Sales and Cigars Podcast | Solving Sales and Messaging Misalignment | episode 196

[00:00:15] Hey everyone, Walter Crosby with Helix Sales Phelmet, your host of Sales and Cigars.

[00:00:22] Today's episode is a little departure from the norm. No guest, you just got me.

[00:00:28] And I wanted to talk about something that I've been working on for the last six months.

[00:00:34] It solves a really big problem that business owners face.

[00:00:40] It's probably, I don't know, the number two biggest issue that I run into when I'm working with a business owner.

[00:00:50] And often they're not even aware that this problem is causing them a challenge, causing them to not be able to grow and not be able to scale.

[00:00:59] So that issue is aligning your vision, aligning your VTO, getting that aligned with your sales organization, and being able to position what it is that you do,

[00:01:15] what it is the value that you bring to the marketplace, and positioning that properly with your buyers.

[00:01:23] And it's, like I said, the second biggest problem that we run into.

[00:01:30] So in getting that aligned, it takes some challenges.

[00:01:35] So let's just pretend you're running EOS, or you have a real clear vision of what it is that you want.

[00:01:44] Your VTO is clear. It's written down. You've talked about it. Your company's aware of it. They have access to it.

[00:01:50] But what I notice is that there is a disconnect between that VTO and that vision with your sales team.

[00:01:59] The sales team don't understand, the individuals don't understand how to align that with their behaviors and the messaging,

[00:02:12] the words that they say to your buyers, the people that they're talking to, your prospects and your customers.

[00:02:19] They're not getting it right.

[00:02:22] They're struggling to share your story, to share your purpose, to share your vision and your VTO.

[00:02:29] They're just not getting it. And it's a combination of things that we see that sometimes they lack the tools.

[00:02:40] They don't have the right words in front of them. They're not given the right positioning statements.

[00:02:44] They're not given the right emails. They're trying to memorize scripts that never work.

[00:02:52] So the issue that we're looking to solve is to give them those tools and give them the arsenal there.

[00:03:00] But helping them connect that, because if they don't have the right behaviors and the right mindset to talk about this,

[00:03:07] and they don't truly understand it, and it's not talked about on a consistent basis, then it's not going to work.

[00:03:14] There's going to be a disconnect at some level. Your sales managers, they need to be able to support your vision.

[00:03:22] They need to be talking about that VTO. They need to be talking about your core values.

[00:03:27] But not just in the fact that they're repeating them, but what does that mean for them?

[00:03:33] How do they act as salespeople?

[00:03:35] What is it you want them to do to be able to connect the VTO to how you go to market, to what they say to your customers?

[00:03:44] Because what we say as salespeople to our prospects and to our customers is what positions us in their mind.

[00:03:54] Immediately, they're making assumptions about our salespeople.

[00:03:58] So if we don't give them something to say that helps them, that helps that prospect or helps that customer understand that we're different and different in a unique and authentic manner.

[00:04:11] Not that we're just saying we're different and that we have different bells and whistles of our products, but that we're different because fundamentally we're coming to the marketplace.

[00:04:20] We're wanting to help our customers.

[00:04:23] We're coming to the marketplace where we want to provide value to them.

[00:04:27] And we're going to talk about what we do in the context of our customers and our prospects.

[00:04:33] That's the alignment that's missing.

[00:04:36] And often what I see is that business owners think that the salespeople will figure it out.

[00:04:44] They think that the salespeople have these skills that we just give them a little bit of the ingredients and they'll whip up a great dinner.

[00:04:52] Wrong.

[00:04:53] They're not good chefs.

[00:04:54] They're not good cooks.

[00:04:56] They're not even they couldn't even get a gig at a Coney Island or a diner to put fries up.

[00:05:05] Right.

[00:05:05] It's just not something that they're really good at.

[00:05:08] So let me give you a statistics from our friends at Objective Management Group.

[00:05:12] 6% of salespeople on the planet, 6% worldwide global salespeople, 6% are elite.

[00:05:22] These people are they're really good at what they do.

[00:05:25] They're successful on a consistent basis.

[00:05:27] They're winners.

[00:05:28] They do what's ever necessary to win.

[00:05:31] Right.

[00:05:32] As long as it's legal and ethical.

[00:05:34] 6% 14% are what we would consider good.

[00:05:40] Right.

[00:05:41] They do a great job.

[00:05:43] They try to be consistent.

[00:05:44] They're consistent, consistent consistently, but not always.

[00:05:48] Right.

[00:05:49] They don't always get it right.

