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Just recently, I had the extreme pleasure of working with a leading edge financial services company.

Is their market tough? YES!

Has it pushed them into a corner? NO!

First, let’s see what they’ve got going for them:

• Young, creative, aggressive leadership
• A clear and compelling vision for the future
• A powerful business model
• Edgy products pushing the market boundary
• A commitment to deliver “value-added” knowledge and consultation AND positive, measurable financial impact
• A solid energetic team of field professionals who care about the business and its success
• Those professionals are totally committed to the value of consistent processes across their company and with clients across the nation

In the months since the CEO launched our project, we have been coaching selected of their producing leaders and sales professionals. We have also been adapting our tools to their marketplace and co-developing approaches to leverage the value of the company, the people and the products.

A few of the key things we have focused on:

1. Professionals who are hungry to perform well and achieve lots are an essential part of the recipe for success that:

• Builds on their strengths and individuality
• Builds on the identity and potential of the business
• Promotes them to “be your best”
• Helps them make “value-added” concrete and practical

2. To succeed, you need to give ambitious and motivated professionals a framework. These guys and gals want a consistent process because they know that puts the company tone and identity front and center.

3. It’s not either~or: being “strategic” and “value-added” is not enough - they also need to be “transactional” and “gets deals done”.

4. Confirming and demonstrating that tools and processes do not have to be “ceilings for compliance” - that they should be firm to act as foundations for innovation and for enhancing the clients’ appreciation of individual and company strengths and style.

5. The power of repeatable patterns of dialogue and coverage will drive more meaningful conversations about client business priorities, heighten client expectations of us and create unassailable defenses against more transactional competitors.

It was one of the most gratifying and exciting workshops I have facilitated in years. I’m excited to observe how they make it their own and drive new results through the next few phases of coaching and integrating.

Now watch ‘em go!

As a follow up to the Process post, I wanted to bring in the client point of view.

Clients love process too.

Clients are sometimes very clear and explicit… sometimes quite unclear… but they really value it. The “it” is process.

When clients talk to us about great relationships with selling professionals and producing leaders, the two key differentiators look at are “consistency” and “easy to work with”. Incredibly they rate these two points as WAY MORE IMPORTANT than “smart”, “best in her field”.

Think about that. Really think about it. Your clients would prefer to know what to expect from you on a regular basis than to know that you’re number one in your field. They would rather know they are going to speak to you regularly about the things that matter to them, than to be sitting in their office twiddling their thumbs and waiting to hear from the foremost expert.

Those experts, the best-in-field kind, often don’t have the bedside manner for great relationships. A process that regularly addresses client needs and even more importantly gives them the structure to know when to expect it, will in turn have them depend on that structure in their own business.

Another myth… what is “trust” and how important is it in professionalism? Very important. But not defined the way most professionals define it. The inside definition of “trust” is confidential. Can I be trusted with delicate or private information?

Think about this just for a second… for most clients this is table stakes. The bare minimum. The ticket to entry. That is the bare minimum. If you are congratulating yourself on that one, be careful of shoulder strain.

Trust is in the details: Are you punctual? Are you reliable? Do you follow through? Do your actions line up with your words? Can you deliver what you say?

Process is a powerful way for you to deliver on these - usually unstated and very influential - expectations.

How does your process address client needs and your consistency/predictability?

Bill Clinton is off the political stage again…for now.  But I thought it might be interesting to consider what did Bill Clinton taught us about strategic sales.

The Conclusion:

Many of us remember the catch phrase “It’s the economy, stupid!”  It was famous for keeping Clinton and his team focused on the key that would make the difference in the 1992 election.

What has this got to do with strategic sales? 

It’s easy for us to get focused on “strategic”, “advice”, “relationship”, etcetera… isn’t it what many of us   want?  Be in the advisory game, not the product game.

The reality is that clients dont’ go looking for “relationships” with providers.  They are built on a series of successful transactions.  One at a time.  Don’t make each event “valuable”?  Then don’t pass Go.

 The power of focus and tactical execution:

the back story… as a speaker Clinton was a rambler, a meander-er.  He could talk on anything, riffing whatever was the latest issue or the opposition’s attempt to call him out…but that wasn’t what was needed to close the deal for the presidency.  He put signs everywhere to remind himself that “It’s the economy, stupid!”

By focusing on the economy in 1992, he came from behind and won big. The phrase was so powerful, spin doctors took it to use in elections around the world.  It worked because it kept him focused, it kept his eye on the right ball at the right time.

So how does Bill’s message to himself relate to strategic sales professionals?

You got to walk your talk.

Every strategic sales professional uses words like “strategic” and “value-added”. That’s all very nice to demonstrate that you know what words to use - but like all business terms they lose power with repetition and no follow through.

Remember “It’s the transaction!”

Clients don’t measure the words; they measure the actions and results.  They want solid execution of transactions - the confidence in your focus - before we earn the right” to be seen as “strategic” or “preferred relationship”.” And it is an earning process.  No “know us”, no relevant solutions, no service.  All the quack, quack in the world will not prop up empty “strategic words”.

So … execute solidly - early and often.  Take care of the details.  Build on a solid foundation. Do Something Valuable.  As I like to say “Know Your Client Warm”.  Get out your copy of “Stop Selling and Do Something Valuable” and do up that agenda or summary letter.  Engage your client with it.  Create a path to be more strategic and earn the trust of the people (in your client’s organization) in the meantime.

P.S. Bet Hillary wishes she had committed to one simple focus this year, rather than over-reaching and under-performing.