What will disrupt your life in 2015?

The world of FMCG has always, by definition, been fast moving, but last year was remarkable. The disruptions came thick and fast.

Discounters like Aldi and Lidl continued their inexorable rise and really established themselves as a credible and enduring force. Scandal rocked Tesco as their accounting procedures came under the spotlight. Aggressive de-listing tactics hit the headlines and changes in ownership produced some unsettling conditions in some of the biggest companies in FMCG, with restructuring and redundancies commonplace. 2015 has already seen more disruption and change…

But “disruption” is not always a negative force – in fact in the world of consumer electronics and mobile phones, companies are constantly on the lookout for the next big thing to disrupt the marketplace and sweep all before it.

Time then to embrace the positive in disruption and get ourselves match-fit for the coming season!

After a hard fought and aggressive year in which all sides in the FMCG game seemed to be pitted against each other, my bet is that 2015 will be the year for forging closer partnerships.

Instead of being pushed around and forced onto the back foot by retailer’s tactics which you find unpleasant and aggressive – come out fighting. Even in this tough, disruptive marketplace there are huge opportunities for companies and individuals bold enough to face issues head on. Take a fresh, positive approach to building genuine collaboration and partnerships.

You will  certainly need to go into each meeting well prepared and with a strong set of negotiating tactics like these from our friends at Total Negotiation but I truly believe that you will see the benefits from showing your commitment to a positive approach that places your future together centre stage.

3 Strategies to Win With a Buyer Every Time

Most sales teams invest a lot of time thinking about winning with their customers, yet go into each meeting totally unprepared. Then they’re surprised when things don’t work out.

Strategy expert and sales trainer Duncan Cawdell has seen it a million times and knows through experience that to come away with the outcome you want you need to put more in at the start. His background as a buyer and a supplier has given him a unique insight into both sides of the process.

His advice is to be strategic, take time and follow a few simple steps.

Here are his 3 sure fire strategies for turning each meeting into a win.

“ We’ve all winged it once or twice in our lives and we might even have got away with it. My advice is don’t do it. The number one way to get what you want out of a meeting is to plan for it.”

1. Have a plan.

Back in the day in order to get a national account manager’s role most candidates would have spent time on the road with regional accounts or smaller players, learning their craft and gaining experience in countless meetings. Now with a lot of field sales outsourced, recruitment is focused on graduates who move straight into national roles and their experience of meeting face to face is much reduced. That doesn’t hold true on the other side of the fence – many buyers sit though more sales presentations in a week than most NAMs conduct in a year, so it’s important to get it right first time. Learning on the job could cost everyone dear so focus hard on clear, effective and rigorous planning.

2. It’s not all about you.

If you were taking someone new out for dinner you wouldn’t order their food, tell them what to drink and then launch into a half hour monologue about yourself (I hope!) Likewise when you are in the meeting it is really important to talk about your customer not yourself. With the right preparation you will already know all about the people and the dynamics of the organisation you are selling to. By getting into the mind of the customer and thinking about what is and isn’t working for them and how their business operates then you can start to show them how you can solve their problems and meet their needs. Be clever and get their attention with your creative approach.

3. Get permission to sell

If they like what you’re saying then they will want to know more and when they give you that green light you have their permission to sell. This is the magic moment when you can close the deal – when everyone is on the same side. No need for tense negotiations with each side playing the part of adversaries, instead you are working in partnership and getting things done.

So plan, play to your strengths and turn things to your own advantage in meetings that are a win not just for you but for both sides.

Duncan Cawdell has put his extensive experience of the industry behind his company Pure Blue Ocean which offers coaching for sales success to both sales teams and individuals looking to increase their skills. So if you would like to know more do call +44 7788426914 or Email:duncan@pureblueocean.com

 

The 4 horsemen of the Sales Apocalypse – secrets of the most successful sales people.

A guest post by Chris Murray.

Contrary to popular belief, prospects aren’t sitting in darkened rooms trying to invent new, more fiendish reasons to say no.

If a prospect has a real need for your product or service, then what they require is a great sales person to help them make a brilliant buying decision.

If things seem to be going OK during a sales call and you suddenly hit a brick wall – it will more than likely be because they’ve introduced you to one of the 4 Horseman of the Sales Apocalypse.

 Good news is – each one of them has a weakness and each one can be defeated.

 Scepticism

 The first one is Scepticism which is essentially your prospect doubting that your product or service will deliver all the wonderful things you say it will.

 When this happens you need to introduce a little proof.

 You know the kind of thing – customer testimonials, brand presenters, some recent industry data, a demonstration, magazine articles – it might even be something as simple as leaving a sample.

 But you need to know your “sources of proof” for everything you sell and be ready to prove each and every benefit, with the ability to tailor them for each individual prospect.

 When you introduce your proof, you want to avoid agreeing with the customer’s scepticism, so train yourself to use words which recognise the prospects point of view, but allow you to move onto your new solution.

 Zig Ziglar’s “FEEL; FELT; FOUND” is a great example, it works like this;

 “I understand why you FEEL that way – Mr Jones next door FELT that way too – but what he FOUND was……” and then introduce appropriate proof source.

 Indifference

 Rider number two wears the colours of Indifference; this is where a customer shows little interest in your wares and can’t see any good reason to move forward.

 Indifference is a tough one to crack because you’re dealing with someone who sees no need for what you have to offer

 The only way round indifference is to use well honed questioning and listening skills to help them uncover – by themselves – a previously unrealised need

 You may have spotted an opportunity; but it’s up to them to recognise the need.

 Once you’ve uncovered at least two unrealised needs there’s more than a fair chance that they will have will have moved beyond their indifference.

 Misunderstandings

 If a prospect goes cold and then makes a statement that’s totally inaccurate to explain their reasoning – then you’ve got a misunderstanding.

 Misunderstandings are never the prospects fault they are always down to the sales person.

 Whether you have explained yourself a thousand times, driven them to the factory for lunch or drawn simple pictures is all irrelevant.

 Telling them that “they’re clearly not bright enough to recognise a simple concept when it’s right in front of their nose” isn’t going to win you the deal.

 So you have to cop for it!

 You swallow your pride, you hide your annoyance and you say something along the lines of;

 “Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t explained myself properly actually it’s….”

 Drawbacks

 Essentially this is something you can’t deliver, so understand it and get over it.

 You can’t do it, the product doesn’t do it, your company doesn’t (and won’t) do it

 The thing is, every sales person has drawbacks in their portfolio and for all your concerns your competition really doesn’t have the perfect solution to every customer problem either.

 The answer is to outweigh the importance of the drawback with the heavier tonnage of all the benefits that your product or service can deliver.

 If all the good things your product does fails to bring the scales down crashing towards a close – then this probably isn’t your prospect, or worse, you haven’t grasped how you can really help your current clients.

This post was written by Chris Murray, who runs www.vardakreuztraining.com one of the UK’s most innovative training and development organisations, specialising in tailored and bespoke programmes which offer a wide range of business solutions.