Do Project Managers Need Sales Training, Too?
(If you don’t have Project Managers in your firm–and instead, have Customer Service agents or Technicians, then substitute that title for PMs)
Well of course, you know the answer to that question before we start.
But I’d like to share some observations that may make it easier for you to train your PM’s in communication skills. It seems that companies are relying more and more on their PM’s to manage the client relationships and generate referrals so this topic might be relevant for your firm.
One chapter in Same Game New Rules is titled Process Makes Perfect, and it’s about how engineers and technical sellers make the best sales people. Mainly because they are in the right place to bring tons of value.
1. Need for Good Communication. In most projects, there are many tiny details that can spin out of control. Since the relationship is only as good as the project process, then it is necessary for PM’s to know how to communicate issues to clients. The PM must have a “relationship awareness” all the way through.
This includes: bringing up sensitive topics PRIOR to them becoming problems; knowing how and to whom to communicate these issues at the client; knowing how to keep the atmosphere open and honest so bad matters don’t get worse; and having a paper stream of promises so that there is nothing left to memory.
2. Having a Problem-Solving Attitude. I like to think of selling as problem-solving. And nowhere does that get stated like it does in project management. The PM is always solving problems and keeping things on course. It may be that they don’t want to be in front line sales (and they shouldn’t) but it doesn’t mean that they can’t have the same attitude that the top flight sales person has.
3. Referral Generation. Most times, the PM is the exact person who should be cultivating referrals. In most B2B businesses, referrals make up 60-80% of new business. It’s a bit of a stretch to think that a sales person who sold the deal, but does NOT have the relationship, can waltz in and get referrals. It should be the PM. So any training you do for that group, should have ‘how to generate referrals’ as part of the curriculum.
Fewer Sales People-More PMs
Many companies are hiring fewer new account sales people, and relying on their subject matter experts (the PMs) to do more of the value communication. I think it makes sense in certain industries. Just make sure you train those people on the principles of selling and good communication. They ARE trainable. Just don’t try to turn them into sales people.
GM Old Thinking and You
Have you seen the new GM ads that tell you about a new car company? We’ve seen them, and they are actually quite nice—soothing and relaxing. But have you seen the local dealer ads about wanting to sell you a new car? They haven’t changed much, have they?
Wouldn’t you think that if GM really wanted to convince us they were a new car company, they would change their approach to local car advertising?
Wouldn’t you think they would lose the screaming announcer?
Wouldn’t you think they would stop selling on price and on terms?
You would think that. But it will never happen. And it won’t happen because GM has not changed its “thinking” about what it means to be in the car business.
You might think that I pick on the auto business a lot in this blog, but I do so only to prove points and help you see your business in a different light.
It’s Hard to Change Thinking
When you grow up in an industry and what you’ve done for years stops working, it’s easy to reach out and change tactics, but it’s very difficult to reach in and change thinking. After all, we define ourselves by how we think about the world, our product, our opportunity, etc. When someone comes along and says: “you’ve got to change your thinking about this,” it throws us a little bit.
You May Need to Change Your Thinking About Your Business
I challenge you to look at your business through the unbiased eyes of an unemotional observer. If you were to start your business over again, knowing the success of certain companies in creating a new world of opportunity, how would you design it? Would you create the same website; would you create the same brochures; would you pay your salespeople the same; would your approach to the market be the same? Probably not.
And then there’s that old saying: “you can’t get to second, if you keep one foot on first.” That is a perfect quote for our time. We will try to keep everything the same and make minor changes. And the fact is we always default back to our old philosophies.
Assignment:
Over the next few weeks, check out the things you do in your business to pursue new clients and see if it really has changed much in the last 20 years. If it hasn’t, you may be up for some new thinking.
You Say You’re Different, But Are You?
Last week I was with one of my clients who was thumbing through some resumes when he came across a marketing person’s application.
On the resume in the summary it said, “I think differently than most people, and I can bring new ideas—out of the box thinking—to your business.” As I reached over and grabbed it and put it up in the air, I said, “This is part of the problem. A person sends this in on a resume just like the other hundred that you got, but says they’re different. The fact is they aren’t different.
To you, the CEO or hiring authority, all of them look alike.
Which brings me to my conclusion: We all like to think we’re different, but we really are all clones of one another. I know that will piss you off, but think about it. If you’re a marketing person or a salesperson looking for a position right now when the market is crowded with other people looking, you do have to stand out. But you can’t stand out by a longer or more clever resume.
You really stand out by changing the whole dynamic of the hiring process.
I was talking to my friend, Mike Sigers (author of simplenomics), and he went off on a rant about what he would do if he were looking for a job today.
