SELLING TO ZEBRAS BLOG |
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Posts tagged ‘Strategic Selling’:
January 21, 2010, 9:41 AM
Welcome to the first Complex Sales and Selling Strategies blog carnival edition of 2010! We had a number of great submissions for this Fifth edition of the blog carnival, but I have to say that my personal favorite is, “How a $23M Deal Died, Was Revived, and Closed,” authored by Chad Levitt and listed under the Complex Sales category below. Chad’s post is a perfect example of a detailed what, why, and how strategy that all of us can apply to be more successful in our complex sales environments.
…And no, I’m not just playing favorites because he happens to share a great first name with yours truly! Enjoy the carnival, and I look forward to receiving submissions for the next (Sixth) edition in mid-February.
Zebra Chad
…And now the submissions for this Fifth edition:
Anya Portnik presents Failure for us is not an option posted at Gavin Ingham.
Wise_Bread presents 6 Ways to Use Technology to Upgrade Your Career posted at Wisebread.
Managed Services presents The First Step to Determining Profit: Calculating Full Burden for Billable Staff posted at Managed Services Blog.
Billeater presents Save Money on Your Home Internet Business posted at Billeater.
Business Development
Frank Goley presents Business Success Strategies by ABC Business Consulting » Blog Archive » Writing An Effective Business Plan- Part One posted at Business Success Strategies, saying, “The business success strategies blog is written by small business success expert, Frank Goley, the chief business consultant for ABC Business Consulting. Frank has more than twenty years experience helping companies start, grow, turn around and succeed.”
Susan Tatum presents Will Pay-Per Click work for you? posted at Clicks ‘n Conversions Blog.
Frank Goley presents Business Success Strategies by ABC Business Consulting » Blog Archive » Developing and Implementing A Winning Marketing Plan posted at Business Success Strategies, saying, “The business success strategies blog is written by small business success expert, Frank Goley, the chief business consultant for ABC Business Consulting. Frank has more than twenty years experience helping companies start, grow, turn around and succeed.”
Complex Sales
Chad Levitt presents How a $23M Deal Died, Was Revived, and Closed posted at New Sales Economy Blog, saying, “This post will detail how using an on-demand ROI/TCO sales 2.0 tool can help you sell more, at a higher ASP, with a shorter sales cycle and get your customers to “own the deal”.”
Sales Challenges
Kathleen Gaga presents Make Sales Stick; A Simple Strategy Guaranteed to Increase Your Success posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “Being pushy, aggressive and not caring how many refunds you get is what has given sales a bad name. You will not find that type of advice from me. I believe in selling with influence and integrity.
So how do you make sales stick?”
Mike Consol presents Mike Consol/My Blog | The key to making yourself persuasive posted at Mike Consol’s Blog, saying, “No less an authority than Harvard Business Review said, “Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity. Customers must be convinced to buy your company’s products or services, employees and colleagues to go along with a new strategic plan or reorganization, investors to buy (or not to sell) your stock, and partners to sign the next deal. But despite the critical importance of persuasion, most executives struggle to communicate, let alone inspire.” There’s a fundamental key to persuasion. Here it is…”
Strategies/Methodologies/Philosophies
Kathleen Gaga presents Build a Money Making Opt In Subscriber List with One Simple Idea posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “Effectively using a Sig File is one of the most important things you can do to begin building a solid opt-in subscriber list. Lists filled with people who have expressed an interest in something you are offering at no cost are warm leads for those who may want to purchase your paid products.”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of complex sales and selling strategies using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: complex sales and selling strategies, blog carnival.
June 25, 2009, 4:52 PM
 Option #1: Given the current state of the economy, Zebras are getting even tougher to identify… BUT, they are still out there for the picking, stripes or not.
Option #2: Selling using the Zebra methodolgy enables a refreshingly “bare-naked” level of honesty between sales person and prospect.
Option #3: Don’t let these mohawk-clad horses fool you… Real Zebras always have stripes, so don’t waste your time or theirs by trying to convince yourself otherwise.
No matter which option you chose, they’re all equally relevant. Feel free to comment with any clever captions you may come up with!
Finally, I want to mention that this week Zebra Jeff and I had the privilige of once again being guests on Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Advocate Radio program. This was our third appearance on Jim’s show, and we had a fantastic time talking sales shop within him once again. Check out the audio from that interview here: The impact of social media on selling in the future? You can also check out our past appearances on Jim’s show by clicking here: Selling to Zebras on The Small Business Advocate.
May 5, 2009, 9:57 AM
by Chad Koser (aka Zebra Chad)
 Well, the only cure is to inject a healthy dose of Zebra Vaccine! This weeks entry was inspired by a recent post at a great new blog I’ve been following called Salesopedia… “Recession Proof Your Sales — 10 Timely Tips for Unlocking a Great Sales Year,” written by Nancy Bleeke, offers some great advice and strategy for selling in a tough economy. Much of Nancy’s advice in her article is well-aligned with much of what we’ve discussed here in the past about Zebra strategy. Combine the aspects of it all that make sense for you into your current sales methodology, and you’ve got a powerful serum for success, aka Zebra Vaccine, to inject into your sales pipeline to immunize it against the current recession. Be well, sell well!
-ZC
April 21, 2009, 11:14 AM
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
April 7, 2009, 10:55 PM
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!
April 3, 2009, 12:22 PM
 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
March 28, 2009, 12:10 AM
Are you a busy executive? Do you have 15 minutes? Listen to an interview with Lisa Ferrari, SellingPower Live and Jeff Koser. Everything you need to know about us is captured in this interview.
 Jeff describes the Zebra methodology by addressing the key components that will help companies close up to 90% of the business they pursue by determining and predicting the value they drive for their customers. Creating and executing your Zebra will put you in a position to achieve long term growth—even in these tough economic times.
Click here to listen: Lisa Ferrari of SellingPower Live interviews Zebra Jeff
March 13, 2009, 3:33 AM
Zebra Jeff is an alum at UW-Oshkosh… I won’t post his graduation date, or how many years it’s been since he last held status as an “enrolled student” there, but I do want to share a few points that we emphasized to the younger aspiring sales people in the audience.
1. Interviewing for a sales job, or any job for that matter, should be treated as a sales opportunity in which you are selling yourself. This was the example that we used to tie in our sales methodology to something we thought most students would be able to relate to either currently, or in the very near future.
2. Given that this should be treated as a sales situation, we say that you should focus on your “Zebra” (OBVIOUSLY!)… Not only should you be a fit for your prospective employer, but that employer should also be a fit for you in terms of:
i. company culture (do you fit them and vice-versa in terms of lifestyle, philosophy, etc.)
ii. identify with and have sincere respect for the manager you will be directly reporting to
iii. have not only the skills to do your chosen job well, but also make sure you have the love for it, which is the only factor that can truly lead to real success
3. Before you talk too much about yourself and who you are, have a good idea of the unique and quantifiable value you can provide to your prospective employer:
i. research the company’s strategic direction and current business issues found in the CEO’s letter in the annual report
ii. find a way to penetrate that company beyond going through the usual channels (i.e. gatekeepers in HR)
iii. identify what makes you unique in pursuing these critical issues above and beyond your peer competitors
So, to all the young lions out there, make sure you have identified your Zebra (i.e. easy prey) and formulated and effective strategy of pursuit before making the decision to commit your valuable resources to the task. The reward will be a prosperous career step for you, and a fruitful new hire for your employer.
Zebras in any sales game are Fast Food that take dedication and discipline to catch, but are worthy of pursuit!
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