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Building and Thriving in a Career in Sales with Annie Matthews, TechTarget

April 18, 2018 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this episode, I talked with Annie Matthews, VP of Sales at TechTarget about how to build and thrive in a career in sales. I’ve always loved being in sales, and although it is a great profession, I notice that there are still a fair number of women who do not consider entering into sales as a career.

As an advocate for women in sales, you’ll enjoy hearing how Annie has built her own successful sales career and how she helps other women to do the same.

In my conversation with Annie, we talked about:

Why she felt that more women should consider sales as a career. And, of course, that led to talking about how Annie got started herself.

The traits and strengths that she feels women bring to the profession that enables them to be successful.

The pre-conceived notions that women often have about the sales profession.

What Annie believes we can do to encourage more women to consider a career in sales.

Enjoy the interview!!

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About Annie

Annie Matthews is VP of Sales for TechTarget, the global leader in purchase intent-driven marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for enterprise technology companies. Focused on the Business Applications, Application Architecture, Network and Security segments, Annie oversees a team of account managers responsible for the growth of new and existing client relationships. She loves nothing more than rolling up her sleeves with clients and her team to build revenue. Having grown her own career from entry-level to leadership, Annie is keenly attuned to empowering others to realize their own potential. Annie strives to be a cool mom in and out of the office, challenged mostly by her hip team.

Connect with Annie:

LinkedIn
Twitter

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com.

Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Digital Transformation of Sales – Where Culture Meets Technology with Debbie Dunnam, Microsoft

February 14, 2018 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

This was a really exciting conversation for a lot of reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason is that my guest, Debbie Dunnam, Corporate Vice President of Inside Sales at Microsoft, walks her talk. Her passion, enthusiasm, leadership, and authenticity shines through. In this post, I’ve summarized key highlights from my conversation with Debbie. Tune in to hear the entire interview!

How did you get started in sales, Debbie?

I always find it fascinating to learn how my guests end up in a career in sales. In Debbie’s case, she started in sales at General Motors selling auto parts to pay her way through college. Debbie then transitioned into technology sales with the help of a friend in the early days of the technology revolution. I can relate to Debbie’s story because I had started in an Inside Sales role in tech in the early 80’s too, and I never looked back.

Digital sales transformation requires a shift in mindset.

From Debbie’s point of view what customers want is an experience that is channel agnostic, extremely consistent and relevant – relevant to them. And, they want the experience to be on their terms, which means simplification, customization, available anytime. Buyers want a trusted partner that can guide them through a process, which means sellers and their managers have to shift from thinking about selling something to thinking about how to build relationships that lead to doing business together.

How do you go about making that mindset a reality in your own organization?

To make this a reality, Debbie said that it is important for sales organizations to do business with this new mindset at the forefront, but it is also important to transform management practices, policies, structure, end-to-end processes and think deeply about how to drive customer engagement that delivers the right kinds of results.

Debbie was quick to point out that the sales transformation also includes other departments like legal, finance, operations or HR, which means that everyone involved must commit to that mindset shift along the journey. Never forgetting that the most crucial part of the shift is your culture.

How should we be thinking about the role that culture plays in this 4th industrial revolution?

In this era of the 4^th industrial revolution, it is a time of global economic and technology uncertainty that requires leaders to think much differently. It certainly is not about simply being tech savvy. In order to thrive in this new era, it means bringing everything – people and technology – together.

Debbie cited a Duke School of business study that said, 92% of CEO’s and CFO’s said improving company cultures would increase organizational value. Debbie noted that it was surprising in that this belief wasn’t coming from HR but from CEO’s and CFO’s, clearly demonstrating how important culture is to the business bottom line. Forbes also suggested that culture should be part of every company 2018 budget. Investing in culture must be a key priority for every business.

How do you build a culture of collaboration and trust with a workforce that is geographically dispersed?

Creating a culture of trust is what leads to building a foundation for innovation. That foundation is what leads to the digital sales transformation you seek. It requires real authenticity that leaders need to bring to the table. People in the organization must feel safe in bringing forth their ideas about how to innovate or do things differently. Without trust, your organization will not be able to innovate quickly enough to remain competitive. Debbie strongly believes that leadership is about creating a culture of autonomy, respect, encouragement, and appreciation that are the foundational values of the culture. Every employee should be able to see those values modeled consistently by all leaders they interact with every day.

What about geography?

With 8 sales centers, 22 languages supporting multiple time zones around the world, the team knew they needed to find a way to be sure that everyone in the inside sales organization felt connected and shared a strong sense of purpose. The approach they took was treating everyone like family. This connection and shared sense of purpose are reinforced in every way possible – email, town hall meetings, and Debbie believes in this philosophy so much that when new employees come on board she writes a handwritten note welcoming them to the team.

