The Inside Sale:

Value the time you have

By Jeffrey Hansler, CSP  

When management sends down an edict, they provide the resources to make it happen. In an expanding market, resources are readily available as they are in a healthy economy. The flip side exists when the bottom drops out of the market or a prolonged reduction in business persists. Obtaining the resources to defend or expand a position seems an impossible task - especially when it comes to educational resources.

Companies realize investments need to be made, but a company in the midst of a recession has incurred poor results with many implemented projects. This can shake the confidence in new projects of even the most seasoned management team.

Meanwhile, you're in the field and on the front line in the impact zone. You are in the position to see where the funds need to be applied, and where education is the difference in success. You know what needs to be accomplished to educate and stimulate the team members, who, by the way, are coming to you with problems, ideas, and hopes. It's up to you -  if only you can get management to give you the resources needed to implement the ideas of you and your team.  But why head down the rocky road of pushing for educational resources? You've been there before and it's not pleasant. What if the program flops? Why rock the boat?

The politically correct answer is that we are entering a new era in information. Now, more than ever, having the critical information and skills is the difference between success and failure. The real answer is  probably very personal and related to the reason you initially entered the educational side of business.

When you choose to head down that rocky road, here are some things that can help you sell your proposals to management. You will need to strategically plan to sell your ideas to management, determine decision-makers and decision making processes, and communicate your ideas effectively. Your plan must contribute to the personal and professional growth of others to gain their support for your proposals.

1. Strategically plan the action list that will best communicate the need for acceptance of your proposal.  

The action list should include information about:

• past programs and the reasons why they were accepted or rejected

• current and planned programs conducted by your competition

• current programs of related industries

• comparisons of using internal verses contracted educators or combinations of each

• estimated cost, time, and materials of the proposed program

• estimated return-on-investment in time and cost reduction, liability reduction, increased business, and/or increased customer retention

• proposed return-on-investment measurement instrument  

"You'd think it would be easy to schedule computer training for the sales team of a high tech company. We finally had to bring in data on a competitor's use of on-line services and estimates on the cost savings over long distance calls and overnight delivery of information to finally convince sales management to add a day of advanced computer training to their national sales meeting."

2. Learn the communication skills required to discover who the real decision-makers are and the issues facing each of them from their perspective.

You should give consideration and apply a plus or minus value to your knowledge in the:

• confirmation of decision-maker and current decision-making process

• company interest in making a change and in the proposed result 

• current relationships with parties involved in acceptance and implementation of the proposal

• available resources including time and funds

• possibility of failure, partial success, and complete success of the proposal, implementation and return

"The vice president of marketing and sales was very verbal in the meeting - and he was dead set against the idea of the salespeople being out of the field another day for training. We expected this from conversations in the hall. It's a good thing we knew the president listened to the director of sales regarding training, and she was behind the idea. That information allowed us to focus on her questions in the meeting."

3. Go beyond a logical presentation that outlines your needs or even the organization's needs. Tailor the proposal so that key decision-makers can see both the need and the benefits from their point of view - people buy for their reasons not yours. Learn their needs by asking questions and using your communication skills to explore their point of view in depth.

Tools to aid your communication skills are:

• a list of questions to discover surface issues

• a list of questions to discover underlying issues

• a list of questions to determine supporters

• a list of commitments needed from supporters and decision makers

"We learned from asking questions that the top salespeople often altered their final presentation based on information gathered from last minute pre-meetings with key customer contacts the day before the presentation. It was their frustration of not being able to access information from our home offices that finally convinced sales management the need to train the sales team on E-mail with its data resources available. Then all we had to do was convince MIS for their support to create an accessible system containing key information from company data files. Ha!"

4. Begin selling your proposal before it is submitted. Use effective communication skills to explore for potential areas of difficulty, resistance and support.

To begin selling your proposal use your communication skills to:

• develop a small educational task force to evaluate ideas and solutions

• invite members of other departments into the evaluation process

• solicit input from other departments

• investigate unique ways of gaining the involvement of others

"We brought in two local sales members who were having success opening up new accounts and increasing account penetration. Instead of asking them about another day of training, we pulled up information on one of their accounts and asked them if it would be useful to build in their proposals. Soon they started asking us if we could pull up other specific information. In many cases, we couldn't, but by that time they were hooked. They helped us convert the information we found into sales revenue potential. It was our turn to be surprised."

Increasing persuasion skills will assist you in presenting your proposals. Handling the concerns expressed by others, recognizing necessary changes, and making those changes to increase the strength of your proposal is also a necessity. By honing your communication skills, you can increase the understanding of the areas affected by your proposal. This will help others see new perceptions that will contribute to their personal and professional growth.

Selling a proposal is really just asking for a change in a person's line of thinking. It requires you to go beyond adapting to the changes facing you and your organization.  This is accomplished through developing your skills of observation, communication, decision-making and persuasion. It requires acknowledgment of the need for changes, quick action in preparation for changes, and the ability to gather the resources necessary to orchestrate changes that bring growth and advantage to an organization and its people.

Companies have limited resources. By increasing your communication and persuasion skills, you will increase the chance for serious consideration of your proposals. You can't make a bad proposal sellable, but you can raise the chances of a good proposal being accepted by improving your skills in selling proposals to management.

"Six months after the training, I bumped into the vice president of marketing and sales. The talk eventually turned to the extra day of training. I said 'I hoped he wasn't upset because we pushed for the extra day.' He replied, 'Sales were up, proposal costs were down, and the sales team had a keener sense of marketing. He was just sorry the training cost came out of our budget.' Then he smiled and walked away.

"I wonder..."

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Jeffrey Hansler is a professional speaker, author, and consultant. He is a frequent speaker at association events and is the author of Sell Little Red Hen! Sell! He can be reached at jhansler@oxfordco.com.

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© 2004 Jeffrey Hansler  All rights reserved