Sell or Sink: Strategies, Tactics and Tools Every Business Leader Must Know to Stay Afloat!

Every summer millions of kids take swimming lessons. Their swim instructors know the best way to teach swimming is not by textbook and theories; but in a pool, in water, where their students can practice what they're learning. Only by experiencing the need to stay afloat do kids quickly grasp what it means to swim…or sink. Learning sales is not much different. My name is Mike Krause and I've dedicated my life to the art of professional sales. I've been a sales manager, producer, speaker, and instructor and have sold over $100 million dollars in products and services. This book represents a collection of my sales knowledge; the strategies, tactics, and tools that, when implemented, can ensure your success in sales. Wouldn't you agree that it's one thing to read about best practices, but it's a completely different challenge to implement those best practices in the real world? There are those who've made the leap successfully. You know who I'm talking about. You see them in the headlines, recognize them in your networking circle, and hear about them in the media. In small companies and large corporations, there are leaders who always seem to know exactly what to do to achieve sales success. They seem to understand what motivates today's customer and appear to develop organizations that radiate an energy driven by enthusiastic staff and healthy, strong sales. Facing challenges as diverse as how to use social media and the financial impact of the recession, they manage to move with agility, turning challenges into opportunities. What do they know that you don't? What are they doing that you aren't? How are they converting concepts into strong bottom lines? How are they selling and not sinking? These successful leaders have sales sense: the ability to understand and apply consistent, reliable sales growth strategies to attain solid results. Sales sense is easy to define but not easy to acquire. When it comes to growth strategies the choices are overwhelming. How do you choose? It feels like finding the right path is due, in large part, to luck. It's not. You have the skills. You can do it. The fact that you're reading this book indicates that you've already taken the first step on the right path. Let's look at some core challenges you will probably face along the way. Fixing the Sales Fail You've decided to do something specific about sales. Exactly what, though, still isn't clear? Being a decision maker is both a privilege and a burden. It's up to you to chart the best course of action and decide which strategies will render strong sales. Miscalculate the market, your organization, or your customers, and you will be held responsible for the failure. Not only is decision making stressful and complicated but there are often numerous common obstacles that stand between you and the results you seek. Do any of these obstacles sound familiar to your organization?  Sales team morale is low after experiencing sequential results below market projections and/or trying to meet unrealistic sales goals.  Everyone is burdened by the ongoing emotional strain of riding the sales quota roller coaster.  Internal tension and competition create a chaotic atmosphere within sales and marketing departments.  Your access to comprehensive performance feedback is clogged with excessive internal reporting and paperwork.  Reporting from top advisors lacks transparency on troublesome issues due to their natural concern for being perceived as too critical, negative, or incompetent.  The sales team is trying to reach an audience that particularly distrusts salespeople and marketing messages. With these limitations, how can you accurately identify exactly what you need? How can you know what you don't know? Is there really a way to return your company to the high-performing, rising star you envision? Ever wish there was a sales blueprint for you to follow so you could know whether your ideas and strategies would work? What would a few reliable, foolproof sales growth strategies be worth to you? This book gives you eight strategies that will make you a master swimmer in the sales pool. Each strategy is comprised of a sensible, executive-level sales diagnostic and action plan. The diagnostic will reveal what you need in order to put your organization's sales on a sustainable, healthy, upward trajectory. Because simply knowing what's wrong isn't enough, each diagnostic is accompanied with a hands-on, minds-on action plan with tools and tactics you can use to strengthen weaknesses in your sales systems. Together, the diagnostic and supporting action plan become your strategy. This is not a push-button, wave-the-wand, sit-back-and-watch-it-happen formula. Your organization and sales force has a unique culture, product, and set of skills. The answers for XYZ Company won't work for ABC, Inc. The guidance provided by this book will allow you to customize the strategies for your company. However, in the end it's up to you. The Value of Diagnostics Think of this book as a visit to your doctor. When you go to the doctor, it's because something isn't working the way it should and you're seeking the advice of an expert. Sure, you can do some online research and make a few educated guesses, but you aren't trained in medicine. You rely on the doctor to ask the right questions in order to pinpoint your problem. Once you have a diagnosis, you expect your doctor to offer various treatment options to cure your problem and give you an education and action plan so you can be empowered to help yourself. Compliance is up to you, but at least you have exactly what you need to move forward to a healthier existence. This book is your specialist. It will educate and empower you, ensuring your health and strength in today's volatile sales environment. Will it work? In short, yes. That's because this book tackles sales with strategic management practices, not with some hot, new philosophical fad. Over the years, numerous management ideas, tools, and techniques have come and gone. Recently, Harvard Business School wanted to know which management practices really work. They carefully examined more than 200 well-established management practices as they were employed over a 10-year period by 160 companies.1 Companies were classified as winners, climbers, tumblers, or losers depending on their performance trend over the 10-year period. The study was dubbed ―he Evergreen Project,‖and the results surprised the researchers in a big way. 1 Joyce, W. and Roberson, B., What Really Works,‖Harvard Business Review Vol. 81. No. 7 (2003). Retrieved July, 2010 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3578.html. Turns out, it really doesn't matter what you do. Read that again. There is no causal relationship between any specific technique and the outcome of business success. What does matter is a company's grasp and ability to use the business basics. The study found that without exception, the winning companies had a firm grasp on four fundamental management practices plus two of four specialized skills. The four fundamental management practices are: 1. Strategy. Sharply define and clearly communicate about your product; it must be well understood by employees, customers, partners, and investors. 2. Execution. Develop and maintain flawless operational execution. 3. Culture. Above all, hold and nurture high expectations. 4. Structure. Reduce bureaucracy and simplify work. The specialized skills include (winning companies mastered two of these skills): 1. Talent. 2. Innovation. 3. Leadership. 4. Mergers and Partnerships. A company's ability to grasp and translate into action these fundamental basics plus two specialized skills determined whether it was a classified as a winner, loser, climber, or tumbler. The beauty of this study is the simplicity of the results: know how to use the basics.