May 2013 Issue of the MG Salesletter.

1. MAKING
LIFE EASIER
SALESLETTER
IN THIS
ISSUE
I’m a fan of making things as easy as
possible. If there is a simple way to
do something, I’ll do my best to find
it. Life is busy enough without over
complicating and over engineering
the stuff we do on a day to day basis.
I came across a great iphone app last week that has completely revolutionised
my world and is saving me lots of time. The business card app eliminates the
need to type out business card details into databases and instead it’s just an
effortless photo and I’m up to date within seconds. My kind of app.
The same is true of sales. If I can pitch to two highly targeted and qualified
leads I’d rather do that than traipse around ten unqualified prospects. We all
know which strategy will reliably make the most sales but I’m unconvinced that
businesses spend enough time and energy focused on doing this.
Targeting the right customer makes selling so much easier. There are loads
of potential customers out there but they’re not all going to be right for your
business. Beige, bland trying to be all things to all people is an approach that
wastes time, has low returns and frankly screws up your sales and marketing
efforts.
By narrowing your line of sight you can take a sniper gun rather than a scatter
gun approach. And as a customer what would you rather have? A conversation
with someone that relates to you, who has tailored their message so that it
resonates with your world and your life. Or alternatively, that generic, boring
communication that relies on you working out the relevance and finding the fit.
Remember, there’s no money in the middle!
Happy reading
Mark Gallen
Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance
The RFP process - broken?
The secret of Steve Jobs
p2
p6
New era in sales... or is it?
Make time for meetings
Sales Nuggets
Social Selling
p3
p7
p8
p4
ISSUE 2 / / MAY 2013www.mgsalesperformance.com
MAKING
LIFE EASIER
Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performanceGiving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance
MAKING
LIFE EASIER
Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance

2. 2
The RFP process - isitbroken?
www.mgsalesperformance.com
This question and others were
discussed at the 5th MG Sales Talent
Network on Thursday 9th May - a
quarterly invitation only event for
sales leaders in hospitality and
travel.The panellists were Michael
Hill, European Travel Manager, Coca
Cola; Roger Peters, Senior Purchasing
Manager, Cap Gemini; Michael
Heyward, Director of Revenue
Management, IHG and Danny Cockton,
Account Manager, BSI.
The panellists were invited to speak about
their key areas of frustration with the RFP
process. Here’s what they said:
“RFP tools – I’d rather use an excel
spreadsheet!”
Roger Peters of Cap Gemini kicked off the
debate explaining that in his view he sees
a break down in the communication of the
corporate’s objectives as information is
passed down the chain – from corporate to
agent and agent to hotel. He spoke about
the number of people involved in the chain
and the lack of alignment with messages
diluted or misunderstood. He went on
to talk about his irritation with suppliers
‘changing their minds’ about taking business
post the RFP negotiation and lastly he spoke
about the increasing use of RFP tools that,
in his opinion, don’t necessarily expediate
the process. “I’d rather use an excel
spreadsheet”, he said.
“Revenue Managers have responsibility
to educate procurement”
Next up was Michael Heyward, Director
of Revenue Management for IHG. Michael
talked about four of the parties in the
process (procurement manager, travel
manager, hotel sales manager, hotel revenue
manager) and their differing objectives plus
the lack of understanding for each others’
roles – resulting, he says, in conflict and
communication break down. He sited hotel
sales managers incentivised to drive revenue
and volume regardless of ROI whereas
hotel revenue managers incentivised to
achieve better rates than its competitive
set – everyone is on their own mission
regardless of the other party. Michael
conceded that there is an enormous range in
skill, experience and integrity in the revenue
management profession and he said that
they have a responsibility to help educate
procurement around the science of revenue
management.
Our last panellist, Danny Cockton,Account
Manager at BSI agreed with the speakers.
The RFP process he said is damned by its
fragmentation – no single technology
platform, differing objectives of parties
involved, difficulty of loading rates on
to GDS. Danny warned of the danger of
procurement driving rate down and the
impact this has on the product quality. And
there was a note of caution for the suppliers
– no unsolicited bids. BSI, he said, will come
and find you if there is an opportunity to join
a preferred hotel programme.
The panellists were invited to respond to
each other’s comments and the floor was
opened to questions.
“Don’t offer me a rate and then not let
me in!”
The corporate buyers aired their frustrations
with rates being offered during an RFP
process that are then ‘closed out’ to the
bookers. Roger went on to decry the direct
approaches made to his bookers by hoteliers
trying to win business through ‘the back
door’. “If you want to be on my programme
– tell me”, he said.
