LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Only a habit can subdue another habit. —Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World

Thanks, Phil!

My first sales manager job for IBM was in Indianapolis. My first unit comprised seven unmarried salesmen. I started the job with all the enthusiasm and cheerleading attitude that a new sales manager typically had.

In the first 90 days, I filled the role of chief sales cheerleader; making as many calls with my salesmen as I could; talking incessantly with them about every active situation in my unit (by the way, at any given time that was over a hundred!). Another major responsibility for me as a sales manager was to forecast monthly what the closed sales total for my unit would be. You can imagine what happened in those first three months: I so horribly missed my forecast that my boss started to wonder if he had made a big mistake hiring me. But he couldn't be harder on me than I was on myself. I was embarrassed. I feared my salespeople would start to see through my façade and realize I was over my head and struggling not to drown.

About three months into the job, I realized this situation was not getting any better. Not only was I not on top of the business but I was making wild guesses as to which out of the hundred prospects would close. Something had to change.

Because of the overwhelming number of so-called "prospects" my sales team claimed would close, I started looking at how many of those prospects were actually closing the way the salesmen predicted: very few of them. So I began to think that maybe, instead of trying to predict which prospects would close, there might be a better chance to focus on which ones were likely not going to close and stop focusing on them sooner.

I know that doesn't seem to be a logical way to approach the problem; and to others at first it didn't seem right either. The environment at that time was to see which sales units in our branch could earn the bragging rights for their sales production. Obviously that wasn't my unit, and if I didn't find a new way to produce more business, I would continue to be an ineffective sales manager, not be able to get my arms around where business was coming from and in the end leave the job a failure.

I became determined to drive my salespeople to stop working on prospects that wouldn't close. I actually focused more on this than on which prospects were closing. I also knew I had to come up with a shorthand way of assessing this "non-close-ability" with my salespeople so I didn't have to spend so much time letting the salespeople sell me, with their stories, on what great prospects they had.

To develop this shorthand method, I studied what really goes into a decision of any sort, whether it is a business decision or a personal decision. What I realized is there are really only four major components that are part of any decision we make, in business or otherwise:

First: What's in it for me? What is my vested interest in having this situation come to a conclusion?

Second: What's in it for my organization? What's the impact on the group or organization I'm a part of?

Third: What resources (in money, time or people) do I need to make sure this decision gets made and implemented?

Fourth: Who do I need persuade? Who do I need to get on my side and to support me in getting the decision made and implemented in my organization?

I introduced this Framework and told my team it was of equal importance to find there was no decision to be made in the current timeframe as to the price or content of the solution. I slowed them down from proposing a solution to the prospect. In fact, I made my salespeople convince me that they had talked to the prospect and had heard, in the prospect's own words, the answers to the four questions before I would let them propose.

At first they resisted, but I prevailed. And a strange thing happened: within the next three months, at any one time my sales team was working on less than 35 total "active" prospects, but they were closing about 25 percent more business and doing it more predictably month by month.

After facilitating these discussions and challenging my sales reps on what they had before thought were "hot prospects," they began to understand the power of this framework that I chose to call "Willing To Buy"—how to prioritize which prospects to work on, which had the best chance of closing. Every salesperson who worked for me told me they felt more in control of their territory than ever before and they were "having a ball!" In six months from starting to use this framework, we moved from the worst-performing unit in the branch office and region to become the best unit in the branch office as well as becoming the third best in the region out of 40 units.

Here I've given you a taste of how I developed the Willing To Buy Framework, which you will learn to use in this book. I hope it has whetted your appetite for this incredibly effective tool. When you complete this book, I also hope that you will use it, as my salespeople did, to close more business, to make more money and achieve results beyond what you could have ever imagined before using it.

Here's to your "successful disqualifying"!

OPENING THE DIALOGUE AND DEFINING THE TERMS

In a dialogue, however, nobody is trying to win. Everybody wins if anybody wins. There is a different sort of spirit to it. In a dialogue, there is no attempt to gain points, or to make your particular view prevail. Rather, whenever any mistake is discovered on the part of anybody, everybody gains. It's a situation called win-win, in which we are not playing a game against each other but with each other. In a dialogue, everybody wins.

—David Bohm, American theoretical physicist, "On Dialogue"

Dialogue. That's the best way I can describe the professional relationship Dan Schultheis and I share. When we get together for a professional lunch, we invariably start kicking concepts around, sharing anecdotes and interrogating each other's ideas. It's fun, productive and at times frustrating, probably more so for Dan. You'll learn as we go forward that Dan is a big fan of asking why. So am I, and because I believe Dan is an innovative thinker, I tend to ask him why with some frequency. It's one way I learn from colleagues, clients and friends.

