Book Reviews | Sales Aerobics for Engineers ® Blog

Selling Fearlessly, Interview with Author Robert Terson

October 10, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken 2 Comments

Robert Terson just published his new book, Selling Fearlessly: A Master Salesman’s Secrets for the One-Call-Close Salesperson. The book offers wisdom, insight, and a remarkably fresh look from a master salesman who spent more than 40 years in the field.

His message is applicable to everyone who sells: which basically means all of us looking to commercialize research, deliver our start-up or entrepreneurial vision into the marketplace, and earn major market traction for our already established company.

I had the honor of interviewing Bob last month about his new book. Here’s what he had to say:

Babette: Bob, you have “been there and done that” quite a number of times. Why write a book when you could just go off to some desert island someplace?

Bob: When I retired in January 2010, I knew I wasn’t the kind of man to just sit around, play golf, etc.; I knew I needed to be challenged, remain in the arena, contribute, give back to others. I wanted to write, do some speaking, live my retirement years on my own terms. You can sum it all up with one of my favorite quotes, from an unknown source: “If you don’t have a dream that is so outrageous that you couldn’t possibly succeed unless God Himself puts in a personal appearance, you’re not alive.” I need to be fully alive until my last breath.

Babette: It could be said that your approach to the sales formula comes from a different era of selling. Yet what you bring to the table is timeless. In this era of Sales 2.0, what’s your secret? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: Bridge to the Triangle, One-Call Close Salesperson, Robert Terson, Sales Triangle, Selling Fearlessly

New Sales Simplified is Michael Weinberg’s Passion

September 17, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

Michael Weinberg is passionate and fearless about dragging people and companies firmly into prospecting for new business acquisition. Earlier this year, I met Michael Weinberg at a round-table meeting we both were invited to and realized he was a collaborator in demystifying and simplifying the sales process. Plus he has a killer sense of humor and a no-nonsense approach about going hand-to-hand with the pundits of Sales 2.0. His new book is ruffling more than a few feathers in the world of sales and business development. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: Book Review, Michael Weinberg, new business acquisition, New Sales Simplified, prospecting, sales

Prospecting for Customer Discovery

July 25, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

How do you find customers for your new, or existing, product or platform? For entrepreneurs, start-ups and mature businesses, it takes more than cold-calling to have customer discovery conversations which: 1) validate hypotheses you are testing regarding product/platform and market features and functionality, and 2) identify target customer segments whom you feel are the right “fit.”

Traditional sales methods have everyone running around like a chicken with its head cut off, talking to all sorts of people about all sorts of things, hoping someone buys what you are selling. That type of wasteful activity ends up making no sense at all, especially to technical entrepreneurs who are used to using credible data for decision making. If you are, essentially, “selling” your product or platform to a decision maker who is basically Yourself, be who you are: a scientist.

Even if that means becoming a sales scientist, or a sales person who uses the left side of their brain.

Book Review – Rules of the Hunt, by Michael Dalton Johnson

June 5, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

Communication is the hallmark of humanity. Mankind has been telling stories since pictures were scratched on the walls of caves. It’s how people learn from other people’s experiences. It’s how we encourage and motivate each other as well.

Michael Dalton Johnson’s Rules of the Hunt, Real-World Advice for Entrepreneurial and Business Success is just such a book. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: Book Review, Michael Dalton Johnson, personal development, professional development, Rules of the Hunt, sales

Tipping Dominoes

April 15, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

Remember what you were doing in September 2008? That’s when the sales paradigm, and the global economy, broke into a million little pieces. And all the kings horses and all the kings men are still re-assembling the component parts. But not the same way, ever again.

For those of you still waiting for things to go back to the post-industrial mindset economic halcyon days… they are over. Your expertise is needed. More than ever. To be part of the new business development paradigm. And that paradigm favors individuals who are comfortable working cross-functionally. Who are comfortable on both sides of the technical/non-technical table. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: collaboration, cross-functional mindset, Do You Mean Business, technical/non-technical collaboration

Jill Konrath’s Foreward – Do YOU Mean Business? by Babette N. Ten Haken

March 8, 2012 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

The sales process is tough. If you’re in sales, you know how much time it takes to set up meetings with potential prospects. They’re not receptive to your advances. They’d rather stay with the status quo than change. The budgets are tight and all they’re concerned about is price.

