During my days as a sales manager I was often asked by fledgling sales professionals as to what they could do to compete with the wealth of sales professionals out there with greater experience and knowledge?  What could they do that could negate that experience and make them the sales professional of choice?

The answer may well be nothing! Nothing negates the advantages that knowledge and experience gives.  It is something that cannot be taken away from the sales professional and there will be a day that you all will be glad about it.

However, there are some actions that you can undertake that will put you in a position to win, and your ‘weaknesses’ will be your strongest assets.

Know Your Assets and Use Them

Know your most plentiful assets and know how to constructively employs them to make the difference in how the client/prospect perceives a sales professional.

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Question:  What does a new sales professional have in abundance over the successful sales professional?
Answer: Time

The new sales professional has the ability to spend mountains of time on individual prospects and clients, ultimately impressing them with his or her attention and presence.  Be wise about it; yet note the relationship building aspect of spending face-time and effort impressing the buyer and how this will pay dividends.

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Question:  How can you make the client ‘dependent’ on you?
Answer: Make yourself indispensable and memorable.

How can you use your ability to focus on the customer?  Create memorable moments (Black Sales Journal 2/3/2011 – Make Yourself Memorable) by sending personally signed cards and notes that share information about products, industry news, and economic data.  Share outlooks and comment on how that might affect your customer/prospect. Increase the customer’s dependency on you, and a relationship is created.

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Question:  Does your customer have a perplexing problem?
Answer:  Do Extensive research

Take on a project of solving a problem that could be a game changer.  I once was acquainted with sales professional that was asked to advise how to insure a totally new energy concept.  He researched, and researched, and once finished presented to the prospect and the prospects two biggest suppliers.  The project never got off of the ground, but the sales professional ended up winning the account for both of the suppliers (he already had the other principal) as a result of his spirited work.

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Situation:  You need to find prospects…now!
Answer:  Use your ability to access technology for a full-out prospect blitz.

Find new, untapped prospects using your ability to research online.  Most experienced sales professionals have a wealth of work to do with existing accounts, and they are also about the business of sourcing prospects.  They won’t have nearly the amount of time, and potentially technology background to do this.  I have seen it done often, and it is often difficult for the vets to keep up.

Sound too Simple?

It is simple.  The problem with sales is that cumulative sales and existing clients generate a significant amount of work.  The sales professional who is the beneficiary of that account either does the maintenance work, or delegates it to an assistant or inside sales person.

Sales professionals vary in their ability to delegate, but no matter what, it takes time to do the actual work, or to delegate.  The new, but lean, sales professional can use that time to develop prospects and relationships as well as source them by spending the adequate amount of time finding those that have not been claimed.

Use your intrinsic energy to master the prospect system, find the relationships and then deliver solutions so that you can sell.  Spend valuable time working at relationships as you have the time to do it.  It is still a lot of work, but this is what you can be doing.

Here is the time to put together a good plan regarding which prospects to attack, and what sales assets to exploit.  You have something to offer, and it does not work with every buyer/customer/prospect, but with many it makes a significant difference.

Being effective when you are new is important.  Your sales plan executed well is the true meaning of effectiveness.

Always be effective!

Your comments are appreciated.

The quest for income starts now, and you need not delay.  Realistically 2012 has started already!  Planning for 2012 is the smartest use of your time, especially during some of the down time that happens during the holiday season.

The time is now, and you need to approach this aggressively.  You need a plan, and you need it to be well structured.  Black sales professionals have a couple of real important needs when it comes to prospect generation:

• Credibility
• Compatibility
• Capability

Let me briefly explain what I am suggesting from the prospect’s angle:

Credibility – Are you good enough to do business with me?  Are you knowledgeable enough? Are you willing to represent my interest to your organization and others who you work with?

Compatibility – Are we going to be able to work together?  Will you work with my organizations interest in mind?  Are you the professional that I need?

Capability – What do you and your company do well, and can you do it do for my organization?  Can you provide value?

You must solve these needs to get past the incumbent sales professional and win the business.

3 Ways To Kick it Into Gear

The actions that you take now and in early 2012 to increase your prospecting base should be designed to answer the questions above.   Below are some ways you can answer the questions, and increase your effectiveness:

• Gear-up your customer referrals
• Deliver captivating prospect and customer seminars
• Amp-up your networking

You may remember that these have been discussed at one time, yet it is time to do it now, and do it with some confidence.  Each of these specifically addresses an area that is naturally suspect by buyers for the Black sales professional.

