Salespeople - how are drumming up biz?

[rallye101]

mikef said:

Not my problem. My problem, at least until I retired was losing valuable time to unwanted cold callers and bottom-feeding LinkedIn spammers

Chuffing hell, aren't you the bundle of joy!!...if you can't be nice then don't comment...

[mikef]

I’ll leave the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross to it

[fat80b]

Krhuangbin said:

I’m just finding it hard in general to gain any traction anywhere recently, even the dignity of a response sometimes from even existing and good customers

Don't be dis-heartened - people respond only if they have the problem that you can help them with - If they don't respond, they are actually saving you wasted time!

What tools do you use to get responses? - If it is emails, get yourself set up with something like Outreach.io - being able to send a series of emails to hundreds of people that follow various patterns enables you to scale your approach much easier than doing it manually etc.

[Simpo Two]

mikef said:

I’ll leave the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross to it

Best go and be self-important somewhere else.

[Louis Balfour]

Krhuangbin said:

Louis Balfour said:

Krhuangbin said:

How are those of you working as sales execs/account managers etc finding life at the moment, and what are you finding is working well for brand new business?

My pipeline is a little concerning 12 months into the future so wondered what you’re all finding works well these days, anywhere between hammering the phone to more modern ways of doing things? General discussion really.

B2B primarily

What exactly do you sell?

A particular (and quite niche) type of electronic component. We are a reasonably renowned manufacturer with a strong engineering team behind the salesmen. Volumes range from 10k-millions a year. The model tend to be design in with engineers at OEMs wherever they are, and actual supply to contract manufacturers. Think Apple designed in California, built in China.
But I manage the entire process from design to shipping, with the teams/tools at my disposal.

Nothing inherently disadvantageous in the model in 2023, it’s more me I think and need to change tack! Hence the question

Edited by Krhuangbin on Wednesday 22 March 20:50

I have worked in B2B sales, but not at a manufacturing level.

Our business came from:

1. Telemarketers (doing the numbers)
2. Referrals
3. Reading newspapers and speculatively calling firms we saw were going to need our stuff.
4. Customers calling us (rare)

Generally referrals were always worth ten leads from telemarketers.

Customer needed A,B and C products. We sold A, so sought out providers of B and C and gave them leads. B and C reciprocated (sometimes). Generally, becoming known and becoming known for being solid was important. It was a time in the market thing, to some extent.

Not sure if that is of any help whatsoever.

[Hoofy]

President Merkin said:

Hoofy said:

I continue to witness people who sold well sell well (IYSWIM!). Whether it's in an economic boom, a global pandemic or a global economic crash. Primarily they develop relationships and when the time is right, the customer buys. No slimey hard sell.

Hoofy, without giving away trade secrets, would you mind expanding on your process?

I'm selling B2B road transport services which is a commodotised, highly competitive & price sensitive market & I'm up against some very powerful players. I'm far from a natural salesman although I do enjoy doing it but I am finding it very difficult to open doors right now, either cold or trading off contacts.. I try to tread the line between persistence & a pain in the arse carefully but need to see better numbers soonish.

Just to clarify, I witness people sell well but I'm not one of them! (I do "ok".)

That said, their general process is to consistently generate marketing content that keeps them at the front of people's minds so that when they're ready to buy, they're thinking of the seller and not a competitor. This means producing free but helpful content whether that's weekly or 3 times a week to establish awareness and trust. Note that I said consistent not constant so you're not just posting about your services and how amazing you are 3 times a day!

When people respond whether that's an enquiry or just to comment on a post or some other kind of marketing content, you aim to understand their needs and build a relationship and NOT do the hardsell to close a deal at any cost, especially if it's for something the customer doesn't really need.

It's about thinking about the customer and not yourself. So it's not really selling.

You'll hear people talk about "know, like, trust".

Check out Richard Woods (of Apprentice fame). I think he does a good job of this approach.

Edit: to experiment with my approach, I'd be happy to have a chat to see how you could implement this idea in your business.

