Continuing with excerpts from the interview I did this summer for coursework on the BizDev field by BusinessTraining.com, this is the MoM[S] definition of Business Development, or ‘BizDev’ as it is often called.
Ashley Wirthlin, developer of GTC Institute’s PR Specialist and BizDev Certification coursework, leads the interview.
…what it is, what it means, and how it differs [or not] from the Sales process it is related to.
[The full interview will be posted soon.]
Kind of a fun interview by Whohub on yours truly, and what I’ve done in my career…
This 1-minute excerpt is from an interview on the Sales & BizDev process, slated to be used in coursework this Fall by BusinessTraining.com. The clip is an audio summary of MoM[S]‘ personal Universal Sales Law, discussed in detail here in our 1-Year Anniversary Post of May 2010.
In authoring this blog, I have started the transition from writing about Sales in 2009, to starting our foray into video. We will be launching a dedicated MoM[S] Video Series channel on Youtube in August! More along these lines is also in the works.
The first two episodes have been shot, and will be in editing soon, then into release. But as I’ve gone through this whirlwind process [where I learned more about Storytelling, Video...and yes, Acting...than I would ever imagined], I realized that two key decisions, in a kind of sequence, led to this new place for MoM[S].
First, through some very good friends & contacts I’ve made in the Scripted Web Content world, I realized that I could produce a small series at a high quality level [for a project such as this], with the help of these very talented people…something you can’t always say about what’s on Youtube.
And second, through an acting professional that I have come to regard highly, Professor Brad Heller…I decided I would actually ‘script’ my series, and not just ad-lib it, as I often do when in-person for meetings with a client/agency.
Both decisions together, have been invaluable, not even knowing this at the time. Never did I realize until very recently, the very high similarities [and therefore synergies] that can exist for the Sales professional, that lay within the world of Acting.
A serious, true Actor rigorously trains for the brutal world of Hollywood; is Sales any less than that? Not really. Their glory as Actors…may not always be that far away from our glory as Sales pros.
The danger in this? Keeping clearly in mind, that bad acting comes when it is obvious you are acting. And you, as a Sales pro…are not even really “acting”, even if you borrow a page from their playbook, so to speak.
Why? Well, for one, you are playing yourself, not a different person or role. So, “acting” to play the role of yourself…ain’t gonna work.
Am I contradicting myself here by advocating the use of Acting techniques for Sales all of a sudden? Not really.
Just looking at a couple of the key, rudimentary things to learn: What is your Objective?, and, What is your Emotion?, can help frame your goals for nearly every client dialogue, communication, or encounter.
Or this key principle: “Listen & Receive.” Allowing yourself to be ‘in the moment’ and respond to your client/prospect, says wonders about you as a Sales pro.
There will be some that read this and say, ‘Yeah, I already do this. Nothing new here.’ Maybe so…but what I’ve said is still true. I have personally watched untold numbers of fellow Sales team members just recite, by rote, whatever stuff they’ve been told to shovel, onto to unwitting Agency’s/Clients to which they are not even listening at all…because they need or want to keep their jobs by shoveling, instead of…”listening & receiving”…to those same agency’s/clients.
I’ve railed on this topic line many times before. The fault of this ‘shoveling’ process lies not with the Sales team. It falls clearly to those they report to, those that demand this. [Same holds true for the sales lost in favor of that 'shoveling' process that cost you those deals, by the way. Those definitely belong to the Sales Mgrs/VPs who advocate this approach, though they'll of course defer.]
Find your balance, find what your clients want, and find your best place to sell in, by considering a look at how Acting techniques can better your Sales process. I have, and I am very glad I did.
Note: This blog post is dedicated to the craft & teachings of Professor Brad Heller, an adjunct instructor at UCLA, and the Founder/Exec Director of The Acting Without Agony Academy, in Hollywood, CA.
I wrote recently about the whiplash maneuverings of Joel Ewanick, who was apparently negotiating with GM, while at the marketing helm of Nissan for his short duration. He of course then went to induce further whiplash around the agency world, most notably within the walls of Publicis, which lost Chevy to Goodby [an Omnicom shop], but gained Cadillac over at Fallon [a Publicis shop, which had lost Chrylser in this process], by way of BBH/Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Is your head spinning, yet? Mine is.
