25 Key Takeaways from Paparelli Zoom Chat #9
Note: There will be no Paparelli Zoom Chat this week.
Here is a recap of the Paparelli Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs #9
Theme: Are You Selling or Sinking?
Special thanks to Bob Lasher, founder and former CEO of iPartners, an analytics SaaS solution for Property and Casualty companies. Bob had a very successful exit in January 2015. Bob was kind enough to kick off our discussion.
In addition, I thank Scott Dios, Kevin George, Louise Wasilewski, Yvonne Bryant-Johnson and Richard Brock for their insightful comments. Each of their contributions is captured below in the highlights.
These are all friends and successful entrepreneurs. I admire their continued motivation to help other entrepreneurs succeed. Take a look.
Quote of the call: “The only thing that should matter to a CEO is what you will sell this month.”
Another quote that captures the call: “Great sales people know the deals they are going to close.”
My takeaways:
Sales is the only speed boat in the organization.
Product companies jump into services during market contractions. For service companies, they move from partners to competitors over night.
The sales pipeline can be deceiving. The only data point is closed deals.
Sales people know there are all kinds of reasons why people don’t buy. But they know they are going to buy.
As the CEO implementing a new strategy, you want to be right. Don’t be deceived by your own optimism. Customers who are interested are not the same as customers who are buying.
As the CEO implementing a new strategy, you want to be right so you don’t have to cut expenses and go into full retreat. You want your strategy to work. This causes a built-in prejudice that can cost you your company.
In services, when you cut your consultants, you are cutting your future revenue opportunities.
When your best people see the company stalling, they become prime candidates for poaching. A great opportunity at another company will find them.
When your back is to the wall financially, the only important metric is actual sales.
There are three criteria necessary to get a quick sale. If two of the three of these criteria were present then move forward. If not, move on to the next prospect.
They have a real problem now
Access to the decision maker
Must have an internal champion...hopefully it is the decision maker.
CEO’s need to manage sales people based on sales. Not pipeline, lead flow, conversations, not sales cycle. CEO’s just look at sales.
As CEO, I care about what the sales people will sell right now.
Great sales people have a sixth sense. They know when they have a deal that will close. Ask them, “Give me the two deals you are going to close this month.”
When I am in a crunch for cash I am not interested in growing pipeline. I’m interested in closing deals.
As CEO, your focus will become everyone else’s focus. You focus on sales today and the whole organizations will bend in that direction.
In crunch times, the executive team needs to be in front of the prospect. This will get you to a close faster. The CEO has all kinds of deal making power the sales person does not have. You can take away any objection the prospect has. You can make anything happen to get to the close.
Sales guys should have a top 10 list. They should live off of this list. This is the promise of your future cash flow. Great sales people know the deal they can win this month.
Executive involvement in the sale is critical to closing business fast.
Stage of a sale and probability are disconnected. Probability is most important.
It is better to have no prospect than a bad prospect. Bad prospects waste sales time. A good prospect has pain right now.
If a prospect has real pain they will find budget.
Be careful of snakes. These are people in a deal who talk nice and appear supportive but believe their job will be threatened if the company buys your product.
If a prospect has the problem but no budget then show them where to get money.
In times of uncertainty like these, we need cash. Don’t worry about personnel development. Pay the extra money to top producers to get deals done today.
Salespeople should bring in the C suite execs to be there with them and give them the best chance to close the deal. If they lose the deal, they are not alone. They did all they could.
Practical ideas about getting cash from sales today.
Every Paparelli Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs will help you be a better entrepreneur. That’s the goal.
I look forward to seeing you this next Wednesday, June 3rd at 9 am.
Come a little early and catch up with friends and make some new friends. I'll be on at 8:45. And we always end the call right at 9:45 am.
You can find resources suggested by your fellow entrepreneurs on the resources page.