About Seven Consultoria

1. The Most Dangerous Issues Facing Sales and Marketing ©M & M CONSULTING©By: Daniel R. MonfaredJune 11, 20101

2. M & M CONSULTING M&M Consulting is a consulting business based in Tampa, Florida. It has operated since 2004 with projects in countries such as the US, Canada, Dubai, Turkey, Germany and Iran. THE main goal and purpose of the business is to develop other businesses, specializing in large corporation SALES, MARKETING, ADVERTISING, and TRAINING.OUR expertise go beyond the mentioned with a strong, well-trained technical staff for production line and factory analysis and cost estimates.WE believe in lowers costs, higher sales, efficient marketing and advertising, better trained staff, higher production and higher employee productivity.2

3. M & M CONSULTING OUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMER BASE:Large and small companies

4. Stores

5. Shopping malls

6. Factories and production lines

7. Training facilities

8. Sport complexes

9. Work-out gymsOUR MAIN SUBJECTIVES ARE:Sales

10. Marketing

11. Advertising

12. Training3

13. M & M CONSULTING INTRODUCTION:Millions of dollars have been spent investigating and pursuing ways to growsales, and no wonder; after all, sales are the lifeblood of any Organization. Yetonly a handful of companies have been able to grow their sales steadily notjust in good times, but in lean times, too, and in the face of ferociouscompetition. A careful study of the vast majority of companies that have beenless successful than these few superstars shows that they fall prey to a number of common mistakes. By contrast, the few that have consistentlygrown their sales have succeeded because they have found ways to avoidthese same traps.To most Sales Leaders, the attainment of a permanent increase in salesrevenues must seem like the search for eternal youth: unending and ultimately, unavailing.4

14. M & M CONSULTING Research Findings:In 2009, total of 2,663 companiesfrom the USA and South America, Europeand Asia took part in this survey andthe findings are publishedhere to help Sales Leadersunderstand the issues thatprevent optimum salesperformance and results.Research:70% The Americas20% Europe10% Asia5

15. M & M CONSULTING Sales Consulting:82.29% say they don’t havea consultative sales processor are not following the onethey have.18.60%clearly identified consultative salesprocess that has identifiedcompetencies for each stepin their sales process.32.74%does not reflect a consultative sales Approach.48.65%consultative sales process inplace yet not being followed6

16. M & M CONSULTING Sales People:41.48% say that theirsalespeople are performingbelow expectations8.13% most are consistentpeak performers50.40% apart from fewexcellent performers, themajority have scope forimprovement41.48% belowexpected standards7

17. M & M CONSULTING Performance:90.47% say their salespeoplestruggle to keep a properbalance betweenprospecting, presenting,negotiating, closing andmanaging an account67.21% are not doing orsporadically do salescoaching/development52.34% ofsales managers saythey don’t have the time orare too busy to develop andcoach their sales teams8

18. M & M CONSULTING If you’re committed to significant sales growththen you’ll find the rest of this report hugelyvaluable. Read on for more information regardingthe issues that prevent sales optimization and somesuggested solutions that you can implementImmediately.9

19. M & M CONSULTING ISSUE 1:A poorly defined sales process, which dilutes sales revenuesLack of directionFar too often, competent salespeople are counted upon to channel their own activities into theareas that will produce the biggest and quickest wins. But, left to their own devices, salespeoplegenerally don’t develop and pursue a formal plan for moving a sale tangibly forward during eachprospect interaction, nor do they have a clearly defined set of goals against which to measure theirprogress toward a sale. Instead, they end up "dancing around” with prospects, foxtrot fashion, in thehope that eventually they will get to their chosen point on the floor (the sale).2.Missed opportunities This lack of a plan is often fatal, because, as recent research from The Results Corporation PLCshows, 60% of clients buy after 5 “No’s” yet 44% of salespeople give up after the first “No,” 22%after the second “No” and 14% after a third “No.”A well-known oil company discovered that it took their best salespeoplean average of three visits and five follow-up calls to convert a prospectinto a client. Yet, their average sales performers only visited prospectstwice and then gave up, costing the company millions of dollars in wastedsales effort and even more in lost potential sales opportunities. 3. A discouraged sales force diminishes sales efficiency When their efforts don’t pay off quickly enough, even fully capable salespeople tend to get discouraged. They may spend longer and longer hours struggling to meet their sales quotas, working less and less efficiently all the time. Feeling increasingly powerless to influence prospects, they may also begin to press for a sale in ineffective ways—for instance, by arranging full- dress product presentations to prospects who they have not even qualified or who haven’t yet agreed that they need the solution being presented. Or they allow prospects to milk them for information without getting a commensurate commitment first.Even companies that Enjoy the luxury of a clearly superior product line know that theirproducts won’t sellthemselves. At a minimum companies need a sales forcecomprised of skilledprofessionals whounderstand their products and who know both their customers and their market. It also helps to provide The sales force witheffective sales support (for example, literatureand demonstration kits). But even all these Elements together are not sufficient toensure maximally efficient and profitable sales.10

