New Years Resolutions for a healthy and successful 2012
Date: 3 January 2012
A new year. Time to set some goals for 2012. What does it take to have accomplished these goals by the end of 2012? What are your New Years Resolutions?
Let me set a goal: become as successful as I can in sales. You already have the traits of a great sales person: the will to learn & streetsm
artness, positive energy & being fun to be around, enthusiasm & resilience.
So what do you need to keep up with this lifestyle and become even more successful? I would say: great health. I assure you it will pay off. I assure you that you will become more intelligent, creative and energetic. So I would also say: why not treat your body like this is the o
nly body you have and ever will get in this life? Oh wait, that is even true.
The first step is to ‘eat intelligently’, as prof. Willem Verbeke puts it in Inkopers moeten dieetdeskundigen worden, Foodpersonality April 2011. Eating smart is not a new habit people have to learn. They need to get adjusted to this new way of life. To help them make this change, grocery stores can provide help. The way the grocery store is set up and what they sell, can be an enormous help to start eating healthy.
Prof. Verbeke refers to the American supermarket chain Whole Foods Market, selling the highest quality natural & organic products. This organic grocery store, introduced an incentive system to eat healthy: ‘Weigh more, pay more’. The healthier you are, the bigger the bonus!
Prof. Verbeke argues that this new organic movement in the grocery store branche, provides great opportunities for better sales. He argues that sales managers lack of knowledge in neuro-economics: “When I see a manager with a BMI of 28, I know this person will not occupy this position for more than two years. How can anyone who only thinks in numbers regulate the food chain?”.
So, there it is. A new year to pick yourself a healthy lifestyle and to grasp this chance to increase your sales, whether you work in the food industry, you like to change the food in the canteen or just start with yourself by setting the right example. To a fantastic and healthy new year!
Interested in reading the article in Inkopers moeten dieetdeskundigen worden in the Foodpersonality Issue (Dutch)? You can find the entire article by clicking here.
Leanne Valom, general manager Professional Capital
Why Shaping Customers is the Next Big Thing in Selling
Date: 14 December 2011
Or, Why We Need Challengers and Not Relationship Builders
Prof. Willem VerbekeSome years ago, we witnessed the relationship building hype in sales and marketing. Many researchers in marketing fell for this hype. In research, a hype is always a bad sign. It means that researchers, in marketing in this case, are not thinking for themselves as much as they should be. Instead, they are just following the herd so that their research on one-track paradigms will get accepted by research peers and colleagues who, of course, think just like them.
Honestly, I could not go to one more sales conference and hear another marketing specialist scream “Relationshippppppps!” I’ve never fully understood this hype. It was instantiated by Shelby Hunt in his Journal of Marketing paper, which as of this day has been cited 7505 times. What a record!
My doubts about relationships: Hunt’s theory rests on the basic idea that the relationship between, let’s say, a customer and a firm, is the key to marketing. This long-term relationship is based on the shared values of these business partners. But that idea is, to me, somewhat vague:
1) Framing interactions between customers and companies is wrong because companies do not buy, people do! And most of the time people in firms have different perspectives on business and life.
2) We live in a knowledge-based economy. What counts are the capabilities that firms develop over time that allow them to produce solutions that solve their customers’ needs. These days many firms develop radical capabilities that give them potential competitive advantage. They’ve got to hunt for new customers almost by definition.
3) People in companies buy because they see other people buying in other companies (better than their own). In other words, imitation or emulation is a big part of marketing, and it results in bandwagon or path-dependency effects.
Companies don’t buy, people do: The first rule of companies is ‘people do the work (the buying)’. Things must get done. People ‘doing’ things is perhaps the most important aspect of what a firm does. Pankaj Ghemawat of the Harvard Business School calls it the ‘commitment hypothesis’. Think of banks, or firms like Shell and Wal-Mart. They have been doing and improving what they do for nearly a hundred years. But when people work with their firm’s routines, they might not always be aware of what is happening outside their core business. They need salespeople to bring them new ideas and challenge their current practices. So, how do you get customers thinking differently?
Shaping or challenging customers: For the last 15 years I have been suggesting that salespeople shape their customers (see my book, “The Successful Shaping of Key Accounts”. That is, salespeople act as knowledge brokers who possess knowledge about their industry. They gather this knowledge when they visit and talk to their customers. Visiting many customers means that salespeople get to see a great many different cases. This allows their brains to create patterns out of all of those cases and that allows salespeople to recognize and relate to the issues specific to a customer’s firm.
