Coaching channel partners: which game do you want to play?

Which of those roles are you more likely to play when dealing with your channel partners? Bully, victim or rescuer?
That’s the question I asked the participants in a recent workshop I delivered. Most of them answered that bullying their channel partners was probably the role they had to play the most to get sales results. “They always complain, don’t send me any accurate information, I’m even sure they even try to position other products on some leads we sent them” was saying a young sales rep. “I have to remind them who’s the boss, right?” he added, as the rest of the group nodded approvingly.
“Well, I sometimes play the victim and it works” said another participant, adding “You know at the end of the quarter, when I’m not sure to hit my target, I get them closing the deals…and when THEY are in trouble I’m the one who come to rescue them..”.

I asked them if they actually played the three roles, depending on what the situation and what they were trying to achieve. They all agreed it was true.
In the workshop, the fist series of role plays is based on those three behaviours, trying to achieve a common goal, winning a deal, based on a specific case study. The first series of role plays usually ends with no agreement between the sales rep and the channel partner and the deal is lost.
The second part of the workshop focuses on how to use coaching as a way to work more efficiently with channel partners. After reviewing the main coaching models, techniques and behaviours, the second series of role plays gives an opportunity to use coaching on the same deal. The outcome is usually a clear win-win situation. Opportunity review meeting, opportunity management coaching session, preparation of a meeting with the prospect, each interaction between the sales rep and their channel partner becomes more productive.
Participants find out that rather than “telling” the partners what they should do to win a deal, a collaborative and coaching-oriented approach leads to better results.
“Coaches and coachees”or “victims, bullies and rescuers”? What game do you really want to play to win more deals?

Crisis? What crisis?

I had decided few months ago that I would stop watching the news, reading articles, listening to podcasts and avoid conversations about the current financial and economic crisis.

Instead, I decided to load my iPod with relaxation and motivational music, podcasts and audio books. Tina Turner’s song The Best, Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins or Self-Esteem Affirmation by Louis L Hay in the audio book category and the Morning Coach podcast delivered each day by the talented JB Glossinger have become part of my daily routine. This cocktail provides me the energy, assertiveness and self-confidence I need, just as a fresh orange juice in the morning gives me the Vitamin C my body needs.
After few weeks ignoring the bad news and feeding my mind with positive thoughts only, song and podcast in the morning, self-esteem affirmations and relaxation music before going to bed, I started to feel much better.

Today, I’ve decided to slowly start to get back on track and watch the news again, read the business section of my favorite newspapers, the NYT and El País, and download some podcasts about the economic situation. I’m not giving up my “motivational” routine though. I start listening to The Best in the morning before watching the news, keep on listening the Morning Coach on my way to work, by bike or in the metro and enjoying Louise Hay comforting voice in the evening.

I usually recommend to the sales people I coach to have a balanced and healthy lifestyle, practicing sport and cultural activities, watch their diet and their mind. Ignoring what’s going on around you, when so many people are losing their job, would be a selfish and unsustainable attitude.
But selecting the information you need, proactively, is as important as choosing the right food or the right physical or cultural activity.

Build your own program to access information; consider the power of positive thinking. Take good care of your mind, develop your self-esteem and self-confidence, and build your energy and motivation. Feel free to share with us any tips on music, podcasts, books or quotes that keep you going every day, that bring you positive energy and motivation.

Check the Morning Coach podcast on iTunes or at http://morningcoach.com/index.php

Listen to Tina Turner on youtube:

“Sorry…no budget!” Selling in tough economic times.

…”Sorry no budget…not now…not this quarter…maybe in Q2…” that sounds familiar, right? Actually what many customers are actually saying is “why should I spend my limited budget on YOU”.

So you’d better get ready to prepare how to handle the “no budget” objection and turn it into a building block so a sale can happen, and at least the conversation can go on.

Ok, let me give you some examples:

Prospect says: “Sorry…No budget!”
I say: “I’m sorry to hear this…I’ll call you back next year.”

Well, that was just a warm-up, not a very good one actually. Let’s try better.

Prospect says: “Sorry…No budget!” I say:

I understand, and I’m not calling to sell you anything today, that’s not what this call is about. I was interested in understand better your specific context, your business and see how our solution could be a resource for you, for the future, when you get a budget. Let me ask you a few questions…
Or

This is exactly why I’m calling you. Many of my customers, especially in those tough economic times, are wondering what is the best, most efficient away, to invest their limited resources on solutions that offer the best ROI. One of our customers in your industry actually increased their business profitability through a better understanding of bills of materials and real costs with our solution. But before even going further I wanted to understand how our solution could help you save money over time. May I ask you few questions?
Or

I understand and I don’t expect you to even consider spending money on something you don’t know anything about. Let me ask you a few questions and then you can decide whether it makes sense or not to go further and see how our solution could help you saving money, increasing profitability…
Or

I know exactly what you mean but let me ask you: how do you usually get a budget when an unexpected purchasing opportunity shows up?
Or

If you’re like most of my customers, you will be extremely cautious regarding any money you spend and before we even talk about budget, let me ask you few questions to determine if our solution even makes sense or not for you.
Ok, now it’s your turn…reply this thread and share with us how you personnally handle this objection, feel free to give examples, what works, what doesn’t work…

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