Sell Smarter Embrace the Sales 2.0 Movement to Increase

8/14/2019 Sell Smarter Embrace the Sales 2.0 Movement to Increase

1/210


2/210

i

Sell SmarterEmbrace The Sales 2.0 Movement To Increase Sales And Outsmart

Your Competition.

By Justyn Howard

[email protected]

Please share reely under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Deriv-

ative Works 3.0 license.

Copyright 2007, 2009 by Justyn Howard All Rights Reserved

Editor: Preston Hull, Layout:Valerie Spencer
mailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipelinehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriespencerhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriespencerhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/mailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipeline


3/210

ii

Its been almost 2 years since the rst edition o this book (then

titled the Passive Pipeline) was written. In that time the processes

and tools available to help Sales Proessionals work smarter have

been enhanced dramatically. Tools like LinkedIn and targeted email

marketing have become commonplace. Technologies like Twitter

and the iPhone have given us new opportunities, and a whole new

breed o sotware like InsideView, Genius.com and SlideRocket has

emerged.

Many o the tools I wrote about in 2007 have been replaced with more

powerul and easier to use resources.

In terms o eciency and productivity its a better world orproessional sales today. Unortunately, our economy has also

temporarily handicapped us, so its more important than ever or Sales

Proessionals to work smarter and more eciently. Its more important

than ever to embrace new tools and processes when engaging

with prospects and customers. Those o us who take this as an

opportunity to grow will increase their business dramatically while our

competition and those around us who choose not to do so will ndthis business climate very dicult.

Were acing reductions in sales orces across the globe. Companies

will be orced to do more with less. Those o us ortunate enough to

stay employed will have to become better than ever at maximizing our

productivity and nding new ways o conducting business.

Note rom theAuthor


4/210

iii

That has always been the spirit o this book, as well as improving the

buyer-seller experience by bringing a more proessional level o sales

to the mainstream.

Sell Smarter will give you new ideas and increases in eciency. There

are lots o ways to be more eective in your work, many o them

coming rom advances in intuitive web technology. Consider this book

an opportunity to grow your skill-set and leave your competition and

coworkers wondering how you blew out your sales quota in the midst

o a recession.

Did I mention you no longer have to cold-call? I havent made one in

nearly three years, yet I still managed to have a record year in 2008

and a 300% 4th quarter during the economic collapse. Yes, I am a

current quota-carrying Sales Proessional who uses everything written

in these pages. I simply wont share a tool or practice that I have not

used and ound success with.

I hope you embrace the ideas presented. I they help in some way,please recommend this book to a riend or colleague.

Thank you, and I wish you all the best in 2009.

- Justyn


5/210

Be sure to register at

www.passivepipeline.com

or ree requent updates.
http://www.passivepipeline.com/http://www.passivepipeline.com/


6/210

v

Introduction 1

What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Whats Possible?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Adopt Or Perish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

How To Use This Book 19

The Broken Model 21

How Salespeople Perpetuate Dysunctional Buying Practices. . . . . . . . . . 25

How Sales Managers Perpetuate Dysunctional Selling Practices . . . . . . . 30

Quick Tips: Proessional Selling 36

Data Is Power 38

The Power O Data In Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Customer Relationship Management Sotware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Assessing Your Current Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Choosing A CRM Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

The Power O Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Turbo Charge Your CRM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Quick Tips: Client Relationships 58

A New Era In Email Marketing 61

Then And Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Why Email Marketing Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Standard Email Equals Lost Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Table o

Contents


7/210

vi

Choosing The Right Email Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Build Your Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

The Absolutes For Email Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Building Your Email Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Using Email Templates To Boost Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76The Elements O A Good Email Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Crating Emails That Get Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Avoid The Most Common Email Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Permission Based Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Legal Considerations For Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Reporting & Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Email Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Newsletters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Important Lessons About Communication 94

Blogging 96

Why Should Sales Proessionals Blog? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Reasons Why You Should Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Is Blogging Right For You And Your Business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Building Your Blog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Easy Ways To Build Blog Trac. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Maximize Your Reach With Quality Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Analyzing And Tuning Your Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128


8/210

vii

Quick Tips: Sales Process 129

The New Proessional Networking 132

Your Personal Business Network Compliments O Web 2.0 . . . . . . . . . 132

Enter Web 2.0-Powered Personal Business Networking.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133How LinkedIn Can Impact Your Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

How To Build (Or Enhance) Your LinkedIn Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Twitter: A Quick Guide For Sales Pros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Developing A Social Networking Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Managing Your Online Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

How To Create And Deliver A Great Sales Presentations 158Discovery vs. Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

To present last? Or rst? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

In Person vs. Virtual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Slides. Slides. Slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Quick Tips: Meetings 174

Creating A Defned Short-List Process 176

Additional Tools And Resources 180

SlideRocket! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181


9/210

viii

LovelyCharts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Jigsaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Sales Success Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Zoomino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Microsot Live Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Remember The Milk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

GetAbstract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Xobni. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

LeadLander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Google Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Google Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Tying It All Together 195Putting A Plan Into Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

CRM Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Email Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Blog Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Additional Sotware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Recommended Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-


10/210

1

Introduction

There are many absolutes in sales, but one supersedes all others: In

order to earn business you must be invited to the table. You Must be

present to win.

Another absolute is that your chances o winning are directly aected

by the stature with which you enter the equation. I call this your

Credibility Upon Entry (CUE).

This book is a collection o tools, techniques and processes designed

to increase your eectiveness in these two areas. While there are many

stages in the sales process, without an eective means to execute

the rst two, the rest become useless. Many o the ideas presented

will increase your eectiveness throughout the sales process but our

ocus will be on getting you to the closing table, poised to win.

This book will help you build a set o processes and tools to

dramatically increase your presence, nd more opportunities and

increase your close rate. Best o all, many o the components are

automated. They work 24 hours a day to promote you and your

business and they do so more eciently and with better results than

you could possibly achieve alone.

Must bepresent

to win.


11/210

2

Its no secret that cold-calling no longer works well. Its a act that you

spend more than hal o your time working on deals that you have

little chance o winning. And its an unortunate truth that less than

one quarter o your time is spent actually selling. With the tools and

technologies available to sales proessionals today, these truths will

no longer limit your success.

The concepts embedded in this book have been in use since the

onset o trading and selling. An example is traditional proessional

networking. Networking has always been the process o orging

relationships that will capture uture business. Well-executed networks

continue to generate business with very little maintenance. The sameis true with the Passive Pipeline, but on a much grander scale.

Networking will always be a staple o the business community, but

there are dozens o new, more eective techniques emerging that are

easy to use and less taxing on our most precious resourcetime!

In addition to increasing your market presence, these techniques will

create a sphere o infuence around your sales process that will make

it nearly impossible or competitors to derail you.

There have been tremendous advances in technology in the last ten

years, and the opportunities they present in sales are staggering.

Unortunately, most traditional sales wisdom was established beore

these new tools were invented or widely accepted.

New advances insales have been

absent or at least30 years.


