Selling to Clients Outside your Geography

I had a skeptical boss from one of my previous organizations, who never believed selling any-where outside the city we work out of. I had a tough time to convince him to at least start doing so. So I gave up… I gave up not only the idea of convincing him, but also gave up my job with him. Today again, I had a new-joinee who was skeptical about selling in US while sitting in India. Let me say that it is not only possible to build a business but also can build a thriving business on this basis. In fact not just in US, today most countries accept the idea of selling remotely. I go a leap ahead and say it is possible even in India. At my current organization, we have mastered the art of remote selling. (And I am talking about enterprise customers.) These are a few things which I learnt the hard-way which will ensure successful remote selling:

1.       Act, as if he is near you: A customer needs positive validation at all decision points. He wants to understand you, your organization and its processes. So all his small requests (however small) are to be taken as utmost important. Just like someone sitting next to you, you dare not forget his requests (lest you should take-in his sneers, stares and scolds).

2.       Be at his beck and call: No business-contact in this busy world likes to call you just for the fun of it. So if he calls, it becomes obligatory that you talk to him or at least reach out in a meaningful delayed time. That gives him a lot more confidence.

3.       Collaterals are to be speck-less: I keep meeting people who say ‘let’s fill crap in case studies, ppts’. They argument is that no-one looks into them. Mind you in this world of outsourcing, a prospect is just looking for a reason to strike you down. And if your collaterals do not have proper sentences, tone, connotations, images, content, specifications; trust me he will not be impressed by your organization. For him each artifact (whether it’s a website, case studies, docs, ppts) are all his decision-points to make decisions on your process, meticulous nature and the team. If you are not in proper order, trust me you lose the order.

4.       Collaterals are to be relevant: They need to be your extensions of sales arguments. They should understand that you know what you are talking about. Sending irrelevant collaterals just for heck of it, will cast a negative impression. Be choosy in sending artifact.

5.       Every conversation, every resource, every person is important: You might be an excellent orator, a tough sales guy, a near-perfectionist, but if your team is not up to the mark and the conversation involves someone from your team who do not match the client’s expectations, then please strike down the lead immediately after the call.

6.       Meet deadlines: Always meet the commitments or deadlines. I have lost quite a good number of deals just because we could not meet the time line. The moment you don’t match up to the timeline commitments, a client will always perceive it as the time zone difference coming into play (for clients in other time zones) or the remote connect lackadaisical nature coming into play. Both are dangerous for your business.

7.       Keep calling all your clients once in a while: Remote connectivity might turn out dangerous, if you happen to be away from your client’s voice-mails/emails/social-media. He will perceive that you are hiding behind the veil of remote connectivity. The reason will be presumed that you do not want him to see you. Just like you happen to run into a person in office, you also need to ‘happen to run’ into your clients communication channels. A seasoned sales guy knows the importance of this in building long term relationships/businesses.

8.       Access the breadth of the organization on both sides: Try to build relationship across the breadth of the organization. This will help in two ways: a. Help with other opportunities/leads b. Help with getting a second line of contacts, in case the first line moves out. Similarly let your client do the same. That way he will have more confidence on your organization. This is quite common in face to face relationships, then why should it be different in a remote connectivity relation?

9.       References/Testimonials from same geography: Every client needs positive assurances. More so for a remote connectivity client, who does not have the luxury of visiting your office or meeting your team? Sometime even after visiting your premises some customers, like to know how your past clients felt signing you. So references and testimonials from same geography will always help to overcome the mind blocks.

10.   Escalation matrix: A remote client wants to know what if you go absconding on the right time or if you purposefully don’t respond to his communication. So this is one more argument to present your case that you are trustworthy and though he does not sit close to your city, he can reach out to someone higher-up for issues.

11.   Process Driven: Organizations when dealing with unknown entities prefer dealing with a process-driven approach than ad-hoc personal basis. This will give an assurance to the client, that the vendor company has-been-there, done-that, analyzed-the-outcomes and established processes. So project your company as process driven than a free-lancer or a cheap sweatshop. It showcases how the company has matured from past executions.

