I had the pleasure of recently attending a presentation by a Managing Director of one of the top Wall Street firms. His topic was “How to Sell to Wall Street” for small companies, specifically IT ones. It was a great presentation and the entire audience had his full attention. What I found most interesting was that many of his points were not focused on how the sales rep sells to Wall Street. Rather, much of his focus was on setting the vendor’s senior management straight on their obligations to ensure success. I just wonder how many senior managers in the room understood the “what not to do’s” were targeted at them!

Wall Street firms spend money on solutions to:

• Reduce their costs now. Not in 2-5 years but right now.

• Support expansion of their high growth market areas. Don’t waste their time on incremental gains in saturated markets. And don’t expect them to tell you what their high growth markets are.
• Stronger risk & control systems. The current economic crisis is affecting financial services firms worse than the bubble of 2001 did for technology firms. If you have system that helps them reduce risk and improve compliance, they want to know about it. But remember that everyone is pitching “compliance solutions” nowadays.

Selling at the CIO level isn’t the best bet:

• There are multiple decision makers, all below the CIO level.
• Tech decisions are made bottom-up by really smart people with a great mix of technology and business savvy.
• CIO doesn’t have time or desire to pick your solution. They pay their people a lot of money and empower them to make the right decisions. Or get fired. Either way, your only hope with the CIO is that they refer you to one of the decision makers.
• Work the administrative assistants. Don’t screw with them because they can be your worst enemy.
• It’s a long sales cycle and they’ll demand aggressive pricing.

The Managing Director said that Wall Street and the metro NYC market is larger than continental Europe. Larger than the next 3 US markets combined. Therefore, “…get in anyway you can….make it easy to buy…legal, pricing, best tech people….but don’t give it away.”

His practical advice for selling to Wall Street:

• Understand your customer. Yes, this is obvious but remember that the customer knows how important they are in the biggest market in the world and therefore how important it would be for them to be your customer.
• Remember who has the money. The one with the money (the customer) is the boss. It’s their rules or no money.
• Don’t out-arrogant arrogant people. They’re successful Wall Street people and you are who?
• Send them your best. They’re the best so send them your best.
• Don’t send them resellers. Wall Street wants to work directly with the manufacturer.
• Give them consistency in sales. Don’t send a new rep every 6 months or worse, a new Sales Engineer every 3 months.
• Don’t break the process. Use their NDA. Use their license agreement. Don’t redline the agreements so that they look like your agreements. Let your business people review the contracts, not your legal team. Don’t make it hard for Wall Street to do business with you. They won’t.
• Have a local NYC presence. A rep traveling in from Los Angeles or even Boston doesn’t cut it. Wall Street is the biggest market so invest here.
• They all talk to each other. If you have cool stuff, they’ll tell the rest of Wall Street. If you fail to heed the advice from above, especially the parts about being too arrogant or not sending your best, they’ll tell the rest of Wall Street that, too.

He summed up his practical advice by repeating “…get in anyway you can….make it easy to buy…legal, pricing, best tech people….but don’t give it away.”

Are you reading Geoffrey James’ blog, “Sales Machine” yet? I was introduced to his blog by Joanne Black of “No More Cold Calling” fame and I’ve enjoyed reading it ever since. Unlike the frequency of the Inquisix blog posts, Geoffrey is posting almost every day and I find them all worth reading. I was recently looking at all the starred items on my blog reader and was surprised to see that I have stars next to 16 of his blog postings, which is the largest number of stars I have for another blog.

Some of the posts are advice on how to improve your selling. Here, here and here.

Others focus on dealing with difficult co-workers and bosses. Here.

Others are about my favorite topic of referral selling. Here, here and here.

He has a recent series of posts where readers email him with sticky issues and he offers advice ala Ann Landers. Here and here. The questioner may not like his answers but I always find something interesting in them.

Like this afternoon’s post. He reviews a company’s video elevator speech and offers a suggestion on how to improve it. First, I always like people who offer solutions when bringing me a problem. Second, the company he’s critiquing is in the business of developing other companies’ elevator pitch. How ironic! Geoffrey, will you help Inquisix with our pitch on being the best networking site for referral-based businesses?

What does your company do when an RFP shows up at Corporate and the main point of contact is not the business user or decision maker but the purchasing agent?

Here’s the situation one of the Inquisix members found themselves in. They’re new to their company while the inside sales manager is experienced. A prospect sent in an RFP to sales@company.com that nobody expected but inside sales pounced on. With the blessing of the VP of Sales (who manages both inside and outside), the inside team ran with the RFP. This blog posting is not about inside vs outside turf battles as regular readers know I’m a big proponent of inside sales. Rather it is solely about the opportunity costs of responding to RFPs.

RFPs take a lot of energy to answer. Big companies have RFP teams and knowledgebases to facilitate the RFP response. But every RFP is different and the questions not always understood. And small companies don’t have the resources to spend chasing RFPs that (maybe) have no chance of closing. In either case, why expend the energy?

