It’s quarter-end; have you exceeded quota?  If so, congrats! Time to pull out the awards, plaques and President’s Club agendas. This is an exciting time.

I’m putting together my list of 20 winning Inside Sales qualities and will share these in the next day.

In the meantime, I have my own award to give out this week for the most annoying No-Po. By the way, although this week is off-limits and nobody wants to talk because of quarter-end, No-Po’s seem to find time. What’s worse is that their language is just so vague. It’s loaded with buzz words and corporate garble that just make me nauseous.

I had the good fortune to speak with one this week. It was an appointment originally set for last month and this is the response I got when I inquired about their current training initiatives:

“There are a number of transformation efforts that are underway and one of our primary initiatives is this implementation. This means we will shift our resources to support how we work today. There is a lot of stabilization of the operations going on and getting that system implemented and supporting that will be our priority. From that, there is certainly work we are trying to do to improve the skill sets around our ability to translate some of these customer contacts into a sales order or a lead at a minimum.”

What? Hello? Can you hear me now? They win the No-Po Garble Award!

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who isn’t available? Emotionally? Physically? Mentally? When we chase after a No-Po, it’s like chasing after someone who isn’t available. We want to believe something will happen, but it actually doesn’t happen. We don’t close deals when we hang with a No-Po.

This is the reality week where the rubber meets the road and your forecasting efforts reveal themselves. Have you been chasing No-Po’s this quarter? Here are the 10 signs you may have a No-Po on your forecast:

1. They say no often without understanding what your solution is about. Remember they cannot say yes.

2. They love talking with vendors and acting as though they have power.

3. They ask for a lot of busy work, more research, demos, competitive analysis, etc.

4. They ask lots of questions; most of them are really good questions and most require additional legwork on your part.

5. They really like your product/service and get it. They know how it fits in and how they would implement it.

6. They insist that vendors only speak with them and discourage any contact with their boss.

7. They usually don’t like to give their boss’s name and assure you they are your main contact.

8. They complain about not having any budget.

9. They stall and ask you to call back next quarter.

10. They schedule meetings that get rescheduled at the last minute because something more important took priority.

This is the last week of the quarter and reality hits this week. Here’s a quick check-list to review on your forecasted opportunities. Best of luck!

25%: Need Established

• The prospect has admitted a need for your product.
• The decision-maker has been identified but not yet contacted.
• Pricing has not been discussed.
• Technical issues have not been discussed.
• Competition has not yet been identified.

50%: Competitors Identified

• The competitors have been identified. A vendor has not yet been selected. The sales process has begun.
• Literature has been sent.
• The prospect has downloaded information off your Web site.
• The specific needs have been determined and outlined.
• The appropriate solution has been proposed and linked to the customer’s needs.
• The decision-maker has been identified and contacted live (not by voicemail).
• Pricing issues have been analyzed and are acceptable to customer.
• The budget cycle has been defined and documented.
• The timeframe has been discussed.
• The purchasing process has been defined and documented.
• All previous criteria have been met: 25%.

75%: Service Selected

• The customer has selected your service/product.
• The customer has communicated a possible intent to purchase.
• The committee is leaning towards a final product decision very soon.
• The funding is secured and approved.
• The contact has the authority to buy.
• Other contacts within the decision-making committee have been identified.
• The only outstanding items are the formal approval and PO timeframe.
• All previous criteria have been met: 50% and 25%.

90%: Verbal Commitment
You’ve received a verbal commitment to receive a PO by a certain date. All previous criteria have been met: 75%, 50% and 25%.

100%: Done Deal
An order has been received and booked into the system. It’s a closed deal. All previous criteria have been met: 90%, 75%, 50% and 25%.

This is an extremely powerful piece and worth the few minutes to review. We are living in a time of dramatic change and as we shift into gear, it’s time to think through these changes and how they will impact our everyday life.

glumbert.com - Shift Happens

Today is my day to write…all day long. I start my morning with a 5-word text message to my honey. Now I’m geared up in biz mode and I craft a few emails to request appointments, check status on an outstanding quote and ask for a lunch meeting. Next, I draft a proposal for an email marketing series I’m sponsoring with Genius and I follow that with a topic idea for my March eBlast I plan to send out next week. Now it’s time for the tough edits and revisions and rewrites on my book proposal. I end my day writing a funny story and nostalgic memory for my good friend Mel who is turning 50 years old this week.

All this writing, word choices and purpose. The more I write, the more I pay attention to the art of wordsmithing and creating great content. I like Louis’s Elevator Story; Peeling the onion on Jill’s Blog. Check out how this draft evolves and you’ll see that the editing process is all about peeling layers. Check out their seminar tomorrow on How to Craft Powerful, Customer-Enticing Value Propositions.

Next month I plan on participating in some Webinars on Email Marketing, one of my very favorite topics. Stay tuned, I’ll be sending out more information on this. Here’s a great article titled Think Your Emails Don’t Work? Think Again in AllBusiness.com. I especially like the Words to Avoid That Can Be Flagged as Spam. Here they are:

Marketing, Market, Free, Bonus, Click, Click here, Advertising, Advertise, Ads, Sales, Sell, Selling, Shop, Shopping, Package, Buy, Purchase, Mortgage, Finance, Refinance, Free Trial.

Last night in my non-fiction creative writing class, we did this exercise where we had to write down all the various identities we have. Once we wrote this down, we got to share it with the group. What I liked about it was how much you can learn from each individual. Here’s a little about me:

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Niece, Cousin, President, Consultant, Coach, Trainer, Client, Contractor, Facilitator, Student, Writer, Speaker, Author, Girlfriend, Immigrant, Homeowner, Partner, Yogi, Salesperson, Marketer, Blogger.

Sometimes we limit ourselves to just a few roles and especially when we are selling, we take on that “salesperson” identity but we are so much more. Here are some identities an inside salesperson can take on:

Account Manager, Technical Consultant, Sales Optimizer, Hunter, Solutions Specialist, Lead Generator, Communicator, SFA Specialist, Regional Team Member, President’s Club Member, Named Accounts Specialist, SMB Account Manager, etc.

What are all your identities?

Many of you know that I’m a big yoga buff and have been diligently practicing yoga for many years. I study Iyengar Yoga which was founded by BKS Iyengar. The practice of yoga helps improve health, mental peace, emotional strength and intellectual clarity.

 Last week I was in Hawaii for a yoga retreat.  Each day we practiced 5 hours per day and ate these wonderful vegetarian meals 3 times per day. I unplugged for that entire week and just had to show up for class and meals. Sound easy? It was one of the most rigorous commitments I’ve ever made in my life. Half way through it I was completely ready to bail; I ran in to town and bought chocolate. I wanted to break the rules, play ring-leader and influence the group to just break down and have a glass of red wine one night or show up late to class one afternoon. I’m the intrepid renegade who runs when it gets tough, the one who stirs the pot when something is not right. But not this time; I was forced to participate, be still and show up. And I did. 

Good salespeople break the rules; they are creative, resourceful, aggressive, brave and enthusiastic. They may put up a real fight before showing up to something because it translates to income for them. When I ask people to unplug in my training, I realize how much I ask of them and the commitment they make to participate. I can tell from the minute my training starts who is going to be a challenge, and can predict who will want to run out every few hours to make a call. I see myself in these people and that’s how I got into training, because I wanted to bail on the bad training I’d had in the past. 

Sales is about showing up and giving the most of ourselves in every way. How we ask questions, listen, analyze, strategize, integrate and believe. The more we give of ourselves to something, the more we will get out of it. That is my sales yoga advice for the day.