Through instant messaging, email, Yammer, employees can share good news and congratulate each other. Then in a beautiful accident, a member of the team ended a congratulatory communication with the hashtag #LoveThisTeam. It went viral inside the organization and has become a mantra for the team.

Diversity and inclusion is an increasingly important part of corporate culture today. How does this make a difference in your organization?

Debbie and her leaders have strived to create an environment where all employees feel accountable for constant improvement and empowered to make it happen. They value the business success and innovation that comes from embracing the diversity of thought, talent, and culture.

Inside Debbie’s organization, the team members are not checking the “diversity box”, they are actually embracing diversity each day. Teams from different parts of the world get together regularly to get to know each other personally. The value that comes from better understanding each of their teammates has led to greater success on the job. That value, of course, also translates into financial value for the business, as well as delivers a stronger customer experience because team members are able to better relate to the various customers they serve.

We know that Millennials are now the largest generational employee group and they bring unique perspectives to business. How do you go about inspiring and retaining this very different workforce?

Millennials participate in “reverse mentoring” programs so that everyone can learn from each other. This certainly requires putting biases aside about the different generations. Leveraging the diversity of thinking, ideas, and points of view lead to a more open culture of collaboration and trust. It also leads to a culture that fosters loyalty among team members.

You inspire and retain by appreciating the fact that what millennials want is to feel that they are making a difference, says Debbie. They want to be in meaning and impactful roles. They want to feel that the company is investing in helping them build their skills and career, and Debbie talked about an onboarding program they’ve created to demonstrate from the onset that Microsoft is vested in their success.

It is so important for leaders to be authentic and accountable. The Millennial generation, perhaps more than others, don’t tolerate a lack of integrity in leaders. Debbie says that it is important for leaders to remember that you won’t have all the answers, and don’t assume that younger workers can’t help you.

It was quite motivational and inspiring hearing from Debbie about how she and her team have worked together to build a wildly successful inside sales organization in the span of two short years!!

Listen to the interview HERE.

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About Debbie Dunnam

Debbie Dunnam, Corporate Vice President of Inside Sales at Microsoft. Debbie is a proven technology industry leader with a track record of driving innovation, delivering revenue, and building strong, collaborative leadership teams. As an experienced sales, marketing, and operations strategist in some of the world’s foremost technology companies, Dunnam delivers deep insights into how to succeed in fast-paced, global, customer-driven businesses. Dunnam joined Microsoft in 2016 to drive the creation and acceleration of digital sales, enhancing and leveraging rich analytics and data through rapidly evolving omni-channel engagement platforms and models. Her approach to leadership encompasses three key principles of authenticity, diversity and accountability to deliver clarity, generate energy and enable success.

Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.

We’d like to thank our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. In particular, we thank Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief at Microsoft, for her dedication to supporting women in technology, and making this podcast possible. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Visit the Microsoft Partner Network.

Conversations with Women in Sales

February 6, 2018 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

It all started with a list.

On that day, I saw another list announcing top sales gurus and 98% of said gurus were men. Don’t get me wrong. I applaud my male colleagues in sales who do great work. I learn as much from them, as I hope they learn from me.

Still, it is 2018 and women in sales are largely underrepresented in many ways.

We do not see enough women in sales roles represented as speakers on conference stages, being interviewed in video or podcast programs, not enough women show up on leader lists or on lists of people to follow and more.

And, surprisingly women are still in the minority in sales roles. I asked Lori Richardson, who heads up Women Sales Pros her thoughts on this and why she is a passionate supporter of women in sales. Here’s what she told me.

“Today, in 2018, there is still a lack of women in sales and sales leadership roles in industries such as SaaS, tech, fintech, manufacturing, distribution, telecom, and utilities. We know that women make great sales reps and we know that women make great leaders. Studies show that diversity of thought grows revenues – and that comes from a more diverse sales team. Yet the number of women leaders has been a low number – flat for more than 10 years. I’m passionate about this topic because it is a business issue that we can move the needle on. Women currently in sales or who have been in the past are role models to those up and coming in those industries.”

I believe that women don’t often do a good job of tooting their own horn. I decided I wanted to help them do that.

My original LinkedIn list of #WomeninSales to follow has morphed and taken on a life of its own. That list shows recruiters, conference organizers, podcast hosts, magazine publications and more that there is a lot of female talent to be tapped into. It also shows women who may not have considered a career in sales that they’d be in great company if they joined our ranks!

The list was a starting point. I wanted to go bigger! Introducing the Conversations with Women in Sales Podcast!

Today, I’m announcing the launch of my new podcast dedicated to women in sales, at all levels, in companies all around the globe. The Conversations with Women in Sales podcast has launched on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play. These interviews also have their own page on my blog making it easy people for people to find and listen to the interviews.

The podcast has 3 goals:

Provide global visibility for women in sales roles.
Encourage more women to enter a career in sales.
Provide education, guidance and support for women as they move up in their careers.

