Ask Bill Brooks A Question
By Brooks Group on 11 May 2007 at 09:59 am
Got a question for CEO and Founder of The Brooks Group, Bill Brooks?
Bill’s inviting you to challenge him with your toughest business-related questions. Whether you’re struggling with sales, sales management, hiring, training or business growth and development, Bill wants to hear from you.
Each Friday, we’ll take three of your questions straight to Bill’s desk. How will we choose which three questions Bill gets?
Simple, we’ll let you, the readers vote for your favorite questions.
- If you have a question for Bill, you can leave it below in the comments section.
- If you’d like to vote for your favorite question, click on the green thumbs up icon.
- Of course we all know there are no dumb questions…but if you see questions that don’t fit with the sales, sales management and business growth focus of this blog – you can click on the red thumbs down icon to let us know.
Bill’s door is open and he’s ready for your questions.
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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In todays world the corporation or parent company is not showing as much interest in the employees, well-being, financial conerns, families, better discription they want all the dedication and loyalty, but no longer want to give any back. I realize it will never be where it was, but we have to come back some.
How can this be handled so employees will respect there corporation and vice versa.
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Hi Bill,
How do you turn old dead accounts into good prospects for your services and products? We have some old leads and accounts that either never bought, or bought once in an emergency, and numerous attempts have not shaken them from their current vendors, so they fell into the “We have called them faithfully for 5 years with no response so we will bury them” category. Should we go ahead and bury them, or is there hope for them?
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What do you do when you have gotten a verbal award for some business and a tentative start date, and then informed that the project was put on indefinite hold, with little explanation as to why? Do you sit tight and hope it comes back to life, or take it off the forecast and assume you were led down the path?
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Bill:
The company I work for has recently started using your IMPACT system. I think it’s a wonderful and powerful tool, but I do have one concern.
As an inside sales rep, I do not have the advantage of sitting across from my potential client. I need to get the decision maker on the phone and get him interested within seconds or I don’t get the chance to move forward and close the deal.
I’m calling on someone who knows nothing about me or my product. I certainly use the pre -calling stage and investigate before making my call and once on the phone I also employ the meeting step. The area I struggle with is asking a stranger questions before he even sees the product.
I sell advertising for a vertical search engine. I feel as if it is more effective to enter the probing stage as I take them through the demo. It feels more natural and organic. This, of course, means breaking your rule of jumping steps. I’m wondering if there’s a way to combine them.
Thoughts?
Victoria
Hi Bill,
I just love the Words that Sell Library and your associated book. I was wondering if you ever produced a table that laid out all different professions that can be cross referenced to each profile.
Thanks,
Tim
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Bill:
I recently had a salesperson go over my head and the boss’ head to make a complaint regarding an email I sent. In the email, I asked her to cease a certain activity that I have requested in the past. She stated that she felt belittled by my response. I was written up. How do you continue in a positive relationship with someone that is a top producer but goes around me and my boss and then continues with the same behavior I asked her to stop?
Bill, I work in the financial services industry with a small/new payroll co. I am in sales. Today with so many customers/prospects having so much information at there finger tips and with the large entrenched payroll companies to compete against, how can I best leverage my my company and skills to realzie an immediate impact in the market of increased sales? I have worked with two rather large companies, and in payroll services for over 11 years. We are a full service payroll co. offering a variety of methods for input of hrs and earnings.
Regards,
Manny
Hi Bill: I’ve been trying to compare and evaluate different SPM systems for our team and am amazed that there aren’t more tools to help you choose which one to use. Some of them seem to be based on transactional analysis (!), some are focused on sales techniques, some are tied into CRM and focus on the entire company, and most of them have their own proprietary software. Are they all the same? I can’t even find an online place where people who have used the various systems tell me their strengths and weaknesses!
Thank you,
Catherine
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My clients want the lowest price, period. I have sold our services to combat the pricing issue and have walked away from clients that only care about the cheapest price and have business relationships up the wazoo. I even taylored my offerings to domestic products in an effort to persuade them to buy American, even to buy from local manufacturers in our industry to improve our own state’s economy (Michigan) But with no success. Any suggestions or is it a matter of the funnel theory and I’m not putting enough numbers into the funnel?
where in heavens name does one find sales people these days……….then where good ones……..
Bill,
My company selss print advertising to C-level executives of the Fortune 1000 on behalf of some “house-hold name” institutions. This is NOT an easy job, and the biggest challenge, by far, is getting the budget-busting decision maker on the phone, and not being pushed off to the third assistant in charge of shelving…or some such person who can’t buy what we have.
