Tick, tick, tick…

I helped my college professor set up an Advisory Circle for his Men’s Health program.  He’s passionate about the fate of today’s boys and young men.  Having a 15-year old grandson, I can relate. 

The Advisory Circle’s goals are (1) Increase awareness of the need for men’s health among boys and young men, (2) Increase enrollment in his undergraduate courses, and (3) Increase funding.  It’s that last goal where my background comes into play. 

His cause is noble and we have the type of relationship that I could joke during our working sessions on how the money works “in the sales world”: 

I am a dot-com person, but my friend Steve, who works for a public television station, is a dot-org person.  He believes dot-org persons are more noble than dot-com persons because dot-com persons are in businesses where they try to make money, while his dot-org public television station has a more lofty goal than making money: they would rather beg and whine for it. 

Dan Danborn 

I share that background to say this…  The inaugural gathering of the MSU Men’s Health Advisory Circle had 13 of the 19 invitees show up.  I call that a great result!  Out of those 13 attendees, 9 offered to meet 1-to-1 and discuss ways to work together.  From a sales/marketing “conversion” perspective, another great result, true?  What I feared for my professor was his inexperience with the clock… tick, tick, tick.   

How do you measure your response time?  How do your prospects?

IMHO, the majority of sales development efforts die on the clock.  In the corporate, B2B sales world, while sales and marketing people are debating who sourced the contact to begin with (e.g. leads/cold-calling/inquiries/LinkedIn); how “qualified” it is (e.g. MQL/SQL/BANT); the prospect who once expressed at least some degree of curiosity has moved on.  Tick, tick, tick… 

24 hours.  IMHO that’s the outside shelf life of an inquiry/lead/expression of interest.  24 hours at the most.  Tick, tick, tick…  What is the shorter side of an ideal response time, you might ask?  Real-time.  When your “target contact”, who again may merely be curious and definitely not “qualified” (yet) expresses interest in continuing the conversation, that’s the queue to open calendars. 

Yes, yes, yes, you’re right.  You (and they) may need to “double check” any calendar changes.  Both of you need to “confirm” aka “qualify” there’s actual interest vs. merely curiosity.  But there’s no reason not to at least put a “place marker” date and time to be confirmed vs. the proverbial “I’ll get back to you shortly”, don’t you think?.  Tick, tick, tick…  

How rapidly do you respond when a potential customer/donor/partner expresses interest? 

Today's customers demand operations that are airborne, on-line, and real time.  'Soon' is not the answer they want to hear when they ask, 'When?" 

Michael Tracy 

Looking at it from a different point of view, how rapidly do you prefer your sellers to respond to your expression of interest?  It’s likely something other than “soon”. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

It’s not that hard…

I had lunch with a friend of mine recently.  He is an amazing sales professional.  He’s a “hunter” – a rare breed in the sales profession these days and becoming rarer.  His track record is stellar.  He’s been the #1 sales rep for Workday’s FP&A product line seven years in a row.  Impressive! 

Though I’m retired from the hunt, he’s one of a handful of salespeople who schedule time with me periodically.  They realize it’s not that hard.  Whether in-person or Zoom, I’m pretty available.  The common thread across these encounters is they all know that I “know”.  It’s not that hard.  I know a hunter’s “nots”: 

• A hunter does not want to be managed
• A hunter does not want to be trained
• A hunter does not want to be called by junior/new/under-performing reps who want to “pick his/her brain”
• And perhaps most importantly, a hunter does not want to be left alone 

To be clear, these salespeople are all better in their jobs today than I could be.  Oh, I had my days back in the day.  But any records I held these hunters have all surpassed and then some.  Fortunately, I don’t have to be a better salesman to help them.  I mean, even Jack Nicklaus had golf instructors:

So, why do we meet?  It’s not that hard, really.  They’re good thinkers.  I’m a good listener.  They share thoughts on things on their mind.  I listen and when appropriate reflect their thinking back to them with perspective, context, a little experience, and a bit of wisdom added in.  I help them think through how they will balance their priorities of short-term, long-term, family, health, etc.  Everything but money – they already have that nailed. 

They might tell you that I’m coaching them or mentoring them.  I do share mistakes I’ve made in the hope that they might avoid same.  Yes, they can talk to their significant others, (about some topics, not about all) but the usual result is receiving pure love; without selling substance.  Some hunters mistakenly believe they should just rely on themself: 

Learn from the skillful: He that teaches himself hath a fool for his master. 

Benjamin Franklin 

At “the end of the day” (and I hate that cliché and all of the other cliches about “lone wolf” or “Type A personalities”) I think it comes back to successful salespeople don’t want to be left alone – on their own. 