Each guest will share their insights, expertise, and guidance on topics from brand building, leadership, career management, social selling, overcoming adversity, sales and marketing alignment, B2B sales, strategic partnerships, buyer personas, account based selling, content creation and promotion, social media, and more.

The first set of interviews are:

Episode Zero – in this episode, James Carbary of SweetFish Media, our podcast producer interviews me about the purpose of the #WomeninSales project.

Episode 1 – features Christina Stone, Account Director at TechTarget who reminds us that when we do right by our customers, they will do right by us!

Episode 2 – features Rakhi Voria, Chief of Staff and Sr. Business Manager to Microsoft’s Corporate VP of Inside Sales. Our conversation focused on attracting, retaining and developing millennials inside your organization.

Each week, I’ll be releasing a brand-new interview. And, I expect that in the next few months, we will be moving to bi-weekly interviews, with the goal being to release an interview every day Monday through Friday.

SUBSCRIBE on iTunes so you never miss an episode!

Thank you to those who helped me make the launch of this new podcast possible!

Launching a new podcast takes lots of teamwork, so I’d like to thank the following for their support and sponsorship.

SweetFish Media is the producer of our podcast. They made the process of getting this new project going a snap and month to month they will be producing our interviews.

Elite 2018 Partner – Microsoft

Media Partner 2018 – Women Sales Pros

Headed by Lori Richardson, Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

I’ve been a member of the Women Sales Pros network for many years, and because Lori and I share the same passion for getting more women into sales careers and helping them advance in our profession, I’m delighted that Women Sales Pros is a sponsor of our podcast!

Listen to the interviews and let me know what you think. And, of course, tell me who else needs to be included on my Conversations with Women in Sales interview list?

Away we go!

Here’s a Question – Would YOU Buy from You?

June 13, 2016 By Barbara Giamanco 1 Comment

Note that this post was originally published on the Freshdesk blog.

Many of you who read and follow my posts know that I’m passionate about elevating the professionalism of sales. It’s a great profession to be in. I cannot think of anything more gratifying than being able to help customers solve business problems. Still, sales as an industry has an image problem, because hustlers exist. You know the type… all they care about is meeting quota so they can head to President’s Club. Well, guess what, those types will be gone by 2020, if not sooner. Customers have spoken; they demand more!

I believe that creating sales experiences that knock buyer’s socks off–at every touchpoint in the buying and customer lifecycle–is how you win!

In the sales context, let me clarify what I mean by “customer experience.” I mean the positive or negative reaction at every interaction in the process of connecting with a prospect, working with them throughout their decision making process, closing the business, and retaining them as a happy customer for life.

This isn’t, of course, a new concept.

The conversation about delivering great customer experience has been ongoing for years. It seems common knowledge that great customer experiences lead to increases in revenue. Salespeople who solve problems and make it easy for buyers to do business with them definitely exceed their quotas.

CEB reported that 94% of customers who have a low-effort customer service experience will buy from that same company again. And, these buyers are willing to pay more. According to a CEI Survey, 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. But only 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations.

It is clear that buyers who feel they had a great experience with a vendor will not only buy again, but are actually willing to pay more for the product or service.

Why then aren’t we seeing more evidence of focus, especially from the sales point of view, being paid to customer experience?

Perhaps this is part of the problem: Bain & Company reports that 80% of CEOs believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8% of their customers agree.

A 72% difference in perspective. That’s a serious disconnect with reality, don’t you think? No doubt that disconnect translates right down to the sales organization, which most likely believes that their interactions with prospects and customers are stellar, too.

My belief is that companies – and the people who work in them – are so internally focused that they can’t see the forest for the trees.

If you are a sales leader, when is the last time you pretended to be a prospect and walked in their shoes?

Do you really know what it feels like to be bombarded with your sales messaging?

How about the sales meeting? Do you know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the pitch your salespeople are giving?

The question you should always be asking yourself is – would you buy from you and your company? If you did, my bet is that you would have a better picture of what’s really going on.

Think differently.

Customer experience isn’t about how fast your service team responds when something goes wrong. The customer experience is something that is proactive and top of mind for everyone in the company. Salespeople can have the biggest impact – positive or negative – on whether or not a sales opportunity can develop and progress to close. But beware because these activities are causing problems:

Crappy emails
Cold calls with a pitch but no value for the buyer
Buyer time wasted in sales meetings, because the focus is on demo-ing your fancy software
Social channels used as a way to try to shortcut the selling process

The list, unfortunately, goes on.

Be ruthless in evaluating your processes from the customer’s point of view. Look hard at how your sellers are interacting with prospective customers. In today’s digitally connected world, people are growing impatient with outdated sales approaches. And, trust me when I say that buyers spread the word through their networks when they encounter salespeople who merely use social channels to broadcast more sales spam.

When it comes to your customers, how carefully are you evaluating existing relationships to ensure they continue to buy from you? Don’t wait for former customers to start spreading the word about your failings. By then, it’s too late.