If you’re a technical professional who’s involved in the sales process, you’re under pressure to make pitches that convince prospects to do business with your firm. But for some reason, what you’re told to do just doesn’t feel right.

Sound familiar? The truth is, in the past few years your prospects have changed – radically. Since virtually everything they need to know can be found online, they don’t need to meet with you. Nor do they have the time. Everyone is crazy-busy, trying to handle more work and impossible deadlines with fewer resources.

As a result, their expectations of us, as sellers and technical professionals, have changed, too. They’re tougher on us. More demanding. We have to prove we’re a valuable resource before they’ll even consider having a relationship with us. But saying good things about ourselves or our company falls on deaf ears.

Despite all this, fewer than 10 percent of sellers have altered how they approach prospective clients, create opportunities, or differentiate themselves from competitors.

To be successful today requires a major rethinking of “what works.” In my first book, Selling to BIG Companies, I introduced new strategies to help sellers get their foot in the door of targeted accounts. In my second book, SNAP Selling, I focused on new strategies for dealing with frazzled, harried decision-makers.

Babette Ten Haken challenges stereotypes as well. I first met her seven years ago, when she called me with a question. Having recently taken on a sales role, she was perplexed at the divisions between the sales and technical functions. And, she felt like she was being pushed to do things that not only didn’t work, but also compromised her belief system.

She was right. And since that initial conversation, she’s been a woman on a mission to help sales and technical professionals be more successful with business development. In Do YOU Mean Business?, she challenges traditional stereotypes and shows you what actually works in today’s business environment.

You’ll find answers to questions such as:

What should your sales process look and sound like when you’re interfacing with prospects and current customers?
What resources are available to you as technical and non-technical professionals working together?
How can you become valuable resources to your customer’s decision making?

If you knew more about Babette’s background, you’d realize just how much she knows where you’re coming from. Trained as a scientist, she spent years facilitating left brain-right brain meetings as a marketing research professional in the pharmaceutical industry. Following that, she transitioned into total quality management and Voice of the Customer research.

To her, the cross-over interface between sales, business development, and engineering is fluid. For over 25 years, she’s been doing this “simultaneous translation” between technical and non-technical colleagues that resulted in very productive and profitable outcomes.

When you read Do YOU Mean Business? you’ll see what I mean. She’ll shake up your perceptions and then deftly guide you through what it takes to be successful. It’s well worth your time to read it.

- Jill Konrath, business strategist and author, author of Selling to BIG Companies and SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers

Receive a complementary audio download of an interview Babette Ten Haken gave about her book, as well as a download of Chapter 1 of Do YOU Mean Business? Technical/Non-Technical Collaboration, Business Development and YOU by clicking on the image of the book in the upper right hand corner of the DYMB site. Available on Amazon.com in April, 2012.

Filed Under: Angels, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Book Reviews, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Professional Development & Social Selling, Sales & Engineering Collaboration, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: babette ten haken, cross-functional mindset, Do You Mean Business, Jill Konrath, sales-engineering interface, technical/non-technical collaboration

The Road We Traveled in 2011

December 20, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken 2 Comments

The two weeks of the Holiday Season leading up to the New Year are a time of reflection for many of us, although it sometimes doesn’t seem like it. We are lining up our road maps for 2012: identifying the referral network for our prospecting (because we’ve finally learned that cold calling and churning and burning through leads lists doesn’t work). We are trying to get projects completed and invoiced by the end of the year to insure cash flow. We are deciding whether the roads we travel on are leading us somewhere productive and relevant, let alone profitable.

It can become chaotic and overwhelming. Unless you take a step back to gain a greater perspective of what’s going on. And keep stepping back until you get a 10,000 foot eagle’s eye view of the situation.

What roads will we travel on, together, in 2012? We’ve certainly traversed some interesting technical and non-technical geography in 2011.