Customers know that salespeople possess this knowledge and the expertise to use it and that’s why they like talking to them; they are likely to have a lively conversation. In fact, salespeople who can make and summarize insightful comments about the firm’s issues can help customers structure their ideas. That’s how you shape customers, by getting them thinking differently.
In a Harvard Business Review article, Dixon and Adamson argue that good salespeople challenge their customers and urge them to think differently: they bring unique, even provocative perspectives to customers. They have a profound understanding of their industry. I can only agree!
Knowledge brokering is the next big thing: I am so glad that people in selling are finally discovering that although relationships might be nice, possessing and applying new knowledge might be more important. So why are more salespeople not doing this? In the end, we all know that knowledge is key! But, something else might be going on. A while ago I did some research into sales-call anxiety and I learned that many salespeople are afraid to challenge their customers. Perhaps we need salespeople who don’t just have knowledge, but are not scared to be assertive with customers.
Sales conversations are the key to selling: When I talk with my sales colleagues, I often hear them say how much they like to focus on CRM information systems. These allow firms to structure processes – a CRM system provides background information on customer relations. But, and I can’t emphasize this more strongly, the key to selling is and always will be the sales conversation with the customer. You must remember that sales conversations are embodied in real life. In such situations, people look each other in the eye, and you can spot hesitations , which could signify changes in thinking. During sales conversations, people think better and remember what is said better. There are neurological reasons for this. Let me tell you more about this in my next blog post!
Interested in more of this? Please visit the Professional Capital website and order one of the books by prof. Willem Verbeke. You can order the book The Successful Shaping of Key Accounts as mentioned in this article, by clicking here. Available in English and Dutch.
Prof. Willem Verbeke
How to shake up your sales team?
Date: 6 December 2011
Last week during the yearly Knowledge Event (”Kennis Event 2011″) organised by Professional Capital and ISAM, I spoke with one of the inspiring managers. After dinner, he gave me the tip to watch this video.
Alec Baldwin shaking up a sleeping sales team
In Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin plays the character Blake. The salestalk presented is one of the finest ever, allthough sarcastic, it contains the foundations of a well meditated salesmen.
Leanne Valom, general manager Professional Capital
Intern accountmanagement: de smeerolie in uw organisatie
Date: 18 November 2011
Jan Rezelman en Willem Verbeke
De afgelopen jaren heeft Professional Capital veel expertise opgedaan op het gebied van trainen en opleiden rond het thema van intern accountmanagement binnen ondernemingen. Een breed scala aan organisaties als consulting bureaus, farmaceutische bedrijven en financiële dienstverleners hebben Professional Capital in het verleden gevraagd opleidingen in deze richting te verzorgen. Zo hebben wij onder meer onze diensten mogen verlenen aan vele afdelingen ICT, Human Resources, Inkoop en, natuurlijk, accountmanagement.
Dat deden al die ondernemingen omdat zij het belang onderkenden dat intern accountmanagement heeft binnen hun organisaties. Waarom is dat zo? Vraag aan een accountmanager wat hij moeilijker vindt: zichzelf intern goed verkopen of zich extern laten gelden, en 85 procent zal antwoorden het interne gedeelte het moeilijkst te vinden.
Waarom is intern accountmanagement zo moeilijk?
Er is een aantal redenen waarom intern verkopen of intern accountmanagement zo lastig is.
Allereerst functioneren er binnen ondernemingen vaak aparte ‘koninkrijkjes’, die voor degenen die daar deel van uitmaken eigenlijk van meer belang zijn dan de onderneming zelf. Meer dan eens hebben wij het meegemaakt dat voor veel mensen de carrière binnen zo’n koninkrijkje – ‘mijn doel is hoofd van een afdeling te worden’ – belangrijker is dan wat er daarbuiten gebeurt. Dat beperkt ze in hun zicht op waar het werkelijk om draait en stimuleert hokjesgeest.
Daarnaast bestaan er dikwijls statusverschillen tussen de diverse koninkrijkjes: de ene is de andere niet, en ze scoren ook verschillend in aanzien – denkt men. Als gevolg daarvan ontstaan er interne strubbelingen en onderlinge na-ijver krijgt de bovenhand. Medewerkers durven nauwelijks nog naar buiten te treden en de koninkrijkjes isoleren zich verder.
Bovendien worden fouten in een dergelijke bedrijfscultuur vaak een speelbal van strijd. Een fout ten opzichte van iemand uit een ander koninkrijkje zingt daar al snel rond en wordt door sommigen direct aangegrepen zich te profileren en zo statuswinst te behalen. De persoon die de fout maakte lijdt gezichtsverlies en voelt zich in de hoek gezet. De sfeer wordt gespannen.
