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Answer Upon - What's the Objective of Your 1st Sales Appointment?
In this article, we will take an in-depth look at why new ideas rarely survive within corporate organizations, and how you can counter these factors, and open the way for innovation; thereby creating some very unique and viable career opportunities that you may not have ever considered for yourself previously.In the current American business culture, it has become habit for new ideas to be shot down before they’ve been given any time to develop and mature. It seems to have become a part of human nature to look first for reasons why something cannot be done, and lastly, if at all, at the merits of actually doing it. The net result is that, far from being encouraged, creativity and ingenuity, once the hallmarks of American business, are actively discouraged.Without considering the root causes of this backward attitude, what can be done to overcome it?In many companies, people are emerging at all levels who have a d
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you mi
Print advertising is a rewarding and profitable method of marketing. For decades print advertising has been the foundation of countless successful campaigns designed to increase brand awareness, lend credibility, and of course, drive sales. But the ultimate success of a print advertisement depends largely on the work that take place prior to printing and distribution. Here are some tips that will increase the success of your first print advertisement.7 Helpful Tips•Get to know your printer. Establish a relationship with your printing company by developing a business relationship with a contact at the printer. Be sure to forward your artwork to this person for review prior to printing. Keep an open ear for suggestions and feedback by the experienced printing professional.•Request samples of print advertisements from your industry. Most printers will gladly send yo
What is a 1st appointment to proposal ratio? It’s simply how many times you gain commitment with your prospect to take the next step, as outlined by your sales process. Depending on your solutions-based product or service and your sales methodology, your ‘Next step’ may be one of the following:
An on-site demonstration
A trial period of your “widget”
A tour of your operations or manufacturing facility
A no-obligation survey
An evaluation and side-by-side comparison, apples to apples
A solution-based evaluation, apples to oranges
Whatever your ‘Gateway’ is, be sure to attach a business rule and definition to it, and then most importantly measure it. For example, let’s look at a telecommunications company that provides voice, data and wireless services to their customer base. The objective of their first appointment is to gain commitment from their Target prospect to perform a diagnostic survey of their current services as it relates to their overall business imperatives and financial success factors for the current year and bring them back a ‘Blueprint’ of ROI based solutions.
With their 1st appointment objective ‘Gateway’ defined, they come to a decision to measure that gateway by having the target prospect sign a release form that enables them to contact their current service provider and request a specification report around line, data and feature connectivity.
The advantage of defining and measuring the first ‘Gateway’ is that it will provide you with a ‘Reality Mirror’ of how competent you are with the initial phase of your sales process. So if you have set a realistic benchmark company-wide of a 60% 1st Appointment to Proposal ratio and you have individuals below it, you can pro-actively provide them with targeted coaching and support tools to help them achieve the standard benchmark. And that drives more revenue.
If I walk into a sales division and diagnose their 1st appointment to proposal ratio is below 60%, I immediately know up to 5 specifics:
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you mi
Each day millions of workers spend 8 hours or more at their respective jobs with many contributing to the dripping faucet within every organization. This faucet much like the leaking kitchen or bathroom faucet’s steadily waste drops of a previous resource – water – every minute of every day until fixed. Yet, the dripping faucet is considered a minor annoyance until the drips become steadier. During this time, thousands of gallons of water are wasted costing the owner probably more money than it took to correct the problem.Organizations also have dripping faucets not only in their physical plants, but within their people’s productivity. During the last 5 years, I have surveyed thousands of individuals who all believe that their plates are full, but admit to wasting a minimum of 12 minutes each day. For employees who are paid $30,000 not including benefits, this amounts to $14.42 each week for the one lost hour of work or $72
An on-site demonstration
A trial period of your “widget”
A tour of your operations or manufacturing facility
A no-obligation survey
An evaluation and side-by-side comparison, apples to apples
A solution-based evaluation, apples to oranges
Whatever your ‘Gateway’ is, be sure to attach a business rule and definition to it, and then most importantly measure it. For example, let’s look at a telecommunications company that provides voice, data and wireless services to their customer base. The objective of their first appointment is to gain commitment from their Target prospect to perform a diagnostic survey of their current services as it relates to their overall business imperatives and financial success factors for the current year and bring them back a ‘Blueprint’ of ROI based solutions.
With their 1st appointment objective ‘Gateway’ defined, they come to a decision to measure that gateway by having the target prospect sign a release form that enables them to contact their current service provider and request a specification report around line, data and feature connectivity.
The advantage of defining and measuring the first ‘Gateway’ is that it will provide you with a ‘Reality Mirror’ of how competent you are with the initial phase of your sales process. So if you have set a realistic benchmark company-wide of a 60% 1st Appointment to Proposal ratio and you have individuals below it, you can pro-actively provide them with targeted coaching and support tools to help them achieve the standard benchmark. And that drives more revenue.