Funny enough, speaking of Chrysler, maybe the symmetry in this becomes complete. Since, as Joel Ewanick moved on from Nissan, now there are reports that none other than Jim Press has come on board, to advise the Nissan team on marketing/dealer issues. Press was a Sr Exec at Chrysler after the government takeover, for about 2 years. But in getting Press on their side, Nissan, under Carlos Ghosn, also gets something else: the man who headed up the most successful US sales effort to date of any Asian company. I am of course referring to his 25+ years heading up Toyota Motors USA.
So…Nissan loses the Hyundai genius, to GM. But they gain from Chrysler, the genius that built Toyota. It remains to be seen, as to which would have been better for Nissan: Jim, or Joel? Only time will tell, but we’ll be watching. And it is interesting that it was Nissan which was caught in the nexus of all this. Your thoughts?
As a student of Sales, I have seen many of the pros that I pay attention to talk about making the extra effort, putting in one last sales call per day…going the extra mile. Going the ‘Extra ‘Sales Mile.’
Easy to preach, but is it easy to practice? Depends on what you want. The research on the subject largely supports the “7 No’s to Get a Yes” paradigm, wherein you must be persistent [in a professional, engaging way] and diligent, to become one of the 20% that makes 80% of the Sales in most firms.
In no real order then are some of the things I personally have done along the ‘Extra Sales Mile’ road:
Think I’m going to leave a detail like this to my Assistant, or Ad Coordinator? Hardly.
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Is this the list of a hero? Of course not; others have flown more miles, sold bigger deals, gotten less sleep. But it IS a list that has brought the benefit of going the extra sales mile, to me, in a big way.
So the question is: Are you going the ‘extra mile’ in your Sales efforts, or always just coasting? If you are going that extra mile, what is on your ‘Extra Sales Mile’ list? Tell us here~!
I’ve never met Joel Ewanick, so my thoughts here entail the years I’ve spent working with and interacting with, dozens of Agency & OEM clients, Tier II groups and dealers around the US. These comments arrive here in that light.
Obviously, both the naming of Joel Ewanick to lead Marketing at General Motors, and his lightning-rod, turn-on-a-dime appointment of icon SF agency Goody Silverstein & Partners [replacing Publicis Worldwide], have ignited huge debates & extensive commentary. Moving Cadillac swiftly from BBH [Bartle Bogle Hegarty] to Fallon, both of which were within Publicis, only adds to the drama. That last leaves Chrysler in the lurch losing Fallon, and, oh yeah, Campbell-Ewald was felled in this mix, too.
You can argue all of this until forever, but some thoughts on several sides of this issue have not escaped me:
True, some of what I’ve written may echo others out there. In fact, in my view, some of the best writing on all of this has come more from the Agency pub’s, than even AutoNews [though they've also done good work here.] Keeping track of the latest over this past week comes to us in two great articles: ‘Cadillac, Chrysler, Mazda Accounts Spin Out at Once‘, from AdAge, and ‘Chrysler Reaches Out‘, in AdWeek.
Alright, the situation, its aftermath and lessons learned that I am about to describe here is not really “insight”, since it’s been offered as such by visionaries of all types over the years. But when you witness something done firsthand that you know is just a huge, major faux-pas when it comes to Sales success, it changes your perception of that outstanding bit of advice which you have in fact received many times before.
Changing the details on purpose for sake of indentity, I was at an event recently, engaged in a discussion with several people about the state of the Web world, the sales potential for Streaming Music, Web Video Content and WebTV, plus other similar topics. Someone that I was acquainted with, whom I had not seen in quite some time, came up to say hello to me, upon which I introduced them around to the other people that were present.
As soon as this person heard the name/firm of one of the people standing there, this other person immediately started reaching around in their coat/jacket, looking for business cards in a somewhat awkward manner, and immediately proceeded to say, “Wow, you could really help me out by…” Fill in the blank here. I won’t go further into a description of what was said. [Do I really need to?]
It was literally that quick, and happened that fast. I was myself taken aback by the brazen, overtly selfish nature of this declaration. And as it turned out, I don’t even know really the reaction of the poor person this was directed at, being that they were whisked aside, apparently to hear more as to how they could ‘help’ this new person they’d just met [thanks to ME, no less.]
Note the sequence, and the wording: Person meets potential key conduit or facilitator. Person immediately says, ‘Wow, you could really help me out.’ …Wow. “You”. Could. Really. Help. “Me”. Out.
No small talk, no interest in the other person. No thought as to whether this person would even WANT to help them out, and worse, no indication that maybe, maybe…they could help this person out with something that THEY needed help with.
