy.
I just finished up running a series of three workshops with a client over the last two months. I'd to share with you some of the aha moments and the outcomes that they're taking from just three virtual workshops. Here's what they shared:
- You helped me to completely turn around the way I'm doing things and to focus on the client more instead of telling them how creative we are and how brilliant our company is,
- You showed how we must first spend that time figuring out what is the results the client needs to achieve.
- You then showed how to be able to tell them how we can help them to do that.
The key is turning around that sales process to be client-centric. So many people tell me that they're focusing on the client and the questions that they're asking - the strategic questions. This conversation technique and these killer questions that I teach bring you back to the point of don't reach for normal, reach for better.
And to that end, what is better? What does that look like for your company, for your team for you? Perhaps as the main salesperson in the business - how will that have an impact? What does better look like for you?
If you'd like a conversation on how to help your team do this a little bit more, I offer a few Sales Strategy calls every week. Find a suitable time here for us to chat.