12/210

3

In act, its oten acknowledged that new innovations in sales process

have been absent or at least 30 years. Fortunately there have recently

been major developments in Sales 2.0 tools, though adoption o these

tools has not yet hit critical mass. In this book, I plan to show you

ways to advance your own selling practices beyond the majority.

Many sales proessionals are already using the techniques I will discuss

and these early adopters are cashing in. Others are so busy trying

to reach quota and are too entrenched to realize theyre being let

behind. A power shit is ensuing in our eld between those who

embrace technology and those who do not.

It will become increasingly harder or those who dont embracetechnology and new methods to capture business. The gap between

sales proessionals who understand how to be eective in todays

business climate and those who dont is widening every day.

At this very moment, by reading this book, you have a head start.

It will be years beore widespread change occurs. Even i changing

the way you work seems a little daunting, get started now. Seize this

opportunity to advance your sales career to a new level!

My belie and experienceis that i people have

a better model, better

skills and i they getbetter results, they will

change. Otherwise they

will all back on what they

know, even i it seems

dysunctional.

Mahan Khalsa


13/210

4

The System

What You Will Learn

Sell Smarter is a series o tools and techniques that operate on the

same premise as networking: build your pipeline, inuse your infuence

via the network, and increase your income, all while spending your

time working with high-potential prospects and adding a great deal o

value to their buying process.

Each component o this system serves this purpose in some way,

while the core o creating a passive pipeline chains these components

together to create a perpetual business-building process requiring

minimal upkeep.The ideas we will discuss cover two major components:

1. The rst are the tools and techniques designed to posit ively

impact your sales, either through generating opportunities,

securing the opportunities you have, or enhancing your infuence

and outreach, all while saving you a tremendous amount o time.

2. The second component involves chaining all o these tools andtechniques together to unlock their real power. The entire process

creates an automated, cyclical pipeline-building machine with

many points o entry and a single uniorm purpose. Skillully

intertwining these ideas will elevate the eectiveness and

proessionalism with which you work.


14/210

5

Here are some o the things you will accomplish in the

ollowing chapters;

Your prospective clients will preer to do business with you,

beore you ever even speak to them. You will manage your prospects buying and selection

process with exclusive authority.

You will know who is buying beore they ever tell you (or

your competition).

You can create at least three times more opportunities than

you are capable o generating with your current eorts.

You will become an invaluable resource to your prospects,

someone whose expertise they would not consider moving

orward without.

You will obtain the most comprehensive set o demographic

and contact data possible or your market.

You will be able to execute the most precise and eective

prospecting eorts possible, without wasting your time onineective and outdated methods.

You will build a highly visible list o proessional reerences

that will turn your contacts into your greatest lead source and

eliminate the need or sel-promotion.

You will save hours every week in building your business,

What it can

do or you.


15/210

6

while seeing exponentially better results.

You will eortlessly build tremendous credibility that will

increase your stature beore ever interacting with a prospect.

You can own your territory in a manner that was neverbeore possible.

You can be the rst person into every deal you work.

You will close more business, make your boss smile, rame

your next W2 and steal your competitors commission!

These are pretty aggressive goals, and without the advances in

technology over the last 10 years, they would be impossible. Sales isa ast moving occupation. We tend to get so overwhelmed with the

task at hand that we ail to recognize innovation.

Our proession as a whole is notorious or being stuck on what worked

yesterday (in some cases it didnt even work then). Small pockets o

sales proessionals such as real estate and recruiting have admirably

embraced change and have ound great success in doing so.

The biggest change that will work to our advantage is that these tools

and techniques are no longer exclusive to those with tremendous

resources and technical savvy. The learning curve is gone. Anyone

can use these techniques with similar results, but the reality is that

not many are today. You still have a great opportunity to outmaneuver

your competition.

Own your

territory.


16/210

7

Whats Possible?

Imagine i the ollowing were true:

You could be alerted when a prospect was evaluating acompetitors product or service.

Prospects sought you out or advice and expertise at the

beginning o the buying process.

You could see in real time when a prospect or client opened your

email or visited your website.

Your sales presentations were more relevant and more valuable.

You were involved with every buying process in your territory.

You could be alerted when potential clients were unhappy with

your competition.

All o these things (and many more) are already possible.

The next ew pages contain three real-world examples o how we

can leverage widely available technology to increase our sales and

outsmart our competition. As youre reading the next ew pages,

ask yoursel how these scenarios dier rom your current business

practices. Focus on not only the practice being executed, but also the

ease and passiveness with which it is perormed.

Whats

possible?


17/210

8

Real-World Example #1

Yesterday I received a press release rom our marketing department

regarding a client in the banking business. Within ve minutes, I had

personally emailed every contact I had in the nancial industry. Theemail included a note stating that I thought their team might nd the

attached article o interest. I also included several links to various

articles I wrote and published on the web, to product pages, to

downloads, and I closed with a call to action.

This is pretty basic, right? You can do all o this today, right? But

do you?

The real WOW actor came a little later in the day. By utilizing one o

the tools we will discuss later, I was able to see who opened my email,

whether it was orwarded to any coworkers, and precisely which links

in the email were ollowed. Sounding better?

My call to action had prompted a ew responses already, but what

about the ones that hadnt responded?

I noticed a contact I hadnt spoken with or some time haddownloaded the RFP template that was included as a link in my email.

I called and told her I noticed she had downloaded the template. I had

the opportunity to chat with her regarding her uture business plans. I

asked her the ollowing questions:

Email

marketingthat isnttargeted is

useless.


18/210

9

Is your team planning to source in the near uture?; Would you like a

sample business case that some o my clients have used in the past to

sell the project to executives?; and Anything else I can help you out

with?

Using traditional practices, this would have been just another marketing

email sent o into the abyss. I would have never known that she visited

our website, or that she was even interested in buying at this time. This

particular contact is just one o a couple dozen that took measurable

action as a result o this email.

Realistically, I probably never would have sent this email i it werent

or my Passive Pipeline. I simply never had the time or the data orprecision marketing o this nature.

I youre like most people, you may send out a mass (untargeted)

email or newsletter once or twice a month. Once in a while you may

even get a response and close new business. The days o those

ineective practices are numbered. We will discuss some more

amazing things you can do with your marketing eorts in 2009.

The

days oineectivepractices

arenumbered.


19/210

10

Real-World Example #2: (this one hits on several ronts)

Establish yoursel as a sought-ater expert in your feld.

Have prospects that want and preer to do business with

you, beore you even speak to them. Manage your prospects buying and selection processes

with exclusive authority.

Know who is buying beore they ever tell you (or anyone else).

Be the frst person into every deal you work.

Blogging is a very important opportunity or sales proessionals, so

I have dedicated an entire chapter to it. Weve all heard o blogging,

and tens o thousands o people make a living at it, but what you

might not know is that it can be the #1 source o new opportunities or

your business.

Today, I noticed that a top-level manager or a company I have been

courting or over a year downloaded an RFP template (the same one

I mentioned in the previous example) that I had posted on my blog.

This in itsel is a great thing because the template was authored by mycompany and was understandably in our avor.

I called the contact to ollow up and ask him about his current plans

or sourcing this solution.

