The document provides tips for proactive sales management. It discusses developing customer relationships by advancing customers up a "relationship ladder" from prospect to loyal customer. It emphasizes gaining customer insights. It also outlines conducting effective sales meetings, including informative, training, and decision-making meetings. Finally, it encourages salespeople to "sell more stuff" by doing it better, faster, and cheaper than competitors and answering customers' primary questions. The overall message is that strategic planning, developing customers, setting targets, improving meetings, and outperforming competitors are keys to winning in sales.

1. Proactive Sales
Manage to Win!
Greg Chase
Chase Consulting
Venice, FL
chaseconsulting@comcast.net

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Outline
1. Develop the customer
a. advance and build relationships
2. Conducting effective sales meetings
b. effective meetings with a purpose
3. The Big KAHUNA
c. surprise!

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Develop the customer
The 25% - 75% Rule
Prospect
Customer
Advocate
Loyal
Your company Competition
$12 Million
$36 Million!

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Develop the customer
Relationship selling changes the selling process:
Advance the customer up the relationship ladder
“Relationships are the foundation to build a long term business partnership.”
(Hudson)
Relationship selling
(advocate-loyal)
• Retain existing accounts
• Become the preferred supplier
• Price for profit
• Manage accounts for long-term
profit
• Always get the last look
To:
Transaction selling
(prospect-customer)
• Get new account
• Get the order
• Sell to anyone
• Cut the price to get the sale
From:

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Develop the customer
The relationship ladder
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Loyal Customer
Maintenance
Advocate Customer
Customer
Developmental
Prospect
Problem Fix
Maintenance
Developmental
Fix

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Develop the customer
The Relationship Ladder
 Problem account: Not buying! – Fix or Fire!
1. Quality issue
2. Payment issue
3. Service issue
 Eliminate the problem!
1. Raise prices
2. Strict terms
3. Improve quality and service
 Objective: Send the problem account to the competition
or back on the ladder.
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Develop the customer
The Relationship Ladder
Developmental
The prospect account:
They have been qualified and might buy. You either need to
meet with them, or you have met with them once or twice. (Maybe five
or six times to get that first order.) They have seen your advertising.
You need to promote your products, quality, service, and competitive
pricing.
The customer:
Used to be a prospect, but they have bought from you. Very
price conscious. Often places order with lowest bidder. Doesn’t always
give you a last chance. Doesn’t view you as a friend. You need to get
to know them personally. You need to promote your value proposition
when you get the opportunity.
“If you are not taking care of the customer, the competition will.”

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Develop the customer
The Relationship Ladder
Developmental
The advocate customer:
They used to be customers, but now they are friends too. They
believe in your valued proposition. (i.e. that which you offer that sets
you apart from the competition) They sell for you. They know your
wife's name and you, theirs. Will invite you and your family to their
company picnic. Always gives you the last look. Shares competitive
information with you freely. Happy to recommend you to a friend.
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Develop the customer
The Relationship Ladder
Maintenance
The loyal customer:
They used to be advocates, but now they are almost family too.
They know most of your family and you, theirs. On occasion, you
socialize together. They promote your products, sell and defend you as
well. They realize you are as interested in the success of their
business as you are your own. They buy all their precast products from
you. They are convinced you have the best quality and service and are
willing to pay for it. They trust you will give them fair competitive pricing
at all times. You have built up equity with this account. Small lapses in
service or quality are easily tolerated.
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Develop the customer
“A sale without a relationship is not a sale, it’s an order…
orders come and go.” APG
1. Make a short list of customers you don’t sell to.
2. Make a list of customers you do sell to.
3. Categorize each one on the Relationship Ladder.
4. Make lists of the top 20%, in the prospect, customer, and advocate
categories. Remember, not every customer is a candidate for an
advance.
5. Develop a strategy to move each to the next level.
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Develop the customer
Advance the relationship - Gain customer insight
 Understand the customer’s business
 What are his critical success factors?
 What service issues create problems?
 What time / financial constraints apply?
 What are your customer’s competitors doing? Who are the
two biggest?
 How much precast does he buy?
 What products does the customer demand?
 What’s your share?
 Who is his receptionist / assistant?
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Develop the customer
Advance the relationship - Gain customer insight
 Understand the customer
 When is your customer’s birthday?
 Where is he / she from?
 Where did he / she attend school?
 What are his / her two favorite interests?
 What is the name of his / her spouse?
 What are the ages of his / her children?
 What are their sports / hobbies?
 What is their personality / behavior?
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Develop the customer
Advance the customer up the relationship ladder
 Relationships move the business from a transaction to a
partnership.”
 Consistently bring fresh ideas to your customer
 Generate sales leads for your customer
 Train you customer regularly
 on product / service usage
 technical capabilities
 how to use industry resources for further learning
 Highlight business benefits of products / service
 Create loyalty and a steady demand for products
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Develop the customer
Summary
1. Always advance the customer up the relationship ladder
2. Deliver value with each interaction
3. Be consistent and professional
4. Be on time – early is better
5. Ask questions – learn to listen
6. Gain customer insight
7. SPIN the customer
situation – problem – implication – needs (specific needs)
8. Provide solutions that provide the customer value, i.e. reduced
costs, reduced risk, improved schedule, and improved
performance. Remember, safety and environmental always.
9. Tailor the offering to the customer
“If people like you they will listen to you, and if they trust you
they will do business with you. People buy from people they like and
people they trust.” 14

