Dealing with Budget

It seems like every salesperson I run into lately asks me how to handle budget objections. Creating a sense of value with your customer is indeed an art form, but here are a few tips to help you tighten up your discussion about money.

1) You MUST determine if it makes financial sense for your prospect to purchase what you sell before you submit a proposal. Prospects are smart. When they see an opportunity to invest intelligently, they often do. But they hate to be sold when an investment doesn't make sense. If you can't figure out if it makes financial sense for a prospect to purchase your product, then they probably won't either.

2) Clearly you need the prospect to share a range that they are willing to spend. But you also need to understand their ability to spend. Gone are the days of a quick bank loan or VC funding to obtain some spending money. It's the salesperson's responsibility to understand how the purchase will be financed and where the funds are coming from. Salespeople look at me cross-eyed when I tell them this for the first time. However, it just takes one deal when the bank or board "didn’t approve us" to make a salesperson realize they just wasted hours (or days) on a proposal that should have been structured differently or discussed with different key decision influencers.

3) Have a specific place in your selling system to discuss money. It's certainly not at the beginning but don't wait until the proposal to disclose fees. The proposal should be anticlimactic, not a time to disclose surprises. A systematic process takes a lot of pressure off the salesperson too.

Unfortunately, selling isn't like tennis. You only get one chance to get it right. Once the prospect gets your proposal, the selling is over. Sophisticated buyers will give salespeople a second chance but even they do that to squeeze the seller on price. In this economic environment, it makes sense to handle the money issues up-front and only submit proposals that will win the business.

This article was contributed by Chip Doyle of the Sandler Sales Institute.

Just Say No to Procrastination

In light of the current economic climate, you need to use your time wisely and make every minute count. The old adage “time is money” rings especially true. If you are striving to be more efficient and effective perhaps you’re ready to just say no to procrastination.

We know it’s ineffective and a drain on our energy, but everyone procrastinates occasionally. We put off starting big projects because we feel overwhelmed or fear failure, we avoid unpleasant tasks like employee discipline because we don’t want to inflict or experience pain, and we resist tedious (but sometimes essential) work by telling ourselves that there are more important things we should be doing with our time.

Whatever your motivation or justification is for avoiding certain tasks, consider how much more productive you would be if you could break the habit of procrastination. Here are five ways to develop a healthier and more effective approach to your work.

Clarify the desired outcome. If you’re putting off starting a project it may be because your ultimate goal is unclear. Take a few moments to write down what a successful outcome would look like. Visualizing the end can be very motivating. If needed, do this step for each phase of the project.

Don’t wait to be in the mood. This is a common avoidance technique when the work at hand requires a high level of creativity. Any professional musician, artist, or writer will tell you that they are not always inspired when they sit down to work, but that they begin and often the muse appears. When it’s time to think creatively or strategically about the future of your business, get started (even a little bit) and allow the inspiration to build within you.

Work on a challenging task first thing in the morning. It’s tempting to begin the day reading e-mail and the headlines, checking in with co-workers, or returning non-critical phone calls. Before you know it, half the morning is gone and your to-do list is untouched. Try starting each day by doing one challenging task as soon as you arrive at work. You’ll feel accomplished and approach the rest of your day with more confidence.

Simply begin. If you are avoiding a project by shuffling papers, surfing the net, and thumbing through business journals, force yourself to put the distractions aside and simply begin. Tell yourself that you will focus on the project for 30 minutes, and then do it. Getting started is often the hardest part. Once you have momentum on your side you’re half-way home.

Remember past successes. If you find yourself feeling tentative or ill-equipped to do the work in front of you, or that the end result will be substandard, think back to a time when you embarked on an equally difficult task or project and completed it successfully. And then get moving.

In all of my work with business owners I have found that the ones that focus on improving their time management skills and prioritize the work that they "need" to do vs. the work that they "should" do are by far the most successful! Are you ready to stop procrastinating?