Our approach is VERY conversational in nature…the WORST thing we can hear from a prospect is “what a great salesman you are.” We truly don’t come across like salespeople when we PROPERLY do what we do, and have been good at it for over a decade.
My managerial question: how do you take a new hire, usually with a lifetime of sales experience, who’s used to the Ben Franklin close, the alternate of choice close, the reduction to the ridiculous close and all those other tried, true (and hackneyed) closing techniques, and “unlearn” them all the stuff they spent a lifetime learning, WITHOUT making them feel belittled, idiotic, or like they don’t know anything, and aren’t being respected for their life’s “experience” in sales?
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Bill,
How does one handle a situation where a subordinate has a strong personality and sometimes acts as though he/she is your superior dictating issues that need to be addressed. This person also has been known to say, “that isnt my job”. This person is of minority, and it almost appears as though the boss is timid to approach she/he possibly due to the person viewing it as discrmination because of the personality.
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Bill,
The prospect is a chemical company. I am one of 3 competitors going after an expansion. Both competitors have been in the account before I started calling here and both have equipment in the plant. There are 3 contacts; 2 are internal advocates and 1 decision maker. One advocate is on my side, 1 advocate is with a competitor. The decision maker works at another location, several states away and will not take my calls. I’ve been told that he only reviews the quotes and discusses the options with the advocates and will not discuss anything with the vendors. I believe the competitor’s advocate has more sway and his position is based on preferring the technology my competitor offers. Do I continue creating trust and value with my competitor’s advocate, continue to try to contact the decision maker or take another path?
Hey Bill
How does a subsidiary of a publicly traded company capitalize on the overall size, product breadth, financial strength, of its parent company when said parent is focused in another direction and organic growth is not the priority?
Bill, Please tell me if the IMPACT system applies to residential real estate sales. Please expound on the parts that apply the most and how they do.
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What is the best way to handle call reluctance on an individual basis
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Mr. Brooks
It is probably too late for this post to make it “straight to bill’s desk” but here it is anyway (Multi-part questions allowed?)
Q#1 Are the answers to the three top questions posted on this site? Can we vote on them too?
Q#2 In a technical sales industry (industrial equipment), where would you draw the line with customer interactions? I have been advised a few times by sales managers that I sometimes get “too involved” with customers and I should limit my time and efforts. I really enjoy doing what I do, and that is problem solving, consulting and building customer loyalty. “Time is money but money is time” I coined that one myself.
Q#3 If I do get a reply from Mr. Brooks. The validation question is: “Who is my current boss?”
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Bill
I work in the financial services industry, and have service levels and expertise second to none. My industry is very competitive, and heavily reliant on relationships. The problem I have is threefold:
1. When approaching prospects, they consider my service offerings to be overstated (as is the norm in my industry)and almost always (genuinely) have an existing relationship with another service provider. How can I convince them to experience the difference when many simply close the door with the excuse that they are already well serviced?
2. In some cases, these pospects are already competing in my market as a way of supplementing their cashflow(e.g. lawyers and accountants offering fianncial products). In most cases, they are not very good. How can I break into their business and demonstrate value-added advantages for them if they forgo part of their supplementary income?
3. When some prospects have tried my services, they are extremely satisfied but either pass my service model on to their existing service provider or adopt it themselves. How can I prevent or minimise this?
Many thanks
Hi Bill,
Please tell me what are the particularities of the sales process if your potential customer is an OEM?
Hi,
I am in management at an insurance agency marketed for seniors. We are having a difficult time trying to hire and train qualified people. Moreover, those that will stay.
We are individual agents without the opportunity of health benefits (and other benefits). Moreover, we use direct mail and rather than call the leads back we go directly to the home. However, this system works very well for me and few others. The majority of people get very discourages and quit. How can we train these agents more effectively?
Thank you
Natalie Madej
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Hi,
I am the manager of a small sized company. I am also the sales manager of the company. I have one salesman who used to be a Star. whenever we had low sales, all what I had to do is to call him and ask him to help. He never struggled to find a new customer (usually a big one).
Lately, I am very disappointed with his results. he is losing one opportunity after the other. he managed to bring one new customer. I was happy (for him and for us). But even this customer, he could not keep. he did not close the deal well.
what can I do to get my Star back?
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Dear Bill,
My company provides excellent accounts receivable management and collection services and we use direct marketing sales strategies.
