Author Archives: ahrangel

Business Development, Startups

Miami is now the second most entrepreneurial city in the U.S

StartUP SAFARI Miami

Miami With the highest startup density in the country at 247.6 startups per 100,000 people according to the Kauffman Index. Its privileged proximity to both New York and Silicon Valley will allow this emerging ecosystem to consolidate its position as an entrepreneurial hub with the arrival of accelerators and VC funds.

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Rather than trying to be the next Silicon Valley, Miami is following the lead of emerging tech hubs like Austin and Boulder and is focusing on its strengths. Anon/off relationship for more than 25 years Miami and tech have been having an on-again, off-again relationship since the 1990s, when it hosted some of the top media and financial firms from South America. One of the most iconic companies of that era was Patagon.com, a Miami transplant from Argentina that sold 85 percent to Santander for $585 million. It also served as a springboard to some of the pioneers in the Miami tech scene today, such as Juan Pablo Cappello, Constancio Larguia, Silvina Moschini, and Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor. A lot has changed since those days. A new Miami tech scene came about seven years ago when “some of today’s most relevant players started forming and getting together,” as The Miami Herald’s Nancy Dahlberg put it. Florida International University hosted its first Americas Venture Capital Conference (2010), Susan Amat co-founded The Launch Pad at University of Miami (2008) and soon after she started Venture Hive, Miami’s most iconic incubator.

The StartUP SAFARI Miami

Two Days of Powerful SAFARI Talks

STARTUPS, INVESTORS, AND ACCELERATORS ALL OVER MIAMI WILL OPEN THEIR DOORS FOR NETWORKING, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, PARTIES, AND MORE!

Startup SAFARI Miami is an adventure into one of the fastest-growing startup hotspots in the Americas. Flourishing amid a culturally-rich, tropical atmosphere, Miami’s startup ecosystem attracts talent, resources, and ideas from around the globe.


Set your own agenda and visit founders, VCs, coworking spaces, and accelerators in their own offices to create meaningful connections.

Come swim, snorkel, or scuba dive deep into Miami’s startup scene with Startup SAFARI Miami.

Host a session! Plan a workshop! Sign on as a sponsor! Volunteer! Attend! Participate!

See for yourself.

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Business Coaching, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Mastermind2020, Public Speaking, sales, Train the Trainers

10 business presentation tips for closing more sales from stage.

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Whether crafting the perfect sales pitch or presenting your company’s product to a potential client, delivering a high-quality business presentation is an essential skill. It can be a deal maker or breaker. According to Steve Jobs, one of the world’s greatest corporate speakers, “Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”

Business Presentation Tips: Closing Sales

To start with, you should always remember to ask yourself whether your product is solving your client’s problem. How will it make them more efficient, and how will it save them time and money?

Keep these questions in the front of your mind and follow the below business presentation tips to craft a concise and compelling messaging that converts your prospects.

1. Explain that You Understand Your Prospect’s Problem

Take time to learn about their issues so you can outline your understanding of their goals and vision. Immediately grab their attention by demonstrating that you really understand their business problems. Entice them into wanting to hear more of your problem-solving ideas.

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2. Keep Your Slides Concise and Focused on Your Prospect’s Needs

To draw everyone’s attention to each slide’s detail, it’s important to not overload them with information, despite the temptation to tell them everything about your product and all your best clients. Deliver a customized sales presentation that only covers the specific points that will be of value to them. “Specificity builds credibility,” advises executive speech coach Patricia Fripp.

3. Connect With Your Audience Using Storytelling

Structuring your presentation as a story makes it far more engaging: lists of facts and figures are stale and boring. Giving your presentation a narrative structure with the beginning, middle and end will capture your audience’s attention and actually make your presentation more memorable.

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Frank Carillo of ECG communications consultancy says, “Tell a story that will stick in their minds…Maybe it could be about how you came through for a client when that client really needed you. People remember stories better than anything else.”

4. Provide a Succinct Solution to Your Sales Pitch

Presenting measurable and achievable steps towards your audience’s goal is crucial and provides a greater chance of achieving a sales conversion. Demonstrate your vision and action steps with clarity and imagination to captivate your client.

5. Pay Attention to Visuals to Support Your Message

You should be using relevant, quality presentation visuals to deliver your message. A powerful image with just a few lines of text will communicate your message much more effectively than a wall of droning text.

Andres Hurtado Rangel

According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, “One minute of video is worth 1.8 million words.” So its worth considering demonstrative videos and animations, too.

 

6. Offer Something Different

WOW, your clients by using quizzes and interactive charts or graphs. With a variety of presentation tools available, say goodbye to dull slides and make use of interactive presentation ideas that really serve to impress.

7. Consider Using a Client Survey

Whether sending your pitch or delivering information by email, this could be an ideal opportunity to immediately capture your client’s thoughts and feedback. This information could be aggregated across all your clients and prospects, offering valuable insights into their needs.

8. Conclude with a Strong Call to Action

Briefly remind your prospect of how your product is differentiated from your competitors’. Add a quick summary of why they should be confident that you can deliver the results they need.