My

prospectwas ollowingme.


20/210

11

As the conversation progressed, I learned that my blog had a direct

eed into his teams intranet site and that they had been ollowing it or

some time. Furthermore, they ound my articles very useul and began

to use my insight as a measure o their project strategy as they moved

orward.

I cannot imagine a better example o Credibility Upon Entry (CUE).

Not only did this prospect see me as an expert, his team was using

my materials to develop their strategy. On top o that, I was able to

manage the buying process through my RFP template. I was now

the rst person in the deal and the prospect was predisposed to rely

on my expertise. How hard do you think its going to be or another

salesperson to get the upper hand in a sales process like this?

Real-World Example #3:

Prior to my calls in both o the previous examples, I was able to, rom

within my contact management sotware:

See all relevant company data including size, locations,

competitors, etc. Determine any contacts I had in common with the person I was

calling including current and past employers (e.g. Dave used to

work at IBM with Joes current boss)

See buying triggers including acquisitions, jop openings, news

Establish

yourselas anexpertin your

eld.


21/210

12

announcements, etc.

These are just a ew examples o how the tools we will cover can be

combined to elevate your business to a new level. There are dozens

more in the pages o this book. The power o combining thesestrategies is even greater the more tactics you utilize.

These things wont work or me!

As I was writing this book, I thought about the salespeople who are

process-regimented and not creatively encouraged. I played devils

advocate or a minute and went over the possible scenarios:

thats not how my company works mine either.

my company handles all o our marketing eorts mine too.

my company dictates what email programs and relationship

management sotware I use mine too.

I dont have time or all o this stu neither did I, which is

exactly why I had to embrace and develop these techniques.

My point is that I am well aware o the typical structure and tools

available on todays sales foor. The good news is, these tools wont

turn your company upside down or mean that a battle with IT is

imminent. I have worked or two organizations in the past 10 years,

each with very dierent requirements and procedures. In both, I was

able to deploy and develop the techniques in this book with very little

It works.


22/210

13

resistance.

I have also used these practices in my own businesses. Those o you

working independantly or running your own business will have evenmore fexibility in building your Passive Pipeline.

You dont need to adopt everything presented in this book to make

a dramatic impact on your business. While the ultimate power o the

Passive Pipeline is in using all o the tools combined, dont be araid

to start with the ew you think will provide the greatest benet. You

can do away with the tools that dont make sense or your business.

I dont use them all in my 9-5 (err7-7) job. Some o them are not a

good t. Some o the ideas make more sense or my other endeavors.

The more ideas you can adapt to your business, the better the results.

Implement

the ideas thatmake senseor you.


23/210

14

Adopt Or Perish

We need to ace the act that there are people working smarter and

more eciently than we are. I we dont start to recognize that the

business climate has changed and start using the powerul tools

available to us, someone else will. Your competition might be three

chapters ahead o you in this very book. Start today and stop letting

someone else steal your commission!

Adopt or

Perish.


24/210

15

My Story

Im not an established author, sales coach, or motivational speaker.

What I am is a top perorming Enterprise Sales Proessional with a

creative mind and a knack or technology and writing. I am a student

o sales, a believer in helping my clients succeed, and an observer o

human nature. And one more...I have been able to remain at the top

o the sales board or nearly my entire career by deying tradition and

nding new ways to excel.

When I rst entered the sales proession, I pounded the phones to

make contacts and attempt to secure clients because thats the way Iwas taught. I was in a competitive industry at the time (I still am), and

I quickly realized I was going to need a more eective way to build my

pipeline and get a head start on my better-known and more seasoned

competitors. My natural curiosity, computer savvy, and desire to excel

began orming the ideas that evolved into this book. This was only

nine years ago, but it may as well have been a million years because

o the way technology advances.

As I began learning and applying the strategies I will be discussing in

this book, I presented a problem or my employers. I was at the top o

the sales board (usually by a good margin), but I didnt employ many

o the practices they were teaching and measuring. In some cases,

they stopped posting certain metrics because they didnt want the

About

me...


25/210

16

rest o the sales sta to see that I had the highest sales and the lowest

metrics o anyone on the sales foor. I was doing very much the

opposite o what was taught and required o salespeople.

Luckily, some managers were accepting o my alternative ideas, andsome converted, but this was not always the case. Ive been called

un-teachable, dicult and lazy (though not according to my sales

numbers). Yet Ive had ormer employers later request that I teach

them about the methods I was using to succeed.

Technology has provided advantages that werent available when

the legendary sales books were written, or when your supervisor

entered sales, or when your companys ounders established theirtried and true sales system. Its time to embrace todays tools and

take our proession to a new level.

Embrace

todaystools.


26/210

17

My Motivation

I absolutely love what I do and I hold a 110% conviction that we

maintain one o the most important, challenging and respectable

jobs that exists. Youve probably heard the phrase nothing happens

until someone sells something. Its true, and it breaks my heart

to see salespeople who, by using senseless, unocused methods,

are perpetuating the alse notion that we are to be avoided and

mistrusted.

As I developed the practices I will be sharing with you, I had no

intention o writing a book. I didnt really think what I was doing wasthat uncommon. I was simply trying to discover a better way to

succeed in my proession. I I was going to be doing sales or the long

haul, then I was determined to make the most o it.

Over the last couple o years, I really started to develop a system or

my approach to business. Technology became integral and allowed

me to do my work even more eciently. When I nally stopped long

enough to evaluate my evolving business approach, I came to anunexpected conclusion: my techniques really were unique. I began

to look around or other resources: books, seminars, workshops; any

means to help me expand my skills. I rapidly came to the conclusion

that this type o support didnt exist or sales proessionals. I had to

rely on books and seminars or Internet entrepreneurs and online

Love

whatyou do.


27/210

18

marketing experts to learn more. It was rustrating because no

educational opportunities were put into a context that spoke to our

proession. The great authors and speakers and coaches in the sales

world had either missed these advances or chose to ignore them. I

think it was simply because they were unamiliar concepts and widely

unadopted.

There are hundreds o books published every year about the

human and psychological aspects o sales, selling style, how to ask

questions, negotiating and creating rapport, the way that business is

evolving, and how we must adapt. To date, there is little about how

technology can be used in sales to do our jobs more eectively. There

is not a single book targeted at sales proessionals regarding the

eective use o a CRM system, online personal business networking,

or targeted email campaigns at the sales representative level.

No one can argue with the act that the greatest impact in the last 50

years o business evolution is technology. However, when was the

last time you read anything about using technology in a sales book?

You may have read about how to manage your time using a PDA orthe dos and donts o email marketing, but tell me about something

that can really make a dierence in your sales potential! There are

some phenomenal sales tools available today, and they will play an

important role in your success.


28/210

19

How To Use This Book

This book is composed o both explanation and application. I

recommend you read through once to ully understand the concepts.

Dont stop and begin work in any one area. Ater your rst reading, it

will serve as a workbook and you can begin to implement the ideas

immediately.

While engaged in this book, make note o the concepts and

methodologies that can be applied to your business. While most

people will nd all the concepts are applicable, certain elements

will have a more substantial and immediate impact. Focus onimplementing those ideas rst; move on to the others later.