20. M & M CONSULTING The details of what goes wrong differ for each individual salesperson, but the net result is always the same: a discouraged sales force, diminishedsales efficiency (i.e., wasted investments of sales time and resources that fail to produce high quality sales) and, consequently, increased cost of sales.The bottom line? Sales never result efficiently and with maximum revenue unless the sales process is continually and closely managed. And before the sales process can be managed, it must be manageable.4. Developing a consultative sales processFrom the perspective of Sales Leaders, developing a consultative sales process means developing a comprehensive, formal, realistic, and step-by-step outline of what salespeople are expected to do. This outline includes the activity and calls they must make, the relationships they shouldestablish with prospects, the materials they should use in sales calls, the issues they must discuss and resolve with prospects, and the tangiblegoals they must achieve in sequence along the path to each sale to make their sales approach maximally effective. It’s only when such an outline is in place and has been vetted by the experience of top performers that sales management is in a position to (1) monitor the sales force’s activity, progress, and their results (2) assess problems as they arise, and, when necessary, (3) redirect individual sales representatives’ efforts efficiently.Although many organizations appreciate the importance of being customer-focused and talk in vague terms about their "consultative sales process,” Surprisingly few sales leaders invest the time and energy required to develop a formal sales process - a sales process that is at once detailed and resilient enough to guide their salespeople and permit effective management of their efforts. 5. Overcoming implementation inertiaEven when a consultative sales process has been developed, understood by sales managers, and written down and circulated, it’s often not enough. Nomatter how brilliant, a sales process will only be effective to the extent it is followed and used by frontline sales staff. And this is where most organizations fall down: overcoming inertia - among managers and salespeople alike – and implementing the process. The hurdles that must be cleared in order to get people throughout the organization to actually implement it are enough to cause Sales Leaders totear their hair out. But a select few of the very best have found some innovative strategies that have enabled them to achieve the Holy Grail:sustained sales growth achieved efficiently, reliably, and by design. Here are some of the ideas that have worked for them.11

21. M & M CONSULTING Suggested solutions:

22. Involving customers Focus groups Customer feedback Surveys and discussions by sales force Walking the talk Information collected from customers Fitting with customer’s expectationsIdentifying best practices Gathering top performers Period of evaluation and testing Real feedback Consultative sales and monitoringA sales process provides a foundation for competency development Developing specific performance standard (competency) Assess the development needs of sales person Developing strong questioning and active listening skills12

23. According to Giles Watkins, Global Competence and Learning Manager, Shell Lubricants, a properly used Competency Development Framework delivers three key benefits for an organization:1. A clear benchmark for salespeople and sales managers so that they know what is expected of them2. A clear career path for progression (which typically seems to motivate salespeople who operate in a business-to-business environment)3. Evidence of the return on investment made in developing people so organizations are encouraged to sustain ongoing developmentOngoing monitoring and measurement Any change will cause fear and unsettled sales people Focusing on advantages Greater sales results Well-trained sales people On-going sales performance Constructive not destructiveA sales process requires constant monitoring to ensure it is being properly implementedQuality control Continually measuring and monitoring Identifying areas of possible improvement Exploit through training13M & M CONSULTING

24. Four vital components Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs) Clearly defined sales process Training Performance related compensationAn organizational culture that supports a consultative sales process According to Jonathan Ledwidge, Director, Learning & Development, Financial Markets, ABN AMRO Bank, you can’t divorce the competence and performance of the sales force from the competence and performance of the organization as a whole.Building a solid sales foundationJust like you need to put in a solid foundation when building a house, the salesprocess is the foundation for future sales success.14M & M CONSULTING

25. ISSUE 2:Lack of Essential Skills, which Leads to Below Average Performance and ConsequentlyBelow Average Sales Results1. The war for talent"The greatest differentiator among sales organizations of the future will be theability to build world-class capability and skills”.2. Less training with higher expectationsSo, what’s going on here? How should Sales Leaders reconcile the fact that many corporations today provide less upfront trainingfor their sales staff than in years past yet attach increasing importance to staff development?Have companies discovered that training doesn’t really pay off? On the contrary! Training appears to be even more important today thanYears ago, and it is getting more important all the time.3. Difficult timesAlas, many Sales Leaders, having concluded that their best strategy is to cut back on training, look instead to hire people who alreadypossess all the talent and skills needed to do the job and send them out to the field armed only with what they know. But many Sales Leaders know how difficult it is to find skilled salespeople.During the 1970s and 1980s, it was common for large corporations such as Hewlett Packard and IBM to put their new sales recruits through a twelve- to eighteen-month training program. Today, salespeople consider themselves ‘lucky’ if they get an initial two weeks of training.15M & M CONSULTING