9. Provide a Takeaway

To really go above and beyond, you could include a final slide with an option for prospects to select and receive relevant supporting documents. It’s a useful way of backing up your presentation and provides additional support for decision making.

10. Finally, How You Present Matters

We should never forget that regardless of the time and effort took to create the perfect business presentation, you want to make a great first impression. The window for captivating people’s attention is short, so keep your speech brief. Stand up with confidence, speak with enthusiasm, use body language to engage and most importantly, believe in the message you are delivering.

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Business Coaching, Entrepreneurship

How Entrepreneurship has changed in the 21st Century?

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Small Business is really growing and booming in the 21st Century because many people are opting for small business opportunities over working for large companies. Individuals born 1990 and after are no longer willing to follow the old-fashioned custom of getting a 9 to 5 job with great benefits. Individuals who are in their 20s and 30s are making the new trend to small business ownership and entrepreneurship. These young people are starting their own businesses for several reasons like:

  • Creative freedom.
  • The flexibility of work hours.
  • The job market is not that great at this time.
  • They want to make a social change.
  • Love the freedom of being their own boss.

40b4a8f5-5055-4fa1-a0a3-9ecaf4eaf5a2There is also an increase of women starting their own businesses as well. Many women who are going through a major shift in their personal lives are deciding to start their own business. Also, many developing countries are starting to realize the importance of giving women the tools needed to start their own businesses to improve their financial conditions and family life. “Educate a man, educate one person. Educate a woman, educate a community.

Many women are becoming successful entrepreneurs for the following reasons:

  • Many women want to have creative control of their ideal lifestyle.
  • Many women are starting businesses out of necessity because they want to fulfill a need or service that is not being meant.
  • Many women are starting businesses because they are passionate about a certain cause.
  • Many women are starting businesses because they have a business idea that has been nagging at their mind and heart for several years.
  • Some women will start their own business to spend more quality time with family and friends. Mainly to have more flexible time to spend time with their children.
  • Many women are becoming entrepreneurs because they want to be their own boss.

There are many societal advancements that are making it easier for the “21st Century” Entrepreneur to start and sustain their own business. Many countries are starting to see the importance of helping their citizens with starting their own business because small business is the key to economic development and economic sustainability. Many societies are starting to realize that the best way to improve their economic conditions is by assisting their citizens with starting their own businesses.

Here are some amazing ways that many countries, like developing ones, are starting to see the benefits of small business development:

  • Many governments are starting to provide financial incentives for their citizens to start new businesses to save the environment or ending illegal activities. For example in countries like Brazil and Colombia, who are located near the Amazon forest, they are providing their citizens with financial incentives to start new businesses. This is to stop the logging of the Amazon forest and cattle grazing in the Amazon forest. Logging of the forest and cattle grazing of the Amazon forest has been destroying the Amazon. Many countries that are located near the Amazon forest are finding alternative means for their citizens to make a living.
  • Countries like India, Nigeria, Cambodia, and so forth have been the premier examples of countries trying to improve the lives of their citizens. These countries have realized that the only way to decrease the poverty level in their countries is by educating and financially empowering their women. These countries see the importance of assisting women with starting their own small business as a way to improve their family financial situation. Many countries all over the world, developed or developing, have realized that women are the best small business owners because the number one customers in the world are women. Women are the main ones who do the shopping and marketing for their families.
  • Many countries are starting to encourage their people to start their own businesses because small business is what sustains and maintains the world economy. Many major corporations will close their shops, relocate their business to other countries, or will downsize. But, small businesses rarely go out of business, many small businesses are local, and small businesses are supported by local communities.

Many big corporations are starting to see the importance of doing business with the small “boys”. Many big corporations are starting to create “Supplier Diversity” boards or departments that assist them with recruiting small businesses to work with. Many small businesses with the assistance of government agencies are now able to compete with big companies for work with the government and in the private sector as well.

Here are a few ways how big business is starting to think and act like a small business:

  • Many big corporations are starting to outsource a lot of their work to small businesses. Many big companies are starting to see the benefits of outsourcing to small businesses because it cut costs and does not require them to hire employees to do certain tasks.
  • Many big companies are starting to partner with small businesses in order to bid on contracts with government agencies. Many government agencies are requiring large corporations to hire smaller corporations to get certain contracts. Many government agencies set aside a certain percentage of bidding contracts for small businesses and minority-owned businesses.
  • Many big corporations are starting to realize that if they do not change their practice policies they can lose business and customers to small businesses. Many customers are starting to demand that big corporations stop seeing them as numbers and as human beings. Many customers are starting to buy their products and services from small businesses because of the better customer service they receive.

Another reason why it has become easy for individuals to become successful entrepreneurs is due to the advancements in technology. You no longer need to have personal contact with your customers as a business. You can now do business with someone in another country from the comfort of your own home. It does not cost a lot of money to start a business in the 21st Century.

