{"id":1346,"date":"2015-04-02T12:58:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T17:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2015-04-01T01:36:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T06:36:57","slug":"why-old-school-sales-techniques-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/why-old-school-sales-techniques-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Old School Sales Techniques Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"9090824053_a4e4c2a545_h\"The greatest salespeople aren\u2019t always the greatest CRM experts\u2026 and it doesn\u2019t always matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every sales department has one. And, sadly, new recruits born into a world of web often sneer at them. The experienced sales executive who prefers landlines to telepresence, remembers the birthdays of his clients\u2019 children and writes stuff down on paper. Yes, that guy.<\/p>\n

The guy who\u2019s kept three \u00a3250k accounts loyal for a decade!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Salespeople who started work in a different decade aren\u2019t always familiar with CRM technology and, sometimes, it frustrates their (often younger) colleagues charged with getting the most from their IT investment. To the point where our traditionalist hero \u2013 let\u2019s call this hero Geoff \u2013 ends up excluded from departmental strategy, with the millions of business pounds he brings in, ignored.<\/p>\n

Can I change your perspective a little?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Geoff isn\u2019t anti-CRM. In fact, he\u2019s the most pro-CRM guy you\u2019ll ever meet. (He just doesn\u2019t always do it through software.) It\u2019s important that you can make sure his decades of learning becomes part of your CRM\u2019s ongoing improvement programme, leading to a positive effect on conversions.<\/p>\n

1. Attitude leads to opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first time Geoff met his client, Fred, he didn\u2019t talk business. A chance meeting in the golf club led to a phone call, then a lunch. Over the steak sandwich, Geoff asked Fred about his background. Where he went to school, how he got started in business and the new extension he\u2019d just added to his house.<\/p>\n

Along the way, he learned Fred was friends with the CMOs of two companies on his hit list. Before coffee, he had those names in his notebook.<\/p>\n

To today\u2019s goal-focused, results-oriented salesperson, Geoff\u2019s approach might sound meandering. But look closer: doesn\u2019t it sound a lot like a CRM nurturing pathway? Geoff\u2019s first task was to establish rapport and learn something about his prospect, which is also the purpose of a well-written blog or email marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

So while Geoff doesn\u2019t think much of computers, his attitude towards Customer Relationship Management is spot-on. The right approach to CRM opens up opportunities far beyond one prospect.<\/p>\n

2. Read the situation before acting<\/strong><\/p>\n

After lunch with Fred, Geoff dropped him a note of thanks and said he\u2019d call again next month. Nothing else. Geoff\u2019s primary ethos is never make your client feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

After a few lunches and coffees, Fred started asking what Geoff would do about a problem facing his finance department. Geoff thought for a few minutes, then asked if he could visit the team to gather information. Still no sale. But the time was right to move closer.<\/p>\n

Nurturing sometimes looks like timewasting because some of those nurtured prospects never become customers. But sales is a numbers game. One percent of lunch dates turning into \u00a3100k accounts still adds up.<\/p>\n

Someone you just met isn\u2019t ready to make a buying decision. How many times have your less experienced sales team lost a hot prospect by drilling them with offers too soon? It\u2019s just as applicable to an e-CRM strategy, from first cold mailing to final contract.<\/p>\n

3. Connect through connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following week, Geoff called those two connections of Fred\u2019s. He\u2019d heard great things about them and wondered if he could buy them a coffee. Both accepted.<\/p>\n

In his highly advanced CRM user interface, (a battered old leather notebook), Geoff\u2019s scribbled out \u201ccold suspect\u201d next to both names and wrote in \u201cwarm lead\u201d.<\/p>\n

The right CRM application lets you do a lot more than just contact people. It helps you build a relationship in the most effective way. Some are even able to map connections between people and show you the easiest approach pathway.<\/p>\n

Flexibility and openness characterise Geoff\u2019s approach. A connection through another connection is a lot more valuable than a cold call. It\u2019s messy, it\u2019s chaotic, and it\u2019s human and warm. If the digital natives on your team have trouble with this, your most experienced salespeople may be the right people to train them.<\/p>\n

4. Keeping customers means more than winning them<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales Directors often trumpet their big acquisitions louder than their long term retentions, which is a shame, because Geoff\u2019s trio of long term customers delivers a profit margin of 30% every year. Contrast that with the three years it takes a new client to break even. Turnover is good, but profits are better.<\/p>\n

Every sales person knows it\u2019s easier to win new business from an existing client than a cold lead. So keep congratulating your young team on each big win, but make sure they\u2019re not neglecting last year\u2019s client win. They need to learn the importance of maximising Customer Lifetime Value.<\/p>\n

5. Formalise the methods \u2013 but don\u2019t freeze them<\/strong><\/p>\n

Geoff likes the golf course but he always checks whether a new prospect prefers football. Expert users of CRM software have a tendency to formalise \u201cwhat works\u201d in terms of \u201chard aspects\u201d rather than \u201csoft aspects\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is another approach Geoff uses that\u2019s perfectly in tune with best-practice CRM. His methods don\u2019t change from sale to sale, but his execution does. Rather than blasting all prospects with the same offer, he adapts each touch point to a situation he knows the prospect will prefer. All of this contributes to a sky-high conversion ratio.<\/p>\n

6. When the time\u2019s right, \u201cmake the sale\u201d to Geoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Geoff isn\u2019t techno, but he\u2019s pragmatic. When he sees something working, he adopts it. So when he realises the wealth of client information in his notebooks can do more for the company as part of its CRM database, make the time to help him put it in there.<\/p>\n

As a closing exercise, take Geoff\u2019s numbers from last year and calculate your jump in sales if every new client win delivered the same billings at the same profit margin. 30%? 100%? You can do it \u2013 with Geoff\u2019s help. That\u2019s why Geoff might be your CRM system\u2019s greatest asset.<\/p>\n

Your old-school sales guys aren\u2019t just sales executives. They\u2019re mentors for the next generation. Your CRM application is just waiting to make use of their knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The greatest salespeople aren\u2019t always the greatest CRM experts\u2026 and it doesn\u2019t always matter. Every sales department has one. And, sadly, new recruits born into a world of web often sneer at them. The experienced sales executive who prefers landlines to telepresence, remembers the birthdays of his clients\u2019 children and writes stuff down on paper.… Why Old School Sales Techniques Work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":1347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[697,698,699],"class_list":["post-1346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","tag-crm","tag-sales-strategies","tag-sales-techniques"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1348,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions\/1348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}