Customer experience isn’t the next big thing in sales. It’s THE thing. Are you on board?

Sales Acceleration Is An Inside Job

May 22, 2015 By Barbara Giamanco 2 Comments

As a seller, are you responsive? Think carefully about this question.

Do you know exactly how long it takes you to respond to email and phone calls from prospective clients?

How quickly are you responding to leads that come from the marketing department? Do you respond at all?

How often do you have to say someone, “I’ll get back to you.”, because you did not know the answer to their question?

What about your proposal creation and delivery time? Do you respond within an hour or two, or is it more like days?

In today’s fast-paced, competitive business world, it is all about velocity.

It might come as a big surprise to many sellers to find out that they are slowing down the purchasing decision a buyer needs to make. I imagine right now some of you are saying, heck no, I don’t slow the process down, buyers move slowly. In truth, many salespeople are their own worst enemy.

If you sell, you have one job to do. Contrary to what you might think, it isn’t to sell something.

Selling is about helping customers solve their business problems and make buying decisions. I want you to think about delivering value in a different way. Think of adding value as providing information quickly, in order to move buyers one step closer to a purchasing decision. If a core issue has been identified within an organization that needs to be addressed, there is executive support for the initiative, budget has been allocated and an implementation timeline has been put in place, then buyers typically do want to move quickly. Make it easy for them to get what they need.

Sales acceleration is big business.

In 2013, companies spent $12.8 billion dollars on sales acceleration technology. By 2017, that number could be as much as $30 billion according to a research report by InsideSales.com. Huge investments are being made in technology, which conceivably should improve performance. The problem is that it isn’t working.

Technology might deliver a lead faster to a sales rep, but if they don’t respond quickly, what’s the point? Or, you can have web forms established to encourage people to sign up for demo’s of your product, but if you don’t contact someone immediately once they do, the buyer moves on. As an example, as part of the research I’m conducting for a client, I used the web to request a demo of their largest competitors platform. That was 10 days ago and not a peep from anyone. I specifically said, “I was representing a client who had an interest in purchasing a solution like what they offered.” Crickets.

In fairness to the salespeople at the company, there is no way to know what the internal process is for moving a web inquiry for a product demo over to the sales team for follow up. What I do know is that by the time they get around to contacting someone, if they ever do, the opportunity is missed.

At team and individual levels, sales response time needs to be evaluated carefully. Selling and knowledge skills need to be examined as well. Every time a salesperson talks to a prospect or a customer considering another purchase, they must be able to answer questions in the moment.

Work faster and smarter.

Sales acceleration is not only about moving more quickly, it is also means working smarter. That’s where mobile, the Internet and social networks come into play. You need to be able to access and gather real-time sales intelligence from LinkedIn, Twitter, the web, InsideView or Owler. When you are reaching out to prospects, you need to have something relevant to talk about beyond today’s weather. When I’m talking to a prospective client, I can answer their questions immediately, even if it means quickly going online to source what I need.

If you are a field salesperson, how often do you ask yourself if you really need to meet with everyone face-to-face? At least initially. How often do you use the phone or web conferencing to shorten the sales cycle? Buyers are busy. They will appreciate that you are saving them precious time. Integrating virtual strategies into your sales process also means that you can talk to more people each and every day.

Stop dragging out the sale.

I want to suggest to anyone reading this post that they challenge themselves to move faster and work smarter. Technology can only take sales acceleration so far. Sales remains a people business. Your ability to respond more quickly than your competitors, as well as being prepared to answer any and all questions that can move the buying decision forward… well, my friends, that’s how deals are won!

5.5 Reasons Sales Stall Out

November 13, 2014 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

With so much talk about becoming a social seller, adapting to the buyers journey, developing a personal brand to demonstrate credibility or the need to use inbound marketing strategies that bring buyers to you, you would think that sellers are crushing their quota goals. They aren’t.

Various experts insist that becoming proficient in the tenants of social selling is what will break the log jam of only 60% of salespeople achieving their revenue targets each year. Mike Drapeau at Sales Benchmark Index has boldly predicted that from this point on we will see a 15% increase in sales quota attainment each year. In other words, 75% of sellers will hit quota goals, and social selling is the reason why. Me, I’m not convinced.

You might be wondering why I’m a bit skeptical. After all, I was one of the earliest evangelists of using social media in conjunction with selling. I’m skeptical because of my years of experience selling and managing sales teams, and because the conversations related to social selling have largely been distilled down to simplistic sound bites that ignore the larger systemic issues that plague sales organizations.

Why is it that roughly 40% of salespeople won’t hit their sales targets? Two words come to mind: sales basics.

