Creating an Account Strategy in Salesforce.com
As difficult a sales environment it is today, every sales rep needs a good strategy and a good plan. That is why we are excited to bring the newest 
version of P2W products to the Force.com CRM cloud . We are committed to helping sales people build trusted relationships with their clients and prospects. (See the curve above)
Being successful as a sales rep today is tough. As a manager, it is our job to give our team the sales tools that will increase their sales effectiveness without burdening them with additional software or forms. That is why we are developing in the Salesforce.com cloud infrastructure. If you are already using salesforce.com as your CRM system, check out the app exchange. There are plenty of apps that can help your team.
As managers we have to constantly be asking: “What am I doing to help and develop my team?”
Account Plan Pro 1.0 for salesforce.com is now released as a Beta product. Building on the success of the Account Plan 2008 method, we have now released the Beta version of Account Plan pro for salesforce.com. Integrated into the Salesforce CRM, the team can now create an Account strategy,
Opportunity strategy, and Relationship strategies. If you are interested in being a Beta test site for free for your entire team, drop me an email at sharper at territoryplan dot com.
Good selling!
Steve
Free Territory Planning and Account Planning Software
“Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain Constant.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo
Well, today we have made the decision to make the desktop versions of our territory planning and account planning software, free.
That’s right, they are now free ware. If you want to download them, simply go here and register and you can download a copy to use with our compliments. Now, this also means that they are unsupported, so don’t go calling us if they don’t work on your PC.
The reason we are moving to a Free Software model on the desktop is two fold. First, we are placing all of our development into SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings. The first is of course the Salesforce.com offering of Territory Plan Pro. It is currently on the Force.com App Exchange. In the next 30 days or so, Account Plan Pro should be listed on the App Exchange.
The second reason is, frankly we are tired of trying to keep up with Microsoft. The number of versions of the OS and of Office are a real development and support headache.
That said, I hope you can get value out of the software. We will be e-mailing everyone who registers to announce the Web based versions when they are released, and offering them several months of usage of the web site. The next versions will not have to have Salesforce.com as a CRM system. They will simply be a subscription, web based version of the application.
Until then. Good luck and Good Selling!
Steve
CEO / Founder
Plan 2 Win Software, LLC.
Free Territory Planning Webinar
I have been asked by a partner to speak on a webinar for Salesforce.com users next week. If you are interested, Harvest Solutions is hosting the call. I will be talking about Territory Planning in general and Territory Planning within Salesforce.com specifically. To register click here!
Most sales experts will tell you that one of the keys to a successful sales person is a good plan of action. “Plan the work, work the plan”.
- Are your sales team planning their 2009
Territory Strategies? - Are each of the sales managers using a different template?
- Are all of the teams plans on power point slides?
The problem with that kind of a system is that often the plan is presented and forgotten.
Event: Building a Territory Plan within Salesforce.com
When: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10:00 am-10:30 am
Where: Webinar
So who is Harvest Solutions? Take a look at their website. These guys know more about Salesforce.com implementation than most people I know.
I hope you can join us, and if you think someone else that you know may want to take advantage of this free webinar, feel free to pass it along.
Have a great day, and I hope to hear you on the call!
Steve
Why Creating a Territory Strategy is not easy (for some)
Creating a sales plan, or territory plan, or sales strategy (you choose the name) comes quite naturally for some.
For others it is a chore that is put off until it has to be done and then it gets little grudging attention. We know that having a clear plan and strategy makes even good sales people better. In fact, most sales people know this. So, why is it so hard for some to do this simple but critical exercise?
I was having this conversation with Greta Roberts, an old friend of mine who is the CEO of Target Teams in Cambridge, MA. She made an interesting point. Some sales people are naturally inclined to writing down a plan and being more organized. She should know. Target Teams has developed an enhanced version of DISC profiles that will help both predict top performers and to help coach sales people. There are natural tendencies of each of us, and some of us tend to be more adaptable to creating a written plan.
As a Manager, we need to understand who on our team is more inclined to have this kind of focus. The reality is that few Sales People have developed this ability. Mainly this is the case because a) their profile and personality doesn’t help them with things like paperwork and minutiae (that’s why we are in sales) and b) it isn’t taught any longer. (Download the free sales planning toolkit if you want to start teaching or learning about sales planning)
If you want to understand how to communicate and really work and coach with your sales team, I highly recommend using a profile assessment. DISC is my personal favorite, mainly because I used it for years and it is very easy for a sales person to learn and use. Not only can you learn about yourself, but now you can use the information to learn about your prospects and customers. Finding the best way to communicate with a hard to reach prospect, may be the edge that you need in this environment. An assessment is the first step, in my opinion.
If you want to see what I am talking about, take a free assessment here:
Target Teams Free DISC Profile
They were kind enough to offer a free DISC assessment to my readers so enjoy.
NOTE: Allow 20 minutes of focused uninterrupted time to take the assessment. You want the results to mean something so do it without a break and be honest with yourself. You will be amazed at what you will learn.
Free Sales Planning Tools
Introducing the Plan 2 Win Sales Planning Tool Kit.
With 2008 coming quickly to a close and 2009 shaping up to be a less than stellar year for many people, creating actionable compelling sales strategies is even more important now. So we have taken the output from the Territory Plan 2008 and Account Plan 2008 software, and made it available in a download to help you create sales plans.