Because Dan and I have this ongoing dialogue and freely question each other's concepts, we have decided to allow this book to evolve as a dialogue unto itself. We are creating this in real time. We hold meetings and compare notes on the ways that the Framework has proven itself. As we work, we interrogate each concept and revisit every story we share to ensure that each of the four cornerstones is illustrated fairly and accurately. And we have agreed to remain objective and forthright about how some sales professionals have rejected some or all of the concepts and why some came around and boosted their effectiveness.

So the book is taking the form of an ongoing dialogue. One of us may raise an idea worth sharing and the other expand on or interrogate that idea. Such is our relationship, so it shall be the roadmap and methodology of this book.

First, let's revisit the natural skepticism I alluded to above.

Raising the Questions: The Whys, Whos and Hows

I have to admit that on first hearing of the Willing To Buy Framework, my natural tendency was to ask Dan why it should work.

1) Why would a prospect share with you the deep-seated reasons for wanting to buy from you, or from anyone, for that matter?

2) Why would they share with you the amount of money they were willing to spend? (Please note that we realize asking for the budget numbers is in every salesperson's playbook. It's tough business and can be delicate. We'll spend time on this a bit later.)

3) Who, after all, decides if the justification for buying your products, services or consulting experience is clear and evident at all?

4) And if you are speaking with a buyer's gatekeeper, why would they share the intimate details about who would be involved in the decision? After all, the gatekeeper usually guards against access to the people at the top.

Look, dear reader, I want to tell you right up front that this is not intended to be a scholarly work. While every concept shared here is based on human psychology, neither Dan nor I are psychologists. While there may be sociological implications, we're not sociologists either. In fact, most of the concepts we introduce in this book are based on precepts that you already know and acknowledge, but perhaps have never organized in quite this way. So, based on my early skepticism, we fully understand that you may be asking why it should work and how the Willing To Buy Framework is different and worth considering.

"Framework" Versus "System"

For many years, sales management professionals and learned authors have professed to have the ultimate selling and/or sales management system. Books on boosting sales line the racks at Barnes and Noble. Every year I receive perhaps 50 offers of books, CDs and DVDs guaranteed to increase my company's revenue astronomically. Podcasts, Internet classes and MP3 downloads are the newest ways to deliver the message about the latest system.

I believe in defining terms right up front. So let's talk about what a system is, and then we can talk about what it isn't. Here's a definition that popped up right away when I searched the Internet:

System: A set of principles or procedures according to which something is done, an organized scheme or method

That seems fairly promising, doesn't it? Based on this definition we might conclude that a sales system would provide us with a set of step-by-step procedures that, if followed precisely, would lead to increased sales effectiveness. I have never found that to be the case, and I have looked at many.

Now it's time for a little real-life story. Dan and I, along with our wives, attended a holiday party recently where a dear friend asked what was new and different in my life. I told her that Dan and I were writing a book together.

"Oh, is it a mystery?" my friend asked.

"No. It's a book about sales," I replied.

Her answer: "Same thing!"

Rather telling, isn't it? This woman had worked around salespeople for many years and had heard their stories of success and failure. She was savvy enough to know there is no magic pill. There really is no step-bystep system for sales success, so in that sense success in this profession can seem like a mystery.

Now let's consider the working definition of a framework.

Framework: A set of assumptions, concepts, values and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

If you were around in the '60s and '70s, you may recall the old saying, "Reality, what a concept!"

I have to chuckle when I remember the implications of that saying. But in business you are better served facing reality no matter what decision you are trying to make or opportunity you intend to pursue.

Dan will spend a good bit of time in the coming chapters talking about the importance of disqualification. As I mentioned in the introduction (You did read the introduction, didn't you?), salespeople can be the ultimate optimists. That's good in many ways but can be destructive if taken to the extreme. Pipelines can be artificially inflated and management fooled if there is no way to drill down into the reality of any opportunity.

Therefore, the Willing To Buy concept is best defined as a framework, a tool to help both the sales professional and sales manager discover and face reality. Once the cold light of day shines on an opportunity, they can take steps to either abandon the time-consuming deals unlikely to produce fruit and/or invest more time and effort into those that meet the sniff test. We intend the Willing To Buy Framework to be a tool by which we can interrogate all the important criteria that separate bad deals from good ones, bad business from good business, and unfortunately, sometimes bad salespeople from good ones.