Here are 5.5 reasons why sellers keep hitting a wall:

1. Inability to secure a sales meeting with the true decision maker(s).

While you can use social selling tactics to identify decision makers, I’m often surprised that sellers still take the path of least resistance. They find anyone, at any level, who will talk to them. Just get your foot in the door is the mantra. The belief is that this approach will eventually help them land a meeting with the person who actually controls the budget. Not only is this a waste of time, you will find yourself pigeon holed at lower levels in the company where a deal will never materialize.

2. Prospects aren’t responding to email messages or phone calls.

The reason they are not responding is because you haven’t given them a reason to invest their time. You believe your sales pitch rocks the house, but guess what, the buyer doesn’t. Your message has to focus on what the buyer cares about, which means you’ll have to put in some time to figure that out. The payoff, however, is worth it. After all, isn’t your goal to get them to meet with you? Boilerplate sales messaging is not an effective strategy. It isn’t the quantity of emails you send or phone calls you make, it is the quality and relevance of your message that gets buyers to pay attention.

3. Lack of follow up and tracking to ensure that opportunities don’t stall out.

As a whole, salespeople give up pretty quickly. 94% of them have given up by the fourth call, and Herbert True, former Professor and Marketing Specialist at Notre Dame who studied and researched sales behavior also discovered that 60% of all sales are made after the fourth call. What is even more astounding to me is that 44% of sellers give up after making one measly call! Percentages are probably even worse for sellers who rely so heavily on email. In addition to being consistent in your follow up, you need a tracking – CRM – system. Small business owners, in particular, often tell me they don’t need one because…well, they are small. It doesn’t matter if you are a business of one, you need a way to schedule your follow up, track opportunities in the pipeline and evaluate what led to wins and/or losses. Investigate what Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM can do for you.

4. A demo dolly mindset.

This is an especially tough challenge for salespeople selling technology solutions. They confuse demoing a product with actually selling a solution. Of course, they are hardly to blame. That’s what they have been taught to do. The problem is that when you rely on the demo to sell for you, you are expecting the buyer to make the leap between what your product does and how it resolves the challenge they are faced with fixing. Features do not close deals.

5. Poor communication, listening and presentation skills.

This is the single biggest reason why I don’t believe the prediction that 75% all of salespeople will now achieve quota versus the 60% we’ve come to expect. Expanding your network, sharing content, creating lead lists or sending LinkedIn InMail does you no good if you cannot hold an articulate, consultative business conversation with a buyer when the time comes. If you don’t understand the buyer’s business, their pain points or all you do is pitch without listening, the social selling tactics that led to a meeting did no good at all. Even the basics of leaving coherent, relevant voice mail messages seems to be a lost art.

5.5 Contacts not relationships.

You have a lot of contacts, and contacts don’t exactly equate to relationships that open doors for you. A foremost authority on referral selling is Joanne Black, and you should read her book – No More Cold Calling or her latest – Pick Up the Damn Phone! Spend time cultivating relationships not collecting contacts. When you are referred into an account by someone the buyer knows and trusts, your ability to secure a meeting is roughly 50%. This also means that sales cycles shrink because an initial level of credibility has already been established for you. However, getting in the door is one thing. Earning the right to stay there is another.

Yes – sales basics matter in a big way!

There is no question that sellers need to incorporate social media into their sales mix. Are a few social selling tactics all it takes to successfully hit sales objectives? Absolutely not. If increasing the percentage of quota attainment among sales reps is the goal, it might be wise to invest in training and reinforcing the basics of good selling.

p.s. I really gave you six reasons but 5.5 is catchier -:)

Selling the Problem

September 1, 2014 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

I read an interesting New York Times article about sales challenges that Yesware was having throughout 2013. It seems that though the start-up had amassed some 100,000 free users, their newly hired, ten person sales team wasn’t successfully converting those users to paying customers. It is an intriguing story that I encourage you read. Also read what the CEO, Matthew Bellows did to solve the problem.

As I read the article, what got me thinking was – pardon the pun – a problem for most sellers today is that they’ve been trained to sell features, not sell the problem that their product or service solves. This is an issue for marketing teams also. Website copy is littered with features, benefits and buzz phrases. Rarely can you tell what problem is being solved.

I’m not suggesting that the inability to “sell the problem” was Yesware’s issue, because I don’t have that personal insight. It wouldn’t surprise me if this were part of the issue though. I see it as a common challenge among technology companies. They are so wrapped up in the lipstick and what’s under the hood, they cannot stop talking about what their product does. What they need to do is talk about the problem it solves!

In a recent blog post, I said that the number one sales blunder, I believe, is selling features not value. Value, from my perspective, is all about knowing two things about problems:

That your buyer has clearly defined the problem they want to solve.
That you can clearly connect the dots between the buyers’ problem and your offering.

So, first comes understanding what problem your product or service solves. Hint – it isn’t the features. Then the job is to clearly articulate your problem solving message in every communication. Given the common practice is to mass email people, the wise seller takes time to think about how the message is perceived by the person receiving it.

Try something new.

Stop right now.