Gear-up Customer Referrals

Many sales professionals go their whole professional life without asking a good customer for a referral.   I know that may sound ridiculous, but it is true.  This is not a cry out for help; it is an effort to broaden your professional network.  The difference here is that with a referral comes some instant credibility.

If a good customer gives you a referral, there is an implication that the referrer is giving approval of your credibility and that answers the questions above under credibility.

It should be part of your normal sales process.  I personally work with a life insurance professional who is methodical in asking a simple statement and question, “I think we have covered all of the issues that you specified prior to our meeting.  I do have one question that I would like to ask.  Do you have any friends or associates that could benefit by the services that I can provide?”  To date, I have provided him with numerous referrals, as Ron is a professional.  You do not mind giving a referral to someone who is knowledgeable and treats customers well.

Ask your best customers for referrals and follow-up immediately.  Always thank your customer for the referrals verbally, as well as in writing.  Implicitly, that individual knows that they are ‘vouching’ for you and they deserve the thank you note.  Keep score of how many referrals each customer gives you.  In addition to the ‘lifetime’ value of a customer in terms of revenue, the credibility that they afford you is very valuable as well.

Deliver Captivating Prospect Seminars

As you may remember from Black Sales Journal 3/24/2011 Finding Prospects Through a Seminar, a seminar is a way to talk to several prospects at one time.   It can establish you as a resource and potentially as an expert.  This shows the prospect/customer that you have capability.  The topic has to have some broad interest, and as the lead speaker, you need to be bringing some expertise (yours or an expert speaker) to bear to make it meaningful and informative.  Some examples are:

• A tax expert holding a seminar on the new IRS Rules for depreciation of plant assets and their impact on midsized manufacturing prospects
• An investment professional meeting with prospective customers to talk about the effect that owning gold can have on their retirement portfolio.
• A manufacturers rep gathers prospective customers for a new product that will cut hours of the processing time for the manufacture of machine tools.

In order to be the main speaker you to be an expert, or have strong expertise.  We cover this in-depth in Black Sales Journal More On Being an Expert 6/27/11 because being an expert is the most successful way to thwart racial preference.  If you can save them money, save them time, or just flat out save their company, they will consider working with you even if you are ‘purple’.

You put a group of people with like interest in a room with you or an exceptional speaker, and highlight a topic that saves money, saves time, or increases revenue, and you have the formula for an energetic audience.  This energetic audience can have the tendency to depend on you and your capabilities.

Our professionalism and efforts such as this begin to change racial perceptions, even though those perceptions are generally unjustified.

Amp-up Your Networking

Networking is both a skill and an activity, and if you master the skill, and excel at the activity, you will find prospects in abundance.  It is akin to “speed dating” because you have moments to show your business compatibility.  This quick sampling needs to show that “I can work with you!”

When I say amp-up you networking I am suggesting that you commit yourself to a strong networking schedule right now, and develop the endurance and discipline to follow it. To see a good review on good networking practices see BSJ 2/21/2011 Networking for the Black Sales Professional.

This is not an effort to ‘harvest’ business cards; this is a quest to find prospects, and eventually customers.  Your effort needs to be to commit to a networking schedule, and some strong networking principles:

• Pick your groups well.  Find those, which have the opportunity for success and have plenty of individuals involved.
• Know your “elevator pitch” (BSJ-8/11/2011 Know Your Elevator Pitch) and be able to tell what makes you and your company different in seconds.
• Know the end game, which is determining the fit for you and your organization with the customer, and getting an appointment.
• Learn something about your potential customers.  Test the fit, and set the stage for a relationship in the future.  You have something to give in this mutually beneficial relationship.
• Above all, record and follow-up quickly and effectively on the contacts and any referrals you might receive.

Be involved in no less than two networking opportunities every month.  Never get out of the habit, and keep track of where you get you prospects and customers so that you know which networking groups give you the most benefit.

Do All Three!

Do all of these for maximum benefit.  If you are not the expert for the customer, work to be one (BSJ XXX Your Customer Needs an Expert).  If you cannot be the expert, round one up and sponsor him to talk to your group.  That is pure networking.

Your objective is to find the mix of activities that is optimal for you.  Be an effective professional.

Always be effective!