12.   Virtual Infrastructure: Unfortunately, clients sitting outside your city cannot have a look at your infrastructure or take a call on the organization’s ability. But it is important for a client to get a feel-factor. Here virtual infrastructure like Project Management tools, deployment tools, ticketing systems come handy. Creation of virtual infrastructure needs investment (both effort and time), it surely pays off at the end (just like real infrastructure). The bigger (and better ) the infrastructure created, the more are the brownie points earned. Once created, a sales person should insist that the client goes through this infrastructure. (Just like you show-around your office space to a visiting client).

13.   Transparency: Last and most important is the transparency factor. In (all) long distance relationships, this plays a very important role in creation of mutual trust. If you do not have resources, tell them openly that you do not have, but can recruit. Rather if you say you have resources and then delay the project start for lack of them, it immediately makes clients lose trust.

Happy Selling!!!

Best sales people in the world never sold a thing ..

So goes a popular tenet in the sales circles. While misinterpretations can be many, I like to view it only from the positive perspective which it was meant to be viewed. :)

The day people try to push something very hard, then it is transactional. It will be one off thing, which will not sustain long relationship. And being a sales person, your clients are for relationships for long term, multiple selling and not transactions. So it is better to get in customer's shoes and view things as he wants and advise him as he needs. That is a better way to build ever-lasting relationships than doing one transaction.

As a start-up assess your priorities ...

I have recently met a start-up team. The team is quite an enthusiatic team on verge of launching yet another 'path-breaking' online store in India. They are funded by a popular hotel chain. We were referred to them by our technology partner company, a big cloud player. Three minutes in the meeting, I realized that they are cash strapped. (Most Indian biggies say funding but give peanuts.). I have suggested them options but cautioned that they need to look at their budgets. So while the CEO shied away, the other guys were insisting that I need to work out something for a start-up. I indicated to them my costs will not vary with the client. Irrespective of the client being an American, Indian, Established firm, start up firm, they are same. And in current age the margins are low in IT services industry, so I cant push much. Then I asked the fundamental question here: As a start-up do you need all the services? Thats when they were dumbfolded.

Most start-ups fancy the idea of having big bells and whistles to their core offering. It works fine for a big companies with deep pockets, but small companies should realize that there means are limited. So they need to assess the priorities: must-have; good-to-have; can-do-away. That way they are much comfortable in taking what is needed. In this current case, the start-up needed a 24/7 monitoring for their systems. They wanted this to claim that they can give this on par with other ecommerce stores in market. But they did not realize that when a customer signs, he is aware of the limitations of a start-up. He does not expect everything to be in order from day-1 but expects that his needs/pangs to be heard out. I advised them that they better stay close to their customers and call them on daily/weekly basis to figure out if things were in order and solve them than have a 24/7 customer support team. While it is important for the team to put money in performance tweaking and better tele-support than a monitoring service.

Charaterstics of a good sales guy

I have seen a lot of people talk to stereotype sales guys. A few of times I correct, a few times I ignore and a few times I provoke the debate, what are the characteristics of a sales guy. So I list them here:
1. Patient ( and not pushy as most people perceive)
2. No attention to detail.... Seriously NO. He should be able to see the big picture, forget the tactical ones, the operation teams can ponder on those.
3. Empathy, No sales guy has ever able to sell anything without empathizing with the client. So unlike the perception that sales guys are insensitive, sales guys are empathetic.
4. Truth nothing but truth. A very common misconception is a sales guy lies.. and lies glibly and blissfully. Though I do not blame the perception as some sales guy do resort to selling by hiding truth or lying about them. But the fact is most of this lot are not born sales guys. And not successful sales person. They are existing on a temporary basis, but can never make it in long run. Customers are not ignorant. They will at some point come to know the truth. When they do, it hurts them so badly that not only your reputation but also your company's is at stake.
5. Ignorant and dumb. Salesmen can never be ignorant and dumb. They need to understand the product what they sell. They need to understand why they are selling, what purpose it solves/addresses for its buyers. Only successful sales folk are the ones who know the product/service/solution at hand thoroughly.
6. Lazy. If there is anything someone successful in career has done, it is hard-work. All that pays in end is hard-work. Do not go by the time they hang around in office. Or the time to work on a deck/ppt. The picture perfect deck, the dug-out contacts requires more than just an 8 hour job.
7. Less of Directionless. If anything the process of selling is anything but direction less. There are a lot of things a sales person need to worry about with complete focus.
8. Discipline masked with Glamour, Drink, Dine: That's what it might appear at top. But it requires a lot of discipline to network right, dig out well and wind up cheerful. Though the glamor, drink and dine might be enticing for an observer, but for the right incumbent he knows the responsibilities right.
9. Differentiate between aggressiveness and assertiveness. A sales guy need not be aggressive, but he need to be assertive. He need to know not only where not to bend but also how to pass on the message without offending that things cannot be made to happen as needed.
10. Read to practice: Without evolving market dynamics , a sales person has to be on his toes. He need to know the next wave and also be prepared for it. To ensure this, he need to read a lot and at the same time practice all that is read.