As I have mentioned, the real power o what you will learn will

be realized when several o these ideas are working together

simultaneously. However, dont attempt to pull all the methods

together at one time, as you will likely nd yoursel overwhelmed. This

may result in several hal-attempts resulting in your ailing to obtain the

benets o each concept.

Sotware & Links

Throughout the book you will see reerences to sotware, websites

and blogs. Whenever possible, I have included a direct link to the

sotware download, article, website, etc. At the time this book was

Understand,then

implement.


29/210

20

published all links were active.

I any o the links stop working, please email me atjustyn@

passivepipeline.com.

The majority o the tools and services discussed in this book are eitherree or available at a very low cost. They are also all easy to use.

The tools are

easy to use.
mailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipelinemailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipelinemailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipelinemailto:justyn%40passivepipeline.com?subject=The%20Passive%20Pipeline


30/210

21

The Broken Model

The world o buying and selling is constantly changing, while

mysteriously our approach to sales is not. Unortunately, mediocre

selling and buying practices have become the norm over the years,

leaving buyers skeptical and sellers willing to compromise in order to

make a sale. The more prospects resist, the more disconnected our

selling practices become.

For success in sales today, we have to identiy means to change

the apathy in the sales industry and deliver value to our prospective

customers in a dierent, more subtle, (but quite deliberate) ashion.Buyers today have what are oten unreasonable expectations. You

must know how to meet the consumers needs but they provide you

with little or no useul inormation with which to do so.

Because o past experiences and skepticism, some buyers attempt

to answer all o their own questions and then simply look or the best

bid. I buyers truly had the expertise to pull this o, they wouldnt

need outside vendors at all. The buyers request or demand that no

meaningul discussion take place between you and the very people

whose needs are meant to be met.

I you sell to businesses, youve likely heard, its all in the RFP. I you

want to secure a sale, you must ollow the outlined process and ask all


31/210

22

questions in a public orum. By no means are you to vary rom these rules.

Any attempts to consult directly with the business owners or to

uncover what really needs to transpire in order to meet their needs are

oten met with scrutiny and you will probably (unknowingly) be labeled

as dicult. In an honest eort to do what is in the best interest o the

client, you are seen as making the buyers job harder.

In dealing with consumers, you may be perceived as just a

commissioned salesperson who knows little about the product and

who certainly doesnt have the consumers best interests in mind.

Consumers have been conditioned to avoid and mistrust salespeople

even more than corporate buyers, though its usually a silent matter.

The sad reality is that the buyers are not to blame or this scenario.

Salespeople have been using inadequate selling practices or so long

that the consumers suspicion is justied. You cant take it personally.

The problem stems rom thousands o salespeople beore you who

made buyers eel compromised. Executives have had their time wasted.

Receptionists have been reprimanded or allowing salespeople through.

Salespeople continuously cold-call people who have no interest in the

product or service being oered and add absolutely no value to the

prospects day.

These are just a ew examples, but you get the idea. The skepticism

we ace is, in most ways, justied. Its not personal, but its very real.

Buyers have

unreasonableexpectations.


32/210

23

As a result we have been trained to get past the gatekeeper. We

have learned how to leave vague or urgent messages that prompt

a response. We develop elevator pitches to sell our product in 30

seconds (because we are conditioned to think thats all the time a

salesperson should expect to get).

As much as I would like to see a change in this grim reality, its unlikely

to happen (at least not in the next couple o lietimes). What we can

do is commit to working above the standard that exists in sales today.

I we can inuse the system with more eective practices, we will be

able to disassociate ourselves rom this pattern.

Change is urgently needed. Were never going to be exceptionallysuccessul in sales i we must continually battle the poor buying and

selling practices that we (as a whole) have created. Instead, we need

to move orward rom this point by building a new oundation which

osters success or both the buyer and seller.

In the grand scheme, we can see this as an opportunity to be the

trend setters or a new approach to sales. Its much easier to stand

out in a crowd when you adopt an approach that promotes a winningsituation or all parties. We have the capacity to turn a poor perception

o salespeople into a powerul tool or change. We ultimately want to

associate with the clients who appreciate our hard work, not the ones

that lump us in with the negative stereotype o what a salesperson

is.

Commit

to workingabove thestandard.


33/210


34/210

25

How Salespeople PerpetuateDysunctional Buying Practices

The single biggest way that salespeople perpetuate this broken model

is the manner in which we solicit opportunities (prospecting). At some

point in your career, you have likely been told that i you make 100

phone calls, you will speak to 10 people, book 2-3 appointments and

make one sale (or some similar version o this nonsense). You are told

its a numbers game. More contacts equates to more sales.

I argue that the more ineective calls you make, the lower your

chances o success in the long run. Out o the 100 people you call,how many o them will need your product or service over the next

couple o years? Many o them probably will, but how many o them

do you alienate and irritate using the methods we currently employ?

More oten than not, those opportunities are lost orever.

The act is that a very small percentage o the people you contact are

in act ready to buy today. However, by calling these olks constantly

you are putting yoursel at risk o being categorized as the type osalesperson they would like to avoid. In their opinion, you are just

another needy salesperson about to waste their time (especially i they

dont need what you are selling).

A call

without valueis a prospectlost.


35/210

26

The consequence o this tactic is that prospects dont call you back.

In act, they wont return any o your phone calls or emails. At some

point during this one-sided exchange, something important happens

that most o us ail to realize: that person makes a subconscious

decision at that very moment to never contact you. Even six monthslater when they actually need what you are selling, they will not be

calling. Why? Because they have ignored you or months and they

actually eel bad about it. Not only did they ignore you, but your

persistence made it worse. Your sales manager may applaud your

persistence; your bank account will not.

The second reason you wont be hearing rom them is that because

people dont like to admit when theyre wrong. Maybe they should

have called you and simply said that they didnt need your services

at that time. They didnt call because they viewed you as the

stereotypical salesperson, and they assume youd be calling them

again next week anyway. I you didnt, another one would.

Ultimately, rather than returning your calls, they will avoid the situation

altogether and call someone else, even i you have the best productor their particular needs, simply to avoid any guilt.

The best thing we can do is keep buyers away rom that emotional

pitall. Sales are driven by emotion (and i you dont believe that, then

you probably havent cracked a sales book in the last decade).

Stop pushing

buyers away.


36/210

27

I youre like me, you have a limited number o prospects. It might be

your territory, a vertical or named accounts. The point is, you probably

dont have an endless supply o prospects. Every time you put one

o your prospective clients in the situation I described above, you are

essentially diminishing your territory. When your prospect list getssmaller but your quota continues to grow, what happens? You get

desperate or sales. You practice below-average sales methods and

you alienate your prospects even urther.

Traditional methods also lead to poor time management. The purpose

o a cold-call (over the phone, through email or in person) is to deliver

a message. Ninety percent o the time we never get that chance. This

means that 54 minutes o every hour spent seeking new clients yields

no results, other than to annoy the people we are trying to reach. I

that same hour were spent on eorts that could reach thousands

and build your Credibility Upon Entry (CUE), the results would be

exponentially higher. Similarly, i that hour were spent calling on people

who are actually in the market or your product or service, you could

substantially increase your success.

