Today’s video is about “Are You 100% In The Sales Game?”

Let’s face it, the business environment we are in is competitive. You need to do whatever we can to gain a competitive edge over the competition. Whether its exercise or updating and improving your skill sets. You need to do whatever we can to be 100% in the game.

Please watch and share this video. I’d love to get your feedback so make sure to post your comments below or email me directly at rvela@StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com.

Let’s face it. Much of the growth of the last decade or so was too reliant on credit. Business owners grew their companies through leverage and credit thinking that sales would continue thereby being able to service their debt.

And individuals relied to heavily on credit to grow their households and now that credit is tight, what are we to do?

Well there is one answer and one answer only. If you want to grow your business revenue or grow your personal income, you only have one choice:

“You must increase your cash flow the old fashion way. You must do it through SALES.”

That’s right. Good old fashion hard work and sales skill. It’s all up to you.

There has never been a time, in most of our lifetimes at least, when our skill and ability to sell in a down and recovering economy has been so crucial to success (and survival).

I understand this challenge all too well. I know what it is like to go through a down turn. For instance, in the last tech recession, I’ve used my sales skill to make more money than I had ever made before. How did I do it? I simply adapted to the market conditions and I learned to sell how people where buying.

Now, I would like to help you do the same. I’ve created a new workshop called “Reinventing Sales Performance”.

I invite you to take a look at it. It may be the “something” that stands between you enjoying a banquet or settling for sales crumbs.

Click here to learn about our new selling skills workshop: Reinventing Sales Performance.

Today’s video is on “Who Decides What You Can Do In This Down Turn?”

Im hearing more and more conversations going on everywhere I turn and the tone is alarming. I find that people are feeling helpless. Almost like they are giving up their power to make changes in their lives and waiting for some outside source like the government to help them.

If you or someone you know is feeling this way, please watch and share this video. I’d love to get your feedback so make sure to post your comments below or email me directly at rvela@StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com.

I’ve spoke to a lot of business owners and sales reps in the last 8 months and what concerns me are the sheer number of technology sales reps or businesses feeling the adverse impact and reality of this recession. Many are feeling frustrated that what worked 12 months ago is not longer producing good results. If you are feeling this way, you are not alone.

There are lots of consistently successful salespeople suddenly feeling like they’ve woken up in the movie Glengary, Glengary Ross, questioning their own ability and future. What you must understand is that there have been profound changes occurring in the way your IT customers and prospects are buying products, services, and starting projects.

By understanding these changes, and adapting to them, you will be able to survive and start to grow your business and your profit, even in this economy.

Sign up and listen (or download) my special audio series titled: The Seven Secrets to Selling IT in a Down Economy. I cover topics such as:

• Why prospecting is so difficult today
• Why customers aren’t buying products
• Why you may be missing important opportunities in your current accounts
• Why CIOs, IT Directors, and Managers aren’t taking your calls
• Why your sales & marketing activities may be driving away your current clients and prospects
• Why your success is determined by the first 10 seconds of a sales call
• Why your clients see no value in your vendor partnerships or certifications

I provide tangible solutions and answers to the each one of these challenges.

>> Get your complimentary audio- Sign Up Now!

About Ramon Vela
Ramon Vela, an entrepreneur, author and speaker, is a foremost sales and direct-response marketing expert. He “cut his teeth” working for, building, and starting VAR and channel organizations, and uses straight talk to pinpoint the critical elements that make the difference between sales success and failure. He can be contacted by visiting www.StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com.

Unfortunately, by the time we make the realization it may be too late. I often have people who come seeking my help who are in desperate mode. The are looking for something right now, this minute, that could help them generate leads, find new customers, and bring in sales right now. However, the fact is there are no magic pills and solutions.

That is not to say you can’t generate new sales right away, but in general, generating sales is an ongoing process that takes time and effort and when done properly and (important!) consistently can generate great results.

BUT WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?

Besides the flaw that you may not have had a system in place to consistently generate leads, the other big challenge, of course, is the recession. So how do we respond to this recession from a sales perspective?

There are three basic sales responses. They are conceptually simple but like everything else in life, can be difficult to do. The are:

1) Sell something different

2) Sell to someone different

3) Sell differently

The other response that I didn’t list but is the most common response and the main reason why companies fail: “keep on doing what you are doing”.

Not something I recommend, but I can’t force people to decide or change. As Batman says in the movie Batman Begins: It’s not who you are underneath…It’s what you do that defines you!”

#1 Sell Something Different
The best way to identify what else you can sell is by constantly asking your customers. You can do this via survey’s but I suggest the best way is to simply have conversations with your customers.