“Let revenue managers attend the
customer meeting”
Michael Hill suggested that the hotel revenue
managers should meet with buyers before
the RFP negotiation meetings. He said
that they should be in front of their top
customers so that they can understand their
point of view and have a 360 perspective on
every account to help the decision process.
Heyward of IHG responded stating that hotel
sales managers often like the opportunity
of coming out of negotiations to consult
with revenue so that they don’t commit
to ill considered deals. (A vote in the room
determined that some revenue managers
would need to upskill before suppliers would
feel comfortable about their face-to-face
attendance at negotiations). Heyward went
on to stress the irritation of buyers coming
back post deal to renegotiate – “If I had a
better rate, I would have put it forward at the
time”, he said. This theme was picked up by
a supplier in the audience who relayed how
a corporate wanted to negotiate a two-year
deal recently, in an effort to make process
efficiencies, then pushed to renegotiate half
way through the contract.
“Hotel Sales Managers – strong enough
for tough conversations?”
Coca Cola’s Michael Hill pushed back
claiming that travel managers wouldn’t be
doing their job if they didn’t respond to
market forces – he explained that it isn’t a
one-way street and that suppliers can always
approach him with a business case to put
their rates up in response to positive market
forces.
Danny Cockton quipped “so you’d be happy
to take a hit if market forces determined it?”
“Not necessarily – he added that it depends
on what those market forces are and what
are they benchmarked against”, said Michael.
Concerns were muted about hotel sales
managers and their ability to have tough
conversations.
The debate moved on to meetings and
events – an area our buyers consider to be of
increasing importance to corporates although
most, they admit, don’t have an accurate
handle on their spend. “90% don’t know
their spend on meetings”, commented Cap
Gemini’s Roger Peters.
“Help us to help you generate
incremental revenue”
Michael went to say that the relationship
shouldn’t be one-sided and that Coca Cola
is keen to help suppliers create additional
revenue e.g. F&B discounts, weekend
promotions etc
The debate drew to a close with a consensus
in the room that face-to-face relationships
are intrinsic to reaching mutual agreement in
negotiations. “Face- to-face meetings ensure
that suppliers get a better understanding
of our objectives and what we’re trying to
deliver”, said Cap Gemini’s Roger Peters. “As
a result of a strong relationship and meeting
in person, I have recently made a concession
on a rate in one location because it allowed
me to get a better deal in another.”

3. In our last edition we
explored the meaning of
the ‘Challenger Sale’ and
revealed the shocking result
of The Corporate Executive
Board’s research…sales
people with ‘the Challenger’
profile consistently
outperform all others by
67% (that means they
bring in 67% more revenue
than sales people of other
profiles).
‘the biggest shock to
conventional sales wisdom in
decades’
As you might imagine, we had
a big response to this article
so we ran two free webinars in
April explaining more about the
concept; but the one overriding
question we were asked was….
…..I love it,but how do I make
it happen in my business?
So, a reminder for you first. Here
is the profile of ‘the Challenger’
– remember these lovely people
are proven to bring in 67% more
revenue than your other team
members
The Challenger - always has
a different view of the world,
understands the customer’s
business, and loves to debate,
pushes the customer.
There are 3 things that
Challengers do differently. In
this article we’re looking at the
first thing they do differently:
They teach the customer
during the sales
interaction
They tailor their insights
to the different types of
customer
They take control of the
sale
“72% improved customer
satisfaction as a result of the
challenger sale approach”
Corporate Executive Board
This is your 10 minute low down
answering the pressing question
‘how do I teach the customer
during a sales interaction?
Identify your value
proposition
Why should customer’s buy
from you rather than any of your
competitors?
This is a really difficult question
for most company’s to answer.
Once you’ve crossed off the
usual suspects of ‘innovative’,
‘solutions-orientated’,‘great
people’,‘trusted’ etc, it gets hard
to clearly define the compelling
reason why customers should
buy from you instead of anybody
else. Often you’ll need customer
interviews, market research, data
analysis of customer spending
patterns and cross-functional
brainstorming sessions to come
up with the answer.
Turn the insights into
commercial teaching
conversations
The goal of this conversation
might be to change the way
that people think about your
organization, to tell them
something about their business
that they don’t know or merely
to provoke a response or a
thought. This conversation
becomes an initiator of almost
every new business sales call
because it absolutely hits
the heart of your company’s
differentiated value proposition.