There are three possible outcomes o cold-calling: that you will not

reach the intended contact, that the person will not be interested in

what you have to sell, or that the person is ready to purchase your

product or service.

Your

prospectpool is notendless.


37/210

28

None o those scenarios have much value to you. But the person

is ready to buy! you say. Sure, but other circumstances need to be

considered. Another salesperson (maybe more than one) is probably

already leading the charge. They either had an inside line or they were

simply in the right place at the right time. Maybe they even reachedthe client rst because o a cold-call. The Passive Pipeline is about

being in the right place ALL the time, and reaching opportunities with

the right timing and credibility needed to win.

Im not saying that cold-calling will not benet your business. One sale

out o 100 calls will certainly help (though I doubt the ratio is even that

high). What I am saying is that there are other ways to prospect and

nd opportunities. You must break the cycle o inerior sales methods

while maintaining and building your proessionalism and credibility.

Let your competition perpetuate the poor sales processes so that

when a buyer is ready, you will be their choice. There are better ways

to nd opportunities.

The beauty o the approach taught in this book is that your prospects

will begin to nd and approach you, and while this was a result o youreorts, it never eels like prospecting (to you or the prospect). You

build credibility beore entering any sales process, and have clients

who are grateul to be working with you (not the other way around).

Be in the

right placeALL the time.


38/210

29

This new approach brings the client to you because o your

knowledge, expertise, integrity and respectul nature. It creates

a brand around your very name that tells prospects that you are

someone they should do business with. They didnt nd you by

chance. They ound you because o some very calculated eortson your part toward building your credibility and presence. This is a

perect example o how a sales eort doesnt have to mean being a

salesperson.

Here are a ew more examples o why traditional prospecting

methods dont work:

Real decision-makers rarely take time or pitches or cold-calls.The people who will take your calls dont have real power.

You have no competitive advantage when you enter the sales

cycle using these methods. You are constantly trying to prove

your useulness, simply because o the way you approached

the opportunity.

Gatekeepers are never going to connect you with the real

decision makers. You will be passed o to someone whocollects inormation, has little authority, or manages vendors

or a living.

People preer to do business with people they seek out, not

the other way around. It puts the client in control.

Build

yourcredibilityandpresence.


39/210

30

I youre a subscriber to the 80/20 rule (its hard to argue with), then

80 percent o your opportunities come rom 20 percent o your eorts.

So the question becomes: why dont you get rid o the other 80% and

do the things that work 100% o the time? Technology and advances

in sales process have allowed us to identiy these eective practices,its no longer necessary to throw everything at the wall and see what

sticks.

Do the things

that work100% o thetime!


40/210

31

How Sales Managers PerpetuateDysunctional Selling Practices

Most sales managers were salespeople at one point in time. They

have been operating on the same traditional buying and selling

practices as everyone else. Along with the rest o us, they ail to realize

that the business climate, as well as the most eective buying and

selling practices, have changed.

Today, the number o calls and appointments made doesnt

translate into sales. While it is an easy metric to track, i your eorts

arent resulting in sales, it is simply activity with no results. Pushing

salespeople to consistently court buyers who arent ready to buy is

not going to work either. Accepted sales wisdom tells you its all

about persistence. While its true that persistence is paramount to

success, persisting in doing the wrong things has no real purpose.

Traditional sales theory (especially around prospecting) simply does

not apply in todays business environment.

Most sales managers (and salespeople) also operate under themisconception that the product with the best eatures or lowest price

will succeed. Most managers dont attach enough importance to the

CUE with which you enter the sales process. Finding opportunities

and ailing to turn them into business is worse than not nding an

opportunity at all because o the drain on your time and resources.

Its our ault.


41/210

32

There are many other actors at play that create such a misguided

buying/selling relationship. We have marketing departments that that

waste our time with unqualied leads, CRM sotware that we were never

properly trained to use and unrealistic urgency pushed upon us that

leads to more rantic and disconnected sales eort.

Most studies reveal that we spend less than two hours a day actually

selling. The rest o the time is spent on ineective prospecting, working

with CRM systems that arent working or us, orecasting sales, and

sitting in meetings, among other things. The two hours that we do

spend selling are primarily wasted on unlikely opportunities, trying to

orce-eed our expertise to prospects or ineciently drating responses

and communications. We are spread too thin, which has, in part, led

to our ineciency and lack o success.

The good news is that the practices, tools and techniques needed to

correct the situation are readily available.

Id like to recap the outcomes this book can deliver:

Successully obtain prospects that want and preer to do

business with you, beore you ever speak to them.

Directly manage your prospects buying and selection

process with exclusive authority.

Know who is in a position to buy beore the client tells you (or

or your competition).

The toolsare readilyavailable.


42/210

33

Create at least three times the opportunities you are capable

o generating with your current eorts.

Eectively establish yoursel as a sought-ater expert in

your eld.

Obtain the most comprehensive set o demographic and

contact data possible or your market.

Execute the most precise and eective prospecting eorts

possible, without ever picking up the phone or asking or the

person who handles such-and-such.

Build a highly visible list o proessional reerences which will

make any competing sales person wonder why they evenattempted to take your commission.

Save hours (days in some cases) every week in building your

business while seeing exponentially better results.

Locate and be introduced to the people you want to do business

with, and present them with a billboard o your credibility

beore ever interacting with them.

Own your territory in a manner that was never beore possible.

Be the rst person into every deal you work.

Close more business, make your boss smile, rame your next

W2 and steal your competitors commission!

Get

betterresults.


43/210

34

Here are two very dierent approaches to courting a prospect

which summarize the ideas presented in this book:

With the traditional model:

You have a list o companies to call and dial uriously to make just

a couple o connections. Ninety percent o the people you reach

become irritated and make a mental decision not to work with you.

Maybe two or three agree to an appointment. O these, ew have any

buying authority. You may spend months trying to convince them to

buy your product or service when the people with authority dont have

a need or your product or dont even know youve called. Or, you

may nd a legitimate buyer with a genuine need, but you are the ninthvendor they have spoken to! This is not a sales model I choose to

participate in.

A Smarter Model:

A buyer nds you because you have established a presence through

your passive pipeline. The buyer contacts you. You have now entered

the sales process on an equal ooting with the prospective client andyou are no longer perceived as a salesperson. You help the buyer

manage the purchasing process, provide them with useul inormation,

and begin to mutually explore solutions with them.

A better

way.


44/210

35

The buyer is thrilled and satised to be working with you. The

sales cycle is shortened, and i by chance more vendor quotes are

required, they are simply accepted as a matter o process. Other

vendors and salespeople are being measured against the standard

that you have set.

In addition to this buyer, thousands o other potential prospects

are nding you through your Passive Pipeline. You are seen as a

proessional and you have the luxury o only working deals you have a

high probability o winning.