Who obstructs your sales?

So you are again short of your targets. What went wrong? You were able to achieve it in yester-quarters then what happened this quarter? Where is the problem? It is the same you... so no change can occur in sales pitch. It is the same process so no deviations allowed. Who is the stumbling block? The first peeve is the market. Markets do not take excuses, markets are demanding and markets are forgetful. But that's not the complete picture about markets... MARKETS ARE FAIR. Markets follow the theory of natural selection, picking the best. So who let you down? Its your delivery team ... the flip side of your selling team. They are the ones who did not deliver in time or deliver the best quality or not let you keep up your (company's) reputation in the market.They are not in the same league as you are. They do not have KRAs or Targets as you do. They are not motivated with success of the deal. They are not concerned about the business side, as long as they get challenging work to do. So how to mitigate them? Lets talk about it in next post.

Selling… selling… selling.

As a practicing sales manager, I believe selling is like just another trade. There are people who are good at it. Then there are people who are bad at it. Lot of them think they are good and the other lot do not know what the purpose of the trade.  Yesterday was a day when I saw two contrasting selling traits and both of these are not advisable.

Pushy sales: I was talking to a real estate company executive. He wanted me to take a call then and there itself. He was rather pushy. What he does not understand is that the more he pushes me, the more I will be scared to make a decision in his favor.

Pleading sales: Later in the day, an old friend ping-ed on a chat session. The conversation opens stating that he has a big target to meet and he has not achieved much. He wants me to buy because he has to achieve his targets. Talking directly about his bad situation, in a conversation after 15 years, he has earned my pity. But more than pity I did not want to do much, because I do not want to buy something when some in a despair is selling.

So what do I think should be the best nature of a sales person?

1.       Patience: This sounds like a heavy word of dinosaur era, but the sun still rises in east and the word stands the test of time. More than anything a sales person should be patient enough to wait for the customer.

2.       Empathize: As a sales person you should read your customer’s mind. Understand how much time he needs to make a decision. Sometimes he needs to convince other decision makers before taking the call. So help him to convince others, in process he will be convinced himself.

3.       Follow-up: All prospects want to be pampered. They want to be followed-up. Period.

4.       Be confident: No prospect wants to go with a suggestion from a meeky individual. They want assurance that they are doing the right job and that’s given from the sales person’s confidence in the solution.

Two hours on working morning!!

This is might be a narration of just one morning, but most of the days are similar.