Natuurlijk spelen problemen als deze ook bij het extern verkopen, maar accountmanagers hebben daar een competitief voordeel: wordt het bij een bepaalde klant net iets te bar, dan kunnen ze altijd nog overstappen naar een andere. Er is meer risicospreiding mogelijk. Waar je buiten de eigen onderneming zelf aan de touwtjes trekt, kun je er intern niet aan ontsnappen. Dat maakt intern accountmanagement zo lastig.
Negatieve gevolgen
De strijd tussen afdelingen zoals we die hierboven schetsten, hebben vaak grote negatieve effecten voor ondernemingen. Als mensen vanuit verschillende disciplines niet samenwerken blijft hun kennis geïsoleerd en ontstaan er minder projecten voor klanten, want die zijn juist veelal afdelingoverschrijdend. Bekend is de uitspraak dat niet meer dan 20 procent van de kennis binnen een onderneming wordt aangewend voor de klant en dat de resterende 80 procent gaat naar interne projecten. Wij onderschrijven dit en constateren dat er sprake is van een groot verlies van intellectueel kapitaal. Kenniscreatie wordt gestimuleerd door samenwerken, piketpaaltjes rond de eigen werkplek staan die ontwikkeling in de weg.
Hoe kunnen we ondernemingen helpen hun bedrijfscultuur om te buigen van isolatie naar samenwerking zodat de bestaande kennis wel grotendeels naar de klanten vloeit en er kenniscreatie ontstaat?
De ‘mind-set’ binnen Professional Capital
De basisfilosofie binnen Professional Capital is dat je mensen niet iets moet voorschrijven. Doe je dat wel, dan stuit je haast als vanzelfsprekend op weerstanden. Veel beter is het dan ook om mensen bij te brengen anders naar de wereld om hen heen te kijken en ze te leren waaróm ze iets doen. Wie van bovenaf een opdracht krijgt reageert geheel anders dan wie het belang van zijn eigen handelen beseft. Het is de grondhouding die het verschil maakt, het is mind-set die doet handelen.
Ter toelichting van waar het om draait bij het begrip mind-set, vraagt een aantal zaken om verduidelijking:
Bedrijven zijn markten – Veel mensen in ondernemingen vergeten dat men zich zelf hoort te verkopen aan de collega’s, ofwel dat ondernemingen eigenlijk interne markten zijn. Iemand die voor collega’s interessante projecten binnenhaalt of zaken opstart die stimuleren tot ‘samen’ werken, werkt ook aan zichzelf. Als initiator van zo’n project is hij interessant voor anderen en zet hij zichzelf in de etalage – meer dan zijn collega’s die dat niet doen. Bovendien is het zo dat als je zelf niets onderneemt, anderen dat zullen oppakken waardoor je marktpositie minder wordt. Kortom, er is weinig keuze: ben je niet proactief, dan werk je aan je eigen ondergang.
Netwerken zijn cruciaal – Vaak hoor je mensen zeggen dat ze eerst een hele afdeling horen mee te krijgen of dat de complete onderneming dient te veranderen: eerst moet de bedrijfscultuur anders, pas dan kunnen ze zelf aan de slag. Dat is een illusie. Het zal nooit lukken iedereen hetzelfde te laten denken en vaak leiden dergelijke grootschalige veranderactiviteiten alleen maar tot verzet. Mensen die netwerken opbouwen met collega’s uit andere afdelingen, brengen daarentegen wel iets tot stand. In zo’n netwerk kun je immers terugvallen op wat eerder al samen werkend is geleerd en zo de basis leggen om projecten bij klanten verder uit te bouwen. Er vindt kenniscreatie plaats.
Houd succes niet voor jezelf – Iemand die een project succesvol heeft afgerond doet er goed aan de personen die iets substantieels voor dat project hebben gedaan, te belonen. Die beloning hoeft niet in geld te worden uitgedrukt maar kan ook minder materieel: erkenning voor de geleverde werkzaamheden en duidelijk laten meedelen in het succesverhaal. Hoe meer iemand zich erkend voelt, des te vaker hij ook iets terug zal geven en – vooral – des te prettiger hij het zal vinden in het bestaande netwerk te werken.
De training
Hoe gaan we te werk in een dergelijke training? Binnen Professional Capital werken we met de gedachte dat het vooral de mind-set is die bepalend is voor wat mensen (willen) ondernemen. We brengen ze onze basisfilosofie bij en leren ze vervolgens stappen te ontwikkelen om aan intern accountmanagement te doen. De deelnemers leren eigen actieplannen te ontwikkelen die voor hún organisatie relevant zijn. Onze basisfilosofie wordt dus per onderneming aangepast, waardoor er tegelijkertijd structuur is maar ook oog voor de unieke capaciteiten van elke onderneming.