As I tee up for 2012 blogging about some great topics, including customer experience, sales and the technical professional, liberating yourself from your professional status-quo, and some tools for smarter selling, I’ve revisited the roads we’ve traveled on, together, this year.

It’s because of our collaborative dialogues, your feedback, and the professional inspiration you’ve given me that I have a book coming out in February! I’ve made some major pivots in the direction of my business this year as well. I am a life-long learner. And I learn from the folks I work with as well as work for. I am always expanding my sandbox, and this year was no exception.

In mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs (both start-ups and and mid-level funding companies), I have the same dialogue I’ve always had when working with manufacturers and engineering-intensive service companies. The venture capital venue provides some very provocative discussions with companies who recognize it’s time to move beyond “the way we’ve always done things” towards “the way we need to do things.” And since they are already “there,” these businesses are open to dialogue and collaboration. Which are very gratifying discussions to have since so many companies are resistant to moving one millimeter outside of their status-quo comfort levels.

In reflecting the roads more, as well as less, traveled together this year, I’d like you to take a look at the page on my blog called Top Blog Posts . I keep it updated based on your comments, re-Tweets, Shares on LinkedIn and relevance to the professional communities and target markets in which I work.

When you get some down time this week or next, or even for a quick momentum-boost, take a look at these blogs which your colleagues found the most intriguing and provocative in 2011.

Your Best Sales Partner May Be An Engineer

Think You Have All The Answers? Did You Ask The Right Questions?

Being Relevant To Your Customers

Do YOU Mean Business?

Are You Chasing Around Customers and Prospects Who Are In Crisis Mode?

Lessons Learned from Spinner Dolphins

Did You Write Your Own Instruction Manual?

So Has It Turned Out The Way You Thought It Would?

Are You Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid?

The Power of Your Personal Brand in Space-Time

Understanding Why You Work for Other People

Your Financial Plan is Your Business Pulse

Take a read and let me know what you think, as you move forward into the new business year. These posts range from business planning to career development to website design to core personal values. There’s a lot of good food for thought.

Thank you for your readership this year.

Most importantly, thank you for your collective and collaborative inspiration.

Looking forward to continuing our dialogue!

BTH

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: business development, core personal values, Do You Mean Business, engineers, entrepreneurs, professional development

Being Relevant To Your Customers

November 15, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

Everyone is involved in the business development process: finding markets and identifying customers for our product and service offerings. No one is exempt from this process, either. Even if you are a technical professional who is transitioning into a sales role!

We all talk about “doing our homework” before we call on current and potential customers. What does that phrase really mean? The Digital Millennium overwhelms us with information. And not all of it is relevant to our customers.

I recently asked this question of Sam Richter, an internationally recognized expert on sales, marketing, leadership and web search as well as author of Take The Cold Out of Cold Calling.

To download our entire interview, right click here.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are some points to keep in mind when using the web to locate information.

Everyone’s in Sales …

Sales has gotten a bad name. Your customer thinks you only are calling them to convince them to buy something from you or to sign off on your technical solution. They often feel you have no clue whether they are even interested in your products and services, or whether your solution is relevant. So think before you call your customers. Do your homework to determine what is important to them, not you, such as: their business objectives, how can they earn their bonus, whether you even have product or service solutions to help them achieve their goals.

Establish your Relevancy…

Being relevant to your customers allows you to be regarded as a valuable solutions provider. Find information on what that other person is concerned about and ask really good questions based on this information. You don’t get permission to show up and immediately fast forward and ask those “deep discovery” questions until you have proven your relevancy and trustworthiness to that prospect or customer. Then they will invite you to ask them these questions. Do you have stories you can share showing how you have helped others?

Your buyer doesn’t care about you or your company, no matter how nice you are and how great your company is. They have problems which are keeping them up at night. You need to be aware of these problems before you meet with your customer. They want to talk about themselves, their company and their problems. Not yours.

Focused Web Searching, not Surfing, establishes Relevancy…

Before you fire up Google, write down a list of questions you want answered. You want to search the web, not surf it. Your goal is to unearth the trigger events that are shifting your customer or prospect’s company’s decision making processes and creating problems for them. Keep in mind that a company only puts good things on their website, so that is not a reliable source of information. Use the left hand Search side of a Google results page to fine tune your results. Click on the “News” button to find out if the company you are meeting with has been featured recently in the news. Tip: use quotation marks around words and it treats everything as a complete phrase.