Think of three problems your product or service solves.
Craft three email messages that speaks to each.
Create three target lists with the type of buyer that might have one of those three problems.
Send the right message to the right prospect.
Measure and track results.

What have you got to lose? More spam isn’t the answer. Better sales messages focused on problem solving is the better way to go.

To illustrate my point, here is a snippet of another sales pitch I received through LinkedIn InMail.

“I understand that most groups already have their PPC handled in-house or through another agency. One area we’ve found a lot of groups like yourself don’t have time to focus is testing new landing pages.”

On top of being poorly written and unclear about the problem this salesperson…

Uses buzz words. This assumes that your target buyer gets what you are talking about. I know what PPC means – pay per click – but don’t be quick to assume that will be the case for everyone.
Calls me a group. I’m a person. Do I need to say more?
OK, I don’t have time to focus on testing new landing pages. What problem do you solve for me beyond the obvious that you save me time?

The seller goes on to say…

“One of our core services is designing, building, and testing landing pages with dynamic features that for some clients has doubled their AdWords performance without spending a penny more.”

Now he gets closer to telling me what problem their service solves…my AdWords performance might – double. Let’s say for argument’s sake that they do double my AdWords performance, what problem is that solving for me? Will more eyeballs on my ads increase revenue? Frankly, I don’t care how many people see my ad, but if you tell me that your service helps convert views to paid customers, now I’m listening.

He doesn’t even know if I use AdWords, and if I don’t, maybe he should tell me what problem I’m creating for myself by not doing so.

Don’t make your job the buyer’s job.

My point is that – as the potential buyer – I’m left to figure it out. Do you really think prospects will take the time?

This is probably one of the biggest gripes I have about sales communication today. Broadcast emails that use a feature selling versus problem selling approach. Mass emails are easier to send. I get it. You might even have marginal success, but in general, this approach is such a waste of your precious selling time.

If you want different results, try something different. Then come back and tell me how you are doing!

What Dogs Teach Us About Leadership

August 16, 2014 By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Employee turnover continues to be at an all-time high. Unfortunately, there is a loyalty problem on both sides of the table. But turnover is a huge problem for companies, as illustrated by a Hewlett-Packard study conducted a few years ago, which confirmed that the cost to recruit, hire, and train an employee was found to be 9 times greater than the cost of retaining a worker in the first place.

Building and retaining a high performing talent pool is crucial to business success. In sales, the stakes are even higher. If you do not have the right people with the right sales skills, or your A-players walk away because you don’t have your internal act together, your ability to keep pace with revenue goals becomes even harder.

Making the critical investment in hiring the right talent to fill those sales shoes is only the first step. Instead of viewing employee development as an expense to be cut from the budget when times are tight, you must view this as an investment that ensures your people’s sales skills remain top notch. When employees feel that their employer is investing in their success, they are less likely to defect to the competition.

Lily Giamanco

What’s this got to do with dogs?

Hanging out with my favorite gal pal, Lily is without question one of my favorite pastimes. I’ve always loved animals; dogs claim a special place in my heart. In good times and bad, our dogs stand by us. They don’t judge, always listen, give us space when we need it, they make plenty of time to play and take the lead when they need to. Corporations need a new brand of sales leader and here are just a few of the leadership lessons I’ve learned from all of my wise and furry friends.

Sometimes it’s better to listen with a concerned look on your face.

Faced with a challenging problem or frustrated after a tough day, I know I can count on Lily to hear me out. With soulful eyes and a sympathetic look on her face, Lily listens patiently to my tale of woe and her silent communication lets me know she’s there for me. She doesn’t need to solve my problems; she’s confident I can handle them myself. What Lily knows is that I need to be heard and sales leaders (actually, all leaders) can learn a lot from Lily’s wisdom.

Critically lacking in corporate America is the focus on the human connection. Employees are desperate to make their own unique contribution, so give them a chance. They want to be heard, they want to feel that their contributions are valued and they want to learn. Help your employees solve their own problems by adopting a coaching versus telling style.

When management wonders why productivity is down, morale is low, or employee turnover is high, they might due well to consider the obvious…that most well intentioned leaders never take the time to listen to what their employees have to say. Or, they are to busy telling people what to do versus giving them the guidance they need to figure it out on their own.

Dedicate yourself to listening when one of your employees brings an issue to your doorstep. Stop doing e-mail, shuffling through your papers and ignore the phones. When your employees are trying to talk to you, it’s rude to be doing something else. Learn how and when to ask powerful questions to encourage creating thinking and problem solving. Far too often management wants to fix things when all that’s truly needed is a willing ear.

There are times to lead and times to follow.

Recently, I was at a networking event and several of us were talking about successful teamwork and why we thought teams often failed miserably. It boils down to this notion of knowing when to lead and when to follow. Dogs are absolutely brilliant when it comes to this concept! They know that sometimes they have free rein to lead the way, but they also know when it is time to follow the pack leader. Lily knows exactly when she gets to lead or when it’s time to follow me. She does so faithfully recognizing that there is an ebb and flow to successful teamwork.