[00:05:51] Their win rates are a little bit less than the elites, but they're good people.

[00:05:54] You want them on your team.

[00:05:56] Think about it from an A and a B player.

[00:05:59] Right.

[00:06:00] And then you have these C players that are above average, depending upon how we define average.

[00:06:04] Right.

[00:06:05] So you have 6% elite, 14% good and about 19% are above average.

[00:06:14] So that's 39%.

[00:06:16] So this, you know, 39, 40% of our of salespeople are ABC.

[00:06:21] Right.

[00:06:22] And the bulk of the, of the top are, are, you know, the biggest group is above average.

[00:06:30] And do we want a bunch of C players on our team?

[00:06:34] Sure.

[00:06:34] We're going to have some C players.

[00:06:37] We want more solid B players and some, some A players.

[00:06:41] We can't always have all A players.

[00:06:43] It's just as impossible, but we want the best that we can afford.

[00:06:47] We want the best that we can, we can hold.

[00:06:50] We want to grow them.

[00:06:51] Right.

[00:06:52] Which is a whole different other story.

[00:06:54] But if, if we only have 6% that are elite and you might not even have any top salespeople on your team.

[00:07:01] If, if we don't have those, we have to give them the tools.

[00:07:05] If we give those, those C players, the right tools, give them the words.

[00:07:09] We coach them on the right things to say.

[00:07:10] We train them on the right things to say.

[00:07:12] We give them the right questions to ask.

[00:07:14] We help them with the right emails to send at the right time.

[00:07:18] If we're providing them this positioning, then what's going to happen?

[00:07:24] Everybody's going to have a better shot at winning.

[00:07:26] They're going to have a fighting chance of winning, even if they're a C player.

[00:07:32] So this is a huge problem within most small to medium sized businesses.

[00:07:41] So the salespeople are out there pitching.

[00:07:45] The marketing people are out there trying to position the company and the brand in a particular way.

[00:07:51] The marketing people might just be focused on the brand and they might not even be positioning that product well within our customers.

[00:07:59] They might not understand how our customers think about our product.

[00:08:06] They might not understand the words that they use, right?

[00:08:10] I'm not saying that they're good or bad.

[00:08:11] I don't have that information, but I see a lot of times they focus just on this brand idea and they're not really getting the messaging right

[00:08:20] and positioning the company in a way that the sales team can pick it up and take a congruent path forward so that that buyer feels like, yes,

[00:08:32] they in the marketing, it sounded like this was the right people for us.

[00:08:35] And then we start talking to salespeople and they're saying the same thing.

[00:08:39] And then we get into understanding what the real value is.

[00:08:42] There's a congruency.

[00:08:44] If that's not there, we're going to run into a problem and getting traction with our sales team.

[00:08:52] And our marketing teams.

[00:08:54] So what what we're trying to do with this with this program, I'm going to talk about here in a minute, is give that small to medium sized business.

[00:09:05] And opportunity to get this right.

[00:09:09] To have it be something that doesn't take a lot of time that we do the lift.

[00:09:15] We you're buying speed.

[00:09:18] You're buying accuracy.

[00:09:19] You're buying the tools that gets you get you there.

[00:09:22] Right.

[00:09:23] From somebody that's been doing this for a long time, somebody that's been in the trenches that understand what works and what doesn't work.

[00:09:31] Small to mid sized companies that don't have all of the resources.

[00:09:36] Right.

[00:09:36] You're putting money in your products.

[00:09:38] You're putting money into manufacturing.

[00:09:39] You're putting money into your ops team.

[00:09:42] This is where you need to.

[00:09:43] But if we don't connect this messaging and position our company properly, we're not going to be able to scale.

[00:09:50] You got it to where you are.

[00:09:51] This is great.

[00:09:52] But we need to do something different to take it to the next level.

[00:09:56] And the good news is that we can help you get to the next level quickly.

[00:10:01] So as I light my cigar, because I've been talking, I normally have a guest on and it allows me this chance to take a breather and enjoy my series G Olivia, which is what I'm smoking today.

[00:10:17] So.

[00:10:19] So.

[00:10:20] I alluded to a program that we have, so let me let me talk about what that program is, it's called.

[00:10:27] I'm a sifter message.

[00:10:29] Right.

[00:10:30] And what it does is it really it does just what it says.

[00:10:34] It sifts out the the good and the bad.

[00:10:39] And we position ourselves in a way that.

[00:10:44] It's going to resonate with our customers.

[00:10:46] It's going to resonate with with what they're looking for.