So this company decided the only course of action was to follow the RFP instructions exactly and not talk to any one except the purchasing agent. The field rep protested that this was a waste of time and that any prospect expecting to seriously consider the solution would have the business users engaged. Otherwise, it was simple price shopping against a vendor the user had already picked out. The inside manager felt that going around the purchasing agent was the kiss of death.

What does your company do? Who makes the decision to respond to an RFP when the main POC is purchasing? Do you respond without question? Do you go around the purchasing agent?

My answer – you ask the purchasing agent to schedule a 30 minute call with the business users to review the proposal and clarify all the answers. If the purchasing agent declines then you have very little chance of winning. That leaves your choice of either not responding or only responding to the pricing with a low-ball to hurt your competitor.

What’s your answer?

To continue the theme of our March 2008 posting on Recession-Proof Selling, here are three more steps to accelerate your sales, retain your loyal customers and attract new business without increasing your cost of sales.

Steps 1-5 are here.

6. Stay Connected
Get out there. Attend at least one networking event a week. Even better—attend three. Talk to people, find out how you can help each other. Pick up the phone. Email is great, but you’ll get the best information and the most productive relationships when you have a person-to-person conversation.

7. Don’t Cut Price
Many pundits say that the worst thing we can do in a lagging economy is to cut price. Yes and No. Adjusting your price should never be the first thing you do. A marketing expert told me that 95 percent of salespeople cut price before they’re even asked. If you do adjust your price, always get something in return. (Trim fat, not muscle.) Carve out your work and offer smaller chunks. Get in and get started. Help your clients in a down economy and be there when their business turns around.

8. Commit to Building Your Referral Business
What if you could reach your market without hard costs—no marketing budget, no direct mail budget, no advertising budget, no trade show budget. The only budget you need to worry about is your “Time & Referrals” budget—simply your time…your time to ask for referrals!

You know about referrals. When a qualified prospect is referred, you get a new client a minimum of 50 percent of the time, and typically between 70 and 90 percent of the time. Additionally, you are pre-sold, your selling time decreases, you have credibility, and you ace out the competition. There is no other business-development process that can claim these results. Results are the only thing that matter.

Bottom line: Sell more with higher margins, accelerate your “win” ratio, and take business away from the competition.

Become a referral-selling star from your home or office with my No More Cold Calling Webinars.

The blog postings about “Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move” have been some of the favorite postings in our blog based on the number of comments. The email below was sent in by one of the Inquisix readers who wanted to share a “thanks-for-nothing” moment by their boss. The subject line of the email (and the title of this post) must have been a kick in the gut to the sales rep receiving this email. Names have been deleted to protect both the innocent and the guilty. And like the first posting of the “Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move” some key information that I wondered about is missing. I’ll share that information as I get it.

But until then, what are your thoughts?

* Surprised the prospect was nice enough to actually follow-up and say, “No thanks”?
* As the sales rep, how would you use this email internally?
* Any ideas on how to get back to this prospect and get another chance?

From: Divisional Manager at Potential Prospect [and decision maker]
To: Sales Rep
Cc: Prospect’s peer
Subject: We are not moving forward with your company

Hi [Sales Rep]. I hope that this email finds you well. I wanted to get back to you and let you know that we will not be going forward with your company. While I truly enjoyed talking with you, I wasn’t overly impressed with the sales approach of [your sales manager]. When a company is selling a service I would expect that the sales approach would be directed to the individual in charge of managing that service. The majority of the conversation was directed to [prospect's peer] who is not the decision maker. I have to say that a couple of times I thought I would get up and leave, however, I chose to stay because I did not want to appear unprofessional. I feel compelled to make a personal recommendation to your sales manager] to make sure that sales conversations be directed to the individual responsible for making the decision as to whether or not to purchase the product.

Have a nice summer – take care,
[Divisional Manager]

My source for these interesting emails sent me the VP’s next email about the sales meeting, an email that was sent to all sales and senior management.

The VP lists the reasons why the sales meeting is being held on the weekend. I’ve added commentary on what the sales team could be thinking as they read this email. Which response, A or B, would be yours?

Dear Team,

I have discussed the meeting dates with executive management and we have decided to firm up July 11th and 12th for our quarterly sales meeting…”

Response choices:
A – Good, the VP checked with senior management and they all agree
B – The VP must have forgot to check with the far-flung sales team

* Senior management team routinely travel 50% of their time, including weekends and holidays to support sales efforts.

Response choices:
A – They’re doing all that travel and only asking us for one weekend? That’s reasonable, then.
B – That’s why senior management makes more money then us and has 10 times the number of options

* Large public technology firms routinely plan off-site sales meetings on the weekends

Response choices:
A – We want to go public and cash in our options so we’re all for emulating those firms
B – Yeah, and they plan the off-sites in locations like Las Vegas, Atlantic City or New Orleans instead of corporate’s class B office space

* Large public technology firms require their employees to share hotel rooms

Response choices:
A – Cost savings are important so we show a bigger profit (or smaller loss)
B – Those employees share a room at the Vegas Hilton with their buddy or friend-with-benefit, which is not the same as sharing a Motel 6 room in Albany.