I wake up at 7:30am. Looks like another fulfilling day. Need to finish my morning ablutions. 8:30 is the call, If I start at 9, I should be at office by 10. 6kms in one hour might be a joke in other cities, but Bangalore is different. With a brush in my mouth, I open the front door to pick paper. I did not see the next door girl studying this morning. Prob her exams are over. Gosh!! People slog so much on things that don’t even matter. Skimming through the headlines… BSY, someone killed and India dooming. Not interested. Look into the mirror, my hair is still oily no need for applying it today. I am not sure if my stubble is gonna disturb people. But this being a Friday and Oh!! … a client call to be attended along with CEO.  I better finish shaving. Gosh… forgot to switch on the geyser.  So what is there next in Mint? Let’s see … Greece woos, Stock dips, Rupee raises, RBI intervention. RBI intervention seems interesting. Why should RBI pump money now? The export import balance. Thanks to MHB (Prof, IISc) for kindling my interest in Economics and making be clear about the fundamentals. By the way where did I keep my green bottle yesterday? Did I fill it before keeping? Let me find it. It’s time for my customary gulping of one litre water to help morning ablutions. Wait I am drinking water so there is one more thing I need to do at this time. I remember the phrase I coined “When drinking morning water, also make the plants drink water”. As fill the mug with water, what is it I see, the puja accessories. It’s been so many days since I chanted the Gayathri mantra. I need to start. What is time now? Grope for mobile.. where did I Leave my mobile.. ok 7:56. Another 30 mins for getting fresh.  8:30 is the call. I do not have time for puja now. Tomorrow is Saturday, let me start tomorrow. I want to do it in more relaxed way and not in hurry. While watering the plants, the tulsi has grown strong and tall. How fulfilling I feel to see efforts shaping up. Ahh … the moss, it just adds a different sheen to the surface. Another 10 days before it fills the entire pot. It should be so good. Where is my bottle? Another gulp. The “Vaamu” (Ajwain plant) has completed died down. It’s bad. I will get a new pot and plant it again. The crotons have more leaves than a month back. Was it because I moved its place or was it because of the rains? Must be my effort, the Gods always put equal effort on anything. Putting some additional water in the pot holders, these are for the pigeons and eagles. I hate those monkeys which come here often. I wonder from where they come. Anyways what time is it? 7:59. I better go.  Where is the towel? I should put this towel for a wash. When was it the last time when it was washed? When Dad was here … no no I washed it after that .. I think it must two weeks back .. no a month back. When did Dad come? Doesn’t matter.  Is the geyser switch on? Ohh .. did I switch it on? Or was it I forgot since yesterday.  No … I am not that forgetful. Aah! .. I remember it was after I brushed my teeth. Or was it after I shaved? Forget it, it’s on and I switched it on this morning. It does not matter when.  Is there a soap? Oh.. the Mysore sandal. The Floral one, Deepa  brought it from Bali is over so fast. I think that’s the way the world works. Thinks you like get done fast, while things you are not interested last more.  The Mysore sandal will last one more week now. What should I buy next? I do not care. Probably I should not buy any. The Lux shower gel, which I got from Singapore still there. Anyways I will think about it later. Is the water hot? It should be its more than 15mins since I finished shaving. Where is the newspaper? BSY, Murder … ok not the main paper. ‘Bangalore times’. Why this so heavy? Oh!! .. it is Friday. Wow then there must new movies released. And Haan!! New eat outs also listed.  Let me check. Priyanka. Don’t know where she gets money from these days. Her last movies was months and months before. Do not remember which one. Was it with Shahid Kapur. Anyways let me go, its already 8:06. 15mins for toilet and shower and then dress up before 8:30.

I come out of bathroom.. what time is it? Oh! 8:28. I am always like this. Taking shower quite leisurely. I could have hurried today and taken a leisure one tomorrow. What do I do now? What time is it? 8:28? Ok let me switch on the laptop. Did I shut yesterday night? Forget it let me find it first? Ahh! Let me dry myself before this boots. Do I put the Reebok or the Hugo Boss. Hugo Boss. Let me hurry. Am I logged into Skype? When did I log out yesterday? What was my last conversation? Was it with Jey? Or Chris? Forget it, let me log in now. Let me sit on the table. Sitting on bed will not give the correct posture. The client has not logged in yet. Wow!! Lucky me…  let me dress up.

What time is it? Where is the mobile? 8:34. Did he come by now? Not yet? How is this possible? Did he forget? I think very less chance. We talked only 10 hours back. He has decided the time. Anyways let me pick my accessories. I need to put this towel  to dry as well. Do I wear a watch today? All the watches have dead battery. I do not need any. Do I take these business cards? I have there email ids. So do not need them today. What was his last email? Yeah, I need to send a proposal to him today. One more thing to do today.  Where is my credit card? I think I left it in wallet yesterday. No its here. Com’on how can you be so forgetful?  Quick need to check if client has pinged. Not yet? How is this possible? Is he stuck somewhere or just waiting for my first move? Let me ping. 8:37.