Here are a few advancements in technology that have made it easier to do business in the 21st Century:

  • Social media platforms have made it easy for entrepreneurs to promote, market, and advertise their products and services.
  • Small business owners can provide their products to customers in a fast and efficient way. You can now receive products in one day, instead of, a week.
  • Some businesses can provide their services to their customers virtually without having to meet them in person. This is especially true in the technical field of a website, mobile apps development, marketing and IT.
  • You can have a meeting with essential players in the business without everyone being in the same location due to webcasting, teleconference, and video conference.
  • You do not need an office to have a small business because you can work from the comforts of your own home. All you need is a laptop computer, cell phone, and portable printer.

The world of “entrepreneurship” has changed greatly in the last few decades and it has changed for the better. So, if you have the desire to start your own business or become an entrepreneur, you can do it without being fearful of doing so.

If you are thinking about starting your own small business or non-profit organization do not hesitate to contact me  AHRangel@consultant.com

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Business Growth, Business Innovation, Uncategorized

This is the Fastest Growing Business in the World

You can probably guess what it is.
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FORTUNE — As the solar industry continues to grow, so do its job opportunities.

It’s no surprise then that the fastest-growing job in the U.S. between 2012 and 2016 was for a solar photovoltaic installers or someone who assembles solar panels on roofs, according to MarketWatch. The job pays about $42,500 a year.

Overall, the U.S. added 211,000 jobs in April. This is an overall increase in employment, but some industries performed better than others, especially the clean energy industry.

The second fastest-growing field was for mathematics and computer jobs, two of the fields that fall under STEM.

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The fastest growing job in the country between 2012 to 2016 was a “solar photovoltaic installer” — someone who assembles solar panels on roofs, according to a recent study from personal finance technology company SmartAsset. The rate of growth for this job was 88.3%, jumping from 4,710 in 2012 to 8,870 in 2016, compared to an average of 4.9% for 675 occupations analyzed. It pays an average salary of $42,500 a year, less than the median annual household income of $58,673.

Don’t miss: Want to help the environment? Use solar power — without putting panels on your roof

Nationally, mathematics and computer (STEM) occupations were the second-fastest growing field, but only one state in the country had a fastest growing job in that field: Michigan. There, the number of computer and information research scientists increased 200% between 2012 and 2016.

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These growing industries may be influencing where people move, too. Delaware, for instance, is losing its college graduates at a rate of 70.9%, a study conducted by career website Zippia found. There, the fastest growing occupation is phlebotomist — a job that does not require a college degree in which technicians draw blood from patients in hospitals and other settings. The state that retained the most college graduates was Texas, with only 20% of its college graduates leaving to find work.

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While some careers saw big growth in certain states, their relatively low pay may have kept people from relocating there. The number of record-keepers in Nevada, for example, grew 176% between 2012 and 2016 but only made an average income of $27,610. In Georgia, food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators grew 340% from 2012 to 2016 but with a salary of $27,000 per year.

Other industries that saw growth include personal care, which despite a relatively low salary is booming. In Utah, for example, the number of personal care aids increased 313% to 6,780 jobs. Its average salary is 21,890 per year. In North Carolina, the number of skincare specialists, which have an average salary of $33,760, grew 187% to 890 positions.

Zippia also found gender plays a role in whether people move for their first jobs. It found men move on average 16% farther than women for their first jobs after graduation. This varied by major — women with STEM degrees, for example moved significantly more. This could be because the pay gap is lower within the STEM field, so perhaps they have more of an incentive to relocate, said David Luther, a content creator at Zippia.

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Business Development, Business Growth, Corporations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Startups

4 ways to ScaleUp your Business From Startup mode.

As your organization becomes a more complex organism, you’ll find that your team can no longer fit at one table. At this point, you need to play a more sophisticated game. If team members are chaotically chasing each business challenge, or even worse, you, the CEO, are kicking the ball into the goal and making every decision, you’re still playing toddler game. This is bad for your team, and your business will suffer.

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As CEO, it’s your job to get off the field and start coaching your team on how to play a less chaotic version of the game: any team sport, when played well is a beautiful metaphor for building a functional team and scaling your business.

1. Start defining the function of roles.

Your early-stage team was likely comprised of people who like to do “a little bit of everything,” which means they probably won’t enjoy giving up responsibilities. But if you don’t start asking employees to narrow their focus, scaling will become pretty much impossible. Whether it’s turning your “marketing person” into an entire team with specialized roles, or restructuring your organization so employees can divvy up responsibilities in a more effective way, functionalist roles can be a painful process. You might even have a few employees leave because of the changes you make.

But this is a crucial part of building a big, well-oiled scale-up. And keep in mind, this doesn’t mean that employees can’t be creative or take on big, ambitious projects. You should still encourage big risks and creativity — just make sure they keep spending a majority of time on functional priorities.

2. Find amazing coaches to guide your team.

Hiring good managers is one the best things you do for your business as you scale. I know many founders and startup employees think  “management” is a bad word, but look at it this way: managers are the people who take care of the dirty work — metrics, quotas, reports, systems, processes — and empower your team to take on the big, interesting challenges. With effective managers in place, your engineers, marketers, and other employees can spend more time doing cool stuff, and less time worried about all the little things that have to get done to keep your business running.