Edited by Hoofy on Wednesday 22 March 21:52

[Krhuangbin]

mikef said:

I’ll leave the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross to it

Do you have a car Mike?

Do you realise the bulbs come from a specialist bulb manufacturer, and the leather comes from a leather manufacturer, and the tyres chosen come from a tyre manufacturer, and the windows come from a glass manufacturer? Or a few thereof?

How do you reckon they all become known to the engineering group at the car maker, and then into mass production?

Edited by Krhuangbin on Wednesday 22 March 21:36

[mikef]

Oh yes, and I have no problems with business and supply chain. The only thing that pushes a button is the suggestion of cold calling

I have built and sold billion dollar products, and to answer the question on how we do multi-million dollar deals
- unsolicited recommendations from satisfied customers
- customer referrals brokered by ourselves
- stands at trade shows and conferences
- government tenders
- building relationships with industry groups
- networking and schmoozing (I don’t play golf but that sort of thing)
- industry dinners and social events
- “awards” ceremonies (paying for an award)
- media articles, getting favourable press mentions
- spending a lot of time on aeroplanes

Please don’t think that I may have any antagonism toward any possible China connections. I have spent a fair amount of the last five years building capabilities in China and building products for the public sector (mainly healthcare) thwre

[President Merkin]

Hoofy said:

Good stuff

Thanks Hoofy, that was insightful. Let me see out the week & I'll take you up on that whenI miss the target! My main issue is my business forms long relationships with customers - 11 & 15 years with our current longest standing ones but we've lost a few recently, one due to Brexit, another following a takeover, so our sales sharpness tends to atrophy as we hold on to them for lengthy periods. Not great practice & definitely needs addressing.

[rallye101]

mikef said:

Oh yes, and I have no problems with business and supply chain. The only thing that pushes a button is the suggestion of cold calling

I have built and sold billion dollar products, and to answer the question on how we do multi-million dollar deals
- unsolicited recommendations from satisfied customers
- customer referrals brokered by ourselves
- stands at trade shows and conferences
- government tenders
- building relationships with industry groups
- networking and schmoozing (I don’t play golf but that sort of thing)
- industry dinners and social events
- “awards” ceremonies (paying for an award)
- media articles, getting favourable press mentions
- spending a lot of time on aeroplanes

Please don’t think that I may have any antagonism toward any possible China connections. I have spent a fair amount of the last five years building capabilities in China and building products for the public sector (mainly healthcare) thwre

So retired and the only issue is cold calling, please leave him alone cheers....

[pacenotes]

What I am finding is getting me in the right direction is the I didn't know I need that bit of kit marketing.

The worst posts on LinkedIn was just sharing a new products or resharing someone else's post from the company you work for.

I now go to all the events, Trade shows, Customer days, partner days, the most boring talks in the industry & also days where a customer invites us in. I take a photo outside that won't show the name of the company but everyone in my industry knows where I was. Or showing up at a demo/test and posting about it all. No one cares about the product really but wants to know what your up to.

I was at a test in central London last week and I posted about it, 4,000 people has seen the post and 3 have contacted me about it. I think 2 of them will buy what I was testing.

When the shoe was on the other foot recently an IFA reached out on Linkdln and I did want to hear what he had to say but was just so busy to set a meeting when they messaged. Kinda like everyone I deal with every day. They had a very nice-sounding lady ring me a few weeks later to set up the meeting there and then. Once it was on my calendar I knew I would make it. So I started to put my calendar on my email sig.

[mikef]

rallye101 said:

So retired and the only issue is cold calling, please leave him alone cheers....

You would be frickin’ amazed at how many people want to push their products/services through LinkedIn despite a profile that clearly says Retired

[rallye101]

mikef said:

You would be frickin’ amazed at how many people want to push their products/services through LinkedIn despite a profile that clearly says Retired

Log off and go away into the sunset....simples! I'm a pretty chilled out chap but...

[mikef]

Honestly - you come across as triggered

[cavey76]

jeez....salespeople attracting opprobrium shocker.