Onderwerpen die aan de orde komen zijn onder andere:
– Leren om proactief te zijn, om meer waarde te creëren, naast gewoon ‘je werk’ doen.
– Leren hoe een reputatie op te bouwen als een ‘katalysator van dienstverlening’. Hoe groter die reputatie, hoe meer krediet je krijgt van anderen en hoe beter die ook zijn te beïnvloeden.
– Leren een ‘bruggenbouwer’ te worden in de onderneming: iemand die over bestaande grenzen heen kan stappen. Iemand die zowel kan luisteren als uitleggen, die door zijn collega’s als betrouwbaar wordt gezien, iemand bij wie je altijd te rade kunt gaan.
– Vergroten van de interne klanttevredenheid: maar al te vaak wordt vergeten dat interne klanttevredenheid de sleutel is naar succes. Professional Capital kan die sleutel leveren.
Meer informatie?
Twijfel dan niet contact op te nemen met Jan Rezelman
M: 06 53 44 72 66
@: j.rezelman@professionalcapital.nl
LI: http://nl.linkedin.com/in/janrezelman
Jan Rezelman
How can I be of service?
Date: 17 October 2011
You enter the ZARA store, WE, H&M or the Suit Supply. Or for that matter any other fashion store. How would you describe yourself entering one of those stores? Do you run to the first pile of clothes you see and are not in for advice or do you say “hi” to one of the sales people and would you like to pampered and buy a whole new outfit? Or do you want something completely different?
If you ask me how I enter a store, I would do it like this: In the H&M, I am running through the store, not having time to have an eye for the sales assistants. I just want to focus and find in the least possible amount of time just what I came for. But, beware, if I look around with a puzzled expression on my face, I am in desperate need of some assistance: “Help, I am looking for something but cannot find it between the 1000nds of vests, jeans, accessories!”
In a small store, I greet the shop owner kindly, have a look at what he has got to offer and in case he has some amazing clothes, I start a praising conversation. The good thing I think with shop owners selling their own stuff is: they know exactly what they have to offer and are passionate about what they selected. Big turn-off to me is a “only 4 more hours and 2 minutes to go before my working day is over”-vibe combined with a “help youself, whatever”- or a non sincere attitude.
How do want to be approached?
And the other way around:
What is the best approach in a fashion store?
This is a question also raised in one of the LinkedIn-groups I participate in and I am interested to hear your opinion too. I look forward to receiving your input! Let’s give the sales people in the store something to work on!
Leanne Valom, general manager Professional Capital
Trust means business!
Date: 27 September 2011
You may have the best product, the lowest price, the nicest smile, the smoothest pitch or the best preparation, you won’t do business until the client trusts you!
In ‘the Trusted Advisor’ authors Maister, Green and Galford describe the importance of the above and present a lot of practical suggestions to work on your relation with your client. “What benefits would you obtain if your clients trusted you more?”
Here’s their list. The more clients trust you, the more they will:
1. Reach for your advice
2. Be inclined to accept and act on your recommendation
3. Bring you in on more advanced, complex, strategic issues
4. Treat you as you wish to be treated
5. Respect you
6. Share more information that helps you to help them, and improves the quality of the service you provide
7. Pay your bills without question
8. Refer you tot their friends and business acquaintances
9. Lower the level of stress in your interactions
10. Give you the benefit of the doubt
11. Forgive you when you make a mistake
12. Protect you when you need it (even from their own organization)
13. Warn you of the dangers that you might avoid
14. Be comfortable and allow you te be comfortable
15. Involve you early on when their issues begin to form, rather than later in the process (or maybe even call you first!)
16. Trust your instincts and judgments (including those about other people such as your colleagues and theirs)
If you find this interesting and want to learn more I suggest that you read the book or contact me (e.scheperman@professionalcapital.nl)
Edwin Scheperman, partner Professional Capital
Who are the most successful sales people?
Date: 22 September 2011
Who are the most successful sales people?
- They always ask one more time.
- They are the most tenacious.
- They always have more then one way of asking.
- These people have no fear.
- No means NOT JUST YET!
Check to see who these people are…
Who are the most successful sales people
Nicole Monteiro, projectmanager Professional Capital
‘Why do you get out of bed every morning and why should anyone care?’