Obviously, this breaks nearly every Sales/Etiquette/Diplomacy/Human Interest practice out there, that I know of. Yet here it was, happening in 2010. I think the recipient of this largesse [kidding] was taken aback as I was, but was gracious enough to not protest too loudly, in a class sort of manner.
But funny enough…or is that sadly enough[?]… I have not heard back that the person doing all this, is now any farther along in getting “access” to this important company, than they were before. In other words, this effort failed. It is indeed, NOT the way to network.
I have become a big believer in recent days, of the Pay it Forward Chronicles concept, by Chuck Hester, an early adopter of both social media overall, and LinkedIN in particular. His idea of always asking people you meet, ‘How Can I Help You?’, was not in play this day, in this situation.
Another great from another day, Zig Ziglar, may have said it best: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Ad Technology vs. Agency: Who Has the Advertiser’s Ear? – ClickZ.
Through this blog, MoM[S] has touched briefly several times on the subject of how [and/or when] we as Sales professionals approach a Client, their Agency, or both. Depending on the situation, it can be a delicate balance, and yes, you should choose carefully. That is the main theme of this article by Hollis Thomases, and I am pleased to have been involved in her discussing this important subject from another side.
MoM[S] first discussed this in ‘Spy vs Spy…or SalesGuy‘, and again in passing, in ‘Selling on the Video Side‘. But Hollis Thomases brings a broader, more thorough discussion of the topic to bear in this ClickZ article, and does it from the side of someone who is a web/marketing expert in her own right. She is also the head of a cutting-edge Web firm [that is partly an Agency], and so rightly has the perspective to look at a subject like this from multiple sides.
All of this means she is often afforded a position that has a client’s ear in these matters, and likely has had Sales talent to deal with on any number of related occasions. And yet she still acknowledges, without necessarily approving of, the fact that Sales talent is there to sell, and will pursue many avenues toward that goal. In my mind, ironically enough, our success on the Sales side will likely come to us on the highest level, by knowing and playing to the answer of her lead-in question: Who Has the Advertiser’s Ear?
Yeah, about that question that is the title: How DO you solve your Key Sales Problems? Because if you don’t have a method, or some style, path or approach that you take, it is very likely not adding to your Sales success. Why?
The reason, simply stated: Key Sales Problems represent both your greatest Challenge–and therefore your greatest Opportunity–to sell any particular client. Solve what no one else can solve, and by default, you will almost certainly land the business.
I have found that taking the shackles off of any sales problem/issue/challenge, and looking at with a ‘Blank Canvas’ point of view, almost always helps me achieve a solution far better than I ever would have thought possible at first glance. But it really needs to be blank-canvas in order to work. No worrying [yet] if your Company policy won’t allow ‘x’ to happen. No stopping [yet] your thought process because ‘y’ is something that’s never been done before. If you look at the problem point-blank, you’ll work around those, devise a solution that works despite these…or something else entirely.
My fave example here? Easy:
I was working a while back with a Media property and its related local companies, that had a dismal record in selling Ad programs to what is still the largest regional ad client in their market area. After having it assigned to me [and also pecking away at it for weeks/months with no more success than my predecessors], I finally looked at the history of the entire Sales effort prior to my arrival, and came to realize that the most important item had been overlooked: No one, from ANY of the firms, had EVER approached, talked to, or met with the President of this regional operation. Ever. In more than 5 years. Not even a single call to approach this gentleman, at all! It was incredible to think on, once I verified this was true.
So, in turning the problem upside-down like this, it gave me a possible solution. I couldn’t think of a reason not to, so…why I wouldn’t approach this important man? What, he’d say ‘no, I won’t meet you’? Or he’d never return my call? Well, that’s what Sales is about, isn’t it? And no one had ever contacted him anyway, so no matter what, I was still in front of the game here. Even so, having some amount of trepidation, I made a single call to the President of this regional client. Within 20 minutes, 20 minutes, he was returning my call, with an Intro meeting being set with him by me. Here is part of what he said: “Yes, I am aware your firm has been talking to my ad agency for years, but I’ve never gotten a call from you guys before, ever. And I could never understand why…” I went on to have that meeting, put all the pieces together, and sell that business where more than 25 others, Sr Execs included, had failed.
In summary, some of what I do to solve Key Sales Problems:
This process may seem unorthodox, and burdensome. Many will think it a waste of time. The number of excellent solutions to Key Sales Problems I’ve arrived at across many different Media properties tells me that this process works. What works for you?
Please share your ideas, thoughts & approaches below!