The other thing I suggest is to sell something that is related to what you offer now or that something where you can leverage your current skill sets and strengths. A common example: if people aren’t buying hardware right now or in the amounts they did before, sell services such as managed services or cloud-type services. I am surprised just how many solution providers are resistant to this idea. But again, its not what you want its what your customers are open to purchasing and using.

#2 Sell to Someone Different
If you happen to be in a market that is slowing down because of the industry, geography, etc., then look for opportunities in a different place. Let’s take the most obvious example; a few months ago, solution providers who focused on the Financial Services industry were taking a hit. However, they still had marketable skills that could be and I am sure for many have been applied to other industries.

Another current example, are people who sell to state governments. Now, this depends on whether the state you are working with is having trouble but most likely you are having trouble getting project going, or getting paid. I hear recently in my own home state that they are thinking of issuing IOU’s. I love California, but the state is a mess.

#3 Sell differently
This one for me is the most powerful. If you attended or listened to last my webinar last month on the “Seven Critical Secrets to selling IT in a Down Economy” then you’ve heard me say that selling right now isn’t about a lack of money (or budgets). That is a symptom. The recession is about a lack of trust. Not necessarily a lack of trust with you but most people (government agencies/corporations/small businesses) are hard pressed to spend their money if they don’t trust that they will get value/ROI in return.

The key here is, understanding that “lack of trust” IS the barrier. If you change your approach to respond to this new paradigm then your chances of success will increase. You can find more info on our solution to this problem here.

In the final analysis, if you are experiencing sales problems you have to face reality and do it quickly. If it is not about what you sell or who you sell to, then you have to take a good hard look at “HOW” you sell.

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartsolutionprovider.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

Join me, Ramon Vela, CEO of StreetSmartSolutionProvider and Valerie Nixon, Director of Marketing for Adexis and ISOdx (divisions of Cranel, Inc.) as we share our “in the trenches”, real world experience on how to adapt your marketing strategies for a down economy.

We’ll cover the following topics and more…

• How the tech buyers behavior has changed and what that means to you
• What’s NOT working (and what to avoid in lead and demand generation)
• What’s working and why (and how ignoring this advice can be fatal)
• How Social Media fits in and how to integrate it
• Putting all the pieces together (and what should a comprehensive plan look like)

We’ll provide tangible examples and answers to each one of these areas. Webinar bandwidth is limited, so don’t hesitate, reserve your space by registering now!

Time:
June 25, 2009 9 am PDT / 12:00 pm EDT – Register Now

About Valerie Nixon
Valerie is a veteran marketing communications strategist with a broad depth of experience in many facets of the discipline—including public relations, web marketing, creative services and advertising. Prior to becoming the director of marketing for Adexis and ISOdx (divisions of Cranel Inc.) she served as director of corporate communications for Sterling Commerce, a global leader in integration solutions, and marketing management for BST Global in Tampa—the most widely used business management software solution in the world for architects, engineers and environmental consulting firms. For the last 12 years, she has focused on developing and implementing marketing communication strategies for the technology industry.

People don’t buy from you, hire you, or believe in you whey they sense that you are weak or lack confidence in yourself or the solution you present to them.

So do what you must to aprear strong. Exercise your body and mind. I guarantee people and the world will respond.

Good Selling.

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartsolutionprovider.com. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter.com/ramonvela.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

From my experience in this market and my observation of tech sales people today, I would say that many, if not about 85-90% of all sales people selling technology are acting like Sisyphus. The market has changed, the way companies buy has changed and yet solution providers, VARs, and other tech companies are still selling the same way they have been 12 months ago.

My question is: when are we going to stop using the same sales approach that keeps getting the same poor results and wake up to the realization that we have to adapt our sales and marketing approach to how people are buying TODAY? In others, when are we goig to try something new?

You might ask, how have they changed their buying or you may be in denial to how things have changed. Well, here’s some evidence (and if you are not experiencing any challenges in your sales, then God bless you, you are doing something right and please call me so I can pick your brain):

Evidence #1: Server Market Sustains Historic Declines, Gartner as reported by Jeffrey Burt, eWeek,  2009-06-01. According to this article “shipments and revenues for the global server market plummeted by 24%..”.

Evidence #2: Storage Software Market and Most Sub-Markets Decline: IDC, as reported in eChannelLine, 2009-06-09. According this article “The storage software market had its first year-over-year decline in more than five years according to IDC’s latest Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker. The market experienced its first decline in 21 consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2009 (1Q09) with revenues of $2.8 billion, representing minus-5.2 percent growth over the same quarter one year ago.”

Evidence #3: Gartner Survey of 900 CIOs Shows 42 Percent of Respondents Decreased Their IT Budgets in First Quarter of 2009, Gartner, June 8, 2009. According to this article, “New Survey Results Show Worldwide IT Budgets Projected to Decline 4.7 Percent This Year IT Budget Decline in First Quarter of 2009 Returned IT Budgets Near 2007 Levels”.

