Active Or Passive Investments?

I am working with a company owner who is getting himself ready to sell the company which has been a major focus for him for the last thirty years.

As we were putting his story together, he shared his memories of great things he did to get it off the ground and grow back in the early days. More recently he’s been hammered by outside forces, forced to take a different posture. Some years you’re the dog, some years you’re the hydrant.

Seems that exiting owners take the view that the history merits a premium price for an asset that they are passively managing.

Buyers are looking for an active, or even leveraged opportunity that they can control inexpensively.

The transaction is reconciling those two viewpoints.

Sales Lab Resources – Winning is fun!  

The Optimal Time To Sell

Jay Leno had an ad for Doritos, “Crunch all you want, we'll make more!” That's for an unlimited product. Especially true when the cost of another copy approaches zero.

What about a one of a kind product? The common wisdom is that prices for art go up after the artist dies. Turns out the artist has to be famous, needs to die prematurely and unexpectedly, and has to leave a growing market.

What about a product, service, or offering that is viable, has an established market niche, history, customers, and competition? I think the model is selling a car you no longer want or need.

First, sell with market demand. If you have served a niche that is no longer as attractive, what has replaced it? Who is taking your money? Why can't you look more like them?

Second, get detailed and shiny before sale. I'm always surprised at the list of things that weren't worth changing for day-to-day operations that emotionally affect buyers. As one operations manager said exasperatedly, “Men can't see anything!” And she was right, so her office got paint and carpet, which moved us from no interest to completed transaction.

Get over being embarrassed. Employees, customers, and vendors all need to hear your best story for making the changes you are planning. If they are adversely affected, I usually find value increases by learning and addressing their concerns.

Don't expect to have your transaction completed with an unknown source. Document everyone you know who could care. Prioritize your list and figure the best way to approach as many as make sense.

Go long. As you make your list of all the usual suspects, figure out who should be on that list, prioritize them best first, and start building your offer to the most important choices. After a couple, you can reuse what you've built to approach as many on the list as you need.

Selling a car is not the same as owning a car. There are new skills that are usually quick to learn and can add to your remaining enjoyment even as you know your time with it is limited.

Take the time to get best value.

Discover the relationship of Truth and Time.

Listening

I started by “selling like an owner.” That’s not bad because owners of small businesses do most of the selling in the world. However, selling like an owner tends to be more effort and desperation than craft.

After I sold that business, I started working at a marketing firm, working with customers, writing copy, and “selling.” I read a couple of books, worked hard, and was enthusiastically generating more heat than light.

My boss, the owner, sent me to another site to work with one of the founders of the firm, his college roommate. He offered to sit with me in a sales presentation, which I did not want, but he must have been better at selling.

After we finished our meeting, he said, “I noticed you were really listening to the prospect.” I was proud to be recognized.

“As a matter of fact, you were listening so hard, sweat was dripping of your nose.” Well, effort counts.

“Do you mind if I ask, what were you listening for?” Wha? Never thought about that.

“How about listening for something you want to ask about after they stop talking? And once you write that down, lean back and relax.”

“Later, if they say something else or better that you want to discuss, write that down too, but after you get that first question or clarification, you’ve done your job. From that point on, you’re ahead.”

That was a really important technique for all kinds of communication, written, face-to-face; internal and external. It’s also why I carry my notebook.

Sales Lab Resources, real advantage...and free!

Rainmaker 17 – Breaking The Invisible Wall

Last month’s GMU Annual Startup Challenge Competition was the first I remember where I got to sit in the audience and watch…

I wasn’t presenting.

What I saw (and remembered) is an idea that because we are presenting, we have to respect that invisible wall that separates actors from the audience, the cast of Cheers from your living room, separates the presenters from THE BUYERS!

How would you present differently if you were trying to sell those very people sitting in the chairs in front of you? Pretend this is not a drill.

1. Leave something of value with the judges, audience, and even the other competitors (like our handouts) before the presentation.

2. Have business cards and special event coupons (implements of selling) at hand and give them to ‘interesting’ and ‘interested’ people.