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Conducting effective sales meetings
Four Types:
1. Informative:
Announce progress, discuss ideas
2. Training:
Improve skills
3. Decision-Making:
Problem-solving, brainstorming
4. Individual meetings:
Strategic planning and reporting

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Conducting effective sales meetings
1. Information sales meetings
When: Weekly, early Tuesday or at a time most convenient to
the sales team. If Monday, mid-afternoon. Why?
What: Review what is relevant to everyone: pricing, product
availability, wins, programming and promotional activity. Team
discussion for landing hottest proposals. Recognize individuals
for meeting/exceeding expectations. Discuss only things that are
applicable to everyone.
Length: One hour maximum - salespeople want to be
motivated by meetings. They want to be out on the street with
new info that will help them sell! They want to feel positive and
enthusiastic.

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Conducting effective sales meetings
2. Training Meetings
When: As often as needed, never less than once a month –
give plenty of lead time. Send out agenda and purpose.
What: Problem solving, advertising, inventory levels, unique
training tools, skill training. Role playing exercises on how to
overcome objections, how to negotiate, how to SPIN, customer
satisfaction, etc. Get input from sales staff on training topics.
Conduct fun quizzes at the end.
Length: Not more than one hour – don’t go over allotted time.
Sales people, C.S.P.C.P.S.I.A.M. What does this mean?

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Conducting effective sales meetings
3. Decision-Making meetings
When: Once per quarter – give plenty of lead time.
What: Brainstorm ideas for added value opportunities,
promotional ideas, sales promotion, new products, and
sales/bookings objectives for the next period, etc. If sales people
get to participate in sales decisions, they become empowered,
committed to their success. Brainstorm with customers as well as
vendors and agencies on ways to improve what you do for them.
Encourage sales people to create agendas and chair these
sessions.
Length: One hour – if longer, take a break.

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Conducting effective sales meetings
4. Individual Meetings
When: Formally, every week, at the beginning of the week
What: The weekly sales plan – calls, objectives, and
tactics…The planners become weekly-monthly-quarterly sales goals
for the sales person…Last week’s calls and results…Reporting on
the progress of individual targets…Collection issues…Goal
shortfalls…Anything specific to the sales person…Bad news…This
is when the sales manager earns his stripes, he’s the coach.
Length: Fifteen to twenty minutes

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Conducting effective sales meetings
Meeting Do’s and Don'ts
Do start on time, and close the door
…. finish the meeting on time
…. develop and stick to an agenda
…. single out people for compliments
…. come to the meeting thoroughly prepared
…. have closure for every meeting – sum up
…. follow up in writing to emphasize results
…. allow drinks, no food
…. ask sales people to chair meetings
Don’t tell salespeople they are not meeting budgets
……. schedule meetings on Monday
……. run longer than one hour
……. call unscheduled meetings
……. discuss anything that is relevant to only one person
……. single out a person and criticize
……. schedule meetings without a purpose

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Conducting effective sales meetings
Meetings Summary
Sales people want to be on the road by 9:00 a.m. Let them!
Keep idle chit chat and irrelevant topics to a minimum, stick to the
business agenda. Remember, a good sales staff is being kept off
the road, so something really important should be covered every
minute of every meeting.
Salespeople are motivated by informative, positive, concise,
and well organized meetings, both departmental and individual.
They are turned off and unmotivated by sales managers who are
disorganized, late to meetings, long-winded ( disrespectful of a sales
person’s time), negative, pessimistic, critical and non-supportive.
“Salespeople want to be motivated by meetings. They want to
be sent out on the road with new information that will help them sell
and feel positive and enthusiastic.” (Warner and Spencer)

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The Big Kahuna
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Exceed your expectations
The Big Kahuna says:
Sell More Stuff !
And do it!
Better
Faster
Cheaper
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Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper
“Nothing happens until a sale takes place.”
A. The key to a salesman’s success is to “sell more stuff”.
B. Organize and reorganize your business so there is a total focus
on selling and generating revenues.
C. Train your salespeople. About 95% of them could dramatically
increase their sales if they were better trained in the elements of the
sales process.
D. This explains why the most profitable companies invest the most
in sales training, and the least profitable don’t.

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Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper
Always be prepared to answer the customer’s primary question:
“Give me reasons why I should buy from you rather than from
someone else.”
Your answer to that question is a major key to your business
success.
Do it Better – Faster - Cheaper
“The man who comes up with a means for doing or producing
almost anything, better, faster, or more economically has his future
and his fortune at his fingertips.”
(J. Paul Getty)

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Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper
Your future and your fortune
1. Better - A product or service that is “better” does, for the same
price, what the customer purchases it to do in a way that is
superior to the product of any competitor. “Better” could mean
quality, superior service, or additional benefits. Does your
customer view your products and services as “better” than
anything else that is available to them?
2. Faster - The quality of being “faster” means that your product
satisfies the customer's need for speed. It achieves the result
promised by you faster than your competitor does. It is sold,
designed, produced, and delivered “faster.”

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Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper
Your Future and your Fortune
Cheaper - If your product is “cheaper” it means you offer the same
value at a lower price. It may also be that your product is “cheaper”
to use. It may be “cheaper” because it has greater value at the
same price and increases your customer’s financial performance.
Convenience - If you offer to make it easier for the customer to
buy (no hassles) this means your customer can acquire it with
greater “convenience.” This may be a value worth paying for and
yes, “cheaper” may not just be about lowering the price.

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Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper
At the end of the day
Customers usually have four primary questions that must be
answered if you expect the order -
1. What does it cost?
2. What do I get for the money?
3. How fast do I get the benefits you promise?
4. How sure can I be that you will truly deliver on those promises?
Whichever company or salesperson answers these questions
most convincingly wins the sale.

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The Big Kahuna says:
“Work hard on your strategic planning. Meaningful conclusions will
provide an open road for success.”
1. Develop your customers. Make customer development part of every
sales person’s job, include reporting and meeting expectations. Coach
and train your sales people, teach them to “listen” and to bring value to a
customer.
2. Make sure your “system” has structure, a defined framework, with
freedom to work. Empowerment is great, but measure properly, and
manage to win. Always try to make improvements to overcome
shortcomings.
3. Set targets - team and individual. Create an atmosphere of urgency
and passion with a purpose. Everyone likes to know what they need to
achieve to be successful. “You can’t hit a target you can’t see.” Track your
targets. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and you don’t
measure unless you track along the way.” 29

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The Big Kahuna says:
4. Work on improving the effectiveness of your sales meetings. Take
on a no-nonsense approach, be prepared and don’t waste time.
Discuss positive (good news) topics. Keep the meeting on schedule.
5. Sell more stuff-better-faster-cheaper. Challenge yourself, your
sales, production and engineering staffs to beat the competition in
these three areas.
6. Many of your customers are awake at 5:00 a.m. Many go to work
at 6:00 a.m. Most of their jobs are in full gear by 7:00 a.m. When do
you have a real person answering the phone at your plant?
Remember, make it convenient for the customer to buy from you.
Have someone who understands the sales value proposition
answering the phone, and preferably from 6:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

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The Big Kahuna says:
Thank You
Greg Chase
Chase Consulting
Venice, FL
chaseconsulting@comcast.net
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