This blog post is about three things:

1. Smarketing strategy #2
2. How decision makers buy
3. How to shorten your sales cycle

The second step in my seven step Smarketing (Sales & Marketing Alignment) strategy is to understand what makes you win.

In my last blog post I shared Smarketing Strategy #1 – A simple method to identify who are your best prospects. If you did not have time to read this part of my last blog post below is a short video (1:43) that explains it.

Smarketing Strategy #2 – using the Situation, Target, Plan (STP) framework to align your sales and marketing efforts – is to analyze sales to your best customers so you understand what makes you win.

It’s what I call a Won Sales Analysisâ„¢  - aka Trigger Event Analysisâ„¢. Every time you make a sale to a new customer where you get a customer with 3 or more check marks next to them, from Smarketing Strategy #1, you want to ask decision makers the following four questions:

1. What event or events led up to this purchase?
2. When did they happen?
3. What made you choose us?
4. How can we make it easier to become our customer?

Answers to these questions will tell you:

• The events that let them afford to buy from you (which starts them Searching for Alternatives) and the events that helped them to justify their purchase (which allowed them to make the purchase).
• The events that made them want to change (which initially put them into the Window of Dissatisfactionâ„¢)
• What made them choose you over your competition (which tells you the real value they get out of being your customer)
• What you can do to make it easier to become your customer (which tells you how to make it easier for prospects to find you, learn the value of being your customer, and make the purchase)

You can use this information to target and reach the best prospects and help them define the problem, design the solution, and start developing a relationship before your competition even knows there is an opportunity.

Here is a link to download the Won Sales Analysisâ„¢ template and instructions.

I recently came across a report “Mapping the Technology Buyer’s Journey”.

For me some of the most interesting things from the report are:

• How decision makers become aware of new solutions
• How decision makers are most active in seeking out new solutions
• How traditional marketing methods are by far the most effective way to reach decision makers

While the research focuses on those who purchase technology I think the results are indicative of what happens in every industry.

Here is a link where you can access the webinar, survey responses, and analysis by Kevin Kerner of Mason Zimlber – a Harte-Hanks company

I am a big fan of selling to executives (Those with money, the authority to spend it, and influence – have friends just like them: also have money, authority, and influence).

I recently read – and commented on a blog post by Andrew Hunt on The Customer Collective that I think does an excellent job of explaining why selling to executives shortens your sales cycle.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about ANY of the content above.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

This blog post is about three things:

• The four best winning questions
• My webinar with Keith Ferrazzi
• Trigger Buzz#9: Tonight @ 6:00PM PST – Closing

In my last blog post I introduced what I thought was the #3 Sales 2.0 tool (Survey Analytics) and asked what kind of analysis provides the most value to an organization and what kind of questions should be asked as part of that analysis.

Here are my answers to those questions. I have found the most valuable analysis is analyzing the deals you win – what I call a Won Sales Analysisâ„¢ (aka Trigger Event Analysisâ„¢).

For almost 20 years my own sales managers had a perspective “If you lost the business never lose the lesson” and I did that for many years. But in the summer of 2002 I did something very different I reflected on the 20 years of sales I won and that’s when I noticed the pattern behind every 6, 7, and 8-figure deal I analyzed.

The real epiphany came shortly after that when I went to Google and searched for the term “sales analysis” – the importance of the quotes is that the results must contain both words in that order. In the summer of 2002 I found about 500,000 pages that talked about “sales analysis”.

I then did a search for what my sales managers had always taught me – “Lost Sales Analysis” – and I found around 2,500 pages that talked about how to win more business by conducting a sales analysis after you lose a sale. Do you want to guess how many pages I found when did a search for the term “Won Sales Analysis” in the summer of 2002? TWO!

Of all the pages that talked about “sales analysis only .0004% talked about how to replicate your wins by analyzing the business you have already won. Even in the summer of 2008 there were only 34 results. Today you”ll find about 3,500 pages that talk about the value of  conducting a “Won Sales Analysis”.

Here are the four best questions to ask a customer when you win the business:

1. What events lead up to this purchase?
2. When did they happen?
3. What made you choose us?
4. How can we make it easier to become our customer?

One of the most important things about this analysis is that its’ not something you just send a survey link to a new customer or outsource to someone else. In order for your sales teams to start seeing “Trigger Events” all over the place they need to ask new customers these questions in person – either on the phone or face to face.

If you want to learn more you can view the  brief video at http://TriggerStrategy.com.

