What do you think keeps a CEO awake at night compared to a Product Manager? These are very different things and it’s important that we customize our message and make it appropriate for each title. When our connect rate is so low these days and we finally get to a CEO- if we come unprepared, we’ve blown our chances. I like what John Jantsch has said in his recent post titled Has the CEO Heard of You?

So what keeps people awake at night, the following includes an outline of the various hierarchies, what their stay awake issues are and the appropriate language for each:

It’s end of quarter/month and everyone is heads down getting their orders through. The good news is more and more inside sales teams are exceeding their quota goals these days so today isn’t as stressful for many. Last year we talked with these champions and podcast these interviews, check out end-of-quarter interviews and you’ll find how many had met their numbers before end of month.

That confirms our findings as this week, TeleSmart and CSO Insights presented Cisco with the results from the Inside Sales Benchmark Study of Global Technology Firms and some interesting statistics came out of this study:

Average quota/rep is over $1 million in revenue

Average quota attainment is 58.4%

Average deal size is $27,700

44% have a sales cycle of less than 3 months

56% have sales cycle of 3-6 months

Basis of territory definition is by: verticals (11.5%) geo (30.8%) account size (42.3%) and other (15.4%)

Survey results favor higher span of control of managers to inside sales reps ratio

We’ll have more on this and in the meantime, check out Cisco’s TelePresense video, Welcome to the Human Network.

Movie stars walk around with their posse and politicians have secret service men surrounding them. Well the No-Po entourage population is increasing. Remember my No-Po concept is about selling to the wrong people - the ones with no power, no influence and basically no purchase orders. Well a No-Po entourage is about lots of people working together for a common purpose- figuring out who has the power. It’s highly entertaining.

Today I got a call from a bonafied No-Po who was referred to me by her boss who is part the No-Po royalty. That’s right, he’s part of the powerless hierarchy that sit on non-existant budgets. This No-Po today sounded very important- she even used big vague words that people in power use.

So, what exactly do they do all day? I have no idea. They call on vendors, ask for long meetings and lots of information to help them become more knowledgeable in their jobs. They also like to bounce ideas by you and sometimes they get real candid and share their frustration. Their budget doesn’t really exist, it is lost in some black hole.

Why do we get sucked in:

1. Collecting names and navigating into a company is key so the more names we can gather- we believe we are on the track.
2. We like referrals and since one No-Po referred them to you, it makes sense to talk with them.
3. We want to believe they are a link closer to the high influencer than the next person so you give it a shot
4. The give you more information than before so we believe we are farther along when actually we have taken many steps back
5. How can we refuse their geniuine interest in our service or solution

It’s quarter-end and one of the most important quarters of the year, don’t waste your time with these No-Po’s.

This weekend was Gay Pride in San Francisco All the costumes, celebration and color brightened up the city. I feel lucky to live in a city that supports self-expression and acceptance to be who you want to be.

Thousands of people are attacked every year simply because of their sexual orientation, and there’s still no federal hate crimes law to protect them. We all deserve that protection, all of us–straight, gay, transgendered, black, white, Christian, Muslim–all of us.

Check out this video produced for Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors tour this summer and pass it on.

I am fascinated with people who live their supposedly normal life and suddenly experience major transformation. Something happens to them or they do something and their life is never the same again. I have been inspired by this fantastic book called, U-Turn; What if you woke up one day and realized you were living the wrong life? This book is a wake up call to live a more authentic life and highlights examples of people who have stopped in their tracks, done a 360 and tried something completely new. Now let’s talk about two men, Scott and Paul.

Scott Ginsberg is this young guy that goes to some networking event a few years ago and puts a name tag on that says, Hello my name is Scott. He leaves the event and decides to keep his name tag on and notices he is no longer invisible. Everyone approaches him and now he has branded that and calls himself The Name Tag Guy.

Paul Potts is a cell phone salesman who’s passion is to sing opera. He shows up at the British Idol and even has Simon Cowell speechless, you must check out this video.

