Print
Solutions May 2006
Cover
story
Continued
Masters
of the Game
Learn
to Read the Course
Jeff
Haselroth Scores with a Perceptive
Approach
IN
BRIEF
This
sales rep has more than quintupled
his annual sales in the past four
years. He reveals his tried-and-true
methods:
•
List the 20 biggest accounts you’d
like to get
•
Research both the prospect and
your own product
•
Phone the prospect with a practiced
‘elevator speech’
•
Determine the client’s problems
•
Stay in touch
Jeff
Haselroth has a simple sales approach:
Ask not what you can sell your
client, ask what you can do for
your client. He emphasizes patience
and often envisions himself as
a “doctor,” tending
to clients’ “ailments.”
Haselroth,
a sales rep with the Jerome Group’s
Irving, Texas office, has more
than quintupled his yearly sales
in the four years he’s worked
for the distributorship –
which surprises him as much as
anybody.
“It’s
more of a philosophy than rocket
science,” he explains modestly.
What Haselroth details so glibly
can also be described as a carefully
planned, battle-tested process
that brings him $2.5 million of
business annually. Below, he shares
his sales maxims:
The
Right Club
“You
can’t take the shotgun approach
to prospecting,” Haselroth
says, describing a traditional
sales pitch as a dated, hit-and-miss
method. Instead, he advises, list
the 20 biggest accounts in your
area that you’d like to
do business with.
By
carefully selecting prospects,
Haselroth saves time while still
meeting his monetary goals. “Today,
I approved a $427,000 invoice,”
he explains. “It took me
two minutes. If I approved a $500
invoice, it would have taken me
two minutes.”
And,
he adds, separate the wheat from
the chaff. If a prospect tells
you “absolutely never,”
move on.
Walk
the Green
Before
approaching a company, learn everything
about its market and how it does
business. What does its web site
look like? What are its current
products, and what will it offer
in the future?
“You
have to understand where your
client is going,” he says.
“Are they introducing a
new product? Going into a new
state? Buying a new company? Once
you know what their employees
are facing, you can help them
get there.”
Though
it might sound simple, Haselroth
suggests, examine your own product.
Why do your customers use it?
How have they adapted it to their
advantage? If you don’t
know why your product is special,
you can’t sell it.
Teeing
Off
Making
cold calls is not very exciting,
Haselroth admits. But if your
clients don’t know you,
they can’t buy from you.
This is his basic approach to
calls:
•
Have a 10-second explanation of
who you are and what you do –
a pitch you could give on an elevator
ride. This helps the meek sound
confident and the confident stay
concise.
•
Come prepared with a list of objections
and appeasing responses. Even
if you don’t prevail, you’ve
had a conversation with the employee.
•
Then, develop a plan to contact
the account at least once a month
indefinitely. “Does it matter
how long?” Haselroth questions.
“If you could have business
with two of your top 20 in two
years, would it be worth your
while? Well, be patient.”
Read
the Green
“Does
this customer have pain?”
Haselroth asks. “Think of
yourself as a doctor. You have
to understand what the person
is feeling and when they’re
feeling it. What problems does
your client face? Then, you formulate
a solution; you make a diagnosis.”
A
traditional sales approach dictates
an introduction and a product
push. (“I’m Bob with
My Company and we sell This Product.”)
But that approach is a put-off,
he says. Take a half hour and
ask questions. A sample question
might be: If you had an opportunity
to do something better than you’re
doing today, what would it be?
“When
you’re solving pain,”
Haselroth says, “people
pay more to get rid of it. They
just want to stop hurting. Price
goes off the table, and you can
get better margins.
“Then
you can go after the low-hanging
fruit,” he continues. “Then
you sell the products that are
easier for your company to produce
and procure.”
The
most important thing is to avoid
a “me-too” sale, Haselroth
admonishes. “Oh, your current
vendor prints that for you?”
he mimes. “Well, we can
do that too! Cheaper!” There
will always be a cheaper vendor
down the line, and your relationship
will be built solely on money.
It’s the power of questioning
and problem-solving that separates
the cheapest guy from the best
guy.
Hit
the Driving Range
“I
try to touch an account once a
month, just to keep my name in
front of the prospect.”
Haselroth says. Send a letter,
an email, or make a phone call.
Clip articles about the company
and send them with a handwritten
“thinking of you”
note. The companies may or may
not respond.
He
remembers a two-year pursuit of
Six Flags Inc., an amusement park
company with 29 North American
locations. After the initial appointment,
he went home empty-handed, vowing
to contact the company every month
for a year. Emails were exchanged,
but Six Flags decided to stay
with its vendor.
“Last
September, I spoke with them again,”
Haselroth says. “Finally,
I got a call between Christmas
and New Years’, and I just
knew right away I had the account.”
Another
example of his perseverance:
“I
called a big casino operator earlier
this year, and she started shutting
me down immediately. I reverted
to the objection/solution notes,
and we had a 25-minute conversation.
In my book, that’s like
having an appointment with someone.”
Then,
Haselroth said, the client emailed
him to say there would be no business
until 2007. “She was much
nicer than when I first talked
to her, though. I told her I’d
keep in touch throughout the year,
and asked if we could meet in
September or October to talk about
2007. She said yes.”
All
the Right Strokes
Big
sales numbers mean a lot of time
invested. None of Haselroth’s
accounts were landed faster than
three months, he says, and that
meant constant attention. The
key to staying on top of accounts
is to make use of technology and
coordination. Haselroth swears
his contact management software
makes him stick to his sales plan
by sending reminders and keeping
clients’ information organized.
He also capitalizes on the insights
of other sales team members. This
week, the salespeople in his office
will share their elevator pitches,
then mix-and-match language to
target niche markets.
“When
I started selling copiers, someone
told me to make 50 calls a day,”
he says. “Bad advice. You
need to make five quality calls
a day. If you do that, you won’t
even be able to handle the business
you get. Actually, I made only
two prospect calls this week.”
If your pitch is direct, meaningful
and personalized, the business
will come. “The only way
I can handle that is through automation,”
he concludes.
Finishing
the Round
Keeping
an account means even more homework.
First, make sure you’re
doing a good job with current
projects. Set up an appointment
to discuss the work, and mention
new opportunities. “Most
people, when you’re doing
a good job, will give you 30 or
45 minutes. Just remember it’s
not guaranteed,” Haselroth
says.
As
an example, he mentions one of
Jerome’s web portals, where
clients can order direct mail
campaigns. “We have a big
client and I thought it would
be good for them,” he says.
“So I went back into doctor
mode. I asked, ‘Would this
be of interest to your loan officers?
Would it help you?’”
The client said “absolutely”
to a product that had never crossed
his mind.
Accounts
need attention and updates, of
course, but so do sales reps,
Haselroth says. “Your techniques
will get stale. I’m still
learning; you’re still learning.
Keeping at it is vital.”
Rebecca
Trela is an assistant editor at
Print Solutions magazine. Email
her your comments at rtrela@PSDA.org.