Defining the Four Pillars of the Willing To Buy Framework

Before we go any further, it is important to identify and position what we call the four pillars of the Willing To Buy Framework. We will expand on each in the chapters that follow, but the reader needs to be aware of the role each plays in assisting both the sales rep and sales managers in correctly identifying winnable business and disqualifying those opportunities that really aren't winnable.

Is the prospect Willing To Buy? (WTB)

(Think of this category as the personal motivator: What's in it for anyone and everyone involved in the decision, including the key decision maker?)

Is the prospect contact the ultimate decision maker? What evidence does he/she show that, as a member of the group, they personally will make a decision and voice it to others in the decision group? This particular area deals with the personal motivation of this person to see that a decision will be made. It is in addition to the tangible business justification and speaks to what is the individual benefit for this particular person. Note that for this to be effective, the answer to this question should be drawn from the specific words of every relevant contact including the decision maker and not from the salesperson's perspective.

Some questions that need to be answered in this pillar are:

• Is this person (not necessarily just the decision maker) willing to make a decision, in his/her mind?

• Why is this so, in this person's mind?

• What is the evidence that this is so—verbal assurance, impending event, upper management insistence?

• Are there any other people who also must be Willing To Buy for this proposition to go forward?

Is the Justification Evident? (JE)

(This category is the organizational motivator: What's in it for the organization?)

What is the business impact that will be used to justify the organization's commitment to any proposed solution? Has this justification been articulated by your contact and/or the decision maker? What are the tangible results that the prospect organization will realize?

Some questions that need to be answered in this pillar are:

• Is the justification evident in this contact's mind as well as in the decision maker's mind?

• What is that justification? (Note: Be aware that the prospect will often give you an intangible or non-qualified reason at first. It is up to the sales professional to guide the prospect as they quantify the financial impact on the business.)

• What is the time period over which savings or value will be realized?

• Is there more than just one area in which this project will save money or add value?

Is the money available? (MA)

(Has this acquisition or commitment been budgeted, and what is that budget?)

This topic explores the amount of money and resources (including people's time) available to effectively go ahead with any solution and implement it successfully. What evidence is there that funds and resources have been allocated to complete any project of this magnitude?

Some questions that need to be answered in the pillar are:

• Is there a budgeted amount for this project?

• If not, how might monies be appropriated to fund the project?

• Is the money for this project in your contact's control or must he/she go to higher management to allocate funds for this effort?

• What is the breakdown of the projected allocation of the funds (e.g., product, services, training, etc.)?

• What is the flexibility to go for more funds if the business case warrants it?

Is the Decision Cycle Clear? (DCC)

(What is the approval cycle and who specifically will be involved?)

This pillar is needed to clarify that the decision cycle is clear not only in the salesperson's mind, but in the contact's mind (even if he or she is in the ultimate decision maker) also. This is a critical element to gauge upfront the likelihood that after completing all the survey/discovery, demonstration (if appropriate) and proposal work, a decision will be made.

Some questions that need to be answered in this pillar are:

• What is the sign-off path through management once your contact agrees with your recommendation?

• Are there hidden parties who may need to be sold separately?

• Is it appropriate for you to go either with your contact or separately to the other parties to make your case? If so, what must you be prepared for?

• After what seems to be all other questions have been answered, what else could keep this project from moving forward? (Have you now considered all factors in the decision-making process?)

Expansion

This is Dan and, as Phil said, I'm going to weigh in with my observations on some of the points he made in this chapter. First, on Phil's topic Raising the Questions: The Whys, Whos and Hows, here is my perspective on the four points in this section.

Let's revisit the first question, of the prospect sharing deep-seated reasons for wanting to buy from you or anyone. The salesperson must realize is this is not about you; it's about helping the prospect recall why he or she even embarked on the search for a solution. More times than not, by the time the prospect gets around to looking for a solution, they have gone over many times the frustrations of having to deal with their status quo and not achieving the results they were looking for. Because of this, their usual failed past attempts to solve the issues on their own, they reach a point where they just want the pain to go away. This drives them to look for relief from outside of their company environment, usually to an outside vendor to supply the solution that relieves their pain. Therefore, many initial discussions become quickly about the requirements of the solution and not about the original business problem they were trying to solve and why it has become so critical to solve it now.