The Opening
The aim is to get the customer
pulled into the conversation
right away and talking about
their challenges relative to
what you have already seen
at other companies. Leading
with a hypothesis of customer
need rather than an open-
ended question to ‘discover’ the
customer need, is more like two
colleagues commiserating about
common challenges and less like
a typical sales presentation –
consequently way more engaging
for the customer.
The science bit
Now you need to start teaching
the customer something new.
At this point the sales person
might refer to data, surveys or
reports that highlight a different
way of doing or thinking about
something – usually to help save
them time or money in their
purchase of your product/service.
The reframe is all about getting
your customer to say “I’d never
really thought about it like that
before”.
The Business Case
Now you’re ready to
build a compelling business
case for why it matters.This
is an effective means to turn
interest into action that makes
the customer feel discomfort
around a problem they never
realized they had. You should
find yourself answering the
customer’s question “What does
this mean for us?”
Emotional Impact
You paint the picture using
stories and real customer
behaviour to describe the pain
of what happens currently. Your
story is intentionally designed to
generate an emotional response
from your customer. They
should see themselves in the
picture you’re painting. They
should feel the pain as if it were
their story you were telling.
They should say to you “Wow,
you know us too well!”
New Way
Imagine what it would
mean to you if there was a
solution to this pain?
This final part of the
conversation is where for the
first time you start talking about
how your company is uniquely
positioned to help solve the pain.
All of the hard work you did to
map out your company’s unique
value proposition is now laid
out, specifically in terms of how
you can help the customer solve
the challenge that you have just
taught them they have.
And here’s an example of a
catering company who uses the
challenger sale approach
The company provides catering
to various customer groups –
one of which is training. Using
interview
and focus groups,
they found that trainers
don’t like venues providing
high carbohydrate, fatty foods
at lunchtime – sandwiches,
chips, baguettes, onion rings
etc. They felt that trainees were
sluggish after lunch and they
were concerned that it affected
their learning and engagement.
The caterer explored existing
research on this topic and they
were able to confirm there was
a direct link. More importantly
they discovered foods that
have been found to be good
for cognitive memory and they
designed their menus for training
courses around these food
groups.
Passing this information and
data to the sales people has
allowed them to conduct
meetings in way that completely
differentiates them from their
competitors. They are the
catering company that really
understands their training
customer, they teach about
food for enhanced learning and
memory and as a consequence
they report an uplift in
conversions.
Free Webinar – advanced version
Some of you are developing a
real appetite for this concept
and we’ve been asked to run
another free webinar taking the
concepts into more detail. If
you’re interested in learning
more about this free challenger
sale webinar (advanced version)
get in touch at
hello@mgsalesperformance.com
And if you missed our
first challenger sale
webinar and want to
see the recording let
us know and we’ll send
you the link.
What does the Challenger Sale
look like in my business?
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3
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3hello@mgsalesperformance.com
interview
and focus groups,
What does the Challenger Sale

4. www.mgsalesperformance.com4
Up until a few years ago we lived in a world when
most people had rising incomes. More than that,
they were enjoying easier access to credit. Rising
credit limit on cards, unrequested credit cards
arriving in the post, sometimes addressed to their
dog, easy acceptance for loans and of course, a
rising property market, so people could remortgage
twice a year if they wanted to.
SOCIAL SELLING- Like selling ice to eskimos
People felt like they were getting richer and
they were happy to be parted from their
money. People were buying stuff. Shopping
became a recreational activity. A way to
spend your weekend. A way of life.
In this favourable environment, many
businesses didn’t need to sell. They just had
to answer the phone and quote the rate for
buyers to buy; because those buyers were
quickly and easily parted from their cash.
The so called ‘sales people’ from this era were
apparently amazing. They exceeded their
targets in 2004. They won awards for selling
in 2005. They were in the presidents club in
2006. But yet they weren’t REALLY selling.
They were simply there with hotel rooms,
meeting spaces, apartments ready and
available to buy. They were glorified order
takers. Rarely having to close a sale, rarely
having to handle an objection.
Now let’s fast forward to today. Having been
told what fantastic sales people they were in
the good times, these people KNOW that the
problem isn’t them. How can it be? They’re
still doing the exact same thing, but the
results they’re getting are – in most cases –
very different. Let me repeat that. They’re
still doing the exact same thing…. and yet
the sales landscape in 2013 has significantly
changed. Hmmm, maybe that’s why their
results are very different from the heady days
of the mid noughties!
Today customers no longer have lots of
money Customers are risk averse. Customers
are taking longer to decide. Consequently
the rules for selling have also changed.