26. 4. Huge demands on salespeopleThe fact is that selling in today’s climate is both an art and a science. Sales is a profession that demands a far wider range of skills than ever before (see Figure below)5. Lack of ongoing reinforcement and developmentThe operative word here is "continual." Even if salespeople have undergone initial sales training, there’s no guarantee that they will be successful. It is common knowledge that skills grow rusty over time, and salespeople are prone to pick up bad habits along the way or to simply skip steps and take shortcuts that can lead to long-term trouble. Perhaps even more important these days is the fact thatmarkets, competition, technologies, and customer preferences are all in a constant and accelerating state of change over time. This fact requires that salespeople are able and willing to rethink their sales strategy and approach frequently.16M & M CONSULTING

27. Solutions:Research by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) has shown that organizations that are able to offer their salespeople opportunities for ongoing development are ten times more likely to create more peak- performing salespeople than those that don’t.Correlation between training investment and higher sales Firms with respect to training investments have higher sales in the subsequent year than firms without. Further, the third quarter is higher than the second, and the second is higher than the first (the quarter with the lowest training investment). Organizations in the top half for training expenditure in one year have a mean TSR (total stockholder return) in the following year of 36.9%, while organizations in the bottom half have a mean TSR of only 19.8%. Firms that spend more than average on training have TSRs that are 86% higher than firms that spend less than average and 45% higher than market average. The model estimates that each dollar invested in training leads to a $33.57 benefit to the firm. Bearing in mind the disparity between "direct cost” and the true cost of "learning," the return may be more like $3.36 to $6.72 (Source: NY Stock exchange)A variety of development solutions Skills development can take many forms, including formal and informal mentoring, sales coaching by managers, and/or classroom training, distance-or e-learning, and other kinds of training.17M & M CONSULTING

28. Mentoring In mentoring, salespeople choose a mentor (a high-performer within the organization who can serve as a model and/or guide) and consult the person periodically for advice on a range of issues, from strategy for handling a particular sales situation to advice on long-term career development. Since the best way to learn something well is to teach it to others, mentoring programs offer organizations a win-win proposition: in addition to enhancing the skills and performance of the salespeople, they help mentors develop their sales skills while improving their coaching and management skills as well.Coaching Today, more and more organizations are waking up to the value of building a strong coaching culture. Analogies to athletic coaching are common but especially apt. Training alone does not guarantee that a great tennis player will deliver Grand Slam-winning performance. This can only come from continuous daily support and guidance from an expert coach. Equally, top sales professionals need expert coaching support from their managers to stay at the top of their game. Whether sales managers deliver their coaching support face-to-face, on the telephone, or via e-mail, those organizations that have a strong coaching culture attract and retain the best salespeople.Training Based on the need of sales people Reinforced on a regular continual basisThe importance of ongoing performance development is summarized very effectively by Steven S. Reinemund, former CEO PepsiCo Inc.: "To have growth in products, you have to have growth in people"18M & M CONSULTING

29. SUMMARY:The Difference that makes the difference According to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same things in the hope that those things will miraculously achieve a different result. If that is the case, then sales managers who are not happy with the results they are achieving must make changes. organizations that want to increase their sales results need to approach sales differently to create "the differencethat makes the difference" and positively impacts business results.When most people learned that age-old equation of cause and effect (for every reaction or consequence there is an action that caused it), they learned an important principle, vital to modern businesses. organizations need to fully consider what they can do differently tocause their desired results. Or to put this another way, if their desired effect is improving business results through increased salesrevenue, what will consistently, effectively, and reliably achieve this goal?A commitment to excellenceOrganizations and salespeople who have 100% commitment to doing whatever it takes to elevate their sales to a whole new level arethe ones most likely to succeed. Trying to operate a sales organization without total commitment is like trying to drive a car without fuel. But every organization has the potential to harness the power of their salespeople just as surely as oxygen pumps life into the human body. Go for it! "Every entrepreneurial company has no choice but to focus on sales. Most of the great leaders–military, business, government, and entrepreneurs–are great salespeople. Great product concepts are one thing; great product successes areanother.The difference usually centers on sales. The magic may be the brand, but the carpet is the sales force. Your brand can’t fly without it."John Bello, founder and former CEO of South Beach Beverage Co. 19M & M CONSULTING

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