Death by Powerpoint - or not?

Was Steve Jobs right?

We all miss the charisma that Mr. Jobs exuded during his product launch love-ins such as the famous iPhone announcements.When Steve did present he only used a few slides. During the lead up he would talk and "story tell" and work the audience into a frenzy. Each slide was simple, clean, and elegant -much like Apple's overall branding message. I don't recall seeing any bullet points - if there was text - it was a short impactful message that he expanded on and punctuated it in a very confident and unique manner.

Let's face it, sales people are not CEO's and all don't work for cool companies like Apple. We are the front line to the customer (and prospective customer) and we constantly make our "pitches" using our PPT Decks. (Powerpoint Presentations for those not up on the PP lingo) because that's what we have done in the past. We present what our marketing departments deliver to us (with some augmentation). In many cases we are the marketing department as well as sales - so we essentially build our own decks.

We recently presented to a new client and prior to the meeting decided to distill our 48 slide PP Prez. down to 8 slides. This was extremely tough - as you can imagine as we agonized over which slides would stay, produced new slides that summarized 10 others, and so on. The presentation went extremely well - but what was particularly interesting was - as we kicked the meeting off we informed our clients that our usual PPT Deck was 48 slides but we had reduced it to 8 slides just for them - to which they both sighed and said "Thank You - we appreciate that" and we all shared a laugh.

The most interesting comment after the presentation was the client asking - "would you mind emailing us the 48 slide deck for reference?" - which I agreed to do along with an electronic version of the 8 slides.

Perhaps this is a method we can use for future presentations - present the concepts and benefits in 10 slides or less - but have the complete Deck as a backup. We do our own version of "Steve" with a creative front end - and follow it up with the complete Deck so the client has something to read on the next flight.

Death by Powerpoint is a great moniker as in many cases - it is true - 60 slides are the norm these days. If we can reduce the deck down to 20% of the original. This gives us more time with the client - discussing issues, answering questions etc, versus powering through the entire deck without time for qualification.

What a concept - spend more time with the customer understanding their needs.

Great read: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Powerpoint-Michael-Flocker/dp/B000WCTNF4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348779463&sr=1-1&keywords=death+by+powerpoint

Never Cold Call

I recently read Frank Rumbauskas's book - you guessed it (Never Cold Call) and I must admit it is an interesting read for sure. For reference:  https://www.nevercoldcall.com/

Sales people are always looking for methods to avoid cold calling and Frank does a good job in supporting his methodology that only old fashioned sales guys (or their dinosaur sales managers) are still cold calling. He has plenty of supporting evidence that cold calling is a total waste of time. At best it yields an 8% success factor and is a practice that continues to live on - almost as a business tradition. "It's what we've always done" most sales managers will say.

I have signed up to Frank's newsletters and I receive an email once a week on "horror" stories on how some sales people have been fired because they didn't make their monthly quota of cold calls. In one case a sales  person was always over plan at his company but because he didn't adhere to the sales manager's policy of excessive cold calling he was let go - "no exceptions" the sales manager said. I agree with Frank - in most cases sales people have to tow the line and set up a cold call facade by making the quota of "dials" to ensure they at least stay in their company's Salesforce.com analysis -  that incidentally  breakdown stats on every possible detail you can imagine.

Frank's point is (to paraphrase) "why spend the resources on a relatively useless exercise when you could be spending time more proven methods of networking and business development". Cold calling has been around for ages and I don't think it will evaporate overnight because of the Internet, however, getting found online and having the prospect call you is obviously a more preferred method of sales prospecting.

I have a sales colleague who works for a web agency and has not cold called once in the five years he has been there. His firm invests in creative marketing efforts including: advertising using Google Adwords, sends out direct mail to targeted prospects, frequently blogs, organizes networking events, and is involved in community outreach by sponsoring charitable organizations. Every morning he has at least 2-3 leads from companies that are interested in his company's services. Now granted not every lead is golden, but when my colleague calls them they are definitely interested in his company's services.

My take on this is that our respective marketing departments need (at least) to launch continuous online marketing initiatives that are designed to make the phone ring - at our end. If you are in a B2B scenario where marketing resources are extremely thin - then explore the agency route as there are several alternatives available to promote your brand online - including: Google, Linked in, Facebook, and Twitter to name a few.

I do like Frank's motto - Never Cold Call - whether or not we will see cold calling eliminated in our sales lifetime is anyone's guess. However, I kind of like the idea of calling a prospect (back) and confirming an appointment time rather than wasting time calling cold prospects and having to follow an introductory phone script.

The "B" Word

The "B" word I am referring to is of course "B" for Budget.

I recently had a situation where a potential client called and wanted to create a new website. We reviewed the general scope of the project at which time I asked the "B" word. This was over the phone but I could feel him "squirming" and he came up with a feeble and vague statement such as "I don't really have a specific number - but why don't you meet with our stakeholders and create a proposal for me?"

My spidey sense told me this was a price check - and that this opportunity could be flaky, however, I continued the process as they were in a vertical we had been targeting. I met with their stakeholders and expanded the original scope based on what they told me their needs were. I sent the proposal with two options.

