Six More Questions To Help You Win BIG!!!!

Here are six questions I wish I would have had someone ask of me when I started in the business. Whether you are a small business owner, or an independent consultant, or working for McKinsey or IBM, answering these questions will allow you to become acutely aware of how well you know your target buyers.

Answering these questions is not the entire point. The other part of the point is to continuously think about how you do what-you-do, and improve upon the components. Analyzing and thinking about your answers, what they are today, and what you hope them to be, is critical to your success.

These questions will help you determine how to make a better impact on your market and the executives you meet with when offering solutions to meet their needs.

1. How many “dream” clients are there in your market space or in your territory (these are your absolute, most perfect clients, the 20% that would drive 80% of your sales)? You must name them.
2. How many do you have right now?
3. What are the most frequent objections you hear?
4. Describe five of your most typical purchasers. (Where in the organization did they sit? Did they have a problem they were trying to solve? Or was it an opportunity they were looking to gain?)
5. Why did you win? (Was it your charming personality? Were you able to get to the decision-maker? Was there someone on your team who won the day?)
6. Describe the typical buying structure (What is your clients' process to come to a decision? Where does your buyer reside in the org chart? What authority does your buyer have? Who are the chief influencers?)

I have spoken to hundreds of professionals, and few were able to really hone in on the answers to these questions, except for those that built a niche in a key market. That ought to tell you something, shouldn't it?

Good Luck

Joe Murphy

6 Key Questions for Getting More Sales

Here are some questions that I found useful in asking organizations how they currently get business and win clients. Answering these questions will help you improve how you work on your business, and see things differently, while you are working in your business.

1. Describe the full effort to prospect (list every way you have of generating a prospect).
2. Describe the typical sales cycle to close a sale, from generating the lead through to a close.
3. How many contacts do you have to make to sell?
4. What is the length of the sales cycle from initial contact to close?
5. How many competitors are involved?
6. How many different people do you usually meet with to close a sale?

By answering these questions, you will be able to begin to determine how your clients buy and you will uncover some of the weaknesses that may exist in your ability to win business.

This is not negative.

This is a good way to start looking at how to win more effectively and efficiently. So, take the time to look at your answers - from a scientific point of view and you will be able to create a plan to work on the areas where you are most deficient.

Good Luck! Joe Murphy

http://www.josephbmurphy.com/

http://joemurphy180.blogspot.com/

A Secret - A Book By Ram Charan On Selling by Joe Murphy

Profitable Growth - a Book By Ram Charan

I picked up Ram Charan's book called Profitable Growth. As I was reading his points, it struck me that this book is about looking "what can be." It is a book about creating the future of a business.

I would not call the book powerful in any sort of way. (Sorry Ram, you are far smarter than I could ever be). But I would say, it's a book that sales and marketing professionals have been waiting for. It is a book about how to take risks to drive top line growth. Anyone who is not an accountant or an HR exec or contracts person will appreciate the fact that businesses spend far too much time with "how do eliminate this little expense here and there." I am a spendthrift, so don't get me wrong. But sometimes I think about how we spend money unwisely in one area and then in another area, like, hiring great sales professionals, we penny-pinch.

I have been working in sales, and business development practically all my life. Recently, over the past 7 years, I have been turning around sales organizations and building new revenue streams. Start-ups within companies is hard work. People are impatient - the people at the top. They go with great gusto, saying "Yes! We need more revenue. About ....hmmmm.... 90 days later, they go, "Where's the revenue? Look at this cost! Do you know how much would go to the bottom line?"

Ram Charan makes his case for growth. He has 10 "essential" tools (really appraches - and mindsets - not really tools like a spreadsheet or a spade - for you people who want "hard" and tangible things).

He talks about hitting singles and doubles, rather just trying to hit home runs every time. I think this is a great expression. Too often management is looking for the quick hit - a home run, a grand slam in some cases. But in reality, give me singles and doubles often enough and I will out score the company hell bent on the big hit - the home run. Why? Because often the supporting mechanisms inside the company cannot support the grand slam and the deal goes south and profitability is impacted. Give me a double and that is enough for the inner workings of the company to get ready and support this smaller endeavor. Once they know how to support this piece of work, they may be ready to hit the homer.

Anyway, get the book. It makes the case, in my point of view, for sales and marketing and how to drive more revenue by focusing peoples' attention, time, and money on growth, and how to do so, without jumping across the Grand Canyon in a single leap. And more importantly, it's from a true consultants' perspective, someone who gets paid a lot of money to advise the best and the brightest.

PS - if you don't know Ram, he is a consultant to the biggest and best companies in the world. His advice is sought after by many CEOs and top executives on how to build a business. Ram is self effacing, but serious. He travels about 350 days a year - helping companies see the obvious and frame situations for managers to understand what they have to do, rather than what they think they should be doing.

Best of luck! Visit my web site http://www.josephbmurphy.com/