AchieveGlobal's blog

The Power of One in B2B Sales

By Sharon Daniels

This is the second of two posts on AchieveGlobal’s study on business-to-business selling during an economic downturn, covered in our report “Surveying the Sales Landscape: The B2B Response to a Changing Economy.” Be sure to read the complete report.

If you keep an eye on economic reports from day to day, you have the feeling that you might as well be asking a “Magic 8-Ball” which way the economy is headed. Even as economic indicators suggest a swing toward positive growth, top economists hold back on their optimism as they continue to ponder the broader picture of international markets.

Most reports seem to have in common the projection that full recovery is not going to be an overnight journey. That being said, there are major lessons we can learn about how to survive – or even thrive – despite economic reality.

We recently polled B2B sales professionals about how the economy was affecting their sales outlook, and how their selling behavior had changed in response. A general consensus among our participants: the economy has definitely impacted customer spending.

Our study also discovered that while organizations seem to be focused on pursuing new customers, changes in interpersonal communication are left up to individual salespeople.

Now consider this: we know from past studies that when the economy goes south, our customers seek business partners who are also advisors, and will help them navigate the major changes they themselves confront. During economic uncertainty, the sales organization must help its salespeople resist the tendency to turn inward, and instead encourage them to turn outward and stay focused on the customer’s strategic, business and even emotional needs.

Just ask the Magic 8-Ball: Are individual salespeople important in sealing the deal during economic downturn? The Answer: Absolutely!

Sharon Daniels is CEO of AchieveGlobal in Tampa, Florida

The Fear Factor in B2B Selling

By Sharon Daniels

This is the first of two posts on AchieveGlobal’s study on business-to-business selling during an economic downturn, covered in our report, “Surveying the Sales Landscape: The B2B Response to a Changing Economy.” Be sure to read the complete report.

Think of a difficult time in your life, a period of major change or uncertainty. Now think of the people who mattered or helped you make it through that phase. Chances are those people left a positive imprint with you because they weren’t seeking their own needs; they focused on you and what you needed during that tricky time.

The same should go for the relationship between a sales organization and its customers during difficult times.

The recent economic crisis has affected business on very fundamental levels. It’s almost as though we’ve changed the very lenses through which we see the world. For business-to-business (B2B) sales organizations, sales numbers have changed dramatically in most cases. And that affects how B2B sales companies go about the business of selling.

In a recent study, we checked in with B2B sales professionals to get their feedback on how the economy was affecting their sales and their outlook for the near future. Not surprisingly, most of our participants absolutely agreed that the economy had impacted their sales numbers, and that customer spending behaviors had changed.

When your business focuses on sales, economic change is scary. We found that a large segment of survey participants were using what seemed to be fear-based strategies: responding to customer requests for price concessions and offering shorter-term commitments for their customers.

Not so surprising was the fact that many participating sales professionals seemed to have overlooked the importance of improving customer service, and really focusing on relationship selling.

Study after study reminds us that during economic shrinkage, we need to focus more heavily on providing valuable advice and guidance for customers who themselves are trying to find ways to navigate the change.

It’s important to acknowledge and deal with our own fears, but once you get past that, you need to focus on serving the people who define your existence. What are their fears and what are the realities facing their industry? What are experts in their field saying about thriving during the downturn?

The shift in focus is from “what should we do to survive?” to “how can I help you thrive?”

Sharon Daniels is CEO of AchieveGlobal in Tampa, Florida

Lead, and I’ll Follow. Manage, and I’ll Deliver!

By Sharon Daniels

This is the second of two posts on AchieveGlobal’s study on the differences between managers and leaders, “Leader vs. Manager: What’s the Distinction?” Be sure to read the entire report.

If you ask most people whether they’d prefer to have as their supervisor a leader or a manager, after a little consideration, more than likely they’d say “a leader.”

In one of our recent studies on what defines leadership, we got to the bottom of what differentiates a leader from a manager and came to a few clear understandings.

The first understanding is that a manager has very specific competencies, like executing plans and decisions, organizing the work of others, and guiding the efforts of others toward predicted results.

Leaders, on the other hand, must have a much broader slate of competencies. Leaders are required to be able to: assess their own strengths and liabilities and those of others, demonstrate fairness, respect differences in others, create an environment of innovation, communicate and inspire effectively, and at the same time, have the attributes of an effective manager.

But before we try to make all managers leaders, there’s an extremely important fact to remember: both leaders and managers have extremely important organizational value. After all, achieving strategic business results takes the hard work of dedicated managers.

Sharon Daniels is CEO of AchieveGlobal in Tampa, Florida

Parent Is to Child, as Leader Is to _________ ?

By Sharon Daniels

This is the first of two posts on AchieveGlobal’s study on the differences between managers and leaders, "Leader vs. Manager: What’s the Distinction?" Be sure to read the entire report.

Over the past few years, we’ve looked at leadership in several ways: figuring out the differences between what makes a leader versus a manager, examining the challenges of 21st century leadership, examining leadership in the federal government, and more recently, what challenges leaders face in the healthcare industry.

But what about the “followers”? After all, as Barbara Kellerman pointed out, it’s pretty impossible to become a leader without some sort of follower. The truth is that it’s vital for leaders to keep their “followers” in mind at every stage of their game.

In fact, each of the six zones in the leadership model informed by our research stresses the importance for leaders to focus on their followers.

How can effective leaders become more follower-focused?

1. By building awareness of strengths and weaknesses of others
2. By striving for the well-being of the group
3. By being mindful of the strength that comes from differences
4. By offering support and encouragement
5. By helping others succeed

It goes without saying that there can be no leader without followers. But it’s also worth remembering that only with effective leadership can the human resource reach its full, realized potential.

Sharon Daniels is CEO of AchieveGlobal in Tampa, Florida