After hitting around 25 employees, I suggest moving toward an 80/20 workforce: 80 percent DO-ers and 20 percent coaches. You probably won’t have a tough time finding great doers (hopefully you’ve already hired a lot of them), but finding great coaches can be a challenge. At minimum, great coaches need to lead, inspire and be above the minor quibbles and BS that can happen as your company grows.

3. Prepare your new players for success.

You can’t expect people to “hit the ground running” and just “get it done” if you don’t have a clear on-boarding process. Most startups neglect on-boarding for far too long, but all eventually hit a point where new employees don’t just “get it.” The time has come to make a concerted effort to set your new hires up for success.

You should invest a few days (or even a full week) getting people acquainted with all the different aspects of your business. At BiZion Group, we give people a crash course in entrepreneurship, because this is what we teach.At SynerMedia, we give people a crash course in Marketing, because this is what we Do. Everyone on your team should, at minimum, understand what your business is doing, who you’re up against and why you think you’ll win. Every single person on your team should be able to give an effective elevator pitch.

4. Take care of your team, both on and off the field.

Do you have systems in place to support the health and well-being of your employees? I’m talking a 401(k), “SelfDirect” generous paternity and maternity leave and other perks that companies should provide once they’ve left scrappy startup territory. Making this a priority will keep morale high, encourage vital employees to stick with you and make it easier to bring in critical, high-level hires in the future. It’s just the right thing to do.

This is a general overview of some of the things to keep in mind as you transition into scale-up mode, but there are tons of other tough issues that will pop up as you grow: Do you need a CFO? How should you set up your team? What are the appropriate compensation plans for the sales team, engineering team, etc.? When should you get involved in what’s happening across the company? Seek support from other entrepreneurs and your advisors to help answer the big questions that pop up.

Going from a startup to a scale-up means big and sometimes uncomfortable changes, but these growing pains are all part of the fun of taking your business to the next level. Start by Outsourcing a team and learn how to scale up work with a outsourcing team.

Good luck!

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Business Coaching, Business Development, Business Growth, sales

Sales Hiring

Not all salespeople are created equal. As a manager or owner, you know your sales performance is highly dependent on the quality of your team. Do they have experience? Do they fit the company culture? Are they trustworthy? Can they be trained? And when you consider that a bad hiring choice could cost you upwards of $800,000, the task of hiring the right people becomes much more harrowing.*
*Smith, Fiona, “The incredible cost of hiring a dud,” Business Review Weekly, July 31, 2012.

“There is something that is much more scarce, something finer, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.” –Elbert Hubbard

 

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7 Must-Haves Before You Hire

Before even penning a job description, you need to have tools in place that will help a sales rep thrive. You hire sales reps to do one thing: sell. They should not be creating your sales collateral, proposal, product offering, etc. It’s your job to have these in place before you can offer them a job. It all starts with you.

Here are 7 things to consider before hiring a sales rep.

1. Training Program
What do sales reps need to know? How can they learn it? And how quickly should they know it? Think of this as your on-boarding program. What should they know at 1 month in, 3 months, or 6 months in? Document resources and locations. Explain how they should be used and in what order they’re best digested. Test your employees along the way. Review progress in weekly 1:1s, and make sure you’re keeping training materials evergreen by asking new employees for input.

2. Product & Service
Offering Sales reps need a defined offering to sell in order to be successful. At the very least, have a spec sheet and talking points in place before adding a sales rep. Make sure you’re able to clearly explain what unique value your products/services bring to the market. Your reps should be able to sell the value of your product rather than just the product itself. Give them the knowledge to do this.

3. Sales Process
Define your desired sales process—every single step from a discovery call to a closed deal should be mapped out. This process can be automated with a CRM platform. How long should the rep wait to follow up with a prospect after leaving a voicemail? Is there an approved quote template they should use? Does a manager need to review the quote before it’s sent to the customer? All these questions should be answered.

4. Presentation
Have a call script and a PowerPoint deck available, and invest in tools that will help your sales team deliver a compelling presentation. This will help your new sales rep better understand your offering and give them a great foundation with which to win over prospects

5. Proposal
Map out and create templates for each proposal type you think your sales rep will need. They should appear professional, aesthetically pleasing, and include your branding—logo, tagline, design elements, messaging style. You can easily knock out this to-do with a quote and proposal automation solution. If you don’t develop templates, you not only leave your brand image to their discretion, but also create one more task that takes them away from what they do best: sell.

6. Agreements
Most sales reps will say just about anything to close a deal. That’s why you should never leave the agreements up to them. They want to sell as much and as fast as they can; they’re not incentivized to worry about what happens after the sale.

7. Money in the Bank
You absolutely must have 4 – 6 months of salary in the bank before you hire a sales rep. Even superstars will need time to ramp up before they start bringing in big bucks. Plan for that.

Once you have these key items, you’re ready to define, post, and start interviewing for your sales job. But as I’m sure you’re aware, you’re not out of the woods yet. Often, selecting the right candidate for your business is the hardest part. And like we mentioned above, a bad hire could end up costing you dearly, so you want to hire the right person the first time. So, now that you know what you need to have ready before you hire, let’s turn our attention to the hiring process itself.