Management is very picky about their requirement to sales representatives to daily abide by the following activities:
20 Hot Knock
60 Phone calls (cold)
25 stuffer (drop off literature under the doors, or similar)
33 mailers
A total of 750 freshly new contact every single week!
Yet, they seem not to encourage a lot of follow up on all this contacting. I find it hard to reach the total of 750 fresh new contacts every week without generating a lot of “maintenance” work. And in a week you are following up, you can’t meet your goal of another 750 freshly new contacts again. I read somewhere in a Hoover’s paper that these cold contacting techniques are a thing of the past. What do you think?
Dear Bill,
I am an Asean person working for a multi-nationa corporation.
Do you think there are main differences when applying thearies, experiences, and practises relating to Management, to employees with different culture (e.g. Asian and American, and European, and Middle-East)in a multi-nation corporation?
Regards,
Hieu
Hi Bill, I have a bank of GOOD prospects to give my sales team (consisting of 6 consultants). All they have to do, is, do what sales people do best and convince the prospects to buy from us. The prospects are already qualified. I dont want to just give it to them without having a good monitoring system. Can you advise me on the best possible way to handle the prospect pool?
Dear Bill,
I hope u r fine and OK,I belongs to Pakistan know a days some progress in our country in particularly in Marketing Fields.
But we still facing shortage’s of true sales person’s.I am working as a Territory Manager in leading FMCG an also guide,educate and coach to juniors and new comer’s I obseved during this most of a casual attitude in this context .I also motivated them but still not significant change in attitudes.Be kindly right guide line will be give.
Really thanks full to you.
Regards
Muhammed Imran Ahsan
Bill I have a customer that will not let me move any direction if it is not his idea there is no idea. I have tried to move him into the impact system with no luck.
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Bill-
in an ‘instant world’—where everyone want a “quick fix” (including George Bush!!) How do you answer the decision makers question, “Can you fix my problems now? And how will I measure the results?”
Thanks, this is a great idea.
Hello Bill,
Although this question may have been asked I would like to know how you can get upper management/stock holders to listen to good advice. If your boss is taking your input as limited and won’t pass it on.
I believe our total company overview of the markets we participate in is limited. I think they still only think of dollars/cents for the stock holders’ immediate return - since it makes them look good.
However I believe we have to nurture some accounts and the payoff will be best if nurtured properly.
How do I convince them of this philosophy?
Regards,
Ryan Hodgson
Director of Sales - Laird Technologies Antenna SBU Lincoln, Nebraska USA
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Bill,
We are seeing a trend by large corporations utilizing either in-house or out-sorced purchasing people to put together Request For Quote(RFQ)on Everything from the products they buy to services on their facility. The idea of corse is to leverage their huge buying power to squeeze their vendors.
I sell service agreements and we have built a successful business on providing superior service. However, in bid situations we always loose because of the high standards we have established and the willingness of other companies to do little or no service to get their foot in the door.
How do we hang on to our large customers and maintain high service standards and profit margins?
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Bill, I am a graduate of the Bobcat sponsered Impact training. I have struggeled for two years with how to track the progess of a prosect through the IMPACT system with out overburdening my sales people. The only computer tools I have are Microsoft Outlook or Excel. How do you track the progress of your salespeople in your office?
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Hi Bill,
I would like to know your opinion about writing Service Proposals… Is that a good thing to do, or the best way to publicize to your competitors what it is about you and the value you plan to give your customers?
Thanks
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Hi Bill,
I am working as a trainer in INDIA and many a time , i come across a situation where from a batch of 28 people 50% of the participants do not understand english as well as other language. so it becomes difficult to make them understand .
How do i manage this situation.
With Regards
R.K.Sharma
I have a building system that I developed and it is working great. We have been using the cost plus method using my system and after a year of tracking we are finding out our billable hours for my superintendent are not covering his cost. He is putting his time in, however it seems to me very hard to track and charge the time he is not directly on the job site. I implemented a cost tracking sheet so when he is on the road between jobs and stops at the lumber yard or is on the phone we are going to start charging for the time in 15 minute increments. We also raised his rate to help cover the cost. Do you have any suggestions on how to charge and be fair to both the company and homeowner?
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Sales people seem to really “whine” more each day. It can be about quality of leads, competition, compensation, the weather, etc. They seem to expect more to just fall into their laps instead of working harder. Do you have any suggestions on ways to rectify these behaviors?
