Flexibility and Consultancy are important in Sales

Craig Munns - Sales Innovation Managing Director

I recently read an article about how a dancing teacher lost a student because they were selling on their own reasons and motivations and not their client’s.

Sure, for those who read the article, it is a rather simple sales matter (a dancing teacher lost a good student due to a misunderstanding about why they were taking lessons), but it does serve to highlight that we need make sure that we are always acting in our client’s best interests (I also like some of the other points raised by the article, and I urge everyone to read it, although I’m not sure that I agree with the Cost Benefit/Value Proposition basis of the article).

To further complicate this particular matter, the client had been a client for a few years (I assume), so by then you would think that you would know what their needs are. But needs change across time, and sometimes even in the scope of a conversation.

A good salesperson is observant, flexible, and have an open and consulting nature to continue to win sales. In the above example, there could have been several scenarios happening that the salesperson may not have been aware of;

When they signed up the client, did they understand the requirements of the client (long and short-term), and did they see the client’s requirements through their eyes, (and not their own)?

• Make sure that you are communicating and consulting with your prospect or client to make sure that you understand what they want.
• You need to understand what the limits are of the service or product that you are selling, and work within those limits.
• Make sure that you talk to your client or prospect in terms that they understand; not just the jargon, but the language that you use. Things like age, background, ethnicity, mood, education, etc., all have a part to play in making sure that everything is understood correctly. Ask questions and see if you get the expected responses. If not, you need to flexible and change your language. Or you may simply not have what they want!

Have the client’s requirements changed over the period that they have come along to lessons? If so, why didn’t the teacher pick up the changes? Did they ask the right questions? Were there other cues (non verbal or otherwise) that weren’t picked up on?

• Even though you may develop a good personal relationship with your client, is this masking your ability as a salesperson to understand their continued need for your product or service? It’s great to have a personal relationship with someone, but make sure that you can take a step back and see what’s happening from a sales perspective as well.

Are there other influencers in the mix that the salesperson should have considered? In this case it was obvious that the parents should have been consulted, but in many cases, it is not so clear. In 99% of cases, you need to follow the money trail, as the person who holds the purse strings will be the one making the final decision.

• In this case, my assumption would be that the parents were the ones making the financial decision (in consultation with the student), but that they needed to be consulted with, especially when the student was going to take on a greater workload.

• From a  business perspective, make sure that you follow that money trail, and make sure that all perspectives of the sale are considered (including financial and emotional)

How to use the Federal Budget to win business with Government

What is the Federal Budget?
The Budget is the Federal Government’s way of allocating tax payers’ money. For example, tax payers’ money can be in the form of the GST, Personal or Company Income Tax. The Treasurer reads out the Budget statement on the second Tuesday in May. The Budget is an indication of where the government wants to and does not want to spend money.

This is not the final word however, as the appropriation bills, which contain the details of the Budget, need to be introduced to Parliament, and then be debated and passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bills are called appropriation bills as they are proposals for laws seeking the Parliament’s agreement to the government’s plan for spending public money (Parliamentary Education Office, 2011). Once the bills are passed, the Governor-General signs the appropriation bills and they become law.

What is the relevance of the budget to doing business with Federal Government?
There are many business opportunities that come out of each budget in the form of dollar figures allocated to specific projects, so you need to find the appropriate information to see if there is money allocated to agencies or work that you may be interested in.

How do I find out where the money is allocated?
The first steps in researching the Budget are to look in reputable newspapers such as The Age, The Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian (we still have copies of these if you need help). These sources will give you a generic overview of what is happening in the Budget and are a great place to start. When newspapers go into specific details about money, it is likely they are quoting the total amount of money to be spent over four or multiple years. Be cautious when viewing this information as it is probably more beneficial for you to know the money allocated over the next financial year, rather than the next four years. This is also because this funding can change.

These are lengthy documents so it may take you a few days to look properly through the relevant statements. To help you speed up this process, skim quickly through the text and focus on the outcomes or overview of spending for the portfolio and each individual agency. You can also use the search function in the PDF documents to look for key words and for associated costings. There are no shortcuts, apart from the ones we have mentioned but it could turn into a large sale for your business, so a bit of upfront research is well worth it!

Government work that may interest you – some examples
To give some examples, in the budget for the coming financial year (2011-2012), there is a focus on key topics such as Homeland and Border Security and Biosecurity. The budget includes $1.1 billion for Homeland and Border Security. This figure is large so it probably contains ‘forward estimates’ (a fancy term for funding) for the next few years, however it is still good to identify these opportunities as it is better for your business to go in at the ground level and build your profile from there.

There is a commitment to reform Australia’s Biosecurity system in the 2011-2012 financial year. $4.2 million is allocated for the development of a business case for the enhancement of Information and Communication Technology systems. This will provide enhanced capability for risk-based management of Australia’s Biosecurity.

Hints to get you started
The $4.2 Million allocation is on page 21 of the ‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry Portfolio’ Budget statement (PDF). To navigate to this page:
1.    Go to www.budget.gov.au
2.    Click on ‘Portfolio Budget Statements’ on the left hand side of the page
3.    Click on ‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry Portfolio’
4.    Click on ‘Portfolio Budget Statements 2011-12’
5.    Click on the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 2011-12 Portfolio Budget Statements PDF icon
6.    Take a look through the document, or search for specific words (in this case, we searched for ‘biosecurity’)

Use this process for other Portfolios you may be interested in.

Restrictions in Spending
Note that the Government of the day only has a limited pot of money (despite it being very large pot!). This means that in order to fund some areas, they may need to reduce spending in other areas. It’s important that when you read through the budget papers that you take note of any areas that you have been interested in to ensure that funding is still available, and at the same (or better) levels than you had planned.

Also note that the government has mandated that all government agencies (this includes departments) implement a 1.5% ‘Efficiency Dividend’. This means that they have to reduce their total spending by 1.5%. This will have different effects in different agencies, but in our experience, ‘discretionary’ services such as training are usually the first to suffer, but it could be from any initiative. In this case, we suggest calling your agency contact to check, as this cut isn’t normally represented in the budget papers, but is decided upon by each agency.

Getting prepared to win the work
Once you have done your research and you know where the work is, the first thing to do is to visit your contacts at the relevant agency so that they know you are interested (use www.gold.gov.au ). If it needs to go to a Tender process, you need to be talking to your contacts well before the Tender process starts.