Time to look for a new sales job?.

I am devouring a book called Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager. (www.wbusiness.biz) by Lee B. Salz. (Maybe a theme developing?) This is a good book (Review will follow)  His second chapter is all about finding the right sales job and I loved it.  He talks about interviewing  the company while they interview you  since you have as much to lose as the company by signing up for the wrong job.

Its usually the wrong job if:

• The company has no proven plan in place to help salesmen succeed
• The company hires  hunters but you see they need farmers
• They want strong salespeople with no idea what strong really means
• The manager is stuck in ABC thinking
• There is no demand for the product, yet no plans to develop it.
• Or there is no name recognition, no brand, few marketing dollars, no prospects calling in

Sound familiar? It rang my bell a few times. we have seen all this and more in helpin gtech companies through the year.  Here'[s a clue, if you do not see why this is a costly problem for you, do not worry, your company will not make it anyway.

Points about finidng the ideal company (like finding the ideal client right? ) :

1. Define what is the ideal company for you
2. Where and what are the opportunities for you?
3. What do they expect of a sales person? What do you expect of them?
4. What skills are they willing to teach? What do you want to learn?
5. What is their commitment to training and development? What is your commitment?
6. What won’t they teach?What don’t you want to be taught?
7. What do they feel can’t be taught?
8. Services sellers need to know how to customize, configure and create based on customer requirements. Are you that type?
9. Product sellers are limited by what the box does. Is that your success type?
10. Did you thrive on short cycle or long cycle sales?
11. Same with single buyers or multiple enterprise buyers?
12. What type of hunter are you? Do you generate your own leads or answer in-bounds?
13. Are you able to straddle the likable/driven divide of the farmer?
14. How do you adapt to change? How flexible are you? Is the comp plan overly  changable?
15. What is the size of your financial risk? Will your cheques clear?
16. Where do they stand with the competition; leaders. followers. laggards, off the radar?  Which do you prefer?
17. Are they boutique or low price?  Where do they win or lose sales?
18. What is the offering breadth? All of it, or just part of the puzzle?
19. How do they differentiate themselves? Do you believe it?
20. How is sales managed? Your preferance?
21. What sales support is there?  Proof materials?
22. The money; salary, recoverable/nonrecoverable draws, commission how does it all work together?  What defines revenue? What about chargebacks?
23. Any deal breakers such as ; pay is too low to survive on , commute too long, location?

Told you it was thorough. This is just Chapter 2!

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How to Sell to an Idiot. 12 steps to sell anything to anyone. John Hoover & Bill Sparkman. 2006. ISBN 0471718548.  It does not take too long when reading this book to realize there is only one idiot in the sales prccess and that person is liklely you , not the customer.  A decent job of revisiting the basics that get forgotten. I appreciated their take on the different personalities of customers. They use these categories:

• Machiavellian
• Sadist
• Masochist
• Paranoid
• Greek Gods
• Best Buddy
• Decent Souls

Quite hilarious but I am sure we have met all these types in our day  Using these personlaity types the authors lead you through understanding their i-story, and how to talk to them during each of the 12 steps:

1. Be prepared or be the idiot
2. Connect
3. Confuse with clarity
4. matching
5. Showtime
6. Ask for the business
7. Circle again
8. ask again
9. Appreciate
10. Referral
11. Follow-up
12. Practise

Not a heavy read and decent for a 3 hr plane ride.  Good motivating language.

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B2B Brand management.  Phillip Kotler, Waldermar Pfoertsch. 2006.  ISBN 3540253602.  This book really looks at brand management for industrial companies.  I appreciated their comment about two moments of truth wrto brand management. The first is when the prospect buys the product/pays for it.  The second is when the product is when they use the product.  Good B2B companies focus intensely on winning these moments of truth.  eg, Apple comes to mind.  Lots of relevant case studies with a very thorough academic  treatment make this an important book for senior brand managers in the larger enterprise.

Brand Digital. Simple ways top brands succeed in the digital world.  Allen P.  Adamson. 2008. ISBN 9780230606043.  The book these  revolves around the question. ” How do you stick to a simple, credible, and compelling brand promise while addressing the multitude of consumer touch points. He has many interviews  (100) with top companies as to what they are doing to harness the multiple functions of social networking, digital word-of-mouth, consumer-generated ideas, “green” branding, and new technologies such as the Blackberry and iPhone. Topical and useful book on something we believe goes to the core of IT marketing, your brand promise. His chapter on the importance of brand promise is well done.  A good e.g. is Doves, “Campaign for Beauty” as a successful ongoing initiative.  You might howl with some of the prehistoric thinking evident in some companies, the thought being that their increasing irrelevance dooms them to failure. He has an easy simple writing style which helps your learning.

Developments in cross-cultural communications, PR and social media. Silvia Cambie’ and Yang-May Ooi.  2009. ISBN 9780749453299. ” International Communications Strategy” is about the cross-cultural challenges currently facing PR practitioners. Providing information on alternative communication approaches as well as cross-cultural case-studies and examples, “International Communications Strategy” will give readers points of reference and ideas to use every time they are asked to provide strategic communication guidance to senior management or clients.

The authors are sensitive to how technology and social media create new online cultures and new communication audiences. This poses a real challenge to the present generation of PR specialists.  I was sensitive to theri idea that we must enter international markets without any preconceived baggage. Examples are taken from around the world and really reflect a view into how one needs to change to be successful in Europe and Asia.  If these are your markets, this is a great book for you.  The writers are clear and do not getlost in jargon , making your reading experience pleasant.

The Next Evolution of Marketing. Connect with you customers by marketing with meaning.  Bob Gilbreath. 2010. ISBN 9780071625364.  Interruptive marketing’s time is a over as we see customers increasingly tuning out.  Gilbreath unveils a  new approach to business that fills the gaping voids left in bottom lines when people started tuning out. He describes the marketing change now underway and the powerful forces driving it.

Inside, he provides Marketing with Meaning success stories, including: Samsung’s laptop and cell phone charging stations, which are now found in more than 50 airports throughout the United States Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and its viral video “Evolution,” which has been viewed more than 100 million times,  Burger King’s Xbox advergames, which helped boost the company’s profits by 40 percent in one year.   Lots of success stories and also failures ( GM’s Saturn) . The author has the creds to talk about these things, being a seasoned ad guy who has worked with the largest clients. His marketing campaign outline is very clear and thoughtfully laid out.  I appreciate him asking the question, “Is your marketing adding value to the customer so its worth his time to interact with it? His copy is easy to read and digest.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Target Marketing.

Susan Freidmann. 2009. ISBN 9781592579037. I do so love this book series. Its kind of a Coles notes for marketing basics for  those who do not have big budgets. As well the authors are careful not to steer you wrong so the guides help the range of businesses from start up to mature. You’ll learn:

• Five easy steps to identify the most lucrative niche markets
• Tech-savvy tips on using online surveys and other e-tools to identify your customers’ needs
• Powerful pointers on viral marketing, blogging, webinars, and other web marketing ideas
• Highly-effective and low-budget advertising strategies and customer retention techniques

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Escape From Cubicle Nation . From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.  Pamela Slim. 2009. ISBN 9781591842576.  From the Blog of the same name, Pamela has penned the what colour  is your parachute book for 2009. directly targeted at those unhappy cubicle dwellers who just have to get out of there.  If you are in this state of mind, or want to explore it  the book  is clearly written, with some very useful advice on topics you may not have thought about.

The Art of the Apology.  How to apologize effectively to practically anyone.  Lauren M. Bloom.  The Fonz ( Henry Winkler ) to the contrary we see the need to apologize every day (Ter Woods to his wife, wonder that that went? ) This thin little book is very well organized and gives you very sound advice on the topic.  If you remember that the best  way to manage risk is to make your decisions with the best advice you have at hand at the time.  This  book will give you another dimension to manage your risk in life.  I really liked her inclusion of “How to best accept an apology. and how to build an apology friendly workplace.”

Grow From Within. Mastering corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. Wolcott & Lippitz. 2010. ISBN 9780071598323.  If you are one of those lucky birds who believes that your own company is ready to support “intrapreneurship” then this book speaks to you.  The tough thing is to align what the new business does with how “business as usual” works in the firm. Most often that does not work  and the “new” firm needs to be isolated from the old “culture”.  This text although” academic in style touches on the salient points. The case studies are larger firms.

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Rules of Thumb. 52 truths for winning at business without losing your self. Alan M. Webber. 2009. ISBN 9780061721830.  Several reviewers voted this one of the best of 09 books, so I just had to sit down and finally finish it.  What if you went through life and made a note of every life lesson you learned, and then boiled it down to 52 short essays?  You might have a book like this. A good writer, Webber was a co-founder of Fast Company ( and he reminds you at every opportunity) which was a a great plac for many life lessons.  Concise, good plane trip read ( if you can get it on board)  this is the type of book you pass onto your children , nieces, nephews, mentees.  I savored it and give it a big thumbs up.

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