Let’s look at just a few ways in which it has
changed:
Decision makers have got cute
at being unavailable
People are busy. They use the internet to
research information about products or
services that interest them. Customers rarely
want companies phoning to tell them about
the features of their product, so instead
they brief their gatekeepers to field the calls.
Getting hold of the right person in 2013 is
like hens teeth.
Dialling for dollars
Nobody likes generic, bland conversations.
Working off lists or databases making robotic
calls where the conversation takes a very
similar, almost scripted approach, is bad
news. Customers won’t tolerate it anymore.
Sell the way customers want to
buy
Customers, just like you and I, don’t want
to be overtly sold to. If it sounds like a ‘sell’
they are psychologically turned off. However,
if customers feel that they have discovered
something for themselves (not in a sales
environment), they are much more likely to
warm to it and take action.
This isn’t just me saying this. Here is some of
the data that supports my comments:
• 73% of decision makers won’t accept an
inbound cold call
• In 2006 it took 4 calls to reach a decision
maker, by 2011 it took 41 calls
Source: Market Transformations
Prospect differently
So the old approaches just aren’t working
any more. For success in 2013, sales teams
need to do things differently.
Social selling is a new approach where
sales people target very specific prospects
by finding them, engaging them by
demonstrating value and above all by
differentiating themselves in their approach.
Here’s some of the social selling activities
that the high performing sales people are
undertaking in 2013:
Seduce the customers before
picking the phone up
They build a relationship with their prospects
over a period of time that is based on
trust and credibility. They know that their
prospects have got to get to know them so
that they have the confidence to take the
next steps. By using a seduction plan with
lots of little ‘touch’ points that build the
relationship; they know that by the time they
get to make their telephone calls, they will be
infinitely easier.
Use the different contact tools
available
They know that Linkedin has a 25% response
rate versus outlook mail which is about 1%.
They use Linkedin to build targeted lead lists,
make connections and ‘hang out’ in a relaxed
non threatening space. They use direct mail,
e-shots, twitter and internet search engines
as the means to make the ‘touch’ points prior
to the telephone call.
Research so that you can tailor
They know that by researching their
prospects they can tailor their conversations
so that they resonate with the customer and
strike to the heart of the problem. Knowing
‘what keeps them up at night’, what their
interests are, who they have in common etc,
will allow them to tailor and engage.
Social selling survey with
hospitality sales people
So, we thought we’d find out to what extent
social selling is being practised by sales
professionals in the hospitality industry.We
wanted to know who is ahead of the pack
and who is being left behind in the social
selling stakes.

5. hello@mgsalesperformance.com 5
Here are the results:
Converted new business
opportunities, often
I, or my team are not
using social media -
period!
I, or my team are not
using social media for
sales
Still enganging, no
business opportunity yet
Received enquiry(s), as
yet unconverted
Converted new
business opportunities,
occasionally
35%
7.5%
2.5%
35%
15%
20%
Survey conducted by MG Sales Performance
A whopping 35% of respondees are not
using social selling and a further 7.5% have
no plans to use social media for marketing
purposes at all.
17% of savvy sales people get
ahead
Whereas 17% of your competitors are ahead
of the game and they are either occasionally
or frequently receiving new sales leads
through their social selling activities. Using
the power of the internet search engine and
the social web, savvy sales people no longer
have to spend hours cold calling.And they’re
getting some really powerful results.
A global hotel company we know has been
embracing social selling over the past
few months. The sales team have been
prospecting in a completely different way
and making contacts with people that up
until trying their different approach, they had
been unable to reach.They’re using LinkedIn
and Inmail to reach the key prospects and
as a result have had some very positive
meetings and opportunities.
Selling without leaving the
office
Another hotel company has been working on
this concept for a number of months. They
have completely restructured their team
and they are in the process of rolling out a
virtual sales model that revolutionises sales
as we have traditionally known it in the hotel
sector to date. The virtual sales role is based
on the premise of using the internet, the
social web and online communities to engage
with customers, deliver value and exceptional
customer service. We watch with interest to
see how things develop.
So where are you? In the 17% super smart
leading sales talent category or are you in
the 83% that are falling behind? If you have
any social selling success stories that you’d
like to share, I’d love to hear from you.
Our thanks to Erika Bucsi,
Head of MICE Strategy at
Novotel London Hammersmith
for recommending us to The
Brewery.
Thanks and best wishes to our friend
Simon Kerr, Commercial Director at
Como Hotels who recommended us
to Vicki Richards, Director of Sales and
Marketing at Grosvenor House Hotel.