Final Thoughts Beore We Move On

Im going to get o the soapbox now and detail exactly how you can

start using technology to make todays selling climate work in your

avor. Much o what you will read in the next ew chapters will be

entirely new to you. You may start to wonder why these techniques

have not been made available beore. Let me address that now.

These are not new ideas. They are proven and they work. Many

top perorming salespeople, real estate proessionals and internetbusinesses are using them today with exceptional results. The

concepts we will explore have simply never been widely applied to

proessional selling.

Set the

standard.


45/210

36

Great authors, speakers, and sales coaches o our time simply are

not in tune with the new resources available to us today. They are

superb in teaching the human aspect o selling, closing, prospecting,

time management and so on. I am not in any way discounting the

excellent speakers and authors out there and I think we shouldcontinue to rely on the best o them or guidance. I simply think we

need to augment these teachings to match the pace at which the

business climate is changing.

These are uncharted and unamiliar waters to most people in

the sales industry. Human nature oten resists change in avor o

whats comortable and amiliar. But the sales world is no longer

a comortable place. Chances are you arent satised with your

current selling situation or you wouldnt be reading this book.

No one has ever ound success by doing the same things tomorrow

that resulted in mediocrity today.

No one has everound success by

doing the samethings tomorrowthat resulted in me-diocrity today.


46/210

37

Quick Tips: Proessional Selling

The most important sales skills you will ever learn come rom

a true desire to help your clients succeed.

You must invest time to stay abreast o your industry. Dont let

someone else come to the table that is more knowledgeable

than you.

Your relationship with your sales management team is the

relationship that will have the biggest impact on your success.

I your boss is demanding more o an activity that isnt yielding

any results, its time to have a chat. Determine with your boss

at what point a dierent approach is required to achieve the

results you both want.

Top perormance requires rest. Dont beat yoursel up or

downtime. Take it when you need it and enjoy it. When you

need to shut down, shut down completely.

Show gratitude to your internal support team (product

managers, operations, marketing, etc.). Anyone who hasa hand in your success or product delivery deserves your

appreciation. By working as a complete team, you will

accomplish your work aster and your clients will be given

priority. Very ew salespeople reward and thank their internal

support teams.

Quick Tips:

Selling


47/210

38

Nobody cares how much you orecast at the beginning o

the month; they care how much you close at the end. Dont

all into the common trap o eeling pressured to project a

large number. You will only destroy your credibility with your

management team. Be honest with yoursel and your boss,despite your ego. I you cant be consistently +/- 15%, lean

towards being a sandbagger as opposed to a dreamer.

Whenever possible, do the things that really charge you up.

I one orm o prospecting gets you going and gets results,

do more o it. I ace-to-ace meetings leave you eeling

accomplished, schedule more o them. Dont mistake this with

doing the things that are easy; you dont want your results to

suer in avor o un.

Some o us run at peak perormance during our busiest times.

When this crosses the line to stress, make an eort to manage

that. Stress comes with the territory, but learning to manage

(and eliminate) it can help your career and enrich your lie.

Become an expert on setting goals. There are tons o books andonline resources. Being able to eectively plan and ollow through

with goals is the mark o very successul sales proessionals.

By coming into every situation with the commitment to helping

your clients succeed, you can overcome any other deciency.


48/210

39

Data Is Power

The Power O Data In Sales

Most o us have that little plastic keychain card that saves us a ew

bucks at the local grocery store, but do you know that these cards

have become standard not only at every major retail chain in the world

but also at small community businesses? Its because these cards

provide these companies with the most lucrative set o demographic

and purchasing data you could imagine.

This inormation is used to determine which products are popular in

certain regions, which products have lost popularity, which couponsto print on your receipt, and which ad campaigns have been eective.

The cards have both saved and earned billions o dollars or these

businesses.

An excellent example o the power o data collection is Amazon.coms

email marketing program. The inormation you receive is remarkably

relevant to you. How did the olks at Amazon know those books

would interest you? How did they know to leave irrelevant books outo this valuable advertising space? Amazon.com is amazing at utilizing

data to increase their outreach and ultimately their sales.

On the other hand, I receive marketing material (even rom very

well known companies) containing products or services that I have

absolutely no interest in purchasing or using. Intuitively, I think these

Utilize dataproperly.


49/210

40

companies are crazy or spending the time and money on marketing

these items to me.

Theres a good chance you are doing the same thing to your contacts.

Ask yoursel a ew simple questions: Do they really have any need

or what you are sending them? Is there relevant inormation in every

communication that you send? Are they even involved in the buying

process or what you sell? I so, have you appropriately related your

material to their specic role in that process? Do you know what that

role is?

Heres an embarrassing scenario: are your existing clients getting

emails about buying a product they already own? I they are, youneed to re-evaluate your marketing strategies. What does this relay

to your clients about your proessionalism?

I recently signed up or a workshop oered by a leading Internet

Marketing rm. A ew days later, I received an email asking why

I hadnt reserved a seat and stating that i I didnt act soon the

workshop would be lled. I wondered how a prominent internet

marketing company could make such a simple mistake. Theysimply hadnt utilized data properly.

Even the best businesses alter rom time to time, but it is important

to be cognizant o how proessional your eorts appear in the public

domain. Data is the key.

Relevant,

accuratedata is your#1 resource.


50/210

41

Customer RelationshipManagement Sotware

Beore we go any urther, it is important that we lay the proper

oundation. Accurate data that is easy to manage is one o the most

important tools a sales proessional can have. Further, many o the

other ideas presented in this book depend on it.

The typical vehicle or housing data or sales proessionals is a

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) sotware tool. These

have also come to be known as Sales Force Automation (SFA)

platorms.

CRM systems come in a ew favors. There are standalone

applications which operate on a single computer (like Act!), Enterprise

systems which are typically housed on a companys network

(Microsot CRM, Sales Logix), and increasingly popular Sotware as a

Service (SaaS) solutions which are simply accessed through your web

browser (Salesorce.com, Landslide, Sugar CRM).

These systems vary widely in interace, ease o use, and reportingcapabilities, but they all serve the same purpose. Most salespeople

and managers conuse the purpose o these systems. CRM systems

do not simply hold contact inormation or provide reports or

management.

Lay the

properoundationor success.


51/210

42

Your company has wasted a great deal o money i this is how they

use their CRM systems and in turn, you are wasting a great deal o

time and opportunities i this is how you are using it.

I you asked 100 salespeople to share their eelings about their CRM

tools, 99 o them will tell you that its a hindrance, that it consumes too

much time, and that it intereres with the sales process. When you nd

the one person who lights up and tells you how lucky they are to have

such a tool, and how they operate ten times more eciently using it,

hire that person. I they already work or you, give them a raise and sit

them near their colleagues who dont quite get it yet.

Management is primarily to blame or the ailed adoption o CRM solutionsby salespeople. The problem typically alls into one o two categories:

either the salespeople were never properly trained to use the system, or

the company itsel treats the CRM system as a digital rolodex.