We are connecting on a human level, not a technical level or a sales/marketing level…

Your homework can be as simple as going to LinkedIn. There’s a high likelihood that when you are meeting with someone, they have a profile on LI. Find out about them: who are they, where have they worked, what is their experience, where did they go to school? We are trying to find information to connect on a human level. You might be selling a very technical product, but the person behind that decision is a human being. If you do not have that ability to connect on a human, emotional level, then you become perceived as a commodity. Once you connect on an emotional level, then you become a valued provider and, more often than not, can even charge a premium for that product or service.

You are trying to determine what their problem looks like today. You are asking them to envision what the future would look like if you solved that problem. You want them to know you can work together with them to bridge that gap. You are telling them about some relevant experience and information that you have, which shows how you have solved problems for others. This discussion is the same, whether you are technical or in sales. You are solving their problem. It’s the same mindset. And as a sales person, your ability to understand what the buyers’ problems are, and translate and connect with the appropriate technical expert in your company, is huge.

Business development involves The Platinum Rule, not The Golden Rule…

The Golden Rule assumes that others want to be treated the same way you do: do unto others as you would have it done unto yourself. However, just because you feel that your products and services are wonderful doesn’t mean that they actually are or that your customer is even interested in them. The Platinum Rule, proposed by Dr. Tony Alessandra, states “treat others the way they want to be treated.”

Most people sell via the Golden Rule. “I love my company and we will spend the next hour going through our catalog so I can tell you how great we are.” Platinum Rule business development involves “Hey I’ve done some homework on your company. I see you are moving in this direction. You have this capacity and this equipment. Are you able to move in the direction you wish?” Now you can share a story of how you have helped similar companies. And, if you show that catalog, you can tailor the content to fit the reality of this customer’s needs. You don’t know what your customer needs until you ask.

Entrepreneurs often approach venture capital or angel investors from a Golden Rule perspective: this idea is so important to me, that I am sure it also is important to you. They have to approach funding from a Platinum Rule perspective: I have this idea, what do I need to know to determine whether it is important to you?

Web searching provides data for asking questions, not finding answers…

When we search on the web, we’re not looking for answers. People confuse Google and searching for finding answers. Companies are not putting out “click here to find out what our problems are” information for you to find. Yet it’s your job to determine what their problems are.

What you are looking for is “trigger events:” something that is going on in that company’s world that is changing things. Press releases, mergers, acquisitions, new technology. By adding quotes around search terms and “+” between words, you get a lot of press releases related to trending information about that organization. Google isn’t the only search engine you can use. Mool.com/media is a new search engine based on media. It deals with news related to companies who are not in the news frequently, such as industrial manufacturers. Another alternative search engine is biznar.com. Click “advanced search” and search for information by date ranges, key words, etc.

Think of data differently…

Most of the time when we think of data, we think of information we can put into an Excel spreadsheet. Engineers are so data oriented. They are looking for data that means 2+2=4. What you are really looking for is 2+2=8. When I say data, I am talking about disparate pieces of information that can help us come up with hypotheses so we can ask better questions. What is the holistic nature of the issues, what problems might this company have? How can I ask better questions based on the information I find? The data we are talking about is what you find via different search techniques.

This doesn’t have to be that hard. The goal is to get the other person to start talking. Find that one article, not a lot of information. It allows you to ask a question that gets that person talking about themselves and their company.

The most powerful search engine ever created is that person sitting across the table who you are trying to get to talk. So shut up and listen. The key is, you have to have permission first, to ask the question. Make the other person feel important. Ask that question and then be quiet and let that other person talk.

There is an art and science to web searching. Those in the engineering profession have the mindset to connect the dots. They are wired to be very successful.