“I would record some of my experiences on an audio-podcast. Then I would hire a high school person to come and videotape me, and I would do three three-minute video-casts that had to do with something I had expertise in. Then I would make a PDF of my resume (include any portfolio samples of work that I’ve done) and put it on a DVD, go down to my local Kinko’s, have them take my picture, make a label out of it, and that would be my handout.”
“I would never hand out a resume, an application or a letter of introduction. All I would do is say, ‘Here’s a sample of the kind of thinking I do and the work that I’ve performed. Why don’t you take a look at it? If you want to talk to me further, I’d be happy to take your call and meet for coffee.’”
Mike has something there.
What about salespeople?
Are your really different? Do you really look different when you show up in front of the prospect? Is your sales process so different that a prospect can pick you out of a group and say, “I want to do business with that company because of how they execute the sales cycle”? Probably not.
So we’re almost halfway through 2009. It’s been a tough year, but still there’s a lot of business out there. So I challenge you over the next 30 days to think…really think…about your business and how different you really are. You can’t say you’re different, you have to demonstrate it.
Ben Stein’s Article
Have had many people send me the link to Ben Stein’s article in NYTimes on Sunday. It as quite good. My favorite part was the graphic I stole from times. 
The fact is that nothing happens until someone sells something.
And the economy runs when people are selling. When sales people get spooked–or prospects are afraid, everything grinds to a hault.
Sales people. You will lead us out of this malaise. And let me speak for everyone (including that part of the population who believes government makes the economy run) and thank you.
Caskey
What is Your Customer's Mentality?
Just like you have an outlook and a mentality of how you see the world, so does your customer. And many times that mentality they have does not fit in with your plans or your solutions.
Recently, I was asked to come in and do a half day training program for a group of 20 sales people. A manager “just needed someone to fill a slot” and thought I might be the right person to do it. However, in our business I don’t consider myself a slot filler. I consider myself a problem solver and until the customer’s mentality changed from how do I fill a slot in my sales meeting to how do I solve sales problems, he was not a prospect for me.
So the question becomes, can one change another’s mentality? I think you can. But it’s unlikely you will until you realize “the current state of the customer mentality.”
In many instances the customer’s mentality is save money or get it for cheap, protect and defend my current status or laziness (doing as little work as I can on this). You might consider changing your customer’s mentality by writing down what you would like it to be. What would a client’s mentality have to be for him/her to be open to telling you about his/her problems and your solution? Once you write down the ideal mentality then you are on your way to being able to assess whether or not you see that in a customer.
Another example
I have a client that sells therapy equipment to clinics. When I asked him to do this exercise, he wrote down that the “ideal client mentality” would be to “find a way to leverage my patients and the relationships I have with them to grow the average per patient revenue per visit.”
Even though that wasn’t always the mentality of the prospect, when he was able to articulate that and say this is the kind of person we can help is one who has this “mentality” he immediately started to see change on how the doctors saw his value.So, do the same thing. Write down that ideal client mentality and see if it enables you to change someone’s perception of what you do.
Sales Professionals: Optimize Your Time. Optimize Your Life. Part I
===JANUARY 31 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST=== (15 Minutes)
In this first of a series, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale discuss a theory called “Time Optimization,” which is optimizing the time you spend by doing your “highest use activity.” This is not a lesson in time management. Rather, it is a manifesto that calls for a different way to look at the time you spend in sales activities. Most sales people waste their most precious asset–their time. How will you find out what Bill and Bryan have in store for you? By listening, of course. Enjoy.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Why Prove Myself? (Part II-The Lost Journal)
(This is another post from a Journal I found from some of my self work several years ago).
What is it inside us that tells us we have to “prove ourself” to others? What is it that warns us that we “just aren’t enough the way we are”? Fascinating questions–ones I ask myself (since I’m a bit afflicted with this condition).
We Are Enough.
My life coach says we all have a basic question, “Will my life matter when I’m gone?” WOW! That’s a bit too deep for this post, but when you think about it, that very question is at the root of why our behavior becomes “prove-myself-behavior.”
In our work with sales people, who I find to be massively afflicted with this condition, I find that we are all starved to be thought of as “credible.” Yet, the prospect cares a lot less about you than they do about their own struggles and pains (a lot less!).
And if you move into that space of “how can I get them to see my value?” then you’ll move away from where you should be, “how can I contribute value by solving their problems?”
So in a sick sort of way, when you are more interested in proving yourself (how smart you are–how great your product is–how valuable your company is) then you do a major disservice to your prospect–you’ve closed up space for him/her to tell you about their issues.
The very thing you’re working toward — a sale — slips away because your intent drifted from the prospect to your ‘self.’
So when you have this feeling that you aren’t enough the way you are, stop and think about your customer and their issues. And focus on those.