For all the money spent on team building seminars and activities, it’s ironic that teams continue to fail more than they succeed. We can talk about setting clear expectations or aligning compensation to the same performance metrics, but all that matters little when team members don’t respect the roles of others and generally spend more time competing with each other than working together.

And always remember to play in your own sandbox…

If I’ve been tasked with a particular role on a team, I don’t take kindly to other people butting in trying to do my job. It’s rude and disrespectful. Don’t you have your own job to do? If you are like me, you also don’t appreciate your manager “telling you what to do”. That’s the entire point of hiring the right talent. Train people well, set clear objectives, give your folks the tools they need, then get out of the way and let them do their job.

Occasionally you’ve got to make some noise to be taken seriously.

One of the things I’ve learned living with dogs is that they all communicate in different ways. Lily isn’t much of a barker, but she’s got the “I’m ready to chase those squirrels racing through the yard” signal that I easily recognize. She also works the heck out of her squeaky toys when she is ready to play. But there is this low growl that she uses to lets me know that danger may be imminent. Want to take a guess which communication I really pay attention to?

Frankly, I think people operate much the same way. We have different barks reserved for different situations. The trick is learning when to make noise and at a level appropriate for the situation. A former co-worker of mine used to make noise constantly. She saw it as survival tool, a way to prove her mettle in relation to our male counterparts. This incredibly talented, intelligent and articulate woman never understood that over time, using the same bark for every single situation worked against her. No one listened even when it may have been prudent to do so.

What’s the lesson? An occasional, well timed bark or growl will cause people to sit up and take notice. Reserve it for the big stuff, because once you’ve developed a reputation for making constant noise even a legitimate danger signal will be ignored.

What we need are leaders.

There is a true lack of leadership in most companies today. Sales, in particular, needs a management makeover. I see few sales leaders lead with vision and purpose. Telling your people to smile and dial and pitch, pitch, pitch isn’t leading your team forward, it is simply keeping them stuck in the past. Times have changed. Are you leading or just in the way?

Ah, You Do Read My Blog

August 14, 2014 By Barbara Giamanco 2 Comments

Blogging can be a lonely endeavor. Well, until you attain status the likes of Guy Kawasaki, Jill Konrath, Jonathan Farrington or Chris Brogan perhaps. Writing has always been a passion of mine. Most likely the fire of that passion was ignited by my obsessive addiction to reading. Yes, I was reading books long before Kindle came along. I remember sitting at the breakfast table reading every word on the cereal box. My desire to read and learn everything I could about almost any subject – I’ll skip math and physics, thank you – has served me well throughout my life and business career. It still does! As a salesperson, the ability to converse with people on any number of topics is a sure way to connect and bond with them, except if you veer into the murky and dangerous waters of discussing touchy subjects like politics or religion, which I don’t.

I became aware of blogging around 2001. At the time, I couldn’t really fathom why people would essentially want to put their most intimate musings online for the world to see. Think old fashioned diary with lock and key, or a journal you keep hidden away in your nightstand. I saw no purpose in exposing myself that way.

Fast forward to around 2008…. that’s when I began to realize that blogging for business was one way to extend the power of your personal and professional brand. After a few fits and starts, I finally got my blogging groove on. Initially, I struggled with finding my voice. I was worried. Would I be too controversial? What would potential customers think? Was it possible I might lose business because of something I said? Like many of you, I had the exact same fears about putting my ideas and opinions out there.

And then… I just got over it.

I decided that I wanted to write about those things in the world of sales, which includes social selling, business, management, customer experience, technology and marketing that I believed in or disagreed with. Occasionally, I mix in musings about life. The point is that my blog is the place where I can share what I think matters and it tells people about me. If a company chooses not to hire me, so be it. I am not right for them anyway.

As I said though, blogging can sometimes feel like you are talking to yourself. I know hundreds of people who follow and read my blog, which is so cool. And yet, they almost never post a comment. I see the number of times my posts are shared via social networks, but then again, mostly crickets when it comes to comments. A few of my posts have pushed some buttons and that generated comments. I even chuckle when I receive email from people who tell me they love something I’ve written about and why it mattered to them. All the while I’m screaming silently in my head…please post your comment on my blog!

What I’ve come to appreciate it is that it is OK if people don’t comment on the blog. Maybe they, like I was, are nervous about how they will be perceived, but the fact that they follow my words is quite a compliment. I’m thrilled that they share, tell their friends, send me email and even hire me/my company as a result of reading what I’ve written. Frankly, can it get any better?

Why, yes. It can.

On Tuesday, Top Sales World Announced the Top 50 Blogs, and I’m swelled with pride to say that my blog made the cut for the 2nd year in a row. This isn’t one of those vanity lists you see so often today. The folks at Top Sales World actually hire a research firm to vet the top 50 out of about 100 sales and marketing blogs on the web. You can review the criteria and see the entire Top 50 list here. Thank you, Top Sales World! Your recognition of my work means more than I can say!