Thanks!Erika,
you’re a star!
Cheers
Simon !

6. www.mgsalesperformance.com
6
The late Steve Jobs, co-founder
of Apple, was one of the world’s
greatest presenters. His style and
showmanship was legendary and
they set the standard for awe-
inspiring presentations. If you
need to deliver presentations that
make people care about what you
do – and that generate results for
your business – then you need
to study from the master. In this
book Carmine Gallo reveals the
operating system behind a Steve
Jobs presentation and provides
you with a step- by-step guide
to design your own passionate
interfaces with your audience.
Here’s our summary of the main
points in the book.
Gallo divides the book into 3
main parts:
Act one - Create the story
Act two - Deliver the experience
Act three - Refine and rehearse
Act one – Create the story
Scene one – Plan an analogue
Most of your time should be spent planning.
Unless you want a really boring presentation,
don’t just open your laptop and start typing
bullet points into power point. Only one
third of your time should be spent building
the slides.
Scene two – Answer the one question that
matters most
Job’s focus was always on why the listener
should care. Spend time explaining the ‘why’
before you attempt to explain the ‘how’.
Nobody cares what you are selling until they
understand how it will impact their lives.
Most presenters either ignore this point
completely or they make it so complicated
that the listener tunes out.
Scene three – Build a messianic sense of
purpose
For Steve Jobs it was never about building
computers it was about developing tools that
helped us tap our potential. It was about
making our lives better. Jobs said “The only
way to do great work is to love what you do”.
Unless your presentations ooze the same
amount of passion you can’t expect your
audience to ‘buy you’.
Scene four – Create twitterlike headlines
Jobs was brilliant at creating headlines with
impact, that were so memorable and sexy
that the press ran with them (rather than re-
writing as they are usually apt to do). Here
are two examples ‘MacBook Air:the world’s
thinnest notebook’;‘Apple’s new iPod Touch
puts a 1000 songs in your pocket’
Scene five – Draw a road map
Rather than following the conventional
approach of agenda and detailed points
(audience eyes glaze over), Jobs gave a verbal
road map of the key points he would address.
Do this by writing a list of the points you
want to cover then shortlist down to your
key 3 points – no more.
Scene six – Introduce an Antagonist
Jobs’s messages appealed to a common
mission and a specific enemy. It’s Job’s ‘us
versus them’ approach that has been behind
much of Apple’s raving loyalty.
How do you do this? Set up the problem,
describe why your buyer’s need your
solution, identify with their pain. And for an
added bonus introduce a common enemy.
ActTwo – Deliver the experience
The author describes Jobs’s crowd-pleasing
techniques ranging from:
• Minimal use of words on slides, favouring
instead memorable imagery to concisely
convey a message
• Presenting numbers in a way that they
resonate with the audience. At Macworld
2008, Jobs told his audience that they had
sold four million iPhones. He then went
on to say that if you divide four million by
two hundred days, that’s twenty thousand
iPhones every day. He went on to explain
that this matched the combined market
share of its well established competitors. He
made the numbers mean something.
• Use unconventional, fun words that really
stand out ‘we made the buttons on the
screen look so good, you’ll want to lick them’.
• Share the stage to create variety and
interest – he knew that people have a short
attention span so he invited other speakers
to the microphone.
• Use props and demos to appeal to some
people’s preferred senses of sight, touch,
smell
Reveal a holy shit moment – an audible ‘holy
shit’ from your audience as you reveal your
sensation after you have slowly built to your
climax.
ActThree – Refine and Rehearse
The last section of the book reminds us of
the key lessons for effective and memorable
presentations – practise!
Steve Jobs was a master presenter and yet he
would practise for two days on a five minute
presentation and ask for feedback from all his
product managers.
If you’re going to give a knock out
presentation you must focus on every slide,
every demo and every key message. You
must know what you are going to say, when
you are going to say it and exactly how you
will say it.
Jobs knew what too many presenters don’t –
people want to be informed and entertained.
He taught people something new and had a
blast whilst doing it.
How to be
insanely good
in front of any
audience

7. hello@mgsalesperformance.com
7
On Saturday 27th April,The Guardian
(Comments page) called for a ban on
meetings to boost the UK economy.
It claimed too much time is wasted
in meetings, and if everyone ‘just got
on with their work’, industry would
be more productive, thus bringing the
economy back on track.