6 Steps to Hiring Your Sales Superstar

1. Define the Role
It’s really hard to find what you’re looking for when you don’t have any parameters. Take the time to go beyond the job description and really think about the day-to-day activities this person will need to perform. Consider what personality type would be best suited for this type of role. What skills and experience will this person need in order to be successful? Once you have a handle on what you’re looking for, you can start to sift through the resumes.

2. Review Job History
Look for a sales focus and longevity at companies. You don’t want someone who switches companies every 6 months. That’s a wasted investment. And on the flip side, don’t overlook employment gaps either. Furthermore, candidates who’ve had experience selling intangible solutions are typically worth at least interviewing because they know how to sell the invisible. In this profession, we’re selling the invisible: the value of our services.

3. Make the First Call Unscheduled
By calling the candidate out of the blue, you’ll be able to see how easily they’re able to adapt, and they won’t be as nervous because they will not have had time to anticipate the call. Use this conversation to break the ice with small talk, and test general knowledge of your company and the industry. This is a favorite technique of ConnectWise’s Worldwide Senior Vice President of Sales Adam Slutskin. If everything checks out, request the candidate’s W2, and send over the DISC assessment.

4. Set up a Face-to-Face & Follow-up Interviews
Assuming you walked away from the initial phone interview with a positive impression, proceed to the face-to-face interview. Because they’ll have time to prep for this interview, it’s okay to break out the tough questions—why you, salary requirements, and strengths and weaknesses.

If everything goes well, bring the candidate back in for your management team to vet. Keep an eye out for red flags, make sure this is someone your team wants to work with, ask for honest second opinions, and ensure the candidate is consistent.

 

Trust, but Verify. 
Always ask for a way to verify extraordinary 
claims like consistently achieving 100% quota, 
inflated job titles, high level degrees, and obscure certificates.

DISC Profile of a Sales Guy

DISC stands for dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. It’s a personality test designed to help you identify innate tendencies. Most great sales people score highest in the dominance and influence categories.

5. Tour the Facility
 This is your chance to impress them. Highlight all the little perks your facility has to offer, then share a sample commission sheet and paint the picture of how much a successful sales rep can take home. Show them all the tools you’ve invested in to help him or her quickly ramp up and become successful. This should include all the specialized systems you’ve put in place to help standardize and manage workloads. This is the type of information that builds confidence in your company, and makes candidates want to work for you.

6. Conduct the Final Interview Over Lunch
Now, you’re being interviewed, and you have to impress. If you’re trying to recruit a sales superstar away from a cushy job, you need to be sensitive to the fact that they’ve already built a lifestyle for themselves. You need to give them good reason to want to switch.

They’re not going to want to make a minimal base salary while they ramp up and learn your business. Beyond this, be sure to reiterate any other company perks, industry stats, growth potential, or company culture factors that could support their decision to choose to work for you.

8 Hiring Red Flags You Need to Know 

1. Incompatible Personality.
Find the right personality for your open sales role by administering 
a Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance (DISC) personality 
assessment. 

2. Unlikeable First Impression
Ask yourself:“Would I want this person to represent my company?”

3. Dishonesty 
Verify all accomplishment claims. If you don’t trust them, 
don’t hire them. 

4. unemployment
Look at the facts. Was the candidate a bad employee or simply a victim 
of circumstance?

5. No Self-Investment
This indicates low drive/ performance. Make sure they’re looking for 
a career, not just a job

6. More Techical than Sales.
Review work history and determine natural tendencies. 
Then ask:“Given the option, would you choose a sales or technical path?”

7. BAD Credir/Background check
Bad credit and/or criminal history = poor decision making. 

8. HIGH SALARY
Asking for a high salary with minimal bonus screams 
“I’m not a good sales person.”

Hiring the right sales reps doesn’t have to be scary. Avoid costly mistakes by ensuring you have the right resources in place to support a sales rep, and know how to effectively recruit superstar sales champions.

Once you’ve hired your team of quota crushers, you’ll want to give them ample time to ramp up, and then make sure you’re compensating them fairly. In part 2, I’ll share sales compensation best practices.

to learn more about Business Training visit mastermind2020.com for Business Assessment and Consulting BiZiON Group

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Business Coaching, Business Development, sales, Sales Management

Sales Compensation

shutterstock_125638022-mx6lt7f7mb98olo6sov4atad177e7przljxsj89600What’s the best way to incentivize sales reps? How much is too much, and how much is too little? You’re not the only one with these burning questions on your mind. You don’t want to overpay and undermine your profitability, but you also don’t want to underpay and risk losing your best sales reps to a higher-paying competitor. This guide will share time-tested techniques—provided by CharTech sales training expert Alex Rogers—for finding the right incentive ranges for your sales teams.