Creating Effective Teams

Now more than ever, we need strong teams that operate in harmony. Effective teams are composed of individuals with complementary skills. Each member brings unique talents and experiences to the team, creating a more powerful unit.


The Challenges of Teamwork
Do you have teams that aren’t as successful as they could be? Most of us do. Here are a few reasons why teams are challenged. Which ones apply to you?

• Some people on the team don’t pull their weight.

• The goal or purpose of the team is unclear or has no meaning.

• Team members blame each other when things go wrong.

• Team members don’t bring their problems or concerns out in the open.

• Some team members don’t fully contribute to the team.

• Team members are unable to constructively discuss differing views and opinions.

• Team members don’t have confidence in each other.

• Team meetings are unfocused and waste time.

• Team members don’t have a clear plan for achieving their goals.

Team members can support their teams by focusing on three key elements to set up their team meetings. By ensuring that the elements are in place, team members share responsibility for team success in a powerful way.


Functions and Roles
Every meeting has four key functions that must be managed if the meeting is to achieve results:

• Participation

• Process management

• Information management

• Decision making

Making decisions on who will manage these functions prior to (or at the start of) a meeting gets any team meeting off to a solid start.


Desired Outcomes
A desired outcome is what your meeting aims to achieve. Without a goal, meetings become unfocused and confused. Team members can help clarify the meeting goal by asking for or helping to create a desired outcome for a meeting. They can also use the desired outcome to check progress during and at the end of the team meeting.


Decision Making
Much of the power on the team resides in decision making. Teams must make both process and content decisions in meetings. Who makes what decisions and when? Understanding the range of options for decision making on a team helps teams to eliminate confusion and avoid breakdowns that occur when decision-making methods are absent or unclear.

To develop teams that know how to communicate with each other consider a behavior and communications survey! They are invaluable tools in building effective teams.

Most likely you have changed the way you manage your company during these economic times. Create high-performing teams so that you can thrive under any economic climate.

The Human Factor in a Recession

One of the many topics that business owners are continuously asking me about is Human Resources and how to manage their people through these unchartered waters.

My response: Now is the time to do what we should always be doing and that is to use and develop our Human Resources to their fullest potential. Our employees are our most valuable resource and, therefore, we need to address this critical asset head-on.

• Do performance reviews diligently and more frequently.
  
  • There is no better time to clarify expectations (and probably get a positive up-tick in performance) than now.

• Provide Leadership like never before.
  
  • Your employees look to you for stability and guidance during difficult times.
  • Give them articles or have short seminars about money management, positive news, and future challenges.
  • Educate and communicate.
  • Share positive news regularly.

• Consolidation of jobs is common place as volume decreases and activity reduces.
  
  • Good job descriptions and knowledge of your workforce’s abilities and potential are critical to doing this analysis well. These make those performance reviews a lot easier!

• Rank your staff by their contribution to the bottom line and/or the ROI of their cost to the organization.
  
  • Sales and production staff become disproportionately valuable in an economic downturn.

• Adjust wages, benefits, and perks to better align with shrinking revenues and margins.
  
  • You are the steward of this economic ship and are responsible for its success and must make hard decisions.
  • Is there someone who is overpaid or underperforming?

• In many cases, layoffs are necessary.
  
  • Your best employees deserve consideration for their hard work and loyalty.
  • Many considerations need be thought through before taking actions: will several employees share in the layoffs and work alternating weeks to draw unemployment periodically; will you provide job attached status to key employees you want to return, will you offer a return to work bonus after the period of layoff ends, etc.

• Possibly reducing hours is an alternative, either in select slow parts of the business or across the board.

• The labor force market has turned around over the last six months and this might be a time to upgrade talent and experience.

DO NOT WAIT to take the necessary actions required to right your economic ship until you are overly vulnerable and might not survive. DO WHAT IS NECESSARY so that you have cash yet are poised for recovery when the tide comes back in.