Gosh he wants to put it off to Tuesday. He could have told me yesterday night itself. I could have better planned. Is this guy really serious or fooling around? He is making me spend so much time, will he sign the deal or enquire and move on? Where will he move on? There is no other good partner than my company. But what if he is not serious and this will not come to signing a deal stage at all? No way. Then why would he ask for the call and all. Why would Chris refer me here? He will come by end of the month.  Where are my shoes ? These are yesterday’s socks. Should I wear them? Remember the itching wearing previous day’s socks. No ways. Let me pick a new pair. A brown or black? Let me wear white. Brown I can wear on Monday with the brown trouser. Do I need to polish my shoes? No external meetings forget it. What time is it? 8:41. Do I eat breakfast here or goto office? Ah. Let me first goto office.  Where are my keys? What should I do in evening? Tarun will get vegetables. I do not to do anything. Devi…. Ahh devi… I need to give her 500 bucks more. She is so reckless these days. Does not come for days, yet she asks more salary. Anyways she does a good work so I do not mind paying.  When do I pay if not today. Tomorrow is Saturday I will pay tomorrow. Do I start jogging tomorrow morning? I also need to do puja. Forget it, let me plan in the evening. Do I take the lift or stairs? I becoming lazy… no lift.

The clothes pressing guy is here today. I need to give money. How much was it? Do I tell him to improve upon the way the clothes are pressed. Last two times he was better. Let me tell him next time.

What time is it? 8:46. This security guard is better than the previous guy. He smiles every day in morning.  I wonder where is he from? They work so hard. They never seem to go home anytime. Anyways where are my sunglasses?

The traffic is so slow. Getting bored. Do I need to call anyone now? No officials calls. Do I need to call Dad? No let me call in evening. I can then talk about their travel as well. Ramesh. Its been so many days since I talked to him. He will feel bad. And my bhabhi too. Let me call them in evening. Jayanth. So many days since I spoke to him. I will call him also in evening. Murali. I did not speak to him properly last two times. So let me talk to him properly in evening. Wait I think he said he will come in evening. I will talk to him face to face in evening.  This red light takes too long. That silver swift where is he trying to squeeze. Some people do not have traffic sense. They are in a perpetual hurry.

This signal takes so long. But I am opposite the SBI Atm, so I think I should be clear in next green light. Whenever I was opposite this, I clear the signal the first time. Hopefully it should not take long. That women is looking hot. Wow!! Some women are really made hot. Just Look at her, she is so traditional in sari but her figure is just fine. She would be really pretty in her college days. Where does this bike want to go? Is there enough place for him? The two wheelers are real pain. What time is it? 9:03. I will be in office by 9:40. Will have breakfast immediately. I am feeling so hungry these days. Do not know why? It might be because of the long and tiring working hours.

Thank God this is a short signal and I am in right lane. That’s the best part of Bangalore. Be in the correct lane and you will have a smooth ride. The red car in Hyderabad, he overtook me from left and went right. That’s why Hyderabad traffic is so pathetic. What’s the use of the big wide roads when people do not have traffic sense. Is it the other way? The big wide roads, made people lose traffic sense. Anyways where is my Blackberry? Any calls? Airtel is an idiot, he did not activate the services yet. Do I play FM? There will be too many ads. Let me not. Do I play the CD? I have heard those songs so many a time. Let me try FM. I will switch off when ads come. What this a big strand of hair in the front seat? Whose can be it? It’s been so many days since a girl sat in the front seat. When was it? Was it meenu? I do not remember. It’s been so many days and yet I find a big strand of hair? Who has done this? Was it the car cleaning guy? He must have made my car his bed-room. Got someone in. Wait. I did not give him the car key. He cannot get in. This fat police man, he never knows how to control the traffic. He always messes up with the way he handles. Let me squeeze before the Verna comes in.  Today seems to be pretty easy on traffic. Was it because I started early? No I start every day at this time. That client, he made me hurry things. I need to check if he is genuinely interested or wailing time when I talk to him on Tuesday. The traffic seems to be light because I am getting green at all posts. Whose hair strand is that? There was no girl in my car for more than five months now. I should have breakfast feeling really hungry. 

What time is it? 9:37. Good reached a bit early than expected. Today’s afternoon call is important. Wow the whole parking lot seems empty. Which one do i pick? I need to set the expectations right with client in the call in afternoon. Let me take the third one. I will leave the first one for big cars. I get it…. It is JP, its him .. he has a long strand of hair. Its him!! It his pony tail!! Let me park fast, go up and check with him what happened about the proposal we need to send, after all he came in my car for that meeting!!