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Hi Bill
I am a Sales trainer training a telesales center of around 70 staff, and the most frustrating thing I find is I can motivate employees to sell and believe in them selves, but how do I maintain that? I try on going training sessions and one 2 ones like setting goals etc, but it seems as soon as i walk away they go back to their old habits.
Do you have any tips of help on keeping motivation consistent within my telesales environment?
Hi Bill,
I am relatively new to sales, but luckily sell a phenomenal product. My biggest hurdle is the existing relationship with their current broker. Even after showing a prospect a way to save thousands of dollars for the same or even an improvement of what they currently have, I do not close as often as I should. How can I overcome that hurdle?
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Bill,
I manage a small sales group of 8 people and report directly to the CEO. Before hiring me, the CEO acted as sales manager also. My question is how do I get the CEO to leave my salespeple alone. He hounds them just like he used to, but that is what he hired me to do. I have asked him several times to just let me do what you hired me for, but he still calls the salespeople constantly. As you can imagine the salespeople are getting more frustrated because it seems like they now have 2 bosses. Also, some advice I give is in direct opposition to what the CEO said to do. Any advice would sure be appreciated.
Thank you,
Leroy
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Bill,
I was a Realtor in Seattle for 14 years prior to becoming a Mortgage Broker. My problem is that the Realtors I used to work with don’t associate me with the financing side of the transaction.
How can I pull them away from the mortgage broker they have been using for years and show them that I will do a better job of customer service than the broker they are currently using? I understand the businees better than someone who has never walked in their shoes..
If they would give me the opportunity it would be easy to distinguish myself from the broker they are using but it is almost impossible to get them to give me a chance..
Sleepless in Seattle…
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Hi Bill,
Thank you for this great opportunity.
I am a ‘one man show,’ and a Licensed Massage Therapist in Southeastern Connecticut. I do a lot of networking, Chamber of Commerce, BNI, and other groups, along with a rather large e-blast to about 1800 people. While I consider myself successful, I am always looking for more clients, and was wondering if you have ideas about selling very personal, one-to-one services, like massage therapy and such esoteric things like classes on wellness and health.
I thank you in advance.
Twice in the past 3 years I find myself selling to an area that is unlike anything I ever saw.
I’ve worked 2 separate companies with the same customer pool and hear the same response from every salesperson; that this type of customer has loads of “new” money but will not part with it. They tell us that they shop for years for one item. We find them returning months later for the same thing that they as yet haven’t bought. Some of the items are substantial such as furniture but some things are not. They act quite entitled to full attention and extensive promises of guarantees but end up by -I’m not kidding here-by phoning their friends for an impromptu coffee meeting at our service desk or sample table. It is frustrating to say the least. Advise! Please!
What is the best way to implement a system to support generating leads, converting leads and tracking leads?
Hey Bill…when are you going to do a live broadcast like the king of sales Tony Parinello????
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Bill,
We have a sales rep who has been with the company for 25 years. He started out as a service technician and after about 15 years enteresd sales. We were both sales reps together before I became his boss. His performance has become very mediocre. He calls on the same people most of the time and doesn’t go out and seek new business. He spends more time in the office than he should, instead of being in front of customers, creating business. He is in his comfort zone and I find it very difficult to motivate him to work at a different level.His repeat customers are valuable, but he doesn’t have enough of them to keep up to the sales level we need. What do I do to change this. His income affects my income
Bill:
What have you found to be the differences in managing a remote, virtual sales force from that of a traditional, on-site sales team? For example, when sales professionals work from their home and rarely come in to one location they do not benefit from any synergy found when working with a “team”. What have you seen done to make up for the loss of collaboration and creativity a “centralized” sales force benefits from?
Thanks!
Bill,
My sales team prefer to email vs. picking up the phone to call prospects. This makes me nervous at times as I feel email lack urgency, and suspect that some of them are just scared to reach out on the phone. Well written emails can also take a long time to compose so I believe productivity may be impacted. I believe email plays a key role in my business and sometimes seems to get a better “response rate”. Do phone calls really push people up the “yes stairs” faster?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Scott
What colleges and universities have the top sales program/curiculum in the United States?
Hey Bill,
I was wondering if you happen to know the asnwer to this sales line? “it’s a govt. customer and they close a deal”
I work for an IT company in Maryland. To help relieve some of the stress that we endure during this time of year, my Manager started implementing trivia contests with cash prizes. So far no one has been able to answer this one.
Thanks!