Most oten, a company trains sales sta in the points and clicks o the

sotware but ails to train employees in whyproper use o the CRM tool

is so important. It is oten the case that the management team doesnt

ully understand CRMs capabilities either. The decision to buy a CRMsolution oten alls in the hands o the IT department. By the time the

sotware reaches the end-user, the value to the sales organization is

lost. The system is seen by salespeople as a burden with no value, and

millions o dollars have been wasted.

Operate

ten timesmoreeciently.


52/210

43

Assessing Your Current Solution

Its time to nd out where you stand in terms o your current CRM tool. I

you are currently using Salesorce.com, Microsot CRM, Act! or another

popular product, then you are in good shape.

I youre not sure how well your current solution stacks up,

answer the questions below:

1. Are you able to properly capture all data that is relevant to your

line o work? Or, do you nd yoursel without the elds required to

properly capture all the data you need?

2. Can you easily sort or group your contacts based on a specic set

o criteria (location, employee size, industry, etc.)?

3. Is the system fexible enough to allow you to speciy several

criteria on which to report or with which to view your data (location +

company size + industry, etc.)?

4. Can you save the criteria you selected to easily go back and see

an updated view?

5. Can you export this data in a commonly usable orm (Excel,

HTML, Text, etc.)?

I you are unsure, try all o this with your current system. Make a list o

all the relevant contact inormation you want to store, and then ask

yoursel, is there a place or it all in your CRM package? Try to view

Are you

capturingall the datayou need?


53/210

44

a list o contacts that are in the banking industry and are located in

a specic town. Now see what options you have or retrieving that

specic view out o the system.

I you were able to answer yes to all o the above questions, or i you

use one o the tools I mentioned earlier, then you can skip the next

ew pages o this book.

I you answered no, youll need to look at your options. I you are

part o a large sales team that has a standardized CRM system, do a

little more research. Chances are it has the unctionality I mentioned,

but you werent trained properly.

I the standardized system doesnt suit your needs, determine whetheryou can use another system. Personally, I would not work or an

employer who didnt provide the unctionality I required to do my job

well or didnt allow me to use alternatives tools.

I youre eeling deeated right now because youre absolutely stuck

with a system that wont meet your needs, there is a nal option. Ask

or a Microsot Excel export o your entire database (just your records)

and spend some time learning how to manipulate it. You will be able

to achieve the desired results using Excel, they just requires a ew

more steps. CRM products are essentially just databases themselves,

but they oer a prettier interace and apply some compelling business

logic.

Look at

youroptions.


54/210

45

Choosing A CRM Tool

I you dont currently use a CRM tool, or i you are eeling compelled to

re-evaluate your CRM ater reading the last section, I will outline a ew

options available to you. In my opinion, you are in an enviable situation

i you are planning to use a new CRM tool. You have a clean slate and

my organizational habits love a clean slate! No at-ngered data entry

rom previous salespeople to clean up and no stagnant contacts.

On the next ew pages you will nd summaries o rthe eadily available

tools which I think are best suited or todays salesperson. Dont

consider this a comprehensive list. There may be a product built

or your specic industry that oers a lot o convenient tools. Theoptions I have reviewed simply represent the CRM tools I nd to be

popular and eature-rich. For what its worth, I use Microsot CRM or

my primary job and Salesorce.com/Landslide or my other business

ventures.

Get

organized.


55/210

46

SalesorcecomSalesorce Automation (sa)

Description

Reps need solutions that make their jobs easier, not more complicated.

Salesorce gives them ast access to dataonline, ofine, and via

mobile devicesand links easily to popular tools like Microsot Oce

and Outlook. With a user interace rated simple and intuitive by PC

Magazine, Salesorce is the one SFA solution every sales rep will love

and use.Salesorce.com

My Review

Salesorce.com has taken the CRM industry by storm and or good

reason. First and oremost, it does everything a salesperson could

ever ask o a CRM product. Second and maybe most important to

you, they oer a ree single user version.

Concerns

My primary word o caution about this product is that you needa browser to use the non-enterprise versions. I you dont have a

constant internet connection (or have a slow one) this may not work

well or you. With the absence o views in the personal versions, the

user can still use the report builder to meet the same objective but its

not quite as powerul.

Sotware

ReviewPublisher:Salesorce.com

Ease O Use: Beginner

Free Trial: Yes

Free Single User Version: YesCost: Free or Personal Edition.

Team and Enterprise versions start

around $65 per user per month.
http://www.salesforce.com/http://www.salesforce.com/


56/210

47

Microsot Dynamics CRM

Description

Microsot Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM)

solution that provides the tools and capabilities needed to create and

easily maintain a clear picture o customers, rom rst contact through

to purchase and post-sales. With modules or sales, marketing, and

customer service, Microsot Dynamics CRM delivers a ast, fexible, and

aordable solution that drives consistent, measurable improvements in

every business process, enabling closer relationships with customers

and helping to achieve new levels o protability.Microsot.com

My Review

As I mentioned, this is the tool that I use in my daily job. Microsot

Dynamics is a powerhouse and really delivers on unctionality. One o

my avorite eatures o this CRM is its excellent out-o-the-box query

engine.

Concerns

Microsot Dynamics CRM is not as user-riendly as some o the

other systems. The standard import tool is limited, and the available

documentation or this product is dicult to obtain and not very

comprehensive. Finally, and this may just be my experience, the email

tool built into Microsot Dynamics CRM leaves a lot to be desired.

Sotware

ReviewPublisher:Microsot Dynamics


Free Trial: Yes (30 days)

Free Single User Version: NoCost: Starts around $395/user annu-

ally, though you may be able to nd it

cheaper.
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamicshttp://www.microsoft.com/dynamics


57/210

48

LandSlide Sales Production System

Description

As a Sales Production System, Landslides Sales P3 is a new

category o sales sotware that helps move deals aster through your

pipeline. While SFA/CRM systems ocus on capturing data about your

pipeline & customers, the ocus o a Sales Production System is on

helping salespeople close more deals aster - with predictability and

replicability Landslide.com

My Review

Landslide is a breath o resh air in the contact/opportunitymanagement space. It delivers all o the tools you would expect,

while being more aligned with your actual sales process. Its really in a

league o its own, conceptually new, and certainly worth a look.

Concerns

This product is or orward thinking sales organizations. Its going to

be tough to get traditional-minded leaders to abandon their existing,traditional CRM solutions. To maximize its potential, this product

also requires that you take a deep look at your sales process, which

requires some work.

Sotware

ReviewPublisher:Landslide.com


Free Trial: Yes (6 Months) - here

Free Single User Version: NoCost: Not Available. Licensing beyond

trial requires 5+ seats.

Authors Choice!
http://www.landslide.com/http://www.mylandslide.com/http://www.mylandslide.com/http://www.landslide.com/


58/210

49

Act! 2009

Description

ACT! enables individuals and small business customers to instantly

access key contact and customer inormation, manage and prioritize

activities, and track all contact-related communications. It osters the

growth o productive business relationships. Renowned or its ease o

use, ACT! can be tailored by each user and oers robust integration

with the tools you use everyday. Sage Sotware

My Review

Act! has everything you need and is eature-rich. Outisde o myresearch or this review, I have never used the product, but I have

known many salespeople that are committed to it. It also provides

a desktop installation so you do not need connectivity to use it. The

built-in integrations with Microsot Word and Excel are solid. The

product is updated requently and current owners upgrade or a

minimal ee.