[00:10:52] It's going to help them understand what it is that we do.

[00:10:56] And it's going to help them understand it in a way that that's meaningful to them.

[00:11:02] So this sifter message concept is it's really we put we get.

[00:11:08] Think of it this way.

[00:11:09] We put a straw in the ear of the founder, the leadership, the the top folks who really understand what it is you do, that it's your vision.

[00:11:21] Put a straw in your collective ears and suck out all of that information.

[00:11:26] Get getting it accurate as to what it is that you really want to do, what that vision is.

[00:11:31] And then we help you position it with the right words for your sales team to use when they're talking to prospects, when they're talking to customers.

[00:11:42] We can help you with the email information, the emails that templates that they should be using, the key phrases that they should be hitting on.

[00:11:52] We're going to give you all of this by by taking this out and facilitating it.

[00:11:58] We're going to extract it from you and your team.

[00:12:00] It's going to take maybe three to four hours of us facilitating a conversation where we're asking questions that we're digging into what it is that you do.

[00:12:14] And often what happens is that we we start to uncover what it is you think you do.

[00:12:19] And then we help you see what you really do, because what we found is that founders and CEOs and business owners fundamentally do this without realizing it.

[00:12:32] They have had success growing this company because they've said the right things to the customers because they own the business and they have this this innate ability.

[00:12:42] But when it comes to the salespeople, they don't have that.

[00:12:46] They didn't. They're not the entrepreneur.

[00:12:48] They didn't create the VTO. It's not their vision.

[00:12:51] So we need to give it to them.

[00:12:53] So that's the that's the rub is getting that information that you have that you use naturally, giving it to the team.

[00:13:02] So we're going to help you pull that out and sift through that and give you the tools that you need, give the give the salespeople an arsenal to work with.

[00:13:15] Right. They need to have an Air Force to be able to go, you know, hit hit the targets from from a distance.

[00:13:23] They're going to need to be able to go boots on the ground. Right.

[00:13:26] They're going to need all of those those analogies that go with war that are unpleasant.

[00:13:31] But this is what salespeople do. They go out there and battle for us.

[00:13:34] And if we give them the wrong tools to do that, they're going to fail, even if they're great salespeople.

[00:13:42] The great people, great salespeople are going to try to figure it out and they're going to do their best.

[00:13:48] But eventually they get frustrated because they haven't they need those extra tools.

[00:13:53] And if you give it to them, they go fast, they go farther and they have they have more wins.

[00:13:59] And that's what the goal is, is to build this traction.

[00:14:03] So the the system messaging facilitation takes three to four hours.

[00:14:10] We don't do it all in one one clip. We do it in pieces.

[00:14:14] There's some some information you need to gather ahead of time.

[00:14:17] Then we jump in and we do a facilitation with you and your team.

[00:14:22] And then there's a there's another round.

[00:14:25] Sometimes there's two, sometimes there's three.

[00:14:27] It depends on how big the team is. And we help you figure all of that out.

[00:14:30] And what we're looking to do is create alignment between the vision with the founder, the business owner, the entrepreneur, that visionary,

[00:14:38] what it is that they really wanted to do, pull that align it with the buyers so that those those words are right.

[00:14:45] And then give those tools to the salespeople so that they can they can message that correctly.

[00:14:51] Right. We're going to get the marketing message aligned.

[00:14:54] We're going to get the the messaging, the behaviors and the mindset and the attitudes and the activities of the sales team aligned with your VTO.

[00:15:02] So you're going to have all of these tools at the end of this and then we're going to help you implement that not fully and spend, you know, six months with your team.

[00:15:12] But we're going to help the sales team at the end of this understand what they have.

[00:15:19] Right. You can't just turn over an F15 to a to a salesperson, expect them to go use it.

[00:15:24] We're going to help them understand what that looks like.

[00:15:26] We're going to help them understand how to use the tools to move forward.

[00:15:30] There might be some other things that you need help with.

[00:15:33] And if that's something that you want to discuss, we'll do that.

[00:15:36] But this is really the number two problem.

[00:15:40] First problem is an unreliable revenue forecast.

[00:15:44] You know, I see so many entrepreneurs and they're just frustrated because they have no idea what revenue is coming at them.

[00:15:51] One quarters, you know, 20 percent over year over year and the next one's 15 percent below.

[00:15:55] And this up and down kills them. And in the there's a reason for that.

[00:16:00] And it has to do with scorecards. It has to do with qualifying your prospects.

[00:16:05] Those things aren't in place.

[00:16:06] You know, you're going to get an unreliable forecast.