To download the Sales Planning Tool Kit simply register and click download. You will also receive an offer code for an additional 20% off of the year end special on both software products. That is both products for about $20. You spend more than that every week on Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts! And believe me when I say coffee is critical to my success, a good business plan is more important.
Of course, you can always get both software packages for free through our partnership with Trial Pay! Simply accept an offer from one of the merchants in the system (NetFlix, FTD, Sony, Apple etc.) and they pay me for the software that you get. Pretty easy.
Try out the sales toolkit and if that works for you… Great! If you need to create more sales plans and build them faster, then consider buying the sales planning software. Either way, we look forward to helping you have a more productive 2009!
Territory Planning with Salesforce.com
We have now launched Territory Plan Pro for Salesforce.com!
As of today the application is generally available on the Salesforce.com Application Exchange. This is a similar application to the windows based sales planning tool, however, since it is a native application built on the Force.com platform, all of your contacts, accounts and opportunities are available to
simply click and pick to add to your plan. Additionally, tasks and events are created in the app and they roll into your normal task lists. With workflow, you can even submit the plan to your manager for review. We are pretty excited about this and have already started on the Account Plan Pro product. If you are interested in the app, the Datasheet and a quick video for the SFDC Version are at this link Territory Plan Pro.
Consultative Selling
I hear this term more often than I care to admit. So many companies and Sales Managers tell me “We have a consultative sales approach.” “We want our people to really take more of a consultative approach” The funny thing is that so few of the sales managers saying this actually know what that means. I’m not saying that you have to have been a consultant to sell like one, but you have to understand what and how people want to buy. They do not want to be sold and they are tired of the old way of selling. Andrew Sobel said it best in his book “Making Rain”
“In today’s markets, you win by assiduously building relationships with clients , being willing to stick with them over the long term, and adding value every step of the way. Golf and Lunch are nice, but they no longer represent real value to clients – they can get these from anyone.”
In today’s market, I believe that the real consultative sales person will have the lowest expense account on the team. Bringing value to a meeting may mean a Latte or Coffee from Starbuck’s, but a nice lunch or dinner only adds a dimension of Dis-trust to the equation. If you can afford to buy a nice dinner, round of golf, or fancy lunch… what does that say about 1) your prices, and 2) your business acumen.
In this economy, showing value is about understanding their business and the business challenges that they face. Once you understand that, you work diligently WITH them to help them solve these issues. This will win more sales than any lunch or golf game.
So… What is your plan to know as much about your targets and key accounts as possible?
How To Write a Successful Sales Plan? Know your stuff!
Especially in a turbulent economy, having a strategy and a plan is critical for staying focused, staying on track and making the mid-course corrections necessary to succeed. But the basis of any plan has to be based on your knowledge of your business. What has worked and what hasn’t worked? More importantly, IS THAT STILL TRUE? So do an analysis of your business whether you are the CEO or the Sales rep.
- First, what is your average deal? I really have to laugh when I ask a sales person and they tell me that “there is No average”. The dictionary defines “Average” as:
–noun Statistics.
the mean obtained by adding several quantities together and dividing the sum by the number of quantities: the arithmetic mean of 1, 5, 2, and 8 is 4. Now, why is this important? You have to know based on your business, what you need to do to succeed. Knowing that if I closed 20 deals last year and made 110% , with an average deal size of $30,000, that is good information. (Usually what I do is take out the two biggest deals that are not typical) So now I can focus on how many I need. I can now look at my performance YTD and my pipeline and see where I am at, NOT JUST from a dollar amount. So now YTD I have 15 deals and that average is $27,000, I know that the deals are getting smaller, (or that I had a couple of big ones if you didn’t take them out) and I need x number of deals based on the average deal in order to make my number. Now I can look at my pipeline and see if I have the deals I need. (more…)
Sales Lessons from the 2008 Campaign
So what Sales lessons did we learn from this long 21 months of presidential politics? From a sales perspective, I would suggest a few things.
Trashing your competitor is viewed as “old school”
People want answers and solutions to problems. Anything that sounds like sales hype and competitor bashing doesn’t work. With so many sources of information available, it is too easy to get a different view and more factual data. Buyers are past the scare tactics of the past (I am talking selling here). Remember FUD? (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) FUD is less effective these days, since anything we say can be fact checked and researched in seconds. Trashing the competition among your base may work (see Salesforce.com @ Dream force), but without solutions to back it up, you are preaching to the choir.
More experience and time in the market does not equal immediate credibility
We have to earn the trust of the buyer everyday. Every interaction that doesn’t talk about them and their problems and their issues, is an interaction that that is not getting new customers.
Some people embrace change and others do not
If your product or service changes the way an industry or company does business, or changes the behaviors in a significant way, look for those people that are more open to change. (Especially if you are a new disruptive technology)
Conventional wisdom can be TOO conventional
Don’t be afraid to go after markets that you have never been able to penetrate before. It could be your message and they may be receptive to a different message., especially if it is about them and their pain.
Anything stand out for you?
The greatest sales campaign ever
VOTE TODAY!
Today is November 4th and here in the U.S. we get to choose our President. After almost 2 years of selling and marketing their products, we, the prospect, get to choose, and make a decision. “No Decision” is not an option. For over 200 years we have practiced this messy form of Democracy, but rarely have we had this kind of an Historic Election. We as Sales people are busy, but we have to make time to VOTE! If it is in between sales calls… VOTE. If you have to leave early…. VOTE.
Have a good selling day … and…
VOTE!
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