It’s not that hard… or, is it? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

 

Context…

Sometimes it can be hard to put things into proper context.  Yet, when we don’t we usually don’t like the results. 

Throughout my sales career I sought context.  In a sales cycle, prospects offer information to sellers; lots and lots of information. The challenge?  Not all information carries the same level of importance.  First I learned and then I enabled other sellers that: 

Context is a killer app. 

The common example I used back in the day to poke fun at marketing-created cliches at Oracle NetSuite regarded the real-time capability to close a company’s monthly financial statements vs. the typical delayed process of days or even weeks to get financial reports from older software NetSuite was designed to replace. 

If you are the company’s Controller or CFO that sounds good, right?  Real-time, month-end closing?  But… would you spend $100,000 for it?  That’s the context.  Buying and implementing NetSuite ERP is generally a $100k spend (maybe more). 

Sales (and marketing) pitches are like that.  They might sound great, but…context can (literally) bite: 

…a Peter Sellers movie.  Sellers, as Inspector Clouseau, is standing at a street corner with a dog at his side when a stranger approaches him.  The stranger asks, “Does your dog bite?”  The always forthright Clouseau responds, “No.”  Then the dog at Sellers' side promptly chomps on the leg of the bystander.  The astonished man replies with justifiable anger, “I thought you said your dog does not bite.”  Sellers calmly replies, “It's not my dog.” 

Phillip G. Clampitt 

I remember to this day one of my very first sales meetings as an ADP National Accounts Account Executive.  I was meeting with the VP of Data Processing at Schwinn Bicycle in Chicago.  My sales pitch included several references to ADP’s superior “service”.   After the third or fourth time I uttered the word “service’, he interrupted me, and I paraphrase from memory, “Gary, I grew up on a farm.  And we took our cows to an adjacent farm to have them serviced by that farmer’s bull.  I suggest you be more careful telling me how much ADP will service us.”

Context remains a key challenge today, true?  All the headlines; all the hype.  How can we tell whether our information sources (be they human or AI) are providing us with a “service”, or just “servicing” us? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Lasting impression…

I was chatting with a friend and colleague of mine recently.  He bought 10 copies of my book, The Peace and Power of a Positive Perspective ©, to use as gifts for his best clients, partners, and colleagues.  He did so in part because I’ve been meeting with him regularly to offer a little sales coaching/mentoring/friend-who-listens support.  

I was introduced to him years ago when I was a volunteer mentor for the former American Association of Inside Sales Professionals.  He was my mentee and we have continued a meaningful relationship to this day. 

After several years, I finally asked if he would consider using my book as a “company gift” and send in the receipt for expense reimbursement.  At $15 on Amazon, I believe this is a gift that leaves a lasting impression.  Inside the front cover, I even have a page for adding a personal note. 

Being the thoughtful person he is, he ran it up the corporate ladder, first.  I have to admit I wasn’t surprised with the response: “Nope.  I’m not an authorized vendor.”  The Marketing Department authorizes items to be used as gifts and I’m not on their list.  Yes, red tape still exists in Corporate America.  It’s worse in government: 

To the government, cutting red tape often means slicing it into long strips lengthwise. 

Norman R. Augustine 

Continuing to be the thoughtful and kind person he is, he paid for the books out of his own pocket saying, “Gary, you’ve earned it.” 

He could have just continued to send the traditional (authorized) gift his Marketing Department has approved.  Even at a cost that’s more than twice the price of my book.  The limitation with that approach is obvious – it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.  All God’s children send those mugs and here’s what their (your?) clients/prospects/partners do with them:  

In the sales field today, it’s more important than ever to stand apart from others.  I’ve already spoken about the homogenization AI is creating with sales and marketing messaging.  Are we sure we want our client appreciation gifts to all look the same, too? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Creative closing…

Closing deals before calendar year-end stimulates a salesperson’s creativity.  I’ve written about it before (see ABC).

The Me or My Successor Close was born out of necessity.  So was the It’s My Day Close that my colleague combined with the high risk-high reward Camp Out Close. 

Although they go by varying names, permit me to share other popular closing techniques. 