The VP summarizes the reasons for keeping the meeting on a weekend, “[Our company] has done more for its sales people while requiring a lot less than what other firms expect from their field sales force.”

Response choices:
A – You sold me, I’m glad I work with such a great management team
B – Ah, the beating continues. Can I find a new job in a month?

So what do you think now? Did you choose more A responses than B responses?

Reader comments for my original post of “Morale Killer or Career Limiting Move” were the highest to date. The post must have struck a nerve with others, as it did for me. Ironically, I did not even write it!

I intentionally did not share who I thought was the problem in this email exchange because I was very interested in the reader comments. The early comments centered the blame squarely on the VP for sending the first email but the later comments shifted the blame to the rep.

My opinion – The rep did the bigger damage. Whether the company has traditionally held sales meetings over the weekend is not the issue, IMHO. And yes, the VP could have “sold” the meeting. But if the rep was upset and wanted to change the dates, he should have called the VP and expressed his concerns and alternatives The rep could have shared the rest of the team’s feelings and worked out a new date that the VP could announce. But by replying-all to senior management, he forced management to close ranks and support the VP. Even if the rest of management thought the VP was wrong, they had no choice but to support him and save face. The rest of the sales team should be angry with the rep that slammed the door shut on them getting out of a weekend sales meeting.

I went back to my source for these emails to get a bit more information. It turns out that this company never had a weekend sales meeting before. The VP is new from the beginning of the year and hand-picked by the CEO. Half the sales team has 3-6 years of tenure with the company and the rep that replied-all is one of the reps with the longest tenure.

Does this additional information change your opinion? It does not change mine.

We have a guest author today. Marty Eerhart is an Inquisix member and manages a nationwide mortgage broker and lender business based in Rhode Island. He previously owned a sales and management training company providing networking training sessions coast-to-coast.

Marty’s Top 7 Rules Of Networking

1. Don’t sell at networking meetings. Your goal is to meet people. You don’t have time to do a good sales presentation. Besides, there will be too many distractions.

2. The best way to get something from networking is to give something. Don’t expect to get leads when you never give others leads. Networking is like marriage: You get out of it what you put in it.

3. Remember me? When someone asks you what you do, say something memorable. This way it is easier for the other person to think of you when they meet someone who needs your product or service.

4. Qualify the people you meet into three categories: Potential clients, source of referrals, interesting-but-nothing-more. Realize that not everyone will be a prospect. Networking is more then prospecting. It is also finding people who could lead you to potential new customers.

5. Networking is more like farming then hunting. It takes time to cultivate and harvest. But once the harvest season starts, you will be well compensated.

6. Did you miss me or am I just another number? Remember the first date you went on? You waxed the car. You put on your best clothing, shaved or put make-up on. You opened the door for the other person. You paid him or her a compliment. But after you see them a few times, the extra efforts are gone. Keep all your meetings like the first one!

7. Remember, it is net*work*, not net*eat* or net*play.* It takes energy and effort to make network work for you.

Inquisix members in New England have been graciously extended an invitation to attend a free lunch and sales seminar hosted by Dave Kurlan. Rick Roberge, who was the Inquisix Networking Night guest speaker, is a member of Dave’s Sales Consulting business and invited me to attend the last presentation. Dave is a best-selling author, sales consultant and great business speaker.

Dave’s talk will focus on three topics near and dear to all sales management

* eliminate sales hiring mistakes

* accurately predict future sales revenue

* have all your reps overachieve quota

The event is being held at the White Cliffs Estate in Northborough, MA from 11am to 2pm. If you’d like attend, please register HERE.

Thanks for the invite, Rick!

How well do you know the real reasons why your customers use your solution? The more you know the why the better you will be at selling the how. Features are rarely the reason. Sure, features are important but your competitors have features, too. What about the benefits of those features? Yes, more important than features but even junior sales reps right out of Dale Carnegie can recite features. Your company marketing department may supply you with glossy customer success literature to hand out to prospects but nobody reads them and rarely believes the platitudes printed on them.

You want your prospect to engage with you; to think of you as an expert, to move from disbelief to want to need. Your goal is to share brief customer success stories in conversations with prospects so they can see themselves benefiting from your solution in the same way.

The best way to engage with your prospect is to throw those PowerPoint slides that marketing gave you away. “Death by PowerPoint” is an all too-true cliche. I carry only 2 slides with me, printed out and laminated back to back. One side has the logos of all my company’s customers. The other side is diagram of my solution. By only showing the customer logos slide, I can engage with a prospect for 30 minutes just by mentioning the one-line successes each of these customers has had with my solution.

This means:

* My prospect realizes I have important knowledge to impart
* I know my customers, why they buy from my and the value they derive
* Therefore, I am not a transaction-based feature-benefit sales weenie but a trusted advisor

And where is the prospect’s attention focused? Not up on the wall, reading the slide faster than you can talk but rather focused on you. Where it belongs.

So learn your one-line customer success stories by heart, throw away your PowerPoint slides and get back to selling!