And then this just in…

I found out yesterday that Docurated named my blog one of the Top 52 blogs on Sales Efficiency. WOW – blog recognition twice in one week. I suppose it just goes to show that people do read what I write and often believe I have something of value to say. Thank you, Docurated. Find the entire list of their blog choices here.

I blog because I believe in the power of learning and sharing ideas. Maybe hundreds don’t flock to my blog each day to comment, but I know it is being read and that’s A-OK by me!

Lie, Steal, Cheat, Copycat – What Happened to Ethics?

July 21, 2014 By Barbara Giamanco 10 Comments

In my last post, I talked about ruffling some feathers, and today, I’m sure I’ll do just that. That’s OK. When you push for change, sometimes you just have to bring it.

Ethics in selling is on the decline.

Only my opinion, but I do have plenty of evidence to suggest that I’m not far off the mark. My colleague, Kelley Robertson shared a post on LinkedIn that told the tale of the salesperson who “lied” to get a call back. This was no accident. Said salesperson indicated in a voice mail that his company was interested in talking to Kelley about sales training. Naturally, Kelley called the guy back only to uncover the ruse in seconds. The worst part is that this salesperson wasn’t apologetic in the least. Nope, just asked Kelley if he’d like to a see demo of the product.

I wish I could say that this is the first time I’ve heard of this happening. And, honestly, it is downright depressing. Are salespeople really this desperate? I mean, seriously, you think lying is how you are going to begin a relationship that will lead to a sale? You think you can cheat your way to achieving sales quota?

I know the Glengarry Glen Ross types do still hold management roles today. There is no doubt in my mind that their mantra of do ANYTHING to get in the door is being preached day in and day out. Eventually, that will backfire and they’ll be put out to pasture. As far as I’m concerned, it couldn’t happen soon enough.

But the integrity problem is even more pervasive.

The great thing about technology today is that information is so easily available. The bad thing is that it is so easily available.

Social selling experts (and really, who isn’t one these days?) talk a lot about sharing content. Content is definitely a cornerstone of your social selling strategy. As you share content though, are you making sure to give credit where credit is due?

Sharing an article from Forbes where it is clear who wrote it is not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is when you Tweet something, mention it on a webinar or include a reference to the work of someone else in your blog post, but don’t name your source. I see far to many people who do not appropriately credit and give attribution to the actual creators of the work being shared. When you don’t do this it creates a perception that this is something you created when you didn’t.

There’s this thing called copyright.

The moment someone puts their name on their own original content, they own it. They’ve no doubt spent a fair amount of time to create their work. Respect that.

If you want to quote from my Sales and Social Media Quota Report, that’s awesome, thank you. What is not so awesome is when people use some of the research statistics but either don’t list me as a co-author, or they don’t site the report source at all. That’s a problem. You have to make it crystal clear what work belongs to you and what content is the work of others. On this one, I really take exception, because if I cared to, and I don’t, I could give you the names of experts who make it sound like my research is their work. When you quote from other people’s content, you need to cite the source and ALL of the authors involved. After all, they put the time and energy into creating the material.

Plagiarism is rampant and folks – that’s stealing!

Call me a Pollyanna but it would never occur to me to steal other people’s work and pass it off as my own. Yet, you would be surprised how many people do it. It’s obvious, but these thief’s don’t seem to care an iota. Colleagues have shared horror stories of someone attending their training program, taking their materials, slap their own logo right on the front cover and sell it as their own. What? I mean, come on, you are going to be that blatant about it? While we in the biz would surely know, because that kind of news travels fast, unsuspecting customers might not. To me, that’s a problem. If you would steal the work of colleagues, can you be trusted with sensitive customer material? Probably not. But some of these hacks have been getting away with it for some time, which totally boggles the mind.

Be original.

If all you do is recite quips that other people have been using for years, you add nothing to the conversation. Stop being a copycat. Be unique. Bring something fresh to the table. Cheese ball quotes and grand standing only serve to make you look ignorant. I’m a pretty open, trusting person who likes to share ideas. But it definitely stings when I’m talking to someone about a particular idea or view of the world I have and the next thing you know, they write the blog post like they thought it up themselves.

Let’s change things, shall we.

I absolutely understand why the selling profession is viewed, in large part, as sleazy. When you have people who will lie, cheat, steal and copycat the work of others, instead of doing the hard work themselves, it is no wonder.

And damn it, I’m going to keep fighting to change it! Will you join me?

If you’ve been ripped off, share your story! If your boss tells you to lie to get in the door, I want to hear about it, although protect your anonymity. If you want to see sellers conduct themselves with more integrity, please give me a shout-out here.

There it is. That’s my rant. That is all.

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