• The Trial Close can be effective but only when used skillfully.  Use it too soon or too often and it does more harm than good. 
• The Expiring Discount Close is popular this time of year.  It can easily backfire however when negotiating with an experienced B2B buyer.  Once you put that discount on the table it’s nearly impossible to take it away no matter when they finally buy.
• This time of year also reminds us how Amazon perfected the Convenience Close. Last minute shoppers depend on it; especially next day delivery.
• When employed early enough, the Calendar Close is effective with clients that have a January 1^st “start date” need.
• For clients that balk at a big transaction, the Alternative Close can break the deal down into smaller “pieces” or “phases”.  Of course, the contract needs to be structured so the client ultimately buys all of the smaller pieces.
• The Assumptive Close was perfected by legendary sales trainer Tom Hopkins and his Approve the Paperwork Close.
• Speaking of old school, there’s the Ben Franklin Close; a T-graph listing the pros of buying on the left side and the cons on the right.
• I witnessed Dan Callahan of Integral Systems (the best closer I ever saw) skillfully employ the Client Advisory Committee Close.  Of course, a prospect could only be on said committee if they buy and became a client.
• Back in 1992, ADP National Accounts used the Like for Like Close with Carnival Corporation.  Carnival outsourced payroll to ADP and in turn, ADP held a President’s Club trip on the inaugural voyage of the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship.
• I still use the Puppy Dog Close during my book signings.  If a prospect stops and briefly peruses my book they wind up buying it more times than not. 

Then there are those nefarious closing techniques that give the sales profession a tainted image: 

• One of my sales reps years ago was being trapped into a No Clothes Close by her prospect.  She didn’t fully understand what he was up to.  That is until I did a sales manager ride-along for a meeting he requested after business hours.  He was certainly surprised to see me!  Thankfully, she didn’t close the deal.
• The Side Letter Close was popular in the 1990s; giving the client an off-contract “out”.  The accounting community ultimately closed that creative sales loophole.  Although I never used a side letter I did benefit once from something similar. 

While a National Account Rep for ADP in Denver the Jiffy Lube account committed to a $300K deal only to call me a week later and cancel.  Not my proudest moment.  My Vice President of Sales along with his Vice President and General Manager employed a little known “UBV” accounting provision to make the cancellation just disappear! 

I didn’t get paid commissions on the deal but the quota credit qualified me for ADP’s President’s Club trip on none other than that Carnival Fantasy cruise!  Oh, and that deal qualified my two VPs for Club, too. 

UBV – Unexplained Business Variance.  Now that’s what I call closing creativity! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

 

“Feedback”…

I recently wrote about the fine line of accountability (https://gpokorn.blogspot.com/2025/11/fine-line.html).  Accountability requires feedback.  Offering feedback is a management skill.  As any skill, it needs to be practiced and applied with care to be effective. 

But do all sales managers provide effective feedback, or any feedback at all for that matter?  According to renowned business executive Larry Bossidy, no:

Managers say they hesitate to give critical feedback because they:

• Are afraid of hurting feelings or demoralizing employees - even prompting them to quit.
• Are concerned about appearing arrogant or abrasive.
• Are uncomfortable giving bad news or find it easier to give only positive news.
• Are not sure they're 100 percent right.
• Worry about a defensive reaction.
• Work in a polite organization where critical feedback isn't given.
• Don't like to judge other people.

When I give feedback, I'm signaling to people that I'm interested in their future. 

                             Larry Bossidy 

I was always interested in my salespeople’s future.  I was taught in my first sales manager role about the skills involved with giving feedback.  The teacher?  Linda Richardson when she was in the early years of leading what became Richardson Sales Performance, a global leader in sales training. 

Remembering and applying my training, I went on to develop a particular style of offering feedback to my salespeople. Permit me to share. 

Feedback starts with observation 

I can’t comment if I wasn’t present.  Focused on observing.  Not “jumping in” to help sell.  Never multi-tasking.  I can’t emphasize the power of observation enough. 

Then self-assessment 

I asked, “If you had to do it over, what if anything would you do different?”  The sales rep knows what they’re trying to do.  When they describe needed improvements they can’t argue with themself.  BTW – it’s OK for them to say they wouldn’t do a thing differently when the sales call went well. 

Then I test with, “How I can help?”  

Asking for permission enables the sales rep to set the blunt-to-gentle-dial of their tolerance.  Sometimes we as individuals are not open to feedback.  If my rep denied permission, I (tried) to move on.  Nothing worse than trying to coach the unwilling.  Easy to blog about; hard to do in the real world, LOL! 

Finally, provide feedback  

Specific; objective; actionable.  Did I say specific? 

Specificity is a killer app. 

As for quantity, I (tried) to identify 3 things.  Positive or negative, 3 things is about the limit of someone openly receiving feedback.  Any more and the experience can move from effective to a waste of effort (or worse).           

Feedback. In sales management, “less is more.” 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.