Sam Richter is the Founder and CEO of SBR Worldwide/Know More! and SVP/Chief Marketing Officer at ActiFi, a software and solutions firm serving the financial services industry. He was named by InsideView as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in Sales and he was also named as one of the Top Chief Marketing Officers on Twitter. He is a member of the Business Journals/ “Forty Under 40” list honoring the top Minnesota business leaders under the age of forty. He also was finalist for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year and he’s one of the more highly recommended persons on LinkedIn.

Go to http://www.samrichter.com/ and the Warm Call Center. Download the Know More! Tool Bar which accesses the most relevant sites for your search. His book, Take The Cold Out of Cold Calling, is available on Amazon.com and via his website, www.takethecold.com.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Professional Development & Social Selling, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: business development, professional development, relevant web search, sales, Sam Richter, Take The Cold Out of Cold Calling, technical professional

Do YOU Mean Business?

November 9, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken 2 Comments

Do you dread those Monday morning cross-functional, technical / non-technical meetings? It doesn’t have to be that way, you know.

You can start by asking yourself how you impact your company’s revenue stream. Which generates your paycheck, by the way. If you feel the responsibility for generating business is up to someone else -traditionally the sales guys and gals – I’ve got news for you. It’s up to you, as well. In collaboration with everyone in your organization who touches the customer. Even if you are a technical professional.

Now that’s something to think about…

How capable are you participating in today’s business development continuum if you are unable to put yourself in your customers’ shoes? And that includes your internal customers from other disciplines, seated across the table from you in those dreaded Monday morning meetings.

I was interviewed on November 4 about my book: Do YOU Mean Business? Technical / Non-technical Collaboration, Business Development and YOU. For those readers who do, as well as those who do not, know my platform: I have a firm belief that successful business development is fueled by businesses, organizations, and institutions which value synergy between technical and non-technical professionals.

Have I just described your workplace? Or how you were educated and trained? There’s a rather large gap between the ideal and the real, I’m afraid. So how can you, as a technical or non-technical professional, span that conceptual, discipline-driven communication and collaboration gap?

Businesses are losing revenue because of lack of collaboration across technical and non-technical disciplines. Especially those businesses organized with a traditionally siloed infrastructure. Which describes the majority of business models. In this type of vertical organization, there isn’t much opportunity for lateral flow of information across departments or even disciplines.

I’ve been a “simultaneous translator” between technical and non-technical disciplines for most of my career. Even though I came from very technically focused training, I have always worked across disciplines. I eventually became the “go-to” individual for my company, due to my bringing a broad-based perspective to cross-functional team meetings. Oh, did I tell you that this perspective was productive and profitable for the companies I’ve
worked with and for?

I’ve had the privilege of working with manufacturers and technical service companies over the past few decades. And I am a coach and mentor for some very bright, yet very frustrated, engineering and business school graduates working for major companies. I can tell you that this cross-functional disconnect fueled by our professional disciplines is very much alive and well. Why am I hearing the same stuff I heard when I was a corporate newbie?

I sometimes spend more time untangling the misconceptions of discipline-driven status-quo, or “the way things are” mindset, than I do working on pointing mentees, companies and start-ups in the right direction. Something has to change.

My book takes what I know, that “simultaneous translation” not-so-soft pretty powerful skill set, and teaches it to you. You can’t move forward until you understand what is holding you back. This book gives you a 50,000 foot eagle’s eye view of the business development landscape so you can develop the mindset and communication skill set to increase the value you provide to yourself, your clients and your organization. Oh, and we work on business development and revenue generation skill sets, too. After all, that’s the main event.

This book was inspired by my clients, colleagues, mentees and my network. The book is written for business owners, C-level executives, VP’s of Engineering, Sales or Business Development, Sales Engineers, recent technical or non- technical graduates and entrepreneurs who want to be “more than” rather than the “same as.” And it’s written for technical and non-technical professionals who are beginning to understand that all the degrees, certifications, and expensive education that you have invested in are not going to make you bullet-proof and your job secure in this competitive global environment.

If you’d like to hear the complete audio version of my interview about my new book, Do YOU Mean Business? Technical/Non-technical Collaboration, Business Development and YOU click on the book title link and opt-in to receive the audio download, updates about my book, and some great gifts I will be providing as we move towards the launch date of February, 2012.

What are you waiting for?