And I can keep going….

This isn’t to say that poeple are not buying at all or that there are no sales opportunities to be made. And, of course, if your company has strong services/consulting expertise, than you are better positioned than others who rely more heavily on products.

My point is, the market has changed in profound economic, behaviorial, and even pychological ways and you need to adapt how you sell and market yourself if you want to be successful today and in the forseeable future.

WHAT CAN YOU DO OVERCOME SALES AND MARKETING CHALLENGES?

I have gone to great lenghts to examine and then design solutions that are workng for people and companies that sell technology. Here’s what I am offering but keep in mind, there are others who can also help you, my suggestion is for you to do something, don’t hesitate or continue to live in denial but adapt, evolve!

Step 1: You need to adapt your sales approach to how people are buying. I have designed a sales philosophy and methodology called BecometheTrustedAdvisor(tm) and was designed specifically to sell in this down economy. I offer it in two ways

• Customized Sales Training: This is where I tailor the content to your specific company. There are great advantages to this offering, in that you get the training customized to you company, sales people, and the solutions you offer.
• Monthly Sales Training Membership: For those who are budget challenged but still, perhaps more importantly, need to see sales results, I offer an affordable monthly membership.  You get the training in 12 modules, coaching calls, support, and a lot more. The good news it is $67/month. This is the only sales training 100% focused on tech sales that is 100% guaranteed. I am offering an introductory rate because we just launched it this month. If you want the intro rate then please use promo code: LAUNCH. Or call or email me.

Step 2: Adapt your marketing to this market. I have designed a series of promotion packages that include email, telemarketing, social media that you can review on my website. The most important aspect here is that people are not responding to the same marketing stuff that they were before.

What are experience tell us is that people want their problems solved they don’t want a product pitch. So we have taken this into account and have desgined our programs to position you as a trusted advisor, create a conversation instead of a sales pitch, and exchange knowledge. We do this by social media, email, video, audio, and many other ways. Please take a look and get some ideas:

• Trusted Advisor Package
• Social Media Marketing

Step 3: Stay very close to your customer. I can help you do this but this is something that is better for you to do on your own. And let me say it is critical. You have to be involved with them and find out what they are experiencing, what their challenges are, what their objectives and goals are for 2009/2010.  By staying close them you’ll see and hear what it is that they need, how their buying behavior has changed, and most importantly how you can adapt what you offer to help them.

THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is that now more than ever, your customers and prospects need your help. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you have in front of you to become a leader to them in ways that you may not have done before and that you may not be able to do again.

That’s it for now. Good Selling!

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartsolutionprovider.com. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter.com/ramonvela.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

More specifically, it may be your marketing and sales. You see, as you know we have (and are) going through a seismic event in our economy. Traumatic even. It has changed and continues to change how we buy, how we do business, how we evaluate the people we do business with.

Take for example our driving habits.  Just look at the price of gas. Its back down from the highs of just six months ago but the miles that people drive haven’t gone back up. Its because the emotional strain of the economic crisis has changed the habits in this country (maybe even forever).

BUYING HABITS & PRIORITIES HAVE CHANGED

The same is true with our IT customers. They have changed how they buy, what they buy, and most importantly their priorities. And dealing with this all comes down to one simple but profound question to your business and sales: What do you do when your customer’s buying priorities have changed?

Simply put, their priorities are now all about solving their problems.  This may or may not involve buying your products, services, or solutions but where IT solution providers, tech companies, and VARs screw up, is that they start the conversation (via your marketing and sales approach) from a product, service, or solution standpoint.

HOW TO MARKET & SELL IN A RECESSION

I’m not telling you something you probably don’t already know or feel from your experience in the field but how you may be dealing with it concerns me. And I truly want you succeed.

With this in mind, here are a few things you should keep in mind when performing your marketing and selling activities:

1. You message should be about solving problems, not pitch product or solutions. If product, solutions, are not your customer’s priorities than don’t approach them with marketing material that is product centric. Sorry vendor’s but IT folks aren’t gonna buy more because you keep pushing in on them. Make sure your marketing material is focused the problems they are facing.
2. Use marketing to create conversations and share value. Call it the internet or social media effect or whatever, but people want an exchange of informaiton. Its called sharing. They want to know that you are the expert. And the only way they know that (prior to buying your services) is by you sharing some of your valuable knowledge.  You don’t have to give away the farm, but provide value upfront and their trust yo more.
3. Humanize your sales approach. Don’t pressure them. Don’t try to control them. Don’t try to put them through a process. IT folks like many Americans are going through real problems. For lack of a better term people are emotional. They are worried about their job, their futures, their responsibilties.  They won’t respond to the same old sales techniques as before instead if you start to pressure them they will shut down. In short, be real, authentic, and try to humanize the very act of working with clients. Don’t sell them, help them. Help them solve problems. They’ll appreciate it.