Costs

Contrary to popular beliefs, you should pay out on a percentage of profits, not gross sales. This protects you against having to pay commissions on unprofitable deals. Plus, it also keeps your sales reps from going after a nightmare client just to make a commission goal. Know what a profitable customer looks like, what sort of agreements will result in profit and what don’t. It can be hard to figure all these metrics out on your own. Fortunately, you don’t have to. There are plenty of business management platforms available to provide the visibility you need to determine what makes a deal profitable. Whatever you want more of is what you compensate on. You want more profit? Compensate on profit. You want more agreements? Incentivize agreements. Want more customers? Pay on number of acquired customers. What you compensate on may change every year, but base it on your business plan and business goals. Determine what’s more important to your organization. If you’re transitioning to an a-as-service model, it’s a great way to get your sales people to sell service contracts and the like. Before you can begin to pay out incentives, you first need to have a thorough understanding of your total cost of goods and services. Consider the following when trying to determine your total costs.

Identify Your Cost of Goods:

• Hardware/software 
• Labor burden 
• Expense account (lunch, golfing, presents, entertainment) 
• Outsourced services

All these areas eat into your profitability and should be excluded when considering commissions. For instance, if your sales rep spends $1,500 on golf and drinks with a client to capture a $10,000 deal with a 25% profit margin, you should only pay a commission on $1,000 of that $2,500 profit.

Incentive Considerations

Paying a base salary is incredibly important. It’s going to take time for your new rep to learn how to effectively sell your products, and most people need a steady paycheck in order to make ends meet.

I believe in having a 60-day ramp up period. During this time, there shouldn’t be any selling, just prepping to sell. Knowing that, what are you going to do to help them become successful?

Once you have a handle on the on-boarding, it’s time to think commission. Certainly, some reps can evolve into a commission-only plan, but they require a mixed approach up front. No one shows up on day one able to close tons of business for a product they’ve never sold before. Give new sales reps time to build relationships, learn the products inside and out, and become a part of your company’s culture.

The prospect of forgoing commission for 60+ days can keep a sales superstar from opting to work for you. In special cases like these, we recommend the commission ramp-down option.

With this model, they don’t have to sacrifice commission up front while they learn how to sell your products and services. The idea is that their skill level and sales will rise to meet the reduction in guaranteed commission each month until they’re achieving 100% on their own.

How a Commission Ramp-Down Plan Works

If you really want an established sales superstar, and their desired salary range is something you can afford, consider a guaranteed ramp-down commission plan to sweeten the deal. If he or she wants to make $150,000 per year, do a guaranteed, six-month commission ramp-down where the candidate gets:

100% of their commission in the first month 
83% in the second month 
66% in the third month
49% in their fourth month 
32% in their fifth month 
15% in the sixth and final ramp-down month

Roles and Responsibilities

To keep business running smoothly, it’s important to define each role clearly and to give them shared goals. Look at the various activities that tie your team together, and use these common areas to create intertwining goals. Below are some of the typical roles you’ll find in a sales organizations—and recommendations around how to compensate them.

Sales Admin

This role is the heartbeat of the sales team. It takes all the administrative burdens off your farmers and closers, so they can identify and capture more business. This is typically a salary-only role, but everything this role does can be tied to deals won. As such, we recommend adding a small incentive attached to won opportunities. This ensures everyone is motivated and focused on achieving the same goal.

Farmers

Finding and nurturing leads, farmers qualify, follow up with, and help nurture prospects into customers. Their performance should be measured against call volume and sales-qualified leads. The key is volume. Track the volume they produce without micromanaging them. A business management tool can help you do this. This role should receive a mid-level salary. More than admin, but less than closer.

Closers

Once leads near readiness to buy, they’re transferred from the farmer to the closer, to seal the deal. This role is highly persuasive and responsible for winning business. It should receive a medium/high salary.

Sales Managers

This role is fully dedicated to removing sales barriers. They’re compensated on the overall success of their sales team, and they typically receive high salaries.

Account Managers

This role sells into and acts as the primary point of contact for existing customers. Their salaries will vary based on experience, but usually fall somewhere between farmer and closer. They should be incentivized on customer retention rates, upselling, add-ons, and upgrades.

Quotas

Quotas are your primary measure of sales success. Without these, your sales team can easily lose focus of company goals. To make sure your team is on track, you need a smart business tool that empowers you to track sales goal progress, activities, as well as call volume via real-time dashboards. All these key pieces of data can be early indicators of failure or success. And you can use them to coach and manage your team.

Consider Having Quotas for (and Measuring):

1. Hardware profits
You need to make sure these traditionally low margin products aren’t being given away for free.
2. Labor profits
Product installation and maintenance comes at a cost. By creating quotas around this, you’ll ensure your sales reps aren’t recklessly discounting labor.
3. Contract amounts/agreements
 Net new business is a must if you want to keep growing. As such, reps need to be goaled on capturing a certain amount of new business each month.
4. Retention/Annuities
Anyone can sell something once, but keeping customers happy and coming back for more is another story. Reward reps with annuities for clients who renew service contracts with your company
5. Proactive sales
Activities This is the one quota that should be met every quarter. It includes follow-up calls, appointments, client or prospect visits, thank you letters, quotes, emails, or any other activities that have been demonstrated to move the needle in your sales organization.

5 Commission Recommendations:
 
1. Pay commission every single month 
2. Pay commission on the past month 
(e.g. September sales get paid in October) 
3. Print out all supporting documentation 
4. Job cost the projects 
5. Beware of changing it up

By putting these incentivizing best practices into place in your sales organization, you’ll position yourself to fairly compensate and motivate your team to succeed.