Skip to slide:

• #10 if you want to learn more about the impact of getting to decision makers at EXACTLY the right time
• #14 if you want to learn more about the Trigger Events that cause people to buy
• #26 if you just want to learn more about how to best conduct a Won Sales Analysis

I could talk all day about the power of this analysis and what you can do with insights you can learn from this process. Feel free to call (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias) or email me if you have ANY questions.

Save the date: 12:00 Eastern | 9:00AM Pacific on Wednesday March 16^th.

On that day Keith Ferrazzi, myself, and T.A. McCann – the founder and CEO of the company that makes the coolest relationship management tool on the planet: Gist – will share the what, why, and how of building powerful relationships that will help you grow business faster.

Titled “3 Ways to FIND HIDDEN OPPORTUNITIES” during this 60 minute web event you will learn:

• How to connect with those you want
• Who you want to connect with and why
• How to leverage technology to make it happen

Gist was recently acquired by the makers of the Blackberry – Research in Motion (RIM) – so we need a few more days to implement the registration page. I’ll be sure to write another blog post once the registration page is up.

Date: Wednesday March 16^th
Time: 9:00AM Pacific | 12:00 Eastern

UPDATE: Here is the registration link: http://bit.ly/FindHiddenOpportunities

Trigger Buzz #9 – Closing

Tonight’s Trigger Buzz (6:00PM PST | 9:00PM EST) is on you can harness Trigger Events to close more business.

Details on TriggerBuzz and how it works can be found at http://ShiftSelling.com/TriggerBuzz.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

Top Sales Book of 2010

UPDATE: December 16, 2010 – SHiFT! Wins the Bronze Medal behind industry heavyweights Art Sobczak – Art discusses my Trigger Event Selling™ expertise and the Won Sales Analysis™ worksheet starting on page 40 of his book Smart Calling – and Jill Konrath – Jill has 8 pages about Trigger Events that starts on page 76 of her book SNAP Selling.

My Trigger Event Selling book SHiFT! is a finalist for the Top Sales Book of 2010.

The winner is selected based upon 50% popularity and 50% merit.

I think I have a strong case for winning the merit portion (originality & quality) and because I am up against two of the industry’s heavyweights (Art Sobczak and Jill Konrath), I am asking for assistance with the popularity portion.

Please vote here. If you are so inclined you can vote every day until Wednesday December 13th.

If you would like to read the book before you vote, you can access the preview chapters at http://www.shiftselling.com/book/

If you have an extra 30 seconds can you also vote for:

• iSell by OneSource for what I think is by far the top sales 2.0 solution
• Gerhard Gschwandtner for top sales personality
• Active Conversion for top sales tool

Dreamforce

Since I am at Dreamforce all week I have not had time to construct the scheduled post on the #5 Sales 2.0 tool.

Today I will be at looking for and tweeting on what I think are worthwhile Sales 2.0 tools. Follow the hashtag #infoshift to see what I find.

Next week I will resume the countdown of the top seven sales 2.0 tools with sales 2.0 tool #5.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

The single most important factor to consider in using social media to sell more is to make sure your social media efforts are reaching your primary target market.

I say this because even the wrong activities focused on the right people are 10 times more effective than the right activities focused on the wrong people.

So who are the right people? From a Trigger Event Sellingâ„¢ perspective you ALWAYS want to focus on those people who have money and authority.

Those without money and the authority to spend it typically need to experience all three forms or a Trigger Event:

1. Motivation Trigger Event: Now I want it
2. Financial Trigger Event: I can now afford it
3. Justification Trigger Event: I can now justify buying it

… which typically takes 3-12 months after the initial Motivation Trigger Event.

By focusing on those who have money and authority you only have wait for the Motivation Trigger Event – The event that makes them want to change.

So how can you be sure that your social media efforts are reaching your primary target market – those with money and authority?

Yes Facebook and here is how. You create a Facebook page for your business and then use social media to promote your Facebook page. Once you have enough ‘fans’ you can see the demographics of those your social media efforts are reaching.

In my case, my ongoing Won Sales Analysis (aka Trigger Event Analysis ) tells me the decision makers with money and authority who are most likely to buy my services are men and women who are plus, or minus, 7.5 years my own age (47).

They have the money and the authority to spend it on the services I provide and based upon similarities in age and psychographics (aspirations, values and interests) they buy from me instead of my younger or older counterparts.