Date: 19 August 2011
How great leaders inspire action.
Get inspired by the next video with Simon Sinek and his GOLDEN CIRCLE:
Simon Sinek and his Golden Circle, ‘Why do you get out of bed every morning and why should anyone care?’
Why are Apple, Martin Luther King, or the Wright Brothers successful? They all act, think, communicate te same way, discovered Simon Sinek. It is a pattern. A golden circle. These great inspiring leaders don’t communicate like most of us do (from the outside in), but the other way around (from the inside out): WHY – HOW – WHAT.
How do you inspire other people?
Leanne Valom, general manager Professional Capital
Imagine …
Date: 9 August 2011
Imagine …
you are an account manager and ask yourself:
- What do I need to perform well?
Imagine now …
you are a manager of a firm and ask yourself:
- How can I motivate my people to do what is good for the firm?
Take a moment to think about that.
Prof. Willem Verbeke, Ph.D. states, in his book ‘Back to Basics in Selling’ that a smart manager uses incentives to motivate people. This demands that the manager knows how to push the right buttons to get the best out of his people and thus let his firm blossom.
‘People like incentives. Socially intelligent managers know that good incentives work to motivate people. They use incentives to unleash creative and entrepreneurial behaviours they seek to evoke.’
Verbeke does research in the field of neuro-economics and illustrates why this is so important in sales In the context of incentives: ‘Insights from neuro-economics help managers understand why and how people get motivated [...]’.
Different take on the questions above now?
And …
would you be a good manager?
Leanne Valom, general manager Professional Capital
Are salespeople happy losers? No the picture is more complicated!
Date: 5 August 2011
Clotaire Rapaille argued in Harvard Business Review that salespeople like to hunt (and work) for a deal but the deal itself (or the catch) is not that crucial. He compares it with fox hunting: there is a lot of excitement during the hunt but in the end most fox hunting endeavors end up without that a fox has been shot. This description is a bit negative: first this observation does not only apply to salespeople but to human nature as a whole – in other words we are more excited from the striving towards a goal than reaching the goal. Second, salespeople actually celebrate a deal. Their income depends on it. But still there is a basic question:
What actually makes people seek to hunt?
Recently, we did research on genetics, especially the DRD4 and the DRD2 – these two genes produce receptors for dopamine within the dopamine system within our brain, which is quite complex! Salespeople with a specific variation of the DRD4 gene actually displayed more hunting behavior. However, we tried to make some nuanced remarks concerning “hunting behaviors”. We found that salespeople who carried this gene actually displayed customer oriented behavior, which we do not so much conceive as hunting but more as the ability to keep learning from customers during conversations with customers and finding enjoyment in learning from customers. In addition these salespeople like to make money but they do so by better understanding customers – they like to get at their implicit needs. So I feel that Rapaille his statement is a bit rude.
Salespeople with a specific variant of the DRD2 actually tend to talk more to the customer and just sell without taking any interest in what salespeople need.
I am especially doing research on why this one gene (the DRD4 or DRD2) has such a big effect on people’s lives – or should we say here – on their sales orientation in case we talk about sales? Now remember, we have about 25.000 genes of which 80% are expressed in the brain! It is one thing to find an association; it is another thing to understand the association. So I focus now on understanding how genes affect our life – such as cognitive life etc.
What I learned this summer is that by thinking about one gene and its association with a phenotype (a behavior that is associated with a gene), we are forced to think deeper into how our brain works. It got me to step back from neuro-economics where we read about the dopamine pathway in the brain, while there are many dopamine pathways and many different dopamine receptors (actually, there are 5 kinds of dopamine receptors).
More concretely, as I focus on the DRD2 gene and reading about it, we can now better understand that dopamine is not only involved in reward learning but also in higher order learning: dopamine plays a role for instance when people have to switch cognitive tasks or when people have to switch in tasks as the reward for the task changes. Having specific mutation in DRD2 come with a higher performance on one task but with a lower performance on another task. This micro view on people via genetics actually forces me to step down at times from what I learned and allows me to get new ideas. Such steps in the long term allow me to think better what salespeople actually do when they work with customers. To come back to Rapaille, I feel that his analogue on fox hunting is too bold to talk about sales, as we know more about genetics we will be able to better understand what some salespeople do and others cannot do.
So if I can do this every year, step back, let go and then go back to trying to understand sales, I can better teach and talk with our coaches about what is the essence of sales. These conversations provide them with insights to train salespeople. It is a nice summer indeed.
Prof. Willem Verbeke
August 3, 2011, Michigan, USA
Prof. Willem Verbeke