In Sales process “part 3”, I’ll talk about how to generate and hold accountability to sales practices that not only help your sales reps be more successful overall, but also give you dashboard visibility to sales tracking.

for more information in hot to grow your business. visit mastermind2020.com or request a business assessment at BiZion Group

 

 

 

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Business Development, Business Growth, Customer Service, Entrepreneurship, followup, Mastermind2020, sales, Sales Management

About Sales Process

“Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.” –A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Once you have the greatest incentive plan, processes, and sales training in place, it’s so important to measure your efforts. You might have the best of everything, but without a way to gauge how well it’s working or what needs to be adjusted, you’re driving blind.

I’m about to share actionable ways to make the most out of your efforts by putting the right tools and processes in place. By doing so, you will gain a strategic view into your sales operations and performance, and be able to take your business to the next level.

Better Forecast Where Sales Will Land

forecast-toolsIf you don’t know where sales are tracking today, this week, or this quarter, you can’t effectively manage to the set goals. You’re literally driving blind, and that’s not good for anyone. This lack of visibility also means you might not be able to see which sales reps are in good shape to hit their quotas, and which are struggling. It’s really challenging to lead a team when you have to trust them to bring issues forward. It’s hard to admit you’re not performing well. No one wants to have to do that. By putting automated tools in place to deliver real-time tracking by individual and team, you can start to proactively help your team stay on track to achieve sales goals. These tools might include a business management platform, like ConnectWise, paired with a quote and proposal automation solution, like Quosal, to track, guide, and streamline the sales process from inception to completion.

Create & Automate Sales Processes

In order to make your sales team as effective as possible, you’ll want to create a guided approach to selling. This process should include steps that help reps avoid common selling pitfalls—like not following up on time, forgetting to send a quote, failing to include terms and conditions, and underquoting your services. A sales manager’s least favorite question is ‘where are we with this deal?’ They don’t like having to ask their sales people for updates. And the sales reps don’t like being questioned either. That’s why companies buy a customer relationship management tool (CRM); it creates accountability. With a system that notes every activity as it’s performed, no one has to ask for updates anymore. They can just check the system. It eliminates the guesswork, saves time, and makes everyone happier. Part of the selling process should include identifying how customers typically buy from you. Don’t be surprised if a managed services deal is consumed differently than a onetime installation or integration. It all depends on what you’re selling. Every solution has a unique buying cycle. Certainly, there are exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking, you’re not going to run into a prospect who is ready to buy immediately.

Look at past sales successes. What actions preceded sales? Many successful sales processes include a mix of the following activities:

1. Discovery call 
2. On-site meeting 
3. Demonstration 
4. Quote delivery 
5. Follow-up 
6. Close

Once you’ve identified your steps in the process, you can make your team accountable for placing the opportunity in the right step, and systematically moving it along the sales cycle. And you’ll give managers 360-degree insight into every step along the way.

Eliminate Guesswork

With an automated process in place that pings your team when it’s time to perform the next step in the sales process, you’ll never have to worry about your team missing vital steps in the process. We’re human. We have a lot on our plates, get distracted, and forget important TO-DOs. And sales reps aren’t fans of documentation tasks. They’re a pain. By providing your team with easy processes (and tools to make them even easier), you’ll find it much easier to get them to document steps. It’s important to earn buy-in from your team. Explain the benefits and alternatives. Together, you can create processes everyone can agree on. Take the guesswork out of opportunities. Smart workflows keep your team members moving forward until opportunities are either won or lost.

Measure Each Stage of the Sales Cycle

What would you do if you found a certain step in your sales process was outdated and ineffective? You’d probably update or remove it. But if you’re not measuring or don’t have the tools in place to measure, you’ll never get to see what’s working, and you’ll never know which adjustments to make. The end goal of your sales process should be to shorten the sales cycle, close deals faster, increase profitability, and move opportunities forward more quickly. One way you can shorten stages of your sales cycle is by using a CRM, like the one inside the ConnectWise business management platform, to log key activities. This way, you can identify sales barriers, and start to brainstorm solutions.

How to Manage Your New Sales Process

A CRM will give you a 360° view into all of your company’s sales opportunities, activities, and goals. This gives you the benefit of being able to quickly identify and respond to areas that require improvement. Once you’ve got your hands on the data, act on it. Hold weekly sales meetings or daily huddles to review key stats. Use your CRM data to create real-time sales team performance dashboards—and forecasting dashboards based on historical trends. Deal with issues right away, instead of letting them take you by surprise weeks later. Build sales funnel reports that follow the opportunities moving along in your pipeline. For instance, show what percentage moves from the first stage to the second stage. This equips you to make more accurate sales forecasts.