What the Stimulus Plan Means for Your Business

The mantra heard most often in business these days is "Do More With Less." For many businesses, cutting costs while trying to grow—or even sustain their place in the market—is easier said than done.

What could help many businesses is gaining access to some of that $787 Billion in Federal Stimulus Package monies. Not surprisingly, many small companies [94% of them according to a recent Intuit survey] said that, "success depends more on what they do for themselves than the government."

Steve King from Emergent Research—when interviewed by Entrepreneur about the survey—said he's not surprised by that attitude. The money has only just started to flow - like only 2% to 5% thus far. Steve is one of the experts tapped to clarify the opportunities presented by the Federal Stimulus Package in an upcoming online event:


The Stimulus Package: What Does It Mean For Your Business
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Time: 12:00 p.m. MT
Register Now

Featured Speakers:
Steve King, Emergent Research
Chad Moutray, Chief Economist U.S. SBA
Sam Sliman, President, Optimal Solutions

What's unique about this panel event is that it's focused on showing you how to leverage this opportunity, as well as pointing out what won't help, so you can create the right strategy for your company. This way you can be sure to maximize your efforts to get the best results and stay focused on driving the business results you're after. Growth and sustainability.

I encourage you to go register now to find out how your company can leverage benefits from the stimulus package—either directly or by helping your customers do so. [read more business for you, either way].

In the meantime, if you haven't read it, an E-book sponsored by MyVenturePad, SCORE and SAP, The Stimulus Package: What it Means for Growing Businesses, will get you up to speed so you're ready to take action with what you learn from Steve, Chad and Sam during the live event on July 29th.

You can also go follow @SAP4SME on Twitter for more information and updates on this topic.

The Top Ten Legal Documents Every Business Should Have

Every business, whether a start-up or established business, should have several key documents in place to ensure and protect its growth and development. These include, among others:

1. The appropriate corporate structure for limited liability protection, such as corporation, limited liability company, or limited partnership. Effective and competent advice will help you make an informed choice about what type of entity is (a) best for protecting your personal assets from liability and (b) gives you the optimal tax treatment.
   
   
2. Tax election status documents, filed in a timely manner, with input from a competent tax advisor.
   
   
3. Valid and enforceable operating agreements, partnership agreements or corporate bylaws. These documents establish your set of rules for running, governing and growing your business.
   
   
4. Buy-sell agreements between owners or members. These agreements contemplate the calculation of purchase price for an owner’s share upon death, disability or retirement.
   
   
5. Non-competition and non-solicitation agreements with co-owners and key employees. These are absolutely essential to protect the “know-how” of your business.
   
   
6. Non-disclosure agreements to protect the institutional processes, client lists, pricing matrices and other confidential information of your enterprise.
   
   
7. Clear and enforceable customer agreements, including provisions providing for customer payment of the cost of collection of past-due amounts.
   
   
8. Written purchase orders for vendors with terms protecting your business.
   
   
9. A written employee policy and procedure manual, with regular updates and plans for distribution. This document helps avoid potential liability at a corporate and owner level for many employee claims.
   
   
10. A regularly updated and maintained Corporate Book, complete with minutes of shareholder minutes, board of directors’ or managing members’ meetings and approvals for various corporate acts.

These are just a few of the documents every successful business should have in place. The time and money spent putting these and other necessary legal documents in place is ultimately a savings to you – in terms of peace of mind, ease of governance and avoidance of disputes and litigation costs.

How to Generate Buzz

If you’re like most organizations, the sales team is on your back. Or you are part of the sales team. They—or you—need more customers. You feel like you are being stretched in 10 different directions. On top of everything, your budget just got slashed and your team is dwindling.

Through years of experimentation, testing and evaluating results, here is a methodology that absolutely works. The methodology is designed to increase customer acquisition quickly while minimizing the cost. The great thing about this system is that it is a system. It really isn’t voodoo rocket science but sometimes common sense approaches are overlooked in favor of the latest quick fix elixir.