When I created a Facebook page for Trigger Event Selling and used social media to promote it, it took less than 24 hours for me to get over 250 fans. I was then able to view the demographics of the ‘fans’ of my Trigger Event Selling page by looking at the insights feature of my page.

In doing so I was able to validate that I am reaching my primary target (men and women who are +/- 7.5 years my own age). The image above shows the demographics of the Trigger Event Selling page on Facebook. Granted Facebook does demographics in 10 year intervals but even with 10 year intervals I can still confirm that I am reaching primary target market.

Win $1,500 worth of Trigger Event services by submitting either a great example of, or great idea on, how to use Facebook to harness Trigger Events and turn prospects into customers. To win you must get the most votes for your answer.

Answers are submitted by commenting on this blog post. Answers are voted on by clicking on the button that appears at the end of each answer/comment and voting ends on Monday September 28^th.

Answers/Comments need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes. Contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias), or this contact form, if you don’t see your comment approved within a few minutes of posting it.

Tweet, Stumble!, Digg, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

Do you have a sales team that could benefit from Trigger Event Selling but you don’t have the budget at this time? Get members of your sales team to submit ideas and then get votes for their submissions.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig

The #5 mistake I see sales people and entrepreneurs make is either not analyzing their sales or doing a ‘Lost Sales Analysis’ INSTEAD OF conducting a ‘Won Sales Analysis’.

Here is something I find interesting. If you use Google to search for the term sales analysis – by using quotes around the words “sales analysis” when you search – and you’ll find around 750,000 pages on “sales analysis”. If you believe that when you lose the business you don’t want to lose the lesson and you use Google to search for the term “lost sales analysis” you will find around 1,000 pages on “lost sales analysis”.

But even when you conduct a lost sales analysis you still have to use conjecture to figure out how to win more sales. The top sales performers on the other hand conduct a won sales analysis so they know exactly what made them win, so they can go out and replicate their biggest wins.

Here is what I find truly amazing, if you use Google to search for the term “won sales analysis” you’ll find, on last check, around 250 pages that talk about how to capture more customers by analyzing the business that you have already won AND if you subtract the number of pages that reference the won sales analysis described on this this site you’ll be left with only three pages.

Of all the pages on the Internet that talk about “sales analysis”, only 0.15% talk about how to grow your sales by analyzing the sales you lose and less than .00002% talk about how to win more business by analyzing the sales that you have already won.

My question, to be answered by commenting below, is “What question provides the greatest insights into how you can win more sales?”

Win $1,500 worth of my time to help you conduct a series of Won Sales Analysis and analyze the results by getting the most votes for your answer. Answers are voted on by clicking on the button that appears at the end of each answer. Comments/Answers need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes.

Stumble!, Digg, Tweet, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig

P.S. If you want to replicate your biggest wins and identify the ‘Trigger Events’ that lead up to them you can download the Won Sales Analysis form and the instructions on how to use it here.

In previous posts – Back on Track … Finally! & What’s The Big Deal About Trigger Events – I described how to increase close ratios, shorten sales cycles, and increase margins by getting to buyers when they are in the ‘Window of Dissatisfaction’ and the three types of Trigger Event’s that put buyers into the Window of Dissatisfaction.

In this post I will describe how to identify specific Trigger Events for the products/services that you sell. This can be done by doing a specific form of sales analysis.

Use Google to search for the term sales analysis – by using quotes around the words “sales analysis” when you search – and you’ll find around 3,000,000 pages on sales analysis. If you believe that when you lose the business you don’t want to lose the lesson and you use Google to search for the term “lost sales analysis” you will find around 1,750 pages on lost sales analysis.

I am looking to replicate my successes, therefore I want to better understand what it is that makes me win business. To do this I conduct a Won Sales Analysis. Here is what I find amazing, if you use Google to search for the term “won sales analysis” you’ll find, on last check, only around 50 pages that talk about how to capture more customers by analyzing the business that you have already won.

The Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis identifies the Trigger Events that resulted in getting new customers, when these Trigger Events happened, what made the customer choose you over your competition, and how you can close more sales in the future.

If you want to use the Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis you’ll find the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) version of this tool at http://www.wonsalesanalysis.com.

Contact me if you want an explanation any of the aspects of the tool so you can use it to enhance your selling efforts.

Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider

I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you a blog post by Don Dodge called “Is your product a vitamin or painkiller?“. In this post Don shares his thoughts on what catalyst or event causes your prospects to actively seek your product or solution”

I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 1,500 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

Have an eventful week!

Craig