I'm in sales and to the OP. Yeah things are getting harder at the minute, feels like what was in the pipeline as Covid passed has worked its way through and the uncertainty of early 2022 is now strangling leads, opps or prospects.

We (Cloud service sales) have upped our spend on partners (ie smaller companies we sell through), we are ensuring we get someone to turn up to every event possible with these partners and make their life easier and lastly we have changed our message a little, previously we told our customers (businesses) how our product made their relationship with their customers ( the general public) easier/better meaning they would likely be more loyal or comeback. We've respun it as hey mr/mrs business owner, now use our stuff to do more with less staff if you have too....its the same product but we are looking at it from a different angle to get someone else within the business to consider us. Seems to be having some effect so far.


To the other posters did a salesman touch your special place when you were a little kid? Why such hate?

[StevieBee]

mikef said:

- unsolicited recommendations from satisfied customers
- customer referrals brokered by ourselves
- stands at trade shows and conferences
- government tenders
- building relationships with industry groups
- networking and schmoozing (I don’t play golf but that sort of thing)
- industry dinners and social events
- “awards” ceremonies (paying for an award)
- media articles, getting favourable press mentions
- spending a lot of time on aeroplanes

A lot of these resonate with me. I've used the same approaches to great effect over the years.

However, to implement them requires that the business has already been developed to a level that it has the capacity, resources and cashflow to support such a strategy.

Before then, smaller and growing business need to hustle a bit. And that quite often necessitates a bit of cold calling. I don't like it myself, either doing it or getting it.... but it does work, eventually.

[Badda]

mikef said:

Oh yes, and I have no problems with business and supply chain. The only thing that pushes a button is the suggestion of cold calling

And yet cold calling was never mentioned in the OP!

If you think hammering the phone means cold calling then it’s clear despite your billion pound projects you’ve done, you’ve never had to sell anything.

[jeremyc]

Krhuangbin said:

What I have noticed though is a massive increase in being ignored!!! Mainly since
Covid. Everything requires multiple chases, or is just blanked. These are people who “should” be talking to us.

Focus on interactions with potential customers where you can't be ignored.

Attend industry events, conferences and/or shows where your targets are either presenting/exhibiting or are likely to be visiting, and get yourself in front of them. There is an opportunity to start building a relationship face-to-face and at least get some answers to your initial qualification questions.

[mikef]

Badda said:

mikef said:

Oh yes, and I have no problems with business and supply chain. The only thing that pushes a button is the suggestion of cold calling

And yet cold calling was never mentioned in the OP!

If you think hammering the phone means cold calling then it’s clear despite your billion pound projects you’ve done, you’ve never had to sell anything.

Fair enough and that may be a bad assumption on
my part

[Sheepshanks]

StevieBee said:

mikef said:

- unsolicited recommendations from satisfied customers
- customer referrals brokered by ourselves
- stands at trade shows and conferences
- government tenders
- building relationships with industry groups
- networking and schmoozing (I don’t play golf but that sort of thing)
- industry dinners and social events
- “awards” ceremonies (paying for an award)
- media articles, getting favourable press mentions
- spending a lot of time on aeroplanes

A lot of these resonate with me. I've used the same approaches to great effect over the years.

However, to implement them requires that the business has already been developed to a level that it has the capacity, resources and cashflow to support such a strategy.

Before then, smaller and growing business need to hustle a bit. And that quite often necessitates a bit of cold calling. I don't like it myself, either doing it or getting it.... but it does work, eventually.

Krhuangbin said he's sellling "a particular (and quite niche) type of electronic component" - a lot of those approaches from mikef work if you got an entire product or solution but don't really work at component level. He's more talking about marketing - and that's always very tough to show a definite ROI on. Does Mercedes sell more cars due to its involvement in F1? Who knows?

I used to sell components for storage and AV and we'd go to shows but our products don't sell to end customers, they sell to OEMs making stuff for those customers. Those OEMs are at the show, but it's sales people who are there, not the people we need. You can ask who you should talk to and use that as a reference but one thing I really hated when being on a stand was other people trying to sell to me (and recruitment consultants trying to sign our guys up!).