Sure enough - after several un-returned phone calls later he finally sends me an email to tell me that he has chosen to go with his wife's agency. I emailed him back with a "good luck" comment.

The reason I bring the "B" word up is basic. It has been and always will be a great harbinger of things to come. I equate it to driving a car and you are stopped at the intersection (in this case a discovery meeting) - you wait for the light to turn green when you get the "B" dollar range answer) - or you get the "we haven't established a budget yet" answer - which is a yellow light and proceed with caution.

Sorry for the traffic metaphor but it is certainly accurate in this case.

So, continue to ask the (sometimes uncomfortable) "B" question - upfront - as it may save you a great deal of time and frustration in the long run.

Going Off-Line

Last Monday I arrived at work and as usual pulled out my laptop, set it up on my desk, and went to grab the AC adapter out of the laptop case and much to my surprise - it wasn't there. I realized that I had forgotten it at home as I was doing work in the Living Room of my house the night before - and left it behind the couch. At first I thought - oh oh - what am I going to do for 2-3 hours - in the office with a "dead" computer.

It turned out to be a great 3 hours. I shut my door and completed a number of tasks:

1. Planned my week out
2. Rehearsed a presentation that I was doing the next day
3. Made some changes to a brochure that I had in the "creation" phase
4. Came up with 3 new ideas regarding an upcoming product launch

I actually felt invigorated by being unplugged - so to speak. I wasn't distracted by email, news, browsers, and electronic documents.

I think we sometimes become over connected and lose sight of our overall objectives. Try it sometime - leave your laptop in the case - it will still work when you plug it in after lunch.

In the meantime, let the creative juices flow and use a pen and paper - or sketch out some ideas you've been thinking about on your White Board.

Go Off-Line and discover.

New Years Resolutions - Quota

It's vital to meet with your sales team or managers to discuss the objectives for the New Year the first week of January. I'm always amazed at companies that delay the assignment of the annual quota to their sales team - in some cases towards the end of the first quarter. Many years ago while working for a very large computer company (software division) - the North American quota was not fully assigned until May. We were only told that the quota would increase over the year before. However, most of the sales team ended up talking about it all the time and it turned out to be a major distraction. As it turns out the SVP of Sales subsequently was terminated in mid July.

Sales Managers and Account Executives need to start focusing on the new number immediately - sooner the better. Sales productivity and momentum are very important and 2-3 weeks of extra focus can make a difference in making the revenue number for the year.

Start the focus.

The Dip

I recently read Seth Godin's book called "The Dip". No it's not about a boss that you had at your previous company - it is the decision point we all come to in our business lives when our current position becomes a dead end. Seth refers to it as the "Cul de Sac" of your engagement with the company that is employing you.

There are a few ways to handle this - either put your head down and work hard - or just quit. Seth goes on to say it is absolutely OK to quit. We have been taught our entire life "Winners never quit and Quitters never Win" - I believe Vince Lombardi came up with this quote. However, Vince was the coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 60's and early 70's well before the technology age. Back then workers stayed with their companies for several years (even their entire working lives). As we know, today is a totally different story. We are still climbing out of the last recession and variable contracting is here to stay for sure. I'm not doing a book report here - just recommending it as a very objective read for any of us that are feeling the "pinch". Seth goes on to explain the reasons why you are feeling frustrated and gives some great examples of how individuals quit their jobs - even though things were going great - because they knew deep down this was not something they wanted to do forever.

So don't feel bad if you are under quota - there are decisions and corrections that can be made to help you out of the situation.

I think of the famous video excerpt from an old (really old) Hollywood Star - Jimmy Durante singing - "should I go or should I stay" . We have all found ourselves in this position.

You have to decide for yourself - but Seth can help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY-zmJ1VCQI

Coffee is for Closers

I was in a business meeting last week with our design firm and we were discussing the acronym AIDA (Attention, Interest, Decision, Action)and integrating AIDA into the design of our new brochure. I immediately mentioned the cameo of Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glenross - the Broadway play which was made into a not so successful movie of the same name. They had never heard of the movie or the cameo - which surprised me.

For those of you that don't know - Alec Baldwin plays the head honcho from "downtown" who is there to shake up this regional sales team of under-achievers. He starts the meeting by thoroughly dressing down a sales rep played by Jack Lemon. Jack Lemon is pouring a coffee just as Alec Baldwin starts his rant - Alec shouts: "Put that coffee down" he yells - Jack Lemon smirks and is startled at the same time. Alec then says "Coffee is for Closers".

This clip is absolutely amazing and is filled with every sales meeting cliche in the book. I highly recommend it for any sales guy who needs some motivation, or sales manager that needs to shake up their sales team and adding some humor at the same time.

For anyone in sales you fully appreciate the scenario. The message is extremely dark and resonates deeply.

A warning of sorts - this 10 minute clip has course language and some derogatory terms so I suggest you thoroughly review prior to showing it at your team meeting. You don't want to be showing this clip with the HR guy in the room.

It is thoroughly enjoyable in dark and cathartic way.

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI