For about two years now, I’ve been getting calls to act as a consultant for several of my clients. Normally, this is not my role. My role at Broadlook, historically, has been envisioning the business logic behind a technology solution, building the product, and then evangelizing the hell out of it.
Sales and recruiting teams, in 22 countries, are power users of Broadlook software solutions. They are thinking of new ways to leverage technology that I dreamed up…in ways I never dreamed of. Cool. They are creating their own internal Broadlook corporate training classes, building corporate wiki’s and flying Broadlook Black Belt trainers on-site for advanced training classes. Very cool.
Here is what bugs me: They are not talking! Many clients see the Broadlook tools as a confidential trade secret and an integral component of their business process. So they won’t talk about what they are doing. Not cool at all.
Here is what happened recently: (more…)
Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog about how to sell to me.
Today, I would like to focus on setting expectations for your prospects. Recently, the Chief Sales Officer and Co-founder of Broadlook showed me an email. It was from a prospective customer that was bemoaning the fact that he would have to talk to a sales rep, before we started him on a trial of our software. The bottom line, to him, was that it was a waste of time. The message was basically, “send me a download link, I’ll check it out and call you if I like it, but don’t call me.”
We had to disappoint him.
Good sales is making sure that you are putting the right tool in the hands of the right person. Broadlook has 8 different applications. Each has a different problem that it solves.
In this particular case, the prospect wanted a trial of Diver, our tool for automating the review and extraction of results from search engines. Basically, if someone does not know how to use Google, we will politely suggest to them that Diver is not the tool for them. Literally about 1/2 the time that people request a Diver demo, once we talk to them we determine together that they really need our Profiler tool. That is good selling.
I understand being busy. However, demanding-because-I-say-so is not a reason for any company to cave in to a prospects demands, especially when your experience shows you that sidestepping a good sales process hurts all parties involved.
What is really crazy is that this is not the first time this has happened. In fact, about 2 months ago, we looked at this problem and put, right on our Diver registration page, an up-front-contract of what to expect in the process of evaluating Broadlook’s software.
Here it is.
Broadlook guarantee: You want to try our software and you want it right away. We’re going to give it to you.
Here is what to expect:
- We ask for a valid email address and phone number. That’s fair.
- We will politely contact you and see if you have any questions.
- We will show you how to use the software and then get you a 14 day trial.
- One week into your trial, we will touch base and see how it is going.
- During your trial we may send you emails to trainings, case studies and other information to support your success.
- You can always call us and talk to a live person.
- We want you to have the absolute best experience possible with our software and we will show you how to use it.
- The Broadlook staff will always be courteous and helpful
- We want you to be successful.
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Even though we’ve put together this clear set of expectations, people still register with phony emails and phone numbers. It is really funny when they realize that they are not going to get software, so then they register again with real name, phone and email. Why is it funny? Because we track IP address of registrations; it is a very standard practice. So when the Broadlook sales rep gets a lead in our CRM, it will have the phony registrations, right next to the final registration with real credentials. Many of these turn into sales, so we are still going to be polite and not refer to them as the original name they put in.
Here are a few of our favorites:
Bill Gates 555-555-1212 – Tells us you are not very creative
Genghis Kahn 123-456-7890 – We will drop a mention of ancient warfare during the demo
Screw You 666-666-6666 – Anarchist, probably won’t be worth the time
Donato Diorio 414-XXX-XXX – Just me testing our registration system to keep my reps on thier toes
Basically, our terms are non-negotiable. Yes, I wrote them myself and stand by them.
So why do people put in phony email and phone numbers? It seems like a real waste of time. I believe in saving time on all sides, so we created the Broadlook guarantee, which is essentially an up front contract on what to expect when working with Broadlook. Once we created this guarantee, the phony registrations dropped in number, but did not go away.
Lastly, will someone, please, tell the people at eGrabber to stop registering to get copies of our software.
“Data normalization” is a phrase that leaves a blank stare on most peoples faces. Here is a secret: it is really simple.
Here is the inside scoop: Technology people have a secret club, complete with handshake and everything. It’s a club that we don’t want outsiders in. So we create these long phrases that make peoples eyes glass over. Why? Because if everyone understood what we do, then we wouldn’t make the big bucks. Being a recovering technologist, I’m on a continually journey to lose my geek speak. So get ready, here is the skinny on Data Normalization (more…)
Most CRM implementations fail. This is a fact. Look it up.
In my years in the industry, I’ve worked with many vendors on the consulting side to help reduce the possibility of CRM failure. While there is a whole host of reason that failure occurs, I have a very unique perspective into one of those reasons. The Nature of Contact Information.
The nature of contact information is fairly finite (i.e. Company, URL, Name, Title, Email, Phone, Social Network membership, etc). In addition, the concept of contact information is a simple one to grasp. It is so simple, in fact, that if often gets overlooked.
One of the most important concepts in business is “be brilliant at the basics”. If you are brilliant at your basics many more complex processes will fall naturally into place. So how are you treating contact information?
The miss-handling of contact information can lead to dire consequences across your company.
Take the following work flow as an example:
(more…)
In 2002, I was excited to get phone calls or even emails from anyone. My company was a start-up. 2 guys in a office with a dog and a bunch of computer servers.
Today it is different. Perhaps I am partly to blame. My contact information is on the Broadlook website, I’m the registration contact for 100’s of domains, and I freely put all my contact information into my email signature.
And…yes, my company, Broadlook, makes software that pulls information from the Internet to empower sales and recruiting professionals. Again, I am guilty, but having my contact information is not an excuse to sell badly to me.
Here is a secret: I love being sold to. Truly being sold to means that somebody has done their homework, looked at my needs, my company needs and has a solution to my pain. To save those hundreds of sales reps time, I’ve decided to (1) define the rules of engagement of how to sell to me and (2) post them on my corporate bio. If you follow the rules, I promise I will respond. It may be an email that only says “no thank you”. Or try me next quarter, but if you take the time, I will take the time.
I like the transparency of establishing the rules of engagement. When I passed this idea by a few of my peers, leaders in both small and large companies, they all liked the idea of establishing the engagement rules and being transparent. My rules are not the next persons rules; they are mine. Everyone should craft their own and make them transparent. If more people did this, selling would be so much more efficient and enjoyable, for both sides. Imagine that!
In order to sell at a high level, you need more than an email address. Perhaps having Broadlook’s lead generation tools at my disposal for the last 7 years has spoiled me. When I reach out to someone, I know something about them and I always personalize my message.
I titled this blog verbosely so people looking to sell to me would find it. SEO stuff. We’ll see where it lands…
Rules to sell to Donato Diorio
- Get my name right. I can see how people mistake my first name for a last name, but it’s not brain surgery. It shows respect.
- Personalize. I will not respond to a mass emails. Period.
- Understand what my company (Broadlook) does. Can you believe that there is some idiot out there that keeps trying to sell me a list of recruiting firms? Talk about selling ice to an Eskimo.
- Show me that I am special. Customize your sales pitch for my company. Don’t use generalities. Research what my company does and ask me good questions. I don’t have a burning need to seek others approval, but if you take the time to tell me.
- Call and email. You will probably get voice mail, but I will listen to it. The email will give me your contact information if I like what I hear. Tell me you will also be sending me an email. Be articulate, gosh, I’m sorry, but if your accent is so heavy that I have to listen to your voice mail a few times to understand it, it will get deleted at the very beginning.
- In your voice mail, say your phone number two times. Give me a chance to write it down if I like what I hear.
- Don’t use a voice mail script. If you do, you are not at the level yet to successfully sell to me. Try again next year.
- Don’t use a negative sell. i.e. The economy is bad, and you can help. Bad for who? Do your homework. I’m an optimist. I love hanging up on pessimists. Realists welcome.
- Know your product inside out. If you can’t answer nearly all my questions, you should not be reaching out to me. Have you manager or top sales rep do it.
- Don’t call me if someone else at my company makes the decision. I don’t make the decisions on office supplies.
- Did I mention… get my name right?
Here is the email that put me over the top to write this blog. It was nth in a series, polite but impersonal. I will not be working with this company.
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Dear Danato, (got my name wrong)
Hope you are doing fine. (does he really?) (the DELETE button was pressed when my eyes hit this line)
This is with reference to my previous mail dated 4th March 2009. (reminding me of his spam) I hope you have received it. I eagerly await your reply as I look forward to exploring a potential business opportunity with your company , which I am sure would prove to be mutually beneficial. (he has no clue what Broadlook does)
Please let me know your interest and your availability for a short introductory call at a time that would best suit your schedule. During the call, I would primarily like to introduce XXXXXXXXX, our services, capabilities and address any specific queries that you may have.
Eagerly awaiting your reply. (and 50,000 others he spammed)
Thanks and best regards,
XXXX
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