Here’s the Five Step Process

1. Understanding Your Customer

In this all-important first step the goal is understanding. To persuade someone, to motivate someone, to sell someone something, you really need to understand that person and their point of view. You need to begin to understand the people you are trying to communicate with by creating a profile that will help you gain a “feeling” for them.

2. Defining the Offer

Now, you must communicate the features and benefits of your product or service to the customers. Most people overdo the feature part instead of emphasizing the benefits. Remember, people do not buy things for what they are; they buy things for what they do for them. How the offer is delivered is part of the system. A dedicated area on your website can be created to describe the offer. The offer can be a quick tour of your product/service, a web event or webinar, white paper, special pricing or information. These components are relatively inexpensive to produce and can be leveraged in a variety of ways.

3. Setting Up the Processes

This is the nuts and bolts phase of the system. When a prospect registers to attend an event or receive one of your offers, they are entered into the sales cycle. It is very important that a system be put in place to capture the prospect’s contact information and to understand their level of qualification and buying interest. The more information you can gather, the better targeted a marketer you can be. The system can be a complex database or a simple word document—most importantly it should be a system that works easily for you.

4. Go to Market Plan

Here is the heart and soul of the program. It is where the rubber meets the road. Once you understand your customer, have a good offer and processes in place, you must develop a plan. The plan includes the strategies and various tactics targeted to the appropriate audience. Among the most effective marketing tools available today are direct mail, email, newsletters, social marketing (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) collateral, user conferences, partnership marketing, public relations and last but certainly not least referral marketing. You must plan those tactics to work together as a campaign and then execute, execute, execute.

5. Measuring Marketing Results, Increasing Sales

Tracking your lead generation campaigns and seeing the results for yourself is the real power of this methodology. You’re building a bridge between your marketing campaigns and your sales efforts. You have a system set up with your processes, but the real trick is to analyze and measure the results to see what works and doesn’t work and then only repeat the successes.

Applying the 80/20 Rule to Daily Tasks

One tried and true time management tool is the simple act of making a daily task list. As elementary as this sounds, list making helps busy people be more productive, experience less stress, and frees them up to focus on business strategy. In observing entrepreneurs and business owners using lists in an effort to increase productivity, I’ve noticed two common problems that they encounter. Applying the 80/20 rule – the theory that 20% of what you do generates 80% of the results – can solve both problems.

Problem #1: Putting too much on the list. My TAB members and executive clients are successful entrepreneurs. They’re full of ideas, energy, and enthusiasm. As such, they often create daily task lists that are unrealistically long. I call this tendency the curse of ambition. At the end of the day, instead of feeling pleased with what they’ve accomplished, they’re disappointed in themselves for not finishing everything. You don’t have to fall into this trap. When you make your list for tomorrow, think in terms of 80/20. Write your list as usual and next to each item jot down the approximate time each task will likely take, padding each estimate by 20%. Then reduce your list by 20% in terms of hours to be spent by prioritizing as outlined in Problem #2.

Problem #2: Failing to prioritize. Sometimes executives accomplish little or nothing from their lists because they spend too much time on “urgent” tasks instead of “important” tasks. As you review your list for the 20% that should drop off (because you know that some tasks will take longer than planned and unexpected issues requiring your attention will inevitably crop up) apply the 80/20 rule. Identify the 20% of tasks that have an 80% chance of improving your profitability. This may be something as simple as placing a phone call to a potential new client or spending an hour reviewing projections for next quarter. The goal is to make sure you’re spending your valuable time on tasks that will deliver bottom line results for your company. What about the items that need to be done but don’t fit this criteria? Delegate.

An effective daily list can increase your productivity by 20% or more. Use a list wisely, focus your time and energy on the 20% of tasks that will grow your business, and watch as your efforts trickle right down to the bottom line.