[00:16:09] The number two piece is this this messaging.

[00:16:11] That's why we created the the sifter messaging.

[00:16:15] The third thing is, is getting that talent.

[00:16:18] We talked about elite. We talked about good.

[00:16:19] We talked about above average sales talent.

[00:16:21] Well, there's a way about going about that.

[00:16:24] And it's different than what you what you've probably been doing.

[00:16:28] I like to say, if you're if you've been hiring salespeople the same way you hire everybody else in your organization, you're probably not getting as good as salespeople as you should.

[00:16:37] Right. Because we're different.

[00:16:39] We need to attract them in a different way.

[00:16:42] We need to qualify them in a different way than we do other employees.

[00:16:45] We need to be able to hire them and onboard them in a slightly different way.

[00:16:50] And if we do all that really well, we have a better shot of retaining them and getting our retain our retention rates up into the 70s and 80s percents.

[00:16:59] There's a lot that goes into that.

[00:17:00] So we have a whole program that that we that we teach and provide support with.

[00:17:08] And then the other probably the fourth biggest problem is sales management.

[00:17:12] Sales managers just don't coach and they don't hold people accountable.

[00:17:16] And it's usually not their fault because they've never been trained or coached to do that.

[00:17:21] And they probably never had a great sales manager along the way.

[00:17:24] I know myself the first couple of times that I was promoted to sales manager, it was because I was a top salesperson.

[00:17:32] And the business owner thought, well, if he can do it, then he should be able to teach these guys how to do it.

[00:17:37] Well, that's not the same.

[00:17:39] It's different.

[00:17:40] It's a different set of skills.

[00:17:42] I had to go learn them.

[00:17:43] The struggle with it.

[00:17:45] Coaching salespeople now is one of my greatest joys watching somebody grow, watching somebody who's really interested.

[00:17:52] So we have programs around coaching sales managers and coaching salespeople.

[00:17:57] It's a lot of fun.

[00:17:59] It's a lot of hard work.

[00:18:01] We get to determine real quickly whether whether you salespeople are on a really on your team or not on your team.

[00:18:09] So so those are those are the four big problems.

[00:18:12] We're really today we're focusing on this the sifter message and helping you position your company, aligning it with your VTO, aligning it with your vision, making sure aligns with marketing and that your salespeople have the tools to go out and do it correctly.

[00:18:27] It's not scripts.

[00:18:29] It's not hope that they're going to do it well.

[00:18:31] Right.

[00:18:32] It's a real clear path forward.

[00:18:35] Sifter messaging.

[00:18:36] If any of this is something that you'd like to learn more about, you know, you can reach out to me through the website.

[00:18:42] You can reach out to me on LinkedIn.

[00:18:45] My email is Walter at Helix sales development dot com or Walter at Walter Crosby dot com.

[00:18:51] Reach out.

[00:18:52] I really want to help folks fix this problem because it just opens up so many doors.

[00:18:59] So.

[00:19:00] Go grab a cocktail, go grab a cigar and really think about what it is that you're doing.

[00:19:07] And the offer that I have for you today is if you respond to this, put a note in any one of those places and say, hey, I heard what you said and I'd like to get that audit.

[00:19:19] So we have a self assessment audit that I can send you.

[00:19:24] It walks you through how to evaluate what you're currently doing in six different categories.

[00:19:30] If you sit down with a cigar and you sit down with a cocktail and go through this and answer the questions and you score it out, it will tell you where you fit.

[00:19:40] So I mean, you do this honestly.

[00:19:42] Right.

[00:19:43] Right.

[00:19:43] If you give yourself an honest self assessment, what comes along with that is, hey, we did this.

[00:19:49] We scored at this level.

[00:19:51] I'd like to learn more.

[00:19:52] Right.

[00:19:53] But it'll give you a sense as to what we're talking about.

[00:19:55] So, you know, you can you can start with that.

[00:19:58] That self assessment.

[00:20:00] Audis just ping me.

[00:20:01] I'll send it to you.

[00:20:02] I also have an e-book that explains the sifter messaging process with great detail.

[00:20:07] I'm happy to send that to you as well.

[00:20:09] Just reach out.

[00:20:13] I really, really hope to see you on the other side.

[00:20:17] I think this is something that's important.

[00:20:19] We've spent a lot of time working on this to get it right.

[00:20:22] We've done some testing with with prospects and clients with really great results.

[00:20:29] So ping me.

[00:20:31] Look forward to to seeing you on the other side.

[00:20:34] Thanks.