For more information on the changing buying behaviors of IT folks read my post: Survey Results -  Why Prospecting for New Business is So Difficult Today?

There is more to share but I think even if you keep the above in mind, you’ll start to see results. I’ll be conducting several Webinars in the next month that will go into more detail on what is working in marketing and sales, how to implement these activities and strategies with specific directions included.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.com/ramonvela for new updates, marketing and sales ideas, and business insights.

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartVAR.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartVAR.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

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Members Login to view this content. (Not a member? Register today!)Now, this article has nothing to do with technology, the channel, Solution Providers, or for that matter marketing or business but it has everything to do with life. I thought it was important to share.

I personally have learned a lot from my failures and believe me I think I have failed more than most. Of course, the difference now is that I tend to learn from my mistakes now and I also realize one important fact, I have failed because I take more chances. One big lesson I’ve learned is that if you want to succeed, success requires that you put yourself out there.

Whether that means promoting yourself or your business, meeting new people, living your dream, sometimes you are going to fall on your face. But keep in mind, would you rather live a life of regret and always play it safe or would you rather “live” life. Its short; too short, so live it fully.

BTW, today the acting CFO of Freddie Mac killed himself. Folks I don’t know why he killed himself but we have to remember it is only money. Nothing, especially money, is worth extinguishing your life over. May God bless his family.

Enjoy the article: 5 Winners Teach Us How To Learn From Failure

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartVAR.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartVAR.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.[/hidepost]

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Listen to the Audio:

People don’t trust the stock market. The stock market doesn’t trust the President. And everyone distrust banks.

This country is overwhelmed with a lack of trust. So is it so surprising that they don’t trust you when you say you can help them? Does it really?

They purchased from you before or someone like you and the project didn’t provide the ROI you said it would (or maybe it did). In either case, now they don’t trust you.

I keep going back to a fundamental principle, people’s behavior has changed and the result is they are less trusting. So they hold on to their money, tighter than ever before.

Their scared to let go of their budgets so when you come knocking like Johnny salesman (person, sorry ladies) how do you think they are react. They probably didn’t trust sales people to begin with and now sales people probably stack some where above bankers but less than their congressman (which when you think about is actually rather insulting given the credibility that our congress has, so sorry may be that was a little harsh).

What you need to do is build trust by no approaching them as a sales person but instead as a problem solver. Your ultimate goal is to become their trusted advisor.

The fact of the matter is they need you. They just find it hard to see that because of the lack of trust.

You might be saying, what stop being a sales person? How can I sell but not be a sales person.

First, you have to change your mindset. Once you change your mindset from being a sales person to being a problem solver things get easier from there.

Here are some tips:

1. Begin by not selling, focus on problem solving
2. Focus on your customer’s priorities
3. Work at building trust (you can do this by how you approach your client, again it’s the mindset)
4. Don’t assume that your solution or product can help them instead don’t lead with any of these, first determine if there is a fit and whether you can actually help them; be prepared to say no and hear no, because people respect you when you tell them there is no fit

The goal is to “become the Trusted Advisor”. In order to do this you need to stop selling the way you may have sold in the past and the way traditional technology sales training has taught you (sorry manufacturers).

You need to approach them in a less adversarial way. That is the path to “Becoming the Trusted Advisor”. I’ll have more in future post because there is a path to success you just need to have the right approach.

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartVAR.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartVAR.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

So what do you do when product sales fall off the table? It’s easy for me to say sell more services or sell more software, etc. And for those who already obtain 50% or more of their revenue (and more importantly their margin) from some type of higher margin services activity, you have less to worry about from a fall off of product sales.

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If all three are true, you may even think we’re on the verge of another Great Depression.

At this point, the only thing that may be true is your age and employment status.”

This is a quote from Albert Bozzo’s CNBC article: Why This Recession Seems Worse Than ’70s and ’80s.

I know things are bad and for many people it is terrible and a lot of suffering is going on. Still, I think it is important to keep history and perspective on what is going on. If only for one very important reason:

“If you sell or if you run your own company than you must, let me say that again, you must not given in to the doom and gloom.”

Be wary, be cautious with expenses, invest wisely, manage effectively, think creatively about your business, etc., but don’t give in to the doom and gloom and become depressed or pessimistic.

If you give in than you might as well give up your business and or give up selling.

It is a fact that people can sense fear, stress, depression, and pessimism and I can guarantee you that they will not buy from a fearful, uncertain, doom and gloom person.

So, it is incredibly important, even if things are not going well, to get your mind straight before you pick up that phone or visit a customer or make that important presentation because if you don’t you will regret it.

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartVAR.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartVAR.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.

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