COMMENTS
Dave, very good comments about SPIN and Strategic Selling. I have clients and prospects who tell me that they've tried implementing SPIN but found it too difficult to fit in with their own personal style which is also important in selling. So much so, that they’ve become confused in the process. Selling is certainly a challenge and not for the faint hearted but it is essentially a human process or system. In Australia, I’ve found that it’s often the consulting companies that have fallen for the pitch from the trainers of these methods, that their process is far too complicated and sophisticated to be labelled as selling and as a result spend big dollars on training in a process that their people can’t adopt. Your four bases approach in Baseline Selling describes the journey of selling in simple, practicable terms that anyone can adapt to any selling situation – no exceptions.
Dave: Thanks so much for the insights as to why I make good money going in after a company has purchased either SPIN or MH training, and sales are still flat.
Both systems are indeed incomplete and difficult. They are also well-marketed.
Terry Slattery
Your comments regarding Miller Heiman are incomplete and demonstrate a lack of understanding. The Miller Heiman sales system encompasses many levels of which you only focus on one. The three core levels are
1) Account Management (Large Account Management Process) which takes a 1-3 year strategic view of the client and certainly does come down to specific actions.
2) Opportunity Management (Strategic Selling) which puts together a strategy AND SPECIFIC TACTICS to close an opportunity. Strategic Selling is probably the largest implemented sales program in the world.
3) Sales call planning (Conceptual Selling) deals with the specifics of what you do when you are finally in front of the prospect. It entails understanding what the prospect is trying to fix, accomplish or avoid, questioning sequences, and getting commitment.
Lots of other modules complement those, such as Negotiate Success (based upon Getting to Yes from the Harvard Negotiation Project), Executive Impact which fine tunes your pitch to a senior executive, as well as Manager's Coaching for every module.
In addition all modules are supported by an exquisite add-in to virtually all major CRM systems.
Regarding Terry Slattery's comments, I've been doing training and consulting for Miller Heiman for years and yes, there are companies whose sales are flat. I can tell you that when this happens it is NEVER the fault of the methodology, it's the fault of the implementation. It's like signing up for Gold's Gym and expecting to lose weight. The mere fact that you signed up won't make you lose weight. Similarly, just because you spent a ton of money on training it won't make you a better sales person, team or organization until you make it part of your daily life.
Bob,
I Appreciate your comments. I still believe my original comments were accurate. I was talking about the book, Strategic Selling, not your excellent training programs and add-ons. If you were to explore Baseline Selling, then you would see how Strategic Selling takes place in the On-Deck Circle, and on the base paths to 2nd Base (your questioning sequence) and 3rd Base (getting commitment).
I understand, but to use your baseball analogy, commenting just on Strategic Selling and criticizing it for not being complete is like evaluating the second baseman and saying, yeah, but he can't cover right field...
Bob, it is always easy to accuse implementation but not the product you sell. The advantage of the methodology should be as well easiness and simplicity of implementation, if it was unsuccessful first of all methodology should be blamed. Otherwise methodology is just a product to sell with its own weaknesses and strengths.
Dennis, my comment was not an accusation as much as it is experience. There is a direct correlation between the effort one puts into implementation and the results achieved. Revisit my comments on Gold's Gym - I make that comment based upon personal experience.
Bob Hatcher
CEO BetterSell Solutions
www.bettersellsolutions.com
A question to you both; do top sales people really teach other how to close deals? If I was a top performing closer, I would not have to time to reveal my secrets or tatics, nor show anyone how I do it. For fear that the skill would be found out by co-workers and competion? Your thoughts...
Please excuse the misspelled words. Thanks.
The answer is yes and now. If the sales organization is set up as a competition with "every man for himself" then probably not. But, if it's set up as a collaborative where some of the compensation depends on the total revenue, then yes.
But, more importantly there are many ways to share best practices. Good sales managers will have ways to share these. In sales meetings, I coach my sales managers to ask each person "what did you do recently that really worked for you." Sharing in a meeting is a simple way to share best practices.
Another simple way is to do win/loss reviews. Doing these in public will put the best practices (and worst) out to the rest of the team. For loss reviews it's important for the sales leader to do this as a learning exercise not as a way to humiliate someone.
There are a hundred other ways, but these are a couple of simple ones.
Bob
www.bettersellsolutions.com
@Eric, coaching is one of a sales manager's top 5 competencies - coaching certainly includes sharing how others close deals and, as a component of a sales meeting, group coaching/training and development should encourage salespeople to share their strategies and tactics.
@Bob and Dennis - there are two potential problems with implementation. If the methodology is not intuitive, memorable or simple, then the methodology is at fault. If they know what to do (strategies and tactics) but aren't comfortable, then it has nothing to do with the methodology and is more likely their individual, hidden weaknesses that are getting in the way.
Dave,
I couldn't agree more about the methodology being simple and intuitive. One of the reasons Miller Heiman has been around for thirty years and has about 1.2 million alumni is that our methodologies are just that, simple and easy to implement. We've managed to break things down to their essential components yet still be robust enough.
Bob
www.bettersellsolutions.com