My first reaction was to completely reject this comment;
this flies in the face of everything we stand for. Being a
professional meetings industry, we’re here to champion
the cause of meetings and their place in UK businesses.
However, on reflection, we have to take some
responsibility for this statement. Perhaps we’re failing to
communicate the effectiveness and role of meetings.
Our responsibility as meeting planners is to ask the
customer the right questions to help them create a
successful meeting.What is the meeting for, what will it
achieve? Is it to inform, consult, drive change, or create
something? It has to be one of these four; if not, you
probably don’t need the meeting.
We should be responsible for helping customers achieve
great results from their meetings – finding out what’s
important to the meeting’s success, understanding the
customer’s concerns and worries so that we can manage
their frustrations and deliver meetings that truly achieve
the desired outcomes.
The measure of effectiveness for a meeting for a hotel or
venue sales professional is, of course, the conversion of
business: however, sales leaders can also utilise a well-
planned and structured meeting to re-launch, re-energize
or re-engage a tired or dormant team, product, sales force
or strategy.
When used effectively, the meeting is the most valuable
tool any sales leader has at his or her disposal. Internally,
a well-positioned and organised appointment can refocus
a pitch or business on its goals and objectives, increasing
its chances of achieving them.A well-placed, timed and
managed meeting creates dynamic strategy to achieve
success; without direction, a business or team will at best
meander, eventually go off track, or stop altogether.
As responsible leaders, it’s our duty to champion the
effective meeting, and not allow lazy planning to make
meetings time-wasting, needless activities.
Now, join the campaign to make meetings more effective!
Chris is the 2013 Chairman of the HBAA and managing
director of Absolute Corporate Events
Chris Parnham
“Make Time for Meetings”
Don’t miss this!
One of the best dates for your diary in June
is the Sales Management and Performance
Exhibition, 6-7 June 2013, Excel London.
Author of ‘Selling for Dummies’ Ben Kench,
4Networking founder Brad Burton and
Olympic rower Ben Hunt Davies are just
some of the speakers at this truly focused
and insightful sales event.
w w w . s m p l i v e . c o . u k

8. Ask immediately following the completion of a
successful project. Don’t leave it too late. Once you’ve
provided your service, customer’s tend to move on to the next
big focus and no matter how willing they appeared to make
an introduction at the start, they loose interest once the job is
complete.
Ask in person not on a follow up questionnaire.
Customer’s are unlikely to be motivated to do you a
favour unless you seem motivated and interested yourself.
Referrals and introductions are usually seen as a personal favour
and a lot of trust is required for customer’s to ‘risk’ making a
recommendation.
You could even ask in advance and make it a condition
of the sale. For instance “I will go ahead and confirm the
meeting room for the Tuesday at the rate agreed, but in return
I’d really like an introduction to your colleagues in marketing”.
Ensure the referral is communicated both ways.A name
and contact details is simply a cold lead whereas an
introduction is based on warmth, goodwill and trust.
Incentivise your customers to give you a referral. Lack of
time, apathy and maybe a perceived risk can make some
customers reluctant to give you the referral so an incentive
that rewards both the referrer and the referee can make the
difference. Make sure that the ‘reward’ has the same perceived
value for both parties.
One of the easiest ways to get new business has got to be to ask your satisfied
customers for a referral or introduction to someone in their network. They like your
work, they like your product or service so why not go the extra step and ask? It
seems simple but few of us do. Is that our ‘Britishness’ stopping us from asking the
golden question? Here’s a few ideas to help you make the process easier:
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Sales Nuggets
Ask for referrals
From an HBA customer
How much money should I spend
on completing RFP’s? We have just
decided to pursue the RFP route as a
way of winning new business.
MG says
This is the wrong question. It isn’t
how much money you should spend
on completing RFP’s, the question
is what is the forecasted return on
pursuing a RFP strategy? Quite
simply if you forecast a decent
return then it’s going to be a no-
brainer in terms of what you’re
prepared to invest to get it!
From a participant on a
training course
How do I get past gatekeepers when
the company operates a ‘no name
policy’.
MG says
Go to LinkedIn first. Find the person
you’re looking for, do some research
on them, see how you’re connected
and then make the call. If the
person you want isn’t on LinkedIn,
find another person from the same
company, call the gatekeeper and get
transferred to the named individual.
Ask them for their help and usually
they will help you find the contact
you need. No name policies rarely
exist beyond the gatekeeper level.
Another tip for you is to contact the
individual via LinkedIn groups. Few
people realise that you can inmail
anyone via groups whether they are
a connection or not.
Q&A - ask MG a question