by Chad Koser (aka Zebra Chad)

Our little friend in the foreground named “Zonkey,” is the result of what happens when sales people make the decision to pursue prospects that are not Zebras…  You may by chance win the deal, but the outcome of that deal will more than likely prove undesirable for both you and your customer.  Your solution was not matched to your customer’s need(s),  making it impossible for you to Force Success, and therefore:

1. You will not be able to provide the customer with what is needed to fulfill the promised project goals.  In the end, the only thing that matters is real results achieved by your customers.

2. Lack of ability to achieve effective and timely results will waste both yours and the customers valuable, limited resources (time, money, people)

3. Your reputation for consistently meeting customer expectations will be negatively impacted.  Remember: satisfied customers may tell one or two others or may volunteer to serve as reference accounts for you, but dissatisfied customers tend to be far more vocal on a very voluntary basis.

The moral of this light-hearted blog is that in the end, the only thing that matters is real results achieved by your customers, and the only guarantee of real results is the pursuit of Zebras.  Don’t be a Zonkey…  Get the picture?

-ZC

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by Chad Koser (aka Zebra Chad)

Being a father/son team that not only run a business together, but one that has also authored and published a book together, Jeff and I frequently get asked what it’s like to work together.  There are a lot of positives to working together, and there have been many aspects that both of us have enjoyed. Truthfully, there are also a lot of challenges that need to be addressed and solved in order to maintain positive progress.

In that light, I recently found an interesting list of 20 challenges faced by family owned businesses that I thought was quite complete and well-thought.  Together, Jeff and I have faced some of these challenges, and some of them have not been relevant to us.  Either way, I felt this was a unique change of pace for this week’s blog topic — one that will be of interest anyone else involved with, working within, or simply curious about the dynamic of a family business.

Without further ado, here’s the link to a very well-written article on the topic:
20 Challenges Faced by a Family Owned Business

I think this list of challenges would be well-served by adapting it for use as a checklist/scorecard for determining the present status quo within a family business, and then as a guiding roadmap (or GPS to use more modern terms)  for continuously evaluating progress at various intervals, much in the same way that we use our own Zebra to help guide our sales clients through evaluating their prospects at various stages of the Zebra Buying Cycle (also see Zebra U for further reference on these concepts and tools).

Finally, here are two more interesting links for additional reading on the topic of family owned business as it relates to the current economic downturn:

1. “Family businesses have traits to survive,” by Jane Hilburt-Davis and Judy Green, as featured by Providence Business News.

2. “U.S. Family Business in Strong Position to Survive Downturn,” by Barclays Wealth, as featured by Marketwire.

Until next week,
Zebra Chad

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Have you seen Zebras on Reuters?

Reuters Link to Interview with Marc Kramer & Jeff Koser

Marc Kramer, Columnist for TheStreet.com and The Bulletin, serial entrepreneur and author of 5 books, recently interviewed Jeff Koser for TheStreet.com and was also posted on Reuters.

“Jeff and Chad Koser have written what I consider to be one of the best sales books of the past decade.”

Thank you, Marc for your capturing the essence of our methodology through this very eloquent and succinct Q & A with Jeff Koser.

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http://www.salesopedia.com/

Have you visited salesopedia? If not, and you are in sales, you should. They provide a wealth of information and tips in the area of leadership, networking, communication and much more. AND…You can catch the latest podcast with Jeff Koser and host, Clayton Shold.

In this podcast Jeff explains the process of quantifying a prospect against seven quick questions to determine if you should pursue the prospect or not. Steps to building your Zebra.

Salesopedia Podcast – Jeff Koser & Clayton Shold

Clayton Shold‘s sales and marketing leadership experience make him comfortable at the executive level or shoulder to shoulder with the field sales force. He understands the demands placed on individuals today, be they employees, commissioned sales reps or senior management. He is passionate about sales and service delivery. His experience with strategic planning and on-the-ground tactical execution has provided a wealth of knowledge he utilizes to help sales teams

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As you answer these questions, don’t try to use them to define all customers. Instead, use these questions to define your best customers, which in turn will help you to identify your best prospects.. The best customers are the ones where you win the deal 9 times out of 10.

1. What defines the types of companies that are my best customers?

2. What do these companies look like operationally?

3. Who is the person in a position of power that makes the promises when my deals/projects get approved?

4. What funding was required to get those projects approved?

5. What level and type of return-on-investment did I prove when I won a deal?

6. What role did technology play?

7. What were the service requirements where I won in the past?

Your best prospects will match the attributes defined by analyzing your best customers to answer the previous seven questions!

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An excerpt from our recently published ‘ChangeThis: Manifesto’…

The Zebra concept itself is simple. Create the profile of your perfect prospect and measure all other prospects against perfection. Zebra score every prospect, decide your tipping point and don’t go over it. This is the hard part. Saying no for sales people is very hard. Yes is in their vernacular. No isn’t even in their DNA. So when we tell you that part of the success of this process is to say ‘no,’ you’ll understand this process will take some inspection to ensure it succeeds. Someone once said you can’t expect what you don’t inspect. Inspection is necessary for the Zebra way to succeed. You can drag a Zebra to water… you get the idea.

Follow this link to download the entire manifesto:  http://www.changethis.com/56.05.CatchingZebras

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Selling to ‘Zebras’ to Overcome Tough Times By Marc Kramer

Jeff Koser speaks about a sales method that pinpoints the best customers, increasing success rates.

“Jeff and Chad Koser wrote a book that I consider one of the best sales books I have read of the past decade. What made Selling to Zebras interesting is the methodology and process for identifying a company’s best prospects. They developed an analytical model that can be used by any company, particularly in today’s tough economic times”.
– Marc Kramer

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