How a Business Management Platform Benefits You

Sales doesn’t end with the dotted line. What if you could tie in your CRM and sales process with everything else in your business? A business management platform can help you achieve this by offering CRM, ticketing, projects, procurement, and invoicing functionality that works together. You gain visibility into every aspect of your sales process. Overdue activities and tickets appear in red, so you can easily get back up to speed simply by ‘getting the red out.’ That’s what your weekly sales meeting should seek to accomplish. This type of a platform even gives managers the ability to see what reps are working on (or ignoring), which makes it easy to see who is a high-impact employee and who may require more training or isn’t the right fit.

Managers can even assign leads to sales reps within a business management platform, giving reps the ability to see which leads they’re expected to work. And, managers can easily access and respond to prospect concerns when their reps are out of office. Serving as a centralized database for all customer information, a business management platform makes it easy for new reps to ramp up because it gives them access to any client’s entire history. ConnectWise does all this, plus offers top educational materials every step of the way as you implement your very own sales processes. You can use ConnectWise for every team within your technology company—Service Delivery, Project Management, Sales & Marketing, and Finance. It’s one integrated tool for every facet of your business.

Conclusion

A great sales process lays the foundation for scalability. Documented processes simplify the training and on-boarding process. So, as you add new sales team members, you’ll more quickly realize the benefit of their talents as they’ll be following best practices unique to the way you do business. Supercharge sales by adding automation tools like a business management platform or quote and proposal automation solution to drive efficiencies within your processes. By automating keys steps of your sales process, you’ll cut down on errors, and so much more.

to learn more about How to grow your Business go to Mastermind2020.com or get a Business Consulting with BiZION GROUP

In part 1, I explained what you need to have in place before hiring a sales team, then (in part 2) I explained how to effectively compensate sales reps.

 

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MeetUp for Growing Business

This Scale IT Up event is an amazing experience designed to assist entrepreneurs in learning specifically what it takes to build an even more successful company, connect with other like minded business owners and see new ways to scale up your business!

Discover new ways to create revenue streams!!screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-3-21-11-pm

The E-Accelerator program will be introduced and has been developed for anyone that is serious about learning the mindset, systems and accountability that are necessary for creating a successful business! At the event you will learn the UNTOLD SECRETS and proven concepts that successful entrepreneurs utilize everyday to WIN in business.

Our Business Growth Club is deliberately different to other business networking groups.

MasterMind2020 has a very conversational style driven by a different light theme every week and we might have 1 or 2 speakers.

We expect a success panel to react to whatever you are saying and join the conversation. The whole meeting is conducted sitting down and you will enjoy plenty of time to say whatever you like in optimistic and positive way, There are absolutely no rules at all.

RSVP to the Next Scale IT UP meetup.

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Business Development, Business Growth, Business Technology

How Virtual Assistants Can Scale Your Business

There are hundreds of responsibilities to juggle every day when you run a business. Virtual assistants (VAs) can ease some of that strain by taking over administrative, technical, and social tasks so you can focus on growing your business.

What Does a Virtual Assistant Handle?

You can pretty much turn over any job to a virtual assistant. Some cover general business administration, while others operate in specified fields. You can count on a VA to handle:

  • secretarial work including mail, email, and scheduling;
  • data entry and management;
  • bookkeeping and payroll duties;
  • social media management;
  • blog content and posting schedules;
  • Internet marketing such as SEO, email, and website optimization;
  • lead generation through multiple marketing channels;
  • website design and functionality;
  • graphic design for online and offline materials;
  • content creation, print marketing and sales copy; and
  • event planning and management

Within these areas of expertise, it’s possible to find a VA who can take charge of any aspect of your business that you don’t have time for, don’t feel qualified to handle, or just plain don’t like.

What are the Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant works remotely from their home or personal office. This frees you from having to set up a separate office space with furniture and equipment to house an extra employee. You’re also not responsible for employee-related expenses, such as health benefits or taxes. All you have to pay are the VA’s fees for services according to the terms of their contract.

You can keep in touch with a VA through phone, email, Skype, Google Voice, and other forms of remote communication, so you’re always able to get in touch when you need something. No more chasing down Joe from IT when you have a website problem or tearing out your hair in frustration over the bookkeeping when your accountant is on vacation. With less on your shoulders, you can enjoy workdays that are less stressful.

Virtual assistants may have knowledge and proficiency in various areas that you and your staff don’t possess. They’re able to apply these skills to tasks that you find difficult, streamline them, and make your business run more efficiently.

How Does a VA Help You Scale Up?

With a VA to handle the small tasks involved in business management, you don’t have to work all day, every day to get things done. You’re free to focus on the bigger picture, taking the time you would have otherwise spent on administration to move forward and make your business prosper. The money you save on employee expenses can be put back into the company to fuel growth rather than going out to pay bills.

You can take advantage of a virtual assistant’s expertise to implement fresh marketing methods that expand the reach of your brand to a new set of customers. This may include an innovative direct mail campaign for product promotion or a website overhaul that increases conversions. Since your virtual assistant works remotely, you’ll never be held up by your own schedule or unforeseen problems in the office. Plus, with someone to handle event planning and coordinating, you can participate in more trade shows and make beneficial connections within your industry.

All of these perks make it more than worth the time to find the right virtual assistant and set up a long-term working relationship.

to find out more about these services, click here.

 

 

 

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