3. Provide the judges with required material for the competition (of course), and before the event, give them a summary copy of the points you will make (or plan to), and any complex tables, figures, and charts.

4. Provide the audience with a single-sheet highlight of the principal benefits of the product/service from the user’s perspective along with instructions how to buy.

5. Make it easy for people to a) know who you are; b) know how to reach you, on some disappearing slide if you must, but how about on something they can take away?

The Goal: when you leave the stage you have given your pitch AND you have made it easy for people to know who you are and how to reach you to buy something.

What's your story?

Please join us at the Capital Technology Management Hub on December 11 at 6:30 for 300 seconds of Rainmaker 17 – Breaking The Invisible Wall, What we learned at last month’s GMU Annual Startup Challenge Competition at TeqCorner, followed by Joshua Green explaining Cleantech Open—The World’s Largest Cleantech Accelerator -Funding Green Technology...

Previous Rainmakers:

#16 - LinkedIn: Your Personal Publicist (10/9/12)

#15 - Dropping The Other Shoe (9/11/12)

#14 - The Myth of Full Capacity (5-26-12)

#13 - Making the Most of Your Opportunity? (3-27-12)

#12 - The Future is NOW - Makers (3-11-12)

#11 - What Have I Done For You Lately? (2-8-12)

#10 - Tune Your Work for the Internet (1-2-12)

# 9 - Your Internet Personality (12-24-11)

# 8 - Google + Your Personal Website (9-15-11)

# 7 - Mark Your Territory (8-22-11)

# 6 - Networking IS Business (5-25-11)

# 5 - Start With an Offer (4-27-11)

# 4 - Time, Talent, and Treasure (4-10-11)

# 3 - How to Sell Your Skills (3-1-11)

# 2 - The Name Tag (1-5-11)

# 1 - Gifts (11-5-10)

And, Introducing Rainmakers (11-3-10)

Observing A Sale

I was talking with n00b, who had just entered the sales game. He was telling me his offering. John, who invests in several local companies walked over.

Me: Hey John, do you ever need inverted frammis services?

John: We are looking to recruit someone for that right now.

n00b: (we don't do recruiting..we provide services)

Me: That's great! n00b here knows a lot of people in that space!

John: n00b, I'd like to talk with you. Here's my card. Call me next week.

Exeunt.

My interpretation

Congratulations to everybody for getting into position.

I put the subject on the table. Crude but effective.

John responded, blending my opening term to what he thought he wanted.

n00b didn't seem to recognize the opportunity. This is why you go to meet 'n greets.

What's next?

n00b and John meet. John will keep adjusting his requirement to try to match n00b's capabilities. After all, he is successful...creates advantage from what is available. It would help (a lot) if he decides he likes n00b.

There are good reasons for buying a service rather than recruiting a body. Less risk, not enough work for a full time body, specialists wither without technical nourishment.

In the end, it doesn't matter what you think you are offering. What matters is what the customer finally buys.

Comments?

How To Turn Prospects Into Clients

For over a decade, Margarita Rozenfeld of Incite International Insights From Your Offsites has been a patron of Sales Lab, commissioning innovative new work for her customers. A few months ago, she asked for a two hour presentation that would be a complete sales program for her CEO group.

Margarita rounded up a dozen CEOs this past Monday, including three Sales Lab Stakeholders, Matt Whitaker of Intelligent Office, Alexandria and the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, Jennifer Schaus of Jennifer Schaus Associates and the Government Contractors - Culture & Networking at The Kennedy Center, and Chida Sadayappan of OpenOsmium and the National Capital Area Google Technical User Groups (NCA GTUG)

We do weekly presentations, day long presentations, hour presentations and even a series of 300 second presentations, but two hours that would be valuable for company owners called for a rethink.

We started with Talk Your Business: How To Sell More and Better Business Right Away, to establish introductions and stories, the basic building blocks of sales.

Next, we introduced the Sales Model, so everyone would have a common definition of what we were talking about.

Then we showed the Five Step Prospecting Script and the Four Step Sales Framework.

Out of a dozen participants we started five new transactions. That's a good presentation.

Best thing the participants learned? The importance of stories in the sales process and how to use them.