When we are living a life and doing work that is in tune with our values, we do it effortlessly and with certainty. Why is it that we don’t spend too much time listening to ourselves to pursue what it is that makes us work with passion?

Recently at the Wall Street Journal’s “D: All Things Digital Conference,” tech writers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher interviewed Microsoft’s Chairman Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The encounter was both historic and memorable: On stage, the two most well-known figures in the computing industry whose efforts have shaped much of our modern world, looking back on accomplishments and regrets, reflecting on legacies, and injecting the not-unexpected gentle barbs at each other.

One of the best lines of the night: Steve Jobs, commenting on the greatest misunderstanding about their relationship, deadpanned, “We’ve kept our marriage a secret for over a decade.”

Our webinar yesterday was a huge success with record-breaking attendees. Everyone is hot on this topic and salespeople are eager to learn new ways to prospect and counter on emails these days. Our panelists were inspiring, creative and very brave. Edward Wu from Secure Computing and Peter Norris from Acteva proved that NO doesn’t always mean NO and going the extra mile definitely pays off. We all seemed to agree on the following rebuttal strategies:

1. Listen and look for fuzzy words that may be misleading and don’t make sense
2. Respond immediately by taking advantage of the mind share that happens within seconds of sending the email
3. Ask lots of questions to better quality where the objection is coming from and continue peeling the layers
4. Determine if they are a decision-maker or if you have a No-Po on your hands
5. Don’t get defensive, stay professional

Ask me to send you our ComeBack Pack-a must-have for anyone in sales.

Sam Parker, one of the founders of JustSell which is one of my favorite sales resources just put out the coolest video titled 212 degrees. You’ve got to check it out and I’ll leave you with my favorite phrase from the video: You are responsible for your results…it’s time to turn up the heat….with awareness comes responsibility.

Are too many rejection emails crowding your inbox?

What’s your best rebuttal strategy?

Are you looking for creative ways to counter the 10 toughest customer objections?

Taking Email Control is the hot topic - tune in today from 10:00-11:00am PST for our Resuscitating Rejection Emails free webinar I will host today. Hurry and sign up, we’ve got record breaking registrants.

I have a pet peeve about this phrase. Quite frankly, it’s a cop-out. You always wonder what is the person really saying here? Is it:

I really want to go but I’ll make it sound like you really want to go.
I don’t have much more to say so I’ll cut this short.
I fear rejection so I’ll just make it easy on everyone here.

Let’s talk about the people who fear rejection . If they are in sales, this may be the wrong profession. If that could be you, here are some characteristics:

They lack assertiveness and avoid speaking up and sharing their opinion
They lack influence
They lack courage and avoid confrontation
They demonstrate passive/aggressive behavior and may be dishonest
They may play games and keep their personal feelings hidden
They may be angry and had a traumatic experience of rejection in the past
They are confused and don’t know how to best move forward
They lack the social skills and may not suffer from social isolation
They may be obsessed by acting in a certain “prescribed” manner that they are rigid and inflexible
They are not honest with themselves so they lack trust in anything else

When a person operates out of a fear of rejection, they end up pushing prospects, friends and family away. When they push them away, they create the rejection and the cycle continues.

If you can relate to some of these characteristics, here are steps to overcome fear of rejection:

1. Dig deep to understand what is driving the behavior or feelings
2. Work at building your self-esteem and confidence
3. Let people in and allow yourself to ask for help
4. Tell the truth, stop telling stories and lies
5. Create healthy alternative behaviors and include more questions

We’ve heard the term “peeling the onion” many times and it’s very descriptive when it comes to objections. Sales is one of the few professions which taxes your emotional strength and courage. You  have to be pretty thick skinned to succeed in sales because you are risking rejection on a regular basis.

This week I am dedicating my blog entries to objections. Everything from why we create objections to the types we receive from our customers and how to best rebut from them.

Tune in on Wednesday, June 6th from 10:00-11:00am and listen to the webinar on Resuscitating Rejection Emails and win a free gift.