Concerns

As an individual user, I would go with Salesorce.coms ree product.

As a large organization, I would choose Salesorce.com or Microsot

Dynamics CRM. For a small- to medium-sized team that requires data

to be shared and centrally stored/reported on, Act! is a great solution.

Sotware

ReviewPublisher:Sage Sotware


Free Trial: Yes (30 days)

Free Single User Version: NoCost: Currently $230 or the single

user version.
http://www.act.com/http://www.act.com/


59/210

50

CRM Setup Notes

A new CRM system requires that you do two tasks right away.

The rst is to create custom elds you will want or your contacts

and accounts. CRM sotware allows the user to add custom eldsbecause everyones needs are dierent. The elds you choose to add

will vary depending on what you sell and your target audience.

Note: Custom elds in Salesorce.com, Act! 2009 and personal versions

o Microsot Dynamics CRM are simple to set up. I you are running a

network-based version o these tools, the custom elds are set up by

your administrator. In this case, contact your administrator and simply

ask them to add the desired elds.

The second thing you need to do is to import any o your existing

data. Unortunately, I dont have the space in this book to explain

how to achieve this or every CRM product, but the applications I

have mentioned are airly straightorward. Accessible documentation

is included to walk you through a complete data import (with the

exception o Microsot Dynamics CRM).Beore you import your existing data, take a look at the next section to

cleanse your data beore you bring it in.

The time spent cleansing

your data will have

tremendous rewards. This

step is vital!


60/210

51

House Cleaning

Whether youve chosen to stay with your current CRM tool or are

about to import existing data into a new one, its important to cleanse

your data. Your data will be less eective i not cleaned properly. Illgive you a real-lie example:

A previous salesperson in my territory couldnt understand the last

name o one o his contacts. So he entered Cant Understand

Name in the last name eld. We regularly plug a persons rst or last

name directly into email campaigns to personalize them. As a result,

this poor contact has been getting emails addressed to Mr. Cant

Understand Name. How embarrassing or us and rustrating or him!

Another mistake to be wary o are names entered in ALL CAPS or all

lower case characters. This is undesirable or the obvious reasons.

Its also important to augment the data you already have. Incomplete

inormation is o little value. I you plan to target a specic industry,

but hal o your contacts dont have an industry associated with them,

you wont be able to use the sorting and other eatures o your CRMsotware to their ull advantage.

Youre going to spend a lot o time on this cleanup, but the good

news is, when its all done, youll be staring at a gold mine!

Prepare tosell smarter.


61/210

52

Here is a list o things to do to clean your data:

1. Do a search or any accounts (companies) that dont have

contact records associated with them. Unless there is a compelling

reason not to, delete these accounts. They are only place holders.

I there is pertinent inormation in the record, then why doesnt it

have a contact?

2. Print (or export) a list o all o your accounts. Find any duplicates,

and merge the records together. This is usually done in a ew clicks.

3. View, Print or Export all o your contacts. Look or any oddities in

the capitalization o names (all caps, all lowercase, etc.) and correct

these or consistency.

4. Do a search or any contacts or accounts that dont have data

in the elds which you will use to target your audience (industry,

employee size, etc.). Spend some time now to complete all o this

inormation. Missing data is a good reason to reach out to your

clients and have conversations under the guise o cleaning up your

records. You can gain additional inormation and contacts easily,

primarily because it isnt technically a sales call.

5. Find any accounts that dont belong in your database. I you work

in territories, look or accounts that arent located in your region. I

you work in verticals, get rid o the companies that dont match. I

you work a specic company size, eliminate companies that dont

Dene:Clean Data


62/210

53

match your size criteria. I dont mean permanently delete these

records, but get them out o your database and let your sales

manager deal with them. You may be hesitant to drop accounts,

but why clutter up your database and spend your time marketing

to a client base that is outside your area o expertise?

6. Look or contacts that dont have a company associated with

them. Unless you sell to individuals, match them up with an

account or delete them.

During this process, instead o doing laborious manual searches,

plug your criteria in and let the sotware nd them or you. In the

next chapter I will show you exactly how to build queries. I you are

unamiliar with how to do the things Ive described above, consult

the programs help menu or someone who is experienced with the

product.

Data cleansing is vital. I you complete this right now, and in any uture

data imports, you will never have to clean data again! I you settle or

incomplete or inaccurate data now, your eectiveness will be cut inhal, at least.

Do not skipthis step.


63/210

54

The Power O Queries

The concept o a query is not one many people are amiliar with.

Most people think a query is simply jargon or searching. While thats

undamentally true, the real value o queries is that they are storedor uture use. You can dene the criteria or rules o your query

once, and get a snapshot o all records matching those criteria at

any point in time.

Next to having clean data, learning to build queries is the most

important (and benecial) asset to eective use o your CRM. I you

learn how to properly query your data, a new level o eciency will

open up to you.

I have close to 50 queries saved in my CRM and I use them all the

time. Within 30 seconds, I can see just about any group or subgroup I

need. Send an email to everyone whose name starts with T and who

works or a company that has ranchise locations, you say? Probably

not something I would realistically need to do, but easily possible using

queries.

I have separate saved views or all contacts within each industry I

market to. I also have a modied version which includes only contacts

with email addresses.

I have saved views or every relationship type (client, prospect, analyst,

Openup newlevels oeciency.


64/210

55

media, etc.) and views or just about anything else I need.

I you were to look over the shoulder o 95% o CRM users, you would

nd thet they either had none o their own queries built, or that they

just had queries that came pre-loaded in the sotware (either by the

publisher or by their company). This is typical, and I dont intend to

alienate anyone, but its also a shame.

Any company that is not actively grouping and manipulating data

to perorm targeted sales activities is wasting money and losing

business. They might as well just have a huge ling cabinet in the

middle o the sales foor.

I you are ortunate enough to have well-thought-out queries or viewsalready saved in your system, get amiliar with them. You will likely need

to make a ew changes to get them just right, which we will discuss in

the next chapter.

How To Build Queries That Sell

The process o building a query varies by product, but in this regard all

CRM products basically work in the same way. Look or an advanced

nd or custom report tool in your sotware.

You will start by indicating what type o records you intend to search

(contacts, accounts, opportunities, etc.).

Next you will choose the search criteria. Most sotware will also

Targetyour salesactivities.


65/210

56

have operators such as and or contains data which allow you to

complete advanced data dissections.

Make sure the report is dialed in exactly the way you want it, and then

save it. Aterwards, each time you run this query, it will be updated

with any new data acquisitions.

Some o my avorite queries:

Contacts I have not contacted in last 60 days

Contacts with no email (shows me where I have work to do)

______ Industry Contacts with Email Addresses

Companies with > _____ employees

Opportunities wi

Sell Smarter Embrace the Sales 2.0 Movement to Increase

Documents