If I walk into a sales division and diagnose their 1st appointment to proposal ratio is below 60%, I immediately know up to 5 specifics:
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you mi
How many times have you looked around your small business and said, "There just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done!" Welcome to the biggest realization you will ever make as a small business owner, my friend: there are only so many hours in the day and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it.So, instead of beating yourself up at the end of the day over how much you didn’t get done, you should learn to make better use of the time you have. Your time should be spent doing only those things that help build your business and increase revenue, not mundane tasks that could be handled by someone else. It’s called "working on your business instead of working in it."We entrepreneurs often feel like we have to do everything ourselves or things won’t get done. It’s a more accurate statement to say that things might get done, but they wouldn’t get done to the high standards we set for ourselves.I f
With their 1st appointment objective ‘Gateway’ defined, they come to a decision to measure that gateway by having the target prospect sign a release form that enables them to contact their current service provider and request a specification report around line, data and feature connectivity.
The advantage of defining and measuring the first ‘Gateway’ is that it will provide you with a ‘Reality Mirror’ of how competent you are with the initial phase of your sales process. So if you have set a realistic benchmark company-wide of a 60% 1st Appointment to Proposal ratio and you have individuals below it, you can pro-actively provide them with targeted coaching and support tools to help them achieve the standard benchmark. And that drives more revenue.
If I walk into a sales division and diagnose their 1st appointment to proposal ratio is below 60%, I immediately know up to 5 specifics:
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you mi
Dubai is a leading cultural and trading hub, offering a free/open market with no exchange controls, restrictive quotas or trade barriers. It is found to be a strategic location at the heart of the world’s richest region by many multi-national companies. The Dubai economy is served by more than 170 shipping lines and 86 airlines. Most of the business operations deal with trade, transportation, tourism, distribution, consulting and processing.Labor law is protective of employees. It governs hours of work, leave, termination rights, medical benefits and repatriation. Employment for foreigners is on a contract basis. Vacations generally follow the rule of 21 days for every year of the first five years of service and 30 days for every year thereafter. The total gratuity will not exceed two years' wages. Vacations can also be pro-rated after the first year. Trade unions do not exist.The normal working hours are eight per day
The advantage of defining and measuring the first ‘Gateway’ is that it will provide you with a ‘Reality Mirror’ of how competent you are with the initial phase of your sales process. So if you have set a realistic benchmark company-wide of a 60% 1st Appointment to Proposal ratio and you have individuals below it, you can pro-actively provide them with targeted coaching and support tools to help them achieve the standard benchmark. And that drives more revenue.
If I walk into a sales division and diagnose their 1st appointment to proposal ratio is below 60%, I immediately know up to 5 specifics:
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you mi
There is nothing better than knowing the leadership of an organization values the people it hired. If the staff and employees are diverse, it makes the responsibilities of the leader even more important.An effective leader understands their success depends upon their ability to get all the moving parts of the organization working for the same cause. That cause being maximum efficiency and productivity of the employees.Diversity is an inside job because unless you understand yourself, it will be very difficult to understand people that work for and with you. One of the greatest disservices that exist is the glass ceiling.Unless women or people of color are given an opportunity to display their gifts and talents, likelihood is an organization will continue to overlook them for leadership roles in the future. On the other hand, organizations that effectively lead their organization excel because they believe and hav
1. They are not calling on the Highest appropriate level of contact
2. They are not calling on the right type of company by industry or application
3. They have not defined a 1st appointment objective (A ‘Gain Commitment’ Gateway)
4. They have ‘no message’ or are poor at communicating the message
5. They are selling their services instead of selling the diagnostic steps in the Process and backing it up with 3rd party validations
The first two factors are directly related with whom you decide to call on. You probably know who uses your product or service, but you might need some business acumen training to better understand the critical financial success indicators of your prospect parallel to their Front Burner business objectives.
More than often not, a low 1st appointment to proposal ratio is related to a process of not calling on the highest appropriate level of contact. By that I mean understanding the level of responsibility within a company that has the most input into a buying decision. Who has the ‘ownership’? Who is at the ‘need to know’ level? It may be more than one level or title, but it is important to resolve to a top-down selling process. A top-down selling process will raise your 1st appointment to proposal conversion rates because you are in front of the appropriate person from the start. That person has enough clout to sign on to the next step or to legitimately dismiss the process. If you are dealing with a subordinate level, to the degree of which you are will be the degree your conversion rate will expeditiously decrease.
There was a start-up company in a recently de-regulated industry that had accumulated 300 million dollars in investor money to build a business. Their primary sales distribution channel was a direct sales team. They decided to retain a sales training firm to set up all sales strategies, appropriate processes and training to execute to their revenue goals. Interesting enough, they promoted just the opposite of a top down selling process.
They promoted a strategy and process of initiating contact with business receptionists. That’s right, the nice folks who sit in the lobby to answer and direct all the inbound calls. They felt if you promote yourself to these receptionists, flatter then with brand reference gifts, they would eventually lead you to the right person of authority to look at the sales proposition. After all, they know all the names and extensions, and who has what title. I guess you could call it a bottom up selling process.
At the same time, I was heading up a direct sales team competing directly with their services in the same geographical area. We followed the sales strategies and processes I am outlining.
Our competitor’s sales cycle was longer and their average revenue per sale was smaller. Two years later, we had grown 509% and were acquired by a national company. That was the goal.
Our competitor filed chapter 11, let everyone go, and liquidated all assets. E
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